Who's in Charge Here?

The insanity of National Novel Writing Month is over and I am pleased to announce that for the first time in four years, I achieved a win! I crossed the 50,000 word threshold on November 29th - one day early. This year was really important to me. After struggling for so long, I needed to prove to myself that I can still do this writing thing and I did. Go, me!

I was what would be classified as a NaNo Rebel, which is appropriate since I tend to be a bit of a quiet rebel in most aspects of my life. As a rebel, I didn't spend my month working on one novel. I actually worked on two! The first 20,000 words I put toward finishing the long overdue first draft of Dances with Werewolves, the second full-length novel in my Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romance series. The last 30,000 words were put toward the first draft of a stand alone fantasy romance, Blood Lines.

I am not an outliner and never have been. Even in my school days, I never understood how I could be expected to write an outline. I mean, how am I supposed to know what I'm going to write about until I write it? I call myself a plantster - a combination of the words "plotter" and "pantser." A pantser writes by the seat of their pants. I don't go into a story completely blind though. For me a story usually starts with the title. When I start writing, I know who my main characters are, how the story begins, how it ends and a few random scenes in the middle. The rest of the story unfolds as I write which mean that the characters occasionally throw me a curve. When I was writing Dial V for Vampire, the hero suddenly offered the heroine a job. It wasn't what I had intended but I made it work, and honestly, it was better that what I originally intended.

After spending the last couple of weeks working on Blood Lines, I have decided that I am not in control of this story at all. *facepalm*

It all started with a secondary character. He was supposed to start off as a jerk but I expected him to grow and be the gruff guy with a heart of gold. I even had a big role for him to play in the story. It turns out, he's not just a jerk, he's both a complete a**hole and the antagonist. Not what I expected but okay. There was another character who could play the role I expected of him. The only problem with that was... she died. Seriously?

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Don't get me wrong. I actually enjoy the unexpected twists and turns that happen while writing. It was just the sheer number of twists that were popping up that was getting rather amusing. I have no doubt that whatever the characters throw my way, the story will be better for it.

On another note, my husband doesn't understand how this happens at all. "What do you mean? These are your characters. You created them. How can they not do what they are supposed to do?" I have explained that it's like having kids - you give them life then they go off and do their own thing. I even showed him this quote to prove that it's not just me.

Now, it's time for me to keep the momentum I started in November going into December and beyond. Wish me luck!

Until next month, Happy Holidays!

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Magpie Syndrome

I admit it. I love anything that glitters or sparkles. My husband calls it "Magpie Syndrome." (I haven't had the heart to tell him that recent studies have shown that magpies are NOT attracted to shiny objects.) However, this attraction to the new and shiny extends beyond just jewelry and clothing - it permeates my writing as well. A new story idea is so exciting and holds so much promise - what will it be when it grows up ? A short story? A novella? A novel?

I'm not a plotter, I don't outline. It has just never worked for me. Even in high school and college, I never wrote the outline until after I was done with the paper and then only because it was required. I mean, how could I know what I was going to write until I wrote it? When I begin developing a story I know who the main characters are, I know how the story begins, how it ends, and have a few miscellaneous scenes that go somewhere in the middle. The rest evolves as I write.

Oooh, shiny!

When writing was something I only dreamed of doing I often worried that I wouldn't be able to come up with enough story ideas. Ha! I have so many ideas I can't keep up with them. At this point my primary focus is on Dances with Werewolves, the second novel in my Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romance series. (You can read about the first novel, Dial V for Vampire, here.) But, at the same time I have ideas for at least 15 other stories percolating in my head. Heck, I even have covers for books that I haven't written yet.

It would be easy to let all of these ideas distract me because of their freshness - so many unknowns waiting to be discovered! However, if I flit from story to story like a hummingbird nothing will ever get finished. I am (mostly) able to focus on my work in progress (WIP) but I have learned that when an idea won't quit going "Mom, mom, mom, mom! Pay attention to me, Mom" it's best to put the WIP aside for an evening or so and pay attention to it. This normally consists of just making notes to get some of the ideas out of my head. On occasion, "notes" become chapters. But, this means that when those other stories have their day in the sun, I'll already have a good start.

I know I'm not alone. This cartoon was recently shared on the Writing About Writing Facebook page. It's perfect! :-)

Distractions are a part of life, not just writing. How do you stay focused?

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Hitting the Wall

The term “hitting the wall” is most often used by runners to describe a feeling of sudden fatigue and/or loss of energy making it difficult, if not impossible to finish their race. However, runners aren’t the only ones that experience the feeling of not being able to go on. I “hit the wall” writing-wise at the end of September 2016.

It all began with working on the revisions to Dances with Werewolves, the second book in my Kudzu Korners series. (The first book, Dial V for Vampire, was published by Fire Star Press in August 2016.) I love my world of Kudzu Korners and all of the books that I have roughly plotted out in my head. However, the more I worked on my revisions, the worst things got. My story wasn’t flowing – it was choppy and I wasn’t happy with it. I realized that, in order to fix the problems, my book basically needs a complete rewrite. Whereas the basic plot will remain the same, the story is currently told from the hero’s point of view; it will flow better if told from the heroine’s point of view. This realization really took the wind out of my sails and, rather than deal with the situation head-on, I began avoiding it.

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Things just went downhill from there. As a writer, the world of social media is a big part of my life. It was not a fun world to be a part of for most of last year due to the presidential election. No one other than God and my husband know how I vote and I avoid all political discussions online. As you probably already know, the 2016 election was highly divisive. (I know someone whose own daughter stopped speaking to her because she disagreed with who her mother voted for. Seriously?) I consider myself to be a relatively optimistic person and for months I had been patting myself on the back about not letting all of the negativity steal my joy. Well, about the time my story blew up, my joy disappeared as well. The constant online negativity became an emotional drain. I lost a lot of respect for people that I consider friends because of their judgmental comments toward anyone who dared to think differently. Sadly, the election did not end the hostility but at least the levels of hysteria are no longer in the stratosphere. (It probably helps that I no longer follow individuals who spew nothing but anger and negativity toward others.)

November and December were tough emotionally due to the death of my father earlier this year (and my mother moving away to live with my sister). While I came through my daddy’s birthday and the holidays relatively well, it was period that was also seasoned with its share of sadness.

I’m a book cover junkie and I have bought covers for books that I haven’t even written yet. I use the covers as the wallpaper on my laptop; seeing them makes me smile and keeps me motivated. Once of the most frightening events during this whole I’ve-fallen-and-I-can’t-get-up season was when I was using my laptop and one of my beloved book covers came up and I had no reaction to it. Zero. Even worse, I couldn’t remember what the story was about or the main character’s names. That really, really scared me.

However, I’m pleased to announce that the tide has finally turned. My characters are talking to me again and I’m slowly regaining my joy. I write humorous stories about people falling in love and I think our world needs more humor; I honestly believe that it is one of the reasons I was put here. So, it’s time to pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back to the joy of writing.

Here’s to a new hope for a new year! *raises hot cocoa in toast*

How have you dealt with the difficult seasons of your life?

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What's in a Name?

Finding inspiration and developing a plot is just part of what is involved in writing a story. Once we have all of these characters running around, they need names. So, where do the character names come from? For me, everywhere.

I’m lucky. My day job is IT customer support so, I am exposed to a lot of different names on a daily basis. I keep a notebook in my purse so I can make a list of the names that appeal to me. So far, my list of male names is longer than my list of female names. But, that’s okay. I’ve got female names covered because I really love the old-fashioned girl’s names like Emma, Sophia, Phoebe, etc.

Family names also come into play. The heroine in Dial V for Vampire is named Maggie, which was my paternal grandmother’s name. A secondary character is named Ida, which was my maternal grandmother’s first name. (She went by her middle name, Ruth).

Early in my writing career I learned the importance of creating a master list of names that I have used. How did I learn this? I realized that I had given a secondary character in two different stories the same name. Oops. (Apparently, I really like the name Liv.) 

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Another thing that I have to be careful about is using names that start with the same letter. We’ve all read those books that have characters with such similar names that it hurts the story because we spend so much time trying to remember which character is which. The editor for Dial V pointed out that I was in danger of doing this – I had three characters named Maggie, Mae, and Mac. Maggie and Mae were non-negotiable so Mac became Lou. It wasn’t until I was going through my father’s things after his death that I discovered that his mother’s middle name was Lou. (Yes, you read that right. His mother’s middle name was Lou.)  I thought that was a pretty cool coincidence. (And, had I known this when I was a child, I might have disliked my own middle name less, LOL.)

Of course, even knowing my tendency for using names beginning with the same letter, I did it again! I’m now working on revisions to the next Kudzu Korners novel, Dances with Werewolves. Maggie and Mae both make appearances but, I needed a name for the villain. So, what name did I choose? Mitch. *facepalm* I reached out to my Facebook friends and followers for suggestions and did they ever come through! I wound up getting the perfect name for my villain (Vince) and two more names that will be used in future stories.

So, do you have any favorite names? Let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for more inspiration!

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