Immediacy

I plotted out my WIP (still without a name, PS. I swear, it must have an identity crisis with how many names I've tried out for it) but as I was revamping motivations and conflicts this past few weeks, I felt as if something was missing.

Missing in that eating a sugar-free dessert kind of way. It looks like dessert, even smells like dessert, but something got lost in translation.

I pondered, I hemmed and hawed. I read, I reread, and I revised. Still, nothing.

Finally, while reading my dear CP Hal's work last weekend, I decided that my problem was that there was no driving force, no deadline for my characters, nothing hanging immediately over their heads. Oh, it's a paranormal and it has all that save the world/good vs evil goodness that I know and love. But I wanted them to feel more panicked, more pushed all the time. They were too comfy in their little roles and I wanted something hanging over their heads, somethig they dreaded.

What's save the world suspense without the suspense?

I added in a couple things and suddenly, wahlah! (Is that how you spell that?) They're counting down time, there's an external endpoint, and their conflicts feel more immediate.

Case closed.

For now.

How do you add immediacy to your writing? What keeps the suspense in your stories?

Hard Work

I get amused when people who don't write talk about writing.

To some, it appears that writing is a luxurious career path. You do it on your own time, by yourself with no one (at least initially) harassing you. (Apparently said people haven't tried to write while parenting). They think of writers as artsy folks, loners, perhaps tortured by their inner turmoil. Maybe even think of us as recluses - a la Thoreau at Walden Pond - all tucked away while we mold our masterpieces.

Others, after they find out about my dreams to publish and the fact that I've completed one manuscript, ask when my book will be in print. As if just finishing was enough to get published. As if publishers were sitting around, day in day out, just waiting for a call from me. ("You're finally done?! Great! Start the presses!")

In reality, writing is hard work and my reality as a writer looks completely different from the idealized versions above.

My motto: have laptop, will travel. I write wherever and whenever I have a few minutes. I set goals, time-consuming goals, each week and pug away. I've seen how difficult it is to break in and sustain a published career.

This week I read an article about Judith McNaught, one of my all-time favorite writers. She mentioned that writing is hard for her. That it takes her a long time. She said she has problems with descriptions of characters. She talked about a whole bunch of writerly woes and I thought to myself, "wow, it really is all of us, isn't it?"

And I felt better. If Judith McNaught has trouble with descriptions, with the art of writing, it'd almost be weird if I didn't.

How do you think writing is hard? Encounter those who just don't "get it?" What do you say?

Progress

I've hit 18K words on my latest work and, predictably, I'm running out of steam. This happened last time when I ran into the middle half of the book.

What's nice is that I'm not really sweating it. I freaked out last time. I started to question my story, my ability, even my sanity. But, this time I've accepted it as par for the course. Last time, when I stopped stressing myself out, I just powered through, writing and deleting, rewriting, deleting, rinse repeat, until I got moving again. I'd imagine that'll work this time too.

I'd like to say this story was writing easier but it isn't. There are secondary characters that I have to get to know and plot quirks I've had to work through.

But I do love it. I'm head over heels for my hero and I'm rooting for my heroine. I can't ask for more than that.

I'll share some when I get closer to the midway point.

How's things with everyone else?

JaNaNo: A Roundabout Path

Well, we're heading into the last week of JaNaNo and I haven't exactly taken the well-trodden path. I've written over 12K this month so far, which is obviously short of my goal, but I'm extraordinarily proud of what I've done.

Contemporary Synopsis: 764 words
Contemporary Story: 5103 words
Paranormal Synopsis: 1375 words
Paranormal Story: 4972 words

Frankly, I want to count each of the synposis as being double their words because I'm sure I wrote at least twice as much for each and had to axe it up.

I think I should be able to write at least another 5K by next week, but that puts me shy of 20K words, and way shy of the 25K goal. But, I'm ok with it. It got me started writing again this year and that was the whole point.

How's everyone else doing?

Well, Week Two?

Just a JaNaNo check in.

I'm being a little unconventional, though. I wrote 5k on my contemporary, then I wrote 1200 on my para's synopsis, and 2k on my para. Does all that count? I say it does! It's all writing and that's the point, I think.

How's everyone else doing? And I say we count all words we write, even if we delete them (this means you, Ely) or we are writing synopsis or query letters or whatever. If it's work on a book or book related work, it counts.

Sound off!