Outlines

I've been working on outlining LICT. Several things have come out of this process.

1. I've realized I have redundancies in several chapters. (How could I have missed something so basic? Let's attribute it to writer's thrall.)
2. I can see where explication should be added for several plot points.
3. I now understand how to beef up my villains. Right now they are much too two dimensional for my taste.
4. I can see where outlining the main conflicts first before writing the story or doing much character development could have been useful.
5. I have discovered I really love this novel!

It is a tedious process, outlining; however, I am finding it a worthwhile exercise. When it's finished, I'm on to the synopsis.

Auctor! Auctor!

I love it when something timely and pithy drops into my e-mail. The following is from the Merriam Webster Word of the Day and tickled me because my WIP is set in Roman London:

"In ancient Rome, auctioneers, grantors, and vendors were known as “auctors.” The title is based on the Latin verb “augēre,” meaning “to promote” or “to increase.” The word “auctor,” which was also used for a person who creates something, passed through Anglo-French and Middle English, eventually evolving (somewhat perplexingly) into the Modern English word “author.” English writers dug up “auctor” again in the early 19th century to form the adjective “auctorial.” The coinage was a somewhat surprising one, given that the word “authorial” had been firmly established in English for over a quarter of a century. Today, “authorial” is the more common of the two words, but modern-day wordsmiths continue to put “auctorial” to use on occasion."

Queries and Rewirtes

I've distilled my query letter for LICT down to the bare essentials. I have a hook and a grab that I've vetted amongst friends and professionals. I think it's 99% there. I'll let it sit for another month while I do the next rewrite for LICT and then see what I think.

The interesting thing about perfecting my query letter before finishing all of the edits on LICT is how much insight it gave me into how I could make the novel tighter and more focused. Writing the query gave me a plot thread idea that would allow me to tie together the story with pizazz, drama, and interest (in a rather unique way if I might say so myself).

I rewrote the first 50 pages over the past 24 hours. I added ten pages of text as well. I think the new first chapter (prologue, actually) needs another rewrite, but the bare essentials are there and can be molded.

The most difficult portion of the novel for me has always been around page 40. Through the new plot thread I've been able to accomplish a rewrite of this section that not only makes the heroine's motivations more clear, but also explains some essential facts about the universe. This helps draw the reader in and makes them more of a part of the world.

I've also added several sections from the hero's point of view. Previously everything had been from the heroine's view point. Fleshing out these scenes from his vantage point has given me a greater understanding of who he is, and his motivations as well.

I'm continually amazed at how much I learn with each new writing project. Truly, it isn't magic. Writing is just like any other skill--every time you engage in it you sharpen already present abilities and build upon them with new ones. I wish I had figured this out a long time ago--say 20 years ago. Then this whole process wouldn't have taken me so long to become thoroughly engaged in. I would have trusted my abilities, or at least my ability to learn, and plodded ahead with greater determination in the past. In a way I'm glad it's not magic. Having a logical progression to follow--something concrete that doesn't involve guesswork makes being engaged in the creative process so much less scary and infinitely more fulfilling.

My White Whale

I've noticed LICT is almost ready to come back out of the oven for edits. How do I know this? The manuscript is sitting atop a naked portion of my bookshelves all by its lonesome. When I first rested it there (where I knew I would have to look at it every day) it made me nauseous to see it. I wanted it to go away and never see it again.

When I'm reading something else, helping one of my writer's group friends with edits on a WIP, or typing a blog post I can see the winter white stack of paper in my peripheral vision. It has begun to call to me. I'll stop reading, typing, writing, daydreaming for a few seconds, and lately for almost a minute at a time to simply stare at the stack. Recently this call has started taking on an aspect of a siren, and I feel like the fisherman who must resist at all costs.

When I can't resist anymore, when I can't look away and continue the task at hand, I'll know I'm ready to edit.

Why wait? Because I know the moment I absolutely have to lay my hands on that manuscript again will be the moment I'm refreshed and ready to give the story a good hard look with a new set of eyes. Until that time I'm better off spending my creative energy elsewhere.

WIPs

I've begun a new WIP while my most recent manuscript percolates for edits.

The current story is my first attempt to specifically write for a publisher and one of their imprints. I have heard that doing so, and doing so well, can be a key for a first time author to get a foot in the door.

I'm not going to give away the title to this one though because I think it's far too clever and I'm paranoid enough to think it might be stolen. The plot has me smiling frequently throughout the day. I think I might be onto something with this one.

The manuscript is targeted to Silhouette's Desire line at 50-55 thousand words with a high powered alpha hero and a fiery, successful heroine to match. The Desire line is suited for characters with a larger than life conflict that is overcome in the end to bring them together.

I came up with the idea for reviving this plot (from a story I had worked on and discarded years ago) after Harlequin's Isabel Swift posted a Presents writing contest on her blog. It gave me the impetus to explore more fully the other lines the eHarlequin site had to offer. I tried on Harlequin Blaze and Presents for size, but found that the strong conflict I had in mind was a shoe-in for the Desire imprint.

In other news, I finished the previous WIP during National Novel Writing Month. I wrote my 50 thousand words and then some. Go me! I'm very proud of how quickly everything came together, and I'm excited to have learned how to write more quickly. Getting the ideas out there is the hardest part for me. I was able to turn off my internal editor and get some serious work done. I'm looking to make December's WIP a repeat performance in a quick dash to the first draft finish line.

Wish me luck!

Pitches, Plots, and Presents...Oh my!

Today I finished the current book on my TBR pile, Your Novel Proposal: From Creation to Contract by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook. I'll just call it YNP for the sake of brevity.

Poison Study and Magic Study author Maria V. Snyder recommended YNP when she was kind enough to offer suggestions on my query letter for Lest It Come True. (One of the suggestions she made was to change the title to The Shadow Guard, but I haven't decided yet if it would be too obscure.)

After reading through YNP I can see where my pitch needed (needs?) perfecting, so I worked on that tonight. My husband gave the current pitch the thumbs up. It goes like this:

"A woman in a mystical version of London's Roman epoch achieves her goal of becoming her Sovereign's personal guard and must choose between her duty and their love."

I'm unsure about whether or not I like it. It doesn't give the flavor of Ilia's character or the fact that she is the only female Shadow Guard (magical protector) ever. Neither does it tell about her unique relationship with Tiernan (the Sovereign) whom she has known since childhood. Are these facts necessary to the pitch? Probably not. I do think they are flavorful. They can be woven into a query, but not into the pitch itself.

My fingers are itching to write the synopsis and chapter outline for Lest It Come True, but I want to finish the edits first--probably a wise idea. Then there's the other six Seven Sovereign novels and a new idea I have for a story called The Vampire Hotel which takes place in a hotel the heroine inherits in Manhattan's Washington Square Park.

All these ideas are clamoring for attention now and it's getting very noisy in my brain. Not that I'm complaining, but if only Santa would bring me two more hands and enough lottery money to be a full-time writer I would be content. Which reminds me, now that Thanksgiving is over I'd better start thinking about Christmas shopping. On second thought, maybe I'd better ask for four extra hands...

Writers don't write.

Writers don't write, they re-write, according to author Patrick Picciarelli. I read this today on the Web and was immediately struck by the pithy truth of the statement.

When I write my first draft--although I have an outline in my head of what is going to happen, and eventually have a written outline when I'm sure that what's in my head is actually how the story is turning out--I am often unsure of many of the details that will add depth to the story and its characters. Rather than slowing down writing by stopping to research these tidbits, I find I have to plow ahead or risk losing momentum.

These little details niggle at me so vociferously, and there are so many of them by the middle of the novel, that I find writing the second half of a project agonizing. My mind begins to be filled with worry about the quality of the story and a hunger to edit. I want to color in the story, give it life and begin to worry that I never will.

When I begin to edit everything becomes sharper. The story becomes tighter and the characters and their world more real. While I have in-depth ideas about the world and these characters the details don't necessarily make it into the first draft, or they don't make it into the first draft in such a way that someone other than myself can see them clearly.

I like to think of my first draft as an outline that needs to be colored in later on. Waiting for that stage is difficult for me--I want my creations to live from the moment I put them on the page. I used to edit each line as I wrote it, perfecting the words and the story as I went. However, I found that stories I wrote this way often didn't get completed. I would run out of steam after a hundred pages or less. Writing the first draft quickly is difficult for me, but in the long run it pays off...as long as I edit it in the end.

For me, editing is the best, not the hardest part of writing. It's wrestling the skeleton of the story to the ground and ignoring my internal editor that makes me sweat. I've come to recognize this internal tug of war as part of my process. Sometimes I have to put a work away for several days or even a week or more to calm the voice which says "Must edit now!" before I can go on. This wasn't something I came to the page knowing; it was something I learned through trial and error over time.

If you find that your internal editor is either too silent or too shrill, try adjusting your process. You might not find the right answer right off, but with experience and patience it will come. Until then, enjoy the journey.

Writing isn't magic?

When I started writing in my late teens I thought either you knew how to write or you didn't, as if it were some sort of magical talent some human beings were bestowed with and others weren't.

Over the years I have started and completed a number of works, most of which I secretly hoped were publishable, but knew weren't. It was frustrating to work on those pieces, watching my characters founder and gasp like fish out of water under my inept fingers.

I forged ahead after each failure and began to discover that with each new work in progress I learned something that helped me become a better writer with the next. Over time I realized writing wasn't magic at all. It was work. Fun work, but work nonetheless.

Even my ideas come from work, not out of nowhere or from some otherworldly muse. Yesterday someone asked me how I come up with my ideas. In thinking about the answer I realized my ideas come from a store of information I have gathered over the years. I love to watch science shows and read books on physics, especially quantum physics. I have read romance novels since I was eleven years old (I know the genre), and time travel stories (romance, science fiction, mystery, literature--I don't care which genre) call to me like sirens to sailors. I also studied feminist issues in college while obtaining my B.A. in English Literature. I read about history, England and the U.K. and I've traveled to London for pleasure.

All of these experiences and more give me the ingredients for the ideas in my novels, and I enjoy stirring them together to form new and tasty delights.

So, although I'm an incurable romantic who truly believes just about anything is possible, I believe the magic of writing lies in hard work, preparation, and dedication. The alchemy of these ingredients is a powerful potion I'll rely upon any day to get the job done. After all, muses are fickle. Wouldn't you rather be the in the driver's seat than twiddling your thumbs waiting for her to come around?

That being said, I suppose I had better get back on the job! Only 43k words to go in the current work in progress (WIP).

Inspiration & World Building

This slice of books from my personal library comprises some of my inspiration and research materials for The Given (TG), the second book in the Seven Sovereigns series, the first being Lest It Come True (LICT).

(The book on the guards, pictured, is part of the inspiration for an as yet unnamed book in the series.)

I find the more research I do the more real my world becomes to me. While I research I write down bits and pieces of world mythology that fit the story. The key when I begin writing is to avoid the temptation to dump all of this information on the reader at once.

Withholding information about your world accomplishes several things:

• It keeps the reader from being overwhelmed with information that is seemingly irrelevant to current story events.
  
• It generates curiosity about aspects of your world that motivates the reader to keep reading.
• It gives you details to drop in at relevant points to add color and flavor to the narrative.
• It adds mystery that you can use to build suspense for the reader.
  

Some of my favorite masters of witholding and disseminating world information with timing and panache are J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter), Maria V. Snyder (Poison Study), and Karen Marie Moning (Darkfever).

Once you decide to reveal a tidbit of information it should be done with subtlety. After all, there is no sense in withholding information only to drop it in like a dry, scientific fact or a bullet point in a travel brochure.

One way to introduce background information is through the dialog. Have one character explain to another the meaning behind a certain totum or ritual, for instance.

Another method is to use action as a catalyst to description. The action sets a brisk pace that helps the background information slide down smoothly--sort of like Mary Poppins' "spoon full of sugar" method.

I'll end with the following example from LICT. This scene showcases a pivotal moment in the heroine's life (shown in flashback) while giving the reader a clearer idea of what the terms Shadow and Shadow Guard mean in the story.

Watching his strong shoulders and confident walk as he traveled before her, she remembered the hot summer day so many years ago when she had last seen his beautiful gray eyes.

They had been lying in the tall grasses beyond his family’s summer palace, face to face on their stomachs, legs kicking the air behind them.

So, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Want?

Sure! You’re going to be Sovereign. You can do anything you want!

He had smiled then, a bit wistfully. She remembered thinking in that moment he almost looked grown up.

I guess I want to be Sovereign. What about you?

If you’re going to be Sovereign, I’m going to be your Shadow Guard. That way we can always be together.

He had laughed out loud then and her face had flamed.

He reached out a hand to brush her cheek.

I’m not laughing at you. Not really. It’s just that most girls would want to marry me and be my Sovereigness, not my Shadow Guard.

She had cocked her head and looked askance at him then.

Really?

Yes. Truly.

But then they wouldn’t be able to protect you. And you wouldn’t be able to confide in them about politics and enemies and wars. And they couldn’t go everywhere with you—be with you every minute.

Her words had come out in a rush. Almost as if to stop them he pressed his lips firmly to her own.

She was sure it was the kiss—that first kiss she’d ever tasted—that had done it. She had accomplished what no other female had done. Ever.

She’d phased—shifted to a space between matter where she couldn’t be seen. She had stolen for a few moments into the Shadow.

Although the change had been brief, it had been witnessed. A hue and cry went out amongst the guards stationed along the field’s periphery, and suddenly she found herself being dragged away from him. Separated from her best friend and the privileged life she had known within the palace.

Shadow Guards were dangerous until trained, she knew. They could phase and take others with them accidentally. Sometimes they didn’t come back. Without control over their re-manifestation they could become part of a brick wall or an innocent bystander’s body—both scenarios resulting in death.

It took years and years of training to become a proper Shadow Guard.

That night she had heard her parents arguing: should she be trained or not? Training had won out. It was the only way, her father had insisted, to keep her from being a danger to herself and others.

Now, here she was, fifteen years later—a well trained, lethal, eagle eyed Shadow Guard, just as her brother had been. And she would protect her Sovereign to the death if necessary, just as her brother had and just as she had promised all those years ago.