This week’s targets

I was hoping to get quite a bit done this week as I took a couple a of days of work but I came down with a cold and that meant I didn’t really feel like doing much, other than burying myself in a book.  I did have my most productive writing day yet, but I don’t seem to have written since then.  I’ve just been pottering.

My goals were:

• 10 scene ideas for SB (Beth’s Book) – well I’ve sort of done this.  I did some bubble chart brainstorming, which went really well and I have lots of ideas.  Can’t wait to write the book.  I never used to like brainstorming like this for some reason but it seemed to work really well for this book. 

• Hit 4,000 or complete first chapter of fairy story, whichever is greater – done, 5,128 words worth of done.  I will probably cut quite a few of them in the edit.
• Plot second half of short story – haven’t even looked at this I’m afraid.
• Finish character building Beth – Not done, I did do some bubble charting for her too but I’ve definitely not finished getting to know her.  I really want to get into her head as this is going to be a first person book.

• Get a wiki set up for DW- this is underway, I have picked my wiki and I am in the process of copying over and tidying all my hastily typed word documents to do with characters and world-building.

I might start posting my targets at the beginning of the week in an attempt to make myself feel more accountable but that doesn’t seem to have worked in the past so I’ll have a think about that.

Targets

I had 3 main goals this weekend:

1. Hit 2,500 words on my new opening scene to my fairy novella – Done, I’m currently at 2,838 and I might write some more before going to bed.  I think the whole scene should end up being somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 words.
2. Do a character profile for Beth, the heroine of my book for NaNoWriMo – I did a bit, I have a better idea of who she is but I’m not done by a long stretch.  I think I might work through Holly Lisle’s Create a Character Clinic for her too.
3. Plot out one of my short story ideas – Half way through.

I don’t think I’ve done too bad considering how rubbish I normally am with meeting my targets.  And I didn’t do any writing Saturday so I’m fairly pleased with myself.

Things I’m Working On

1. The story I mentioned a while back about Fairies doesn’t seem to want to be just a short story. It wants to be longer and I think I need to do some more character development and plotting – and by more I mean some at all. I got a basic concept, then came up with some characters I thought rocked, got overexcited and waded straight in, only to get caught up in fuzzy where-is-this-going, story hell. Must plot!

   This is where I went wrong with my many, many attempts to write before. I go completely against my character in the rest of my life – where I plan things to oblivion and make lists for absolutely everything – and start writing without a plan and then I just sort of flounder. I know I do it and I’ve spent a lot of time pre-writing DW to prevent the same thing happening there so I don’t know why I did it with my short story.

   So my main goal for this week is to plot that out and do a little more character development. Ooh and world-building, I’ve really enjoyed the world-building I’ve done for this story so far so I might do a bit more. Reading through what I’ve already written I think some of it is salvageable but the beginning is absolute dross and I’ve deleted my entire first scene. I want to rewrite that this week, starting the story a little sooner.

2. I need to write down all the ideas I keep having for the novel I’m planning to write for NaNoWriMo and work on twisting them into some sort of plot. Concentrate on developing my characters too, especially my main character and her mum.
3. Then have a look at DW and see how I can work in the idea I had for it last night. I’ve had quite a break from it so should be able to look at my ideas and characters with fresh eyes, see if I still think they’re as good.
4. I also want to try and plot some of my other short story ideas.

Lightbulb Moment

I quite like the idea of having pictures for my characters, I have found some on the net that are pretty close to the idea I had in my head of some of them but I hadn’t found any for my male lead.  Last night, when watching Chuck I realised that Adam Baldwin is spot on for Flynn.  Well built, good looking without being a pretty boy and looks pretty damn tough holding a gun, well even without a gun really.

Thinking about it, the two characters I’ve seen him play (Jayne in Firefly and Serenity; and Casey in Chuck) have a lot of the same character traits as Flynn too.  Tough guys with a slightly worrying affection for weapons, sarcastic and a little rough around the edges but with hidden depths, that you know are there but are hidden pretty darn deep.  Independent spirits, who don’t really like to play with others but really they need people. 

And did I mention yummy?  I know yummy isn’t exactly a character trait but  looking through images to find a good one for the post made me realise it’s a point that just can’t be stressed enough.

Character Interviews

Last week I bought a couple of Holly Lisle’s Writing Clinic eBooks, which I’ve found really useful.  I’ve been using the Create a Character Clinic over the past few days to develop my main character.  As well as helping me flesh her out and understand her better, it’s helped me come up with a few story points that I think are rather good, which is nice. 

Now I’ve got onto the section where you interview your characters and I’m actually having a lot of fun with it.  I’m enjoying finding her voice - and discovering that it’s not mine, which was a relief, I was a little worried it would be.  She’s bossy, asks quite a lot of rhetorical questions and I enjoy writing her.

I’m looking forward to interviewing my other characters too.  I was worried about all of my characters ending up all sounding the same, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.  And really, I’m not sure why I thought it would.  When I was little I loved playing make believe and would often have a whole cast of characters when there was just me or me and one friend playing.  And I’ve been told that when I was playing with my Barbies, you’d think there was a whole group of kids in my room because I’d be doing all the voices for all the different dolls.

I’ve also been ordering stuff.  I found a stationary firm online that let you have home accounts as well as business accounts and I’ve ordered myself a whiteboard and a few other bits and bobs.  I’ve put a bid on one of those tiny computers that I found on eBay too.  I may very well get out bid or next time I post I could be tapping away on a laptop no bigger than a hardback book!

I want to start writing!

I’ve made a deal with myself, I am going to start writing my first draft on the 1st June, regardless of whether or not I’ve got the whole story outlined, and I have permission to write crap.  But before then I have to try and get as much worked out as I can, stop getting distracted by other things and work harder.

I’ve been alternately working on character development, world building (which seems to keep getting more important) and plotting.  I’ve been using Holly Lisle’s notecarding method, which seems to work quite well for me.  It’s good to get all my random ideas down without worrying about whether they fit anywhere – before they flit away never to be seen again.  It also seems to spark other ideas and I’ll have little flurries of activity, then a pause and then another burst of creativity.

I came across these posts on Rachel Vincent’s blog where she talks about using a similar technique but with different coloured post its on a white board, which I must admit does appeal to the stationary addict in me – and has lead to me plastering my notes and index cards in coloured stickers.

I was planning on writing from multiple POV but I don’t seem to have produced any plot cards from the hero’s POV, about 3 from the villain’s POV and all the rest are the heroine, so that idea might be scrubbed.  But I don’t know because I do have a couple of hero POV scenes in my head, they just don’t seem to serve that much purpose, other than to find out some more about him.

Really, I’m itching to start writing but I know that I need more figured out before I start.  I still have a few glaring questions in my mind I need to answer before putting pen to paper.  So I’m going to spend the rest of this week and next week answering them, getting a better grip on my characters, arranging my plot cards into some semblance of a logical order and preparing to start the writing.  Where the real fun/stress begins!

Kaput

I don’t seem to be getting anywhere.  Whenever I come up with an idea and feel like I’ve got one aspect of the story nailed, something else falls to pieces.  I’ve decided which of my endings I like best now, but that’s made the beginning completely unravel.

Self doubt has set in – you know the thing… Why am I bothering?  It’s not as if I’ll write anything good.  Someone else is bound to have done my story before and better.  Etc

I think what I really need to do is get started.  Actually do some writing before I beat myself up completely and talk myself out of even trying but now that I’ve broken my beginning and lost all sense of my male lead I can’t really do that.

So I am searching the net for pictures that look like the images I have of my characters in my head and I’m going to work on character development and world building for a while.  Let my muse ponder plot undisturbed for a little while and see if she can fix the beginning for me.

First Snag

Last night I started having a go at working out a detailed novel outline.  Unfortunately, it sparked a few questions about my hero and I may have to give him a bit of a rethink.  I’ve already changed him quite a bit from what I originally envisaged (he started off as an American detective but somehow mutated into a British Doctor) but I think I’m going to have to fiddle again.

So I’m off on my lunchbreak with my notebook and pen to scrawl notes and try and work things through on paper.

The beginning

It’s all supposed to start with an idea isn’t it?  Well I’ve got one of them.  Several actually, but only one has the delicious hero and the slightly scatty comic relief respectively smouldering and bouncing around my head, (the heroine is still a little hazy but she’s getting closer).  It’s also the only story that I’ve got much more than a concept – this one has a beginning, a bit of a middle and quite a few endings (I’m indecisive!) – so it was the obvious choice really.

At the moment, I am very much in the research, planning and outlining stage.  I stumbled upon Paperback Writer, Lynn Viehl’s blog, and it has been invaluable to me.  Her advice and links to other resources have been just the sort of thing I need.  I am very much a planner and just jumping straight into something isn’t for me, I like to know where I’m going.  So, the advice on plotting and outlining has been extremely helpful and I can see it being the difference between me writing a few pages, not being able to decide where to go next so giving up; and following it through to the end.