Writing Scenes

My WIP #1 began as a dream that is now the middle of the story, and I had to work backwards to figure out how the MCs ended up there in the tale. But I also just winged it when I began writing it. What started as an exercise to see if I could write anything that was novel length led to me cranking out 80,000 words in a month, so I guess the exercise worked.

I'm normally very organized, and as I look back at that experience I'm still a little surprised that I just jumped right into it with no plans at all. Not that there's anything wrong with winging it; there's a wonderful kind of energy that comes from just jumping right in. But I'm finding that there are a lot of things I might (all right, should) have considered, when I was doing all that leaping.

I've picked up a few books on writing recently, and now that I'm on vacation I actually had time to start reading one of them. It's called Make a Scene - Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time by Jordan E. Rosenfeld.

The information has been very informative for this new writer, and I've had a several epiphanies as I study it and stew upon the information--especially in conjunction with input from my critique group. One thing that I've been really interested in relates to my work on description and the Show/Don't Tell issue.

Rosenfeld talks about how important it is to set the scene to ground your characters and keep them from becoming talking heads, that it may seem like mere background but is more like rich soil from which your story can grow.

The scene we set can be initally like stage directions for a play. It doesn't have to be perfectly established at first, and you can make notes to yourself--something like your characters being in a specific location like a restaurant with a reminder to yourself to research foods and smells unique to it. Your setting may not come to you all at once because some settings can and should have depth.

**light bulb goes off**

I realized something that could help me with my descriptions--using the five senses. Another 'duh' moment for me, but it was one that really excited me because it seems doable.

How do you set your stage? Are you able to juggle it all in your mind and don't have to take notes? Are you one of those writers who has maps drawn of your fantasy world? How much prep work do you do before you plow into the actual writing?

On a side note, since I mentioned being on vacation, this is my hubby and I at Lydgate Beach on Kaua'i.

What a Judge Looks For in a Book

Interesting post here by Michele Paige Holmes. She's a romance judge for the Whitney Awards, and she makes some great points. It's long but worth the read.

I Feel ... Pretty (no, that's a song) ... Stylish

Wow. Just wow. Guess what I got today?

Ian Bontems over at The Eye of a Little God kindly passed on his Stylish Blogger Award to me (and several other folks). You ought to click on over there and check out his site and his other recipients.

Of course, as with most things in life, it comes with a little stipulation. I have to share 7 things about me. It's kind of hard to think of 7 things that might be remotely interesting.

1.  I have six children (yours, mine, and ours--though I birthed five of them) and (nearly) seven grandchildren. I'm flying to Hawaii on Thursday to be with my daughter when she has the 'nearly' one, and I'm freakin' excited about it and seeing her other children. I wish it was easier to see my oldest son who lives in China with his wife and two children.

2.  I'm a Navy brat and spent my growing up years moving around. I was born on the East Coast and have lived in Arizona, South Korea, California (multiple times), the Philippines, Utah, and Wyoming before I did #3 below.

3.  I joined the Army and always felt like a traitor. My dad was career Navy, my older brother went to the Naval Academy, my sister joined the Navy and married a career Navy man. I was a closet Navy fan during the Army/Navy game. I lived in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Colorado (and Utah and California again).

4.  I was one of the first women assigned to my Signal Corp unit in Germany (Liz, the other woman, got there in the morning, and I arrived in the evening).

5.  I have taken college courses in every community I've lived in since I got my Associates Degree from BYU. I always thought I'd eventually get my Bachelor's Degree, but I may be taking a less traditional route to higher education according to Adam Heine.

6. I currently work for my city as the city recorder (most states call us municipal clerks). It's jokingly called the second oldest profession. I work with the city council, am responsible for the city's records (among other things), and serve as the city's election official--and it's an election year.

7. In 2005 I embraced my inner geek and admitted my Harry Potter obsession and joined the Leaky Lounge. Several months later I was invited to become a moderator there, and on March 31st I'll have been doing that for five years. I was fortunate to have been part of that incredible frenzy that was the two years before the release of Deathly Hallows. We would spend 3-4 hours every day just trying to keep up with everyone's theories. And Jo still managed to do so many unexpected things. I was interviewed on a local TV show about if I thought Harry would live--and I called it right. I said he would die but he would live.

Okay, so now I get to pass this lovely thing on to 15 blogs (I can count, but you know how it goes) I have recently started following (define recently).

*drum roll*  - in (kinda) alphabetical order:

Becky Taylor

Brodi Ashton

Donna Hosie

Jenn Johansson

Kimberly at Musings with My Muse

Natalie Palmer Books

Robin Weeks

Suzie at My Not So Secret Writing Life

Travis at One Word, One Rung, One Day

Book Review - 'Courting Miss Lancaster' by Sarah M. Eden

I enjoy books that are set in the Regency period of England in the early 1900th century. I love the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester and the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell.

I'm also a sucker for a good love story.

On an aside, isn't it curious that if a book has a love story but the writer is a woman, it's a romance? Yet if a book has a love story but is written by a man, it's drama or adventure? The Bourne series by Robert Ludlum is absolutely a love story (much more, I know, but at the core it's a love story).

Regency romances (see this article) are actually a romance subgenre and include styles reminiscent of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. I have Austen's complete works and am slowly accumulating Heyer's (either in paper or audio format). There's something fun about reading one of these books, and there are times when they're just what I need.

I was reading a post at the beginning of the year here where Shanda posed the question of which book she should read next. Courting Miss Lancaster was on the list of options, and several people commented on how much they enjoyed the story. Of course I checked to see if my library had it. It was on hold, but I only had to wait a few days before it was available.

The story is set in 1806 and involves the Little Season (coming out) of a Miss Athena Lancaster, who has this fortunate opportunity because her sister Persephone married a very rich and titled gentleman, Duke Adam Kielder. The Lancasters are well bred but not wealthy, so Adam takes the younger siblings under his wing and even bestows a substantial dowry on each of his sisters-in-law (though it will be some years before the two youngest girls are old enough to go through the marriage mart).

Now Adam is a serious grump (and one of my favorite characters in the book) and hates to go to all the ridiculous dances and parties involved. He has a good friend Harry Windover who is also well bred but poor. Harry loves to socialize and attend parties, so Adam decides to enlist his help by being responsible for escorting Athena to these events so she can meet eligible, prospective husbands.

Harry only agrees because he is in love with Athena and, while his own poverty rules him out as a suitor, he can at least make sure Athena finds a man worthy of her.

There's a lot of humor in this story, and the love story is very sweet. I enjoyed how Eden slowly helps us to know and understand the various characters. In the George Heyer and Jane Austen books, we see how hard it was to be a poor woman, but in Courting Miss Lancaster we're shown that it was hard on the men, too, who were of a certain station yet with very limited options.

The reading is less stilted than Heyer or Austen, so it goes very quickly. I ordered my own copy of it, and I'm reading it aloud to my husband.

I recommend this book and look forward to getting my hands on Seeking Persephone, since it's been accepted for publication.

Becky's Contest

My friend Becky Taylor is having a contest--and the prize is the ARC of Lauren Oliver's newest book, Delirium. You can check it out on her blog post here. If you comment that you'd like to be put in for the prize and click to follow her blog, you're in the running. If you post about her contest on your blog, you'll be entered twice for the prize.

This Writing Thing - Is it a Waste of Time?

First off, I'm not looking for a new career. I have one that I like just fine, and I'll retire in ten years anyway. I'm learning to write because I want to learn to write. And not just business letters or minutes (booooring!).

I want to be published as a kind of validation for having reached a certain level, being good enough. Graduating, if you will.

I'm getting older, and I love to learn new things. I don't want to be one of those senior citizens who sees the world through a very narrow filter, unwilling to consider new things. I want to always be teachable. I want to be creative and make something that brings me (and hopefully others) pleasure.

I've worried that as I've been spending hours and hours on it (not just on the writing itself, but on reading blogs about writing by authors or aspiring authors, listening to podcasts about writing, reading articles about things writers should and shouldn't do, attending writing conferences, etc.), that it's taking over my life.

And for what?

I'm very much a person who needs to have something to show for the time I've spent working on it. Even if it's just for me.

So it was interesting today to read a blog post by a guest writer for Natalie Whipple. Adam Heine talks here about a writer's education. He hits the nail on the head. I especially love this part:

... But what kind of job demands years of uncompensated service before giving you even a chance at wages?

All of them, it turns out. It's called college.

College is 4+ years of work that pays nothing and (these days) doesn't even guarantee a job at the end. That's exactly what we're doing when we sit at our computer, typing a story nobody may ever buy.

It's better than college, because it's free. Better because it's easier to hold a job while writing than studying. Better because if we don't get a job with our first degree (i.e. novel), we can write another and learn more...

So long as you live life, working to get published is as valid an education as any other.

Keep writing. It's your education.

Nice, Adam. Well said.

Show, Don't Tell

When I first began this writer's journey, my friend Donna Hosie shared this delightful quote by Anton Chekhov:

Don't tell me the moon is shining;

show me the glint of light on broken glass.

 I find myself beating my head against the wall at times as I try to really get my hands around this concept. Even the way he phrases it seems poetic to me--and poetry doesn't come out of these lips (nor my fingertips on a keyboard).

When I first began A Change of Plans it was in third person. At that point in time I would never consider writing in first person because it would be too ... embarrassing as I mentioned here. Twelve thousands words into the story, and I knew I didn't have the voice right. The only alternative was go with first person, so I rewrote it, and it just flowed. I managed to get out 80,000+ (very rough--still rough) words in 30 days.

I've read tons about writing, since I began the process of editing this project (and began two others works), and in late December I joined a couple of critique groups at David Farland's Writers' Groups. All I can say is, "Wow." What I'm learning from my groups is what I'd hoped that creative writing class I took (and dropped) last September would teach me.

I submitted the first half of Chapter 1 and got back input from three other writers. I learned so much from that experience, and the main theme was 'show, don't tell.'

When I compared the first person, storytelling narrative of A Change of Plans I could never liken it to Chekhov's beautifully descriptive prose. For one thing, my main character doesn't go around talking like that. She's a regular person, who talks like a regular person.

But in the comments made (and explanations given) by my critiquers, I suddenly found myself "getting it" as far as what show, don't tell can mean--even in my first person, storytelling narrative. Maybe especially in my first person, storytelling narrative. It seems so obvious now that I feel a little stupid (that's an understatement to save my self esteem).

Nonetheless, I feel like I've made a huge breakthrough here.

Of course, it takes more words to show than it does to tell, and my manuscript at this moment is at 99,426 words. And I'm only on the second chapter replacing a lot of the telling with showing. Which means I'm going to have to do a lot of chopping in order to keep it under 100,000 words, since going above that, I understand, can be a reason for potential agents to not even consider it--if I decide to try querying.

*sigh*

Plus, I've been paying particular attention to the books I read, and there's a lot of telling going on. So how do you know when it's too much? There has to be some telling. We're storytellers, after all.

Book Review - 'Second Kiss' by Natalie Palmer

My copy of this book arrived earlier this week, and I started reading it that night, though it took a couple of days before I had time to really delve into it.

The main character, Gemma, is subject to the usual dumb mistakes that adolescents make, but she has a real flair for taking them a step further. This obviously causes her great embarrassment, and the social blunders take their toll on her social life.

That's not really all that bad as far as she is concerned as long as her closest friend, Jess, is there. He was assigned to walk her to school when she first started attending, and their friendship began there. He became her a protector, and he's been doing it ever since, providing her with strength, understanding, comfort, and support. He truly has her back.

But little does she know just how much this handsome, popular boy relies on her for his own strenth.

I love the way the story develops over the course of about 18 months. You get to see the long-time friendship of these two young people and watch as it evolves with them. Any friendship can survive in good times, but its true mettle is how it grows and changes in adversity.

I got sucked into the story and couldn't put the book down. My time on the exercise bike and the treadmill this morning went way too fast, and I had to take the book with me to work today, so I could finish it at lunch.

I really enjoyed the character development. When I was a girl, I grew up on Nancy Drew--until I found my library had this even older (seeming) series about a girl named Judy Bolton. I enjoyed Judy's mysteries so much more than Nancy's because Judy was believable. She wasn't the perfect at everything character that Nancy always was. Judy made mistakes, and even more importantly, Judy grew.

Palmer's characters aren't one dimensional but come across as flawed human beings, who make mistakes--just as we all do. Junior high is one of the most brutal battlegrounds youth have to survive. I liked how the characters--even the 'villains'--had the ability to show good qualities or at least be worthy of some sympathy by other characters and the reader.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it.

New Books

I love audiobooks because I can get in so much more reading. I listen as I drive to work, do laundry, cook, clean house, do yardwork, and even some mindless activities at work. I have a monthly membership with Audible. I found out about them from someone in my department who has a lengthy commute every day. The first nearly five years we lived here I had an even longer commute and appreciated the audio collection at my library. I'd ride the bus and work on some kind of needlework, while I listened to cassette tapes. That was before MP3 players and iPods.

I have one son who doesn't read very fast but loves books--I used to read to them when they were growing up. And not just childrens' books. I introduced them to a variety of authors including Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffrey, Michael Crichton, and even Mary Higgins Clark to name a few. My hubby also prefers to listen to books, so we'd already purchased a lot of books either on cassette or CD. They can be very expensive. We've got the entire Wheel of Time and Harry Potter series in both paper and in audio (and Mortal Instruments, Vampire Academy, Mercy Thompson, Alpha & Omega, Inkheart, Eragon complete series in both paper and digital).

I've purchased other series in both as well, and anything by Brandon Sanderson (with Warbreaker I purchased the book, downloaded the audiobook, and when I didn't like the voice characterization of one of the characters, the GraphicAudio version as well). I think one of these days I'll have to decide on one medium, but I can't quite give up my paper tomes yet.

Anyway, sometimes Audible will have a sale on. I was able to download Gone with the Wind, Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo (and some others) for less than $5 each. I pay a relatively small amount each  month and receive one credit, which equates to (usually) one book. Other times, Audible discounts the cost of extra credits if you purchase three at a time.

Over the holidays, I took advantage of such a sale, plus I still had my December and January credits. So, I've downloaded some books from my wish list.

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein

Timeline by Michael Crichton

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

The top three books I've already read. Starship Troopers is one of my all-time favorite books, and I cringe (or want to shriek) when I think of the travesty that was the film version. The last two I've not read yet, so it should be fun. I've got the paper book for Clockwork Angel, which is a Victorian era story from the Mortal Instruments series. The Golden Compass I've heard great things (or vile things depending upon who I talk to).

SQUEEEEE .... and Indecision

SQUEEEE!!!

Finally!

Finally I impleted the proof/edit of WIP #1. Another read through to simply pick up any typos left, and it would be ready to hand off to an editor for input and suggestions.

Except for one thing.

In Edit #4 I added a character and felt it necessary to remove another plotline because I was concerned the two didn't work well together. Some of the feedback from a few of my betas was that they really liked the plotline I removed. But I was unmoved.

Until the last couple of days. And now I'm thinkin' I may want to put it back.

This story will never end ...

I Need a Time Turner

I love goal setting. It makes me feel in control of my life and helps to keep me focused, when I begin to drift. This is especially true as I get older. I've got friends looking toward retirement in a few years wondering what they're going to do with their time.

Really? Really?

I don't have enough hours in my day for everything I want to do and, unfortunately, as I age that time seems to fly by so much faster and the time it takes me to do something so much longer. I want to grab a time turner (thanks Jo), and be in two places at once. Imagine what I could accomplish in my day?

Who needs sleep anyway?

I say this as I continue to work on the proof/edit of WIP #1. It still amazes me that it looks so differently on paper than it does on my monitor. It's like reading a book.

Did I really just say that?