Shiny & Sparkly & New

I made a nice new little cover for my fantasy novel, I HAD TO FALL, yesterday during lunch break. I didn't spend much time on it, mostly because I don't really like spending my spare time designing. I mean, that's what I do forty hours a week. I like other hobbies—like writing—in my free time.

Anyway, the broken cityscape is appropriate for the war-torn landscape of Deyl's world.

Pretty, right? Or not? Thoughts?

And check out the synopsis on my writing page...

Good Reads: Game of Thrones

There isn't much praise or complaint I can make about the Song of Ice and Fire series which hasn't already been said. To simplify, it's really good.

Not much, I know. If you're a Tolkien fan, read it. It's not quite the same thing but there's a good chance you'll like it. And if you think stories that include dragons, wargs and magic aren't really your thing, give this a try anyways. It's not high fantasy in the traditional sense. The fantastical elements always seem to be in the background, being part of the world, but the story is all about the characters and their lives.

And lots of war. Death n destruction a plenty.

Like so many others, I picked up a copy of Game of Thrones after watching the show. If you enjoyed the HBO version, you'll like the book. GRR Martin has been involved with the writing and production of the show, which is probably part of the reason is follows his storyline so perfectly.

A bonus: one of the complaints I've heard about the book is the difficulty in keeping track of the many characters, their viewpoints and their storylines. If you think that's a problem, watch the show first. Once you have a face and personality to match to the character, keeping them clear while you read is no problem at all.

Happy reading!

Real life.

Real life, it sure gets in the way of digital life, eh? I've been barely more than a ghost on here, fb, twitter, aw, and authonomy for the past couple weeks. First I was knocked over by the first cold of the season, then my mom came out west for a week-long visit here, and now I'm scrambling to get ready for Halloween, another season of teaching knit class, and my ten-day trip through California that starts in... 19 days! Ah!

Which also means I haven't had much time to write. Which sucks, because I hate putting down the first draft once I get rolling. Dang. 

What I have been able to get done with this first draft in the past couple weeks is... interesting. I think I was on about chapter eight or nine, when I realized that I needed to make a major change to the characters. Essentially, I had two female characters that were so similar to each other (both happy little friends of the protagonist) that I knew I could condense them into one character to move the plot forward faster. Which seemed like a great idea, until I held the idea up to my character grid and saw that I would be left with only two female characters and about eight male characters. Bit of an imbalance that I wouldn't be happy with.

So I brainstormed another solution. I can cut one of the men (who I already had some issues with in terms of character development) and use one of those two females in his place. It changes her essential purpose completely, yet still leaves her character intact. Instead of being a happy little friend, she's now a happy little friend with a seriously evil ulterior motive. Which makes her way, way more interesting and solves my initial problem. I'm happy with the idea.

Good thing I can at least brainstorm while ill / visiting with mom.

Normally, I'd just push forward with the story from here and worry about reworking those characters in the first edit. This time I think I'll go back and change it (rough and dirty though the changes may be) before I continue. It's a pretty major change, and I'll feel better about moving on if I just fix it now.

So if I can find some time to get back to writing before California, that's what I'll do...

Outlining

Some people outline, some don't. Me? I outline like a crazy person.

The last few posts I've talked about how the outline process is going. Right now, pretty good. I wanted to be a bit further along than I am at this moment, but that's okay. And here's why. I was guesstimating how long it would take me to finish the outline, based on the first two books I wrote. It's taken longer than I thought it would, so I started wondering if that's because this book is YA and quite different from the first two novels. Then I thought, maybe I've just managed to become a more detailed outliner? And there is the answer, folks. I checked.

I started writing my first MS when the outline was complete at 4K words. 
I started writing the sequel to that when the outline was complete at 6K words.
My current outline is at 13K words.

It could all be mumbo jumbo... but I don't think it is. I still have more fine-tuning to work through on the outline, specifically turning bullet points into finished thoughts that complete each chapter's events from start to finish. But those parts that are already done feel really, really complete. Like I'm ready to go with a fully detailed map of where the chapter and the whole book should go. Or even better, like I'm armed for battle with a semi-automatic machine gun, rather than the shotgun I had before.

So there it is. I hope the extra time spent at this stage will mean the writing process goes faster, smoother. We shall see...

What about you? If you're a crazy outliner like me, have you found that your outlines have grown more or less detailed from one MS to the next?

Just a quick note

Super busy the past couple of days, at work and just... life in general. I've still managed to get some more outlining and storming-of-the-brain done on my WIP, but that's been about all. There simply isn't enough time in the day!

My boss came back today after being gone for three weeks on holiday. With a small staff in a small office, that kind of absence takes it toll on the rest of us, so I'm damn glad she's back. This should mean I can start, sometime in the next month, to work a normal eight-hour day again! Very exciting. Think of the possibilities. I might actually get to sleep again.

Anyway, I gotta cut out early. Lots to do... and miles to go before I sleep!

We have a title!

Okay, some success since yesterday's post:

I messed around some more with the synopsis, and did get Vera talking sooner. Not as soon as I thought would be necessary, but that led me to something else…

The working title: SPEECHLESS.

It might not stick, but it'll do the trick for now. I also came up with an external crisis that I like, and that meshes well with the rest of the story and characters. I got far enough along in the synopsis today that I felt like switching over to my first draft character grid.

It was a good thing I did. Right away I can see plot holes and… I don't have enough characters! Over the next few days I'll jump back and forth between the synopsis and character grids, filling in those plot holes and adding some more characters. I've already found another character floating around in the free space in my mind who fits in as a nice little antagonist with my current cast.

And what did I say about the trilogy split revealing itself in the process? It did :)

To be honest, I'm kind of looking forward to working with a character who doesn't say a peep until a third of the way into the story. It'll be a challenge, creating interaction and engaging the reader while limiting Vera to non-verbal communication. But a challenge is a good thing.

For a Monday, it was a good day! Must be because it's a holiday...

Back at it!

Started writing my next novel today. I don't have a working title to share with you lovely folks yet, but soon. I promise.

So, what did I decide to write? I'd been unsure about what to do next (see previous posts where I bemoaned this indecision) when Lisa Desrochers blogged about just such a dilemma. And I decided that, although I'd like to go back and work on the sequel to my first novel, to instead write something new, and in turn that I should write the fantasy novel (which turns out, might also be YA) that I really want to write. Fantasy might not be the cool thing these days, but who knows. Maybe this story will go somewhere. What really matters is that the story, the characters, have already become real in my head. I WANT to tell their story.

Long story short (har-de-har), I buckled down today and starting writing out the synopsis for the whole story. I got lots down, but I've already run into a bit of a dilemma: my main character doesn't speak (although she interacts with) to any other characters until like halfway through the story. That's gotta change.

I'm also missing some sort of key crisis or motivation. There's a tonne of internal conflict, but not enough external. Plus, I think this looks like a trilogy, and I'm not sure how much should go in book one, or where to split it. 

Tomorrow I'll go back and mess around with the synopsis, try to get Vera (the MC) talking sooner, and see if I can figure out what our external crisis is. Once I get those things covered the split should reveal itself naturally - I hope. With any luck, I'll have a good, solid synopsis done by tomorrow evening. Then next week I can start the chapter breaks and character grids...

And lastly, in other news, I joined Absolute Write the other day. Check me out right here!