New Year, new plans?

No, actually, I think my plans for this year are probably about the same as they were last year.  But the resolutions, they are different.

First, let's check out last year's resolutions: 

1. Intentionally exercise at least three times a week.FAIL. A lot of fail. I managed it for, oh, a couple weeks.  But then my dad came out for a visit, and that always throws my schedule off.  And then it was summer, and hot.  And then I went to visit my sister. And then my family came to stay with me. And then I wrote a novel in a month. And then my family came back again.  
2. Blog daily. FAIL.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  It was a nice idea.
3. Read lots, at least a book a week.  YES!  I'm not sure if I read a new book every single week, and I didn't actually document them very well, but I did read lots, sometimes three or more books in a week, so I think it all evened out.

And now for this year's resolutions:

1. Finish all of the movies on my shelf before buying new ones.  As of Jan 1, I had 24 unwatched movies.  As of today, I'm down to 15. 
2. Finish an old project before starting a new one.  I have 13 in-progress projects.  Well, 12, now, because I finished one yesterday.  And I'm close to finishing another tonight.  If you want to see the whole extravaganza of procrastination shaming, you can visit my crafty Tumblr at daniemakesthings.tumblr.com
3. Finish the unread books on my shelf. Current count, 67.  Plus 2 in progress.  Plus several ebooks on my phone, but I'm not counting those.
4. Finish the first draft of Frenchie and start on edits.
5. Get my office organized.  With the visit from my niece, lots of stuff moved into the office in an effort to baby-proof the house.  And then we moved rooms around so my new roommate could move in, and my craft room/spare room stuff had to relocate to my office, too.  So I've got my desk, my five bookshelves, a recliner, two boxes of still-unpacked office stuff, four boxes of still-unpacked random crap, four big Rubbermaid bins of yarn, a big box of purses, and about a dozen bags of craft projects (or projects-to-be), plus a closet full of winter coats and costumes.  This will be a long-term project.

It looks like this year is the year of finishing crap.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, actually.  I've got a bad habit of starting on new things before I finish stuff.  (Could you tell?)  

I'm pretty sure that I can make these resolutions this year.  I feel as if I should have one or two that are more challenging, but in all honesty, finishing Frenchie and starting the edits is going to be rough.  Once I realized that this story is actually one that I enjoy AND is commercially viable, it suddenly seemed scary.  Up until this point, I've either not liked the end result of what I've written, or it didn't really fit into any particular genre and was therefore not really marketable, so there's been no pressure to do anything other than write it.  But this one... once it's polished, I'm going to take a deep breath, write and polish a query letter, and start looking for an agent.  That's big.  (At least, it's big for me.)

Let me think about it

If you follow me on Facebook, you probably saw a post a few weeks ago about how I was doing a lot of thinking and being all existentially contemplative.  I was thinking about a lot of different things, but among those things was this: I may not be a traditional plotter, but I do plan out a lot in my head.

I've realized over the past few months that I can't just sit down and write.  Well, I can't sit down and write a whole story.  I have to let the first part of the story spill out of me in one big blast, but then I have to wait.  I wrote the first chapter of "Frenchie" (my current WIP) about three months ago.  Maybe more.  And since then, I built my plot wall to keep track of where I'm going, but I haven't done much more with it.  Except think.

Here's the thing - the thinking is a big part of it for me.  I had this Big Important Letter to write, and I kept putting it off and putting it off.  I drafted it in my head several dozen times, but I didn't put it down on paper.  Finally, at the last possible minute, I sat down at the computer, and it just poured out of me.  One draft, a few brief tweaks, and I was really happy with the result, as were the others who had to approve the Big Important Letter before it could be sent.

As much as I would like to be writing "Frenchie" right now, I've realized that I'm still in my equivalent of a plotting phase.  I've wondered a few times if I should write down any of my plotting, but it doesn't feel like it will help.  I'm pretty sure I just need to let it happen.

But it's almost ready... I can feel the story bubbling inside me.  Is that weird?  Maybe.  But that's just the way I work.

I didn't win

And that's not a bad thing!  Especially since I definitely did NOT finish even the first draft of the WIP.  But again, that's okay.  I've got a pretty good feel for the characters, but I get hit with inspiration at the weirdest times.  I'm rolling with it, and I'm happy with what I have so far.  Plus, I've totally got a plot wall running. Except it's sort of a pantsed plot wall.

I'm keeping notes on the physical details of characters as I go, so I keep their appearances consistent, and I'm making stickies for big plot things as I go. The thinking here is that if I keep my plot points mapped as I go, it'll be much easier to move them around when it's time to edit, since I'll already have them all written out.

We'll see how this works...

I like it.

I've been slowly unpacking all of my things into the new house (despite having lived here for almost two months!), and I'm taking my time because I want to actually put things away, not just get them out of boxes.  Of course, I've also occasionally been distracted by things that I unpack.  One of the things I unpacked this weekend was my NaNoWriMo story from 2007.

It was actually... good.    It was, well, weird.  It didn't feel like I wrote it.  That is, I don't really remember writing it.  I can actually pick out a voice, and, well, wow.

I'm not saying it's perfect, not by a long shot.  There were errors that I picked up right away, like the MC being allergic to nuts, then getting an almond mocha coffee.  Oh, and it's not finished.

But I actually like something that I wrote.  And that's promising.

A bump in the road

I was doing so well! I was writing almost every day, and getting close to the 5k mark.  And then...

Are any of you superstitious or OCD?  I started writing this story by hand, and I feel the need to finish the same way, at least this draft.  It's just how I need to write.  If I start by hand in a green notebook with my black Sarasa pen, I need to finish it in green notebooks with black Sarasa pens.  

Unfortunately, I dropped my pen in the car last week, and it's hiding under one of the seats.  I don't know which seat.  And it's been flipping hot out, so I didn't really want to sit outside, digging around in my car.  But!  It's a weekend, it's early (and therefore not so blazing hot) AND I finally got my garage clean enough to get my car inside, so after I finish this post, I'm going to go recover my pen and start writing again!

On the bright side, not writing things out has given me a chance to play around with things in my head, and I probably have another 3-4k ready to come out.  Yay!

Do any of you have these sorts of quirks, Blogglings?  I know writers can be a very... quirky kind of people!

Mixed emotions

I almost cried at work today, and it only took a few seconds for me to figure out why.  Here's the deal: back in March or April, I applied to instruct a workshop.  In May, I got an email telling me that I was accepted not only to co-instruct one session, but that I would be able to co-instruct all five workshop sessions at this conference.  Hooray, right?  I was pretty psyched.

Yesterday, the boss-lady gave me the program for the conference so I could decide if there were any sessions I wanted to attend.  I got crazy busy and didn't get a chance to look at it yesterday, but today I started flipping through it just before lunch.  I found a bunch of cool sessions, and then decided to check out the other workshop sessions.  I flipped through to the workshops, and there was my name.  Right there, in the program, I'm listed as one of the instructors.

Of course, it made me giggle with glee!  And then I had to show a couple of my work-friends, most of whom were not quite so excited as I was.  Then I went back to my desk and felt like crying.  Why?  Why would something that I want to do make me want to cry?

Because I realized that it's still what I want to do.  I want to be teaching again.  I have never been so happy or satisfied in a job as when I was teaching.  And I can't do that now.  If I wanted to get back into it, I'd have to go back to school and get at least a Master's, if not a PhD.

Don't get me wrong, I love writing.  (And for anyone interested, I'm past the 4k mark on my latest WIP.)  But I'm not going to fool myself into thinking I can make a living off of writing.  I don't think my novel-length works are quite ready for publication, and even if they were, I don't think I can write fast enough to make a living at it.

I'm feeling a weird mix of emotions right now, but I'm working with it, and trying to figure out what else I can do to keep myself happy.  I know that I should put all of my happy-eggs in one basket - I'm going to make sure that I'm doing lots of stuff with the theatre, and doing lots of knitting and crochet and cross-stitch, and cuddling my puppy, and spending time watching bad movies with friends.  All of these things make me happy.

And I'm not saying that I'm miserable in my job now, because I'm not.  I just don't love it the way I loved teaching.

Hrm.  This post was a bit of a downer.  But it don't let that fool you!  I'm not down, I'm just trying to figure myself out.

First Draft Ick

I'm just over 1100 words into my new WIP, and already I'm looking at it and thinking, "I can't use this!"

But then I started thinking about it, and I realized that's the way I work.  I write a first draft to get to know my characters.  The story isn't going to actually start until probably about 10k, but that's okay.  That first 10k gives me backstory.  It lets me meet my characters.  It lets me figure out their quirks.  It lets me realize which adjectives I'm using way too often for each of them. ;)

And when I'm done this first draft?  I won't just edit what I've got.  I'll do a full re-write.

I can hear the screeches from the plotters out there.

That's just how I work.  My first draft is the equivalent of an outline.  There may be a few scenes here and there that I'll keep, a few phrases that just stick, but the second draft is, for me, where the story becomes a real story and not just back story.  The next edit will look more like what most people probably think an edit should look like.

The important thing, though? Once I sit down and do tonight's session, I'll be around 1500 words, and I'll be on a three-day writing streak.  It feels so good to be writing again!

National Crafting Month

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard by now about the earthquake in Japan.  I hate how useless disasters like that make me feel.  Maureen Johnson, though, isn't being useless.  Check out her blog, and think about donating. ShelterBox seems, to me, to be a brilliant idea!  If you're like me, trying to figure out some way to help from halfway across the globe, this could be your answer.

Now, on to my own stuff...

Did you know that this month is National Craft Month?  That's what the big sign at JoAnn's told me yesterday, and I'm pretty psyched about it.  If you haven't gathered from my other posts, I'm a big crafter.  BIG.  So it stands to reason that I should have BIG plans for this month.

So far, I've finished Otter's sweater, made her a card to go with it, a birthday card for Tanya, two back-up birthday cards, SIX bridal shower cards, three general cards, worked on Mum's cross-stitched Christmas stocking (for next year!), finished a dishcloth, and finished three more squares for my picnic blanket.  And we're not even halfway through the month.

My goal in this National Craft Month is to finish up at least one of my other outstanding projects.  I'm thinking the picnic blanket will get targeted, if only because I want to go on a picnic before it gets too hot out.  Of course, the Hufflepuff scarf is another good candidate.  Once one of those is finished, I'll move on to the next round of baby gifts (do people ever stop breeding??).

And, of course, I'll still be reading and writing.

Speaking of reading, I'm still working my way through Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.  Today, when I sat down to open the book at lunch (because that's still when I do most of my reading), I realized that I'm almost done.  It still doesn't feel like I've actually made any progress, if that makes sense.  There was a lot of the story that was presented as dreams/memories, and I think that's why I feel like I'm still waiting for the story to get going.  It's not dragging - I just feel like I'm waiting to get to the conflict, but the number of pages left makes me feel like I should expect the resolution soon.  Once I'm finished, I'll be able to give you a better impression.  I hope.

And speaking of writing, I sat down to continue editing "Happily Ever After" and realized that I need to just start over.  But that's not a bad thing!  The first draft let me get everything out.  Now, I can start working on the story using the characters as I knew them by the end.  Wish me luck!

A quiet weekend

I'm ready for a quiet weekend.  Sure, last weekend was somewhat quiet, but that's because I was so sick, I couldn't do anything at all.  Well, okay, I went to Savannah, but Sunday and Monday were fairly immobile.

This weekend, I don't have a lot planned.  I like that.  I've got the usual stuff - dance class, gaming, crafting - but not much that should keep me up late or wake me up early.  I'm looking forward to sleep.

More importantly, I've got a Shiny New Idea that's been percolating for about three weeks, and I think I'm ready to write down the bones of it!  I really do need to finish up Partners before I get deep into a new project, but I want to write down the basics of this new idea.  Maybe I'll finish the current draft of Partners this weekend!  That'd be awesome, because then I could get it out to my next set of readers, then edit some more, then take it to the theatre!

Hmm.

I have a new goal for the weekend, apparently.

Holiday preparations

Yes, it's that time of year again. Life is starting to get crazy.  Wait, starting?  Who am I kidding?  You've been following my blog - starting is a silly, silly word to use.

I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from writing.  It's pretty standard for me this time of year, actually.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  First, I'm just coming off of NaNoWriMo.  50,000 words in 30 days is a lot.  Although, actually, it didn't feel that bad this year.  What was hard, though, was learning to work with an outline, and trying to pay attention to how I was writing.  I didn't edit as I went, but I paid more attention to word choice, pacing, and all of the little technical things than I usually do.  Granted, I frequently made notes to myself like "fix pace," and "learn more words!" - but I noticed that I was using the same word over and over, or dragging out a fast scene.  I'm starting to realize where my weaknesses lie.

That brings me to reason two for a break.  Now that I have a better idea of what I need to work on, I want to spend some time reading other people's writing to find examples of what sort of things work and feel good to me when I read them.

And speaking of other people's writing... reason number three is that my critique group has just received a piece to read and critique, so I've got that to focus on.  I'm really looking forward to reading this one - I've heard about it for a while, and I can't wait to get started.  I want to be able to give it the attention it deserves.

Finally, it's the holiday season!  I'm having houseguests soon, so I've got to get my apartment cleaned, and try to get rid of some stuff from the spare room.  And of course, there's all the crafting and baking and drinking and sleeping it off! I've got a full schedule!

But no worries - I will continue reading and reviewing on Sundays, I will do a bit of fiction on Tuesdays to keep myself in practice, and I will be a bit more personal and chatty on Thursdays.  See you in a few days!

Storied-out

Hello, my bloggy friends!

Well, today is November 30th, the last day of National Novel Writing Month.  For the past 30 days, I've been working on a novel.  I've shown you a few excerpts.

Now that it's over, there's a definite sense of relief - while I learned that I can follow an outline, I also learned that sometimes, and idea doesn't fill as much story as I thought it would.  I'm pretty sure that the 50K word novella I wrote this month really should have been a 5K short story.

At least I realize now that, when I edit, I'll be cutting about 90% of November's output, and then I'll work with the other 10%, and I'll probably re-write most of that.  *sigh*

However, now that November is over, and I don't have the pressure to keep on with that project, I'm hoping that I'll end up with some more story ideas, and more to share on Tuesdays.  I plan to have some sort of flash fiction up for you next week!  Yay!

Can't... fiction...

I know, I know, Tuesday is usually fiction day, but I'm totally flaking this week and just babbling instead.

It's been a long week already, and it's only Tuesday.  There's just been so much to do!  I made and delivered a cake for a birthday party tonight (well, I made the cake yesterday, and delivered it tonight), I've been working on Otter's Super Secret Christmas Awesome, I've been working on another SooperSekrit project for Otter and Panda, and I've started working on a Christmas stocking cross-stitch for my mom.

Oh yeah, and I've been doing NaNoWriMo.  You can see my status in the sidebar there -->

And I'm also working full time.

And my puppy has been demanding attention.

So today, I just don't feel like writing.  I did a little bit of NaNo at lunch, but only because I felt like I had to.  I'm not enjoying my story.  I have an outline, and I'm sticking to it (mostly), so I've learned that I can outline and still make a project work.  Unfortunately, I realized after the first two or three chapters that this story just wasn't a very good one.  I sort of like the premise, though, and I think I can take everything I've done for NaNo and condense it into a short story - like 5K instead of 50K.

And that's okay.  I'm still going to finish the story, because you can't edit something that's not there, right?  It's just going to get a MAJOR slash job when I'm done.  And we won't even start on the continuity errors...  Luckily, I realize that NaNoWriMo produces a rough draft ;)

On Short Stories

If you've been following me for a while, you will have seen some samples of my writing.  I try to write a flash-fiction length piece on Tuesdays, but I often struggle with those pieces.  I was going through my Google Reader today, trying to catch up on my reading (I've been AFK for almost a week, and I had over 700 blog entries to read!  Down to about 400 now...) when I came across an entry that started my brain working.

Okay, I ran into a pile of things that got my brain going, but only one is relevant to this entry!  I can't remember who it was, or exactly what he/she was blogging about, but it included something about making sure you read what you write.

I realized that part of the reason I struggle with flash and short stories is simple: I don't read that type of writing.  Aside from a few blogs that post short stories occasionally, I don't read short things.  I read novels.  Especially epic novels.  That's just what catches my attention.

So here's my dilemma - do I keep struggling with flash, and also force myself to read more of it, or do I just give in and keep writing novels, because it's easier?  (Easier in that my brain likes that format, not easier in terms of actually getting the damn things finished and polished up.)

Advice? Suggestions?  Anecdotes?

NaNo - Yes, I'm doing it again

So for the seventh year in a row, I'm doing NaNoWriMo.

I've seen a lot about NaNo online lately, which is not surprising.  People seem to either love it or hate it - there really aren't too many who are lukewarm.  I am (obviously) a fan.  If you read my pre-NaNo post, you can see part of the reason I like it.  I learn something about myself and my writing every time I do NaNo.

I'm well on my way - I passed 11k tonight.  Unfortunately, I'm not really in love with my story.  Actually, that may not be an unfortunate thing.  Because I'm not deeply emotionally attached to the story, I'm much more flexible with it.  I had a brand new character show up, and I didn't have any idea what to do with her.  Now she's sticking around, and she'll provide challenges (physical, mental, and emotional!) to my MC.

Also, I don't hate my MC.  This is actually a bad thing.  He was supposed to be a total douchebag, and he is, but I don't hate him.  I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong... perhaps he's just so inept at what he's trying to do that I'm feeling some sympathy...

In any case, I'm all full of NaNo this week.  Next week, though, I'll try to be less NaNo-filled, since it's ALL OVER THE INTERNET and I'm sure you're bored with reading about it!

"What was I thinking??" or "How I Edit"

NaNoWriMo is about to get under way, which means I'll be shoving my inner editor into a box and ignoring him for a month.  (Funny, my inner editor is male.  Huh.  Any psychoanalysis on that, folks?)  Today, though, it is still October.  I thought that I'd give you a glimpse into what goes on in my head after I post something like I did on Tuesday night (rather late), then go back and read it again later.

First thoughts:  What?  WHY did I write that?  It sucks!

Next thoughts:  Okay, why does it suck?

It was quiet. Very quiet. (Not a BAD opening, but awfully vague.  Like "It was a dark and stormy night," only worse.  It feels cliche, and not in a good way.)

Samantha looked up from her computer. There was no movement in the room. She looked around - it was quiet and still. This was a bad sign. She stood up and moved away from her desk. Not a sound.  (Repetitive, and lots of telling, not showing.) 

"Shit," she muttered. The pillows on the couch were unmolested. The blanket on the floor was abandoned. (More telling instead of showing.)

"Casey?" Samantha called out. (Who is Casey? I thought I was being all clever and providing an amusing ruse, but after re-reading?  Yeah, not so much.)  Nothing. Her pulse picked up as she walked down the hall. She was terrified about what she might find around the corner, but she kept going. It was better to know than to imagine, she told herself. (These last two sentences don't flow together as a single thought.) As she approached the bedroom door, Samantha strained, trying to hear anything that was going on inside. Still, she heard nothing.  (I'm totally bored with the 'nothing.' Also, I've used that word twice in this paragraph, and it's a short one.)

Samantha reached out and pushed the door fully open. (So much telling, so little showing!) There lay Casey, curled up on Samantha's pillows, sound asleep. She let out a sigh of relief.  ("She" Samantha or "She" the dog?) Casey opened one eye, looked at her human, then closed her eyes again, sleeping as only a puppy can.  (This is a horrible attempt at a cliche that isn't really a cliche and it bothers me.)

Samantha backed out of the room, returning to her computer, oblivious of the pile of 'killed' socks under her bed. (Another botched attempt at cleverness.)

So that's what went through my head as I re-read it.  Next step?  Figuring out if a) it can be fixed and b) if I really want to bother trying to fix it.  In this case, I don't really want to bother.  I don't really like the idea, and there is virtually no character development.  It was definitely a case of forcing myself to write without really having any sort of plan.  At all.  Also, it was writing after my bedtime.  Once upon a time, I could stay up until all hours with no problems, but since I've become a grown-up with a day job, I need to get to bed.  If I try to be creative too late in the evening, I end up sewing my jeans to a shirt or writing something like this.

Perhaps I'll find another piece later on to show you my form of editing... (Be warned, I hate editing, and while editing, I tend to hate my writing!)

And in unrelatedness, Ruby is feeling better!  I took her in to the shop yesterday, and she stayed overnight, but today I picked her up and she's running nicely.  She's got a new catalytic converter (I still don't know what that does - I should Google it), but still has her old secondary fan.  Someday, when I'm a rich and famous writer, I'll get all of her bits replaced!  (Yeah, right!)  Until then, though, she's functioning well enough to get me to my day job.

Always Learning

My, how time flies! November is just around the corner, and each November for the past six years (sheesh, that's a long time!), I have participated in National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo. If you've never heard of it, I strongly recommend that you check them out. The basic goal is to write 50,000 words of new fiction in the month of November. I have met or passed that goal every year, although I did not always finished the story. Each time I have participated, I have learned something important about myself, and about my writing.

My first-ever finished novel came from the draft that I started during NaNoWriMo in 2004, called "It's All About the Shoes". It was utter crap, unfortunately, but that year I learned that I really can finish writing a novel, even if it's not a very good one. Up until that point, I had written a lot, but I had never managed to get to 'The End.' I would get bored, or a shiny new project would come along, and I would abandon my WIP for something else. This first year, I learned that it feels good to finish something. After 30 days and slightly over 50,000 words, I was invested in this piece – I needed to finish it. So I did.

During my second round of NaNoWriMo, I wrote "Fae," an adaptation of the story of Sleeping Beauty. That year, I learned that the best-laid plots can end up resulting in big, steaming piles of poo. I hated every word that I had written. The style was old-fashioned and hard to read. I didn't finish that one. I hit delete and actually got rid of the whole file, I hated it that much.

In 2006, though, I wanted to try it again. I took the same premise that I had used the previous year, but changed everything else – the character's names, the POV, the settings, you name it. That time around, I learned that sometimes, an idea just doesn't work for me. I really, REALLY loved the idea of the story, the idea of taking Sleeping Beauty and making the princess a horrible brat and all of the other bits and pieces that I tried to use. Finally, though, after scrapping the 50,000 words I wrote that year, and scrapping two other false starts in December and January, I gave in. That story was just not meant to come from me.

The next lesson was one that I probably already understood, but had never put into practice on such a large scale. In 2007, I wrote an untitled piece about a young woman in a bad relationship. It was dark – the woman's fiancé was a troubled man, and he took out his issues on her. His family was cruel, her family didn't get it, and on the whole, it was an unhappy piece. I did not write any more of it after November, but I learned that writing can be cathartic. That young woman was me. I had been in a bad place in my life, and in a funk, and I could not find my way out. As I wrote, though, something happened inside of me. I healed. By working out my issues on paper, I worked them out in my heart. I didn't finish that story, but I didn't have to. I felt better by the end of the month, and I was, finally, ready to move on with my life.

After NaNoWriMo 2008, I learned that I can fall in love with something I've written. That year was the year of "Happily Ever After," another princess story. This story, though, did not get trashed after the month was over. It took me several more months to get around to writing 'The End' for the first draft, but I did. I then put it away for a long time – over a year. When I picked it up again, I fell in love with the story. I did not, however, fall in love with my writing. I liked the overall tone and voice that I had managed to create, but a lot of the story felt slow, probably because of the adjective-related padding that tends to show up during NaNoWriMo. Now, "Happily Ever After" is a piece that I consider a WIP, because I am editing it. I am being ruthless, and I LOVE it! For the first time, I feel as if I have written something that (with some work) could be published.

Finally, last year, I learned that I cannot write a mystery, at least not with the writing technique that I prefer to use. In order to write a successful mystery, one must know whodunnit. You have to have a plan. If you don't know who the bad guy is, it's really hard to drop subtle hints. I did have some very impressive red herrings, since I hadn't really chosen the bad guy. I am too much of a 'pantser' to write a mystery right now. An outline is, well, mandatory. I decided, after NaNo, to read more mysteries, to see if I could figure out how to do it successfully. I learned something else – I don't like to read mysteries!

Novemeber is just around the corner... I can't wait to see what I'll learn this year!

More from the Archives (sort of)

That last little story was written in grade 8 (since you asked!).  I was 13.  I've come a long way, baby!

But the funny thing is, my process really hasn't.  I hated editing then, and I hate it now.  I like writing a piece, and calling it done.  I went back through this story, and attached to it were several 'drafts.'  Back then, the teacher graded us on not only on the final product, but on the whole process.  I had three 'drafts,' each of which had to be 'edited' by a classmate.

I worked backwards.

I wrote what I considered the final story first. Then I went back and made changes that I knew people would not like, so that they would have to be 'edited' into the form that was in the final draft.

Yeah, I know.  Kind of arrogant.

The 'outline' was done the same way - wrote the story, then made up an outline that went along with it.

These days, at least, I'm not totally convinced that my stories don't need editing.  In fact, I'm quite certain that they need an awful lot.  But I still like to write in one big chunk.  I don't like to write detailed outlines.  And I'm not a fan of editing.  If I could just turn my first draft over to someone else to finish, I'd be a happy camper.

But I'm doing it.  I'm learning to outline (sort of), and I'm editing as best I can.  I'm learning, and working at it, and if nothing else, I've improved my storytelling skills since I was 13!

Busy, busy bee

Well.

Have you ever had one of those days when you weren't sure what day it was? Not because you're just forgetful, but because everything has blurred together because you've got so much on the go?

I've got house guests. I'm working. I'm busy with theatre stuff. My puppy wants to spend every possible second in my lap. I've got a blanket to finish before Christmas, and I've started on making my own Christmas cards. I'm getting ready to bake and decorate a wedding cake. I'm really not sleeping enough.

Despite all of this, I'm feeling ready to write! I'm soooooo in the mood for writing! Funny, how I get my greatest levels of inspiration when I have the absolute least amount of time available for it. So I'm carrying my little blue notebook around in my purse, and my flash drive in my pocket, and jotting down all of these little ideas, and writing snippets whenever I can.

Maybe I should blame NaNo... After all, writing 50k in a month will teach you to write under pressure!

What's in a name?

This week, I've dealt with a lot of names.  I helped out with a dance audition, and got to see a hundred little girls and the names their parents chose for them.  I've also been doing an archiving project at work, which involves going through A LOT of charts (over 1000 of them, so far, with probably another 10-15k before it's finished), and entering patient names into a database.  I've seen a lot of names.

It's interesting to see how trends have changed.  The older generations (think 70-80 years ago) have very similar names throughout – lots of Elizabeths and Roberts and Johns.  As people get younger, there's more variety in names, especially starting around the 1980's.  That's not to say that there hasn't been anyone named Elizabeth born since then, but that it's less common.  You're also more likely to encounter an Elisabeth, or a Lissabeth, or Lizbet.

And then there are the recent names.  Wow.  At the auditions this weekend, I met the following little girls: Webhe (pronounced "Webby"), Carter, Murray, McKay, Shamaka, and Desma.  Really?? Why would you name a little GIRL "Murray"?  That just seems mean!

I don't know if other people feel the same way, but I'm sensitive to names and what they can say about a person before you even look at them.  A name can set up an expectation, and sometimes, that can be problematic.  Honestly, when I saw "Carter" and "Murray," I did not expect to look up and see sweet little girls.

Even minor variations on a name can elicit different responses.  Look at my name: Danielle.  Depending on where I am, who I'm dealing with, and the image I'm trying to present, I use different variations on my name.  You get different impressions with Danielle, Danie, Dan, Dani, and Elle, no?

I've currently got four different baby name books sitting on my reference shelf, and I also have Gary Gygax's Book of Extraordinary Names nearby.  When I'm ready to sit down and write, I need to have my characters named.  Once a character has a name, I can figure out who they really are.  For example, in HEA, my MC was Princess Martha Louise, and her mother was Queen Alumedia.  The contrast in the names was part of what drove their relationship, and the plainness of the princess's name was an integral part of her personality and how she saw herself.  The queen, on the other hand, had hated her unique name, and tried to spare her daughter some torment by going to the opposite end of the spectrum when she named the princess.

My heroes tend to have 'manly' names, and my heroines tend to be 'girly' – while I don't mind the idea of gender-neutral names, especially in sci-fi/fantasy settings, I feel more comfortable writing romance or YA where you can figure out whether you're dealing with a boy or girl right away.  At the same time, I have written my share of stories with characters with unique names.  For me, it really depends on the personality of the character.

So what's in a name?  A whole heck of a lot!

Plotter vs. Pantser

Ah, yes, the age old question for writers - are you a plotter or a pantser?

I have always been a pantser.  Admittedly, it was only about a year ago that I actually heard that term for the first time, but it's definitely the way I usually write.  I create the stories "by the seat of my pants," making things up as I go along.  I usually have some vague idea of what the end of the story should be, and I generally have a really good idea about the characters, but I rarely have a map to get them from point A to point B.  Even in high school, when we were required to turn in an outline for the major essays we wrote in English class, I'd write the essay first, then fake an outline afterwards.

When I started my NaNo novel last year, I had the main character's name (Thurman G. Woodfin) and a title (Thurman G. Woodfin and the Case of the Missing Toothbrush).  As I wrote, it became clear that Thurman, while the title character, was pretty useless as a detective.  Instead, his assistant (Sara Aebli) became the MC - she was the Penny to his Inspector Gadget.  I also realized very early on that his missing toothbrush was not enough to carry on a 50,000 word story.  So I made it up as I went along!  The end result was awful - it turns out that you actually need some sort of plan to write a viable mystery.  Huh.

Anyways, as I said, I've always been a pantser.  But something weird happened this week.  I started to outline.  I decided to do 18 chapters, and I started filling in details about what needed to happen in each of them.  I'm a little more than halfway through, and I sent the outline to Tanya (who is awesome!) to get a feeling for the practicality of the idea.  She and I went back and forth in emails, and I realized that this whole outlining thing isn't quite as bad as I was afraid it might be.  I still need to finish the outline, but I've got a pretty good idea of what else I need.

Of course, I may freak out when it comes time to actually use the outline, but we'll just jump off of that bridge when we come to it.