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Posts Tagged ‘first drafts’

Research

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , on July 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I find that my current work in process, THE BARD’S GIFT is going more slowly than is usual for me in a first draft. Sometimes, I find this frustrating. Then I remember the difference between my other stories and THE BARD’S GIFT: it’s not a straight fantasy in which I can make many of the details up to suit myself. It’s an alternate history.

That means that periodically, I have to stop what I’m doing to research something. Oh, I did plenty of research before I ever started the story. In fact, the trick with the initial research is not to put all of it into the story, like writing a term paper.

But it’s amazing how many little details you don’t realize you need until you get there. Some of them, I can just mark and go on to fill in the details later. Others are more critical to the flow of a scene or chapter and have to be addressed before I can go on.

At this point, I’m having to go back to the Vinland Sagas themselves to find some of the answers. The thing is, something that I plan to turn into a chapter–like the voyage from Greenland to Iceland–is given perhaps a paragraph in the sagas. And at that it’s usually backwards–the voyage from Iceland to Greenland. It does give me some pointers, at least. Landmarks, in the literal sense.

Having to stop every few pages to look something up does interrupt the creative flow, though.

And I haven’t even gotten my characters to North America, yet. Wait until I have to start doing spot research on thunderbirds.

Back to work.

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Ideas

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on July 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

First an announcement: For the month of July, BLOOD WILL TELL and “The Music Box” are both half-price at Smashwords as part of their Summer/Winter Sale. (Clicking on one of those pretty pictures of the covers over to the side there will take you straight to them.) “Heart of Oak” is technically part of the sale, too, but it’s still free. Half of zero is still zero. At Smashwords, you can get a version for any e-reader or any computer. Just about everybody has some way to read a .PDF. So what are you waiting for, BLOOD WILL TELL is only $1.50 and “The Music Box” is only $0.99.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’m going to talk about ideas, because I had what I think is going to turn out to be a pretty good one last night, right before I went to sleep. That means I had to bounce out of bed, jot it down, and go back to sleep, but I don’t mind. Just going to sleep or waking up, walking the dogs, and in the shower seem to be the best times for brainstorms.

This idea is for my current wip, THE BARD’S GIFT. That’s fine. I’m about three-quarters of a discovery writer, so there’s no outline I have to revise to fit this in. In fact, the idea came at just about the perfect time. I’m just about to finish up act one, which has to stay fairly close to accurate history, and move my characters to someplace new and exciting.

This is the alternate part of alternate history. Since none of this ever really happened, I get to let world building take the place of at least some of the research. Obviously, not all. My characters are going to carry with them the same beliefs and social norms they had before. They’re going to build the same kind of houses and try, at least, to maintain the same way of life. But, they’re going to be faced with a new world (literally, the New World) with new experiences in store.

I’d always known there were going to be dragons in this new world. (There often seem to be dragons in my stories.) I’ve had a few new ideas about how the characters will choose to deal with that. My great new idea, though, is to sort of mash up the two mythologies–Old World and New.

I haven’t got it all worked out yet, but I will say this: look for thunderbirds as well as dragons. And don’t be surprised if the thunderbirds ARE the dragons.

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Progress Is What You Make of It

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Seriously, sometimes in this business you just feel like you’re beating your head against a brick wall. It’s so hard to break in. But I’m nothing if not stubborn. I’ll keep banging on that wall just as long as I have to.

I’ve been querying FIRE AND EARTH–a story I love maybe more than any other I’ve written so far–since April. I’ve had three requests for partial, two of which are still out. But that represents only about a 10% request rate. Not bad, but hardly great. I’ve recently overhauled the query. Too soon to tell how well that’s going to turn out. On the other hand, if I choose to look at the glass as half-full, I had three requests on MAGE STORM in a little over a year and more than twice as many queries sent out. So, my current request rate is actually progress. (And nothing says that I can’t requery some of those agents with the revised query in four or five months. What’s the worst they could do? Reject me again? Been there, done that, survived.)

Recently, my mind has been going back to MAGE STORM. I still really, really like this one. I keep hearing that agents and editors are crying for middle grade boy adventures. Well, that’s what MAGE STORM is, darn it. I just may have to take another pass through this one, revamp the query, and send out some more queries. I’m half inclined to use this one for the Christmas in July contest. Hmm. I wonder if it’s allowed to submit more than one book to that contest. I might have to ask.

I did get “The Music Box” e-published, but it’s going to languish just the same as “Heart of Oak” and BLOOD WILL TELL unless I start figuring out this marketing thing. It’s out of my comfort zone, but that’s part of the whole point. I need to learn how. Skin in the game was supposed to force me to do that. That hasn’t been too successful so far. I may just have to force myself to schedule in some time for that exclusively in order to make this work.

I don’t really write enough short stories to make much progress on that front. I’ve only written one and an abandoned partial so far this year. I should try to write more, but novels are just so much more satisfying. On the short story front, I’ve got two out on submission. One has been out for 147 days and a response on the other should come back any day now, assuming the publication keeps to their stated response time.

I’m making good progress (not roller-coaster, nanowrimo type progress, but good steady headway) on THE BARD’S GIFT again. That actually feels great. I’ve got my two characters close enough to begin depending on each other. Now it’s time to drop the axe and separate them for awhile. Have to make your characters suffer. And I think the opening of this one is the very best first page I’ve ever written.

So, even though sometimes it feels like standing still, I really am making progress. Sometimes, you just have to stop and remind yourself of that. It makes banging on the wall a little easier.

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Front Loading World Building Details

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on June 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

This subject comes up because it’s something I’m dealing with right now. I’m in the middle of revisions to “The Music Box” in preparation to e-publish it. One of the major changes I’m making is to put back and actually expand certain aspects of the world-building that I had purged (not quite completely, as the critiques proved) when trying to cut this story down to a (traditionally) publishable length. There just aren’t a lot of markets out there for novellas.

So, now that I’m going to e-publish it instead, I’m working those details back in. Right now, a big lump of this kind of detail is located in the first scene. That’s okay for this stage of the process. Just like in a first draft, sometimes it’s necessary to just get it out on paper–or at least on the computer screen. The important thing is to make sure it doesn’t stay there. Too much world building up front keeps the reader from really connecting with the characters and slows the story down too much.

My goal for feeding in world building is “learn as you go”. In other words, the reader should find out about these details when they become relevant. Of course, for some things that are going to be really important in the story, it’s sometimes also necessary to foreshadow a bit.

My standard for this is Lois McMaster Bujold’s THE CURSE OF CHALLION. (I love this book, by the way.) In the first six paragraphs, the reader discovers that Caz has or has held a rank higher than his apparent current status, that there are something like the knightly orders in this world, that the world is likely to be medieval-esque, and a little bit about the religious system. All from Caz’s interaction with a group of riders. And with that, the reader has enough information to go on with. By the end of that first scene, the reader will also be introduced to the concept of death magic, which seems almost like an interesting aside at this point, but will turn out to be very important later in the story. But all of it just flows naturally from Caz’s actions, reactions, and thoughts.

That’s what I’m striving for in this and every story. So, as I go through the revisions, I’m on the look out for places where I can feed that info dump from the beginning into the story in smaller bites right where it fits naturally. I’ve already found a place to show a bit of the political game that is the basis for a lot of one character’s motivations rather than just tell about it.

In the end, the goal is to leave only that bit of information that is really needed in that first scene and to make it look seamless. Not quite as easy as it sounds.

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Mixing Things Up

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Well, this is why I like to have multiple projects to work on. I can let THE BARD’S GIFT simmer a bit more, while I work out how to bring my main characters firmly together in a short amount of time and in just about one more chapter. I want it to feel like the end of the world to them when they’re parted, but I can’t spend half the book getting there. That’s a tall order and I need to do some more brainstorming on it.

Multiple projects are wonderful for this. I don’t have to lose productivity; I can just switch to something else–in this case, a bit of editing.

  1. I’ve had some ideas about that ill-fated science fiction story of mine, “Apocalypse Cruise”. I think maybe, just maybe, I can fix it–more conflict and a more satisfying ending. Actually, the ending won’t change. Just a bit more build up may make it work better. It’s worth trying, at least.
  2. Now that my critique group has had a crack at it and I’ve had time to digest their comments, I need to make the revisions to “The Music Box” so I can e-publish it next month. The main revision on this one will be to put back a bit of world building that I’d removed when I was trying to make it fit into a more (traditionally) publishable word count. Novellas are a tough sell, traditionally. If I e-pub it, I don’t have to worry so much about the word count. And it’s precisely the kind of story that should do well in that venue (romance, with only a slight fantasy element).
  3. I was beginning to think that the query for FIRE AND EARTH needed a touch up. The contest below, celebrating the publication of Wilde’s Fire, has provided me with some ideas on a couple of directions I can take to improve it for the next round.
  4. The contest has also given me an idea or two on how to improve the opening of FIRE AND EARTH.

By the time I work through that list, my subconscious should have thrown up some good ideas on how to get through this part of THE BARD’S GIFT. If not, then I’ll either:

  1. Skip ahead and write around it, for now. Not my preferred course, but it can be done.
  2. Or, do a little work on the first draft of my backup, MAGIC’S APPRENTICE.

Forward, always forward.

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Bringing Characters Together

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on May 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Oops. I got busy writing and almost forgot to blog. And you know what? I’m not sorry, either.

I’m at a particularly tricky part of the story. I’ve got two characters who want to get together. I’ve got to find ways to get them to spend more time with each other until they’re so wrapped up in each other they can’t see anything else. This, of course, is right before I separate them–by a whole ocean–and force them to try to find a way back to each other. Well, only one of them is going to have to cross the ocean. I’m not doing the “they went thata way scene” where they both cross and then miss each other. But they’re both going to have trials to face before they can come back together. And they won’t be quite the same people when they do.

The tricky part is, I don’t want to spend too much time getting them together. I want to get on with the story, which is not only about the love story. There are other things going on, too. Of course, it doesn’t have to be perfect this round. This is the first draft. It’s supposed to need work. That’s one of the rules.

Part of this is in the world building–which is really research, not world building, in an alternate history. I have to try to figure out what are appropriate ways for them to interact and what the consequences might be.

Anyway, it’s an interesting part of the story to be in, leading up to that first kiss.

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Stories Within Stories

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , on May 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Well, things seem to have settled down for the time being. Now back to writing.

I’m beginning to pick up momentum in THE BARD’S GIFT again. That’s a very good thing. This story is a different experience for me in a couple of ways.

First, it’s alternate history set against the failure of the Viking colony in Greenland. This means I’m constantly stopping myself to go check on what plants, animals, birds, etc. actually exist in Greenland. I’m used to making up my own worlds and populating them with whatever habitats and creatures I like. Things will, I hope, get a little easier once I move my main characters to North America.

Second, this is a story about a girl who tells stories, which means that the narrative sort of stops in several places for the story that Astrid is telling. Of course, for the most part, the stories have something to do with what is happening or what is going to happen to the characters. I’ve incorporated legends into my stories before, but never to this extent.

The early stories are more or less traditional, although I’m having to make some modifications to match the life experiences of a girl from Greenland–no castles, no forests, and some animals or birds have to be changed to those that she might actually be familiar with. Later stories will be more flights of my own fancy and I’ll be able to let loose a little more with them.

This book also has a couple of things I’ve never included in a novel before: and afterword on the actual history behind the story and a glossary. I’ve put the history portion up under the “Worlds” tab, if you’re interested.

It’s certainly an interesting story to work on. I hope it turns out as interesting when it’s told. I think it will.

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Time Management and Getting Unstuck

Posted in Uncategorized, writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This last week has not been a very productive one. There are a couple of reasons for that.

On one hand, I’m just a little bit stuck on my current WIP. It’s a problem I anticipated, but it’s still a problem. THE BARD’S GIFT is about Astrid, a shy girl who finds that she’s been given the gift of storytelling–but the gift comes with a catch. Sometimes, even when it embarasses her or when people don’t want to listen to her, she’s compelled to tell a particular story. It’s potentially a very powerful gift, but not a very comfortable one.

Well, the problem with this story is that I have to put in those stories that she tells, which is almost like stopping the flow of the main story and writing a short story in the middle of it. That’s proving a little more difficult than I anticipated.

By preference, I’d like to have Astrid start with traditional stories, then maybe start finding that the story she has to tell has some variations from the traditional story, and then telling entirely new stories. This is an alternate history, so that means I need to find a traditional story from her culture (Norse or Icelandic) that fits with that point in the story. I have some more research to do. The books arrived yesterday.

Now, there are a couple of ways I could deal with this. I could just go around and come back to fill in the story. Or I could work on something else while I figure out the story Astrid needs to tell. I have a novella “The Music Box” that needs work before it’s ready for e-publishing and a short story “Apocalypse Cruise” that might be worth revisting because I might have figured out how to address a couple of its issues. The problem with that is that it typically takes me a day or two to really switch stories in my own head.

The other reason I’ve been having trouble with my writing this week is interruptions. They are, I think, going to turn out to be good interruptions, but I’m going to need to find a way to deal with them without losing productivity.

If you’ve ready my “About Me” page, you know that I take care of my mother, who has advanced Alzheimer’s disease. For several years, Mom attended an adult day care run by the Salvation Army and I had my writing time worked out around that. Last year, that day care closed and Mom had a one-week hospitalization. For someone like Mom, an event like that often results in a drop in functioning. Mom was no exception.

So, for the last year, I’ve been basically going it alone with Mom at home 24/7. Now, I’m deluged with potential help. Mom’s doctor switched her over to the home care portion of her HMO, which means nurses will come out to her instead of me having to try to get Mom back and forth to the doctor (not a smal task, believe me). Great. The home care people suggested that maybe she should be on hospice. In the last week, I’ve had the home care nurse, a social worker, another nurse to draw a test sample, and the hospice intake person out. And the hospice people are coming back today. I’ve not been very successful switching back and forth between these roles.

The house is a mess. I’ve never been a great housekeeper. It’s just not where my interests lie. I can always find something more interesting to do–like getting lost in my current story. But it finally does reach a point where I have to stop and deal with it. Those efforts usually run aground in the clutter.

But now I need to find some documentation. And so far, I haven’t been able to. (I have found some other things that I’d misplaced, but not what I’m looking for right now.) So, I’m going to have to start attacking the clutter and the semi-hidden stacks of paper lying around this house.

Looks like I’m going to have to make a plan. I might even *shudder* have to make a schedule.

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Launch Party, Sort of

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , on April 25, 2012| 4 Comments »

In celebration of having e-published BLOOD WILL TELL last week, here’s a snippet of my next writing project. Here’s the first page of THE BARD’S GIFT:

Astrid leaned into the freezing wind, staggering down the beach hunting for driftwood to feed their meager fire. She kept one eye open for anything edible. The gale felt like needles of ice penetrating her threadbare woolen dress and even the thick white bear pelt she wore as a cloak. What she longed to do was lay down and curl up around her empty belly. In sleep, she might forget how hungry she was, but that wouldn’t keep them warm through the night or put any food on her father’s table.

She’d been hungry before. It wasn’t even unusual at this time of year, but this had been the hardest and longest winter in her memory. The dried cod was all gone and there was still too much ice out in the fjord for the ships to go out to fish for more. The schools no longer teemed just offshore, as they had in her grandfather’s day.

The force of the wind doubled as she rounded the headland, almost knocking Astrid backward. She had to go farther and farther afield to find anything these days. An overpowering stench assaulted her nostrils. She looked up, seeking the source. The massive grey shape in the shallows was not a rock; it was beached whale. Food for weeks. Maybe even enough to get them through until the ships could get out of the fjord again.

She dropped her few sticks of driftwood, picked up her skirts and ran back for the long house. It would take every hand to harvest this windfall. No one would mind because they’d all have full bellies tonight for the first time in over a month.

Do  please check out the link over on the right to BLOOD WILL TELL. That isn’t just a pretty image of the cover.

Now, I’ve given myself an assignment to do something marketing related every week (besides querying FIRE AND EARTH, that is). This week it’s author’s pages–Smashwords, Amazon, Goodreads.

 

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Project Status

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2012| 6 Comments »

Almost a month ago, I posted this set of priorities:

  1. Finish the revision to “The Music Box” and decide what to do with it.
  2. Get ready to query FIRE AND EARTH.
  3. Start THE BARD’S GIFT.
  4. Revisions to MAGIC’S FOOL.
  5. Prepare BLOOD WILL TELL for e-publishing.

I’m doing pretty well on these goals.

  1. I’ve finished the revisions to “The Music Box” and have it out to one reader. I’ll probably seek more readers at the beginning of the month, and then decide what, if anything, I need to change before e-publishing it. There simply isn’t any other market for a romantic fantasy novella. I’m also waiting to hear about a novelette, “Becoming Lioness”. It’s currently out on submission and I expected to hear back almost a month ago. Maybe that’s good news. If not, I’ll be e-publishing that one, too.
  2. I’ve now sent out nine queries on FIRE AND EARTH and gotten one request for a partial.
  3. I’ve started THE BARD’S GIFT, but only barely.
  4. I’ve just about completed the revisions to MAGIC’S FOOL. I’ll be looking for new readers soon.
  5. I haven’t yet done anything about preparing BLOOD WILL TELL for e-publication.

So, here are my current priorities:

  1. Keep querying FIRE AND EARTH.
  2. Complete the revisions to MAGIC’S FOOL and find a couple of new readers to see if I’ve solved the problem of the slow beginning. The revision should be complete by the weekend.
  3. Mark up the revision notes for the last segment of BLOOD IS THICKER. That’ll only take a couple of days at most. I’m not ready to actually start on the revisions, yet, though.
  4. Then I’m going to concentrate on getting BLOOD WILL TELL e-published. That’ll also involve getting way more serious about some marketing.
  5. And once all of that is out of the way, I can go full bore on the first draft of THE BARD’S GIFT.
  6. I’ll probably tinker with the first draft of MAGIC’S APPRENTICE during any slow spots on THE BARD’S GIFT.

That’ll do for at least the next month, don’t you think?

 

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