Dang it! I’m Addicted…

What am I addicted to? First drafts. Seriously, I love banging out the first draft of a story. Anything can happen! And often does which tickles me pink to no end. Not to snub my nose at subsequent drafts as they have their own sweetness at the bottom of the pie with  how they shape a story into something stronger, firmer, and tighter. There is something gratifying about making something as good as you possibly can. And then… there is something utterly satisfying and invigorating in playing in complete chaos, winging it, and being a crazy, creative, and imaginative spirit whisking through the words to pull a story from nothing. That’s what I’m talking about.

So, yes, while I have several projects on the burner at the moment–all in the editing stage or fleshing out stage–I have started a new project. It’s a chapter book and a completely different genre and audience than my usual fiction. But you know, I do have a kid’s nonfiction book out on submission to editors, so maybe this is logical? Plus, I am a big kid.

You might be wondering why I am writing a chapter book. Truthfully (as opposed to blowing sunshine…), I’ve got some things coming up in the next few weeks and don’t have what I need to delve into that deep mental space I require to flesh out or edit the projects that are ‘opened.’ Therefore, a little chapter book has made its way from ‘fun idea’ sitting around in the writing waiting room at the back of my brain to the writing chamber. And man, is it fun!

Of course, there is no guarantee that this book will go anywhere or that I will send it out to agents and publishers, but it is keeping my nib wet and sometimes that’s all that matters.

What do you do to keep your writing brain primed when you can’t dive into in-depth projects?

Holding Ideas Back?

I know I keep promising to talk more about ereaders, and really I will! But I found something interesting that I must talk about right now! (Isn’t that always the way with me?)

Here’s an idea proposed by Benjamin Percy.

And here’s the question: When you write a story, do you put every good idea that you think of into the story, or do you hold some back for the next story–just in case?

Personally, I blab it all onto the page. In one of my WIPs I had all these different plot ideas that were related and I couldn’t decide which one should go in. So… all three went in. She grapples with all three ‘issues’ which actually works nicely, I think. And it also puts me through my paces–I love a challenge! I’ve never thought of holding tidbits back to be used in other stories. If anything, I have to pull things out as I can sometimes try to squeeze too much in! Although, by putting too much in, I find that I have choice. Which detail idea was the best? Which one says the most about the character? Which one is unique and memorable?

So, I am curious… do you put it all in?

Fleshing Out the Skeleton

Last week was a decent week of writing. I got the first draft done on my work in progress. Although, in reality, it is more of a skeleton than a true first draft. Somehow, I reached ‘the end’ at 30,000 words when usually my first draft ends up at around 110,000 words and I have to go back and tighten like crazy. However, this story has demanded to be written in a different way, with only the bones showing up to be put down in the first draft. Therefore, I must now go back and flesh it all out. I need to add tendons, then layer in some muscle. Then fat and flesh as well as a few veins. I think a lot of the story’s arteries are already in there, even though I only have a skeleton!

What I’m going to be doing in my next draft is layering in character motivations, making connections between my characters as well as ensuring they all have their own little plot arcs and conflicts. (Just the major guys get plot arcs though.)

Here are some questions I will be asking myself as I plan out the next attack:

* What does this character want? What stands in their way? What helps them?

* How does this character’s desires get in the way or help other characters with what they want?

* What kind of relationship between character X and character Y will result in the most interesting events, the most conflict, or the most conflict resolution? i.e. How will these secondary characters cause things to happen in the story?

* How can minor characters assist in developing plot points to help further the story question? How can these character’s help reveal the story’s theme or emotional message?

I’ve got some big questions for the next round of story layering and some major brainstorming to do. Now if I can just find a few hours of head space, I’ll be set.

Do you need quiet time to brainstorm? Or are interruptions okay?

Car Chronicles: Part Seven: Our Day Comes

We got the car! I’d have to say that my hubby is pretty excited. I got to take it for a bit of a spin. The clutch sure is funny. I guess because it is new. It will just take a bit to get used to its engagement point. Anyway, have the car. La, la, la. And the insurance is insane! The fact that it is new and that hubby is commuting a lot next year, the insurance is DOUBLE of what it was on the Golf. Maybe it is time to take collision off the Dodge. (Considering it costs us an extra $200 per year and they’d probably only give us about $1500 for it.) I’m not sure why we even had collision on in the first place. Or was that comprehensive? Man, insurance is getting expensive. Maybe if we all learned to be courteous and realized that it is expensive to bang into each other, we’d stop doing it.

A story I am working on seems to be set on being a short one. I even added a second character perspective and it is still acting like a small story. Although, it is just the first draft. Yet, the one I finished before this was twice the size. A friend read it and liked it. (Whew. She’s going to give me some feedback this weekend. Since she is an English teacher as well as the market for the book, I am glad she didn’t say it stunk. Then again, maybe it does but she worries about remaining friends. Har, har.)

I pre-plotted the story I am working on now and it is sitting around 50,000 words with maybe another 10,000 to come. The one I finished before this was a whopping 110,000 and is acting like it wants a sequel. That one I wrote by the seat of my pants and was so much FUN to write. I loved writing that one. So what is my preferred method? Good question. I think it is writing it as it comes.