Tag: #amwriting

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the writer’s brain

You know, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to not have a writer’s brain. How quiet would my head be if it wasn’t filled with characters telling stories, with worlds built from a scrap of an idea, with words spilling in torrents of creativity?

I may not always be actively writing, and have just this year gone through a dry spell, but even then, my head is full of activity, it just isn’t translating well enough to put on the page.

I love world building and crafting characters. I have a whole cast of characters that I have built in my head and never used (there’s a whole subsection of just talking animals). Unsurprisingly, this is also my favorite part of playing SIMs, building houses/lots and creating characters.

I wish I could paint so I could show people the rich, vibrant worlds that my head contains. I know ridiculously minute facts about these places. I know their mythology and history. I know the places where mythology and history cross paths. I have drawn maps and created languages.

Now, if my fingers could just keep up so I could get it all down on paper/computer screen, that would be lovely.

Hoping you are safe and well, Readers!

Cover Photo by russn_fckr on Unsplash

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what’s your name?

If you know me, you know I suck at names. Characters, places…it doesn’t matter. I have a default five or six names I use that I then have to go back and change. Usually I just use the placeholders while I’m actively writing because when I do name a person or thing for keeps, I usually end up falling down a rabbit hole of baby name sites and foreign language translators.

See, I like my names to have a meaning that corresponds to the character or place. In the Shades and Shadows series, each of the characters has a name that corresponds with their ethnic background and who they are. Every one of them started off with different names than they ended up with. Well, except Zero and Raven. I knew those names going in.

Cue working on the second Blood Witch. In the first book most of the names/people are of Greek or Irish heritage (sort of…it’s complicated). In this book, the people and places are entirely alien, so I’m stuck with making things up. For one race I am loosely basing their language/names on Germany (very, very loosely), the others though are “make it up as I go” and “keep a list for consistency” type of folks.

I can’t tell you how fast writing can come to a screeching halt when I need to name a person or a place. I freeze up. It’s ridiculous!

But now, it’s time to get working on the day job. Happy Monday, Readers! I hope you have a great week.

Cover Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

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the writing part of writing

Being an author is an odd sort of thing, I suppose, especially to those who are not *people who write* and especially not for those who also do not read. I was a voracious reader as a child. I absorbed words like a sponge. Stories were vehicles that transported me out of my bedroom and into worlds larger than any one mind can conceive.

Maybe it was inevitable that I would pick up a pen and start writing. I wanted in on that magic! I loved creating new worlds, new characters. I wrote science fiction, fantasy, and poetry. I tried my hand at mystery and romance. I studied and tried to emulate my favorite authors. I wanted my prose to be lush and invigorating. I wanted the worlds in my stories to come to life.

For that to happen, I learned, the author needs to spend a good amount of time prior to words hitting the paper. There is world building to do. There are characters to build out so that they are realistic and not just cardboard cut outs. There is plot to invent, stretch, turn, twist and resolve. Inevitably, that plot has holes that need to be filled.

And all of that comes either before or during the actual writing part of the writing process. Okay, sometimes after the first draft is done.

I can spend months (or longer) doing all the stuff that happens in my head before I start writing. My muse loves world building more than anything, so the worlds I see in my head are amazing landscapes of complex societies that I can only hope I capture as I begin to write.

This last weekend saw over ten thousand new words in the second Blood Witch book, signaling an end of the mental block 2020 clamped on my muse and ushering in the period where the words begin to spill from my fingers. It’s the part of the writing process that wants to just devour my life. The story spins out in my head faster than my fingers can translate it to the page, and I am best able in this phase to tune out my inner editor and just get it down.

I maybe feel the most like myself when I’m doing the writing part of writing. Unfortunately for me, today is Monday…and that means a return to the day job, so more word craft will need to wait, though I am hoping to get through this scene before I open the work computer.

I hope you are safe and sane, Readers, and that your week is filled with magic and kindness.

Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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build me a world and let me play

The Blood Witch is off with my first agent query, as of last week. I’m nervous and terrified and very excited. I am so very pleased with this book and these characters and I can only hope that someone out there likes the story enough to represent me and get me a good book deal.

I had intended to take some time to work on other projects, but Thána doesn’t appear inclined to stop talking, so I have already begun the second book. No, I don’t know how to not be writing/editing.

The second book will shift the focus a little bit, give us a new world to play in and may even give Thána a love interest, probably female. Of course, this means giving Brain (my muse) the kind of work she loves best, world-building.

To be honest, she’s been playing at what this world will look like since about the beginning of March. I’m still teasing out the full plot, but I have the usual five or six plot points that the story will be built around. So far, what I know is that the world we will visit has undergone recent, radical, apocalyptic changes. It is a place filled with many races, some of which are familiar, some of which will be wholly new creatures.

Not going to say more, and I do not have a working title yet, but I have the first 1000 words or so and I look forward to seeing where the story takes me.

Happy Memorial Day, Readers. Please be safe!

Cover Photo by NASA on Unsplash

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not set in stone

My weekends are often filled with words and characters, along with cleaning and laundry and errands.  I tend to do my best writing first thing in the morning, when I’m fresh from dreams and have a big cup of coffee steaming in front of me.  I try to give writing a good four hours on both Saturday and Sunday, before I get up and get started on other things.

Today is no exception.  I managed to sleep in a little bit, not crawling out of bed until eight this morning, but I’ve been at the computer since, pounding on the keys.  I’ve spent a little time also pounding the digital pavement, since I’m still looking for work, but since I’ve done that every day this week, there weren’t many jobs I hadn’t already seen, so it’s back to making words.

Today’s words are in something of a transitional chapter, which I always struggle with.  There are things that need to happen to get us to where the next chapter begins, but it’s not specifically plot driven, just a bunch of moments that need to be hit to set up the climax.  This makes this chapter a bit of a struggle, because I want to just jump ahead to get on with the plot.

But, it’s one of those things, I can write it now and have it inform the next chapter, or I can jump ahead and come back to this later, likely having to force things to fit and then re-write the next chapter anyway.  Might as well stick it out and try to get it done.  Maybe if I finish this chapter today, I can start tomorrow’s writing where I wish I were today.

Maybe.

Of course, knowing the character telling this story, we might end up taking a side turn that I didn’t plan.  One of the joys of being someone who lets the story tell itself, rather than setting the plot in stone before you begin.

I can’t wait to introduce you all to her, Readers.  I think you’re going to like her.

On that note, back to the words.  Have a wonderful Saturday!

 

Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash

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writing life

You know you’re a writer when…so many things could follow that opening phrase, but for me lately the big one is, “You know you’re a writer when you wake up in the middle of the night with bits of plot chasing bits of dialog begging to be put down on the page.”

Every night this week, somewhere around 2am, I wake up with my Brain putting together words to flesh out some bit of dialog or battling through some plot hole or point that I’ve been fighting with.  While that’s nice and all, it would be nicer if it would come at a reasonable time…like when I’m already at the computer.

I have always been one to spin tales almost as easily as I breathe, and any time I can not write for at least fifteen minutes a day I get very cranky and not a fun person to spend time with.  It doesn’t matter what it is I’m writing, just that I’m exercising that part of myself regularly.

Currently I am focused on finishing my zero draft of The Blood Witch and recruiting two or three beta readers to give it a once over to make sure I’ve closed up all of the plot holes and chased all of the inconsistencies out of the final product.  That is especially an important aspect when the story started out as a short story idea, mostly just an exploration of a character, and grew, changed, grew again and then the whole thing morphed into what it is becoming right now.  There is at least one early chapter that I know will need a lot of work to catch the inconsistencies born of the way I got to this point.

I am, however, very happy with the story as it stands, rough patches and all.  I hope to wrap it all up in the next few weeks, so if you have the time and inclination to offer services as a beta reader, and are willing to share your honest assessment of the plot and characters with me to help guide me through the next draft, reach out and let me know.

With that, I’m off to refill my coffee cup and get on to the day job.  Have a lovely Tuesday, Readers, and remember that kindness matters!

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#amwriting

It’s another Saturday, so of course that means it’s time to write.  Which is good, because I have three different stories percolating in my head.  Of course there is Where Shadows Fall, but there is a new short story idea that I’m just starting on, and the new novel tentatively called The Gift of Blood.  Not sure which will get my writing hours today.

I have to go out later today to pick up a few things and transfer some money, but aside from that my weekend is going to be spent right here at home.  I have a guest coming in from England on Wednesday, and I need to make sure the house is up to snuff.

Yule is just around the corner, with Christmas hot on its heels, and even with vacation on the horizon, it feels very hectic.  I hope you all are closing in on done with your shopping and wrapping and all the prep that comes with the holiday seasons.

I’m off to refill my coffee cup and get to making words appear.  Happy Saturday, Readers!