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Quickies

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

I read my first short romance story today–one publisher calls them Quickies and another calls them Bites–and the one I read was around 40 pages or so. I’m not sure how I feel about it, TBH.

I liked the story and the hero and heroine, and the writing was good. And that’s where my problem came in–I wanted more. Forty pages just wasn’t enough. I wanted to see the story completely unfold between the hero and heroine. I wanted to know why they made the choices they made. I wanted to spend more time with them. It was so frustrating to be enjoying everything and have it come to an abrupt end.

On the other side of the coin, I don’t have much reading time so the length actually worked for me. I was able to read a romantic story with sex in less than half an hour. If it had been a full-length, single-title story, I wouldn’t have been able to take the time to read it. And if I could just figure out how to load PDFs on my iPod, the short length would be perfect to read on that rather than the computer.

And I wonder how the story premise would have held up over 100,000 words. It was a great premise, one that had me thinking cool, but could it be stretched to support a novel? I don’t know. For that reason, maybe the short length was a good thing.

It also intrigued me–I’m infamous for writing 115,000 word books. I laugh when I see the contract clause about writing at least 90,000 words because the only way that’s going to be a problem is if they won’t let me go over that number. But reading this story made me wonder if I could write something that short and have it be as satisfying a read as this one was? Because even though I wanted more, the story was a satisfying read. I don’t know. Short is not my natural length. :-)

I’m interested enough to want to try. I won’t, of course. I have another story I need to be working on that has a deadline and I don’t have any characters I want to use up on something short when I could get a full book about them. But. But what if I did like a series of little vignettes about the same characters? Kind of a serial-type thing?

Argh! Back to the WIP, the one that’s due March 1st.

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Teardrops, Guitars and Lyrics

Friday, October 10th, 2008

The other day I heard a song on the radio that had me headed over to iTunes–Teardrops On My Guitar by Taylor Swift. She’s also listed as co-writer of the song, which I kind of figured because she’s like 22 and there’s something that seems incredibly young in the lyrics.

Okay, stopped myself from digressing, but barely. :-) I always play my new music over and over for a few days and I’ve had time to think about the words to this song quite a bit. There are several aspects that intrigue me as a writer and have me thinking and that’s always a good thing. Before I start, you can find the complete lyrics at the CMT (Country Music Television) site.

For those of you who haven’t heard this song, it’s basically about unrequited love. The Point of View character (why yes, I am a writer ;-) is the singer who is talking to the man she’s in love with and he doesn’t have a clue how she feels–he’s in love with someone else.

The first idea that popped into my head was wouldn’t it be interesting to do two stories? I’d start with the man’s romance with the woman he met and fell in love with and the second book would be the singer’s story about how she found her own love. I’ll confess the reason this came so quickly to mind was that I had an idea for a set of stories like this years ago. Not exactly the same, but similar enough to remind me about them. My brain didn’t linger here long, though.

I found myself intrigued by one particular line in the song: he’s the only one who has enough of me to break my heart.

Hmm. This didn’t spark any particular ideas for a story–maybe because I was on to my third thought so quickly–but it did stop me for a minute and I decided it held Truth.

Third thought came in fast on the heels of number two and pushed it out of the spotlight. This one had to do with another set of lines in the song: he walks away so perfectly, the kind of flawless I wish I could be.

Wow. No one is perfect or flawless. We all walk around with things we could improve in ourselves and this idea is part of what made me think the person who wrote the song was young. Oops, I’m beginning to digress again. Stopping right here and moving on with my theme. Anyway, no one is flawless, but it would be interesting to explore perception versus reality, wouldn’t it? What if the point of view character–let’s call her the heroine–has this crush on the hero as a young woman, maybe even while she was still in high school, and thinks he’s perfect. What if the story takes place about ten years later and that’s when the romance happens? What if she learns he isn’t flawless and never was?

Then I started thinking about the other part of that line–the kind of flawless I wish I could be. Maybe part of what caught me on this is my own struggle with perfectionism. I spent a lot of years of my life trying to attain perfection until I had an epiphany wheeling my cart around Target one morning–there is no way to be perfect in everyone’s eyes. To use the superficial example that came to me that day, what if one person believes long hair is perfect? What if another believes only short hair is perfect? There’s no way to be perfect in both their eyes and trying to compromise on hair length would only leave both thinking there was imperfection. It was kind of an aha moment for me and one I’m still struggling with when it comes to my writing. I want my books to be perfect, but reading is so subjective, how can they ever be? I understand it intellectually, but in my heart, I’m still fighting with this.

But back to the song. It got me thinking about a heroine who thinks she has to be perfect. Where does that stem from? How does she overcome it? How does it impact her life?

Amazing how a song that’s less than four minutes long can raise so many questions and ideas. :-) Will I write any of them? I have no clue. I get characters and write their stories. There are some authors that start with concept/plot and find characters that fit, but that’s not me. I always have characters who are fully formed people come in and then they tell me what their stories are. I’ll be watching, though, to see if any new characters arrive that will play with these concepts.

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And Then Boom

Friday, April 4th, 2008

Today’s blog is about where ideas come from. That’s the question I get most from people once they find out I’m a writer. The blog, though, is over on To Be Read. Please stop over and check it out.

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Sin

Friday, January 4th, 2008

I’ve had notes from readers asking for Creed and Sin’s stories–both made brief appearances in In the Midnight Hour. I was able to tell them that Creed’s story was next, but Sin? Well, I knew I wanted to write him at some point, but I didn’t have a story for him. That all changed this week.

The first revelation was who his heroine was. I’ve started working on my next book and the hero has three younger sisters. Boom. Suddenly I knew that one of Logan’s sisters belongs with Sin. That happened back on Monday or Tuesday, I think, but there still was no story, just a pairing. I should be used to this by now since I almost always get the characters first, but I wanted the story, too.

That came yesterday. I can’t tell you what I was doing because I don’t remember. I was at the Evil Day Job (EDJ), and either during lunch while I was writing Logan and Shona, or after lunch when my mind was still on them, I got it. Another boom.

It’s just a general idea and not a full-blown story, but it’s something I can mull over while I’m writing the WIP (Work In Progress). The best part is that there’s built in conflict–I’m thinking the council divided Sin’s territory in half because there’s so much activity that one troubleshooter can’t keep up with it, and that Tris is the one they assign to work in Los Angeles alongside him. Sin would hate that. Tris would hate that, too. But when something that’s related to In Twilight’s Shadow comes to their neck of the woods, they’d have to work together. (And no, because it might be a spoiler for Twilight, I’m not going to say what that is.)

Of course, who knows if I’ll have the chance to write it. The story I’d like to do after Logan and Shona is Logan’s brother, Kel, so this is at least two books out, but it’s nice to have the idea of what to do anyway.

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Torn

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

Right now I have two projects burning to get written and I can only focus on one at a time. I’ve kind of switched, though, to the second idea because I’m having difficulty writing the first. I’m not sure why. The only thing I can think of is the structure is wrong. I knew going in that this one was going to be a pain to try to set up right because of how the h/h meet and know each other. The prologue went well, but chapter one? I struggled with it, and while it’s done, I’m not sure I’m happy with what I have.

Idea two is more tempting because it’s less formed, and let’s face it, new ideas are always more interesting. :-) The thing about number two is that I don’t know the hero of the book and I really don’t have much beyond the heroine’s name and that she can kick butt. This means that I can’t really write this one either, but I have been fiddling with a synopsis of sorts.

Basically, I’m not sure what to do right now and it’s frustrating. Then add to this that I’m taking an online class that expects a lot of homework–most of it requiring a lot of thought–and I feel like I’m getting nothing accomplished on my writing. I think what I’m going to do today is take a notepad and work out what I can on paper for both stories. With a little luck, that will help me figure out which project to work on first and what to do with them.

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Whoosh! Creative Wave

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

I was minding my own business yesterday, just standing in the restroom at the Evil Day Job and watching them do construction at the back end of the parking lot when boom! It happened. A new character came in and started talking to me. She gave me her name first–it’s not her real one, but it’s the one she’s using now. You see, she’s not human and she changes names from time to time. Then she started filling me in on herself and what she does. I made notes this time, not like with In the Midnight Hour where I relied on my memory. :-)

Do I have to mention that I’m suddenly much more interested in this new story than in my Polynesian h/h? I mean, come on, I’m still floundering with that story and have cut chapter one like three times now and started over again. Heck, if the prologue wasn’t done and something I’m really happy with, I would have ditched this couple hours ago. What can I say? New ideas are always much more fascinating than the old.

I think I even have the information on this new heroine’s hero. Maybe. No names for him yet, but I’m not worried about that since it’s the women who I’ve been struggling with on that front. I’m also not sure how their romance would wrap up given their respective, um, situations. :-) But I want to spend more time with them, not fight with my current heroine. Sigh.

I blame Carolyn Jewel for this. Yes, Carolyn, you! This was the barest glimmer of an idea from months ago and something I hadn’t planned to pursue, but clearly reading Carolyn’s blog post about channeling characters brought Liza in. (Yes, God help me, she told me her name was Liza. Sigh. I suppose this is better than struggling to come up with a name, but honestly, do I sound like someone who’d write a Liza? Maybe she’ll change her mind…. Well, I can hope, darn it!)

So how did Liza communicate with me? First person narrative. That’s unusual for me, although not unheard of. At first I thought she wanted me to tell her story in first person, ::shudder:: but I think that was just how she was transmitting information to me because a little bit later I had the opening of the book in third person. Anyway, I started asking her questions and received a few answers–at least until women started entering the bathroom and disturbed my communion with my heroine. :-) That did it for the day, but I hope to reestablish the connection soon–even if it’s my Tahitian heroine I need to have talking to me instead.

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Characters at Work–Finally

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

Argh! I was so tired Monday afternoon that I decided to take a quick nap. Two and a half hours later… I post that a lot when I nap, I realized and I think it just might be a sign that I don’t get enough sleep. Sigh. Of course, this screwed up my sleeping schedule and I was up far too late last night. Twenty minutes–good. Two and a half hours–not so good.

I transcribed all my notes from Saturday’s workshop. Not on the workshop itself, but on my story arc. I think I mentioned that we had writing stints for five, ten, even fifteen minutes and that I focused on brainstorming rather than writing. It was good to get it all organized, but I was disappointed with how much was repetitive and how much wasn’t as brilliant as I thought it was at the time. Still, it’s more than I had before and there are possibilities here.

Oh, I almost forgot. Ethan’s heroine finally shared her name! I got it during the fourth writing stint on Saturday. She’s Hope. No last name yet, but that’s not nearly as important as the first name.

In other news, I also think I’m getting the storyline for my Polynesian couple. Maybe. We’ll have to see how that pans out when I have more time to think about it, but that started coming in Sunday, so I’m hopeful. It looks like it’s going to be a paranormal romance. I don’t have the conflict yet, but if this idea holds together, I have the premise. That would be cool. This couple has been bugging me for about a year and a half.

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The Guilt Monster

Monday, September 10th, 2007

So it was an interesting weekend–I guess. On Saturday I went to my chapter meeting and was asked to run for VP of Communications. To say I was surprised would be understating the matter. After thinking about it overnight, I said no and now I’m feeling hugely guilty.

The thing is I don’t know how I could handle it. I know other published authors who work full time have, but I don’t think I’d do half as well as they have. For one, I’m a slow writer and it takes me forever to get a book written. For another, I’m disorganized. I didn’t used to be that way, once, many moons ago, I was overly organized. I don’t know when I lost that and I don’t know how to reclaim it. The final factor is that when I become overwhelmed, I get paralyzed. Literally, the only way I can function is to write a To Do List and focus on what I have to do that day.

Heck, when I’m pushing on a deadline, I might go three or four months without even attending a chapter meeting. I don’t think board members can do that. And I keep thinking what would I do if some crisis hit in the final month before a deadline? Besides, would it be fair to the other members of the board? They handle other stuff, too, chair committees and what not. I couldn’t do any of that, which would put a bigger burden on them.

I still feel guilty and I’m trying to convince myself not to feel that way. :-/

In other news, I saw the tail end of a show on The History Channel that was way cool! Something about the Bermuda Triangle being on the exact opposite side of the globe from the Dragon’s Triangle. I missed most of the show and I’m sorry for that, but I didn’t think there’d be anything interesting. I mean how many times can anyone hear about the missing training flight from Ft. Lauderdale? Besides, I haven’t had a huge interest in the triangle since my days in grade school.

But they had some new stuff they shared and it was the kind of thing that had me thinking: I have got to use this in a book. Somehow. :-)

Maybe the ever-cooperative Ethan can deal with this in his story. (EG)

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Cacophony

Friday, August 17th, 2007

I forgot I didn’t blog yet this morning. Oops. I ran out of time at home–which has been happening more and more lately–and while I was driving into work, I had this idea pop in my head. Once that happened, blogging was lost in the wave of what ifs that followed. :-)

Anyway, this idea would be for a new series, completely unrelated to anything I’ve already written. I have to do some research, though, to see if it will hold up and I’d need to do some serious brainstorming to set everything up. It might not last beyond first scrutiny, which can kind of be a pain when something is intriguing and full of potential.

Of course, what I should be working on is my synopsis for Shona and Logan. I’m stuck because it involves plot stuff and I have no idea what happens in the section of the book I’m trying to synopsize :-) right now. I know some of what happens later, but that doesn’t help.

The other thing that isn’t helping (aside from completely new ideas popping into my brain) is that Kel and his heroine (whatever her name is) keep talking to me. Logan’s story has to come first otherwise things don’t make sense in either book and these events are crucial to the characters and their arcs. I’m sure it will all shake out eventually, but it’s frustrating in the meantime.

The other thing that’s frustrating to me is how many people I have in my head right now. I think this is the most ever, and if my latest idea pans out, I’m sure I’ll shortly have more characters yakking away. And no, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I just wish I was a faster writer or that I had more time, so that I could get these stories down and clear out some of the mental congestion. I swear, the traffic pattern over O’Hare can’t be busier than my brain.

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Aspen Gold Finalist!

Tuesday, July 24th, 2007

I received an email yesterday to tell me that Eternal Nights is an Aspen Gold Award finalist for Best Paranormal! Whoo hoo!!! I had to send out two more books for the final round and my dad’s going to mail them for me today.

I tried to update my website last night, but I couldn’t get on. That was hugely frustrating. But since I couldn’t get email either or websites, I’m suspecting the problem was on my end. I’m going to try again if I have time this morning.

So I’ve been lamenting to anyone who stops moving long enough to be cornered that I have characters (Logan and Shona), but no story for them. I think I finally have a plot! Yea! I have a lot of details left to work out, including how the heck Logan gets himself into Shona’s life to protect her, and who the bad guy (or woman) is, but at least I have the main idea. It actually came to me Sunday night while I was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. Of course, I immediately got excited and had to get up and send an email to my friend and see what she thought. Um, even with the time difference between Minneapolis and Paris, I’m sure she was still asleep, but I couldn’t wait. Besides, by writing it down, I wouldn’t forget it myself. Nighttime ideas don’t necessarily remain in the morning.

I’m a little frustrated by the way the information is trickling in, but I was so exhausted creatively that signs of recovery are welcome–even if I’d like the ideas to flow a little faster. My plan is not to rush anything and let the trickle continue.

Items on the To Do List accomplished: 0
Many other things that cropped up and had to be handled: Endless, but accomplished

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