Wicked Wenches

Writing is a funny thing. First we have to find an idea, then create a cohesive plot, then write words that bring that original idea to life. Not only that, but we must struggle to keep ourselves writing. There are many things that can pull us down, our personal lives, the people in our lives, our finances, our day jobs, the very thing that made us write in the first place…the words. Sometimes they won’t flow. Sometimes it feels like we’ll never write again. Or maybe it’s just me. Battling with an unknown illness is driving me crazy. I want to write, but I don’t feel well which makes it hard to write. There are other times when life is pressing in on me from all directions and I know there is time in there to write, but I don’t feel like it. So what is one writer to do with her expanding drought?

Inspiration comes in many forms. Quotes are good and sometimes enough to drag us back into writing. Challenges, like Nano and 70 Days of Sweating, are geared toward putting your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard (BICHOK). Inspirational writing books, such as Bird by Bird, On Writing, and the one I recently read Rejection, Romance, and Royalties, can kick an author back in gear. Taking a course or reading a craft book can also help kickstart your MS. But the thing I find most inspiring is to read. After all what made us want to be an author in the first place. Money? Fame? I don’t think so, if so, I’m sorry to ruin the illusion. It could happen and I hope it does happen for you, but keep your mind open. Reading books, living inside another character’s world, feeling, seeing, experiencing everything she does. It’s exhilarating. Maybe you have a keeper that you read over and over or maybe a new novel by someone you’ve never read, either way the writing can inspire you to move forward with your own idea. To explore the rich spendor that is your own imagination. To bring to life, a character so real that you want her to be your best friend or so stimulating you want him to sweep you off your feet not your heroine. Remembering why we write and drawing on that is some of the best inspiration I’ve found.

What inspires you?

Well, on my first book, I didn’t really do much organizing at all. I just started writing and by the end of it, I definitely had areas to cut. I went back in and created an outline detailing characters and events so I could keep track of everything. Now that I’ve managed to land an agent, she had a series of changes she wanted to see in the manuscript so I’ve just now gone through and added more rather than taken away. At first, my book was 90,000 words then it crept to 95,000 and now with the agent’s changes, it’s 115,000.
And I’m sure that won’t be the end of it. If I’m lucky enough to get a publisher interested, I’m sure some scenes will have to go and others will have to be expanded. I’m preparing myself for that.
So, on to my next book–I’ve completely outlined this one. I know what will happen from chapter one to chapter twenty. And I think it will make for much easier writing. I included such things as character traits as well as events in the outline. But, who knows, as I write more, I will probably have to come up with a better way to keep it all organized!

(We normally agree on Weekly Topics to blog on, but I got bored…) Anyway. I always have a ton of different characters running around in all manner of different settings.It gets tricky telling them apart and not losing track of some secondary character somewhere along the line.

So here is what I do: (I use OneNote, but different pads/binders will work for this too)

• I have a tab with the name of the hero. Here I note down all his specifics. Birthday, Place of Birth, Age, Family connections, Friends, Appearance… things like that.
• I have a second tab for the heroine, organized the same way.
• A third lists all the secondary characters and what their purpose is (I often end up culling some of them, but it helps to keep track of them.) I also note any specifics (older / younger brother of XYZ etc) against their names. I wouldn’t want to have one start as a school friend and then later discover they met in college.
• I have a sheet with place names, areas, relevance which I (try to!) link with the names of the characters so I know who is where and uh.. when. Which brings me to the next bit.
• A tab for the timeline, where I list - Chapter by Chapter - when things happen. i.e. If Chapter 3 starts on Thursday morning, then I can’t have Chapter 4 start on the previous Monday. Well. I could, but unless it’s a time travel novel… it wouldn’t make much sense, would it?
• I have a reference tab, where I put snippets, books (title / page numbers), web links etc.
• I keep a tab with Chapter info, page counts etc.

So that’s the basics. I expand on all of those, usually a lot, but those are my basics.
Hope it helps someone.