Cameron Darrow's Blog, page 10
April 16, 2021
Vocabulary (Wording Gooder)
One of the things I try to be careful of in my books is the word usage, both in prose and dialogue, of my characters. I write in a very strict third person point of view (PoV) style, with no information coming to the reader that the characters don't get. The prose voice is their voice so it sounds distinctive, just filtered through me so it's somewhat consistent across books.
For example, Victoria uses a much more extensive vocabulary and convoluted grammar to express herself, because that's how she thinks. She's all about precision and clarity, she isn't going to truncate her thought processes to accommodate any preferences for brevity when her true intended meaning is paramount. (See what I did there?)
But that's not all I worry about. I write fantasy books, so I think about idioms and whatnot that may not make any sense coming from the mouth of, say, Vimika in Midnight Magic: A Fantasy Lesbian Romance. She lives in a completely fictional world, so I try not to give her any thoughts or phrasing that sound contemporary or culturally specific (other than her own, obviously). Something like... 'right off the bat.' What bat? There's no baseball in Atvalia! Or in a lot of the real world, which makes it even stranger for her to say. (Or think!) She can't call someone 'chicken', she has to say 'coward' or some other synonym. Chicken=coward barely makes sense in contemporary English. Do they even have chickens in Atvalia? (Yes. They are dignified beasts who go to their doom with their heads held high.)
In the Ashes books, I've had to look up how old certain idioms are to make sure they aren't completely anachronistic. In Colours of Dawn someone mentions 'true colours', and I didn't actually know where it came from or when. I thought it might have been TV or newspapers or something, but no, it has to do with naval flag displays from way back in Ye Olden Days. (Safe!) But I checked!
What about time? Nobody reckoned time down to the second until after the mechanical clock was invented. Why would characters who live in a world without the concept break down time that small? They would never conceive of it! 'Right this second', 'she thought a few seconds', etc. are all out. Do they have weeks? So much of how we think about time is completely arbitrary, but it has to make sense to you, the reader, which means I can't really play around with it too much without things breaking down and becoming hard to follow.
Virtually every word choice in my books is deliberate and there for a reason (though some temporary 'good enough' ones to survive all the way to your eyeballs). It's one of the biggest tasks I undertake in the middle drafts, and the point where character voices really start to come out; when a story becomes their story.
And it's only when it becomes their story that it becomes worth reading.
For example, Victoria uses a much more extensive vocabulary and convoluted grammar to express herself, because that's how she thinks. She's all about precision and clarity, she isn't going to truncate her thought processes to accommodate any preferences for brevity when her true intended meaning is paramount. (See what I did there?)
But that's not all I worry about. I write fantasy books, so I think about idioms and whatnot that may not make any sense coming from the mouth of, say, Vimika in Midnight Magic: A Fantasy Lesbian Romance. She lives in a completely fictional world, so I try not to give her any thoughts or phrasing that sound contemporary or culturally specific (other than her own, obviously). Something like... 'right off the bat.' What bat? There's no baseball in Atvalia! Or in a lot of the real world, which makes it even stranger for her to say. (Or think!) She can't call someone 'chicken', she has to say 'coward' or some other synonym. Chicken=coward barely makes sense in contemporary English. Do they even have chickens in Atvalia? (Yes. They are dignified beasts who go to their doom with their heads held high.)
In the Ashes books, I've had to look up how old certain idioms are to make sure they aren't completely anachronistic. In Colours of Dawn someone mentions 'true colours', and I didn't actually know where it came from or when. I thought it might have been TV or newspapers or something, but no, it has to do with naval flag displays from way back in Ye Olden Days. (Safe!) But I checked!
What about time? Nobody reckoned time down to the second until after the mechanical clock was invented. Why would characters who live in a world without the concept break down time that small? They would never conceive of it! 'Right this second', 'she thought a few seconds', etc. are all out. Do they have weeks? So much of how we think about time is completely arbitrary, but it has to make sense to you, the reader, which means I can't really play around with it too much without things breaking down and becoming hard to follow.
Virtually every word choice in my books is deliberate and there for a reason (though some temporary 'good enough' ones to survive all the way to your eyeballs). It's one of the biggest tasks I undertake in the middle drafts, and the point where character voices really start to come out; when a story becomes their story.
And it's only when it becomes their story that it becomes worth reading.
April 9, 2021
Helpful Resistance
'Resistance' is a catch-all word in writing and other creative fields that encapsulates all the reasons we have for not actually making the thing we want to/are trying to make. Writer's block, lack of motivation, fear of failure, those kinds of reasons. The squishy intangible ones, not the obvious physical ones like illness or a family emergency.
At some point in the last three books I've written (including the current one), I've encountered a different kind of resistance with certain scenes. Scenes that I have in my outline that I simply do not want to write, and will go to any length to avoid. Not because they're super hard or emotional or anything, just because... I can't. I'll sit down, document open, and nothing will happen. I'll find something else to do, jump to some other part of the book or over the problem scene entirely and keep going as if it's done, anything to not do this one thing that I have to do.
For a reason.
My resistance was helping me. None of those scenes are in the final books! The reason I didn't want to write them is because I didn't actually need them; I just didn't know I didn't need them. Turns out this manifestation of resistance is actually my writing instincts surfacing, and I've learned to trust this feeling now.
It only applies to specific circumstances, usually a certain scene, so I don't embrace it as an excuse not to write, but as a reason to start asking questions. It's the beginning of a process, not an end. (Look up First Principles thinking for more on this) Why don't I want to do this? Why is it so hard? There's something wrong. I want to write my book, and I need the story to get from here to there. So what to do?
Every time, it has been digging down and asking if I actually need the part my brain is desperately trying to skip over. Can it be cut back? Can the important part be grafted with another scene or doled out elsewhere more efficiently? Do I actually need any of it? If I just cut this entirely, what happens?
There's a scene I wrote for Colours of Dawn that was over 2,000 words long that I kept massaging because I was trying to find the ultimate purpose of it. I took a step back and thought about it, and managed to boil the entire thing down to a single line of dialogue and plug it in somewhere else. Resistance can become eureka in an instant if you're willing to question choices you've already made AND accept the answers. More work is okay if it's better work, right? So is blowing up work you've already done. The point is to make the story stronger and serve your characters.
So if you're struggling with something specific, don't think you have to brute force your way through it or think you're a failure for not doing the work. Ask why, figure out the source of the resistance, step back, and you may find out you're spending a lot of time trying to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist. It can be satisfying, too! "I was right to not want to do this, and I get to nuke it!"
Vive la resistance!
At some point in the last three books I've written (including the current one), I've encountered a different kind of resistance with certain scenes. Scenes that I have in my outline that I simply do not want to write, and will go to any length to avoid. Not because they're super hard or emotional or anything, just because... I can't. I'll sit down, document open, and nothing will happen. I'll find something else to do, jump to some other part of the book or over the problem scene entirely and keep going as if it's done, anything to not do this one thing that I have to do.
For a reason.
My resistance was helping me. None of those scenes are in the final books! The reason I didn't want to write them is because I didn't actually need them; I just didn't know I didn't need them. Turns out this manifestation of resistance is actually my writing instincts surfacing, and I've learned to trust this feeling now.
It only applies to specific circumstances, usually a certain scene, so I don't embrace it as an excuse not to write, but as a reason to start asking questions. It's the beginning of a process, not an end. (Look up First Principles thinking for more on this) Why don't I want to do this? Why is it so hard? There's something wrong. I want to write my book, and I need the story to get from here to there. So what to do?
Every time, it has been digging down and asking if I actually need the part my brain is desperately trying to skip over. Can it be cut back? Can the important part be grafted with another scene or doled out elsewhere more efficiently? Do I actually need any of it? If I just cut this entirely, what happens?
There's a scene I wrote for Colours of Dawn that was over 2,000 words long that I kept massaging because I was trying to find the ultimate purpose of it. I took a step back and thought about it, and managed to boil the entire thing down to a single line of dialogue and plug it in somewhere else. Resistance can become eureka in an instant if you're willing to question choices you've already made AND accept the answers. More work is okay if it's better work, right? So is blowing up work you've already done. The point is to make the story stronger and serve your characters.
So if you're struggling with something specific, don't think you have to brute force your way through it or think you're a failure for not doing the work. Ask why, figure out the source of the resistance, step back, and you may find out you're spending a lot of time trying to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist. It can be satisfying, too! "I was right to not want to do this, and I get to nuke it!"
Vive la resistance!
April 2, 2021
Resetting the Dominoes
There's a thing that happens when I'm in the process of drafting a book that I've always found hard to explain. I call it 'stacking', but I can never really find an appropriate metaphor. Dominoes are close, so that's what I'll go with.
As I iterate on a book, all the changes I need to make, the story, the character tweaks all sort of build up in my head. Everything becomes clearer and clearer as I build up what will ultimately become the final book. Pass after pass, things slot into place, the changes get massaged in, the characters become more real, their arcs stronger, but I have to keep all that in my head as I go, balancing it until I can get it on the page and worked into a complete whole.
Then something happens and all the pieces fall apart. It happened on Midnight Magic, and it happened on my current book last month. Picking up all the pieces and remembering where I was and what I was doing with them isn't easy, and it can be frustrating and time-consuming. It's nowhere near as bad as having to start over, but working back up into that momentum again can sometimes feel like it. It's not the work itself, it's the recapturing of a mental state.
I'm still re-stacking the dominoes. From character voices to all the things I was going to do to make the second draft way better than the first, it's part recall and part re-evaluation. Sometimes you gain perspective and become less precious about things, and sometimes it feels like there's some nugget of lost genius that's gone forever that I have to patch up as best I can.
Sometimes I just have to re-read my notes, other times I have to re-read entire swathes of the book to get things back (and remind myself that it's not all crap), but I can usually get there. As usual, it's starting that's the hard part. Spooling up the creation machine takes a few coughs and sputters, but it's usually falling in love with my characters again that gets it humming. I'm writing for them, telling their story, and once I realize what the missing pieces are, I strap in and get the work done to ensure it gets told.
Well, the belts are buckled and the helmets are on, so hopefully that means there will be a shiny new lesbian fantasy romance novel in the world soon!
Back to work.
As I iterate on a book, all the changes I need to make, the story, the character tweaks all sort of build up in my head. Everything becomes clearer and clearer as I build up what will ultimately become the final book. Pass after pass, things slot into place, the changes get massaged in, the characters become more real, their arcs stronger, but I have to keep all that in my head as I go, balancing it until I can get it on the page and worked into a complete whole.
Then something happens and all the pieces fall apart. It happened on Midnight Magic, and it happened on my current book last month. Picking up all the pieces and remembering where I was and what I was doing with them isn't easy, and it can be frustrating and time-consuming. It's nowhere near as bad as having to start over, but working back up into that momentum again can sometimes feel like it. It's not the work itself, it's the recapturing of a mental state.
I'm still re-stacking the dominoes. From character voices to all the things I was going to do to make the second draft way better than the first, it's part recall and part re-evaluation. Sometimes you gain perspective and become less precious about things, and sometimes it feels like there's some nugget of lost genius that's gone forever that I have to patch up as best I can.
Sometimes I just have to re-read my notes, other times I have to re-read entire swathes of the book to get things back (and remind myself that it's not all crap), but I can usually get there. As usual, it's starting that's the hard part. Spooling up the creation machine takes a few coughs and sputters, but it's usually falling in love with my characters again that gets it humming. I'm writing for them, telling their story, and once I realize what the missing pieces are, I strap in and get the work done to ensure it gets told.
Well, the belts are buckled and the helmets are on, so hopefully that means there will be a shiny new lesbian fantasy romance novel in the world soon!
Back to work.
March 26, 2021
Pushing Too Hard
So I managed to hurt myself.
Writing.
Being hunched over a laptop in the dark for a year is bad for you, it turns out. Who knew? Oh, a lot of people. People who use words like 'ergonomics' aren't always just trying to sell you something. Sometimes they're right.
The first draft of my newest novel is still awaiting my return, but it counts towards me saying that I wrote three fantasy novels in less than a year. Such is the indie writing mindset that it felt like I wasn't getting work out fast enough, so I pushed and pushed, paying no mind to the habits I was using in my pursuit of... I don't even know what anymore.
I've always written in the dark. I love the feeling of being cocooned with my work, sealing myself off from the world outside to focus on the one I'm building. Turns out that's really bad for you. So is hunching over a laptop in the wrong kind of chair, looking down and squinting day after day.
Protip: don't do those things. Have the lights on, sit up straight (and eat your vegetables!), go for more walks, take care of yourself. Writing (or any desk work) is harder on your body than we think it is (or give it credit for being). I'm not a doctor or expert, so it's not my place to give out advice. But I had to learn the hard way what everyone else seemed to figure out at the beginning of the pandemic.
I won't go into exactly what I did to myself, but it's kept me away from my book for weeks, and it's awful. It's like being kept away from my children! There's so much left to do, I have so many more stories to tell! As I mentioned on Twitter, I have ideas for my next six books already, and it always feels like not enough time with which to write them.
It's also why I won't be on Twitter as much. Not because it's a time sink, but because it's poisonous to my mentality. I pushed myself to breaking because everyone else always seems like they're doing more/better than me, to the point that writing three fantasy novels in one year felt like it wasn't enough. It's only since I've had enforced time away that I've realized how crazy that is!
This blog post is the most I've written since the beginning of March, a sort of trial run, and things seem okay. The idea of trying to go back to my books and failing is painful, so I started somewhere a little more... ephemeral.
I am very excited to share my books and introduce you to my new characters, but I have to slow down a little bit in order to keep being able to.
The pandemic and the spawn of 2020 keep teaching lessons, ones I hope I never have to learn again. I think (hope) that we've all learned to be kinder to each other, but you have to also remember to be kind to yourself.
Writing.
Being hunched over a laptop in the dark for a year is bad for you, it turns out. Who knew? Oh, a lot of people. People who use words like 'ergonomics' aren't always just trying to sell you something. Sometimes they're right.
The first draft of my newest novel is still awaiting my return, but it counts towards me saying that I wrote three fantasy novels in less than a year. Such is the indie writing mindset that it felt like I wasn't getting work out fast enough, so I pushed and pushed, paying no mind to the habits I was using in my pursuit of... I don't even know what anymore.
I've always written in the dark. I love the feeling of being cocooned with my work, sealing myself off from the world outside to focus on the one I'm building. Turns out that's really bad for you. So is hunching over a laptop in the wrong kind of chair, looking down and squinting day after day.
Protip: don't do those things. Have the lights on, sit up straight (and eat your vegetables!), go for more walks, take care of yourself. Writing (or any desk work) is harder on your body than we think it is (or give it credit for being). I'm not a doctor or expert, so it's not my place to give out advice. But I had to learn the hard way what everyone else seemed to figure out at the beginning of the pandemic.
I won't go into exactly what I did to myself, but it's kept me away from my book for weeks, and it's awful. It's like being kept away from my children! There's so much left to do, I have so many more stories to tell! As I mentioned on Twitter, I have ideas for my next six books already, and it always feels like not enough time with which to write them.
It's also why I won't be on Twitter as much. Not because it's a time sink, but because it's poisonous to my mentality. I pushed myself to breaking because everyone else always seems like they're doing more/better than me, to the point that writing three fantasy novels in one year felt like it wasn't enough. It's only since I've had enforced time away that I've realized how crazy that is!
This blog post is the most I've written since the beginning of March, a sort of trial run, and things seem okay. The idea of trying to go back to my books and failing is painful, so I started somewhere a little more... ephemeral.
I am very excited to share my books and introduce you to my new characters, but I have to slow down a little bit in order to keep being able to.
The pandemic and the spawn of 2020 keep teaching lessons, ones I hope I never have to learn again. I think (hope) that we've all learned to be kinder to each other, but you have to also remember to be kind to yourself.
March 14, 2021
Away Time
I need to be away from computer monitors/screens for a bit, so there won't be any blog posts or updates for a while. Sadly, that means writing, too, so everything is on pause for the moment.
You all mean the world to me, so I will be back as soon as I can. Take care and be excellent to each other.
You all mean the world to me, so I will be back as soon as I can. Take care and be excellent to each other.
March 4, 2021
First Draft Shmirst Draft
With my standalone novels, I don't know that the term 'first draft' means anything anymore. 'Rough 'draft' I guess, but that makes me feel like I'm in college again, and no thank you.
What I have on my computer right now is more like... an extremely ambitious outline. It's novel-length, with a beginning, a middle and an end, but all the details are hand-waved and punted off for future me to figure out. On purpose!
Increasingly, I am finding the story of my books as I write them (not the Ashes books, those are entirely different). In the spectrum of pantsing vs. plotting, I lean towards, uh... plotsing? Both. My stories are character driven, and in my standalones, I don't always know who my characters are until I spend time with them. Sometimes the story I have outlined isn't the story I'm actually telling, because the characters don't fit. They wouldn't do a thing the outline says they should, for example, and I would rather bend events around them than vice-versa.
Especially in a romance. The characters are absolutely paramount, and their emotional journey must take precedence over whatever else is happening. Remember, plot=what happens, story=what it's about. Romances are about falling in love and love conquering all, so that becomes my #1 priority.
Now, I write fantasy romance, and fantasy tends to be very plot-driven, so balancing the two things can be tricky.
So how do I do that? By remembering what I'm writing about. The spine of the story is two people falling in love, and everything else must service that first. Also tone. I want these standalone fantasy romances to be fun and escapist, so sometimes that means I have to dial back the drama or plot intricacy. I also want them to be relatively short, readable in an afternoon, which means cutting a subplot or two.
I find all of that in the process of writing it. I think I've mentioned this here before, my my 'first drafts' are always the shortest version of the eventual story. There's a lot of placeholders and missing stage direction, and often, missing emotions. It's hard to get the emotions right without context, since it's very easy to write a single scene with intensely strong feelings, but if they all end up like that, or even two back-to-back, it becomes a bit much, or even *shudder* melodramatic.
But all the beats are there. It's a story, just not a book. Not yet.
What I have is a solid block of stone that's the right height and length. The next step is to reveal the sculpture lurking within.
What I have on my computer right now is more like... an extremely ambitious outline. It's novel-length, with a beginning, a middle and an end, but all the details are hand-waved and punted off for future me to figure out. On purpose!
Increasingly, I am finding the story of my books as I write them (not the Ashes books, those are entirely different). In the spectrum of pantsing vs. plotting, I lean towards, uh... plotsing? Both. My stories are character driven, and in my standalones, I don't always know who my characters are until I spend time with them. Sometimes the story I have outlined isn't the story I'm actually telling, because the characters don't fit. They wouldn't do a thing the outline says they should, for example, and I would rather bend events around them than vice-versa.
Especially in a romance. The characters are absolutely paramount, and their emotional journey must take precedence over whatever else is happening. Remember, plot=what happens, story=what it's about. Romances are about falling in love and love conquering all, so that becomes my #1 priority.
Now, I write fantasy romance, and fantasy tends to be very plot-driven, so balancing the two things can be tricky.
So how do I do that? By remembering what I'm writing about. The spine of the story is two people falling in love, and everything else must service that first. Also tone. I want these standalone fantasy romances to be fun and escapist, so sometimes that means I have to dial back the drama or plot intricacy. I also want them to be relatively short, readable in an afternoon, which means cutting a subplot or two.
I find all of that in the process of writing it. I think I've mentioned this here before, my my 'first drafts' are always the shortest version of the eventual story. There's a lot of placeholders and missing stage direction, and often, missing emotions. It's hard to get the emotions right without context, since it's very easy to write a single scene with intensely strong feelings, but if they all end up like that, or even two back-to-back, it becomes a bit much, or even *shudder* melodramatic.
But all the beats are there. It's a story, just not a book. Not yet.
What I have is a solid block of stone that's the right height and length. The next step is to reveal the sculpture lurking within.
February 26, 2021
Character Bends
One thing even experienced writers (and I'm one of them? I guess? Let's say for today's purposes I am!) forget is that not all characters have to have a pronounced arc to their story. Many do, but a lot don't. The world around them does.
It's called a Flat Arc, and the quintessential example you may know (but not realize) is Captain America. He changes, yes, but not fundamentally. He has his truth and he believes in it. He isn't going to change, and this forces the world around him to change. For the most part, he is the same person he is at the beginning of his story as he is at the end. Here's the best part: That's why he's Captain America. Steve Rogers was chosen because he is fundamentally good, and could be trusted with the superpowers he was going to be given, using them for positive purpose.
An example from my books is Elise. Elise is fundamentally a caring, empathetic person who changes the people around her, namely Millie. Look at who Millie was in Remember, November and compare that to the Millie at the end of Colours of Dawn. She's completely different, and that's largely because of Elise. Elise's arc is to bend Millie around her, and to a lesser extent, Victoria. She is the heart of EVE, she can't change fundamentally without throwing off the orbits of everyone around her. And that's good! As long as she is changing the world, and other characters, change is still happening! It remains dynamic. A flat arc still has an arc; it doesn't mean static. A static character is boring, and Elise isn't boring at all, even if she herself doesn't change that much. (There are flashes of the Devil in the Angel, though!) But she's also not a Point of View (PoV) character. I took it for granted from the very beginning that she would be that way, and I've never thought to change that.
So you can imagine my panic when I realized a PoV character I'm working on now wasn't changing. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her! All of my writer instincts and training (if you can call it that) were telling me that something was off and I needed to fix it.
Turns out, I didn't. I just hadn't seen the totality of the story I was telling.
Flat Arc characters tend to have very strong personalities, right from the off. They are who they are, and don't need to change, the world does. I knew that, yet didn't. So I went back to some of my earliest books on writing, and refreshed myself on character fundamentals. Luckily, I realized what I was doing was actually the right thing all along, just not intentionally. Until then, I had been panicked by what I thought needed to be happening rather than listening to the characters and doing what they told me.
The book I'm working on now is my sixth novel, yet it's very easy to get lost in the weeds by thinking you have a handle on what you're doing. Nope! Writing is an iterative process, and one you never, ever stop learning from and about. For the most part, I trust my instincts, and sometimes they tell you something is wrong (good!), but for the wrong reasons (not so good!). But at least they're honed enough to make me stop and check. And in that assessment, I found a lot of valuable insight, both into the character and the story.
Never be afraid to ask questions, especially of yourself. Take a step back, reassess, and sometimes you'll find that the problem wasn't actually a problem at all, your expectations were. You can be building a perfectly fine straight road through the desert, but imagine it being all windy and exciting. Why? It's the desert! Make it windy when you get to the mountains. (Just make sure there are mountains.)
Always serve the characters first, often they know better than you. If it looks like they aren't walking, check the ground beneath them; you might find that it's moving all the same.
It's called a Flat Arc, and the quintessential example you may know (but not realize) is Captain America. He changes, yes, but not fundamentally. He has his truth and he believes in it. He isn't going to change, and this forces the world around him to change. For the most part, he is the same person he is at the beginning of his story as he is at the end. Here's the best part: That's why he's Captain America. Steve Rogers was chosen because he is fundamentally good, and could be trusted with the superpowers he was going to be given, using them for positive purpose.
An example from my books is Elise. Elise is fundamentally a caring, empathetic person who changes the people around her, namely Millie. Look at who Millie was in Remember, November and compare that to the Millie at the end of Colours of Dawn. She's completely different, and that's largely because of Elise. Elise's arc is to bend Millie around her, and to a lesser extent, Victoria. She is the heart of EVE, she can't change fundamentally without throwing off the orbits of everyone around her. And that's good! As long as she is changing the world, and other characters, change is still happening! It remains dynamic. A flat arc still has an arc; it doesn't mean static. A static character is boring, and Elise isn't boring at all, even if she herself doesn't change that much. (There are flashes of the Devil in the Angel, though!) But she's also not a Point of View (PoV) character. I took it for granted from the very beginning that she would be that way, and I've never thought to change that.
So you can imagine my panic when I realized a PoV character I'm working on now wasn't changing. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her! All of my writer instincts and training (if you can call it that) were telling me that something was off and I needed to fix it.
Turns out, I didn't. I just hadn't seen the totality of the story I was telling.
Flat Arc characters tend to have very strong personalities, right from the off. They are who they are, and don't need to change, the world does. I knew that, yet didn't. So I went back to some of my earliest books on writing, and refreshed myself on character fundamentals. Luckily, I realized what I was doing was actually the right thing all along, just not intentionally. Until then, I had been panicked by what I thought needed to be happening rather than listening to the characters and doing what they told me.
The book I'm working on now is my sixth novel, yet it's very easy to get lost in the weeds by thinking you have a handle on what you're doing. Nope! Writing is an iterative process, and one you never, ever stop learning from and about. For the most part, I trust my instincts, and sometimes they tell you something is wrong (good!), but for the wrong reasons (not so good!). But at least they're honed enough to make me stop and check. And in that assessment, I found a lot of valuable insight, both into the character and the story.
Never be afraid to ask questions, especially of yourself. Take a step back, reassess, and sometimes you'll find that the problem wasn't actually a problem at all, your expectations were. You can be building a perfectly fine straight road through the desert, but imagine it being all windy and exciting. Why? It's the desert! Make it windy when you get to the mountains. (Just make sure there are mountains.)
Always serve the characters first, often they know better than you. If it looks like they aren't walking, check the ground beneath them; you might find that it's moving all the same.
February 20, 2021
No Post This Week
My brain (and eyeballs) needs some time away from a screen, so nothing thought-out this week. Hope you're all staying safe and doing okay!
February 13, 2021
Happy Valentine's Day!
A short post this week just to say happy Valentine' Day to all of you. Love and relationships are my favorite parts of my books, and I hope they are for you, too. They, and today, are about positivity, so even if you don't celebrate the romantic type of love, I hope there are other facets for you, whether it's family, friendships or whoever else there might be in your life that helps make it better. It's been a long year since the last Valentine's, and we've all needed each other more than ever to get through it. So no matter what type of affection you feel or express, I hope you do, and are able to.
From me, know that I appreciate and cherish each and every one of you. You may not know me, nor I you, but I feel you and know you're out there. Knowing that you read my stories and like my characters means the world to me, and I sincerely hope I've been able to bring some positivity and joy to you, as well. Here's to another year of celebrating love in all its forms.
Thank you all so much.
Stay safe and be excellent to each other.
From me, know that I appreciate and cherish each and every one of you. You may not know me, nor I you, but I feel you and know you're out there. Knowing that you read my stories and like my characters means the world to me, and I sincerely hope I've been able to bring some positivity and joy to you, as well. Here's to another year of celebrating love in all its forms.
Thank you all so much.
Stay safe and be excellent to each other.
February 6, 2021
Catching the Dragon
I'm very hard on myself. Being 'Your own worst critic' is true of me, and it's taken a long time, and a lot of writing for me to come to terms with the fact that I'm not always (if ever) going to be able to capture in words what's happening in my head. It's the dragon every writer chases, and I'm no different.
I caught it this week.
I wrote a scene that I feel actually captured what I saw in my head!
The book I'm writing now has had its ups and downs, moments where I've felt like I have no idea what I'm doing, and others that have reminded me why I love writing so much. The scene I wrote this week was the latter. It was small, nothing much happens in it other than a connection between the characters, but it worked. I was there, with them, in their heads, and the utter affection one of the characters has for the other just... poured out of me.
I captured a moment. It was beautiful, and I can admit it.
That feeling is like a drug. All the long hours and second-guessing, the doubts, the ever-present feeling that everyone else is better at this than me, that's normal. Every day. But when the magic strikes, it can be enough to overcome all of it (for a little while, at least). When the dragon turns around after you've caught her and tells you you're doing a good job, it makes everything else worth it. I'm about halfway through the first draft of this book, and I already know I'm going to have to rewrite big swathes of it, but these little confidence shots are great boosters to get me through. Thank you, dragon!
I don't really talk about the good points of writing on this blog very much; it doesn't seem that helpful, and it can come off as bragging. But sharing the joy of creation can sometimes be just as important as telling you how I solved a problem. I write because I love it, and sometimes it's nice to share why.
Good things happen, too!
I caught it this week.
I wrote a scene that I feel actually captured what I saw in my head!
The book I'm writing now has had its ups and downs, moments where I've felt like I have no idea what I'm doing, and others that have reminded me why I love writing so much. The scene I wrote this week was the latter. It was small, nothing much happens in it other than a connection between the characters, but it worked. I was there, with them, in their heads, and the utter affection one of the characters has for the other just... poured out of me.
I captured a moment. It was beautiful, and I can admit it.
That feeling is like a drug. All the long hours and second-guessing, the doubts, the ever-present feeling that everyone else is better at this than me, that's normal. Every day. But when the magic strikes, it can be enough to overcome all of it (for a little while, at least). When the dragon turns around after you've caught her and tells you you're doing a good job, it makes everything else worth it. I'm about halfway through the first draft of this book, and I already know I'm going to have to rewrite big swathes of it, but these little confidence shots are great boosters to get me through. Thank you, dragon!
I don't really talk about the good points of writing on this blog very much; it doesn't seem that helpful, and it can come off as bragging. But sharing the joy of creation can sometimes be just as important as telling you how I solved a problem. I write because I love it, and sometimes it's nice to share why.
Good things happen, too!
