Megan Trennett's Blog, page 12

Mommy, where does inspiration come from?

Whenever I'm between writing projects, I feel the familiar anxiety of 'will I ever have another idea' start to come around. I'm pretty sure all writers feel it from time to time, that fear that that last project was, indeed, their last.

It's not entirely the case this time, because I have a character sitting in the back of my mind just waiting for her story to come along so I can get it down on paper (so to speak). I'm not entirely sure what's going to spark her story, unleashing it from the depths of my mind, posing the question: where does inspiration come from?

About 8 out of 10 times it comes from music for me. Some song will trigger the whole cascade of future scenes and BOOM! I have a starting point. It could be due to the words, or the melody. But there's a chance it'll erupt from a stray thought or a day dream. Maybe from a character on a TV show or Movie, their essence creeping into my head. But there's a good chance, as with (I believe) a lot of authors, it may just happen after reading a book.

I recently read an eBook trilogy that's erupted into major popularity: Fifty Shades. I didn't know it was big when I bought the book, I'd seen an ad for the second book, and the description sounded good, so I went back and bought the first. Similar to when I read the Twilight series three years ago, I found myself reading and feeling inexplicably addicted, but then completely robbed of my time after I'd finished them all. And, like I did after Twilight, I found myself thinking 'I could do better.' It's actually how I got into writing chick-lit in the first place.

Well, I'm not a multi-millionaire, so I guess I didn't do better. Maybe it's because I refuse to write about vampires? I don't know, but it's very clear that Fifty Shades was inspired in the same way. And no, there are no vampires or werewolves, just an overly hot, rich guy with childhood issues and an addiction BDSM (Did I mention it's an Erotica? I probably should have. It's been coined as Twilight for Adults {and those who don't like their men sparkly}). Anyway, it's got the same structure, he's dark and scary, and she wants to show him that he deserves love and all that. She likes to dwell on his hotness, and wants to change for him, and he understands he's resistant in allowing her to show him affection.

Point being, I read the whole thing, and could see all the things I would have done differently. Don't get me wrong, strictly taking it as story, it was a great idea. If I was locked in a room and forced to read that or Meyer's books for the rest of my life, I'd pick that. But if I'd written it, I'd have done some things differently.

I guess I could say it inspired me a little bit, though I have no intentions of going down the erotica route. I can barely swear in front of my Mom, so I couldn't imagine saying 'here, read my latest work.' But it got the wheels turning, I can feel it. Maybe not for the character currently awaiting for her time to shine, but for another character, another story, maybe causing the percolation for the darker romance stories I've been wanting to write. We shall see, I guess.

So where does your inspiration come from? And have you ever read a book/series that left you feeling like you could do better?

Your book made me mad. A rant.

After I finish a very length project I read like I've been deprived of books and I need them to live. Which, let's face it, as a writer you kind of do. I'd been adding books to my Kobo as I'd seen them, getting more and more excited to read each one. It was a hard time picking which one to start with, but I'm glad I went with the one I did. I won't name it, but my Goodreads widget will make it obvious as it what it is. So, without any further adieu, I give to you a review rant:

So the Guy's a former undercover cop, with physical and mental scars. He's opposed to marriage because no one in his family stays married. He's read the Twilight Series. The Girl's coming back from New York to her home town (where Guy is sheriff now) after catching her husband in bed with another woman and getting dick all in the divorce. She can't dance and is afraid of storms. She's also read the Twilight Series. Guy and Girl have history together, and they're forced to work together with troubled teens at the Library she works at, as well as be neighbors with each other. This cause a lot of sexual tension that they both want to ignore.

They get together very suddenly a couple of times (A hot thunderstorm make-out scene, an elevator in the dark with some *clears throat* intense gropage) that end as quickly and randomly as they started without either character giving a reason why it they suddenly had their hands all over each other than the fact it's dark. Yep, the song "When the lights go out" by British Boyband Five comes to mind.

It didn't to the author though, not that I can tell. She's listed every single song the characters listen to in the book. I love detail, I love music, but that was a bit much. Tell me the band, musician, the kind of music a character listens to. It'll add some dimension to them, at least for me. If you're talking about this seemingly dorky, quiet character listening to Metal, I'm going to think that's a quirk, and I'll like it.  But I don't need a paragraph detailing the specific songs, on the specific playlist playing in the background. There's no way I can hear the music and the conversation between characters in my head. If you want me to know what you listened to while you wrote the book, post a playlist. If I want to know what the song in Chapter 5 was, I'll find it there.

Then there's the troubled teens. I thought this would be great, like maybe one would get into a similar situation that one our Guy had tried to help in the past, giving him some closure. Nope, the crime was vandalism, and the author made it sound like an episode of Scooby-Do (I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids {sorry, I didn't watch much Scooby, so I'm sure the quotes wrong}). Given all the racial hatred and judgment some of the secondary characters exhibited towards the teens, I expected more than just a rushed wrap up with no real change from people's opinions.

And the romance part of the book? Let me paraphrase:

"Hey, you're my rebound guy."

"I don't want to be your rebound."

"No?"

"Nope just your guy."

"Okay. Hey, what's the deal with the scar on your shoulder?"

"Don't want to talk about it. Ever"

"Alright. Wanna go have sex that's bland in comparison to our naughty 'When the lights go out' make out sessions? And then a year later we'll get married without showing any real change of heart to our opinions about it?"

"Okay."

 Oh, and the fact that they read the Twilight? Not important to the story. In fact, other than them just saying it, it never comes up. Which wouldn't bother me, it would be a character quirk, except there's no quirk that ever surfaces. He didn't learn from it, neither did she, and that's that.

End Rant.

When the voices tell you that you screwed up.

On Saturday my two week turned two month re-write project became complete. And if there is one thing I learned from the experience is that if the voices are still going after the story is done it's because of two reasons: there may be another story there, or I did something wrong.

Seeing as how this was a prequel, I couldn't possibly see it going anywhere else. This is what prompted me to dive back into so soon after the original completion (Originally finished in December, I started re-writes in January).

It didn't take me very long to realize I made one ginormous mess of the thing, which is sad, because the characters were some of my favorite creations. Not only did I not do their earlier story justice, but I may have screwed up their personalities a little too.

 Was the guy a little player-esque back in the day? Yeah, but that didn't mean I had to turn him into the biggest, egotistical man-whore that walked the (fictional) earth. Was she a little shy and quiet? Sure, but not to the point that she would have been impossible to engage. And I could have kicked myself for how many gaps and holes I'd put in their lives. Needless to say, it's clear now how the whole thing took me a little longer than two weeks to complete.

In the end, I've add more words than I deleted. The original word count was around 120 000, the new version is 193 835 words. I've removed entire story lines, characters, and replaced them with others that fit better. The whole original ending, which was emotional and I liked a lot, became something entirely different and fair more true to the original story and far more satisfying.

The voices of the characters aren't in my head anymore, and I honestly feel like I can now truly say their story is over. It's nice, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and the best part is I learned something. Instead of trying too hard to make it a continuation of a story, I needed to let it breathe and become its own entity.

And, when I will undoubtedly have a recurrence of some form, I just have to remember something one of my favorite musicians, Matt Nathanson, said: "If I fuck it up, it's cool. That's art."

Read an eBook Week! Books at 1/2 Price!

Okay, so I heard it as both read an eBook week, as well as month but Smashwords.com is doing it as a week, with yours truly's books being on sale for 50% off. Just click this link and be brought to where you can buy either Heart Pulled to Pieces or An Altered Ending. Use the coupon code REW50 at the check out!

 

Also, I want to take this opprotunity to say thanks to all the commenters on my last post. I've been really busy trying to meet my personal deadline for my current WIP that I didn't have time to post. I appreciated everyone's thoughts and opinions on the subject, it was also one of my most successful posts, so thanks!

Name calling: Repeat names in a fictional world

I once came across some article (or plotting device, I'm not sure) that stated I should get rid of any similar names among my characters. Strange, eh? Especially when, if you want a story to sound authentic, you're bound to have some anomalies, right?

What got me thinking about this was my re-write project. I've tried not to have the same names run through my work as I go, for no real reason other than to just not repeat the name. Unless it's a character cross over, which I love seeing in books as well as doing myself, I dodged repeats like an agile gym student. After writing so many modern based novels, though, common names start to run thin, and repeaters are popping up. Which got me thinking, wouldn't that make it more authentic?

Writing fantasy allowed me to have some really fun, strange, and out-there names. I could call a character Dagmar because it means "glorious" and she was a glorious warrior (or stage performer). I could name them Lucasta, Artimus, Checks, or any number of things because it simply didn't matter. They were in a fantasy world, 'normal' was a different state of mind.

Looking at the modern world is different, I think that repeat names would land more authenticity. Example? My graduating class contained 3 Megans (of various spelling), 4 Ashleys (Again, various) 4 Jeffs, and a multitude of other repeats. And that was one graduating class, the rest of the high school was littered with them. I'm sure you know more than one person of a same name, so why shouldn't your characters?

No, seriously, why shouldn't they?

I'd love to know your opinions on the topic, so please share them.

Tuesday Tunes – Adele "My Same"

Listening to this while working on my current re-write project. Not only do I love it, but it fit the earlier half of my work.

Love'em for what's on the inside – What makes a Charming Character

I've been analyzing a lot lately what makes a very loveable character, mostly in the heart-throb, swooning kind of way. But other than their charming good looks, and the things an author makes them do that causes crushes, there is also the personality.

My favorite Character in a book thus far.

Pocket, from Christopher Moore's Fool, is definitely one of my character crushes. If you haven't read the book, you should, especially if you like dark humor, Shakespeare, and you're not easily offended by cursing (among other things). Pocket is King Lear's jester, and he's determined to restore the Kingdom back to its glory after Lear dismisses Cordelia from his good graces, and divides the Kingdom between his other daughters. Pocket, aside from being hugely comical, is also dark, slightly vengeful, loyal to those who deserve it, and extremely intelligent despite his upbringing. I loves me some Pocket. My other book crush is Erik from Phantom of the Opera. Yes, the book version. I know he's a little (*cough*a lot *cough*) psychotic, murderous, obsessive, etc., but all he wants is to be loved, and treated like any other human being despite the very terrifying disfigurement of his face. He's kinda like Wall-e except, you know, evil. But he very obviously has the possibility to change within him.

Characters like those two are very different, and they have very different aspects that get me to say that I adore them. So how does a person mold the personality to make a character loveable? This is where it can get truly sticky, because what one person adores, another abhors when it comes to a single trait. Even stranger, you can just shift the POV that the character is being viewed from and you can make the same person suddenly love a character they despised.

Well, with the difference between the characters I create, and the ones that I love, I have no authority to say what makes a personality (much like how I'm not sure I'm the authority on what makes a 25 year old's heart flutter). But I do know that, no matter what the setting, it only takes that one thing, that one action that the character's persona allows to happen, to sweep a reader off their feet. It doesn't have to be a grand, heroic gesture – it could be as simple as picking up the dishes he broke for the waitress, being the supportive friend despite outsider's objections, or being the shoulder to cry on when you have no idea why you're crying in the first place. Any man can do these things, of course, but only ones who have certain personality traits can do it with honest feeling, and make it count.

So, what are you favorite personality traits to either read or write about?

The construction of a novel

My Dad is a carpenter, and a pretty damn good one at that. I'm not just saying that because he's my Dad, either, he's got an amazing reputation back in my hometown. Because of his talent (and I'd assume passion), I'd never lived in a home that was owned by someone else. I also never lived in any house longer than five years. If they wanted a change, my parents didn't renovate, they sold the house and built a new one. I can count at least eight homes from memory, two from before I was born, that they built from the ground up.

Being around all this construction (Dad also built homes/garages/barns/etc.  for friends and family, I'd been to a few of these sites), I came to understand the basics of how to go about it. You have to prepare the land, dig for the basement or slab, lay down piping before the cement's poured, framing the house, setting up walls, etc. I recently became reminded about all these stages when I was working on my current re-write.

I finished my first draft two or three days after NaNoWrio finished. It wasn't my NanNo book, but the one I was working on during the day. It took me roughly the same two months to write it out that I normal take to do a first draft, and I thought I did a pretty good job with it when I first finished.

After doing a read through of another manuscript, I went back to do the initial read through/re-write of this WIP. A month into what I thought would be a two week project and being nowhere near done, All I could think was "I really effed this one up, didn't I?" I skipped too far ahead without filling in the story, left a lot of loose ends, even made one character into someone they really weren't (alright, I confess, I did that for more than just one). I felt like there were so many plot holes I could look through the walls. I was ready to delete everything, take a bulldozer to the thing and start over.

But I realized that maybe I didn't "eff it up", maybe I just laid down some concrete, put up some framing, and nailed a couple of boards up and said "it's liveable." It wasn't ruined, not in the least. I just needed insulate it, put up some drywall, install and seal the windows and doors. In other words, I just didn't finish its construction. It wasn't really "liveable" yet, I just didn't see that when standing on the outside, looking at wooden structure shaped like a house.

The second last house my parents built (I moved before the last one was built) Also, that's my Dad on the roof

On the bright side, this lil' realization has made it fun to work with again. I get to spend more time with these characters, I get to make more wacky situations for them to get into, and breathe more life into their love story. It's not often that I get to add more on second go.

So, I continue on instead of bulldozing. I'll wake up each morning and put on my white hardhat (because I'm the foreman on this here site, you know), grab my hammer, some nails, and get to work! Alright, so it's really just coffee, my laptop, and my imagination, but it's the same basic principal.

When it's liveable, I'll stop for a bit. I'll make it pretty when I polish it up after letting it settle. Paint and furniture is expensive you know.

Tuesday Tunes – Nowhere with you

I could do one of two very expected things for my Tuesday Tunes today. I could have gone with a Whitney Houston song (RIP) or I could have done a love song. Well, I wasn't a Whitney fan, and I'm really not a Valentine's Day fan (note "slightly cynical* in self description.) All that being said, I figured today would be a good day to share a song from a guy who is huge in Nova Scotia.

Joel Plaskett is a known name in my home province, and this song "Nowhere with You" is easily one of his most popular. Probably because it's so damn catchy (And an excellent drinking song). So here we go, a jaunty tune so those who just can't take another "I will Always Love You" from either of today's celebratory directions.

 

"Again" by Lenny Kravitz for Tuesday Tunes

I first heard this song when I was in the eight grade, but it was one  of those really good songs that stick with you for a very long time. When I was developing the idea for An Altered Ending, this song popped into my head and made it's way to the playlist. Enjoy it, because I know I always have.