A.E. Jones's Blog, page 9

A Writer’s Attention Span

It goes without saying that now is a stressful time for everyone. And with that stress many things can bubble to the surface including a shortened attention span. I am definitely a victim of that and have a tendency right now to jump from one thing to another.

That’s a good and bad thing for me. Bad, because I need to be able to concentrate on writing my current story. But good too, because one of the other aspects of writing seems to be flowing well for me right now – brainstorming.

Brainstorming is coming up with concepts, characters, plot, even series ideas. And over the past week I have come up with not one, but two series ideas. Now, don’t get too excited yet. Ideas are just that…ideas. But my brain is ripe for new ideas right now since it is fighting me on the actual writing of my last paranormal wedding planner book. No worries, I WILL get that book written and out there.

But I also know that I need to take advantage of what my brain is giving me right now – ideas for a possible new world that I could create and share with you.

We’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy!

Practicing Patience

With all the worries we’re facing right now one of the things we need to remember is the concept of patience.  Such a hard thing to embrace in a world of instant gratification. But here’s the thing.

Patience is going to make the next few weeks go by in a much less rocky way.

As a writer I have to practice patience all the time. I write novels, and normally when I start writing I know the beginning and end of my book. And this can be frustrating because I want to write the end NOW.

But before I can get to the end, I normally have at least seventy thousand words to write first. Which you guessed it, means patience.

So I plan to keep plugging ahead with my story and remind myself to take a breath and concentrate on the process along the way. I plan to do the same thing with what’s going on in the world around me.

Less rocky is the best way to go.

Where Are the Words…

If you break down a story to its barest form you might argue it is character, plot, conflict. But I am going to go even further and say it all comes down to the simplest form of all.

Words.

Obvious? Maybe, but at its core, you don’t have a story without words. And while that seems simple, for a writer it can be downright painful.

Sometimes you are in the zone and words spill out of you like a waterfall. That is glorious position to be in. But many times depending on what is going on in your life, words can escape a writer. Like taking clay away from a sculptor or brushes from a painter.

So what do you do in this situation? It depends. Sometimes, you can give yourself a break and then the words come back to you. But oftentimes you have a deadline to meet and those words need to come.

For me, when I’m stuck I bargain with myself. Write 500 words – you can do it. Just 500 words tonight to get something down on the computer screen. The irony about this (at least for me) is that the first 500 words are the hardest for me to write. Once I get past that, the words seem to flow better for me.

So my hope is that if I get those 500 words down, I will keep going. It worked the last two days, clocking in a 1000 words each day on my current story.

Let’s see if I can get it to work tonight as well. And no, I don’t get to count the words in this blog toward my 500 – I already thought about it and had to chastise myself before I let the idea take root!

Write on!

Inspiration Can Be Hard Work

Inspiration can be a writer’s true friend and constant enemy. Obviously, a writer needs to get that first spark of idea to start their story, but inspiration also plays a part in the entire process. If not for inspiration, the writer can’t continue to create – whether it is their characters, plot, scene, chapter…you name it and inspiration plays a part.

Don’t get me wrong, writing takes hard work too. That spark has to lead to something concrete after all. But sometimes the spark come – like when you turn the knob on your gas stove waiting for it to catch and it just clicks and clicks without that flame. And you need that flame.

In the case of the gas stove, you turn off the knob wait a moment and try again to see if it will catch this time. And if it doesn’t? You try a different burner.

The same can be said with writing. You can try for that spark as you work on your story and if it doesn’t work – move to another story and work on that for a while. Free up those creative juices so that you can get back to your project and keep moving.

Writing True Conflict

The other day I was talking to one of my writer friends and we got on the subject of food (which shouldn’t be too much of a shock to you). I asked her what her favorite ice cream was and said she doesn’t like ice cream. And I was like what???? And then she told me she didn’t like chocolate either. And then I told her I didn’t think we could be friends anymore.

So I was kidding…kind of.

But it got me thinking about an aspect of writing.

As a writer I have to think about all facets of my story, from character, to plot, to voice. But one of the most important items that propels the story forward is the conflict.

And there are multiple types of conflict like external, whether between the main characters  like the hero and heroine, or the conflict faced by bad vs good (or somewhere in the middle).  Or even more fascinating, internal conflict that the character has to face themselves. Aren’t we often our own worse enemy?

That’s why it’s important to create real conflict. So as ridiculous as it would seem that I would stop being friends with someone who doesn’t like chocolate (and ice cream!), the same can be said for weak conflicts as well.

You don’t want the conflict to be something that could be resolved with honest conversation over a cup of coffee. It needs to come from the foundation of the characters (and often a result of their past) and they need to change and grow from it.

So there you go.  Time to grab a bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce… nuts… sprinkles… ohh whipped cream

 

Start At The Beginning

Your editor is your friend. They make your books much tighter, brighter, smarter…I could go on and on about the importance of having a good relationship with your editor. For me, my editor is also my sounding board, and not just at the end of the project.

Right now, I’m working on the sixth book in my wedding planner series and I’m looking for a little guidance. I just sent my editor the beginning of the story to do a quick read through. The beginning is so very important to the story, it pulls the reader in. Without a good one, you can’t expect the reader to continue on.

As the writer, you are often too close to see what the issues may be (after all the story lives inside your head!), so it’s good to reach out to your editor or beta reader to see what they think before you get too far along in the story. It’s much easier to change things when you’re ten thousand words in versus seventy thousand.

So we’ll see what she has to say before I continue on. Hopefully if she suggests changes, we’re talking minor makeover, not full surgery on the story. Either way, it’s a step forward in the right direction.

My Characters Are Being Grumpy

If you would have asked me what I meant by this a month ago, I would have told you that my characters were being grumpy (or maybe stingy is the better word) in sharing their story with me. Not many words were making their way to my laptop.

Now, as I’ve started writing again, my main character McHenry is grumpy on a good day. He’s all about bluster and building walls around himself. As the story unfolds my hope is that the reader will find out where all of this grumpiness comes from. But the point (and fun) of the story is that he can change, grow and shed his snark to come out better in the end.

Although not all of his snark should go bye-bye since that would make him far less interesting.

So how to accomplish this? How about having him butt heads with a strong-minded woman? Of course, this has been setting off fireworks in the first chapters but then those arguments will lead to a different kind of spark – attraction, growth, acceptance. And fighting for each other versus fighting against.

Right now I’m hanging on for a fun ride as I write this story. We’ll see what you think later this year when you get to read it!

The Cats are Taking Over

It’s winter in my neck of the woods and since I’m not an outdoorsy type of person, I am snuggling up with my bathrobe and a book inside my house in the evenings.

Or should I say I’m trying to snuggle, but I’m running into some difficulties. Boy cat and girl cat have decided to take over my couch. Yep, you heard it right.

I have been relegated to the middle seat – you know the one – when you are on that long car trip and someone has to sit in the middle. Usually the one who lost the bet.

Well, that’s me. Somehow I’ve lost control of my house. Or, I guess the better question would be, did I ever have control of it to begin with?

So whether I’m reading or writing with my laptop perched on a pillow in my lap, I’m sitting in the middle.

And if I don’t pay attention to them every once in a while, I either get a paw strategically placed on my shoulder (boy cat) or a demanding meow (girl cat) to let me know it’s time for some petting.

Which means I better finish this up before said petting commences again!

 

Emerging from Writer Hibernation

Now that I’m done with rereading my paranormal wedding planner series there are no more excuses. It’s time for me to start writing the final book.

So I am coming out of hibernation (even though it is really cold here) to dig into McHenry’s story. The good news is that I wrote some this weekend and some more tonight before I sat down to write this blog.

The interesting thing about book six in this series is that it wasn’t supposed to happen. When I envisioned the wedding planner books, I planned on five books for the five guys that made up the Tribunal team – an elf, nymph, twin werewolves, and a witch.

But then something happened in book three. I introduced a grumpy, reclusive earth demon with a lumberjack vibe and a Scottish accent. And in the very first paragraph of bringing him to life, I knew he was going to get his own book. You read that right – in one paragraph.

So this story will help the reader understand why he is who he is and why the very last person he wants to spend time with let alone fall in love with is an outspoken faerie healer.

But that’s where the fun truly begins. Letting two souls grow and learn to love again. So I’m off to the writing races. Stick around and I’ll let you know how things go…

Reading Marathon Done – Writing Marathon Coming Next?

This past weekend I finished re-reading FOR WITCH OR FOR POORER, book five in my paranormal wedding planner series. I’m happy to see I still like my hero and heroine. Giz was a challenge for me to write, because he really hadn’t been front and center in the other stories, but he did shine in this one! He was a wonderful hero who found his family and his mate.

As you can see from the picture, I have my ear-flap hat on. If you live somewhere with a true winter, you know how this comes in handy! And of course the tiara showed up as well.

So now that I’ve finished my reading marathon, it’s time to start writing the final book in the series. I wrote a few hundred words yesterday just to get the juices flowing. So McHenry’s story will be coming your way later this year!

Now I just need to find a writing hat!