Rachel Dacus's Blog, page 22

10 Ways to Plot a Novel

Ways to Plot a Novel

Working on a plot outline so you can plunge into your next big creative project, or getting ready to jump into National Novel Writing Month — could you use at least 10 ways to plot a novel? I have a list of articles for you. Actually, it’s a lot more than 10 ways.

Writers in the Storm has an excellent article on different ways to plot your story. From a basic framework, such as Martha Alderson’s Plot Planner, to Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method, this article has lots of ideas for you, even if you’re a freewrite kind of novelist.

Plot Bunny Method

Then there’s my favorite The Plot Bunny Method. Step one is to have an idea that won’t let go. Step two is to write it down. Sounds simple? I did that after spending seven years in the torturous process of learning what a plot is and turning my plot bunny into a full-fledged novel, then testing it on beta readers, agents, and editors. (The Renaissance Club is forthcoming in January 2018 from Fiery Seas Publishing). The second time I did it the other way around. I developed a plot bunny and immediately tested it on agents who were complimenting my pitch but regretfully making an exit. Here’s my plot bunny, just as I first wrote it:

The Romantics is the story of two half-sisters who clash over inheriting a cottage on the Ligurian coast of Italy, along with its resident ghost, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Every single agent and editor said they wanted to read that book! So I went for developing the plot bunny, only I didn’t outline. I proceeded to Step Two. Determine an element that interests you. That was easy. It was the complicated relationship between siblings. I was newly mourning the death of my beloved brother, my only sibling, and thinking about just what such a connection with another human being is worth in your life. That was what I wanted to explore in my plot.

Theory Behind What Makes a Plot Good

At that moment in time, I happened upon a book every fiction writer should read: Story Genius by Lisa Cron. I think that was the first time I actually understood in an analytical way what makes a story fascinating: the working out of how to solve a problem the protagonist carries within herself or himself. It’s the human story — how we overcome our foibles to achieve our successes.

So those are my 10 ways to plot a novel. But I’m not a born outliner. I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer, or what’s known in fiction writing circles as a “pantser”. I follow the Plot Bunny Method, only I never knew it was actually a method. For you pantsers dipping toes in the outline water, I leave you with Sigrid Nunez’s Panster Anthem.

 

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Evolution of a Cover Design

The evolution of a cover design for my novel The Renaissance Club has been a fascinating process. I’m thrilled with this cover art, showing my main character walking into a mysterious, dreamlike Italian Renaissance landscape. The scene shimmers with possibility, like the doorway in time through which she walks to meet her 17th century artist hero, sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini.

Evolution of a Cover Design

The process of working with my publisher on cover art began with words. I filled out a form about cover ideas and how themes in the book might be expressed visually, as well as physical descriptions of the main characters. Having never undergone a process like this with a publisher — cover art for poetry is more a matter of the author bringing an image to the publisher — I was intrigued. Then long months of waiting and wondering, at the end of which I received three different concepts.

I liked them all, but felt that seeing the face of my main character was too specific. Fiery Seas’ designer them came up with this beautiful image of my heroine May Gold seen from behind, as she’s poised to move through the landscape of the Italian Renaissance, both contemporary and past. After seeing this wonderful evocation, I asked for just a tweak or two, and this gorgeous design became my novel’s cover. I love the way the feeling of time-travel is embodied in the changing light, from the dark below into what seems like a dawn sky. Transitional times of day make time travel seem possible. The butterflies that hover around her signify  this transition, as do elephants. In the book, Bernini says elephants and butterflies are images of eternity.

Thank you, Fiery Seas Publishing!
Publication date – January 16!

Not only do I have his beautiful new cover revealed today, but I also got a specific publication date. On January 16, you’ll be able to purchase The Renaissance Club. Having worked on this story for more than seven years, this is a beyond thrilling moment. Stay tuned for details about ordering.

 

 

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Why Writers Wait So Much

For the decades that I’ve been writing, I’ve often wondered why writers wait so much. We wait for inspiration, we wait for writing time, and excruciatingly, we wait for responses from publishers and agents. Sometimes I’ve waited months for a reply to an agent query or a literary journal. Is it just me and my writing? What makes them hesitate and delay? Or is the publishing industry so clogged with writers pitching their writing that editors and agents must read on their phones while commuting, just to keep up?

Waiting for responses has at times torn me apart. The worst was when an agent I wanted work with was reading my full manuscript. Worst-of-the-worst was when I resubmitted the novel to an agent after a year-long, exclusive revise-and-resubmit. That waiting was capped with a most painful rejection.

Then *drum roll* I got an offer from a publisher for my novel The Renaissance Club! Actually, two publishers offered. I’m so happy with the one I accepted, Fiery Seas Publishing.

Cover Reveal Day

Today I’m doing the happier waiting. This waiting is for an event to publicize my forthcoming novel, The Renaissance Club (January 2018). Tomorrow will be my novel’s “cover reveal day”. Sponsored by the publisher, a number of book review blogs will unveil the new cover, along with a short synopsis, an excerpt, an author bio, and perhaps a giveaway.

Actually, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, except that tomorrow, I’m free to use my book cover in any way I want! So I will post it here, and add a giveaway contest.

What Writers Do While Waiting

/also, writers wait so much because we want our book to be the best book it can be, the perfect book. We want it promoted in the best way. Waiting often involves editing. Yes, even if agents and editors are already reading, I continue to edit a book. Or I edit the publicity materials, my blog posts, and social media plan. If I can see something to fix, I’m going to fix it.

Now I’ve passed the anxious waiting and reached the excited waiting! Still, I’ll follow the Golden Writer’s Rule: While Waiting, Write! My goal this week is to finish expanding a chapter of my work-in-progress novel, The Romantics. While writing, I forget everything — even that I’m waiting.

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Rain Dance for California – A Poem/Prayer

The skies here in northern California are still a crazy shade of apricot, and sunlight has a reddish tinge, so I was moved to write a rain dance for California, a poem to the rains we desperately need. Once, in Hawaii, I learned an ancient hula dance said to bring rain. And the rains came, for three days! More than 20 fires are still burning, but rain is in the forecast for next week. I love the taste in the air after a first rain in fall, the metallic coolness and smell of the moist earth after summer’s scorch. Here’s my rain dance for California.



Rain Dancing Before the Wildfire

The sun was wearing its pink mask

and the sky carried the weight of smoke

on its muscular shoulders.

My neck went into spasms

that first wildfire day, but then

I thought I heard waves

of the Earth laughing, red sprites

rampaging like bright laundry

along the skies and ridges.

But faroff on the sea, another mirth

is rolling steadily toward us.

It tastes of salt and charcoal,

of kelp and blue skies

collapsing in tears.

The rain is calling us, doing its dance

to bring us nearer.

It’s surfing toward land.

We call as one calls for a lost cat.

It calls back in echoes of last year’s deluge.

And it will begin to come in,

probably during the night,

first a spray soft as the breath of your beloved,

and then a mist, that smells of the earth

at last breathing,

and finally droplets’ patter on windows

like drumming heard

from across the desert valley at night.

Rachel Dacus

10-11-17

Calling to Indra

Indra, the Hindu god, is in charge of rain, thunder, and storms. This article gives a good overview of Indra’s province and powers. In case you want to do your own rain dance for California, this is a list of rain deities in traditions around the world.

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DIY Writing Retreat – My 7 Days of Total Focus on a New Novel

Hooray for finishing my writing retreat! Balloons rising into the air!! I’m celebrating that I now have a full draft of Novel #2 – better known as The Romantics.

After nearly full week (I cheated this morning and attended a business meeting) of making this new book my primary focus, every morning, noon, and night, I met my goal.

How I Did It

The goal was to give myself a week of StayWriCation (see earlier post) and finish a first full draft of the novel I had nearly finished a few months back. The original plan was to finish in July, but life intervened. So I took a week off work finally, in September, and let no other obligations — except, of course, for walking my charming Silky Terrier — interfere.

The rough draft was about 80,000 words, and pretty good in places, some chapters even refined, but I had left big holes, scenes only briefly outlined. By sticking to my schedule, I found that every day went by faster than expected. Five days later, I had filled the gaps and added 10,000 words to the count. I proved to myself that it’s the time, and not a daily word count, that works for me. A rough outline, but writing in all directions at the same time, also works. We’re all different. What now? Maybe I’ll write and revise some poems, or just read, before I plunge back in for a first revision.

Pitch

The Romantics is a story about two half-sisters and the cottage in Italy they inherit, with its ghost, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. A  tale of love and sisters like Sense and Sensibility, it’s also a story of friendship between women similar to The Enchanted April, also set on the Ligurian coast of Italy.

 

The post DIY Writing Retreat – My 7 Days of Total Focus on a New Novel appeared first on Rachel Dacus.

7 Days of Total Focus on a New Novel - Success!

Hooray! Balloons rising into the air to celebrate! I have a full draft of Novel #2 - better known as The Romantics. I took a nearly full week (I cheated this morning and attended a business meeting) to make this new book my primary focus, the go-to project (Muse willing) every morning, noon, and night. I started with about 80,000 words of a pretty good draft, but with big holes in some chapters, scenes I knew had to be written but only bookmarked and briefly outlined.

Five days later, I have filled the gaps and added to the word count. It's now over 90,000 and will probably get longer, then shorter, then even shorter, by the time I do a couple of revisions. 

Ready now for a breather. Maybe write and revise some poems, or just stare at the beautiful, cumulus-streaked blue September sky. While it's still September, and before we fully plunge into the new season.

The Romantics is an story about two half-sisters and the cottage in Italy they inherit, with its ghost, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. A  tale of love and sisters like Sense and Sensibility, it's also a story of friendship between women similar to The Enchanted April, also set on the Ligurian coast of Italy.

Visit http://RachelDacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.

7 Days of Total Focus on a New Novel – Success!

Hooray! Balloons rising into the air to celebrate! I have a full draft of Novel #2 – better known as The Romantics. I took a nearly full week (I cheated this morning and attended a business meeting) to make this new book my primary focus, the go-to project (Muse willing) every morning, noon, and night. I started with about 80,000 words of a pretty good draft, but with big holes in some chapters, scenes I knew had to be written but only bookmarked and briefly outlined.

Five days later, I have filled the gaps and added to the word count. It’s now over 90,000 and will probably get longer, then shorter, then even shorter, by the time I do a couple of revisions.

Ready now for a breather. Maybe write and revise some poems, or just stare at the beautiful, cumulus-streaked blue September sky. While it’s still September, and before we fully plunge into the new season.

The Romantics is an story about two half-sisters and the cottage in Italy they inherit, with its ghost, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. A  tale of love and sisters like Sense and Sensibility, it’s also a story of friendship between women similar to The Enchanted April, also set on the Ligurian coast of Italy.

The post 7 Days of Total Focus on a New Novel – Success! appeared first on Rachel Dacus.

Report from my DIY Writing Retreat

I promised myself I wasn't going to make this a writing journal, but here I am on a weeklong stay-at-home, self-designed writer's retreat, and I'm thinking, "What do you do on a writing retreat during breaks? You talk to other writers!"

So here I am, kibbitzing with you, fellow writer. I hope you've had an hour or more of writing today, and that it went well. My goal this week has been to complete the first draft of my second novel, The Romantics. It's a tale of two estranged half-sisters who inherit a house on the Ligurian coast of Italy, along with its resident ghost of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who once lived there. Their story explores the price of individuality and the depth of love of family, as well as the value of heart over head in mapping out a meaningful life. There are some love interests, but the two opposed sisters are at the heart of this love story.

And what I'm here to say at the water cooler, fellow writer, is that I'm going to make it. I'm going to finish this draft. At least I will by the end of Sunday. The holes in narrative are getting filled in, the setting enriched, the action made more specific. I really love plunging into the psyches of "my girls" and finding out what it costs to give up your own wishes in order to serve a greater truth and sacrifice what you must to do so.

Today, I got so near to being finished I was able to rewrite the pitch with what I said there. That means I'm really getting into the overview of the whole structure and the point of the story. Now that I've pushed forward so much, and it's only Thursday, I need to give myself a treat. Don't writer's retreats involve something nurturing, like beautiful scenery, horseback rides, evening concerts, and parties? I require for my treat some retail therapy. A blouse or two. If I had writing swag for my DIY retreat, I'd award myself this -- but then I already did.

The next thing I'm going to do is to finish reading a great novel (women's fiction with suspense) that I'm in the middle of. Reading a good story always inspires me, filling the well so tomorrow I can draw some up new scenes. 


Visit http://RachelDacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.

Report from my DIY Writing Retreat

I promised myself I wasn’t going to make this a writing journal, but here I am on a weeklong stay-at-home, self-designed writer’s retreat, and I’m thinking, “What do you do on a writing retreat during breaks? You talk to other writers!”

So here I am, kibbitzing with you, fellow writer. I hope you’ve had an hour or more of writing today, and that it went well. My goal this week has been to complete the first draft of my second novel, The Romantics. It’s a tale of two estranged half-sisters who inherit a house on the Ligurian coast of Italy, along with its resident ghost of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who once lived there. Their story explores the price of individuality and the depth of love of family, as well as the value of heart over head in mapping out a meaningful life. There are some love interests, but the two opposed sisters are at the heart of this love story.

And what I’m here to say at the water cooler, fellow writer, is that I’m going to make it. I’m going to finish this draft. At least I will by the end of Sunday. The holes in narrative are getting filled in, the setting enriched, the action made more specific. I really love plunging into the psyches of “my girls” and finding out what it costs to give up your own wishes in order to serve a greater truth and sacrifice what you must to do so.

Today, I got so near to being finished I was able to rewrite the pitch with what I said there. That means I’m really getting into the overview of the whole structure and the point of the story. Now that I’ve pushed forward so much, and it’s only Thursday, I need to give myself a treat. Don’t writer’s retreats involve something nurturing, like beautiful scenery, horseback rides, evening concerts, and parties? I require for my treat some retail therapy. A blouse or two. If I had writing swag for my DIY retreat, I’d award myself this — but then I already did.

The next thing I’m going to do is to finish reading a great novel (women’s fiction with suspense) that I’m in the middle of. Reading a good story always inspires me, filling the well so tomorrow I can draw some up new scenes.

The post Report from my DIY Writing Retreat appeared first on Rachel Dacus.

The Writing Path

I've decided to launch from my Rocket Kid Writing blog into a newly titled blog, which will be integrated with my new website (stay tuned!) as The Writing Path.

It's not an easy path, involves some hard pulling at times, some days of feeling lost in the woods, but for me, it's a compelling path of self-discovery. I have to keep going forward. And though it often feels solitary, I'm surrounded by writer friends, whether we connect in person over a cup of tea or coffee, or on Facebook, Twitter, or through the marvelous nonprofit organization for writers of women's fiction, The Women's Fiction Writers Association.

Two great things I did for my writer self last year: draft a (nearly) complete novel during National Novel Writing Month, and join the WFWA, where I've met and learned from many wonderful novelists.

So I plan to blog more about my adventures in the literary woods, the unique path I've carved, because we travel this writing path in different ways, and any tips and help I can bring to you on your writing path.

For readers, I hope this image and the feeling of a path resonates too. Reading is as great an adventure of self-discovery as writing. I only started writing because I couldn't find the books I wanted to read, and I realized I needed to create them.

Happy Autumn and writing and reading!


Visit http://RachelDacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.