The writing process of the trilogy (1)
I had a very major realization about a week ago; I am a writer!
That may seem obvious. But despite the fact that I have now completed a trilogy, with one published, the second about to be released and a third that will be out by November, and currently spend at least 60-80 hours per week writing/re-writing, editing, etc, it hadn't really occurred to me that I was living my dream!
For years, I held pieces of various novels and screenplays in my head or in a file, always believing that someday I would find the time to live my dream and complete my novels. But I had this crazy idea that I required a great deal of wealth to do that. Funny, the ideas that get stuck in our heads!
Then in December 2011, while driving into D.C (right before the tunnel onto the Roosevelt Bridge)in a matter of seconds, the entire concept of The Sibylline Oracle...well for lack of a better word...arrived in my head. Of course, it didn't have a name yet.
As soon as I arrived in D.C. I had a mile to walk and I began furiously typing on my iphone. Every opportunity I continued to make notes, writing chapter after chapter on my iphone at stop lights in DC (yes, I was the idiot you were honking at! lol!), while walking (see previous note), and during meals...even in the middle of the night, while holding my phone down, so the light didn't bother my sleeping husband.
Within three weeks I was stunned to discover that I had written a fairly complex novel! I never believed that I was really capable of finishing a novel! But I also knew that there was considerably more to this story than could be told in one novel.
At that point, I decided that this story was was probably a trilogy...just because I liked the word "trilogy"...yeah, really.
I had NO idea what the second book was about and I intended to give myself a month to think about it. But Alex & Valeria's story just had too much of my heart to do anything else but write!
Just beginning the second novel was interesting, because I really had no idea what was going to happen. I did, however, have a very vague concept of where it needed to end. Fortunately, simply writing solved all of that! The story just poured out of me and in many ways I felt like I was merely transcribing.
Three weeks later I had completed the second novel. And I was even more excited about the second novel than the first!
During the writing of the first and most of the second novel, I had been spending time helping my daughter and her husband through the difficult pregnancy and birth of my beautiful and brilliant granddaughter.
My daughter began reading the novel, and then to my surprise, told me it was the first thing I had ever permitted her to read of my novels. And she was very excited about it.
When my husband read the first two novels, he said something very excitedly expressive, and insisted that I write full time. How lucky can a girl get?! Not only did my husband love my writing, he also insisted on supporting me while I wrote and attempted to market my stories.
I began the third novel of the trilogy and by then there were so many details of times, characters, names, locations etc, that I had to keep a spreadsheet of where each character was through time and details of days and years and millenniums. Very crazy, and as you may know, there are many characters to keep track of here!
Once I completed the third novel, I had numerous ideas that I wanted to add to the first novel. One of them was to add stories of Alex and Valeria at different times, so that the reader could truly perceive how Alex felt about this opportunity to save Valeria.
Frankly, I knew NOTHING about Ancient Greece and the gods, so I did quite a bit of research while writing.
I typically keep several google earth, google maps and 2+ wiki pages and a couple of thesauruses open while I'm writing. I like Roget online, but really prefer a hard copy thesaurus. I also have a spread sheet of descriptive phrases and words that I like...oh and ALWAYS great music! I keep a playlist for different sections. That's vital for me!
Delia J. Colvin
That may seem obvious. But despite the fact that I have now completed a trilogy, with one published, the second about to be released and a third that will be out by November, and currently spend at least 60-80 hours per week writing/re-writing, editing, etc, it hadn't really occurred to me that I was living my dream!
For years, I held pieces of various novels and screenplays in my head or in a file, always believing that someday I would find the time to live my dream and complete my novels. But I had this crazy idea that I required a great deal of wealth to do that. Funny, the ideas that get stuck in our heads!
Then in December 2011, while driving into D.C (right before the tunnel onto the Roosevelt Bridge)in a matter of seconds, the entire concept of The Sibylline Oracle...well for lack of a better word...arrived in my head. Of course, it didn't have a name yet.
As soon as I arrived in D.C. I had a mile to walk and I began furiously typing on my iphone. Every opportunity I continued to make notes, writing chapter after chapter on my iphone at stop lights in DC (yes, I was the idiot you were honking at! lol!), while walking (see previous note), and during meals...even in the middle of the night, while holding my phone down, so the light didn't bother my sleeping husband.
Within three weeks I was stunned to discover that I had written a fairly complex novel! I never believed that I was really capable of finishing a novel! But I also knew that there was considerably more to this story than could be told in one novel.
At that point, I decided that this story was was probably a trilogy...just because I liked the word "trilogy"...yeah, really.
I had NO idea what the second book was about and I intended to give myself a month to think about it. But Alex & Valeria's story just had too much of my heart to do anything else but write!
Just beginning the second novel was interesting, because I really had no idea what was going to happen. I did, however, have a very vague concept of where it needed to end. Fortunately, simply writing solved all of that! The story just poured out of me and in many ways I felt like I was merely transcribing.
Three weeks later I had completed the second novel. And I was even more excited about the second novel than the first!
During the writing of the first and most of the second novel, I had been spending time helping my daughter and her husband through the difficult pregnancy and birth of my beautiful and brilliant granddaughter.
My daughter began reading the novel, and then to my surprise, told me it was the first thing I had ever permitted her to read of my novels. And she was very excited about it.
When my husband read the first two novels, he said something very excitedly expressive, and insisted that I write full time. How lucky can a girl get?! Not only did my husband love my writing, he also insisted on supporting me while I wrote and attempted to market my stories.
I began the third novel of the trilogy and by then there were so many details of times, characters, names, locations etc, that I had to keep a spreadsheet of where each character was through time and details of days and years and millenniums. Very crazy, and as you may know, there are many characters to keep track of here!
Once I completed the third novel, I had numerous ideas that I wanted to add to the first novel. One of them was to add stories of Alex and Valeria at different times, so that the reader could truly perceive how Alex felt about this opportunity to save Valeria.
Frankly, I knew NOTHING about Ancient Greece and the gods, so I did quite a bit of research while writing.
I typically keep several google earth, google maps and 2+ wiki pages and a couple of thesauruses open while I'm writing. I like Roget online, but really prefer a hard copy thesaurus. I also have a spread sheet of descriptive phrases and words that I like...oh and ALWAYS great music! I keep a playlist for different sections. That's vital for me!
Delia J. Colvin
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Karen
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Aug 22, 2012 01:47PM
Sooo interesting reading about the writing process! This reminds me so much of how Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight phenomenon) said her writing process flowed! When I was younger I used to love writing stories and even dreamed one day of writing a novel! It's so exciting to witness someone getting a chance to "live the dream!" So happy for you...and excited for this book/trilogy! Congratulations and best wishes!!!
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Karen wrote: "Sooo interesting reading about the writing process! This reminds me so much of how Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight phenomenon) said her writing process flowed! When I was younger I used to ..."Thanks Karen! It's been interesting to experience it!
I will tell you that I enjoy it every single day! I did read Stephanie Meyer's experience and there are similarities. That's kind of fun! I have a great deal of admiration for Stephanie Meyer! Very much a class act and a great story teller!!
