Writing Update for January

I'm up to my head in intricate astralgic negotiations, summer rain forest season versus a volcanic winter, constant peril, and changing relationship dynamics. It's been a busy writing month. Sometimes I have to sit back and be still for a long time in order to digest the mad whirl going on in my imagination. It's heady. (lol) And while I'm trying to take it slow and in careful stages, I catch myself tripping ahead sometimes.

January has been a month of hard decision making. What to write, what to cut, what to change, what to insert, and what to rewrite. Oh, the rewrites! I groan as I realize I need to do it, I fight it, but I know that I'll always like the end result better than the original.

Save for a couple of these rewrites and one insertion, I've finished the first third of the book. The first third can be so exciting to set up the world for the reader, but also the most trying. It's all that introduction, first attempts and failures to be reckoned with. In a publishing time of slim mini-skirts, I'm attending the party in full 1700's ballroom regalia and I'll tell you what, it can be tricky navigating those narrow doorways in a crinoline. I trimmed back quite a bit this month and now find myself wondering if I've left too many holes and gaps. Parts of the story seemed skimmed over rather than fleshed out and it leaves me feeling wanting.

I'm writing an epic, I'm writing an epic ... (I have to constantly remind myself.) When I visit the library each week and glance through books I smile at the other epics on the shelves. They're my friends. They say it's possible and everything doesn't have to be in mini-skirt fashion. It's all about recognizing your genre and sticking to it.

I never used to suffer from so much hesitation and self-doubt until I became serious about publishing. Granted, I'm grateful for the research and feedback I gained, but I also gained a fear that never leaves my shoulder. It's easy enough to say, "Chuck it," to that fear, but once it's taken root you can't kill it. Fear that every choice I make is wrong. That despite how much I may like something I've written it will never be accepted by anyone else. I'm sure you know what I mean. If your reading this post, you're probably deep in the publishing waters and going through the same thing.

So I've labored with the fear on my shoulder, the ideas bursting in my head, and my emotions see-sawing between elation and dejection as I write and rewrite. Topping it off is a growing sense of isolation. To dive deeply into writing is to set yourself apart from others, and in my case, with the writing community. I pop up to the surface once in awhile to say hello or answer an email, but the overall sensation is that of sitting on a rock in the middle of the ocean while the party boats go by with their fanfare and camaraderie.

I have enjoyed my time writing and tend to lose track of the time and place when I'm in the zone. The great struggle to get the words down as they tumble out, to express emotions and places and events as they are in my head, I've loved it. Even as it has stretched me and caused me to lament at times.

I'm about a third of the way through the second book I'm simultaneously working on. That one has taken a back seat the last week since Trefury 2 needed more rewrites. When I get too bogged down or stuck in one world I have the other to jump into. Developments there give me a constant thrill as I work on it. The two main characters are very real and dynamic to me. Their worlds are so abstract and shifting I never get tired of settings. I know I'll feel a deep sense of loss when I reach the point of saying, "This one's done."

Do you ever feel the pull of several stories clamoring from their rough draft files towards you? I do. The more I work on one, the more I understand how they all connect and enhance each other. I thought writing on two books at once would calm the commotion. It did for a little bit, but the other stories are there, jostling for priority and position in the back of my mind, staring out at me from their 3-ring binder covers on my office shelves or their icons on my desktop. It's too much, yet I love it. How I ache to have the time, ability, and energy to write and write and write.

Common sense comes into play: "If you write all the time, Joyce, you will have no life to draw from. You love your life. You love the people in your life. Keep the balance."

So in the end, here I am, another tortured, artistic person striving to feed the creative beast, striving to be better as a writer, yet also trying to be the best and most well-rounded wife, mother, friend, daughter, neighbor that I can be. I wish I didn't tire out. I wish I didn't have to sleep or eat. There's too much I want to do and not enough life-time to do them in. At least the road is never boring or without drive and purpose.

Silence Is a Good Thing Sometimes

How is it good? The online world can be so distracting and a time suck, especially for writers who now have to focus on marketing and social interaction like writers in the past never had to. While I miss conversations and keeping abreast with what everyone's up to, I realize there are times when a writer needs to be silent or they cease to be a writer, at least in regards to novels. I'm working hard and more hours than I normally get on a couple of projects right now, that is why I haven't had time for new blogposts. I hope you'll bear with me. For those who read what I write, I hope you see this as great news. I'm so excited about the stories I'm working on and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and for those of you who write, very productive and joyful days ahead.

Writing Update for December

How did I do during NaNo? Okay. I didn't reach 50K words, but that was due to getting sick. And I'm still sick. However, I can't gripe too loudly because I have managed to get the first third of the book into a cohesive format. My focus now is editing and filling in gaps. That's good news for my beta readers because I'll have something for you to read soon.

I admit I've struggled a bit with book 2, even though I already knew where it was going and had many key scenes written out long ago. When you write a first book, you set a bar. You then have to go higher than that for the next book, and then the next, and so on. The moment you don't go higher, you lose readers.

Book one had some great world-building experiences for me, great discoveries with the characters' personalities. Book two is suppose to take those same elements and go deeper, farther, and better. One nice thing about writing a sequel is you already know the characters and the conflict. You slip back into writing them as easily as putting on a favorite jacket. Making sure they are experiencing growth and change, and not becoming redundant is the harder part.

I know a couple of people mentioned that not everything was resolved in book 1, or that some things weren't explained satisfactorily. So I find myself smiling as I work on book 2 because those things unfold there. That's where they were meant to. Book 1 and 2 were originally one book.

I've had people ask me when the ebook version is going to come out for book 1 (Trefury: Mendi's Curse). The simple answer is, not until book 3 is written. Ebooks are easy to download and consume. Considering the nature of this story, which comprises three books, you'd find it more frustrating to zip through an ebook version of book 1 then have to wait for the rest. I know it slows sales and buzz momentum, but I've always said story comes first. I want to write a great story. It takes three books. And they won't be ebooks until I have the whole thing done and presentable.

Last week I was deep underwater in the story. I was exploring legends and necessary backstory. And I rewrote my TOC based on the corrected timetables I had to draw up to keep things straight. This week, if my cold goes away, I expect to be meeting survivors on an outer Callorin island and getting back into the battle of wills between Cortnee and Thssk. For the latest up-to-date news on my writing progress be sure to follow me on Facebook.

Secrets to Keeping Things Straight in Big, Complex, Epic Novels

I've been asked a time or three how I'm able to keep facts and events straight when I write a big, complex novel. First off, kudos to the querier because they recognize there is more work involved in such a novel. Secondly, everyone who tackles these types of novels will have their own system. Here are some hints from mine.

1. Write things down.
I have multiple files that are generally categorized as Notes and Structure. When I get an idea or a snippet of conversation in my head, I write it down. Don't leave these precious tidbits floating around in your head until you get to writing that part of the story. You'll most likely forget them by that time.

I don't always write the story chronologically or linearly. I certainly don't edit that way either. That means I have to have written notes as a backup. Granted, I have a pretty good memory for just about everything I write, but why leave it to chance?

I have backstory notes files as well. I find that the more of these I have, the richer the story becomes. Some complex novels stay within one person's POV, but not usually. Most deal in multiple POVs, and that means you need distinguishable backstories, vernacular, personalities, and quirks for each POV character. And then you have all the side characters.

I have note files and picture files sometimes to help me with my world building. It's been so handy to reach a part of the story and just pull up the description of the setting to pull from rather than try to remember or create it on the spot. Especially when you don't want to present the setting the same way each time it's shown. Setting, as I've said before, acts like a character or mood setter for the scene.

Writing things down also helps you remember them better. The act of writing, literally writing not typing, has a peculiar effect on memory in the brain. I tend to jot things down by hand and then transcribe into digital files afterwards.

My notes files tend to be twice as large as the novel by the time I'm through.

2. Chunking and Recall
Chunking is a great term I learned last January when I took a course on the human brain and how to utilize it better in order to learn. In regards to writing, chunking would be taking an element of the story and associating it with other things in order to have better recall.

For example: When I bring up the word "red," based on the series I'm currently writing and publishing, I automatically think of one of my main characters, Thssk. I also think of blood, lava, anger, fire, dominating personalities, and power struggles. These next tier words lead me to specific scenes, character development, and backstory events - most of which revolve around Thssk, but also lead and connect to other characters and their story lines.

By chunking, or associating elements of the story to other elements, it just takes one word or phrase to recall much more information at once.

3. Make lists.
This one might go up under the Writing Things Down category, but I like to treat it differently. Lists are more compact, easier to read information, the overviews of the story.

In a complex novel I will use lists for:
i. Characters
I list characters by whether they are main characters, significant level B characters, C, and so on. Writing down everyone who has a name and assigning them their role in the story lets you see if your cast is too big and if you can't combine characters to have fewer people doing more in the novel. The danger with big, complex, multiple POV novels is making it difficult for the reader to remember who is who.
ii. Places and Settings
Listing your settings down gives you a great overview of what the story is doing. Do you use the same settings over and over again? Is there variety in your settings? Do you have too many settings? How can you reuse the same setting and portray it differently to help the mood of the story?
iii. Chronological order of events
Not all stories are told linearly, in fact, many really good ones aren't. Yet, it's important to know the chronological order of events as the author to avoid discrepancies in your writing. You don't want to use the scene where character A discovers the bad guy is really character Y before the scene where character Y declares they are in love with character A.
iv. Chapter and scene orders, including a list of POV characters for each
In a multiple POV novel, this list is vital, particularly for keeping track of how well mixed those POVs are. It lets me know if I've gone on too long with one story line at the expense of another.
v. Language and dialect
This has been valuable when I'm making up the words and phrases. I'm able to keep them straight, including their spellings and meanings.
vi. Historical events
A chronological list of historical or backstory events goes hand in hand with your story chronology. Backstory fuels character motivation and plot lines. Know what happened before the story and keep it straight with a simple timeline.
vii. Nodes of conjunction
This isn't one everyone uses but I have to. Nodes of conjunction are where story lines or characters connect. Say information about character D is discussed between characters X and W that will lead the reader to understand character D's actions in the next chapter. Or, characters F and G are going to finally collide with each other, when and where does this happen and how does it change the story? By using Nodes of conjunction in both a list and in my notes, I've found my stories get fuller faster and have more vitality in character development. 
viii. What still needs to be written
I'm a to-do list sort of person sometimes, and with big, complex novels, it helps me feel like I'm making a dent in the writing if I have a checklist of what needs to be done. Completely changeable as the story develops, this checklist works hand in hand with my outline and if I get stuck, I make a note about it and move on to the next item.
ix. Inconsistencies and places that need further research and development
All writers end up with inconsistencies in their stories, especially in the early stages. When I find one, I'm usually engrossed in working on something else. It helps to make a list of what the inconsistency is and where it is so that I can go back and revisit the issue.
x. How one scene or chapter segues into the next
Another list others may not use, but I like to. When moving from one POV character to another or one story line to another, I may have a cliffhanger, but something in the scene or chapter preceding the next needs to have a segue. It can be an object, mentioning the conflict or the next POV character, or even a theme. This list has been crucial in helping set chapter order.

4. "Put it together and what have you got?"
I've made mention before on this blog about creating a Story Bible. In essence, once you've created all of the things I've listed, you have made a Story Bible. The essential ingredient to successful orchestration of a complex novel.

When really considering how I keep things straight, my most personal answer is I like a challenge. I enjoy diving into multiple character and plot lines and playing with them. I love making connections between them and exploring the results. To me, it reflects life. Our actions or failure to act have an impact on others. It's never been about creating a glut of characters, events, or settings just because I could. People are complex. We're never completely good or evil. To me a story isn't about creating one hero that does everything, but celebrating the many heroic acts happening at different levels. The same thing for the mischief and malice created by the characters bent on being antagonists.

5. Index cards
Sometimes I need a visual representation of the story, especially when dealing with multiple POVs or plot lines. That's when I get out my index cards and put down information scene by scene. By keeping to scenes it makes it possible to rearrange quickly or play with the order. Usually my card looks something like this:

(Name of Scene) (Scene #)
Setting/Date
List of key points
POV character
Ritual/Theme
Key objects

I name my scenes. In a large novel it makes it easier to refer to if I've given a short clue as to what the scene is about. The scene # relates to where I have it listed in my overall outline or Table of Contents. The list of key points is pretty self-explanatory, as is point-of-view character. Rituals or themes help me classify the scene. For example: Outward Conflict, or Barter Ritual, or Point of Humiliation. Key objects refer to literal objects in the scene that have meaning or purpose to the story. They might be a weapon, or a green dress, or a tree. They are often symbolic and reoccur in the story.

Once I've compiled all my index cards I put them up on a blank wall in my office. Usually right in front of my treadmill so that when I'm taking a break and releasing endorphins I can also be brainstorming and reviewing the basic story material.

In Conclusion: 
My love for exploring every aspect of a story makes it easy to keep things straight in my head. I like to live and relive the moments. It's not a matter of knocking off a scene or chapter in order to reach a quick writing goal and then move on to the next novel. I prefer to savor and revisit. And that is why I know my stories so well and can write big, complex, epic novels.

Have a further question about anything you've read here or regarding more info on how I keep things straight? Please, ask me. Or tell me how you keep your material straight when you write. Do you do some of the same things I do?

Music to Write By #9: Adiemus

It's been awhile since I posted one of these. How about some good mood music? This one's a bit older but because the words are all made up it can be about anything you want. Here's Adiemus by Karl Jenkins:

A personal favorite of mine because it's not only uplifting but a bit mysterious. Take a moment to listen. And despite all the wild internet speculation, it is NOT an Enya song. (I'm a long time, die-hard Enya fan so I should know.)

And if you have a second moment, tell me what song is inspiring you this week. I'm always looking for new music.

Do you want even more ideas for music? Be sure to check out the entire on-going series on my blog of "Music to Write by":
 Music to Write By #1: OCRemix Doom 'Jade Spawn'
Music to Write By #2: 'The Different World' by Peter Schilling
Music to Write By #3: OCRemix Deus ex 'Siren Synapse'
Music to Write By #4: OCRemix Chrono Trigger Aqueous Transgression
Music to Write By #5: OCRemix Chrono Cross Another Inspiration
Music to Write By #6: OCRemix The Binding of Isaac 'The Clubbing of Isaac'
Music to Write By #7: Valentine's Edition
Music to Write By #8: Groovin' with Command and Conquer
Music to Write By #10: Forever Enya