Monday Madness: One More Time!

You know how to tell when a writer is lying?

When they say, "Oh, yes, I'm on my final revision."

Or maybe it's just me.

I SWEAR that it's not just the perfectionist in me changing my mind halfway through said revision. Sometimes, it's not until you fix the little things, that you see that something bigger might need a polish. Or a rewrite. Love the rewrite. Embrace it. Buy it flowers.

I seriously did think that DRAGON QUEEN was almost ready; that I had finally reached the "final revision stage". And then in the process of changing one thing, I toppled the dominoes and got myself into a huge MESS of rewrites.

I'm at the dizzy, passionate phase of revising right now (as in, it's actually been gratifying and fun and exciting to see how much stronger my story is getting), but I know soon that I will tire out and be whimpering for mercy. But for now, it's great. Flowers everywhere!

For those of you who are rolling your eyes and muttering, "She's never going to be done with this story!" let me assure you that I'm doing the revisions correctly this time. I am not making significant plot or character changes, I am just amplifying what was already there, but was perhaps glossed over in an attempt to get the story out the first time (or second time, or third time) through. Relationships and characters are being fleshed out. Foreshadowing is being utilized. It's, really, just awesome how much these "little" things are making such a big difference.

And MAYBE after this, I will honestly be able to say that I'm on my final revision. And that makes me all tingly inside.

Silencing the Superfluous Voices in My Head

But keeping the good ones.

Clicking on some of my previous blogs, I realized that I used to be helpful. I used to be "in the know" about writing and publishing and querying and all that inky stuff. So why did I stop?

Simple: Too many voices in my head.

I'm a people-pleaser. I also am an idea-monger. Those two traits do not help with writing. And I found myself, more often than not, struggling with conflicting advice rather than just trusting my gut.

I'll admit, I've also been going through enormous bouts of self-doubt again and moments of "why am I doing this again?" but I've really tried to keep them private. I got tired of having pity parties, for one, and then I just felt like a wimp. In fact, I went through moments where I thought, "Maybe I'm not ready for this whole writing career pursual." So, I took a step back.

It bothers me (quite a bit actually) that I'm no longer providing insightful, helpful information to the readers of my blog, but I'd rather be silent than sound like a phony. I have no authority in the matter, really. I'm just like (the majority of) you. A scribbler struggling to be a writer. But even as I read blog after blog (and still read a lot of blogs, mind), it took me a long while to realize that the most important thing to being a writer was something I was sacrificing so I could fit the mold of what everyone else wanted: my voice. I was so concerned about perfecting my technique, that I came to struggle with what is honestly the most important thing when it comes to writing: voice. Style. What makes your story different from the hundreds that came before it.

The sad thing is, before I had all these "expert" voices clamoring in my head for attention, I had a pretty good grasp on my voice. It's flowery and sometimes dark, sprinkled with humor and elaborate descriptions. It can be serious or light-hearted. It's almost always romantic. And of all the things that I know about writing (having a bachelor's degree in creative writing, I should know a little bit) it's that it doesn't really matter if your spelling is atrocious, your colons should be semi-colons, and you occasionally use one too many adverbs as long as you have an established and engaging VOICE.

Take my story The Dragon Queen for example. When I started it, I got a lot of flack for my main character, Jade, being "cliche". I worried and fretted about this for so long, that I couldn't even revise the story. I kept getting dragged down into the worry that she wasn't good enough. But then I realized there are reasons for cliches: because they're good. Yes, you see a lot of rebellious princesses, and, sure, if that's all there was to Jade, I could see it being a real issue. But it isn't. Why? Because of Jade's voice. Through her voice (or mine, whichever) the reader eventually reaches the conclusion that just because Jade is cast as a stereotypical, rebellious princess, doesn't mean that's all there is to her. And soon those same readers who had issues with her being a stereotype, ended up reneging their words soon after.

So, while I've learned to trust myself a bit more, I'm still refraining from dipping into the writer world of shoulds and shouldn'ts. Now, I'm trusting in my own abilities and the advice of a few helpful critters, and I'm a stronger writer because of it.

Monday Madness: Killing Your Love Child

I'm conducting a social experiment (secret: I like messing with people's minds sometimes) and it involves a status message on Facebook.

It says: Killing my love child.

Writers might smile and nod in understanding, but I'm pretty sure my family is going to pepper me with question marks and "WTH, I didn't know you had kids!" Or "Are your dogs okay?" Rest assured that no living, breathing person (or animal) was killed. Just some imaginary ones.

You see, I'm doing some housekeeping on DRAGON QUEEN. Mostly it involves getting rid of a lot of useless characters, who were there just to be there. They didn't have a purpose beyond making the MC look good, so, I took out the hatchet and started hacking away at them. Now I have gone from having about a bazillion secondary characters to only a million. I'm making progress. (I think I'll do the rest of them in with arsenic . . .they're starting to suspect me.)

I've been thinking about this massacre for a while, but it was only after I wrung a chapter through my critique group that I realized it was time to start sharpening the knives (er, pen) and finally do something about it. But killing a love child (or children, in this case) is pretty messy business. It required a lot of thinking and planning on my part. Who had to go? Who needed to stay? Which ones could be combined to make one character, instead of two or three? So, I got out my handy dandy notebook and made a list. Next to each character, I wrote their race (believe it or not, that's kind of important in this story--I'm talking fantasy here, too, so please don't pelt me with tomatoes), their personality traits, the reason for Jade wanting them to be her "advisors" and then I started knifing them in the ribs. (I'm really enjoying this murdering metaphor, if you couldn't tell.) I went from having eight advisors to five. Progress, yes? Then, of course, there were the dragons. Most of the dragons play important roles in the story and most of them have unique and well-developed personalities. The exception was the General, Gorn. He was just sort of there, hanging out, sharpening his claws, and bellowing orders. So, he got added to the hit list and I took his position, some of his traits, and slipped them into Tyar--who went from being a possible love interest (or at least lust interest) to being more of an older brother figure to Jade (to deal with some of the OMG everyone wants your MC issue), also it will make a certain scene that happens later in the book MUCH stronger, in my opinion.

Okay, I'm rambling here. But I just wanted to show you how I deal with my love child(ren). They're not as easy to do away with as you might think. Shrinking my character pool is actually taking some significant rewrites and cuts, but sometimes that's what you need to do to create a stronger (and less confusing) story.

But what about you? Any love children rotting in your basement?

What the H-E-Double Hockey sticks?

It's been a weird past couple months. I haven't seriously written since November. I managed to write about 3,000 words on Last of the Elves since then, but nothing new. Nothing fresh. Everything is sort of stagnating.

Not sure why.

I have been revising Dragon Queen like it's no body's business. It's getting so much stronger. So much richer. I'm starting to believe that it might actually be publishable soon. OMG. Then I just have to find an agent/editor who thinks the same thing.

With all this (successful) revising I shouldn't be so upset that I haven't cranked out anything new recently. But I am. I don't feel like a writer when there's nothing new to spark my interest. To surmount this lackluster obstacle, I tried to write another erotica. It came out stilted and awkward even though I thought my idea behind the story was awesome. I'm trying to pin down what has kept me from writing and I think it's because I'm putting too much pressure on myself. I want to be a great writer. Not just a good one (and god forbid a mediocre one). So I won't just let myself write. Every rough draft has to be stellar, and when it's coming out as less than, well, I give up. Kind of defeats the purpose, right?

I can see myself doing it and yet I can't stop it. Sigh.

I think it's time to break out Write or Die again. I need to just write. Get words down. Not worry if they stink more than cat poo. And a short story sounds like a pretty good idea.

Just Kiss Already Blogfest

I found this Just Kiss Already Blogfest , literally, a few minutes ago and decided to join in. Sounds like fun! And I loves me a good kiss. So, here's my entry. This is from my soon-to-be-on-submission fantasy novel, The Dragon Queen.


A little background: Jade, a self-professed dragon lover, has just become betrothed to the dragonslayer, Drake. She's afraid of him, doesn't like him, and yet cannot escape her marriage. This scene takes place just a few hours after the marriage contract has been signed.

I didn’t understand the way he acted around me, or the way I reacted to him. I looked up into his warm, honeyed eyes. The resulting flash of heat trembled through me, turning my insides to liquid. And, quite suddenly, the fear diminished into nothing more than wariness. That was better. I could live with wariness.

“Jade.” His voice was a husky murmur.

I knew what he wanted, and I waited. Waited for the fear to return. But there was nothing. Just the twinge of anticipation. The mumbled warning to be cautious.

He pressed closer to me. Our bodies brushed and, even through the material of my dress, I felt seared. With the gentlest touch, he tipped my head back.

“Jade.” My name sounded like a prayer and a curse all at once, tumbling from his lips. His head lowered and I could feel his breath on my mouth.

“Drake,” I sighed. And desire swept me away. The moment his lips touched mine, I was lost, drunk, delirious. My lips softened beneath his, parted. His tongue swept in to taste my mouth. It was just the lightest caress, but it turned my bones to water. And I clung to him, allowing him his sinful dance, wanting to join in but unsure of the tempo of the music.

“Jade,” he whispered against my lips. “Beautiful, beautiful Jade.”

I think I might have kissed him back then if I’d had the chance, but we were torn apart by a condescending titter. 

I Live in the South for a Reason . . .

. . . And it's not for the snow.

Normally, I like snow. I think it's beautiful. Pure. It reminds me of fairy tales, princesses locked in ice castles and little fairies dancing on snowflakes. But then I grew up and, well, when you work in the news field, your work doesn't halt just because a foot of snow decided to drop on your doorstep. Bleh.

But what's really ticking me off is that I've been busy planning a fundraiser for a sick coworker and the snow keeps messing with my plans. I had to reschedule it because there was no way I was driving to work in the dark on ice-covered roads in order to get everything set up for our breakfast benefit. So, it's supposed to be this Thursday. So what's on the way? You guessed it! More snow!

Sigh.

But there is good news! Because of the snow, now I don't have to go to Missouri for my cousin's wedding this weekend. Hehe. Now, before you go wagging your fingers at me, let me say that I could not only NOT afford to go (but was going to anyway) but I'm not fond of this cousin and was only going because I love my aunt and uncle (who came to my wedding, just them, not the cousin). That's it.

So today I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with snow. Loving it, because it got me out of going to Missouri and hating it because it's messing with my fundraising plans. Grr.

Anyways, I apologize for being scarce hereabouts. It's like every time I get on here my brain turns to mush and I just start drooling all over the keyboard. This blog, really, has presented its own case of writer's block. Meh.

I guess I could tell you what I'm doing tonight. I'm baking cookies. Chocolate chip cookies and no-bake cookies! Yummy! They're for tomorrow's bake sale for said sick employee. All I have to do is not eat them all. Hmm, I think I need to buy some gum to keep my mouth occupied.

As for my writing . . . you know how it goes. Life gets in the way sometimes. But I've been smoothing over Dragon Queen's rough edges, so it should be ready for querying soon. Gulp. Now I just have to grow a pair before I send then. Lol.

Do you like my 69?

Buahaha. Yes, I have a dirty mind. That's probably a given seeing as my first published work will be erotica. (More on that later.)

Anyway, over at The Sharp Angle, Lydia was discussing the idea that you should buy a novel based on its page 69. That should reveal the heart of the novel's style and situation. Well, she said it better than I ever could, so go check it out.

However, I had to see if my page 69 had any merit. So I thought I'd share and get your opinions. Are they interesting? Would you "buy" it?

Here's Page 69 from LAST OF THE ELVES, my WIP:

“Yes, I know just how busy you’ve been. But tell me, boy, has it done any good?”

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “There was this one—a girl—who I thought would be different. But…” He squeezed her hand. “She’s like all the others.”

She studied him, her hazel eyes—his father’s eyes—seeing more than he would like. But that had always been her gift. A witch by birth, she harnessed the powers of light, truth and beauty, and could always see through the darkness. “She’s special to you.”

“No.” He shook his head. “No.”

Ollie laughed. “Oh, Lial. You were never a good liar. You take after your father’s side of the family too much.” She released his hand and reached for a box beneath the counter. Constructed of polished wood, it did not appear to need the intricate lock clasping the lid. Ollie withdrew a key from her blouse and opened it.

“Hold out your hand,” she said. He did and she placed something smooth and warm in his palm. She curled his fingers around it. “This was your mother’s. She wanted you to have it. For your special woman, she said.”

“I don’t—“

“Shh. Just take it. I’m afraid if I don’t give it to you now, I never will.”

His hand clenched. “Auntie…”

She laughed. “Don’t be sad. I am the fortunate one, Lial. I’m nearly a century old, ancient for a human. It shall be like going to bed after a long, hard day.”

“You’re only ten years older than me.”

“But you’re not human.”

His mouth thinned. “No need to remind me.”

And here's page 69 from DRAGON QUEEN, which I will be querying for soon:

“You’re right, of course,” he interrupted. “We’ll have a feast once she establishes her seat.”

“My seat? I’m going to have a seat?” I squeaked.

“Of course,” the female replied, smiling her gentle smile again. It was such a contrast to her fearsome features that it unsettled more than soothed me.

“Every ruler has a seat,” the male said.

“But . . .I don’t even know how to rule.” Panic crept in again, scratching at my voice and pulling me toward hysteria. I focused on breathing, trying to regain control.

Amusement lit his black eyes. “Do not worry, my Queen, we shall teach you all that you need to know.”

“And what am I supposed to bring to this?”

“Your self,” he answered. “That is greater than any weapon.”

His answer did not stifle my panic, but fed it. It was a bloated thing now, lodging in my throat until I could barely breathe.

His mate must have sensed this, for she abruptly said, “My name is Vahra. This is my consort, Kale. We are the leaders of the Council. The leaders of the Nerolytes.”

“The Nerolytes?”

“It means, “Against the dark.” It is what the Kelsten Skala call us.”

“So the Kelsten Skala are the prominent power?”

She shrugged. “They would claim that, yes. But the Council is an ancient dragon tradition. We have been here far longer than the Kelsten Skala, and we still hold power. Despite being forced to meet in secret for some centuries now.”

I Stole This Truck...Uh, I mean "Photo"

I like to do things backwards, apparently. I read Lydia Sharp's post on 15 inspirations and was like, hmm, what are my inspirations for Dragon Queen? I came up with five. Three songs and two images.


1. Linkin Park's NEW DIVIDE



2. Kelly Clarkson's BEAUTIFUL DISASTER



3. Disturbed's THE NIGHT



4.

5.

And that just wasn't enough. I wanted to come up with 15 inspirations (even if they're after the fact). So I whip out my handy-dandy Google and start searching for random things.

Using the search "red princess" I found this...

http://anathematixs.deviantart.com/

First reaction: OMG!!!

Second reaction: ZOMG!!!

This is EXACTLY how I pictured my MC, Jade. This artist (Suzanne van Pelt) totally shares my brain waves. I mean, holy cow!!! Craziness. I couldn't even draw Jade this well. (And I tried.) This artist is, seriously, my new best friend. 

So, even though I was cheating on my inspirations, I'm glad I found this photo. It's totally my new inspiration. 

Have you ever stumbled upon a picture/photo that fit your MC perfectly? Please share!

What I've Been Up To Regarding Writing

Hi, all,
     
For once I'm not here to complain about what's happening in the world beyond internet, writing and reading. (I'm actually trying to pretend it doesn't exist.) I'm here to tell you what I've been up to in my writing...and some interesting things I discovered about my characters/worlds/stories.
     
I read Lydia Sharp's post on grabbing your reader's attention with the first paragraph and was like, hmm, let's go back and look at my novel's first paragraph, shall we? (I limited myself to DRAGON QUEEN for those of you about to send me viral emails with the subject line: Stop messing with FURY already!) I've been dabbling with DQ's opening for a little while now. I rewrote it, but didn't really like it as much as I thought. So, yesterday, I pulled up a blank page, stared at the cursor for a moment, and began writing.


On my other critique forum, I received the critique that there was nothing happening (as in, nothing grabbing) in the first chapter because it was mostly set up. And while that irritated me a little bit, I was okay with it being just a setup chapter. But there were also some people who just didn't get Jade's personality. Her motivations were a bit blurry in their eyes and they even (gasp) thought she was a spoiled brat. There were also a few who expressed concern over Jade's age (16). So I thought, hmm, how can I fix that and yet remain true to the story?

This was my original opening:

The pink light of dawn filtered through my closed lids; the day I dreaded had arrived. Today was the sixteenth anniversary of my birth. I was, officially, a woman. That thought, and the gradual lightening of the forest, dragged my eyelids open. Groaning, I sat up. My back was stiff from lying on the rock for so many hours, spoiled as it was to my lush, feather mattress. But my aching muscles felt good, appropriate for this horrid, horrid day.

Not bad, necessarily, but it doesn't really make you scream, "I must read more!"


Here is my second attempt:


I held my breath as the candle guttered in is puddle of wax. Not yet. Not now. But it was to no avail. With one last feeble flicker, the flame died. I squinted down at the page I’d been reading; the tiny script was an inscrutable smear in the wan moonlight. Muttering, I marked my place in the heavy tome, Dragons: Magic and Might, and snapped it closed.

Better. There's a little bit more tension, anyway. But I'm still not satisfied.

This is what I came up with yesterday:     

I wasn’t running away. Not technically.

Pulling the cloak's hood closer around my face, I edged out of my room and tiptoed down the corridor. My skirts rustled, a cacophony in the sleeping silence, and—not for the first time—I cursed the laundry maid who’d discovered my attempt to pilfer one of the squire’s breeches. Her outrage had quivered her jowls and she’d marched me straight to my mother. I’d done many inexplicable, and sometimes unforgivable, things in my mother’s eyes, but my latest escapade had finally managed to crack her icy facade. Her shrieks had ricocheted in my ears long after she’d stopped yelling at me.


In my opinion, much more interesting than the previous two openings. It immediately raises questions and, yes, I would want to read more. 

So, which one would you rather read?

There are some other things, as well, that this new version changes/introduces. In it, Jade is 18. A little older, a little wilder. We get more of a sense of who she is. And, to top things off, you have the question: Why is she running away, though not technically?


I have yet to run this new version by my critique group...but I have a feeling that they'll like it. It will change some of the novel, for sure, but not much (which is something I always like).

And I have that itch again to write, write, write. Not sure if you've been paying attention, but THE LAST OF THE ELVES progress meter is rapidly filling. :D (I love those things, by the way.) And I'm ready to have another project out there for agents to consider. It will probably be a few more months if I decide to pursue this rewrite, but, hey, it's progress. 

How's your writing been going?

A Return to Me

It's amazing what a couple hours with your girlfriends will do for you.

Here lately, I've been feeling a bit out of touch with the real me. I've been thinking: you know, I used to have a sense of humor...I used to be all chirpy and crazy and silly...and now I'm just boring. And then I had some of my girlfriends over for a Mary Kay party and VIOLA! A return to me. I felt like myself again. Quirky. Girly. Hyper.

It was nice. Refreshing. We giggled and teased each other and then told each other we all were beautiful. Then we had strawberries and pineapple and fresh veggies with dip. It was fun. It was nice. I really enjoyed it.

My cousin invited me to go to the Renaissance Fair with her the upcoming weekend, and I REALLY want to go. Unfortunately, that bleh thing called adulthood is looming before me, demanding I pay bills. So...I'm not sure if I can go. :(

Sunday I went fishing with my fiance again. We walked the creek and I got sunburned. But only on ONE SIDE. So my left side is bright red and my right side is normal. I look like a female version of Two-Face. It's pretty funny, but also pretty sad. People have been asking me if I fell asleep on my side outside. Lol.

I've less than 50 pages to go with my revising of DRAGON QUEEN. I'm excited and nervous. I have it out to a beta reader right now, and hopefully she likes the edits I've made. :)

Problem Characters

Not sure if you knew this, but I'm a big fan of giving all my characters a unique story. Most of the time this ends up strengthening the writing/plot and takes me awesome places, but other times... I really just can't figure out what the heck a character wants.

Enter Honey, the most complicated secondary character I have ever written. When we first meet her, she accuses Jade of stealing her throne and is disappointed that she's not able to kill her.

Then Jade asks her to be her advisor in a crazy/desperate move and we begin to see a different side of her: that she actually cares about other people. And maybe she doesn't hate Jade as much as she pretends.

And then she goes and almost acts like she's Jade's friend, giving her very valuable advice. (WTF?)

And THEN she tries to get Jade to turn against her allies and join with the bad guy. Um... I repeat, WTF?

All of this is in the first draft of DRAGON QUEEN, and I'm sure it seemed all quite logical to me at the time, but now that I'm near the end of editing the story...I've realized I didn't ever quite reveal her motivation...until the VERY end. So, I ask, should it stay that way or should I move it up? Because, OMG, there are a lot of revelations at the end. Too many, I fear. It was a whole lot of fun when I was writing it and posting chapters on the WD Sci-Fi/Fantasy forum (I loved shocking my readers) but now that I've got the whole thing in front of me, I'm dissatisfied.

And a lot of it is Honey's fault.

She plays a key role in getting things going at the end, but I don't know why she does it. WHY? WHY???

So I'm having to go back to the character drawing board (so to speak) and figure out what she wants. What she REALLY wants. I thought I had it figured out...but now, I'm not sure. Bleh. :P

Any difficult characters out there trying to destroy your manuscript?

Obsession

I have a family tree of addictive personalities. Drugs. Sex. Violence. Alcohol. It's all there. Lots of wackos and creeps. Cool, huh?

So, good little Brandi has stayed away from anything that might cause her problems (i.e. jail time, liver failure) because she knows that this evil little part of her wants to give in to all those bad things. Just like daddy and grandpa and aunt and uncle, etc. So, she drinks moderately. She doesn't smoke. She doesn't do drugs or have strange sex fetishes. She's a good girl. (Though apparently she likes to refer to herself in the third person.)

But I am obsessive. I obsess about things ALL THE TIME. I've been called a worry-wort and space-y because there is always something on my mind. This can be both a good and a bad thing. When I obsess about a story, it flows. Plots move forward, characters develop, description is precise. But then there is the downside of all this. I can't let things go. FURY is out on submission and I was obsessing about it so much it was literally making me ill. So, I'm focusing my obsessive drive on something else: revising Dragon Queen. This is hard. Really hard. Because revising makes me think of FURY. FURY makes me think of queries. Queries makes me think of checking my email for the millionth time that day. Argh.

Being obsessive makes me miss the fun of it all, though. That's the worst part. I write because I want to get published, yes. But I REALLY write because that's what I like to do. I love to put worlds and people down on paper. I love the excitement when a character does something unexpected and takes the plot in a whole new direction. I love stories in general. That's why I write. It's not about fame or glory or any of that. It's just about the story. I just want to share my story with others. And the main way to do that is through an agent. But I won't obsess about that process any more. I'm going to turn my obsession back to where it belongs: the story.

Squee!

I'm done! I have just finished The Dragon Queen. I. AM. DONE. (with the first draft) And only one day after my goal. Can I get a "Woohoo!"?

Now, I get to set it aside and focus on Fury. Yay! HAPPY DANCE!

OMG! I might actually meet one of my goals!

OMG!

I am on Dragon Queen's Epilogue.

Yes, you read that correctly. Just a few more pages of writing brilliance and I shall be done. D.O.N.E. Let the accolades ensue.

Stretching [Writer] Muscles

Last night after a strenuous round of Dance Dance Revolution, I was sitting splay-legged on the floor and was like "Gawrsh, this hurts." My feet were approximately four feet apart. Even I can admit that's pathetic. I used to be able to kick so high that I could touch my knee to my forehead (without bending forward). Granted, I'm no longer in high school, but still... it got me thinking of other things that need to be stretched.

Not only have I neglected my physical muscles but I think I've neglected my writer muscles, too. I have been so focused on DRAGON QUEEN and FURY that I haven't even thought about a new novel. Now, I know that DQ isn't finished, but it's almost finished, so I should be bouncing around ideas, right?

So, I did.

And I came up with something weird.

A mainstream novel. That, of course, quickly morphed into a paranormal novel. But, still, I haven't thought about writing a paranormal novel (especially when there are so many out there). But I was... intrigued. Like most of my novels, it started from a title (admittedly a weak title, but...). Anyway, the title was Soul Pieces.

However, since ideas aren't protected by copyright, I'll keep the rest to myself.

But this got me motivated to finish DQ by the end of this month, as well as (GASP) finish editing FURY. And then (yes, my friends, this is TRUE) send out query letters. So what does that mean? By the end of this month I will be A) exhausted and B) suffering from a constant stomachache--which is what I do when I'm severely anxious.

I guess I'd better get crackin'. Wish me luck!

A Breather

I'm taking a little bit of a breather (as in maybe 30 minutes to the rest of the day) on Dragon Queen. I just finished writing the first part of Ch. 31, which was a LOT of information and should give the reader a few "Ah-ha! So that's why!" remarks. I am mentally and emotionally exhausted and unfortunately the action is revving up again. The second part of the chapter needs to be a bit of a breather, too. A least a scene where Jade has to figure out how she's going to get out of her current situation (yeah, she's in another mess). 

The good news is I think I have at the most 10 chapters left (or about 20K) and this novel will be DONE. Woohoo! That would make it about 90K completed. Good word count, in my opinion. 

There's still a lot I have to figure out about the ending, however. Like how Drake and Jade are going to make up--and end up. What happens to Darion, Honey, Mikkay and Lace? I'm sure at least one is going to die (oops, spoiler) but WHO? Lol. 

Surprise!

Dragon Queen is very close to the climax (I know, that sounds wrong), and therefore the falling action will soon follow. 

I've a few ideas in my head right now, but I'm stuck on Ch. 28. Jade has learned a number of things in a short space of time, and she's trying to decide if she's better off for it. (Her heart says no, her head says yes.) Plus, there is the whole thing with "Who is the main villian?" Which makes me think that Darion needs to make a star appearance VERY soon. He's sort of been in the background of the story--the threat that must be addressed. And, yes, he has killed a few of Jade's allies, but there has yet to be a Jade vs. Darion. That MUST happen. But when? Ahhh! I need to make an outline, I think. 

I know that Honey is going to play a role, but I won't specify what. (Sorry, you'll have to read it). But that does make me go misty-eyed, because, in all honesty, I LOVE Honey. She's such a malleable character. Vicious, yet kind. Beautiful, yet devious. Can you trust her? Can you not? It makes me want to dance. 

I have considered giving her her own story. It would be an interesting one, that's for sure. But I'm not sure if she'll have enough steam left over from this story to continue her own. We shall see. 

Ok, enough stalling. I shall start writing now.

P.S. The editing process of "Fury" is going well, too. Yay.

The Ripple Effect

As most of you know, my completed novel, Fury, has been on the shelf for a while (as in my shelf at home, in third draft form). I've tried recently to pick it up and edit it for the last time before I scrape up a query letter and synopsis, but my attitude is still blase. 

And on top of all that, I had an idea. You can call it a "what if".

What if I changed the setting of my story? What if instead of it being a typical fantasy background, I set it in the modern day? What kind of complications would that produce? How would Fury survive? Could she survive? 

Lots of intriguing questions. But there is another one that is even more important:

Would it work?

Let's say that it would. A modern setting would mean getting rid of some of the main plot points. A modern-day Caden probably wouldn't set out on a quest to solve a curse for his one true love. He'd be cruising around in a sports car looking tough. Which would mean that I would have to find a different reason for him to go searching for Fury. Endless possibilities.

So, will I do it?

Nah, probably not. First things first: Fury is hideously deformed. In the here and now, we're not very nice and Fury would be hard-pressed to escape EVERYONE. Sure, she could keep to the forest but then what would be the point of having a modern setting? 

It's intriguing to think about, however. Changing one thing in a story can have a ripple effect. You think that something like Where wouldn't be that relevant, especially if it's a character-driven story, but it is, and I find that amazing.

Things besides setting can have the same effect. One sentence can change a whole scene. It sounds crazy and intense, but that's how it is. I'm discovering that in Dragon Queen. I'm playing with a scene right now. Last night I had an idea on how to introduce Drake back into the story, but in order to do that, I have to change almost everything that I have written for Ch. 19. And then there is everything that follows that just doesn't fit anymore. It's frustrating sometimes. But that's just another one of the many joys of writing. 

Into Battle!

I need a Pensieve. You know, a way to siphon off thoughts and save them for later so that I can focus on one thing. Unfortunately, Pensieves only exist in the world of Harry Potter, so I'm going to have to suffer.

My main focus right now is Dragon Queen. I am currently writing Chapter 17, which involves a rather large action scene. I've got about 2K words describing a bloody conflict, but I'm only happy with about a fourth of it.  And as I wrote, I was thinking: Maybe I'm just not cut out to write battle scenes. But then I think about Fury. There is a nice struggle at the end between Yalei and Fury, and I'm pretty happy with the way that turned out. It's dark and intense. But the main difference between the battle in that scene and in Dragon Queen is the old internal vs. external. Fury prevails through her mind and heart. The scene in Dragon Queen is a bunch of dragons chomping and clawing at each other. A lot different. And a lot harder to write. I think I'm going to have to pick up Christopher Paolini's books again and get a little bit of reference. 

Right now, I'm slogging through it. I had to resist the urge to go back and edit it yesterday. Because it's not even finished yet. I kept repeating: Finish it first, then edit. Just get it down. 

This struggle to write physical conflict has revealed to me something about my writing: I am more concerned with internal conflicts. I like it when a character has to wrestle with their flaws rather than grapple with an opponent. While there is a little bit of that in Dragon Queen, there should be more physical trials. Why? Well, because that's the point. It's a war. There needs to be bloodshed and gore and things getting parts of their body chopped off. Jade can't just sit there and muse about how awful it is and shouldn't she do something. That would be a major turn off. 

It is also difficult, I am finding, to write a battle scene  from the 1st person POV. I can only write about what she notices, which means that a lot of the action is not getting wrote down. And some of that out-of-sight action is important. Where I'm floundering at right now is where Jade is finally kicking some butt, but Tyar is also fighting with Darion in the background. Not sure how to make the reader aware of Tyar's struggle while not seeming to go out of POV. Something else to mull over.

Back from the Brink

I took a break from writing (and thinking about writing) this weekend. This was mainly due to a little thing called LIFE that was demanding my attention (including attending a going away party for a friend at work, getting sick, running a yard sale, going to a baby shower, reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (in two days), playing with my 4-year-old cousin, hanging out with my mom, going to a barbecue . . . and that's it).

I'm going to try to get back to rewriting Dragon Queen chapters 17-? today. I managed to rewrite the end of Ch. 16. Twice. The first rewrite felt too contrived. The second one I'm a little happier with, but I'm going to comb through it today and make sure that I'm completely satisfied before moving on.

I have to thank Jenn Lidster for helping me come up with the ideas for these chapters. And Lydia Sharp for being honest and letting me know exactly what was wrong with the circumstances. I think that the new chapters are going to be so much better with their help and advice.

Professional progress: I contacted the guy I interned for at the UA Press. He was happy to offer me some advice and will be getting back with me shortly. Yay!