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Saturday, November 29, 2008

NaNoWriMo

Yes, I finished 50,000 words, but is it finished? Um. No. I'm writing the black moment scene and then there is another scene that follows it. But I'm done writing for today. I also need to go and make revisions throughout. But I've finished NaNo. YAY!!! 2nd year in a row. Of course I have the unfair advantage of not having a job or very young children. Still I'll take advantage of what I have. Good luck to the rest of the NaNo people!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Turkey Day

I've been able to steal a few moments to write, but won't be able to finish until Friday probably. Sigh. I went to Borders yesterday and bought a few new books. Okay 7 new books. I got Eats, Shots, and Leaves which hopefully will help me with my comma denial problems. I got a book on Diseases which should be fun. (Only a writer thinks deadly diseases are fun. Obviously that statement isn't true, but it feels like it.) The other non-fic book is on Time/Space. It was the least technical one in the physics section, so we'll see how I can get through it. Then I bought 2 historicals and 2 paranormal romances (one of which is a time travelish). So at some point I need to allow myself the time to read these books, revise Fallen (which there was a book called Fallen in the romance section), and plot these wonderful new ideas that have emerged from my brain. NaNo is going well. I'm almost done with it and then will need to revise it as well as Fallen. I want to finish and submit both of the stories by the end of the year. Here's hoping.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Friday, November 21, 2008

The Temptation to Cheat

No not on word count on NaNo, but on my book for an idea that finally formed in my head. I had an idea a while ago that got stuck in the idea file for later. It's a really neat idea but it wasn't fully formed and my fallen angel kept whispering in my ear. But I've been breaking from the fallen angel for a month now and my hero of the other story just started to whisper. He gave me the conflict between him and the heroine. Why now? Well, I was watching "Ghost Whisperer," which may have jumped the shark, but I'm still watching. Anyway, something snapped into place. The final piece to their puzzle. So now I have this desire to poke around and see what else it will give me, but I need to finish the NaNo book which has been flying along. Then I want to revise Fallen and the NaNo book so I can submit again. Then I need to go back to Forsaken which has been waiting on the sidelines very nicely, just waiting. But this idea is fresh and I haven't seen a lot about it. Humpf. I know what the right thing to do is. I just need to write very fast. :)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

What Makes an Idea?

I had two pop into my mind this morning. One will I was driving home from Walgreens and another while I was reading someone's response to the Duel's that happen on Romance Divas. Both were for women who needed rescuing. I am not always sure where my head is going when I start imagining this stuff and it gets clearer on paper (computer screen). At first when I started to write I was afraid I wouldn't find any ideas that were new or original, but then I'd read something or see something and there it was, a bright shiny new idea. They're brief and just a beginning. When I pick an idea to work on, it morphs from the original thought to a cohesive plot. How? Well, I'm not exactly sure. What I am sure of is that I shouldn't write blog posts while listening to "Lucy in the Sky". It's a very trippy song and makes my mind go all wonky, but I love it. So there you have it, a weird post brought to you from the brain of someone who's pushing herself to the 50K finish line of NaNo. I swear I'll make more sense one of these days.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Time Crunch

Something I've never had to do before. I printed out a calendar for Jan & Feb 2009 for my novella. Because a pivotal scene happens around the Oscars I had to go through and plot on an actual time line. I thought to do it before the Golden Globes and part of it will, but the problem then are the holidays. I don't want to deal with the holidays, so I am putting it firmly in January after the first of the year since I don't want to deal with that too. Fortunately, the time line remains the same pretty much every year so as long as I don't drop a date here or there it will still remain current. Okay, that probably only made sense to me, but here's something for your trouble. If you need a calendar:

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/custom.html?year=2007&country=1&typ=1&display=1&lang=en&space=3&month=8

Monday, November 17, 2008

Is Your Sex Gratuitous?

How do you know when a sex scene has become gratuitous? Is it the fourth or fifth time? Is it when your characters seen to spend more time in bed than out? Why the heck am I asking this question?

A sex scene is like any other scene in a story with one exception which I'll get to later. It has to have all the things that make a great scene. First and foremost is conflict. If there is no conflict, internal or external, there is no scene. You might have a gratuitous sex scene. But there is always character development, which a sex scene can be a treasure trove of hidden discoveries about your characters. I'm not talking about who puts what where and for how long. But the why of it. Show me the character's motivation, this can also fall under the category of internal conflict if done properly. In reality it probably should have both conflict and character development. There's more to it than that, but it's a start.

Now I said there was an exception. This is called a payoff scene. When you've teased and tormented your reader with sexual tension so hot the characters are literally sizzling on the page, you may owe them a payoff scene and if they don't get it, well, let's say it won't be pretty. I've read books that never deliver the payoff scene. Are they good books? Possibly. Would I read the author again if I knew she didn't payoff? Probably not.

This is of course, my personal opinion of sex scenes. I have read the joy of writing sex which is a wonderful book. It takes on more of the literary community sex scenes rather than dealing with any particular genre. Even in Erotic romance, sex is not just for the sake of sex. Every sex scene serves a purpose. Read the one in your favorite book, what do you learn about the character or what is at stake during the love scene? Or is it the payoff of a lot of build up scenes?

Friday, November 14, 2008

Am I Going to Enter the Golden Heart?

The answer is no. The reason? Well, first off I've entered 4 contests this year, taken a half dozen classes, and made no income from my writing. I'll be saving my $50 entry fee, the additional postage and printing costs. I know it's like winning the lottery, but unless you win, the prize isn't all that good. Sure you get 55 pages worth of writing evaluated, but you don't get any comments back. And judging on a scale of 1-9, leaves a lot to be desired. The contests I've entered have given me good feedback. If I'm no where near publishing next year come this time, I will definitely consider entering it. Also, I can't find the list of final judges, which probably isn't a big deal, but it's usually one of the reasons I enter contests.

So for now, I'm done entering contests. I'm working on revisions, query letters, new ms, and that's keeping me pretty preoccupied. I've achieved PRO status in RWA by having my query letter rejected. I'm good. I'm happy with where I'm headed and where I've been. I don't feel the need to go down the Golden Heart road this year. I do think it is a very good opportunity and if you have the money to spare, it may be worth it if you final. But I'm thinking for our family my $100 is better spent elsewhere.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Oh, Yeah I Did

http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/

Check to see if any of these first pages hook you. Yeah, I'm in there. :)

Avoidance and the Love Scene

Yesterday I barely added to my MS in the 3 hours I had to write. Why, you ask? I'd gotten to that point in the story. Everybody has a point that they have difficulty writing. Mine is the love scene. I over think every word I'm putting down which would be awesome during revision, but for first draft . . . well, I should just get on with it. I know I can layer in after, but man . . . So why write them? A lot of romances gloss over the love scene or "close the door" on it. But that's not what I like to read. I'm okay with sexual tension, but when it comes to doing the duty . . .

I made a playlist, then I repeated one song over and over. I added a few words, checked my email, wrote a few more words, checked my email, changed songs, checked my email. I don't get enough email to be checking it this much. This morning I turned off Yahoo and Messenger. I closed out of my email. I picked one song and I forced myself to write the damn scene. After 500 excruciatingly painful words, it's done. We are now in post bliss. Where the weight of what the characters have done will come crashing down around them. Well, maybe we'll wait until morning for that to happen. :) The fall out I can write, the leading up to moment I can write, the actual moment . . . well, at some point I'll feel comfortable writing it and maybe it will take me less than a day and a half to actually write the darned thing.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Songs for the Day

Playing on iTunes

"Look" Sebastien Tellier (heard in the final scene of Ugly Betty this week)
"Chasing Pavements" Adele
"Feels like Home" Chantal Kreviazuk

Titles, Characters and Plots, oh my

What's worse than coming up with a title and character names? Having to come up with movie titles and movie character names within the same book. Of course, currently there is "Action Movie Title" and I think one of his names is going to be "Hero's name". It's NaNo, people. I can't worry about the details right now. :) Back to NaNo sprinting.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Why So Quiet?

I'm still waiting to here back from a handful of agents. I've got some ideas to expand the word count on Fallen and am pushing forward on my NaNo book. So while Forsaken is on hold, I'll finish up the NaNo and edit Fallen. My brain becomes pretty fried during November, but I'll keep pushing the word count on the side bars.