Tag: goal

The Evolving Storyline

What do you do when you set out to write a story and suddenly it is no longer the story you set out to write?

The evolving story, as I like to call it, happens to me quite frequently. When I wrote my story “The 50 Deaths of Annabelle Joy” there was clearly my heroine plagued by the affections of the villainous Grim Reaper. I knew she would hate him the entire time, be repulsed by his affection for her, and fight to get away from him every day of her life. My original plan had Annabelle growing up, marrying, and giving birth to a daughter. As Annabelle’s daughter grew up, Death would begin to shift his interest from Annabelle to her daughter. When Annabelle learns Death intends to release her and to begin courting her daughter, Annabelle would agree to become his bride. That WAS my plan, but after I started writing it, the story evolved into something entirely different.

I am the author who becomes more acquainted with my characters as I write my story, I let my characters tell me the story and I write it. My last post I talked about character interviews, getting to know you character as the/she grows during the story. The interview was especially important in my book referenced above. As I wrote and interviewed my antagonist, I began to see the story from his perspective and that he was not, in fact, a ‘bad guy’ but a victim of circumstance.

The evolution of a story is not always as dramatic as it had been in my case, it could be something small like an unexpected ally or perhaps a game changer of finding someone else is the true villain. Allowing for evolution is partly why I do not attempt to outline my entire book, because I know the plan will likely change. As I write I find favorite characters die, while some deaths turn out to be only a near-death. I’ve had bad guys soften their hearts to become a hero and I have had strong alliances turn out to be a front, none of which I planned from the beginning.

People have asked me, ‘How did you not know your character would do that? You’re writing the story.’ Yes, I am writing the story, but I write what I see as I see it. 

All I would like to say is you should not plan your book so stringently you do not allow for things to change. We have a vision for our books as we set out to write them, but sometimes what comes from the evolution is so much better than anything we could have planned.

Failed plans should not be interpreted as a failed vision. Visions don’t change, they are only refined. Plans rarely stay the same, and are scrapped or adjusted as needed. Be stubborn about the vision, but flexible with your plan. John C. Maxwell

I would love to hear of a time from you when you wrote a story that turned out differently from what you had planned.

Post NaNoWriMo – Time to publish?

Hey all,

I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving.

For those of you who were competing in NaNoWriMo 2013, congratulations! According to the email I received there was well over 300,000 participants this year and a mere ~41,000 crossed the 50,000 word finish line. I am congratulating not only the victors, but the participants as well. I think just committing to writing in any fashion is something that you should be proud of. Of course, it is not my opinion that matters, but I’m sure even just doing a little bit of writing reminded you why you like to write in the first place, and I think that is important.

I am personally excited about my NaNo prizes that I will have access to on the 5th. What I’m looking forward to the most is holding one of the two paperback copies of my book that I will receive. I think I’ll even buy a shadow box for it and mount it on my wall, THAT is how proud of myself I am.

I just finished the rough edit of my book. I was surprised that I was actually very happy with how it turned out, storyline-wise. I wrote it intentionally to only be a 50,000 word story and so I thought it flowed quite nicely. So far, those who have read it for me have shared my sentiments… for that reason I did not go back and re-write. I plan to actually start searching for a literary agent with the story as I have it now, and I hope that it will eventually lead me to a publishing deal. I have considered self-publishing… there are many great offers that come with participating in NaNoWriMo… however because I am such a new author, I believe that I would rather have a strong publishing house behind me to promote my book then to attempt to do it myself. 

I didn’t get a cover design for my book, and I’m a little sad about that. I did create one for myself on powerpoint using pictures I got off of Google. I thought the cover looked nice, but according to my Mom it comes off as more “creepy” than romantic. I attempted to create a romantic cover, but layering people in a way they were not originally intended just does not look good. My only other alternative was to rent a Grim Reaper costume and find a beautiful couple to take a picture of for the cover… I must just suck it up and pay the $150 for a professional cover, but we shall see.

Did anyone else compete in NaNoWriMo? How did your journey go?

Victory!

Today I finished my NaNoWriMo book at 51,227 words.

First and foremost, I want to thank my husband for his support and understanding. I quit my full time job back in December so I could focus more on my writing and he had supported me this entire time. Every time I was feeling un-motivated, he was always there to give me the push I needed. Thank you Will for your love and support!

NaNoWriMo still has 9 days left… What will I be doing?
I will be using this time to review my work and making revisions, edits, and corrections. There are many great publishing opportunities to the winners of NaNo and I want to be certain that my work is at its best.

What did I enjoy most about NaNoWrimo 2013?
This was my first Nano. I hit the ground running at midnight on November 1st. I most enjoyed updating my word count each. I found it really helpful to know the pace at which I was writing and my expected date of completion based on that pace.

What would I do differently if I had a chance to go back?
I would definitely plan more. I had more of an outline than some fellow competitors I met, but I also suffered tremendous plot changes. In the future I would prefer to have a better layout of the story before beginning.

What was most surprising about my NaNoWriMo experience?
I was most surprised by what I was able to accomplish in such a short timeframe. Competition really gets me going, I was impressed by myself every step of the way.

Would I recommend NaNoWriMo?
I have been recommending NaNo left and right since I began. It has been and amazing experience for me and I think anyone who has even the slightest interest in writing should give it a shot.

 

If anyone would like to review my rough draft, it can be found here: http://authors.tablo.com.au/nanowrimo/Mzk1MA==

Powering Through

Sorry, it’s been a while… bit of a busy week.

I will be doubling up my writing time today and tomorrow, because I was unable to complete any chapters over the weekend. The good news is that if I am successful in writing 2 chapters today and another 2 chapters tomorrow… I will be completing my book on Thursday!

I didn’t write over the weekend because I had to work all day Saturday and all dat on Sunday. Usually I have time to write while I am at work, but it just didn’t happen this weekend. I also had to complete my portion of a group project for my college, so that was all of my free time. I have doubled up in the past, and it can be exhausting, but to me, it is well worth it to stay on track.

So, that brings me to today’s topic: Powering Through.

I’ll admit, that I have struggled with the last couple of chapters I have written. When the story was new and exciting, words just seemed to flow through my fingertips… I have finally gotten to that point that I fantasize about this story and its characters, but now I’m having a hard time getting to that finish line. I recently wrote a chapter that took me over 3 hours to write, which is ridiculous when you consider for the purpose of NaNoWriMo, my chapters are only 2500 words. The chapter didn’t take nearly as long, but it certainly felt like work.

When writing begins to feel like work, it is easy to say “just walk away” … “I’ll come back to it”. The truth is, at least for me, when I walk away from my designated writing time…. I am unlikely to go back and finish that later. I write between 9AM and 11AM every day. That is my time. I have had my coffee, eaten my breakfast, and there are no distractions. Once I get past lunch time, the entire atmosphere of the house just seems wrong to write. Suddenly there are things on TV to watch, other things I need to check on, groceries to buy, and list goes on and on. My writing time is my golden time, and I have to use it to its full potential.

I have read many of the Pep Talks for NaNoWriMo and they suggest that when you are stuck, to simply write the scene or chapter that excites you… I do not recommend that, and I’ll tell you why. I used to do that very thing, all the time. I would hear a song on the radio and envision a scene so strong that I could cry… and I would be inspired to write it down immediately. I would re-read it and think “this is perfect! I can’t wait until I get to the point in my story that I can use this scene.” The problem is that when you (.. I..) write a scene that you have not built up to yet, you’re not taking everything into consideration. The characters may go through things that you had not originally intended. I’ll give you en example of my prediction writing for NaNoWriMo:

NaNoWriMo asks for a synopsis of the story and also for an excerpt when you list it on your profile. Looking at my story now, the synopsis is not even entirely accurate. For the excerpt I used immediately, it was obvious that I initially planned to write the story in the 3rd person, but when I began actually writing it, I switched to 1st person. I couldn’t even use most of the excerpt that I used because it didn’t fit my storyline by the time I got to that part. I thought I knew exactly how my story ended, and if I would have spent part of my writing time to write the ending while it was fresh in my mind…. it would have been wasted… ALL OF IT. My ending now, is not even remotely close to the original ending.

I know not everyone’s story goes through so many major changes as my current story has… but I think it is more useful to power through the writing rut and keep the story on track. Yes, you will probably have to go back and edit the scenes that you forced, but at least you have something to work with now. There is no promise that if you skip that scene now…. that you will be any more inspired to write it later. Sometimes scenes that are necessary just aren’t fun to write. 

This is just my two cents, and it is what works for me. I can’t believe that I am going to win my first NaNoWriMo this week! I am beyond excited, and I’m looking forward to starting the editing process and having a publish ready story by the end of the month.

 

Thank you to all of you who read this blog. I feel like you reading this helps me to be accountable to my goals, and if anything that I have written helps you, then that is icing on the cake!

 

Happy Monday, take care!

Embracing the new

I began NaNoWriMo (Nano…) the very same day I finished the first draft to a completely separate book. I don’t think I will ever do that again. I love the idea of Nano and I’m off to a great start. The problem is that for the past several months my brain has been hardwired to think about my other story. When I close my eyes or hear a song on the radio , I’m supposed to visualize my current characters and their different struggles. But now, I have to actively force myself to think about my current story.

I don’t believe that I am uninspired, I think my story has great potential. I am just obsessed with my previous story. So how do I let go and embrace the new? I haven’t found an exact process yet, but I am starting by focusing on the big scenes. You know, the ones that would be in the movie trailer. These are the scenes that get me pumped up to write. I’m not going to write those scenes out of order, but at least it gets me thinking about the right characters. 

Yesterday I finally found the face of my main male character. I descried him completely wrong for the image I found… but looking the picture, I knew that is who I meant to describe. That was also motivational.

I’m nearly complete with 2 of 20 chapters for my Nano story, and the progress tracker says that I should be done November 28th, and that gives me some time to edit!

So, to my fellow writers out there. If you have started a new project closely after finishing another… what has helped you to switch gears and mind sets?

Here’s wishing everyone a surprisingly good Monday! Take care.

The end and the beginning

I was so excited about everything going on yesterday that I didn’t realize I had forgotten to post until about 10 PM, so I thought I would save it for today.

October 31st: Halloween to everyone else, but for me, it was my deadline day. I had one chapter and and an epilogue to write and I still had pages from my notebook to type. I sat down at my desk and looked at wall of inspiration and as I prepared to type, I was nervous. Why? Was I channeling my main character’s fear or was it my own as I was preparing to conclude this story I have been working on for years? When I typed “The End” it didn’t feel like I had imagined. All week long I was excited as I prepared to tell the world that my story was complete, but as I looked at the final words on my screen I was actually a little sad. Bittersweet, I suppose. 

Still I would like to pat myself on the back. While I have known the story in its entirety for quite some time, I have never written it from start to finish. This is certainly a personal victory. I have not gone back and read through my book all the way yet because I know that once I do, I’ll immediately start making corrections.

So that was the end, now for the beginning.

November 1st: I saw many of my Facebook friends posting that it was time to begin the 30 days of giving thanks. For me, at mid-night, I was at a coffee shop with many other NaNoWriMo participants. We met around 11 PM as we talked to discuss any issues we were having with our stories before the midnight hour arrived. When midnight arrived, I went right to work on my new novel. 

For those of you who do not know what NaNoWriMo is, let my introduce you briefly. NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org). You sign up and pledge to write 50,000 in 30 days. You have from midnight on November 1st through 11:59PM on November 30th to submit your final word count. Everyone can win, there are no real prizes, but there are lots of opportunities. Nano is great for people that need help find publishers and literary agents, or authors that simply want to know other aspiring authors. I really recommend it if you enjoy writing. If you can commit a sporadic 2 hours or so per day, you can easily make your word count goal for Nano, it is only about 1700 words per day.

So, we have not reached the end of day 1 for Nano yet… but I have already finished my prologue and first chapter and submitted a word count of around 2300. I’m off to a great start. My goal is to write 1 chapter per day so that I have time to edit near the end. There are too many great publishing opportunities, and I would hate for my story to be a discombobulated mess if I can help it =)

Is anyone else out there participating in NaNoWriMo 2013? If you are, please add me. My username is ChristinaW87 and my story is “The 50 Deaths of Annabelle Joy”

I wish you all a fantastic weekend. Happy November!

The end is near!

I have been writing and re-writing my current novel since I was a junior in High School… so that’s about 8 years or so now. When I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 I made it a goal of mine to finish my story in the form of a movie script. I accomplished that goal, but I was more than a little upset. Even though I have always pictured my story to be a movie, I was devastated by how much of my story I had to cut out to fit the confines of 120 minutes of screen time. So I once again declared “by the end of the year, I will finish my book”. It of course has never happened.

Every year I vow to finish my story, but unless knowing it cover to cover in my head counts, then I never have. This year, my husband and I started college together. In our first class we were supposed to provide an example of a detailed goal. What specifically we would like to accomplish, how it can be accomplished, and when exactly will it be accomplished by… Out of habit I chose my story, but I gave myself a wide birth. I declared that I would finish my story by my 27th birthday, giving myself 1 1/2 years to do it. I quit my full time job in September. I promised my husband that since I was not working full time now, I would commit equal parts of my day to writing my book and working my part-time job. So I drafted a new goal. If I could commit to writing 1/2 chapter (appx 1600 words) per day, I would finish my book  by the end of October. So today is October 26, I have 3 chapters to go! I’m supposed be further along, but we went on vacation and I slacked for a week. I’m so excited to be almost done that I have been over writing lately, so I’m sure I’ll still make my deadline.

Now this is not the “let’s send this to be published” version of my book, this is the “Hey, I wrote every chapter” version. It has many errors, probably a couple holes that need to be addressed, and my word count is nowhere near my final goal (120,000) but the story will be complete. I am a perfectionist at heart, so I would often start re-writing my book around chapter 10. I always knew it could be better. My story is completely different now then when I started writing it 8 years ago… but I mean, I was 17 back then, and now I’m 26 and married, life is different.

To go from consistently starting over to having the complete story is a miracle for me. I look forward to letting a couple trusted friends and family review my story and let me know where it needs work. Most of all, I’m excited to see if my story affects others the way it has me. Yesterday I wrote the scene where my main character dies, it is no secret, it is declared outright near the beginning that death is expected. To write the actual scene and the characters present and how the death affects them was beautiful, to me. It moved me nearly to tears, but as the creator of the story I can watch it like a movie in my head, so I look forward to knowing if I translated the emotions in my head correctly to paper.

It is bittersweet to be reaching the end, but I am proud of myself. I’m trying to commit to blogging daily and to be honest with my struggles. I am imperfect and sometimes I don’t feel inspired enough to write, but I assure you that I love it. There are two things in this world I know that I am meant to do. One is to be a mother and a wife, the other is to share my book with the world. Will my story bring my fame and fortune? Chances are it will not. But how I can I have a story in my heart for so long that is so important if it is not meant to be shared?

If your looking for tips and tricks on how to be a great author… you probably don’t want to listen to me. I’m untrained, I just like to write. If you’d like to join me on my journey to achieve my writing dreams, stay tuned!