Behold My Invention, the Wheel

You know what I’ve just discovered?

My manuscript doesn’t have to be perfect the first time. I can start out with this thing called a “rough draft.” Get the main shape of the plot down on paper. Then go back with a finer brush and paint in the details.

Whoah! Did I think of that all by myself? Man, I’m a genius!

Ok, ok, this is Novelwriting 101. I am a big dork. Sometimes you have rediscover basic rules for writing over again. As the saying goes, “A fool can be told something 1000 times and never learn it. A genius need be told only seven-hundred-and-twenty-six times.”

* * *

Speaking of trying something 726 times, I have again re-arranged Dindi (the series). Quick history: The project started as one 200,000 word book with 7 sections. That was too long, so I thought, what if I make each section into its own book? I wrote an additional 90,000 words for book one. Then I decided that I wanted the series finished, whether Book 1 has sold yet or not, and 7 books was too long. I played around with a quartet.

Inspiration: I have 300,000 words written and a complete series arc. How about a TRILOGY? See how I do that? First I invent a wheel, now a stone ax. I amaze myself.

Seriously, the reason I dismissed a trilogy before was because I couldn’t figure out how to divide 7 by 3. Math, not my forte. (See the post on this topic on The Screaming Guppy.) Then I had a BRILLIANT idea. This time I’m not being sarcastic. Yes, a little bit self-mocking, just to pretend I’m being humble, but mostly I am serious. I re-arranged the order of the seven sections!

Now I have one (hopefully) polished mss (Book 1) and two virtually complete but extremely rough drafts. The word count aim for both is 100,000-110,00 words. As they stand:

Book 2: 102,000 words
Book 3: 88,000 words

I’m a happy camper.

* * *

Back to work on my wheel.

Or I could think of it as writing a 300 page synopsis.

Losing the Details

I’ve noticed something about how I write.

When I begin a book, I pay loving attention to the details of the setting and the poetry of the language. However, as the story begins to grip me, I start chasing down the action or dialogue so fast, the setting becomes a blur. The language also grows clunkier and clunkier. Soon, my nuanced, delicately painted world is dashed out in broad strokes of primary color. Beta readers have complained that middle chapters in my book feel like they take place in empty space compared to the earlier chapters.

Does this ever happen to you?

Synopsis, My Ongoing Loathing Of

I have to write a synopsis, and I am squawking and squeaking about it like a rusty bike in a rainstorm. I know I shouldn’t be such a big baby, it’s just one more petty curse authors have to put up with, but ugh, I would rather lick toads.

Why, synopsis, why must you be so hard to write? Why must you be as dull as dust? Why must you somehow forget to mention major plot points, thus making it seem as though the ending makes no sense? WHY? WHY?!

Cinders Update

I’ve started Cinders and so far it is awesome. I am not envious of Michelle’s writing talent AT ALL because she is my friend and I am more mature than that.

Damn you, Michelle!

The Worst Query Letter Ever

Are you ever plagued by the worry, “What if I haven’t written enough drek?”

I’ve been going through boxes of my old papers recovered from my mom’s garage. One held a trove of old stories. I’ve already found a few lost manuscripts. Now I’m finding manuscripts that were not only lost but entirely forgotten.

In most cases, for good reason.

Short stories, novellas, worldbuilding notes on worlds I never finished building,

Frex, I’ve found mysterious messages scrawled across the top of a scene that begins and ends on page 5. “Note to self: I’m not sure what ATEN is, but it is really important.”

Self to Note: WTF?

On the one hand, I think, well, if I was worried I hadn’t written the million words of drek it supposedly takes to become a decent writer, clearly that fear was unfounded.

But, egad, it is SO BAD.

The worst embarrassment of all has got to be the query letter I found. The author talks about herself in third person for three paragraphs, and then in the fourth paragraph, adds, “As the above mentioned author, I hope you will consider becoming my agent…”

Shudder.

Let us not even mention the grandiose and ridiculous claims made by this third person author. And the kicker is that I can’t even tell what book I thought I was querying. Somehow I forgot to mention that.

Unbelievable.

Present Self: Please, please, younger self, tell me you never sent this query letter anywhere.

Younger Self: Pretty sure I didn’t.

Present Self: [lets out breath in big whoosh]

Younger Self: HERE’S the query I sent….

Present Self: MUST…. NOT…. LOOK….

Snarky Villains You Love to Hate

Villains like to steal things, and specifically, they like to steal the scene.

Some authors write the best villains. Totally creepy, frightening, powerful. My villains are more snarky than scary, even when they meet in a cafe to dine on human hearts! That pinch of snark, combined with a dollop of badass, or vice versa, makes them fun to write, so fun, I wonder if they are planning on scene-stealing. I have about an equal number of villains as good guys, and I’m not sure if that’s normal or not.

Villains are an interesting breed. They can’t be boring, but is there a danger in making them too intriguing? Especially if they have good qualities balancing out the bad, so they are genuinely likable.

My villains have a number of ghastly habits. If one of them tells you, “eat your heart out,” he might just mean it literally. Still, I think they’re likable. One or two of them gets redeemed at the end of the book, the rest have to be content with swearing revenge.

Two of the villains in this book play a prominent role in the series set in the same world as this stand-alone fantasy.