Appeasing the Voices

When I stop writing, my characters revolt. They stomp their feet in anger and assault my brain with plots and dialogue. They want out. They want the page. They want to feel real.

I started this novel about 10 years ago with a solitary idea and a character named Benny. Benny is in his mid to late 30\’s and has worked in construction for 15 or so years. Longevity has it\’s advantages. He knows when the concrete will be poured, how long it takes to set, how to smooth it out evenly. He also knows what can be hidden beneath it and how long it could take to find it. I worked through the \”what ifs\” and wrote a very small beginning. Five years ago, I couldn\’t take the influx of reminders from characters not yet formed pushing me to write about them. Two years ago, they won.

When I resurfaced the original idea, it took a life of it\’s own and became something entirely new. Benny has changed quite a bit and I\’d venture to say, this isn\’t Benny anymore. This is a completely different character. Maybe Benny grew tired of waiting on me to get around to him, but I can still hear him now and again.I can still see him sitting in the shrink\’s office staring out the window. He deserves at least a short story some day.

My new characters are relentless. When I\’m focused on one or two of them, the others are vying for my attention. Sometimes, I write a note or two to the side about them just to appease them for small periods of time. They want bigger parts in the story or have their own axes to grind and crosses to bear. It\’s my job to tell them ever so carefully, this isn\’t their story. It can be hard to let them down easy and still expect them to give me the rest of the story or help carry the main character.

So, I promised them I would share them with the rest of the world soon. My novel is about 14,000 words written, meaning I have a long way to go yet, but sharing pieces of them now is better than nothing.

Without further ado… here are my character names in no particular order:

JoAsh Lux, Idena Lux, Athan Lux, Lamb, Liam Lux, Joshua and Diane

And here is the working title of my novel in progress… 

Ahhh… peace and quiet.. for a little while.

Writing is in the Numbers

I passed small sign at the end of a driveway today that read \”11900\” …

On any normal day this sign would have obviously meant the house at the other end of the driveway was house number 11900 on whatever road I happened to be driving. Today is not a normal day. Today is halfway through week two of NaNoWriMo. Today, I saw that sign and my first thought was \”Oh, I almost have that many words down!\” The next number I saw reminded me of the number of words I have to go until I reach the coveted 50K goal, then how many words I need to write today to reach my daily goal. I saw my number of pages, my character count, my hours left in the day to get home and actually write.

Writing … it\’s all in the numbers.

I love watching the little number count in the lower left of my page. I peek when I start writing and look again after I\’ve come out of an exciting burst. When the starting number and new number differ by more than 100 words, I have to update my count on NaNo. I just have to!

Word sprints are the best. Time is just organized numbers. Start with 10 minutes, post number of words and go another 15 minutes. This time post your word count ever 15 minutes for an hour. I love it!

Well, I\’ve put about 261 words here that could have been in my novel, but that\’s OK. I\’m all warmed up now.

And go…

Better Than a Smoothie and a Cupcake

I decided to go Barnes and Noble today to beat down the word count I\’m increasingly missing. (Never you mind the stop at Bruester\’s for ice cream) I meandered through the cafe ( the good spot taken… you know the one nearest to an outlet and the second good spot… the one where no one can possibly read over my shoulder). After assaulting a stranger with paper towels in the bathroom, I headed for the YA section.

Now, I like vampire books as much as the next person (well, the next person that likes vampire books) but the YA area seems to be overrun with them. After sifting through books and book covers with fangs, full lips or blood droplets, I found two shelves of books about anything but vampires. The new ideas blew me away. I wanted to read them, not so much for the sake of the story but to find out just how they pulled it off!

As I was standing there amazed, a few YA\’s (yes they do exist) browsed books near me. They commented on one or the other and how they hate it when they buy a book they\’ve already read. I continued picking up a book now and then but not to review them. I wanted to hear more from these girls. I wanted to ask them what they enjoy most in a book. I wanted to know what they were tired of reading. I wanted to know if their friends read the same books they did and vice versa. These girls had read so many books they couldn\’t tell from the covers if they\’d read them before. These girls were my future market and they were reading voraciously.

I wanted to know a lot of things, but you know as well as I do theYA can be skittish. One minute they are talking freely and laughing with their friends but if an outsider interrupts it can be … awkward. I opted not to interrupt them. Just as I was about to walk away a teen brought a book to her mother explaining to her with much excitement that this was the next book in the series. As I was leaving it was decided she would get it for her later now that she knew she wanted it. That sucks.

Back in the cafe, the outlet seat still taken and the hidden seat filled, I settled for this seat. I hadn\’t been here 10 minutes before the teen and her mom sat at the table in front of me both with smoothies and the girl with a chocolate cupcake. I like cupcakes as much as the next person (well, the next person that likes cupcakes) but between you and me… for the cost of two smoothies and a chocolate cupcake, mom could have bought the book. The book would have lasted much longer than the chocolate smudges in the corners of the girl\’s mouth and been better for her.

Books > Cupcakes

Edit: After all this, I can\’t focus here. I\’m going back home!

Workshops, Ideas and NaNo

Lots of knowledge gained today! First up… writing workshop!

The Chesterfield Writer\’s Club presented a workshop today complete with authors, publishers and instructors. The workshop started with how to begin as a writer, moving to structure and craft and wrapping up with publishing and marketing. This was the first effort by this group and they did a fantastic job. Some of the information was repetitive for me but I learned something new from each section. The best part for me was meeting an author I admire. Local Richmond author Michele Young-Stone wrote \”The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors\”. I\’d seen a few experts about her and heard that she often attended small book clubs to not only promote her book but to talk to them about her experience as a write. I contacted her about attending the workshop as a panelist and she accepted. She shared her experience as a new writer trying to publish a debut book and I ate it up was a spoon. What I really appreciated about her story is that she knew exactly what she wanted when she wrote the book as far as publishing and how she wanted it done. Goals are key to success. Know what you want, how you want it and then do what it takes to get there! (see the linking I did up there for her? one day someone will do that for me too!)

During the work shop a plot bunny tried to take over and distract me from learning. Having read the plot bunnies thread on the NaNoWriMo site I was fully prepared. I immediately found a piece of paper, jotted it down until the bunny fuzz settled and returned to the workshop without distraction. Sometimes you just have to write it down in order to forget it and move on. It worked. I did get a couple of ideas during the workshop that will fit fantastically into the novel I\’m writing… excited to get back to it.

Which brings me to my current status with NaNoWriMo. This is day 6 and according to the 1,667 per day rule, I should reach 10,001 by midnight. Should is the operative word here… I currently have 6,370 words. Now that\’s 6,370 words more than I had 6 days ago so it\’s definitely a success. However, I need to step this up and get closer to the day to day goal. Which explains perfectly why I\’m here procrastinating.

*eye roll*

Yes, yes… I\’m going now.

Everybody\’s Writing for the Weekend!

Finally the weekend is here! Day 5 of NaNoWriMo and I\’m way behind. No worries. I\’ll get there. I love where my story is going and that NaNo is forcing me to move forward. I don\’t question my writing and when I get stuck I\’m more likely to think openly about what to do to get unstuck.

My brain is a bit mushy. The cause may be a combination of speed writing, candy and coffee. The mush feels good. Not the kind I want oozing between my toes, but good nonetheless. Brain mush doesn\’t allow for thinking about laundry or overdue bills. The only thoughts that will penetrate this mush is plot structure, character growth and a healthy dose of fantasy.

The best part of NaNo so far is knowing that as I sit here and write this novel, there are currently 637 wrimos in my region (Richmond, Virginia). Those 637 Richmond Wrimos have written 1,442,314 words so far. Do you know many books that would fill? Me either, but it seems like an awful lot!

So far, I\’ve contributed over 5,000 words. I should be around 8,000 today and over 11,000 by the end of the weekend. There\’s no reason I can\’t get there.

I\’m determined.

I\’m ready.

I\’m …………………….SQUIRREL!!!

*ahem* … I\’m focused.

Best Laid Plans

NaNoWriMo is upon me. Day 1, I surpassed my goal of 1667 words. Day 2, I am short already. The day is not yet over and I\’m gaining willpower to \”just do it\” but pushing aside everything else is proving harder than I expected.

When I decided to write 50K words in a month, I thought my biggest issue would be thinking of enough words to fill the 1667/day requirement. I was wrong. The writing is easy. You start with a few words and before you know it you have over 300 .. then over 800 and so on.

Why is the dog barking? Why is my son freaking out.. again? Did I finish that project at work? Is the dryer done? Where\’s my coffee? Did I pay that bill? Why is the TV so loud? Where is the dog? Where is my son? Why can\’t I focus? Who is playing bongos and WHY NOW?

This… this is the reason I will not make my goal in the coming days. The \”easy button\” I bought from Staples does not work against the dark forces of the household. Perhaps some rewiring is in order…