Thank god, the writer’s block is OVER.  Man, did that suck.

I’ve been working on a novel I am currently calling “First Lady and the Dead Presidents.”  Originally, I had begun writing it in third person, mostly because I am not a fan of books in the first person.  I think first person is incredibly difficult to get right and too many authors don’t have the right grip on the voice so it sounds (at least to me) contrived and over-written.

That being said, I was stuck.  I had gotten a few pages out and had submitted them to one of my critique groups.  The consensus was that, while it had a fairly good voice and really great description, there was something missing.  The readers in the group were having a hard time connecting to McKinley, my main character, which was a major problem. 

She came off the page as bitchy and overly mean.  Her actions occurred without a lot of context, so she seemed flaky and selfish, which I guess she is in a way, but there was a lot more hurt and brokenness to her behavior that just wasn’t coming off the page in the way that I wanted or needed it to.

So I stopped writing and tried to figure out a way to make it work.

I had a fleeting thought to try first person but batted it away.  Everyone knows that I HATE first person- why would I think that I could do it better than anyone else, right?

Well, I started to get thoughts and feelings about this book that became more and more insistent.  Something was whispering in my ear that I needed to at least TRY first person and see how it went.  I was under no obligation to actually keep writing in that voice, the whisper said,  and I wouldn’t HAVE to show it to anyone, should I choose not to.  What would it hurt?

And then one morning, I woke up and there were paragraphs and dialogue just sitting in my head, waiting patiently to be pounded out onto a computer screen, all in first person, and I knew that I had to give it at least a try.

And, damn it, it worked. 

I think I’ve found McKinley.  Her voice at least, and I think I’ve found a way to make her connect with the reader, even though in the beginning she’s making choices that are all about her and her needs.  The whole point of the story is that she has to learn to let HER pain go and try to help others ease theirs.

Now, at least, I feel like the reader will see the potential in McKinley and not write her off as a selfish bitch from day one.

I have a crit group meeting this evening- the first one for a new group and I am WAY pumped, let me tell you- so I’m hoping for some constructive feedback regarding these pages.  I’m lucky that these ladies read my original submission so they will know the changes I’ve made and be able to tell me which version of the heroine they prefer.

I have to say, though, I can’t wait until I get to Carter, my hero.  I’m curious to see how he comes off on the page, now that we aren’t going to get his POV.  Maybe I’ll need to make this a dual POV story, both in first person.  Or, I could try her in first and him in third. 

I have time to experiment and if this has taught me anything, it’s that experimenting can be rewarding beyond what any of us can imagine.

Here’s a bunch of blog posts that you should check out.  Some are writing related and some are just related to good writing.  Not always the same thing.    Anyway, check these out when you need something to pass the time, you know, when you should be writing. 

1)      FANTASTIC post by Jamie at Defying Gravity.  She hits it dead center and she’s right.  It’s up to us.  We’re teaching the next generation and if we aren’t careful, we’ll teach them the wrong stuff.  Check out her post and change your life.

2) Top 10 Motivation Boosters and Procrastination Killers 

3) The Way We Dress – A fascinating article at Dear Author that asks questions about what women wear, what make s a professional, why there is a double standard with men, etc.  A bit of a frustrating article but something that we, as women, should think about, esp. how we can change it. 

4) June and July book launches for Carina Press

5) Amazing post on the difference between reading as an adult and as a child.  If you read as a kid and fell INLOVE with the books and the worlds that you were living in, even if it was only for a few hours, then you need to read this post.  Incredible stuff. 

6) A Wish For Someone Else’s Daughter – This is just beautiful.  Words that I want to share with all of you and would  love to share with my own daughter someday in the future. 

7) Plotting Made Easy – The Complications Worksheet

8)  Plotting Along- this is a post about revising your work and how to get through that process and down to the good stuff that stays, the bad stuff that goes and the new stuff that fills in the holes.  Great post and great inspiration towards getting my own revisions going. 

9) 21 Ideas to Get your Story out of the Slush Pile 

10) Tips for Blending in Backstory

11)  Netflix Friday #8 -Zulu – I read this review of a 1964 film that has been out of print for a while but is now available to stream on Netflix.  The write-up at this blog is brilliant and made me want to get home RIGHT NOW to watch this flick.   You all should read it.  And then go and stream the damn thing on Netflix.  DO IT. 

12) Netflix Friday #7 – Invader Zim – BEST. WRITE-UP. EVER.  For serious.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated about my own writing. Needs to change, so here we go.

The editing on The Drake is not going well. I had some luck with the first chapter but I’m just not feeling it. I’m trying to determine the cause.

Is it because I know the editing process is going to be hard? I mean, really, really hard? Knock down all the walls and just leave the basic foundation kind of hard?

Is it because I’m just not feeling the story itself? I’m asking myself some serious questions about my main characters and how I feel about spending 75-100K words on them. I have to admit that I’m ambivalent.

Am I just not understanding my characters? Do I need to do more background work so I can get a better handle on who they are?

Am I trying to do too much in this story or not enough?

Continued

You always need to know where the gun is and you always have to take the socks off.  True facts.

Readers are finicky creatures.  It’s a delicate balance to give them what they want.  Too much detail or prose, and they’re skipping pages to get to the next section of dialogue.  Leave out the WRONG details and they’ll put your book down.  How do you balance the two?

You determine where the detail is the most necessary.  The spots where I have the most trouble as a reader and as a writer are in action sequences and love scenes.  What do you need to do to keep these scenes simple and easy to visualize in the readers minds?

The simple answer is you map it out.  In the theater world, they call it blocking.  Where are your characters going on the stage and how do they get there, based on the props on the stage and the other characters.  Choreography directs characters around the stage and through love scenes and fight scenes.

Why is this important? 

If you’re writing a crime novel or an adventure story- something like Tom Clancy or Suzanne Brockmann, for example- and you have a fight scene, the reader wants to know where the bodies are, where the weapons are, who has what and who loses what.

If you introduce a bad guy with a gun and your hero has a knife, that’s going to be an interesting match up.  How will your hero (or heroine) keep from getting shot, being stupid enough to bring a knife to a gun fight?

You as the reader need to know where the gun is- in hand?  Knocked to the floor?  In the waistband of the bad guy’s pants?  The scene isn’t going to make sense if you have no clue where the weapon is, who has it and why it is or isn’t in play.

As a writer, this is even more important because you are staging the scene- the reader only really has the information that YOU give them.  If you fail to properly stage it and you forget that the gun was dropped behind the chair or if you fail to disarm the bad guy but the hero still takes him down and you can’t clearly explain why, you may just lose your reader.

Continued