Back in action

It seems I write a lot of these "I'm back" posts.  So this time, I won't promise the moon and stars.  I won't swear to write faithfully every day then blog about it every night.  I'll only say this:

I missed writing.  A lot.  I thought about it and jotted notes but never made time to do it.  I am currently editing Providence - yes, still! - and rereading some blogs about it, and this is making me feel really guilty that I've let it go to the wayside.  So, I plan on recommitting myself to something writing-wise, and to hopefully blogging about it here.

Until next time,

Debbie

Quick NaNo Update

... dropping in between writing JavaScript code for class and eating dinner - and then, hopefully, getting some wordage in today! ...
So, yesterday, the first day of NaNo, wasn't too good for me.  Long story short, I only wrote 267 words :(  NOT a great start to the month!  But, I have planned the first 2 scenes in my story and have high hopes!

More NaNo news, quick excerpts, and most likely some Liquid Story Binder vs. Scrivener for Windows comparisons to come!

NaNo Checklist

There are only 7 hours left until the beginning of NaNoWriMo!  In preparation, I've been getting my writing space ready.  The following preparations have been made today.  And, I must say, I've been slowly getting ready so I did not wait until the last minute.  Yet I still felt rushed.  Regardless:

• vacuumed carpet in my office
• finished cleaning my desk area
• put in 3 new light bulbs so I don't feel like a shut-in
• made a series of Do Not Disturb signs and door hangers - Genius in Progress, If You're Not in My Novel, Don't Bother!, and a simple Not Now, I'm Writing!
• bought writing gloves - yes, gloves for writing; my carpal tunnel braces are too awkward so I like to wear compression sleeves to help with swelling and pain from all that typing.  I needed new ones, so this year I am trying actual winter elbow-length fingerless gloves.  We'll see how it works.  When not at the desk, the braces will definitely be on!
• found a comfy pillow to pad my cheap leather chair - sadly, I had to throw out my awesome orange/multicolored one with words like Create, Dream, Imagine, etc. on it.
• In lieu of my inspiring pillow, I PhotoShopped a desktop wallpaper (though in hindsight, I won't be seeing it much because I'll be writing). 
• made a basic playlist for this novel, which I'm sure I'll add to as the month progresses
• Got my No Plot? No Problem! book and writing kit set out
• charged up two sets of rechargeable batteries for my mouse
• learned the basics of Scrivener, though I'm not sure if I want to try it or still use Liquid Story Binder like I do for everything else
• panicked :)

For, you see, I have no plot.  I know Chris Baty says "No plot? No problem!" but I still need something to go on.  I plan on continuing some (deliberately) loose threads from Providence and know what 2 new characters I am introducing... but that's about it.


Luckily for me, my awesome writing buddy and Beta reader, Mandy, and I are going to work on plots for both our novels - right after we scour the Internet for images of our characters.  This could take a while :)

My funky wallpaper for my desktop.  For my Netbook, it's a word count calendar I found on a NaNo forum.

Countdown to NaNo

Only two whole days left until NaNo 2010. I will try to be more diligent about posting excerpts than I was last time. Actually, I don't think there are any Providence excerpts from last year... And since this year's novel, Haven is a sequel to Providence, how about an excerpt now?

     I stuff the purple sweatshirt into the top box, the one marked “winter,” and wipe a tear from my cheekbone. Damnit, Damien, he could always reduce me to tears.

     A movement from across the room catches my eye and I blink and look away. I definitely don't want to see him in his early-morning glory, his plaid boxers hanging loose from trim hips and his brown hair sloppy and sexy.

     “What are you doing up?” he asks, his voice husky with sleep.

     “Packing.” As if he can't tell.

     “It's six A.M.” He runs a hand through his hair and squints his eyes.

     “The sooner I start, the sooner I can finish,” I retort, throwing a brown cardigan over the purple sweater.

     “I'll help, babe.” he says, his voice soothing.

     I turn and glare at him, feeling heat rise in my cheeks. “You've helped enough, don't you think?”

     He doesn't even have the decency to blush. “I'm sorry, Quinn. You know I love--”

     I put my hand up, palm facing him, and cringe. “If you loved me, I wouldn't have found her in our bed, would I have?”

     Damien takes a few steps toward me, and the only sound I can hear is the rustle of his cotton boxers and the soft padding of his bare feet against the hardwood floor of our second-story apartment. “It was a mistake, Quinn. How many times do I have to tell you?”

     “Mistakes don't happen three nights in a row.” I turn my back to him and push the cardboard flap of the box down onto the clothes. “Mistakes don't scream your name over and over while I'm walking up the stairs, and you don't tell mistakes you wish you were marrying them instead of me.”

     He nods, his lips pursed. He knows I'm right. Why bother trying to argue? “At least let me help.”

     I shake my head. “I'm almost done.”

     “Where are you going”?

     I shrug my shoulders. “I don't know. But I'll call when I get there so you can send the rest of my stuff. Unless you changed your mind, and you want it all gone now.”

     “Don't be silly, Quinn. You can't pack up four years in a day and fit it all in your little car.” He laughs like he just made a joke instead of a disconcerting statement about my life. “But really, Quinn. You're running out of money; I know you were thinking of finding a job after the wedding, if you couldn't get another book written soon.”

     I ignore the jab at my career and look at the boxes before me. “I can finish the rest myself.”

     “I'll make coffee,” he mutters, walking toward the open kitchen.

     I watch him walk away, toward the countertop I painted last summer and the refrigerator covered with pictures of us. Four years of pictures, and not one memory that isn't painful. I wipe another tear from my face and scowl. “I'd rather do this alone”

     He finishes the coffee in silence and retreats to the bedroom we've shared for three years. The door slams with a finality beyond my imagination. I guess it's finally over.

...More thoughts on Haven, plotting, Providence, and revising to come!

Letting creativity take over

I just had an epiphany.

Providence does not suck!

OK.. it still might. But not for the reason I was thinking.

Let me clarify that I immensely enjoyed writing the first 75% of Providence and when I reread it after a few months away, I loved it so much I started finishing it immediately.

But then I hit this bump. The same one that made me stop writing the first time. It was unconscious, really, because I just knew something was "off," but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

And I finally figured it out.

See, I started writing this book for NaNoWriMo 2010, and I did so with a very limited idea of the book I wanted to write. This debate (the "plotters" vs. "pantsers") is a completely different story and will be saved for another time, as will the whole validity of the NaNo experience (suffice it to say, I am participating for my 3rd year this year, so my stance = Yay NaNo!). Anyhow. Initially, this was my premise:

When Quinn, a writer, heads South for sea-side inspiration for her next novel, she encounters a small town where strange things occur. In the town of Providence, Florida, Quinn meets Joss, a potential love interest who also happens to have the supernatural ability to control a person's future with his words. The problem is, Joss doesn't know he's doing it. He accidentally sets Quinn's fate into motion, and they must race against the clock to reverse the horrible events Joss' words set into motion.

Sounds pretty awesome, right? Even now, as I write that (off the top of my head), I'm thinking that would be a pretty interesting book to read! However, that's not the book I wrote. This is more like what I wrote (well, "am writing" since it's not 100% done yet):

When Quinn discovers her fiance cheating on her, she packs up her life and heads South, hoping to find inspiration to start over - not only with her life, but with her disastrous second novel. She stops in the small town of Providence, Florida, where everyone knows everyone else's business and the natives conveniently ignore the siren song that keeps Quinn up at night. Quinn instantly makes a few friends, including Ellie, who can control technology, and her twin sister Amelia, who uses her ability to become invisible to fuel the local gossip market. Then there's Joss, an abrasive but attractive recent newcomer himself, who doesn't realize he has the power to control people's futures with his words. Joss acknowledges that the compulsion he felt to move to Providence means he probably has a latent ability too, but he's not too concerned with figuring out what it may be. Meanwhile, he's sealing fates left and right and no one is the wiser.

But this is the least of the townspeople's problems, because something is making the natives - most noticeably Amelia - lose control over their abilities. When Quinn's meager assets freeze and she decides to scrap her horrible sophomore novel and start over with only three weeks left before she loses her contract, she's desperate for any help she can get. Which is exactly what her ex-fiance, Damien, wanted. And his appearance in Providence coincides with Amelia's inability to control herself.

Meanwhile, Joss' ability to manipulate the future is of no concern to anyone, and they take their time figuring out that he can do it in the first place. Quinn and her new friends try to figure out why their powers keep fritzing while Quinn debates between staying in Providence, penniless, or going back home with a man who claims to be sorry for his sins. The only looming deadline is the one set by Quinn's editor, and the only person who seems to be in much danger is Damien, the "bad guy."

You'll notice the novel I actually wrote took up more space, because when I started the novel, my ideas were very vague. Therein laid the problem. And when I realized Joss was becoming Mr. Rebound instead of Mr. Fate Sealer, I got scared. The novel wasn't going in the direction I wanted it to, at all. It was more casual, a lot less dark, and not at all creepy and fantasy-y. I sucked.

But alas, I don't suck! I simply didn't write the novel I set out to write. And I realized, just now, that that's OK. The novel I'm writing has its flaws, and will require at least one round of in-depth revision to work them out. But... I just have to adjust my mindset. Really, in the end, that's what this is about.

I think I was so set in Joss' ability and the dangers it could cause that I lost the bigger picture - the possibilities of a town full of supernatural people. Why are they supernatural? Don't know. Why are they drawn to Providence, or don't bother to leave their quaint haven? Don't care. Can Joss' power cause a lot of damage before he gets it under control? You betcha - but Damien's can cause even more. And that's the direction I'm going to take these last few chapters in. Joss' ability, and Quinn's emerging one, are still open to play with in the sequel. Which means that I may play around with my first idea more in the second book, because I've given myself room to do that.

The lesson I learned here was that ideas in creative writing need freedom to explore and to change and morph as they please. Backing them into a corner created by vague ideas of what the story SHOULD be about doesn't give your characters the room to fully develop. Could I have written the original version of Providence I set out to write on 11/1/09? Sure. Would it have been as good as the version I'm writing now - 'cause I do really like it. Probably not. It may have been good - hell, it may have been great. But it wouldn't have lived up to its potential. And now that I'm realizing that I haven't written a sucky book, my book just took on a life of its own, I think I can finish it and feel satisfied. And then start prepping for Providence 2... but leaving plenty of room for my ideas to change as I go!