Weekly Wrap-Up

August 24, 2012 by

I’ve been busy blog hopping this week, so I thought I’d do a weekly wrap-up. Ya know, just in case you don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook (and WHY NOT? Shame on you). I hope you’ll indulge me and stop by a few of these places. ;)

Over at Sharon Buchbinder’s blog with an in-depth (sort of) interview. Check it out here.

At Wicked Romance, another inteview that’s even more in-depth (kind of). You can find that here.

At Star-Crossed Romance, in which I talk about plotting and finding new ways to do it. You can read that here.

At Plotting Princesses with my monthly post about how to schedule your writing time. Click here.

And last, but certainly not least, I’m participating in the Long & Short Reviews Scavenger Hunt this week! Lots of fun and prizes! So be sure and check that out here.

See you lovlies next week!

Filed Under: Dusty Tome, Other Blogging Activities, Writing Tagged With: , , , , ,

I…have plotted

July 20, 2011 by

Central Park

 I know. This is a strange day, indeed. You may want to mark it on your calendar. ;)

Yesterday I spent the morning and most of the afternoon working on my characters and my plot for the second book in my Knight series. I figured the best way to tackle this it is to have a road map of sorts instead of just winging it.

Don’t worry. I’m still going to wing it. Mostly. ;)

But first things first. I took my two characters, my Hero and Heroine. I already had their backstory down from the first book (or most of it) so I knew their history. I also knew what types of people they were. So it was easy to pick their core archetype. I added a second layer because that’s who they are. I already had a faint idea of what I wanted the story to be about (ultimately a love story with a quest).

I wrote a lot of handwritten notes. A LOT. I explored who they were, their goal/motivation/conflict. I realized then I needed a villain. So I did the same exercise for him. Who was he? What did he want? Why was he evil? What did he hope to gain? I answered all these questions. And then I did the same for a secondary antagonist. By the time I figured out WHO my characters were, all I had to do was figure out WHAT the story was about.

Easy, right?

I’d been studying my master plot book. I figured out the story was actually about Love (aren’t all romances?) but it was a Quest, too, with a dash of Adventure. I wrote down specific plot points for each character in order to achieve their story arc. By then, I knew where I needed my story to go. I knew what the end had to be, where the climax was, who would win and who would lose. In the end, I had six pages of character/plot. Two of those pages was the synopsis, single-spaced. It’s not highly detailed but it’s enough to get me from Act 1 to Act 3. It’s enough to give me the leeway of creating on the fly while giving me that map of where I want to go (and not getting stuck). The other four pages were all character outlines. Not so much what they look like, but who they are. What their CORE is. What they want, why, and how they’re going to get it (and what happens if they don’t).

And you know what? I enjoyed doing that. After working on it for nearly six hours, I felt like I had a solid story with unforgettable characters. I’m excited about it!

I also think I need a road map, especially because I tend to get bored with one story at a time. So I’m going to try the unthinkable. I’m going to try to write two different stories at the same time. I may be getting way ahead of myself but I’m at least going to give it a shot.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Craft Refresher Course

July 19, 2011 by

Rockefeller Plaza

FREE on Smashwords until July 31: Eorwulf and The Soul of Sharah. Use coupon code SSWSF

I didn’t blog yesterday. Mostly because I didn’t have much to talk about. We had a nice weekend, just the two of us. We ran some errands, did a little shopping, and cooked on the grill for Sunday night dinner. I also discovered a great new app for my iPhone: Smule Magic Piano. I played and played and played until my wrist and elbow hurt. If you’re musically inclined, check it out. It’s a lot of fun.

Yesterday I spent a good port of the day reading up on characters and plot. I think I have a fairly good idea of these two things but it’s always good to do a refresher. I read through my Heroes & Heroines book and picked out the core archetypes for my H/H in book two of my Knights books. I actually had a lot of fun doing that because I had to stop and think really hard about my characters, who they were and what their story arc was going to be. Then I picked out a second archetype for them to layer it on.

After that, I pulled out my 20 Master Plots book and read through that. I’m trying to decide on a specific plot type for the book. I want to write a bare-bones synopsis to give myself a roadmap for when I start writing. Because I don’t want to wander aimlessly, get stuck, and then throw out pages because I went in the wrong direction.

I know…it’s shocking that I’m actually doing some pre-planning on a book, isn’t it? Fear not. I’m still “pantsing” my paranormal erotic. The good thing about that, though, is I do know where I’m going with that story. I know it’s actually three books instead of one and I know my heroine’s story arc will span the three books. She goes from WAIF to SPUNKY KID to CRUSADER (if you’ve read the archetype book, then you know what that means). It’s a seriously big arc, but she goes through major changes to get from the first to the last and it spans three books, so I think it works.

So I didn’t get any actual words down, but I DID do a lot of reading/planning. I think that’s good progress, too.

Filed Under: Dusty Tome, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Plot vs Pant: Conflict Templates

April 4, 2011 by

This is the second installment of my quest for plotting using the BREAK INTO FICTION book.

Last week, I talked about Character Templates and this week, I’m focusing on Conflict Templates. If you’re following along in the book, this is chapter two.  Conflict is what drives your characters and your story. If you don’t have conflict, then you don’t have much of a story. According to the book, the key to conflict is motivation. Characters need it to achieve their story goal. The conflict is what gets in the way of them achieving that goal.

These conflict templates build on the character templates. You’ll continue to flesh out your characters with these templates and maybe learn a little more about them as you go along. For me, once I got feedback from my CP on the first set and I did the freewriting session, I started to understand who my main character’s really were. I then took that and worked on the questions on the conflict templates.

Answering the questions helped me realize what the story was about and who the villains were. Well, sort of. I know that the villains are going to do, but I’m not entirely sure WHO those villains are yet. ;) The questions forced me to dig deep into the characters to figure out what made them tick. Some things about the story really clicked for me as I worked on the templates. I still have more freewriting to do, though, as I try to figure who these people are, what’s driving them, and what their external conflict is. It’s really a fun process.

If you’re using BREAK INTO FICTION to plot, what did you learn by filling in the conflict templates? Did you have a lightbulb moment? Do you feel like you’re characters and you’re story is on the right track?

Next week: Power Openings

Filed Under: Dusty Tome, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Life With Junior

September 8, 2009 by

This weekend was awesome. And jam-packed with fun and frivolity. Okay maybe not the latter, but fun nonetheless. (I really just wanted to say frivolity.)

Saturday was about errands and visiting Mom. So we got up Saturday morning, I made my list, and then we headed to what the kiddo refers to as “the big Walmart”. And the absolute second we stepped a toe into the store, he started in with the fact that he didn’t get a Transformers toy for his birthday and he really wanted one and could he please get one? To which I answered a big fat NO.

Hey, I’m not that mean, usually. But, you see, his birthday party was the next day. No way was I going to buy him more toys when he was going to get more for his birthday. Yes, I know his party was a week late. But I couldn’t see sending birthday invitations to school the first week. And so, alas, I delayed things. So I had a pouty kid for about 10 seconds into the trip when I told him very firmly if he didn’t knock it off, he could forget about having a birthday party. Period.

Okay, so I was in no mood to drag a sour-faced kid around the store for the next two hours.

Yes, you read that right. It took me two, long, life-sucking hours to grocery shop. By the time I got home, I was ready to slash my wrists. :D

And, by the way, the temps were in the mid-90s all weekend. I’m sick of sweating my ass off everywhere I go! Come on, Cool Front!

Anyway. Got home, unloaded the groceries, fed the kid lunch and then decided to hell with getting party favors. I’ll get them at the place the next day. So we packed up and headed to Mom’s for the rest of the day. We stuffed ourselves silly with brisket (yum) and beans and lots of other yummy food. I was completely full and miserable the rest of the night. And the kiddo got more birthday presents from his aunt and uncle and his Grammy. He was happy. I was happy. Good times.

Sunday started with chores. Then we went to the game place for the birthday party where 12 boys showed up. And can I just say boys are completely rowdy? Yes, it was chaos. My objective was to feed them, open presents, and eat cup cakes as quickly as possible so I could release them into the wild. And release then I did, armed with $5 game cards and one free attraction. They scattered. I ran out to the car with all the gifts (oh, yeah, he made out like a bandit too) and then I was stuck in the game place for the next… two hours. My life seems to be revolving around the two hour time slot. Oh and I spaced and FORGOT the durn goodie bags. Ah well.

I came home exhausted and the kid came home happy. He tore into all his presents. He made a giant mess. There were cardboard boxes and directions and itty bitty guns everywhere. Enough to drive a sane Mom to the brink. So while I was trying to cook dinner (because I refused to eat that cardboard pizza), I think I heard “Mom” about a thousand times. So much so I think I’m ready to NOT be called Mom again. I think I heard “MOM” more in the last three days than in the last eight years of his life. Man said the cat was going to start calling me Mom.

Yes, that’s how much he said it. Mom, this and Mom, that. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love being Mom. But Mom was tired and Mom wanted some dinner and a martini. ;) And Mom crashed early, too.

Monday. Cook-out day. Man forbid me to do anything regarding dinner. I wasn’t even allowed to step foot into the kitchen. The Earth moved. The Angels wept. Somewhere in the distance, I heard the Hallelujah chorus. :D Talk about a woman’s dream come true! Sure. I’ll let you cook. You go right ahead. He even did the dishes. Gotta love a man who cooks and cleans. And yes, I’m keeping him.

Anyway, did some plotting on the new book that morning with CP. I finally have a direction and I completely forgot about using the 20 Master Plots book I have. Duh. Jotted down lots of notes and I’m going to start working on the GMC now. I have an idea and I have a big picture idea – but I needed something for this book. I’m thinking trilogy at least.

While Man prepped in the kitchen, I tackled the kid’s room. I figured I needed a task to keep me busy or I’d be in his way and he’d get mad. And BOY was the kid’s room a disaster area. I made the kiddo help, too. We made piles of things in the hallway: Keep, Trash, Donate. He was pretty good about getting rid of his ”younger” toys but I suspect he had a hard time parting with some of them. But I told him – everyone needs to purge every now and then. I just got rid of clothes I hadn’t worn in 15 years. And that felt great. And now it was time to clean up and organize.

I even moved his furniture around to change it up. I’ve discovered the bunk beds HAVE to go. And the sooner the better. They’re blocking the AC vent and the ceiling fan and the kid sweats at night. TIME TO GO. BUH-BYE. The only catch is I have to get some other things paid off before I can spend more money. Where is that money tree when I need it? :) I’m hoping we can hold out until January for a new bed.

I managed to get all his toy tubs in the closet (a big one for big toys, one for Legos only, one for action figures, etc.). And gave him a little more floor space to play in. Plus I finally found a new home for the chest so it’s not in the way of the closet doors. His room is small – only 10 x 10 – so it’s a challenge with furniture placement. And I don’t want his bed by the window AT ALL.

Dinner. It was fantastic. Burgers were awesome; hot dogs rocked. And yes, I stuffed myself silly. Again. But I wasn’t miserable like I could have been. I forced myself to stop. Even though I really wanted another chili dog. :D

Afterward we watched The Mummy because I hadn’t seen it before and Man picked it up for $7.50. Fun flick! And even the kiddo enjoyed it. And by the time that was over, the evening/weekend was done. Another one for the record books. Another Labor Day over with.

And today – it’s back to work and back to school. Another busy week ahead. I swear I think this was a marathon post like the weekend. ;)

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and a smashing holiday!

Filed Under: Dusty Tome, Life With Man, Mom & Son Tagged With: , , , , , ,