- I have to get over saying lewd, horrible, offensive things. I am writing about a serial killer. He commits several extremely violent and gruesome murders. He says vile, offensive things toward the protagonist you love so much. I'm not afraid to describe the crime scenes from Leia's perspective, but sometimes I feel like it's too much when I tell it from his perspective. So, I have to get over saying lewd things from the killer's perspective. He's a killer for a reason. And I have to find the right balance of vulgarity. That may be it. I really need to find the right balance of vulgarity and violence.
- I have an affinity for Mondays and Thursdays. Bad things happen on Mondays and Leia reflects on Thursdays or works on Thursdays or does anything...on Thursdays... Don't know why this is. Don't know, yet, if it needs to be changed.
- I need a time line. No, I haven't written one yet. I'm a discovery writer damnit! I don't plan in advance! Well...115 pages and 23 chapters in...I need a freaking time line!!! So...today while writing my setting in the rest of the chapters, I started taking notes as to when things happened in the story, on a Monday, last week, before Simon and Leo are murdered... And now I have pages and pages and pages of notes on when things happen. I've also made notes like: CH18: Lorraine's not dead yet. Needless to say, a time line is on tomorrow's To Do List. And I'm hoping I have enough notes to make it an easy process. I guess I'll find out about tomorrow.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Today's Lessons:
Sunday, January 17, 2010
A Late Night Note
Went to my weekly writer's group tonight. Took one of the new chapters. This one from the perspective of my serial killer. In this chapter, he has a different kind of victim than in a few of the other chapters. Got some really great feedback from my writer's group! Excited about how his voice is sounding these days. Ready to go full speed ahead in the morning and get a lot of good writing done tomorrow. I love it when inspiration overtakes me, and my writer's group is so good for inspiration!
Yesterday's post
I'm late. I know I'm late. In my defense, my two roommates moved in, and we're best friends, and it was an all night, very fun process.
So here's yesterday's post.
I wrote yesterday afternoon. Great things happened.
It's getting easier and easier to read my work as a whole. I'm more familiar with it now, which is part of the process of writing a novel that's difficult. I'm writing so many things over such a long period of time, it is easy to forget some of the details. Thus, it becomes difficult to read the body as a whole and feel like it's comprehensive. I'm getting better at reading it as a whole and really appreciating that. I'm feeling like an expert, which I should.
Also, the more I write and read my novel, the easier it becomes to write in Leia's voice. Her voice becomes stronger and more familiar every day. I love writing something she said and really being certain that she would say it just like that. I am really enjoying getting to know her. She is so much that is familiar to me as she is made up of aspects of all of the women I love and me. I love her, and love spending time with her and figuring new things out about her every day. I'm very certain when you get to read it, you will love her as well.
Finally, we have some setting! Woo hoo! It's not a lot yet, but it's good, and there's more to come. I went through 8 of 21 chapters yesterday inserting little bits of setting, little details to make her life and the place she lives really believable. I will get through the rest of the chapters in the next two days. And I have one completely new chapter involving setting I'm going to write.
I'm on to the very difficult task of choosing which chapter to read to my writing group tonight.
So here's yesterday's post.
I wrote yesterday afternoon. Great things happened.
It's getting easier and easier to read my work as a whole. I'm more familiar with it now, which is part of the process of writing a novel that's difficult. I'm writing so many things over such a long period of time, it is easy to forget some of the details. Thus, it becomes difficult to read the body as a whole and feel like it's comprehensive. I'm getting better at reading it as a whole and really appreciating that. I'm feeling like an expert, which I should.
Also, the more I write and read my novel, the easier it becomes to write in Leia's voice. Her voice becomes stronger and more familiar every day. I love writing something she said and really being certain that she would say it just like that. I am really enjoying getting to know her. She is so much that is familiar to me as she is made up of aspects of all of the women I love and me. I love her, and love spending time with her and figuring new things out about her every day. I'm very certain when you get to read it, you will love her as well.
Finally, we have some setting! Woo hoo! It's not a lot yet, but it's good, and there's more to come. I went through 8 of 21 chapters yesterday inserting little bits of setting, little details to make her life and the place she lives really believable. I will get through the rest of the chapters in the next two days. And I have one completely new chapter involving setting I'm going to write.
I'm on to the very difficult task of choosing which chapter to read to my writing group tonight.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Scheming
Today really was entirely spent scheming ways to justify the last two murders my serial killer committed. It's not that I just have to justify these murders within the framework of who he is. I have to plot out little clues along the way that make you the reader fear for these people's lives even before he kills them. So, I did a lot of little planning today. Difficult. But fun because this means my serial killer gets to speak more, and I love his voice as much as I love my protagonist's voice.
More writing to come from the scheming.
More writing to come from the scheming.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
You have to take the good with the bad.
Today was not a good writing day. As a writer, I find I throw myself into a direction, and then when that direction runs out, I spend a day planning/scheming/searching for the next direction, another path to venture down, another dimension of one of my characters in which to explore.
So, I didn't get much writing done today. It just wasn't a good day for writing, but I did figure out two new directions in which to run as far as my story goes.
One aspect of my novel I need to work on is setting, and I did a lot of research regarding this angle today. So, tomorrow, I can really tackle this part of my story. By tackle, I mean printing out a copy of all of my chapters and going through and hand writing in setting where it needs to be. I hate printing my novel over and over again, as it is a novel, and I am an environmentalist, but sometimes it takes paper in front of me to be able to see the novel for what it is...to find the good, the holes, and the completely lacking. Honestly though. My philosophy at this point is: whatever it takes to get this novel finished and sold! It's time to finish it and sell it, so I can write another. This thought excites, overwhelms, and terrifies me all at the same time.
Another direction I need to run in is in regards to my serial killer. I figured this out in the shower today. I figure my life out in the shower and my protagonist's life out in the shower as well. It's just where I think most clearly. I decided today that in order for my killer to kill the two people he killed two days ago, I have to do/write x, y, and z. So....tomorrow and the next days involve writing x, y, and z.
Some days, the list of tasks left to finish this novel is overwhelming. I'm not going to lie. It's just freaking hard. However, this is my goal, and these are my dreams, and at this stage in the game, I'm not going to let anything get in the way of me finishing and publishing this novel, including my own self doubt.
So I push forward. And push through the writer's block and self doubt to another good day of writing that will change my whole opinion of how the writing process is going. It's a very day to day process. Feelings, thoughts, plans, strategies all change as each day comes to a close.
I will continue to work on these dimensions through the weekend. I very much look forward to a meeting with my adviser/editor on Monday. Sometimes, another perspective is exactly what I need to keep pushing forward and jumping all of the different hurdles involved in this kind of novel. Because, frankly, sometimes it's all a little too much in my head and an outsider's perspective is what I need.
So, I didn't get much writing done today. It just wasn't a good day for writing, but I did figure out two new directions in which to run as far as my story goes.
One aspect of my novel I need to work on is setting, and I did a lot of research regarding this angle today. So, tomorrow, I can really tackle this part of my story. By tackle, I mean printing out a copy of all of my chapters and going through and hand writing in setting where it needs to be. I hate printing my novel over and over again, as it is a novel, and I am an environmentalist, but sometimes it takes paper in front of me to be able to see the novel for what it is...to find the good, the holes, and the completely lacking. Honestly though. My philosophy at this point is: whatever it takes to get this novel finished and sold! It's time to finish it and sell it, so I can write another. This thought excites, overwhelms, and terrifies me all at the same time.
Another direction I need to run in is in regards to my serial killer. I figured this out in the shower today. I figure my life out in the shower and my protagonist's life out in the shower as well. It's just where I think most clearly. I decided today that in order for my killer to kill the two people he killed two days ago, I have to do/write x, y, and z. So....tomorrow and the next days involve writing x, y, and z.
Some days, the list of tasks left to finish this novel is overwhelming. I'm not going to lie. It's just freaking hard. However, this is my goal, and these are my dreams, and at this stage in the game, I'm not going to let anything get in the way of me finishing and publishing this novel, including my own self doubt.
So I push forward. And push through the writer's block and self doubt to another good day of writing that will change my whole opinion of how the writing process is going. It's a very day to day process. Feelings, thoughts, plans, strategies all change as each day comes to a close.
I will continue to work on these dimensions through the weekend. I very much look forward to a meeting with my adviser/editor on Monday. Sometimes, another perspective is exactly what I need to keep pushing forward and jumping all of the different hurdles involved in this kind of novel. Because, frankly, sometimes it's all a little too much in my head and an outsider's perspective is what I need.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Writing a Novel Is the Hardest Thing I Have Ever Done
By a long shot! I've never written any kind of novel, much less a murder mystery novel, but I believe that writing a murder mystery novel has to be the most difficult kind of novel to write.
All of the balls I'm juggling have to stay in the air at the same time because my story has to be so intertwined within itself that everyone who reads it never sees it coming. I fail as a murder mystery writer if you see it coming.
Recent discoveries:
It took me six months to figure out who my main character is. And now I love her. And I completely understand her. And I think everyone who meets her will love her too. She's that awesome!
I have no setting. I have no setting because I set my novel in Colorado, and I've never been to Colorado. Why, you might ask, would I set my novel in a state in which I had never set foot. My answer: I don't know. But I did. And I don't want to undo it now, Mainly because it would be a lot of work, so I'll just research Colorado instead. Thanks to my many friends who are helping me with this one. Your knowledge and experience is proving invaluable. This part of the novel is still coming along. I still have minimal amounts of setting. I'm working on it. And the great irony here is I probably won't be able to afford to go to Colorado until I've sold this book. But you'll totally believe I've traveled there by the time I'm finished writing.
I know nothing about the journalism industry, and my lead protagonist is a food critic. I studied journalism in undergrad, which doesn't amount to a whole hill of beans at this point. I need to know all the little stuff like deadline stuff and procedure stuff and editor/reporter relationship stuff that you only get by working at a newspaper. Again, it's too late to turn back now. And I really like that she's a food critic. This combines one industry I've worked in for years and one industry I love to study. And they say, write what you know. So I am. Sort of.
I'm avoiding writing my ending like the plague. I don't know why, but I haven't figured the ending out yet. If I force it won't be as good as if it comes from some sort of inspiration. When it's inspired, it's much better writing. This needs to write itself very soon. Like in the next two weeks soon.
Back to it for now. I've got lots of work left to do. I cranked out ten chapters last week, and I've done a lot of research, editing, and planning this week. Time to write some more.
All of the balls I'm juggling have to stay in the air at the same time because my story has to be so intertwined within itself that everyone who reads it never sees it coming. I fail as a murder mystery writer if you see it coming.
Recent discoveries:
It took me six months to figure out who my main character is. And now I love her. And I completely understand her. And I think everyone who meets her will love her too. She's that awesome!
I have no setting. I have no setting because I set my novel in Colorado, and I've never been to Colorado. Why, you might ask, would I set my novel in a state in which I had never set foot. My answer: I don't know. But I did. And I don't want to undo it now, Mainly because it would be a lot of work, so I'll just research Colorado instead. Thanks to my many friends who are helping me with this one. Your knowledge and experience is proving invaluable. This part of the novel is still coming along. I still have minimal amounts of setting. I'm working on it. And the great irony here is I probably won't be able to afford to go to Colorado until I've sold this book. But you'll totally believe I've traveled there by the time I'm finished writing.
I know nothing about the journalism industry, and my lead protagonist is a food critic. I studied journalism in undergrad, which doesn't amount to a whole hill of beans at this point. I need to know all the little stuff like deadline stuff and procedure stuff and editor/reporter relationship stuff that you only get by working at a newspaper. Again, it's too late to turn back now. And I really like that she's a food critic. This combines one industry I've worked in for years and one industry I love to study. And they say, write what you know. So I am. Sort of.
I'm avoiding writing my ending like the plague. I don't know why, but I haven't figured the ending out yet. If I force it won't be as good as if it comes from some sort of inspiration. When it's inspired, it's much better writing. This needs to write itself very soon. Like in the next two weeks soon.
Back to it for now. I've got lots of work left to do. I cranked out ten chapters last week, and I've done a lot of research, editing, and planning this week. Time to write some more.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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