The Difference Between Writing The First Book And The Umpteenth Book

Source

It's no secret that my creative brain works in series. Contained stories? What in the world is that? Over my lifetime I have written a number of fictional series, most you will never see. But one thing always remains the same: the approach, the feeling, and the experience of writing the first book in a series is always much different from writing books later in the series. However, I don't just mean the whole "starting a new series of getting to know all your characters" type of thing. There is a fundamental difference between planning a first book in a series and later books. There is usually a shift in tone and author attitude as well.

I suppose the most relevant example I have for this is my current REN'AI RENSAI series I'm publishing. I'm almost to the one year anniversary of beginning to write "Daisuki.", the first in the series. I remember writing that book (well, novella) well. The scenes were short, poignant, and yes sexy, but also minimized for the reader to digest easily, especially since I'm giving them a culture they may not be too familiar with. I went through great pain wondering if there was any marketability, or if it was even any good. Originally "Daisuki." was meant to be a short (as in less than 12k) story, but became a novella as I realized there was more to say about these characters than I originally thought.

Man, that changed!

I've recently reread parts of that story in paperback, and honestly, it's so bizarre! I wonder if my readers who have read everything in the series has noticed this? I feel like my overall tone and approach to the series has changed. Well, this always happens. Every single series I write is like this. The first book is meticulous, and I go over everything again and again to make sure it's accessible to new readers. I went through something similar with book 2, "Hatsukoi." because it was the first chronologically and I wanted readers to be able to pick up from there too if they wanted to read it like that. Starting with book 3, however, I took a different approach. I no longer took great pains to go over everyone's identity as a refresher or introduction. I figured you weren't reading book 3 unless you had read the previous two. I jumped in with recurring characters and didn't care how many new ones I introduced. (And there were quite a few! Important characters for the rest of the series, no less!) Inside jokes were born and carried over; subplots would carry on from one book to the next. In "Daisuki." I tried to keep things simple and clean - in book 5, coming out at the end of this month, I've gone ~balls out~ nuts with cameos, wrapping up subplots three books old, and some recurring characters only get one scene. I decided I didn't care for this book. This is not a book meant for someone new to the series. This a book for those who have read all the others. See, this is going to be the last RR novel for at LEAST a year. (Sorry fans! You get the spinoffs, though!) I didn't want things left hanging. Picking up the pace, toning down some of the sex in favor of more plot, and if I were George RR Martin I'm sure I'd be killing off half the cast at every other turn. (As it is, I'm just mating them off.) So it was really strange to re-read "Daisuki." The mood and tone are just so different in certain aspects. I could tell that I was writing the first book in a series. Of course I am not disparaging my own work, as I am still very proud of it and what it has accomplished for my career, but as an author it creates a certain dissonance.

Anyone know what I'm talking about, readers and authors alike? I don't mean specifically with my works, but in general. I was thinking of this recently as well as I contemplated re-reading Game of Thrones (the first book.) It's short(er), more compact, and while it has its usual crests and climaxes it also has the air of "this is the first story in a series. You will now be grounded in this world so we can totally GO BUCK WILD starting in book 3!" You can see this same thing in Harry Potter as well.

Open Call For Questions About Japan, For New Blogging Series

Source: Me. (A view from Gujo City, Gifu)

I've decided to start a little weekly (or maybe bi-weekly) blogging series about life in Japan, both from an academic point and from a living-there-as-a-foreigner point. I mean, why not? It's my major area of study since puberty, damnit.

So to get a jump on some ideas of what to post, I'm opening this first post for questions you might like to see answered about Japanese language and culture from a general view, or a more specific and gritty look at getting a job there (and keeping it) and getting around as a foreigner. Please keep in mind though that I can only answer generic questions about the language - most of its intricacies are still beyond me!

You can look forward to the first blog post sometime this week. I was thinking about either queer life in Japan or Japanese naming conventions. What say you?

Question of the Moment: What are your average chapter lengths?

Not much time to write out a full post today, so here's just an easy question for all your writers out there: what are you average chapter lengths? Do you go by word count or by pages? Do you put more than one scene in a chapter or is every scene its own chapter? (Okay, so it's a few questions ;) )

As for me, my chapters are anywhere between 8k and even 20k. Completely depends on what's going on. My average is probably 10-12k. These usually are comprised of 3-5 scenes.

I am well aware I am pretty much in a minority =P

As a Writer, How Do You Measure the Length of a Novel?

I've been writing novel-length stories for well over ten years now, and during that time from reading articles in "Writer's Digest" magazine to now trolling through blogs, it seems that the discussions on "novel lengths" has changed dramatically. But as authors we tend to see "novel length" in various lights. There's

• Wordcount Length
• Page Length
• Amount of Time Passing in the Novel
•  How Long It Took to Write

And other general fun parameters like that.

I've been thinking about this particularly since finishing the preliminary edits on CROSS//Rebirth. When the first draft was finally completely finished, it was about 360k. Since then, with the preliminary edits, I've chopped it down to about 340k. (Easy math!) Surprisingly, that wasn't mostly scene cuts. (Yes, scenes got cut, but that's not the point!) Most of that was from simply tightening up the writing, getting rid of obvious redundancies, and rewriting sentences/paragraphs that eventually wound up shorter than before. It's amazing how all of that adds up to 20k. That's a short novella right there! But for me a a novel over 250k is completely normal. Fantasy series and all that.

Which is probably why it seems like it takes me so much longer to write my novels than some other people.  This novel, just in first draft form, took me three years to finish. Three years to write 360k that covers about...a month? Maybe a little over. That's an intense month!

When I define the lengths of my novel, I tend to go by word count. A word count very...normal for me. But I also think about the length of time I put into them.

How about you? How do you define the length of your novel? What's a "normal" novel length for you in any of the above categories? Could you imagine ever writing a 350k novel??!?!?! (if you don't already, of course!)

Sigh. And I'm in the process of writing two more drafts of the same length. This is why I have to be so diligent in writing so much every day!

A Life in Which Writing Is Never a Priority

A day or so ago The Golden Eagle made a post in which she asked, "Would you write if you knew you'd never be published?" Of course I thought about it and subsequently replied, but my reply made me think a lot about the role of writing in my life...especially now.

My reply was basically "Yes, but not as much." More complicated than that, as I will get into further here soon. As most of you know now, I'm recently unemployed (by choice) and living with my parents again (by choice...well, er, kinda. I have money but no income so I don't feel like wasting my savings, you know? Especially when I still have loans.) I live in a dinky little town in super rural Oregon where jobs are non-existent, and I don't drive let alone have a car. This means I've got a lot of free time. And since my dream has always been to be a successful published author...well guess what I'm working towards full steam now? Yup. Publishing.

So, if I knew by some whim that I would never be published, would I still write? Look, I am not Idealist Hildred. I'm more certainly not Optimistic Hildred. I am Realist Hildred, to the core of  my little blackened no1curr soul. No. No I would not. I would be out there hitting the pavement harder than ever, pushing myself into random people's houses in the valley looking for a 9-5 to make ends meet and find some sort of direction for my financial future. Because writing is my job. It's my career. Without publishing I don't have much chance at a good career.

My dream is to not only be successful financially, but successful because people like my work as well. Because they look forward to the next book I want to publish. Without being published I have no future dreams, or at least nothing as strong and important to me. I would still write, of course, because it's the best, but it would be a back-burner hobby. At best I would write a page a week, instead a few a day. And be pretty miserable at my 9-5, more than likely.

Thank God I'm going to be published, eh?

What about you, in case you don't follow The Eagle?

All My Characters Are Orphans

RUN CHILD. RUN FOR THE HORIZON.

Okay. Not all of them. But my point is that I've noticed over the years almost all of my main characters have Absent Parent Syndrome. Specifically, Absent Mother Syndrome.

Let's break it down by series:

CROSS//

Danielle - Mother is (presumed) dead, father is dead, both from separate car accidents before she was in kindergarten. (In a previous life, both her parents died in a similar fashion. Oops!)

Devon - Father ditched before he was born, mother was emotionally distant growing up and did fun stuff like drugs and getting them evicted everywhere. Needless to say, he doesn't talk to her much. (In a previous life, both of his parents were assassinated in front of him when he was a teenager. Wee!)

Miranda - Mother is emotionally distant and abusive, father is kinda-sorta destroying half the universe.

Yumiko - Yeaaaaaaahhh. No.

NAGNOMEI

Jack - Parents are murdered while he is away as a teenager. Spends the rest of his life wishing he could avenge them better. Blah blah blah.

Jessie - My only character with an emotionally healthy mother around. Congrats! Dad's a dick though, so we still fill my status quo.

Roku - Parents are murdered in similar fashion to Jack's. Spends the rest of eternity pretty bitter about it.

Zachoran - Mother died during childbirth. Father is emotionally distant and abusive but dies of tuberculosis anyway.

MY POINT IS...for some reason I love killing parents or otherwise screwing up my MCs' relationships with their parents (especially their mothers). It's bizarre to me because I have a great relationship with my mother, and even though my real father skipped out when I was a toddler I was raised by a step-father pretty early on. All I can figure is...I'm lazy. I already have a million characters and if I don't have to deal with MCs' parents then wooooo! Seriously. That's all I can figure. Although  I do love me some "mommy didn't love me" angst in novels. 

Do your characters tend to have parents around, or are they emotionally and maybe  even realistically roughing it on their own? 

Dreams: Inspiring ideas and sucking up time since forever.

I am always this beautiful when I sleep.

I'm the type of person who dreams often, vividly, and with almost total recall. My dreams are usually so off the wall that friends and family enjoy a play-by-play the next morning. Just last night I dreamt I was back in high school doing one of my college finals (yup!), but my adviser hadn't received my thesis yet and I had five minutes to send it off before I had to take the school bus home! But of course the printer wouldn't work and my computer ate my flash drive! Eventually I said "LOL HILDRED YOU GRADUATED LIKE TWO YEARS AGO" and I woke up immediately. Har.

Most of you know by now that my series CROSS// was inspired by a dream I had a few years ago. I've had lots of dreams inspire my writing, such as the other night when I dreamt I was with some girl I didn't know and was on the run in my own dang house. The part where we perused through a book of signatures inspired a scene I'm in the midst of writing at this moment.

Now, I'm not the type to roll over when I wake up and write what I dreamt about in some notebook. I've always maintained that if the idea was good enough I'd still remember it later on. No, it's the dreams that nag at my brain all day that end up in my stories. I guess at the end of the day my dreams are my ultimate muse.

How about you? Are you a literal dreamer? Do your dreams factor into your writing?

Weekly Writing Check-In: Chapter 8, why.

Had a fairly busy week again, but I still managed to sneak in some editing and writing time...somewhere. Anyway, I'm Chapter 8 now, and when I opened it it was 35 pages and 20k words. WELL OKAY THEN. I think that's the record for this novel. I mean, I write long chapters as it is anyway, but even for me this is kinda ridiculous. I'm almost through and have it down to a whole spankin' 34 pages (on the readthrough, i'm sure it'll go down further once I hit search and destroy mode) but I'm laughing to myself. It's taking a whole week to edit this chapter. At least it's mostly dialogue!

That's all for this week, really, but I guess I'll throw a question in here anyway to make it more worth your time: What's the longest chapter you've ever written? Aaaaand go!

Survey Time! Did you hire a professional editor before self-publishing?

...Well, just as the subject says. I know that  vast amounts of you use beta readers, but I rarely see talk about hiring professional editors (who are quite expensive, of course) before taking the self-publishing plunge. So my curiosity is going lyke w0. Feel free to say whether yes or no in the comments.

Did you hire a professional editor before self-publishing anything?

I'd Rather Feed the Trolls

Do it.

I've been on the Ye Olde Internet for going on ten years now.  While that's not as long as a lot of "veterans" I know, I have been online since about fourteen or so, which is quite a formidable amount of my life. (Almost one half by this point, and certainly a majority of my self-conscious life.) In all that time I have seen a lot of trolls. And like any other young teen on the Net, I've been hurt by a lot of trolls. (Never forget the day somebody said my website sucked! Forever in my fiery heart, SailorCurious!) The thing is, for the most part, unless they're saying something super triggery and just generally heinous a la SVU, trolls are pretty easy to ignore the more you hang out on the internet.

As writers, we get trolled a lot. One day we're just beep-boopin along, and then suddenly somebody comments on a piece of flash fiction or a novel excerpt and lets us know just ~what they think~ in a nice array of SUPER flattering text.

Example: "omg you call this fiction?!!?! more like dumpster trash lololol"

okay, so that's a crappy example. Forgive me, been a long work day and I should go crash soon. Anyway, at first you think "Wow, that sucks. Thanks for ruining my day, bro," but then you think "bwahahaha they probably didn't even read it."

It's kind of the same with some bad reviews, especially from random strangers. Of course, genuine "bad reviews" are not fun at all, but many see them as learning experiences if it's applicable. It never feels good to have something you worked so hard and long at be treated like crap, but it's usually easier when it comes from a stranger, or a troll.

Then there's the bad reviews from your fellow writers. I don't know about you, but those are the ones that strike through me the hardest.

We writers are critical. We're hard on ourselves (or at least should be) and tend to be hard on other writers. It's why the beta process can be so important. We need our fellow writers to be critical, both in terms of what works and what doesn't.

Thus, it hurts doubly when they hate something we've done than when Joe Schmoe goes on a tangent.

Let's face it, y'all writers, deep down we all compete with each other. Perhaps not always monetarily and with sales, but at least mentally - we will always compare ourselves to every writer we come across. We'll bite our lips when somebody does something we've always wanted to be able to do so well, and we'll smugly think "haha I would never do that at least!" we see something we don't like at all. And of course, there's that pang of jealousy whenever somebody lands a book deal when we're still struggling. But of course we'll happily congratulate them and share in their excitement. Most of the time.

These aren't bad things. They're human nature. (Well, you could argue that it could be bad because it IS human nature..) But they're real. And it affects the way we interact with each other. It's easy to disregard somebody's writing as trash on days we're particularly down on ourselves and looking for validation. But I digress.

I apparently need to close up this blog entry now because I am making less and less sense (or just getting more and more tired) as time goes on: but basically, "trolls" are easy to write off (haha get it!!!) because ~what do they know~? But writers man, writers hatin' on your stuff is like a punch to the back of the head. Because what if they're right? and oh no we might have to make serious changes omg!!

This post is brought to you by a good idea I had that's been tainted by a 12 hour work day and even less sleep to back it up. I'm off to rectify that last point right now. Goodnight~  I am so happy I didn't attempt the queer characters post tonight oh man i am dyin'.

Is there any one kind of review you just can't deal with even on a good day?

"(no title) my ass, get with the program Blogger~"

I spent most of today wondering if I should make a V-day (that will never not mean "venereal" to me) post, and when I decided that I might, I then spent too much time wondering exactly what I would write about - romance? Meh. Hot sexx0rz scenes? Possibly. My cats? Oh my god, yes.

Buuuut now you're all spared from me gushing about how much I love my cats because I got tagged by Samantha to do the latest and greatest meme. Basically, answer her 11 questions, then tag 11 more people with questions of my own. Innovative!

K, let's get this done so I can go shower. I taught four classes today with some of the most exhausting kids ever, and I need that shower.

1. Chocolate or Whipped Cream?
There is no way to answer this as a matter of fact. It all depends on what kind of chocolate, and whether or not the whipped cream is that god-awful disgusting Ready Whip crap. (I have feelings about it, okay. I don't like my toppings to taste of the metal container they came out of it.)
2. What was your favorite subject in High School and why?
English. Because I was the smartest at it and everyone knew it (I was failing math, okay, I needed some positivity in my life.)
3. If you could witness any major event in history, what would it be?
Considering I've stared at this for about ten minutes now, I must not have an answer...
4. You had to pick the next Sexiest Man Alive. Who would be on the cover?

LOL SUCH A LESBIAN ANSWER.

5. What's your all time favorite movie?
The Fifth Element.

Because it is the Fifth Element.
6. If I asked your best friend about you. what would be the first three words they would pick to describe you?
"Shez dpin grest"
7. Who is your biggest supporter in your writing?
I dunno. Me? I kinda have to be.
8. Favorite Disney Princess is?
What's a Disney? I kid. But I don't have one. I could never stand any of them. Although when I was a wee bb dyke I thought Jasmine should be my bff-girlfriend. She had a tiger. Cats are cool.
9. You've just won a free trip to unwind and de-stress. Where would that destination be?
HELL. No, seriously! Think about it! What's a better way to unwind and de-stress then, idk, realize that things could be way worse.
The horrible thing is that this was seriously the first thing to pop into my head when I read this.
10. Who do you call an inspiration in your life?
ohohohoho, you almost made me write something naughty here!
11. IPhone or Android?
Kindle Fire.


Uhhhh pretty sure I'm one of the last people to get tagged based on my blog list, but HEY WHATEVER! Time to dig in and post some links!

1. Dan
2. The East Coaster
3. Lara Schiffbauer
4. Melissa Sugar
5. CV Marie
6. Karina Lawrence
7. Misha Gericke
8. CM Brown
9. Halford
10. Sabrina A. Fish
11. fairbetty

Your odds of being tagged were high if you've recently been active on my blog.

Or your name happens to be Dan.

ANYWAY you want yours questions, right?

1. What is the single most annoying trope that makes you want to claw your eyes out?
2. If you could alter history and claim credit for any book ever written, what would it be?
3. How many kids were in your HS graduating class? (or are in your class right now, if you're still in school)
4. If you were guaranteed massive success either way, would you rather traditionally publish or self-publish?
5. What's the most you've ever paid for an article of clothing...for yourself?
6. Singer, Model, or Actress - who you gonna be?
7. Chef, Driver, or Maid - who you gonna hire?
8. Bath or shower?
9. You're scheduling for a delivery to your house during normal business hours. What time do you request, and why?
10. Could you survive a whole year or more in a traditional Japanese apartment? (for the record, the one in the video is 10x nicer than mine, although mine is technically larger. Yay.)
11. Favorite Pokemon. And you can't cop out with "i dunno pokemon" because here's a link, pick the cutest one!

Shazam! Also, I would love if everyone answered the Japanese apartment question at least, because ahahah my life.

ALSO I LIED. HERE'S A PICTURE OF MY CAT.

RAWR STRING RAWR.

Because I'm told I should be organized, as a writer, or something...

Just a quick quip that I've solidified the final version of my new blogging schedule here. Or, at least one I intend to follow...somewhat...so long as it behooves me.

Basically:

SUNDAY: Weekly Writing Check-In. Same one I've always done since about September or so.

MONDAY: Free For Me, or, whatever I feel like posting. General thoughts about writing, announcements that didn't fit on Sunday, etc. Usually a discussion post of some kind. (Although today this is filling it for it, ha!)

WEDNESDAY: Hubpages Wednesday. Where I plug my latest hubs I've written in the past week or so (usually 1-2, depending on time).

FRIDAY: Friday Flash. Short flash fiction pieces written and shared for promotional purposes. Will either be "original" or taken straight from any draft I may be working on.

Of course, I'll post on the other days if I feel like it. =P

All right, so this post isn't a complete bore to you, have a question!

What's the most ridiculous metaphor you've ever read? Bonus points if it literally made you LOL.

Right now the ones fresh in my mind all belong to GRRM. I can't take sailing masts seriously anymore. 

Weekly Writing Check-In: Chasing Myself in Circles

Uh, yeah. Sure.

Remember how I said I was going to write 25k this month, while trying to average about 1k a day? Yeah, I'm not sure how I'm doing. I'm definitely writing every day, but I'm not keeping track of how much - and I don't caaaare! This isn't NaNoWriMo, this is just me pushing myself to get most of this draft done so my muse will be satiated and I can get back to editing. (March will be Hell for editing. I'm two months behind, after all.) So right now I'm just punching out as much as I can a day without paying too much attention to the word count. Doing pretty well? Suuuure.

That said, I've encountered one of my nemeses: The Chase Scene. Now, I'm not too shabby, I think, with most action scenes anymore - fight scene? Awesome, especially if it's between two pivotal characters who have a lot to fight out. Even better if they're taunting each other! Suspenseful scenes? Okay! Especially if people are losing everything around them and their sanity is but a single thread ready for me to cut!

Chase scenes?

Oh, no.

I don't know what it is about chase scenes I hate so much. I've always hated them, and not just writing them. I always ignore them in movies and gloss over them in other books. Remember when the rule was you're supposed to go quickly through them anyway, and leave out all the details because nobody would realistically notice them? Well, now I've been reading up some more, and the trend seems to have steered in the OPPOSITE direction, and we're all supposed to be Dean Koontz. Lol, screw that. Seriously.

When it comes to chase scenes, my thoughts are - make it as short as possible. Only put in the necessary details. Unless a major plot point somehow happens between Point A and B, there's no reason for me to know every damn twist and turn somebody goes down. I also don't care how hard they're running. I just want to know where they're going and if they're unscathed. Oh, and what happened to the person chasing them...I guess.

Can you tell I wrote one a couple nights ago? Half asleep, no less. It was awful. I literally did the bare amount necessary for a rough draft, thinking I would flesh it out in Round 2. I will be seriously kicking myself for that later.

But I don't care. Because chase scenes suck. Why can't we all just sit around and talk/fight out our feelings?

Any kind of scene you just hate writing/reading?

Technicalities, Vol 3: Who are you? Why are you in my novel?

All of this is true. Well, not the dress. Or the hair.

Over at Published In A Year, "The East Coaster" wrote an entry about how she gets to know her characters. I of course chimed in with a comment and, being me, attempted to write a freakin' dissertation because my process is as weird as my obsession with Pikachu. Soooooo I decided to move my rear over to my own dang blog and sort my thoughts out.

I have always been a character author. This means that I come up with characters and their relationships to each other first, plot second. (Usually the plot is fleshed out by the characters...not the other way around.) First and foremost I am writing about how my characters get through the plot, not what actually happens and how it affects everyone else. I often write about saving the world/universe, but I write it from a very personal level. The entire world/universe may hang in the balance~, but you don't care about Earth surviving as much as you care about so-and-so finally confessing their love to so-and-so...while Earth crumbles in the background. How romantic!

So my novels and stories come from the characters that come to me. Usually when a story starts out for me, all of the main characters arrive at the same time. This includes the way they look, sound, and probably even who they like and don't like amongst the other characters. Very rarely have I come up with a secondary character of my own effort later who ended up being just as important as the initial main characters, although this has definitely happened.

How do I "get to know them"? Well, as I wrote in the comment on the other side of Blogger, my brain is always going. I'm never just NOT thinking about something. But of course there's only so much worry I can allot in one day, so all the other time my brain is in "novel mode". It's really kinda scary and ridiculous, but it's how it's been my entire conscience life so I don't know anything else. When I'm not thinking about the "real" world I'm thinking my novels. And I'm not even always necessarily thinking about plot or logistics (although that's definitely popping up from time to time). Usually I'm thinking about my characters and how they would react in the most mundane of situations.

(warning: incoming "wow, you're sad".)

Tonight after work I went to a local cafe on the way home to get dinner. As I sat there playing my DS (um, Pokemon, of course) and waiting for my food and...being hyper aware of the Creeper Man in the corner staring at me while his girlfriend slept in the seat beside him...my brain, for the most fleeting moment, imagined that two of my characters were in that cafe booth instead and mumbling about Creeper Man. In the span of five seconds these two characters had a dialogue in my brain of what I was thinking: "Ugh, that guy is so creepy, isn't he." "Yes, he's kinda weird. Why is he staring at us?" "Ugh so gross. I wonder which one of us he's staring at?" "Both of us. He's imagining us having sex." "He probably wouldn't if I didn't look like such a dyke." "Hell he's probably wishing he could get his girlfriend there to have a threesome." "Hey, by the way, next time your lesbian friends want to have an orgy, give me more than a two hour warning." "Where the hell did that come from?" "I'm just sayin'." "You're actually not saying anything."

And then my food arrived and all I could think was om nom nom nom.

But in the span of those few seconds I learned a lot about my characters. (Well, I actually knew most of that already about them, but you get my point.) Probably the most valuable thing I learned is that one of them needs a bigger advanced warning for orgies. Duly noted.

I've written before about how I talk to myself all the time to work out dialogue but this is different. This is just flat out pretending. The dialogue thing is done on purpose as part of my writing job. The sitting in a cafe and pretending that my characters are sharing my experience while I omnisciently mess with their feelings just happens naturally. I can't say if this is "normal" at all. But as I said before, it's how my brain has worked since I was about ten, so there.

What about you all? Do you just have a bunch of people living vicariously through you or do you take the more ~normal~ routes of writing up characters sheets and writing out scenes to get to know your characters?

(I'ma go to bed now and go to sleep while thinking up nonsensically boring and mundane scenes with my characters in them. Odds are they'll be trying to sleep too. Man, my life.)

Technicalities, Vol 2: Chronological Writing vs. Wait, That Doesn't Happen Yet!

This entry is just a snippet of a multi-part saga dealing with the technicalities behind writing. Posts and subsequent discussions focus on how we write.

First off, guess what, it'z mah birthday. Well, it is on this side of  the world anyway. Still a few hours left back in Amuhrrika. General praises of admiration for having made it this far without Darwinizing myself are always welcome. And presents. Or both.

[VULCAN JEDI MINDTRICKMELD] Do both. [/VJMTMM]

AHEM.

 
Today's discussion is about in what order we write scenes.  Simply put, do you write all of your scenes in order (whether from an outline or as naturally as it feels) or do you write whatever damn scene you feel like writing at the time?

I am a strict chronological writer. Everything I write must be written in order. I've always been this way, from my very early days of playing around with fan-fiction. I mean, in my head, writing scenes out of order just is not done! *pearl clutch* On one hand I can understand the argument of "well, if you're blocked on this scene, just work on one that you are inspired for!" but I can't let you do that StarFox do that, man. I FEEL YUCKY AND DIRTY OKAY.

There is one scene that I've written completely out of order. Back in 2008 when I was working on the first half of Rebirth (I started writing it around Nano 2007) I was outlining the series, and there was a scene I REALLY wanted to write for Regress, the then final book of a planned trilogy. So I wrote it. And damn was it a good scene.

That scene is still planned.. But I will have to rewrite it, because the characters' motives in that emotionally charged scene have completely changed. Actually, one of the characters has completely changed, in direction and origin. So while the same things happen, the feeling and tone of the whole scene is different.

(Also, technically, I started writing Revenge before I even finished the first complete draft of Rebirth. But you know, Nano.)

This is why I don't write out of order. I'll end up having to rewrite later scenes anyway because of things always changing in the scenes before them. Plus, finally getting to write those scenes I'm all geared up for is like a super awesome reward for trudging through those scenes I struggled to finish before.

I mostly made this the topic today because I'm really bitter about finishing the scene I'm on. Yeah, I don't wanna.

Technicalities, Vol 1: Outlining vs. Ripping Off Somebody's Trousers

This entry is just a snippet of a multi-part saga dealing with the technicalities behind writing. Posts and subsequent discussions focus on how we write.

YUP. Exactly what I think of.

It's the age-old question, especially during this time of year when Nano season is in full bloom.

"Are you an outliner, or are you a pantser?"

Now, if you're like me, you hear "pantser" and immediately think of that one snot in your middle school who would run around and rip people's pants down and go HAR HAR HAR UR UNDERWEAR LOL. (Oh, the years before that was considered sexual harassment. How I wish I was born later~) Of course "pantsing" refers to the saying of "flying by the seat of one's pants" but it still sounds stupid. So, for the sake of this post, we'll call pantsing "flying" to preserve this author's sanity.

Some people swear by outlining: they get the most satisfying work done by carefully constructing their entire novel via bullet point (including dates and times) that they will later flesh out in their word processor. Others find that when they "waste time" outlining they end up not using it at all and they fly through their story without knowing what's going to happen next. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to both ways, and it all comes down to your own personal preferences and experiences - we authors know best that all our brains function differently and what works for one does not work for all. Thankfully, I've never seeing outlining wank before....but that would be interesting...and good way to spend a Sunday evening...quick somebody start some outlining wank!

I used to be a pretty hardcore flyer. I've always been the type that once I have an idea I just wanna sit my ass down at the keyboard and start typing, finding out about my characters as I go and letting them take me through the plot. As I got older and got more serious about making a career out of my writing - and, not to mention, focusing on extensive series where lots of crap happens - I started jotting down occasional notes that I wanted to remember for the future. And then I started outlining. But only a little.

I still am the type to just make stuff up as I go...but only little things, like dialogue banter, settings, sometimes who's in what scene and what order they fall in. The only thing I outline now are the Big Bad Plot Points, especially the climatic endings once I have them figured out because LOL I FORGOT. Sometimes for Nano I'll make a scene-by-scene outline just so I have something to continuously work on but I don't think I will this year.

My line of thinking is...if it was really a Brilliant Idea,then I'll remember it. And I still remember a lot of my OMG I MUST WRITE that ideas that I had a few years ago. I've never outlined the third novel of CROSS// but I know exactly how it will play out, all the way down to certain scenes. Of course, you could argue that I should still write down notes in cause I get like, thrown into a coma and get amnesia. But if I ever get amnesia that bad I think I'll have more things to worry about than my writing career.

So in short: outlines are for academic papers, yo. Writing fiction is about literary abandon and writing off the cuff, unless of course you're really afraid you'll forget that one thing. Well, you know, for me anyway.

What's it going to be, readers? Especially for this year's Nano?

Outlining or pantsing flying?

Why I Write

In order for this to really work, it will require a lot of participation and a lot of linking. Of course, I think it would be really, really cool to see it happen.

The idea is a question: Why do you write?

I bet if everyone talked about why they're a writer, why they write, what drives them, etc etc, then the answers would be as varied as if you asked, "What is your favorite thing in the world?" No two people could possibly answer the same, but I think that we would be able to see common threads that we relate to and it would help bring authors together in a new way.

I had the idea for this "meme", project, whatever you want to call it last night when I was in a depressives stupor. My usual escapist mediums such as gaming and TV were not helping, and the only thing that took my mind off my issues was working on my draft for a few minutes. It made me rethink the reasons why I write.

So, I'm asking you, my readers and my blogging friends, to participate with me in an introspective celebration on what it is that makes us all write. It can be any reason, and no reason would be "stupid" or "frivolous". Who knows, maybe your reason will help somebody.

To participate:

Step 1: Write a blog post with the topic "Why I write". The goal is to search inside yourself for the core reasons as to why you open your notebook/Word Processor/napkin every day and put words down.

Step 2: Link back to this post somewhere in your post. It can be in the opening, the ending, in an image, whatever. The point is to direct people here so they can read everyone else's reasons.

Step 3: Link to your post in the comments below. (Note: give a bit of a teaser, such as key words, the opening sentence, etc.)

Step 4: Read the reasons from others and gain a better understanding and fellowship about what it means to be a writer/author.

Step 5: (pretty optional) Use one of the graphics below - or make your own - to link in your sidebar to the reason why you write so all your future visitors can see it too and learn more about you.

It's pretty simple. And, in the process, it's a free link for you. :) We may even be able to make new friends through our reasons.

My reasons:

 In truth, the drive behind my writing has changed so much over the years. It started when  Iwas a small child because I always had a story to tell. I also learned how to read and write very early so it came naturally to me to well, starting writing. Growing up I was very into arts of all kinds, but quickly discovered that...I was incapable of doing much with my hands. In short, I had shitty dexterity. I still do. I used to do bead work until I no longer could because it was too frustrating to always fail and take so long to do it. I used to draw, but then that talent went away as well. I used to be a skilled guitar player until my hands were just too small to do it anymore. Soon all I had left that I was artistically good at was writing. I can type at about 120-30 wpm, which is about as fast as I can think of sentences.  Match made in heaven.

I honed my writing skill through my teenage and college years. My dream became making a life out of writing, whatever that meant. Writing was purely about enjoyment.

Somewhere during college...my life took a very dark turn. Without going into harsh details, I developed the deep depression that I still struggle with today and every day. I became involved with people who were poison to my well-being. The economy went bust and the pressure and stress was so high that there were days I just could not get out of bed with all of these things compounded together. I struggled to find a reason to live.

By that time most of my first drafts were done, so I went to work on them so I would have something constructive to do while taking my mind off how miserable I felt. I stayed focus on my writing and slowly, day-by-day, not only did I have something to show for myself but I also developed pride in myself for doing as well as I did even with all the other bullshit going on. Writing has never "saved my life", but it has certainly made it more bearable while I am here.

Writing is my ultimate form of escapism. In the worlds of my stories I am God, and I control every little thing that happens to the characters, to the plot, to the scenery...it is a power and control I need in my life. With my own life often at the whims of others, and not even my own happiness a certainty no matter how hard I try...I  can control these other (fictional) people. I can determine who gets a happy ending and who will struggle their whole life for even a good day. In my writing the whole world, the whole universe is at stake, and at the center of it all is always a few people who have to bear the entire weight of everyone else's fear. And when they are happy or in love, even for just a couple of chapters, I can live vicariously through them.

Writing is the imaginary friend that you use to spell out your own problems and then constructively take out your anger and frustration on. And, when you really just want to pretend there's a world where people can be happy just by the simplest things, you can go to your writing world and make it happen.

I do not live for writing. I live because I am alive - it's always been that simple. But while I'm alive I need a way to deal with the dark clouds that hang over me, and writing has always been the answer. In the process I get to tell my stories and other people get to enjoy them. And, it's productive. But in the end I'm the one who benefits the most.

I write because it helps me, and there isn't much else in the world that does.

Back to you!

So now that I've spilled my soul out to all of you, I expect you to do the same ;) Let me know if you do this and be sure to come back and comment with a link so I and others can read it!

I've made some quick, simple graphics for you to use on your blog. Please save to your own server, etc. Feel free to make your own! I am not a graphic whiz, haha. But they get the job done.

No, no I didn't know that that was going on, okay.

"I'm sorry, but how did you not know they were gay? You're the author, silly. I read one scene between them and thought 'damn, they got boyfriend drama'." - A Real Quote From a Real Reader

Weeeellllll. You know how it is. Even when you're the author you still don't know everything about everyone, or even everything about the PLOT until you're in the middle of writing and you think "Oh...my God..." and yup. Everything connects in your brain and you see things you have never seen before!

I usually categorize these as the "AHA!" moments, and they range from various sizes of "no big deal" to "THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING". It's the latter version that makes writing such a thrill, really. And let's face it, the massive AHA! moment only comes one per book/series - that moment when you realize something so big about your character/story that it changes the entire way you start viewing the actions/plot/dialogue/EVERYTHING. And sometimes? You've even subconsciously left yourself clues to this discovery and you wonder how you could be so daft from seeing it this whole time.

My two biggest "AHA!" moments so far have definitely changed the entire way I've viewed my two series. One was so "profound" to me that I ended up having to shelve the series for a while so I can figure out what I'm going to DO with that realization. But that doesn't really compare to the headslap I gave myself for the OTHER "aha!" moment.

So, basically.

NAGNOMEI: "Oh, my God...that's it, literally...God..the narrator is GOD. No wonder he's so SON I R DISAPPOINT."

CROSS//: "TRALALALALA lololololol WAIT A MINUTE. THESE OLD GUYS ARE TOTALLY GAY. Shit, that changes the WHOLE DAMN STORY. EVERYTHING."

...So yes, Real Reader (even though she knows who she is, ha) I had no idea that they were gay for a long time. But now that I know I can reformat the entire novel to reflect this and now we all know that it's all about them after all~ (As opposed to the, you know, lesbians, who think it's all about them.) Ah hell I don't know anymore. I'll AHA it later.

So, got any great AHA moments to share?

My voice just gave me a huge headache. Time for it to shut up.

indeed.

My to-do list for editing this manuscript just keeps getting longer and longer.

On one hand that's a great thing, because it means I'm recognizing more and more what I need to check/work on to make sure it's the best it can be. On the other? Oh my God just make it END already! As some of you may know, it seems that the more one works on something the more you come to think it's just beyond help or repair, even if you KNOW that isn't true.

Recently (as in this past week) I've been thinking of the Rebirth manuscript and exactly what I want from the POV. This is a result of having written the prequel story, Process, in third person limited as opposed to omniscient like I normally write. I wrote both of my main series in omniscient, but with very different narrative voices. In Nagnomei it's the more cut and dry omniscient narration: (spoiler: I a really am God, so there you go), but in CROSS// I can see where me as the narrator could be confused for thinking as a character, due to using a different voice. If that makes sense. It makes sense to me, okay.

So, add a POV Voice check/clean up to my list of things to do. I want to go through and make sure that people aren't confusing my/the narrator's voice for that of a character's, especially since I love snarking the buggers. Because if they think it's a character's, well then hello gross head-hopping. Especially since the trends I keep reading about imply that omniscient is out because it's too dry - but on the flipside I am also reading that omniscient is making a comeback because of my generation's propensity for having learned how to story tell via television/movies.

Ultimately, every time I think about POV and voice at the moment I give myself a huge, exhausting headache. The easy answer is just to write shit in limited, but the way I want to tell the story to reader just does not allow it in the main CROSS// series. Nope, I gotta be god again (and this time just figuratively). Then again I'm probably just showing myself to be a product of my generation with my need to be snarky and sarcastic and everyone and everything.

SO, just to turn this around a bit and distract myself from my Writing Woes, what POV do you usually write in? Does it ever give you grief or just make you want to rage quit? Please say yes.

30 Days of Writing: #15

This is not an accurate rendering...

15. Mid­way ques­tion! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether pro­fes­sional or not!

Oh God, I don't even know.  Just to say I admire a writer does not necessarily mean I LIKE them or even READ them, right?  Well, believe it or not, there are definitely more writers I admire than necessarily like.  Writers, of course, like the classics in Greek and Rome, whoever the lucky snot who wrote Beowulf was (and I curse him), Lady Murasaki for being both an educated woman in medieval Japan AND wriiting the oldest (or one of)  novels in Japan, or even the world (may I reiterate that she was a woman?)  and virtually anyone else who is way more awesome than I will ever be. If it weren't for writers to idolize, there would be nothing to aspire to.

As for more...recent...writers I admire, that's a harder one.  I admire writers who broke into markets and made something for themselves. But I doubt this is about the business aspect of admiration.  So, in terms of writing style, content, and general badassery, one of the first 1900s+ authors that come to mind for me is Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials.  It's one of the few (fantasy) series from my childhood that I still thoroughly enjoy and look to for inspiration, probably because it's fantasy with religious conspiracy...you know, like Nagnomei...which explains why I was attracted to it in the first place.  Pullman is able to make twists and turns that make me jealous.  He's succinct (something I need to work on) and yet gets all the (fantastical) information across.  He's also really pissing some organizations off that I would love to piss off as well.  The only thing I'm not jealous of is the movie...

Tell me, fanciful readers, who do you admire? And most importantly...are they dead?