Mind Dulling Plans

Having been derailed the other week, then on Spring Break, I arrived back to normalcy this week with a boat load of proofing stacked up behind me.  The good news is, I got some help, and we are getting caught up.  The mediocre news is that I was able to take the last two days and re-familiarize myself with "The Line."


It had taken me a good two weeks to clear that manuscript from my head, in order to concentrate on the third person omniscient I so enjoy writing on "The Beast Call" sequel, but now, I'm right back into dystopian first person.  Oh joy.


The good news is, having taken a break from it, I was able to spot specific scenes that had been rushed, or ones where I had only written dialogue in the interest of pushing the story forward.  I have taken the last two days and filled in all those holes, spackled over the gaps, and smoothed out the heavy dialogue so it actually reads like a book should.


That being said, I am now officially about to start the actual writing process (writing NEW content versus rewriting old) and yet find myself up against a brick wall, yet again.


I have really cooked my own goose.  I did such a marvelous job of setting up a complicated and intricate plot, that now I am in the middle (act four, actually, in screen writing terms) of winding down and tying up the loose ends (not all of them, of course, as this is intended to be a trilogy), I have to take careful time and consideration on what comes next, and how. I must think everything through, and this slows me down.


I find that rather boring to write.
Sorry.
I do.
I don't want to tie up loose ends.
I don't want to follow the outline.
I want to make sh*t up as I go, but I know from past experience, I don't write my best with that philosophy so I am tied down to finish the way I planned.
And besides, the outline is very specificly written with great forethought and attention, so I know the finished product will be what I ultimately want, but man!
B-O-R-I-N-G!


I think to alleviate my boredom I might start writing the scenes out of sequence and then patch them all together later.


Sounds like a plan.
Grrr.
More plans.


ZZZZZZZZZZ

Writing? What's that?

Don't have time to write. I'm up to my eyeballs in work.


Very frustrating, but it's a good problem to have, I guess.

How Do Published Writers Find Time to Write?

How on Earth do writers find time to write when they are in the process of having another one of their books published?


I worked all day on PDP and The Beast Call stuff, and not a single new word got written on ANY of my new manuscripts.


This really, really, really frustrates me.


My work hours are basically 8:30 to 2:30, which includes (somewhere in there) a shower, eating, and necessary phone calls, plus work, etc., and today it was not enough time.


Then to top it off, everything I did today might have to be undone due to technical ebook coding issues and that just makes me feel worse.


Worked the whole day, and quite possibly, I worked for nothing.


Pardon me while I beat my head against my desk and cry.


Something's gotta give here folks, and so far, it's my nerves.

Derailed, and Thrilled

If you are not a member of the SCBWI and you write for children, you are missing out.  The SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) is a national club for children's authors and illustrators, published and unpublished alike.  They hold Writers Days where editors, agents and other writers give lectures and hold instructional sessions about writing, the writing process, the publication process and everything related in between.  Editor days where editors give the low down on what's selling, what's not, and how to properly submit to an editor.  They host Agent Days as well for similar things.  It's extremely helpful to those who want to learn the ins and outs of the children's market.


I have attended three (I think, maybe four?) of these sessions, including a four day conference they hold each summer in Los Angeles, and today, attended a Writers Day held by the Los Angeles chapter.  Today's seminar had speeches from a very honest, very helpful editor from Bloomsbury, a Newberry award winning author, and two best selling authors, one young adult realism, one fantasy.  I. was. in. heaven.


They also provide critiques on submitted manuscripts by published authors and editors and give out awards for each genre; non-fiction, picture books, middle grade, and young adult.


Many of you have read excerpts (posted here) from my yet-to-be-finished young adult dystopian "The Line," and many of you expressed displeasure when I announced that it was shelved while I wrote the sequel to "The Beast Call."  Well, you will be pleased to hear that "The Line" took 2nd place in the young adult category at today's seminar, and now, my publisher wants me to shelf the sequel and finish "The Line."


Yay!


It's not very often that adults get to stand up in front of a gymnasium of their peers and receive an award given to you by your peers.


As my 9 y/o daughter put it, "It's like you won your version of the Oscar!"


I have to admit it.  It felt like I did.


Pardon me while I bask in momentary professional confidence. 


Don't worry, it'll be gone by next week once I start writing again.

Necessary Delay

I've been proofing for work the past two days.  My eyes physically hurt.


Maybe I'll get some writing done next week while on Spring Break, but that's doubtful.


Boo.

Book 2, Day 14

1300 words written.  Not bad for a Monday.


I got some nice notes on "The Beast Call" from a major agency calling the book, "not bad" (I'll take that as a compliment, thank you!) and another reader saying the book is perfect for 15 year old girls! YAY!


Nice to know I did at least one thing right, in writing a book for my target market.


Still waiting on the technological part of the book and the final proof before I hit the market.
Soon! Very soon!

Book 2, Day 13

500 words written today and character arc outlining.


Thinking, mostly...Not much actual writing.  Just thinking...

Book 2, Day 12

500 words written.  Now, errands.
Wish it were more.  Perhaps I will have the chance later.
For the time being, this will have to do.

"The Beast Call" Release Date

Looking to be the last week of April!

Book 2, Day 11

2,300 words written and a revelation about how to win the battle scenes.  It's one thing to write in an outline, "There's a battle.  They win."  But, it's another thing entirely to draw battle plans.  Thank goodness for all my years wasted on Player-vs-Player World of Warcraft battlegrounds, it's proven quite helpful in my way of thinking.


But, my brain is done for now and other duties beckon.


It feels good to be productive, though.

I Write What I Love, So There!

Writers, editors, and agents alike will tell you to write what you love, eventually, the market will get around to liking what you love, and at that point, you'll have a few books written and in a drawer waiting to be published.  These true words pertain to my plight exactly, but as a writer who has fallen victim to chasing the market, I sympathize with writers who are growing increasingly frustrated with the market.  It's like they like only 1 thing at a time.  Heaven forbid you should publish a historical novel when every other YA book is about vampires...Isn't there anyone out there willing to publish the next big thing first?  To answer that question, no.  Not if you are a first time author, anyways.  


And being a first time author myself, riding a soon to be wave of YA fantasies, this line of reasoning has set me off on a personal quest to decipher the nature of my own books.  Write what you love, hmm.  What do I love?  Why did I write "The Beast Call"?  Why did I structure it as I did? Why this? Why not that?  Blah, blah, blah.


So here goes...


I write fantasy because I love escapism.  I tried writing hard hitting topical books and it depressed the living shit out of me.  I love to read books that tell a rich story full of characters and I love those that have complex language, and are typically, in the third person.  So, I set to combine all these elements in "The Beast Call." Language, characters that develop (so often in Sci-Fi and Fantasy the main characters are merely meant to survive, few ever actually evolve), a bit of magic (just because it's fun!), a strong female protagonist (hate those wimpy love-dumb girls), a love interest without a lot of unnecessary sex (if I wanted to read sex books, I'd read erotica or romance), and throw in a couple kick ass fight scenes for the sheer joy of it.  I love emotionally wounded reluctant super heroes, and that's exactly what the lead character is in "The Beast Call."


What I didn't do, which is quite typical of the genre and of many very successful writers, is write lengthy detailed descriptions of scenery or characters that are just going to die (save a few), and introduce sub-plots that don't have any sort of impact upon the main character's conflict.  Many, many very successful and great authors spend chapters detailing the villains actions, including his or her deep and dark secrets as to why he or she does these evil things, how or why they perform their evil doings, and spend all sorts of time building up this character, who I care nothing for (!) who is only going to get thwarted and die at the end.  I don't care why the villain is evil.  I don't.  Unless you are writing a book about FBI profiling, in which case it makes sense to show how much the FBI agent knows compared to the real deal, THAT makes sense.  Or, if you are setting up the villain as a sort of likeable character that the reader is then kind of routing for during the fight to the death with the protagonist, then I get it.  But I don't appreciate lurking in the minds of villains unless it furthers the story along, and I don't think I'm blowing smoke when I say I've read quite a few books who tell the story of a villain for word count purposes.  Really. Not worth my time.


Hence, why I wrote "The Beast Call" to be rather short, (a scant 150 pages), since almost every single book I've ever read (except a select few) could have been much shorter, and maybe it's just my attention deficit, but about three quarters of the way through I start getting antsy.  Are they going to get all this concluded by the end of the book? I wonder.  They'd better hurry up!


So, no matter what the agents, editors, writers or reviewers say, I'm following the advice "Write what you love" exactly, come rain or shine.  Let's just hope there are a few readers out there who agree with me.

Book 2, Day 10

1,200 words written today and some plotting.  Turns out, all these sub-plots will need to be set up and concluded amidst numerous battle scenes, so I had to take a few moments and list them out and plan where/when these character development issues will be addressed.  It's very easy to get distracted by the nuts and bolts and forget the gears that move the "machine" forward, if you will excuse the metaphor.


I did some minor cleaning of what exists in the novel so far over the weekend, but nothing major.


I have to remind myself that despite the fact I want to get the book finished, what I write needs to be purposeful, which means I need to slow down and be a little more careful.  Besides, I have a gift of setting up the books well, and true to my pattern, once I have built it up, I have to be sure to make use of every thing I've constructed instead of blindly bulldozing ahead.


This has always been my pitfall and can result in momentum lost.  Luckily, so far, I've been able to plod ahead a little each day and not fall victim to previous mistakes of getting stuck and coming to a screeching halt.  Little by little is fine, as long as I am moving forward, especially since things have started to get a bit complicated.

"The Beast Call" by Anne Tibbets

COMING SOON!  I'M TOTALLY JAZZED!


Gorgeous art work by Michel Bohbot.

Book 2, Day 9 1/2

Mercifully, my daughters had a play date here at home, and they played well together, allowing me time to write.

800 words and the introduction of a sub-plot.

Feeling pretty good.

Book 2, Day 9

I don't know if this will make me sound trite, but I was inspired by a quote I saw on Twitter today.


“If you do not hear music in your words, you have put too much thought into your writing and not enough heart.” Terry Brooks (Born 1944)


Good point, Mr. Brooks!  This is something I have to take into careful consideration since "The Beast Call" and the sequel I am currently writing, "The Beast Reign" have thick, rather old-fashioned word choices.  Strangely enough, I read a little Jane Austen each morning to get me into the mood.


I know. I'm weird.


Regardless, I went back to the beginning of the new manuscript today and paid careful attention to the music of the words. When I get to writing too quickly, as any writer can, I get a little, not really lazy, but simple in my descriptions and sentence structure and that is not the manner in which The Beast series is meant to be.


I miss lyrical writing in novels these days.  It can be so beautiful if done well.  I'm not saying I'm brilliant at it, but I can craft a pretty sentence when desired.  Hence, why I backtracked today to make sure I was paying particular attention to this aspect of the style.


So, no added word count today.  But word music instead.


I'm 10,500 words in and in the middle of Ch 3.  The outline is complete and detailed and I know just where it needs to go.  Forward.


Onward we go.