Giant Blocks of Yellow!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I’ve been either busy writing, or not writing. Duh, right?
Ok. Lemme explain that a bit more clearly. I’ve been pounding out at least 2k words on the WIP on days I’ve planned to write. I’m doing the May RoDiWriMo (basically the Divas decided to do NaNo four times a year) and I needed that push to get off my tuckus and get writing on The Flower Queen’s Daughter. It’s coming along nicely. I have over 19k in the file now and I’m a bit over half way through my outline. There’s also some holes, where I know I haven’t spent enough time fleshing out a couple of scenes in particular, so I expect the word count for what my outline says I have done to increase by another 3500 words or so.
I’ve also had several planned non-writing days this month. The 3rd and 4th, we were in Hollywood for the dialogue workshop with Julia Quinn while DH took the kids to Universal Studios. I knew I wasn’t going to get anything done that weekend beyond my daily journal entries. I’m up to 22 consecutive days again. Go me! Also, this past weekend was Mother’s Day on Sunday, but it was also our 16th wedding anniversary on Saturday. So I knew nothing was going to be written this past weekend either.
I don’t know why I let Bria talk me into this class by Margie Lawson on Deep Editing when I knew I was going to be focusing on getting down a first draft this month. Ok. I know exactly why I let her talk me into it. I know very little about editing and what all it entails other than fixing basic typos and grammar corrections. I know don’t WHY something works when it does, it just feels right. Jodi says this is okay, but I’ve relied on my instincts too long in constructing sentences. I don’t trust them right now.
I also can feel when something is slightly off, but can’t really put my finger on why it drags or speeds by so fast my head spins. Anyway, this is where the EDITS system that I mentioned last post has come in handy. I may have two ms that resemble Mondrian paintings, but I can see where the problems are and where I’ll need to go back and work things in to make it more readable in the long run. BIG chunks of yellow and blue permeate my pages (that’s internalization and dialogue).
Also thanks to the Julia Quinn workshop, I’ve discovered another writer that’s new to me. Joanna Bourne. Ms Quinn recommended her book, The Spymaster’s Lady
Imagine my delight when I discovered all the tidbits on craft and thinking about craft that Ms. Bourne has on her website! The best thing is the illustrative examples. Do this NOTthat. I can tell I’ll be a frequent visitor to read and reread her archives. Another happy thinking crafty writer. Just reading through her examples makes it easy to see why I’m not happy with my own rough drafts thus far.
The other thing I’m learning from the online-class is the pitfall of overwriting. If I want to make DH cringe, I just read him some examples. Although, today’s lesson has me interested… necessary backstory and befriending your internal editor. Shhh! Mine’s staying in the box until May 31st! Sorry, I need to finish this draft first, but I’m open to renegotiating our relationship in the future. 😉
So, what do you all do in first drafts? Do you dash down conversations as you hear them in your head and go back and fill in details around them? Do you write pages and pages of scene setting or do your characters waltz through white rooms that require you to go back and give them the decorating makeover your characters deserve? Do you find you write the emotionally charged lines the first time, or do you have to go back and find where your characters are feeling the rocks you throw at them?
Have you found that over time, this has changed for you and your first drafts become richer?
your wip looks like a quilt? SEE! I knew there was a reason all the wordpress stuff was looking all quilty–you did an internal takeover and changed the code.
I layer. It starts out white room with little details and gets deeper each pass. The good stuff comes when you edit for clarity. Then again–sometimes it just flows–no clue why, but you’re in the zone and it’s great stuff. That I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole because it’s peachy perfect already.
I’ve got to check that site out, thank you Kaige.
hey? GO YOU! Write faster. 🙂
You always ask such great questions, you know that?
I think I am at heart a pantser. My characters and story come alive for me only when I am writing–at least that’s been my experience thus far. But I get stuck when I don’t know where I’m writing to, or when I fall into the trap of rewrite hell.
Once I get my outline done, I imagine I’ll pants my way through it (the outline will be like someone yelling through a long tunnel) and end up with a choppy, awful first draft with a few shiney moments. I’m not particularly worried about that, though, since I am the Futz Queen.
Oh, you didn’t know that? Didn’t you notice my tiara?
Oh, dang it! I meant to tell you this, too: You are TAGGED, woman. Go forth and meet thy challenge.
http://stillunhinged.blogspot.com/2008/05/whisper.html
(Blame Alice.)
You’re right, Jodi, quilts are much prettier and more organic than Mondrian. 😛 And no, wasn’t me! I think the WP people would be cranky with me if I futzed with their code.
Very nice tiara, Andi. Mine’s getting a bit tarnished since I’ve been stuffing the ol’ IE in a box most of the time since last fall. I used to be able to futz with the best of ’em. I probably still could, but I want to do more than just that, ya know?
Cool, I had fun with the last round of telephone/whisper. I’ll see about getting something up tomorrow and finding three more vict..er…participants 🙂
Yellow – I HATE yellow. I llloooooovvvveeee Blue (which is, ironically, my favorite color – followed by yellow)
I’m glad you’re getting stuff out of the class – With the migraines I backed out of having a partner and am going at my own speed, but it’s SO great to be thinking in such a technical manner.
I’m picking up my Spymaster’s Lady tonight—- I honestly don’t know how that book is going to have a HEA. I like when you can’t see it coming 🙂
Keep up the great work!
I don’t work from an outline. I work from a storyline. If I worked from a true outline I would feel too boxed in and nothing would get written. The storyline has clearly defined points on it which have to happen so that I can bring the characters to where they are supposed to be at the end of the storyline. The points are my mile markers.
In between the mile markers, I have sometimes defined and sometimes fuzzy scenes that play out as I write. That’s the pantser part. And it’s not complete pantser either.
When I follow this pattern, I often find that my first drafts are fairly complete. Subsequent rewrites make it tighter and more reader friendly. So I suppose you could say it’s richer.
I’m a dialogue whore so I tend to be more spare with descriptive passages. Those are the ones that I also edit most heavily later.
My 6K piece for the Pink Chair Diaries had 3 edits. The first which took care of the boo boos (mostly I think LOL). The second after a friend, who also writes, read it and asked me a couple of questions. I tightened a couple of places based on those questions. The third edit was after a man read it. I really wanted his input on Weylyn’s thought processes. Luckily, I was mostly dead on. Now, I look at that piece and I see other things I would change. Maybe if it ever becomes a Bar post I will, but for now I’ll let it stand as is at the PCD. But for 6K words… I think I did okay in terms of dialogue and description.
I’m happy your FQD story is coming along so well! I wish I could say the same for McKenna and Rafe. LOL
Bria,
I have to agree, blue is fun to do. It goes down on the page so easily. Almost like closing my eyes and hearing the conversation. Glad you’re liking the book!
Winter,
I’d be interested to see what what one of your “storylines” looked like. I don’t use a traditional outline either, but more of a list of scenes with short lines about what needs to happen in them that I flesh out slightly so I know what all needs to be included in the current one.
Back when I didn’t know what I was doing, I was a total pantser, real problem was I let my internal editor have way too much freedom and I spent way too long twiddling with what I’d written before instead of concentrating on adding anything new to the story, usually because I wasn’t sure where it was leading mostly because the IE pushed the muse completely out.
Working with others means I can’t sit on my own stuff too much. If Darrie posts that his character was asking my character if he wants to um you know… I have an obligation to fulfill. The scene where the two of them have sex has to be written by one of us. If I don’t do it, then I’ve tacitly given Darrie the right to write my character and do the scene how he sees it. One or the other of us is constantly pushing storylines forward. That’s the beauty of a cooperative environment.
McKenna’s story is really a pantser. More than I am used to. I have a beginning. I have an end. I have a couple ideas for the middle… and nothing else. So I’ve been trying to create the backstory in my head that will allow me to build a true storyline. There’s a lot of roadblocks to this though. It has to be logical and believable… and I’m not there yet with that. It will come. It’s too cute an idea not to.
My storylines are lists. Well, paragraphs really. I have a nice one for a story about a menage that will be happening in the Bar Story. If it’s okay with the woman who writes one of the men, I’ll show it to you.