Trips and Writing

To write you need to be in a grove. Or I do at least.

I have to be doing it for a while writing so many words a day for so many days on one specific story to really get into the habit of writing. I write always but if its not for the same story I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere.

It used to be easy to do this but with a little one in the house its a bit more complicated.

Well, I'm trying to get back into that grove so I can finish a novel before I travel to the states in October.

Because during and after vacations its impossible to get anything done. The routine is off and your lost so you don't do anything at all.

So I want to finish the first draft so I can come home and get started on the rewrite instead of trying to pick up where I left off.

And I think 3 months is a good span of time for writing a first draft. I think it limits you in editing while you go and for me that's the key in finishing a project.

So this month I've been worldbuilding and outlining the novel. From July 1- September 30 I am writing 2000 words a day (yikes!) and hopefully by the end I will have 120,000 words counting Sundays off and a few days of review.

I don't actually want a novel with a wordcount quite so high. I want about 90,000 but sometimes I ramble (bet you guessed that already huh?) so I need wiggle room to cut out parts I don't want and especially the ones I don't need.

So that's my plan. Let's hope I stick to it.

Editing, my foe

I love writing. Period. I love setting pen to paper (I'm old fashion like that) and letting a story take me away. I love staring outside on a fall afternoon and watching the scene unfold in my mind as if I'm living it rather than only imaging it.

I love writing, in a way, like I love my daughter. Even when she gives me a hard time I still have this precious thing in front of me that's mine.

It's when I have finished the writing part that I hate.

Editing is awful and tedious and time consuming and most of the time I hate every single second of it. I wish I was one of those unicorn writers who didn't need to edit.

Lucky S.O.B.s

But unfortunately I do have to edit and reread my writing a thousand times until it seems like it isn't really even a story anymore but a jumble of incoherent words strung together.

But I do it because I want to make the story the best that it can be and if that means I have to reread it a thousand or even a million times, I'll do it.

What about the rest of you? Which part of the process do you hate?

Writing With A Baby

Little Miss Emilynn is a mamas girl. There really is no point in arguing that. She loves to be with me which us nice... most of the time. I sort of love being the one who can soothe her when everyone else has tried... except, of course, when I'm showering, eating, napping, etc. But the worst is when I'm writing.

I can starve. I can stink. I can be sleep-deprived. But writing? I can't not write. For me its really just not an option. (Except apparently when I'm pregnant) Its like a basic need. I get irrationally angry when I can't write.

Oh don't get me wrong sometimes I'll go days, weeks, or even months without writing but because I am either burnt out or I don't have a current project.

But when I am in the middle of a project and go days weeks or months without writing? And I don't mean a scribble here or there.. because I ALWAYS do that but real substantial writing? Watch out. I'm not a pretty sight.

Besides the first few weeks Em is pretty good about letting me do a little writing. But its never the amount I want... and you know what? This is actually a GOOD thing.
I write 500 words a day now. I do not go to bed before I get this. Most of the time I go over the 500 words and have to force myself to stop in order to get some sleep.

And do you know what this has taught me? Writing 500 words 7 days a week is much better than 3500 one day.  Because the next week you'll write 500 words a day but you might not write 3500 words in one day again. Maybe you'll write 5000.. maybe none.

Em has taught me something I've heard all my life but never truly listened to it: its much better to be consistent.

Its like school. Study for four hours the night before the test or study one hour for four nights. Which is better? Obviously the latter. Writing is exactly the same.

So instead of being angry when my writhing sessions are cut short from a hungry baby I try to remember that she's keeping me from burning out. She's keeping me interested. She's making me want to write more instead of feeling obligated to do so.

Em already knows what's best for mom : )

What has your little one taught you about writing?

Building A Novel

I didn't blog on Monday like I was "supposed" to but for good reason. I've been "Building" my novel. I guess that's just my fancy (or not so much) way of saying I'm planning my novel out.

Most people would actually call this World Building because that's what I'm doing essentially but I have a problem with this terminology.

There are about a half a million websites on how to begin world building. There's books, courses, workshops. You name it, they have it, and each one of them calls it world building. (There is one exception that I'll mention later)

But visit one of those websites and you know what you'll find? World building tactics, yes, but something else. Culture. That, in my opinion, is not world building. It's obviously culture building.

The type of solar system your world is located in, how many planets, how many moons and so on? World Building. Your map, the regions, plants and animals? World Building.

But what about language and customs? What about Ceremonies and Holidays? That's not World Building. Those things have to do with people and their way of life. The world has an effect on it but it's not about the world. It's culture.

For this reason I've come up with a new term. Culture Building.

For most people this is really just about terminology. Who cares, right? World Building, Culture Building, whatever it's called the basic idea is the same and you still have to do it.

Well, for me, I could never get past it. I would do the basic steps and then I was burned out. God, world building takes forever, kind of mentality. I guess it's about moving on, going through the steps.

So that's what I'm going to do. Go through the steps, I'm going to "build" a novel

This is what I've come up with so far. (Obviously, there is just a basic outline. I'll go through the actual ABC's and 123's of it in a later post)

BUILDING A NOVEL

1. World Building: This includes things like the solar system, planets, moon, constellations, orbit, rotation, etc.

2. Culture Building: I'm still working on this because I think there is a lot of work that can be done. I want to have it all even if I don't use it all. So far I have things like People, Social Organizations, Commerce, Daily Life, Home Life, Religion, Government, Community Life. I'm not sure how I'm going to organize any of this yet

3. Story Building: This is pretty simple. I'm going to use Theme, Symbolism, Structure, POV, and Tense

4. *Character Building: Here is obvious. Main, Major, Minor, and Extras. Under each I'll go ahead and come up with what I need to know about each set of characters. Obviously main and major will have a whole lot more than minor. Extras I'm putting in because sometimes an extra can turn into a minor, possibly a major, so I want to at least know that person exists. This can also do wonders for culture building. An extra, a waiter, for example, in a local shop. Maybe there is something specific I need to know about how waiters act in my world. Or something along those lines.

4. *Plot Building: Here I really have no idea. I've never been much of a "plotter" I do plot but small sections at a time and usually not very well. It messes me up later which is why I'm adding it. This I will have to work on.

* Character and Plot are not really separate in the building process so unlike the others that you can pretty much do in a linear fashion this takes going back and forth between the two in both the planning stage and writing stage.

I bet most of you are thinking why go through all this work? Well, I have a couple of reasons.

1. This one is the most important: I can't write. It's just not coming to me so I'm using my writing time as building time. So far it's been working quite well. I have way more ideas about this story than I did before starting. It's actually starting to feel like a real novel

2. Other people have great systems. Most of this information I go from other websites but it's still someone else's system. I'm sure it works for many people but I wan my very own system that I created. Maybe I'll be using the information from others but it will be in a way that works for me.

3. It's really fun! I didn't use to think planning was fun. I thought it was just a thing I had to do so that I could get to the really fun part, the writing. Now, the writing is still the best part, but I think I've learned to enjoy the whole journey now.

How about the rest of you? Any of you "Building Your Novel"? How do you do it?

*****

I want to give credit for all the world building information I've been using. There's quite a bit...

1. http://steph-wordbyword.blogspot.com/p/stephs-worldbuilding-guide.html  I'm using her ideas from Off/On Planet.

2. http://www.seventhsanctum.com/www/wwwfull.htmlHere I didn't use any particular thing but some of the articles gave a few ideas on how to do what other articles just mentioned. I really liked that. Plus it's very extensive

3. http://www.novel-writing-help.com/This website is a cornucopia of novel writing advice. This is where I got "Story Building" from and just made a few adjustments to make it my very own.

4. http://hollylisle.com/maps-workshop-developing-the-fictional-world-through-mapping/Holly has a great website with so much information on how to do just about everything.

5.http://www.amazon.com/Lisles-Create-Culture-Clinic-ebook/dp/B004EYUHRE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355921092&sr=8-1&keywords=holly+lisle+culture+clinicThis is a course, really, and yes it cost but I used this for my own culture building (plus another website) and it's really in depth. I don't like the way it's organized which is why I'm doing it myself,  but it provides a lot of ideas for culture creation. Most things I wouldn't have questioned without it.  Her language clinic is also amazing.

6.http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/I'm using this with the culture clinic to create my own way of culture building.

So those are the websites. Have fun!

Pregnancy Effects No One Told Me About

When I was maybe 9 the only thing I ever wanted to do (besides being an author) was being a mom. My first niece was born a year earlier and I remember thinking I wanted to be a mom, that's it. I wanted to take care of the little creature who could barely speak or walk but somehow she was the sweetest little thing in the world.

Later on, I imagined getting married at 20 (which coincidentally, I did) and having a baby right away (luckily I did not do that). I wanted four kids and I wanted them all before I was30. That changed, of course, when I got a little older and wanted to go out but I can honestly say I never stopped wanting kids, I just didn't want them right away.

The thing is when you're younger and thinking about your future and getting married and having kids you (okay, well me, at least) almost always think of having the child not everything you have to go through to get it. I'm not talking about how but about pregnancy. I never imagined being pregnant. I imagined having a newborn but not a huge basketball where my abdomen used to be.

Now, to be honest, for me, pregnancy has been pretty easy. I never had morning sickness. I didn't have any wierd cravings. I didn't have any big scares with my baby. I felt her move when she was supposed to. All my doctors appointment assure me that everything is perfect. I really have nothing to complain about... but of course I do.

First of all, I've been thin my whole life. I've never dieted, never really exercised much. I was just thin. I'm not used to looking in the mirror and seeing a huge stomach and thighs. I've cried a few times about it.  I knew it would happen but knowing it will happen and it actually happening are two very different things.

But I can get over that. Okay, so I'll have to diet and exercise to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, okay. I can deal with it. I don't like it but I can deal.

The one thing I'm not sure I can deal with, although I'll have to learn, is not writing. I mean, yes I'm writing this but that's different. I can't seem to write anything to do with my projects. I try and try and nothing comes and when something comes it's complete garbage. I can't even stand to look at it, let alone read it.

I've cried about this too.

I feel like I'm actually having writers block. I don't really believe in writers block so for me to say that... well it's bad.

My husband tells me its just hormones (I HATE when people say that) and once Em (that's our babies name... Well Emilynn, but Em for short) gets her and we get settled into a new routine I'll get back to writing but I'm afraid. What if I don't?

I have all this free time right now and when she comes I won't have any. Why will I be able to write then?

So this particular piece of pregnancy I can't stand. I hate it and all I can do is hope it disappears after I'm no longer pregnant but I'm not sure it will.

Anyone else had this kind of problem or am I the only one? Is this amazing pregnancy that has been almost symptomless the cause? I mean no one can have it too great, right? There has to be something that's wrong.

What do the rest of you think??