Ideal Reader

So this post is dedicated to my best George (and yes for some strange reason I refer to my awesome best friend as a Harry Potter character.  It's a random story that wouldn't make sense to anyone but us.  Yes, we are that special. )  Anyway, so I have this super awesome best friend, yes that's you Ali, and she just happens to like the same book genre as I write.  So she has been given the torturous/privileged (depending on how she decides to look at it :-)) task of reading my chapters as write them.  This has been a huge help to me.

Without realizing it, she has filled an important role.  Something I heard people talk about all the time in my writing classes was the importance of having something known as an IR.  Well, me, being the novice that I was/am, had no freaking clue what that meant.  After a little while, people finally explained that an IR stood for Ideal Reader.  And Ideal Reader is someone that loves the types of stories that you write and that you trust to read your work.  This is the person that you aim to please with what you're writing.  If they're not diggin' what's going on, then it's quite possible that it's not working.  After I figured that out, I went a long time being sad because I didn't have one of those and I didn't think I was likely to find one because most of my family thinks my reading/writing obsession is a little crazy and even those who like to read aren't really big on the fantasy or paranormal romance genres.  (don't get me wrong though, they're all uber supportive.)

Well, I worked so long on my first novel that it had been awhile since I had tried writing something new so I was a little self-conscious after I started writing Susceptible.  To appease my self-conscious side, I sent my first and second attempts at chapter 1 to Ali to see what she thought and she has just been reading chapter after chapter ever since.  It seems kind of silly to me that I didn't think of her before.  I mean, who sat outside Barnes and Noble with me for hours waiting for the next installments of our favorite series?  Who do I recommend books to?  Who recommends books to me?  It was an obvious choice and she does the job well.  She doesn't get to know any of info before hand so she doesn't get a tainted view of what I'm writing, but she gives me a great look into whether or not I am accomplishing what I'm intending.  She also is a great motivator in getting the next chapter. I believe I was told I was fired once if I didn't have my next chapter to her by midnight.  And not only does she give me deadlines and threats, but knowing that I'm gonna get to see her reaction when she reads it, just makes me excited to send it.  

Anywho, ideal readers are awesome sauce (especially mine, she deserves some awesome reward for sticking with me and dealing with all my obnoxious questions) and I would really recommend finding one.  I hope that all of my fellow writers can fine theirs.

NaNo and Plotting Follow Up

So November has come and gone which means that NaNoWriMo has come to an end as well.  I have to give myself a "not too bad for a first try" rating.  I ended the month with 33,500 words, leaving my novel at 57,625.  It's not as good as I was hoping for, obviously, but, in the end, I added a hefty chunk to my novel and that's what matters.  And I'm full of excuses like holiday excitement and a painful trip to the dentist to get my wisdom teeth removed to placate myself ;-).  I learned some good things to take into consideration when I try next year.

The other thing I need to follow up on is how plotting out my novel went/is going.  I love it!  I think I'll stick with starting letting the cards fall where they may for the first few chapters so I can get aquatinted with the characters and the story before I really decide where things are going.  I also have to say that I am very proud of myself for sticking to the flexible rule.  I combined ideas that were supposed to be in different chapters and added several unexpected twists that presented themselves as I was working along.  It has been a great tool for not forgetting scenes of awesomeness before I can get to them.  I caught myself jumping ahead chapters several times and my outline brought me back to the right spot in no time.  It also made it so I didn't get stuck for days at a time, trying to figure out what the next best step to take would be. Once one chapter is done, it's easier to jump right into the next one.  So as of now, I am a believer in flexible plotting.

I started on my post about my muse, but I need another night of sheer hyperness to get it going.  That is just not a post you can do while you're calm or surrounded by other people.  I also have a section in my novel entitled blogging awesomeness so I have plenty of material to keep myself and hopefully you entertained in between potty training, trying to finish my novel, Christmas shopping and work (just call me Super Mom!  Haha just kidding.  One or more of those will probably get put off until the last minute, but hopefully not)

Let's Make It Hurt!

Sometimes it's easy to believe that it's a good thing no one can see the future.  Having the foreknowledge that I do about the fate of my characters (that's not to say that they don't put their foot down and make decisions for themselves without my say so, because honestly they surprise me all the time), I found myself holding back from specific characters because I knew not to get attached.  I have to love and hate my characters along with my heroine and I found that instead of loving a certain character like I was supposed to, I was not allowing her to love him like she was supposed to so that I could get away with making her final decision easier on myself.  Experience and pain shape fictional characters just as they do real people or at least it should if you want a good story. So I can't expect my character to end up the way she's supposed to if I don't give her the chance to hurt the way she must.  Fiction is about living vicariously so if I tell a lie to my reader by holding back what was intended then I am betraying myself, my characters and my readers.  So it's time to stop holding back. Let's tell the true story.  Let's get the experience right.  And if the truth hurts...Let's make it hurt.

Plotting...is it as scary as it seems?

So, every writer has their own habits that work for them.  Some people work in the morning.  Some are night owls.  Some can't work unless they've had their cup of coffee or their favorite music playing in the background.  Writers tend to be rather fickle creatures.  Don't believe me?  Try watching one work sometime.  One issue we tend to debate is whether it is better to have a strict plot that you stick to or if it's better to go with what you come up with in the moment kind of thing.  Well, I have always been one of those people that decided okay, here are my characters, add some magical element and a vague idea of where the last chapter would lead and then I embarked on the journey.  And those have been very long roads.  I worked on a book called Thunderstorm for about 3 years before I called it complete, and then spent the next 6 trying to rewrite the dang thing before someone wiser than me suggested I shelve it.  (Shelving that novel is a story for a post of its own.)  As you can see, that method took me about 9 years to no avail.  I had a few side projects, but I never finished any of them.  So, considering my 9 year and counting record, I have made some pretty far reaching goals for Susceptible.  And that means that I'm going to have to change up my game.
I am switching from my free-spirited ways to a more organized plotter.  However, I am writing myself a reminder on all my notes that everything is FLEXIBLE!!!  I am one of those people that struggles--okay freaks might be a better word--when things don't go according to plan.  So, flexibility and reminding myself to still embrace those moments when my muse decides to dump on me.  (Look for a post in the near future where we delve into the identity of this muse of mine.  Its strange ways are beginning to intrigue me.)  Anyway, I started my plotting today and it almost made me giddy to have the basic flow for 7 or 8 chapters ahead of where I am currently working.  The mysterious middle section of my novel that's been looming over my head began to take form and made my NaNo goals seem attainable.   I won't have to waste several days trying to figure out what the heck is going to happen next that will lead us to that ultimate goal of the awesome conclusion.  The beginning, middle and end must contain equal parts awesome sauce ( and yes Ali, that phrase was used just for you) with maybe a slightly larger heap of awesome at the end.  The middle is the meat.  It must not be neglected.  We'll see how my muse and I handle this new idea of plotting.  Stay tuned to find out. :-)

NaNoWriMo and Other Writerly Goals

Today marks two weeks until the start of NaNoWriMo.  For those of you who don't know, that is writerly speak for all us writers go nuts during the month of November and try to write 50,000 words which equates to about 175 pages.  They titled this madness National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.  So the goal is to write a minimum of 1,666 words a day.  Right now I get between 500 and 1,500 on the days I actually write so this is gonna be a stretch.  But this is all part of the larger plan to finish Susceptible by the end of the year.  Currently, I am at about 18,000 words or 60 pages.  Yeah, pray I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.  So now is the time to get my brain stuck in plotting overdrive.  My muse seems to hang out in the shower so I should be squeaky clean for the next month or so (don't worry, that kinda creeps me out too).  If you see me in the month of November, ask me about my word count for the day and if I haven't reached 1,666, tell me to get my butt back to work.  I will create a page for Susceptible that I will try to keep updated with my current word and page count so you can all hold me to my far reaching goals.  And please hold me to them.  I tend to rebel against myself more than others.  If all goes well, I'll be looking for beta readers by the beginning of 2013!

Starting Out

I was going to start out with some touchy feely story about how and why I started writing and the awesome things that it does for me.  I may still get to that, but writing 101: start out with something that will grab your readers attention.  So here goes...if I can't catch anyone's attention with a teaser from the book I'm working on, then I'm doomed anyway, right?  This is from my young adult pranormal/fantasy romance novel currently entitled Susceptible.
   
     Every decision I've ever made has had to have the government's seal of approval from the food I eat to who I'm allowed to marry.  That's what happens when you live in a society that's so ruled by fear they're driven to the desire for genocide.  But what happens when the creatures they fear most come knocking at our door and prove to be smarter than we gave them credit for?  Chaos breaks loose and for once in my life I'm given the opportunity to choose for myself.  But will I choose the poster boy for everything my government desires, who would do anything to protect me?  Or will I choose the new guy who likes to draw out my inner rebel I never knew existed?