Thought Patterns

And I do mean big.

In the beginning, one character is packing up the belongings of someone who'd died. Another character is packing up to move from her own house to a tiny little house she is going to rent.

The second character's boxing up stuff is something I added in. Thought it would be cool to have them both packing boxes yet for different reasons.

Problem is…later, there is this really awesome scene. And to take it from the house with its basement to the tiny little house, it just doesn't happen as well as I'd like.

So do I change the really awesome scene to fit in with the different house? Or do I go back and change the beginning and all the parts afterwards that mention the move and where she lives now? Hmm?

I could move part of it outdoors. Oh, now that would be different….let me give that a try. Thanks for the help!

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Listening to: Bonnie Raitt - (Goin') Wild For You Baby
via FoxyTunes

I'm writing. Honest to gosh, I am.

Mostly writing quick scenes to get a feel for the character. I learned a lot about what is wrong with Harri's character (and even more about what is right with her) so I'm playing with some scenes to get a clue.

I sent Simple Sarah off to two beta readers who have promised to be brutally honest.

Oh, and I'm watching more snails get born! That's cool.

Enough for now. Today is headache day so I'm not doing much overall just yet.

I have decided to work on Simple Sarah (SS), part one of The Trilogy. So far, I have pounded out words on it every day, which feels good. The story feels good too.

Right now, though, I am off on a tangent. I am letting it run in that direction in order to further develop the characters, at least in my head. Also, it may actually work out in the long run.

The best definition I have read about which genre a book falls into, is this: What do you want the reader to walk away with?

I want the reader to feel that this book is a fantasy. The problem is, the relationship of the main characters plays an important role and I keep feeling like I am teetering on a thin line.

In the Valdemar books, in Magics Pawn, the relationship between Vanyel and Tylendel is very important. Yet, it is not a romance. In Magic's Price, the relationship between Vanyel and Stefan is again very important. And again, it is not a romance.

That is how I want these books to be. The relationships are very important. Now, to just find the balance between fantasy and romance.

Oh, and in the sidebar, up at the top, is the word count meter for SS. The date below it is when I last updated the count.

The world heaves a collective sigh. Writers across the globe close their laptops, turn off their computers, or put down their pencils.

NaNoWriMo 2006 has come to an end.

My count on OpenOffice.org was 50,235 but the Official Count Validater says I had 50,179. Where did the other 56 words go? Who knows. They probably collapsed at the last second and perished.

As usual, I did some chop and crop on the manuscript and it now sits at 40,560. I've got several huge scenes to paste in and some re-arranging to do but when I am done, it will probably still be just 50K or so. Not close to the 90K I need it to reach before I say "and they lived happily every after".

Just before NaNoWriMo ended, I went off on a tangent with one of the characters. I'm still debating about what to do about it. The book originally was supposed to be about twin sisters and the two people they fall in love with. But the love interest for one sister fell through (I hate her) so I dropped that part of the plot. Then I decided one night to try it again with another love interest. And oh what a lust, I mean love, interest it turned out to be! Holy sex-drive, Batman! Now I need to decide if 1, it will stay; 2, where/how will I integrate it; and 3, will it stay the same.

Decisions, decisions.

I talked it over with my consultant (Lorna). She loves the idea of there being two stories in one. She disliked how the two meet. We debated it for a while until she got a headache.

So will R still lust V? Will P and S really need another 40K to kiss and make-up? Tune in next time to As the Butch Swaggers.

is going fairly well. Slow, though. So far tonight I have 1952 new words.

BG4 was originally supposed to be two couples (two sisters and their new loves) in one book. It didn't seem as though either couple had enough of their own to carry their own book. Problem was, as I wrote it, it seemed far too complicated to keep track of four main characters. Then, one of the main characters just kinda fizzled out. I didn't like her. At all. So she was dropped as a love interest.

Now, I am wrapping up the relationship that is left and…the book is not even novella size. My NaNo currently is at 45011, but about 9500 or so is going to get lopped off. I have several scenes that stink and will be cut once NaNo is over. I have other scenes written in preparation that will be fit in, however. But it won't be anywhere near the minimum of 80K the book needs to be.

Back to plan A. There is a possibility for a love interest for the one sister. It is a stretch and will come in late in the book, unless I move things around. I'm thinking about doing it to see how it feels. Can't hurt and it counts toward the NaNoWriMo goal, right? Right.

Meanwhile, the MC's of BG2 and BG3 are kinda pissed. They want to know why their stories were so rudely set aside. Good question.I'm itching to get back to work on BG3 especially. December is going to be a busy month.

(Oh, and I saw Mobis today! He seems to be doing just fine. I figure if he's alive after 24hrs, he's going to make it. If you haven't a clue what I am talking about, scroll down to see the immediately preceding post or click here for it.)

I've discussed this before but I am bringing it up again. So there, nyah.

Anyway, I bring it up because it is something I am trying to do as I write BG4. I tend to write a lot of dialogue. While that isn't all bad, I'd like to get the reader into the setting, and not just into the characters' heads.

Where is that line between "setting as a character" and "adverb and adjective hell"?

The green trees and brown grass along with the purple flowers and gently flowing stream.

Eh, not so bad. Not a complete sentence, either, but that's beside the point. Do I go through and add some sort of adj. in front of every noun?

There is a book I read not too long ago that I about chucked across the room in just the opening paragraph. The character wakes up, goes to the bathroom to do whatever, goes to the kitchen, etc etc. But it is the bathroom with the Italian terra cotta tile and the glossy black counter and the lace curtains and the…blech. But then I realized that from that scene, I learned a lot about the character. She had money, lots of it. She liked the modern, sparse look. She'd probably never used her kitchen.

I have a character who is also overly rich but in the scene where SHE wakes up, the reader has no idea about it or anything else. She wakes up, realizes the one-night-stand has already left, goes to the kitchen to get coffee, and the phone rings. I use a few more words but basically, it is that boring.

I suppose that since, in both cases, the description of the apartment is important, to use adjectives would be a good thing. I want the reader to get built up for the crash that comes with the phone call. I want them to see and understand this character. Hmm. Food for thought, and low calorie too!

Meanwhile, my word count for BG4 is going slow. It currently sits at 9351 but should be 15,000 by now. Sigh. Somethings I think too much. Just write, dammit!

Most days I don't have the television on during the day. Even in the afternoons, we only have it on a few hours each day.

But sometimes, like if I need a cover noise or I am needing distractions, I'll turn it on. Usually that means Animal Planet. Today I saw one of my favorite shows, Backyard Habitat. They were setting up a backyard to attract the yellow tiger swallowtail and the ruby throat hummingbird.

A few weeks ago, Joella and I were wandering the yard and a big shadow got my attention. I looked up to see this huge yellow butterfly. That thing had to be a good 6" across. Lorna said it was a tiger swallowtail. So, with today's show reminding me, I decided to look it up.

First, of course, I went to Wikipedia. While no result for "tiger swallowtail" came up, I went to "butterflies". In the external links. From there I went to Butterflies and Moths of North America. And that is where I hit pay dirt (whatever that means).

At this website, you can do a keyword search for specific butterfly species. Or, better yet, do a map search. I narrowed it down to North Carolina, then to Buncombe County. Cool.

I have a scene in Simple Sarah where she is trapped in a landslide and befriends this beetle while she awaits rescue. I'm keeping the beetle, but I am thinking that a butterfly chrysalis opening where she can see it would be interesting for the character. The website gives me a chance to look up a similar part of the U.S. and ensure I get the time of year right as well as the process. Since she comes out of the experience as a different, or at least further evolved, person, the butterfly thing will help tremendously.

Way freakin' cool. I love it when I get ideas like this. It's like a charge to my creative self.