Plotting...Just in time for Nanowrimo

I started drafting the post about romance, but then it hit me--we are only 2 weeks away from the start of Nanowrimo! That's National Novel Writing Month for anyone new to the writing scene. 50,000 words in 30 days!

Last year I didn't get to play and I've been a bit "off" the entire year. Here's to getting back on the writing train. You see, my biggest problem with writing this year has been NOT allowing myself to write the crappy first drat. I wanted everything to be perfect that first time. It's like I forgot that NEVER happens. For anyone. Nano gives me that reason/excuse to get it done.

Here is a great quote that I'm going to post on my wall in front of my computer:

"I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles." ~Shannon Hale

Become one with the sand!

Now, over the last two years, I've been adopting little plotting tips. It is helping my writing be more focused. I still consider myself a pantser, or the new term I've heard is Discovery Writer. Doesn't that sound great! And it doesn't come up as a misspelled word. :)

Janette Rallison taught a great class on plotting at the LDStorymakers Midwest Conference in September. Here are my notes from that class.

The first thing Janette said was rules exist for a reason. She followed that up with this quote:

"There are no rules to assure good writing, but there are rules to avoid bad writing."~Noah Lukeman

Writing requires you to have at least a slight idea what you want to write about. Even for Discovery Writers. Are you starting with a character (a scientist mage), a story idea (what if humans were created by aliens), or a theme (sometimes what you want most in life is not good for you).

The answer to this question will affect how you plot.

Character do's and don'ts
They must be likable but flawed. Leave room for growth.

Problem
Your characters MUST have a problem at the beginning of the story. It may not be the big problem, and it can be solved and replaced with a new one, but there must be some kind of problem. And, they must have a goal to solve that problem.

Goal do's and don'ts

• Sometimes you don't know the story goal at the beginning (Wizard of Oz, Star Wars)
• The goal doesn't always have to be achieved (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
• Goals can change (Les Miserables) 
• The more specific the goal, the better--something you can see happen. 
• The goal should be something worthy to evoke reader sympathy
• The best goals are important and urgent--they can't be postponed for any amount of time. If it can wait for next year, it's not important.
• All the main characters should have goals (internal and external). The conflict between these different goals is what makes a great story

Antagonist
Every villain is the hero of his own story. The stronger the villain, the harder your hero has to work. It's good to remember that the antagonist is not always a villain. They just oppose the MC.

1. man against man (The Prestige)
2. man against nature (castaway)
3. man against himself (recovering alcoholic)

Consequence of failure
There must be a reason why the character doesn't just give up and go home.

Finally, we did an exercise to help us get the core plot of our novel down into 3 sentences . It was based on Dwight Swain's Equation (Techniques of the Selling Writer). You simply fill out this chart and then put it in sentence form.

Problem:
Character:
Goal:
Antagonist/Obstacles:
Consequence of Failure:

This is what my poor attempt looked like:

Problem: The rapist is stalking her after escalating to murdering his victims
Character: Katrina in marketing, 8 months pregnant after being raped by the holiday serial rapist
Goal: Help the police catch the holiday serial
Antagonist/Obstacles: The holiday serial thinks fate has sent Katrina and their unborn child to replace the family he never had.  
Consequence of Failure: more people will die, her child will be raised by the rapist and she will most likely die.

Then you put it into sentence form:

When a serial rapists starts killing his victims to leave messages for Katrina, the only victim to get pregnant, she agrees to help the police catch him in spite of her swelling belly. Can the police keep her and her unborn baby safe while using her as bait now that the rapist wants a family of his own?

And what does that look like? A pitch! I've not even written the book and I have a decent pitch ready to go. SO exciting!

The whole purpose of this is to help you stay focused while you write. For discovery writers this is invaluable. We can now avoid those wonderful side lines that we have to cut later because they didn't take us to the resolution of our goal.

I got so excited that I spent an hour doing this...

Each of the 5 categories got a color and an index card. I put the character first since I already had the story idea and characters. This is for two books, the two main characters. And I got detailed. Now when I'm writing and get stuck, all I have to do is glance up and there is the goal.

I know a lot of you already do this, but I've never had the space until now. It's so exciting! I feel like a real writer now. :)

So what do you do to keep everything straight while writing?

Janette lives in Chandler, Arizona with her husband, five children and enough cats to classify her as “an eccentric cat lady.” She did not do this on purpose. (The cats, that is; she had the children on purpose.) Every single one of the felines showed up on its own and refuses to leave. Not even the family’s fearless little Westie dog can drive them off.

She is also published as CJ Hill.




We picked up a copy of her book Erasing Time. I'll review it when I get to it. :)

When twins Sheridan and Taylor wake up 400 years in the future, they find a changed world: domed cities, no animals, and a language that's so different, it barely sounds like English. And the worst news: They can't go back home.

The twenty-fifth-century government transported the girls to their city hoping to find a famous scientist to help perfect a devastating new weapon. The same government has implanted tracking devices in the citizens, limiting and examining everything they do. Taylor and Sheridan have to find a way out of the city before the government discovers their secrets. To complicate matters, the moblike Dakine has interest in getting hold of them too. The only way for the girls to elude their pursuers is to put their trust in Echo, a guy with secrets of his own. The trio must put their faith in the unknown to make a harrowing escape into the wilds beyond the city.

Full of adrenaline-injected chases and heartbreaking confessions, Erasing Time explores the strength of the bonds between twins, the risks and rewards of trust, and the hard road to finding the courage to fight for what you believe in.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Last Friday I had cake day. A friend has twin girls and they wanted a Thing 1 and Thing 2 birthday cake. Now my mind immediately went to a topsy turvy design. I mean, come on it's Dr. Sueuss! However, I didn't have the time or all the right supplies. Plus my friend said she wanted it simple. And for those of you who know I can't draw, I traced this on wax paper and then did a "toothpick" transfer. ;)

My own Thing 1:
I crossed the 10k mark with Last Christmas. There are still scenes in my head so I'll keep moving forward. Right now it's really weak in spots but it's first draft so that's fine. Here's a sneak peak at some first draft stuff. Q4U: Is her reasoning for not going further weak?

Most of the office lights had been turned off in an effort to set the holiday mood. Strands of light filled garland hung from the tops of the cubicles giving the area a soft glow. A large Christmas tree stood at the head of the conference table, its reflection twinkling in the large windows behind it. Katrina’s co-workers mingled everywhere, but she was oblivious. All she could focus on was Austin McCurdy.

They danced in the dimmest part of the room they could find. Katrina rested her cheek on his shoulder and lost herself in his warmth. His hands trailed slowly down her side, skimming the edge of her breast on their way to her hips sending shockwaves through her. She tightened her grip on his shoulders and pressed herself closer.

“Austin,” she whispered, “You make it hard to be good.”

“You’ve been good all year, and technically my job here is done.” He moved his hands into her long blond hair and tilted her head towards him. “I love your hair down like this.”

He took a few steps backward, drawing her with him until they were inside a cubicle. The next thing she knew, Katrina was sitting on his lap at someone else’s desk. Part of her wanted to laugh at the absurdity of office love, but when she looked into Austin’s eyes all she could think about was giving in. Giving in to what he wanted. What she wanted even more.

She leaned in and he met her half way. His lips were gentle, tentative, as if he were waiting for her to pull away. And then his arms pulled her closer and his tongue skimmed her mouth, looking for a way in.

“Austin—” She pulled back and caressed his face. “I need to go or this is going to get out of hand really fast.”

“Kat—”

Katrina placed a finger over his mouth to stop him, “One week Mr. McCurdy. In a week your contract will officially be over and you’ll no longer work for Harper and Harper. And then I expect you to be on my doorstep.”

“Are you sure I can’t take you home?” His fingers intertwined with hers.

“This is one promise to myself I intend to keep. No office entanglements.”

“Then I’ll call you in time for New years. I’ll put off returning to Los Angeles just for you.”

“Flatterer.” Katrina blushed and pulled her hands free. “Until then, Merry Christmas Mr. McCurdy.”


And Thing 2:
I also started working on my "connecting" novella for the Sendek series. You  may recall that I decided to scrap Search for Knowledge a few weeks ago. For the most part I still feel good about that decision even though it puts me behind on getting the next book out in that story. However, it felt flat and a bit forced in lots of places. And no one wants to read that.

Ryce's story will answer a lot of the questions about these new mage and Talia's plan for them. And he's always been the planned antagonist for the 3rd planned book. I figured, let's just get to it! So my four books will turn into a real trilogy after all. It's a relief on so many levels.

And for those of you who've read the first book--Jaron's demon is coming back. ;)

Emotional ADHD and the Review That Made My Day

Do you ever feel like you have emotional ADHD? If you answered no you are probably a man. Is that a false assumption on my part? Is crazy emotional roller coastering a symptom only women have to deal with?

I'm two weeks away from my next author event and I've struggled to do anything to get ready. It's in another state, but my "home" state, meaning where I went to high school. So even though it's harder to work out details it has the potential to be a great success because I know people there. And yet that also makes the pressure greater.

What if no one comes? Is that because they just don't care? Don't like me?

Or is it simply because they didn't know I was coming?

I contacted one local paper and sent messages to those I couldn't get a real person on the phone for. The one asked me to email the info. Great! Will do!

Crap, the press release Shauna (from WiDo) made for me is lost on my dead computer.

Okay, no sweat. Just tell them who you are, your connection to the area, list the book, publisher, date/time of event, and include the back jacket blurb. Right?

And then sit around with no response. I've done this so many times and it's starting to condition me.

Send it in an email, please = so we can ignore you and forget you ever called.

I'm sure it doesn't really mean that, but that's what it feels like. So, in the midst of all of this I got to a point where I just didn't want to do it any more. I don't know if all my scrounging around helps, so why bother? And then I got this jewel on Amazon.

I wanted to just cry. This is why I wanted to write and that's what I need to remember. I want to share stories that people can just enjoy. Things that will keep you up at night just because you have to see what happens.

This reminded me that I need to stop worrying about the mistakes that I still make. Not forget, but allow myself to grow and become better. I need to let go of the things in my writing and personal life that have crushed my ego and just write for the sheer enjoyment of it again.

And that's what I'm doing.

As of today, I'm 9851 words into my campnanowrimo project titled Last Christmas. It's a pressure free project and as I write it, I'm finding that I can think more about where I want to take the other stories that are sitting half finished on my hard drive.

And that's a really good thing.

Stay tuned...I might share some snippets.