Try some; it's good.
Wherein I ramble about books, movies,
music, TV shows, my life, and occasionally, hot emo boys.
My Books
Current WiP
My ValentineGuide sequel = DONE
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride
So I'm hitting the home stretch with Your Alibi, where I've cannily avoided disbursing chunks of backstory, but still managed to get everything across. For me, this is also known as the halfway point. Sometimes reaching this point can be a bit of a struggle but once I get the momentum behind me, I'm like a hippo running downhill. Just no stopping me, baby.
It varies from book to book, of course. Sometimes I write like a fiend for about 20K and then taper off as I realize I have no fucking clue where the book is going and I'm not sure whether I have anything that remotely smells like a plot. That kind of happened with Guide and I came up short on word count too. I revised that sweet little bitch two or three times after completion.
Yes, that means I'm a pantser. I've actually written an entire novel extemporaneously with no idea how it was gonna end. Was a sci-fi romance called Falling. That was wicked fun, and I was as astonished as anyone when the book came back from my beta-readers as brilliant, awesome, ass-kicking fun, "I wish I had 1/4 of your talent," and "I'm insanely jealous." Huh? You mean it doesn't have plot holes big enough to drive a truck, through? Well, holy shit, color me surprised.
Outlines? We don't need no stinkin' outlines...
With Your Alibi, I had a little trouble getting started because I had so much plotted out in my head that I wasn't exactly sure how to get there. Which maybe makes no sense, except to say, it was like I had a printout from Mapquest in hand, but with the start of the route missing. Get it?
However, now that I'm rolling, the last half of this book should come really fast. I've set a chapter a day as my goal and I hit it most of the time. Occasionally if stuff crops up, I take two days on a chapter and then I bitch at myself mentally for being so slacktastic. If I keep to my writing schedule, I should be done with the first draft of this book in a little over two weeks. That's the plan anyway. I give myself major credit for sticking with this. I'm not letting my genre ADD gain ascendance and I'm not--
---oooh, shiny---
--stopping til I've written three sexy, funny romances, dammit!
The next one on the docket to be completed is called Free Lunch. As a perk, I always take the most awesome trips while researching my projects. Guide granted me a gorgeous weekend in NYC, and Alibi will have me in Cali two or three times before I'm done, but the the research for Free Lunch is going to ice the cake. When it comes time to start writing about Chaz Montgomery Winthrop and our girl Darby, I'm going to see if I can spend a week with some Freegans in order to write with verisimilitude. I'll post about exactly what that entails next time, but feel free to look up Freegans for extra credit if you want.
So what're you, pantser or plotter?
It varies from book to book, of course. Sometimes I write like a fiend for about 20K and then taper off as I realize I have no fucking clue where the book is going and I'm not sure whether I have anything that remotely smells like a plot. That kind of happened with Guide and I came up short on word count too. I revised that sweet little bitch two or three times after completion.
Yes, that means I'm a pantser. I've actually written an entire novel extemporaneously with no idea how it was gonna end. Was a sci-fi romance called Falling. That was wicked fun, and I was as astonished as anyone when the book came back from my beta-readers as brilliant, awesome, ass-kicking fun, "I wish I had 1/4 of your talent," and "I'm insanely jealous." Huh? You mean it doesn't have plot holes big enough to drive a truck, through? Well, holy shit, color me surprised.
Outlines? We don't need no stinkin' outlines...
With Your Alibi, I had a little trouble getting started because I had so much plotted out in my head that I wasn't exactly sure how to get there. Which maybe makes no sense, except to say, it was like I had a printout from Mapquest in hand, but with the start of the route missing. Get it?
However, now that I'm rolling, the last half of this book should come really fast. I've set a chapter a day as my goal and I hit it most of the time. Occasionally if stuff crops up, I take two days on a chapter and then I bitch at myself mentally for being so slacktastic. If I keep to my writing schedule, I should be done with the first draft of this book in a little over two weeks. That's the plan anyway. I give myself major credit for sticking with this. I'm not letting my genre ADD gain ascendance and I'm not--
---oooh, shiny---
--stopping til I've written three sexy, funny romances, dammit!
The next one on the docket to be completed is called Free Lunch. As a perk, I always take the most awesome trips while researching my projects. Guide granted me a gorgeous weekend in NYC, and Alibi will have me in Cali two or three times before I'm done, but the the research for Free Lunch is going to ice the cake. When it comes time to start writing about Chaz Montgomery Winthrop and our girl Darby, I'm going to see if I can spend a week with some Freegans in order to write with verisimilitude. I'll post about exactly what that entails next time, but feel free to look up Freegans for extra credit if you want.
So what're you, pantser or plotter?
Part of my problem is that even though I have been writing for more than fifteen years, only recently have I started writing novels. I am still figuring out what the hell I'm doing, how to go about it, what works for me and what doesn't. But since I write historicals, I outlined Secret Serenade with research elements (historical tidbits, particularities of locale) in mind that I wanted to include to cover before wrapping up.
And I've learned that any hint of boredom with my writing signals problems. Stop. Rethink. Begin again.
As for pacing, if I can get a chapter done in three days I SO kicked ass. My toddlers interfere with, well, any train of thought.
Oh god, I remember those days. When I had both my kids at home during the day, I didn't get any writing done until after they were in bed, basically. Mine are 7 and 9 now and they go to school from 8:30-2:30. Bliss.
See, I've tried both plotting and pantsing and I end up crapping out. Ergo, a crapper. ;)
The few times I've tried to plot it all out in advance I feel like I'm 'ordering' myself around. When I sit down with a list of what I'm supposed to write, I automatically rebel against it. Talking to yourself is one thing, arguing with yourself, quite another ;-)
p.s I have the utmost respect for anybody who get ANY writing done with toddlers around. I know I sure didn't but mine are in high school now, so its all good!
But I often don't know what's going to happen in a book because they are quite literally character driven. If there are huge gaping plot holes or lack of conflict, I go back and fix that in revisions, but I don't -plot- a story. The characters basically just tell me what happens and I write it down to the best of my ability.