Writing... or pretending to write

So my "author bio" says that I'm "armed with about 20,000 words." This was the case until I divided everything into separate books (it's still up for debate as to whether it'll be three or four... if it's three, then Book Two will be insane). Now everything together is over 35k.

But when I look at Book One alone, I'm officially over the NaNoWriMo halfway mark!



Only like, 200 words over the halfway mark, and that's just the 50k NaNoWriMo goal, not a completed novel, but HEY! I'm happy about it.

Now that I've got the really big events written, I'm going through and writing the in-between-scenes that make it a cohesive plot. This is surprisingly more exciting than I thought it was going to be. I was dreading having to go back through and puzzle out how A was going to get herself from this point to that point, but it's actually interesting and I'm enjoying getting to know her even better.

** Side note. I put the Alexander Skarsgård gif in this post while writing it, and I just stared blankly as he bowed over and over for like 3 minutes… Oops.

Anyway, now that the plot sequence is coming together, and my editor-self is happy that we've got an opening chapter, that dumb part of me is beginning to panic about a title. Even though I keep telling her that we have months of work ahead of us before we desperately need to have one, she is an awfully stubborn self. Sigh.

Greetings!

So I've read lots and lots of "how to begin your book" and "your first chapter" articles from bekindrewrite, Natasha Lester's website, Laura Mizvaria's old blog here (pssst! her new blog is here) just to name a few. And I think I wrote my first scene today!

Since there's SO much back story that will be revealed throughout the book, I've discovered that writing from beginning to end is going to be pretty much impossible for me. In my jumbled mind, the story will bounce around time (you know, from 2012 to 1881 to 1645 to 1998 and so on), but with the plot making sense and always moving forward. Right.

Originally, I had everything saved in one file, putting the scenes in what I thought the final order would be. Welp! After scrolling up and down trying to find a place to start a new scene (in the past or present, didn't really matter, I scrolled anyway!), I decided to keep two separate files. One historic and one modern.

I really have been trying to keep my mind in creating the story, but my dumb editor's brain is really really loud and wants to drown out my writer's brain. It's a struggle, let me tell you. So, even though my writer's brain is currently winning at the screaming contest, the editor in me has decided to softly ask the nagging question: How are you gonna start this?

And I think writer-self finally has an answer for editor-self. In the first 150 words I placed A and D in a place (yes, yes. I know how ridiculous "placed in a place" sounds, and I'm calling my main characters A and D) and by the end of 880 words, I've introduced my breakthrough conflict idea from last week, and exposed their secret to the reader.

Dance with me!

So yesterday I was driving to work like I always do, but was struck with this thought: "Does this book have enough conflict?"

Answer: Nope. Nope it doesn't.

My lovely sister agreed with me, and said that right now this story is pretty much a romance. But I don't particularly do romance, thus sparking the creation of the Guild.

Now, I know that you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about here, and since everything is still so up in the air with where the story is and where it could go, I'll just breeze over the concept. I needed a reason for two siblings to be running for their lives (even though their lives really aren't in danger because that is impossible... more on that tidbit later on!) so if there's a secret order that is out to get them... ta-da! Conflict!

The protagonist's main goal is still rooted in romance, but the Guild is going to add a sense of urgency and drive the story forward better.

Hello friends!

If you're reading this then that must mean that you found me after I have made several (ahem, countless) attempts at blogging.

2015 is going to be the year. I've been married for two years this summer, and my baby girl is going to be a year old in April! Also, I'll finish my first book in the next 12 months and work on the next steps of authoring.

I said it, and I'm publishing it on the internet to hold myself accountable!