By Cam
I want to talk about FUNK today. As in: “I’ve been in a funk and I don’t know WHYYYYY.” (NOT: “You smell like funk please take this bar of soap before my nose hairs erupt in flames.”)
You see, I have — what I think — is a really cool idea for my WIP. It’s a contemporary love story (except when it’s not), with a twist (no sparkly fangs or anything). I’ve talked it out with some writer friends, researched for about 3 months, roughly outlined the plot, and even wrote out random scenes that popped up in my head (NOTE: I’m a total linear writer and end up a confused mess if I write out of order, so this last bit was pretty much outside the norm for me).
That’s all fine and dandy. But what’s really frustrating special with this particular WIP, is that I’ve written well over 20 versions of my first chapter. All of them are completely different. As in, different setting, different circumstances, and in some cases, different POVs. I was partially blaming this OMG SO FRUSTRATING educational writing process on cancerous subplots. So I simplified those subplots and focused on the main story line. You’d think the problem would be resolved, yes?
Apparently not. The main sticking point I had was with the inciting incident. I didn’t HAVE one, hence the spaghetti method of Chapter One Tryouts. I mean, I knew what key scenes I wanted, I knew my characters, I knew the ENDING…but that beginning was so freaking elusive! Like a cute boy who just won’t. make. the. first. move. I’m all about girl power, which is why I kept making the first move. But I think I was too aggressive. I think I ended up scaring off my own story. Can that happen? Can you scare off your story by being too pushy? I can’t shake the feeling that if I’d just backed off a teensy weensy bit, it would’ve all come whooshing out in a 70-80K document of literary perfection. The End.
Instead I’m banging my head against a cinder block wall going “WHY WON’T YOU COOPERATE WHY WHY WHY??????”
This. Is. Me. In a FUNK.
But what I’m experiencing isn’t just with my WIP — it’s with reading, critiquing, day-job-working, even SHOPPING. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve picked up over the last few weeks only to read a good 20-30 pages and then put it down. Not because they weren’t good — some were even freaking brilliant in those opening chapters — but because I’m just sorta like, Meh. About everything apparently. And this is so opposite from me. So opposite from how I usually am about EVERYTHING. I’m a Balls-to-the-Wall kind of girl. A Ready-to-Jump-Out-of-the-Plane kind of girl.
I’m not a Meh kind of girl.
I don’t really believe in writer’s block, but I don’t know what else to call this. Maybe my writer’s confidence has been ambushed? Maybe my brain needs a vacation (17 days until Punta Cana, but who’s counting?)? Maybe I need to put this idea to the side and work on a different one? Maybe I need some tips on how to de-FUNK myself?
So what about it? Have you ever been in a LIFE FUNK? How’d you get over it?
By Cam
For the next two weeks I’m going to do something that I think may actually kill me:
I’m going to FAST DRAFT.
If you’re not familiar with FD, it’s basically Candace Havens’ two-week writing boot camp where the main goal is to pledge to write 20 pages a day. 20 pages X 14 days = 280 pages = 70K. That’s a whole YA book for me.
Now…it’s sort of a known fact that a fast draft is always going to look like crap on paper after the two weeks is up. It’s even worse than a first draft, if you can believe that. (I didn’t think there was anything worse than a first draft…but apparently I’m wrong.) BUT — at least there will be words that can be revised into something more coherent.
I plan on working on my new WIP (the psychological contemporary YA that I’ve only told a few people about). This will be my first attempt to write first-person present tense with dual narratives. I think when this is done I’ll either be found wandering the streets with oily hair while muttering nursery rhymes to myself, or dead. It’s 50/50 at this point.
If you want to learn more about this session’s Fast Draft, check out Bria Quinlan’s post. (And if you don’t already follow Bria, you should. She has a lot of great ideas to help writers, plus she’s one of the sweetest writers I’ve met.) You’ll need to join Candace’s yahoo group loop (it’s free), but once you’ve joined, you can see how everything works here:
FD intro: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Write_Workshop/message/107
Getting ready: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Write_Workshop/message/108
How it works: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Write_Workshop/message/109 (cut and paste then find/delete the error messages for easy reading)
The rules and getting started: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Write_Workshop/message/110
Good luck to anyone who decides to participate!
By Cam
It’s a week before Christmas and I must say that although I LOVE this holiday, it’s also screwing with my personal timeline for my current WIP. Here’s where I am–I’ve finished Chapter One of my spanking new YA. The same one that interrupted my NaNo and has left my sleep schedule all out of whack. I still find myself dreaming snippets of this story, waking up to write it all down lest I forget, and embracing new research methods (which have been so insightful and irreplaceable in helping me understand my protagonist).
But there’ s something I’ve recently encountered that caught me completely off-guard. Yes, this is a YA and that alone was enough to make my head spin. I love reading YA, but I had been writing paranormal romances. ROMANCES. As in, against-the-wall steam, lusty heroines, and naughty heroes with a penchant for stalking the halls of my mind with their beefed up chests and brooding eyes. Well, it just so happens that YA’s don’t really have a whole lot of, ahem, s-e-x. And what little nookie there is, is usually behind the scenes.
So imagine my second surprise when I actually start writing this thing and notice that I’m using a whole lot of I, my, and me, me, me. WHAT?! I’m writing first person? But, but…I’ve only really written in third person before because sex scenes are always more fun to write and read when you can get in the heads of both characters (in separate scenes of course). What the heck do I know about writing in first person? I don’t even like to read in first person all that much. At least not in romance novels.
I got over my initial visceral response and started doing more research. Reading research. Reading as many first-person books as I could in a two-week time period. I noticed a trend that I guess I never paid much attention to before. It seems that romances are the overwhelming leader of books written in third-person. Because most other books I picked up — literary women’s fiction, legal thrillers, cozies, commercial fiction, YA, MG — are written in first-person. I’ve read a lot outside the romance genre before so why didn’t I pick up on this tidbit before? I can only assume it’s because my goal of writing toward publication is still new (April 2009 is when I started seriously writing…although like every other writer out there, I’ve been writing since I was a kid). During that time I started pursuing this goal, I was fully engrossed in romance. I had just given birth to my daughter in September ’08 and who knows, maybe I wanted to spice up my new lifestyle change a little. (But I can positively say I’m not a newbie to romance novels since I picked up my first romance book — a Jude Deveraux sheet-wrinkler — when I was twelve.)
So here I am writing in a new genre, writing in a new POV…what more could be thrown at me? Heh, heh, heh. My muse is wicked. That little tramp. Because a third revelation comes to me after I re-read my first chapter. I had to read it again because I felt like a deer caught in headlights, like eighteen-wheeler headlights with a neon row of fog-lights thrown in for good measure.
Here’s my first sentence (DISCLAIMER: This is rough. Very, very rough. So don’t get mad if your eyes start to bleed.):
I feel the fingers of dread massage my stomach as I walk across the pebbled pavement.
Huh? Then I read further thinking this must surely be a fluke…
A piece of gravel finds its way inside my flip-flop. But before I can stoop down to wheedle it out from between my toes, it’s already gone. I cough. Noxious exhaust pollutes the air around me, thick and suffocating like icing on the cake of my impending sentence. A warning that today is really going to suck.
Like I don’t already know.
Huh? I read it again. And again. I envision plantlife shriveling, puppies dying, books burning…did I write that in present tense? Warning bells go off in my head. Danger! Danger! I read it for the hundredth time. No way. This can’t be present tense. I’ve never written in present tense before. It’s like a foreign language to me. I start to think that maybe I’m one of those religious fanatics that can all of a sudden speak Latin even though I’ve never spoken Latin before. Yes, that must be it.
But after splashing a little water on my face, I settle into my seat with a fresh cup of hot tea. I start out slow, only punching a few sentences into my laptop. Then I start pounding away, typing until my eyes are dry and my tea’s too cold to drink. And I think maybe…just maybe, I kind of like this new writing style. I like the freedom it gives me. I like feeling more connected to my character, more invested in my story. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
The next day I ventured into the cyber world just to make sure I wasn’t turning to the dark side or anything. And I stumbled upon a wonderful post by Timothy Hallinan, an author of thrillers, about the advantages to writing in present tense. You can read his full post here.
There’s one passage that really struck a chord with me.
“It had an immediacy I enjoyed. It was less like writing and more (do I dare to say this?) like a movie or a play. Plays and movies exist in a permanent present tense, a period of time that begins the moment the curtain lifts or the image hits the screen. The viewers enter this period of time with the characters, and live through it right beside them. (This is an interesting illusion because it holds even when we see a film for the third or fourth time.)”
I highlighted the point that made me sit up and think, Holy cow, that is sooo right on. I was a Thespian in high school (I denounce the term “theatre geek”). I once majored in Theatre in college (before I realized I didn’t want to eat tuna fish and Ramen noodles my whole life). So I know what it’s like to have that curtain part and there’ s no turning back, no assurances that this performance will go smoothly. It’s the excitement and thrill of investing yourself completely in your character, playing off the audience’s emotions, and letting it all unfold naturally.
Hallinan is right on with his assessment. Why didn’t I think of that before? Major lightbulbs went off in my head when I made this connection because in my story, I want the reader to know everything as it happens. I want the reader to sit on the edge of his or her seat and wonder if my protagonist will be okay in the end. I want the reader to feel like they’re the character, the one experiencing this story first-hand.
I want that experience for them.
And for me.
So tell me…am I alone on this vessel of first-person present tense? If you write it, what do you see are the advantages? If you don’t, have you tried it? If not, what do you see as the major disadvantages? I’d love to hear from you!
By Cam
Ah, Friday. The light at the end of the tunnel. The work week is almost over and the weekend is about to begin. Friday is also when people start letting their hair down, or in the case of the Swima bombiviridis, their appendages.
I didn’t really have a topic in mind for today’s blog, I was actually planning on just highlighting my weekend goals – which I still haven’t figured out. But then I saw this article, and I’ve got to admit…it gave me the heebeejeebees. Once I really started thinking about it though, I realized how cool it would be to be a Swima bombiviridis.
The article highlights a new species of underwater worms that, when attacked, shoot off their appendages. When they release a limb, the limb glows green and they’re called “Green Bombs”—which lets face it, would scare the s**t out of me. The worms range in size from three quarters of an inch to up to four inches and live up to 12,000 feet under the ocean. So, no worries about running into these things if creepy crawlies aren’t high on your list.
But seriously. How cool is that? Say a mugger tries to steal your purse—Wham! Take that appendage you crook! What if you get into a catfight and that other bimbo tries to scratch her claws all over you? Here—have an arm biatch! Not to mention the incredibly uber-cool factor that it glows once you shoot it off. Right now you can only attain that feature if you’re radioactive or took a quick dip in the Chesapeake Bay.
Hmm…me thinks that maybe another story idea will surface from this discovery.
This begs the question — what would you do with glowing green arms?
Cambria Dillon - YA Writer represented by Vickie Motter, Andrea Hurst Literary Management
