Compelled into revision mode

The last time I posted a writing update, I was writing something new. Well, my writing ground to a halt when I suddenly got re-obsessed with editing my first SUNDOWN novel. I had been part of the way through a rewrite that was bringing it from present tense into past tense, last time I opened the file.

Since starting up with that again, I'm now almost done with the present-to-past transition. But a complicating factor is that my previous editing had led me to remove all sections of the novel that were from Jared's point of view, leaving me with some gaps to fill from Louise's point of view. I'm now nearly done with that part too, I think. Along the way, I've also done some other editing, like removing sections that were too wordy and / or boring, and unnecessary, and trimming unnecessary words here and there. I have a lot more work to do on that. The first few chapters I think are pretty strong, but after that there is a bit of bloating that needs to be addressed.

On another note, I was looking back through my blog posts here and found this one: Knowing your characters vs. showing them. It's a little scary that that was back in September 2012, and I am still grappling with the problem today. But I'm slowly bringing my characters into line with their actual character. I just have some more work to do on it. It's all part of the joyous editing process. ;)

This current rewrite is titled SUNDOWN III (whereas the one I spoke about in 2012 was SUNDOWN II, my first total rewrite). This current rewrite is less drastic, as the setting and plot aren't really changing. But it's still taking me some time and patience, of course. As much as I'd love to be done with this and ready to think about sending my book out to beta readers (again), I'm also enjoying the process of refining the book into what I hope will be its best shape to date. Maybe because I know that in not too long, I'll have to put it aside because I'll be studying for second semester this year.

I'm getting stuff done while I can! And it feels very good to be inspired about my writing again. I've had a tough few years on that front.

The Aberration Blog Hop

Lisa Regan is hosting this blog hop in celebration of yesterday's release of her second novel, Aberration - congratulations Lisa!!

The details of the blog hop are as follows:

Definition of ABERRATION
1 : the fact or an instance of deviating or being aberrant especially from a moral standard or normal state
2 : unsoundness or disorder of the mind
3 : an aberrant individual
— ab·er·ra·tion·al  adjective
From the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary 

What:  The Aberration Blog Hop: Finding the Most Aberrant Characters
Where:  Sign up here
When:  June 6 & 7, 2013
What to do:  All you have to do is list your top 5 choices for the most aberrant characters in fiction, television or movies.  Also, if you're a writer, you can then include a short paragraph about who you think is the most aberrant character from your own work.

So, without further ado, these are just a few of the characters I can think of off the top of my head that definitely fit the term "aberrant" (and please note that if you've never seen the legal drama The Practice, there is a rather big spoiler in the bullet points below):

Aberrant characters

• Sylar from Heroes
• the guy is just plain evil, and from what I've seen of the series so far, he's got no hope of any sort of redemption
• Max Guevara from Dark Angel
• she's not evil but she's definitely not natural. And even amongst her own "aberrant" kind, she's special. Love this show!
• Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs
• this was the first character I thought of when I thought about moral aberration. Definitely one of the creepiest, most memorable characters ever!
• The reavers from Firefly
• these dudes are also plain evil, and plaaaaain gross.
• George Vogelman from The Practice
• OH GOD! I am still not over this. I still remember the shock and horror I felt when the truth was revealed.

The Secondary Characters bloghop

Today is the Secondary Characters Bloghop, hosted by Rachel Schieffelbein, Theresa Paolo, Kelley Lynn, Jessica Salyer, Jenny Morris and Suzi Retzlaff. You can win critiques by participating, so get on over to the linky if you haven't already and slap your name on it! 

Now to my favourite secondary characters. It's hard to choose one or two, so I went with a larger number! And this was also just off the top of my head! So, with that said...

My favourite secondary characters (of the moment):

• Vera's dad in Please Ignore Vera Dietz - I love his little charts. The little dad interludes brought a bit of extra lightness and cuteness to what was at times a really sad story
  
  
• I could name countless awesome secondary characters from the Harry Potter books, but for now I'll just say I love Neville - he's one of those characters who undergoes an amazing transformation
  
  
• Speaking of amazing transformations, can anyone say Wesley Wyndam-Pryce from Buffy / Angel? It was so amazing (and pretty tragic) watching him change from the absolute blithering weakling we first meet to a deadly, hardened warrior with serious war wounds
  
  
• Joel Tuck from Dean Koontz's Twilight Eyes (my favourite Koontz book), who is a gentle (dangerous) giant...with a third eye:
  
  
• From the TV series Medium, which I only just recently finished watching (sniffle! argh! noooo, what now?), I'm guessing Bridgette counts as a secondary character - she's the middle daughter played by Maria Lark, who was just the cutest little girl at the beginning of the series. Such a funny actress even at the age of 6!
  
  
• Neale from The Lifeguard, one of those tween scholastic books I read as a pre-teen (and still re-read sometimes these days!). Neale was troubled but sexy (and, eventually, sweet)
  
  

I think I could go on (and on, and on...), and I've probably forgotten some of my most favourite secondary characters, but this is the list as it stands in my conscious mind right now! :)

Knowing your characters vs. showing them

I know my characters pretty darn well, I think. I knew them well during my SUNDOWN revisions, increasingly so as I went through second, third, fourth and fifth draft revisions. And during my recent total overhaul, which resulted in SUNDOWN II, my intimate (ahem) knowledge of these people ("people"?) was right there in my mind.

That's why I got these feelings now and then while in the midst of the rewrite, feelings that I was not writing my characters properly. For instance, I recognised that Jared wouldn't be talking so much, and he wouldn't be understanding his own thoughts and feelings so early on. In reality it would take a good smack over the head with a tree trunk for him to get it. I guess it doesn't help that halfway through my rewrite, I changed my mind about some important aspects of the plot, so "early Jared" doesn't fit "later Jared". Basically what this means that when I get stuck into revisions, I will need to bring the guy into line with his true core nature. And with the new plot.

As for Louise, well, I know she's surrounded by people but feels she has no friends. She's living the dream, but wants only for it to be over. She's angry - many layers of angry - but in truth, she's mostly hurt, lonely, and...in limbo. I knew all of that already, but I'm pretty sure it didn't come across in the rewrite. So, again, revisions will need to take care of that.

I thoroughly enjoyed the rewrite, as mentioned previously. But I happen to be one of those weirdos who gets a huge kick out of revisions. So I can't wait to get started on those. Again.

I'm Hearing Voices blogfest - part 2 (dialogue)

Here we are, continuing with the I'm Hearing Voices blogfest (which has been soooo very fun already!). Today's task is as follows:

February 8th - Wednesday - Dialogue Introduction: Have two characters introduce each other using only dialogue—no backstory, no internalization, just dialogue between the two. Max 250 words.

My interview takes place between Mason and an unnamed "banshee" woman he meets fairly early on in the story.

Mason: Yo, girly, you got a minute? 

Banshee: Hmph.

Mason: Okay then. Look, uh, you see all these people staring at us? You’re meant to introduce me, and then I can introduce you. It’s just a thing...know what I’m sayin’?

Banshee: Meh. 

Mason: Right. Well ...hey everyone. My name’s...no wait, that’s her job. MY job is to introduce her. And I don’t know her name, but I can tell you she’s a banshee. And I always thought those freaks were all deadly and, like, hated my guts. But lately I’m getting the sneaking suspicion there’s more to them than meets the eye. I’m starting to think that we’ve all been deceived and they’re some seriously convenient scapegoats. Basically, my world’s being tipped upside down and I’m finding...hey wait, I’m meant to talk about her, not me. And so... this here is a banshee. She looks kind of evil, right? Dirty, messed up, with tangled hair and stuff. Well, she’s not so much evil as...hard done by. 

Okay! I think we’re done here, right? Your turn, darlin’—tell these folks a little bit about me. 

Banshee: Pfft........... 

Mason: And on that note...I don’t really know where we can go from here, so... 

Banshee: AHHHHHEM! Is Mason...is smart...is mean... Is listening. Mason good. There. Okay?

Mason: Hey, at this stage I’ll take anything. So yeah, I think we’re okay. Cheers darlin’.

I'm Hearing Voices blogfest - part 1

It's time for the "I'm Hearing Voices" blogfest to begin, and Day 1's task is as follows:

February 6th - Monday: Characters on the couch: Have one of your characters answer the following questions (to make this work to your benefit, choose a character who is the hardest for you to write :) Max 250 words (Not including the questions—only the answers).

I'm interviewing my character Mason, from my unfinished work JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE (which began as a Chrysalis Experiment short story).

1. What is your biggest vulnerability? Do others know this or is it a secret?
My biggest vulnerability is that I'm not Superman, or whatever superhero it was that had the power of invincibility. Every time I go outside there's a chance I won't come back (or that I'll get bitten by a banshee and bring that back). I'm happy to keep this a secret. Why panic people more than necessary?

2. What do people believe about you that is false?
They believe I've always got an answer for every question. I'm good at thinking of ideas on the spot. Even if they're crap ideas. But most of us are still alive, so they can't be entirely crap I guess. Still, it's stressful always being looked to for answers when you know you're nothing but a lucky juggler.

3. What would your best friend say is your fatal flaw? Why?
She'd probably say my sheer arrogance and recklessness is my biggest flaw. She's always begging me to be careful. She doesn't realise, of course, that my being more careful could get us all killed.

4. What would the same friend say is your one redeeming quality? Why?
I'm guessing she'd go with the happy accident that is my unwavering good fortune, since I'm still alive and all (and how sad is it that I can legitimately call it good fortune? It's a twisted world, my friend).

5. What do you want most? What will you do to get it?
I want to live in a world where banshees are the figment of some author's imagination and I'm just some lowly bartender or something. As for how I'll get it...well, I guess I could beg you to rewrite this damn story?

Day #3 is done!

Tiny picture for a tiny blog post! And may I just say that when technology fails me, I get MAD. But moving on from that nice blog entry I had already written and then lost...! Day 3 of NaNo is over and I've written 9,453 words. Once again I've fallen behind with my required word count. Last year I averaged 5k a day until the first weekend hit. I should have had 10k exactly by the end of tonight. But I'm not too worried. I'll catch up.

As for the story itself...? My female MC has run away with me, insisting on becoming more sarcastic and 'witty' than I had planned. Not sure she will get her way in the long run, 'cause she's meant to be more dreamy and spaced out than that. But I guess we'll see. Male MC is coming along nicely. Rude and obnoxious, but showing his courteous side now and then (though in such a rude and obnoxious way that nobody recognises it as courtesy). I have to play up his 'lady's man' angle a bit. But now I'm wondering if I do, after all. Sigh. Best laid plans and all that...

OMG. This blog post is NOT tiny anymore. But I can make it at least no more gargantuan by finishing here and bidding you all good night! Sweet dreams of NaNo victory to all of you who are participating! And sweet dreams of other things to the rest of you!

Qurious Quirks Blogfest

Once again, I missed the deadline, but oh well, I'm going to do this blogfest anyway! My friend Brooke is hosting it, and I believe in many parts of the world it's still the 15th, so you can still sign up & participate! Do that HERE.

The blogfest involves this:

1. Sign up in the Linky. You do not have to be a follower to participate nor do you have to post the badge on your blog. However, both would be appreciated.
2. On June 15th, post questions or a small writing prompt relating to quirks on your blog and challenge others to answer in the comments. You must accept your own challenge. You can answer using one of your characters, someone you know in real life, or yourself.
3. Go to at least two other blogs and accept their challenges. I will repost the Linky at the end of my own blogfest entry on June 15th. - Brooke

Anyway, onto my entry! I'm going to ask questions of my character Edgar D., who I really love even though he's a bit of a bitter and twisted bastard. I also want to ask the same questions of my character Ever B., who is...well, wait and see.

1. So, Edgar and Ever, how'd you get to this point in your lives?
   
   Ed: Shit happened, and then I...well, I did almost die a few times. But narrowly avoided that particular fate. Basically, though, time passed and now here I am.
   
   Ev: Sometimes I really do think I floated down on a rainbow - or was it a cloud - or maybe on the wings of a stork. Aliens were potentially involved...
   
2. Do you believe in fate?
   
   Ed: I believe in shit happening for no particular reason. So I guess that's a no?
   
   Ev: Fate is like the substance of one's soul unfurling into the light, and...questing. Ever-questing.
   
3. What do you love most about music?
   
   Ed: It's a way to purge the body of the poison that builds up inside. Plus, it pays the bills.
   
   Ev: It's like a weeping willow tree in a breeze... Or sometimes not in a breeze. Sometimes just standing there...rustling.
   
4. What do you love most about life?
   
   Ed: It's got to end sometime, right?
   
   Ev: It's just so full of beauty...
   
5. Do you have any pets?
   
   Ed: Hey, listen now...the rumours aren't true - I'm not completely evil. I wouldn't subject any living creature to my company.
   
   Ev: I've got pets in my heart. Pets in my soul. Pets all around... Is that what you meant?

So, have at it! Answer these if you want. :P

A-Z blogging challenge "U" - Ursula

Okay, so there are a few Ursulas out there that I want to mention, and they are...

• Ursula le Guin - I have not actually read her Earthsea series, but a few references lately have really made me want to add them to my TBR list! So I am going to, right now in fact, at GoodReads :D

• Ursula the Sea Witch - The Little Mermaid. Recently Charlotte Jane Ivory wrote a story for The Chrysalis Experiment in which she wrote from King Triton's perspective after losing his daughter Ariel. Of course she was inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen version of The Little Mermaid, which I haven't read yet. Another thing to add to my TBR list!!

• Ursula - from one of my old short stories, in which a group of teenagers go hiking in the woods and get caught in a landslide that kills 5
• Ursula Pamela Buffay, Phoebe's twin sister in Friends - heh
• Ursula Andress, Swiss actress and so-called "quintessential Bond girl"

• Ursula Hall - a hall you can live in at ANU (the Australian National University).

And that's the only Ursulas I can think of! Who am I missing?

A-Z blogging challenge "J" - Blog Chain (my character interviews me)

Okay, so this is another "two birds, one stone" moment, where I participate in this month's AbsoluteWrite blog chain, and post my A-Z entry for the letter J. At first we were going to interview our characters, but then orion_mk3 came up with an even cooler idea - have our characters interview us!).

I have decided to give the reins to the ghost of one of my characters, JD. FYI, "JD" is just what I'm calling him (his name does start with J, but in the novel(s) he's called by his full name, not JD). So, let's see how I fared under JD's interrogation:

JD appears to me in my dreams, crossing his arms and frowning at me. “So, what’s with all these ‘J’ names? I mean, you’ve got Jared, you’ve got Jules, and then there’s me! What is it, a J fixation or something?”

I tilt my head in thought. “Honestly? It just happened that way. Don’t accuse me of having some master J-name plan or something, because I didn’t.”

He shrugs. “Okay, take it easy! But look, I really want to know—why’d you have to kill me off? What’d I ever do to you?”

“I’m sorry about that—I really am. But I had to kill off the absolute nicest character I could find—and you qualified. At least you went down happy, right?”

“Well, that’s true,” he says thoughtfully. “I was doing what I love best. Still, I brought such shame on my bandmates—did you ever think how my death would impact them?”

“I’m really sorry, but it had to happen.”

He lifts his brows. “Okay, don’t even say it was for character development! I’ve heard that one too many times.”

“But you’ve got to admit Jared and Louise were just way too pukeishly happy—I had to mess it up for them somehow, didn’t I?”

“Still!” he protests, “They’re such good people! And they’d already gone through so much.”

“Listen, I was hurting too, man! I was hurting for them. But as Louise herself once said, ‘Life needs the ups and downs...doesn’t it?’ So in a way, she kind of asked for it.”

JD’s eyes flash with anger, an emotion he very rarely felt while he was living. “That’s crap! You need to seriously rethink what you do for kicks—killing people off, throwing spanners in works, tearing lovers apart.”

“Gee, JD, I’ve gotta say, you’re a lot more feisty as a ghost.”

He frowns. “I’ve had a lot of time to stew in my own angry juices, I guess.”

“But at least you got teamed up with Orestes in the afterlife, right?”

“True,” he says with reluctance. “That dude is hilarious.”

“He is. And I’m glad you guys get along.”

JD mutters to himself. “Still, it’s no excuse!”

“Look, is there anything else you wanted to ask? I’ve got to get going...I’ve just finished draft #3 of book 1 and I need to get onto the next version.”

He rolls his eyes. “All right—one last question. Those two are gonna be happy in the end, right?”

“Oh yeah, don’t worry. Credits will roll and the audience will be left with one seriously huge Happily Ever After.” After a moment I add, “Any future misery will be off camera.”

“Errr...that doesn’t really reassure me much...”

“Seriously,” I say, reaching out to squeeze JD’s hand. “It’s going to be okay. Now you really should go off and rest in peace.”

With that, he begins to fade.

And here's a list of other participants:

orion_mk3 - http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com
LadyMage - http://katherinegilraine.com
COchick - http://joannchaney.blogspot.com
Steam&Ink - http://steamandink.blogspot.com
xcomplex - http://www.arielemerald.blogspot.com
pezie - http://www.erinbrambilla.com
aimeelaine - http://www.aimeelaine.com/blog
auburnassassin - http://clairegillian.com
Della Odell - http://dellaodell.wordpress.com
Juniper - http://www.katjuniper.com
Proach - http://desstories.blogspot.com
dolores haze - http://dianedooley.wordpress.com/

Oh my, it's here! A-Z blogging challenge... letter "A"

It's time indeed to kick off the A-Z (this is my first go!). If you want to join or just find out more, click on the image above! Anyway, onto business!

Guess what letter I'm starting with? Yeah. A. Just to be different. Ha. Thinking about it last night, I decided to go with (A)ngry Moments as my theme, with various characters of mine in mind. Below you will find some excerpts (very brief) from WIPs about angry moments I've forced some of my characters into.

Let's start with Daphne:

Her back is to me so she doesn’t see me. I’m no longer aware of anyone but her and myself. The fury is rising within me as each second passes, with each step I take, and I am increasingly certain that this is my destiny—to end the monster’s life once and for all, right here and now. After all, this creature doesn’t deserve to live, not when other creatures have died so long before their time.

Somebody calls my name, but all I can see is my mother turning to face me, eyes widening, mobile phone flying through the air. My hands and feet lash out at the one who gave me life and then viciously took it away, day by agonising day.

Now Jared:

"I'm all right. In fact, I'm better than all right. I haven't felt this way in…well, I don't remember ever feeling this way."

"What way?" Adelai asked, stepping back to give him more room. And perhaps because she wasn't sure what to make of this new him.

He smiled at her, a grim smile. "What is this, therapy?" When she opened her mouth, he said, "No, it's okay. I'm happy to talk about it. I'm pissed. I'm angry. I'm…infuriated." He tilted his head in thought. "Maybe I've always felt this, but just didn't know it. Maybe it was always in there. Waiting."

Aaand finally, Squeaky:

“Don’t mind McLean,” Rodentia said to the bird. “Seriously—he’s always overreacting. I mean, just two weeks ago I was innocently lying on a beach in the Ballama–”

“That’s it!” Squeaky held up a dramatic paw. “I can’t hear anymore of this cat food. You two can go on having a nice chat, and I’ll go and do my job. Or our jobs, really, Raines,” he added with a pointed look at his partner. “Enjoy!” he snapped, and turned away.

And I'm done. But I'm curious - have your characters had moments like these? :D

His 'n hers novels

The problem with writing a novel from your female MC's point of view, and then writing a second novel covering the same events, but from your male lead's point of view? Editing one means you've messed up the other. Right now I am working on editing the heck out of the first, and I truly hope to have every single line of dialogue decided upon, before I ever get around to editing the 'mirror' novel.

It's hard to truly decide on what my characters are going to say, and when. When it comes to Jared, sometimes he talks too much. He's not like that. He isn't a social creature, deep down inside, though over the years he's learned to fake it incredibly well. So he needs to talk less, at least in the beginning. As Louise draws him out of his shell, naturally he will start talking more. But that's got to take time. He has good reason not to trust (he doesn't trust anyone, not even himself), and no matter how comfortable he may start to feel around her, he is never truly comfortable. Not until book 5. Here I'm talking about books 1 and 3. Book 2 is a prequel, documenting Jared's earlier days. Confusing?

So, yeah...Jared talks too much. And this is because, as I have discovered, I talk too much. Only in my writing. In reality I am rather sparing with what I say. But when it comes to writing, I can bloat out a story with the best of them. This is how I've managed to cut 19k from SUNDOWN so far. And I have no doubt I can cut a lot more, just by saying the same things in less words.

In future, then, Jared will talk less. Louise will probably continue to ramble, because he makes her nervous. He will continue to misunderstand things, no matter how far he's come since the early days. And I love how far he's come. The prequel, documenting his early days when he first met Adelai, was incredibly fun to write. His social ineptitude is one of my favourite things about him. And I don't want to lose that, just because he's meant to be better at faking nowadays. Jared = ineptitude.

So, in a nutshell...

Step 1: Get SUNDOWN dialogue so perfect I love every single line my characters say (slowly but surely getting there at present).
Step 2: Face the daunting task of editing SUNDOWN.

P.S. Gotta do Reverb10 week 2 next!

Character progression

I was reading this blog entry, and it got me thinking about character development/progression, and more to the point some of my favourite characters and how they change over time.

If you don't want Harry Potter/Angel/Wheel of Time spoilers, don't read on!!

The first character, who was mentioned in the blog entry above, is Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter series. He starts out as completely clumsy and dorky, and turns into a bit of a warrior by the end. Of course, by the very end he's a teacher at Hogwarts and a little more low key. But I just love how he goes from clumsy dork to bad-ass DA soldier.

The second has a similar progression I suppose (maybe I've got a thing for dorks turned deadly machines? Haha). It's Wesley from the Angel TV series. He starts out as a complete and utter dork, far more so than Neville mentioned above, and turns into a bitter and twisted (not to mention scarred and totally buff) hardened warrior over the years. This is probably my favourite character progression.

The third character I can think of off the top of my head is Rand al'Thor from the Wheel of Time series, and I guess the way he changes isn't so much sexy and kick-arse as...sad, depressing, and a little scary. He goes from a lovely, warm and caring farmboy to a deadened, ice-cold machine who doesn't have time to cry over dead friends. I haven't read the entire WoT series yet, naturally since the last book isn't out yet, and I'm only in the middle of book 11, so I can't say how he turns out in the end. But time will tell, and at present it's looking pretty bleak.

I can't think of any characters of mine that undergo such dramatic changes, but it's something worth thinking about.

Slash 'n burn...ouch

Current word count for SUNDOWN: 130,813 (let me note that in MS Word this would probably be under 130k!). My goal for a while now has been to get my wordcount down to 120k, and I'm confident I can do that. However, I was looking at some submission guidelines for a prominent romance publisher, and they like their romances to be around 90-100k!

So now I potentially have another goal...to get my wordcount down to 100k. This is daunting to me, because it would definitely require removing subplots, but...I love my subplots!!!

Could I bear to let go of wonderfully snide and antisocial Edgar Delaney, and his bizarre connection with Louise? Could I really bear to snip the eccentric and off-with-the-fairies Ever Bradley out of my story entirely? And what about Steven Brux, the annoying drunkard who gives Jared a reason to worry that Louise will leave the tour?

The prospect of cutting any of my minor characters or their minor plotlines makes me sad. But maybe I can do it just for submission to that particular publisher, and keep the full vibrancy version for those who don't mind larger word counts.

Dear crush...

During August of this year, I embarked upon an exercise which involved writing 30 letters in 30 days. Day 2 required me to write a letter to my crush, and this is what I wrote:

Dear Crush,

Does it matter that you're my own character in my own novel that I wrote for last year's NaNoWriMo? Does that REALLY matter? I don't think so.

Please don't be insulted, but I took inspiration for you from the Twilight series. NOT because you're like those characters. NOT because you're a vampire or a werewolf (for you are not any of those). But the inspiration I took was from hearing people say what sucked them into that particular series was that they craved the sort of chivalry that the likes of Edward Cullen show.

My inspiration for you was to think about what I really wanted in a man. And poof! There you were in my head. So I wrote about you, already knowing I was in lust/love with you. You are like no man I've ever known, sad to say. You're far from perfect, and you've got your issues. Big time hang-ups. But you're sweet, and kind, and you have the biggest heart. You're unconventionally sexy, too. That helps, I guess. You're not a pin-up boy. Hell no. You're ordinary looking, though nice and tall - but the more I get to know you, the sexier you really are.

So there you go. I love you, because I made you up, and damn my imagination has been kind to me!

Fondest regards, baby. :D

Trisha