Quick Updates

First things first: I'm still alive.  Fantastic, I know you're all very relieved.  I am a terrible, terrible person to ignore my blog for several months.  Sorry.  At least I've been writing, though.  I have several stories I'm very excited for and I hope to have two finished by October. 

Alright so some quick updates: I got accepted into Southern New Hampshire University's Creative Writing program!!  I'm EXTREMELY excited to transfer in the fall.  I can't waite to join the Creative Writing club, take the classes, and really focus on my craft.  After several months of not hearing back from the editor of Crescent Moon press I shot off an e-mail to check on my submission.  Turns out it was lost in cyber space and they asked me to resubmit.  Basically, I'm very excited about my stories, I'm very excited about taking writing classes, living on campus, being with other people who want to write and be published--it's a big loop of excitement for me. 

My WORST Writer's Block Experience

Over a month since my last post....I'm a terrible person.  Worse than ignoring my blog--I've been ignoring my writing.  Although, technically, it wasn't something I did willingly.  First I had finals, final projects, final reports--and then I had the worst writer's block of my life--and it has persisted for the past month!!

So much wasted time!

I once heard that an author only gets writer's blcok if s/he hasn't thought enough about their story.  I used to agree with that one hundred percent and thought that was some of the best advice I'd ever been given.  I'd take a step back from my laptop, collect a notebook and pen, go sit in a rocking chair outside or find a place inside that's quiet, and then I'd brainstorm.  I would fill up several pages and race upstairs to flesh it out. 

Well, it didn't work this time.  I sat and sat and sat and wrote nothing.  I finally tried switching the story I was working on to see if that helped.  It didn't.  I tried switching genres and tried going back to an old western romance I was playing with a couple years back.  Nothing.  I couldn't write a poem--I couldn't even read a book!!  As habit, I turned on my laptop every morning, opened up my manuscript, and an unproductive half hour later, I closed the program and shut the laptop down. 

Oh I fought, believe me when I said that I fought.  But my characters' voices faded from my thoughts and I was left alone.  As a result, I have spent the last month in a daze.  A writer writes--always--and I couldn't do that.  Literally, couldn't.  In this past month, I've managed to write a shitty total of maybe 13 pages of random stuff. 

I have The Summoner's Fallen Guardian open and ready.  The fact that I was able to write this post gives me hope that the block is relenting and I can return to my story.  I'm bloody well going to keep trying!  I'm a very stubborn person.  I figure that with the start of the New Year approaching, things have to reset, and I'll soon by typing like a crazy person again. 

The Dangers of Changing Story Details

Anyone who follows me on Twitter is likely already aware of my little probem with The Summoner's Fallen Guardian.  I threw a tiny fit the other night because of one tiny detail that unexpectedly started a changing chain of events through the entire story. 

I started writing with a name I borrowed from one of my other WIPs.  I wanted to get some plotting and outlining done while also working on word count.  Well, almost ten thousand words later, I replaced the hero's borrowed name with Naberius. 

I can hear you all groan. 

Of course the name change changed everything.  My hero's crazed orange eyes darkened to an intense cobalt.  His entire appearance altered, his attitude, his mood--even how he talks and acts with my heroine.  My original hero, a creature of hot and cold mood swings, angry eyes, and ferocity became a rigid, and grim being.  The sparking chemisty between my heroine and hero mellowed.  Desperation flowed between them where before their goals and personalities had clashed like fireworks. 

This is the first story I've tried writing by the seat of my pants.  I'm working with a very loose outline, trying to define it more as I go, and the name change threw the story out of its orbit.  My loose outline was ruined because my hero underwent a complete personality change between introduction and conclusion.  Aside from the sex, the starting hero and the conluding hero had nothing in common--they might as well have been two different characters. 

I can't use the first name for this story because it belongs to a dark fantasy romance I've been thinking about for over a year.  The name is claimed.  And I can't possibly replace it because the character is fully defined and the story is titled with the name.  In fact, I got the idea for the story from the name.  But Naberius isn't working in The Summoner's Fallen Guardian.  I'm storing Naberius' character away for possible later use, but that still leaves me stranded and without my hero. 

Unless you're a writer you probably won't understand, but I really needed a name beginning with "E".  My original hero's originally borrowed name started with "E" and the letter just has the right feel for what I need.  There's a site I use when I'm in such circumstances and it's great for generating names for fantasy, scifi, or paranormal stories.  Check this out: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php.  Thanks to this site, my list of possible permanent names are down to fifteen.  I'd love some help narrowing it down to one. 

Writing a New Story!

I started a new story about a week ago and am very EXCITED about it!!  I've yet to do much plotting for it, sort of writing it by the seat of my pants which is not my usual style, but it seems to be working.  I instantly had a really strong heroine and hero who butt heads constantly, sparks fly between them, and the story seems to just unfold and roll out as I type!  It's a lot of fun so far.  I was daydreaming the other day and randomly got images of these two characters in my head and a scene where they were arguing and then I started writing and BAM. 

It's a paranormal romance tentatively title The Summoner's Fallen Guardian.  My heroine, Juniper, is plagued by phantom voices that overlay her own thoughts, pleading and demanding to be Summoned.  In one fateful night, Juniper summons one of the voices to physical form, the hero and very angry, fallen angel, Naberius.  (Naberius is a temporary name for the time being, I'm not sure if I love it yet). 

Risking Existence has been temporarily put on hold.  I'm still working on plotting the series (probably four books), but the first book is giving me a lot of problems.  It needs a lot of time to develop still.  I'm not going to rush, because Risking Existence promises to be an amazing story when it's finished. 

I'm always scared starting a new story.  It's hard to imagine reaching that 100,000 word count when you're only at 8,000.  It seems like an impossible goal.  I tend to overthink things and start worrying WAY too early.  I'm trying to crush that habit with this story, submerging myself in the battle between my characters, let what happens happen, and just focus on the pure fun of writing the story.  I suppose this is my--very late--NaNoWriMo story.  I had a different story about the trapped spirit of a dragon that I was writing, but it just didn't have the momentum that The Summoner's Fallen Guardian does. 

Joing the NHRWA Clan

I've been a passive member of Romance Writers of America since the past June, but I've yet to really delve into the chapters that are available to members.  Chapters include both local and online writing groups.  There are two reasons why I haven't checked them out yet.

Reason the First: I don't want to spend more money.  In hand with that, being a member of a chapter--especially an online chapter--would eat up a lot of my already limited time.  The internet tends to do that, isn't that right, all you Twitter users?

Reason the Second: I'm a writer.  Well that sound like a dumb reason, doesn't it?  The chapters are there to help writers.  But writers write.  And I write constantly.  So much so that I often forget about other things like eating and homework and the flow of time actively flowing around me.  Writing also hampers my social life....as in it conspires to keep me from having one.  But hey--who needs friends when you have voices in your head?!  

Nevertheless, I went to my first New Hampshire Romance Writers of America chapter meeting today.  There were real live people and everything.  Technically, I'm not a member of NHRWA yet, but I definitely will be soon.  It was so nice to be around other writers, sharing stories, talking shop, relating, chit-chatting.  Face to face relations is much nicer than online interaction.

RWA is a great asset to the published and unpublished author.  I definitely recommend checking out the site:  http://www.rwanational.org/.

Jagged Edge

I've mentioned my manuscript Jagged Edge briefly in earlier posts and now I want to talk a bit about it. 

I can't remember how I got my idea for Jagged Edge, I just remember seeing a completely random scene unfold in my mind between my protagonist, Captain Aisha Chandra, and a Vampyr she considers an enemy.  I remember how I stood up, went upstairs, and immediately started writing the story.  During the couple of minutes it took me to climb the stairs and wait for the computer to turn on, I knew the story would start with Aisha out on some sort of mission with her elite Special Forces squad and she would encounter the Vampyr during her assignment.  I sat down and wrote thirty five pages nonstop. 

Jagged Edge is a Science Fiction Romance.  It is entirely impossible for me to write anything BUT romance.  All I read is romance and all its subgenres.  My favorites are what I write: Fantasy, Paranormal, and Scince Fiction Romance.  I am, at heart, a hopeless romantic.  I love happy endings and I want everyone to find their soul mates and fall in love.  Realistically, I know this isn't how our world works, so instead I write other worlds where it DOES happen. 

Please bear with me; I'm not very good at describing my stories to others just yet.  Feel free to leave a question if you're interested or if anything is unclear. 

My protagonist, Captain Aisha Chandra, and her best friend Colonel Dante Halcyon lead an elite squad of military men in the near future.  In an attempt to repair the effects of global warming, the governments decide to release a chemical across the globe, mutating vegetation and and wildlife alike.  Aisha and her men venture out to capture these newly supernatural creatures and return them to the institution where they live.  The Vampyr taunts Aisha, interrupting her assignments, stirring her anger as he escapes capture again and again.  When she finally imprisons him, her entire world is shifted to opposite ends of reality.  She has to deal with sudden exposed secrets, deceit, and betrayal.  Aisha must figure out who she really is, what--and who--she really wants. 

The First Moment of My Future, continued

First off, I wanted to explain why I titled this post and the previous post what I did.  Why do I think that the night I pitched was the first moment of my future?  I think I mentioned somewhere before how I've wanted to be a published novelist since the 3rd grade.  For anyone who writes and has the same dream, you've known and experienced what kind of reaction you GET to that dream.  "Oh....you want to be a writer....okay...."  No one's very impressed with your dream and the responses are generally neither encouraging nor supportive.  But you keep writing because you can't NOT write.

And I did.  And I do.  I have hundreds of stories started in vaiour genres and stages.  I have several main WIPs that haunt me daily, characters whispering in my mind, scenes unfolding in my thoughts, pieces snapping together in a way that thrills me.  If you're a writer, you know what I mean.  And you also probably remember the very frist of your stories you finally completed, topping that 100k word count, and wrapping the whole thing up in that happily ever after way that you always love to read.

I pitched for the very FIRST time my FIRST completed manuscript, Jagged Edge.  And that was my FIRST moment of breaking away from just writing my stories to SHARING them.  And that's our ultimate goal as a writer, isn't it?  Sharing our stories with the world?  It doesn't matter what you want to call yourself, a writer, an author, a novelist--you just want to share your stories.

So I pitched my 100 word story explanation and froze.  Boiling over 100,000 words to a 100 word DECRIPTION is HARD.  There's just so much more that needs to be said to pull someone in, so many interesting things you want them to know about your story--about why they really do want to read it.  Luckily for me, Marlene Castricato from Crescent Moon Press had questions.  I answered, we AGREED on things (which is what you hope for, but when you only have 5 minutes....I took it as a good sign, that she was interested).  I got my 2 minutes warning from the moderator and then Marlene requested my outline and the first 3 chapters.  I thanked her and signed out.

WWWWHHOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOOOOO YYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Forgive me....lost a minute to a happy flashback.

I try to stay optimistic while also being realistic....which is a lot harder than it sounds.  I understand that the majority of authors should expect to receive more than 50 rejections before--or IF they even receive an acceptance.  Sometimes the 1st manuscript is a bust....as is the 2nd one you spent several months slaving over....and the 3rd MIGHT be the charm.  So I'm remembering all this even as I'm hoping I'll get lucky--even if it's only some positive feedback.  Naturally, I would really, really, REALLY like a request for my full manuscript and a contract, but I'm also trying to prepare myself for a "Your story sucks, burn it today" response.

I believe in my story.  You're supposed to, and I do.  I believe in my characters' abilities to keep a reader engaged.  I believe in MY ability to keep up the motivation from beginning to end and hold the readers captivated.  And I believe people would be interested in reading Jagged Edge.  I suppose how I balance the good and bad is being positive one minute, negative the next, and then positive again after that.  Maybe not the best way to go, but it works for me!

So I scrabbled to find out exactly HOW to write a story outline since I'd never written a professional one before.  I wrote that up--3 pages long--and sent it off with my prologue, and the first 3 chapters of Jagged Edge.  Hopefully, in 2 months, I'll get that good response....but maybe not....but maybe....yes.