In Sight of "The End"

Finally, I am only a couple of chapters away from The End. And I feel a strange reluctance to finish for some reason! Which is ridiculous because I'm hardly done with this manuscript--just beginning actually. I'll probably come in at 70K which means adding another 5 to 10K in the rewrite. That's fine because I write very spare the first time around. I need to do tons of editing and rewriting.

My protag needs to develop some sort of personality in this second draft! She's a bit bland. I need to ratchet up the other characters as well. But I enjoy that part. Now that I've got the action more or less block out, I can concentrate on the details.

And a title. I need a title. Two actually. I envision this as part of a series so the series needs a name and this manuscript needs a title.

Fun stuff ahead!

What Is It About Deirdre

Okay, what's going on with me and the name Deirdre? I wrote a YA with a protag named Deirdre. That was on purpose, so okay, that's fine. But I've just been re-reading my current work in progress--not the YA but an adult mystery this time--and I have named not one, but TWO minor characters Deirdre! One is the about-to-be-married daughter of a secretary in the police department...the other is a snooty sales clerk at Abigail's, an upscale dress shop.

I toyed briefly with seeing if the two Deirdres could be one and the same, perhaps unleashing some interesting possibilities, but I don't think it's going to work. Alice's daughter is NOT snooty, and I need the sales clerk to be so she can intimidate my protag Gigi.

But seriously, what is with me? Any suggestions for alternate names is appreciated.

Giants, Desperate Housewives and Writing

Despite the distractions of the evening Giants game, a really dishy Desperate Housewives and this live "puppy cam" my daughter turned me onto, I managed to get some words down last night! Go, me. Even better, I had fun with it. I love when you know you need a minor character, he/she could be almost anything/anyone (in this case I needed a managing editor for a small town newspaper to impart some information to my protag) and they spring to life in front of your eyes. Devon Singleton turned out to be young (to the surprise of both me and my protag), a new father, a graduate of BU (no surprise there since that's where my daughter is going to school!), have spikey black hair and a hole in his jeans. I thought he was going to be old with hair coming out of his ears, but he just didn't want to be!

Tomorrow starts the 70 Days of Sweat challenge. I'm up for it. Are you?

i DID it

Sat in front of the computer last night, and I WROTE! I have 800 new words in the last three days. Yeah, that's not going to set any records, but I'm getting there. And the 77 days of sweat challenge hasn't even started yet.

Got some good ideas in the shower, too (best place for ideas, I swear, try it, you'll see.) I was thinking about my last scene, two characters are talking. Now you can't have talking heads so they're doing stuff. Ordinary stuff. Then I realized I could use those little break-up-the-dialogue-gestures to say a lot more about the character. Like instead of having Sienna turn her mug of tea (yes, it's a tea drinking scene! Cozies are allowed to have one or two!) around and around in her hands, what if she fiddles with a loose sequin on the long, gauzy skirt she's wearing? Or tucks her hands into the belled sleeves of her diaphonous blouse (AFTER she puts down the mug of tea, of course.) Doesn't that give you a better visual of the character without a lot of tedious description?

Okay, it's not earth shattering. Not rocket science. I'm a slow learner sometimes. And sometimes I reach for what's easy and expedient instead of trying to go deeper. Fortunately I usually make it better in the rewrites. But how cool to get it better in the first draft!

How Do You Do Normal?

I'm in an online group (I'm in a LOT of online groups!) and there is currently a guest "instructor" who is giving us exercises in character building. It's been great fun. Once he just gave us a line..."Gary hated weddings" and we had to run with it using details to show Gary hating weddings as opposed to coming right out and saying it. Another time we had to develop a character in a couple of paragraphs starting with the line "Amy stared out at the sea of faces." This last one was great...create a character you hate...but show them having one redeeming feature.

The last exercise got me thinking. I had no trouble creating the character. She came alive on the page and in my mind in an instant. But she's not a "normal" character. She's obnoxious, opinionated, unkind, etc. Easy to bring her to life. What's hard is bringing a "normal" character to life without descending into quirkiness. My current protag for instance is a 30-something woman. I don't want to define her as someone who "doesn't eat he green M&Ms" or who "sings karaoke" once a week. But it's hard to get "normal" but "real" across on the page.

Here is my nasty old lady:

"We're good Christians you know," The woman reluctantly opened the screen door a little wider and let the police detective in.

"But when the boy came to the door, asking for help…?" The detective raised her hands questioningly as she looked around.

"Might as well have a seat." The woman pointed toward a stiff looking armchair that took up a large amount of space in the tiny room. Her lips thinned, and she raised her chin slightly as she took her own seat, a comfortably worn chaise with a knitting bag within easy reach. "The Bible tells us to shun that kind of lifestyle."

"But surely that doesn't mean you can't help…"

"He made his choice. Time these people learned they can't go bending the good word of the Lord to suit themselves." The woman's mouth snapped shut like a rubber band.

"But he was bleeding," the detective leaned forward in her seat. "Surely Christ preached compassion for our fellow man." She held her hands out in supplication.

The woman shook her head.

The sound of claws echoed on the polished wooden floor and a tiny, white terrier jumped into the woman's lap. Her face softened, and she stroked its nappy fur. "This is our Baby. Found him at the pound. Poor thing had been nearly starved to death. Who could do something like that to one of God's creatures?" She buried her face in the dog's worn fur.

Epiphany

Had to check the spelling of that!

Or maybe I should have entitled this "phoenix" for my novel rising from the ashes. Even though I am 50 pages in, I still haven't been satisfied with the plot. I'm in a wonderful, small plotting group, and they gave me some ideas and urged me to keep thinking. While walking the dog, I GOT IT. Or most of it. I'd been approaching this too analytically. I needed to concentrate on the backstory of my characters. Some of the answers were right there.

If I trust the process, the rest will come as I write/think/sleep/walk the dog (pray for good weather).

Sometimes I think this is the most fun you can have without involving large amounts of chocolate!