How to start…?
I’m the type of person who needs to write the beginning of a book first. Sure I write random scenes here and there but mostly I like to start at the beginning. So when I sit down to seriously get started on a book, that sort of complicates things. Mainly becauseI don’t know how to start a book. Like, ever.
Take now for example. I have my current WIP outlined, got all the plot twists set and a good idea of who the characters are (although I could use a better idea of who the MC is) but I just can’t… start. Ugh.
I know a lot of people say to JUST WRITE. WORRY ABOUT DETAILS LATER but this is seriously bothering me! Maybe I can just convince myself it’s a “more detailed outline”. Yeah? Yeah, let us try that… we’ll see how this goes…
Oh, well, hello again…
Remember that NaNoWriMo project I did last year? I had sort of forgotten about it after awhile and well, it popped up again the other night. The entire direction had completely changed. And now I’m trying to figure out how this is happening and what they’re trying to tell me. But I’m catching glimpses of the journey, but nothing of the start of things. And as always, the guard seems to be an interesting person. Go figure.
I’ve got a craving to write another YA book about faeries? Or angels? Or something of that nature. But I haven’t decided which one just yet. Just that there’s going to be lots of pretty sparkles and such. Or something *shrug*.
And I’ve got an erotica inching around in the corner of my mind somewhere. Is it possible to write a book based on just one line? Maybe. We’ll find out. Erotica comes more naturally to me, but I haven’t written one in years. Which is kind of funny.
I need to practice on building more REAL characters. With personalities, hopes, memories, dreams, all that good stuff. Maybe I just need to sit down and spend more time with them.
We’ll see how this goes.
I’m going to try to attempt to actually outline this overhaul.
Harder than I thought…
Usually, when something bothers me (or haunts me), I randomly come up with a scene of how things could had turned out. Or a scene of what did happen but is slightly altered. Or what would happen now. Not on purpose, it just happens. I guess there is an upside to spending a bit of time thinking what if (at least, if you’re a writer). And usually, when a scene of a person who’s memory is haunting me, I usually reach out and attempt to talk to that person.
My life is pretty much archived on the internet through a series of blogs or saved conversations of emails. And you would think that would be enough. But as I got older, somewhere down the road I blocked off a lot of feelings and a lot of memories. So even if I’m reading the memory I’m looking for, I can’t feel anything anymore. I don’t remember what it was to be in that memory. Sometimes the feeling will hit me, like a ton of bricks out of nowhere. But just as fast as it came, it goes.
The other day, I came up with a scene. Not something that would happen now or then but a certain person and story came to mind.
The cool thing about writing and telling stories is that I can change the ending to this memory! I can spin it, expand it, shrink it, twirl it out of control. The fate of this story is in my hands. But the scene I came up with was the ending. And the ending? It’s pretty much the same as real life.
I want this story to have a happy ending, but apparently the characters don’t think so.
Building the characters shouldn’t be too hard, but telling the story between the two? That may be a little harder. I want to portray it as real and in the flesh as I can. And it’s a story I need to tell.
Maybe then it’ll stop haunting me.
24HR SOPA BLACKOUT
Have you been following about the SOPA act? I haven’t really had time to post about it here, but WordPress News sums it up pretty well. I’ve posted about 6 links/posts about SOPA on my personal Facebook page and no one really responded (but I post a picture of a freakin cake and I get 3 likes and 5 comments? Really? Thanks 300+ friends…), some still don’t know what SOPA is! How can you be on the internet everyday and not know what SOPA is?!
Here at Marie Vera Writes, I’m participating in the 24hr SOPA blackout. This is something I feel strongly about. Are you going to join us?
A couple new idea’s!
Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Bejeweled Blitz on my new iPhone (side note: I know people always talk about how could they had EVER survived without an iPhone and I thought they were kidding. No, they weren’t kidding. I’m so ashamed.) and the cool thing about playing Blitz is that my mind is focused on the game but at the same time it’s kind of just wandering around into any little nook in my mind it can get into.
And with that, came a few new idea’s. I’m still brainstorming my YA series or “simmering” as Jackson Peirce called it in one of her vlogs… but I came across another idea. A total YA contemporary about well, me. Sort of. When I was younger I had a habit of being friends with my ex boyfriends, for the most part, all of them. But now that I’m older and married, it’s a little silly to be friends with all your ex boyfriends, isn’t it? I don’t know, maybe silly isn’t the world I’m looking for but it’s not completely necessary. I just always thought that there’s this person who knows this side of you that not many other people know because you shared something intimate with them. Does that make sense?
Another idea I “came up with”, I say that loosely because it’s an idea I’ve been playing around with for awhile and I still don’t know what I’m going to do with is writing a memoir.
Other than those 3 things, not much else has been going on. Lost of school, lots of homework, lots of difficult family stuff… oh! Five kittens moved in to our backyard about a month ago. Like, moved in moved in. Hubby has been feeding them everyday in hopes to get them to warm up to him. It’s strange, our cat dies and my brother gets into an accident and the same day he does, these kittens just show up. Completely out of nowhere. And they won’t go away (not that we want them to). It’s just kinda weird, you know? Anyway, it’s nice having cats around again. I hope they enjoy their stay and don’t leave any time soon.
Hello, 2012
It blows my mind to think it’s already 2012! That ten years ago it was 2002. The best and worst year of my high school life. I can’t believe ten years has passed. It’s just insane to think about.
I accomplished a lot in 2011. I traveled the world — at Epcot, Pinocchio blew me kisses and made all the kids jealous, I lived at Disney World (literally), I made magic as a Cast Member for guests every single day, my paychecks were signed by Mickey Mouse, I spent hours slicing those caramel apples that I grew up to love for other people who also grew up loving them. I made friends from all over the entire world and we’re not so different. I accomplished more in 2011 than I ever dreamed I could and I had the time of my life.
So when I look ahead to 2012, I can’t imagine what’s left to accomplish. And it’s sort of like the conversation Flynn and Rapunzel had in Tangled:
Rapunzel: But what if it’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of? What then?
Flynn: Then you find a new dream.
I’m stuck, because I can’t seem to find a new dream. I know there are things I want to work on and improve, things I want to learn and things I want back but there’s no big huge goal left in sight for me. And I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But I do know I am excited for all the things that 2012 will bring, bad or good.
I hope 2012 will be good to all of you as well (:
It’s Christmas Eve! It’s Christmas Eve!
There isn’t anything too festive going on right now. Husband is playing DC Universe and I just got done writing two book reviews. I finished Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins last night and Switched by Amanda Hocking an hour ago. I wish I had read it sooner, now I have to wait until Feb for the second book (and it’s not going to be priced at $.99 either, boo).
I haven’t written much of anything since NaNoWriMo ended, but I was looking back at my adult-ish novel I sort of started and I was thinking of getting back into it. I don’t know where the story is headed or where I want it to end though… but I am still very interested in finishing the story. The thing that sucks about taking some time away from a project is that you re-read it and you want to change things and you can’t! Or you’ll get stuck in editor mode and end up hating it all and never finishing it. So I won’t re-read it, I won’t edit it, I’ll just keep pushing forward and worry about the rest later!
I’m still brewing my YA novel that I’ve been thinking about. I had like, a perfect scene and idea and then… I went to sleep and even though as I was falling asleep, I had my husband write down some key words… when I woke up they didn’t make any sense!! I was so sad. Why do all the great scenes and idea’s come right before you fall asleep? Ughhh. But I will figure it out and I will outline this like crazy just to see if it will help me write any better. I usually have a super vague rough outline that really doesn’t help, so I’m going to try something different with this one!
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with joy, love and lots of awesome gifts!
So good to me, so right
It’s just one of those nights.
Where you feel heavy and sad and you don’t really know what to do besides click mindlessly around the internet waiting for the feeling to just pass.
I’m trying to focus all this weird energy into my writing, but nothing is really coming out. Like, not a single word. I’m thinking straight but I’m not, does that make sense?
It just sucks, you know, the things you can’t change. The things that don’t have answers. And it’s just unfair sometimes… to have questions that will never have answers. But if you got the answers to everything in life, where would the mystery of life be? Life would be too easy, wouldn’t it?
But if this was a movie, you’d be here right now.
I miss my kitty.
Change of pace…
Okay, so maybe I should had spent more time preparing for NaNoWriMo last month. But really, the month of November is always a busy one for me, especially this year (well no, especially last year actually, but this year too) since I just moved back to California and school is starting back up in about a week not to mention I have to sign up for classes for school #2, so yes, I guess it’s safe to say I’m pretty busy this month. I still can’t believe the holidays are right around the corner.
So I’m going to put my NaNo re-telling project on hold for second. Mostly because the gears in my mind and turning and they’re flipping around trying to settle on a twist. I caught a glimpse of this twist yesterday but it changed again. So once it lands on something, I’ll get back to it. But I have a big feeling it might force me to change my entire beginning. Which isn’t a problem… NaNoWriMo is basically just there to help you put the words to the paper. Or well, these days, the words to the blank Word/Pages screen. At least I got about 5k done, that’s more than I would have gotten done without NaNoWriMo.
——
The thing that fascinates me the most about writing is that it’s your words, your story. YOU have the power to make anything happen. Any. Thing. You. Want. You get to decide who the hero and who the villain is. You get to decide how it begins and how it ends. And everything else in between. And what I usually did/do when I’m sitting there playing the epic what if game is take that situation and spin the ending to what I want. Even if it isn’t how real life turned out, at least somewhere that’s how the story ended. Sounds kinda crazy right? But it does also provide a sense of comfort. Like you literally closed that chapter of your life.
… with that said
I started a new WIP, I know the general idea behind it. Got a good idea of what ending I want to twist, I’m going in with no outline, no solid plot just with the ending in mind. I’m curious to see where this will take me!
What to blog about?
Aside from my NaNo struggles, I don’t really know what else to write here. If I ever do end up published, I know I can look back on this, back to the days before I was published and just reminisce (which is something I really enjoy doing) but I just… what do you write about if it isn’t about your writing (did that make sense)?
I have separate blogs for everything; food, cooking, book reviewing, reviewing, personal… you get the idea. So to mix it up just seems odd and un-organized to me. But I guess, I should include something about who I am here since it does contribute to my writing, right?
It’s cold today and very very windy. I hadn’t known it was windy prior to leaving the house but I was determined to find my Fruit2day drinks since I read on their FB fan page yesterday they were going to be discontinued after December. I didn’t find any. I’m sad. But I know they’re still out there! I didn’t find my top coat/base coat combo either, but I did score some really cool nail polish.
I’m a big fan of food and nail polish.
I’m also really hungry right now. This colder weather makes me hungrier and causes me to sleep in later than I want to. Pooh. I saw an ad in my magazine last night that said I could make a really good pasta dish with frozen broccoli and cream of mushroom soup. I’m really tempted to try it out, you know, when no one’s home to accuse me to burning the house down (a whole different story).
Hm.
I managed to write I think a little over 1k words last night before giving up for the night. I know I’m still way behind but it’s something. I’m debating on alternating point of views, but for some reason I don’t want to. I think it would be better to figure things out with the main character than have the audience peak at things she doesn’t know. But at the same time, I seem to be a fan of alternating point of views. It’s hard for me to keep it at just one. Does that make sense? I have decided what to do yet, but I wrote in an alternate point of view last night, maybe if I keep with the urge I’ll keep it. Hm.
