Six Sentence Sundays

This bit of muse crack inspired a particular scene of mine in BOOK1 (title to change) where the heroine and hero are having a conversation about the hero's favourite memory. For me, it's a touching scene, one that reminds the reader that J.C. can feel and be vulnerable.

J.C. was silent a moment. “It was beautiful. I don’t recall the reason we went, just that we ended up on this wooden platform, high up into the trees. It was so black you had to watch your step. The mountains aren’t exactly all that safe to walk through in the dark. We had our flashlights and that was all.”

Research- When Paranormal Meets Science

I do a lot of research while I write. Yes, with paranormal, the lines blur and I do take that tactic when I can't explain some things, but, a lot of the times, I'm trying to combine the supernatural with science. Maybe it's because of my biology degree, but I can't just not try to explain why something may occur.

Sometimes, you just can't explain something.

But, just because something can't be explained now doesn't mean it won't ever be explained. Some things, we just don't have the knowledge or technology to use. Every day science and technology is growing. For example in January, scientists came closer to creating a cloak of invisibility. We're constantly hearing about medical discoveries like creating blood from stem cells.

So to close our minds off from things that don't make sense at the moment doesn't make sense. We may not understand it now, but we may in the future. I love thinking outside the figurative box. I like exploring the unknown and seeing what can be done. And it's this that influences my books, Fatal Visions in particular.

Exciting news!

I haven't posted in a few weeks. I've was away at the RWA conference a few weeks ago. But more than that, have you heard? I'm going to be a Carina author! Carina has offered a contract for Fatal Visions!

Prologues: yay or nay?

I've heard different things over the years. Some agents/editors like them, some don't. I'm talking about prologues. Now, I know where I stand. I'm in the for prologue bandwagon. I like them when they are done right. But they have to be short and snappy and be relevant.

A rule of thumb is that usually you can put the information you have there elsewhere throughout the book.

Now, I had a prologue once. For years. And then I had readers tell me that I didn't need mine or that it threw them. They thought the story started at Chpt 1 and I do agree. However, and here is where I don't know what to do: in chpt 2, I have a scene that I've been editing and there's a problem. The information as is doesn't really make sense. I mean it does to a point and it's explained in more detail later on.

But right now, I feel as though the reader won't understand what is going on. So I thought that if I put in a prologue it might help with that. I'm not entirely sure yet. I figure that I'll write it. Get it done and then get a reader or two to go over and see if it works. At this point, I'm still debating. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. I have an idea in mind of what the prologue would be, but I'm not exactly sure how to get those thoughts out on paper.

You know?

What I need, is a machine. Some machine or tube that will suck that scene right out of my head into the computer and onto paper. Just like that. Instant words. But until such a machine is created, I shall tap away at the keyboard until I get it right.

So what about you? Do you like prologues? Hate them? If a book has one, do you read it or skip right to chapter one?

So what came first...

the writer or the characters?

I've been thinking about this lately. Why, I'm not entirely sure. (Just like I started to question the meaning of time, but I digress.) A lot of people, if you were to ask them would probably tell you they started to write early on, maybe even was born to write. Then there are others who started later in life, they decided they wanted to try it out and... there we go.

I was always a daydreamer. It's why I like silent vehicle rides because it gives me the chance to slip out of reality and dream up stories in my head. I can't recall a time when I didn't just stare out of the bus window, dreaming up scenarios of suspense and whatnot; and yes, romance. If someone were to ask me where these thoughts came from, I couldn't say.

I didn't start writing until public school, when I was in grade seven or so. Oh sure we had to do short stories (can't for the life of me write that short, btw!). I once wrote (with my mom's help) a story in grade five or something about a cat (Cue- modeled off our huge white male cat called Cue) that was catnapped. I can't recall if he was a show cat or something but either way, the story was spun out and I think the neighbour was the culprit but I cannot be sure now. Anyway, we had an author come in and he liked it and gave me my first praise. I remember thinking, oh, I can do this but I didn't do anything more. I didn't write.

I read. Oh did I ever read. But I didn't write.

Then grade six came along and we had to write a short story (I think 5 pages or so but mine no surprise, turned out to be a cramped 10). This story was spun on suspense once again where I was the main char and I was going off too BC to meet my cousin but the train derails and it goes from there about me finding my way back. Teacher read my story in front of class. I was...embarassed.

Still didn't write. Not on my own. I was too busy dreaming. Grade 8 would be the year I decided to put my pencil down on paper. I remember my friend writing. She had started a novel and for some reason, it clicked at that moment. It was a 'oh why didn't I think of that' kind of moment and so I began. I've always loved the supernatural. We'll talk about Diego (the ghost that up to last Christmas I thought was gone but...now I'm not so sure) another day. It wasn't a surprise that my first attempt at a novel was about a boy named Devon who was a telekinetic. He moved to a new town after his parents were murdered to live with his aunt and uncle and was just starting highschool. There he meets Kirby, who will then become his crush throughout even when the killers follow him and whatnot. Turns out his uncle was the killer and had done some psychic testing on the boy or whatnot.

I got 400 pages into the book (400 written pages that is) before I stopped. Why? Not because I lost interest. Oh I loved sitting in the chair by the window with my discman and writing in the sun. No, didn't lose interest in that story, but I had then started reading Kathy Reichs and so my love of forensic anthropology began...and thus, my muses. I started a story about a murder... and my main char an anthropologist. I didn't get far into that one.

I've been asked before where I got my ideas. In grade 9, I began writing Fatal Visions. Why? Not because of a book. Not because of a show. But because of a video game. I was hooked on my brother's playstation Medal of Honor game. It was about the war and it just...intrigued me. Add Final Fantasy with Squall and Rinoa to the mix and *poof* instant muses and J.C., Amy and Stefan were created. Really, aside from them and Broderick, no other chars from that time stuck. Gone was the doctor known as Josef. Gone was Karen, the motherly figure that tended to J.C. when he was little and when he broke from conditioning (another thing that changed). Gone was two baddies and a fatherly type teacher. Oh one other guy did stick, but his role changed, from bestfriend of Amy to baddie.

So what came first? Did the writer or the characters? I'm not really sure. To a point, the framework of the characters have always been around. But for me, I needed that push, the drive, the 'oh why didn't I think of that' moment to get me to put pencil to paper.

So where do you come in? Did you need a small push in the right direction or did you just 'know' and it was the only way to close off your characters' voices?

Welcome!

Being a writer is not an easy road. I haven't been a serious writer all my life. In fact, I hadn't really earned that title until a year ago when I decided it was time to stop playing around and finish the novel I'd begun in highschool. Oh that book got done. But two, three versions later of rewriting the same main concept over and over again, and I decided I needed to take a stand. I couldn't keep rewriting what was already done ad nauseum, not if I wanted to get somewhere.

That road was a rocky one. After finalizing the first draft, things weren't as smooth as I wanted them to be. Despite having done different versions in the past, there were still plot holes and scenes that needed work. I remember thinking it was done, of being satisfied. Setting it aside for a month, and then going through it again, once more before sending it off to my amazing crit partner. Then I got things back. Oh there were things I expected, problems revealed that even I could see. Her suggestions were good and I realized I still wasn't done. So off I went to work on the second draft. And a third. And... well you get the point.

Fact is, even once it's finalized and as clean and clear as it possibly can be, there will still be things that will crop up and this includes writing queries and synospi, pitching at Nationals to editors and agents... and everythign else afterward. And once that's done, I'll do it all over again with the next book which is another story altogether because this one is being worked from the ground up for the first time in ages.

This blog will not just be about the publishing industry, but my path as a writer. And please, leave a comment, I always love hearing about the opinions and thoughts of others.