2022, here I come…

Wow! It’s hard to believe but I haven’t posted on here since pre-Covid days. These past two years have certainly been a whirlwind. 

I have much to update. In March 2020, I signed with an amazing agent, who fell in love with Boudica and Aiden’s story enough to offer me representation. We worked together for a few months, and she gave me some incredible advice that, I think, has helped me more than any other advice I’ve ever received (more on that later), and I set forth on a journey of rewrites.

Sadly, though (although this was an exciting and wonderful turn for my agent), in late 2020 Chrysa retired from her agenting career to focus on her upcoming wedding and the next chapter of her life.

I have to say though, I’m so grateful for the time I spent working with her. To be able to share my story with someone who believed in its potential was a dream come true, and I gained useful insight into a problem that has plagued my writing since day dot.

My main characters are too polite and too passive.

Ever since I first put my writing out there, one piece of feedback I’ve consistently received is that my pacing is off. How to fix this, though, I could never seem to work out, no matter how I tried. I studied plotting books, looked at the structure of books and movies I love, tore my story to shreds and rebuilt (several times) but to very little avail.

It wasn’t until Chrysa pointed out I’d written Boudica too passive in a rewrite that the penny dropped. My main characters are too much like me 😛 hahaha But truly, I’m being serious. And when I told Dave what Chrysa had said he laughed and said the exact same thing. Anyone who knows me knows I’m an introvert who avoids conflict at all costs. I don’t like to rock the boat, and I will run and hide rather than face discomfort. And unfortunately this personality trait of mine has impacted negatively on my writing!!!!

So, even when I was ticked the plotting boxes (I strive to follow the three act structure – Save The Cat is my bible), my actual story wasn’t as compelling as it should be because I wasn’t putting my MC out there in the action. Things in the plot would happen, and then Boudica would sit in her room while other people went out and slayed the dragon, so to speak.

While working on my current rewrite (rewrite #7), I have kept this in mind the whole time, and I think (fingers crossed) this has made a huge difference to my pacing.

Now, I know I’ll never be able to make my novel exactly the way I want it to be–there is always something I can improve upon–but I’m hoping, this time, it’s good enough. And by good enough, I mean good enough for me to let go.

I must move on. I have to leave Boudica and Aiden behind and dive into the world of Danica and Astrid. I need to finish a different book to the one I’ve been working on since 2009.

So, that is the plan – my 2022 goal. Finish my current rewrite then set it aside, and finally finish my portal fantasy. The first draft is written, all I have to do is flesh it out and make it pretty 😀

Is it time for a snoopy dance, yet?

I’m happy to say, since my last post 11 weeks ago, I have achieved the following:

Listened to three audiobooks…

 

Watched season 1 of A Discovery of Witches on TV, which was good but sadly IMHO not as good as the book 😦

And while I do think Matthew Goode is a wonderful actor, I’m sad to say he isn’t the Matthew de Clairmont I imagined. In my mind, I pictured de Clairmont as being more of a Henry Fitzroy from Blood Ties than a Charles Ryder from Brideshead. But alas, I would rather a Charles Ryder than no de Clairmont at all…

Matthew de Clairmont? Now this is more like it…

Started re-watching True Blood, which is totally getting me in the mood for a long, hot, humid summer…

Rewrote scene 37 (as planned in my last post) AND finished scenes 38, 39, 40 and 41. Currently, I’m 400 words into scene 42!!!

So I have to say, I’m pretty stoked with my progress. I finally broke through the barrier I was stuck at for 5 months, and only have 4 1/2 new scenes left to write. Once they’re done, I‘ll be on the downward stretch – just rewriting/editing the third act of my novel (which is about 30,000 words). And I love rewriting/editing 😀

At this rate, it looks like this draft will end up being approx. 110,000 words, and will hopefully be finished in 2019 😀 How wonderful that will be.

Then I’ll have to go back through the whole thing combing for anachronistic dialogue and prose… But I won’t mind that part because finally AGAIN I will have a complete novel.

Time for a snoopy dance…

The Changeling Chronicles…

I’ve been working on some artwork for my website – specifically a page for my fantasy WIP, book 1 in the Changeling Chronicles, set in the Scandinavian hidden world. I thought I’d post it here first – sources to be added to the Credits page shortly. The novel is dual pov – the girl in the top frame is the changeling, Astrid, and in the bottom frame, her nightmare, Danica. Oh, and there’s a bear in it… and a castle hanging in the sky 😀 I hope you like it!

The plot thickens…

Plotting my next novel is going really well. So far I have the First Act pretty much sorted, and I’m now running through possibilities for the Third Act. Once I’ve worked out how the novel will end, and how my heroine will ultimately “defeat” the bad girl, then planning Act Two will be a breeze – I’ll know exactly what she needs to go through, learn and obtain in order to “win”.

I have a theory, it could be bunnies…

In case you’re wondering, my next story will be a contemporary fantasy adventure with a very strong quest-like feel. Of course, for me, writing such a book was inevitable, given the sorts of things I loved doing as a child – reading Norwegian folktales, playing King’s Quest games on my Atari ST, watching videos of my favourite fantasy films over and over again (eg. Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, The Last Unicorn, Willow, The Princess Bride, etc).

To assist me in my endeavour to plot the most awesome YA fantasy adventure ever, I’m studying various plotting techniques, including those used for writing scripts and even role play games, as well as how they apply to some of the most amazing movies out there today.

So far I have come across three methods that blow me away:

(i) Dramatica Theory

The Dramatica Theory of Story Structure is a diagnostic modelling tool built around a concept called “The Story Mind.” According to this notion, every story has a mind of its own – its psychology is built by the story’s structure and its personality is determined by the storytelling.

According to Glen C. Strathy HERE, Dramatica Theory sees every story as an attempt to solve a problem or rebalance an inequity. The theory shows you how to address all aspects of plot, theme, and character in order to create a consistent and emotionally compelling message for the reader.

As you might have guessed, the Dramatica Theory is very complex. Thankfully, HowToWriteABookNow.com breaks the theory down into an awesome 10-part preparation guide HERE, including:

• Creating a Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps;
• Plot Development: Climax, Resolution, and Your Main Character; and
• Creating Archetypal Characters.

Also on HowToWriteABookNow.com, there is also a list of other story models (and a comparison of them to The Dramatica Theory) HERE you might be interested in checking out. Overall, HowToWriteABookNow.com is a really great website with lots of useful resources and articles.

(ii) Dan Wells’ 7-Point System

I have to admit, when I first watched Dan Well’s 5-part video HERE, I got excited. It was the first time I’d seen plot structure explained to me in a way that made plotting seem easy. Essentially his plotting system, which he says is based on the Star Trek Role Playing Game Narrator’s Guide, encompasses 7-points:

1. Hook
2. Plot Turn 1
3. Pinch 1
4. Midpoint
5. Pinch 2
6. Plot Turn 2
7. Resolution

The two pieces of advice I found the most helpful in his videos were (i) know your ending before you start, and (ii) make sure the starting point is opposite to the ending point.

Karen Woodward has a really great series of posts on Dan Well’s system starting HERE.

(iii) Blake Snyder’s 15 Beat Method

I’ve saved this method for last because it is (in my very humble opinion) by far the best. I’ve just finished reading Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat” and I have to say it is the Holy Grail of how-to-write books. Even though it relates to writing scripts, its advice is just as applicable to novel writing.

In “Save the Cat”, Snyder discusses genre, loglines, heroes, story boards, screenplay physics and quick fixes. He also outlines the 15 beats found in successful movies:
1. Opening Image
2. Set-up
3. Theme Stated
4. Catalyst
5. Debate
6. Break Into Two
7. B Story
8. The Promise of the Premise
9. Midpoint
10. Bad Guys Close In
11. All is Lost
12. Dark Night of the Soul
13. Break Into Three
14. Finale
15. Final Image

Honestly, anyone who is seriously into plotting should get a copy of “Save the Cat” and carry it with them everywhere!

Lydia Sharp has a series of amazing posts that analyse and apply Blake Snyder’s 15 Beat Method. You can search her blog HERE.

I also found a great webpage Worksheets for Writers HERE where you can download BS2 worksheets adapted for novels.

Image by jannoon028 – http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Anyway, I won’t go into any more detail than this as the websites and books I’ve listed above explain things better than I ever could (plus if I let myself, I could probably write about it for days – days that really should be devoted to plotting). I’ll just say that if anyone wants to learn more about plotting and the different ways to go about it, then I definitely recommend checking out these three methods.

I, myself, will be keeping all three in mind while I deliberate the fate of my characters.

One thing I really love these days is that when I am watching TV shows or movies I actually feel like I’m working, because as I watch I’m actually looking for inciting incidents and catalysts, midpoints and dark nights of the soul. I’m learning while being entertained. Pretty neat, huh?

A rose by any other name…

Recently, I’ve been brainstorming plot and character ideas for my next project and, as such, have been researching as much as I can about the process. The first time around I did everything by ear (ie. I tried whatever came to mind and determined what worked by trial and error). This time, however, I want to be a little bit more organised.

Anyway, yesterday I came across something that made me smile – advice from Holly Lisle to find pictures of people I can model my characters on. Why did this tickle my fancy, you ask? Well, because when I wrote my first WIP, I had a very clear idea of who my main character’s love interest looked like. In fact, when I first started writing (and learning how to use photoshop), I even made fan art with him posing as the sweet, rambunctious Aiden MacEachan.

But before I confess all, I’ll give you a hint…

Who comes to mind when you think – tall, fit, red-headed, with a cheeky smile and mischievous character to match?

Why, Prince Harry, of course!

Now stick a MacLean kilt on him, and you’ve got Aiden MacEachan…

Here is a wallpaper I created back in 2009, featuring Prince Harry as Aiden and Mélanie Thierry as Boudica…

Yes, I am officially blushing now, but I am sure you will agree, Prince Harry makes the perfect highland spunk — with a dark side!

And here is an alternate book cover I designed recently featuring none other than Prince Harry as Aiden…

Time and tide wait for no man… or woman… or writer in the throes of revision…

This week’s task for How To Revise Your Novel (HTRYN) was setting up an events timeline. For me this meant research. Obviously, I’d done a little before I started writing (of course I did – I’m a research junkie), but now I was having to select exact dates on a calendar. And with my WIP being set in the somewhat distant past (1723 to be precise), this meant digging through volumes and volumes of old journals, encyclopedias and almanacs…

Or, for those of us with only 24 hours in our day, typing some random carefully thought out search terms into Google 😀

Did you know, up until 14th September (coincidentally, my birth date) 1752, the Scots used the Julian calendar – not the Gregorian calendar we use today?

Well, if you didn’t, you do now 😀

This was such wonderful news – converting Gregorian dates to Julian ones was what I’d always wanted to spend my Saturday morning doing (if you couldn’t tell, I was being slightly sarcastic there).

Apparently, there’s a formula for this – I found some nifty instructions HERE: 

Fortunately for me (who misplaced the left side of my brain somewhere beneath the dirty dishes and piles of laundry), there happens to be a convenient date converter online: Fourmilab’s Calendar Converter.

Phew! *wipes hand across brow in relief*

So, I converted my most important dates (eg. my MC’s birthday), added the relevant season transitions (I found the 1723 season dates HERE), and then thought…

“Hey, why don’t I sync the moon cycles with my scenes so when a full moon is mentioned in my WIP it actually coincides with a full moon IRL?”

Of course, I would have to think that, wouldn’t I? *rolls eyes*

As it turned out, this was a lot simpler to research. The moon phases for the UK in 1723 were easy to find (I found them HERE all nicely set out in Julian calendar format):

Putting two and two together (and four and six), I came up with a timeline for my WIP, complete with moon phase synchronicity 😀 Now when I’m revising I’ll know exactly when my heroine should be wrapped up in her arisaid and when it’s too bloody dark at night for her to see more than a few feet in front of her lovely self.

Good stuff!

But next time I swear I’m going to work all of this stuff out BEFORE I write my draft!

Well, that’s the plan, anyway…