To Plot or Not by Roseanne Dowell (Replay Day)

At one of our chapter meetings of RWA, the speaker talked about plotting a novel and writing a synopsis before the book was written. She suggested if we had never done that to try it.

So I did.

I had an idea for a story that was taking shape in my mind. As usual, I knew how it would begin and how it would end. What happened in the middle? I didn’t have a clue. Oh, I had a few ideas. 

I knew there was a secret about my heroine’s birth, and she’d find a dead body But I had no idea who he was  (yes, I knew it was a male) or why he was killed. So I tried plotting. I came up with a few ideas about his identity and even about who murdered him and even why. 

I was totally blocked. The story sat for the better part of the year without me typing even one word. Every time I opened it, I read it, made a few changes and then I got to the part where I was stumped.

I stared at the computer, sometimes for hours, trying to come up with something, anything –even if it was garbage – just to get me past that hump. I couldn’t do it. So I’d move on to something else. I revised several other stories that I’d written a long time ago, then I’d go back to it. The problem was –I was locked into the outline, I didn’t know how to make the transition to the next thing. It didn’t feel right.                                                                                 

It wasn’t until one day; I was emailing my writing buddy about my dilemma. I needed help and any suggestions she could offer would be most welcome. I wrote what I had so far, and where I wanted the story to go. For some reason, in that email, I started to ask what if, which is how I usually wrote. I threw out a couple of ideas to her and answered them myself. Finally, I was unblocked. I even created a new character and another conflict. I ignored the plot outline and went a completely different way.

That was how I usually wrote, asking what if as I wrote, coming up with new ideas. For me, plotting and outlining doesn’t work. I’ll never do it again. For others, it works fine and good for them.  I understand it’s not necessary to stick to the outline, but for me, since I  outlined, I had trouble deviating from it.  It blocked my creativity. Yes, I should have ignored it long before, but it was too fresh in my mind. It took a year and then some to forget what was on that outline so I could move on.

I guess my whole point is – write the way it’s comfortable for you. There is no right or wrong way, there’s only your way. There are few hard and fast rules in writing. We all have to develop our own style, our own voice, and our own rules. Some authors get up in the morning and sit down to write. Some write later in the day, and still others write in the middle of the night. Again, whatever works best for you. The important thing is to write.

My current novels are available from Amazon at: http://amzn.to/tnqgR2  

Visit me at my website www.roseannedowell.com 

Cat Bondage :)

 

 

Many writers have cats. I’m one of them. Still, sometimes, I wish I'd never gotten hooked on the  furry little tyrants when they do things like stand in front of the monitor (butt in your face), or lie on the keyboard, or step on it--unfailingly when you have 5 windows open and are in the middle of filling out some life-and-death form. Or they decide to recline on your forearms while you are typing.

(There's worse pictures, but I spared us.)

 

These boss-you-around-stories are the ones that people who love cats most enjoy telling. They are also the ones that make those who aren’t under the spell of Felis Sylvestris Catus wonder if we’ve lost our collective minds.

Supplication to the Goddess

You are the Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, the judge of words ,the sovereign and governor of the Holy Circle; You are indeed
The Great Cat!

Sometimes as I stand, holding the door watching metaphoric dollar bills fly out into February, I believe this is truly how the cat sees himself. I mean, what could I do that is more important than hold the door for my tiger cat, while he makes up his mind about whether he was, after all, mistaken in his burning desire to go out and harass the winged visitors of the birdfeeder? 

It's still cold and icy out there, even after ten whole minutes inside this boring house... 

Boot in the rear, you think? Well, you could do that, but just as in human relationships, treating a cat with disrespect will only lower you in his estimation. What goes around comes around. The return message will be clear, often written in poop. Back in the '60's, I knew a person who thought he could ignore cleaning the cat box. His cat, of course, soon registered his opinion by pooping upon his most precious possession—an expensive set of headphones, left on the sofa where the “owner” reclined for hours engrossed by the latest rock’n’roll.  Now, that was a perfectly symmetrical revenge.

 

All of us who share sleeping quarters with felines know that while they can be great cuddlers, they can also be disturbing, mostly because they are sticklers for routine. We’ve all slept beyond the cat-appointed time—only to be awakened by claws gently scraping along our face—or, delicately along our eyelids—or, maybe, worst of all—a single claw hooked inside a nostril, an ever-increasing pressure applied in some feline version of the death by a thousand cuts—to speed our sluggish getting up. 

A friend shared yet another story about this same long-ago Siamese -- probably the bossiest of all breeds -- who would noisily climb the door molding in her bedroom and then slowly slide down, creating a sound like chalk on a blackboard, while she lay, pillow over her head, desperately trying to collect a few more seconds of shut eye. This alarm clock behavior is prevalent Saturday/Sunday when cat owning working stiffs are trying to sleep in. In fact, for most of my own 9-5, the cat--using one of the above methods--would awaken me exactly two minutes before the dream-shattering beeping could begin. Maybe they just hated that sound as much as I did.

To end, I'll just say that all of my historical novels have feline characters. With such a lifestyle, How could they not?

 

~~Juliet Waldron

 

 

 

http://www.julietwaldron.com

https://www.facebook.com/jwhistfic

http://bookswelove.net/authors/Waldron-Juliet

A Day in the Life

Many people ask what a writer's day is like. Strangely enough, my day is anything but what the typical writer's day. At least the typical writers I've read about. I don't start the day with coffee, sit at

my desk and write for eight hours. Matter of fact, I don't even sit at a desk to write. Usually, I'm on the couch with my lap top. I seldom wake up, get my coffee and begin to write.
So when do I write, you ask?
I've often woke up in the middle of the night and wrote throughout the night. I learned early on in my career not to ignore a thought. If I don't write it down immediately, it's gone. I woke up one night with a dialogue from a work in progress. Thinking I'd remember it the next day, I turned over and went back to sleep. The next morning I remembered little of it. A few words here and there. In fact, not only was most of the dialogue gone, so was the idea.
So now I get up and write it down immediately. That often leads to other ideas and hence, the reason I ended up writing all night. Fortunately, my children are grown, my husband was on the road and I didn't have to answer to anyone. If I wrote all night and slept all day no one was the wiser.
Although seldom did I sleep all day. Sleep, in my opinion, is a waste of time. I hate naps, always have. Well, as long as I remember anyway. So I'd sleep for a couple of hours and if an idea hit, I'd write all day also.
So, what is my typical writing day?
Truthfully, I don't have a typical writing day. Sometimes I write first thing in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. Sometimes, I don't write at all. Lately, I've not written much because my characters refuse to speak to me. They can be stubborn that way.
I must have made them angry or they don't like the way the story is going. I'm sure they'll lead me in the right direction eventually. In the mean time, I'm reading what I've already written and revising/editing as I go along. I'm hoping by time I get to the point where I left off, I'll figure out which direction they want to go.

For now you can find my books at Amazon

Ask Miz Ging

If it's Wednesday, it must be Ask Miz Ging day.  I was counting on people out there to provide me with a myriad of questions to cover a broad spectrum of topics and I wasn't disappointed.  So, let's get on with why we're here:

My first question comes from Anna K.  Why is the sky blue?

First and foremost this question brought back shivers of being in science class during high school. It wasn't my favorite topic mainly because I sat behind a guy who didn't know about soap.  :)

As for the color of the sky...there is, of course, a logical reason that has to do with gases and light waves in the atmosphere. Hey, I deserve a star for remembering that all these years.  :)

You'll notice the sky is blue during the day but changes at sunrise and sunset, allowing in different hues of pinks, oranges, yellows, and even purple.  I could go on all day trying to explain prisms, rainbows, lightwaves, and while I could cheat and look up the "scientific" answer, because there is an answer for everything on the Web...I choose to say the sky is blue because if it were white you wouldn't be able to see the clouds.

But in keeping with accuracy and research, as I try to do with my writing, I'll point you to an official explanation, if you can understand it.  Geez, and they say this is simple?
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html  That's the most confusing answer I've ever seen.

Next, Karen asks...what advice can you give new authors at their first book signing event? Is there anything you've done that was really a hit to the people there?
Well, new author, people like anything for free.  I'm certainly not a veteran signer, but I've found that candy lures them in like flies...chocolate especially.  When I do a signing, I try to have a few freebies to offer, and I think it's the shame of scooping up goodies that makes them stop and actually buy a book.  Before you go, practice pouting in the mirror.  Make sure you get the look down perfectly to flash at those who just meander by and show little or no interest after they've nabbed a chocolate from you dish.  Guilt works wonders.  I've used it on my kids for years.

Lionmother has a burning question that women have asked for years...Mis Ging, why are men so stubborn?  

Well, my friend, I fear we've made them that way. I think some people, men especially, dig in their heels when they aren't in control, and let's face it...men are never in control of their emotions, from the time they're born until they die.  They always have a woman telling them what to do.  Mom takes care of keeping him in line until he marries, and then the wife steps in.  Being stubborn is the only way someone of male persuasion gives the illusion of control.  I don't think we can change that.

Diane wants to know...  why we have to wait for tomorrow? I am impatience-challenged and don't think I can wait that long to ask my burning question.

Diane, in this case I'm in charge, and if I put everything on my blog today I wouldn't have anything for tomorrow.  Your impatience-challenged self will just have to suffer.  *lol*

Tanja has the most difficult question of all, why?

Because.  That's the best I can do with that one, Tanja.  Now if there was something attached to the why, like "why oh why can't I," I might be able to come up with an answer of more substance.

Vonn Lane poses this...Miz Ging, why does my cat bypass every piece of comfortable furniture in my house only to sleep on my black slacks laid out for work the next morning?

It's pretty evident to me.  This follows the same path as stubborn men.  Cats are territorial, but unlike men, hardly ever in control because they just don't give a crap about things that don't directly affect them.  By shedding on your black pants, your cat is making a statement.  "Steer clear, this woman already has a pet."  I'm pretty sure everyone at work has commented behind your back that you surely own a cat because of the hair you display all the time.  If the cat just shed on the furniture, how would the message get out? 

***************************

Friends, I have been simply overwhelmed with the helpful questions sent.  I'm stopping here today so I'll have some left over for next Wednesday.  I have already four, but let's not stop there.  I know there are lots out there needing sage advice.  In the absence of it, I offer up my own.  Tell you friends to tell their friends, and so on and so on.  Let's make Ask Miz Ging another Dear Abby, only more fun.  Don't forget to tune in next week for more fascinating questions and answers.  Ask Miz Ging...she'll tell you what she thinks.

Sally O is Back, to Discuss her - um - Career.

I'm posting on MY Friday morning, at eighteen minutes past midnight. Therefore, I hope it hits Ginger's blog sometime on YOUR Thursday. Since Ginger very kindly invited me to re-post after I accidentally landed on your Tuesday, here goes.

In the beginning...

I've been a writer almost all my life. I started writing stories as soon as I learned to string sentences in shaky printing, complete with fingerspaces. My parents were both musical and talented in sports. I was neither. Instead of letting me feel like a disappointment, they encouraged me in what I could do, which was tell stories. With their support, and encouragement from some of my teachers at school, I started entering writing contests. Having won a couple, and placed in another one, I began selling my stories to a magazine. I was thirteen.

Moving on...

When I was fourteen, I wrote three books, and submitted one to a publisher. It was rejected, but the editor suggested I should write something else. I did so, and my first published book hit the shops in 1977. You can see the cover here. http://sallyodgers.50megs.com/worlds.htm

And on...

In the years that followed, I gradually moved from being a "new young writer" to a "reliable midlister". These days, well into my fourth decade of publication, I suspect I'm either a fossil or a dinosaur. The longevity of what I'm pleased to call my career has led some people to assume I'm very much older than I am.

Like many midlisters, I look back on my stories in a series of epochs. In the beginning, I wrote fantasy. The editor who gave me my "start" at sixteen suggested I should write farm-and-family stories to reflect my own background. This I did until the mid 1980s, when farm-and-family went out of fashion. Gritty-city-realism came in, and I went out... and back to fantasy.

For the next few years I wrote junior fantasy, picture books and educational reading scheme texts, and sold quite a lot of poetry. The 1990s brought recession, and I started writing "odd" books that were a blend of fantasy, humour and surreal family life. I also wrote more ambitious fantasy and sf for teenagers.

In the mid 90s Australian publishing offered new lines of popular fiction. I sold a few romances/historicals and, ahem, erotic horror stories before the windows closed.

Enter Yoram Gross Film, which employed me to write storylines for the Blinky Bill and Skippy telly series. As the 90s closed, so did the market for my YA sf and fantasy, so I reinvented myself again, writing more educational texts and moving into e-books.

In the mid 2000s, my husband and I pitched a series called Jack Russell: Dog Detective. It was accepted, and has currently reached Book 11. The associated Pet Vet series stands at Book 4. ( You can see them at http://www.jackrusselldogdetective.com ) I am also writing a junior fantasy series under another name, and working now and then for a mass market company that produces pop ups and other colourful children's books. I do educational texts to order, run a micro-business that deals with manuscript assessment and workshops, and pick up occasional editing work. I have recently had some graphic novels with a NSW company and some e-novels and poetry published by Eternal Press.

And now...

That's what I am pleased to call my career. I have been fantastically lucky in many ways, with over 300 published books over 32 years. On the other hand, I have stayed largely under the radar. (You'd never heard of me, had you? Admit it...)

I have written, and had published or performed, songs (though I can't sing), plays, (though I don't act), sports stories (though I don't play sport) a tourist guide (although I get lost with terrifying regularity) and levelled texts for overseas companies concerning places I have never been and subjects about which I knew nothing and care less. (I'm a good quick study in some areas.) I am living proof that you don't necessarily HAVE to love what you write to write well. I write what is given me to write, and so we eat. We brought up two children on the fruits of writing.

One thing I have learned is that it is very difficult to get a "profile" if you happen to be an ordinary person aside from your books. If Madonna writes a book, it is News. If Sally Odgers writes a book it's a book. Another book. One of hundreds.

Another thing I've learned is that the image many hopeful writers-in-training have of life as an old pro is way, way out of kilter with the truth.

So many nervous writers say to me, or to others, "Oh, but what will my family/friends/workmates/neighbours say when they find out I've written a book?"

My answer is, "Dear, unless you tell them, they'll never, never know."

Take it from me. I have lived in the same small town for 51 years. In that time I have written hundreds of books. My friends know I write, but probably couldn't name more than two or three of my titles (if any). Acquaintances are vaguely aware that I've had a book or two published, but assume I don't do it any more, since they never see copies in the local book shop, or hear me interviewed on local radio. Most people in town know me as the weird woman who walks a lot with dogs...

It's just as well I have a sense of humour.
So, there's the life of a jobbing writer. Not very glamourous, is it?