Transitional Phase

First, I received confirmation yesterday that I will be participating in Bookfest 2013 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. I'll be selling my books in the Glen Ellyn Public Library, signing them, handing out promotional materials, and chatting with readers. In light of that, I started updating those materials--websites and a book brochure--to reflect the coming September release of "Seer, Tyro, Fiend." I updated a booklet format to use and I'll have to begin printing. I also need to order books to sell.

I've made it through a polishing pass on "Where Power Lies," which I think is the title for "Resistance." It just seems to be a better one for a lot of reasons I believe I discussed in a prior post. More readings will be required because I think it's a bit long--85,000+ words, and I still need to make sure it flows properly and certain ideas are not restated as I think I may have done. This morning, I rewrote the ending, which I knew I would do after the first draft was complete. Now I like the way it ends because it offers hope for the situation to improve but also leaves the door open for more adventures in a new series. Don't know if I'm going to go there yet. No final decisions on the cover at this time either.

Next up is a third Windsong Lake book, as I've mentioned. I need to do some research on a few things first that will help me construct the mystery at stake. I may get started on this while I give "Where Power Lies" a brief rest.

Polishing

Oh, the hard work that remains after a first draft is completed! I made some notes before going to bed last night about an important statement that I needed to include somewhere early in the manuscript. In the opening chapter, Deanna discovers the body of a coworker at the office where she works and while the scene screams suicide, Dee doesn't believe it. I realized I needed Dee to explain why she would pursue the issue in the face of opposition. She did not know the murder victim well, and she supports the Senator who's office it happened in. Why would she push it? I came up with a reason, but finding the right place to include it was a bit of a challenge. It boils down to getting the reader behind Dee's quest with the feeling it's what they would do in her shoes.

The other challenge is the progression of the message. The other main character, Reese, is trying to figure out what happened, too, but from a different viewpoint. He is slowly introducing Dee to a different world, a new way of looking at things, and his revelations must proceed in a logical fashion. This becomes hard to manage when the manuscript is cobbled together from an older version with new ideas being added.

But each time I think I need to step back and do some sort of outline or summary, I wind up digging into the story again with the thought that I need to hone the idea more first. Why go through a tedious outline if it's going to change again, or so goes my rationale.

Another thing I'm becoming more aware of is the style. Long ago, when the first incarnation of the book was in the hands of a literary agent, she told me that Dee's narrative did not match the style of her dialog. Her descriptions were too, well, literary. I've seen it happening again in the rewrite, so I'm fixing as I go.

We Have A First Draft!

The first draft of "Resistance" was completed yesterday, and today I've started the editing process. A big section which revealed the true nature of the main conflict needed a lot of work, a complete restructuring. I'm also catching things I missed in the first go around. For example, in the world of the future, people carry a Universal Connection device, or UniCon, for web surfing, phone calls, and all forms of communication and information. I found a place where I used the term "phone." It's a small thing, but I know there are readers out there who notice the small things.

As I go through it, I'm making notes about what happens when, what day of the week, so I can verify references by the characters to past events are correct. I'll also be charting out years of historical events to keep them straight and make sure they don't present anachronisms.

I'm still not entirely happy with the ending, but I'm torn between adding a few paragraphs to tie up loose ends or letting it stand. I don't like loose ends, and cleaning them up would not close the door left open for a sequel. I just feel like the details will seem anticlimactic, which is contrary to having a strong final line.

Another point I'm wrestling with is adding illustrations in the form of two maps. One will be a political map of the United States of the future, and the other will be of the setting of the story. The city is divided into sectors, but the numbering scheme could be confusing without a picture. Since the characters often refer to the sectors, though, it's important to see the layout and know that their movements from sector to sector make sense.

The title may change back to what it was, "Where Power Lies." I'm nearly certain of that. And there's the cover art issue. I'm toying with the idea of asking someone else to do it for me. The image in my head is so clear, but I just don't know if I have the skills to execute it. Then again, there's a lot of work yet to do on the manuscript, and I might just come up with another concept.

Almost There

Maybe five pages to go on "Resistance" before I have a first draft. I've been considering the title some more, and I just might revert to the old one, "Where Power Lies." The working title doesn't have much punch, the more cryptic "ReSys10s" might be too cryptic and neither version gives any real idea of what sort of book it is. "Where Power Lies" has two meanings--about who has power and about how the powerful tell lies. That says a lot about what the book is about. I've pretty much decided to leave the door open for a sequel at some point, which is why I haven't finished those last pages yet.

Then I'll get into editing and refining. The manuscript is going to finish up around 85,000 words, but I already know a few things that will be changed and some passages that will be removed.

Cover art. I have a concept in my head with no clue how to execute it. So what else is new? I will also need a blurb, a synopsis, and all that stuff. All the supporting documents usually seem a daunting task when they're all ahead of me, but I generally find them not so bad once I get into it.

Next up, a third Windsong Lake book.

Great Guns

Full speed ahead! Lots of the old manuscript of "Resistance" has turned out to be usable in the final chapters. At this rate, I might even finish a first draft --- Today! 

I had to stop yesterday afternoon when I realized that I was about to reveal the person running the antagonists' show and it was someone who had never appeared in the book to that point. I consider that to be really rude and unfair. If a character is that important, he or she must at least show up in the early stages. It doesn't have to be in a particularly suspicious role at the time, which makes the big reveal a solid shocker, but the reader must already know of this character. The peak of the action is not the time to stop and introduce an entirely new character. That would be not only unfair to the reader, but it would ruin the pacing as well. I always want the reader to get to the climax, learn the true nature of the enemy, and say, "Why didn't I see that coming?"

Anyway, I had deleted some stuff from the older version of the book which introduced the knowledge of a baddie (notice, I'm not divulging the gender here), but it happened so late in the game, it still seemed weak and slightly underhanded. Instead, I needed someone who had already been mentioned and yet could fulfill the role I needed to fill. Last night, it hit me, but the decision required considerable editing of the old climax scene, plus insertion of another exchange, innocuous, closer to the start. Also, with the other changes, i.e., the time frame, I need to make sure that what is revealed in this climax fits with the revised plot lines. 

Whew! Sometimes it's hard to write about the writing process without revealing too much!

Blog Traffic, Reviews, and Progress

Very odd. One of my posts from back in April has been getting page views at a ridiculous level all of a sudden. The statistics feature of Blogspot don't give me any insight into where this is coming from, but I'm not looking the gift horse in the mouth. I only hope that all those hits are generating some real sales.

This morning, I sent in a bio and picture to Windy City Reviews to become a volunteer book reviewer for Chicago area authors. The link above leads to a page describing how to get a book reviewed there and all the particulars. Since I've been trying to do more reading of late, perhaps doing it as a reviewer will be more effective. I read more, other authors get reviews for their works, and each review I post on the site, as well as Goodreads and Amazon, give me a spot of publicity. I had "Dabblers" reviewed on the site, and I figured I could return the favor.

Back to "Resistance." I keep finding little details to tweak which highlight the fact that the story is set in the future. While it's fun to imagine what technological advances we'll make by that time, I don't spend a lot of words on these things in the manuscript. Page after page of description bogs down the pace, and I know of one place where I may have pushed that to the limit already. Dee, my main character, reflects on the changes of the last 50 years in Chapter 2, because the stage must be set and the time frame established for the reader. I might wind up scattering more of the facts when I get to the editing stage.

Big, big scene coming up, and I'm bearing down on the finish line.

About Plausibility

Made lots of progress on "Resistance" yesterday, and then hit a wall. Problem: Dee has an idea for blowing the lid off several conspiracies at once, but it will put her in danger. What could motivate her to do it? How can she convince others to help her and risk danger themselves? It's like what often happens in a horror movie when the female lead being menaced by an inhuman monster decides to go the one direction that will lead to a dead end and being trapped. Another example comes to mind from Arline Chase's blog about what would motivate a character to run into a burning building. Motivation is key, and it must make sense to the reader who must be able to say, "I would do the same thing in his/her shoes." It must be a plausible reason.

Under the circumstances. I know I have often found myself so caught up in a tale--be it book or movie--that I don't recognize such problems of reasoning until much later. The horror movie thing is always obvious, especially in offerings where the connection to the character is already tenuous. (Horror for horror's sake usually leaves us with mere sketches of characters because the filmmakers would rather spend time and money finding new ways to gross people out instead of developing dialog and characters.) The same thing applies to other mistakes. I may have mentioned something in one of my all-time favorite movies, "Charade": the body of a man in his pajamas is thrown off a train, then the police tell his widow that he brought no luggage aboard the train, only a few toiletry items, passport, datebook, etc. Did he board the train wearing his pajamas? If the pajamas (and robe) were in his little airline bag, what happened to the clothes he wore when he got on the train? Yet for the first several viewings (I really, really like this movie), I didn't notice the problem at all. I was too caught up in what poor Regina was going through and who all those people were and what were they after to worry about it.

So in "Resistance," when Dee presents her perilous ploy to get at the truth, she must have a good reason to put herself on the line and endanger others as well. I've tried to lay some groundwork for her decision along the way, reflecting on the wrongs done to her by those she seeks to bring down, but my main concern now is if that adds up to the right level of motivation.

Torn

Last night, after going to bed, I couldn't stop thinking about "Resistance" and finally decided to do the time-line thing this morning just to quiet all the thoughts so I could sleep. Then I sat down this morning and couldn't wait to get back to writing, with no patience for going through what I've already done and charting what happened when. It's getting very close to the big showdown, which is more or less written in the old manuscript, but there's one more scene to do, an event which will push Dee over the edge to take offensive action.

I've read and heard about lots of different methodologies of various writers, from the can't-do-a-thing-without-a-full-outline school to write-what-I-feel-even-out-of-sequence. I tend more towards the latter I suppose because inventing the most dramatic scenes is usually what gets me started on a novel in the first place. Yet I'm an organized person by nature, and I'm also wary of missing details by waiting until I start proofing a full draft before fixing things I know are wrong. Sometimes, like today, I can fight down that tendency. I've realized that in "Resistance" I've lost track of what day of the week it is, an important fact in that the big action has been stated coming up on Saturday. Now all the good guys are scrambling to get into their positions for it because time is so short. But is it? Do I have them in Thursday or Friday at the current point?

I haven't even begun to give serious thought to cover art for this one yet, although I have in the back of my mind one of those oh-so-perfect yet highly-difficult-to-execute images. Perhaps a real artist could do it, though...

All Mapped Out

Over the weekend, I planned the rest of "Resistance" in my head. Really. I know what all the scenes are pretty much--they kind of track with the older version of the manuscript--and how it turns out. Naturally, there will be details to iron out along the way, and then the arduous task of proofing, editing, polishing, proofing, etc., etc. I am debating internally about the title. The thought I had first was calling it "ReSys10s" which phonetically comes out to something close to "Resistance." Would that be clear to potential readers? Is it too clever and cute? It does appear in the novel, of course, but rather late into it. The title of the ms. before the rework was "Where Power Lies." It does fit the work because it's about the secret lines of power that exist as well as how that power structure falsifies things. The only other matter which remains unclear is if there will be a sequel or if this story wraps it up.

I left off writing a third Jack Watson mystery in favor of doing "Resistance" and having something unfinished can nag at me. I've also got some good ideas about the next Windsong Lake book, but I may have mentioned earlier that I have to create an intricate, enigmatic puzzle to be solved before I can write about it. The inspiration for that beckons where the Jack Watson book doesn't seem to lead anywhere yet. I imagine I'll get back to it eventually, but I don't want to commit to it and spend time trying to come up with something when my imagination is freely handing out new stuff for other books.

Undisciplined me...

Always Looking Ahead

"Resistance" is becoming more of a rewrite than I originally thought. I suppose I should have expected a lot of changes since choosing to reset it in the future. Even so, I'm excited by the way it's coming together. Yesterday's writing and some this morning have pushed the story closer to the big scene, the climax, and the pieces are falling into place. I'm still not sure how that scene will play out precisely, even though it will follow much of the mold as the old incarnation. I'm also unsure if I should leave the door open for a sequel or wrap it up in one book. There was a sequel almost completely finished long ago, and it was a pretty good story I think, but it too would have to be refashioned to fit into the new future setting. Ah well, one thing at a time...

And in direct opposition to one-thing-at-a-time, I've been thinking more about the third Windsong Lake book. I had a burst of inspiration to add a sort of treasure hunt aspect to the plot which would mesh well with Stefanie's pattern recognition skills. In order to do that, though, I have to figure out (a) what is the treasure and (b) what kind of puzzle or clues will lead to it. My ideas on that are vague at this point, but the concept gets me very excited. Creating puzzles is even more fun than solving them.

Time Line Time

First, I wanted to make note of the fact that I have updated my blog page, as well as my Google and Wix sites, with additional links for vendors who sell my books. On this page, they are on the left-hand side.

Okay, I've admitted to being a "pantser" when it comes to writing, and I sure don't claim to write from start to finish in a straight line. That doesn't mean I'll put off writing a connecting-type of scene to work on something exciting, but I do frequently go back and rearrange things as I go.

But outlining is not something I do before I start to write. Maybe I should, but I've never been able to do anything even close to writing a real outline. But now, in "Resistance," I have come to the point where I usually wind up about two-thirds of the way through where I have to stop and do a time line. This is just a list of events in chronological order, sometimes annotated with the day or date it happened if that's needed. Starting with what is already written, I might push it forward to cover things I haven't done yet, although usually I don't do that.

Most of my books have at least two plot lines--the people and the puzzle. As my characters try to solve the situation they are in, they also develop as people, learning, growing, and adapting. There's usually a love-story mixed in there, too, because I enjoy that part (the romantic in me). The puzzle part is the "real" plot, a mystery or situation to be solved. These always begin long before my characters become aware of them, and I have to work out the back story at some point: who did what, why, when, and where. This leads to an examination, if surface-level only, of the antagonists' background and motivations. I truly believe even the bad guys need to have a valid reason for their badness, even if the reasoning would not be embraced by anyone else.

I wound up yesterday's writing with a page and a half of notes in "Resistance" about what happens next. I found I wasn't really sure if the murder that opens the book is at the heart of it all or if it is the machinations of the antagonists. I decided that maybe it can be both! I do love a complex plot.

A Pacing Quandary

Working on "Resistance" this morning, I'm still in the section where I need to reveal a lot of information. Dee is expanding her horizons, so to speak, learning about a different sort of life that's available to her even as her former life is falling apart. The new life comes with many benefits but new risks.

While all this is interesting and open to creativity, there's a part of my brain warning about the pace slowing down. Laying out these facts behind Dee's opportunity is important groundwork, especially if "Resistance" were to become a series as was originally intended with its first incarnation. Yet the current mystery is somewhat stalled while all this stuff gets out. It's hard to tell exactly what impact it has or will have while writing it in such small pieces from day to day. Perhaps the thing to do is keep at it, lay all the pavement for the next phase of the mainline plot and worry about editing later.

On another front, I have occasionally lapsed into thoughts about another Windsong Lake book, for which I already have some notes about scenes. An idea about the shape of the mystery came to me yesterday, and of course, seeing the story develop in my head always makes me want to start writing. But I know I must have some discipline in my writing. I already put aside Book 3 of the Jack Watson series to do "Resistance." Also, the second Windsong Lake book, "Seer, Tyro, Fiend" isn't even out yet.

Changing the Story

Over the weekend, I had some ideas about "Resistance," and after completing a bunch of errands this morning, I went back through the manuscript to work them in. I'm seeing the exact sort of thing I had hoped for when I reopened this story, that the world of the future continues to evolve and expand and gain detail. It does this without my trying. I keep thinking about the movie "Inception." In that movie, the characters were able to immerse themselves into dreamworlds and construct and reconstruct their settings at will. There are some great scenes of a city folding over on itself, rearing up and changing all around the characters. Sometimes, the evolving of my make-believe world seem to do the same thing inside my head.

My main character, Dee, has a history of living in a fantasy world, making up situations in which she is someone more important, more clever, more just about anything than who she is. Her best friend warns her that she's going to lose her grip on what is real, and when Dee's adventure begins, she starts to wonder if her friend was right. She sees a world far different from what she identifies as "real," but her determination to find the truth about the death of a friend shows her that the real world is not at all what she thinks it is. Her world keeps changing. She keeps changing. She wrestles with which world she wants to keep because the old one has some good things in it. That's one of the main themes of "Resistance."

Oh, man, I love this stuff!

More Progress

Another slow day in the writing department for various reasons, but I did add some pages to "Resistance" and will probably do a few more today. While I've been copy and pasting large sections from the previous incarnation of this novel, I find many of them no longer work and need substantial revision to mesh into the new version. I know of a few upcoming scenes where I might be able to take more of the old stuff. I also realized that the final, epilogue type scene will have to be redone.

Eagerly awaiting publication of "Seer, Tyro, Fiend" since I sent in the corrections for it. I have one, possibly two library events coming up in the fall and would like to have a nice selection to sell there.

Delicate Balance

Not accomplishing much today. Yesterday, I spent a lot of the afternoon and evening enduring a migraine, and today I've been trying to keep eye-strain to a minimum to avoid another one. That being said, I did add some to "Resistance," a passage which requires a very long narrative by one person. I keep looking for ways to break it up with some action by the other characters, but I also don't want it to run on too long or recover much old ground. It's a delicate balance to achieve. This is a pivotal scene though, in which main character Dee learns what's really going on and how her worldview needs to change to fit reality. While this is a crucial and tricky segment, I'm itching to get back to the more fun passages to come where there's more action.

Getting Organized

While I was eager to get back to forging ahead with "Resistance," I had to pause this morning for research and getting organized. A couple of ideas about how the world of the future that forms the backdrop for my story came to the state it is in. It's the year 2070, and the action takes place in a city rising from the ashes of destruction. An island of civilization has grown up in the middle of a vast urban wasteland. I knew I wanted to do this from the start, but I needed to figure out what cause a thriving city to be devastated on a scale wide enough to cause a city to be deserted. Once I solved that problem with a touch of inspiration and a bit of research, I had another problem to tackle.

This new city was built one ten-square-mile sector at a time, starting with the central business district and pushing outward with surrounding sectors. Beyond this re-civilized area is the No Zone, not yet revitalized and full of danger and mystery. Anyway, the characters refer to locations by sector number. In several cases, I had already written about the proximity of No Zone perimeters in some scenes, but I had to determine how the sectors were numbered in order to reference them. I first drew a map and then built a table in a Word document to use as a guide. With that task done, I then went back through the manuscript to adjust any references to addresses by sector number, block number, and unit number. Nothing in this fictional city I'm creating has a name. It's all numbers, which is logical in a way when you think about police and firefighting services.

But now I face a new problem. There are rules for how to represent numbers in a manuscript, and here I have created uses for numbers that don't exist in the real world. How to do this properly is going to take more research, or at the very least, careful editing to make sure I do it consistently.

Now, back to writing.

Dark and Gloomy

One full reading of "Seer, Tyro, Fiend" under my belt now, and I think I will probably do one more. At first there seemed to be a lot of corrections, but actually it isn't so many, about a page and a half.

Back to work on "Resistance." Strangely, I find I am having to force myself a bit, in spite of all the pent-up ideas I have to go with. Maybe it's partly due to the situation Dee finds herself in--pretty gloomy. She's gone out on a limb to do the right thing, taking a huge risk in her entry into a different world, and suddenly she feels abandoned. Unfortunately, things will get darker before the storm is over. If that's the reason for my mood, then the best thing is to get her through it sooner rather than later. And there's this little voice inside my head telling me to use my feelings to create the emotion in the story.

So whose mood is this, anyway?

Wouldn't Ya Know It

Bursting at the seams with ideas for "Resistance" and guess what happens? The galleys for "Seer, Tyro, Fiend" are ready to proofread. I've already started on that. I don't think I'll be able to stop from getting down a page or two in "Resistance" at the same time because all the new ideas are really good. I keep adding notes at the end of the manuscript so I don't forget anything, but I do want to do some actual writing on it.

Over the weekend, I submitted my application for Glen Ellyn Library's Book Fest 2013, so this morning, I made up a packet with a brochure, business card, and a copy of "The Changeling Kill" along with the $25 application fee and took that over to the library. I went to this event last year, but it sounds like there'll be more indoor activities this time around. Not a bad thing for me. Once I receive confirmation, I'll post more details about the event.

One of the events they have at Book Fest is a pitch session. Last year, I didn't prepare for it but joined in anyway. The no-prep option was a bad way to go. This year, I plan to prepare, write up the text, rehearse and time myself. And hopefully, I'll have a lot of books to sell there.

Boom!

Great stroke of inspiration last night led to some frantic revisions this morning before starting back on "Resistance." Not only did the inspiration solidify a major facet of the future worldview I'm creating, it also serves as the means for Dee to contribute to the quest for the truth. Naturally, her next moves will lead her into deeper trouble.

Just as I was writing that first paragraph, I was thinking about the final big scene and how it will have to change from its original form in the old manuscript, and BOOM! Another idea came to me about how to crank it up some and utilize the features of the future. I do love it when the story takes over and invents itself with only scant thinking on my part. At this rate, I'll have a new first draft ready in another week or so.

Throwing Dirt

"Resistance" is now up to 43,000 words and counting. Having reached a turning point, where Dee's alliances and aims are shifting with her increased understanding of what's going on around her, it's time to add new conflicts.

Arline Chase has often quoted author and friend Carla Neggers on the subject of plotting, and I'll quote from Arline's blog: "...you create a character, then you put them in a big hole and throw dirt in on them. Every time they try to climb out (temporary triumph), you throw more dirt (obstacles), until the arrival of what Carla calls the 'big gloom' when it appears that there is no way out of the hole at all." 

Dee has reached a temporary triumph so now it's time to throw some dirt on her. She's feeling that triumph, a little powerful and ready to fight back, but her eagerness to do so will make the ride of the journey she's on rougher. Her budding relationship with Reese hits a few snags (which also help to define his character more) and the bad guys are about to take stronger measures to make sure Dee doesn't mess up their plans. She'll wind up longing for the good old days when she knew nothing, expected nothing, and stayed focused on her own survival. She'll question her own motives and weigh the gains and potential losses that come from her decisions, ones made already and ones to be made ahead. There's more action coming up, too. 

Originally, this story was to be the start of a series, and it might still be. I had a sequel mostly finished and some thoughts on a third. I think after my effort to sell the first book via an agent fizzled, and after three or more rewrites in that effort, I just couldn't bring myself to do anything more on it right away. Recently, though, a new twist, i.e., setting it in the future, inspired me to give it another go. I hope it's worth it, because I really like these people and the concept of their ongoing quest. 

Time will tell.