Know What Your Character Wants

One of the most basic things you need to know when describing your own book is what your character wants. I can't even begin to list how many times I've read this when looking up tips for query writing. What does your character want, and what stops him from getting it? That's your basic conflict, and that's all anybody really wants to know when you're summarizing your book. But here's my issue with this concept: at any point in your life, whether you're making a big decision or a little one, do you always know what you want? So what if your character doesn't know what he wants? Is your story set up for failure?

I'm still avoiding my book like the plague, but I have given it a bit more thought, and I've broken it down into three parts. I've mentioned before that I feel the third part is the weakest, and it's not just because I can't write the last chapter to save my life. I think it has something to do with the fact that my MC doesn't know what he wants. In the first two parts, he didn't exactly have everything figured out, but he at least had a good idea about what he wanted. He just had to figure out how to get it, and how much he could get. But as the story progresses and things get more complicated, what he actually wants is hard to figure out.

I don't necessarily think this is going to kill my story. Whenever you're reaching the end of a book, the characters are probably going to have to make some decisions that help wrap up the whole story and bring it to its conclusion. If your story is about a love triangle, then your MC is going to have to pick one person. If it's an epic quest, then your hero will probably have to choose whether or not to complete it even when it seems impossible. A lot of stories will have decisions being made in the final act.

This thought process has helped me feel a little better about the fact that my MC has a hard time figuring out what he wants in the final act. Where I think I went wrong was in the execution. He's very wishy-washy about it, which just doesn't fit his character at all. He also doesn't seem to realize that a choice even needs to be made until the very last minute (which is a big part of why I think my last chapter doesn't work). Maybe what he wants is just to figure out what he wants, which is ok, but it can't just dawn on him out of nowhere. He has to be constantly aware of it, which I don't think I pulled off.

So a decision may be a big part of the final chapters of your book. Even if your character knows what he wants in the beginning, things can happen throughout the story that make it harder to figure out exactly what he wants in the end. But as long as he knows a decision needs to be made, then it won't throw the reader off when he finally makes it.

Your character may not always know what he wants. It isn't the end of the world for your story. You just have to help him figure it out.

The First Step

I'm going to keep this short, because as usual, I'm stressed out beyond belief. I have to take Gizmo back to the vet AGAIN, this time for blood work just to make sure he can handle an anti-inflammatory medication. I didn't even really want to blog today, but I also didn't want to not blog. So yeah...

I want to take this whole getting back into editing thing one step at a time, and I think I figured out the first step. It's pretty easy--just read. I want to read the first five chapters of my book, because I think they're the best out of the whole thing, and reading them usually gets me excited about the story. I've also pretty much edited them to death and there isn't much more to do with them, besides maybe a few tweaks here and there. So I'm thinking reading this section will give me a boost of confidence and hopefully a feeling of excitement again.

The next thing I want to do is piece together a draft that I can send to a few more beta readers. It shouldn't take me too long (I hope) and I'd really like to get some more input. But of course, I'm getting ahead of myself. Today I'm just going to read. If I finish that and want to do more, then that's great. If not, that's ok, too.

A Week to Myself

First off, on the Gizmo front, the Most Uncooperative Cat Award goes to...THIS GUY...

...who is very tired because he spent 3 hours at the vet on Wednesday and then had to go back on Thursday and stay 4 more hours all because he was very determined to not give them a urine sample. They finally managed to get it and are sending it out to see if there's some reason why he keeps getting sick. It could also be stressed related, although I don't know what he could be stressed about. We'll see, I guess. 

So! My fiance just left on a trip to LA, which means I'll be home all by myself for an entire week. This is both good and bad. I'm gonna miss him like crazy and worry about him being out there by himself all of the time, but I also have all this time to myself and I'm hoping I can get a lot done. I'm really a night owl, especially when it comes to writing, so I'm planning on staying up late all week and working on some stuff. 

But here are some goals for the week: 

• Read, read, and read some more.
• Watch lots of movies. I don't think I can reach my goal of 100 books for the year, but there's enough time to reach my 100 movies goal. 
• Edit! I had some trouble sleeping around 3 AM and actually got some brainstorming done. I think the last third of my book is the weakest part, and I thought of an underlying thread throughout the book that might help it out. 
• Outline and possibly start writing the book I was supposed to write for NaNo. It's still on my mind so I'd like to get a little work done on it before it flutters away. 
• Start planning out my A to Z Challenge posts. I've jotted down a bunch of ideas but I need to start actually planning which ideas can fall under what letters. Still not sure about X and Z, though...
• Look into getting some small things published. I've been sitting on one good short story and a bunch of poems and I'd like to actually doing something with them. 
• Because I also eat my feelings, I bought all of my favorite snacks and junk food that I can eat while my fiance's gone. There will be baking involved. 

That's it, I think. I'll let you know in a week how it goes. 

Finding the Passion

Hello, everyone! Today is the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! I'm feeling extra insecure so I fit right in. Check out Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog to learn more and join in.

I'll keep this post brief because I'm feeling beyond lousy. I have a cold whose main symptom is a constant headache. And we have to take Gizmo back to the vet later today for the FOURTH time. It's very frustrating when he keeps getting sick. Hopefully they can finally put a stop to it.

So I could talk about how I gave up on my NaNoWriMo book before I even started it, but I'm not really all that upset about it, honestly. I don't think I had planned this particular story well enough to bust it out in a month. Besides life getting in the way of my writing time, I just wasn't feeling it.

I feel like I have such a hard time being passionate about my writing lately. When I first started my novel, it was all I could think about. I couldn't do anything but write. Sometimes I forgot to eat. If I could write like I did back then I would be busting out two novels a month. But I just don't feel that way anymore.

I know everyone has said just to put it aside for a while, but the thing is, I have. I haven't looked at my book in over two months. I really want to work on it, but I also don't want to even look at it. Maybe it's because I know editing it is going to be hard. Maybe it's because I feel like no one is going to like my book, or they're going to take it the wrong way. I'm sick of not working on it, but I don't know how to start.

I guess I'll just take it one step at a time. I've had a couple more people offer to beta read for me, which I think will help. I just have to merge some of the edits I've already made with the last complete draft I have before I send it out. My editing draft is an absolute mess and there are a bunch of holes in it, but I also don't really want people to read the second draft as it is. I've got to tweak a few things first. But I will get it out there!

That wasn't brief at all, was it? Oh well. Time for some tea and aspirin.

Not Blogging Today

Nope. Not gonna do it. I'm sick. My cat is sick (AGAIN). I've already given up on my NaNo book (besides the life nonsense, I just wasn't feeling it). And if you think Jordan is around to write his monthly post, well, hahahahahaha. Yeah right.

Anyway, check out my Liebster Award post from Friday. It's much more entertaining than this one. See you all on Wednesday for IWSG!

Liebster Award!

This is a really, really long time coming since I’ve been nominated for this award, not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES, and I’ve just kind of been putting it off for forever. First I was nominated by Li at Flash Fiction, then Chrys Fey at Write with Fey, and finally, Nikki at Travels with Pen and Paper. Well, I’m finally doing it, and thanks so much to the three awesome ladies who nominated me. 

The Rules: 

1. Post 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions provided by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 more bloggers who have less than 200 followers and let them know they’ve been nominated.
4. Provide 11 questions for those bloggers to answer. 

I’ll be honest, the hardest part is coming up with 11 people to nominate, since most of the blogs I follow either have over 200 followers or they already have the award. But! I figured I could cheat, and since Nikki’s post also said to nominate “up to 11 bloggers,” I was totally on board with that. So, here we go!

11 Facts About Me

1. I’m horribly near-sighted, hence the glasses. I wear them for pretty much everything except reading.
2. My favorite color is gray.
3. My least favorite emotion is probably embarrassment. I hate it so much that I can’t even stand watching or hearing about other people being embarrassed.
4. I haven’t cut my hair in 3 years, not even a trim.
5. I can’t drink anything with carbonation because the fizz hurts my tongue. I haven’t had more than a couple sips of soda in my entire life, I’ve never even tried beer, and I don’t plan on drinking any champagne at my own wedding.
6. I own way more cardigan sweaters than any normal person should.
7. I’m really good at identifying celebrity voices in commercials and cartoons.
8. Most of the time you’ll find me in jeans and a t-shirt, but at heart, I’m a girly girl. Dresses, high heels, etc. I just rarely have a reason to dress up.
9. When I was three months old I had to have surgery to reduce fluid buildup in my brain (caused by hydrocephalus and Dandy Walker syndrome). I have a cerebral shunt in my head that’s basically a tube that drains the fluid. It’s possible that the symptoms no longer exist, but it’s not really worth it to have the shunt removed if it’s not needed. I can actually feel the tube through the side of my neck and I have a scar on my stomach from having it lengthened when I was four.  
10. I can’t do things like ride a bike or ice skate (probably due to poor balance). You can imagine how horrible my seventh grade field trip to the ice skating rink was.
11. I pretty much never listen to the radio, so I'm never up to date with current music. 

The Questions!

Ok, I’m also cheating on this part. Well, since I’ve been nominated three times, I’ve been given three sets of questions to answer! I didn’t want to bog this post down with 33 questions, so I decided to pick and choose my favorite questions (or maybe just the ones I knew how to answer) from each of the people who nominated me. The first four are from Nikki, the next four are from Chrys, and the last three are from Li.

1. What was your worst job? 

When I was 16 I sold makeup through mark.—a sort of younger division of Avon. The job itself wasn’t terrible, but teenage girls don’t have all that much money, so I didn’t sell all that much and ended up buying too much stuff for myself with the discount.

2. What was your favorite childhood toy? 

Not one in particular, but I was CRAZY about stuffed animals. I don’t know the exact number, but it’s over 300. I still have them all, but they’re in my storage unit.

3. What's your favorite vegetable? 

I’m a picky eater, so I could probably count the vegetables I like on one hand, but I’m gonna have to go with green beans. Except I’m really weird—I eat them with steak sauce. My sister does it, too. At some point in our childhood we were having steak and green beans and the sauce accidentally got on them and we realized how good it tasted.

4. Would you rather have a live in chef or live in maid? 

I’d have to go with maid since I love to cook but I’m very messy about it. It would be nice to have someone else clean it up for me. Actually, can I choose a live in hairdresser/makeup artist/personal shopper? Those exist, right?

5. On a Friday night, what are you most likely to do? 

My fiancé and I like to stay at home, have a few drinks (usually Malibu rum and some kind of juice), and order some scrumptious take out or I’ll make something like tacos. Then we’ll probably watch a movie or binge watch a TV show on Netflix. We’re practically hermits so it’s a lot of fun.

6. What is your biggest dream? 

You mean besides being a bestselling author? I secretly really really want my book Uneven Lines to be made into a movie (but only if I get to write the screenplay, obviously). I’m actually already convinced that the universe has sent me a sign that it will happen. No, I will not tell you what it was, since I’m also convinced I will jinx it. Yes, I know I’m delusional.

7. If your house were burning down, what would you take and why? 

After making sure my fiancé and cat were getting out ok, I’d grab my flash drive since it has all of my writing on it, my engagement ring (besides the obvious reason, it also belonged to my mom), and my Playbill binder (which has the Playbills to every play & musical I’ve ever been to).

8. If you were not in your current line of work, what would you be doing instead? 

I’ve always kind of wanted to have a bakery, or maybe just a cookie shop. I like coming up with new ideas for recipes. Ooo but I’d totally have to make cupcakes, too.

9. Have you ever witnessed a truly heroic act by someone else? 

The closest thing I can think of is when my dad jumped into our pool fully clothed to pull out my little cousin, who was probably about to drown. I think we look at it as more amusing than heroic at this point.

10. You've just had a novel published and the fanfiction community is going wild.  How do you feel about it?  Are you flattered, angry, resigned? 

Well, if it’s UL, I’m terrified, because I’m sure you’re all sick perverts…but I’m totally gonna read all of it. Hey! It doesn’t count as slash if the characters are already gay! Unless you paired up other characters…no! Do not do that! Stop it! Stop it right now! How dare you even give me those ideas??

11. You can choose any location in the world to pursue your writing, but you must remain there for the rest of your life.  Where would it be?

I absolutely love New York City, so I would want to move there. This may have less to do with my writing and more to do with my love of Broadway musicals… 

My Nominees!

I tried to find as many as I could but it's difficult! So I only have four. Go check out their awesome blogs!

S.E. Dee at Blue Bic Blog

Crystal R. Martin at The Write Life

Debra McKellan at The Write Mage

and Brian S Creek 

And finally:

11 Questions for my Nominees to Answer

1. If you could dress up as anyone/anything for Halloween, what would it be?
2. If you could only write one genre of books for the rest of your life, what would it be?
3. Where were you when you were struck with the idea for your current WIP? Did something trigger the idea or did you pull it out of thin air?
4. Who is your celebrity crush?
5. What literary character would you want to be best friends with? BONUS: Which one of YOUR characters would you want to be best friends with? Describe him or her.
6. You have to pull off a huge heist (such as robbing a casino like in Ocean's Eleven). Who do you want on your team? You can pick people you know, celebrities, or any fictional characters (but no magical powers!). 
7. What is your least favorite household chore?
8. Has there ever been a book/movie/TV show that made you sob uncontrollably?
9. Has one of your favorite books ever been made into a movie and you hated it? If not, did you love it? Why?
10. How do you take your coffee? Do you like flavored coffee? (Or what is your favorite tea if you’re a tea person?)
11. What would your demise be that gets you kicked out of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory? (You can pick one from the book/movies or come up with your own!)

Not gonna lie, I had a lot of fun coming up with these. I hope they're not too obscure or too involved to answer! 

NaNoPrep: Research Before or After?

With NaNoWriMo fast approaching, it's about that time when most writers planning for it (or maybe just me...) go into panic mode. Have I thought this story out? Do I have everything I need to get an entire novel written in just one month? What if I don't? Am I doomed to fail? Should I even start?

I know I'm not 100% prepared to start writing this novel. I don't think I'm even 50% prepared. I think this is equally caused by the fact that I just decided that I was going to do NaNo, and let's be honest, I'm a procrastinator. I've got the basic story planned out in my mind, and I've thought over several different scenes, but I think there's still a lot about this story that I haven't figured out.

I'm not all that worried because I'm a pantser (I'm assuming all of you know what that means :P). I just have some sort of natural aversion to doing outlines. I usually don't plan what I'm going to write. I just write whatever scene is pestering my brain the most, then as I write more and more, start to piece everything together and figure out what's missing. Is it the most organized method? Definitely not, but I know what works for me.

What I've come to realize is that every book requires at least a little bit of research. If you're writing a realistic novel set in the real world, then you want to make sure all of your details are accurate. For this particular novel I'm planning on writing, I don't have to do a ridiculous amount of research, but I'm a bit worried that I don't have enough time to figure out everything before I start writing. So what should I do?

There are plenty of options, of course. I could get all of my research done before I start writing. I could research what I need as I'm writing it. Or I could just put all of the research on hold, write out the novel, then check the accuracy once it's done and fix any mistakes. Obviously the first two seem the most logical, mostly because if you write something without doing your research, you may find that what you wrote is inaccurate and you may have to rewrite the entire thing. But when it comes to something like NaNo, where you're trying to get as much writing done as possible in a short amount of time, you also don't want the research to trip you up and take up a huge amount of time.

I haven't quite figured it out yet. Most of the research I need to do involves the setting. I still have a few days to get my research done, but I also want to focus on figuring out a bit more of the story line, and--oh, I don't know, naming my characters. I also think I could just develop the setting the way I picture it and it won't be terribly inaccurate, or at least have any huge errors that I can't easily fix once I get all of my research done. I just don't want to be in the position where I finish an entire novel then find out it could never happen the way I wrote it. I don't think this could happen, but you never know.

I guess I'm going to take it one day at a time. And I've still got three days to get some research done.