Category Archives: Writing

Writing Meme Question #2

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How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?

I’ve never thought to count my characters. I do know that most of my stories start off with a huge ensemble that I have to whittle down as I write. I like having a bunch of people to choose from. Then I either delete them or I combine characters. I guess a novel by me would have an average of about 10 characters. Main character, love interest, best friend, parents, a sibling of some sort, a teacher. I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it, actually. I just write and edit people as I see fit until I feel that I have the right amount of characters to carry the book.

Do I prefer males or females? That’s a weird question. Hmmm. Well, I prefer to write from a female’s POV (usually a 17-year old), but I have a mix of males and females in my books.

Daily Writing Meme

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I found this meme at my friend Ivy’s LiveJournal, and thought it would be a neat way for me to explore my writing, and for me to also make more use of this blog. I really want to become more active in the blogosphere in regards to my writing. Back when I was very much into it, about 4-5 years ago, I was amazed by the helpfulness, the willingness to extend a hand and pull a newbie up, and the friendships I’ve made. I want that again. 🙂

Knowing me, I won’t be able to keep up with this meme daily, but I will answer every question in it. 🙂 So, here goes. Question 1:

Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.

I definitely got the most joy out of the ONLY YOURS. This story was a true romance, but YA instead of adult. I stole every free moment–and even moments I wasn’t supposed to have–to write. I stayed up late every night. I worked during every break and lunch break. I used any down time I had to write, and when I didn’t have down time, I was constantly thinking about the story and the characters. Writing notes. Listening to certain songs to help me along. I was in love with all of my characters. I’d made up this school culture, and video games, and getting inside this girl’s head was so much fun for me. The research for that book was fun, too. I was pretty into church back then, and I helped out with the youth groups. Being around teenagers really helped me feel at ease writing about them, because I got to see how they acted and talked. My main character is a devout Christian, so being in that atmosphere really helped me develop her character and her personality. I think Jeremy (the love interest) is one of the coolest guy characters ever, and I really hope that one day I can get that story out there somehow.

I wrote ONLY YOURS in only six months, but the story had marinated in my mind for years before. Then I guess it burst out of me. And that was awesome.

For The Love Of Writing/It’s All In A Name

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I start writing this entry at 4:20am, December 14, 2009. I just did a quick read through of my first ever submitted manuscript ONLY YOURS. The one that landed me my agent. I couldn’t believe the gamut of emotions that ran through me. Emotions like “Really? He liked this? Then I got to the meat of the story. My heart is still pounding. I can’t believe I wrote something like that. I have to be able to do that again, but even better. Cause this time I want to actually publish.

But the reason I cracked open the Word file in the first place was to see if I could remember the joy I got from writing back then. When I would rush home to write. When I’d stay up all night and write. When I’d write every free moment I had. Breaks/lunch at work. Notebooks. I wrote every chance I got. Now it’s like I try to avoid writing every chance I get. Where did that love go? That excitement and joy?

That’s not to say that I am not writing. I am. Just not at the feverish, passionate pace I used to write. And I want that passion back!

How do I get it back?

I realized that I’m not a prolific writer. I don’t churn out 43895893 stories a year like some amazing people. Characters marinate in my head for months and years before I even know what to do with them. Then I have eleventy billion false starts. Then it happens. The magic happens. So, I know I should be patient, and let things simmer. I guess I’m the Crock-Pot of writing. It takes a long time for things to heat up for me.

One thing that can hold me back is THE NAME. My main character has to have the PERFECT name, or I don’t want anything to do with her. Nothing fits. The story just won’t work unless I have the right name for her. I have a baby names application on my iPhone, that’s how bad it is. Minor characters–their names usually pop up early and stick around. Those are easy. But the main character’s name…I have a hard time choosing the right name.

Is it an excuse? Because really, all it boils down to is that I’m scared. I’m scared I’m going to work my butt off on a book only to have a billion editors say NOPE again. I’m scared it’s going to suck. I’m scared that I won’t even LIKE doing it, and that it’ll feel like work or torture. When I first started this journey in a serious manner years ago, I had a bunch of friends who were on equal ground with me. We were all unagented, then we all got agents together. They’ve ALL gone on to publish, some of them have loads of books out or coming out. And I’m still languishing. I’m scared that I’m going to try again, and I’ll fail again. But then, the real failure is not even trying, right?

So, for my current WIP, one I’ve been working (and when I say working, I mean simmering/marinating characters, false starts–oh, I’ve lost count of the number of false starts this one has had) on for about two years now, I think I finally have a name for the main character. I am not working out of the home currently, so if I can get off those dang Facebook games (curse you Zynga for making such cute little games), I can really get some headway made.

It’s time I stop talking about writing, and actually WRITE. For real! No more marinating. It’s time to cook.
(FOR REAL THIS TIME. GOD, AM I SOUNDING LIKE A BROKEN RECORD OR WHAT? GAH.)

‘Til next time.