What Are You Loving?
I’m back to sentences. My first story (novella—2001) was a bit of a Harry Potter rip-off. Really sort of ridiculous, considering the genre pseudonym writes in, but I had a blast creating a magic-filled world. I made lots of mistakes, which I look back on with some fondness and a lot of embarrassment, considering it’s still out there. (*cue The Twilight Zone music*)
It would be hard to read it now and not laugh myself to absolute tears. We’re talking rolling-down-the-face tears. I don’t dare. Just remembering the names I gave the characters makes me giggle.
The second story I wrote was a short story. I don’t remember what it was, but I remember that period of my life. After teaching, I’d kick back in front of my desktop (A desktop! One of those archaic things! *snicker*), and I’d spend an hour toying with a paragraph.
I’d consider the nuances of each word choice. I’d look nearly every word up in the thesaurus, constantly checking that I was choosing just the right one. I’d read the dictionary for fun. I’d spend hours on a single paragraph. Gosh, it was a blast!
But then came money and pounding the keys and daily word counts and frets and worries and deadlines and… all that baggage.
Still, I grew to love plot. I have been plot-obsessed for two years. I love knitting together a plot. I can sort of understand why James Patterson enjoys (besides the financial gain) hiring co-writers: when I’m done playing with the puzzle of the plot, the grind of actually writing it seems… boring.
I’m a pantser, but my current hat tip of a novel to Les Miserables means I pretty much know the entire plot. And now I’m back to toying with sentences and playing with paragraphs.
I feel like a craftswoman again. I feel like my hands are wrist deep in clay.
It even feels Zen, taking my eyes off the top of the mountain and focusing on just the one step in front of me.
So what are you loving right now? What are you focusing on? What is making it fun for you?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
Right now I’m loving getting my words done and meeting my goal. My happiest is when I play with the words and sentences until they’re just right. That’s the most fulfilling part of writing for me. But I’ll go back and do that in my next draft. At this point, I just want to get the words done. Last night, I finished a turning point in the book, and that felt damn good. I’m on the last leg toward The End.
Edie, that sounds like fun! Oh wow. I envy where you are! Good luck to the End!
I have a YA premise that I LOVE, but I haven’t figured out the story yet. So right now I’m enjoying (sort of) toying with all the different directions I can take this story.
That’s so cool, Melanie! That’s awesome! You’re making me excited about it, and I don’t even know what it is.
I’m loving the WIP forming in my head. It’s evolved to the point where I think it’s almost ready to begin writing. The problem is that it’s been so long since I’ve started anything new that I don’t know where to begin.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The first few days back for me are a mess, Kath. I just write shit, and it feels awkward and uncomfortable. So I try to ease myself in. I’m odd in that I can’t really begin until I have the title and the first sentence and the opening. I mean, I KNOW I can go back alter and fix, but… no. I’ve tried. It won’t write until I nail the beginning.
So sometimes I just make efforts and then throw them away.
In other words, don’t ask me, LOL.
I like your method. Nailing the beginning has to be better than just barfing up something and then returning to it months later. One of the things I’d like to do this time around is not look back until I’ve typed “The End.” (Usually I’m reading back and fixing, and then nothing new happens.)
That process has always mystified and fascinated me. I always mean to try it!
Funny, I’m contracted to do the opposite. A question Merry asked me made me realize I liked writing to someone else’s plot (well, I had influence). I liked the “just writing.” But I always add to plot in drafting, so that’s fun.
In SCAR though I’m at part revision stage and part rewriting and part drafting (adding in more POVs) so that’s fun because it’s all broken up into bits. I never get bored. Problem is, I just wonder when I’ll finish it!! It’s like the book I can’t live without.
I used to, Betsy. That just sort of died in me, LOL. I remember once thinking that I wish someone would give me a story, and I’d write it. I actually did that once, and didn’t enjoy it at all, LOL.
That’s awesome, Betsy! What a book that is!
I love best rewriting, revising, taking a piece that’s got a bit of ugly and doing some plastic surgery on it to make it look better. A little lipo, a tuck here and there. Some botox.
Hah! That’s funny, Charles! I’m not sure what I love best, really. Hmm… really.
But I love your analogy!
Right now I’m just tryhing to stay awake long enough to finish the next chapter!
Eek, me too. Except it’s noon, so I have no excuse.
I am focusing on creating a daily writing/word count goal and not letting myself get hung up on saying the RIGHT thing (because that’s when I get my best phrases, usually).
I need to do that, Lauren! It helps!
I’m lovin’ the UF that I’ve started. Jumping back and forth between two chapters. I’d get an idea for one chapter and then get stuck. Cues me to re-read the previous chapter, add a few things and am off running again.
I’m with you on old manuscripts. They’re hilarious. Isn’t it amazing how much we DIDN’T know?
Oh awesome, Liz! That’s great. Whenever I’m stuck, I always find the answer in my beginning.
And yes, oh man, it’s a hoot!
Fun? What is this fun you speak of?
Plot? Again, could you clarify?
:0
ROFL, Lainey! I sort of feel like that today.
For once I’m glad I got here late so that I could read Lainey’s comment. LOL!
I’m happy to have someone feed me the plot and then fool around with it in a pantserish way. When I brainstorm with my current writing buddy I write down every word we say. She wants to throw ideas around, but if I don’t write it down, I can’t remember what we said, and it’s lost in the ether of my pre-Alzheimer brain.
I know! Cracked me up, Robin!
That sounds like fun! Yeah, I’d be a disaster if an editor wanted to converse over the phone. I have to look up my character’s names and everything. I have the worst memory.
No Zen here at the moment. We need to pack for our travel, and to add to that plate, the cold that Em and I are both suffering from.
I have my own little laugh right now. The dog is trying to see who will let him in bed with his bone. I’m so tired right now that I don’t care if it’s my bed.
ROFL, Christina! Right now I have a cat crazy for Angel Food Cake. I put it on one side of me, and she runs over. Then I put it on the other, and she goes over there. Now she’s sitting and waiting awhile, hoping I’ll forget, then softly sneaking over to the other side.
LOL – c’mon, Nat,it wasn’t THAT bad (if the novella you’re referring to is the one I think it is.)
I don’t think I’m loving anything at the moment, though I am somewhat pleased that the plot of a novella I was working on is finally starting to come together. On the other hand, it’s also starting to look like it may end up being a novel rather than novella because I keep coming up with things to add in that would make it better.
Oh, it IS. Are you sure you’ve read it, Kate? It’s the one with the green hill or mist or something. It’s where I accidentally SWITCHED HEROES IN THE MIDDLE.
*snort*
Yay!!! A novel!!! Wasn’t that your goal? Longer?
Yep, that was the one. (giggle) Actually, I was glad you switched heroes, because I liked the other guy better. lol.
Yes, my goal has been “longer”, but I also had a goal of 4 novellas this year, too. If that one becomes a novel, I also miss my other goal. (as well as opportunities to sell!) Oh, well. It will be what it will be…