Camp NaNo Update Day #12

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Writing is a solitary endeavor.

Writers peck away on laptops, tablets, typewriters, and in long-hand dictating stories being told by the voices in their heads.

Most times, it’s a comfortable collaboration. I mean, who doesn’t get along with their own brain? (Don’t answer that.)

But things aren’t always blue skies and free coffee refills.

Plot twists unwind, harsh thoughts are tossed around and characters retreat to the shadows to sulk.

Writers take their socially awkward selves straight to Snapchat and put on bunny ears, to Twitter to troll their friends, or to YouTube to watch sad videos about darkness and loveless worlds.

No words are being written and writers wonder yet again why they even bother. Careers in mass transit (read; UBER) or the culinary arena (read: DOMINO’S) are considered as well as taking a shot at being the next YouTube sensation because if that guy can do it, well…

But then you find a new four-star review on your last book on Amazon. You open your email to great feedback and winning praise from beta readers. A blog you follow has a great post on Scrivener that will save you time. An editing service you’ve wanted to use is running a buy now, use later special… and offering a 20% off deal.

And you smile.

Your day has turned around and things aren’t as dark and dreary as you believed. The sun will come up tomorrow, and you’ve figured out how to smooth the wrinkle in your WIP.

All because you walked away from your WIP.

No, this isn’t a post about the art of procrastination. No writer needs help with that.

It’s about knowing when to walk away from writing and reach out… for help, encouragement, support, FUN… and accountability.

Some writers can get so caught up in their own heads, they get stuck in a loop, moving neither forward nor backward. They need help and don’t realize it. They need to interact with like-minded individuals. (Who understands the mind of a writer better than other writers and avid readers?)

They could avoid a good deal of anxiety and thoughts of career changes if writers build—or strengthen—their network of support.

Families are generally the first level of support. Even if they never read a word of your writing, share the basic details with them. Never put up walls between your family and your writing.

Join a writing group. This can be a daunting challenge and can take time to find a good fit.

Just being a group of writers is not enough. Also writing in your genre is not enough. Even being close in age is not enough.

And being in a group is pointless if you do not interact. Trade blurbs or sales page details for critiques. Find a paragraph-partner or find out if the group allows public posting and critiquing.

It takes time to build trust in any group or team a writer joins. I wouldn’t advise joining any group and sending out entire manuscripts or even chapters to people you just ‘met.’

Make a plan with your group/team. Set dates/deadlines for brainstorming sessions, progress updates, and manuscript reviews.

Be reliable. Our obligations outside of writing will always be the priority but make your team aware of delays. Don’t be the weakest link.

I haven’t found my perfect fit writing group yet, but I do have a few amazing writer-friends who will point out my overuse of commas, my reluctance to hit the publish button and my tendency to use too many words when a few will do.

Not at all like this post. 😀

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Day 12 word count – 23,519

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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved

Camp NaNo Update Day #11

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To coin a phrase, when it comes to POV, “The struggle is real!”

POV or Point of View is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. In literature, point of view is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see” what takes place in a story.

Who’s telling the story? Whose point of view will bring the reader into the story?

The wrong—or too many—points of view can confuse, annoy, or bore a reader to tears… and lead them to walk away from a book.

There are four primary POV types in fiction:

First person point of view. First person is when “I” am telling the story. …
Second person point of view. The story is told to “you.” …
Third person point of view, limited. The story is about “he” or “she.” …
Third person point of view, omniscient.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right?

When it’s successful, readers won’t notice. The story flows. They’re seeing the plot unwind through the protagonist’s eyes or rotate between characters or the unseen narrator.

When it’s not successful?

“Houston, we have a problem.”

If the point of view isn’t clear, the story isn’t clear.

Who’s talking? When did they get here? What are they talking about?

Confused POV can lead to head-hopping.

What is head-hopping? Technically, it’s having more than one POV in a scene.

I emphasize technically because authors will argue vehemently in favor of or against it. Some say it depends on the genre, while others say it’s the trope, and still, others say don’t do it at all.

I like third person, omniscient because I can avoid most of the confusion… and because I’m nosy and want to know what everyone is seeing, thinking, and feeling. But even that can bring problems if the writer lapses and writes what they’re thinking instead of their character. The third person narrative becomes first person and readers are like, “Wait, what happened?”

Or maybe that’s just me.

I’m trying something different (for me) with Sins of the Mother. It feels right so far. But then, no one has read the NaNo version except me.

Guess I’ll be sharing excerpts soon.

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Day 11 word count – 21,309

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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved

Camp NaNo Update Day #10

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I come across a good post about writing schedules almost daily. Many authors and bloggers have unique and precise methods of ensuring time is allotted daily for writing.

My writing schedule looks like a casual suggestion.

Don’t get me wrong, I write something every day… at some point. The schedule part? That’s tricky.

I’m not disciplined enough to say, “I must write,” then sit down and do it.

If it’s editing or revising—words already written—I’m all in.

New dialogues and scenes? It’s complicated.

My stories are character-driven and if characters aren’t talking, I’m not writing.

However, that is not the case during NaNoWriMo/Camp NaNoWriMo, or any writing challenge.

For thirty days I write at the same time everyday, almost always exceeding my word count goal, then move on to something else.

First day after the challenge ends, I’m back to pencil-tapping and scrolling through Twitter.

It’s obvious I need supervision.

Writing challenges have deadlines not imposed by me.

To succeed, I have to play by guidelines not imposed by me.

See a pattern forming here?

I need accountability… and not to myself. I’ll blow me off faster than anyone.

Guess it’s a good thing for folks like me NaNoWriMo recently announced they’re launching an updated website later this year which includes YEAR-ROUND writing support.

This is a good thing. Perhaps I’ll actually adapt to a writing schedule which lasts longer than thirty days.

Anything is possible.

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Day 10 word count – 17,281

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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved

Camp NaNo Update #8

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Reading time – 1 min, 10 sec.

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Character development—or lack of—can make or break any story.

And just as the protagonist must be fleshed out so does the antagonist.

We may or may not like the antagonist.

They could be truly evil, intent on destroying the very fiber of goodness.

Or their actions could be a defense mechanism in place because of a tortured past or traumatic event.

It doesn’t matter. They’re standing in the way of the protagonist’s HEA or causing them harm, so someone must deal them with.

But shouldn’t we know at least some of what is driving them?

No one wants to destroy good just for the hell of it. I mean… it’s good! Doesn’t everyone like good? What happened to our character to make good bad for them? What was the trauma that built a wall around them? Were they betrayed by some they trusted? Loved?

I addressed some of these things with the villain in Sins of the Mother. I didn’t have the time or opportunity to go too deep with him, but I found out about his history. While I may not understand why he commits the crimes he does, I believe I understand how he got that way.

And I want to save him.

But much like Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Erik in The Phantom of the Opera, the fate of my antagonist is sealed from birth. While he doesn’t have a physical or facial deformity, his soul is deformed and his mind, fractured. By the time I meet him, he is unredeemable.

I have to let go and allow him to play his part in my protagonist’s journey.

But I don’t have to like it.

©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved

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Day 8 word count – 16101

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Camp NaNo Update #7

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Camp NaNoWriMo’s week one is done and gone!

How did you do?

I’m happy with where I’ve landed, just still in shock I’m writing suspense. Wasn’t I supposed to be writing romance? Well, that never happened.

Check out the board! I’ve got Act 2:1 completed!

SOTM Outline Acts

Act 2:1 is the most difficult because that’s where all the mystery and unknown elements leave everyone scratching their heads. (Me, included!)

That’s not saying Act 2:2 will be a piece of cake but thank goodness for revisions!

Remember, this began as a piece of flash fiction back in March, And, YES, I know… 41K is not considered flash fiction anywhere in the cosmos. The story kept growing and growing, and when I said, “I don’t want to do this anymore,” the characters grabbed me and said, “Oh, you’re doing it!”

What? Your characters don’t talk to you?

Weird.

Okay! Last Sunday I posted the working cover for Sins of the Mother—this week, the synopsis!

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A serial rapist is terrorizing Marbury, his victims all elderly women over seventy.

With her husband off on a business trip, fifty-three-year-old Sally Bennett is home alone, making plans for their wedding anniversary bash.

That is until the former Army medic has to fill in for a coworker at Angels Assist Care Agency and spend the night with a seventy-year-old client, Graciela Ramirez.

Gary Sievers is seething with rage—fifty years’ worth.

At last free of the monster who kept him imprisoned since birth, Gary sets out into a world he’s seen only through the Internet, allowing his anger to spill free a little at a time.

He’s invisible to the world, his existence known about by only a handful and most of them are long since dead. But his crimes are growing… and making headlines.

Gary wants the life stolen from him, he wants to find the twin brother he never knew existed, and he wants revenge on the woman responsible for it all.

The captive has become the monster looking for his own twisted brand of justice.

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FYI—I wrote the synopsis about ten days before Camp Nano began and it has since changed but I’m not rewriting it… yet.

Next week, an excerpt!

Have a great week two! Happy writing!

Day 7 word count – 14461

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Camp NaNo Update #5

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Plot twists are funny.

I was in a writing group with a guy who methodically planned out every nuance of his WIP… especially the plot twists.

Sometimes, they worked. Still looking forward to reading his space opera.

He knew plot twists and I were strangers who ran into each other at the coffee shop in the wee hours of the night so I was used to his teasing emails and messages of, “Got plot twist?”

Because my response was always, “Nope”, until it wasn’t.

So, when I stumbled out of bed, scribbling on a pad like a crazy woman, the mister was like, “Let me guess… you found your plot twist?”

Oh, yeah!

And the plot thickens!

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Day 5 – 1771 additional words added to current WIP (Sins of the Mother).