Cassy’s Castle- Launching the Next Project
A number of weeks ago, gosh it might be months ago, I wrote on how I structured my approach to a new book. As I’m in that process once again, it’s on my mind. So, bear with me if this seems redundant compared to prior posts, but each book is its own baby of sorts. My last manuscript has been edited more times than necessary (yet I still saw a typo yesterday) and it was time to give it a kiss and send it to my agent. Now, I face a blank screen and am starting the next. There is always a “next.”
As I have mentioned before, I am a plotter. I need to know what the overall story is, who is in it, what the larger goals of my characters will be, and who the bad guy is. I can’t just sit and write. I learned that the hard way.
I have done NaNoWriMo twice. That’s the 50,000 words-in-a-month international push that takes place in November. You can Goggle it and learn all about it. Many folks find it wonderful. I did too. That was until my second year. My first year was exhilarating. I produced 1500 to 2000 words a day! I told my family to disappear. We ate very simply. And, I have a “certificate” to prove I did it. That wonderful story lives happily filed in my drawer and most likely will live there forever.
The second year I also completed my 50,000 words. Yeah! Well, it took me over a year to edit those pages to create anything coherent. I was so focused on the word count that the plot and character arcs were muddled. I wrote great scenes (yes, they were pretty darn good) but one didn’t tie well with the next. I printed out each scene then laid them across my dining room table like playing cards. I rearranged them. I sorted them. I retyped them. I made notes on what was missing. I could have written two more books with the energy I put into trying to fix that one.
For the last book I have written I took a very disciplined approach. Well, sort of disciplined. I used a combination of Karen Wiesner’s (First Draft in 30 Days) view of the world and Alexandra Sokoloff’s screenwriting wisdom. I put a very short synopsis smack in front of my face. My character arcs were clear. I had stickies lined up in tight rows guiding me through each climax, turning point, and resolution. I had a second row of stickies in a different color reminding me of issues that weren’t resolved. Can you see what the large round table in my house looked like? I happened to be out of the country when I was doing this. So I also ended up buying a child’s school notebook so I could get all the stickies home in order and in good shape. Then my home office became decorated with the little notes lined up across the wall. The warnings were issued—touch those bits of paper and you are the next dead body in my book!
Okay, I know it’s a bit overkill (pun intended), but it was a wonderful lesson for me. I can’t do the chaos of NaNoWriMo. The clean-up is too time costly. The excessive planning of my last book was a little over the top. But there is some middle ground.
So now I am starting again with a new story. Yes, it also takes place in Italy so stay tuned. But, I am finding MY way to do this. I am in the midst of plotting. I have a large stack of stickies and note cards- can’t give those up. My family has been threatened again to not play games with me and rearrange anything in my office. But, I am now also trusting myself a tad more. I’ve written seven books. I might not need to keep referring to the “experts.” Maybe now I am learning my own approach to getting the words on the page. We’ll see. I’ll let you know when I get to type THE END. for this one.
14 comments:
Good luck!
Ah, the process. So unique and different with each of us.
I just threw out a bunch of stickies so old, they'd lost their glue and sprinkled pages all over my desk, keyboard and floor like autumn leaves. I am always buried in paper and still I cannot find anything!
Tonya:; Thanks! I'll take all the luck that comes my way and hopefully add a little skill in the mis!
Taryn: Great to see you here. You are so good about stopping by. Thank you!
Boy, do I know about those stickies staying around. My daughter (who's a doctor) made a comment once that my office looked like I had a form of OCD. Which, I will go on record claiming I don't. But the little squares were marching up and down the walls. I have them in probably every color.
Cassy, you are the sticky note queen! I start with a binder that has pockets. The first thing I always do before a new book is come up with a title I like, then I blurb it with something cutesy since I wrote with humor. Next I try to see if I can write down plot points before I start researching. Of course there are my character profile sheets that I do for every character, and since I'm writing a series, I have index cards with anything I think is important - character names, names of fast food places, names of surrounding cities, etc. With the exception of the characters I've already killed off in a previous book, I transfer all this to another binder when I finally get to write "THE END" which I did on Monday. Yay!!
So,I am at the beginning stage again. good luck with yours. I find it so fascinating that we all use different methods. It's what makes the world go round.
And I love your new byline - Cassy's Corner. Nice!
Liz: I'd love to plan a week for our blog in which we talk about organization. I have trouble keeping track of my drafts and back ups. I come up with names for the files, I do print outs and so on, yet I am still challenged.
Cassy I've got faith in you you'll figure out the story. And since you use stickie notes it's time to by stock in 3M.
I love to hear peoples process too. I learn something each time. I am a panster morphing into somewhat of a plotter. I have no idea what that makes me. One thing that I do before starting a story is a scrapbook of sorts. I’m a very visual people. I need to SEE my characters. So I cut out pictures from magazines or hunt some down of on the Internet. Daniel Craig probably thinks I stalk him. He might be right. I add in activities, flaws, habits, pets, whatever pertains to them. I end up with a binder of characters, setting, research, scene ideas and it's all nicely organized in a binder. When I write on a character the binder is open to that character's page. For visual people it really helps.
Thanks, Lindsay. Yup, I'll get it. But I have to work it out first, then go with the flow.
Tiffinie! How great to have you here. Your writing is so fluid, I can't believe you are really a panster. No offense meant to those who are. Mine can be over-worked because of my habit of thinking everything through.
I've tried plotting, even using stickie notes. But when I sit down to write for some reason all the prior planning/plotting goes out the window, which is usually closed.
But even as a died in the wool panster I still have been known to plot out a scene, when I come to it, usually on either one of two dry erease boards or by dictating into my iPhone.
Ahh, thanks, Cassy! That is so sweet of you to say. Being a panster, I have to edit like crazy. I love the writing process, it's like a high. While editing is work. I prefer the high.
That's so funny, Tiffany, because I write just to get the story down, and then love the editing process because I have something to work with and that's where I add the sparkle. Although it helps I plot overall and then plot as I go as well so I don't have to edit the "plot" that much. It's more adding my funny lines and making my settings and characters shine, etc.
Great post Cassy and good luck.
Thanks for the good wishes! Jumping into a new story is both great fun and a challenge. Good thing we all enjoy this so much!
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