The HEA Cafe

With summer officially here, many authors are getting into the swing of vacation travels, conventions, and/or trying to find activities that will keep the young ones busy while you find your muse and continue to write.

For years, I looked forward to summer and its various and sundry, day-to-day activities like time at the community pool, play dates and visiting with friends. Anything and everything that would keep the kids safe and happy and me from pulling out my hair.

Not now, and not especially when I have a deadline looming in the horizon. So I mute my cell phone, close the internet browsers and pray that my muse will cooperate and give me those perfect words and phrases, riveting dialogue and the right touch of sensuality that will push my current WIP into the best book I’ve ever written.

A couple of questions, then. Is summertime writing different than other times? And, if so, how do you structure your days to make time for writing in the summer?

Ana

Ana Aragón

Sidelined by Love available at The Wild Rose Press

Strike Three-You’re Mine will be available this fall at The Wild Rose Press

I have a problem with endings: I hate them. This manifests itself in my life as an inability to finish what I start. I have at least five (maybe six or seven) knitting projects sitting in my basket that I can’t finish because if I did then they’d be done. I’ve thought long and hard on this, and I think it goes back to my parent’s divorce. So, it’s really their fault that my knitting basket is so full I can’t start another project.

I understand this mechanism. It’s fear of loss that’s holding me back. That’s why I have one-and-a-half socks, most of a sweater, and a book that I’ve been trying to finish for a month now.

Right. The book.

I know what needs to happen. I have it all sketched out. My characters are ready and waiting. But I can’t bring myself to actually write it in more than small increments, because when I do finish it . . . well . . . then it will be over. My characters will have achieved their satisfying ending. They won’t need me any more.

It’s a painful loss that’s hard to contemplate. Waking up without them on my mind. Riding the bus without hearing their voices in my head. No more scribbling words that are coming faster than my hand can capture them to paper. How will I manage without that?

Unless I can sell this story as the first in a series . . .

Hmm. That just might work. But I have to finish it first.

–
Gina’s first book, The Raven’s Revenge
is available in print from Amazon.com
(and it only took her 10 years to finish)

I usually write 100K. There is something about that number that pleases my muse. Most manuscripts turn out to be that length. I need that length to get my story done. And after all, that is a single title novel.

The trouble with those novels, they take quite a bit of time to write.  Oh, I see people writing a book in a month, but for me 100,000 words is about five months. And life gets in the way, so it might even be six months. And then the publshing process can expand that so the next book might be eight months to one year.

This is where a short story or two can come in. Something a) to goose your muse. For me there is nothing like the bubbling of a new idea to sharpen my editing skills, and b) you get to have something out there between books and c) many publishers expect you to do anthologies.
That was my idea any way. Bam. As that chief says.

And writing a short story, is just the same as writing a long one.

Michele
Well actually, it is harder. Remember that “rule” about no back-story. Well it goes in spades for a short story. A short story can be 5,000 words to 30,000 words. And you still need a beginning, middle and end, you need GMC and you need a black moment and you need turning points. And you have 20 to 120 pages to get it done. Your publishing house might even require 20 pages, or a page count, or a maximum word count. So no room to fudge.

Thus,  there is no room for back story. And no room for long descriptions. You have to get to the meat of your story instantly, describe in a thumbnail, and dialogue needs to sizzle. You need to make words do double duty, e.g.  descriptions can serve conflict as well as image. Each word needs to be weighed and valued for maximum punch.

It is a super way to hone your writing skill and a great way to produce more work in a shorter space of time.

And if you are not published yet, it might be a great way to get started with a smaller house.

Maybe I’m hopelessly out of touch, but I have to admit that I’m one of those people who doesn’t “get” Facebook and other similar communities.  Yes, I understand that they’re a way to network with people, form communities, post photos and other news.  And in theory, that sounds great.

But here’s the problem.  I joined Facebook recently because one of my former students was spending a semester in Spain, and I wanted to see her photos.  I’d heard other writers extol the virtues of Facebook (as well as My Space) as a way to increase visibility, so I thought I’d have the added bonus of getting my name out there a bit without much effort or expense.

So I joined.  Pretty soon, I started getting requests to add friends to my page, which I did.  Then someone sent me a “hug,” whatever that was.  Again, no big deal.  I went to my page every few days, resisted the invitations to post what I was doing at that moment, and pretty much left it alone.

Okay, I completely ignored it.  After a few attempts, I decided it took way too long to find my student’s photos.  Sure, it was fun to get messages, but I simply didn’t have time to post things on her wall.

Then today I got another request to add a friend, so I went back to my page.  And I was shocked.  I couldn’t believe all the messages I had.  The messages were requests to send the following items:

Shoes, hearts, growing flowers, pieces of flair, candy, gifts, hugs, fashion gifts, sweets, good karma, Swarovski crystals, stuffed animals, Baskin Robbins, cookies, butterflies, spies, my fairy, eggs, top friend, Haikoo zoo.  I had other messages wanting to know who my celebrity boyfriend was, what kind of warrior and Jane Austen heroine I was.  Was I addicted to Lost?  Would I become a knight in a game, a forever friend?

Stranger yet, most of these were from one person, who I promptly deleted from my list of friends.

And I couldn’t help but feel appalled.  Who was this person?  How did she have time to send all these things?  And what was she doing with her life?  Shouldn’t she be out there living, traveling, having relationships with people instead of sending nonsensical requests on the internet to someone she didn’t know?

So how much time do people spend on Facebook and other similar communities?  What is the appeal?  Surely I’m not the only one who doesn’t get this.  Enlighten me, please!

Yesterday, I was sorting through some old papers and found a quotation. “Creative successes are often preceded by creative failures, for trial and error are the natural companions of creativity.”

It made me think about my WiP, which currently makes me feel like I’m wading through treacle. One step forward, twenty back. Ten pages written, nine deleted. That kind of thing. If I’m honest, this process is nothing out of the ordinary, at least not for me. Usually right smack bang in the middle of a story I get lost in the fog and plum forget that the creative process is full of trial and error. By it’s very nature, it has to be. Instead, I get frustrated that the story’s not flowing. I think maybe it’s a pile of junk and should be abandoned. Except by this time, I’m usually so taken with the h/H and want them to find their happy ending, that I struggle through the crud until that little ray of light shines through and I find my way again.

So, I’ve typed out that anonymous quotation and stuck it above my computer, ready for the next time I’m deep in doo-doo land. It’s right there next to Picasso’s wise words “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it“.

What about you? Do you have any words that inspire you when the going gets tough?

Tricia
http://www.tricia-jones.com
Satin Lies, now available from Samhain Publishing