Living the Fictional Dream

My goodness — November has been such a busy month. It is lucky I didn’t attempt NaNo, because I surely would have failed. What with the last of busy season at work, I’ve been doing well the past few weeks to take care of the baby and myself and get all that work done. Things are finally slowing down a bit, though, and I’m definitely looking forward to the long weekend.

Some people on FaceBook have been putting what they are thankful for in their status updates all month. There are so many things that I’m thankful for — the health of my little girl who was born so early and is now doing great, supportive family and friends, an understanding job, my sister’s wedding that’s coming up… I could go on and on.

But, in addition to all that real life stuff, I’m also thankful for my characters. Characters are the most important things in a story (in my opinion, anyway). A story can have a great plot, but if I don’t identify with or at least like/respect/enjoy spending time with some of the characters, I won’t enjoy either reading or writing a story.

Here are some of my favorite characters from my own stories and why I’m thankful for them:

• Caryn — She is the main character in my Y/A fantasy novel-in-progress. As far as characters go, she is the one who takes the most from me. Writing Caryn taught me that you can’t be too nice to your characters — if you don’t force your characters to go through hardships, you’ll have a very boring story.
• Sean — He is the male lead in the same novel discussed above. He was the first really flawed character I created, and I’ve learned lots about writing trying to balance his flaws with the hero he is destined to be.
• Sarah — She is the main character in my short story, “The Widow and the Stranger.” She is the first character whose first person voice came to me fully formed, which helped me better utilize that point of view (most of my stories are in third person). She also helped me realize that a plot does not have to be grand or action-packed to make a good story.
• Luke — He is a werewolf and the hero of my urban fantasy universe, the pack leader who doesn’t want to be in a pack. He featured in my story “Alpha,” and he’s the main character in another story set in that ‘verse that is making the rounds.
• Super Sonic — My very first superhero, the main character in “Zero to Clean in 10 Minutes or Less.” That little piece of flash started a whole universe, and I’m glad he finally got his happy ending.
• Daniel — He is the male lead in a Y/A novel that I wrote for NaNo a few years ago (I stalled on the revisions, so it is also still classified as “in progress”). Daniel is deaf, and trying to write him was a good way for me to stretch my writing chops by writing about someone who is not like me. I researched into deaf culture and tried to make him as real as possible.
• Viola — She is the antagonist in my short story, “The Sorcerer’s Wife.” When I wrote that story, Viola was the villain, but as I wrote, her character came to life and leapt off the page. She is the embodiment of something one of my graduate school professors said: “Everyone is the hero of his/her own life story.” Once I thought about the story from Viola’s perspective, it was a whole new ballgame.

So, those characters are some of the writing-related things that I’m thankful for this year.

What about you guys? Have you ever written a character who changed you as a writer or whom you could not live without? What writing-related things are you thankful for this year?

It’s already 11/4, and I have yet to even go to a write-in. Crazy! I’m not used to this. Not that my hours aren’t totally accounted for — the busy season at work and taking care of the little one have been fully consuming.

However, I must admit, I do miss the hustle and bustle of NaNoWriMo. There is something energizing about jumping into a novel feet first and taking off running toward the finish line. It’s hard, but it’s satisfying at the same time.

My only real complaint about NaNo is that the finished product requires a lot of revision. Since novel revision is something I am particularly bad at (illustrated by the fact that even though I’ve completed several novel first drafts, I have yet to finish something that is finished enough to think about sending off to agents), NaNo isn’t quite as helpful to me as it could be. But it sure does give you a rush. And that creative rush is awesome. So is the companionship of knowing so many people are out there pulling on the universal muse at the same time.

I’m looking forward to my writing group’s NaNo write-ins. Several are coming up. We’ve got some Friday lunch write-ins scheduled, as well as a couple on Tuesday nights and Saturday brunches. We’ll see how many I can make. I do hope to get some writing done during November. Any progress would be a victory compared to my snail’s pace this year.

I hope all you Wrimos out there are doing well and that you’re still in that high of the first 10K. I wish you all plentiful word counts, and that you are spared from any carpal tunnel or eye strain issues. Keep it up!

Oh, and in other news, writing group mate Stephanie had a story up at Every Day Fiction recently. Check it out here, if you have time. It’s a short read — light and fun.

I’ve mentioned before how my writing output has severly diminished since my little girl was born last July. I don’t get down on myself about it because it’s really only to be expected. Juggling a newborn and a full-time job is CRAZY! I’m finding it difficult enough to carve two nights of the month out to attend writing group functions, much less write on my own. (Not that I’m complaining… Summerlyn is the light of my life and what she needs comes first.)

What I’m finding interesting is that, as if to compensate for this lack of writing time, my subconscious keeps hammering away at little plot bunnies. I had one pop into my head a month or two ago for a horror story (horror like scary; not horror like blood and guts gruesome). The idea started as just a single line and an image in my head. Previously, that would have been enough for me to start writing, but now I just don’t have the time to do it.

So, as if in response to this lack, my subconscious keeps turning the idea over and over, and every time it comes to my mind again, it’s a little more formed. Now I actually have two characters, a partial plot, and the ending of the story in mind (it will probably be flash or a very short story). I can actually see this story fairly vividly in my mind. Whenever I do have time to sit down and write (hopefully, during one of the November NaNo write-ins my writing group will host), the first draft of this story should come out pretty quickly!

What this has taught me is that I will always be a writer. I knew that before, but I’d never really tested it. There’s never been a time like this in my life before when I wanted to write but actually couldn’t do it for weeks and months at a time. Previously, if I wanted to write, I either sat down and did it right then or maybe only had to wait a day or two to find some time. If I wasn’t writing before, it was because I had no ideas, not because I had them but didn’t have the time.

This proves that I will always create stories, whether I get the chance to write them down or not. It’s part of my make-up… pretty much part of my very DNA. The stories are there — all I have to do is hear them out. And if the muse is strong enough and if I devote them enough thought time (even if I don’t have enough keyboard time), they will still be formed — a little more slowly, but they will eventually be there just the same.

The fact that creating stories is so natural to me that I do it even when I am not able to pursue it, is why I will always pursue this writing thing. I may never have a novel published or be able to give up my day job in favor of staying home to write (I hope that’s not the case, but one has to face up to the possibility), but I will always be a writer at heart.

I think that’s the mark of a true writer — the ones who do it because they love it; the ones who do it because they have to, because the stories will be there either way. If you go into this business to try to find fame or fortune… well, the odds are significantly stacked against you. I can’t imagine sticking with it for those reasons, because there is no guarantee. But sticking with it because the stories have to be told — that’s a writer’s heart!

Have you ever gotten a story idea that would be better in a different venue than your usual medium?

When I write, it’s short stories or novels, definitely prose. I wrote a screenplay once for a class during graduate school, and it was fun, but it’s not my usual thing. But every once in a while, I will get this “brilliant” idea that wouldn’t work well as prose, but would look great on screen.

I’ve had a plot bunny floating around for a year or so for a romantic comedy. The idea would be crap as a novel, but as a 2-hour movie, I think it would be great. It could star John Cusak and Amy Adams and pull the audience in with quick scenes and witty banter.

Too bad screen writing is such a crazy business. My understanding is that you can’t really break into it unless you’re in Hollywood and have an agent to book you pitch sessions with studios. And, also, probably more importantly, as I learned back in graduate school, writing screen plays is not really my thing. I’m not good at cut scenes, transitions, or even the really strict format that you have to use.

Also, I think horror is a really challenging genre to write. Not gross-out horror, but suspense. A lot of my favorite suspense and horror stories take place on the screen, where you have music and visuals to get that creepy feeling across.

Now, I’m not saying that horror can only be written for screen. The best sellers of Stephen King would prove me wrong there. But I guess writing horror is just not something I’m talented at. I can see this idea that I have for a scary story, but I don’t know how to write it as prose. It needs to have shadows that the watcher can see in the background and ample opportunity for the evil supernatural creatures to pop up for a big scare. It would make a great episode of a show like Supernatural.

The easy answer to this conundrum would be for me to try my hand at writing for the screen sometime. It might not go anywhere, but one never knows. And maybe while writing the screenplay, I would realize that I could actually write the story in prose instead and have my first best seller ready to go (yeah, right!).

If I had the time, I think I might do that. It would definitely be a stretch for me writing-wise. Maybe I could even do Script Frenzy, which is put on by the people behind NaNoWriMo. Sadly, the time for something like that will be a long time coming, though. If I have any writing time these days, it’s gotta be devoted to all of my regular writing. I don’t have enough time for that right now, much less random experiments.

However, it is fun to think about. And it is interesting when my brain decides to take a flight of fancy and go off in a new direction. I look forward to the day when I can follow that direction for a while and see where it leads.

Have any of the rest of y’all out there (oh, my dozen blog readers!) ever tried your hand at something really different from your normal style? Do you ever get the wild hair to write screenplays or poetry or just something entirely different from your writing bread and butter?

Poor little girl! She had to come with Mommy to the write-in last night. Poor Hubby was supposd to keep her, but he was not feeling well at all. I tried to find sitters, but to no avail. So, with me she came.

Bundled up in a car seat — not her favorite thing. Normally, she falls asleep in the car, but this time, not so much. She dozed on and off long enough for me to have dinner with Steph and Dauna and have some writing-type discussions (my favorite was a writing topic related to meatloaf… but I think you had to be there).

Then, just as I got out my laptop to, I’d hoped, finally finish revising the flash piece that my writing group critted for me back in August, I heard fussing. The baby wanted her own dinner (or is that second dinner, since she’d eaten less than 3 hours before?). For the first time since she was born, Mommy realized she’d forgotten to pack the bottle in the diaper bag. Luckily, home is only a 5 minute drive from the restaurant where we’d set up shop. Sadly, that meant I had to leave, writing undone.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my baby girl very much, and I will give up whatever I need to so that I can give her what she needs. But, selfishly, doing so last night was really hard.

When the baby first came along, it was full immersion and totally overwhelming. There was so much to do with the baby and she was so new that I didn’t want to do anything else but be with her. And it took a while to get used to having her, especially since she didn’t come home from the NICU for 3.5 weeks (she was a preemie).

These days, while the addition of the full-time job makes things more complicated, the baby care is getting more routine. Taking two or three hours off a couple of evenings a month seems a lot more doable than it did when she was so new and fragile.

Now, I’m really starting to miss writing. My fingers ache for the keyboard, and plot bunnies and characters are nibbling at my brain. Too bad there is never any time to give them attention!

Last night, I was so desperate, I tried to do some writing during my 4 a.m. pumping session (thanks to her time in the NICU, our little one spurns the breast, which means there are both pumping and feeding steps to do multiple times a day). Sadly, writing when I’m sleep deprived and dealing with baby care is not my best work.

Here’s hoping that next time (which will be the writing group’s NaNo planning meeting and kick-off party), babysitters will come through and I can have a tad of uninterrupted me time. I think my muse might rejoice if it happens… assuming she doesn’t leave me for more active environs in the mean time.

Wrimos all over the world are gearing up for the 2009 installment of National Novel Writing Month  (NaNoWriMo). It boggles my mind that it’s almost that time again already. Where did the time go? Weren’t we just doing that?

Of course, NaNo 2008 was the last big thing I did before finding out I was pregnant, so maybe that’s why it feels like it just happened. The time between here and there is a blur of nausea, labor, the NICU, having a newborn at home, and then leaving her at home as I transitioned back into my fulltime tech writer job. So, definitely some big events since last year.

My writing group is preparing to help our Wrimo members who will be competing in NaNo this year. It looks like we’ll have at least three participating. Go Wrinkers!

Sadly, I will not be amont them this year. Last year, I was able to juggle busy season at work and writing 50,000 words. It was hard and it aggravated my carpal tunnel, but I made it through. This year, though, doing all that with a baby in the mix? Yeah… there’s just no way.

However, I’m hopeful that I will be able to take advantage of at least a few of the write-ins that will abound in November to make progress on some of the stories I’ve been working on. I have a zombie flash piece that is almost finished. There is that rewrite request that I got, so I want to readdress that story. And some of my more recent rejections deserve a polish and another send-off into the world.

Lately, the only time I get to do writing-related things is when I’m at a writing group function (so, basically the monthly meeting and the monthly write-in). Those are the times when Hubby takes the little one and I can selfishly devote myself to my own interests for a few hours. I’m sure that will improve as the little one gets older and more self-sufficient, but that is quite a ways away.

Here’s hoping that the NaNo spirit will infect me in November and lead me to finish a few of my works- and revisions-in-progress. And I hope that my writing group mates, and any other Wrimos who might be reading this, have a great month full of thousands and thousands of words.

The December table of contents for Every Day Fiction is out, and it looks to be a great December for fiction. Go check it out.

And, on the day after Christmas, you’ll be able to read my story, “Fortune Cookies.” This is actually the fifth story EDF accepted from me, but the fourth one that will be published. I like the placement, though. I can see how it has a good vibe for approaching the new year.

Also, congrats to Gay and the others that EDF is nominating for the Pushcart Prize. How awesome!

In other news, I did succeed in finishing my NaNo novel in time to be considered a 2008 winner. I have my winner’s icon and everything. Whew! Today was crazy, but I’m glad it’s finished.

Sadly, by the end, I realized that I had too much story and not enough wordage left. Of course, I know I could have gone on beyond 50K if I wanted to — and I’ll have to later — but I had to write nearly 7K today to finish and I just couldn’t fathom an additional 3K or more to finish it up. So… I summarized at the end. Some parts I wrote, but the big battle is currently merely a paragraph. Definitely something to flesh out in the eventual revisions. First, though, I’ve got to put this thing down for a while and write something else. Preferably something shorter!

Flash is looking really good right about now.

I found this blog entry by Enchantment Inc. author Shanna Swendson very interesting. It’s all about how readers have the opportunity to get their favorite mid-list novels noticed — more so than, say, a struggling TV show. I’d never really thought about it this way before, so I thought I’d share it with all of you kind folks.

In other news, I finally broke 30K on my NaNo novel (did I already mention that here? I forget). Anyway, the month is ticking away quickly now, and I have 20K to write in about 5 days, but… you know… it’s vacation. I think I can do it!

We’ll be spending Thanksgiving at my parents’ cabin (a.k.a., the land of no Internet), so my only distractions will actually be seeing the family and going to dinner at my aunt’s house and such. There should be plenty of time for writing.

In case I don’t get a chance to post again before we leave, I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving! (And if you’re not in the U.S., I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week.)

I have two write-ins today — only three more write-in double-headers before Thanksgiving — and I’m going to kick this novel back into high gear. I have one short scene to write in the current chapter, and then I will start the next chapter in the next exciting phase of plot and move on from there. I have a plan, dagnabbit!

I was scrolling through my submission list the other day, and I realized how few stories I have out right now. I’ve received responses on quite a few in the last couple of months, both acceptances and rejections, but I haven’t been getting new ones out there. Too much NaNo and NaNo prep, I suppose, taking me away from the short fiction.

That will have to be my short-term December goal — write some short fiction and send it out! It will be perfect while I let my novel breathe for a few weeks. Then I can be refreshed and get back to revising it (assuming that I actually finish — that the 20Ks don’t chew up the novel and spit it out a mangled mess!).

I know everyone says that short fiction isn’t where it’s at, and it’s true that you can’t make a living from it. But I still like writing short fiction, dang it. And I think it has it’s uses. I know every time I have a story up on EDF or certain other markets that post links, my blog readership spikes. That’s gotta count for something. Plus, I mean… it’s having something published. I don’t care what or where, that is always awesome!

This weekend has not be productive for writing. Around the end of last Tuesday’s write-in, I got to this scene that was, well, boring, and it just drug on and on. I guess I should have just quit that scene and moved on, but it was the basis for a plot point later. Anyway, I got stuck in it, and when I hit my usual lag points (Wed. and Fri.) I never made up for it. We had a write-in yesterday, but I got a paltry 800 words. That is my lowest write-in score to date!

Blah… the evil 20K bug has hit. I’m at about 23K now, and well mired in it. I should be nearly at 30 by the end of this weekend, but it’s not going to happen.

However, I shall keep going. I know what happens next in the plot. I just need to get past this boring part and get to the good stuff I know is coming.

(I sure hope there’s good stuff coming!)