My Muse is Back and There’s Gonna be Trouble

(with apologies to The Angels and Robert Feldman, Gerald Goldstein and Richard Gottehre)

The muse flitted in during one of the wonderful summer days we had last week (that weather continues, yay!) and to say she was disappointed in my progress, or more accurately, the lack thereof, would be an epic understatement. First, she threatened to go on permanent vacation—something about going where her talents could be utilized—but then she said “Dummy! You wrote the story about Beckie and Amy and Ian because you know them. Don’t you think knowing Piero (he’s the villain of Background Check) would resolve your misunderstandings about where I’m trying to point you in this ending. Which sucks, by the way.”

She’s not much on mincing words. However, even I can see the light when the carbon-arc strikes and the harsh blue-white beam shines in my face. I’m writing a side story that won’t get directly included, but will inform me about the way Piero acts and the things he needs and wants. Before she left, the muse nodded sagely and said “That should solve that little problem. I’ll be back.” After a pause, “Probably.”

So far, about a thousand words done on “Piero’s Story”. I expect it to be five or so thousand. Since it’s not part of the book, some things can be hinted at or glossed over as long as I understand where his head’s at as a result. Since it is a reference, more telling is acceptable here than otherwise.

Do you find this type of exercise helpful to you as you create characters who, while not part of a continuing series cast, are still critical? As every character you introduce must be.

As usual, your comments are welcome.

It's Been a While

That would be my fault. Between the heat and laying a new patio and critiquing three manuscripts as the parts become available and of course working on two of my own stories, well, I sloughed off writing for the blog.

According to Kristen Lamb, that’s a sign of indecision, or lack of sticktoitivness (spell check doesn't like that one) or something equally obnoxious. I have no problem with that assessment; unfortunately, it seems perfectly reasonable.

However, just because the muse flittered away for her holiday in the midst of Boston's heat wave, and I’m having trouble deciphering her notes, those aren’t good excuses. For neglecting either the blog or the ending of Background Check. So I’m going to work at both those things.

For the patio, shown in progress,

we selected Belgard's Urbana 3 Piece in Sable. To finish will take another week, weather permitting, of digging, spreading the base, laying the stones and then ’grouting’ the joints. A little clean-up around the edges and on to restaining the deck. Never ends, right?

I am trying an experiment with Freedom Does Matter, hopefully to go live in the next couple of weeks. Based on a perceived lack of interest in Mercenaries: A Love Story which i’m attributing to a combination of the description and the cover, I sent a candidate description to an editor, and am awaiting his feedback. While waiting, i’m doing yet another read-thru for typos and excess words. We’ve already shown the cover (top right), so we’ll see what difference these make. With the editor’s permission, when we finish  I’ll post the exchanges and results for your edification.

As I implied above, Background Check is nearly complete. However, the last scenes are giving me a fit. Too slow, and not enough action for the closure. But rather than navel-gazing, I need to look at the run-up to the end, and just go ahead and finish it. Then revise as necessary!

Comments are always welcome. More to come.

I Miss Her

The Muse.

I've gone through the two beta readers' comments on Freedom No Matter, and made a long ton of changes based on their suggestions. I also gave them more work (that I hope they'll be able to fit into their schedules) asking if changes fit, and what did you mean by... and well, of course you're right, that was just [fill in your own inappropriate adjective].

I want to point out once again how much help these people give. In addition to taking the time just to read the work, they also mark errors, make suggestions, and tell me where they think the plot went astray. It's a lot of work, and I can't say how much I appreciate it. I'm sure every person writing is just as beholden to her or his beta readers; I just hope everyone remembers to say thanks, loud and clear! Even better: do an equally good job when asked to return the favor.

My readers have pointed out significant problems with my work. That's good. What's not so good is that it now falls to me to figure out how to correct them. In a day or two, I'll begin hitting Delete until I've found the focus that I slipped by earlier.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was waiting for my reader to finish before thinking I understood at least some of the issues at work (Focus, focus, focus!). The verdict is in: the second half is better than the first. The inflection point, Chapter 17, corresponds to my beginning to use a new tool. I hasten to add that the tool isn't as important as the provider wants us to think, but for me, it made it a lot easier to do what I haven't really ever done before: create an outline of the story before writing it.

I can hear the heads butting the desks and tables now. Of course the focus will be better when you know what you're writing. And on and on. Or perhaps the cry is: pantsers will rise again. Maybe.

The tool that made it easier for me to adapt is Aeon Timeline. I found that being able to outline in a chronological context made that part of the job both easier and more useful. I think, with my limited experience, it works better for more complicated story lines, or rather, it has more utility for those scenarios. It also links with Scrivener, back and forth, although I haven't figured our how to use that feature to its fullest. It's a Mac only tool right now; read the developer's blog about progress on the Windows platform.

Check out their websites, linked above. Trial versions are available if you think either of them might help you, too.

As for the Muse, she's been flitting in and out. We're working on the timeline for Background Check so I'll have a little structure when NaNoWriMo comes along. She also got me to start a short story completely unrelated to anything, but snuck out before saying how she thinks it should end. Working on that one, too.

Off She Goes: The Muse is Helping Others

Temporarily. She'll be back in November, anyway, and maybe earlier. We've been working on setting up the next story in the Mercenaries universe, now I've got the ugly first draft (and second, and in a few places third and fourth drafts) of Freedom No More complete.

It came out 110Kwords, and knowing someone besides me needs to see it to tell me what I've done wrong, I've sent it off to my beta readers. The feedback has already been swift and through!

It's to be expected. Still, I wish I wasn't putting at least the first one through so much pain. We have been discussing it, and I think I've finally realized what he means by "find your story!" Focus. Make sure I'm telling the story instead of wandering about in the weeds.

Easier said than done ( I love the weeds), but the second half (which he has yet to get to) may point to the root cause. I'll wait to see if the second half (after I changed horses in mid stream, in a manner of speaking) has the same level of problem as the part he's completed so far.

My other reader has been awesome busy, and just got started; I can't wait to see how that goes!

Do you plan to do  NaNoWriMo? I think the muse and I will try to get the first half of that next book through the keyboard. Tentative working title: Background Check.

More later.

The Muse is in the House - I've been busy

Two weeks ago the Muse came by and said "I'm back. Get to work."
What she meant was stop fooling around on Twitter and the blog. I could read the 30 or so comics and web serials I follow, and watch the Red Sox (winning 1 in 3 when they need to be winning 5 of 6), but otherwise, get to the writing.

She's done a pretty good job. Freedom No Matter (working title) jumped from 35Kwords to 73Kwords, though not all of those will make the cut, I fear. I'm targeting between 90 and 100Kwords, with the first draft finished before October 1.

For those interested, right now the Muse is off trying to figure out how much trouble the characters will get into in the next two scenes; she pretty much said what I was thinking won't work, Too Tame. We'll wait to see what she thinks is not Too Tame.

So, don't fret, I'm still around and loving the Muse when she's here. I hope none of you are missing her while I'm monopolizing her time.