Book, children's book, Electronic submission, Manuscript, NaNoEdMo, Publishers, Publishing, Publishing House

Anticipation

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“Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin’ me late
Is keepin’ me waitin’ ”

Does anyone remember this song?

In February of this year I attended a free writers conference. From that contacts were made from small press publishers. I submitted my first novel to one in late March and within a couple of weeks the rest of the MS was requested. It was told to me that the time frame of hearing anything would be 4-6 weeks. Cool! Now I had to sit down and wait and not obsess over this every single hour of every single day. Piece of cake NOT well at first anyway.

In that time I completed the second volume to the book, edited 80 percent of my NaNoWriMo book of 2011 and now just a couple of chapters shy of another novel being finished. The days have gone faster since the concentration has been back on my writings and not waiting for the call whether the news be positive or negative. I don’t think of it daily like I use to thankfully for that made for some long days.

Though to be perfectly honest my mind has spread out into dream land if I get the call and receive the news most writers wait for. It is hard not to fantasize of getting one’s first book in print the traditional way. I do have two short stories that were published in an ebook anthology and that still gives me a little woohoo especially when I look at the book on line.

But to get one’s book in print and hold it in our hands well let’s just say I really really would love to know how that feels. It use to be when I started writing it was with thoughts of money. But over the last two years it has mellowed to just loving to write and homing in on my craft. Interacting with fellow writers whether that be on line or in real life gives me a burst of energy that is so hard to explain. For they get what I am trying to do and understand why I am doing it. They get me.

I just love to write. Hopefully some day down the road people will not only pick up one of my books but enjoy it to where it gives them a smile. If I can accomplish that then I am successful.

Books, Habit, Pacing, Reading

Boring Books

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For the longest time one of my most annoying habits was to finish a book once I started it. No matter how bad it was written it would be read from beginning to end. It was a tick that drove me nuts. I was not obligated to finish it if it did not suit me so what propelled me to finish every single book I started remained a mystery.

This is how it has been for as long as I can remember. My love for books started the minute I learned how to read. Even to date our house is filled to the brim with books on all topics imaginable. We could probably open up a mini library or a book mobile at best if we wanted to. The thought of throwing a book away well it is just not done. I will swap it with someone else, give it to a used book store or to the library before that will ever happens.

My love of books is why I am a part of two book clubs. One that is run out of a local library by one of the librarians and one run by me for my women’s group. I can read books without bringing them home to keep was one of my first thoughts. This gave me a whole new world of books that I would never have thought to pick up to read.

Then it happened. The librarian picked a book that was just oh my gosh horrible. Every time I picked it up my body would cringe for it knew this was going to be a struggle. Deciding to not finish it was hard for me and the guilt of not reading it from beginning to end filled my insides from top to bottom. Getting to the meeting it turned out a few ladies had not read the book either for the same reason. But they did not have the same tick I did about finishing books.

It happened again only this time with the book club I ran. The book had all the praises and high reviews and the synopsis made it sound just awesome. It was not. I struggled again for the second time in a week as another book did not get read completely. This patterned soon enough repeated itself over the next few months.

For that I am grateful. Finally the annoyances and guilt that came with reading a boring book was getting nipped in the bud. While I hated to not finish each and every book I picked up I did not beat myself up for it like in the past

Freedom is a sweet word and it comes with so many different meaning. Thank you boring books of the world, thank you for being out there and helping me get rid of this frustrating habit.

Antagonist, Uncategorized

Test Time

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Plot is more than dramatic action. It involves having character emotional development, dramatic action and thematic significance. This is also known as how your protagonist acts or reacts. By doing these three things he or she is changed and something is learned. When stories get stuck it is likely that one of these three key elements has been ignored. One might concentrate on the action only, forgetting that character provides interest and is the primary reason people read books.

Organizing solely around the character can make one overlook the fact that dramatic action provides the thrill that each story needs. One might forget to develop the overall meaning of the story or the thematic significance. When the dramatic action changes the character at depth over time, the story becomes significant.

The Power of Character

In a story line, the characters grow and change in reaction to the dramatic action. This growth does not rely solely on a physical level. The challenges the characters face must create emotional effects, the deeper the better for reader. An effective way to do so is the use of a Scene Tracker. A scene tracker will ask you to fulfill seven essential elements in every single scene, with the biggest being focused on the character emotional development.

For example:

The Crisis: The crisis is an event in a scene that works like any crisis we may come across in our real life. Its job is to shake things up in such a way that the protagonist has to act. It takes on dramatic proportions when it is seen as the highest point in the dramatic action plot up to date in the story.

It has been fortunate for me so far that I have not gotten stuck yet. But knowing that there is a guideline of things that need to be included is a good thing to know. Plus it is a good tool to put my stories to the test and see if they have the three key elements that is needed. I can use it as a checklist of sorts to see if my works are well working. I need all the help I can get.

The Musings of A New Englander