I’ve been trying to find a good image to use for Dalen (Wicked Hot and Wicked Fire). Eli wasn’t a problem, The Kurgan from Highlander was perfect for his look and his…edge. I couldn’t find a good picture for Dalen, though. He can’t look too young, and while Aidan Quinn in Reckless was close, it’s not quite the right image. Then I saw this, courtesy of Lorelei James. Voila, Dalen!
Realized this week that I’ve been overcontrolling my story, and I have vowed to knock it off. Fiction is a tricky balance between order and chaos. You need structure. Without it you have a giant sprawling formless mess. But too much structure becomes…rigid. Lifeless. Writing is not the time to be a control freak. That happens in editing.
So, you set up structure and then let the chaos spill into it. Once the form’s built, that’s okay. It can pour and splash in and it’ll set up properly contained with everything flowing in the right direction. I’ve built the form, so it’s time to let go. Stop overthinking, overplanning, overcontrolling. Trust that my form is a good one and the chaos will produce good stuff. The lively, surprising stuff that keeps the form from making the story staid and predictable and dull.
The music really helps with this. It switches the brain to feeling the story instead of thinking it to death. Not that I can listen while I write (too distracting), but I listen before I write and in between session to keep it alive in my head, and it helps.
In other news, I volunteered to teach a workshop this year, subject TBA. Since there are multiple topics I could cover, I thought I’d toss it out there; if you were going to attend a workshop by me, what would you want me to cover? Epublishing vs. NY, erotic writing, business of writing, story techniques, other?
Sylvia tagged me. So, here are 7 random facts about me, which combined with yesterday’s post will tell you more than you ever wanted to know.
1. I can drink a pot of coffee and go right to sleep.
2. I used to devour Tales From the Crypt comics. They were wonderfully lurid.
3. I love sweats. Warm, cozy, comfy, and they never get in your way.
4. I like opera. It’s loud and dramatic and splashes emotion all over with wild abandon. My favorite is Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
5. I have a cat who’s afraid of the dark.
6. I like riding ferries.
7. I have a Klein bottle. I think it’s hilarious. Which probably says…too much about me.
Via Jordan who got it from Scalzi, a meme: 10 things I’ve done you probably haven’t.
1. Hiked many trails of Olympic National Park
2. Hiked Deception Pass (Whidby Island)
3. Ridden in a hot air balloon
4. Watched seals rest on the beach
5. Gone on an archeological dig
6. Driven from Boston to Boise solo (and I wrote a poem about it)
7. Written and published 17 novels and novellas
8. Written and published greeting cards
9. Taught my toddlers to say “namaste” and “Nobody expects the zombie apocalypse!”
10. Participated in a motor cycle rally
First thing I noticed this morning? It wasn’t raining. The constant drumming on the roof gets to be the norm this time of year, so when it’s suddenly quiet, you notice. I checked the weather report, and we have the sunny face all week long. Sun! In Forks! Alert the media, notify the citizens not to be alarmed by the giant yellow thing in the sky.
Aside from that, the tooth fairy needs to make an appearance (2nd baby tooth lost! Already!) and I’m getting this book off the ground.
Recent Comments