Research rules the day

Well, it's been awhile.

I'd like to say I was slaving away with the rewriting, but aside from some work that got me past the most difficult section, I am stalled again. The good thing about this stall is it's a practical one.

Brookline University was originally written as a series of short stories - basically a chapter was a story. When I combined them into a book, there were areas that of course needed to be smoothed over and "chapterized" a little better. I also re-read everything and because I changed elements in the first book, they have to be changed in the rest of the series.

When it was posted online, I corrected some things in the two later books, but only adjusted a few things in the first two - so the first two books lagged behind the last two in terms of their readiness. The third and fourth books are definitely in better shape. In re-reading, I've decided to drop some stories, and of course, I need to replace them with something. So I've done a lot of brainstorming over the past few weeks for story ideas. There were some things that seemed like good ideas when I was 22 and wrote this, but now at 34, I think they're a bit silly and unrealistic.

One thing I never addressed in the series really was sorority initiation. When I first began writing the series, I was not a member of a sorority and knew very little about them. Since then I have joined one, and in the process learned a lot about the Greek system. So a big portion of my editing is correcting things I got wrong the first time around. I didn't want to show the initiation ceremony (where a new member becomes a full-fledged sorority member) because I didn't know what they were like. Later, I was paranoid I'd inadvertantly make the ritual too similar to my own sorority's, and I didn't want that.

Since that time I've done a lot of research on ritual in general, and sorority and fraternity rituals in particular. Since these rituals are secret, information is difficult to find. Doing general research on ritual and viewing open rituals from some organization has helped me see that many of them are very similar in structure and content. They basically ask for secrecy, mark the passage of the person from new member (pledge) to full member (active) and share the secrets of their symbols, name, etc.

So for the past few weeks I've been mulling over an initiation ritual I can write and use in the second book. I think it'll be well worth the wait, as I want it to be something that makes sense and stands on its own.

Aside from that, I have a few more upcoming stories which need complete overhauls, and I need to figure out what to do and write before I do it. The good part about this is since I know what the third and fourth book contain, I can foreshadow, drop hints or mention things that are yearly occurrences - there are things in the last few books that get mentioned once but were never developed previously, and now I have a chance to do that.

So hopefully I'll get back to the actual writing soon - but for now, research rules the day.

Meme - Day 30

The end.

30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!

I'm not one for tagging, but I will tell you about three writers.

1. MB Miller - http://mbmiller.livejournal.com
My friend is a very talented writer. She is the first person that ever edited my work and made me feel it wasn't an attack, but a way to get better. I've gotten so much better listening to her advice and reading her writing. We refer to ourselves as writing twins, because we each have areas we struggle in, but the other is strong in. She writes all kinds of stuff from horror to romance and it all comes off feeling realistic and engaging.

2. A Sideways Smile - http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1245723/A_Sideways_Smile
A Sideways Smile is a dynamic duo. I have never seen two people that write more cohesively together. I can never tell where one leaves off and the other begins. They have co-written fan fiction, and they also write original fiction and screenplays (as separate entities lol). They have a talent for bringing out the emotional resonance in canon characters as well as their own original characters, who meld into the world so seamlessly.

Meme - Day 29

Last one is tomorrow!

29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?

I think about it every day ... and that doesn't always translate into doing it. I'm always thinking about my stories, the things I need to fix or adjust or things that I could add in. I see a lot in real life that reminds me of my stories or characters, because I tend to play a lot of "how would character x react to this?" or "what would so-and-so do if they were in this situation?" and I find it gets me thinking.

I wish I thought about my writing and it spurned me on to write. I find a lot of what I enjoy is just thinking about the possibilities - it's easier to think about what you want to write and how the final product will be instead of immersing yourself in the struggle and actually trying to get to that final product in real life.

Meme - Day 28

The home stretch!

28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.

Angel Sheridan in Brookline University has a physical disability. Hers stems from an accident in her childhood when she was run over by a car. Her pelvis was crushed and legs were broken. She has the ability to walk, but didn't receive the best in physical therapy when she was younger. So she prefers to use a wheelchair when she can, but can also use crutches and walk and move around shorter distances. She has issues with her legs in terms of feeling, pain and numbness.

I originally conceived of her for another story, but it never got off the ground. When I thought about Brookline, I realized it would be a great place to use her. Originally in the other story Angel was an amputee.

I also injured a character in Sandy Cove. Maddy was injured during a gymnastics routine and suffered a spinal injury. She recovers slowly, regains the use of her legs after two operations, but she can never go back to doing gymnastics. It becomes a central part of the third book.

Meme - Day 27

Almost forgot ...

27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.

Appearances used to be important to me because I felt that it helped me with characterization. All of my early work I was very detailed with descriptions, even if they didn't make it into the final product. Since then I've found that it's better to just give the basics in look - hair colour, eye colour, any unique characteristics - but let the reader fill in the blanks when it comes to what the character looks like. My favourite part of reading is imagining the character, and if I knew exactly who the author had in mind, it might disrupt my own vision.

But for myself, I always have a clear vision, even to the point of casting the role with actors or models so I have physical references.

Meme - Day 26

This should be good lol.

26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture.

I can't draw. I can barely draw stick figures. There is no way I would ever be able to accurately draw any character I thought of. Unless the character really looked like a stick figure.

I envy people with the skill to draw their characters, but I can't bring what I see in my head to a page. The best I do is cast actors or models or just plain people I see in ads or on TV or even in public into the roles. I've used friends as physical bases for characters, I've used actors, musicians, athletes, models etc. Sometimes I just have a vague idea and I search for a picture to represent them.

Joy and Libby were very early on based on an image of a woman I saw in a catalogue with red hair. I also found a picture of Heather Graham back in the early '90s, and her curly hair was like what I was looking for. I later used Israeli model Maayan Keret as a physical base for the characters, as she suited my vision of them exactly. You can see a picture of her here - http://snarkerati.com/profile_pics/Maayan-Keret.jpg

Meme - Day 25

Getting closer and closer to the end ...

25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.

Pets are one thing I have rarely given any of my characters.

I am a cat person myself, I'm not fond of dogs. Because of that I don't think I've ever included a dog in anything I've ever written. I also haven't given my characters cats, mostly because I feel like my characters move around so much, get up and go and do things that a pet would anchor them in one place (and thus, reality lol) so that they wouldn't have that freedom to just pick up and go.

I gave my character Ruby horses, as she rides. The horse riding aspect was a big part of her character - she was a trick rider. The horses were important to her, so I had to include them. Her horses were named after the constellation Orion (who was the sire of her two horses). Rigel was sold to her cousin as a racing horse, while she kept Bellatrix as her own trick riding horse, but was forced to sell her to her cousin shortly before the story begins. She's reunited with her horse at the beginning.

Meme - Day 24

A really interesting question today.

24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?

I actually realized through answering this question that I kill off someone in pretty much everything I write.

The first character I killed off was in Sandy Cove, and it was because when I had originally conceived of the series and wrote it, I had more characters than I knew what to do with. I ended up editing one out completely, and another I felt I could do a good job with if I killed her. I didn't feel it was so much that the plot demanded it, but that it would get rid of a character and also give the ones sticking around something to react to. It worked out well, I think.

I killed some characters in Brookline University as well, but I have not edited that part of the series yet, so there is a chance I might change things up a little bit.

I even managed to kill someone in my Christmas-themed novel, 'Tis The Season. There were suspense elements in the story, so it wasn't totally weird. I enjoy writing a lot of crime and suspense, and it naturally lends itself to deaths of characters. Out of sixteen novels, only one had no deaths.

I don't thnk anyone has died in an interesting way. I've used car accidents, murder (stabbing, strangulation, gunshot wound). Most have been conventional, in a manner of speaking, because I have focused on mostly realistic writing.

I did have the experience in writing something wishing I had killed a character. I see now it would have been a lot better for the story to have done it.

Meme - Day 23

Day 23 and still going ... almost done.

23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?

I do Nanowrimo each year, so I usually start planning in October. I plot, do character profiles if I need to, and things like that. I begin to write on November 1st, with the aim of 1667 words per day. I get insanely competitive with myself. The first time I did Nano, I was terrified I wouldn't be able to finish, so I pushed myself and finished on day 22. I tried to beat my time each year. The shortest I've ever written my Nano novel in is 7 days (which is very physically painful and I don't recommend it for many reasons).

Other novels that I've written have taken a lot longer, but I don't work on them every single day. Nano is a great format for me to get into a habit of writing every day, even if it only lasts for 30 days. I need that kind of challenge and time competition to get really motivated to write something I otherwise would procrastinate on.

The editing is what takes so long now. I find now that I'm conscious of a lot of the writing mistakes I make, I am getting better and faster at editing my own work. Rewriting is something I haven't perfected yet - I really hate doing it - so if anything needs extensive re-writes, I am very slow with it. I've been working on Brookline University: Sophomore Year for over two years at this point.

Meme - Day 19 through 22

Another few days where I didn't get a chance to blog, so I'll make it all up here.


19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!

Hmm. I once wrote a YA novel called 'Tis The Season where the focus was supposed to be on the 18-year-old main character and her relationship with her twin sister, which instead turned into a bit of a suspense story because of the introduction of a bad guy to interact with said main character.

I actually really ended up liking the bad guy character, and I think that piece of writing was my first indication of being able to write crime and suspense characters well. He sort of took over a bit of the story, but in a good way.

I think Jamie Rayburn also did that in Brookline, for which I was grateful. I really like his background and who he is and think he's an interesting character, so I'm glad he decided to push his way forward. I always struggled writing male characters, so I was glad to find one that was relatively easy for me to write.


20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?

I really like writing relationships between twins. I have been drawn to twins and multiple births for years, and the relationship aspect really fascinates me. I use twins in just about everything I write.

The other thing I love is writing romance, especially with a character who is very reluctant to commit for whatever reason. I think it's challenging and a lot of fun to keep the character in character while showing them slowly opening up and learning how to trust other people.

21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?

That is something I've really avoided. I think because I am not at that stage in my own life, it's hard to give my characters children. I'd like to remedy that in the future and learn how to craft good parent/child relationships.

I recently wrote something in which a character I had written for years was older (than when I wrote her) and had a daughter. It was really interesting coming up with that kind of relationship, so I think I would definitely drift towards characters with older children rather than younger kids. I don't think I can write younger kids accurately at this point.

22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.

I had a scene between Ryan and Joy in a story that takes place after the Brookline University series. It was one of my first attempts at a sex scene, and was just awful. I use it to remind myself I've gotten better at writing sexual situations lol. I wrote it more to try and break out of the trouble I had writing sex scenes, and as bad as it turned out, I found it a useful exercise. The original will never find its way into my novel lol.