SNAGS UP AHEAD
I'm not ready to breath a sigh of relief over completing my book just yet. Although it's been accepted by a publisher and the editor and I have almost completed the rewrites/edits, I know this is only the beginning in many ways. Now comes promotion, press kits, rangling for reviews, arranging speaking engagements, booksignings, blogging, and getting involved with other social media. And when that's all in place, a new snag appears in the middle of the stream: my publisher wants to know when the next book will be ready.
It's not like I don't have another plot simmering in a subsconsious pot. But...
Sure, I can take these characters into a new mysterious situation in Harts Corner, Texas. I've scribbled a sketchy outline of the storyline, kind of know where the main scenes are needed, and I already know who the villianess is. I've got an idea of how the book will begin, have created a new character who will be the central figure in the mystery, and am beginning to hear the dialogue to move the book along to a satisfactory conclusion. In spite of all of this prework, when I sit before this blank screen and begin to input the opening chapter, I am faced with the fact that I've hit a wall early on.
My characters refuse to cooperate. MM, who tells the story in my Blue Moon Cafe series, doesn't seem to have the right voice to beckon the readers with either a smile or the drop of a bombshell. The dialogue isn't complelling and I'm not comfortable with my writing. So--I write another beginning chapter. And another. What do I do now?
Many writers would go back and rewrite until they are satisfied. Edit, correct, toss out lines, paragraphs. Everything. These authors refuse to move on until that beginning chapter is perfect. And they continue to write until they are sure the beginning will hook their readers big time.
This is not my way. I have put those chapter starts away and gone on to write the second chapter. It flows like I had hoped the first one would. It's as if the characters dug in their heels and now, in this place, at the right time, are ready to dance through their parts. What a relief!
Maybe when I go back to edit/rewrite the first draft of this book I will find this second chapter is where I should have started to begin with. Could it be that I feel the pressure already of an unknown book deadline and want to control every aspect of this book? If so, the only way to get beyond this is to sit quietly and let the story reveal itself to me. I've been with these characters for a long time, know them well and, if I let them, they will lead me through the story from beginning to end.
And since my publisher has not imposed any sort of deadline, I need to cease to allow the control freak side of my personality rule, and enjoy the exciting ride of writing a book from first chapter to last.
It's not like I don't have another plot simmering in a subsconsious pot. But...
Sure, I can take these characters into a new mysterious situation in Harts Corner, Texas. I've scribbled a sketchy outline of the storyline, kind of know where the main scenes are needed, and I already know who the villianess is. I've got an idea of how the book will begin, have created a new character who will be the central figure in the mystery, and am beginning to hear the dialogue to move the book along to a satisfactory conclusion. In spite of all of this prework, when I sit before this blank screen and begin to input the opening chapter, I am faced with the fact that I've hit a wall early on.
My characters refuse to cooperate. MM, who tells the story in my Blue Moon Cafe series, doesn't seem to have the right voice to beckon the readers with either a smile or the drop of a bombshell. The dialogue isn't complelling and I'm not comfortable with my writing. So--I write another beginning chapter. And another. What do I do now?
Many writers would go back and rewrite until they are satisfied. Edit, correct, toss out lines, paragraphs. Everything. These authors refuse to move on until that beginning chapter is perfect. And they continue to write until they are sure the beginning will hook their readers big time.
This is not my way. I have put those chapter starts away and gone on to write the second chapter. It flows like I had hoped the first one would. It's as if the characters dug in their heels and now, in this place, at the right time, are ready to dance through their parts. What a relief!
Maybe when I go back to edit/rewrite the first draft of this book I will find this second chapter is where I should have started to begin with. Could it be that I feel the pressure already of an unknown book deadline and want to control every aspect of this book? If so, the only way to get beyond this is to sit quietly and let the story reveal itself to me. I've been with these characters for a long time, know them well and, if I let them, they will lead me through the story from beginning to end.
And since my publisher has not imposed any sort of deadline, I need to cease to allow the control freak side of my personality rule, and enjoy the exciting ride of writing a book from first chapter to last.
posted by Barb | 10:16 PM
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