Book Update - Going Great!

Friday, November 07, 2008

As the subject line suggests, the book is going great! I went through over a week of writer's block because I kept trying to force myself to write the chapters in order. I was making progress, but it was SLOW. So slow that my writing gremlin started presenting me with ideas for different books; guess he figured I had lost interest in 'Instinct' which I most definitely have not. I've really grown attached to these characters and want to get their story completed.

Well last night the little guy refused to fall asleep so I stayed up and watched him play until around 1:30 a.m. He finally decided to konk out so I put him in bed and tried to fall asleep myself (I had been dozing off and on the entire time he was wearing himself out before). Of course, it being close to 2 a.m. by the time I got the living room cleaned up and into bed, my little writing gremlin decided that since I was still up, he had a few suggestions for me.

I tried to fight it, which only led to me waking up completely. I tried to meet him halfway and pulled out my three-ring binder to take some hand-written notes to jog my memory when I went to type everything later in the day. Apparently that wasn't good enough. After three or four rounds of me pulling out the binder and writing by cell phone light, I gave up (cell phone light because I refused to leave my warm bed and didn't want to wake Erich up with lamplight). I grabbed my glasses and drug myself out to the laptop and proceeded to type up various scenes and conversations from 2 or 3 different chapters, staying up until after 3:30 a.m. in the process.

I spent my writing time today breaking my outline up into individual files for each chapter, marking the 5 chapter ideas that will most likely end up being multiple chapters. My original outline had grown too large for me to handle since it contained notes for over 17 chapters. Once I was done with that I spent some time editing my sleep-deprived work from the night before.

I've come to the conclusion that my writing quality is a lot better if I just write whatever is inspiring me. I've spent over a week trying to finish chapter 2 and while I'm really close, it's still not done. And to be honest, what I have written really isn't my best work. It has it good points, but I have a lot of revisions ahead of me.

Not only is my writing quality better this way, but the quantity is much better too. When I write what inspires me, no matter where it happens to fall in the story line, the words just fall out into the laptop in torrents. Without even realizing it, counting what I wrote in the wee hours this morning, I've probably written 8 or more pages worth of new content today and who knows how much I've added just in edits.

While I know that it will be a little more work in the end, I'm liking this writing style so much more than doing everything chronologically. It makes for a happy writer right now, and a happy writer = book gets written faster.

Oh and for those of you who haven't heard much about the actual plot of this book, here's a rough draft synopsis that I've been working on for a while:

"Casey Parker, a cadet at the Boston Police Academy, has a secret gift, though she might call it a curse at times. She has 'episodes' were she has really good instincts. These instincts drive her to be able to do things she couldn't do otherwise. 'Instinct' is the story of how she comes to terms with her gift while trying to maintain a "normal" life. She must overcome fears from her past in order to control a gift that threatens to overtake her life. Oh, and then there's the challenge of having a roommate who's sole mission in life is to set her up on blind dates. Can she use her gift to save those most important to her from an evil presence, forged from the same powers she possesses, who's very existence is threatening her happiness, as well as the safety of the entire city? Can she overcome all of her fears and challenges so she can live happily ever after with the right guy or will her gift prove to be more curse than she could have ever imagined?"

It's not perfect yet, but as the story grows I'm sure it'll continue to come together. I figure I'll have to come up with a good synopsis if I ever try to publish this book so why not write it when I feel inspired?

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully my writing gremlin gets adjusted to my time zone and realizes that 2 a.m. isn't a good time for me to get inspired. Oh well, I'm sure everything will all work out in the end.

~Willow