Full Speed Ahead - Warning: Book Writing Zone!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I am having so much fun writing my book! So far I have 1 scene complete and 2 others at least half written. I'm not really separating it all into chapters yet but I know I have 16 major "scenes" to write out and that some of them will easily take multiple chapters to finish.

I found an amazing online resource that teaches a writing technique known as the "Snowflake Method". (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php) Strangely enough I found myself following most of the steps outlined in this method naturally. The one major thing I have taken from this technique is the extensive character development process. Since reading this website I sat down and have begun really writing out everything about each of my main characters. I took the development of 5 of my characters to the point of finding pictures of actors/actresses who look similar to how I see them. I only found 1 actress who is a dead ringer for Casey and the other 4 I found are only similar looking to their respective characters. After finding doppelgangers for my characters I started finding pictures of the types of clothes each of them would wear so I could really get their personal styles settled in my mind. I found pictures of specific outfits that Casey wears so that I am able to describe them better. In doing all of this I have learned a lot about my characters that I never paid attention to before.

Every morning I'm waking up remembering my dreams so vividly and every dream is another scene from the story, complete with full dialogue. I guess my subconscious worked out an agreement with my writing gremlin so that he wakes me up early from vivid dreams rather than keep me up to ungodly hours. I wake up in the morning, before my toddler, and grab my notebook I keep handy by the bed and write everything I can remember from my dreams. Then, later in the day, when I find a free moment or two, I type up everything from the night before. It's amazing how easily I'm finding it to slip into Casey's personality while I type as the entire story is told from her point-of-view.

I recently added a new character to the storyline, well I guess I should say I upgraded her to main character status. She was always a minor character that Casey was only supposed to talk to once, by chance; but the more I thought about her, the more I found myself liking her. I just couldn't let this awesome character (in my opinion) slip through the cracks so I tweaked the last half of the book to make her a bigger part of it.

I'm getting so attached to these characters that when something emotional happens to one of them, I feel it too. I found myself crying as I tweaked the final part of the book just thinking what was going to happen to my new found friends.

I've gotten so obsessed with making this story seem realistic that I have done a ton of research online. I have looked up the cities that everything takes place in and even have a map of Massachusetts with color-coded stars on it marking where major plot points occur. I've gone so far as to ask a soon to be Ph.D. in Psychology to assist me in writing a scene where Casey is sent to therapy. (Thanks again Jason!)

As some of my close friends know, I was having a major problem visualizing my main villain. I knew there was a "bad guy" but every time I tried to picture them all I saw was a figure hidden in shadows. I am so happy to announce that after making a slight change in the plot, my villain emerged! I really like my villain and find myself almost wanting to write something from their perspective (notice my intentional hiding of their gender... muahahaha). The few people I've told the complete story to seem to really like my "bad guy" description and how I will work them into the story.

In closing, I'd like to apologize to all the friends and family that I have hounded relentlessly for opinions or name ideas for this story. I'm not saying I will stop annoying you with all my new daily revelations, but I'm sure some part of me is sorry if you find it annoying. I only have a few more last names to finalize on main characters and some random names to come up with, so hopefully i can stop bugging you all with..."What would you name a person who..." questions all the time.

Well, that's it for now... I feel inspired to jump ahead a few scenes and write one really funny one that's been playing in my head the past couple days...

~Willow~