WIPlash Wednesdays-Question from Marlo

WIPlash....it's what I get when I work with on my current novel(s)-

Unlike the real word "whiplash"- I'm putting a new spin on it.

WIP= Work In Progress Lash- the flexible part of a "WIP"

Wednesdays are also flexible. They're not quite so stressful as Monday, but not nearly as exciting or as looked forward to as Friday and the weekend. It's a nice little in-between to take inventory of where you've been and where you're heading.

WIPlash Wednesdays will be that place for me in my writing. It will be a day to take inventory of what I've done on my current manuscript, whether it be writing, editing, or whatnot. It will also be a nice place to just answer questions from friends and family about my life "as a writer." Questions that other writers also get from family and friends or curious strangers and their readers. Eventually I'll probably pool all the questions and my answers into a FAQs section on my website, but for now, I'll just be flexible and go with the flow.

Hopefully soon though, I'll be adding word count to my meter again(I added 3,046 new words to my WIP just the other night), working through various manuscripts, and talking again about the thrill and excitement of creating, of actually getting words on paper (or on screen, as the case may be.) I have more stories to tell and many miles to go before I sleep.

Today's WIPlash will include a question from one of my friends on FB. Of course, as my fellow writers can attest, these questions remain the same, but the answers are usually as personal and as individual as the writer who answers it and those answers vary tremendously among all of us in the writing industry.

Here's my take on one question. I think I'm going to get long winded on this question, so bare with me. Other questions will follow on other WIPlash Wednesdays in the coming weeks.

From Marlo- I've always wondered how writers come up with their characters.

My characters come to me in a variety of ways.

Catherine, from Castaway Hearts, came to me via, of all things, a Myspace background in 2006, which I'll touch more on when I post my blog in a few weeks that introduces her. (not sure who this image actually belongs to, but this is where Catherine really started to come to life in my mind)
See, though the story came to me via this "black & blue" image, Catherine Barrett had actually existed on paper since I was a teenager. I wrote what I considered the introductory couple of pages—just one sheet, front and back, but I never got any farther than her stepping up the planks of her grandfather's ship. I knew the story was historical, I knew she was going to sail away to a new world she was not accustomed to, but I hadn't yet dreamed what that story would possibly be. The image above helped bring Catherine from my past to the present. It haunted me as I'd lay down to go to sleep at night. This girl was so forlorn, so heartbroken and I knew the ghostly ship meant something, but what?

But what of all the other characters? Some were born when I gave them names, and their personalities bloomed from there. Literally. Others, names just came to me and I just already knew what kind of person they were and still others, a name has come to me, but they are playing coy and keeping their secrets about themselves a mystery for now.

In my Love By series, the four sisters originally started out as individual book ideas, single titles. There wasn't going to be a series, but their names all seemed "flowery" and this formed a synapse in my brain that said they HAVE to go together, those characters are SISTERS!

Some authors name characters and give them characteristics based on their names, the origins of the names, based on the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of their characters but I go on gut instinct a lot in choosing names. The wrong name can make or break the character, or do little more than create a block when it comes to writing them as they should be. The right name that suits a character feels like it fits them like a second skin, blends with who they are and makes writing and reading them a pleasure.

Tune in next Wednesday for more and questions from Mary Ellen & Katie!

Feel free to leave me more questions in the comments here at anytime.
I'll be happy to answer them.

Happy Hump Day! I can see the weekend from here!

Got my NaNo shirt last Thursday. It's COMFY! Soft cotton and comfortable. I'll enjoy writing in it along with wearing the shirt I got last year.

I actually have been working on revisions on last year's Nanovel this past weekend. I've gone from around 80k to almost 83k. That was just from adding some of the scenes I felt were necessary from the main female character's POV.

She was lacking- a flat character who I wasn't sure held up her end of the bargain on being the woman a reader would WANT and HOPE the main male character would end up. So I'm giving her depth and even found a friend for her that I didn't know existed. When I originally wrote the story, I had written it strictly from the male M/C's POV, but after having reviewed it a bit, thought back on how things play out and had time to think about it long and hard because I knew something was missing, it hit me one day that she wasn't nearly as deserving of the role I gave her in his life unless I wrote more of her side too.

I've also discovered just how LONG my chapters ended up being. There were only 13 chapters when I finished. Several chapters ran very long, without scene breaks where they should be, so that's been part of my revision plans...breaking them up where they need to be broken down. Changing my sentences to flow more smoothly, adding here, extracting there. I feel like a surgeon. LOL

So now I'm off to work on that some more- Operation: Polish This Novel!

Have a great Monday!

Chugging Along and I'm A Winner!

I finally got all of my 1st novel moved to my new "rework" file. It still needs a lot more work though to pick up the pace at the beginning of the novel. No one wants to start a book that drags along at a snail's pace. It's hard to finish a book that is sluggish.

I've noticed the change in the story's strength in the end compared to the beginning as well. The ending holds up better than the beginning. I think I know the root of that though. When I first started writing it, I was in my early 20's and one of the main plot points that affects my character was something similar to an event that had recently occurred in my life.

Of course, what happened in my life wasn't nearly as severe as what I put my character through, but when I started writing this one, it was in the hope that I would find healing and strength through my character. She's close to my heart and always will be, even if this novel never makes it into print. She helped me discover my own strengths and grew as I grew, but I still need to strengthen her beginning so that the entire novel is strong in it's own right. All the way through.

So I'm going to open that file this morning and start again and see what else I can do to make this a powerful, moving novel.

Oh and I won a book! I have been going to Petticoats and Pistols reading the western romance writers' blogs and I commented on Pam Crooks' yesterday about strange foods. She was going to give away an autographed copy of her latest book Untamed Cowboy and a couple of cool sparkly Harlequin pens to a random poster. Well, she picked me! hehehe! I CANNOT wait to get it!

Well, I'm off and gone to immerse myself in Maplewood, Ky- the fictional town my novel is set in.