Behind the scenes

My work space

When I first started writing again as an adult, I often wrote at my kitchen table. But soon I moved to writing all over the place. I am ashamed to admit I used to be a smoker, so I often wrote outside on my balcony, or even in my car. But since being a bit more stable, and finally having a decent office and place to write, I’ve moved to writing at my desk. A month or so ago, my husband gave me his hand-me-down PC and got me dual screens. I am in love with the setup.

What exactly is this behind the scenes look at my writing? Well, frankly, nothing super exciting. But in case you are interested in my routine and how I do what I do, here it is.

My writing routine has changed drastically over the years, especially as I’ve quit smoking and changed jobs. I used to be a social worker, a case worker, and a drug and alcohol counselor. It was the most emotionally draining job I’ve ever had. So for a few years there, I barely wrote. I was usually able to eek out a few thousand words during Nanowrimo, or when I was feeling particularly good. But for the most part, all of my creative energy was sapped taking care of everyone else.

I burned out and that job ended just about 16 months ago. And frankly, it was the best thing to ever happen to me, my creativity, and my mental health. I finally had the energy to be creative. That was the catalyst that propelled me into publishing.

Here is my current routine: Wake up, go to work. I work in an office, and during the down time I am able to get some authoring done. I often write blog posts (like now), add things to my website, update Patreon, write my newsletter, create social media posts and graphics, do my finances, perhaps write on side projects, and do all the little things I need to do (formatting, creating universal links, etc) in order for my business to run. Once I get home, I usually take a few hours to relax, exercise, eat a meal, watch TV/read. My husband works early in the morning so when he goes to bed, I shower, get a cup of tea, and sit at my desk to write. I enjoy writing when the rest of the house is quiet and sleeping. It’s peaceful and I can let my mind wander without and distractions. This is when I get most of my writing in, from about 9pm until 11pm.

I write in sprints of 15-20mins at a time with 5 min breaks. And I use 4thewords to help keep me on track and focused. Sometimes I use focus apps. And sometimes I use a spread sheet, or StoryOrigin, or Nanowrimo to help me track my word count or projects.

I write about 2,000 words an hour if I get into a creative flow. And honestly, creative flow is my favorite thing. It’s hard to describe but it’s almost as though I’m just a conduit and the words just flow through me from someplace else. Sometimes I go into writing a scene with an idea in mind, and when I come out the other side, I realize the scene looks nothing like what I’d planned.

That’s also how I often surprise myself while writing. Things happen that I don’t expect, my characters act in ways I didn’t plan. Oh, the beauties of writing.

One of my other favorite things is when characters introduce themselves to me. It’s as though they step forward and wave, tell me their name, and sometimes tell me their stories. Sometimes I have to discover their stories as I write. That is why some characters seem better formed than others, and I pride myself on very character driven stories. I love discovering new characters, and I always kick myself when I don’t have a chance to take notes! I’ve lost a few that way. It sounds strange, but it’s the way my brain works. Some writers have conversations with their characters, I am more a passive observer as they live their lives and I observe and take notes.

Well, that’s just a snippet of my writing life. I get more ideas for stories than I could ever write over a lifetime, but I promise I will never stop telling stories as it is my passion and my life.

NaNoWriMo is here.

I made a horrible decision.

Not only am I currently editing Born of Blood because it releases on November 29th (during Nano so I must be crazy), but I’m also doing Nano. But in October I had it all planned out. I was going to write a quick YA Urban Fantasy series about witches, but only after I finished the novella for The Valdir Chronicles, Born of Stone. I had a plan. I plotted out books one and two of the YA UF. I had characters. I was prepared.

Then a week before Nano I realized… I didn’t want to write an Urban Fantasy. The story no longer called to me the way it once had. I wanted to keep writing traditional fantasy. I wanted magic and world building.

So I scrapped the YA UF idea and started planning a whole new YA Fantasy series. I dragged out an old idea and began meshing it with a few new ideas. I soon had a basic (read: crappy) plot for book one and some ideas for books two and three. I had the basics of a world with plenty of magic, but some gaping plot holes I needed to fill. Then Nano hit.

I finished Born of Stone in the first three days, writing a whopping 11,000 words, finishing the novella off at 15,500 or so. I was excited. I was accomplished. I was ahead.

Then it hit me, I needed to start on this new YA Fantasy now. I needed to fix plot holes, get to know my characters, and do more world building. The last two days have consisted of me scrambling to world build some more, and honestly I think I have a very cool world filled with science and magic, but as I wrote the first chapter, I realized my plot was pathetic. It no longer lined up with my world building. And I only had the barest outline.

I’m definitely a planner. I need to have a solid plot, chapter by chapter from A to Z before I feel able to get into a real creative flow. I need to have an idea of where I’m going otherwise I get lost. Now, that doesn’t mean I can’t be spontaneous. I definitely deviate from my plot. A lot. I often have a different plot at the end than what I started with, but if I don’t at least have an outline, then I get bogged down with the details.

Honestly, the way I plan my books is not that different than my life. I like to have a plan to start with. If the plan goes awry or I deviate, I don’t mind one bit. But that plan gives me peace of mind, a jumping off point.

So here it is. The working title and cover for my next series. I have no idea what the plot is yet. But I do know it’s going to be full of adventure and intrigue and maybe a bit more romance since my main characters (twins) are over 18.

My main characters are Brianna and Brayden Kirk, red haired twins. They each possess an elemental magic. The rest, you will learn soon!

Creating character motivation and plot

So every time I feel stuck for plot I peruse Pinterest for motivation. One thing I kept seeing over and over was this phrase:

“Stack the deck against your characters, then stack it even higher.”

It is something I’ve tried to keep in mind every time I write and I feel like my story line is getting stale. What else can I stack against them? This is where your character’s motivation is key. If they don’t have proper motivation, then they will lose their will to achieve their goal if you stack the cards too high. You don’t want to stack it so high they cannot overcome it, but you want to stack it high enough to challenge them, and force them to adapt and change.

Character motivation is something I struggle with. That’s a hard thing for me to admit as a writer. Usually my main character/protagonist’s motivations are clear, but my antagonist needs help. I tend to write very flat villains and it’s something I’m aware of and actively working to change. I try to focus on their motivations, what makes them tick, what makes them feel the way that they feel, what would drive them to do horrible things?

Antagonists and circumstances drive the plot. If there was nothing stopping the protagonist it would be a very short book. They would immediately achieve their goal and no one really wants to read that story.

Let’s look at my main character from Secrets & Swords.

Roguelyn: she comes from a privileged place as a Duke’s daughter, but being such, she also has certain constraints on her. She isn’t allowed to join the army or fight. So when her father is captured by the enemy she has to break tradition, risk getting killed or worse, and then find a way to get to her father. If she didn’t have the added dangers of the war or men trying to take advantage of her, and her best friend betraying her then she wouldn’t have had enough motivation to leave and find her father. But once she is finally on that path, if she just walked into Gadel and asked about her father and they gave him to her then the book would be over in a few chapters. So I had to up the ante. I threw obstacle after obstacle at her and her will to save her father stayed strong. Her will to right wrongs also began to develop and soon she discovers that she not only wants to save her father but her country.

A character learning and changing is key. Without stacking the deck, the character would not be forced to change.

So how do we stack the deck? Well, that’s something us authors take days and hours to do. There is no easy answer but there are plenty of ways to move your plot forward and force your characters to adapt and change. Have them do something they wouldn’t normally do, have them endure the worse case scenario, have them lose someone close to them, take something essential away….the list goes on.

This is also something to keep in mind with character creation: does your character have enough depth? Try forcing them into a corner. If they can’t think their way out of it then they need more motivation, more depth.

This is where my psychology degree comes in handy. People react for a few specific reasons, or motivations. We react to things out of fear, manipulation, frustration/anger, or getting a need met. So our characters are either trying to fulfill a need (think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: food, water, shelter, sex, belonging…) in some way (could be adaptive or mal-adaptive), or perhaps they are reacting out of fear, or reacting to try to get something (could be selfish, could not), or reacting out of anger and frustration. Oh man, I could talk about character motivations all day. And maybe I will in another post. But basically you need to identify who your character is, how you want them to change, then what things will force them to change, and how they will react.

People are complicated and yet simple. You can think of it like genres and sub-genres. There are only a limited number of main genres, but myriads of sub-genres within those genres. You identify the main genre first and then narrow it down. And multiple sub-genres could apply to the same work. A person is like that. We are all quantifiable in terms of creating and writing a character, but it takes work and practice. The characters you write in the beginning will not be the same as those you write in twenty years or even those you write after copious editing. Nothing will. That’s the beauty of writing, you can change it.