Trying New Things

Spring is a time of new things, new beginnings and making things grow. It's also a time when authors get tetchy - we want to see some results, dammit. The sun is shining, this means we're ready to go barreling ahead with our goals and dreams, because we sure as hell want to see progress this year! And we're tetchy because March and April never quite move as fast as we'd like it to in terms of the above - in terms of showing us that progress.

I've seen, heard, read about, a lot of authors this month, feeling despondent, doubtful and uninspired by their work. It's okay. Don't panic. It's the time of year - it'll pass :)

Strangely, and sadly, there have been some deaths over the past ten days or so. I can think of three authors from the top of my head, who have lost someone dear to them. What's going on? Not sure, but to those of you it concerns, you have my condolences.

New things: yes. Without planning to, I'm trying something new with my latest project, The Demon Bride. I wrote some weeks back that I was a linear writer. Funnily enough, I'm having to go with the flow here, and write this book in a non-linear way. I'm finding it hard to get the characters just right, to get the plot (and the sub-plots) to mesh in the right places, and so on. This is not an easy book to write. Having said that, I do have the inspiration, so it's just a case of going with the flow. I'm not stuck, I'm just being challenged - then again, so are my characters. Do you find that? That you sort of go through what your characters go through sometimes?

New things: the going with the flow is working. I'm writing a chapter, breaking it up, fitting another chapter between the broken bits, and it's coming together, albeit slowly. I don't think I'm going to be happy with this book until the very end. I keep going back to change things at the moment. But I know that it will be okay, because my characters tell me so ... because it always is, in the end :)

New things: if you're struggling with something at the moment, I urge you to "give in". Go with it. Be challenged and try something new. It's the time of year when new things demand recognition - it's the time of year when doing new things works.

Go for it, and enjoy the Spring :)

Word Goals

I'm not a particular fan of word goals and that is simply because I always end up going over them, most of the time I go way over them. I don't know about other authors, but I find them quite restricting.

My paranormal erotic romance novel She-Wolf was originally suppose to be 15k. Yup, it was suppose to be short. It ended up being 75k by the time I had finished, which is way off my original mark, but sometimes characters have a lot more to say, and the story is so much bigger than the slice they show you when they want you to write it.

I never really set an exact goal. If I have a new project in mind I will sit there and decide if it's going to be a novella or a novel. If it's a novella I will usually mark it at 30k. If it's a novel I will mark it at 50k. I know if I have a rough number that I will usually pass it. Perhaps that is cheating but not having an exact number is less stressful and give both myself and my characters room to breathe.

I'm currently working on a project for an anthology call. The word limit is 10-20k. Now as soon as I saw that I thought, "right 20k. That's a nice number. I can do that." I have spent the last week writing this book, and I'm happy to say that I've flown through it, and I am now up to 18.4k. The problem is I don't think my story is going to end at 20k. *bangs head against wall* I have already cut out an entire scene - because I got to 19.2k and thought "crap!" - and I spent yesterday reading over everything I had written and removed some stuff that I didn't feel was needed.

I'm now under the impression that I'm going to have to pull a good couple of thousand out and go at this book from a different angle. Now, I'm not going to moan about that even if a small part of me wants to sob. Another hard part of writing is sometimes you have to gut your book and pull out a ton of work you have done, because sometimes things don't fit, or you're not happy with which direction you've gone. Sometimes you hit a wall, and as much as you want to cry at the thought of ripping a chunk out, you just have to. And 99% of the time it's the right thing to do, and is completely worth it.

Surprisingly I did actually plan this book - new for me since I am a huge panster - but it has still gone and bit me in the ass. Oh well.

So, I'm going to be spending today - perhaps tomorrow as well - trying to straighten this book out, and finish just under the word goal. Wish me luck!

What are your thoughts on word goals/limits? Do you find them helpful? Annoying? Do you always fall under them, or go way over?

The Writing Buzz!

eBook released 31st August, 2012
Paperback released 31st October, 2012

I love writing the beginning of a book. The beginning is where you get the 'new' buzz. The middle always frustrates me -- you lose the buzz, and you have to concentrate more on plot and how to move things forward; and the ending is hard, but my favourite bit. That's where you get the BIG buzz: you get all shaky and you can't eat for days. (At least, that how the buzz affects me, anyway.)

I've just started writing The Demon Bride. I'm almost 10,000 words into it (which I estimate is about a sixth of the book). It's dark and gritty, and possibly erotic in ways it shouldn't be. Ultimately that's up to the reader to decide; I'm not specifically writing it to be erotic, just like I didn't write "the safety pin scene" (yes, it will forever be called that in my mind) in The Sands Of Time to be erotic -- nevertheless, I read back over it and think, whoa, that's actually kinda hot in a twisted way. I did write it to be intense and dark. But then I am dealing with some pretty dark characters, and some even darker mythical lore...

So anyway ... the buzz...

It's way better than chocolate, on the same level as coffee (sometimes better), and I really can't say it's better than sex without offending anyone who's in a relationship with an author (so I won't). But one thing I will say, is that when I'm riding that buzz, wild horses can't drag me away from writing the story. The buzz owns me. Completely.

Realizations

For me May 6th marks one year of being a published writer, and I know we still have a month an a half until then, but I thought I would just talk a little about what I have realised this last year.

And to do this I thought I would keep today's post in the same category as Dianna's "Hermitude" post, because she's right. Writing is a very secluded career, and that is the first thing I think any aspiring writer should know.

(I would just like to say here that this is just my views on things, and I will probably realize a lot more as each year goes by. But, I am a person who picks at myself when I don't meet my own expectations, and it has taken me this last year to realize I need to shut up and relax.)

Sure you will meet other writers and will become friends with them to the point that if you have moment you feel like ripping your hair out you can talk to them - or in my case, bug them. *Smiles sweetly at Dianna*

You don't go to a work place, and you're not surrounded by colleagues every day. You are your own boss. You decide your own hours, and sometimes you have to motivate yourself, because sometimes it can be hard to get that project finished.

I don't get up every day to travel to my workplace, so I can do a set pattern of work and be surrounded by my work colleagues. No matter what happens in life a person still has to get up every day and do that. As a writer you're at home working. You decide how you will spend your day, and if life is weighing you down you can choose to let it. You can choose to not write; to procrastinate.

Sometimes it's lonely. Sometimes you want to write, but you can't because despite what a lot of people think writing isn't something you can simply switch on and off, and if you could it doesn't necessarily mean you will always write quality stories. Sometimes your mentally tired as well as physically. Sometimes you're stuck. Sometimes you question yourself over everything.

If you're a naturally impatient person it is some times torturous because the biggest part of writing is waiting. You wait for ideas to grow and unfold. You wait for characters to show you everything you need to know about them and their story. Real life gets in the way so sometimes you have to wait to write, and even then, sometimes you need to wait for the energy to write. You wait to hear what your Beta readers think. You wait to see what your editor says. You wait for contracts, and edits, and release dates and covers . . . Needless to say waiting is something you need to get use to and quickly.

Despite all of that writing is fun, and it is a passion and need that runs deep. It is extremely easy to become a hermit because all you want to do is sit at your computer and write - even when it's proving to be difficult or you're having no luck - the need to write and pull everything out of your head is overwhelming.

I keep seeing an image from on facebook which makes me laugh and say, "so true."


"A writer never has a vacation. For a writers life consist of either writing, or thinking about writing." - Eugene Ionesco (www.writing.com)

Even if life is being a pain. Even if we are struggling with a particular scene, or feeling isolated. Even if we can't muster the energy to write  . . . . We want too. We will be thinking about writing even if we can't - especially if we can't.

I have learnt this last year that I am not a machine. That even if I have lots of ideas I can't force myself to write, because as soon as you force it, you lose the enjoyment and it becomes a chore. I learnt that if I have days where I can't write for one reason or another, I need to not beat myself up about it, because I will have moments where I can't. I have learnt that while waiting the best thing I can do is just write.

Most importantly I learnt that I'm not the only writer who freaks out over everything, and that I'm not the only one who gets stuck.

Writing is a secluded career but all writers go through the same process, and although it sucks if I hear a fellow writer has hit a wall, and I hope they can figure it out and crack on with their writing, knowing I'm not alone when things get hard is both a relief and a great help. Because we may not work in a building or on the same project, but we're still doing the same job.

Hermitude

Okay, so I don't even think that 'hermitude' is a real word outside of the Urban Dictionary, but I'm using it anyway.

I'm a hermit by nature, but recently I've felt quite restless. Maybe it's the sunshine - it always calls you out to play, doesn't it?

Anyway, I got to thinking about how writing is such a secular career. It's you, your brain and your laptop / notebook. That's it. Most writers I believe don't talk about their projects to others either - at least not while they're writing it - so truly, as a writer, you don't talk to anyone but yourself and your characters.

Being a natural hermit (and by that I mean that I generally prefer my own company, or the company of nature, to that of other people), I feel it's actually important for me to make a concerted effort to get out the damn house. I only ever write at home - it's just easier. But I think that once a week I'm going to try taking the laptop down the cafe and write in public. It's not something I'm even sure I can do - it's sometimes hard for me to zone out all that noise around me. Maybe the main problem is that I'm quite empathic and often get drawn into others' emotions. It's sometimes hard work being around people, as if I constantly need an emotional filter up so I don't drown. Empathy is great for writing, and great for reading the Tarot - it sucks when you actually want to integrate though :)

This week I've been so busy I barely have time to think, so that's my one thought for today in a nutshell ;)

Do you have any thoughts on the above? Authors, how do you cope with your secular career?

The phases of writing!

One of the biggest parts of being a writer is waiting. Waiting to hear about a submission. Waiting for your contract. Waiting for your edits. It's good if you're a patient person, unfortunately I'm not.

At the moment I am waiting for my edits for the She-Wolf sequel - Cranberry Blood. I am also waiting for a contract for a co-authored futuristic YA novel - more on that when the ball gets rolling ;-) - as well as waiting to hear about two other submissions. So naturally while I am waiting, I am working on new projects.

Every writer has a routine, including me, even though I am big on improvising so as you can imagine there is mass craziness going on during the course of each project. That craziness usually goes like this . . .

Phase One - New Idea
Its so new. So shiny. I love it. Lets make a note of it in my journal.

Phase Two - The planning
I love this idea. Okay planning. Plot line. World building. Characters. Chapter by chapter Synopsis (note: there is always room for change) Okay planning done.

Phases Three - Beginning it
Hmmm needs to be a catchy. Hook the reader. Hmmmmm. I can always change it if I don't like it, but still . . . Hmmmm. Oh i know . . .

Phases Four - Writing your story (the first part)
Yes, this is going ok. I cant wait to get to the good bits. Get the ball rolling.

Phases Five - Writing your story still (the middle part)
Then this happens and that. Oh that is a brilliant idea lets add that in. I don't know if i like that, but I will leave it for now. No, it's to soon for that. Oh, easy there tiger. Oh no he didn't!!!

Phases Six - Writing your story... will it ever end? (the last part)
This is complete crap. What am I thinking? This doesn't even make sense. I suppose I could add that in, but I will have to change that other thing. *pulls hair out* Grrr. I hate this book. Why wont it end?

Phase Seven - The Climax
DIE! DIE! DIE! Oh, hang on .  .. There, that is okay for an ending, for now

Phase Eight - Realisation
ITS FINISHED. OH MY GOD IT'S FINISHED. *Pass out*

Phase Nine - The break
*Digs hole and buries story* I will be back in a week, or maybe a month, but I will be back, I promise *Covers hole*

Phase Ten - Edits
*Digs story up* Okay, time to edit. *Reading* Well I like that bit, but I don't think that bit works. Hmmmm . . . *writing* Oh, that's much better.

Phase Eleven - Half way through edits
Oh god I have ruined it. What was I thinking making her do that? I'm so stupid. This book is crap. When will this be over? Why did I even bother writing this stupid story in the first place??

Phase Twelve - Edits finished
Thank you Jesus!I have finished. *cries* Okay beta readers . . .

Phase Thirteen - Beta Readers
*Sends it* You will be fine. Just stay clear, be bold, and wow them all. *Prays* Please don't let them hate it.

Phase Fourteen - Feedback
That's good. That needs fixing. Hated that? Great, I need to change an entire chapter, but overall they liked. Well that's good.

Phase Fifteen - Edits
Oh god why do I have to do this again?

Phase Sixteen - Beta Readers
*scowls at* Be good this time.

Phase Seventeen - Query and Synopsis
Hate synopsis. Hate them. Hate them. Dear publisher, please like my story. Please. Please. Please lovely publisher, please love it. My book is good I swear, and if it isn't I will fix it, I promise.

Phase Eighteen - Feedback
Change this and that and it will be fine. Grrrr*

Phase Nineteen - Edits
Last time. Ha. As if.

Phase Twenty - Sending it to an agent
*Kissing story* We have worked so hard. Impress them. You're amazing. I am so sorry I was so hard on you. You will do great. Now go on before I change my mind.

Yes, I honestly do go through these phases. Although I would like to kill a lot of my characters most of the time, I love writing. Sometimes it isn't pretty, but finishing a project always feels amazing. I love it. And even if I want to kill the story at moment's, I am still proud of of what I write despite the inner critic screaming at me.

I am currently on phase 3 for 2 of my new projects, and phase 5 for the other 3. So I'm not at the crazy midway point yet . . . O_o

My only hope is that you will all enjoy the stories I write, because that's what makes the entire process the most rewarding. :-D

* I would just like to say to my Beta Readers that the grrr is not at them or the wonderful feedback they give me. The grrrrr is simply stress.

Vampire Poetry

I'm awful, because I never, ever promote this book. Recently, I've been concentrating so hard on my paranormal romances, that my dark, gothic poetry has taken a back seat. It's not fair on poetry, really, because it was poetry that inspired my first step into the realm of self-publishing, so indirectly, it was poetry that brought you my paranormal romances :)

Poetry is also one of those subjects that people like to roll their eyes at - you either love it or you hate it, or you love some styles and hate others. But people have, in the past two months, started to take an interest in my book, A Silver Kiss, for whatever reason. There's a combination of freestyle and rhyming poetry in this book, that looks at vampirism and everything it means from various points of view. I'm going to treat you to two poems below: Just A Scratch and A Silver Kiss. All further details and buy links for this book can be found here: http://www.diannahardy.com/a-silver-kiss-vampire-poetry.html

Just A Scratch

We're sitting in the park, the sun bouncing rays
off the roundabout's steel frame, and you're smiling,
my white angel, a smile so bright and wide
that I almost don't notice the shadow in my heart.

When did it start? I can't recall. Those darkest
of dark nights when shadows crept into my room,
like last night...

You toddle up and hand me a third pebble,
nodding once at me with knowing eyes
as if I should know what the pebbles mean.
I don't and desperately, I wish I did.

How do I rid myself of tainted need, of wanton

cries that bounced off cream walls when all purity
was sleeping?

Eyelashes glistening with golden beams,
you scream in laughter and throw your arms
around my neck, "Cuddle Mama, cuddle!"
And the world falls away. I am stranded
at the edge of Hell with you, my sweet,
your bare feet dangling over sin,
oblivious to the heat I almost
drop you in.

And still you light up every corner
of the concrete playground with
unbridled joy and childlike sound,
giving all of who you are and needing
nothing in return. You turn to kiss
the monster, holding death within
your hands, and your kiss burns

a hole in my frozen cage.

I turn away from Hell today,
but nothing saves me from your tiny
finger trailing two marks upon my neck.
You plant a healing peck upon the 'ouchies',
saying, "Wha, Mama? Wha dat?"
"Nothing, darling. Just a scratch."

copyright © Dianna Hardy, 2010

All rights reserved

A Silver Kiss

A silver kiss
upon my brow,
cold as ice
and scented of
the past and not
the here and now,
which streaks of
loss.

My blood boils
while my heart
freezes in time,
never again
to beat to
any living part

of nature, only
death.

A silver kiss
upon my neck
has me bent
skywards,
calling the moon
down to wreck
the ship saving
me.

A silver kiss
I'll give to you,
upon your eyes,
upon your throat.
Trust me and
see all of who
you will be...
come.

copyright © Dianna Hardy, 2010

All rights reserved

A ghost, a werewolf & a vampire sharing a house?

A ghost, a vampire and a werewolf share a house . . .

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, doesn't it? Well it is actually the basis of the English paranormal series Being Human. Yes, in the midst of the Twilight Saga, and the American hit series The Vampire Diaries I'm happy to say that on this side of the pond we have our own paranormal series.

I'm a fan of all three of the above, and more to the point I find the difference in scenery, plot and take between the three completely refreshing. The funny thing is that it always seems very hard to try and imagine such stories happening in Britain. It's rather amusing - in a sense - to see such a story set today, and literally happening a short distance away, but it works. The ongoing story, and the side ones are believable and the characters are unique and fresh.

I have watched Being Human from the beginning, and despite the fact that only the ghost from the original trio remains, I think it’s top. But, every Sunday when I sit watching this fab program I can’t help but wondering why there isn’t more paranormal series, or more to the point, stories set in United Kingdom.

Dr Jekyll and his unwelcome Hyde live in London. Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and even Dracula all visit the city in their own tales. They are the four godfathers of Gothic paranormal, and yet we hardly hear of such characters in this country, and in this day and age. Why is that?

I personally think it may have something to do with how crowded and small the UK is, well, compared to America where there is so much space and never ending possibilities for where stories could take place; but then, I suppose there are possibilities in a number of countries.

So I honestly don't know.

Dianna mentioned in her post The British Paranormal Romance that we don't see a lot of stories set in England, and I have to agree. I personally haven't read many books of the paranormal - contemporary - nature that are. There’s a lot of history – steampunk particularly – and chick-lit/contemporary stories, but not a lot of the other genres, which is rather sad really.

I haven’t read everything there is to read, so I am honestly only making a very vague guess, but it does seem that we are lacking in paranormal on this side of the pond, which is one of the reasons I set The Blood Series in England. I wanted to let Vampires and Werewolves run around and cause havoc in the UK because, well, why not? We have foggy eerie countryside’s, and moors. We have lush forests and beautiful landscapes, and we have dark corners where anything could be lurking.


And let's not forget that England is the backdrop of the Arthurian legend; ancient magic and supernatural beings. Fair enough there were castles and knights, and fair maidens, but still, it has to count for something, right?


So surely it isn't completely crazy for such beings to inhabit this country today? When you think of magic, and such creatures what type of world conjures in your mind?

For anyone who loves vampires, werewolves and ghosts, you should most definitely take a look at Being Human. It’s funny. It’s dark, and it’s different. Plus it has Mitchell (S1-3) and Hal . . . *drools and swoons*

Linear or Circular?

This is going to be quite a quick blog post.

I'm trying to plot / write a story at the moment and I can't quite get there. I have parts of it quite clearly in my head, but they're in the middle of the story, or towards the end, and I just cannot write them without starting at the beginning, and I can't quite get the beginning right.

So this got me thinking about how people write. I'm am, totally, a linear writer (which is ironic, because in some areas of my life I'm circular -- and I don't even know if circular is the correct term in writing, to mean the opposite of linear, but I'm using it). I absolutely have to start at the beginning. If I started in the middle, I can guarantee that by the time I've figured out the beginning, the middle will have to change, so in my head, I'd have wasted time beginning with the middle. (Are you with me so far?)

I kind of wish I was more flexible in the way I wrote. I'd love to write whatever came to mind, then mish-mash it all together as I go and clean it up at the end, but I don't do that. I write from the beginning, and make my way through, stopping every 1000 words to clean it up and edit it.

Sounds so boring, doesn't it? Lol.

So, how do you write? Are you linear, or circular? Or, if you're not a writer, how do you read? Can you start in the middle of a series, or do you have to start at the beginning?

Dianna x