© 2011 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved
In case you’re wondering what on Earth is going on
here, see No
Small Change on The Radical Virgo. During October and November, I’ll be
doing short posts to take you along for the wild ride of rewriting and getting
my humorous, metaphysical mystery book ready for submission to the St.
Martin’s Press annual First Mystery Novel Contest.
Since returning to my
current rewrite of The Crystal Ball,
I’ve felt like an out-of-era Betty Crocker trying to bake the perfect cake by
the end of November. I’m up to my ears in flour and various ingredients, apron
full of splotches. I thought I had everything I needed. I thought Life’s Companions, The Crystal Ball’s unpublished predecessor, contained most of the
necessary ingredients. I figured I’d only have to rework it a little. I went to
borrow a cup of sugar from the last incarnation of this book and discovered
there were only a few tablespoons left.
In other words, I have
changed the plot and focus so much, there isn’t nearly as much that I can
borrow—at least in the first two thirds of the book. That means more creative
writing in a hurry. Just when I was starting to freak out at the size of the
task and its time pressures, I stumbled on an inspiration. If people across the
country can write a book in a month during the annual NaNoWriMo event, I can
certainly come up with the rest of this one in six weeks. Or so I keep telling
myself! November is National Novel Writing
Month, what the acronymn NaNoWriMo stands for. Maybe I’ll inspire you to
join me on your own writing ride!
This would be a good time
to discuss my writing process. The two extremes of writing habits are people
who outline and those who fly by the seat of their pants or make it up as they
go. I’m primarily a seat of the pants writer who works with a skeletal outline
or story arc. Other writers have told me they outline more, the more they
write. I’ll be thanking God for Sr. Fabian, my 8th grade nun who was
a fanatic about teaching us how to outline with all the appropriate Roman
Numerals, numbers, and parenthetical numbers and letters. I never thought such
an excruciating skill to learn might come in handy some day.
As far as my mystery is concerned,
I know whodunit, howdunit, wheredunit, and whydunit. It’s just the middle of
the Oreo—the filling—that needs a little more substance. I’m sure it’ll look
like a cake, or at least a cookie, before I know it—I hope.
There’s nothing novel
about a tablespoon of the good old Virgo self-doubt!
Halloween’s around the
corner, Maybe I should throw in some eye of newt.
As an update from last
week, my visit with my niece and family has actually confirmed the authenticity
of many nuances in the relationship of my protagonist, Micki, with her nieces. I
see I drew deeply from my Auntie Joyce role (the actual one, rather than the
slightly snarky comedian you sometimes see on this blog.) I also got quite a
surprise, an example of art imitating life in an intuitive preview. Something
that I’ve been planning for Micki’s nieces in the second book in the series is
likely happening to my actual nieces in real life.
Art imitating life just
proves life is art!
Hope you all had a good
Full Moon in Aries this week. Seeing Dawn, my stellium in Aries niece with most of
her close-knit family? The most literal manifestation of an Aries
Full Moon I’ve had in years!
~~~
Photo Credit: © Scott Griessel - Fotolia.com
Don’t forget the October Fiction Fest Comment Contest!You may be the lucky winner of a free mystery anthology.
2 comments:
Hello there :) I'll be writing in NanoWriMo this year, too! It will be my 4th round and I'm DETERMINED to cross the finish line this year! LOL
Honestly, I'm not surprised you've completely written your earlier pieces. When I look back at prior novels I worked on during Nano, for example, I immediately want to start editing it :)
I'll be blogging more about my process and my experiences, too. You can find me there at JaneBond if you are looking for 'buddies' :)
Hi, Janece--It's great to hear from someone else on the fast track to finishing a novel by the end of November!
I wrote 2+ new chapters today and am feeling more confident as I get into the major rewrite. Keep telling myself, it's just like writing a long string of blog posts. Since mine have typically been full-length articles, that's true. When I can link it to what I know and am most used to, it feels a lot less overwhelming.
I'll definitely check you out. Terrific name, JaneBond. Since there's an ex-FBI agent in my book, anything that spy-like catches my eye!
All best,
Joyce
PS - You are entered into the October Comment Contest. Thanks for stopping by and brightening my day!
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