The Best Laid Plans
My goal for yesterday was to finish up the overview for the three book arc and get to work on the synopsis for book one or start writing pages--one of the two. I failed miserably on both scores. :-(
I can see the opening scene of the book. Flare's on his front porch, he just got in from nearly four weeks outside the city walls, he's tired, wants to relax and then Wyatt shows up and tells him Alex ordered them to an early morning meeting. Somehow, though, I can't seem to get this on paper (or screen) in a way that's interesting and it's leaving me frustrated.
Oh, I'm used to the scenes in my head not matching what I actually get down in words, every writer is. I think this is why we keep writing, in the hopes that one day we'll actually capture perfectly what we see/hear/feel/sense. This is different. I almost wonder if it's because I'm trying to do everything in this draft the first time I write. By this, I mean that I know I have to set up that we're on another planet, give the reader some sense of place and time and still tell a story. Maybe I'm trying to do it all on one pass through and I should be concentrating on one layer at a time.
The other thing that's leaving me frustrated is trying to convey the three book arc. I know basically what's going to happen in book one, my writing buddy and I talked it out. I have an idea what's going to happen in the other two books, yet when I try to write up a short, few paragraph summary for the overview, it sounds lame. Worse than lame, it sounds too vague. I at least wanted to get that done yesterday. It's three books, a few paragraphs per book, maybe a page, or at most, a page and a half worth of writing.
I just couldn't get it done. Amazing, I think. I've written entire books in four months and I can't one page done in four hours. :-(
So y'all know what the goal is for today, right? ;-)
I've probably been talking about this project and its characters for too long now. It is my focal point right now, though. I know revisions are coming on the two projects I turned in earlier this year (June) and I need to get this done before the revision letters arrive in my inbox because once I'm done with them, I have to get hopping on the book that's due in January. That's also why my lack of progress yesterday is so disappointing.
I can see the opening scene of the book. Flare's on his front porch, he just got in from nearly four weeks outside the city walls, he's tired, wants to relax and then Wyatt shows up and tells him Alex ordered them to an early morning meeting. Somehow, though, I can't seem to get this on paper (or screen) in a way that's interesting and it's leaving me frustrated.
Oh, I'm used to the scenes in my head not matching what I actually get down in words, every writer is. I think this is why we keep writing, in the hopes that one day we'll actually capture perfectly what we see/hear/feel/sense. This is different. I almost wonder if it's because I'm trying to do everything in this draft the first time I write. By this, I mean that I know I have to set up that we're on another planet, give the reader some sense of place and time and still tell a story. Maybe I'm trying to do it all on one pass through and I should be concentrating on one layer at a time.
The other thing that's leaving me frustrated is trying to convey the three book arc. I know basically what's going to happen in book one, my writing buddy and I talked it out. I have an idea what's going to happen in the other two books, yet when I try to write up a short, few paragraph summary for the overview, it sounds lame. Worse than lame, it sounds too vague. I at least wanted to get that done yesterday. It's three books, a few paragraphs per book, maybe a page, or at most, a page and a half worth of writing.
I just couldn't get it done. Amazing, I think. I've written entire books in four months and I can't one page done in four hours. :-(
So y'all know what the goal is for today, right? ;-)
I've probably been talking about this project and its characters for too long now. It is my focal point right now, though. I know revisions are coming on the two projects I turned in earlier this year (June) and I need to get this done before the revision letters arrive in my inbox because once I'm done with them, I have to get hopping on the book that's due in January. That's also why my lack of progress yesterday is so disappointing.
posted by Patti O'Shea at 4:32 AM
I can totally feel you there -- I've had to do simmilar things for my own stuff Patti, and it's a pain in the patootie. And of course it sounds lame at the time.. I think that's the point.
At least for me, a lot of the good details and the juicy stuff comes as I'm writing. I have an overview of what I want to happen, but those nuggest of gold don't ever appear until I'm writing...
Makes writing a synopsis before a total pain in the butt. :)
Good luck!
Candice,
Yeah, I've done the layering bit too--usually it's in the fight and love scenes since the first pass through is for choregraphy and the second is for emotion. I'm just not used to doing it in the first scene of a story. And yeah, it is a pain in the patootie. :-)
I hear you, for me too. There's always information that comes out as I write that I knew nothing about. That's another reason why we sit down and do it, isn't it?
Synopses are a pain no matter when you write them. JMO, but I hate those things. What's wrong with--And then some stuff happens? ;-)
BTW, I share your interest in office supplies and I know quite a few other writers. Must be something in how we're wired.
Patti
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