Beautiful People May 2016

Beautiful People is a linkup hosted by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In.

It’s aimed at writers so we can answer the questions about our characters and our books. It’s designed to help you get to know your book better! (And also give your followers a sneak peek of your works-in-progresses.)

Beautiful People

I’ve decided to take part in Beautiful People this month because a) I just finished the first draft of my newest WIP, in April’s Camp NaNoWriMo after not writing anything in 2015 due to personal issues, and b) I realised I used to be quite involved in the writing community a few years ago but I seem to have lost contact with everyone. I’d love to make some new friends and find like-minded people to help encourage and console.

The Book

My WIP is called Winter Witch and it’s ‘Frozen meets Throne of Glass’. It’s about a young woman called Tally who has the ‘cursed’ power of causing instant death by touch, but who can also secretly bring the dead back to life, and as a valuable magician she is forced to become the Crown Prince’s bodyguard of sorts. But people are being murdered in the palace and everyone thinks Tally is to blame, because prejudice.

The Questions

1. How often do they smile? Would they smile at a stranger?

Tally’s not really the smiling sort, I don’t think. She smiles gratefully at people who understand her, because she’s terribly misunderstood and suffers from a lot of prejudice. I don’t think she would smile at a stranger unless that stranger was a child who was unafraid of her.

2. What is the cruelest thing they’ve ever been told? And what was their reaction?

That she’s a monster, and she ran away. This is after accidentally bringing her dead grandmother back to life as a child. The whole village tried to murder her so she had to leave.

3. What is the kindest thing they’ve ever been told? And what was their reaction?

“You don’t have to pretend to be strong with me, Tally.”

Prince Ford said this to her just after she’d nearly died saving his life.

4. What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?

Because of Tally’s power, when she was young it was untrained and uncontrollable. The first village she was living in turned against her when she accidentally brought her dead grandmother back to life, and tried to bury her alive by throwing her down a well and trying to cover her with earth. She escaped, but the memory of being buried alive rises up when she is caught by the snare poles the military use to capture and control winter witches without them being able to touch their captors (you know, like dog catchers use on dangerous dogs), and whenever something tightens around Tally’s neck, like a rope, or a snare collar, or even a necklace, she can taste the earth of being buried alive and her stomach rebels and makes her throw up. It’s a very powerful memory that affects her physically, and it’s something that makes Prince Ford take pity on her when they first meet.

5. What book (a real actual published book!) do you think your character would benefit from reading?

The Hunger Games. I think she’d like Katniss and the book would help her to understand ruthlessness and survival and compassion.

6. Have they ever been seriously injured? How severely? How did they react?

In the WIP her throat is cut and she bleeds almost to death, but a summer witch heals her just in time. Her reaction is to take a bath and go to bed. She’s practical like that.

7. Do they like and get along with their neighbours?

No. The other people who live in the palace are suspicious of her, and she keeps her distance.

8. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being easy and 10 being difficult) how easy are they to get along with?

Tally’s standoffish and doesn’t trust easily due to a history of people turning against her. On the other hand, once she’s decided to trust you she’s fiercely loyal. So I’d give her about a 5.

9. If they could travel anywhere in the world, where would they go?

Far south to try to find more winter witches that haven’t been forced to fight the king’s war.

10. Who was the last person they held hands with?

Prince Ford, but I can’t give the context because it’s a massive spoiler.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2016 – We Have A Winner!

win

Technically we have a winner.

My aim was to finish the novel I started in NaNoWriMo November 2014.

I didn’t know how many words I would need to finish it and I wasn’t 100% sure of where it would actually end, but I estimated I might have needed around 20,000 words.

I couldn’t change that goal once people started verifying, so I had to grab a chunk I’d written previously to help me verify.

I ended up needing only 13,595 to finish this first draft. It should go without saying that more words will be added, changed, and culled in the editing process.

It wasn’t easy for me to slip back into writing every day and there was about a week and a half I simply didn’t feel like writing and wanted to just veg out after work and hang out with my husband. I suspect this is because the closer I got to the end of the book, the more I rebelled against finishing it. Once I recognised this, I put my butt in my chair and tried to think up some more exciting scenes to get me to the ending.

The ending actually came at a bit of a surprise. I thought I would write one more scene, but the one I was writing at the time felt like the right place to end – and also, the scene I wanted to write next would make a better opening for Book #2.

It also changes how I was going to approach Book #2, because something pretty major happened that I wasn’t planning on happening this early. It’s changed a large amount of what I had planned for Book #2, so I’m actually kind of excited (and dreading) writing the next one!

I feel good about this book. There’s a lot of work to be done and one major plot hole I need to fix, but I feel good where it’s ended, and I know I have issues with endings.

I may not have achieved my goal of 20K words, but that was only an estimate. The goal was to get writing again and finish the book I’d started and wanted to finish.

Achievement unlocked. CNW_Winner_200

Is Perfectionism Holding You Back?

perfectionism

Recently I’ve come to realise that my perfectionism is holding me back when it comes to delivering complete manuscripts.

I’m afraid that once I finish it, that’s it. And it’s true, that is it. Except for editing.

But you know, it’s always better in my head. So I don’t want to finish. And my excuse for not publishing anything is that it’s not finished.

It’s a no-win situation.

I don’t know why I feel like this. I’ve published two books and two short story collections. I know how to do this. I’ve had good reviews and bad reviews. I’ve had campaigns organised designed to drive me off the internet. I’ve retreated from any author communities and basically just stay by myself.

My plan this year was to write three complete novels using the Camp NaNoWriMo and November NaNoWriMo to give me the encouragement I needed, but that plan’s gone out the window.

Since I haven’t written anything in over a year now, I’m afraid I simply won’t have the juice to get going. Like an abandoned car whose engine won’t tick over.

So I’m going to tackle this perfectionism/procrastination issue by finishing my 2014 NaNo novel and another novella I’ve had sitting around waiting for me to just finish it.

I know how both of them end, so it should be easy, but a part of me doesn’t want to finish either project. I’m dreading locking myself away for hours on end in my office to write.

This is probably why I could never write anything to deadline. Or maybe a deadline would help. Who knows?

So it boils down to:

Can I still write?
Can I face hours of loneliness writing by myself?
Can I finish those manuscripts?

Ah, the life of a full-time employed self-published author. We’re good at beating ourselves up.

New Year, New Ambition

new year

I didn’t make a single blog post in 2015.

That’s because due to personal reasons I decided to take the entire year off from writing.

It was awesome. Instead of feeling guilty for not writing, I simply said, “I’m not writing this year.”

It was liberating. I spent lots of time on my other hobbies.

It was scary. I felt the itch return a few times.

But I didn’t write anything.

I always get burned out after NaNoWriMo, and 2014 was no different. I didn’t even finish writing the book, although I did ‘win’ Nano. So I was OK at taking six months off. My computer barely turned on during that time. I didn’t miss it at all.

After about six months, I started to get the urge to write again.

Contrary to what people believe about writers, I didn’t succumb to the temptation.

I wanted to complete my ‘no writing in 2015’ goal because writing is what I’ve always done, even if I don’t have a lot of quality finished work to show for it.

‘Writer’ is part of my identity, like being tall and blonde.

And I needed to be able to devote more time to the other important things in my life, because writing takes up A LOT of time, and I got married in 2014, and I’d felt like I wasn’t spending enough time with my husband.

My plan for 2016

is to find a better balance between ‘no writing’ and ‘writing every day’.

Because writing takes discipline, but I don’t want to burn out.

However, some of you may have noticed the rebranding I started in early 2015 just before I decided to take my sabbatical.

It says ‘Lissa Writes sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy, contemporary romance.’

I’ve published the sci-fi and the paranormal. I’m sitting on the contemporary romance because they’re novellas and I need to make the decision on whether to publish them myself or not.

My 2014 novel was the fantasy, the first part of a trilogy I am determined to complete.

To do that, I’ve formulated a basic, flexible plan.

I’m going to attempt all three NaNoWriMo events this year.

That’s the two Camp NaNoWriMos, held in April and July, and the regular November NaNoWriMo.

After completing the Camp/NaNos, during the ‘off season’, I’m not going to write anything else other than working on the previous NaNo novels.

(Unless I feel like it, of course.)

I’m going to dream, plan, and let my imagination flow with creativity.

I’m going to fill the pages of my colouring books, read books from my ‘to-read’ shelf, play with my three adorable cats, and spend time with my husband.

I’m going to find the balance.

NaNoWriMo Prep in October – The Writing Playlist

Every year I prepare a writing playlist specifically for NaNoWriMo. Sometimes I need absolute silence to write, other times I can do with some tunes to get me in the right frame of mind.

I find that film soundtracks work best of all.

This year I discovered Spotify. It’s a free web player with a massive library of albums. The only downside is that sometimes they put in ads, but that’s OK because they tend to only last for about 30 seconds. It can be frustrating interrupting your music flow, but for a free web player i won’t be complaining.

NOTE – I tried using the Spotify app on my phone, but it’s not the same. Selecting a playlist led to other random songs being played as well. Only on the web player and on tablets does it actually do what you want it to do.

Here is this year’s playlist, thanks to Spotify:

Spotify says it’s about 6 hours worth of music. It’s remarkably different to my 2011 NaNo soundtrack which eventually consisted of one song played on repeat.