Plot Bunnies - The Creative Process

PLOT BUNNIES

I've talked before about plot devices (found here) but I wanted to do another piece today more specifically on plot bunnies. I know we've all heard that phrase before, but just in case you haven't, it simply refers to the idea that ideas will pop up and reproduce like bunnies, ergo, plot bunnies. In all my years of writing, I have had ideas that go from one extreme to the next, ones that linger and languish as if starved to death, and ones that grow and grow until it's all I can think about!

I am now at the point in my writing that I'm close to the end of my two current projects, in fact I should be finishing them by the end of April, and as usual at this stage of things, I'm scrambling around trying to find out if I have any ideas for the next book in one series, and a brand new book to write alongside it. I have, for a very long time, always made a note of my plot bunnies as they pop up, some will get turned into a story, others are too thin to do that and will usually end up as a scene or chapter wherever I can.

Now I always worry about this, like what if after 30+ books, I can't think of anything?? What happens if I don't have any ideas after these two are done? And to top it off, I'm in the midst of releasing another book, not releasing a second (which I talked about in this video, and will do a piece about later) as I usually do, and my stress levels are through the roof. So how can I find the time to start brainstorming, and does it really matter if I don't immediately start writing two new books? I mean, are the writing police going to come after me? I don't think so, but it's still stressing me out.

And yet, as soon as I stop thinking about it, I realise I already do have two, or more, ideas written down. I have a tentative title for the third book in the series, and I kinda know what the main plot is going to be, but it's the rest of it that worries me. And I'm telling myself, even as I write this piece that it's okay if I don't know right now, I don't need to know right now, and if I take a break, it's okay to do that. I work hard, I write a whole ton, if I don't start on May 1st, the world is not going to end.

I think that a lot of the time, the root of the anxiety is that I don't know when the plot bunnies stopped multiplying, I don't know when I stopped having ideas every few months and getting excited about them. To be brutally honest, I don't know if they ever really did for me, and it starts off this whole burst of imposter syndrome where I can't help but feel like if I was a 'real' writer, I would have ideas coming out of my ears. And it's not true. It's simply not true.

Whether you're a writer like me who sometimes finds the plot bunny land a little barren, or you're someone who finds ideas are multiplying and you have way too many to keep up with, you're still valid. You're still a writer, no matter what anyone else might say or think on the matter. I don't know whether it's because I focus so much on the ideas I'm working on at the time, or if I truly just need to actually think to be able to come up with some kind of idea, either way, what works for me is okay, and it's still valid.

Now I know that me saying that with almost 19 books published, and another 16 or so in various stages of finished and revision, is a big difference to someone who's struggling to find the idea that will take them to the end of their first novel. There are so many different ways in telling a story, and even if, like me, you have to really dedicate time to think things through, that's okay, you will get there. Keep going, the world needs your story no matter how long it took you to come up with it.

Just something to think about.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments below.

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Ideas Everywhere! - The Creative Process

IDEAS EVERYWHERE!

One thing that all writers will agree with - whether they be a planner, pantser or a hybrid - is that the ideas don't stop. They pop up at the weirdest times and you find yourself going down the plot bunny hole and seeing all the weird and wonderful twists and turns it might take should you decide to capture it and keep it for yourself. The ideas don't stop. No matter if you're in the middle of one, or two, or more, works in progress, they just keep hitting you and there's no way to get rid of them. But that's not a bad thing, because with the ideas comes new stories, new plots, new twists and turns that allow you to go a little crazy with your characters.

But what happens when you capture a bunny and don't know if you have the time and patience to get on with it? Do you set it free? If it completely excites you and pulls you away from your current work, how do restore that passion and how do you stop getting sidetracked? Never fear, for I have five tips on helping you with those ideas and how to keep focused on your current project while still allowing time for the bunnies to roam free.

#1 - THOUGHT DUMP IS YOUR FRIEND
While you may not have time to switch projects, or juggling multiples, you do have time to sit and thought dump the idea out. Whether this means taking a day or two and just getting everything out of your head and onto paper, it can be the best way to quell the urge to sit down, plan and start writing this idea when your other projects need you. Sometimes it can be the case that your new idea will be a better fit for you, but the passion that comes from thinking up something brand new can sometimes be misleading. The best thing to do is get everything out there so that you can see what the good points are, and if any bad points come up.

#2 - REMEMBER YOUR PASSION
Shiny New Idea Syndrome is a plague among writers everywhere. You get started on a project and it's all exciting and new and you're pumped to be writing it. And then along comes a new plot bunny just as you're reaching a point in your project that feels like a lot of hard work. The excitement is still there, but it's not a case of just opening word and writing to your heart's content. It can be, at times, like pulling teeth, and that can make it seem like it's better to work on something new. And while that's a sur way to never really finish anything, it's really tempting at times. The best thing to do when this happens is look back and remember why you started writing the current works. It might be that you're able to see the reason, the thrill in the story again and once you've written down your new idea, you go back to the older one refreshed and ready to tackle the challenges.

#3 - SET UP A REWARD SYSTEM
If you're unable to find the urge to ignore the new idea and you're being tempted away from your current work, sometimes a reward system can work. While I don't advocate for forcing yourself to write something you have no passion for, sometimes it's just about getting over the current rough patch and then the words flow again. For me, I keep a writing log. I know other writers who do stickers for every 500 words, some who set up rewards of shows to watch and so on. On top of that, having a group of writer friends can really help you stay on task.

#4 - SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER TO SWITCH
That said, sometimes it is better to move onto the new idea. It might be that it's more than the initial buzz of starting a new project, sometimes it's a case that your current work doesn't appeal to you, or isn't where you want your focus to be. There's nothing wrong with taking a step back, and sometimes it can be the reason you're able to finish something. I did this with Lynne & Hope when I first wrote it. I had a brand new idea and I was excited about getting to start it. I tried to ignore the new idea but I soon realised that I didn't actually like where Lynne & Hope was at that point. So I put it away and about two years later, I came back, revamped the storyline and boom, the book was finished. It can work sometimes.

And finally, #5 - IDEAS WON'T STOP
It's good to remember, and to remind yourself that just because you're working on one thing doesn't mean that the ideas are going to stop. You're a writer, there will be times when you go weeks without something new, but then there are other times when you won't last a few hours without a brand new plot bouncing into your head. That's completely normal. I sometimes get to the point where I don't have any ideas for a long period and then when I allow myself to branch out, they all hit me at once. Everyone works differently and just because you see other writers with all the ideas doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. The ideas are gonna come, you might just have to wait for them.

So those are my five tips when it comes to new plot bunnies. Do you have any you'd like to share? Put them down in the comments below!

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How's The Writing Going, Joey: Revisited - The Creative Process

HOW'S THE WRITING GOING, JOEY: REVISITED

Back in March 2013, so over four years ago, I started realising that my blog needed more content than just the occasional sales post. I made a lot of mistake as a newbie indie author and while I like to think that the majority of them I don't make anymore, it's always good to check in and see how things have changed and how far you've come. Back then it started as a question and a stream of consciousness that then turned into The Creative Process posts, which then spawned the After Process, and from there even more little headings that I now add to when the subject, and mood takes.

At the beginning of 2017 I decided that I needed to get better with blogging, and now six months in I've pretty much stuck to the schedule with a few bits added here and there. I have my writing advice posts on Monday, my Writing Vlog videos on Thursday, and my guest blog/interview/review on Friday. And it works well for me. It allows me to dip in and out of the blog and make sure that it stays active while having my instagram posts cross over and all of that. I've talked a lot about my work day but I realised that in the four years since I started doing this, I haven't really talked that much beyond updating my "Current Works In Progress" page, about what I'm actually writing.

I finished two books last month, the second in the Lights Out trilogy and the first in my new series, Cramping Chronicles. I started them both back in December 2016 and so to have finished them just over six months later felt like a huge accomplishment. Something I put down to a number of things.

1. I am no longer a uni student so the majority of my time can be spent writing. I graduated in 2014 with a B.A (Hons) and have no plans to go back to university.
2. In the past just under three years since I graduated, I have been better at focusing on writing during the day, and evening.
3. Since November 2015, I have been doing either #NaNoWriMo or my own version #JoWriMoGo every month and that has helped to keep my writing on track.
4. I have been keeping track of how much I write and of what since 2014 and because of that I have a better idea of what works and what doesn't.
5. I got a good set up in bed so that I can both write and edit and read and do all of that even on bad days.

So it's all really worked together to bring about more writing. Since I spending more days every month writing, then I'm able to get through more chapters and by extension more books. On top of that I've started to release two books a year, which means that I spend more time juggling editing and formatting as well as promotion and all those fun things that go into being an indie author. But on the writing side of things, they're going pretty well. On the 1st I started the third (and hopefully, final) book of the Lights Out trilogy - Lights Off. Today it's on my schedule to start writing the first chapter of Cramping Chronicles: The Second Pang, which I'm looking forward to jump into. I've been having the ideas running around my head for the past couple of months and it'll be so good to start releasing some of the creative tension.

I haven't really talked much about what the Lights Out trilogy or the Cramping Chronicles series are about. So, here's a breakdown of what the stories are:

LIGHTS OUT TRILOGY
This story starts with 18 year old, Lock. She works for her cityship on the base doing security for the 'Lights Out' events. It's a dystopian, where following a massive world war, the United English States have survived by implementing rationing and forcing a 'sixty year law'. Ageing has gotten to the point that once you hit twenty-five, you don't really age. Everyone is treated equally and you are allowed sixty years no matter what. Once you celebrate your sixtieth birthday, you are called to an event where they humanely send you off to your final sleep. Every person has an ID and retina chip and while there are other cityships, contact between them is forbidden. Lock is a great believer in the system, her partner Lana, also 18, is not. Yet they both work for the security and monitor the events. It's only when Lock realises that some people's ages aren't matching up that she realises things are not what they seem.

CRAMPING CHRONICLES SERIES
This series follows Jessie, she's 15, and recently became disabled. She also developed a gift that allows her to feel other people's physical, and mental pain. She's an empath basically though it doesn't happen for everyone she meets, but does sometimes come along with a flash of a psychic vision. The series basically follows her around as she comes to terms with her gift, and with starting a new school at the beginning of her GCSE years. In the first book Jessie makes new friends and also spots Meera who seems to be a big trigger for her gift. She wants to help her, but Meera isn't all that happy about either making friends or sharing her troubles.

So that's what I'm working on right now and that's where my creative energy is going. I'm super excited to start two new books and get those stories told. Both of these should start to come out in a couple of years and while that is terrifying to me, it's also so very thrilling! The rush of writing is something every writer knows and the thrill of finishing and starting anew with characters and plot-lines!

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Making Your Ideas Work: When You Start Off Too Small - The Creative Process

Making Your Ideas Work: When You Start Off Too Small

I wrote a piece recently about what to do when your idea is too big (found here) and I promised that I'd look at the other end of the spectrum as well, which is where this piece comes in. What do you do when your idea is a great one, but it's tiny? It's so small that you're not sure the box you want to put it in will even notice that it's there. You can't stretch it without worrying about it snapping in two and no matter how much you think about it and try to brainstorm your way into making it larger, nothing seems to work. If you're a planner like me, you'll usually be aware of this before you put pen to paper, but sometimes even the best planners have great big plans for ideas that are just too small. So, here are some options for if you choose to try and make a little idea into a big story.

#1 - FEED REGULARLY AND ALLOW TO GROW

One thing that works for me when an idea is too small to support itself in a full length novel, is to set it to one side, check in on it occasionally and see if it grows on its own. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, but as long as you keep it earmarked for a possible book, then you give it the chance to feed itself and fill up to the point where it fits in the box without the need for packing to balance it out.

#2 - MARRY TWO TOGETHER

Sometimes an idea won't do enough growing to ever be considered large enough to fill a book, in those cases you can sometimes alter it to be a small arc in one of your current WIPs, or in a new project where you take the bare bones of another story and use the smaller idea to help that one grow too. It doesn't always work that way because sometimes you'll find that an idea is too specific to marry it with another without losing the plot points you wanted to create.

And finally, #3 - LEAVE IT AS IS

There are no rules when it comes to how long a book is. Well, there are rules, but there are also awesome short stories and just because an idea you have is too small to fill fifty-thousand words, that doesn't mean that it should be shelved and/or never used. Some ideas are just too awesome to do that to and so a lot of great authors have taken a lot of smaller ideas and put them together in a collection of short stories. Just because they're in the same "book" doesn't mean that they all have to intertwine, though generally speaking they usually all share a common genre, such as detective or horror or fantasy. It's a great way to use those unfulfilled stories and turn them into a collection of awesome short ones.

However you choose to get your ideas to work for you, remember that while there are rules as to how things should be done in the writing world, part of being a writer is knowing which rules you can bend, which ones you can outright break and which ones you need to stick to no matter what. When you have that worked out you can make any idea - big or small - work for you to create the story that you see in your head. After all, that's what writing is about, sharing the impossible, creating from nothing and sending your ideas out into the world and hoping they soar to the clouds. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

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Making Your Ideas Work: When You Start Off Too Big - The Creative Process

Making Your Ideas Work: When You Start Off Too Big

The key to any good project is how you start preparing. Personally, I'm a planner, I always have been in regards to my writing (a piece about which can be found here) and I don't think I'll ever stop planning. At least, not unless I find another way that doesn't involve so much micromanaging and still works. However, there are times when you'll have an idea, you'll wrestle it to the ground and you'll start trying to fit it into the box you'd picked out specially for it. And that's when you realise, it's too big. I don't mean that the box is slightly overflowing and you'll have to sit on it to get the lid to close, I mean it's WAY too big. The box has practically collapsed from the sheer enormity of it. The sides are almost on the floor and there's no way it's gonna fit. 

So, what do you do? If you're like me and you take your time to build your ideas and you plan and map out each chapter, you'll have hopefully realised that your idea was too big before you'd invested hours of painstaking writing into trying to make it fit into the plot. If not, then that's when you have a problem, because while the indie world doesn't have  many rules regarding word count, there does still come a point where you have to say "it's too much". The kind of idea I'm talking about is the kind that meets those rules, and snaps them in half. Either way, whichever kind of writer you are, you're going to have some serious issues if you don't do something about the idea, because if you want it to end up as a book, you'll need to find a way to either scale it down or draw it out. I'll discuss both of those in more detail.

#1 PUT THE IDEA ON A DIET.

Whenever you write the first draft, you're aware that some things that get written won't make it into the final copy. The same can be said for ideas. Do you need every little thing you've thought of to make it into the actual book, or will leaving out a few bits and pieces here and there allow you to parse down the word count, but keep the story just as awesome? Only you really can answer this, because it's your idea. Think of it this way, if you've ever read a book that then got turned into a movie, you'll have noticed that some of the scenes in the book didn't make it into the 90+ minutes of the movie. Sometimes you'll think that a certain scene WAS needed because it helped to explain something else that WAS included, but you get the general idea. While it's completely fine to write a seven hundred page novel (and I've read a couple of really good ones where anything left out would have ruined the book in my opinion), you have to realise that for some critics and reviewers, there'll be some scenes that they see as completely unnecessary and filler that should have been cut.

That's the hard thing about writing an idea. Even if you're really good at capturing the idea and describing it in beautiful technicolour through words, some people are always going to see parts of it that weren't needed and since you're the one who wrote it, it may seem that they are missing the point. However, most writers need an outside perspective to decide whether a certain scene is critical, and that's why we have editors. I know that for me, I've written a killer scene (both literally and figuratively) and then been told by my editor that for the sake of the rest of the book, it has to go, and they're right. If your idea is too big to be told in one go, you have another option that I'll come to in a moment, but if you choose to do it in one huge book, be prepared to lose some scenes that you may love. This is good advice no matter how big your idea is: not everything you write will make it to the final draft and that's often for the best.

#2 LET THE IDEA MULTIPLY.

Now the other option for this situation is to see if the idea will grow more, so that you can make it into a series. There are numerous popular trilogies out right now and they all started out as an idea, possibly one that was just too huge to fit into one 70K word novel. If your idea is big enough to span a few books, then go for it and be happy that you didn't set the idea aside for something smaller. However, I do have a few pieces of advice.

Generally speaking, when someone buys the first book in a series, they are expecting an over-reaching story arc - i.e the big idea, as well as a smaller story arc that spans the book - i.e something that introduces the story and then resolves and/or leads to the next in the series. If you have enough of an idea to span three books, but can't break it into a smaller arc for each one, you may find yourself with some unhappy readers. People generally want there to be a reason for the split in the books rather than being told "it was too long for one" because that makes them feel like they have been charged for two books but only one story. I'm not saying that it can't be done that way, just that I would warn against it. As with the long novel, I have read and loved series that don't have mini arcs, and when done well they can be excellent to read, you just have to be careful how you construct your words.

So, those are the two options for when your idea is too big, but what happens though when your idea is a bit too small and needs to be plumper before it can fit across fifty thousand words? I'll be writing a piece about that soon. Remember though, your mileage may, of course, vary, everyone is different and every idea unique.

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Guest Blogger - Armen Pogharian

Hi everyone!
I'd like to welcome Armen Pogharian to my blog. He's a young adult author and his books are fantastic! Here's a little bit about him!

Unlike many authors, Armen was not an early reader.  He can honestly say he didn’t voluntarily read a book until he finished The Hobbit in sixth grade.  He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was an Honorable-Mention All-American swimmer.  As a USAF officer, he worked on ‘Area 51’ projects – he never saw a single alien (dead or alive).  He later earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and spent more than a decade in the high tech and biotech industries. His stories mix elements of science and history with a healthy dose of fantasy.  When not writing he enjoys swimming, reading, and the outdoors.  He lives in Pittsford, NY with his wife and three children. You can find him on Facebook here or follow his blog for more information.

I've read three of his books and will include my reviews of them, but first he's written a piece on where he gets his ideas from.

As a writer, I’m often asked, where do I get ideas for my stories?  As much as I’d like to lay claim to some form of creative genius, the sad truth is mine is a rather convoluted and muddled path, which reminds me of an old television program.  Back in the 1980s, when US cable TV was still relatively young, hungry for content, and the History channel hadn’t discovered reality programming, my channel surfing helped me discover James Burke’s Connections.  It’s a wonderfully different way of looking at how seemingly unrelated events, technologies, and societal trends impact the modern world.  One episode connects the concept of credit to sending a man to the moon.  Along the way the program examines military tactics, Napoleon, canned food, and refrigeration.  Taking a page from Mr. Burke (admittedly a much smaller page), here’s my attempt at making some interesting connections to some of my own writing.

As a young child the television show Sesame Street (for those outside the states it’s a public television program famous as the original home of the Muppets) had a huge impact on me.  It debuted when I was four and quickly became my first must-see-TV show.  It taught me my ABCs, how to count to ten, and lots of other great stuff.  Besides Oscar the Grouch, who lived in the coolest garbage can, my favourite characters were Ernie and Bert.  Their banter and antics were to pre-schoolers what Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello were for the previous generation of adults.  Like the great vaudeville comedic teams the simple Ernie consistently gets the best of the sceptical Bert, albeit in a very kid-friendly manner.

While the creators say it’s a mere coincidence, there’s a popular rumour that the two were named for the cab driver and policeman from the movie It’s a Wonderful Life.  Even if that’s not true, the two characters have inspired use of their names in other media.  Bert and Ernie Moon from the British show EastEnders were named after the famous Muppets, as were a pair of suspected extra-galactic neutrinos detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole.  The observatory’s location and detection mechanism may allow it to provide the first experimental proof of the extra-dimensions predicted by String Theory.

Okay, so what’s the connection?  Misaligned is a contemporary YA fantasy series that began as my attempt to answer the question:  What happens at the intersection of String Theory and the Welsh origins of Arthurian myth?  A wandering mind is often a wondering mind.

MISALIGNED: THE CELTIC CONNECTION

Eighth grader Penny Preston unknowingly creates a trans-dimensional rift, which causes a food fight. Instead of being suspended, she discovers that she exists in more than three dimensions; she is misaligned. In training, she learns that she is the key to preventing higher-dimensional beings from entering our universe with god-like powers. Together with her multi-dimensional cat, Penny struggles to save her relationship with her best friend, protect her universe, and uncover her connection to Celtic myth.

My review: 

5/5 - Highly Recommended!

Meet Penny, born with one eye a different colour from the other. She's slowly realising that she's a little different from her peers but before she can explore it fully, she's thrust into life as someone who is misaligned - that is, someone who can see other dimensions and travel between them. The only problem is, there's some power that's desperate to harness what she can do to open their own portal to another dimension. This book is downright AWESOME. I was a little unsure as to whether I'd enjoy it and I'm very pleased to say that I was completely wrong! I found myself reluctant to stop when nighttime came, saying "just one more chapter". When it ended, I was desperate to read more of Penny's adventures and so I've brought the other two in the series which I'll also be reviewing. Armen Pogharian is an excellent writer who knows how to pull you into the story, leave you hanging, desperate for more and keep you reading page after page. I expect great things from the sequels and I am completely sure that I will not be disappointed, nor will you if you give this series a read! HIGHLY recommended!

MISALIGNED: THE SILVER SCEPTER

Why is an ancient Celtic spirit plaguing Piper Falls with a rash of pranks and what's it got to do with the discovery of a mythical Seneca scepter? Learn the answers with Penny, her best friend Duncan, her cat Simon, and her two other-worldly teachers as they unravel the mystery of the Silver Scepter. 

My review:

5/5 - A Must Read

Having devoured the first book in a few days, I was desperate to read the sequel and managed it in just two days of solid reading at bedtime. Once again, all is not right in Piper Falls and it seems that there is more to the history of the known world than we thought. Penny and Duncan are both working hard to make sure that Penny's status as misaligned is not known to anyone other than the core group. When an artefact is carbon dated as over 6K years old, it seems that there's more at work than first thought. Once again Pogharian has overdone themselves with this book. It's fast paced and I drank it up as if it were my life blood. A cast of new characters fill in the gaps between the lessons from Penny's trainer and Master Poe, and Penny herself finds that she's learning more and more about what being misaligned actually means and what she can do with it. I loved the first book and I adored the sequel. My hope is to move onto the third (and last book so far) today and finish it asap. My only problem is that that will mean I have to wait for Armen to write more, and I have never been that patient when it comes to a series of books that are as gripping as these. Recommended to all those who love mystery without crime and dead bodies, and love the paranormal as well as learning something new about Welsh and Celtic folklore. An excellent read from start to finish and I highly recommend this series to readers young and old!

MISALIGNED: THE DARKEST DAY

Something is attacking the structure of the multiverse and releasing higher-dimensional energy into Piper Falls, NY. The increased power emboldens the reenergized Bodach to wreak havoc on the small town. It also draws more terrifying entities to the town, including a former Bodach commander seeking to avenge her defeat at the hands of King Arthur, a mysterious shape-shifter known as the Newiddyn, and a destructive Celtic spirit. Penny and her allies must defeat the Bodach, restore the integrity of the dimensional fabrics and prevent the new entities from unleashing the apocalypse of The Darkest Day.

My review:

5/5 - Everyone should read this!

I found myself looking for extra time to read so that I could finish this book. It's the third in the Misaligned series and I feel saddened that now I have to wait for the next one (if there is one) to be written as I have found myself falling in love with this series. It is so excellently written and the past and present are intertwined whilst still remaining believable. Once again Armen Pogharian has written a nail-biting book where you find yourself going back and forth in time to discover the answers to the present day problem. The characters are lovingly crafted with just the right amount of reality intertwined in the fictional world of Piper Falls. I am happy to call myself a fan of this series and can recommend it to those young and old alike. If you have an interest in early Welsh and Celtic history, then this is the series for you! Highly recommended and I will be counting down the days to the next book!

If you are interested in doing a guest blog with Joey, you can contact her on this email: bugbooks@virginmedia.com

Writing Too Much At Once - The Creative Process

Writing Too Much At Once

As a writer who juggles a lot of other things, like uni work and being in a band, I've learnt that there is only so much book stuff I can do before it starts to eat into my relaxing time. Everyone needs down time, even writers, and so there is such a thing as "writing too much at once". I know what you're thinking, writers such as myself, who don't have other day jobs, have all this free time, so what are we complaining about? We get paid to sit in front of a computer and make stuff up for a living, right?

Well, I hate to break it to you, but that is far from the truth. As I wrote a few days ago, the many hats of an indie author (found here) eat up my time, along with school commitments such as the school run and after school clubs, plus the occasional school play. When I'm not doing either the writing or the Aunt duties, then I'm working on uni work. Yes, I am in my last year, but for the past four or five years, I've always had to put uni work first. There have even been occasions in the past when I didn't have enough time to write at all while I was juggling Aunt duties and uni work.

Thankfully, those dark days are behind me and now my week is made up of a little bit of school stuff for Miss D, a lot of uni work and a whole heap of stuff I have to do to keep up with my writing commitments. It is true that I spend most of my time behind a desk working on my computer, but not all of that time is spent surfing the internet and creating stories. Some of it is spent doing things like this, some is spent gnashing my teeth over the latest writer's block and some of it is legitimate down time because too much of a good thing can be bad.

So, although I write two books at once, I still have to be careful to balance the rest of my writing time to make sure that I don't burn out and have to take a long hiatus from the writing world. On average, it takes me about two years to write a book start to finish. Now that I work on two at once, I generally get one book a year done so it all evens out. Even when I finish uni next year, I will probably not be able to increase the amount of book work I do because of my health conditions. That said, what do you do when you're writing at your upper limit already and a new plot bunny comes along and dangles itself in front of you?

That's something that has only recently become an issue for me. I usually find that once I hit the halfway mark on both books, I start to get anxious and worry that I've run out of ideas and will have nothing to write for a while. This is a thought that scares me because I love writing, it is like breathing to me and to be without it for any amount of time makes me feel like I would be drowning. So I get anxious and start to look for anything that will give me inspiration. ANYTHING! Usually around the time I get close to the end of one, or both books, I am struck by inspiration lightning and then I'm off again on a little journey planning my next two books.

However, just last week, I was lying in bed - which is always when the best ideas hit and then you usually forget them once you wake up - and the lightning hit a bit sooner than anticipated. I had an idea. I had a good idea. I had an idea that could possibly be three books long. I was desperate to start, I even started planning the opening chapter when I woke up the following morning. That's when this little thing called reality hit and I realised that I still have two books half started and there was no way that my schedule would allow for me to start a third.

Bugger, I thought. So, I started to make notes, copious amounts of notes. I wanted to set this book in the not too distant future. I thought about it being a dystopian piece, but then threw that idea away. I knew the premise, I knew the plot and then I set to work on the characters. I thought to myself that it's been about eight months since I started the two I'm working on so I had another year at least before I would finish them and be in a place where I could start the next two. Maybe, I thought, if I stick to my four chapters a fortnight goal, I will be able to get them done in six months. Yes, I decided, that was an excellent idea. I would write my little socks off and then, when uni was finished and I had two more books done, I could start writing this fantastic idea and it would be awesome.

Except it didn't work out like that. Of course it didn't, because this is real life, and real life tends to get in the way of my brilliant ideas. It's just turned winter and my lungs have already had two temper tantrums in the space of a month so I am probably in for a difficult time. Add to that the cold weather would irritate my Fibromyalgia and M.E, and it was looking even less likely that I would finish two books in six months.

Still, I wasn't discouraged. I started to have a notepad file open on my computer so that whenever I had a burst of inspiration about the new book, I could type away and all my ideas were in one place. I then decided that I would just try to up my game a little with the two works in progress and work a little harder on them. Do you know what happened? You can probably guess. I spent a whole two days of writing time staring at the last paragraph I'd written before the big idea struck and I could not write anything.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. No matter how much I mused over the plot and the chapter plan, nothing would come out. Before my big idea, I had been brimming with ways to finish the chapter, but when I tried to think about them and actually apply them to the work, they either didn't hold up or I'd forgotten them completely. So, I decided to take a little break and work on something else. I put a TV show on and lost myself in some cross stitching. It helped, but it still didn't get me to move any more forward with my work and I got frustrated beyond belief. I had this GREAT idea and I couldn't write it because I was stuck in this other idea and I couldn't just switch to the other book because the same thing happened with that one. I was pissed at my brain, my muse and myself. What the hell was I supposed to do?

You know what I did? I slept on it, numerous times when I went for a nap or to bed. I would read the last paragraph and I would brainstorm ideas to move the characters and the story forward. Finally, after three days of solid plotting (and back stitching) I got it! I knew what I needed to do and I sat and wrote and wrote. One chapter finished, I moved onto the next. Great, now that book was done for the fortnight, time to switch to the next. Of course the same thing happened and after a couple more days of thinking about it before sleep, I reached the same point.

My point is, that as a writer, it is easy to take on projects or write more than you are able. It's easy to burn the candle at both ends and decide that because this idea is fresh in your mind you can just start that one and come back to the one you were working on. Or you can do it all at once. Ideas are great, plot bunnies are excellent and they are our life blood because without them, we probably wouldn't get very far. However, you have to learn how to stem the flow of them. While it would have been easy for me to shove the projects I am working on now to one side in favour of the new idea, it would have meant that I had three unfinished books to work on. It would have meant that maybe, I didn't finish any of them because the next plot idea came along and took me away from it.

Writing is good, creating new worlds and taking the reader somewhere they may have never been before is also good, but if you want your reader to make it all the way to the end of the journey, you have to go along it first. I will finish these two books. It may take me six months, it may take me six years (though I really hope it doesn't!) but the plot idea that I have is still going to be there when I'm done. Plots don't have a time limit on them and although things such as magazine articles and competitions have deadlines, as do some publishing companies, generally speaking, you can take your time to walk along the path with your characters. Stop and watch as they tell you their story and move along at a pace that you are able to manage. Burning yourself out not only harms you, but it takes away from the stories you could have written, so be mindful of how much you take on and write away.

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Time Periods - The Creative Process

Time Periods

You've got the plot sorted, you know you know what genre you'll be putting your story into. You've even chosen a location. Now you just have to decide what time period this story will happen in. I'm talking about what time period. The past? Present? Future? Are you going to be delving into areas that you can find information about easily? Are you going to be making it up as you go along? I don't need to tell you that research is key to things like this. If you're choosing a time period that has already happened, you'll need to be sure that you don't have them discovering DNA or using facial recognition or even cameras in colour before they have been invented. You don't want to have star-crossed lovers flying over countries in planes while mankind is pretty much stuck on the ground. So, you need to make the decision about where you're going to set your story, but also when it's going to happen.

I know that the easy idea is to set it in present day, but that comes with it's own difficulties which I'll discuss another time. I'll focus on the past and future parts of when for now. I have written a story set in present day that involves some time travel to the not so distance past - well one hundred years in the past, so not too close to the time it's set in. I learnt pretty early on that while I love reading about history and stuff like that, you have to research well and think long and hard before you just start saying stuff.

The story in question was a crime and mystery novel. It involved dealing with solving a crime in 1910. Not an easy task, even when the person solving the crime was in the future and therefore had access to present day crime solving techniques. The problem was that to solve the crime and make sure the right person paid for that crime, she had to use old school methods and I mean *really* old school. It was all well and good her solving the crime with twenty-first century DNA and fingerprints, but in 1910, fingerprinting was in it's infancy and DNA? Not even an option. The first forensic crime lab opened in France around that time and it wasn't something that the local police would be able to, or want to ship over for their help. It wasn't a national scale case by any means. So, I had to be careful and look at other ways for them to solve that particular crime.

So that's the past, lots of research and being sure about dates, depending on what is actually happening in the past. It's one of the reasons that a lot of people stick to writing an area that they have experience in, or at least a good amount of knowledge or contacts that can't always be found with Google or Wikipedia. But what about the future?

Well, that comes with a little more creative license. You can make up your own facts about the future, depending on how far into it you go. If you decide to set it only a decade or so from now, you'll need to have some kind of explanation for why we're all living on Mars, but the further forward you go, the more slack you have in what you say. Again, some research will need to be done, but because the future is pretty much unknown, you can say what you like. Like I said, there does need to be some explanation or at least clarification as to why things are the way they are, but that's true of pretty much anything set past what we can predict.

It's something that needs to be researched and depending on which direction you choose to take your characters in, that will dictate how much knowledge you need to have of the time period. I discovered that because of the time I chose, I would need to acknowledge that a king had just died and the next in line would be having a coronation shortly. So, plan and research, but other than that, step into the time machine and go where you please!

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You Always Remember Your First - The Creative Process

You Always Remember Your First

We all have to start somewhere. Many writers will tell you that their first story is one that they worked hard at to make it into the final product. That's true for all works really, it takes a lot of work to get it to what you want it to be. However, your first book, that first story that made you dip your toe into the writing pool, it's not something you easily forget. For me, that was THE FRIENDSHIP TRIANGLE. I started writing the story when I was thirteen, and then spent the next nine years or so pulling it apart and making it into what it is today. In the beginning of my writing career, I was immature and unaware of the massive mistakes I was making.

My first characters - Chloe, Sarah & Charlotte - guided me through the minefield of book writing and helped me come to a point where they would tell their story effectively. I remember being sat on my bed, with the original story notes, crossing out and writing whole new pieces and paragraphs, keeping some bits and throwing out others. It took me a long time to get them all right. I wanted thirteen year olds who would be able to help other people in similar situations. With Chloe, it was dealing with the death of her father. Sarah had an alcoholic mother and gambling father. Charlotte had just found out her dad wasn't her biological father. They all  helped to guide me and began the process that made me into the writer I am today. I do wonder sometimes how my characters would be if they could age outside their story. In the book, the girls are thirteen, facing major issues and only really being able to rely on each other for support. I wanted a story that would show how special friendship can be to tweens and how it can also be the rock in our lives that gets us through to adulthood.

I know that my own experience is pretty rare - I'm still friends with my best friend from school and we've known each other for about nineteen years now - which is terrifying and makes me feel *very* old! However, as a teenager with her own versions of upset and drama, I lent on my close friends and I know that I am not alone in doing that. What I wanted to do with THE FREINDSHIP TRIANGLE was add a little bit of magic to the lives of tweens. The majority of my work is focused on the age group of 13+, but that first book was aimed at people of the age I was when I wrote it. However, now that I'm older and have written more and, some would say, better books, I can see that my first is probably more aimed at those under 13.

As most writers will tell you, your first book holds a special place in your heart. I wrote other stories before being published and when BLACKOUT was finished, and picked up by AuthorHouse, people always assumed that it was my first, but I kept THE FRIENDSHIP TRIANGLE to one side. I planned to release it at some point, but I wasn't sure at the time whether it was well and truly finished. Some would say that it is not my best work, others would disagree. I personally feel that it is finished. It was a huge chunk of my life: nine years from start to finish and about two hundred edits later, it's done. (I may only be slightly exaggerating with two hundred, it was closer to twelve!) As mentioned in other pieces, there comes a time when you have to tell yourself that it's finished, it's over and that by taking apart and adding more and more, you are losing what you wanted in the first place. I got to that point with THE FRIENDSHIP TRIANGLE.

So, although reminiscing is fun, and you never do quite forget your first completed works, there is a point when you have to put it to bed, close the edit box and just allow the story to stand on it's own two feet. It will either crash, or it will fly and as the creator, you have to be prepared for both. If you're not ready to hear the bad critics, you're also not ready to hear the good ones either.

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Sorting the Good from the Bad - The Creative Process

Sorting the Good from the Bad
When you've been writing for a while, you realise that you have collected ideas, as it were. You have this bunch of them in your head and you have to decide which ones are viable and which ones need to be forgotten about - no matter how much you want to do them. That process for me takes a lot of time because sometimes something will seem viable and I'll start writing it and then get stuck about three chapters in. So, I'll put it to one side to come back to some day and I know other writers do this too.

The question though is, how long does it have to sit there before you realise that yes, it was a great idea, but it just won't work, no matter how hard you try and how much research you do. Sometimes it's because the time frame as passed and you'd have to make it a seriously dated book before you could even begin to write about it. That limits you in some ways because then you have to be sure to not include things like Facebook and Twitter and such which haven't been as round as long as other means of social networking.

The other problem is that sometimes, the issue, the main piece of plot you were going to base it all around just doesn't jive for you anymore. Maybe you realised that having a ghost follow someone around wouldn't work because you don't really like writing supernatural stuff like that. Maybe you want to write about how hard it is to be a gay couple when marriage is illegal (which, as of writing in the UK, it's not anymore) I mean yes, you can focus on the other pieces of the plot, but if you're main story has gone then all you have left are characters going through life and sometimes, hell, A LOT of the time, that's just not enough.

So, then you have the choice of which ones you want to write and which ones you'd prefer stay in a dark and dusty hole somewhere to never be mentioned again. I'm sure we all have that book that we wrote, that got stupider and more unbelievable by the chapter and eventually you buried it and then decided to just shred and burn it so that it could never see the light of day...or is that just me? Either way, you do have to make a choice between which ideas you move and make into a story and which ones you decide are best left alone.

It's not even as if you have to leave them alone forever, you can lift pieces, characters, sub plots etc. Maybe even the outline of the idea, but you can't write the story the way it started because either you just don't have the insight or it's a crap idea. Accepting that, acknowledging that and working through that, does not make you a bad writer. It doesn't mean that you should throw our your pen and paper (or computer and keyboard if you're like me) and never write again. It just means that you are aware of your limitations. That's not to say that you should never venture out of your comfort zone (that's a piece for another day) just that you have to be realistic about what you can and can not do with a story.

I've been there, I have boxes and folders of stories that have yet to become something more than an idea. I've taken characters from those stories and I've ditched stories. I accept that I am not going to be able to write about absolutely anything I please because I'm human and I have limitations. This is not to say that I can only write what I know, no, that's not what I'm saying. Research (here) exists for a reason and as long as the plot, characters and everything else is something viable, you can research your way into a brand new story that stands the test of readership.

I guess my point is, once again, that there is a balance to be made between what is good (for you as a writer) and what is bad (again, for YOU as a writer). You have to find a way to work out the good ideas from the ones that will leave you screaming, crying and possibly in a permanent catatonic state because it's just too damn impossible for you to make it work. This is not a sign of weakness, in fact I'd say it's more about knowing your own limitations, whatever they may be - it is totally unique to each person and as a writer, you need to learn your own.

Now, if you want to go out of your comfort zone....well, we'll leave that for another piece. Sort the good ideas, ponder on the bad and write and write to your heart's desire. It is, after all, the name of the game.

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