Debbie Viguié's Blog, page 31

We're back from TimeGate and we had a great time. Everyone there was so friendly and it was a wonderful experience. Thanks to all who attended and put on this great convention. For those of you who missed it, make sure you get to Atlanta next year to experience this awesome convention devoted to Dr. Who and Stargate.

Of all the things that sometimes are on my desk (phone, headset for phone, camera, receipts, Kleenex, books, etc.) there are five things that are almost always present. in fact, my work space doesn't feel right without them.

A pen. Make that several. I'm never without a pen. I love gel pens but the one I usually have on my desk is an astronaut pen, the kind you can write upside down with. If you've never used one I highly recommend them. Sparkly pens, pens with restaurant or hotel logos, pens that are gadgets, I have them all and more than one of them is always on my desk.

A stack of scribbled on papers. Usually these are small note paper papers (or receipts, or napkins) that I've been writing stuff down on with the help of my pen. These are things I want to remember, like plot points, phone numbers, etc. It's easier for me to remember them if I keep having to shove them to the side on my desk than if I create a Word file for these notes which I will then never open again.

Something to drink. Water, Donald Duck Orange Juice, and Coca Cola are my beverages of choice. Tea occasionally makes its way to my desk as well. Whatever the form, I have to have something to drink while I work.

Something to eat. Although not as omnipresent as something to drink you can usually find some food (or left over wrapper) on my desk. When I'm on deadline this will always be a box of Cheez-Its. If I'm not on deadline but still have a lot of work to do it could be chocolate, nuts, or my lunch. Yes, I eat at the computer more often than not.

Schrodinger. That's right. My cat is almost always on my desk when I'm writing. If he's being a nice kitty he sits next to the keyboard and contents himself with occasional, random petting. If he's being a naughty kitty he lays with his head (and possibly his whole body) on the keyboard. I've learned to type around him. But when he starts crying and biting my fingers because he doesn't want me to work anymore, there's nothing I can do but stop and give him love. I've tried to outstubborn him, but he's got my impatience and the combined stubborness of both my husband and me.

So, there you go. That's a snapshot of my desk. What do you have on yours?

I'm thrilled to announce that my supernatural thriller series from NAL finally has a title – Witch Hunt. The individual books are yet to be named, but I'm finishing up revisions on the first one. I can't wait to share more about this series which I'm very excited about! The first book will be hitting stores in just under a year.

Check out the first chapter of Crusade for free. Click here!

I'd like to take a moment to thank my mother for always pushing me and encouraging me to follow my dreams! My parents were 100% supportive of me pursuing a career as a writer and I thank them both for that. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Make sure to check it out online and at your local store.

As you might have guessed from the title and my lack of blogging lately, I've been sick. Very sick. I had the flu with a high fever which finally morphed into a sinus infection. I was in the ER this week with it, but am finally starting to feel better. I have a voice again and I can swallow liquids (and medication!) again.

Being a writer means you're self-employed and as anyone who has been self-employed knows work doesn't stop just because you're coughing your lungs out or are hallucinating because of your fever. It should, but it often can't. I think that's one of the craziest things about this business. A lot of things come to a screeching halt (like blogging, social networking, chores, errands, taking care of home or family, etc.) But the writing goes on. There's a revision in the works of one of my books but thankfully it's one of the ones I'm writing with Nancy Holder so she was able to take the first pass at revision while I was at my sickest. There was new stuff, though, that had to get written if I expect to reach my four upcoming deadlines for this year.

But here's the amazing part. When you're sick as a dog it's hard to drag yourself to your computer or pick up pen and paper because, let's face it, you'd rather be drooling on the couch watching any movie you can stream from Netflix. But if you can get yourself to that computer or grasp that pen something unexpected happens.

You write some incredible stuff.

I know, it seems crazy, but hear me out. When you're sick, particularly with a fever, it alters the chemistry in your brain a bit. It helps quiet your inner critic and free your creative side to just be and dream and create. Usually to get to this blessed state of existence where I can write 10,000+ words of my best stuff I have to stay up late and sleep deprive myself until the overly logical, critical part of my brain gives up and goes to sleep allowing the rest of me to just go with the flow.

So now that the fever has passed and I'm reading over everything I've written in the past two weeks I'm extremely proud. It's some of my best work. Do I recommend pushing yourself and working when your doctors tell you to be resting? NO!!! But when you're that sick and you have to write, some amazing things can come out of it. And even if you do the right thing and stay on that couch drinking as much water as humanly possible at least try thinking about your story. You might find some unique solutions to plot problems, character difficulties, or general writer's block that you might not otherwise.

Now, here's hoping I'll be truly back in the land of the healthy next week. Because I'm looking around and realize just how many other things have totally slipped through the cracks.

It's true, there aren't. There are only new takes or spins on ideas. I went to go see Red Riding Hood last week (me at a movie, there's a shocker). Some friends and family had seen the trailer and immediately thought of my novel Scarlet Moon. In mine Ruth (aka RRH) falls in love with the werewolf that attacked her as a child. Her cousin Peter also plays a huge role in the story. From the movie trailer/synopsis we gleaned that there was a werewolf with a deep connection to RRH and that one of the main characters of the story was named Peter. The words "Blood Red Moon" made people chuckle and caused one to inquire "You mean a SCARLET Moon?" Well, I've seen the movie and I can say for certain that it is NOT my story. In fact it is very, very different than my story. Funny thing is when I was writing my book a met a fellow writer also working on the retelling of RRH where she was in love with the werewolf. We even pitched to the exact same publisher it turned out. Ultimately, though, our stories were very different even though the underlying concept was the same.

So, yeah, it's just about putting a fresh twist on something. There are types of stories that appeal to people and those are the stories we tend to tell. One popular one is the hero's journey broken down and immortalized by Joseph Campbell. There are several beats that most hero's journey stories contain. And as readers or viewers we respond well to these types of stories. They strike a chord within us. I won't take the time here to discuss the points of the journey in depth. I do, however, want to provide you with another illustration of what I'm talking about.

Quick, who am I describing?

- Orphaned boy

- Raised by his Aunt and Uncle in relative isolation

- His Uncle is harder on him than seems necessary

- Boy finally is told by a stranger with magic like abilities that his father was murdered by the villain (the one he must ultimately face and defeat)

- Boy learns he has special powers which he has to learn to control and use through study and practice

- Boy is befriended by and trained by an old, wise wizard

- Boy makes new friends: a boy, a girl, and a hairy giant (the other boy and the girl eventually end up together after much fighting and frustration between the two of them)

- Boy has a trusted sidekick who is not human who often acts as a messenger

- Boy discovers he has an uncommon talent for piloting a flying apparatus

- Boy acquires one of the tools of his trade, a cylindrical object to be held in the hand and used as a weapon; boy uses the weapon in a number of duels

- Boy comes out on top after first confrontation with the villain

- Boy is honored publically in front of all his peers

- As the fight between the forces of good and the forces of dark continue to rage boy finds himself continuously in the center of things

- As the fight wears on the boy becomes more mopey

- Boy finally discovers that he has a very intense personal connection to the villain

- Boy also learns that his old wizard mentor also helped teach the villain when he was a boy

- Boy's mentor is killed in battle, actually, he allows himself to be killed to serve the greater good

- Another of boy's mentors dies leaving him feeling alone

- One of boy's other allies who has always been slightly more timid than him and living in his shadow wins one of the key victories in the final battle

- Boy gives himself up to his enemies during the final battle in order to ultimately win

Think you know? If you said Harry Potter, okay. If you said Luke Skywalker, okay. If you said both, congratulations!

We write from the creative side of our brain. We edit from the logical side. It can be very easy to flip into editor or critic mode when you're working, but forcing yourself into the creative side of your brain can sometimes be a struggle. These points where I can't make the logical side be quiet and therefore can't focus and get words on the page is what I think of as writer's block. Many people have studied writer's block in great detail, grappling with how to overcome it. For me I've discovered that there are certain things I can do to force myself to switch on the creative side of the brain. It usually means engaging with something else on a creative level. Let me give some examples. I bought a piece of art at a garage sale a few years back for three bucks. It's this massive thing that I've lugged now to several different homes. The frame is falling apart, the matting is a mess. The artist's signature can't be deciphered. But the picture is that of a sailing ship being tossed in a turbulent sea. It's a close up. You're looking down on the ship from about three quarters of the way to its back. The ship is about to capsize and the ocean actually looks angry. Everytime I look at that picture it elicits an emotional response from me and makes me think of: fear, romance, adventure, courage, etc. It tells a story that moves me. Every time I go on the Haunted Mansion ride at any of the Disney parks I feel the creepiness of the atmosphere seep into me, making me want to connect with it, making me want to write something scary and haunting. I can stand with my toes in the sand and stare out at the ocean and smell the salt water and it relaxes me, fills my mind with thoughts of beauty. My sense of sight, my sense of smell, even my senses of taste and touch can help snap me quickly and almost effortlessly into the proper mindset to write. But the one I use most often is my sense of hearing.

I can and do write in silence. But, if I'm struggling to get or stay in the creative part of my mind, I often resort to using some sort of sound. The sound of rain, especially a good thunder storm, gets me there instantly. That's why I have an app for my iPod and several CDs with those sounds on them when nature isn't conspiring with me. If I'm looking for something a little more specific, that's when I go to my playlists. I create a playlist for every book. The songs I choose are songs that evoke the emotions or tones I want to use in the story. Occasionally the lyrics are the important part, but often it's just the sound of the music. This is how I end up with country, hard rock, Christian pop, and music spanning six decades in a single playlist. Some songs get chosen often. For example, The Magic of the Wizard's Dream by Rhapsody of Fire featuring Christopher Lee ends up on every playlist where I want the book to have an epic feel of great struggle and sacrifice. Other songs I've only used once so far such as The Show Must Go On by Queen which I used on my Wolf Springs Chronicles: Unleashed playlist when I wanted something that showcased courage in the face of death and despair and hopelessness.

Now, it's time I get back to writing. I'm working on the third Crusade book. And it's raining this morning. There's thunder and lightning and it's supposed to be this way all day. A perfect day to write.

People often ask me what it's like to be a writer. There are so many ways I can answer that, but one of the aspects of being a writer that I don't often touch on is how busy and hectic it can be. There is a lot more that goes into it than most people realize. A typical book you create a proposal for (synopsis plus a few sample chapters). Once it's sold you write the entire first draft of the manuscript. Then your editor sends it back with revision requests. If you're lucky and your editor has the same style asthetic as you do and you wove a tightly plotted story to begin with this can take a couple of days. If things went wrong somewhere along the line (sometimes through no fault of your own) this can take up to two months. Then after you turn in revisions a while later you get it back with copyedits. This is where they flag all your spelling and grammar mistakes, continuity errors, capitalization questions, etc. If you've made use of quotes in your manuscript this is where you'll have to prove that they're accurate and give citation information. A week or two later when you finish doing all that you send the manuscript back in. Then you get to go over page proofs. This is when the publisher sends you copies of the typeset pages exactly as they'll be in book form. You have to read through and make sure that everything is 100% correct. This usually takes less than a week, but if things go wrong can take longer. (Worst experience I ever had here – one whole chapter was missing, headers on half the chapters were messed up, and one half chapter was duplicated somewhere else in the book!! It was a nightmare. And I only had 48 hours to point out all the errors on that one.) Then, when the book is about ready to come out you are expected to do a lot of marketing. This includes spending time on forums, answering interviews, going to book signings and other events, and often other things like annotating a chapter (like commentary on a DVD).

So to recap, it goes like this:

Proposal

First Draft

Revisions

Copyedits

Page Proofs

Promotion and Publication

Now, I've been accused of being insane by a lot of people, including my coauthor and my agents. Let me give you a great illustration of why. Many of my readers know that I've been working on 5 different series at the same time. Let me show you what that means for the six week period March 1st – April 12th, 2011.

Proposal – working on one of them

First Draft - turned in first draft of my supernatural thriller and started work on Kiss of Death

Revisions – had to do the revisions for Wolf Springs Chronicles: Unleashed

Copyedits – been informed I'll be seeing copyedits for Kiss of Night which need to be done in the next week and a half

Page proofs - working on them for Damned (Crusade #2)

Promotion and Publication - Lie Down in Green Pastures (Psalm 23 Mysteries #3) came out. As a bonus, so did the anthology Chicks in Capes which I have a short story called Glamour in. And yes, I have to do interviews for that too. I also ran a bunch of book give away contests and then had to mail books out to the winners. I spent two entire days on this.

And in this same six week period I have to sleep, eat, run errands (doctor appointments, vet appointment, get the tire replaced on the car, pay bills, buy groceries, etc.), play with the cat so he doesn't freak out and start shredding my papers because he's bored, go out and do activities with my husband so he remembers what I look like, do research for upcoming books, and find and collate all my receipts for taxes. In short, have a life.

So, I ask you? Am I crazy?!?! Hmmm…I might have answered that for myself.