When I was a kid, one of my favorite rides was the tilt-a-whirl. Sure, all they did was go around in a circle while spinning in faster circles, but the sensation of motion, the force it exerted, and the wind blowing through my hair was exhilarating. It’s kind of like life that way — the larger circle of life, with the smaller ever more pressing motion of work, family, responsibility, […]
I can’t seem to keep up anymore. Been working offline for the most part, which is a good thing for the book. And speaking about my book, I’ve changed direction a bit. In the course of preparing my pitch materials, I had an epiphany about the book that is taking it in an exciting direction. While I feel the book is good enough to pitch right now, following this new […]
For the last week or so, I’ve been working to capture the flavor of my novel in one sentence. Since I have yet to be able to describe the various levels of the novel and in particular the cosmology and mythology running behind it, this felt like a daunting task. And I’ll admit, it has consumed me a little. Okay, a LOT. Here’s why: In essence, the one-sentence pitch is […]
Today I finished mapping the entire main story line (plot) and two subplots from beginning to end. A couple more subplots to map this weekend, then I can review them against each of the pivotal character’s emotional arc and see where changes need to be made, scenes deleted, etc. For those who read the original draft of the first half, one of the characters is officially gone from the story: […]
Today I am making my first pass through my story cards. The goal is to review the main and each sub storyline, match them against the character arcs I just finished, and use that information to help me decide which scenes are fine as is, which ones I need to beef up or trim down, and which I need to delete in service of the story. Before I got my […]
MOMENT by MOMENT 