I have recently started a new writing project – a novel set in the Ozarks. I am in the very beginning stages of this project and trying to work at least two hours a day. I want to have a first draft done this spring. To help motivate me to continue, I plan to write about each stage of the project. My posts will be brief – just an update as often as possible each week. My project is a mystery and because I really don’t want to spoil my fun of discovery, I will not write very much about what the story is about but instead my process of writing.
I started out by brainstorming what I wanted to write about. This project is a mystery and it hopefully will have a little of the woo woo factor in it. To brainstorm, I wrote down ideas about anything that I thought would be interesting and chose the idea that called to me. I then decided to work on characters. I often write scenes that just come to me and never really know what to do with them. I think that is because of my experience with shorter pieces. I write a scene and the scene is complete but it is not a story. Well I had a scene I wrote a while back that I really liked. I’d had some good response from it with a writer’s group but I put it away because, I didn’t know what to do with it. While brainstorming my current project, I realized that scene needs to be in this story. It is kind of a gruesome scene, for me. I am often drawn to lighter pieces with a bit of humor. This one was more haunting. It is about a woman who thinks her child is dead and hangs herself. As she kicks the chair away, the small child walks into the barn but it is too late. After my brainstorming session, I know where this needs to go now. This is my prologue and the child will be my protagonist. It will be her story. After deciding that much, I started thinking about characters. I have now created short bios for several characters. Today I start working on setting. I plan to write descriptions of where three of my characters live. I then plan to write a scene using this information. I then plan to research my setting and write another scene using that research. That is my work for today.
Besides writing about what I am doing, I plan to continue Author Interviews. I have neglected a few local authors and do intend to get back to them. One author who has already responded is Leigh Michaels. She has a new book coming out soon. If you’d like to find out more about an author’s writing life, don’t miss her interview in January. Will post more as we get closer.
Because this is Christmas Eve – I wish you all a Merry Christmas and keep writing!
Virginia
All The Books 