Obsessing

I've been working on my line edits for Deviant and gaining further evidence of my insanity. :)

Those of you who've followed this blog over the years (we have our SIXTH anniversary for Drunk Writer Talk this summer, I think...) Anyway, you may have heard me say before that editing and polishing the words is one of my favorite parts of the writing process. Second only to first drafting when (if) the words and ideas are flowing out of my fingers like magic.

But I'm learning that polishing/fine tuning can be the most angst ridden part, too. Yes, I do already have two books in print, but they were done on a write-for-hire basis, and very quickly and I didn't feel as if I really had final say over the text, even though my name is on the covers.

This new book... This is mine. This is a big deal. This is a book that (I hope) more people will read. This is a book that (I hope) more people will review.

And I have been making myself crazy obsessing over the words.

Does anyone else get like this?

Working on Ideas

Developing an idea for a new book is both the most exciting and most terrifying part of the writing process for me. Not quite as bad as going on submission, but close.

Since I started writing in the urban fantasy/sci fi world I tend to come up with the concept first, then the characters, then I often have to change the concept to fit my characters, or vice versa, a few times before I start to think I have something. Then part way through writing the book or even during revisions I usually realize I missed some great opportunity and have to rethink it all.

I wish I could be more efficient than this, but I'm not. And I also wish I were more open to other people's ideas at this early stage. I really wish I were. But I'm not. I feel like it would really help me, but for whatever reason as much as I want to get other people's thoughts, as much as I want to bash around ideas with someone else, it never works.

Poor Molly tried to talk about my latest shiny idea last weekend (at my invitation) and then I rudely shut her down. I need to learn this about myself. Cannot listen to other people's take on my ideas until I know what *my* take is. At that point I'm okay if someone else's idea is better (which it usually is) but I need to think it through first. And I'm terrible at articulating my ideas when I'm at this stage. Everything that sounds good in my head starts to sound stupid as it's hitting my tongue. I need to write it down, not say it.

Speaking of process, yesterday I blogged about the process of updating traditional fairy tales and coming up with the structure for the reader interaction for my Twisted Tales series at the Indigo Teen Blog. Here's the link if you're interested.

I was pretty excited when they invited me to do this blog. For those of you not living in Canada, Indigo is the largest (really only since they own the other two) national bookstore chain in Canada.

On a totally different topic. Has anyone else seen The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? Hilarious. Scary. Cannot look away. I have avoided getting sucked into any of those other Housewife shows (the women are so horrible) and they are mostly horrible on the Beverly Hills one, too, but I got sucked in when I recognized one of the women as a former child actress who did tons of Disney movies when I was a kid. (Kim Richards) After Jodie Foster, this girl was the next most famous of the young Disney actors of that era, from what I can remember. And boy, is she a messed up mass of nerves now...

But the really obnoxious one is Kelsey Grammer's wife. She alternates between bragging about how rich she is or how hot she is, talking about how hard she works (while being seen doing nothing), name-dropping her husband's name, then getting angry that people don't recognize she has any value beyond being married to a famous rich actor. Oh, and I did I mention she has four full time nannies for her two kids? Sinead will love that one. Really, their lives are so similar they could be best friends. (not)

Ridin' off the rails

We've been talking a lot about process here. One of the things that's nice about having written a few books is that one starts to get a handle on what works and what doesn't. What I wish right now is that it also kept me from making the same mistake more than once.

I am a few pages into a new work in progress (yes, the one I've been whining about) and realized that I am making the exact same mistake I made with the original draft of my last romantic suspense. I have a motive for my heroine. I have a motive for my hero. They both need to find the killer for their own reasons and they're both investigating. The problem is, they're doing it off on their own.

Oh, sure, eventually they'll be crossing paths and getting all entangled, but right now, not so much. This is the exact same thing I did last time. When my editor read that first draft, she asked if maybe we could get the hero and heroine on the same page more than once or twice in the first hundred pages? It seemed like a pretty reasonable request considering that this is a ROMANCE NOVEL!!!! There was a lot of painful bouncing around of scenes and changing things about to get there.

So here I am doing it again. He shows up to tell her that they found her brother's body and then off he goes to investigate to bring the bad guy to justice. Off she goes to investigate to heal the wounds of the past. But how am I supposed to create sexual tension between them when they're not together? I'm only 40 pages or so in, so I can step back a little earlier this time, but I'd so like to learn from my mistakes a little faster.