Elements from the story…

Making lists helps me with writer’s block.

These elements are still to be incorporated into the Dragonfly Island:

• Belly dancing
• Animals resembling alpacas
• A tribe of creatures that appear friendly, but have a whole lot of trouble for our travelers
• A desert
• A maze
• Betrayal

An insignificant, significant scene.

I am adding a scene that appears rather trivial. Only when you get to the end, will you recognize the importance of what actually happened there.

Why am I doing this?

#1. It offers a solution to one of the big problems in the story.

#2. I loved twists like this as a reader.

#3. I’m enjoying working on it as a writer.

I feel like I’m playing a fun game.

Writer’s Fear

Why is it so scary to share your writing? Your ideas? I never thought I will be in this terrifying club of scared writers.

I don’t want anyone looking at my story and going “that’s dumb, next?” I want people to CARE about my characters, like I do; I want the reader to think it’s brilliant, and classic, and not the least bit boring. I don’t think my skin is as thick as I’d like it to be, and when someone is allowed to read the words that I poured a great deal of my heart and obscene amounts of coffee into – the nerves are giving in!

At the same time, there is nothing like honest feedback. It’s priceless. The lesson learned today? Be brave. Share your writing and share your ideas with people who will not be afraid to tell you the hard truth.

I dreamt it.

You hear it so often, writers say, “The solution to the problem came to me in a dream”. Well, I had my dream last night. It wasn’t so much a solution to a problem, as it was a twist I was looking for. The middle of my Dragonfly Island seemed a bit flat, and the ending unsatisfying. I woke up in the middle of the night with a clear spin that also resonated with a more defined ending to my story.

This morning, I remembered that a good idea struck me the night before, but it took me a while to recall it. I’m glad I did! My little prince Danko is sure better for it!

I bet it’s not that unusual to solve writing problems in your sleep.

Writing, like with words…

Words intrigue me, I can taste and smell my favorites; they have color and life, and I hope they don’t annoy the reader. I have to be careful not to overuse some of them: BEAST, QUITE, CREATURE, UGLY, SCARLET, BURLY, CRACK, ROAR, THICKET, DELIGHT, POUR, PERL, BERRY, PLETHORA, FASCINATE.

I pull up on-line thesaurus quite a bit,  if I’m not sure of the meaning, I double-check with a regular dictionary. English is my second language, after all. To my shame, I have to admit that I am not at all confident with articles, as my native tongue doesn’t have them. At all. Not even one. One of my secret fears is that no agent will want to deal with a manuscript filled with misused articles. *sigh*

We’ll have to wait to find out.

Evolving Manuscript

Every day my characters become a little bit more real, unanswered questions are cleared away one by one, the adventure is taking shape with all the right peaks and falls.

Up until the last week, I had a problem: I still did not have a very solid excuse for Lily Rua to be walking across the island on the quest to save Little Prince. He’s a lovable little boy,alright, but why would she care? Well, I have answered this very important question.

Up until this past weekend, my party seemed incomplete. Now, it feels right!

Up until last Friday, I did not have a well-defined backstory for my little Danko. Now, I am very clear on his parents (mother, at least), his upbringing, and his ailments.

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Still to discover: Renoi’s story, a twist in the midpoint (my gut is telling me something is missing there), the details on the villain.

Inserting New Characters

So, 40K into the manuscript, most of the chapters outlined, and NOW I find the need to expand my group of three into a group of five. The thing is, I’m falling in love with foxes, and while it’s a minor thing, my party just grew by two members, and both said  members have red tails.

In a way it’s a tribute to Saint Exupery.  It’s also satisfying the gut feeling I’ve had for a while now that  ”something is missing”.  At the same time, it helps me with resolving one of the logistics in the story. It surely will be a pain to go through 20 chapters and give a place to my new friends, but I feel it’s a right thing to do.

There.

Reflections: January 2010

Writing: reopened my draft, added to the outline, added 2,000 words to the main manuscript. Some work is done on the background for prince Danko and a whole chapter on staying at the Baji Tower.

Blogging: 12 posts

Writing Community: reconnected with Absolute Write Water Cooler , found several interesting blogs by new writers.

General feeling of accomplishment: Feeling back in business. Determined.