While I'm on the subject of Jen, I think this is a good time to talk about the benefits a writer can enjoy from belonging to a good writers' group. I belong to several, but the first one I joined, and still belong to has proven invaluable.
We occasionally get speakers, but more often the program is devoted to critiques by the members present. Four or five readers can read for fifteen minutes at each meeting by signing up at least a day before the meeting...generally you allow more lead time, because the list can grow very quickly and must be limited to no more than six.
A couple of years ago, when I read the scene with Jen coming out of a drug-induced sleep while she was being held captive, one of the members was very helpful. He commented that I'd described something more like coming out of a high on LSD, not being shot up with drugs to control a young girl who had been kidnapped.
Later he took me off to a side, after the meeting, and said that years before he'd done many kinds of drugs and was speaking from experience. Then he gave me something extremely valuable that allowed me to write a convincing scene.
He asked if I'd ever had surgery that required being put under, and I said "yes". Then he said, "Well try to remember how you felt when the anesthetic began to wear off. That would be more what your character would be experiencing. She wouldn't be hallucinating or on a trip.
As I rewrote the part I realized he was so right. The next time I read for critique, I read the rewrite. He said, "Now you've got it right. Now anyone who's been there will believe she really was drugged to control her."
That reading produced another unexpected critique from personal experience. One of the members said, "You describe her confusion when she realized she wasn't in her own bed. Here's what you don't know. I do. I was kidnapped."
Wow. You can't just say, "Hey, I need to speak to someone who was kidnapped and woke up bound and gagged, " then expect to get people who will tell you what it was like. That's information that could be pretty hard to get.
This woman proceeded to tell me that she found herself taking inventory...fingers, toes, what could move, what couldn't, things like that. And, once again, I rewrote what was happening to Jen, who was Katherine at the time, so that it also had a ring of reality from the point of view of someone who had been there.
Reader interest depends upon creating characters that the reader cares about...not one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. Writer's groups are great for feedback, and I also learned to start asking around. Now if I have a question about what something would be like, besides internet research, I talk to people to see if I can find someone who went through it. Then, like an actress, I prepare for the part and feel it as I write.
--ARLISS ADAMS
Showing posts with label A Dream Lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Dream Lost. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
WHERE DID THE WEEK GO?
My goodness. In only twenty minutes it will be Saturday. Where did the time go? It seems like it was Monday a day or so ago. It's been one of those weeks when a lot was accomplished, and nothing was accomplished. One day fully wasted, trying to figure out what was going on with AOL, only to discover that once again they made a change without really letting subscribers know. Oh well, all's well that ends well, but they stole one of my days.
When I was writing the first draft of what was then "Dance Ballerina Dance," (now A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE) I didn't worry about the internet. It was around 1995, and e-mail was still something most people didn't have. The fax was the big thing. Right about that time, I was pulling together the pieces of a puzzle that would eventually become my first attempt at fiction.
I had the story of the kidnapped ballerina, I had some of what happened to her afterwards, but there were so many directions it could go. I just didn't know which fork in the road to follow. Finally I decided that I would use those first bits as the nucleus of the story. From there it could go anywhere my mind wanted it to, unlike writing magazine articles about specific things. I wouldn't have to adhere to the truth. I could create places, people, scenes, obstacles, triumphs and all of the other elements that make up a good fiction novel.
The problem was I'd never written fiction. I was an avid reader, but all of the nuances that I should have picked up from wonderful writers, skipped right past me. Oh, was I ever off base. First of all I thought it had to be big in order to sell it to an agent or publisher. How does 600 pages sound? Ridiculous for a first time fiction author--that's how it sounds to me now. But that was then. Use an outline, a time line, plotting sheets? Why? Just start to write. Let those creative juices flow.
Anyone reading this who is a seasoned writer, probably senses big problems on the horizon right about now. But did I know I was starting down a fourteen year road? You bet I didn't. "Probably knock it out in six months or so."--that's what I told myself, and told myself and told myself as months turned into years.
Over the next several posts, I'll talk about how Shawn (can't even remember the last name I gave her) became Jen Connor. And, how very much I learned from Jen.
That's it for tonight.
--Arliss Adams
When I was writing the first draft of what was then "Dance Ballerina Dance," (now A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE) I didn't worry about the internet. It was around 1995, and e-mail was still something most people didn't have. The fax was the big thing. Right about that time, I was pulling together the pieces of a puzzle that would eventually become my first attempt at fiction.
I had the story of the kidnapped ballerina, I had some of what happened to her afterwards, but there were so many directions it could go. I just didn't know which fork in the road to follow. Finally I decided that I would use those first bits as the nucleus of the story. From there it could go anywhere my mind wanted it to, unlike writing magazine articles about specific things. I wouldn't have to adhere to the truth. I could create places, people, scenes, obstacles, triumphs and all of the other elements that make up a good fiction novel.
The problem was I'd never written fiction. I was an avid reader, but all of the nuances that I should have picked up from wonderful writers, skipped right past me. Oh, was I ever off base. First of all I thought it had to be big in order to sell it to an agent or publisher. How does 600 pages sound? Ridiculous for a first time fiction author--that's how it sounds to me now. But that was then. Use an outline, a time line, plotting sheets? Why? Just start to write. Let those creative juices flow.
Anyone reading this who is a seasoned writer, probably senses big problems on the horizon right about now. But did I know I was starting down a fourteen year road? You bet I didn't. "Probably knock it out in six months or so."--that's what I told myself, and told myself and told myself as months turned into years.
Over the next several posts, I'll talk about how Shawn (can't even remember the last name I gave her) became Jen Connor. And, how very much I learned from Jen.
That's it for tonight.
--Arliss Adams
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
SHAME ON ME - ABOUT COMMITMENTS
Well, I made a commitment to myself to post on this blog almost every day, and I blew it! Here it is the 21st, and I haven't posted anything since the 16th. Yeah, I know, things come up, other priorities, but it would be far too easy to say that and get away with it.
I have the time to read e-mails...some of them total spam; I have the time to find inconsequential things to do. So why couldn't I find the time to post for the past four days? No excuse, ma'am. I'm guilty and will try to be better in the future.
Yesterday I got the "go" signal from L&L Dreamspell for the second book, THE DEVIL'S DUE, and signed the contract. Now it's a reality. In some ways, it's sad, though. The end of something I've lived with for over fourteen years. There was always that manuscript to edit, changes to be made, errors to be discovered. From this point on, there will be a few go-arounds of the publisher's edits, reviewing the galley, and then...and then...holding both books in my hand.
Hmmm, if I had to choose between a never-ending round of rewriting and holding those books, it would be a no-brainer. Holding the books, of course. It means I can go on to other projects, knowing that I've learned so very much from the journey I started with a first-time fiction novel entitled "Dance Ballerina Dance" to the polished end result. Most of the versions exist somewhere in the stacks, file drawers, floor, and other receptacles in my office, and with each one there is a new element. A new title, a new character, a new understanding of Jen's voice, a new cruel twist...it's all there on floppy disks, CD's and DVD's. A history of how I learned to write fiction.
Along with that memory, are all of the people who had a hand in it along the way. On-line groups, conferences, writer's groups, author friends, reader friends, family...they're all there in the history of the books.
I was going to write more about how the story evolved today, but went off on a tangent again, so I guess that will be reserved for tomorrow. Today I'm just going to take the time to appreciate everyone who helped me achieve the dream of telling the story...sharing it and hopefully pulling at readers' heartstrings and their joy...their sense of protectiveness and their anger. Those are the emotions swirling around in this work. Sometimes I would be sitting at the computer crying as I wrote, because I'd gotten so into the character. When people reading the manuscript tell me they cried, too, I know I accomplished what I was aiming for.
More tomorrow, I promise.
--ARLISS ADAMS
I have the time to read e-mails...some of them total spam; I have the time to find inconsequential things to do. So why couldn't I find the time to post for the past four days? No excuse, ma'am. I'm guilty and will try to be better in the future.
Yesterday I got the "go" signal from L&L Dreamspell for the second book, THE DEVIL'S DUE, and signed the contract. Now it's a reality. In some ways, it's sad, though. The end of something I've lived with for over fourteen years. There was always that manuscript to edit, changes to be made, errors to be discovered. From this point on, there will be a few go-arounds of the publisher's edits, reviewing the galley, and then...and then...holding both books in my hand.
Hmmm, if I had to choose between a never-ending round of rewriting and holding those books, it would be a no-brainer. Holding the books, of course. It means I can go on to other projects, knowing that I've learned so very much from the journey I started with a first-time fiction novel entitled "Dance Ballerina Dance" to the polished end result. Most of the versions exist somewhere in the stacks, file drawers, floor, and other receptacles in my office, and with each one there is a new element. A new title, a new character, a new understanding of Jen's voice, a new cruel twist...it's all there on floppy disks, CD's and DVD's. A history of how I learned to write fiction.
Along with that memory, are all of the people who had a hand in it along the way. On-line groups, conferences, writer's groups, author friends, reader friends, family...they're all there in the history of the books.
I was going to write more about how the story evolved today, but went off on a tangent again, so I guess that will be reserved for tomorrow. Today I'm just going to take the time to appreciate everyone who helped me achieve the dream of telling the story...sharing it and hopefully pulling at readers' heartstrings and their joy...their sense of protectiveness and their anger. Those are the emotions swirling around in this work. Sometimes I would be sitting at the computer crying as I wrote, because I'd gotten so into the character. When people reading the manuscript tell me they cried, too, I know I accomplished what I was aiming for.
More tomorrow, I promise.
--ARLISS ADAMS
Monday, July 13, 2009
REALLY STARTING THE STORY
Okay, now I've filled you in on some of the motivations and challenges in writing A DREAM LOST and the DEVIL'S DUE. Where to begin? Where should the story really start? Should the opening recount what led up to the kidnapping in reality, or should it open with a strong fictional scene?
As a writer you must choose am opener that grabs the reader and leaves them wanting more. Action, unanswered questions, challenges...all good devices. The very first version didn't start there. It started way back in Jen's childhood, when she took her first ballet lesson. It stayed like that for years, describing the little girl's love for dancing, what the studio looked like, how her mother acted...you get the idea.
Well, again, if you were giving the account in a magazine article, that's what you might do. But this wasn't a magazine article, nor was it going to be reality. My vision for the book (it was one book at that time) was fiction inspired by a combination of real situations that happened to diverse people. These would all be melded into one person's life in the book. The more I learned about writing fiction, the more I realized that my opening chapters were dead wrong. In one of the versions, I don't remember which one, I made the bold move, although it hurt more than I can tell you, and cut the entire opening chapters of this enormous manuscript.
Elements were saved to use as memories or flashbacks, but they were given a paragraph or two of tight, emotional writing instead of a blow-by-possibly-boring- blow description of what really happened. The term "artistic license" comes to mind.
The more I'd let the manuscript get cold, and then re-read it, the more I knew I had to have an opening scene that wrenched your guts out. What could be more terrifying than waking up in a strange room, head fuzzy, only to discover that your hands and feet are bound. When you try to talk, you can't because of the gag in your mouth. That's how the opening scene was born. I had to be Jen. I had to be in that awful room mentally and feel the terror she felt. And I can truthfully say, I scared myself during that writing.
About three years ago, I read the chapter aloud in my writer's group. Unbelievably, one of the members actually had been kidnapped. My chapter, although gripping, still lacked some of what would really happen in the person's mind, in their reactions. So, after the meeting we chatted, and she told me what a person really would do in this situation--what she did and thought--and I used it. And, it worked.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
As a writer you must choose am opener that grabs the reader and leaves them wanting more. Action, unanswered questions, challenges...all good devices. The very first version didn't start there. It started way back in Jen's childhood, when she took her first ballet lesson. It stayed like that for years, describing the little girl's love for dancing, what the studio looked like, how her mother acted...you get the idea.
Well, again, if you were giving the account in a magazine article, that's what you might do. But this wasn't a magazine article, nor was it going to be reality. My vision for the book (it was one book at that time) was fiction inspired by a combination of real situations that happened to diverse people. These would all be melded into one person's life in the book. The more I learned about writing fiction, the more I realized that my opening chapters were dead wrong. In one of the versions, I don't remember which one, I made the bold move, although it hurt more than I can tell you, and cut the entire opening chapters of this enormous manuscript.
Elements were saved to use as memories or flashbacks, but they were given a paragraph or two of tight, emotional writing instead of a blow-by-possibly-boring- blow description of what really happened. The term "artistic license" comes to mind.
The more I'd let the manuscript get cold, and then re-read it, the more I knew I had to have an opening scene that wrenched your guts out. What could be more terrifying than waking up in a strange room, head fuzzy, only to discover that your hands and feet are bound. When you try to talk, you can't because of the gag in your mouth. That's how the opening scene was born. I had to be Jen. I had to be in that awful room mentally and feel the terror she felt. And I can truthfully say, I scared myself during that writing.
About three years ago, I read the chapter aloud in my writer's group. Unbelievably, one of the members actually had been kidnapped. My chapter, although gripping, still lacked some of what would really happen in the person's mind, in their reactions. So, after the meeting we chatted, and she told me what a person really would do in this situation--what she did and thought--and I used it. And, it worked.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
Sunday, July 12, 2009
OKAY, BACK TO WRITING THE TWO BOOKS
Sometimes when I think about how long it took to write A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE, I can't believe that much time has passed. During those years I've learned so much, and had so many new experiences, that I'm simply not the same person who began these two books by typing out thoughts on a word processor.
I say fourteen years, but it's actually been longer. I got my first computer around 1994 or 95. My preliminary notes were on a dinosaur called a word processor. For those of you who don't know what that it, it was basically a typewriter that had a little bit of memory. When you selected print, the keys would bang out the document automatically, like machine gun fire. I swear the next door neighbors probably thought there was murder and mayhem going on right under their noses. Well, yes, there was mayhem, but it was all on paper.
I was delighted that this Smith-Corona word processor had a little 3 1/2 inch disk that could actually store some of what I'd written. Anyway, back in those days, it was possible to save in a format that later could be read by a computer. That's how I know it was more than fourteen years, because I transferred the information on those disks to my computer when I got one. Without that, I never would have been able to rescue the original manscript after I'd put it down for two years, discouraged that it wasn't going the way I thought it would. Once it was on a computer, I was enthused again. Oh, I guess I could have retyped everything from the printed pages, but would I? It was so easy to put the disk in the computer and have it all done for me..
I was a workaholic back then, (as if I'm not now) and I'd sit down to write this "great American novel" after working fourteen or fifteen hours at my "real job". I'd tap away into the wee hours of the morning. The next day I'd read what I'd written, thinking it was brilliant. Oh yes, when I was done, the publishers would be bidding against each other to get their hands on this heart-wrenching novel. Except, they weren't. Why? Well, I gave you the answer before. I simply didn't know how to write fiction. The story premise was good...the author sucked. Better stick to magazine articles.
Still, I always say there is a benefit in most things. Sure, I'd written published magazine articles, but I definitely knew nothing about writing fiction. The work was professional in its presentation, but filled with information dumps and devices that work in articles, but have no place in fiction. It was not one of those books that grab you by the throat and won't let go until you've read all night, because you just had to find out what happened.
So what was the benefit? I got those thoughts out of my mind--down on paper. They became something tangible...something that I could tweak, cut, expand, edit and use as a training ground over many years. If I had never made that first step, it would still be in my mind. If I hadn't made that first step, I never would have studied my craft until I learned how to find the voice for my characters, learned to do a "machete edit", and make people care what happened.
It doesn't come overnight. But it can come. That's where I leave off tonight. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but there is so much more to tell...so much more to talk about...that every time I post I also have to decide when to stop.
Arliss
I say fourteen years, but it's actually been longer. I got my first computer around 1994 or 95. My preliminary notes were on a dinosaur called a word processor. For those of you who don't know what that it, it was basically a typewriter that had a little bit of memory. When you selected print, the keys would bang out the document automatically, like machine gun fire. I swear the next door neighbors probably thought there was murder and mayhem going on right under their noses. Well, yes, there was mayhem, but it was all on paper.
I was delighted that this Smith-Corona word processor had a little 3 1/2 inch disk that could actually store some of what I'd written. Anyway, back in those days, it was possible to save in a format that later could be read by a computer. That's how I know it was more than fourteen years, because I transferred the information on those disks to my computer when I got one. Without that, I never would have been able to rescue the original manscript after I'd put it down for two years, discouraged that it wasn't going the way I thought it would. Once it was on a computer, I was enthused again. Oh, I guess I could have retyped everything from the printed pages, but would I? It was so easy to put the disk in the computer and have it all done for me..
I was a workaholic back then, (as if I'm not now) and I'd sit down to write this "great American novel" after working fourteen or fifteen hours at my "real job". I'd tap away into the wee hours of the morning. The next day I'd read what I'd written, thinking it was brilliant. Oh yes, when I was done, the publishers would be bidding against each other to get their hands on this heart-wrenching novel. Except, they weren't. Why? Well, I gave you the answer before. I simply didn't know how to write fiction. The story premise was good...the author sucked. Better stick to magazine articles.
Still, I always say there is a benefit in most things. Sure, I'd written published magazine articles, but I definitely knew nothing about writing fiction. The work was professional in its presentation, but filled with information dumps and devices that work in articles, but have no place in fiction. It was not one of those books that grab you by the throat and won't let go until you've read all night, because you just had to find out what happened.
So what was the benefit? I got those thoughts out of my mind--down on paper. They became something tangible...something that I could tweak, cut, expand, edit and use as a training ground over many years. If I had never made that first step, it would still be in my mind. If I hadn't made that first step, I never would have studied my craft until I learned how to find the voice for my characters, learned to do a "machete edit", and make people care what happened.
It doesn't come overnight. But it can come. That's where I leave off tonight. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but there is so much more to tell...so much more to talk about...that every time I post I also have to decide when to stop.
Arliss
Saturday, July 11, 2009
SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS
In yesterday's post, I talked about Jen Connor having to be able to find her strength. It made me think about many things. What is strength, anyway? I think the definition is different for different people.
First we have to think about what our normal personality is. Some people crumble at the least problem and others march forth through the mine fields of life like stalwart soldiers. So, for the people who crumble, working through a problem is a major show of strength. For our person who takes life as it comes, it's just one more normal day.
I've been told I'm a strong person. I'm one who looks at the options, and then I choose the path. Others have always depended upon me. They've looked to me for guidance and help in making decisions. So, when that strength is shaken, it's more than a major surprise. It can be devastating. The things that happen to us in life, shape how we react to future challenges, I think.
When I write about the depression and devastation that Jen felt after her kidnapping, I can do it from the heart. When I hear people speak about post traumatic stress disorder, I know that in most cases what they're describing is real, both the physical and mental symptoms. And when I hear others tell of the odds they overcame to regain "themselves", I know that is possible.
My strength was stolen when I was almost killed in an auto accident. I didn't know it at the time, but I was a victim of a particular kind of post traumatic stress disorder. I went from being the rock everyone depended upon to a person who couldn't make a decision as small as what color toilet paper to put in the bathroom. Quite a change. But a person who is inwardly strong can mask things like that from others and appear quite normal. For over a year I struggled to be the person I had been before my strength was taken in a split second...a twist of fate. I wasn't able to cope with many things during that time, but very few people picked up on my inner turmoil. I just kept marching through like that stalwart soldier, but the solider was a zombie. Dead inside.
You see, when the car came hurtling at me head-on, my subconscious mind decided that I was dead. There was no way I could survive. I remember hearing people look into the smashed car, saying "She's alive."
When I realized I hadn't been killed or maimed, but was unbelievable lucky enough to escape with injuries that pretty much healed within a year or so, my mind had already shut down. No one saw that the bruised psyche wasn't healing along with the cuts, bruises and torn muscles. I couldn't make myself take responsiblity for anything. It took over a year of therapy with a very talented psychologist, and boxes and boxes of Kleenex, to give me back myself. I bless the fact that I had the courage to seek help when I couldn't help myself. I'd finally had to admit that I was in trouble.
So, while my experience was nowhere as severe as what Jen experiences in A DREAM LOST, in many ways I know what it is to feel some of the emotions and thoughts that she goes through. That's why I say it was written from the heart. Whether weak or strong of character, when tragedy strikes, in my opinion survival can be the difference between reaching way down inside of yourself and finding that elusive strength, or going through life feeling you were a helpless victim.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
First we have to think about what our normal personality is. Some people crumble at the least problem and others march forth through the mine fields of life like stalwart soldiers. So, for the people who crumble, working through a problem is a major show of strength. For our person who takes life as it comes, it's just one more normal day.
I've been told I'm a strong person. I'm one who looks at the options, and then I choose the path. Others have always depended upon me. They've looked to me for guidance and help in making decisions. So, when that strength is shaken, it's more than a major surprise. It can be devastating. The things that happen to us in life, shape how we react to future challenges, I think.
When I write about the depression and devastation that Jen felt after her kidnapping, I can do it from the heart. When I hear people speak about post traumatic stress disorder, I know that in most cases what they're describing is real, both the physical and mental symptoms. And when I hear others tell of the odds they overcame to regain "themselves", I know that is possible.
My strength was stolen when I was almost killed in an auto accident. I didn't know it at the time, but I was a victim of a particular kind of post traumatic stress disorder. I went from being the rock everyone depended upon to a person who couldn't make a decision as small as what color toilet paper to put in the bathroom. Quite a change. But a person who is inwardly strong can mask things like that from others and appear quite normal. For over a year I struggled to be the person I had been before my strength was taken in a split second...a twist of fate. I wasn't able to cope with many things during that time, but very few people picked up on my inner turmoil. I just kept marching through like that stalwart soldier, but the solider was a zombie. Dead inside.
You see, when the car came hurtling at me head-on, my subconscious mind decided that I was dead. There was no way I could survive. I remember hearing people look into the smashed car, saying "She's alive."
When I realized I hadn't been killed or maimed, but was unbelievable lucky enough to escape with injuries that pretty much healed within a year or so, my mind had already shut down. No one saw that the bruised psyche wasn't healing along with the cuts, bruises and torn muscles. I couldn't make myself take responsiblity for anything. It took over a year of therapy with a very talented psychologist, and boxes and boxes of Kleenex, to give me back myself. I bless the fact that I had the courage to seek help when I couldn't help myself. I'd finally had to admit that I was in trouble.
So, while my experience was nowhere as severe as what Jen experiences in A DREAM LOST, in many ways I know what it is to feel some of the emotions and thoughts that she goes through. That's why I say it was written from the heart. Whether weak or strong of character, when tragedy strikes, in my opinion survival can be the difference between reaching way down inside of yourself and finding that elusive strength, or going through life feeling you were a helpless victim.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
Thursday, July 9, 2009
DREAMS CAN COME TRUE
More than fourteen years ago I had the idea for a romantic suspense novel. I knew absolutely nothing about writing fiction, although I had written many magazine articles. I thought a book had to be big to be published, so I kept writing and writing---no timeline, no real plotting, just an idea that kept growing and a manuscript that was bigger than War and Peace.
Well, I'd love to say it was an instant success but then they say there's a bridge in Brooklyn for sale for a good price, too. Just Kidding!! As one of my friends who had published thrillers said, "It's too long, it is filled with cliches, doesn't ring true--sorry, I don't think it will ever get published." And, it didn't.
It was rewritten, put aside, rewritten, worked through with a web critique group, rewritten, worked through with a writer's group, rewritten. I think you get the idea. Years passed and this book kept changing and changing. Still the same premise, but I was learning how to write tight fiction.
If you follow this blog, I'll be writing about what it took to finally be offered a contract after playing with this "dream of a book" for more than fourteen years, and giving insight into how some of the characters were born. Yep. That's right. It will be out sometime next year, as a set of two books. The first one is "A Dream Lost". Nope, it's not about my dream lost, because I finally found the right combination.
I'd like to share the some of the emotions that bubbled to the top while writing this, because in using personalities and traits of people who were very close to me, in many cases they became "composite people", it was like reliving incidents in my own life. Not those in the books. They are fiction. But, what inspired me to write them? Many writers dig down to personal experiences and then mold and shape them into the scene they are after. That's what I did.
That's all for today...
Arliss
Well, I'd love to say it was an instant success but then they say there's a bridge in Brooklyn for sale for a good price, too. Just Kidding!! As one of my friends who had published thrillers said, "It's too long, it is filled with cliches, doesn't ring true--sorry, I don't think it will ever get published." And, it didn't.
It was rewritten, put aside, rewritten, worked through with a web critique group, rewritten, worked through with a writer's group, rewritten. I think you get the idea. Years passed and this book kept changing and changing. Still the same premise, but I was learning how to write tight fiction.
If you follow this blog, I'll be writing about what it took to finally be offered a contract after playing with this "dream of a book" for more than fourteen years, and giving insight into how some of the characters were born. Yep. That's right. It will be out sometime next year, as a set of two books. The first one is "A Dream Lost". Nope, it's not about my dream lost, because I finally found the right combination.
I'd like to share the some of the emotions that bubbled to the top while writing this, because in using personalities and traits of people who were very close to me, in many cases they became "composite people", it was like reliving incidents in my own life. Not those in the books. They are fiction. But, what inspired me to write them? Many writers dig down to personal experiences and then mold and shape them into the scene they are after. That's what I did.
That's all for today...
Arliss
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)