The Time-Traveling Viking Pirate and the Last Shape-Shifting Dragon's Daughter: A Love Story... I think...

So I have a new story idea* I’m going to start plotting:

via Pinterest.com

It’s a young girl’s journey to discover the parents that abandoned her when she was a baby.

And along the way a hot gypsy boy tries to rob her, but after she beats him up, he decides to join her instead.

Turns out he belongs to a band of gypsies who guard the secrets of the last pack of shape-shifting dragons.

And one of those dragons is the girl’s mother!

Also, there is another hot shape-shifting dragon boy, who has a secret gypsy girlfriend, but finds himself inexplicably attracted to our girl.

Turns out his girlfriend is our girl’s half-sister! On the shape-shifting mother dragon’s side.

So both boys set out to help our girl with her quest, hoping to win her heart in the process. Her newly discovered half-sister comes along too to keep an eye on her man.

via Pinterest.com

Along the way they are attacked by an ancient group of Viking pirates who have come back in time on their time-travelling boat.

They are held captive by the pirate captain of the boat, who looks oddly familiar. Turns out he’s come to this time period before, seventeen years earlier and is our girl’s father!

His men are planning a mutiny, so they kidnap our girl and her friends, from the place they are already kidnapped and take her to a cave.

In the cave is a dragon who is none other than our girl’s mother.

She is now the last of her kind thanks to small secret order of gypsies who betrayed her kind and have secretly been killing off the dragons and have her chained up in a magic cave.

Turns out the leader of the secret society is… the hot gypsy boy’s father! But he has fallen in love with this shape-shifting dragon and cannot bring himself to kill her or left her go.

While all of this is being discovered, the pirate Captain is closing in on finding not only his daughter, but his former mate shape-shifting dragon ex-lover. Meanwhile his shipmates are hot on his trail meaning to hunt him down.

via Pinterest.com

Turns out the band of mutinous pirates is led by none other than our girl’s half-sister’s father (Mama shape-shifting dragon got AROUND the last time the time travelling Viking pirates made an appearance apparently). 

Just as the band of time-traveling Viking pirates are closing in a dragon IDENTICAL to the mother dragon drops in and scares all the pirates away and saves our girl and her group.

Turns out that the last time the Viking pirates visited one stayed behind, became a scientist, and found a way to clone the last remaining dragon.

And THEN…

Wait… What is this story about again?!

If you haven’t guessed yet, the way I kill my WIPs is with over-plotting. I take a simple idea, something totally do-able and then I start adding subplots (often by the dozens) until my outline is so incredibly complex (and often ridiculous) that I either a) have no idea where to start or b) get so bogged down in adding complexity and inter-connections that I can’t ever get to the point where I feel ready to write.

This has killed a number of perfectly good WIP in my writing journey. The funny thing is I didn’t even notice I was doing it until I started telling Danielle about my current idea (way back when I originally had it) and she was like, “Well… it’s good… but you just told me about 8 stories in one. You’re going to need to take out some of those subplots.”

She then challenged me to tell her about my story in one sentence. To think about what it was at its core. It didn’t occur to me until I couldn’t do this easily that I had forgotten WHAT THE STORY WAS ACTUALLY ABOUT lost in the piles and piles of subplots I had created.

The subplot game is kind of like a really frustrating game of telephone, by the time I get to the end of the game the story it rarely resembles my original idea. Worse than that, sometimes the end result has taken me so far off base that I can’t even remember what my original intent was. And sometimes, I start out writing about an ordinary girl and end up getting so confused by the backstory between her time-traveling Viking pirate father and her supposedly promiscuous,  shape-shifting dragon mother that I shut the computer and don’t even know what to do.

Do any of you have this problem? How do you handle reining in your imagination when it’s time to start plotting without losing the parts of your idea? Are you ever overwhelmed by your own ideas?

*This outline is an example, not an actual WIP. I know... I'm disappointed too. ;)

 

Perfection and the Merry-Go-Round of Ridiculousness

Perfection is a scary thing.

I’ve been working on first drafts for what feels like forever. Once I get to the stage where I’m writing (this is after weeks and weeks of brainstorming, plotting, over-plotting, and more brainstorming) my process usually goes something like this:

Step 1: Write a beginning of between 500-5,000 words.

Step 2: Read over said beginning and start editing it. And then edit it some more. And then a little more.

Step 3: Write another 500-5,000 words.

Step 4: Go all the way back to the first 500-1,000 words and edit some more.

Step 5: Begin to think that the beginning really isn’t where it should be.

Step 6: Write a scene that takes place before the beginning (thereby creating a new beginning).

Step 7: Edit the new beginning and edit some more.

Step 8: Start to think that this beginning isn’t any good at all.

Step 9: Throw it all out and start from scratch.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Then, as if that Merry-Go-Round of Ridiculousness wasn’t bad enough, I then go through a phase for a few weeks where I find myself having trouble putting pen to paper at all. And it’s not because I didn’t want to (I do) or because I don’t have time (I mean I don’t have a lot, but I have SOME). And as anyone who has spent time lamenting an inability to write knows, this phase always leaves me with quite a lot of time to wallow and think about WHY I couldn’t write. So I spend a few weeks thinking and lamenting my brain block.

But it wasn’t until I stopped whining and actually started talking the issue through with writer friends that I realized what was really going on. 

I’m scared.

I’m scared of putting time and effort into something that I want and having it turn out badly. I’m scared that the crappy first drafts I’m working on are going to be so crappy they aren’t going to be worth editing. I’m scared that my books are never going to be worth reading. I’m scared that I’m going to discover that I’m not good at writing and that my dream is impossible and not meant to be. I’m scared that I’m going to discover that something I’ve wanted to do since I was little isn’t in my future.

All of which brings me my most recent rationalization, the Catch-22: If I never write a book, I’ll never know if I can do it. BUT if I don’t know if I can do it or not, I won’t have to face the possibility of finding out that I can’t do it. And this week I finally admitted to myself that this way of thinking is yet another ride on the Merry-Go-Round of Ridiculousness.

I have come to realize something: When I first starting writing my dream was to “write a book”. It was not to “write the perfect book” or “write perfectly on the first try”, in fact perfect was never part of the dream at all. Of course, I want the book to be perfect, I want it to be worthy of sharing shelf space with so many of the wonderful books that made me want to be a writer in the first place, which is a terrifying and daunting goal. And that’s perfectly alright. There is nothing wrong with being afraid that my dream won’t turn out perfectly, I think most people worry about that, but there is something wrong with allowing that fear to control my ability to create anything at all. Allowing my fear to stop me from doing something that I love to do: write stories.

I don’t know if understanding this is going to help me break out of the first draft cycle I’m in, but like they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Hopefully, my second step will be writing a book. But even if that's my third, fourth, or fifth step, I'm ok with that, as long as I'm moving in the right direction. And at the end of the day, it may not be perfect, but it will be mine. My book, that I wrote, from beginning (to beginning, to beginning, to beginning, to beginning) to end… and my dream of writing a book will be perfectly fulfilled. 

In the meantime, I've hung the quotation below on my wall to remind me I need to keep fighting.

 

Hello, 2012!

I am really good at setting goals and not reaching them--mostly because I get bored with them or I forget. This year, I made a really over-arching personal goal for 2012. I'll share it because I think the more places I put it, the more likely I am to remember it. But it's a bold statement. It's a big, scary statement for me. That's why I know I need it.

Happiness. No looking back at what was. Only looking forward, finding something to achieve and never giving up.

See, there's this time after something big changes and it takes you a while to regain your footing. This has been me. Most of the time since college graduation I've been trying to figure out life. I've moved a lot. I've tried a lot of things. I've searched for whatever it is I lost in the transition of everything and for whatever reason, I haven't found it. For me, I want what I used to have before. It's easy to look back on before and wonder if you can ever have life as good as that. But that's the problem. You can't. It can't be what it was before because you are not who you were before. You have to be different, find yourself and everything else. This is what I'm learning and why I think I need to resolute myself to this statement. Life is a forward motion and I think I spend a lot of time looking backward. No more, 2012.

Writing is also a forward motion. And guys, I've been stagnant. Just like in life. (Funny how those two things are connected, right?) I've thought about what I want to achieve this year and here's what I've come up with.

Do one more round of edits on current MS in January
Because I know my MS needs it. I have some notes en route and some people reading now. I can't wait to dive in and make it better.

Query current MS
Since I've been working on Darkness for so long, I'm in the stage where I want to query it and move on. You know, I love this project but at some point I have to step away and work on new things. So, this is the plan. Once I'm at the point where I can query, I won't necessarily have to be thinking about it all the time--at least in the writing aspect--and can focus my attention in other places.

Write TWO new projects
Maybe this is ambitious. BUT I can do it. That's 12 months, and since I'm currently just starting a new WIP, I should (theoretically) be able to write two first drafts in 12 months. I mean, I can do it. It's all about diligence. And I'm not so good at that all the time.

Find ways to support other writers 
I'm not sure what this entails yet, but I want to be a person who is supportive, encouraging and friendly in any way I can be. I'm on the lookout to define this still. 

Do things better
What things? All the things. I half-a** some things too much and I know I need to be better. It's because I do too many things at once. So, I want to refine a little, bring in my focus and be better at each thing.

What are some things you want to do this year? Have you told us yet? If not leave a comment with your goals or a link. 

Setting Goals and Making Wishes

I love the beginnings of things. The beginning of the school year (even though I’m no longer in school and now experience it as a parent) with all new books, schedules, and the potential to get straight A’s. The beginning of the summer, with unlimited potential for vacations, reading time, and visits to the pool. And, of course, the beginning of a new year, a year where no mistakes have been made yet, no days have been wasted by laziness, and where there is the potential for all of my life-changing, magical dreams to come true.

I also love planning and making resolutions. Most years, my resolutions are more along the lines of grandiose wishes than actual attainable goals. And the problem with wishes is that a) sometimes they don’t come true and b) they make TERRIBLE resolutions because many times the things we want most are not totally within our own control (like say, getting a book published or winning the lottery!)

So this year I spent some time thinking about GOALS. When I was in high school we all had to memorize the way to determine if a goal was “SMART” or not, meaning it needed to be:

Specific 

Measurable 

Attainable 

Results Oriented 

Time Bound

Now, do all of my goals fit this exactly? No. But using this helped me to figure out some goals that make me excited about what *I* can do this year to help improve myself.

In 2012 I plan to:

1. Enjoy my time… With my husband, with my kids, with the rest of my family, with my friends, writing, reading books, cooking food, taking walks, watching TV and doing nothing. I spend a LOT of time stressed about time, schedules, and to-do lists. This year I really want to work on being better about living in the moment and enjoying all of the wonderful experiences (big and small) I am lucky enough to have.
2. Write… Something. Anything. If I have to spend weeks draining my brain of every last SHINY NEW that’s stockpiled in there before I can write a full first draft I will do that, but this year I want to really focus on making writing a daily habit. To this end, I’m starting with 30 minutes a day of no-internet, no-tv, no-distractions, don’t-bother-me-unless-the-house-is-burning-down writing time. Once I’ve done this for 30 days IN A ROW, I’m going to try to up it to 45 minutes and continue building from there.
3. Walk… Somewhere. Anywhere. Aside from trouncing my sisters at JUST DANCE 3 every now and again (ha!) I don’t exercise anywhere near as often as I should and to that end I’ve decided to start with walking. It may seem like a small step, but it’s better than nothing and it’s something I can do inside until the weather decides to cooperate by being warm. Bonus: It’s excellent for brainstorming and plotting! Nothing gets ideas flowing like a good, brisk pace-back-and-forth in the basement. 
4. Be a real-life person more… And an internet person a little less. I spend a LOT of time on the internet, on Twitter, on Tumblr, etc. And I’m not upset about that, it’s how I’ve met some of the best friends I have in real life now. But this year I would like to focus on deepening my relationships with my online friends in the real world. Spending time talking on the phone, on Skype (yes, I realize this is still internet based, but you know what I mean), visiting and having people visit, going to lunches/dinners/happy hours, organizing a writers retreat and all around having real-life adventures. I started doing this last year and it led to some of the best weekends I’ve ever had with friends, so I’m looking forward to even more epic get-togethers.

So those are my 2012 goals and as of this first week of the year things are looking pretty successful already. And for the record, just because I’ve decided to differentiate my GOALS from my GRANDIOSE WISHES, doesn’t mean I’ve given up wishing on every star, watching for 11:11 twice a day, and hijacking every unattended birthday candle around. But that’s a post for another day…

What are your goals this year? Link us to your resolution post or leave them in the comments! 

New Goals for the New Year

 

We are now three days into 2012 and I'm already putting things off. As any procrastinator knows, that's probably not a good sign, but at least this time I can honestly say I'm procrastinating for a good reason.

Which brings us to my very first and most important goal of 2012:

Finish this manuscript. 

And it's happening. I'm really, truly going to finish another manuscript (maybe even today!!!) and it's something I'm pretty dang proud of.  It's also scary because that means I will be tackling other goals that I have set for 2012, but hey, any way you cut it, this is a very good thing.

For some reason mentioning what those other goals for 2012 are is hard for me to do. It's like saying them out loud will somehow curse me. Like I need to just not say them until they've already come true. Not every goal is like that. Some of them involve no luck at all, but are more about practice and dedication.

So goal number two for 2012 is:

Blog more. 

I've heard of other authors and bloggers scheduling posts months in advance and having so many ideas for blog posts that they just don't have the time to post them all. That is so not me. I struggle on a daily basis to post on my personal blog. What do I say? Is anyone even reading it? Do I sound stupid?

Well, I'm dumping all that self doubt out the window and I'm going to commit to posting at least twice a week from here on out.

Other goals for the year include:

Writing a great query letter.
Sending out that first query.
Starting my next new shiny idea by the end of January. 

What about you? What are your goals for 2012? If you've made a blog post about it, please leave us a link. We'd love to check it out. You can also just post your goals in the comments. That works too. :-)