Jay – Marina Skynnar- Author

Giving of Thanks- The End is in Sight

Almost done with the first draft

I have to hand it to the NaNoWriMo challenge. Other than when I reinjured my ankle and wallowed for five days in my pain and stupidity, I’ve actually written every single day.

Some days it’s only a couple hundred words, but it’s given me a good building block to get something written every single day. Even if I’m not sharing it here, I am getting it done!

Will definitely need the help from my partner in crime cleaning up the “battle” scene. It’s not really a battle, but there’s a bunch of chaos and @jaybederwehl is very good at chaos!

Today was an incredible day. Almost 4k words!

Can you give me a “Hell yeah”!

Thanks!!

Anyway…. I’m a little fried now. So I’m going to stop here for the day. I’ll bring my notebook into the house though and maybe get some notes down.

I will finish the first draft by the end of the weekend!

HELL YEAH!

Have a fantastic weekend!

NaNoWriMo is Here!

I am going to do it!!! Well, once I get my registration completed. My page won’t load so I can’t actually create a password.. but still!

Yes. I shall persevere!

The workday is done!

I am nomming on a salad.

I have already elbowed Mr Bederwehl @ https://feloniusinsult.com. Maybe we can entice him to participate as well.

If you’re not sure about what I’m referring to, check it out here… https://nanowrimo.org/

Now to figure out why the page won’t load, every other freaking page does.

Ugh.

Big Keys, Big Dreams

It’s Saturday! yipee! no paid work to be done. I have my laptop, full size keyboard and a day to do nothing but write!

Big Dreams, yes indeed. I realized when yapping with @jaybederwwehl yesterday and informing him of my “big day” of writing. On a side note, I did tell him my current page count so there would be no cheating. Anyway, I realized that I really don’t have a good direction for the second half of the book.

The main characters introduced thus far have broken their huddle, but are looking toward the sidelines waiting for the next call. Of which I really don’t have. There’s bits and pieces, but some of my lightbulb moments of mental plotting have fallen by the wayside and it is very fragmented and doesn’t feel well planned.

So I think I’m going to reread my last chapter (hopefully I won’t scrap it as poo) and see if I can get my gist.

I just realized that I do have some writing paper in here, so I can handwrite some ideas. FANTASTIC!!

I was not looking forward to hopping 100+ feet to my office on uneven ground.

Have a spectacular day!

Back to Dialogue

The other day I spoke about dialogue and how it either works or doesn’t work for a character or set of characters.

I was thinking on this more again last night (because at least I think about writing when I’m not actually writing- – right?) Dialogue is or can be subjective methinks. Example- in the previous blog I also mentioned that I “almost” was accepted by a publisher, except they didn’t like my dialogue. It didn’t seem real to them. Whereas, to me, it was extremely real. Second point- the urban fantasy/shapeshifter series I read where I did not like the YA dialogue- but the series was like USA best seller. So obviously, I was in the minority for the specific vernacular used by one of the characters.

So my question to you is, how to you balance what your characters have to say, how they say it,(oxford comma intentional and always will be) and when they say it?

I mean there are certain slang, phrases, words that indicate different parts of the US and the world, common terms that are easy to bake in. It’s not that per se, it’s the back and forth with conversations, the language they use when happy, sad, pissed off, confused, etc.

When I read and proof Jay’s books (https://feloniousinsult.com); I’m amazed at the ease in which his characters relate to one another, whether it’s a formal or informal conversation- – he gets it right.

His characters come to life, they live and breathe. They aren’t reading copy from a script that he thought might sound good. In fact, he has one blog where he as the author sits down with a couple of his characters in a coffee shop. The dialogue is amazing!

How do you gauge when it’s a fit, how do you introduce new characters and determine their quirks with language?

cheers!

“Insert Description Here”

Literally. As I’m writing out my first draft, I am putting placeholders in areas where I know I’m going to get flack from my writing partner in crime. Description is not my forte.

We’ve been at this for more than a decade, and I know damn well where he’s going to say…. what does xxx look like (be it person, place or thing).

I’m bad, very bad when it comes to more than a couple of words of description. For me if the curtains are billowing, they are billowing- – to elaborate on the fabric, the color, the pattern, the ferocity in which they are billowing mostly escapes me.

My main character in this first of the Otherworld series revolves around Bert- a female chief of police. I’m about half way through the book and other than looking over the rim of her reading glasses from time to time, the reader has no freaking clue on what she looks like. Heck, I haven’t even given her a hair color.

I did great with her personal assistant though. Jasper’s physical detail on page one is thorough and precise. The reader can envision the Fae in their minds without issue. His brother? I think the same. I would actually have to go back and see how in depth his description is.

I think I need to go give Bert “a look”.

I tried to give the great hall “a look” but it’s mediocre at best. If I don’t have a comment there, there should be.

See what I mean? Bad, very bad.

What is the fine line between none, sparse, too much, and over the top? I think it depends on the reader. When I’m engrossed in a book, I’m focusing on the plot, the actions (although fight scenes can be way too descriptive as well) where the characters are going and what they need to do.

I will skip over too much description, and thus far it hasn’t hampered how the book flows in my mind.

But I am not my readers (future readers, yes I know). So I must take these things into account, no matter how much angst I get trying to include the imagery.

Four Eyes (are better than none)

Ironically, I do need corrective lenses, but that’s not what this post is about. Today I shall enumerate on my opinion of the value of a writing partner.

When I started the aforementioned novel that is still sitting in my documents folder back in 2008, I had written some short stories of the erotic nature and had received some positive feedback on them. Namely that they were “hot”. Which, as will most forms of erotica/sexual content- that’s what it’s supposed to do. Yay, score one for me! Now I wanted to take that ability and insert it into a novel. I came up with my premise, had my two main characters, three actually. I already had my best supporting character up front and center.

I wasn’t married at the time, and the kids were either already out of the house, over 18, or in bed at a reasonable hour (8 pm) because they were still in grade school. This left me plenty of time to clack at the keys after they went to bed.

So one night I had this idea and started typing. I sent off a page to @jaybederwehl and he said… keep going.

So I did.

This was back when instant messaging was more of a thing and an immediate response to a message was born. Jay and I would write a paragraph, come up with an idea, consider a what if, send it off to one another and continue typing away.

When something worked, we said so, when it didn’t- we said that also. We’ve had eyes on each other’s projects almost from the start and all the way through the process of the book (or books in his case). We developed a working strategy, if we received something to review there are facets to that:

Am I reading for pleasure- to get the flow, gist, etc
Am I reading for proofread- fix grammar, spelling etc
Am I reading for critique- self explanatory.

I can’t tell you how many times Jay brought me back on track, or liked an idea but suggested maybe it should fit elsewhere (and he was right) or something just didn’t fit.

Thankfully Jay and I had already been collaborating on ideas, bantering about writing, the process, the dreams, the fame (hence the dream part). Taking our collaboration one step further was a fairly easy process especially considering we’re on opposite sides of the US.

Still though, having someone look at your baby and critique it is HARD! Even after nearly twenty years (Jay, we’re getting old) I still watch my inbox minute by minute for him to send his comments back. More importantly, I listen to those comments.

That said, my husband still hasn’t read my current manuscript- I’m too chicken for his feedback at this point. That would be like jumping off that cliff in the picture above.

Four eyes = good

Six eyes = not ready for

WIP

After reading @JayBederwehl’s blog the other day about the public and private personas, it got me thinking about my own. While I’m a far cry (like three universes) away from having to even consider another notch to a public persona, I still ponder over the changes I’ll have to make. Like creating a bio, getting a photo of me that I feel comfortable with… that in and of itself could take years.

Artists, at least in my opinion, always have a piece of themselves embedded into their craft. Whether it’s appearance, age, gender or non-gender, sexuality, activities, hobbies… the list can go on and on. The point is that purveyors of the works of said artist could quite possibly seek to find the similarities and become completely disillusioned by the real physical person behind the product.

That’s a damn scary thought.

What if someday, I can’t just be “me”?

The Writers’ Addage

Write, write, write.

Pretty simple isn’t it. Yeah, well it’s easier than it seems. I’ve dreamed of being Nora, tapping out words for a weekend and “poof!” the manuscript is complete! If only (sighing dreamily, seriously). Life doesn’t seem to work out that way. Between working forty, sometimes plus, hours per week, the raising of the children, and everything else that goes along with being a part of society sometimes even a text message fulfilled my writing quota for any given day.

However cleverly I try to disguise my excuses for not writing they are purely that, excuses. There was absolutely nothing stopping me from tapping the keys at least once per week. Heck (being careful for the NSFW thing again) even a mere fifteen minutes would have accomplished the goal.

Yup.

I am a slacker.

Or at least now looking back on things, I see how easy it is to find something else- anything else to do besides write. I could have been journaling- that’s writing!!! My husband encouraged me, my kids encouraged me. Shit I watched my writing partner @jaybederwehl over at feloniousinsult.blogspot publish THREE freaking books to my none. (Insert grimace here with a side eye glance anywhere but the screen).

But, you know what? It’s okay. Regardless of the shoulda, woulda, coulda I am writing again. and HOORAH (sorry Marines) it feels good.

Writing advice tip #1 Write, write, write.

It’s true. Doesn’t have to be anything serious. Write about not writing. write a recipe, write a letter. write lists, create character names for a story that you don’t even know exists yet.

Yeah, yeah. I know. Practice what you preach. My goal is to do this daily. Who knows what y’all will end up reading, it might not be fit for public consumption… but I’m going to do it and if I can’t post for whatever reason I should know in advance and will say something.