Plotting

Now, if any of you know me, you know I'm not so big on the plotting thing. I like the story to unfold organically and allow the characters lead me. I like to be in their head and let them do the talking so I can react the way they would. Sometimes it works...

But it's like pulling teeth, let me tell you. There are times they'll go halfway through the piece then dig in and say "no thanks, I'm done now". Is this because I'm not providing them enough stimuli or does it feel artificial? I know Jane must go with John, but she's a bit stubborn, a lot independent, and wants none of that. She's not going to act against her nature to make me happy, and when I force the issue, well, she gets stilted and doesn't give me much to work with.

John's worse, because, well, he's a man yes, but more important, he's an alpha man who has more important things to do than deal with some woman and her accompanying baggage. He's got his own problems (saving the world type of problems) and can't risk being distracted by Jane. Inevitably, he'll have to swoop in and save her from her own mistakes while the bad guy gets away. Are you kidding? No thanks, he's got better things to do.

(By the way, my character's aren't nearly this extreme in their views though it's kind of close.)

So the romance is about forcing them to make time for each other. It's about creating believable adhesion that will keep them with one another - whether emotionally or physically - without providing too many outs. Of course they'll want to refuse and scream and kick me, but I'm going to ignore them and do what I believe is best for them in the long run no matter how taxing the journey.

And therein lies the problem: the journey, the progress, the story within the story.

This probably seems like a silly statement, but the truth is a lot of effort goes into He meets Her, they spark, they fall apart, they come back strong, something bad happens, is resolved, and they live happily ever after. Yes, that's the gist of every romance (with a few more ups and downs in between) but what about the scenes are going to lead them to this place? What will make them confront their issues, not only with each other, but within themselves, as well?

Thanks to some wonderful girls at Savvy Authors, I stumbled upon Larry Brooks's site StoryFix.com, where I was provided the most helpful outline ever! Since I'm doing this rewrite - and of course second guessing everything along the way - I started filling out his checklist to esure I had all the parts to make the car run.

You know what? I think I have every nut and bolt in place this time, but it's nice to see the truth. Try this outline yourself, then tell me what you think. I'll probably never start something new without it again. No joke. I already saved it the computer.  :)

~Hetal

Etiquette?

Every cushion, mattress, and pillow has been overturned without any sign of the thumb drive with my most crucial MS. Perhaps it decided to sacrifice itself to the writing gods/muses/higher powers. I've started to rewrite the piece, which is coming a lot easier than expected, but now I have another dilemma.

What should I do about the request? If I let it sit for too long there's no doubt in my mind Deb will lose interest in the idea. I would like to send her a note stating my situation, but everything tells me to be professional. Excuses are not professional in my book, so I'm sitting on the fence.

I've read the submission guidelines at the Sourcebooks site, and they state when mailing sending the first four chapters is appropriate, but could I do the same electronically (when I've completed the first four) after a specific request for the full?

I'm about to write this off as a loss, no joke. My first request, and I have little more than nothing. I hope this doesn't brand me a tease in the world of writing. I don't need that kind of rep following me around. :P

~Hetal

Batman! The pigs - they fly!

Yep, that's how I felt right after I read, and reread, and then triple checked the request for my full from the pitch fest over at Casablanca Authors, and you know what made me hit dirt faster than you can say what?

I've lost the piece. Crap, crap, crap!

Let me explain. About three years ago, hubby gave me a brand new laptop for Christmas. It was shiny and pretty and had tons of snazziness that I loved - and then it crashed. When revived, all of my files were gone, sacrificed to the laptop gods. Over a year, it crashed three more times, which means I lost all documents in the notebook all over again. Thankfully, I learned a lesson in there somewhere and started to back up my files on a thumb drive.

What do you do when the thumb drive's gone missing? According to hubby: "should've loaded them to a place like Google docs".

Thanks hon, but that's not really helping at the moment. Right now, my head (my groggy, stuffed up head) spins with the possibility of writing over 90,000 words from memory - oh yea, and as soon as possible.

Now, I'm not pointing fingers, but Monkey, if you did something with mommy's stuff, will you please tell me?

Didn't think so.

~Hetal

Just remember to breath

Oh boy, I've really done it this time. For practice, I decided to post a pitch to Deb Werksman's pitch fest thinking no way in heck was I going to get the formula to attract the editor's attention. I've tried this pitch bit a few times with epic failure, but it seems I might have gotten something right this time. She asked for the full! Eep!

I know I shouldn't let this request cool for too long, but I really want to comb through some pages and make sure I've hit all the elements this time. After my light bulb moment a few days ago, I'm unsure I didn't totally foul up this piece. At a whopping 9 times longer than that short that tripped me up, there's more room for mistakes.

To do:

1. Send Doubt on vacation. Yes, the little hag's still on my back.
2. Get over this cold. For crying out loud, it's been a week! Go away.
3. Read, edit, read, edit, read...you get the picture.
4. Oh yea, eat, sleep, brush teeth, and all the rest of those little things.

~Hetal

Had an Epiphany Today

My current piece is not going to work. Why? Because, though I love the characters and premise, my hero is not going to grow in the most important way: he's not forced to sacrifice to save the girl. What I thought a big step on his part was diminished during editing last night, and I don't know how to fix it. Argh!

Back on the Horse

Ok, so after two months away, and my little whine, I kicked my butt into gear and got back into the swing of writing. I'm starting kind of slow by revising a novella I am absolutely submitting by Sunday no matter how much the demon Doubt nags me. She's such a bi-atch, don't ya know?

Oh, and if you've got a complete, single title length romance ready to go, check out http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/ where Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks is taking pitches today only. Hurry over.

~Hetal

Is This Thing On?

Hello world, how have you been in the, oh, almost two months I've been away? Working harder than me, or hardly working as I have been? I tried, I really tried to accomplish some things during my time off, but only succeeded in delaying and doubting my abilities more. You're probably thinking "well get over it", and I wish it were that easy, but my self-doubt has been reinforced more and more lately by none other then hubby.

He was very supportive in the beginning of my journey  - when I supplied a supplemental income to the household - but the cheers have quieted down since then. For a year since the lay off I've been trying hard join the workforce, but it just seems Columbus, OH doesn't want to help me out. I know it's hokey, but I believe in forces outside oneself, and after the first few months of silence I thought, hey, maybe this means I should be pursuing this other thread. All well and good, if I didn't have someone breathing down my back about snipping it for the "more substantial" line. *sigh*

It's put me in a rut I'm not ashamed to admit. I don't think hubby doubts my abilities - though he's never seen one of my pieces - he just wishes that I'd be more focused on the job hunt. Hey, I apply to everything that appeals to me and I feel a good fit for, but he's trying to push me into arena's I have no interest in being a participant of. Let's just say the home fires aren't burning so cheerily right now and they're distracting me like no other.

I should've labeled this entry "dear diary", and forewarned of the pity party I was dumping on this page so you'd feel better about ignoring it. Truth be told, I just needed to tell someone of my woes, and throwing it onto the blog appealed to me.

Did you know the root of my name means "happiness"? Bet not, I didn't for about twenty one years of my life.  :)  Still, once I found out I thought of how appropriate it seemed. I'm generally a cheery person, always trying to look on the bright side of things, but haven't been able to get past my clouds lately. Maybe I need to get back to the root of things and not worry about the rest. Easier said than done, no?  Well, I'll try to keep you posted.

Rambling over. Onward ho!

~Hetal