Discoveries

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

#writetip Blogger and writer Kirsten (Blog: Write a Book with me)  got me thinking about where ideas come from. She wrote the following in a comment on my blog about themes:

In my current revision, I began by exploring secrets we keep and what it might be like to really see what is inside the minds of those we love, and ended up writing about how everyone has a talent, whether hidden or explored, that is unique to them and no one else.

Two things jumped out at me.

First: Everywhere you look someone is asking: Where do ideas come from?

For me, it happens when I sit down and start writing. I don’t mean thinking about writing, plotting, or researching – although ideas pop up during any of these activities – I mean actually typing in words. I think this is what happened to Kirsten. Time in the seat and all that.

Second: The more I write, the more ideas I have. A minor character in my first three novels made his way into my heart. Ten thousand words into my fourth novel, I discovered he was going to be the main love interest. The fourth novel takes place in a different setting and with different characters than my first three, but there he was waiting to appear.  He needed his own book. 🙂

Theme For Your Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 13 Comments

Can having a theme for your novel help you write it well?

I think so. I’m halfway through my fourth novel and a theme helped my name it –

Look The Other Way

 The theme: Is it murder if you look the other way?

What I mean by this is: Say a character could stop a death by taking some action but doesn’t. By the character’s inaction, the person dies. Is this murder?

Does the character . . .

  • Believe he’s committed a murder?
  • Suffer for his own inaction?
  • Alter his future behaviour to make up for his inaction?
  • Think that his inaction was justified? The right thing to do?

By focussing on the theme, I have lots to think about when developing not only the character that let a death happen, but the other characters who are affected by the death.

The name reminds me to think of the theme when I write each scene. That’s gotta be a good thing. 🙂

Is It Ever Too Early To Socialize Your Pup?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

We didn’t think so with Farley

We picked up Farley, our wheaten terrier, when he was 8 weeks old. My sister-in-law picked up Piper, 8 week old border terrier, the same day.

On our 2 hour ride home, the pups decided to sleep together. Pretty cute. When they arrived home they were greeted by Murphy, a rottweiler, whose home they  entered. Just to be on the safe side, we introduced the dogs outside. Poor Murphy was invaded by puppies for a week. Piper stayed with him, and Farley came home with us.

My only caution is not to leave the dogs alone when they are that young and new to each other. At one point, Farley grabbed Piper by the neck. Quick action by brother prevented any harm from being done, but it did remind us to be careful.

Now look how they get along. Farley looks like he wants to hold hand with Murphy . . .

How do you socialize your dog?

How Often Do you Back Up Your Manuscript?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

So I woke up one day and my computer didn’t turn on.

Nothing.

No satisfying noises, no flashy colours. Nothing.

Before I started to cry, I thought about when I’d last made a backup of my work.

Three days. Three days of irreplaceable words. Could I find them in my mind again? Maybe. Maybe they would even be better, but maybe not. Now I’m wondering why I don’t print anything.

Three days is too long. What was I thinking? Lucky for me, I think my computer got damp from dew. A day later, after I hadn’t touched it – and that was hard – it worked. All my writing was there.

What did I learn?

  • I back up every night now.
  • I back up onto a separate hard drive.
  • In case we take a lightning strike on our boat, I also back up off site. I use a server somewhere out there on the Internet and put my work there once a week.

How often do you back up? Enough to keep you 🙂 ?

Don’t Feel Like Writing?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 14 Comments

Sometimes getting motivated to do something, even something you want to do, is hard.

I recently checked out the Sisters In Crime website on the members only, promoting yourself page and watched a video by Meg Gardiner, author of the Evan Delaney and Jo Beckett mysteries, and now I hear her voice in my head. I paraphrased the following from her video.

A neighbour asked her how often she wrote.

She said, “Every day.”

With a look of horror in her eyes, the neighbour asked “Even when you don’t feel like it?”

“Especially when I don’t feel like it,” Meg said.

I don’t know why, but when I am having a hard time getting settled in front of my computer, I repeat this in my head, and it gets me going. Maybe it’s nice to know there are others who love to write, but sometimes have trouble getting to it.

How to you get motivated?

Related articles

Dogs and Shoes

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

Farley, my wheaten terrier, has decided it’s time to empty the closet. Guess boredom got the better of him, or he really likes shoes. He ‘dug’ the shoes out of the closet while laying on his side. When he was happy with the results, he gave me a look that said, “So what are you going to do a about.

And then made himself comfortable. At least he didn’t chew my shoes . . . This time.

Starting A Novel Scene

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

This week I’ve been thinking about starting points. On Monday, I blogged about when to begin your novel. But what about a scene?

Once you’ve decided when to start your scene, as in before the action, in the middle of the action, or after then action, what about how to start your scene?

There are different ways to do this. These include with:

  • Action
  • Dialogue
  • Thought
  • Narrative

To choose which one, I think about what I want to accomplish with the scene, what happened in the previous scene, and what’s going to happen in the next scene.

For example, if the previous scene was high on action, I might want to start the current scene with narrative, perhaps describing where the POV character is. This slows the story and gives the reader a break.

When a first draft is complete, the next step is to check whether the scenes begin in different ways. If all the scenes start with dialogue, the novel might be tedious to read.

As usual, I keep track of scene starts with a column in a spreadsheet. This allows me to quickly glance and check that I haven’t been monotonous.

What’s your method for deciding how to start a scene?

Related articles

Before the Story Begins . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

For any author, the starting point of a novel is a big decision. Do you start before the beginning, at the beginning or after the beginning? And how do you decide?

For my fourth novel, Look the Other Way, I’m trying something new. I wrote 20,000 words of the story. With 20,000 words on paper, I have a good idea who the characters are.

The characters come to life, but not fully at this point. Next, I write character synopses that include the basic details, but also the story of the character’s life up to the beginning of the novel. Each synopsis ends up being three to five pages.

The synopsis format is informal. Point form will do. I don’t worry about typos or grammar, but I do get to know my characters.

This process helps me decide where to begin my novel. It’s a creative process. As I write each synopsis, I keep a separate document open that contains plot points or ideas. By the time I have all the synopses written, I have the full novel outline done too.

From this process, I somehow know where the starting point should be and what the inciting incident is. I chose the point that will drive the characters through the story. Too early, and the scene’s aren’t needed. Too late, and an important scene might be excluded.

Next comes scene writing.

Everybody has a different process for writing a novel. What’s yours?

Free Download of Maxwell Huxley’s Demon Extended

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to everyone who has already downloaded my brother’s novel. Due to an overwhelming response, Michael Conn is extending the free download  of Maxwell Huxley’s Demon by one day. The free download will be available on Sunday too.

It’s crazy how this is working, and we are very excited.

If you get a chance, please post a review of the novel on amazon.

Thanks for all the support 🙂

Dogs and Ticks: Yuck

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

What dog doesn’t love to run off leash in a yard or in a field? My wheaten terrier certainly does and that ups the risk of him getting a tick on him.

Farley has already had ehrlichiosis, and it was not fun. He had it when he was a year old. After being bitten by a brown tick in the Bahamas, he got very lethargic. His joints hurt – we could tell because he yelped when we touched him. The pain seemed to move from on joint to another. He had a fever of 104. Lucky for us, there is a vet in George Town, Bahamas who diagnosed Farley and treated him. Now, I’m a little sensitive about ticks.

Farley in on Advantix and he has a Lyme’s disease vaccination. I’m not saying this is right for your dog, it’s just what I do. I wash him in Avon Skin So Soft body wash. This seems to reduce the number of ticks that land on him. I met a woman in a park who told me about it and, and I thought, what the hey, it couldn’t hurt to try it – and he smells sooooo nice.

Do you have any good tips for preventing ticks?