The thing about writing for me is that I have to sort of rev my engine a bit when I'm beginning a new project. I spend a lot of time working on the outline so I know exactly where I'm going when I start. I know lots of writers work "organically," starting with a character or two and maybe a general idea of the plot and then they let it happen from there.
That scares the hell out of me!
If I did it that way, I would write and write and get off track and maybe get back on track and editing and rewriting would be a major hassle. Instead, I spend as much time as I can developing the outline, knowing what some candy bar scenes will be, and listening to the voice of my narrator. Only when it's bursting out of my head do I begin.
Believe me, I have started too soon and although I have finished those books, they are pure crap.
So now I have my outline and I'm raring to go...but it takes me a little while to build up to my 2K per day output. I have to gradually leave the real world behind and enter the one I have created and it's hard to let go sometimes. Especially now, while I'm constantly checking things on the internet and I'm worried about the books I have out there and if people like them and asking myself what I can possibly do to earn more money...augh!!!!!!!
I won't be comfortable that I know where I'm going and what I'm doing until I hit the 150 page mark - that's about halfway through the story for me. I'm struggling a bit now, and it's taking me far longer to get my word count this week. To help me along, I'm trying something I've never done before: I am posting pictures in front of my work area of what I think my characters look like.
It just came to me last night...I was flipping through some holiday catalogs and I realized many of the models sort of resembled characters from my new book. It takes place in a tiny New England town and these models were all wearing LL Bean type clothes and were posed in fake snow. Perfect! I cut out a few pictures and now I'm going to place them on my corkboard so I can see them as I work. Maybe it will inspire me!
