This post might make me seem a little crazy... well, a little more crazy than I've already admitted to being, anyway. But I'm going to admit it: There are people living in my head and they won't shut up.
As you know, I've been working on revisions of MISFITS. I'm at the print-it-out-and-be-picky stage, which I'll start this weekend. I've held back from writing MISFITS 2, so I don't get anything mixed up between the two and to give myself a bit of a break. But then, last Wednesday I woke up with this girl in my head telling me about her life and how the first chapter of her story will start.
Obviously, I don't actually have voices talking to me but I have all of these people, stories and worlds in my head and it makes me feel a little bit nuts. I have three stories taking up room in my mind that have me researching some things for The New Story, trying to add oomph to MISFITS and thinking about how that story will continue in the sequel. It's so much that I'm having trouble sleeping. My mind simply won't turn off! I love the new ideas but oh, how I love good sleep...
On the other hand, I can't even tell you how excited I am about this new idea. It's way out of my comfort zone, the new main character is going to be a handful and I'm thinking I'll actually start working on it when I finish my revisions on MISFITS with hopes of being done before November. This means I can spend NaNoWriMo working on MISFITS 2. I would wait on this new idea for November but it's going to involve a lot more research and as much planning as I can do without going crazy. None of that lends itself to writing quickly for me.
Um, crazy is a huge theme of this post. Let's ignore it, huh?
Anyway! I'm headed out of town on Wednesday for my sister's wedding, (second time's a charm!) and will be away from humanity, (read: In Delaware) until Saturday. Maybe a long drive will help clear my head.
So, am I really crazy? Or are these people in my head something all writers deal with? Or are we ALL crazy?
-Brandy
Monday, August 15, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Setting the mood.
So, I'm finally getting everything back in order after The Month of Suck that took me away from writing/blogging/email and so on.
I've spent my first few days as a free woman brainstorming over my revisions of MISFITS as well as what's to come of MISFITS 2. Every time I think about the fact that I'm writing a sequel to an ms that isn't repped yet, I shake my head. But it's more like therapy for me right now than anything else, so I'm going with it. Yesterday I spent most of the evening with headphones on listening to Pandora with a notebook nearby and just letting ideas come to me. That helped a lot but it actually got me thinking about a few other things.
First, music helps me a lot with ideas. I can't write with music on though. I prefer an empty room with complete silence when I'm writing but there is a way that I think music is going to help me this time. The one thing I've been struggling with while writing and revising MISFITS is really setting the mood for scenes and adding that extra oomph of emotion with my characters. Last night, while I was listening to music, I added little notes about what songs I felt matched the emotion I wanted in certain scenes and I actually think that may help! I know a lot of writers do playlists, so I guess this is my spin on that. I'm really excited to start working on this tonight.
I also realized that every time I read this ms, I get distracted a lot in the beginning, but always, always read the last half in one sitting. I'm taking this as a sign that I need to make some changes to the first half. I'm toying around with re-writing it, (at least the first chapter) just to see what I end up with, so we'll see how that turns out as well.
I'm really excited about this book. I hate saying that because it makes me nervous, but I just do. Hopefully someone ::cough:: agents ::cough:: will be just as excited as I am. :)
So, does music help you too? Or are you the silent type?
-Brandy
I've spent my first few days as a free woman brainstorming over my revisions of MISFITS as well as what's to come of MISFITS 2. Every time I think about the fact that I'm writing a sequel to an ms that isn't repped yet, I shake my head. But it's more like therapy for me right now than anything else, so I'm going with it. Yesterday I spent most of the evening with headphones on listening to Pandora with a notebook nearby and just letting ideas come to me. That helped a lot but it actually got me thinking about a few other things.
First, music helps me a lot with ideas. I can't write with music on though. I prefer an empty room with complete silence when I'm writing but there is a way that I think music is going to help me this time. The one thing I've been struggling with while writing and revising MISFITS is really setting the mood for scenes and adding that extra oomph of emotion with my characters. Last night, while I was listening to music, I added little notes about what songs I felt matched the emotion I wanted in certain scenes and I actually think that may help! I know a lot of writers do playlists, so I guess this is my spin on that. I'm really excited to start working on this tonight.
I also realized that every time I read this ms, I get distracted a lot in the beginning, but always, always read the last half in one sitting. I'm taking this as a sign that I need to make some changes to the first half. I'm toying around with re-writing it, (at least the first chapter) just to see what I end up with, so we'll see how that turns out as well.
I'm really excited about this book. I hate saying that because it makes me nervous, but I just do. Hopefully someone ::cough:: agents ::cough:: will be just as excited as I am. :)
So, does music help you too? Or are you the silent type?
-Brandy
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Quick hello!
It's been over a month since I blogged last! How in the world did that happen?
Well, actually I know how. For some reason I thought it would be smart/fun/a good idea to sign up for three intense summer courses (I'm desperate to graduate, really) and these courses basically stuff everything that you would learn in a full four month semester into one month. It's not just my online friends who haven't seen me lately... no one has.
I haven't returned e-mails, I haven't tweeted as much and obviously, I haven't blogged. So if you're waiting to hear from me, give me a day or two and I'll be back in action. I'm currently procrastinating while I should be finishing a final project, and decided to post something to explain my absence. So I'm not back for real quite yet.
A quick book/writing update: Somehow, I found time to do my first round of revisions on MISFITS during these intense classes. I still love this book and actually can't wait to dig into it for the second time... I'm thinking I'll end up doing three to four rounds, reading it a different way each time, whether on my Nook, laptop or on paper. I have three weeks off before a very full, but not nearly as intense, fall semester starts and I'd like to be done revising by the end of August.
Also, while I'm revising MISFITS I'm working on a new WIP. I swore on Twitter I wouldn't talk about it, but I'm among friends here, right? Right. So, the other night I accidentally sat down and wrote the first chapter of MISFITS 2. I know, I know. You shouldn't write a sequel to a book that hasn't been repped or sold yet. I know. But I've been in a tiny (read: HUGE) funk lately and while I sat around wondering what I could do to cheer myself up, I realized it was writing the next story for my MISFITS characters. I'm only doing this for me, and I swear I'll write something new in November for NaNoWriMo. MISFITS 2 is really just me wanting to write it, without thoughts of what will happen when I put MISFITS 1 out to agents.
Oh, wow... so this wasn't as quick of a post as I thought it would be. I should go finish this project. After that, I'll be back for good though.
I MISSED you all!
-Brandy
Well, actually I know how. For some reason I thought it would be smart/fun/a good idea to sign up for three intense summer courses (I'm desperate to graduate, really) and these courses basically stuff everything that you would learn in a full four month semester into one month. It's not just my online friends who haven't seen me lately... no one has.
I haven't returned e-mails, I haven't tweeted as much and obviously, I haven't blogged. So if you're waiting to hear from me, give me a day or two and I'll be back in action. I'm currently procrastinating while I should be finishing a final project, and decided to post something to explain my absence. So I'm not back for real quite yet.
A quick book/writing update: Somehow, I found time to do my first round of revisions on MISFITS during these intense classes. I still love this book and actually can't wait to dig into it for the second time... I'm thinking I'll end up doing three to four rounds, reading it a different way each time, whether on my Nook, laptop or on paper. I have three weeks off before a very full, but not nearly as intense, fall semester starts and I'd like to be done revising by the end of August.
Also, while I'm revising MISFITS I'm working on a new WIP. I swore on Twitter I wouldn't talk about it, but I'm among friends here, right? Right. So, the other night I accidentally sat down and wrote the first chapter of MISFITS 2. I know, I know. You shouldn't write a sequel to a book that hasn't been repped or sold yet. I know. But I've been in a tiny (read: HUGE) funk lately and while I sat around wondering what I could do to cheer myself up, I realized it was writing the next story for my MISFITS characters. I'm only doing this for me, and I swear I'll write something new in November for NaNoWriMo. MISFITS 2 is really just me wanting to write it, without thoughts of what will happen when I put MISFITS 1 out to agents.
Oh, wow... so this wasn't as quick of a post as I thought it would be. I should go finish this project. After that, I'll be back for good though.
I MISSED you all!
-Brandy
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