WIP Wednesday: Sequels, Plotting, and Save The Cat!

 

For the past few months I have been attempting to write the second in the Wanderlust series.  I've blogged a bit about it.  I wrote a few chapters of one version, hit a wall, wasn't liking where my characters were going, so I started fresh with a different plot line.  Then I got stuck again.  Grr.  


This is a bit of a new issue for me.  For my first two books, I had moments where I had to stop and rework something  or cut a chapter, but for the most part, I continued to move forward without much issue.  Now I've found myself with a version of writer's block. 


Many writers say that there is no such thing as writer's block--that it's just another label for fear.  Perhaps, that's true.  I definitely have a fear of writing the second story in the series before the first has sold--even though it would be a connected series where each story could stand alone, not sequels per se.  I think this fear is what is smothering the creative part of my brain.  Then, after reading Nathan Bransford's post on sequelitis yesterday, my fear is even further confirmed. 


So about two weeks ago, I put that project on the side and returned to Exposure Therapy.  With this one, however, I decided I was going to tie up my inner pantser and toss her in a closet.  This story has a suspense/mystery element, which requires more intricate planning.  So, I am attempting to *gasp* plot beforehand.  


It's been painful.  My version of plotting so far has consisted of writing about ten notebook pages of bullet points that say--perhaps this happens, then maybe he does this because of this, etc.  I wouldn't so much call it plotting at this point, it's more brainstorming.  But I think I almost have all the pieces I need to get started on a more structured outline.  But what does that look like?


Blogs to the rescue!  I was going through my Google Reader and came across this great post over at The Guide to Literary Agents Blog about the screenwriting book Save the Cat  by Blake Snyder.

I thought the information was great, so I googled the book to see if I could find anything else out there on it.  Lo and behold, I found Ciara Stewart's post on Story Structure from Save the Cat! and I think it's just what I needed to help me start my outlining.  She posted Blake Snyder's 15 beat structure for stories using a Nora Robert's book Born In Fire as an example.  Here's the graphic she posted.  (I'm sorry some of it is cut off, nothing I did fixed it.  If you save the image on your computer, you'll get the whole thing.)

 

(image copied from Ciara Stewart's blog)

I thought this was a terrific summary.  It's originally based on screenwriting, but I think the trends in books these days are very much like movies--quick hook, jump into the action, etc.  So, I'm going to attempt to use this to make a rough plot of my book before I type any of the story.  We'll see how it goes.  Hopefully, it will move along quickly, because I'm ready to write!

*Alright, on a completely different note, thanks to everyone who participated in The Beta Club yesterday.  Your input was awesome.  Remember, there will be another submission tomorrow!  For those of you that participated, how did you find the experience?  Was having my own crit posted helpful or would the comments from others be enough?  Did anyone have trouble opening the scribd document?*

Okay, and for today's questions:  Do you plot?  If so, what structure do you use?  How do you feel about writing sequels before book one has sold?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Move Along" - The All-American Rejects

(player in sidebar--go ahead, take a listen)

Backstory: Avoiding Flat Characters

Photo by AForestFrolic (click pic for link)

In an effort to think positively, I have decided to start on the second romance in the Wanderlust series.  Initially, I had moved on to a different project because I have a fear of starting a sequel before Book one sells.  But in this case, the books are meant to be free-standing stories if necessary--i.e. a character is pulled from book one but it's a different band member's story.  (For those of you who have beta read for me, this would be Sean's story.)

Plus, the characters have been poking me in the ribs demanding I let them have their own story.  So I have started doing my haphazard outlining for book two and have the concepts sketched out for books three and four.  See, I told you, I'm in positive thinking mode.  There better be something to that whole "Secret" thing Oprah's always talking about.  :)

So as I get my thoughts together on the book, I realized that one of the most important components for me is backstory.  If I don't know the character's backstory, then I have trouble starting the book.  There are writers out there that say you shouldn't worry about backstory, just focus on what is going on with the character's right now, but I don't agree.  Yes, we should not bog the reader down with all aspects of the character's history.  However, I as the writer need to know even if it never makes it in the book.  This goes hand and hand with motivation for me.  Why does the character act this way?  Because of A, B, C.  If I don't know this then I'm just writing a paper doll--a flat caricature with no shadows or depth.

So along with plotting and such, I come up with the big events in the character's history.  Think of this like Dr. Phil's "defining moments" technique.  He often asks his guests to list the five or ten defining moments in their lives--things that happened that changed everything.  Now hopefully your story is starting one of these moments, but you also need to know the ones from their past.  And they don't all need to be smack-you-upside-the-head incidents.

Maybe when you character starred in a play at school, his parents decided to go to his brother's football game instead--showing him who they favored.  Maybe that has made him fiercely competitive.

Or take inspiration from your own history.  I hate when people are late--loathe it.  Why?  Because when my dad used to pick me up for my every other weekend visit he was notoriously late--sometimes half an hour, sometimes much longer.  Sitting on that front step waiting for him made me feel like whatever was keeping him from picking me up on time was more important than me.

It is especially vital to know the history when your character has some less than admirable qualities or takes some undesirable action.  For instance, my character is in a band and has been a bit of womanizer in the past.  So I need to motivate that properly to let the reader eventually forgive him for these past actions and be open to seeing him as the hero.

Now the key to all of this is to know your character inside and out, but to be able to convey that to your reader without telling them all that background.  So, tomorrow I am going to go through some techniques of how to work in your backstory without bogging down your story.

So what is your method?  Do you start writing and develop backstory as you go along or do you need to know the history before getting started?  Or, do you believe that backstory isn't that important and that you should only worry about the here and now of the character?

 

 

**Today's Theme Song**

 

"My Paper Heart" - All-American Rejects

(player in sidebar if you'd like a listen)

WIP Wednesday & Choosing a New Baby

First off, I want to say thank you to all you guys and gals that follow my blog and regularly comment. I've passed the 75 followers mark and am so grateful to all of you. Your comments and your blogs are such a wealth of information and insight, I can't believe I waited so long to join the blogging world. You guys rock!

Now for WIP Wednesday. I can't say that I have too much to report. Since I was on vacation much of last week, I only managed to revise two chapters in my WIP. The good news is I'm almost through the first round of edits. It's gone way quicker than I expected, so I'm happy about that. It helps that the book is category length, so it's 30k less words to slog through than my first manuscript.

So now that I'm getting close to round one edits being over, I'm itching to start another project. I feel restless when I'm not writing. I have a few ideas knocking around in the bat cave, but I haven't decided which baby to choose yet. 

The most developed idea is for a YA (non-supernatural) romance. I also wrote Shadow Falls with intent for a sequel, so I could start that. Although, I have this superstitious thing about starting a sequel to a book that isn't agented yet.

Also, I had so much fun writing the adult romance I just finished, that I'm wondering if I should do another one of those. I have a suspense storyline in my idea notebook that I could turn into an adult romantic suspense. Hmm. Decisions. Decisions.

How do you decide which project is the perfect one to start next? Do you stick to writing the same genre or switch around? Do you start sequels before the first book has gotten picked up? How's your WIP going?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Perfect One" - Lit

(player in sidebar--go ahead, take a listen, everyone needs a love song in their day)