I'm coasting toward Dragon*Con and hacking my way through Book #2 of the Demon Trappers Series whilst I wait for edits on Book #1. So I thought I'd give you an idea of how my writing process does (or doesn't work).
I start the first book. This is like first love! I discover characters. I realize they're not telling me everything, which means there will be an author gotcha down the line. I pray that said author gotcha doesn't happen after the first book is printed and there is no way to change something I will live to regret.
Finish first book, convinced it rocks. No, it sucks. Rocks. Sucks. Repeat those two in an endless loop until I start Book #2 so I don't go nuts.
Book #2. Yup, I'm working on Book #2. Fingers on keyboard, butt in chair, iced tea at elbow. Long passages of prose will flow any moment now. Any moment now. Hello? Earth to Jana? Why aren't those fingers moving?
(Crickets chirping). Gee, maybe I should clean the catbox. Oh, don't have one since the feline moved onto a new address (points upward).
Okay, then I'll write. (Crickets.)
Maybe the heroine should...ah...do some laundry or something. Yeah, that's it. She's not done washing in Book #1 and is probably low on underwear and jeans. That outta eat up a page or two.
(Crickets.) Let's take her to the hospital to visit "X" (major plot spoiler here if I reveal the name).
Okay now we're visiting "X". This is working. Deep, angsty scene. Cool. Lots of hidden stuff that will be really nifty when it's revealed down the line.
Now a scene with the hunky, mysterious dude. A scene with the one guy who pushes all her buttons, in sequence.
(More crickets.) Okay, how's about the big battle scene?*headdesk* Battle scene is in BOOK NUMBER THREE. So is Big Decision Scene and the Big Emotional Scene, all of which are VERY clear to me at this point in time.
Why am I only getting scenes from Books #3 and beyond when I'm working on #2?
Because that's the way my author mind works. It lives to torture me. Over the years it's gotten quite proficient at it. If you listen closely, you can hear its evil chuckling in the background.
Situation normal. I think I'll go around the neighborhood and find a catbox to clean just for something to do.
(Cue crickets.)
2 comments:
Hi Jana,
You could always write the scenes for book 3 to get them out of your mind. Remove the clutter. Then you'll have new room to create more clutter. There's also the possibility of watching the main character practice Taiji. (crickets)
You're right, that's exactly what I'll have to do. Those scenes are jamming my operating system. I did that sorta thing for the Rover series and it worked pretty well.
Practice Taiji. Excellent idea. Riley isn't inclined, but I suspect the author should be.
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