Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Wisdom of Others

The Second Book Saga continues. I'm at about 20K (I need about 85K) and I keep hitting walls. Frankly, the computer crash came at a "good" time since I was still trying to work out the plot for Numero 2. Well, I do know the big stuff that's going to happen in the story, but it's all the rest of it I'm pretty foggy on. Which is par for the course at this point so I'm not freakin'.

Fortunately a fellow writer (the talented Gillian Summers) pointed me toward a
review of THE AWAKENENING by Kelly Armstrong. The reviewer is Sarah Rees Brennan the author of THE DEMON'S LEXICON, also a Young Adult author. Sarah wisely explains how she feels a three book set outta play out (and I quote here): "Book 1: set up. Book 2: make out. Book 3: defeat evil!"

Well, there we are. Frankly it makes a great deal of sense and also explains why Book 2 has been kicking my can -- I do have a lot more interaction between Riley (the heroine) and the other folks in her world, in particular Simon (her new boyfriend), Beck (who insists on acting like her annoying big brother) and her best bud Peter. And then there's the mysterious hunky guy who is making her eyes cross cuz he's just so...hunky. Sigh... Much is happening in this book, but on a more intimate, personal level. If I work hard, I'll pull it off.

I also really enjoyed a recent post by Maggie Stiefvater who laid out the basics of how to write a novel. It's completely on target -- no butt in chair, no novel. Even writing a few hours of day will eventually get you a book. She's proof of it. So go forth and procrastinate no more, would-be writers. You have been given your marching orders.

And now back to teasing out the finer points of teen angst with a nice overlay of nasty demons. I've said it before -- my job rocks!

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