The Lipstick Wars Saga

Last year I began writing my next Visiting Teaching Adventure, "Lipstick Wars!" It all started from some paintings from my friend's mother where she had drawn a tank with a lipstick tube as the cannon. Combine that with a young mother with an escaping toddler and ta-da, Lipstick Wars was born. The problem was when I tried to do an episodic adventure, connecting it to my last one, I had more characters than season three of House. (You know, where he hires all those interns?)

The first time I finished it, it was unweildy with four main characters, two major plot lines and over 85,000 words. I thought it was a masterpiece but due to length and magnitude, it was REJECTED with encouragement to rewrite it.

So I nixed the subplots, got rid of a couple characters and turned the others to stock (sounds like soup.) I finished it last night but in doing so have a few major plot flaws that I have to work through but am blind to. Today I'm going to roll up my sleeves and clean the house, face laundry, catch up on cubscouts and write an analysis for my hubby. Hopefully, while I'm vacuuming or folding clothes, the answer will hit me light a bolt of lightening.

Tomorrow I'm sending it out to readers with or without the changes. Maybe they won't notice that the teenager who nearly loses her testimony from an ambivalent and shaken young mother, never really contributes to the final scene AT ALL. Ugh.

There's got to be a way....

Sometimes You Just Need to Start Writing

I've been doing a lot of reading about plotting a book, laying out characters, creating a calendar of events and prep work that helps a story to be more solid and consistent. So I decided to try it. I had a rough idea of where I wanted my next novel to go but wasn't clear on conflicts or details and set aside an afternoon to diagram it out. Well, it was one of the worst afternoons of my life. Nothing. I couldn't envision my characters, I was constantly side-tracked and ended up wondering if I should abandon the story completely.

Then yesterday my cleaning lady came. I've never had a cleaning lady before but with my writing finally being published, my husband agreed and I LOVE her. She only comes once a week and when she gets here the house usually looks like a tornado hit it. We work in tandem. I do laundry and pick up the kids clothes and other junk, while she does the floors, bathrooms and windows. When she leaves, I love my house again and dance around feeling free! So after she left, I was in a great mood and pulled out the computer, wanting to create something fabulous. Without knowing where I was going, I just started writing. By the time the kids came home from school I had written eight pages of really good stuff. My setting was clarified as was my conflict. It was a fabulous day!

I guess what I need to learn from the experience is that different techniques work for different people. I do think when the first draft is finished, calendaring would be wonderful, but for me I'm not ready to go there until the story is written because I like the story to take form on its own. To unfold like a flower, rather than to be forced into a preconceived form. I hope that way the story is more believable, opens the readers eyes to a new perspective and touches their heart, encouraging them to action.

So today I'm on to chapter two. I don't quite know where it's going to go, but that is the fun of it.