And how does that make you feel?

This is what I have learned in the last two weeks:  a good book isn't about what events happen in the story -- it's about how the character changes.  It's about how those events make her feel, and what they cause her to do next.  

A vague concept of this idea has been running around in my head.  Two weeks ago I started  (re)reading  Laura Griffin's books to analyze what makes them so good, and to help me figure out what is missing from my own story.  I figured out it's all that introspection, all that feeling and emotion she puts in them.  

Then today I got my daily email about a new post on Writer Unboxed.  Lisa Cron's "The Importance of Letting Them See You Sweat" struck a chord. With my interest piqued, I followed the link to her craft book, "Wired For Story", which in turn led me to another WU post, "Here's What Both Pantsibg and Plotting Miss: The Real Story" and POW!  Right in the kisser!

Lisa smacked me with a very understandable discussion on the concepts of INTERNAL GMC.  I know GMC. I can do GMC.  But my WIP is currently all external GMC.  I have 65,000 words about the events that happen in the story.  That's the plot.  I need to get to the parts about how what happens makes her feel.  About why she's going to take that next action.  I need to get to the internal stuff.

I have heard this before.  I just wasn't ready to learn it yet, I guess.  Right when I was FINALLY ready to get it, internal GMC popped up.  Thank you, Lisa Cron.  

Now excuse me while I go dissect my book - yet again - to make it more than just a bunch of interesting events happening.

Twisted?

When I told my husband about my idea for a thriller (after writing two romances), he glanced sideways at me and took a few steps back. Then announced he would be sleeping on the couch that night. I guess the idea scared him, which is great for a thriller. Or maybe I scared him. Which is not so great.

This is my battle when I write. Where did this idea come from? Am I twisted? What will people think of me when they read it?

Books that scare me, or books with really evil villains, fill me with both awe and envy. I don't think negatively of the author. In fact, it's just the opposite. I want to create things like that. Is that because I'm a writer? Or do all thriller readers have that reaction? I believe it's this second one, because a lot of those books are best sellers.

I think I will post a list of the authors whose books have inspired me to write great thrillers next to my computer to remind myself to ignore the voice in my head that questions what Aunt Sarah will think and listen instead to the other voices telling me the best way to torture that character.

Oh, wait. Maybe I am twisted.

Really? Three years? I can't believe it.

I haven't posted on here in three years? THREE YEARS? That's, like, over 1,000 days. Wow.

And I wouldn't be doing it now if not for this handy-dandy Blogger app. It's right here on my smartphone and I don't have to boot up the laptop or find the cord or wait for updates to install.

I actually have two laptops (well, three if you count the REALLY old one), plus my husband!'s and my daughter's, so that's five computers in the house that I never use, except for writing. I read email on my phone. I check Facebook on my phone. And now that my bank has an app, I use my phone for banking, too.  I've tried writing on the phone, too, but it  doesn't work.  

I just wish the phone screen was bigger so I could see what the heck I'm typing/posting/paying!

I love craft books!

Almost put the title of this post as my facebook status but I have a lot of friends who don't know me as a writer and I didn't want to talk about crocheting. :)

I'm reading "Writing the Breakout Novel" by Donald Maass. I missed the RWA conference this year, but read several blogs about it and his Fire In Fiction workshop was highly praised. I attended his workshop last year (well, most of it) and loved it. Borders was out of "The Fire in Fiction" when I was on my latest craft-book-buying spree but I happily picked up WBN instead.

Loving it! It's getting me inspired and helping me find answers to questions I didn't even know I should be asking my characters or about my story. Making progress!

And yet also feeling overwhelmed. :)

Revise or start over

I sit down with all these new ideas to revise a scene. Then I start reading what's there and end up just making little changes here and there and none of my new fabulous ideas come out in the "finished' product. :(

So my new approach is to just start the scene over. Fresh page, new document, whatever - just start with a clean slate and get the new ideas out there. My plan is to later merge the two and keep what I like from both.

We'll see if that works. :)

Cruisin' back to life

Had a blast - the weather was fabulous, the water was an incredible color blue, the food was plentiful and delicious, and my mom and sisters and I were able to complete whole conversations with no interruptions from kids or hubbies - did I mention it was fabulous?

But I'm back to the real world now and back to working on craft and content. I'm still reading Jack Bickham's book (took a break for a bit), plus I'm reading another on characterization. Plus I'm studying scene & sequel a little more closely. And trying (but failing!) to get some actual new words in my WIP. I just re-joined our chapter's writing challenge to help me get my booty in gear, though.

Stay tuned for progress...

Uh, hi, May...

When did you get here?

Although I can multi-task most things, I can't seem to do it with writing and blogging. I'm either writing or blogging (which is also writing, but not making progress in my manuscript!). I've been writing. Kinda.

Mostly I've been learning. Scene and sequel is great stuff! I'm planning edits, making a few here and there, and plotting out the rest of the story using this technique, so I haven't been blogging.

Hope all is fine with you - I'm going back to my manuscript, but I should be back next week to tell you about the cruise I'm going on this weekend!

Have a great week!