Cultural Cross-pollination...or something of the sort

Ok, on-coming migraine aside I really need to make note of the fact that part of what I want to show in Heritage is that what is in one culture can influence and affect others in many ways -. this could be technologically, artistically or even politically.

I want to be able to show some of the nifty neat things that exist but without having to make them useless drips of info. Working them (and the scenes with them in).

Been out of it. Am back in it.

About 2 or 3 weeks ago (I know, beat me for my non-productive behavior) I wrote a very quick n dirty start to a scene with S & E in it. Something that I had hoped initially to use as a lead in to the novel.

I'm planning on looking at it later this week and giving it a go over.
I'll decide then what to do with it. I'm also going to take the advice of Milk and going to just start writing. I don't have to necessarily start at the beginning (although yes, it is in my nature to do so).

Hopefully, when I find a new job I'll have more time for mini-writing breaks LOL!

1st step out of a thousand miles....

Now, on the writer-ly notes of the day:

I've been doing a lot of hemming and hawing about how to get where I want to go with Heritage. As I stated previously in deciding to switch focus characters it meant a majority (if not all) of the plot would change. Motivations would change. Outcomes & events of import would have to change...I would have to dump favorite scenes in the trash... (this is the part I am having the hardest time with--I'm so attached to some of those!)

But what I kept asking myself, as I sat at work (mindlessly processing quote forms, sales proposals & making hotel bookings etc.) was:
WHERE do I start now? How do I start when I feel like everything I know is at loose ends?

I know. ..
When in doubt....... Brainstorm. Chart. Scribble. draw goofy diagrams.
Anything to make some of the ideas fall into place.

The problem I have is starting... Beginnings have never been my strong point. And the fact that so many manuscripts/novels are judged on the first couple lines (or if you're lucky, pages) it puts a tremendous amount of pressure to get it right.
Do you start with something dramatic--hoping to suck the reader in? Do i start with a small amount of exposition...not an info-dump...but something to give some flavor before introducing the characters?

I can't seem to decide.
I think I am going to have to spend time this weekend with some note-cards and try placing the major points in some sequence that i find interesting. I'm supposing if i don't find them interesting no one else will...



Non-Writing related Notes:
Took today off as a personal holiday, and got in touch with the recruitment agency. They like my CV a good deal and were fairly positive about finding me something soon. It'll be a good change for me I think.

Seriously, if there's one thing I will miss (in the future) about leaving England it will be cream tea! (I know clotted cream sounds gross, but believe me--put some on a nice fresh scone, some small strawberries and a nice hot cup of tea! Yummm!)

final note:
Although I have been starting to feel like I'm getting back in control of my health....Mark has given me a dose of his Man-Flu...
I've now got a very scratchy sore throat [and once more I have proven to my other half that I CAN sleep and suck on a cough drop/ sucret/strepsil at the same time and not choke to death! Hah! mark one down for me on the evolutionary scale of strangeness (along with that extra tooth on the rear molar that all the W people seem to have!)]

Re-considering where to start

For more than a couple years I have worked sporadically on Healer's Heritage. I did re-writes, I changed character motivations, added folks, killed off folks, and somewhere in the process...what I had I became bored with.
So I left it alone for almost a year.
The last couple of months I have been doing a LOT of thinking about it.
What I want.
Where I want to go.
And how to get there.

They sound like pretty simple questions...Don't they?

They should be. After all, I know the plot & characters inside out. E, J, S & V. I know who I empathize with, who I root for and who, I don't care for at all.
Maybe I got so comfortable that the old adage of familiarity breeds contempt has come true (Gah, is my mother right after all??)

I've determined (with some help from looking at critiques I've had along with general comments from test readers) That I had, quite possibly, chosen the wrong person for my main character. S was slated to be the side-kick/foil from the very onset... However, everywhere that she's ever seen writing she is a more interesting, and possibly sympathetic character. Much more so than E, who drew repeated comments from readers regarding her immaturity and naivety.

So, that leaves me wondering.... If I switch the main character E for S... what else do I have to change or alter (or chuck outright) from the plot lines I had established?

Ok, first, I need to shift the focus of it from E... Her main point was progressing from an immature teen who everyone and their brother manipulated, to an adult --with a certain hard edge and the realization that she had to take responsibility for her own life & people can only manipulate her if she allows it. Couple that in with the fact that her sister J kept trying to find ways to apply pressure to make her leave the sisterhood, V & his wife were plotting against her and attempting to abduct her......

And what did I have (in that plot-line) planned for S?

I knew she was excited to have the chance to serve in a larger household, and then-- to be able to serve as a chronicler in a royal household-- something near the top of her end-all-be-all ambitions.... And yea, she was supposed to be instrumental in seeing that E escaped from V's kidnapping attempt.

But what else?
Do I have enough about her, or for her to make a couple of good (read: interesting) plot lines?

What do I Have? (overall: in no particular order)
Motivationally speaking....

1. J & her ambitions to rise politically & socially.
2. J's determination to see E out of the sisterhood & faithfully producing heirs for the family line. E taking up control so that that she (J) can regain what she had to relinquish in the past. (J sees E as a way to hold even more power--by using E as an extension of herself).
3. E's continued attempts to rebel against J.
4. E's immaturity and how it places her into trouble/makes her easy to victimize.
   
5. S has an active healing ability, which places her in a level of some importance within the sisterhood.
6. S is less than thrilled about this ability, as it detracts attention from the effort she has put into her scribal and chronicling skills.
   
7. S desperately wants her attention and acclaim to be rec'd because of those skills--something she was not born with, something that she had to work at.(this said, at the end of the day, S is fairly dependent on her self worth from those around her).
8. Because S, E & J are all related (the fact that S has the healing ability also shows that it is latent in E. J also wants to have S try to see if she can act as a catalyst to make E's active. E thinks it's a great idea, since it means that there would be more of a difficulty in J forcing her to leave the sisterhood, S thinks it would be great, because it would take the pressure (professionally speaking) off her and allow the other members of the sisterhood to focus on E as the Healer-in-Residence...instead of her. That would allow S to retreat back to her position as chronicler...in peace.
9. J's varied actions to put S& E in positions that will benefit her politically.

So.... taking all that in....
Yes, its got commonalities with the original.
It has some new ideas (thank you temp-job mindlessness!)
t has room for me to grow. More importantly, it lets me play with all of the characters still, but actually allows me more room to grow with them--which is something I didn't really expect!

• How can I fit the other plot lines in? Can I?

• Can I still manage to fit in a rival religious order/entity that ultimately is making moves against the sisterhood?

• How do I weave in A's story (considering that by the end of this book, S should be working with A & essentially keeping her alive? Or betraying her trust...)

In the prior incarnations I always started J pretty high up the ladder politically. I am toying with the idea of beginning with her at the secondary position (one that Naje held) I'd like to make her struggles more involved and then when she does rise it has more impact...as will the events with E hopefully--they should affect both S, J,V & A in major ways.

Is it do-able?
I think so. If nothing else, it gives me a new slant on old characters and allows me to look deeper into a lot of details that I glossed over (or downright ignored) in previous versions.

Now, all I really have to do...is put together some semblance of a plot outline (in the barest possible sense since they tend to bog me down otherwise) and get to writing.

Now, in the meantime.... CUPCAKES!!!

Hello... Cupcakes ..

A quick hello and first post for this blog!
(must keep it quick lest I burn the cupcakes I'm making for my co-workers)

A few things to mention:

• I write fantasy fiction.
• I predominantly read science fiction, fantasy, historic fiction, and various bits of non-fiction.
  
• I'm not published. Yet.
  
• I will be. I just don't know when...
• I'm not going to go into great detail in this blog about plot points and excerpts. I will be posting chapters as I finish them at www.critters.org and when I do I'll post about it along with a link.
• I welcome comments and am happy to meet and talk with otehr writers of fantasy or science fiction (actually, I don't care what genre you write--I'm happy to chat anyway) So, don't be shy and do comment. :)

P.S. If you're good at constructive criticism I'll always be willing to share a cupcake!