Writing a Legend

I've been faithfully working on my manuscript every day though unfortunately, due to the business of an average day, I'm only getting about 1,000 words written.  If I stick to a thousand words a day, I should be done with the first draft some time the end of April, beginning of June.

I took a break today though to write about one of my biggest problems.

If you've read any of my previous blog posts, you'll know my current WIP is a retelling of the Arthurian legend.  I'm not a historian or even a super fan, I just find the original legends interesting.  Several of the characters in Camelot come from the legends, with me throwing little tidbits of their original characters into the mix of my new creation.  It's worked out really well so far with one exception.  Arthur.

In lots of the retellings, I hate Arthur.  He's a creep of the major kind and not the saintly king he's made out to be in the original legends.  I didn't even want to read most of it.  Needless to say, with a teeny tiny bit of help from the original legend, I wanted to write Arthur my own way.  The thing is, the fear of drawing a historical hero is more daunting then I would've imagined.

I've written scenes with the other knights like Kay and Gawain.  I've even written scenes with Merlin.  It's a bit weird at times but when I get to Arthur, I freeze up.  I scrutinize every word he says, every action he does, every expression he gives.  I'm not making him my character, I'm trying to rewrite what someone else already did.

I've considered a few fixes.  Maybe giving him a different name until I'm done writing at which time I'll use the find and replace and replace "Bob" with "Arthur".  I know, it sounds silly, but I have to find the right names for my characters or I can't even write them.  Of course, Bob isn't very inspiring.  Don't think I could write a main character with that name.  Sorry to all the Bobs out there!

The most logical next step seems to be doing a really indepth character sheet on Arthur.  I may be including things from the original Arthur but this isn't the original Arthur.  This is my Arthur and I can do what I want with him.

I'll post on my progress in the next few weeks.  I've spent all morning trying to identify my problem and now I have to go do something about it!

-Anna Leigh

What Makes A Person

It doesn't take a professional to identify my writing weaknesses. I tell instead of showing, my plots have big holes in them, the plot twists are relatively easy to see coming, my world building is weak, and I can't write deep characters. I've scratched the surface of the how-to in the writing world and I could think of those five weaknesses off the top of my head. If I wanted to be here all day, I could detail my weaknesses. The hard part is finding out what I'm actually good at.

I'm obsessed with people. I watch them, question their motives, eavesdrop on their conversations, and generally make the kind of judgments I hope no one else would make about me. Part of my love for people watching came from writing and part of my love for writing came from liking people watching so much. At thirteen and fourteen, I went through this phase where I'd sit on the front porch and watch the neighbors. I owned a ton of notebooks and had started filling them with my stories. Sitting on the sun warmed concrete of the little porch, I'd watch the neighbors and make little notes about them. It was weird and earned me a lot of teasing but I enjoyed it a lot. I made up all sorts of stories revolving around the different people I saw and used them for my books. 

Yes, you can totally judge me. I know I'm weird.

If this were a great success story, I'd end it with saying that's how I became an amazing writer and how I can build such great characters. Unfortunately, all that habit earned me was an insane curiosity about what those people were actually like and little to no improvements in my character building ability. At thirteen, I didn't think you even had to do character building in a story. I mean, why would that be important? 

Anyway, this all ties in to my current problem.When writing a first draft, I don't worry too much about my inability at world building or plot holes. I focus on getting my thoughts written out in a mostly concise manner and getting to the end. It's rough, ugly, and sometimes frustrating. But in order to have a good, solid story, you need to start somewhere. 

Looking at my weaknesses, I've identified the one that bugs me the most. The fact that my characters all feel shallow and very similar. 

I've written before about my fear of writing guys in my books. I'm always afraid they're going to seem as unrealistic as several male characters I've read in other women's writing. I don't have that fear anymore. I write guys all the time. Unfortunately, the lack of depth in my characters is a much bigger problem. 

I didn't know until two years ago that people put so much into developing their characters. I mean, they're a pretty important part of having a good book. Some may argue the most important part. A lame plot can scrape by with good characters. A strong plot isn't going to be much if you have a main character who's shallower than a puddle. 

For Only Human, I dabbled in character profiles and finding out true motivations. My current WIP is ten times harder.

Gwen lives in an abusive home situation, has abandonment issues, blames herself for the things wrong around her, and she gets transported back fourteen hundred years in time. How would she react to that? How would she make things work? What would she even say?

The things I've written about Gwen so far have read inconsistently. Sometimes she's all cowering and afraid and other times, she pulls herself together and does the hard thing. My personality is warring with how little I know about my character and it's showing. My home life couldn't be less abusive, I don't have abandonment issues, I occasionally blame myself for what's wrong around me, and I've never gone back in time. 

Now, you may ask, why I chose to write someone so different than me. Because I don't want someone like me going back in time to Camelot, I want someone like her to.

I have to know more about Gwen than whether tacos are her favorite food or not. I need to get to the root of her problems and her ambitions. I have to know her as well as I know myself. 

I put together a profile on her and every night, I enter in a bit more. I have a whole cast of characters to develop and have a profile started for almost all of them. In life, every person has their ambitions, their fears, and their inconsistencies. I'm super girly but I like playing Planet Side 2 which is a first person shooter (no, I'm not usually into video games. My brother started me on that one). To someone meeting me for the first time, they'd probably be shocked. I'm into all sorts of girly stuff, I wear makeup, I'm into music, I like bright pink and sparkles, and...I like first person shooters? To anyone who knows me better, they'll know it's not out of character at all. It's just part of what builds me into a three dimensional person and  part of what makes me interesting.

Actually, people are most surprised when they find out I'm a writer. Apparently my constant talking doesn't clue them in :).

With my character profiles, I started with the basics. Age, appearance, family. After that, I wrote any back story that came to mind, pertinent to the story or not. Truthfully, it's all pertinent. Everything about your character, whether it's liking orange nail polish or the dog they saw get run over when they were first learning to drive, builds them into something real.

I'll post a character update when I get a bit more advanced into my story and hopefully learn more about my characters.

- Anna Leigh 

First Draft Madness

As I said in the last post, I'm working on my first draft for my current WIP. I've discovered several things in the last few weeks since this manuscript is different than anything else I've worked on.

Unlike my previous posts, I might actually break this one up with a few pictures.

First off, I'm using the King Arthur legend as a base for my book. For those who don't know of anything past the quite trashy romantic retellings which have been circulating for hundreds of years, the original is quite different. King Arthur is rumored to have lived sometime in the late 500s to the early 600s. Arthur's name was originally Artorex and he didn't start out as a king. Rumor has it, he didn't even originally start out as royalty but as a duke.

It wasn't until the 12th century when the knights were introduced into the stories. They were brought in to add to the romance. A French writer first introduced Lancelot at that time.

Though the original legend first tells of Arthur succeeding the throne from his father, King Uther, at fifteen, Arthur is in his twenties in my story and his father is still alive. After several years of peace, Arthur ventured out from his home to begin conquering other lands. In his absence Mordred, who would later end up killing him, took over the throne and married Arthur's wife.

Merlin is said to have aided Arthur's father though in my story, he is a much younger man and spends more time with Arthur than King Uther.

I am only bringing bits and pieces of my research into the story but I felt it would be necessary to know in order for the time period to feel right. Research has never been my strong point and having to do it for something soooo old is hard. Everything I bring into the story I have to go and look up. Real searches of mine: when were saddles invented? What did they call dresses in the 600s? Did they have boots in the 600s? Did the women wear veils in the 600s? 

These questions come up right in the middle of a sentence and I have to write them down on a note for research later. If I stopped writing to research every time I had a question, I'd never get my first draft written.

I've looked up a lot of pictures to try and get a feel for the clothes they would'v worn but the popularly recreated medieval times are nothing like what the people in the 600s would've worn (from my understanding). I've saved a lot stylized paintings which give me a picture of the romanticized times. I have a Pinterest board full of them and am saving character pictures for my character wall. Now I need to go and buy some corkboards. I'm working on character profiles right now which are super hard and not my favorite thing to do at all!

The picture to the left is a popular one usually found when you search for this time period. The dress would be really wrong for the 600s but I like the picture. It makes me feel like I'm there.





My critique group has been really kind about my first chapter and gave me some great pointers. I'm planning on reminding them this week that it's an ugly ugly first draft and I really just want critiques on the plot and characters. The writing is going to be bad and the phrases will be repetitive and passive. I want to remind them of that this week because my second chapter is, well, a first draft chapter.

My last point of awkwardness in the POV. I'm writing in third person which I'm not comfortable with. I'm strongly considering switching it to first person when I do the second draft.

Oh, and one last thing. King Arthur's crest is NOT a dragon! As anything else, that's the romanticized crest but out of all the things I read, the one I found the most was three gold crowns against an azure background.

Back to my book. I've distracted myself long enough!

-Anna Leigh

Work in Progress - The Queen Of Time

I've read an insane amount of author blogs and books on writing in the last year and come away with a few of the same things from every one. Getting rejected is part of the business. Writing isn't just a natural talent, it's something you sculpt and learn. Having strangers look your work over and give you critiques is essential. Going from these things, I've tried to apply them all.

The hardest one to start off with was the stranger critiquing. December of 2013, one of my biggest fears was showing someone my work. Seriously, if someone walks by when I'm writing, I'm super tempted to shut my computer lid or pull up the internet so they don't read it. If they ask about it, I put them off by saying I'll print it out or send it to them. I don't mean to put it off but I don't want them seeing it and finding out I'm really not a good writer but one of the many people who try but don't have what it takes.

I had to get over it.

When I put my book up on Amazon, I braced for the worst. Fortunately, my first draft has been read by a very small amount of people and the negative has been pretty minimal. The last few months of editing, I've been amazed people weren't meaner. It needed help! Big time!

So, have I gotten over my fear? Not really. But it's gotten a lot better. I still don't like people reading my book when I'm sitting there because I still tend to get sweaty palms but I'm volunteering it more by the day. If strangers ask me what I do, I tell them I'm a writer and then I give them a little synopsis about the book I'm working on. It's my dream job and instead of being scared of it, I'm starting to realize if I want it, I need to have courage and go for it. Will I ever be a best selling novelist? Probably not. Will I someday sign on with a reputable publisher to put my work into the world? Most likely. If I want it enough and work hard enough, it will happen. Now I just need to get there.

Starting January 1st, I decided this would be the year of conquering several of my fears. Putting together a short mental list, I've started working on almost all of them! I looked around online for critique groups but wasn't really too impressed with what I found. I found a free one but no one was very active on it and the one guy who answered me had my book for two weeks and never said a word or sent me his. Needless to say, I deleted his invitation to view my google doc.

I filled out a form for a group called Inspire Writers. They require a paid membership ($50.00 a year which isn't bad) but I wanted to see what they'd say. I wanted to be a part of a Christian group even though my book isn't really in the Christian genre because I didn't want to be reading a lot of the stuff that's going on outside of a Christian group.

I got an email a few days later. The lady was very nice but clear that YA is a constantly growing genre and their groups are full. She also wanted to know if I had a membership and I said no. I don't mind paying for one but I kind of want to know if it would be beneficial to me first. She said the waiting list was quite long to get into the groups. I thanked her for her time and moved on...until a week later when she sent me another email. One of the ladies had decided to start another YA writing group and Carol (the lady who originally had talked to me) was giving me an opportunity to join! Not only that but she said I could do it for three months free to see if it suited me! No brainer.

Now to what I'm going to be working on. I've settled on my King Arthur retelling. For anyone who knows me or read the beginning of this blog, retellings are where I started. The King Arthur story has be retold countless times with so many different angles but I have yet to read one I liked. The elements of my story sound similar to a few I've read but I'm going for a plot line I've never seen before. This is the initial synopsis I'm sending to my critique group.

       Eighteen year old Gwen White lives with her abusive mother and new stepfather in a little town which hasn't ever taken notice of her existence. With the loss of her only friend as well as her trusty laptop, life for Gwen has hit an all time low. 

       When her stepfather sells her out for an experiment, Gwen finds herself in the last place she expected; Camelot. Complete with the knights, the sights, and Prince Arthur, Gwen has to navigate the strange territory in the hopes she'll get back home before the mythical legend takes a deadly turn. 

This book is third person which is unusual for my normal writing style but I wanted to try something different. I've written two and a half chapters and am excited by my progress. I have yet to get into the complicated parts of the story yet and I'm sure I'll lose a bit of steam when I do. I plan to have the initial draft done by April (it would be sooner but I am still finishing my first draft of HN) and then we'll see from there.

My first chapter is due to be sent out on Sunday (the day after my twentieth birthday!) and I wish it would come already. I'm so nervous about what they'll say. After I get some critiques back, I'll post the chapter along with changes they suggested.

Anna Leigh

Final Edits and Continued Journeys

Two weeks ago I finished what I hope will be the final edit of Only Human! Besides the odd spelling mistake and some rearrangements with the number of pages in a chapter, I'm done. At least for a while.

For anyone interested, I managed to squeak out my 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo! It was scary and there were a few days when I thought I wouldn't make it but I did. As of this week, I've gotten back to my sequel and all the pressures it brings. The thing is, I have a great ending in mind and great characters to bring me there. I'm just stuck on that ever so sticky middle of the book situation. When I finished editing OH a few weeks back, I pulled open Human Nature and plunged right in. I was scared and had my notebook ready to jot down all the problems...and found surprisingly little. I mean, does it need work? Yes! Will it need some definite editing TLC? Oh yeah! But it wasn't the mess my first book. It wasn't even close. It's altogether possible I'm seeing the payoff of all the research I've been doing in the last year.

When I told my Mom I'd finished, the first thing she wanted to know was if I'd saved the last draft before I'd began this last edit. As soon as I have an improved product, I can't wait to get rid of the embarrassing one cluttering up my computer and my writing life. But when she said it, I went to my computer and unearthed the previous copy from the trash bin. She really wanted to read them side to side because she really liked the last draft and she said she's afraid she won't like my new edit as much. I assured her that wouldn't be the case. I think in the future, despite the embarrassment it might bring, I'll enjoy having that old draft. If not for anything else, I can pull it up on a discouraging day and tell myself yes, I have gotten better.

In the meantime, I have all these thoughts floating in the back of my mind about what I want to pitch to a publisher. I have a whole list of them in mind, all sorts of things saved about query letters, and a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that says I'm going to fail. I will fail but only if I look at it that way. Getting rejected once, twice, or even ten times isn't a failure. It's a learning curve. My last draft with it's bulky 115,000 word count and far too many uses of the word 'eye' and 'was' wasn't a failure. It's something I've used to move on.

All that being said, I don't love science fiction. It's what my Human series falls under but it isn't what I really like writing. I enjoy contemporary character sketches with funny moments, sad moments, and an all over feeling about how much you care about the characters. If I pitch something to an agent or a publisher, I want it to be in a genre that I'll keep writing in. As much work as I've put into my Human series, I don't want to be stuck writing science fiction. All these things leave me to figure out what I do want to use to represent myself.

I'll write again soon about the critique group I joined and the book I'm focusing on as the 'one' to send to the publisher. I promise I'll write before the date says 2016 :)

-Anna Leigh

And So The Sequel Begins...

As you may have guessed from the title, I've finally taken the plunge. I've started the scariest, most dreaded project I've ever worked on. The second book in my Human series is officially under way.

After my initial 'finish' of Only Human last December (if you've been reading my blog, you'll know why I put quotation marks around it), I started right into my sequel. Burned out from far too many late nights writing but eager to strike while the iron was still hot, I got excited a few pages in only to crash and burn two weeks later. None of it seemed to be working. I couldn't stop following the story line I'd laid out for the first one. Continuations of the characters were flat, time didn't feel like it'd passed at all and I was introduced to a new fear as a writer.

Continuing a story.

I'd heard talk of this before on various blogs or author profiles but I'd never been afraid to start a project before. I scrapped it and started over, only to scrap the second one and start over. By June, I'd started three different drafts and stopped. Mid June found me with writers block and the good sense to stop trying to salvage and just delete them all. My writer's block disappeared after a few weeks nursing myself along and concentrating on other projects, but the lingering fact was a book I couldn't get out of writing weighed on me. In September, I made a resolution. Stop trying to force the sequel, finish up the edits for OH, and concentrate on the sequel in November, known to new and veteran writers alike as NaNoWriMo. National November Writers Month is a period of time in which we as writers attempt to write fifty thousand words in thirty days. Breaking it down, it's 1,666 words a day. Not too bad on a day by day basis but skip a day and you end up having to write a whopping 3332.

In the last few weeks, I've been mulling over tons of ideas for Human Nature. I'm so grateful I deleted the other drafts since it was months ago I wrote them and without a reminder, all my previous writing has almost been forgotten to me, giving me a chance for a clean slate. Last week, a light bulb came on in my head for a different setting which made half my hardships easier and it was followed by several more light bulbs on other problems I'd been going over.

Needless to say, I felt a lot of fear sitting down at my laptop and seven o'clock this evening and opening the blank word document. People liked my first book (even in its unedited, immature form :)) but what if they hate the second one? I pushed every negative thought away and starting in the middle of a scene I'd thought up seconds earlier. It's not perfect and quite possibly in six months, won't exist anymore, but the 1731 words I wrote tonight gave me courage I haven't had all year. The courage that people will like it (I hope!) and that I can do an even better job now than I could a year ago and certainly a better job than when I carelessly started pounding Only Human out when I was sixteen.

I want to be a writer and tonight, I took another step close to that dream.

-Anna Leigh

Back In The Swing Of Things

After a two week break of all things writing (and the summer cold that inspired it), I'm back in and more inspired than ever! I haven't gotten back to OH or HN yet but I'm pounding out some words on a private book of mine. I say private because I'm writing it for my own sake and it will probably never see the light of day. Sometimes I have stories going around in my head that feel too stupid to put out there with my name on them. There's a freeing feeling about writing a book where I don't have to worry about what other people think. It's interesting because I never thought I considered my readers that much but apparently I do!

I haven't been reading too much lately but I have been watching a fair amount of Korean TV shows/variety shows which probably is what inspired my latest book. Mostly, I've been itching for a while to take on the subject of boy bands and I'm taking my chance. It will be filled with my usual sarcasm and wit :)

I've probably mentioned it before but I used to be terrified to write guys. I mean terrified! The few that managed to squeak their way into my stories were only given the shortest lines of dialogue imaginable and they were very uninteresting. I've not only gotten over my fears of writing guys (ish), but I've begun to enjoy it. It's a challenge for me to do my best at making a guy believable. The main male character of my Human series is a smart guy with a lot of responsibility who also happens to have a quirky sense of humor. In some ways, he's a bit like me in his humor and lightness of life's matters in general but in other ways, he's a lot different. He takes charge where I'd be afraid and is made up of bits and pieces of guys I know and have seen in movies. He's just as much a part of me as Abby, just hopefully in a more masculine way :)

In HN, there's a new character introduced whose name is Logan. He's not really the antagonist but he's not really a good guy. Out for what he wants and not caring who gets hurt in the process. It's hard for me to write him as a selfish character who isn't necessarily evil but isn't really good either. I have to learn something new every day.

I worked an election two weeks back and it never ceases to amaze me what kind of material I can collect from spending a day working with strangers. Granted, most of them were a lot older than me (The youngest would have been old to be my mom and the rest would've been my grandparents), but I saw a lot of different personalities, different ways people had lived their lives, and different ways people respond to pressure. Most of them mainly brought the problem to the most responsible person which, that day, happened to me. Sometimes I wish my parents hadn't raised me to be responsible but that feeling only last for half a second before reality kicks in.

I'll write again soon, hopefully before the weather breaks and we're back to cold weather :(

-Anna Leigh