Lots of characters, but no story?

I find that that’s becoming my issue lately. I have a slew of characters, but every scenario i put them in doesn’t seem a decent fit.

The way things generally go, a character will prance into my head, and I then spend copious amounts of time prying information from said character, whether it be plot, background, relationships, anything like that. And then I try and build a story from it.

And for some reason that I can’t begin to fathom, it just isn’t working this time around.

Has this every happened to anyone? Have you ever solved it? Or are your characters still waiting for a purpose?

Don’t worry, I’m sure things will return to normal shortly

So I’ve recently recovered from a computer crash!  Thankfully, all  my important documents had already been saved and backed up onto an external hard drive, a flash drive, email, and everything else I could possibly think of. So when people tell you to back up your work? They are not lying.

In other news, I’ve downloaded this nifty little program from windows live which should help me keep up with blogging a bit more! It’s called “Windows Live Writer” and it connects to your blog via your desktop. For me, this is a very nice feature. most of the time when I think “Hmmmm, I should blog”, I’m almost always instantly distracted by other things (Like google, facebook, twitter….)

But hopefully, with this nifty little contraption, it should come to an end and you can all kick me in the pants if it doesn’t.

Tonight at midnight I, along with a bunch of other most likely criminally insane individuals will be starting JulNoWriMo, which is exactly what it sounds like, National novel writing month, except in July. Whooopee! We’ll see how far I get with my new project.

What's Fantastic About the Hunger Games?

I really want to know.

I've constantly been hearing about this book/series for about... a year? two years now? And I'm curious. What's the huge appeal? I feel a little suspicious about the hype.

What, in your views, makes this book series so wonderful?

Contest hosted by Abby Stevens!

Located here: http://www.abbystevens.com/2010/05/pink-carnation-of-hands-and-teeth.html

I"ve wanted to read "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" for a while now, and this seems like the perfect (and fun!) opportunity for a free copy!

So go enter! Go go go! Now! Why are you still reading this?

WHAT.

So I realized last night while doing something completely unrelated, that if I approached my novel in a different direction, I could possibly even out a lot of plot holes. This is the good thing! The bad thing?

I'd have to rewrite the entire thing.

Again.

Oh well. This is what revision is for.

Huzzah!

So last night at exactly 10:41, I finished the first draft of my novel "LEGIT". Eeeee! Now. Tweaking to send it off to my dear, darling readers, while simultaneously praying it does not break their brains.

Roadtrip Wednesday

Today on YA Highway they asked the question, what images inspire you?

Even though I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to finding actors and actresses for my characters, that isn't what inspired me this time around. The painting "Letting Go Starts the Healing" by the incredibly talented Aaron Jasinski speaks miles on what I feel for my work in progress (of which I just reached a monumental 50k! Can I get a "HUZZAH!"?)

Both the characters portrayed in the painting remind me so strongly of my own, and even the tone of the painting emits the same feelings that I feel for my work. If I had any sort of power over what my cover would be if this novel somehow (Rather, miraculously) were up for publishing, this painting would be it.

So what about you guys? What pictures inspire you?

I Live, I promise!

To prove that I am, in fact, a living breathing person and that this is not just a dump space for Teaser Tuesdays that probably no one ever reads, I present to you a meme!

What’s Your Writing Style?

1. Are you a “pantser” or a “plotter?”
Both. I used to call myself a plain old "pantser", but it isn't accurate anymore. If I were a pantser, I wouldn't do an ounce of research before starting a project. But! Oh, wow, look! I actually did research this time! ...A lot of it.


2. Detailed character sketches or “their character will be revealed to me as a I write”?

Both, once again. I need to know the character before I start writing, or else it feels stinted. Not real. This doesn't mean that I fill out character survey after character survey, but I'll write a character sketch, or imagine their dialogue in my head. Although, just because I do all this doesn't mean that the moment my fingers touch the keys (or put the pen to paper) that it won't all fly out the window. Characters are helpful like that.


3. Do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing?

I need to stop answering both to these questions. But yes, most of the time I do know their goals and such. They need to be going somewhere to get to it, right?

4. Books on plotting – useful or harmful?

Try as I might, no matter what book it is, I can't seem to sit down and read anything on writing. For me, the best course of learning is to actually sit down and do it. (Though I do admit that my preferred form of procrastination is to read Author Blogs)

5. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?

Haaahahahahahahahahaha.

Procrastinator, through and through. I'll want to write, but after sitting down and staring at my WIP for five minutes, I'll decide that I'd rather read, or watch youtube videos, or play with my cat. Or, God forbid, do housework.

If I actually force myself to sit down and write, though, I'll


6. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?

Dare I say it? Okay, yeah, I do. BOTH.


7. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?

I used to be a strict evening writer. But then I did NaNoWriMo, and all of that went out the window. Now I write whenever I have an extra five minutes.

8. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?

I like to write with music. A lot of the time, I'll match music up with certain scenes, or characters, and when it comes time to write for those things, I like to keep the mood going.


9. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)

I'll write longhand if I find myself in a rut that I can't get out of. Otherwise, I usually prefer computer.

10. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?

Sometimes. I know the ending for my current WIP, but other stories that I've written I haven't known the ending until it's actually been written down.

11. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?

Not really. I pay attention to what's selling in the market, but it won't necessarily make me drop my project and start work on something else that fits the current trend.

12. Editing – love it or hate it?

One word: Ew.

Teaser Tuesday!

Geeze. I need to start posting things besides teasers.

~~

The last thing Vance wanted to do was go into the office. However, that was where he was at ten thirty that evening, exhausted and irritable.

Thankfully, there weren’t many people around this time of day, so the cubicles around his were fairly quiet, save for a few people finishing their own reports.

The day at karina’s house had been fairly uneventful. She’d mostly stayed in her workshop and babysat the android, while he kept an eye on things and did paperwork. The only thing he couldn’t do there was type up reports.

He was nearly done when a sound outside his cubicle made him stop and listen. It stopped after several seconds and, warily, he resumed his typing. However, the noise came again soon after, and finally, he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against his monitor.

“Go away, Abbi.”

The feeling of the manicured nails touching his shoulder sent shivers down his spine, but he refused to look up.

“Why’re you here so late, cowboy?”

“Typing reports. Go away.”

“Oh, come on, you don’t mean that.” The hand trailed across his back to the other
shoulder and rested there as she peered around to see his face.

He stared at her out of the corner of his eye. “I’m busy.”

“Of course you are. Will you still be busy tonight?”

“Yeah. I’ll be busy sleeping. By myself.”

“Awww, won’t that get lonely?”

“nope. Besides, I have to be up early tomorrow.”

She leaned against his desk and pouted as he resumed his work. “This case is such a drag. It’s so unfair for them to force it all on you. Can’t you get a partner or something? I’d be more than willing…”

“They did offer me a partner. I didn’t want one. Now go away so that I can work.”

“you mean you want to spend all that time with that robot?”

“It keeps you out of my hair, doesn’t it?”

“Unfortunately,” she sighed.

He very resolutely refused to look at her for the remainder of the time he spent at his desk. Hopefully she’d get bored and go away. However, he had no such luck. When he walked out into the foyer some twenty minutes later, she followed directly behind him. The single secretary at the front desk shot Abbi a dirty look as they passed.

“So what are you doing this weekend?” She leaned against his car as he rummaged around for his keys.

“I’m not interested anymore, Abbi,” he sighed. “Give it up, already.”

“You’re a horrible liar.”

“I’m not lying,” he said shortly, finding his keys and pressing the button to unlock the doors. He wanted a cigarette.

“You’re no fun, Vancie,” She whined before he shut the door in her face. He rolled his eyes as he started the engine, backing out of his spot carefully.

The entire ride home his fingers twitched to hold one of the familiar cigarettes. It would be so, so easy to stop and buy a pack…

No.

He popped open the glove compartment and fished out his nicotine gum. Biting open the package with his teeth, he popped two of them into his mouth and chewed slowly. It wasn’t enough- would never be enough- but for now it would have to do.

Teaser Tuesday

~~~
Home again.

The secretarial job didn’t prove to be any more satisfying the second week, either. More phone calls cancelling appointments, and no new clients, either. If this continued, she’d be out of the job soon.

However, the android was almost complete. She could feel a bubble of excitement growing in her stomach when she flipped on the light to her workshop and saw it sitting in a chair, cold steel and lifeless looking. But that would change today.
She could feel its blank eyes staring at her as she moved across the room to a storage closet. From inside she retrieved a bag containing silicone “skin” and a wig. Peering inside, she fought back a shudder. The contents gave her the creeps.
She set the bag on the floor in front of the android and propped her fists on her hips. She tilted her head to the side and considered. This was going to be so weird.

Awesome.

She had to bite back a squeal of revulsion as she handled the silicone skin and fitted it to the exoskeleton. Taking a needle and fine thread, she stitched the wig cap to the android’s head, using miniscule stitches.

There, now it didn’t look quite so creepy to her. It was simply… naked.

Going back to her storage closet, she rummaged in a box near the back, and pulled out a somewhat misshapen shirt, and with further digging, unearthed a pair of pants that had probably belonged to her father at some point, and dressed the android in them.

She was straddling its lap some time later inserting teeth when a voice behind her asked, “I hope you are fully aware of how awkward this looks.”

Karina gasped and her hands jerked, nearly sending the container of glue she was holding flying through the air. She turned. Her friend Erin was leaning against the door to her workshop, one of her eyebrows raised.

“Erin!” Karina said, righting herself. “What are you—“

“You haven’t called me in a week! I thought maybe you died or something!” She scowled at Karina, who blushed.

“Sorry,” She said, shifting her gaze away from her friend. “I, uh, got sort of caught up in this project, and, um.”

Erin raised her eyebrow. “Which gives you a perfectly good excuse to disappear for a week and a half?”

Karina couldn’t meet her friend’s eyes. “Sorry,” she said again. She fiddled with the nozzle on the glue bottle.

“Well. It’s okay, I guess,” she said, uncrossing her arms and coming into the room. “What’s that?”

“That,” said Karina, “is the project that is going to save my job.”

Erin’s eyebrow shot up again. “This is going to save your job.”

Karina rapped the android gently on the head. “Yup. As soon as Christenson sees this fella, he’ll be begging me to go back to my old position.”

“I don’t know.” Erin scrutinized the android. “Does it work?”

“I haven’t tried it yet,” Karina admitted. She didn’t really feel like testing it with Erin around. Fortunately, her friend didn’t seem interested in pressing the subject.

“Why don’t you come out with us tonight?” Erin asked as Karina made a pot of coffee in the kitchen. “A bunch of us are gonna go down to Carl’s and get drunk.”

Karina snorted. “Yeah, no thanks,” She said, handing Erin a cup of coffee. “Too much to do here.” Erin shot a glance at Karina’s workshop. “It’s not that,” Karina said hastily, crossing her fingers out of notice. “I have to clean, and do other things like that.”

Erin looked like she wanted to say something, but didn’t. She left soon after, and Karina stood by the window and watched her go. She did feel bad, of course, about not calling, but this was important! She couldn’t let it wait for too long.

She went back into the workshop and finished inserting the teeth. It looked human now, sitting there in her father’s old clothes, and a mouthful of teeth. Karina went over to the blueprints on her desk, and rummaged through them until she found a small envelope. Sliding it open with the edge of her finger, she tipped it over and let the chip fall into the palm of her hand.

Karina unscrewed a small panel in the back of the android’s neck and, taking a deep breath, slid the chip into the slot.

Nothing happened.

Teaser Tuesday

A snippet from LEGIT, my work in progress.

~~~

Karina hated her job.

“Are you firing me?”

Her boss moved his mouth around as though he were chewing on something. “Not… exactly.”

“What do you mean by “not exactly”?”

Actually, she loved her job. What she hated was her boss.

“What I mean is that you aren’t right for this branch of the work.”

Karina snorted. In her opinion, she was more competent than anyone else.

“So we’re relocating you to the office.”

“…The office.”

“Receptionist, specifically.”

Karina thought her head would implode at the thought. Receptionist? She was being downgraded to receptionist? Her boss had stepped back a step or two, as though he were trying to put distance between himself and the inevitable explosion.

She took several deep breaths in an effort to calm herself. She wiped her hands on the rag hanging out of her pocket. She knew why this was happening.

“I’m going home,” she said. She unhooked her tool belt from around her waist and laid it on a nearby table.

Her boss, still wary of an outburst, nodded. “That’s fine, you can start at the front desk tomorrow.”

Karina clenched her teeth but didn’t say anything. She grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom to change. When she came out again she threw her boss a filthy look. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nodded, and she left before giving him the chance to say anything.

The walk home seemed to pass by in a blur of rage, and before she knew it she was stomping up her front path, tripping over a previously unseen object, and scraping her chin on the cement.

She groaned.

Slowly, she picked herself up off of the ground. Before her, a briefcase lay on the ground.

Karina gingerly touched her chin as she considered the briefcase. It wasn’t hers. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and grabbed it, then stood up.

She fumbled with her key for a moment, then unlocked the door. Sliding her hand along the wall, she flipped on the light switch.

Her cat, who had been sleeping on the armchair, raised her head to look at Karina. She slammed the door shut and flung the briefcase onto a table. At the moment, it was the least of her concerns.

I have migrated

From Wordpress to Blogger because my friends are strange.

Strange, I tell you.

...Hi.