A writer, reloaded

Today marks the beginning of the fifth day of leisure–if one considers poring over sheets of lined paper with a gel pen, outlining a novel particularly relaxing. Not that I do either, but it’s fun. Especially with four cats thrashing about the apartment. Recently learned that when cats rub against the fresh pages, the friction not only smears the text, it leaves streaks on their fur that resembles crop circles.

At some point Wednesday ( or maybe Tuesday, for in Vacationland the days run together ) I realized I hadn’t been outside in two days, and it was time to do something about that oversight. So I visited a neighbor downstairs. The sojourn took me out of the apartment, without actually requiring that I leave the building. Going outside might compromise the mission, which is to forget that the apartment and its contents, myself included, are still in New Jersey. It’s long running campaign.

While leaving did not require shattering the fantasy, stepping out did mean wearing pants, which made for a bittersweet visit, to say the least.

Anyway, some reviews for The Last Track came in recently, which I’m happy about. There’s another giveaway on GoodReads very soon ( perhaps as soon as Friday ), maybe with a St. Patty’s day theme. Also there’s one definite cool announcement that I can announce in about ten days, and a possibly huge announcement that I can not even speculate about with my outside voice just yet.

Here’s the latest review in for The Last Track.

As happens every March, the students leave for a two week break, and the school allows for a one week vacation. Amen.

Right now, knee deep in outlining the next book. Hard lesson learned  from The Last Track ( and another manuscript that preceded it that will likely never see the light of day ), before diving headlong into a big writing project, I like to be able to do two things:

First, summarize the entire story to three sentences. They can be long compound sentences, the sort generally absent in my writing, or very simple. But the mini synopsis must be concise, coherent and complete. And I’ll bounce that “blurb” off a dozen people. If I sense I’m losing them, that they “aren’t getting it”, then the concept needs more fine-tuning.

Second and more importantly, character sketches. In the hieararchy of development, character motivations matter first and appearance last. Description is a detail and can be added as needed, for flourish. Motivation is what impels a character to act as they do. Characters are not their khakis, Calvin Klein jeans or their Prada shoes. Nor are they black, white or trans-gender. That is incidental. No, characters are what they do, and that rests upon their motivations.

What makes someone tick determines their role in the story, and shapes their interactions with other characters. Most importantly understanding and accepting their motivations forces me to be efficient. Generally that efficacy means letting characters do what they must, consistent with their internal script, and getting out of the way.

And staying out of the way.

So I’m not quite there, but in another week I’ll be close.

GoodReads giveaway wrapped on February 28, 2010. In all, 892 readers entered for a chance at one of five free copies. Winners were selected automatically by GoodReads. The publisher can not disclose or contact the winners ( except to send them the book ), but I can announce that all five copies with personalized signatures shipped this afternoon.

Huge thanks to everyone for taking the time to enter. Please note, there will be further giveaways of The Last Track on GoodReads.com in the near future.

On a personal note, I’m very happy there is a place where readers can share their opinions about books that publishers, be they large large or small, cannot sway with the threat of offering or withholding advertising dollars. It’s really all about the readers. Related lesson to self: bring the A-game, and do so every time.

‘Cause sooner or later, the Internets will have their day in the court of opinion.