Layers

Great novels are diamonds mined from layered rewrites." — Piers Paul Read

Ann Mortimer was kind enough to post pictures of ongoing stages of her painting. Not being an artist myself, I find it fascinating to see how, layer by layer, the painting gets more depth and detail and more and more interesting. 

I like to think that I'm a painter as I create a character. I first start with an outline of who I think the character is and what they should look like. Than layer by layer that character goes from a vague outline to a person with detail and real depth.

To give you an example of what I mean, I'm sharing three stages of building a character from my own writing. I hope you'll be able to see a big improvement from the beginning stage to the last.

Stage 1: 

She had hastily put on a white headscarf to cover her untidy plaited hair. An old black shawl was draped around her shoulders. Her wool sarafan jumper was thin and worn. Colorful layers of embroidered trim had been added through the years to compensate for her growth. At least her white linen shirt and apron were nicely pressed and embellished with lovely embroidery. Her old brown leather boots were a definite embarrassment; luckily they were hidden beneath her long jumper.

Stage 2:

She hastily put on a crisp, white linen blouse, she'd embroidered herself with red thread. Her loose-fitting, sleeveless dress, laced up the front with black ribbon. She hadn't worn the light green dress for some time since she rarely left home anymore. There was no time to sigh over how drab and threadbare the material had become. Several layers of colorful trim had been added through the years to compensate for her growth, and it relieved her to see the hem still covered her brown, work worn boots. 

Stage 3:

Lissa hastily put on a crisp, white linen blouse she'd embroidered herself with red thread. Her loose-fitting, sleeveless dress, laced up the front with black ribbon. There was no time to sigh over how drab and threadbare the light green material of her skirt had become. Several layers of colorful trim had been added through the years to compensate for her growth, and it relieved her to see the hem still covered her brown, work worn boots. She placed her best scarf around her sheared head, and tied it firmly. Lissa did not want to know how she looked. Less hair will make it easier to get ready, she told herself, biting her bottom lip. She slid an old black shawl around her shoulders and rushed back down the stairs.

Happy Thanksgiving

“All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is complaining that leads to people becoming unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person.” - Dennis Prager

 

 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone 

You Tell Me: What Are Your Writing Strengths?

Thank you so much to all of you who put up with my whining yesterday and thank you for your comments and support. 

In one of the comments yesterday, Marian Allen asked:  What do you LIKE to write? What do you really get lost writing? 
Marian said she liked to write conversations - dialogue.

Dialogue is not one of my strengths. But what I am good at is story. I'm really good at coming up with ideas that will make the story interesting. I'm really good at plot, tension and pacing. And something I didn't think I would be good at is description. When I first started writing I thought my descriptions were weak so I'd throw in a lot of adjectives and things that weren't needed. One of my crit partners(Tiana) pointed out to me that I was overwriting and her advice along with Elana Johnson's advice:  "It's all about the verbs" - really helped me a lot.

So what about you? What do you like to write? What are your strengths?

NaNoMyWayo Fail and What's Going On With Me?

Okay - I tried to do NaNo my way and I still failed. I can't figure out what's wrong with me. The more goals I set for myself the less I accomplish. It's like I'm so afraid of failure lately - I can't even try. 

I did write three chapters and then a bright and shiny new idea came to me and I started brainstorming it and now it's the one I want to write. But when I actually sat down to write the first chapter I couldn't get it out. Intellectually I know that the first time I write something it's not going to be good. That's why it's called a rough draft. I also know from experience that as I edit and rewrite the scene gets better and better, but emotionally I can't seem to grasp that. If the scene doesn't come out the way I see it in my head the first time I lose patience with myself and stop writing. 


I know we probably all go through this, but I've never been a very disciplined person and writing requires a little bit of talent and a whole lot of focus and discipline.

I believe I have that little bit of talent, but right now I'm sadly lacking in the other part. I'm not sure what to do about it. It's not just writing that I'm lacking discipline, it's in all aspects of my life. Anyway this is just a rambling post. A little bit of self-evaluation. Why does Mary want to run and hide right now instead of living life? There's something going on with me and I want to figure it out. 

I'm afraid I'm going to get to the end of my life and all that people are going to be able to say about me is:  She had big dreams, but she lacked the discipline to attain them.

Fun and Games

How about this one: It's all fun and games until someone gets an eye infection.

Yes I have an eye infection of some sort and my right eye hurts and itches. But I'm still writing. Yesterday was slow, but I have renewed commitment today.

How about this: It's all fun and games until the kids shave the cat. This might or might not have happened while I was writing. hee hee - it didn't happen, but it could've. The little darlings are capable of anything when left to their own devices.

Off And Rolling

NaNo has begun and I am off to a great start. I was going to use a picture of  horses racing, but I ride motorcycles and there are motorcycle scenes in my book so I think it's fitting.


Anyway, so far I've written 4 handwritten pages which was my goal and since I did it so early I think I'll be doing some more writing later. I'm so glad I worked on my outline or I would be spending a lot of wasted time trying to decide what happens next. I know many of you are pantsers, but I must have an outline or I'm lost. The areas that I don't have an outline for are the hardest for me to write. Surprises still come up and if my outline isn't working I'm flexible enough to change it.


An annoying thing keeps happening as I write though. I'm trying to write this story in first person, but I usually write in third and I keep switching back forth between them. I don't really like first person, but I think this story will work better in it. Oh well - that's what edits are for.


So, how is NaNo going for all of you? Are you a pantser or an outliner? Which POV do you prefer writing in?