A Work-in-Progress: My Novel

A Blog Meme!

I was tagged by my good friend Tara from the Thin Spiral Notebook in a blog meme. Normally I do not do this kind of thing. It’s my blog and I get to bend the rules. Besides, Tara is so gifted as a writer and photographer that it really was such an honor being tagged by her I had to say yes. That and she scares me!  (giggle)This meme was created to highlight the writing process, so highlight the writing process I shall do!

1. What am I working on?

In all honesty, there is nothing I am not currently working on! For the benefit of this particular meme, let’s focus on my novel (that sounds so weird to say) Unique: Story of a Girl which I wrote last summer during Camp NaNoWriMo.

At this point I hold over 55,000 words written in a rather formal sounding 3rd person voice. After writing this I attended an excellent writing workshop where I was asked who my narrator was. My answer was swift and intelligent: “What?”

“A narrator needs a character, who is the person telling the story, and is this person all-knowing like some God or does this person just have a solid grasp of the main character?” she asked. “Gulps.” I said. Back to the ol’ drawin’ board – I will now do a complete re-write in 1st person. When will I do this incredible re-write? As soon as I find the time to read, I will have the time to write.

Soon. I hope.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

It’s a YA novel with a regular girl who struggles with her mother, she creates or stumbles upon an imaginary world, and finds herself being mentored by a mysterious woman with magical powers. It is not different from any other YA novel out there targeting young women other than the fact that my main character does not fall in love with a vampire or a werewolf!

3. Why do I write what I do?

Because I’ve never matured from teenagehood? Because I’m still addicted to teen movies and know all the Brat Pack flics by heart? Because my favorite books are YA novels and I secretly wish I were the Mockinjay! Mainly I write because I love stories, and I love telling them.

4. How does your writing process work?

Most of my ideas come to me at night, or during the wee early hours of the morning. With Unique, there are entire sections that sprung up from writing prompts. And then there are sections or even characters that come from my past. The entire awkward parent-teacher meeting scenario where Unique meets the father of one of the weirdest boys of her school was something that actually happened to me. The friendship that came out of it was something I wish had happened, but never did.

Tag You’re It!

1. The first person who accepted my bribe to jump into this blog chain meme tagging game was Katy from Only in the Ozarks. I love Katy’s writing style. She creates characters in such a lively way I often feel like they’re actually real people that I know.
2. The second person intimidated into accepting was Kirsten from The Kir Corner. If you’ve not had the honor of meeting Kir through Studio 30 Plus or BlogHer you’re missing out. She’s not only a great writer but she’s an inspiring woman.
3. I got a dude to say yes! Joe Scott from Mostly Harmless Drivel has been writing a novel in a month via NaNoWriMo for I don’t know how many years nor how many NaNo wins he’s got accumulated! He writes stories that if were brought to screen would most likely be starred by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Yeah, I’ve seen snippets of his stuff and it’s the romance comedy that make all of us gush!

When can you read THEIR take on the prompt? They each have a week to chime in, but don’t wait before that to visit them. If I like their stuff, chances are you’ll love it too! Enjoy…