The Writing Goes on, and on, and on...

Last night, after--or maybe it was during--my little quiet time of just reading someone else's book, my writing mind went into over drive.

Okay, see, the voices never stop. Once I create the characters, they're always there. I live with them 24/7. It's like having annoying invisible friends. And since I use my house as a sort of model for where my MC lives, its also like having ghosts in my house, too. Vampires, werewolves, one leprechaun, and Sabrina who discovers she's a sibyl, and has to fight the nasty vampires, and has married one... oh, it's a big old mess. But I love the mess she's in.

So, a line--it was just one line--"I'm going to take an ear off if you don't stop moving." I wrote it out and then another line came and more and more. My characters were all here doing their thing.

It was an OMG moment. I had the first line to the sixth novel "Vampire Requiem". I'd been making notes, writing out some scenes. Thinking about it for the past month. Yep. On December 1st I had begun writing out notes on a document and have been adding to them as I had them.

This past week or so, I've gotten through both books #4 and #5. I believe #5 was done some time this month as my WIP, and finally I've gone through it once again. This one took me a number of months. I remember getting the same sort of lines and dialogue last year and had to write them down saying "No. I'm busy and can't write this right now." But the lines kept on coming. Just like they are here. The plot is evasive, but it will come. It's almost like I have to follow Sabrina around and see what's going on, moment by moment, before I see where this is going.

I'm currently awaiting a third book to be released. Actually I'm waiting for the edits to reach me. My frustration over this has gotten to me. Fans are awaiting this next book. If I don't get it out soon, eventually people won't care. Or will they?

Anyway, the next ones will not take quite this long, I'll make sure of it.

Working It

Last year I wrote my fourth novel in about 3 months time. It was relatively the easiest book to write, start to finish, that I've done in a while. But just because I got it down doesn't mean it's all good. I would say that I went through it possibly 4 times now. And now am working on the last few chapters doing some major tweaking, and trying to fill out some glossed over sections that need scene and dialogue and whatnot.

I'm in favor of the layered approach in my writing. Adding depth to the scenes is one of my favorite things to do. I add details that I didn't have time to work in at the time of writing it. So, when I'm faced with a scene that needs this sort of attention, I let it brew inside my head, asking how can I really pull this from a basic scene to something that holds more emotion, more details, and hopefully correct areas that aren't cohesive.

I woke up with one scene in my head and knew what was missing from it, and began working it in. I have a few of these, especially in the end.

My fourth book is called Vampire Caprice, and it will be slightly different from the previous in that I'm going to be going into other character's heads, like Tremayne, Vasyl, and  Bill Gannon. Reason being is that I felt we needed to get to know these guys a little better. Plus, I hope that it helps the story line in that it will have more depth, and emotion.

Creating my characters, like any writer knows, is a work of love. You have to know them like you know yourself, inside and out, know what makes them tick, even if you never put it down, or if you do, you'd better have a good understanding of it all.

I'm also placing sub-headings on each chapter, this way it will give the reader a little heads up as to what's going on, as they'll be reading along in Sabrina's head (and first person), and suddenly we get to a different character and now in 3rd person. It's different for me, and was a challenge to write, but I loved the challenge it presented for me.

In the weeks ahead I'll have to stop my work on the fourth book and work on edits for the third book (yay), which I'm expecting soon from my publisher. That book is on track for publication in January 2013.

So excited about my thrid book, and all the ones after. I've just finished the first draft of the 5th book, and have been making notes for the 6th. These characters simply live inside my head, and I follow them with a pen (or computer), and write it all down.

Announcement: 3rd Book~January Release

Funny how just posting that I know when my release for next book on facebook got gobs of people coming out of the woodwork to either LIKE, or make a comment, like "can't wait", that sort of thing  happens. There's people there that I didn't know even stopped in to see what I'm doing. People I have not even gone to visit in ages! But I guess it's probably on Page Feed, which is a great way to see what everyone's up to, so maybe that's how everyone knows about it. I think.

So, yep. My publisher told me the first edits are finished (thank goddess!), and second edits will take much less time (yes, because the first ones took MONTHS), and my book is first in line in the queue for publication. (YAY!!!!)

I'm relieved to know this because I sort of feel like they forgot about me or something. But also, I know that these things take time, and sometimes other things get in the way, or make things difficult, like--oh, I don't know--a storm that puts everyone under the ocean. Well, not really effecting my publisher so much, since they're in Mass., but I figure other stuff can happen to hold things up. Plus I'm not their only author.

And I do have a lot of respect for getting a book out there, ready to be printed as well as placed into places for ebook sales, because I see what the Indies have to do in order to get it done themselves. But the editing has got to be tedious and time consuming. God knows I've got grammar issues and other stuff that makes my writing in need of editing.

But tonight I'm happy to know that my book is actually going to have a launch. Now, if only my publisher will find the ellusive wonderful cover. He told me that he's found some but weren't quite good enough.

So, that's the news. I hope next time I post it will be with a cover photo and closer to when it will be out.