Reclaim the Artist Before You Write Another Word of Misty Black, Rogue Kill…

What in the world is she talking about, you ask???

Well…

Once I blogged about shedding the structuralist in order to tap into the artist within me. This is how I was able to write Parched book 2, and even book 3 through 5. It was easy because I stayed in the same POV (that is point of view,  which was the first person “I” POV) and tense, which was present tense. I was able to grab on to both literary tools and construct until the end of book 5.

BUT… Now, I’ve just finished outlining Misty Black, Rogue Kill (book #1), the first book in the trilogy. Today, I sat at the coffee shop, this one on 1st Avenue, and not at all crowded, and tried to write the story.

TRIED being the operative word.

I kept going back and forth, reworking the first paragraph over and over again. I knew what I wanted to say, KNOW what I want to say, but I’m all worried about not saying enough, or not using the opportunity to world build, or wondering if the voice is authentic or entertaining and yadda yadda yadda.

Sigh.

I even used to distraction to give my mind a break. I called my sisters and cousins to plan a trip to a concert at Staples Center in July. Then, I walked down to Pike Place Market to buy some caramels, a sandwich, oranges, blood oranges and OMG, clam chowder–all at different places of course. I ended up getting hit on by a senior citizen (who was quite charming and I probably would’ve went to dinner with him 3o years ago) and a 3 drunks. I thought, wow, are these my options????

Anyway by the time I got home, and had a convo with my cousin about a certain contraption that you might as well not buy if you can’t use it… LOL! :-)))), I sat down to write again…

So about fifteen minutes ago I thought, you know what, something’s wrong with me here.

I’m asking myself, even now, who have I been writing those first pages as? The artist? The structuralist? And here’s another possibility… Or as the self-conscious scaredy-cat?

I’m wondering… Am I folding under the pressure of having “fans?” I think it’s easy for us to do as writers. We start writing, hoping to please the masses as we type, and so we question every sentence and even the literally tools that we choose. This is why good books start off good and end up awry. Movies and TV shows too. It’s because we stop writing for ourselves and start wondering if they’ll like it and writing with that in mind. This mindset is what sinks the battleship. And… I think I’m there, writing as a self-conscious scaredy-cat.  🙁

But don’t cry for me… Argentina (or wherever you are…)

I’m going to turn that frown into a 🙂

(Gosh, I think I want to watch Madonna in Evita… I love that film.)

Sooooo… This is how I’m going to do it…

I feel like I don’t want to write in the past tense; I prefer the present tense. Although, Misty Black – The Beginning is written in the past tense, the artist doesn’t want to do that this time around. And I should make this decision for ME, not what I think readers would like or expect–or maybe that expectation is all in my head! So that’s what I’m doing.

I will keep it in the Third Person omniscient POV though, which is (he and she but not limited to one person.) Readers will know what the other characters are thinking or how their actively moving but other characters may or may not be privy to the same information. The artist likes this! She wants to use it as a tool to increase the suspense.

See, told you I’ll be 🙂 soon! And I am, seriously!

So… now it’s time to FIX what I’ve written and continue on!

I’m ready to write!

Peace.

UPDATE:

okay so decided past tense works better here but I may borrow a technique that Ian Fleming uses in the bond series to speed up the action. That is go present tense when I want to capture and speed up the action…. Maybe… maybe not… I mean, I get it because I’m studied but….