Thursday Blog Hop

This week's question is about an embarrassing secret muse.  I've been thinking and thinking and I honestly can't come up with anything. I suppose if I could, I'm not sure I'd admit.LOL After all no one wants to embarrass themselves. I'm just happy my muse speaks to me at all. Lately she's been kind of quiet. I'm not sure why.
I've been working on one story for several years now. It's the first one I outlined and plotted, and I'll never do it again. Talk about writer's block.
For me sitting down with an idea and knowing how the story begins and ends is enough, what happens in the middle is as much a surprise to me as it is to the reader. That's fine. It works for me. But I listened to a speaker at our local RWA group say if you never plotted to try it. Silly me did. Just because it worked for her and many other authors isn't a reason to encourage other authors to do it. She made us feel like we were writing wrong. I've since learned that whatever works for you is the right.
Unfortunately I took her  advice. What did I have to lose? Maybe it would work for me. It didn't take long to realize it wasn't going to work. My characters didn't appear to like what I had plotted for them. They refused to talk to me. I was blocked. I stayed blocked for a good year. Never wrote another word. I had written myself into a corner. Finally in an email to my writing friend, I discovered a way to pull out of it and the story went along for quite a while. But that darn plot was in the back of my mind and it wasn't long before I hit another block. This has happened several times since then and I've been fortunate to work my way through it. Right now I'm blocked again and have been for several months. Not that I quit writing all together. I work on other works. I have several that I want to rewrite and revise, so I'm not sitting idle, but that story really bothers me. I so want to finish it. I'm sure I will some day. So I guess my secret embarrassing muse is that I listened to someone try to change the way I write.  If you're a plotter, great, don't listen to anyone tell you to try writing by the seat of your pants. If you're a panster, don't try to plot your story. Do what works for you.

Check out the other blog hoppers - http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/2011/08/aug-25-embarrassing-secret-muse-anyone.html

Blog Hop Thursday

Today's question, posed by affiliate author, Amy Romine, is:  What do you do with your edits?

That's a very good question. Currently, I have a wonderful editor whose suggestion enhance the story. Sometimes she asks me to delete whole paragraphs. Yikes.  While it kills me to do so, I read  the paragraph and if I agree - I usually do - I delete it. If there's information in that paragraph that I feel the reader needs to know, I add a comment about why I want to keep it. Sometimes we shorten the paragraph or change the wording to get my point across. Other times, she leaves it.

I've been the product of some horrible editors in the past. One actually added the dreaded "LY"word to all of my saids. Or changed complete sentences, adding the word. I think every (or at least most) authors know to avoid these words as much as possible. Granted, they do have their place. They are part of our language after all. But we all know to use them sparingly.  This editor added them to sentences like - She raced (hurriedly) down the hall. Not only is the sentence awkward - everyone knows if you race you're in a hurry. Adding an ly word there only repeats the action.

Needless to say, I balked and balked. And the editor talked to the publisher and the publisher said if I remained uncooperative, they were breaking my contract. I wrote back and said I refuse to cooperate with that kind of editing. So contract broken, I moved on. I wouldn't have my work changed that way - For one thing, she was changing my author's voice. I don't write that way. She was also changing the tone of the story - to her voice. Not to mention, she wasn't  making it better.

I think most editors are pretty good. Another one I dealt with was very understanding of things I wanted to leave.  Don't get me wrong. If the suggestion is reasonable, I'm more than willing to make a change.  Another line editor I dealt with insisted on changing a lot of my manuscript to her voice. Not to mention she inserted the word "However" during a love scene. I don't know about you, but however isn't part of my vocabulary in everyday language let alone during a love scene. She also eliminated scenes that I felt were important to my heroine. Albeit - they could have been shortened.  So once again, she went to the owner and the owner said it wouldn't be published. Since most of the edits were reasonable, I came up with a compromise to the paragraphs - I shortened them as long as she removed the word However. There were several other comments throughout the manuscript also. I suggested compromises for them also - Truthfully, I think this was the job of the editor, not the author. Editors aren't there to suggest changes and then be stubborn about them. They're supposed to suggest changes, but if the author has a viable reason to leave them, I think they either work out a compromise or leave them.

I was taught when it comes to edits - it's your work - the final decision is up to you. No one has the right to change your voice or style of writing.

Blog Hop

This week's question for the Blog Hop is: Are you a plotter or a panster? Do you plot your stories ahead of writing? Or do you write and see what happens? (Writing “by the seat of your pants”.) Why do you work that way? What are the benefits ...and drawbacks?


I am and always have been a panster. I know my hero and heroine and the beginning and end of the story and what happens in the middle is as much a surprise to me as it is to my readers. I work that way because it works for me. At one of our RWA local chapter meetings, the speaker suggested if we never tried plotting a story to try it. She suggested we write a synopsis and then plot out each chapter.

I figured what the heck. I've never done it, but I'll try almost anything once. The speaker (and several other members - plotters- all agreed that was the way to write. According to them, you wrote a better story.  So I sat down and wrote a synopsis and plotted out my story and then I sat down to write.

It went well for while, but then I hit a snag. The story was stuck. My hero and heroine wouldn't talk to me. I couldn't move the story forward. I was seriously blocked. Every day I opened the program and stared at the screen. I read and reread what I had already written - I always do that to refresh my memory. Then I stared at the screen. I knew what was supposed to happen next, but for some reason it didn't work.

No matter what I did, I couldn't write the next sentence. So I did what I usually do when I'm blocked. I moved on to something else. I revised an old story and submitted it. Then I came back to this one. Nothing, nada. The characters wouldn't speak to me. So again, I found an old story, expanded and revised it and submitted it too. 

This went on for over two years. I just couldn't make happen what was supposed to happen. About six months ago, I was emailing my writing buddy and ranting about this story and how frustrated I was. Suddenly in the course of composing the email, I started asking what if. What if this happened or what if my heroine did this or my hero did that and walla - the story started to move forward. I put the synopsis and plot outline out of my mind - at least for the most part - and the story went off in a whole differrent direction. I even introduced a new character.

I'm still not finished with it, but at least it's going forward now. 

I can guarantee I'll never plot another story, nor will I write a synopsis first. No thanks, for me it doesn't work. Maybe there's benefits to it, but I benefit better by letting my characters guide me.  Are there drawbacks to writing this way? I haven't found any. Being a panster works for me.

Blog Hop Question of the week -

QUESTION: Genres- What two do you think mix together best? 

Since I write romance -  romance/mystery and romance/paranormal (mostly ghosts) I have to say those two mix very well together.
Mine are romance with mystery undertones or paranormal undertones. The main part of the story is the romance.
I also write contemorary romance.  I enjoy mixing the two genres.  So I guess I'd have to say those are the two that mix together best.
On the other hand, I know authors who write romance fantasy and although I've not read them, I'd have to say they're probably a pretty good mix too.
Going away from the romance genre - I've heard of scifi/mystery and fantasy/mystery. I think well done any of them can be the best mix. There's no limit to genres that mix together well if the writer can create them.