Tab You're It

New tab! New writing! This is so exciting! (Yes I'm rhyming). After reading this, go straight to The Notebook tab. While none of the writing is new in the sense that I wrote it this past week. But it is writing from my sophomore year of college and they're pieces that are long enough that they warrant their own page. Writing a story is like meeting a new person. When you begin it's really exciting because you're still getting to know them. However, eventually you become friends with them and you learn not only the good but also the bad. Friendships run into problems and you have to work them out. That's where I am right now with Guardians, and even though I'm learning a lot from the editing process I miss the excitement of starting a new story. There's times when I have random ideas that really won't fit into Guardians and instead of just shelving them, it's nice to be able to put it into a longer excerpt. It's nice pacing to go from writing new stuff to editing and back again. It keeps writing fun instead of making it into a chore. 
These stories are not my main focus and they're not fully outlined. For the first three, The Pillow Fort, River Story and Colgean Desert, I don't have full outlines. I'm just enjoying working in alternate worlds. Unlike Guardians, these three stories take place in entirely different universes without any mention of the real world. It's been an interesting challenge trying to make worlds believable. My theory (and what my writing professor has said) is that if I just write as if everything makes sense, then it will. Essentially, I just have to give the information and explanation naturally as I go along. There will never be a large chunk of explanation because my characters understand their worlds and know exactly where they are. It's a different type of writing to ease people into an alternate world without have to ease any characters into it as well. These stories are nice breathers because I'm not trying to make anything work, per se, I'm just writing and seeing where things are going.
The last excerpt Families and Fairytales (also a very tentative title) is more outlined. I've wanted to work with fairytales for a while and lately I've been exploring familial relationships. In bringing these two concepts together, I'll be writing about fairytale characters living in our modern world and ground the fantasy in the relationship between siblings and parents. For this story I do have a background, and a slight outline. This story is different and exciting because a) it takes place entirely in our world, I'm just bringing magic into it and b) I work with flashbacks, and different types of writing, like newspaper articles. It's a different type of experiment to keep everything, especially timing straight and to not just write in classic prose.
So there it is. Four new works in progress that will hopefully one day become full fledged novels. While Guardians is still my primary focus it's good to know that if things get too rough I can always go back to my notebook and get to know a new friend.

Write First, Edit After

Oh hey there Guardians, I'm back. Back to Cornerstone back to chilling with Shana, Kalynn, Ben and Rafi, back to trying to teach myself how to edit a story. The biggest epiphany I've had since getting back to Guardians is that my beginning is no longer the beginning. I need a few chapters before where I've started, and perhaps even a part one. (But I really hope not.) I need more character development and more description of the world I'm trying to create. I need to ease readers into the plot and give information at a more gradual rate. The biggest problem is giving information while still making what I'm writing interesting. True, the skeleton is there but there is a lot to add and the transition from part one to part two needs to flow. I need to improve my pacing, tighten the plot in some places and expand in others. It's a little intimidating but it involves something I know how to do: writing.
After a year and a half I know that I can write and finish something. So I know that I can write excerpts that I think need to go into Guardians without actually trying to figure where exactly they fit. It's hard to shut up the voice in my head that's worrying about technicalities such as, well, what if I have to rework entire chunks of the plot and what if this really great scene is now null and void. I just want to write and write and write about these characters and this place and get the best sense of them that I possibly can. There may need to be an outline in there somewhere it's true but that's okay. I know enough about my writing process at this point that I should be comfortable figuring out how to finish another draft. Then I'll review what I have, outline, and refit everything into a cohesive novel (I hope).

In Typical Hilana Fashion...

I kept my New Year's resolution for three whole days. I'm impressed with myself because it's two more days than I kept last year's resolution. As it's been over a month since I've written I have a lot to say. In fact, instead of overwhelming one blog post with a lot of information I'm going to post two different times today in order to try and keep all my thoughts straight. It's hard to keep track of everything in my head right now, thoughts are coming faster than I can write and inevitably I'm going to forget something. But let's start with the fact that I've missed a very important anniversary. On February 8, 2011 I started this blog, my second baby (right after Guardians), and my way to promote and self-deprecate my writing, to share my half-formed thoughts and to let people see the inner turmoil of an aspiring author who is a professional procrastinator. It's been a little over a year since I decided to actually share the blog and to my surprise and joy I've been met with support and encouragement, which shows how much I know about sharing my writing. So here's to another year of rambling semi-edited sentences, well-worn cliches, and never ending a blog post adequately. Here's to a year of expression, creativity, self-discovery and the slight possibility that I can inspire someone else. Here's to maybe being able to post once a week...maybe.
So, on to the updates on my writing life. The biggest one is that this past Sunday I spoke to a family friend who has been working on a novel for about three years. She was incredibly helpful and made me realize that what I go through as a writer is far from atypical. She assured me that it is normal to not look at your story for three or four months and that it is actually an important part of the writing process. She also reminded me that I do need to be able to return to my story however, or nothing will ever get done. I think the most important thing I learned from my conversation with her was about the importance of detail. In my story I work within a world of magic and multiple universes. I have to keep track of the details of my world and flesh out a very real feeling universe. I have to know about their religion, currency, calendar, weather and way of life. Even if all the details don't make it into the final product the important thing is that whatever ends up making the cut is believable and clear. I'm telling the story from four different perspectives and each character is unique. I need to know about each one: their birthdays, favorite colors, fashion sense, strengths, weaknesses and everything in between. I need to actually be able to have conversations with them so that they are relatable, tangible, and speak to people. She also reminded me of the importance of not getting too attached to any one section of a novel and to be able to cut, rearrange and add whenever needed. Even if I love a particular section it might not help my story in any way. Most importantly though, I remembered that I did need to get back to writing and working on Guardians and that once again, writing is what I want to do with my life so I'm finally getting back into it.