Joely Sue Burkhart

First, Happy Halloween, everyone!

October was a busy month.  In review, I

1. Wrote 40,390 new words, mostly in a companion novella to Letters (minus 6K or so for a series outline on the fantasy).
2. Completed the first pass of edits on my first novel to come out at Drollerie (around 300 pages)
3. Continued worldbuilding, plotting, and character work for NSR, the NaNo project.

I was pretty happy with my word counts–until I realized I need 10K more than that in November!  Plus I know edits will be coming at least on the novella, The Fire Within, to accompany SMF (I received information from the editor today and am already making a quick pass to kill my “had” monster).  On the bright side, once I’m deep into NSR, I don’t plan on coming up for air.  If I have 30 minutes to write, it’ll be on that project, instead of splitting my time between multiple tasks like in October. 

November goals are obvious.  50K on NSR.  GOOD WORDS.  I’m not slinging crap.  I’m embracing the world-wide energy and definitely letting go of some of my worries and structure to write more “in the flow” but I want a solid, fixable draft, not crap.  This story’s too good to just sling and pad to “win.” 

We should also hear the Brava novella contest results soon.  My number one goal is to not let the results–whatever they may be–derail my progress.  Letters is a terrific story, no matter what happens.  I have options, many options, and I might just expand it to full-length.  We’ll see.  That’s a decision I’ll make AFTER NaNo!

And in my free time *snort* I want to brainstorm a zombie romance story.  That’s my December project.

So here’s to a productive November!!

As NaNo approaches and I still don’t have a plotboard, I really started to panic last night.  Like the sick twisty knot feeling in my stomach.  Stress.  Everything I needed to do as writing goals started to pile up on me, and mentally, I was starting to hyperventilate.  What about the upcoming Brava results?  Will that derail me?  What about another pass of edits on The Rose of Shanhasson?  Or the other two contracted stories?  How am I going to get all this done???

Not to mention my current wip.  I’m in a mad rush to finish ANTs before Nov. 1st with just a handful of scenes to go.  As I was writing last night, something struck me. 

There’s magic in that story. 

Now, it’s not as tidy as I usually write.  I don’t have a “first draft” document compiled.  I’ve never gone back and edited the individual sections like I prefer.  When I glance at the folder, there’s no logical order to the files as a whole.  I’ve written it without a plot outline anywhere but in my head, and while I know how it ends, there have been a lot of gaps.  And this is only a novella.  (Although I have no idea how long the thing actually is, because I never kept track.  At least 20K, though, because that’s nearly my Sven count for round 2.)

Little things I never planned are now significant and important to the story.  Other things that I did deliberately plan add nothing, and I can fix that in revision.  And that’s the key, really.  Even when I had a vision for this story, things changed and will need to be fixed, but the way things evolved is truly magical.  I couldn’t have planned for some of this any better than what happened by accident.

So I’m letting go of my anxiety and expectations for Night Sun Rising.  I don’t know the whole plot.  There’s a significant element that I don’t know whether it’ll happen concurrently IN the story, BEFORE, or even AFTER the story.  I can’t see the twists and turns of the external plot, although I know the internal plot very well (thanks to Jo’s Core Decision class).  I’m going to believe in the magic and let it play out to the end.

At the core of the mythic journey is a leap of faith.  Writing a powerful story is no different.

At times this past week, I strugged to get my words.  I definitely missed hitting 1K a few days, but I touched ANTs every single day.  I also continued intensive work on my NaNo project, but I have a loooong ways to go yet!  *panics*  At one point Sunday afternoon I had the entire dining room table covered with notes, notebooks, papers, etc.

Total new words for last week:  7300+

Sven total (including Sunday’s work):  17,423

Nearly an entire legal pad of notes for Night Sun Rising.  I’m also filling out notecards, which I’ll then try to put into some kind of order and make a plotboard with colored stickies.  Once I get a better feel for the PLOT!

I also cleaned my office and bought a brand new binder for this project.  It’s half filled with research notes, plot notes, etc.  My storyboard of inspiration is complete, including a delightful picture of the Rock with tattoos all down his left shoulder and biceps.

This week:  I would *love* to finish ANTs before NaNo.  Otherwise, this story will languish untouched an entire month, and it will be extremely hard to pick up again once NSR is finished.  I’m definitely in the final quarter of the story.  I know exactly how it ends.  It’s just a matter of getting there, I suppose.  Oh, there are details I don’t know, like whether the ghost will stay or not.  I’m really tempted to say no.  Only 2-3 scenes actually have the ghost and it’s more a blatant plot device than anything else.  I don’t need the crutch to pull this story off, and that’s what I think it reads like.  A crutch.  Where the ghost in Letters played a much more significant role and provided important comic relief. 

But I also have extensive prepping to do for NaNo yet.  So I really don’t know how these two will play out in the final days of October.

The biggest question is whether I should continue to get up at 5:00 a.m. to write.  Or 4:00 a.m., like I did for Fast Draft.  I suppose it depends on how the first few days of NaNo go.

How about your week?  Anything exciting?

Have you ever had a story that scared you to death?

A fantastic idea that could be The One.  The One that gets you whatever you’re looking for (agent, published, bestseller list, etc.).  The One that is big, exciting, new, even dreaded “High Concept.” 

And deep in your storytelling heart, you’re shivering and huddled in a corner, scared to death. 

I’m there in that corner as NaNo approaches.  My project is big, high concept, exciting.  I’ve had this idea for well over a year, and I’ve never been able to pull it together.  It’s terrifying, actually.  So much research, so many exciting possibilities.  The scope and potential of this new world is immense.  What if I try to write this story… and it sucks?  What if I fail to capture the vision?  Am I writer enough at this stage in the game to pull this story off?

I guess I won’t ever know until I try.

To build this story, I’m calling on every single thing I’ve learned in four years.  The recent Core Decision class I took with Jo Leigh.  Empowering Characters’ Emotions from Margie Lawson.  Got High Concept? by Lori Wilde.  The Emotional Toolbox.  Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey.  Paperback Writer’s The Novel Notebook.  Holly Lisle’s Create a Character and Create a Plot Clinics.  Greatest strength=greatest weakness, static traits, dominant characteristics from The Witch, not to mention the Block in Three Acts.  Fast Draft that I completed back in March.  The hundreds of thousands of words I’ve written since I committed to this Journey (over 200K this year alone).

It’s all coming together to make or break this story. 

The vision is almost there for Night Sun Rising.  I have almost enough story for the first Act.  I’m hoping to have at least a rough story arc well defined before Nov. 1st, but I know I won’t have all the scenes defined by then.  With Fast Draft, I had a rough idea of the whole thing, and then plotted out each Act as I needed it.  I’ve got sticky notes in the appropriate story colors.  I know my POVs.  I know the tone.  I have a plethora of music that might or might not make the final playlist cut, including everything from Seven Spanish Angels by Ray Charles and Willie Nelson to the Transformers.

What I don’t have much of is confidence.  I’m going to write this story anyway in November, confidence be damned.

Holly Lisle wants you to stump her with your most difficult writing questions to be included in a one-time-only FREE writing seminar.  Details here.

For once, my stupid horoscope was right.  I was warned that I’d likely get sick during the full moon.  Alas, I awoke with a cold this morning that’s dragging me down in a hurry.

Besides, I don’t want to give away all the juicy bits of The Rose of Shanhasson (aka BloodRose).  If you missed the “steamy” snippet, here’s the WIP Wednesday Clip.  Otherwise, I decided not to share any more of book 1. 

My current WIP, ANTs, is top secret and also very much in the lines of Letters to an English Professor.  Many of you Friday Snippeters didn’t care much for it, and ANTs is even… worse.  So that WIP is out.  My other WIP is book 2 after The Rose of Shanhasson, which doesn’t make much sense to give away snippets when the first book isn’t out yet (huge spoilers involving the relationship).

I could post bits of my plotting effort for NaNo, but I’d likely put you to sleep.  (Shut up if you’re thinking my normal Friday Snippet isn’t an improvement from nap time.)

So I guess no snippet tonight.  I didn’t hit my 1K today.  I overslept this morning, I worked on something else during lunch, and tonight I’ve written off and on for hours and *might* have 500 words to show for it.  The words are slow and heavy and each one is a hard-fought battle. 

I’m weary.  I’m going to bed early.

I had a simply lovely TT planned today, in honor of PBW and the poetry we’ve been writing her.  But… I ended up working late tonight and had a bazillion things to do for the kids.  Then I sat down and got caught up on the fabulous Core Belief class I’m taking from Jo Leigh.  HUGE cool stuff came out of the exercises for my heroine in the NaNo project!  Tomorow night, I’ll do the same for the hero and then…

I think I’ll be ready to PLOT.  I do plan on a full plotboard again, but I might settle on notecards.  I like notecards, but I wish they were colored.  No, not the neon colors.  I hate them.  Is there some site where you can order lined notecards in any color you want?  Now that would make me one happy camper.  Otherwise, I’ll use colored post-its like I did last time.  For this project, orange, green, and jade are speaking most loudly.  And of course RED.  You can’t have too much red for a culture steeped in human sacrifice.

I’m about out of room on the allowable snippets for this work (still “BloodRose” with the name change), so I’ll set up the dreaded oasis scene today and give at least some of the rest on Friday. 

Why dreaded?  I’ve worked on this oasis scene off and on for four years.  It took the most work out of every scene in the entire book on the first pass of edits from Deena.  It may need more work, but I think it’s much better now than it was.

Setup notes:  Tthis is over 100 pages into the story and not the first time they were together.  Earlier in the day, he made a bet that she would kiss him by sunset, a “challenge” he deliberately lost so he could claim he owed her something to satisfy his honor.  He chose this. 

Enthralling her with slow, deep kisses, Rhaekhar eased her down to the waiting blankets. He settled against her, between her thighs, and she trembled beneath him. She pulled at his hair, her lips demanding, her body rising up to meet his, urging him to greater speed.

His answer was to move away from her mouth, pressing soft, moist kisses across her jaw, down her neck. And then he began licking beads of water from her skin.

“You’re not actually going to… to…”

“Lick you dry? Of course I am. I must.” Her skin tasted like summer fruits and cream, silken and velvet beneath his mouth. “I wanted to do this the moment I recognized you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she retorted. She fought him, wiggling and struggling to free herself from beneath his weight. Not because she had no desire for him; on the contrary, he knew she wanted him to hurry. “I never accepted your challenge or this so-called loss. Besides, how on earth could you recognize me when we’ve never met?” She paused, suddenly noticing the blanket beneath them. “Where did this come from?”

“Aye, I did recognize you. A warrior always recognizes na’lanna. I smelled you, and I knew. My heart knew.” He decided not to mention the Great Wind Stallion’s vision he’d received as a lad. She would likely think him even more foolish. “The Blood spread my blankets while we were otherwise occupied.”

Unease trickled through the bond and she froze beneath him. “Are the Blood here even now? Watching?”

To distract her, he gripped her throat with his teeth briefly, letting her remember the thrill of his bite the previous night. “Watching for danger, not us. Don’t even think of them.”

She surged up again in one last desperate attempt to flip him over. “I want to be on top.”

“Another night it will be my great pleasure to let you love me however you wish. This night, however, lie still and let me care for you. You need do nothing but enjoy it.”

Uneasy, she stilled beneath him, her body vibrating with tension. He spared several strokes of his tongue against his mark at the base of her neck. Too much attention to the bite would arouse her too quickly for what he intended, but he couldn’t resist.

Arching up against him, she clutched his shoulders. “Why does it feel like that?”

“Like what?” He pressed his open mouth over the entire mark, reveling in her response. Lush and hot, her scent spiked with rising desire. “Like my tongue is reaching deep inside your body? Like my heart is moving toward yours?”

She whimpered softly, winding her fists into his hair to hold him close. “Melting.”

“Aye, melt for me, na’lanna.”

Swirling his tongue, he moved across her shoulder, down her arm. Here and there, he grazed her with his teeth. Not a bite, just a reminder. A promise. He lathed the crook of her arm, nibbled his way down to her hand, and sucked each finger into the heat of his mouth one by one. By the time he pressed his mouth to her palm, the last bit of unease bled out of her.

He picked up her other hand and gave it the same loving care, working his way back to her shoulder. By the time he finished lavishing attention on her breasts, her every breath caught on a soft little moan.

“That’s quite enough.” Shannari panted, tightening her fingers in his hair. “Really.”

Ignoring her pleading tugs, he licked a path of fire down the valley between her breasts to her navel. “Nay, it’s not nearly enough.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

Sliding lower on her body, he allowed all the need and hunger he felt to roughen his voice. “I want to breathe your scent, taste your desire, feel your heat against my mouth. I want you to nigh rip out my hair with your passion. I want you to yell so loudly the Blood will wonder if I’m killing you. And then, my heart, I want you to ask me to do it all over again.”

Her cheeks colored and her eyes flashed in the moonlight. “It’s indecent for them to be so close. We’re not far from the others, either. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hear our voices, let alone… er…”

He let a wide, confident smile spread across his face. “Indeed, I’m counting on it. Now let me draw some very sweet music from your lips.”

Her mouth clamped shut and her jaw tightened.

Shaking his head, he trailed his fingers across the tender skin of her lower abdomen. “You challenge me again, na’lanna. Think you I cannot make you scream with pleasure?”

“Not with an audience,” she ground out.

“Ah, but on the Plains, we shall camp in the center of hundreds of tents. The Blood share my tent with me, and often we share with guests. Think you I cannot make you forget them as well?”

Her appalled expression made him laugh out loud. “Never. It’s indecent!”

“Well, I’m merely a barbarian after all. Mayhap I shall only make you scream once this night to help break you of this unfortunate reticence.”

“Twice, Khul.”

The low voice came from the shadows a few feet away. Shannari jerked with alarm at the Blood’s nearness.

“Aye, Gregar, I accept your challenge. Now, see what you’ve done, Shannari? You must scream twice this night or I shall owe another challenge loss to my Blood.” He leaned closer, deliberately breathing on her flesh, but she was tense, closed, trying to push him away where moments before she tried to pull him up for the next step.

Raising his gaze, he stared into her face. “Tell me no and I’ll roll over and go to sleep.”

“I’m not saying no, but can’t we be… quieter?”

Grinning, he sat up and whispered, “Aye, you can try.”

I can’t blog enough about how helpful I find The Emotional Toolbox.

You know that hero who’s been giving me fits?  Once I settled on a little backstory for him, I ran him through the Character Map questions last night.  Whoa.  In a matter of hours, I had his character arc nailed.  I know his fear, his mask, his initial story goal, and the inciting moment that will force him to begin taking his mask off.  Do I have all the plot figured out?  NO.  But I ‘ve got a clue, now.  I know the direction I need to take him.

Tonight, I’ll do the heroine.  I have a much better feel for her defining moments and struggles, but I know a whole new wealth of info will fall out when I answer those same questions.

Between the two, I’ll fine tune and set as much in opposition as possible, which will make the romance arc more challenging.  THEN, I might actually have a plot in sight…

So, gang, how’s Sven been treating you?

After a hot start last week, I definitely slowed down.  One day, I only got 100 words or so (I forgot to write the starting point down, but I’m sure I got at least that much).  But I kept at it, and by the end of the weekend, I was back up to my 1K a day.  That’s why writing every single day is so important for me.  Slow days happen to everyone.  But when I make myself open up that file and do something, anything, it keeps the story in my mind.

The reason for my slowdown this week was lack of focus.  I had edits to get through Sunday/Monday last week, and as a result, got heavily drawn into that story world.  I wanted to be in that story world, so much that I sat down and outlined the whole series.  That only made me want to be in that world even more, so I worked on the opening for the next book.  Meanwhile, the project I’ve been doing all month (ANTs) sputtered.  The lack of focus ultimately caught up with me, and I sat one night with both files open, trying to get anything going on either of them.

The rest of the month, I’ve got heavy-duty worldbuilding and plotting to tackle for NaNo.  As a result, I’ve got to stay focused in order to get my 1K a day.  I returned to ANTs last night and today, and got my 1K both days in that project.  I’m solidly back into that world, and I plan to stay on it throughout the rest of the month.  I’ll be doing new words dark and early, and then working on building the NaNo story at night.

Sven count so far:  11,212 words

Finally, the stupid hero is talking to me.  A little.  Unfortunately, he threw a new character at me I never planned on, and his name is just as cheesy as “Ruin.”  They’re both adamant, though.  And once I started figuring out their backstory, it actually made sense.  Sort of.  I still have a looooong ways to go, though.

How was your week?

P.S.  I think we should all write poetry to PBW like this and this until she returns to the blogosphere!

In honor of Evermore, a plea for Paperback Writer to return to the blogosphere:

How are we to blog, Paperback Writer,
Ever silent, forever mute?
Internet between us, all the brighter,
Illuminated and shared, your insight astute.
I still read you,
However long you’re gone.
I’ll never leave you,
Your voice too strong.
Thus I check your blog daily as before,
Re-reading your archives, with you,
Evermore.