How do I think this "stuff" up? - Part 1

I expect every author gets asked one question more than any other: Where do your ideas come from?

I wanted to post about the creative process for that very reason, everyone wants to know about it.  The problem is, naturally, that to encapsulate the entire process into a single blog post seems an impossible task.  But since I never shirk from the impossible, I'm going to change the rules and make it happen.  As the title of this post implies, this won't be a single blog post, but a short series of posts, in which I attempt to explain my creative process.

Today's post is not so much about the overall process, as it is about a very important piece of the process that occurs over and over while shaping a character, a plot, a setting... any part of the story.  It's a technique and the rules around it's application come straight out the business world: Brainstorming

Yes, storytellers were probably using this method to craft their fireside entertainment since the beginning of spoken language, many millennia before it found its way to a conference room, but that's where many of us have heard this term.  The lucky ones were taught to use it in school.

What do I mean by brainstorming?  It means simply letting ideas flow without judgment.  Notice the words without judgment.  If after every idea popped into my head, the next thought was that's stupid, I'd never get anywhere.  Are some ideas stupid... well, sort of.  Maybe stupid isn't the right word.  Let's say that not all ideas are usable.  That's more like it.  But might the next idea that was actually a twist off of the original idea be usable?  The only way to know, is to let it flow!

Example: When I was crafting a particular character for the book I'm currently writing, I already knew a lot about him but not all of it made sense at the beginning.  I already knew that he'd left home for school and then stayed away to work and that it was, at least in part, to get away from his family.  But I didn't know why.  I also knew that he didn't own a car; he used public transportation.  Nothing wrong with any of it, but why?

Then, I had this unexplained idea about him in my head, he talks to trees.  Stupid idea, right?  Well, let's see.  As I thought about it, I realized that he doesn't talk to them all the time while walking down the street with people around, and he certainly isn't expecting an answer.  He just likes to get some of his stress out by talking to the trees in his backyard.

After I heard the monologue in my head, this guy to his tree, he suddenly started to round out a little and gain some depth.  His family background started to take shape.  The family is in the lumber business and that explains why he left home to work, he doesn't agree with what they do for a living.  He's an environmentalist, although that's not his profession.  Now I know why he doesn't own a car!  If I had shut down this idea of talking to trees, I don't know that he'd ever have made any sense.  I might have even scrapped him and tried to start over.

That one idea, unusable at the beginning, became a definition for this character and his past.  (I promise he doesn't spend the entire book talking to trees in his backyard.)

All because I didn't say no to the idea immediately.

If you're a writer and having problems with any pieces of your story, I can't recommend brainstorming enough.  Do it by yourself... on paper... into a recording device... with a trusted friend (who will play by the no judgment rule)... in a group... on a walk... listening to music... in silence...

So, where do I start my brainstorming?  I'll write about that in part 2.  

For now, give yourself the gift of judgment free brainstorming and tell me how it's working for you.

It's been a long day...

I have, well, the word addiction isn't appropriate.  Nor is obsession  So let's call it a fascination,  I have a fascination with musical movies, song and dance musicals.  Like Singin' In The Rain and Oklahoma and Silk Stockings and so on and on and on.

I love them so much that I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite.  In fact, I probably couldn't make a list of favorites that spoke about my taste, because it would just be too long to analyze.  But certain moments from musicals spring to my mind all the time, and for those, I can compile a list that's short enough to have some symbolic meaning.

For example, I just adore the song It's Been A Long Day from How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.  Although the main idea of the song is two people hemming and hawing about whether or not to go out on a date, the line that's repeated over and over by the characters to cover up the awkwardness is "Well, it's been a long day.  Well, it's been a long, been a long, been a long day."  I'm not Ally McBeal.  I don't have a cast of characters appearing around me to sing all the time.  But I do have a bit of a soundtrack in my head and that chorus comes up all the time.  And boy, has it been a long day...

Today's post started to be another about not making much progress.  I could blame it on the full-time job and a number of other things that pop up in life from time to time, but as I look at what I'm doing, it occurs to me that I've been passively avoiding querying by writing on my new project.  I'm probably far from objective, but I do think the book I'm working on now is coming together better than the one that is currently complete.  (This may be a faulty impression taken from the rejections, but then, it might not be...)  So, I'm going to take a step back from worrying about querying and any guilt associated with not doing it.  Instead, I'm accepting that what I want to do is finish this second book, where I so much more of my hope and pleasure currently lies.

The new plan is to finish the first draft of current book by the end of July.  I'll then be able to step back from it and focus all my efforts on queries.  Depending on the results from the queries, I may find myself re-writing the first book.  If that's the case, then I'll do it actively, rather than passively avoid it.  And then, perhaps in September, I'll revisit this second book and begin editing.

Whatever happens, at least I can say I wrote a book, published or not.  I may yet have a second.  And They Can't Take That Away From Me...

Slipped the Hook

My bite didn't pan out.  I still take it as the good sign that I was able to sell the idea enough for someone to express some interest.  I was also lucky to have received some feedback.  I guess it's back to the queries.

Wish me luck.

A bite!

originally posted Feb 16, 2015, 5:15 PM by Kelly Lopushansky

I feel completely nauseated.  Why?  Because I've actually had a bite.  An actual agent is interested in reading the first three chapters of my novel and a synopsis!  I'm having my synopsis read by one more person before I send it in, just to be sure.  But it'll go tomorrow. Even if this agent isn't the one, I'm so happy to say that I'm finally doing something right.  Or at least, right enough that someone is taking a second look.  (I like this one, he deals exclusively with romance and women's fiction.  I also spent a lot of time checking out his blog and I based on that, he's someone with whom I could work.) So what did I do differently?  I'm not entirely sure.  I did mention in my query how I happened to find him (a post on Writer's Digest about the difference between romance and women's fiction) and that I have read some of his blog.  I did attempt to connect to other agents in a somewhat similar manner, but maybe this one was just more natural.  After all, I really did enjoy his posts. I also rewrote my pitch on Saturday, shrinking it down to 250 words.  I think it's a little tighter and makes more out of each word.  So it could be that. As always, it's a little hard to say what this one liked as opposed to the others, because the ones who didn't like it didn't say why.  But once I have an agent, I'll post my query here for viewing.  I’m saving the queries I used in individual files named for the agent to whom I submitted it, so it’ll be easy to post.  Until I sign with an agent, I may continue to evolve my query, so I'm not posting it now. Thank you for your positive thoughts.  This is continuing to be a journey of ups and downs.

Loss of Focus? Never! Maybe. Hmm.

originally posted Feb 14, 2015, 4:11 PM by Kelly Lopushansky                                            

I have been distracted from my current goal of finding an agent (gasp!) because I've been completely engrossed in writing Truce Or Consequences and my real life.  With a teenager heading to High School next year, all sorts of things have been coming up.  On the plus-side, my teenager is showing responsibility by looking into admissions requirements for the colleges of his choice already and on his own.  I don't remember worrying about admissions requirements until later on, perhaps my junior year.  Of course, the graduation requirements met the admissions requirements back then, so all a student need worry about is getting a good score on the SAT or ACT and whatever they could do to distinguish themselves from other applicants.  Meeting the requirements just wasn't an issue.  So I'm proud to say that my husband and I are raising independent kids! But I can't drop my drive to get my book published, so yesterday I took part in a webinar for getting a book published and learned a lot!  Today I revamped my pitch (partly to shrink it down to 250 words and partly to just make it stronger) and submitted it to a pitch contest.  If I'm one of the lucky randomly chosen entrants, my pitch will be reviewed by experts and I'll actually get feedback!  Here's hoping. I'm also working on an entry for Pitch Madness.  On February 20th I'll get to submit a 35 word pitch and 250 from my novel.  If I'm chosen as a favorite, I may receive a request for more of the manuscript from an agent in March.  If you're interested in Pitch Madness see Brenda Drake's website for more information. I'm also prepping for #PitMad which is coming up in March on Twitter.  If the idea of pitching a book in 35 words is scary, try 140 characters, and include the #PitMad hashtag and a hashtag for the genre in that 140!  I think the hardest part for me is that HM:MTB really has three main characters and not two, and since the third is going to be in the next six books of the series, I feel like she has to be included in the pitch.  Clearly, in 140 characters I just can't squeeze it all in, so I may have to let her fade into the background on this one. Wish me luck!

Just a few hours without Electronics

originally posted Jan 10, 2015, 7:16 PM by Kelly Lopushansky

The process of querying my 'A' list of agents continues as I'm taking my time to put together each query.  I really do think I've found a nice group of excellent people and I'd be lucky to work with any of them.  Once my process is complete, I'll add a list of the agencies that I queried, but for now I'll be sharing my thoughts on a very different subject: family fun. My daughter started playing a trivia game on her tablet and she was asking me for help with some of the questions.  We continued with that for a while, until I decided to download the game myself.  From then on we played together, helping each other as we took our turns.  I learned that my daughter has an uncanny ability to guess the right answers in certain categories.  We'd had such a good time, I suggested my husband and son also join us.  From there...well, things went down hill. All of us attempting to play in one room, several asking for help at once, made for a great deal of overlapping and finally yelling.  At the point that neither my husband nor I could take it anymore and there was a great deal of upset, we decided that it was time to put it away. I don't recall exactly how the topic turned, but since we all were still interested in playing together, we found ourselves enjoying charades.  I was the only one who'd ever played and sadly, my memory is a bit foggy, so there was a bit of a challenge getting some of conventions right.  (I didn't even know there was a sign for a tv show.)  But we laughed and played for over an hour and had to quit when it was time to start getting prepared for the next day and bed. I think my favorite charade was How the Grinch Stole Christmas which my daughter acted out by getting the How and Christmas.  I am now more in support of putting down the electronics then I've ever been before.  And it has occurred to me that perhaps parents need to be digging into some of the old games for inspiration.  We've had board game and card game night before, but this one, where the actor came up with their own idea, was more fun than I've had in long time. If you have a thought about family fun and electronics, please be sure to share it.  I'm especially interested in anecdotes.

A Short List (or The Stress from Finding a Good Match)

originally posted Dec 23, 2014, 8:00 PM by Kelly Lopushansky

When I created this website, I planned it as a log of events as I jump into the deep waters of publishing.  I’d also hoped, secretly, that it would maintain a positive attitude.  I suspect that many of my postings are going to be full of less than positive emotion, for at least a little while.  Why?  Because this is inordinately stressful! I’ve now spent several weeks going through listings of agents and agencies, looking for those unique people that might appreciate my particular style of writing and my story.  The good news is that I have a reasonable sized list of likely candidates with one particular stand out. How could this be anything but positive?  I really like this agent.  I really like this agency.  They represent authors that I love and whose style is similar to mine.  This is the RIGHT ONE. What do I do when I find such a wonderful match…panic!  I have one brief email to convince this agent that we are a wonderful match in literary Heaven.  So, I need to sell her with this query letter.  I have read so many different opinions/posts/essays on what a query letter should contain and how to put one together, that I’m half blind.  This much I’ve determined, the letter needs to be both professional and have a strong hook at the beginning. What makes a good hook for a romance novel written by an Electrical Engineer?  I wish I could come up with something pithy to do with sparks, but it just isn’t happening at the moment.  Currently, I’m toying around with “What could an electrical engineer possibly have to say on the subject of romance?” as my opening.  It isn’t doing it for me, in part because I hope that most people realize that understanding romance isn’t restricted to certain job titles, and in part because while it probably isn’t something she’s seen before, it isn’t exactly positive. And there’s the kicker, I want this letter to really reflect me.  I may be feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed, but I’m a positive person.  I have a real expectation that if I do the work, I’ll get my novel published. I’ll let you know how my hook turns out once I’ve finished this letter.  Wish me luck!