Saturday 22 June 2013

So i've had an interesting week this week in terms of the book. A few cold, hard realizations have occurred which will most definitely delay the date when I said I originally wanted the book to be published.

And here are the reasons why....

I think there are two different kinds of authors; ones who plan everything right down to the last detail before even writing the first scene of the story; and the others who just start typing with nothing but a general idea of what they want to happen.

I thought I was the latter, having written nearly my entire book on nothing but my spontaneous imagination. Then I came to the last few chapters and hit an immovable wall. And I can't for the life of me figure out how to get my characters to where I want them to be in just those few little chapters. It's incredibly frustrating when normally words come so easy to me.

So the last few weeks i've been relentlessly going back to edit my work and have yet again hit a wall with even the beginning chapters, which originally I was super pleased with and was convinced they needed no changes at all.

That was when I realised that there is so much important stuff missing from the story, things I didn't even realise at first would make that much of a difference but now I am positive they do.

I think the story itself is still a brilliant concept and i'm also happy with my scenes and settings BUT my characters are lacking depth and therefore run the risk of readers not relating to or rooting for them. Small things like little traits or habits which help make a person who they are, make a character seem more real, are all but none existent and I do get the feeling that one of my main characters is also a little too much on the depressive side, or at least her back story is too present (and the back story is depressive) which is overshadowing the story itself.

Hmmmm....it's a tricky one to rectify when i've already written most of the book but I think perhaps I may need to take a step back from the actual story writing and do some character back story planning before I continue editing my work.

I've also struggled a little with the passage of time throughout the story. It's difficult when writing from two characters view points, to move the story forward at an agreeable pace because each time I swap which character is speaking, they refer to the same situation that has just happened, to give the reader a look at how each of them views the same situation in a different way. So it's hard to progress the story in that way when I want the story to be spanned over the course of one year, it may end up being a hundred chapters long!

I hope it's not just me, and that all authors struggle in this way too. Being a writer is a solitary job and is also nail bitingly nerve wracking; you might write a chapter you think is some of your best work and then read it two weeks later and think it's rubbish because when you write you are essentially putting your heart and soul into the book, and the thought of other people reading it and not liking it is debilitating to your self esteem and confidence. As someone who is naturally a bit of a perfectionist as well, my need to make this book 100% perfect is a contributing factor to the small part of me that just wants to give up; because I feel like nothing is good enough. Does anyone else ever feel this way with the things they do?

Though I am unhappy with some of the book as it is I am by no means deterred from finishing it. This is my first novel and I knew when I started it that it wouldn't be easy. Having a good imagination is really only the start, anyone could have a good imagination, it's putting that imaginative ideas you have into writing that is the really challenging aspect of story writing. But I know that the challenges along the way will just make it all the more satisfying when I do finish it and see it published.....and hopefully get some good feedback for it too!

So for now i'm getting back to it, and hopefully my characters will tell me a little more about themselves.....

......and in case you were wondering (which i know you will be because it's ace!!) my background is one of the designs for my book cover, courtesy of Patrick Crosby of Patrick Crosby Designs (see my previous post for further information).

Sunday 16 June 2013

Book extract...

So excited to share with you a small extract from my book. Since the book isn't technically finished yet any extracts i post on here may be subject to change but my story will persevere so any changes will most likely be the wording i've used.

I wanted to share the books prologue; this a is a new piece i've only recently added in to the story to introduce my male lead character, Ariel, because although the story is based on a young adult female called, Evelyn, because Ariel is her guardian angel i suppose you could say that the story is as much about him as it is about her in some ways.

I would love it if you could share this page with anyone you think might like my writing and i'd love to hear any comments you might have.

Hope you enjoy.....


Ariel
 I waited patiently for her to return home, sitting unmoving in the white wicker chair in the corner of her room whilst my heart pounded erratically, the way it always did until she returned home safe and sound.
It had become almost a nightly ritual for me to be there, waiting, just to make sure she was okay. How things had changed since I started this mission over seventeen years ago.
I hadn’t particularly cared about the missions I was given back then; the only reason I’d joined the brotherhood was with the intent to kill demons; and as a result I’d resented any missions involving humans. Not because I didn’t like humans, I thought they were an enviable race is some ways, but all I’d ever wanted was to help waste the demon scum who walked the earth and being a humans body guard wasn’t exactly fulfilling in the same way as sending a demon back to hell.
Being an angel, or a seraph to be more precise, you didn’t get many career choices. It was compulsory within our race to do one of two things when you came of age. The first choice wasn’t one to be taken lightly, joining the high council; which I’d never wanted to do. The elders on the council made decisions for all of mankind; and that seemed like too big a burden to bear. The second career option was one many, lesser angels shied away from, joining the brotherhood; a fellowship of heavens’ almightiest angels, an army trained to protect and serve for the greater good. And that was me, my calling; I was one of the strongest of my kind, so it seemed like a given that I should join, using my abilities to ensure the survival of mankind and my own race.
Technically there was a third option but it wasn’t one I had ever contemplated. Some angels chose to live like lemmings, as I liked to call them; who just wanted to live peacefully, no excitement, no action, and no life at all. That choice was the one I feared the most, having no purpose, leading an altogether boring existence; eternity was a long time to just exist without actually living.
Compulsory career choices aside, there was one other less revered choice which I may have considered for the smallest moment. The rebels of our kind, fallen angels who were outcast for breaking our laws or those who chose to leave of their own free will, if you can call it that; they left our world, abandoning their race and forsaking their purpose. Despite the fact that the fallen were exiled from heaven, they were the ones I envied the most. They had their freedom.
I couldn’t deny that for most of Evelyn Grey’s life I’d been absent; I couldn’t feign interest in watching over a child playing with her dolls when I’d wanted to be out hunting all the things that go bump in the night! At times I suppose you could say I’d been resentful about it; human missions had always seemed so stagnant to me and a waste of my abilities. My friend and second in command, Temperance, tried over the years to get me to take an interest in the mission but what did I care about some human girl who as far as I could tell was just that, human?
But things changed unexpectedly when Temperance told me that the reapers, death angels, where coming for Evelyn’s parents; I couldn’t deny my intrigue. Although I was a lieutenant in the brotherhood, I was still too low in rank to be told anything of importance and that meant I had no idea why we’d been sent to earth to watch over her. Part of me wondered if reapers taking her parents had anything to do with who she really was, so I stuck around more, hoping to find out.  
Ever since then I’d watched her closely. What once was a genuine vague interest in finding out what she was, had turned into a startling fascination, an unwanted attachment to her which I struggled to control. Since her parents’ death Evelyn had demonstrated such strong will; something most humans don’t have. She carried on with life even through the pain of loss I knew she felt; she went to school; she went to work; and she even continued to date that all too perfect kid she’d known since childhood; like any other normal girl her age. And even though she fell, broken beyond words, at the end of every day, she still got up each morning and carried on. She was one of the strongest humans I had ever known.
I sensed something within Evelyn, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on about who she really was and why I’d been sent to protect her and so I suppose part of me wanted to be there for the sole purpose of finding that out but deep down I knew the other part of me wanted to stick around just to see her every day; her captivating looks were almost unearthly and I could see those green eyes vividly whenever I closed my eyes. Her presence both soothed and calmed me and I was drawn to her in ways I couldn’t explain. But I couldn’t go there, she was human and such things were forbidden to our kind; I was her protector, her guardian angel and that’s all it could ever be. 


I hope you're all intrigued into reading more of the story now! I might post another chapter later on this week....but for now i must get back to it, enjoy the rest of your Sunday whatever you're doing. 

Lindsay 

Tuesday 11 June 2013

...a day in the life of an aspiring author

I am a little ashamed that this is only my second blog since i created this account as when i first joined e-blogger i had all of these good intentions of blogging all the time; but i admit that i am struggling to find any free time at the moment to do anything other than finishing my book!

Since i do work like most people do, there are just not enough hours in the day to get done what i need to do. Holding down a 9 to 5 job and then coming home to cook a meal and then spend two to three hours writing is exhausting to say the least and i admire anyone who can do that. But i especially admire my lovely husband, who supports me constantly with the hours i spend locked away hunched painfully over a laptop; i know it isn't easy for him and i am very lucky to be married to someone who accepts that an author tends to lead a very solitary existence because writing stories doesn't happen over night, it takes many many many hours of work, silence and most definitely mood swings! It's a challenging existence and yet i persevere because i know it will be rewarding in the end...if i don't collapse in an exhausted heap before then......

Anyway I wanted to use this post as an opportunity to talk about a friend of mine which i am sure he won't mind me doing since it's free advertising for him...

He's someone i met through work (my actual day job, the one which pays the bills....sort of...) and he is an extremely talented person.

Definitely one of those 'trendy cool types', Patrick is an aspiring designer who agreed to design the front cover for my first book. And obviously as with anything where you know someone who could help you out with a project it's always a risk as there is always a slight chance that it won't turn out the way you want it to and so ensues horrible awkwardness and feelings of resentment.

However....that has absolutely not been the case in this instance, everything i have asked for, any ideas i have put forward and any little changes i wanted to make regarding my book cover have been done and then some! I am thrilled with it and i hope that it helps give some well deserved recognition to the designer himself.

People with such a natural talent and flair for creative design who are also very laid back and modest, are a rarity and i am fortunate to now be working with Patrick on the cover for my book and hopefully the books that will follow.

When my cover is finalized i'll post a picture and you'll see what i mean but for now, for anyone with design needs, just visit Patrick's portfolio to view his work at patrickcrosbydesign.com  follow him on twitter @pcrosbydesign  or email for enquiries to patrick@patrickcrosbydesign.com

Oh and Patrick....you owe me money for the 'free advertising....'

Take care all x