Starting Over--again

"How many books have you written?" For me, that question is right up there with, "Where do you get your ideas?" My mind blanks and I waffle. In fact, I don't know the exact number of publications and I never stop to make a count.

Many authors have written a large number of books but therein lies a danger: people don't expect a writer to respond with a high number and if they do, the listener is often making the judgment that the books must have been "churned out" factory-style. That's embarrassing, especially if you're not into justifying yourself.

The assumption is often that if you are really multi-published, you obviously don't take enough time over your work. There isn't an author on this blog who doesn't pour herself into her stories. This isn't a hobby, or a pastime we come back to when we've got a couple of down hours. Every day is a work day for me and that's the way I want it.

Sometimes the relationship between the story and me is a battle, one that I never give up on.

Where did all this come from? This evening as I decided what I wanted to blog about, I was also immersed in starting my next book. The April, Pointe Judah Bayou Book (#2 in the series) is in and already heading for ARCs (advance reader copies for the industry). I finished revising the story in Kauai--for a little over a week. No, I didn't whine about using up my vacation that way--much--because that's part of the agreement I make with my publisher: I will finish what I've promised to finish, as best I can and as close to deadline as I can.


But I'm off-topic and have been since I started this:) Starting Over--again, came to me because I'm writing the proposal for the next Pointe Judah Bayou Book. Next year there will be two books in this series, in April and in November. I am gradually pushing the April book out of my head--although it's not all gone yet. But the November book now bubbles up to the surface and I'm putting the proposal together.

The characters line up, then one or two take a holiday from the story while a few others slip into place. Then, of course, major characters who have never appeared before become absolutely necessary this time.

Conflicts? No trouble, no story so conflicts are paramount. At the moment they are scrambling over each other, each one insisting they are the most important. And I battle a desire to go to bed and pull the covers over my head. Only that wouldn't stop the ruckus. It's important for me to get the outline down as fast as possible, knowing there will be much tweaking to follow.

Another struggle goes on between characters, each of whom think they are the most important. And, I admit, each one does seem incredible important when they first confront me.

A saving grace arrives in the form of a series of definite climaxes in the book's action. So that's what I'm up to. Sifting through characters, some very familiar, some utterly strange to me. Delia Board appeared in TARGET and I've decided she'll be back in the next book. We'll visit Poke Around, an "interesting" gift shop at the Oakdale Mansion Center in Point Judah, and Ona's Out Front--and, naturally Ona's Out Back. I think a new establishment is opening where swamp pop, zydeco some reggae and assorted jazz will be the draw, in addition to great food and "make sure your stomach isn't empty before you drink these," drinks. I see some intriguing acts and some connections that are just a bit "out there." After all, this is voodoo country and that parched gray shack deep in the swamps, the one owned by Cruzah, a much feared practitioner who is known to be capricious, looms central to the plot. He may chose good or evil. He alone weighs the merits (according to his own standards) of a request for either cure, or illness, or even death, and the outcome is only known after the spell is cast.

My characters will walk close to the boundaries of evil when they decide to confront Cruzah. And so a new story is born. Not cranked out, although that would be so much more simple:) Events I haven't even dreamed of will burst on scene and some points I think are so important right now will diminish and even go away. But it's my job, right now, to write a proposal that makes my editors excited, makes them itch for the chapters. Yes, I'm starting all over--again. And I must be slightly unhinged because I'm never more excited than I am as I start slipping the pieces together--unless it's when the actual story throws me some curves.


What makes you laugh, or cry, about a story?

What makes you mad when you're reading?

Always read--that way lie ultimate brain treats,

Stella