Pantsers and Series: A Tale of Writing

Tags

being a pantser, learning the story as you write, revisions, thoughts, writing, writing a series

Yesterday I finished revisions on Doors, the first in a three book series.

I have posted before about how after writing books two and three, book one was, well, a mess.

Truth, Doors was written as a stand alone. When I began drafting book two, then book three, some stories hadn’t been told. Some worlds hadn’t been built. There were secrets. SO MANY SECRETS!

Until I finished the first draft of book three, when all the information had unfolded.

I don’t plot. I don’t plan. When I have tried, I have failed. It just doesn’t work for me. So to write a series, I have to write the series, let it evolve, learn as I go. Then fix everything.

My Bryn is a powerhouse. A survivor. I didn’t even know what she could do until book three.

Somewhere in book two the Dorn announced themselves as a non binary race, pronouns they/their. Their world, their purpose for being was also revealed as I wrote book two, and, holy moly, are they important!

The Gether world has a history, one I didn’t know until book two when I returned. A war. An outsider. A jewel. Hints at all of this had to be added, a few key characters had to be brought in book one.

The Darkness. He appeared in book two. He snuck in and took control and made book two a bit dark and AWESOME! But he wasn’t what I thought. Only while drafting book three did I really hear him.

The Doorman. I love him, but he surprised me. That’s all I’m saying.

Languages. I made up so many worlds, I stopped keeping track. Every world has their own rituals, their own way of speaking. As I went through book one, I learned how I messed them up. Suddenly the nots were speaking like the Neathers, what a mess. I think I straightened it out. Maybe.

The ending. When I started book two, I had an idea of where Bryn’s character arc was headed. I was wrong. Slowly she let me know what she wanted, she let me know she wasn’t going to choose what I thought she would. And we all know fighting characters is insane.

Book one is about believing.

Book two is about doubt.

Book three is about choices.

I am so happy with how this series went. My mess of notes and strange brain made it a frustrating journey, but the whole thing will come together. I got this.

There is no way I could have known all the secrets. Even if I had sat and planned the trilogy, I would have been wrong in the end. Writing is a process for me. I have to learn with the characters, grow with the story. Let all the creativity flow. This is how I work best. I will never fight it. I will never question it.

I was afraid when I began revisions for book one. I have a habit of overthinking. I worried that I would panic. What if I mess it all up? What if my editor takes one look at the revisions and laughs at me? Seriously.

Then I let it all go, gathered my thoughts and dove in.

I had a great time! I am so happy with it. In a couple weeks, I will hand it off and wait for fresh eyes to show me all the possibilities, all the places to make it better. EDITING TEAMWORK BABY. I am super excited for the next step in the publishing journey!

I’ve done the best I can. This is enough.

Tomorrow we leave for vacation. A week of camping in Glacier National Park in Montana. I will leave Bryn and all her doors at home. I will let my brain digest everything in peace, to make sure nothing else pops into my head.

So now I shall go clean and pack and panic at leaving. I will go run around and hopefully get things done. Hey, I blogged. Point to me.

To Fit or Not to Fit…In

Tags

belonging, Cassandra Chandler, different, fantasy, thoughts, uniqueness

This week is going to be a bit crazy, with preparing for vacation…cleaning and packing and gathering all the camping things…band practices, a softball game, dentist visit, writers group, and revisions, I was perfectly happy ignoring my blog. Then I read Cassandra Chandler’s blog today and it stirred a memory in my head. Go read her post 11 Years on an Alien Planet. It’s short…I’ll wait.

I was different than the other kids. Though I never really knew it. I tried so hard to to be like everyone else, to fit in, that I never truly appreciated me. My own uniqueness was lost to my need to be like others, to the voice in my head screaming that I should be like them.

I still fight this.

Though now that I’m in my forties, I really don’t care as much.

As a kid I read a lot of fantasy. I watched a lot of fantasy. I wanted to live in a fantasy. However, in all those fantasies, the warriors were men. Well, I had a character in my head…another me, if you will. Her name was Tyra and she was strong. She was independent. She was a woman of few words. She was a warrior. The story of how she found and gained her sword…a special sword…was a tale of adventure and danger.

I lived in my head so much, I thought I had been born on the wrong planet. Unlike Cassandra, who thought she was an alien, I thought a portal would open up and take me home…the difference between a sci-fi geek and a fantasy nerd, I suppose. Not that different really.

That portal never came…except it did. Kind of. I am a writer. All the worlds in my head live on the page, in the imagination. Maybe I wasn’t born on the wrong planet, but on the exact right one, the one that needed me to share what’s in my brain.

Embrace your weird. Embrace what makes you unique. Never think you don’t belong, because maybe you’re in just the right place.

The Great Social Media Adventure

Tags

blogs, connecting with readers, connecting with writers, Facebook, hashtags, instagram, social media, thoughts, Twitter, using social media, writers, writing

Social media is an adventure.

For some it’s a way to have fun and connect with people who have the same interests. For some it’s a way to market.

For authors…it’s both.

And we struggle to discover how it can best work for us. So, I am sharing my social media story, my adventure.

Social media is a tool. To build friendships. To research and find agents, editors, cover designers, and publishers. To build your brand…to be yourself, to show people who you are and what you stand for, to share how you see the world. To learn about writing. To find critique partners. To find support.

I am on Twitter, with 7,488 followers (as I type this). @KathleenPalm

I am on Instagram, with 133 followers (as of now). kathleen.palm

I have a Facebook author page, with 100 likes (as of this moment). Kathleen Palm

They are all my name, the name I write under. I did that on purpose, to make it easy to find me…if anyone looks, which is the key, right? Is anyone looking? No idea.

I have this blog…TA DA!

And I post twice a month on The Midnight Society blog…a place for horror fans!

Good? Bad? I have no idea. But it is what it is. I’m out there. Yea me!

Obviously, I have been most active on Twitter. My account has been active for about five years, I really started using it four years ago. I love it there. All my friends are there! Though it can get a bit mean and nasty, I try to not get sucked into the muck. I use Twitter to connect with writers, to build my CP pool, to find support when it’s been a bad day, to spread happiness to my fellow writers, to celebrate all the things. To share books that are being released, to share books I’m reading. I live-tweet a horror movie once a month, part of my “Let’s Watch a Horror Movie” series on The Midnight Society blog, which is super fun!

Hashtags are fun, use them to find people who have similar interests. Like dogs? There’s a hashtag for that. Cats? Gardening? Fantasy? There are hashtags for everything. People who aren’t following you…could find you through the hashtags.

Great tags for writers?

#amwriting, #amreading, #amrevising, #amediting…there are so many more, including ones to share lines from your WIP. We find each other as we face frustration and victory. The writing community is awesome.

I have started a few, mostly to make my friends smile. #MountieMonday #MomoaMonday #MyLittlePonyMonday #MuppetMonday #MinionMonday (All those to help make Mondays happier) #Theosday (to celebrate Theo James, which happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays) #WeDEANsday (for Dean Winchester) #FRYANday (because Ryan Gosling). These are fun. I like fun.

My Facebook author page…well, that’s where I post anything writing related. I will post updates and sometimes lines from my current WIP. I will share blogs about writing. But I struggle with it’s purpose, to really enjoy using that spot. It’s there, maybe I’ll stop forgetting about it. Maybe.

This blog. It’s here. I try to post consistently, but sometimes I have to let it go. I try to post about writing, share what I know. I post about things that make me smile, to make others smile. I like to share the magic of the world. Because the world is magic and we sometimes we forget.

When I was asked to joined The Midnight Society blog, I was over the moon excited and honored! I love horror and I love the people who blog there. We are a family who love creepy. I have learned so much from them, my horror horizons have been broadened. THANK GOODNESS!

Now onto my newest project…Instagram.

I am a YA author. So I need to market to teens. Twitter? Maybe. FB? Maybe. Instagram? YES!

Though I will say that my thoughts on selling to teens is through the actual teens. Word of mouth. Friends telling friends…so I will be using my daughter and her friends. BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME!

I joined an Instagram for authors FB page, to learn from others and share what I learn so we can rock the Instagram.

#igauthorlife, #igauthor would be that group. We did a #myfavoritereadsweek last week where each day we posted a pic of our favorite books and why we love them. There are people out there searching for books to read! I know…shocker, right? They are happy to find books they didn’t know existed. I had one person so happy that I posted about Amy Lukavics’ THE WOMEN IN THE WALLS, because she didn’t know about it. Someone else was very interested in MG book THE SEARCH FOR WONDLA by Tony DiTerlizzi.

Through this group, I hope to connect with people on Instagram. Because it’s fun…because someday I’ll want to share my books!

Tip…I linked my Instagram to FB and Twitter, so the one post goes to all three. That is a life saver!

What I am trying:

Being myself, sharing everything me.

#adventureswithKathy and #magicexists…where I post pics of the things I see, odd things with my strange way of viewing them…where I take everyone out into the world with me.

Reading.

#amreading, #booksofinstagram, #ilovebooks, #yalit, #yabooks… also hashtag the title and author…to share my reactions while I read. To share what I love. To introduce others to a book they might not have known existed.

At the moment it is #scythe by #nealshusterman…OMG THIS BOOOOOOOK!

Other life things.

#catsofinstagram, #dogsofinstagram, #gardening…anything else that I love.

I am seeing a lot of likes form people I don’t know and a few have followed me.

What else have I learned? Hashtags can be overwhelming. There are so many, type in #book…and the list is enormous! Do I need them all? Do I choose the ones with the most posts? I have no idea. I tend to be a less is more person, so I don’t overwhelm my posts with hashtags. Right…wrong? It is what I am doing.

Tip…do what works for you. Don’t stress over what might work better, what you should be doing. All the guessing could kill the fun.

AND IT SHOULD BE FUN! If you’re not having fun…no one else will.

Overall, it comes down to being consistent. No one is following…no one is following…keep going! Try not to focus on the followers and turn your attention to you, how you want to portray yourself, really stretch your wings and FLY!

Be yourself. One of the best compliments I ever received when I met a Twitter friend in person was “You are just like you are on Twitter!”.

It me.

It always me.

See you around the web!