A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

My intent for my first 10,000 words was to introduce my audience to my main character or characters and begin to suggest a story line. I also wanted to establish the setting. I discovered in developing the backstory that I really have two stories going on. I have a story about the original owners of the coffee shop, Shirley and Joe, and the story of the new owner, Sonja Parker. I started with a prologue offering a reason the previous owners sell the coffee shop. The coffee shop is in Door County, Wisconsin. The location is a popular summer vacation destination. Sonja, my original character is drawn to the prospect of a seasonal business. As Sonja moves in and prepares for the summer onslaught of tourists, she begins to unravel the story of Shirley and Joe, the older couple who made “ Shirley’s Cuppa Joe ” so successful.  She also begins to learn more about herself. So where am I now? 14,720 words. I spent the first five hundred words on the prologue. THE PROL...

I am finding the blog to be a real benefit to me. I know a few people have told me they enjoy watching this writing process from afar (thanks, Mom), but I really don’t know if it is benefitting anyone except me. Maybe that is enough. I have found accountability to be the greatest benefit in drafting this blog so far. I made a commitment to share my experience drafting this second novel by posting something every week. I have to work on my book or I will have nothing to post. I started the blog to share my experiences, decisions, obstacles I overcome, and so forth in drafting a novel. I am now off to a good start on the book. It is taking shape and I am writing daily. I don’t want the blog to become the focus of my writing. I still want to share the process with anyone interested. I think I can do that through a once a week format. So why Word Count Wednesday? Most of the novels I enjoy are roughly 80,000 words in length. I expect this book to be about the s...

My husband and I are temporarily living in the house where he grew up. Our daughter recently came to visit us here. She enjoyed listening to the stories my husband and his brother shared about their childhood. After hearing them tell about some of their life experiences, our daughter said, “Well, that explains a lot.” We know a person’s character by the way he or she acts, but when we learn about a person’s past we come to understand what shaped that character. That is the backstory. As an author, I need to know the backstory for my characters.  Even if I don’t use it, I need to know it. +Jack Cavanaugh gave me excellent advice at the Write-to-Publish conference in Wheaton, Illinois last year. I had started my book with much of the backstory. He recommended I cut the first chapter out completely and weave the backstory in subsequent chapters. He reminded me that I don’t need to share everything, either. I need to share the parts that are essential to the story. ...

I have my calendar started and I have sketched out profiles for the characters for my book. I have tried to get organized. I kept thinking I could just get started writing if I did this one more thing to get ready. The latest was the thought that even though I have a pretty good calendar of events planned for my story, I thought it would be helpful to have a long strip of paper I could tack up to the wall and create a timeline. Sounds good, right? When most of the world went digital, a local business donated rolls of adding machine tape to my classroom. We used it to make historical timelines, scrolls, charts, and graphs for many years. I was up late into the night last night thinking about where I might get some of that adding machine tape. For some reason, I was sure I couldn’t really start writing until I could hang the long strip of paper above my desk. This morning my husband wanted pecan waffles. We went to Waffle House. I was just finishing my meal when Tom h...

I love this time of year when I get a new calendar or day planner to set up. I have electronic planners but there is something about holding that new little book in my hands and thumbing through the pages of a new year. But if you think organizing my time is what this post is about, think again. It turns out this is a great time of year to pick up a free calendar from church or a small business. I have several old calendars I have saved through the years. I have used them to teach math lessons or play games with first graders, offer the pictures as story starters in writer workshops, and as of late, lay out my story in a reasonable, albeit linear fashion. When I was writing Breathing on Her Own , I used an old calendar to outline the sequence of events. I found it helped me think through the story from beginning to end. When I learned more about civil lawsuits in Ohio, for example, I used the calendar to map out the process my character, Laney, would face in a wrong...