Tag Archives: novelist

Joe Vs. the Volcano

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Joe vs. the Volcano

It’s Monday morning and as I prepare myself for another creative stifling week at my “Day Job”, I remember a 90’s movie Joe Vs. the Volcano.  The actors included Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, so it be would assumed the movie must be decent, but instead shockingly falls under “I can’t believe I wasted a portion of my life watching this.”

What brings this movie to mind is one of the first scenes of the  movie, when it shows Tom Hanks’s character Joe arriving to his dreary day job in no window office with draining deadening fluorescent lights and industrial grey office furniture.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnLDMqPBeKQ

I admit my day job is “not that bad”, but as I sit under fluorescent lights in my tiny cube working on an endless task list, I do take a moment to image my perfect writing life.

Why Did You Stop?

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–          You’ve stopped again.  You stopped writing  mid-scene and you haven’t moved forward, not even a sentence in over two weeks.

–          Well… I’m stuck.

–          Stuck?  You know exactly what is supposed to be written in this scene, how are you stuck?

–          I don’t know…I’m just stuck.

–          How hard is it?  Stand up,  walk over to your computer, it’s already turned on and everything, sit in front of it and just start typing.  Type just a page, a paragraph, even just a sentence.

–          No… I don’t want to.

–          UGH!  Why, what is the problem?

–          I don’t know…I’m just stuck.

–          Fine!  Be stuck, but I know you’ll be back.  You’re a writer and you can’t fight the “need to write” for long.

What kind of girl do you think I am?

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In my current novel my female villain is about to be introduced into the story, but there is a dilemma.

I have no idea who she is. In my mind she is standing there with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot with a very frustrated look on her face. But the rest of her features keep morphing and changing while she looks at me with impatience.

Blond to brunette, skinny to plump, tall to petite, fit to fatigued. My female villain throws her arms up in the air in disgust, “Make up your mind already.”

But it’s difficult to commit (there goes those commitment issues again) after all, I will be spending a lot of time with her over what could be a year or more. This unknown villainess and I going to put my main character through some very hard times and I just want to make sure she is the right one for the job.

What I do know is this…I know exactly what horrible things my villain is going to do. I have master plan of destruction and mayhem all mapped out.

She is still standing there tapping her foot at me.

The question isn’t what “is” she going to do, it’s “how” is she going to do it. Is she deceptively sweet or just plan up front and evil? Does she swear in every sentence or hide behind soothing sweet words? Does she smile or just cross her arms and stare at people like their an idiot. What kind of villain is she and is she the right one for the job?

I close my eyes and picture her again…she is still tapping her foot and rolling her eyes at me.

A Guy Walks Into a Bar

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“A guy walks into a bar; he had a conversation with a strange woman and then left the bar.”

This is one of the reasons my writing lingers at the novice level.  Description, description, description….

Description and those pesky five senses will be the death of me.

What did the bar look like; sports bar, dive bar, strip bar?  What did the bar smell like; stale cigarettes, aged vomit, high school locker room?  Was the beer flat and the peanuts stale?  Was it loud with crowds or quiet and empty?  Did the jukebox play love songs or a thump’en dance mix?  Were the bar stools hard and leather booths comfortable?

Details that make the reader feel they are in the bar, not outside peering through a cloudy window, the ability to weave the perfect amount of description without being cliché or droning on page after page over every little speck of boring detail.

A perfect balance of detail is the goal and every day I write to achieve that goal.

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Monica-Wood/dp/0898799082/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367861077&sr=8-1&keywords=elements+of+fiction+description

Nanowrimo Throwup

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I have been a member of Nanowrimo since 2007. (http://www.nanowrimo.org)   I have participated in the November event every year since and have even been successful in the monstrous goal of 50,000 words in 30 days,five of the eight years.

I am a HUGE fan of Nanowrimo!

Every October I start thinking about what project I could work on during the Nano-riffic event. I put whatever current project I’m working on aside and come up with a new and improved writing project.  Characters, plots catastrophes start floating through my head.  I feel like an evil mastermind, rubbing my hands together…this will be the best book idea ever.

November comes and I take off running! The thrill of the speed and the goals push me forward.  Quantity has never been an issue for me.  I can throw up 1,667 words a day and not even break a sweat.

First week is great and it feels easy to keep up.  Then second week hits and life begins to interrupt my stride.  I start to miss a day here and a day there.   But I know I can catch up on the weekend.

It’s around November 15th, I slam smack into the wall.  My plot completely falls through and I am overwhelmed with the feeling of this is by far the dumbest idea I have ever had.

This is the point of failure for me on the years I was not Nano successful.  The inner critic beat me down and then did a jig on my head while I lay there moaning about how my writing sucks.

But then there are the years I am successful and I punch the inner critic in the face and trudge through the mud to the finish line.  YES…I’m a winner!  The winner of 50,000+ words of pure writer throw up.

This is where the real work begins.  Where I have to rummage through all the puke and decide whether to flush it all down the toilet or dig out a few good chunks.

This is where I am now, rummaging around with a few good chunks attempting to create a novel that is a step above colorful vomit.

Yes, I Have Commitment Issues

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My name is Nicolle and I have severe commitmentitis.

It’s true..  I admit it…  I have commitment issues.

They say on average it takes ten years to write your first novel. I am in this VERY LARGE group of writers that dream of the finished novel, but I have sailed over the ten year mark and have no novel to speak of. Each year I spout, “This is the year I am going to finish my novel”  My friends and family smile kindly each time and provide positive support, but I see the look in their eyes, I see into their doubting souls.  And then things come up, life goes on and another year passes me by.

I can commit to my marriage, to my children and even my day job with ease and grace, but when it comes to making a commitment to myself…crash and burn.

Committing to “me” is my biggest challenge.  Committing to my novel.

A novel that has morphed, changed, revised, been tossed away, reorganized , forgotten and started again.  Nothing ever finished.  Nothing but a pile of unfinished, uncommitted effort. (big sigh)

But the writer in me is never satisfied, always that little voice gnawing at me and pushing me forward.

I have been a writer for a lifetime, but I WILL BE A NOVELIST.