Anothere day with too many characters or those creeping in and staying

Sometimes I wonder why I have so many characters in some of my books. Most of my YA fantasies have this problem. The problem is that I like gangs. When I was a kid in the dark ages, I belonged to, maybe not a gang, but there were fourteen boys and two girls on the street where I loved. This may be one of the reasons for the mega casts in these fantasies. While many people write with many characters in their stories the Henge series and also the Jewels of Earda series grew their characters and everyone wanted a say.

When I began the Jewels stories, there were really only to be four main characters but then there were things that needed to be said or learned by the reader that the four main characters didn't know. Thus another character had to have a viewpoint. Never again I told myself. In the Jewels series I think there are finally a total of twelve characters who have a say. Never again I told myself.

Then I began the Henge Betrayed series and needed five viewpoint characters. I thought I could handle this and so I did. The second book began and suddenly I needed a sixth viewpoint. That one crept in. Not so bad. Book 3 was begun and suddenly a seventh character raised her head and screamed, let me in. There are things I have to say and things the readers will need to know before the series ends. No one else can do this. I am now on the fourth and final book of the series and there are nine viewpoint characters. I managed to head several -- somewhere between three and five others who thought they could add to the story. Several of these were removed because some of my characters can read the winds and thus hear the voices of other characters.

Will I ever do this again. I can't promise that since there are several ideas rolling around in my head that might mean another book, not with casts of thousands but probably more than I can imagine at this time.

How about you? Do you find characters creeping into your story and refusing to leave?

Vision Boarding

This Saturday, November 20, the teen librarian at the Wichita Falls Public Library and I are presenting a Vision Boarding Workshop for children and teens. Fifteen children have signed up. Maybe you've heard of Vision Boarding. I had not until the librarian contacted me asking if I was interested. So I did what any good writer does when undertaking a new task. I Googled Vision Boarding.

It turns out I've been doing something similar only had no idea it had a name. Shucks, and I thought I was original. When I start a new story, I scan magazines, catalogues, newspapers, and other sources to find my characters. I cut out the ones who resemble the image in my mind of what I want my characters to look like and paste them on poster board. Even though I do profile sheets and interviews, I still write their names, ages, etc. next to their pictures. This saves time when I forget the eye color or even the character's name. Yes, since I work on two or three stories at a time, I sometimes confuse my characters.

I also find pictures of houses, cars, other items that relate to my characters' goals or what they like. In one of my current WIP, I posted pictures of volcanoes found on the Internet. The walls of my writing room are plastered with poster boards. (That's also a good way to cover the walls so you don't have to paint them.)

So, anyway, this Saturday we'll be discussing what the teens read, why they read certain books, and why they want to write. We'll look at plotting, character development, and setting. They'll be given poster board, magazines to look through, and we'll start. They'll finish their Vision Boarding at home.

They will also be given blank books to write their story in for a contest the library will be having later. I'm excited, and a bit nervous, too. This is my first workshop.

How do you keep track of your characters, setting, plot? Do you do something similar or have your own method. Please share. Thank you.

Have a great Wednesday. Happy Writing.

I'm In the (High School) Paper!

I never wrote for my high school newspaper. I'm pretty sure we had one.

I did write for my college newspaper. For my journalism class I wrote a fascinating article on whether more elevators were going to be installed at the school. I had to interview the man in charge of buildings and maintenance. I was living in the big leagues, let me tell you. I also wrote a series of columns, as an independent study, about my experience as an exchange student in London.

But I never interviewed an author. Maybe I should have.

Because I've been interviewed for a school paper.

Jillian, a high school student who edits the The Panther Press, read When Mike Kissed Emma and requested an interview with me for her school paper. How cool is that? Go here to read the interview!

Shiny New Book!

Well, almost. I'm not sure exactly when the next book in the Library of Athena series, THE MIRROR OF YU-HUANG, will be officially released from Zumaya Thresholds, but I know it should be soon. The edits are all done and I've seen samples of the cover art, and the book is being formatted and laid out. But I figure sooner rather than later I should, yanno, tell everyone about it. We're going to get it out in time for holiday shopping (yay!).

I've talked about writing this book, and editing this book, and the trauma when I thought this book might not have a new home, but never about the ACTUAL BOOK. Which seems kind of ridiculous, come to think of it. Anyway, here's the cover blurb: 

Confucius never said anything about this. 

Megan’s dreams of a fun and relaxing Christmas holiday have just turned into a nightmare. First, the headmistress of her school strong-arms her father into hosting a huge New Year’s ball at their manor home. Then she ends up with a Chinese ambassador, his family, and his staff as houseguests. Megan’s been unlucky with houseguests in the past—like one of the guests died kind of unlucky.

She tries to relax and enjoy the holidays, despite her home being turned into Grand Central. But her worst fears are realized when she receives a mysterious gift, one that links her to the Library of Athena, a secret store of rare and magical books she protects. Now she’s on her guard, hoping to identify the culprit and learn just how much he or she knows about the Library before someone gets hurt, or worse: she winds up inside another enchanted book. 

And here's a little tiny teaser: 

“Rachel, it’s gorgeous!”

Rachel twirled in the middle of Megan’s room, her long black skirt billowing around her.

“I don’t know. Do you really think so?”

“Yeah. You look like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. A perfect Holly Golightly.”

Megan loved old movies, and she was especially fond of those that starred Kate or Audrey Hepburn. Her DVD collection was bursting with their films – from Adam’s Rib to Sabrina. They always cheered her up, with their happily-ever-after endings and gorgeous, glamorous costumes. They also reminded her of her mother, who used to take Megan to revival movie houses when she was younger. Her memories were full of rainy Saturday afternoons in musty old theaters, sharing stale popcorn and watered-down soda.

Rachel’s ball gown was black satin with a full skirt and sparkling sequins along the strapless neckline. Her long neck was accented by both her black hair, piled on top of her head, and the string of pearls around her neck—a Christmas gift from her parents. Rachel played with the top of the dress, pulling it up.

“I’m afraid this thing is going to slip off, and I’m going to have a wardrobe malfunction. I hope no one steps on my skirt. Oops, almost forgot these.”

She retrieved a pair of elbow-length black gloves from the bed and pulled them on. Then, she leaned close to the vanity mirror and checked her makeup. She didn’t usually wear any, and it only added to the impression she was older than fifteen.

Megan looked herself over in the full-length mirror on the back of her closet door and smoothed a wrinkle in her royal blue dress with off-the-shoulder neckline and long sleeves. It also had a floor-length skirt, although not as full as Rachel’s, and featured a short train. She wore her mother’s pearl earrings, and her hair, too, was pulled up. Wisps of auburn curls framed her face, and strands of small pearls had been woven into it by the stylist. He had ooohed and ahhhed and told her how beautiful she looked while he used enough hair spray to punch a new hole in the ozone. It was going to take her days to remove all the pins and wash away all of the stiff and sticky gunk.
Rachel stood next to her and whistled.

“Too bad Diedrich’s not here, we’d have to follow him around with a mop to clean up all the drool.”

Megan’s rouged cheeks grew even pinker as her face flushed. She remembered the envelope Diedrich had sent yesterday—it sat on the desk, half-opened, where she had dropped it. She had been distracted by Chao right after it arrived, then summoned back to the parlor by Harriet and the impatient seamstress and hadn’t had a chance to look at it. Every time she thought of it, there was some other ball-related thing to do.

She wished she had invited him, for reasons other than to be her date. She could do with his brand of comfort.

Rachel smoothed her dress and gave one last look in the mirror.

“Okay, I’m ready. How about you?”

Megan didn’t feel ready. Her knees had turned to jelly, and her stomach lurched like she was riding over deep potholes in a car with no shock absorbers. It was the same sensation she got before a hockey game—anticipation mixed with a healthy dose of pure fear. She didn’t know anything about being at a formal ball, and she didn’t know any of the fancy dances people did at the cotillions that older girls went to. Her mother had pestered her to learn, but Megan had fought against taking ballroom dancing lessons, citing their un-coolness and pleading torment by her peers should they find out.

She sighed, wishing she had listened to her mother. Those dances couldn’t be too hard, though, right? After all, B-list celebrities on that TV show learned to do them.  

Who am I kidding? In these shoes, I’ll fall over my own feet. I’ll just stay away from the dance floor.

She glanced at her satin high heels and hoped she would make it down the stairs without tumbling end over end. Harriet had drilled her on walking in heels, but at this point, she would be happy if she ended the evening with them still on her feet.

She pulled her wrap around her shoulders and struggled with the wave of anxiety that flooded through her. She tried channeling Kate Hepburn, but it didn’t work as well as she’d hoped.

“Meg, did you hear me? I asked if you were ready. You’re not still thinking about that necklace are you?”
“Not really, but now that you mention it, maybe I should stay up here. I could hack into the new security cameras and—”
“Absolutely not. First of all, there’s no way you can skip this. Your dad would flip, and so would Professor Spencer.” She considered that for a moment, perhaps weighing the idea of seeing the headmisstress’ head spin off into space, then shook her head and dismissed the thought. “Second, you need a night like this. You know, to have fun. You remember fun? You’ve been kind of stressed out, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Megan shrugged.

“I guess.”

How would she keep an eye on Chao, Ping, and Ling in a crowd of hundreds while wearing high heels?

Rachel linked arms with her.

“Let’s go, Cinderella, our adoring public awaits.”

As soon as I have more details re: the release, I will post them! 

Time

I am late. With this blog. Seems I am always running late these days. With everything. Real life has gotten very hectic, it would seem. And I thought I had it under control. Guess not.

Time. It slows, quickens, stalls out completely, runs out completely. Strange thing, that. When you're waiting for a much anticipated event, time seems to be at a standstill. It drags. It refuses to come, despite much coaxing. But when you're needing it to stay put, does it? Oh, no. Then it comes swooshing in, all feisty and demanding and full of itself. It cannot be pushed back, and simply either runs you over or swallows you whole.

That's where I am right now - being swallowed.

I am in between two craft fairs - desperately finishing up pieces - pricing, bagging, counting and gathering materials. Each show I change my focus just a little, to capture more of the audience. This time, I'm showcasing my picture books. Only they are not in print - they are electronic. The illustrations are gorgeous, but I need to show them. So, I made up samples - binders, with the pages all printed out and slipped into plastic sleeves. Customers can read the book and then purchase the CD. Hopefully. Printing out the books, putting them on CD, labeling, jacketing, etc, all takes some of that precious time.

I am also caring for my son's puppy. Only three days a week, but I have to be vigilant. The puppy is learning about the proper place to go potty - and it's not on my floor, although he seems to think that is ten times better than schlepping through the wet grass and driving rain that Mother Nature is tossing this way so that he can attend to mother nature in his own way. More time sucked up.

And, of course, there is the usual to be taken care of - cleaning, laundry, shopping - which is getting into full swing with Christmas approaching so quickly. Again, time is swooshing instead of stalling here. It seems that we were just getting done with Halloween and here it is almost time for St Nick.

The stores seem to be rushing everything these days,too. On one side of the aisle you see Thanksgiving, on the other side Christmas, with a few shelves reserved for leftover Halloween decorations. It's like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas have all blurred into one long holiday. Time is getting all balled up in itself here, tumbling over and over like a dung beetles prize.

I remember when I was a kid, Christmas exploded on the scene the day after Thanksgiving, not before. Downtown would be transformed overnight into a winter wonderland, with the swags and lights and decorations. It was almost magical. Those workers must have been up all night to accomplish such a feat. Now? It's not surprising to see Christmas decorations lining the shelves BEFORE Halloween. For some reason, this destroys the whole magic of the season for me. Time has gone into overdrive, almost hyperspace, where I am seeing three realities at once.

Ah, time, you are a wicked one. When we are young, we can't wait to grow older, to get things accomplished, to gather material goods, to get "our place" in society. And, once we get to that coveted age that we so longed for, we look back and wish that maybe we could have projected forward a little better and let time do it's thing the way it's supposed to. Let it amble, instead of rush. Let it be without brakes or accelerator. Let time be timeless.

JennaKay Francis
www.jennakayfrancis.com
www.readerseden.com

Just Keep Writing

The other day Kim posted about participating in National Novel Writing Month. I'm also setting aside my inner editor for a month and letting the words flow.

Or not.

Some days are easy. There are ideas and it's rainy out and there's nothing else to do anyway, so lots of words get on the page.

Other days are a little tougher. There is some Christmas shopping to do and catching up with an old friend and helping with homework and suddenly it's nine o'clock at night and I haven't written 500 words, much less the recommended 1667.

What to do?

First of all - don't panic. There's always tomorrow to catch up. This is a marathon, not a sprint (which is probably a bad analogy for me to try to work with, because I don't run at all, but we'll go with it.) If you fall a little behind in one mile, you have 26 others in which to make it up in. And if you fall behind in one day, you have the rest of the month.

The important thing is to keep on writing. Can't figure out what to write. Write something anyway. Because even if a lot of those words you write are going to end up being cut, there is probably something there you're going to want to keep. You wouldn't even have that if you were out cleaning your windows or something and not writing. (Though there is something to be said for clean windows.)

I'm on track to "win" NaNoWriMo this year - which means writing 50,000 words in a month. I've done it before, so I know it's possible. Two years ago, the first time I tried, I actually cranked out 50,000 words in two weeks. That novel is still in the revision stage (as they say, it's not the writing, it's the re-writing.) Last year I was not as successful, but I attribute that to having Swine Flu at the beginning of November. I lost momentum I wasn't able to pick up again.

And now I think I better settle myself into my writer cave and get to work!

Happy Writing!

Covey Trailer Awards

Ooh, check this out:

http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com/


The trailer to my YA paranormal CROSSED OUT is one of the nominated trailers!  Stop by and comment!  Better yet, cast a vote!