Melanie Nilles

A writer writes. Plain as that. So many people say they could write a book, if they only had the time. Why don’t they? Or is that you? Writing is a lonely profession or hobby that takes time like anything else. If only we had more time.

I say HOGWASH! (I could say worse but I keep my blog PG-13 at worst). You make the time to watch TV or read. Then you have time to write. But you can’t give up Idol or CSI? Then find another time. I do it, around my day job, family, and other commitments.

I have a new baby, but I still set aside a little time every day to write. With a young infant, finding time to write can be difficult at best. She never wants to nap when the older sister naps, which is when I would find the best time to write. Now I’m back to a minimum every day for any writing, including my website and blog. Let’s not even get into finding time to read! I do that on the treadmill a few times a week.

Currently my best time to actually write a page or two is after both kids are asleep. That gets pretty late. At least the baby is only waking once a night now, or I’d hardly have time to sleep. Sometimes I’m lucky to have four straight hours to sleep (bedtimes minus my writing time). I make up for it when I need to, but I put in the time, even if it’s only a half an hour a day.

The point is that to write you have to be dedicated. Right now, that’s the hardest thing for me, but if I can do it with a young infant, anyone should be able to find the time. Then you can call yourself a WRITER.

Well, not incredible, but the weight is going in the right direction–down!  Another 1 1/2 pounds gone!  Woohoo!  I’ll be in my old clothes by the time the reason I gained the weight is baptized.

Some books you can’t put down. I’m not talking about books that one reads, but an upcoming book that I wrote. It’s still with me and doesn’t seem inclined to leave me anytime soon.

Dark Angel wrote itself in seven weeks, too short for me to tire of it and be ready to let it go. While in the middle of another story, I had the idea come to me so strong and vibrant that, like a bucket of fresh water to someone dying of thirst, I couldn’t resist it. After a week of struggling to focus on the other project, I gave in to the intense need to write the story that I already knew was meant to be called Dark Angel. The story stayed with me so strong and true that I lived it with all my senses. I’ve never had that happen before. When I finished, I wanted more. The connection to the characters clutched me and led me on, but I knew I could never write anything like that again. It’s as if someone poured the story into me and I was just the vessel through which they told it. It was all there for me ready to go. I made some discoveries about the characters along the way, but for all I knew, they could have been real people in real lives, rather than my imagination, and I was simply observing.

Although I originally wrote the story from one character’s POV, another stood out so strong that he was screaming to be heard. I couldn’t ignore him and later added scenes as if he told me what to write. I already knew what had happened, because he had hinted through his actions and words to the main character. He became almost a secondary main character, but I restrained him to a strong supporting character.

What was the inspiration for yet another story about angels? Therein lies the inspiration–these angels are aliens that have evolved on a world where flight is necessary, but their ancestors came out of the sea that covers the world. I won’t explain the details here, because it would give too much away. However, I will say that they have a higher level of technology and have visited Earth many times in the past. The idea stole me away. I don’t deny the belief of angels in a religious sense–I am a believer–just not that they all have beautiful wings. I asked myself, “What if the images we see in paintings of human figures with wings were really visitors from another world, a culture far more scientifically advanced, but one which early human civilizations didn’t understand and revered as supernatural beings?” The story evolved.

In truth, Dark Angel was a 99% rewrite of a novella-length story I wrote at the end of my college years. I took a few pieces I wanted and put them in a new setting and changed it from a bland first attempt at fantasy to a piece of science fiction for young adults. I had always wanted to rewrite it, because I knew it had something I liked. Not until nine years later and several other stories, did I see the true story underneath.

As a fan of science fiction, I don’t subscribe to the notion that angels have to be beautiful and have white wings as we commonly see in art. I see the notion as more open. Humans are not all the same, so why would a species that looks human with wings have to all look the same? Besides, after watching DNAngel (an anime series), I liked the idea of black wings. Why not? It added intrigue, because white wings are so ingrained as being of good angels. Why can’t an angel have black or brown or red or gray wings? If they are really just a mortal species, they can be anything that fits. Birds come in many different colors, after all. But since this was a species that didn’t evolve on Earth, they needed to be different. I created a whole world and evolutionary history for the Inari.

Now, I needed a fictional place amid the real place. What did I know and what would fall within reason for a plausible setting on Earth? I know upper midwest America. I live in North Dakota. How many books have a setting so remote? Too many are set in big cities, which I admit that I am not too familiar with. Why not the open prairie? What better place could an angel hide?

How can a person with black wings hide–another problem I had to solve and that brought in a fantasy element. Certain Inari can hide their wings, but only those with a link to the Starfire crystal, a group of entities from nonspace that can only survive in crystalline form in our dimension. Ah, so where’s the problem? Such power as the Starfire grants its wielder is too much of a temptation for many Inari, as it would be for many humans. That is why the individuals that the Starfire entities have chosen to care for it sometimes hide on Earth, occasionally showing their true forms to guide events in human civilizations.

Return to modern day, the fictional small town of McClarron set in central North Dakota. Internet, cell phones, and small-town teen life. If you’ve come from my website, you may have seen the description under the books section. I’ll leave you to that.

This story came to me in a blur and has stayed with me for over a year. I can’t yet put it down and hope that when it is available in both e-book and paperback formats next spring that you’ll enjoy it as much as I still do.

I have to say this here, as a way to track my progress. I recently had a baby, but put on 45 pounds. With my first, I gained 40 and lost it all within four months. My goal this time is to lose it within the same amount of time, but it’s proving harder.

At present, I have about 18 pounds left with a goal to lose another 3-5 pounds by Easter. By the end of May, I hope to have it all off and be back to an ideal weight of 110 pounds or less. Can I do it?

Although I ate right during the pregnancy, I still gained a lot of weight. I’d have had to starve myself not to. I’m now having to cut back, but I still eat. I am trying for a bowl of oatmeal every day along with fresh fruits and green veggies more than any other carbs. I cut back on refined sugars, but I found that chocolate-covered raisins have helped a lot and don’t contribute to any weight gain. In fact, for me they are helping the weight loss. A few here and there throughout the day has helped to curb the sugar cravings, and I get healthy raisins along with a little satisfying chocolate. Not a bad combination. Nursing plays its part in the weight loss, along with the regular workouts 3-4 times a week (30 minutes on the treadmill and at least another 20 minutes on the weight machines and free weights).

So, here I am marking my place towards reaching my weight loss goals. Labor was easy compared to this.

I always wonder how good I could act if given the right character to play. As a writer, I play several characters per story usually, although only one per scene. Or is it the other way around?

It can be hard switching characters with the different motivations and backgrounds and viewpoints. But it is fun! The best part is when the characters come alive and “speak” to me about what they feel, see, think, etc. Then the writing takes off and blossoms. When the characters are that well established in a writer’s mind that they become almost a living entity, the stories are richer and easier to write.

But it doesn’t start out so easy. When I write, I first plan. I start with an idea and narrow down the focus with a main character in mind but not yet clear. I usually know how a story will end and fill in scenes between A and Z as they come. Along the way, the other characters materialize out of the ether, although they start out fuzzy. It’s in these planning stages that I get an idea of what characters I see and try to define them according to not only what I think I want them to be but also what I see through the mist. The physical appearance is usually the easiest, along with a brief background (upbringing, education, experiences that stand out). However, the personality comes later.

We often refer to a real-life person as a “character”. By that we mean that they have some distinguishing trait(s) that defines them in our eyes. Our fictional characters are the same. They are characters because something about them, usually in their personality (for me, at least) has a particular trait or traits that stand out and make them unique. They grow in clarity in the writer’s mind and in so doing develop into a full-blown living person, or creature. I, like most writers, love when this happens. More often than not, I don’t start out with this in mind. However, when I reach that point that the characters in my stories achieve this level of sentience, I sit back and enjoy the show. That’s when the characters write the book. The writer simply plays God and throws stumbling blocks in the way and watches them react.

You might have heard a writer say that they sat down and had coffee with their characters and discussed the weather or how the character feels in their situation. I’ve been there, although not necessarily drinking coffee. While writing, characters can come to life in their own way. Sometimes they tell the writer something is wrong or add a new direction to the story, but in reaching that state of having a life of their own, they add a new dimension to the writing, a new depth and clarity. Only by knowing how to write well can a writer bring that out, but getting into character is interesting at any level.

I believe in writer’s block, but I don’t. Right now, you’re thinking “Huh?”

Let me explain…

In my experience, there are times when, during the writing process, we sit and nothing comes. Creativity has nearly stopped. I bring this up now because I was recently at that point in my current work-in-progress. It’s like someone kinked the hose from which the story was flowing with the spicket opened full out. The flow of the writing stops suddenly, or just drips. The key to overcoming it is to understand the reason it happens. Each of us is different and each time it happens may have a different cause. The most basic reasons, listed in order of importance, are as follows:

1. Where you are going is wrong for the story and your unconscious mind knows it. Although you aren’t consciously aware of it, something has to give. In this case, it’s the story flow.

2. You’re thinking too hard about techniques of writing and not letting the plot and characters show you the way. Yes, as the writer, you need to guide them. However, when you hit that mark where the characters come alive and take over the story, let them have their way! It’s a great ride, so enjoy it! Any mistakes or errors can be fixed in editing. Just get the first draft done!

3. Are you fearing simply sitting down to write? Why are you afraid of that blank screen? We all face it. I faced it starting this post, but I knew I had to start somewhere. Don’t worry about how your next scene starts right now. Type/write something. Anything. One word will lead to the next. One sentence will lead to the next. You can go back and edit later, just write something.

Some of the methods to help regain the flow of your story include the following:

1. Set a specific time each day and a specific place to sit and write. Your unconscious mind will associate a specific place with writing and will open the nozzle on your creative flow. Also, by sticking to the same time, your circadian rhythm will kick into play and your mind will open up to the ideas. This is how I write best. Just learn from my mistake and don’t sit in bed and write or your mind will associate the bed with writing and not with sleeping, which leads me to the next fix.

2. Sleep, eat, and exercise. Sleep, perchance to dream. We all need a good rest for our body and mind. Eat healthy and exercise. Consuming the right foods, with an occasional splurge, is what we need anyway. And it’s amazing how much better our brains function when we eat healthy foods high in vitamins and minerals and low in fats. Last, exercise oxygenates our blood, which all our muscles need, including our brains.

3. Music can be inspirational. For me, like many other writers, music can cue a specific story. For Legend of the White Dragon, I had to listen to new age. For my current WIP and Dark Angel, it’s rock/pop and some modern country. I usually find songs/melodies that fit certain characters or scenes. When I can put myself in the “zone”, I can write from any point in the story.

4. Meditation can be a big help in relaxing and loosening up those synapses. You don’t need anything special, except a quiet place where you can sit and time. Lying down usually makes me fall asleep. You only need to take enough time to focus your mind on your story, whether replaying a scene, imagining a conversation with one or more characters, wondering how they would handle a real-life problem, or (my favorite) constructing an upcoming scene, which I then make notes about to help keep the story going.

5. BIC (butt in chair). Need I say more?

That’s my take on what people call “writer’s block”. I don’t believe in any block, just a creative slowdown. Anyone can overcome it. Take the time to analyze why you may be having trouble writing and try one or a combination of methods to remove that kink from your hose.

Now it’s time for me to get back to my story.

I finally caved in and decided to start a blog. Why? I honestly don’t know. But I do know that I might have something worthwhile to say that people might want to read, besides my books. At least, I hope you want to read my books. You can learn more about those on my website: www.melanienilles.com.I hope I can keep this going. I am not good about keeping up my personal journal. I have a busy life with my family, which the cat believes she runs–don’t tell her she’s at the bottom of the list–and my horse, who would be happy just to eat herself fat all day long, I feel lucky at times to sit down and write. However, I do manage time to write new stories. I have to thank my husband for insuring I get that precious time.

Keep reading for future posts. I’ll do my best to keep it interesting, if not entertaining or educational.

For discussions about the world created in my series, The Legend of the White Dragon, check out the category called “Dragons”.

All comments are welcome, although I ask that you keep your posts “clean”.