Melanie Nilles

The train has left the station! It’s full steam ahead.

It never stops! I need to edit one project but something new has jumped on the engine and hijacked it. I swear I will never get done what I need to do.

I blame other writers. In this case, I read something on a book blurb that fertilized an idea for something that had been ruminating in my mind for months now. It just never had the right conditions in which to germinate. Now it has. Damn it! With so little time to edit and now wanting to write a new story, and science fiction at that (SF is more interesting for me to write than pure fantasy), I won’t have much free time on my hands for the rest of the year.

That’s just one place where I get ideas. In this case, the story is an extension of what I started in Dark Angel, but it’s not what you would call a sequel. It isn’t continuing with the same main characters but starting out with new characters and setting. This isn’t YA either.

I find inspiration all over the place, but that doesn’t mean it’s story worthy. Often the seed of an idea plants in my mind, but the conditions aren’t right. Just as plants need nutrients, sun, and water, stories need plot, characters, and setting as the basic ingredients. Often, I have an idea without a real plot. The characters can inspire plot or plot can inspire characters. It varies. But you cannot have a story without one or the other.

What inspires you?  Does the idea of sky-diving get you going–use it as a scene or make it the focus of a deeper plot.  Perhaps horses are your passion, as they are for me.  Animal stories are hard to write well, but they can be done–Black Beauty, Silver Brumby, Black Stallion, Misty, etc. all feature horses as central characters but the plots are more in depth than horses and their riders.  Or maybe you like the Shoguns of Japan and samurai.  Find a way to use it.

I’ve said before that I write what I like–science fiction and fantasy–but those are general.  Anyone can do that.  It’s finding the right plot, developing characters, and placing them in an appropriate setting that turns an idea into a story.

The first edit is done on my newest story. I’ll now put it aside and give it some time so I can look at it with fresh eyes in a few months. My editing process may be different than others, but it works for me.

Usually, I make a pass or two of reading a story immediately after finishing it. Then I put it aside and work on other projects–editing other stories, writing a short or two, starting a new novel–to get my mind off it. When I go back, I’ll be able to read it as if it’s new to me. Then I’ll see the real flaws. Right now I’m too close to see the forest through the trees.

In the meantime, I have my horse back from her break. I’m in shape and ready to ride, and I can’t wait!

I’ve been trying to keep up on the blog and other duties in the real world.  Right now I’m a couple chapters from finishing my WIP.  I want to push this to the end.  That means no major blog entries until it’s done.  Give me a week and I’ll be back with more.

Join me on my Live Journal to discuss mine and your fascination with dragons!

I’ve done it! I have mastered the art of getting babies to fall asleep on their own.

Our youngest, now 4 1/2 months, can fall asleep without assistance, consistently. I’m pretty proud of that, because it makes my life MUCH easier. She no longer has to fall asleep nursing but can be laid down awake and put herself to sleep without a peep.

It took some work, but it always does. Not all babies are the same either. I’ve found that out in the few years I’ve done daycare, which is how I’ve now mastered it by the time I got to my own second child

Don’t be disheartened if you’re trying and can’t get your child to fall asleep. Every child has their own personality and ours is easier than most, although I will admit it wasn’t perfect. I’ve had practice and heard enough babies crying while trying to fix meals for preschoolers or feed a second baby that I can tolerate a little more crying than most mothers. It’s always hardest when it’s your own, however. See my other post in Kids and family to know how I did it.

With enough sleep (and loving care), every baby can be a happy baby!

Writing good dialogue is something every writer strives for. How a character says what they say should always be truthful to that character. If you have a nun, she’s not likely to drop the F-bomb unless she’s really a headlining showgirl hiding out in a convent because she agrees to testify against her ex, a criminal, whom she saw kill a man. That’s an extreme example, but makes a good point. (I’m sure many of you know exactly which movie that describes.)

Dialogue tags can be distracting and get in the way of good dialogue. The best advice is to avoid them, except when necessary. But when are they necessary? The answer–when it may be confusing to the reader what character is speaking. How can they be avoided if it’s not clear by dialogue who is speaking? That answer is simple also–insert a sentence of action referencing what character is speaking. But, for the love of all readerdom, don’t use tags if you can avoid them! I’ve learned that the best word to use in this case is a simple four-letter “s” word.

No, not that word! Get your head out of the gutter!

“Said” and nothing else but a name, or pronoun, is the best tag. It’s not distracting nor descriptive and says everything you need that your perfect dialogue doesn’t give your prose.

Now, I’m going to contrast that. Please follow me. I have had some instances where neither method works but something more descriptive is needed, particularly if someone is whispering. That’s something that can’t be conveyed every time. You can say they spoke in a hushed voice. That works. If the situation is one that calls for the characters to keep their voices down, you probably only need to mention it once. However, sometimes a character whispers something or says something in such a way that cannot be conveyed through their words, such as using capitalization to indicate shouting, or punctuation, or even the context of the scene. In those extremes, you need to keep the rhythm of your prose. (There’s another subject for another post.) If it doesn’t feel right to use an action description separate from the dialogue, then it may work best to use a more descriptive word than “said”. Those are few and far between, however.

Being “it” can be difficult as you try to avoid tagging all your dialogue. But if you do it right, the prose will flow and the reader will hardly notice.

For examples of what I do, read the excerpts of my books.

Through the mire of a WIP, I continue forward. I’m in the homestretch of the first draft. Although It’ll only be about 2/3 the length of any of my Dragon series books, this will be exactly where it needs to for the YA market. I started reading from the beginning to get a better picture of what the mood and pacing is and find that I like it. The pacing is perfect, as far as I can tell, but the scenes are short and to the point. Reading through the first 50 pages flew past. I think this one’s a keeper, despite that it’s all from a male perspective and I have had to write more slowly to concentrate on pulling that off. Writing the opposite gender can be difficult.

I could push ahead at a breakneck pace and finish this in a week if I really wanted, at least from this point. I’m maybe 5-7 chapters from “The End”, or about 10K (or a few more) words. I wrote that much on New Year’s weekend to finish the first draft of Dragon Child, I can do this!

How do I know? Because I’ve been here many times. I know what has to happen and I can estimate fairly well about how many scenes will come and approximately how long they’ll be. Strange how that happens. At least I can see that it will fall exactly where it should for the genre–60K-70K words.

So, with the finish line in sight, the race is on!

Sometimes I wonder if getting a cat was a smart idea. I sat down to post about writing, but she wants my undivided attention. The cat’s not the only one to demand it either, but she’s the only one to shove her face in my hands while I’m trying to type. Her motor is running, the gentle vibration of peace and contentment. Soon she’ll be off to play, since she can’t settle in my lap.

What would life be like without all the people, animals, and others we encounter? What would our writing be like? Without the experiences that challenge us and aid our growth as people and, more specifically, as writers, our characters and plots would be flat and boring. We draw on those experiences to enrich the lives of our characters. We may not experience something as our characters do, but because of our experiences perhaps being similar or our ability to incorporate the stories of friends, family, acquaintances, and others into our imaginations, we breathe life into the characters.

As writers, we already have great imaginations, whether they carry us across the desert on a camel caravan or put us behind the wheel of a race car or provide us the gentle reprieve of an ocean beach while savoring a marguerita. Incorporating the lives of others is something that drives us. It’s why we read, and why writers write. However, that requires that writers have the tools to make it happen. Those tools are experience and age. I’m not saying a young person can’t write a good book, but I know that in looking back on my writing from my younger days, I can see the difference that time has made.

Research is great, but unless a writer has the frame of reference to incorporate research on a subject, writing about it doesn’t do it justice. In some cases, we do what we can because it’s all we have access to. When we can find a way to experience something firsthand, it makes a huge difference on the believability of our characters and plot.

Along those lines, keep these things in mind. If you’re using a real setting, make it an excuse for a vacation to visit before you write about it–talk to the people who live there, visit the places you may not necessarily use, observe daily life. If you want to write about a particular profession or field, talk to people in that field. Ask the hard questions. If you don’t have access because, like me, you work in a world that only exists in your imagination, do the research in this world. You can always modify it to fit your world, within reason.

Now the cat is attacking bugs. She sits at rapt attention, her eyes big and focused on the flutter of wings taunting her. Her tail lashes side to side and she squats lower and lower, her muscles bunching into a tight spring, until she releases them in a pounce. Although her paws reach the bugs, she hits glass. The deck doors are closed, but she thrills with the chase as much as she does the catch when those flying bugs sneak in. (Flies and moths don’t last long in our house )

Stories should have that thrill. The best way to provide it is through preparation and understanding. Just as the cat observes and anticipates, so must we as writers, by understanding what we wish to convey so that the reader experiences it as we do.

I am excited to announce that I have been accepted into the selective membership of Fangs, Fur, & Fey!  This is a LiveJournal community which states: “We are open to adult & upper YA urban fantasy/contemporary fantasy /cross-genre/paranormal authors with novels under contract or released. Authors of graphic novels/manga/comics are defintely included and very much invited (she says hopefully). At this time, we are limiting membership to traditional mainstream print publishing, not p.o.d. or self-publishing. Also excluded are middle-grade, straight horror, erotica, and fanfic.”

This is a group of authors who share the same interests in writing as I do.  Check out their website by clicking the link above to read what their community members have published.

I am also part of a select group for YA writers (publishing credentials not required) at YAFiction.com, “a place for accomplished and talented writers of Young Adult and Middle Grade Ficiton.”  It is still new, but Allison is doing a fine job of making it a community.

I have added a page to my blog titled “a writer’s dictionary”. On it, I am listing terminology common among writers that may or may not be common to non-writers or the novice writer. I will add words as I think of them, along with definitions. If anyone thinks of other words or definitions to add, comment on this post or send an email using the form on my website.