Brain Invasion!!

Last week a character walked into my brain. She's quirky, impractical, and kind of loud. She's informed me she's not going anywhere until I write her book. The trouble with this? NO PLOT.

You need to understand, I'm a plot gal. The story ideas I get are usually in the form of plots. I focus very much on plot when I'm drafting and outlining (and I outline pretty heavily.) And moments when I'm feeling down about my writing, I console myself with the idea that I can create a decent plot.

So where's this character coming from? And what's with the lack of plot? To tell the truth, I'm kind of nervous about this.

That said, I'm in an adventurous mood.

I remember going to a poetry reading in college, where the brilliant Leslie Norris said we need to create the character first, and then let that character tell us the story. So I'm going to put Mr. Norris' words to the test. I'm going to get to know this girl in my head, and then I'm going to set her loose in a Word document.

Wish me luck.

The Secret One: Revealed!

So last night I finished a major edit round/rewrite on my WiP. You remember. The one I finished in mid-April. "The Secret One." The one I promised to tell you more about.

Yeah . . . I guess I forgot about that part. What can I say, I was busy.

Well, now that it's all fresh and shiny, and 14k longer, not to mention sitting in my beta's inboxes, I suppose I can share a little more.

You may be wondering what's with the secrecy anyway. Well, it wasn't an elaborate plot to build suspense and blog readership. (If that had been the reason, I'd call it a massive fail.) It wasn't because I was afraid someone would steal my idea. No, the real reason I didn't share more about this story is because I'm kinda shy about it.

Here's why: it's a mermaid story.

Yep. Mermaids.

Don't get me wrong. I think, and have always thought, that mermaids are officially The Bomb. What's not to like?! Trouble is, I say mermaids and most people think . . .


Truth is, awesome as they are, there is something inherently Middle Grade about mermaids (to put it in book world terms.) So I get a little sheepish telling people that I'm writing a mermaid book, because I assume they're suddenly envisioning talking fish and cute purple clamshell bras.

Not my mermaids.

This mermaid story is dark and pensive, with a semi-tragic romance. People die and stuff. I wouldn't call this book fun. Exciting (hopefully,) but not "fun." And definitely not cute. Think more along these lines . . .

So there. I finally talked about it. *exhales* I feel much better. And now I'll go back to biting my nails in the corner while I wait to hear back from my betas. ;)