June 2017 – Barbara James

I like pinterest boards because I visualize not only my characters, but certain scenes. I especially like to include images relating to clothes, music, and food.

With respect to clothes, I might have an idea of what something looks like, but once I look for inspiration, the image is clarified. With that clarification, I might change a description of something or include something new, or even cut something out altogether because it is not working as I imagine. I might even go to my closet and try on some of my own outfits. The clothing my characters wear often indicate something about their personalities and values.

Certain songs might express the emotions a character is experiencing and processing, or even the thoughts on their minds. Certain songs might signify a scene. Food might be important, because it is the backdrop to a specific scene. A birthday cake might be important for that reason.

I suppose I’m covering all the senses in that regard. And that matters, because scenes in a novel are supposed to evoke for the reader a sense of what the characters are experiencing. What are they seeing? What are they hearing? What are they tasting? In order to get into their heads, I must open myself up to be inspired. That is the only way they can tell me what they are about. So I research, read, and listen.

There is one writer I admire whose use of pinterest has inspired me. Elizabeth Hoyt has these great pinterest boards where she conceptualizes her works in progress. In addition, she includes images from her book covers once the books are nearing publication. Commenting on some of the images, I sometimes found myself interested in a story just because the board looked interesting.

I aim to use the board similar to how Ms. Hoyt uses hers. It is hidden for now, but once I get close to publication, I’m sure my readers would love to see the pictures that inspired certain scenes.

…so I finished a draft I was sufficiently pleased with to show to an editor. I found one on Reedsy and then began working on the second novel.

I chose a developmental editor, the type of editor who helps writers conceptualize the story and its flow. This is a woman who knows the romance genre fairly well, so I trust her judgment. I’m sure learning a lot about the conventions not only of romance novels, but of fiction in general. Once she made her suggestions, she urged me to refer to essays written by various writing experts.

This is not like my old writing within non-fiction, so I have work to do. She liked reading it, but she thinks I can do another draft. Because I’m a good enough writer, she doesn’t think I need a proofreader (ha!), but I should look next to finding a copy editor to do a line by line edit.

So I’m looking at her suggestions in track changes, and I’m cutting a bit from the early chapters (that I have reviewed so far). But I’m not ready to give up these precious paragraphs! I worked so hard on them, I want to use them somewhere, somehow.

Now I just have to think about story lines to develop in some new chapters, and how I’m going to write them. Wish me luck!

Month: June 2017

Pinterest Boards as Inspiration

The editorial process…