Reality just is not cooperating with my expectations!

Writing a novel is hard work.  In my mind I imagined myself sitting down at my desk, coffee in hand, industriously hammering away on my laptop.  All those characters and story plots dancing around my brain would just waltz out onto that page and miraculously gel into a perfect syncopated rhythm, similar to a great piece of jazz music.

The cold, hard reality is that although there are times the story does just fly out of your fingertips you eventually hit that wall.  Just what direction is this character taking me and if I go there does that ultimately change the vision of who I thought this character was?  If I let him develop "on the fly" like this, will it change the essence of my story line?  I didn't want to allow every character I introduce have the ability to just take off in any direction and possibly sabotage my story.  I needed to know more about my characters.  I needed to know, in my mind, exactly where their ego, mood, disposition and motivation would take them.  I knew I had to learn everything about them from the cadence of their speech to which foods they hate and which foods they eat for comfort.

Facebook is a wonderful social media tool.  If you have ever read my blog a Marzocca's Europe, you will know how essential it has been not only in redirecting the course my life has taken, but allowing me the opportunity to reach out to people in life and death situations. Sounds overly dramatic, but is actually true.

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This being said, it was not surprising that it was through a Facebook friend that I was introduced to Mariam Kobras, author of The Stone Trilogy. She was kind enough to offer me advice and encouraged me to get onto Twitter, which I did.  I have to admit, I'm not very comfortable on Twitter yet and I don't really use it as much as I should.  But if you are not on there, I suggest you create an account and start following people.  Mariam was gracious and introduced me to some of her fellow authors and I have learned (and am learning) so much from them I almost have to take a step back because my head is spinning.  There is so much great advice and insight to gain from other writers it is well worth the leap into the Twitter realm.

It was through Twitter I was introduced to K.M. Weiland.  Ms. Weiland writes historical and speculative fiction and mentors other writers through her website, editing services, workshops, books, CDs, and blogs. I sorely needed to get to know my characters and had no idea how to do a character sketch for my novel.  It was through a free download of her "Crafting Unforgettable Characters" that I found out just how detailed I really needed to get.  In preparing my sketches (with my own additions) I found a voice for my characters. Surprisingly, I also found a better direction and a new confidence in the way I want to tell my story.  It was a great help to me.  This prompted me to download her books "Outlining Your Novel" and the newly released "Structuring Your Novel."  I am in the process of devouring the information and using it to get my book going in a structured and organized way.  I highly recommend her books if you are struggling to get your story out. They are written clearly and easy to understand.  Her points make good sense and I felt that I was finally being pointed in the right direction.  It is for this reason I am featuring K.M. Weiland's newest publication "Structuring Your Novel" as my first feature in my very post blog post for OPENING PARAGRAPH.

I hope that you find the information on this blog helpful.  Please feel free to comment or email me with any questions/comments/suggestions.  If you are a fiction author who is published or about to be published and would like to be a guest blogger, I invite you to contact me.  I know that this is a new blog and it hasn't built a great number of followers yet, but I think that this blog could be very informative to those of us who are struggling with our first works.  Your sage advice would be most welcome!

Until next time... Tina

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