How Do You Color Your Scenes?

I've discovered that self-editing and amping is soo slow, especially after a stressful day at the office. The last thing that I really want to do is sit down in front of of my iPad, put my fingertips on the docking station keyboard, and type some more.

Now that I've got that complaint out of the way, it's fun to climb back into my story, and update it with a new perspective. It's fun to look around the environment of the scene and be true to the characters, adding more of what is said, seen, and felt.

What do you do to color your scenes? Do you focus on one small detail, or on the bigger picture?

Patience is a virtue

Looks like we'll have to wait at least another week for my surprise. Sorry about that.

In the meantime, winter weather keeps changing scheduling for school and social activities. You'd think with all this new-found time, I'd at least have some time to write? Kinda. I did work out, though.

So, we could say that today I exercised my body, and tomorrow I'll exercise my creativity.

Looking forward to rewriting and amping the word count on chapter two of my Interstellar Creations this week.

Secrets

This is definitely different from book one! I've chosen to reveal a key secret in Chapter 2 and another in Chapter 3. It is from these secrets, that the challenges of this book evolve.

Knowledge can be both a blessing and a bit of...well not quite a curse, but more like something that can weigh heavily on your mind and drive you to make choices that you might not otherwise ever have to make.

I remember in college when I was having difficulty in the Electrical Engineering program. Physics and differential equations just weren't my thing, but I really loved electronics labs. So, I changed my major to Electronics Engineering Technology, unaware that my dream job at N.A.S.A. just went away. Yes, it's true. N.A.S.A. didn't recognize my ET degree. I was pretty crushed when I found that out, let me tell you!

But as with most doors closing, I found a window. One of my ET classes was an introduction to Telecommunications course. I loved it so much that I chose to add an emphasis in Telecommunications to my degree. Guess what? I'm now working for one of the largest Telecom companies in the world, and have been since 1995, if you count mergers and acquisitions. The learnings from college helped me gain knowledge as I applied these learnings to my job. If I hadn't changed my major from EE to ET, I would have had a completely different life than I do now.

And so it is, too, with the main character, Hallyn, in Book 2. She'll have a difficult choice to make in Chapter 3, that will change her life forever.

Over 1800 words!

Whoo hoo! Over 1800 words written and the first 3 chapters in draft form. My lead character is just about to find out why she's where she is. I'm soo excited to discover this with her. (Yes, I do know where this is going...or at least I think I do.)

The most challenging aspect of writing fiction, I'm finding, is allowing the characters to live. I feel like a director of improvisation, rather than the director of a scripted play.

I'm setting the scene and some of the main character attributes, posing the situation, and allowing the characters to create, speak, live.