Today is a new day. Absolutely a two cup morning, as it was thunderstorming last night, and Daisy was freaking out, which kept DH up. And once that was over, he was having massive allergy attacks. He got about 2.5 hours of sleep. I probably got 5-6. Not awful, but not what makes me what is considered functional.
My brain seems to be clicking on the fiction level anyway, as I figured out an important detail for the novella while I was in the shower this morning. I did some work on it last night, jotting down GMC for my hero and heroine, thinking about their inner demons, and coming up with a logline.
I did all this on the back of several receipts while I was waiting on dinner. My choice of celebration for finishing the rough draft of HiS yesterday was big fat cheeseburgers from Mugshots. When I got there and paid, the waitress turned around and discovered that some guy had taken our food. Like not mistakenly–he was HANDED the bag with his order, and she’d come around the counter and set down ours just before I got there. So I had another 20 minutes of wait time and decided to make the most of it. Considering my little notepad that is SUPPOSED to live in my purse is AWOL, I was glad it’s been a while since I’ve cleaned out receipts.
Anyway, the logline:
In order to rescue her father from government scientists, an IED agent must go rogue, deliberately restoring the memories that were wiped from her father’s Shadow Walker prototge. If he doesn’t get his memory back in time, scientists will uncover the true secret of the Mirus world’s existence.
It needs work still, but for back of receipt work at a bar, I’m okay with it.
So that’s the plan. I’m going to work on the novella right now.
I’m still very excited about Next Big Project (the paranormal YA trilogy), but I am taking the time to figure out some major important details before I start writing so that I don’t run into the same problem I did with HiS of finding myself without a character arc halfway through the book and having to try to create one to force fit the existing plot. After her asskicking yesterday, Pot spent HOURS helping me brainstorm and figure out the character arcs for my hero and heroine in book one, so many thanks there. I just need to keep them in mind as I plot out my scenes.
Also before I sit down to really write the YA, I’m going to reread a lot of my favorite YA trilogies and map them out, applying the story architecture questions to them, so that I can get better about identifying stakes, get a good feel for pacing and things. I started this last night with the first of L. J. Smith’s Dark Visions trilogy (now apparently available in omnibus, though I have the first editions), which was always a favorite of mine. I’ve been afraid to go back and reread some of these favorites because I was terrified that in my new uber-analytical, critical reader phase I seem to have entered, I wouldn’t like them. And while I can see some things that were very dated and feel a bit that the heroine is an ingenue, I’m not offput by it. After this (because I know where I put it) is her Secret Circle trilogy (the reprints strangely split into 2 books instead of 1 whole or the original trilogy), which is arguably my favorite from back then because I so strongly related to the heroine–a great irony actually, as she was one who had to grow into her strength. But hey, I was not always a strong person, I suppose. After that I want to see where I’ve buried my copy of the Forbidden Game trilogy (also available in omnibus now). By the time I finish those, Betrayals should be available.
I figure HiS will sit for at least a month, and then I will do a full reread AGAIN and figure out what I can simplify or add and exactly what the character arc is that will take this book from technically well put together and paced to awesome and must read.