Write Those Opening Feels

So far this week we’ve got a top three thing going. KAK gave us her top three mistakes in crafting a compelling opening and Jeffe gave us her (top) three principles for crafting a beginning. 

Do I have three things I can pinpoint about beginnings? 

Honestly, I’m not a craft writer. I didn’t take writing classes, I’m a Medical Scientist. I didn’t study plays or story structure, I studied biology textbooks. But the one thing I did do, and continue to do multiple times a week: read. 

My writing buddy and I took a break from our writing sprints and ended up talking about our first novel. Neither of us had a clue what we were doing, but we’d read so many books and had started to feel like we were running out of things to read when we sat down to try our hand at creating one. We weren’t aware of three act structures or hooks. We just knew what it felt like to pick up a good book and not want to put it down. So that was our goal. Write an opening that will make it difficult to put it down.

Yes, it’s infinitely easier to read a list and attempt to check each point off. Jeffe’s list is a really good one. But don’t stress about jamming so much into your first sentence that you lose the feels. I don’t have a list, but I can tell you about the feels. 

When you pick up a historical fiction you know right off the bat that it’s historical because of the old-timey feels. When you pick up a mystery you’re immediately enveloped in the story’s unsure feels. When you pick up a science fiction your brain goes right into technology feels. 

Think about the last few books that you’ve read. The good ones bring out the feelings associated with what type of book it is. The not so good ones…I know I’ve recently hit some that took a couple pages to give me a sense of story and guess what, I DNF’d those. 

Who else out there writes with the feels instead of a list? Just jump in and go—giddy up! 

The Writer's Altar & Endless TBR

This week's topic at the SFF Seven is about sharing our writing space and current TBR list.

Writing Spaces...

I write everywhere and anywhere. I write in my office at my desk, on the daybed in my office, on my couch, in my bed, at my kitchen table, on my phone at night when I'm trying to go to sleep, on my phone when I'm soaking in the bath. I even write while cooking. There is no location that isn't a possibility, and most days, I move from place to place.

That said, there are times when I need to recalibrate. I treat my desk as a writing altar in those times. I want the room to be just right, with complete silence save for the flicker of my candles and the tapping of the keys on my keyboard. I like it candlelit, usually with the scent of sandalwood tinting the room. I also smudge the space with white sage or palo santo first and do a little meditative breathing to relax. 

These writing sessions are special and I free write, even if it's a scene in the world of my current WIP. The point of these sessions is to get words out, not to write anything that HAS to stay in my WIP or is pre-planned. I let the characters have the reins or let new characters tell me their story.

It's during these sessions that I feel like a conduit, because I have no idea what will come next as I type. Most days, I know what scene I'm working on when I sit down to work, so some form of pre-mental planning has already occurred. But on these free-writing nights, it's fun to open my mind and see what barrels through onto the page.

Writing by candlelight is awesome. I highly recommend giving it a try.

My Current TBR...

What books are on my TBR? I have so many--too many to list. But I'll share some of the books I hope to read once City of Ruin is finished and off to my publisher. I intend to take a full month--if not two--to just READ. And maybe enjoy the outdoors.

So here's my list! (I read widely. There's a little bit of everything!)

• Finish reading Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
• Finish A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
• Malice by John Gwynne
• Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
• Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lyn Tan
• A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
• The Great Witch of Brittany by Louisa Morgan
• A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
• Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
• In my Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
• The Atlas Six by Olivia Blake

I think that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my writing and reading life ;)

Where do you write and what's on your TBR?

Rise of the Audiobook

This week I’m listening to The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi, a beautifully written historical fiction that takes place in 1950’s India. I love learning new things in such a vibrant way…and I’m listening to it! 

Good timing too because our topic this week is audiobook popularity. Do you listen to audiobooks? If you’re an author, do you make them? Any thoughts on if they’ll overtake ebooks? 

Honestly, I was slow to join the audiobook bandwagon. I’m not talking books on tape, but the electronic versions you can download in an app—so EASY! Yet, when they became a thing and my fellow book bloggers were devouring them, I stuck to my paperbacks and hardcovers. 

Crazy enough, at the time I was still working in the corporate world and driving at least two hours a day, sometimes more depending on which laboratories I needed to visit. 

Fast forward to today and…man oh man, why didn’t I give audiobooks a try back then! If I could hop a time machine that might be my destination, go back and tell my commuting past-self to download gobs of ‘em I could’ve soared my 90 book-a-year average into the triple digits! 

Even though I no longer commute, I’m so blessed to be able to work from home, there are plenty of days my eyes can’t take any more screen time. That means ixnay the ebooks and even reading on a page is difficult—thank you very much chronic disease—but, I’m thankful for audiobooks! 

Popularity then: I’d say they’re gaining. I talk books with most people I come across and within the last couple of years I’ve noticed that more are listening instead of reading. Interesting…possible factors could be: chronic disease is on the rise, resulting in conditions that increase the necessity of an audible option, and in our current semi-isolated climate hearing a voice is a comfort, even if it’s recorded.

Another interesting thing, I recently learned that for traditionally published books it’s not always the publishing house that puts out the recorded version. 

Come on, gasp with me! I can’t be the only reader out there who didn’t have a clue about how audiobooks came to be. 

Yes, I was aware of companies you could hire to produce your self-published or indie-published book if you wanted to. But maybe because I haven’t been listening to audiobooks that long or maybe because I don’t really pay attention to the intro and miss who actually made it I’d always assumed they came from the publisher!

There you have it, my take on audiobooks and how I think they’ll continue to grow. Yes, I enjoy them, though never as much as a paper version. And yes, I believe I’ll make one someday. 

*By the way, have you listened to Martha Well’s Murderbot series in audio?! The narrator, Kevin R. Free’s interpretation perfectly encompasses Murderbot’s flatline emotions and ponderings. So, so good. If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon and dig sci-fi, hands-down start with this one!

Craving a Character

I crave books like some people crave chocolate. Don't get me wrong, my ultimate treat is a glass of champagne with a side of truffles. But if asked what one thing I crave the most...it's definitely books. If I go too long without reading, I crave it. If I hit too many reads in one genre, I crave another genre. If I get sucked into a multi-volume series, I crave more and more of the side characters.

It's those colorful secondary characters that build up our heroes, that carry their broken comrades up Mount Doom, that are there with shoulders to cry on. And we get attached to them! So when an author turns the spotlight onto one of those beloved supporting characters...it's like getting a box of chocolates.

I'm pre-published, so you can't read about my secondary characters yet. But the one who's gotten the most interest and fangirling over would be Mist from my Dark Queen's Daughter manuscript. This book is based off Norse mythology and Mist is the equivalent of a Valkyrie commander. She's foul mouthed, scarred, and as tough on my main character (MC) as she can possibly be, all because Mist sees the MC as one of her sisters. Oh, and she gets turned into a lynx in the beginning because she mouths off to a druid.

That's my pick for which of my characters do readers crave more of the most. Mist of Íssheim. And if you'd like to see the artwork by Eve Ventrue that inspired Mist, you can check it out on Pinterest here.

How about you? Any books you've read recently where you'd have loved to get another book based solely on a secondary character?