For Writers: The Dreaded Outline

I am not an outliner. I never have been. I most likely never WILL be. I enjoy the ways the story takes me, the art of crafting it and the surprise of writing it was my characters take me along their story. This, however, is not how you sell books, by all accounts. Unless you're naturally good at your characters sticking to what's important, you have to have some idea where the story is supposed to go.

Several years ago, someone sent me an email telling me he could make me a writer, all I had to do was sign up for his classes and he'd take me from a wannabe writer into someone published and profitable and beloved by all. I could have been J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyers before they were them by his accounts. He'd helped hundreds of writers become kings of writing by his program.

I declined his offer and told him thanks but no thanks. Being maybe 25, I was probably a smartass about it. He took it upon himself to instant message me and ask me about my writing and my writing habits. Being 25 and know there was no way I was going to make writing a full-time gig, I answered off the cuff. I wasn't interested in his program, I wasn't going to pay him to tell me how to write and I honestly wasn't sure why he was still talking to me. The thing I remember  most out of his comments and questions was when he asked me how often I wrote. I answered honestly, "I just write when inspiration strikes". I did. And had inspiration strike me all the time. It wasn't like  I considered myself anywhere near publishable work and I honestly wasn't ready.

His next comment not only pissed me off, but it turned me off writing for a good long while. Every single time I see someone make a comment about how they were "talking to a girl who said they only write when inspired", hackles instantly raise. He told me that unless I took my writing seriously and buckled down and started treating it like a job, I would never once be published. He continued with some scathing remarks about how I shouldn't call myself a writer when all I did was dabble and gave me a tongue in cheek wish for good luck with my dribbling in the future. I know I've seen this person write for various functions and I know he's done a pep talk for NaNoWriMo. I deleted it the minute I read his "talked with a young woman" line.

Since then I have deliberately shied away from any kind of structure to my writing because he basically told me I HAD TO. I shied away from deadlines and writing goals because if I was having a good day, I could crank out 5k. If I wasn't I managed a couple of hundred. In the long run, I felt good if I'd written 10k in a week because my life wasn't structured, I wasn't grasping for time and I had the energy and creativity necessary to actually write. While his system was probably good for him, it would have crushed my creativity and spirit, much like his assumption that inspired writing wasn't real writing or whatever it was he believed.

With this beast of a plot I've been nursing for the last ten years or better, I need outlines. I need a vague direction and something outlining the major plot points that need to happen. I need to know all the major events and I need to keep a timeline so when I get to book 6 or 123 or what have you, I'm not leaving plot inconsistencies. I need to have some kind of a wire frame that I can start to mold clay around. I refuse to force my characters into a cookie cutter, but at the same time, I have to have points to drive my car to, otherwise I'm just wasting gas.

Therefore, this next section has been helpful to me and I'm going to share a few things that I think will help and rebut a point he makes for those of us who are perfectionists.

Through National Novel Writer's month, I have learned the beauty of daily writing quotas. Setting a goal for yourself is a plus. Setting an attainable goal is a double plus. For me, however, I will wrack myself with guilt if I don't get those words done. When I fall behind on them, I have this rolling rock that smashes my flowers and tramples my grass and then as it gets bigger and bigger, I just give up writing altogether. I give up on the project and walk away.

This is why I didn't finish my first NaNo.

I've learned the beauty of goals, but I have had to really teach myself that falling behind on my goals is okay. If there's no pressure, I will still get it done, but I don't have this insurmountable mountain building over my head. Write every day, fine. Yay. But I do it in my time, on my schedule and NOT first thing in the morning. Oh my GOD I am a ZOMBIE when I wake up for the first hour or two of my day. That includes while I'm at work. My brain doesn't come online until the evening and the best time for me to write is after work before I cook dinner. That's my sweet spot. That's when I write. If I make 1600 words, YAY! If not, oh well. If I don't write at all, it's because that day has been crap. I pick back up the next day like nothing ever happened. I'm okay with this. No one is dogging me.

The second bit of advice comes in re-reading what you've written the day before. Yes, and no. I'm definitely one of those people who reads the last bit of what I wrote if I had to end in the middle of a scene, but if I go back and start reading everything I've written from the day before, I end up editing and making small changes and tweaks and wanting to re-write things and then, before I know it, I've wasted all the time I have for writing by being obsessive over having things right. That's another thing I have to work on, not being ridiculous about perfection until editing, but I really think it can hamper my progress, especially if I'm on a deadline. On the other hand, it would stop me from having my main character take off his shoes twice in a scene.

The last bit of advice he gives is you should record your plot journey with dates and times and plot points so you can keep track of the linear flow. If you're plotting a monstrosity like I am, you'll need this to keep your story straight. He actually suggests a huge piece of butcher paper and sticky notes that roll up into a poster roll. I am in LOVE with this idea. Postits aren't permanent, I can use my erasable pens and highlighters and super sticky sticky notes, tape it to the wall to work and then roll it up and put it away when not using it. BRILLIANT! I can divide the entire butcher paper in the three acts in the structure, have different colored notes for all the main characters and what their points will be in the scenes and make sure I've got my Opening, Beginning Disturbance, 1st Door, 2nd Door and Ending... everything else is just gravy!

But, since I'm not a complete planner, there is a lot that I can see that will need work, especially given the middle of Baby's story is what I really want to tell and what I have the least amount of information for. For those of us who are hybrids, he recommends beginning with the LOCK system and writing the back cover copy for your book. From there, you can generate more ideas as they story develops. He recommends asking yourself these questions before progressing forward:

• What is my character's emotional state and the end of the scene?
• How will he react in the next scene?
• What is the next action my character needs to take?
• What strong scene up ahead needs transitional scenes before it?
• Do I need to add any new characters?
• Has a character in the scene I've just written suggest other plot developments?

I'm not sure how many of those questions I would be using, but it at least gives me hope that I don't have to plan everything and I can just set the framework and let my imagination soar when inspiration strikes.

Gamer Rage: Vial of the Sands

In order to make the Vial of the Sands, I'm going to start backward with what you need to do first. If you are a miner, go mine yourself up:

• 12 volatile earth
• 24 elementium ore

Smelt your elementium ore into 12 elementium bars. With your volatile earth and elementium bars, any alchemist can make 36 pyrium bars. These are essential to make the 12 Truegold you will need later.

Once you have the pyrium, you will need to get yourself:

• 120 volatile air
• 120 volatile fire
• 120 volatile water

These volatiles combined with the pyrium bars will make 12 Truegold.

Keep in mind, each Truegold the alchemist makes has a 24 hour cooldown. This means they can make ONE Truegold each day. Period. Make good on your tips for each one they deliver you. I recommend at LEAST 25 gold a pop if you're cheap. I pay mine 100 each if they're not in my guild. (We have a very strict "no buying/selling to guildies" policy) Your Truegold is going to take 12 days to make if you use one alchemist. My recommendation is to find someone willing to sell their Truegold cooldown to you and use several alchemists if you're impatient. As long as you're not cheap, I'd say to be sure you have 600-1200 gold just for tipping. Make friends with the alchemists.

Think you're done? Hardly. Now that you have your truegold, you're going to need three different potions to add to it: Deepstone Oil, Flask of Titanic Strength, and Flask of the Winds.

You will need eight of each of the potions. To make these, you will need to obtain:

• 32 volatile life
• 16 Azshara's Veil
• 32 Whiptail
• 16 Cinderbloom
• 8 Albino Catfish

An alchemist can make these for you pretty quickly and with no cooldowns. I'd suggest 25-50 gold tip for each, so bring along 100-200 gold as a tip for the job. Like I said, make friends with your alchemists. Good tippers don't have much trouble finding someone to do work for them.

Now for the costly part.

The Sands of Time and the vial are purchased from Yasmin, the Innkeeper in Uldum. She is located at 26, 7 Northwest of The Temple and the Obelisk. The Sands of time are 3k each. For eight of them, you need 24,000 gold. Add in the vial, you'll need 5,000 gold, making your total a whopping 29,000 gold. Ouch.

By the time you find someone who has the recipe for the vial, you should have

• 1 Pyrium-laced crystalline vial
• 8 Sands of Time
• 8 Deepstone Oil
• 8 Flask of Titanic Strength
• 8 Flask of the Winds
• 12 Truegold

Now that I've confused the hell out of you, here is a finished shopping list:

• 30,500 gold
• 1 Pyrium-laced crystalline vial
• 8 Sands of Time
• 32 volatile life
• 16 Azshara's Veil
• 32 Whiptail
• 16 Cinderbloom
• 8 Albino Catfish
• 120 volatile air
• 120 volatile fire
• 120 volatile water
• 12 volatile earth
• 24 elementium ore

Book Review: Bloom

Bloom by Julie Anne Lindsey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bloom is an adorable love story about two people who haven't quite learned to love. When Cynthia goes home to visit her potentially crazy grandmother, she rides back into her old life filled not only with the people she knew and loved but with her flawed past and a new man in town, Mitchell Fallon. What she doesn't count on is falling head over heels with the sullen newcomer. When her job is outsourced, Cynthia plans to open a business starring her grandmother's prize cooking. After Mitchell's former flame comes back to profess her love and a few miscommunications, Cynthia heads back to New York to try and find her way. Will Prince Charming come to the rescue?

This has to be the cutest story I've read in a long time. It's just sweet without all the hardcore open-door sexy scenes. Excellent read.

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Recipes: Simple Summer Spaghetti

Prep: 20 min

Cook: 20 min

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

12 oz package dry spaghetti

¼ cup olive oil

5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

Pinch crushed red pepper

2 cups cut up zucchini

1 cup cut up summer squash

1 cup cut up red bell pepper

2 cups quartered cherry tomatoes

¼ torn fresh basil

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of slated water to boil. Cook until just tender. Drain.
2. In extra large skillet, combine olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper. Cook over medium heat about three minutes until garli begins to soften. Do not let garlic brown. Stir in zucchini, squash, red bell pepper, tomatoes and torn basil. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Reduce heat to low. Heat thoroughly.
4. Serve spaghetti noodles topped with vegetable mixture and top with a sprinkle of each cheese.

Recipes: Veggie Quesadillas

Ready In: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

 

Ingredients
juice of 1 lime (around 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2-1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
1 clove garlic, peeled and pressed through a garlic press
1 medium zucchini, trimmed, and thinly sliced (1/4 inch) lengthwise
1 red bell pepper, ends sliced off, cored and seeded, and cut into wide strips
1 red onion, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
12 corn tortillas or 8 flour tortillas
1/2 pound grated cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese
a handful of cilantro leaves, washed and dried
sour cream and salsa for serving

 

Directions

1. Preheat your grill on high.
2. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, chipotle or paprika, salt, and garlic. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet, and pour half the dressing over them, turning them to coat the slices evenly.
3. Turn the grill down to medium-low and roast the veggies, turning them and adjusting the heat as necessary, until they are completely tender, 10-12 minutes. Remove them to a plate, dress with the remainder of the lime juice mixture, and set aside.
4. Heat a large griddle (or a heavy frying pan) over medium-high heat, and lay half of the tortillas into it (if you're using a pan, you'll need to do this in batches). Divide the cheese over them, top with the remaining tortillas, and cook until the bottoms are golden and crisp. Flip them, and cook until the tortillas are crisp and the cheese is melted.
5. Open the quesadillas and divide the cilantro and grilled veggies among them, cutting the vegetables as necessary to fit, then quarter the quesadillas and serve with sour cream and salsa.

Recipes: Quick Chicken and Dumplings

Ready In: 60 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

 

Ingredients
4 cups milk

2 bags frozen peas and carrots

4 cups cooked, cubed chicken

4 10.34 ounce cans cream of chicken soup

4 cups Bisquick

1 1/3 cup milk

 

Directions

1. Heat 4 cups milk, peas and carrots, chicken and soup to boiling, stirring often.
2. Stir Bisquick and remaining milk together until soft dough forms.
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto chicken mixture.
4. Reduce heat to low.
5. Cook uncovered over low heat 20 minutes. Cover and cook 20 minutes more.

Book Review: Letters from Greece

Letters from Greece by Lori Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first read Mariposa by C.L. McCullough and then delved into The Stone Crow by Lori Green, so, naturally, I had to pick up Letters from Greece written by the two of them. I do not regret my decision. This story is a compelling read from start to finish.

Kate and Min meet online amidst the passing of Kate's mother and Min's isolation. The two become online friends and the story begins with a letter from Min telling Kate about her husband losing his mind and hurting her. Then contact stops. Kate, worried about her friend, goes to find her.

(view spoiler)[When Kate arrives, Min has a huge black eye and her husband has been beating her. When given the opportunity to leave the country and fly to Greece with Kate, Min jumps at the chance to get away. When she arrives, she sends a letter back home to tell her husband she wants a divorce. (hide spoiler)]

The pair pick up a life in Greece with Kate running a taverna and Min keeping the house and learning to raise livestock. Not speaking a lick of Greek, they start to make an old house into a home.

Of course, since she sent a letter back home, Min's husband Patton finds her. (view spoiler)[He demands she come home with him in the middle of a tavern full of people. Min declines. When Patton tries to force her, the people of their small island home come to their aid. Patton vows he won't forget about being made a fool and leaves by force.

Patton returns and slaughters all Min's chickens, kills Kate's cat and burns the taverna. The two women fear for their lives and through the help of their potential beaus, Min has a final confrontation with her husband. In the end, when he tries to force her to come with him yet again, he falls to his death. (hide spoiler)]

In the end, the women find their peace, pull together a small slice of paradise and somehow manage to have their cake and eat it, too. The characters don't feel forced and the story flows naturally. Although I drew a lot of comparisons between Patton and Kate and Patton and Min's new love interest Nik, Min becomes her own person through the story. Kate, despite being the "strong" character, shows her weakness. You never really find out just what the Greek characters are saying outside of guessing from the character's point of view. Translations are kept to a minimum and you feel immersed in the character's world.

If you want a not-so-simple love story with two crazy ladies on an adventure, this is definitely the book for you.

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