Ok, so I’ve had horror on the brain since yesterday.  The problem is I have no horrific ideas.  Not one that seems at all fearful.  It sure as heck doesn’t surprise me, and I think it’s more a paranormal suspense–which is fine, but not what I want.  Unless I take the idea of leap outside the box.  Not sure how but I’ll eventually figure it out. 

Didn’t I say no more craft?  LOL, well, I meant no more listening to the craft books and the rules.  I can never stop learning, not if I want to continue to write.  I only got one page written today (I think I’m either going to include Fridays–a day I naturally relax–in with my Sundays as days off from writing, or I’m going to change the day off from Sunday to Friday), but spent most of it reading articles on writing horror and plotting.

I know how to plot.  No problem there.  I’m simply considering changing my method with this next book at least.  The horror articles came from C.C. on Romance Divas.  One particularly by Graham Masterton was exceptional.  Most of it is common sense, but it helped me in terms of my new plot.

One day I’d love to go the route of horror.  Not the gory, slasher type, but the more intellectual, psychological scares.  Even the old-fashioned monster kind but no razor-slicing nails, or rise from the dead ax-wielders.  My imagination isn’t fine tuned for horror though.  I’ve come up with several paranormal stories, many suspense and mysteries and a couple of romances…horror, which I heavily read in my teens, not so much.  I’m gonna start “working” on it and see if I come up with anything.

Ok, so I’m perfectly aware this present look has nothing to do with crime, suspense or mysteries, but it’s pretty. *batting eyelashes*  And it won’t last.  They never do.  Someday I’ll have an image designed just for me (whatever that will be), but until then I will upload templates that appeal to me at the moment.  Like this one!

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On another note, I’m really getting into this write in the AM and brainstorm or do whatever the hell I want in the PM.  I can’t believe how quick the writing goes when I don’t care and when I’m trying to get to something else.

I keep reminding myself that it’s ok if it sucks, as long as I get it on paper, then I can fix it all later.  I’ve heard this countless times, but I’ve never wanted to deal with the amount of work the second draft would entail.  So, I’ve painstakingly tried to get the first draft perfect–which is impossible, at least for me.  This time I’m listening in a different way.  I’ll get down all the juicy tidbits, even if I’m telling half the time (one of my biggest problem areas) and then go back another time.  It’s better than sweating it so much that nothing gets done.

Well, I’m off to deal with Sydney and Antonio now.  They have so much baggage.

Last night, I had an epiphany regarding the craft vs. telling the story.  It’s time, I feel, to let go of the rules and all I learned and just let the story tell itself.  Yay, right?

So what did I just do?  I posted several questions at Romance Divas regarding suspense, POVs and more…or in a guise of rule talking.  It wasn’t until I wrote, how many POVs is too many, that I realized what I had done.  I posted it anyway, including how I realized I should be avoiding these very type of questions.  It’s just so hard, almost as if it’s masked.

The good thing is that I caught it, regardless of when.  Hopefully next time I’ll catch it before I even type the questions up.

Other than that, I wrote six pages this morning and am pretty darn proud of myself.

Now off to my darkly twisted characters.

Brainstorming this new idea has been a ball so far.  I am having fun learning how dark I can go (and I don’t believe I’ve really hit that point yet).  This really feels so freeing.  I’ve been trying NOT to focus on craft, but it’s hard because it’s all I’ve been focused on for the past three years.  But feeling just a glimpse of letting it go and trusting myself is empowering.

I hope I can make this work.  I do feel the second stage of my career coming on, and I hope it’s a ball.

closer to The End…right?

I wrote the next scene but it was only 3 pages, so now I’m working on the next one too.  I don’t know if I’m going to write the whole scene, but I’ve started it at least.  There is also a storm here right now, thank goodness for laptop’s and batteries, but I’m going to get done so I can do some brainstorming later.

As it turned out, I ended up completing that scene–my Internet went down, so this post has remained open until the darn rain calms down and I get connection again.  I should go ahead and write the next scene too, but this next one is another iffy one.  The girls are getting drunk, and I don’t know what happens.  There are still a large amount of women in the house, so I’m trying to give it that large, loud effect.  The scene after this one is a fight between two of the girls, so I can have them bicker a drop, but nothing too big.  Unless I just have the fight during the party.

Hmm, that may mean rearranging the scene thus far.  Not a big deal, but I don’t want really long then really short chapters.  Ok, I’ll do that and add the fight during the drunken party scene.  Cool!

Now that I’m back on track with my WIP, I’m incorporating brainstorming a new book at the same time.  I’d also like to start editing the last book, but I’m gonna wait a bit before I start tackling that.  So, today is about brainstorming.

I’m working hard on a new idea that involves a serial killer and the FBI.  It’s just an idea at the moment.  I also need an idea for a new light mystery, and to be frank, I have nada.  The WIP is the only light idea I’ve ever had.  Not sure when or if I’ll get another. LOL

In the meantime, I’ll jot down this idea, which resulted from a dream, and then work on the next one after that.  My plan has always been to work on three different projects, in three different stages, but this is the first time I’ve been able to put it into practice.

Now, back to my agents.