Sunday, July 31, 2011

New WIP – YAY!

I've completed White City (Yay!), and it's about stinkin' time, in my opinion. I'm going to start submitting it to agents again, work on getting my query as good as stinkin' possible and also put together a synopsis (I hate those things).

Also, and right on schedule, might I add, I get to start my newest WIP on Monday!

I am so completely excited about this I can hardly sit still. I was going to get started on CERTIFIABLE, my YA psychological thriller, but I've decided I need to let that marinate a little more. The storyline is there, but it's not as developed in my head as I'd like it to be, and since it's so outside my normal genre, I need to do some more reading and research about how to put a book like that together. I still plan to dabble on it, though, and I'm definitely not giving up on it, so don't worry.

My new WIP I'm talking about is the one that came to me last week at Sbux. The one that's fully developed in my mind and seems to be begging me to write it. I've bounced the idea off a few of my nearest and dearest and they're just as excited about it as I am. Ready for the working title? CASTE. It's going to be a YA dystopian (been reading quite a few of that genre, lately) and I it's going to be great.

With my latest WIP, I'm trying a few new things. I'm not an outliner by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a seat of my pants flyer, and a darn good pilot, too. With CASTE, I'm taking a little more time mapping it out. I've worked on the visual aspect of it, what they city looks like; even down to the style of their clothing.

It's so hard to sit there and not write the story. Instead, I'm working on getting the back story down for the characters, the city, the history, the different elements of my characters' lives, etc. Not just a general idea and "it's all in my head" kind of thing I normally do, but an actual "write it down and know EVERY minute detail" idea. And guess what? It's exciting. I've somewhat outlined (in detail) the first act of the book. Doing this gives me more direction and structure.

My goal is to try and have CERTIFABLE and CASTE finished with first edits by February so that I can choose which one to bring to SFWC. By taking the time to outline everything in as detailed of a way as possible (even though it's outside my comfort zone) is giving me the illusion that: This. Is. Possible!

With CASTE, I'm a little at a loss for what POV to use. I love 3rd person, because then I can head hop and show you what's going on apart from my MC. But, as I discussed here, it's not as strong as first person. So, I have tentatively decided on the 1st person narrative.

But then my choice becomes, present or past tense? Past is definitely more comfortable because it's what the majority of authors use, but present is kind of fun and different and adds a little more immediacy to the story.

Aghh! Decisions, decisions. But, I'm still mapping everything out right now, so I have a little time to figure out which one to use.

What about you? Any new WIP you're exceptionally excited to be working on?

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