So while I’m waiting for rejections all the offers of representation to appear, I’m starting Book 2. Might as well be productive while I twiddle my thumbs (yeah – I know, that doesn’t make sense). When I began The Cake Effect, I didn’t even know I had started. It evolved on its own until it reached a point where I had to write it down. This time, I intend to write a book, a book I hope will sit on shelves someday. Let me tell you, dear reader, this kinda freaks me out.
Book 1 floated around in my head so long, it eventually flew out and onto the page. This time, I feel like I’m pulling the story out against its will, partially formed and needing a lot of work. I wonder if I’m nuts to even try. But then I recall this great quote from Nora Roberts, “I can fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank page.” The writer’s equivalent of Nike’s “Just Do It.” And she’s right.
The Cake Effect had time to ferment and age, develop a full body and great legs. Book 2 is the novel equivalent of just stomped grapes. But if I work with it, handle it correctly, it too can grow into something fully realized. But how to get there?
I didn’t need much research to start the last book, so I sketched out my outline and a few character notes, and jumped in. I wrote the story chronologically, with a few exceptions. If I had an epiphany about an important scene, I’d write it up before I forgot, then return to the chapter where I left off.
But I learned a few things that first time around. It helps to have a few themes lined up to frame the story and provide interesting imagery and focus. With the entire English language to pull from, finding the write words and descriptions can overwhelm me. By choosing some themes, like weather and food in the The Cake Effect, I had a place to start looking for the perfect way to describe something.
I didn’t need to do any research to find suitable food and weather words, but Book 2 involves more research. I need to learn about a historical figure and a game (yes, I’m intentionally being vague – I have no idea if this will stick – so I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep). Do I research first, or just dive in with the story?
I’ve decided to do both. I’ll spend half my writing time researching. What does that involve? At this point, it’s reading books and taking notes on snippets I want to use, and how I might use them. I’m also creating a list of terms I can draw from later. I’ll print them up and stick them on my bulletin board for easy reference. For me, the research is more about inspiration than getting facts correct – this is fiction after all.
The other half will be spent writing. Right now, it is character quirks, little scene snippets, and settings. I imagine if I laid everything out on a table, it’d look like a trailer park after a tornado – random items, but when you put them where they belong, they create a life, a place, and memories.
So, dear reader, that’s what I’m up to; the very preliminary stages of Book 2. It’ll be interesting to see if this method sticks, or I throw it out the window for something else entirely. I hope to start a word count soon, so you can track the progress.
Get more of me on Twitter, @aereichert.
