Adding action items for fiction characters

I've already been tracking issues in the text of my novel, putting "ISSUE" in Heading 2 so that it will show up when I automatically generate a table of contents.

Now, I'm also adding ACTION items in the same manner whenever a character makes a commitment to do something, so I can make sure he/she does it and - thus - not have loose ends. Like I do for myself, I compile TO DO lists for my characters. (My husband isn't exempt, either -- what a micro-manager I am!)

The story keeps evolving and I'm having a lot of fun with it.

How I approach writing a novel

I start off with an outline that includes a synopsis of each scene. The synopsis gets more developed as I write. Before tackling a scene, I have a list of everything that must happen in that scene (after that, the characters ab lib and I often have to adjust future synopses accordingly).

Now that I’m in the middle of the thing, I’m having to reanalyze everything based on the different story lines, what each character should know at the time, how each character is spending their time in my timeline, and so on. That was something I really couldn’t do in advance.

For the timeline, I label each scene by date, such as Wk2 Weds, and number each scene by generating an automatic table of contents (TOC). That way, I can take one of the characters and list the scenes and dates that affect him/her to track his or her actions (such as Sc30 Wk2 Tues – Ravi visits George re pirate attack).

I also have at least three windows of the book open on my laptop while I’m writing so I can scroll through the TOC and previous/future scenes that involve the current characters.

This book, being a suspense novel, really demands a TOC and ongoing synopsis of each scene because I can’t let anything fall through the cracks. I also maintain a list of ISSUEs to be resolved, flagging them so they appear in my TOC.

This is my third novel—I need to rewrite the other two after I finish this one. I’ve been generally silent since I’ve been so immersed in it lately, but thought I’d come up for air and share this.

From an action scene to a philosophical one

I just completed a mid-book action scene and the next one facing me is a sensitive, philosophical one. Guess that means I'll work on it tomorrow and do other things the rest of the afternoon.

I've checked out a biography of a powerful woman in the eleventh century and am having trouble getting into it. It has to be just me. The book is highly rated, but so far I'm bored. I will give it a chance, though, and read a chapter every day. I think the work would have been much better fictionalized, though.

The dangers of psychotropic drugs

A scary 134-minute-long video clip on our corrupt pharmaceutical system. This video examines the dangers of psychotropic drugs.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25231.htm

One of the lead characters in my second book is a psychiatrist and the book deals with psychotropics, so the information in this video will be useful in my rewrite.

Alexander Theroux's Darconville's Cat

I'm reading Darconville's Cat out of a pure enjoyment of Theroux's prose, rather than an overwhelming interest in the story. So, of course, that means I'm reading other books concurrently (as I tend to do much of the time, anyway, but usually alternating between fiction and nonfiction).

As to writing, I've finally gotten past an intense action scene. I must go back and rewrite it after I complete the rest of the book. In fact, I should take a quick online class on writing action scenes, first. Action scenes do not come naturally to me. Actually, the entire book is slow, not like the first two (which are still waiting in the wings for rewrites). I think it is because I don't totally have my energy back, after ten years of stress. But I can see progress, albeit slow. Best of all, I still love the concept of this book and now have confidence in my ability to plot ... well, at least more confidence than I did previously ...

Rick's career change is now accomplished and I'm looking forward to him having a saner life--meaning weekends off! He's enjoying the process of finding clients, as well. Some day the business will pay off, I'm convinced.

Not my normal genre, but ...

... The Seance by John Harwood is really good.

Next, I'll try Darconville's Cat by Alexander Theroux -- unless I get sidetracked by a Steve Berry novel, the kind of suspense I love to indulge in.

Still waiting for 13 Bankers, the new one by Simon Johnson and James Kwak that is a must read and a current report on today's financial situation. The authors blog at Baseline Scenario (http://baselinescenario.com), a site that is now one of my favorites, except I get their updates by email to save time. (I am working very hard at cutting down my Internet browsing time!)

Attributes of main male character in novel

I feel really good about discovering and working out several plot problems, but I'm stymied on how to endow my male hero with an attribute that will get transformed throughout the novel. This is my struggle for today, and hopefully I can end the day with a resolution.

Page count is nearing 100. Beginning setup is now complete, so next comes the harder point of weaving the story threads together into a pattern that is tight yet complex. Once again, I am so glad I outlined the whole thing in advance, else I'd be in trouble right now (as I was with my first book).

Onward.

Observations on books

Some of the most disappointing works I've read are by authors who have once produced good work. I think the reason is that publishers sign them up for multi-book deals and the authors are forced to take time to promote their own work and have little time left over to do a quality job for their upcoming deadlines.

Whenever I find an author whose work I like, I generally read everything else they've written. Fortunately, since I'm now getting the majority of my books from the library, I don't have to buy material that no longer makes the grade.

I resolve that if I'm ever lucky enough to get my work out there, I will absolutely refuse to let a book be printed unless it is truly up to standards. That makes a good case for having a backlog of novels before I even solicit publication.

Broken blog

I had to delete my Tarot Card of the Day and Funny Cat widgets to get my blog back online. I think there might have been a conflict with my recent installation of the Adobe Creative Suite. Oh well! Still have the flu, so I'll have to experiment later.

Loving the library

We decided not to spend any discretionary funds for the time being, and we're really reducing the expenses. One result is I've become proficient at interlibrary loan, searching for and reserving books at home on my laptop, and I'm able to find most of what I need.

Also been busy taking grant-writing webinars -- very useful. Got into their database for three hours today and downloaded 45 files of information on funding foundations.

Making progress on the book, as well. Have written over 70 pages and made some enhancements to previous work.

Just wish I could get over this flu -- I've had it a week and it doesn't seem to be going away all that soon.

Getting closer to Part II

I've set some goals and have been meeting them. Didn't write yesterday because I was out all afternoon doing research for the Arts Council and running errands. Today, I will write twice as much, and am more than halfway toward that goal. I'm really enjoying the process, getting down the bones of the story. Hoping, though, I will be able to find the ability to enhance it a lot on the second pass.

I finished a Michael Gruber book and am now setting out to read everything he has written (except his children's story). He raises the bar for intelligent thrillers.

Have a new program of checking out books through online interlibrary loan -- an austerity measure I'm inordinately proud of. We already own too many books; 21 full-size bookcases plus several smaller ones. We're swimming in the things.

On a related note, I've determined to learn how to use the latest Adobe applications, including InDesign so we can write and publish our own e-books. I ordered the Creative Suite and am looking forward to training myself in these apps two or three hours every morning--a good alternative to surfing the web and getting royally pissed off at the oligarchs.

Our little Brunhilde is a lot more active, now, with the other cats outside during the day, doing cat patrol and running around. It's nice to see her run and move around (though her waddly little body makes us laugh), and she inspires me to exercise more. We've determined she doesn't have an eating disorder, like Tessa, because she doesn't show an inordinate interest in food -- she just didn't move very much at her SPCA home. She is so sweet and loving. We're glad to have her in our family.

My hero's background

I need to delve deeper into Ravi's background today and have some decisions to make, like how has the man related to women all his life. He is a scientist and inventor, certainly not a playboy type, but nevertheless he looks like Sanjay Gupta -- good looking with gravitas, in my estimation.

Ravi will appear in future books (one already written, but on hold) so it's important that I get this right.

Robert Reich strikes again: "Our Incredible Shrinking Democracy"

Robert Reich's new post, "Our Incredible Shrinking Democracy," is a must-read. For some time, I have thought Reich's analysis of our political and economic issues is both succinct and hard-hitting. He can explain complicated issues in the most direct terms and I agree with most of what he has to say. If you don't want to read anything else on these heavy issues, at least read Robert Reich.

His blog is located at:

http://robertreich.org/

The direct link to this article is here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/our-incredible-shrinking_b_446748.html

Another cat with an eating disorder

We selected a beautiful calico cat from an SPCA photo on the web and when we went to pick her up, discovered she is now 17 pounds -- way overweight. She's a year old. We brought her home, anyway, and now have to go about healing her.

We wanted her as an indoor companion to our nice, sleek male. Fortunately, he won't object to not having his food left out all the time because feeding is incidental to him.

I learned that one has to be patient in a cat weight reduction diet because if the cat loses weight too fast, it can contract a fatal liver disease. One site said 1 to 2% of its weight each week (about 1/4 pound for her, or 1 pound per month) and another site said limit weight reduction to 1/2 pound per month. This is going to be tricky. But -- oh well -- we saved another cat's life.

Making my villain more ominous

So far, my novel's villain is not as ominous as I'd like him to be. I need to keep his unspoken threat subtle, but give him a dangerous undertone.

This is something for me to ponder, while moving on to the next scene.

This is also something for me to work on when I get stuck in a future scene.

Always something.