Road Trip Wednesday: Spin-off Characters

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.


This week they want to know which supporting character would you like to see in a novel of their own.


I'd go for Alice from The Twilight Saga. She was my favourite character, and she'd have a lot of potential as a primary character.


What about you?

Judging Books Completely By Covers

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week they want to know your all time favourite book covers. As it's 'YA' Highway, these are some of my favourite covers from young adult novels.

As you can see I have a thing for paranormal/dark fiction/steampunk ya fiction. I'm not all that gone on contemporary YA.

Which of the above (if any) do you like?

Writer's Block

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.


This week's topic is how we deal with writer's block, but honestly? I don't believe in writer's block. I think writer's block is a fairy story we tell ourselves when we want to avoid the fact that we're not being productive.


Obviously, we have days when we feel lethargic, fed up, and writing 200 words can seem like an uphill struggle. But, I think that describes bad days in any job, I don't think that it's unique to writer's. But because we're on our own clock we can get away just saying to hell with it.  


Of course, I could be just grumpy. This is very possible, as I have been sick for the last week and am sleep deprived. Every time I lie down I get a coughing fit. This means I get no sleep, and I wake up husband several times a night. It's easier to come down downstairs and work. Of course, then I wake up my dog with my periodic coughing fits. She's not speaking to me now, and every time I cough she gives me a withering look. She honestly does. I'll have to bribe her with a rawhide chew.


What do you guys think about writer's block?

Road Trip Wednesday: Real Life Settings

The nice people over at YA Highway a ‘Blog Carnival’ every Wednesday, where the contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week the prompt is: What is the most inspiring setting you've ever visited in real life? My answer is fairly predictable and boring for an Irish writer, it's the west of Ireland. The landscape is so beautiful in a harsh and rugged way, and the wide open spaces give your mind room to think properly, away from the constraints of concrete buildings, neon lights and worries about bills, the day job and city life. I'm definitely a Dublin girl at heart, but I love the west. I dream about going on a writers retreat there one day.

What about you? Any inspirational places?

 

Five Things I'd Rescue From A Housefire

The nice people over at YA Highway have a road trip Wednesday every week, and this week's question is:  The house is on fire and you've only got time to grab five things. What are they?

1: My husband, obviously. 

2: Roxie my Labrador. Of course, she should really be saving me Lassie style, but as my girl is afraid of her own shadow that's not going to happen.

3: My netbook. All my work is on it and, though I have everything backed up, I'd hate to loose it. Not to mention the expense of getting another one.

To be honest, but boring, I can't think of anything else. Material possessions? Apart from my netbook, I can't prioritise them. And if my husband and dog are ok, I couldn't really ask for more than that.

What about all of you? What would you save?

Are You A Plotter or Pantser?

The nice people over at YA Highway are talking about the planning process when writing a novel for today's Road-Trip-Wednesday.

Generally speaking, writers tend to fall into one of two camps: plotters or pantsers.

Plotters tend to have a very organised approach to their writing, and spend a lot of time writing up outlines of how the story is going to go. Outlines can vary from being a one or two page document with the main storyline written in, to multi-page manuals on how the story will be written, chapter by chapter, from beginning to end.

Pantsers are different. They literally write by the seat of their pants. They have a nugget of an idea, and just sit down and start writing from there. The plot forms as they write, they invent it as they go.

There are pluses and minuses to both. Those who plot and outline generally have less rewriting to do. Pantsers may find that their story takes a turn half way through that means entire chapters have to be consigned to the waste-paper basket. But they can  also allow their characters to set the pace, and make decisions on plot as they evolve. Plotters work can be more rigid.

So which is better? Honestly, whatever works for you. Personally, I tend to write the first half of a novel without a roadmap. Half way through, my momentum starts to give out and I need some structure. I sit down with a paper and pen and sketch out a plan for the remainder of the book and continue from there.

When you research the whole novel-writing process, you'll find a lot of 'rules'. The only ones I found that I think should be set in stone are 'make time for your writing', 'write regularly', and 'edit, edit, edit'. Everything else you have to try out and see whether or not it works for you.

What about you guys? Are you plotters or pantsers?