L.A. Myles

YA fantasy novelist in training - My Website - My Wattpad

[la-myles]

It's been a minute

It's been a minute since I've been on here. I have much exploring to do to see how things have changed and what's the same. And, looking back at my last posts, how much I've changed.

I had my debut fantasy novel, Splintered Realms, published by a small press. (Yay!) But then that small press closed. (Boo!) That's lead to my venturing into the realm of self publishing, and I recently republished that novel. I'm still in the learning curve. But the feeling of holding my paperback in my hand, what I had created all the way through...that's been incredible. (I made my kids sit with me while we looked at every page, even the back matter. lol)

#amwriting #writersontumblr #writing

[la-myles]

It’s time to start a new writing project. Instead of my usual eeny meeny miny moe technique for picking, I’m going with the idea that’s the most developed. It’s the one I can sit at the keyboard and type up pages of world building and plot without pausing. It’s been sitting on the back-burner, quietly waiting its turn. I can’t wait to see what happens. 

Happy writing!

[badwriterpositivity]

Things to do in quarantine (other than writing)

Make long, drawn out descriptions of your characters

Create moodboards, playlists, art, or anything else to do with your WIP

Write a dumb au- just for yourself. No deadline, no pressure of quality. Just write.

Figure out the perfect circumstances to write- do you like to drink coffee? Tea? Table, or lap? Music, TV, silence? Try out new things, too!

Clean up your workspace, if you have one. Decorate it. Make it home.

Go for a walk and listen to your muse playlist.

Try to cosplay one of your characters, no matter what you have at home.

Understand your MC better. Imagine them in quarantine- what's their favourite food? Their favourite music? Their favourite pastime? How do they sleep? How do they clean?

Make a shitty rendition of something from your story. Build a character from clay. Sew someone's outfit from scratch. Make a prop from tinfoil. Recreate a room with Lego.

Have stupid fun! Get to know the world of your story, get stuck in Wikipedia holes, scroll shopping websites for hours.

Just have fun, and feel happy knowing it'll help your world, even if you're struggling.

What we need right now is entertainment. Not stress.

[la-myles]

My writing time is microscopic at the moment. It’s all baby steps as I get a few words in each day on my new work in progress. 

During the day, gardening has become a wonderful form of therapy. I’m starting some plants from seed this year. It is so exciting seeing little green leaves sprouting from the dark soil.

[agarthanguide]

I was sketching Alucard specifically so I would have something to paint but now that’s not happening today and but can’t stand to not post it. 

[la-myles]

Planning

The more I write, the more I realize I need to plan ahead of time. My brain doesn’t seem to work in single novel formats. Every idea I come up with spans multiple books and I’m realizing that to make sure there aren’t issues in Book 3 that I should have set up in Book 1, I need to plan. Which is a challenge, because I’m not a plotter (as in someone who sits down and plots an entire book before writing it). I tend to vomit words all over the page until I have an extremely rough draft of the story. That’s my outlining process. But to make sure my story arc is complete and cohesive over several books; I need to change my ways.

I may not have every detail mapped out for the entire series, but I’m learning that once I have the groundwork of Book 1 laid out, I need to outline the rest of the books. That way I can avoid major issues later in the series. There is the potential as well, that things happening in Book 1 would be better in Book 2, etc. It’s an opportunity to see the entire structure and adjust as needed.

I’m learning – slowly but surely. lol

[la-myles]

Novel Synopsis Writing

It’s taken me a long time to find an approach to writing the synopsis of a novel that didn’t leave me feeling frustrated and the synopsis sounding clunky. But I think I’ve finally figured out an approach that works.

In a phrase – emotional journey.

The synopsis is about the emotional heart of the story. It’s about what makes this story engaging and the core thread that’s going to hold the story together and keep the reader reading. So, the synopsis is about finding that center and explaining that.

[bostonpoetryslam]

I look to poems for complexity. Not just a symptomatic complexity, but one that changes me from beginning to end of a poem’s utterance. There’s an approach to poetry that suggests that we turn to poems to hear and say things that we don’t often hear or say in everyday speech. There’s also a sense of a poem as a form of art that creates its own context.

Joan Naviyuk Kane, interviewed by Anastasia Nikolis for the Library of Congress (via bostonpoetryslam)

[bostonpoetryslam]

I look to poems for complexity. Not just a symptomatic complexity, but one that changes me from beginning to end of a poem’s utterance. There’s an approach to poetry that suggests that we turn to poems to hear and say things that we don’t often hear or say in everyday speech. There’s also a sense of a poem as a form of art that creates its own context.

Joan Naviyuk Kane, interviewed by Anastasia Nikolis for the Library of Congress (via bostonpoetryslam)

[la-myles]

Trying to get editing accomplished while sick with a head cold. There are tissues everywhere and nothing on the screen makes sense. I have to Google every third word to make sure it’s spelled correctly because my tired, mucus ridden brain can’t tell. I think it’s time to take a sick day. 

[la-myles]

My work in progress is finally ready to venture out into the big world. I’m searching through potential publishing houses to find some good matches. My list of things to look at now has expanded from just genre and open for submissions to:

- Distribution (how many retailers carry their publications)

- Are they Amazon only and if so Kindle Unlimited or what

- are they eBook only or Print and eBook

- their mission statement

- cover art

- how many books they already have out/ how established are they

-Books they’ve published that I might like

- Any testimonials

- what authors they’ve published

if they have a sample contract, that’s bonus.

What other things do you, or would you look for in a publisher?

(I’m tackling agents on a different day. lol)

[velinxi]

some of the CQL/MDZS sketches I’ve compiled lately from my twitter

[velinxi]

this song, does it have a name?

[foxyfantasygirl]

by  Mioree .

[la-myles]

Finding a beginning

For me, the starting a story can be the hardest part. It isn’t so much the blank page I find daunting, as finding the right place to start. Where is far enough into the story to be engaging, while at the same time allowing me enough time for character development and introduction. It’s a challenge. 

I’ve found two ways to deal with it. Sit down and write, knowing I will delete at least the first chapter, maybe even the second one once the story is complete. Or do a mini character interview where I talk with the main character about the story. From that conversation, the beginning often flows. Usually. 

If you’re a writer and you have different tactics for getting into a story, please comment. I’m really curious what method works for others. Thank you. 

[la-myles]

Food

Eating. We all do it. So why not have characters do it. And how do they eat? Do they wolf it down like it’s their last meal? Do they cut each item into perfect bite size chunks? How do they handle a food they’ve never seen before? What food do they love? What do they hate? Can they only eat bread coated in slime or treats like ice cream? 

We all eat, and we all have different styles of eating. It only makes sense that the characters eat as well, and how they eat can tell a lot about them as well. 

In world building eating becomes that much more interesting when delving into what plants grow in what regions, are imports available, how much access to what food characters have, etc.. 

Food doesn’t have to be the main focus of a story (unless that’s what the story is about) but it should be a consideration, in my opinion. Another layer to making the world and character that much more believable. 

[la-myles]

I love weather, especially in literature. It is amazing, delightful, annoying, destructive, healing, and sometimes downright terrifying.

It can mirror character emotions or evoke them. It can be an obstacle they have to overcome - walking through a snow or sleet storm is no easy task and can be deadly if the storm is bad enough. At the very least the weather can set tone and help establish the world around the character. The weather could even be one of the characters.

There are so many possibilities.