The Novel's Protagonist: Frankie

In my previous post, I gave you my first stab at a book jacket description of my novel.  Today I thought that I would give you a bit of insight into one of my characters:  Frankie.

I'm still shopping around for her last name, but essentially, I have everything I need.  

(FYI:  I was able to complete a full character bio using Sarah Domet's "90 Days To Your Novel")

Aidan's Main Project: The Novel

"The Novel" is what I have been working on for roughly six years, in some may call, a sprint-like fashion.

The main idea came to me in a dream and I began to write.  Many things halted the writing process:  work, relationships, life, writer's block, an affair with Hugh Jackman.  Just kidding on the last one.

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Your book is your soul

An idea came to you while driving, dreaming, brushing your teeth, or sitting at your desk at work while watching that weird guy across the aisle from accounting making a weird face and doing that irritating non-sensical humming again.  You think "A-ha!  By Jove this will be the best story in the history of the world!"  And you begin to jot down ideas.

The more you work on it the better it is.  The lead character is Slade, former S.A.S. who bottle feeds kittens, his love interest Tippy Stardust, the hooker with the heart of gold ... the more you type the more you feel that the muses are urging you, no, insisting that you write this epic.

He wants justice.  Sexy, sexy, justice.

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But then ...

Reality kicks in ...

I participated in my very first Twitter chat, hurray!  For some people this is pretty commonplace, considering, that Twitter has been around for years.  But for me, it was a first, and, was fun.

Robert E. Brewer of Writer's Market has created the "2014 Get Started Write Challenge".  For each day this year, he plans to post a writing challenge and it's your mission to accept or not.  So far, I have completed 8/8 challenges, and I'm actually enjoying each one.  One of the things that I am finding quite helpful, and motivating, is that he is posting his attempts at each challenge.  It may sound a bit sappy, but, I feel like it is more of a group challenge, than a solitary venture.

The challenge for January 8th, was to join in a conversation on Twitter, using the hashtag of "gswc".  During the chat, one of the participants asked for each of us to post a link to our blogs.

That's when reality kicked in for me.  My immediate reaction was "Oh God, no."  I said that.  Out loud.  Complete with a literal gasp.

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Being a Writer Ain't Easy

I have read a lot of articles on writing.  

And I mean a LOT.  

How do you create the perfect villain?  How do you write the perfect ending?  How do you describe scenery so the reader doesn't want to rip their eyebrows off and run around their house screaming?  Ok, one of those isn't a real title.  

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I just started a blog. What?!

Yep.  

What have I published?  Well, I've started a few projects but I haven't exactly ... um ... finished ... any.  So why start a blog?  And more importantly, why start a blog about writing if I haven't actually published anything?

I read an article over on the Writer's Digest site called "At What Point Can You Call Yourself a Writer?" by guest columnist Susan Henderson.  She says:

... it’s not the published book that makes you a writer.  You’re a writer because of the things you notice in the world ... you can imagine something in such detail that it comes to life ... because you’re weird in the ways you want to continue being weird.

Just ask this guy.

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