My New Approach to Writing and "For the Love of a Broken Heart"
Wow it's been a really long time since I've posted; almost two years to be exact. Starting college (and the lack of good ideas) had kind of taken up all of my time. In that time, though, I've been writing sporadically, and have gotten myself in a position where writing has been more of a priority now, and not just in terms of the novel I've been writing, but blogging as well.
So today's post: My New Approach to Writing
I started a novel almost three years ago while reading a Kelley Armstrong book. A scene in her novel had left me feeling in such a way all I could do was write. And write. And write. At first I had no intention of turning the scene I had stayed up until almost four in the morning writing, into a novel. But then the ideas started flowing. I found inspiration everywhere, but most of it came from feelings I'd experienced myself, feelings I'd hope to experience one day soon, or feelings I saw others close to me feeling. I managed to intertwine fiction with life events, creating almost an alternate reality of sorts; one that I could escape to when life didn't seem to go my way.
I've always been the type of person to come up with a general idea and write in chronological order: beginning, middle, end. I'd make note (mostly mental ones) of possible ideas for scenes and events that would happen later in the story, but I would never write the actual scenes or events until I got to that portion of the book. I always wanted to make sure everything I wrote went together well. I didn't want to have to work to make things fit together in some way. I've never been a stranger to writing random scenes and making them work together afterwards, though, as many of my friends who write use that as their approach; I just wasn't one of them. At least not until I began writing this most recent novel.
For the Love of a Broken Heart became my first attempt at the "writing scenes at random and making them fit together" approach I never thought I'd use. But since my inspiration had come from life events and feelings, it was inevitable. That being said, I was highly nervous I'd never get it anywhere; that it would just be a compilation of scenes and events that would never meld together. My fears eased as I slowly found the connection from piece to piece and what might be a good way to transition from each piece and the events I'd need to put in to make it all make sense. The writing software Scrivener, found by sheer luck and a random search on the Apple app store for possible writing apps since my current one just wasn't exactly cutting it, has been one of the magic elements that have helped me in the writing process. It's not an iPhone or iPad app like I had been looking for (although, a similar app does exist), but a word processing software that does so much more than Microsoft and Pages combined. It's perfect because I can rearrange my scenes and chapters as I please, and allows me to also keep track of my notes. And when I'm finished, (or to check page counts or to print copies), it compiles everything into one document in a normal manuscript format. But this post isn't a product review, nor am I endorsed to say good things about such product (hmm...but it might just be the topic of my next blog post).
Writing For the Love of a Broken Heart has not been easy. In fact, it's been anything but, especially now that I must put real-life experiences on the back burner and focus on the scenes and events that will allow these other portions to fit together in order to make a finished novel. One that I hope to finally complete when the summer months roll around. Three years to write a novel is not something I'm used to, and I'm starting to get anxious for the revising process. Never-the-less, I will be taking as much time to complete it. For the Love of a Broken Heart has become one of my best pieces, and I have every intention of keeping it that.
For the Love has definitely given me the confidence to never dismiss an approach to writing, even if I don't think it'll work in my favor. I can't say that I will use the "write random scenes" approach each and every time I write something, I still very much like my chronological approach, but knowing I can make it work really well means I have an alternative way of doing things if I so choose.
So, now that I've just spent the last few paragraphs discussing For the Love of a Broken Heart, I thought I'd share with you a portion of the first chapter. The link below will take you to my figment.com profile where you can read it for free, without having to sign in or create an account. I hope y'all enjoy. And, if you like it or this post, don't hesitate to say so. Leave a comment, send me a message via Facebook. or tweet me! Links to all are listed at the bottom.
Happy Writing!
~Jazmine
For the Love of a Broken Heart - Chapter One
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So today's post: My New Approach to Writing
I started a novel almost three years ago while reading a Kelley Armstrong book. A scene in her novel had left me feeling in such a way all I could do was write. And write. And write. At first I had no intention of turning the scene I had stayed up until almost four in the morning writing, into a novel. But then the ideas started flowing. I found inspiration everywhere, but most of it came from feelings I'd experienced myself, feelings I'd hope to experience one day soon, or feelings I saw others close to me feeling. I managed to intertwine fiction with life events, creating almost an alternate reality of sorts; one that I could escape to when life didn't seem to go my way.
I've always been the type of person to come up with a general idea and write in chronological order: beginning, middle, end. I'd make note (mostly mental ones) of possible ideas for scenes and events that would happen later in the story, but I would never write the actual scenes or events until I got to that portion of the book. I always wanted to make sure everything I wrote went together well. I didn't want to have to work to make things fit together in some way. I've never been a stranger to writing random scenes and making them work together afterwards, though, as many of my friends who write use that as their approach; I just wasn't one of them. At least not until I began writing this most recent novel.
For the Love of a Broken Heart became my first attempt at the "writing scenes at random and making them fit together" approach I never thought I'd use. But since my inspiration had come from life events and feelings, it was inevitable. That being said, I was highly nervous I'd never get it anywhere; that it would just be a compilation of scenes and events that would never meld together. My fears eased as I slowly found the connection from piece to piece and what might be a good way to transition from each piece and the events I'd need to put in to make it all make sense. The writing software Scrivener, found by sheer luck and a random search on the Apple app store for possible writing apps since my current one just wasn't exactly cutting it, has been one of the magic elements that have helped me in the writing process. It's not an iPhone or iPad app like I had been looking for (although, a similar app does exist), but a word processing software that does so much more than Microsoft and Pages combined. It's perfect because I can rearrange my scenes and chapters as I please, and allows me to also keep track of my notes. And when I'm finished, (or to check page counts or to print copies), it compiles everything into one document in a normal manuscript format. But this post isn't a product review, nor am I endorsed to say good things about such product (hmm...but it might just be the topic of my next blog post).
Writing For the Love of a Broken Heart has not been easy. In fact, it's been anything but, especially now that I must put real-life experiences on the back burner and focus on the scenes and events that will allow these other portions to fit together in order to make a finished novel. One that I hope to finally complete when the summer months roll around. Three years to write a novel is not something I'm used to, and I'm starting to get anxious for the revising process. Never-the-less, I will be taking as much time to complete it. For the Love of a Broken Heart has become one of my best pieces, and I have every intention of keeping it that.
For the Love has definitely given me the confidence to never dismiss an approach to writing, even if I don't think it'll work in my favor. I can't say that I will use the "write random scenes" approach each and every time I write something, I still very much like my chronological approach, but knowing I can make it work really well means I have an alternative way of doing things if I so choose.
So, now that I've just spent the last few paragraphs discussing For the Love of a Broken Heart, I thought I'd share with you a portion of the first chapter. The link below will take you to my figment.com profile where you can read it for free, without having to sign in or create an account. I hope y'all enjoy. And, if you like it or this post, don't hesitate to say so. Leave a comment, send me a message via Facebook. or tweet me! Links to all are listed at the bottom.
Happy Writing!
~Jazmine
For the Love of a Broken Heart - Chapter One
Google+: see link to the right
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