Archive for June 9th, 2009

If you’ve read my last two blog posts, you’ll know that I’m currently writing what I call “Renata’s chapters.” It’s the beginning of my story. To capture her, I’ve been observing women. That must sound silly since I am a woman, but I don’t want Renata to just be a reflection of myself. And so I’ve found this image, along with others here, to be inspirational for her character. This is how I see her. Not just her body, or her figure, but as someone who is feminine, delicate, complex, and resilient.

Right now I’m smack dab in the middle of the beginning of my story. That’s right, I started backwards. Well that’s not true exactly. I actually started in the middle. I wrote a few scenes here and there about my characters already a month in to their relationship. Then I wrote how they met and got through that first month. I still haven’t written the second month, or the conclusion, and I’m just now writing the beginning. But don’t we all know that it’s the middle of a story that matters? It’s what happens between birth and death that makes it interesting, whether it’s literally life, a relationship, a vacation, or a book.

So now I’m at the beginning and I’m laying groundwork for how my characters find each other over the Atlantic Ocean. And I’m developing their personalities, so that separately they turn into people that will behave a particular way when they do meet. I was dreading this task for a long time, but now that I’m in it, I’m actually really enjoying it. Developing Renata is a lot of fun, and it’s so important to the story. When something really bad happens to Renata, she transforms into a new person. Without transforming, she would have never met Ryan, and even if she had, he would not have felt as strongly attracted to her as he does. But her transformation also works against her in their relationship, since she has a hard time trusting in his love. And the same goes for Ryan. He too undergoes a transformation in parallel to hers that changes his life completely, allows him to meet Renata, and also works against him in their relationship.

Obviously, I’m encountering the exposition obstacle. How does an author do it without being completely subtle in an obvious way or just completely obvious (“My name is Renata, I live in Seattle, am divorced, 28, and like marshmallows”)? I’m trying my hardest to make it fit in naturally, so that the story flows. I’m trying to think of it in terms of how someone actually gets to know a person when they meet. You don’t get the whole story up front. So bits and pieces get revealed through the first few chapters. We’ll see if that’s successful. I think one of my worries is that a reader won’t successfully “see” my characters. I see Renata and Ryan in my head all the time. I see their surroundings, their homes, their clothes, their facial expression, everything! I often forget that a reader doesn’t have the same vision, and that if it’s important to me that a reader sees these characters as I see them, then I need to provide more details about their appearance and their setting. I’m still not sure if it is important to me though. One thing I love about reading is the image I develop in my head. It’s like I’m there and sometimes I get a little miffed when the author disputes that image. So I think a balance is fair.

Anyway, since finishing my book is one of my goals for 2009, I’m a little bit surprised that it’s already June and I’m not nearly where I want to be with it. I obviously need to spend some quality time working on it and not just dabble with it here and there.

I apologize for neglecting this blog and not posting “Notes” for a whole month. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing, because I have! Right now, I’m stuck right at the beginning of the story, and I’m actually having a lot of fun laying the ground work for Renata’s behavior, feelings, and personality that comes later in the parts I’ve already written. I’m also having a lot of fun writing a sister dynamic between Renata and her sister Marianna. Since my own sister, Marissa, is one of my very best friends, confidants, and person I turn to for feedback, I’m honoring her with a part of the story.

Words written: 573
Setting: Seattle
Perspective: Renata’s Narrative

Favorite part:

“Follow me,” she said hastily as she brushed past me. I put the sunglasses I was modeling back onto the rack and followed behind her into Alistair Apparel’s most luxurious dressing room. Not only did I have a blood connection to one of Seattle’s trendiest boutiques, but I had a professional one as well. I was on a first name basis with Vlad Alistair, a designer and the proprietor of the boutique. JD Designs was hired to rebrand the label, shop, and website, just in time for a three-city expansion to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Aspen. Since a pair of jeans started at $250, and my closet of clothes looked more like Gap and less like Guess, I had never actually bought anything at Alistair Apparel, even though Marianna was constantly teasing me about my bland wardrobe. Mari, herself, was always up on the latest trends, and spent the majority of paycheck to adapt to it. So tonight’s trip into the boutique had Marianna far more excited than it had me. I was now in her world and she was going to enjoy every moment of it.

© 2009 Rochelle Michael