Letting Go of God is a CD by Julia Sweeney. She reveals her journey from a believer to an atheist.
She does it in such a comedic way that the majority of believers can laugh and take in her story with little judgment (or at least that is my hope).
As writers, when we write on a subject that is controversial or uncomfortable for others to hear, it is part of our “job” to make the story palatable. This doesn’t mean that we have to use humor as a tool (though, you may), but we do have to find a way to put sentences together that encourage readers to turn the page. We have to pace the story so that readers aren’t bombarded with negativity. It’s important to let the reader breath.
This is where subplots come in handy. Wiki defines subplots as follows: subplots are distinguished from the main plot by taking up less of the action, having less significant events occur, with less impact on the ‘world’ of the work, and occurring to less important characters.
Though I’m not actively editing Mija (the novel I finished last month), editing ideas to creep into my little brain when I don’t even know I’m thinking about the book. But subconsciously, Mija is always with me.
Yesterday, out of nowhere, I began to panic because my subplot may be too “heavy” of a topic. I want to dive in and start editing. But I will resist the temptation. Mija has to sit for at least two months before revisions. Why two months? I think that’s the amount of time I will need to separate my emotions from the writing. Originally I thought 30 days was even, and if may be for future works, but not for Mija.
(Below is a video that is funny as hell. An atheist goes door to door to convert mormons. Julia Sweeney and the atheist host sure have a way about them. Enjoy!)
I haven’t posted about my progress with Mija in a while. So far I have written 20,813 words. Based on the genre, I estimate that the book length will be 55,000 words. This means my book is almost halfway done.
Diane asked how long her book should be. Below is a list that everyone can use as a guide.
Adult fiction: 50,000+ words
Novella: 20,00-40,000 words
Young Adult: 20,000 – 40,000 words
Science Fiction novels: 60,000-70,000 words. Though some say that publishers are now interested in science fiction novels that are 90,000+ words.
Did you miss NaNoWriMo? Well, try the Seventy Day Sweat Writing Challenge where you write a novel in, yep you guessed it, seventy days. I signed up because the challenge is open to stalled WIPs. And Mija is well, stalled. So who’s going to join me? Oh come on. Sign up.
Oops, forgot to include the word meter. I cut 18% of the book. Below are the results. Btw, I know there is more to cut. So I’m basically starting Mija from scratch and I’m okay with that.
The words I wrote this week won’t be counted towards the overall word count. This is because most of what I wrote won’t be part of the book. I knew this when I was writing the words, but I didn’t want to kill the momentum. At least I was writing something right? Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself, but in my heart I don’t believe that. It was a waste of time for me to write scenes that I know don’t fit in the book. I also went back and deleted scenes from weeks ago that aren’t going to make the final cut. So my word count is lower that it was last week.
This week I will spend time outlining the book. This is something I should have done from the beginning. Free flow writing has its place, but not with me. Word count for the week: less than zero
One of the characters in Mija is a psychic. As part of my research, I got my cards read. I went to Miss. Michelle. She provided a 12-month reading. At the end of each month, I will post her reading for that particular month along with events that occurred in my life. You can read the full reading here.
Miss. Michele provides a complimentary three-card spread. Just for fun, go to her website and take advantage of it.
Okay, now on with the reading.
Miss Michele’s Reading for January – It’s been a month of rapid, unexpected change for Auria, exemplified by the Ace of Swords. 2008 is a significant year for many people; more so than any other year in recent history, there was a marked change in the Universe’s energy from 2007 to 2008. People around me have seen it… I’ve never witnessed so many people sticking to their New Year’s Resolutions!This same energy is strong in Auria’s life this year, and it all started with the Ace of Swords, a struggle to start a new project or switch directions (quite unexpectedly) on an existing endeavor.
Auria’s Interpretation - This month’s reading is strong. As you may remember, I switched story directions unexpectedly. As far as sticking to a New Year’s Resolution, I didn’t make one, but as a general rule, I stick to every goal I make. I’m an achiever. Always have been. It’s a survial skill I learned as a kid.
Do you believe in psychics? Have you ever had a psychic reading? Oh, and if you take Miss Michele up on her free tarot card reading, share your results.
Last week I decided to step away from the computer and write Mija freehand. I thought that the change might give me a different perspective. I rarely type. I usually use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This method works for me because I’m able to close my eyes and just talk. The pictures in my mind’s eye are vivid. The scenes play in my mind. The characters come to life. And when I want to backtrack, I’m able to “rewind” mentally. It’s a different writing method that most, but this is one of the reasons I believe my writing is authentic.
Writing freehand didn’t work for me because I censored myself more than I normally do. Also, I never read what I write because I want to wait for the editing process. With the freehand method I had to reread everything so that Dragon could type the scenes. As a result, I edited some.
In addition, I started to draw scenes on the paper. This meant that my writing time was longer than usual. I was easily distracted.
But there was something I liked about having the pencil in my hand and scribbling on a brand new notebook. I like that feeling enough to give freehand another try.
