{"id":228,"date":"2011-08-18T10:02:41","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T17:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lindacollison.com\/blog\/?p=228"},"modified":"2012-05-18T13:22:29","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T20:22:29","slug":"a-brainstorming-session-with-my-in-house-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/a-brainstorming-session-with-my-in-house-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"A brainstorming session with my in-house editor…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night Capt. Bob, my in-house editor, and I discussed my story arc for Rogue’s Island<\/strong><\/em>, as well as\u00a0the following\u00a0two books in the series.\u00a0 Normally I’m reluctant to discuss my works in progress, even with my husband (especially with my husband!)\u00a0for two reasons:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Too much talking about the story\u00a0releases the pressure needed to write\u00a0the story.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Bob has a keen eye and a ruthless red pencil.\u00a0 He is invaluable when it comes to copy editing, but if I show him my early drafts (which are dreadful but contain promise) his remarks can be disheartening.\u00a0 Reminds me of my high school English teacher, Mr. Eaton…<\/p>\n

But as a brainstorming partner, our minds and tongues loosened by a bottle of chilled Pinot Grigio, my husband\u00a0had some excellent advice to offer.\u00a0 I realize part of my writer’s block I’ve been suffering from lately, comes from some story arc and timing problems I hadn’t fully\u00a0considered.\u00a0 In writing\u00a0an historical fiction series an outline is essential.\u00a0 I’ve always hated outlines, yet I’ve learned you have to have some idea of where you’re going and how you’re going to get there for it all to come together.\u00a0 Characters can still surprise you, and the outline has to be tweaked or even\u00a0restructured, but the grand story arc should be in place, as well as the major plot points.\u00a0\u00a0Otherwise, you risk writing yourself into a corner with no way out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Capt. Bob, my in-house editor<\/p><\/div>\n

Rogue’s Island<\/strong><\/em> is taking me to\u00a0colonial\u00a0Rhode Island and St. Croix in 1765.\u00a0\u00a0Some characters from Star-Crossed<\/strong><\/em> are resurfacing, and will play a role in future books as well.\u00a0 My brainstorming session with Bob last night has\u00a0opened possibilities to me I had not considered.\u00a0 Instead of diminishing my need to write the story, it has fueled it.\u00a0 Thanks, honey, for your thoughts — and for fixing dinner.\u00a0 (Spicy stir-fried shrimp, yummy!)\u00a0 Tonight it’s my turn to cook.\u00a0 But first I have some writing to do…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night Capt. Bob, my in-house editor, and I discussed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing-and-publishing","tag-writing-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}