C. Patt's Blog

“Find a penny, pick it up. All day long you’ll have good luck”

I do this often. I come across a lot of random pennies in my daily path. Question: am I lucky because of the penny OR because every day when I repeat it (and it happens many times a day) I inform the universe this is indeed a lucky day for me?

So I have been following for some time the drama around the making and releasing of the movie “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” for years now.

It has had a series of legal issues, each one resolving, only to get mired in mud again. Finally a couple months back it was announced that it would play for ONE NIGHT in select cities. Mind you, one show only.

Now picture this frantic fan girl rushing to her computer, credit card in hand. I got it! My favorite local theater, my favorite 2 giant leather recliners. I printed the tickets and put them on the goals wall and basked in their glory.

Now fast forward. The show is tonight!! Crap. For those who don’t know my husband and I run a landscape company. We have been short handed for over a year now, which means I am crew leader as well as all other essential office duties I usually carry. Yesterday it was 89 degrees and a 10 hour day.

Today it will hit 90. But the day is here, and darn it I will hate myself later if I just go to bed (which I did last night after work, and it was glorious). So this post is my double dare. I must go see it, after all I have waited so very long… wish me luck.

Here is the trailer, tell me what you think. https://youtu.be/PkRo5l8679g

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Some days just don’t go as planned. If I was honest it would be this year so far.

I have been plotting and planning and got a good deal done on book three so far. I was hoping to be closer to finished but the universe is plotting its own story.

Meanwhile I just have to be content with my lot. Life is good. The Magicians is on tomorrow and occasionally I spot space species in the wild.

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Oh life, so strange. Each time I make a plan the universe rolls on the floor in laughter.

This time, I feel good about making a couple of announcements.

Book 2 in the Bloodborne Series is titled Summer Sinks. Preorder links will be accessible soon, it will come out the final week in February. To celebrate book 1 is discounted at most retailers.

The second thing is I am getting a face lift. No wait– the BLOG is getting a facelift. Really excited. Super lucky to have an amazing designer on board. Should roll out soon.

Stay tuned….

(Also, photo credit to West Whim and her amazing photog skills)

Well, while I may be slow at blog updates I am making progress with the books. I have full drafts of Reign Drops (going into re-release and updated) and book two Summer Sinks finished. Both of these will be going out over the summer. Book One of Dragon Keepers (a siser series to Bloodborne) is almost complete(ish). That is an older version of Celestra Rose in the picture.

I am looking forward to having a table at Wizard World in Austin this year, sharing a dual booth with some great people, and hoping to get down to Florida for the NINC conference in the fall.

You may have heard, there are some new regulations that are going live in Europe and they do impact many areas, including here. You will notice new legal pages and disclaimers, fun buttons to click, and boxes to check. Not sure if they even care if you are a robot anymore, as long as you have your privacy. Please do rest assured I am way too foolish to collect data and way too busy to spam you any more than my periodic updates you have currently enjoyed. Legally I must put them up, so enjoy….

 

Ok, so a long time ago, in a time before ebooks, back when we read by firelight,  I got a library book that changed SO MUCH for me. I had been doing commision sales for a while, and the husband needed me to quit and work with him full time to grow our business. Landscaping was new to me, but if I could work the office, while he taught me the rest of the business I knew we would go far. Together we were unstoppable.
It was a leap of faith, a very scary leap. I was willing to jump, but I did plan the hell out of it. (es, I have lists of my lists, so I don’t lose a list…)
I would check out business books from the library by the armful. Every week I would take the kid and scour the stacks, him zooming a car around on the floor at my feet. The most helpful book I found was Simple Steps to Impossible Dreams . I checked it out three times in a row, for a total of six weeks. I made a whole legal pad full of notes, our original Business plan questionnaire (never found a better one either) came from there! The husband and I had two different ideas of how the business should grow and I need to merge them into a 5 and 10 year plan we would both be able to live with.

I found the set of notes this weekend, and tucked in the back was one copied page (copies were expensive back then, copiers harder to find) and damn it the title of the book was cut off.  Fast forward to modern day and GOOGLE (god bless that artificial intelligence). GOOGLE Library will search for any passage for any book… I typed in 4 sentences (very unique directives) and it found it instantly. I could not be more pleased.

So I have been tasked with building the family reunion photo book. I don’t mind (interpret as I foolishly volunteer) So in between building character sheets for the new series I am co-writing and trying to squeeze in chapters on the current WIP I have been flipping through photos…

I was lucky that one of the sisters helped and uploaded a good stash, adding some depth to mine (as the oldest mine turn towards just my family at a point) I have spent the last few weeks pouring over photos, then thinking about them, doing the usual author stew, then formatting them in my head. It takes a while to come up with something that is not just a typical scrapbook and for that I needed a great site.

So I turned as I so often do to the Smarter Artists on facebook. (yes, I freely joined the cult, it has its perks) The one I ended up with, after several great suggestions was BLURB. IN a normal author contest just the word makes me cringe. But this time it was worth it.

So many great options, tremendous number of text/photo layouts and number of pictures per page options, as well as solid pricing made this a win win! Now, wish me luck in getting all the siblings to agree on the proof copy.

Like herding cats, if cats had lazers and smartphones… wish me luck!

 

So there are a lot of things that I hope for my new year. Not so much resolutions, I never do well with them, but GOALS. Goals, I got that covered. For me I break it into steps and march my way to the end line. One of these goals is to get you all the rest of Dalia’s story. Speaking of which, greeting the new year with a fresh 5 star review was just glorious! Thank you all for the support you give both me and other indie authors. It really does matter!

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More soon xoc…

So if one was to judge from my posts you could think I have not been up to much. Some days, like today which was declared “No Pants Thursday” in my house, I too wonder what the heck I have been doing. So while I was cooking up the family dinner I made a mental list.

“I made the book!” was my first thought. …Oh but wait, which book? I made two!

~ First, Our Gishwhes team: Sandpaperthistlebot ((I blame Deadpool for the name) made the Coffee Table book. The final Coffee table book at that! I was super proud of Christine and her clan for this, seriously, the moment she showed us her entries (we were working independently on things) I knew it was a keeper!

~ Second I made another coffee table book, this one I didn’t see coming! For this years Wizard World Austin event my friends and I went as the Sanderson Sisters from the movie Hocus Pocus. We could barely get to the ticket area without being stopped for pictures (always a good sign for cosplay). When we got on the convention floor a very nice pair of ladies stopped us. After handing me a piece of paper and telling me a bit about herself, Susan Onysko invited us to a photoshoot for a cosplay coffee table book she is working on, going to 50 states and shooting all her favorites from the events. The picture I have gotten back from her so far brought me to tears. It is so amazing. Chance of a lifetime…

I swear, I have been working on other book things too… more to come on that soon.

 

 

Earlier this week the wonderful Ilona Andrews took on a writing question about how she writes story outlines. She laid out a great method, with a lot of insight into her writing method. But for me it was not really the full answer to the question. I mean, please do not get me wrong, it was an amazing example of how brilliantly her mind works. But it was not a story outline, in the sense of what most of beginner authors think about. What it is we google furiously about.

I have written books with a couple of different formats and methods. I plotted one, I pants another, both were trainwrecks in their own way. I was lost. So I did what we all do, I spent too much time on the internet trying to puzzle it out. I settled on a blend. I take the methods preached by The Smarter Artists (oh there has been some Kool-Aid drinking, soon I will tell you about my favorite cult) and a healthy dose of Jim Butchers lectures on youtube while I read his blog on LiveJournal. The blog is old, and I pray the site never archives, I refer to it often. The final ingredient is a healthy and often reread of Ilona’s entire catalog. Their turn of a phrase, the structure of a chapter, all of it, I highlight it to the death of any white on the page and try to absorb the craft.

Now, using her sample (you can see the full post here) we will dissect my process a bit. I have put her amazing sample story for Red Riding Hood at the end of this post. Please, with this post, don’t feel like I am saying that this is easy, or I know it all… I just know that finding a method that works is a personal fit and sometimes the examples of others helps tremendously. For me this is how I go about it.

Generally I sit down with a story already playing in my head. Some parts are clear, others are stuck in a limbo. For Ilona she can craft on paper, I need a few crutches. To see how she brilliantly pulls it out of the air refer back to her post.

First I start with a story arc. This is a Jim Butcher contribution. I have found that if I do this FIRST I can close plot points and have a much higher chance that there will be no plot holes. He has an amazing amount of helpful explanations here  but we will pare it down just a little. On the white board I draw a large arch (think pretty happy single colored rainbows)  Make 5 ticks (lines), one at each base, one dead center and then two in between. We will add more soon, but I start there. Now, in a couple of words where does your mind start this story? Generally we know the beginning the middle and the end. Fill those in (left, center, right). Using the Red Riding Hood story from Ilona the 5 ticks would be:

Family and Cape
Go to Grandma’s
Huntsman Trap
Red foils the Wolf
Wolf save Red Riding Hood

Now I create and start filling in additional ticks as they come to mind. If you don’t yet have a clear picture, just let your mind wander and think about what the story will hold. I have had up to 21 ticks on an arc, but often those are things I build after we move forward with the rest of the process. Once you have gotten to a slow point on your board put it aside and  start on the next part.

While you are working the other points go back to your board as the new “tick” points become more clear. For characters I draw small arcs that open and close their usefulness to the story. (sometimes I use a color designated for that character to make it more clear) For example using RRH from below you need a tick that introduces Ranulf and then draw a character arc to the tick that closes him, do this also for the hunstman, and grandma. This does NOT mean we don’t see the character again, it means that their purpose in the story has been revealed and perhaps closed.

This is also a Butcher gem, the Story Skeleton. This is the main plot of your book broken into two sentences. I fought this SO HARD… but it really and truly helps. I rewrote Reign Drops a dozen times, mostly because I could not set it into two sentences. If you want to get to the meat of your story , try to apply this. He breaks it into this simple format.

*WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS*, *YOUR PROTAGONIST* *PURSUES A GOAL*. But will he succeed when *ANTAGONIST PROVIDES OPPOSITION*?

Using our example story I would try to state it something like this:

When girls in the village start going missing, Red Riding Hood, who feels safe in the woods, tries to safely deliver the elixirs to her Grandmother. But as she is trying to evade the wolf will she figure out in time that the real foe is the huntsman?

Now I start working my beats. Story beats is a fairly common phrase that you can google for more information but I am basing this predominantly on the “Beats 2.0” used by the Smarter Artist crowd.   The main gist of this is simple. Take a little time here to invest yourself into the storyworld. I use Scrivner, so the following discussion will be based on those features, but I am certain that you could build a folder and put all of these elements into word docs just as easily. You do you.

The highlights are as follows. For each of the following things create a folder and add in the elements that will allow you to have the most information about each.

Characters: for each character you have write a short blurb about them, when possible provide yourself with some pictures to assist you visually (referred to as casting) You can create as many character profiles as you care to but everyone mentioned in the story beats should have one to start with, even if for now they are blank.
Locations: for each location provide yourself with some details or pictures. This is generally limited to 3. If you have too many important locations consider how well the reader will be able to follow along with the story. (if this is a road trip type story you simply have to understand that only a few places will have huge meaning and the rest should not be overly invested in)
Timeline: How long of a period does your story cover? This is important for flow. This will help you keep track easily of things like season, weather, time of day, age of characters, etc. Give it a little thought now and it will be smoother later. You are the only one who sees this, you can change your mind later.
Short Beats: Short beats are generally a 1000 words that tell your story from start to finish. Usually when I have completed my short beats I go back to my white board and complete my smaller acrs (we will go over that in a minute) The story sample below is just under 1000 words and a perfect example of short beats.
Long Beats: For ME the long beats are as follows. I copy and paste the short beats into this folder. Now I start seeing where logical chapters would fall and break it part, assigning numbers to each segment (like the format this segment is broken into) . I use this area to note where character and story arcs open and close, so I make certain that when I am writing them I am certain to hit on those points too. I also incorporate the timeline aspects here. ALl of this is so that I have brief notes of the expectations for each chapter. IN NO WAY am I confined to it as I write, often the story flow changes it, but this allows me to see how to stay the course for the long term goals.
Blubs: Yuck, we alllll hate blurbs. This area is something you will fiddle with from time to time, but I create the folder here to have a spot to paste in favorite lines, and make general notes.

WHEN do we start to write?? I know, I know. This generally takes two days, sometimes longer. But if this is going well you will find that the story is clearer in your mind, that things are more interesting and you understand it better, and this will show in the writing. You will have fewer drafts (seriously, I rewrote chapter one 19 times once, just to scrap it when I figured out that 1&2 needed to be together and from a different POV, this was pre-beats)

If you are wanting to explore this format try using the provided example story and breaking it all out into the steps that we have covered. Think of it as a free writers workshop! You didn’t even have to leave home. Let me know how it goes, I would love to hear your feedback.

RED RIDING HOOD Re-imagined by Ilona Andrews

Red Riding Hood is a very nice girl, who lives on the edge of a dark scary forest with her mom and dad in a little cottage.  The forest is a dangerous place.  Two girls from their village had gone into the woods and never came back, but Red Riding Hood isn’t scared of the woods. She loves wandering under the big old trees and goes there often, which is why her grandmother, a powerful witch who made the woods her home, gave her a red cloak for her birthday and told her that it would protect her in time of danger.

One day, Red Riding Hood’s mother asks Red Riding Hood to deliver some  bottles of imported nightshade to Grandma.  Red Riding Hood puts on her cloak and goes to the woods.

In the Red Riding Hood’s village also lives a very nice boy, whose name was Ranulf.  Ranulf is a hunter and he is really good at hunting, because Ranulf is a werewolf.  He keeps his magic a secret, because people get scared of werewolves and Ranulf didn’t want to scare anyone. Even so, people don’t like Ranulf.  There was just something odd about him that makes them worry.  So Ranulf keeps mostly to himself and doesn’t talk to smart and funny girls like Red Riding Hood.

For awhile now, Ranulf has been finding disturbing signs in the woods, animals who were hacked to pieces. Then, the girls disappeared.  Ranulf knows that something terrible is in the woods, and when he sees Red Riding Hood leave by herself, he decides to follow her. But because he isn’t well liked, he turns into a wolf, so he can follow her undetected.

Red Riding Hood notices the big bad scary wolf and tries to lose him.

Unknown to her, Red Riding Hood is being stalked by a woodsman whose name is Gary.  Gary is a very sick person.  He liked to kill small helpless animals and set things on fire when he was younger, but now he grew up into a big strong man and he is looking for bigger things he could kill and torture.  From Gary’s point of view, things that come into his woods belong to him and he can hurt them however he wants. Ranulf smells Gary early on and decides that nothing good would come from the woodsman being there.

Woodsman Gary, Ranulf and Red Riding Hood slowly make their way through the woods.  Gary keeps trying to get Red Riding Hood.  All the while Red Riding Hood thinks the wolfs if her real problem…

Red Riding Hood notices the big bad scary wolf and tries to hide from him.  Just about when he is ready to discover her, her cape turns her invisible.

Unknown to her, Red Riding Hood is being stalked by a woodsman whose name is Gary.  Gary is a very sick person.  He liked to kill small helpless animals and set things on fire when he was younger, but now he grew up into a big strong man and he is looking for bigger things he could kill and torture.  From Gary’s point of view, things that come into his woods belong to him and he can hurt them however he wants. Ranulf smells Gary early on and decides that nothing good would come from the woodsman being there and decides to put himself between Gary and Red Riding Hood.

Woodsman Gary, Ranulf and Red Riding Hood slowly make their way through the woods.  Gary keeps trying to get Red Riding Hood.  Ranulf keeps trying to keep Gary from getting Red Riding Hood. Red Riding keeps trying to get to the Grandma’s house safe and outwit both of them.

Stuff happens.

Gary, who is an impatient and impulsive bad guy, decides to abandon his pursuit of Red Riding Hood and instead to head directly down to Grandma’s cottage and wait for Red Riding Hood there.  He arrives to the cottage to find the old witch is out, so he breaks the door and goes inside.  While inside, he finds a transforming potion and takes it, turning himself into Grandma.

Red Riding arrives to the cottage to find her Grandmother inside.  But Ranulf, who followed her, smells Gary’s scent and realizes that grandmother was the woodsman in disguise.  He attacks Gary to save Red Riding Hood.  Not realizing that Ranulf is trying to save her, Red Riding Hood fights him off and locks him outside the house.  Gary has been waiting for this moment for a long time.  He wants to hurt her very much.  He just keeps smiling and smiling, but Red Riding Hood’s grandmother wasn’t  the smiling type.  She realizes something is wrong and when Gary attacks, she was ready.

Meanwhile, Ranulf finally finds the way inside the house.  He breaks in just in time to help Red Riding Hood finish off Gary.  Ranulf turns back into a human, and he and Red Riding Hood cleaned up the mess and waited for grandmother to come home together.  Red Riding Hood always kind of thought that Ranulf was interesting but he was always off by himself, so now is their chance to finally get to know each other.