Lauri Fairbanks's Blog

I love falling in love, the feeling is unlike anything else in the world. It has been compared to roller coasters and free falls and I think that is part of it, but not all.

Each time I write a new character, I fall in love with them in some way. I write lines that I would love to hear or see an embrace in a way that makes me feel giddy inside.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to a love story. Sometimes your heart gets broken and sometimes the relationship takes a ton of work.

My writing works the same way and I find that I am ripping apart the story I love because the timeline doesn't work.

In the end, I'm hopeful that the work I put in will create an even better love affair.

I read multiple books at a time. Some of my friends think this is a fascinating trait and wonder how I keep all the details straight. I'm ridiculously organized in this endeavor (my husband would say obsessive).

I have rules that I follow when reading. For instance, I cannot read characters with the same or similar names at the same time (For instance Katsa in Graceling and Katniss in the Hunger Games).

I won't read similar storylines at the same time (so I wouldn't ready Vampire Academy and Twilight at the same time).

Reading different stories at the same time is a way that I keep myself from becoming obsessed with a story. I've been know to read into the wee hours of the morning because I cannot make myself stop.

Every now and then, I'll abandon my shielding techniques and crazily devour a book. I'll read until my eyes grow heavy and then dream about the characters for the rest of the night.

As a reader, I try to keep myself from these addictions but I hope as a writer I become the dealer.

Back in February I wrote a scene for Near Miss that involved a car accident.

A month ago I re-wrote that scene to be a bit more 'in the moment'.

On Saturday my boys and I were involved in an accident that was eerily similar to what I had described.

While I'm still sore in spots and not ready to resume my normal activities I can say that I used the experience to re-write the scene again.

I don't advocate first hand experience when it comes to this type of research, but I'm glad to use it since it came.

I have never thought myself as someone with A.D.D., at least not in the traditional sense. I tend to focus on a thought fairly well and finish what I start so long as I stay interested.

When I began writing a couple of years ago, I did it for several reasons but one of which was that I didn't have much else going on in my life (my, oh my how things have changed). The characters spilled out onto the page and if I thought of something that didn't fit I would create a new character. If a character didn't fit then I would create a new project.

At this point in my writing I have several projects that are complete (at least the entire draft is done) and I'm waiting to publish or working through edits. I find that I want to spend time with these characters but I really want to create new ones.

That is why I feel like my attention is all over the place. All I want to do is have a fling with a new character when I should be working on my relationship with someone that I have already written.

In the end, all of them will get the attention but I wonder how soon it will be.

As funny as it may sound, I might be more nervous about a blog post than writing a novel.
The thing about a novel is that it takes time (some I wrote faster than others) and then someone else reads it and yet another person edits it. The feedback process can take longer than the writing process.
With a blog post you are deciding what you write and then hitting enter. I won't have honest people tell me that they need development in a certain area or I might not have been as clear as I intended.
What there is in a blog post is honesty. There is something raw about putting your thoughts out so quickly. I may write the thoughts and actions for my characters but they are for them. Somehow the blog post is more telling since it is about me.