Marking time

It's April.

My, oh my.

All research done, I added some 1200 words to my book, throwing in almost everything I learned, food, drink, music, clothing, ornaments, architecture... you get the drift.

This is the "I researched this so you have to read every word" syndrome.

I've read books where a writer does this to excess, and to me it slows the pace of the story. *Unless the information is exceptionally fascinating, in which case it slaps me out of the story as my focus shifts gear. Too often I have chased after more information on these fascinating subjects, and the book I was reading gets left behind on a figurative bus stop bench somewhere.

Well, I went through and (judiciously, I hope) deleted 700 of those new words. I wanted exotic background color, not a discourse on the life and times.

And I did not want a small new subplot which magically evolved along with the exotica, starring a new and definitely extraneous character, who must now vanish, no matter how delightful, alluring, and charming she acts, hoping for a bit part in the opus.

Out the new character must go, with some small regret, to join a dozen or so others I'd written in, then out, all now standing on the sidelines, waiting patiently for that big break when they may be called back for a role in another story.

In book biz, like show biz, some of the best scenes are left on the cutting room floor.

On an unrelated note, I was typing away and a dropped letter from a word gave me a sudden creative idea. Only time will tell if the idea becomes more than a light bulb flash.

--Cat

***A great post on "killing your darlings"  my author Kristen Lamb
 















































 

Losing myself...

In research. Again.

I have a one-scene chapter in which the MC travels abroad. I needed local color, smells, tastes, sounds, etc.

The year is 1868, the locale is exotic, and--oh my gosh--once I began searching, I couldn't stop. Didn't want to stop, is more apt, for each intriguing page I found led to more intriguing pages.

And, as I often do, I spun off on a tangent, moving past research that I needed on to research that I simply wanted, not satisfied until I reached the end of the story, usually many years past the one I needed.

Google is a blessing and a curse for a procrastinator.

Which brings me to some quotes I found while killing time (procrastinating).

So true:

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment. ~Robert Benchley

So ominous:

Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried. ~ Author Unknown

So humorous, naughty, but true:

Procrastination is like masturbation. At first it feels good, but in the end you're only screwing yourself. ~Author Unknown


--Cat -- getting to work

Research

The blessing and curse of writing a historical is, well, the history part.

Some romances are light on history, but this is fine when history does not play a big role in the story--the plot of which dictates the degree and depth of historical details necessary. When I read a romance I don't want to get bogged down in swarms of fine points meant to add ambiance/realism/richness to the story but could have been scaled back so that it doesn't plod. It's different if these are integral parts of the story. And of course a straight historical is different--the history is the story.

That said, I like enough history in a romance to firmly ground me in the time and place. I need to trust that the writer has given me a world that could have been real.

Now for my own tale of joy and woe: joy because I love doing research (but maybe too much at times); woe because my epic/saga requires lots of rummaging around to give me an overall view of the time as well as some pertinent details as they relate to the characters. I have a large cast, so do need a fair amount of these details, some which I will only mention in passing, some which will never make it to the page.

I'm writing about a place I don't live in, a time I may be familiar with from other work I've done, but not how it affects this particular place. This is a large undertaking, but I look forward to the task.

And it keeps me out of trouble.

-- Cat