The Writings and Musings of B.A. Matthews

You never forget your first…

The first order of business is a correction. On Sunday, I said that Camp Nanowrimo was happening during the months of June and July. Fortunately, one of the ML’s for Nanowrimo here in Calgary caught my mistake. Camp Nanowrimo should be happening in June and August. Thanks go out to Candice for letting me know so that I could make sure I have the right information up here.

Now, on to your regularily scheduled blogpost.

A few years ago when I did Nanowrimo my first year I was already working on a novel about some of me and my friends D&D characters. My husband had convinced me to try my hand at writing and what I wanted to write was the adventure that they were on.

 Perhaps it just seemed safer to me at the time, but in any case, that story was a bust (as I’m sure most first novels are.) I think I’ve said it before on this blog but that novel was missing quite a few things… up to and including plot or an overarching villain. Though technically, you could say that random events and racial arguments against two people falling in love was the antagonist, that doesn’t deny the fact that it didn’t have a villain at all.

 Still the characters sat in my mind, calling to me and urging me to try something unique with them. So after I attempted to edit my manuscript and decided it needed to be rewritten to include all the elements I’d forgotten, I sat down and attempted to plot it out.

 The story changed in major ways. Characters were added, other characters were lost. Connections that hadn’t existed in the game showed up and things that made it D&D fanfic were lost. At the heart, the story was that of a love that crossed race and social class. Still, I wasn’t a good enough writer to finish it.

 Something was missing and I regrettably decided that what I had on my hands was my first trunk novel. A beautiful idea, intriguing characters and an interesting story, but I was still missing parts that would have made it complete.

 I think that everyone who writes a novel makes mistakes that just can’t fix. You just don’t know enough to make it right. You’ll learn but you have to lose that first novel and go on to your next ones.

 I did that – moving on to other books as was appropriate – and spent most of my waking hours learning how to do the things I saw other authors do.

 Still, I never quite moved past those characters. I don’t know how it with other authors but those first characters are still heavy in my mind. They still entrance me and I will always find myself rethinking their stories and how I can fix them.

 What about you? Do you still think about your first? Have you ever returned to it as time when on?

Posted in Blogs on April 26th, 2012 by B.A. Matthews | | No Comments »

Looking Forward to Summer Camp

Firstly, today you get an update. Not, unfortunately, on my submission. I still haven’t heard back anything from them. I’m still checking my email with panic every time it tells me I have a message but I’m not really expecting to hear anything until late May/June. No, my update is on my Asus Transformer. If you keep up with the blog you know that it broke down on Wednesday evening.

 On Saturday I took in my computer to the place I bought it, Memory Express. My tablet was past its company warranty but it still had the manufacturer’s warranty.  By the time we got there the unit wouldn’t turn on at all. The guy there was great though and offered to take care of it for me, since they can more easily deal with the company than I can. The gentleman said that I’d most likely have it back in 2-3 weeks (though as usual, it could take up to 8 weeks).

 This leads up to a much happier author. I didn’t realize just how much I’d come to rely on it.

 In other news, I have been working on two short stories and I have another story or so to post. The first one which should be posted in the next day or so (probably Tuesday) is a short story in a world I’m hoping to write in eventually. The second is a short story that’s fanfic, but it needs a little bit more work before I can put it up for you guys.

 I’m doing quite a bit of work on my novel and finding that quite a bit of it requires rewrites. Not that the original was bad, but I’ve grown as an author and I’ve been able to see how/why I was messing up on it. It has been making my editing go by slowly but I am certain that it is making my novel that much better. I’m not rushing the editing process, but I am confident that I should be finished it by late June.

 If I am don’t it in May or early June I have a trunk novel that I may work on during Camp Nanowrimo. I’ve been stuck on it for years but I recently had a breakthrough on it due to a short story prompt for our latest run of Pen Duels (our critique group is given two story prompts and we write one or both and then read them to the group and get a short critique done on them).

 Will any of you be writing or taking part in this year’s Camp Nano? Which month? What will you be writing?

Posted in Blogs on April 22nd, 2012 by B.A. Matthews | | No Comments »

A Mary-Sue’d Update

Camp Nanowrimo (a version of Nanowrimo taking place this July and August,  perhaps moving to a year round event) started on July 1, 2011. I, of course, decided to take part, partially because I’m insane and partially because I have Nanoitis (a disease that makes people compulsively take part in anything with the name Nanowrimo in it). However, for this project, I didn’t have a book idea ready to go, so I decided to give it a go with all of my other projects on the run. So, my goal for this month is still 50,000 words this month, however, I am counting all of my fiction words.

 Right now, I have a short story of about 3,000 to 5,000 words that needs to get done, the world building/plotting for my Dual Melodies novel (speaking of which, if you haven’t read my description of the characters, here’s a link, I need opinions like a thirsty man needs water) and finishing off the novel for Falling through the Threshold, about 12,000 words before it’s finished I’m assuming.  I’m only at 4072 words right now meaning that I’m a little behind (around 7K) where I should be for the 7^th. This doesn’t worry me in the least, since traditionally, my first week of Nano always leaves my word count floundering. If you’re taking part, look me up on the site. If you’re not, cheer me on. I can always use a bit more encouragement to keep me honest.

 This week, tricks that people fall into.  I know that as a new writer, too many ideas can actually be overwhelming. It doesn’t help that some people try to hoard the ideas they get, as though ideas are in short supply. This point has always boggled me. It’s true that many ideas are bad and even more than that simply won’t have any bearing on that bit of writing that you’re working on. However, I think we need to note that ideas aren’t in short supply. The more that you come up with, the more ideas come. Personally, I write down every idea I get for a novel. And the truth of the matter is that I will never get to write in full most of these ideas. For me, the simple act of writing down the idea, gives my mind permission to come up with more. By validating and rewarding my mind for being creative, it is less likely to draw a blank while I’m writing. Also, one of my ideas (which on their own were probably not all that good) can be used in a different way in whatever I’m working on right then.

 I also know that writers, especially new writers, can get so caught up in their newest ideas that they become unable to finish a project. I can’t this has never happened to me before. The new shiny is always better than the old tired thing you’ve been working on for a year.  However, if I could only take one piece of advice from the past I would take this. “The very act of finishing a full project will teach you a lot about yourself and where you are as a writer.” I know that I wouldn’t be as self-aware about my writing had I not pulled my novel “Falling through the Threshold” through to the end. Has it all been easy? Certainly not and I can say honestly that, at times, the simple act of putting down words on the page has been as hard as pulling teeth or opening a vein to watch my life’s blood drain onto the page.

 But the simple act of writing is so cathartic that I could never give it up. Even if I never became published, I think I would still want to write. The stories I come up with, even the ones that are so Mary-Sue’d that I may as call the main character Blaze, are worth writing. If nothing else, it’s a way of exploring my subconscious and learning things that I can’t learn any other way.

 In fact, that will my question to you all this week… Do you write up Mary-Sue characters just for fun? Or do you desperately avoid any idea that may even come close to them?

Posted in Blogs on July 7th, 2011 by B.A. Matthews | | Comments Off

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