The Writer creates the seasons&scenes, the Reader follows the senses in scenes on that journey.

 I have discovered as I write this blog how much I am learning and it is great to be able to share it. It is almost like I am in college again and striving for that A grade!  In college I took every writing course available until they told me I had to actually take courses that were just for my degree. My original degree had been English but my father had talked me into Business management, I was so bored there was no creative involvement it was one way or you failed. It was taught primarily by egotistical males they talked about all their achievements. Ugh! As you can probably tell I changed my major. Back to English I am very glad I did, my other favorite was history so I took a detour into that degree too. It was a process and still is. Just as writing.

 I have the top photo and the quote really inspired me, I have based my quartet on the different seasons. I noticed with each book their is a definite difference not just in climate, but also in clothes and temperatures, and change in dynamic due to the characters, it is fun to challenge myself to write in all those different seasons. I love that quote is too it really paints a picture, which is what a scene does. Description is important. It gives that very real visceral observation in the story, you have to be able to pull your reader into that scene. It is very challenging to do that without going over board. I have read authors who take the time to describe the beauty of there heroine in every scene possible there is a mirror and we need a description again! So frustrating and it makes you think the heroine is very vain, I lose some empathy for her if I think she is stuck on herself. Ugh! it is very difficult for me to finish a story that is written like that. I want her to be beautiful, but I also want her to be more then that.

 Now mind you I am just stating a proven fact that if you describe the same things too much the reader gets bored. Every teacher of mine in college stated that as well. Now twenty years later I am finally understanding it. One of the key things you learn early on in writing is how to evoke the senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. An I quote from Wikipedia: "A sense is a physiological capacity of organisms that provides data for perception." I remember my teachers telling me I need more detail, we need to see, feel and smell this environment. I used to struggle with this until I started noticing it in reading. Some writers were amazing and I was completely pulled in. Every sense was involved with the discovery of this person and their story. And after reading another article by a "published author" who said that details were not that important. I went through and deleted most of my detail from my draft and while it was entertaining with dialogue, I was not pulled in. I understand  that more now since I have had others read it. I am working feverishly on adding that to my draft. In this process that continues with each page I write, I am also learning how to edit properly. somethings do not need explicit detail. Somethings just need dialogue and more emotion.

 As I always do in each blog, I mention a person or a book that has inspired me in some way. Any English major or anyone in general knows who Jane Austen was, and her wonderful books. My topic book this time is Sense and Sensibility, lol cause its a play on words and my topic Senses lol..Mostly because it is a wonderful story and as in all her writing you are in the story her descriptions, and emotions so clear an precise and her dry wit contagious. I have read an reread her stories so many times. The movies they have done are very good too. It is amazing to me a women in the that era can translate and we can all relate to the stories more than a hundred years later!

As quoted from Wikipedia:
"Her realism, biting irony and social commentary as well as her acclaimed plots have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics." The link to the website is below if you want to read about her life.

wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen

It is ironic to me that in every one of her stories their is always a happy ending, but in her own life there was not a happy ending. She endured a lot of hardship and illness. Her stories are alive an well with everyone that reads them just as every story should be. This directly applies to the details you give your characters, if you make them believable an relate-able then readers will return to read again and again. I only know this fact from personal experience as a reader. If that author does a good job I will buy their stories sometimes even sight unseen. As a writer I think it is important to remember that readers have no idea where they are in the story until you give the Setting, we have not idea what season it is till you give it the, Scene with the senses involved. In conclusion; The most important element to create, is to make your reader believe in your character completely, relate to them even if they are in Victorian England, and want to see them reach their happy ending. No I go back to writing my happy ending. Here are a couple of books that I can recommend for this topic (Scenes&Senses) are: Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go; by Les Edgerton,Scene & Structure (Elements of Fiction Writing);by Jack M. Bickham
 

~Life is a work in progress as writing is...Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)

The Writer who continues to learn, The Reader who continues to be inspired!

 I have discovered that everyday, I learn something new! It is fascinating to me! You think that after you reach a certain age you stop learning. I am happy to say, I am not one of those people. I think that the same thing applies to writing, it is a constant learning experience. When I started this blog I truly believed I had written a masterpiece. It was a marvel lol. Well maybe not that dramatic. Then I let others read it, I received great feedback, and then some that made me think? They wanted more details?  My logical and analytical mind had deleted those. I had convinced myself they were not necessary? Another person said they fell asleep because they were too tired to finish it. That at first upset me. Then I see how hard she works and I understood. My story was not memorable? I also realized I could print this copy tomorrow on amazon for free, but would it be my best work? Would it be something people would not want to put down, and be anxious for more? In its current state I think it is good but not great. I am sure I have not met any writers that believe there work is not great or a marvel. I am positive they are like me though and eventually see that is it incomplete and needs more. Everyone listens to there doubts and wonders if that is true this time its true. I am convinced that the feedback... I have received is positive and it is pushing me more to make something better. SO I am! For this I am so grateful for having the courage to share my book with others. It has been anxiety and stress filled with a wonderful result. I recommend it to all writers. Be Brave and let your baby walk to to others. You will see her differently not with rose colored glasses!

 I have had a few epiphanies lately with my Male characters. I have been developing back story for my second book and I realized, I had hardly a page of back story for the supposed finished first story. Why? Well because I had let my doubts take over, and I edited it too much. I read so many others say details take away from story. I have a tendency to listen to complete strangers in books more then trust my own instincts and inner writer voice. I have finally realized my writing includes these details, my scenes breath because of them and without those little details my page is bland and uninteresting. There were also complete scenes I had removed, when others read it, they asked what? Why did that happen?  I have all these wonderful ideas tucked into my head. I had not put them on paper yet because, I was not sure how they would affect my plot. Now I have discovered the key to blend them all together through out book one and book two! Had I sent this out already I would have not seen this, an had I kept my baby locked up tight and never shared it, I would have never looked at it as a READER. I have discovered, in order to be a good WRITER I have to be a good reader too. I have also figured out the reason so many people get rejected by editors is because they spend so much time making the story average and marketable they lose their voice. That is when the original story leaves and mediocre story begins. I will not have a mediocre story!

 This wave of discoveries has been a breakthrough for me. In conjunction with my epiphanies, I have also discovered that music plays a large part in my writing as well. I have developed playlists for each of my stories, the vibe I was thinking of and in doing so I have found so much inspiration in the melodies and the lyrics. I have loved music all my life. I have never thought it effected my writing? It does immensely in a positive way. Three songs have really inspired me lately. "Try" by Colbie Cailat, "Human" by Christina Perri, "Begin Again" by Taylor Swift. They are three songs that really describe my girl to a tee, and it is so cool listening to them and seeing my character come to life. Its like that quote below.

I am a reader, and I adore quotes. Sometimes I spend hours looking for them. I am particularly fond of ones about writing. I find one that speaks to me, encourages me, and uplifts me as a writer. Which might sound cheesy but it is true with all quotes I think we are constantly looking for that one quoted that fills us with hope or happiness and gets us through to next faze. Then once you have that it seems all else falls into place. This week alone I have wrote over 100 pages in the book that was already finished! It is funny because I am reading it and seeing all these things I thought I added, and realize I had taken them out on one of my editing nights. I lost a lot of my creative voice when I started listening to my logical and analytical one! I need to block those two out with more music I think!!

 So my fellow readers&writers, be anxious for my published work, but know that time is not now. It is still something I am perfecting. The wait I hope will be worth it for all of us. Also never stop listening to"that inner voice that says this isn't right." It is your characters telling you their story is not done, it needs to be more, it needs those extra details and dimensions to make it memorable not like every other book out their.

~Life is a work in progress as writing is...Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)