Why the Sachse Library Rocks

Posted by pooks on October 14, 2015 in Pooks Appearances | Comments Off on Why the Sachse Library Rocks

First posted Oct 14, 2015, reposting as part of site-rebuild.

There are many reasons the Sachse Library rocks.

If you’re a writer in the area, you should check out what’s happening at the Sachse Public Library. They are sponsoring a series of activities for this year’s Nanowrimo, and I got to kick it off last night.

Katie Saturnino accepting a copy of This Crumbling Pageant on behalf of the Sachse Public Library.

But before we started, I got to do one of my favorite things. I got to donate a signed hardcover copy of This Crumbling Pageant to the patrons of the library. If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile or have dug around the site, you know this is one of my dreams come true and a big deal. I want to see these books showing up in even more libraries!

Now, back to Nanowrimo.

My message, shorthand:

There are many “legal” things you can do to get started on your novel without, you know, actually beginning to write.

Examples:

Characters. What do you know about them? What don’t you know about them? Start playing ‘what if’ and see how much you can do with them before you write word one.

Locations. Have you done your best to come up with unusual places to set scenes in your book? Have you pushed the envelope with your locations and settings? Have you come up with the least obvious, most fun and/or disturbing places for each scene to take place?

Scene ideas. Have you listed the obvious scenes your kind of book needs to have? First kiss. First fight. Planning the heist. Bank robbery. The first corpse. The second corpse. Once you have gone for the obvious, how about those wild-ass ideas that you are inclined to dismiss? Anything goes on this list. Although I actually don’t believe in putting scenes on a list. I believe in putting each one on an index card so that you can sort through, arrange in order, change the order, remove something and see how the plot looks without it… The more scenes you have, the more you have to write in November.

Images. Whether you use a pinterest board, a binder, or images stuck to a bulletin board beside your desk, it’s really fun to gather images that will bring your world alive for you. Characters, locations, things they use in their daily life. Boring things and dangerous things.

How big is your world? Do you know what music is playing when your characters kick back, or shop at the local mall, or attend a soiree? Try playing it in the background while you’re world-building. What does this world smell like? Is it sanitary or dirty, perfumed or pine-scented? Can you enhance your writing experience with fragrance, candles or–just by doing more research to figure out if people will be complaining about the paper manufacturing plant, the oil refineries, or will travel to this location for the fresh air? And don’t forget the bait-and-switch. People going for the fresh air will not be thrilled to find a dead skunk…

This is the tip of the iceberg, but these are some things to do between now and midnight, November 1, so that your engine is revving and you’re ready to go when the clock chimes its twelfth bong!

And if you’re in the area, check out the awesome series of activities the awesome Sachse Public Library has planned!

By the way, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter!