Archetype Writing Blog

Obviously if you have questions or thoughts related to those areas that you want me to be sure to include in the book, now's the time to tell me! 

I've also discovered that while it's easy to find movies and books that make mistakes when talking about things like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, it's not so easy to find ones that even address things like ADHD and anorexia.

I've also been brushing up on the Sopranos so I can talk about the show in the book.  I also got copies of In Treatment from my library, since I don't get the premium cable channels.  Kinda looking forward to In Treatment.  (I mean, let's face it, I could definitely do worse than having to look at Gabriel Byrne for an extended period of time.)

On the fiction front, I am nearly done with my NaNo novel -- or at least, done enough to have my readers take a look through it and start hacking it apart.  Alas, it is shorter than I want it to be, but I'm vaguely aware of some parts that might be strengthened, and if my readers notice the same things (and hopefully have some suggestions to help me figure out how to make those things better), that might add a few words.

Once people are reading that, I'll have to get back to work on A Touch of Madness.  I've decided to switch the whole damn thing into third person.  If that doesn't work...well, let's just not even go there, shall we?

For more information on Work In Progress Wednesday, you can visit Kate's blog -- she's the one who started this madness.  And definitely feel free to tell me all about how your WIPs are going in the comments below, or to leave a link to your own WIP post!

Fiction: 
I am still working steadily on my NaNo novel.  I'm finding myself quite pleased with it.  There's just one problem.  It's not going to be long enough.  (*gnashes teeth*) 

Can I just tell you what a strange reversal this is for me?  For years I have written ridiculously long novels.  Epic sagas, even.  Hundreds of thousands of words.  I've got one I've been struggling with for quite some time now, trying to get it down to 100K.  It's still at 130K, and I can't figure out where else to cut.

And then all of a sudden, two novels are too short?  Whassupwiththat?

Annie finished her crit of my novel A Touch of Madness.  She did a stream-of-consciousness type of crit, giving me all her reactions.  It was so totally helpful, and kind of funny sometimes, too!  But I've concluded something I already suspected after I finished.

There is a way to save ToM, a way to make it long enough.  And that is to switch it from first person into third person.

Ugh.  I am so tired of this novel.  I feel like I owe it to my wonderful crit-mates to do what needs to be done, though, and see about sending it out.  They've helped me so much with this thing over the last year, I don't feel right about hurling the thing out the window the way I'd like to.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue to agonize about my NaNo novel being too short.  I didn't worry a whole lot about it when I wrote it, because I thought it might just end up being a writing exercise, but I really, really like the story.  So now I'm praying that after I make it as long as I can manage, my fantabulous crit-mates will be able to help me again. 

What do other people do when their stories aren't long enough?  How do you find more story without adding fluff, or essentially starting a whole second story?  Or does this only happen to me?

Nonfiction:
My agent asked me to put together a schedule for finishing up the remaining chapters for my book.  There are 12 chapters total.  Five are complete, 2 are in progress, and 5 still need to be written.  I have until October 1, 2009. That's when everything is due to the publisher.

So my goal is to finish 3 chapters by the beginning of next month, two chapters the following month, and two chapters the month after that.  That leaves me some time at the end in case something happens to mess up the schedule, and lets me put together the table of contents, index, and so forth.

The chapters I have yet to do are a couple of chapters on psychological disorders, one on physical and biological interventions (stuff like medications, electroconvulsive therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, that kind of thing), and one on the psychology of villains.

It's going to be full speed ahead for the nonfiction, so I hope the words flow!

The chapter I'm editing right now talks about the different approaches to doing therapy.  Therapists actually ask lots of different questions besides "And how do you feel about that?"  Which questions, exactly, depend on which approach the therapist is using.  Also, certain types of therapy are useful for certain types of problems.  So the chapter explains what your fictional therapist should do if you need the therapy session to do this vs. that for your story.  For example, if you need your character to make a connection between something that happened in his childhood and something that's going on now, you need a different kind of therapy than if your character needs to come to terms with his terminal illness.  And don't worry, the chapter explains which therapy for which situation, and why.  And it doesn't stop with telling you what kind of therapy -- it explains what that therapy really looks like and, of course, provides you with the types of questions the therapist would ask so you can make that therapy look authentic.

Fiction:

ToM has gone back to my faithful friends, who are even now wondering how in hell I could possibly add 5000 - 10000 words to the manuscript to make it long enough.  If only the techniques that worked during NaNoWriMo worked for almost-complete manuscripts!

I know how to make it long enough.  Rewrite the whole damn thing in third person, rather than first.  See, when I rewrote it in first, I removed two characters' viewpoints. 

Wait, you think.  If there were three viewpoints, how was it not third person before?

Um...have you ever read Faulker's As I Lay Dying?  It's this book, see, and each chapter is from a different person's viewpoint.  If I remember right, each chapter is in first person.  The problem when I did it, of course, is that I'm not Faulkner.

And it would be really, really a lot of work to switch it over to third person.  First, there's been so much editing since it switched over into first, I'd be semi-starting over if I switched into third person.  Because all of these polished and critted scenes that are in Audrey's POV (Character 1) would need to be handed back to Christian (Character 2) and Jamie (Character 3).  And I'm going to be frank with you.  I'm tired of rewriting this thing from scratch.  I might retire it before I could put myself (and my faithful readers) through another enormous overhaul.

So everybody...think good thoughts in Elana's direction.  She's trying real hard to come up with those extra words for me for the first-person POV version.

Since Shadowwalker is similarly impaired in its early stages, I'm working back over it and fleshing it out.  If the writing gods are good to me, this will require plenty of good words.

Want more information on Work In Progress Wednesdays?  Kate will tell you all about it.

This first of the disorders chapters addresses mood disorders (depression and bipolar disorder/manic-depression), anxiety disorders like OCD and phobias, and psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

I'm almost done with it; next I think I'm actually going to work on a chapter about medications and biological treatments. A psychiatrist I know has graciously agreed to be interviewed, and it's easy for me to see the holes in my knowledge when I work on the chapter in question. So I'll write a rough draft and list my questions, then go back and fill in the blanks with what she shares with me.

I'm really enjoying the interviewing. It's nice to have another expert helping me make sure the information in the book is up-to-date and accurate. Plus, psychological professionals just have interesting jobs!

Fiction:

I finished the edits Mary gave me on ToM. I'm really pleased with them; alas, the manuscript is still too short. I sent my revisions back to my fantastic writing buddies Mary and Elana and asked them to look them over. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll see some places to add, like, 5000 words. Ha ha.

In the meantime, I'm working on my NaNo novel again. I'm liking it more and more. I'm still on the fence about what genre ToM falls into, but I think the NaNo novel is an urban fantasy -- with lots of sexual tension. My hero and heroine are natual enemies, but that doesn't stop them from being outrageously attracted to each other!

Want to Do Your Own WIP Wednesdays?

I'm going to snitch from Kate for a little more info on WIP Wednesdays:

"And if you want to participate in WIP Wednesday, simply post your own WIP Wednesday entry on your blog and leave a link to it in the comments below.

Or if you don't have a blog, feel free to report your progress directly into the comments box. For more detailed information concerning what all this nonsense is about please consult the original Work in Progress Wednesday posting.

Feel free to also make use of the lovely little WIP Wednesday logo as well!

Now on to the WIP Wednesday report itself:







I'm going to snitch from Kate for a little more info on WIP Wednesdays:

"And if you want to participate in WIP Wednesday, simply post your own WIP Wednesday entry on your blog and leave a link to it in the comments below.

Or if you don't have a blog, feel free to report your progress directly into the comments box. For more detailed information concerning what all this nonsense is about please consult the original Work in Progress Wednesday posting.

Feel free to also make use of the lovely little WIP Wednesday logo as well!

I posted on a social networking site to see if any of my friends, acquaintances, or colleagues had a connection to Twin Valley, our local state facility. And you know what? One of my friends was supervised by a guy who did his postdoctoral work at Twin Valley. So she put us in contact with each other.  (Katie, you're the best!) He and I have emailed back and forth a few times, and we're going to meet next Thursday to talk. 



Let's see, what else can I tell you about my visit last week. Well, I know I told you how they'd suicide proofed everything. One thing they had done was use piano hinges on the doors instead of regular hinges. Regular hinges -- especially on big, heavy institutional doors -- stick out (see top picture at right), and someone could loop a sheet or something over it and hang themselves. (Hanging seemed to be the big concern.)   There's no way to loop something over a piano hinge (see bottom picture at right), and the hinges go from floor to ceiling, so there's no gap between the door and the jamb, either.

Fiction:

I'm working as steadily as I'm able on the edits my friend Mary gave me on ToM.  They're really good -- I keep thinking they're like what an editor would give you.  I do have a problem, though.  As I cut out scenes that aren't adding anything to the story, and trimming other things, the story is getting shorter...and shorter...  Normally I write things that are too long, but this novel has always been short (relatively speaking, of course), and I'm well into the red zone in terms of length.  Like, I'm at 66,000 words.  That's just not enough for an adult contemporary fantasy.  Eighty thousand would be good, but there's no way on this earth that I can figure out how to add that many words.

Occasionally I feel like giving up on it completely.  Not on writing, just on this particular novel.  But I keep telling myself that I know there's at least one place I need to add a scene, and I'm hoping it will get longer.  (Like one scene is going to fix my length problem?  Ack.  You can see why I'm having thoughts of digging a hole and burying the damn thing.)

Join the Fun!

Want to post your own WIP Wednesday?  Please do!  Kate explains how it all works here, and you're welcome to snag the logo she and Lady Glamis put together (at the top of this post).  So...how are your WIPs going?  Post a link to your own WIP Wednesday in the comments section, or just tell me how it's going there!

Nonfiction:
The official contract is all signed, so now I can tell you more about the deal.  *Big grin*

Now I'm working on connecting with someone who has spent time working in a state institution, because there's a difference between private hospitals and state-funded institutions.  Because you know how much money goes toward mental health care in our communities?  Not much.

Here's a picture of the old insane asylum that used to stand in Columbus, Ohio.  I believe the date on the picture is 11-7-1909.  According to some accounts, this was the largest asylum in the world at one point, with 1,300 beds.  It seems to me that Bedlam must have been bigger, but it's still an interesting bit of trivia.


Fiction
My friend Mary brutalized my ToM manuscript, and I can't believe I couldn't see some of the problems until she pointed them out.  Can I just tell you how valuable honest, trustworthy crits are?  I always feel a little (and sometimes a lot) embarrassed by my manuscript's shortcomings, but I am SO thankful when someone I trust cares enough to really be honest and give it to me straight.  I've been doing major rewrites.

My other projects -- SW and my NaNo novel -- are taking a breather while I work on this.

Want more info on this whole WIP Weds thing?  Here's Kate's original post.

How are your projects coming?

Nonfiction Project

The Project: I am writing a book based on the same idea as the Archetype site: a guide to help writers get the psychology right in their fiction! The book will have far greater breadth than the site, and go into much more depth to help you get the details right in your stories.

The Update: I am currently working on a chapter about psychological emergencies like suicidality (being a danger to yourself) and homicidality (being a danger to others). The chapter includes information on what it's like to be hospitalized. Since I'm not currently working inpatient, I'm meeting with the director of a psych unit on Monday to make sure all my facts are up to date. That means now is the time to let me know if you have questions (or just want me to be sure to cover something particular) about suicidality, homicidality, or hospitals! 

Fiction

ToM: My friend Mary spent the last few days reading the the manuscript and tells me she was liberal with the red pen, so I'm awaiting her first round of edits. (*Gnaws fingernails*)  This is the one I'm going to send back to the agent who suggested I do some rewrites and then get back to her.  I'm having some trouble nailing down the genre with this one. I think it's contemporary fantasy.  It has magicians and swords and a heroine who's afraid all this fantasy in her reality means she's crazy.

I was thinking it was paranormal romance, but there isn't a lot of detailed sex, so maybe not so much.  And it's not urban fantasy (my heroine doesn't throw kick ass, throw knives, or wear leather pants, and there's nary a vampire or werewolf in sight).  And it's not dark enough to be dark fantasy.  So...contemporary fantasy.  But not Charles deLint contemporary fantasy -- more Kay Hooper's Wizard of Seattle.  (Which is a paranormal romance.  Le sigh.  Can anybody think of novels that sound like what I'm describing?)

SW: I also pulled out another novel that needs work.  Going to buckle down with it as soon as I'm finished with the one above and see if I can whip it into agent-ready shape.  I think this one is science fantasy -- does anybody say "science fantasy" anymore?  It could also be called future fiction, which is something set in the not-so-distant future, but you rarely hear that as a genre designation.  Hey, are you getting the feeling genre is really an issue for me?  'Cos it is!

S: Which means that I put my NaNo novel on the back burner for right now. I have the feeling the story may become longer than it is right now, and maybe if I spend some stewage time I'll figure out why I feel that way.  At least, that is what I'm hoping will happen!  (PS - This one is either a paranormal romance or an urban fantasy.)

So, dear reader -- where are you with your WIPs?