Tales of The Daywalkers Contest

I am a newbie to twitter. I have discovered so many talented writers, bought and read books I would not have known about except for the connection through twitter.
I discovered writer Erica Lucke Dean on twitter.
I think she is a great writer.
Her blog features a weekly serial vampire tale that I love.
I love getting her story peace meal each week. I have a thing for Charles Dickens. Checking in for the next part reminds me of being part of something as it's being created.
Erica Lucke Dean is having a "Getting into Character" contest: become one of the characters from the Daywalker Chronicles. Take an original photo. The details on entering can be found on her blog.
Here is the link:
http://www.ericaluckedean.com/the-daily-blog/2011/9/18/tales-of-the-daywalkers-week-4.html
You will be able to read the chapters for free.
I highly suggest you visit her site, take a chance and enter the contest.
I had fun doing it myself.
Above is my photo as a hot tempered and hungry Victoria.

the artist and the installation of things that work

My focus is to get the most out of the time I put into writing everyday.

As much fun as checking in with twitter and reading other writers blogs are for me; I now need to officially label them as my bad habit number one.

I need better efficiency for every stage of my writing process. 

Typically when a character comes to me I let myself get drawn onto the web. I love inventing the rest of the characters world.

I get lost looking for the right photo to represent the character. Then I start gathering information to support who I think the character is, where it lives (and on and on).

I could lose an entire day or two “playing” like this. I could easily rack up three thousand words in research in a few hours.

This number would meet my daily word quota for writing, but does it really?

No. None of this output is the work in progress.

I want as much of the tale on paper as possible.  My time in the chair can be spent writing the story.

Since character development is my weak spot I came up with some questions so I have a place to begin. I find I can make quick notes when the ideas come to me and go back to the work I want to be doing.

How do you train yourself to work productively? What has increased you're amount of contributing-to-the-story-work time? 

These are my character study questions. I will add to it as other prompters come to me.

1. Where does your character live?

2. Where is your character from?

3. How old is your character?

4. What is your character called?

5. What does your character look like?

6. What does your character do for a living?

7. What kind of childhood did they have?

8. How does the character deal with conflict and change?

9. Who else is in the characters life?

10.What is the characters goal or motivation in this story, this chapter or scene?

11. What is the contrast for this character?

12. Favorites- food, people, places, things?

13.What is most important to this character?

14. the characters family?

15. deepest desire?

16. What is most important to this character?

17. Characters abilities?

18. This characters fears and dislikes-

19. How this character view by the world?

20. How does this character view himself?

21. Biggest regret?

22. Things on characters bucket list-

23. This characters contribution to others?

24. This characters flaws?

25. What this character does better than anyone else-

26. What past karma is owed to this character? good or bad

27. Would this character kill?

28. Who is this characters nemesis?

Who?

When I reach my daily word count I like to check in with I write like.

Usually, I get Stephen King or Chuck Palahniuk.

Today I got Cory Doctorow.

Who the F is that? Because I didn't know his work I got worried. 

I though bad right away.

What kind of crap did I write this morning? 

So I had to google him.

I watched an interview of him. (http://www.boomtron.com/2010/06/cory-doctorow-video-interview-bookexpo-america-2010/).

I am such an Author nerd, so I watched both parts. 

After listening to everything this interview had to offer, I was left with how attractive his hands are.

I've made a promise to myself to keep my distractions limited to twitter, but now I want to read his YA book. (For the Win.)

I'll just have add it to the list.

Cory Doctorow's For The Win is available free at 

 http://craphound.com/ftw/download/

 

Your Badge

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

good intentions

Something is up with my laptop.
I lost about four hours work when I took a break to shower.
Now I am saving my document after every sentence.
Just when I am in the flow it all vanishes.
What a pain.

Also reading...

Love's Master by Gabrielle Bisset

I knew as soon as I started this book that I would like it just because it was set in Victoriania.

I have a thing for corset drama (Cols Mountain, Little Dorrit, Howard's End, Gosford Park.)

As I read I could imagine the locations, decor and clothing. I could think about the food.

This book was a sensual feast for everything- locations, clothing, food, decor. Alas my heart did not race when I read the sex scenes.

Maybe because I felt once a sex scene started it was over so fast- almost like a premature ejaculation, the book called me to read more. See if I would come across at least one really hot romp between the two leads.

In that this book flew by.

I found the story sweet, the romance simple and wonderful.

I ordered a new book to distract myself from finishing but I ended up reading the end of Love's Master before bed.

I saw the plot twist early but I didn't mind.

I like this book because of the writing style and the time period.

I would have loved it had the sex been raunchier.


Update:
Now, a few days later as I think about this book I really like it. 
A lot. J
Just as it is written
I just have a dirty mind.

UP NEXT:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Rigg  

Currently Reading

                                        AND                      

Currently reading

The Dom's Dungeon by Cherise Sinclair 

This book was just Ok.

When I finished I thought, that's it? 

When was the male character going to fill out?

Now a day later I am wondering why so many erotic stories end with a proposal for marriage or  the BSDM equivalent-a collar?

Is is really the dream of people living out BSDM sexual desires to get married?

I keep asking myself what I'm expecting instead.

I read Master of the Mountain by Cherise Sinclair right before this one.

In both books I got swept away with the lead characters, maybe a tad more in Master of the Mountains.

Somehow the endings rub me the wrong way. 

Tie her up and spank her fiction has to end somehow but the "he asked her to marry him-then he collared her" end ruins the whole book for me now.

I loved Willing Victim by Cara McKenna. The ending came with Laurel inviting Flynn to start wearing a mouth guard before he battles it out at his Fight Club hobby.

The commitment matched the story. 

I could have read more happening between those two.