I feel like I just wrote about this... oh wait, that's because I did... last week.
But this is torturing me!
So I realized I needed to change the beginning of my WIP. Which still doesn't have even a WORKING TITLE. Seriously How difficult can this BE? Why can't I just name the stupid thing!? Even if it's a lame name that I know will change?!
I keep coming up with really lame and corny and completely too long names like:
How a Vampire, Faeries, Gnomes, and Zombies Ruined My Summer Vacation
See? Lame. Also too long. Also not really completely accurate.
Naomi said that I should call it
A Conglomeration of Beings Imaginary and Otherwise
Which is hilarious but maybe not the best novel title.
But then I think of tragic, dark, also lame names like
Hungry. That is even lamer.
And that is why I still call it
my Layla story.
End tangent.
so I started doing research and was going to have Layla and Moira start out in a youth hostel in Germany. And I found some pretty cool stuff out. Like the fact that some of the hostels are actually IN CASTLES. Yes, like you sleep IN A CASTLE. How freakin' amazing is that?! And that Germany is where the first youth hostels were. Some dude invented them there. You can tell that I didn't do my research THAT carefully.
So I started with them getting up in the morning at the hostel. But it didn't work. So I moved back to the night before at dinner. Which was a pretty hilarious scene, but didn't work either. See, they have to be kinda far from civilization when they discover the castle, so there would be a couple of days hiking through the woods/hills/etc. before I got to anything exciting. So that seemed boring and too long. Besides which, when I started there it seemed SO far back and it was going to take way too long to get to Erandell and Tavares.
See, I head hop - switching between third person limited perspectives - so spending like 15 pages only in Layla's head (like my professor suggested) would make the jump to Erandell so abrupt and weird (in my opinion).
So I started with them two days out from the hostel, eating lunch and managed to weave in the most important things that everyone said was necessary to know. I think it works better now. I also can do an earlier scene with Erandell which will hopefully explain some of the questions people had about her.
A big complaint people had was that too much happens too quickly. But it's AFTER they get trapped in the castle that we get to know them better. I don't know. I'm feeling very conflicted and I'm stuck again. I've been spending my writing time reading
Hyperbole and a Half, which is absolutely hilarious and you all need to read this post about the
ALOT like right now.
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| This is an ALOT and it is drawn by Allie Bosch at Hyperbole and a Half. She rocksocks and so does her blog. |
This is not productive, though it is immensely entertaining.
I apologize for the ramblingness of this post.
Are you stuck on a part of your WIP? Is there something you just can't quite get right? Do tell. It will make me feel better. Honest.
PS: did you get my little joke for a title? You know that old kid's song? After "Poor old Michael Finnegan" the song goes "begin again" Yeah. Lame. I told you I have a hard time with titles!
PPS: I just realized that I started about 5 paragraphs with the words, "So I started." I clearly am a failure as a writer and a blogger and an English major. Especially since I am merely coming here to add a long PPS instead of actually fixing the repetitiveness. Lame.
