Author Blog Post: Day 10

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Describe your process for outlining your book. What do you do to stay organized? Do you use a software like Scrivener? Index cards? Sticky notes? Giant posterboards taped to the wall?

I know yesterday I said I wasn’t going to use the prompts this week, but this one seemed appropriate for some of what I am going through with my current wip.

palaceofthethreecrosses200x300Palace of the Three Crosses: Book Two was a book I attempted to outline. I like to tell this story whenever I get in a discussion about outlining-vs- not outlining. with PTC I had already written the first book in the series and I thought the third book was written, so easy peasy. I know where the story was and where I thought the story was going, so I write an outline. A lot of people told me you have to write an outline, its the only way to write a story.

I’m one week into November NANO. The story is not going anywhere. The characters refuse to tell their story. That writer’s block that I talked about in an earlier post reared it’s ugly head. I couldn’t write.

I threw out the outline and let Joachim and Brandan take control of the story. And boy did they take off. The story that they told ended up even better than the one I outlined. Of course changes had to be made in what I thought was the third book. And that little book that I thought was the third book, ended up as an excerpt in the third book, because I also realized that the story I was trying to tell was about Brandan and Joachim and not Airyn, Joachim’s son.

So anyway back to my original point and my dilemma with my current wip. When I have things laid out in a neat little package I feel limited, confined, constricted. That is the case with one of my current wip’s. I have the idea for a plot and characters that I have to include and a predetermined theme and I am feeling constricted. The story is still reeling itself out like a film, but the road is rougher, filled with more potholes that I need to navigate. I will get through it, because I must, but for me it is not the best way for me to work.

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As for my organization: Each of my wip’s has a notebook with all research material and critiques if it has reached that phase as well as anything else that pertains to the project. For my personal wip’s I have timelines on a whiteboard so I can keep the story straight and I know what should happen when and that I don’t repeat an event or have it show up in the wrong place. I’ve developed family trees so I can see who is related to who and maps so I can see where things are happening. I currently do all my writing in Word. I have heard so much about Scrivener that I am going to check it out.

Ramajidin Map

 

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Palace of the Three Crosses: Book Two available at MuseItUp Publishing

and Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FAPW43G

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Author’s Blog Challenge: Day 8 and 9

 

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So I’m going to go off track here. Last week I worked with the suggested prompts, but this week I think I’m not going to. I have two very good reasons for not following the prompts this week.

The first is as you may have noticed I missed day eight. Yesterday I returned home from a wonderful four-day writer’s retreat. You are probably saying it was a writers retreat you should have been able to write a blog post, and you are probably right. In fact I did write Saturday’s while on the weekend, so I know it can be done. But as I returned home yesterday and eased back into the world the last thing on my mind was writing a post. I did start it but still raw from my experiences the words would not come.

I know that makes the weekend sound bad, but quite the contrary, the weekend was inspirational and I was still processing all that had happened and watching the Steeler game, but that’s a topic for another day.

So back to the writing weekend.Spending time out in nature, with other people of like minds is a very inspirational, motivational thing. Doing walking meditations, spending time with your characters and your stories will get you past any block you may have been experiencing. This is the second writing retreat I have taken. The first time I did it was last year on this same weekend. I definitely needed the refresher course, a weekend to refresh and renew and this weekend did that for me.

I have to admit that I did not take full advantage of the experience this year. I snuck on FB a few times and my husband and daughter texted me, but for the most part I was off the grid and it did help. Throughout this week I will share with you some of my experiences.

Now for the second reason I will not be doing the prompts this week: Yesterday was the second anniversary of the release of the second book in the Palace of the Twelve Pillars trilogy, Palace of the Three Crosses: Book Two. If I had posted yesterday it would have been about this celebration.  Today I will share an excerpt and a review from the book.

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Palace of the Three Crosses: Book Two

Rupert looked through the window in his tower room at the landscape of Wyrzburg. Months had passed since the Battle of Harable Valley and the spring planting season faded into the wonderful summer growing season. The land progressed in its healing and would soon be returned to its former state. As he turned from the window, he thought about the things that hadn’t healed…the twins. Brandan and Joachim still had a long way to go to erase the darkness that infected them. Joachim seemed better, but at night he still dreamed of Sidramah, and the doubts about what happened still haunted him. Brandan appeared even further from the boy that left to find his brother. The darkness appeared to follow him day and night. He withdrew to chambers as far away from Joachim as he could get.

Walking down the stairs to the great hall, Rupert remembered when the princes first returned; both had seemed healed and better than ever, maybe. But it appeared as if the tentacles of Sidramah still lingered. Any small opening the evil one could find, he exploited, and both boys were once again haunted by dark dreams.

 

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Reviewed By Bil Howard for Readers’ Favorite

Palace of the Three Crosses, by Christina Weigand is a dark fantasy involving deep conflicts between three different species as they struggle for control of the land. Twins Brandan and Joachim return from being held captive by a darkness that has left them deeply scarred. Upon their return, they are forced to continue on following the death of their father and separation from their mother, while attempting to heal from the damage that was done deep inside them. As each of them struggles to find their bearings, and healing and restoration with Asha, they are forced into ruling the kingdom. With new wives, each is being drawn into a different direction by the woman at their side and the churning turmoil inside of themselves. The forces of Sidramah are leading Brandan further away from Asha through his wife, Magda (of the Mation species), while the forces of Asha are trying to restore and keep Joachim from being overtaken as his wife, Maeve (of the Kningrad species,) fights by his side to keep him from again falling into Sidramah’s darkness. Their kingdoms stand in the balance as the inner battles affect those around them.

Christina Weigand does a wonderful job of painting a portrait of the darkness that surrounds evil and, the often times, dim hope that sometimes is all that is left of goodness. Through this story of two brothers struggling to be restored to the goodness that once was theirs, the author examines deeper issues that often overwhelm those who can only see goodness dimly lit. Those around them become essential in helping them to find their destiny and true goodness. The character development and plot will have the reader hooked and turning pages with eager anticipation for the next fatal twist. Suspense and intrigue are thick throughout this novel, but always lingering about the surface is a feeling that goodness and hope will certainly win out.

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