Welcome to the third installment of my 2007 series! In my introductory post about this series, I shared what you can expect to learn in these posts and fill you in a bit on what life was like for me in 2007. In my last installment, Putting Fingers To Keys, I shared what prompted me to sit down and write! So if you haven’t read those yet, take a look and then come back to read this one!
Princess Plotter
When I first sat down to write, I had ideas in my head and wanted to get them down. I wasn’t technically writing at this point, I was plotting, a term I had no idea about at the time. I was so excited about the story ideas I had that I wanted to just create and build this whole world up from scratch.
My current WIP was started during this time and I plotted so much stuff. Seriously, I over-plotted. Of all the plotting I’ve done, only about half of it will make it to the books. But it has been helpful!
I find that when I can create more detail, it helps me stay consistent in my story and not throw out random tidbits of information. I usually reference my plotting notes to find something and fill it in. Consistency is a pet-peeve of mine (anyone else had continuity issues in TV shows!?).
Plotting The Night Away
Most of what I can remember about 2007 and 2008 was just holing up in my bedroom and writing. Yes, I was going to school, working, and seeing friends. But in my downtime, I was writing.
While there were times that I wrote during the day, I typically tended to write at night. I can remember just sitting on my bed and plotting to my heart’s desire for hours. It was so much fun for me. I loved creating my characters and drafting backstories.
When I finally did go to sleep at night, I put on my “relaxing music” – aka songs that were soothing and calm and helped me daydream as I slept. I would listen to music and continue thinking about my characters and creating scenes and scenarios in my head. I had so many ideas!
Using My Muses To Help Me Plot
I would very often put on a movie or a TV while I plotted. Certain ones seemed to be very inspirational for me. Titanic, for instance, was a big one at the time. I talk about my WIP series, and while it was created around this time, there was another story I worked on heavily as well. To keep it vague, it was about a rich girl who fell for a poor boy, despite each of their families disapproval. There’s even a bit of a murder mystery in there, but I digress.
Watching Titanic, one of my favorite movies, helped me get into the mood to create this story. So, I would play it as I worked on it. I’m hoping one day to publish that one, but it needs some work.
Then, of course, I would watch One Tree Hill and that would enliven my creativity on my current WIP. It still does, to be honest.
Times Have Changed
Ten years ago, my life was very different than it is now. I had so much more free time as a single college student. Now, I have a beautiful family and a job I love that keeps me pretty busy. I have to find time to work on my writing whenever I can.
My late-night plotting days are more or less behind me now. Some nights I do get to do some work while my son is asleep. But most days I am exhausted by the end of the day and can’t trust myself to come up with anything good to use. But back then, it worked perfectly for me and I have some great notes saved up that I can use for my current WIP and other stories to come.
