It's very easy to get distracted from writing, especially with all shiny, flashy things around. I had a free evening tonight, and was all set to work on book three (still untitled), but then there was facebook, and twitter, and television, and the various blogs I like to read, and and and...
Now, I find it's 10:30 at night, and I've yet to write a word. Is it perhaps something subconscious about this story in particular? When i first wrote it, I hit a block. I took my characters to a dark place, and couldn't figure out how to get them out without upsetting "my readers" (I use quotes because there's all of three of you out there). But still, that was the way I wanted (or thought i wanted) the story to go. I've been stuck ever since, and it's been over a year.
Part of the reason I've been tackling it again is because I'm going to start publishing on the Kindle Store. It's an experiment, so hopefully it will be successful. I must say, without the help of Dan (my wonderful, tech-savvy roomie), I would never be in a position to post on the site. There are so many formatting-for-web codes and tricks that I just don't understand.
In my procrastination, I opened up my OneNote file for the series. It's kind of like my encyclopedia of the world i have created in my books. I have a page for each character, which includes quotes of descriptions I use throughout the stories. I also have pages for locations, and other important elements.
Many times I will have an idea of something in my head, for example, the interior of Mobius (described in an earlier post). In my travels across the inter-webs I sometimes find images that fit my imagined idea (for Mobius, it is the interior of the Guggenheim, and the exterior of the Kelowna library). I put these pictures in the OneNote file.
I find looking at these pictures helps me get inspiration, as well as helps me to remember exactly what I had been thinking weeks (or months) previous. Today, I came across the image for Zarek (a pivotal character in the second novel). I hesitate to post it here, because I would rather not affect a reader's imagination (which is why I will never post the pictures of my "fantasy cast" if Force was made into a movie), but I wanted to post a "tease" of what is to come once the second book (tentatively titled "Force of Nature") makes it on to the Kindle Store.
In other news, I suppose I should mention that I have reverted back to my original title. It appeals to a wider audience, I think, and for purposes of Kindle-dom I find it is a better fit.
