Annie Bancroft writes......

Plotter or Pantser?

2010-10-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
To some extent I am both :-) If I am not familiar with the main plot of the piece I am working on, I might very well plot the entire manuscript chapter for chapter. If its a subject that I know well, one I've had personal experience in for example, I simply plot out the main ideas and "wing" the rest.
I have several author friends who use storyboards. I've not tried this method yet, but am going to give it a try on my next manuscript.

Developing Characters

2010-08-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

Where do you find your character inspiration? Do you base them on someone you know personally? A famous person? Are they totally fictional? Or do you mix it up?

Me? I mix it up! Their role and/or plot of the manuscript determines if I can draw from personal experience or if I have to "borrow" from someone in the lime light. It's not always good to use someone you know as the basis of a novel ESPECIALLY if their "character" is going to be a baddie! lol Now if you feel fairly certain that person would never in a million years read your piece then it might be a risk you feel safe to take!

I typically don't make a character entirely fictional. I always seem to find someone on TV/Movies or papers/magazines, that I get some characteristics from.

Do you gather pictures for all of your characters? Or just your Hero/heroine?
When you are writing that character...do you have that picture in your mind?
I don't always gather hard copies of pictures but I DO develop them in my mind when I create that character's description on their sheet.
When I develop my character sheets I don't go as in-depth as some of my author friends. I know some of you who will sit down and create 5 page interviews! I'm always amazed by that! I, on the other hand, create a 2-3 page one depending on how much the character "talks" to me as we are chatting :-)
My interviews usually cover subjects such as: Name (full name), eye/hair/skin color, age, sex (can't always count on the name to determine this :-) ), body build, scars, tatoo's, hometown, current city,current occupation, occupational background, education level, special skills/training, family dynamics, what was their childhood like, hobbies, favorite color, favorite food, pets, clothing style, and whatever else I think may be important to know about him/her. Not all of my interviews are the same. I base them on the character and their role in the manuscript.

What tricks/techniques do you use to develop your characters?

Where do you find your ideas for your novels?

2010-08-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

I was read an article by Christina Dodd titled "Romance Cliches For The 21st Century" in the August edition of the Romance Writers Report. It got me thinking (hard to believe I know..lol) about how I come up with my story idea's.
The majority of mine come from news stories, a "scene" I've witnessed either in my previous Fire/EMS/911 Dispatcher life or when I'm out and about on errands, or from TV shows based on real life crimes such as Forensic Files, etc.
Where do you get your inspiration from?

Hanging my head in shame....

2010-08-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

Is it really August already?? I think someone's messing with me! As you all can see by the date of my previous post...it's been a FEW months since I've updated my blog :-/ Thanks to the encouragement of a few good friends (June, Kelly, Lexi, Pam and Denise) I'm back at the blog thing :-)

I've managed to renovate my guest bathroom and my office that is just for ME...and get a full-time job since I was here last. Not sure how much I'm going to like the last! lol Playing that by ear. My darling hubby says I don't have to work outside the house if I don't want to, that I can stay home and concentrate on my writing, but the guilt of not helping with the bills on a regular basis is a difficult cross for me to bear at the moment :-) Ask me again in a few weeks how I feel about this! lol
My goal is to write daily. I write every chance I get both at home in the evenings and on my lunch hour.
I have set up both long term and short term goals for my writing career and they now hang in a prominent place on my cork board.
I'm going to share them with everyone here.
I've set my goals up as follows:
Long term goals: One, Two, Five and Ten Year Goals...I've used an individual index card for each and this is the format I used and an example of my One Year Goal:

One Year Goal: To write and query two full novels
Date Goal Set: June 4, 2010
Target Date: June 4, 2011
Date Achieved:

Then for each long-term goal I have listed, I also used index cards and broke it down into specifics. For example these are the projects I'm going to work on to complete it.
Goal #1 Complete "Where There's Smoke"
Date Goal Set: June 4, 2010
Target Date: December 31, 2010
Date Achieved:
Goal #2: Query WTS
Date Goal Set: June 4, 2010
Target Date: 1 Week after completion of MS- January 7, 2011
I have done this for each of the novels that I intend to complete within this One Year time frame.

I then came up with a "plan" to help me achieve each of the small goals, and in turn, each of the big ones as well :-) This is posted above the short-term/long-term goals. Here it is:
1. Develop my main characters in four days.
2. Plot out the story in one week, using line-per-scene format, planning each scene at two-thousand words and the entire MS at 60-100k words. (This will vary depending on target publishers.)
3. Write the first draft at ten pages per day, finishing the first working draft in 26 working days. (This will vary between 26-40 days depending on word count.)
4. Revise the first draft in one month, or less, using one-pass revision technique.
5. Find publishers that accept unagented queries for this type of novel, and send two query letters a day until I've covered my field of first choice publishers.
6. Find recommended agents for genre and query them. This can be started after first draft is finished.

Do you have short/long-term goals in place? And the plans to help you reach them? If so, how do you keep track of them?

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

Hello all!
Hope everyone is having a great year so far! 2009 has brought many changes in my life...some good, some not so good but all are things that are keeping me moving in a forward direction! :-) Now on to face this grand new year and new DECADE!
I have recently started a writing challenge...simply to write 100 words in 100 days! This is a challenge one of my writing friends started so if you are interested in joining the challenge...let me know and I'll point you in her direction. We post our progress on her FaceBook page as a way to keep motivated and to motivate others. I'm hoping that this will keep me on track and turning out words daily.
I am working this week on the final revisions/edits on my finalized manuscript so I can get it mailed out on January 8th.
So that is what I'm off to do.
Happy Writing All!

Ugh! Procrastination!

2009-06-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

Ok...I REALLY need to figure out a good way to keep up with my blog! Might have to make up a schedule!! Thanks for the idea Laurie :-) Anyway...here's my plans for the week:
Monday- Write, write, write...need to get at LEAST 15 pages done today!
Tuesday- Write, write, write (see a pattern? LOL). Dr. appointment in afternoon and training at day job in evening. :-( Writing goal for today: 5 pages
Wednesday- Get up early...write til late. Writing goal for today: 15+ pages.
Thursday- Up early...write, write, write til 5pm. Spend evening with family around packing. Writing goal for today: At LEAST 5 pages...hopefully more.
Friday- Up early for trip to DTW.

Not sure how much writing I'll get done btwn the 12th and 22nd so I need to get as much done before hand as I can! :)
Wish me luck!

Onward and Upward!

2009-05-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got AN into the publisher/editor on Saturday so that is out of my hands for a while. Yeah!!
So now I'm off to the next project, a piece that I've been toying with for quite a while now. I think I've got all the plot bumps worked out of it and the research is done (unless something pops up as I go) so I'm off and running with 6937 words under my belt and only 51+k to go! LOL
Hopefully I will do a better job of keeping up on my blog although I will be going away for Memorial weekend and for 9 days in June! Look out Maryland! LOL
Well I need to stop procrastinating now and get as far ahead as I can so I don't have to drag it with me on my vacations!!

Still making progress on revisions......

2009-04-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

really pushing to get them done today! Hopefully I can fend off all of "life's" distractions today and crank it out!
They say we are supposed to get more storms today but I'm hoping the weatherman is wrong! Need my power :-)
Wish me luck all!

Revisions on AN nearly done!

2009-04-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

I've nearly made it through the revisions for AN! My deadline is this Sunday evening so I can submitt it on Monday! Then it's of to Fast Draft for RB's story! Its all a wonderfully viscious circle! LOL I've got my characters all set for RB's story and boy is he in for a ride! LOL I'll keep everyone updated on how he's making out as the manuscript developes!
Happy Writing All!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

Well it's almost Easter (two days away) and I'm STILL working on this revision! I'm shooting to finish it by the end of this week. Then a few more quick pass throughs to fine tune it and off it goes!
Wish me luck all.

Procrastination

2009-03-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

As I sit here and write this I am proctrastinating again! I should be working on revising but am having the darndest time doing so! The sun is shining and there are so many other things I can think of to do! At least I am getting some words down on paper (even if it is here and not where it SHOULD be)! lol I'm blaming my lack of concentration on cabin fever! After all, it is March and I do live in Michigan where it has been FREEZING cold for months now! I'm ENTITLED to a little proscratinating aren't I? If I were lucky enough to live in an environment which was warm year round (believe me, I'm fighting myself on a daily basis to tough it out here for a few more years!) then I wouldn't be able to use those excuses anymore!
Okay...so I'm going to try to cure my cabin fever by escaping to warm, sunny Charleston (at least in my mind) and the ruggedly, handsome hero who awaits me there!
Wish me luck all!