This week's scenes and posts were created to the following tunes:

Nickelback-Something In Your Mouth
Eve 6-Inside Out
Enrique Iglasias (I'm spelling that wrong I know it)-Escape
Erasure-Always
Kelly Clarkson-Already Gone
Nickelback-Someday
Linkin Park-Somewhere I Belong
The Bodyrockers-The Way You Move
Billy Idol-Rock The Cradle Of Love
Motley Crue-Home Sweet Home
Shinedown-Second Chance
Linkin Park-What I've Done
Eve 6-Rescue
Muse-Starlight
Paramore-Decode

Have a great weekend!

My husband and I were having a very interesting discussion today. He said this would make a great post and I agree.

Have you ever tried to force yourself to be creative? Isn't that the worst thing you can do? I know some of my worst work has been done under the pressure to perform as it were. Then I go back in edits and ask myself how something so awful wound up in one of my works and I have to write the scene over again.

The whole point of being a writer is to be able to tap into something inside yourself that other people, normal people as it were, can't get into. We keep strange hours and think of bizarre things and make the librarians question our sanity when we check out various reading materials (I just checked out books on depression, infertility, and suicide along with the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel. The librarian looked at me like I needed help until I told her I'm a writer, then she seemed much more comfortable). It's not like writing fiction is a job with set hours (nonfiction might be different, but I don't know about that). That's the whole point.

Last night I got home from my part time job and wrote until after midnight. Then I got up this morning at 7 and wrote two more pages. I'll probably go home tonight and write two more. But that's only if I feel the need to write. If I don't feel it, I won't do it until tomorrow. And that's what this post is about.

I know I harp on writing three pages a day. Three pages a day, five days a week. That equals fifteen pages a week. You do that for ten weeks and you have 150 pages. If that's single spaced pages, you have a book right there. Prophecy was 152 pages single spaced before chaptering, and it's 440 now. After editing and formatting, you'd be surprised how long a book can be.

The biggest thing you can do for yourself is keep writing. Just keep writing. If you don't feel inspired, step back for a little bit. Listen to some music, watch a movie, read a book, take a walk. Then come back refreshed and ready to take on the world. But don't force it. Stifling your creativity is a bad idea.

I saw NP had a thing up on Coffee Stained Writer (aren't you supposed to be on maternity leave?) and it got me to thinking. In preparation for nanowrimo (because my entire world is split between Forbidden's release, finishing Awakening, and nanowrimo prep right now), I find myself thinking about the creation of new characters. Thanks NP!

I love and hate creating new characters. When I've had to create new characters for the Chronicles of Seven (it has a name now), it hasn't been that difficult. But lately the new characters I've created have been secondary characters. Sure they're important, but it's not a main character. Main characters require a lot of work.

For nanowrimo this year, I'm writing a new story with no vampires in it whatsoever. Shocking right? I know. The story centers on a woman who is in the agony of depression because she hasn't been able to have a baby with her husband (no, this is not a commentary on my personal life, but you're supposed to write what you know) and while in the throes of depression, she attempts suicide. That's all I have for now.

While I'm in research mode for this story, I have to cultivate a new character. I have to understand her mindset and get a grasp on who she is. I want to know her so well that I'll be able to do her story justice. It's hard to think about having to go through all the exercises I go through to create a new character. I don't know what she looks like yet or what her name is. It's hard.

This is why I have a hard time with new characters. Sure, it's a fresh start. I can do what I want with a new character. Established characters have parameters already. But I like my parameters. I like finding new things for my current characters to go through. Making up something new is hard.

Or maybe I'm just having a hard time with this because I can't make her a woman with supernatural speed and strength. It's good to branch out and do new things though right? That's what I'm telling myself anyway. New characters are great. Even if they are only human.

Yesterday I talked about editing. Today's post is still part of that process. If you aren't done writing yet, that's okay. You'll need this info eventually.

So you edited your first draft and now you want to know what else you need to fix. This is when you enlist some really good friends or you find a forum and get some help. This is when you get yourself some beta readers.

I'm lucky in that I have friends who like to do this (I think they like to do this. That's what they tell me). The unlucky thing for them is that they have to chain themselves to a computer and read a document that's not chaptered for hours (I'm sorry guys!). If I had the money and the ability to get a manuscript to the people I trust to beta read my work, I would do it. I just don't right now.

Beta readers can be just about anyone. They don't need to have experience in the subject, but they can if you want them to. The point of a beta reader is that you want someone who is outside the story to read it. A beta reader is going to find the gramatical stuff you missed, the spelling errors Word didn't catch, and the holes in your plot that need to be filled in.

I've actually given a first draft to a beta reader (NP I'm sorry about that. I know it was bad) and she was honest enough to tell me the truth. Based on her recommendations, I fixed a lot. Did I listen to all of her suggestions? No. But I listened and I learned. It made it easy to not repeat the same mistakes over and over again in my later works.

Personally, I don't like to beta read. I will do it if someone asks me to, but I don't always like to. Does that mean I won't do it if you ask? No. If you ask me, I'll be more than happy to do so. I read quickly and if you don't hook me in the first two chapters, I'll tell you. But there are people out there who love to do this kind of thing.

Besides, if you've been telling people you're writing a book, I'm sure they want to read it right? Find someone you can trust, someone who won't steal it from you and try to publish it on their own (I've heard horror stories) and let them have it. The only way to find out if it's any good is to let someone read it.