It's all in the details...

Eye Colour & Shape

Advice>

Choose your eye colour for characters and make a note of what it is. I can't count the number of times I've chosen one colour and then forgotten and had to fix it up in edits... Or worse had a reader tell me I'd switch halfway through a story. Nothing more embarrassing I can tell you. But, at least I'm getting better. I also remember to take the same time to take write out the shape of the eyes... so when I'm describing family traits I can look back at my notes for reference.

Lip Shape

Choose the lips your character is likely to have. Because the shape of the lips determines the way they smile. The way they kiss. I think the Lips on some people are extremely beautiful. Especially, when a character is described as having kissable lips. But honestly, what's kissable to me, might be completely different to someone else. My character Grayson from Admetus Gaea has Wide lips━because that is how I have always seen him. There was never a doubt in my mind.  I'll have to find the picture my niece and I drew of Grayson when we were younger and you'll be able to see what I mean.

Face Shape

The shape of your face will determine the shape of some of their other facial features. I'm a bad one for forgetting the shape of a person's face when I write a book. Even when I do take notes. I just really suck at the face shape part of it. I'll quite often change the jawline. I must admit that once I did forget one of my characters had a beard until I got right to the end of the story and had to go back through and put it in. A little snippet here, and a little snippet there. A lot harder than you would think.

Nose Shape

A character's nose is probably one of their defining qualities. Is it straight, is it broken? Is it long, short, bent, flat? My nose has never been broken, so it's pretty straight. Though in saying that my family has a tendency to have rounder bottom. My daughter has the same nose. Where we differ is she has had her nose broken at birth, so she has the tell-tale bump in her nose. My son-in-law has a hooked nose so my poor granddaughter has a mixture of both of them. I think she's beautiful anyway.

Hand Shape

I love a person's hands. because most often than not they tell how a person lives their lives. People with roughened hands, you could surmise might work outdoors. Like cowboys, construction, landscaping. They say people with long thing fingers are usually artistic. I don't know whether that's true or not. But it makes you wonder. I have large hands... but I have long fingers and I'm pretty talented.

Body Shape

Everything all needs to go together and that's where you need the body shape. I don't know why the same shapes are different for men and women but they are. I must admit this is the hardest thing for me to choose. Because I don't tink all the people in my books have to be necessarily perfect. I don't mind if they have a bit of extra weight around the middle. I know the pain of a woman having big boobs. I can relate. I'm also a big believer the characters should dress comfortably, and for their body shape. I've read  one too many books where the character's just dress like sluts because their skinny, twinkish, and gay. Though I have had character's change dress styles during a book series. Chris does that in The Lines of Marsden, but it was done intentionally━but I digress.  We are talking about body shape... My best advice is to take notes. Notes will save your arse in the long run.

All the pretty things

Okay, so really it's just my cats: 

Oliver━is the black and white━he's the oldest. He just turned 7. He is the mellowest of all cats that's out there.

He likes to have a bit of a cuddle beside me every day━never on my lap. Oliver is my rescue cat from the Toowoomba RSPCA. I got him to cheer up Willow after her brother Droogie passed, but alas Willow didn't take to him and died of a broken heart (vet's words not mine) a few short weeks later.

Robson━is the youngest he's just about to turn 3. He was gifted to me by the local Gatton Vet. He's the polar opposite of Olli. Robby loves climbing all over me (and anyone else in the house). I believe he thinks we are his own personal jungle gyms.

Robby basically thinks he rules the roost. He's forever bringing me in presents from the garden such as flowers, live lizards, live snakes (eastern browns━according to my brother 2nd deadliest snake in the world. Thank god he only brings me in the babies to deal with), Cockroaches, moths, though normally it's leaves he's ripped off one of the plants, (my side garden is one huge cat enclosure━my brother and I built it before I moved in. So they have the safety needed to go outdoors without the danger of getting run over or attacked by other wildlife).

Daisy━ only comes to visit every now and again as she is Grace's cat, but when she does her and my boys get on like a house on fire. Especially her and Robson, they chase each other all over the house playing tag. Olli just likes to sit back and watch. (I get to look after her whenever they go away on holiday or for family stuff that requires them from being away from home for more than a day or so. It's just easier to bring Daisy over to my house).

The other animals who have enjoyed time in our home have been loved every bit as much as the two we have right now. (I no longer have pictures of all the neighbour's animals who used to come for, but trust me I had cows ━at least 3, a pig, a rooster, 4 chickens, a turkey, about 120 ducks (though to be honest I believe they were wild ducks), 2 dogs, 2 possums (also wild), a family of plovers, a family of magpies, a family of crows, a family of Tawny Frogmouth owls, wild hares, 3 tortoises that live in the dam━All of this was when I lived on 5 acres in the bush, and didn't really have fences and the animals would just wander in).

1) Andy Capp━Died when he was 14. He was attacked by a dog up the street━a Rottweiler named, Clyde. Who belonged to my friend Warren. (I got him when I was 4-years-old. I wanted to name him Dwayne after the guy down the road, but my dad made me name him Andy Capp instead. He was one of the smartest dogs I knew. If I was in plainclothes he followed me everywhere, but the second I put on a uniform he would sit and wait for me at the front gate).

2) Sox━Was literally our first cat. (We adopted him from an RSPCA in Tassie. Strangely, he hated kids, so he wasn't any good to have around Emily who was only little, and he had to end up going to live with my sister up on her farm. he was a beautiful cat though. He loved eating cooked potato. Apparently, he liked to bring my sister live tiger snakes as presents).

3) Alexander:  Mr big boy pusselcat━Died after being bitten by a king brown snake... he saved me from being bitten... (Alex came to us because I rescued him f some jack-arses up the road who had tied stuff to his tail and set their dogs on him━he took refuge in my niece's house━we lived next door to each other, and Alex looked so much like her cat Steerpike that at first, we didn't realise there were two cats).

4) Milsie━Actually he was cat-napped by a neighbour when they moved. I later heard he was one spoiled cat. (Milsie came to me when someone cut his legs and threw him out the window of a moving car and into the driveway of the flats I was living in. my husband at the time said you are not rescuing another cat━as we still had 3...Alex had just died━then no sooner had I agreed when all of a sudden he's the one out there feeding and tending to the cat. Milsie

was a tiny thing. he never grew much at all. Milsie was just a tiny little black bundle of fur who loved to hang with his adopted brother Nathan).

5) Nathan━Died aged 26+ (by the vet's calculations) after being bitten by a white-tailed spider. I never want to see that ever again. seriously so scary and so sad. (Nathan came to us because an old man up the road died and when the family cleaned the house out the cat ran away into the bush. It took me three months to coax that sucker back out. he was a beautiful dark orange colour and loved to be brushed. I loved that cat).

6) Toby━Died from a stroke aged 16 (Toby came to us after my nephew's grandmother gave the kitten to him, which he named Phoenix... and then my mother gave my nephew $20 for the kitten and renamed him Toby━he was always a shit of a cat who thought he should be boss of the house... though he did love him some cuddles. We also named him the million-dollar cat because he was always at the vet getting something fixed━and yes, that is a younger version of Emily in the picture. she'd like you all to believe that poor Toby who was on his death bead was photobombing her, but we all can see it was the other way around).

7) Droogie━Died age 17 from a stroke. This is the cat I miss the most because he was my cat. and one of the first cat's I ever got. (Droogie came to us when ys sister thought it would be hilarious to give my daughter and me a kitten each for our birthdays. She gave my daughter said kitten's when I wasn't around. That cat would follow me anywhere then dump himself on my feet so I would carry him if he got tired of walking). He was one crazy bugger but he was my big boy. Though, in all honesty, I think Oliver might be a little larger than Droogie. They both have the same nature and remind me so much of each other.

8) Willow━Died age 17. She belonged to Emily but always lived at my house. Emily was allergic to her. (See Droogie's info on how we got her━You can blame my eldest sister, Catherine Walker, for turning me into the cat lady that I am .today).

NOTE:━I lost my last three fur babies all within 9 months. first Toby, seven months later it was Droogie, and then a few weeks after it was Willow. I suppose after 17 years together she couldn't go on without her brothers. Droogie was her littermate and Toby was adopted, but still... a lot of years to be together for it all to be over. Which amazed me when I got Oliver who was already 5 and then brought Robson home as a new kitten and they bonded instantly. And then to periodically throw Daisy into the mix and they all get along so well.

Em's Turn

Songs that get stuck in my head

& I can't get rid of them

sometimes for days on end

Enjoy!

Little Things...

It's the little things in life I use that make it easier for me to write my stories. Here are a couple of my little things... tips if you will to what makes it easier for me to work.

First> I start with an idea. It might just be two people and I think to myself they look like they'd make great main characters in my next book.

Second> I might make a list of stuff I want to happen in the story. It might not all make it into the story, but I have the list as a guideline (they don't call me the list lady for nothing).

Third> I find pictures of people who closely resemble my characters in my head. That way I have a visual to fall back on. And I always make files to keep all the relevant information in. Just so it's always on hand when needed.

Forth> Figure out all the close bonds and family support for each main character, and who's the one person you can explain things to so the reader knows exactly what's happening (I read that little tidbit in a Stephen King book on writing). 

Fifth> Figure out where the hell they live and what's around them. Become familiar with the area. Hence the reason I love writing books in made-up realities because you can be anywhere and not have to be at all accurate. My hardest series is Lancaster's Way, which is set in Texas. the town might be made up, but the county and surrounding area are very real. Lucky for me I have great friends I can call on for hell when needed for accuracy.

Sixth> Decide if you are writing in first person or third person. I've tried both. I mainly do third, but lately, something has been scratching at my soul to do another first-person story. I'm not sure how that will work out for me.

Seventh> Remember while writing to periodically save your work and have a backup copy that's not just on your computer. After having lost a manuscript or two. I've learnt the hard way to save... save ... save...

Eighth> Take notes as you write the story... it'll make doing the synopsis way easier━trust me. I've learnt now to do my synopsis as I go along. Don't think I'm perfect at them because I can tell you now I do them wrong, but at least I do them. 

Nineth> If you suck at writing blurbs like I do. Write a couple of different versions to send in and then ask your editor to help turn it into the perfect one. If you self publish. You could always ask your beta reading team to do the same thing.

Tenth> Lastly━A rejection letter isn't a no way━now fuck off. It's simply you need to try elsewhere to find a home for your work. Because in the end, you'll definitely find the right fit for you. sometimes it's a long comfy stay and other times you might find yourself moving to a new and better home, but at least your work is out there for the world to see.

Okay, this is it.

Today  I'm still sick as all get-go, but I managed to drive myself and my 87-year-old mother to the doctor to get checked out... Good news is, it's just the flu, and mine hasn't turned into bronchitis like last year... Bad news is, we now have a ton of medication to take and it makes me as drowsy as hell. So hopefully now, I'll be on the mend.

Even though I haven't been able to concentrate enough to actually write. I have managed to fill in some of my spreadsheets and update my character profiles. Currently, I'm working on the preternatural universe that revolves around Sons of Evenmore and will eventually involve the beginning and end of the timeline = Pack Matters & Watson Falls.

I'm still waiting o hear back from my editor about two projects and expected timelines. As soon as I know the answer I can basically work out in which order I want to write everything next year. If I don't hear back from her soon I'll email her again. Christie N is actually in the midst of editing The Lines of Marsden 4: The Trail of Red Roses for me. I'm hoping to start writing again as soon as I get rid of my damn headache and my eyes stop watering.

Sick As...

I truly hate being sick, and summer colds are the worst. If I start seeing an abundance of crows around the area, there can only be three conclusions:

1> I just have a summer cold and we have an abundance of crows in the area.

2> I watched The Stand way too many times. (M.O.O.N that spells The Stand)

3> Someone really has released a superflu and we are all doomed to die.

I have a sore throat, sore ears, sore nose, a headache from hell, and my eyes won't stop leaking... very fricken annoying. I'm so tired, but I can't lie down to sleep because it's too damn hard to breathe.

But today, I've decided I have to at least try and feel human again. I'll see how long my headache lets me stay that way. Yesterday I slept for hours and hours sitting up in a chair, which wasn't too good in my lower spine━but it is what it is.

Though I have to ask, why is it when I'm sick does Vlad decided to let a whole passel of new story ideas invade my headspace? Especially, when he knows there's not a damn thing I can do about them right now.

On Hold...

My NaNoWriMo came to a halt yesterday because I had to do a little bit of research. Funnily enough, it's with the first book I ever wrote for NaNoWriMo, Watson Falls 1: Between One Heartbeat & the Next. Something that is happening in my current book relates to that one and I have to go back and see what the go was. Just so it all makes sense. I hope to finish Sons of Evenmore 3: Fear the Scarlet Moon today as planned. If not I'll come pretty damn close.