I is for Imagine

Imagineering is something I've played with since childhood. The term is attributed to Walt Disney, who filed copyright for the term in 1967, claiming first use of it in 1962.

But, I digress. Imagineers are known to do that. It's part of our endless charm.

Anyway, I've been a daydreamer - oops, I mean imagineer - since an early age, brainstorming epic plots over a series of weeks during daytime hours, and even segueing into night-time dreams. Horse adventures, super heroines, teen romances... many inspired by books and comics in which I cast myself as the main character.

Crafting plots for novels isn't a whole lot different, although these days I spend as much time building characters and settings as I do plotting. I also tend to remove myself from the story, except as the narrator.

When I recently discovered The IF List (The Imagine Film List), I was delighted to find they included novels as well as movies in their dream casting set-up. (Read more about how and why the site was founded in this interview with their CEO.)  It really got me thinking about my finished novel, what the cover would look like, how my elevator speech would sound, and who I might cast if my story ever went to film. Who doesn't daydream about that?

It didn't take me long to discover I'd need to polish my character descriptions in a way that would help total strangers cast actors to fit the roles I'd created. It might not hurt to have some sketches to use as avatars instead of head silhouettes. I'm thinking I should re-do the book cover too. It turns out this imagining tool has me polishing up aspects of my novel I usually leave until much later. I think that's a good thing, because it's helping me crisp up my story before I'm well into revisions. To that end, The IF List is a terrific writing tool. Go here to find out more.

Then go add your novels to the site. You never know where it might lead!

Be sure to follow The IF list on Facebook and Twitter, and support the other authors who are adding their names and books to the list. It's all about supporting each other with thumbs up and sharing.

H is for Help

I had to take a breather from blogging and really focus on my Camp NaNoWriMo writing today. So I just want to say thank you for all the team effort and promotion during the A-Z Challenge. You all are a huge HELP to me. Writing is such a lonely business, and knowing I'm part of a team focusing on the same basic goals really makes a difference. Have a great writing day, friends!

G is for Guns

Actor Jeff Bosley as J. Lindsay Calhoun

When I was first moodling characters for the novel, I made them perfect in every way. Attractive, smart, sexy, healthy, happy, and very liberal of course. They were, after all, modeled after my finest ideals.

Then I started putting faces to these characteristics. The Internet proved to be a huge help, especially social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. I could easily imagine my stories in film, so started looking at potential actors for key roles. I found Jeff Bosley via a mutual Facebook friend, and thought he'd make a good J. Lindsay Calhoun.

But soon it became apparent that our personal ideals weren't exactly on the same page. Not that they needed to be, mind you. After all, a good actor can play any role. But still, he was so different from my hero. Big into bodybuilding, action heroes, Green Beret and other military stuff... like guns. So totally unlike my perfect protagonist.

When I seriously began writing, Lindsay took over and started changing the story lines. In one chapter, he was out of town and Megan had a home invasion. He handled the situation by phone until he could quickly fly back to Denver via a private jet. That's when Megan discovered he was carrying a sidearm, and before I knew what happened, the hero and his love are arguing about guns.

What? Arguing? Stop that! You're supposed to be perfect, not to mention crazy about each other. You cannot argue in my novel.

It became obvious as the conversation grew more heated, that Lindsay was really more of a libertarian thinker than a liberal. How could that be happening? I'd totally lost control of the plot.

When I really thought about it, it kind of made sense for him. He is, after all, a lawyer with deep understanding of constitutional law. Through his career, he has connections with various police departments. He's also a kilted bagpiper, and a logical pipe-and-drum band connection would be through a police regiment. I really couldn't just ignore the military and weapons aspects of this character, could I?

No. I could not.

So now I have all kinds of conflict. And a more interesting hero. And loads more story potential.

Dammit.

I also dislike my main character a little. Sometimes even a lot. I'm guessing so does the heroine. Now I'm having to deal with that issue. I see much more plot tension in my future.

Thanks a lot, Mr. Bosley. It's all your fault. ;)

Want to know more about this actor? Here's a fabulous interview at The IF List. I'll tell you more about them on Friday. It's a seriously awesome writing tool and an opportunity to put your novels on a dream casting website.

What about the rest of you writers? Have you ever had a character take over your story and drag it down some path you never consciously imagined? Do tell me about it in a comment.

F is for Fitness

Rachel McLish - first Ms. Olympia

Physical fitness is an aspect that crept into my novel without much aforethought. I really didn't consciously plan it, but most of my characters seem to make it part of their daily lifestyles. Their friendships often began in places like yoga studios or weightlifting gyms. Here are the three couples you'll meet in the first Morristown Mystery:

• J Lindsay Calhoun - lifts weights and jogs to prepare for Highland games where he competes in the Caber Toss 
• Megan MacGregor - practices yoga daily and loves to dance. She and Lindsay particularly enjoy ballroom dancing
• Nick Wagner - former Olympic gymnast who also practices yoga
• Rachel Wagner - black belt in karate and marathon runner
• Tripper George - bodybuilder
• LeAnn Baker - bodybuilder and daily walker, and a marathon runner before losing a leg in the military

Based on those descriptions, you might think I'm something of an athlete myself. Not so. It's true I walk 3-5 miles daily, practice yoga intermittently, and try to lift light weights several times a week. But that's mostly to control joint pain, and to buy a few more years of comfortable writing time. My most intense exercise is probably at the kitchen sink, where I try to get in 100 sissy squats after washing dishes. Same goes for the bathroom sink, where 50 modified squats is the norm. I'm guessing there are days I get in at least 500 squats, depending on how much housework gets done. 

That said, a few of my characters might be a little more competitive than me. Since I have a short year of bodybuilding effort in my youth, I decided to go back in time and see how that fitness arena has evolved. My stint happened the year before Rachel McLish won the first Ms. Olympia title, so around 1980? Frankly, I found that entire world to be a bit too self-absorbed for me to maintain long-term interest. It hasn't changed all that much, and neither has Rachel McLish who doesn't look any older after all these years. Except now she has very large breasts. Augmentation surgery seems to be the norm in women's bodybuilding these days. And spray-on tans. And tattoos for many of the competitors. Holy moley. (Click on the links to read more about potential risks.)

So much for health and fitness. I think I'm going to turn one of my characters into a hot mess of contradictions. Look at my list above and tell me who you think it should be.

E is for Euphemisms

I'm not particularly fond of euphemisms in fiction, especially to name body parts and sexual interactions. Romance novels are notorious for doing this. The hotter the romance, the more bizarre the colloquialisms become, and sometimes I wonder if the writers even understand the functions of human anatomy.

I've written some fairly steamy scenes for my own characters, and can't bring myself to be anything but straightforward in my descriptions, although I admit the conversations can sometimes seem a little clinical. I think I've found a way around that using some humor.

First I created a main character that is intentionally formal in speech and manners - J. Lindsay Calhoun. It works for him, given his upbringing and career as a high-society attorney.  He hates anything vulgar. That is until he meets the love of his life, who is a bit more relaxed in action and language. To put it mildly. It doesn't take long for them to start debating the best expressions to use in various public and private circumstances. Here's an example:

Lindsay shuddered. "Breasts, Megan, can we call them breasts? I cringe when you talk like that. They are breasts." His tongue lingered for a second on the fluttering pulse at her throat, then continued its downward journey. "Lovely, soft, perfect breasts."

"What's really so bad about tits?" She loved teasing him about his starched manners. Megan suspected his language was a kind of personal armor. It was a way to keep others at arm's length, but that hadn't worked with her from the beginning.

Do you think that works, injecting a bit of humor into a bedroom scene? These two seem to spend a lot of time laughing when they're making love. That's not a bad thing.

I'm not sure how to deal with some of the other characters, though, or even if I'll show their more intimate sides to readers. I've considered an ethnic couple who use foreign words. Or maybe even more exotic concepts like a tantric love scene. Yes. That could work. Worshiping the lingus.

Or does that sound like yet another euphemism? Am I cheating? What do you think?

B is for Babies

Beautiful Megan MacGregor (played by Deborah Ann Woll in my film fantasies) is the heroine in my novel, News From Nowhere. Married to the protagonist, J. Lindsay Calhoun, her focus in life is having their baby.

But it wasn't always so. How quickly life can change! When Megan met Lindsay less than a year earlier, she was a happily single child psychologist with a flourishing career - actually several careers. She worked at a Denver hospital counseling at-risk adolescents, served as a highly respected material witness to legal firms across the country, and had just published her first children's book.

Because her own mother risked her life to have Megan due to a genetic disorder called Marfan Syndrome, Megan decided early on not to have children for fear of passing the gene to her own children, even though it skipped a generation in her.

That is, until she falls in love and marries, and embarks on a shared life and mission with her new husband. Lindsay is building a kingdom for himself and his farm partners, and Megan is clearly his queen. As surely as he understands his role in this story, so, too, does Megan. She is to bear the heir to their dreams.

Unfortunately, she'll suffer a great deal of heartbreak trying, as she is a chronic mis-carrier. I understand these things very well, having lived through the heartache of Marfan Syndrome and multiples miscarriages myself. In the book, the situation will allow me to explore other parallel issues pertinent to the story lines, which will often illustrate social justice issues, ecology, sustainability, and personal growth. Megan's dilemma will touch on themes such as these:

• Over-population burdens
• Natural healing remedies related to infertility
• Adoption
• Self-worth issues
• Envy
• Patience
• And so much more!

But after all is said and done, the main issue for Megan will be her inability to bring a child into the world to share with Lindsay.

I've come to a curious conclusion late in life, especially curious coming from a devout feminist like me. No matter what our professed focus early in life - education or career - on a primal level we're mostly focused on breeding and regenerating the race. It's all about sex, at least before age 40 when we're in our primes. My characters will discover that and other aspects of themselves they really didn't know.

What do you think? 

A-Z Blogging Challenge Begins Today

Awesome is my starting word for this year's challenge, and I offer special thanks to the A-Z Team for creating this calendar for us! Truly, you are all totally AWESOME! Thank you.

And I'm an APRIL FOOL for taking on the challenge the same month that I'm also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. Daily blog posts, and 50,000 words. Can I do it? There's only one way to find out! Wish me luck.

Working Book Cover

I've been a member of National Novel Writing Month for six years, and manage to get more writing done in November than any other time of year. This year, NaNoWriMo mentioned that having a novel cover greatly increased the chances of completing the contest. So I made a temporary one on PicMonkey, the easiest photo-editing site on the planet. This should inspire me to keep writing. Bring on the pipers!

Wordless Wednesday

Tweeting the Challenges

#Goal: By #Christmas Day, significant part in mainstream #hollywood film. Standby. #BosleySoon #CrushIt #NothingWillStopMe #DieTrying
— Jeff Bosley (@welcometoboz) July 26, 2014

. @welcometoboz I accept that #challenge and will finish rough draft for book #1 in the mystery series by #Christmas.
— Blog Book Tours (@blogbooktours) July 26, 2014