Meandering on Monday with Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor, #amwriting

Meander 1 - Which character in what is essentially a two character story is the focus? A focus character to me means something different from what is a viewpoint character. Happens in romance all the time. The hero and heroine have problems that must be worked out. Which one becomes the focus character. To me he or she who opens the book is the focus character. I've seen friends and critique partners struggle and struggle and open their stories with the wrong character and thus the story seems to fall flat. Often they are enamored by the heroine and can't see it's the hero who has the problem that's the focus of the book. When starting a book, I ask myself this question. Who has the most to lose and who has the most to win? When the answer settles on one of the two in the story, that's who opens the story.

Meander 2 - Some members of our chapter are heading to the shore for a retreat. This was open to all but not everyone decided to go. It's just an overnight. Hopefully as well as just sitting back and relaxing we'll find solutions to problems. We'll have some brain-storming sessions, read for critique and have fun.

Meander 3 - Have finished the edits on Melodic Dreams and now must prepare the manuscript to send out to the publisher. That means filling out the art sheet and other interesting things. The publisher has made the work here easier by shortening the information asked for. But it's up to me to do this wonderfully and that can be the problem. I have no cover sense. But I'll do my best. Typing in all the corrections can be fun and that will take me days. I'm also working on Toth's Priest. The second draft where I try to fill in all the blanks that I left out in the rough draft. With luck, this will bring the story close to the wordage I want for the book to be at. 70,000 words. We will see. This is a fun book to write and it completes the trilogy.