WRITING
I Guess I Won’t Be Needing Sleep
Day 7 Preptober writing prompt challenge
Day 7: Do you prefer to write in the morning or afternoon? Describe your writing routine.
Ugh! If only it was that easy!
- I like to write in the morning!
- I like to have a writing routine that includes four 20-minutes sprints over two hours
- I like to get my coffee, write my sprint times, and sprint/break then transcribe.
But what I want doesn’t matter. Because I just discovered the biggest pain in the butt about choosing to write Rainbow Circus for NaNoWriMo.
First, let me explain and set this up for you. If you’ve read any of the other challenge posts, you probably already know that I am just the machine my characters use to tell their stories.
I feel so used!
What that means is that when I am writing any book, the character comes through me and yes, I take on some of their mannerisms. On a deeper level, each character brings forth a part of my subconscious and being that I need to explore, embrace, or at least acknowledge. I’m writing a Character Reflection series that may help with understanding the concept a little more.
For example, when Jasper from my First Strike series comes through, my anxiety peaks but he knows how to manage it, so conversely, when my anxiety peaks, Jasper steps in to take it. When Harvey from my Cupid’s Guide series is around, my swearing amps up and I say the oddest things. I’m still trying to work out exactly what Harvey represents in me — it’s a worry. The point is that I give myself over to them because that’s how I can let them use me to tell their stories. It’s also why when I edit, I don't remember half the stuff I wrote.
Anyway, moving right along. Perhaps you can see where I’m heading. It’s going to be awfully difficult to write in the morning if my character is a night owl. Most of Jasper’s book was written in the evening and I hated it but he was asleep in the morning. Whereas Ash from the Streamlined series is a morning person so it’s been rather easy.
So, the problem I have with Rainbow Circus is that we have two characters and in asking this question I’ve discovered…
I have one of each!
I could not think of a worse situation.
So, it seems that Jack is early to bed, early to rise. Oh, he likes to go for a run in the morning. Oh, that’s great. I haven’t done that in ages. That will be awesome to get back into. He’s also super careful with his diet and blah, blah, blah. Haha. That last part was Mario taking over before Jack got too “scheduley and policey”. Ok, I can already see the dynamic building.
Now, Mario is usually late to daily practices and never attends the boring financial and business meetings. Everyone knows he’ll drag himself into the arena when he’s ready but at least he gets straight to it. He’ll often just sit outside his trailer at night, watching the stars and and satellite spotting. Again, something I can get on board with but…
Jack is shaking his head because he doesn’t understand how Mario can just cruise through life, especially when his job is so dangerous (he is the Circus’ most accomplished fire performer).
Yep, interesting dynamic.
But the problem right now is, when am I going to write? Okay, well, it seems we’ll need to be strategic. If I aim for 30 chapters and write one chapter a day, I can write Jack’s chapter in the morning after a run and the following day, I can write Mario’s chapter before bed. Hopefully, they’ll let me coordinate so that I can squeeze in a good seven hours ofsleep before Jack makes me get up for a another run. I feel like Mario will be a bit more flexible than Jack.
I didn’t mean flexible like that, Mario. Oh, he’s cheeky.
This is going to be fun!