My hero whistles.

It came as a surprise to me. Yes, I don’t do extensive characters sketches–my characters evolve as I write. And this isn’t the first time one of my heroes whistled.

So why did my current hero Trent’s trait surprise me this time?

It’s not the fact he whistled, but how he whistles.

Cord, my cowboy hero from COMMON BOND, whistled ballads and whistled when he was herding cattle. He created a soothing tone, almost a wistful quality.

Not so for Trent. He can let out a piercing whistle, a reverberation that’ll make your ears pop. It’ll carry a mile. He doesn’t whistled tunes, but he can also perfectly mimic birdcalls.

My dad could do the same, though he did whistle songs on occassion. His unique loud whistle clearly remains in my memory, even though my dad died when I was a teenager. I’ve never heard anyone else whistle like him, so to have my hero do it startled me. I could probably do some psychobabble here and find other traits of my dad in Trent, but I don’t wanna play that game.

Back to whistling. I so envied my dad’s ability. I begged him to teach me how, much to my mom’s annoyance. Not that she had to worry about her tomboy daughter grasping the talent.

He showed me how he made the sounds, the curl of his tongue, how he set his mouth. He guided me through the process step by step.

I tried so hard to whistle like him. But all I produced was a weak squeak and a lot of spit.

That was years ago, but occasionally I try to whistle like Dad. Nada. Ain’t gonna happen for me, but as least I can teach a character the finer points.

As for the writing, I’ve got an eighth of HC behind me now. Hopefully I can pick up the pace and get this baby drafted!

In discovery phase I, I do enough research to get me launched on a story–it’s the prestory writing stuff where I read a bunch of books and surf the net and acquaint myself with my characters’ jobs, story setting, etc. After that I wing it and don’t delve back into research until those blank lines I leave on the page start to connect.

That’s where I’m at now–discovery phase II. I’m deep into chapter three and need to know indepth info about what’s going on with my protagonist and her new world. See, she’s just discovering her psychic side and is fighting it tooth and nail.

So I have to learn about her psychic abilities in order to portray them correctly. And I know jack about it when you get down to it. But the subject is fascinating and I’m glad my protagonist has this added element to her character.

Fun to write. Now if I can just make it fun to read. 🙂

I’m pleased to report I’ve started the new story. And got it named. The working title is Hello, Chaos.

Oddly enough that pretty much sums up my life the past week. Family doctor appointments can suck away so much time–judging from the other faces in the waiting rooms, nobody was thrilled to sit endlessly waiting for their name to be called.

Then I totally forgot I needed to get my income tax stuff organized. Actually I did fairly well this year. I kept good records for over six months. Which meant I had six months of receipts, etc, stuffed in a file waiting to be sorted. I’d like to say this wasn’t the norm for me, but well, that’d be a big ol’ fib.

Back to the writing life.

A couple of my minor characters who came fully named didn’t tell me they’d stolen those names from real life people living similar lives. The nerve of them. Hmm. Is this a clue about their character? Anyway, I googled the monikers and let’s just say they I gave these characters new birth certificates.

With luck, I can delve back into the story now. Heck, I might even make my self-imposed deadline.

Other than having a solid goal, motivation and conflict in mind for the major characters, I don’t do extensive plotting before I begin a story. But I do I take a page from Amy and ponder a lot about characters and plot.

Starting a new story is a challange I absolutely love. It’s like having a mountain of Christmas packages under the tree and you have to wait an hour or more between unwrapping each one. Some you may anticipate, but those surprises fire the imagination.

For me, the story process starts with characters. Usually the protagonist steps onstage in my head, balancing a chip on the shoulder. Sometimes the situation is also clear or strongly hinted at.

This time the protagonist began spewing invectives about her life-altering crisis immediately. Of course I knew do-diddly about the aspects of said crisis, so on comes the crash course (or courses in this case because the hero’s background had way too many gray areas) so I don’t make an embarrassing (re: stupid) mistake.

I truly can’t begin a story unless I a) know the ins and outs of what my characters do for a living, and b) read up on my chosen location.

This past week I delved into research, and though I have a handle now on my characters’ problems and backstories, I’m by no means an expert. Even if I knew everything about these issues, there are always things that crop up in a story that I hadn’t anticipated, or didn’t take the time to fully explore before I started pounding the keyboard. Yes, I tend to be a tad impatient.

At any rate, I know enough now to begin the actual writing–another fun process. Because honestly, even with all the pondering and research, I don’t see my characters until they open their mouths and/or let me inside their heads.

So I’m off to start chapter one of the yet untitled and not completely peopled new story. Honestly, I’m buzzing with excitement.

Has it really been months since I posted to my update page? Gulp, yep, sure was.

Starting with the New Year, I’m going to attempt to keep the updates page currant, meaning I’m going to try to post once a week. More or less this will be a running account of my writing life and road to publication. (With luck I’ll avoid a good deal of the potholes along the way. )

I finished my mystery which has strong romantic elements (i.e., lust & sex), entered Romance Writers of America’s prestigious contest, the Golden Heart (my first time) and sent out agent queries. So far I’ve received a couple of personal rejects and one request for the full.

Now comes the fun part–put that finished manuscript out of my mind and start the next book. I’ve met the main characters and now the story is starting to get legs.

So check back often, and feel free to comment or drop me an email.

Happy Writing!