An Uncharted Break

In the middle of all this pre-release date stuff for Uncharted: Story for a Shipwright, I thought it would be nice to take a little break and talk about the story I’m working on—the one I mentioned a while back. The coming of age story set primarily in 1969. It started out as SPILLED COFFEE, changed to WHISPERING NARROWS, but now I think I’m back at  SPILLED COFFEE.  WHISPERING NARROWS  seems too romancey and sounds too much like a mystery (yes there is some romance and a bit of mystery, but it’s more literary fiction with a commercial bent, like Uncharted).

The first draft is complete at 80k words and now it’s revision time. My trusted beta readers have provided helpful feedback and now I need to address the problems with the story. It’s always a challenge to know what to alter and what suggestions to veto, but when certain issues gain a consensus, there’s probably something to it. So, for the past few months, it has been sitting in the corner like a problem child—a source of vexation. I think the biggest fault with this novel is that I simply didn’t know the main character, Benjamin Hughes, well enough. I knew him quite well as an adolescent—his early teen summer of 1969 is the primary part of the story. But I hadn’t developed enough of his adult life to flesh him out as a thirty-five-ish year old character my reader can relate to in the early 1990s, when the story opens and to where it returns at the beginning of each chapter. (The switching back and forth is a trick in itself!)

So, I’ve been taking long walks lately, bringing Benjamin along. I asked him, “So what exactly did happen to you and your sister between 1970 and 1992?”

And guess what! He’s been very cooperative! In fact, he introduced me to a new character, Christopher, and cleared up some details on other players in the story. The challenge will be writing Christopher in a realistic and sympathetic way. He’s a complicated character whose idiosyncrasies will require a ton of research. I will need to handle him delicately.

Since this story is written in a male, first person POV (as is Uncharted) and deals a lot with family dysfunction (like Uncharted) it seems that it would be a good follow-up novel to publish after Uncharted, as opposed to my GIRL RUNNING novels, which have a very different feel.

A while back, I even came up with a cover idea—it may be a bit busy and I might have to scratch it, but it at least provides a pretty picture for this post! I'm also hoping that the title brings to mind the old saying,  “No use crying over .... ”  

Writing & Not Writing

I've been deep into researching and writing on my WIP, Whispering Narrows  (aka Spilled Coffee), which partly accounts for my blogging silence as of late. I've also been giving a lot of thought to how I write--my process, that is. For the first time, I've done some serious outlining although I haven't completely stuck to it (I kind of knew I wouldn't, but it did provide me with the direction needed to get the story moving.)

If you'd care to read about the process I used to write Uncharted, my first ever article, Pantsing My Way to Outlining, is in my publisher's spring edition of their OPUS! magazine--it's got my timeline and everything, along with lots of other fine articles by their staff and authors.


This is also the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's time to write something for the Insecure Writer's  Support Group. For three reasons, I've decided to graciously back out of the group: 1) I post so infrequently, that my biggest insecurity has become worrying if my blog looks like it's all about being an insecure writer, which it's not. 2) I simply don't have the time to make the rounds, as much as I'd like to. 3) Besides that, I've always been better at working through my insecurities in private.

Time Setting

How much thought do you put into choosing the year your novel is set in? If you write contemporary fiction, perhaps that is a foregone conclusion—your storyline begins now, or in the recent past! And if you write historical fiction, you likely have a specific time in history in which to frame your plot. Sci-Fi is often set in some distant time in the future. Sometimes, though, time setting is far more subjective.

For instance, I would have set Story for a Shipwright in the year I began writing it—2008. However, because of an important plot point, I had to take into consideration the significantly more stringent security measures of international travel—with emphasis on provable ID since 9/11. I could not pull off a major plot point unless it was set prior to that event, thus, I chose to open the story in the spring of 2001.

As for Portrait of a Girl Running, I picked the year 1978 because it was the year I graduated high school; I could write about it with authenticity. Also, with the increasing awareness of privacy issues and boundaries in ‘fiduciary’ relationships over the past 30 years, it would have been trickier to establish credibility in my plot and character development, had I set it in present day. Sometimes, even in few decades make a big difference in the attitudes of society in general.

With my WIP, Whispering Narrows, I chose the pivotal year 1969 for two reasons: 1) I remember 1969 as a child, and so does my husband who is a couple years older and whose experience I draw from. 2) The Woodstock Festival of 1969 is a plot feature (at least I think it might be at this point—I want to leave my options open).

What factors do you take into consideration when you choose the specific year or time frame of your stories?