Category: WIP Updates

Insights and progress reports on the development of Toi’s current works in progress. Currently discontinued. See Author Insights for writing updates.

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Full Moon WIP Updates

Stuck!

Well I’ve written two more chapters of my new romance, but now I’m stuck. Excuse the expression if it offends, but praise Jesus I don’t have writer’s block. I’ve been steadily writing and working on this and other stories, but I’ve come to a part in my romance where I’m just not sure which way to take it. In my attempt to take a not so new or original idea and mix it up a bit, I’ve mixed it up so much I can’t seem to settle it down.

Rebecca’s character has evolved in the story, but all the rest of the characters have remained much the same. I guess the problem I’m having is trying to figure out what else I can do to mix things up without turning this into a comedy. I think I’m ready to bring out the other characters to put a spin on things, but I’m afraid I’ll end up making the others more interesting than my main character Rebecca.

So here’s what I’m dealing with. Lisa is Rebecca’s best friend. Teddy is Becca’s brother. Paul is Teddy’s new best friend. Mr. Thornton is Paul’s father. Ms. Rapture is Teddy and Becca’s mother, Lucy is their aunt, and Virgil is Becca’s fiancé. There are a few more minor characters, but I think I’ve got my hands full with these.

Lisa is a mess to begin with so I don’t think it will be hard to stir up her character; all she needs is a fling or the experience of true love and that could be enough to turn the story around entirely. Rebecca could come to her friend’s aid in either getting over her fling or helping her understand how to be in love, while inadvertently answering some of her own tough questions about her relationship.

Teddy and Paul are both young virile men who have no trouble getting the attention of women, but they are opposites in their approaches. Teddy never takes women seriously while Paul is always looking for the one. I know there’s something here, I just have to figure out what.

The parents are hysterical already. Ms. Rapture, Lucy, and Mr. Thornton have been comically supportive up to this point, but I’m thinking of adding some kind of twist involving them. In any case, I have too many options that could work, but I have to choose just one. Or do I?

Next week at the Eternal Curse Series blog, I will be hosting author Bridget Straub. It’s sure to be a good time. Stop by and check it out.

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WIP Updates

Happy I Love to Write Day!

The Path

I always thought that when good people died, they turned into angels and went to Heaven, while bad people became demons and went to Hell. I was wrong. When people die, they don’t become angels or demons, they just become the remnants of what they used to be. They are just the spirits of the humans they once were, but where they go, is an entirely different matter.

Righteous people’s spirits are lifted up to heaven, so far off and high beyond the relativity that humans think of as the sky, that other spirits can’t even see how far they’ve gone…and they definitely can’t see the pearly gates, if they even exist. There is much debate about what makes a person righteous by those of us who weren’t granted the title, but it pretty much boils down to anyone who was a pretty decent person and actually whole heartily believed in something greater than themselves.

Can’t believe I spent all my mortal life making fun of people who “believed” and that I publicly proclaimed on multiple occasions that if Heaven exists, it would probably be open to any good person. I honestly thought that as long as I wasn’t a rapist or serial killer, I’d be ok. I was, at least for the moment, better off than the rapists and killers. They were all dragged, by their bleeding eye sockets that had been gouged out by their soon to be hellish neighbors, straight down into a boiling pit of fire, which I took to be entrance into Hell.

I wish there was a way to keep track of time here. I just want to know how long I’ve been on this path. Everyone who didn’t making it straight into Heaven or Hell, was given a path to follow to decide where they’d spend eternity. Based on the way you lived your life, whether you were good or bad and to what extent, your path was either wide or narrow in varying degrees, smooth or rock, lit or dim, and so on.

My path was relatively wide, dimly lit, and bumpy. I was actually one of the more fortunate ones. Very few people were given wide, smooth, well lit paths with very few obstacles along the way; as far as I could tell. It’s seems like I’ve been traveling this road for ages, but there really is no way to tell. I haven’t encountered any obstacles at the moment other than navigating the bumpy path. A few days ago or weeks, who knows, I stumbled across this journal square in the center of my path. I knew the journal was meant for me and that I should take it and write in it.

It took me a few days or weeks, I don’t really know, before I was ready to start writing. As I continued to walk along the path, I discovered pencils and erasers, and sticky notes, and paper clips. I was very leery of the odd and eerie gifts. I thought for sure I was headed down a path leading me straight to Hell and that these gifts were just tokens of false hope meant to build me up for a huge let down. The more I thought about this horrible possibility the less and less gifts I received and the harsher my path grew.

One day, I think it was early, but really had no way of telling, I grew tired. For however long I had been traveling this path, I’d never needed to stop for rest, eat, drink, or use the bathroom. When I sat down to rest, I finally pulled out my journal and began to write in it…

Well that’s all I have for the moment. This is officially a new WIP. Since today is I Love to Write Day, I decided to just sit down and write whatever came into my head until it stopped coming. This is the result. I will probably leave it like this for a couple of days before going back to what happens next in the story.

I’ve been a busy bee as usual networking, reading, writing, and as always learning. I am eight chapters into my romance now. My adventure has been taking a long nap; maybe I’ll try to wake it up this weekend. Still beta testing the sequel to my currently book before committing it to a professional edit.  

This week over at the Eternal Curse Series, I was visited by author Paula Stiles. She has some really great stories to share and tomorrow I’ll post the lovely interview we conducted. That’s all for now. Have a wonderful rest of the week.

Categories
Full Moon WIP Updates

Meet Rebecca

Her name means knotted cord, captivating, or servant of God, but truth be told, I just looked this up. Rebecca is the main character of the romance I’m currently working on and I picked her name just so I could shorten it to Becca from time to time. I don’t know why, but I’ve always liked the nickname Becca.

Before you get too excited, this isn’t a “tell all” about this new character. This is just a brief introduction to who Rebecca is and a little bit of her story. Rebecca comes from a, somewhat, wealthy family, that is on her father’s side, but that doesn’t mean she’s had an easy life. Compared to most, her life has been a cakewalk, but everyone has their issues and struggles, and Rebecca is no different.

I’m about eight chapters into my first rough draft, which my chapters are barely there, at five to six pages. I’m focused right now on just completing the story, trying to see how it will end. I have two ideas in mind, but I still haven’t made a decision yet. There is much more development that will need to be done, before I can start the editing and review process.

While writing this little story and discussing it with a, very small select group of people, I’ve found that my story has some similarities to others, but this isn’t a shock to me. My Eternal Curse book has been compared to Beauty and the Beast by several different people. I can’t ignore the fact that this story has always been one of my favorites and that my mother is a little obsessed with it. I guess that’s why she likes my book so much.

So far, this new story, currently named, It’s Like the Full Moon, has been compared to books and movies along the lines of A Room With a View, Moonstruck, and other romantic comedies, though I don’t know that my story is very funny. The mention of Moonstruck is what prompted the current title, but I haven’t decided if I’ll keep it; only time will tell.