If you're a dreamer, a wisher, a liar
A hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean buyer
If you're a pretender come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin
Come in...come in...
~Shel Silverstein

Thursday, January 17, 2013

CHANCE...

Me and Chance face-painted in Gryffindor colors
 for Harry Potter
So, really quickly, I'd like to start by saying to everyone that I'm sorry if I haven't been around on your blogs as much lately. I do my very best to keep up with everyone, but I am also hard at work on a new book and it's taking up a lot of my time. You guys all know how that is!!

Me and Chance being ridiculous together
at Target. I love how silly he is!
Which leads me right into what I wanted to talk about for this weeks Thursday's Children Post. For those of you who don't know, Thursday's Children is a weekly bloghop hosted by Rhiann Wynn-Nolet at NEST OF WORDS  and KRISTINA PEREZ. It's a really fun bloghop, all about what inspires us as writers. I'm always surprised that more people don't join in, the linky-list is open and you guys can hop on board any week!!

So, lately I've been finding my inspiration sitting directly beside me, kicking my butt to write faster. haha...His name is Chance and he's my sixteen year old son. We're almost 30K into a book we are writing together and it has been an awesome experience.
He looked so cute here I had to include this one. This is
him and his oldest sister, Cait.

I was the one who got Chance interested in writing. As I've learned and grown as a writer, I've tried to pass those lessons onto him. Because I'm the one who taught him (my kids are homeschooled)  his writing style is close enough to mine that we mesh really well. We also tend to think similarly, especially when it comes to making up crazy stories. In fact, I'd venture to say that, out of all my four kids, Chance is the one whose thought process is the most like mine.

Chance and his best buddy Jace,
just hanging out like guys do
BUT--having said all that, he's not me. haha. He's far, far from me. And having his input into this book has taken it in directions that I would've never thought of going. This is--by far--the most action-packed thing I've tried to write. I'd say it's the first of my books that's equally plot and character-driven. It's much more raw than my last two books, and I love the grittier feel to it.

 It's also the first book I've written where the romance is strictly sub-plot, and that's been cool as well--venturing out of my comfort zone. Plus, Chance brings in the perfect authentic viewpoint of a teenage boy. Since the book is told in dual view-points of two teenage boys, that's a really handy thing to have.

Chance stealing my horse right in the middle
of the ride!! He just got on and pushed me out
of the way!
I had to include this one, just cause it's so cool.
Chance takes his Halloween costumes very
seriously. This is an amalgamation of
the Steampunk Giraffe Band Members





 Having Chance as my partner has been a truly amazing, inspiring experience. If any of you ever get the opportunity to write with someone else, I would highly recommend it. There's nothing like having someone else who loves your stories and characters as passionately as you do, who can help you plan when you get stuck, who can bounce ideas off you and dig you out of plot holes!!

And, if you can find a writer who you happen to love more than anything else under the sun, I'd definitely say that's icing on the cake!! Can you tell this guy is my best friend? :)

And, for anyone who's curiosity is peaked, I got tagged (again!) in the Next Big Thing bloghop, so I'll be posting more about me and Chance's book sometime this weekend.

25 comments:

  1. That is really cool you can work with your son and that you two have such a great relationship. You are impacting his life in ways you can't even imagine right now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really hope so--he's such a good kid. I think it would be so awesome if we got this book published together. Quite an accomplishment/huge learning experience for a seventeen year old. As for me, this is the third book I've written. They do say three times is the charm. :)

      Delete
  2. Great post, great story! I love the photos too. Can't imagine writing a book WITH someone - maybe I have control issues, hmm.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't write with just any old body. It would have to be someone I'm extremely close too, so Chance fits the bill on that. :)

      Delete
  3. I remember what is like to have someone who loves your writing as much as you do and even helps with it. It is really a great relationship. I miss that so much. Congratulations to you both!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really is. Nobody else in my family gets it in quite the same way Chance does. I feel so lucky that one of my kids is passionate about writing. :)

      Delete
  4. Grin. I think sons are wonderful and having a son who is a writing partner, well, that must be heaven.

    http://otherworlddiner.blogspot.com/2013/01/contests-thumbs-up-or-thumbs-down.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Aw- Chance is amazing (great pictures love the steam punk Halloween costume) and I just posted about one day, writing with my daughter Faith. *Fingers crossed*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love that name--Faith. Very pretty. And I thought her ladybug story was awesome. :)

      Delete
  6. This is one of the coolest posts I've ever read. I love that you and Chance can work together on a book. He seems like an awesome kid! Well done, mom! :) My boys don't write with me, but last night, Killian, my oldest was brainstorming with me on a new story and it was so much fun neither of us wanted to go to bed last night. Needless to say, we're both dragging butt today - lol!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't that the most fun? Chance and I have been doing that forever...he was working on a book for awhile, that he's shelved for now, but we would talk about that book, or my books. Even though this is the first time we've worked together, he's given me a ton of great ideas over the years. I'm so glad he's taking his writing seriously and as psyched about working on this book as I am!!

      How old is Killian? Chance was twelve when he started brainstorming stories with me--that was also the year he began writing some stuff on his own...

      Delete
  7. Woah..... action, plot, sign me up!!!! Haha. That's awesome that he is lending a different perspective and pushing your work into a different kind of territory. I'm sure you're influencing each other but keeping your own style at the same time.

    Does it feel different writing a more plot-driven novel?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does feel different!! I'm definitely out of my comfort zone, but I think it's pushing me to grow as a writer. Truthfully, he and I are trying something really complex that I haven't seen done before. I have two other books besides the one I'm working on with him--you know that. And, even though he wasn't actively writing on those two books, he gave me a ton of ideas on them.

      Both of us couldn't help but notice that we tend to like the same sorts of themes: parallel worlds, weird sci-fi/paranormal stuff etc...So, we want to tie the books together as companion novels.

      Each of my first books (and now this one as well) is written to be a trilogy, but--if our idea came to fruition--the last book in each of the trilogies would start twining the stories of the characters of all three books, and then we'd wrap the whole thing up with a final book--or something along those lines.

      As an example, the book I'm querying is about a girl who falls through a rip in a parallel world and lands here, on Earth--with no memory of her life before the fall. The boy she loved--Luc-- follows her and has to win her over again. But, when Luc joins the mission to Earth, it's mentioned that some of the other Travelers are going to Earth to look for an ancient artifact that somehow ended up here. They know a girl name Liv has it, and has gone on the run to keep it from them.

      All that is mentioned in a really off-hand way in Against the Falling Moons, but Liv is one of the MC's of the book I'm working on with Chance...

      I know it's a crazy idea, considering I haven't even published one book--but the beauty of it is that they could stand alone or work together, so why not, right? Besides--go big or go home, right? :)

      Delete
    2. P.S. Oops. sorry for the insanely long reply. Never ask a writer about their work! haha

      Delete
    3. I think it's a great idea.

      My personal goal has always been to build worlds first, then tell the stories within them. Since you have two different worlds with different factions, key characters, and motivations within them... you could write tons of stories!

      Just make sure you take time to plan through all the connections — especially since you already have 3ish existing books. Is there an overarching thread or theme? Is there anything that connects the main characters (even though they may have never met)? Do we need to read these books in order for it to make sense? What makes your world a place that I'd want to spend time in (especially since you're switching MCs on me with each one).

      Sounds exciting!

      Delete
    4. Thanks! And yeah...we're watching all those connections. The biggest one is that each book has some kind of connection to parallel worlds, so it made sense to tie them together. And the biggest challenge is to make it so that the books don't depend on each other--they each have their own story lines, but--if you wanted to read them all--you'd see a ton of really cool connections. Also, if that was okay with a publisher/agent--eventually there would be a final book that all the characters would be in--which would be craaazy!!

      Delete
  8. I LOVE this!!! My 12yo daughter is very much into writing, and wants me to write a novel with her. I told her she has to let me finish writing my trilogy first, since I'm obligated to my publisher, and that way she'll have time to grow a bit more. She's very talented though--more so than me! And I'm not just saying that b/c I'm her mom, lol. She's in Gifted L.A. at her middle school, and was chosen as "Language Arts Student of the Year" out of the entire 6th grade last year, and has been on the school's "Wall of Fame" this year for having the highest average for 7th Grade L.A. in Q1 and Q2. So she is for sure capable just like Chance (and LOVE his name too!), so this has really inspired me to write with her. What a fantastic way to bond!! And thanks for signing up for my blogfest:-) And yes, my 18 Things book is most definitely PG-13 (I think it was you who asked in email, right? It accidentally got deleted, so I wasn't sure). I'm a school teacher as well and wanted to keep it clean enough so I'm not sent to the principal's office;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, not me that asked about it being PG--sorry! The book sounds really cool though--very emotional prologue!

      And that's awesome that your daughter is so into writing. Isn't it so cool to have one of your kids share your passion?? By the time you are done writing your trilogy, she'll be old enough to easily work with!

      Delete
  9. Aren't kids the best? Great that you and Chance are writing something together! My 13 yr.old daughter is constantly working on stories too and my youngest are always waiting to hear new ones. They're definitely my biggest supporters too. What would we do without them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have no idea! I love how supportive my kids are of my writing. And the writing bug definitely seems to run in families. I've gotten a lot of people on this blogpost who have kids that write!

      Delete
  10. Oh how sweet! You are learning so much from each other.

    We had one foster daughter who loved to write and I helped her as much as I could.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's really nice. And yeah, I learn as much from him as he does from me!

      Delete
  11. It's wonderful that you have your son as a writing partner! I have a few guys in my crit group and they definitely have a different way of looking at things than girls. Good luck to both of you!

    BTW, "Bechamel" is just the French term for white sauce. Basically it's 1 tbs butter (or oil), 1 tbs flour and 1 cup of milk (more of each for larger recipes). I spice mine up with herbs and a chicken broth cube and then put it with noodles and chicken pieces. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a fantastic relationship. Having another creative mind personally in you life really is a God send. That's one thing I had missed out on growing up ... BUT our blogging community is an AMAZING source of talent to get inspired by!

    Have a great weekend Tamara!

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from everyone! Thanks for the comment. :)