Switching WIPs and Visual Inspiration

Ok.

Remember that WIP of mine, Duets? Remember how I wrote two posts about it, excited to explore music and the ocean and messy love with three characters I loved, a setting I loved, a story I loved?

...Remember when I wrote 2.5k and couldn't write any more? No?

I was embarrassed that I'd abandoned a novel so early on, one I was so excited about, but it wasn't the right time for me to write it. I knew that when I danced so hard one night that I had to laugh afterwards, because it had made me that happy.

I knew that I wanted to write about dance. Again.

And from there I remembered Tiffany, a dance team captain, her boyfriend Ethan, her best friend Adelle, her rival Tessa, and her town. That was as far as the idea when I first brainstormed, but as I struggled through Duets, I gave Tiffany two sisters and a brother, a krumper to figure out life with,  and a football field where she danced the way I did that night.

My last novel was, in a sense, about dance, and I was worried that I'd be repeating myself with this one. But, Tiffany is not Callie (my MC in Duets was much closer to Callie than Tiffany is, and I think that's partly why I found it so hard to write), dance team is about as far from improv as you can get, and there are no car crashes or wheelchairs or random sex. It's a different story, and it's one that I love to write, which is why I feel comfortable with it as my current project.

So, I thought I'd share some visual inspiration for this WIP, through both pictures and dances. The order of these pictures and videos, while not chronological, is definitely intentional and meaningful. I'd love to hear what you think of these and, in turn, what kind of sense you have of the story!

That picture of the boy and girl starting to slow dance? They look exactly like the couple they're meant to represent, and it freaked me out so much when I first saw the picture! So cool when stuff like that happens. Let me know what you guys are thinking in the comments!

Road Trip Wednesday: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Road Trip Wednesday is hosted by YA Highway.

This Week's Topic: The Five Senses. How you use them in your writing, how you are inspired by them, pictorial essays, that character with smelly socks, books that have used them well, the ones that are currently missing from your work, etc.

Guys, I'm so bad at this. Detail is not one of my strengths as a writer, so I rarely write passages which describe a sunset, the sound of a train, the texture of snow, etc. 

My current WIP, Duets, calls for description. My last novel was intentionally set in Nowhere Specific--it's a nice place--but Duets is set in the maritimes, where I've lived all my life and love too much to misrepresent. Also, the three main characters in Duets are musicians, so sound and how that affects all the other senses is incredibly important.

I'm going to share what inspired this novel in terms of the five senses, and hopefully it'll help me see what details I need to incorporate in this novel.

Sight

The ocean, especially when the waves are big

The inside of a cottage, where my characters stay

Smell

One of my absolute favourite smells: Sunscreen

 Touch

The texture of saltwater-hair

Taste

Barbecue!

Sound

Since Duets is about, well, duets, there are so many songs I could've picked for this. The Civil Wars' album Barton Hollow pretty much is my playlist for this, and I chose "Forget Me Not" to represent it because this video is adorable and captures everything I love about The Civil Wars. Most of the music in Duets is folk or country, and this is its playlist (which is also a work in progress) if you're interested: Duets' Playlist.

How do you use the five senses in your writing? 

Visual Inspiration: Duets

Privyet! Saliem! Hello!

That is Russian, Kazakh, and, this one's tricky, English. I'm back from Kazakhstan land, and am once again a dual citizen of Canada land and Internet land. While I was away, I only used the internet twice, and now I find myself overwhelmed with how big it is. So many tweets and blog posts and So You Think You Can Dance videos to catch up on!
 
And then there's this blog, which, uh, I don't know what to do with. I feel so removed from the YA community and writing in general that it's left me with nothing to say.

What I need to do is write--I finally opened Word today, and it was scary--so for now, I'll leave you with Duets (my new WIP! Yes, new. About time, eh?) visual inspiration. I'm stealing this idea from multiple people, so multiple people, I think you are awesome. That's why I'm copying you.

 

  

 

So, what do you think Duets is about? I've thought way too much about these pictures, and though the order may not be chronological, the placement of the pictures definitely symbolizes the novel. I'll give you a hint: It takes place at the beach. And it possible involves duets. Never would've guessed, eh?

It's good to be back, and I can't wait to talk to all of you again!

Picture This

The latest trend in the blogosphere seems to be sharing pictures that inspired your novels, and because I have no original ideas I want to be a cool kid, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and do the same.

But mine's a little different, because these pictures did not inspire Building Forts; instead, these are pictures I actively searched for that would fit the novel. These pictures help bring the novel back to life for me as I make my way through revisions. All pictures are from weheartit.com.

The coolest part of this search was when I found pictures that looked like a photograph of one of my scenes. It happened with the following pictures:

 

And my absolute favourite. The more I look at this picture, the more I realize how inappropriate it could be, but in the novel it's pure shirtless dancing fun.