This month it’s all about the biggest writing challenge on our current novel. So we aren’t necessarily talking about the daily, routine distractions that take away from the writing process ~ we’re talking about the particular challenges we are facing on our current work-in-progress…
Robin Lythgoe
Author of As the Crow Flies
My experiences in the novel-writing game are relatively few, but so far, every novel has posed at least one challenge. I’m not talking about the Usual Life Challenge that pops up every time you choose a cool project and Things Happen. Like the furnace goes out, or you get the flu, or you remember at the last minute that a Quills Post is due tomorrow… No, I’m talking about novel-specific snags and pitfalls. Like the Beisyth Web in As the Crow Flies, or the (top secret now) timeline issues in Flesh and Bone. This time, right-this-minute, I find myself surrounded by a virtual cloud of delicate perfume as I…
Patricia Reding
Author of Oathtaker
Where does one begin? There are so many: (1) ways to stumble; (2) reasons to delay; and (3) opportunities to turn one’s attention elsewhere. It seems in one way or another, all of these things have happened to me as I’ve worked on Volume Four of The Oathtaker Series.
As to my “stumbling,” I spent a year on a work that I am very pleased and proud of. Unfortunately …
Parker Broaddus
Author of A Hero’s Curse & Nightrage Rising
I am currently working on a distinctly different story than anything I’ve done before. This new novel is not at all related to The Unseen Chronicles, and while I certainly miss Essie Brightsday and the cast of characters we met in A Hero’s Curse and Nightrage Rising, I am loving the new setting. Inter-dimensional travel, a mad scientist, two brothers, a detective, a runaway…There is so much to investigate and explore! So many new characters to interact with!
But embedded within all this excitement is a dinosaur-sized problem. Dinosaurs to be exact. In addition to inter-dimensional travel and a mad scientist and all the other fantastic ingredients in the story, I’ve got dinosaurs.
So how do you research dinosaurs? What sounds did they make? What did they smell like? How did they move and interact? And is watching Jurassic Park really research? 🙂
That’s my new challenge. Creating a world that is as accurate and believable as possible. It would be so easy to write the story and then one of my boys point out that an ankylosaurus would never be in the same area as a kronosaurus, because the kronosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous period and the ankylosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous period. Silly dad. Everyone knows that.
Fortunately, not only am I having a good time, but so are the boys. They are loving the research and eager to help. That sounds like a win to me. What do you think? Where do you recommend I do my research?
There is something to be said for being able to research things that actually exist—or existed! Haha! This seems like a win/win situation. You and your boys are going to learn lots and have fun doing it, and the world is going to get another terrific book to read. It sounds like quite the lively adventure!