Lost, Alone and Running from the World's Deadliest Demons

Blood Money Update #2 (December 2019)

Struggling college student, Makayla Evans, sells her blood to vampires to make ends meet and becomes the prize in a war between two blood sucking families.

Lost, alone and running from the world's deadliest demons, Makayla races to find her mother among monsters before it's too late... 

​If you're looking for more details on the first ever update on Blood Money click the button below:

Blood Money Update 1

*Blood Money Update 1 (November 2019)*

Recap

I completed the plot for Blood Money and was working on the scene list (using you and this blog as a sounding board) to complete my story. I didn't feel like it was finished, but I charged on ahead anyway claiming─

Most battle plans never get past contact

Oh, how true, even in this case. 

So, before I started working on the plot, I wrote 8K (word count) way back in September to get the story "fleshed out". Because, I wanted to find the story.

Then, after writing nearly 10K words, I worked on the outline. 

Yes, I understand that's ass backwards. Don't question genius. 

Let me rephrase...

Don't question crazy

If you just ignore it, it will go away. 

carry on...

Once I had the outline, based on my first 10K words that I wrote, I worked on the scene list.

Yay, scene list!

But, I had to abandon the 8K previously written. 

Why? Because...

Most battle plans never get past contact

Somewhere in this post I'm going to put that advice in a third time because I have to keep reminding myself that most battle plans never survive contact.


Yes, I know what I did there.

​There's a Neil Gaiman story that I just love and refer to during this stage of writing. It goes as such:

Neil Gaiman was with his idol, mentor and friend boasting about American Gods and pronounced... I KNOW HOW TO WRITE NOW!

(Meaning he knew how to outline and puzzle events in a book to create drama with the most impact.) 

And Neil Gaiman's idol, mentor and friend said:

No, you know how to write that book. 

*as the mentor pointed to Neil Gaiman's novel, American Gods.*

​Neil Gaiman then understood that each and every book an author writes is a discovery. 

Discovery of oneself, of the process, of the meaning... of the story they tell. 

Not ever book is the same.

The formula is meant to do the heavy lifting, just like John Truby says.

But the heavy lifting is putting thoughts on paper to clear the way for other ideas.  

Writing is the diarrhea our brains need expelled before going onto another thought

Or, in other words...

Did I really "waste" time and the 8,000 words already written? 

Or is that part of my process so I don't hold onto an irrelevant thought?

Even now, I'm discovering different facets of the story I will add. And they all lead to a different battle plan. 

So while I do have a start of a story I'm going to keep, and I have a "roap map" of sorts on how to get there, it looks like (again) I'll be taking the scenic route. 

Most battle plans never get past contact