Guest Blogger: Christine Ashworth

Today I’m joined by new author Christine Ashworth, sharing her experience with overwriting– an affliction that many newbie authors suffer from.  I’m sure most of you authors out there have similar tales as Christine, if so please share.  There’s no judging here 🙂

Hi La-Tessa, thanks for having me on your blog to blatantly promote my first published novel! But before I get to that, I wanted to share how I went from overwriting, to writing to sell.

When I wrote my first novel, I put everything in it. Ballet dancers, gay men, straight men, alcohol, sweat, snow, gorgeous imagery, sexual tension, heartbreak, omniscient POV, deep third POV, Paris, New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, hot tubs, nakedness in the kitchen, really great lasagna, sex with inappropriate people…should I go on?

Needless to say, that novel, while remaining a darling in my heart, is on a dusty section of a hard drive that no longer exists. Ten long years have passed – eleven complete novels and over a dozen partials later, and I’m still struggling not to put everything plus the kitchen sink into a book.

I know now how to plot just enough that the thought of writing the story doesn’t bore me. I know how to go back through a book and see what’s missing, and how to add it in. I write fast, mainly to get through the writing to the rewriting, which has become my favorite part of writing. (Which is good, since selling means rewriting.)

But it’s taken me a long time to accept my method of writing and then rewriting. I had a friend ask me if I keep all the words I write in a day (typically 2k-5k, depending on the day, the story, and life in general). At first I thought, well of course I do! But in retrospect, when I rewrite a story for sense, romance, plot, and character, I do change/add/delete quite a bit of words. I’ve tossed out entire chapters because that dragged in a fourth POV, which the story didn’t need. So do I keep all the words I write? No. My bet is, few writers do.

I’m no Gustav Flaubert (Madame Bovary), who would at times agonize over a paragraph for a month before he was satisfied with it. (Plus, you know, he was writing in French.) Rather, the words fly out of my brain and onto the screen because if I think too much I can’t write – therefore, the words that make it to the page aren’t always appropriate for the story, but they lead me to the next bit, and the next, and before I know it, the book is done and the real work (fun!) begins.

No writing is truly wasted. When I say I “toss” words, I really mean “put in a delete folder for all eternity”. Because someday, those words might come in handy! Yes, I still over-write – add in elements to the story that don’t really fit. But they get put into the delete folder at the appropriate time, because my brain has finally figured out what happens next.

Christine, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your experience.  You weren’t kidding about trying to put everything in your first manuscript were you?.  Personally, I’d like to know how all that could possibly exist in one story, but I suppose that’s a tale for another day.  Great lasagna indeed-LOL.  😀

Before I let Christine go, I ‘d like to mention her 1st release, Demon Soul is out and available for purchase.  Here’s a bit about it:

…to retrieve his soul, she’ll become fire… Gabriel Caine stands on the edge of the abyss. A vampire has stolen his soul and if he doesn’t get it back soon, his next step will be into hell.

Rose Walters has been sent back from the dead to complete one task – save Gabriel Caine. But this muscled guy in leather, black jeans and a dangerous aura didn’t look like he needed anyone’s help.

Rose has touched the whole of Gabriel, making him yearn for a love he believes he can never have. Her willingness to put her human life on the line for him forces him to bring all three parts of himself – demon, human and Fae bloodlines, and the traps and gifts of each – into harmony, and into the fight that will decide their fate.

Demon Soul is available for purchase on Amazon and All Romance eBooks.
You can find Christine over at her website and on Twitter.

Comments 13

  1. Christine Ashworth

    LaTessa, thanks for having me here today. I hope you’re feeling better!

    25 April, 2011
  2. Traci Bell

    Hi Christine!

    I think I write the exact opposite of you… my first draft is a bare bones version, just to get my ideas on paper before I lose them. When I rewrite, then I flesh it out with color and details.

    Although, I have thrown out whole chapters when I decided they slowed the pace or didn’t really advance the story 🙂

    25 April, 2011
  3. La-Tessa

    I’m feeling a lot better now Christine, I try to not let anything keep me down for too long. :-). So, when am I going to get the skinny on the great lasagna/San Diego/ballet dancer connection?? 😀

    25 April, 2011
  4. J. W. Hankins

    I’m along the lines of Traci Bell. For novels, my first draft is pretty much bare bones, I borrow from my Screenwriting tactics, just to get the basics, the necessary detials, down and out of my head. Then I go back and fatten it up a bit with colors, smells, and visuals.

    25 April, 2011
  5. Christine Ashworth

    Hmm. I’m kind of bare-bones myself, in that my characters are rarely wearing clothes and I tend not to put in much description. Lots of action and lots of dialog, not so much introspection, lol!

    LaTessa, the connection is I grew up in San Diego, I was a ballet dancer, and I make great lasagna! So I threw all that into my first book, lol!

    25 April, 2011
  6. Lynne Marshall

    Hi Christine!
    Kudos to anyone who can spew 2-5K in any day. I’m a 1K a day person, and like a couple of the other commenters, I go back and color in the next day, and usually more coloring (along with lots of deleting) on the third pass and subsequent drafts.

    Loved the description of your first novel. You are so funny. Hmm – I think you wrote The Black Swan and didn’t know it?
    (I actually read your ballet novel – remember?)

    25 April, 2011
  7. Christine Ashworth

    Lynne – OMG! I TOTALLY forgot that you read that novel, lol! Wasn’t I right? Didn’t it have everything AND the kitchen sink in it? Too funny…

    25 April, 2011
  8. La-Tessa

    Oh you guys are tripping me out-lol. Christine, that just goes to show how much of “us” we authors tend to put into out first few characters. I’ve been having so much trouble with my contemp romance for this very reason. But now on my 3rd plot revision, I think I’m ready to try again… o_O

    LOL @ Lynne- was it Black Swan the Prequel? 🙂

    25 April, 2011
  9. Shelley Munro

    Congrats on your new release, Christine.

    My first draft is very spare and always needs fleshing out. I definitely have to go back and color in the setting. My poor characters usually wander around a white box at first. Experience has taught me to add more things in the first draft, but it’s still pretty spare.

    25 April, 2011
  10. Christine Ashworth

    Thanks, Shelley! Yes, it seems most people go for short and spare. I go for long and spare, lol!

    25 April, 2011
  11. Carol Ericson

    Actually, that first novel sounds pretty exciting! But yes, newbie writers have a tendency to throw in everything they know! Now I need to download Demon Soul to my Kindle!

    26 April, 2011
  12. Linnea Hall

    Awesome Christine! Thanks so much for sharing! As I write, I did the basic plot first – and am trying to keep the kitchen sink out, but seeing that there are things going in that will later come out, but that are helping me *see* what will come next. Awesome inspiring post!

    26 April, 2011
  13. Christine Ashworth

    Carol, you can ask Lynne about it – if she remembers! It was quite dramatic, lol!

    Linnea, thanks for dropping by! It does help to remember that not everything in the book has to stay there, doesn’t it? Cheers!

    26 April, 2011