Storyboarding Got Me Halfway There, Now What?
Even though this won’t post until it’s officially Monday, it’s actually Sunday evening when I’m writing this, and I’m currently sitting at about 51,000 words on a manuscript I told my editor I’d have to her “by Monday at the latest.” Um . . . yeah. Probably not going to happen, since the best I’ve ever been able to do in one twenty-four hour period is about 15,000 words.
As I’d hoped, working out the next five chapters—or what I thought would be the next five chapters—when I stopped last Monday to storyboard actually worked into about seven chapters’ worth of material, since some of the scenes had much more to them than I originally expected (oh, and I had SO much fun writing a couple of scenes with Dylan and his three brothers—y’all are going to absolutely love Paxton, Spencer, and Tyler).
Dylan Bradley (template: Sam Talbot), Paxton “Pax” Bradley (David Alpay),
Spencer Bradley (Evan Lysacek), and Tyler Bradley (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).
Because the book opens right before Christmas, lots of family members are popping up whom I hadn’t expected, primarily Caylor’s parents and sister—and the sister is sticking around awhile, too, which was also totally unexpected.
So, now that I have these additional characters (unfortunately, Spencer and Tyler both attend graduate schools out of state, so I’ve just sent them back to Chicago and Boston respectively) and a plot twist that Dylan’s mother added to the mix with an announcement at Sunday dinner the first time he sees them in the book (which brings some additional secondary characters with it), it’s time for a little bit of reconnaissance to see what impact all of these secondary characters are going to have on the story, without forgetting the four most important secondary characters:
Zarah and Flannery
and Perty Bradley and Sassy Evans
I also just wrote in two of my favorite, very Southern foods from my childhood: honey-cheese toast (bread topped with American or cheddar cheese, toasted face-up in the toaster oven, then drizzled with honey once golden brown):
and “pear salad” (canned pear halves—I use the no-sugar added ones—filled with a dollop of mayonnaise and topped with grated cheddar cheese):
Obviously, I can’t spend too much time reorganizing myself and my secondary characters and subplots—because I’ve got a ton of writing yet to do. But that’s where I am as of right now.
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KayeDacus.com 
Kaye, where do you pick your photos for your stories? Do you simply google or is there a resource you use specifically?
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Be Your Own Casting Director: Introduction
Be Your Own Casting Director: Real World Template Exercise
BYOCD: Creating a Casting Book
BYOCD: Collecting Images
BYOCD: Putting RWTs to Work for You
BYOCD: Guided Brainstorming with RWTs
MENU FOR ROMANCE: The Character-Casting Process
A CASE FOR LOVE: The Character-Casting Process
RANSOME’S HONOR: The Character Casting Process
RANSOME’S CROSSING: Character Introductions
Book Covers and Character-Casting
Cover Models
LOVE REMAINS: Character Casting
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Kaye,
Silly question here, but do you pay to download the images?
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I mean downloading the images from the JupiterImages site.
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No, because I’m only downloading them for personal use.
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Wonderful! I am trying it! Thanks!
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All of that to say—I’m a very visually oriented writer. I cannot develop a character without already having a Real World Template chosen for him/her.
I always send my publishers images of the templates I’ve chosen for my characters. With the current contemporary series, after the first cover turned out to look nothing like either of the templates I’d sent them, they told me they really wanted to use stock photos for the covers instead of having to do a photo shoot. So I went onto JupiterImages.com, where I have an account (it’s easy and free to set one up), and did a search for stock photos of people who matched the parameters of the characters. I usually like to use actors/actresses as my templates so that I can study their body movements and facial expressions and voice and mannerisms, but there were enough different photos of these two models (see the “Book Covers and Character Casting” post linked above) that it’s worked out fine.
And I now have the unique ability to say that I, the author, picked out the character images on the front covers of both The Art of Romance and Turnabout’s Fair Play.
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You’re making me slightly dizzy and definitely flying into panic-mode and I don’t have the deadline!!!!!!
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That’s the weird thing for me–I haven’t yet gone into that panic mode. Perhaps because I just went through that less than three months ago when I wrote 2/3 of Ransome’s Quest in five days?
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Sorry the Monday deadline didn’t work out, but congrats on all the great work you’ve completed so far! And those pics of Dylan and his brothers are great – fantastic choices! (BTW…I just have to say the idea of pear salad grosses me out to no end, LOL!)
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I knew that would probably be the reaction from most people on the pear salad. It’s a love-it-or-hate-it kind of dish.
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I’m still trying to wrap my head around cheese and honey on toast…. 🙂
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I think I could deal with cheese & honey, LOL!
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Here’s the direct quote from the book:
Caylor closed her eyes and took a moment to enjoy the rough texture of the toast juxtaposed to the creamy cheese and viscous honey, the contrast of the salty and the sweet on her tongue.
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Well, when you put it like THAT!
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Kaye, I grew up on both of those guilty pleasures (sometimes using peaches instead of pears), and still indulge. I love writing childhood lovelies into my books. Someday I’m gonna really gross folks out with what my grandmother called “a gray mare” – milk gravy and Golden Eagle syrup drizzled over a buttered biscuit.
I also love it when characters start trying to drive the writing. Tells me I’ve created a great character ready to rock and roll. Good luck with the rest of the book, deadline notwithstanding.
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I’ve never had it with peaches before. Hmmm . . . I have some canned peaches, too.
I’d intended to use the pear salad in the first book in this series, but the opportunity never presented itself. Good thing, because it fit perfectly in this book!
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Thanks for this post, Kaye! Loved seeing your characters, and it’s always fascinating for me to read about how different authors create or “find” their characters. ~ Can’t resist commenting about the Pear Salad – – that is one of my favorites, but my kiddos tease me about it (they do NOT like it at all!). However, each time I’ve taken it to a “covered dish dinner” folks have eaten it all up. (I also add a maraschino cherry on top of the mayo and cheese–adds even more color!). Thanks again for this post….and for reminding me I need a can of PEARS when I go to the store, LOL! Blessings from Georgia, Patti Jo 🙂
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I see it done much more often with cottage cheese than mayo (I prefer cottage cheese with peaches, since peaches have more flavor). And I always make sure to use sharp cheddar, just to get the greatest contrast of flavor.
What gets me is that all the people whom I’ve talked to about this dish before are the same people who wouldn’t think twice about ordering a salad that has pears (or apples) and cheese in it, topped with a mayonnaise-based dressing.
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Pear salad! I just fell in love with you, Kaye! That is one of my favorite things in all of the world, and more often than not, people look at me like I’ve lost my mind when I bring it up. Not only that, I prefer my banana sandwiches with mayo instead of peanut butter. There is just something about mayo and fruit.
Your toast reminded me of one of my dad’s treats from his childhood that he passed on to us… saltine cracker, topped with a slice of cheddar and a marshmallow, browned off in the oven. Yummo. Don’t knock it ’til you try it… 🙂
Dagnabbit. Never mention food to me after dinner. Now I’m hungry…
Praying for you on your word count!!!!!
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