Another hero to think about ...

I'm struggling just a bit with my current hero. He's handsome, intelligent and quietly self-assured. But he's not quite the alpha-male he may need to be. :\

Or is he? Maybe I need to analyze him just a bit.

Nathan Toshio Quinn, hero of At Second Sight, is an intelligent man. He's a thinker, not a fighter, but he fights when necessary. He's handsome and is aware of his general attractiveness to women. He does have a tiny bit of uncertainty left over from his younger days, but nothing that can't be masked with a joke or a grin.

He's often the comedian in the group. The man with the quick one-liner and even quicker smile. He's a flirt... an extrovert with introverted tendencies. He's a loner who has only recently begun to feel alone. Maybe he's missing something?

He's a man's man -- the type to watch a game or hang out anywhere from the local art gallery to the corner sport's bar. He seems to belong wherever he goes, whether he's sitting quietly in the corner or laughing at the center of attention.

He can also be a ladies man -- note the second glances when he enters a room? But he has eyes only for his heroine. Damn. He's falling hard for this one.

So, what do you think? Is he 'alpha' enough to keep your interest? Tell me about your 'perfect' hero.

Now what?

Hopefully you've been writing down your story. I've actually had a really good week in that department -- all but three chapters in SHATTERED are completely revised; wrote over three-thousand new words for book three, AT SECOND SIGHT.

Compared to my recent attempts at working, this is fantastic, trust me.

Now that you've started writing, what's next? Well for most of us there's a point -- sometimes more than one -- when we get stuck. This can be in the "sagging middle" or some other area in the story. The trick is to not let it get you down... and to keep on writing.

My experience as a writer has taught me that there are different levels in my creative process. The one I love happens much too infrequently. It's when words pour like water from my fingertips. I can visualize the scene; the dialogue; the sensual information without a hiccup. It feels as if someone is dictating the story from one word to the next. I love "the zone"...and it's during these times that I'm most productive.

The other extreme is "pulling teeth" writing. That's when it feels like I'm digging every other word from the bottom of some deep pit in my brain. One sentence is a struggle. An entire scene is almost torture! Sometimes this is the point where I give up and close the document. If I can feel it's going to be a "pulling teeth" kind of session, I often won't even try. But that's the worse thing you can do.

The best way to get past the hiccups in your writing is to keep on trucking. ;) Write as much as you can -- even if it's very little. But write something. The only way to finish is to DO IT. The bad days will pass and when those little road blocks come down, it is such a rush!