Interview with Darrel Nelson Author of The Anniversary Waltz and The Return of Cassandra Todd

Darrel Nelson has authored two published books The Anniversary Waltz and his recent release, The Return of Cassandra Todd. He has also been a school teacher and minister inspiring the events of his work. Nelson was very kind to take time to do an interview with me covering questions on his recent novel, and encouraging words for other writers. 

1. What inspired you to write The Return of Cassandra Todd?

I wrote The Anniversary Waltz as a historical romance. In case it didn’t find a market, I decided to try a different genre. One day while reading the newspaper, I noticed an article on spousal abuse and thought: What if the girl whose friends made your life miserable in high school came back into your life and asked for help in eluding her abusive husband? Would you help her? I knew the correct answer was yes, but would it be that easy? What baggage” would have to be dealt with? But I also wanted to explore Cassandra’s situation and give her a voice as one who has been abused. Bullying and spousal abuse are two issues I wanted to address and allow the characters to complete a journey toward forgiveness and healing.

Final Week of NaNoWriMo

   There are only a few days left of NaNoWriMo, which is sad, and a relief.  There is always this hope, and excitement I am greeted with on November 1st that by the end of the month is long gone. As I read over my story I am sure I will find the remains of what a tornado left.
   For one I am not the best planner in the world. There is an outline of this novel sitting in a notebook tablet, but all my plans were took over by my intent on just writing whatever came to mind when I started. Then something happened and I switched from first to third person narrative. I have decided I like writing in it much better than first. The thing I am absolutely exhausted of the story, and have decided that if I continue writing in future NaNoWriMo that I will need to really change my approach because I am just not writing anything worth editing.
   I still have around 8,000 words to write before Wednesday, and I feel confident that I can finish if I stay focused. I want to write scenes that only apply to my story though. There are huge gaps of me rambling in my story, which will have to be cut out.
   I'm still making the attempt. I am also going to try to make a better commitment to only writing things that pertain to my story. Not to say that I won't drift and write other stuff, but my focus is to get as much of this story done as possible. I feel like the more I write just garbage to just be writing the further I get away from ever finishing this story though. As you can see by this blog post I can barely think of enough words to ever write about my story.

My Second Week of NaNoWriMo

   Now I am arriving upon my second week of the challenge, and though at the beginning of the week I thought I might be rounding the bend for an easier week that was quickly squashed. I think I had two spots in this week where I didn't even meet where I should be for the goal for the day.
    I keep thinking about how I should press myself to stay late tonight to write till 20K, but I'm certain by the end of the day I will be there. I have no idea how to get any inspiration to write though. I actually want to go back and begin editing another novel that I have. Maybe I could do that and count it to my word count.
   I was very scared to begin writing this novel, so I think when I started it overwhelmed me.  I had such huge expectations for a first draft and that just isn't possible.
   Will this next week go better? I certainly hope so. I have nothing fantastic to report, nor do I even have an excerpt that absolutely catches me which is a first. I usually always have one scene that I love to share, but that just isn't the case this time, or not yet.

My First Week of NaNoWriMo

   It's almost been a week of writing, and it seems that I'm not the only one who hit a plato of problems once beginning.  My motivation was zero when the time to write finally happened Tuesday. I'm hoping this rebounds, but so far I'm struggling pretty bad with the first chapters. Twitter seems to claim that other fellow WriMos are in the same boat, and if I read correctly the "NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul" thread has over 800 posts compared to the "This Is Going Better Than I Hoped" thread at almost 200 posts.
  I'm not sure why this was the first year I didn't bust out of the gate on my idea with all the excitement I usually have. Nothing was different than past year's when I started, but I just didn't feel as thrilled as I usually do. The idea is one of the best ones I've had, and there are days when I look forward to writing it, and there are others where I'm forcing myself.  The biggest concern is that when it comes time to edit in December is that it will be completely be something that I can't edit.
   Maybe I've just had a lot working against me as far current happenings, and my allergies getting to me. I don't know if something will kick in the last half of the month and give me what I need to get through it.
   I'm obviously not the only one struggling though, and if you are someone who is also having difficulty getting through then take comfort in the fact I'm in the same boat too!

Editing Fade to Farewell, while Plotting the novel, Absolution

Image from sxc.hu by nazreth

    I'm not sure if it is a great idea to edit one novel, while trying to plan another. I tend to be someone who can only get into one idea at a time, but I have this feeling to ever successfully publish that I need to be able to work with two ideas at one time.
     Last year for National Novel Writing Month I wrote my favorite novel of the 3 years I've participated. I titled it, Fade to Farewell. My love for the title was enough to keep me motivated to keep writing even when I didn't want to. This novel seriously felt like my lifeline last November after I suffered a pretty rough time.  I remember there were days it was even painful to write down parts of the stories that were more like memories to me. The most awful thing happened when my laptop crashed, and I lost over half the novel since it was not backed up yet. It was the roughest NaNoWriMo I've experienced by far! You can imagine how much I wanted this novel to see the light of day after all that work.  Somewhere along the way I became very tempted to shelf it, and forget it. All of a sudden I figured it could be rescued. If I keep throwing away things because I thought they were impossible to edit then I will never see a novel of mine make it. Right now my goal is to edit a chapter a day.
     Another round of NaNoWriMo also begins next month. Meaning I have another novel idea to roll out titled, Absolution. I want to plot slightly better than I have in the past, and at least know what I need to write from day to day. I have around eight ideas charted now, and my goal is to fit a certain amount of words, or more into each chapter. I also feel I should do some character planning to make everything seem stronger. My motivation is wavering between these two novels though so it makes each difficult to get into at different times.
    I'm a little bit concerned at my wavering excitment about the next idea for next month. I know if I kick myself into gear I can do it though. I like to think of the scenes that first introduced me to the idea, and made me want to write, which leaves me forgetting the larger story I need to hash out. The more I write the more pressure I feel to make it good. Though that leaves room for me to improve over last year it also puts pressure on me not to fail.  I'm trying to feel encouraged as much as I can, but I feel like so much is working against me.

My National Novel Writing Month Project

   I finally decided what novel I would be writing in November. I debated between several ideas I've had for a couple of years now, but I don't want to write anything until I have the one that has been at the forefront completed. I've attempted this idea before, but I want to scrap all previous attempts at it, and start fresh.
   I've titled the novel, Absolution, and I finally wrote what I think is a decent synopsis for it. As soon as the forums restart I can't wait to upload all the information for it! I want to share a what I've decided to do for this novel though.
   The first person can be very difficult to write, but when it's done well it's probably one of the best perspectives to read. I've decided I really want to write this novel in first person though. It contains so many feelings that all around surround one guy, and I think to get the full extent of emotions from the novel it should come from him. I thought a while on whether there was anything in the novel that would need a third person perspective, and I concluded that all the action could be told from him.
  As it nears November I'll continue updating about what I'm writing in November, and when I begin writing I hope to give some interesting updates on how it is going. For now I need to motivate myself to plot, so I won't lose track of what I'm writing like I have did before.

How do I get serious about writing when I'm not published yet?

(Image from sxc.hu by channah)

    I have been struggling with this question. There are days when I want to fast forward, and have a beautifully crafted book in my hands. By beautifully crafted, I mean it has it's cover, and is through with editing, and all. Instead I am still sitting here with a half finished first draft of two novels, and wondering how in the world to I get to the end product I imagined?
    I am no expert on this, so sadly I can't give any real advice. I'm only an aspiring author hoping to see my work in book format, and selling.  I don't expect to become a known author, or even to make over $500 in sales for a novel. Do I really want these things? I do. I understand though that isn't what usually happens. For some reason I will admit this is a minor motivator though. Seeing my book sitting on a shelf would be amazing. I would take a great sense of joy in knowing my book interested a few people enough for them to order a copy. Plus the extra money in my pocket wouldn't be such a bad thing. I hope writers aren't wanting to throw tomatoes at me right now for saying this!
    My absolute main motivation for continuing to write is the possibility of the stories. I know a lot of writers have to give up reading in order to find time to write, or they will get distracted. This is true, but I can't give up reading. Whenever I pick up another author's work I am being confronted with the fact that is possible to achieve my goal of publishing, whether through a company, or self-publishing.  I also love hearing about authors sacrifices before they published their first work, or any work they have. It reminds that the road that seems so rough now wasn't only rough for you, but it was for other authors, even known ones, to finish their novels. I have so many ideas I want to share, and if I don't ever get serious about writing then I'll never share those ideas. I can't always be afraid of how it will turn out or whether the idea won't be as good on paper as it was in my mind.
    To answer the question, it is a need that I get serious about writing. It can be difficult to find time during the day to do something that isn't bringing you any income. There will be days when a story brings you no inspiration because it has hit a lull, and those are the days I back away from story to think so you can't read my lack of motivation in the story. If I ever want to consider myself published, self-published or otherwise, then I will be serious about something I really want to achieve.

Taking a Time Out from Writing

(Image from sxc.hu)

    After spending a couple weeks working on my novel, I had to step back. I was feeling what I'll call "creative fatigue".  I was really wanting to write, and felt like I had great chapter to write. Whenever I began writing I noticed my words felt very empty though.
   When this started happening it reminded me of all the books I read where the author got tired of writing, but continued to trod on for some reason though the characters were becoming disconnected from the story. The story from these authors would usually be good, but I longed for a deeper feeling from the characters.  I know that I am my own toughest critic though. My biggest hope is that if someone else read my work they would see something I wasn't.  Hopefully I'll work up the courage to let someone read through, and offer constructive criticism. That is something an author has to choke up, and accept.
    I've been taking a week to not force myself to work on a novel though. I have plenty of time to do that when it comes November.  Right now I really want to make the best of the story I've been letting take shape for the past two years, so it turns out on paper as I envisioned.
    I'm as determined as ever to complete a novel, and seriously edit it. I at least have almost 30 pages of a start, which I believe is something.

Introducing a Character, Jude.

  Last October someone kindly drew a picture of my character, Jude, from Absolution. I ended up not writing the novel last year though, and unexpectedly the want to write it this August came to me.  For the past month I've been letting Jude divulge his, and Emily's story to me.

   He's probably one of my favorite character's I've had to write, which can be a problem, and joy.  I have to make sure I give my other character's equal development, and not play favorite to him. Jude has so many complexities that it can make that difficult. He is a character you can as easily dislike for what he's done, as you can like for the human quality he provides.  To give you a little insight, Jude has cheated on his wife. His wife dies in a car wreck a few days later, and it is killing him that he was not able to receive her forgiveness after she found out.  Jude is now on a journey, provided by a mirror, to find his wife in the after life through a collection of his memories of her to gain her forgiveness. 

   One of the more tougher parts of developing a character is to make sure he reads as lively to readers as he is to me.  In my mind I can see the character so well, but since I'm the one who thought him up that makes sense.  This drawing brings him so much more to life to me, and hopefully people who will read this in the future.  

   Another thing I've been struggling with is how much detail to give about a character.  Writers give a variety of advice, and that can be confusing. Should I discuss the color of his hair, or eyes? Would the reader rather fill that all in themselves? I've found that as a reader, I will already have an image with or without a description.  Names, and surroundings for some reason provide so much more than telling me what the person looks like.  

   I'm trying to make use of the advice and resources given to make sure my character is as in depth as I can write them.  I haven't ever been able to get into questionnaires for some reason though. I am attempting outlines, but for some reason I am just the type of person who wants to get in there and write.  Anyways, I wanted to introduce Jude. My story is putting him through the ringer! 

Camp National Novel Writing Month Progress

     I decided to participate this month though I didn't have near the enthusiasm I do for the official challenge in November. Unexpectedly, it has went well though I will have no 50K of words to show for it. Instead I have the great beginnings of a novel I've had stowed away in my imagination for two years!
     As I began this month, the plan was to edit a novel I wrote for last year's National Novel Writing Month, which I will get back to when I feel the inspiration to.  About midway in the month though the urge to write my long waiting idea hit me again.  I had a few pieces from previous months I had worked on, but after those few scenes the inspiration ran out.  Randomly more scenes were hitting me, and I needed to get them down. I don't want to talk too much about what I'm working on though until I have the full novel down, and I can't guarantee when that will be. If it says anything though, I've never been more excited about a project than I have been this one.
  Another thing I want to add is how much I love the two main characters for this novel.  The characters interact so well with one another! To sum it up though I am very glad I decided to attempt some writing.
  Hopefully I will have a synopsis for this novel soon.  Regardless of how much I have wrote at the end of August it was all worth it because of my renewed energy while writing.

Fade to Farewell: Story Behind the Title

 A couple of weeks before National Novel Writing Month began I didn't want to write the story I had originally believed I wanted to. I felt nothing regarding the storyline, and knew that if I attempted to write it I would already be going into it with that major problem facing me. It occured to me that a story suiting what I could most relate to at that time would be the most fulfilling to write. In the end the story became about loss of a variety of things, and dealing with how to say farewell to those things.
    For some reason I really wanted to use the word "farewell". I was reading Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms at the time, and it occured to me how suiting the word was to sum up my story. I needed something else to fit with "farewell", so for a couple of days I brainstormed a variety of titles I couldn't recall now. None of them were satisfying though. 
      I had been listening to a lot of Iron and Wine that week. There was one song that stood out to me as I listened to it called, "Faded From the Winter". As I was listening to it I realized how reflective the song seemed. The song reminded me of reflecting on memories of those things that you had to say farewell to, and accepting those things as fond memores, but not without the tinge of sadness. The title occured to me immediately after listening to that song. The title from there on was Fade to Farewell. 
    I hadn't encountered such a process when naming a novel before, but the more thought I set aside for, it the more important the story became to me. Farewells are in every aspect of our life, and sometimes we have to learn how to fade to it.

November was a Whirlwind

Since last year's National Novel  Writing Month ended I knew I would write another novel for this year. A little over a month ago I had a totally different idea of what I was going to write. Overall I just had a different expectation of where I would be this month. There were so many setbacks, and so many emotions running through me so the fact I'm sitting here as a winner  of NaNoWriMo is the biggest accomplishment I have felt this year. 
    Obviously my laptop choosing the  final days of of this month to shut down was an awful feeling. I was sitting at my laptop feeling comfortable with my 44K on Sunday when all of a sudden it was just gone. 20K was gone, but it was  not over.  I needed this novel to help me get through what I was going through. I didn't  realize how much I was depending on this novel to keep me going as I struggled through this month.  
    As you can on the sidebar, I had a red box for one day. I'll be honest Friday was probably the worst day of this month I had. I almost gave up on my novel because I could think of no  reason to  write it. The news I had received that day basically conveyed to me that what I was attempting to let go of in my novel was a lapse of time that only I considered significant. I forced myself on though only to realize this wasn't just about me.
    There were other people suffering through the same thing, and feeling the same obstacle  I  was.  It wasn't just me  alone trying to move along in life. That's basically what carried me on in writing this novel, because someone else would  be able to read it, and realize the exact same thing I did also. Another reason I continued to write is because I needed to give what happened to me some meaning. I wantedit  to be more than it turned out, and I wanted it to have purpose. It was something too notable to just let slip by, and only become a memory.
    There were many moments after I wrote a scene that I felt depleted. It was as if I had taken every bit of me to recall all my feelings, and energy I had put into times I was having to recall. There were other moments where I would reread a scene, and  be amazed that I could read and feel what I felt exactly as I was then. Some days would come along, and I would force myself to write.  Along with that I would retrieve my playlist I had made, listen to it no matter how painful it was just so I could relive what I needed to make this novel feel real despite the fact it was fiction. I'll admit there were tears, and smiles as I wrote this novel.
    It was a rough month, but in it I found I found hope. I know though if those things hadn't ever happened then this novel would have never came to be.  This novel is about so many things. It's about growing up, breakups, doubt,hope, and love. It is about life.
    I truly can't wait to begin editing this novel. It isn't finished but I feel it's a diamond in the rough, at least if to no one else it is to me. Hopefully you'll be able to read about Tyler and Rebekah's journey in the future. I can't wait to share it.

For now here is an excerpt of the first chapter from Fade to Farewell if you are interested in a glimpse of what is in store. http://www.box.net/shared/3uu1e9x68a

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I'm thankful for the support I recieved this month too! It really helped me cross the finish line to win NaNoWriMo. 

50,000 Words and 18 Bands: Bon Iver

As you can see on the right, I've made it to the halfway point of 25,000 words. Now only 25,00o more words to go. I was hoping to post more often about the bands I was listening to while writing, but school work has me behind. For this post though I'm going to introduce Bon Iver.

Bon Iver's songs pefectly fit the mood of the novel. The somber atmosphere sets it up well when preparing to write. I think when you listen to music that you listened to when certian emotions were running through you takes you right back to that instantance you were living that. I suppose that can feel like a good, or bad thing. If you're reliving what you know doesn't exist but still exists with that song, then it's really difficult putting yourself in that mindset again to write. You can check out more at Bon Iver's site

The 8 Drafts of a Novel

Recently I fnished a book where an author discussed how he went through 8 drafts of the novel. Now I'm sure for him there no more than basic editing each time, but it got me to wondering if I made 8 drafts of my novel, what would they involve?

1. First Draft -  The draft I'm writing now I consider to be everything I want to convey on paper. It probably isn't organized, and many inconsistencies need to be revaluated. This is what I want to say though, and these are the stories telling what I've been wanting to.

2. Second Draft - First off since my story is seriously unorganized I would want to put the events in the right order, or if your novel is in the right order but still feels like you need more transitions to help the flow you might want to look at that. 

3. Third Draft - Now Ithat 've gotten everything I want to say wrote, I probably want to see what themes can be found in what I have wrote, and see if I can strengthen my story to convey those themes better. 

4. Fourth Draft - It's probably now time to look at the dialogue, and see what I can do to make it more realistic. 

5. Fifth Draft - Now time to analyze my original intentions for my characters and how they ended up being portrayed.

6. Sixth Draft - Eliminate words I feel are being repeated too many times, and lively up the pages more with a bigger variety of sentences, and words

7. Seventh Draft -  Now I have a copy of something I find I can read all the way through as if this was going to be read by someone else. I can lastly check for the grammar and spelling errors that may still be present despite all the editing I've done so far. 

8. Eigth Draft - The draft I would like to publish.

50,000 Words and 18 Bands: Beirut

All through November I'm constantly seeking songs that will drive the scenes I want to bring to life on paper. So far I've accumulated 18 different bands, and multiple songs from each. Whenever I listen to them I can't help but want to write the memories, feelings, characters, and scenes associated with those songs. I may not get around to covering every single band. For now the first one I feel I really want to introduce is Beirut.


When I first heard the band I thought they had a good sound, but I listened once, and then just forgot about the song, "Nantes" for a while. About a month later I remembered the song, and could not stop listening to it. I would wake up first thing in the morning and listen to it, and put it on in my car wherever I went. Recently I found some time to research their music further, and I'm just completely enjoying what I'm hearing. Besides that it has also been a huge help in creating a few scenes for my novel. There are two songs in particular I just keep returning to in particular to keep my novel flowing. Their music also has caused me to begin wishing I kept my trumpet.

You can check out more at Beirut's site.

My Next Novel: Absolution

Next month I'll begin writing another novel, and have titled, and written a synopsis already! I can't wait to begin it next month. As for last year's novel, The Hunting of Jack Owens, I haven't forgetten it. Before I even attempt to publish it I want to make sure I edit it, and it's at the best quality it can be before then. It may be a while before I have that finished product, but it will eventually get there. Below you will find a desciption of this year's work I'll be writing.

Synopsis: Ella’s devastated reaction remains vividly with Jude even though a year has passed since her realization of his infidelity, and her death. Everything in his life has became obsolete but on thing, Jude’s need to receive her forgiveness. The inability to receive that leaves him hopeless. One day Jude attempts to take his own life, but discovers in the process a new dimension through a mirror that allows him to make contact with Ella. His contact with her is cut short after he is discovered, and pulled back from the grips of death. Jude’s newfound knowledge of the power of the mirror has him set out on a mission to become closer to her by the risk of being close to death. As friends, and family become scared for his life, and sanity, his need to not only be near her grows, but also his need to gain her absolution

Script Frenzy

I'm not sure what happened, but I guess it was coming. I have no motivation for writing my script. It just is not the season for it, I usually feel all the writing creativity in the midst of the cold, and now that spring is here, I just can't seem to focus on writing one page of a script.  I did start over today and force myself to go back to my original plan of writing a script for my novel. I don't know that I'll get a 100 pages considering I have many other things going on with the end of the semester, but I'll at least write when I can, or when I feel like opening the document to write. 

I'm hoping though that the biggest hindrance to writing was the fact that the pollen was getting to me because we had the windows open. So now that the windows can remained closed again maybe I can finally get some decent rest, and my eyes will clear up from the allergies. 

My biggest motivation today for getting almost a completed page was just thinking about what I wanted out of this script, or where I eventually want to be from the practice of writing a script. If nothing else it will improve my writing so that really gave me the start today to writing. This goal will be something I use to try to complete as much as my script as I can for this month. 

Now hopefully by the end of this week I will have 5 pages. That's at least a goal though I'm still behind on actually finishing for this month.