Lori Fetters Lopez is Lost in the Writing

Or should that be a Stone in the lake?  

Today I’m writing about a major character in the Second Book of Alex, which I am still debating to continue slogging through or just trash the entire idea.  Maybe today’s title should be more along the lines of when do you give it up as a bad egg?

Who is Sam Stone and why should you care? Sam is Jack’s best friend since childhood. For those who don’t know, Jack is one of the major characters from Not Her Father’s Son, the first book of Alex. Jack went to college following high school and Sam joined the military. After serving two combat tours with the Army Rangers during Desert Storm, Sam returned  home and went into law enforcement.

They’ve kept in touch, remained friends, and even worked together when a case Jack was investigating with the DOJ brought him to Sam’s Town. If you’d asked Sam, he’d have said they were close.  That was before Jack’s Mom died and Jack moved to DC when his sister’s cancer was diagnosed as terminal. Before Jack met Alex.

Sam’s s a good looking man, in a rugged sort of way, but he’s not easy to live with and tends to gravitate to the bimbo’s and needy when what he most desires is someone his equal. Or that’s what he tells himself. Each of his five wives has been prettier than the last. They have also been younger and more immature to the point he often feels he’s married to a child instead of a woman. Even he sees the fallacy in his choices.

He likes his eggs with steak in the morning and his coffee black at his desk when he starts his work day. Utilitarian in his clothing choices, he wears jeans and a flannel shirt over a t-shirt when not in his sheriff uniform. Typical for the type, he’s a workaholic, or maybe he’s a workaholic because he doesn’t handle his personal life with anything close to finesse. Even his Brittany spaniel prefers to be alone to Sam’s company most days and the cat that adopted him, would just as soon swipe at his feet in the dark as piss in his boots while Sam watches.

In the Second Book of Alex, Sam is called in to investigate a death. On the surface the scene looks like a hunting accident, but Sam knows you work every case like a murder or  risk missing important details. That and Jack insists it’s anything but what it looks like. Uncovering the truth leads Sam to look more closely at his lifelong friend and as the evidence stacks, Sam is left questioning everything Jack’s ever told him.

Currently I am writing a short story and working on several novels, non of which have titles. The short story is a combination of the real and the magical, or magical realism. I refer to the one novel as the second book of Alex because it is novel two in a series and continues the character Alex. I’m also working on a novel that began as your basic police story, it’s morphed. For lack of another the file is titled Sal, the main character who interestingly enough, is not the focus of the story. For those who do not write, this might sound odd, but trust me when I say, sometimes characters take over a story.

The short story has two main characters, Ankou, a fallen angel and Veronica a.k.a. Vern, who is a homicide detective. There are a few supporting characters like Ankou’s brother and Vern’s partner. Ankou has issues, beyond the whole fallen angel bit and an anger problem, he tends to be sarcastic and just a little self-centered. I like Ankou because he’s fun to write.  His voice is first person which gives me a little more leeway to be more obnoxious with the sarcasm than usual. Vern, is tight wound and head strong woman in charge of her career not about to let anyone tell her how to run her life. She’s more interested in solving murders than enjoying anything beyond the job.

What brings these two characters together beyond the murders that Ankou has committed? The longing of a father’s love. To find out more, you’ll have to read their story.

With the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award looming on the horizon, in progress, everyone seems obsessed with their first line, their first page, their first chapter. Yours truly isn’t exempt from this and after recently submitting my first line to an agent on her blog for critique, I started thinking even more about it.

Then Tami from my writer’s group brought an article that listed the items someone/many someones have decided your first page needs. Again, I started thinking about my own and those within the group, but I also wondered about my favorite authors. What do their first lines, first page, first chapters look like.

without me apparently. I’ve been contemplating this blog and the content I post here. When I started I wanted it to be a writers blog, but not your typical writer’s blog where all I blog about is the writing process. The idea was it is about my writing. My novels. My character. My stories. For the most part I have kept to that with the occasional foray into other areas such as buying a new laptop. Starting January 1 I began writing more frequently and toyed with the idea of doing a blog daily, even posting a Today’s Word for over a week. The problem with this is, I really prefer to write something of substance and as much as I love learning new words, teaching others has never been my intention. Now we sit on tuesday evening after returning from my writer’s group and I realize I’ve yet to post this week. If nothing else, I do plan to continue to post weekly. My dilemma is, what to post? So I ask you my readers, what do you want to see from me? I like to post information concerning my current works in progress, like character analysis, information you’re not going to learn from the story, but you might find interesting.  I enjoy posting my flash fiction as I write them and receiving your feedback. The question I pose to you today is what do you enjoy?

Sound off here and we’ll go from that. I may continue what I like and will add what you are looking for. For those who want writing advice, substantial writing advice, I can direct you to a number of very good advice givers. Look at my side bar and and pick one or two of the people I follow. Yes, I have a few others who aren’t writers, but most of them are and most offer wonderful advice on how to and why come.

I’m off for another week, my intention to finish a novel or two. Wish me luck and Ya’ll come back now ya hear. 

Irony

It’s a word that has crept into many a conversation in the last few days.