Welcome to RossRoads

One girl's journey with her first novel.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Solution

Don't worry the crisis has been officially solved!

Okay, you might not have been worried but I was! I know have what I hope is an official "cast list" of sorts. I decided to make the redheads name Ryane. Then the blonde who was named Ryane is now named Kara. (Please tell me what you think of this.) And Emmie's name I changed to Brooke. I was sort of on the fence with this name but I knew Alex,the man she falls in love with, and Emmie wasn't going to work for me so I'm hoping Brooke and Alex will work!

With one problem under the belt it is now time to face the next one. I feel like this is going to be an ongoing thing. One problem, one solution, followed by another problem. The next problem which is actually a continual problem, is NOT WRITING. I for some reason just never stop and write and I really need to. But no worries I have a hopeful solution: set a goal.

GOAL: Write for at least thirty minutes every day for a week.

That is the goal. I will let you know how it goes this time next Sunday!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The 1st Delemma

The 1st Dilemma – Character Names

I have reached my first problem! I have the four female characters nailed down as to who they are and what God is going to teach them throughout the novel the problem is their names. I had names picked out but I want to change some of them now and I’m not sure what to change them to.

Here are the characters and their current names I’m having problems with:

Abigail (Abbey) Kessler – She is a red head who loves architecture and literature. She is a dreamer who hasn’t thought a lot about her future and is sort of the type of person who just goes with the flow and doesn’t plan much ahead of time. She is very independent. The “lesson” God teaches her is that she needs to rely on Him not just herself and also the people He has put around her who love her and want to help her.

Emmaline Hammon (Emmie) – She wants to be a missionary and doesn’t really understand why God brought her to a place with a bunch of Christians that is in the US when she knows she is meant to go over seas. She has sandy blonde hair and is what my friends and I call “granola.” This is hard to explain so some characteristics are: likes coffee, wears lots of earth tones, Chaco’s are the shoe of choice, likes the outdoors, likes soft jazzy music and stuff like Jack Johnson and John Mayer. Emmie is sort of quiet but loves people and is really sweet. She is going to be working in a coffee shop in the novel.

Ryane Shannon – Yes this is a girl! She is the character I’ve had the hardest time with and I still don’t like her name. She is sort of the “blonde bomb shell” type. She is ambitious and hardworking, maybe overly so. She is a journalist and gets a job at the local paper in the novel. She sort of does what she wants and doesn’t listen to anyone else most of the time. Her struggle in the novel is with faith. Her faith in God is just slipping because she is just doing her own thing. Also being a journalist she is very involved in the worldliness of media and it is starting to affect her.

Now you know the characters so here are the problems with their names:
I really want Abbey’s name to be Ryane. Maybe because she is a redhead and the r and r thing is really cool! (I should know that is how my name is.) Also I just feel it fits her better. But then Ryane needs a new name, which I have no idea what to name her.

Then Emmaline (Emmie) Hammon, the problem here is I have three names that end in the “ey” sound. Jackie, Abbey, and Emmie. I know I want to keep Jackie but the other two I am fine with ditching! Also the boy Emmie falls in love with is named Alex and Alex and Emmie reminds me too much of “Alex and Emma” the movie. And I also really want to keep Alex’s name so that would mean we need to change Emmie’s.

So that’s the problem. Comment if you have any ideas!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Beginning - Here goes nothing!

My name is Rachel, I am a twenty-one-year-old college student and I am writing my first novel and my first blog simultaneously.

The novel idea started about a year ago but I have wanted to be a writer since I was little. (I know it’s a weird dream for a kid!) I grew up with a mom who was a great storyteller. She would spend hours at night telling stories about a boy and his dog or about a traveling sales man and his family. They were wonderful stories and somehow that, along with an avid love for reading, it translated into me wanting to be a writer. I have tried several times to start novels with little success. I currently have a few short stories, a very bad one-act play, and the beginnings of a screenplay under my belt but none of that compares to the journey I am about to embark on.

As I said, this is my first novel. To be honest I really don’t think I’m a very good writer but we will see if that’s true! With this blog (an assignment from one of my teachers) I am hoping to catalog my progress on the novel as well as get a grade for class! To me, this is an opportunity to force myself to write and maybe, if I’m lucky, get some feedback from anyone who might read this. I will be posting my struggles and some excerpts from the novel. If you’re reading this please comment and let me know what you think. I am new to the criticism thing but I believe it is helpful especially because of my inexperience in this area.
Well, that is the plan! Oh I think you should know, the novel doesn’t have a title yet. Thus the reason I keep saying “the novel.” It also only has nine pages so far! So this really is the beginning.