Ute Carbone
  • Home
  • My Books
    • Book Club Fiction >
      • The Fall Line
      • Dancing in the White Room
      • The Tender Bonds
      • Blueberry Truth
      • The Lilac Hour(short story trilogy)
    • Comedy >
      • Secondhand Love (Annie Hoff)
      • Georgette Alden Starts Over ( Annie Hoff)
      • Confessions of the Sausage Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • The P-Town Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • Afterglow (Annie Hoff)
    • History >
      • The Whisper of Time (novella)
    • Anthologies >
      • Shared Whispers
      • Passionate Cooks
      • Recipes from the Vineyard
      • Poets Unbound
      • Poems from the Cranberry Room
  • Inside the Writer's Garret (My Blog)
  • About me
  • Poetry
  • Contact
  • Annie Hoff
  • My Photography
  • Dream River Press

Inside the Writer's Garret

On writing and life, with a little chocolate thrown in from time to time.

Act One of Second Hand Love #amwriting

4/1/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
I've just drawn the curtain on act one of a romantic comedy I'm calling (for now at least) Second Hand Love. I'm going to go through, do a bit of rewrite and then set it aside as I go back to my ski story, The Fall Line, which I hope to finish in the next few months. 
I break up my writing this way, going from book to book. It's a weird sort of tick, I guess, this flitting about, the byproduct of a brain that likes variety. If I ever get really popular and sell enough books,  I may have to give up my quirk and write one book at a time.
The flitting isn't as random as it appears at first glance. I tend to divide the writing into fours--act one, parts one and two of act two, and act three. I like to think about story structure as being like a three act play and each act has a set purpose. Act one comprises about the first fifth (or so) of the book. It's there to introduce you to the characters and to the setting and to give you the conflict and reason for following the story. Starting stories is always fun for me, although it can be difficult, sometimes, to get the character voices and personalities right at the beginning. 
By the end of act one, the main characters have begun to take shape and if I'm lucky, I like having them around. Zoe, the main character of Second Hand, is no exception to this. She's twenty three, bright, funny and somewhat ambitious. Her parents and grandparents have been married multiple times, so it's little wonder she's writing a new blog called Uncoupled, about the breakup of relationships. And it's also small wonder that she has trouble in believing a lasting relationship is in her future.
Zoe has a new boyfriend. Derek is sweet and loyal, a guy's guy with simple tastes who believes in love and relationship. He has trouble keeping up with Zoe's fast-racing thoughts and is both in awe of her and a little taken aback. They aren't really very well matched--something that will play itself out and become more apparent in act two, when conflict gets worse and lives begin to get tangled.

I've got a long ways to go until I write the end onto Second Hand Love. And, because I'll put it aside and pick it up again, it'll take me a year or more to get there. I'm well on my way, though, having finished act one and putting Zoe's story in motion. 


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome 

    This writing journey, this life,  is a long road full of pitfalls and wrong turns. Also, incredible beauty, kindness and friendship with those I've met along the way.I'm so glad you're here to share the road..


    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    #amwriting
    Cooking
    #life
    #np
    #poetrythursday
    #ShortStories
    Writing
    Writing With Courage

    RSS Feed

    older posts at blogger
    Posts at Coffee with Friends

    Subscribe to my newsletter.

    * indicates required
    Email Format
    More on my Books
    Ute Carbone on StoryFinds
    Find me at Story Finds
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Jacopo Marcovaldi, tjuel, tsaiproject, tiswango, g23armstrong