We’ve got a fabulous post from fabulous author Kristen Painter today! (You know, yes, I realize mentioning the author’s name in the first line after the subject is a bit redundant but here is where I can link to said author’s website! Which is important okay?!)

The Seven Dwarfs Of Writing

With the popularity of Snow White in the movies lately, it got me thinking about how the seven dwarfs sort of correlate to the stages of writing a book. No, I’ve never had cartoon bluebirds flying around my head or tasted a poison apple, but I do live with my Prince Charming, so that’s got to qualify me for something, right? Here’s my take on what each dwarf brings to the process:

Happy – Yay! A brand new book! It’s shiny and exciting and there are no massive plot holes we have to fix yet. We LOVE this book right now! Every day is an adventure. Plus, our deadline is light years away.

Bashful – Still in the early stages, we fall madly in love with our story, our characters and our creative genius – so much so, we dare not talk about the book! When people ask what we’re working on, we shrug and coyly respond, “Oh, nothing much.” Or “just a little story I’ve been playing around with.” We might even smile behind our hand.

Doc – After hitting our first major plot hole, we call our other writer friends and explain what’s going on. Fortunately, they are able to diagnose our problem and we’re off and writing again, but not without a little recovery time. Fixing a broken scene takes work. Suddenly, our prescribed deadline is approaching faster than we realized.

Dopey – We’re writing constantly. Eating writing, sleeping writing, walking up with scene ideas and falling asleep with characters arguing in our head. We sometimes talk to ourselves. Our friends wonder if we’ve lost our minds, because we seem a little crazy.

Grumpy – Yes, we know our deadline is imminent. No, we don’t want to talk about how the book is going or how many pages we have left to write. We post a sign on our office door that indicates only head wounds and fires are acceptable interruptions. And then on a case by case basis.

Sneezy – We’re sick of the book, sick of the characters, sick of how many things we have to fix to make the ending happen just the way we want it to. Even so, we keep coughing out the pages, feverishly tapping away at the keyboard.

Sleepy – The book is done! After hitting send, we keel over and fall asleep, trying to make up for the last month of caffeine-induced insanity. We try to dream of a world where there are no deadlines, but Mr. Sandman brings us a new story idea instead…

Heh – so what do you think? Would you add another dwarf? What about dwarfs of reading? Anyone willing or brave enough to take that on? And doesn’t she have some of the coolest covers?

*ETA Ms. Painter sent me the covers of her next two books! Forbidden Blood is a novella and out May 15! That’s in twelve days! 

And the next novel is out October 30th. Right? Well done to the art department! See? Out for Blood seems a fitting Halloween type read, especially based on that cover!