Daydreaming

Are you a random daydreamer? Or do you plan a few minutes each day to let your mind roam?

I do a bit of both. And my favorite daydreams, especially those that pertain to the "Wilfair" books, unfurl when I'm up to something else, like watering the garden. Meaning that when I sit down to a blank screen everything I'm going to write, whether it be a page or a scene or an exchange, is already, for the most part, written.

Thank you, daydreaming.

Things will change, yes, as I'm typing, but I've never been one to plunk down with my hands hovering over the keyboard as I decide where to start. Those who can? Amazing people. I just end up typing "I love cheese" over and over. And "I love cheese," for all of its finer qualities, does not a story make.

Where is your best daydreaming done?

Wilfair Callback Poster

You're probably like, "yay, Alysia is posting another small and blurry photo of a poster!" I jest, of course. But since I posted about the Wilfair Character Poster a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd talk briefly about the Wilfair Callback Poster.

We all know what a callback is in a movie or a book (I prefer the word "repeater," really, but callback seems catchier). Basically any time characters return to a joke or a topic they'd been talking about or one of the themes of the story, it's a callback.

I knew I wanted the Wilfair stories to have lots of callbacks, because that's how I really live; when I'm with my friends over a weekend, we'll return to the same jokes, changing them or adding on. Or we'll tease each other about the same things we've been teasing each other about for years (nicely, natch). Do you do this?

And nope, this poster isn't quite as fun as the Character Poster -- no monster stickers -- but it does have pretty much every reference that the Wilfair characters make more than once. Plus a few to come in the next book, "Stay Awhile." Those are the tiny asterisks.

Of course, while callbacks may dot a story the challenge is to move it forward, move the characters forward, move everything forward, while the people in it return, on occasion, to the same topics they'd been talking about. I do love the challenge. :)

One thing I can't resist returning to a few times a book is how Fair and Gomery sometimes have a brief exchange of silent information via how they look at each other. "My look said 'are we going out there?' His look said 'we probably should.' My look said 'I wasn't, like, prepared for this.' His look said 'me either.'"

Wilfair Magpie Box

Now that I've shared the Wilfair Character Poster, complete with its toothy, horned monsters, here's another thing I use while writing the books: a magpie box.

I was inspired by choreographer Twyla Tharp, who is said to drag things, like a magpie might do, into a pile. Those things? Any object or item that might inspire her next project.

So what's in Wilfair's magpie box? Postcards and quotes and magazine ads and the random physical object. Anything, in short, that has the potential to jumpstart ideas or make me think about the stories in a new way.

Yep, there's a cup. Cups show up at the end of "Redwoodian," so naturally my magpie box needed one. There's also a postcard of a bridge way in the back of the box. Future hint.

Update: I realized that my magpie box lacked a pinecone. Situation remedied. See photo #2.

Wilfair Character Poster

There are a number of characters in the "Wilfair" books and some to come. With that in mind, I ran by the sticker store at LA's own famous Farmers Market -- that's where Sutton Von Hunt works -- and bought some monster/animal/monkey/fish stickers so I could group characters together, the better to track where the new people fit.

The top photo is a bit small on purpose; I didn't want it to spoil surprises, since there are people on the poster who have not yet been mentioned. It's also a bit creased; you can see how much I drag that thing around.

The bottom photo features a close-up of the characters you likely know, if you've read the books. It was hard choosing what monster for what character.

And once again, I know I'm not doing much to dispel that quirky rep I seem to have gained. :) What? Stickers are cool. Everyone knows that.

Oh, and I realize that Fair and Sutton are the smaller monsters in the line-up. It isn't a guy-girl thing; I just wanted both Sutton and Monty to be the monsters with horns. Mrs. Finley is, in fact, much larger than Mr. Finley on the poster. She's a giraffe, which suits her big personality.