1st person mix it up

I'm writing this in the first person but with some chapters being 3rd person omniscient. Isn't that a great term? I first heard it used by Heather, my soon to be (I hope) daughter in law. I knew the format but not that uber groovy term for it. Anyway, I'm going to be inserting these 3rd person omniscient chapters and according to Charlie I can. Why? Because it's my book!
I cannot believe how much I'm learning in this process. Not just about writing but so many other things along the way.
With each phrase or name or place, I do a Google look up. Ask me who invented the talking doll. What is a Breezy Rider? How long would it take to circumnavigate our galaxy? Well, actually I don't know the answer to that last one, that's a book I'm not writing....yet.

Characters

I find I'm basing almost all of the characters in my book on people I know. I tinker with the details, but find I like most of them the way they are.
We always think of characters in books or movies as somehow different from the rest of us. They're not. The writer took people he or she already knew and just tinkered with them a bit. Then put them in situations of the author's choosing.
It's easier if you can think of someone you already know and predict how they will act in a given situation.
I wonder if I ever ended up as a character in a novel? Maybe some writer met me briefly and wondered what I would do if I were, say, confronted by an alien, or a sinking ship, or the Queen.
So, to all you people I know out there, just wait until you see what I have in store for you!

Can't help myself

Must stop editing....must stop editing. Charlie tells me that this is the trap lots of new wirters fall in to. I keep going over and over and changing and changing each new passage. I think they are good changes but it is definately slowing me down. That might not be a problem if I were younger, but hey, I'd like to maybe write a second one. It's like Charlie advised, I'm going to go back and change a lot anyway. I'll probably throw out large chunks in their entirety, so just write and worry about the edits later. See? All that makes perfect sense here. But you know what I'm going to do when I've finished this? You guessed it. I'm going to go back and re-read what I've already written and probably makes some edits. Hey, I never claimed to be a fast learner. Just an anal retentive one.

Killing People Over Cocktails

I sat with my son Charlie and his girlfriend Heather at La Siesta yesterday discussing the book. Specifically, we discussed funny ways to kill old people. The fact that both Heather and I were sipping margaritas helped a lot. We also discussed old people killing other people and how they should do it.
I'm certain I could never actually kill a real person, but I'm having the best time dreaming up ways to kill my fictional people. The fact that I'm having fun with the killing parts and am dreading writing the sex parts is probably something I shouldn't discuss on any future dates I may go on. Just between you and me though, it's exciting.

Nuns

While in the shower washing my new short haircut, it came to me that I needed some nuns.
Is this how all writers work? Do different ideas pop into their head at random times?
I wonder how many of these random ideas eventually end up in the story and how many just end up on a Post It Note or spiral binder.
I think I'll go shopping for one of the little pocket tape recorders. One of those "note to self" kind. I have a feeling the nuns are not the only thing to pop into my head at odd times. Maybe I should look for a waterproof recorder.
Meantime, let's see if the nuns make it into the story. Maybe they'll be murderers? Probably not

The Outline

Now I know what my characters are going to do, for the most part. I have the scam, the crime (murder of course, a couple of them), sex scandal and several secondary plots. I should probably put some sex scenes in there but may need someone else to write them. We'll see how well my long term memory works :-)
In coming up with the idea for a scam I did some research and what I found was fairly shocking. The things individuals do to screw over old people is nothing compared to what the government does. Reading the Medicare rules and benefits etc. made me madder with each paragraph. We should let our old people just chill. Sit back, try to enjoy your years, you've earned them. We've got your back on doctors and hospitals for you.
Anyway, the book is not a downer and don't mean for this to be, just passing it along in case you want to write a congressman or senator or letter to the editor.

Now, on to writing my first scene. The protagonist is in the middle of a hurricane. Hold on to your hats!

research for book

Fun research...famous sex scandals
Boring research...Medicare

Writing my first novel

I read that to begin, tell everyone you are a writer. So here goes. "I'm a writer"
I have begun by creating my characters. That is so much fun. It's like playing God. I can create them, how they look, where they live what will happen to them, even how they'll die if I choose that for them. It's very invigorating to play a deity.
I already know I want this to be upbeat, humorous and a quick read. I'm not sure how the bad guys are going to pull off their bad guy deeds, but I'm formulating an idea. It takes place in SW Florida, because no one ever takes SW Florida seriously so that will be new. All the main characters will be baby boomers with all the accompanying histories, issues, grown kids, aging parents, divorce and dating again. They'll have the aches and pains of getting older, but they're still very much in the game. They just will not be nearly as glamorous as the usual 30 somethings, but not Murder She Wrote either. They'll still be looking for money, sex, pot, a place to live or a new career, just in their own baby boomer ways.
The advice I've read is "just do it". Don't worry if you think it sucks, you can always rewrite it or start a new one, but you'll at least have the experience of having done it once. So, sucky or not, here I go.