ILONA ANDREWS

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

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Comments

  1. Painful to watch. It’s just a word, right? We’re glad you want to get it right. Thanks for this insight.

  2. OK…… is this what y’all call writers block?!

    Even on y’all worst day your writing is still better than I could ever dream to be………..

    Tomorrow is another day!

    • +1 – nice to see process. Part of reason the serial Innkeeper installments are so fun as well.
      Wishing inspiration – perhaps a good excuse for a nice holiday to obtain more inspiration? New Orleans and Natchitoches (Louisiana, not the similarly pronounced but spelled different town in Texas – the one in LA is where Steel Magnolias was set) are not far from Texas and a world apart. Excuse for good food and relaxation (and some interesting old architecture to inspire descriptions).

  4. Lol. I confess I was hoping you’d use atrium. But foyer works. Love how it was your first thought that ended up the final choice although I would quite like to have seen ARGH!!! left in.

  5. I was going to write something positive and encouraging here, but it all ended up sounding trite and clichéd. So, I backed it out. At least your 3 sentences were beautifully descriptive! ?

  6. Cradled by double grand stairs?Yah too fancy to be an entryway, portico sounds too outdoorsy, already used foyer…ARGH, indeed!
    Heh, I cant see the word vestibule w/o thinking about putting “vegetables” (that’s what we called’em) on temper tents in deployed locations….

  9. I was willing you to type ‘middle of the space’… ;o) So many words, so many nuances of meaning!

  10. I lost my bet. I thought you would eventually settle on, “middle” and proceed onwards.

  11. I love this type of posts, for the glimpse they provide us into your creative process. Please keep the “fighting” (K-drama pun intended) balanced with other activities to not lost your sanity. Best wishes for all 🙂

  12. This makes me laugh because I just turned 68 in July and find myself searching for the perfect words I used to know all the time. It’s quite comforting to share the misery. I do appreciate all the effort, however, because I so love reading the finished product. Please carry on valiantly!

  13. Yeah, we have suffer that. But I love and appreciate that you spend so much effort try to get it just right.

  14. So very painful. I would love to use this with some of my students so they know that even professionals can have a difficult time finding the right word. Would that be okay?
    Thank you for posting.

  15. Perhaps “open space” or “spacious entry” instead of one of the “foyer” choices.
    “ARGHHH!” Works nicely as well. ?

  16. Sometimes I open the thesaurus, and none of the words work out for me. Then I shout at the thesaurus, and call it a lot of mean names. When I run out of mean names, I flip to a mean name in the thesaurus, and start calling it mean names from *inside* the thesaurus. Then I feel a little better.

    But I still don’t have the word I need, so the thesaurus still kind of wins? Ugh.

  17. At some point, if I were writing this, it would have become “the f***ing foyer.” Yet another reason I’m a reader and not a writer of fiction.

    • I think a f*cking foyer would contain those low couches with the roll at one end. I’m not an interior designer of sex rooms, so I don’t know what they are called.

      Anyone out there know the name of the kind of couch I’m thinking of? Something Caligula would have draped himself on before the orgy?

      (We’re about to find out if I’ve crossed some sort of P.G.-blocker threshold with this one.)

      Hey, threshold might work for a foyer substitute, kinda. Good luck with the acanthus-strewn decor!

        • I am constantly puzzled by chaise lounge, it’s a chaise longue, surely – a long chair. I suspect autocorrupt has invented a word. An ugly unnecessary word, in my not very humble opinion.

      • I like Kirizar’s approach. You pass over threshold or through the entry into the foyer.

      • Fainting couch (I believe it came from when women wore corsets and were more prone to fainting due to lack of oxygen, but I’m probably wrong). ?

  18. Ha!! I feel your pain. I kept wanting to scream “Entry!!” and would probably flip the words double and grand. Maybe it’s tome for a break and to sip beverage of choice??

  19. Worth trying to find the little square. I kept thinking ” a word, my kingdom for a word.” LOL.

  21. I know this was probably frustrating, but it gave me the laugh I needed today. Especially the ARGHHHH. I certainly would’ve settled on room or just “the middle” – which is probably why I’m not a writer!

    May the writing gods bless you with the ability to always find the word you’re looking for in future occurrences. 😀

  24. Just leave those words out (in the room) bit, arose in the middle cradled by… just don’t expect me to walk up those stairs if there’s water coming up from the fountain.

  26. And then Ilona was hauled to the hospital in the back of an ambulance after chucking her desk across the room, not realizing beforehand that her fury would wind up harming her back.

    I know, it is just a word and it is hard to keep things connected and interesting!

    Good luck! 🙂

  27. I love that you Googled a synonym… I’m just starting out writing and I use that all the time… It helps to know that even amazing authors with loads of experience do this!

  28. The fountain ‘bracketed’ by double staircases? I was thinking ‘entry way’ while watching you write. ‘Antechamber’ or ‘anteroom’? I know, I know, no need for the paenut gallery to put in 2 cents… LoL!

    • The pictures that get ‘Images’ for the term, comes back as “Grand Staircases” in Grand Entryway(some are Quite lovely, oooh)

  29. Here is the difference between an amateur and a professional-
    I would have put in “floor” and kept going – but I don’t, nor do I want to, write professionally.
    It would take all the joy out of reading if I were critiquing the prose as I read the story. (Some of the really slapdash writing has me editing as I read anyway, which takes away from my enjoyment of the tale being told. I do wish I didn’t do that.)
    Thank you for the care and craftsmanship that go into everything you publish. It makes a difference and I appreciate it.

  32. Antechamber?

    Have you ever used visual thesaurus.com? It is more fun than usual thesauruses but more to the point, it has helped me when I am a little away from the correct word by stepping me there.

    I am dubious however that white plaster would show up on white marble. I wouldn’t mention it, except I came to a full stop when I read it

    • I think you could see the subtle variations from Venetian plaster reflected in a shiny marble floor.

  34. Lololol, those repeats can drive you crazy!
    Especially when you can’t find the exact right synonym you want.

  36. Thank you for making me smile and laughing out loud. I had the same problem in the last weeks, writing for my studies (law). I start typing (thinking I know where I want to go, the line of argumentation….) and then I stop. No… this word isn’t right. I try to come up with a synonym….. I end up googling for a synonym. And then I delete the whole paragraph because something is obviously not working out…. just to get it back after a few seconds. Because…it’s just one word, not the whole paragraph. And I continue to stare at my screen, thinking maybe I should write with a pen, then dismissing the thought. Until I stand up, starting to walk around and trying to explain to myself what I want to write. Sometimes that helps. Sometimes I just sit down and try to write another part.

  38. I am sure this was agonizing for you, but I found it incredibly funny. Don’t hate me.

  40. ?? I’m so glad it’s not just me! I hit up the Merriam Webster thesaurus at m-w dot com all the time when I just can’t get that ONE right word with the nuance I want (or when I don’t want to repeat what the real perfect word is twice in close succession). And this is just for work emails and reports – I’d go mad if I were a writer! Yes, the struggle is most certainly real…

  42. Ok painful to watch. If I was walking into the place, I’d probably tell a friend it was in the middle of the floor myself. And ridiculously in the way not to mention grandiose. No romanticism in my soul, which is why I read! Thanks for this view of you working!

    • “Grandiose” is just “ostentatious, but classy about it.”

      I am familiar with the struggle of searching for the right word. Last night I was trying to think of the exact word I needed to describe the sound that bare feet would make on a stone floor in an empty hallway… I gave up and changed the sentence to instead describe the feel of cool stone against the person’s feet. I had words for that.

      • The scratchy swish of bare feet across the marble floor raised the hackles on the back of my neck.
        The slap, slap, slap of bare feet running up the hallway

  44. I am disturbed by the sound of that keyboard. It sounds stiff and unyielding. Ilona, your hands are to be treasured and not tortured. We need stories, you need pain free fingers. That better be sound effects or we will have to send someone to replace the keyboard.

  45. It was either foyer, as you started the scene with it, or atrium, but that usually connotes plants to me. And this is why I haven’t finished the two books I started a few years back, and why my publisher insists that that two books do not make a Magical Drool Series.
    I can’t remember articles.

  46. Love the process. I have always enjoyed your prose.
    I use 3 monitors to allow a calendar, my work and a reference.
    I’m not a superior author, I only edit a newsletter, but the process seems to be similar.
    You are one of the few recent authors who use correct english in your work. I cringe when many, even professionals on TV, add er to words rather than use more. The meaning is changed slightly in my mind.
    It may be because i’m an old fart, but, I love your writing. Keep it up I’ll read it all.
    kb

  47. When I just can’t find the right word, I put the wrong word in, then highlight it with a bright yellow background, so I know “Here is a spot I have to come back to and redo when my brain is working later!” It lets the flow of the rest continue, and it’s easy to find all the spots you have to do over.

  49. Good luck with this! I almost added my 2 cents worth, but I’m also a reader, not a writer. I still don’t know how I passed the prose writing course I took in college, back in the days when having an IBM Selectric electric typewriter was top end! I can still remember doing my own version of cut-and-paste: Take the typed pages of the story, cut each paragraph out separately, and then tape them together in a better order. Repeat until satisfied, and only then re-type the darned whole thing! Nowadays, with electronic document typing, I turn off spell & grammar check while I’m typing. Not until after I’ve gotten everything “down on paper” do I run the spell & grammar checks. I find all those attention-getting marks very disruptive. But I have to admit, it’s much easier to rearrange sentences & paragraphs on a computer! Hang in there!

    • Oh, yeah, when “cut and paste” was literally cut out the part you want, tape it to another piece of paper, and paint correction fluid over the tape. Then write up the copy order and take it to the printing department in the basement of the administration building. That’s how the theater and music departments at my college made flyers for student productions and recitals. A different era (and century!!)

    • Something went wrong, my text seems to have gone missing, leaving only my name.
      Anyway, I can fully empathise. I know how I struggle to find the best wording when I write copy for our events for the website and flyers…

  51. Gah!
    Nestled between the arms of a curving double grand staircase an ornamental fountain rose …

    • So funny! Wonderful way to turn lemons into lemonade! How about, “in the middle of the space.” No, “grand space”, No, “immense room” Is that how you spell immense? Aargh, now you have ME doing it!

  52. maybe flanked by twin grand staircases? Wow, this is one reason I do not write books, I go though enough just trying to explain things to my customers. Thank you for struggling through this sort of thing, the end results are always awesome! I love your books.

  53. Well… I take some comfort that I’m not the only person who goes through this. This is me everytime I sit down to write. So much googling… x.x

  54. I have read, googled, puzzled over descriptions of regency era and later London homes.

    Some are narrow five story homes. I cannot picture where the second floor landing and adjacent rooms were/are placed.
    Some sound like one room deep. Some stair in middle, some on each side.

    I say, stick with the disneyesque, Spanish colonials and giant ranch homes!!

  55. Descriptions have to paint a picture, but some days we feel color blind, other days like we have a 48 pack of crayolas, when we need the 212 pack one. Words are tricksy. Keep fighting the good fight. We love you writing. May House Andrews always rock and rule.

  56. I loved the “argh”… I mean, sorry for your pain, but it reminded me of that scene from the Holy Grail…Castle “Arrhgghhhh” is carved in the rock… “Well he wouldn’t have carved ahhhhhhhh if he were dying …”

  57. You have already established that it is a three storey foyer in the first sentace so… “An ornamental fountain rose in the center of the room, cradled by a double grand staircase.”

    Sometimes the simplist solutions escape us.

    Apologies if input was unwanted.

  59. I know what that’s like! Usually it’s a common phrase or idiom that I can’t remember right when I need it, so I end up restructuring the whole sentence to avoid it.

  60. Maybe replace foyer with atrium and go from there.
    For some reason this made me think of Evan and Katelyn. They have a YouTube channel. They sometimes say “Words are hard.” Too true. They are fun to watch.

  61. This was such a relief for me. I do this all the time when I write. I’m happy to know it’s a universal issue and not just me! If my favorite writers struggle, then maybe I can finish my novel. Thanks for sharing. ( Just because zero of the commenters above can’t stop themselves from correcting or “helping’ you, I’d have stopped at middle and just put a period after nothing worked!) Love to see your writing in any form!

  62. This is why I admire good writers who strive for quality and really craft their writing.
    Ok, being a visual person, this is now the equivalent of an ear worm that I could not get this out of my head unless I gave it a try… Apologies – just to clear my brain and back to work

    ….an ornamental fountain set like a jewel between the arms of twin grand staircases arching up to the floor above.

    Not up to any standard that matters but at least I can get back to work now….

  63. How about “in the middle, cradled by a”? We know where you have us (in the foyer), so we know the fountain is in the middle of where we are.

  64. I wonder if someone made a ressearch about variety of words in texts before and after google became popular… Maybe I do something like that, going to look into it. Is not my area but I can always try to put the word health somewere 🙂

  65. How about the old, “Ditch the noun and go with a pronoun” trick?
    “In its midst, a fountain lay cradled between two arms of a grand staircase.”

  66. I’m uncultured swine so I have no idea what most of the stuff you guys describe (flower types, plants, trees, architectural… thingies etc) but it’s interesting to see your writing process. Thanks for sharing!

  67. I was rooting for “room” and “atrium” … 😀

    Thanks for the peek. I love all your writingz.

  68. A lot of people were offering up suggestions on phrasing + word usage, I’m sitting here trying to figure out where this comes from – Innkeepers, Hidden Legacy, unknown project. I wanna say related to Hidden Legacy..

    It’s a fun guessing game 😀

  69. I love your books. How nice to know that you struggle, too! Sometimes, it seems as though the words must just pour through your fingers, onto the keyboard, in this raging torrent. The Innkeeper Series definitely felt like that. Fantastic plot construction, wonderful characters! For weeks after I read (and re-read) the series, I kept thinking that I was going to meet one of your characters on the street. Please keep writing!
    Judith

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