Tag Archives: novel

Writing a novel is like…

Posted by lisavb2012 on

Of course, I’m sure it’s different for different people, but I still recall what it felt like for me when I embarked on my first novel, THE GENESIS CODE.

It felt like hopping into a smallish sailboat alone and just heading out to a point where land was not visible from any side. And then wondering, where the hell am I going and how the hell am I going to get there? And how will I know I got there, for that matter?

Now, it’s not like I was 100% clueless. By the time I felt I was ready to try a novel-length work, I’d written a number of short stories, got some published. But that’s like sailing the boat around a marina–so many fewer words to wrangle. So much less continuity to worry about.

I outlined and prepared, but still hit some points where I really felt asea and panicked. I remember hitting one problem in particular that stopped me in my tracks. I needed one of the characters to do a certain thing for everything to work. But…I realized that character had zero motivation or reason to do that thing. Took me a while to realize that, took me a while longer to solve the problem. My sail was slack, my anchor was missing, and I couldn’t see a trace of land anywhere!

But once I made it through, subsequent novels were easier. I’d made the journey once, I could do it again. I trusted myself.

Then I threw all caution to the wind and decided to try writing a novel without an outline. Other authors do it, and do it well. Why not?

It started out okay, I made it past the breakwater without incident. But it wasn’t long before I felt adrift and terribly lost. It was like the first time, only this time, I’d tossed the compass out before embarking and was regretting it big-time.

I retraced my steps, made it back to the harbor, got a new compass (wrote an outline, that is), and headed out. And finished, though the journey actually took longer in calendar time than it took to write THE GENESIS CODE. Oh, well. I learned, and I’m happy with the final result: RAVENNA’S ROAD. It’s my first novel-length work in first person, and I believe it was the right choice for the story and for Ravenna. I’d be honored if you’d check it out.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s a universal link that takes you to all the sites offering the book, paperback and eBook:  RAVENNA’S ROAD.

In the not-too-distant future, climate change wreaks havoc on agriculture, the economy, public health, and the very fabric of society. Everything is in short supply: food, water, money—and hope.

Convicted of a murder she did not commit, Ravenna opts for a work-based diversion program in place of prison time. She becomes a first responder in Chicago’s toughest and most desperate section. She faces violence, suicides, and danger on every shift.

One day, Ravenna learns the immense personal sacrifice that led to her conviction was in vain. The discovery drives her to take a risky leap. Determined to make a new life for herself one way or the other, she meticulously plans her escape to Mexico, then sets out on the road.

But she encounters far worse obstacles and dangers than she imagined—and there’s no turning back. Her plan in tatters, she has to find a way to reach a safe place to start over.

Will the road be Ravenna’s salvation—or her undoing?

Early praise for Ravenna’s Road

Posted by lisavb2012 on

I’m pretty excited about some early praise for my latest novel, Ravenna’s Road:

Set in the near future of a slowly dying world, RAVENNA’S ROAD is bleak, violent, and utterly chilling. With suspense building steadily toward a shocking conclusion, Lisa von Biela has penned a ticking time bomb of a dystopian thriller. Do yourself a favor and buy this novel now, but leave yourself plenty of time to read – you won’t be able to put it down.

–Allan Leverone, New York Times bestselling author of FINAL VECTOR

Ravenna’s Road is set for release by Crossroad Press on July 8, 2025. Meanwhile, it is available for pre-order in all the usual places: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Smashwords, and Google Play.

Ravenna's Road

Ravenna’s Story

Posted by lisavb2012 on

So…I finished my last novel, Scorched Earth, in late 2018 (it launched in 2019). After writing at a fairly rapid pace since my debut, The Genesis Code, came out, I decided to take a brief hiatus. I figured on 6 months, and it stretched to about a year. When I sat down to begin a new novel in late 2019, I decided to take a fresh approach, try some new things–while staying with my usual sci/tech/thriller sort of fare.

I decided to come at this one from the POV of the main character, in first person and present tense. For this novel, I wanted the character to be very front-and-center, and the science/tech more in the background. I found myself having to be scrupulous about not lapsing into past tense, but that wasn’t too hard.

I decided to “pants” this novel to see where that took me. Other authors do that with great results, maybe it would loosen things up for me. And, since this novel wasn’t going to be so intricately tied to a timeline that needed careful planning, it seemed a natural thing to try this time around. Normally, I’m a planner/outliner. Partly due to my nature, and partly due to the nature of my prior novels’ plots.

Then came the pandemic, working from home, a new foreclosure crisis to tackle at work, and everything else. Lots of distractions and that much more “picking up the draft and putting it down” along the way. Perfect storm. One of the benefits of outlining for me is to be able to pick up the draft and get right back into where I left off because with an outline I know where I need to go, I just need to write the story. For this one, I had no roadmap, I only had distractions. When I picked it up to work on it, I had no idea where I was going next, and momentum was very hard to find indeed. The only thing I knew was I did like what I had already written, and didn’t want to give up on it. But progress was beyond slow.

By the summer of 2023, progress had been frustratingly slow, and I finally decided the hell with pantsing, I’m going to take stock of what I had and get an outline going. And that made all the difference. Once I charted out where the character was going (both in her development and her physical travels), momentum returned and the rest of the drafting went far, far better. Not only that, but I realized Ravenna, too, is a planner. A lot about who she is and her motivations became so much clearer. I had been pantsing her character as well, which was also not working for me.

Recognizing that Ravenna was a planner and that she and I both needed and deserved a decent outline was the turning point. Her character, the way forward, the point of the book…all of it crystallized and I was able at last to get to the finish line of the first draft. This novel took significantly more time to write than The Genesis Code, when I was experiencing the entire process of writing a novel-length work for the very first time. Genesis took about two years start to finish. Ravenna took nearly five.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I write the outline and then slavishly follow it no matter what. I do depart if/when it appears justified, and I’ve redone outlines that weren’t working. But now I can say I’ve given pantsing a fair shot, and I can safely say I won’t be doing that again. At least not with a novel-length work.

And trust me, even though Ravenna had her plans all worked out, I made sure she hit plenty of snags along the way and had to pants it sometimes just to survive. Heheh.

At last! My latest novel submitted!

Posted by lisavb2012 on

There were times I thought it would never happen, but I did recover my momentum and completed my 11th fiction title (I put it that way because two of my books are novellas, not novels).

As I mentioned in a previous post, I started this novel in December 2019. I decided to try “pantsing” this one for a change of pace. I’ve always outlined first. Pantsing just doesn’t give me the path I need to write as productively as I like. And then came the pandemic and everything associated with that. At work, we were thrown back into dealing with a new foreclosure crisis. It was a lot.

Last summer, I decided pantsing was just not working for me, and outlined the rest of the story. That made all the difference. I finally finished the first draft, then the various editing cycles, and finally turned it in to my publisher, Crossroad Press, recently. It still needs the editing/cover art and all that, so I don’t have a launch date at this time. But it feels good to finally have it out of my hands.

It’s called RAVENNA’s ROAD. To give you a little preview, here’s my draft of the back cover copy:

In the not-too-distant future, climate change wreaks havoc on agriculture, the economy, public health, and the very fabric of society. Everything is in short supply: food, water, money—and hope.

Convicted of a murder she did not commit, Ravenna opts for a work-based diversion program in place of prison time. She becomes a first responder in Chicago’s toughest and most desperate section. She faces violence, suicides, and danger on every shift.

One day, Ravenna learns the enormous personal sacrifice that led to her conviction was in vain. The discovery drives her to take a risky leap. Disillusioned at throwing away her life for nothing, she meticulously plans her escape to Mexico, then sets out on the road.

But she encounters far worse obstacles and dangers than she imagined—and there’s no turning back. Her plan in tatters, she has to find a way to reach a safe place to start a new life.

Will the road be Ravenna’s salvation—or her undoing?

(Good heavens, this platform won’t let me do something as simple as indenting it, so I went with bolding.)

Stay tuned for updates!

Elon Musk has nothing on me…

Posted by lisavb2012 on

So, he’s working on an implantable brain chip, is he?

That idea occurred to me way back in the early 2000s. It fascinated me, so I wrote a short story centered on the concept. Never ended up published–instead, I realized the idea demanded a longer format. So I wrote a novel, finished it up right before I started law school in 2006.

And that novel–The Genesis Code–was first published by DarkFuse in 2013, later re-released by Crossroad Press.

Things don’t turn out so well for the characters in the novel…perhaps Mr. Musk should read my book before he goes too far…

Find it here: The Genesis Code on Amazon