The only way my brain is able to treat writing like a day job is if I actually “go to work” every day…meaning I get in my car, drive to my “workplace”, do work, and then go home when “time” is up. It’s not like I’ve never thought of doing my writing elsewhere; I’ve written in fast food places, coffee shops, bookstores, libraries. But I think in my mind I was still treating these excursions as get-aways or mini-vacations instead of a job, so it wasn’t something that I would think of doing every day. And the problem with choosing a restaurant or coffee shop as a writing office is that you’re morally (and sometimes actually) obligated to purchase something every couple of hours. That gets expensive real fast.

The other issue is hours. I’m free from 8 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, most places don’t open until 9 or 10, sometimes even 11. Technically I’d have more hours to work if I stayed home and started working at 8…but if I stay home, I often don’t get anything done at all. It’s a lot like abstinence-only sex education: looks great in theory, but in practice, I’d be better off trying a “less effective” method that actually works.

Last week I began experimenting with “going to work” at the library. I even give myself an official lunch break and everything. So far this has been working so well that I’m really, really annoyed at myself for not trying this before. If I work for 3 or 4 hours, with a break between, I can average about 2,000 words. (Mind, this is on days when the writing is actually a bit slow and difficult…I could probably do more on days when I can merrily plug along.) I’ve gone from hopefully being able to finish the rough draft of Promises, Like Tears by November to thinking I might be able to finish the draft by the end of next week. (This is my current goal, since my son’s last day of school is next Friday and after that my productivity will drop dramatically.)

My other nod to being more productive is on days when I just simply cannot work on the current story, I’m making myself outline other stuff in the queue. I have finished a fairly detailed outline for Dog Prince and Free (formerly Voiceless), and am working onputting Windwaker together. I’m discovering that a lot of my stories are much less “put together” on paper than they are in my head, but hey, that’s part of the fun…right?

Still agent hunting. Got another request for a partial, which was encouraging although they ultimately passed. I seem to vacillate between really hopeful and downright discouraged. Last night I finally broke down and did a little research on how to query the publishing houses themselves. Most don’t take un-agented stuff but I was surprised to discover that a few do, especially in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. However, that process is a lot slower: most houses require an exclusive look (which means you can’t send the manuscript to anyone else while they have it), and they can take anywhere from a few months to a year to make a decision. I’ve decided that if I haven’t found an agent for Seven Shades by the time I’ve finished This Chosen Fate, I’m going to dump Hands on the editor circuit and start hawking This Chosen Fate to the agents.

I’m going to try and do NaNoWriMo this year and hopefully finish This Chosen Fate, since it’s already started and I have a very good idea of where it’s going. It will be nice to have another finished story under my belt that isn’t part of a series.

Like this post?

Like!

0 likes

I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a short story written from Brendan’s point of view. It takes place during the span of time when Saeli is missing from Aschamon, just before she makes her reappearance. I’m planning to enter it in the Writer’s Digest contest, as well as one other (that isn’t picky about simultaneous submissions). If it places, I’m hoping it will generate interest in Hands, Like Secrets.

My other big project this last week was overhauling the bestiary of Amphitere’s Vision. I’ll talk about that in a separate post.

I have also decided to change the format of the game from computer-based to table-top. Because getting a computer game concept into the right hands is next to impossible for someone like me. If you want to create a game, you essentially have to work for a game company. There really isn’t a clear avenue of gatekeepers for ideas from outside the industry. However, if I go table-top, I will essentially be able to self-publish the concept and rules. I don’t have to worry about the look of the finished product, or about handing stuff over to a company or a programmer. I don’t have to invent every single little rule and quest and NPC and outcome for every single scenario that could possibly happen in the world, because I can leave most of that in the hands of the individual GMs who run campaigns. I think the move makes sense. And later, if someone wants to pick it up and make a computer game out of it…hey, I won’t complain

I will have to reacquaint myself with GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) in order to set up the dice rolling and gameplay rules. GURPS is the most straightforward and flexible system that I’m aware of (D&D is a mess and copyrighted besides, and I don’t want to have to invent a system from scratch).

I’ve changed the title of one of my stories. “Empty Eyes” is now “Dog Prince”. The sorcerers of that world have tamed these giant desert jackals, which they use both as horses and as guard dogs. The rest of the world, that hates and fears magic anyway, thus disparagingly calls anyone who can use magic a “dog”, after the jackals the sorcerers ride. Since Arav was heir to the throne before getting disowned, and then joins the sorcerers and discovers that he can use magic himself…kind of makes him a dog prince. I’ve also decided this is an adult story as opposed to a YA. Only because of tone and mood, not content!

The other major change I’ve made to the queue has to do with Windwaker. I’m…removing the main character and replacing him with a girl. Because I think there aren’t enough stories where a girl goes on a sword and wits adventure by herself. And I mean one that doesn’t end with her meeting a prince and falling in love. I want to write an adventure where a young woman takes the Hero’s Journey, not as an accessory or “helper” to a man but on her own, and becomes the Windwaker herself…not just a prince’s bride.

This is something that I struggle with as a writer. As much as I don’t want to insert an “agenda” into my stories, the more I learn from blogs and online people about privilege and minorities and other viewpoints…the less I can ignore them in my writing. Yes, I originally wanted to write Windwaker about a male, but I cannot help but realize that if I do so, I will be unconsciously reinforcing the stereotype that only boys can have adventures. And I don’t want to do that. So I will write the same story, only about a girl. Because if authors write stories about boys who have adventures that aren’t about falling in love, then they should do the same for girls. Otherwise, girls may take away the subconscious message that the greatest adventure their gender is capable of is love and marriage…and it makes the girls who find swords more fascinating than boys feel like there’s something wrong with them.

Another example of this interplay of privilege and writing is that most of the relationships in my stories tend to be heterosexual. It’s what I know. But I cannot in good conscience deny the fact that gay people exist, and I feel that ignoring them in my writing is really not much better than ignoring them in real life. So in stories where they fit, I deliberately insert gay characters or have characters deal with homosexual people, not because it’s “politically correct” or to promote a positive or negative view of homosexuality…but because homosexual people are first and foremost people, and writing is about people. I don’t get to write stories with no gay people just because I’m straight, in the same way that I don’t get to write stories with no men in them just because I’m a woman, or no people of color just because I’m white. I have to make myself write such characters because I know I don’t do it naturally…and I don’t think the fact that certain thinking doesn’t come natural to me is an excuse to not do it. Not all of my readers will share my gender, race, or orientation, and I don’t think it’s fair to pretend, intentionally or not, that they and their struggles don’t exist or aren’t worth talking about.

So, Meghan Iris McKenna was born this last weekend. She’s a drummer from a religious town and a family that doesn’t think drums are a “proper” instrument for a girl to play, and that women have no business in leadership of any kind. I’m shelving the character Quintin for now, but he’ll probably show up in a different story that calls for an introverted geek. I rather like him.

Like this post?

Like!

0 likes

I think that both my query letter and story are much stronger than they were at this time last year, but I suppose I’ll have to wait and see what sort of response I get.

The issue that’s going to work against me the worst, I believe, is length. Hands, Like Secrets is bloody long, both for a debut and especially for the YA market. And there’s only so far I can knock it back without compromising the story. At best…at the very, very best I can do on my own…I might could knock it back to 118,000 or so. That’s how long Twilight is. Twilight was a debut, and a YA to boot. It’s not impossible.

It just makes an already difficult job harder.

I try to tell myself that Eragon was somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 words, and it took off nonetheless. However, Eragon was originally self-published, and had something like a year to gain momentum before a publisher ever picked it up. I will self-publish Hands if I absolutely have to, but I want to exhaust all my other options first.

I’m about to get back to work on Promises, Like Tears, which has become a bit bogged down. I think there’s a lot in there that I need to go back and cut, or rearrange, and I can’t quite decide if I should do that first or just push on to the end and THEN come back. The latter is probably the better option.

Changed Shades to Seven Shades. I really have no reason other than it sounds more interesting. And the characters occasionally swear by it. The only fact I’ve established is that there are seven “shades” in shayol, and I haven’t really worked out why that’s important. Might become relevant in the last book, when Saeli is briefly taken to shayol by the Keeper of the Oath. I suppose I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I’ve also decided to attempt NaNoWriMo this year, and see if I can’t get This Chosen Fate written. It’s all plotted out; all I have to do is sit down and write it. That’s something I really need to practice: writing straight through something without going into editing mode. And this way I’ll have something besides Shades to shop around…something that isn’t as long

Like this post?

Like!

1 likes

Anonymous

Well.

The problem is, my productivity has been extremely spread out. I’ve gotten a little further on Promises, Like Tears. I’ve written the script for about half an episode of Grimms, and mapped out all the episodes in each season…so I have a very clear picture of where everything is going. I’ve written a better version of my query letter, and am set to revise it yet again. I discovered the most awesome epic fantasy writing music on the planet. I made some awesome Halloween costumes. Aaaaaand, I’m revising Hands, Like Secrets. Again.

I just really don’t seem to have the discipline to keep plugging away on one single project at a time. I can do it for a couple of weeks, but then it’s like I HAVE to work on something else for a little while. My system of grouping projects together (one series, one novel, one season of Grimms, specific visual projects) has been useful in keeping myself within limits, as far as what gets worked on. I really can’t decide if my multiple project mindset is something I ought to try and train myself out of, or something to harness. I mean, once I break into the business I will have to be able to work within a schedule. I won’t be able to work on whatever the hell I want when I want, you know? So maybe I need to get myself used to that now.

So, in order. I’ve kind of hit a wall in Promises, one of those “just wanna get this stupid scene DONE and move on” walls that you simply have to kind of plod through. I felt like I was losing my grip on the characters and their motivations, like everything they were doing was coming from me instead of them. Being a character-driven writer, I hate that feeling. When I get that way I just have to take a step back. That was around Halloween, too, so I was doing costumes, which always eat a lot of my time.

Also, I got a copy of Scrivener for my birthday this year, and part of what’s been eating my time in the last couple of months has been moving all my various ideas and works-in-progress over to that format. Scrivener is a writing program which basically allows you to store all your documents, photos, bits of research, anything related to your story in one place, and lets you organize it. It’s really a great tool if you, like me, find yourself creating massive folders full of story-related stuff for each novel, and get tired of having to have multiple programs open all the time just to access it all. Initially I wasn’t going bother moving Shades, since Hands, Like Secrets was done and Promises well started. But after realizing that I could put ALL of my Shades stories in one project file, including the sequel and prequel, I decided it made sense to dump it all into Scrivener. Moving all my various projects has really helped me take stock of where I am in each project, and what still needs to be done. It was this move, actually, that got me working on Grimms again.

I ended up going through the whole story and working out arcs for each character, especially when they would peak or bottom out. What I didn’t want to happen was having all eight Grimms hitting rock bottom at the same time, because then I’d have a bunch of emotionally charged episodes followed by episodes where nothing significant happened. Gave each episode a name and a general plan of action as well.

The other major thing I did was make one of the Grimms gay. When I was creating the characters initially, I set out to make the cast as racially diverse as possible (without it seeming contrived). The girls outnumber the guys, but since guys tend to be over-represented in visual fiction, I think it will actually end up feeling even. But my relationship pairings were…too perfect. Hansel/Gretel, Red/Stiltz, Cutter/Cinder, Rapunzel/Oros (a fae), and Rora was going to fall for Alan Hunter in the end. But the whole point of having a diverse cast is so that, hopefully, everyone that reads the graphic novel will have at least one character they can really relate to. One character that “represents” them. This is the strength of an ensemble. So I got to thinking, who will my LGBT readers relate to? I felt like that perspective deserved representation as much as any other.

I chose Rora, initially because she was the only “unattached” Grimm, and changing her orientation would least affect my already established story arcs. But as I began to approach her character with this new nuance in mind, something unexpected happened. She almost immediately fell for Katie, the human girl who gets placed with Mother Goose in Season 3, and it was perfect. It introduces the problem of a Grimm falling for a human, which nicely contrasts Rapunzel’s struggle (Grimm falling for a Fae). It explaines a lot about Katie’s character. It links the Grimms with Smile, the second Fae-rescue team that Katie eventually helps start. I get to address the issue of homosexuality from the perspective of someone who’s grown up in an environment entirely free from the usual associated stigma (Arcadia), and someone who is all too familiar with the stigma.

And then, just this month, I really started to reassess where I am with Hands, and my agent-hunting. Because aside from that one nibble right at the beginning of the process, I’ve only gotten form rejections and silence. I tried revising my query letter, but that hasn’t seemed to help. Therefore, I have to think that it’s the story itself, specifically the beginning (as that’s what most agents request), that’s the problem. I have actually suspected (and tried to deny) that Hands didn’t start in quite the right place, that the scene in the High Priestess’ office is too tame to kick off the story. I just couldn’t figure out how to include all the necessary backstory otherwise. But I started reading a book called Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers by Les Edgerton…and realized that a lot of that backstory is not really necessary. Interesting, perhaps, but not necessary.

What I essentially decided to do was start the book in Chapter 2. I mean, compare the strengths of the opening lines:

Chapter 1: “I’d been summoned to the High Priestess’ office that night.” Bleh.

Chapter 2: “I sank back against the wall, gripping my hands into fists to stop them from shaking.”

Yeah, the second one is a whole lot more intriguing. And that immediately segues into the battle between Raphel and the High Priestess, which makes for an awesome first chapter. I was able to add back in enough information that (I hope) the reader will be able to figure out what’s going on. (Though I will say, if you are the kind of person who likes to have all new information, definitions, words, and explanations laid out for you up front, you probably aren’t going to enjoy this book.)

And, in rewriting that beginning, I really started to straighten out Saeli’s GMC as it progresses through the story. Although the last major rewrite I did straightened out most of the major continuity errors, there was still some disconnect between various scenes, specifically in the area of how Saeli is reacting to what’s going on. The various issues were coming and going, one after another, instead of piling up to the climax. Also, Saeli’s a bit tougher and sharper this time around, and there’s a very noticeable disconnect between what she’s thinking and how she’s acting at any given moment. I think this has everything to do with where the story starts now. She’s all over the place, emotionally, in her head…but to anyone else, she probably comes across as calm, quiet, and even a little bit cold. She’s actually pretty downright harsh to Raphel at first, and overall I think she’s a better match for him this time around. I’ve found myself writing him a little bit softer and more seductive in response, and I think he actually likes her a little bit more than he did before. It means that his cruelty is all the more jarring when it surfaces, which is appropriate.

I think this will also help me push through Promises, as I have a much clearly picture of where Saeli has been.

I’ve also discovered what seems like a hundred little tiny plot holes, which is both irritating and alarming (I’ve sent this to agents? Good gods, what was I thinking??). Most are continuity gaps, emotionally getting a character from here to there. Some are logistical, like why on earth did I have Saeli and Raphel walk up an entire flight of tower stairs in the city Temple when time is of the essence and THEY CAN TELEPORT?

And the latest one: After Raphel spirits Saeli away and returns her, the High Priestess decides that it’s not safe for Saeli to leave campus until she is dedicated to Scisaxar. Saeli gets special permission to leave campus for a few hours to go to a graduation party, at Cara’s request. She walks alone to a cabstand and takes a cab. On the way, she is intercepted by Raphel.

See the problem yet?

Saeli would never have been permitted to walk out of Aschamon alone. See, the reader knows that Saeli has already thwarted this rule once, and that she is not in any physical danger from Raphel. But the High Priestess does not know that. There’s simply no way she would allow Saeli to travel to this party by herself: she would arrange for Saeli to be teleported straight there, or at the very least, assign someone to escort her.

Cara is a bit more blaze about the whole danger aspect. She’s helped Saeli sneak out once…but that was only to Main Street, and she was with her roommate the whole time. Letting Saeli travel by herself, across town, at sunset? No, I don’t buy it. Again, as far as Cara knows, there is a murderous Cowl out there just waiting to get his hands on Saeli again.

But the thing is, Saeli has to be alone for this scene to work. She has to disappear with Raphel for an hour, and then has to appear at the party with no one the wiser. (Which means Raphel can’t neutralize Saeli’s escort, or abduct her for an hour when teleportation is supposed to be near instantaneous.) Raphel also cannot go anywhere near the party, because any Anjahel there will sense him. Saeli has to start learning rashas qi onscreen, as it were, and it must happen before all the party excitement (because she won’t be in any emotional condition to do it after she’s been “abducted”). This does not leave me many options.

My best one:

#1: Cara acts as Saeli’s escort. Raphel, in the guise of “Aiden”, whom Cara has met, convinces her to let him have an hour alone with Saeli before he takes her to the party himself. Cara would probably agree to this.

Downsides: Cara has been to Valene’s house (where the party is), so there’s no good reason for her to NOT teleport her and Saeli straight there. Especially since Cara wants to give Saeli the full advantage of her limited freedom, and figures Saeli won’t want to waste time in travel. Granted, they would have to exit the school in order to teleport, but they’d only have to be outside the gates. Raphel cannot intercept them there for obvious reasons.

Possible solutions: Saeli convinces Cara to get a quick bite to eat in town before heading for the party. Maybe, if Cara can be convinced that isn’t bending the HP’s rules too much. Or, Saeli travels with a large group of girls (probably Cara’s friends) into town ahead of time to, I dunno, eat or accessorize or whatever. A group would seem safer. Problematic, in that Raphel isn’t going to want to be seen by a whole bunch of Aschamon students and risk being pegged for what he is: a Cowl. Also, it means lots of people are going to know that Saeli disappeared with a guy, which means the word is much more likely to get back to the Priestess. The Priestess would recognize Raphel from his description. Eh…sounds like I’m going with option #1. It’s the least complicated.

Least complicated being an extremely relative term. Just thinking of all the little scenes I’ll have to alter to make this change is making my head hurt. But it needs to be done.

After all that, I’ll have to do another line edit, because somehow even though I dropped an entire chapter, my word count went UP. Then I will write yet another query letter, which I think I have a better idea of how to approach that now. If all goes well, by the first of the year, I will be querying again.

Oh! Epic fantasy writing music. Discovered a group called Two Steps From Hell (via Brandon Sanderson’s Facebook, of all places), and immediately had to get both of their commercially available albums. Apparently they mostly make movie trailer music (in fact, I recognized two of their songs in the latest Twilight trailer). Which means most of what they’ve done is only available if you, you know, have lots of money and make movies. But, man. This is what I’m talking about:

Two Steps From Hell - Archangel

Anyway, here’s to getting an agent in 2012.

Like this post?

Like!

0 likes

It’s so easy to take it personally. It’s easy to start thinking things like, “Man, my work must really suck if an agent who wants that exact kind of story doesn’t even want it.”

But I know that’s not true.

One’s taste in books is a highly subjective matter. I know this, because I know how picky I am about what I like to read. For example, I just finished the last book in Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series…and I found myself mildly disappointed.

***Spoilers below***

Why?

Because it had a happy ending.

Really, Nightphoenix? You didn’t like it because it was happy? Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.

But see, what I really liked about the series was the tension in the relationships…the idea that some relationships are impossible because of other responsibilities, and the fact that choosing between love and one’s responsibilities can be absolute hell. It sucked that these characters couldn’t be together, and it was great! But then in the last book, everything works out. Everyone pairs off and everyone gets their happy ending. And it wasn’t bad writing or anything; the characters’ decisions never felt contrived or forced. Now, I imagine that to most, this was an extremely satisfying ending. Anything else would have annoyed, angered and disappointed a vast majority of readers. But as for me? I didn’t like it. That sort of neat wrapping everything up at the end…just doesn’t work for me. I enjoy getting my heart ripped out at the end of a story. Not everyone does. Not everyone should.

Ergo, the kinds of stories people fall in love with is highly, highly subjective.

The truth is, I don’t know why those particular agents yesterday rejected Hands, Like Secrets. Maybe they were having a crappy day. Maybe they’ve gotten way too many fantasy or YA stories this month. Maybe it was too similar to something they just acquired. Maybe they didn’t like Saeli. Maybe they’re sick of Harry Potter knockoffs and thus automatically reject everything that has any sort of school of magic in it. Or…and this is probably the most likely…they thought it was okay, but it just didn’t have that *spark* for them. I read books like that all the time. Books I think are “not bad”, “okay”, “ho-hum”, “meh”, or even “how the hell did this crap get published?”

Of course, I want everyone to love my stories. I love them, how can you not?? But it doesn’t work like that. There isn’t a book, movie, TV show, play, or painting out there that everyone likes. Taste is simply too subjective.

What I do know, and have to keep in mind, is this: My work does not suck. I am not a bad writer. Those agents yesterday, the ones previous, and all those in the future are not rejecting and will not reject Hands because they think it’s crap. (Well, some might…but that’s not my fault). It is not personal. My work will not captivate everyone who reads it. Not because it isn’t good enough, but because creating something that will appeal to everyone is impossible.

It is not personal.

Like this post?

Like!

2 likes

Anonymous(2)

My car died. Like, permanently. Poor old Pontiac. The only thing worse than driving an overheating car across Melbourne was then having nightmares about driving said overheating car across Melbourne that night. Which, I now know, was not a wise thing to do…but alas. Thankfully, I have the most wonderful dad in the world, who funded the Hyundai Sonata I’m driving now.

We now have a cat. The hubby heard him crying outside one night after those two huge April storms we had. I, of course, had headphones on and didn’t have a clue. So we’re sitting there working on our computers, when the hubby suddenly gets up and walks out the front door with no explanation. He then calls my phone and asks if we have anything we could feed to a cat. I cut up some hot dogs and take them outside, where I find him with a very skittish orange kitty in the downstairs breezeway. We debated what to do with the cat, as it was raining and we didn’t want to just leave him outside. As it was around 11 in the evening, our options were limited. We ended up bringing the cat up to the apartment for the night and made plans to call animal control in the morning.

We got some basic supplies and discovered that the kitty was housebroken (litter trained and everything). Also, this cat really, really liked my husband. I mean, he couldn’t even leave the room without the cat trying to follow and put its paws up on his ankles. I stayed home with the cat the next day until animal control came, and that part was absolutely horrible. My son was home on spring break, which made it even worse (how do you explain to a five-year-old why someone is taking kitty to the pound, when every single child’s movie that features a pound portrays it as a BAD PLACE??)

Well, we debated, and debated, and finally decided that we couldn’t bear the thought of this cat getting possibly euthanized if no one claimed him. After a week, we went back to the animal shelter and officially adopted him. His name is now Kansuke, and he is settling in very nicely (after he got rid of the cold he caught at the shelter).

I have been writing, despite all this; working on Promises, Like Tears and This Chosen Fate kind of in tandem. When I hit a block in one story, I switch to the other. By the time I hit a hard place in the other, I’m ready to continue the first one. I’ve also spent quite a bit of time on Amphiptere’s Vision, tweaking the skillsets. “Sandboxing” them, I call it; where instead of coming up with a straightforward list of abilities, I create a set of “tools”, skills that can be combined to create the individual abilities. It gives the player the opportunity to create their own “style” of fighting, hunting, building, etc. It also forces the player to think about what the various tools do, and to anticipate what might happen if one tool is combined with another. I want the player to “know” his skillsets nearly as well as the character does, and to be creative in how he employs them. Breaks the bash-bash-bash-loot monotony of grinding that most MMO’s seem to have.

I’ve heard back on a few submissions, mostly the standard not-right-for-us-at-this-time letters. The few more personal notes I’ve gotten have been encouraging, however (as is the fact that I’ve even gotten personal notes at this stage in the game). I’ve sent out a few more and hope to hear back in the next few weeks. The agent hunt continues.

That’s about it on the real life front. More to come later.

Like this post?

Like!

3 likes

Anonymous(3)

Interestingly, the agent who requested the partial was one who requires a writing sample with a query. The agency I got a rejection from only wanted the query itself. This means that the one who was interested saw some of the writing itself, and the one that wasn’t, didn’t. If this pattern keeps up, that will tell me that my writing is compelling and my query is not…meaning I’ll need to revise the query letter. But I’ll climb that ladder when I get there, I guess. I’m cautiously optimistic at this point.

Meanwhile, I’ve begun the process of revisiting the first draft of the second and third books. The first thing I noticed was that the writing isn’t as bad as I was afraid it was. Having said that, yeah…it needs a whole lot of work. Second realization was, man, how this story has evolved since I wrote this draft. Still using mage and cleric as terms, still third person, still working out kinks in Raphel’s character, for instance. Most of my scenes don’t have nearly enough conflict. Stakes don’t feel high enough. Motivation feel very contrived in places. Things work out too neatly.

Having said that, general pacing is okay. Secondary characters are believable and generally deep enough…no major tweaks needed. Scenes are more or less in the right order. My main tasks are going to be raising stakes, revising Naeth’s character, and revising the Keeper’s character. I will also need to weave bits of Caosgi in when my characters are on Dheu, and bits of Dheu in when they are on Caosgi…otherwise, it’s going to feel like two smaller books smashed together. I need to weave some flashbacks or dreams about Saeli’s Aschamon days in there, too, so the second book will connect back to the first. Tie Saeli’s feelings about Brendan to her feelings about Naeth.

It feels like a lot of work, but I think once I really get going, it won’t be so bad. Been working on this story long enough that I have a pretty good handle on where it needs to go.

I’m also going to start brainstorming and plotting The Waters, so I have something else in the works if the trilogy doesn’t get picked up right away. I chose that one because of the ones I’m really itching to do next, it’s the most straightforward. I love Raphel to death, but he makes me want to write an awesome “bad boy” who actually is the hero…not just masquerading as one. Alex Merrett is that character. Then I’ll do Windwaker, or maybe by that time I’ll be ready to work on Mask of Eldarmarch again. Dragon Singer is so complex and will require so much research that this is not the time to tackle it. Like Briar Rose, it needs to percolate for a while longer.

Again, apologies for the sparseness of posts. I’m going to make an effort to post something at least once a week, but I’m not promising anything. I’m not one for “check-in” posts…I only post when I have something to blather about.

Now…back to work.

Like this post?

Like!

1 likes

Anonymous

I’ve been making an Excel list of agents to query. Today I will be sending out a query to the agent I met at the writer’s conference, and then picking out 10 or so others to send a first round of emails out to. Man, talk about a complicated process. Every agent wants something different. Some want just a letter. Some want a letter and a writing sample. Some want all that and a synopsis of the story.

Of the ones who want a sample, some want a chapter. Some want 3 chapters. Some want 5 pages. Some want 10 pages. At least one wants 50 pages (!). That means, for each one of these, I have to find a break somewhere in that neighborhood. Some want said pages attached. Most want the sample in the email body and will delete anything with attachments.

Of the ones who want a synopsis, most want a page or two. Some want 5 pages. One wants 3-5 paragraphs. *eyeroll* How many bloody synposises (synposi?) do I have to write?

Some want you to query just one agent at the agency. Some say that a query to one is a query to all. Some will let you submit to another agent at the agency if the first rejects you. Some stipulate that a rejection from one is a rejection from all. Most want an email. Some have a weird online form you have to use instead. Some respond to everyone. Most warn that prolonged silence is a no. Response time is anywhere between 1 week and 6 months.

Are you beginning to see the need for a spreadsheet to keep all this straight?? Now I figure if I can navigate all this excitement, I’ll be a step ahead of most people who go through this process.

I’m finally reading Towers of Midnight. I have to say, sometimes the library has good timing. I knew I had requested the book sometime back, and I was terrified it was going to come in during those couple of weeks before the conference. You know, when I was busy copyediting and preparing and most definitely not having time to start an 843 page beast. (That’s, er, overlooking the fact that I did read Fallen by Lauren Kate, and the final Vampire Academy book Last Sacrifice during that time. Um, yeah.)

I’ve also been reading the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson. Those are fun, though the super-short chapters get annoying pretty fast. I mean, when every single chapter is a page or two long? It starts to feel like this breathless, chronological montage of…stuff happening. Or like watching a fan blade turn round and round. It becomes a gimmick for making the book seem fast paced, but here’s the thing. These books don’t need it. They’re face-paced enough. Choppy chapter breaks are unnecessary, especially when they don’t really…divide…anything.

And here it comes, the deep thought for the day. Maximum Ride, and yesterday’s viewing of Toy Story 3, have gotten me thinking about family. As is, what makes a family? Are unconventional families any less deserving of the title?

Take a child’s room. Toy stores push for continuity…sets of toys that all go together. Any picture of a child’s room will show matching bedspread, wallpaper, curtains, and toys. One theme. Everything belongs together. Nothing looks out of place or different. However, the reality is that children collect a variety of disparate toys over time, and when they’re playing, they don’t care that Mr. Potato Head and Transformers have nothing to do with each other. My son’s kitties, matchbox cars, fisher-price nativity figures, and dragons all have adventures together. In Toy Story, it’s a cowboy figure, a space figure, a dinosaur, a spring dog, some potatos, a piggy bank, and little army men.

I’d extend that analogy to families. It’s not blood that bonds people together; it’s a shared purpose and a commitment to one another. Maximum Ride’s flock of bird-kids are a family. The toys of Andy’s room are a family. They aren’t related, and couldn’t be more different from each other. I would compare the people who say that only traditional, nuclear families can succeed are like those toy store advertisements. They ignore the real world in favor of some idyllic vision of what a family is “supposed” to look like: one mommy, one daddy, 2.5 children, and maybe a dog. But I don’t see anything superior or ordained about this arrangement. I don’t even think this is the “best” arrangement. There is no “best” arrangement; to make it all about better and best is to miss the point of the whole institute. We live in a messy world.

In the real world, dinosaurs can play with Barbies, and the world doesn’t come to a screeching halt. Why? Because in that space, they share a purpose: to provide entertainment for a child. (Obviously inanimate objects can’t be committed to one another, but perhaps you could postulate that this shared commitment is provided by the child who is playing). In the same way, I don’t see any evidence that children raised by a gay couple will be scarred for life just because the arrangement is “different”. As long as they are a family: ie. shared purpose, commitment to one another, then that’s all that matters.

I honestly don’t understand people who claim the breakdown of the traditional family is the cause of all societal ills. No. The problem is that people have forgotten what a family is, and people think they can magically fix that problem with a set of hard and fast rules. One man-one woman only, thank you, gays and “deviants” need not apply. Family dinners. Home church. Home school. But these rules do not a family create, and families that follow these rules do not necessarily thrive better than families that do things differently. I’m not saying the rules are bad…for the most part, they’re good ideas. But they cannot be a replacement for the essential elements that separate a family from a group of people who happen to live together or be related by blood.

The gender of the parents is irrelevant. The sexual orientation of the parents is irrelevant. The number of parents is irrelevant. The number of children is irrelevant. The presence or absence of unrelated persons is irrelevant. Is a normal child’s room inferior to a toy store ad because it’s full of mismatching stuff? Of course not. A room full of toys can be a family. A band of winged kids led by a 14-year-old can be a family. A band of orphans can be a family. The crew of a flying ship on a post-apocalyptic world where robots have taken over can be a family. A mastodon, a saber-tooth tiger, a sloth, and a human baby can be a family. Four mutant turtles and a mutant rat can be a family. Two sisters and a space alien can be a family. None of these arrangements are inferior to the traditional man-woman-children by vice of being different. I don’t think anyone has the right to point and say, “That’s not a real family” or “Those people would be so much better off in a traditional family”.

As an aside, I just got visited by some very nice Mormons. I may blog about that later.

Like this post?

Like!

2 likes

Anonymous(2)

I’ve finished the copyedit…finally…so this thing is about as good as I can make it. I just need to do a run of business cards, and finish up the bags we’re going to hand out to the speakers. I’ve been slowly working on a synopsis, and I’ve been doing some digging around on AgentQuery.com’s articles about agents and query letters. Boy, that’s going to be a…process.

Started an Excel worksheet of all the agents I’m going to query. Slow work.

I’ve also been taking a long look at my writing queue, and rethinking what I should work on next.

Obviously Shades has first priority. Now that I have the first book done, I really need to get the second and third books written. The overall story is incomplete. However, I’ve been poking around on some writing forums, and realizing that in the interest of furthering my writing career, dedicating myself to working exclusively on a series may not be the smartest thing for me to do.

Even if I get an agent for Shades, the first book may not sell. Then my agent is going to turn to me and say, “Well, what else have you got?” And if all I’ve got is the rest of that trilogy…yeah. Or, the book may sell but not do all that well once it’s published. The publisher may not want to put out the other two books, or at least not right away. Again, they’ll turn and ask “What else have you got?” Or heck, the book may do well enough, but the publisher wants to space out the trilogy and have me release something else in the meantime…and it’s back to that question.

What else have I got?

I’ve made the decision that I don’t want to work on Mask of Eldarmarch next, like I’d planned. I’m just…not all that enthused about it right now, and I’ve gotten a lot of other ideas over the past few years that I’d really like to tackle first. Right now Dragon Singer is at the top of the queue, but now I’m wondering if that’s a good idea. Dragon Singer is going to be a challenge…complicated plot with time travel, and a lot of research about stuff I don’t know a whole lot about. Maybe I should start with something simpler, you know?

I’d probably start with the Waters, if I was going to pick one. Straightforward romance. Fantasy setting. The research is on stuff I already know a lot about (sailing ships), and on stuff I can utilize my “artistic license” (what was Earhart’s personality like after X years in a place that doesn’t actually exist?). Then I’d tackle Windwaker, another relatively easy one. Then, then maybe I’d be ready for Dragon Singer.

What I think I’m going to do is try and work on Shades plus another project in tandem. (And yes, I know you aren’t supposed to do that.) Shades needs to get done, but I want to have another project in the works in case I need it.

Hopefully I won’t. Hopefully Shades will take off, and I’ll have people frothing at the mouth saying, “Where’s the rest of it???” At that point, yeah, I can focus my efforts.

Like this post?

Like!

0 likes

I’m also working on a synopsis, which is more blarg…but not as bad as it could be, since I had the foresight to sum up all the important events of Hands on index cards in preparation for editing. I think I’ll have everything ready for the conference.

Speaking of: Hey, the Space Coast Writers Guild conference is coming up! Jan. 28th and 29th (which is a Friday and a Saturday). It’s a great conference, and not too pricey, as far as writing conferences go. Click here for details and a registration form. You can also walk in and register the day of.

I did the conference booklet again this year (yeah…last weekend’s mad project), and I hope it looks as good printed as it does on a computer screen. The registration booklet I did was a little graphics-busy, IMO.

So…one might ask why I’m blogging when I probably should be copyediting or synopsising or somesuch. Well, I’m feeling a bit burnt out and I figured writing something is at least more productive than reading pages upon pages of Slacktivist comments. Not that those aren’t interesting, and un-productive…anyway.

I ran across an interesting word the other day (through, ironically enough, said Slacktivist comment pages).

Kayfabe.

It describes both the act put on by performers and the willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience to participate in said act. It is both the ruse and the willingness to pretend to believe the ruse. It is the fourth wall. Apparently the most common use of the word occurs in professional wrestling, which is of course a highly elaborate act, for the most part. There is controversy on the origin of the word: some say it is pig latin for “be fake”, others say it originated as a carny term, a sort of code word they would use among themselves as a signal to “get in character, someone’s watching”.

However, this is a great word for any creative person to know. Think about it. Any movie, TV show, novel, play, painting…hell, just about any work of fiction could not succeed without kayfabe. No one who sits down to watch a movie or read a fantasy novel is under any illusion that anything depicted therein is actually real, in the sense that the chair they are sitting in is real. It’s fake. It’s an act. But the act, the kayfabe, is what allows the truths to be communicated. The creator knows it, and the audience (you hope) knows it’s not real. But the audience is willing to pretend, for a little while, and act as though they believe it’s real…because that is the only way it can be understood and enjoyed. You have to play along to get it. Anyone who sits around saying, “Bah, that’s not real!” cannot appreciate a work of fiction. They are missing the point.

But I think kayfabe is bigger than that. We all have roles that we play in society: amongst our friends, our family, strangers, authorities. Most public events have an understood kayfabe that people are expected to conform to…and when someone doesn’t, either intentionally or through ignorance, people notice. You clap to show approval at football games, and disapproval at bullfighting matches. You snap at poetry readings. You don’t dance during church services, unless you’re at a Pentecostal church, where it’s expected. You don’t talk during movies. You stand in line and wait your turn with a merchant, if you live in the US; otherwise, you have to be a little pushy. You don’t haggle the price of an item, unless you’re expected to. You don’t blow foghorns at ceremonies, unless it’s a graduation. You only crowd-surf at concerts. You stay off stage unless you are performing, presenting, or are invited by someone onstage. Kayfabe. Don’t break character. Don’t reveal the act for the ruse everyone knows it is.

Civil society depends on people being willing to believe that roles are real, even though in reality we know that people are more complex than just “parent”, “profession”, “spouse”, “jokester”, “crazy drunk person who sits at the corner of the bar every Friday night”, etc. Mixing roles is frowned upon. When you banter with the policeman who pulls you over the same way you would with your spouse, everyone gets a little uncomfortable. When someone cracks a joke or dances in the aisle during a solemn ceremony, it annoys people. Even something as simple as giving an honest answer to the scripted query “How are you today?” can be jarring.

As a writer, it is imperative that I understand kayfabe. My craft depends upon it. Ironically, I think to understand kayfabe well enough to use it in creating fiction, one must have a very clear understanding of the difference between fantasy and reality. Ironic, because kayfabe is all about non-reality. If you say a dragon destroyed Lord Orkenstyl’s castle and he wants revenge, people may take your word for it to find out what happens. If you say a dragon destroyed your car last week and that’s why you didn’t make it to work….eh, not so much. To write convincingly about dragons, your audience needs to know that you ultimately understand that dragons are not, in fact, real. But simultaneously, one has to believe in dragons so deeply that writing about them as if they were real becomes possible. I, myself as a writer, have to participate in the exact same kayfabe I’m creating for my readers. I have to fake it well enough that I myself, on some level, believe it…otherwise, it’s just not convincing.

However, the pitfall to this is that there will always be someone, somewhere, who mistakes kayfabe for reality. While everyone else is wearing plastic fangs and speaking in bad accents, someone is putting garlic on their windowsill and sharpening stakes. I would wonder if creators are less at risk for this, because, hey, they KNOW it’s fake. They created it! But at that same time, my experience is that creators are actually MORE at risk for mistaking kayfabe for reality. For example, I am personally convinced that Heath Ledger’s death was partially due to his role as the Joker finally getting to him. An actor must become the character they are playing…but they must never, you know, become that character.  A person who talks about Voldemort as if he was a real person is one thing, and mostly harmless. If pressed, they will still admit that Voldemort is made-up. A person who thinks he IS Voldemort, and proceeds to act as such…well, now it’s not a game anymore. And no one quite knows how to react to that. Everyone feels mildly betrayed, in fact…after all, doesn’t that idiot know that this was all supposed to be pretend? Ironically, the worst way to break kayfabe is not by refusing to play the game, but by believing the game is real.

Interestingly, I think the more a person creates, the better they become at spotting kayfabe…and the more willing they are to play along. They know it’s not real, and they don’t care  because they know that’s not the point. Which would mean that the seemingly most easily misled people would be, in reality, the most difficult to trick. Kayfabe is ultimately a fantastic game, where the ones who refuse to play along are boring, the ones who think it’s real are scary, and the best players are the ones who are so firmly embedded in reality that they can ride any flight of fantasy and believe every second of it.

Makes me want to reread Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse. He talked a lot about kayfabe in that book, though that’s not what he called it.

Like this post?

Like!

0 likes