Posted by admin on Aug 1, 2010 in
editing In my last post, I stated that I’d be starting my romance. The thing is – and this is a BIG thing – that after several months in limbo, we finally had the budget to purchase the recovery software and retrieve my YA fantasty, “Commoner Days”.
BY WHICH I MEAN, HALLELUJAH!!! MY STORY IS RESCUED!!
In light of this, I’m jumping right back in. Since it’s 8/1, I’d like to have it submittable to a first reader by 9/1, so that by 10/1 (or after adjustments), I can start submitting it. So, an hour a night of rewrites should do it, I hope. Wish me luck, I’ve got a busy August ahead of me. This also means that I can NANOWRIMO my romance, or that I can do the scene card thing on it. We’ll see.
Happy dance, join in!
Posted by admin on Jul 27, 2010 in
writing I think what I’m going to work on next is my romance. It is a good, strong story, it’s deep but also fun, and I can do it. Finally, it’s definitely marketable to my target (isn’t that bad, but it’s a good way to make a decision.) I’m trying something different: writing by scene. I have ZERO idea how to do this, but I’m going to ask some advice and give it a shot. I’ll start by doing an hour a night.
Then, I’m going to work on my devotional. I actually have a possible idea for an audience for this – the light bulb went off in my head last night. Again, no idea how to write a thing like this, but maybe I should just start. I have about 3 or 4 scriptures, and I’m thinking it’ll be a 30 day guide. So I need 30 stories & related scriptures. I can do that, if I do one per day. Or even, 2-3 per week.
Got to get back on that writing horse today!
Posted by admin on Jul 21, 2010 in
writing Ok, it’s been a while since I blogged here – because it’s been a while since I wrote. My writer’s group went well, but for now we are only meeting once a month. Kids are losing their minds couped up, and between my Selah time and my business planning, for now, the writing is on hold.
I DON’T WANT IT TO BE. The fact is, I’m not sure I could get more than a few words on the page any day, I’m so stressed and burnt out come night (my writing time). I don’t have a good solution for this. I keep getting the “if you don’t have it, you don’t really want it” signal from the people I’m reading but that’s not exactly true. Burn out is hard, when what you need is fallow ground to plant anew. I haven’t recovered my novel yet and I’m afraid to, as it might be … problematic. What if I get and I can’t pick it up?
I’m wondering now if I should just first reader it…but no, wait, I have to continue on changing the tense. DARN IT.
No idea still where to find a first reader anyway.
Ok, things to get done by end of July: retrieve novel, by end of August: complete tense/edit revision, by end of September: find 1-3 first readers.
Wish me luck…
Tags: work in progress
Posted by admin on Jul 6, 2010 in
writing …almost as good as daily journaling! All of a sudden, a theme comes to me and it’s really good. So now, I’m writing a lot, but I still need to FOCUS my writing.
Writer’s group starts this week, but it’s only monthly, which is ok for now. Hope it goes well.
Posted by admin on Jul 2, 2010 in
writing I’ve been down in the dumps lately, so it was nice last night after a doctor’s visit, to crash out on the couch with hubby and kids to watch “Enchanted”, a movie I have to admit that I really love (helped no doubt by Patrick Dempsey). So in bed, I wrote a bit and then I turned to my night table, looking for magic. Stieg Larson was NOT going to do it for me. I remembered then that my dear cousin ALSO got me another Neil Gaiman book, Stardust
, and when I remembered, I picked it up and started reading.
Magic, yes, that’s what’s been missing lately. The magic in my life has been replaced by routine, summer doldrums, exhaustion, and work. Magic is like a distant, pleasant memory that only serves to torture.
But what is a writer without magic? How can I create the art I want to if there is no magic in my heart?
And “Stardust’ is as magical a tale as any, just like “Enchanted” is magical to a woman who grew up on Cinderella.
So today, tonight, I will try to find the magic in my heart and put it back into my life…
Posted by admin on Jun 28, 2010 in
writing I know there are some readers who journal religiously.
But this is for the rest of us.
First of all, let me say that blogging is not journalling. Journalling or keeping a diary is writing down on a regular basis the stuff that you don’t tell people. It’s simply the act of writing down your mental, spiritual, emotional and, at times, physical journey.
I journaled away most of my youth. From the age of 12 (I can still see that first journal, hardbound, thin, white with gilt edging, a gift from my beloved sister) through most of my 20s, journaling kept me sane.
And then, I met a man, fell in love, got happy, lost and found God, and went on a long, extended inner journey while having a rich and busy external life. Journaling (just as other creative endeavors, such as writing poetry) fell by the wayside.
Then of course, there was my several year infatuation with The Artist’s Way, who’s enforced daily journaling kills the idea of keeping a diary as anything remotely fun or intriguing.
But here I was, this last week, stumped creatively in my writing. Where would I go? So I started journaling, a little.
And it opened up creative doors. In just a few days, even my dreams are richer. I cannot commit to it daily, but I will do it regularly. Nighttime is best for me, morning journaling is painful and the day is too busy. But at night, in bed, pen in hand, with a notebook…ah, there lies destiny!
Try it, you might enjoy it!
Posted by admin on Jun 22, 2010 in
writing inspiration I mentioned last night that I stumbled on some of my writing while looking for a completed assignment that I never found. I no sooner finished up all my writing tasks and got into bed to do some journaling than stumbled upon said assignment, in a notebook I’d already searched.
I’m taking that to mean I was supposed to find that gorgeous writing on my “Commoner Days” sequel because it has all that special needs writing. Maybe this is how I’m supposed to write it, rather than this dream about a non-fiction book that’s killing me.
Mulling it over…
Posted by admin on Jun 21, 2010 in
finding inspiration Ok, well, as you know, I lost 100 pages of edits to “Commoner Days”, my fantasy YA WIP, and Chris located the file on the laptop. Now we just need the budget to restore it. This is great news, because I’m simply having a terrible time getting off the ground with anything new, and this sense of “unfinished but maybe marketable and definitely good” is killing me.
SO I decided to return to my Holly Lisle course and go from there. Good. So I’m looking for an assignment and found a bunch of notebooks I hadn’t utilized. Also good, because I just committed to start journaling.
Well, in one of these notebooks, I had done a series of 1-3 page vignettes. Some of them were related to WIP ideas, and some were stand alone. I got to 2 of these stories, which were based off of a later sequel to “Commoner Days”.
My God, it was good. Firstly, there was a romance that the princess began that was forbidden to her that makes a great opening. (Let’s just say it involves her highness’s boobs.) Secondly, there was a part from later in life where she is raising a child with a genetic condition, let’s just say it resembles autism. I had *completely* forgotten that I had put that into this character! In fact, Nareezia (sound it out) is amazing, and I adore her. She’s a lot NOT like me, but all my protagonists are me in some sense, she’s just the furthest distance from me.
The caveat is that you’re not supposed to write your sequel after you write the original, just in case. However, in this case the sequel is a generation later, and while my CD protagonist Jonni shows up, it’s her grown granddaughter’s very different story, start to finish.
Hm, not sure what to do with this. I’ve given up on the romance right now, the time travel plot is boring the snot out of me and no, I can’t figure out how to combine them as mentioned the other day. And, I’m no further along in my paranormal story.
I said I was going to start journaling, but maybe fleshing out some writing of anything is the way to do.
On the upside, I did find a bunch of notebooks that are empty, so I can start exercises and “journaling” there.
Tags: work in progress
Posted by admin on Jun 21, 2010 in
writing Working through my Holly Lisle course, and it reminded me of a writing term I used to know, “MacGuffin“. It is an item or device that usually the protagonist and possibly antagonist want, perhaps even fight over, that has no intrinsic or thematic value of its own, but moves the story and the characters to action.
As in, “Every single prop, invention, and even the island of the TV show ‘Lost’ were all just MacGuffin’s.”
Hitchcock named it, he’s the bomb.
In case you can’t tell, MacGuffins piss me off.
Posted by admin on Jun 11, 2010 in
writing lessons You may wonder why I’m belatedly writing about a TV show on a writing blog. The reason is simple: “Lost” was good fiction. Damn good fiction. I was at a writer meeting once, and one of the participants said he became a fan because it opened up his eyes to what a writer can accomplish. It was an intelligent, well-crafted, provocative, unexpected story with fine character development and deep back story. It revolutionized television and it was fun, really a helluva ride. In fact, I have little hope or expectations for the few remaining shows that I still follow or for future shows. Thanks to “Lost”, the bar has been set very high.
It was 6 years that had fans, particularly those of us delighted by scifi and time travel, hanging by a thread, waiting for the next page to turn. As a work of fiction, “Lost” has lots of valuable lessons for writers, and that includes what not to do, like it’s finale.
If “Lost” had been a book, I would have flung it across the room when I got to the end.
If you know the story, you know that the ending left many questions unanswered. I don’t have an issue with that. There are many stories with open endings that have moved me, but there are also many that have annoyed me.
With “Lost”, there was an expectation that some key elements would be answered. We wanted to know why all these particular things happened to this group. An experiment? A hole in the space time continuum? A test from some divine power? Aliens?
We didn’t get it and people are pissed. I am disappointed. While the ending was touching and sweet, the sheer lack of completion didn’t fulfill me. I was satisfied by seeing the characters unite at the end, true, but too many things were unresolved.
I heard a theory on The Odi that writers had meant the island to be purgatory and that they’d dropped so many clues, that by the time they were renewed past Season 2, all the fans had figured it out. The writers couldn’t do 4 more seasons if the mystery was blown this quickly so they had to do something else. I completely believe that, and here is where I think the writers made their mistake.
At that point, they could have (should have?) written a new plotline and ending. From the stone soup of story they had thus far, couldn’t they conceptualize something new? They did not. Now, I understand that they have talked about writing an ending that “respected” the fans. I take this to mean that they did not select an ending so no one could win the “who’s theory is right” war.
In fact, just about everyone was wrong because the ending insinuated that there was nothing behind the island, it just was.
Which, as a writer, sounds to me like a cop out.
This really sucks because I know they could have written something amazing. I’ve seen the skill and craft and care they poured into the show, episode after episode, a few bombs, yes, but quite a number of rare gems in there. The payoff did not, in my opinion, meet the promise. That is a crying shame, they took the Battlestar Galactica “it’s about the characters” approach to the final season, and left those of us who love story, plot, and rich world building in the cold.
Lesson from “Lost”? Characters are important, true, and I write very character-driven stories. The narrator and protagonist have to be people (or aliens) I can relate to or else I don’t care. But if you’re stuck for plot, don’t rely solely on the characters to pull you through. Work out the damn plot. Plan, plan, plan…and that’s advice from a pantser…
Tags: lost tv show
