Love.

16 Apr

I was feeling a bit discouraged about my book last week. Then I met with my new YA writing group on Friday. They. Are. Awesome. I love them! And I had some fun writerly chats with my friend Julie. And I had some good book chats with my friend, Anna, who has her Masters in Lit so she’s super fun to talk to about books.

And I got this rosy glow in my heart. Or was it a burning in my cheeks? ^_^

At any rate, I love being a writer. Not just for the obvious reason: I love writing. But I love talking about writing and discussing books the way writers do and thinking about writing and hanging out with other writers. I love telling people I’m a writer.

And, I really needed that. It was a rough few weeks, so it was really nice to feel good about my life’s work. (Well, my non-family life’s work.)

What do you love about being a writer?

WSY: The Big Battle

28 Mar

Okay, so I don’t really know if this is a big battle for anyone else, but it’s been a long-held question in my mind:

What do I love more: writing or reading?

Now, I can easily say that my love of reading led to my love of writing. But which do I love more?

I was thinking about this the other night, and I decided–at least currently–that I love reading more. But by a very very very narrow margin.

And if I were forced to choose only one that I could do for the rest of my life, it would be reading. Because as much fun as creating worlds and characters is, reading other people’s creations is a bit more fun. And it’s easier. Way easier. AND, I would never stop making up stories and people in my mind, I just wouldn’t write them down.

Hah! Take that imaginary-mean-person-who-made-me-choose-between-my-two-loves!!!

And then the other question is which do I love more: music or literature. And that is something I doubt I’ll ever be able to answer.

So, Readers! What Say Ye? Reading or Writing?

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What Do Your Characters Want?

22 Mar

I’m in the midst of the Revision Cave*, and the other day I remembered some very wise words from my professor, the fabulous Leslie Pietrzyk**:

In every story and every scene, think about what your characters want. Even the minor ones. What do they want? Even if it’s just “a glass of water” (her famous example), use that as the motivation for everything they do. Tension will naturally arise from your characters’ desires interacting and conflicting with each other.

If you’re like me, when you first hear any advice like this, you think, “Another thing to keep in mind? As if my brain wasn’t already supersaturated with craft and grammar?”

But then you think about it (again, if you’re like me), and then you’re all, “Well, if someone said it, it’s really important!”

Then you think some more, and then, “This is great advice!”

And then you get overwhelmed again because there is so much to remember when writing stories!!

And then you remember, “Oh yeah! That’s what revisions are for! And critique partners! And beta readers!”

And then you get a little glum because you realize this process takes a LONG TIME.

But it’s fun, yes?

Anyhow, I digress. (Digress? How about tangent city?)

I have found when I keep this in mind, not only does it add to and improve the tension in my story and each scene, but it also helps flesh out characters. We should know ALL of our characters inside and out, not just the protag or the LI or the antag. (If you feel overwhelmed, see the above process.)

What’s some great advice you’ve been given over your writing career?

*This is my writing cave:

Yeah, it's basically awesome.

Yeah, it’s basically awesome.

(found on Pinterest, source link broken. :( )

**Yes, I’ve sung Leslie’s praises before. AND I WILL NEVER STOP!

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What I Learned about Writing from Lost

14 Mar

I was kinda late to the Lost party. Eight years (from the premiere) to be exact. See, when Lost aired I was in college and had no time for TV. But after incessant nagging from my brother, the Mister and I finally started watching Lost last summer. And raced through it in a matter of months. In fact, I’ll always associate Lost with my first pregnancy (we even watched an episode during labor. Hah!).

Needless to say, I loved it.* Even months later, I still think about it, and last night I decided I need to re-watch the final episode because that last scene kills me. My brother (the literal genius I’ve mentioned many-a-time on here) wanted me to watch it because of its literary value. Yes, Lost is a very literary show. He wanted me to apply lessons from the show to my writing, and let me tell you: there are lessons! So what did I learn about writing from Lost?

1) The Important of Narrative Flow – obviously I know how important it is, but Lost showed me how changing it up can have a big impact on not just how the story is told, but how the story feels. Lost is told in present time, with flashbacks, flash-forwards, and flash-sideways (depending on the season). Not only does it make the show extremely engaging to watch, but it also fits with the mystery of the island. The way the writers play with time on the show is mirrored in everything, including the way they structure their story. So when you choose how your story’s narrative will flow, think about what will be fitting, as well as entertaining and engaging.

2) Also, About Narrative Flow – it can be a useful and interesting tool for character development. The flashes always center around one or two characters per episode. In the first season, that’s how we get to know who these people were before they came to the island. In subsequent seasons, the flash-forwards and flash-sideways serve as further characterization. Obviously, they also further the plot (which makes them extremely economical narrative devices), but they really shine (especially in the beginning) in the characterization department.

3) The Power of Recurring Elements – again, another thing I know but seeing it executed so well makes me want to implement it in my work. There are all kinds of recurring elements and themes in Lost. It’s part of its brilliance. From literary titles (many of the characters are seen reading several times throughout the series), to literary allusions (Dante’s Purgatorio and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to name two), to character’s names (John Locke, for example)–there are all kinds of nuggets sprinkled throughout the story. And each one, when you notice it, makes you think: why was that placed here and what parallels can be drawn? The result is a deeper involvement on the audience’s part. You are constantly analyzing everything you watch not only on the surface, but on the layers beneath. This is so much more than watching a sitcom–your mind is actively engaged.

4) Finally, Resolution overs Answers - Lost opens a lot of questions, many of which aren’t answered. Now, I’ve always been okay with that. In fact, I like it when not all of the questions are answered in a story. That’s more like real life, and less like deus ex machina. The grassy knoll? Marilyn Monroe? Area 51? How about in your own life? I’m sure you can think of many questions that you’ll never know the answers to. So, while it bugs some people that we’ll never know why exactly Ben Linus got cancer while Rose was cured, it doesn’t bug me. But last night while reading through Wiki pages (yes, I’m a nerd), I read a quote from a review on the season finale that sums up why questions don’t need to be answered: “The important thing … is not answers. It’s resolution. And ‘Lost’ provided that in spades.” Resolution is far more important than answers. If we feel that the characters and story lines are resolved … well, if some answers are missing, it’s not that big of deal. Because as humans we crave resolution. And that’s why Lost works so well.

What about you? Are you a Lost fan? Or, did the show burn you? Have you learned anything about writing from it or another TV show?

 

*I fully believe I was able to love the show more than most who watched it as it aired because I watched it so quickly. There are some filler episodes, and watching them real-time would’ve been very frustrating. But when you watch two or three a night? Not such a big deal.

Holy Thursday Night, Batman!

7 Mar

Something I dislike about writing posts ahead of time and scheduling their publication is I forget that I posted that week, and then I forget about posting, and then suddenly it’s Thursday night the next week and I haven’t thought at all about posting.

Whoopsie! So, I don’t have anything profound for y’all. I had a post idea a couple of days ago, but it disappeared. Don’t worry; it’ll come back. They always do.

I ended up cancelling my trip to Utah. On Monday night, I felt myself coming down with something. So I cancelled my flight and good thing! Because when I would’ve been flying to Utah on Tuesday, I felt the worst. And then Turbo got sick this weekend, and it was bad news bears. We’re all good now, but it’s the weekend again and I’m all like, “Whaaa?” With applesauce on my face and my mouth open like, “Dur.” Because I eat a lot of applesauce.

Anyhow, I know this video made the rounds a while ago, but I was thinking about it today and looked it up. This quote was perfect for me today and what I’ve been thinking about (re: writing and re: other things), so I thought I’d share in case you need the reminder, too. :)

Six Sentence Sunday

24 Feb

Turbo and I are off to Utah to visit friends and family this week, so an early, easy post is on order: Six Sentence Sunday!

Another excerpt from my thesis because, well, I’m still embarrassed by most of the writing in FRACTURED RADIANCE. Which I totally need to get over, seeing as it’s first draft writing, but still. These are the interwebs, you know? NOTHING ON HERE DISAPPEARS!!! dun dun dun

Aaaanyhow, here’s another six sentence excerpt from RED SKY:

It’s hard not to let my temper flare up. I usually have it under rein, but sometimes it slips away from me. My therapist says it’s a symptom of post traumatic stress disorder. Until my therapist said I had it, I’d only heard of war vets suffering from PTSD. Sometimes I like to speak in a grizzled voice and tell Graham about my days in ‘Nam. He thinks I’m strange.

What Say Ye: Fear

20 Feb

This edition of What Say Ye? has two parts!

First, what makes you afraid to write? I had a dream one night that some dude had an awesome idea for a book, but never wrote it because he was afraid he wouldn’t do justice to the story.* Which got me to thinking once I woke up–that is probably a major source of fear for writers. The other, I think, is just sucking in general. For me it’s a little bit of both. What about you?

Part two: what are you more afraid of, revisions or first drafts? Once again, it’s a toss-up for me. First drafts are scary because HOLYCRAPIT’SABLANKPAGESLASHSCREEN! But there’s also the knowledge that it’s going to be a first draft, so, by Anne Lamott’s rules, it will be cruddy. So that’s a freeing thought.

Then, with revisions you have something to work with and it’s fun to see things coming together, but it’s also scary because NOWITHASTOBEGOODORATLEASTIMPROVED!! And that’s intimidating. So, both are scary and also not scary for me.**

I took a poll with my Facebook writer friends and most said first drafts were scarier to them. So … what say ye? Eh? Ehhhhh?

 

*Yeah, my dreams are legit weird. Sometimes I’m not in them. Sometimes I’m someone else. Sometimes I change identities throughout the course of the dream. Sometimes I’m a man. Sometimes I’m a ham sandwich. Okay, not yet. But that would be awesome.

**Confused yet? Good.

I Just. I Just. Gah!

12 Feb

So, I read A Memory of Light last week. I flew through it. I couldn’t put it down. 908 pages of non-stop battle.

This was it! The culminating book of a series 23 years in the making. Everything rested on this book. Would we, as fans, be satisfied with it? Or would it not live up to our expectations?

I, personally, was blown away.

This series has an unusual history. When the original author died, we worried it wouldn’t get finished (11 books in!). In stepped Brandon Sanderson to save the day! And save it, he did.

I cried. A lot. During the book, and after. I’ve gone back several times in the last couple of days to reread the final chapter and epilogue. I was so excited to read it, and I raced through it. But when it was over, and I thoroughly discussed every little detail with my brother, I was sad. Really, really sad. The end had finally come. Thirteen and a half years of reading these books, and it was over. No more Wheel of Time books.

While I was reading it, I realized that the world of these books (commonly called Randland by us fans) no longer feels like fantasy. The countries, magic system, people of this world feel real to me. I love the characters. Truly and deeply. Well, some I hate, but that’s natural ’cause they’re bad people. They feel like friends to me. When many died (because, duh, it’s war), I couldn’t help but cry. I’ll never read new stories involving Rand, Mat, Perrin, or the others. I feel lost without another Wheel of Time book to await eagerly.

And this? This, my friends, is why I love reading. Non-readers don’t understand how good literature penetrates your heart and your mind and how characters become real. People who exclusively read non-fiction tell me it’s because they like to learn. That you can’t learn anything from fiction. True, most fiction isn’t about factual information. What it is about is truth. Universal truths about human nature and why we are the way we are.

There’s a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald that sums it up perfectly:

That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.

Well said, sir. Well said.

A New Approach

31 Jan

At least, I think it’s new. Perhaps I had these intentions when I originally received the critique from my brother, but my addled brain can’t remember. But I know I didn’t act on it!

So, I mentioned on here that late last summer I got stuck, stuck, stuck at 40k words on FRACTURED RADIANCE and shipped the manuscript off to my brother for some help. And he was awesome and read (almost) the whole thing. (He’s getting his PhD and has three kids, so I was grateful for whatever I could get! Plus, the last few chapters he didn’t get to might ultimately get cut.)

Well, there was a lot to critique on. Which left me with a lot of edits.

At first I thought, “Okay, cool, now I can write my ending with all of this in mind.”

But guess what! It doesn’t work that way. At least, not for me. And not with these edits. Because some of these are huge and will color how the book ends. So, I’m going through the book scene by scene and entering in these edits (along with a few from my former writing group*). This is resulting in quite a lot of rewriting.

Guess what again! While it feels like a lot of work (and certainly it is), it’ll be less in the long run (hopefully) because my ending will be better (hopefully).

It’s pretty slow-going, but that’s okay in a way. Because I spent so much time away from this manuscript, I started feeling not-so-excited about it. But reading it has resparked** my excitement.

Have you ever taken this approach with a book before? Are you an edit-as-you-go sort of writer, or the get-it-out-as-fast-as-you-can-and-you’ll-go-through-all-that-editing-crap-later type?

*I miss them! sniff sniff

**that’s a word, right?***

***not according to WordPress

Awesome Things

23 Jan

First of all, I realized that I didn’t do a recap on my 2012 goals. I mean, I failed all of them, but I post goals in part to be held accountable. So here goes:

1. Do everything I possibly can to get an agent. Which can be broken down into the following subgoals:

a. Write the best damn book I can. FAIL.

b. Write the best damn query letter I can. FAIL.

c. Send those damn awesome things out! FAIL.

2. Read 50 books this year, with at least 30 of those being YA. FAIL.

3. Finish and edit FRACTURED RADIANCE and RED SKY (and query one of these). FAIL.

4. Draft a 3rd book TBA. (Not TBD though … I already know what it is in my li’l ole head.) FAIL.

Wow, good job me. Now on to better things. Awesome Things, to be exact.

1) A Memory of Light

This is the 14th and last book in the epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. I started reading the series the summer before my freshman year of high school (1999), so you can bet I’m excited for this book! AND, my parents were awesome enough to go to a signing for me in my hometown of Charleston, SC, (also the hometown of the original author, Robert Jordan), and snag a signed copy for me. Score!

2) Days of Blood and Starlight

Seriously, y’all? This book is more than knock-your-socks-off awesome. It’s explode-your-socks-and-subsequently-your-feet-because-you’re-wearing-this-particular-pair-of-socks awesome. It’s Amazing dipped in Awesome Sauce served on a WOW platter with a garnish of Blew My Mind. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is really, really ridiculously good. This … is almost perfect.

3) They’re making a movie of Daughter of Smoke and Bone!!! And it has a producer!

4) This image that I repinned from Laini Taylor on Pinterest:

unicorns

[via]

Remember how I have a major crush on Laini Taylor slash I want to be her?

That’s become even more stalker-worthy.

Hah!

But seriously … that woman can write. And pins awesome stuff.

 

How’s your week? What’s awesome?

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