Quiet on the Wicked Front I know. Not much to say, busy with work and life and not as much as I'd like with writing. My work hours are making things weird. I need to adjust fully over to a much more night schedule and have been holding back. Something I wouldn't usually do. Normally I'd embrace my late night schedule with extreme enthusiasm. But my work hours and my partners work hours don't match well. Moving to a more nightly schedule would make it even harder to see each other. But I guess I need to do it anyways. This half and half, not really working one way or the other schedule clearly isn't accomplishing anything.
Also, I've determined that I'm probably going to have at least four books for Gwen and Malik since the ending to the third book leaves way too many unanswered questions and anyone reading to that point would likely string me up and I don't fancy getting strung up. How I went from one novel to four still staggers my mind (especially since I'm still trying to finish the 1st one), but *shrug* c'est la vie.
My mind is mighty resistant to having to work on one thing only from start to finish. I'm a mega multi-tasker and sticking to one thing for even a day, let alone the time it takes to write a single novel from start to finish, is something akin to hell. So I've been toying with little things here and there that belong to other projects, no major commitments to anything else as such, just a break. I'm not sure I could (at this stage) swing writing two different novels simultaneously. Not yet at least. The switch back and forth is too difficult, but jotting down snippets of things or ideas here and there is a nice break without really breaking things, if that made sense.
I've got a better idea of the cosmology and myth I'll be pulling from for an entirely different series. I've also got a better handle on that character and what makes her tick as well as some of the themes that will be showing up in there. As well as a smattering of ideas for some of the other misfits she'll be dealing with. Little seeds for the later novels for Gwen and some short story ideas (assuming I can keep them short and not expand them to novels as is my wont).
Why the fuck does the stupid spelling checker on this catch contractions but nothing else? I misspell since to sicne, nothing, least to elast, nothing again, but put so much as a single wasn't or I've in there and it's practialy yelling at me that it's wrong. WRONG! Contractions? We don't need no stinking contractions! We use only the full forms here missy!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Once of my other stories has been hammering at me lately. No idea why now. *shrug* Still she's a shy gal, so when the muse hits I try to be accommodating. I now have more backstory, a better handle on the main character and some fun ideas for supporting characters (ladies and gentlemen we have a crew of morally grey misfits) as well as a better idea of the themes I want to weave into it. Apparently my love of mythology will finally come into play as well. Urban fantasy with plenty of sarcasm and snark humor (I can't help it, I don't know that I'm capable of writing something that doesn't have snarky, sarcastic humor in it to some degree). I think it will be fun. No vampires planned, but plenty of other oddities.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Out of the blue
So I have what appears to be the ending to the third book. It's a doozy. Yea, so apparently there'll be a third book. And some serious shake-ups in the second one so that this ending can come to pass. Also, I'm apparently quite an evil someday author to my characters. If I were my characters I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be speaking to me right about now.
Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to have an ending for the third one (assuming I can find a plot for the rest of it), but what I really want right now is a word count for the first book. You know, the one I'm supposed to be working on ...right now... sigh.
Also, I have upwards of 60 messages from 2YN sitting in my inbox. It would not be out of line to say that the thought of wading through them all is intimidating.
Edit: Ending for 3rd very roughly written. Now maybe I can get back to writing the current story.
I realized (sadly) that I have a long way to go before I can write/describe well scenes that explore deep emotion. Any deep emotion. It so did not play out on paper the way it played out in my head. The transfer felt like it left it lifeless and lacking in the emotional punch it should have had. It's a crazy big moment and I failed to deliver. Sure it's just a rough but still. This would be one of those moments too where you realize how and where, exactly, first person can be extremely limiting. How to show not tell what's happening to characters when the one doing the telling is damn near in a state of breakdown. It's less realistic to assume that anyone that inconsolable is going to be cataloging every last nuance that would so effectively show said inconsolable breaking down. I'm more than willing to hear solutions if anyone has them.
Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to have an ending for the third one (assuming I can find a plot for the rest of it), but what I really want right now is a word count for the first book. You know, the one I'm supposed to be working on ...right now... sigh.
Also, I have upwards of 60 messages from 2YN sitting in my inbox. It would not be out of line to say that the thought of wading through them all is intimidating.
Edit: Ending for 3rd very roughly written. Now maybe I can get back to writing the current story.
I realized (sadly) that I have a long way to go before I can write/describe well scenes that explore deep emotion. Any deep emotion. It so did not play out on paper the way it played out in my head. The transfer felt like it left it lifeless and lacking in the emotional punch it should have had. It's a crazy big moment and I failed to deliver. Sure it's just a rough but still. This would be one of those moments too where you realize how and where, exactly, first person can be extremely limiting. How to show not tell what's happening to characters when the one doing the telling is damn near in a state of breakdown. It's less realistic to assume that anyone that inconsolable is going to be cataloging every last nuance that would so effectively show said inconsolable breaking down. I'm more than willing to hear solutions if anyone has them.
Friday, September 12, 2008
SPOILERS: on From Dead to Worse
So don't read if you don't want to know... You've been warned.
Rant on.
Overall I'd call the book a mixed bag, with more disappointments than not. I'm tired of characters in series not growing, or changing, or taking even the most basic of precautions especially after having their life put in danger over, and over, and over, and over again. Really. And the beginning "excuses" in the book...Yeah, I'm not buying them. She says she doesn't notice all the other shit going on because she's too worried about Quinn. Uh huh, suuuuure.
Speaking of the bullshit with Quinn, ya, so, could have been handled MUCH better and in a way that made her reason for breaking up with him actually believable. I mean, wanting to be the important person in your serious sweety's life is completely understandable and not even unreasonable, but the way Charlaine handled writing it made it feel completely unbelievable. I didn't feel like Sookie handled the situation the way she would have, this is a woman who won't, for fuck's sake, do anything justifiable to her hated enemies unless she has to, but she tells the guy she practically loves (seemed to me like they were in love) to fuck off over shit he had no choice about and she handled it extremely poorly to boot. I could understand her being mad at the guy, I could understand her needing some time to think about it and I could even, if she decided to do so, understand her eventually telling him she didn't think it could work because he's got to constantly play babysitter to his deranged mother. But I didn't buy for a moment the way it went down in the story. Just seemed like a convenient way to keep the protag 's love life unnecessarily complicated and open for business for the rest of her bevy. She's pissed because she slept, once, once, with a perfectly great guy who cared like heck (still does) for her but has no qualms about her repeated fucking of an amnesiac? Interesting dynamics there Ms. Harris.
Killing him off would have actually been easier to swallow than what felt like the plot convenient, needless twisting of him. The two are practically joined at the hip, and with all the shit that happens to her, she gets pissed that he doesn't call, but doesn't for even a second stop to ponder whether he's gotten into some trouble perhaps because of his relationship with her? Something that seems to happen to pretty much everyone she knows. How very interesting. Oh but I forget, he's the reason she didn't stop to think about all the shit happening in her own home, you know the assassinations and fucked up supernatural politicking going on. I mean, she couldn't take her mind of of him long enough to think about all these terribly, important things going on, people trying to kill her...
Have I mentioned I'm getting sick of reading about female protag's that seem to have every single male in a 10,000 mile radius completely besotted with her? Have I mentioned this? Because if I haven't I really should.
Though credit where credit's due, she did keep the completely unneeded sexapades out of this book at least. I'm not adverse to sex scenes, really I'm not. But they need to be there for a reason. They need to advance something about the characters or plot and most the time they don't, they're just thrown in for the sake of, I dunno, grabbing the romance reading section of the population? Most the time it just reads like, well I need to show these characters intimately so I'll just let them get it on and, whew, we're good to go again. I have read some books that, while flawed in other aspects, showed some truly touching moments between characters who never so much as kissed, yet you knew, you knew, they loved each other, you knew they would die for each other and it was all the more heart grabbing for how it was shown without once throwing them into bed together.
So, in light of that I promise I will not make female characters who have overly, unnecessarily complicated love lives with 5, 10 or even 15 people. One, maybe two is, I'm sure, more than enough to suffice. And god forbid that ANY of them should actually have decent relationships. I realize there resides, in all of us from what I can tell, a certain fascination with the dysfunctional love relationships of others. I understand this fascination exists, but I hate seeing it drag out over and over for books and books and books with no change, no transformation, no, resolution. Apparently I'm in the minority here.
I'm not even saying I won't have fucked up people doing fucked up things to each other in my own stories, but I assure you I don't intend for them to drag out for several books with no resolution one way or the other. So if this isn't the kind of read you're looking for, by all means I strongly advise you to stay away from any future stories of mine. I'd hate to disappoint. Do I sound bitter? I am. I can admit it. Watching and reading characters I've come to be fond of and invested in somewhat, repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot for what feels like no reason irritates me. I don't read series to read the same plot over and over again. I don't want characters to stay (except in exceptionally rare situations) in vacuums, forever incapable of growth or change or understanding. I read because for all my pessimism and disgust at the world, I have a deep seated need to see people in stories rise up and learn from their mistakes, become better, change, grow. I guess I'm just reading the wrong things.
Rant off.
Rant on.
Overall I'd call the book a mixed bag, with more disappointments than not. I'm tired of characters in series not growing, or changing, or taking even the most basic of precautions especially after having their life put in danger over, and over, and over, and over again. Really. And the beginning "excuses" in the book...Yeah, I'm not buying them. She says she doesn't notice all the other shit going on because she's too worried about Quinn. Uh huh, suuuuure.
Speaking of the bullshit with Quinn, ya, so, could have been handled MUCH better and in a way that made her reason for breaking up with him actually believable. I mean, wanting to be the important person in your serious sweety's life is completely understandable and not even unreasonable, but the way Charlaine handled writing it made it feel completely unbelievable. I didn't feel like Sookie handled the situation the way she would have, this is a woman who won't, for fuck's sake, do anything justifiable to her hated enemies unless she has to, but she tells the guy she practically loves (seemed to me like they were in love) to fuck off over shit he had no choice about and she handled it extremely poorly to boot. I could understand her being mad at the guy, I could understand her needing some time to think about it and I could even, if she decided to do so, understand her eventually telling him she didn't think it could work because he's got to constantly play babysitter to his deranged mother. But I didn't buy for a moment the way it went down in the story. Just seemed like a convenient way to keep the protag 's love life unnecessarily complicated and open for business for the rest of her bevy. She's pissed because she slept, once, once, with a perfectly great guy who cared like heck (still does) for her but has no qualms about her repeated fucking of an amnesiac? Interesting dynamics there Ms. Harris.
Killing him off would have actually been easier to swallow than what felt like the plot convenient, needless twisting of him. The two are practically joined at the hip, and with all the shit that happens to her, she gets pissed that he doesn't call, but doesn't for even a second stop to ponder whether he's gotten into some trouble perhaps because of his relationship with her? Something that seems to happen to pretty much everyone she knows. How very interesting. Oh but I forget, he's the reason she didn't stop to think about all the shit happening in her own home, you know the assassinations and fucked up supernatural politicking going on. I mean, she couldn't take her mind of of him long enough to think about all these terribly, important things going on, people trying to kill her...
Have I mentioned I'm getting sick of reading about female protag's that seem to have every single male in a 10,000 mile radius completely besotted with her? Have I mentioned this? Because if I haven't I really should.
Though credit where credit's due, she did keep the completely unneeded sexapades out of this book at least. I'm not adverse to sex scenes, really I'm not. But they need to be there for a reason. They need to advance something about the characters or plot and most the time they don't, they're just thrown in for the sake of, I dunno, grabbing the romance reading section of the population? Most the time it just reads like, well I need to show these characters intimately so I'll just let them get it on and, whew, we're good to go again. I have read some books that, while flawed in other aspects, showed some truly touching moments between characters who never so much as kissed, yet you knew, you knew, they loved each other, you knew they would die for each other and it was all the more heart grabbing for how it was shown without once throwing them into bed together.
So, in light of that I promise I will not make female characters who have overly, unnecessarily complicated love lives with 5, 10 or even 15 people. One, maybe two is, I'm sure, more than enough to suffice. And god forbid that ANY of them should actually have decent relationships. I realize there resides, in all of us from what I can tell, a certain fascination with the dysfunctional love relationships of others. I understand this fascination exists, but I hate seeing it drag out over and over for books and books and books with no change, no transformation, no, resolution. Apparently I'm in the minority here.
I'm not even saying I won't have fucked up people doing fucked up things to each other in my own stories, but I assure you I don't intend for them to drag out for several books with no resolution one way or the other. So if this isn't the kind of read you're looking for, by all means I strongly advise you to stay away from any future stories of mine. I'd hate to disappoint. Do I sound bitter? I am. I can admit it. Watching and reading characters I've come to be fond of and invested in somewhat, repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot for what feels like no reason irritates me. I don't read series to read the same plot over and over again. I don't want characters to stay (except in exceptionally rare situations) in vacuums, forever incapable of growth or change or understanding. I read because for all my pessimism and disgust at the world, I have a deep seated need to see people in stories rise up and learn from their mistakes, become better, change, grow. I guess I'm just reading the wrong things.
Rant off.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Unbounced
I am a thoroughly unbounced Tigger and now have a hard choice to make regarding the course I'm taking. Fucking hell.
Not happy. Not happy a tall. I had forgotten how much I dislike the one-size-fits-all teaching methods commonly employed by teachers and vaunted as "the only way to do things." I know that not every teacher in every institution feels/acts this way, but the ones that don't are definitely the minority and I applaud them for daring to think differently. I have long said that the educational system needs a revamp from the ground up. I guess I'm saying it again.
:(
Not happy. Not happy a tall. I had forgotten how much I dislike the one-size-fits-all teaching methods commonly employed by teachers and vaunted as "the only way to do things." I know that not every teacher in every institution feels/acts this way, but the ones that don't are definitely the minority and I applaud them for daring to think differently. I have long said that the educational system needs a revamp from the ground up. I guess I'm saying it again.
:(