Thursday, August 11, 2011

Things Change

So, since writing my last post a few things have happened. One, I stressed so much over Home that I gave myself an ulcer. Note to writers, don't do that. It hurts. Two, I have decided to trunk Home and work instead on a much more promising manuscript, Enemies. It's been a painful decision, and probably why I have a stomach ulcer now, but I think it's a wise one. (Thank you my dearest Amber-lynn for your advice. It is, as always, invaluable.)

Enemies is a much stronger manuscript with older characters and a much more mature writing style. Still as morbid as ever. :bigsmile: But I think it's much more interesting than Home has ever been really. It's also a lot closer to being ready to be queried which is a relief in itself. I drafted the query this morning even though I'm still smoothing things out with Enemies. It needs one last edit at least, but as far as I can tell it has no main problems and I'm just working on polishing it up. Hopefully it will be ready soon. I'm trying to work on compiling a list of prospective agents and trying to figure out which genre Enemies fits into.

Gracious, there are so many to choose from and I can't seem to tell what's one genre and what's another. I have a vampire story that's mainstream fiction, a story about werecats that's paranormal and a story about an old dragon slayer that's also mainstream. How am I supposed to tell what goes where?

So anyway, how are your projects coming? How do you decide what genre your MS fits under?

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Characer Woes

I'm finding it really difficult to make my characters instantly relateable, instantly identifiable and real and someone the reader wants to care about. I'm not sure how to write in a strong emotional kind of way that connects the reader to the character. I'm thinking maybe it's just this book. Maybe it's time I just finally leave Home alone. Put it aside and work on Enemies instead. It's a much stronger book with more interesting characters. But Home has become a kind of addiction. I don't know if I'm capable of setting it aside.

So for those writers out there, how do you make your characters identifiable? How do you make the readers care about them and what they're going through? Because I'm not sure I'm doing it right. I should probably be doing research on my favorite characters and try to dissect why I care about them so much, but I'm tired right now and frankly, it's easier to whine about the flaws in my writing than it is to fix them.

Some characters for thought, Katniss from the Hunger Games, Dennis Hartraft from Honored Enemy, Faythe Sanders from Stray, Katsa from Graceling and Kahlan and Richard from The Sword of Truth. Why do I care about these characters? What makes them so real? And how can I apply that to me writing?

More food for thought: Writing a HolyCowAwesome Story
http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/07/04/writing-a-holycowawesome-story-part-1-c-j-redwine/
http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/08/01/query-101-with-c-j-redwine/

Sunday, July 31, 2011

A Mind of It's Own

I hate it when my plot re-writes itself, but I know it's only becoming stronger. Still, it's frustrating. It makes me wonder if Home will ever really be ready to be queried, of if I should just trunk it and start working on something else. At this point I'm not sure anymore. How do you know when it's time to trunk an MS? Most seem to get pushed aside after the query process, but what about before? How do you know when it's just not working out and it's time to start a new project?

Maybe I just need to give Home a real chance instead of constantly second guessing myself, but that's difficult for me to do. What do you think?

Edit: On this same topic, I'm thinking about cutting 19ish pages out of the manuscript and writing something else. The maturity level of Home has just grown beyond this part and I don't know what to do with it, but if I cut it I'm afraid it's going to have a detrimental effect on my word count. (Which is a silly reason to keep it in.) -bangs head into desk repeatedly-

Friday, July 29, 2011

When He Talks He Won't Shut Up

And I mean that in a good way.

Nothing really all that special today, but a few nights ago I was up until 5am re-working Tas' (a character in Home) room. If you aren't aware yet, I'm tying the entire manuscript for Home into a new document so it won't have those horrid lines through it and in doing so I made a discovering. Tas never told me what his room really looked like. This was a horrifying thought and instantly shut down my progress. I couldn't write if I didn't know what his room looked like. So I broke out my notebook, my four inch thick art book (thank you Dr. Knappe), put on a TV series and got to work. Three hours later, Tas' room has emerged and it's beautiful.

So I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts on the room and what's inside it. First of all, we have this lovely piece: 

I saw this and fell in love with it. It's an old sleigh bed from the 17th century. I imagine the design is just a little more simple than this, but essentially this is what I see Tas' bed looking like.

This bedding is effeminate, I know, but I liked the colors and the feel I got from it so I image Tas's bedding is something similar to this. It's in a Tuscan style and is also antique. ( I feel a theme coming on.)

I think this table is too high, to be accurate for what I want, but I like it anyway, so just...imagine it being shorter as his room has no chairs. Antique.

You may or may not remember, I mentioned an antique grandfather clock that sat in the back corner of Tas's room. Well, this is what it looks like, but I believe the finish is darker, more like the finish on the table. (Yes, everything in the room is an antique. It's like walking into a museum so I'm just going to stop saying it.)



This is a handwoven carpet that sits in the center of the room, filling the space between the windows and the table. I personally think it's quite lovely.



 The pillows that sit around Tas' table in place of chairs. I imagine them being from India or something, but I had a serious problem finding antique floor cushions, so...yeah.



Tas' beautiful curtains. Raw silk, black out lined to keep out the sun and just all around pretty.

And now for some of the more random pieces in his room:


This is a large handmade French copper cauldron from the 1840's. I believe Tas keeps scraps of parchment and paper in this for some odd reason. It sits by this trunk:



Which holds the cape he gives to Aroya and an assortment of other things, among which I believe to be his uniform from the Council which he hates to wear. (All Protectors are issued uniforms which consist of trousers, a woolen shirt in light blue, almost grey and are required to wear (a) shoulder armor (spaulder) and carry a weapon at all times.) I imagine that's all stuffed in here.

These are ginger jars from China, but he has an odd collection and assortment of jars and vases all over his room.

The Waltz, a miniature of it at least in bronze that he keeps on the bed length shelf built out of the wall next to his bed.


Lament For Icarus which hangs on his wall next to his fireplace.


Now, this is the full sculpture of Cupid and Psyche, but Tas has a miniature of it on his table. (Because it's pretty and I like it.)

Globe. Did you know that Tas collects maps? He does. He loves them for some reason. (Boy's stuck in the past, I'm tellin' ya.)

Italian enameled terracotta olive oil jar.

He also has an assortment of scrolls and old books all over the place. Many of which are in Latin and about the Ancients, but he also collects books on math and science, art, history, and literature.

Now for some fun information. Tas was born in 1802, he traveled the world for almost a hundred years and then spent nearly as much time training at the Council. During his travels he collected the above articles himself. 

The interior of his room is based on Romanesque architecture and he has a vaulted ceiling.

He also plays the violin. 8D Hopefully this tasty little tidbit will appear in the third MS for Home. (Alexander plays the piano.) 


And this entry took far too long to write. >.<

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Writing Crutches

I know, two posts in one day. But I recently found this article

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/4-writing-crutches-that-insult-the-readers-intelligence/

and discovered that sadly, I am guilty of all four. But, I have also done research on many of my favorite books and discovered that they use some of these same tools, but it tasteful ways, so just because it says you shouldn't use certain things or techniques in your writing doesn't mean you CAN'T you just have to know.

And I suppose that's the hard part isn't it? Knowing when to use certain techniques and when not to use them. Like ellipses for example... Use them sparingly, but I noticed that in my favorite books I feel the ellipses strengthen the writing and add to it. I suppose then the rule of thumb for the ellipse is that if it can be taken out without changing the writing it shouldn't be there. It should be used to strengthen the writing, not make it weaker. As the article suggests, try strengthening the writing first before adding in ellipses. Something I'm still not very good at.

So what are your writing crutches? What do you struggle with as a writer?

(Oddly enough I've been told to assume the reader is an idiot, which is a very helpful bit of advice, but don't insult the reader either. It has to be balanced. You don't want the reader to become confused, but you should allow them to make intuitive leaps with you. Also something I'm not very good at.)

Aside from that how are you all? How's the writing going? Or if you're not a writer how is life in general?

Feeling Classic

I just recently finished re-reading one of my favorite books of all time, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (Is it bad that I have a crush on Captain Nemo?) It's one of those classic books that never goes out of style in my not so humble opinion. (I'm working on that no so humble part.) And guess what? If you don't own it or haven't read it yet you can find it online to have and to hold for your very own , or you can find it at your local library (hopefully). I'm not sure what the age range for this book would be. I read it when I was a kid and I'm 20 now so...I guess it really all depends on the reader. I personally loved all the little adventures Nemo took the Professor on and I enjoyed imagining myself standing right beside them. It's been one of the most captivating books I've ever read in my life. Truly, it's an oldy but a goodie.

(This is my way of apologizing for being so rude in my last post. That was uncalled for and it was childish and I apologize.)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

RANT RANT RANT

I know, I've been MIA lately, but I swear I have a good excuse and that I've been working (mostly). So, one of my friends participated in NaNoWriMo with me last year and wrote The Violated which she is currently gutting and writing anew. We've been bouncing ideas back and forth as I've been going through my project of re-writing Home into a whole new document. She recommended some ideas for new scenes and one of them was that Aroya actually get her memory wiped instead of, you know, not. And I liked the idea. ... so now I'm re-writing it...again. I swear, my parents are ready to kill me. They think it's great the way it is, but I look at the MS and see all the plot holes, clunky writing, spelling and grammatical errors and abrupt transitions and I just can't leave it like that.

I'm not going to be like Amanda Hocking. I know that I actually CAN write and I plan to prove it. Don't talk to me about Amanda Hocking or I'll have to start swearing like a sailor using strong language to voice my disapproval. People like her and Stephanie Meyer, their publishers, editors and fans all need to be shot. And that's a personal opinion. I don't find it encouraging that people like them can get published so that means I can do. I just find it offensive. Why would I bother writing for a socity that reads stuff like that? It just shows me that writing is pointless. No one enjoys real iterature anymore. When was the last time you read a classic book? No one remembers classic literature anymore. I wish I could write like that, but the truth is I can't. So why should I bother?

So what am I going to do with my life? I can't live in my parent's house forever.

RANT RANT RANT.

I'm off to listen to Exile Vilify, because that makes everything better. Rant Rant Rant

Sorry guys, I'm just really unhappy right now. So I'll leave you with this thought before I offend any of you. What happens to a dream deferred?