Inside the Writer's Head #4--Tropes Discussion #1

1/21/16

Tropes #1

What kind of trope have I not got around to trying my hand at but would like to?

The thing about tropes is that they're basically clichés and I try really hard not to fall back on them. On the other hand, they can be super fun to write. Especially given the right setting and characters. I think the one I haven't tried but in my secret heart of hearts want to try is the Sex Pollen idea. I don't know why. Maybe it stems from my love of Star Trek and I just want to pay homage? That could be a really fun trope to play with. Or the Zombies trope. Hey... Maybe I could throw sex pollen in with zombies.

Cross-posted at tumblr.

Best Laid Plans and All That...

7/26/15

Hooo-boy! Did some stuff happen after my last post! Like, right after I posted. Like, that day went south real fast shortly after posting. There's a reason we have the story warning of counting one's chickens before they hatch. Just to sort of put it out there, my roommate of only three months decided to move out. Right then. Within the day she announced she was moving. Not gonna lie, it threw a massive wrench in a few things. But, I think I'm ironing everything back out pretty good.

Anyway, July has been insane.

COB is chugging along. I haven't worked on it as much as I wanted, but it's so close. So close to being where it needs to be. I'm actually looking for a few people (mayhaps two or three) to read the manuscript and tell me what they think before I get it all gussied up for Kindle. If anyone is passing by and is interested, let me know.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Calling of Blood (or its previous incarnation as An Indigo Feather) know it is a slow-burn Fantasy novel revolving around basically an M/M relationship. I say "basically" because the characters aren't human. They aren't male, more hermaphrodite, to be honest. The best way I can recommend this book is by saying, if you like Fantasy, if you can enjoy something like Storm Constantine's Wraeththu, than you might enjoy this.

Hit me up if interested!

*entry cross-posted on my tumblr account as well

Small Announcement

6/29/15

Hello, all!

The time for finding my works is once again nearing time. There are a few things going on right now. The Calling of Blood is on its final stages of edition. Steps for publication have been made for COB and future works. I have created a new name to publish under.

Sadly, I feel it is time to put away Coco Reed. One of the main names I will be publishing under now is Lale Baize (I think I'm sooooo clever. :P) Once COB is published, look for it and other titles under that name.

Inside the Writer's Head #3

4/8/15

Just for fun, I am going to answer questions from a meme and various other things sent to me via my little writing segment.

Inside The Writer's Head #3 – Taking Requests

Those of you reading this who dabble in fan fiction will understand the idea of prompts, or requests. When someone, a reader or another writer, asks you to write something with an idea they give you is such a thing. It can be anything. Any form. Any style. Any length. Unless, of course, the person who gave you the prompt states otherwise.

The longest piece I ever wrote was a novel. A friend wanted a romance between two male characters. As a birthday present. It was challenging because this would be the first time I ever wrote anything focusing on two men in a romantic relationship. And this would be the first (and only so far) time I would write a straight-up romance. I'm not a big fan of the genre but my friend is. It was a challenge, but fun. It's not my best. It's ridiculous and melodramatic and buried somewhere deep in the recesses of my computer. :) It was the second novel I ever wrote and one can see in my style how much I didn't know about writing. Honestly, I don't think my friend even read it after all that. So, that's not the happiest writing story, but there you are.

My favorite piece I did for a prompt was when I still wrote for Gamble With Fate. For a week or so we had been super stoked that our small, seemingly unknown site was about to reach 50,000 visits. The people who would not only read but leave us messages and joined our message board were told that if they happened to be our 50,000^th visitor the writer of their choice would gift them with a short story. Anything they wanted. We had two people to win and it worked out because one wanted a story from Lacy Grey while the other wanted one from me. My prompt was an adaptation of the Narcissus myth. I had so much fun with it! And I got to play around with mythology, one of my most favorite things to do.

I haven't done a request story in a long time. I'm not opposed to it, just haven't really been into any fandoms far enough to get the request. And I've been hacking away at the last edition of “Calling of Blood” before it, hopefully, is ready to send out into the world. 

Taking Care of Business

1/8/15

It's been a while since I actually worked on a manuscript. Like, really worked on it. It's fun. I missed doing this. Mayhaps my soul is no longer constipated! Without starting on the serious business of cutting and chopping, I have about 100,000 words written. Probably more. I'm too scared to check. I'm looking to chop a few thousand from that once I bang out the rest of this part of the edition.

Yay for productivity!

New Year Ponderings

1/4/15

The last few months, or whenever it was the last I wrote, have been crazy and weird and sad and overwhelming at times.

I had a birthday. A beloved family member passed away. And in between all that I've barely written more than a grocery list.

I hope this isn't how the rest of the year is flavored. I'm very under-motivated. All my projects seem uninteresting. I am hopeful though. The past two weeks I was at my parents' house. With my four niblings. So that could account for my lack of enthusiasm for anything other than sleep and comfy socks. And I was eating my parents' cooking. Maybe a good detox is in order? Who can say.

I promise I'll be getting back into the swing of being productive.

Inside the Writer's Head - #2

11/14/2014

#2 – Number of Pages in a Successful Work

Just a quick entry on some thoughts that have been floating about in my head lately on story length. I have heard from a few people lately that the best way to make money off of the stories one writes (especially in e-book form) is to get the story down to 40,000 words. That's roughly 100-120 pages in a standard-format book. I've been also thinking about some of the books I've bought recently on my Kindle and that seems about right. Many e-books are quick reads. Some could even be glorified short stories that are formatted in a novella type style.

This is fine. I'm not bothered by this. It just gets me thinking. The books of this length I buy are mostly from authors I've read before and enjoy their style and stories. Authors like Josh Lanyon and Aleksandr Voinov have ideas I usually enjoy. They're fun and quick reads that I can usually finish in an afternoon. But I also love books that will keep me company a few days. Storm Constantine and Neil Gaiman come to mind. Shoot, even Isaac Asimov is someone I will ditch the world for in a heartbeat. Ursula K. Le Guin can write something that falls into either category. To me, length really doesn't matter, though I will say most times I wish the shorter novels I read were just a tiny bit longer. :)

And then I think of profit. Is length really a factor? I mean, George R R Martin and E.L. James have shown us that people will pay for anything. Do I really need to bring up Robert Jordan? I didn't think so. Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with luck and timing when it comes to profit. Also, marketing. If you're in it for profit, you need to sell it. Seriously, with the right marketing approach, people even buy dinosaur porn for 3 to 4 bucks a pop.

And if that doesn't fill you with warm, fuzzy hope, I don't know what will! So what my brain is basically throwing around with all this thought of length and profit is this: really it doesn't matter. Do your best. Write the story the way you feel it's going. And if you feel nervous and worried about potential sales remember, someone somewhere out in the world made a market for dinosaur porn possible!