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!

7/7/7 Challenge

11/14/2014

7/7/7 Challenge. Post the seventh page and the seventh line and the following seven lines from a work-in-progress. 

Mine is from the Calling of Blood editions. Of course it is. :)

"'However, there is one condition.”

“Which is?”

“No sex between you and I, unless I seek you out.”

Monista’s smile faded, expression becoming serious. Now there was the true queen, not the harlot she let Lysander and Drumeria make her into. “I did what I must to secure some sort of an alliance, Dandel. Surely you have read that not all battles are won with force and steel.”

Dane bowed his head to her, tilting his glass as well in respect. “It seems Tonse made everyone fight for their survival.’"

Inside the Writer's Head - #1

10/26/2014

I've been thinking lately about certain entries I want to write but they have no connection to works in progress, memes or anything of the sort. They are about writing though. Mainly my own thoughts on writing. Feel free to skip over these entries if they don't interest you. Inside the Writer's Head will consist of personal musings and about writing and my own writing process. Also, this is an exercise to try and get me into the habit of writing journal entries again. Good. Now that I've tipped everyone off to what I'm doing, onto the first topic:

Sex Scenes First

I don't know if anyone else does this--if you even write stories with sex scenes in them--but I find that sometimes I will write a sex scene early on. Even if my characters haven't got there yet in their relationship, or if they even will. Especially if they don't have sex in the actual, finished story. Just to get it out of my system. I then find I can concentrate on other things within the story--little details and focus on the build-up. I do the same thing with fight and battle scenes too. I think it's because usually those kinds of scenes (really, any kind of action) is what I'll think of first anyway. I'll have a really cool idea, or a dramatic idea, and then I need to build around it.

Anyone else do that? Have a similar process?

Editing Monster

9/20/2014

I get to a point sometimes where I will make several editions of a work. I don't think this is a bad thing, personally. However, sometimes I start another edition in the middle of one. I'm basically rewriting Calling of Blood. For several reasons, but the main one is that I know there are holes in the story and some characters could be better. So that's what I'm doing right now. I was feeling stuck, though, and went back and read the new editions.

I Am Not Happy Still. At all. 

So very tempted to rewrite the first few chapters (these have very little editing to begin with and now I wish I would have scrapped them in the first place.) But. But. One step at a time.

This is just another delay, but I need to finish the rewrite first. And then, apparently, start back over. Just the first few chapters and I know what I'll do instead. So that part will be cake. Just need to finish this edition is all. :D

Inspiration, Vindication and Being Okay with Your Own Voice

7/7/14

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a book that I have been meaning to read since forever. "The Left Hand of Darkness." I may have mentioned before how much I love Ursula K. Le Guin. I find her work, fiction or otherwise, interesting and inspiring. Her work pulls me in and captivates me. And almost always she punches me in the heart guts by the end of the story. That's always a bonus.

It is somewhat fortunate that I picked up this book. Almost seeming at just the right time in my life.

While there is a similar element in this book as the one I am writing, it is a completely different idea. I noticed though that my personal style (certain elements that I was worried would be no-no's in the publishing world) are similar to things Le Guin does in her own writing. It made me feel vindicated, in a way. The way she told the story made complete sense. I didn't feel less drawn in or that it was lazy writing, or even overdone in some parts.

This took a lot of worry away from me. I feel refreshed and ready to do even more, go places in my writing where I was afraid to earlier. I need to remember to not be so afraid of what others think. Of "what sells." Just tell my story. Tell my characters' stories. To hell with boundaries put in place. They don't matter. Only telling the tale matters.

I need to remember to not be so afraid.