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Category Archives: writing
Write What You Want
Two posts over the last week or so have me thinking about my writing. I’m worried about how it will sell. Not worried in a hand wringing sort of fashion, but concerned.
First, there was a post on Karen Knows Best about whether traditional romance readers were ready for lesbian romances. The other post, over at The Galaxy Express, posed the question about publishers being “ashamed” of the science fiction romance subgenre. Can you guess why I’m a little concerned? Yep, Bad Girl, the manuscript I’m currently peddling, is a science fiction romance (or SF with romantic elements, depending on how you see these things) that has a relationship between two women. If the commentary/information regarding the desire for and treatment of F/F romances and SFR are any indication, I may be out of luck.
Marketing for the subgenres separately is tough. I know. It’s very possible I’m setting myself up for a lot of rejection and frustration. I know. Publishing for a newbie in ANY genre is tough. I know.
But you know what? It’s the story I wanted to write. It’s the story that made me think about love and sacrifice. About who we are, who we’re meant to be, and who we’re meant to be with. There are good guys who aren’t really all that good, and bad guys who aren’t all bad. There’s betrayal and emotional abandonment, forgiveness and redemption. While I was writing, the setting on another planet, in a future time, made it fun. As the relationship between my two heroines began to develop, it made me think. Not about how I’d market this story, but how I could make it the best possible story I could write.
Now that Bad Girl is seeking a home, I do consider the marketability of a F/F SFR (I take my career, such as it is, as seriously as the next writer.). One of my crit partners has warned me that it will be a tough sell. She kindly recommends that my next WIP be more marketable because she wants to see me published. I love her and appreciate her concern, and the current WIP is more “traditional”. But even if Bad Girl doesn’t get any further than my hard drive, it’s a book that wanted to be written, and I’m really glad I wrote it.
Theme Me Up, Scotty
I’ve stated on my website that I’d like folks to read my work and enjoy it, but not necessarily search for any deeper meaning or theme hidden within the words like some painful “Where’s Waldo?: The Flashbacks to High School English Class Edition.” I just want to write fun stories with interesting characters. (And hopefully someone will pay to read them at some point.)
But the other day, as I was figuring out what to do next while I have my current manuscript out on submission (keep your fingers crossed and sacrifice a few chickens for me, will ya?), I made a list of my work and had one of those Oprah “a-ha” moments. Each title I jotted down naturally made me consider the story and I realized I do, despite all my protesting to the contrary, have a theme running through them. Maybe I didn’t realize it at the time I wrote the bit for my website because there weren’t enough samples to consider. In scientific experiments/data collection, it’s imperative that there are sufficient numbers of test results to compare to each other to allow you to say, “Yes, this hypothesis is true (or not).” And then, of course, the scientist needs to actually be looking for something. Maybe I wasn’t looking for the way my diverse genre choices were connected until then.
So far, I’ve completed four novels. Two are sword and sorcery fantasy, one is a paranormal women’s fiction, and the latest is a science fiction romance. The current WIP is a shapeshifter romance. And no, it seems I cannot write anything without adding a bit of a speculative bend to it. Maybe some day. Anyhoo, they are different in tone and in POV, some are first person some are third, all have female protagonists, though some have male character perspectives in them. But what hit me is that in three of the stories the MC has to learn who she really is (literally, in one case) and deal with how that self realization will affect her. In the other story, the MC is the one who was affected by someone else’s true self and has to suffer the consequences.
Thinking about the overall theme of my stories made me consider WHY I was writing about “finding yourself.”
Like most everyone, I grew up with a plan as to how my life might play out. For a long time, it involved studying animals, working with them and for them in some capacity. Sure, a spouse and kids were tossed into the mix at some point, but the idea of life as Science Gal stayed with me for a long time. That was who I was and who I would be.
Then circumstances, job opportunities and financial obligations changed. Long term positions in my chosen field meant separation from DH or upheaval of my spouse’s more lucrative and promising career. Summer field positions were fine, but we needed the steady income of my getting year-round work. Science Gal needed to step back for a more practical solution. At least temporarily. Right. That’s about when the biological clock chimed and we started our family. So much for returning to the life of field work. And no, DH was not able to stay home because he is Science Guy who needed to be in the field or trotting about to meetings across the planet. So I took local, out-of-my-chosen-field-of-study jobs.
I was lost. This was NOT what I’d seen for myself as a young woman contemplating her future. Not that I regretted the choices I’d made. I knew what I was doing when I chose to marry my husband, when I decided it was time for children. But still, the question of what would happen to *me* now that I wasn’t who I thought I’d be made me very anxious. I liked who I was, for the most part, but this new person ? What was she like? How would she react to situations? And more importantly, did she still like coffee and chocolate?
It took me a while to fit into this new skin. There were times, early on, that I felt frustrated, depressed even, because after all that hard work in school, after traipsing across the country to take exciting positions, I couldn’t use my knowledge and experience. I was now a stay at home mom with two kids. What happened to ME? Well, life happened. And once I realized that I wasn’t lost, that I was merely taking the scenic route to what I was truly meant to be, I relaxed.
And now, I write about women who are on that insane journey of self discovery. It’s exciting to experience those moments through characters, but I’m getting too old for major shake-ups. Let the perpetually younger and sturdier people I create have that fun. Plus, as the writer, I can REALLY mess with their lives. Kill my darlings? Maybe not, but I sure like making things rough for them. Better them than me.
Another Day, Another WIP
I recently began the submission process with my latest and greatest (ha!) work, and in an effort to keep producing while trying to not think about my story sitting in agents’ query In boxes, I’ve begun another piece. Well, sort of.
I started one about dragon shapeshifters, changed the plot/conflict on that, and then got busy with Thanksgiving. I promised myself I’d get back to it, but in the meantime, a story idea for a character from the above mentioned work popped into my wee head. I fiddled with that over the weekend, even going so far as to write out some character sketches and a synopsis. A nearly complete, 8 handwritten pages synopsis! Much more organized than I usually work, but I’m hoping to get this one written in a shorter time than my other books. Why? To see if I can. And I think I can.
Though I have yet to write much of the manuscript itself, I have a first scene. Maybe. Most of that was to get into my heroine’s head. She’s a former drug addict trying to go straight when she’s approached by the hero to help him save his younger sister from the same drug dealing bad guy the heroine had been with years before. Not necessarily an original plot, but as we all know, it’s all in the execution. The story could be set in any time period, any place. I’m pulling the hero from my latest and greatest (ha!), a futuristic/SF setting on another planet. It’s a world that I’d like to explore some more, so there you go.
I don’t know how much I’ll get written during the holiday season, but I have a couple of long plane rides coming up and my children are old enough not to require constant monitoring while we fly. I should put a pretty good dent in it. Or in the shapeshifter story if that one gels a bit more. Either way, as long as the ideas flow, the writing never really stops, does it? And thank goodness for that.
Empty House, Full Mind, Attention Span of a Gnat
School started a couple of weeks ago, so the kids are gone from 8am to 4pm. DH left this morning for a three week research cruise out of San Diego. I’m in my very quiet bedroom/office listening to one of the dogs snoring and listening for the cat who escaped last night and has yet to return. Stupid cat.
With all this quiet, I’m excited about getting some work done. I have a manuscript that needs revising, and will get revised and submitted if *ahem* I can get my crit partners to return the parts I sent to them. I have another that was put on hold and needs finishing, and still more ideas jostling for attention in my wee head.
The hardest thing about having all this quiet, all this “me” time, is actually focusing on the task at hand. Yes, I know. Poor me. All this time during the day, no kids interrupting, and my biggest distraction is my own brain. At least it’s doing *something*.
I’m better than I used to be about managing my time. Often, I even get housework done. Well, perhaps “often” is a bit of an overstatement. But it gets done. Eventually. And my kids never go to school wearing dirty clothes.
So my job, when I’m not called in to substitute at the school, is to keep myself on track. Wish me luck. Look! Something shiny!!! Just kidding : )
Escaping the Bonds of Convention
The hamster got out again.
This is the fourth or fifth time he’s escaped his cage since we moved, but that’s not the interesting part. Every time he’s gone on his little jaunts, he’s managed to go further afield. His first two forays were into the laundry room right beside the bedroom where he lives. The next was into the kitchen. The one before this is a mystery, as my husband merely let him wander back into his room and into the cage set on the floor. This morning’s trek was to the living room; the other side of the house, for the most part. How he’s managed to drop to the floor and wander about without facing the enthusiastic reception (ie: pouncing and consumption) of two dogs and two cats is beyond my understanding.
You’d think he’d be happy to just eat and climb about in his deluxe cage, where every need is met. But is he content to stay within the confines of his plastic and metal world? No. Whether by purpose or accident, he is game to explore the far reaches of his existence. This is one courageous rodent, considering the pitfalls and dangers that reside near by.
It’s this kind of eagerness to see how far the world extends that inspires me. I could write a typical romance, or a typical fantasy. I trust my ability to do that. But what I really want to do, NEED to do, is push my work and myself to the limits. Playing it safe won’t get me more than a few nice comments on contest entries, or a line or so on a rejection letter saying my writing is decent but the story isn’t original enough. No writer wants to hear that. My current WIP is different, and hopefully different enough (But not TOO different. Even I understand the line between different and weird.) to someday find an audience wider than that of my crit partners.
So, with the heart of a certain hamster, I’ll break convention and push myself a little further with each story I write. It should be an interesting journey.
(Note: We have upped the security on the cage. Inspirational he may be, but we don’t want to find his little furry body in a cat’s jaws. Or not find him at all.)
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far
My youngest daughter is a writer. At almost eight years old, she’s self published about a dozen books. OK, not with Lulu or iUniverse, but in the old fashioned, handwritten way. And she does her own illustrations. (Though she collaborated with a classmate on a recent project where she was the illustrator and the story was “authorized” by her friend. I think she’s been channeling a certain prez who makes up their own words, but I digress…)
I’d like to share a sample of one of her shorter works, an Easter story assigned at school. For the assignment she had to use certain words (peep, basket, golden egg and fox). I’ve cleaned up the spelling and some of the mechanical issues like making paragraphs, but this is essentially her work. Enjoy!
Easter Surprise
(posted with permission from the author)
One day on Easter I looked in my basket and there was a little yellow peep but it hatched from a golden egg. I knew peeps weren’t alive so I thought it was a trick.
Then the Easter bunny came and said, “Opeepy!”
Then a sly fox came. It was drooling. It mumbled, “Bunny for dinner! Heh, heh, heh.”
Then ZING! animal control was there!
I thanked animal control and the Easter bunny wasn’t eaten.
As proud a parent as I am, I’m also a writer, so my poor kids are often subjected to my editing pen. I don’t tear into them like I do my crit partners : ) but I do make suggestions. I didn’t worry about that here, however. Sure, there are some plot holes, but basically the kid hits the main points of a story: interesting characters (peeps-gotta love ’em, Easter bunny-familiar face, and the sly fox-our antagonist), a conflict (fox wants to eat the bunny) and resolution (animal control comes). All in all, not a bad little story.
I wonder if she’s willing to partner with me….
(Almost) Everything I Needed to Know I Learned After Getting Lost
Aside from always carrying a compass, map, water and cell phone whenever I step out of the house, getting lost taught me a few of things about myself and about how to handle life in general and writing in particular.
1) Do the right thing. We don’t always do the right or smart thing the first time. Or even the second. When I initially realized I was lost, I should have just sat still and waited for help. I didn’t and it got me into deeper trouble. That being said, I’m not one to wait for good fortune to simply fall into my lap. We have to be proactive in our lives, use our brains from the start. In writing, the right thing is creating stories I like (because if I don’t like them or believe in them, it will come through on the page), learning all I can about the craft and the business, milking my friends for information etc.
2) If you do screw up, or things go wrong, try not to compound the problem with further stupidity. I stopped moving once night fell, keeping myself relatively safe. And while I probably should have climbed downhill to the road rather than up to the rock, I got lucky. When I hand over a piece of writing to my crit partners, I know they’ll tell me where I went wrong. I don’t always agree with them, but usually I do. If more than one says “This doesn’t work” I have to take a hard look at it and often will admit it needs fixing.
3) Never dismiss the idea of “luck.” I know, up in #1 I said don’t wait for things to fall into your lap. And I meant it. But we can make our own luck, up to a point. Me finishing my novel and letting it sit in my computer will not get it in front of people who can get it published. I need to be in the right place at the right time to have it looked at by the right person. That means contests, networking and doing research to sent it to the appropriate person. There’s no guarantee my efforts will pay off, but with persistence and a little luck, who knows.
4) Planning and determination will get you over most fears. Don’t give in to the fear of “what if” or “what if not.” Do what you know you need to get done, and do it the best way you can. Tired and scared, I made my way up the hill to the clearing, not knowing if I’d made the right choice, not knowing if I’d have to spend another night out. But I had a plan, that by a certain time I’d try another tactic. Keeping that in mind gave me direction, a goal. I didn’t dwell on what had happened to that point, other than to learn a little from my mistakes. I focused on the present, on what I could do now and in the future. I try doing the same thing with my writing. Every time I hit the Send button with a query or submission, my heart chatters in my chest and my palms get clammy. But I do it. Fear of rejection isn’t an option if I want to make my dreams of being published come true.
What life lessons have you learned?
Critters–Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You
(Note: This was previously posted on Jody’s blog, I think, a while ago, but since I wrote it, I can re-post it here. Plus, I did tweak it. Carry on.)
My best friend Sharron was the first person I ever showed my attempts at putting words to paper. Not even my husband had read any of my stuff. (Come to think of it, I don’t think he has to this day. Hmmmm. Dear…?) Why Sharron? Though all the people “in the know” tell you showing your work to your friends and family will probably only yield over-gushing, possibly false gushing, I knew I could trust Sharron to tell me the truth. If it sucked, she’d find a way to break it to me gently, or at least make suggestions. I trusted her to be honest without being brutal. That’s a very important trait in a critique partner.
I eventually joined a local writers’ group to get more points of view. Want to know fear? Submit your work to a bunch of relative strangers and have them tell you to your face what didn’t cut it. Again, I appreciated their honesty and the constructive criticism, but man, that was the most tense two hours every other week I’d ever suffered through.
Between Sharron, Jody, Amy and my crit groups past, I not only learned to receive criticism, but how to give it. It’s very easy to find what doesn’t work on a piece, but sometimes finding something to praise is tough. What if it’s just okay? What if nothing in it makes you nod with its brilliance or laugh out loud? You can’t *not* say anything a la “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all”. Your purpose as a critiquer is to point out problems as well as what works. You just have to do it in the right way. “This sucks” doesn’t help the writer and it hurts feelings. I know, because I’ve received similar notations on my submissions. (Not from Sharron or my more recent CP’s.) But you can’t play false adoration either. Not every thing will shine all the time. I’ve read some pieces by my crit partners that come close, and I let them know how fabulous they are, but there are still a couple of things I end up questioning.
We may write all by our lonesome, but you cannot seriously seek publication on your own. I’ve learned to work with my crit partners, learned how to accept and give criticism, learned that revising isn’t horrible, nor does it mean you stink as a writer. I can take suggestions and not take it personally. I believe this has prepared me for the day when I must deal with my future agent and editor. I won’t be the petulant writer pouting about having to make revisions. I’ll listen carefully to what is being said about my work and recognize that they know what they’re talking about. Will I agree with every little thing? Probably not, but I certainly won’t fight them on every little thing either. I put the story down on paper, but it’ll take more than me to get it in the bookstores someday.
Bad Girls Make Good Heroines
I recently read two books that are not among my normal genre range. While I typically read just about any speculative fiction, contemporary romances and women’s fiction (particularly if they’re humorous) and some romantic suspense, these two caught my attention. They are remarkably similar in characters and themes, and it’s those characters and themes that interested me. Plus, the stories and writing are fantastic.
The first book, recommended by Super Librarian, is Money Shot by Christa Faust. It’s published under Dorchester’s Hard Case Crime imprint for noir fiction. Ms. Faust was the first female author to be picked up by Hard Case, so that says a lot. I love the protagonist, Angel Dare, a former porn star-turned-adult entertainment manager who makes no apologies about her chosen career. I won’t go into plot details here, but it’s a fast-paced tale of vengeance. It’s also a wee bit on the rough side, considering the world Angel walks in, but don’t let that stop you. There are some great humorous lines and fun characters.
The other book is Slammerkin (Harcourt, Inc.), by Emma Donoghue. I can’t recall where I came across the title and description, but I’m glad I did. This one is more of a historic literary fiction, set in 1760’s London and the surrounding countryside. Don’t get all glazy-eyed on me. It’s very colorful and filled with interesting people. The protagonist is a young girl named Mary who ends up out on the street, selling her body to survive. Ms. Donoghue doesn’t tell a cheery tale here, though there is some darker humor to it. You’ll be drawn into Mary’s life so completely that even in the end, when she does something so…so…well, not good, you’ll STILL feel for her.
On the surface, you may think the only thing these two stories have in common is that the protagonists work the sex trade. While Angel chose to go into the porn business, Mary was given little choice but to sell herself. But eventually Mary, with the help of an older girl named Doll, considers herself mostly lucky not to have anyone to answer to but herself. After a number of years in the porn industry, Angel (who was smart enough to stay away from drugs and such) had the capital to start her own business and be her own boss. Both women have, in Doll’s words, “their liberty.”
What really drew me to these novels were the women. The main characters are not your typical Mary Sue heroines who have perfectly lovely lives upset by a bad day at the office or a broken heart. They are, comparatively, bad girls doing bad things. Despite Angel’s enjoyment of her career, she admits it’s not the most safe environment to work in. And Mary is constantly a heartbeat away from being arrested, assaulted or worse. But they use their brains and their wit to become successful, or at least survive. Even the secondary female characters are strong and intelligent (if not always kind), making their way in the world the best way they know how, legally or otherwise. Some chose their paths, others had no option but to deal with the hand given to them. All strive for their liberty in one way or another.
Why are these characters so intriguing? How can two characters in less than honorable professions be heroines, people you are supposed to root for? During the course of both stories, these women do things that could get them into deep, deep trouble, things you and I would probably never consider doing. Unless, perhaps, our backs were against the wall. And for these women, their backs start off against the wall. Angel is horribly attacked in the first pages, and despite all her strength of character, is shown to be vulnerable not only physically, but emotionally. A hard-worn porn star emotional? You bet. Mary starts off vulnerable (she’s thirteen and in “dire straits” at the beginning) and must get hardened as the novel progresses, but there are still glimpses of the girl she was, the girl she could have been, throughout the story. It’s the way the authors let us into their lives, reveal their hopes, their dreams, that makes you want them to win in the end.
So, you may be wondering, of all the fabulous novels I’ve read, why have I decided to tell you about these two? One of my reasons for reading Money Shot and Slammerkin was for research. No, my current WIP isn’t about porn stars in L.A. or prostitutes in London. It is, however, about a woman in a less than honorable profession. In every book on writing, particularly romances, we’re told readers want a likeable heroine. Not necessarily a Mary Sue or Pollyanna goody-goody type, but she has to have redeeming qualities the reader can get behind. My heroine is a lying thief. She wants the good things in life, but is stuck in a menial day job between hits and hates it. She wants to be her own boss, to have her liberty.
After reading these two novels, I might be able to pull it off. Maybe not nearly as well as Ms. Faust and Ms. Donoghue, but if I pay close attention to their work, I’m confident I can make a good run at it.
New Year, New Hope
The holidays are behind us and all is back to normal. The kids have returned to school, DH is back at work, I’m doing my thing.
But I feel like a change is upon us. Upon me. Maybe. Perhaps it’s the start of the new year, or the glistening cover of new snow (we’ve been getting a lot of it over the past week or so) making everything look fresh and bright. I just feel like I’m on the edge of….something. Okay, the edge of sanity comes to mind first, but I’ve been there so long it’s my norm. As a writer, I hope it’s THE edge, as in this is the year I get The Call. Yes, I’ve been on that edge on and off over the years, but this feels a little different. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking (so what else is new?). The only thing I can do about it is write write write. Get better. Get my work out there.
So while the snow blows in and I wait for a decent amount to accumulate before shoveling, I’ll have another cup of coffee and get to work.
Coming soon: ferrets!