Category: philosophy

Self-Imposed Deadlines

Is it really June 1 already? Remind me not to give myself deadlines over holiday weekends, especially when there are party plans in progress.

While I’m still struggling with my outline of Don’t Tell Your Mother with all the new changes, I had two straggling ideas come to be much clearer through the process. Why does it always happen that way?

And I keep scratching out lines for the outline I’m supposed to be finishing. If it would just play nicely – but no amount of arm-twisting will put it in line. Probably because I don’t think of my novels having arms.

Fifteen to twenty words for an outline was the challenge. So I have two that might work, though one doesn’t have an actual name for the main character. She’s there, though, somewhere. Just waiting to reveal herself when I’m halfway into another project, I’m sure.

Characters can be so difficult that way. They require constant vigilance to keep them in line. Even if you let them run free you have to make certain they don’t start going in circles. Some of them will do nothing but chase their tails. Humans and characters both need a lot of motivation to keep moving.

I have motivation – I just have too much to do.

It doesn’t explain why all the ideas start popping in my head at once, but I believe it’s just another quirk of being a writer. Ideas swarm the skull as soon as I choose one to focus on. That’s what a slush pile is for. It holds the extras until I’m ready to develop them.

Or until they take over my thoughts completely. One way or another, the stories that really want to get written, get written. Eventually I have no choice!

Not that I mind much. I love writing and developing stories, worlds, and characters. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if they were gone.

I’ll keep working to revise the outline for my current project, though. The worst that can happen is developing the other two into series… Wait- that already looks like a possibility.

Maybe I’ll just retreat into a corner with my notebook and pen and start chanting in Sanskrit.

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Writing on Friday

Huh. I wish.

I think I got trumped when I invited friends over. Housework wins… temporarily.

I should grab a notebook to brainstorm my 15-20 word outline. I have my blue-lined synopsis. It’s something. More when the house is clean… enough for guests.

Writers should have alternatives to housework. Like maids!

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Continuing Education

What do you choose to do to further your education?

A friend mentioned that her job (and mine, come fall) requires some continuing education and for it she was studying from a book. I’d read the same book for a student I’m tutoring. (Kiss My Math by Danica McKellar) She appreciated that they college requires you to continue to refine your skills by learning.

I can appreciate that, too. My home library speaks to a lot of continued education through books on several subjects. I’m looking up other opportunities to keep skills fresh, as well.

Math might not pertain to writing, but it’s good to keep a lot of skills going. One thing I have always wanted to do is learn another language; I have a few phrases here and there but nothing fluent.

I’m always learning more about writing. With my new part-time employment gigs, it’s sometimes difficult to sort out what my primary function is. (After motherhood, of course!) I like to think I’m a writer, which means I need to focus on the written words.

My focus takes me to critique groups. I learn from the other writers as well as teach them things. I’ve been carting books back and forth from the library in order to hone my skills from published books in fiction and the writing section.

Plus I read and write and rewrite and edit and polish. Some of those are overlapping functions, but each has a special place in the writer’s agenda.

I currently need to finish the fiction book I’m reading by Jacqueline Carey that’s due tomorrow, plus one by Scott Westerfeld that will be due not too much longer.

Some days the difficulty lies in learning versus doing. If the doing (the writing) takes over, there is at least something to work with, something to fix. If the learning takes over, no output. There has to be a balance so both can be done for the betterment of my work. (Well, anyone’s work, I suppose.)

So another question: how do you think the experts learn more about their fields?

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You Can’t Edit a Blank Page

This saying has been credited to many authors and I can’t find the original. I do believe it’s true, though.

The newest member of my writing group stated she had a story she had been writing in her head, and alarms went off in my head. How can she think she’s writing if it hasn’t left her head?

Perhaps it’s fortunate I curbed my tongue. I did want her to come back. She seems like a good addition to the group.

However, I am wary of those who think they can create stories – which are made for sharing – without writing them down. A first draft is usually crap. It’s allowed to be crap. Perhaps even supposed to be crap.

That’s why re-writing and editing exist – to cure the first draft into something wonderful.

I know some first drafts are pretty amazing. I have a friend who puts my first drafts to shame. It’s not a mark of a good writer vs. a bad writer, just that our starting points are different. We both rework our manuscripts until they shine. At the end, we have styles that change our work and voices that speak to the reader. We hope they’re clear and emotionally moving.

Sometimes we succeed.

Other times we scrap a project as not worthy. It’s just part of the process. But if we’d never written a word, we’d never know. And neither would those who read our work be able to share in the story we create.

Some of these sayings are popular for good reason. Imagine a plain white sheet of paper with red dots all over it. Meaningless without the (presumably) black text underneath. Because of this, I give myself permission to make bad first drafts. I just want the story to shine through, and it might take a few tries.

I haven’t failed until I quit trying, and I count it as forward progress as long as my pages aren’t blank.

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The Market Says

Discussing the magazine market with my friend, she said there was a bigger market for ‘how to write’ especially in the speculative fiction field than there was for the fiction. She’s been researching for her own magazine, and I don’t doubt it.

But it’s a little funny, since in order to write for any genre you need to be familiar with the genre. Of course, they’re probably buying books instead of magazines, but why?

If we’re out for the short story market, it’s best to get our hands on the actual publication we want to have purchase our work. (I’m sure that’s best in every market.) Wouldn’t that make the demand equal for both products?

Are we trying to write in a vacuum?

Maybe we’re listening to the characters in our head. What’s to stop them from taking over the story? Not that it’s bad for them to take over the story, that’s part of what happens when they become real to the author. I guess I’m asking: How do we know they have the best plot possible, if we have nothing to compare to?

Not that we want to redo a plot. I know I’ve heard Twilight has a lot of similarities to Wuthering Heights (can’t be bad to be compared with a classic), but I wonder sometimes where the line can be drawn between using an old plot with newish characters, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and the arguable every plot can be traced back to one of [insert number of plots below 50 you think there are].

Have you ever wondered what the true fascination with Zombies really is? I think if I get around to reading those re-makes, I’ll choose Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters instead…

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Do you ever wonder?

Why are there 40 phonemes in English and only 26 letters? Also, of those 26 letters, some of them duplicate sounds. No wonder everyone is confused about how to spell.

I’m not sure adding letters would have simplified the rules. There’s probably some history behind why we have fewer letters than phonemes.

When we teach children to speak and read, we focus on the letters many times. I see alphabet books with all kinds of themes to check out the letters – just the 26 letters. As I learn more about phonics, I wonder why we can’t stretch those phonics into picture books.

I’ve never written a picture book. I think about it from time to time. (Regular readers might remember that.) Perhaps part of the drawback is that children’s picture books go up to 32 pages? But I’m not sure we need to have only one phoneme per page. On the other hand, maybe that would be best.

It might be a fun summer project for me. Like I need another project! My daughter might appreciate it. It’s definitely something that would be fun to have around here, even if it doesn’t get published.

All it means is I could put lots of large, fun words in there to enrich her vocabulary. Might even throw in pulchritudinous, just for kicks.

She’ll be ready for the SAT before she starts Kindergarten. Ha!

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Monday Again

Bummer!

It seems odd to get attached to certain days of the week, but how often do you hear people say things like, “Oh, I can’t wait until Friday.” Friday may still be three days away, but they’re pushing through their weeks to get there. Barely enough time to enjoy the weekend, and another week hits.

Why are we trying to travel so fast through the days? It’s not like we’re given extra. Even Mondays have their place, and I suppose I wouldn’t prefer other days if there weren’t Mondays to compare them with.

Like I stop calling the early hours of morning the “ugly” hours as long as I get to sleep through them, I’d campaign to sleep through Monday, but that’s a lot of sleep time. I don’t think my daughter would go for it anyway. Since she’s the one who determines my schedule, we’re stuck with Mondays.

We’re stuck with the ugly hours, too, until she learns to sleep through the night.

I have a to-do list a mile long, and finally my plot is figuring itself out for my current project. Yes, I’m still talking about Don’t Tell Your Mother, the one I had the editor give me comments on weeks ago. It just takes forever for the words to really seep into my head and do their damage.

Not really damage – I think it’s going to make it better. A lot better, I hope.

Then I read about authors who hand out their synopses to people they know looking for opinions. They use the information to develop the plot of the next novel. I could do that, but I’m not sure about the feedback I would receive from my friends.

As in, would I receive feedback?

I think I need an advisory board. A bunch of people who read books similar to what I’d like to write, and maybe not so similar, but also willing to meet and discuss a prepared outline. Sounds like fun to me…

Does anyone out there 1- outline in advance to develop the plot and 2- run it by a group of people for comments?

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A Blog Grader?

I saw my friend Sarah Holroyd posted about Twitter and how to find potential markets with it. Her link at the bottom was for Blog Grader.

So of course I ran over to check my blog. A lot of it is numbers that aren’t explained in detail – like what does it mean to get 85 for a blog grade? Does that mean I passed something?

I love the links at the bottom of things that give you more information. The best time of day to post, how often to post, and a blogging kit. Do they normalize that for time zone? Oh, now I’m just being silly.

That happens now and then.

So I’ll probably spend part of my morning finding the cool links, then dig into that chapter rewrite – if I get a chance with the baby running around the house. Nap, baby! – at least until the chapter is done!

I know, I know. It doesn’t work that way.

Neither does asking for all the teeth to come in at once.

Then we’ll be back to doing more reading. We have library books we haven’t cracked open yet. Yesterday we went to the University Club Writer’s Group in Iowa City. It was great that she slept both ways in the car, but then she decided to be loud during the writers.

Still learning about indoor voices. She understands what she wants to understand – and at this age it’s difficult to know when she’s just ignoring it.

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Don’t Forget the Science

Read the article here.

Oh, I love science and the opportunity to learn for free. The heart of science fiction is always in the science where it begins. The writer can take as many liberties as can be believed by the reader, but it has to start with known science and end where the imagination can logically take the story.

“What if?” is the best question to answer. It isn’t always something from another world based on science to make the fiction. It’s the driver for every story ever told.

Where have the questions taken you recently?

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Magazines for Perusal

Check out my Day 2 at Novelspot: Click here.

I have magazines floating around the house. I mean to read them, but somehow I usually pick up a book instead. Not always.

With the new e-reader, I was checking out Google Books (imagine that!) and I found several magazines ready to read. They weren’t the newest editions – I think the latest was about a year old.

Another thing about Google Books is the abundance of books – but most of them are previews only. This is cool that you get to read a few pages before you purchase, but also a bit disappointing when you find a book you really want to see more of and you can’t.

I know, you’re supposed to buy it, but we can’t all buy as many books as we’d want to read. I’m sure I’d go broke if I tried.

Back to the magazines, I find I can link them and email them, but I can’t download them to the e-reader. It’s not in the proper file type for mine, anyway. Perhaps because of the high picture content?

I’m still glad I can look at them online. Maybe soon they’ll let us subscribe to them that way and read them on readers. Oooh…

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