One great thing about a network of writer friends is I get random calls about things if they think I might be interested.
Yesterday the news was about a bunch of literary editors coming to Iowa City. The newspaper article was a bit misleading, but it was still interesting to go. I’m not sure how much I learned just yet, but I enjoyed chatting with the editors of various journals like The Missouri Review. I bought a couple, and can’t wait to read them.
Perhaps I’ll even submit to them soon.
I know I said a couple days ago that getting a royalty check would help me feel like a real author, but it is difficult to know what will make me stop forgetting that.
The Art of Science was accepted for publication near the time “Qui’s Contract” was, creating a major impact on me. I’d just turned thirty. I had been focusing on my writing much more in the previous year. Those two successes made me feel like I really was good enough to call myself a writer.
But I have learned one other thing on that journey. (Truthfully, I’ve learned tons, but one relevent to the topic.) Writers write. It’s what they do. It isn’t about finding time or ideas. If you have to do it, you do. I don’t mean anyone putting a gun to your head or anything, but a major piece of yourself is missing if you don’t do it.
I’ve heard people talk about writing as if it were easy and anyone could do it. Those statements are deceptive. While anyone might be able to do it, very few have the will and ability and drive to make it the kind of priority it takes to be good. I have the will, but still learning so much.
We had a writer’s workshop at the library. It’s always interesting to go and see what people brought, but the leader asked us to do an exercise to share what we saw and heard in a descriptive fashion. Several of them were very interesting – one described a specific person’s point of view (other than her own) and another talkeda bout the room. A few shared their feelings about the group.
It’s always an interesting exercise to give a different point of view. What’s the first line? What kind of piece are you writing? Whose point of view are you using?
And news of the interesting: I went to a store today to buy some thank-you notes. (I need to mail the ones I have written, but it’s just baby steps.) The sign taped to the cash register read: “NO RETURNS of any graduation merchandise will be excepted after June 1st.” It makes me wonder if they really mean it is going back to normal and how many customers catch that it is wrong.
Writers write. It’s what we do. If you encounter a non-writing writer… well, someone’s pulled the wool over your eyes.
But not all writing is the same. There are the marathon events of novels and the short stints of flash fiction, truthful accounts and made up lies, dry technical stuff and incredibly artful poetry.
Sometimes it’s best to stretch to something not tackled to get a better eye. Getting outside the comfort zone can give a better perspective to tackle the next project or to edit the current one. Other times it just gives a needed break from the regular grind. Exercise is needed to build, just as it is a physical necessity for muscles.
After a long break, like I am taking with my ‘maternity leave’ – some exercise is just what is needed to get back into the scheme of things before I edit that last project I finished.
Ever had emails and text messages not reach their destination instantaneously? We get so accustomed to the immediacy of communication, sometimes it is easy to forget that it can all go awry.
Once, I sent a work-related email to a supplier, and it took a week to get there. I can’t imagine why it didn’t go through. I called the next day since I didn’t get an answer. He called me back the day it arrived.
I sent my parents a text message this week, and it took almost 12 hours to arrive in the designated inbox. They were looking for it, so Mom let me know when it arrived.
It may not be a good plot twist, but sometimes it works – or not, as the case may go. Often it’s better to use a device about not seeing it, being pulled away at the designated moment, than to just have it not arrive.
Readers and believability – must always cater to them!
Dawn Embers! Woo- big round of applause. Wait, you can’t hear it on this post? Imagine!
Speaking of imagination, do you ever wonder how far you can suspend a reader’s believability? It’s not a consistent question. I have friends who don’t read science fiction or fantasy at all because their believability can only stretch so far. Some read a few parts of it, but there are tales where the reader simply puts the story down because it’s too far out there.
But how far is too far? If it’s an individual line to draw, how do you know if you’ve hit it or crossed it? I wonder if other universes have pervaded people’s expectations, especially when one of my fellow writers told me he couldn’t get into my story because Star Trek said only 1 out of 30,000 planets was inhabitable.
Really… Star Trek? I don’t think they’re talking about life the way I was. They’re very focused on M class planets (read: places where humanoids can breathe). If you take out those requirements… well, Mars might look awesome for habitation! The other element not factored in there is time. If you’re looking for traces of life, who is to say that it’s still there or the planet is still habitable at this moment?
And how is it on Star Trek that all of the species breathe the same kind of air? Isn’t that just spooky? They all like the approximate same ambient temperatures. They all have languages translated with the Universal Translator, even ones they just met. Don’t even get me started on warp drive, either.
Who’s believable now?
See great behind-the-book information with Crystalee at Crystalee Calderwood – Writer and Poet.
Reading and revising this book so much before it came out brings up memories from when I was in junior high. No, this isn’t based on my life, but I did try to incorporate things I remember being good and bad.
I also remember where I was when I was physically writing it. Forgot to add that to the ‘do you know’s’ when Crystalee asked. I had a lot of business trips with one co-worker during the time I was finishing the rough draft. So, I wrote in the car (longhand, since I didn’t have a laptop) while he drove, though I forget our actual destinations (perhaps Ohio?). I wrote on a chartered jet when we went to Canada, too.
He got used to me writing randomly, even seemed proud that I used his (first) name as one of the last names of my characters. I lost touch with him after we both left my former employer. He was pretty cool.
After I picked up my friend at the airport Saturday night, we talked about this book and now I’m thinking about writing more in this genre (mainstream young adult) or possibly middle-grade.
But first I need to figure out how to write and also take care of my child! Stay tuned here for a wrap-up tomorrow. Will also announce the winner of the free book by the end of the week.
Often, as writers, we’re told to write what we know. It makes me wonder, though, about things we think we know or don’t know. Missing a sense does not preclude one from undertaking the written word – even braille can be translated for sighted people.
But do the blind writers show the same sights to the reader? Can a deaf writer make the reader hear things in the story? Are smell and/or taste also subjected to the same rules?
I’ve been thinking about my book, and I am pretty sure I never mention a single smell in it. Why? I smell almost nothing. My recent pregnancy showed me there was a world out there full of scents that are beyond my daily reach (which promptly disappeared after the baby arrived). Most people I know take this for granted – some even find it as an annoyance when faced with particularly strong aromas like perfume.
Recently I rode in a car with a couple sensitive-nosed women and another who wore perfume. I remained unaware through the entire ride there was perfume present. Only during (late) pregnancy did I smell things like dishsoap while washing dishes, the dirty dishrag that needed to be changed, and the laundry aisle in the grocery store.
I’ll remember all those new scents for a time, but what happens when the memory fades? Will I remember enough to write scents into the story? It’s such a struggle for me to remember things smell anyway. I know flowers do, not so much from personal experience but by social acclimation. People speak about the smells of certain things: flowers, perfume/cologne, manure, babies.
When I read, sometimes I think about lacking senses and the authors behind the work – but I admit it doesn’t come up much. Do you ever wonder about the author and the descriptions used? I struggle so much to include smell lately. I know it’s a weakness.
Remember the blog tour starts tomorrow! Don’t miss it.
Beginning May 20, learn more about The Art of Science! The blog tour will show more about the book and probably a bit more about the author.
May 20 – Vivian Zabel at Brain Cells and Bubble Wrap
May 21 – Jamie Eyberg at A Continuity of Parks
May 22 – Shanachie at Ramblings of a Confusted Writer’s Mind and Quill, Parchment, and Ink – Writings and Ramblings
May 23 – Karen at VBT – Writers on the Move
May 24 – Nancy Famolari at Nancy Famolari’s Place
May 25 – Crystalee Calderwood at Crystalee Calderwood, Writer and Poet
I will be giving away one copy to a lucky winner drawn randomly from comments, so be sure to leave an email address for contact information.
For an additional chance, check out Goodreads.com giveaways!
Recently I read a book (an adult novel) where the main character lived near his parents. Next door, in fact. An injury prevented him from doing many things on his own, and as a consequence his mother often cooked or one of his parents would drive him around. While he hated being dependent, he didn’t have many other options.
Young Adult (or even Children’s) novels often differ from adult novels. Adult novels often lack the parents and siblings found in the younger genres. Part of this might be due to setting: at those ages people must interact with parents and siblings (if any) because they live together. Even orphans have foster families or extended families to fill the gaps.
And as any young adult knows, those family relationships are ripe for conflict. Something always provides conflict at home – usually someone. Who do you pick for the bad guy – Dad? Mom? Siblings? All of the above? To make a good novel, the conflict must be strong; the worse the bad guy can be, the better for the story. Often the mundane details from ‘real life’ are too dull to hold the reader’s attention for an entire novel.
Is that a comment about how our adult lives change? We’re no longer with our family from our childhood; we grow and change and build new families. It made me think, anyway.
Ransom Noble 