This post is part of a weekly series in association with Christina Katz's ezine, The Prosperous Writer.
---
In this week's issue, Christina states that authenticity is the signature of your writing career. It's how people will remember you. This can be a difficult thing to ascertain.
Remember yearbook signing day on the last day of school? I always found this to be ridiculous, to be honest. People you never said two words to all year suddenly want you to say something about them in their yearbook because, evidently, he who has the most blurbs/signatures wins. What exactly they win, though, I haven't the foggiest.
But I obliged them, mostly because it was the last day of school and you are pretty much floating that whole day and nothing can bring you down. Whenever you sign someone's yearbook, they sign yours in return. Usually. And when you don't really know anything about someone, you just state the one thing that stood out to you on your first impression.
Some of my blurbs went like this:
Keep your sense of humor. Have a nice summer.
Stay sweet. Have a nice summer.
Thanks for being a cool lab partner. Have a nice summer.
A select few got more:
Hey, Katie!
You're like my super-best friend in the whole wide world. I'll never forget what an awesome year we had!
And then I'd go on for about a page of all the memories we'd made.
So, with this in mind, I knew just by looking at my yearbook who really knew me and who didn't. But even in the plastic comments, I saw a trend. Everyone thought I was nice. Or sweet. Or helpful. Or funny.
Those are first impressions, and if you find they are common, even from different sources, then you can attribute some authenticity to them, despite their lack of depth.
I've continued to realize this phenomenon as an adult. In college, I was smart. At my different jobs, I was a hard worker. In writing circles, I'm talented.
Which pleases me. Those are all good signatures to have. What are some of yours? What do you want to be remembered as?
~Lydia
Sunday, May 30, 2010
52 Qualities of the Prosperous Writer: Number Twenty, Clarity
This post is part of a weekly series in association with Christina Katz's ezine, The Prosperous Writer.
---
People who have clarity are not difficult to find. They have focus. They have goals. They have an action plan. They stand out among the masses because they understand where they are, where they've been, and where they want to be.
Clarity is not easily attained. Have you ever been searching for something and find yourself wandering in circles for so long that you eventually forget what you were looking for to begin with? So what do you do? You have to retrace your steps, go back to the beginning, figure out where you went wrong, and hope something clicks.
When clarity clicks, you'll know it. And that's honestly the best way I can describe it. You just know.
For an author, clarity can mean your career path. It can mean your drive. It can mean learning from your past mistakes. For me, it is an understanding of past, present, and future.
I am multi-faceted. I love more things than I hate. I find it easy to make (and keep) friends. My husband has often told me that I'm a positivity magnet. I attract good things and bring out the best in people without even trying, and no matter what I attempt, I inevitably succeed.
So my challenge was never in the doing, it was in the deciding what to do. Without that clarity, or direction, I was just a feather floating on a breeze. I could make whatever I was doing at the time work for me, but I never had a sense of purpose, like my actions were always in response to something, rather than forging my own path.
I spent my childhood excelling in school. The result? It bored me. Then I was told I could be whatever I wanted. The result? I chose nothing, but tried everything. I spent my twenties bouncing around jobs. I even went to college while my son was an infant, like one or the other wasn't enough, I had to do both at the same time. If I wasn't busy, I wasn't happy. Each new thing would be a challenge at first, but then I'd quickly exceed expectations and plateau into disinterest.
And then, just before I turned thirty, I started writing again. It was something that had always been there, in the background. I'd been reading since I was four, before I was in school. Words had always fascinated me. I wrote my first book in grade school, entered my first short story contest in third grade, worked as an editor and movie reviewer for the high school newspaper... why hadn't I seen it before?
Words were my life, and my imagination was limitless. All I had to do was put the two together, and voila! I now had a path ahead of me that would never get boring, that would never stop challenging me. I could employ my need to constantly change from one thing to another without ever really changing the main goal.
Writing fiction is what I was meant to do. And once I realized that, everything else fell into place. I found my clarity. Have you found yours?
~Lydia
---
People who have clarity are not difficult to find. They have focus. They have goals. They have an action plan. They stand out among the masses because they understand where they are, where they've been, and where they want to be.
Clarity is not easily attained. Have you ever been searching for something and find yourself wandering in circles for so long that you eventually forget what you were looking for to begin with? So what do you do? You have to retrace your steps, go back to the beginning, figure out where you went wrong, and hope something clicks.
When clarity clicks, you'll know it. And that's honestly the best way I can describe it. You just know.
For an author, clarity can mean your career path. It can mean your drive. It can mean learning from your past mistakes. For me, it is an understanding of past, present, and future.
I am multi-faceted. I love more things than I hate. I find it easy to make (and keep) friends. My husband has often told me that I'm a positivity magnet. I attract good things and bring out the best in people without even trying, and no matter what I attempt, I inevitably succeed.
So my challenge was never in the doing, it was in the deciding what to do. Without that clarity, or direction, I was just a feather floating on a breeze. I could make whatever I was doing at the time work for me, but I never had a sense of purpose, like my actions were always in response to something, rather than forging my own path.
I spent my childhood excelling in school. The result? It bored me. Then I was told I could be whatever I wanted. The result? I chose nothing, but tried everything. I spent my twenties bouncing around jobs. I even went to college while my son was an infant, like one or the other wasn't enough, I had to do both at the same time. If I wasn't busy, I wasn't happy. Each new thing would be a challenge at first, but then I'd quickly exceed expectations and plateau into disinterest.
And then, just before I turned thirty, I started writing again. It was something that had always been there, in the background. I'd been reading since I was four, before I was in school. Words had always fascinated me. I wrote my first book in grade school, entered my first short story contest in third grade, worked as an editor and movie reviewer for the high school newspaper... why hadn't I seen it before?
Words were my life, and my imagination was limitless. All I had to do was put the two together, and voila! I now had a path ahead of me that would never get boring, that would never stop challenging me. I could employ my need to constantly change from one thing to another without ever really changing the main goal.
Writing fiction is what I was meant to do. And once I realized that, everything else fell into place. I found my clarity. Have you found yours?
~Lydia
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Movie Review: Iron Man 2
LOVED IT. Seriously. It was better than the first one (although I wouldn't recommend seeing it without seeing the first one first). This movie is splurge-worthy, so if you're looking for something to do on your long weekend, go see it.
And now I'll try to highlight a few reasons why I loved it so much without giving too much away.
First and foremost, Robert Downey, Jr. shines as Tony Stark/Iron Man. His dialogue delivery was stellar yet again. His interactions with all the characters--yes, every one of them--were a trip and a half. This movie is jam-packed with awesome one-liners that Joe and I found ourselves quoting the whole way home.
On a relative side point: The theater we saw this in was unusually small, and we were in very close proximity to the other viewers. Those other people must not realize that it's okay to laugh out loud when you find something in the movie to be EFFING HILARIOUS. Really. It's okay, guys. We weren't laughing at you, we were laughing at the movie. I think they all had back row paranoia, as in, we were sitting in the back row, behind them, so they assumed we were up to no good. If you're that worried, I suggest you just rent the movie next time and watch it in the comfort of your back row-less home. Not kidding. They even glared at us for talking about how much we loved the movie during the credits while we were waiting for the "after credit awesomeness".
Second, the supporting cast was superb. I honestly can't think of one character in this movie that disappointed me in any way. They were all fan-freaking-tastic.
Along those lines, I think the creators of the film found a good balance with Scarlett Johansson's character, Natalie Rushman/ Natasha Romanoff/ Black Cat. She is obviously meant to be eye candy and wow us with her mad combat skillz, but they didn't go overboard with it and give her more screen time than was necessary for the movement of the story. Very well done.
Third, for a superhero/comic book style movie, the tech/ gadgets/ sci-fi elements were outstanding. It never ventured into cheesy/unrealistic territory, which oftentimes happens because the creators of these type of films get carried away in how much reality they can bend. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that Iron Man thrives on gadgets to get his job done, but I need not point any further than Batman to show that even filthy rich gadget-oriented superheroes can be too unrealistic for my taste. Neither of the Iron Man movies crossed that line, which for me, made them all the more enjoyable.
Fourth, there were a plethora of really kick-ass explosions. Holy. Crap. And this is the main reason I suggest seeing the movie in the theater.
Fifth (and by no means is this a little thing just because it's last), the dialogue from Iron Man just before he dukes it out with War Machine at his birthday party had me laughing so hard I nearly blacked out. I got dizzy from it. And even now, just thinking about it, I'm busting up again. And it probably wouldn't have been so hilarious if Robert Downey, Jr. hadn't started laughing while he said it. That. Is a contender for "best movie moment" of the year.
If the above isn't enough to get you psyched, here's a few links:
Website
Trailer
Details
~Lydia
And now I'll try to highlight a few reasons why I loved it so much without giving too much away.
First and foremost, Robert Downey, Jr. shines as Tony Stark/Iron Man. His dialogue delivery was stellar yet again. His interactions with all the characters--yes, every one of them--were a trip and a half. This movie is jam-packed with awesome one-liners that Joe and I found ourselves quoting the whole way home.
On a relative side point: The theater we saw this in was unusually small, and we were in very close proximity to the other viewers. Those other people must not realize that it's okay to laugh out loud when you find something in the movie to be EFFING HILARIOUS. Really. It's okay, guys. We weren't laughing at you, we were laughing at the movie. I think they all had back row paranoia, as in, we were sitting in the back row, behind them, so they assumed we were up to no good. If you're that worried, I suggest you just rent the movie next time and watch it in the comfort of your back row-less home. Not kidding. They even glared at us for talking about how much we loved the movie during the credits while we were waiting for the "after credit awesomeness".
Second, the supporting cast was superb. I honestly can't think of one character in this movie that disappointed me in any way. They were all fan-freaking-tastic.
Along those lines, I think the creators of the film found a good balance with Scarlett Johansson's character, Natalie Rushman/ Natasha Romanoff/ Black Cat. She is obviously meant to be eye candy and wow us with her mad combat skillz, but they didn't go overboard with it and give her more screen time than was necessary for the movement of the story. Very well done.
Third, for a superhero/comic book style movie, the tech/ gadgets/ sci-fi elements were outstanding. It never ventured into cheesy/unrealistic territory, which oftentimes happens because the creators of these type of films get carried away in how much reality they can bend. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that Iron Man thrives on gadgets to get his job done, but I need not point any further than Batman to show that even filthy rich gadget-oriented superheroes can be too unrealistic for my taste. Neither of the Iron Man movies crossed that line, which for me, made them all the more enjoyable.
Fourth, there were a plethora of really kick-ass explosions. Holy. Crap. And this is the main reason I suggest seeing the movie in the theater.
Fifth (and by no means is this a little thing just because it's last), the dialogue from Iron Man just before he dukes it out with War Machine at his birthday party had me laughing so hard I nearly blacked out. I got dizzy from it. And even now, just thinking about it, I'm busting up again. And it probably wouldn't have been so hilarious if Robert Downey, Jr. hadn't started laughing while he said it. That. Is a contender for "best movie moment" of the year.
If the above isn't enough to get you psyched, here's a few links:
Website
Trailer
Details
~Lydia
Friday, May 28, 2010
Questions From Readers: What Exactly Do You Do All Day?
Hehe. Okay, so this may or may not actually be a question from my husband, but that still qualifies. He reads the blog, too. (standard wife disclaimer: Just kidding, dear.)
I used to work a "real job" full-time. I was a retail supervisor/ assistant manager for nearly six years before I cut back to part-time status. Now I work at that same store, but only average about 15 hours per week between two days. And it doesn't take a math genius to know that that leaves a heck of a lot of time to do other things the rest of the week.
So what is it that I do?
First, I'm a mom. And doing mom/wife things takes up about 99% of my time, especially when you have a husband with bipolar and a son with a speech/comprehension disability. However, that still leaves a smidgen of time for other stuff. Like writing.
During the school year (which is about to end), here is a typical weekday for me:
I wake up whenever my son decides the day should start. This can be anytime between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. But if he's not up by eightish, I usually get up on my own and use these rare child-free moments to read and respond to email, or catch up on my blog reading, or *gasp* read a real book over a giant mug of coffee.
Recently, though, it's been all about my YA WIP. First drafts literally take over your brain until they're done. Quick story on that: Yesterday I spent the whole day at the zoo for my son's class field trip, then wrote two new chapters when I got home, got about four or five hours of sleep and then woke up at 4 a.m. this morning and wrote a whole other chapter before writing this blog post. I am a woman no longer in control of her own thoughts and actions. The characters have officially declared mutiny on my brain.
Once the little guy is up, it's all about him until it's time to drop him off at school. Some days this is a simple task. Some days, not so simple. Some days I want to call Child Services on myself so that he can become someone else's problem.
Not really. I would never do that. But seriously, being a mom is HARD. If you don't believe me, check this out: The strongest visual birth control on the market today. (Thanks to Le R for reminding me that my kid is not the worst in the world.)
Mornings are hit and miss, as far as writing goes, but I always manage to get a blog post up somehow. Xbox helps with that. So does the DVD player.
At noon I drop off my son at school.
Then I have a dilemma every. Single. Day.
I now have about two solid hours of "me time" while he's at school. Do I...
a) write
b) read and/or critique
c) clean my apartment
d) take a nap
e) too late, I already fell asleep...
Yeah. It's usually e. Sometimes I do get the dishes washed or clean the toilet, but only if there is a threat of a health code violation if I don't.
On a good day, I'll get some writing done while he's out (and just to clarify, "writing" in this case includes first drafts, rewrites, editing, critiquing, and lately, a rash of guest posts for other blogs... which I thought might be done for a while... and then I saw this enticing little temptation, ergh!), or browse the internet for no apparent reason. Okay, I lied, I have a reason. It's usually this. Or this. But I only do so because it requires no actual thought process and because it's fun.
And because awesomesauce like this doesn't just happen on its own.
Then I pick up my son at about 2:30 p.m. and the madness of the morning continues into the evening. Again, accomplishing anything worthwhile, writing related or not, is totally hit or miss. For example, there are days when my son will not take no for an answer, and I have to play some weird game he made up, or read a story with him, or sing songs and dance. I know, it's torture. Tell me about it. But he's the only kid I got so I have to view these hardships as something sacred.
I hope you all know I'm kidding. Haha. I really am quite spoiled, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I get to have fun with my son all day, and write whenever I get the opportunity, and call it WORK. Seriously. I'm counting my blessings.
I honestly never know when Joe is going to get home from work (yes, he has one of *those* jobs), so there are days when I literally don't see him until it's time to go to bed. And then we do. All three of us just crash like we've been running a marathon or something.
And then the whole thing starts over again the next day.
Weekends don't count because I work (that other job) on the weekends, and Sunday is solely dedicated to family stuff, which usually means doing laundry all day. But Joe does make sausage gravy and biscuits every Sunday morning. (I'm not complaining, honest. How many husbands cook on a Sunday morning? And from scratch! For realz.)
That is my life. A little bit crazy. A little bit frustrating. And a little bit not so bad when I really think about it.
~Lydia
I used to work a "real job" full-time. I was a retail supervisor/ assistant manager for nearly six years before I cut back to part-time status. Now I work at that same store, but only average about 15 hours per week between two days. And it doesn't take a math genius to know that that leaves a heck of a lot of time to do other things the rest of the week.
So what is it that I do?
First, I'm a mom. And doing mom/wife things takes up about 99% of my time, especially when you have a husband with bipolar and a son with a speech/comprehension disability. However, that still leaves a smidgen of time for other stuff. Like writing.
During the school year (which is about to end), here is a typical weekday for me:
I wake up whenever my son decides the day should start. This can be anytime between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. But if he's not up by eightish, I usually get up on my own and use these rare child-free moments to read and respond to email, or catch up on my blog reading, or *gasp* read a real book over a giant mug of coffee.
Recently, though, it's been all about my YA WIP. First drafts literally take over your brain until they're done. Quick story on that: Yesterday I spent the whole day at the zoo for my son's class field trip, then wrote two new chapters when I got home, got about four or five hours of sleep and then woke up at 4 a.m. this morning and wrote a whole other chapter before writing this blog post. I am a woman no longer in control of her own thoughts and actions. The characters have officially declared mutiny on my brain.
Once the little guy is up, it's all about him until it's time to drop him off at school. Some days this is a simple task. Some days, not so simple. Some days I want to call Child Services on myself so that he can become someone else's problem.
Not really. I would never do that. But seriously, being a mom is HARD. If you don't believe me, check this out: The strongest visual birth control on the market today. (Thanks to Le R for reminding me that my kid is not the worst in the world.)
Mornings are hit and miss, as far as writing goes, but I always manage to get a blog post up somehow. Xbox helps with that. So does the DVD player.
At noon I drop off my son at school.
Then I have a dilemma every. Single. Day.
I now have about two solid hours of "me time" while he's at school. Do I...
a) write
b) read and/or critique
c) clean my apartment
d) take a nap
e) too late, I already fell asleep...
Yeah. It's usually e. Sometimes I do get the dishes washed or clean the toilet, but only if there is a threat of a health code violation if I don't.
On a good day, I'll get some writing done while he's out (and just to clarify, "writing" in this case includes first drafts, rewrites, editing, critiquing, and lately, a rash of guest posts for other blogs... which I thought might be done for a while... and then I saw this enticing little temptation, ergh!), or browse the internet for no apparent reason. Okay, I lied, I have a reason. It's usually this. Or this. But I only do so because it requires no actual thought process and because it's fun.
And because awesomesauce like this doesn't just happen on its own.
Then I pick up my son at about 2:30 p.m. and the madness of the morning continues into the evening. Again, accomplishing anything worthwhile, writing related or not, is totally hit or miss. For example, there are days when my son will not take no for an answer, and I have to play some weird game he made up, or read a story with him, or sing songs and dance. I know, it's torture. Tell me about it. But he's the only kid I got so I have to view these hardships as something sacred.
I hope you all know I'm kidding. Haha. I really am quite spoiled, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I get to have fun with my son all day, and write whenever I get the opportunity, and call it WORK. Seriously. I'm counting my blessings.
I honestly never know when Joe is going to get home from work (yes, he has one of *those* jobs), so there are days when I literally don't see him until it's time to go to bed. And then we do. All three of us just crash like we've been running a marathon or something.
And then the whole thing starts over again the next day.
Weekends don't count because I work (that other job) on the weekends, and Sunday is solely dedicated to family stuff, which usually means doing laundry all day. But Joe does make sausage gravy and biscuits every Sunday morning. (I'm not complaining, honest. How many husbands cook on a Sunday morning? And from scratch! For realz.)
That is my life. A little bit crazy. A little bit frustrating. And a little bit not so bad when I really think about it.
~Lydia
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
How To Make Your First Draft Not Suck Too Much
I've been told that my first drafts are better than some other writers' final drafts. Well, I have a dirty little secret...
The people who have said that were not really seeing my first first draft. But that's because, for me, there is no such thing. I am one of those writers who revises/edits as I go along. Many successful authors advise against this, and I can understand that. To a point. So let me explain.
1. I write the scene and/or chapter.
2. I can tell pretty much as soon as it's on the screen whether or not it needs a rewrite. What I'm talking about here is individual sentences and paragraphs. If they don't look right on the first try, I will fix them. Right then and there. However, if that is taking too long (as in, more than a minute or two), I'll mark it for revision and hope that something comes to me on the second pass.
3. The "second pass" is not the second draft. Once I'm done with the scene and/or chapter, I go back through it from beginning to end, making sure that it flows during an actual read. You might be surprised how choppy you can write when you're only thinking in terms of getting the words out. I also look for unnecessary repetition, spelling errors, and awkward wording.
THEN, I send the chapter to my wonderful alpha reader. An alpha reader is someone who crits for you on a work in progress, knowing that the story is not complete yet. They are great for keeping you on a writing schedule (motivator), and for helping you detect technical errors (there tend to be a few of those on a rough draft because you focus more on the emotional side of the story rather than the technical aspects of the writing) and any awkwardness in flow and pacing that you might have missed. Also, if your story seems to be going off track, which tends to happen sometimes when writing a novel-length piece, they can help you nip that in the bud before it gets out of control.
And sometimes, also, in their innocent comments, they inadvertently give you ideas for later scenes. Hee hee.
The reason this works for me and may not work for others is because I'm a quick writer. In fact, just yesterday, I completed two full chapters of my YA WIP, editing/revising as I went along, sent it to my alpha, got her feedback instantly (yes, she is the best thing ever, and no, you can't have her), then went through and revised again, before calling it a day.
I started this particular novel in mid-April. I will have the first draft complete no later than mid-June (probably earlier), and that is with revisions already sort of in place. (Is that quicker than average? Yes. Is it the quickest on record? No.)
But...
That doesn't mean it won't need more on the next draft. I already have things in mind that I need to do to make it shine, to develop the characters more, to make the settings more palpable, etc., and I won't work on any of that until I've typed THE END. So, in that way, I'm kind of agreeing with the authors who say "you shouldn't go back and revise until the first draft is done" because, in my own weird way, I don't think of that other stuff as actual "revising/editing". It has become more of a "first draft habit", which happens to make my first drafts not be total suckage (according to other people, that is. I still think they're horrid).
If you think you can do that and not get too perfectionist-y and keep moving forward, then by all means, go for it. This habit has saved me tons of "second draft headaches". The important thing is to make sure you have a goal of completing the story, knowing it isn't perfect yet. But if someone wants to see your WIP, you don't have to be too terribly embarrassed to show them your unfinished first draft. Because in truth, it's not really a first draft. It's somewhere in between drafts one and two, and therefore, doesn't suck. Show it with pride.
Does anyone else have seemingly odd first draft habits?
~Lydia, who is apparently in love with quotation marks today
The people who have said that were not really seeing my first first draft. But that's because, for me, there is no such thing. I am one of those writers who revises/edits as I go along. Many successful authors advise against this, and I can understand that. To a point. So let me explain.
1. I write the scene and/or chapter.
2. I can tell pretty much as soon as it's on the screen whether or not it needs a rewrite. What I'm talking about here is individual sentences and paragraphs. If they don't look right on the first try, I will fix them. Right then and there. However, if that is taking too long (as in, more than a minute or two), I'll mark it for revision and hope that something comes to me on the second pass.
3. The "second pass" is not the second draft. Once I'm done with the scene and/or chapter, I go back through it from beginning to end, making sure that it flows during an actual read. You might be surprised how choppy you can write when you're only thinking in terms of getting the words out. I also look for unnecessary repetition, spelling errors, and awkward wording.
THEN, I send the chapter to my wonderful alpha reader. An alpha reader is someone who crits for you on a work in progress, knowing that the story is not complete yet. They are great for keeping you on a writing schedule (motivator), and for helping you detect technical errors (there tend to be a few of those on a rough draft because you focus more on the emotional side of the story rather than the technical aspects of the writing) and any awkwardness in flow and pacing that you might have missed. Also, if your story seems to be going off track, which tends to happen sometimes when writing a novel-length piece, they can help you nip that in the bud before it gets out of control.
And sometimes, also, in their innocent comments, they inadvertently give you ideas for later scenes. Hee hee.
The reason this works for me and may not work for others is because I'm a quick writer. In fact, just yesterday, I completed two full chapters of my YA WIP, editing/revising as I went along, sent it to my alpha, got her feedback instantly (yes, she is the best thing ever, and no, you can't have her), then went through and revised again, before calling it a day.
I started this particular novel in mid-April. I will have the first draft complete no later than mid-June (probably earlier), and that is with revisions already sort of in place. (Is that quicker than average? Yes. Is it the quickest on record? No.)
But...
That doesn't mean it won't need more on the next draft. I already have things in mind that I need to do to make it shine, to develop the characters more, to make the settings more palpable, etc., and I won't work on any of that until I've typed THE END. So, in that way, I'm kind of agreeing with the authors who say "you shouldn't go back and revise until the first draft is done" because, in my own weird way, I don't think of that other stuff as actual "revising/editing". It has become more of a "first draft habit", which happens to make my first drafts not be total suckage (according to other people, that is. I still think they're horrid).
If you think you can do that and not get too perfectionist-y and keep moving forward, then by all means, go for it. This habit has saved me tons of "second draft headaches". The important thing is to make sure you have a goal of completing the story, knowing it isn't perfect yet. But if someone wants to see your WIP, you don't have to be too terribly embarrassed to show them your unfinished first draft. Because in truth, it's not really a first draft. It's somewhere in between drafts one and two, and therefore, doesn't suck. Show it with pride.
Does anyone else have seemingly odd first draft habits?
~Lydia, who is apparently in love with quotation marks today
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday Tunes - Teen Angst
My parents divorced when I was 20. This was preceded by at least 10 years of knowing they would eventually split. I wish I could say I had a great childhood, but even though it wasn't all bad, most of it really sucked.
People wonder why teenagers are so messed up sometimes. I've never wondered that. I've also never wondered why so much YA fiction features characters that have divorced parents, or parents who are on the brink of divorce, or no parents at all. It's more prevalent than some may realize, and it has a permanent effect on you. That's where/how you were raised, and you only get one childhood.
I lived in a family of six, yet I spent a lot of time by myself--to escape--and sometimes felt more alone when I wasn't physically alone. As a teenager, I went through my phases of rebellion and attention-seeking. I went through a "hippie" phase and didn't shave my legs for about a month... before I got so grossed out by my own body and/or so tired of wearing long skirts and pants that I gave in. I also went through a "goth" phase when I wore chains as jewelry, heavy eye make-up, and black nail polish. Actually, everything I wore was black except my jeans. And I often changed my haircut and color. It seemed I was never satisfied.
I was the only one of four children to ever get threatened by my father to be kicked out of the house (as far as I know), which I still think is odd, looking back on it, because I was by far the quietest in the bunch and least argumentative. Most of the time, anyway. The day he threatened to kick me out, we had gotten into a pretty bad shouting match... over something as silly as cleaning my room. It seems ridiculous now, when I think about it, but I'm sure there was a "principle" of some sort involved. I always seemed to be overly-concerned with the principles involved in any given situation.
My point? There is a reason behind a character's emotions, which then leads to their actions and speech. When that character is a messed up teen, things can get intense, and they often have lasting effects. Today's song is one I remember listening to when I was younger, thinking that I had the worst parents in the world.
The sad part is, I didn't have the worst parents in the world. In fact, I was treated like a princess in comparison to some kids. Even though my parents eventually divorced, we always had a place to live, and clothing, and food. Some kids don't have that. Some kids don't even have parents... one of the comments on this video felt like a punch in the chest:
"I wish I had parents. Both are drug addicts since I was 12 years old."
Yeah. This person would have rather had crappy parents than no parents at all. Think about that for a minute (and that's just one possible scenario... as another personal example, Joe was only 12 when his dad committed suicide, and yes, he is still struggling with the effects of that). All of those are things that can be realistically infused into a character, teen or adult (remember that childhood has a massive effect on adulthood), for maximum impact on the reader.
~Lydia
People wonder why teenagers are so messed up sometimes. I've never wondered that. I've also never wondered why so much YA fiction features characters that have divorced parents, or parents who are on the brink of divorce, or no parents at all. It's more prevalent than some may realize, and it has a permanent effect on you. That's where/how you were raised, and you only get one childhood.
I lived in a family of six, yet I spent a lot of time by myself--to escape--and sometimes felt more alone when I wasn't physically alone. As a teenager, I went through my phases of rebellion and attention-seeking. I went through a "hippie" phase and didn't shave my legs for about a month... before I got so grossed out by my own body and/or so tired of wearing long skirts and pants that I gave in. I also went through a "goth" phase when I wore chains as jewelry, heavy eye make-up, and black nail polish. Actually, everything I wore was black except my jeans. And I often changed my haircut and color. It seemed I was never satisfied.
I was the only one of four children to ever get threatened by my father to be kicked out of the house (as far as I know), which I still think is odd, looking back on it, because I was by far the quietest in the bunch and least argumentative. Most of the time, anyway. The day he threatened to kick me out, we had gotten into a pretty bad shouting match... over something as silly as cleaning my room. It seems ridiculous now, when I think about it, but I'm sure there was a "principle" of some sort involved. I always seemed to be overly-concerned with the principles involved in any given situation.
My point? There is a reason behind a character's emotions, which then leads to their actions and speech. When that character is a messed up teen, things can get intense, and they often have lasting effects. Today's song is one I remember listening to when I was younger, thinking that I had the worst parents in the world.
The sad part is, I didn't have the worst parents in the world. In fact, I was treated like a princess in comparison to some kids. Even though my parents eventually divorced, we always had a place to live, and clothing, and food. Some kids don't have that. Some kids don't even have parents... one of the comments on this video felt like a punch in the chest:
"I wish I had parents. Both are drug addicts since I was 12 years old."
Yeah. This person would have rather had crappy parents than no parents at all. Think about that for a minute (and that's just one possible scenario... as another personal example, Joe was only 12 when his dad committed suicide, and yes, he is still struggling with the effects of that). All of those are things that can be realistically infused into a character, teen or adult (remember that childhood has a massive effect on adulthood), for maximum impact on the reader.
~Lydia
Monday, May 24, 2010
Guest Blogger Angela Ackerman -- Blogs: A Writer's Best Friend
Please give a hearty WELCOME! to MG & YA author, Angela Ackerman!
Angela Ackerman is a kidlit writer represented by Jill Corcoran of the Herman Agency. Her blog, The Bookshelf Muse, is home to several Descriptive Thesaurus Collections for writers, including an Emotion Thesaurus, which lists the physical actions for over 40 different emotions.
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Blogs: A Writer’s Best Friend
Most writers have heard enough buzz about social networking to know it’s something they should do. By embracing it, they can reach out beyond the screen and keyboard and create an online presence, the first step in building a writer’s platform. Platform is all about becoming known to others, building your name into a brand and creating a network for promoting your books. Learning how to use social media (blogging, websites, Facebook, Twitter, etc) to connect to others is critical to success.
FACT: It is never too soon to start thinking platform. Agents are savvy and know the value of a strong platform, even for a pre-published writer. Provided you have a quality project to pitch, it can help get their attention. And platform certainly comes into play when an editor considers your manuscript for purchase.
So how does a writer build a platform and go from unknown to known? Blogging is one of the most effective pathways, allowing others to get a good feel for who you are. By posting regularly and providing good content, you encourage people to visit and word will spread about your blog and you.
The immediate challenge of starting a blog is this: With so many blogs out there, how can mine stand out?
Identify Your Audience
Who are you posting for—Auto Mechanics? Suspense lovers? Bike enthusiasts? Writers? The key to successful blogging is understanding who your audience is and what they need. Most writers/bloggers post content that is of interest to other writers. After all, no one understands the bumpy writing path better and this shared interest creates a huge topic to draw from when posting. There’s also the sense of community and support these connections bring. Writers are also the ones most likely to help spread the word when you have a book to promote. So, with writers in mind, let’s look at what you might want to blog about.
5 Blog Themes That Target A Writer’s Needs
Knowledge
Writers know that to reach publication, we need to learn all we can about writing, publishing and promoting. Targeting these areas is a sure-fire way to bring people to your blog, provided your content is strong and focused.
Time Savers
Writers only have so much time to read blog posts and hunt down resources and writing aids. If you know what writers need and can save them time by linking or gathering information for them, you are guaranteed an audience. Social networking is vast, and there are many great finds out there. If you have a nose for helpful resources or are good at bundling concepts into succinct posts, you become a valuable stop on the blog roll.
Humor/Slice of Life
Everyone needs a release and writers are no exception. If humor is your thing, use it. Some of the most popular blogs out there are ones where the poster can poke fun at themselves or relate tales, experiences and viewpoints in a fun way, leaving the reader wanting more.
Support
Writing is tough, full of ups and downs that can bring even the most optimistic person to their knees. Moral support and inspiration is a necessity for all writers. Providing a safe haven for readers, offering kind words and encouragement is something we all value. Targeting this area can be a smart move as it creates a strong bond between blogger and reader.
A Valued Resource
There are always niche areas of writing, publishing and promoting where there is no resources available, or what is out there doesn’t quite meet a need. If you see an opportunity to fill a resource gap, do. Anything that makes the writer’s path easier is extremely valuable to all writers.
Things to remember:
1) Before starting a blog, visit a selection of other blogs first. Read both the posts and the comments to gain insight on why writers spend their time there.
2) Remember blogging should always be enjoyable. If you care about the topic you’re posting about, it will show! People will pick up on your passion and want to share your journey.
3) Everyone has something to offer and knowledge to share. Even if you feel like you have nothing to say, trust that you do because your viewpoint is unique! The blogosphere is full of amazing people and the time and energy you put into your blog will come back to you a thousand times over.
For more tips on creating a successful blog, please visit a related post at Guide to Literary Agents.
Happy Writing!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
---
Thanks so much for joining us today, Angela!
~Lydia
Angela Ackerman is a kidlit writer represented by Jill Corcoran of the Herman Agency. Her blog, The Bookshelf Muse, is home to several Descriptive Thesaurus Collections for writers, including an Emotion Thesaurus, which lists the physical actions for over 40 different emotions.
---
Blogs: A Writer’s Best Friend
Most writers have heard enough buzz about social networking to know it’s something they should do. By embracing it, they can reach out beyond the screen and keyboard and create an online presence, the first step in building a writer’s platform. Platform is all about becoming known to others, building your name into a brand and creating a network for promoting your books. Learning how to use social media (blogging, websites, Facebook, Twitter, etc) to connect to others is critical to success.
FACT: It is never too soon to start thinking platform. Agents are savvy and know the value of a strong platform, even for a pre-published writer. Provided you have a quality project to pitch, it can help get their attention. And platform certainly comes into play when an editor considers your manuscript for purchase.
So how does a writer build a platform and go from unknown to known? Blogging is one of the most effective pathways, allowing others to get a good feel for who you are. By posting regularly and providing good content, you encourage people to visit and word will spread about your blog and you.
The immediate challenge of starting a blog is this: With so many blogs out there, how can mine stand out?
Identify Your Audience
Who are you posting for—Auto Mechanics? Suspense lovers? Bike enthusiasts? Writers? The key to successful blogging is understanding who your audience is and what they need. Most writers/bloggers post content that is of interest to other writers. After all, no one understands the bumpy writing path better and this shared interest creates a huge topic to draw from when posting. There’s also the sense of community and support these connections bring. Writers are also the ones most likely to help spread the word when you have a book to promote. So, with writers in mind, let’s look at what you might want to blog about.
5 Blog Themes That Target A Writer’s Needs
Knowledge
Writers know that to reach publication, we need to learn all we can about writing, publishing and promoting. Targeting these areas is a sure-fire way to bring people to your blog, provided your content is strong and focused.
Time Savers
Writers only have so much time to read blog posts and hunt down resources and writing aids. If you know what writers need and can save them time by linking or gathering information for them, you are guaranteed an audience. Social networking is vast, and there are many great finds out there. If you have a nose for helpful resources or are good at bundling concepts into succinct posts, you become a valuable stop on the blog roll.
Humor/Slice of Life
Everyone needs a release and writers are no exception. If humor is your thing, use it. Some of the most popular blogs out there are ones where the poster can poke fun at themselves or relate tales, experiences and viewpoints in a fun way, leaving the reader wanting more.
Support
Writing is tough, full of ups and downs that can bring even the most optimistic person to their knees. Moral support and inspiration is a necessity for all writers. Providing a safe haven for readers, offering kind words and encouragement is something we all value. Targeting this area can be a smart move as it creates a strong bond between blogger and reader.
A Valued Resource
There are always niche areas of writing, publishing and promoting where there is no resources available, or what is out there doesn’t quite meet a need. If you see an opportunity to fill a resource gap, do. Anything that makes the writer’s path easier is extremely valuable to all writers.
Things to remember:
1) Before starting a blog, visit a selection of other blogs first. Read both the posts and the comments to gain insight on why writers spend their time there.
2) Remember blogging should always be enjoyable. If you care about the topic you’re posting about, it will show! People will pick up on your passion and want to share your journey.
3) Everyone has something to offer and knowledge to share. Even if you feel like you have nothing to say, trust that you do because your viewpoint is unique! The blogosphere is full of amazing people and the time and energy you put into your blog will come back to you a thousand times over.
For more tips on creating a successful blog, please visit a related post at Guide to Literary Agents.
Happy Writing!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
---
Thanks so much for joining us today, Angela!
~Lydia
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Reality Check: Listen Up, Teenage Guys
Yeah, I know I just posted a few minutes ago. But then I checked my blog roll and noticed that Joe put up a new post on his blog, and I just had to link it here (in case some of you didn't notice the link in the sidebar that's always there. just saying).
I find this post especially hilarious since I've started writing YA, and am forced to step into the teenage mind to write my stories. Joe's observations about single teenage guys vs. married old farts are spot on.
Go read it. Now.
~Lydia
I find this post especially hilarious since I've started writing YA, and am forced to step into the teenage mind to write my stories. Joe's observations about single teenage guys vs. married old farts are spot on.
Go read it. Now.
~Lydia
Book Review: Heist Society by Ally Carter
Review is HERE.
Basically, it started out good, then fizzled. I am eager to see the film version, but don't really recommend the book.
All of that, of course, is just my opinion. If anyone else has read the book, I'd like to know your thoughts, even if (and maybe especially if) you disagree with me.
~Lydia
Friday, May 21, 2010
Author Spotlight: Jenny Fierro
Today I am honored to present the recent winner of the Writer's Digest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Forum Mythical Creatures Short Story Contest (which this great lady and I hosted in April). She is an awesome writer, and her story for that particular contest received a near-perfect score from me (she missed ONE point due to a typo, argh!), as well as a comment from me that went something like this: "You MUST get this published!"
Yeah. She's that good.
Please welcome fantasy author, Jenny Fierro!
(Questions and comments from Lydia are in bold.)
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Welcome to the madness. Can you start off by telling us a little about yourself?
I live along the east coast of the U.S., and have an abiding love for reading and writing fantasy. When I'm not absorbed in literature, I'm busy working on my Master’s degree in marine geology, and trying to convince my laboratory students that yes, science really is cool.
Agreed. Science is way cool. So how did your current writerly self come to be?
I think my writing, my drive to write, and my love for writing is set in a deep-seated love of a good story. A good story is like a good meal: substantial, delicious, and satisfying. It leaves you feeling full, but looking forward to more the next day. I love reading something, and sitting back with that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you’ve read a good book and thinking, “now that is a good story.” That’s why I write, to get that feeling within myself and to evoke it within others.
I’ve always loved stories and I completely blame that on my mother and childhood. When I was little, she would read my brother and me books like Beowulf (the Robert Nye translation), The Odyssey, and The Iliad as bed time stories. I loved them. I absolutely adored them. (Really? You adored them?) Well, not The Iliad so much, but the other two were fantastic. I loved the adventure, I loved the characters, I just loved the story.
In the car, we never listened to the radio, always books on tape. (For you youngin's out there, a "tape" is what he had before CDs and mp3 players were invented.) In kindergarten and first grade, I would even fall asleep listening to the unabridged versions of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the old Sherlock Holmes radio dramas. To this day, I can recite the Petri California wine commercials by heart.
Haha. You really are a nerd, Jenny. But that's okay. Nerds are cool now. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
Ironically, though, I hated actual reading. (Nerd status revoked.) My parents couldn’t get me to read, as much as they tried. I think the problem was that I was so used to listening to stories, actually reading words seemed like way too much work. Finally, after listening to Patricia C. Wrede’s Dealing With Dragons in second grade, I was dying to hear the second story in the series. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t make those on cassette tape, so I had to suck it up and start reading. Making it through the first book was hard, but once I did, I was hooked and began devouring books. Once I really started reading, I started writing my own stories, playing out what stuck in my own imagination from the stories I read.
Well, I'm glad Ms. Wrede inadvertently saved you from a horrid non-reading life. Which then led you to writing. Sweet. Can you tell us about some of your early work?
Most of my early stories revolved around my cats. In third grade, I wrote a short story called ‘How Meow Mix Came To Be,’ which my parents, unbeknownst to me, sent in to Ralston Purina. As a result, the company made me an honorary project manager of Meow Mix cat food (lol). (Awesome! That kind of makes you a celebrity. Will you sign my cat later? I swear he doesn't bite.) In fifth grade, I had my first attempt at publication when my teacher encouraged me to submit a collection of short stories about my fat, half-blind, mentally retarded cat Willy, to some kid’s magazines. Not only was that my first attempt at publication, but also my first batch of rejections.
Rejections in grade school? Wow. How did that affect you?
The early rejections didn’t really deter me, though, because I just liked writing. And the more I wrote, and the more I read, the more I improved. As a result, I became pretty much self taught when it came to writing, and I took advantage of it through middle and high school.
I was a bit of a rule breaker. (I'm officially in love with you. Just saying.) I knew I could write, and so when I was given assignments, I always wanted to take the writing in a way that the teachers didn’t expect. I wanted to challenge the perception of “the rules,” and how stories should be. I wanted to give my teachers a story they liked so much it didn’t matter if I broke some rules, or dodged what they really wanted from me. I wanted to see if a good story overrode the rules and the assignments. They usually did.
Agreed.
That’s what writing is about after all. Giving a good story. I thought, and still do to an extent, that if you give a good story while breaking rules, then how necessary were those rules to begin with? (Right on!) If someone said to me, ‘you can’t write a story with repetition,’ I would say, yes I can, and find a way to do it. I would find some way to make it work. I realized that if you like a story and you like what you’re reading, but a few rules were broken and they didn’t take away from the story, then are the rules really applicable? Are those rules really even correct?
Excellent points. My heart's all a-flutter. Seriously.
To break rules, though, I had to really study literature. It was something I did subconsciously as part of reading and as a hobby, and I had been doing it for years without realizing it. I have a strong scientific streak in me, and so I loved to study what was written in the published literature, not only in fantasy, but in fiction and non-fiction. (Okay. You can have your nerd status back now.) And of course I would ask myself lots of questions. Why did I like this story and not that story? Why did one technique work here and not there? How could one use this technique improperly and still get away with it? I learned not simply what the rules were but why they existed and how and under what circumstances they could be applied. Or not applied. I think understanding the whys and hows are the most important parts of writing, and it has benefited me immeasurably.
Way to hit the "rule breakers" nail on the head. (I hope you all are taking notes on this.)
Reading and studying literature has also helped me understand how subjective writing really is. I remember my current advisor telling me how he went to a conference and two big named scientists were arguing over a data set, and both scientists were exactly right in their position depending on how you looked at it. I realized this is exactly the same with writing. If you know the rules, and the foundations, and what works and doesn’t, two writers can look at the same sentence and have massively different opinions. And they can both be right, depending on how they’re looking at it.
Apparently, you are also very good at illustrations.
I’ve also benefited greatly from group writing. I joined writing.com in 2002, and I’m very glad I did. I began group writing on the site and, to be honest, I can’t think of anything better, besides reading, to help improve writing. I think back to some of my first characters and they were pretty gross. (In what way?) They were immature, or too powerful, or too common, or too emotionally distant to be really relatable. Over the course of writing with others, and trying to fill character niches in many different stories, I began to identify my weaknesses and I’ve really improved.
The good thing about group writing is you really have to think about characters, and it challenges you (if you’re a good group writer and accept the challenge) to come up with a myriad of different people that you wouldn’t normally write. It gives you practice writing secondary characters, main characters, romances, deaths, births, males, females, elderly characters, young characters, everything really. (Wow.) Even if you’re stuck with a group of people who are terrible writers and do illogical things to characters, you can see it as a writerly challenge to yourself and try to make it work. I’ve done that once or twice. It was interesting. I’m lucky now. I currently work with two other talented writers, whom I respect, and I don’t have to worry about having a heart attack every time one of them takes over my character.
That's great! So what else are you working on?
I’m nibbling at two works which will hopefully be novel length, both fantasy. I’ve been primarily a short story writer in the past, so longer works are new waters for me! I keep reading and I like talking about literature and stories and writing, so I started keeping a blog, Seedlings. I started it as an outlet so I could talk about literature and writing because if I didn’t get some of my thoughts out of my head, I’d keep myself up at night analyzing something (or rampaging about something) over and over again.
I totally hear you on that. We all need an outlet of some sort or our brains will explode from the pressure.
Those projects, unfortunately, all take a back seat to my number one project: my Master’s thesis.
It’s about sand. Sand and deltas. Exciting, I know. (Yeah... be sure to pick up your nerd crown on the way out.) The issue with my thesis is that I have to put the creative projects I really want to work on, on more of a shelf. I still nibble at them, especially in the evenings, but I still can’t give them the attention they deserve because there’s a big difference between writing for the sciences and writing creatively. (Indeed.) If I focus too much on my creative fun projects, it becomes harder to write in the language of science, and my thesis won’t portray the tone of voice, or format, that it should. And then my committee yells at me.
Haha. I just had images of you describing the awesomeness of river deltas to a room full of suits and lab coats... in the form of a Shakespearean play. I can see how that wouldn't quite work for you.
So you've got years of experience behind you now. Any advice for writers just starting out?
One of the most important things I know now that I’ve learned through, well, everything, is how important it is to know who you are as a writer. I know, it sounds a little cheesy and kum bay yah, but its pretty important. All your experiences help mold your writing and your views on writing, and it may be different from others. And that’s okay. But you’ve got to embrace it or insecurities will reflect in your writing and your stories and you won’t have the confidence to push yourself to the next level, whatever that may be.
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Thanks so much for being with us today, Jenny!
~Lydia, fellow writer and proud to be a nerd
Yeah. She's that good.
Please welcome fantasy author, Jenny Fierro!
(Questions and comments from Lydia are in bold.)
-----
Welcome to the madness. Can you start off by telling us a little about yourself?
I live along the east coast of the U.S., and have an abiding love for reading and writing fantasy. When I'm not absorbed in literature, I'm busy working on my Master’s degree in marine geology, and trying to convince my laboratory students that yes, science really is cool.
Agreed. Science is way cool. So how did your current writerly self come to be?
I think my writing, my drive to write, and my love for writing is set in a deep-seated love of a good story. A good story is like a good meal: substantial, delicious, and satisfying. It leaves you feeling full, but looking forward to more the next day. I love reading something, and sitting back with that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you’ve read a good book and thinking, “now that is a good story.” That’s why I write, to get that feeling within myself and to evoke it within others.
I’ve always loved stories and I completely blame that on my mother and childhood. When I was little, she would read my brother and me books like Beowulf (the Robert Nye translation), The Odyssey, and The Iliad as bed time stories. I loved them. I absolutely adored them. (Really? You adored them?) Well, not The Iliad so much, but the other two were fantastic. I loved the adventure, I loved the characters, I just loved the story.
In the car, we never listened to the radio, always books on tape. (For you youngin's out there, a "tape" is what he had before CDs and mp3 players were invented.) In kindergarten and first grade, I would even fall asleep listening to the unabridged versions of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the old Sherlock Holmes radio dramas. To this day, I can recite the Petri California wine commercials by heart.
Haha. You really are a nerd, Jenny. But that's okay. Nerds are cool now. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
Ironically, though, I hated actual reading. (Nerd status revoked.) My parents couldn’t get me to read, as much as they tried. I think the problem was that I was so used to listening to stories, actually reading words seemed like way too much work. Finally, after listening to Patricia C. Wrede’s Dealing With Dragons in second grade, I was dying to hear the second story in the series. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t make those on cassette tape, so I had to suck it up and start reading. Making it through the first book was hard, but once I did, I was hooked and began devouring books. Once I really started reading, I started writing my own stories, playing out what stuck in my own imagination from the stories I read.
Well, I'm glad Ms. Wrede inadvertently saved you from a horrid non-reading life. Which then led you to writing. Sweet. Can you tell us about some of your early work?
Most of my early stories revolved around my cats. In third grade, I wrote a short story called ‘How Meow Mix Came To Be,’ which my parents, unbeknownst to me, sent in to Ralston Purina. As a result, the company made me an honorary project manager of Meow Mix cat food (lol). (Awesome! That kind of makes you a celebrity. Will you sign my cat later? I swear he doesn't bite.) In fifth grade, I had my first attempt at publication when my teacher encouraged me to submit a collection of short stories about my fat, half-blind, mentally retarded cat Willy, to some kid’s magazines. Not only was that my first attempt at publication, but also my first batch of rejections.
Rejections in grade school? Wow. How did that affect you?
The early rejections didn’t really deter me, though, because I just liked writing. And the more I wrote, and the more I read, the more I improved. As a result, I became pretty much self taught when it came to writing, and I took advantage of it through middle and high school.
I was a bit of a rule breaker. (I'm officially in love with you. Just saying.) I knew I could write, and so when I was given assignments, I always wanted to take the writing in a way that the teachers didn’t expect. I wanted to challenge the perception of “the rules,” and how stories should be. I wanted to give my teachers a story they liked so much it didn’t matter if I broke some rules, or dodged what they really wanted from me. I wanted to see if a good story overrode the rules and the assignments. They usually did.
Agreed.
That’s what writing is about after all. Giving a good story. I thought, and still do to an extent, that if you give a good story while breaking rules, then how necessary were those rules to begin with? (Right on!) If someone said to me, ‘you can’t write a story with repetition,’ I would say, yes I can, and find a way to do it. I would find some way to make it work. I realized that if you like a story and you like what you’re reading, but a few rules were broken and they didn’t take away from the story, then are the rules really applicable? Are those rules really even correct?
Excellent points. My heart's all a-flutter. Seriously.
To break rules, though, I had to really study literature. It was something I did subconsciously as part of reading and as a hobby, and I had been doing it for years without realizing it. I have a strong scientific streak in me, and so I loved to study what was written in the published literature, not only in fantasy, but in fiction and non-fiction. (Okay. You can have your nerd status back now.) And of course I would ask myself lots of questions. Why did I like this story and not that story? Why did one technique work here and not there? How could one use this technique improperly and still get away with it? I learned not simply what the rules were but why they existed and how and under what circumstances they could be applied. Or not applied. I think understanding the whys and hows are the most important parts of writing, and it has benefited me immeasurably.
Way to hit the "rule breakers" nail on the head. (I hope you all are taking notes on this.)
Reading and studying literature has also helped me understand how subjective writing really is. I remember my current advisor telling me how he went to a conference and two big named scientists were arguing over a data set, and both scientists were exactly right in their position depending on how you looked at it. I realized this is exactly the same with writing. If you know the rules, and the foundations, and what works and doesn’t, two writers can look at the same sentence and have massively different opinions. And they can both be right, depending on how they’re looking at it.
Apparently, you are also very good at illustrations.
I’ve also benefited greatly from group writing. I joined writing.com in 2002, and I’m very glad I did. I began group writing on the site and, to be honest, I can’t think of anything better, besides reading, to help improve writing. I think back to some of my first characters and they were pretty gross. (In what way?) They were immature, or too powerful, or too common, or too emotionally distant to be really relatable. Over the course of writing with others, and trying to fill character niches in many different stories, I began to identify my weaknesses and I’ve really improved.
The good thing about group writing is you really have to think about characters, and it challenges you (if you’re a good group writer and accept the challenge) to come up with a myriad of different people that you wouldn’t normally write. It gives you practice writing secondary characters, main characters, romances, deaths, births, males, females, elderly characters, young characters, everything really. (Wow.) Even if you’re stuck with a group of people who are terrible writers and do illogical things to characters, you can see it as a writerly challenge to yourself and try to make it work. I’ve done that once or twice. It was interesting. I’m lucky now. I currently work with two other talented writers, whom I respect, and I don’t have to worry about having a heart attack every time one of them takes over my character.
That's great! So what else are you working on?
I’m nibbling at two works which will hopefully be novel length, both fantasy. I’ve been primarily a short story writer in the past, so longer works are new waters for me! I keep reading and I like talking about literature and stories and writing, so I started keeping a blog, Seedlings. I started it as an outlet so I could talk about literature and writing because if I didn’t get some of my thoughts out of my head, I’d keep myself up at night analyzing something (or rampaging about something) over and over again.
I totally hear you on that. We all need an outlet of some sort or our brains will explode from the pressure.
Those projects, unfortunately, all take a back seat to my number one project: my Master’s thesis.
It’s about sand. Sand and deltas. Exciting, I know. (Yeah... be sure to pick up your nerd crown on the way out.) The issue with my thesis is that I have to put the creative projects I really want to work on, on more of a shelf. I still nibble at them, especially in the evenings, but I still can’t give them the attention they deserve because there’s a big difference between writing for the sciences and writing creatively. (Indeed.) If I focus too much on my creative fun projects, it becomes harder to write in the language of science, and my thesis won’t portray the tone of voice, or format, that it should. And then my committee yells at me.
Haha. I just had images of you describing the awesomeness of river deltas to a room full of suits and lab coats... in the form of a Shakespearean play. I can see how that wouldn't quite work for you.
So you've got years of experience behind you now. Any advice for writers just starting out?
One of the most important things I know now that I’ve learned through, well, everything, is how important it is to know who you are as a writer. I know, it sounds a little cheesy and kum bay yah, but its pretty important. All your experiences help mold your writing and your views on writing, and it may be different from others. And that’s okay. But you’ve got to embrace it or insecurities will reflect in your writing and your stories and you won’t have the confidence to push yourself to the next level, whatever that may be.
-----
Thanks so much for being with us today, Jenny!
~Lydia, fellow writer and proud to be a nerd
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Who Says You Can't Go Home?
I revisited the house I grew up in. Just now. In my pajamas, without a bra. Hair not brushed. No make-up. And it's not very close to where I live now (about a thirty minute drive).
This is the magic of Google and satellites.
I don't know who's living there now, or how many different families have called that place home since we left over sixteen years ago. Or before us, either. When we lived there the house was already over eighty years old, so I'm pretty sure that it's a century home now.
I zoomed in on the Google map. First on the United States. Then Ohio. Then my home-town. Then the street I lived on for eight years of my life. I had lived in other houses in that town before then, and I've lived in multiple houses in the area I live in now since then.
But this is the only house I refer to as my childhood home. It's the house I still regularly visit in my dreams. It's the house that has the most memories, both good and bad.
Once on my street, through the magic of the internet, I started at the corner by the main road and was amazed to see the same businesses still in place. And the same church parking lot I used to cut through on my way to the library--just about every day.
Then I began my trek home. My house isn't very far from the main road. I used to know the exact house-count, but I can only guess it to be somewhere between 7 and 12 now. The first thing I noticed was that a new house had been built near the corner.
The second thing I noticed was that all the yards looked surprisingly well-kept and clean. Not that the neighborhood had been run-down when I lived there, but you kind of expect things to get worse with time.
I recognized the first house after that new one, which in my childhood memory had been the "first" house. An old woman had lived there, but I never saw her but more than twice a year, in passing, on my way to or from school. I'm sure she's gone by now.
Then, I found myself saying out loud as I continued down the street, "That's Tammy's house! And then Cindy's! And Annie's! Next is The Twins... (I honestly don't remember their names). Then the revolving house (named this because it seemed a new family moved in there every other year). Then... Jessie's house. Wow, did they clean that up!"*
This is where it gets kind of sad. Jessie and Chris and Carrie were the kids that lived in the house next to mine. They were very poor. Their parents divorced the year we moved in, and Carrie was born later that year. In short, their house was always a disaster. This didn't matter much to me because I was a kid.
But, in comparison to my house, which my mother prided herself on keeping well-presented, we looked like the richest family on the block that lived next door to the poorest.
Not anymore.
Jessie's house (she was a girl one year younger than me, and one of my closest friends until she turned into a tramp in high school) is now beautiful. Repainted. New banister by the porch steps. Lovely green lawn.
And my old house looks like a dump. Not. Even. Kidding.
The postage stamp lawn looks even smaller to me now since I've been living in homes that have acres-sized yards for over ten years. (And even now, in my apartment, there is a huge field behind our complex, so it doesn't feel so cramped.) Not only is it terribly small, but it's all patchy and brown. The walk leading up to the porch steps have weeds growing between all the cracks.
The bushes I remember my father planting in the front flower bed are so overgrown I can barely see the porch past them. And--this is the worst part!--no porch swing. What? We always had a porch swing. Always. How do you have a living-room-sized front porch and no swing? It's sacrilegious. Seriously.
My mother's rose bush was somehow still intact on the southern side of the porch, but it looked like it died years ago, all spindly and withered. That rose bush used to be so big and bushy that it blocked the view of our neighbor's house on that side. And the blooms were bigger than an adult hand. Big and orange and beautiful and they smelled so sweet in the summertime. My mom loved that bush. And I loved it. And it always reminds me of her (the bush that's in my memory, that is).
And get this: the driveway is still a crumpled up stretch of asphalt that, in all honesty, should have been replaced when we lived there, and no one has fixed it yet! It looks just as horrid as I remembered.
What little I could see of the backyard only told me that someone had so nicely torn down the beautiful six-foot privacy fence my father and his brothers installed the first year we were there. That fence had been the envy of the block. So much so, in fact, that our backyard was always chosen as the location for the neighborhood kids' parties, block parties, etc. It was the "fun" place to hang out, because it felt like its own little world.
I'm kind of glad that I couldn't get a look INSIDE the house, because I probably would have cried. But, even so, I'm still glad I took a quick trip back home. Sometimes it's nice to remind yourself where you came from. What places, events, and people had a hand in shaping who you became.
And even though it is overall a disappointing looking house right now, I'm glad to see some of the familiarities I remember. The bushes in front. The rose bush (pathetic thing that it is now). The same walkway from the public sidewalk to my porch. The same Maple tree on the tree lawn that I used to climb because the neighbor's cat had a penchant for getting stuck up there and no one else was brave enough to climb the tree (for the record, I wish I was still agile enough to climb trees; it's so fun). The same crappy driveway. The same antique steel porch railing. The same screen door my father installed before our first summer there. The same bay window on the first floor (the living room) and the same bay window on the second floor (my parents' bedroom). The same chimney, too. That fireplace is one of my favorite childhood memories.
I just took one last peek again. The grapevines are gone. We had a stretch of grapevines growing on the one side of our house that grew so tall every summer, I could reach the top of it from my bedroom window on the second floor. My dad had to get out a ladder each year to trim the vines back. And our next door neighbors on the south side (not Jessie's family) were Palestinian, and would use the grape leaves my father cut down to make grape leaf rolls. If you've never had a grape leaf roll (not sure if that's the actual name of it), it's like an egg roll, but all the luscious innards are wrapped in a grape leaf instead of dough.
They're really good. I didn't always get along with my neighbors on that side (in fact, my first/only physical fight I had as a child was with one of the daughters in that family, and her best friend was the first person to ever call me a bitch), but they made some really awesome food, and they always shared it. Looking back on it now, I think I was lucky to have been exposed to their culture in that way.
There wasn't really a point to this post, except to say that I tend to use my past experiences, in some way, in my current writing projects. Sometimes I don't even realize that I'm doing so until I look back on it, or have a random memory. I discovered this fact quite blatantly this morning while discussing a current WIP with writer-friend Laurel through email, and I said (among other things), "This character's house is based on the house my dad grew up in but it's since been torn down." It's still there in my head, though, and decided to live in my story.
Do any of you do this? Do you find yourself "writing what you know" without even realizing it?
~Lydia
*I'm actually not changing any of the names. I grew up in a neighborhood full of American mutts (aside from the one neighbor you'll read about later in the post) with basic American names. This had a way of making me feel awkward (with an odd name like Olivia--that's my real name, btw) when I really should have felt special. But you tend to see things in the worst way possible when you're a kid, because being different from the norm is worse than having cooties.
---
And if you're wondering why the post title sounds familiar, click HERE.
This is the magic of Google and satellites.
I don't know who's living there now, or how many different families have called that place home since we left over sixteen years ago. Or before us, either. When we lived there the house was already over eighty years old, so I'm pretty sure that it's a century home now.
I zoomed in on the Google map. First on the United States. Then Ohio. Then my home-town. Then the street I lived on for eight years of my life. I had lived in other houses in that town before then, and I've lived in multiple houses in the area I live in now since then.
But this is the only house I refer to as my childhood home. It's the house I still regularly visit in my dreams. It's the house that has the most memories, both good and bad.
Once on my street, through the magic of the internet, I started at the corner by the main road and was amazed to see the same businesses still in place. And the same church parking lot I used to cut through on my way to the library--just about every day.
Then I began my trek home. My house isn't very far from the main road. I used to know the exact house-count, but I can only guess it to be somewhere between 7 and 12 now. The first thing I noticed was that a new house had been built near the corner.
The second thing I noticed was that all the yards looked surprisingly well-kept and clean. Not that the neighborhood had been run-down when I lived there, but you kind of expect things to get worse with time.
I recognized the first house after that new one, which in my childhood memory had been the "first" house. An old woman had lived there, but I never saw her but more than twice a year, in passing, on my way to or from school. I'm sure she's gone by now.
Then, I found myself saying out loud as I continued down the street, "That's Tammy's house! And then Cindy's! And Annie's! Next is The Twins... (I honestly don't remember their names). Then the revolving house (named this because it seemed a new family moved in there every other year). Then... Jessie's house. Wow, did they clean that up!"*
This is where it gets kind of sad. Jessie and Chris and Carrie were the kids that lived in the house next to mine. They were very poor. Their parents divorced the year we moved in, and Carrie was born later that year. In short, their house was always a disaster. This didn't matter much to me because I was a kid.
But, in comparison to my house, which my mother prided herself on keeping well-presented, we looked like the richest family on the block that lived next door to the poorest.
Not anymore.
Jessie's house (she was a girl one year younger than me, and one of my closest friends until she turned into a tramp in high school) is now beautiful. Repainted. New banister by the porch steps. Lovely green lawn.
And my old house looks like a dump. Not. Even. Kidding.
The postage stamp lawn looks even smaller to me now since I've been living in homes that have acres-sized yards for over ten years. (And even now, in my apartment, there is a huge field behind our complex, so it doesn't feel so cramped.) Not only is it terribly small, but it's all patchy and brown. The walk leading up to the porch steps have weeds growing between all the cracks.
The bushes I remember my father planting in the front flower bed are so overgrown I can barely see the porch past them. And--this is the worst part!--no porch swing. What? We always had a porch swing. Always. How do you have a living-room-sized front porch and no swing? It's sacrilegious. Seriously.
My mother's rose bush was somehow still intact on the southern side of the porch, but it looked like it died years ago, all spindly and withered. That rose bush used to be so big and bushy that it blocked the view of our neighbor's house on that side. And the blooms were bigger than an adult hand. Big and orange and beautiful and they smelled so sweet in the summertime. My mom loved that bush. And I loved it. And it always reminds me of her (the bush that's in my memory, that is).
And get this: the driveway is still a crumpled up stretch of asphalt that, in all honesty, should have been replaced when we lived there, and no one has fixed it yet! It looks just as horrid as I remembered.
What little I could see of the backyard only told me that someone had so nicely torn down the beautiful six-foot privacy fence my father and his brothers installed the first year we were there. That fence had been the envy of the block. So much so, in fact, that our backyard was always chosen as the location for the neighborhood kids' parties, block parties, etc. It was the "fun" place to hang out, because it felt like its own little world.
I'm kind of glad that I couldn't get a look INSIDE the house, because I probably would have cried. But, even so, I'm still glad I took a quick trip back home. Sometimes it's nice to remind yourself where you came from. What places, events, and people had a hand in shaping who you became.
And even though it is overall a disappointing looking house right now, I'm glad to see some of the familiarities I remember. The bushes in front. The rose bush (pathetic thing that it is now). The same walkway from the public sidewalk to my porch. The same Maple tree on the tree lawn that I used to climb because the neighbor's cat had a penchant for getting stuck up there and no one else was brave enough to climb the tree (for the record, I wish I was still agile enough to climb trees; it's so fun). The same crappy driveway. The same antique steel porch railing. The same screen door my father installed before our first summer there. The same bay window on the first floor (the living room) and the same bay window on the second floor (my parents' bedroom). The same chimney, too. That fireplace is one of my favorite childhood memories.
I just took one last peek again. The grapevines are gone. We had a stretch of grapevines growing on the one side of our house that grew so tall every summer, I could reach the top of it from my bedroom window on the second floor. My dad had to get out a ladder each year to trim the vines back. And our next door neighbors on the south side (not Jessie's family) were Palestinian, and would use the grape leaves my father cut down to make grape leaf rolls. If you've never had a grape leaf roll (not sure if that's the actual name of it), it's like an egg roll, but all the luscious innards are wrapped in a grape leaf instead of dough.
They're really good. I didn't always get along with my neighbors on that side (in fact, my first/only physical fight I had as a child was with one of the daughters in that family, and her best friend was the first person to ever call me a bitch), but they made some really awesome food, and they always shared it. Looking back on it now, I think I was lucky to have been exposed to their culture in that way.
There wasn't really a point to this post, except to say that I tend to use my past experiences, in some way, in my current writing projects. Sometimes I don't even realize that I'm doing so until I look back on it, or have a random memory. I discovered this fact quite blatantly this morning while discussing a current WIP with writer-friend Laurel through email, and I said (among other things), "This character's house is based on the house my dad grew up in but it's since been torn down." It's still there in my head, though, and decided to live in my story.
Do any of you do this? Do you find yourself "writing what you know" without even realizing it?
~Lydia
*I'm actually not changing any of the names. I grew up in a neighborhood full of American mutts (aside from the one neighbor you'll read about later in the post) with basic American names. This had a way of making me feel awkward (with an odd name like Olivia--that's my real name, btw) when I really should have felt special. But you tend to see things in the worst way possible when you're a kid, because being different from the norm is worse than having cooties.
---
And if you're wondering why the post title sounds familiar, click HERE.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Fear of the End, aka Act Three Jitters; Or, Suck It Up and Just Write!
I'm nearing the final leg of my YA novel, Summer Hoax--wrapping up the middle section and getting ready to bring the house down in act three--and this is the part of the first draft that always makes me nervous.
Will it live up to the expectations I've set in the earlier parts of the story?
I honestly never know, so I always have that fear.
I'm very close to the "all is lost" moment, and I'm worried that I haven't covered everything I need to cover before that point, because, once I hit that point, all the MC can do from then until the climax is work toward fixing... everything. As in, EVERYTHING I've destroyed before her very eyes before that point. Hence the term, "all is lost", because the MC must feel, at that point in the story, that there is NO way to fix ANYTHING before she can figure out how to fix EVERYTHING.
(Am I making sense? To me, that last sentence was perfectly clear, but if any of you are confused, I can attempt a better explanation.)
It's the point of no return. You cannot really introduce anything that is truly new. All the set-up is done, and you, the author, have to figure out how to use this set-up of your own design to now undo all that you've done in this poor character's life.
It's not easy.
It's really, really not easy. At all.
I hear/see writers complain the most about beginnings. These are usually writers that have not gotten to the end of their first novel yet. THE FINAL ACT IS THE HARDEST TO PULL OFF.
Period.
You can have the most awesome/creative/engaging story ever written up until that "all is lost" moment, and then make it WORTHLESS if you don't present that final act in a satisfying/awe-inspiring/gut-wrenching/I-can't-put-this-book-down-until-there-are-no-more-pages-left-to-read kind of way.
At least, that's the way I see it.
I haven't officially hit the "all is lost" moment (although, I will admit, I've written a portion of it already and set it aside... explanation: this is one of the most important parts of any story, and I almost always know what it involves before I even start writing the first pages, so it is not unusual for me to have written actual pieces of it long before getting to that point in the story-writing process, even though I know that by the time I do, some of the details will inevitably have to change), but I'm very, very close. And I'm somewhat terrified to write the next couple chapters because I have this fear that I missed something really important that needed to be brought out first.
But still, I soldier on. I have to. I can see why some people get to this point and give up, due to that unexplainable fear. But I refuse to.
After all, this is only the first draft. I've got at least two more drafts to get through before this thing will be close to ready.
So today, I'm trying to "just write" the story, knowing that my later revisions will make it tighter and more structured, so I shouldn't be worrying so much about it yet. As Libby Fischer Hellman said in her interview with Writer Unboxed: "The first draft doesn't have to be good. It just has to be written."
Well said. I guess I should get to writing now.
~Lydia
APOLOGIES TO ANYONE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE THIS FEED IN A TIMELY MANNER. WE SEEM TO BE HAVING FEEDBURNER/ GOOGLE ISSUES. AGAIN.
Will it live up to the expectations I've set in the earlier parts of the story?
I honestly never know, so I always have that fear.
I'm very close to the "all is lost" moment, and I'm worried that I haven't covered everything I need to cover before that point, because, once I hit that point, all the MC can do from then until the climax is work toward fixing... everything. As in, EVERYTHING I've destroyed before her very eyes before that point. Hence the term, "all is lost", because the MC must feel, at that point in the story, that there is NO way to fix ANYTHING before she can figure out how to fix EVERYTHING.
(Am I making sense? To me, that last sentence was perfectly clear, but if any of you are confused, I can attempt a better explanation.)
It's the point of no return. You cannot really introduce anything that is truly new. All the set-up is done, and you, the author, have to figure out how to use this set-up of your own design to now undo all that you've done in this poor character's life.
It's not easy.
It's really, really not easy. At all.
I hear/see writers complain the most about beginnings. These are usually writers that have not gotten to the end of their first novel yet. THE FINAL ACT IS THE HARDEST TO PULL OFF.
Period.
You can have the most awesome/creative/engaging story ever written up until that "all is lost" moment, and then make it WORTHLESS if you don't present that final act in a satisfying/awe-inspiring/gut-wrenching/I-can't-put-this-book-down-until-there-are-no-more-pages-left-to-read kind of way.
At least, that's the way I see it.
I haven't officially hit the "all is lost" moment (although, I will admit, I've written a portion of it already and set it aside... explanation: this is one of the most important parts of any story, and I almost always know what it involves before I even start writing the first pages, so it is not unusual for me to have written actual pieces of it long before getting to that point in the story-writing process, even though I know that by the time I do, some of the details will inevitably have to change), but I'm very, very close. And I'm somewhat terrified to write the next couple chapters because I have this fear that I missed something really important that needed to be brought out first.
But still, I soldier on. I have to. I can see why some people get to this point and give up, due to that unexplainable fear. But I refuse to.
After all, this is only the first draft. I've got at least two more drafts to get through before this thing will be close to ready.
So today, I'm trying to "just write" the story, knowing that my later revisions will make it tighter and more structured, so I shouldn't be worrying so much about it yet. As Libby Fischer Hellman said in her interview with Writer Unboxed: "The first draft doesn't have to be good. It just has to be written."
Well said. I guess I should get to writing now.
~Lydia
APOLOGIES TO ANYONE THAT DID NOT RECEIVE THIS FEED IN A TIMELY MANNER. WE SEEM TO BE HAVING FEEDBURNER/ GOOGLE ISSUES. AGAIN.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Breaking News!
I just LOVE it when my neighbor across the hall is all nice and likes to share his second-hand weed smoke with the rest of the building! I am currently enjoying a dizzying amalgamation of floating stars and daisies, and it tooks me five tries to types this correctly.
If only I were kidding! I love exclamation points! Don't YOU?!
My son does not seemed phased by this at all. In fact, he announced to the entire building while we were in the communal laundry room that this place "stinks like a GIANT STINKY STINKY BUG!" And I can't disagree. IT TOTALLY DOES!
I wish I could just tell the effer to get out of my house and go home, but HE'S ALREADY THERE!
F! DOUBLE F! WTF!
IT'S NOON ON A TUESDAY DUDE GET A LIFE!
And what's even worse is that he has three kids, two of which are mere toddlers, and all three of which are losing precious brain cells by the second. AS. AM. I.
Seriously. Someone needs to offer me a six-figure advance STAT! So I can get out of this place! Although I like the feeling of floating on my ceiling while blogging, it's a bit too far to the floor and it's a lot scary!
Exclamation points RULEZ!
~Lydia, who shall return to her normal self once the air clears
If only I were kidding! I love exclamation points! Don't YOU?!
My son does not seemed phased by this at all. In fact, he announced to the entire building while we were in the communal laundry room that this place "stinks like a GIANT STINKY STINKY BUG!" And I can't disagree. IT TOTALLY DOES!
I wish I could just tell the effer to get out of my house and go home, but HE'S ALREADY THERE!
F! DOUBLE F! WTF!
IT'S NOON ON A TUESDAY DUDE GET A LIFE!
And what's even worse is that he has three kids, two of which are mere toddlers, and all three of which are losing precious brain cells by the second. AS. AM. I.
Seriously. Someone needs to offer me a six-figure advance STAT! So I can get out of this place! Although I like the feeling of floating on my ceiling while blogging, it's a bit too far to the floor and it's a lot scary!
Exclamation points RULEZ!
~Lydia, who shall return to her normal self once the air clears
Tuesday Tunes - Theme Songs
Doing something a little different today. Whenever I write a new novel (yes, I have several in the works), I inevitably, at some point before the first draft is complete, come up with theme songs. There is a theme song for the story as a whole. A theme song for individual scenes (sometimes). And always a theme song for the main characters.
You all know what I'm talking about, but you don't have to publicly admit it if you don't want to. I understand. And I know you do it. We all do. Just saying.
But every so often, a MINOR character comes along that is so potent that h/she deserves their own theme song as well.
In my first-ever novel, Web: Book One of the Cricket Trilogy (a sci-fi), there is a huge cast of characters, but I only view three of them as the MAIN characters. There is one minor character, though, that I would call a MAIN-MINOR character, if that makes sense. He has an extensive backstory, frontstory, and a definite multi-faceted personality.
He is also one of the characters I put through as much hell as I possibly could. I love him, but I had to do it for the story. And because of that, I have an eternal empathy for him (or perhaps that is better termed "guilt"... I feel guilty for what I did to him. haha), and he has a special place in my heart. The part that houses all my characters who have ever existed in my head. He is currently lounging there until I start the second book, trying not to worry too much about what lies ahead.
Since Web is meant to be the first of a trilogy, and possibly a series, I have had thoughts of killing off this character in future novels, but to be honest, I just don't think I can do it. I've tortured the poor guy enough, and he (although he doesn't know it yet, shhh...) is going to go through as much hell, if not more, in Venom: Book Two of the Cricket Trilogy, which is currently still in the plotting phase until I'm officially done with revisions on Web.
Anyway, what's my point? Getting there. Promise.
I knew the theme song for this character as soon as I heard it. Everything about the music, mood, theme, lyrics... everything fit this poor character that I'd so heartlessly tortured through the pages of my book. And it not only fit his frontstory in the book, but also his backstory that isn't completely detailed (aka, only the author knows certain things--that would be me), and things about his future that, again, only I know about.
When you have that moment of clarity--when you hear the perfect song and you just KNOW it's perfect--it invokes an emotion that I honestly can't describe. I'd love to go on and on and on about why this song is perfect for my made up character (Jonathan Pastra, Doctor of Interspecies Medicine, in Web: Book One of the Cricket Trilogy), but I won't. Or we'll be here all day.
So here is Jonathan's theme song: Serenity by Godsmack.
If you're worried because it's a Godsmack song, let me assure you, this one is CLEAN. I would post a warning if there was something to warn you about. But there isn't.
Please share some of your theme songs, whether for individual characters or whole stories, and provide a link, if you can.
~Lydia
You all know what I'm talking about, but you don't have to publicly admit it if you don't want to. I understand. And I know you do it. We all do. Just saying.
But every so often, a MINOR character comes along that is so potent that h/she deserves their own theme song as well.
In my first-ever novel, Web: Book One of the Cricket Trilogy (a sci-fi), there is a huge cast of characters, but I only view three of them as the MAIN characters. There is one minor character, though, that I would call a MAIN-MINOR character, if that makes sense. He has an extensive backstory, frontstory, and a definite multi-faceted personality.
He is also one of the characters I put through as much hell as I possibly could. I love him, but I had to do it for the story. And because of that, I have an eternal empathy for him (or perhaps that is better termed "guilt"... I feel guilty for what I did to him. haha), and he has a special place in my heart. The part that houses all my characters who have ever existed in my head. He is currently lounging there until I start the second book, trying not to worry too much about what lies ahead.
Since Web is meant to be the first of a trilogy, and possibly a series, I have had thoughts of killing off this character in future novels, but to be honest, I just don't think I can do it. I've tortured the poor guy enough, and he (although he doesn't know it yet, shhh...) is going to go through as much hell, if not more, in Venom: Book Two of the Cricket Trilogy, which is currently still in the plotting phase until I'm officially done with revisions on Web.
Anyway, what's my point? Getting there. Promise.
I knew the theme song for this character as soon as I heard it. Everything about the music, mood, theme, lyrics... everything fit this poor character that I'd so heartlessly tortured through the pages of my book. And it not only fit his frontstory in the book, but also his backstory that isn't completely detailed (aka, only the author knows certain things--that would be me), and things about his future that, again, only I know about.
When you have that moment of clarity--when you hear the perfect song and you just KNOW it's perfect--it invokes an emotion that I honestly can't describe. I'd love to go on and on and on about why this song is perfect for my made up character (Jonathan Pastra, Doctor of Interspecies Medicine, in Web: Book One of the Cricket Trilogy), but I won't. Or we'll be here all day.
So here is Jonathan's theme song: Serenity by Godsmack.
If you're worried because it's a Godsmack song, let me assure you, this one is CLEAN. I would post a warning if there was something to warn you about. But there isn't.
Please share some of your theme songs, whether for individual characters or whole stories, and provide a link, if you can.
~Lydia
Monday, May 17, 2010
Book Review: Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron
Loved. This. Book.
Click here for my review, then go read the book. Seriously. You won't be disappointed.
~Lydia
BONUS MOVIE REVIEW!
We rented Monsters vs. Aliens last night, and it was awesome. Hilarious. It took a bit of warming up to in the beginning, but once it got going... just, wow. If you're not sold on it from the trailer (or this extremely brief recommendation), do what we did and rent it from redbox for a buck. But honestly, I think you'll love it.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday Special: The Magic of the Internet and Why It's Nice to Have Friends in SF Circles
Every so often, I Google myself.
When I started writing my first SF novel two years ago, I would have never imagined that today I'd be getting such a vast amount of publicity from guest blogging. I'd wanted that novel to be in print by now, but, such is life, the darn thing is still under revision, and currently shelved in favor of more productive projects. Just need a break, that's all. Not giving up on it. Honest.
Back in December 2009, I had my first-ever guest post on a blog, Pimp My Novel. The post itself received many positive comments, and a few weeks after we went "live", I searched the intrawebs and blogs and was ASTOUNDED by how many people had linked me up... and they were praising me.
And not only that, but the article was linked into lists with people that I honestly don't feel worthy of being listed with. For example, SF Signal (which has over 7500 subscribed readers) listed me in a post along with Neil Gaiman, James Cameron, Rachelle Gardner, Janice Hardy, and an article from Asimov's.
No, really. I wouldn't lie to you.
And that wasn't even the half of it. The internet/blog response to that article was staggering. Humbled does not even begin to describe what I felt.
And I've been humbled again. I recently Googled myself (I try not to do it too often but sometimes I just can't fight the urge) and found that my recent guest post on Janice Hardy's blog has been linked up just as much, if not more than, my PMN post.
What?!
You all are too kind. And again, I'm finding most of the praise is in writerly circles and well-established SF websites, like SF Signal. I'm also getting tweeted left and right, which amazes me, because I'm not a twitter. Tweeter. Twit? I'll never figure that one out.
And this is where I take an aside to personally thank Christina Katz for tweeting my Prosperous Writer posts every week. You're the best. :)
For my article on Janice's blog, I, again, ended up in a lot of link lists with literary professionals, such as Nathan Bransford, Mike Resnick, Alan Rinzler, Juliette Wade, and in company with updates on publishers like Penguin and Tor.
I'm being completely honest when I say this: I do not feel worthy of that. Maybe I never will, no matter where this writing career of mine takes me. In my mind, I'm still this shy little Midwestern girl who finds joy in sharing the stories in her head, but doesn't believe anyone will listen or care. And I don't blog or write guest posts for the publicity alone, because I never imagined-- or expected-- the amount of attention my stuff has received, especially in the SF circles.
In addition to that, I'm still receiving spotlighted praise in book reviews for the Shadows & Light anthology, which also amazes me, because the short story in that anthology was one of the first I'd ever written for publication, and I didn't think it was all that great in comparison to some of my later works. Just being honest. But, obviously, it is not my opinion that counts. Haha.
My guest post on Christi Corbett's blog was also well-received, and I really can't wait to see what happens when my first article for Writer Unboxed is unveiled on June 30.
All of this, and I don't even have an agent yet, let alone, a published novel. Don't believe anyone who says that the blogosphere can't work for you. I'm living proof that it can. Just saying.
Thank you to everyone who has linked my articles! Seriously. YOU GUYS ROCK. I feel very privileged to be an author right now. At a time when word of mouth through the internet can make or break you, I am eternally indebted to all of you. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!
~Lydia
When I started writing my first SF novel two years ago, I would have never imagined that today I'd be getting such a vast amount of publicity from guest blogging. I'd wanted that novel to be in print by now, but, such is life, the darn thing is still under revision, and currently shelved in favor of more productive projects. Just need a break, that's all. Not giving up on it. Honest.
Back in December 2009, I had my first-ever guest post on a blog, Pimp My Novel. The post itself received many positive comments, and a few weeks after we went "live", I searched the intrawebs and blogs and was ASTOUNDED by how many people had linked me up... and they were praising me.
And not only that, but the article was linked into lists with people that I honestly don't feel worthy of being listed with. For example, SF Signal (which has over 7500 subscribed readers) listed me in a post along with Neil Gaiman, James Cameron, Rachelle Gardner, Janice Hardy, and an article from Asimov's.
No, really. I wouldn't lie to you.
And that wasn't even the half of it. The internet/blog response to that article was staggering. Humbled does not even begin to describe what I felt.
And I've been humbled again. I recently Googled myself (I try not to do it too often but sometimes I just can't fight the urge) and found that my recent guest post on Janice Hardy's blog has been linked up just as much, if not more than, my PMN post.
What?!
You all are too kind. And again, I'm finding most of the praise is in writerly circles and well-established SF websites, like SF Signal. I'm also getting tweeted left and right, which amazes me, because I'm not a twitter. Tweeter. Twit? I'll never figure that one out.
And this is where I take an aside to personally thank Christina Katz for tweeting my Prosperous Writer posts every week. You're the best. :)
For my article on Janice's blog, I, again, ended up in a lot of link lists with literary professionals, such as Nathan Bransford, Mike Resnick, Alan Rinzler, Juliette Wade, and in company with updates on publishers like Penguin and Tor.
I'm being completely honest when I say this: I do not feel worthy of that. Maybe I never will, no matter where this writing career of mine takes me. In my mind, I'm still this shy little Midwestern girl who finds joy in sharing the stories in her head, but doesn't believe anyone will listen or care. And I don't blog or write guest posts for the publicity alone, because I never imagined-- or expected-- the amount of attention my stuff has received, especially in the SF circles.
In addition to that, I'm still receiving spotlighted praise in book reviews for the Shadows & Light anthology, which also amazes me, because the short story in that anthology was one of the first I'd ever written for publication, and I didn't think it was all that great in comparison to some of my later works. Just being honest. But, obviously, it is not my opinion that counts. Haha.
My guest post on Christi Corbett's blog was also well-received, and I really can't wait to see what happens when my first article for Writer Unboxed is unveiled on June 30.
All of this, and I don't even have an agent yet, let alone, a published novel. Don't believe anyone who says that the blogosphere can't work for you. I'm living proof that it can. Just saying.
Thank you to everyone who has linked my articles! Seriously. YOU GUYS ROCK. I feel very privileged to be an author right now. At a time when word of mouth through the internet can make or break you, I am eternally indebted to all of you. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!
~Lydia
Friday, May 14, 2010
Insert Witty Post Title Here, aka It's Friday and I Used Up All My Brain Cells On the Actual Post
I was more serious than usual in yesterday's post so today I need to relax a bit. One of the books I'm currently reading (yes, I read multiple books at a time because, apparently, I have to multi-task with just about everything I do in life... I've come to accept this as a part of my genetic make-up and have long since stopped trying to fight it)... um, where was I?
Oh dear.
Has anyone ever noticed how I tend to get heavy in the parenthetical asides sometimes? Or maybe, ALL the time? Haha. If you ever get to meet me in person, you'll see that I've somehow managed to incorporate that into my speech as well. I am forever making these big long "asides" and forgetting what I was talking about. Now, seriously... where was I?
Oh yeah. I'm reading this book called Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron. It is young adult fiction, but the beauty of YA is that much of it can also be enjoyed by adults. That is especially so when the viewpoint character is very "adult" for his age, as is the case with James in this book.
I'll do an official review of the book later, but I had to share this today. I was reading through a good portion of it last night (about a hundred pages in one sitting), and it got me thinking: I don't think I've ever laughed out loud so much and also almost cried so much as I have while reading this book.
It's that good.
There was one point that I was laughing so hard I had to take a few minutes to get it out of my system before I could continue reading. And just a few pages before that, I had read something that just made my heart stop and I'd gasped so loudly that Joe asked me what was wrong.
When I told him, this is how it started out (and I just realized that I'd said I wasn't going to be serious, but now, here I am, about to get all serious and give writing advice when this is supposed to be my "fun" day *sigh*):
There is something to be said for clear prose that simply states how things are and what is happening, and then depicts how those things affect the viewpoint character without getting all deep and emotive and employing excess wordage for the sake of "showing and not telling."
(Crap. Did I really just go there? Yes. Yes, I did.)
Continuing my speech to Joe last night, who was only half-listening as he played Xbox:
Readers are not stupid. They don't need their hands held through every emotion the character feels, and they don't need things to be explained all the time. I don't think this book has explained a single thing, in that sense, and I still get it. The last paragraph I read was this:
How much more clear and to the point can you get? The final sentence in that paragraph completely ripped my heart out, and it was ALL telling. Every word of it. And this is making me lose faith in all the supposedly "professional" advice out there for writers because the things that are getting the largest reactions out of me, as a reader, are as simple as that paragraph I just read.
Joe nodded. "Mm hmm."
I then allowed him to go back to shooting aliens, and I continued reading.
The point? Yes, I'm getting to it now. I feel I was educated through a fairly good school system, and yet, I don't remember having any required reading in the later years of high school. We had optional summer reading programs, which of course, no one ever did. Not even me, and I was a nerd. Why aren't books like this--clear, young adult fiction that touches on the more serious matters of teenage life, or perhaps some other viewpoint that teens in that particular society are not exposed to--part of a required reading for, at the very least, seniors in high school? Why are they only shown the "classics", when the more recent YA (not talking about Twilight, obvs) is more relevant to their current life situation?
I would call books like this one literary fiction for teens, and I think making it a part of their senior English course would be extremely beneficial. The majority of teens don't like reading because they probably don't know about books like this. They are bombarded with sparkly vampires and Shakespeare, and don't realize there is other stuff out there that could very well discuss something deeply personal that they're dealing with, such as experiencing something so troubling that it makes you not want to be alive. That is not a small thing, and it's also not something that a person is likely going to openly talk about with anyone.
So this is what happens when I have to be at work at 10 on a Friday instead of 8. Haha. I honestly didn't think I was going to post much more than "I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK". Whatevs.
Have a great weekend, everyone! Happy reading!
~Lydia
Oh dear.
Has anyone ever noticed how I tend to get heavy in the parenthetical asides sometimes? Or maybe, ALL the time? Haha. If you ever get to meet me in person, you'll see that I've somehow managed to incorporate that into my speech as well. I am forever making these big long "asides" and forgetting what I was talking about. Now, seriously... where was I?
Oh yeah. I'm reading this book called Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron. It is young adult fiction, but the beauty of YA is that much of it can also be enjoyed by adults. That is especially so when the viewpoint character is very "adult" for his age, as is the case with James in this book.
I'll do an official review of the book later, but I had to share this today. I was reading through a good portion of it last night (about a hundred pages in one sitting), and it got me thinking: I don't think I've ever laughed out loud so much and also almost cried so much as I have while reading this book.
It's that good.
There was one point that I was laughing so hard I had to take a few minutes to get it out of my system before I could continue reading. And just a few pages before that, I had read something that just made my heart stop and I'd gasped so loudly that Joe asked me what was wrong.
When I told him, this is how it started out (and I just realized that I'd said I wasn't going to be serious, but now, here I am, about to get all serious and give writing advice when this is supposed to be my "fun" day *sigh*):
There is something to be said for clear prose that simply states how things are and what is happening, and then depicts how those things affect the viewpoint character without getting all deep and emotive and employing excess wordage for the sake of "showing and not telling."
(Crap. Did I really just go there? Yes. Yes, I did.)
Continuing my speech to Joe last night, who was only half-listening as he played Xbox:
Readers are not stupid. They don't need their hands held through every emotion the character feels, and they don't need things to be explained all the time. I don't think this book has explained a single thing, in that sense, and I still get it. The last paragraph I read was this:
It was a troubling thing to feel, and it made me sad. It made me cry in the men's room of the Russell Senate Office Building. It made me not want to be alive. (p. 108)
How much more clear and to the point can you get? The final sentence in that paragraph completely ripped my heart out, and it was ALL telling. Every word of it. And this is making me lose faith in all the supposedly "professional" advice out there for writers because the things that are getting the largest reactions out of me, as a reader, are as simple as that paragraph I just read.
Joe nodded. "Mm hmm."
I then allowed him to go back to shooting aliens, and I continued reading.
The point? Yes, I'm getting to it now. I feel I was educated through a fairly good school system, and yet, I don't remember having any required reading in the later years of high school. We had optional summer reading programs, which of course, no one ever did. Not even me, and I was a nerd. Why aren't books like this--clear, young adult fiction that touches on the more serious matters of teenage life, or perhaps some other viewpoint that teens in that particular society are not exposed to--part of a required reading for, at the very least, seniors in high school? Why are they only shown the "classics", when the more recent YA (not talking about Twilight, obvs) is more relevant to their current life situation?
I would call books like this one literary fiction for teens, and I think making it a part of their senior English course would be extremely beneficial. The majority of teens don't like reading because they probably don't know about books like this. They are bombarded with sparkly vampires and Shakespeare, and don't realize there is other stuff out there that could very well discuss something deeply personal that they're dealing with, such as experiencing something so troubling that it makes you not want to be alive. That is not a small thing, and it's also not something that a person is likely going to openly talk about with anyone.
So this is what happens when I have to be at work at 10 on a Friday instead of 8. Haha. I honestly didn't think I was going to post much more than "I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK". Whatevs.
Have a great weekend, everyone! Happy reading!
~Lydia
Thursday, May 13, 2010
52 Qualities of the Prosperous Writer: Number Nineteen, Strong Boundaries
This post is part of a weekly series (that I, apparently, forgot to participate in last week, shame on me) in association with Christina Katz's ezine, The Prosperous Writer.
---
I'm feeling very informal today (still in my pajamas, haven't eaten, haven't showered, don't care) and this may affect the nature of my post. You've been warned.
When I first read the new article of Christina's ezine, I had no idea where she was going with the "strong boundaries" theme, but by the time I finished, I was laughing. Laughing? Yes, laughing, because her points hit me dead-center. Bullseye.
I went on a rant not too long ago (yes, on this very blog! for shame!), and in that rant, while I didn't mention anyone specifically by name, I was quite ticked off about the practices of certain someones in writerly circles. And it all boils down to this:
Why do we blog?
(I'm focusing on blogs because that's what I do. I don't do facebook, and I don't twit. Tweet. Whatever.)
Most of us here write fiction, and we've been told that we need a platform whether we write fiction or nonfiction, but I'm sure, if asked, 90% of you wouldn't be able to state why you need that platform.
Is blogging a social network? Yes and no. Do we blog to get our name out there? Yes and no. Is a blog a good venue for presenting your specific brand? Yes... but, um... what's a brand? Sorry, we're not discussing that today. Ask me again later.
What I do want to discuss is what Christina called cronyism. I read that and thought, Is that a real word? So I looked it up.
cronyism - practice of favoring one's close friends
Hmm... really? How very iiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting.
How many of us join blogs for the sake of getting that person to join YOUR blog? Fess up. Seriously. I did this in the beginning, too, and it's easy to fall into that habit because when you're just starting out, all you seem to focus on are the numbers.
What numbers, you ask? Your follower count, your hit count, your comment count. Also known as, the trifecta of self-centered blogging.
Okay, I need to make an aside here before I get put in the e-stocks by all my wonderful readers (love you guys, honest!). Those three things do have their place and are important. For the most part, they show you how much interest is being taken in you and your work and what you have to say about things. I'm not trying to downplay that fact.
It becomes a problem, however, when that is ALL you care about. And anytime you get tunnel-vision like that, it makes you do BATSHIT CRAZY things. Not in a good way, either. You start rallying people to your blog through... I guess you can do that through facebook or tweetums or whatever other places you like to hang out instead of working on your writing projects.
Telling people about your blog is fine. I link up mine whenever and wherever I can. But I don't whore it out. There's a difference.
I want people to come here because they are interested in what I have to say about writing and the industry. Sometimes I'm helpful. Sometimes I'm a bitch. Most of the time, I'm polite (not today, obvs). But when you start employing cronyism, saying, "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine" AND THEN rely solely on that weak foundation to get you through...
Sorry. Not gonna work. And I've seen more blogs get the axe because the blogger got used to these huge jumps in their follower count and comment counts, and then it eventually fazed out when their fair-weather blogging friends found greener pastures, or they themselves were just following too many blogs to keep up... so their comments on other blogs were reduced, and the whole "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine" philosophy goes down the toilet.
It does. Trust me. People who do things for other people based solely on the idea that they will get something in return, DO NOT SUCCEED IN THE LONG RUN.
So then, where are your boundaries? Why DO you do things for others? How about... because you WANT to. Fake sincerity is more transparent than glass, and a steady stream of truly sincere associates is a stronger foundation than a rush of plastic grins and presumptuous handshakes.
Example (I'll do my best not to mention this person by name, even though she deserves to be mentioned by name because she is one the greatest people I've ever met):
When I first started writing women's fiction, I began researching agents. I found an awesome agent on the GLA blog. She was on there, not once, but twice, talking about two of her clients. Both of those clients (one a best-selling author) are the kind of people I could see myself being friends with, were we not living three states apart. The agent, too, gave me a very good overall impression.
I read both of the clients' books. Loved them. Reviewed them (ooh, there's a hint, if you follow my book reviews). Told the individual authors that I loved their books IN ALL SINCERITY, aka I wasn't expecting anything in return by doing this, namely, I could see someone trying to get a referral to their agent in this way. No. I would never presume to do that.
Not too long after this, I joined the Writer's Digest Community and started a women's fiction group. I did a quick search for the two authors above, and one of them was a member. I said "hey, how are you? would you like to join my group because I think you would be helpful to aspiring writers." She joined, because she wanted to. Then I spotlighted her and her work a few times on this blog, because I wanted to.
Then... nothing but an email here and there for a while. And that's the important thing, if you're following this story correctly.
This author also happens to run an award-wining genre-writer's website/blog (another HUGE hint), and had an open slot available for a contributor. Of course I was interested BECAUSE I WANTED TO DO IT, not because of who was running it, BUT the fact that she was running it made it all the more exciting for me. (are you getting my drift yet?)
I made my submissions like everyone else. No suck-ups. No fake... anything. I did not expect any favors just because I kinda sorta had a connection with this person through email. And I certainly didn't expect to win the position because of that either.
And I didn't win.
And that has in no way affected my view of this person in a negative way. She's still awesome, and kind, and generous, and someone I look up to as a writer.
If I'd been a cronyist (not a real word, haha) the whole thing would have gone very, very differently, and I would have used my "not winning" as a reason to cut off all connections with this person, saying, "But I did all that promotion for you, and THIS is what I get in return?"
No, that's not how it works. I didn't get the position because I wasn't right for the position, or because I didn't give it my best. I could've done better. It's not about what she can do for me, it's about what I can, and should, do for me.
That's not being selfish. It's called taking responsibility for your own path, and when you resort to cronyism, you're relying on others to do the work for you, when you don't, in truth, deserve it. Cronyism is not a healthy boundary, and I feel like I'm surrounded by it in the blogosphere lately.
And skipping breakfast isn't healthy either, as my tummy is so clearly reminding me.
~Lydia
---
I'm feeling very informal today (still in my pajamas, haven't eaten, haven't showered, don't care) and this may affect the nature of my post. You've been warned.
When I first read the new article of Christina's ezine, I had no idea where she was going with the "strong boundaries" theme, but by the time I finished, I was laughing. Laughing? Yes, laughing, because her points hit me dead-center. Bullseye.
I went on a rant not too long ago (yes, on this very blog! for shame!), and in that rant, while I didn't mention anyone specifically by name, I was quite ticked off about the practices of certain someones in writerly circles. And it all boils down to this:
Why do we blog?
(I'm focusing on blogs because that's what I do. I don't do facebook, and I don't twit. Tweet. Whatever.)
Most of us here write fiction, and we've been told that we need a platform whether we write fiction or nonfiction, but I'm sure, if asked, 90% of you wouldn't be able to state why you need that platform.
Is blogging a social network? Yes and no. Do we blog to get our name out there? Yes and no. Is a blog a good venue for presenting your specific brand? Yes... but, um... what's a brand? Sorry, we're not discussing that today. Ask me again later.
What I do want to discuss is what Christina called cronyism. I read that and thought, Is that a real word? So I looked it up.
cronyism - practice of favoring one's close friends
Hmm... really? How very iiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting.
How many of us join blogs for the sake of getting that person to join YOUR blog? Fess up. Seriously. I did this in the beginning, too, and it's easy to fall into that habit because when you're just starting out, all you seem to focus on are the numbers.
What numbers, you ask? Your follower count, your hit count, your comment count. Also known as, the trifecta of self-centered blogging.
Okay, I need to make an aside here before I get put in the e-stocks by all my wonderful readers (love you guys, honest!). Those three things do have their place and are important. For the most part, they show you how much interest is being taken in you and your work and what you have to say about things. I'm not trying to downplay that fact.
It becomes a problem, however, when that is ALL you care about. And anytime you get tunnel-vision like that, it makes you do BATSHIT CRAZY things. Not in a good way, either. You start rallying people to your blog through... I guess you can do that through facebook or tweetums or whatever other places you like to hang out instead of working on your writing projects.
Telling people about your blog is fine. I link up mine whenever and wherever I can. But I don't whore it out. There's a difference.
I want people to come here because they are interested in what I have to say about writing and the industry. Sometimes I'm helpful. Sometimes I'm a bitch. Most of the time, I'm polite (not today, obvs). But when you start employing cronyism, saying, "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine" AND THEN rely solely on that weak foundation to get you through...
Sorry. Not gonna work. And I've seen more blogs get the axe because the blogger got used to these huge jumps in their follower count and comment counts, and then it eventually fazed out when their fair-weather blogging friends found greener pastures, or they themselves were just following too many blogs to keep up... so their comments on other blogs were reduced, and the whole "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine" philosophy goes down the toilet.
It does. Trust me. People who do things for other people based solely on the idea that they will get something in return, DO NOT SUCCEED IN THE LONG RUN.
So then, where are your boundaries? Why DO you do things for others? How about... because you WANT to. Fake sincerity is more transparent than glass, and a steady stream of truly sincere associates is a stronger foundation than a rush of plastic grins and presumptuous handshakes.
Example (I'll do my best not to mention this person by name, even though she deserves to be mentioned by name because she is one the greatest people I've ever met):
When I first started writing women's fiction, I began researching agents. I found an awesome agent on the GLA blog. She was on there, not once, but twice, talking about two of her clients. Both of those clients (one a best-selling author) are the kind of people I could see myself being friends with, were we not living three states apart. The agent, too, gave me a very good overall impression.
I read both of the clients' books. Loved them. Reviewed them (ooh, there's a hint, if you follow my book reviews). Told the individual authors that I loved their books IN ALL SINCERITY, aka I wasn't expecting anything in return by doing this, namely, I could see someone trying to get a referral to their agent in this way. No. I would never presume to do that.
Not too long after this, I joined the Writer's Digest Community and started a women's fiction group. I did a quick search for the two authors above, and one of them was a member. I said "hey, how are you? would you like to join my group because I think you would be helpful to aspiring writers." She joined, because she wanted to. Then I spotlighted her and her work a few times on this blog, because I wanted to.
Then... nothing but an email here and there for a while. And that's the important thing, if you're following this story correctly.
This author also happens to run an award-wining genre-writer's website/blog (another HUGE hint), and had an open slot available for a contributor. Of course I was interested BECAUSE I WANTED TO DO IT, not because of who was running it, BUT the fact that she was running it made it all the more exciting for me. (are you getting my drift yet?)
I made my submissions like everyone else. No suck-ups. No fake... anything. I did not expect any favors just because I kinda sorta had a connection with this person through email. And I certainly didn't expect to win the position because of that either.
And I didn't win.
And that has in no way affected my view of this person in a negative way. She's still awesome, and kind, and generous, and someone I look up to as a writer.
If I'd been a cronyist (not a real word, haha) the whole thing would have gone very, very differently, and I would have used my "not winning" as a reason to cut off all connections with this person, saying, "But I did all that promotion for you, and THIS is what I get in return?"
No, that's not how it works. I didn't get the position because I wasn't right for the position, or because I didn't give it my best. I could've done better. It's not about what she can do for me, it's about what I can, and should, do for me.
That's not being selfish. It's called taking responsibility for your own path, and when you resort to cronyism, you're relying on others to do the work for you, when you don't, in truth, deserve it. Cronyism is not a healthy boundary, and I feel like I'm surrounded by it in the blogosphere lately.
And skipping breakfast isn't healthy either, as my tummy is so clearly reminding me.
~Lydia
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Guest Post on Christi Corbett's Blog
Today I'm hanging out with historical fiction author Christi Corbett, celebrating her 100th blog post! Click on over to my guest post, "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway." Hope to see you there!
In the meantime, my son and I are sharing a laugh or two (or a million) as I'm introducing him to one of my favorite stand-up routines as a kid, Bill Cosby: Himself. If you've never seen it, here's a clip to entice you. What's so great about this is, I absolutely loved it when I was younger, and I love it even more now that I'm a parent. Enjoy!
~Lydia
In the meantime, my son and I are sharing a laugh or two (or a million) as I'm introducing him to one of my favorite stand-up routines as a kid, Bill Cosby: Himself. If you've never seen it, here's a clip to entice you. What's so great about this is, I absolutely loved it when I was younger, and I love it even more now that I'm a parent. Enjoy!
~Lydia
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Tuesday Tunes - Music To Write By
Never underestimate the power of the basic human need to be with another person. To not be alone. To know that the person you love is miles away and every ounce of your being channels into a singular purpose: getting you to them, no matter what dangers you encounter along the way, no matter what the cost.
There are countless stories that use that very thing as the main drive, and it grips us every time, doesn't it? We root for people who want the simple things: love, survival, peace, etc. Because that is something all of us have in common, the same basic needs. So it's no surprise that there are also countless songs that touch on the same thing.
I could hammer out a complete short story in the next hour just based on the emotion portrayed in this song. But I won't (got too many other things to spend that hour on). I'll simply embed it here for you to enjoy, and perhaps create your own story with it, or a new character for a story already in progress, or a new subplot that you didn't know you needed until just now when you heard this.
Powerful stuff here. You've been warned. ;)
~Lydia
There are countless stories that use that very thing as the main drive, and it grips us every time, doesn't it? We root for people who want the simple things: love, survival, peace, etc. Because that is something all of us have in common, the same basic needs. So it's no surprise that there are also countless songs that touch on the same thing.
I could hammer out a complete short story in the next hour just based on the emotion portrayed in this song. But I won't (got too many other things to spend that hour on). I'll simply embed it here for you to enjoy, and perhaps create your own story with it, or a new character for a story already in progress, or a new subplot that you didn't know you needed until just now when you heard this.
Powerful stuff here. You've been warned. ;)
~Lydia
Monday, May 10, 2010
Guest Blogger Christina Katz, Prospering in the Gig Economy: Simple Habits for Writers That Pay Off Quickly
Please welcome fellow writer and e-friend, Christina Katz! Today she will be discussing something that interests all of us, whether we want to admit it or not: making money as a writer. Take it away, Christina!
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Prospering in the Gig Economy: Simple Habits for Writers That Pay Off Quickly
By Christina Katz
Money is what writers earn for their time and energy. Furthermore, writing careers are built over time not overnight. So don't put your career in jeopardy by paying attention to everything else at the expense of your bottom line.
Here are nine prosperity-increasing tips that can quickly become habit and put more money in the bank for the same number of hours you already work or maybe even less:
1. Make a list of paid work vs. unpaid work, if you don't have one already and update it monthly. Add to-dos like upcoming deadlines and prep for future efforts, to make sure you don't have to scramble later.
2. Prioritize the work you do that is paid over the work you do that is unpaid. This doesn't mean the unpaid work is not important or doesn't need to get done. It simply means that you will get the paid work done first and then tackle the unpaid work.
3. Spend time with other writers who make money writing. If they are too busy (making money) to spend time with you, sign up for their newsletters, read their blogs or connect with them via social networking whenever possible. When contacting successful writers, keep your expectations realistic. There's a reason they make the big bucks and it's not because they are just hanging out all day. When you are working, whether online or off, be aware of folks who drain your energy or co-opt your time. You simply don't have time for those people when you are supposed to be working.
4. Don't confuse "nice" people with profitable people. Let's say one writer invests all of his time trying to make sure everyone knows what a great guy he is, while another writer invests his time landing assignments, delivering on deadlines, and landing the next gig. Who is the more successful writer? I'd say it's the more productive writer (the second example). And he's the one I'd be more likely to trust, as well. So go ahead, broadcast your success!
5. Tackle the types of assignments that pay directly. Forget about any kind of writing job you "might" get paid for. Also don't count writing you do for exposure as "paid." And when someone offers you vague future money for today's actual work, take twice as much time to carefully consider the offer. Why not just take on the sure-thing assignments, which are the projects that pay you directly for your work? If you keep things simple, you are more likely to prosper in both the short run and the long run.
6. Spend the most time doing whatever you do best even if that means doing a few different things. For example, I don't only write because if I only wrote all day, I'd soon be bored out of my mind, no matter how interesting the topics were that I was writing on. A restless person like me needs to do a variety of things. So I also teach and speak and the three efforts feed each other and increase my overall value as a writer.
7. However, don't spread yourself too thin. I do a lot of different things but I've noticed that I can only do so many things before I hit overload, especially since I am a busy mom and wife, as well as a working professional. This overload point is going to be different for everyone and can change with your life circumstances, so adjust your expectations accordingly. You want to do everything you do well, not just scrape by.
8. Capture all of your business expense receipts as the year ticks along so that you can benefit from every deduction available to you when you pay your taxes. I am not the queen of filing things, so I just get a big basket and toss all my receipts in there until I'm ready to sort and report. If you need a primer on the specifics of what you can and can't expense, pick up the March/April issue of Writer's Digest magazine and check out the article, "Taxpertise For Writers" by Bonnie Lee. In fact, the theme of the issue is, "Your Economic Survival Guide," so why not read the whole thing?
9. Be timely. Seek and adopt the simplest systems to help you meet your deadlines, pay your bills, get your taxes submitted, etc. It doesn't matter which system you use. What matters more is that you make good use of the systems that work best for you and switch when one method stops working for you.
I bet you want to spend as little of your time as possible being inefficient, so that you can get back to writing. So keep things simple: write, earn and prosper. An efficient writer is a profitable writer.
And now if you'll excuse me, I have some writing deadlines to meet.
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Christina Katz is the author of Get Known Before the Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform and Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids for Writer’s Digest Books, and the e-book, Author Mama: How I Became a Published Author and How You Can Too. She has written hundreds of articles for national, regional, and online publications, presents at literary and publishing events around the country, and is a monthly columnist for the Willamette Writer. Katz publishes a weekly e-zine, The Prosperous Writer, and hosts The Northwest Author Series. She holds an MFA in writing from Columbia College Chicago and a BA from Dartmouth College. A “gentle taskmaster” to her hundred or so students each year, Katz channels over a decade of professional writing experience into success strategies that help writers get on track and get published.
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Thanks so much for joining us today, Christina!
~Lydia
Book Review: Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
Yay! I finally read a book good enough to finish! Review is HERE. Has anyone else read this, or anything else by Sarah Dessen? I'd like to know your thoughts.
~Lydia
Sunday, May 9, 2010
In Memory Of...
...baby #2 (2009) and baby #3 (2010).
Just because you never got to see the world and the world never got to see you, doesn't mean you never existed. We will remember you always.
Love,
Your Mama, Daddy, and Big Brother
Just because you never got to see the world and the world never got to see you, doesn't mean you never existed. We will remember you always.
Love,
Your Mama, Daddy, and Big Brother
Friday, May 7, 2010
A Different Point of View
I've seen this topic popping up on forums and blogs a lot recently, so I thought I'd clarify some things/present my opinions on the matter.
1) Third person limited multiple viewpoint means the story is written in third person limited with multiple viewpoint characters throughout, usually "switching heads" at a scene break or chapter break.
2) Head-hopping means switching character viewpoints mid-scene. Personally, I hate this. There is a difference between third person limited and omniscient, and most new writers who claim to be writing in omniscient are actually writing in SLOPPY third person limited.
3) Omniscient... I'm not going there. I've never enjoyed it as a reader, and I have never attempted it as a writer.
4) Point-of-view can be changed in a novel, and so can tense, IF you know what you're doing.
For example, a novel can start out in first person, then switch to third person at a chapter break or a section break, without jarring the reader. I know this because I've read books that have done just that. Also, you can write in first person multiple viewpoint, which is rare, but it has been done before. And, as is often done for lengthy flashbacks or dream sequences, you can write the front story in third person limited past tense and the flashback/dream in first person present tense.
Those are just a few examples, and they've all been successfully done before.
5) Present tense is not the devil. And you don't have to write in past tense just because you're new, but most present tense written by amateurs is just... bad. I've written a few pieces in present tense, but it doesn't really work for me. For others, though, it is their preferred tense. This is fine, because the main factor that plays into your decisions on all of these things, is this:
Do what feels natural for you and the story. Period.
I've recently (as in, just yesterday) switched a novel in progress from third person to first, after getting about fifty pages into the ms. This is the second WIP I've done this for. What makes me even consider it?
Mainly (and much of this comes from previous trial and error and experience and knowing how something is supposed to "feel"), when I get to a certain point in a WIP--usually within the first 50 pages--I can tell whether it's going to work or not. The IT in question refers to a) the story itself and the structure, b) the character voice, and c) the POV and tense. The WIP in question had been a struggle through almost all of those fifty pages, so I knew something had to change. Based on what I'd been struggling with the most (in this case, I'd started it in third person between two character viewpoints, and the one, in particular, was a chore to write, every time) the first thing I changed was the POV.
And for this novel, switching it to a single first person viewpoint was all I had to do to breathe new life into it. The story feels like it can really start now.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with switching POV, or tense? What is your preferred way of writing? What odd match-ups in POV and tense have you seen in a novel that did or did not work?
~Lydia
1) Third person limited multiple viewpoint means the story is written in third person limited with multiple viewpoint characters throughout, usually "switching heads" at a scene break or chapter break.
2) Head-hopping means switching character viewpoints mid-scene. Personally, I hate this. There is a difference between third person limited and omniscient, and most new writers who claim to be writing in omniscient are actually writing in SLOPPY third person limited.
3) Omniscient... I'm not going there. I've never enjoyed it as a reader, and I have never attempted it as a writer.
4) Point-of-view can be changed in a novel, and so can tense, IF you know what you're doing.
For example, a novel can start out in first person, then switch to third person at a chapter break or a section break, without jarring the reader. I know this because I've read books that have done just that. Also, you can write in first person multiple viewpoint, which is rare, but it has been done before. And, as is often done for lengthy flashbacks or dream sequences, you can write the front story in third person limited past tense and the flashback/dream in first person present tense.
Those are just a few examples, and they've all been successfully done before.
5) Present tense is not the devil. And you don't have to write in past tense just because you're new, but most present tense written by amateurs is just... bad. I've written a few pieces in present tense, but it doesn't really work for me. For others, though, it is their preferred tense. This is fine, because the main factor that plays into your decisions on all of these things, is this:
Do what feels natural for you and the story. Period.
I've recently (as in, just yesterday) switched a novel in progress from third person to first, after getting about fifty pages into the ms. This is the second WIP I've done this for. What makes me even consider it?
Mainly (and much of this comes from previous trial and error and experience and knowing how something is supposed to "feel"), when I get to a certain point in a WIP--usually within the first 50 pages--I can tell whether it's going to work or not. The IT in question refers to a) the story itself and the structure, b) the character voice, and c) the POV and tense. The WIP in question had been a struggle through almost all of those fifty pages, so I knew something had to change. Based on what I'd been struggling with the most (in this case, I'd started it in third person between two character viewpoints, and the one, in particular, was a chore to write, every time) the first thing I changed was the POV.
And for this novel, switching it to a single first person viewpoint was all I had to do to breathe new life into it. The story feels like it can really start now.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with switching POV, or tense? What is your preferred way of writing? What odd match-ups in POV and tense have you seen in a novel that did or did not work?
~Lydia
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