Sunday, February 07, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
This Just In...
I know, three posts in one day. Just craaaazy.
I was talking with my editor earlier and she told me she loves Shifter 2. (major happy dance of joy). She says she thinks it's even better than book one. Yippie!
Since you guys have been here while I've talked about the challenges of this book, I wanted to share my happiness and relief that it actually doesn't suck.
I was so worried. Ya'll know how much.
Whew.
Okay, go back to your regularly scheduled blog. I'm gonna go dance for joy some more.
I was talking with my editor earlier and she told me she loves Shifter 2. (major happy dance of joy). She says she thinks it's even better than book one. Yippie!
Since you guys have been here while I've talked about the challenges of this book, I wanted to share my happiness and relief that it actually doesn't suck.
I was so worried. Ya'll know how much.
Whew.
Okay, go back to your regularly scheduled blog. I'm gonna go dance for joy some more.
Guess Who Had Time to Read Her Blogs Today
I'm a big blog fan, and have probably twenty I read every day, and another dozen I check once a week (they don't post daily). It takes some time to read them all, so when I'm busy, this is often the first thing that gets set aside. Shifter 2 copy edits went out the door yesterday (YAY!) so today I've been catching up. A large percentage is about Amazon's Macmillian fiasco, but there were a few really great posts I highly recommend.
TalkToYoUniverse has a fabulous post on point and view and the words you use to create it. Juliette has the best way of talking about POV I've ever seen, and I love it when she gets into the nitty gritty. She's the only one I've ever met who can so succinctly say why one POV feels differently from another.
Agent Rachelle Gardener asks whether or not you need a book trailer, which is quite enlightening. Make sure to read the article she links to that shows a strong con view.
Mystery Writing is Murder has a delightful post about getting rid of the boring stuff your characters do. I thought about rifting off her idea and doing a post on this myself, but she says it so well it anything I did would just be redundant.
I haven't forgotten today is Wednesday (well, actually I did when I woke up. I've been thinking every day was Monday all week for some reason) and I'll have a Re-Write Wednesday post up later.
And just because I'm mean, I'm getting soooo close to be able to show you Shifter 2 cover art!
TalkToYoUniverse has a fabulous post on point and view and the words you use to create it. Juliette has the best way of talking about POV I've ever seen, and I love it when she gets into the nitty gritty. She's the only one I've ever met who can so succinctly say why one POV feels differently from another.
Agent Rachelle Gardener asks whether or not you need a book trailer, which is quite enlightening. Make sure to read the article she links to that shows a strong con view.
Mystery Writing is Murder has a delightful post about getting rid of the boring stuff your characters do. I thought about rifting off her idea and doing a post on this myself, but she says it so well it anything I did would just be redundant.
I haven't forgotten today is Wednesday (well, actually I did when I woke up. I've been thinking every day was Monday all week for some reason) and I'll have a Re-Write Wednesday post up later.
And just because I'm mean, I'm getting soooo close to be able to show you Shifter 2 cover art!
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Jump on Those Ideas
I was at the movies last week when this preview aired.
My first thought was "That's my spleen story!"
Now, I'm in no way whatsoever saying anyone stole my idea or anything, because this was a story I published sixteen years ago in a teeny magazine that didn't last long and I doubt many people even read it. It had the same "rent your body parts" premise (It was actually called Rent to Own), but was otherwise completely different. I had always planned to rewrite the story and make it edgier, but never did because the only ending I could think of was that the organ repo guy would find himself in a situation where he had his own leased organ he couldn't pay for and they'd come get him. That felt too predictable to me, so I never wrote it.
Naturally, Repo Men has that very premise. I think it'll work in a movie where it wouldn't in a short story, because movies are visual and we don't mind a little predictability there. And there might be a twist the preview doesn't show.
So what does this have to do with writing?
If you have a great idea, get up off your butts and write it.
Ideas don't exist in a vacuum. I may have thought of this premise years ago, but it's a natural evolution of our culture, where leasing things and getting over extended on credit is getting more and more common. I'm actually shocked it hasn't been done before this. It is a great idea.
If you have a great idea and you plan to "get to it eventually," don't wait too long. Someone somewhere is bound to come up with the idea as well and get there first. We're all exposed to the same things and the law of large numbers says a bunch of us will draw the same conclusions. That's why those summer blockbusters always come in pairs. Two volcano movies, two asteroid movies, two mars movies, two illusionist movies. You've all seen the trend.
Don't just talk about your great idea. Don't dream about "someday" when you'll write it. Get to that keyboard and start putting it down. Because the last thing you want to see is your idea on a movie screen before you can do it.
As for me, I can't wait to see Repo Men. Maybe it'll inspire me to finally find the right ending to my story.
My first thought was "That's my spleen story!"
Now, I'm in no way whatsoever saying anyone stole my idea or anything, because this was a story I published sixteen years ago in a teeny magazine that didn't last long and I doubt many people even read it. It had the same "rent your body parts" premise (It was actually called Rent to Own), but was otherwise completely different. I had always planned to rewrite the story and make it edgier, but never did because the only ending I could think of was that the organ repo guy would find himself in a situation where he had his own leased organ he couldn't pay for and they'd come get him. That felt too predictable to me, so I never wrote it.
Naturally, Repo Men has that very premise. I think it'll work in a movie where it wouldn't in a short story, because movies are visual and we don't mind a little predictability there. And there might be a twist the preview doesn't show.
So what does this have to do with writing?
If you have a great idea, get up off your butts and write it.
Ideas don't exist in a vacuum. I may have thought of this premise years ago, but it's a natural evolution of our culture, where leasing things and getting over extended on credit is getting more and more common. I'm actually shocked it hasn't been done before this. It is a great idea.
If you have a great idea and you plan to "get to it eventually," don't wait too long. Someone somewhere is bound to come up with the idea as well and get there first. We're all exposed to the same things and the law of large numbers says a bunch of us will draw the same conclusions. That's why those summer blockbusters always come in pairs. Two volcano movies, two asteroid movies, two mars movies, two illusionist movies. You've all seen the trend.
Don't just talk about your great idea. Don't dream about "someday" when you'll write it. Get to that keyboard and start putting it down. Because the last thing you want to see is your idea on a movie screen before you can do it.
As for me, I can't wait to see Repo Men. Maybe it'll inspire me to finally find the right ending to my story.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Talking About a Character's Past
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
Maybe it's just that I'm working on the last book in a trilogy, but ways to handle back story have been popping up left and right. My newest revelation: when adding new details, don't reference stuff that happened in the other books unless it's important to the new plot, or a critical part of the world mechanics.
I've found myself mentioning things that happened in books one and two, not in a "this is what happened" way, but like private jokes between the characters. Comparisons or reminders of events past. They feel terribly natural because they do reference real things that happened, but for those who might be reading the series in non-chronological order, they won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Even those that are reading right along might not get it if it's been a while between books.
Maybe it's just that I'm working on the last book in a trilogy, but ways to handle back story have been popping up left and right. My newest revelation: when adding new details, don't reference stuff that happened in the other books unless it's important to the new plot, or a critical part of the world mechanics.
I've found myself mentioning things that happened in books one and two, not in a "this is what happened" way, but like private jokes between the characters. Comparisons or reminders of events past. They feel terribly natural because they do reference real things that happened, but for those who might be reading the series in non-chronological order, they won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Even those that are reading right along might not get it if it's been a while between books.
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