I don't know how it works for most of you, this process of writing. Maybe you don't need much to go on, maybe the words come pouring out of your pens, or fingertips... or maybe not.
I do know that this second draft is proving a challenge for me. Surprise surprise.
I'm trying to be creative, to allow the process to be what it is and not try to force the issue... which is why tonight I found myself rewriting the opening of Lilith... again...
I think I'm still trying to find her voice... to learn exactly what happened to her that night... and during the subsequent days. To learn who Lilith is...
I have tried a couple of exercises in first person, but I get lost in the details and it drains the power of the scene. This last version, in third person, is a little more daring than the first few. I wonder if that's a sign of things to come?
It DOES mean that I'm off the first page... I'm onto page 5 tonight... with more to come. I swear it's like a blind man trying to describe an elephant though. I can't seem to visualize the whole behemoth yet.
I'm awesome at editing for other people. I dive right in and get to the core issues almost immediately... I can do a manuscript in 2 weeks, even!
But when it comes to my own writing, I freeze. I am trying to do a rewrite of Lilith, my NaNoWriMo novel from 2011... but I can't seem to get past the first page yet...
I was hoping a year would have been sufficient distance from the 'script so that I could look at it more objectively, but alas.
Well... I AM going to get past the first page. I CAN! I WILL... and it will be amazing.
Insecure Writer's Support Group is hosted by Alex Cavanaugh. You can feel free to sign up and join us on the first Wednesday of every month. It's a great way to meet other writers who can help you through the bumps in the road to publication.
You know that moment? The one where you suddenly come up with an idea that will solve a major plot problem in that manuscript that you shelved a year ago... yeah... it's like a great big bolt of lightning!
And then you realize how much actual work it's going to take to rewrite and fix the plot problem. Sigh...
BUT! Having a solution is better than not having a solution... especially for a story you care about.
It's one of those days where I'm looking up at the mountain I have to climb and wishing for a cable car ride to the top.
It's time for a little flash fiction exercise. I'm excited to participate in Kathy and Jessica McKendry's monthly meme "Knights of Microfiction!" For those of you who don't HATE flash fiction with a passion (you know who you are), anyone can join us to stretch your fingers and get the creative juices flowing. You can sign up on Kathy's page. Post your entry before 11:59pm on Wednesday Jan, 16th and then go around to read as many other entries as you can. Here's this month's prompt: In 400 words or less your character(could also be more than one) has a chance meeting with someone who will change their life. And here's my entry, the intro from last year's NaNo project (hope that's not cheating):
Mermaids don’t just happen to exist, they’re made. No one knows exactly where the first one came from, she won’t tell. But after she arrived in Orkney waters, people began to "mysteriously" disappear.
Tides along that cursed coast are murderously swift and subtle, taking the unsuspecting wanderer off guard disturbingly often. No warning waves crash out the threat of violence that the water brings with it. Linger too long among the tidal pools, and before you realize it, water seeps in around your ankles and then, with a woosh, past your waist, up to your shoulders and carries you out to sea.
That's how it happened to Lilith in her 15th year of life. Despite her mother's warning, Lilith crept down one twilight to crawl amongst the tide pools, fascinated by the myriad creatures that made their home in that transient strip of land and sea. She laid herself down to get a better look at a giant anemone clinging to the porous rock. His swirling tentacles and pulsing colors, magenta, umber, canary, held her in a hypnotic spell while the waters crept in closer and closer until she was trapped with no way back to the shore. Dark water enveloped the jagged rocks as the tide rushed in, filling the empty spaces in the pock marked shore, and then it was too late.
If anyone had been watching, they would have seen a swirl of black water, green sea grass, and auburn hair as Lilith gasped and grasped at nothing and slipped away. But they would have missed what really happened.
I am a little ashamed to admit this, but I have a hard time with world-building... I know, what kind of a fantasy writer AM I? I get myself confused and turned around trying to figure where things are and how long it takes to get there, and what happens in the meantime...
Although I love being able to break "Earth rules" in a truly fantasy world, I find it's easier to set my fantasy on good old planet Earth, in exotic locations. The distances and basics suddenly write themselves! Of course, I still can't decide which island and town my MCs hail from... and that will matter in the long run... but at least I have a starting point.
My current WIP is set in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. I visited last year... of course, I've been smitten with the islands for years now. I first read about them in Mary Stewart's Merlin novels... then in T.H. White's Once and Future King... and then when I looked them up, I stumbled on Orkneyjar, the most rich and fascinating website! I've spent hours falling down rabbit holes and following my nose... and the research that I've done has really helped me to see the settings I'm trying to write about.
The Orkneys really are thrilling, beautiful, and full of folklore. Who could ask for a better setting for a fantasy? And then! Something amazing like this happens. I could've made that up, but having it be REAL is so much more exhilarating! Don't you think?
What do you do about the details of world-building? Does it come easy to you?
This post is for Insecure Writer's Support Group, hosted on the first Wednesday of every month by the fabulous Alex Cavanaugh. Anyone can join. Sign up here! Ok, ok, I don't have a good excuse for posting today instead of tomorrow, except that a few others have and I had this post ready YESTERDAY, so... here you go! Sometimes when I'm painting I get frustrated -- I visualize where things are going versus where I want them to go and I can't make up the difference. I hate that. But then, if I turn the canvas upside down, I get a whole new point of view... and it's inspiring! That doesn't mean I'll leave it that way... but new perspective can help me get my vision back in focus, to realign my aim... and sometimes new and great things come out of it!
I want to figure out how to do that more with my writing... because things are not going at all where I thought they were going with my WIP and I feel pretty deflated about that. So I'm wondering what I can do to regain some inspiration. How can I turn my WIP on its head? Maybe my MCs motivations are more nefarious than I give her credit for. Or maybe my main villain is really my MC...
The cygnets are here and they are
the most beautiful ugly
ducklings I have ever seen.
Thanks to Nick Wilford over at Scattergun Scribblings for bestowing on me the 7x7 award!
I don't really participate in these kinda things anymore (because there are way too many to keep up with!) but this one had some interesting aspects that I wanted to follow through with anyhow. Kind of a blogging retrospective, introspectively... the following links are all to posts from my own blog that I think fit these categories.
Most Beautiful: I'm biased, but Big Island Dolphin Swimming, while not perhaps the most articulately written post, and not even the most well produced video, was the most beautiful experience for me...
Most Helpful & Most Popular: This post was incredibly helpful to me in terms of feedback I got toward my main character Lilith... and it comes in second for number of views on my blog.
Most Controversial: I don't know that I've posted anything "Controversial" yet... but this post with a flash fiction piece I wrote stirred up a lot of speculation...
Most Surprisingly Successful: Possessing the Secret of Joy. Without a doubt, this is the most surprising post. Not because of content, either, I expect. It's an emotional reaction to the novel by Alice Walker. But it has the most views on my blog of all of my posts... even still today.
Most Underrated: This post about my internship with the literary agency was a LOT of fun to write and full of information, but it didn't receive quite the response I was expecting/hoping.
First! OMG my blog has had 10,000 views! I know that a lot of those are probably bots and people wandering in accidentally, but yay!
Now to get 100 followers! It's a right of passage, ya know? I will host my first ever blogfest/giveaway as soon as I hit 100 followers! Woot! There will be mermaid themed prizes and a little writing contest... You know you wanna join in!
It's summer. It's time to make some lists, to chart out a path of goals for the next couple of months, wouldn't you agree? I have to admit, I have been caught in the writing doldrums this entire spring! Not a letter typed, not a plot device turned over. Granted I am busy with internships and my first paid editing job, but I feel like I'm letting myself off the hook to easily.
Well, I'm ready to shake it off. So here's completely off the cuff random list of goals I'm making for this summer.
Writing! Make headway on second draft/1st person perspective of my WIP. Not just any headway... let's say that by the end of August I would like 20,000 words written. I've been reluctant, but there's really no way I can know how I feel about it until I write more.
Editing! Get a little further on that pesky first draft/3rd person perspective of the WIP. I wanna crank it up a notch, and now I think I'm starting to get a grip on what needs to happen there. I would like to have a version that I could show to someone without embarrassment by mid-September.
Reading! I have some good editing books in my pile that I would like to get through... my goal is to read one more of them this summer.
More reading! I found at B&N a couple of books with a similar theme to my current WIP... so I bought them and intend to read them by the end of August as well. Gotta know what my competition is!
Fests! Participate in 3 blogfests. This means I need to get down to some research... I don't wanna just participate in any o'l blogfest... but if you're throwing one, let me know!
Blogging! Get back up to 2 posts a week, at least! Man I have been slacking! The time to hesitate is through, though. I'll be brainstorming topics later today (as a break from editing). Feel free to leave me suggestions.
Agra pondered aloud what exactly had made Milicent so effective as she tried again, in vain, to frighten Lilith into making a kill. Was it her commanding presence? Did she use physical threats?
“Maybe it was her eyes…” Lilith’s voice broke into Agra’s reverie.
‘What did you say?’ Agra checked herself, surprised.
‘I didn’t…’ Lilith ducked her head to avoid being cuffed. ‘Nothing…’
‘What about her eyes?’ Agra demanded. ‘Describe these eyes to me.’
‘Deep, fearsome, savagely wild…’ Lilith whispered. ‘So black that they suck you down into their depths and you think you’ll never escape.’ She trembled at the memory.
‘Where did you see these eyes?’ Agra demanded again.
‘Drowning…’ Lilith choked. ‘Can’t breathe! It was her! Her eyes…’ She collapsed into a heap of bitter tears on the sandy ocean floor.
Agra stared at her in stunned silence. Only one mermaid in these waters could produce that effect on others. ‘You’re lying!’ She spouted. ‘But how could you be?’ She picked up Lilith by the hair at the nape of her neck. ‘Where is she, this mermaid who turned you? Where did she go?’
‘I… I don’t know,’ Lilith stammered. ‘We… we traded places and… I don’t know where she went.’
‘You… WHAT?’ Agra shrieked.
‘We traded places,’ Lilith said, squeaking in pain as Agra’s grip tightened on her hair and neck.
‘That’s impossible!’ Agra roared. She let go of Lilith’s hair suddenly and Lilith tumbled to the ocean floor again.
‘I’m…. I’m sorry… I’m sorry…’ Lilith said as she scrambled back out of reach.
‘Don’t you dare… don’t you presume, you little worm,’ Agra snarled. ‘That you could trade places with the ancient one. Ha! Impossible!’
The passage above is from the first draft of my WIP... and is a prime example of trying to "tell" too much through dialogue tagging. My characters roar, squeak, demand, snarl, and oh so much more in an attempt to accurately describe the excitement of the scene. (Aside: I hate the name Agra... but somehow it was what came to me, and it is what I'm stuck with for now... sigh...)
I have been reading recently a book about self-editing for fiction writers. One of the main problems the authors point out with beginning novelists is the temptation to use dialogue tags to explain character emotion. I definitely have this problem. The idea is to convey enough through the actual dialogue that you don't have to explain the emotions or where the emphasis in the sentence belongs. It should come across naturally... the tension should just ... magically be there.
I can count at least 9 instances in this one little scene where I didn't have enough faith in my dialogue (or in my readers ability to infer meaning/emotion in my characters) to leave well enough alone.
I find that a lot of writers are prone to this habit, though. The more I think about it, the more I am interested to delve into some of those award winners that Margo Berendsen was talking about the other day, to see if they are able to dodge the pitfall of tagging dialogue (or explaining through adverbs... the -ly syndrome).
Does anyone else have this problem with their writing? What do you do to combat it?
I'm sitting here working on writing Lilith from a 1st person POV... and it's not quite as easy as I was hoping. But... I am not discouraged yet. I think I just need to rearrange my own POV, not expect things to go exactly the way they did the first time around, and keep moving forward.
And then I read this quote from the amazing Neil Gaiman's latest blog post:
"It's a weird thing, writing.
Sometimes you can look out across what you're writing, and it's like looking out over a landscape on a glorious, clear summer's day. You can see every leaf on every tree, and hear the birdsong, and you know where you'll be going on your walk.
And that's wonderful.
Sometimes it's like driving through fog. You can't really see where you're going. You have just enough of the road in front of you to know that you're probably still on the road, and if you drive slowly and keep your headlamps lowered you'll still get where you were going.
And that's hard while you're doing it, but satisfying at the end of a day like that, where you look down and you got 1500 words that didn't exist in that order down on paper, half of what you'd get on a good day, and you drove slowly, but you drove.
And sometimes you come out of the fog into clarity, and you can see just what you're doing and where you're going, and you couldn't see or know any of that five minutes before.
If you are looking for my campaign entry, go here.
Ugh... don't you hate it when somebody gives you a suggestion and at first you think, "Nah, that'll never happen." But then the more you think about it the more it seems like a good idea? And then you start to think, "Oh my god, what am I thinking? This'll take forever!" But you can't get the idea to go away... and so you eventually resign yourself to the fact that you are going to at least have to attempt it.
Well, my pal Julie over at rosewood pencil box made just such a suggestion. First, there are two things you should know.
1. I LOVE JULIE!
2. I completely respect her opinion.
So, the other day she so sweetly suggested that I might think about writing my WIP in first person, because she liked the voice I gave Lilith in the character interview.
At first I laughed and said to myself "Yeah, like I haven't thought of that." But I have 50,000 words of copy! Why would I go back and just re-write the whole thing? Only... the more I get to know Lilith, the more I like her voice, too... and now I've had some feedback it's got me thinking... sigh.
So this weekend's goals are to relax and perhaps look at how a few of my scenes sound from Lilith's perspective. It's not a commitment... it's a "What if?". I'm just experimenting. Who knows what will happen, really?
In other news, I read 2 novels this week. Yep, 2... that haven't even been published yet! This new internship is scratching an itch, that's for sure. The work environment is quirky, but then, so am I so... I'll reserve my judgments for a little later after I see how much I'm learning. So far I've been learning lots... including how to, and how NOT to, solicit an agent to review a manuscript. Wow people. All I can say is, the more people that review your 'script, the better.
Also, I just wanna say thanks to Jess, who awarded me two different blog awards this week. If you don't already know Jess, hop on over to her blog Write.Skate.Dream. She's an amazing, inspirational, plucky young writer. I think you'll love her blog, too!
It's cold here right now... and I keep hoping spring is around the bend. Who's with me?
So, today for Young Adult and Teen Tuesday (a meme hosted by SA Larsen over at Writers' Ally) I am posting a bio sheet on my Main Character from my novel... I asked followers on my blog and the cool peeps over at Fairfield County Writers Group for input on 50 questions to ask her and promised to post them here.
I got 150 questions, actually. One of the cool peep writers over at FCWG posted a 100 question bio-sheet for developing your character. It's AMAZING. I'm only posting the first 15 questions from that sheet (the Basics) and then the 50 questions you guys contributed because... I feel like 150 is overkill. (am I right?) If you want a copy of the full bio-sheet for use with your own character, shoot me an e-mail and I'll gladly oblige. Also, I tried to link back to everyone who offered questions unless I didn't have a website for you. Let me know if I missed anyone.
I really enjoyed this exercise, because it made me THINK about what my character thinks. She came alive more to me than she has yet, and now I'm ready to take her back to the page and make the re-write happen for her.
I wrote her answers in first person, but the novel is not drafted in first person. It just felt more natural to do it this way. It's pretty long, so if you make it all the way through to comment, bravo you! And thank you.
I'm a little nervous about doing this to be honest. Reasons: 1. You might hate her. 2. You might not hate her, but tell me she's dumb anyhow. 3. You might hate her but tell me you love her. 4. Someone might love her so much that they steal her from me! Ugh. Honesty here... but... if I don't show her to anyone, how will I know if she's any good, right? So I'm attempting to be brave here and take a step. Please give me your honest opinions about her! And... I hope you like her... Um... and lastly, don't steal her, ok?
-BASICS-
My full name is ____. Lilith Evangeline Scott
I was born in ____. I was born on Sanday, part of the Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK…
My birthday is ____, making me ____ years old at the start of the story, and ____ at the end. My birthday is December 1, 1996, making me 15…
My parents are ____, who is a ___, and ____, who is a ___. My ma’s name is Lenore. She handcrafts baskets from seaweed and driftwood to sell in town and to tourists. My da was a sailor. He drowned at sea before I was born.
I have ____ siblings. Their names are ____ and they are ____ older/younger than me. I’m an only child.
Right now I live ____. Right now I live in the ocean… in a cove a few miles up the coast from my ma’s house. It’s a long story…
My occupation is ____. (n/a)
I am ____ tall and have a ____ build. I have ___ skin, ____ eyes and ____ hair. My facial features are ______. I like to wear _____. I’m five feet tall when I’m in human form… I have a pixie build Molly says. My skin is mostly white… freckled a lot… or it was before I became a mermaid. Now it’s kind of a freaky bluish white. My eyes are green; my hair is dark auburn and long, past my shoulders. My facial features are delicate, adding to the pixie look, I think.
When it comes to money, I have ____. (n/a)
When it comes to allergies, diseases and other physical weaknesses, I have _____. I don’t have any allergies and I’m pretty healthy…
I am ___ handed. I’m right handed.
My voice is _____. My voice is… I used to have a great singing voice. It’s a little scratchy since I live in the freezing cold ocean now. I wonder if Millicent stole my singing voice, too?
A phrase I use frequently is ____. “you know”
In my pockets right now, I have _____. Ha! I don’t have any pockets! Mermaid, remember???
My most annoying habit is ____. I bite my nails???? How should I know? You’ll have to ask Molly. But she hardly ever gets annoyed with me. Maybe ask my ma.
Reader questions for Lilith:
Regardless of what’s happening in your life right now, you do realize things will only get harder as you grow up, right? (Hildred) Really? Harder than accidentally switching places with a murderously evil mermaid who has a grudge against my mother (which, by the way, I still don’t quite get…) and being exiled by the rest of the child-stealing/child-eating clan because I won’t become a cannibal? The ocean is no place to survive alone when you only just got here. Plus… it’s effing freezing here! I’ll take a little misogyny any day… but thanks for the encouragement.
Which subject do you hate in school? (Gina C) Ha! Well… when I went to school, I’d have to say it was math that I hated most. Too logical.
What do you like to spend your money on most? Money? We never have anything extra after food and fuel and supplies for ma’s craft. We’re lucky to get what we have and no thanks to any of our neighbors, you know?
Who do you want to dress like? Ah… I wear what I own… but I love Molly’s clothes. She’s my best friend and she always wears the softest clothes.
What song do you listen to on repeat? “Swim until you can’t see land” by Frightened Rabbit is all I can hear in my head right now… over and over… Ironic, you know? Most of the stuff I used to listen to back on land you probably would’ve never heard of anyhow. I’m from a tiny island off the northern coast of Scotland. Everything about my life is obscure.
Who was the biggest bully in your life? It’s not the bullies I mind so much. They’re easy enough to avoid and not very bright either, you know? It’s their gossiping harpy mothers that really get to me. They make life hard on my ma… make her cry when she thinks I’m not looking. I hate them. Strange, but Molly’s ma is one of the worst. She hates it that Molly and I are friends. Too bad for her. She’ll never keep us apart.
Who have you bullied? You’re kidding, right? I’ve never really spent any time with anyone except Molly… and ma. The other kids don’t like me or are too scared of what their mothers would do if they found out they’d been talking to me at all, even if it was to be mean to me. I’m not sure why that is… probably has something to do with the reasons they make ma cry… but when I ask her she always looks sad and won’t answer me.
If you had a round-trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go? Somewhere warm. I don’t care where… although it’d be nice if it had an ocean… It’s just so damn cold here… I feel like I’ll never be warm again. I might never come back, either…
What is your favorite movie? (Charles M) Everything I get to see is a million years old by the time it gets here… but there was this one movie when I was a kid… Howl’s Moving Castle… I dunno… I guess I liked how nothing was what it seemed to be… and you could open the door and find yourself in different places any time you wanted.
What is your favorite book? I’d rather hear ma tell a story. She’s so amazingly good at it. The magical people she talks about almost seem real… come to think of it… maybe they ARE real. She always talked about mermaids, but I never would have believed they actually existed… except now I am one. What if selkies and Teran and the Sea Mither are really real, too?
Who is your favorite boy? Boys are dumb and a waste of time. You can’t even make them into mermaids.
Who is your favorite teacher? Miss McCormack… English Lit. I think she felt sorry for me. Whatever. I don’t need her sympathy, you know? But it sure beats the shit way the rest of the teachers treat me. More detentions than the biggest bullies in school… for what? I dunno… being alive? But Miss McCormack always let me do my own thing. I think I even paid attention in her class.
What do you like to do in your spare time? Mostly I like to hang around at the shore. No really, even on land I did. I love tide pools more than anything and the crash of sea waves, the smell of salt on the wind… Molly and I can always find someplace where no one will bother us. Most times I just sit and listen to the waves while she collects shells. Since THIS happened… we still meet at the shore, and she brings me news about my ma and Millicent… and we work on our plan…
What is your favorite animal? (CM)
Dolphins. Why? (Julie M) They’re brilliant, beautiful, and handy if I run into trouble with sharks. Happens a lot more than you’d think.
What kind of car do you want next year? (CM) You’re joking, right? But we don’t need a car. Everything is so close. Car is just money wasted, ma says.
Who do you think is cute? (Catherine K) Like I said… boys are a waste of space and energy… and Molly is beautiful.
Who supports you? Molly. And Ma, even though she can’t see me now. She tried to once, but it must be part of the curse. So anyway, Moll takes her my messages and tells me how she is… and helps keep a watch out for Millicent. She’s ridiculously brave, that Molly.
Who is your mortal enemy? Millicent. She’s evil incarnate. She stole my life from me and left me here for her lackeys to tear to pieces. But I’m going to ruin her little scheme with one of my own… and when she gets back here she’ll learn what pain really means.
What did you do last weekend? (Gabi C) Last weekend I spent convincing a couple of fringe mermaids (that’s the clan outsiders) that they want to help me get rid of Agra, Millicent’s number own. She’s been causing havoc in the clan ever since Millicent “disappeared”. No one will believe that Millicent traded places with me, but whatever. She basically made a power grab when it looked like Millicent wasn’t coming back… nobody is happy about it. Even I know that and I’ve been banished. But Agra really wants me dead… so I have to figure out how to take her down a few notches… Yeah… not your average weekend in the life of a teenager.
Where would you like to go on vacation? Like I said, somewhere warm with ma and Molly. And maybe we’d never come back…
Who is your favorite relative? My only family is ma. Da is gone… ma never talks about him or anyone else…
What scares you? Used to be the dark scared me. Now it’s the open, exposed ocean… I don’t wanna ever be caught with my guard down… Getting ripped apart by sharks or mermaids… not how I want to go. Also, never seeing ma or Molly again… that scares me.
What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s funny. I always wanted to be a ship’s captain. But they don’t take girls on as deckhands or mates or anything… so I’ve been teaching myself to sail, sneaking off with Molly in her da’s skiff whenever he’s not looking…. Learning to read the water…
Where’s your dad? (me) Ma says he’s dead. Lost to the sea. Molly’s heard all the rumors and she says that other people say he went off and drowned himself because ma broke his heart and had another lover… I never met him, so I wouldn’t know… but if he’s the type to go off and leave his family like that, I don’t know if I’m missing much.
What’s your favorite food? Ma’s homemade bread is the best… warm, with butter… I hate eating everything raw and cold now…
Do you believe in magic? I would have said no… all those tales ma told me… I thought they were just stories to scare us into behaving and going to bed on time… but now… the only explanation is magic. Nothing else makes sense.
What’s your favorite color? The deep brilliant blue of the ocean.
Who’s your best friend? You haven’t been paying attention. I said it was Molly. I’d die for her… and she’d die for me… but I’d never let that happen. She understands me better than anyone… she’s brilliant.
Do you have any pets? Ma always leaves a bowl of milk out… for the fairies, she says…. But I know the village cats find their way out to our place and drink it up most days. They keep the mice away and let me scratch behind their ears sometimes.
Have you ever travelled anywhere? We don’t have money for travelling. Furthest I’ve ever been is the next island over in Molly’s da’s boat. It’s uninhabited, so we beached the boat and spent the day exploring. Found a colony of puffins… they’re amazing. We left the eggs untouched. Molly got in so much trouble when we got back… we haven’t taken the boat out since. It started to get harder for her to sneak away and see me after that. Now, though… they think I’m dead and they’re a lot more free and lenient with her. It’s just harder for me… can’t be seen by other islanders. They wouldn’t like it.
What’s your favorite time of year? I like summer. It’s light longer… lots longer way up here in the northern latitudes. And the air is warm then.
Does your mom make you do chores? Yeah, but I’m happy to help, you know? We only have each other… and I have Molly… so I try to pay attention and do what she needs.
Do you like your mom? I love her. She tells the most amazing stories… and she’s so strong… and so good….
What do you think of love? You mean mushy romance? I don’t get it. The only person I ever loved besides ma is Molly. I don’t need anyone else.
Do you like where you live? Ma’s house… my house… is well enough. We don’t need all the plush fanciness other people have. We have color and light and a warm fire… and we’re right by the shore… I love the shore. Only think I hate are the people in town. Not a decent person besides Molly. Bunch of homogenized clones, if you ask me. They all have to dress alike and listen to the same music and make the same jokes.
What TV shows do you watch? (Dave D) We don’t have a TV. Big waste of time, in my book. We used to have one, but I made ma give it to the charity thrift shop. We never watched it anyhow.
What magazines do you read? Ma gets a subscription to National Geographic. It’s the only luxury we afford ourselves. I like to look at the pictures and dream about what it would be like to go to those places.
Have you ever written a novel? Nah. I make up stories in my head… but that’s it… they’re all just stories. I wish I could make them come alive the way ma’s stories have. Who’d have thought that homicidal mermaids existed? ‘Course they don’t HAVE to kill children… but I can’t talk about that here… it isn’t safe.
What do you think is gross but secretly want to try? (Catherine K) Kissing.
What do you say you want to be when you grow up? What do you really want to be? Ma always gets sad when I say I want to captain a ship. She doesn’t want me to leave her. I told her I’d take her with me, but she says no… She gets sea sick, she says. I think she’d want me to stay here… raise sheep for wool… you can make a good living selling yarn from our island. But I need to get away.
What did you do for fun as a little kid? I’d go down to the tide pools and look for the biggest prettiest shell I could find. Usually it was in the most hard to get places. Ma didn’t like it when I went down without telling her. I guess I see why now…
What’s your favorite thing about yourself? (me) I can sing. Pretty well, too. Only ones that ever heard me are ma and Molly. I make up songs… sometimes the seals come close to shore when I’m singing… like the selkies in ma’s stories… I wonder…
What would you change if you could? I always wanted uncontrollably curly hair… you know… all wild and sticking out everywhere… mine is straight as a plank of wood. Still wild and tangled, though.
What have you done that you are proud of? Well for starters I’m not dead yet. I could’ve been… but I’m a survivor.
What was your biggest embarrassing moment? I don’t get embarrassed. No really…
When things get overwhelming, where would you most like to hide? (Julie M) Under the covers in ma’s room… but I can’t. I’m stuck here. In the cold… alone… I have this safe cave, out beyond that point over there. I always try to be sprinting distance from that cave… in case of danger, like sharks and stuff, you know?
What interests you about your hometown? I try to steer clear of town, you know? People aren’t very nice. But I often wonder how people came to be away out here on this island… what brought them here… Ma has a story about that too.
What are the things that make you most excited to be alive? Mostly the ocean and all the things in it… and so many more than I ever imagined… and seeing Molly every day. It’s always something new with that girl.
Do you advertise your affections or would you rather keep them secret? Moll and ma know how to read me. I doubt anyone else will ever figure me out. But if you asked me, I’d tell you what I think. I’m not scared.
What’s your favorite thing to wear? (me) When I can wear clothes (like not now that I’m a mermaid) I always wear a great worn out pair of blue jeans and any of the sweaters ma’s made me.
If you made it this far you are my hero. No seriously. Thanks for sticking with it! Luv and puppies and stuff.
Ok, blog award first. A big thanks to the fabulous kmckendry over at Imagine Today who bestowed the "Kreativ blogger award" (and the Versatile blogger award, I think) on me the other day! Luv luv luv!
Since I have some new followers, I'll give you some new facts about me... haven't done this in a while :) If you think you already know enough about me, feel free to skip to the end of this post.
1. I have 4 cats and a dog... this may not be new to you if you know me already... but... I didn't MEAN to have 4 cats... they just sort of multiply... (and yes they are all fixed... I mean multiplied in the magically appearing sort of way). I'm trying to re-home one of them, actually... so if you know anyone who wants a nameless, needy, talkative female gray tabby/muted calico kitty with a short-ish tail, please let me know.
2. I have mild depression and anxiety (mostly self-diagnosed, but I went to therapy for a little while, too). There are days when I can't convince myself that I am capable of doing anything at all, much less anything creative... I hate those days. I am actively combating them... one of the BLOGS that has been super instrumental in my warfare against the monsters is The Fluent Self. I heart Havi and Selma! Seriously... they're better than therapy. Also, I have not openly admitted the depression before (at least not that I can remember)... although I would tell you if you asked me.
3. I am a painter. I'm not saying I'm Vincent Van Gogh... I guess really I'm more of a visual artist... because I like photography, too. But some days I need color, canvas, and abstraction to help clear my head. I say abstract because none of my figures ever turns out as I see them in my head. Same goes for my writing, actually.
4. Last one, I am sprouting seeds in a terrarium on a bookshelf so that I can grow my own veggies this summer. Right now I have heirloom tomatoes, sweet yellow cherry tomatoes, and collard greens sprouting... but I have seeds to plant for cucumbers, okra, and carrots, plus some herbs and flowers. I'm crossing my fingers that this project is successful. Usually I buy seedlings already started... but I wanted to try starting them myself this year. Eeep!
I so love all the new friends I am making out there in the blogosphere! I hope you'll humor me and claim this award for yourself if you want it. I'm not going to tag anyone to pass it on. I think you're all pretty "kreativ" and versatile! Luv!
Just a reminder from my last post that I'm looking for some questions to ask my main character so that I can get a better grip on her. You can leave your questions in the comments here. Between your comments already and some from my fab friends in the Fairfield County Writers' Group, I'm up to 40 questions! 10 more to go before I hit my goal of 50, but if I have more than 50, I'll just have to answer them... then I'll post the questions and answers next Tuesday so that you can get a look at my MC... and hopefully give me some feedback.
First! Hi to all my new followers! It's so nice to have more people out there joining the conversation about life, the universe and everything... but mostly about writing :)
I was tagged by my new pal Hildred (great name by the way) to play along in this 11 questions meme. Thanks to Hildred for the creative questions! I hope you like my answers.
1. What is the single most annoying trope that makes you want to claw your eyes out? Ah... for me it's the "I'm helpless and my life means nothing without HIM..." I love a good strong female character, so to read so many roles that fit the trope makes me sick.
2. If you could alter history and claim credit for any book ever written, what would it be? Right now I'd say "Hunger Games"... Suzanne Collins wrote a great trilogy... and I wish it was mine :)
3. How many kids were in your HS graduating class? 500 kids in my graduating class, or thereabouts. 1996. Yep
4. If you were guaranteed massive success either way, would you rather traditionally publish or self-publish? I think... all things being equal... I'd have to say I'd self-publish... because I wouldn't want to rely on anyone else for my success. I'd want to be strong, like one of my characters, and in charge of my own fate.
5. What's the most you've ever paid for an article of clothing...for yourself? Do shoes count? I bought a pair of Danskos for $120... because they have awesome arch support and will last a long time.
6. Singer, Model, or Actress - who you gonna be? I was, am, and will always be a singer.
7. Chef, Driver, or Maid - who you gonna hire? I'd hire a maid. I hate to clean.
8. Bath or shower? I'm a shower girl.... I get bored in baths.
9. You're scheduling for a delivery to your house during normal business hours. What time do you request, and why? Early as possible. Whatever I'm having delivered must be good. I'm sure I'll want it as soon as possible.
10. Could you survive a whole year or more in a traditional Japanese apartment? Sure I could survive. It would be cramped and I'd complain a LOT, probably... but I'd be in Japan, right? So I'd have a lot to distract me.
11. Favorite Pokemon. And you can't cop out with "i dunno pokemon" because here's a link, pick the cutest one!I'm still going to cop out on this one and choose Pikachu... he's the only Pokemon I really know, but I like him.
Now... I'm not ACTUALLY going to tag anyone... why? Because I don't want to :) I WILL give you a list of 11 questions, though... at the very end of the post... and if you'd like to answer them, feel free to do so in the comments. I'd love to hear your answers!
The second part of my post today has to do with YATT (also know as Young Adult Teen Tuesday, a meme hosted by SA Larsen over at Writer's Ally)
And what I have for you today in the realm of Young Adult and Teen fiction is a request. My current WIP needs some character help... and I've decided I want YOU to help me figure out what I need to help my character out! I would love love love to have her answer 50 questions, any 50 questions you'd ask a 15 year old girl... and I'd like you to help me ask them. In the comments section, please leave me (along with your answers to MY 11 questions) 1, 2, or 10 questions you'd like to hear my character answer... that would be so amazingly fantastic! I'll collect all the questions submitted by midnight on Friday, February 17th, and post her responses NEXT Tuesday. I hope you'll play along!
Ok, now for the 11 questions I'd like to know about YOU.
What's your favorite animal and why? (If you don't like ANY animals, why?)
If you had an unlimited budget, where would your next vacation spot be?
Say you have an old, blind cat that lives in your attic... what's its name?
Do you like fruitcake? Why or why not?
What do you do to cure writer's block?
You're a super hero. What's your outfit look like?
Building on #6, what's your super power?
Doctor Who?
What's your favorite snack?
What book can you remember reading in your youth that had a major effect on you?
It's the zombie invasion and you're barricaded in a house with 4 other people. If you could choose those 4 people, who would they be?
I'm looking forward to your answers AND... your questions!!!
Why am I writing a YA novel? That's a question people ask me frequently... after "Oh, you're a writer" comes "What kind of book are you writing?" and then... "why Young Adult?"
And my answer is because there's so much more room for imagination!
I think my WIP is teetering between middle grade and YA... although mostly that's because the age of the protagonist keeps changing. I can't decide how old she should be, really... originally she was 7 or 8 and now she is 16. I felt like some of the situations she found herself in were a little too overwhelming for an 8 year-old.
Now, I know that YA can be serious and can deal with some serious issues, too. And I love, love, love that about the demographic. Teens deal with some heavy stuff. They also need YA to open their eyes to people living lives that are distinctly different from their own. I remember reading "Dicey's Song" by Cynthia Voigt when I was a kid... and loving Dicey so much... and feeling like the life she lived was so completely foreign to me.
But the ability to put my characters into a world of magic and folklore come to life is largely restricted to the MG/YA demographic. Yes there's sci-fi/fantasy for adults... but it's all so ... ADULT... and I don't know... I just feel like YA has more fun. Am I wrong?
Every author dreams of writing the next great American novel... of winning the Pulitzer or some other prestigious award... those are good things to dream of, for sure. But realistically... I just want to have fun with my characters, to enjoy their growth and progression through the story. So I guess I'll have to put off the Pulitzer Prize winning work for the NEXT NaNoWriMo. Ha!
What about YOU? Why do you write for YA/Teens/Middle Grade? Why do you choose fantasy for your WIP? I'm curious!!!
So, it's December 5th... I haven't posted in over a week. To be honest, I think I just needed a break from forcing words out of my fingertips and into being. And so I took it. I wish I could tell you that during the last week I read more books and began creative projects... but really I spent most of my time staring out into cyberspace, trying to make sense of the whole last month by reading what others are saying about their experience of NaNoWriMo.
And so now I'm here, a few days into December... and what do I have to show for it? I have more than 200 pages of text and a strong idea... but it's not a manuscript yet. I know what needs to come next. I know I need to sit down with Scrivener and put these scenes into some kind of logical order... and then I know I need to go through the draft with a discerning eye, re-writing portions, cutting portions, adding transitions and/or filler...
I think I'm just still in shock that I actually got this far with it. Ha. That the baby idea I had... years... ago now has become something much bigger than I expected.
Truth is I love the editing process. I just need to gather my wits about me and dive in! And so that's what this next month will be about. I have many fun things to do on the weekends and my mother is coming up for the holiday at the end of the month, but in between then I promise you that I'm going to knuckle down and make something out of this jumbled heap of ideas. As Erin Morgenstern, NaNo participant and author of The Night Circus put it "There's a spinning-straw-into-gold analogy here, in which NaNoWriMo is about filling the room with straw. The spinning would be revising. Had I more time to compose this, I would work that analogy in better, but the I think clumsiness illustrates my point." (from The Marvels and Messes of a Month of Writing).
I'm off to yoga now for some wit gathering... and then I'll be here... spinning my straw into gold.
It's day 21. I made excellent headway at the end of last week and wrote the usual quota of words on Saturday, too, so only writing 600 yesterday didn't really hurt me. I didn't get ahead that much, though, by only writing 600 words. So today's goal is to write to 40,000 words (a little over a 2,500 word count for the day). It's completely do-able since I wrote 5,000 the other day... in 2 and a half hours... This new app is fantastic for making my writing time manageable and productive. I love it.
In other news, the recent events at UC Davis have shocked and saddened me more than I can say. Especially when you expect that the police should be there to protect people and uphold their rights... which I do. Maybe everyone does not expect that. I know there is a lot of contention surrounding the purpose of the protesting going on across the country at this time... nevertheless, people have the right to make their thoughts and concerns known through peaceful assembly... and this kind of display of force in direct opposition to those rights chills me.
I never really considered my position of non-violence until now. I think I always assumed that I knew my own mind. And I have a hard time wrapping my brain around exactly how my ideals, my beliefs would work in an ideal world, especially given that this world is less than ideal... but I'm going to put it out there... to wish... to imagine what my world would be like... so bear with me, and converse with me. I hope you will...
In my perfect world, the police would use force only when absolutely necessary... because their lives or the lives of others are in imminent danger.
In my perfect world, people would have safe, open forums to talk about their wants and needs, their hopes and dreams, and to find support and fulfillment from others who have and are willing to share.
In my perfect world, disagreeing with someone would not be a cause for hate or war or violence, but a time for learning, if nothing else, how to respect a different viewpoint and allow that person to be and believe differently from you.
In my perfect world...
There are so many other ways to end that thought that I think I'm going to have to start a series, just to tease this idea out, to dream
I hope that you will play along with me. What do things look like in YOUR perfect world?
I reserve the right to delete any comments that are combative or out of sync with the spirit of this "perfect world".
I'm gonna get there :) Ambitious goal for the day, but I'm already over 31,000, so I think I can do it.
In the meantime, listen to this song... theme song for the novel... (lyrics below)
**UPDATED** just in case you wondered... I hit 35,095 today... and created a new character. She adds so much depth to the story! And she's just a minor thing...
Swim Until You Can't See Land - by Frightened Rabbit
We salute at the threshold of the North Sea
in my mind
And a nod to the boredom that drove me here
to face the tide and swim
(Whoaaaa) I swim (Whoaaa) oh swim (Whoaaa)
Dip the toe in the ocean. Oh how it hardens and it numbs.
And the rest of me is a version of man
built to collapse into crumbs
And if I hadn’t come down
To the coast to disappear
I may have died in a land-slide
Of the rocks, the hopes and fears.
So swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Up to my knees now, do I wait? Do I dive?
The sea has seen my like before though it’s my first
And perhaps last time.
Let’s call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past
"Gus
shook his head, like a man waking up from a dream, and headed toward
the light, full of joy at discovering that the world was such a wide
place and he got to share in it."
