A Story Seed

Last night was one of those times when stories flitted willy-nilly about my mind. Characters blossomed, ideas took root, and concepts became concrete scenes. It would have been wonderful, except it was nearing midnight, and I was trying to sleep.

That always seems to be the case with me. These great ideas pop into my mind at the most inopportune times. I’ve burned many a meal running for a notepad, learned to jot semi-legible notes without having to look away from the road, and keep pens and spirals scattered throughout my small apartment. I had to learn the latter the hard way, when I had an idea before going to sleep and thought to myself, “Oooh, I like that. In fact, I like it so much I won’t need to write it down right now. I can remember that in the morning.”

Morning comes and, yep, you guessed it. I remember that I had a great story idea, but I don’t remember what.

Every once in a while though, a scene (and not a concept) will appear, playing vivid in my mind like a movie. But what makes these scenes stand out from all the others is the intensity of the emotion. I feel what the character feels. And these scenes stay with me until they find a home in a story; they never dull, they never fade, they just wait. This is what happened last night. Unfortunately, this scene doesn’t fit into any of my current WIPs, nor does it fit into the concept of any of my back burner stories.

I have the defining scene of a character’s history, I know how it’s worked into the story that I’ll tell, I just don’t know what that story is. Of course, the last thing I need is another back burner story. I think the last count was somewhere around twelve or so, and I have the feeling that this new one might be yet another paranormal. Nicole to Brain: Concentrate on the romantic comedies; those are the ones next in line for production!

Sometimes I don’t know which is worse: writer’s block or scene schizophrenia.

On the plus side, I managed to tap back into the main character of PYNIMY, one of my two current works-in-progress. I’d lost touch with her for awhile, but she’s deigned to open up again, which means I managed to pick up a good word count this weekend.

Also, carrier pigeons.

Generation Xcuse Me?

Ten Rants: Why the Younger Generation is the End of All that is Good in the World

Bopping along the internet superhighway, I came across this article that laments and analyzes the desire–nay, the dire need–of twenty-somethings everywhere to be constantly and consisently praised.

“Oh, you wondrous you! Good job! You acutally showed up at work today!”

“You’re so special!”

“Hey, great job today! Way to go!”

I’ve read article like this one before; I have come across articles like this for the past several years now, so this is no great surprise, and I sincerely doubt it’ll be the last one. And each and every one of these irritate the hell out of me.

I admit that the work environment is changing, that things differ between generations, but as a twenty-something, I do not need constant praise, nor do I know many of my age group who do either. Maybe I just hang around with an odd crowd, but I’ve had discussions with my friends over the idiotic things companies sometimes do to show their appreciation, and we’re all pretty much in agreement with the following:

1. “Workers under 40 [...] want near-constant feedback.”

Pish. Yeah, like we all really want Big Boss hovering over our shoulder. Leave us the hell alone and let us get some work done. Constant interruptions to check on how we’re doing or toss us a compliment or two like we’re some pet poodle is annoying. If we run into trouble, we’ll holler. If we complete a project, and it really is excellent, it’s fine to let us know, but for heaven sakes, let us finish first.

2. “[Employers are] being taught by employee-retention consultants such as Mark Holmes, who encourages employers to give away baseball bats with engravings (‘Thanks for a home-run job’) or to write notes to employees’ kids (‘Thanks for letting dad work here. He’s terrific!’)”

Yeah, that? Don’t do that. Those get ridiculed. All the baseball hats and coffee mugs that say “I’m special!” either end up at Goodwill or are kept only because of their practicality. Otherwise, they’re a complete joke. Don’t give us little trinkets and gifts. If you really appreciate us, give us a raise. That’s how we’ll know you’re happy with the job we’re doing.

No Work Means More Austen

The Man might not like it, but I’m always appreciative of a slow work day. It gives me more time to play and find stuff like this:

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Take the Quiz here!

Hmm… Might my love of Elinor Dashwood have colored my opinion some? Or perhaps my equal love of Emma Thompson. All in all, I ain’t complaining!

Friday Feature

The Raintree Trilogy

                             

Raintree: Inferno by Linda Howard
Raintree: Haunted by Linda Winstead Jones
Raintree: Sanctuary by Beverly Barton

I’d first learned about this series from Paperback Writer, who recommended Raintree: Haunted. I’d been keeping an eye out for these books, but I’d had no idea they were part of the Nocturne series until I stumbled across them last week. I’m sure my squeal of delight could be heard in the next county. PBW was, after all, the first one to point me in the direction of Rob Thurman. (You can read my own raving about her books on the Favorite Fiction page.)

So I bought all three and promptly started the first. I’m almost finished reading the second one (which you may recognize from the RITA finalist list), and I’m definitely hooked. The first two books at least take place over the same time period, and there are small interconnections between the two heroes in the form of phone calls. For some reason, this unifying technique intrigues me. I’d heard about something similiar, of course, but I’d never actually come across it, and I find it creates a more realistic world for me. I’m not sure why, but it does.

The only quibble I have with this technique is that I’m expected to believe that two brothers both find love during the exact same week. Yes, I know, much stranger things can happen, and I’m definitely willing to suspend belief for most anything if the story’s good. Heck, I’m even buying the whole controlling fire and lightning thing. Totally with you on that. So why the timeline would be an issue with me, of all things, I don’t know, but it’s small enough that I just shrug and go with it anyway.

Kicking & Screaming

Welcome back Michelle, the character that I have no freakin’ clue what do with. After my last (and so far only) discussion with her, I said that I’d be bringing her back to further explore the story that she was steadfastly keeping from me. Well, she’s gone and decided to get stage fright. Yep, she slipped away and is hiding in the shadows way in the back. See her there, over in the corner, sitting at a little cafe table and hunching her shoulders like that will hide her?

I’m not hiding.

Like hell. Can we get a spotlight over there, please?

You’re being an idiot.

I’m being a bitch. Those are two entirely different things. What happened? You were all gung-ho to make an appearance and yammer endlessly, and now you’ve gone chicken on me.

Slogging Away

I’ve discovered a downside to being overly rambunctious with the whole blogging thing. Finding a post you have a vague recollection of writing among all the various blather… Ugh. Not fun. And I’m only digging through a couple months worth! (I’m not counting January.)

It’s the little posts that kill me, I think. You know, those little asides that are only two or three paragraphs long.

Like this one.

Back to slogging through the blogosphere. (Isn’t it strange how many words start with “blog” nowadays? Terrible word, blog. Apt and logical, but crass. The man-slut of the vocabulary world.)

No Go

Well, I did not final in the Golden Heart. *Sighs* Not that I’m surprised, mind you. When I found out how the entries are judged, I pretty much knew I was doomed. Apparently, judges are asked to read only the synopsis and the first twenty-five pages of the manuscript.

My synopsis sucked.

I’m not being overly critical here, either. My synopses tend to reek pretty bad, especially considering I’ve written all of two, and my Golden Heart entry was the first of those two. Note to self: Practice Synopsis Writing. (I’ll approach it like I did my Dialogue Practices, which I still need to find and post. Another note to self: Stop being such an idiot. )

But I’d paid my entrance fee, and I figured, why not? It’ll be a learning experience. You can’t learn to swim without getting your feet wet, right? It’s the same way I’ve worked on my queries. I know this is a huge no-no in the writing world, but I sent out a query for a manuscript that I figured didn’t have much of a chance of being sold since it was a novella. But I wasn’t sure what I was doing, and I figured the best way to figure it out would be to jump on in. That’s how I got the rejection thing over and done. I figured out pretty quick that those little “no thanks” don’t burn so much as irritate since they mean more research and more tweaking. Patience, grasshopper. Patience is the way to publication.

Well, patience, perserverance, and a willingness to hone your craft.

But I digress.

So my first Golden Heart entry is over and done with, and all that means is I now have the opportunity to hone and tweak and research some more. I hate writing a synopsis, which means I’m going to make myself write a helluva lot more. My writing can show no sign of weakness! I will become a lean, mean writing machine! Hi-ya! Adverb chop and character kung-fu kick!

All strangeness and bad marital arts references aside, will I enter the Golden Hearts next year? You betchya. Will I expect to final then? Eh–probably not, but who knows? Besides, it’s the journey that counts, right? I haven’t planned my pit stops. GH might be one, it might not. That doesn’t mean I can’t use it as a springboard to practice technique and execution.

My biggest regret with the results is that I don’t know any of the finalists personally. I wanted an excuse to cheer my head off at the award ceremony. *Martyred Sigh* I suppose I’ll just have to stick with being an overexuberant fan… Though I do have an excuse now to go book shopping. I should read the RITA finalists for research, right? Right? Because I’m not looking for an excuse to buy more books. No, not me…

Awards Time

Calls for the finalists of the Golden Hearts and the RITA Awards go out today. If you’re wanting to keep track, Lexi Connor sent out this link to Judi Fennell’s site via the chapter loop. Ms. Fennell’s trying to maintain a list of who’s gotten The Call, but the official list should hit the RWA site sometime tomorrow. I’ve managed not to check it obsessively this morning, but only because I’ve been away from my computer until now.

For those of you unfamiliar with the awards, the Golden Hearts are the highest award RWA offers for completed, unpublished manuscripts. The RITA is the highest award RWA offers for books published within the past year. It’s kinda like the Oscars for the romance writing world.

Does winning either a Golden Heart or a RITA help a writer’s career? From what I understand, winning a GH may help you get your foot in the door with an agent or an editor. It certainly looks good on a query letter, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. And a RITA doesn’t necessarily help or hurt a career. Do you buy a movie because it has “Winner of the 2007 BEST PICTURE” on the cover or because you like the synopsis or heard from a friend that it was a good movie? Some people might buy the book because of the award (I’m certainly planning on reading up on the finalists), but the numbers are fairly small in the general scheme of things, I’d think, since a person would have to be familiar with the world of RWA to know about it. And despite the overwhelming number of people at the national conference, our world is a small one.

So why would a person enter either the Golden Hearts or the RITAs, you might ask, especially since it’s a $50 entrance fee? For the prestige, of course. Your work is judged by your peers, and to get a nod from them saying that it’s among the best in the genre (or at least among the best entered in the genre) is a thrill.

Not that I’m speaking from personal experience, mind you.

So good luck to all the hopefuls out there, and continued good luck to all the finalists! I can’t wait for the awards ceremony at the conference.

Character Takeover

My stories are character-driven, so they usually starts with the arrival of a heroine. You remember Michelle, don’t you?

Yo.

Cheeky thing. Anyway, I’m looking at my character, and she starts yammering, but not to me. It’s like watching a movie, where the screen is focused on one character while she’s having a conversation with another. If you come into the room during that one scene, you don’t know who she’s talking to or what’s going on. So I write it out, and within a matter of words I know who she’s talking to based on the way she’s speaking. Ah ha! I have a conversation! And more than one character!

There’s some underlying event or conflict in that conversation, so I’m able to get an idea of what needs to happen. With my manuscript CAROLINA NORTH, my heroine has a hard time standing up for herself. Her friend tells her so on page two. Now I know the ending. She needs to learn to stand up for herself.

Ta-da! That’s how I got the story. As I’m a very definite pantser, the rest developed as I went along. I know I’m going the wrong direction if the words just aren’t flowing. When that happens, I’ve learned it usually means I’m trying to force something that doesn’t come naturally to the characters. It’s my subconscious going, “Psh! Like that’s gonna happen. Nice try, no cigar, begin again.”

In TENTUK, I had a character, Yaza, whom I’d intended to act as a bit of comic relief as well as a foil to my heroine. Yaza flounced into the story, and I fully expected her to stay deep in the background. Imagine my surprise when she not only began revealing a much deeper character, but when she initiated the catalyst of the entire story! Holy schnikes! The lady did a complete 180 on me that I, as the writer, still scratch my head over and think, “Wait… What the hell just happened?”

Can characters overthrow their writers? Mine certainly seem capable of it.

One of my favorite sayings (I don’t remember where I came across it) is, “If writers are like God, then all my characters are atheist.”

Wishing You

 

A Happy Easter!