Fire and Silk

I went to a workshop last week - a writing workshop four hours away. 

I needed it.  My writing is "nice" - but not gripping, or not always gripping.  The workshop was on adding tension to the story.  And it helped a lot.  I fully expected to set down this weekend and begin revising.  Just tear into it and make things all better.

Well, I've done some revising.  But they've been tentative, baby steps.  I'm still feeling my way through a new landscape and tearing into any uncharted territory is unadvisable.  Just ask your characters :wink:

So I've taken a forray into the new world and I'm pretty sure that there's more I need to learn.  The workshop was on microtension, but I need to work on macro-tension, too.  The story needs a stronger central conflict.  And, as I normally work, I need to consider the big picture before I can bring it down to the specific. 

I've got some ideas and I think the story will be stronger and tighter for it.  It's not horrible, the way it is now, but it can be better.

And the best piece of advice I got during the workshop was, put your best foot forward, make it the best it can possibly be, you don't get a second chance at a first impression.  The story may not be ready to submit until the end of the year, but it will be the best it can be.

For now, what I learned is going on the back burner, where I'm thinking about it and letting the new ideas integrate into what I already know.  Then, hopefully, when I'm a bit more sure of the terrain, I'll go tearing through to the finish line.

I don't often *have* villains.  I think it's because my own life struggles aren't against a person, they're against other things.  Things like narrow-minded thinking, prejudice, entrenched ways of doing things - that sort of thing.  So my protagonists often go against ideas instead of people.

That's lead to a rather vague, not terribly intense struggle.  I read somewhere, can't quite think of where, that the villain isn't so much the villain as the representative of the other side, the obstacles that the hero struggles against.

So, even though Vidar is struggling against the old ways, the old ways of thinking, even inside of himself, he needs someone to confront.  And that someone should be representative of the old ways - the good as well as the bad.  So, Tervil is getting a promotion, to the personification of the old ways. 

Because of their past, Vidar will feel some loyalty toward Tervil.  But Tervil challenges Vidar too many times and Vidar will need to squash him.  I think the story is sharper and clearer already.

Who are your villains?  Are they just people in a role?  Do they stand for a bigger idea?

For those of you who didn't know, I've been under the weather for the past week plus a little.  We had a festival at the museum where I work and, on the way home, I started to cough.

I had a fever of 102F for the next two days.  But it's been a week of coughing and feeling lousy since the fever broke and I'm sick of it.

I was supposed to get yesterday and today as catch-up vacation days before heading to Rhode Island for a writing workshop, but there's too much work that needs to be done.  So I'm going into work, interviewing new part time hires and basically not taking it easy, which is what I want to do.

Okay there, I whined. 

I have a good job and I'm good at it.  I am getting better.  And I get to go to a beautiful New England town and concentrate on making Lawgiver better for three and a half days.

I just wish I could do that and still go back to bed :wink:

Sue
Suelder

 

A year and a half ago, I attended World Fantasy in Saratoga Springs. At the Apex suite, I met a really nice fellow who'd just signed a three-book deal with Del Rey (If I get the details wrong, I apologize, I've got a fever today.). His name was Charlie – his pen name is C.C. Finlay.

 

The cool part about this deal was that all three books would be published one after the other, with a month between release dates instead of a year. As a reader, I LOVE this idea. (The writer in me trembles at the thought.)

 

The Patriot Witch is the first book of this series (The series title is Traitor to the Crown) and, since I'm sick, I read it in one day, in between coughing fits. www.amazon.com/Traitor-Crown-Patriot-C-Finlay/dp/0345503902/ref=sr_1_1 

 

First, it was a yummy, quick read. Proctor Brown isn't an orphan, but he was raised on a farm, his parents having moved to the farm from Salem, Mass. Yep, he's a witch and he needs to learn to use his magical talent, but his mother is too afraid of being found out.

 

Proctor is a minute man, training with the local militia and he's involved in Lexington and Concord, as well as the Battle of Bunker Hill.

 

Finlay, an historian by education, sprinkles tidbits and descriptions that add color and authenticity to the story – I really looked forward to finding them.

 

There's lots of action, making the story move quickly, and as I said before, I read it quickly because of it.

 

The characters and larger story reminded me a little of Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series (before it spun out of control). But where Alvin Maker was an alternate history, with Tecumseh settling in the Ohio Valley, this is a secret history. All the major points of history are authentic, except that the history books left out the part the witches played. As a teacher, I could see using this book to teach about the start of the American Revolution – talking about some of the points that *are* documented history.

 

Proctor Brown is the Main Character and we feel his confusion about magic and witchcraft.

 

I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it as a summer read. It's not great literature, but a fun romp through a "what if" of the American Revolution.

 

The second book, A Spell for the Revolution, is out now and sitting in my TBR pile. The Demon Redcoat, the final book of the trilogy, will be out later this month. Can't wait.

The weather's changed.  In the course of a couple of minutes.  I was sitting here, checking on the news of the day, and  the grey morning light could be seen out my window.  So I concentrated on LJ entries and email.

Then I heard rain against the window and looked up.  The day was black as if it were 2 am, the rain began to pelt the side of the house and thunder began in the distance.

It's still dark, the thunder is louder and I've seen flashes of lightning.  It's official - summer's coming.  Storms don't come on us as quickly here, during the other seasons.

Happy Summer LJ

Suelder

This if for my friend  http://vg-ford.livejournal.com/  She's published two books on the Four Horsemen, including Not Your Father's Horseman and Dark Moon Seasons.  And she's got black cats.  :D

I have scoliosis.  That means that my back is curved, side-to-side.  It's not bad, not bad enough for a brace.

But it means my hips twist.  And my hips twisted last night and they hurt, so I didn't get a lot of sleep.

Got to work, taught a class at Science Park High School.  I was on my feet all day.  And my hip still hurt.

Because my hip was twisted, my knee was twisted.  Because my knee was twisted, my ankle was twisted.  By the end of the day, it was swollen and hard.

So, I went to the chiropractor.  Tried to call the BF to tell him I'd be late.  Nope.  Cell Phone is out of charge.

Went to Doc, anyway.  He twisted me the right way - ankle is still swollen.

Drove down to BF's - got stuck in traffic.  BF wasn't there.

Turned out he waited until 6, not quite sure we'd said we were going to get together.  He tried to call.  The cell phone.  That wasn't working.

He tried to call me at work.  I wasn't *at* work.

at 6:50, I gave up and came home.

He called me and we'll try again tomorrow.

At least it won't be monday anymore.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with several other writers in FM chat.  We were talking about Orson Scott Card's MICE idea - that a story is based on:

Mileau - the setting of the story.  Les Miserable is a Mileau story
Idea - a cool idea happening - the conflict of ideas, etc.
Character - the focus is on the characters
Event - The Battle of the Bulge or the first interstellar star flight.

The insight that I hadn't grasped yet was that Characters are important in all those versions, but they stand for different things.  There's a character that represents each side of the conflicting ideas/ ideals.

I have several stories that really don't have a villain.  There are definite obstacles, but the conflict hasn't been terribly focused.

When I finished Lawgiver's first draft, I figured out the theme, the main conflict.

And now I'm thinking that one of the antagonists is going to get promoted to villain.  He'll represent the old ways and not wanting to change.

This will be odd, having a villain.  Well, we'll see where it goes.

Suelder

I've been thinking a lot about story - what is the story about?  I've also been doing some research and thought I'd share this exercise in distilling the story.  It's from "Novelist's Boot Camp" by Todd A. Stone

Note:  This is not the only way to do this, but it's one way.  Think of it as a tool to work on what a story is about - and to help with the query/ blurb, etc.

There are elements that most stories have - a causal event that gets the ball rolling, a protagonist, a series of obstacles, an antagonist (villain, nature, prophecy, etc.) and a final confrontation,  By identifying these elements and using them to summarize the story, you can figure out the story.

1. The causal event

2. The main character

3. Personality points for main character

4. The opposition

5. The four D's

Do

Discover

Decide

Deal

 

6. An Objective (coming from the causal event)

7. A final confrontation

 

This is what I've got for a novella idea called St. Joseph's fire:

When a demon invades her home (Causal Event), a protective and passionate wizard, Joana Alves (Protagonist), must stop him (Objective) before he opens a portal between our world and his. Xavier Cruz,(Protagonist) another wizard, confident and dangerous, joins forces with Joana to track the wizard(Do) and discover (Discover) his purpose, not realizing the secrets (Obstacle) they'll also uncover from Joana's past. They need to figure out each other at the same time they figure out what the demon wants so they can send him back behind the barrier before the fires of St. Joseph's feast (Final Confrontation).

 

What do you think?  Would you be interested in reading that story?  Do you have a clear idea of what the story is about?

Let me know. :D

For those of you who know me, you know that this weekend was the 100th anniversary party, including Dino Day.  The Museum I work at was open for 100 hours - straight.  Tours were given at 4 am.  Actors dressed up like the paintings roamed the galleries at 1 am.  And we had 8,700 visitors for Dino Day.  I lost my voice.  Those of you who know me, well, you realize what a traumatic event that can be ;-)

Today is all about cleaning up and restoring order. 

And I went for a 30 min. walk at lunchtime.

Just a note.  My museum (where I work) is having its 100th anniversary Centennial Celebration this week - we're just into hour number 3.

So, we're getting a LOT of people, including the mayor and the governor of the state.

If you're wondering where I am, I'm probably working.  Won't likely be online much until sometime on Sunday.

If I owe you a crit or an email or anything - I'll get to it next week.  Sorry 'bout that.

Suelder

One of my daily reads is www.pbackwriter.blogspot.com

Ms. Viehl finds cool things like Wordle to tell us about and she shared this with us:

http://www.fotosketcher.com/

It's described on their website as: 
 

FotoSketcher is a 100% free program which can help you convert your digital photos into art, automatically.

So, I played around with it and got this:

It works best with lowish resolution pictures - more of a painterly effect.
 

I've been playing around with photoshop and my camera - I've got a particular fascination with flowers and, hey, it's spring!

So, here's a pic of the cherry blossoms from my mom's front yard.

Several folks on my flist are spring cleaning and guess what?  so am I.

I have too much stuff.  I know it, but I'm not quite sure what to do about it.  I'm getting rid of old things, slowly.  But what do I do with the potter's wheel that I don't use any more?

I've thought about donating it, but it wasn't cheep.  I still want to take classes, but I don't throw pottery in my living room any more - there are other things to do, like writing, beading, baking.  Right now, it's got a lot of dust on it.sigh.  And I hate vacuuming.  But, it's time for spring cleaning.

So, how do I handle it?  I set a timer.  For a half hour, even fifteen minutes, and pick up or clean until the timer goes off.  It's slowly working.  It's GOT to get done.  I'll write more on Monday :).  After I finish my taxes :P

I am a baaaad blogger.  Even to wish a Happy Belated Birthday to V_Gford.  And no, I'm not awake enough to figure out how to do the linky thing.  I'll fix it later, after I wake up.  Maybe ;-)

For your amusement:

Today did not start out well and it's gotten worse.

My car had a shake, more pronounced at 30 miles an hour.  Now, it's pothole season, and I'm completely not surprised by this.  I made arrangements for a half day of work and took the car in.

When I got there, the service guy points out that I've 85,000 miles on it and there are a bunch of things that need to be dealth with.

How long will it take?  I need to leave no later than noon.  (This is 8:30 in the morning.)

At most, two hours.

I'd been planning to do the work, one thing at a time.  If I get them all done together, I'll save close to three hundred dollars.  Go ahead.

11:00 am - Is my car done?  No.  I've got some kind of special transmission fluid that they don't stock.  They're getting someone to bring it over.

11:30 am - Is my car done?  No. We're still waiting for the fluid.  I have to leave in half an hour.

11:45 am - Is my car done?  No.  I called him, he's five minutes away.

12:10 pm - Is my car done?  No.  He's almost here (note, the transmission fluid did not get here in five minutes.).  It'll take ten minutes once the stuff gets here.

12:15 pm - I need to leave.  Okay, we'll get you a rent-a-car and I'll deduct it from your bill.

12:20 pm - Rental car comes to pick me up.  It'll take ten mintues to fill out paperwork - I need to be an hour away from here at 1:30 - this is cutting it close.  Fill out paper work, get in car.

12:30 pm - adjust mirrors, start to back up.  Hit bumper of car behind me.

Yep.

This crotchety old lady just parked in back of me in the ONE MINUTE between my getting in and backing out.  No damage. But.

WE NEED TO FILL OUT A REPORT!

I do not normally use this LJ to bitch.  But I just give up.  I am now completely hysterical, call work, apologize, give them my reasons.  I am in no condition to drive, so the rental place takes me home.  The service company is still waiting for the transmission fluid.

I am now home, in my big black sweater and surfing the net to calm down.  I will make a sandwich, eat some chili.  Supposedly, the transmission fluid has finally arrived.  They will have to come and get me so I can get my car in about another hour. 

And it's raining.

ETA:  Chocolate, at many suggestions, has been achieved!

I found out yesterday that the director of my museum will tag anything that has to do with said museum - she's got a keyword service that picks up the name.  The museum must have been burned, because when a coworker's wife blogged about attending an opening, she was asked to take it down.  They (the museum's powers-that-be) need to control how the museum is presented to the public.

So I will only refer to the generic museum and only show pictures that are not part of the collection.  That's what they want and it's their choice.

But it got me to thinking (dangerous, I know).  This is a writing blog, but what I do for eight hours plus every weekday and a bunch of weekends does effect my writing.  Lawgiver is loosely based on Mongol culture.  We have a large collection of Tibetan artifacts and some of the reasearch I've done comes from the library at work.  In the Korean gallery, there are stone figures that used to guard a temple and a version of them figures prominently in Daughter of Legend (which is on the shelf waiting for me to finish the other two books in the trilogy it's part of.).

A large part of who I am and what I'm interested in comes from what I do for a living.  I don't think I can completely divorce myself from it and I certainly don't want to.  But I'll be careful not to name names.

How do you define who you are?  And how does it bleed into your writing?  Or does it?

By popular demand, here's the recipe for Vanilla Spiced Nuts:

Vanilla Spiced Nuts

 

This is taken from the Frog Commissary Cookbook by Steven Poses, Anne Clark and Becky Roller – I highly recommend the book.

 

I make these with walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds and sometimes peanuts. They're sweet, but not too sweet and quite addictive.

 

1 pound of nuts

½ cup sugar

2 ½ tablespoons corn oil

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

 

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon allspice

 

Note: Sometimes I'll substitute 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice for the last four spices.

 

Preheat the oven to 325F. Blend the corn oil and vanilla together.

 

Blanch the nuts in boiling water for one minute. Drain well.

 

While still hot, put in a bowl and toss with the sugar and the corn oil and vanilla extract mixture.

 

Arrange on a rimmed baking tray or a shallow casserole. Bake for 30-35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until nuts are light brown and crispy.

 

Combine the spices.

 

Put the still hot nuts into a bowl and toss with the seasoning mixture. Spread in a single layer to cool. Store in an airtight container if they last that long.

 

 

The session I attended at Boskone was a gentleman from Scotland who is planning a thread involving music and science fiction for a con in England.  I want to go to it, but there's no way I can get the time off in April :P

One of the threads involves the structure of music and the structure of a novel and the parallels thereof.  It's something I've thought about before and even blogged about last December, here: http://suelder.livejournal.com/23882.html

I'm still thinking about it:
 

Through a google search, I found this article from the NY Times book review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/books/review/Murakami-t.html?_r=1

 

in which the author considers the factors of music that have parallels in writing.

 

Whether in music or in fiction, the most basic thing is rhythm. Your style needs to have good, natural, steady rhythm, or people won’t keep reading your work. I learned the importance of rhythm from music — and mainly from jazz.

 

The rhythm of a poem is going to be vastly different from the rhythm of a novel. An epic novel is going to have a different feel from a YA coming-of-age story. I write pretty organically and not at all in order, so sometimes I don't know the rhythm of the story right away. But yeah, I see that the rhythm of the story can be like music.

 

It can also speak to the structure of a story. One of my unfinished Nano novels has five POV characters that trade their stories, then all the themes and stories combine. It's not finished because the fifth POV story wasn't *quite* right. Talking about this topic though, got me thinking about it again.

 

Next comes melody — which, in literature, means the appropriate arrangement of the words to match the rhythm. If the way the words fit the rhythm is smooth and beautiful, you can’t ask for anything more.

 

Sometimes, like in a fight scene, you want the rhythm and melody to be staccato and crisp, sometimes lyrical and melodic. The words need to match the rhythm and the purpose of the scene.

 

Then comes the part I like best: free improvisation. Through some special channel, the story comes welling out freely from inside. All I have to do is get into the flow.

 

Once, when I was stuck in writer's block hell, a friend suggested free-writing. I'm not sure if it was because the story was living in my subconscious or what, but riffing and freewriting worked. It's now my favorite way to break through that wall. Sometimes, all you have to do is sit down and start writing, for, say, an hour. By the end of that hour, you're on a roll and can keep going.

 

So, what do you think? And what other ways can you think of that connect music and writing?

 

 

Well, I did go to Boskone in Boston this past weekend and I'm still digesting what I learned and saw.

I agree with others that some panelists were more interested in congratulating themselves on how clever they were than the topic at hand.  (No one on my flist :)

Other panelists were interesting, engaging and thoughtful.

Theodora Goss is elegant and ethereal and so is her writing.

I *much* prefer to go to a conference with a friend - thanks Lisa.  And to those I didn't connect with, next year, we'll put together a group dinner.  Or something.

Over the next few days, I'll probably revisit some of the interesting topics and think out loud in this space.  I invite you to participate.  Some topics will include music and writing, author marketing, use of folklore structures and why adults read YA fiction.

Anything else you'd like to talk about?  Just mention it in comments :D