Honestly, it's the little things that will kill a book. Or a movie. The new one, 'Gravity,' has been berated for Sandra Bullock's hair. It doesn't float about. Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson caught the blooper. You've all seen the movie vids that show the number of bloopers in some movies. Most of these are one little thing that tips us off that someone wasn't paying attention. And - unfortunately - it takes us out of the moment.
I was going over Ch. 4 of 'Blue' tonight and realized I had one such blooper. Kathleen is on the back of a dragon, sitting behind a necromancer, and having a lively conversation with said necromancer. How could Kathleen hear the witch's chatter? Air flying by (you know how hard it is to hear in a car with its windows open) and great wings beating the air. Couldn't hear if she tried. So I had to move her to the front of the bus, so to speak, and let the necromancer talk into her ear with Kathleen shouting her replies. It worked, thankfully.
If you have a good editor, or a good critique group, they should be helping you with things like this. I know I have to rely on myself, but I also rely on others.
When I began in the work force, I was a legal admin. I was part of a huge national law firm. We were taught by the HR person how to proofread. We did it once ourselves, then we were instructed to use another admin in the 'pool' and read it aloud. These were important contracts and they had to be right. Really right.
We don't do that anymore, I've noticed. People rely upon themselves and that's a good thing, and a dollar-saver. But it is also a wee bit dangerous.
The same is true for our writing. We really can't trust ourselves, even after the fortieth edit. We will invariably miss something. I think it's human nature. We know what we meant and we wrote it. But did we? Or did we forget that it's really noisy on a flying dragon?
Just a thought for my friends.
Life is full of little things.
http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Bleeding
Please do not think this is a morose posting. Nor is it a hopeless one. It is reality. I read an Ernest Hemingway quote: 'There is nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter (keyboard - my word) and bleed.'
I definitely am of the camp that suffering helps writing. Yet, I know lots of writers, good writers, who haven't suffered (in the eyes of the world) and yet write a wicked tale. I think it's like everything in this crazy world. 50/50. What works for some won't work for the masses. And vice versa.
A dear friend of mine, a great writer, loves when life throws something at her (well, probably not loves it). Five times out of ten, she's thinking about how she can use a twisted ankle to bulk up a character, how shoveling snow and sweating in the midst of twenty degree wind chills gives her perspective for her mountain-climbing hero, or the love she has for her husband that she uses for her tragic heroine.
I bring this up because I've been doing a wee bit of suffering these last three years. At first, I thought of my writing and how to use emotions and hurts and such to make my stories even better, delving into these things in order to flesh out the characters and situations and the old arc!
At the moment, I'm in the midst of saying good-bye to the lifestyle I had before my medical conditions affected me to the point that I had to make major changes. I don't like this at all. I've lost the joy of 'suffering' for my stories. I suppose that sounds unhealthy, but I know you writers understand what I'm saying. It's the little things that chipped away at my joie de vivre. Now the big things are impacting me. I keep telling myself I will get well one day and resume my life, but I know it's probably not going to happen.
I find this frustrating besides. I want to write, but my energy is going to survival, at the moment. I know I'll write again. Heck, I'm putting on make-up again, and that is a very good thing! I am also almost finished with my paperwork. I've got two huge 'events' coming up, not fun ones, that insist on lots of paperwork. I feel good that I'm finally getting it all together. I can send it off to my attorney sometime next week.
A friend says she thinks she knows what the 'nasty' critiquer meant by 'voice' and she wants to meet to discuss it. I'm looking forward to that. Thankfully, I have learned, over the years, to accept creative and concrete criticism. I'm learning all the time.
The wounds of life need to be cauterized, but I will survive. I will write. I will continue to cajole my writing friends into greater deeds, and I will comfort those who are fighting the good fight.
Life is wonderful.
I definitely am of the camp that suffering helps writing. Yet, I know lots of writers, good writers, who haven't suffered (in the eyes of the world) and yet write a wicked tale. I think it's like everything in this crazy world. 50/50. What works for some won't work for the masses. And vice versa.
A dear friend of mine, a great writer, loves when life throws something at her (well, probably not loves it). Five times out of ten, she's thinking about how she can use a twisted ankle to bulk up a character, how shoveling snow and sweating in the midst of twenty degree wind chills gives her perspective for her mountain-climbing hero, or the love she has for her husband that she uses for her tragic heroine.
I bring this up because I've been doing a wee bit of suffering these last three years. At first, I thought of my writing and how to use emotions and hurts and such to make my stories even better, delving into these things in order to flesh out the characters and situations and the old arc!
At the moment, I'm in the midst of saying good-bye to the lifestyle I had before my medical conditions affected me to the point that I had to make major changes. I don't like this at all. I've lost the joy of 'suffering' for my stories. I suppose that sounds unhealthy, but I know you writers understand what I'm saying. It's the little things that chipped away at my joie de vivre. Now the big things are impacting me. I keep telling myself I will get well one day and resume my life, but I know it's probably not going to happen.
I find this frustrating besides. I want to write, but my energy is going to survival, at the moment. I know I'll write again. Heck, I'm putting on make-up again, and that is a very good thing! I am also almost finished with my paperwork. I've got two huge 'events' coming up, not fun ones, that insist on lots of paperwork. I feel good that I'm finally getting it all together. I can send it off to my attorney sometime next week.
A friend says she thinks she knows what the 'nasty' critiquer meant by 'voice' and she wants to meet to discuss it. I'm looking forward to that. Thankfully, I have learned, over the years, to accept creative and concrete criticism. I'm learning all the time.
The wounds of life need to be cauterized, but I will survive. I will write. I will continue to cajole my writing friends into greater deeds, and I will comfort those who are fighting the good fight.
Life is wonderful.
Monday, November 11, 2013
I Am Happy
I hope you are, too. I hope the universe spreads out my happy dust to all.
A dear friend called me on Skype tonight. I've been missing her like crazy. She moved to New Zealand eons ago. We kept in close touch, but this last year, what with the illnesses and such that have assailed me, we lost touch. Finally, the other night, I emailed her and said, 'Wha's up?' She emailed back that she's been struggling, health-wise, too. So we talked a bit and I told her, 'Please keep in touch.'
Well, as I said, she Skyped me tonight. AND she fixed my camera. Well, the connection at least. I can't believe it - zillions of miles apart and she fixes my camera. Life is good.
I spent the last two days working on paperwork. Honest to goodness, how I will ever survive being a published author, I'll never know. If I can't keep the little old paperwork that assails me now, how will I ever keep the paperwork of school visits and author signings and such? *giddy smile* I'll have to suffer, won't I?
I found a good couple of writing books that had been lost amidst the paperwork on the dining room table. I've put them on the couch where I can reach them with only a modicum of effort. *g*
I don't understand how paperwork proliferates. The dining room table is just that. It holds no magic, that I know of. Put a piece of paper down, a bill, a receipt, and it's like bunny rabbits. It mates with the table or something. I'm not sure how it works. *shudder* I don't want to know how it works. Perhaps there's some industrial strength anti-mating spray that I can use on the table. If I ever get it cleaned off. Sadly, some of the paperwork migrated to my office space, but thankfully, it doesn't seem to get impregnated from my desk like the poor paperwork on the dining room table.
I must keep my eyes open and see if there other fertilizing places in my home. I hope not.
Tomorrow, I will continue my quest to free myself of paperwork. Then, I will write. I have to. D will be over on Thursday and I dare not not have something ready for the woman! I love having deadlines.
Life is remarkable.
PS - I hate MS spellcheck.
A dear friend called me on Skype tonight. I've been missing her like crazy. She moved to New Zealand eons ago. We kept in close touch, but this last year, what with the illnesses and such that have assailed me, we lost touch. Finally, the other night, I emailed her and said, 'Wha's up?' She emailed back that she's been struggling, health-wise, too. So we talked a bit and I told her, 'Please keep in touch.'
Well, as I said, she Skyped me tonight. AND she fixed my camera. Well, the connection at least. I can't believe it - zillions of miles apart and she fixes my camera. Life is good.
I spent the last two days working on paperwork. Honest to goodness, how I will ever survive being a published author, I'll never know. If I can't keep the little old paperwork that assails me now, how will I ever keep the paperwork of school visits and author signings and such? *giddy smile* I'll have to suffer, won't I?
I found a good couple of writing books that had been lost amidst the paperwork on the dining room table. I've put them on the couch where I can reach them with only a modicum of effort. *g*
I don't understand how paperwork proliferates. The dining room table is just that. It holds no magic, that I know of. Put a piece of paper down, a bill, a receipt, and it's like bunny rabbits. It mates with the table or something. I'm not sure how it works. *shudder* I don't want to know how it works. Perhaps there's some industrial strength anti-mating spray that I can use on the table. If I ever get it cleaned off. Sadly, some of the paperwork migrated to my office space, but thankfully, it doesn't seem to get impregnated from my desk like the poor paperwork on the dining room table.
I must keep my eyes open and see if there other fertilizing places in my home. I hope not.
Tomorrow, I will continue my quest to free myself of paperwork. Then, I will write. I have to. D will be over on Thursday and I dare not not have something ready for the woman! I love having deadlines.
Life is remarkable.
PS - I hate MS spellcheck.
Secrets
My family throve on secrets. There was a divorce in the family in the early 1920's. Nobody divorced then. I have cousins that I don't know. I might even have aunts and uncles that I don't know. My mother's half-sister was an opera singer, but we don't have any record of her.
Folks talk about having character bios. To me, they're very important. But a little mystery might help, too. I can have a bio and family tree up to a point and then, my character can start looking. I can explain away behavior that might not be consistent with the family she grew up with, not knowing she carries baggage and DNA from a totally separate group. Life can be fun!
Secrets about health drive me mad. Some of these secrets can kill a family member if they don't know that something like diabetes runs in the family. There they are with the symptoms and thinking, it can't be _____ or ____. There's no family history.
Miss Marple would have a field day with secrets. I'm not a mystery writer myself, but I do enjoy them. And I can add a little mystery to my own stories to keep them fresh and alive. Nothing like a good dose of incest in a family, hidden for decades. *shivers*
I went to my Skyline meeting on Saturday and we talked about characters and how to keep them from being two-dimensional. We talked about bios and characters studies and using all kinds of 'tools' from other writers/presenters.
Found an absolutely awesome one here. I'm printing them all out and will share them with my writing buddies. Hope you enjoy them, too. (This is an educational/teachers site, but I find it helpful.)
http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/GO/character_story.htm
This one is totally focused towards character development. These are some of the basic questions we have to ask our Muse, but some of the questions towards the bottom delve deeper.
http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/files/ywp/ywp_10_hs_developed_characters.pdf
I like this one more. Definitely more introspective questions. Anything I can do to learn more about my character is great. However, I like her to surprise me, now and again.
http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/106
As for the meeting: we had a great time. My MS was critiqued and I felt good about it. There were suggestions, but overall, I was told to keep writing. I take that as a compliment (if I don't delve too far. giggle giggle)
I had critiqued an MS and the member was there so I shared my thoughts with her. That's when we got into the discussion about character development.
All in all, a good two hours spent in total writing mode. Picked my enthusiasm up by the bootstraps. I left the meeting feeling exhilarated. I still do.
Life is exhilarating.
Folks talk about having character bios. To me, they're very important. But a little mystery might help, too. I can have a bio and family tree up to a point and then, my character can start looking. I can explain away behavior that might not be consistent with the family she grew up with, not knowing she carries baggage and DNA from a totally separate group. Life can be fun!
Secrets about health drive me mad. Some of these secrets can kill a family member if they don't know that something like diabetes runs in the family. There they are with the symptoms and thinking, it can't be _____ or ____. There's no family history.
Miss Marple would have a field day with secrets. I'm not a mystery writer myself, but I do enjoy them. And I can add a little mystery to my own stories to keep them fresh and alive. Nothing like a good dose of incest in a family, hidden for decades. *shivers*
I went to my Skyline meeting on Saturday and we talked about characters and how to keep them from being two-dimensional. We talked about bios and characters studies and using all kinds of 'tools' from other writers/presenters.
Found an absolutely awesome one here. I'm printing them all out and will share them with my writing buddies. Hope you enjoy them, too. (This is an educational/teachers site, but I find it helpful.)
http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/GO/character_story.htm
This one is totally focused towards character development. These are some of the basic questions we have to ask our Muse, but some of the questions towards the bottom delve deeper.
http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/files/ywp/ywp_10_hs_developed_characters.pdf
I like this one more. Definitely more introspective questions. Anything I can do to learn more about my character is great. However, I like her to surprise me, now and again.
http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/106
As for the meeting: we had a great time. My MS was critiqued and I felt good about it. There were suggestions, but overall, I was told to keep writing. I take that as a compliment (if I don't delve too far. giggle giggle)
I had critiqued an MS and the member was there so I shared my thoughts with her. That's when we got into the discussion about character development.
All in all, a good two hours spent in total writing mode. Picked my enthusiasm up by the bootstraps. I left the meeting feeling exhilarated. I still do.
Life is exhilarating.
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