Southern Writing

Yay for contests!

I'm a finalist in the writing contest at Noveldoctor.com.

You can click here to read my entry.

Breaking open new business models

When I first started discovering blogs, I was also reading the novel In the Night Garden, by Catherynne M. Valente. I found the author's website and checked it out. Then, I found her Livejournal and checked that out. Then, I went about my business, still unfamiliar with things like RSS feeds and the power of even LiveJournal as a writing tool.

Along the way, I started following some emerging authors and eventually found Dr. Wicked's Write or Die. That led to the Fabulous Lorraine blog, which I started reading, because I love reading about things like bees and kitties that were saved from impending doom by kind hearted ladies with purple hair.

I also started following some of my favorite authors on Twitter, like Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis. And, just so fate could prove its small degrees of separation are normal and to be expected, I soon discovered Fabulous Lorraine was Neil Gaiman's assistant.

This is a very convoluted way to get to the point, which is that one day Gaiman tweeted about Valente, who was going through hard financial times. She'd come up with a new idea- she would start accepting donations as payment for a new novel she was writing, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making.

The story is a YA adventure about a girl who enters Fairy Land and was first mentioned in Valente's other novel, Palimpsest (which I have not yet read).

This is all a very roundabout way of getting to the point- so far, I've loved TGWCFiaSoHOM. It is very much what I would read to my children if I had any. In fact, I would consider borrowing children, just so I could read them this story. Since I started the conversion process, I've been thinking about having children and passing knowledge and cultural institutions down to them, and Valente's story is something that needs to be passed down.

There are so many things I could gush about- the main character is a young girl who is a complex character, not a stereotype. The rules for Fairy Land are set up right at the start, in an action scene that lets the reader know there is much adventure yet to come. The creatures she's encountered so far, like a leopard that flies and a green wind, fill the mind with wonder.

Because of the overwhelming response from the Gaiman/ Ellis viral marketing team, Valente posted soon after she came up with the idea of posting the story online that she can now pay her rent for the next few months and the crisis is over. But, I would say to readers out there, those who love fantasy, children, children at heart, just about anyone who's ever cracked open a book, that the future of fiction is now. We need to support our writers, and what better way is there than to support those writers who are brave enough to take a leap and come up with a new business model?

So far, I've donated $4, because I have my own financial troubles to deal with. But, that's $4 that's gone directly to the author, and within a few weeks she'll have made more money just off my donations than she would have if I bought every one of her books (which I also plan to do, when I have the cash).

I feel like I've said very little in too many words, but I'm sure you get the point. So, check out her site. What are you waiting for?

Rethinking the writing process

For every piece of fiction I've written before now, this has been my process:

1. Write a story in a couple hundred word chunks at a time.
2. Get discouraged after a few thousand words because of how "horrible" everything I write is.
3. Hit a block where it's about impossible for me to write anything, because it all looks so bad in my own eyes.
4. Finish the story.
5. Rewrite and decide it's not that bad.
6. Send out for publication.

Most stories get to step 3 and fizzle. With my current novel, I've reached 27,000 words with at least 23,000 more to go, and it seems realistic I'll reach this goal.

My secret this time around is my beta readers. I have a couple that, every once in a while, tell me they're sorry they haven't finished reading whatever chapter they're on, then send me a frantic message for another chapter.

There's one guy, whom I've never met, who seems genuinely excited by the story. He reads and sends me feedback; he's already on chapter five when everyone else is on three or, in one case, four.

So far, I've heard that the writing is slick and professional, that it's believable and has unique elements, and that it reads "like a Tom Clancy novel." I think this is going to be the secret to the success of this book.

Almost halfway there!

Despite my free time being taken up by my synagogue, an art project I'm working on, some fun stuff with friends, and a horrible sinus headache that grounded me for most of yesterday, I managed to sail past the 20,000 word mark in my novel over the weekend.

I'm almost halfway to my minimum word count, and I alternate between wondering how I'll manage to get to my ultimate goal of approximately 75,000 words, and wondering if I'll be able to squeeze all of my ideas into such a small allotment of words.

Things I've discovered since I began writing:

• My main character is going to have a real boyfriend.
• Something terrible is going to happen to him.
• She is going to rage against the machine.
• She is (hopefully) going to realize her inner strength doesn't come from having vampire super powers, and that the super powers of the other supernatural creatures mean nothing in the face of her own determination. (Although, she'll still do a bit of experimenting with what limited powers I give her.)

This post was originally full of spoilers. I think I weeded most of them out.

The death of a personal hero

David Carradine is dead.

To figure out the inner workings of my mind, it may or may not be important to know that David Carradine was one of my heroes, if not "the hero" of my life.

I never met him, never knew what he was like in real life, never even sent him a letter. But, through the roles he played on television and film, he gave me a sort of anchor in my mind.

The first time I remember seeing him was in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. His grace of movement and speech was instantly calming to me. When I was in elementary school, Kung Fu: TLC was like my crack, except it was a relaxing, escapist sort of crack that had no real side effects besides my angry mother telling me I needed to do the dishes, "Or else!"

As I grew older, I followed his career obsessively, getting my grubby little hands on all sorts of his movies. My favorites are Sundown, the story of a vampire town that is coming to grips with vampirism by making their own blood, and Dead & Breakfast (even though he was only in it for a few scenes) which is a hoedown sort of zombie musical. Kill Bill 2 was also awesome, but I've only seen it three or four times (twice in the theatres) as opposed to the 20 or so times I've seen each of his other movies and TV episodes.

I'm sorry David Carradine is dead (allegedly he hung himself while in Bangkok), but it's for my own selfish reasons. I want him to keep making movies, so I can watch them. Or, even better, TV shows, so I can watch him even more. I do have to say, I'm glad he lived, because his legacy will live on, at least in my house, where I can experience the characters he portrayed for years to come.