A fly on the wall

It's been a while since I've written, probably due to the fact it's been a while since I've 'written' (if you get what I mean). I have been working on my manuscript, but I don't have enough to show for it to feel justified in talking about it. I've been spending a lot of time reading James Dashner's blog and learning about the process he went through to get where he's at today, and also where exactly he is at today, in terms of writing (it was only today that I figured out what an ARC is and I felt rather like a child listening to adult conversations as his many fans were begging for an ARC of his latest book. I wanted to ask what they were talking about, but felt too stupid. Now I know and I'm glad I didn't expose my ignorance to the world on his blog...so I could expose it on my own instead. Huh. I guess I'm really not that smart after all...)

Anyway, let's all hope and pray that I don't always write in such convoluted terms or I'll never get published.

Back in February I signed up for David Farland's Kick in the Pants and consider it to be one of the best things I've done (writing wise) in a long time. I have posted a link to one of his Kicks before and I'm going to post another one tonight. Whether you're a writer or an Indiana Jones fan or just a geek that likes to learn obscure things, this is a totally cool post. I'll let it speak for istelf, but I will say this: aside from the discussion of Indiana's character (which is fascinating) I think the best part of the whole thing is "Consider their approach to exposition." One of the things I'm stressed about in my own book is a Council-of-Elrond-ish scene where the kids learn a whole bunch of stuff about Hiraeth and their family history. I'm afraid it's just an info dump, but I don't really know how to change it (and I intend to deal with it when I actually get that far in the rewrite. Right now it just hurts my brain.) After reading this bit with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan, I'm not certain I can do on paper what they did on film, but it at least shows what utterly brilliant minds can do. It remains to be seen if I have an utterly brilliant mind.

The "Raiders" Story Conference