So, November, NaNoWriMo, and Kelsi and Joran have all come and gone. Have I mentioned that it had to have been a man who came up with the brilliant idea to put NaNoWriMo in the same month as my birthday, Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Seriously! Who's bright idea was that? Had to have been a man. (I say that even though my husband is the one who does all the Thanksgiving cooking, so it's not like I can claim days of slaving over the stove in preparation. However, there is no way on God's green earth that he is stepping foot in a store on Black Friday, so all the Christmas shopping is left to me, shopping and writing are not compatible.) I know. Excuses, excuses.
Anyway, K&J are out of the dungeon, they have a new start, and they are now kind of cooling their heels waiting for me to get done with the dragons before I go back to them again. We shall not discuss word count, but I can assure one and all that I was never in any danger of hitting the 50,000 word mark. That is what next year is for. Which means that in the next eleven months I have to come up with a really good story idea. I mean, I couldn't even write the book when I'd already written it once and knew it inside and out. Or maybe that's my problem. The last two years I've tried to rewrite something I'd already at least started on once. Maybe what I need to do is wake up November 1st and start writing. I guess we'll find out in eleven months. At least I had a good time getting together with my writing buddies. Who says writing isn't a social activity? (Though not one to be carried out while shopping.)
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Nanowrimo
Nanowrimo starts in just over an hour. Am I ready? No! Am I doing it anyway? Yes! Kelsi and Joran are being freed from the dungeon. They are seeing the light of day after six long years. Fresh start, blank page (screen). Better, stronger, faster. The bionic first-book-I-ever-wrote.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
day five and four months later
Okay, so I'm not technically writing on day five, which would have made me actually achieve my goal for writing every day of the conference. However, I am writing about day five, which is nearly the same. (And don't give me grief about it being four months later. I came home to two extra, not-completely-rotten-but-far-from-perfect kids living in my house for the summer. And after they left I had other excuses, not the least of which being the focus of this whole little post here today).
On the last morning of the conference we took turns having one on one time with Brandon out in the hallway where we could ask him questions/talk about our writing/have a staring contest. Because of my deep-seated, long-standing need to become invisible in situations where I feel inadequate, when people were writing down which order we were going to talk to Brandon in, I never really raised my hand. Well, not very high, and certainly not with any kind of vocal attention-getting techniques attached. So I was last. I think everyone was supposed to get something like 8 minutes alone with Brandon, but it's not like there was a timer or anything, and it's not like he's going to quit talking mid-sentence if somebody did come out and tell him exactly when time was up. So by the time it was my turn, I think I had maybe two minutes. I may have taken three. Anyway, while others were taking their turn and I was looking at the clock realizing my turn was going to be extremely short, I was trying to think of the most important question I could ask him. I don't know if I came up with the most important question, but by the time I went out in the hallway, I knew which one was bothering me the most (aside from the obvious 'why did I only get two freakin' minutes?')
So what does Michelle ask well-known, accomplished authors when she has their ear all to herself?
How do you know when it's ready?
That's the question I asked. I finished my dragon story several years ago. I gave it to people to read and they said it was good and to send it out. Now, granted, those people were family and friends, but they were family and friends who actually know a bit about the business of writing. My uncle is an actual editor, though an editor of non-fiction, schoolbook stuff. He said that there was nothing glaringly obvious that needed to be fixed and that any corrections would be personal to the editor who got it and couldn't be guessed at ahead of time. I have to say that makes a certain amount of sense. And Ethan, well, Ethan is co-authoring a book with Brandon Sanderson for pity's sake (though he wasn't at the time, it's true). I did send out one query letter to one editor (both Ethan and my sister knew her and said I should) and though she was not interested, she gave me some suggestions that sent me off on the not-quite-major overhaul. A couple of years after that, I started going to a class/writing group. The teacher was CRAZY about my book. Thought it was the best middle grade fantasy he had ever seen from a completely unknown, never-done-this-before person. I had my manuscript critiqued through chapter four and he wanted to start seeing query letters. I couldn't keep taking the class, so I kind of sat and twiddled my thumbs for a while, then last year I went to the writing conference. An actual author of actual children's books looked at my very own first chapter of my story. And told me to change it. (I should probably note that the very original first chapter was in the real world at bed time, which the editor I sent it to didn't like. She wanted it to start in the magical world to capture the kids right off. The children's book author at the conference thought it was too confusing starting in the magical world, that it needed to start in our world so the kids would be grounded in 'reality' before they went off trying to understand some made-up place.) I went from real world to Hiraeth to real world again, all on the suggestion of other people who didn't quite 'get it' the other way. (For the record, I now have a prologue in Hiraeth and the first chapter in the real world.) And at this conference, this year, they wanted yet another first chapter, which turns out to be the ORIGINAL first chapter, but without the kids going to bed (because who wants to read about that, right?). (Also, Anne was completely right about that. She has been telling me FOR YEARS that she wanted the original first chapter back and thought I never should have left it.)
So, Mr Mull, with all of this conflicting input from people who supposedly know what they're talking about and at the very least are intelligent, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to know when to send in my manuscript to somebody? When do I stop listening to other people, and how much weight do I give their comments if I do listen to them? (Quite frankly, of all the people who have actually looked at any part of my actual book, Brandon Mull is the ONLY person who writes/edits/does middle grade fantasy. Nobody else has. Either they do fantasy but not middle grade, so they have no idea what is expected of middle grade books, or they do middle grade but totally don't 'get' fantasy. And it really kind of breaks my heart a little bit that I didn't get any real feedback from Brandon about my manuscript. Just a little.)
And now for his answer, which was crazy short (his 'assistant' was standing a few feet away, waiting to take him to lunch, but even so, the answer is so brilliant it wouldn't have taken more time anyway).
He said, DUM DUM DUM--
Trust yourself.
Seriously. Who'da thought?
When your manuscript is as good as you can make it, when you're only making it worse by fiddling around with it, send it out.
And how, Mr Mull, is one supposed to know when that has happened? Well, that's the tricky part. That's getting to know yourself as a writer and what you are capable of, and it comes with time. He said he certainly didn't know those things when he first started sending things out, but now that he's been doing it a while he has a better feel for when he's at that point. And I would dare say that once you have been through the editing process with an editor (or agent, even) you learn things that you really can't pick up on your own.
That answer fits in nicely with the other voice that's been in my head all these years. It comes most loudly from Dave Wolverton (I subscribe to his Daily Kicks) but I've certainly heard it from countless sources. Send out your best stuff. Polish and polish and polish some more. Don't figure that just because you've typed "The End" that it's ready to go.
So that's where I'm at. I've listened to comments and suggestions, which is good, because I've made improvements to my story because of them. However, this time around I am trying to listen to myself more. Am I saying something the best way possible? Is my plot exciting and clear? Are my characters lovable/hatable? Are they growing? Over confidence has certainly never been my problem, but I'm hoping that I am at least developing self-awareness.
On the last morning of the conference we took turns having one on one time with Brandon out in the hallway where we could ask him questions/talk about our writing/have a staring contest. Because of my deep-seated, long-standing need to become invisible in situations where I feel inadequate, when people were writing down which order we were going to talk to Brandon in, I never really raised my hand. Well, not very high, and certainly not with any kind of vocal attention-getting techniques attached. So I was last. I think everyone was supposed to get something like 8 minutes alone with Brandon, but it's not like there was a timer or anything, and it's not like he's going to quit talking mid-sentence if somebody did come out and tell him exactly when time was up. So by the time it was my turn, I think I had maybe two minutes. I may have taken three. Anyway, while others were taking their turn and I was looking at the clock realizing my turn was going to be extremely short, I was trying to think of the most important question I could ask him. I don't know if I came up with the most important question, but by the time I went out in the hallway, I knew which one was bothering me the most (aside from the obvious 'why did I only get two freakin' minutes?')
So what does Michelle ask well-known, accomplished authors when she has their ear all to herself?
How do you know when it's ready?
That's the question I asked. I finished my dragon story several years ago. I gave it to people to read and they said it was good and to send it out. Now, granted, those people were family and friends, but they were family and friends who actually know a bit about the business of writing. My uncle is an actual editor, though an editor of non-fiction, schoolbook stuff. He said that there was nothing glaringly obvious that needed to be fixed and that any corrections would be personal to the editor who got it and couldn't be guessed at ahead of time. I have to say that makes a certain amount of sense. And Ethan, well, Ethan is co-authoring a book with Brandon Sanderson for pity's sake (though he wasn't at the time, it's true). I did send out one query letter to one editor (both Ethan and my sister knew her and said I should) and though she was not interested, she gave me some suggestions that sent me off on the not-quite-major overhaul. A couple of years after that, I started going to a class/writing group. The teacher was CRAZY about my book. Thought it was the best middle grade fantasy he had ever seen from a completely unknown, never-done-this-before person. I had my manuscript critiqued through chapter four and he wanted to start seeing query letters. I couldn't keep taking the class, so I kind of sat and twiddled my thumbs for a while, then last year I went to the writing conference. An actual author of actual children's books looked at my very own first chapter of my story. And told me to change it. (I should probably note that the very original first chapter was in the real world at bed time, which the editor I sent it to didn't like. She wanted it to start in the magical world to capture the kids right off. The children's book author at the conference thought it was too confusing starting in the magical world, that it needed to start in our world so the kids would be grounded in 'reality' before they went off trying to understand some made-up place.) I went from real world to Hiraeth to real world again, all on the suggestion of other people who didn't quite 'get it' the other way. (For the record, I now have a prologue in Hiraeth and the first chapter in the real world.) And at this conference, this year, they wanted yet another first chapter, which turns out to be the ORIGINAL first chapter, but without the kids going to bed (because who wants to read about that, right?). (Also, Anne was completely right about that. She has been telling me FOR YEARS that she wanted the original first chapter back and thought I never should have left it.)
So, Mr Mull, with all of this conflicting input from people who supposedly know what they're talking about and at the very least are intelligent, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to know when to send in my manuscript to somebody? When do I stop listening to other people, and how much weight do I give their comments if I do listen to them? (Quite frankly, of all the people who have actually looked at any part of my actual book, Brandon Mull is the ONLY person who writes/edits/does middle grade fantasy. Nobody else has. Either they do fantasy but not middle grade, so they have no idea what is expected of middle grade books, or they do middle grade but totally don't 'get' fantasy. And it really kind of breaks my heart a little bit that I didn't get any real feedback from Brandon about my manuscript. Just a little.)
And now for his answer, which was crazy short (his 'assistant' was standing a few feet away, waiting to take him to lunch, but even so, the answer is so brilliant it wouldn't have taken more time anyway).
He said, DUM DUM DUM--
Trust yourself.
Seriously. Who'da thought?
When your manuscript is as good as you can make it, when you're only making it worse by fiddling around with it, send it out.
And how, Mr Mull, is one supposed to know when that has happened? Well, that's the tricky part. That's getting to know yourself as a writer and what you are capable of, and it comes with time. He said he certainly didn't know those things when he first started sending things out, but now that he's been doing it a while he has a better feel for when he's at that point. And I would dare say that once you have been through the editing process with an editor (or agent, even) you learn things that you really can't pick up on your own.
That answer fits in nicely with the other voice that's been in my head all these years. It comes most loudly from Dave Wolverton (I subscribe to his Daily Kicks) but I've certainly heard it from countless sources. Send out your best stuff. Polish and polish and polish some more. Don't figure that just because you've typed "The End" that it's ready to go.
So that's where I'm at. I've listened to comments and suggestions, which is good, because I've made improvements to my story because of them. However, this time around I am trying to listen to myself more. Am I saying something the best way possible? Is my plot exciting and clear? Are my characters lovable/hatable? Are they growing? Over confidence has certainly never been my problem, but I'm hoping that I am at least developing self-awareness.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day four
I am in the midst--THE VERY MIDST--of rewriting chapter one. I am writing this only because I set a goal to post every day this conference, darn it, and I'm not going to drop the pen now (so to speak). (And don't tell me I can't mix/mess-up metaphors. I do it all the time. I am the champion of the mangled metaphor!)
That's all you get today. The new and improved (also known as the old, very-first-but-back-again-completely-different) chapter one awaits.
Come on, Rebecca, be brilliant.
That's all you get today. The new and improved (also known as the old, very-first-but-back-again-completely-different) chapter one awaits.
Come on, Rebecca, be brilliant.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Day three
Okay, so I didn't have to mention Lloyd Alexander at all. Nobody had issues with my names, except for Liosalfar, because it was in the Fianovar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay (which I read, and loved, years ago but had forgotten that name was in it), and Jambalaya. Just wait till they find out about Mulligatawny. And I'm going to rewrite my first chapter (AGAIN) but I can't talk about that right now. It may be the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it.
I went to a panel on net-working, which I am terrible at, but I'm going to try to be better. Writers have a tendency to be introverts (at least this one is). Introverts are not known for being extroverts.
There was more I was going to say, but my brain is mush. Oh! The comment yesterday about British rights. I certainly don't have such a thing yet, but someday I hope to. Those foreign sales are something to think about, according to Dave Wolverton (and I believe him). I'm just trying to learn from the masters. (I still haven't actually spoken to Dave, or given him a hug or anything. He's always surrounded by people and I don't want interrupt. And I don't think I would dare give him a hug right now anyway. Apparently he was in an accident a while back and he moves like he is in so much pain. I guess I'm afraid just hovering around him will add to his discomfort, so I don't linger.)
Tomorrow is the booksignings. Duncan has asked me to get an autograph from Brandon Mull. He doesn't care what it's on, he just wants his name and Brandon's name on the same piece of paper. I'm taking The Candy Shop Wars to get signed. I think he will enjoy the book.
I went to a panel on net-working, which I am terrible at, but I'm going to try to be better. Writers have a tendency to be introverts (at least this one is). Introverts are not known for being extroverts.
There was more I was going to say, but my brain is mush. Oh! The comment yesterday about British rights. I certainly don't have such a thing yet, but someday I hope to. Those foreign sales are something to think about, according to Dave Wolverton (and I believe him). I'm just trying to learn from the masters. (I still haven't actually spoken to Dave, or given him a hug or anything. He's always surrounded by people and I don't want interrupt. And I don't think I would dare give him a hug right now anyway. Apparently he was in an accident a while back and he moves like he is in so much pain. I guess I'm afraid just hovering around him will add to his discomfort, so I don't linger.)
Tomorrow is the booksignings. Duncan has asked me to get an autograph from Brandon Mull. He doesn't care what it's on, he just wants his name and Brandon's name on the same piece of paper. I'm taking The Candy Shop Wars to get signed. I think he will enjoy the book.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Day two
I am destined to sleep through this conference, I can tell. It's even later than it was last night and I almost slept through one of the lectures today. Honestly. It's hard being this pathetic. But I am, so this has to be quick.
Our assignment from yesterday was coming up with a one sentence pitch. Here goes.
Three siblings discover they are the lost heirs of a magical land.
Done before, yes, I know. But it's something, and something I haven't had before. I'm working on the paragraph pitch, and will hopefully have that tomorrow (later today). Also tomorrow (later today) I will be getting feedback on my prologue and first chapter. My nerves are jangling, to say the least. I am anticipating comments on prologues in general, and names (Liosalfar and probably Hiraeth). I intend to stick to my guns, siting Lloyd Alexander as the president for funky words in middle grade, and also Welsh.
In other 'news' Dave Wolverton's presentation was wonderful. However, I don't have enough brain cells awake right now to say how or why. Except that I will probably also be siting him too. I want that British contract too.
Our assignment from yesterday was coming up with a one sentence pitch. Here goes.
Three siblings discover they are the lost heirs of a magical land.
Done before, yes, I know. But it's something, and something I haven't had before. I'm working on the paragraph pitch, and will hopefully have that tomorrow (later today). Also tomorrow (later today) I will be getting feedback on my prologue and first chapter. My nerves are jangling, to say the least. I am anticipating comments on prologues in general, and names (Liosalfar and probably Hiraeth). I intend to stick to my guns, siting Lloyd Alexander as the president for funky words in middle grade, and also Welsh.
In other 'news' Dave Wolverton's presentation was wonderful. However, I don't have enough brain cells awake right now to say how or why. Except that I will probably also be siting him too. I want that British contract too.
Monday, June 14, 2010
WIFYR day one
I have the best husband in the world. That's just the way things are, there's no reason to get upset and nothing to argue about. He signed me up for the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference this year. I went last year and LOVED it and kind of wanted to live in an alternate writing-conference universe forever by the time I was done. I could really get into spending my day with adults talking about writing, and not doing laundry, dishes or dinner EVER AGAIN. However, I don't live in a world of alternate universes, so I've spent the last year with laundry, dishes and dinner. When I got the announcement about this year's conference I took a brief mental vacation to that universe and imagined spending a week with Brandon Mull as my mentor. An actual writer of middle-grade fantasy, just like me. (And a nice guy, if you can trust impressions from book signings, which I think I was safe to do on this one.) Then the vacation was over and reality came knocking, in the form of bills and expenses. I honestly didn't go back.
Then three weeks ago Matthew gave me my anniversary present (sixteen years!). He had signed me up for Brandon Mull's class (a miracle in itself, since it's been my observation that the fantasy ones are some of the first to fill up). So, today was my first day at the conference. I'm not as ready as I would like to be and I would like to blame that on Matthew for not telling me about this until three weeks ago. I didn't get over the whole school-stress until the actual last day of school, and then I had an Assassin's Creed costume to make for my son's birthday (thank you, Lis, for making all the parts that I couldn't) and then I had to get ready to have our niece and nephew come live with us for the summer. The 'getting ready' part still hasn't happened, even though the kids have been with us for a week and a half. I'll tackle that again this weekend.
It sounds like I'm making excuses, and I am, but not sincerely. The truth is, I could have submitted to the agent and editors who were at the conference last year, but I never had anything ready enough to do it. And that was a whole year, not just three weeks. So I am turning over a new leaf (pardon the cliche). I am not just going to attend this conference this year. I am going to participate, starting with blogging something that I've learned every day. Here goes.
I had an aha moment in Brandon Mull's breakout session this afternoon (it wasn't my only aha moment, but it's the one I'm picking on at the moment). He was quoting Orson Scott Card (basically): "What is in the story should be in the story for your character to react to." And I thought of the saying in mysteries (either books or movies, I'm not sure) that if there is a gun on table in the first chapter it had better go off by the end of the book (or something along those lines). Not that everything your character sees, hears or smells has to change the course of the story, but if it's in there, your character should be aware of it, it shouldn't just be there for the author. I don't know if Brandon or Scott would put it that way, or even agree with me, but it's a way of thinking about description that I think will help me decide what to put in and what to leave out. I think it was especially helpful coming after Alane Ferguson talked about description in her class right before Brandon's. Description is something I struggle with. Because I am so afraid of putting in too much, I usually start out not putting in enough and have to add more, which then becomes too much. Between the two of them I believe I have a better understanding.
This was supposed to be short and sweet but I got a bit carried away. (I had to sing Matthew's praises, especially because he took the whole week off work so I could go to this. Long before I had resigned myself to not going this year, my sister had agreed to watch my kids for me if I did go--to the extent of even having the three of them stay at her house all week so we wouldn't have to worry about ferrying them back and forth. (Not only do I have the best husband, but I also have the best sister.) Then we got two extra kids for the summer, and having her watch all five just wouldn't be right, especially since the two extras are from Matthew's side of the family, not mine. So Matthew took the week off to stay home and be Mr Mom to five kids, with no car to run errands in and a bathroom to finish putting together.) I need to get to bed and I still have homework for tomorrow. A one sentence pitch for my book, and a one paragraph pitch for my book. This is not something I am good at. In the many years I have been writing/revising/trying to hatch this book, I have never had a one sentence pitch for it. There is a reason for that. I am feeling stress. Pitches are for baseball, and I can't do that either. I am a non-pitch person. Except that come 8:30 in the morning, I won't get to be one any longer.
Then three weeks ago Matthew gave me my anniversary present (sixteen years!). He had signed me up for Brandon Mull's class (a miracle in itself, since it's been my observation that the fantasy ones are some of the first to fill up). So, today was my first day at the conference. I'm not as ready as I would like to be and I would like to blame that on Matthew for not telling me about this until three weeks ago. I didn't get over the whole school-stress until the actual last day of school, and then I had an Assassin's Creed costume to make for my son's birthday (thank you, Lis, for making all the parts that I couldn't) and then I had to get ready to have our niece and nephew come live with us for the summer. The 'getting ready' part still hasn't happened, even though the kids have been with us for a week and a half. I'll tackle that again this weekend.
It sounds like I'm making excuses, and I am, but not sincerely. The truth is, I could have submitted to the agent and editors who were at the conference last year, but I never had anything ready enough to do it. And that was a whole year, not just three weeks. So I am turning over a new leaf (pardon the cliche). I am not just going to attend this conference this year. I am going to participate, starting with blogging something that I've learned every day. Here goes.
I had an aha moment in Brandon Mull's breakout session this afternoon (it wasn't my only aha moment, but it's the one I'm picking on at the moment). He was quoting Orson Scott Card (basically): "What is in the story should be in the story for your character to react to." And I thought of the saying in mysteries (either books or movies, I'm not sure) that if there is a gun on table in the first chapter it had better go off by the end of the book (or something along those lines). Not that everything your character sees, hears or smells has to change the course of the story, but if it's in there, your character should be aware of it, it shouldn't just be there for the author. I don't know if Brandon or Scott would put it that way, or even agree with me, but it's a way of thinking about description that I think will help me decide what to put in and what to leave out. I think it was especially helpful coming after Alane Ferguson talked about description in her class right before Brandon's. Description is something I struggle with. Because I am so afraid of putting in too much, I usually start out not putting in enough and have to add more, which then becomes too much. Between the two of them I believe I have a better understanding.
This was supposed to be short and sweet but I got a bit carried away. (I had to sing Matthew's praises, especially because he took the whole week off work so I could go to this. Long before I had resigned myself to not going this year, my sister had agreed to watch my kids for me if I did go--to the extent of even having the three of them stay at her house all week so we wouldn't have to worry about ferrying them back and forth. (Not only do I have the best husband, but I also have the best sister.) Then we got two extra kids for the summer, and having her watch all five just wouldn't be right, especially since the two extras are from Matthew's side of the family, not mine. So Matthew took the week off to stay home and be Mr Mom to five kids, with no car to run errands in and a bathroom to finish putting together.) I need to get to bed and I still have homework for tomorrow. A one sentence pitch for my book, and a one paragraph pitch for my book. This is not something I am good at. In the many years I have been writing/revising/trying to hatch this book, I have never had a one sentence pitch for it. There is a reason for that. I am feeling stress. Pitches are for baseball, and I can't do that either. I am a non-pitch person. Except that come 8:30 in the morning, I won't get to be one any longer.
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