The three main characters in my book are based on my kids. I have other stories where the characters are completely made up, based on nobody/nothing at all, but this book, this series, Dawson, Cris and Casey are Jonathon, Duncan and Kaes, and it's all their fault.
When Jonathon was a little boy, we came home during a thunderstorm, and just as he got out of the car (after a crash of thunder overhead) he said, "Dragon roar, dragon boom." I thought my mind was going to explode. Those four words overflowed with possibility, with creative genius. I tried to think of a story, but nothing came. Duncan came along and I tried several times to write a story about two brothers and dragons. Nothing worked (though those pathetic attempts are still on my computer). Then Kaes came along and suddenly so did the story. It was waiting for the little sister, the princess, and once she got here, things started falling into place. People who know my kids recognize them in their character counterparts.
Last night, Kaes's friend left her bike at our house when she went home. It wasn't late, but it was already dark outside when Kaes decided she would take the bike over to her friend's house, three houses down from ours. I was in the living room with Matthew and Jonathon when we heard this terrible screaming outside. Jonathon took off like a bullet. I was right behind him, but the boy is six feet tall and runs like a gazelle; he reached his sister long before I did. It turns out our neighbor's dog two houses over had gotten out of the house just as Kaes was walking past and came running up to her. Kaes, who LOVES dogs (and anything else with fur) has been told for over a year that she can't pet this particular dog because he doesn't do well with strangers. In her mind, that meant he was a mean dog, and when he came running up to her, she freaked out. He didn't hurt her, but she was pretty shook up about it.
The point of this story is that Dawson really does love and take care of his sister (and his brother). Do Jonathon and Kaes have the same relationship as Dawson and Casey? No. They are not exactly the same (for one thing, my kids don't really have dragons, darn it) and it's true that Dawson, Cris and Casey are a little idealized. But the love is real, and Dawson is an awesome big brother. He should be: he's based on my Jonathon.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
NaNoWriMo
November is National Novel Writing Month. It is also the month of my birthday, two siblings' birthdays, Thanksgiving, and the month before Christmas. Which is why I signed up to write a novel this month. What's that? you say. You're crazy, you say. You haven't written on your blog in months, you say (and I've heard something about it being write-on-your-blog-every-day month too). Why yes, I am a little insane, thanks for noticing. In fact, I'm insane enough to be working on polishing my first dragon book while committing to write the second. Yup. Insane. My patheticness knows no bounds. I'm supposed to keep track of my word count for NaNoWriMo and I can't even figure out how how to do that. (I am certain that these are things I should not be confessing, in case some interested agent/editor someday looks me up and finds out how utterly incompetent I really am. However, in my defense, they say that it is writing ability that will get me published, not my ability to to do a word count. Besides, I'm confident that by then end of this month, I will know how to find a word count.)
So, I spent an hour or so this afternoon writing. I know, an hour a day does not a novel make, at least not in one month. However, I spent most of the morning reading On Writing, by Stephen King, since I have been told on countless blogs that I should read that to improve my writing. And since I am focusing on my writing this month, this seemed like a good time to read his book. Except that reading does get in the way of writing. It's an issue I will have to work on throughout the month, I guess. In any case, I realized that my 'writing' muscles are woefully under developed. The idea of this month, and the reason I decided to do this instead of working on next month's Christmas presents, is to turn off the editor and just write. Create. That sounds like bliss. I just have a hard time doing it. I have barely one page written so far today (though single spaced, since I never fiddle with lines and page numbering and what-not until later) and I found myself going back and changing this word or that instead of moving forward. I have a lot to learn and I look forward to learning it.
Now, if they could have made NaNoWriMo in March when I don't have birthdays and holidays to contend with, this would be perfect.
So, I spent an hour or so this afternoon writing. I know, an hour a day does not a novel make, at least not in one month. However, I spent most of the morning reading On Writing, by Stephen King, since I have been told on countless blogs that I should read that to improve my writing. And since I am focusing on my writing this month, this seemed like a good time to read his book. Except that reading does get in the way of writing. It's an issue I will have to work on throughout the month, I guess. In any case, I realized that my 'writing' muscles are woefully under developed. The idea of this month, and the reason I decided to do this instead of working on next month's Christmas presents, is to turn off the editor and just write. Create. That sounds like bliss. I just have a hard time doing it. I have barely one page written so far today (though single spaced, since I never fiddle with lines and page numbering and what-not until later) and I found myself going back and changing this word or that instead of moving forward. I have a lot to learn and I look forward to learning it.
Now, if they could have made NaNoWriMo in March when I don't have birthdays and holidays to contend with, this would be perfect.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
writing conferences and rejection
First off, I have to say that I got a very polite, generic form rejection back within 24 hours of sending off my query letter (a month ago, I know. Leave me alone). Should I have posted? Probably. But it was so utterly, politely impersonal that there wasn't even enough angst to go along with it, so I didn't. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I wasn't devastated (okay, I wasn't actually devastated) but it's not like I didn't expect it. I didn't want it, and I had vivid fantasies of six-figure deals being FedExed at 7:00 in the morning, but I expected it.
So I have officially submitted and been rejected. My journey down a new path has begun. However, my journey is, so far, not unlike a game of Candyland and I am on one of those squares where you have to draw a certain color before you can move again. I have not yet drawn the right color, and I have not submitted anything else. Yet. But wait, I am not completely pathetic. Yet. (Though I am the only reason I haven't submitted again. It's not like the polite form rejection came back with a PostIt that said, "Please don't send this again. Ever. To anyone." It's just me.)
To prove my lack of pathetic-ness, I have been attending a writing conference this week at BYU. It's an all day, week long afair, and I am loving it. I spend the morning with thirteen other ladies and our mentor/guide/teacher, Claudia Mills (whose math-inlcuded chapter book I bought in the hope that it will inspire Duncan in both math and reading). Claudia is a) delightful and 2) wonderful. She has taught us (well, at least me) a lot and she is a completely nice person to boot. Though apparently when you get fifteen (fourteen, not counting her) grown adult women in the same room together they will sound like fifteen (fourteen) kindergartners, though with more sophisticated chatter (and I say that only because I hope it's true). The afternoons are spent listening to agents and editors (real live ones that you can stalk) and honest-to-goodness actual authors who get paid and everything (also available for stalking). I have learned tons there also, and should probably go through all of my notes at some point and post them. Wouldn't that be productive of me . . .
We interrupt this post to bring you the charming news that my wonderful husband (who brought me a rumball as compensation for my day) is going to co-author a cookbook. His name is going to be on the front of a book before mine, and ask me how much he writes. Okay, he does write, but mostly he cooks, and very well, but considering that this cookbook is about cooking for one and he can only cook for one if the one is like a single regiment of an army, it is all suspect and unfair.
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post, whatever it was.
The ladies in my group/class are great writers and have wonderful ideas. On the one hand, I wish I could keep copies of what they've passed around for us to read, and on the other, I wish they'd just hurry up and get published. (Watch out Edward, Rye is going to take your crown as reigning supernatural heart-throb hunk.)
Speaking of the ladies' writing, I need to go read their writing for tomorrow and it's crazy late. My kids didn't get dinner until after 9:30 and didn't get to bed until after 10:30. My daughter (after I got home and not during the day when I was gone and she would have been oblivious) came in for dinner with 'mud' on her pants. Except it wasn't mud, it was poop-dog (as she used to call it when she was younger). So I took the pants off and threw them in dumpster. Yes, there was nothing else wrong with the pants, there were no holes and they still fit, and I went ahead and threw them in the trash because today is not the day I clean poop-dog out of my daughter's pants. All of this being proof positive that I am not a) supposed to work full-time, and 2) not supposed to have more than three kids. It could also mean that I'm not supposed to have the kids I've already got, but it's too late for them now, they're stuck with me.
So we come to the end of this post. Can you tell when my husband came home and everything kind of fell apart? I have a hard time writing and talking at the same time. I am loving this conference and I want desperately to be able to come again next year. It would be great to have this be part of my life on a regular basis. What a wonderful way to spend a week.
One more thing. I found out when I got home today that Karen writes fantasy. Today we read her story about Sheldon the very-cute-snail-that-I-liked. Yesterday we read about billions of zucchini taking over a garden. When I got home this evening I found that snails had eaten my zucchini plant AGAIN and we will not be having zucchini this year--AGAIN. I don't get it. It's all but a freakin' weed, and I can't grow zucchini to save my life.
Also, I am going to accost Lynne tomorrow and beg her to give me the recipe for her breakfast bars.
So I have officially submitted and been rejected. My journey down a new path has begun. However, my journey is, so far, not unlike a game of Candyland and I am on one of those squares where you have to draw a certain color before you can move again. I have not yet drawn the right color, and I have not submitted anything else. Yet. But wait, I am not completely pathetic. Yet. (Though I am the only reason I haven't submitted again. It's not like the polite form rejection came back with a PostIt that said, "Please don't send this again. Ever. To anyone." It's just me.)
To prove my lack of pathetic-ness, I have been attending a writing conference this week at BYU. It's an all day, week long afair, and I am loving it. I spend the morning with thirteen other ladies and our mentor/guide/teacher, Claudia Mills (whose math-inlcuded chapter book I bought in the hope that it will inspire Duncan in both math and reading). Claudia is a) delightful and 2) wonderful. She has taught us (well, at least me) a lot and she is a completely nice person to boot. Though apparently when you get fifteen (fourteen, not counting her) grown adult women in the same room together they will sound like fifteen (fourteen) kindergartners, though with more sophisticated chatter (and I say that only because I hope it's true). The afternoons are spent listening to agents and editors (real live ones that you can stalk) and honest-to-goodness actual authors who get paid and everything (also available for stalking). I have learned tons there also, and should probably go through all of my notes at some point and post them. Wouldn't that be productive of me . . .
We interrupt this post to bring you the charming news that my wonderful husband (who brought me a rumball as compensation for my day) is going to co-author a cookbook. His name is going to be on the front of a book before mine, and ask me how much he writes. Okay, he does write, but mostly he cooks, and very well, but considering that this cookbook is about cooking for one and he can only cook for one if the one is like a single regiment of an army, it is all suspect and unfair.
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post, whatever it was.
The ladies in my group/class are great writers and have wonderful ideas. On the one hand, I wish I could keep copies of what they've passed around for us to read, and on the other, I wish they'd just hurry up and get published. (Watch out Edward, Rye is going to take your crown as reigning supernatural heart-throb hunk.)
Speaking of the ladies' writing, I need to go read their writing for tomorrow and it's crazy late. My kids didn't get dinner until after 9:30 and didn't get to bed until after 10:30. My daughter (after I got home and not during the day when I was gone and she would have been oblivious) came in for dinner with 'mud' on her pants. Except it wasn't mud, it was poop-dog (as she used to call it when she was younger). So I took the pants off and threw them in dumpster. Yes, there was nothing else wrong with the pants, there were no holes and they still fit, and I went ahead and threw them in the trash because today is not the day I clean poop-dog out of my daughter's pants. All of this being proof positive that I am not a) supposed to work full-time, and 2) not supposed to have more than three kids. It could also mean that I'm not supposed to have the kids I've already got, but it's too late for them now, they're stuck with me.
So we come to the end of this post. Can you tell when my husband came home and everything kind of fell apart? I have a hard time writing and talking at the same time. I am loving this conference and I want desperately to be able to come again next year. It would be great to have this be part of my life on a regular basis. What a wonderful way to spend a week.
One more thing. I found out when I got home today that Karen writes fantasy. Today we read her story about Sheldon the very-cute-snail-that-I-liked. Yesterday we read about billions of zucchini taking over a garden. When I got home this evening I found that snails had eaten my zucchini plant AGAIN and we will not be having zucchini this year--AGAIN. I don't get it. It's all but a freakin' weed, and I can't grow zucchini to save my life.
Also, I am going to accost Lynne tomorrow and beg her to give me the recipe for her breakfast bars.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Facing my fears
One day I will be published (see how I'm being positive here?) and when I am, and my book will be loved by many (still being positive...), somebody is going to ask me where the inspiration came from and all that jazz (or at the very least there's some universal disclaimer that everything in the book is fictitious and non of the characters are real). I'm going to have a problem at that point because Dawson, Cris and Casey are my three kids, and that's just the way it is. Okay, so the dragons aren't real, but the kids are, and though most of the dialogue in the book is not actual quotes, some of it is (though can they be quotes if they were written first and then Kaes said them years later?). Nobody is going to want to listen to me talk about my kids in these future interviews, and yet the characters really do represent what I live with at home. (Okay, that is not precisely true either, especially considering some of the things my daughter has done recently, but since she isn't going to be six forever, I will not go into detail here, a show of restraint on my part which should win me the Best Mom Ever award. But I digress.) In the book, Casey is fearless, that's her Thing. In my all-too-real life, Kaes is also fearless, or at least fear-impaired. I offer this as an example.
Recently my family went on vaction to Moab, Utah, with my sister's family. At one of our stops in Arches, my daughter went off with her uncle and climbed a rather large rock. The rock was about the size of a house and right next to the parking lot (we were filling water bottles and such before taking off down the trail). When they came back down, my brother-in-law told us about the conversation he had had up on the rock with my daughter. Kaes wanted to climb higher (there were levels to the rock and they had stopped at the first, single-story-house level). Aaron, bless him, suggested that maybe they shouldn't, to which my daughter replied, "Uncle Aaron, you have to face your fears. That's what I do." Aaron, bless him EVEN MORE, tried to explain that sometimes you should listen to your fears because they're trying to tell you that something is dangerous and not a good idea. I doubt his advice will have any bearing on Kaes's future decisions, but the words are in her brain somewhere, spoken by somebody other than her parents (and she really loves Uncle Aaron) and he was able to convince her to come back down and not go any higher. That was a very Casey thing to do, and I'm going to have a hard time talking about Casey (someday) and not relating that story about Kaes. How frustrating.
However, that is not the whole reason for this post. In honor of my daughter's exhortation to 'face your fears', I want to announce that I have officially sent off my first actual query letter to an actual agent of an actual agency that I did not make up in my head. I am actually (yes, I'm using that word a lot, leave me alone) in a happy place right now where it is not really real yet. Once it becomes real I will have to stress, because that is what I do. But my husband gave me a very 'you are wonderful, and a coward' pep talk this afternoon and told me to send it out. And my six-year-old climbs rocks that are way too freaking big for her. So I did it.
Recently my family went on vaction to Moab, Utah, with my sister's family. At one of our stops in Arches, my daughter went off with her uncle and climbed a rather large rock. The rock was about the size of a house and right next to the parking lot (we were filling water bottles and such before taking off down the trail). When they came back down, my brother-in-law told us about the conversation he had had up on the rock with my daughter. Kaes wanted to climb higher (there were levels to the rock and they had stopped at the first, single-story-house level). Aaron, bless him, suggested that maybe they shouldn't, to which my daughter replied, "Uncle Aaron, you have to face your fears. That's what I do." Aaron, bless him EVEN MORE, tried to explain that sometimes you should listen to your fears because they're trying to tell you that something is dangerous and not a good idea. I doubt his advice will have any bearing on Kaes's future decisions, but the words are in her brain somewhere, spoken by somebody other than her parents (and she really loves Uncle Aaron) and he was able to convince her to come back down and not go any higher. That was a very Casey thing to do, and I'm going to have a hard time talking about Casey (someday) and not relating that story about Kaes. How frustrating.
However, that is not the whole reason for this post. In honor of my daughter's exhortation to 'face your fears', I want to announce that I have officially sent off my first actual query letter to an actual agent of an actual agency that I did not make up in my head. I am actually (yes, I'm using that word a lot, leave me alone) in a happy place right now where it is not really real yet. Once it becomes real I will have to stress, because that is what I do. But my husband gave me a very 'you are wonderful, and a coward' pep talk this afternoon and told me to send it out. And my six-year-old climbs rocks that are way too freaking big for her. So I did it.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
query letter
Last night I finally sent off my query letter. Okay, so I didn't send it to an actual agent or editor, but that is not currently the point. The class I used to go to (and would like to continue going to if I could afford it) is hosting a conference/seminar (what is the difference between the two anyway?) this coming Saturday and there will be a query letter clinic run by actual editors of actual publishing houses. I scraped out a query letter in the hope that it will be commented on at this clinic. (Okay, if we're going for honesty here, and it's my blog so I might as well, what I REALLY hope is that one of these editors will look at it and be blown away and ask to see the manuscript. However, barring that, I felt I had an obligation to submit something so that I can get some tangible feedback from somebody whose opinion actually matters--which was a total slam to everyone who has given their opinion on my query letter already. I'm sorry.) Since this is something that I am patently not able to figure out on my own, I really need to be taken by the hand and led down query letter lane. The editor in particular that I am hoping to snare with my wit and writing prowess is the one from Shadow Mountain. Shadow Mountain is responsible for Fablehaven, Leven Thumps, The 13th Reality, and a new one I've seen at Costco, but can't remember the name of. Anyway, I think it's the same kind of audience that would be interested in my book, and I'm hoping they think the same. I am impressed with how well those books have done on a national level, when I thought Shadow Mountain was more of a local publisher. See how wrong one can be.
Anyway, I am going to post the letter here, and hopefully come Saturday be able to give insight to what these editors said. Who knows? Maybe the wild fantasies of a middle-aged stay-at-home mom will actually come true. Or a miracle can happen and I'll finally figure out how to write the darn thing and send it out again (for real) next week.
Eleven-year-old Dawson Winterrose has to rescue his sister, Casey, from Maglorix with nothing but the help of his trouble-prone brother, Cris. To make matters worse, they have to be back before their parents wake up in the morning and realize Casey is gone. It’s going to be a long night.
Quest for the Scroll is my 64,000-word middle-grade fantasy. I believe it will appeal to the same audience as Fablehaven and Leven Thumps.
Dawson is used to watching out for his brother, Cris, and sister, Casey, especially when they ride their dragons to the magical land of Hiraeth. Up till now being the oldest hasn’t been much of a challenge, even if he is the only kid he knows who has to take fencing lessons from an elf. Then Casey is hounded by Night Mares, Cris gets thrown in a dungeon by leprechauns, and the three children find out the prince of Hiraeth is really their great, great uncle. Their great-grandfather left Hiraeth to become mortal and wrote a letter to his first female descendant–Casey. Dawson isn’t certain he wants Casey to find out what the letter says, especially after the letter gets stolen, Casey is kidnapped, and then their dragons also go missing. Now Dawson has to find a way to get to Hiraeth without their dragons, rescue Casey, and retrieve the scroll, all while keeping Cris out of trouble. And where are the dragons anyway? Are they working for Maglorix? Being the big brother is turning out to have more worries than Dawson ever dreamed of.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
I left out all of the whos and wheres, but there it is. I don't even want to look at it again before Saturday, since I can't change what they're going to see at this point. But that's it. We'll see what they say.
Anyway, I am going to post the letter here, and hopefully come Saturday be able to give insight to what these editors said. Who knows? Maybe the wild fantasies of a middle-aged stay-at-home mom will actually come true. Or a miracle can happen and I'll finally figure out how to write the darn thing and send it out again (for real) next week.
Eleven-year-old Dawson Winterrose has to rescue his sister, Casey, from Maglorix with nothing but the help of his trouble-prone brother, Cris. To make matters worse, they have to be back before their parents wake up in the morning and realize Casey is gone. It’s going to be a long night.
Quest for the Scroll is my 64,000-word middle-grade fantasy. I believe it will appeal to the same audience as Fablehaven and Leven Thumps.
Dawson is used to watching out for his brother, Cris, and sister, Casey, especially when they ride their dragons to the magical land of Hiraeth. Up till now being the oldest hasn’t been much of a challenge, even if he is the only kid he knows who has to take fencing lessons from an elf. Then Casey is hounded by Night Mares, Cris gets thrown in a dungeon by leprechauns, and the three children find out the prince of Hiraeth is really their great, great uncle. Their great-grandfather left Hiraeth to become mortal and wrote a letter to his first female descendant–Casey. Dawson isn’t certain he wants Casey to find out what the letter says, especially after the letter gets stolen, Casey is kidnapped, and then their dragons also go missing. Now Dawson has to find a way to get to Hiraeth without their dragons, rescue Casey, and retrieve the scroll, all while keeping Cris out of trouble. And where are the dragons anyway? Are they working for Maglorix? Being the big brother is turning out to have more worries than Dawson ever dreamed of.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
I left out all of the whos and wheres, but there it is. I don't even want to look at it again before Saturday, since I can't change what they're going to see at this point. But that's it. We'll see what they say.
Friday, April 3, 2009
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
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
Thursday, March 26, 2009
on naming dragons
Though nobody but family and friends has read my story up to this point, and they know why my dragons are named the way they are, I can't stand it anymore and I'm going to explain why they have the names they do.
First I have to start off with The Glass Slipper vs. The Slipper and the Rose. Everybody goes crazy for Slipper and the Rose. Whatever. I am woefully under impressed with it. On the other hand, nobody has ever heard of The Glass Slipper, and I love it. Cinderella is feisty and has a temper and the fairy godmother is delightfully loopy. I found on You Tube the best clip in the entire movie. Not only does it show Ella's temper, but it also has the best line in the whole movie, given by the fairy godmother.
Ella: You're getting wet.
Mrs. Toquet (fairy godmother): It's the water.
Very simply stated but beautifully executed.
The link to the scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AnGaBWowkA&feature=related
In the clip, Ella complains about everyone calling her Cinderella because she's covered in soot. Mrs. Toquet muses over the name Cinderella and decides she likes it, along with apple dumpling, pickle relish, and other words. She likes how they feel on her tongue when she says them.
And that is exactly how my dragons are named. Jambalaya was first. It is simply a fun word to say, and years before I had any kind of a story in my head, I knew it was the perfect name for a dragon. Jambalaya. Wonderful word. Mulligatawny followed about a year later. There was still no story, but there was now a second perfect dragon name. Mulligatawny. I love it. Once the story did come along, I kind of had a pattern set, so I started looking for fun food words to name the other dragons. I stuck with soup for the boys (though Pumpernickel is not a soup, but he is also an older dragon, not one connected to a child) and used dessert/sweet words for the girls (Flummery and Sassafras). They are just fun words to say.
That is the extent of the mystery of the dragons' names. They don't have funky southern or middle eastern accents or anything. They're just fun to say.
The other day I saw the word Knickerbocker. Totally fun word. Though Knickerbocker is not an actual food word, the context I saw it in was the name of a sandwich. I'll have to see if I need a name for another dragon, or if it might be the name of something else entirely. A wonderful word to say.
Knickerbocker. Pickle relish. Cinderella.
First I have to start off with The Glass Slipper vs. The Slipper and the Rose. Everybody goes crazy for Slipper and the Rose. Whatever. I am woefully under impressed with it. On the other hand, nobody has ever heard of The Glass Slipper, and I love it. Cinderella is feisty and has a temper and the fairy godmother is delightfully loopy. I found on You Tube the best clip in the entire movie. Not only does it show Ella's temper, but it also has the best line in the whole movie, given by the fairy godmother.
Ella: You're getting wet.
Mrs. Toquet (fairy godmother): It's the water.
Very simply stated but beautifully executed.
The link to the scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AnGaBWowkA&feature=related
In the clip, Ella complains about everyone calling her Cinderella because she's covered in soot. Mrs. Toquet muses over the name Cinderella and decides she likes it, along with apple dumpling, pickle relish, and other words. She likes how they feel on her tongue when she says them.
And that is exactly how my dragons are named. Jambalaya was first. It is simply a fun word to say, and years before I had any kind of a story in my head, I knew it was the perfect name for a dragon. Jambalaya. Wonderful word. Mulligatawny followed about a year later. There was still no story, but there was now a second perfect dragon name. Mulligatawny. I love it. Once the story did come along, I kind of had a pattern set, so I started looking for fun food words to name the other dragons. I stuck with soup for the boys (though Pumpernickel is not a soup, but he is also an older dragon, not one connected to a child) and used dessert/sweet words for the girls (Flummery and Sassafras). They are just fun words to say.
That is the extent of the mystery of the dragons' names. They don't have funky southern or middle eastern accents or anything. They're just fun to say.
The other day I saw the word Knickerbocker. Totally fun word. Though Knickerbocker is not an actual food word, the context I saw it in was the name of a sandwich. I'll have to see if I need a name for another dragon, or if it might be the name of something else entirely. A wonderful word to say.
Knickerbocker. Pickle relish. Cinderella.
Monday, March 23, 2009
writing seminar
Last Saturday I went to a seminar taught by Stacy Whitman. The focus was on the opening lines/first chapter of middle grand and YA fantasy/science fiction. What you need to do to hook to the reader/agent/editor. I enjoyed it, and Stacy said she wants to keep holding classes/seminars like this, and I hope she does. I would have enjoyed this one more if I hadn't been up until 3:00 the night before working on the opening lines of the first chapter of my book. Last week was a pretty crazy week around here, but even so, I shouldn't have put off trying to 'fix' things until the last minute. When I had my husband read it, he pointed out all the things that I did with the new opening, which were things I had specifically wanted to do by writing a new opening, so I was rather proud of myself. When I read those same lines at the seminar, it was pointed out to me by nearly everyone the things that I had not done (it was just talking heads and there was no sense of setting or character). I sighed and felt the briefest moment of 'why the crap am I doing this?!?', but that quickly disappeared, because they were exactly right. I am not (necessarily) a crappy writer. All of the things they mentioned were things that were bothering me in the back of my mind but I couldn't figure out how to work them out, so I went with the things I was actually trying to accomplish, and left the rest to be dealt with later. I know that's bad form, that I should only bring the best I can do to be worked on, but like I said, last week was a messed up week around here on a lot of levels, and what I did was the best I could do at the time. I am so glad the week is over and I look forward to polishing out the rough stuff this week. So here are the two different first lines:
A pale blue dragon glided gracefully to land in the clearing.
"Today the elf will surrender to me," Dawson said, stabbing the air with his empty fist.
Honestly, the second one has a little more oomph than the first one, don't you think? I'm not talking Newbery Award, but it's better than the first. Thank heaven for seminars that make you prepare things ahead of time, and then make you think even more afterward.
Which reminds me. My wonderful husband (with some unintended help from some wonderful friends) enrolled me in BYU's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop this June. I've been wanting to go to this for years, ever since I first heard about it, but we've never had the money. After a generous, but unacceptable, offer from friends, we decided we had the money this year. If others are willing to sacrifice for me, I'd better step up and start pulling my own weight. So I'm going, and I'm excited, and more than a little nervous, and I've got a lot of polishing to do between now and June.
A pale blue dragon glided gracefully to land in the clearing.
"Today the elf will surrender to me," Dawson said, stabbing the air with his empty fist.
Honestly, the second one has a little more oomph than the first one, don't you think? I'm not talking Newbery Award, but it's better than the first. Thank heaven for seminars that make you prepare things ahead of time, and then make you think even more afterward.
Which reminds me. My wonderful husband (with some unintended help from some wonderful friends) enrolled me in BYU's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop this June. I've been wanting to go to this for years, ever since I first heard about it, but we've never had the money. After a generous, but unacceptable, offer from friends, we decided we had the money this year. If others are willing to sacrifice for me, I'd better step up and start pulling my own weight. So I'm going, and I'm excited, and more than a little nervous, and I've got a lot of polishing to do between now and June.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
the whys and what-nots
I am a writer, because writers write, and I do. I am not yet a published, look-they-paid-me, writer, but that's what this blog is all about. Well, I don't know if it's ABOUT that, but hopefully at some point somebody will pay me for being a writer, and this blog will document the journey.
The journey at the moment is rather interesting. I have/had a completed-ish middle-grade fantasy. Last September I started going to a writing class/workshop and got very favorable feedback. The instructor was very anxious for me to get my manuscript out, so when I had finished workshopping the first three chapters, he had me start working on a synopsis (which I cannot write) and a query letter (which I cannot write). There was great frustration in the class/my psyche (I actually gave myself a headache from banging my head on the table during class after yet another 'this is not a synopsis' moment). There is still frustration happening in my psyche, but the class has gotten better because I have gone back to workshopping my manuscript and have given up on the synopsis and the query letter for the moment.
It seems that the query letter (which I cannot write) is one of the all-time most important pieces of writing I can ever do in my whole life. The query letter has to be so succinct, so gripping, give the essence, the feeling, the voice and the over-all wonderfulness of my novel in one miraculous page. The synopsis has to do the same thing all over again in more than just one page, but far, far less than the pages of the novel. (The actual number of pages for a synopsis is still a mystery to me, leading to the problem of me being able to write one.) Since the query letter is the first thing an agent and/or editor will ever see of my writing ability and my book, it has to win them over immediately.
Right.
At this point let me say that I write novels because there are more words in them than there are in short stories. Quite frankly, my novel is really good. If it were possible for an agent/editor to read the whole thing in ten seconds, they would love it (if they were looking for a novel about siblings, dragons and magic, at least). I CAN do short, but I leave a lot of things out when I do, which, again, is why I wrote a novel (and not a query letter or synopsis). I still have not figured out how to write the cotton-pickin' query letter, which means that I have not sent anything out to any agents or editors yet, but other things came along to distract me from query letters for the moment.
For Valentine's Day my lovely husband upgraded my computer, which had been giving me fits for months and months. In the process of saving all of my writing in My Documents folder, my manuscript did not get saved, becuase, apparently, when I saved the document which was my manuscript, I did not save it in My Documents. Yes, I have issues with computers. More to the point, I have issues that I didn't know I had. From now on I will be making sure that all of my documents are in My Documents.
All was not lost, however, as one of my annoying computer habits is saving different versions of things in different ways. I had originally finished this story a few years ago. After putting it on the shelf for a while, I sent it out to Stacy Whitman, who at the time was at Mirrorstone. She sent me a very nice rejection with some very helpful suggestions, which caused me to make some changes to the story. Those changes, along with editing from the class I've been going to, were in the document that didn't make it through the computer upgrade. I did still have the original document from years ago, and print outs of (most of) the workshopping done in class.
That's where I am. I need to add the new beginning to the old story, plus make the changes suggested in workshopping, along with any other bright ideas that come to me along the way. It is frustrating, and sometimes tedious, but actually quite enjoyable.
Last weekend I went to Life, the Universe, and Everything, the BYU science fiction and fantasy symposium. I've been going for years (nearly two decades), with the thought always in the back of my mind that someday I would be one of the authors sitting up on a panel. This year was no different in that respect, but the daydream seemed a little closer to reality than it has been in the past. Stacy Whitman now lives here in Utah and is giving a seminar this month for YA fantasy writers. I am hoping to go. The instructor of my writing class has put together a writers' conference for next month that I am excited to go to. I found out about, and signed up for, Dave Farland's Kick in the Pants. James Dashner is doing an author's visit at my kids' school on Tuesday. I'm going to go just to see what he does.
All of these things surrounding me with writing. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm doing an author's visit myself.
The journey at the moment is rather interesting. I have/had a completed-ish middle-grade fantasy. Last September I started going to a writing class/workshop and got very favorable feedback. The instructor was very anxious for me to get my manuscript out, so when I had finished workshopping the first three chapters, he had me start working on a synopsis (which I cannot write) and a query letter (which I cannot write). There was great frustration in the class/my psyche (I actually gave myself a headache from banging my head on the table during class after yet another 'this is not a synopsis' moment). There is still frustration happening in my psyche, but the class has gotten better because I have gone back to workshopping my manuscript and have given up on the synopsis and the query letter for the moment.
It seems that the query letter (which I cannot write) is one of the all-time most important pieces of writing I can ever do in my whole life. The query letter has to be so succinct, so gripping, give the essence, the feeling, the voice and the over-all wonderfulness of my novel in one miraculous page. The synopsis has to do the same thing all over again in more than just one page, but far, far less than the pages of the novel. (The actual number of pages for a synopsis is still a mystery to me, leading to the problem of me being able to write one.) Since the query letter is the first thing an agent and/or editor will ever see of my writing ability and my book, it has to win them over immediately.
Right.
At this point let me say that I write novels because there are more words in them than there are in short stories. Quite frankly, my novel is really good. If it were possible for an agent/editor to read the whole thing in ten seconds, they would love it (if they were looking for a novel about siblings, dragons and magic, at least). I CAN do short, but I leave a lot of things out when I do, which, again, is why I wrote a novel (and not a query letter or synopsis). I still have not figured out how to write the cotton-pickin' query letter, which means that I have not sent anything out to any agents or editors yet, but other things came along to distract me from query letters for the moment.
For Valentine's Day my lovely husband upgraded my computer, which had been giving me fits for months and months. In the process of saving all of my writing in My Documents folder, my manuscript did not get saved, becuase, apparently, when I saved the document which was my manuscript, I did not save it in My Documents. Yes, I have issues with computers. More to the point, I have issues that I didn't know I had. From now on I will be making sure that all of my documents are in My Documents.
All was not lost, however, as one of my annoying computer habits is saving different versions of things in different ways. I had originally finished this story a few years ago. After putting it on the shelf for a while, I sent it out to Stacy Whitman, who at the time was at Mirrorstone. She sent me a very nice rejection with some very helpful suggestions, which caused me to make some changes to the story. Those changes, along with editing from the class I've been going to, were in the document that didn't make it through the computer upgrade. I did still have the original document from years ago, and print outs of (most of) the workshopping done in class.
That's where I am. I need to add the new beginning to the old story, plus make the changes suggested in workshopping, along with any other bright ideas that come to me along the way. It is frustrating, and sometimes tedious, but actually quite enjoyable.
Last weekend I went to Life, the Universe, and Everything, the BYU science fiction and fantasy symposium. I've been going for years (nearly two decades), with the thought always in the back of my mind that someday I would be one of the authors sitting up on a panel. This year was no different in that respect, but the daydream seemed a little closer to reality than it has been in the past. Stacy Whitman now lives here in Utah and is giving a seminar this month for YA fantasy writers. I am hoping to go. The instructor of my writing class has put together a writers' conference for next month that I am excited to go to. I found out about, and signed up for, Dave Farland's Kick in the Pants. James Dashner is doing an author's visit at my kids' school on Tuesday. I'm going to go just to see what he does.
All of these things surrounding me with writing. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm doing an author's visit myself.
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