Points of view and logic, which is not a tweeting bird…

Bonus points for anyone who gets the quote in my entry title. 

I check my Amazon sales stats occasionally and just noticed that Thaw is now available for the Amazon Kindle!  I’m assuming this is something Iris arranged, and I’m grateful for it.

 While I wouldn’t really want to publish in an e-book only format, I think multiple formats are fabulous as they give readers choices.  I don’t really like to read on the screen (though the Kindle does look pretty cool) but lots of people do. 

In other news, I’m almost done clearing out my backlog of completed stories.  I’ve got 11 in circulation now, up from 2 in January.  Chapter 11 of Fim is nearly done, but I’m going to do some serious rewriting before I move that story arc forward because what I have doesn’t really work for me - I’ve lost the feel for the character, and I’m trying to move her in a direction that she doesn’t want to go, but must.

I’m going to continue behind WordPress’s version of a cut, because this is mostly for me.   Don’t read if you care about some vague spoilers in an unpublished book.

Just a Spring Clean for the May Queen

I can’t believe I’m using Led Zepplin lyrics as titles.  What’s next, the Grateful Dead?  *headdesk* 

“Blossoming” went out yesterday.  “Stepchild” will follow today as soon as I can come up with a new title.  The old one is too revealing of the plot.  It’s not a ’shaggy dog story’ per se, but I really don’t want the reader to know the outcome of the plot from word 1.  I think I’m going to go all out and send it to F&SF - I doubt it will get past the slush reader, but it’s worth a shot, and the turnaround with them is wonderfully rapid.  Town Drunk after that, I think, since they reopen on 2/15 and I like that market.  The world needs more light and less doom and gloom.  You wouldn’t believe the number of short fiction zines that have the word ‘Dark’ in the title.

I also made a good start on cleaning out my files.  It took four long hours, but I managed to go through all my WiPs, the completed novel files, the bunny files, everything.  I deleted duplicates, moved a whole lot of stuff to the trunk, and in general did a spring clean on both my laptop and PC.  Of course, this morning I remembered that I also had a bunch of writing-related stuff in the Documents file, so just like real spring cleaning, when you think you’re done, you see more dirt…

 Finally, I got a nice fan letter on Thaw yesterday - the only quibble the man had was the degree of angst, and I have to admit, he’s right.  That book has fandom written all over it in that regard.  I’ve come a long way, which makes me somewhat reluctant to really approach prepping Ashes for submission, as it’s like, ’ahead angst factor 12.’  I’m thinking a serious rewrite, or maybe just forget it altogether - I’ve said what I want to say in that universe.

Back in the saddle, I hope

I achieved writing yesterday.  Have no idea how it happened, but something, possibly John Scalzi’s great post on money for writers, provided the ass-kicking I’ve so desperately needed. I got off the laptop, went into my office and started to make some sense out of my short stories - checking markets for resubs, dealing with the multiplicity of versions that have erupted like mushrooms as I’ve moved between my home PC, my laptop, my work PC.

 And then I opened Dreams of Houses and re-read it for the first time in a year or more.  It’s not bad.  Actually, it’s damn good in parts, abysmal in others, and is altogether publishable with some work, I think.  Dreams is a modern Lovecraftian gothic set in a house that’s essentially based on Westover Plantation .  It’s amazing how much clearer I can see what needs to be done to it after letting it sit so long, and how less attached I am to some of the scenes that really have to be axed.  It started as a novelette, then was rewritten into a novel (much like Thaw was), and what works in short form is not necessarily what works in a novel and vice versa.

Not dead yet…

Woah. I haven’t updated this thing since November.  I doubt anybody’s reading, and that’s okay - this is more for me than anyone else at this point.

 What’s been happening writing-wise?  Well, I’ve received a few rejections on short stories, all positive and encouraging, but somehow even that hasn’t encouraged me enough to 1) send those stories back out or 2) write more stories. 

I picked up an Alphasmart Neo, and oddly enough, that state of the art 80’s technology has done more to get me writing again than the fancy laptop and all the rest.  I think it’s the fact that the Neo doesn’t do anything else but process words.  No Internet, no email.  It does make it hard to reference my notes and research while I’m writing, so my manuscript is all full of (insert here) and minor characters named ??, but that’s not an insurmountable obstacle.  It’s also very portable, though every time I bring it to work, the security fascists freak till I show them my ID badge. (I’ve worked here 5 years.  5 years of coming through security and they still half the time forget that I work here.  *fumes*)

I’ve been slowly poking Fimbulvetr, which will undoubtedly get a new, less obscure title at some point, but I’m fighting a huge urge to set it aside and go back to the mystery - I really wish I could manage to write two novels at once, but when I’m ‘on’ with a novel, I live it, and I can’t be that schizophrenic. Truth be told, I’m not ‘on’ about Fim, or any other novel right now. I think what I really need is a new project to get excited about.  Something that wouldn’t take too much research, as research has a tendency to distract me and become an end in itself.  But knowing me, any new project would likely just join the long list of WiPs I’ve already got. 

 I have no idea what my problem is - I know I can finish a book.  In addition to Thaw, I’ve got 3 other completed novels sitting on my hard drive.  I’ve been spending a lot of time costuming, weaving, doing home renovation, and grad school essays/applications and I’m beginning to think that I only have a limited pool of creativity to draw from and it’s all being used for non-writing tasks.  How’s that for pretentious crap?  Seriously, it’s not a creativity problem - it’s an ass in chair problem, as in I need to get my ass in the chair and write.  I have the skill, I just don’t know if I have the will.

 Well, not much of an update, but it’s a start.  Going to go edit my submissions stats page to reflect those rejections.

Update, at last

I’ve been awfully quiet around here - sorry about that.  It’s just hard to update a writing blog when you’re not actually doing any writing.  I won’t say I had writers’ block because I don’t really believe in writers’ block - any time I’ve ever been ‘blocked’ the real problem is that I lacked the discipline to sit myself down in a chair and make myself write, even if what comes out is crap.

 Crap can be revised into good writing. A blank page is pretty much useless unless you’re making paper airplanes.

 One of the facts I made myself face during my lazy period was that I’m not a good enough writer to do justice to Fimbulvetr at this time.  I love  the characters, the world, the story too much to do a half-assed job with it, and considering the most POVs I’ve ever worked with, really, is 2, doing 8+, all major characters was seriously bogging me down.  So I’ve set it aside.  I will return to it, but what I need to do right now, what I really need to do if I’m to continue to call myself a writer, is to finish something.  Anything.

 The work I’ve got closest to finished state is Peregrinatio.  I’ve done all the research, have the basic plot completely blocked out, and am working with 2 major characters and maybe 3-4 minor ones.  One of the reasons I abandoned it in the first place was a fear that it wouldn’t sell.  Though it has elements of a love story, it’s not ‘romantic enough’ to be a romance (though I could change that in revision).  I’m not sure it has the depth to be a serious historical piece a la Dorothy Dunnett, but I think it could rise to the level of Cecelia Holland or Anya Seton.

And in any case, the ultimate fate of the novel isn’t something I can worry about right now.  I just need to finish the damn thing, and tell the story the way it wants to be told, not get bogged down in worrying about whether the POV is ‘deep’ enough for a romance, or whatever.  If it never sells, so be it, but at least it will be DONE.

So I’m back in 12th century Jerusalem, taking a few days to refamiliarize myself with my research, doing some short character studies to get back in the groove and starting Friday at the latest, I’m going to crank out 2k words a day, even if they’re utter and total crap.  Even if they’re just me writing the same sentence over and over again.  There will be words.

Magical systems, generally

A couple of form rejections, one from Strange Horizons for “Mourning Jewel” and the other from ASIM for “Stepchild.”  I’ll get them sent out again tomorrow, but honestly, it’s depressing as hell sometimes, and short stories are, right now, a distraction from the novel I ought to be working on.  I’ll keep sending out the finished ones, but unless I get knocked upside the head with an idea that won’t leave me alone, I’m not going to write any new ones for a while.

We were in Ohio for family stuff this weekend, and as usual, I planned to write in the car, and as usual, I really didn’t.  I polished a bit, edited some, fiddled with ideas, and worked on organizing some files, but no actual writing was accomplished.  I really hate burying myself in my laptop while my poor husband drives in silence.  He’s not a big music listener, doesn’t do audiobooks, so my conversation is pretty necessary when the road gets long and boring.

I did go over my current project with him, basically making sure the way I’m handling the magic seems logical and consistent to him.  He’s read a lot of second world fantasy and has definite thoughts on magic, so it was very helpful.  We both agree that too often magic is either inconsistent (i.e. your wizards seem to be able to do pretty much anything, and yet Voldemort is still running loose  there are all these problems that could easily be solved by a couple of well-placed spells) or worse, the fantasy reads like a bad D&D adventure with people hurling magic missiles around willy-nilly.  Besieging a castle?  Why bother with trebuchets and starving them out?  Just zotz them into the stone age with your Awesome Spell o’Doom.

No thanks.

The thing about magic in my world is that it’s largely considered part of the past - like in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, there was once a time, an almost mythical past, when magic existed, but that time has passed.  Of course, that’s just the perception of most of the common people, which doesn’t necessarily reflect reality - magic is still there, it’s just kept quiet.   It’s the Middle Ages, after all, and their world has a Pope and will soon have an Inquisition, and besides, one guy with magic generally isn’t much good against ten thousand peasants with scythes and cudgels.  Magic is an ace in the hole, a last resort, so you don’t get people conjuring up chairs out of thin air a la Dumbledore.  My magicians get their chairs the old fashioned way - the make their peasants build them.

We also talked briefly about me doing a romance, just to see if I can.  I have a pretty decent plot developed for a futuristic romance, and when I finish Fim and set it aside to season, I may give it a go.  I know fantasy romance is what’s selling these days, but vampires bore me and I don’t see that I have anything new or original to say about werewolves, really.  Though neither does anyone else, from what I can see. Seems like half the books on the romance aisle have the word ‘Moon’ in the title.  Makes me want to write one called Arse Moon, about Bradley Barebutte, a ruggedly handsome cop who turns into a wolf when he drops trou. Somehow I don’t think the literary world is ready for that…

New Thaw Review!

FromRainbow Reviews. And a good one, which is always nice!

I had a very productive weekend - moved forward on Fimbulvetr, plus came to some decisions on direction. I’ve been angsting over how to convey that Yorvik isn’t just York being mispronounced by the peasants, that my 1300 England isn’t our 1300 England, because it’s not really readily apparent in my first chapter, which is narrated by a 13 year old girl. My second chapter narrator isn’t exactly the type to be dropping a lot of hints about the socio-political situation either.

I know the trend these days in SF/F at least is to avoid the infodump and work the worldbuilding into the text, and I’m doing that, but honestly, I’ve read a few books in the last few years where the worldbuilding was so subtle as to leave me still confused four chapters in. I never made it to chapter 5. Maybe I’m shallow and lowbrow, but I want to know where and when I am and the basics of how the world works fairly quickly so I can concentrate on the actual plot and characters.

So there will be a prologue, just a short one, set at a pivotal time in the formation of the world, about 200 years before the story starts to serve as a sort of anchor.

At least, there will be once I stop blogging and go write it.

And again…

Another rejection, this one on “Blossoming.”
Thanks for letting me read your story. It’s exceedingly well-written and enjoyable, but it didn’t quite make the final lineup for a couple reasons: first off, the anthology is practically filled at this time, and unfortunately, yours is but one of dozens of subs I received right before the deadline of a 6-month submission period, all of which has forced me to be make some rather hard decisions; second, although your story is very good, it stretches the guidelines (the book plays a smaller role than I had hoped). I certainly wish you the best in placing it elsewhere. I also hope that you will submit to any future anthologies I edit. I’ll try and email you so that you can submit earlier.

Not a bad rejection, and he’s right about stretching the guidelines, as I didn’t write it for that anthology, just had it in progress and it sort of fit, so I gave it a shot. I wasn’t expecting a sale on this one, really.  I’ve pretty much learned never to expect a sale.

When I first started out at this, every time I sent a story out I honestly thought (in the dark recesses of my mind) that it would sell.  I mean, how could any editor fail to appreciate the OMG brilliance that is moi?   I re-read those stories over now and cringe with embarrassment and have a much more realistic perspective on my own writing and the standards of the markets.  The problem for me comes in knowing I’m not doing the quality of work I want to do but forcing myself to keep writing anyway because if I don’t, I’ll never get to the point where I’m doing the quality of work I want to do.

Like with any field of endeavor, writing practice brings writing improvement.  I don’t say ‘practice makes perfect’ because some people (and I may very well be one of them), no matter how much they practice will never be perfect (how ever you choose to define that).  I played the clarinet in high school and I was good.  I practiced a fair amount.  If I’d practiced more, I’d have been better, but I can guarantee that no matter how much I practiced, I’d never have played at the level of, say, Benny Goodman.  Writing is like that for me - I look at certain books and know that no matter how many words I churn out, how hard I work to perfect this craft, I’ll never write at the level of those authors.  They’re geniuses.  Of course, the other side of that is that I read some books and know that even if I sat down blindfolded and just typed 75k words of nonsense, I’d end up ahead of the game.  Being honest, I suspect I’m somewhere in the middle.  Sometimes high middle, sometimes low.  I can move myself up through effort, but I’m never going to be top tier.  The question is whether or not I’m okay with that.  The answer is probably yes.

Back to “Blossoming,” I need to find another market - was thinking Dark Wisdom, but they’re overstocked and closed, plus I’d have to trim 1500 words or so. Maybe Clarkesworld or Weird Tales. Clarkesworld responds pretty quickly, and you always get crit whether you like it or not! I’ll read it through at work today and make a decision.

Rejected

26 day form rejection from All Possible Worlds for “Imago Dei.” I’ll flip it back out to the next market on the list tomorrow. *sighs*

No writing to speak of this weekend.  I guess there’s nothing wrong with taking a weekend off once in a while as long as it doesn’t become a habit.

Viewpoints and such

Fimbulvetr is now up to about 23k words and I’m wrestling for what is essentially the first time with multiple POVs. The closest I’ve come before was my very first foray into novels, Spirals, which has one main POV and three supplementals. That was pretty easy, plus of course I had that sort of beginner’s luck thing going where I wasn’t educated enough to know I was supposed to have problems, hence, no problems.

This is another kettle of mahi-mahi. Here I will eventually have 6 viewpoint characters, all more or less equal, each telling different aspects of the story. Their individual stories will intersect at various places. This is essentially what George R.R. Martin does with Song of Ice and Fire. (Not comparing myself to Martin, who is a frelling genius, in any way other than the technique I’m currently using, mind.)

First problem - giving each POV character a distinctive voice, because I’m using a fairly deep POV technique. I don’t want my reader picking up the book and not being able to tell from the narrative whether the story’s being told by a 30 year old priest or a sulky 15 year old girl.

Second problem - continuity. I’m telling each character’s story, but sometimes the telling of it is separated by 2 or 3 chapters of other people’s stories and I forget what I’ve already said, what’s going on, etc. I have to do a lot of re-reading and referring to notes that’s bogging me down. I’m beginning to think it might be easier to just write all of character A, then all of character B, etc., then break it into chapters later. The issue with that is I’m not sure with certain scenes whose POV I will end up using. For example, I recently rewrote chapter 5, switching it from sulky girl to priest. If I do the all of A, then all of B strategy, I’m guaranteeing myself a good bit of rewriting. Which I hate.

Third problem - redundancy. I don’t need six different people explaining to my poor beleaguered readers how the dynasty was established or what magical powers the tyrannical kings had. I need different POV characters to reveal different parts of the worldbuilding, and they need to do it in character. What sulky peasant girl thinks about the institutional church is going to be very different from what the priest thinks from what my noblewoman thinks, and because some of the narrators are a little unreliable, the truth lies somewhere in between. I’ve never actually planned how to incorporate my worldbuilding before. In Thaw, it just sort of dribbled out via David’s rambling. That isn’t working here - I need to plan a little more.

Planning. *sighs* Yeah, guess I’d better go do some of that.