I started Gunslinger #2 today. I had to put down my last library book, Blood Books vol. 1 by Tanya Huff just because I was suddenly overwhelmed by the urban fantasy genre. It seems to be everywhere and nearly every book I’ve read in the last 2 months has fallen into that genre. A part of me is whispering that I should get in on this while its still a hot market, and maybe if it gets published, I’d be able to afford that trip to England I really want.

I have a huge pile of library books I need to return, but I looked at the due dates and thought, Do I want to go through the hassle of getting on the bus and returning them tomorrow? And decided to renew them online. I felt a bit guilty doing this, since my writing group and I had just commented about “those people” that renew books online just because of laziness. Anyway, in my defense, I’m just putting it off for a few days…maybe a week…I have to go soon because my research book (for the said urban fantasy that I’ve been thinking I should dabble in) just came in and is waiting patiently for me to pick it up.

Anyway, there’s a reason for the title of this entry and it involves a weird dream. I spent most of today reading and writing while John watched television. We both were feeling a little under the weather in the morning, so we decided to take it easy. We watched Jumanji and then I began to nod off just as Star Trek started. Suddenly, I was having quite an interesting dream. It involved being on the bridge of Star Trek: Next Gen. I think Captain Picard, Riker, and Data were there. Maybe Worf, too. Anyway, they were all sitting around doing nothing and I was wondering how the heck I was meant to pilot the spaceship all by myself. I sat in one of those front seats where Data usually sits, and I was staring at the black paneling when suddenly Jumanji vines popped out of it and moss began to grow all over the bridge: on the floor, the walls, and the computers. I jumped back just as a vine that had popped out of the ground tried to spear me in the neck. And behind me, the crew members were idily chit-chatting, clustered together near the center of the bridge, oblivious to the fact that the Enterprise was turning into something out of Jumanji. That’s about the time I woke up.

Talk about mixing genres.

9:38 pm | Category: Journal | | No Comments

I just spent twenty minutes looking for an antonym to “subterfuge,” and in the end I couldn’t find one that was good enough, so I just scrapped the whole sentence and started over.

11:06 pm | Category: Writing | | No Comments

The last few days, I’ve been getting tons of story ideas! I’ve been quickly scribbling them on the white board so I can “correctly” catalog them in the future. I’m not quite sure how to catalog them. I could make a file, I could try index cards, but I’m not sure if I like either idea because I could easily forget about them if they’re stuffed somewhere.

Right now I’m really trying hard to stick with “Morgan,” not just because I seem to be making slow but steady progress, but also because these story ideas I’ve been coming with will require some research. Unfortunately, I can’t just plunk down in front of the computer and just go. My newest story idea will need research in ancient history (maybe France, haven’t decided yet), occult, and symbols — just to name a few. While research isn’t a bad thing, it takes time and energy, two things I’d like to devote more to “Morgan,” at least until I finish the first draft!

But all these ideas make my fingers itchy. I have to keep reminding them that we have a job to do, and to stick with the program.

11:35 pm | Category: Writing | | 2 Comments

I’ve fixed the RSS feed, so it should be much more user friendly now.
Remember, RSS is an easy and simple way to know when the website is updated. It also has an email feature, so you’ll get updates in your inbox!

8:35 pm | Category: News | | No Comments

It’s funny how after reading a book that’s in the first person, I always find myself slipping in my writing, going into a first person narrative even when the story calls for third person.

I’m not a big fan of first person (major), for many reasons. For one thing, I feel that it gives the story an “around the campfire” feel, like the narrator is retelling something that happened to him in his youth. I can’t shake this feeling, even when the narrative is in the present tense. On the other hand, I’ve enjoyed stories which are written in first person plural (The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides) and the first person minor (The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald). However I felt the creative devices there, and the fact that it wasn’t the major character, made it deliciously ambiguous and still deliciously intimate.

That delicious ambiguity is one thing I like. I don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I like my characters’ motives to be a little mysterious, just like in real life. I want them to do things and have the reader think, Why the hell would they do that? Just like they may question the motives of their friends or family. I don’t want my main character telling everyone that he/she is stubborn, insightful, angry, jealous, overjoyed, etc. I want my reader to glean that from their actions and the consequences. When I read first person books and the narrator declares, “Well! I was just too stubborn for that!” I don’t enjoy it as much as a character glaring and saying “no” over and over and me thinking, Well, he/she must be stubborn. While I do sometimes write things like, “She didn’t like closed in spaces,” I try to do this after something like “She hesitated at the opening to the cave, looking into the blackness, realizing that if she walked in there, she wouldn’t see her hand in front of her face…” etc., etc. I don’t know if this is a good way of doing it or not, but it’s worked for me so far (granted, I’m still doing most my writing with “the door closed.”)

Another reason I don’t really like first person is because it limits my choices. I’ve always felt that when an author changes POVs completely, bouncing between third person and first person, I feel more disconnected from the story than if the author had simply chosen one POV and stuck with it. I usually like sticking to one character, but sometimes I will jump to another character and decide later if I want to keep it or not. I guess I’m somewhere closer to third person limited, but not quite there. I don’t write as if I know everything, rather I try to keep the story within the boundaries of the character. If the character thinks of something, then the reader will know.

I guess I’ve found a way to give myself the best of both worlds — to get my cake and eat it too.

This turned into a long post about why I choose my POV. Hrm, anyway, I finished Succubus Blues and Narcissus in Chains (sometimes I think the library does this to me on purpose; I’m on the waiting list for 3 books for 2-8 weeks, and suddenly they’re all available at around the same time, but since there is a waiting list, I can’t renew them and therefore have 2 weeks to read them all). Reading quickly isn’t very difficult when you’re in-between jobs and were sick all Friday morning. Anyway, both books are first person. I don’t think I’d particularly recommend either one, either, both were just “OK.” The former was another entry into the increasingly popular genre that I call “urban fantasy.” You know, set in today’s day and age but with vampires and werewolves and ghosts and ghoulies, oh my. It was another sassy, female character who had some connection to the “monsters” and finds herself in a bad situation (a la Laurell K. Hamilton). I was hoping there’d be more to offer with a title that had “succubus” in it, but nobody likes a moralistic succubus (or at least I found it disappointing ).

Anyway, so I was writing away, and I was pretty well in the groove, when I realized I had been writing in first person for about 3 paragraphs. I grumble under my breath, fix those mistakes, and continue. Two pages later, I realize I’ve fallen into that habit again. I don’t even know why first person is so easy to “fall” into after I’ve read first person stories. Maybe it’s because I’ve been saying “I” so much in my head and I’m not accustomed to it.

I wonder if I’m just weird or if this happens to anyone else.

After a day or a thousand-or-so words, the urge to go into first person fades away. Until the next book, I guess.

P.S.
Amelia, I haven’t forgotten about the Gunslinger. I’m just trying to clear all these library books and then tackle book #2.

5:35 pm | Category: Writing | | 1 Comment

Boy, Tuesdays seem to be my blogging days and it’s totally unplanned.

I think I need to cool my jets for a little while regarding “Morgan.” I’ve been pushing and pushing and pushing, but I’m still story constipated. For some reason, I can’t get my momentum back; the words were just flowing out like water and then I took about two weeks’ break and totally lost it. Ahem, whoops. I wish there was some sort of Metamucil for stories.

I find myself rewriting the last few pages, trying to streamline it better and find my flow. Right now, there’s just too much jargon about Morgan getting a charter flight. Do we really need to read 3 pages of how it all works? I’ve never really read or wrote sci-fi before, and decided to try challenging myself. Luckily, I found it enjoyable (both reading and writing), but I do get caught in the technology. How far do I want to take it? Then I find myself hit with unexpected problems, like, “Wait, they’re in outer space. How can I get them to go in between ships without all the messy astronaut gear?” I come up with ideas and then prattle on, then when I read it I realize I’m slowing the pace and it’s boring, and I cut and try to make it shorter. Who knew I could be so wordy? But, then, I wonder if I cut it, would anyone understand what I mean? And then I have to remind myself to avoid cheesy, campy sci-fi technology (I’ve already decided against laser guns).

Well, I wanted a challenge when I thought I’d try sci-fi, going out of my fantasy comfort zone.

But, maybe I do need 2 projects going on simultaneously. I’ve put most my ideas on the back burner because I was worried if I began another project, I’d ignore “Morgan.” But I think it may be good for me to try and unwind.

* I’ve been reading the Cockney Rhyming Slang dictionary for fun today.

10:50 pm | Category: Writing | | No Comments