Sorry for the lack of updates this week.
I'm in the middle of revision woes right now. I'm revising. And I'm scrapping. And I'm reconsidering. I teeter back and forth. Start over from scratch. Revise what's there. Start over. Back and forth and back again.
This manuscript is proving especially troublesome for some reason.
As I revise I consider what every scene is contributing. And in doing so, I begin to question everything about the manuscript. I wonder whether it's worth even trying to save. That's when thoughts of starting over from scratch come into my head and roost. I try to shoo them out and sit down to revise what I've already written but then I despair.
And then an idea hits me and I celebrate for a few moments thinking it's the answer to all the problems with my revision woes. Then the woes come home to roost again.
At the moment, I'm re-outlining the entire Heirs of the Seven Realms trilogy. I'm not terribly thrilled with it but then by turns I do like the new outline a little more than what was there before. Sigh. The battles continue.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Reciprocity and Scaling Back
This June will mark 3 years since I began blogging regularly. It's been a great ride. Without this blog I would not be where I am today in my writing. Nor would I have the friends I have.
But, I have to be honest with myself. I pinned myself into a hole with making this solely about writing and related topics. And, I've been sitting here watching my follower count and comments count falling steadily.
I look at these blogs and see people who have 80 comments in less than 5 minutes within posting. They have hundreds and even thousands of followers. Their blogs are wildly popular, the A-list blogs, the ones whose authors every blogger wants to be.
I've never been that person, that wildly popular person, the one everyone wanted to be. Nor was I the one who always wanted to be that person. Sure there were times, there still are, when I did or do. It hurts. You put your heart and soul into each post, trying to come up with topics and posts people will find interesting and relevant, that they'll relate to.
And then you get 1 comment. Or none. It starts to feel as though no amount of commenting on other blogs will drive traffic to yours. You question the worth and value of it all. You wonder whether anyone would notice if you just vanished from the internet. You even try to vanish but you can't.
Is this right? Absolutely. Everything in blogging is reciprocal. Is it the way it should be? I don't believe so. It's a process, getting to that point where you're comfortable in your own skin, where no matter how many or few comments or hits you get, you're okay. That it doesn't impact your feelings of self-worth, feelings that what you have to say is valuable and worth the pixels.
I'm blogging here. I probably will continue to do so. But recently I discovered Tumblr. I love Tumblr. I don't feel like there's the pressure for reciprocity there. If someone likes or reblogs one of your posts, great. But there's no expectation for the back and forth. Maybe I'm wrong in that and I'll see it the longer I'm there. But for now, there is so much less pressure. I don't have to think about whether the posts will speak to someone, whether it will spark something in someone, etcetera.
I love Tumblr. I <3 it. I don't so much feel that way about Blogger and this blog. So I'm not sure what's going to happen with this blog.
But, I have to be honest with myself. I pinned myself into a hole with making this solely about writing and related topics. And, I've been sitting here watching my follower count and comments count falling steadily.
I look at these blogs and see people who have 80 comments in less than 5 minutes within posting. They have hundreds and even thousands of followers. Their blogs are wildly popular, the A-list blogs, the ones whose authors every blogger wants to be.
I've never been that person, that wildly popular person, the one everyone wanted to be. Nor was I the one who always wanted to be that person. Sure there were times, there still are, when I did or do. It hurts. You put your heart and soul into each post, trying to come up with topics and posts people will find interesting and relevant, that they'll relate to.
And then you get 1 comment. Or none. It starts to feel as though no amount of commenting on other blogs will drive traffic to yours. You question the worth and value of it all. You wonder whether anyone would notice if you just vanished from the internet. You even try to vanish but you can't.
Is this right? Absolutely. Everything in blogging is reciprocal. Is it the way it should be? I don't believe so. It's a process, getting to that point where you're comfortable in your own skin, where no matter how many or few comments or hits you get, you're okay. That it doesn't impact your feelings of self-worth, feelings that what you have to say is valuable and worth the pixels.
I'm blogging here. I probably will continue to do so. But recently I discovered Tumblr. I love Tumblr. I don't feel like there's the pressure for reciprocity there. If someone likes or reblogs one of your posts, great. But there's no expectation for the back and forth. Maybe I'm wrong in that and I'll see it the longer I'm there. But for now, there is so much less pressure. I don't have to think about whether the posts will speak to someone, whether it will spark something in someone, etcetera.
I love Tumblr. I <3 it. I don't so much feel that way about Blogger and this blog. So I'm not sure what's going to happen with this blog.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Update Tuesday 2/5-2/12
Let's see...
Still working on the first couple of chapters for Woven. I'm rewriting them and it's torture. Seriously. This is now the second rewrite. I've never struggled this much with an opening. I really haven't.
I got an inkling of an idea for the next story I want to write. I'm not sure if this will be a trilogy, duology, or standalone. But it's set in the same world as Woven and its trilogy, and contemporaneous to that trilogy. It's a loose reimagining of the Arabian Nights. With dragons.
How are your WiPs going?
Still working on the first couple of chapters for Woven. I'm rewriting them and it's torture. Seriously. This is now the second rewrite. I've never struggled this much with an opening. I really haven't.
I got an inkling of an idea for the next story I want to write. I'm not sure if this will be a trilogy, duology, or standalone. But it's set in the same world as Woven and its trilogy, and contemporaneous to that trilogy. It's a loose reimagining of the Arabian Nights. With dragons.
How are your WiPs going?
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Conferences
I'm so excited. I get to go to this huge conference here in May and if you can't tell I'm a little excited. This is the biggest conference I'll have yet attended. (Priciest, too.)
My excitement is tempered a little by the fact that because of financial situations earlier I wasn't able to register until all the pitch sessions were full. But I'm trying not to let that get me down too much. I have been wanting to go to this conference since I first ever heard about it but this is the first time I've been able to.
What are your favorite conferences to attend? What's your dream conference to go to?
Me? I want to go to NYC Comic-Con, ALA, or BEA. Those are sort of the dreams. World Con might be high on that list, too.
Check LDS Storymakers off the list this May!
My excitement is tempered a little by the fact that because of financial situations earlier I wasn't able to register until all the pitch sessions were full. But I'm trying not to let that get me down too much. I have been wanting to go to this conference since I first ever heard about it but this is the first time I've been able to.
What are your favorite conferences to attend? What's your dream conference to go to?
Me? I want to go to NYC Comic-Con, ALA, or BEA. Those are sort of the dreams. World Con might be high on that list, too.
Check LDS Storymakers off the list this May!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Point of View and Tense
Wow, that's a technical topic for me to be getting into on this blog. I know I don't usually go into the gritty details like this here. But it's something that has been on my mind lately.
For whatever reason, perhaps it's just a natural inclination and a small fear of trying something new, I always write in past tense. I just do. But then I write fantasy and I think that past is pretty traditional for the genre. Not that I'm saying it can't be done, but just that it seems traditional.
I tend to write in third limited, or at least try. (I'm sure third omniscient creeps in there sometimes. That's what revisions are for.) But I have experimented with first person. Those are generally the short stories that go unfinished. One of these days I will force myself to try my hand at first and finish what I start.
A couple of years ago I started reading a book that was written in present tense. (I can't remember if it was third or first.) The tense was so jarring to me. Thinking about it now, I'm not sure it was done with enough finesse as to be invisible. When I read I want to see the story, not the craft. Especially when I read for pleasure. I never did finish the book.
In late 2011 (as in the last few days of the year) I read a book that captured me and didn't let me go. I had some issues with the book as I finished it but it was with the story, not the craft. Well into it, perhaps almost two-thirds, I realized something. The entire book had been written in first person (which I'd noticed) present tense (which I had not noticed). I was paying attention to the story, not the craft.
Imagine my disappointment two weeks later when I'm reading another book and the first thing I notice is the tense, present, and the POV, first. I'm not opposed to first, or to present tense. But when they're not done well they overpower the story. I also did not finish this book, but not because of the present tense narrative.
Done well, your readers (even writer readers) will not notice your craft, they'll only notice your story. Unless they're critiquing your work, then they will. But if they're reading for pleasure they might go back and look at how you've written what's on the page but the story is what should stick more.
For whatever reason, perhaps it's just a natural inclination and a small fear of trying something new, I always write in past tense. I just do. But then I write fantasy and I think that past is pretty traditional for the genre. Not that I'm saying it can't be done, but just that it seems traditional.
I tend to write in third limited, or at least try. (I'm sure third omniscient creeps in there sometimes. That's what revisions are for.) But I have experimented with first person. Those are generally the short stories that go unfinished. One of these days I will force myself to try my hand at first and finish what I start.
A couple of years ago I started reading a book that was written in present tense. (I can't remember if it was third or first.) The tense was so jarring to me. Thinking about it now, I'm not sure it was done with enough finesse as to be invisible. When I read I want to see the story, not the craft. Especially when I read for pleasure. I never did finish the book.
In late 2011 (as in the last few days of the year) I read a book that captured me and didn't let me go. I had some issues with the book as I finished it but it was with the story, not the craft. Well into it, perhaps almost two-thirds, I realized something. The entire book had been written in first person (which I'd noticed) present tense (which I had not noticed). I was paying attention to the story, not the craft.
Imagine my disappointment two weeks later when I'm reading another book and the first thing I notice is the tense, present, and the POV, first. I'm not opposed to first, or to present tense. But when they're not done well they overpower the story. I also did not finish this book, but not because of the present tense narrative.
Done well, your readers (even writer readers) will not notice your craft, they'll only notice your story. Unless they're critiquing your work, then they will. But if they're reading for pleasure they might go back and look at how you've written what's on the page but the story is what should stick more.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Update Tuesday 1/22-1/28
Whew. Where did January go?
As for updates and such. Well, after a good brainstorming session with a close writer friend, I had some ideas for a new opening to the current revision WiP. After that, I took to my revision outline and got it all ready to go for the next round of revisions. As of Saturday night I hadn't started on those revisions but I at least had a game plan.
I procrastinated revisions in favor of finishing the maps for a new fantasy world I'm creating. One for which I have the nugget of a story idea. I got the maps done and printed and put into a shiny new project binder. The rest of the world-building will have to be done after I've finished the revisions to Woven.
In the meantime, the muse is running double time and I now have ideas stewing for a sequel trilogy to Woven, a second trilogy set in the same fantasy world as Woven, and 6 or 7 novellas that are prequels to the trilogy of which Woven is the first volume.
Like I said, overdrive.
How are your WiPs going?
As for updates and such. Well, after a good brainstorming session with a close writer friend, I had some ideas for a new opening to the current revision WiP. After that, I took to my revision outline and got it all ready to go for the next round of revisions. As of Saturday night I hadn't started on those revisions but I at least had a game plan.
I procrastinated revisions in favor of finishing the maps for a new fantasy world I'm creating. One for which I have the nugget of a story idea. I got the maps done and printed and put into a shiny new project binder. The rest of the world-building will have to be done after I've finished the revisions to Woven.
In the meantime, the muse is running double time and I now have ideas stewing for a sequel trilogy to Woven, a second trilogy set in the same fantasy world as Woven, and 6 or 7 novellas that are prequels to the trilogy of which Woven is the first volume.
Like I said, overdrive.
How are your WiPs going?
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The File of Dead Ideas
When do you know it's time to let go of an undeveloped idea? How long do you hold on to that idea that no longer inspires your imagination?
How long do you hold on to the past rather than looking forward to the future? When do you make that call, that an idea is no longer inspiring enough to pursue?
If you can't tell, I'm struggling with this very question. Currently I have five book ideas sitting in my queue to develop and write. I've been working on one of late, but as you may have read on Tuesday, I put the story into the dead idea file. I got the idea a couple of years ago and it lingered, but it was time.
I have one idea in the queue, however, that has been around longer. And it sits there still. I was thinking about the idea the other morning and while it did intrigue me all those years ago (when I was a senior in college, I'm pretty sure), it doesn't any more. At what point do I say, "I have too many ideas that intrigue me more and so I'm going to say goodbye to you"?
I have all these ideas but I'm not yet feeling inspired by any of them. Perhaps it's because I'm fresh off a round of edits and I'm currently finishing off the world-building for one of them.
But how do you know when it's time to let go?
How long do you hold on to the past rather than looking forward to the future? When do you make that call, that an idea is no longer inspiring enough to pursue?
If you can't tell, I'm struggling with this very question. Currently I have five book ideas sitting in my queue to develop and write. I've been working on one of late, but as you may have read on Tuesday, I put the story into the dead idea file. I got the idea a couple of years ago and it lingered, but it was time.
I have one idea in the queue, however, that has been around longer. And it sits there still. I was thinking about the idea the other morning and while it did intrigue me all those years ago (when I was a senior in college, I'm pretty sure), it doesn't any more. At what point do I say, "I have too many ideas that intrigue me more and so I'm going to say goodbye to you"?
I have all these ideas but I'm not yet feeling inspired by any of them. Perhaps it's because I'm fresh off a round of edits and I'm currently finishing off the world-building for one of them.
But how do you know when it's time to let go?
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