Everest has no warts whatsoever!! They've all fallen orf.

Yay!!!!

Acreage owners giving me a total break on rent because I look after their horses too.

They never actually asked me other than at weekends when they go camping, to look in on their horses. I do so automatically. Now I will do so even more because it's noticed and appreciated and I'm glad, for the horses. That's what I was saying the other day to T, wishing folk would take more care etc. I don't mind taking on that kind of responsibility at all, and I always took partial responsibility because the horses shared with mine. Jim said today, should we put two bales out and I said no. The horses have sorted themselves out and if more return from the other pasture, then yes, but not with the four of them.

One doesn't want to interfere but now I've been asked, that's great.

We had a long chat today about fixing shelters, the roundpen, and putting in an extremely simple outdoor 'space' to school. I'm not talking arena with proper footing but simply a grass area where both horses and me can focus better. I had to totally 'imagine' it when I schooled the other day and while that's not particularly hard, it does take the guess work out of it also.

We also talked about Maple because I really wasn't sure I could afford him as well as E but J is determined I shall have him and basically said, pay me what you have when you have it. How nice is that? The boy is a brat but I do like him. I don't think any horse is ever going to eclipse E and I guess, too, Maple can sense that a bit, but he's getting better and I do like how he and E get on. They've 'sorted' it and that's good. And Lily, when she hasn't got the gentleman to occupy her time, wants to go to an arena in winter. The dh said, well which horse are you going to take, and I hesitated and then said, well, why the hell not both - I have a Tom? And that will so do T a lot of good to work in an arena and E is the kind of horse I can probably sit upon and direct T on Maple or, vice versa. Then there was the question of would they travel well with little Jade the instigator and, bearing in mind we have a stock trailer not a 'proper' horse trailer, I could say with confidence, we have a partition. E and M can travel as a pair and Jade can travel in the back. That's how well actually E and M get on.

moar funny pictures

I've recently added Goodreads to my list of ways to procrastinate. While I don't intend to put up any actual written reviews, I do intend to rate books with their star system, with three stars being the default setting at the start of the book. Four stars means the book is good, and five stars means the book is excellent. I've only barely managed to add a few books to my shelves there, but will be adding books as time passes, probably adding an author's list when I'm currently reading a book by that author. For example, I've added Tad Williams' books that I own, because I'm currently reading "War of the Flowers" by him.

In any case, I'd like to invite an of you who are currently on Goodreads to friend me if you'd like. I'll accept of course, the next time I'm over there procrastinating or updating my "currently reading" and "read" files. If you aren't already on Goodreads, check them out. It seems like a decent place, and like LibraryThing, a good way to keep track of your books. I'm not sure which of the two--Goodreads or LibraryThing--is better, I haven't been on Goodreads long enough yet. But we'll see.

http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/2008/09/sex-sells-childrens-books.html

I know this cover art has been making the rounds, but just in case some of you haven't seen it, I thought I would post it. Call it a little inspiration for those of you writing shapeshifter erotic romance. Were-chickens? Anything is possible. It's been a while since my last trip to the zoo. Can anyone identify the creature between the pig and the cow? Is that meant to be a very large dog?

I've been sadly absent from the blog the last couple of weeks and would like to acknowledge the efforts of my co-blogger to keep this thing going while I drown in doo-doo. It has been a combination of things. Two big family events, out of town guests, real estate sales and purchases, and other things not worth mentioning. Suffice it to say that I'm out of my rut. Given how much I like my rut, this is not a good thing.

Tuesday, the last visitors depart and I will fall back into my -- let's not call it a rut. Let's call it a groove. That sounds better, doesn't it?

In the meantime, I'm curious. What's on the mind of you writers? What issues are you wrestling in your prose? As readers, what is the book you're longing to read but can't find in the bookstores? I visited the bookstore with some guests a few days ago -- guests not involved in publishing in any way whatsoever -- and their comments in the store made me think that despite the amazing abundance of books being published, we're still somehow not offering the right selection.

Theresa

Just so everyone knows, the newest post over at dawbooks is a discussion thread about Julie E. Czerneda, and in particular, her newest release in the Stratification series. So if you've read any of Julie's book--in this series or any of her past series--stop on over and let everyone know what you think. I'm sort of hoping it sparks a little conversation about how to create believable aliens, since that's one of Julie's strong suits (she's got that biology background to help her out). *grin*

Random.org spat out number 23 at me, which corresponds to this entry:


I recently read a review of Stephanie Meyer's teen books in which the reviewer praised Meyer for promoting sexual abstinence. The reviewer implied that doing so was a deliberate goal of Meyer's.

In Magic Bites & Magic Burns, you deftly established a growing emotional relationship between Kate and Curran. And although the sexual tension between them is also increasing, you didn't write any sex scenes for them.

Are you doing this to heighten the readers' anticipation of the outcome of their relationship? And if so, it's working: the ending to Magic Burns was a great cliff hanger and the snippets for Magic Strikes are tantalizing. And/or is it another way to underscore the Kate character's fear of the results of intimacy?

I ask because some authors include gratuitous sex scenes that don't add to the plot or to character development. I actually stopped reading a book in which the (talented) author had a vampire-hating and -killing heroine fall in love and into bed with a vampire within days of meeting him. The dissonance between the heroine's values and that behavior was so great that I began to notice other inconsistencies, which ruined the book for me.

To the author of the question: please email me at ilona @ ilonaland(dot)com with your address and I'll send you the novella. 

Now to answer the question.
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Just as an aside, no, I do not promote abstinence.  I honestly think that abstinence as means of sexual control is ineffective and completely useless.  I'm from a relatively repressed country and I had sexual education.  My teachers and parents viewed it from the point of "We know you will do it.  We know we can't keep you from doing it.  Here is how you can do it with minimum of damage to everyone involved."



 

I am still laughing over my horse yesterday. One of the things in NH training that Karen does is teach horses that, yeah, they actually have back legs and, yeah, they don't just follow you, they have a function. Because some horses just don't connect funnily enough. As some horses will spook at their own shadows, not connecting the two even when this 'thing' has followed them around forever. If you watch any horse go backwards they always do so carefully, tentatively, worrying about where their feet are going. So it's quite a trust issue when you ask them to go backwards and why it is one of the first things taught a horse in NH. You are asking quite a lot of them and for them to trust you. It's a dominance thing as well. So there are a lot of connotations attached to it. Unless they are being asked to do it via a prompt most horses 'appear' to go backwards almost in slow motion. Actually if you do it yourself, and we haven't got eyes on the side, it's quite disorientating and it's no fun bumping into stuff you can't see.

So it makes it even more funny to see a horse doing it deliberately, doing a shoulder check to see if he's clear, and continuing. I think he knew we were laughing at him. This is usually the only time E gets grumpy because he's so miserable in the rain. I 'expected' him to turn when Tom climbed the fence with a handful of grass. But no, he continued to back up towards Tom, knowing where he was, wanting the grass but still determined not to get his face wet, passing T with his backside first, not in a disrespectful way, just that that part of his body came first.

I wonder why he is so sensitive? I mean, all horses turn their backsides to the rain, especially when it's hard rain like this was. Maple isn't keen either in going out in it but not to the point E is. But it was the determintation on E's face that got me. The other three had all trotted straight into the shelter and E had been following when the dh whistled and you could see the dilemma on his face - shelter/humans and he chose us, which was very gratifying, but? backwards? Hee!

Lia is not feeling well, I think she has growing pains or has sprained a muscle or slightly twisted a joint. She's not limping, I've given her several thorough checks without finding anything wrong, but she cried while romping around yesterday evening, and she cried here and then yesterday evening and night when lying down or moving in her sleep. I can't say why, but I have a feeling that something's up with her left front leg.

Lia and I went to bed at 00:00
C comes to bed at 1:00, wakes up Lia who comes for a cuddle and then has to pee.
02:00 Lia cries and comes for a cuddle, before falling asleep again.
03:00 Lia cries, vomits and then has to pee.
04:00 In his sleep, C puts his leg over me, pinning me to the bed and waking me up.
05:00 Cats are fighting and I have to get up and scold them (Murp play-pounces on Felix, who will have none of that youthful nonsense and throws a fit).
06:00 C snores, waking me up.
08:20 Lia is wide awake, feeling frisky and wants to get up.

Poor puppy is tired today and zonked out as I'm writing this. She hasn't cried since 03:00, but I'll force her to take it slowly the next couple of days and if the problem comes again, it's off to the vet.

My husband is a musician - a guitarist and so much more - and we have this running joke that he's my muse-ician. Not technically my muse, who is a flighty slave-driver, but my sounding board and the one who sparks ideas when I hit a brick wall.

So I posed a problem to him, just now before bed. Yes, that was a bad idea because now he's getting sleep and I'm online, being creative. But anyways, I had a problem for him and he gave me an suggestion for fixing it. As I tested the idea and thought it through, an idea formed, and now it's the solution I've been looking for.

Everything in a book can be pain and misery and blah blah blah, but I think having a lull before the storm is important. Hubby asked how big a lull, and then told me it's way too big and I should fix it as suggested. He echoed one of my reviewer's suggestions, but pointed out, as I'd thought, that it was a bit cliche. We pondered the matter for a bit, and voila! A solution.

I swear, with this book my muse is being a bit random, giving me the whole plot, vanishing, then popping back in to help punch it up. But thanks to the oft-harsh but necessary comments of my favorite reviewer, I've managed to find these weak areas and then my muse - and my musician - help me finish the job.

Writing is amazingly fun, terribly frustrating, often random, and always surprising.

I love this life!

Now to put this plan into action...

JDawson

Yay!

About a quarter of the way through the new project, and it's picking up steam. How do I know it's picking up steam? Because I return to it and endlessly pick at it. Wrote for a few hours this afternoon, got 2600 words. Poked around for a bit, came back, worked on it some more. Got another 600 words.

Got up, made dinner, spent time with the husband, came back and wrote some more. Over 3500 for the day, and now crossing over 20,000 for the entire novel.

I think this will run short - I'm going to guess about 70,000 words when I'm done with the first draft. Which, honestly, is perfect for me. My first drafts always run really lean, and then I go back through over and over again, adding bits here and there in the weak spots, until my final draft is somewhere between 85-95k. I love Stephen King's On Writing novel, but his way of working is almost completely opposite of my own. He says to put the book away for several months; I have to edit it right away or lose my train of thought and my enthusiasm. He says to write large and then cut 10%, I have to write lean and then add 10%. Or 15%.

Granted, he's a mega-bestseller and I'm still a noob, but everyone has different writing processes. You have to figure out what works for you.

I'll probably continue picking at the book tonight, but I have to admit that I'm getting a little stir-crazy at the moment. My husband has been sucked into video games for the past few days, so I've had a lot of free time. I could - should - read, but I'm in a reading slump. My brain is gobbled up by my book.

Maybe there's something on the boob tube...

Had a great day at Spruce Meadows. Not enough Canadian Horses - grumps - but we had fun looking at many different breeds. I managed to only buy a set of reins and a pair of jodphurs. Wasn't I good? I *could* have bought a 4000 dollar saddle, but I didn't :) Saw E's previous owner who didn't quite believe that E is now defending himself and is *fat*. I showed him a photo of E half-asleep at the hitching rail and he said - want another one? I just laughed, but I could have said yes. I could have done.

Funny of the day? We come home and want to see our horse so we all drive up and the clouds open and it pisses down. Now we all know how Everest loves rain. The dh whistles and E is quite determined to come over and see us. He does so backwards. So we are standing in pissing down rain killing ourselves laughing at our character. Oh, pick him some grass, the dh says and Tom climbs the fence. Everest backs up some more. I tell you twas hilarious and I so wish I had a video because it was the kind of thing you *have* to see to believe. That horse will NOT face the rain if he doesn't have to. He looks rather disdainfully at the others in the shelter as if to say - don't you have reverse gear? I do.

But, yeah, a loose horse going backwards with his head tucked down for at least five yards = hilarious.

*Ask* a horse to do that under saddle or in a halter - don't want to, I don't like going backwards.

Not my E. *grin*

Synopsis is usually written after the narrative is completed.  Proposal is usually written before.  As you will see, I have glossed over plot holes to give myself ample room for creative process.

Proposal:

Okay where to start.  Whose background is more mysterious, Siran's or Orson's?  Orson wins hands down.  We can dribble bits and pieces of his angsty tragic past until readers start making bomb threats to get the whole story out.  Because Orson's past is more interesting, we must save him and start with Siran.  I think I might change her name to Siroun.  I think I like Siroun better.  Or maybe Siran....  Heck if I know. 

What's Siran's strongest point?  What makes her special?  She builds killer robots.  We must start with robots.  Some robot-like scene.  Big machines.  Dirt flying.  Lots of noise.  Testing site – she is at a testing site showing off a new robotic prototype to prospective buyers.  That's why she isn't at home when murders happen.  Two birds with one stone, off we go.  Note – I have no clue as to what the first scene will look like at this point.  I just sort of know where I want to start.

 

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High society - check.  Revenge not worth it - possible check. A bit of romance but the point of the story - check.  Shapeshifter son-eating dude - check.  Southern setting - check.  Villain - sorceror-type psycho - check. 

My brain hurts. 

Seriously? You want this woman one heartbeat away from the Presidency? This story from NPR links to a letter from Anne Kilkenny, a woman who lives in Wasilla and has known Sarah Palin for a very long time.

There are ethics issues with her, outright lies and misrepresentations, and if you want to judge her on pure fiscal-experience-management terms, Wasilla had zero debt when she became mayor and when she left, it was 25 million in debt. But wait, there's more...

I've been staying out of things because there's too much rhetoric and innuendo flying around. There's another letter supposedly from a resident of Wasilla that's making its way around via email. I haven't been able to verify that it's legit, but this one is. I can't verify, of course, that Anne Kilkenny hasn't got an ax to grind, but it seemed important that this get out.

Sarah Palin is more than a by-golly-by-gum "real" person. She's got a considerable dark side, and she's a slick politician—make no mistake.

dorianegray on September 6th, 2008 05:26 pm (UTC)

Things for a story proposal, huh? Okay, I suggest...

A fantasy story with a bit of romance, but the romance isn't the focus of the story.

A setting that involves "high society" and lots of gossip and scandal and politicking.

A theme of "revenge is more trouble than it's worth".

kakkobean  on September 6th, 2008 08:34 pm (UTC)

You guys want to put me into early grave?  Okay, Bianca, yours might not work for me because it sounds a bit like Cherie Priest's work and I don't usually deal in that setting.  I'd have to do some research and I am too lazy.  I will steal a couple of elements from it.

Okay so let's glue this together.  First, I'm going to sketch out a setting, which will read a lot like a query.  This is just for myself to sort of know where the heck I'm going with this.  I need to let the idea brew and nail down the setting, the general bend of the story, etc.

 

( Read more... )

That after watching ninety bajillion (a slight exaggeration) Jane Austen movies in the past week or two while my husband plays video games...

Why can't there be a Jane Austen video game?

You know, build your own heiress (bonus scoring if you make her impoverished) and navigate her through Regency England/Bath/etc. Dress her up and send her to house parties and have all kinds of interactions that lead you through a story.

You win if you marry the handsome lord with a title and 10,000 pounds a year.

It's brilliant. Why has no one done this? I'd buy it.

(Somewhere out there, a feminist is screaming, I just know it. *g*)

How indepth for an outline should a person go and still leave enough room for adjusting if the characters decide to run like wild bunnies with one part of the plot? (damn those plot bunnies)

Oy.  Pet peeve territory here. 

I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here, possibly offending a whole bunch of people.  You've been warned.

I know it's fashionable to say, "Oh my characters tell me what to do" and "Bob just wouldn't be quiet and wouldn't let me finish his scene."  This can be a dangerous mindset.   It isn't always, but if you carry it to an extreme, it can damage your narrative.

I thought I would insert here, since I've gotten some comments, that this is how I personally see this process from my experience.  There is a school of writing that advocates surrender to the character as a way to unlock their creativity, and some fine writers belong to it.  My way is by no means the only way to do things.  I'm just marking a pothole with a warning flag so nobody falls into it while racing to the finish line.  

First, let's get something out there right now: your characters are figments of your imagination.  They are not alive.  They can't dictate to you what to do. 

However, sometimes it feels like they do.  When that happens, you, as a writer, might have become obsessed with a certain aspect of your writing.  You've fallen in love with a character's voice, or a particular setting, or a concept.  It's so easy to write - especially if it involves a character.  It's almost as if you have no control of the narrative, letting the character instead take the reigns.   And this is where we get into a dangerous territory.   Because guess what?  You don't have control over your narrative.  You voluntarily gave it up. 

Writing is hard.  It's work.  Your brain rebels against work, especially when you count on it to resolve a particular thorny story issue.  It will try to do what's easy instead.  Instead of worrying about what is the next clue to be left by the murder,  your mind may try to let the character think about his past love for a couple thousand words instead. 

It happens to every writer.  And it's hard because it puts you on a crossroads: one way is seductively easy and the other is writer's block hard.  Most of the pros will grumble, complain to friends behind f-lock, pound their heads against the brick wall of the next clue, and resolve the issue.  But if you approach this situation with the mindset of "characters dictate my narrative and I must do what they say", you've surrendered the ability to self-edit.  You just go with the flow.  You let your "characters", or rather yourself, take the easy path and as a result your narrative will suffer.  If you want to see the "characters dictate my narrative and I must obey" in action, check out LKH's Anita Blake series past Obsidian Butterfly. 

You alone have to bear the ultimate responsibility for your narrative. 

I'm not suggesting abandoning all pretense of letting characters run wild.   You will injure your creativity.  Your characters should have a voice.  Plenty of professional writers will quip about their characters running off with their scenes.  Almost every writer experiences moments of subconscious "gifts", when new interesting twists pop into their heads out of nowhere.  Those twists enrich the narrative.   But the difference is, successful writers use these twists but still retain their ability to self-edit.

I'm suggesting that when this happens, take a good critical look at your story and ask yourself, do you really need the scene you're writing?  Are you writing it because the narrative requires it or are you writing it for your own personal gratification?  (If I had a dollar for every personal gratification scene I've cut...)

To avoid this pitfall,  I suggest outlining enough to have firm limits.  Too much outlining might kill the creative impulse, too little might result in temptation to write what is easy.  If it's a mystery, know who did it and why and how your detective will go about solving it.  If it's a romance, know how the hero and heroine will get together and know what issues prevent them from doing so in the beginning of the narrative.  If it's a heroic fantasy, know what challenges separate hero from his goal.

The easiest way to do this is pretend you are writing a proposal for your next novel to your editor.  It should be oh, about under 3 pages in length.  It should tell a story of your book in very simple terms.  It's not a synopsis or an outline, it's a proposal, this fun idea you showcase to an editor.  Then, within the limits of proposal, you can let your characters run as wild as you want, as long as they get  where they are supposed to go.

Since I can't share any of my proposals, because they are under submission to my agent, let's do one together instead.  In the comments please throw some terms or concepts you guys want to see in the proposal, and I will glue one together and we can tear it apart until there is no shred of meat left on its sad bones.

I would prefer it to be a fantasy of some sort since I deal best in a setting with some magic in it, but it doesn't have to be that.

With so many Urban Fantasy novels to choose from -- or novels of any genre for that matter -- how does a writer go about keeping things fresh and new?

and

What are ways to come up with a fresh idea for something that has become common place, ie vampire/werewolf characters?

I don't know how other people do it, but my trick is to read outside the genre. I don't have an original bone in my body so I try to absorb as much information as I can.   I read mysteries, real crime, thrillers (although less of those - the more I write, the further ahead I see, which kills the thriller for me), historic dramas, romance: everything from paranormal and regency to The Billionaire Boss's Virgin Secretary's Secret Two-Headed Baby.  I watch large quantities of anime and shows like City Confidential and Bravo's reality line-up.  My favorite author list reads like a quilt put together by a blind person: David Gemmel, Prosper Merime, Sharon Kay Penmann, Dumas, Sabbatini, Mario Puzo, Dean Koontz, Lermontov, Robert Parker, Terry Pratchett, Gogol, Afanasiev, Susan Napier, Bujold...  I should probably stop. 

As you see, there is no rhyme or reason to it, and that's what pulls my bacon out of the fire in the originality department.  For example, my former agent and a couple of people who read BORDER ROSE, which will be out Fall 2009, stated that it was something odd and out-of-the-box, a rustic fantasy.  To me it's a patchwork of Western North Carolina, where I used to live, regency romance, which I read, and loads of anime.  Not so much new as bizarrely put together.

After seven years (yes, it took me that long) I finally figured out how to format my chapters/stories so they post correctly on OWW.

Open chapter/story and go to Word preferences.

Show nonprinting characters: paragraph marks.

Then find "^p" and replace with "^p^p".

It's that easy!

Boy do I feel dumb now... I assume the rest of the world has known this for ages and I'm the only idiot who went in and hit "return" after every paragraph so OWW didn't bunch it all into one lump.

I figured I'd post this, though, just in case I'm not the only one who hated posting because of the reformatting necessary...

JDawson

I played around with my query hook a bit more, aiming for something much shorter but with more impact.

Here are some of my favorite versions:

1a) Arienne’s inherited ability to manipulate light could make her a powerful queen in a world that turned its back on magic. She commands only parlor tricks, though, simple, benign ways to twist light into action; Arienne knows nothing about the more treacherous aspects, or how to defend herself. Prince Domen fears her rare abilities and wants Arienne dead before she can assume the throne. He concocts a plan to lure her into a trap, targeting Arienne’s vulnerable spot: her magic-less father. Nothing can prepare Arienne for the events to follow, not even the cache of knowledge her mother passed down before her death.

1b) Arienne’s inherited ability to manipulate light could make her a powerful queen in a world that turned its back on magic - if she lives that long. Prince Domen fears her rare abilities and covets her family’s deep coffers and fertile land. Nothing can prepare Arienne for the confrontations ahead, not even the cache of knowledge her mother passed down before her death.

2a) Arienne wants to become a powerful, beloved queen like her late grandmother and marry the only man who can not only counter her fiery personality, but shares her rare ability to manipulate light. Her future is threatened by Prince Domen, who fears her magic and covets her family’s deep coffers and fertile land. He concocts a plan to lure her into a trap, targeting Arienne’s vulnerable spot: her magic-less father. Nothing can prepare Arienne for the battles ahead, not even the cache of knowledge her mother passed down before her death.

2b) Arienne wants to become a powerful, beloved queen like her late grandmother and marry the man who shares her rare ability to manipulate light, but her future is threatened by Prince Domen, who fears her magic and covets her family’s deep coffers and fertile land. He concocts a plan to lure her into a trap, targeting Arienne’s vulnerable spot: her magic-less father. Nothing can prepare Arienne for the confrontations ahead, not even the cache of knowledge her mother passed down before her death.

As you can see, I like the "nothing can prepare" lines; I think it adds a necessary bit of "what will happen next?" without posing any questions - something I hate in a query letter.

I'm not sure about the verb "wants" though I couldn't come up with a better alternative to fit the sentence. Also, one version mentions the love aspect while one doesn't. It's a constant presence in the book, so I think it should be mentioned. It's just not easy to squeeze in.

JDawson

My short story "Snake Eater" has been accepted by Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.  It will appear in issue #39.  I just love this publication, so couldn't be happier.

I'm particularly happy about selling this story, because it is the first of my Andean fantasies to find a home.  I've recently been writing two other stories set in the Andes among the native Aymara and Quechua people, so this sale is encouraging.

In other news: I have finally defeated the evil head cold from Canada (although I have begun to suspect it was given to me by the eldest son, who picked up something nasty in London).  In any event, the invader has been repelled after five bottles of cough syrup, several packets of Thera-flu, and four entire boxes of tissue.  Had I known ahead, I could have bought stock in Kimberly-Clark.

And my eldest son is moving to London.  This may be the first step in his world-takeover...