Fast Start, Slow Start.

The Read ...

 Fast or slow, the start of your novel and its speed off the blocks are always a problem.  A breaking point for agent, publisher, and reader.  My latest read has me puzzling this question ... because the start of next year's "novel" is breathing down my neck.   

I bought Cricket McRae's mystery, Lye in Wait, at a local author's reading.  She read such a vivid characterization of an interfering mother getting her way within the context of a brother's mysterious suicide that I thought she was worth buying a trade paperback for ... the first in the series.  Then, I read the first chapter and wondered if I'd lost my mind.

Oh, the book started great.  Opening sentence:  "That Thursday morning had been going so well until I found the local handyman dead on my workroom floor."  

A wonderfully simple opening line that'd warm the cockles of any critics heart.  But, the character turned out to be something of a dip.  In the first chapter, she committed two stupidities the likes of which'd get any teen in a horror movie killed ... or at least, lose a finger when she put it in an unknown substance by a dead body.

Since McRae didn't strike out with a third goof-up ... and then, used the protagonist's bad decisions as a point of humor in the book ... I kept reading and was rewarded with a neat, intricate plot that illustrated that having a family can be dangerous to your health.

Web and Other Stuff ...

Tamela Burhke at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's asks a question I often ask myself:  basically Why blog?.  One of the first things she mentions is what a time-sink it is.  Many of her comments seem to apply to non-fiction writers more than fiction ones.  Still, you should make note of her comments.  Oh, I've followed the blog too so I can read the next installment in the discussion.

Overwhelmed by all the tweets on Twitter?  Roni Lauren over at *Fiction Groupie* has a simple way to organize your Twitter "follows"?  -- "Authors on Twitter".  You might go over and take a look.

Did you catch the Thursday (12/9) front page article on e-books in the New York Times?  Romance readers seem to be buying the most e-books.  (Link courtesy of the AW Water Cooler.)   Seems like they don't have the courage to show the semi-salacious print covers in public.  ...  Don't quite understand it, but then, I've always thought Favio something of a turn-off.  Maybe shy away for displaying erotica?

One more media networking thing.  David Wisehart is doing a promotion experiment on Twitter -- #Sample Sunday.  Visit his blog, Kindle Author, to get the details.  Published, work-in-progress, short stories -- the categories are open.  This is listed as an experiment on AW Water Cooler.

Progress ...

If cleaning is progress, I'm making it.  So far, it's only manuscripts ... but I have loads of paper piling up again that needs to be sorted and filed and recycled in the printer.  Now ... if only some of the places where I have long standing submissions would start cleaning up their files.

Guess, I just as soon have a rejection after three months as let a submission continue to hang in the nether regions.

Trivia ...

The rest of the house needs sorting and dumping and cleaning too.  Part of it gets done today and tomorrow.  A friend who's allergic to cats is coming to visit.

 

Let the Series Begin ... and the Fun

The Read ...

Series hooks can be difficult.  Picked up the Eqyptian Rick Riordan, but it didn't hook me ... even after giving the book a couple tries.  The first book of his "The Heros of Olympus" series, The Lost Hero, did ... in spite of all the personal complictions draining my time.  So, what was the difference?  Same best selling author.  Same nimble writing.  What?

I think it, for me, it was the material.  The Greek/Roman gods are so human ... and, with so many of them, they present all sorts of complications.  In this series, Riordan is going to explore the conflicts inherent in the Greek and Roman interpretations of basically the same spiritual world ... and the conflict within the good guys ... and the bad guys are beautifully set up with high stakes for the new major heros.  [The previous heros/demigods make cameo appearances which help the plot along.] 

I love conflicted characters.  Don't you?  ...  Now if only I could write them.

Web and Other Stuff, Mostly Complications ...

I'm getting back on track.  My friend's still in the hospital, my back still hurts from the baking, and I manged to delete all the work I did on my website last week.  Still, I think I've taken a couple steps forward.  I'll probably never go back and read the blogs I missed.  Sorry, but I've got to cut my losses somewhere.  [Except last night ... my writing time got cannibalized ... my friend had an over-reaction to her medication and time-consuming hell flared all over my evening.  Even was late in getting to Castle.]

To all who display their Christmas trees and decorations on their blogs.  Thanks.  I like looking at colored lights ... but we put balls and decades-old candy canes on the rosemary bush ... and call it Christmas.  I did buy my Christmas presents:  a big box of See's chocolates which reminds me of my mom every time I take one and five CDs, which I normally don't buy because they cost too much.  The old man got his presents too -- two art prints and frames.

Sorry, didn't really get to gather web links.  When in a time crunch, that's the first thing I drop.  What do you do when your plate overflows?

Progress ...

Revised a short story from my files for my critique group.  Only sent it out to two places and figured it needed expansion after I got a some personal comments.  So, it sat.  

Gave it an additional 400 words and threw it to the wolves.  Next week, I'll learn what they think.

Then, there's the )&*^$&) website.  Spent all of last week adding and polishing and started feeling real pleased with myself ... to the point I was thinking I might even be learning something about the website building thing.  

Then, I decided to reformat the Renna's Tales linking page since I had the new artwork.  --  Ta Dah.  I lost it all ... including the proper navigation links and meta tags. But, I have learned something about GoDaddy's Website builder.  I got most of it, except for the navigation links, up last night. 

Hey, I didn't want to write anyway ... did I?  Don't think I could have with all the calls about my friend's critical condition.  [Imagine trying to answer the phone with cookie dough all over your hands!]

Trivia ...

The cookie part of the Christmas operation is done ... unless I'm nice and make extras for the kids.

 

Revisiting Old Friends: Silver on the Tree

The Read...

Picked up Susan Cooper's Silver on the Tree of the Dark is Rising series.  All part of my return to writing middle grade, I guess, but her books are intricate enough that adults can enjoy them for their own sakes ... or maybe my brain just works on a more infantile level than most.  

Will, the Drew kids, and Bran go up against the greatest evil threatening to enslave the world ... and win with surprisingly little violence and little help from the "Merlin" incarnations.  Spent about a half hour of looking for examples of where Cooper created tension ... but the passages were too long for me to feel comfortable quoting.  So, I'll cop out and say ... if you want to see how a master puts her characters in harms way without resorting to blood flying all over the place.  Buy the book, a yellow highlighter, and set too.

Hate to say this people, but I think my unconscious mind is telling me to go back and write middle grade.  Which makes me wonder how you or any writer decided what reading level to write at.

Web and Other Good Stuff...

 If I'm ever a success as an author (someone's whose fiction is published by somebody else), you can blame 1st Turning Point.  The good information just keeps pouring from the site.  This time of special note is Jolene James blog:  Free and Low Cost Promotion Websites.  Of course, I bookmarked it. 

And, Stacia Kane writes about Copyrights and stuff at "How Publishing Works".   I read her opinions and general good sense a lot at Absolute Write Water Cooler.  [Thanks to Kevin Hearne for this info.] 

Then, there's the problem that concerns me at the moment.  Is it MG or YA?  Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Agency give us a good litmus test on her recent kidlit.com blog. 

I don't know how Patti Struble manages to blog so much about while she's NaNo-ing, but she has a great blog about wrapping up your story --  The End of the Line.  Maybe she's ready to chuck it all in and slow the pace?

So, what could be better, once you get an end on your manuscript, than selling it ... hopefully for money.  Okay, I've contracts on the mind since I spent over an hour at Office Depot trying to get a fax through to Britain with my Spectra contract.  I'm in good company.  The Writer Beware Blog has a good post on understanding what your contract means, written by Victoria Strauss.  While it focuses on packaging, it still has lots of good advice.  I liked the title:  Notes from the Underbelly of Publishing.  If that isn't a warning, I don't know what is.

Progress...

Maybe selling "Taking Vengeance" wasn't such a fluke, after all.  Just made another sale to Spectra Magazine, a British science fiction e-magazine.  I even have a printout of the contract at my right elbow, sitting on top of the dictionary.  The piece may be called "Night for the Gargoyles" and was the short story beginnings of my novel length manuscript started in 2008, "There Be Demons".  

Does that mean a change in my decision to give up on short stories?  I doubt it ... because I just much more comfortable in writing longer lengths.  

Don't know if it counts as progress, but this blog has had over 2000 readers/reads since It started in August 2009.  Has it really been that long?  I never thought I could keep this up for more than a couple months.  Guess I really do have a big mouth.

Trivia ...

Got a floor show while eating dinner the other day.  A fox trotted down the street, took a piss in a neighbor's yard, and trotted away, his white-tipped tail swishing.  Glad he refrained from our yard.  We get enough lingering dogs as it is.

Telling a Story Can be Good

The Read ...

Finished James D. Doss' The Widow's Revenge.  I took a little time getting used to the change in the Charlie Moon series when Doss turned to the omniscient story-telling mode.  Still, the book remains an intricate, fast-paced read ...  with plenty of chuckles and laughs among the gruesome events.

From:

"Suspended high in the southern sky, the silvery satellite pulls a diaphanous cloud veil over her naked, pockmarked face."

To:

"Here endeth the lurid account."

the book gives the reader plenty of chuckles and laughs as the plot unfolds.  I wonder if Doss' books are featured in the stores on the Southern Ute reservation.

I don't think I'd get away with the opening above, but I'm sure Doss' many fans read straight through the prologuey first chapter to get to the meat of the story.

Web and Other Good Stuff ...

For some reason I've always ignored the gender bias stuff.  My attitude:  So if everyone tries to shove you to the back burner, ignore them and do what you want.  So, I've been rather perplexed by the recent fuss about gender bias in the publishing world.  Jeri Westerson, a mystery writer, makes some comments on the recent bruhahah in her blog:  Female vs Male Authors.

Before you're discriminated against, you have to write something.  If you needs a push to jump start your imagination, N. R. Williams runs an improvisation blog every Wednesday.  My mind always goes blank when I read the scenario, but maybe your mind is better oiled.

Bryce Elliot also regularly gives interesting writing prompt on his blog:  One Writer's Mind.

There's another reason to visit his blog -- he usually has something interesting to say.  Truth in plug:  He gave me a writing award, but I can never figure how to transfer the pictures.  [I'm not kidding when I call myself a computer klutz.]

Then, when you've written something and gotten it published, there's the problem of getting it on bookstore bookshelves.  Karen Dodd writes on 1st Turning Point above What a Bookseller Wants.  She's writing about self-published books ... but I thought her comments also applied to books published by small presses.

Progress...

Hey, I actually made some ... though not the progress I thought.  I'm giving up on writing short stories as being too much pain to bother with.  I'm comfortable writing longer pieces and that's what I'll do.  Hurray for the comfort zone!

Trivia ...

We're still laughing about a recent article on China's class problems.  The son of an official killed a girl from the country while driving drunk.  As far as we could tell.  He's still running free.  I think it's kind of nice to know that no matter how the trappings change, human beings behave in much the same ways. --  Wealth and rank have their privileges.

Humor in Writing

The Read ...

Wish I could do humor in my writing.  James D. Doss has no problem as he tells his tales of the mysteries that confront Charlie Moon, his Southern Ute part-time investigator.  [Disclosure:  Daisy Perika, his aunt, is one of my main women though I can only aspire to being so cantankerous.]  Book: The Widow's Revenge.

Doss does a good job of using humor to make the gruesome go down -- which in this case include murder, mayhem, and cannibalism in the form of barbecued "long pig".  In his recent books, he also takes on more and more the role of storyteller which also fits in well with his Southern Ute focus.

Daisey Perika doesn't disappoint either.  Imagine a scene when a dog doesn't leave a pickup when Daisey wants him to with: "No he don't, the old tick-mattress is just playing coy.  Wants me to sweet-talk him.  Daisy pointed her walking stick at the red pickup.  "Go on out there and lower that tail gate.  Me'n Lassie's ugly cousin wil be along directly."
...

"As soon as Sarah had turned her back, Daisy nudge the hound more urgently.  The precise location of her prodding was that tender orifice until the base of his tail."

Web and Other Good Stuff ...

Is it time to gather book reviews for your book yet?  K. L. Brady journals about gathering book reviews for her book [indie published The Bum Magnet] on her blog:  Indie Publishing on the Cheap.  Karla gives some good pointers on crafting letters ... which may help me some day ... if the reviewers'll review novelettes.  -- [Also, should mention she's giving a free copy to promote her book on Goodreads too ... which makes her a savvy marketer in my opinion.]

Getting an agent is a serious mile stone getting your writing published.  Of course, rejection letters strew the road.  Scott Hoffman of the Folio Literary Agency gives us wannabe authors some pointers on interpreting the kinds of rejection letters: On Making Sense of Rejection Letters.   The guest  appears on Chuck Sambucchino's "Guide to Literary Agents".  --  We won't talk about what kinds of rejection letters I get.

Progress ...

This has been a rushed week.  First, I had to finish a short story while scratching my scalp bloody.  Then, I had to get caught up on my critiques because I pushed them to the last minute.  Then, I got the finished home page illustration from my artist.  You can take a peek by going to my site:  Chronicles of the Half-Elven.        

Trivia ...

Just trying to keep things running smoothly 

&

not succeeding very well.

 

The Mystery: Why Lukewarm?

The Read ...

It bothers me when a book leaves me lukewarm ... and not just because I'm a cheapskate.  Jeri Westerson's medieval mystery Veil of Lies did just that.  Oh, the characters are well drawn, even interesting, and the closed room mystery stands up well.  But ...

I decided I'd read too much Zoe Oldenbourg ... as will as Edith Pargeter/Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael), Michael Jenks, and many others who create richer stages for their characters.  Westerson's style strikes me as too modern for her subject matter.  What works for Reacher doesn't necessarily work for Crispon.  That said, I'll probably buy the others in the series.

Yeah, I started reading about medieval times quite early -- like in the sixth grade when I shocked the head librarian when I returned Anya Seton's Katherine about the John of Guant's (the Duke of Lancaster just prior to the War of the Roses) mistress and third wife.

Web and Other Good Stuff ...

Bet lots of writers are happy Nathan Bransford still blogs even though he stopped being an agent.  At the moment, he's writing a series of blogs on Harry Potter and the writerly world, one of which was "Five Writing Tips."

Let's take a dose of optimism and assume we got an agent who has a publisher on the hook.  If you don't and wonder if you should wait for an agent's representation before you publish, you might want to read Rachelle Gardner's blog on what an agent does.  Click here for Contract Pointers.

Author, Brigid Kemmerer has a couple blogs on "Revisions Made Easy" which struck me as helpful.  Loved it when she said "The girl was running through the park" wasn't passive voice.  Can you guess which word she said you should watch for instead of a "to be form"?

Are you dreaming of an e-Christmas?  The Consumer Reports, a service that vets various products, has a short run down on buying a e-reader.  --  Yeah.  I'm looking, but there are too many basic problems remaining for me to buy one ... including not having WiFi.

Last but not least, I'd like to extend sympathy to Kim Mullican who is in the Throes of Revision.  At least, I don't have the jaws of Janet Reid chewing up my pitiful queries.  [Mostly, because she doesn't represent what I write.  I, of course, am among the multitudes would love to have her as an agent.  --  Have you even noticed how much Janet Reid promotes her author's on her blog.

Progress ...

"What's that?" she asks.   Need I say more?  I'm behind in everything ... including critiques.

One thing ... from now on, I think I'll be talking about my Half-Elven on the Half-Elven blog.  Did send Dark Solstice out to an e-publisher after I finished the edits, but I'm still hitting my head against the next Renna tale.

Trivia ...

Between snow storms at the moment and got the cat TV installed, but the birds haven't found the feeder yet.  As for the weather, looks like the storms are going to roll across the mountains rather frequently [for the moment, at least].

Publish Post

Suzanne Collins: War's Not Glorious

The Read ...

Ever since I listened to World War II tales as a kid, I knew war wasn't "glorious" -- in spite of having heros.  The impression I got was more like war was the "drizzling shits".   

Over the weekend, I immersed myself in Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  Along with the Hunger Games, the books well deserve the raves the trilogy is getting.  Collins lets you know front and center that even just rebellions are dirty, disgusting, and fearsome things that damage people even if they manage to survive.

Again, Collins' lean prose impresses even if the violence in the books upsets some people.  War is violent by definition ...  and it hits the most submissive the hardest.  Collins had me suspending my disbelief and totally immersed in her world.  So, immersed that I haven't started reading another book since Sunday.  [I'm watching the DVD and VHS of two different versions of Pride and Prejudice instead.  How's that for escaping?]

Opening hook in the first three sentences of Catching Fire.  "I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air.  My muscles are clenched tight against the cold.  If a pack of wild dogs were to appear at this moment, the odds of scaling a tree before they attacked are not in my favor."   The paragraph ends:  "I can't fight the sun.  I can only watch helplessly as it drags me into a day that I've been dreading for months."

The reader knows immediately what were the effects of the Hunger Games on Katniss Everdeen.

Mockingjay has a brilliant opening hook too.  "I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather.  This is where the bed I shared with my sister, Prim, stood.  Over there was the kitchen table.  The bricks of the chimney, which collapsed in a charred heap, provide a point of reference for the rest of the house.  How else could I orient myself in this sea of gray?"

If I ever wore a hat, I'd take it off to Collins.  Even her secondary ... and tertiary ... characters are well, and pointedly drawn.  I don't think I'll ever forget Snow and his bleeding mouth he got from ingesting the poisons he killed people with.  [While not stated, I assume it was the old mystery writers' arsenic ploy: build up a resistance and you eliminate yourself from suspicion.]

Progress...

Yeah,  I'm worrying about opening hooks at the moment.  There's these two projects I want to query Emma and There Be Demons.  I'm seem to be bumping my head against a blank wall when searching for marvelous images.  No changes in the manuscripts yet.

The demon book may break too many rules, especially the ones about presenting your viewpoint characters, but then again, I use two main viewpoints in a tween book.  Emma is more conventional middle grade book.  Okay, in Demons, I've got the demon rising from the portal, but he doesn't appear again until the end of the book.  :throws hands in the air:

Rules.  Rules.  Am back on the fence for Dark Solstice  [About my Half-Elven, not Tolkien's]  There's entirely too much telling, I think, for current tastes ... plus I have all sorts of multiple viewpoints giving their interpretation of the same events.  Does that sound like literary?  Maybe, I'll just self-publish the thing ... and go on and finish the trilogy about Kerry as a young adult.  In short, I don't know what I'll do.

Be careful when you complete more than one project.  Your headaches increase exponentially.

Web Stuff ...

Voice is an important problem for writers.  Even though I've given up on what I "sound" like when I write, Justine Musk has an significant blog on the distinctions between your  "essential self" and your "social self".  With the rush to e-publishing and building platforms, I think it's especially important.  Include, chasing an agent too in this discussion too.

[I gave up on figuring out what my voice is long ago.  If it's there, it's there.  If it's not, I don't know under which rock to find it.]

Had the above all set up for my web comment when I read Scarlett Parrish's blog on Erotica vs Porn  -- Let's Talk About Sex on Sunday night.  A lot of writers shy away from writing sex scenes, ie. the story fades to black when he carries her up the stairs.  Others jump in with both hands and feet, giving the reader minutes details.  Parrish makes a good distinction between what makes explicit sex in a book/story a part of the plot ... or porn.  [Don't ask me what porn is unless someone is getting hurt against their will, either.]

[My "sex" writing?  Well, I did indicate the females in my Gorsfeld story were running around without shirts on while they worked in the field.  I also implied a threesome ... which is a big plot point in Dark Solstice.  Sorry, no groping.] 

Then, there are the invaluable Beta readers and critique partners.  The GotYA blog has a neat bit on comparing them to characters in the Lord of the Rings.  Check it out for fun, if nothing else.

Trivia ...

The last of the home-grown peaches are eaten.  We had to buy more at the farmers' market.  Raspberries too.

Keepers: Better the ?th Time Around?

The Reads ... [or rather, Re-reads]

Do books improve ... or at least, keep your interest the ?th time around?  That's the purpose of bookshelves, isn't it?  ... To hold the books you might want to read again sometime?  Well, I put the idea to the test over the week-end.  Between a party, the New West Fest [before the riot] and visiting our daughter ... I decided I didn't want to think, so I re-read a couple of my favorite Stephanie Laurens' Cynster books:  On A Wild Night and On A Wicked Dawn.

Before you go eeeewwww ... a romance, think.  I'll argue that romances are prime fantasy concoctions.  Nothing could be further from real life.  Laurens gives her readers an added bonus to the sexy romp, her Cynster novels also contain a neat little mystery.  [Maybe this is why I keep them.]  In each book, Laurens drops clues  to the murder and the thefts that create the turning points in each novel.

Fantasy rears its head when the two protagonists go looking for true romance in a Regency/post-Regency setting in non-conformist ways.  One by visiting the scandalous fringes of society and the other by indulging in sexual escapades in empty rooms at ton parties -- both keeping their reputations intact.  In real life, they would have been caught, and their reputations ruined.

Don't be too impressed by my reading two 400+ page books over the week-end.  I skipped over the 2-3-4 pages of description of having sex ... over and over again.  Guess my romantic genes came atrophied.  When I think of falling into flaming abysses, pagan sacrifices to the gods come to mind faster than passion between the sheets.

Now, I'm wondering whether I should trade Laurens to make more shelf space.

Web Stuff ...

The only web stuff I spent much time on was my own site.  After two half-day sessions, I think I got the GoDaddy pictures up on my Half-Elven site.  In the process though, my author bio disappeared.  I'm not going to sweat it, though.  There're links to both my blogs where my bio is intact.

Then, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins lept onto the publishing scene, and people were actually getting their hands on it, like E. J. Wesley, at midnight no less.   Then there were the agent blogs.  Suzie Townsend did a photo essay, showing one of the few benefits of living in New York City.  Janet Reid even got into the act with her own movie.  I'll end the links with GotYA's Mockingjay give-away.

Writing Progress ...

None.  Oh, I did get a couple more chapters of Dark Solstice read with copy edits.   The manuscripts bothering me, a bit.  I can see where I can make changes, but I like the story as it is.

Trivia ...

Got delicious ice cream cones at the farmers' market.  [butter pecan]  ...  Then had a corn-on-the-cob lunch at home before we headed to the New West Fest, where we didn't spend anything.  Did get coffee at a downtown bookstore, though, including a snickerdoodle.  Didn't have to eat dinner.

Action Speed or Character Depth

The Read ...

 My middle grade reading continues with Derek Landy's action filled Playing with Fire, the second Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain book.  Landy keeps the action rolling here, a great achievement for the second book in a series/trilogy(?).  But ... can't really see much character depth.  While Landy creates a host of fun characters -- especially villains, they pop in and out of the action as needed.  Who they are is left up in the air.  --  Maybe an exercise in minimalist character development?

Not even Valkyrie Cain grows much in the year between stories -- though I think there was a paragraph where she muses that her parents are good people instead of just another annoyance.

Still the book's a great read for light amusement.

Web Stuff ...

 As I struggle to get an ending on the Voices draft, I keep wonder why I'm spending so much time on the web, social networking ... or whatever you want to call it.  Today, Kris Tualla wrote a blog on publicizing your work in her blog "What's an Independent Publisher to Do?" on 1st Turning Point.  Don't trip over the term "independent publisher".  Click the link to find a nice checklist of stuff to do to get the word out about your work.

Now if I only had an email list.  [Actually, I do.  But I don't think I'd get many sales out of 20 people.]  I'll be muttering more about publicity in the future as I try to make my web-time more efficient.  I think my first step will be to blog only two times a week.

Progress ...

 Still grumbling about getting an end on my draft of Voices.   Last night, I got all wet in the flood.  Tonight, I get to confront social services and the neighborhood busy-body?

I also seem to remember I was going to clean off my desks before NYC son arrives.  Need to clean it off since I'll be working from a paper draft when I revise.

Trivia ...

 Turning carnivore at a local steakhouse for the old man's birthday.  A 40+ year tradition -- though now we split a meal so we don't stagger back to the car.

Dialog = More thanTalk

The Surprise Reading Lesson...

Dialog should mirror how your characters should speak when they talk to each other.  Right?  I've read stuff where a 10-year-old character sounds like a TV curmudgeon.  I think there was even a TV series that played on that twist ... but it doesn't feel right to me when I read a middle grade novel.  I want to believe that the kid is doing all that wonderful stuff ... and s/he needs to talk like a kid to do it.

Then, there's Derek Landy's Scepter of the Ancients featuring detective Skulduggery Pleasant, an animated skeleton who lands in the middle of a mystery when a girl's uncle is murdered.  My NYC son kept after me to read the book while I was working on Emma since I have two characters constantly sniping at each other --  only Landy's characters are friends.

Found the book interesting because much of Landy's scene setting and descriptions are done in telling mode, but he uses very little of it.  Dialog carries his story forward to good effect and suspense as the characters roll from one adventure to the next disaster.  Landy solves the books major problem ... then, lays the groundwork for a set of new problems for the sequel.  [which I'm going to read next, I think.]

Web Notes Twittering ...

I'm finally getting a handle on Twittering.  The conventions.  The shorthand.  Then, Michelle Schusterman at YA Highway wrote a blog on Twitter Transgressions.  Interesting stuff you should know.  Fortunately, I don't think I committed any of the sins ... mostly because I'm technically incompetent.

  

Progress ...

Grumble.  Grumble.  At the beginning of last week, I had three chapters left in Voices.  Finished a chapter to my satisfaction for a draft.  Wrote part of the next chapter.  Still have three chapters left to go in Voices.  Had to add a chapter because I couldn't squeeze all the needed action into one chapter.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Am itching to query Demons (Britt) again.  In fact, wrote a new query which seems closer to what agents say they like to see in the blogs.  Only problem?  Agents also needs to love the premise and writing in the books before they offer representation.  There are a few other caveats ... but who's counting. 

Yeah, I'll continue hitting my head against the wall.  My list of suitable agents isn't any where near exhausted ... thanks to Agent Query, AW Water Cooler, Casey McCormick, Chuck Sambuchino, Writer's Digest, etc.  [Need links?  Look in my "Useful Places".]

Trivia ...

We're going to eat fresh Local strawberries three days in a row!!  Would have bought more, but we also bought a lot of cherries this week.  The Bings and Raniers are in!  Summer fruit-eating time is here!

An Easier Contest

See Contest Information Below:

My Book Review ...   

Found Glass Houses by  Rachel Caine, the first book in the Morganville vampire series, in a used book store, it's face pointed out to entice potential buyers.  Since I'd seen it on the New York Times best seller lists ... and I've been exploring series, I thought I'd pick it up.  The Morganville vampire series is up to 9 volumes if I remember right ... I may misremember sin I got caught up reading the sample chapters on the Rachel Caine site.  [It's almost midnight, and I'm not going back to the site to check.]   

At first, I thought the writing was somewhat unfocused and wishie-washie ... but after a chapter, I decided the tentative narrative style fit the viewpoint character.  Even with an unsure MC, Caine lays on the action until the tension's tight. Lots happens in each chapter, and the information is parceled out so you hardly realize it's being given to you.  In case you missed it, no info dumps or tons of back story.

The book starts off with nasty college hazing/bullying scenes and the danger tightens for the first third of the book until the main character (MC) learns the town is run by vampires.  The second third gives more character and danger details plus the info the vampires are searching for a book which the MC, then, searches for and finds.  The last third starts off with the underage MC parent's giving her an ultimatum to return home -- but the real conflict comes from a vampire attack to retrieve the book.  The ending comes in true series form by posing more questions than it answers.

Verdict:  Still debating on whether to put it on the trade pile or read more in the series.

Web Comments ...    

Kevin Hearne talks about alpha readers, beta readers, and editors -- both agent and publishers -- on his blog.  He presents the process his books take, a process that underlines that writing isn't the isolated activity of the garret artist stereotype.

In his words:  "Nobody writes perfect, golden prose on their first draft. Or even their second or third. I could be wrong...but I doubt it."  His position:  they get help, lots of it.

Progress ...  

I don't think Voices wants an ending, aka none. 

I keep revising Britt ... Worse thing I've been finding is redundancies ... where I say the same thing twice.  You know the bit, first a tell the reader "it" ... and then, show "it".  Or, vice versa.  --  And, yes, I do make other goof-ups.  Just talk to my critiquer.

Queries:  I think I'm revving up and sending queries for Emma again.  The three queries that are still outstanding come "due" in June.  Since I'll be gone a good share of July, I better get some queries out ... in case any agents reject me fast. ... How's that for a positive attitude?

Choosing agents to query is always a major research project.  Trying to find an agent who's inclinations fit the territory you like to write in is the problem.  At the moment, I'm researching agents who represent ... adult, young adult, and middle grade (though Emma is basically a tween).  While the list is shorter than for YA and/or MG, there are quite a few of them.  [Believe it or not.]

Why all three?  Well, now that I'm revising Britt ... I think I'll go back and see what Mariah looks like when I'm finished. ...  Then, there are the other 2 plus 2-halves-possible- novels drafted, a total of five books if I could whip them into shape.  Guess most writers would lock them in a trunk and throw away the key.  My reading on series ... with more in line ... is making me rethink.

Hey, I spent months of my life writing the pieces and I like the characters.  Even more, I like the world I created where I explore the issues of genetic drift and technological change.  It's a challenge to try to turn them into books -- even unpublished ones.

I'm sure I'll be looking at Emma again if she gets rejected enough.

No, I don't know what I'd do if an agent actually offered me a contract ... beside go into shock. 

The New Contest:

Went to three bookstores over the weekend.  Traded away about four feet of paperbacks.  Brought back about a foot of new stuff ... including a vampire series of all things.  [Not the Morganville vampires.]  How long will it take me to read them at a rate of two books a week?   

Prize:  Will draw from the best quess-timents for a boxed set of Philip Pullman's Compass series -- His Dark Materials. (lightly used)  Would make a nice gift even if you aren't interested in reading it.  Think of summer reading programs for kids interested in fantasy.

Only three requirements for entrants:

1)  Have to live in US.

2)  Have to mention on your blog that I'm running the contest.  (Tweeting would be nice but not required.)

3)  Leave a comment here with your guess on how long it'd take me to read the foot high pile of books I just bought ... and have sitting on my dining room table.

I'll draw from the closest mathematical guesses on June 1st for the prize..

Hooked by an Angel?

There's still time to enter the opening hook contest

as I post this blog.
[ PS: Ended].

The Read...  Picked up an angel novel since they may be the new obsession, like replacing vampires and werewoves.  Thomas E. Sniegoski's  Dancing on the Head of a Pin hooked me in the book store.   After reading the cover content, I couldn't resist the opening:
"It isn't easy being a human.

      "And it was never more obvious to Remy Chandler than it was now, as he stared across the desk at the foul thing pretending to be a man."

This book has a lot going for it.  The writing is lean, mean, and right on.  Consider this example from the book:  "The Seraphim waited patiently just below the surface, as if it had somehow known that its fury would be called upon.  Dropping the mental barriers just a crack Remy allowed a small portion of the power to emerge, feeling the fire of Heaven flow through his body to ignite his hands.
        "I wouldn't do that if I were you," one of his attackers warned."

At one level, the story line is a classic good against evil, which is well set up in the first third, with a twist at the end with a touch of gray.  On another, I couldn't immerse myself in the story line as I prefer to do .

Remy, while an angel fighting to stay on earth, is obsessed with lesser beings, including a human women who he married.  The obsession kept pulling my out of the story in spite of the good writing.  Why?  I kept thinking about bonobos, a being of lesser intellect than humans.  Just as humans are a lesser intellect than Seraphims and the other angels, by definition.  [It's surprisising where orthodoxy appears, even in an iconoclastic brain.]

Sniegoski kept knocking his main character against the prejudices I had left over from growing up.  First, the few dumb guys I dated.  Then, the tragedies of the women married to really dumb men when I was growing up.  Fortunately, both my parents were smart people. -- The book is on the trade pile.  Our experiences influence our reading as well as our writing.

Progress ...  I'm beginning to think my novel hopefuls share a common genetic  flaw.  They start in the wrong place.  At the moment, I don't think I'll search for a cure.  You need an ending before you can edit your book.

Trivia...  I think spring as really sprung.  Can summer be far behind?

Winning the Query Wars

Cough.  Cough.

The Springtime allergies caught up with me.

I've been spending most of my daytime sleeping in the chair with the hot water bottle, 
much to Wiggle's delight.

Thought a lot about my query though without coming up with a new pitch angle.  Darn.

The Read (modified):  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we didn't have to do queries.  Everyone would just love to open a bidding war for our immortal words.  Oh, it's time to wake up.  Hey, I can dream I could write like Charlaine Harris, can't I? 

Finished the True Blood DVDs.  My opinion:  While well done, they're just another example of how of how screen adaptations oversimplify novels.  Though Dead and Gone offered a belated explanation why women were so ready to jump into bed with Jason.  He unconsciously casts a sexual glamour, thanks to his fae heritage.  Of course, it took Harris a few books to reveal that bit of info.  --  Just another way in which the Sookie Stackhouse novels have grown.

A few words on Dead and Gone.  Harris has closed down the fae element, except for faes who decided to remain in the mundane world.  In the process, she gave the reader a rip-roaring conclusion that was only hinted at in the beginning.

[Why do I use the word fae?  The term fairy is usually used for a narrowly defined being.   Example:  Fritha, a spriggen who serves as a villain in Emma is a fae, but definitely not a fairy by any definition except a supernatural being -- and we all know how many of those there are.]

 Web Notes:  You did catch the information that Twitter is going to be archived as a culturally significant phenomena?  To the tune of tetragigabites [or some such word].  The number is bigger that the US national debt.  My computer works in the 100 gigabite realm, and with all the novel manuscripts and research material I have stored on it, it's less than 80% full.

Queries:  Am giving this it's own section.  Because I've got to push myself off the can and market the manuscripts I've "finished".  Problem?  I'm thinking I need to have them Beta Read which to me is different than critiquing.  Betaing includes reading the whole stew from beginning to end.

Will say one thing, writing a query is like going into battle ... just like selling anything is.  I think one of the biggest misconceptions about writing is that we're dealing with "art".  Even if you write literary, you still have to sell it if you want to have readers.  You have to sell your book even if you self-publish ... unless your someone like Florence Foster Jenkins.
 
Progress:  Shifting the words of Emma's query has become a obsession.  In stead of piles of printouts of research info, the papers on my desk are about what to include in your query and examples of successful ones.  It's an important campaign since selling your query to an agent or publisher crosses the bridge from being a writer to becoming an author.  --  I'll be writing more about queries in the near future.

Kaffy Anne Beaugarrd.  It's the manuscript I rescued from My Documents.  Threw Maren in there, and pulled out Voices of Ghost Creek, which was more than 2/3s written.  Not bad.  But, needs some major revisions which I have started to do.  All the excitement Maren extinguished has come bubbling up again.

Trivia:  Just eating lunch, having coffee, running errands, and, maybe, getting rid of the to-trade pile which is two columns tall.  I actually got some authors off the bookshelves, even including Candace Camp's weres.

Plot Points

The Read:  Plot points, big and little, need to be embedded a story -- fiction or narrative non-fiction.  I think plots work as a compass to keep us on track to where we need to end up.  Think of a hook dragging the writer through the story.  If we're lucky, the happenings will hook readers into our tale and keep them there.  Woe be to the writer who can't stay interested in the book they are trying to write.  They will gnash their teeth mightily. 

Now that I've played Cassandra, all gloom and doom, I'll move on to admire Charlaine Harris's nimble exercises in keeping the action in Dead and Gone moving.  No secret that Harris is one of my favorite authors.  I started the book sometime over the week-end (Sunday?) and expected it to take as long to read as Pure Blood.  Only, I was more than half-way through it as of Tuesday, making me wonder why the novels I like the most finish the quickest.  

Dead and Gone is the ninth in the Sookie Stackhouse series [in mass paperback, at least].  I picked it from the pile to comment on because I'm watching the True Blood DVDs.  Only the two don't compare too well.  So, I'll gnaw on the plot points.  By the first fifth of the book [some 60 pages],  Sookie contends with the weres of America coming out, finds herself married to Eric [the New Orleans vampire], and having her sister-in-law [Jason's wife and a werepanther] crucified with silver nails.  A third of the way into the book, Sookie discovers her life's in danger because her great-grandfather (a faery prince) is in the middle of a fae war.  Also, somewhere in that mix, the FBI has shown up to determine whether Sookie's powers are real enough to recruit her.  Yeah, Harris ties it all up in a smoothly flowing story.  --  My mouth hangs open in admiration.  I'll try not to drool in front of you.

In the middle of all this, I went out and bought Dead Until Dark, the first in the series after spending a half hour last night looking for my Charlaine Harris pile.  (I was certain they were behind the Laurell K. Hamiltons, but they weren't.)  It'll be a couple days before I finish the DVDs, and then, I might have something to say about the differences between the two formats.  [Actually, I stayed up late last night and finished them.]

Web Notes:  Technically, I'm commenting on printed material, but since the editor is Chuck Sambuchino of Guide to Literary Agents  [ http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/ ] , I'm going to mention the Writer's Digest Get an Agent.  Haven't looked at too much of it yet, except for the 21 agents panting for new clients.  --  Just my luck.  Very few of them were interested in MG/YA or fantasy.

The publication offers lots of tips to digest, if not implement.  Revising your manuscript.  How not to start your book.  [Probably the next thing I read after failing to get Maren out of the blocks.]  Successful Queries.  Lots, lots more.  Much of the information can be gathered free by reading agent blogs, but I think it's nice to have it contained in one publication.

This blog.  I'm always amazed at the number of non-Americans taking a look at what I write.

Progress:  Gave up on Maren and consigned her to My Documents ... maybe after some fermentation, she'll reappear in another form.  At least, a different story.  I still like her and the new villains.

Emma.  Still, thrashing over a query.  Or, is that twisting in the wind? 

Kaffy Anne.  Pulled her from limbo where she's been languishing for a couple years.  From the looks of it, it's 2/3s drafted with lots of notes for the subsequent chapters.  Got a couple chapters read yesterday, and it wasn't too distressing to read even though it was written before Britt and the gargoyles.

Trivia:  After laying in a stock of sheep sh*t bags ... we went looking for the kind of parsley the old man likes.  The flat leaf kind since he thinks it's best, but that may be a Greek prejudice.  --   I like it too since it has more flavor.  Gives more snap to my mom's German noodle dishes.

Hooking Your Readers

The Read:  Well, growl-ly Luna and Caitlin Kittredge finally hooked me for the final third of Pure Blood.   But, the need to see how Kittredge tied all the loose ends together kept me going -- not any particular involvement with the characters.  They remained too simply drawn to tie up my interest against all the other distractions in my life.

Kittredge had all the major secondary characters sunk up to their necks in danger, including Luna.  She did end up with the love interest she preferred,  discovered the supposed "partner" was planted to build a case for firing her, and managed to destroy the nasty magical talisman that was causing all the trouble in an interesting fashion.  More important, as a foreshadowing for the sequels, Kittredge suggests that Luna isn't the magical null Luna and her family of witches thinks she is.  --  However, I won't go looking for the next book in the series.  [The plot's more complicated so this paragraph isn't quite the spoiler you might think.]

The True Blood DVDs still absorb my after-the-news reading time -- until midnight.  I can get two episodes in if I don't do anything else.  Am thinking of getting one of the later books in the series and comparing the two.  While the acting in the TV series is good over all, I think some of the actors for the secondary characters -- like Jason and Tara -- often go over the top and make caricatures of their characters.

Web Notes:  The momentus things one learns on Twitter:  Colleen Lindsay (agent at Fine Print) was out of coffee beans.  Yasmine Galenorn ( the creator of the D'Artigo sisters though I prefer Emerald O'Brien) needs coffee to write sex scenes. 

Galenorn also recommends that you never play on the web drunk.  What you say might come back and bite you.

Maybe, this is an example of why I spend so much time on the web?  No, I seldom visit Twitter.  As for Facebook, I mostly check for family and personal friends.

So much for building a platform ... though I still think you need an audience in mind before you can do it.

Progress:   None.  Struggling.  Can't even get a query draft for Emma done.

Trivia:  The Dark Wyrm [book review site, http://darkwyrmreads.blogspot.com ]  sabotaged my to-read pile.  She held a contest with Strange Brew, a collection of short stories by the likes of Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, and would you believe, Caitlin Kittredge.  Something strange happened; I won.  Do you think I can't keep my hands off it? 

Since I can't write short  fiction, I won't be commenting on any of the stories.  Though liked the twist on who was messing with Harry Dresden's favorite beer.
 

Keeping a Reader Hooked

The Read:   Once a writer gets a reader to buy the book, they have to keep them hooked long enough to keep reading.  Right?  Well, Caitlin Kittredge has pulled me pass the middle of PURE BLOOD.  Hey, I'm squirming here, but still reading.  [Duty is a harsh mistress.]

The writing isn't that bad.  The structure is twisting tighter with a bomb blast starting the change in the dynamics of the MC's partnership with the Barbie detective.   I'm at the last third of the book, and Kittredge is finally concentrating on the war between the two witch clans.  Must admit I'm hooked enough to want to see how she semi-resolves the issues with MC's personal and professional life.   But ...

The DVD set of True Blood arrived.  [Have you notice fantasy has gotten decidedly bloody in the last couple years?  Oh, for simple marauding orcs!]  The HBO series is based on Charlaine Harris'  Dead Until Dark.  Like the casting of the Bill Compton character, but I don't think Sookie Stackhouse  is portrayed with enough dippiness.  Grew up with kids like her [without the ability to hear thoughts], once removed (by parents moving to California), and don't think Paquin quite catches it.  Still, I look forward to the news ending so I can fire up the next episode.

The reading of Pure Blood is going to take a long time.  Too much competition for my free time.

Web Notes:  Got my horizons broadened by a blog again yesterday.  Nugget of wisdom:  You shouldn't limit your visits to classrooms to promote your book -- if you're lucky enough to be published.  Jewel Allen did a guest blog on Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents with a wonderful suggestion to find out what kind of stories children like.  Visit their classrooms with a partially written story ... and have the kids put the ending on it.  Visit http://tinyurl.com/yge42uk  to read all her excellent suggestions.
 
Blogging:  I'm thinking more and more that the web/social media are a huge time vampire.  Maybe that's why so many people are writing about the undead, you think?  They're trying to use the research they did when trying to discover ways to escape from vampires?  --  I now follow so many blogs, you have to hook me into clicking as I rush through my allotted web time.

Progress: I'm staggering on with Maren's metamorphosis.

Trivia:  On a more positive note.  Had tempura for lunch.  Love unhealthy vegies.

Hooking a Reader's Interest

The Read:  My opinion: the second book's the key to hooking the reader's interest in a series -- the charm that launches a series ... or a reader turn-off.  

Started Caitlin Kittredge's Pure Blood. second in the Nocturne City series (trilogy?).  The opening starts off much the same as the first -- with a dead body.  Problem?  Well, in the first book, the body immediately hooked you into the possibilities of something nefariously supernatural happening.  The second book?  The body looks like a routine overdose while the MC and reader stand around getting cold feet -- even though the medical examiner does mention the eyes aren't consistent with the OD assumption -- The book then drifts away to departmental politics before the hook is set. 

A slo-o-o-w start with one-note characters.  Got a tenth of the way into the book before I reached the first spark of interest -- the MC gets saddled with an unwanted partner who just happened to be from a prominent good witch family, but without a hint of magic and looks like a Barbie-clone.  I was ready to throw the book on the trade pile, but by page 40 the storyline snagged me enough to continue reading.  Why?  I thought it'd furnish a good exercise for the blog. -- Duty above all.  [Please don't gag.]

The simplicity of the characterization bothers me -- [actually, my thoughts are more profane].  Don't want or need huge amounts of back story at the beginning of the second book, but your secondary characters need to come across as humans, not cardboard space holders.  [That's the tertiary characters' role.]  

Examples:  Partner - the poor little rich girl.  The New Love Interest - a self-centered adolescent that feels like he's being set up to be dumped.  The New Boss --  an intolerant autocrat.  Main Character -- caught up in her anger to the point of unreason and self-destruction.  (Might work for literary, but commercial?)

So, why do I continue reading? The MC and partner got stuck in a S&M bondage situation while investigating the death of a blood witch about a 1/3 of the way into the book.  (Blood witches in this world are bad guys.)  Finally, I got hooked even though I was yawning enough to go to bed. 

Web Notes:  I sometimes wonder if my blog is wasted effort -- even though I'm comfortable talking to myself.  Then, something strange happens.  I checked the statistics for my blog and clicked the who's reading my blog button ... and there was somebody reading at the same time as me.  Well, I thought it was interesting even if you don't.

When I first started writing a blog, I really didn't think about readers.  I worried about thinking up enough words to say.  --  I should have had more confidence in my "big mouth".

All the above raises the question:  So, you got your blog.  What are you going to do with it?

Justine Musk recently wrote a blog on how to organize your social media platform in three parts.  http://tribalwriter.com/2010/04/06/author-platform-framework/    I assume the end result would help increase readership for a published writer.

That means my blog is probably useless.  *shrug*  Not really, I've learned a lot from it.  As for following Musk's suggestions, I need to sell something so I know what audience/readership I'm talking to.  --  Another bit of information to tuck between my ears.

Progress:  Maren is metamorphosing.  Maybe I should give up and write something else.  [I have several possible ideas sitting in my idea file.]  Have consigned the opening chapter to the odd bit file.  *sniff*  All that lovely back story gone ... and maybe one character.  Now I've got to figure what the characters are going to do since my tentative outline is in the trash.

Trivia:   Snow dusted us last night.  No shoveling for the old man since the sidewalks are clear, but we're still on Apricot Watch.  Usually, we get a massive freeze as soon as the apricot blooms, and we get nothing by leaves from the tree.  This year, we just might get a few apricots --  not that I really like them that much.  I prefer peaches -- which tree is showing no signs of blossoming yet.  (Yeah.)

Finders, Keepers?

The Read:  One of the delicious things about used book stores is finding new authors.  The books are cheap enough for this cheapskate to be willing to take a chance on buying -- even if it ends up on the trade pile before it's read.  The question:  "Will the book be a trader or a keeper?" adds a little excitement to the read.  --  I get the added the added value of a possible discovery.

So, the find: Caitlin Kittredge,  Night Life ... set in an imaginary place called Nocturne City where a war between weres, witches, and humans left a huge "non-functional" hole in the middle of a uber-planned community.  The MC is an isolated were who's a detective on the police force who has problems with her boss and colleagues.   So, what's new?  These are the minor nuisances.  Her real problem is a blood witch who's trying to raise a demon and has a were minion to do the serial killings needed for the offering. 

Kittredge has a nice lean style -- with the back story well contained by the action.  1) By the end of the first third of the book, we know she's "unpacked" were with family problems which don't all come from her being a were and why.  We also know she has problems on the job with both the power structure and colleagues.  2)  The middle third, laces murders with clues of who's doing what and reveals the bad guy as being more powerful, socially and occultly, than first thought.  [Personally, I thought he should be shown in action more than being referred too, but that's a quibble.]  3) The ending starts within the last 20% of the book and not only wraps the loose ends, but leaves lots going for the sequel ... including a developing love interest.

I suspect that this may have been one of those super-long drafts chopped into three novels.  Yeah, I'll probably read the sequel in spite of the YA novels waiting on the table and Beka, Terrier on order.

Web Notes:  Didn't really do much web browsing over the week-end.  Easter dinner was at my house so my back/hip creaked along between rests until I managed to get dinner on the table.  Way too much food, but the F2 units have their vegies all clean and ready to stuff in their lunch bags.  --  Doubt that, but I have my lunch vegies in a container waiting.

A couple New York Times articles did raise an interesting question that all writers need to answer.  Is writing fun?  Especially, liked the article about David Remnick, the editor of the The New Yorker, who wrote a book about Obama in his spare time.  Was he worried that editing a major magazine would get in the way of his book writing?  No.  (Coffee took care of that.)  

The guy worried about whether his curiosity would last long enough for him to get the info out of his head.  I guess he liked it enough to finish.  The article mentioned a book called "The Bridge".  [5 April 2010, the business section]

Progress:  Maren's still twisting in the breeze.  Oh, I've shifted words here and deleted words there and added words every where.  But, to what purpose?  Who knows?  Nothin's jelling yet. 

Got a rejection of a short story I'd written last year when I was tried on the "dictum" [that it helps to have sold short pieces to catch an agent's eye] would lead me.  I know I can't write short fiction -- though I've gotten some nice comments on rejected submissions, even for a couple flash fiction pieces.  Whatever, this rejector thought I had "great potential as a writer and shouldn't give up" but that I hadn't developed my villain's character enough.  Guess what?  She was right.  [At least, I think it was a she from the handwriting.]

One problem with writing Maren: I've been wallowing with my search for a villain to carry the story.  I've got my minor nuisances.  I've got my heros.  I've got my side-kicks.  Now I think I've found my friend-enemy villain sitting in a short story.  At least, I'm going to run with it and see where it takes me.

Trivia:  Easter happened with all sorts of jokes about lamb intestine soup.  [A Greek Easter delicacy.]   The hamburgers were great.  Something nice about getting the grill going in April.  My question: why do grill hamburgers taste so much better than pan burgers?

Wrapping Up the Ending

The Read: [2 April 10] Gone Tomorrow, Lee Child's Jack Reacher is sprinting towards its ending.  Taking Friday night to just finish it.  My book isn't going anywhere ... and I hear there's a holiday on, a big enough one to make the stock market shut up.

Saturday Update:  Finished Gone Tomorrow.  As always, when I finish a Child novel, I feel like burying my head in the sand.  Reading him is like watching a master magician.  You have some idea about how he creates his impressions, but you haven't an idea about copying his expertise.  --  Hey, I can admire without emotionally putting myself down.  I should hope he'd have learned something after over ten novels hitting it big time.

Half way through and it's time for the potential villains to reveal themselves through their actions and lies.  I started the read with about 40% of the book to go with all the plot elements twisting and turning.  Child begins to line his cast of characters where they belong in scenes complete with chases by foot and subway around the middle part of Manhattan.  Best yet, Child has three categories:  good guys, bad guys, and general bureaucratic pains-in-the-arse, giving them all many opportunities to change sides in the equation of good vs evil.  [My opinion.  Human dignity should make evisceration while still alive a crime against humanity -- among other possibilities.  Too bad so many people get away with committing them.]   

Now to talk about the ending without lobbing a spoiler -- because the ending is masterful.  Page 517 [of a 543 page book], the miscalculation in Reacher's reasoning pops out of the bathroom, armed and with Reacher down to his last bullet.  Reacher uses his last bullet to off the henchman -- leaving him to the mercies of two knife-wielding fans of evisceration.  

There, I don't think I told the ending.  Of course, Reacher survives for the next book.  It's already published, I think, but you'll have to read the book to see how Child ends it.

Note:  The New York Times today had a set of lovely maps of Manhatten showing the various districts of the island with a big blanks spot where Central Park is.  The maps were made to show where it's easy or difficult to find cabs during different parts of the day.  Hey, I pick up research tools wherever I find useful ones.

I wish I had it when reading the book.  Though I have visited the town since I have two New Yorkie kids, there were some districts on the maps I had never heard of.  --  [Hey, what do you expect from someone who had never got east of Pine Ridge, South Dakota until 1973, and that was only because we hopped planes on our way to Britain.]


Web Notes:  Nancy Drew on steroids!  Innovators create things that sometimes make your jaws drop, but aren't necessarily for you ... or me.  James Patterson, the writing machine, is a case in point.  The New York Times did a Sunday magazine article on him a couple weeks back.  Jim Thomsen, of  the 1st Turning Point blog, published a great summary and some comments on Patterson's significance. [  http://1stturningpoint.com/?p=3638 ]

Work for hire arrangements -- where writer's give up all rights to what they write and are paid a fee instead -- have always existed in writing and the business world.  I've done it.  Millions have done it ... over time, at least.  The question is whether you want put your fingers/head on the block.

Does the idea of being a writing machine appeal to you, ie: producing 3-4 books a year?  Here's a telling quote with a brief map:
The Times piece says that Patterson “avoids description, back story and scene setting whenever possible, preferring to hurl readers into the action and establish his characters with a minimum of telegraphic details. … They are light on atmospherics and heavy on action, conveyed by simple, colloquial sentences.”

Personally, I think I'll plod along with one draft a year.  Think of it as resisting temptation -- like not trying to be a real estate millionaire when the bubble's ready to pop.

Progress:  Maren is creaking along -- something I find annoying after the way she kept intruding in my thoughts when I was trying to wrap-up Emma.

Trivia:  The silly apricot's blooming.  Now, I'm waiting for a freeze to knock its blossoms off.