TLIF - Rekindling the Romance (with your WIP)

It's Friday and it's payday. For me that means...overpriced coffee for breakfast ^_^ Which is funny because now that I have it, I don't think I like it as much as what I've been having at home. I picked up this coffee creamer that's skinny caramel macchiato and it's absolutely epic in the coffee I make at home.

So, conclusion? Not so infatuated with this stuff in the white cup with the green logo any more. Except the breakfast sandwiches...OML. EPIC.

It's kind of like when you write a first draft of a story. And you love it. And you adore it. And you want to marry it and have its short-story babies. After the SNI becomes a cohesive thought on paper you're all like 'I'm in love...swoon'.

At least, I am.

And then you walk away for a day, or two, or three-hundred and ninety-eight. And you look at it again and say 'something's not right, but I can't place my finger on it. It can't be wrong, though, because it's epic. We're in love. I could never ask my manuscript to change for me. That's not why I married wrote it.

But your CP's and readers tell you what to tweak and where. And you groan and growl and tell them they're wrong and justify it all, but slowly you crawl back into it anyway. And it blows. Not the story, though at this point you think so. The fixing. The rewriting. You get in two-thirds, or one-half, or one-quarter of the way and go 'this revision is the most horrid thing since Auntie Granacola's ash and coffee-ground no-bake cookies.'

Cue the whining. The complaining. The crying. The desire to surrender and never write again and 'oh. my. hell. the original draft was so much better than this and why can't I just go back to that and clean it up? I loved that story. I wanted to have its illicit children.'

But you can't. Something inside won't let you. Because the pespective or voice wasn't quite right, or your characters fall too deeply into agender (or other) stereotype to make them solid and compelling, or you just didn't understand your MC's voice, personality, and deepest, darkest secrets they don't even tell themselves until you were almost done with the book.

So you perservere. You sweat coffee and bleed depression and you make it through one of the most painful surgeries you've ever experienced.

And O.M.G. It's beautiful. It's the most stunning thing you've ever seen. Like the story you know and love and remember, but...better. Is that even possible? Sure, you're not superficial, but that little nip/tuck/lift sure did wonders for it. And then you read the orginal and cringe and wonder how you ever could have thought it was finished. Truth be told, that coffee in the white cup with the green logo isn't really as tasty as it you remember, and it cost four-hundred times more than the stuff that only took you a little more effort to make for yourself.

Sure, it gives you an (weak) excuse to be late to work, but...there are more important things in life. Besides, no one said you couldn't still order the breakfast sandwich. No reason to cut that out of the manuscript.

Okay, so maybe no one else does this but me. I should probably stop projecting. I'm just trying to remind myself that it's okay if the first draft of the story I'm working on right now is a little weak, even though I adore it and want to have it's coffee babies (and wow, something tells me I'm mixing metaphors). In the end, it'll all be worth it.

Do you go through anything similar?

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Perspective and Voice and Subjectivity

So many things are about perspective. Especially in writing. Character perspective, reader perspective. And it's all subjective. Where I think something might rock, everyone else might think it's only so-so, or really kind of amature and sucky.

Speaking of perspective, scroll down to yesterday's post for a fantastic conversation on gender and writing, and make sure you click through to the link for Angeline's blog as well, because she's epic and smart and continuing the thought in a great way ^_^

And in the meantime, check out these awesome distractions that visually illustrate how voice, perspective, and intepretation can change everything.

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We're all genderless behind the keyboard, aren't we?

In one of the reviewing groups I belong to, we've been talking about the gender of writers. Someone found statistics that show that in the more prestigious publication, the majority of the authors are male (publications like the New Yorker). The majority of the people in our review group are female. In all review groups I've belonged to, in fact.

So we're talking about why that might be. If, from where we are, it seems like more writers are female, then why is it more published authors are male? And we came up with a lot of theories along the lines of the nature of self-confidence, social influences, different definitions of success, etc, etc.

And someone posted a link to a site I've seen before, but always have to play on when I see it again The Gender Genie.

I'll be honest here, I resent this site. Because before it, I always thought I was a versitile writer who could get inside the head of a character regardless of gender. But every time I pasted a bit of work, it came back 'female' regardless of who I thought my POV character was.

But I had to play again today. So I decided instead of using bits of my stories, I'd take the guest posts I've done from my characters and see what it had to say about those.

Yesterday's post from Rae...scores very high as being written by a male.

My most recent post from Scott. Very much female.

My Max/Lexi post...female but not by a big margin.

So, I guess there's a whole handful of questions here, especially since I know most of my followers are female, but suspect the ratio of female to male actually reading is closer to even...

But...what do you think it indicates? Any of it. All of it. Whatever.

Notice how once again, I managed to link to the character posts because they're still my favorite?

Update: The conversation is growing. Make sure you check out Angeline's thoughts on the matter as well

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Sweet City of Mine - Seattle

Click Here or scroll down for my 'Show me the Voice' blogfest entry.



Holly at Girl About Town is hosting a fantastic fun blogfest today. There's still time to sign up if you want to join in. The point is...describe your favorite city.

This is something a lot of people used to know about me, but not so many do any more. My favorite city ever is Seattle, WA.



The first time I visited I was maybe 21 or 22. We drove straight through from Utah and slept in rest stops along the way. The trip there...abysmal. Idaho and eastern Oregon are not the most beauteous places on the planet. But when we got to Seattle...

...imagine highways lined with trees, beaches that are the same, and a city right on the water-line. It's on the ocean, it's green, and oh yeah, there are some stunning mountains. Something I start to miss when they're gone since I grew up surrounded by them.



And it's all within a short drive.

You can take the ferries out to the islands, you can roam the fish markets, or you can wander city streets lined with amazing shops or an epic metropolotin area.

And you've got more a huge chance of getting caught in a rainstorm and to me, there are few things more appealing than the thougth of being surrounded by trees and mountains and beaches and enjoying an afternoon storm.

So...go play along...what's your favorite city? (real, imagined, and whether you've visited or not).

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Show Me the Voice!,,,contest

The awesome and talented Brenda Drake is hosting another amazing contest*. This one is epic enough that it's pulled another weekend post from me. I'm starting to like Sunday posts though, so I'm thinking maybe I'll swap it out for either Monday or Thursday...we'll see.

ANYWAY...Here's how it works:
Natalie is all about the voice and wants you to show it in your first 250 words of your finished manuscript. When critiquing each others' entries, look for voice and please keep your comments nice and helpful, not snarky.

Click Here for more details ^_^

And as always, since I only have one completely finished ms
Name: Loralie Hall
Title: Uriel's Fall
Genre: Urban Fantasy

I'm posting two separate exerpts, I'm sorry. One is from the prologue and one is chapter 1, and I'm trying to determine which has a stronger representation of my voice.

Update: After some great and helpful feedback, I'm pulling the prologue down because 1 - it's not the same voice as the rest of the book and 2 - Ms. Natalie Fischer isn't a fan of prologues. I'll be back a little later with some changes to my chapter 1 based on all the great things y'all have offered up so far.

Chapter 1
“Ronnie.” The waitress’s voice carried over the clatter of dishes on stainless steel in the diner kitchen. “You’ve got someone on twelve.”

“Thanks Sue.” Ronnie flashed her coworker a smile and wove her way around harried cooks and waiters. She said a silent thank you for a busier than usual night at the family-style restaurant. The bedlam kept her from focusing on the persistent growl in her stomach and her aching feet. Mortality wasn’t turning out to be the grand fantasy she had built it into.

Something nudged the edge of her senses. It pushed away the feelings of the people around her, smothering her innate empathy. Her skin itched like it was being invaded by a thousand burning pin-pricks. She turned her attention toward a man sitting in the corner booth, a cup of coffee in front of him.

It wasn’t that he was radiating anything unpleasant. It was more as if he sucked in and obliterated any emotion nearby. The human void had caught her attention every time she walked by, never meeting her gaze. She decided his inattention was a good thing and turned back to table twelve. Her canvas sneakers shuffled along the worn but clean carpet as she wove her way across the diner.

The man at the table felt more welcoming. He didn’t radiate any strong emotion, though he wasn’t a vacuum, either. The neutral vibe drifted off him like aromatherapy.

So...thoughts? And for showing voice, prologue or chapter 1?

And go visit everyone else as well!

*For those of you who don't remember, she hosted the Dark and Stormy Blogfest contestmy entry

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