TLIF - I Have This Friend...

First - housekeeping. I won't harrass y'all with my queries any more :-) The statician in me sees the trend.

Moving on to more important things.

I have this friend. She's smart, sexy, and funny. She's witty, and frequently seems to have an appropriate comeback regardless of the conversation. She's seductive, amusing, and likable.

All my other friends love her. To the point of saying "she's a lot of fun". But...this friend has a problem. She's not going anywhere. It's great to have her around, but when she's gone, everyone asks "weren't we supposed to be getting something done?"

I adore this friend. I see that what she does is more subtle. But even I find myself asking "is it enough?"

Okay, now I have a confession to make ('cause none of you saw that coming :-P). This 'friend' isn't quite a traditional friend. Some people might instead call her...

...a chapter in my book.

It's the chapter where I introduce my MC to the romantic interest. Everyone who's given me feedback on it says it's a fun chapter. They like the dialogue. They like the new girl.

But they also all see nothing else happens in the chapter. There's some light conflict in the dialogue and there's a hint of something sinister in the background (like, a very mild hint. Like the difference between french vanilla and vanilla bean).

None of them has said "this doesn't work." Not even close. No one has even implied it. (And I'm ignoring the part of my brain that says 'they're just being nice because you've been whining so much lately', because I know my CP's would never hold back if it was just bad.) But I know it's a problem. From the moment I wrote the chapter I knew it wasn't robust enough.

The exchange needs to happen somewhere. This new character needs to be introduced and I'd prefer to do it through some sort of exchange that shows who she is. But it doesn't have to be in this setting. I'm certainly not opposed to revising it. The problem is, I can't think of a way.

I figure I have two choices:

• Trust my readers and past self and leave it becasue no one has complained
• Trust my gut and figure out a way to rewrite it

What would you do and/or how would you decide?

Read more »

Apathy's Hero Query Help

Time for me to toss this out to the general public again. I'm trying to polish my query for Apathy's Hero and I think I've been staring at it too long. I know I'm missing something - maybe conflict or motivation or sympathetic characters or something - but I can't tell what any more.

So I'm asking (begging) for help. If anyone has any thoughts on the below, I'd love to hear them. What works, what doesn't, all that good stuff. And if anyone needs query help in return, let me know in the comments and leave a way to get in touch with you and I'm happy to help.

Update 1 Updated based on Beth's feedback ^_^

Conner has lost countless friends and lovers to the gods' never-ending power struggles. Shielding himself with indifference is his key to survival. When Ronnie – the angel he loved and watched die three thousand years ago – reappears in his life, he remembers how much it hurts to give a damn.

Conner is determined to help Ronnie discover why she’s been given a second chance. He hopes knowing will let him bury the memories and get back to not caring. Since Ronnie’s previous incarnation assassinated a powerful deity, the gods aren’t waiting for the answer. They’ll obliterate Ronnie and anything that stands in the way to save themselves. If Conner embraces apathy again and looks the other way, millions of people, including Ronnie will pay the deadly price. For the first time in his life Conner must admit that even doing nothing is a choice.

Siding with Ronnie against all of Elysium gnaws a hole in Conner’s sanity as more of their companions fall victim to the slaughter. He’ll have to take a stand and decide if he can sacrifice some lives to save immeasurable others, knowing the consequences will haunt him for the rest of eternity.

Any thoughts?

Read more »

Motivation and Rainbows

I'm not a country music fan. In fact, if I had any 'metal creed', I wouldn't own up to liking this song at all. My playlist is filled mostly with *peeks*...not this kind of music.

But a couple of years ago I stumbled on a music video of 'Teardrops on My Guitar' by Taylor Swift. It was so perfect to the story living in my head that I may or may not ever write, that I fell in love with it. Say what you will or won't about the artist, I still love the song.

So when someone mentioned 'Mean' on Twitter, I had to add it to my playlist.

It's my inspiration now whenever I get negative feedback. I'm not talking about constructive feedback. I've gotten much better (though I'm not perfect yet) at seeing the value in "this isn't working, and it may keep people from reading further. Considering making a change".

I'm still horrible at accepting "How could you have guns and gods in the same story? You're stupid." (That's actually a quote. I fumed for days about it.)

So, when I think my work isn't good enough, and people I don't know are telling me I suck even when my friends/critique partners/beta readers say otherwise (fortunately I have *never* had a cp tell me I suck...though they have said parts of my stories need to go), I like this song. It's a good message. And while I may never be living in a big 'ol city (again), and there's even a possibility I'll never get pu...*can't say it*...at least I gave it my all, right?

Any songs that inspire you when you're feeling less than optimistic?

Read more »

Habits...Not Like Nuns, Like the Other Kind

Human psychology fascinates me. One of the things I wonder is why it's so easy for us to break good habits and so hard to break the bad ones.

First instance. I've tried for decades to stop bitig my nails. Yeah, I admit it, I'm a nail biter. I've gotten better, but I still catch myself doing it. On the other hand, it takes a conscious force of will for me to write regularly.

Not that I don't enjoy it, it's just that when the ritual slips, the habit slips too.

I had a four day weekend. I was all psyched to get up early every day and get the rest of my new idea outlined. Other things happened that kept me from doing that. Not me saying "I don't feel like it today" but other actual other things came up.

I managed to make time on Monday, but it just didn't feel right. So instead I spent that hour staring at my query letter and rewriting it.

I need to get back into my new story. I know for a while I had a solid grasp on the the pacing, the plot, the characters, all of it. And it's slipped away since then. I know the enthusiasm is just burried, so I just need to find a way to dig it out.

Unfortunately, re-reading what I've already written never does that for me. I look at all the existing stuff and if I don't hate it, I love it. Which means I spent time re-reading it and revelling in my assumed awesomeness instead of adding to it. I think something in the back of my head says "you'll never be that epic again". I think. I'm not certain.

Which of course is silly. I know overall I've grown as a writer, but the subconscious doesn't obey normal logic.

Anyway, the point is, I want to get back to this new idea, and I'm having a hard time putting myself there. Any suggestions?

Read more »