I've been working on being more accountable to myself this week with my writing and I'm proud of the progress I've made. The new set-up seems to be working nicely : )
My biggest struggle overall is getting into my characters, really getting into them, their voices and thoughts and behaviors. It's a long process that I can't say I'm totally enjoying now though I persevere because I can feel the final result and it is going to be awesome. Character development just takes such a long time and that can be disheartening I think. But I realized today [as my husband has been trying to tell me all week whenever I go on a rant] that it's not unusual to take a long time developing your characters. It takes time for everyone and it just makes them that much deeper, your story that much better.
My realization today came from thinking about my friend's webcomic which you can read here [the link is for the cover page, the first page has a little bit of fan service, nothing that shocking, but if you're uncomfortable with that just skip to the second page and you'll be fine]. I'm super excited about this story that she's working on, the main body of which will actually start getting posted early this summer, but the truly amazing thing to me is that she has been working with these characters collectively since we were in the 8th grade and probably long before that on a less cohesive basis. To total that for you, she's been working with the same characters for nine years during which time she has gone through many variations and approaches to story lines and ideas. I've watched her work develop over the years [as an artist since we were friends in kindergarten when we drew with crayons and crayola markers] and I am amazed and impressed by her dedication to this work.
So I have to remind myself to be patient and, in this case, I am glad to have people to compare myself to. People who haven't written instant-success novels or become immediately recognized for their work. There are people out there who can write a best selling novel in three months on their first try, but they're not the rule, they're the exception. And at some point in everyone's career, a project you love is going to take work. But what work could be more rewarding than pursuing something you love through the drudgery of rough drafts, edits, scrapping and new starts?
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
telling that little voice it's wrong
We watched some of an Emotion Focused Therapy session yesterday in my Clinical Psychology class and it was a really touching experience. It was so raw to watch this woman working through her struggles with her internal critical self who had been holding her back from completing her goals and things for years explore that voice and where it comes from. Even though it was just a video and none of us knew the client, the whole class related to her and I was no exception. The women had this dream to write fiction [she writes for a living in some other genre] but she struggles with the voice telling her that, while she may be talented, she'll never finish the project and even if she does, it won't be worth anything because that's not a viable avenue for success in life. Watching that hit me really hard because that's a big part of what holds me back in writing as well for various reasons. It was almost like she was speaking for me in a way so I got really excited when the therapist used the technique of the client having a conversation between her critical self and her goal-oriented self because her goal-oriented self, being given a tangible voice, started to fight back. Seeing that change in her was absolutely inspiring and I've been thinking about it ever since.
Our internal critic comes from us but often from the opinions of others as well. Why should we let someone else's opinions, expectations, and definitions of what is "good enough" determine what talents we pursue? Aren't we told to develop all the talents we've been given? Sometimes that may mean that we don't take lucrative jobs in the business world, and why is that bad? These are our talents! Some of us are good at the arts, some in the sciences or business worlds, and some of us have talents I've never even hear of but that doesn't mean they don't count!
I think the world would be a much happier place if everyone tried to balance more of what they like to do with what they need to do. So I'm determined to give that critical little voice what for, and encouraging you to do so as well. Because we are all wonderfully talented people, and we need to remember that.
Today, for me, that means getting a clear plastic folder with pockets.
Our internal critic comes from us but often from the opinions of others as well. Why should we let someone else's opinions, expectations, and definitions of what is "good enough" determine what talents we pursue? Aren't we told to develop all the talents we've been given? Sometimes that may mean that we don't take lucrative jobs in the business world, and why is that bad? These are our talents! Some of us are good at the arts, some in the sciences or business worlds, and some of us have talents I've never even hear of but that doesn't mean they don't count!
I think the world would be a much happier place if everyone tried to balance more of what they like to do with what they need to do. So I'm determined to give that critical little voice what for, and encouraging you to do so as well. Because we are all wonderfully talented people, and we need to remember that.
Today, for me, that means getting a clear plastic folder with pockets.
[EDIT: I've officially hit 400 page views! Thanks to everyone who's kept reading along and any new readers I've gathered :) ]
Thursday, February 7, 2013
oh, oh, oh what's magic? do you know?
Heaven help me, I've decided to add a character with magic abilities into my story. I'm really getting in over my head here, first with fantasy, then putting magic in too?! To be honest, I don't really know the first thing about writing a story with magic in it. I've read a few and can say when one is better than another but I can never really articulate why which means creating my own magic is a bit confusing. Thankfully, my wonderful husband has read quite a few books where magic is a prevalent part and his astute observations have already given me a pretty good framework of rules to go by. I'm also reading a book by Orson Scott Card about writing science fiction and fantasy, it's pretty neat.
Speaking of neat, have you guys seen this video yet?
We just wrapped up our fairy tale unit in my Folklore class and I have to say, I've never actually read the originals of most of our common fairy tales and they are disturbing. For instance: Bluebeard? Not a pirate as it turns out, but a horrific serial killer. The Grimms thought people told this stuff to their children? Good heavens. They do make for fantastic raw material if you're doing a retelling or just trying to incorporate some motifs into your stories so I definitely recommend reading them if you haven't :)
So I'm officially getting into the throws of this semester and not particularly liking it, especially as my recreational reading time has been consumed by academia once again. I did, however, manage to read Tin Swift by Devon Monk [sequel to Dead Iron] before things got crazy so I thought I'd review it.
Devon Monk has a unique writing style to anything else I've ever read. That being said, and considering that it's been a while since I read Dead Iron, it took me about a chapter or so to get into the rhythm of her writing again. I think this aspect may put people off at first but, believe me, it is well worth the time to get into her groove because she has an awesome groove. The Age of Steam series of which Dead Iron and Tin Swift are parts 1 and 2, is, simply put, a steam punk western that takes mysterious Native American curses, witchcraft, an extra scary dose of the supernatural, steam-age gadgetry, and good ol' western gun fights, and throws them all in a pot to see how they play out. Cedar Hunt [our dashing and mysterious loner/cowboy figure] has made many promises: to the questionably sane Madder brothers to find all the pieces of the Holder, to Mae to help her safely home to the coven who's calls are stealing her mind, to Rose to keep her safe and take her along to see the world, and to his brother William to find a way to break the curse they're both under. Tin Swift sees his determined attempts to fulfill all of these promises, discovering dashing airship captains, terrific battles, and a more disturbing Mr. Shunt that we ever saw in Dead Iron [and yes, he can get more disturbing, I may or may not have had nightmares about him]. Monk does a fantastic job of keeping you on the edge of your seat, constantly raising the stakes. Strong characters, delightful dialogue that you'll be compelled to read aloud to others, and just a bit of romance round out this tale of mystery, vengeance, struggle, and gears. I honestly can't wait for the next book to come out [this summer!]. This is a book I'm glad to have on my own bookshelf :)
Speaking of neat, have you guys seen this video yet?
Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love
The lovely Chelsea Poplin of doid and a sublime fool introduced me to it the other day and while there are a few things I'm not super keen on, I love the idea of Cupid as a lonely creature. I do wish the ending didn't...end the way it does, but maybe I just like depressing things better than happily-ever-afters right now.
We just wrapped up our fairy tale unit in my Folklore class and I have to say, I've never actually read the originals of most of our common fairy tales and they are disturbing. For instance: Bluebeard? Not a pirate as it turns out, but a horrific serial killer. The Grimms thought people told this stuff to their children? Good heavens. They do make for fantastic raw material if you're doing a retelling or just trying to incorporate some motifs into your stories so I definitely recommend reading them if you haven't :)
So I'm officially getting into the throws of this semester and not particularly liking it, especially as my recreational reading time has been consumed by academia once again. I did, however, manage to read Tin Swift by Devon Monk [sequel to Dead Iron] before things got crazy so I thought I'd review it.
Devon Monk has a unique writing style to anything else I've ever read. That being said, and considering that it's been a while since I read Dead Iron, it took me about a chapter or so to get into the rhythm of her writing again. I think this aspect may put people off at first but, believe me, it is well worth the time to get into her groove because she has an awesome groove. The Age of Steam series of which Dead Iron and Tin Swift are parts 1 and 2, is, simply put, a steam punk western that takes mysterious Native American curses, witchcraft, an extra scary dose of the supernatural, steam-age gadgetry, and good ol' western gun fights, and throws them all in a pot to see how they play out. Cedar Hunt [our dashing and mysterious loner/cowboy figure] has made many promises: to the questionably sane Madder brothers to find all the pieces of the Holder, to Mae to help her safely home to the coven who's calls are stealing her mind, to Rose to keep her safe and take her along to see the world, and to his brother William to find a way to break the curse they're both under. Tin Swift sees his determined attempts to fulfill all of these promises, discovering dashing airship captains, terrific battles, and a more disturbing Mr. Shunt that we ever saw in Dead Iron [and yes, he can get more disturbing, I may or may not have had nightmares about him]. Monk does a fantastic job of keeping you on the edge of your seat, constantly raising the stakes. Strong characters, delightful dialogue that you'll be compelled to read aloud to others, and just a bit of romance round out this tale of mystery, vengeance, struggle, and gears. I honestly can't wait for the next book to come out [this summer!]. This is a book I'm glad to have on my own bookshelf :)
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