the same ol' romance

There are as many types of relationships as there are people but the mainstream trend in YA literature seems to have latched on to one particular type of relationship and it's disconcerting. We can all probably think of a handful of books that feature a heroine who falls for the somehow unworldly, mysterious, and often dangerous male counterpart, frequently over the more average, amiable male friend.

This kind of relationship where the guy is aloof, often older, and leaves others in awe simply by existing isn't new but the focus it's been given over the past several years, especially in YA, makes me a bit worried. I think that literature should represent a wide variety of everything but if you're going to narrow your scope why can't it be on something that's positive? This romantic relationship [found everywhere from Twilight to Divergent to the Mortal Instruments series and beyond] is typically unhealthy. These kinds of romantic story-lines glorify a relationship in which there is little in the way of real respect between partners and the women are often reduced to innocent children who only survive the ordeals of the story because Mr. McHunking Mysterious is there to lend an ever wiser, more experienced hand.

I take issue with this kind of relationship on a lot of levels that I won't go into here but my main problem is that this is the pervasive example teens are being given today of what a relationship should look like. Believing this idea is what leads to things like the absolute farce of a "relationship" in 50 Shades of Grey. When we perpetuate the idea that the desirable men in life are the ones that make snide remarks, don't particularly care for the feelings of others, and constantly keep you dangling on the end of a string that's what girls internalize. That's what they come to want in a relationship which sets up situations in which they are more easily taken advantage of and abused, sometimes without realizing that the treatment they are receiving isn't what they deserve. Mystery has long been an appealing factor but I think there are healthier ways to integrate that aspect of attraction into a romance.

It can be easy, as writers, to fall into similar patterns as what has been done before. If you're developing a romantic story-line, it's natural to reference back to those romances you've read before. Reading is a vital part of developing craft as a writer as it's the best way to learn from other people. But that means that what you read influences your own work and that can cause problems and help perpetuate ideas we don't realize we're aligning our work with. The best way to avoid that, of course, is to read a wide range of books. Identify what you do and don't like about them and keep that list as a reference for yourself. If we don't keep those tropes and trends we don't like ready to hand they may find a subtle way to sneak into our story. As Mad Eye Moody would say:

plotting and best laid plans

I want to talk a little bit about subplots today because I know a lot of other people have the same struggles here as I do. Creating an overall plot is where most stories begin but if we only address the main plot line then the stories come across as one-note and uninteresting. Subplots are where most characters really develop and they help give substance to the overarching story line. They're pretty crucial [unless you're writing short stories where you'd typically stick with one plot line for brevity] but not everyone is comfortable with creating and executing them - myself definitely included.

The idea of creating multiple smaller plot lines and weaving them into the main story arc can be really daunting. Creating a rich complexity of plot for your readers can create chaotic complexity for the author. For me, having subplots feels like I'm juggling eight different balls that are constantly changing in shape and size, while trying to climb the mountain that is the primary plot. Have I mentioned that I don't juggle?

CleverGirlHelps, over on tumblr is a blog that I recommend if you're looking for any kind of writing related advice. She has posts on just about anything you might be researching and if you can't find it in her archive you can message her directly. Just this week she had an awesome post about subplots with links to blog posts that have covered the subject beautifully. There's a lot of helpful info and advice there so I definitely suggest checking it out if you're struggling with this element of story writing. I really enjoyed reading through the resources.

I'm going to have to start charts and lists to keep track of the subplots in Malmark as the story grows to make sure details don't slip through the cracks. While it can be a lot of work, it's really exciting to see how much more growth you can find in a character when you fill your story out with subplots.


In personal writing news, today I'm hitting my 30,000 word goal which is pretty exciting for me. It means that my scheduling and attempt at true, consistent writing is working! I'm also realizing, though, that I'm at 30,000 since November [so, not including a lot of the start of story that I'd written before NaNoWriMo began] and I'm just today getting to the first in a series of pivotal moments that occur before the ultimate conflict is even revealed. I haven't plotted the entire story out chapter for chapter but even lacking that detailed of an outline I would guess that I'm just finishing the first third of the story. When I explained that to Tim this morning he jokingly asked me if this was going to turn into a series like The Wheel of Time and I realized that, while I don't anticipate Malmark growing to quite that scale, it is turning out to be longer than what I'd expected.

Who knows, in the course of editing it may whittle itself back down to fit neatly in one book. But it might not. We might have a series on our hands. Heaven help me. I did not intend for this to be a series.

Well, whatever it turns out to be in the end, I'll never know until I get there so for now, I'm writing until I do.

giving it time to grow

This captures how I've been feeling about this week pretty well.

Recently I've had a few folks ask me when I'll let people read my story. If you'd asked me this any time within the last two years up until a few months ago I probably would have responded by shoving all the scenes and unorganized planning papers at you with a sense of eager desperation. There's something about the excitement surrounding the start of a new story that turns me into an obsessed over-sharer. Part of that comes from the fact that I like to talk things out to get a grasp on what direction I want to go in with plot and characters, etc. [Tim was bombarded with a lot of this when I first started putting the idea together] Having people you trust and can use as sounding boards are, in my opinion, a really important part of writing, at least in the planning stage. The further along I've gotten with this novel the less I've shared, though. I do still ask Tim for advice on this point or that on occasion but it's been months since I asked anyone to read over what I've been writing and I think that's for the best.

When we get passionate about something we naturally want to share it with other people and that's as true for writers [at least in general] as it is for anyone/anything else. You only have to ask about their story to spend the next two hours listening to them gush about the amazing idea they're working on. And that's good. Enthusiasm should always be a big player in your work otherwise, why are you doing it? But something I've discovered about sharing my writing when it's at such an early stage is that almost every time I've done it I lose that enthusiasm and the project sputters out and crawls into a dark corner, perhaps to be rediscovered again, covered in dust and forgotten dreams, years later.

I didn't want this to happen to Malmark so I had to make the conscious decision to keep myself from shoving it down anyone's throat who asked about it. A bonus, here, is that now the story is allowed to grow unencumbered by the opinions and suggestions of others. Again, opinions can be good and they can be really helpful if you're trying to puzzle something out but sometimes there's a certain pressure that accompanies other people's opinions. Personally, I start to freak out over the idea that if I don't take every suggestion given to me that I'll offend people. I realized that, as an author, I'll need to develop a thick skin in that regard especially whenever it comes to editors and such but I think it's probably healthier for a fledgling story to get through a draft or two before those problems even have a chance to happen. The first draft is just you telling yourself the story so if you're listening to the suggestions of everyone else then who's story are you actually telling?

I feel a little guilty saying "no" when people ask if they can read what I'm working on. The interest is always flattering and I don't want to turn anyone away because they can't read it right now but my responsibility is to this story and making sure it has the time it needs to develop its identity before the world sees it. That being said, please ask questions if you have any because I will still talk your ear off for hours about it.  : P

it's going to be a big big year

Hey all! I meant to post last week, honest I did. Tim and I both got fairly sick over the Christmas break and I was still recovering last week and a lot of things slipped my mind as I was sleeping and using all the tissues in the known universe.

In lieu of missing New Years Day proper, I want to talk about resolutions and goals. I've never seriously created a list of New Year's resolutions for a few reasons, the primary ones being that I think it's a little silly that people wait until New Years to make new goals but also because I'm not very good at sticking to my goals and I don't see the point in making a list of things I know I'll never look at again. By and large, I still hold those opinions but this year I've actually made myself a little list of realistic goals I want to meet this year.

In August last year I decided that I'm going to write this book for reals. I've been rolling the idea around in my head for two years and if I'm going to do it then I ought to just get going. As you all know, I participated in NANOWRIMO this last November which was a good jumping off experience for dedicating myself to getting this thing written. December didn't follow up very well with guests and holidays so I'm looking, once again, to reapply myself. I have a strong suspicion that this first draft will end up with a word count higher than 50,000 but not being completely confident in that and not having the faintest idea of what it would end up at, I'm committing myself to hitting 50,000 words or the end of the story by March 6th. Why March 6th? Well, I wanted this goal to be reasonable. I know I can, on most days, write three pages in a day without greatly disturbing the rest of my schedule. So, 50,000 words divided by my average word count per page times three - planning on writing five days a week with weekends for catch-up as needed - put me at March 6th.

I crested the New Year with 20,000 words so that's 30,000 to go - a bit of a daunting number, honestly. But I've heard before that the key to accomplishing goals is the break them into bite-sized pieces. I don't feel like I have to move heaven and earth to get three pages written a day so I'm much more likely to do it and it's been going well so far! Ideally, I'll get the story finished before the start of summer [if it takes longer than 50,000 words] and then I'd like to have the first edit completed by the end of summer. That will, in many ways, be a bit more intensive than writing the first draft but at that point I'll be transferring my written draft to a word program which is a process with editing built into it and editing from there should go faster.

The idea of actually accomplishing all of this is at once exhilarating and terrifying. I mean, I've dreamed of writing a book for ages and if I manage this it'll only be the second time I've ever finished a story since high school [and that one doesn't count for so many reasons]. It's exciting to get close to your dreams but there's also that sense of "what then?" Obviously there are answers for that in this case. Namely, a billion more drafts before I consider trying to publish it, but I'm trying to keep myself from hyperventilating this year. Lets add that to the list of resolutions.