February 13/300 words
I've been writing--not a lot of wordcount, sadly, but plugging away on the tale that has no workable title. Still. And, after my latest reject, I'm worried about the present tense I originally wrote it in. Yes, it has the breathlessness I really wanted, but it also distances the reader from the POV character.
Maybe it's just the voice--almost omniscient in some ways--but I can see why Mary mentioned it to me in her crit of my wolves in Minnesota tale.
And that's the one that just bounced back. It went zipping out to Fantasy last night, so I should have another verdict in a few days.
Meanwhile I have begun to rewrite my clockwork insects one into past tense.
This is not easy, peoples! It's not a matter of simply changing all the verbs! The entire voice morphed for me the second I switched it, and I really don't care for it. The end result will be a full-fledged rewrite, and I'm not certain I want that.
What I am considering is to switch all the verbs. Work the areas that are too distant from the protag and make it super close third, (because in the present tense, my narrator is working that story. A bunch.) and see what, if anything, I can transfer to the original present tense version.
*mumblemumblemumblemumblemumble*
You don't what to know what bad words I just used, but it's most every one in every language I know.
There have been no new developments since my eldest--the very child who wishes to kill his mother off at an ungodly early age--survived an avalanche earlier this week. I would relax, except for the fact that he's been skiing twice since then, and where this child is, danger follows. I am trying not to think about his March plans where he skis/climbs Mt. Whitney with other people.
We have a wedding date and plans proceed apace. The kids are anxious to keep it under 5K, which, since I am older than dirt, still sounds like an excessive amount. I am wrong, of course, but my emotional alert on spending an amount like that in one day is usually geared toward car and house purchases.
You have hardcore proof other than photos with those.
I'm meeting up with another speculative writer for coffee in the next few weeks--she teaches at the local university and is someone Ideo published in the past. I am really looking forward to having writer contact in my own neighborhood, not just at cons. Even if we only get together occasionally to egg each other on, I'll count that as a win. It's difficult forcing myself to continue writing in the face of rejections--especially when people I admire and trust think what I'm writing is pretty good. Hitting my head against the brick wall of publication is putting dents in my armor, and it took a lot to get me to send the latest short out again. I'm not counting how many short stories I have languishing on my hard drive that I would have thought were publishable, but haven't sold. Maybe if I were far, far better at keeping my stories out... but I have no idea how to make that happen for myself. It's not like I don't have spreadsheets and ways of documenting what stories have been where. I do. But fighting the publishing doldrums takes more energy than I seem to have this year.
And now it's back to the writing mills. I have this little issue with past tense, see? And it's going to take a hell of a lot of work. What I need is to read some present tense shorts that really worked.
Anyone have some suggestions?
February 14/50 words
Minimal wordcount--the transformation into past tense continues, but I've declared it experimental, and the overall might not stick. The fact that my brain continues to transpose the verbs into present tense is setting me up for the big reveal, where surprise! (so not) it stays in present tense.
My hope for this exercise is that I find a way to keep the voice, yet draw the reader closer to Pia. If I have to axe the narrator to some extent, fine.
I'm over most of the rejection angst of earlier this week and yesterday, and moving on. I need another story out, so I can stop fixating on the first.
Amazingly enough, I came up with titles for the WIP that I am willing to consider:
Clockwork Bearings
Clockwork Turnings
Clockwork Turings,
but I don't think I can make that work with the story as it is now, and I'm not quite certain I can rewrite my mechanical insects to fit, although it might only take a rewrite of Kip's explanation of how they operate. Still, uncertain. Although I lovelovelove it, particularly with the sneaky computer bits I've worked in that no one appears to recognize except me.
Spring Wound,
but I'm not sure that works as well with the ending. Dual meaning, however, good, and the setting would need a touch of that season. Right now, I have fall.
ETA: Bugs in the Works, which works far better than anything I came up with. Thanks,
stillnotbored!
or None of the Above, because she reminded me I hadn't made that option available.
Feel free to tell me mine suck, for I will most likely agree since titles escape me.
I'd set up a poll on LJ, but I lack the ability. Vote in my LJ comments if you have a preference.
More wedding bits last night, and on through today. Last night was dinner with the kids and the fiancee's mom. We sampled a wine for the wedding. (Apparently, we get to have wine and champagne. My side of the family will be quite happy.) We have a caterer, except for the money. And with any luck, we'll have a photographer once I talk to my brother, the one who publishes Ammo Books. In his other life, he was a photographer.
The kids might very well make it under budget.
Also, Camp Josepho has a swimming pool. I foresee small children screaming as they are dragged off the premises.
On the list for today are crits. I figured I need to get to four of them--three for the posse, and one for the OWW. We'll see how close I get, because writing is on the list as is cleaning the damn house.
I crave a Roomba, although I am scared it will choke on dog hair, and after it tries digesting the stuff, spontaneously burst into flames.
February 15/50 words
Only two pages rewritten yesterday, but they were rewritten twice, so maybe that counts as four pages? I'm enjoying the experience, which is unexpected, and the experiment is generating wordcount. Strangely enough, I'm coming up with different details for the past tense version, and I keep those bits when I work it back into the present and smooth it.
The voice seems to be a hybrid of the two now, but that could just be over-sensitivity on my part.
So, perhaps another few pages today, but I must do two or three crits first. It's hard ignoring the story at the moment. I'm very much into the process even though it's slow.
I've thrown all the title suggestions I generated out. Today I hate them all--well, all except stillnotbored's. I'll keep working on it, and I'm hopeful a title will step right up and smack me in the face.
Cross your fingers.
We got to Coraline yesterday and saw it in 3D. My first 3D experience, and I loved it, particularly the bit after the credits ran, where I could catch glimpses of the wires and how they were used.
The story itself was okay, but it was the puppets and imagery that held me. I must admit I loved the concept of a button-eyed alternate universe, and a cat that manifests in both. Such a catlike thing to do.
My vote is go see it, but try to view it in 3D. It definitely adds to the experience.
And, while I'm in the mood of recommending things, I've got a book: Spiral Hunt by Margaret Ronald. It's definitely worth the read. It's set in Boston, with a heroine who likesloves baseball and can track people and things with her sense of smell, and Celtic mythology and a sinister mob-like group of magic users. Yes, chance, I'm pointing this out for you.
(But the rest of you go get a copy, too.)
February 20/150 words
The child's funeral I attended yesterday was sadder than sad. Saying goodbye to anyone is difficult, but having done this a few times, I can say that for me, a child's is horrific.
Part of that is our expectation that a small child will outlive us and the hopes and dreams we have for each die at the same time. I can only be grateful this one touched my life.
The writing really didn't happen much this week--there were too many things preying on my mind, and while I did attempt to refocus last night, words didn't actually happen. However, both files got popped open even though I didn't do anything with them.
And after that gets nailed, then a return to the novel.
While a short story on loss works it way out in my head.
I look at the themes that most interest me and they circle around cages (those we are placed in and those we choose for ourselves), loss and how one recovers from such and moves on, and the pieces of others that remain in hearts for years after they've gone, but we continue to hold near and dear.
Then there's my nonsense stuff, which is silly and ridiculous and has no intent other than to make someone snort or laugh.
I suppose that's the balance between tragedy and comedy.
I'm reading Ann Aguirre's novel, Grimspace, which is in first person, present tense. I'm going to have to reread it before I quite get how she does it, but her voice is quite different than the one I used in buttonholes, and that most likely is the result of using first person.
There will be much contemplation as the weekend progresses.
Also, for those people counting, another reject. I'll show those pesky editors!
(I sent it to another one. If it comes back, I may very well move to literary markets.)
February 21/50 words
Another two, very slow pages rewritten on my clockwork story. I've added, subtracted, tweaked, taken away, twisted some more so many times, that I finally had to reread it from the beginning to see how it did.
Somewhat different voice. Check.
Closer to the protag. Check. (I think.)
Less narrator. Check.
It actually reads as more immediate, too. What a surprising development.
I whizzed through Grimspace last night--at one point slowing to substitute Pia's name in for the I's. Just to see. And now I'm wondering about switching the story to first person. I may try that, but only for a couple of paras. As for the present tense, I am still switching to present as I attempt to write in past, so the jury has rendered a decision: present tense it is. Who am I to fight it?
This morning I am off to meet a new-to-me writer in the neighborhood. This is the proverbial needle in the haystack as far as I can see based on my experiences of writers close by. Leah and I had a chat about cities with a thriving specfic community of authors, and I am here to tell you Thousand Oaks is not one, and how lucky you are should you live in Toronto, Minneapolis, Seattle, or the Bay area. I am contemplating hitting Potlatch since it's in Sunnyvale next weekend, but the Spousling's gone and there are the dogs. I will have to chew on this some more--but seeing additional writers would jumpstart my writing determination....
To go or not to go, that is the question.
I also want my nasal passages to stop itching, but I'm pretty damn sure that's not going to happen any time soon.
February 22/50 words
The rewrite proceeds apace--I managed another four pages yesterday. But I am not done. I have another five pages to go. The only good news on this front is that I'm beginning to rewrite without actually cutting and pasting a section into the past tense file, rewriting, then cutting and pasting them back into the present tense file and rewriting. Maybe the whole damn process will speed up here. I can only hope.
And, as a sideline to this endeavor, which is very much a learning process for me, I've started an email conversation with another friend about organic writing.
My name is Marsha Sisolak, and I am an organic writer.
It is not a piece of cake being one, either. Half the time my subconscious is not talking to me; the other half, I am not listening. Or at least paying attention, because I'm ripping my hair out and screaming at the recalcitrance of the story in question.
I have a veritable graveyard of semi-finished, unfinished, lacking a finish, needing a damn finishing school, images that have struck a spark, but haven't caught fire, and stories I worry away at once every three or four years. I'm a sculptor chiseling at a block of invisible marble, and guessing, by feel, what the piece still needs in order to work.
Each of those graveyard stories needs something different, too. As I told my friend, it's not as though I can pick one skill to learn and apply it. No, each tale brings its own challenge, and this blindfolded author is playing keep away with stories that won't share.
Over the years, though, I've had great help from other writers who aren't organic, or as organic, as I am. They possess some story analytical gene that I appear to lack. Charlie taught me bunches, and chance gave me more ideas--particularly in her suggestion to reread a novel I love repeatedly to be able to see how the author did it without letting the story itself get in the way.
So I have a few tricks. But while they help, they don't shortcut the process, and I'm wondering now if the process isn't as much of an integral part of the story as the story itself.
I may never figure this out. Or not in a way I can explain. The best I can do is to wave my hands, point to 'like this' instances, and sneak up on comprehension via approximation.
I always had characterization, right from the start. That's a strength for me, and I believe dialogue falls there, too. Plot continues to baffle me, setting I may have finally mastered with this last short story, and theme? Well, it's there somewhere, but damned if I can spot it for that story haystack.
Perhaps, one day, a miracle will occur, and I will see clearly, but I'm not counting on it. I'll just keep plugging away at the holes I fall through, without the benefit of a white rabbit to lead the way.
But some days, this whole process is really overwhelming.
