After taking inventory of my reading history over the past ... hmm, let me think ... I'll say forty some years, I made a curious observation. I make my choices in reading like craving potato chips. I couldn't read just one gothic romance (circa my teen through early adult years). I had to devour them like that bag of chips. One scrumptious bite of syrupy, sappy love scenes after another, until I satiated my appetite ... or gained too many pounds of love calories.
And then a new flavored chip came along during my late twenties to late thirties. One with lots of bite to it, i.e. stories of horror and nightmares, ala Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul, and the rest. The adrenaline rush that those scary monsters, ghouls, and ghostly creations gave me couldn't have been more satisfying. The scarier the better, even if they did keep me up nights, along with every nightlight I could manage to turn on without my husband griping!
But soon, I had my fill, the last gory scene of blood and guts splattering everywhere. Nausea set in and I experienced indigestion. Time to move on. That was nearly twenty years ago. The moment to launch the newest, latest, greatest tasting chip ever! Mysteries ... suspenseful ones, forensic ones, romantic ones, heroic ones, anything with the familiar mysterious taste. And to the present, I still enjoy those chips! The flavor is addicting, probably some ingredient I'm meant to crave. Whatever it is, I will keep reading ... or eating ... every word of every page of every chapter of every ... ah, you get the picture.
So, then, I began to wonder if my reading habit imitated my behavior with other things, like my favorite television shows, music, restaurants, etc. Let me think another minute ... nope. At least not as noticeable as with reading. For example, I enjoy American Idol and The Voice, but I don't care for those other music competition shows (and I won't mention the names).
Still, it does make me consider how producers, publishers, and all the other powers that make important decisions, choose what's coming out next. Television back in the fifties and sixties could not get enough western shows on the air. In the seventies, it overflowed with detective shows like Mod Squad, Hart to Hart, McCloud, Columbo, and I refuse to go on. In publishing YA loves vampires, and readers sure like to chomp down on gossipy morsels of the celebrities and politicians. Anyway, I'm sure you get my drift. Potato Chip Theory? Maybe not such nonsense after all.
Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes
Alice in Realityland
This is Milo, aka Lou. He was a big part of my inspiration for writing Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes, and I just had to include him in the story because of it. So, for me, it brings up the topic of where do you find your inspiration and how do you come up with the characters you write about in your stories?
In my experience, it's usually a subconscious process. But sometimes it is very obvious, such as Lilly's aunts -- Millie, Sadie, and Fran. I had exact relatives in mind when I created and developed those characters. All of them were aunts on Mom's side of the family, but of course for obvious reasons, I won't say which ones! Funny, entertaining, all of them with their own quirks, made them perfect candidates to include in Lilly's zany, kooky world. Her life wouldn't be the same without them. They are the ying and yang of her existance, and she wouldn't be the Lilly readers learn to know and love otherwise.
But now back to Lou, aka Milo. Do you ever just sit and watch your pet, if you have one, and think, if only I could put him, or her, on a television show as the star, wouldn't it just be so entertaining? Well, Milo made me think that, and more! Besides, Lilly needed an ally who would be totally supportive, totally loving, who wouldn't give her any of those critical moments she gets from others. And that's Lou. Of course on the other hand, Lou is (and so is Milo) just feisty enough to give Lilly trouble and near-heart attack moments! But enough about Lou.
What about your inspiration and/or characters? Do you find them in those odd moments or weird places? If you're not looking there, you probably should. For instance, stop and take a moment to watch those around you. You might be surprised what you'll find. I know I did :-)
Have a great day, and happy writing!
Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes
A Date to Die For
I wonder how any author of science fiction, or specifically of fantasy, feels when writing a script with a fantasy world setting. How comfortable are they when creating those details of setting, like how the "world" looks, or the way people dress, or even more daunting, putting them in action, i.e. what they may do that's so illogical compared to our way of doing things. Obviously, there must be some point in the writing process where the creation becomes familiar and comfortable ... but when?
The reason I am dwelling on this lately is because of the story I am working on ... Alice in Realityland. Alice must bounce back and forth between her reality and a fantasy world. Creating that fantasy world is totally mindbending! And I haven't reached a point where I'm thinking it's comfortable. So, of course, I start to doubt my creative ability and rethink what I'm writing. But I am ignoring the itch to change it, figuring to just plug along, waiting for that everything-will-click moment, and praying it will come.
This is a totally different experience from writing Not So Snow White which has some magic in it, along with witches and fairies, but still taking place in our world. So, I wonder about all those other fantasy writers and how they think it through. Any of you reading this, please chime in with your thoughts. I'd love to hear them!
Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes
Cinderella Geek
My mind is rambling with its thoughts. So, I'm going to plant some of them here and see what grows :-) One website that's "wordy" and just for fun ... Wordle Clouds where you can create cool designs by placing a series of words in the box. Change the font, the color scheme, etc. to tickle your fancy and ... voila! You have an artistic creation of your writing creation to enjoy.
Actually, my only gripe about it was if you put in too many words, it only spits back a visual with the most used words. Huh ... don't get that. Maybe I just need more playtime to get better results. Anyway, enjoy!
Best time to write ... I always wonder how other people do this. I personally think my creative juices are going at warp speed first thing in the morning and then again very late at night. No rhyme or reason to it. How about you?
Nightmare of writing ... I have it. Everytime I finish a book, I fear I can never do it again. And then I do. Grrrrr. And I don't think I will ever get past this. Even if I manage to get fifty books under my belt (don't think I have enough time in this world to do this, though), I still will have that fear. How about you?
Short but sweet, that's it for now. Good luck with your writing and keep those fingers tapping on those keys!
Just wanted to share a couple of sites that might be of interest to both writers and everybody else!
1) This is a free-to-try item. The Learning Space writing course posted on Open University.
Read about how to set up (or improve) characters and settings, and learn the differences between various genres (and how to make those differences work for you). The nominal time for taking the course is 12 hours, but you're free to work at your own pace. You can find a printable word version of the entire course here on the site too. (ePub and html print versions are also available--right under the course contents you'll find a "printable version" link, with a little arrow underneath saying, "alternative formats".) -- Writing World
I am always looking for new information and when it's free to try ... makes it all the more inviting! Anyway, I am definitely going to take a closer look. Maybe you will do the same ;-) Let me know what you think.
2) And then ... for those who haven't heard of Dropbox, it's an online ("cloud") storage service that allows you to easily share documents, photos, and other files with friends. You can also sync your files over multiple devices (currently, the service also
supports iPhones, iPads, Android phones and Blackberry phones). Think of it as your invisible flash drive that goes everywhere with you. Free accounts start with 2GB of storage, but you get additional free space for every friend you refer. -- Writing World
A few months ago, I received feedback from an editor on a manuscript I submitted. She asked if I would change at least half of the highlighted passive verbs and replace them with more active, descriptive verbs. To my overwhelming dismay, I found over 1,000 highlights and realized I really faced an eye-popping, finger-cramping task.
Now, the thing is that a good many of these involved the past perfect and wouldn't be necessarily labeled passive, but can make writing a bit cluttered when overdone. This is where I move on over into my teacher mode and say that if used wisely and sparingly, the past perfect is an effective tool.
It can introduce a flashback without using trite, boring phrases such as "It was several weeks ago" or "I remember the time when". For instance, "Mary had buried the shoebox under the oak tree. She died the next winter and we realized that her secret might never be told. But then, Max dug a hole to bury his bone and found the box, which he carried proudly in his mouth to the front door..."
Note, I only used the past perfect -- had buried -- once, and then the rest of the verbs remained in the past tense. It does the job and remains clear and tight.
Now, if you are using the verb "to have" -- I have, I have had, I had had; or "to be" -- I was, I had been, then you probably want to change all or most of them to more descriptive and concise verbs. For example, "he had the answer to her problem" could easily be replaced with "he discovered the answer to her problem." Or ... "the bird had a wingspan of at least five feet" could be changed to "the bird carried a wingspan of at least five feet."
I think that it takes practice to defeat the use of "lazy" passive verbs. Sometimes, like in my case, you might not even realize you are using them. Do a word search and tally them up, then toss a good deal of them out! Your writing and stories will thank you :-)
Happy writing!
Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes
Oklahoma's Gold
Not So Snow White
Cinderella Geek
So, what are you asking Santa for Christmas? I'm going to first take the high road and say that I wish for peace and happiness ... and I will keep it personal ... I want this for and among my family. We've gone through the typical coaster ride of ups and downs this past year. My daughter had a beautiful wedding celebration. My other daughter became engaged and will marry next spring. My son decided to go back to college for another degree, hopefully something that makes him happy and helps him to find a job. My husband is working ... not a layoff in sight, thank goodness. I decided to self-publish some of my work this past summer. And thus, Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes, Cinderella Geek, and Not So Snow White became reality in both print and ebook. We have been happy and healthy for the most part with just a smattering of a few glitchy moments.
What more could I want? Well, how about peace and happiness for the rest of you? That would be nice, but probably too much to hope for ... but I will anyway. I'm that foolish optimist who will always want the best. I do that with my students, no matter how much they protest! Maybe I expect the impossible .. but that's just me. Love me or not :-)
And of course on a more selfish note ... I'm hoping for that "bestseller" or even just a traditional pub to love me and adopt me and my work! Besides being an optimist, I'm also stubbornly focused. Love me or not!
I wish all of you a very merry holiday season! And for those authors reading this ... keep on writing!
