Monday, September 12, 2011

Well I'm still working! I'm writing on my YA and getting ready to edit the Carmine novella and in the meantime I thought I'd post a little character questionnaire I did for Irissa, the main character of my YA. It's a Regency-esque romance with lesbians, secondary world fantasy, and a murder mystery (in all likelihood...) As usual I have no outline!

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

Irissa (Last name TBA)


1) List four things you like very much – Science, logic, books, reading

2) List four things you dislike very much- mages, religion, ignorance, emotion

3) Did you have a happy childhood? Yes. My parents were very loving, I had all the books I wanted, siblings I cared for deeply and an excellent school.

4) Describe an incident in your childhood that you think most affected you. - I don't like to talk about it but some girls at boarding school fancied themselves mages and summoned... creatures one of them attacked me and it was a horrific incident I don't care to dwell on.

5) Describe your mother and how you feel about her. - My mother doesn't understand me but I know she cares. We disagree on a regular basis and frankly I find her trying at times. She reads silly books and is far too polite.

6). Describe your father and how you feel about him – Father understands me a great deal. He always gave me books on science and philosophy. He has encouraged my education my whole life.

7) what is your favorite pastime? – Reading, translating books from their original languages, and... well, not much else is there?

8) What person do you think has influenced you the most? – My Father. And perhaps my older brother.

9) How do you feel about sex? - Well, it's a normal function of biology. no real mystery to it. Certainly not worth the drama and emotion people invest in it. What do you mean I shouldn't pass judgement because I haven't had it yet?

10) What is your religion and how important is it to you? – Religion is for superstitious fools.

11) What is your philosophy of life? – Ask questions, find answers.

12) If you could have any tangible thing that you wanted what would it be? I would like to keep the seaside cottage in the family.

13) Have you any physical difficulties? - I wear spectacles...

14) What kind of education or training have you had and how did you feel about it? – I have a classical eduction. Speak three languages and read competantly five.

15) How do you think people react to you as a person? – According to my mother I am too impolite. According to my cousin I am too unsentimental. According to my Father I am a bit hard around the edges. According to my classmates I was irascible.

16) What are you proudest of? – My intelligence.

17) What are you most ashamed of?- My freckles? Maybe. According to my mother (again) I have no shame.

18) What is your deepest fear? - Mages

19) How do you feel about food? - I like good a great deal and bad food a good deal less. Almond cake is my favorite dessert.

20) What do you dream about? - Academia.

21) What makes you feel good? - Using logic to solve problems.

22) What do you try hardest to avoid? – People

23) What makes you angry and how do you react? – Ignorance, foolishness, silliness and stupidity. I have no patience for any of the above even in myself.

24) How athletic are you? – Not at all.

25) How methodical are you? - Extremely.

26) What are you chief taboos? – Aren't those akin to superstations?

27) How much traveling have you done? – Unfortunately little.

28) Describe a situation in which you feel you have behaved courageously. - I probably haven't...

29) Do you see yourself as a self-centered person? – According to my mother extremely.

30) Do you see yourself as a loving person? – More sentiment and nonesense.

31) Do you see yourself as a popular person – The opposite but I don't really care.

32) Do you see yourself as potentially having an important influence on the world? - Maybe.

33) How artistic are you? More stuff and nonesense.

34) How do you feel about material things? – I like nice things and I like books and want a nice place to put those books. I'm used to, if not material things at least the respect accorded by my family's standing.

35) What are your plans for the future? – I don't know anymore.

36) How idealistic are you? – That's a stupid question.

37) How realistic are you? – Is there anything else?

38) How successful are you? – So far not very.

39) Name the four things you most often object to in other people. - Silliness, ignorance, sentimentality, and inanity.

40) Name the four things you most often object to in yourself. – When my emotions get the better of me. I don't read people well. I'm not as observant as I would like to be. I'm not as in control as I'd like to be all the time.

41) How gullible are you? - Not at all.

42) How intelligent are you? – Extremely.

43) Do you believe that the end justifies the means? – Frequently yes.

44) How attractive are you physically? – Well, I nave good bones if you can see past the freckles and the spectacles.

45) Do you believe there is anything worth dying for and what led you to this conclusion? – I don't know. Maybe.

46) What do you worry about the most? – Not having enough time to read.

47) What makes life worth living for you? – Books. And quite possibly the almond cake made by my cousin Owenee's chef. And no, I am not joking.

48) What is the difference between good and evil? – I'm not sure.

49) What kind of person would you most like to be? – Smarter than I am now.

50) How do you relate to animals? – Not well...





Saturday, September 3, 2011

Rejected again

So I will NOT be in the Absolute Write anthology. Hour of the Wolf was rejected again.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Slackerly updates!

Well, the first Carmine Rojas novella is almost done!! And thanks to Dragon Nat. Speaking it's almost typed too!

So it will be off to Damnation Books http://www.damnationbooks.com/ sooner rather than later. Of course I did the math and I've writing this thing for months!! It's going to get to about 19k which is well within the average for other Damnation novellas. I also need to work up a marketing plan! I had a moment of panic when I saw that on the submission guidelines but I got some help from Sunny Frazier over at Oak Tree who sent me the form they have their authors fill out and it gave me some good ideas for what I can do!

I'm luck to be in a position, and have the skill, to manufacture my own swag :) I can make Carmine book marks, Carmine prints, and, if I ever buy another cyan toner cartridge for my laser printer, Carmine stickers! I can also attend cons if they are in Cali and promote on LJ and Deviant Art. So maybe I'm not hopeless!


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Accidentally, a new book...

On the heels of finishing Tea Times Three I've started a new book.

And it's funny because I just read a blog post by someone I follow http://teaandbiscuits42.blogspot.com/2011/08/wip-madness.html who has also started a new WIP. She asks some good questions at the end of her blog which boils down to "How do you feel when starting a new WIP?"

I, unlike the original poster, don't feel nervous. I spent a year and a half living in Midswich Maine with all the residents of my fictional town, and as much ad I love them I am happy to take a break. There is a Buddhist saying which goes something like this, "Everyone is special, but no one is especially special."

A lot of authors seem to get very attached to a particular caste but I don't. I certainly like everyone in Tea Times Three, enough that I have two more books planned, but I also have a lot of other ideas with lots of other characters, some planned, and some I'm just making up ad I go.

The new WIP I plunged into, head first when a couple ideas I've had in the back of my mind collided and an idea sprang forth. I started writing without even the main character's names in place. Heck, her personality wasn't even formed yet. But I'm learning all about her as I write and I've honed her personality. I have a few things to change at the beginning, but the book, the world, and the characters are taking shape as I go. I mean the main character's name has changed three times!!

To me that's the only way to get to know a story. Write it. The characters will surprise and delight you! If you have a book or a an unfinished work by the end it doesn't matter, you've still learned, and practiced and written something. And by sheer practice the next work will be better still.

I do worry at times I'm waisting m,y time. I worry I won't finish. I worry my ideas are dumb. BUT I don't let it stop me. Every new book gets off to a joyous and exciting start! Whether it stays that way seems to be my biggest hurdle. The inevitable mid-book blues set in. I get stuck, I start to worry. I start to doubt. THAT'S when In start to freak. Not at the beginning. I hit the ground running, then slow, then trip, then pick myself up THEN hopefully, stagger across the finish line, only to have to rewrite and edit.


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Done!

Done!!! Huzzah! Draft 1 of Tea Times Three is done! Sort of... I still need to fill in the middle but I'm working on rewrites! And the first Carmine novella is closing in on done! Yay!

Productivity is good!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Important enough to cross-post!

There is a a really good article here dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/7985599811/panels Go read and come back, I'll wait.

Now while DC head honchos laugh off this poor woman and her daughter I'd like to point out a little deeper an insult from DC. Here is a quote of an article in CBR

" A fan dressed as Batgirl who had been at every DC panel over the weekend asked whether the publisher was committed to hiring more women. Didio said that they were working to put the best talent possible on the books. Morrison asked, “Do more women want to write DC superheroes?” and when many female fans responded “Yes!” he simply added “Then send your stuff in.”
They hire the best. Ah, there’s your answer. And they certainly must know who the best female creators are, right?"

The essential problem with this is: DC COMICS DOES NOT TAKE SUBMISSIONS. I wasted an hour at the DC "submission" panel at SDCC a few years ago. A panel which is mandatory to attend their portfolio review at Con. After patiently listening to editors I finally raised my hand during the Q&A portion and asked "What about writers?" The answer was there are no submissions for writers. Period. If you are big enough and famous enough (forget talented, that doesn't seem to matter) then DC will ASK YOU to write for them. But other than that there IS NO RECOURSE for writers of any race or gender to become DC creators.
And this is why (among so many other reasons) I hate comic books.

I am a darn good comic book writer. I have good ideas. I have a lot to offer the genre. I also write very fun things. I STILL get people who have JUST read Dark Moon Diary popping up on Deviant Art saying "OMG I love the book where's the sequel?"

But DC and even Marvel to an extent are not that interested in new writing talent. A lot of comic book authors at both places are either people who have been in comics for years and years. Or Writers from Hollywood (Joss Whedon I'm looking at you >:( ) or NYT best selling authors like Laurell K. Hamilton. From my time in comics I never felt like there much attempt to find or nurture new talent. And there is a legit reason for this! Comics are SO SMALL. Probably 1% of 1% of an already dying print media. Of course no one wants to waste time with an unrecognized author. But this also leads to an ass load of inbreeding and stagnation within the industry. There are like 5 guys writing everything! Not literally, but you know what I mean! You see the same names, the same editors, and the same heroes over and over and over. But this policy has lead to the dead thing that comic books in America are.
The editors who spoke to this woman should have said this: "Honestly, we do what will sell the few comic books we sell a year. If the female characters aren't cutting it they are relegated to supporting caste. We, like every other company in the past 5 years have had to trim our staff so we decided to keep the boys club going because they are the known names in comics and a known quantity both in terms of sales and name recognition. We are not interested in your opinions until sales of JLA/Batman/X-Men/Whatever reach a point that change is forced. Please DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO US we will just have to throw it away. So save a tree! And don't bother."

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Dear Laurie J. Marks


Well, hello all! All 30 of you! I am back! I have been lazy! But I have a new computer with a web cam so welcome to video updates!!!

This time I am asking Laurie J. Marks the fantasy author to put her back list on Kindle. The three books she wrote about well, I can't recall if she ever named the planet- must have.... I haven't read the books in a long time- BUT they were about a world made of super hard crystal called glass. There were three main species of sentient beings, the human like Walkers who lived on the land, the Aeyrie who flew the skies and the Mer who lived in the sea. The books are fantastic, the prose is beautiful. And the shame is that they are out of print! And they don't deserve to be!

OK! Her website has also improved over the years! And helps explain, at least a little the big gaps in books that have occurred. Wow, I wish I could take a writing class from her! My prose has never been poetic and hers most definitely is.

It would be nice to think I'll meet Ms. Marks (I just can't call authors by their first name! I hate it how people run around calling everyone by their first name like the KNOW the person!) BUT, I like to think I'll meet Laurie J. Marks someday but even if I did I'd never have the courage to make much of the opportunity. I'd just grin like an idiot and maybe giggle and stammer out something "Like I love your books" then I'd fade into the background like the dumbass I am. And THAT would be my big meeting with Laurie J. Marks. I'd be a fangirling idiot and she would would leave nervous that I'm a stalker.