iPad and Publishing

First: I am so sad I could cry. Or scream. Perhaps the latter is a tad more likely. From my standpoint the fact that Five of the Big Six have jumped on board the Apple wagon in hopes of pressuring Amazon is about to prove a massive error. Ok, I get it, Apple sells. It's in the brand. We are sensitive to branding and so all the Apple lovers are about to race out and replace their iPods and macs with... what? A colorful Kindle-esque gizmo that can't even let me check my e-mail and chat at the same time? The memory is lousy, and it isn't even capable of flash. Guess what, there's a new trend: Book trailers. Do a search, check 'em out. I'm not a hundred percent certain of what I think about these things, but if I "assumed" they were here to stay, and my iPad can't read those that...

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Posted in: iPad,publishing,sylvanopolis,writing

Haven

Today is my last day of vacation before school starts, so I decided to treat myself to a rare day of writing with no other obligations. When I was eighteen, this activity was common, but it hasn't happened in months. I was daunted at the idea. These days, I sit down for an hour in the evening and turn out a few sentences, if I'm lucky, then get called away to other tasks. In the morning, when I'm at my best for writing, it seems I'm always busy. But today the calendar was clear so I took the challenge. Let me say here that I am very, very easily distracted. I can't write with music on in the background, for example. I can write when my boyfriend is in the same room, but not if anyone else is nearby. If my room is even a tad out of order, I'll stop in the middle of a scene to tidy...

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Posted in: gaiman,writing

Read Like a Writer

I know, the title sounds like a bit of advice. It isn't. Right now, for me, it's a dilemma.I used to turn it on and off, that analytical voice that told me "watch that turn of phrase," or "look how that scene was built." I could let myself sit back and enjoy a book, when I turned off the voice. Now I want to turn it off and can't.My home town has been battered by wind and rain this week. Tree branches and puddles create a maze to walk through on my way out of the house in the mornings. A head cold hasn't made the mornings' necessary travels any easier. So in the evening all I craved was a book and a cup of tea.I want an escape from my own misery, into the travails of some distant hero. I want their pain and challenges to make me forget my own. Just for a minute. I want to be a...

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If You Build It They Will Come?

So, kind of a ridiculous title but the premise of this blog reminded me of that (in)famous line from Field of Dreams. My New Year's Resolution this year was to write a short story each month, regardless of how bad or ridiculous it winds up being. I figured it would be a good exercise in finishing things if nothing else. I've been working on the same novel for years now so when I first thought about really doing this at the beginning of the month I thought 'I have no idea how this is going to work. What am I going to write about?' I'd gotten used to my story and my characters. Sure sometimes new stories and concepts would occasionally drift across my mind, but nothing particularly vibrant. Nothing with much life. It's a fine state of affairs for long term novel writing but doesn't much work...

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Between the Margins

In high school and undergrad, I had a bad habit of spending class writing. Sometimes this would be a scene from Arylle that was burning to be recorded. Sometimes it would be jotted plot elements that couldn't wait for later. But most often, it would be experimentation. All of the things that I didn't dare to do during "writing time" for fear of wasting those precious minutes, was carried out here, in the back pages of my spiral-bound notebooks. I was cleaning through my closet yesterday and realized just how much of this pastiche there is. During high school, when I was involved in the drama program, I wrote two pages of a play (about, creatively, a high school drama student). Never before or since have I written plays, nor have I...

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Posted in: notebooks,writing

Research, Research

This is a topic that has been on my mind a lot lately. Tidbits that I've picked up on other blogs have helped in this regard. So today I will wade through my thought process. But first I want to state a few things: as in all writing projects research is engaged differently for different people. As Melissa and Erica have addressed at different times in the last week or so, one way to is akin to stewing over your own experiences. Eventually, the flavors will bleed together in a complimentary form and something will emerge. For me, this synthesis is most common in rough drafts.And yet... as I have discovered again and again that research does not end with the first draft. My latest drafts of Novel One are alternating between manic and silent. On a recent post in the blog Agent Savant,...

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In Defense of Fluff

So, technically I'm a day late, but does it really count if I haven't gone to bed yet? Yes, my sleeping habits are atrocious. The idea for this post struck me because, to be honest, I've been reading quite a bit of fluff lately. I figured that if my distinguished cohort, Mel, was going to go so far as to defend Bad Writing I'd take my chances with Fluff. You may be asking yourself: Well, Erica, what exactly do you mean by Fluff, that's a pretty vague term. Fear not. I have a definition. 'Fluff' is the sort of ridiculous fiction that, if you are at all literarily minded, you feel sort of ashamed of reading. But you do it anyway. Because Fluff exists for no other reason than to be engrossing in the most awful of ways, end with some sappy cliche, and leave you with happy warm bits of love floating...

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Libel

Quite often, authors “borrow” friends, family, or even passing strangers to make characters out of them. Despite the disclaimer that adorns the inside cover of many books, assuring the reader (and lawyers) that all of the people and places within these pages sprang from no where other than the author’s imagination, we are all guilty of fictionalizing reality from time to time.With me, I find that sometimes I meet people so over-the-top that they seem a caricature already. A boy I once had a history class with, for example, who wore a different pair of designer sunglasses everyday all through class. A young goth man with his made-up face buried in a book of antique French poetry on the Paris metro. A girl with dark eyes and a strong laugh with a tattoo of cascading stars down her backbone...

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Posted in: characters,inspiration,writing

Onward into 2010

There are many changes coming. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Technology is going to impact everything this decade-- and its alterations to writing and publishing are already beginning. Will this change the way we write? Will this change our definitions of "good writing?" I certainly would not be surprised if it did. Still, I am glad for those things which will not change. As the determination to keep to my new resolutions has not yet worn away, I want to focus on what I can control. I can't control the change in technology. Perhaps the shift is alluring because it will happen despite my thoughts on it bending one way or another. It is a meter by which the American culture can be gauged even as people...

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Experience

First, I would like to apologize for my recent neglect of this blog. Shortly before Christmas my family was informed that my father had died. Things were, understandably, strange for awhile. That being said, I shall try not to be too maudlin. However, this does bring me to my point. That old adage 'Write what you know' has, I think, at one point or another been the bane of every fantasy writer's existence. But, of course, there is truth in it. We all draw on our lives, consciously or unconsciously, in our writing. To be honest, sometimes I do it quite blatantly. So, does an experienced life lead to better writing?Will having seen the splotch of blood on the bed sheets where my father lay decaying enrich my writing? (sorry, a bit of maudlin indulgence there) Good writing is good writing and...

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Satisfaction Guaranteed

Writing is like sex.Now wait a minute, hear me out. It’s not a bad simile.When I write, I find that my progress mirrors the sex cycle. I have to get into ‘the mood’ first, and this sometimes takes a while. I stare at the computer screen, waiting for some spark of inspiration. What in the world are these people going to say next? How are they feeling? What does this place look like? At this point, the writing is rough and I have to convince myself that no, I would rather not browse facebook all evening instead. Captioned cat photos? Those can wait, really.Suddenly, something clicks. This can be as small as a turn of phrase, an expression; or as major as a new plot development. I stop and think, “Hmm, not bad.” Another tentative line follows...

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Posted in: hemingway,sex,writing