My Writing Space

I've always written at my desk.  Anywhere else in my house contains even more distractions.  The desk contains its share of distractions also, but over the years I've so ingrained the mindset of "this is where it happens" that even those inevitably lead back to production.  For some reason I've never been able to listen to music while I write, which is too bad since so many songs remind me of a character or a stretch of prose.  Then again, I can't focus on more than one thing at a time in any aspect of life, so this isn't surprising. Some of my best pieces have come from being away from the desk, though.  Vacations, especially to the ocean, have always rewarded me with inspiration.  When I was lucky enough to see Paris a couple of years ago, a great deal of the...

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The System

I want to talk to you about women in Fantasy. From the Kick-Ass Heroine of Urban Fantasy to the Strong-Minded Woman of Epic Fantasy there seems to be a vogue on for women that are Taking Names and bucking The System. And it's kind of annoying me. Don't get me wrong. There's some really great stuff out there of that exact variety. I, for one, love Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson novels. And Steampunk pirate chicks are just plain cool.  But sometimes it seems like authors create social systems just so their female character/s can tromp on it. Or, worse, they've stuck their characters into a world with the gender roles we've come to expect for no other reason than the fact that its normal for fantasy and have their female characters prance about high-kicking the established system with...

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Circles

I am very fortunate to have my job.  I know this, and I am thankful for it.  Most people would kill to get something with nice coworkers, a high salary (for a student), and a reasonable workload. That said, it’s killing my soul.  Many days I come home fighting both a headache and nausea.  I’m exhausted by seven p.m. or even earlier, making writing almost impossible.  I can’t leave, because I know there’s nothing better out there and I need the money.  Which brings up an interesting point – what do I need the money for?  I still live with my parents.  My expenses are few and manageable.  I’ve always been the sort of person who begrudges spending even an extra nickel.  I need to save, I tell myself.  What am I saving for? The fact of the...

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My Way of Creating and Developing Characters

My character creation starts in the first (rough) draft of my story.  Often at that level of the writing process my characters will start off very stalk.  In some cases, they may carry many of my own behavioral traits at that level.  While I'm writing, I try putting myself in my main character's body (which is very scant at this level of the writing process) and have the character make decisions in the story that I think they would make in a given situation.  For example, I ask myself, what would J. Doe do if he/she comes home to discover that someone has dismantled the inside of his/her house?  After I write the first draft, I will create a profile for each character.  In doing this, I will skim over the story's initial draft for each character and, based on...

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My Characters

A friend asked me: "How do you come up with your characters?" I fear my answer will be quite unsatisfactory. They just come. Usually, a story idea starts with a "What if x happened?" Or, because I mostly write Fantasy: "What if a place existed where X had happened or Y was real?" Then, usually, I world build. As a person is influenced by their environment, my character is in equal parts dependent on the social structure, ethnic identity (and it's relation to the existing powers and history)and the characters' own psychology, home life. So I start with the world. The character is a "what if such a person existed in this world? and if they had to overcome this particular dilema, how would it play out?" Then, I sit back and go for the ride, so to speak. On the page, enhanced...

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Posted in: characters,inspiration,writing

Book Review: Beast

Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite fairy tale.  One of my first memories of Erica, so many years ago, is her recommending Beauty by Robin McKinley for me to read.  I’m glad I took her advice, because that book soon moved to my favorites list.  I was captivated by the writing, yes, but also by the romance, by the simple humanity of the eponymous character who believes that she is undeserving of her name.  I read McKinley’s other B&TB adaptation, Rose Daughter, and enjoyed it, but not nearly so much.  The breathtaking prose was still there, but the striking appeal of the characters was not. What had been missing from my collection was the other perspective.  What about the Beast?  What was...

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Posted in: beast,book review,napoli

Silver Mask (or The Ongoing Saga of Revising a MS)

Eight-Nine years ago, I had it down. It was my first semester in college. I signed up for afternoon classes but got up at 7 am every morning. By 8 am I was at the Starbucks on 38th drinking coffee and outlining. Then I headed home and wrote until it was time to pack my bags and hop on the bus bound for Sacramento Community College. Arrelle was what I worked on back then. And the first draft of Traitor Born. Arrelle, I edited, revised, rearranged until I decided to allow it collect dust on the shelf. Since then, I did start the story all over. Beginning to...well, I haven't found the end yet. The characters began to derail the story and again, it was relegated to the shelf. For now. So onto Silver Mask. I didn't want to make the same mistake. I wrote it, and had a draft completed...

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Reactions

I let my family read the new short story and received a wide variety of responses. My boyfriend, who went first, liked it immensely.  He told me that I had written what felt like a polished copy on my first draft and said that the introduction was especially compelling. My father was next.  He said that it seemed kind of like a Phantom of the Opera rip off and wondered if I had gotten one of the characters' names from an individual in the morning comics. My mother actually offered me some useful criticism.  She suggested that I explain how the protagonist's fiance would think she knows her ex-lover, since their relationship was a secret.  She also asked for clarification on one of the lines of dialogue. My father, hearing me thank my mother for her helpfulness,...

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Posted in: family,writers groups,writing

Time's Affect

I liked Melissa's idea from her post earlier this week.  So I'm going to add some of my thoughts on the subject. I have read other blogs where authors have posted about "why we write."  Oftentimes, it is boredom, intense imagination and the like that spurs the author to pen the first story.  (This is related, I promise, wait for it...) Sometimes it is an inability to find a good book, so a writer turns to their notepad or computer and out comes a story.   For me, it was different.  My favorite story of why I started writing fantasy was because the characters in my favorite books weren't "doing what I wanted them to." But that wasn't when or why I started inventing stories. You see, a few years earlier, when I was eight, I was introduced to the concept of serfdom. ...

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Posted in: experience,life,writing