The Persistence of Story

Does it feel early to anyone else? Daylight savings, man...

Okay, first off, I'm over on The Kindness Project blog today talking about how I don't believe happiness is a choice. Feel free to hop over and disagree with me (link).

Now, what's this about persistent stories? Well, I'll tell ya.

We're all writers here. Or readers. And writers are readers, so that makes us all one and the same. My point is this: since the Dawn of Time, there have been folks telling stories and folks wanting to hear stories.

Putting on my storyteller hat, I'll admit the reason I'm a full-time writer now is because once I typed "The End" on that first book of mine back in 2009 (which is still in the drawer), it was like I'd pulled my finger out of the proverbial hole in the dyke.

(Don't be gross. It's a legend.)

All the stories just flooded my brain, and I've been working hard to keep up ever since. In that first year alone, I finished five books. Granted, I spent the next year revising two of them (The Truth About Faking and Rouge), and another year waiting for traditional publishing to have its way with me...

(Yes. I was thinking it that time. And Letting Go was written later, just fyi.)

Here I sit with three books out there, three more ready to go, one needing to be finished, and in my head is this new idea that's just bugging me...

I guess that's just what we do. We either have to tell stories or we have to listen to them. Hopefully they're good ones. Hopefully you like the stories I tell...

Or I don't know. Am I just talking to myself here? Do most of you writer-friends have very organized brains that behave and follow sequentially? Do I need my head checked?

(I know who's going to say Yes to that.)

Either way, I'll just keep on writing and putting them out there. I can't help it. It's how my brain's wired up. I smell hair burning...

While I untangle the wires, I've got two new stories to share that I'm pretty sure you'll like:

Great bloggy friend M Pax (love that name) has just put out #3 in her Backworlds series. I got to edit the very first one, and I can tell you, it is awesome!

I don't normally read space opera, and I was hooked, pulled in, and cheering for Craze (the main character) by story's end. That book, The Backworlds, is FREE, so run get (link)!

The new book is Boomtown Craze, and it sounds like another great installment. Here's the poop:

On Amazon

A Grand New Age of Boom or Dust?

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe.

To secure his future, Craze must propel his world into a more prosperous era. Only days away from the grand opening of his new and improved tavern, he is confronted by a loony Backworlder intent on mucking up his plans.

Gaunt and trembling, she claims her spaceship is possessed. She also has a connection to the underworld that shakes loose the dark past of one of Craze’s closest friends. It all threatens to end Craze’s prosperity before it begins.

Meanwhile off world, Captain Talos works desperately to outwit the mercenary Jixes and lure them away from his and Craze’s budding prospects. The mind-control weapon Talos uses against them is wearing thin, and his next move may be his last.

Will Craze and Talos’s efforts bring about a grand new age of boom or damn them to forever struggle in the dust?

AmazonUS / AmazonUK / B&N / Smashwords

Other Outlets can be found at http://mpaxauthor.com.

MP!

M. Pax is a Browncoat and SG fan, she’s also slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. In the summers she docents as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory where the other astronomers now believe she has the most extensive collection of moon photos in existence. No fear, there will be more next summer. She lives in stunning Central Oregon with the Husband Unit and two lovely, spoiled cats.

Website/Blog ~ Twitter ~ FB ~ Goodreads ~ LinkedIN ~ Pinterest ~ YouTube ~ Wattpad

And until March 22, you can enter to WIN! a set of signed Backworlds paperbacks, including The Backworlds, Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge, and Boomtown Craze (US only), OR! a choice of five ebooks (open internationally). Click here to enter!

The second book is by bloggy friend Lisa Gail Green (link). It's not out yet, but here's the lovely cover and information:

Tricked into slavery by the man she loved, the Djinni Leela has an eternity to regret her choices.

Awakened in the prison of her adolescent body, she finds a new master in possession of the opal that binds her. But seventeen-year-old Jered is unlike any she’s seen. His kindness makes Leela yearn to trust again, to allow herself a glimmer of hope.

Could Jered be strong enough to free her from the curse of the Binding Stone?

Add it on Goodreads today!

Follow LG2 on Twitter.


Oh, and my giveaway's still going on! You can enter to win a signed print set of The Truth About Faking and The Truth About Letting Go at this (link)

Have a super week, reader- and writer-friends! I'm just over here sorting it out~ <3

Another reason to tell your story

So I was catching up on my Entertainment Weekly reading, and it was that "reunions" issue. I'm sure most of you've seen the pictures.

They reunited the cast of Family Ties, Romey and Michelle, Glen Close and Michael Douglass for Fatal Attraction, and of course The Princess Bride.

I never knew the backstory of Princess Bride. That it had once had Robert Redford attached as director. That it almost didn't get made.

That Rob Reiner had to cut everyone's salaries, had to cut all the expenses for sets, basically had five guys portray the "army of Guilder."

And it didn't fare very well at the box office.

But it became a cult classic. Who under 40 can't quote at least five lines from that film?

The starter, "As you wish," to the ender, "You'd make a great Dread Pirate Roberts." Or my favorite... Heck, I don't know if I can single out a favorite!

Anyway, it got me to thinking about movies that "shouldn't" have done well, for whatever reason. Or the movies that no one would get behind that everyone ended up loving.

Since we're getting close to Halloween, I'll toss out two scary ones: Blair Witch Project and Halloween.

I mean, seriously. Nobody believed those movies would be hits? Nobody? How does that happen?

Then my thoughts went down a different path. Can you imagine how different Princess Bride would've been if Robert Redford had directed it?

I doubt it would've been as silly-funny as it is, and I'm not sure it would've become the cult-classic it is today.

I feel like there's a lesson here. See what you think about this: We've talked about telling your story before. What if these examples illustrate why you're given the stories you're given.

Other writers might be just as good as you, possibly better. But no one else can tell your story the way you can.

What do you guys think?

Pondering.

Have a great weekend, reader- and writer- friends! Til Monday~ <3

More of an Idea Rat

I posted a while back about keeping it simple. In my experience, the most effective story that was the easiest to write and that went over best with those that mattered was the one where I focused on a simple concept, easy to explain, easy to relate.

Then we talked about Rebecca Black and Phil Collins and I referenced the little logline exercise provided by agents Rachel, Nathan, and Natalie. Remember that? KISS? Here's the link in case you're curious (link).

But what if you have a really complex idea? One that can't be summed up in one sentence? At least not satisfactorily. And what if you think it's pretty good.

Source

I suppose you could argue that no books can be satisfactorily summed up in one sentence. There are always subplots and characters who if left out, change the tone or whatever.

On my back burner is a little MS JRM keeps bugging me to finish. It's at 15K words with many, many notes. I had to make a separate file of notes because it's a complex idea. I'm not even confident I can pull it off successfully.

So what to do? Ditch it? Maybe I could start and then see how much frosting I have if it flops...

Just kidding, I don't believe in icing together something that's not working. But I also don't believe in spending tons of time on an MS that isn't going anywhere. I'm not that old yet, and I've got two little ladies I'm taking time away from to do this.

What do you guys do with complicated ideas? Wait until they feel simple? Keep writing til they get simple?

Maybe I'm overthinking it.

I'm out of the revision cave (again), so I hope to be around more now. Have a super holiday weekend, reader- and writer-friends! Til Monday~ <3

On Inspiration

When I first started writing, a lot of my inspiration for plot and character came from music. I wrote in a previous post about statements people have made in interviews that stuck with me and turned into scenes (or whole books as the case may be). Well, music is amazingly inspirational to me as well, and the muse strikes during odd, unexpected songs and at absolutely random times.

Like every time I hear "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd I think of MC in Book 4--where he's going to be and his state of affairs in that opening scene. The sounds of that song are driving across the Causeway under an overcast sky watching the drifters fish from the roadside and the occasional shrimp boat pulling out for a day's work.

If there was one song in the whole world that I could get credit for writing, I'd want it to be that one.

Other inspirations? My MC in Debut Novel came to me the day I was thinking about my friend Amy Wemyss. MC's named after one of my daughters' school friends, but MC's best friend was originally named Amy.

Amy was one of my first friends when we moved here, and we always had such a fun time running down to the beach with the kids, swapping musical favorites, chatting, spending time together during the days while the boys were at work. Then after Katrina, her superstar husband (postal inspector) got transferred to Maryland for some big fat promotion. It was all very cool for them, but it left me high and dry.

Sound familiar, test readers?

Of course, all my characters are just amalgams of all the cool, interesting people I know and have known in my life. And some I've only heard about or interviewed over the telephone...

But back to music. When I was writing Book 2, I was listening to "Defying Gravity" a lot. I thought of the picture--black and white--and the connotations of manipulating for the "good"; the idea of fighting against negative stereotypes, only to lose in the end and go with one's basic urges.

I'd go jogging and "Thunder Road" would come up on my iPod, and the story of the song led me down another rabbit hole and after another potential story twist. I liked Springstein's image of the scruffy miscreant persuading the past-prime love interest to run away with him, especially the line, "Come, take my hand. We're riding down tonight to case the Promised Land."

Who would say that and why? What would happen if she said OK? What would happen if she didn't? There's so much raw emotion in that song.

So that's a little of how I do it. I don't outline. I don't draw out elaborate diagrams and character sketches. I just go into my head and follow these characters where they lead, and I tell you, by the end of Debut Novel, it was hard to keep them contained.

As Jimbo used to say, "Good stuff."

How High School Influenced My Writing Career

High school. sigh.

I went to one of the two "gifted" high schools in Baton Rouge. The other was Baton Rouge High. BRHS was distinguished by having a (really cool) radio station run by the students. My school was distinguished by having a (really nerdy) engineering program run by the engineers at Exxon (where my dad worked).

Not all us arts and literature geeks could go to BRHS. The school was only so big. And there might've been zoning issues, but it seems like a lot of my school friends lived clear on the other side of BR from me. So I don't know.

My point is this: There were some wickedly creative kids at my school. I mean blow your mind creative in art, literature, music, drama. There were also some serious nerds. (Says the girl wearing her "Team Zuko" t-shirt.)

I was always the quiet one back then, and being surrounded by all those kids who would deliver those completely out of the box ideas about literature and writing was very intimidating. The art kids were pretty amazing, too. And of course, I was always in awe of my big brother's dramatic stylings. We actually had a show choir at my school. He was in it, too. And it was cool.

What we did not have:
-Cheerleaders
-Football players
-Team sports of any kind (other than intramurals)
-Jocks
-Hot guys... OK, there were a few. (Sorry, former classmates.)

What we did have:
-Lifetime sports, which included golf, ballet, and fencing (fencing?)
-Drafting class
-Piano lessons
-Amnesty International

Yep, that was my high school experience.

So like most writers, I've been writing all my life. My first graphic novel I wrote and illustrated when I was about seven. It was called Fury Woman, and it was about this pretty female scientist who accidentally dumped acid on herself or something. Well, it tranformed her into this hideous creature with giant black eyebrows and a protruding mole... I don't remember exactly what Fury Woman did, but I do remember my drawings of her and how much ink I wasted on those eyebrows.

The next book I wrote was illustrated by my best friend/sister (and fellow Airbender lover) Dara Rush Bartee, who is a fabulously gifted artist still. Back then she was just getting started. We were about eight or nine, I guess. That book was called Dignity and Detriment. I used the thesaurus to look up alliterative synonyms for Pride and Prejudice. I don't recall D&D having a lot in common with P&P, and I'm not sure why we went with that. I think I just liked the sound of the words, and Dara couldn't care less so long as she was getting to draw.

I didn't mind my unusual HS experience, but looking back, I realize that being surrounded by all that edgy creativity did get in my head. I decided I'd probably never write like Phillip Roth, so why bother? At my HS, you didn't settle. Instead, I spent the first 15 years of my career in editing and news writing. No books. Not me.

Is that an excuse? I don't think so. Just being honest.

Now, of course, I realize how silly that was. So listen up, high school kids, take it from a nerd: do what you love and don't look around and compare yourself. The world is full of different tastes, and you really don't know what you might do. You just gotta keep doing it. Keep putting pen to paper or fingers to keys or whatever.

And to my HS peeps, I love you guys and continue to be amazed by your creativity scattered all over the world as you are today. I'm esp. grateful for my musical education, and I love that art rock is making a comeback. As well as the new twist on the classic techno stylings of Kraftwerk. Good stuff.

Moral (Mom would say): You're only limited by you.