The Predicament

I'm not a patient person. I'm not saying that I get frustrated. I just obsess and it gnaws at my brain. So, Scorched is now in with Caren. Her site says to expect a 4-8 week response time. (Does that sound like less or more time when you say one to two months?)

I've decided not to do ABNA with Scorched. I suppose I could still polish up Re: Straint and use that for ABNA. I also need to work on Honor, though.

Huh... that's an interesting thought. Re: Straint for ABNA.

Bah. The thought of staring at another manuscript for fifteen hours makes my eyes bleed. I should really tackle my house today. It's scary.

I'm also rethinking the possibility of Honor at DAW. At the very least, I really need to rethink my approach at that query letter and take a second look at the first bit for the millionth time.

As if this wasn't enough balls in the air... I also had insomnia really wicked last night. It took me several tries at one hour lengths to get to sleep at around four a.m. My dystopian wants to be finished. It really, really, really wants to be finished. The words are streaming into my head faster than I can write them down which means I'm staring at the ceiling with dialogue etching its way onto my brain. So, not writing them down might mean sacrificing sleep or having to take full-on sleeping pills to override them.

You know... I went into full-on writer mode a little over a year ago in October of 2008. It feels like it's been one obsessive moment to the next.

There are some moments that I couldn't and wouldn't live without of this whole thing. I love telling stories. I love when my characters whisper into my heads and tell me what they're really thinking and saying. Sometimes they surprise the heck out of me. Last night, Tyler from Versus the Bounty came up with a seriously ingenious way of getting across a monitored area without their body temperatures setting off sensors. It was seriously brilliant. One day last week, I had another character call out an insult at Tyler using a slang word that I'd never heard that I can remember, but turned out to be an actual insult meaning "freak." I love that part of writing. I love the whisper of voices and thoughts and plots.

I hate the way it gnaws on my life, though. I feel like sitting down to type is feeding an unhealthy addiction at times. I've considered increasing the dosage of my OCD meds to see if it will dampen the obsession enough that I don't lose sleep over it. On the other hand, what if I get stuck in a plot, unable to finish writing? What if I can never recapture whatever it is that helps me write? What if that keeps me from sleeping even more than it does now? That terrifies me. I'm afraid to bump the status quo.

I also don't like opening myself to critique and ridicule. My stories feel so personal. I've been bullied in my life and this feels a little like that at times. It's exposing a weakness. This is the way I think... I believe... I dream.... Okay, now tell me what's wrong with it.

Wow. This post is very, very random.

I think until I get a response from Caren I'll consider that an exclusive for right now. So, I'll take Scorched off the querying table.

That leaves Re: Straint, Honor, and my current WIP Versus the Bounty to think on.

Should I quickly run over Re: Straint and get it ready for ABNA?

I should get some laundry started and mull these things over.

WOOOOOO!!!!!

I wish I had something terribly articulate to say this morning, but scanning through six pages of pitches and watching so many of them fail.... I honestly didn't want to even look this morning. I had six pages of dread and anticipation sitting in my stomach.

So... my excitement this morning is also partly relief and a rush, but I'm still very excited.

Caren asked me for a full.

It's also probably tacky and so on to be so excited, but I'm tacky and so on... and I'm wearing pjs with skulls on them so clearly tacky is my realm.

Okay... deep breath. I should really do a good thorough scour of Scorched today... after I'm done dancing around and eating cupcakes.

WOO! Wahooo! Woo!

and more dancing around!!!

Terror in Real Time

So, yesterday, I accomplished very little... as the Husband can attest to. (But, wisely, should not.) I did get a lot of sleep, but I think a lot of that was because my stomach was empty. I also managed to submit a pitch for Scorched in a pitch fest. They're going through the pitches today and commenting as they go.

I pitched to Caren and I'm on page seven. I've been following Elana on Twitter, though. Anyway, I've learned a lot just from reading their thoughts on the pitches they've already sifted through. I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I can just totally see a "It's been done" in my future. So, that'll be my day. A lot of "refresh... waiting... waiting... refresh...."

Oh... and T is home. He was complaining of a stomachache. I'm still dizzy enough that the idea of going to pick him up from school sounded miserable... not to mention I didn't want him hurling at school. He's been antsy and hyper, though, so I suspect he's fine.

I'm not crazy... I'm just a little unwell.

Okay. Make that a lot unwell. Around this time yesterday, I was praying for death. I'm better than that. Comparatively--I'm ready to run a marathon. Comparatively. My body has these awful shivers and my head feels ready to shatter from having no food in my stomach. Still... I'm going to live. I know it. Woo! Okay, enough excitement, back to my blanket nest and moaning.

To Chuck or not to Up-Chuck... that is the question.

Hurled my little brains out this morning until an empty stomach finally let me sleep... for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm not saying it was having to cut 4K from Scorched yesterday that caused it.... I'm not saying that.... (Wendy raises a sardonic eyebrow.)

LOL. An empty stomach is a truly beautiful thing to have in my world right now. I'm going back to work on Scorched with my bucket nearby. I might get a little crazy in a bit and have an ounce of ginger ale. Woooo!

I hope everyone else's Wednesdays are going better.

Rest In Peace, Darlings. I loved you best.

I know what you're thinking.... How long did it take Wendy to sketch that tombstone just for this post? LOL. I know, but seriously, it was fun and I didn't want to use an actual tombstone--partly, because it's insensitive and tacky but, mostly, because I couldn't find one I liked.

"Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it--wholeheartedly--and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings." Arthur Quiller Couch

So, I'm faced with the ugly process of killing darlings today in order to get Scorched ready for ABNA. Ugh. I don't want to do it. I really don't. The only way I'm going to be able to do it is to create a new manuscript entirely and leave a copy of my full-bodied Scorched behind. Sob. Sniff. I know. I know. It has to happen. It'll be better for it.

I just need a moment. I swear... just a moment.

Okay. I'm ready. Deep breath. Seriously, I can do this. I can cut into the beginning until I find the right hook. Really. Maybe. I can actually look at GwOE and Diana's beta critiques without weeping openly. (BTW, they word-for-word agreed that the hook came too late... among other things.)

I can do this.

I found a fairly amazing blog post on this subject, btw. I'm snagging a bit for your reading pleasure, but the whole thing is brilliance on a stick. It's a really cool method of killing darlings:

http://brendacoulter.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-kill-your-darlings-without.html

Here's a writing tip some of you might be able to use: After finishing your first draft, find the highlighting tool in your word processor and then start reading, using the highlighter to indicate all of the sentences, paragraphs, and scenes that are absolutely essential to your story. (I use a yellow highlighter to remind myself that those parts of the story are "golden.") When you finish, delete everything that isn't highlighted. Save it in a Dead Darlings file if that makes you feel better, but I predict that after a while you'll stop bothering with that.

Now you're left with nothing but story. Your manuscript is still in very rough form, but there's not a boring bit in there because you've taken all of the irrelevant stuff out. Now you're ready to revise and polish. I go through many drafts on a book, so I do a highlighting pass after finishing my first draft, then do it again when I'm nearly finished with the manuscript. After some more tweaking and polishing, I use the highlighting tool a third and final time. When the manuscript is all golden, I'm finished. (Two notes: First, the highlighter is invaluable to me because except during that first pass, I'm not starting at Page One and progressing to the end of the manuscript. I jump around, working on whatever scenes and chapters I'm in the mood to work on. The highlighting tells me what I've finished and what still needs to be looked at. And second, on the last highlighting run I'm just deleting words and sentences, not whole paragraphs and scenes. It's all pretty painless by that time.)

Have your characters brushed their teeth today?

So, I'm reading this book by Patterson called "Sundays at Tiffany's" and I'd read that most people that gave it bad reviews did so based on the fact that things were never explained. This should have sent a red flag up in the air for me. I assumed I'd be able to get "past" whatever they were talking about. Well, I haven't finished the book, but I know what they're talking about. If you have a man, an imaginary friend, have the ability to be real at times... there are certain things that need explanation. This is true of any alternate universe in my opinion... and it's one of the things that a lot of authors skip across.

1. Money. If your character is using money, you should explain how they get it. You can't just have him appear out of thin air and toss across money like he has a full bank in his pocket. This really bugs me when I'm reading a book in which the character has no way of earning money. There isn't a lot of money in Imaginary Friending.

2. With creatures non-human, there should be some bodily needs explained. Do they need to eat? Personally, I always found it weird that in Twilight--Edward never needed to take those mortal moments that Bella always seemed to. He didn't need to pee? Vampires don't need to pee? They drink blood.... He seemed to have equipment that could serve that purpose.

Okay, so his fangs apparently never wore out or needed dental work--but the dude was drinking blood... what kind of breath would that inspire? He could brush his teeth. Plus, maybe a shower every so often wouldn't be amiss. I'm not saying that there should have been peeing moments in Twilight, but she kept mentioning Bella's as if she was some human freak job because she did.

3. Clothing. Seriously... clothing. If you have a shapeshifter, they're going to be naked most likely whenever they shift back. If you have an imaginary friend that is sometimes visible... why is his clothing disappearing with him? Does he have control over the visibility of his immediate area? Plus, if your whatever gets in a fight while wearing clothing--even if they/it are invincible--is their clothing?

4. Sleeping. Either they need sleep or they don't, but don't gloss over it. If you have a human... you can't have them going a week without sleeping.

5. Family. They didn't spring from the earth--unless they did. Either way, you should explain the presence or lack of family in a person's life and if you don't feel like complicating your roll call with their characters--still... kill them, have them be estranged, or whatever... but there should be some explanation.

6. Why does everyone speak English? Did anyone find that odd about some of the science fiction shows of the past? Every alien seems to speak perfect English?

7. With critters and non-humans, procreation might be of note. (How are more of them created?) Whether it's knocking boots or turning them via a bite... sometimes it's kind of important.

8. Their lives and jobs and school. Even if you want your characters to interact frequently--they should still have lives. Friends (tv series) always did this and it annoyed me. They seemed to have a ton of spare time to sit around during some episodes.

9. Lost time. I've been struggling to insert the passage of time in my books, so I've been paying more attention to how writers create time jumps so that they're not writing an itinerary of a characters events... and also so the novel doesn't occur over a forty-eight hour period. Some authors do it well... and some just really don't. You can't just skip time without reason... as if the days don't matter. This especially annoys me in first person YA books. When you're a teenager, every day matters.

These are some of the things that bug me as a reader. Maybe I'm nitpicky, but there are rules... sometimes you've created your own details due to the world you've set up... and sometimes they already exist. You can't skip across them and hope that no one notices.

The details... the devil is in them. There was a long but rather brilliant post by Kristin Cashore the author of Graceling. It talks about all the nitpicky little things better than I have.

Still, I'm left wondering... shouldn't vampires have to pee?