Living the Fictional Dream

I’m sure that question has been plaguing all my loyal readers. Assuming I have any left!

Between holiday house guests, crazy vacation schedules, too many big work projects, and one of those colds that burrows into your lungs and refuses to leave, writing has not been high on my to-do list lately. I think my muse went to Aruba for the winter, and took all my good ideas with her!

However, at today’s Writer’s Ink meeting, I signed up to submit a story for critique at the next meeting, so hopefully that will spur something remotely resembling fiction out of me. Our annual collection theme this year is “Genre Collision,” so we all have to write a story this year that combines or somehow smooshes at least two genres — or as many genres as we want, really.

I have a story I’ve been tinkering with for a while. It’s set in my sci-fi universe where there are five self-sustaining human colonies on the moon. I tried to write this story back when the “Return to Luna” anthology was soliciting, but I couldn’t get the plot to turn out right. I tried two different moon colony stories, and while I really liked the world that I built, I had issues with the plot in both stories. However, I hope that I have reached a turning point with one of them. And if not, heck, I’ll send it into my writing group any way — they are great at helping ferret out a problem with a story and brainstorming ideas on how to fix it!

As far as colliding genres go, I hope that this story will end up as a space western. We’ll see. Thus far, the western elements are a lot lighter than the sci-fi elements, but there’s a wandering stranger, a woman who seems helpless, a dog, a farm… I see a bit of western in all that.

Hopefully, now that the holiday obligations are over and the walking crud is slowly but surely releasing its death grip on my lungs, I’ll be able to resume my more regular posting schedule. I actually have a few topics in mind that I’ve wanted to write about lately, which is a step in the right direction! I got a thought-provoking rejection letter the other day, and I’m interested to know what other people think of it. Maybe that will be my next post!

I hope all of y’all out there in blog land are doing well. I will try to resume my normal blog reading soon, too. If I could comment on Blogger blogs from the office, I would even start that today. Sadly, I’ll have to wait on that until I get home.

Oh, and something else to leave you with — my flash piece, “The Care and Feeding of Your Sleeping Knight,” will be up on Every Day Fiction later this week. I’ll post here when it’s live! I’m looking forward to that.

I’ve been working on a couple of science fiction stories on and off for the past few months. I’ve mentioned them here before. They are set in a world where humans settled colonies on the moon. There five colonies — one for each of the major players in the space race. For a while, those colonies were dependent on Earth for resources, but after a century or so, technology developed enough that they were able to sustain themselves. Their world is full of domed cities, maglev trains, space shuttles, grav boots, terraforming, and atmo-packs.

When you read stories like that, do you want to know how these things work, or can you accept the idea and move on, suspending any disbelief?

Some of those things have a real basis in science. I actually read about a maglev train that has been proposed between L.A. and Las Vegas. And others on that list I’ve read about in many sci-fi stories over the years, even if I don’t know much about how they would actually be expected to work.

Personally, while I don’t mind descriptions of science in my sci-fi stories, I don’t really need it. I don’t care to know how a replicator, an android, a faster-than-light engine, or a ray gun work. I just want to know what they do and to see how they will be used in the story. If I can suspend my disbelief about magic in a fantasy realm, I can do the same for technology in a sci-fi world. All I want is a well-written story that establishes a world and treats it consistently all the way through.

One thing that gave me pause in the stories I’m writing, though, was a global event. The premise in one of the stories was that a cloud layer appeared, cutting the lunar colonies off from Earth. No communications, telescopes, etc., could penetrate, so the colonists didn’t know if everyone was dead or what. But that one turned out to be really difficult to write, because I kept thinking that the story wouldn’t be believable unless I actually had some scientific basis for why the cloud layer appeared.

How about you? Does one way or the other for technology or events/changes bug you when you’re reading sci-fi?

Maybe I should set a goal for myself — to finish one of these stories over my Christmas vacation.

I saw on Google today that it’s Paddington Bear’s 50th birthday. I loved Paddington Bear when I was a kid. I liked him so much more than silly old Winnie the Pooh — though, I think that might be because I never was a fan of the Disneyfied version of WtP. If the “classic” Pooh stuff that you see today had been available when I was young, I might have liked WtP more.

Of course, WtP didn’t have that romantic association of being lost at Paddington station. Paddington also seemed special because he had a real family in the “real world,” whereas WtP lived in an imaginary world.

Thinking about Paddington made me think about some of the other picture books I loved. I’ve talked at length on this blog about childhood books and Y/A books, but I’ve never really talked about picture books, which are an important element of childhood reading all their own.

When I stayed at my grandmother’s house as a little girl (my Mimi), I used to beg her to read me stories. She had quite a collection of Golden Books to choose from. I loved “The Pokey Little Puppy,” “The Saggy, Baggy Lion,” and all the other classics. She also had Babar the Elephant books, which I loved.

Two of my favorites, though, I’ve never seen in a regular store. I don’t know if they were really old, like from the 50s when my mom was a girl, or if they just weren’t actually Golden Books (I seem to remember that they were, though, I could be wrong).

One of them was called (I think) “Harry Goes to Lollipop Land.” It was this funny story of a little boy who goes to Lollipop Land where everything is made out of candy. Talk about a dream for a little kid, right? And the pictures were great — I totally wanted to go outside and find a tree made out of lollipops to snack on!

The other one I loved was the story of the easter bunny. I don’t remember the title now. The main character was a bunny — I think he was called “Grandpa Bunny,” but the details are hazy. I remember all these pictures of the bunny painting these beautiful Easter eggs to give to all the good little girls and boys. Every year, the eggs got more and more intricate. Then he trained all his children and his children’s children to carry on the work, and Grandpa Bunny moved on to painting flowers, tree leaves, and other colorful portions of nature. I remember a great image of him painting blue shadows in the snow. At the end of the story, Grandpa Bunny essentially dies, but they don’t call it that in the book. He leaves Earth and takes a new job painting sunsets in the sky, so every time you see a beautiful sunset, you should remember that Grandpa Bunny painted it just for you.

I would love to try my hand at writing a picture book one day. I actually have a little story written that would make a good Christmas picture book. And I think that “A Castle in the Clouds” might also translate well to that medium. Sadly, I can’t draw for squat! Hmmm…

I’ve been noticing lately how the vampires and the werewolves are always pitted against each other in urban fantasy stories. Maybe I’ve been watching too much True Blood and reading too much of the Twilight  series lately, but there you go.

True, they aren’t always bitter hatred/kill them to death rivals, but the two supernatural breeds always seem to be on opposite sides. Look at Jacob and Edward in New Moon and forward (Twilight series) — for the bulk of that series, they were bitter rivals, only brought together by common feelings for Bella. (Spoiler: Though this series did make it all work out in the end between the two groups — Breaking Dawn had the happiest of happily ever afters, somewhat to its detriment.)

Look at Richard and Jean Claude in the Anita Blake series. Now, things could have changed there, as I had to give up the series when the sex became more important than the plot, but there was always rivalry there — in check only because Jean Claude, the vampire, had power over the werewolves, so Richard had to obey, even if he didn’t want to. Again, they compromised sometimes over Anita, but they had that innate rivalry.

The rivalry wasn’t so pronounced in the Whedon ‘verse (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), possibly because the werewolves in his ‘verse were very bestial with little humanity while in wolf form. But, the vampires didn’t like them and wouldn’t even sully their taste buds to drink from them unless forced. Luckily, at least Angel and Oz managed to get along in souled/human form.

Oh, and don’t forget Underworld. I only saw the movies (not the games), but they took the vampire/werewolf war to the next level!

And now there’s True Blood (the following is spoilerish if you’re not up-to-date on the show). They haven’t actually said that Sam is a weredog yet, so I can’t know for sure, but they are really hinting that way, and his hatred of all things vampiric led him to totally muck up the chance that Sookie gave him when she let him take her out on that date. I haven’t read the books because I don’t want to spoil myself for the TV show, so I don’t know what kind of rivalry they have there.

So, I wonder what it is about these two groups that always leads to rivalry?

I suppose one could say that it’s all about the women — many of the above examples have a werewolf (or animal shape-shifter, but we’ll just go with werewolf for simplicity’s sake) and a vampire fighting over a girl. But, I don’t really think that’s it. In some instances, the woman in the middle serves to bring the opposing sides together in a truce when nothing else would have.

My guess is it’s the difference between the two breeds’ supernatural powers. Vampires are more mental, while werewolves, et al, are all about the body. Vampires are urbane, stylish, and decadent, while werewolves are more sweats and T-shirts (you have to be if you ruin your clothes every time you shift!). Vampires hold back on their emotions, while the animal nature of the werewolves has them embracing emotions full-force. Vamprires have learned to withdraw from the human race, while the werewolves seem to want to be a part of it (and you never want what you can easily have, right?). Vampires are the ice, and werewolves are the flame.

Of course, all of the above are generalities. Every urban fantasy ‘verse has its own take on the matter.

I would be interested to see an urban fantasy in which the werewolves and the vampires were strong allies who respected each other. I’m sure there is one out there somewhere — every story in the world has already been written, right? — but I have yet to stumble across it.

Also, it boggles my mind how often, when the human girl is torn between the werewolf lover and the vampire lover, how often she picks the vampire. The poor, emotional werewolves are always left alone, licking their wounds. Me, I’d take the werewolf (assuming, of course, that it was the kind of werewolf that could control itself in beast form, like those in Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld or the La Push pack in Twilight — I’m not sure I’d make that same call if the werewolf were mega-beasty like Oz in BtVS).

So, thoughts? I’d love any other takes on causes of the vampire/werewolf rivalry. And, just out of curiosity, if you had to choose, which side would you be on?

Lately, my muse is whispering superhero fiction in my ear. I believe I blogged a little about that a few days ago. I’ve written two superhero stories already, one of which was published by and the other accepted by A Thousand Faces. I have two more written and in the revision process (sadly, I haven’t been able to get a lot of feedback on them — everyone is so busy for the summer — but I shall muddle through), and ideas for another one or two.

I’ve been trying to figure out what is so interesting about superhero fiction. I’ve always been interested in superheroes, but I’ve never been much of a comic reader. I find the characters in comics fascinating, but I never really got hooked on them. Even though I think that comic art can be gorgeous, I personally prefer more meaty prose to pictures. But I definitely appreciate the art of comics. And I’ve always enjoyed the various superhero movies and TV shows, even before special effects got good enough that Marvel started selling rights to Hollywood willy-nilly.

After thinking on it for a while, I’ve decided that the thing that makes superheroes interesting is how they put the normal life stuff into a grander more life-and-death perspective. If I have a bad day, I suffer, and maybe my friends or family suffer a bit. If Superman has a bad day, Metropolis and even the world suffers.

It’s especially interesting to me when superheroes have to deal with the mundane. We’re so used to that image of the perfect superhero — the one who swoops in and saves the day without wanting anything in return, the one who thinks of others first, the one who fights for truth and justice because it’s the right thing to do.

But what happens when s/he is out of the public eye? What do they really feel? What is their life really like? Do they hate cleaning the house, or is it no big deal since it’s done in five minutes anyway? Superheroes doing housework, superheroes having issues with their spouses, superheroes on blind dates, superheroes feeling like they aren’t part of the “cool” superhero crowd… all interesting to me, as is how they might deal with it.

And, let’s face it, it’s also awesome when superheroes toss those emotional mundane issues aside and show up to save the day despite their personal lives. Also, with superheroes, anything can happen — the possibilities are endless with that amount of power at your disposal.

Though, how is all this superhero stuff so different than, say, Buffy the Vampire Slayer? That show was founded on the premise that “high school is hell.” We saw all the traditional teen stories — the prom, losing one’s virginity, dealing with a divorced parent dating again, having friends suddenly change on you to hang out with a new group — but we saw them through a filter of the supernatural. It was looking at the same thing through a different lens and finding a story there there that resonates.

Despite having more supernatural origins, Buffy herself was a superhero of sorts. Not in the traditional cape-wearing, radioactive-spider-bite way, but she had superpowers of her own. She had mundane things to face, and she had to burst in and pummel her way to saving the day on many occasions, despite boy problems, friendship issues, and anything else that came along.

So really, superheroes are another realm of genre fiction, just like fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. Probably some of all of those. So, perhaps my muse’s new interest in superhero fiction is just another facet in a life-long interest in genre fiction.

Either way, I’m definitely enjoying the flight, and I’ll ride it out however long it lasts. Maybe when it’s over, I’ll have enough superhero short stories for a collection. I think, though, that eventually I’m going to need to give my superheroes’ city a name. I can’t keep calling it “the city” forever!

So, if you’re out there and have read this long, what do you think makes superhero fiction so interesting? Or, if not superheroes specifically, what is it you like about genre fiction in general?

Superhero fiction is eating my brain! As in, I suddenly have so many ideas for short stories in my original superhero universe that I can’t write them down fast enough. Since “Bridge Club” was accepted by A Thousand Faces (no word on the release date as of yet), I’ve written two more.

One was a SED story during the midst of the competition, but it actually turned out fairly well. It’s about a superhero with ocean powers. I need to revise it and then send it out to my writing group. Then the second one popped into my mind this morning, and wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote it down. It’s about a female superhero this time, which is a change of pace. It is somewhat in answer to a prompt that I gave to my writing group in May — writing a story about a superhero on a blind date — but it also ties in really well with “Bridge Club” and the rest of my superhero ‘verse.

Strangely enough, I have another idea bumbling around in my brain for a story about a woman who can change her appearance (yes, I know… Mystique, but what super power hasn’t been used already — it’s what you do to make the character unique after the super powers!).

I’m totally going to have to investigate other markets that might be interested in original superhero fiction, because Frank over at ATF is going to get tired of me!

And now, in a totally random subject shift, I was reading Shanna Swendson’s blog this evening, and I came across this post. It’s all about what a reader can do to support a favorite book series (her Enchantment Inc. series or any other series). If you’ve ever wanted to help out the sales of a series so that the publishers might decide to continue it, you should check out her ideas on things you can do. There’s more that just buying a copy of the book yourself or buying it for other people.

I especially note her comment about used bookstores. This is a rant that I’ve given many times since my college days working for local mystery writer Carole Nelson Douglas. Used bookstore sales don’t count with the publisher — only new sales do. Now, I understand budgeting and not being able to afford to buy all your favorite books new. It’s a common problem. But, if that’s the case, then you should pick and choose the ones you buy and put your money to where it will do the most good. I save my Half Price purchases for books that are either (1) best sellers (Meg Cabot, Robert Jordan, etc.) or (2) old and/or out of print.

And that’s it for me today. Have a good one!

It is day two of my writing group’s challenge to write a story every day. Thus far, I have written the two required stories. I’m not very enthused by either of them, but my cumulative word count for the two days is 7K and change. That’s some serious wordage!

The first story is the one that really got up there — it’s over 6K on its own. Sadly, it didn’t work out like I’d planned. It is a story set on the moon in a future time when mankind has self-sustaining colonies there. Every since I read about this contest sponsored by the National Space Society I’ve wanted to submit a story. It would be such a cool anthology to be included in. The readership would be way up there, for one thing, since it would be marketed to the whole NSS membership. And, for another thing, I’ve been a sci-fi geek from way back — I love stories about colonies in outer space, travelling in space, etc. You’d think the “Return to Luna” theme would be right up my alley.

The first thing I did when I heard about this anthology was research for world building. I read up on theories and ideas about lunar settlement, the moon’s geography, etc. I came up with what, in my opinion, is a good concept for what life on the moon could be like — there are some sci-fi contrivances, such as terraforming, but not too many. I wanted to keep it more realistic than, say, Star Trek with its replicators and warp engines. My lunar civiliation was multi-cultural, as well. It has five colonies, each one founded by one of the top runners in the space race right now — Japan, China, Russia, India, and the U.S.

Then I started my first story. I wrote on it and wrote on it, then I stopped, and then I wrote some more. But it was never finished. It got longer and longer, but the plot didn’t come to fruition like I’d hoped. It just didn’t gel. So, I abandoned story one, and when my writing group’s contest began, I thought that maybe I could write another one instead. Use the same world, but different characters and a less ambitious plot.

When I started the story yesterday, it felt brilliant. I knew this was the concept that would work and get me into the NSS anthology. But, there is always that disconnect between the story you see in your head and the one you get down on paper. By the end of the day yesterday, I absolutely hated the second moon colonization story. It took all these rabbit trails, and I’m not sure that it goes far enough toward the joy and wonder of living life on the moon. The story is securely set on the moon. I tried to make the world believable, which I think it was, but the plot is a smaller, more emotional plot. While I think the lunar setting added interest, it isn’t integral to the plot like I wish it were. Plus, instead of the 2K I’d hoped for, it’s over 6K. Darn and blast!

I guess every writer has this trouble from time to time. You have a good idea or something inspires you, and the story either dies a quiet death or becomes a huge train wreck, and even throwing more work into it can’t save it.

I’m not quite sure that I’ve given up on the NSS anthology. I still have a few days left to either work on story two and fine tune it to something I’m happy with or to possibly write another one as one of my daily stories for this week. Who’s to know?

What you writers out there think? What do you do when you have a story that just won’t sort itself out, no matter how much you try? Are you quick to abandon them, or do you continue to fiddle with them time and time again?

I’m probably more of the latter, though it does depend on how much effort I’ve put into it. The more I’ve worked on stories, the harder it is for me to let them go.

Last night, I went with a group of friends to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and after it was over, there were mixed reviews that ran the gamut from loved it to hated it. I went in to the movie with low expectations, having heard only lukewarm reviews thus far, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie felt like an Indiana Jones flick. It had the action (exciting, but not too realistic with the blood and gore) and the requisite chase scenes. Indy, though more grizzled than in days of old, still looked dang good in his hat and knew how to use his whip. There were crazy archeologist types and evil armies (this time Communist instead of Nazi). There was an evil woman with a bad accent. There were plenty of bad jokes with that Indy flare. And there was a quest for an ancient artifact that took us to exotic locations. In addition, we had my favorite Indy love interest of all time.

And, in addition to all the classic elements, there were new additions that made the movie unique from its predecessors. There was a spunky kid. The setting and time period were new (the fifties flare was amusing). And the plot about the artifact was definitely new territory for an Indy film. Some people in my group thought the plot about the artifact was too out of this world, too absurd, but to me that is what an Indy film is all about. Tell me that an immortal knight guarding the holy grail isn’t aburd!

Personally, I enjoyed the film. It was an adventurous romp through the classics, but with enough uniqueness to make it stand on its own. I wouldn’t have liked the movie if they’d tried to make it a current-day action flick. I don’t want my Indy tainted with “realistic” violence and gore or hatred and angst. If I’m going to see Indy, I want fun, excitement, and adventure without worrying about how if Indy had really fallen that far he would have broken a limb, or worse! But some of my compatriots felt that it was too over the top, too cliche, not worth the price of admission.

The range of comments got me thinking about stories in general. It reminded me of the dichotomy you often see in genre fiction between genre conventions and new twists.

Some readers, editors, reviewers, etc., don’t like a genre story unless it brings something new to the table. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like new twists as much as the next girl, and reading a sword and sorcery story with an Asian setting and martial arts or a vampire story where the vampires glitter in the sunlight instead of bursting into flames is interesting and memorable. Striving to redefine genre fiction is great!

However, during all this redefining and all this emphasis on the new, I don’t think we should forget the old, the traditional, or the classics. They became classic for a reason, and I believe that stories upholding the genre conventions can be just as enjoyable to read as those that bend and twist them.

And I don’t think I’m alone. Otherwise why would e-zines promising us stories in the same vein as the pulp novels of old be springing up all over the web? Ray Gun Revival, Blazing Adventures, and Big Pulp all claim to publish stories that harken back to the Golden Age of pulp fiction.

But just because you embrace the old conventions, that doesn’t mean a story has to be stale and derivative. There are so many elements that make up a story. The characters, with their own unique motivations and personalities are a big one. As is the plot itself. Watching the new Indy movie was like that for me — it was a new Indy adventure with the classic Indy feel and style. Good fun was had by all.

And think about category romance novels. Yes, a lot of people look down on them, but I’m not one of those people. It takes skill to write a good romance novel. I tried to write one once, thinking it would be an easy way to break into the novel-writing market, and boy was I wrong. I don’t think I got past chapter one.

When you pick up a romance novel, you expect it to have a lead female character and a lead male character who have an instant attraction. Problems will ensue, which keep the characters from getting together. There will be romantic scenes (though not always sex… it depends on what line you’re reading), and in the end, there will be a happy ending. But there are a million ways to take that formula and make it unique. Characters, supporting characters, locations, plots, etc. It takes skill and good writing to pull off a success in that genre. And, there are convention benders in the romance genre, too — nowadays there are so many subgenres, the sci-fi romance, the urban fantasy romance, etc.

Now, don’t take this entry as me being against changing genre conventions or finding that ellusive new twist. It’s not at all! I think a writer who succeeds in that has done a great job with his or her story.

It’s just that I also think there is plenty of room out there for a conventional stories, as well, as long as the writers take the time to breathe life into the conventions and don’t just follow a formula. If you’re going to write golden aged pulp, do it with style, do it with unique characters, give us a fun, adventurous romp. And, in the end, there will be stories out there for everyone.