Living the Fictional Dream

How exciting… Table of Contents lists have been released for November by both Every Day Fiction and the new Every Day Poets. Looks like a lot of good stuff to read during November!

At EDF, we’ll see my writing group mates Jens and Stephanie during November — both with stories that I helped critique and that I highly recommend. And I’m also looking forward to stories by Kevin, K.C., Sylvia, and others! No EDF offering from me this month, sadly. I have a couple of pieces in their reading queue, but I don’t think they’ve made it to the top of the slush yet.

At EDP, however, you will be able to read my very first published poem, “Inspiration,” on November 22 (which just happens to be one of my friends’ birthdays, so happy birthday, Aaron… you can celebrate with a poem!). K.C. will have a poem up during the month, as well, and so will several other writers you might recognize from sister site EDF.

Looks like a great month ahead. Congrats to everyone who’s on the TOCs, and happy reading!

I just got home from my writing group’s NaNo kick-off party. It was such a blast. We had it at Kevin’s house, which he’s been fixing up and now it looks awesome. The party was preceded by a write-in, during which, though I was late to due to waiting on the cable man, I managed to complete my homework assignment for the next writing group meeting (writing a paragraph summary/back cover copy style paragraph about my potential NaNo novel). Whew! So that’s out of the way.

We had a great potluck dinner with fantabulous food, too.

But, my favorite part of the evening was our now two-year tradition of playing what we call NaNo Balderdash. Basically, group members contribute people, places, and things from their potential NaNo novels (or any story they’ve written, really), and then we use them for game play.

If you’ve never played Balderdash, it’s great fun! Especially if you’re a writer. The game gives you names, dates, little known vocabulary words, etc., and you have to make up something that describes the clue (March 2, 1837 — The date shoelaces were invented). Then everyone votes for the one they think is correct, and you get points based on how many people vote for what you wrote.

The game is even more fun, IMO, when we’re making up aliases and happenings for the writing group’s characters and fictional happenings.

Though, lately, I’ve come to think that putting your own twist on a game is even more fun than playing by the rules. The past few months at game nights we’ve been playing the game Loaded Questions, but we make up our own questions. (In that one, everyone answers a question like “If you had a superpower, what would it be?” and one person has to guess who wrote which answer.) Made-up Word Scrabble is also fun, though we didn’t have time for that tonight — in that one, you make up the words/spellings with the tiles you have in your rack, but you have to make up a definition for whatever “word” you come up with.

It wouldn’t work for all games… Settlers of Catan, Shadows over Camelot, etc., wouldn’t be as fun if you made up rules. But it totally works for all those group party games.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Time for me to quit rambling and head for bed! I hope  everyone has a really good Monday!

When I was a teen, I really loved the movie Pump up the Volume. My mom actually asked me once what it was I liked about the movie. I don’t remember what I said at the time… nothing noteworthy, apparently! Definitely nothing memorable. I remember struggling to put what I liked about the movie into words, and failing.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s a movie about a boy named Mark (Christian Slater) who starts broadcasting a pirate radio show and uses the show to right wrongs perpetrated by his evil high school principal. And there’s a girl, too (Samatha Mathis… the first thing I saw her in, before the country music movie with River Phoenix).

A couple of weeks ago, my friends and I were talking about Christian Slater. I don’t remember why now… maybe we were discussing the weird premise for his new TV show. Anyway, someone in the group made this disparaging remark about Pump up the Volume, and I was a little taken aback because I remembered liking it so well. (Though, to be fair, maybe it was just diss Christian Slater night… Heathers also took some shots.)

Then, tonight, I found myself awake at 2 a.m., and what happened to be playing on HBO? I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.

It had been a long time since I actually watched Pump up the Volume, so I watched it again. It was different viewing the film through adult eyes. I wasn’t a particularly angsty teen, but having angst is just part and parcel of the whole teen experience. The angst is always going to be there. I count myself lucky that my angst was focused more on fights with friends and that sort of thing, than some of the difficult issues faced by the teens in this movie — teen pregnancy, suicide, hopelessness.

Watching the movie as an adult, I wanted to talk to all those teenagers who didn’t know what to do with all those amped up teenaged emotions and tell them that if they could just get through it, things would work out. The stuff that seems so crazy important when you’re a teenager — things like where to sit in the lunch room, what to do when your friend stabs you in the back, overwhelming homework, parents you feel don’t understand you — it’s not the end of the world. Once you have some perspective (and have gotten through those crazy hormones), you realize that.

Of course, part of being a teen, they probably won’t believe you.

However, though I’m long through with that teen angst phase, I still found myself enjoying the movie, and rooting Mark and Nora on in their battle against the FCC. So, I asked myself why. Why does this particular movie still resonate with me?

And I figured it out.

Mark is a shy kid. He walks through the school day with his head down, unable to break through his own shell and talk to the kids in his new school, or talk to girls, or make friends. But, what he can’t do in person, he does through the radio. When he’s talking to the faceless void out there, Mark just can’t seem to shut up! And while some of the things he broadcasts are stupid fart noises and curse words, he shares part of himself, as well. He talks about his pain, and he does his best to help others through theirs. And he makes the administration face some cold hard facts.

The story of Mark speaks to me on a personal level. I’ve always been shy and introverted. I wasn’t as bad as Mark, but I did my time in high school of walking with my head down. Luckily, I didn’t have to eat lunch alone (not even those two years that my best friend’s band class meant she and I had separate lunch periods).

Mark found his voice through the radio. I found my voice through writing. I’m not as shy as I used to be, but talking, especially in a large group situation or with people I don’t know that well, is a challenge for me. But, when I write, I don’t have that problem. I can talk about anything. My voice gets out there in the world through my stories, my blog, and my writing in general.

There is a power in finding your voice, and I think that’s something that all kids struggle with. It’s another part of that whole growing up/coming of age thing, but it’s also something you continue with your whole life. Every time I write from a new character’s point of view, I’m finding a new way to express myself. And that’s why Mark’s story in Pump up the Volume still resonates with me, fifteen years later.

From a writing perspective, it would be awesome to create a character that resonates with someone else the way Mark (and other characters I’ve met in my reading and viewing life) have done for me. I don’t think I’ve made it there yet, but maybe someday…

Good morning, world!

It’s an especially good morning today, because my flash piece, “A Million Faces,” is the story-of-the-day over at Every Day Fiction. If you haven’t read that story yet this morning, I suggest that you go read it before you read the rest of this blog entry — especially if you don’t like spoilers (and with flash, how much is there to spoil?).

This story was inspired by a single sentence. If you’ve read the story, you’ll understand how crucial this sentence is to the main character’s big problem. How many secret identities does one girl need?

That sentence spoke to me of the story of a girl who could have any face she wants, but who has been living as other people for so many years that she’s lost her true face. It spoke to me of a girl who used her power for what she thought she wanted, and lost so much more in the process. It also spoke to me of a shape-shifter who uses her ability to reel in the criminals.

All those themes ended up in the story; sadly, that actual sentence, did not. Somehow, in the final version, that sentence didn’t actually fit.

That happens more often than not, I think. There’s that phrase, “cut your darlings.” It’s those scenes, exchanges, sentences that you really love that you have to be willing to cut — and it seems you end up cutting them more often than not.

The story ending up going in a slightly different direction than originally conceived. First it was going to be more of an action story, as she used her ability to catch criminals, but the story changed a bit on me. Got more serious, more angsty. The best stories do that.

I won’t spoil the ending of this story here. This story has gotten a lot of comments, from readers and from the EDF acceptance letter, saying that people enjoyed the twist at the end. Since twist endings aren’t always my forte, I don’t want to give it away here. You should read it for yourself. And then vote on the story and, if you really want to, leave a comment there.

Happy reading, all! And once you’ve done that, go out and enjoy this lovely fall morning!

This weekend, my writing group is having its NaNoWriMo kick-off party. There is an official DFW kick-off (which I would have enjoyed attending, had my schedule permitted), but every year I really look forward to the group’s own event. It’s fun to relax and brainstorm with a group of friends, and we play games like made-up word Scrabble (the most fun part is defining your made up words!) and NaNo Balderdash (using clues from our novels or stories-in-progress).

Throughout November, we’ll also be having write-ins several times a week. They are open to any DFW Wrimo who wants to join us, but at least the group will have each other to write with. There is something about that creative air at a write-in… it’s inspiring. And word wars (who can write the most words in 5 minutes) are hilarious (unless you get hit in the head with a Snickers bar, which did happen once, though I can’t remember now why we were throwing candy).

Even if I weren’t doing NaNo this year, I would still love our group’s kick-off and the weekly write-ins. They are a great time to spend together and to get writing done. I know some people probably find write-ins more inspiring to chatting than writing, but I love that they are a dedicated time where I know I will be working on whatever project is on my mind. It’s hard, sometimes, to carve out that writing time when you’re at home, and there are always good shows on TV, good books to read, laundry or cleaning to do, etc. A write-in is an event, and that helps me give writing a priority.

Hello, fellow writers and other assorted readers!

Is it just me, or has it been really quiet around the blog-o-sphere lately? Perhaps everyone is madly preparing for NaNoWriMo and too busy for much else? I hope it’s not that everyone else is as work-crazed as I have been of late. I don’t want to get into the work thing too much on this blog, but suffice to say that the fall is our busiest time (gotta get those manuals out by year-end!), and every deadline I meet has another one right behind it.

The nice thing about fall has been the weather these past few weeks. If everyone else has been having the same great weather Fort Worth’s been having, I would highly recommend leaving the computer and enjoying the cool breezes and sunshine. It’s been such a relief after those 100+ tempertures that accompany a Texas summer. This morning was the first one that was positively chilly outside. I pulled my favorite boots and turtleneck out of the closet with glee, as I haven’t been able to wear them since last summer.

My lack of time for writing lately has given me fewer ideas for blog topics lately. I did notice last night that I have stories out at 16 locations on submission. I think that’s a good total. Maybe a few of them will bring home an acceptance! I think the creative part of my brain is taking a rest before NaNo madness — I can’t believe that Saturday will begin the one-week countdown!

Well, I suppose I’d better quit babbling for now. I hope all is well for everyone out there, and that you are enjoying a beautiful autumn thus far!

I’ve been a busy writing beaver lately — sadly, it’s all work writing, not fiction writing. Hopefully, that will change once the big deadline this Friday is met.

I’ve been wishing I could chuck it all right now and whisk my husband and I off for a beach vacation — either S. Padre Island or maybe the Outerbanks in NC. **wistful sigh** Sadly, busy season deadlines wouldn’t allow it. And, even if they did, it would take all my vacation and leave none for Christmas.

I’m getting excited about November. My writing group is planning tons of write-ins, which always rock. Even the year I didn’t write a NaNo novel, I still got tons of writing done in November. It’s a great time to challenge yourself to write more, no matter what you’re writing.

Well, I should stop avoiding those governmental financial statements. The life of a technical writer is such that the day-to-day writing/updating is on boring topics (my particular line is products for CPAs), but it still must be done. At least I’m on the last big update of this product, and this it’s on to the 1065 tax return project. The plus side of the boring subjects is that a gripping plot or witty sentences don’t distract me from doing my job!

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?

I guess I have NaNo on the brain right now. Understandably so… My writing group dubbed October “NaNo Prep Month,” so Steph, VA, and I have been trying to come up with exercises that we can do during our lunch meetings that will help the group prepare for the upcoming madness. Not all of us are outliners, so planning for something like NaNo is a stretch.

I won my first year writing by the seat of my pants. And, yet, I never finished the novel. It languishes to this day at about 56K. I put it down after winning NaNo for a “break,” and never felt like going back to it. At this point, I don’t know if I ever will. We all have dead manuscripts like that laying about don’t we?

I won my second year with a brief outline. It was helpful to have something to go back to if I forgot what was to come next. I never write with outlines, so it was a new experience for me. Sadly, I realized halfway in (when it was too late to change for NaNo purposes) that I should have used 1st person POV instead of my preferred 3rd person. To get anything out of that novel requires a full rewrite, which I just haven’t been able to make as much progress on as I should have. I don’t know why… I’ve just been more into short fiction recently, and sometimes I think that revisions suck my creativity right out of me.

Last year, I had a fairly detailed outline, and I totally failed at NaNo. The outlined story had my interest intellectually, but I never really felt the story. I think that’s why it failed. It was too much like work, not enough like that creative spark that carries you away. The characters never took on a life of their own — I was forcing it. So, a few days in, I switched to another idea that I’d been pondering, but had not prepped for. I got a couple of chapters in and realized I’d made a huge mistake in Chapter 1. Sadly, that mistake was the premise for the whole plot thus far. I couldn’t face starting over again, so I gave up on NaNo and wrote short stories for the rest of the month.

I think I’ve decided that during our planning month, I’m going to noodle around with the urban fantasy novel idea. If I get something workable, I’ll go for that. But, if it never comes together, then I’ll focus NaNo on novel revisions. Possibly on the rewrite of my novel from 2006 (mentioned above — the 3rd to 1st person rewrite). I call it my Siren novel, because the main character is, in fact, a Siren.

Or, alternatively, I’ll work on the rewrite of the novel that I wrote in high school. It’s about a young group of sorcerers who have to save the world. I wrote the whole thing in high school, so the style and plotting are not up to snuff. It needs a total rewrite now that I actually have more skills on how to do those things. But I love those characters and their story, so I really want t finish it. This was the novel that first stole my heart and will always be my favorite pet project.

So, the possibilities are out there. I will see where NaNo Prep Month leads me!

And, not related to NaNo, I have to say, if you haven’t read “Outlast the Stars” over at Every Day Fiction today, you should. It’s great!