Grimm, Mansquito and Sam L. Jackson

As a kid, I loved fantasy stories, particularly by the Grimm brothers. I loved the creepy plots, the obvious divide between good and evil, and especially the bungling, boastful fools. As an adult, I love Sci Fi movies, especialy the crappily hysterical, like Mansquito (best title ever) and Snakes on a Plane (second-best title ever). My husband has asked me that several times why I don’t write fantasy, and I’d tell him that I like to watch fantasy, but I don’t like to write it. What I didn’t realize was that I’ve been trying to write fantasy for a while now. The story I’m currently working on is very much a fantasy novel, with creatures that lurk in the woods and people that transform and one really vindictive frog. And what I’m finding, is that writing a truly craptacular laugh-fest is harder than it appears on first blush.

You think that in Mansquito they just shoved a man in a mosquito costume and let him terrorize the town? Well, yes they did. And you think that in Snakes on a Plane, they just put some snakes on a plane and let them terrorize a flight? Uh, actually that’s pretty much what happened too. But it really was more than that. It’s not just the monsters having a field day, it’s also the protagonist, and what they do, and how far they’re willing to go to get rid of said monsters, and more importantly what they say along the way. Who can forget Sam L. Jackson’s famous SoaP line? I can’t print it here, that’s for sure.

Well, I’m getting back to my roots. The creepy plots and silly characters that I loved as a kid, that I still love as an adult. Maybe I’m only now finding my groove. Maybe realistic fiction isn’t the path for me at all.

Now if I can only find a title as good as Mansquito.

The end is near?

I recently came across this quote: “Literature was formerly an art and finance a trade; today it is the reverse.” It’s a sentiment I keep hearing and certainly a reality in our current economic crisis, but this quote is by Joseph Roux, a French artist who lived in the 1700s. So it’s really hard to believe all the doom and gloom in publishing (and the economy for that matter) if people were saying the same things 200 years ago. It’s also hard to believe the prognostications by agents and editors that it’s a Great! Time! to be a Writer! And Things! are Looking! Up!

Drama is great for storytelling and for getting attention on a corner with your cardboard sign, but the truth is that neither the doomsayers nor the crazily hopeful are correct. It’s just a regular time in publishing and the economy. So don’t get swept up in either tide. The tide will knock you off your feet. And you need those feet planted firmly on the ground if you’re going to get your work done.

Now is the time to hunker down and do your best work, the same as it always has been.

The speed of a glacier

Publishing is a difficult industry to break into, in part because so many people want to, so many queries gum up the works, and because of this it is difficult for editors and agents to navigate the dreck to get to the good stuff. Generally though, queries are answered in a few weeks, or at the latest a few months, but I got a response to a query last week, and I barely remember sending out a query at all. I just checked my files, and I sent out that query on March 9th last year. That’s 11 months.

Yeah, so that’s incredibly slow.

(In case you’re wondering what the speed of a glacier is… the fastest one in Greenland moves at between 3-5 miles per year. And that’s a fast one.)

Sorry, Mr. Salinger

When J.D. Salinger died last week, the world lost a literary great. That’s always a sad thing for me as a book lover, and I knew inevitably people would start talking about how fantastic his work was. I have never read The Catcher in the Rye. I know, I know. But I have read Franny and Zooey. I’m sorry to say that I did not like it. (But I did name my current laptop after Zooey.) I’m going to read Catcher in the next few months, and hope that I enjoy it more than Franny.

Ode to the index card!

I read somewhere on some author’s blog that putting your novel’s scenes on index cards was a good way to get organized for a revision. So I tried it. Here’s what I found out:

1. Summarizing each scene gave me a great overview of the story.
2. I need to move around a few scenes. The index cards should make that easier.
3. I still don’t have a clear idea where each Act begins and ends.
4. I should probably figure that out, huh?
5. My ending doesn’t work, even in short form.
6. I think I might finally have figured out what my theme is.

My novel arranged into Acts I, II and III

Now I can look at the story in one shot. I’m a visual thinker, so staring at 100+ manuscript pages, or worse, looking at a computer screen 1 page at a time feels limiting and frustrating. Who knew index cards could be so liberating? I’m less panic-filled going into this revision and I can see the finish line.

For the novel that I started during NaNoWriMo ‘09, I think using index cards early in the process will make that story much more interesting. I may even shuffle up the cards to see where kismet leads. It’s still early enough that I’m not married to anything yet, so the whole manuscript’s a playground. It’s meant to be a fun story, and taking a more fun approach may help to keep it that way.

Oh, me likey. Me likey mucho.

Groundhog Day

The movie is one of my favorites. Something about having to repeat the same day until you get it right appeals to me. There are lots of days I’d like a do-over, but there are some days I think would be absolute hell to relive. What’s really interesting about the movie is that the day Bill Murray’s character relives doesn’t start out as a pivotal one, but it ends up that way as he changes in reaction to having to repeat it however many times. I wonder how many days don’t seem so pivotal  in your life but end up steering you in a different direction?

Oh, by the way, all the fat rodents say it’s 6 more weeks of winter. Boo!

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

When I was a kid, on the first morning of every month, my dad would come into my bedroom with a big grin to wake me up and remind me to say “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” for good luck. And by the looks of my desk this morning, I am going to need some luck this month.

Not all of the mess is mine. My daughter does her homework here. The green book to the left of my laptop is a biography of Charles Drew who is her Black History Month project. And her outline and index card notes are scattered around. But all of the other books are mine, research for the bios or my own writing work.

So in case you were wondering how messy some writers’ desks can be, now you know.

How to critically evaluate your own writing

Last September, my agent passed on my latest novel. I had been working on it for nearly 4 years. Three previous versions had gone out to editors, all with lukewarm praise and no sales. I embarked on a Major Revision in the summer, and submitted what I thought was my best work. After the rejection, I put it away. Last week I finally found the courage to revisit it.

I don’t know how to tell you this next bit.

It, um, kind of sucked.

I realized instantly that  the version before my Major! Revision! was much better, hence my agent’s enthusiasm for that one, and not this one. What happened was, I put out the latest version without ever really evaluating it. But how do you do that? 

If reading and commenting on bad prose in writing groups is nauseating, you can’t afford to pay an editor, and the feedback from your family and friends is all smiley faces, you need to find a way to get tough with yourself. What you need, I’m sorry to tell you, is time.

I didn’t look at that manuscript for nearly six months, which was enough time to gain the distance necessary to really look at it with a critical eye. Of course in those six months, I worked on other things, which is also necessary. Other projects put the one that’s waiting completely out of your mind. And you need the fresh eye of forgetfulness to tackle it again.

I’m not saying you need to wait six months every time. There’s no magic formula for how long you should wait. But you need to think of the time you take away from a manuscript as an investment in your craft, rather than a delay in seeing your title in print. If you wait to do your best work, you will faster get an agent or editor. If you don’t, you’ll be wasting time in a slush pile anyway. And wouldn’t you rather everyone see your best work at all times?

Random Tangent: racism, war, the economic crisis, and another blonde doll

Last year, I got excited about a doll. My daughter and I both enjoy American Girl dolls, so I periodically check the blogs to find out what’s coming up. There was a rumor that American Girl was planning an African-American doll as their Girl of the Year 2010 because the author of her book, Jane Kurtz often writes about black characters, even though she is white. I was thrilled that they’d have another named doll that might look like my daughter. On the site Doll Diaries, AG fans gushed about how much they’d love to see a black doll. It was about time, many said. The only named black doll is Addy, a Civil War era doll, with few accessories. It’s as if Mattel thinks that is the only time period in African-American history worth talking about. A girl of the year (GOTY) would come with books, accessories, and she’d be a limited-edition doll. The excitement was palpable. In late December, AG announced their planned GOTY doll. It was another blonde.

Now, it’s not just that I’m disappointed. I am. And it’s not just that I think the company is perpetrating a racist policy. I do. The thing that really got to me was the lack of reaction. On the Doll Diaries site, many fans oohed and aahed over the new doll, but where were the girls who were so excited about her being black just days before? There was only one comment in nearly a thousand where a girl expressed her disappointment, and she was quickly shut down by another girl who reminded her that one of the previous GOTY dolls was Hispanic. Fortunately, someone wisely informed that poster that being Hispanic and being African-American are two different things, and that in ten years of doing GOTY dolls, AG had no excuse for the omission. But that was the end of the discussion.

Now this is just a doll. However, the silence makes me wonder what we’re teaching our children. We are in the midst of a never-ending war. No one seems to be really outraged by this. We are in an economic crisis, and yet the people who caused that crisis (off the backs of working people, mind you) got six-figure bonuses this month, and everyone’s just going about their day. Are we teaching our children that injustice is something to be silent about?

Spill Coffeehouse

About four years ago I was invited to visit a class of 7th graders in my town. Last Friday night, one of those 7th graders, now in high school, invited me to a performance of student poets.

I was blown away.

These are Young Adults of incredible bravery and honesty, and their verse ranged from difficult topics like slavery, divorce and the fallout from a recent broken heart to a fabulous tribute to the woes of the Trix rabbit. I cap the words Young Adult because the children that I remember from 7th grade had grown up, not just physically, but they had clearly come into their own, displaying poise, wit, and confidence. Incidentally, I’m not sure they’re even aware of how impressive they are.

I was really honored to hear them speak, and quite pleased to see that their literary  ambitions had thrived. I was also inspired by their work. Seeing all of these students so many years later and realizing that I had an impact, however small, in their lives, reminds me that what I write has to be as honest as the speakers that night, and that I must be brave every day when I sit down to work.

Thanks for inviting me, Laura. I understand your trepidation, but I hope I will hear you perform someday.

Remember these people? Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?