“Everybody needs a little time away…” Part II

It’s actually taken a lot for me to realize just how much I needed a break from this year of hell at the dayjob, even after an extra-long long holiday weekend.  My writing suffered.  I’m not talking about how much I haven’t been writing lately, but the fact that I was convinced that somehow I could get it done if I’d just whipped myself a little harder.  But I think I was, literally, beating a dead horse.

So, I went for another day of frolicking in the sun at the annual summer festival, the one time and place in the year when I don’t mind running into coworkers.

And again, the best part is that this batch of photos is ripe with character ideas!  I’ve already begged off critique group tomorrow to go to the festival’s last day.

“Everybody needs a little time away…”

As if my “wrojo” (i.e. “writing mojo” — brought to you by Regan) wasn’t low enough, there’s been so much more to distract me this past week. There’s been an upsurge in work in my dayjob capacity as the Special Projects Bitch. To unwind, I’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather conciding with my town’s annual summer festival. But hey, sometimes you need some time off from writing and to recharge. And it’s only recently that loafing is only a small part of recharging. The other part, at least for me, is being charged with something–in this case, the energy that drew me to live here in the first place.

Traditionally, the festival starts off with a Thursday night parade.

My favorite part of the parade was the Ithaca League of Women Rollers and their Chia Skate float!

The best part is, there’s at least a half-dozen character ideas in just these photographs.

More to come, as I’ve just spent most of my Saturday. And I plan to spend some of my Sunday, as well.

Tough Love

I didn’t post last Sunday’s critique group evisceration due to sheer exhaustion.  But the hardest two weeks of the academic year are behind me at the dayjob. I took an extra day off for the holiday weekend and I pretty much wasted yesterday (on purpose).  So, I figure looking at these crits would be a good way for me to get back into writing today as I (try to) keep live audio and video feeds of Roland Garros in the background.

It occurs to me now that I’ve only looked at the story once or twice since then. I was temporarily seduced by a couple of flash fiction projects, one for a prompt on Zoetrope, and the other by a Twitter joke gone too far, with further yet to go.

Anyway, I brought the next bit of the short story I brought last crit group session, which is for a seekrit project.  The group read the first part of the second act.  With scalpels and machetes out, here’s what they said.

StoryWin

  • Scene I brought was “heavy” and “dramatic.”  Also, “vivid.”
  • Readers had a better idea of the who and the why of the story
  • The scene “comes alive” where the shit starts hitting the fan and was “scary” and “suspenseful.”
  • The struggle between one of the main characters and the viewpoint character contains “tension” and “suspense.”
  • One reader mentioned that the way a particular magic spell was used might not have worked on TV or in a film, but worked just fine in prose form.

StoryFail

  • Wrote about relationship dynamics between characters that were missing for some readers in the first part of the story.
  • One section I wrote where I blended one character’s speech with the jeers of the crowd didn’t work for everyone. (Though the ones it did work for seemed adamant that I should stick with it.)
  • [This one I knew would be a problem going in–and I was caught red-handed.] With all the drama going on between the viewpoint character and one of the main characters, other characters just sort of faded away into the background… the aforementioned crowd, for instance.

So, lots to fix with this story and a third act to write.  Luckily, I have several months to get it together.

Tough Love

It’s been over two months since my last confession piece was eviscerated by the critique group.  Almost forgot what it was like.  Luckily, I picked it up again pretty darn fast!

I’m writing and submitting, even got two publications in so far.  I’ve also trunked two longer writing projects this year that just weren’t working for me.  I hate doing that because it means violating Robert Heinlein’s #2 Rule for Writing: You must finish what you write.  But I was prompted to start a new story by–well, I can’t tell you why, not yet.  It’s a seekrit.  Suffice it to say that this is the first time in a long time I was so excited by an idea.  In one morning, I had a rough plot outline of all the major points I want to hit.  By lunchtime, I had a title.  I almost never have a title until the end.

I spit out Act I in time to submit it for vivisection by the critique group.  And, vivisect it they did!

StoryWin

  • I was worried about being heavy-handed with the story’s theme or of telegraphing anything.  Apparently, I did neither.
  • The prose was “engaging”
  • My setting was “rich” and “full of details”
  • Some readers liked the tone of the story, as well as some of the detail and emotions
  • There were some really good guesses as to where this story might be going.  For all the apparent confusion about plot details (see below), most of the readers picked out all the plot elements/questions I wanted to throw out there, even if they weren’t all understood. 

StoryFail

  • One two of the five pages I brought,was utterly confusing for a lot of readers.
  • I confused one reader (likely, more) about the mechanics of a particular piece of magic being debated between characters
  • My introduction of the viewpoint character was confusing.
  • Pacing was really slow 3/4 into Act I (which wasn’t helped by some really embarassing grammatical errors).
  • I didn’t give enough information about the particular Cause my characters are fighting for.
  • (edited to add) I repeated a few phrases waaaay too many times.

Quite possibly, I should’ve let this draft cool before bringing it.  But apart from obvious fixes, I got a couple of really good suggestions that I’ll implement right away.  And hopefully, I’ll have at least Act II ready for next session which, because of scheduling around some holidays, will be next week!  Gotta get moving…

      “Signed, sealed, delivered/ I’m yours”

      The contract is signed and in the mail, and the editors announced it, and so I will, too. My story “Combat Stress Reaction” will appear in the Gadgets and Artifacts issue of Crossed Genres on June 1st, along with work from Wendy Wagner, Daniel José Older, Michael Underwood, and Timothy Murphy.

      I have nine other pieces currently in circulation, so at least I know I won’t be going 0 for 10, whatever else happens.  I just know that it’s been too long since I signed a story contract and now that daddy’s had another taste, daddy wants more!

      “…snatching laughs and love between amputations and penicillin.”

      My Sunday started out with brunch with some friends and mimosas! I think I’ve found something to replace my love of riesling.  But that wasn’t why I made a two-hour drive.

      As part of a benefit for the JCC of Greater Rochester, actor Elliott Gould was in the region for a 40th Anniversary Screening of the film MASH, one of my all-time favorite films.  Seemed like a good reason for a roadtrip.  One of my friends from overseas even (jokingly) threatened me with death if I squandered the opportunity and didn’t go.

      Gould did a brief introduction before the screening.  His presence was definitely worth the price of admission.  I’d have paid double if Donald Sutherland would’ve been there, too.  After all, my favorite line in the film was about his Hawkeye Pierce.

      Hot Lips O’Houlihan: “I wonder how a degenerated  person like that could’ve reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps.”

      Father Mulcahy: “He was drafted.”

      During the Q&A afterward, Gould (justifiably) credited the series for keeping Altman’s film alive. Now, if I wasn’t so tired, I’d go on about how much more I like the film than I ever liked the TV series. I understand that film and TV are two completely different animals, and how some of what I liked about film just wouldn’t translate.  Still, the film’s tone was more my speed.

      I’d made jokes beforehand about how I was going to ask lame questions like, “Gee, did you realize 40 years ago that you were making a classic?”  Or the sort of stuff Chris Farley would ask: “Remember… that scene… when you punched out Robert Duvall?  Remember?  ‘Cos he made that kid cry.  Remember that?

      “That was awesome.”

      I think that by making those jokes, I’d realized, at least on a subconscious level, that those are the sorts of questions that always get asked whenever you open a forum up to “the general public.”  It happened when I saw writer Joyce Carol Oates speak last year.  She was there to talk about a non-fiction project she was doing at the time.  Now, as disappointing as that was–I’d wanted to her about her fiction, of course–it would never occur to me to ask the question most writers dread hearing, “Where do you get your ideas from?” 

      Now, not every question Gould was asked was at that level, but it was pretty close.  As a result, I didn’t hear Gould say anything I didn’t already know from watching the MASH DVD extras–except for the fact that apparently director Martin Scorsese didn’t understand the game of football until he watched the football scene in MASH.  

      I know that must make me sound like a total snob.

      Still, the opportunity just to be present at an event like this, honoring a piece of art with one of the people involved in making it was pretty breathtaking.  Just the thing to get my creative juices flowing….

      Sunday Brain Dump

      1
      Last night, I went to the season opener double-header for the Ithaca League of Women Rollers, i.e. our two local derby teams, the SufferJets and the Bluestockings.  Great bout!!  A comment was made by one of the announcers, giving me an idea for a short story.

      2
      Came up with another idea for a short story a couple of days ago.  I think it’s a killer idea.  I don’t have a character in mind for it.  Which means, I don’t have any scenes in mind.  It’s frustrating, because until I come up with one or the other, the idea’s useless to me.

      3
      I used to keep a monthly scorecard of my short-story submissions, but explaining why I didn’t submit any stories for a given month got old.  I got back on a submissions kick this month, putting out 5 previously rejected stories and 3 new ones.  I’ve already gotten 3 rejections back.  *sigh*

      Gotta keep pushing!

      4
      It’s taken me two years for me to follow my own advice and start reading Ben Tanzer‘s book Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine.  You know how it is.  You intend to order something that’s not available at your local bookstore, and you just put off doing it.  And then, it does appear at your local bookstore.

      Yo, Ben — I started it and I’m liking what I’m reading so far.  Sorry it took me so long!

      Ben Tanzer, Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine

      5
      This is part of a push on my part to read more novels in 2010.  How else am I ever going to learn to write one…?

      6
      It has its flaws (which I understand are soon to be remedied), but I’m still in love with mint.com.  It’s given me something I’ve needed for a long time, namely a way of GTD-ing my money management.

      7
      I cannot tell you how much I’m enjoying the 2010 series of Doctor Who.  I wasn’t up in arms about David Tennant leaving the role, because I’d learned my lesson.  I remember ranting in 2005, “What do you mean Christopher Eccleston’s leaving?”  I had no idea how good Tennant was going to be.  Well, I looked forward to Matt Smith’s performance, and so far, so good.  And I admit that he rocks the tweed jacket better than I do.

      Not only that, but so far the new head-writer/producer Steven Moffat has delivered, too, AFAIC.  The BBC made the right choice, giving the show to the writer whose episodes have won Hugo awards.  No, the episodes haven’t been perfect but I’m very, very impressed with what he’s done with the show’s tone.  Everything people say about the fairy-tale/fantasy tone is all true.  The first two episodes, especially, seemed like a sci-fi version of Pan’s Labyrinth.  The only to make them better would be to have had them directed by Guillermo Del Toro.

      8
      I really need to do something about my home office.  I’m fighting the clutter lately, and losing.  The trouble is, the only solution is hard for me to face.  I need a new desk with more tabletop real estate, which means taking the time and trouble to empty out and junk my old desk.  Dammit.

      #

      I think that’s it for now.