Sing-a-long

I'm a lover of diverse music. You're as likely to find me jamming to Pearl Jam as SheDaisy. I like Beethoven and Merle Haggard, Disturbed and Pink. Heck, I even like Eminem. 

But there is one thing that just really kills a song for me:

It's message.

That's why you won't find me listening to a lot of rap or hip-hop, because I don't like to hear about phat rides or bootylicious babes and how gangstas are pimpin. Mainly, I don't care, and usually I find it laughable. But there is one song that has really got me annoyed lately:

"Joey" by Sugarland.

It's been a long time since I've loathed a song, but I. Hate. This. One. Why? Because I think it glorifies self-loathing and guilt over things that you have absolutely no control over. According to The Boot the song is about a teen boy who dies in a car wreck, leaving the singer (in this case, Jennifer Nettles) to bemoan all the things she could have done to stop it.

WTF?

"I'm so sorry," the narrator sings. For what? Really? I'm waiting for the second version of this song. 

"I'm so sorry for cutting your brake lines..." That's a song that would make sense.

Do we honestly want to encourage this kind of inane thinking in young women who are already brainwashed into believing that true love exists in one-dimensional, immortal alpha males and that  they'll only be beautiful if they resemble skeletons? Now, let's dose them with a song about how things that are absolutely out of their hands should bring them enormous guilt. 

I repeat: WTF?

The worst thing is, once you hear it, it's stuck in your head ALL DAY LONG. It's enough to make me want to bang my head against something.

Sorry, Ms. Nettles. I love most of your other songs--but I'll never buy the album that this is on, and I am forced to turn off the radio when it comes on. 

What Your Characters Take From You, and What They Give in Return.

People often ask me, "Where do your ideas come from?"

From my characters.

"And where do your characters come from?"

From parts of me.

Often, a character will enter my head before his/her story will. Long before I knew Fury's story, I knew her. She came from a part of my life that we'll just sum up with the word "awful". She suffers from all the things that I suffer from, and I hoped that by telling her story and making her overcome some of her inner issues, not only would she grow as a character, but I would grow as a person.

I'm not sure if that makes sense, but bear with me.

You would think that the writer of a story knows exactly what is going to happen, how it is going to happen, and why it is going to happen. In my case, that's not really true. Often, I just have a vague idea, and my characters drive me toward it--often making unexpected moves along the way. Since that is the case, not only do the characters learn as they go along, but I do to. 

I learn from them.

Now, in "Fury" there is a lot of emotional/moral conflict. When I wrote it, I probably didn't even realize it, but looking back I'm able to pick it all out. And I can learn from it.

"Fury" is currently going through some major revisions, and a lot of things are getting cut. A story that started out at 119,000 words in its first rough draft, is now down to 112,000. And I'm not even halfway through. My problem--which I believed stemmed from the issues I was having in my personal life at the time--is that the story is not very active. There is a lot of inner dialogue. A lot of introspection. But my characters don't DO anything very much. I'm changing that. Not only to keep the reader's interest, but because I realized that the story is not one to be told passively. That's not its message. Characters--and people--don't change through thinking about things and just sitting around waiting for stuff to happen, they go out and do something about it.

I tend to be a passive person, but I didn't realize how much it reflected in my writing and in my characters. Fury, instead of being the active, in-your-face heroine I wanted her to be, was a mopey damsel in distress who took a total of two stands in the entire book. And even afterward she went on being passive. That's not her, and that's not the story. So I'm changing it. It means A LOT of revisions, but it will be worth it.

Because she deserves more, and I can finally recognize that. 

What's up?

Well, I'll tell you what's up: the newspaper business isn't doing so well. Not sure if I've clued you in, but I work for a local newspaper as an editorial assistant. We learned today that the big bosses have decided to merge with our competition and form a new business, in which half would be controlled by our former bosses, and have by the other companies bosses. Yay! (Not so much.) First off, the new company gets to control the newsroom (where I work) and therefore are in charge of staff. Which means that in a couple months I may or may not have a job. I'm crossing my fingers that I will.

As for the other spectrum of my life (my writing) I am pruning away on "Fury" and have reached Chapter 23. Yay! (For real this time.) This revision is taking longer than I thought because I'm (you won't believe it) giving my characters PERSONALITY! OMG! What? Am I crazy? I must be.

I realized that one of my main problems in "Fury" was that I took a lot of shortcuts. Telling instead of showing--lots of freaking introspection and very little action. In a word: Blah! But this new version is showing potential. I'm not changing huge things in it, so the plot is mostly the same, I'm just making it a heck of a lot juicier. Fury and Caden have some knock-out drag-outs, and you actually get to SEE it instead of being TOLD about it. For the first time, I'm actually getting to know my characters through how they act, not what they think. Hooray!

As for "Dragon Queen" ::hides head in shame:: I'm only about five chapters from the end, but I haven't been working on it. Mainly because I'm focusing on "Fury". I DO have it all outlined, however, so no worries. I pinky-swear that as soon as "Fury" is edited, I'm going to focus on "Dragon Queen". And on that note, back to work!

A Breather

I'm taking a little bit of a breather (as in maybe 30 minutes to the rest of the day) on Dragon Queen. I just finished writing the first part of Ch. 31, which was a LOT of information and should give the reader a few "Ah-ha! So that's why!" remarks. I am mentally and emotionally exhausted and unfortunately the action is revving up again. The second part of the chapter needs to be a bit of a breather, too. A least a scene where Jade has to figure out how she's going to get out of her current situation (yeah, she's in another mess). 

The good news is I think I have at the most 10 chapters left (or about 20K) and this novel will be DONE. Woohoo! That would make it about 90K completed. Good word count, in my opinion. 

There's still a lot I have to figure out about the ending, however. Like how Drake and Jade are going to make up--and end up. What happens to Darion, Honey, Mikkay and Lace? I'm sure at least one is going to die (oops, spoiler) but WHO? Lol. 

Surprise!

Dragon Queen is very close to the climax (I know, that sounds wrong), and therefore the falling action will soon follow. 

I've a few ideas in my head right now, but I'm stuck on Ch. 28. Jade has learned a number of things in a short space of time, and she's trying to decide if she's better off for it. (Her heart says no, her head says yes.) Plus, there is the whole thing with "Who is the main villian?" Which makes me think that Darion needs to make a star appearance VERY soon. He's sort of been in the background of the story--the threat that must be addressed. And, yes, he has killed a few of Jade's allies, but there has yet to be a Jade vs. Darion. That MUST happen. But when? Ahhh! I need to make an outline, I think. 

I know that Honey is going to play a role, but I won't specify what. (Sorry, you'll have to read it). But that does make me go misty-eyed, because, in all honesty, I LOVE Honey. She's such a malleable character. Vicious, yet kind. Beautiful, yet devious. Can you trust her? Can you not? It makes me want to dance. 

I have considered giving her her own story. It would be an interesting one, that's for sure. But I'm not sure if she'll have enough steam left over from this story to continue her own. We shall see. 

Ok, enough stalling. I shall start writing now.

P.S. The editing process of "Fury" is going well, too. Yay.

Movie for the Sci-Fi Masses

Ok, who ever thought that the director of the Titanic would dabble in sci-fi? Well, not me. But apparently there is a new movie coming out called "Avatar" which features humanoids who sort of look like the Draenei off of World of Warcraft. It looks interesting, to say the least.

But, well, form your own opinion and watch the trailer.

The Curse Is Broken!

Wait for it . . .

Yes, I have, officially, begun working on "Fury" again. I realized what was keeping me from being enthusiastic about it. The main thing was I didn't like parts of my chapters. There was a lot of TELLING. Which I didn't even realize. But I have smoothed a lot of those places over (at least up to Ch. 6). The story is coming across strong again. The way I intended. So, YAY!

And on that note, I have noticed a few mentions of Critters on the Writer's Digest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Forum. So, I took a peek. There are people on that site willing to give critiques not just on segments or scenes, but on WHOLE novels. They agree to read your story from beginning to end and offer edits, suggestions, and opinions. My reaction: Amazing!

So I'm going to be looking into that site further, and see if it's for me. I know something like that, if it's trustworthy, would definitely be an asset to my writing.

If you have any opinions to offer on the site, or have similar sites to suggest, I would appreciate the information.