FOUR days to go and it’s editing time

Four days and it’s editing time. Or at least I hope it is, that’s the general schedule my editor told me to expect this week.

(And yes, for any of you who have been traditionally published, as well as many of you who are published with other e-publishers, getting edits four days out is very tight, but that’s the way Noble Romance seems to work. I’ve been told there may even be some work being done as late as Sunday night.)

However that’s not what I was going to blog about. I wanted to touch on a problem I still have. Or at least I still have *to start*, it does go away.

Where to start.

No, that’s not a commentary on how to approach the problem. That is, in a nutshell, the problem.

Where to start.

I typically begin a story as a pantster, an idea, scenario, character comes to mind. I mull over the permutations, the story starts to spread out. Characters get filled in. Backstory gets created. I start writing fairly early on in this process, often before the whole story arc is set in my head.

I find getting it on paper helps me to learn and organize all those things listed above.

Doesn’t mean I’ve chosen the right place. Actually I’m almost positive I’ll have started at the wrong place.  This is because it sometimes takes me a little bit to figure out what the pivot is.

There are lots of names for this plot device, but I think of it as the pivot, the action which typically happens off screen and before your story starts which then changes the lives of your characters. After this point your characters are forced by the circumstances created by this pivot to react and change and grow.

Here’s an example. In one of my favorite books, Faking It by Jennifer Crusie the pivot is the selling of a painting. This sale happens before the story begins.  Ms. Crusie’s story starts by showing us the main character and her outlook on her life immediately before she finds out.

And that’s pretty much the other piece, isn’t it? Because often, not always, there’s a gradual discovery of the pivot, so figuring out at which point you need to start your story in terms of character growth and story flow is key.

Clearly then, because I start out with vague ideas and characters, I never quite start writing my story in the right place. Only after writing a bit (or a lot) and thinking a lot (never a bit) the story begins to gel, the pivot action becomes clear along with when my characters find out and how they will change due to the new situation.

Which, in a very round about way, leads me back to editing (which now looks like it’ll be pushed off until later today/tonight). With all the set up and exploration I may do, there is a lot of editing which needs to be done. Even once I cut out everything up to the point where I realize I should be starting, I have to cut out explanations and back story which were helpful to me to learn the characters and setting, but aren’t needed in terms of the flow of the story. Recently  I cut a starting chapter roughly in half by removing backstory and over explanations of magical workings. When I put it up for comments in my critique group I was told I still had too much by a good 50%.

While I sit here and wait for the edits on Ginny’s Capture, even knowing this story was in much more polished state than that chapter had been, I can’t help but worry a bit over the changes I’ll need to make. Oh, I know I have poor grammatical habits, there will be those changes for sure. And it turns out I have a tendency to start inner dialog with “well, okay, yes or no”, which my editor already put me on notice for. Those aren’t biggies. It’s, you know, those other things, character arc and back stories which I attempted to meld into the flow of the story I’m most concerned about.

Nothing to do, however, but wait.

 

Five days to go & music is in the air

I’m old enough that when I think of music and the number five, it’s the Jackson Five which come to mind, not Maroon 5 (fine as Adam Levine is).

And, for some odd reason, I think of an old Sesame Street skit where Lefty is selling something to Ernie for a nickel.

I wish I could hire Lefty to pitch my story to an agent. Or, more accurately, Joe Raposo, the song writer.

Oh, that sounds like fun. Without further ado, day five is ‘the pitch parody’ of Joe Raposo’s Would You Like to Buy an O. Enjoy!

(Hey Agent! Who me! Shh. Who me? Write!)

Would you like to buy a story, round and neat

A nearly perfect plot line, tidy and complete

You can sell a million books with it, I know

Ooh-ooh-o0h

(isn’t that catchy?)

Would you like to buy my story, I blog a lot and tweet

It reads just like a novel, one with a bit of heat

I’ll quote you just a nibble

(A nibble! Shh. A nibble? Write!)

So try the story, and take it home tonight

(Now listen, when you pick this story you get two genres for the price of one. You get one story which  you can see I use characters like Elves, Shifters and Cops. And with no extra reading you get another story for a tale of Romance, Love, Sex and Commitment,)

So, would like to try my story, commitment is assured. It’s (not) all I have to offer, just ask I’ll send you more.

I’ll quote you just a nibble

(A nibble! Shh. A nibble? Write!)

So try the story, and take it home tonight

I answer any questions

Just try the story and take it home tonight

You’ll really love it

Please try the story and take it home tonight”

LOL, okay, don’t think I’d sell anything with that pitch – too little information on the story! – but it sure was fun to write

Six Symmetry

Very odd symmetry today.

Six days until my first novella is published.

Six years since my husband passed away.

On the one hand, I try to keep my ‘public’ life separate from my ‘private’ life. On the other, my private life, from colds to moving to being a single parent after my husband’s death clearly impacts my public life.

When there is an odd symmetry, like today, the lines clearly blur.

I never showed my writing to my husband. None of the romance, none of the urban fantasy. I wanted to wait until I’d learned the craft, had something ‘better’ to show him. So here I am with something better and no spouse to share it with.

Pretty much sucks any way you look at it.

My thill of being published is always tempered by the fact that he’s not around to share it with. I have no doubt he would have been supportive, he certainly was back when I started out, even though I wasn’t ready to share yet.

So, Steve, this one’s for you, an *unedited* mini-excerpt, just a line, from Ginny’s Capture:

You were, you are, the half that makes me more than whole.

Favorite Books #7 – The Blue Sword

Another YA book which I have re-read many times, The Blue Sword is a wonderful story of a girl who never quite fit in while growing up who finds herself loving a place so far away and very different from home. Soon she’s embroiled in local life far more than she or anyone one around her ever anticipated. The echo of British Empire in this novel appeals to me, as does McKinley’s character’s range of reaction to the land they find themselves in. And there’s a romance, too!

From the blurb at Amazon:

Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does.

Hope you give it a try!

One Week!

7 days

168 hours

10, 080 minutes.

Okay, clearly not close enough to be doing minutes yet.

And if it’s a week, it means it’s Monday which means (at least this week!) another LvZ story is due out today.

I’ve known Jadette Paige  for almost a decade and, honestly, I didn’t know she was so much of a history buff until she wrote Nether Regions. Amazons and Spartans and gods issuing challenges, great stuff! But I have to say, her incorporation of the music element is one of my favorite parts.

You knew that, right?  Music was listed in the call as a necessary element to the story, which is why the official title of the series is Lesbians vs Zombies, the Musical Review.

Here, all the parameter which were listed in the call:

Lesbians

Zombies

Music

Strong sense of place (even if the place is made up)

Some connection to a college.

While Lesbians and Zombies are clearly the most talked about elements, music is a key part of every story as well. (Which is why, on the LvZ blog, I’ve been posting author ‘sound tracks’).

And, I have to say, I really like how Jadette handled the music ‘requirement’. Of course I like how I handled it too, but my characters live in a world with electronics and access to almost instant music. She didn’t have the luxury of using juke boxes, I-pods or stereos to weave her musical element into her story given the time period the piece is set in.

She more than rose to the challenge.

After you read Nether Regions, let me know what you think.

8 days and counting

Ginny’s Capture is scheduled for release in EIGHT days.

One of the things I’ve been doing, in addition to asking for reviews is also asking if I can guest on blogs. In the process, I’ve learned a bit about the variety of ways blog sites, both those integral to a review site and those of writers, ‘host’ guests.

Of the few I got a ‘yes’ response from, a couple simply asked a blog piece about writing or something unique about my story. Those were fun, and not usually too difficult, to write as I can be chatty.

Some blogs, specifically ones attached to review sites, I asked about interviews but most said they only did interviews if they reviewed my story. And since that’s not a guarantee, I should write up a blog post and send it in. Okay, I can do that.

And there were one or two which sent a list of helpful yet varied questions for interviews which I then took my time responding to.

But my favorite so far, (okay it is also one of my first!) is my current ‘interview’ up at HC Brown’s blog. I’m there with three fellow LvZ authors, D.Dye, J.S. Wayne and Jadette Paige. One of the reason this was so fun was we used Google Docs to conduct the interview.

It was a perfect venue to both answer the questions and then interact in writing about each other’s commentary because, instead of sending out the questions to each of us and compiling then them into one whole, when they came back,  we had the whole visible to everyone at all times.

This made our ‘chatty’ interactions easier to to both write and work out. And I have to say we had a blast with it!

It would be great if I could do more this way!

9 days until release day

Nine days until publication and I’m working to keep myself busy.

Spent some time learning HTML code and, at Jadette Paige’s suggestion, revised the ‘about’ page on the LvZ blog. Still don’t know why the spacing is different for aligning left vs right, but I’m leaving it for now.

I’ve also been catching up on reading blogs. One of the fun outcomes of writing a lesbian story was finding some great blogs to follow.

I’ve found to my disappointment many book review sites will not review my story due to its f/f content. Now some one who is not going to read a story with a sex scene, they are not going to read a story with a sex scene, that I don’t have a problem with. And I get that there are review sites who are most comfortable reviewing only m/f stories, no matter the heat level. There’s a line there they’ve decided not to cross, I respect they have the option to make that choice.

But what I don’t get is the review sites which do m/f, m/m. m/f/m, m/m/f/m, on down the line, don’t review f/f. Clearly the readers on these sites have a certain level of acceptance of ‘alternate’ life styles. However I cannot tell you the number of sites where there had to be an ‘m’ in the equation or no dice on a review. I will say Gravetells, whose parameters I found bit unclear was very upfront that they’d simply never had a request. They said, give us the information, we’ll put it out as an possible option for our reviews and get back to you if one is interested. That, I thought, was an excellent way of handling the situation.

However, that was the exception to the rule. As a straight woman who happened to write a lesbian romance, I was baffled by the incongruity of the standard. After hitting brick wall after brick wall of review sites where there had to be an ‘m’ in the equation I started surfing for sites which reviewed lesbian genre fiction. Because, let’s face it, while my story is a fun, escapist bit of urban fantasy with a lesbian romance, it’s not literary fiction. The good news is I did find several places and I have three (four?) sites who said I should send along the PDF when it becomes available. (of course I’ll be writing more on those if they do work out!)

While I am thrilled with my success in finding sites which review ‘lesfic’ I’m even happier that as a result I found one of new favorite blogs, Dorothy Surrenders. Her tag line: A GAY GAL’S GUIDE TO POP CULTURE. WHY LET THE BOYS HAVE ALL THE FUN?

I enjoy this blog so much. I keep writing, then erasing, pithy things to say about this blog: ‘witty commentary’, ‘insightful pop culture pieces’, etc. They just don’t capture the sparkling personality Dorothy shows in everything she writes. Even when she is writing a scathing commentary, like the one on the Glee episode after Santana was forced out of the closet, she’s never mean or ugly.

Sarcastic, hell yeah.

Mostly, though, her commentary makes you think.

Okay not always, Tank Top Tuesdays has very little cerebral about it. But that’s part of the greatness of this blog, it’s fun, it’s thoughtful and it’s occasionally laced with scathing sarcasm.

I’m utterly addicted.

10 Days and the Countdown Starts!

My first ever published story, Ginny’s Capture, drops in ten days.

Needless to say I’m beyond excited.

And anxious.

And worried.

To keep my mind busy, I’m coming up with a blog piece for each day from now to publication.

So. Ten.

Ten fingers, ten toes.

Heh. Not sure this is going to work.

Oh, I know, how about information I learned while doing research for the story. For instance did you know that UPS never, ever sells their used trucks? Yep, seriously. I have a scene where a box truck is part of the story line and I was trying to figure out how to describe a UPS-like truck without saying UPS. I thought if I read through a description of one for sale I’d come up with some ideas.

But they don’t sell them.

Ever.

Wikipedia has the most comprehensive statement on UPS Trucks, but if you google it yourself, you’ll see there are other sources which verify the information:

When UPS ground vehicles reach the end of their useful service life and are no longer roadworthy (typically 20–25 years or more, but generally when the body’s structural integrity is compromised), they are almost always stripped of reusable parts, repainted in household paint to cover up the trademark, and then sent to the scrapyard to be crushed and broken up. The only exception to this policy is when a package car is repainted white for internal use, usually at a large hub. Prior to scrapping, UPS trucks and trailers are assigned an ADA (Automotive Destruction Authorization) number and must be crushed under supervision of UPS Automotive personnel, which records the vehicle’s destruction, as UPS does not re-sell any of its ground vehicles.

So that was a bust in terms of descriptors, but very interesting nonetheless.

Whew, okay, post for today done. Better start thinking now about tomorrow. Nine, hmm….

And the winners are….

I want to thank EVERYONE for the wonderful comments of support for my first published story. I appreciate you all stopping by. This has truly been a blast! And now for the winners…

The first name on the list, and the winner of her choice of gift card (which was the Noble Romance gift card): Jessica (who posted at 12:10 am on 2/12 – but I think we have just one Jessica).

And second, and the winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card is: Anzu who posted at 3:37 on 2/13.

The runner-up, who will win a prize if one is left unclaimed after 30 days is Carol L, who posted at 12:23 on 2/11.

If you all would just make a quick comment to let me know you’ve checked in (and leave your email if you haven’t already), I’ll forward along the information on your winnings. If I don’t get a reply in thirty days from the winners, I’ll be contacting the runner up and awarding them the gift card(s). Winners were chosen by creating a random list of numbers from 1-  44 (the number of comments), using a program on Random.org.

And, if anyone is interested in entering to win a KINDLE (rumor has it this is a kindle touch!) as well as free e-books and other swag, be sure to stop by the LvZ chat: I Survived Valentine’s Party tonight at Coffee Time Romance Erotic E-loop.

Have a great day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today is a kind of ‘listy’ sort of day, so here we go:

1) This is the final day to enter your comment for the Valentine’s Blog Hop give away. One lucky commenter will win a $10 Noble Romance gift card and one will win a $10 Amazon Gift Card. Contest ends at midnight eastern.

2) Tomorrow the Lesbian vs Zombies crew (most of the authors and our fabulous editor Ruby Green) will be over at Coffee Time Romances Chat from 9-11. LOTS of prizesm-including a FREE KINDLE for one lucky participant. Plus, I’m pretty sure every LvZ author who participates is planning to give away a copy of their story.

3) In less than 2 weeks my novella Ginny’s Capture will be released by Noble Romance as part of their Lesbians vs Zombies line. Hmm, thinking it might be time for an excerpt or two…

4) Be sure to visit other Bloghopspot participants, because it’s the last day to enter for prizes on all the blogs.

Hope everyone has a great day!