Whew!

Big relief when I finished the first draft of my new manuscript this weekend. I felt so light, I hadn't realized there was a 20 tonne weight on my back until it was gone. My first book was not a fluke. I may be a long way from being published, and I still have lots to learn, but at least I know I have the stamina to keep writing.

There's more editing to be done, plus I'm going back to work on the last manuscript now that I've a learned a bit more from my reading, but for the moment I'm savoring the accomplishment.

Now that I'm no longer looking at the keyboard, I see that Halloween is almost here. My favorite holiday! There are decorations to go up, pumpkins to be bought and cookies to be baked. Off I go to live a little.

Dust Storms and DVDs

I had organized ages ago to take yesterday off from work. I had some errands to run in the middle of the week and thought I'd celebrate spring in Sydney with a picnic. I have a favorite spot beneath a big tree next to the river, and it also happens to be in the middle of gardens with lush wisteria, cherry blossoms and poppies filling the air with wonderful scents and delighting the eye with colours. It's a yearly ritual for me and my husband, enjoying 30C heat, watching the water dragons and skinks, the birds and butterflies...

Of course this year there was a freak dust storm carrying red dirt from the Outback across the entire city. At dawn the sky was orange and the air so choked with dust, I had to shut the windows. I couldn't even see the neighbor's houses across the street! Thus, my plans for the day were revised, and we watched a stack of rented DVDs instead. The standout of the batch was "7 Pounds".

I'm a big fan of Will Smith, and that movie was probably his best. My husband and I have been studying writing too much lately--in the first two minutes of the film, he figured out the plot and I figured out the backstory. My husband and I really are a great team. It's not that it was obvious, but it was so brilliant we hoped we were right. I'm glad we were. Even though we guessed what was happening, it didn't detract from our enjoyment one bit. If anything, each scene carried an extra significance; we understood the subtext. As a consequence, I was in tears most of the time.

The point I want to make is that it's important to have a great story, an original plot, a twist...but, just in case your audience is spoiled or guesses what's going to happen, make the journey, the telling of that story so good they don't care that they're not surprised. Quality throughout--don't rely on gimmicks.

Still Writing

I'm very proud that since I dedicated myself to writing [as opposed to a lifelong dabbling in the art] a little over a year ago, my enthusiasm hasn't waned. I'm 200 pages into my new book, and so far it's easier than the last one. Yet, I'm pushing myself to learn new techniques, try different styles and expand my horizons. I've always wanted to write novels, but I have to give credit to screenwriting for inspiring me to do it.

One day, thinking about how I've reached the pinnacle of my current career in science (as far as I'm willing to go anyway) and how frustrated I am with it overall, I started thinking about what else I could do with my life. What would give me my enthusiasm back? I ran across an inspirational article that asked, "What have you always wanted to do? Maybe that's why you've been put on this earth." I instantly knew, for me, the answer was writing. Yet, I had half a dozen stories stalled at the 10-30 page mark, one overly long sci-fi novel written in my teens that was justifiably rejected dozens of times, and I didn't know how I was going to turn that 'calling' into a reality.

My other love is movies and television (not just any television:I'm a DVD watcher and, unable to endure commercials, haven't sat through normal programming for about ten years). Then I had an honest to god epiphany--people write for movies and TV don't they? This inspired me to write a couple of fan fics in teleplay format. I starting reading more on the subject and heard mention of "The Screenwriter's Bible." I devoured it, and the book turned my whole story telling life around. I wrote a movie length screenplay, three episodes of a series of my own conception...and even though I haven't tried to sell any of it yet, considering them all writing exercises, I discovered that I had learned about plotting and telling a complete story. I now applied this to a manuscript that had been sitting around for years and finished it. Admittedly, the novel took a lot longer to complete than a screenplay (I can write an hour long drama episode in a week), but I now had the confidence to keep at it.

Since then, I've read dozens of books on writing everything from novels to plays, as well as screenplays, and I truly believe that someday, with practice and persistence, I will have a novel published. I may even get a screenplay optioned, who knows? Thank you "Screenwriter's Bible"!

Some people start with short stories, but for me it was screenplays. They taught me to focus on visuals, on story in its purest form, uncluttered by prose, and that practice has also helped make dialogue one of my personal strong points. In screenwriting, brevity and clarity and story are everything, and dialogue is the only place where the author's actual words will be conveyed to an audience. Therefore, dialogue has to have a punch, but it has to further the story, chracterizations, etc or be cut. It's wonderful.

Now that I'm focused on novels, I'm learning to flesh out my prose and to take advantage of the ability to hear a character's thoughts, to convey sensations such as smell and touch, areas where screenplays are limited. There is so much to learn and try and do, and I really feel that I'm on the right path.

True Blood

This post is way off topic, but I'm currently obsessed with HBO's True Blood and must talk about it somewhere. I fell in love with the show upon first watching, read the books in between seasons and came to adore Eric, so when they started building the Eric/Sookie/Bill triangle this year, I got embarrassingly excited. "I Will Rise Up" and "New World in My View" have me itching to write about it. Can I just say, Eric dream scenes = good.

There's the whole debate among fans (and this question is prominent in the books as well) as to whether Sookie's feelings for Eric are false, because they originated after drinking his blood. I must weigh in, saying, first of all, there were some good sparks before the whole bullet sucking scene, and finally--it doesn't matter. As Eric said, 'It's done'. No closing Pandora's box, no going back; the feelings are there irrelevant of where they originated.

I think this is a good point to make when talking about character motivations. Sometimes, things just are, and it has nothing to do with how someone was treated by their mother, a need for attention or whatever. Shit happens. Chaos, random chance, whatever, is a huge factor in the world and is commonly overlooked in our need for meaning. Life is static without change, mutation...and moments of unintelligible upheaval can provide powerful moments in drama: the car crash, the freak storm, the terrorist attack...These chaotic elements mould our characters and make them more interesting, as long as we don't over-analyse and take away their power. These moments show us another aspect of reality: the scary, uncontrollable one. And truly seeing reality through fiction = good.

I have digressed from my digression, so I want to end with one last huff about True Blood. For all those 'it's only the blood talking!' anti-Eric naysayers, ponder this: Sookie's attraction to Bill was influenced by drinking his blood (though there was some sparks even before that); ditto with Eric; more importantly, if the TV series follows the books, Sookie is a faerie and her very presence, let alone her blood, is an aphrodesiac to vampires. She is 'artificially' influencing them as much as they are her! (I put 'artificially' in quotes because it's not: it's only one aspect of her physical charm, same as being a vampire is for the men)

Thus, my conclusion is that Sookie, Eric and Bill are all on a level playing field; they're all using supernatural lures, which cancels that factor out. The chaotic bit is irrelevant, and, in the end, it will come down to each of the characters' choices. Fooled you, huh? We do have free will.

Hibernation

Winter is losing its grasp on Oz. I slept with the window open last night, ah fresh air! It also feels like I'm coming out of hibernation, recovering from writing my first book, related synopses, query letters etc. It has been anything but a restful sleep, however. I've been reading books on the first five pages (and other topics) to get some ideas for trapping one of those snarly, Tasmanian devil-like agents. All that stuff is percolating in my subconscious along with a chapter 1 rewrite, notes jumping out onto the page of their own accord from time to time.

In order to let my subconscious do its work, I've plowed ahead with my second book and I'm now 70 pages in. Almost 1/3 of the way through the first draft, wow. Sometimes I think it's writing itself. It's very different from my first book, which was supernatural suspense. This one's fantasy detective, with a man-hating/man-loving heroine, and I'm reveling in the snappy dialogue, fast pace and custom built world. There's elves and dwarfs and a few other recognisable species--to make it fun--but all with my own twist. I even have some scenes in mind for another, very different, epic fantasy to follow this one.

I've read that, on average, it is an author's 5th or 6th book that finally gets published. I'm not just going to spew out crap to meet that quota, though--I want everything I write to be the best it can be. It's the only way to learn. Nose going back to the grindstone now...

Onward

There's still lots of work to do to get my first manuscript in tip top shape with a dynamite query letter and synopsis to back it up. Nevertheless, I don't want this writing thing to be a one off fluke, so I've started working on the next book. I figure it will help me get some distance from the first manuscript so I can accept rejection without personal devastation. I can multi-task, don't worry.

I'm getting excited about the new book (and yet another one I plan to write afterwards). It's a departure from 'Seer', which is a dark, suspenseful story with a poignant mixture of hope and despair. The new book [title to be determined] will be a fast, savvy mystery full of humor--and rude, hairy elves. It's a fantasy-detective story with a sassy heroine. It's gonna be heaps of fun! The 'world' is built, most of the characters even have names, and the outline is 75% done. I'm giddily anticipating writing the first draft: there's nothing better than when you let the creativity flow unchecked.

groan...

My query letter is horrible. I realized that shortly after sending it out to five agents. Why didn't I see it before!? I took refuge in comforting cliches like 'beautiful girl with a dangerous secret'--uggh!!! What was I--high? I don't even drink so it can't be that. Please, please can I do take backs?

Oh well, I shall return to compiling lists of agents to contact, prime criteria being that they haven't seen my previous stinking pile of a query. In my own defense, queries and novels are very different. I was thinking a query was all Hollywood loglines, but it's supposed to be more like a mini synopsis with personal voice and pizzaaz.

I am now giving myself a crash course in 'How to Hook Literary Agents (aka Fishing for Form Letters)' , and I hope and pray and wish to any higher power that is listening that I get it right this time and end up with a good agent. Or any agent.

Two good reviews and I can conquer the world!

Maz got back to us and I quote: "I think it's pretty good! Forbidden lerv, attractive settings, strange planets, horror and thriller elements thrown into the mix. The characters are all believable and well written, and the story overall is great, lots of twists and turns to keep the reader interested... I think it's a really great read – and thanks for sharing it with me!"

She had a couple of suggestions (I took them out with '...' so nothing is given away), but I didn't need that box of tissues after all! Yes!!!

I felt on top of the world for a whole day. But, that was two days ago. As I was writing query letters to agents yesterday, fear set into my belly with a sickening motion far exceeding the mere fluttering of butterflies--it was bats. Fear bats in my belly. I felt like begging for mercy in those queries, or turning round and running... But I did neither. I faced my fear and I mailed out two of them today. The other two queries in this round I will email tomorrow... or when I've determined the stellar alignments are auspicious.
Fingers crossed.

She said, 'You're a very good writer.'

...And there was no 'but' after it! Yes, I heard back from Julie. We had a nice sit down lunch at a local cafe under an umbrella, which was good because it alternated between beautiful sunshine and bursts of chilly little raindrops. Fortunately, my mood wasn't such a pendulum. I was worried I might get defensive of 'my baby' but I managed to be calm and objective throughout. It didn't hurt when Julie had a huge list of things she loved about the book, while there were fewer bits she didn't like. It was great to have an outside viewpoint, and rewarding to see that the subtle philosophy and 'big ideas' that underpin the book got through to her without interfering with the thrill of the story. Whew! Now, just a few more revisions based on her response and we're ready to go! ...Unless Maz totally hates it and I have to wallow in depression for a while.