Wow, it's been a while. The last time I wrote here, I liked the layout. Now, not so much. This is pretty...ugly.
Anyway...
Why have I been away? Why have I not been writing here??? Simple. I've been writing somewhere else. I'm now over 30,000 words into book one of my series. It's a process, lemme tell ya... but it feels like the right thing to do. It's a bit sloppy right now, and totally a rough draft, but I'm getting it all out and when it's out, I'll figure out what to do with it. I'm learning a lot about my characters by having them interact. I'm also figuring out pieces of the story that work...and don't work. It's a lot of fun :)
But, writing about writing isn't actually why I came here... I'm here to vent. And I'll do it in another entry, because it'd just be messy to put it here...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Sleepy feelings
There's this feeling I only get easily when I'm over-tired. It's like butterflies in my heart.. It's a very fluttery and good feeling, though it's so delicate that I'm sure it could easily turn to crushing heartache. My defenses are down, so I'm more susceptible to all the stuff around me. I'm blaming haunting music and joyful music... and tomorrow I'll be writing out the scenes I outlined tonight. I wish I could carry the fluttery feeling into my days. And I really hope that I can remember the feeling in the morning so that my writing will come quickly.
This morning I decided that I need to stop thinking about killing off characters. I like closure, and the quickest way to tie up loose ends is to kill everyone... that way there won't be any what ifs. The thing is, I don't have much reason to kill people who matter this time. I'm still not sure about happy endings; while I understand there is a formula for things, I also think that, no matter how surreal the reality is, it's still a reality...and I need to respect that. I know all of the endings, and they're all a bit sad. The last will at least feel complete... but I can already picture Ivy at the end; I can see her expression and know what she's feeling...and it's bittersweet. I want to kill her to take away THAT suffering, but I can't...because there's still hope. The hero doesn't have to die to create a legend... not all of her, anyway.
And even though I've decided not to kill her, and I'm certain of that... I've also decided that I'm sticking with third person limited. I re-wrote the first chapter in first person, just to see how it felt. There were some things that I thought were definite advantages, but when it comes down to it, I'm just tired of YA being written in first person. And I don't want to limit the POV so much. Sure, Ivy is interesting... but I like the idea of developing empathy in the ways that we do as people. I read a great article earlier about how humans are feeling creatures - how we read those around us and feel with them - and how writing in third person allows us to have empathy in a way that first person does not. First person is so much more tell than show, and I want show. I want feel.
I'm going to read some more third person books to see the style in action. Lately I've been reading a bunch of first person, because I read YA...blah. I searched around for lists of third person YA speculative fiction, and some of them are really great (Cassandra Clare, for example). I'll pick up a few of the other titles I found and go from there. I have such an extensive reading list...and that's something that makes me VERY happy. The last three days were spend with the Hex Hall series, and I really enjoyed the books. They were short and fast-paced, with snarky characters (and the tall, dark, and handsome bad boy, of course). The basics were all there, and yet, there was something original in the telling. It was first person, but the person was interesting. I love a good sarcastic character... laugh in the face of danger! It wasn't deep, but there was a point in the third book that I was actually impressed by how deep it was in the heat of the moment... I wondered if it was intentional. I wondered if the writer realized the power of the couple sentences about how the most terrible evils are those done by people who really think they're doing the right thing.
And I should sleep...before I get all political. :)
This morning I decided that I need to stop thinking about killing off characters. I like closure, and the quickest way to tie up loose ends is to kill everyone... that way there won't be any what ifs. The thing is, I don't have much reason to kill people who matter this time. I'm still not sure about happy endings; while I understand there is a formula for things, I also think that, no matter how surreal the reality is, it's still a reality...and I need to respect that. I know all of the endings, and they're all a bit sad. The last will at least feel complete... but I can already picture Ivy at the end; I can see her expression and know what she's feeling...and it's bittersweet. I want to kill her to take away THAT suffering, but I can't...because there's still hope. The hero doesn't have to die to create a legend... not all of her, anyway.
And even though I've decided not to kill her, and I'm certain of that... I've also decided that I'm sticking with third person limited. I re-wrote the first chapter in first person, just to see how it felt. There were some things that I thought were definite advantages, but when it comes down to it, I'm just tired of YA being written in first person. And I don't want to limit the POV so much. Sure, Ivy is interesting... but I like the idea of developing empathy in the ways that we do as people. I read a great article earlier about how humans are feeling creatures - how we read those around us and feel with them - and how writing in third person allows us to have empathy in a way that first person does not. First person is so much more tell than show, and I want show. I want feel.
I'm going to read some more third person books to see the style in action. Lately I've been reading a bunch of first person, because I read YA...blah. I searched around for lists of third person YA speculative fiction, and some of them are really great (Cassandra Clare, for example). I'll pick up a few of the other titles I found and go from there. I have such an extensive reading list...and that's something that makes me VERY happy. The last three days were spend with the Hex Hall series, and I really enjoyed the books. They were short and fast-paced, with snarky characters (and the tall, dark, and handsome bad boy, of course). The basics were all there, and yet, there was something original in the telling. It was first person, but the person was interesting. I love a good sarcastic character... laugh in the face of danger! It wasn't deep, but there was a point in the third book that I was actually impressed by how deep it was in the heat of the moment... I wondered if it was intentional. I wondered if the writer realized the power of the couple sentences about how the most terrible evils are those done by people who really think they're doing the right thing.
And I should sleep...before I get all political. :)
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