That struck me and so I thought I might try writing a paragraph to see how neutral I can get. This will be awhile in coming; I’m currently on a deadline for a story and working as a creative projects manager for a small nonprofit on an event they’re producing.

But – since I’m busy, why put this on my to-do list at all?

Because I think it’s good to experiment with writing. Try something you haven’t done before and see what you get out of it.

We spend a lot of time picking and choosing words and trying to get a few thousand of them on paper (so to speak) daily. It can be both relaxing and challenging to do something else like trying a different POV or writing on a subject you know little about, or writing something in someone else’s style.

For me, both writing and art are about the process. I live in the middle of creating rather than being enlivened by either the planning or the finished product. I think it’s because when I’m in the midst of it, I feel I’m learning the most about what I’m doing and who I am. And, if this is true, then experimenting with my writing can provide insights that struggles over more familiar territory can’t.

Do you experiment with writing? What have you tried and what have you learned?

Don’t Censor the Net

Image via Fleur de Life

I was in a mad hurry when I wrote the draft of my story “The Face on the Coin.” My invitation to submit to the Vampire Predicament anthology came after a few of the participating authors had had to pull their stories. Since I’ve never been published in an anthology, I was delighted by the opportunity.

But 15,000 words in a short space of time. And the editor – Jacqueline Lichtenberg – chose the subject for me: my own ghost detective character versus a vampire ghost. I’d already thought of both a vampire and his predicament, but now I was going to have to start over.

First Things

I had to ask myself, what is a vampire ghost? And how would one go about falling afoul of one? For me, coming up with the plot line was the work of a couple of days. Once I defined vampire ghost and the possible reasons for one, the basic idea formed. Then it was the work of figuring out how the paths of my detective and the vampire ghost cross. This ended up involving two continents and eight characters.

As usual, I edited as I wrote, and was very happy to have finished the story in the time given. It hung together well and had some parts in it I really enjoyed. But I couldn’t say I liked it. That bothered me. I wasn’t sure if there was anything wrong with it and if there was, what it was. I had taken a year to write my first novel, including time for reflection, re-reading, and rewriting; I had much, much less for this story. Maybe that was why I couldn’t quite tell how I felt about it.

The Verdict Comes Back

Jacqueline said she was forwarding the story on to the copy editor, but thought it could use rewriting. I asked for specifics, which she was kind enough to give me. As I read through her analysis, I could almost instantly see she was right. There were two many characters with their own agendas, the climax was in the wrong place, and the detective wasn’t the hero. It was an interesting plot, but it was just a plot without much in the way of highs or lows; it didn’t engage the reader.

Everyone’s process is different, and I know quite a few writers who get discouraged when they get feedback of this sort. I’m lucky enough to be the opposite. When I can see what’s wrong with a story, is when I get really energized and nearly can’t wait to get things right in it. I started revising the story the same day, changing the roles of two characters and eliminating three others. I felt good about the changes and sent off the revision with a light heart.

Then…

A few days later, I got Jacqueline’s take on the changes, which she approved but felt didn’t go far enough. She also felt the climax was still in the wrong place, weakening the ending. I also got the copy editor’s comments, which echoed Jacqueline’s. Again I was told that the story was okay as-is if I was uncomfortable about making any other changes.

At this point, I got my back up a little. I really liked the story the way it was now. I made the grammatical corrections, but didn’t return the revision. I re-read Jacqueline’s comments several times. Finally, I returned to my story as a reader, rather than an editor, and read it through once more.

I was surprised to find I didn’t love it as I had a few days earlier. Then I moved to editor mode and thought about how I might rip everything apart and put it back together. It would require me to get rid of a pivotal character and I would have to figure out how to handle the actions that character would have taken and the information that character would have communicated. With a lot of ‘what-ifs’, I re-worked the story again from the beginning, moving the climax and changing the ending. I eliminated one more character and minimized another. Once I finished, I sent off both the grammatically corrected earlier version and the new version. It’s the new version that will be printed. I was happy when Jacqueline emailed, “much improved.”

And if I had had more time, I’d have found a way to eliminate one more character.

I Knew I’d Do It

I was pleased with the changes I made on the third go-round. I wasn’t as enthusiastic as on the second, that’s for sure. I think I was more annoyed with myself that I hadn’t accomplished quite the re-write that I had set out to do. I’d done more of a cosmetic retouching, than an actual re-write. And somewhere in my writer’s bones, underneath the irritation, I knew I was going to do a third version because the story still wasn’t right. That’s the nearest I can explain it.

I learned something from this about the way I work as a person. I may never be able to draw a map about where I’m going to go, but I understand now that there is a part of me that does know how to get there and can help me draw the map as I go. I’ve always been about the trip more than the destination, so this way of working is fine for me.

What Has Your Experience Been?

Have you gotten feedback like this? What was your reaction and how did you deal with it?

I don’t normally read ‘chick lit’ and this book underscored why.

I didn’t have a real problem with the writing style, which included a lot of fragmented sentences, but I did have a problem with the slow start. Jacobs spent quite a bit of time on the outskirts of the story before really getting into the characters and the conflicts. I only started to like the main character of Georgia after I’d gotten frustrated and sampled some later chapters to see if I wanted to continue.

The main threads were pretty standard stuff: feisty woman overcomes odds to become a success, then learns the true meaning of success when she embraces a diverse group of other women and allows herself to lean on them a little. There’s the whole mama-lion thing and the rekindling of a True Love That Was Meant To Be, and even the wise old grandmother with the commonsense boot to the metaphorical butt. Once nearly everyone is happy and fulfilled, of course, is when tragedy strikes.

Despite its obviousness, and a rather rushed ending, I finished it and didn’t feel like throwing it at the wall when I was done. It was an okay way to spend a couple of hours, but these are not women I’d care to hang around with on a regular basis.

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As a fan of historical fiction, I really appreciated the opportunity to learn something about the period in which this story takes place. The manners and mores of Spain during the Inquisition came alive for me in this book, which was a blessing, because the plot itself left me underwhelmed.

Captain Alatriste is hired to rescue a young woman from a seraglio masquerading as a convent, but he never gets closer that trying to break in, because his enemies in the Inquisition and the government use the opportunity to try to finish him off.

The inclusion of some of Spain’s most famous poets and politicians of the period enchants, but they are not enough to make up for the main narrator’s irritating habit of moving back and forth through memories of his life as a boy with Captain Alatriste and then as an adult soldier. He seems to come unstuck in time as much as Billy Pilgrim and with less of a reason. He also seems to be a bit of a mind reader, since he correctly describes the feelings of people in situations that take place while he is out of the action.

Even so, the characters are interesting, just not well-served in this book.

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Last night I dreamed it was the end of the world, water park style.

My husband and I knew it was coming and had decided to take no heroic measures, but at the end, we got in the car and headed for the mountains. Coming up the roads, we saw many people who were unaware. In one place, they were gleaning a field and I yelled out the window at them, but it was too late; the massive watery doom trope was already upon them.

My husband and I came across several freighter ships berthed and ran for one (me carrying my little dachshund). In the last of the dream, we and the few people we had surprised on the ship were desperately climbing upward in a vain hope of avoiding our fate (wow, check that cheesy hyperbole!).

I don’t think I’ve had a watery doom dream before and the visuals were awesome. I’m already wondering if there’s a way I can use any of them in a story.

How about you? Ever been tempted to use a trope? What was it and did you follow through?

Things have changed. I’ve found a renewed enjoyment in writing and art and thanks to #litchat, #scifichat, and #ufchat on Twitter, a new community of writers to share with.

A short story – The Face on the Coin – will be published next year in a vampire anthology and I’m working on another short story for an urban fantasy anthology, also expected to publish in 2012.

The vampire story is not the usual; it features no pointy-toothed, sparkly (or otherwise) men and its heroes are a ghost and his half Japanese, half Welsh partner in an alternate 1950s Los Angeles.

Though I’m not sure where my writing will take me, I’m currently drawn to noir urban fantasy. I have several other loves in the art world and ‘real’ world and this blog will probably touch on all of them.

My hope is to create a space where we can talk about writing, its joys and struggles and where we are on our journeys.