I’m going to San Diego Comic-Con as a professional. (!) That means I can go to all four days, if I want.
You know, I’ve never been to a convention before. From what I understand, this one is at the far end of the bell curve.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike jumping into the deep end? Not that I’m nervous, or anything.
Typing this quickly, because it’s sunny and I want to go for a walk on my break.
This morning’s work session was terrible. I read a particular sequence in Everyone Loves Blue Dog over and over, trying to find ways to trim or improve it.
But you know what? I think it works pretty damn well just as it is. I’ve decided to take the stance that I am the expert on my own story. It works, and I’m not going to break it.
Hell, I even have the T-shirt, which isn’t available any more (but other items are). I think I’ll take that T-shirt out of my bottom drawer for my trip to San Diego Comic-Con.
Have I ever mentioned that I started off in screenplays? Most of my learning-to-make-story training happened on screenplay forums (ask me why if you’re curious) and I spent years on it. That’s why my IPSTPW Day offering was a horror script. I learned a helluva lot on the Wordplay site, back in the day.
Tomorrow, I’ll be up extra early and start on the next section of book. I’m already giving Important Supporting Character additional juice in her scenes, and I have a couple of other changes in mind.
Now, I’m off to the sunshine!
Not feeling all that well today. This morning’s work on my (final?) revision of Everyone Loves Blue Dog was cut short by a need to return home early. It didn’t help that the homeless lady sitting right next to me was clipping her nails, swabbing beneath her bandages and wiping her toes clean. Uck. Starbucks, please don’t be gross.
Today’s work involved the first really major sequence in the book. It’s supposed to be a transition from one section to another–changing the setting, the relationship between the leads, and expanding the stakes. Unfortunately, the last round of notes pointed out a problem there.
Now, as a reader, I have certain kinds of text that I skim. Those long travelogues in Fellowship of the Ring with detailed descriptions of the landscape? Skim. Car chases? Skim. Super-tense slow-moving characters checking out that strange noise in the basement? Skim. Some fight scenes, too.
I skim right over them until I get to something that might actually change the story.
That can cause problems. I skipped over the dream sequence in Red Harvest because I didn’t realize that some of it wasn’t a dream, and later had to backtrack to review it. Still, it’s how I read and how I think a lot of people read.
And the latest round of notes indicated that this whole sequence was skimmable.
“Be interesting,” is the number one law when I’m writing, and I’m not seeing the skimmable parts here. I’ve trimmed some minor sentences and reordered paragraphs to string like information together (which also slows the pacing, but that’s okay right now) but I’m concerned that I’m just too close to the text.
Hell. I’ll power up the laptop and sit by the big window. It’s a beautiful sunny day today, and even if I’m not feeling well, I can listen to the birds and look at the blue sky while I fret.
Remember that self-aggrandizing goofball I linked to earlier? (Hmm. I guess that one was LiveJournal only. Anyway…) Some of the commenters there, at the Agentfail blog, and elsewhere has been full of anger and resentment. In that first link, you can read a comment from agent Nathan Bransford stating that the amount of anger he’s been seeing lately makes him very nervous.
So. Author Beth Bernobich suggested an #Agentlove post. I think it’s a great idea.
Except, you know, I’m not going to talk about “love” because I’m a married, she’s married, and we have a business relationship. And I know very well that the author/agent relationship can be fraught–some writers can be a little crazy about it. So I’m skipping over the word “love” here.
Let me start off by saying my agent is a former editor–I get fantastic notes. Seriously, I have two editors working with me to iron out the trouble spots and check for flubs. And one thing I learned with the back and forthing over the end of ELBD is that, even if she disagrees with the choices I want to make, she’s on my side.
I’m really, really lucky to be working with her. When she sold my book last year, I about fell over at the deal she got me. It was utterly outside of my expectations, and I’ve been trying damn hard to be worthy of the work she’s done.
Another great thing about working with her is that she always gets back to me quickly. When I have a question about how the publishing business works–Is this a good thing? How rare is this? Should I try this or not?–she gets me the info I need promptly.
And she laughs at my jokes, mostly.
For the record, I didn’t sign with her because a pal of mine got me an in. I didn’t pitch to her at a conference. I didn’t do any of the crazy things people say writers should do.
I wrote the book. I wrote the query. I revised both thoroughly. Then I queried widely and carefully. Out of sixty I sent out, eight responded with a request to read more. Of those, three offered to sign me. It was all textbook, people. I went to Miss Snark’s archives and followed her directions step by step. And now I’m doing this professionally.
My agent is made of awesome, and I’m damn lucky to be working with her.
Hey, if you want to talk about how great your agent is, or if you want to sing the praises of an agent who did right by you, please do so.
First: Yes, I giggled like the middle-aged schoolboy I am at the name.
Second: Remember all those anti-Iraq war protests from six years ago? All those giant puppets and silly costumes? Remember how many people(including me) thought they were a ridiculous freak show?
Those people were right.
And I was wrong not to see it. Sure, I looked at them and thought They don’t represent me, but they didn’t have to, and it was narcissistic of me to think they should. They were in the right, and we would be in a better place right now if we’d listened. I would be in a better place.
So, yeah, the tax protests yesterday (I passed a small one on my bus ride home yesterday) had a bunch of silly signs and whatnot, but I’m not going to assume that makes them wrong on the issues[1]. I’m not planning to make that mistake twice.
Having Glenn Fucking Beck on their side makes them wrong, but that’s a post for another time.
Do other people stet their own corrections? I mean, make a correction on the proof, then decide that change is utterly stupid, scribble it out and write “stet” next to it?
Please answer yes.
I may be attending the San Diego Comic Con this year, signing the galleys they’re giving away and possibly going to an author/bookseller party.
IIIEEEE!!
I have permission from my editor to post the first couple of pages of my proofs online. For those out there who have never seen them (like me before last Thursday) click on the link below, if you’re curious.
Assuming the cut works. (eta: it works!)
First! Affordable off-site backup for all of your files. We have many, many gigs worth of photos, so I’ll be signing up for this after we get our taxes squared away.
Second! Bert and Ernie go brutal! Aren’t you glad I didn’t embed that? Anyway, I loled. Be sure to watch to the end. And you can find the name of that song if you click the “more info” link.
Third!
Fourth! Sarah Monette comments on a review of the fourth and final book of her Doctrine of Labyrinthe series that criticized it for not making sense if the reader hasn’t read the previous books. Be sure to check out the comment thread from editor
I’ll admit that I bounced off the first book in that series, but I loved The Bone Key. I’m sorry to hear that Ace hasn’t offered her another contract, but I’m sure she’ll get snapped up somewhere else.
Finally… Fifth! Beaker is, unquestionably, the greatest of all the Muppets, (yes, that is a truth that can not be questioned!) but what semi-celebrity does he most look and sound like? Find out for yourself. Aren’t you glad I didn’t embed that, too?
And, in non-link-related info, taxes are almost done. Ugh. So annoying. And yeah, we’ll have a bigger bill than I’m used to, but we’re prepared for it. Next year, I’m going to go with a pro; Turbo Tax doesn’t cut it.
First the book: The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen.
For the first time ever, I was sitting on a bus reading this book, I looked over at the reader next to me (I’m an incorrigible book snoop) and she was reading the exact same book. I consider this scientific proof that the book is a bestseller.
And it deserves to be. It’s a historical thriller, and like a lot of genre books with a historical setting, it spends a lot of time establishing the time period before the story kicks in. But kick in it does. The two lead characters are more admirable than interesting, but some of the supporting cast get POV chapters.
The most interesting character here is the setting, ‘natch. The rough conditions in the maternity ward, the medical school classes, the filthy rooms where the poor had to live–yeah, it’s gross. But it was fascinating, too. And once the plot picked up speed, I couldn’t put it down.
And I hereby declare my book grouch period to be over.
Next is the show. Here is the trailer to the CGI anime series CatShitOne
and OMG, do not let your kids see that.