on writing
On “casting” while you write. Or not.
When I first started out in this biz, I heard a lot of writers talking about “casting” their books, and researching for visuals (typically actors, but not always) as part of their research prep. And this struck me as strange (then again, I don’t create playlists for projects, either. So I may be an outlier.) [...]
Bond, James Bond. All the Bond. (no, really, this is work-related!)
So, this is very cool, simply for what it is. But it’s also neat to look at the difference in stance-choices, and what they say about each interpretation of the same character, both from a timeframe perspective, and the actor himself. Personally, the only one I ‘believe’ is shooting, rather than posing, is Craig. His [...]
If you cut me, do I not bleed (red ink)?
And lo, the copyedit of SOUL OF FIRE is done, and all the flags have been deflagged, the queries answered, and the irritations bit down and buried – because the CE will not see your responses, so although snarking in return may feel good, it’s also pointless. Bite ‘em down and move on. Or, y’know, [...]
Don’t Know, Can’t Care
Yesterday, someone asked me what the on-spec manuscript I’ve been working on, was. My answer: a story. No, they said, what kind of story? With words, and characters, and Stuff Happening and their world changing, even if The World doesn’t change for them. But what genre? they insisted. Is it fantasy? SF? YA? Mainstream? Is [...]
BOOM
Sometimes, you sort of muddle along and figure out a character as you go. And sometimes, it hits you like a clue-by-four, right between the eyes. Working on [project name redacted] yesterday, I took a Tumblr break to rest my brain, and was handed the visual* that will be [character name redacted] for my entire damned life. [...]
Today’s Lesson is Zen.
Along with the occasional joys and successes, into every writer’s life come the things that fall through. The options that are never picked up, the movie deals that stall, the projects that are cancelled, and endless variations through every year and day of your career. They’re not even things that you can maybe use later: [...]
A Reminder (for you, and for them, and for me)
“How do I do this? How do YOU do this? How does it get done, this book-writing, storytelling thing? I keep starting and stopping, getting distracted, getting bored, getting broken…. what’s the secret?” The following paragraph has long resided in the sidebar of my Livejournal blog. Some days (weeks, months, years) it’s useful to shake [...]
Day Twelve of the Year-End Project
Chapter Five was a bear to write, mainly because there’s a massive amount of delicate worldbuilding here — too much, and it comes across as a Tract, too little, and the reader becomes lost in unfamiliar territory. A lot of movement, covering ground (heh) and launching the story into a new direction. And this is [...]
Days Ten and Eleven of the Year-End Project…
Day Ten Basically, yesterday I was rewriting chapter 4 from the ground up, and swearing because I really need to do some on-site research for certain details (Google Maps only goes so far, even now), and I stupidly set one particular important element somewhere I haven’t spent a lot of time and…argh. When I’m writing [...]
Days six through nine of the Year-End Project
Internet continues to be unreliable, making for late posts. And we shall not speak of Cablevision’s decision to cancel my service call without checking to see if I still needed it…. Cranky writer is cranky, as there’s stuff I need to research/sites I need to check… A long post, catching us up. Day Six: Realized [...]
