I am partly Irish (thank you, great-grandpa Ernest), but I'm afraid my celebratory efforts were arguably lacking yesterday, especially compared to the festive DMF in Shanghai.
The hands-down highlight of the day though was watching a pro fireworks display from the sunroom window. It was in celebration of 20 years of SXSW in conjunction with the free Friday concert at Town Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores.
Today I'm back to work on F&M. GLS made a convincing argument that Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007) readers might assume F&M, if also set in Austin, was set in the same fantasy world, which is not the case.
It's difficult, though, because I'm a visual writer, and if I can't "see" the scene unfold, it's that much harder for me to craft it. So I'm trying to move the next draft to Chicago because it's a major city that I love, and I have lived there in the past.
(This isn't the kind of story that would take place in a small town or even someplace like Kansas City or Okie City).
He mentioned a northern suburb that I'll research, and I'll try both a neighborhood scene as well as one on the lake front, along Streeterville. Most of the rest of the story would take place in fantasy locales anyway.
I also had a chance to go through my comments from last week's crit group. At this very early stage, they've been around long enough to know the most important thing is offer the encouragement to keep me writing and I've been around long enough to go with it.
Various comments: Love the modern twist. So today, so traditional. Wow, that's neat. Maybe the animals should go silent in the woods next time. Modern architecture is disappointing. Dublin, Ireland or Dublin, Ohio? Cut the rest of the family from the cemetery. Baseball card collection, not baseball collection. Not a lot of humorous books like this. Page turning. Readers will know he's a smart ass so they'll want to see how he gets out of this uncomfortable situation. Spell out bloodlines. Stakes are high. So real. Do parents think he can do it? Depressing but good. Fun for reader. Fresh.
Spooky News & Links
Congratulations to VJ, whose debut novel Red Polka Dot in a World Full of Plaid (Genesis Press/Black Coral, 2005)(excerpt) is listed as #6 on the Essence Best Seller List for Paperback Fiction.
LJS offers an excerpt from Shamrocked (2005).
Sending cheers to LR (author interview)! Happy belated b-day to LB (author interview)!
