Someone Like Q

Keyed in this morning while watching "Someone Like You" with Ashley Judd, Greg Kinnear, and Hugh Jackman (of The "X-Men"/"X2" and "Van Helsing" fame) on DVD.

Current count is 45,500 words. Also identified eight pages to bring to group, which is a week from the day after tomorrow. I wish it were tomorrow.

I should probably read through once more, key in, field the new scenes, make any necessary adjustments, read again, and--gasp--look once more at the editorial letter.

Labor Day

Did another read-through today and am reasonably pleased. Greg says he wants to wait until the next round, assuming there is one, so I'm just about ready to resend. Probably in early January, given my level of compulsiveness.

The thing I caught today was that I'd completely spaced off any mention of Labor Day. Fortunately, I don't have it timed out as a key school scene or anything, but I still think a nod is in order so I added one.

Also picked up a copy of Hunter's Moon by C.J. Adams & Cathy Clamp at Randalls; who appear to be a set of Laurell K. Hamilton mentees.

Another Bat

It is sad how many Post-It notes must die so I can write a novel. Scribbled up another one today, this with a (final?) decision on a minor, though classic, fantasy element. I'm cutting it because the science behind it is applied inconsistently. I know I could just say "it's magic" and be done with it, but that sort of feels like cheating. Planning to reread again tomorrow. Wondering if I'll be ready to resend after the first of the year. Not able to sleep tonight.

"I Did it!" -- Henry Higgins

Feeling full of bravado at the moment, but not hesitating to point out it wouldn't have been possible w/o AB's help.

Finally figured out to do with the one plot thread that has been nagging at me for weeks. Again, the simplest answer is the best one. Drafted the scene, too, and feeling pretty good about it.

Initial Skim

Great critique from AB. Main things that she thought that I'll focus on are making B more consistently icky, clarifying why Q keeps trying w/ K, bring back the police (merits a whole new scene, I think), plus some more minor time, character, role tags.

From the margins: marked the first few pages "perfecto!" Liked/got of the passing jokes, caught some junk DNA, lots of smiley faces, "so Austin!", "oooo" "ah," some stars, "!", "go horns," "ha!", "cool," "could be taken literally," "sorry, I don't get it," "oops," "wow! this is a surprise! good good," "or that still loved her," "yuck!", "oooo la la," "gross," "creepy," "yuck-o-rama," "yikes!," "oh, yea," also wants me to cut those (I thought) clever lines closing the author's note.

Much of it is just clarification of stuff that's in my head but not on the page. This is the hardest thing for me, trying to write tight and keep it moving and tell the reader everything he/she needs to know which is so obvious to me after having written the whole thing in the first place, revised, revised, revised...

Plan: one more draft, bring new cops scene to group, polish, and let G read.

Needles and Pins

Heard from AB who says she started the mss and expects to have comments for me tomorrow or Monday. Didn't say anything flattering. Obviously can put down mss to call. Am stressing. Am also obviously SO pathetic.

Revised S&TS today with Greg, though. Big fun. About to read KC's mss.

On the Horizon

I'm starting to think about what's next. I love the manuscript in the queue, but it's really quite dark, and after T, I'd kind of like a bit more gothic levity (not an oxymoron). I do have an idea in mind. I'm also interested in a companion from K's POV. Basically, I'd like to do all three, but there's the question of what would be the best order creatively and career-wise. Still pondering.

In the meantime, T is still at the reader, I have KC's revision on my nightstand to be read, and I have a revision request on that pb with G to get to.

Critiquer Ready

Skimmed through twice more, mostly notably cutting the scapbook references. They're sweet/scary but seem a bit out of character for Q and, besides, there's zero mention of it between page 11 and page 201, which generally doesn't make for a compelling prop.

I'm wondering today if I need some attribution here and there for some of the narration. Maybe not. Maybe. Hm.

AB offered to read again, which was hugely generous, so I'm going to key in changes one more time and drop it off over at her place later this afternoon. No movies. Just me, the desktop, and whatever cat happens in (currently Mercury).

There aren't even enough changes right now to justify a whole new reprint but rather a page here or a few pages there. Saving trees and all.

I'll drop it off later this afternoon and can only hope she likes it.

Weird Science (And Mythology, Too)

So thankful to be back at it again. It was almost physically painful not working on the mss over NCTE/Thanksgiving. I even bought a journal in case I had some brill insight that simply couldn't be lost and (I think) got only the opening quotes out of it. Which, really, in rhetrospect is not that minor.

Did a read through last night in the sun room with the three little cats and then keyed in changes while watching "Weird Science"--"She's alive!"--for the first time in ages. (You've gotta love a John Hughes movie, especially an '80s Frankenstein retelling).

The good news is that the read is nice and smooth. Caught a major logic error in the weaponry function though. Very good Cyn; carefully explain how weapon works only to highlight massive glitch in sequence of events narration. At least I caught it. Not that someone else wouldn't have, but how embarassing!

Did a bit more tightening and killed my favorite (sob!) mythology backstory exposition paragraph. Ouch. So clever, so innovative, so not needed. Anyway, it was slowing down the scene too much, and I have a hint elsewhere that flows better and accomplishes much of the same thing.

Still a little worried about needing to nip/tuck in the middle. Going to read once more with an eye toward pacing there and then perhaps pass over to AB who has generously offered to read for me. I'm also considering asking one more person, but I know I'll have one more sweep--at least line edits--and I'll need some really fresh blood for those.

Current word count: 44,670; author's note: 280

Crosscultural Writing

What I said in answer to a question about crosscultural writing at NCTE 2004 in Indianapolis: "As it happens, my next book is a vampire novel.* And I in fact am not a vampire although I did go to law school. However, I certainly meant no offense to the undead community."

*technically, it's a multi-monster-verse.

Still struggling with what to do about what's going down at Q's house during the climax. Am thinking about typing up the whole fact pattern, available options (a, b, c) and bringing it to group for opinions. But that's wimpy.

Isn't it?

Mammoths To Go

How appropriate! Watched all of the segments except the last, about the mammoths and early humans (I suppose).

Thinking about police/RK/MM at Q's; possibility of photo of VTB to go with DM/GM/G&PM in the foyer of S; using the BL quote as the header of the author's note. Possibly KM should just say that MM and her contacts can handle both of first above.

Walking With Prehistoric Beasts

Picked up a copy of "Walking With Prehistoric Beasts" on DVD from BBC Video at the Discovery Channel store at the mall.

I know what you're thinking, but this clearly counts as shopping, right?

It's not research (or, heaven forbid, writing) until I at least load the disc into my DVD player.

It's...

It's...

It's still shrink-wrapped!

Fresh Eye

Fresh eye...

Sounds like a really gross recipe ingredient, doesn't it?

Okay, this is it. I absolutely must stop fiddling or I'm never going to have a fresh eye to read for the final polishes before sending back.

If all goes well, spookycyn will be quiet until after the holiday.

But she will miss you.

Specificity

Sometimes when you're looking at a passage, you have to ask yourself if it's specific enough. The difference between the narrator saying "me" versus "my shoulder" is enough to paint a more vivid picture for the reader, which is seldom a bad thing.

Critiquer Comments

My, I was chatty yesterday!

Some of my recent manuscript reader comments:

"Sounds so real for the situation."

"Good, different name."

"So true."

"Wow."

"The story reads well, flows well, + it's tight. Very polished. Great info about characters + background."

"Good."

"*important*"

"!!"

Almost there!

Someone wrote late last night asking when I would give more specifics about the manuscript itself. Basically, I'll say more once the advanced reader copies are sent and then the book is released. All things in good time!

Insights

According to readers, the suspense is up, the mss is tighter, and heightened emphasis on questions has upped the page-turning quality. Directly laying out stakes in terms of inviting in badness also ups the ante.

SP thought of a way to better delineate a tone issue.

And the intellect of placekickers was defended.

All in all, a bloody good night.

Econ

Have confirmed that Econ is offered as an elective in some Texas high schools, so that's realistic. Little things, don'tcha know.

Still torn about what to show. Have printed both the Q/D at home scenes and the 2nd hr. school scenes. May bring both and ask to go if someone else doesn't have anything. Is that obnoxious?

It's obnoxious, but no one will mind.

Restless

Picked up a novel yesterday that started out innovative and amusing, but by the last two thirds seemed unforgivingly predictable. And the same jokes were wearing thin.

I'm not 100 percent sure it's me or the book, though, so I'm putting it aside to try later. Sometimes it's just the mood you're in when reading something, how it connects with your own emotional space.

I hope reviewers and awards committee people do the same, but I suspect they don't have the time. Thirty percent (or fewer) always seem to do one hundred percent of the work in just about every pursuit.

Trying to decide what to bring tonight for feedback. It should be one of the new or massively revised scenes, which basically means anything. I'm thinking though the D/Q scenes at home because they're the most new and possibly a little flat.

P.S. for she who wrote to ask, I found "Saved!" (forgive me for having overlooked the exclamation point in my previous post) funny, fascinating, a tad preachy, but all and all totally worth watching; "Raising Helen" (beware of this site; it starts singing to you) bittersweet with its so many ends too neatly tied but great for a good cry; "A Cinderella Story" bubblegum beyond tolerance--fast forwarded through the last four segments on the DVD; and "Mean Girls" something I'd already seen before (old-school teen movie plot updated; appealing star), so I apparently rented it for no reason.

P.S. II. neatest thing I've seen online lately, the break-dancing front page at the Out Youth Austin site.

Scent, Truth, and OCD

I've been brainstorming a bit on sense of smell. It's interesting because I was far more generous (or at least acknowledging) on that for characterization of my bad guy than I was on the good. What is it with that whole bad boy sexy thing? Fortunately, I grew out of it personally, but professionally, it seems to linger. Eh, considering my current artistic focus, probably okay.

I'm also cutting out overused words and phrases. Some repetition is okay; in fact, it's voice. Everyone has their pet words and patterns. But too much gets grating, and the impact of each reference is much greater on the page than it is aloud in casual conversation. My worst offender: "Truth was." I had something like nine of these in the manuscript, some just a couple of pages apart from one another. Now there are three and they're spread out.

I'm also pumping up (so to speak) two of the three hot-and-heavy scenes because they are so important for emotional and plot impact. And as long as you're in that state of mind, might as well take advantage, right?

Huh. Can you say a man "slithered?" What if he's not a man anymore?

How O-C I've become:

I don't want to reprint the entire mss again until 12/1 so I'm changing a word here, adding a few sentences there. Then I have to print the changed page (more if it affects page breaks until the end of whatever chapter). Then I back up on my desktop, on my laptop, on disc, and on my highspeed USB device (which I generally refer to as "the little plastic thingie"). (I keep these on separate floors of the house.) Then I have to replace the previous version of the morphing pages with the new ones in my hard copy file. Because this is not insane enough, I've bought an additional little plastic thingie that I can carry in my purse in case I go out of town or something.

Anyway, trying to shake off some generalized pre-holiday angst with a teen movie/chick flick bonanza. Rented "Saved," "Raising Helen," "Mean Girls," and "A Cinderella Story." If they're awful (which particularly "A Cinderella Story" promises to be), I will nevertheless take comfort in mocking them.

Slithered

Just read the whole scene aloud with "slithered" and laughed for a good three minutes. Ah, I needed that, though it's really not the reaction I'm hoping to inspire in readers. Needless to say, the word is back to "slid."

It's funny because beginners often obsess endlessly over word choice on their first drafts, the result of which being that they're married to what should probably be disposable text and so focused on the trees that they can't see forest to save their lives (or manuscripts).

But at the polishing level of one's revision a small word choice issue can have huge impact.

"Slithered."

So help me....

Bahahahahaha.