The Thursday report

[annathepiper]

+0: I know I've already chatted with both of these folks in comments, but just for the sake of mentioning it to the Friends list at large, everybody say hi to kaseido who joins me from words_in_common, and kathrynelaraine who joins me from Gruntland!

-1: Finished Elizabeth Peters' Guardian of the Horizon last night, and found it... not quite up to the par of the overall excellence of the Amelia Peabody series. Not that it was a bad or unenjoyable read, but I think I have the same issues with it that I've seen other Peters fans have, in that since it jumps out of the flow of time of the series, going back and sticking a new story into one of the holes in previous continuity, we get a lot of elements in the story that we've already seen before. The biggest of these is that in this novel, Ramses still is carrying a torch for Nefret and hasn't gotten around to admitting it to her yet--and since this gets resolved in novels later on the timeline, having that as a subplot wasn't really effective here. Also, a certain thing happens with Ramses towards the end of the novel that I think was rather out of character for him, and not really believable based on what happens earlier in the book. Sigh. Well, even Ms. Peters is entitled to have an off day, I suppose. But I'm glad she's going back to the usual flow of the timeline with the next book. :)

+2: Heh. I get to test the Media Player on WinME today. JOY! Also, I have been informed that since the size of our team is about to explode, our lead will not be able to directly manage folks as much--which means that he's going to have to draft several current members of the team to be what he describes as "virtual leads", taking charge of certain areas of responsibility. Apparently, I get to be one of these "virtual leads". solarbird says I should ask my lead if this means I get a "virtual raise".

+3: Three chapters to go till I print Faerie Blood and fire it off to Luna! Those of you who are beta reading for me, if you have any pending commentary on chapters 1-20, get it to me ASAP--I'm going to aim to try to get this done this weekend if I can!

Wednesday miles: 1.0
Miles out of Hobbiton: 105.66
Miles to Rivendell: 352.34

Comments

[kathrynelaraine.livejournal.com]

awwww, what a dear! Thanks for mentioning me. HUGS

Woohoo three chapter left! Way to go. I know how hard writting a book is, since I am writting one myself. Huge huge accomplisment!

[annathepiper]

You're most welcome! And right on, another writer! :) What is your chosen genre?

[kathrynelaraine.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, Fantasy! It's a faerie tale esque story with major influences from jewish mysticism. I would be so happy to give details, since I am in love with my story, lol. I think promotion is the best part :) (Other than putting the story onto paper)

[annathepiper]

Oh, right on! :) Is this the first book you've worked on? How far along are you? And tell me all about it to whatever length you desire. :)

[kathrynelaraine.livejournal.com]

This is my first book, but not the first thing I have published, as I am a published poet of all things! lol. So far, I am around seven chapters in, most likely more, because I was a typing mad woman the other day, lol.

The story centers around a young queen and her best friend (ten years older) who is not only her appointed royal advisor, but also an oracle of supreme standing. The story is rather involved at it also centers around a great mystical book that the queen posseses, but has no idea of the power. After a sequence of frightening dreams, the queen and her friend embark on a journey to find the place the people in her dreams told her to protect and save, and it just happens to be a place of significance in the mystical book. There is a lot of action and battle, a budding love story, kidnapping, as within the first three chapters, the queen is kidnapped. There are demons, angels, and one of the main characters is the archangel Michael. It's about finding your destiny, while making extreme sacrafices along the way. All mixed into a story that is very fantasy oriented, and set in another world, in a land called "Larn".

I'm staying away from doing the typical sword and sandals inspired fantasy, and am staying away from making it too futuristic. I'm trying, though I don't know if I am succeeding, lol, to make it more timeless, so you are literally taken to this other world where three moons light the night sky.

:)

[annathepiper]

Ah, congrats on your getting poems into print! :) Are you finding shifting over into prose an easy transition? The story sounds cool, too!

The book I'm working on is actually the third novel I've finished, and this is the second time I've tried to submit a novel for actual publication. The first two novels I wrote, one of which was the first one I tried to submit to a publisher, was way back just before I started college, over fifteen years ago at this point. So I might as well be starting fresh.

I've been sending this book around to publishers for about a year and a half or so. So far I've just been sending around the first three chapters and a synopsis. Tor Books turned me down, but Luna Books actually wants to see the whole manuscript, so I'm frantically trying to get my third and fourth draft revisions finished up so I can send them the entire book. It's extremely nervous-making. :)

This book is an urban fantasy; I have another one in progress which is going to be a more traditional high/epic fantasy, though I'm setting it in a milieu with a more 18th-century sort of flavor than a medieval one. I'm 75,000 words or so into that, and will be returning to working on that book once I get this one printed up and sent off to Luna.

How long have you been working on your book so far? I find it takes me a while to get a story written--just because I don't write quickly. So I do well to write 500 words a day or to edit a couple of pages.

[kathrynelaraine.livejournal.com]

Actually, I found found it easy to make the transition from prose to novel. One of my characters actually speaks prose (not the two leads), so I am at least putting my talents to use, lol. I'm originally an artist (I can actually say I am because I have sold my work, lol), so be it prose or in novel form, I try to "paint" a visual image that would bring the reader into my world. The only hard part I have found hard is just sitting down and writting. If I have an idea, I write, usually a lot. But even though I know exactly what each chapter shoudl be about, even without an outline, which I found held me back in making artistic changes, I suppose it's a form of writer's block that rears it's ugly head now and then, lol. The main difference I founf between the two is poetry has a more immediate reward, as they are usually shorter than a chapter, and I use symbolism to get my point across rather than flowery descriptions, lol. Otherwise, I am enjoying this process, and since I am so in love with my characters, I know I'll finish it, I'm very driven, and this is my work of love.

The story had actually taken me seven years. Now, the idea for the story germinated seven years ago, but I started writting it a little over nine months ago. When I was younger, I did jot down some passage ideas, like a paragraph here of there, to get the feeling I wanted, but only recently did I begin to lay the story out on paper. I began the story all thos eyears ago with a little ditty I woudl tell to the kids I babysat. From there, it became longer and more evolved, and as I grew older, and began to have adult relationships, I saw the charcters form into three-dimensional people.

Your story sounds amazing. And I think the genre you picked, urban fantasy, is a very good genre, and one I actually enjoy to read. But of course, I love all fantasy, and I love all faerie tales, as my great-great uncles by blood are the great Brothers Grimm, so you could say it's in my blood, lol.

I'm a wee bit nervous about finding a publisher because my poetry publsiher doesn't do novels or fantasy. That and my age. You see, I know what I have is a good story, but it's a matter of convincing a publisher to take the work of a young person, and promote it on that. That instead of seeing it as a disadvantage, they would see it as a huge plus in marketing. So, I shall see, as my search continues, and hopefully, within the next year, you may see on the shelf a book by Kathryne Vause', lol.

[annathepiper]

I am all about the sympathy for writing being a labor of love. I've wanted to do it since I was small, but only in the last few years have I been able to actually make myself try to pursue it professionally. It's simultaneously scary and very, very gratifying. I'm getting incredible amounts of satisfaction out of it and it sounds like you are too. :)

Regarding age... well, if it helps any, when I attended Writer's Weekend last year (a most excellent conference, I might add, and I highly recommend it for people who want to seriously pursue professional writing), there was a boy there who was only 13 years old. But after consultation with an editor, he actually got that editor to ask him to send her a manuscript to look at. The kid got a huge standing ovation from everybody attending the conference!

I think I can sympathize with your story evolving in your head as well. The two novels I wrote in school were reflective of the age I was at the time; now that I am older, those stories have turned into backstory for the other novel I am working on, the one I'll be turning to when I get the current one sent off to Luna. :) It's called Lament of the Dove.

I'm fascinated hearing about your process for building your stories, too; I love hearing about how other writers do that. I find I do need an outline to keep track of what I'm doing and to stay on target.. especially for Lament, since it's a complex story with three main characters and I really have to plan out in advance what I'm going to write for every chapter. Sometimes I'll go off the outline in terms of fine detail, but I need the big-picture level of what I'm doing just to keep focused. :)

[kathrynelaraine.livejournal.com]

It's strange, but a great deal of my story building comes to me right before I go to sleep at night. I lie in bed, mulling over what I have done with my story, and images of it playing, almost like seeing a movie in your head, help me figure out plot holes, or ways I can develop a charcter better. Since the relationships between the queen and her friend is one that is separated by many years, a few months ago, I wasn't sure how they would interact. I mean, i had an idea, and I was writting for that, but it wasn't until christmas, when I started dating an older man, did I finally figure out how they would interact.

A lot of the time, before I sit down, I will jot a few things down, the same way I do before I start a poem. I'll have a line, or a few words that inspired me, and a paragraph will come just from that. Or sometimes before I start writting I'll put a picture on the floor that reminds me of my character, and believe it or not, gives me ideas, and helps me develop the characters better. For example, when I was writting a poem the other day, three words came to me, "Bleeding salty stains" from there, I had a poem. The same with my story, I wanted to have her say, "Being poor has never been a crime, and will never be a crime under my rule." From that line, I developed a whole scene.

I suppose how my stories develop is very much centered on artistic mediums, such as works of art (In fact, just like the woman who wrote girl with a pearl earing, her story came from a painting), I have another story in the works that was inspired by the famous Waterhouse painting Ophelia. I have an overly active imagination, and I suppose this is a gift, but general plot lines sort of just come to me, and with complicated twists as well, that surprises me! lol.

I don't know if any of the above made sense, lol.

[annathepiper]

This does indeed make sense. It sounds as though you have a very organic creative process, and it's certainly something with which I can sympathize a great deal. :) And since Faerie Blood started way, way back in my brain as me wondering what would happen if an elf crashed an Elvis impersonator contest, I'm definitely able to sympathize with building a whole story around a single concept!

I too jump around a lot as I create a story... between writing actual scenes and writing extensive notes. Sometimes I'll work on an actual story outline, sometimes I'll go play with character files, sometimes I'll work on the file of notes for the setting at large and what I know about it. And I'm absolutely prone to having my Ogle Pic of the Day up in my browser. ^_^ I'll alternate between Russell and Alan Doyle and young Pierce Brosnan and young Harrison Ford, depending on what story I'm working on when!

[smeehrrr.livejournal.com]

Apparently, I get to be one of these "virtual leads". solarbird says I should ask my lead if this means I get a "virtual raise".

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAno.

[annathepiper]

That's about what I said. ;)

[kaseido.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the kind welcome!

A sign this is a Needs More Coffee Day: I saw "joins me from Gruntland" and read it as Gro Harlem Brundtland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtland) and thought, how cool, she works with a world leader!"

Sigh... :P

[annathepiper]

You're most welcome! And hee--I'd say that's an easy mistake to make, but I think that's actually a pretty unique and clever mistake to make! ;)

[kaseido.livejournal.com]

"unique and clever mistake" - well, yeah, that covers *much* over here! :P

[annathepiper]

Hee!