That was what my husband asked, when I told him the idea for my next book, the new shiny idea that will not leave my head and makes my old idea seem rusty and boring.
And the truth is, I could probably write a book where everyone survives, but I don’t want to. I love suspense, tension that comes from a hero or heroine fighting for their lives, love the idea of villain and discovering what drives them.
And killing characters in print is kind of fun. Seriously, everyone should try it, just once and see if it works for them.
I know this is what I want to write, because the first scene that comes to mind is usually my heroine in trouble, or my hero fighting for his life, not their first meeting, not how they interact, but how the suspense brings them together.
I’m not sure how this came about because the romance I’ve always read is the straight historicals by Judith McNaught and Laura Kinsale and to this day, if I had to pick a favourite genre it would still be historical, where typically, there is very little suspense.
I’m still not entirely sure there really is a market for historical suspense, but until I prove conclusively that there isn’t, that’s what I’ll write.
And now back to the final edit on the old rusty book, while I do my best to ignore the new shiny idea, at least for the time being.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Plot holes... and Speed II
I made a comment regarding the Twilight post that one of my biggest problems with that book was what I considered to be a major plot hole. The author establishes that to transition to a vampire you have to be bitten and infected with venom. However at the end of the book the heroine is bitten by the hero in an effort to suck “out” the venom from someone else but manages not to take in any of the hero’s venom. This rattled me. And it is one of those things that drive me crazy.
It happens in movies too. My favorite “plot hole” moment of all time was when I saw Speed II (Speed – being one of my favorite movies). The guy who couldn’t replace Keanu goes chasing after Sandra because she’s been kidnapped by the villain. (Willem DeFoe you should be ashamed for making this movie.) In one scene he’s trying to escape a room on a cruise ship that’s filling with water. In the process he loses his shirt. Now I remember this clearly because I love a shirtless man. However, in the very next scene he’s on a jet ski with a shirt on. (And I want to say the color of the shirt was even different from the one he took off… but here my memory could be hazy.)
I spent the rest of the movie focused solely on that. Did he not really care about her? Was he self conscious about his nudity that he felt it important to cover up before saving the heroine? Obviously, it was just a mistake. But they spend MILLIONS of dollars making these movies. How careless is that?
My other teeth grinder is George Lucas. BIG movies this guy makes. Major millions of dollars. In Return of Jedi (yes – I have the first three committed to memory because at one point I was fairly certain I was Princess Lea reincarnated) Lea says she remembers her mother. “She was always sad.” In the last prequel we see Lea’s mother die immediately after she gives birth. No chance a new born was able to make that connection I think.
What George? You couldn’t go back and watch the first three movies just to make sure you had the timelines all right? Or more likely – you thought I would forget.
I didn’t.
Look, I get it. When you write a story you’re going to have plot holes. Nobody is perfect. You have an idea on page 100. It changes by page 300. It happens. And I’m even more forgiving with really long series, 10, 15 books… that can really be tough to keep it all straight. That’s what critique partners and editors are for. To catch the things that you might miss.
But when something is really obvious to me that’s a lack of respect to the audience. The writer is being lazy and hoping we won’t notice. And for me that is the biggest no no in writing.
One of the things I respected most about JK Rowling and the Harry Potter books was that after going back and re-reading them from beginning to end… to see the effort and detail she put into connecting every element throughout each story was absolutely amazing. She plants a major plot point for book 7 as a throw away line in book 6. When I went back and realized it was right there I thought wow… you really did your work. As a reader I felt (this is going to sound crazy) loved. Like she cared enough to do this much work because she knew I would appreciate it.
I want to do that. I always want my audience to feel like I care and respect them enough that I will never be lazy with plot holes.
So tell me… what are some of your teeth grinder moments?
It happens in movies too. My favorite “plot hole” moment of all time was when I saw Speed II (Speed – being one of my favorite movies). The guy who couldn’t replace Keanu goes chasing after Sandra because she’s been kidnapped by the villain. (Willem DeFoe you should be ashamed for making this movie.) In one scene he’s trying to escape a room on a cruise ship that’s filling with water. In the process he loses his shirt. Now I remember this clearly because I love a shirtless man. However, in the very next scene he’s on a jet ski with a shirt on. (And I want to say the color of the shirt was even different from the one he took off… but here my memory could be hazy.)
I spent the rest of the movie focused solely on that. Did he not really care about her? Was he self conscious about his nudity that he felt it important to cover up before saving the heroine? Obviously, it was just a mistake. But they spend MILLIONS of dollars making these movies. How careless is that?
My other teeth grinder is George Lucas. BIG movies this guy makes. Major millions of dollars. In Return of Jedi (yes – I have the first three committed to memory because at one point I was fairly certain I was Princess Lea reincarnated) Lea says she remembers her mother. “She was always sad.” In the last prequel we see Lea’s mother die immediately after she gives birth. No chance a new born was able to make that connection I think.
What George? You couldn’t go back and watch the first three movies just to make sure you had the timelines all right? Or more likely – you thought I would forget.
I didn’t.
Look, I get it. When you write a story you’re going to have plot holes. Nobody is perfect. You have an idea on page 100. It changes by page 300. It happens. And I’m even more forgiving with really long series, 10, 15 books… that can really be tough to keep it all straight. That’s what critique partners and editors are for. To catch the things that you might miss.
But when something is really obvious to me that’s a lack of respect to the audience. The writer is being lazy and hoping we won’t notice. And for me that is the biggest no no in writing.
One of the things I respected most about JK Rowling and the Harry Potter books was that after going back and re-reading them from beginning to end… to see the effort and detail she put into connecting every element throughout each story was absolutely amazing. She plants a major plot point for book 7 as a throw away line in book 6. When I went back and realized it was right there I thought wow… you really did your work. As a reader I felt (this is going to sound crazy) loved. Like she cared enough to do this much work because she knew I would appreciate it.
I want to do that. I always want my audience to feel like I care and respect them enough that I will never be lazy with plot holes.
So tell me… what are some of your teeth grinder moments?
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Don't Be Boring
I have a new mantra: DON'T BE BORING.
Or if not a mantra, at least a new goal. (Not that I was trying to be boring before.) And I figure if I can focus on that one thing, then maybe I can push through the hell-for-me-stage-of-novel-writing other people simply call a first draft.
I suppose DON'T BE BORING in itself adds some potentially paralyzing pressure to the process. (Why can't I come up with cute alliterations like that in my first drafts, when I can in this blog?)
But instead of letting the pressure scare me, I'm trying to think of it as more of a touchstone, a way to make choices.
And what exactly do I mean by DON'T BE BORING? Well, other than having interesting characters in a plot that's fast paced and non-repetitive, my don't be boring rule boils down to two main things: conflict and tension.
Now, that may sound like two ways of saying the same thing, but I'm starting to think they are (or can be) two different concepts.
I think of conflict as making sure my POV character has a goal in each scene and something keeping him/her from achieving that goal. As long as my character is doing something active to struggle against whatever's keeping him/her from their goal, I figure there's conflict in that scene. (And of course, there should be goals and conflicts for the overall story, but I'm talking at a scene level here.)
And by tension, I mean that in every exchange of dialogue, in every description, in every passage of internal thought, there should be some kind of tension. It can be as simple as having a character say one thing when they mean another, or layering two conversations together, where each party wants to be discussing a different topic and is battling for control of the conversation. (And I don't mean arguing, it can be playful, I mean just swapping topics back and forth.) Or even as simple as having the character feeling an emotion they want to hide, or having the descriptive details of the setting oppose what the character's feeling, or highlight some other dimension to what they are feeling. Tension.
I think this is what Donald Maass calls micro-tension, and it's more subtle than the heavier hammer of "conflict". And while it's harder to achieve, I also think great writers of fiction do it naturally, without even thinking about it. They ensure there's a push-pull feeling to their writing, even when doing description. And while some may do this intuitively, the rest of us have to work at it. And I think what it boils down to is: don't write anything that is boring.
Wow, could my point get more circular?
I think my 13 days of rapid first drafting has eaten my brain. (Hmmm... brains... zombies... yes... this book needs more zombies...)
Or if not a mantra, at least a new goal. (Not that I was trying to be boring before.) And I figure if I can focus on that one thing, then maybe I can push through the hell-for-me-stage-of-novel-writing other people simply call a first draft.
I suppose DON'T BE BORING in itself adds some potentially paralyzing pressure to the process. (Why can't I come up with cute alliterations like that in my first drafts, when I can in this blog?)
But instead of letting the pressure scare me, I'm trying to think of it as more of a touchstone, a way to make choices.
And what exactly do I mean by DON'T BE BORING? Well, other than having interesting characters in a plot that's fast paced and non-repetitive, my don't be boring rule boils down to two main things: conflict and tension.
Now, that may sound like two ways of saying the same thing, but I'm starting to think they are (or can be) two different concepts.
I think of conflict as making sure my POV character has a goal in each scene and something keeping him/her from achieving that goal. As long as my character is doing something active to struggle against whatever's keeping him/her from their goal, I figure there's conflict in that scene. (And of course, there should be goals and conflicts for the overall story, but I'm talking at a scene level here.)
And by tension, I mean that in every exchange of dialogue, in every description, in every passage of internal thought, there should be some kind of tension. It can be as simple as having a character say one thing when they mean another, or layering two conversations together, where each party wants to be discussing a different topic and is battling for control of the conversation. (And I don't mean arguing, it can be playful, I mean just swapping topics back and forth.) Or even as simple as having the character feeling an emotion they want to hide, or having the descriptive details of the setting oppose what the character's feeling, or highlight some other dimension to what they are feeling. Tension.
I think this is what Donald Maass calls micro-tension, and it's more subtle than the heavier hammer of "conflict". And while it's harder to achieve, I also think great writers of fiction do it naturally, without even thinking about it. They ensure there's a push-pull feeling to their writing, even when doing description. And while some may do this intuitively, the rest of us have to work at it. And I think what it boils down to is: don't write anything that is boring.
Wow, could my point get more circular?
I think my 13 days of rapid first drafting has eaten my brain. (Hmmm... brains... zombies... yes... this book needs more zombies...)
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Something in the air
I had what I can only describe as a crushing disappointment a couple of weeks ago.
Over the summer, I'd been working out the details of an idea that I'd been toying with for months. It was going to be the second book in my urban fantasy series about a supernatural Messenger. I'd had the idea for it back when I started submitting the first book in the series in 2008 and it was time to flesh it out and send it to my editor who'd never seen more than a paragraph about it. The idea was based on Euripedes' The Bacchae and the title was Messenger in a Bottle.
There were ties to the wine country near where I live in California. There were naked women roaming through the woods having orgies and ripping cattle apart with their bare hands. There was vengeance and sorrow. It was going to be such fun! I wrote close to 60 pages of it and wrote a fairly detailed synopsis of it (not an easy feat for me) and sent it to my editor at the end of August.
She called last week.
Guess what they apparently did on the last season of TrueBlood? Yep. You guessed it. Bacchae running naked through the woods, ripping apart cattle, having orgies. Vengeance being called down. All of it. So, despite actually liking the proposal, we're not doing it.
It's not like I don't have other ideas for my Messenger series. I do. I'm even fairly enamored of some of them, but I'd put it in work on this one! And it's getting rejected not because it's poorly written or poorly thought through or just poor. It's getting rejected because Alan freaking Ball beat me to the punch.
My friend Sara says it's called Parallel Development. My sweetheart rocked me to sleep that night saying, "It's just like when they had those two asteroid movies at the same time. There was just something in the air."
Has that happened to anyone else? You work out a fab idea just to find out someone else pulled the trigger faster than you?
Monday, November 02, 2009
Thoughts on Twilight...yes, that Twilight.
We're sick. Husband was gone for the night, the kids were asleep I had no Mad Men to watch and Twilight was free on my movie channel. I haven't read the book - up until this point I hadn't had any inappropriate feeling for Robert Pattinson - but I decided to watch it. As an experiment, you know. To see what the hub bub was about.
And I have to say I totally get the hub bub. Again, haven't read the book - but the movie is FRAUGHT - with everything. Tension. Teen angst. Sex. Kristen Stewert pants her way through the entire movie in a convincing manner. I mean she just pants. Through the whole movie. And Robert Pattinson is like dream casting. He's handsome and creepy looking - all at the same time. And now I'm having inappropriate feelings for him.
I like how everything is set up for future books/movies. It works. It's convincing. Love triangle - bad vampire on a rampage. I like the vampire family and of course the glittering in sunlight is a nice twist.
That said - it's pretty bad. I mean, really she pants through the whole thing. The dialogue is right out of a bad Presents novel - the whole thing is like a YA Presents novel, which makes sense. That's when most of us started reading those Presents novels.
Honestly, we need to do a better job of catering to teenage female fantasy while providing a depiction of equality and compassion in a romantic relationship. Can't we temper the total assholeness of some of these heroes with something other than obsessive jealousy? Is this something that's hardwired into us? That at fifteen, a guy is only sexy or exciting when he's first an utter jerk followed by sentiment like "you're my whole life now, Bella." And it's okay for him to watch her while she sleeps? No it's not. It's weird.
Have you guys experienced the phenomenon? Book? Movie? What did you think?
And I have to say I totally get the hub bub. Again, haven't read the book - but the movie is FRAUGHT - with everything. Tension. Teen angst. Sex. Kristen Stewert pants her way through the entire movie in a convincing manner. I mean she just pants. Through the whole movie. And Robert Pattinson is like dream casting. He's handsome and creepy looking - all at the same time. And now I'm having inappropriate feelings for him.
I like how everything is set up for future books/movies. It works. It's convincing. Love triangle - bad vampire on a rampage. I like the vampire family and of course the glittering in sunlight is a nice twist.
That said - it's pretty bad. I mean, really she pants through the whole thing. The dialogue is right out of a bad Presents novel - the whole thing is like a YA Presents novel, which makes sense. That's when most of us started reading those Presents novels.
Honestly, we need to do a better job of catering to teenage female fantasy while providing a depiction of equality and compassion in a romantic relationship. Can't we temper the total assholeness of some of these heroes with something other than obsessive jealousy? Is this something that's hardwired into us? That at fifteen, a guy is only sexy or exciting when he's first an utter jerk followed by sentiment like "you're my whole life now, Bella." And it's okay for him to watch her while she sleeps? No it's not. It's weird.
Have you guys experienced the phenomenon? Book? Movie? What did you think?
Friday, October 30, 2009
Aliens and monsters and vampires, oh my!
I love horror movies. I’ve seen an embarrassing amount in the theatre, some wonderful, Pans Labrynth, Alien, 28 days later, some pretty good, Jeepers Creepers, Event Horizon, Deep Rising and some really, really bad, Evil Dead, Resident Evil, Leviathan.
Aliens, and Jaws count would definitely hit my top ten movie list.
I’ve seen most of horrors released over the past twenty years, even the one about the evil tooth fairy… yep, I am not a discriminating horror watcher.
And I love the thrills, the tension created when you know the bad guy(monster) lurks around the corner and I love to jump in my seat when a movie surprises me. But there are two types of horror that I cannot be bothered with.
1) Torture porn. I find these primarily boring and just a little gross. They replaced tension with fake blood, and an attempt to disgust the audience. I don’t watch horror to squirm in my seat. This includes the Saw series, the hostel movies, the remake of the hills have eyes, and the rest that seem to keep getting made.
2) Most Zombie movies. I have to exclude 28 days later and Shaun of the Dead. I loved both movies, and have watched them both at least twice since the first time I saw them. But to me, Zombie movies aren’t horror, they are disaster movies, and I do not enjoy disaster movies.
I realize this sounds weird. But here is my explanation. The thrill of horror is that in the end, the resolution is usually, the bad guy(alien, monster, shark) gets defeated, so that through the enormous tension, we, the audience, get relief in the end. But Zombie movies, in general, offer nothing except perhaps the main character gets to escape to fight another day, or they don’t escape and end of movie. Basically, it’s an end of days movie, and those don’t really thrill me. Without the release of tension, what was the point to the build up?
But I think I’m alone in this theory..
But as someone who’s seen a lot of horror and sci fi, here are my favourites, The Alien Series, Jaws 1 and 2, Pans Labrynth, The Descent, Deep Rising(it had a sense of humor, something else invaluable in a horror) The original Halloween, and a few more I’m forgetting.
Anyone else like these movies?
Aliens, and Jaws count would definitely hit my top ten movie list.
I’ve seen most of horrors released over the past twenty years, even the one about the evil tooth fairy… yep, I am not a discriminating horror watcher.
And I love the thrills, the tension created when you know the bad guy(monster) lurks around the corner and I love to jump in my seat when a movie surprises me. But there are two types of horror that I cannot be bothered with.
1) Torture porn. I find these primarily boring and just a little gross. They replaced tension with fake blood, and an attempt to disgust the audience. I don’t watch horror to squirm in my seat. This includes the Saw series, the hostel movies, the remake of the hills have eyes, and the rest that seem to keep getting made.
2) Most Zombie movies. I have to exclude 28 days later and Shaun of the Dead. I loved both movies, and have watched them both at least twice since the first time I saw them. But to me, Zombie movies aren’t horror, they are disaster movies, and I do not enjoy disaster movies.
I realize this sounds weird. But here is my explanation. The thrill of horror is that in the end, the resolution is usually, the bad guy(alien, monster, shark) gets defeated, so that through the enormous tension, we, the audience, get relief in the end. But Zombie movies, in general, offer nothing except perhaps the main character gets to escape to fight another day, or they don’t escape and end of movie. Basically, it’s an end of days movie, and those don’t really thrill me. Without the release of tension, what was the point to the build up?
But I think I’m alone in this theory..
But as someone who’s seen a lot of horror and sci fi, here are my favourites, The Alien Series, Jaws 1 and 2, Pans Labrynth, The Descent, Deep Rising(it had a sense of humor, something else invaluable in a horror) The original Halloween, and a few more I’m forgetting.
Anyone else like these movies?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Jaws...'nuff said.
So it’s freak out week and I have to say I fall right in line with my predecessors. Okay maybe not Maureen – I could handle Scooby. However, I can’t handle gore, serious blood or sick stuff.
Sinead it sounds like you’re going to have to be the brave one this week.
My fears make up a very simple 'don’t' list…
Don’t let your thirteen year old middle school friends tell you that Friday the 13th Part (fill in blank here) isn’t that scary… traumatized me for life.
Don’t watch one of those true crime specials on Jack the Ripper before going to bed at any age. Don’t know why it is but Jack the Ripper freaks me WAY out.
Don’t in your dreams accept a mission from God. Now I know this is a difficult one, God asks you to pony up and you think you can handle it. Trust me when I tell you He sends you on some dangerous stuff in your dreams. The one “nightmare” event I had – I was six. God needed me to steal something from the devil. I had to monkey bar my way over a pit of fire to extract a burning message. Now at six I thought I was the world champion of monkey bars… so I was like no problem G I got you covered. However, when the devil caught me hanging by my knees over said pit of fire… well I can’t remember the rest. Just a lot of screaming. It was the one and only time my parents had to come get me.
And finally… do I even need to list this? Isn’t this accepted throughout society? Do NOT watch Jaws before going in the water. I don’t care if it’s a pool, lake, ocean or bathtub. He’s still going to get you and eat you. It’s what he does. Right after the music starts to play…
Eileen good luck with your release. I’ve just put it on my next Amazon purchase. However based on Molly’s assessment I will be reading this during daylight hours!
Sinead it sounds like you’re going to have to be the brave one this week.
My fears make up a very simple 'don’t' list…
Don’t let your thirteen year old middle school friends tell you that Friday the 13th Part (fill in blank here) isn’t that scary… traumatized me for life.
Don’t watch one of those true crime specials on Jack the Ripper before going to bed at any age. Don’t know why it is but Jack the Ripper freaks me WAY out.
Don’t in your dreams accept a mission from God. Now I know this is a difficult one, God asks you to pony up and you think you can handle it. Trust me when I tell you He sends you on some dangerous stuff in your dreams. The one “nightmare” event I had – I was six. God needed me to steal something from the devil. I had to monkey bar my way over a pit of fire to extract a burning message. Now at six I thought I was the world champion of monkey bars… so I was like no problem G I got you covered. However, when the devil caught me hanging by my knees over said pit of fire… well I can’t remember the rest. Just a lot of screaming. It was the one and only time my parents had to come get me.
And finally… do I even need to list this? Isn’t this accepted throughout society? Do NOT watch Jaws before going in the water. I don’t care if it’s a pool, lake, ocean or bathtub. He’s still going to get you and eat you. It’s what he does. Right after the music starts to play…
Eileen good luck with your release. I’ve just put it on my next Amazon purchase. However based on Molly’s assessment I will be reading this during daylight hours!
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