Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Photo Credit: Cathryn Louis (me!)
Last week I learned that my car has a transfer case. I don’t know exactly what it is or what it does, but I do know that it can crack. Mine did. Perfect. Just lovely. The perfect end to the winter season in which I’ve struggled to get my novel published – and failed. Many false starts and mis-steps – or as I prefer to spin it ‘learning opportunities’. No longer sunny, I was heading down the road toward blue. So what did I do with the lemons (and multiple cliches) suddenly raining down on my head? It’s spring – time for lemonade!
It’s all a matter of perception, and I decided that I wanted to look on the bright side. So what do I have to be happy about?
- A recent, chance meeting with someone whose critique I highly value, and who I hope to someday meet IRL (in real life), if only to express my profuse thanks. After questions and comments about the inciting incident paragraphs gave me the courage to make the change that had to be made, Sparks is significantly better. I had believed in my story before, but now I have confidence. Sparks is **wink, wink** a competitive story. We’ll see how it turns out.
- It’s been since November that I’ve been working toward getting Sparks published. Looking back, I know that my knowledge of the business has grown phenomenally since then. Could I have learned differently? Maybe, but this quote shared by @BeautyOfWisdom says it all. It’s the only way I can learn, and have it ‘stick’ for the long haul.
- April was a learning month. I am still a working professional in a far different industry and my daughter’s dreams must come before my own. Still, I’ve found a way to learn directly from publishing professionals even though, for me, writer’s conferences are still a pipe dream. Duh… Webinars! Those that I’ve attended are Writer’s Digest webinars and I’m sure there are others as well.
So what’s up with my new little friend, Mello Yello? It was a loaner during the time that my car was being repaired, courtesy of the extended warranty. We had BIG FUN. I thought about getting a peace sign necklace to hang on the rear view mirror, but a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows necklace works just as well. It has truly lifted my spirits. Peace Out Peeples!
Filed under: onPublishing by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « blues - inspiration - mello yello - peace »
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Thursday, April 26th, 2012
I love to read – almost more than I now know I love to write. For the past month, I’ve been reading far more than I’ve been writing. It wasn’t as pleasurable as I wanted it to be, because there was a nagging feeling that my reading wasn’t productive. I hadn’t been writing about it. I’m an author – I’m supposed to post reviews of what I read.
Then my stubborn streak kicked in. “Says who?”
Some authors are wired to author reviews of other authors’ works, and seem to do a very good job of it. But I’m not among that number. Suppose I read a book that I love – until the pieces come together for the climax. Then I find it to be contrived and the antagonist’s purpose, success and ultimate downfall based on a premise that – I feel – the climax exposes as unrealistic. The author of the book that I (hypothetically) now detest spent at least as much time in writing their book as I have in writing mine. Who am I to give it a bad review? I am only one reader.
I could go halfway and just write reviews of books that I love. But for an analytical type like me, that’s only part of the story. The more books that I didn’t write reviews for, the more imbalance there would be in my brain and the more I would resemble Sheldon on Big Bang Theory. Sometimes I think he’s channeling the unbalanced me… 😀 Only kidding.
So I just won’t do it – write reviews, that is. Now that I’ve figured that out, I can go back to reading for enjoyment. But what about sites like Goodreads? My ‘read’ shelf shows how long I’ve been conflicted about this. The last book I added (and briefly reviewed) was almost two years ago. So what to do?
I’ve decided that I’ll continue to put books on my “read’ shelf, but only the ones I truly loved. They’ll all have five-star reviews and maybe a brief sentence or two. But what does it mean for books that are not on my ‘read’ shelf? Nothing. It means nothing at all.
Filed under: OnWriting by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « author - reader - reviews »
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Thursday, April 19th, 2012
This is probably the third or fourth time I’ve whined about my characters, but I truly do wish they would behave. It’s extremely rude, I think, that while being intricately painted, they should snatch the brush out of my hand and proceed to paint themselves. I’ve even had a few paint themselves out of the picture. Imagine that – suicidal characters.
What the characters come up with is never what I originally envisioned and I then have to refashion the story around them. My worst critics, they then start to change the story until it suits them. Sometimes several characters want to pull it in different directions, installing new dramatic conflict that I then have to adjust the story to handle. No wonder ‘writing is rewriting’. I may as well just hand them my laptop and have done with it.
Filed under: OnWriting by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « characters - conflict - storycraft »
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Thursday, April 12th, 2012
The world from up there is very different.
I took one last look at the high-rise and my former penthouse condo at almost its very top. And then I turned my back on it.
I’d had my finger on the pulse of high-finance. I’d been master of profitable shenanigans that grew more outrageous with each year. Unexpectedly, at the height of my mastery, the financial houses all came crashing down. Many of them were saved, but mine was given the death sentence. We were all forced out onto the street. At least I was able to sell my condo before the bottom fell out of the real estate market.
I moved into a three-story walkup to conserve my cash while I searched for another position. I was high-priced executive talent. It should have been easy. That was four years ago. Contacts, acquaintances, and even those whom I had thought of as friends didn’t return my calls; they ignored me just as I had ignored many others when I was master of the ring.
Doors were closed. I was too qualified for most positions, and as the effects of the crash reverberated through the economy, the need for executive suite, financial talent wasted away. Executives at the remaining companies did not want to hire someone who was sure to be their competition for the next higher slot.
After two years, my savings had dwindled significantly. If I’d still had access to insider financial reports, I may have been able to grow it back through the stock market. But I couldn’t afford to play the fool’s game of investing blind.
I moved in to one of those daily rent hotels and took day labor jobs. Even advancement through those was closed to me. I was a former ‘suit’ trying to hone in on their territory.
Today I’m homeless; dragging my last, well-worn piece of designer leather luggage, with barely enough in the patched pocket of my moth-eaten cashmere coat for for the one-way ticket out. I’ve no choice left but to go back to the town I turned my back on twenty-five years ago.
I had conquered this city; enjoyed its pleasures to the utmost in my arrogance and greed. Now the soleless shoe is on the other foot – mine.
Filed under: Flashes by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « abusiveness - finance - power - stories - technology »
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Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Any author who wants their stories to be read has to write good ones. Here’s the dilemma – how does one know what makes a good story? I doubt that anyone sets out to write a bad story, but on the other hand, I bet there are few – experts included – who can unimpeachably say what truly makes a good one.
Being an as yet unpublished author, I don’t qualify to even attempt an answer to the question. But of one thing I am sure. Readers are a very good indicator of whether or not the story is a good one. If it is, they will talk, and talk and talk about it. Non-stop. They will know the characters, have favorite characters and scenes, disagree with other readers about the finer points of the story, and on and on. When that happens, those who matter have declared the story a good one – no matter what an expert may say.
The corollary to the above has to be that if there is only ringing silence, the story is not – yet? – a good one. Very few will tell an author that a story is bad, or can even point out problems that keep a story from being good. Most of us, careful of the feelings of others, will simply say nothing or avoid situations where we could be asked.
So even though I can’t definitively say what makes a good story, we all know it when we see it – readers will be knocking down the door to say how much they love it. Unless they are, there needs to be more work. And another thing we all know: agents and publishers are readers too.
Filed under: OnWriting by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « author - reader »
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Thursday, March 29th, 2012
Hmmm… I’m having a hard time choosing the fate of a particular character. It isn’t that I’m overly fond of him; it’s just that I’m unsure which scenario best suits the story.
If I murder him, then the heroine is left with an item she’s never seen before and a quest to unlock the mystery. If he lives, events build to a confrontation between the two.Talking – or writing – through it, I can say that the heroine is already on one quest and the one created by the death of the character confuses the story with another one. Or if I’m very clever, I can use it to extend her main quest.
On the other hand, confrontation forces each of them to be honest with the other about the emotional root of their actions. The down side is that when I write dialogue, the characters take over the tale, and I may find the story going in a direction other than the one I’ve outlined. I promised myself not to pantz this time.
But story rules! So if the characters do pull it in a different direction, the outline will just have to go with it. A post blogged; a decision made. Thanks for listening… er, reading!
Filed under: OnWriting by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « choices - conflict - dialogue - mystery - n2 - outline - quest - wip »
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Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
After struggling with the structure for my new book, I gave up. Yep – I did. Me, the incurable optimist. I waved the white flag, threw in the towel, and then I red read. Lots. And I’m the better for it. I have learned that I was having so much trouble with this new novel because I had been trying to harmonize several independent linear lines of story.
The past and the present, the different perspectives of the action plot, and those of the romantic plot must travel along their respective paths until they combine to drive the novel to its climax; then to the denouement beyond. For me to get it right, I have to impose structure from the very beginning – no pantsing a first draft this time.
Now that I’ve studied and practiced the technique of counterpoint, I can compose the novel with purpose and confidence; boldly going where, just a short time ago, I had feared to tread. (How’s that for mixing clichéd metaphors?) That I am pushing the boundaries of what I know I can do is an understatement. Still, with eye firmly cocked, I’m optimistic that I can pull it off. I hope my musician friend would be proud. This is going to be fun!
I took the first step that led me down this path when I discovered that one of the main characters is lost in a fugue… ;-D
Filed under: OnWriting by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « counterpoint - n2 - outline - plot - storyboard - storycraft - wip »
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Thursday, March 15th, 2012
Vestiges of footsteps. Not always easy to discern.
Mostly ephemeral; sometimes, as in concrete, impossible to remove. A footstep may take one back to what was, on to what will be, or off on a detour to the unexpected; but always to a new version of place.
Some footsteps lead to a solitary journey. Others, to a communal one. A footstep can lead to a higher plane, or to the depths of despair.
A step up onto the shoulders of giants puts the whole world below; a shimmering awe inspiring gift. A false step can send one plummeting down; landing as the lowest pariah, shunned by all.
Think of it: with thousands of footsteps in between, only one step begins a marathon; only one step ends it.
Each footstep, merely a moment of experience, albeit infinitely deep, is in preparation for the next. Step by step, living is unveiled in the journeys that unfold.
Filed under: Randomness by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « fireworks - footsteps - fun »
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Thursday, March 8th, 2012
The distant crashing of ocean waves accents crickets chirping in the lawn, and the occasional croak of a nearby frog; tonight’s version of nature’s orchestra. We lounge in the over-sized reading chaise; he, with his iPad, me, busy with the keyboard on my new Duo.
Encircling me with his arm, he looks over my shoulder. “You’re over-thinking it.”
I sigh. “I know, but I can’t let it go.”
“Maybe you need a diversion.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Oh, a couple of things.” Placing his iPad on the chair-side table, he kisses my ear, my cheek.
I put my laptop aside. I can always over-think it tomorrow…
Beautifully idyllic, and entirely fabricated. 😀
But it’s far more interesting than what really happened: I simply decided to stop berating myself, and instead, be heartened by the spirit of encouragement.
Filed under: onPublishing by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « bait-n-switch - debut - distraction - harmony - wip »
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Thursday, March 1st, 2012
‘Snippet’. Snip pet. Such a funny word. I could have used ‘fragment’, but it’s not nearly as much fun, and ‘scrap’ is just plain boring.
My snip pets are the paragraphs and pages of unconnected writing I’ve been accumulating over the past couple of months. They all relate to the new novel, but don’t form a cohesive story. So now, I have to catalog them. Do they belong to the present, or to the past? Which character has the POV?
Is it part of the thriller plot, the love story plot, or OMG ANOTHER PLOT? Just kidding. :)I should have created a folder structure to hold them as I wrote them. Since I didn’t, I have to do it now. I had an epiphany this past weekend, revealing the chapter structure. I can now create my artifacts document with its plots, subplots, outline, scene table, and the map that connects them all now that I have story to work with.
No time like the present…
Filed under: OnWriting by Cathryn Louis
Tags: « artifact - wip »
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