Here's something I did tonight. Experimenting with tags. I tried to punctuate the dialogue with action and reaction to avoid a ping-pong feeling like you see here:
“I want to go to the party.”
“Don’t you think I know what goes on at those things?”
“I want to go, all my friends—“
“Are you a sheep? You sure sound like one.”
“I just want to go, nothing will happen.”
“It’s all drugs and sex. Don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes.”
"It's not all that stuff."
“How do you know it’s not all that stuff? You haven’t been invited to a party since you were eleven years old.”
“Which is why I want to go!”
“You’ll get a drugged drink, and some joker will cut your hair off.”
“Oh. I guess I don’t want to go so much.”
Now here it is with tags:
“I want to go to the party.” Marjorie avoided her mother’s eyes.
Her mother stared up at Marjorie over her knitting. “Don’t you think I know what goes on at those things?”
“I want to go, all my friends—“
“Are you a sheep? You sure sound like one.” Marjorie’s mother returned her grey eyes to her knitting. She was making a yellow and blue hat with a big pompom on the top for Marjorie.
“I just want to go, nothing will happen.” She was twisting her black hair between three fingers as if to spin it into gold.
“It’s all drugs and sex. Don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes.” The knitting had stopped, she was appraising her daughter like an Orkin man examining a festering ant pile.
“It’s not all that stuff. It’s the end of the year—“
“How do you know it’s not all that stuff? You haven’t been invited to a party since you were eleven years old.”
Marjorie jumped at the opening. “Which is why I want to go!”
Her mother calmly retorted,“You’ll get a drugged drink, and some joker will cut your hair off.”
Marjorie’s hands clenched her skein of hair. She had been growing it out for seven years. It was well past her waist, straight and thick. No one else in school had hair like hers, and while she was secretly proud of it, her classmates had seen it for what it was—something no one else had, or wanted.
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. Her mother relaxed as the ants took the bait.
“I guess I don’t want to go so much.”
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
No writing! Zounds!
Time totally got away from me last night. I meant to write, which I think is a better intention than purposely avoiding writing. I checked out about 6 books from the library, they should help me research two characters and my next major plot point.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
8 random things
1. I climbed Mount Timpanogos with my dad when I was about 10 years old. It's a 20-mile hike up to the peak, which is almost 12,000 feet. I was wearing canvas shoes from Payless.
2. I knew I was going to marry my now husband the first time I saw him.
3. After my first c-section, I was so drugged I forgot to breathe. It was just too much trouble.
4. I love Alfred Hitchcock films, The Twilight Zone series, and 1980s British comedy.
5. Since I was a kid, upon moving into a new residence I've had to rehearse in my mind every night the escape routes if someone came in to kill me.
6. My earliest memory is smashing my face into a chair leg after spinning around like Cinderella. I was three years old. Ten years later I smashed my face into a driveway trying to run bent-over commando style. both activites are harder than they look.
7. When I was little there was this girl next-door who could double-cross her legs. I was relieved when I figured out how to do this. Since then, the ability to double-cross my legs is the boundary between fit and fat.
8. I'm the product of homeschool, public school, and private school. I'm a high school dropout with a political science degree from BYU.
And I tag Liz and Theadra (like they don't have enough to do...) But actually doing got my story juices going again, so thanks Jake for tagging me.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Lost Weekend
So I took 3 days off. You know that factoid that says it takes 21 days to establish a habit? That only applies to good habits. Bad habits, it's more like 4 days. I must be a habitual writer now because it felt weird to not write for those 3 days. I'm not encouraging anyone to stop writing on purpose, but I found that I actually missed it (although the thought of sitting down to my computer also made me want to run screaming out into the night). Anyway, I let myself just ruminate on some ideas and now I'm back on track. Made up for lost time today too. Maybe this will be the week I top the charts, who knows?
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Stephenie Meyer
Quick backstory. Although Stephenie Meyer is not my favorite author in the world, I was inspired down to my core by her success. I read her Twilight series in January (thanks to Jake's stellar wife) and proceeded to write my own book. I had a great idea, and a great support system between my husband and my mom. Then I joined Wordcount Buddies. Lots of inspiring new resources there.
I went to Stephenie Meyer's booksigning last night. At 5:00, I got in line for an hour in the Texas heat (got bit by a fire ant too). Then I waited on one of a thousand chairs for another hour with a really snobby girl and her snobbier mom next to me. They were clearly unhappy that they were sitting so close to some dumpy bourgeois who smelled like onions. So no cool conversations, just reading The Host while I waited. Oh, and we had to write our names on a post-it note if we wanted the book personalized.
At 7:00, Stephenie came out and everyone screamed at her (in joy and excitement). I thought this was kind of rude. So I just sat there until everyone sat down. The snobby mother and daughter didn't stand or scream either. That made me feel like a snob too.
She launched right in to some question and answers for 20 minutes. I'll just put the writing-pertinent answers here because I don't think many of my lurkers specifically like her writing.
Do you write for a demographic, and do you intentionally try to please your fans?No. I follow the story as it comes even though people might not like it. I don't try to write for a particular demographic. When I wrote The Host my editor said, "this is an Adult novel." And I was like, "okay."
What would you tell new writers that you wished you had known?She wished she had understood how the editing process works. Anything can happen once you turn the script over for editing. There are two content edits, where they try to change whole sections of the plot or characters or whatever. In her case her editors wanted to kill off Bella's mom. Then you go through a line edit where they give you lines to rewrite so they sound better. Then there's a copy edit and a typo edit. So don't be devastated when you get a big editing package back. It's normal. Then after all that explaining, she said don't worry about the publishing process as you write. That can be paralyzing. Just please yourself.
She also said if she could rewrite her first book she would take out every third adverb.
Then, as we filed in to get our books signed (I was in the center of the seated crowd and I got to her at 9:15), I got all nervous about what, if anything, I wanted to say to her. I mean, this is the woman who started a HUGE change in my life. Not your typical celebrity. Anyway, I decided to say "Of all the people on the influential people list from Time magazine, you are the most influential in my life because you inspired me to write a book of my own." Cheesy, but true.
Finally I set my book down on the table, and while she was concentrating on how to spell my name on the post-it note, I blurted out, "You are the most infuential person on that list...because...of you I started writing." She had glanced up quizzically when I said "because" and then looked back down to finish her signature while I stumbled on. She said, "Thank you." I think we were both embarrassed for me. But then, as she shut the book, she said, "Good luck with your writing."
And I was happy.
I went to Stephenie Meyer's booksigning last night. At 5:00, I got in line for an hour in the Texas heat (got bit by a fire ant too). Then I waited on one of a thousand chairs for another hour with a really snobby girl and her snobbier mom next to me. They were clearly unhappy that they were sitting so close to some dumpy bourgeois who smelled like onions. So no cool conversations, just reading The Host while I waited. Oh, and we had to write our names on a post-it note if we wanted the book personalized.
At 7:00, Stephenie came out and everyone screamed at her (in joy and excitement). I thought this was kind of rude. So I just sat there until everyone sat down. The snobby mother and daughter didn't stand or scream either. That made me feel like a snob too.
She launched right in to some question and answers for 20 minutes. I'll just put the writing-pertinent answers here because I don't think many of my lurkers specifically like her writing.
Do you write for a demographic, and do you intentionally try to please your fans?No. I follow the story as it comes even though people might not like it. I don't try to write for a particular demographic. When I wrote The Host my editor said, "this is an Adult novel." And I was like, "okay."
What would you tell new writers that you wished you had known?She wished she had understood how the editing process works. Anything can happen once you turn the script over for editing. There are two content edits, where they try to change whole sections of the plot or characters or whatever. In her case her editors wanted to kill off Bella's mom. Then you go through a line edit where they give you lines to rewrite so they sound better. Then there's a copy edit and a typo edit. So don't be devastated when you get a big editing package back. It's normal. Then after all that explaining, she said don't worry about the publishing process as you write. That can be paralyzing. Just please yourself.
She also said if she could rewrite her first book she would take out every third adverb.
Then, as we filed in to get our books signed (I was in the center of the seated crowd and I got to her at 9:15), I got all nervous about what, if anything, I wanted to say to her. I mean, this is the woman who started a HUGE change in my life. Not your typical celebrity. Anyway, I decided to say "Of all the people on the influential people list from Time magazine, you are the most influential in my life because you inspired me to write a book of my own." Cheesy, but true.
Finally I set my book down on the table, and while she was concentrating on how to spell my name on the post-it note, I blurted out, "You are the most infuential person on that list...because...of you I started writing." She had glanced up quizzically when I said "because" and then looked back down to finish her signature while I stumbled on. She said, "Thank you." I think we were both embarrassed for me. But then, as she shut the book, she said, "Good luck with your writing."
And I was happy.
The Wall of Shame
For the first time in almost two months I have legitimately quit writing for two days. I couldn't bring myself to write anything; my main story is getting so stale. I have no desire to tell it anymore. So I considered writing exercises or rudessions, but those just feel like I'm avoiding the problem. So yeah, flog away.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Family Milestones this Month
It's Christmas in May, that's what it is. Time for the annual self-important monologue about our family's exploits.
Sterling learned to walk. Oh what's that you say? Which Sterling? Well, obviously the 1-year-old.
Eleanor has been doing chores for about a month now saving up for a Cinderella magic wand. It cost $8 but we only charged her 3. She had buyer's remorse the next morning. Definitely takes after her father.
Adrienne hit 170 pounds. Is that on her way up or down? You be the judge. Last year at this time she was rocking 215 pounds. Egad.
And Sterling has been averaging one thousand words a day of creative writing on various projects for the last two weeks. He has also been reading at least one novel every day. Oh what's that you say? Did I not clarify WHICH Sterling I was talking about?
Sterling learned to walk. Oh what's that you say? Which Sterling? Well, obviously the 1-year-old.
Eleanor has been doing chores for about a month now saving up for a Cinderella magic wand. It cost $8 but we only charged her 3. She had buyer's remorse the next morning. Definitely takes after her father.
Adrienne hit 170 pounds. Is that on her way up or down? You be the judge. Last year at this time she was rocking 215 pounds. Egad.
And Sterling has been averaging one thousand words a day of creative writing on various projects for the last two weeks. He has also been reading at least one novel every day. Oh what's that you say? Did I not clarify WHICH Sterling I was talking about?
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