B.L. Dayhoff's Blog, page 6

Surprise, it’s Sunday!

I was a bit thrown off when Sunday arrived this week. Things have been crazy around here–and I can’t even say with what. I just go to work, come home, and then the day is done! I’d blame winter, but with the days SLOWLY getting longer, I can’t really set it all on that.

I know part of it is that I’ve been watching a lot of TV. Last week was super bad for me, so I was using TV pretty much to decompress and not think about all the things I needed to do (or else the weather was keeping me from doing things).

Except once I was feeling better, I just…kept watching TV. It was so wonderfully mindless! But if I’m watching TV, I can’t write or edit, so…

I JUST finished edits on my 1880s Western werewolf story. Part of that was because it needed serious edits, and part of that was just being a slacker. So now the month is half over and I’ve not started as much as I planned.

I have cut out TV again–or at least limited it to AFTER I’ve gotten some things done. It’s a reward rather than a thing to do when bored.

And I got word that I should be expecting my edits soon, which also means I need to fill out all the fun stuff with covers and marketing and so forth! So “Growing Strong” is moving along (although I’m not wild about the title).

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for this update!

 

Analysis of “Awaiting Orders” by Tobias Wolff

This was the second story in The Best American Short Stories 2006 anthology. I must admit I feel like I’ve read another short story by Tobias Wolff (the name is familiar) although it was back in college and I can’t find a good list of his short stories’ titles.

In general I enjoyed this story more. It felt more like a slice of life with obvious purpose. A sergeant answers a call which leads to a series of events and a series of information that we learn about the narrator. I swear I didn’t like this story just because the main character was gay (or at least had relations with men, and solely men).

In my research to see if Wolff had written another story I recognized, I also peeked to see that he was married with children and seventy years old. While this doesn’t necessarily affect the piece, I felt that for an older man who is likely straight (although not definitely, I recognize the assumption here), his representation of homosexual relations was even-keeled. It was neither romanticized nor demonized, but rather a fairly honest representation.

The themes of the story is pride and giving/receiving and hospitality. The woman in the story is tending for her nephew, while her brother the father is skipping out on responsibilities (and now out of the country b/c of the army). Anytime the narrator tries to pay for something or offer her money, she refuses–which is later said to be the stubborn pride of mountain/country folk.

But it was also said that if the narrator had offered his own residence as a place to crash for the night instead of offering money for a hotel, that the woman likely would have taken him because hospitality is always accepted.

However, it’s at this time that we learn that the narrator didn’t offer his boyfriend’s house (where he’s pretty much staying now) because “What he feared, what he could not allow, was for her to see how [the boyfriend] looked at him, and then to see that he could not give back what he received. That things between them were unequal, and himself unloving.”

So this woman who has no money, has lost hours/job because of her responsibility, is unwilling to take what she needs because of her pride, and yet this man, who has money and a steady job, is willing to take love without returning it. There’s a lot to really pull apart and analyze here, which isn’t really my purpose of these.

From a creative standpoint, we start with a phone call that hooks us and introduces the two main players, and through them the two side players. In a very short amount of time we’re given enough history about the characters that we have a feel for both of them, without being so overwhelmed with facts and information that it bogs down the pace of the story–and since this is a mellow piece, bogging it down would kill it.

The kicker is at the end, when we learn that the narrator doesn’t return the feelings for his on-going relationship, which lets the reader go back and read the story with a whole new angle. Obviously his discussion of his previous relationships, which just seemed like background, are showing us things about him. The story very capably tells a slice of these two characters’ lives while also telling us about all the deeper things happening to them that we don’t get to see and we have to explore/analyze on our own.

And yet the tale itself holds up without further analysis. To me, this represents a strong story, because it entertains, while making the reader think about the reasons why the characters behave in a certain fashion, while also implying the reader should ask those same questions of themselves.

 

 

January Update – February Goal

As always, January flew by!

But I don’t feel too far behind, so I’m counting it as a win. I obviously read one story and wrote up an analysis (Woohoo!) so victory on that count. And I’m about halfway done my edits for my current project.

My word counts haven’t been great, but when I’m working on edits, I have all those fun characters playing in my head and no new ones want to come invade the space. But hopefully by mid-February I’ll have the edits done and be able to work on something new. You know, around all of life, which is where I get into trouble ;)

I see writers (not counting those who do this full-time) putting out thousands of words a week, and I’m just blown away. I’m just not that fast. Which I think is fine. I’ll probably never do this as a full-time gig. It’s just for fun, right? And I don’t want to reach a point where it’s not FUN. Which is why I write stories I enjoy. They might not be high literature, but I have fun writing them and hopefully the audience it reaches has fun reading them.

And so, I’m going to have fun telling you about my next project…

Once it’s out of my head and a little bit closer to being on paper!

Pondering ‘Once the Shore’ by Paul Yoon

This is the story about a woman after the death of her aged husband and a waiter after the death of his brother. There is some humor in the story, but it’s overall a contemplative piece. Part of my struggle may be due to the fact that it’s been a really long time since I read short stories outside the romance genre. However, keeping that in mind, I will review and analyze.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I like the end and how it made me stop and think. Not much actually happens on the page, but a lot of emotional growth goes on, or at least appears to, especially in the waiter.

I found the waiter’s story more satisfying, as he made decisions and acted. The woman made the decision to come to the island, but after that seems stuck in indecision. She makes choices (asking to be led to the caves, etc), but it mostly feels like a hollow charcter being pulled along a path. Part of it may be that there is very little resolution in her story. She doesn’t know any answers to her questions and likely never will. And that’s fine.

But I didn’t really feel any change in her, and since I was in her head half the time, I would have liked something more. Perhaps her end scene is meant to tell us everything, but it felt too much like a man not knowing how to write a woman and thus giving this empty character for the young man to balance against. I don’t know if that is the case, or if she just ends unsatisfactorily, but her tale, while interesting, didn’t lead to growth, which I found disappointing.

The structure worked to create the two chacters, illustrate their problems, then resolve, or not, that issue. Because the action is so mellow, it’s a very different feel, especially since it ends on what is visually a very dramatic scene, but as the reader I feel like I’ve been left to do all the work and figure out what happened.

Maybe it’s the difference between literature and pulp. Short story and novel. Personal preference. I shall read on and figure it out, I guess.

Reading and analyzing

I’ve done a fair amount of reading in my day, but being an adult has kind of diminished that. I still want to read, but I tend to read for enjoyment (when I’m not trying to avoid reading things and getting other people’s characters stuck in my head).

One solution, I’m hoping, is to read short stories outside the genre I write in.

The characters hopefully won’t get in my head NEARLY as much.
If it’s short, I can finish it easily even if I don’t like it. And I can analyze what I did like/didn’t like about it. Not just that, but from a craft perspective, I can tear into the rising action, climax, falling action and all that boring school-learned stuff.
I won’t have a pile of books looking at me in disappointment (because that’s a WHOLE ‘nother pile).

So I’m planning to read parts/all of The Best American Short Stories of 2006 (ed Ann Patchett). Why this one?

Well, to be honest I saw it at Goodwill and picked it up for $1. There are 20 stories, and while I’m going to AIM to read 2 stories a month…let’s just say I’m horrid at resolutions. So I’ll be happy if I read an analyze one story a month (and, hey, that’ll get me blogging at least once a month t00!).

Look forward to my first review/analysis at the end of the month.

Oh crap, that’s less than half a month away!

Drama and tiny communities

There has been a lot of drama in the M/M (romance) community as late. I’m grateful that I can watch from afar and haven’t been involved, although it is commentary on my general lack of involvement in online things. But moving on…

One of the problems with the M/M romance community is that it’s small. So every little thing that happens causes waves of reaction that seems to reach every corner of the community. Many times while the original issue is a big deal, it’s probably not as big a deal as everyone’s reaction makes it seem.

Along those lines, because of its size, everyone feels the need to react, to give their feedback/thoughts, and announce where they stand on the issue. The internet (and social media) in general have made this happen even moreso. But ultimately it’s just a lot of gossiping. Did X happen? Yes. And yes, some people have a right to scream their emotions from the rooftops.

But the number of people directly involved probably wasn’t that big. And if you’re one of the parties screaming about X, then you’re probably more part of the problem. The solution? Don’t scream. State your piece, then move on. And if you aren’t really involved in the matter, just move on. Watch and listen and be there if your friends need a shoulder. But that consoling should probably be moved to a private medium (email/IM/chat) rather than clogging twitter feeds.

Now, I’m in no way saying you can’t/shouldn’t feel something about what’s happening. But just ask yourself if you really need to put your own two cents in. And if you have enough information about the subject to be PUTTING your two cents in. Are you taking sides too quickly? While you want to support a friend, make sure your friend has their facts straight as well.

I just think the community as a whole would benefit from not overreacting–or reacting too quickly–when events go down. Take a deep breath. Sleep on it. And then reappraise the situation.

That’s how I hope to handle things, should I ever actually be active during (or involved in) one of these events. And I suppose it’s a good rule of thumb for dealing with events in all our lives, but if you’re directly involved…I think there’s some leeway.

 

Happy New Year!

I’m only a little late, right?

I hope everyone had a good holiday and new year. Mine was rather hectic, as the family got sick, and sick, and sick. And then I got sick, sick, sick! It was nice to have the time off from work in order to recuperate, but it sure would have been more fun to be able to leave the house!

My writing has hit a bit of a speed bump, both because life has been busy and because I have too many ideas. I know this is a thing authors go through, where there a thousand good ideas, but we have to decide which one is good enough to be built into a book. Which ones are strong enough to be stretched and developed. And then we have to go develop them.

I find that I’ll be working on developing one idea, and then another pokes at me until I start paying attention to it. And then I go off…

Well, you see where this is going.

One goal for this year is to stop doing that. To jump on a project, chew it until it’s done, then send it off (to beta readers or publishers or whatever) and move on. Otherwise I’m going to end up with a million started projects that I want to “get back to” and one finished project.

My one plan for following through with this is to keep a list of story ideas that come upon me. Hopefully then the story will sit quietly and wait for me to finish my current project, then I can go back to it, review to see if it’s worthwhile, and move from there.

Anyone have any other suggestions on how not to get “oh shiny” syndrome?

Would you rather….

Saw this over at Words Read and Written and it sounded like a fun thing!

Would you rather read trilogies or stand-alones?

Stand-alones. HOWEVER, I do love stories that all take place in the same world, like Trowchester Blues, Bluewater Bay, Kim Dare’s Birds series, Tucker Springs, etc. They all stand alone, but they all tie in together too!

Would you rather read only male or female authors?

I don’t care. If all female authors or all male authors were to vanish from the Earth, I’d probably want the female authors to stick around, only because that’s who mainly writes in my preferred genre.

Would you rather shop at Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

If we’re just comparing ebooks…I guess Amazon, though I prefer to buy direct from the publisher for smaller houses :) That way the author gets more money!

Would you rather books were made into TV shows or movies?

Movies for stand-alones, but TV shows for series. Stand-alones as a TV show would probably just be waaaay too much space for the creators to fill.

Would you rather read only 5 pages per day or 5 books per week?

I’d LOVE to read 5 books per week. But realistically it’s going to be 5 pages per day…

Would you rather be a professional author or reviewer?

Professional author. Reviewing is fun, but I feel like I’m saying the same thing again and again after a while.

Would you rather be a librarian or a book seller?

Librarian. I’m too quiet to be a good book seller!

Would you rather read only your favourite genre or every genre but your favourite?

Lately I’ve been reading nothing but my favorite genre, so I’d probably go with that, although there would be books I’d miss reading!

Would you rather read only e-books or physical books?

Ebooks. 1. space reasons 2. always have it on me 3. they’re actually easier to read while lying down, which is how I do most of my reading!

How about you? Feel free to answer some or all of the questions above in the comments!

Hollow Book, part 2…the exciting conclusion!

Last time I was showing my process of making a hollow book. It pretty much looked like this:

It’s a long process of patience and being aware of when the blade is getting dull so you can replace it. Cut, cut, cut!

Once you’ve cut all the way to the bottom (I stopped just short of the bottom because…reasons?) then you apply glue all over the inside, and the top of the hollowed section, so when you close the book, the spare page covers any mess you made (like the lines and raw cuts on the above image). You once again protect the front cover by wrapping it in seran wrap. Then apply weight.

After it dries, you open the cover, cut out a hole in the sheet you covered the hole with, and viola! You have a hollow book.

For storing things. Like money.

Of course there are lots of shapes and things you can do, but my skill isn’t up there yet.

Well, I could be writing….

I am writing. But I can’t write every minute of the day (as much as I wish I could). I just burn out that way. So I’m being crafty instead.

And before anyone yells at me, this book could probably have found a good home, but it’s an educational tool and likely would have ended up in the trash. Sad, but true.

So I found purpose for it. It’s going to be a hollow book on my shelf, likely holding some spare cash I have lying around.

And yes, the title is meant to be funny/ironic/something. The first step is to remove the cover. It’s probably possible to leave it on, but it’s more work than I care to do.

Also this book looks pretty nice without the cover, so I don’t feel too bad. Next you glue the back binding and all the pages together. I use a water/elmer’s glue mix to saturate the edges of the pages. You leave the top page free at this point.

Now comes the fun part! And by fun, I mean horribly repetitive and boring. But if you need some meditation activity or anger management, this might be the thing for you! Because you use an Xacto knife or utility knife to cut out the inside pages.

I just started, so I haven’t gotten very deep yet, but here you can see the progress I made in one day, and my cheap-ass utility knife. Cheap, but it works. More pictures to come as I finish this project (in all my free time…haha).