M.L. LeGette's Blog, page 50
August 8, 2012
Milo Scribbles
Recently I was browsing through my photo files and came across a few pictures I had snapped of a stack of notes regarding a certain chapter in Quest for Milo. Sorry for the liberal splattering of misspelling. When I scribble, proper language is tossed out the window. There have been times though after frantic bouts of creativity, that I have to squint my eyes to figure out what in the world I was saying. Ha!
July 15, 2012
King and Lionheart
I want to turn this into a book so badly.
Artist – Of Monsters and Men
Album – My Head in an Animal
July 3, 2012
A Vacation — Of Sorts
Summer is in full blast here and with it the demands of a busy farm. Instead of tucking into a cup of tea and burrowing into my upcoming novel, Quest for Milo, I am sweating in the fields, digging up potatoes and picking rows of tomatoes and eggplant.
And weeding. Lots of weeding.
My relationship with the farm is a complicated and lovely one. Unlike the world of writing, I will always be secure financially (I bet a lot of people are laughing at that, but it’s true. The local food movement is a LOT more stable than the life of a young adult writer). I get to breathe lots of fresh air and spend some of the most pleasurable moments of my day rubbing my darling ewe, Chloe, not to mention, help provide wonderful vegetables for both myself and many customers.
But farming is hard work and drains me. Therefore, in the Spring, Fall, and Winter, when the crops are gentler, I carve out my mornings for my writing. Morning is when I do my best work and no matter how often I try to ‘work’ during the mid-day, it ends in disaster.
As much as I want to be a good writer and churn out chapters like a madwoman, come Summer, I just want a break. I know it sounds odd to say I’m vacationing from writing when I’m actually working harder at the farm, but it’s simply too much to take care of at one time. So I’m relaxing. I’m not worrying about the book sitting to one side and I’m not berating myself for it. Oddly enough, it is when I say, ‘Okay brain. Time to chill.’ that it zooms into creative overdrive, happily brainstorming future works. But that isn’t work–that’s play.
June 26, 2012
Fantasy Artwork by Ty Zeiter
Check out these AWESOME drawings by the young and talented Tyler Zeiter. She sent me a sampling of her work (including two inspired by my book, The Unicorn Girl!). These are my faves. Thanks, Ty.
p.s. You’re signature is crazy cool. i’m jealous.
Leah Vindral, the main character from my book, The Unicorn Girl.
Ian Grinshaw from my book, The Unicorn Girl.
Keep up the excellent work, Ty. These are phenomenal. I am honored that you shared them with me. And I’ve got my own copies to look at whenever I want!
Cheers!
~melissa
June 25, 2012
June 22, 2012
Lighting Light Bulbs
A brand new book idea is slowly hatching! Because people have asked me what inspires me, I thought I’d share the bits and pieces that have lit my light bulb, so to speak, regarding this one.
This particular future story has been flitting in an out of my brain for a couple of years but it hasn’t been until recently that the FULL idea is hitting home. I’m more nervous and excited about this one than previous ideas as (I think) it may have the potential–if it can keep out of my own way–to be a series. (GASP!)
It’s rather funny to literally look at the different pieces that have inspired this new story. How in the world do they fit together?! Where is she going with this?? …good question…
June 12, 2012
Of Plum Pies and Tigers
Do you dream in color? I do.
Recently, I had two very different dreams and it’s been rather hard to decide which was my favorite as they were both delightfully off the wall.
The first was a Harry Potter dream revolving around Ron and Hermione being kidnapped (they never made an actual appearance in the dream, but I’m sure they were holed up somewhere with a token Death Eater to keep them company). This was highly distressing to Harry for numerous reasons, the most obvious being that the only way (for reasons still unknown to me) for him to save his friends was to bake a plum pie. Perhaps Voldemort was partial to plums? Either way, the entire dream centered around Harry frantically searching the most peculiar places for plums and then trying with feverish determination (bless him) to bake the pie in a clothes hamper. Sadly I awoke before the salvation pie was finished.
My second dream (which I actually dreamed last night) was about a tiger. A pet tiger. Though he really wasn’t much of a pet as we kept him locked in his cage at all times. But the tiger, blast him, kept getting out. When this happened, we dutifully caught him and put him back in his cage. My family (I’m not sure who it was exactly though I suspect it might have been my darling brother) voted that I should check on the tiger ever hour or so to make sure the lock was still secure. Being the good sister that I am, I of course took on the burden and returned to the tiger every hour (hours in dreams go by in seconds, have you ever noticed that?). While dodging the killer claws that periodically swiped at me through the bars Snoopy and Cat Next Door style, I wiggled the latch and left. After the third or fourth time that our pet tiger escaped, my subconscious began to doubt if I truly was the best person for the job. I began to suspect that all my hourly wiggling of the latch to see if it was locked actually made it unlock, thereby releasing the tiger. Needless to say, no one got hurt–tiger included, though since waking I have felt oddly worried about locks.
June 3, 2012
In the Manuscript ~ chapter four
Manuscript Title: Quest for Milo
Chapter: Four ~ Melena Catches a Toad
Version: 2nd
Copyright: Melissa LeGette
The Excerpt:
“You know ’bout the stuff on my list, don’ ya?” demanded the boy.
Melena couldn’t bring herself to lie.
“Yes.”
“Then why don’ you be my guide?” he asked, excitedly.
“Because I’m not going to troop around Calendula, risking my life, for half a dozen potion ingredients, that’s why.”
“What d’ya mean, riskin’ yer life?” said the boy. He actually laughed. “This won’ be any trouble.”
“Any–” Melena’s voice died in her throat at the ridiculousness of his statement. She snatched the list back from his hand and thrust it under his nose.
“Springs of Mirg. Located in the very northern tip of Calendula, practically crawling with Slinkwing dragons. Elfin Gold–a moss that grows only in the Caves of Dunthur, caves so complex that only an expert can safely travel them. Unicorns are nearly impossible to find and try yanking some hair from their tails and see what they do with that horn. No to mention how foolish and dangerous it is to mix ingredients at random–it can be deadly. Need I continue?”
The boy’s eyes were round. “So it’ll be difficult–what else is new?”
May 23, 2012
In the Manuscript ~ chapter three
Manuscript Title: Quest for Milo
Chapter: Three ~ The Orphan
Version: 4th? 5th??
Copyright: Melissa LeGette
The Excerpt:
They must have thought they had found the perfect child to frighten into servitude with tales of baby snatchers and bloody murderers. It was true that during six years, Melena never mastered enough courage to run away, though she had often dwelled on swallowing her own dose of Confidence. Whenever she was brimming with hurt and anger with the Bells, embolden with bitter rage, Hazel perched in the crook of her elbow, she always faltered upon the doorstep of the apothecary. If she left, where would she go? What would she do? Return to St. Brenda’s Orphanage where she was just as likely to be sold to another pair of Bells? Melena couldn’t bare that.
May 15, 2012
Point of View Nightmare
So today I got to thinking about character point of view and how best to structure it in my current novel, Quest for Milo. The book has two major characters: Toad and Melena. After a friend pumped me up, I agreed to try to write the book with both their POVs throughout the manuscript. I haven’t ever done such a thing so I immediately assumed that the different perspectives needed to be equal.
For example:
Chapters 1 and 2: Toad
Chapters 3 and 4: Melena
Chapter 5: Toad
Chapter 6: Melena and so on….
But this morning a thought bounded into my brain that left me momentarily speechless. Let’s say that somewhere down the line I decided that chapter 6 needed to be expanded and split into two chapters. Which would then mean that the part B of chapter 6 would become a new chapter 7 and would switch to Toad’s POV. Which then means that the old chapter 7 (which had been Toad’s POV) would be rewritten to be Melena’s POV and so on and so on and so on until I had rewritten the entire novel.
If you followed that, then congratulations. I, meanwhile, was so staggered that I had to sit down very quickly. Which I did. This fear of rewriting the entire novel simply based on POV changes is a real one … one, actually, that I am currently facing. But instead of panicking (okay, I did a fair amount of panicking), I began to wonder what would happen if I didn’t compose such a strict structure. What would happen if I looked at each chapter and asked myself, “Melissa, how would this chapter be in Toad’s eyes? In Melena’s eyes?” and based my decision on that? This would mean that there will most likely be great chunks of the novel through one character’s perspective, but I don’t think that’s a problem.
And isn’t that what really makes writing so wonderful? To be open to endless possibilities? I personally–and I’m sure there are those who would disagree with me–feel that there are no rules to writing. (So that I don’t get into a fight, I will say that there are basic rules of spelling, grammar, and sentence/paragraph structure, blah, blah, blah). There are popular styles that become all the rage that will eventually fade out and be replaced by a different writing style. That doesn’t mean that there is only one way to write a book. And really, wouldn’t that be a frightful thing?
