Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 171
February 7, 2012
The Unknown Issue
Characters can be such a kick. Just when I think I have one of them down and that I'm unlikely to have a huge curve ball thrown my way, he/she throws me a knuckle ball. (For those of you unfamiliar with baseball, a knuckle ball is even more unpredictable/harder to hit than a curve ball.) It happened again just recently.
I've had Wyatt's team (Eternal Nights) in my head off and on since I wrote his story. So I've had six years to get to know these guys. At first, it was mostly Flare talking, but over the years, I've learned more and more about Gravedigger and Z Man.The last piece I needed as Z's heroine and she showed up a while ago, but I didn't know her name or what she looked like. Both pieces of information arrived mid January.
And Z threw me a knuckle ball.
You see, Z is part Asian/Hawaiian, which I knew. His heroine as it turns out is a green-eyed blonde. That's when he tossed the bomb my direction: his plan is to fall for a woman who's at least part Asian herself. He never, not even once, mentioned this to me. Not in six years!
To say I was stunned understates things. I don't know why he feels this way, but you know there has to be some sort of issue in there. Z was my normal guy, the one who has his head screwed on straight. Or so I believed. Now I'm going to have to spend some time probing, trying to discover the whys and whats. You'd think just once that I could have a character completely honest with me upfront. Too bad it's never happened and probably never will.
I've had Wyatt's team (Eternal Nights) in my head off and on since I wrote his story. So I've had six years to get to know these guys. At first, it was mostly Flare talking, but over the years, I've learned more and more about Gravedigger and Z Man.The last piece I needed as Z's heroine and she showed up a while ago, but I didn't know her name or what she looked like. Both pieces of information arrived mid January.
And Z threw me a knuckle ball.
You see, Z is part Asian/Hawaiian, which I knew. His heroine as it turns out is a green-eyed blonde. That's when he tossed the bomb my direction: his plan is to fall for a woman who's at least part Asian herself. He never, not even once, mentioned this to me. Not in six years!
To say I was stunned understates things. I don't know why he feels this way, but you know there has to be some sort of issue in there. Z was my normal guy, the one who has his head screwed on straight. Or so I believed. Now I'm going to have to spend some time probing, trying to discover the whys and whats. You'd think just once that I could have a character completely honest with me upfront. Too bad it's never happened and probably never will.
February 5, 2012
Hang Ten
The first thing that caught my eye here was the waves. This is an incredible view of Mother Nature's sheer power. After I stopped going, wow, the next thing I noticed was the cinematography. It's another wow when I think about how you get yourself in position to film something like this. The third thing that caught my eye was the actual surfing. Yeah, I know, but I think this is more a video about the waves than about the surfing.
Another little factoid that made this video interesting to me, it was shot at Teahupoo. That's Tahiti. I have this heroine who's half Tahitian and her father and mother were headed to French Polynesia. Her father's main interest in going was catching the surfing competition at...you guessed it...Teahupoo.
Another little factoid that made this video interesting to me, it was shot at Teahupoo. That's Tahiti. I have this heroine who's half Tahitian and her father and mother were headed to French Polynesia. Her father's main interest in going was catching the surfing competition at...you guessed it...Teahupoo.
February 2, 2012
The Trip To Nowhere
Since coming to Atlanta, I've relied on my car's GPS system a lot. However, it hasn't been 100% accurate. To my frustration, it often will refuse to let me input the address I want because it's not in a range that it believes belongs on that street. The GPS has been wrong.
The worst experience, though, was the one I call the Trip to Nowhere.
My parents and I were determined to buy a recliner for the house. I found a store in Newnan, GA and wrote down the address. GPS didn't like the number of the building for the street. However, there was a street name, south and GPS did like that, so that's what I set as our destination.
Things started out okay, but then it began to rain. They drive like Maniacs here, I don't know where I'm going, and it's raining??? Gah!
Despite all the weather, we kept going, confident we'd make it to the furniture place. Things started to get iffy when GPS directed us off the highway. It got worse. We ended up in the middle of a residential neighborhood, nothing even remotely retail in the area.
GPS Fail.
Or maybe it was me. After all, I did select Street South instead of street. I punched in the street name, lied on the number of the building so GPS would accept it, and we started out again. This time we ended up near a hotel that appeared vacant. It wasn't, but it sure wasn't doing a booming business either. It was raining harder now and it wouldn't be too much longer before it started to get dark. We decided to go back home.
I selected home on GPS, turned out of the parking lot in the direction from which we'd come, and was led on a roundabout route that ended up turning just in front of the rundown hotel we'd started from. Um, what? Why the hell didn't GPS tell me to turn right when I went past the road the first time?
GPS Fail. Again.
We did make it home after a drive through several Georgia towns, including one I'd never heard of before. I don't know if this was the most efficient route ever concocted, but we did arrive back at the condo.
The worst experience, though, was the one I call the Trip to Nowhere.
My parents and I were determined to buy a recliner for the house. I found a store in Newnan, GA and wrote down the address. GPS didn't like the number of the building for the street. However, there was a street name, south and GPS did like that, so that's what I set as our destination.
Things started out okay, but then it began to rain. They drive like Maniacs here, I don't know where I'm going, and it's raining??? Gah!
Despite all the weather, we kept going, confident we'd make it to the furniture place. Things started to get iffy when GPS directed us off the highway. It got worse. We ended up in the middle of a residential neighborhood, nothing even remotely retail in the area.
GPS Fail.
Or maybe it was me. After all, I did select Street South instead of street. I punched in the street name, lied on the number of the building so GPS would accept it, and we started out again. This time we ended up near a hotel that appeared vacant. It wasn't, but it sure wasn't doing a booming business either. It was raining harder now and it wouldn't be too much longer before it started to get dark. We decided to go back home.
I selected home on GPS, turned out of the parking lot in the direction from which we'd come, and was led on a roundabout route that ended up turning just in front of the rundown hotel we'd started from. Um, what? Why the hell didn't GPS tell me to turn right when I went past the road the first time?
GPS Fail. Again.
We did make it home after a drive through several Georgia towns, including one I'd never heard of before. I don't know if this was the most efficient route ever concocted, but we did arrive back at the condo.
January 31, 2012
First Days - Atlanta
I have a couple of first day stories from Atlanta.
First day in the condo. It was chaos. Pandemonium. Comcast came out to install my cable. This was the day my new mattress was being delivered. And the guy who was going to replace the window called and wanted to come out, too.
We had one lawn chair at this point. No other furniture of any sort. I was up and down off the floor multiple times, including lying on my stomach next to the Comcast tech as we tried to get my internet hookup to work. Late that night, after sitting on the floor chatting with friends and watching MLB Network, I tried to get up and felt my knee pop. The pain was excruciating for days afterward.
Not a great beginning in my new city.
First day at work. It was chaos. Luckily, I'd made a trial run to the office the day before and knew GPS was correctly guiding me in. What I didn't know was that I'd arrive amid a mechanic shift change which meant hundreds and hundreds of people coming in to the Tech Ops area. I sat in line, waiting to turn in to the building.
I'm just grateful that I was down in December for a meeting and learned where my department was located. I even managed to find it again without getting lost. None of my boxes had made it from Minneapolis even though I'd had them ready to go ten days early. It's tough to work without your stuff.
But people in my department came by to say hello and I even got a couple of welcome hugs. My boss came by to make sure I had everything I needed and my boss's boss stopped by to thank me for relocating. Later that week, we were treated to a welcome to Atlanta lunch.
This was a great beginning to my new job location.
First day in the condo. It was chaos. Pandemonium. Comcast came out to install my cable. This was the day my new mattress was being delivered. And the guy who was going to replace the window called and wanted to come out, too.
We had one lawn chair at this point. No other furniture of any sort. I was up and down off the floor multiple times, including lying on my stomach next to the Comcast tech as we tried to get my internet hookup to work. Late that night, after sitting on the floor chatting with friends and watching MLB Network, I tried to get up and felt my knee pop. The pain was excruciating for days afterward.
Not a great beginning in my new city.
First day at work. It was chaos. Luckily, I'd made a trial run to the office the day before and knew GPS was correctly guiding me in. What I didn't know was that I'd arrive amid a mechanic shift change which meant hundreds and hundreds of people coming in to the Tech Ops area. I sat in line, waiting to turn in to the building.
I'm just grateful that I was down in December for a meeting and learned where my department was located. I even managed to find it again without getting lost. None of my boxes had made it from Minneapolis even though I'd had them ready to go ten days early. It's tough to work without your stuff.
But people in my department came by to say hello and I even got a couple of welcome hugs. My boss came by to make sure I had everything I needed and my boss's boss stopped by to thank me for relocating. Later that week, we were treated to a welcome to Atlanta lunch.
This was a great beginning to my new job location.
January 29, 2012
Mean Disney Girls
This came through on Twitter a few weeks ago and I thought it was pretty good, so I'm sharing.
January 26, 2012
Must Write
Every character I write is one I feel drawn to and compelled to write. But there are some characters that go beyond that, some I have to write even if it means bringing them into an alternate universe. No lie.
One set of characters started out life in a contemporary world and I pulled them into a paranormal one. It involved a name change for the hero. He informed me that his first name was different in this alternate dimension and it also involved name changes for all his brothers and sisters. Okay. The heroine kept her name, but her entire life changed and her personality along with it.
Some might argue that this makes them different characters. I know better. These are the same people, but the circumstances of their world changed and that impacted who they are.
It's actually kind of interesting. I've maintained from the beginning that if I rewrote Ravyn's Flight and put different characters in the lead roles, that the story would be completely different. Oh, it might begin the same, but my characters' choices drive the plot, my plot never drives my characters. Even if I wanted to write that way, I couldn't. If I try to force my characters to do something they don't want to do, they go on strike and I spin my wheels until I fix what they dislike.
I have another set of characters that will not go away. I've been turning things around in my mind, trying to find a way to get them into some kind of story since their original idea is going nowhere. I need to write them. I have a burning desire to write them. And I will. Eventually. One way or another.
One set of characters started out life in a contemporary world and I pulled them into a paranormal one. It involved a name change for the hero. He informed me that his first name was different in this alternate dimension and it also involved name changes for all his brothers and sisters. Okay. The heroine kept her name, but her entire life changed and her personality along with it.
Some might argue that this makes them different characters. I know better. These are the same people, but the circumstances of their world changed and that impacted who they are.
It's actually kind of interesting. I've maintained from the beginning that if I rewrote Ravyn's Flight and put different characters in the lead roles, that the story would be completely different. Oh, it might begin the same, but my characters' choices drive the plot, my plot never drives my characters. Even if I wanted to write that way, I couldn't. If I try to force my characters to do something they don't want to do, they go on strike and I spin my wheels until I fix what they dislike.
I have another set of characters that will not go away. I've been turning things around in my mind, trying to find a way to get them into some kind of story since their original idea is going nowhere. I need to write them. I have a burning desire to write them. And I will. Eventually. One way or another.
January 24, 2012
I Miss My Cargo Space
In December, mere weeks before I had to move to Atlanta, my beloved Explorer decided it needed a lot of expensive repair work done. Since it was a 1998, I opted to buy a new car instead and went with the Edge. I call it my James Bond car. With all the high tech electronics on it (especially for someone who was driving a 1998), it can only be a spymobile. I swear the only thing missing is the hidden missile launcher.
I do like my Edge. A lot. Really. But there are definitely things I miss about the Explorer. And when I was packing up to leave Minnesota, the cargo space was a huge factor. Things I was planning to pack to take along, things like a vacuum cleaner, suddenly didn't fit and I needed to buy new down here.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, my day job was relocated from Minneapolis to Atlanta. I chose to relocate with my job, but because of how difficult it is to sell a house in MN in the winter, most of my stuff is still up north and will stay there until I do sell my house and I officially move. Right now, I'm officially a commuter between the two cities.
I did make sure there was room for the important things like my computers. There was no way I was leaving those behind. But my couch? Still in MN.
Some of the lighter things, like my storage containers will get shipped down via UPS or the USPS. Other things that are too bulky or two heavy or not cost effective to ship will have to wait. I even had to leave my blankets and duvet behind because there just wasn't room in the Edge. As it stood, we were smashed into the vehicle. If only the Explorer could have hung on another few months.
I do like my Edge. A lot. Really. But there are definitely things I miss about the Explorer. And when I was packing up to leave Minnesota, the cargo space was a huge factor. Things I was planning to pack to take along, things like a vacuum cleaner, suddenly didn't fit and I needed to buy new down here.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, my day job was relocated from Minneapolis to Atlanta. I chose to relocate with my job, but because of how difficult it is to sell a house in MN in the winter, most of my stuff is still up north and will stay there until I do sell my house and I officially move. Right now, I'm officially a commuter between the two cities.
I did make sure there was room for the important things like my computers. There was no way I was leaving those behind. But my couch? Still in MN.
Some of the lighter things, like my storage containers will get shipped down via UPS or the USPS. Other things that are too bulky or two heavy or not cost effective to ship will have to wait. I even had to leave my blankets and duvet behind because there just wasn't room in the Edge. As it stood, we were smashed into the vehicle. If only the Explorer could have hung on another few months.
January 22, 2012
Ten Reasons Not To Travel To Australia
I'll admit right up front that out of everywhere I've traveled, Australia is my favorite place in the world. I'd go back in a heartbeat even with the incredibly long flight. I still thought this was funny, though, so I'm sharing.
January 19, 2012
I Hate You. I Love You.
Last week, I was reading a book that pulled the "I hate you. No, wait, I love you" thing and it made me crazy. IMO, it can't be pulled off successfully. I've never, ever read a book or an author who's made it work.
In the book that inspired this post, the hero and heroine hate each other. They don't have one charitable thought about the other. Then about halfway through the story, without warning or cause, the hero and heroine are in lurvvvv. More than in love, they're soul mates. Kissy, kissy, huggy, huggy. Sexing it up.
Um, no. I didn't buy it, especially the way their feelings for each other turned on a dime and without any real, earthshaking events occurring.
The only way something like this could possibly work (and I still have my doubts) is a gradual thawing of relations between the characters. Maybe seeing the other in a new light and grudgingly reconsidering their preconceptions of one another.
The other idea that comes to mind that might make it workable as a plot device is having them say one thing and think another. Maybe there's a reason why they want the other one to believe they don't like them, but in their head, there's admiration and positive thoughts. Maybe, but I still have my doubts.
I hated this device when I was mainly a reader, and TBH, I hate it even more now that I write. I think some writers believe this kind of petty arguing/sniping is conflict and it's not. Conflict is more than this and true, honest-to-goodness character impacting conflict can't turn off on a whim. If it can, it's not a real conflict, it's an author convenience.
I've read books in the past where the h/h have "hated" each other right up until the last few pages of the story. Really? And the author expects me to believe the Happily Ever After? I don't think so.
In the book that inspired this post, the hero and heroine hate each other. They don't have one charitable thought about the other. Then about halfway through the story, without warning or cause, the hero and heroine are in lurvvvv. More than in love, they're soul mates. Kissy, kissy, huggy, huggy. Sexing it up.
Um, no. I didn't buy it, especially the way their feelings for each other turned on a dime and without any real, earthshaking events occurring.
The only way something like this could possibly work (and I still have my doubts) is a gradual thawing of relations between the characters. Maybe seeing the other in a new light and grudgingly reconsidering their preconceptions of one another.
The other idea that comes to mind that might make it workable as a plot device is having them say one thing and think another. Maybe there's a reason why they want the other one to believe they don't like them, but in their head, there's admiration and positive thoughts. Maybe, but I still have my doubts.
I hated this device when I was mainly a reader, and TBH, I hate it even more now that I write. I think some writers believe this kind of petty arguing/sniping is conflict and it's not. Conflict is more than this and true, honest-to-goodness character impacting conflict can't turn off on a whim. If it can, it's not a real conflict, it's an author convenience.
I've read books in the past where the h/h have "hated" each other right up until the last few pages of the story. Really? And the author expects me to believe the Happily Ever After? I don't think so.
January 17, 2012
The Big Move
I made it to Atlanta, Georgia. I've been here two weeks now--one getting setup and one where I actually went to work at my day job.
Things still feel pretty unreal, you know? Like I'm on some kind of extended vacation. My parents are still down here and that adds to the vacation feel. I'm not sure how long it's going to take before it sinks in that this is more than an extended stay in the south. Maybe once my parents have returned to Minnesota and I'm here alone for a while.
I can say I definitely like the weather here better than Minneapolis, although it's been kind of bipolar. One day the high will be in the 60s, the next it's in the 40s. I did wear short sleeves to work four out of five days last week. Short sleeves. In JANUARY! Wild!
The one thing I dislike--okay more than dislike, hate--is the driving. OMG, it's like commuting through the middle of the Indianapolis 500! People, I have out of state plates, I'm driving in the right hand lane (a lane I rarely, if ever, used in Minneapolis), give me a break and stop tailgating me. I don't know where I'm going even with GPS. To add to my fun, the commute is about double what I had in Minneapolis. Totally not cool.
On the plus side, most of the people I've talked to have been very nice. We'll disregard the two mechanics I talked to in the elevator at work who pretended I didn't exist. They're probably not from around here anyway, right?
In other words, like anywhere you live, there are pluses and minuses in Atlanta. I'll probably have more to say later, but so far, so good.
Things still feel pretty unreal, you know? Like I'm on some kind of extended vacation. My parents are still down here and that adds to the vacation feel. I'm not sure how long it's going to take before it sinks in that this is more than an extended stay in the south. Maybe once my parents have returned to Minnesota and I'm here alone for a while.
I can say I definitely like the weather here better than Minneapolis, although it's been kind of bipolar. One day the high will be in the 60s, the next it's in the 40s. I did wear short sleeves to work four out of five days last week. Short sleeves. In JANUARY! Wild!
The one thing I dislike--okay more than dislike, hate--is the driving. OMG, it's like commuting through the middle of the Indianapolis 500! People, I have out of state plates, I'm driving in the right hand lane (a lane I rarely, if ever, used in Minneapolis), give me a break and stop tailgating me. I don't know where I'm going even with GPS. To add to my fun, the commute is about double what I had in Minneapolis. Totally not cool.
On the plus side, most of the people I've talked to have been very nice. We'll disregard the two mechanics I talked to in the elevator at work who pretended I didn't exist. They're probably not from around here anyway, right?
In other words, like anywhere you live, there are pluses and minuses in Atlanta. I'll probably have more to say later, but so far, so good.
