R.L. LaFevers's Blog, page 24

Of Writing and Training Wheels

I've been thinking a lot about story beginnings lately, fueled in part by the two books I'm working on, but also on my reading and television watching. There is such a fine art to beginning a story. My son and I have been watching The Wire, and it is great TV. However, we almost stopped watching the first season after the first two episodes because we were so lost. It was only the huge amount of praise the show had garnered that kept us going.

As I mentioned before, the second season opened wi...

Checking In

Well, the book is finally zooming along, although I use that term loosely. I am producing six pages a day, but they are good, solid pages that I am polishing as I go. An entirely new experience for me, but it seems to be working. I am also keeping a list of the things I know I'll need to go in and fix at the end, or details I'll need to add, threads I think I've dropped for too many pages, that sort of thing. By the time I finish this draft, it will be the equivalent of a third draft when com...

And The Winner Is . . .

Gah! I SO meant to get to this on Friday!

Without further ado, the winners of The Basilisk's Lair ARCs are ::drumroll please:: (okay, so maybe a little more ado)

Jen and Jennifer, numbers* 13 and 9!













Please email me with your snail mail address and I will get those out to you this week!


*(I assigned numbers as the comments came in, not counting my own replies.)

Fludded With Good News*

So, you know how I mentioned I was holed up in my writing cave for the next few weeks? Well, it's about to get even worse . . . but for very good reasons.

The Publisher's Lunch announcement:

R.L. LaFevers's fourth book in the NATHANIEL FLUDD: BEASTOLOGIST series, set in France, in which Nate, gremlin Greasle, and Aunt Phil close in on adversary Obediah Fludd, news of Nate's parents, and the fate of the last unicorns, again to be illustrated by Kelly Murphy, again to Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton ...

New Year, New Process. Gak!

I should have been in here bright and early first thing this morning, with a brilliant post welcoming everyone back from their holidays. Preferably something magnificently motivating. However, my deadline is breathing its hot, heavy, drooling breath down my neck and that takes precedence.

I do have some goals and aspirations for 2010, and as soon as I get a few moments I'll sit down and articulate them. One thing on that list is to do less and enjoy it more. I must confess to feeling a tad scr...

Happy New Year!

Ending the year with a full moon pleases my writerly sense of symbolism to no end--the big, round glowing orb a perfect symbol of the promise of the full, glorious potential of the coming year. It stands before us, whole and untouched by sorrow, disappointment, or failure--a great, shining promise in the sky.

Here's wishing you a glorious 2010! May all your disappointments be small, your failures educational, and your joy luminous!

Phew!

I have spent the morning picking up the last traces of holiday wrapping and ribbons, putting away the last of the gifts, and generally de-bugging my house of all the holiday cheer. Don't get me wrong, I am a great lover of Christmas—it is my favorite holiday. Just ask my poor husband, who used to endure weeks of holiday frenzy and mania as I celebrated every day of advent with unrelenting enthusiasm.

But this year, this year it came at a spectacularly poor time. It was nigh unto painful, havin...

Quick Monday Fly-By

With some books, you fumble and struggle until you hit the Mother Lode of story, then everything begins to flow with ease. Other books, not so much. Alas, this book is one of the no-so-much variety. What that means is that every scene, every story nugget must be painstakingly researched, located, then clumsily excavated, only to have to go through the exact same process five pages later. If you listen closely, you can hear my daily scream of ARGH!!! all the way from where you are.

So after tod...

If You Give A Book A Gremlin . . .

. . . it will acquire a mind of its own to go with it.

Seriously. Once you give in to this organic thing, all hell breaks loose. Mysterious elements show up out of seemingly (key word, that) nowhere, characters take on a mind of their own and refuse, refuse, to do what you've told them to. The bad guy decides he's not the bad guy any longer and strange interpersonal dynamics and heretofore unsuspected relationships that you have given no conscious thought to, begin appearing on the page.

Have I...

The Plot is NOT the Story

It seems I have to learn this lesson at least once with every book I write:

The plot is not the story. The plot is simply (ha! nothing simple about plotting!) the device or vehicle that gets all the elements together so that the real story can happen.

The real story is the characters and relationships and growth that take place because of the plot.

I swear to god, I'm going to get that tattooed on the back of my hand where I can see it 139 times a day.