Jaye Wells's Blog, page 25

On Ideas

I recently joined the twenty-first century and got Netflix streamed to my Wii. I love that they offer complete seasons of TV shows so I don't have to bother with pesky commercials or weeklong waits between episodes. I've also discovered some new gems.

Case in point, last night I decided to watch a show I'd never seen or heard of before. I won't give you the name (you'll understand why in a moment) but it's from more than five years ago and falls vaguely into the urban fantasy genre. It also has a similar premise to a new series I'm hoping to pitch sometime next year. Not the exact idea but close enough that I was curious how they handled the subject matter.

Then it happened. About fifteen minutes into the pilot episode, a character said a bit of dialogue. A bit of dialogue that appears, I kid you not, word-for-word in the proposal I've been working on. Let me reiterate, I've never seen this show. And the dialogue wasn't something one would say in run-of-the-mill conversation. In fact, it was a linch pinch element in the world building of the series I've been developing.

And here I thought I was very clever to be the one to think of it. (Cue the fail buzzer)

Needless to say, I was not happy. There might have been a shouted curse. It's possible I punched a couch cushion.

Now that I've had a few hours to simmer down I realize I might have over reacted. First, this happens all the time. Writers are notorious for thinking our ideas are special snowflakes. But ideas are the combination of experience, culture, and influences. Chances are good that if I have an idea another writer who likes the same kind of things I like and who lives in the same culture I live in might have a similar or same idea.

Plus,  I can't tell you how many times I've seen reviewers comment on story elements in my books and outright accuse me of stealing them from other writers. The truth? 95% of the time I haven't even read the authors they're saying I'm copying.

Second, ideas aren't worth a lot without development. Another writer and me might have the same idea but chances are really good we won't take those ideas in the same direction. For example, other authors have had snarky sidekicks. Some have been demons masquerading as animals. Many of those animals have been cats. But I'd put good money down that no author has ever created a character exactly like Giguhl.

Now, all that said, I do need to give some thought to the direction I was taking this idea. Not because I'm worried someone will accuse me of stealing from that old show. But because that one element has been done and my goal is to bring a fresh approach to the subject matter.

Also, I wont be watching any more episodes beyond the two I saw. The show was pretty good but I don't want it influencing my decisions going forward. It's enough that I'm aware it exists and am familiar with the world and tone of the show. Now it's my job to make my similar idea different enough that it's fresh.

But I'll probably never stop being bitter about that one bit of dialogue and the brilliant writer who got to put it out there first.

Update and Some News

Holy smokes! How did it get to be the middle of October already? This month has already been crazy.

Those of you who follow me on twitter (if you don't, why not?) might remember that I left last Thursday to go to Colorado. My good friend Margie Lawson hosts these awesome immersion editing classes in her log cabin on a mountain an hour outside Denver. If you haven't heard of Margie and fancy yourself a writer, don't walk, run to her web site. She's a writer and psychologist who teaches writers how to edit your work for maximum emotional impact. Her techniques are brilliant and I can honestly say every workshop I've taken from her has improved my writing.

Anyway, so I headed to Colorado on Thursday. I took about 100 pages of my next book with me and spent five days tearing them apart and making them better. In addition to the work, I also got to know three other writers, all lovely and talented women who I hope to see in print soon. In between lectures and work, we took a side trip to Boulder. We wandered around Pearl St. and ate at this amazing restaurant called Dushanbe. If you're ever there, do yourself a favor and eat at this place. The food and the decor were amazing.

I stayed an extra day to hang with Margie and she took me into Denver for some sight seeing. One of my favorite stops was the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater. OMG. That place was amazing. I'd post pictures but being a wordpress idiot prevents me from doing so. So you'll just have to imagine it. Or visit the web site.

That night  Margie, her cool hubby Tom, and I met up with fellow Leaguer Mario Acevedo for dinner. I'd bought Margie some of those poetry magnets and we busted them out over dinner. Mario's books have titles like THE UNDEAD KAMA SUTRA and THE NYMPHOS OF ROCKY FLATS, so it should come as no surprise that the poetry got pretty naughty. If that sort of thing appeals to you, and if you read my books we all know it does,  please do yourself a favor and read Mario's Felix Gomez vampire series. His latest is WEREWOLF SMACKDOWN.

The other cool thing? On my last morning there, I woke up to a wintry wonderland. Yes, friends, it snowed. Maybe if you're from a place where such a thing happens often, this is not news. But for this Texas girl it was pretty awesome.

I got home Tuesday feeling really inspired. Writing has given me so many amazing opportunities and introduced me to so many awesome people. It's pretty humbling.

On the other hand, I also returned home ready to work. Good thing, too. I've spent the last few days typing up revised scenes, plotting and reading through galleys of Green-Eyed Demon. Galleys an author's last chance to make changes to a book before it goes to print. I just finished reading through them and am happy to report that I still love this book. I can't wait to see it on the shelves. Also, I'm happy they're done because now I can focus all my energy on book four.

As for book four, well … It's coming along. I've given myself six weeks to finish the draft. Then I'll have two months to revise the hell out of it. Guess it's a good thing I just finished an editing workshop. I am at that point with the book where I'm convinced I'll never figure it out, but then I remind myself I felt this way about every book I've written. Or so Mr. Jaye tells me. Every time I start a new book I think so fondly of the last book and wonder if my new problem child will ever turn out as well-behaved as the last. Eventually they all do, but not without some major tough love. I'm still not sure who needs the tough love more, the book or me.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Oh! I forgot to tell you the news. I think we have a title for book four. I know I told you guys it would be the "blue" book. However, after a few weeks toying with possibilities (many of which involved the phrase "blue balls") I decided that blue just wouldn't cut it for this one. So I went another direction. Luckily both my US and UK editors liked my final choice. I hope you do too.

Ready?

Book four in the Sabina Kane series will be called …

SILVER-TONGUED DEVIL!

I'm already picturing the cover. I'm hoping for some awesome shiny foil or something, but we'll see. What do you think?

Celebrating Jennifer Rardin

So yesterday I reported some good news, but tonight I have some sad news to share. Probably by now many of you have already heard that Jennifer Rardin passed away on September 20. If you hadn't heard, I'm sorry to be the one to share such bad tidings.

I never met Jennifer in person. But I read her books. And when I was newly contracted by Orbit, I contacted her since we shared an editor. Let me tell you, as a very new author I was pretty nervous about making such a bold move. She was, after...

BIG NEWS!

Well I've been sitting on this news for a while. If you know me, you'll understand that just keeping this secret has been an impressive feat. But, without further ado, I'm thrilled to announce that I've sold the next two Sabina Kane novels to Orbit!

Those of you who've been reading this series since the beginning might recall that I originally planned Sabina's series to be a trilogy. But the further I got into her journey, the more I realized there simply was too much story to fit in three...

Books!

So today is Labor Day in the USA. We're celebrate how hard we all work by being as lazy as possible for a day. Good times.

You know what the problem is with Monday holidays, though, don't you? Tomorrow, everyone will be bitching about how the day off messed with their calendar. "Gah! I keep thinking it's Monday," they'll cry.

But not this year. Because this year Tuesday, September 7 is (Inter)National Buy a Book Day! And I know none of you are going to forget that. See? Now you'll all wake up t...

Big Audio Dyn-o-mite!

I'm far from a fiction veteran, but I have a couple of releases under my belt. It's not that I don't get excited about new books coming out or what have you, but I don't have a lot of firsts anymore. Until now.

This first isn't one that I expected to be crazy excited about. And I'm sure why it's so thrilling, but I'm seriously about to piss myself.

The audiobook of Red-Headed Stepchild comes out tomorrow (Tuesday). Probably my excitement is a mixture of having Sabina and the gang kick ass in a ...

National Buy a Book Day

So yesterday I was scanning twitter and saw yet another story about how poorly the big chain bookstores are doing. This on the heels of news that one of my favorite independents in Dallas also closed. Every day we're bombarded with sad prognoses about the book industry. To read it, everything is on life support right now: Publishers, book stores, and even books themselves.

I personally can't–and don't want–to imagine a world where bookstores and print books don't exist. (I'd also, for the...

Blog of Shame

Back in college we had this saying: The walk of shame. It referred to that horrible walk back to the dorms in the harsh light of day wearing the same clothes you wore the night before, only now they reeked of stale cigarettes, warm beer and lost innocence. I mention it now because I feel as if this post is my own personal "blog of shame." I'd like to just slink back into your lives, but I think we all know what I really need is a round of antibiotics and a nice long shower.

I wish I could...

Special Guest: Sarah Hina

Hi everybody!

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Books as Rituals

Okay, yeah, I know. It's been a long time. What can I say? Deadlines and a kiddo on summer break make blogging fall on the priority list. What's important is I'm here now and I have something to discuss that I'm still formulating my own opinions on.

The other day I was reading an article ("10 Ways to Find More Pleasure Every Day" by Paul Bloom, Real Simple, July 2010) about how to find more small pleasures every day. The suggestions included things like listening to a new favorite song on...