K.C. Shaw's Blog, page 22
March 14, 2011
Egg plots
I'm at the point with Bloodhound that the plot threads are starting to pull together. This is one of the most difficult parts of writing a draft for me. From here through the ending--which is difficult and emotionally draining--I'm going to be sweating it constantly.
I keep most of my plot ideas in my head, using the parts of my brain that aren't already taken up with song lyrics, phone numbers from my childhood, and what number the cable company has changed the History Channel to this time. This is why I can't do algebra; there's no brain-storage space left.
So at this point in the writing of any long project, keeping all the plot and subplot elements, character arcs, and physical description in mind as I write (and presumably strive for decent prose) feels like holding a very fragile raw egg. In my mouth. If I'm not constantly vigilant, I could crack the egg or even break it, or just choke on it, or just spit it out for a little while, that turns into a long while, that can easily turn into forever.
I keep most of my plot ideas in my head, using the parts of my brain that aren't already taken up with song lyrics, phone numbers from my childhood, and what number the cable company has changed the History Channel to this time. This is why I can't do algebra; there's no brain-storage space left.
So at this point in the writing of any long project, keeping all the plot and subplot elements, character arcs, and physical description in mind as I write (and presumably strive for decent prose) feels like holding a very fragile raw egg. In my mouth. If I'm not constantly vigilant, I could crack the egg or even break it, or just choke on it, or just spit it out for a little while, that turns into a long while, that can easily turn into forever.
March 12, 2011
First Line Self-Indulgence
Elizabeth Bear does this thing on her blog occasionally where she posts the first line of all her works in progress. I've always thought that was pretty cool, but since I'm not Elizabeth Bear I've never done anything similar (that I recall). But I'm off work today and not sure what to do with myself, and our new neighbors are moving in next door and blocking the driveway so I can't go anywhere, and I can't turn on the TV because I'll get too overwhelmed with horror over Japan. So I opened my WIP file to work on Bloodhound, and noticed just how many WIP files I do have. Maybe posting the first line will help me focus.
First lines, in alphabetical order:
Adventures in Zoology
Of course I was prepared for the expedition. I'd been preparing for it my whole life.
Blood Drive
On Tuesday afternoons, Mama and Alessandra had their weekly appointment at the dressmaker's, followed by tea at one of the better tea-houses on Dawnowl Street.
Bloodhound
I arrived in the foreign city of Farlin via a goddess's spell cast by a murderer.
Charmed Circle
Dottie was living up to her name, as usual.
Darla Dare, Girl Detective
When I got the call from the temp service, my first thought was, "Finally!"
Little Sparrow
Sparrow had chosen the perfect night to change his coins into gold.
How Christopher Kaplan Learned to Lie
Chris found Ojo sitting under a forsythia bush one drizzly Friday afternoon.
"Rio Tesoro"
Isabella arrived in Rio Tesoro on her twenty-third birthday, on foot and carrying everything she owned in a saddlebag over her shoulder.
"Shades of Gray"
Mayra pulled her mule to a halt at the sight of the overturned wagon.
"The Shepherd's Apprentice"
The treeless hills looked like a newly shorn sheep's flank.
Stag in Ruin
My brother Gabe had fallen. He'd fallen down the stairs.
Tiger
A lalo had found Tea, and it wouldn't leave her alone.
All of the short stories and some of the novels will undoubtedly languish on my hard drive until I realize I'm never, ever going to finish them. Then I'll delete them, and they'll deserve it. But I fully expect to finish the rest. Eventually.
First lines, in alphabetical order:
Adventures in Zoology
Of course I was prepared for the expedition. I'd been preparing for it my whole life.
Blood Drive
On Tuesday afternoons, Mama and Alessandra had their weekly appointment at the dressmaker's, followed by tea at one of the better tea-houses on Dawnowl Street.
Bloodhound
I arrived in the foreign city of Farlin via a goddess's spell cast by a murderer.
Charmed Circle
Dottie was living up to her name, as usual.
Darla Dare, Girl Detective
When I got the call from the temp service, my first thought was, "Finally!"
Little Sparrow
Sparrow had chosen the perfect night to change his coins into gold.
How Christopher Kaplan Learned to Lie
Chris found Ojo sitting under a forsythia bush one drizzly Friday afternoon.
"Rio Tesoro"
Isabella arrived in Rio Tesoro on her twenty-third birthday, on foot and carrying everything she owned in a saddlebag over her shoulder.
"Shades of Gray"
Mayra pulled her mule to a halt at the sight of the overturned wagon.
"The Shepherd's Apprentice"
The treeless hills looked like a newly shorn sheep's flank.
Stag in Ruin
My brother Gabe had fallen. He'd fallen down the stairs.
Tiger
A lalo had found Tea, and it wouldn't leave her alone.
All of the short stories and some of the novels will undoubtedly languish on my hard drive until I realize I'm never, ever going to finish them. Then I'll delete them, and they'll deserve it. But I fully expect to finish the rest. Eventually.
March 8, 2011
Nothing but transitions
Bloodhound is now 57,000 words long. My writing has slowed as I have to work out plot points so that they're going to tie together and actually make sense at the end, but I'm still going pretty fast. I have the next few scenes plotted out and should have managed to write them today.
But I'm stuck in a section where the main character has to travel to several places in a very short time, and while in those places she has to visit different rooms and talk to different people about different things. In other words, I feel like I've been writing nothing but transitions for the last thousand words!
I think transitions are one of the hardest things to get right. Mess them up and the writing is clumsy, slow, and unconvincing. Get them right and no one notices. Every time a character moves to a new location or changes the subject during a conversation, or the action has to change in some way, it's yet another transition. For all the effort I'm putting into this section of Bloodhound, I'm going to have to revise the hell out of it to make it read smoothly in the final draft. But I have to finish writing it first.
But I'm stuck in a section where the main character has to travel to several places in a very short time, and while in those places she has to visit different rooms and talk to different people about different things. In other words, I feel like I've been writing nothing but transitions for the last thousand words!
I think transitions are one of the hardest things to get right. Mess them up and the writing is clumsy, slow, and unconvincing. Get them right and no one notices. Every time a character moves to a new location or changes the subject during a conversation, or the action has to change in some way, it's yet another transition. For all the effort I'm putting into this section of Bloodhound, I'm going to have to revise the hell out of it to make it read smoothly in the final draft. But I have to finish writing it first.
March 6, 2011
Holy Crap!
Angry Robot just requested the full of Bell-Men.
*falls down dead from shock*
*falls down dead from shock*
March 5, 2011
VERY URGENT ARE YOU DEAD OR ALIVE
Seriously, that was a spam email I got today. What am I supposed to say, "No, I'm dead"?
It's raining again. I do love rain, and it's still warm out, but I also wanted to mess around in the garden today. It's muddy enough already; we don't need anymore rain at the moment, thank you very much. Hopefully it won't wash away the seeds I planted Thursday.
No news on the writing front. Here, I'll jinx myself, which will at least get things moving: I've had a story shortlisted at Apex since November; I'm waiting for one contract and four sets of edits; Samhain has had my romance since the beginning of January; all three of my other available short stories have been out on sub for several months; and of course Angry Robot has had my Bell-Men query for almost a week (although since I've heard they started requesting fulls the first day they opened for queries, I'm guessing I'll be getting a form reject pretty soon).
There. If that doesn't get me some responses, I'll have to start simsubbing to move things along.
It's raining again. I do love rain, and it's still warm out, but I also wanted to mess around in the garden today. It's muddy enough already; we don't need anymore rain at the moment, thank you very much. Hopefully it won't wash away the seeds I planted Thursday.
No news on the writing front. Here, I'll jinx myself, which will at least get things moving: I've had a story shortlisted at Apex since November; I'm waiting for one contract and four sets of edits; Samhain has had my romance since the beginning of January; all three of my other available short stories have been out on sub for several months; and of course Angry Robot has had my Bell-Men query for almost a week (although since I've heard they started requesting fulls the first day they opened for queries, I'm guessing I'll be getting a form reject pretty soon).
There. If that doesn't get me some responses, I'll have to start simsubbing to move things along.
March 1, 2011
Here we are in March already
It's March 1, so I sent my Angry Robot submission in. Hope they like it. For one thing, I love the publisher's name.
I was going to post a picture of my March 1 garden, which is tilled and fenced properly this year. But we've had nearly a week of rain culminating in ferocious all-day storms yesterday, so the garden looks more like dirt soup and it's far too wet for me to have planted the lettuce, radishes, snow peas, and spinach that I'm dying to get into the ground. Maybe next weekend.
I do have some pepper seedlings up. No cayennes yet, but I have high hopes that I'll get some of those up soon. The cayennes particularly excite me because A) they're my favorite pepper, very hot and yummy, and B) these seeds are from a volunteer plant that seeded from a cayenne I planted two summers ago. I don't know why it thrills me to have third-generation cayenne plants, but it does. Simple pleasures, I guess.
I was going to post a picture of my March 1 garden, which is tilled and fenced properly this year. But we've had nearly a week of rain culminating in ferocious all-day storms yesterday, so the garden looks more like dirt soup and it's far too wet for me to have planted the lettuce, radishes, snow peas, and spinach that I'm dying to get into the ground. Maybe next weekend.
I do have some pepper seedlings up. No cayennes yet, but I have high hopes that I'll get some of those up soon. The cayennes particularly excite me because A) they're my favorite pepper, very hot and yummy, and B) these seeds are from a volunteer plant that seeded from a cayenne I planted two summers ago. I don't know why it thrills me to have third-generation cayenne plants, but it does. Simple pleasures, I guess.
February 27, 2011
Who's in with me?
So who else is planning to submit to Angry Robot on Tuesday? They're only opening to unagented submissions for one month. They're going to get inundated.
I'm sending Bell-Men, and to prepare I'm now doing yet-another-final-edit. They only want to see the first five chapters, but I figure any excuse to trim some words off that monster is a good one. And I have indeed managed to cut about 600 words, taking me down close enough to 116,000 words that I can change my official wordcount. I'd like to get down to 115,000, but I don't think that's going to happen. Still, the first draft was about 130,000, so I figure I'm doing good.
This is a good book. I like it. It's too long and probably the pacing is off as a result, but I think it's strong and pretty well written. Maybe the slush readers at Angry Robot will think so too.
I'm sending Bell-Men, and to prepare I'm now doing yet-another-final-edit. They only want to see the first five chapters, but I figure any excuse to trim some words off that monster is a good one. And I have indeed managed to cut about 600 words, taking me down close enough to 116,000 words that I can change my official wordcount. I'd like to get down to 115,000, but I don't think that's going to happen. Still, the first draft was about 130,000, so I figure I'm doing good.
This is a good book. I like it. It's too long and probably the pacing is off as a result, but I think it's strong and pretty well written. Maybe the slush readers at Angry Robot will think so too.
February 24, 2011
My typing fingers are weary
Dang! I finally finished typing up all 20-some pages of writing I'd generated over the last several days. I wrote 6,500 words longhand! Bloodhound is now up to 48,000 words, and shifting into high gear. Best of all, the plot is coming together very nicely.
I don't necessarily prefer writing longhand instead of typing, but it sure is a good way to generate words. I always have my notebook with me. A few paragraphs here and there add up fast.
I don't necessarily prefer writing longhand instead of typing, but it sure is a good way to generate words. I always have my notebook with me. A few paragraphs here and there add up fast.
February 20, 2011
More about my name
I was looking up last names online to find a name for a new character, and while I was on one site I looked up my own last name. Here's what it said!
Shaw - Originally given to a person who lived near a sceaga, Old English meaning "thicket".
Holy crap! My name means "thicket," and here I have a blog called "The Knotted Thicket," which was completely a coincidence. My ancestors would have been baffled.
Shaw - Originally given to a person who lived near a sceaga, Old English meaning "thicket".
Holy crap! My name means "thicket," and here I have a blog called "The Knotted Thicket," which was completely a coincidence. My ancestors would have been baffled.
February 19, 2011
Now with double the Shaw awe
The TOC has been announced for Pill Hill Press's Leather, Denim & Silver anthology, in which I have a story. Thirty stories in that antho! Hot damn! I'm also not the only Shaw in the TOC, which is fine, because all us Shaws are awesome.
I'm still working hard on Bloodhound, which is already almost at 40,000 words. In most books, that would be around the halfway point. In this ridiculously long thing, it's more like a quarter of the way in. I'm going to have to rein in the details during the first editing pass.
I'm still working hard on Bloodhound, which is already almost at 40,000 words. In most books, that would be around the halfway point. In this ridiculously long thing, it's more like a quarter of the way in. I'm going to have to rein in the details during the first editing pass.
