Sarah Scheele's Blog, page 29
February 15, 2018
Let's Talk Bellevere House
This book was begun several years ago, as part of a group project. My sister started the project and I knew most of the other members personally, some for years. So I agreed to join. There was much defensiveness last year because I portrayed some of the characters in my book as immoral, something that wasn’t done in any of the other VJA books I’ve read so far. Even my mother, who was editing it, spent literally 75% of the editing time, on a deadline, going over and over and over and over and over and over and over a few chapters early on which showed parties, a scene between Myrtle and Horace, and some slangy 30s dialogue. I had to really push her to move on and I could not see why all the concern was necessary. All of this material was light and unimportant because the characters were the same without it—cavalier, often selfish, and immoral.
But that IS the interest in Mansfield Park. I didn’t take Mansfield Park because I related to these characters. It was because MP is a story that’s rarely told right. Rarely told truthfully. Every movie, every retelling seems to get something wrong. And since finding the story that’s really in the story is what I do, I felt the task was mine since I had to join the collection. This was the story that I found inside Mansfield Park. It's a book about virtue, that’s true. Everyone praises virtuous Fanny Price or has obvious motives for bashing her. But it’s also a book about vice and most of the people interested in the book do want to discuss that side of behavior. I looked into the mirror of the story and this is what I saw. It’s not a personal reflection on me or my writing. In fact, this is my only story ever to show such characters. I don’t usually take on books with that as their hidden “true story.”
I didn’t feel the book ultimately had a lot to say in the vintage era. That’s why I switched it this year. MP was contemporary in Austen’s time and unlike some of the others it really, really needs that setting. And since telling the true story is what I do, I want Bellevere to do the best possible job of that while it’s still being marketed.
And there will be more updates.
But that IS the interest in Mansfield Park. I didn’t take Mansfield Park because I related to these characters. It was because MP is a story that’s rarely told right. Rarely told truthfully. Every movie, every retelling seems to get something wrong. And since finding the story that’s really in the story is what I do, I felt the task was mine since I had to join the collection. This was the story that I found inside Mansfield Park. It's a book about virtue, that’s true. Everyone praises virtuous Fanny Price or has obvious motives for bashing her. But it’s also a book about vice and most of the people interested in the book do want to discuss that side of behavior. I looked into the mirror of the story and this is what I saw. It’s not a personal reflection on me or my writing. In fact, this is my only story ever to show such characters. I don’t usually take on books with that as their hidden “true story.”
I didn’t feel the book ultimately had a lot to say in the vintage era. That’s why I switched it this year. MP was contemporary in Austen’s time and unlike some of the others it really, really needs that setting. And since telling the true story is what I do, I want Bellevere to do the best possible job of that while it’s still being marketed.
And there will be more updates.
February 13, 2018
My Heroes Rated 1-10
As I examined the male characters in my books recently, I remembered how often men are mentioned by readers around me. They love a certain hero; love “dark guys,”; act up if men are shown as flirtatious; much, much prefer reading about men; hate reading about girls; self-consciously announce when using male POV or thinking about using it; criticize women who care if men are hot; criticize men who aren’t hot enough; giggle about “falling in love” with their own heroes. The list goes on and on. They talk a great deal more about men than about women actually.
I had always thought Don Tachimant from Jurant one of my most boring characters. He does nothing but sulk and complain. But I realized he was one of my best heroes when I looked at him from the POV of women. His actions relative to women. He is unable to deal with situations and often panics, but he is affectionate and deeply loyal. Qualities women always say they love, love, love. I now see where they are coming from. To me, he was just a way for plot to happen, but to them he was more.
So here’s a list of how I’d rate my books, based on the heroes. This leaves out works that haven’t been released on this website yet, even if they’ve been completed or read by people before.1: Jurant ~ Don is not helpful and confused, but he’s protective and very fond his sister. He also shows concern for Sekana and eventually protects her. Even villains are shown as having concern for others behind their behavior.2: City of the Invaders ~ So far, though little seen, the guys are always concerned about the girls and look out for them. But this is the first book in a series, so it’s hard to tell until the series gets rolling.3: The Test of Devotion ~ The men are macho and often violent. But they are very personal and committed in their relationships and Viajero is my only hero shown taking responsible care of a kid4: Victoria: A Tale of Spain ~ Though bossy and threatening, The Hirado and Ignacio are usually right and trying to help the women around them. Victoria’s dad is less helpful, but not really as abusive as she thinks.5: The Birthday Present/The Amulet of Renari ~ I put these two together because I’m not sure about them yet. The guys are vague in Renari and weird in TBP. I'll talk about this later. 6: Ryan and Essie ~ It’s harder to tell because most characters are kids. Ryan and Ethan do seem to be intelligent and independent people, but they have bad attitudes. Adult men are shown much more than adult women—not sure if that’s good or bad.7: Bellevere House ~ Most of the young men are immoral, conceited, and have a cavalier attitude to women. This is the only book where I’ve shown immoral characters. Even Ed is kind of unlikable.8: Alyce/Millhaven Castle ~ The overall tone is geared towards older people, which could mean older men even though they never appear. Young men are always shown in a distant, unreal way. Alyce is surrounded by a tight, traditional circle that constricts relationships.9: Halogen Crossing ~ Karl, Ferdinand, and all the guys mostly ignore women altogether. They are lost in morbid preoccupations that seem very, very unhealthy. The women are surly and hysterical.
And there will be more updates
I had always thought Don Tachimant from Jurant one of my most boring characters. He does nothing but sulk and complain. But I realized he was one of my best heroes when I looked at him from the POV of women. His actions relative to women. He is unable to deal with situations and often panics, but he is affectionate and deeply loyal. Qualities women always say they love, love, love. I now see where they are coming from. To me, he was just a way for plot to happen, but to them he was more.
So here’s a list of how I’d rate my books, based on the heroes. This leaves out works that haven’t been released on this website yet, even if they’ve been completed or read by people before.1: Jurant ~ Don is not helpful and confused, but he’s protective and very fond his sister. He also shows concern for Sekana and eventually protects her. Even villains are shown as having concern for others behind their behavior.2: City of the Invaders ~ So far, though little seen, the guys are always concerned about the girls and look out for them. But this is the first book in a series, so it’s hard to tell until the series gets rolling.3: The Test of Devotion ~ The men are macho and often violent. But they are very personal and committed in their relationships and Viajero is my only hero shown taking responsible care of a kid4: Victoria: A Tale of Spain ~ Though bossy and threatening, The Hirado and Ignacio are usually right and trying to help the women around them. Victoria’s dad is less helpful, but not really as abusive as she thinks.5: The Birthday Present/The Amulet of Renari ~ I put these two together because I’m not sure about them yet. The guys are vague in Renari and weird in TBP. I'll talk about this later. 6: Ryan and Essie ~ It’s harder to tell because most characters are kids. Ryan and Ethan do seem to be intelligent and independent people, but they have bad attitudes. Adult men are shown much more than adult women—not sure if that’s good or bad.7: Bellevere House ~ Most of the young men are immoral, conceited, and have a cavalier attitude to women. This is the only book where I’ve shown immoral characters. Even Ed is kind of unlikable.8: Alyce/Millhaven Castle ~ The overall tone is geared towards older people, which could mean older men even though they never appear. Young men are always shown in a distant, unreal way. Alyce is surrounded by a tight, traditional circle that constricts relationships.9: Halogen Crossing ~ Karl, Ferdinand, and all the guys mostly ignore women altogether. They are lost in morbid preoccupations that seem very, very unhealthy. The women are surly and hysterical.
And there will be more updates
Men in My Books
When I write, it’s a very intuitive process. I wouldn’t describe myself as a pantster—not only because that sounds mildly derogatory, but because I don’t do that. I often plot in detail and use outlines. But I turn off any part of the brain that doesn’t see the literal story and its surroundings until afterwards. This is because relationships are at the heart of all my stories—including relationships between men and women. And if I start “thinking” about the characters too much, I’ll become aware of sensitivities people might have towards something I’m considering. I’d start to fudge. To smudge things over. To be careful and say the correct thing. Just like everyone else does. I’m human and I’d certainly do that if I was aware of the feelings about this character or genre.
People reading books are seeing their relationships dramatized in the stories. Women, above all, seem to be reading about worlds that mirror their own relationships with men. I didn’t consider this much because male characters don’t stick out to me compared to others. They’re just characters. But when I started thinking about my heroines, I realized the heroines are linked to heroes, to men in the story. I mostly think in plot, situations, and hairstyles. And in what I hear the characters say. What people honestly, truly say to each other. I've never consciously explored a male/female dynamic—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t consciously thought of by readers.
So I’ll be doing a number of posts that discuss my male characters and the heroines who accompany them. I believe the relationships they have, good or bad, are those of the people who read this kind of story. (Such as epic fantasy, in the case of Halogen Crossing.) The relationships these people have in real life—that’s why those relationships cross into the stories. The dynamic between a hero and heroine defines the story I wrote, though it wasn’t usually “romance” between them. But the person who reads any particular sort of book is a certain kind of woman with certain men in her life. Not men in MY life. Men in HER life. And that's a relationship I’d like to talk about.
And there will be more updates.
People reading books are seeing their relationships dramatized in the stories. Women, above all, seem to be reading about worlds that mirror their own relationships with men. I didn’t consider this much because male characters don’t stick out to me compared to others. They’re just characters. But when I started thinking about my heroines, I realized the heroines are linked to heroes, to men in the story. I mostly think in plot, situations, and hairstyles. And in what I hear the characters say. What people honestly, truly say to each other. I've never consciously explored a male/female dynamic—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t consciously thought of by readers.
So I’ll be doing a number of posts that discuss my male characters and the heroines who accompany them. I believe the relationships they have, good or bad, are those of the people who read this kind of story. (Such as epic fantasy, in the case of Halogen Crossing.) The relationships these people have in real life—that’s why those relationships cross into the stories. The dynamic between a hero and heroine defines the story I wrote, though it wasn’t usually “romance” between them. But the person who reads any particular sort of book is a certain kind of woman with certain men in her life. Not men in MY life. Men in HER life. And that's a relationship I’d like to talk about.
And there will be more updates.
February 8, 2018
Jane Austen Revisited
With Bellevere House coming up for sale next week, I thought I’d post a bit about Jane Austen. When I was growing up, JA saturated my house because of my mother. Some of my earliest creative efforts involved making little picture books of Pride and Prejudice, although I haven’t been interested in the story since. She really was just wallpaper and I didn’t think she was interesting. She was just there.
After working on the JA project, I began to rethink this author and her fans. My mother was not typical. Her view was old-fashioned even when she was young (the 1960s) and one of the few other fan-type commentaries she enjoyed was a book written in the 1940s. The 1940s. So I wasn’t prepared for the 21st century fans, or even late 20th century fans. The cult. The explosion. The Jane Austen girls. I didn’t know who these people were and I didn’t overly care. But I did gradually notice their movies and fanfiction had a tone I didn’t expect. Some of the movies were dark, sleazy, or bizarre; others droning, angsty, or a bit odd when portraying characters. (Such as Harriet.)
I hadn’t thought of working with any of the novels in an in-depth way and I lumped them all together as DeBooksByJehnAusten. (Sounds like a name for a fan website, doesn’t it?) Once I did, I noticed surprising things, and when I watched the movies closely, instead of casually, I saw more. And then I was reminded of that old 1940s book. The authors of that book had rated the novels from best to worst and I’d wondered why they put P&P so near the bottom and Emma so near the top. True, I didn’t care about P&P—but didn’t everyone love it? And EMMA? Boring, BORING Emma at the top??
I came to feel that was entirely true. Their list was pretty much accurate. Even then, they were seeing something I wasn’t in these books. And after I overheard someone talking about the parents in JA, as a way to rate the books, I saw they also all agreed. So here, partly based on them, partly on personal experience, is my official Jane Austen list.
Emma ~ a bit boring and something about it feels old and overdone. (Somehow.) But it’s harmless and cute. Much more interest in Frank Churchill than you’d think.Persuasion ~ slow and truly for a niche audience. But not as bad as you’d think, even if characters like the Elliots seem stuck-up and remote.Mansfield Park ~ deeply frustrating. After working with it, I concur. There’s so much that’s good, but something about the audience’s view (and the characters themselves) is unlikable and vague.Northanger Abbey ~ I want to like it. I really do. It used to be my favorite and underlying it’s still harmless. But the view of so many characters now makes them out to be bad people.Pride and Prejudice ~ shady, shady. True, many just think they’d like to be witty, clever Lizzie in a fancy dress. But there’s a dedicated audience that needs explaining. And why does it convert so well to having the characters as little kids? I'm not the only one to do this. That’s weird.Sense and Sensibility ~ There’s not much to say at this point. It’s . . . become more dark than it used to be. It’s hard to speak well of any of the men and even Mrs. Dashwood seems questionable.
And there will be more updates.
After working on the JA project, I began to rethink this author and her fans. My mother was not typical. Her view was old-fashioned even when she was young (the 1960s) and one of the few other fan-type commentaries she enjoyed was a book written in the 1940s. The 1940s. So I wasn’t prepared for the 21st century fans, or even late 20th century fans. The cult. The explosion. The Jane Austen girls. I didn’t know who these people were and I didn’t overly care. But I did gradually notice their movies and fanfiction had a tone I didn’t expect. Some of the movies were dark, sleazy, or bizarre; others droning, angsty, or a bit odd when portraying characters. (Such as Harriet.)
I hadn’t thought of working with any of the novels in an in-depth way and I lumped them all together as DeBooksByJehnAusten. (Sounds like a name for a fan website, doesn’t it?) Once I did, I noticed surprising things, and when I watched the movies closely, instead of casually, I saw more. And then I was reminded of that old 1940s book. The authors of that book had rated the novels from best to worst and I’d wondered why they put P&P so near the bottom and Emma so near the top. True, I didn’t care about P&P—but didn’t everyone love it? And EMMA? Boring, BORING Emma at the top??
I came to feel that was entirely true. Their list was pretty much accurate. Even then, they were seeing something I wasn’t in these books. And after I overheard someone talking about the parents in JA, as a way to rate the books, I saw they also all agreed. So here, partly based on them, partly on personal experience, is my official Jane Austen list.
Emma ~ a bit boring and something about it feels old and overdone. (Somehow.) But it’s harmless and cute. Much more interest in Frank Churchill than you’d think.Persuasion ~ slow and truly for a niche audience. But not as bad as you’d think, even if characters like the Elliots seem stuck-up and remote.Mansfield Park ~ deeply frustrating. After working with it, I concur. There’s so much that’s good, but something about the audience’s view (and the characters themselves) is unlikable and vague.Northanger Abbey ~ I want to like it. I really do. It used to be my favorite and underlying it’s still harmless. But the view of so many characters now makes them out to be bad people.Pride and Prejudice ~ shady, shady. True, many just think they’d like to be witty, clever Lizzie in a fancy dress. But there’s a dedicated audience that needs explaining. And why does it convert so well to having the characters as little kids? I'm not the only one to do this. That’s weird.Sense and Sensibility ~ There’s not much to say at this point. It’s . . . become more dark than it used to be. It’s hard to speak well of any of the men and even Mrs. Dashwood seems questionable.
And there will be more updates.
Me and My Heroines Continued
Since I’ve stated before that I’m NOT my heroines and I'm not writing about myself, perhaps it would be best to examine what those heroines are actually like. What’s important to remember about my heroines is that most of them are not independent thinkers. They aren’t particularly intelligent and go with the flow, locked into a social circle, often a family unit or something traditional from the past. They never question this circle’s attitudes and behavior.
They never seem to be critical or to have many of their own ideas. If they show criticism, like Faye with Mr. Rivers, it is one already expressed by someone else in their circle, especially a man.They are usually shown as ignorant. Guys, even boys like Ryan and Don, are far more likely to be critical and other women, as well as men, are often in the know whereas the heroines are not.It’s easy for them to embrace bad ideas, like Essie and Alyce. Ryan is more skeptical of this whole adventure than Essie, and he should be. Alyce (in the shorter stories) is tolerant where she should be firm, and resigned where she should be angry.They never initiate a plot. The plot is always dictated, set in motion, and defined by somebody else, and the heroines are just moved around and play along. They have virtually no power over their own lives.Focus and moral direction are usually lacking. Because they tick along from day to day without questioning, broader issues like worldview, right and wrong, and situational awareness are weak for them.The heroine is never in charge. Family members in particular are important to characters like Victoria and Sekana, creating the whole framework that causes things to happen to these girls. But in every story, other people are in charge. The girls never pilot their own life.Reading this you’d see why I wouldn’t be pleased at being viewed as "writing about myself" when I write about these girls. Being dominated by family, maneuvered by other people, and lacking much moral clarity or focus of their own is what my heroines mostly do. So saying I’m like my heroines would be saying I am those things. Which I'm certainly not.
A couple of heroines break this mold a bit and aren’t quite as dictated by other people. Violet in The Amulet of Renari and Jenny in The Test of Devotion come to mind. And Essie, while often showing these qualities, is a little bit on her own thing. But whatever my heroines are like, I Do Not appreciate any smug or disrespectful treatment or inference towards me based on the people I show.
And there will be more updates.
They never seem to be critical or to have many of their own ideas. If they show criticism, like Faye with Mr. Rivers, it is one already expressed by someone else in their circle, especially a man.They are usually shown as ignorant. Guys, even boys like Ryan and Don, are far more likely to be critical and other women, as well as men, are often in the know whereas the heroines are not.It’s easy for them to embrace bad ideas, like Essie and Alyce. Ryan is more skeptical of this whole adventure than Essie, and he should be. Alyce (in the shorter stories) is tolerant where she should be firm, and resigned where she should be angry.They never initiate a plot. The plot is always dictated, set in motion, and defined by somebody else, and the heroines are just moved around and play along. They have virtually no power over their own lives.Focus and moral direction are usually lacking. Because they tick along from day to day without questioning, broader issues like worldview, right and wrong, and situational awareness are weak for them.The heroine is never in charge. Family members in particular are important to characters like Victoria and Sekana, creating the whole framework that causes things to happen to these girls. But in every story, other people are in charge. The girls never pilot their own life.Reading this you’d see why I wouldn’t be pleased at being viewed as "writing about myself" when I write about these girls. Being dominated by family, maneuvered by other people, and lacking much moral clarity or focus of their own is what my heroines mostly do. So saying I’m like my heroines would be saying I am those things. Which I'm certainly not.
A couple of heroines break this mold a bit and aren’t quite as dictated by other people. Violet in The Amulet of Renari and Jenny in The Test of Devotion come to mind. And Essie, while often showing these qualities, is a little bit on her own thing. But whatever my heroines are like, I Do Not appreciate any smug or disrespectful treatment or inference towards me based on the people I show.
And there will be more updates.
February 6, 2018
The Story You Don't See
When I first started writing, it never occurred to me to explain why I wrote. I felt it was so obvious. The stories spoke for themselves, I was sure. I was sure from the time I was a kid that this was what I must do and I never thought of doing anything else. My stories had a purpose. But after 10 years of priggish, condescending behavior that seemed to show no grasp of the stories, I realized exactly that. People didn't quite know what the stories were about. They had missed the point altogether, because they were used to reading a different kind of story normally.
After all, a glance through would show that I didn't use the arcs and writing techniques that are used in pretty much every fiction book. Most of the time, those books are all the same. So I MUST be an amateur and didn't do this because I had a lot to learn about writing. They would also misunderstand things that appeared because they were used to skimming quickly through a book and forming a socially correct, glib, random opinion. Things went downhill from there. Downhill for them quite as much as for me, since if you mouth off about someone's work when it's clear you don't even know what's in it, you run the risk of looking unbelievably stupid. My books are not to be read hastily and judged flippantly, with a bit of an attitude. My books are about something.
When I write, I visualize a world--sets, hairstyles, weather, certain facial expressions, and the things I hear the characters say to each other. That's because my brain is responding to stimuli about people and what they're doing in some dimension, some genre where a kind of person is congregating. Far from being about me or my real-life relationships, the books are about a whole other set of people altogether. What set of people depends on the world I feel drawn to explore. I try to write the story that I feel is essentially there. What all the other author's stories are really about, really trying to say. What is the basic "story" being told by epic fantasy? By historical romance? Works set in an obscure setting like 1600s Spain? Bleak, harsh tales about humans, mutants, and survival? That's the story I'm trying to get at and show clearly when I set about doing a book. Because entertainment is great, but these stories can often conceal or disguise the reader's motives for being here and reading this book. I want to draw out the gut root of the story and reveal it.
And there will be more updates.
After all, a glance through would show that I didn't use the arcs and writing techniques that are used in pretty much every fiction book. Most of the time, those books are all the same. So I MUST be an amateur and didn't do this because I had a lot to learn about writing. They would also misunderstand things that appeared because they were used to skimming quickly through a book and forming a socially correct, glib, random opinion. Things went downhill from there. Downhill for them quite as much as for me, since if you mouth off about someone's work when it's clear you don't even know what's in it, you run the risk of looking unbelievably stupid. My books are not to be read hastily and judged flippantly, with a bit of an attitude. My books are about something.
When I write, I visualize a world--sets, hairstyles, weather, certain facial expressions, and the things I hear the characters say to each other. That's because my brain is responding to stimuli about people and what they're doing in some dimension, some genre where a kind of person is congregating. Far from being about me or my real-life relationships, the books are about a whole other set of people altogether. What set of people depends on the world I feel drawn to explore. I try to write the story that I feel is essentially there. What all the other author's stories are really about, really trying to say. What is the basic "story" being told by epic fantasy? By historical romance? Works set in an obscure setting like 1600s Spain? Bleak, harsh tales about humans, mutants, and survival? That's the story I'm trying to get at and show clearly when I set about doing a book. Because entertainment is great, but these stories can often conceal or disguise the reader's motives for being here and reading this book. I want to draw out the gut root of the story and reveal it.
And there will be more updates.
More About Palladia
The second Palladia book, Consuela, is in its final stages. The cover is coming along. I'm going to use this model (though not sure about this particular image. I've narrowed down to 9 poses of her.) But I'm going to choose soon, so I'll go ahead and put the cover up to give a general idea of the direction. The cover still has a lot of work though, and after moving the entire book into a radically different setting from before, I've taken a week or two off to cool down before I go through with a fine-tooth comb. Palladia is set about 300 years from now. I stalled with creating it after City of the Invaders, until I came back and realized Frank and Katia had never enthralled readers very much. They were just a platform to start the conversation. It was the world that had potential to move forward. I'm currently planning 5 books, my first series. I sometimes tried to make sequels for my stories, but it never worked because the story had been told. In Palladia, the story is just beginning. I hope by the end we'll know what this world is about and perhaps have a bit of insight into why people are so interested in this genre. What kind of people resonate with futuristic scifi and what are they seeing their daily lives that makes them talk using this sort of narrative? So here's a basic overview of the world's structure.
There are a lot of people groups in the Palladia world. Palladia is one of several countries in a region where a former society collapsed in the past.
The second story, Consuela, takes place in Belaria, a neighboring country to Palladia.Mars, the Moon, and one of the moons of Jupiter have inhabited colonies. The Martians are called Alpheans and appear to be Asian. Their culture is extremely advanced technologically and socially compared to the Palladians. The Lunaians also seem wealthy, but are little shown so far. I hope to explore Alphea and Luna at least a little in the third and fourth books. These places are called outerplanetary and their residents are Outerplaneters.In Palladia, there are three kinds of people: the "invaders," who seem dominant and control city-states, the main unit of Palladian government; "EC," who are a minority remnant of a previous culture and subject to the Invaders; and the "technical class," a special subdivision of invaders who have much hidden rivalry and hostility to the EC. The EC are the only officially literate class, but the technical class often hold similar jobs and are beady about the EC's supposed elite position. The outerplanetary colonies don't have these three divisions, and don't think in "invaders" and "EC." People from Earth can visit them, but the Alpheans especially think this viewpoint distinctive to the Palladia region. They also disapprove of it, in essence. All of these situations in Palladia are mirroring something in real life that I believe a lot of people see. This is the case with all such stories, because no one can truly see the future, obviously. Futuristic is talking about trends coming from our own time and imagining them heading on. In all my stories, as I blogged before, there's a bad guy who needs to be uncovered. And it's not who you think. In other posts I'll talk about my stories in depth so it's visible what they are talking about. (Assuming the idea they are fantasies about me are out of the way, they must be about something else.)
Who is the bad guy in Palladia? It seems to be the "Invaders," but by the second book you'll see they are slicker and more advanced than the first book makes them out to be. In City of the Invaders they're mostly bandits and gangsters. And their relationship with the EC is increasingly unclear, as we get to seem them actually interacting in daily, normal way. Also part of the second book. Are the EC really the good guys? And what role do all the other groups have in the mix? You should pay close attention.
And there will be more updates.
February 1, 2018
Perambulations
My blogs tended to last about a year or two until I felt a change was needed and I set up somewhere else. I had a different blog on this website during 2015 and 2016, but I think the earlier content was erased before I made this one. In between, I was on Wordpress. I was on Wordpress earlier as well, about 6 years ago, and had a fairly long stint on Blogger (by my standards) before I closed that blog down. Long ago I even had a small, private blog on an alumni site where I went by the foolish name of Zoeangel! Ah, good times.
I moved about so much because I wasn't happy with something about the platforms. (Not because I was up to junk and trying to cover my trails; a more exciting, but less real theory!) The two major platforms, Wordpress and Blogger, offer lots of networking possibilities with other blogs, but I realized that's not what I want. That creates an endless cloud of conversations and chatter that actually limits the ability to talk or be heard. My most recent blog before this one is still operational on Wordpress, though I'll phase it out eventually. If people need to see some context from last year, they can visit sarahscheeleblog.wordpress.com
When I examine the websites of authors, I do notice their blog to see steady, constant activity. That stability makes me feel the author has a focus. But that's all. I never feel like commenting. The point of my visiting the blog is to listen and gauge the author, not talk. And then I saw what I'd like to change about my blogging. Comments. As I do with these authors, I feel people should visit my blog to listen to how I'm doing, not start conversations. So I turned off comments and never looked back.
If people have something truly on their minds, they can access the contact form elsewhere on the website, or reply to newsletter mailings. Having to take extra steps will also limit them so they are sure this is worth mentioning. That eliminates Spam by about 85% right there. The little avatar-heads I mentioned in a previous post can provide a lot of distraction--worrying about comments, answering comments, trying to post so you don't get snotty comments--all the time.
And there will be more updates.
I moved about so much because I wasn't happy with something about the platforms. (Not because I was up to junk and trying to cover my trails; a more exciting, but less real theory!) The two major platforms, Wordpress and Blogger, offer lots of networking possibilities with other blogs, but I realized that's not what I want. That creates an endless cloud of conversations and chatter that actually limits the ability to talk or be heard. My most recent blog before this one is still operational on Wordpress, though I'll phase it out eventually. If people need to see some context from last year, they can visit sarahscheeleblog.wordpress.com
When I examine the websites of authors, I do notice their blog to see steady, constant activity. That stability makes me feel the author has a focus. But that's all. I never feel like commenting. The point of my visiting the blog is to listen and gauge the author, not talk. And then I saw what I'd like to change about my blogging. Comments. As I do with these authors, I feel people should visit my blog to listen to how I'm doing, not start conversations. So I turned off comments and never looked back.
If people have something truly on their minds, they can access the contact form elsewhere on the website, or reply to newsletter mailings. Having to take extra steps will also limit them so they are sure this is worth mentioning. That eliminates Spam by about 85% right there. The little avatar-heads I mentioned in a previous post can provide a lot of distraction--worrying about comments, answering comments, trying to post so you don't get snotty comments--all the time.
And there will be more updates.
January 30, 2018
Me, Myself, and My Heroines
It's always far too easy to confuse a creative person with the work they do. I'm glad I'm not an actress, because at least half of the people who watch a movie don't seem to realize that actors play characters who are not themselves. That's the whole point of the word "actor." The idea of representing somewhat other than yourself. But far too few people understand this. The character becomes real to us and then we forget the actor is acting. But that doesn't make the illusion anything other than that. An illusion. Actors are not the characters they play, unless they're quite bad actors indeed.
In the same way, I've felt people have tried to view my work over the last decade as a personal expression. In short, that my heroines are me. Their romances are what I'd theoretically like to have; their falsities and errors are mine; if they are shady or make mistakes, that's because I'm a very shady, mistake-ridden person. If they are shy or in pain, that's because I'm revealing my pain to the world; if they're tolerant, their tolerance of that exact thing is a reflection of mine. I've already talked about the problem this created with Alyce, where a resigned, slightly run-over girl is the main character. But it appeared with every one of my books.
To make things worse, a very large number of authors DO write only about themselves, as there are untalented actors who can't act. Some of these authors are just living the dream in their fiction and admit it, but the others are actually trying to write about other people and can't because their writing is so bad. There's nothing but a bad motive in trying to apply that as a sweeping label to any author you run across. That kind of attitude is out of place and in doing it you will make the mistake of not seeing what's actually in their books. Hence people would treat me in an amazing way because they thought I was the heroine they were currently reading about. And I didn't, of course, love an assumption in its essence belittling. Why wouldn't I be a good enough writer to show other people? I don't think you have any proof I'm so amateur.
My stories are complex and I'm actually trying to say something with them. If that preconception that I'm working through or fantasizing about my own situations is removed, the real story in the books is a whole lot easier to see. In most of my stories, I write about situations in which a bad guy is revealed to be a surprise and not who you think. If you're endlessly reading through a lens of, "I bet you showed this heroine as afraid of the lead male because you're afraid of men," you'll miss the point. Like Stormtroopers with random targets, you'll do nothing but miss.
And there will be more updates.
In the same way, I've felt people have tried to view my work over the last decade as a personal expression. In short, that my heroines are me. Their romances are what I'd theoretically like to have; their falsities and errors are mine; if they are shady or make mistakes, that's because I'm a very shady, mistake-ridden person. If they are shy or in pain, that's because I'm revealing my pain to the world; if they're tolerant, their tolerance of that exact thing is a reflection of mine. I've already talked about the problem this created with Alyce, where a resigned, slightly run-over girl is the main character. But it appeared with every one of my books.
To make things worse, a very large number of authors DO write only about themselves, as there are untalented actors who can't act. Some of these authors are just living the dream in their fiction and admit it, but the others are actually trying to write about other people and can't because their writing is so bad. There's nothing but a bad motive in trying to apply that as a sweeping label to any author you run across. That kind of attitude is out of place and in doing it you will make the mistake of not seeing what's actually in their books. Hence people would treat me in an amazing way because they thought I was the heroine they were currently reading about. And I didn't, of course, love an assumption in its essence belittling. Why wouldn't I be a good enough writer to show other people? I don't think you have any proof I'm so amateur.
My stories are complex and I'm actually trying to say something with them. If that preconception that I'm working through or fantasizing about my own situations is removed, the real story in the books is a whole lot easier to see. In most of my stories, I write about situations in which a bad guy is revealed to be a surprise and not who you think. If you're endlessly reading through a lens of, "I bet you showed this heroine as afraid of the lead male because you're afraid of men," you'll miss the point. Like Stormtroopers with random targets, you'll do nothing but miss.
And there will be more updates.
Stirring on the Way
The progress with my books continues. It's been astounding over the last few months, as the website, marketing direction, covers, and book structure grew at light-speed before my eyes. All the exhaustive sorting of my books really paid off. (If there's any idea that I'm unobjective about my stories, that's not true. But more about that in another post.)
For this year I have 3 books scheduled, as well as a short story single release. And that's just old, backlogged material that either didn't make it to publication or was badly presented at first and needs to be redone and done right. I have a number of intriguing new ideas taking shape, but I've got to get all this out of the way first. Consuela is basically completed now and I hope to release it in about another month. After trial, I discarded the French Revolution setting and moved it out of historical altogether into the City of the Invaders world. I was startled at how well it fit, but with so many changes to the book I would call it a new story and will release it separately instead of using the old, now inapplicable ebook with a few reviews on it. A short fantasy story called Everwood (romance with a bit of gentle comedy) will come this spring. I wrote it a couple years ago and stumbled on it again by chance. It's really cute.The Prince's Ball should follow after. At present it's my longest individual work, since I didn't think about page count when I was younger and could really rattle on. American Homeschooler is tentatively being planned for publication at last. At least, some of it--some form of the Letty/Lamia/Luna story will resurrect and get legitimized in an ebook and print, so to speak. It appeared on FB almost a decade ago and I was sure it had lost relevance. But the story might still have a little something and people have been asking about a print for years. At least a couple more Invader-world stories and a fantasy-romance novella are also brewing. I'd love to be able to work on them more, but I have to get caught up first. The Lexie-and-Petra story is for the moment being considered to join the Invader world. There's a lot of complexity, in societies we haven't explored yet like Alphea, and after being able to move Consuela, I realize almost anything could transition to this world.
And there will be more updates.
For this year I have 3 books scheduled, as well as a short story single release. And that's just old, backlogged material that either didn't make it to publication or was badly presented at first and needs to be redone and done right. I have a number of intriguing new ideas taking shape, but I've got to get all this out of the way first. Consuela is basically completed now and I hope to release it in about another month. After trial, I discarded the French Revolution setting and moved it out of historical altogether into the City of the Invaders world. I was startled at how well it fit, but with so many changes to the book I would call it a new story and will release it separately instead of using the old, now inapplicable ebook with a few reviews on it. A short fantasy story called Everwood (romance with a bit of gentle comedy) will come this spring. I wrote it a couple years ago and stumbled on it again by chance. It's really cute.The Prince's Ball should follow after. At present it's my longest individual work, since I didn't think about page count when I was younger and could really rattle on. American Homeschooler is tentatively being planned for publication at last. At least, some of it--some form of the Letty/Lamia/Luna story will resurrect and get legitimized in an ebook and print, so to speak. It appeared on FB almost a decade ago and I was sure it had lost relevance. But the story might still have a little something and people have been asking about a print for years. At least a couple more Invader-world stories and a fantasy-romance novella are also brewing. I'd love to be able to work on them more, but I have to get caught up first. The Lexie-and-Petra story is for the moment being considered to join the Invader world. There's a lot of complexity, in societies we haven't explored yet like Alphea, and after being able to move Consuela, I realize almost anything could transition to this world.
And there will be more updates.
