Lucinda Moebius's Blog, page 10

Next time you buy a new car…

Think about this: One of the most significant events of the Twentieth Century was the invention of the automobile. The car itself has only been around for a little over a hundred and yet this one invention has done more to change the face of the earth with its humble horse-power than centuries of horse drawn carriages.

The invention of the car allowed people to travel further away from families and neighborhoods in which they had spent their entire lives. Road trips became a popular vacation and new pathways to the future were built. The great big world became much smaller yet, in an interesting contradiction, there was a lot more of the world to explore.

The car served two functions in society. The first role was that of a tool and a resource to improve the life of the owner. The second and, in some cases, the more important role was that of a status symbol. Car ownership was synonymous with success. The type of car owned showed exactly where the  owner fit in society's hierarchy. The status symbol aspect of the car hasn't changed much in the past hundred years. We still look at the Jaguar or Mercedes or BMW with awe and respect as it slides past us at the stoplight. We covet and sacrifice to make sure we have a cool set of wheels.

The car changed the fabric of America. Pre-car America was dotted by "Watering Holes". Small towns with a Stage Coach Stop, a hotel, a restaurant and a few other tiny shops. These "Watering Holes" were only a few miles apart and were measured by how long it would take the Coach to make it from point A to point B. Other small towns were growing around the ends of railroad spurs. Town developers would guess where the trains might stop and built little towns with many of the same amenities as the watering holes. With the invention of the car. trips that would usually take months were now whittled down to just a few weeks. Instead of towns springing up around watering holes the town centers were built around gas stations.

Previous to the invention of the car the only place travelers had to stay was in a hotel or boarding house. The day-tripper's brought about the construction of an entirely new type of lodging. This lodge was named with what Lewis Carol dubbed a portmanteau word. By taking part of the word "motor" and part of the word "hotel" the new type of lodging became the "motel". Instead of a large, multi-level building with a lobby, a bell boy and a concierge, the day traveler could pull up to the "motel" park their car in front of their room and have immediate access to a bed and a bath. The motels and the towns were built the distance it would take a traveler to drive from one to the other in about eight hours.

Cars changed the way we worked. Henry Ford was credited with the organization of the assembly line. The American made product and the pride in working for a living became an iconic symbol of what it was to be an American. The symbolism is something that stays with us even now. Many people question if America is going to be able to pull itself out of the recession. I believe as long as we maintain our pride and love for what it means to be an American and remember the American work ethic built with the building of the car, we will always be a blessed nation.

The invention of the motorized vehicle gave rise to the industrial revolution, the space program, industrialized farming and the computer revolution. I personally believe the car is one, if not the one, invention that changed to world and allowed us to have the lifestyle we have today.

The car is this week's defining moment.

 

 

First Person Point of View

A thread on facebook got me thinking about this one. I love the craft of telling a story from the First Person Narrator. It truly is an art form. Point of view is the narrator's voice in telling the story. In First Person the narrator uses the "I" voice. This means the only person who can tell the story is the person narrating the story. So, does the reader get cheated because they don't get to experience everything that is happening in the story? No. I don't believe so. This especially holds true if the writer is writing a beautiful suspense novel.

Is it okay to write a novel in 1st person POV? I say as long as you stick with it. I personally can't stand bad 1st person narration. Especially if it switches narrator throughout the story. SOME authors can do it and do it well but you have to KNOW what you are doing. Having a good editor helps too. Good first person allows the protagonist to bring you through the events of the story as if you are living it right beside them. You experience every thought, smell, taste, breath, gasp of love, pain of death, strike of anger as if you were standing right beside them.

So what is the problem with the 1st person narrator? It's the same problem as 3rd person limited. The reader is limited to only one person's point of view. But, what if something interesting is happening in the next room? What if your narrator is unconscious? Well, sometimes it's better to sacrifice the events to keep the integrity of the story. The only way to get the whole story is to write 3rd person omniscient but sometimes it's important to keep secrets from you reader (3rd limited) or to create a bond between your reader and the protagonist (1st person). It all depends on the goal of your story.

1st person is great for suspense.  Just take a look at Poe, he was the expert. Would the story of revenge in The Cask of Amontillado be as interesting if it was told in 3rd person? Of course not. The reader needed to know why Montessor hated Fortuanato so much and the only way to feel that hate was to see it boil from the narrator's own soul.

POV is an important concept to internalize as an author. It's one of those skills you need to master before you start bending the rules. Beginning writers often use 1st person as a crutch in their writing. The writer wants to let the reader know everything the character is thinking, feeling and doing. Done without skill the 1st person narrator basically gives us a laundry list of and then I… and I thought to myself… and then Billy did this to me… and pretty soon the reader is putting the book on the shelf and forgetting it was even there. When 1st person is done with skill and mastery the reader gets lost with the narrator, becomes one with him and then can experience all the glorious experiences and thrills the narrator experiences as he goes on his journey. (Oh and for those female fans out there who are wondering why I am saying him and not her or him/her, you know I am talking about characters in general. When we write in this forum gender becomes pointless and we are all one big creative mind. When I use a pronoun it refers to people in general). Now, back to what I was saying….

The narrator doesn't even have to be the protagonist of the story. Sherlock Holmes was the Protagonist,Watson the Narrator.

So, some of the great 1st person authors:

Harper Lee, Mark Twain, Edgar A. Poe, Sir Author Conan Doyle, Charlotte Bronte

Any others?

What's Happening

This will have to be a short, sweet post.  It's late and I have to get up early to go teach.  Today was a very productive writing day, but not necessarily for my fiction writing.  I spent quite a bit of time working on my Doctoral Dissertation.  It is important for me to delegate my time responsibly.  I have been struggling to get everything done in addition to promoting my writing and sometimes I find it difficult to get to my novel.  I did get to spend some time with Raven and I am bringing her closer to the climax of her story.  I will be able to spend some time with her this weekend and look forward to seeing how much I can get done.

The Role of Women in Literature

I believe literature is a reflection of the times.  One of the ways to study a culture is to look at what the society is writing about.  I love to look at the way women are portrayed in literature as a way to understand the way women were viewed in that culture.  Of all the blogs ideas I listed this concept is my favorite.  Perhaps because I am a female author in a traditionally male dominated genre I have a special connection with strong female characters.

There are so many ways to look at women in literature.  I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this topic.  My only expertise in this area is that I am a woman.  I have not read every book ever written and I do not know every event that has happened since the creation of the earth, but I do know what it is to be a woman in society and I understand the pressures of the expectations of fulfilling my role as a woman.  I wonder how other women in other societies felt as they were trying to find their place.  The most interesting women in literature are those who struggle against society constraints and either learn to adapt to the society or force the society to adapt to them.

So, to honor all women who had to find their place in literary society, this is for you.  To Scout and Joe, Eve and Mary, Anne (Spelled with an E) and Laura, for Jane and Morgaine, I look forward to speaking to you and discussing your charms and your strengths.  I look forward to meeting many more women as I pick up more books or am introduced to them through guests who post to this blog.

Sing in me, Muse and through me tell the story

of those women skilled in all ways of nuture

those who seek to find their way

or lead the way to find strength

in themselves and in others

I hope everyone enjoys the journey as much as I do.

Vampires Really?

OK, I must confess, I have read the Twilight series.  I know, I know a series author and reader reading and liking Twilight?  Shocking, yes.  Of course, once I got over all the hoopla I kind of got over the whole vampire thing.  I will occasionally pick up a spine tingling blood-thirsty thriller, but I tend to be a little more in to Science Fiction and High Heroic Fantasy.  So, when I came across another vampire novel I was sceptical, but I decided to purchase it from Kindle e-books anyway.

The title of the book is Breathless by Scott Prussing.  I am reading the story between writing sessions and I have to say, so far I am really enjoying it.  There seem to be two ways to look at vampires; either they are soulless, blood sucking ghouls or highly romantic lost souls.  This book seem to follow neither of these patterns.  The hero of the story is a highly sympathetic young girl on the verge of starting on an epic quest.  I really like this girl's attitude and sense of independence, despite the obstacles in her path.

I have only made it to Ch. 4 in my reading so far, but the book is easy to read and has a nice flow to the writing.  It's fun to see a vampire story written in  new light.  There's just enough thrill to keep me interested and I always like the idea of a strong female lead.  Prussing does a good job creating a believable female character with a mind and a soul of her own.  I look forward to reading the rest of the book and sharing my thoughts when I finish the story.

Yes, vampires, really.

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from so many places.  It is a gift that whispers in the night, comes as a flash of insight, descends from above or from a sweet conversation with a child.  The entire goal of inspiration is to discover your heart and draw you closer to God.  The inspiration for my novels come from my dreams.  As I write I feel a strength and sometimes when I read what I have written I am amazed by the words that flow from my fingers.  The prologues of each of my novels in the Haven series is a scripture.  This scripture foreshadows the events that happen as you read the story.  Each scripture was chosen with care and deliberation and with a healthy dose of inspiration.

Echoes of Savanna

A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.        —Ezekiel 5:12

We have been warned many times and in many ways to draw closer to God, to repent, to obey and to treat each other and the Earth with love and respect.  It doesn't matter what God you follow, even if you are the God of your own idolatry, it is vital we watch for moments of inspiration and follow where they lead.

 

Celebrate Randomness

Most people who know me think of me as methodical, analytical and controlled.  This is the shell I give to the outside world.  I usually don't like the feeling of losing control so I try to keep my life in order.  Perhaps it is because I like order and control that when randomness does happen I enjoy it so much more.  If it wasn't for randomness I would never met my husband, my publisher, my graphic artist and so many other people in my life.  I sometimes wonder why random things happen, both the good and the bad, but then I think of how blessed I am because of randomness.  So, celebrate randomness, but don't let it take control.

The First Defining Moment

In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth.

And from that day the children of His creation has argued about exactly how that happened.  This is not about whether or not there is a God.  I personally believe there is and He is the ultimate Creator, whatever form He takes for you.  The world was created, either millions of years ago by a flash of light or by a Divine Designer who guided it into existence in six days.  This post isn't here to argue the existence of a Supreme Being, it is here to talk about defining moments in history.  I decided to start with the Creation of the Earth since without this moment there would be no others.  I promise all my posts won't be this philosophical.  I just felt since this is the first post I would talk about the most important defining moment

Every culture has a creation myth and the center of each myth is the people.  They believe world was created just for them to stand on and do great things.  Perhaps this, above all else, is one of the greatest points of conflict.  How many times have battle cries contained the words "My God is Greater than your God"  How many times have a people said  "God made this plot of land for me and you need to get off it."?

There are billions of people on the face of the earth, each with a measure of Divine Creation embedded in their souls.  This world was created so we can all find our own greatness.  As long as we squabble over who has the best house, who is the most beautiful, who has the best watering hole, we will never find that divinity.

Some days I want to stand on a mountain top and scream out "I exist" to the universe.  I want to be heard.  I want to matter.  Then I sit in the quiet and watch a sunset or hear a child's laughter or feel rain on my face and I know I exist, I am heard and I matter, after all, this world was created for me to do great things.  The creation of the world is the most important defining moment in History.

Protagonist vs. Antagonist

There has been a a lot of chatter on the discussion boards about whether or not is okay to make the main character of a story a bad guy.  I decide this would be a good opportunity to discuss what makes a character a protagonist or an antagonist.

One of the traps we fall into as readers and writers is thinking of the world of stories in black and white.  The bad guy wears the black hat, rides in and terrorizes the small town, chasing they young innocent Miss down the street, drinking lots of alcohol, shooting at the sheriff, causing stampedes and such.  Then the hero comes to town and he wears a white hat, shoots the shot glass out of the bad guys hand, rescues the girl, rounds up the cattle and chases the bad gut out of town, all the while holding the girl in his arms and shoring up the flagging sheriff's morale.  Sounds good, right?  But, what happens when the bad guy isn't as virtuous as everyone expects?  What happens when **Gasp** the main character wears a black hat?

The argument is what makes someone a protagonist as opposed to an antagonist.  The answer is very simple.  The protagonist is the main character in the story.  They are the one in conflict.  They are the one the action of the story centers around.  No One will tell you Montessor is a good guy when he chained Fortunato in a catacomb and built a wall around him (Edgar A. Poe, The Cask of Amontillado), yet, he was the protagonist in the story.  He was the character in conflict.

So remember, The protagonist doesn't always wear the white hat and he doesn't always get the girl, oh, and he doesn't always win in the end of the story.  That's what makes writing so much fun.  Sometimes even the author is surprised by what their hero does!

 

Update on my writing

There is so much work to do and so little time.  I am in the process of writing my second novel Raven's Song.  Although I am in close to finishing the first draft of the novel but I do not believe I am close to finishing the story.  I love how Raven is turning out; she is constantly surprising me.  fully I can get the story finished in the next couple of weeks so I con turn my attention to editing and proofreading the draft.  I am going to add elements to the story before I send it to the publisher for the first trip to the editors.

Going through the publishing process with Echoes of Savanna taught me a lot.  There are a few things I am going to do different with Raven to improve the final copy.  The first thing I am going to do is make sure the story is where I want it to be before I submit it.  In Savanna's story there were a few things here and there that I liked but I knew didn't quite fit the story.  I knew I needed to change them before I even submitted it.  Another thing I did was I never gave the editing a rest.  As soon as I finished going through the draft again.  This time I am going to submit the copy and not look at it at all until I receive the editor remarks.

So now I need to get back to work.  I hope I get my work done soon.