Jennifer Becton's Blog, page 29

Friday Freefrall: Reed Diamond (6/27/14)

I love discovering new actors, and my most recent is . He’s been cast in several roles, so you probably already know him, but I’m behind as usual.

He played Ray Haffner in The Mentalist, so I’d seen him before, but he really shone in Joss Whedon’s Much Ado about Nothing. He delivered Shakespeare’s dialogue in a modern setting and made it sound perfectly natural. The other actors just didn’t live up to him. These clips have only snippets of Reed Diamond as Don Pedro, so don’t blink.

Enjoy.

The Phases of the Writer’s Life: The Honeymoon Period

Ah, those glorious first years as a writer, rushing to the keyboard to create characters and record your ideas. Eagerly, you plot, revise, edit, and finally publish your first book.

Every word seems magical, and every sale a miracle!

Already you have come to realize how much work it takes to publish a book, but that doesn’t matter because you feel unbelievably energized, creative, and thrilled to share such a big part of yourself with readers.

This is indeed an exciting time. You are making your dream a reality!

This is the honeymoon period for writers, an exhilarating roller-coaster ride that plunges you into despair one moment and then returns you to the heights of joy the next. The highs seem higher, and the lows seem lower. Every feeling is fresh and, therefore, exaggerated. A bad review means death, and a good review means bliss.

People often say that the honeymoon period of a relationship lasts approximately two years (or less depending on the couple). During this time, we convince ourselves that our partner is the ideal mate, the perfect guy or gal for us. And we strive to be the perfect partner for our significant other too.

In the early days of publishing, it’s also easy to idealize. Even if you haven’t become a bestseller, you and your book have the support of your family and friends. People are excited to learn about your endeavor, and they want to hear all about it. You may get fan mail, but even the inevitable bad reviews contribute to the overall excitement of the time. Danger makes you feel more alive, after all.

During this period, you work all the time and yet never seem to get tired. You feel as if you could write and market 25 hours a day.

Coping with this Period

Enjoy the excitement. Live in the moment and have fun.
Remember the joy you experience so that you can recapture it in the future.
Try not to focus on negative reviews. They seem horrid now, but eventually, the feeling fades.
Don’t overdo. It’s tempting to do marathon writing sessions, but remember there’s real life out there. Live that too.

This honeymoon phase of the indie publishing journey will not last forever. As reality sets in, and life continues around you, your feelings of euphoria and plunges into despair will begin to even out. That does not mean that your passion for writing will necessarily fade. People who love writing will continue to love it, but they will not experience the extreme highs and lows with the same frequency as time passes. It’s just simple chemistry. Your body, mind, and emotions can’t sustain that sort of wild pace indefinitely.

And it’s a good thing. It’s exhausting to fly from one emotion to another all the time.

In the next installment, we’ll talk about the next phase of the writing journey: the second book.

Not (Re)writing Your Way (Yet)

Today I’m at Indie Jane with a post about the benefits of not stopping forward momentum on your first draft to go back and rewrite.

Stove-up

“Stove-up” is a phrase I never heard until I entered the horse world: “Darcy got kicked by another horse and now she is all stove-up.”

Here’s the definition:

suffering physical discomfort caused by injury, illness, exercise, or overwork :  battered, worn-out stove-up for saddle work — F. B. Gipson> stove-up … and even some of the women showed signs of having been kicked or stepped on — H. L. Davis>

“Stove-up.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 June 2014. .

Darcy will be getting lots of TLC this week. Poor baby.

Southern Fraud Case Files: Your Thoughts

My research for the last two novels in the Southern Fraud series has yielded a number of great ideas. I’ve read so many “inspiring” (aka wacky) stories of fraud that my imagination is overflowing. I want to tell so many stories, but not all of them will fit properly into the novel series. These ideas would, however, work perfectly as stand-alone novellas.

That’s when I thought of something new: Southern Fraud Case Files, shorter books–about 1/3 the length of the novels–that feature Julia and Vincent doing what they do best.

My first priority will always be the novels, but because a great deal of the production time is devoted to editing and proofreading them, I’m left with some time on my hands while the editors work their magic. I don’t have enough time to start another novel, but definitely enough time to write something shorter.

So what do you think? Would you read the Southern Fraud Case Files?

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Friday Freefrall: Five Random Facts about Me

As a child, I really wanted a dog. Now, I have a cat, whom I adore.


I have little patience for people who don’t try their hardest.
My all-time favorite TV show is Scarecrow and Mrs. King .
I don’t like the flavor of olives.
I have the secret desire to learn to play the banjo.

Tackling a Large Task 15 Minutes at a Time

Work toward a long-term goal one hoof at a time.

When beginning a long, complex project, people tell you to take things one step at a time.

Sure. That sounds practical and logical, but how many people truly take their own advice? There’s a huge goal looming out there, and it’s extremely difficult see anything but the finish line. It’s also extremely easy to forget to celebrate each successful step taken along the journey.

This piece of advice has been on my mind a lot lately. It seems like my goals tend to fall on the long-term side: novel writing and overcoming horseback riding fear in particular.

Let’s talk about horses this time.

Three years ago, I was afraid of everything. I thought I was going to die every time I went to the barn, but I still loved horses and wanted to overcome my fear. I heard lots of trainers say that I needed more time in the saddle. I should ride and ride and ride. Every single day. One day off and you’d backslide! Wet saddle blankets! After you ride X,000 hours, you will have gotten rid of the fear. The problem with this mindset is that it creates a huge amount of stress in a fearful rider. Suddenly, you feel as if you must trap yourself inside your biggest fear and you cannot stop until you ride X,000 hours or else you will fail.

As it turns out, duration in the saddle is not really the most efficient way to overcome horseback riding fear. Yes, you have to ride in order to overcome the fear of riding, but the answer is not found in long rides where you are locked in the saddle. It’s found it lots of short rides. In other words, short sessions and small goals do more to affect changes in the rider’s brain than trying to stay in the saddle until you reach your final goal.

This spring, I probably haven’t ridden my horse more than 15 minutes at a time, and yet I have made more progress in those rides than I have in a long time. Darcy and I are tackling my biggest fear–cantering–15 minutes at a time. Yesterday, after two weeks off, I rode Darcy 15 minutes and they were the best 15 minutes! We can now canter at a relaxed pace with no bouncing or resistance from either of us. That is a far cry from last summer when we were flying around the indoor arena like California Chrome on speed.

And it didn’t happen because I rode for hours every single day. It happened because of taking small steps at the pace I could handle.

The same applies to writing and to any large, multi-step project. If you only see the final goal, then you are putting an undue amount of stress on yourself.

I know the value of small steps, but still, every time I begin a new book, I feel compelled to force myself to sit down and write until it’s finished. It’s natural. But if I allowed myself to act on this way of thinking, I would be miserable. I am looking only at the end goal when I should be taking the process 15 minutes at a time. Every 15 minutes–or 1,000 words or whatever–is another step closer to the big goal.

Each small step should be celebrated. The process will go from being a “looming deadline” to being a celebration of completing an enjoyable task and being ready to take the next step without feeling unnecessary stress.

Cliches and Limitations

Whenever a couple gets together in a book or on TV, there’s always a contingent that yells, “Cliche!” Why do police officer partners end up getting together all the time? It’s so cliche. Why do the main characters have to form a couple? Ugh, it’s so cliche.

Cliche! Glorious Cliche!
From CBS.com

Frankly, I approve of the inclusion of romantic tension and complications on TV shows and in books that are not technically part of the romance genre. I like seeing all sides of a character, and the desire to form loving attachments is part of human nature. If that aspect of a character is lacking, then it’s harder for the audience to get to know them. (Like Sherlock. I don’t understand at all how the writers are handling that character.) They are withholding a part of themselves, and it’s a pretty important part.

So back to cliches. A lot of these so-called cliches arise from the limitations of the medium and genre. Books and TV shows have limited time and space, and they exist in a limited world with a limited number of people. What’s more, the story exists within a larger genre and must follow its rules. That means that the parameters of the mystery, thriller, sci-fi guide the story more than the secondary plot of romance.

In real life, the cop might have a varied social life, tons of friends, and hobbies in which he indulges. But in a thriller, for example, very little time can be spent on these outside interests. The reader expects action, danger, a little gore…that’s the story. Clock repair may be alluded to as the main character’s hobby, but no one wants to watch scene after scene of our hero repairing a tiny gear with tweezers.

There’s a reason why “reality” TV shows are scripted, rehearsed, and reshot. (Survivor isn’t reality, people.) It’s because human life plods along at too lethargic a pace to be suitable for TV. Within the limitations of TV, some things just won’t work. There are limitations.

So what I’m trying to say is that in books and on TV relationships have to form WITHIN the parameters of the genre or the reader will not be as invested in the relationship. Where does the audience see the character most? Usually at work if it’s a cop show. So his primary relationships will occur there because that’s where the character “lives.”

Not all writers are interested in using romantic attachments to further plot or show character. Some books and TV shows would just be wrong with romance included. (Breaking Bad, I’m looking at you.) That’s okay too. I was totally invested in Breaking Bad even though there was nothing romantic about it. It was gut-wrenching in its own special way.

Speaking of Romance: The Mentalist

The Mentalist is one of my favorite TV shows, which is odd because I generally do not like Trickster characters. And Jane is a Trickster to his core. I chalk my interest up to Simon Baker’s acting and the mostly excellent writing on the show.

I’ve always believed that The Mentalist was about more than just Jane’s quest for vengeance against Red John. For Jane’s story to be complete, he had to complete his quest AND still overcome a bigger challenge. For the defeat of Red John to be complete, Jane, who was forced to hide his emotions for more than a decade to play a cat-and-mouse game with the serial killer, has to become a fully functioning human being again.

Okay, let me pause here to say that there will be spoilers for all of season 6. If you haven’t watched the whole season yet, stop here.

For a while there, it seemed like every show I watched featured a broken protagonist whose loss was so great that they could not seem to function fully in life. The writing seemed to indicate that the only way they would be happy was if they died so that their pain would end. Gibbs on NCIS mourned his family’s loss so much that he lived like a hermit (at least to the point of the show I watched), and House, well, he was just a mess. After reading an interview with Hugh Laurie in which he said viewers didn’t really want to see change in a main character, I stopped watching the show.

Change is what story is all about. Change is what life is all about. If the main character always stays the same, then what is the point? I’m not saying House had to put on a dress and skip through daisies; he could have gone the other way and become a criminal (like the Walter White in Breaking Bad). But for a story to be interesting, change has to occur or the character may as well just end it all. His life is already over anyway.

Patrick Jane contemplated suicide after his quest to kill Red John was over, but he chose to live.

From CBS.com

But how does an emotionally constipated man go about living? Well, eventually, he has to feel again. And when he does let his true feelings out the first time, it’s got to be a big explosion. Because that is life. If you bottle up and press down everything you feel, when you let those emotions out the first time, it’s going to be totally out of control.

That’s why I loved Jane’s crazy race to the airplane to profess his love to Lisbon. It was cheesy and corny, but it was also a good representation of Jane’s completely wild, out-of-control emotions. It was a contrived scene with a bunch of absurd obstacles, but the acting made it real.

Look at those faces. Those are not the faces of two actors whose primary concern is looking pretty on HDTV.

They’re telling a real story.

Planning with Your Pants on

That’s the title of my post at Indie Jane today. Please stop by and let me know if you think this writing technique might work for you.

I used it on my novella Mary Bennet, and so far, I think it’s a good method for balancing out planning and spontaneity.