Laylah Hunter's Blog, page 5

Vampires. In masks. IN SPACE.

Three weeks until release day for Torquere’s Masks Off Too! anthology, and the simultaneous release of the individual shorts. I’m looking forward to it. I had a blast with my story; the call already felt self-indulgent enough — vampires in … Continue reading →

Excitement abounds!

Now that the contract is signed, a really thrilling announcement: my short story "Resurrection Man" has been accepted by Riptide Publishing for their Bump in the Night anthology! I'm so excited to have the chance to work with Riptide, after reading and admiring so many of the things they've produced so far. Expect to hear a lot more about that later in the year when we get close to its release.

In other exciting upcoming news, Torquere has sent the authors a copy of the cover for Masks Off Too!, the vampire masquerade antho they're releasing next month. Cover under the cut:
( totes worksafe )

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I'm going to buckle down and-- what's that over there? it's shiny!

So, trying to distract myself from waiting on a reply to a difficult email I just sent off, and what better way than by looking at submission calls?

And Total-e-Bound has a call due April 1 for het or mixed-gender menage stories about witches. They want 15-20k, which is long enough that I'd want to have a decent amount of plot in there (I've seen people write 12k that is essentially one long sex scene, but I don't have that kind of stamina, heh) to go with some hot sexy bits. They seem pretty open to a variety of takes on the witchcraft theme. I'm leaning toward doing a contemporary/urban fantasy feel, but beyond that? I'm still sort of fumbling for a bunny.

So, I come to you for ideas -- what kinds of things would you like to see done with that theme? What would you rather NOT read? Throw some elements at me and let's see what happens.

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The only voices are my own

I've been sort of following Storm Moon's anniversary blog hop over the course of the month, as one does, and today Lor Rose has a post about her muses, and how she believes that ultimately every author has them. (TW for a lot of jokey language about mental illness.) I sat there for a bit trying to compose a response to the post, but really I think what I want to say ought to be a post of its own.

I have never been a "muses made me do it" writer. I know there are people who get a lot of mileage out of that model, who picture themselves in dialogue with their characters or with a Classical Muse-type figure who spurs them on. But it's never worked for me, for a few reasons:

1. This is hard work. I'm not channeling inspiration that comes from someplace external; I'm not writing down ideas that some magical third party dictates to me. I am conceptualizing characters, building worlds, designing plot arcs, and crafting sentences of my own volition and by my own effort. Some days it goes so smoothly that it does feel almost like a blessing from the gods! Other days it's like trying to plow a field with a hand trowel. But it's still all about me, either way. Blaming a muse for any of it feels like I'd be brushing off that reality: I had to work for every one of those words. They're craft and labor as much as they're inspiration and magic. After all that, I can't imagine WANTING to give the credit to my imaginary friend.

2. Being creative =/= being crazy. This one is a really personal prickly spot for me; I am a writer and I am also a long-term depression sufferer. It took me seventeen years of living with varying degrees of depression before I managed to actually get help and get it under control. A huge part of why it took so long, why I spent all of my 20s being an emotional disaster area, was the idea that the way I felt was just "normal" for a creative person. "I write what the voices in my head tell me to!" is a glib and frivolous riff on that really pernicious idea, and I have no desire to participate in it. (For the record: I am more consistently creative and productive now that my mental illness is well-managed than I ever was as a "crazy" writer.)

Creative minds do work in a variety of ways, obviously; there are clearly people for whom it's helpful to treat their writing process as an internal dialogue, to engage themselves in conversation as a way of getting their creative drive going. But it's not all of us; it's not me. The only voice I'm listening to when I write is my own.

I should probably get going. I've been having a field-vs-hand-trowel week, and I hope to make a deadline at the end of the month. Back to the word mines with me!

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Free short: "may never see the light," f/f paranormal

This story is for ilyat , who won my services in Piper Vaughn's Hurricane Sandy charity auction. She asked for expansion of a little snippet I'd done at some point featuring a blood magician who used her powers as an illusionist. This is the result: the seedy underbelly of a paranormal setting, complete with strip club.

Risa is used to dealing with shady characters as part of her job at the Second Circle "gentlemen's club." But usually they're less persistent than the vampire who's here tonight to watch her dance, and she's going to wind up spending more blood than she planned on to get out of this one.
Contains bloodletting, blood drinking, and non-con of the hypnosis/mind control variety.
5,000 words.

Available in EPUB, MOBI, PDF, and right here in this post, below the cut:

( may never see the light )

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"Ivory Black, Flecked with White" in DSP's Snow on the Roof anthology

My next short story release will be available next month! "Ivory Black, Flecked with White" appears in Dreamspinner Press's Snow on the Roof anthology, a collection of m/m romance featuring older men. "Ivory Black" is a historical, established relationship piece:

Renaissance painter Felice has enjoyed Lucio's patronage, and his love, for years; neither of them are young men anymore. When the youthful good looks of Felice's latest model make Lucio jealous, Felice must find a way to convince his lover that in a painter's eyes, there is no conflict between age and beauty.

The anthology is available for preorder now on Dreamspinner's site, in ebook or in paperback. Once the book releases, on February 11, it will be available through all your favorite online retailers as well. :3

( and here's a quick excerpt from Ivory Black )

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Setting a goal for 2013

I'm always iffy on the subject of New Year's Resolutions, which I guess is kind of the trendy way to approach them lately. Eh. If I were going to make a list, though, I hope to hell it would be as good and as fierce as Chuck Wendig's 25 Writer Resolutions for 2013. Just sayin'.

I do have one concrete goal for writing this year: to focus on structure, and improve my ability to plot out (and follow through on) actual narrative arcs that sustain longer work. The longest story I placed last year was about 17k words; the one rejection I got was for a novella of 28k. Looking at the novella now, I can see weaknesses in the structure; having it rejected was probably good for me, because it's a nice reminder that I should keep trying to make this stuff better instead of assuming that I'm good enough. So there's my goal: coherent, compelling plot arcs that will support the longer stories people want to read. Let's rock this house.

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I can't drink before noon, can I?

After fussing about it for ages, I finally sent out my first novel on submission a few minutes ago.

*deep breaths*

The Dragon's Tale is a city-based low fantasy novel in the vein of Swordspoint crossed with Plunkett & Macleane -- I've been describing it to people for years as my "alternate history boy/boy street thug romance." It's also my baby. I really hope it finds a home.

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moviegoin'

I went to see The Hobbit yesterday! and the vast assortment of trailers that preceded it, of course. Two of them caught my eye -- Warm Bodies looks charming even though I feel pandered to, and After Earth is one I'm definitely shelling out for. The story for AE looks pretty familiar, man-vs-hostile-wilderness, but the trailer framed it as a story whose central relationship is the father-son bond between two black men, and godDAMN does that need to make money.

A zillion years later, we got to the feature presentation! ( cutting everything in case of spoilers )

Overall: glad I saw it! And glad I saw it with subtext , who quite helpfully provided the perspective that the film version of a book you love is the filmmaker's fanon, their chance to enthuse about the things that matter most to them in the source text; you can consume it and groove on it even if you disagree with some of their conclusions.

The end. :3

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more good news!

Signed the contract last night, so I am now happy to announce that I will have another short with Dreamspinner in February: Snow on the Roof is an anthology of m/m romance about older men, and will include my story "Ivory Black, Flecked with White," about an Italian Renaissance painter and the man who has been his patron and his lover for years.

Yay more stories going out in the world!

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