A.M. Jenkins's Blog, page 23

Random stuff:1. Yesterday I worked on the w-f-h proposal,...

Random stuff:

1. Yesterday I worked on the w-f-h proposal, and also watched a TV show about the same subject. It's not something I know a lot about, so I'm trying to get a feel for a real-life situation that would work. I'm also trying to use this proposal as an opportunity to think deeply about how I can pull plot and character together in ways that work for me--and I noticed yesterday that the real-life situation doesn't quite match the tone the publisher wants. Somehow I have to try to navi...

Did family and house stuff all weekend. Today I wrote in-...

Did family and house stuff all weekend. Today I wrote in-scene backstory about one of the characters in the swordfighting ms. I'm wondering what will happen if I keep going in this direction--will I get loads of backstory written about everybody, then have a bazillion pages I still don't know what to do with? How is doing this going to help me figure out how to structure the story?

It feels like I'm at a plateau--like when you're trying to lose weight, or trying to exercise at a certain level,...

Yesterday I had other things going on, but I decided to w...

Yesterday I had other things going on, but I decided to write a little anyway. Unfortunately it looks like I'm switching things up again because I pulled out the swordfighting ms and did a wee bit of work on that. I would much rather have worked on the former GN--and I did think about it some--but everything I need to do on it right now involves thinking in a creatively organizational way, and that part of my brain ain't working at the moment. That part is just flatlining, for some reason.

By ...

Haven't worked on my own stuff at all. I've put some of t...

Haven't worked on my own stuff at all. I've put some of the w-f-h thing together, and it looks like some more projects might be coming my way at some point, from another w-f-h editor I've worked with before, and therefore know to be reliable and professional. Hooray.

I've also got a bazillion pages of health insurance stuff to fill out because the company I've been with is pulling out of my state, so I have to find a new one. I mention this because it reminded me of something, no idea why. The...

I've been working on several things that need to be done,...

I've been working on several things that need to be done, like many pieces of paperwork for new teaching job, plus a lecture, plus the potential w-f-h thing. On the w-f-h thing, I decided to think out the whole book and sketch a sort of proposal that shows what I'm thinking, so the publisher and I can see if we're on the same page. This involves some hard core braiding of plot with character, so I feel that it's going to be very good for me. I also intend to make an outline, because I have to...

Today has been one of those days where in the middle of ...

Today has been one of those days where in the middle of figuring out and dealing with ten thousand real-life things, I had an hour or so to sit and and try to write before jumping back into the ten thousand other things. This kind of day is not conducive to accomplishing much on a ms. And I didn't accomplish much. However, I did write. And now I've got to set the ms aside for at least a few days, and instead turn my attention to w-f-h related material. That should be a nice change of pace,...

Today's approach worked out pretty well. So far, anyway. ...

Today's approach worked out pretty well. So far, anyway. I made a list of the main ideas/plot points that belong where the hole in the middle is. Then I moved the pieces that are in the hole right now (about seven pages worth of chunks ranging from a few words to a third of a page), grouping them according to which part of the list they belong under.

As I was doing that I saw chunks that were notes and explanations to myself about theme (what I want the book to say), so I added "theme" to the ...

Okay, the bottom line is that the rest of the ms is in go...

Okay, the bottom line is that the rest of the ms is in good enough shape that I have to start trying to figure out the holes that are left.* Namely, the connecting part in the middle, and the end.

(cue drastic doom-laden organ music)

Except I dunno what to do with them. It's another one of those cases where X, Y, and Z have to happen. Another one of those cases where I'm totally clueless about how to approach it. If I push too hard, I'll screw it up. If I get too wholeheartedly into that screwu...

I was reading a blog post decrying the lack of strong fem...

I was reading a blog post decrying the lack of strong female MCs, and I realized that I've got to try to cover some more bases here. I know I have zero hope of getting some people to see the things I'm trying to explore, but I do have to be as clear as possible in order to maybe catch a few of them and maybe even get the ms published. Then I'll just have to sit still for abuse from the ones who don't get it, ugh. So be it.

Specifically, I have to spell out: This is what the MC's world is like....

A writer friend sent a link to another one of those indus...

A writer friend sent a link to another one of those industry blogs where the editor/agent/assistant/marketing person/janitor gripes anonymously about whatever. This time it was a rant about wimpy girl MCs, and it appeared to be written by another twenty-something upper-middle-class suburbanite who hightailed it to NYC as soon as the ink on her college diploma was dry and is now passive-aggressively taking out her frustrations on anyone who looks like they can't do any damage back. The alarmin...