Kate Lowell's Blog, page 15

Tuesday Tickle: Flesh Market

I’m going to stick with that title until someone makes me change it. I’ve also discovered that I can compile my synopsis in Scrivener, which is AWESOME! So I can write it up as I’m working on the chapter, and then just…compile it at the end. :D   So far, I’ve compiled it three times, just because I can.

I had a really hard time trying to figure out what to post today. I’ve been working back and forth–this book really wants to be written backwards, which is awkward, since the critique group insists on some sort of order that is relatively chronologic.  So, this is from fairly early in the story, a quick introduction to Julian, and his roommate David (who doesn’t figure much in this story, but may have his own, someday). The backstory here is that David is kinky and Julian is not, and it just didn’t work, but they stayed friends. This is the night that Julian’s part in the operation kicks into gear.

Dave laughed, then sobered. “Be careful out there. This scares me.”

“You don’t think I can do it?”

“I think if anyone can do it, you can. I’m just worried about what you’ll do to yourself to win.”

“It’s not about winning—”

“With you, it’s all about winning. Why do you think—Oh, never mind.”

“No, spit it out.” Someone knocked on their door. “Damn. What, Dave?”

David glanced at the door. “Just remember all the things I taught you, before we figured out you were the anti-sub.”

“I know, stay away from the holy lube.” Julian put his hand on the doorknob, then pulled David into a hug. “I’ll be careful. And I’m just there to be camouflage for the real agent. Nothing serious will happen to me.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.” Julian hugged him again for good measure, then opened the door.

“Hello, Julian.” It was SSA Harrow.

Some bad puns in there, and a weird movie homage. My brain does strange things when I don’t keep an eye on it.

Filed under: Tuesday Tickle Tagged: FBI, human trafficking, mm romance, thriller

Milestones

I hit what I would call my first milestone today. It’s been a year and a half since I subbed anything to my critique group, but this morning, I posted the prologue and the first chapter of my FBI Double Lives story. The entire North American population of Monarch butterflies has taken up residence in my stomach. I used to have a sense (or thought I did) of when�� a story was ready to meet the real world.

Not so sure now. Although, that might just be having more experience too. I know how something I thought was really good can be met in the real world. I know how much more hard work there is to come.�� I know there’s going to be people who love it, and people who say “Meh!”

But I’m so excited to get this part of my life back. It’s fantastic to plan, and partition my day so that everything gets a few words. I love looking at my wordcount rising, and knowing that I’m achieving goals.

I’ve even started planning blog posts, for the days leading up to release, and after. I think I’m getting my groove back.

Just take my time, and make sure I hit each of the stepping stones square in the middle. After all, who wants to end up all wet? :D

Filed under: Random Weirdness Tagged: back in the saddle, nervous, progress

The Most Glorious Friday Ever

The dayjob is done!�� And, for a few wonderful moments, I contemplated all the free time I was going to have.

Until I remembered all the stories I owe to various places. *waves a sad goodbye to wasting time on the internet*

But cool that I now have all sorts of time to spend on writing. But maybe not tonight. Soooo tired…

We’ll see if this coffee kicks in. Lately, I’ve been finding that coffee doesn’t have the effect it used to have. Probably from downing anywhere between 6 and 8 cups a day just trying to stay vertical. (Oh my poor liver!) Time to wean myself off. Do they have a methadone equivalent for coffee?

I think tonight I might have a long bath and read the rest of James Scott Bell’s Super Structure. Sure, he poked my red button by saying that pantsers were lazy, but other people have spoken highly of it, so I’ll give it a whirl.�� And maybe I’ll clean up the disaster zone my office has become. Once it’s clean, you guys can see the new computer. But not until then. Because I really don’t want the world seeing the depths of slobbery I can descend to.

So, I have until August first to finish the FBI story. September first for the Christmas story. I should finish the weresquirrel soon. The fireman I will pick at, because it’s related to something else that is in revisions right now. Culture Shift is a ‘pick at’ story, and I should really get back to Furface, because I think I need to figure out some of that before I can finish tweaking the prequel in that series. And, at some point, I want to start working on Garnet’s story. Who’s Garnet, you ask? She’s a very special, lovely lady, whom I hope someday you will have the opportunity to root for. :)

Filed under: Uncategorized

Tuesday Tickle: the Double Lives Call

Still trying to come up with a title. Maybe the Birds and I will take a shot at it and you all can chime in in the comments. No Birds this week, due to Defcon 5 level foul moods in the nest, or next week, because Zoe is gone to a horror con this weekend and won’t be around for our usual birding time.

And, yes, what the hell is it with me and names that start with L? At least they aren’t all showing up in the same book, lol.

So, here’s my older FBI agent, being introduced to you all. Even my tough guys are nerds… :P Who stops for a smoothie on the way to drop��a communiqu�� to their boss? ��(And this is so first draft… Literally written tonight, no editing, no read through. I know, I shouldn’t. Bad author. *smack*)

The teenager behind the counter popped a plastic top onto the cup and poked a straw through into olive green slurry inside. ���Here you go,��� she said cheerfully and slid it across the counter.

���Thanks,��� he replied, sipping a bit and stuffing a dollar into her tip jar.

She smiled even more brightly and chirped, ���Thank you!���

Leo took his cup of mixed yogurt and water-soluble vitamins and wandered down the mall toward the lotto booth. Off to one side, a thin man with lank ashy blond hair put down the dress shoe he was examining far too closely and drifted along in Leo���s wake. There was another as well that Leo was aware of, but that man was behind him now and out of his peripheral vision.

It used to be that just one would tail him on his trips to the mall or the bookie���s, but lately the bosses had been sending two men to shadow him on every jaunt.

Not his real bosses at the FBI, but his fake bosses in this human trafficking ring that Leo had infiltrated. After a good six months on the inside, he was convinced it was actually a front for something much more serious. But it was looking like getting the chance to find out what it was Leo was here to give his real bosses a head���s up that his cover was in danger of being blown and that he needed an extraction plan.

He stepped into line at the lotto booth and waited with feigned patience, sipping on his smoothie to pass the time and let him glance around to locate his tails.

Filed under: Tuesday Tickle Tagged: black market organs, Double Lives, FBI, human trafficking, mm romance, secret identity, suspense, thriller

A Different Tuesday Tickle

I’m playing with a blurb for the Double Lives call. I officially go the “Hell, yeah!” from She Who Must Be Obeyed, and I have until sometime late July to pull this story out of my ear.

Which is why I’m trying to work on a blurb for it right now, because I find writing the blurb really fine-tunes things for me.

This sucks, but it’s a start, right? (OMG, that last line is really bad…)

Buy a whole body, or just the parts���

Special Agent Leo Brinks is up a creek. Two years in deep cover is about to go up in flames, and it���s his fault. In a crowd of men who take what they want without a second thought, Leo stands out like a sore thumb. He���s made himself do lots of things���ugly things���in the name of the job, but he can���t use the poor boys and girls passing through the ���processing��� warehouse for his own entertainment. Which makes the other muscle suspicious.

And if they���re suspicious, guaranteed the bosses will be soon.

The Agency wants to bring him home, but he���s not ready to give up yet. Especially since he���s finally found out what happens to kids that flunk out of ���whore school���. But he wasn���t expecting the partner they sent him, or his own gut-punch of a response to the man.

Julian worked hard for that FBI Honors Internship between his third and fourth year of university. It was supposed to be a foot in the door, another step closer to the only job he���d ever wanted. He never suspected that shadowing an FBI analyst would catapult him into the middle of a major undercover operation. Yet here he is, sleeping on a filthy mattress and trying his best not to get raped. He���s never felt so scared, or so alive, in his entire life, and he���s not entirely sure if it���s the danger, or Leo, that���s making his heart race.

There���s no time to think about it, though. The operation is heating up, and Leo and Julian are running out of time. There���s only two options���take the whole operation down, or become just another set of organs for sale.

Filed under: Tuesday Tickle Tagged: Double Lives, FBI, mm romance, mystery, suspense

Two weeks and counting…

No, I don’t have a release. :( I think you all would have been sick of me by now if I had. I’m in agonies of anticipation just thinking about the possibility. But it’s not yet. Trust me, you’ll know when the day comes. I’ll probably explode. Like this Exploding Kitten.



(I bought this when they had the Kickstarter. It should arrive this summer. There will be much exploding. :D )

Two weeks is how long my current contract at the day job has left before it’s over. And it can’t come soon enough. Even my boss is like, “Only two weeks left. Bet you can’t wait!” He knows how tired we are, after a complete reorganization and major changes to how our jobs are done. He looks pretty shot too. I imagine he’s speaking for himself too.

I have about a zillion plans for the first month after work is done. Finish the fireman story, finish the Christmas story, finish the Double Lives story (when is that due, anyway? I guess I better check). Clean the house, clean the barn, work on the house. I enrolled in the last course in my French program, so I’ll be graduating from that next year–no way I’ll be done in time to catch this year’s graduation. I need to finish my late husband’s taxes (I know, I know, I’m bad… :( ) And, in any spare time, I want to do a lot of rethinking how I can do my job, see what changes I can put in myself to make it a bit easier on me. I’ve already decided not to go back to the evening job, and while there’s a certain amount of sadness, there’s also a huge amount of relief.

So here I am, on a Friday night, debating what to work on, when I realize it’s 9 pm and I’ve already turned into a pumpkin. I might manage an episode of Gray’s (NO SPOILERS!), but if I watch it downstairs on the couch, I’d put money on my being asleep before the halfway point.

Two more weeks…two more weeks…

In the meantime, what do you think of this fireman? :D

Filed under: Random Weirdness Tagged: plans, working, writing

Three Dirty Birds and Pacing

In which I have a light bulb moment about why some books do so well. :) Over at Ana’s blog!

Filed under: Three Dirty Birds Talk Tagged: Libbie Hawker, outlining, Take Your Pants Off!, writing advice

Oops! Apologies…

There’ll be a Tuesday Tickle. I bought the new computer Tuesday night and went through all the unboxing, discovering the cords don’t all reach in the configuration I first planned, then waiting for updating and syncing and blah blah…

Wednesday is a long day–I’m on the road at seven in the morning and don’t get home until about 10 at night. And I’m still in the process of making sure I can use Scrivener on two machines and not mess up my files, but I’m too tired to figure it out tonight. Tomorrow, I promise. In the meantime, have a Pusheen, who is doing what I’ll be doing in about 5 minutes.

Is it Friday yet?

Filed under: Random Weirdness Tagged: too much day job

Three Dirty Birds Talk about Plotting (Again!)

Back from our spring hiatus, the Three Dirty Birds are pecking away at Libbie Hawker���s Take Your Pants Off! and discussing her plot signposts.

Zoe: I almost didn���t want the stuff on character arc and theme to end. I was having fun!

Kate: True. Once I started getting into the meat of plotting out the specific events of the story, I felt my pace slowing down. And I���m still either not using it correctly, or it isn���t something that is going to work after all. Though the first half of the book was great! And I will totally keep using that part. Maybe I just need more practice.

Zoe: The first half alone was worth $2.99. (Or more.)

Kate: If she brings this out in paperback, I���m buying a hard copy.

Zoe: Me too. So as we get into plotting, Libbie introduces her own set of beats, some of them like beats in other guides, some a little different. But they���re still pretty much the same concept. (She calls them ���plot headings��� as opposed to beats, which I kind of liked because it made me feel a little less frantic. Semantics, yo.)

Kate: It���s all about the psychology.

Ana: That is a big part. Especially since I���m always trying to beat my own laziness and the fear of the blank document. Which is also only psychological. I like when plotting doesn���t seem or feel like work.

Zoe: I think that���s what I like about the term ���plot headings���������headings��� implies that you���re going to put stuff under them, so just by typing the headings, you���ve already gotten started.

Kate: Yes, it���s very easy to sit down and tackle one when you think of it that way. Actually filling in the headings, though, I found considerably more difficult. That, I think, comes down to my process in developing stories.

Zoe: It may be, Kate, that you need your own set of headings for the types of signposts you tend to work around.

Ana: I know I���m trying to change/adjust some of them for me.

Kate: It���s not even that, I think. I���ll tell you a story. :) This weekend, I sat down and fleshed out a lovely plot for a story to please The Editor in Question. The plot worked, everything fell into place, logic, logic, logic, feelz. I am no more than 325 words into it and it���s not going to work. The plot was fine, but it won���t suit Loose Id. In fact, it probably won���t suit most publishers. (Except maybe Riptide.)

Ana: What���s wrong with it?

Kate: The two MC���s can���t actually get together in this story. Instead, they���re forced into round after round of sex with other people. The actual psychology of the story means that the original plan for it is broken, at least as a novel. As background, though, it works excellently. So now I have to replot, or rewrite, to try out the new idea. But I couldn���t see it in the plot I wrote, because it didn���t communicate the characters the way I needed to engage with them.

Zoe: The good news it only took you 325 of actual writing to get to that point?

Kate: Lol, yes. But it���s good to see that these are things that I need to do. I think my method of engaging with story isn���t compatible with pre-plotting, but I���m going to try finishing one, and then see what I can slot into the plot headings and go from there. It might work better for me as a post-check than a pre-plan.

Ana: I���m having some trouble pre-plotting my current story too. Now, the plotting thing worked fine with my last story I just finished for that writing event, but I noticed I didn���t try it there until I���d already spent some time writing that story. So now what I���m trying is I play around with my story for a week or so, and then try to fill out the plot headings after I���ve had some contact-time.

Zoe: Yeah, I was going to point out that you started mid-story…as did I. I haven���t had a chance to start an all-new story with Libbie���s book yet; I���m working on the second book that was already-in-progress right now. I can���t wait to get free and start a new one from scratch. I have the outlines started!

Kate: I think I���ll try that with this one. Later on, after I���ve done my obligatory words getting my fireman into his relationship, I���ll start the first chapter of the one for She Who Must Be Obeyed and see if that shakes loose anything. Kind of tempted to write out the heading on a whiteboard, and fill them in as the story makes itself known to me.

Zoe: That sounds like an interesting experiment.

Like Ana, I���ve been changing the plot headings a bit to fit better with the way I write. And of course as Libbie says in the book some of the plot headings happen in the same scene, or in a different order than she lists, and I try to stay cognizant of that flexibility.

Kate: I try to picture them on an actual story arc, like a curve that starts low, has a high point, then ends a little lower.

Zoe: I love Libbie���s reminder that as you build your plot outline, you can only use bricks from the work you did in the first part: character arc, theme, the Story Core. (I have a feeling I still have stuff that doesn���t really need to be in my book, but it helps nonetheless.)

Ana: With my last attempt at outlining a romance that way (my paranormal), I got rather far until I realized I didn���t have enough space to actually build my characters��� relationships. So, I���m not sure, maybe I need more/different beats added or another drive for goal / fail cycle. But I���m not sure what it���s going to be yet.

Kate: This outlining thing is very much a work in progress.

Zoe: Could it be that you need two outlines, one for the non-romantic plot and one for the romantic one? (I���m assuming there���s a non-romantic plot that���s taking up all your room.) I really got into doing three outlines for the main characters in Dead to the World. (I had to build a timeline to piece them together after, but it slotted fairly nicely.)

Ana: It could be. Because my character���s external goal here isn���t anything to do with romance.

Zoe: So you do have two plots, or at least a plot and a subplot. They���d have their own beats.

Kate: Don���t we always, though? I mean, there���s the character���s plot for their internal growth, but then there���s the external plot dealing with events. Sometimes they overlap, and you get elements affecting both plots from one scene or event, but I know–in my head, anyway–there���s a series of parallel lines where I store my plots.

Zoe: Yes, but if you have a non-romantic external goal and a romance goal…I think they���re both still external goals, so they don���t fit into one outline (necessarily) as well as the standard external/internal, which can be more tightly intertwined (you have to overcome the internal to achieve the external). Libbie didn���t really cover subplots. She needs to write a sequel.

Kate: Lol. Demanding authors.

Ana: I feel further experiments on this outline will have to be done.

Zoe: Can���t wait to hear how they go!

Kate: This is going to be fun.

Zoe: I did find that using Take Off Your Pants for Dead to the World got me finished more quickly than I think I would have otherwise, even with stopping for three days to do the three outlines. I wound up revising 22k words and writing another 40k in just 18 days. ��� I wish I could say the same for Ride the Devil, but for the past four days I���ve been avoiding touching that one. I think I might just be fatigued.

Kate: Honestly, I���m beginning to think KM Weiland might have hit something on the head in her book, but not what she planned. I keep coming back to her talking about how the story bounces around in her head for months or years before she���s ready to write it down. And I wonder if outlining can really only come when your brain has processed enough of the story internally to have the material necessary to support an outline. And I don���t mean it all has to be consciously, but that the act of putting the outline together accesses subconscious planning that you weren���t aware you were doing. Your brain making logical connections between things as you plot. Does that sound crazy?

Zoe: Not entirely. :) I���m looking forward to putting it to the test because I do have an outline for a story that I came up with without spending weeks or more playing it in my head, and I stopped thinking about it when I had an outline I was happy with, so I���m interested in seeing how the writing goes. But I can���t start until I get Ride the Devil first-drafted and Dead to the World revised. (Which means I���ve been outlining even more stories, because my head is always working on stories when I���m supposed to be writing stories. How do I get to be an outline factory like James Patterson?)

Kate: *cough* hire people *cough*

Ana: I think it���s a pretty individual thing. I have this friend, he���s a real idea machine. He could outline any of my novels after a few sentences from me. Now, if he could write them, I don���t know, but I often have times where I���m sitting in front of an outline and just go ���uh���. what now?��� and I hit him up and he has like ten ideas for what could happen. Most of them good, too. Me, I need more time to work things out.

Kate: Everyone has different methods, which makes learning to outline and learning to write such a challenge. It���s part science, but mostly art, and for art you have to feel your way through until you find the method that works for you.

Zoe: Kate, have you had a chance to crack open Save the Cat yet?

Kate: I did! During the teenager���s birthday party, while they were in the pool. I like it. He���s blunt, and a lot of what he says makes perfect sense. It���s things I know about, but don���t always remember because I���m still learning. There���s some parts that are very obviously only for screenwriters, but a lot of it crosses over. I need to finish it, after I clear the decks of some of the day job stuff.

Zoe: I thought to ask because I had a crisis moment at the movie theater yesterday. We went to see Danny Collins, and it was an enjoyable movie, but during several scenes, I was so hugely aware that it was hitting its beats. I know on one level that most of the people in that theater weren���t feeling the beats hit as hard as I was, but at the same time I was all, ���I DON���T WANT TO WRITE STORIES YOU CAN MAP OUT LIKE THAT!��� It was an existential moment that was probably exacerbated by the fact that I���d run out of garlic parmesan french fries to shove in my mouth.

(Ana: Wait, you can eat fries IN the theater?!)

(Zoe: Oh yes. And drink beer…but you guys probably had that in Germany already.)

(Ana: Yes to the beer.)

(Kate: I need to move next to Zoe.)

Kate: I suspect part of the job of a writer is to hit those beats, but to disguise them cleverly enough that you don���t recognize them as beats. In some stories it���s okay–you know he has to save the cat, and you know he has to fail at least once, and it���s kind of a game to guess which character that���s important to him will be only threatened and which one will die–but it shouldn���t be the modus operandi.

Zoe: Yes, and I need to add that I���m also aware that hitting beats is what makes a movie enjoyable a lot of the time. If it���s just a shambling mess, people can���t get into it. I was just a little too aware of the mechanisms creaking underneath the fun patter. (And the movie did have a lot of pleasant surprises in it���and that may be why I noticed the beats so much more, because of the contrast between the pleasant surprises and the ���oh yeah, totally saw that coming.���)

Ana: It���s a little like watching a magician. Once you know how he does it, it���s not fun anymore.

Zoe: Unless you���re That Guy���the one who gets all his fun out of spoiling it for everyone else by loudly telling the whole theater how it works. (I just sat quietly wishing for more fries.)

Kate: It could be a writer���s game. Go to a movie, and afterwards, the person who can identify the most beats gets their meal paid for by everyone else.

Zoe: I���m in! (Did I mention that this theater had comfy couches? This place might turn me into a theater-goer again. It doesn���t hurt that there���s a Tom Hardy movie out right now…comfy couches, fries, Tom Hardy…)

Filed under: Three Dirty Birds Talk Tagged: Libbie Hawker, plotting, Take Off Your Pants!, writing

Tuesday Tickle (on a Wednesday): Five Alarm Blaze

Just call me Britney (of the Oops, I Did It Again fame). Boy, do I need a vacation. (Not from writing or Tuesday Tickles, just from everything else. A week on the beach with the cabana boy would be nice. :) )

A little more from the calendar shoot. I’m still mucking around with how Seth is posed, but I kind of like this one. (I’m still hemming and hawing about the choice to use the word ‘fruity’, too.) I’m also just realizing how many s sounds there are in that first sentence. *makes note to self* Oh, and a repeated word… *blushes* Wow, there’s a lot to fix in this. :P

The way they���d set up the rigs, he could see where they���d set the stretcher out in the sunshine. Seth sat on the mattress and swung his legs up. The photographer handed him a pair of black Blues Brothers sunglasses and a tropical looking drink in a martini glass, an umbrella hanging drunkenly off one side. Seth laughed, put on the sunglasses and leaned back on the stretcher with one hand behind his head. It made the muscles in his arm stand out and, when the photographer had arranged his other arm the way he wanted it, fruity-looking drink held casually between Seth���s fingers, the paramedic looked like sex on a stretcher.

And Cody���s fingers itched to touch.

Filed under: Tuesday Tickle Tagged: contemporary, firefighter, first love, GFY, mm romance, paramedic