"Leave us, Connie." "Do I have to, boss? Every time I do I get behind."
Unlike the other stories I post, this one is not true. It is just my all time favourite joke. (No offence intended against blonds. Some of my best friends are blond.)
There was once this Rancher and he had two girls working for him, a brown head and a blond. One day the man decided he wanted to buy a new bull, so he gave the girls $100 and sent them to an auction. The brown head went to look at the bulls while the blond stayed behind in the town with the truck and trailer. Once the brown had the bull she said she would call her friend.
Well, she soon found a bull, and spent $99 on it. She then went to the telegraph office and said, "I need to send a message. 'I've got the bull, bring the trailer.'"
"That will cost $7," the man said, "it is a dollar a word."
The girl thought for a long time, then said, "Okay, send 'Comfortable.'"
"Comfortable?" the man asked.
"Yes," the girl answered, "my friend is blond, she reads slow. 'Com for da bull.'"*** I decided to do today's character post as a kind of rant. It is about characters, just not one certain character but a cast of many.
As I have probably said before, The Broken Blade came into being when my sister and her cousin said that no book could be titled that. (Well, I love swords, and the idea of a broken sword and why it would be important appealed to me, so I proved them wrong and created a book. Theoretically.)
It was fairly easy to come up with a book idea. I've always loved quests and it was my dream to go on a quest to find a sword. So, I had a plot. I also had characters. I thought I was set. And then I started writing...and deleting...and writing...for about three years. I couldn't figure it out! I had a plot, I had characters! Usually this is all I need.
Then, the other day, I finally figured out the problem. I knew there were certain things in this book the characters weren't telling me. Something happens to one of the main characters, but I didn't know which one. I had to figure it out by the process of elimination. And there are other things they won't tell me, but after I tried to outline the plot I realized it. They were telling me NOTHING!
It is typical for my characters to keep things from me, to change the plot half way through the series. I can handle this, even though I do threaten them. But having NOTHING to go on! Not even hints. They keep telling me to trust them, to just write. I keep telling them to take a long walk off a short pier...we don't really listen to each other.
So that is probably the main reason this book is taking so long. I'm very much in the dark about it, but I should probably just accept this and write.
*** In other news a poor cat was trapped up a tree...oh, wrong news report. I've decided I will hold a contest for the short story cover. This is a chance for everyone to enter. It doesn't matter what you do, photography or art work, create the cover you think most fitting for the story and send it in. I would love to see all of your ideas!
There are more details and the ending date HERE.
Also, you still have time to vote on which character picture will be revealed on Friday, the voting thing is on my sidebar. Let me note, Hogan has two votes. Someone voted for him before I put that up and though I was able to get the vote for Isidore up there, it wouldn't let me vote twice. So, as of right now, Steed has two, Hogan has two, and Isidore is in the lead with five.
My cousins and Junior have been out of town this week, so I am hoping to grab them an evening when they get back. I can't release the trailer until I have the cover of course, but I should have pictures from the trailer making. Also, I've decided I like my book title as it is, only I will be changing the Haphazardly part because it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. "You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."
*** This quote again is from Oscar. Connie is one of Snap's henchmen. He has two main ones. One is smart and snippish. Connie is dumb. However, to make things worse on him, he usually ends up missing all the important things that happen throughout the day, so gets even more lost. During this part Snaps is talking to someone and asks Connie to leave, but Connie knows if he does he will get lost again (and worries Snaps might end up with another child none of them knew about.) (I will explain this tomorrow.)
*** Have you ever written a book with no idea of what was going to happen in it? Do you have characters who keep secrets from you? Interested in entering the cover contest?! What word do you think I should use instead of Haphazardly? (I'm looking for another word for However.) What do you think of the title? Does it make you want to read the book, or is it just confusing?
Allons-y!
There was once this Rancher and he had two girls working for him, a brown head and a blond. One day the man decided he wanted to buy a new bull, so he gave the girls $100 and sent them to an auction. The brown head went to look at the bulls while the blond stayed behind in the town with the truck and trailer. Once the brown had the bull she said she would call her friend.
Well, she soon found a bull, and spent $99 on it. She then went to the telegraph office and said, "I need to send a message. 'I've got the bull, bring the trailer.'"
"That will cost $7," the man said, "it is a dollar a word."
The girl thought for a long time, then said, "Okay, send 'Comfortable.'"
"Comfortable?" the man asked.
"Yes," the girl answered, "my friend is blond, she reads slow. 'Com for da bull.'"*** I decided to do today's character post as a kind of rant. It is about characters, just not one certain character but a cast of many.
As I have probably said before, The Broken Blade came into being when my sister and her cousin said that no book could be titled that. (Well, I love swords, and the idea of a broken sword and why it would be important appealed to me, so I proved them wrong and created a book. Theoretically.)
It was fairly easy to come up with a book idea. I've always loved quests and it was my dream to go on a quest to find a sword. So, I had a plot. I also had characters. I thought I was set. And then I started writing...and deleting...and writing...for about three years. I couldn't figure it out! I had a plot, I had characters! Usually this is all I need.
Then, the other day, I finally figured out the problem. I knew there were certain things in this book the characters weren't telling me. Something happens to one of the main characters, but I didn't know which one. I had to figure it out by the process of elimination. And there are other things they won't tell me, but after I tried to outline the plot I realized it. They were telling me NOTHING!
It is typical for my characters to keep things from me, to change the plot half way through the series. I can handle this, even though I do threaten them. But having NOTHING to go on! Not even hints. They keep telling me to trust them, to just write. I keep telling them to take a long walk off a short pier...we don't really listen to each other.
So that is probably the main reason this book is taking so long. I'm very much in the dark about it, but I should probably just accept this and write.
*** In other news a poor cat was trapped up a tree...oh, wrong news report. I've decided I will hold a contest for the short story cover. This is a chance for everyone to enter. It doesn't matter what you do, photography or art work, create the cover you think most fitting for the story and send it in. I would love to see all of your ideas!
There are more details and the ending date HERE.
Also, you still have time to vote on which character picture will be revealed on Friday, the voting thing is on my sidebar. Let me note, Hogan has two votes. Someone voted for him before I put that up and though I was able to get the vote for Isidore up there, it wouldn't let me vote twice. So, as of right now, Steed has two, Hogan has two, and Isidore is in the lead with five.
My cousins and Junior have been out of town this week, so I am hoping to grab them an evening when they get back. I can't release the trailer until I have the cover of course, but I should have pictures from the trailer making. Also, I've decided I like my book title as it is, only I will be changing the Haphazardly part because it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. "You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."
*** This quote again is from Oscar. Connie is one of Snap's henchmen. He has two main ones. One is smart and snippish. Connie is dumb. However, to make things worse on him, he usually ends up missing all the important things that happen throughout the day, so gets even more lost. During this part Snaps is talking to someone and asks Connie to leave, but Connie knows if he does he will get lost again (and worries Snaps might end up with another child none of them knew about.) (I will explain this tomorrow.)
*** Have you ever written a book with no idea of what was going to happen in it? Do you have characters who keep secrets from you? Interested in entering the cover contest?! What word do you think I should use instead of Haphazardly? (I'm looking for another word for However.) What do you think of the title? Does it make you want to read the book, or is it just confusing?
Allons-y!
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