Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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Writing Questions for Josh
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Loe, I'm surprised you don't already write down those ideas! lol, when I was a kid, I had so many ideas I couldn't remember them all to tell my best friend the next day. And so I began writing them down, and then they got longer and longer... dialog was added in... you get the idea.
Kari, yeah, I know, it does sound typical. But I think the horrifiying thing is that I try my best to ignore it, and thus it's frightening when it stares you in the face like that.
Jordan wrote: "No need to be nervous Cleon, I love how you handle angels and demons. It'll be fantastic, as always. Loe, I'm surprised you don't already write down those ideas! lol, when I was a kid, I had so..."
Thanks, Jordan. I am more nervous about my own patience in dealing with longer project. LoL. Someone needs to crop me black and blue if I don't manage to finish this story.
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Jordan wrote: "Well Cleon, LC's usually the one with the crop, but I do have one waiting in the wings for anyone who needs it. And it's brand new. I've heard new ones hurt even more than one that's well used. ;-)"Oh... scary... *off to write frantically*
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Ocotillo wrote: "The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines."Great tip, Ocotillo :)
I put that one on my Bday wishlist. Together with the Le Guin book on writing (Steering the Craft).
Last year for the Nano I decided to see if I could write a standard het romance (answer - evidently not). I still think the basic plot structure is interesting, so I decided to see if I could turn her into him. Whether I can rescue the book is still an open question, but I'm finding the excercise a fascinating study in gender and my own internalized sexism. I think if I wrote it the other way around (turning Ed into Edwina), I'd end up not having to make too many changes to the main character - she'd come across as a strong, independent woman. But going from Edwina to Ed, there are all these points where I think "Ewww, he would never do that!" When I was writing the original version I thought I'd created a strong career woman but without substantial changes he now comes off as stomach churningly bitchy. I know Josh has a riff about this in MOM but I'm wondering if anyone else has tried this and whether the end result was readable.
Interesting! I thought about it with one of mine, but a chunk of the plot revolved around a miscarriage and in the end I just let it drop without making the attempt. Now you've got me curious...
Yeah, I had a pregnancy scare in there which had to go (I first did a replace all with pronouns so when I got to the part about his pregnancy it was pretty funny). So far I've cut 20,000 from a 55,000 word story - obviously it will now need serious fleshing out. And the ending.... yuck ... It all needs more tension and action. Maybe guns.
One of the things I love about m/m is that we don't need to use a standard romance writers voice so I can gleefully delete things like "he was suddenly aware of him in the special way he always seemed to be whenever they were alone." Shudder. Yes, I wrote that with different original pronouns, but only after reading a million Harlequin Blaze's to learn the right tone.
Let's change the subject away from my confession of the one of worst sentences I've ever written - a sentence so bad that it killed discussion on this thread for almost two weeks. I'll be down in the basement flogging myself with an old typewritter ribbon. In the meantime perhaps you could help me bury it under the sands of discussion like the cat turd it is.....Anyone doing the Nano this year?
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Are you? And what are you planning to write, if you are?
Yep, I am. Right now I'm scrambling to finish a rewrite on last year's Nano (taking it down to the studs, as it were) so I can do something new this year. I'm thinking it would be fun to do something with a murder in it - we'll see if I'm up to the plotting challenge.
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:-D
So, I've been thinking this thread was really quiet lately. But no. I've just not been informed of any of the last 66 posts. :-PI guess I have some catching up to do.
So, I haven't read the last 66 posts, yet, so I hope this isn't a repeat of a recent question.Josh (or Nicole? I think it was Josh) you recently said that with a novel, you have a 9-to-18 month window to produce a sequel before the dying interest is really detrimental.
Are there any quidelines to figuring out where a novel falls within that window? As in, am I more at the 9 month end, or can I stretch it out farther?
Does that make any sense?
Anybody read A.J. Llewellyn's post at Reviews by Jessewave on collaborative writing? Aleks Voinov contributed some interesting observations, too. Josh, you've been there. What's your take on it? More rewarding than frustrating or more frustrating than rewarding? And in what ways? Creatively? Financially? On a personal-relationship level?
I've been writing in my own quirky little bubble for decades, so I find the whole process rather mystifying. Anybody else have insights to share?
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Granted, we were both still in high school at the time and really didn't know what we were doing, but I'm not sure I'd want to do that again. I'd need someone who likes and appreciates the level of darkness I like to write about, first of all. And I think if I found that person, I'd rather do something like Josh and Jordan's Petit Morts, where I write a short story and then the other writer does another short story. And maybe it includes all the same characters but they're still different so that we don't ruin it.
That's my experience and thoughts on the matter. But I'd love to hear your thoughts Josh, since you've undoubtedly got better experience than I do.
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Totally wasn't me.
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I guess I have some catching up to do."
I'm so frustrated between FB and the SCRIPTS ARE WRITING TO THIS PAGE WHICH MAY...blah blah blah (translation: you're about to be so frustrated you want to throw your computer out the window) and GR with the failure to send notices.
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Josh (or Nicole? I think it was Josh) you recently said that with a novel, you have a 9-to-18 month ..."
I think the earlier you are in your writing career, the tighter the window to do a follow up. Once a writer or a series is established, you've got some room. It's been a while since WG but if Ginn announced a second book was coming in 2013 the interest and excitment would be high, even as far away as that date is.
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Josh, you've been there. What's your take on it? ..."
I think more than anything it depends on the personality types involved. I can do shared world (as in Irregulars)-- and shared character (as in Petit Morts) but I would never under any circumstances try to cowrite a book again.
I'm just too much of a control freak, let's put it that way.
Josh wrote: "Anne wrote: "So, I haven't read the last 66 posts, yet, so I hope this isn't a repeat of a recent question.Josh (or Nicole? I think it was Josh) you recently said that with a novel, you have a..."
Okay. You just threw my whole, new shiny schedule out of whack.
JK. It does put some more pressure on me, though. I'm still giving myself a few extra months, because what's the point of doing a sequel at all if you can't produce quality?
Josh wrote: "K.Z. wrote: "Anybody read A.J. Llewellyn's post at Reviews by Jessewave on collaborative writing? Aleks Voinov contributed some interesting observations, too. Josh, you've been there. What's yo..."
You know, Josh, I can totally understand that (I wouldn't collaborate with ANYONE -- not even my best writing buddy), but I often love the result of a collaboration, and Mexican Heat is on my favorites list.
Anne wrote: "Okay. You just threw my whole, new shiny schedule out of whack.JK. It does put some more pressure on me, though. I'm still giving myself a few extra months, because what's the point of doing a sequel at all if you can't produce quality?
..."
That's one of my biggest issues (and the reason I'm still dinking around with Life Lessons 3.) The sequel has to at least measure up to its predecessor(s) and preferably surpass them or it seems self-indulgent. I figure readers will be patient up to a point, more than they'll forgive a slip-shod effort.
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I once tried to co-write a story with G. Hale. It was the most deadly boring thing you've ever read in your life. Sometimes 2 people's strengths will actually cancel each other out immediately.
Josh wrote: "I'm just too much of a control freak, let's put it that way."I won't be disingenuous and act surprised. ;-) Actually, I think I'd have difficulty too. The point is moot, though. Nobody's ever approached me about it. Must be that crotchety old lady vibe I've been cultivating.
Nicole wrote: "I once tried to co-write a story with G. Hale. It was the most deadly boring thing you've ever read in your life."Yikes! That's hard to believe. So each of you inadvertently smothered the other's spark?
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I'm glad I'm hearing so many good things about Ginn Hale... I just wish my copy of Wicked Gentlemen would hurry up and get here! lol. Stupid post office is LATE.
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Well no, not exactly, more like the dynamics that make each of our prose interesting to read individually cancelled each other out when aligned together, like, umm.... a couple of sine waves lining up so that the peaks and troughs of one are directly opposite the peaks and troughs of another to create the impression of a solid line.
Co-writing would be a big fat no for me. I'm too neurotic. Some fine day, I'm going to let go of the OCD and try suckering some poor slob into doing a shared theme two-fer with novellas, though. Both novellas being set in haunted houses, for instance. Something like that might be fun.Just the idea of co-writing or somebody else telling me how my world has to work gives me the hives, though.
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I hear you, but I'm pretty much the opposite. I think I might have missed my calling in becoming a novelist. I should have probably become a screenwriter or comic book writer or something totally collaborative like that. Shared worlds and working within existing cannon don't bother me at all.
Nicole wrote: "I hear you, but I'm pretty much the opposite. I think I might have missed my calling in becoming a novelist. I should have probably become a screenwriter or comic book writer or something totally collaborative like that. Shared worlds and working within existing cannon don't bother me at all."I've tried a shared world, just brainstorming stage, twice. Didn't work. When I have a world cooking inside my head, a whisper in my ear telling me no stops me cold. Just kills it. And I'm too pushy to be collaborative.
What fires up my creativity...Want to write a story that includes, I dunno, necromancy as a major player? Cool. 25-30K? Awesome. Ready, set, go. LOL.
K.Z. wrote: "Josh wrote: "I'm just too much of a control freak, let's put it that way."I won't be disingenuous and act surprised. ;-) Actually, I think I'd have difficulty too. The point is moot, though. Nob..."
LMAO The crotchety old lady who write M/M Romance. Love it.
That be me. Not always, though. I'm pretty tolerable when I'm tanked up. ;-)
K.Z. wrote: "That be me. Not always, though. I'm pretty tolerable when I'm tanked up. ;-)"
Better living through Smirnoff? :D
Nah. I'm one of them thar cheap dates. I like beer. (Granted, I prefer microbrewery specialty beers, but I take what I can get...which I consider a sound rule to live by. And sure as shit to write by.)
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I may have swiped that from Douglas Adams... Sine wave as analogy, I mean. His sine wave analogy is about something completely different.
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Okays, just cause I happen to have just had a microbrew I shall veer completely OT in order to list my personal 3 faves:
Laurelwood Workhorse IPA
Ninkasi Total Domination IPA
Pike's Naughty Nelly/Bridgeport Stumptown Tart (I am a sucker for beer with pretty girls on the label.)
Oh, thank you, Nic! I love the names. I keep lists of good beers the way I keep lists of good books. (My parents were tavernkeepers, so it's in the blood.) Although I know I'll never get to enjoy them all, I can dream.I've always liked the old Miller girl on the moon and wished I could wear that whatever-the-hell-kind-of-outfit she's wearing. Nothing like faux-ethnic class and sass. ;-)
K.Z. wrote: "Nah. I'm one of them thar cheap dates. I like beer. (Granted, I prefer microbrewery specialty beers, but I take what I can get...which I consider a sound rule to live by. And sure as shit to write ..."OMG. Birds of a feather. I needs my IPA. At least, until it starts interfering with my typing skills.
Nicole wrote: "K.Z. wrote: "Nah. I'm one of them thar cheap dates. I like beer. (Granted, I prefer microbrewery specialty beers, but I take what I can get...which I consider a sound rule to live by. And sure as s..."Lauralwood and Ninkasi. Two of the finest breweries ever. Ever, ever. Better than Rogue Brutal Bitter.
But man, it's like drinking dynamite.
The other night, I took my daughters to a function (without the husband) and they were freaking out when I said I was going back to the bar for a second beer (Corona -- best they had). I tried to explain that the alcohol content was less than half of what I usually drink, and yes, I would be able to drive us home, but they weren't buying it. I finally had to pull the mommy card and just tell them to suck it up, I was having a second beer.
K.Z. wrote: "Oh, thank you, Nic! I love the names. I keep lists of good beers the way I keep lists of good books. (My parents were tavernkeepers, so it's in the blood.) Although I know I'll never get to enjoy t..."Ninkasi was a Mesopotamian god (goddess? Can't remember for sure) of beer. It's a brewery based in Eugene Oregon, but they're starting to bottle and sell outside of the area. Truly some of the most inspired beer ever. As well as Total Domination, I LOVE Tricerahops.
Lauralwood is a Portland OR brewery, and the brewer there has consistently won international beer competitions. I think you can only get their beer on tap, still. We used to go their a lot when the kids were small because they had a kids' play area, and special kid meals and coloring books and etc. They were all about facilitating the coping mechanisms of parents.
Wrote yours down too, Anne. The problem with so many of these is availability.I figure as long as there's good beer in the world, I won't be tempted to enter the Sylvia Plath Bake-off anytime soon. ;-)
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Josh, you've been there..."
Thanks, Anne. I'm proud of that book. Both Laura and I -- and our wonderful editor Judith David -- worked our asses off to create that. But that was just more work and more emotional wear and tear than any of us could face repeating.
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I enjoy those kinds of collaborations.
And I loved Laura's work when it was Laura in control of her work. But it changes everything when your name is suddenly slapped on the project. Then every step becomes collaboration and compromise. And some of it is great -- it helps you come up with stuff you'd never come up with on your own.
I certainly have no regrets about the project. A lot of people loved that book and I learned a lot from the process. But one of the things I learned was I'm not nearly as flexible as I thought I was.
K.Z. wrote: "I figure as long as there's good beer in the world, I won't be tempted to enter the Sylvia Plath Bake-off anytime soon. ;-) "ROFLMAO
That just deserves to be quoted.
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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So I have this short story I want to expand to novella or novel. The original pairing is demon/human, with demon..."
I am withholding my decision of which path to take until the story is half finished, because at this point, they haven't even met yet. Who knows what they want at the end. I think the story will turn out to be a series. There is too much going on and a long way to go before the three of them can be together believably. It's my first long story so I am nervous.