Elaine Cunningham
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "e_cunningham" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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10:34 am
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If I hadn't started following "Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books"...
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...I never would have found out about the Lithuanian online magazine that posted a video of the Austrian rugby team stripping to the off-key strains of "Singing in the Rain." My life is a richer, stranger place for this experience.
Nor would I have chuckled over the review of a historical romance novel that has the heroine seeking vengeance upon her reluctant husband aboard a ship crewed entirely by gay pirates. The best part of the review? The coinage of the term "swishbucklers."
Smart Bitches
Tone-deaf Rubgy Team
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10:43 am
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"When I am old I will wear purple...
...with a red hat."
And possibly matching stillettos.
Nah. I'm thinking tee shirts. Irrascible old lady tee shirts. These are a few contenders:
What if there were no rhetorical questions?
Suedo-intellectual
And quite possibly my favorite: Eshew obfuscation
Just saying.
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02:39 pm
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Much Pathfinder goodness
I just finished downloading the forty-two files the folks at Paizo very kindly put in my download account. One more time for the folks in the cheap seats: forty-two files. After I deleted some duplicates, I still ended up with 13 game modules, the first 10 issues of Pathfinder Adventure Path, 5 Chronicles, and the RPG rules.
Guess I have my work cut out for me. :)
Also spent a considerable amount of time reading the message boards, especially as pertains to Pathfinder fiction, to get a better sense of the fans and their interests. Nice group. Enthusiastic, upbeat.
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10:17 am
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BEYOND MAGIC is up on Amazon.com
 As you can probably tell from the cover, Beyond Magic is a paranormal romance anthology. As such, it's quite a departure for me. I've written two urban fantasy books--the Changeling Detective books--but they were not romances by any stretch of the genre. But this one qualifies; the relationship is an integral part of the story, and yes, there's a steamy scene or two.
You might expect a fantasy writer to lean heavily toward fantasy elements, but my story, "Beyond Dreams," has no vampires, werewolves, or other supernatural creatures. In tone and topic, it falls a lot closer to Kay Hooper's psi mysteries than to, say, Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. If you like the TV show "Medium," you may also enjoy Cassie O'Malley's story.
I hope you'll consider giving it a look.
Tags: beyond dreams, changeling detective, paranormal romance, urban fantasy
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06:47 am
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Mother's day weekend
Sunday was a perfect spring day in Rhode Island--cool, sunny, with bright blue skies setting off the new leaves and the pink and white flowering trees: dogwood and flowering almond and the waning crab apples. The lilacs are in full bloom. It''s beautiful hereabouts. We spent the day, and most of the previous one, working in the gardens, which is exactly the way I'd choose to celebrate a perfect spring day. If gardening posts bore you, you'll want to skip this one.
( Read more... )
Tags: gardening
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09:16 pm
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Serial fiction
Serial fiction is, imo, an idea whose time has come again. Popular in the mid 19th century, serial fiction in the "weeklies" ranged from sentimental tales and crime drama to the swashbuckling adventures of Alexamder Dumas to novels that reside solidly (and sometimes stolidly) in the Dead White Guy Literary Canon. Charles Dickens is the name that first comes to mind, but the list also includes Cervantes, Defoe, Thackeray, Balzac, George Elliot, and Joseph Conrad.
Judging from the success of such TV shows as "Lost" and "Heroes," there's an appetite for serial fiction. Some of it is rambling, some structured as carefully as any novel. The first season of "Dexter," a Showtime series about a serial killer with a strict code--he only kills other serial killers--was one of the best crafted pieces of popular fiction I've encountered anywhere. Each episode stood alone, in that a conflict was introduced and resolved, but running throughout were story threads addressing two basic questions: what early childhood event caused Dexter's pathology, and how might his early life be connected to the brilliant serial killer who is both taunting and courting him? The escalating conflict, the rising stakes, the character arc--wow. Just . . . wow. A chilling, disturbing story, but wonderfully written and realized.
Which leads me to ponder why more of us don't tackle TV-style serial fiction, especially when the internet offers the perfect medium for it.
I've been kicking around the idea for quite a while, and a couple of months ago an interesting opportunity popped up. I ended up passing due to some concern about copyright dilution, but I definitely plan to keep an eye on this editor and this project. He has a great idea, and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it. And eventually I'd like to return to the story I outlined in my proposal for this project, because I really like the characters, the plot, and the world.
Then last week a new opportunity popped up. Everything came together: the timing, the tone, the comfort zone, the people. The project editor said I could mention it "whenever and wherever," so here goes: I'll be writing some serial fiction for Pathfinder, the RPG setting from Paizo Press. A dark fantasy tale, told in six "episodes." I've worked with Paizo before and have a very high opinion of their professionalism and their products. The email discussion with the editor gave me a strong sense that we were on the same page, which is always a good thing. They don't need the first episode until late September, which meshes perfectly with my writing schedule. And I'm in the mood to write the sort of story they're seeking. It all works. I am, in short, tickled.
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01:13 pm
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Car dealship rant
Few things can frustrate me more quickly and disproportionally than wasting a couple of hours at the auto shop. Especially when the visit is occasioned not by a vehicle malfunction, but a previous error/oversight on the part of the service department. Especially when the guys in service not only evade responsibility, but imply that you were somehow to blame. But what REALLY pisses me off is when it's painfully obvious they're figuring they can tell you any illogical bullshit they want because you're female and won't know any better.
According to my female friends, this is a fairly widespread phenomenon. My next door neighbor is tempted from time to time to tell them about her PhD in mechanical engineering, but what would be the point? They wouldn't upgrade their logic. They probably wouldn't believe her. After all, she's not only female, but she's cute and little, and she'd probably have her two cute little girls in tow. No one who rolls with that much estrogen could possibly know shit about engines.
Anyway. I take in two spare keys they made me a few months ago for the Mazda Tribute. These keys open the door, but won't start the car. (The one mistake I did make in this process was not doublechecking the keys before I left the service department. No, make that two mistakes, the first being buying an effing Mazda in the first place.)
"We have no record of any keys being programmed," the service rep informed me.
"But I purchased them here. You guys made them for me."
"Yeah, but apparently they weren't programmed. They don't work unless they're programmed."
Now, I understand the need to program the remote, but the key? Plain, old-fashioned device? Okay, whatever. Times change. Still, I politely observed it seems odd they'd sell replacement keys (at $20 a pop, which I did not say out loud) without mentioning the need to program the keys. He immediately adopted that look of weary, wary patience that proclaimed my status had been upgraded to Problem Customer.
"Well, yeah, if someone, like, loses a set of keys or something and needed to replace them, sure. The key has to be programmed. But sometimes a guy just wants an extra key cut."
By now the technician had joined us, giving me a moment to reflect upon this strange pronouncement. If a key does not work unless it's programmed, for what purpose would any client seek extra Mazda keys? Craft supplies? Hostess gifts? Increasing one's options at key parties?
Before I would wrap my mind around this connundrum, the technician shook his head a little at the idiocy of customers and said, "Yeah, but then he gets home and finds out the key don't work. So he calls us to ask why, and we tell him it's got to be programmed."
Apparently someone took the wrong exit off the Circular Logic Roundabout, but . . . . moving on. "Okay," I say, "can you program these keys?"
"Sure, but there will be a $45 fee," the service rep told me. I must have looked a bit startled--remember, these keys cost $20 to start with--so he quickly added, "That's because we have to Go On the Computer." He voiced this in precisely the tone I imagine nuclear scientists must employ when they say "activate the particle accelerator."
But. Here's the bottom line: You can't have just one set of keys to a vehicle. So I signed the paperwork . A little more than an hour later, they give me my keys. But now ALL THREE DON'T WORK. Including the original key that came with the vehicle.
So I go back to the service rep and apprise him of this fact. He gets the tech, they both go outside into the rain with me, and the tech tries all three keys. None of them work. He tries them again, in different sequences, and finally one of them turns the engine over.
"One of the keys is probably bad," he says. He sends me a suspicious glance. "Where did you say you got these keys?"
I explained to him, for about the seventh time, that one key was original to the vehicle and two keys were duplicates their shop had made, but which had never worked.
"Well, that's because you didn't get them programmed," he told me. "This key doesn't look new," he said, looking at one of the keys that was currently off my key ring. "Where did you say you got it?"
Deep breath, repeat key history. Apparently I wasn't very convincing, because he said, "Well, looks like you brought in a bad key. If you try a good key after a bad key, then the good key won't work."
The patronizing level was edging into my red zone, but Sean was waiting (in the rain) for me to pick him up, and I had no interest in engaging these guys any more than I absolutely had to. So I just said, "Okay. Which is the bad key?"
He sent me a long suffering look. "I took them off the ring to program them, so they're all mixed up."
That made absolutely no sense. Worse, he followed up with, "But you got three keys. If one don't work, try another one."
I had to bite my tongue to keep from observing, "That rather defeats the purpose of spare keys, wouldn't you think?" What I actually said was, "These keys will be carried by different family members. It's unlikely that any of us will have all three keys at the same time. I need three keys that work."
By now they're both looking at me as if I'm a unreasonable, raving bitch, but the technician tries again and lo and behold, the car starts. He tries the other keys with the same result. "Your problem is," he informs me in a tone that suggests he knew this all along and that I, had I possessed enough gray matter to fill an ash tray, would have realized, as well, "You're trying to start the car too fast. You can't just turn the key. You have to put it in the ignition and wait maybe 30 or 45 seconds until the car recognizes the key. Because they've been, you know, programmed."
Of course. Silly me.
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06:50 am
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Uncertainty
From "Uncertainty," the latest post from J.A. Konrath's blog "A Newbie's Guide to Writing":
Writing isn't a career for the weak-hearted.
Besides the regular perks of self-employment, such as spending countless hours on your tax return, being without health insurance, and lack of regular paychecks, there is also what I consider to be the the most daunting aspect of all:
The fact that, at any moment, you won't have a career anymore.
This is a clear-eyed, kick-in-the-ass look at the publishing industry, well worth a look. I love the tone of Mr. Konrath's blog. He presents grim truths in a relentlessly cheery, upbeat fashion. He refuses to make or accept excuses. He's creative and funny. By all appearances, he has more energy than your average five-year-old on a sugar high. If you're a writer or an aspiring writer and you're feeling tempted to whine about the vississitudes of the writing and publishing process, this blog is a good antidote. Highly recommended for people in need of a cheerful, energetic verbal ass-kicking.
Bonus points: His blog is snark free.
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09:11 am
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ALL education is self-education
I figured this out an an early age, when my third grade teacher--a rigid, rule-following, church-lady fundamentalist--put me back in third grade. ("You're in third grade, you'll do the third grade work." End of discussion. Never mind that I'd already covered that material in grade two, along with grade four material.) I could have lost interest at that point--a lot of kids in similar situations do--but I discovered art and reading in a big way, and I realized that what happens in the classroom does not have to define what you learn. It's a starting point, not a ceiling.
I do have a college degree, plus some formal education since college--a second teaching area in history, enough classes to take me half way to an MBA (bfd), lots of music lessons (classical guitar, lute, voice)--but for the most part, I consider myself self-educated. I'll latch only a topic, dive into immersion mode, and just freaking learn it. Sixteenth century English history. The social history of witchcraft in the western world. The celtic harp. The craft of writing. Not to mention all the things I want/need to write ABOUT.
In fact, one of the things I like most about writing is that there's always something to learn. I have an built-in excuse to log onto the Rhode Island library system and order all the books by Scott McCloud on graphic novels. Psychic espionage? Fascinating topic, totally justified by the novella coming out this September. Stregheria, the heriditary Italian witchcraft tradition? I own a small library of books on the topic, which will eventually pay their way through a non-fiction article about the folklore of the "evil eye," and an urban fantasy book coming up about 5 or 6 projects down the pike. Writing also justifies travel as a way to learn what you need to know. A pilgrimage to Glastonbury, Cadbury hill, Stonehenge, Tintagel, and other sites associated with Arthurian legend has not yet shown up in a novel, but it will. A visit to the Roman ruins in Bath, plus a half dozen history books, will eventually become two short stories. Books about shapeshifting lore and legends will be coming in fiction form 3 or 4 projects down the line. And so it goes. There's always something to learn, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I haven't studied science since high school, but since the project I'm writing with Susan Mates has a "magic system" that's based on endosymbiotic theory, I need to dust off that corner of my brain. For a while, I've seen that prospect as daunting. Fortunately Susan has a solid science background--she has been a physician, a research scientist, and a med school teacher. A specialist in infectuous diseases, she ran a TB clinic and has disturbing/intriguing insight into the secret lives of microorganisms. She graduated from Yale med school, taught at Brown, AND has won awards for literary short fiction. (Not TOO intimidating, right?) Compare to that my total lack of credentials when it comes to the science part of science fiction. I was a music major, of all things, with an education degree from a fourth-rate bible college. But life--my life, at least--seems to be a circular process of relearning lessons, coming to familiar conclusions.
Okay, I don't have any formal education in science and have never taken a single class in microbiology or genetics, two topics that are pivotal to this story. Not to go all Dick Cheney, but . . . . So?
I can read, I know where the library is, I can afford to order several Lynne Margulis books from Amazon.com, and with the help of a dictionary, I can get through pertinent articles from technical journals. And I'm getting very excited about this new area of self-education, and the book that it will eventually support. Good times ahead!
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09:48 am
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A particularly intriquing anthology
Interfictions II: The Second Anthology of Interstitial Writing.
Delia Sherman is one of the editors. I love her short stories and can't wait to see what sort of tales catch her eye. I plan to order the first Interfictions and may submit a story to the upcoming anthology. (There's a cross-genre historical horror tale (Battle of Hastings) in my WIP file that might be in the ballbark.) For those who are interested in submitting, the reading period is October 1 through December 1.
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08:45 am
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Black background, white/colored text
Let me say this right up front: DO NOT LIKE.
My eyesight has never been terrific. I didn't have glasses until I was about 11, though, because my eyesight was SO bad the pediatrician who did my yearly exam, which included a desultory, "Read the chart over on that wall...", assumed I was just being a smartass when I asked, "What chart?" Sad but true.
These days I wear progressive lenses, and I go to a retina specialist twice a year to check the status of the semi-detached retina in my left eye and the cataract forming smack dab in the middle of my right eye. I try to keep eye strain to a minimum, which means avoiding websites with black background and white/colored text. This combo is unbelievably hard on the eyes. I might notice it more than most people do, but the eyestrain factor is there for anyone. Even the folks who are 20 years old and have 20/20 vision.
In addition to being hard on the eyes, it is also, arguably, a design problem. Vincent Flanders, web design consultant and author of the book Web Pages That Suck and the website by the same name, lists among his Deadly Sins websites that use a background other than white or off-white, or a text color other than black.
Tastes differ, opinions vary, and other songs from the same album. And really, I get why people want to use dramatic color combos on websites for horror/dark fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance. If you're writing stories about tortured but hot-hot-HAWT shirtless vampire studmuffins, you're not going to advertise your books against a pastel yellow background. If you're writing fantasy that has as many references to pus and vomit as blood and ichor, baby blue is probably out of the question. But what I do NOT get is the use of white type on black background in print. For one thing, that's a lot of ink. And people like me--or people who value their eyesight and don't want to BE like me--tend to avoid anything thus printed.
Blog posts, like novels, tend to flow from Inciting Events. This one has roots in the last issue of Realms of Fantasy, a really terrific glossy mag with interesting art and good stories. I had to leave at least one of these stories unread due to white-text-on-black. And trust me, you do NOT want to get between me and a much-needed short story fix.
Seriously, now. Stop it, people. Just stop. If you want your stuff to be read, make it readable, and save the color-coded sturm und drang drama for the graphics.
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11:32 am
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Sword & Sorceress
I have been reading the Sword & Sorceress anthologies since they were in single digits, so I read with interest the announcement from Norilana Books about Sword & Sorceress #23. For those who might be interested in submitting a story, the reading period is April 19-May 16.
Before May 16, I have to write a chapter-by-chapter outline for a book that's (soon to be) under contract, but I hope to squeeze in time to write a S&S story. I really need to write more short fiction.
In general, 2008 is shaping up to be a fairly good year for short stories--four scheduled for publication so far: two new, two reprints. There was "Redemption" in the Forgotten Realms anthology Realms of War, a revised version of "Trophy Wife" will be in the upcoming anthology Lilith Unbound, a reprint of "The Lorelei" in Worlds of Their Own (Planet Books, ed. Jim Lowder), and "Burning Bright" in Catopolis, one of the Martin Greenburg anthologies from Daw (ed. Janet Deever-Pack). There's also a Forgotten Realms short story being scripted into a graphic novel, and a 33,000-word novella "Beyond Dreams" will be included in the paranormal romance anthology Beyond Magic (Tor, ed. Anna Genoese.) Granted, that's not what you might call prolific--Jay Lake will probably write more than that between now and Friday--but it's moving in the right direction.
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12:19 pm
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I can has COPYRIGHT?!! Srsly?
Yesterday I receive two ARCs of Beyond Magic, a Paranormal Romance anthology coming out this September. There are three novellas in it--one by Tor regular Susan Kearney, mine, and Kassandra Sims's. This is the first paranormal I've done, and I'm always happy about an opportunity to try something new (thanks, Anna!), but what REALLY tickled me was the copyright page.
Since I had to share the news, I opened the book to the copyright page and showed it to my son.
"Check this out! Look at the copyright!"
He stooped (he's 6'5") and squinted at the page. "Hair Express, Inc?"
"No! That's Susan Kearney. Some authors incorporate. Keep reading."
"Oh. Elaine Cunningham."
He looked up and grinned, understanding immediately. The copyright did not say Wizards of the Coast, or LucasFilm Licensing, or Sony Corporation (for the EverQuest book). Just an author's name--a statement that these characters are legally MINE. Not mine and the Literary Agency East, Ltd, joint copyright on the Changeling books. Just mine. After 17 years of writing shared-world fiction, that's a novel experience, you should pardon the expression. In fact, the emotion that copyright page evoked ranks only a few notches lower than The Call I got from Mary Kirchoff, then managing editor of TSR Books, accepting the proposal for what would become Elfshadow, my first book.
Life is good.
I can also has new toy. The Cunningham men bought me a new scanner for Christmas, but I didn't take it out of the box until this morning. (So sue me. I've been busy.) It's terrific--very fast, good quality reproduction. So I scanned in the cover of the ARC. Here it is:
 This is definitely a paranormal romance cover, but hey--that's what's inside. My story is pretty evenly balanced between mystery/plot and relationship. It's difficult to separate the two, but in general I think there's a stronger reliance on plot than on sex/chemistry--moreso than one might expect for this sub-genre. I hope paranoramal readers don't see this as a fault, but time will tell. I'm pretty happy with the story, and I'm looking forward to diving into a book-length story focusing on one of the secondary characters. I wrote a first draft about twelve years ago, but I never finished it because at the time, it just didn't seem to fit any publishing catagory. Nowadays it would be easily recognizable as urban fantasy. It's really more of a dark fantasy thriller--think early Dean Koontz, even--than a paranormal romance, but in these days of cross-genre fiction, I think it's close enough to work as a linked novel.
We'll see.
Tags: paranormal romance
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07:38 am
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Never heard of her . . .
Okay, imagine you're in Borders Books and Music in, say, Providence. It's Sunday afternoon. You're dog-sick but you had to OMG get out of the house. So you throw on a comfortable black tunic sweater that's a couple of sizes too big and black yoga pants. Makeup is out of the question because what with the seasonal allergies and the way your eyes are itching and watering, you'd end up looking like a large, emo raccoon within the hour. Your hair knew that under the circumstances, throwing a Bad Hair Day tantrum would be like spitting into the ocean, so it didn't even try hard to enough to qualify for BHD status. In short, you look and feel like hammered rat crap. But you came anyway, counting on the vast possibilities of a good book store to restore your equilibrium.
After a long, soul-satisfying browse, you take your purchases to the checkout. Maybe you're holding a thick tome of arcane computer programming lore, the latest issue of Realms of Fantasy magazine and a book review mag, and the just-released Scott Sigler novel (Infected) that John Scalzi recently touted on his blog. The gentleman ringing up the order looks at your credit card and muses, "Elaine Cunningham. There's an author by that name."
Ouch.
Under these circumstances, do you:
a) Respond with a polite, non-committal smile,
b) Observe that it's probably a very common name,
c) Reluctantly say, "Yeah, that would be me. Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms."
d) Slyly say, "I've read some of her books. You really should stock more of them."
e) Keep a dead-pan expression and say, "I've read some of her books, and frankly, I'm considering changing my name."
f) Extend your hand, smile charmingly, and say, "I'm pleased to meet you."
Due to my low charisma score, option (f) was off the table. Since I failed to take levels in Machiavellian Maneuvering, (d) didn't occur to me at the time. Despite an excessive fondness for dark humor, I'm not professionally suicidal enough to give in to option (e) impulses. I'm striving to be more forthright and upright and honest and trustworthy than an entire platoon of Eagle Scouts (I'm attempting a personal alignment shift from chaotic neutral to chaotic good, possibly even lawful good), so evasions such as (a) and (b) are out. (Though I must admit I was tempted. See above reference to "hammered rat crap." ) That left with me option (c), somewhat mitigated with a smile (sort of) that made my sinuses howl in protest.
Seriously, there are much worse things for a writer than name recognition in a book store. But I've been so reclusive for so long that this sort of thing is painful, even on a good day. Which Sunday most emphatically was not. But I was reminded of something I've long known but have not been acting upon: There is more to being a successful author than writing books. Promotion is one of those things.
Granted, you have to have something worthwhile to promote. That's a given. This post is not about the writing process and the end product. Put all that aside for the moment.
My point, and I do have one, is that I need to change more than my alignment. Because the gentleman doing checkout? I should have known this guy. By name. A bookseller in my area who has read my books, who remembers my name out of the thousands of names on thousands of book spines? These are people I should be actively seeking out. Before a new book comes out, I should be at the local bookstores with a press kit and an advanced reader copy/author copy, asking the manager to pass this along to booksellers who have a particular interest in fantasy. Included in the kit should be contact info, and an offer to do a book signing or just a drop-in to sign books and chat.
My next release is a teeny little micro-press project; Lilith Unbound, an anthology of short stories inspired by Lilith myths. But you can be sure every bookstore in southern New England will get info, including an offer of a reading copy. This book is being published as a trade paperback POD and as an e-book, so it's unlikely that many bookstores will choose to order copies. (Getting POD books in a bricks-and-mortar store is extremely difficult, since such books are seldom returnable.) But some stores might order a couple of copies for the Local Author shelf, and more importantly, I'll be making contact with booksellers who like fantasy. The folks who sell fantasy books, who place orders and arrange shelves and make recommendations and hand-sell books they like and authors they know. I need to put serious thought into creative and innovation ways to publicize books, but making contact with these booksellers is an important first step.
Tags: book promotions, lilith unbound
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09:18 am
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THE BORN QUEEN, by Greg Keyes
I haven't yet read this book, the fourth and final in Greg Keyes' fantasy series The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. In fact, I haven't read the second and third books, but I fully intend to. The first book, The Briar King, was impressive, and my sons agree that the series gets even better as it goes along. Maybe I shouldn't be reviewing a book second hand, but I wanted to pass along Sean's observations. He loved The Born Queen, and his comments about the book struck me as something writers might want to ponder.
He observed that with some of the series he's liked--for example, Orson Scott Card's Ender and Bean books--his reaction upon finishing a book was anticipation for the next installment. With this book, however, he was content to let the story end, because it was perfect.
Wow. Imagine a story so satisfying that readers who are deeply invested in the tale and the characters--fantasy readers, no less, who have come to expect an endless string of sequels--are that deeply moved by the rightness of the tale and the skill of the storytelling. That's a goal worth striving for.
Tags: book reviews
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09:34 pm
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Vocabulary: it's not just for writing
When my kids were small, we spent two years in California, and one of the best things about those years was Mission Renaissance, a small art school my kids attended. This was not one of those fluffy, flighty, express-yourself arts and crafts programs. They taught the basics of drawing. There was structure, a defined program. Kids started with "step drawings" of increasing complexity, then they studied and copied famous art. They learned about color theory, perspective, the play of light and shadow.
This approach made perfect sense to me. After all, no one hands a violin to a kid and tells him, "Go ahead and play, sweetie. The important thing is for you to feel good about yourself. Any sound you make will be creative and wonderful." Nuh-uh. Kids learn proper hand position, bowing technique, fingering, intonation. They learn to read music. They listen to music played well. They imitate. They acquire technique in a sequential, disciplined fashion. This system works for music, so why not art?
It certainly made an impression on my two kids. When my younger son was not quite five, I noticed him sitting in the back seat of the car, holding his forearm up and studying it intently. "See how the sun shines on the top, and how my arm gets darker in the middle? When you paint it like that, it makes your arm look round," he explained. The teachers at Mission Renaissance weren't just teaching him to draw; they were teaching him to see.
This is something I have not learned to do; at least, not as pertains to graphic novels. I didn't get the first draft of the short story adaptation finished yesterday, as planned. It's still not finished, but I'm determined to send it off tomorrow morning, which means it could be a very long night. Translating a short story into art suggestions and terse dialog, breaking it down into panels--this is taking a lot longer than I expected, mostly because I'm not in the habit of seeing stories in those terms. I just haven't read enough graphic novels to form a sufficiently extensive visual vocabulary. Without it, I'm having to think things through slowly and laboriously, like a writer trying to tell a story in a language she doesn't speak fluently, creeping along with the help of a dictionary and thesaurus. I am profoundly grateful for an experienced co-writer and a very knowledgeable editor, and with these gentlemen's involvement I'm confident the end product will be a good transcription of the story. But the process, however slow, is an interesting learning experience, as well as a reminder of how much the various forms of creative expressions have in common. Art, music, writing--the sequence is the same: first vocabulary--words or sounds or images or ideas, as well as meaning and subtext and context--and then technique, and then--maybe--creativity.
Tags: graphic novels
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09:41 am
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Jedi or Sith? You decide....
Metaphors be with you.
Tags: squirrels
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09:21 am
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Attacking April
There are all kinds of good weekends. Some weekends might include day trips or quick getaways, family events, concerts, or lazy summer days spent poolside, barbecuing former animals and sipping Smithwicks. Mine was nothing like that at all, but it was a good weekend nonetheless.
I got a bunch of springtime yard work done, hammered out a cover design proposal for the upcoming graphic novel with my co-writer and editor, did a bunch of work on the script (which I'll finish and send today), compiled my 2007 writing-related expenses on an Excel spreadsheet in preparation for doing the tax return Schedule C, did some work on another spreadsheet that compiles sales info from all my royalty statements (I input data back to 2002--only ten more years to go!), and read two novels--the second and third Dexter novels by Jeff Lindsay. (Very creepy and quirky, and almost as good as the Showtime TV series based on the first book.) I also locked down a detailed writing schedule for April and compiled my work/personal/home TO DO list for the coming week. In short, I'm feeling focused, organized, and productive, ready to tackle the new month and gleefully beat it into abject, bloody submission.
Today's plan: finish the first draft of the script for the Worlds of DnD graphic novel, write a short-short that's due today, meet with my co-writer to work on the thriller we're writing on spec.
That is all.
Tags: book reviews, writing: time management, writing: writing schedule
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04:54 pm
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Best squirrel-attack story EVER.
I read this a while back. It has been online for a few years now, but it seems a worthwhile addition to my LiveJournal squirrel sub-theme.
Tags: squirrels
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04:40 pm
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Great news! Totally irrelevant, but still really great!
I've had my eye on the Rosetta Stone language software for quite a while now. We got an introductory CD for German with my son's laptop, and I went through it and was impressed with the method. Every time I go to the shopping mall in Providence--which, admittedly, is not very often--I stop by the Rosetta Stone kiosk and ask if there are any plans for an Irish language version. The gal who works there keeps a list of requests, and I'm responsible for at least four or five of the ticks placed alongside Irish Gaelic. So when I received an email update about the release of the Irish version, I was exceedingly tickled. Not that I have the time to devote to learning Irish right now, or for that matter, the disposable income needed to drop $500 on the software. But it's nice knowing the option exists.
Tags: language study
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