Twisted Hilarity's Blog, page 3
July 29, 2010
Update on Nature's Choice
It's a long chapter, a messy chapter, and a little unpolished, but it's up.
Nature's Choice, Chapter 10.
Someday, I will actually have something fully polished on the web, and the world will end.
Nature's Choice, Chapter 10.
Someday, I will actually have something fully polished on the web, and the world will end.
June 27, 2010
Writing Tip: Cake and Editing
For me, writing and baking a cake are a lot alike. I have to do things a certain way, in a certain order, to get my story or my cake to turn out the way I want. It took me far too long to figure out how much doing things in a certain order affected my writing. The cake? That was easy. And probably a bit tastier, too.
One of the many little details about writing that I've finally clued in to is how I need to edit. The order in which my story gets edited affects how it turns out. Hugely. I don't know if this is something that other people tend to have issue with, but if you are having some trouble editing, looking for something that might help you approach the process a different way, perhaps my methodology might spur an idea. So, I share.
I edit in the order of what I think matters in my story.
For me?
1. Character first
2. Plot
3. Setting
4. Pacing and mood/tone
5. Go back over #1-#4 again
6. Polishing the prose
7. And finally, grammar and spelling.
It's a pretty simple matter why this does it for me: this is how my mind works.
1. Character
I come up with characters first, I enjoy them, and if they don't feel real to me, the rest of the story doesn't go anywhere. So when I go to edit a chapter, I need to look over every aspect of the character. Is this how they'd really feel? Is this how they'd really act? Is this consistent with their history, their personality, their previous actions in the book? Is this the diction they'd use in their dialogue? Every aspect of them gets a once over, and typically gets changed if it's really off (and if I'm not brain dead at the time. Never a guarantee). If I work on it and can't get it to 'feel' right, then it's off to the next detail with a note to come back later, and sometimes a note to a friend who might be willing to read it and help me figure out what's wrong.
2. Plot
I'll admit it, this is a shorter edit moment for me, as I don't tend to plot much ahead of time until I'm partway through the story, or not at all until the end when I go back and look it all over. But there still needs to be moments of wondering if I have to make sure something is mentioned here so that it seems natural when it comes up later in the story. Is it heading the right way, or somewhere I don't know and have to find out later. For those who plot ahead of time, I'm sure the editing process is longer here, looking it all over to make sure details and plot are mentioned and dealt with in each chapter where they need to be.
3. Setting
This is, for me, putting in the details. I like action and inner thoughts, so I don't tend to put in as many details in the first draft, and here I need to go through and make sure people can see what's in my head. What's the room like, the people, the fight, the chair. This is the one that I have to struggle with the most, and the one I tend to feel like gets neglected more when I'm in a rush. For those who are more detail oriented, I think this step is more refining than adding the details in, making sure these details work for the tone and the mood and the perspective.
4. Pacing/mood/tone
Now that the details are added in, I've got to make sure I didn't just bog things down. I go back a few chapters of the story and start reading, so I can get into the rhythm before I hit the chapter I'm actually editing. That way, I have a better sense of how fast or slow it's going, and how fast or slow it needs to be. Is the mood/tone developing the way I think it is? Is it consistent with the previous chapter? The details, the action, everything here contributes, and it can be a real challenge to figure out what needs to be changed to pick things up or draw them out longer.
5. Going back for Round Two
Without this, it doesn't work. I've changed so much now that I need to go back and make sure the characters are still in character, that the plot is still going the right way, that there are enough details, and the pacing is working again after changing anything else that needed changing.
6. Polishing
Polishing is the icing on the cake. I get rid of clunky sentences, odd word choices, phrases that are a bit ambiguous or downright strange. I think a big mistake beginning writers can make is to try to do this too early (Been there, done that. Still do it occasionally. Neglect this shamefully if I'm in a hurry.).
Polishing up the writing before the very last is, in my opinion, like frosting the cake before it's baked. Yes, we've got the cake's recipe sorted out. The batter's been mixed and poured into the pan. But we all know there's still more to do. If we put all the swirls and piping and frosting bits on before it's done, we end up not wanting to bake the darn thing properly for fear of ruining the great job we did with the icing.
I'm sure you've all had those moments. Where you had such a great line or scene that even though it didn't actually fit into the story, you loved it too much to get rid of it. Not a good thing for our stories. We've got to be able to chop them to bits before we shine them up pretty. Although as something to help preserve my love of 'scenes that don't belong,' I personally make a file of them. I may have another story someday with a strong hero and needy villain where that scene would work perfectly. Or so I tell myself. It helps ease the pain. ;-)
7. Grammar and Spelling.
The main reason I never do grammar and spelling before the end is similar to why I don't think we should polish early. All the work makes us more reluctant to do what we need to during the rest of our edits. It's much easier to cut out three paragraphs when we haven't spent ten minutes getting the grammar and spelling just right. It's easier to chop up the story when it's not picture-perfect before time.
And let's face it, grammar is something that requires the least of you, and affects the story the least, and is something anyone can help you with. A story with bad characters or bad plotting is not one you're going to read, no matter how perfect the grammar is. And you are the only one who can figure out how to change those flaws. Grammar is something that has precise rules, and you can ask a wonderful beta to help you with it, which they can do even if you were in a coma for a month and had little to say about it, yes? It's the least amount of work during editing.
And that, my friends, is how Twisted edits...when things are going well and time is limitless. In reality, some of these steps get a little truncated and it shows.
But for anyone who is having a hard time diving into their editing this week, I really do think it can help to start the edits on what really speaks to you. If the historical period is what really gets you going, then start with the setting and description. If the plot stands out to you above the characters, start with that.
I will not mention grammar, because we all know that the grammar is not what attracted you to the story. Hopefully.
But if we do the editing right, I think we can have a tale that we are not ashamed to offer up and, well...let the readers eat cake. As long as it's the cake we just spent hours and hours slaving over and prettifying and filling with sex cream.
Which came out much, much dirtier than I meant it too.
Go me.
One of the many little details about writing that I've finally clued in to is how I need to edit. The order in which my story gets edited affects how it turns out. Hugely. I don't know if this is something that other people tend to have issue with, but if you are having some trouble editing, looking for something that might help you approach the process a different way, perhaps my methodology might spur an idea. So, I share.
I edit in the order of what I think matters in my story.
For me?
1. Character first
2. Plot
3. Setting
4. Pacing and mood/tone
5. Go back over #1-#4 again
6. Polishing the prose
7. And finally, grammar and spelling.
It's a pretty simple matter why this does it for me: this is how my mind works.
1. Character
I come up with characters first, I enjoy them, and if they don't feel real to me, the rest of the story doesn't go anywhere. So when I go to edit a chapter, I need to look over every aspect of the character. Is this how they'd really feel? Is this how they'd really act? Is this consistent with their history, their personality, their previous actions in the book? Is this the diction they'd use in their dialogue? Every aspect of them gets a once over, and typically gets changed if it's really off (and if I'm not brain dead at the time. Never a guarantee). If I work on it and can't get it to 'feel' right, then it's off to the next detail with a note to come back later, and sometimes a note to a friend who might be willing to read it and help me figure out what's wrong.
2. Plot
I'll admit it, this is a shorter edit moment for me, as I don't tend to plot much ahead of time until I'm partway through the story, or not at all until the end when I go back and look it all over. But there still needs to be moments of wondering if I have to make sure something is mentioned here so that it seems natural when it comes up later in the story. Is it heading the right way, or somewhere I don't know and have to find out later. For those who plot ahead of time, I'm sure the editing process is longer here, looking it all over to make sure details and plot are mentioned and dealt with in each chapter where they need to be.
3. Setting
This is, for me, putting in the details. I like action and inner thoughts, so I don't tend to put in as many details in the first draft, and here I need to go through and make sure people can see what's in my head. What's the room like, the people, the fight, the chair. This is the one that I have to struggle with the most, and the one I tend to feel like gets neglected more when I'm in a rush. For those who are more detail oriented, I think this step is more refining than adding the details in, making sure these details work for the tone and the mood and the perspective.
4. Pacing/mood/tone
Now that the details are added in, I've got to make sure I didn't just bog things down. I go back a few chapters of the story and start reading, so I can get into the rhythm before I hit the chapter I'm actually editing. That way, I have a better sense of how fast or slow it's going, and how fast or slow it needs to be. Is the mood/tone developing the way I think it is? Is it consistent with the previous chapter? The details, the action, everything here contributes, and it can be a real challenge to figure out what needs to be changed to pick things up or draw them out longer.
5. Going back for Round Two
Without this, it doesn't work. I've changed so much now that I need to go back and make sure the characters are still in character, that the plot is still going the right way, that there are enough details, and the pacing is working again after changing anything else that needed changing.
6. Polishing
Polishing is the icing on the cake. I get rid of clunky sentences, odd word choices, phrases that are a bit ambiguous or downright strange. I think a big mistake beginning writers can make is to try to do this too early (Been there, done that. Still do it occasionally. Neglect this shamefully if I'm in a hurry.).
Polishing up the writing before the very last is, in my opinion, like frosting the cake before it's baked. Yes, we've got the cake's recipe sorted out. The batter's been mixed and poured into the pan. But we all know there's still more to do. If we put all the swirls and piping and frosting bits on before it's done, we end up not wanting to bake the darn thing properly for fear of ruining the great job we did with the icing.
I'm sure you've all had those moments. Where you had such a great line or scene that even though it didn't actually fit into the story, you loved it too much to get rid of it. Not a good thing for our stories. We've got to be able to chop them to bits before we shine them up pretty. Although as something to help preserve my love of 'scenes that don't belong,' I personally make a file of them. I may have another story someday with a strong hero and needy villain where that scene would work perfectly. Or so I tell myself. It helps ease the pain. ;-)
7. Grammar and Spelling.
The main reason I never do grammar and spelling before the end is similar to why I don't think we should polish early. All the work makes us more reluctant to do what we need to during the rest of our edits. It's much easier to cut out three paragraphs when we haven't spent ten minutes getting the grammar and spelling just right. It's easier to chop up the story when it's not picture-perfect before time.
And let's face it, grammar is something that requires the least of you, and affects the story the least, and is something anyone can help you with. A story with bad characters or bad plotting is not one you're going to read, no matter how perfect the grammar is. And you are the only one who can figure out how to change those flaws. Grammar is something that has precise rules, and you can ask a wonderful beta to help you with it, which they can do even if you were in a coma for a month and had little to say about it, yes? It's the least amount of work during editing.
And that, my friends, is how Twisted edits...when things are going well and time is limitless. In reality, some of these steps get a little truncated and it shows.
But for anyone who is having a hard time diving into their editing this week, I really do think it can help to start the edits on what really speaks to you. If the historical period is what really gets you going, then start with the setting and description. If the plot stands out to you above the characters, start with that.
I will not mention grammar, because we all know that the grammar is not what attracted you to the story. Hopefully.
But if we do the editing right, I think we can have a tale that we are not ashamed to offer up and, well...let the readers eat cake. As long as it's the cake we just spent hours and hours slaving over and prettifying and filling with sex cream.
Which came out much, much dirtier than I meant it too.
Go me.
June 26, 2010
Of Health and Tomatoes
For those who may have been wondering where I've been, there's a brief update on my more personal blog, here: Twisted's Livejournal . Just a bit more crud in the health department that is clearing up, now that we've found yet another thing I need to keep out of my mouth to stay healthy. I will be known as The Incredible Reacting Gay-Romance Writer. I need a theme song or something.
However, my health is not what today's blog is about. Health fades to an insignificant dot, since I have discovered My Tomato.
I have been attempting to grow tomatoes for the first time ever this year. The plant limps along, just barely kept alive by a rather lackadaisical watering approach and the fact that I have let it roam free in my yard to forage for itself. But yesterday, it was discovered that the first fruit had begun to ripen. A pretty yellow color already, just ripe enough for a good fried green tomato recipe, so we picked it.
Then I really looked at it, and I suddenly realized that I am NOT obsessed with food as I had been thinking these last few weeks. Food is obsessed with me...
...or at least with my writing.
Don't laugh. The only way to explain how this tomato turned out is a food's secret gay porn obsession. Really. The fact that this is the very first tomato from a plant that Twisted Hilarity has actually planted is so apropos that I think the world actually paused a moment as I saw it, to highlight the perfection of it all.
This, my friends, is my Twisted Tomato.
I am making THEME pictures out of this beautiful phallic thing, I swear to god. Actually, I took so many pictures of it, I could now fill a gallery. I'm obsessed. My breathing is impaired. And I am so tempted to get some GI Joe doll and make him do terrible things with this tomato, it's not even funny.
If this does not spawn something utterly cracked and wrong in my writing, than nothing will. ^_^
However, my health is not what today's blog is about. Health fades to an insignificant dot, since I have discovered My Tomato.
I have been attempting to grow tomatoes for the first time ever this year. The plant limps along, just barely kept alive by a rather lackadaisical watering approach and the fact that I have let it roam free in my yard to forage for itself. But yesterday, it was discovered that the first fruit had begun to ripen. A pretty yellow color already, just ripe enough for a good fried green tomato recipe, so we picked it.
Then I really looked at it, and I suddenly realized that I am NOT obsessed with food as I had been thinking these last few weeks. Food is obsessed with me...
...or at least with my writing.
Don't laugh. The only way to explain how this tomato turned out is a food's secret gay porn obsession. Really. The fact that this is the very first tomato from a plant that Twisted Hilarity has actually planted is so apropos that I think the world actually paused a moment as I saw it, to highlight the perfection of it all.
This, my friends, is my Twisted Tomato.
I am making THEME pictures out of this beautiful phallic thing, I swear to god. Actually, I took so many pictures of it, I could now fill a gallery. I'm obsessed. My breathing is impaired. And I am so tempted to get some GI Joe doll and make him do terrible things with this tomato, it's not even funny.
If this does not spawn something utterly cracked and wrong in my writing, than nothing will. ^_^
May 31, 2010
Updates on TLPH
For those who don't read my other blogs, the good news is that I got a BRAND NEW LAPTOP, for FREE. Awesome-sauce with a side order of neato fries. Yes, my computer was actually such a lemon that the company replaced it, for free, with their closest model. Which happens to be BETTER than the model I had.
Like I said, awesome-sauce. This has, obviously, made me a little happier about the apple company, although I'd rather not have got the lemon in the first place.
The bad news was that, as usual, my inherent inability to comprehend computers has made adjusting to the new computer a bit of a chore. You'd think something that is nearly identical would not be a problem, but nearly and I have a rather adversarial relationship, I'm finding out.
However, I am now getting the hang of it, and to make up for the lag time since the last chapter, I'm doing a Memorial Day Special: 2 chapters for the price of one.
So, here's the updates!
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 28
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 29
Enjoy your extended weekend, fellow Americans. And everyone else, I'm really, really sorry for your Monday Blues. Reeeeally sorry.
Like I said, awesome-sauce. This has, obviously, made me a little happier about the apple company, although I'd rather not have got the lemon in the first place.
The bad news was that, as usual, my inherent inability to comprehend computers has made adjusting to the new computer a bit of a chore. You'd think something that is nearly identical would not be a problem, but nearly and I have a rather adversarial relationship, I'm finding out.
However, I am now getting the hang of it, and to make up for the lag time since the last chapter, I'm doing a Memorial Day Special: 2 chapters for the price of one.
So, here's the updates!
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 28
The Last Pure Human, Chapter 29
Enjoy your extended weekend, fellow Americans. And everyone else, I'm really, really sorry for your Monday Blues. Reeeeally sorry.
May 15, 2010
Update on TLPH
Well, update on the new chapter of TLPH: http://www.twistedhilarity.com/fiction/long/tlph/ch27.html
It's not polished, as I'm rushing to get it out before computer gets stuck in the shop again - I think the annoying thing has the hots for one of the repair guys or something, with how often it breaks!
I'll be back in circulation as soon as I get it back, or sooner, if I can snake the family computer for my own use every once in a while.
It's not polished, as I'm rushing to get it out before computer gets stuck in the shop again - I think the annoying thing has the hots for one of the repair guys or something, with how often it breaks!
I'll be back in circulation as soon as I get it back, or sooner, if I can snake the family computer for my own use every once in a while.
May 10, 2010
Update time
And updating to Nature's Choice today. Ch 9 is up now, phew. That took a little longer, and ended up a little shorter, than desired, but I enjoyed it anyway. :-)
April 30, 2010
Updates
So, it's about time I posted updates at this blog too, eh?
Ice Wind's Bride, Chapter 8, is now up on the website:
http://www.twistedhilarity.com/fiction/long/iwb/ch8.html
I'm having a bit of a computer hiccup, so italics are mysteriously absent in this chapter. They'll return soon, hopefully with an apology and a good explanation. And perhaps they'll bring along a couple friends, like good grammar, while they're at it.
Have a great weekend, ya'll!
Ice Wind's Bride, Chapter 8, is now up on the website:
http://www.twistedhilarity.com/fiction/long/iwb/ch8.html
I'm having a bit of a computer hiccup, so italics are mysteriously absent in this chapter. They'll return soon, hopefully with an apology and a good explanation. And perhaps they'll bring along a couple friends, like good grammar, while they're at it.
Have a great weekend, ya'll!
April 23, 2010
Writing Tip: What to do when you don't feel like writing
It's a problem we all run into, yes? We know we should be writing, but we're tired, unmotivated, or frustrated. Or maybe we just don't wanna. So what's a writer to do in this situation?
Answer really depends, doesn't it? If the writing is a hobby, I think there are more choices. We can give ourselves a rest, putter around a bit, figure out whether we really wanted to write this story in the first place. Or try to force ourselves to write anyway.
If the writing is a job? We get to sit down, shut up, and write, because it's our job. We don't not go out and earn money at the office because we don't feel like it this week, and writing is no different. Now, maybe we've learned how our brains work and every once in a while we NEED to take a day off. Hey, we all need our breaks during the week, right? But sometimes, we get to suck it up and write, too.
So, what are some good ways to get over that hump and get the writing out when you REALLY don't want to? Author Wil Kalif has a couple methods that I like:
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Motivate-Yourself-to-Write&id=464326
I've used the carrot approach he mentions before: rewarding myself with something if I do my writing. That works sometimes, but I'll admit, most of my 'carrots' involve things I have to buy. If I don't have money, I don't have much to make a carrot with. The other carrots I'd use, like 'time to myself,' only work if I can involve someone else in the endeavor as they watch my kids for me. Again, this isn't always an option. But still, it can be used effectively, especially if that motivates you.
I'd never thought of the 'stick' approach until I read this article, but I really think it is something that works better for me. Frankly, because I tend to make the 'stick' into chores that need to be done anyway and I've been putting off, so whether I end up writing or paying a penalty for not writing, I still end up better by the end of it.
His thoughts on internal dialogue seemed as though they could be a definite help for those of us who self-defeat when we don't want to write. As my own 'not writing' moments tend to come from exhaustion or laziness, it's not as much use for me.
However, here's a few more ideas that have worked for me to get the writing started when I really don't wish to.
1. The 10 minutes sprint
This stemmed from my NaNoWriMo group a couple years back. Set a timer and simply write as much as you darn well can for ten minutes. You can't stop, you can't pause, you just write like it's a competition for how many words you can get out. The best I've done was 927 words in 10 minutes. I thought my fingers were going to fall off, the sentences ran together, and I don't even know what I was trying to say in the middle, but it didn't matter. I'd written something. I scrapped most of it, and kept a little. But I continued to write for another hour, and that's what I'd been hoping to accomplish in the first place.
2. Write Part of Your Unseen Story
This has been helpful when I look at my own writing and feel that it's exceptionally craptastic that particular day. I don't want to stop writing, but every word feels like it's dragging me under in a pile of...well, crap. So what I've done is picked an event in one of the character's lives and write about that instead. This is not something I plan to put into the story, or to ever let anyone see. It's simply to bring a little fullness to that character, and their life, in my head. It often helps me relax because I know it doesn't matter how bad it is. And it tends to improve my understanding of the character, and often make me want to write more about the story, as a result.
3. Go on a Walk
Yeah, so it's a bit simple, but this is a walk with a purpose. Step out, walk in a place that works for you, whether that's your own living room, a busy street or a country lane, and think about your story as you walk. Let your mind drift, play around with plots in your head, just let your body move as your brain works on it. Walking, or any light exercise, seems to be very beneficial to revving up your thinking. Might as well use that for our stories, eh?
As a side note, if you have a problem you're trying to solve in your story, you might want to consider walking BACKWARD to think about it. This one is based on a study. No really. Check it out: http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-05-08/news/17199624_1_backward-focus-on-relevant-information-avoidance-actions
In the end, I suppose...I'd better stop writing this blog post rather than using it as an excuse not to sit down, shut up, and write my next chapter. ^_^ Good luck to the rest of your with your stories, as well!
Answer really depends, doesn't it? If the writing is a hobby, I think there are more choices. We can give ourselves a rest, putter around a bit, figure out whether we really wanted to write this story in the first place. Or try to force ourselves to write anyway.
If the writing is a job? We get to sit down, shut up, and write, because it's our job. We don't not go out and earn money at the office because we don't feel like it this week, and writing is no different. Now, maybe we've learned how our brains work and every once in a while we NEED to take a day off. Hey, we all need our breaks during the week, right? But sometimes, we get to suck it up and write, too.
So, what are some good ways to get over that hump and get the writing out when you REALLY don't want to? Author Wil Kalif has a couple methods that I like:
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Motivate-Yourself-to-Write&id=464326
I've used the carrot approach he mentions before: rewarding myself with something if I do my writing. That works sometimes, but I'll admit, most of my 'carrots' involve things I have to buy. If I don't have money, I don't have much to make a carrot with. The other carrots I'd use, like 'time to myself,' only work if I can involve someone else in the endeavor as they watch my kids for me. Again, this isn't always an option. But still, it can be used effectively, especially if that motivates you.
I'd never thought of the 'stick' approach until I read this article, but I really think it is something that works better for me. Frankly, because I tend to make the 'stick' into chores that need to be done anyway and I've been putting off, so whether I end up writing or paying a penalty for not writing, I still end up better by the end of it.
His thoughts on internal dialogue seemed as though they could be a definite help for those of us who self-defeat when we don't want to write. As my own 'not writing' moments tend to come from exhaustion or laziness, it's not as much use for me.
However, here's a few more ideas that have worked for me to get the writing started when I really don't wish to.
1. The 10 minutes sprint
This stemmed from my NaNoWriMo group a couple years back. Set a timer and simply write as much as you darn well can for ten minutes. You can't stop, you can't pause, you just write like it's a competition for how many words you can get out. The best I've done was 927 words in 10 minutes. I thought my fingers were going to fall off, the sentences ran together, and I don't even know what I was trying to say in the middle, but it didn't matter. I'd written something. I scrapped most of it, and kept a little. But I continued to write for another hour, and that's what I'd been hoping to accomplish in the first place.
2. Write Part of Your Unseen Story
This has been helpful when I look at my own writing and feel that it's exceptionally craptastic that particular day. I don't want to stop writing, but every word feels like it's dragging me under in a pile of...well, crap. So what I've done is picked an event in one of the character's lives and write about that instead. This is not something I plan to put into the story, or to ever let anyone see. It's simply to bring a little fullness to that character, and their life, in my head. It often helps me relax because I know it doesn't matter how bad it is. And it tends to improve my understanding of the character, and often make me want to write more about the story, as a result.
3. Go on a Walk
Yeah, so it's a bit simple, but this is a walk with a purpose. Step out, walk in a place that works for you, whether that's your own living room, a busy street or a country lane, and think about your story as you walk. Let your mind drift, play around with plots in your head, just let your body move as your brain works on it. Walking, or any light exercise, seems to be very beneficial to revving up your thinking. Might as well use that for our stories, eh?
As a side note, if you have a problem you're trying to solve in your story, you might want to consider walking BACKWARD to think about it. This one is based on a study. No really. Check it out: http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-05-08/news/17199624_1_backward-focus-on-relevant-information-avoidance-actions
In the end, I suppose...I'd better stop writing this blog post rather than using it as an excuse not to sit down, shut up, and write my next chapter. ^_^ Good luck to the rest of your with your stories, as well!
April 16, 2010
The concept of 'Genre'
I like to be able to find stories that I want to read, like everyone else who reads fiction, I imagine. If I'm in the mood for a fantasy, I want to be able to find it. Or a paranormal story, a romance, a mystery, or even a western...I'm kind of living the latter, so I'm not as interested in those, I'll admit. But as someone who very much enjoys these stories with a gay twist, I've been running into an issue lately with e-publishers.
They don't classify things the way my mind does.
For e-publishers who specialize in stories with gay main characters, it's easy. Every story has characters with the sexual orientation I'm interested in, so I just need to look in the correct genre, problem solved. I browse their fantasy section, and there you go, a story with gay elves, right up front.
And note, I avoided the 'fairy' pun because that would just be silly. I swear, I ever write a story with a gay fairy, that dude is gonna be 7 feet tall and able to kick everyone's ass, seriously. Because the Sidhe are scary bastards. Hey, my mom's Irish, we learn to fear the fairy, eh?
Ahem, where was I? Oh, yes...classification. Here's the problem...or perhaps, maybe I should say, here's my question to e-publishers:What does a character's sexual orientation have to do with the genre of a story, in terms of plot and conventions?
Answer: nothing what-so-freaking-ever
Which always makes it a surprise, to me, that 'gay and lesbian' or GLBT is listed alongside other genres, situated with others like Sci-fi, fantasy, erotica, and romance. Somehow, I hear that song 'one of these things is not like the other' running through my head.
The other genres tell me what kind of story I'm getting. Swashbuckling, robots, romantic situations, etc... The gay category tells me NOTHING about the plot. If we were going to classify stories in a category like 'GLBT,' we should be consistent. Which means we stop looking at a genre of fiction and start categorizing by character.
The list of titles would be put into categories like this: nerdy straight ex-con, pissed-off bi-sexual biker chick, sword fighting gay narcissist, and hot bi-curious electrician.
Because that's all the gay is, wouldn't you agree? It's talking about a characteristic of a 'character,' not saying anything at all about the story itself. Now don't get me wrong, I'm HAPPY that more publishers are realizing that people LIKE to read about good characters, regardless of their sexual orientation. And sometimes because of it. *uh...raises hand as guilty for that one*
I like the fact that enough books are published for there to BE a GLBT category now in a lot of publishing houses. What I would love to see, however, is for a few more publishers to, say, expand their categorization, just a little bit, to add to our convenience. We can go to the sci-fi genre, and underneath, we could find gay sexuality, het sexuality, violence, angst, erotica, or whatever might help.
I know this is a bit more work on the publishers side of things. But in the world of the web, anything that helps a person find what they want, faster, is going to be good for business, too. If I only have to spend 60 seconds finding a fantasy with gay main characters that has romance, I'm much more likely to buy it than if I wasted five minutes hunting through pages and pages of titles in the 'gay' section.
So please, e-publishers, remember that while we love the characters in the stories we read, it's awfully hard to search for stories by 'character' and nothing else. Please, help a reader out: put in some multiple categories to search by. We'd all appreciate it. Thanks.
They don't classify things the way my mind does.
For e-publishers who specialize in stories with gay main characters, it's easy. Every story has characters with the sexual orientation I'm interested in, so I just need to look in the correct genre, problem solved. I browse their fantasy section, and there you go, a story with gay elves, right up front.
And note, I avoided the 'fairy' pun because that would just be silly. I swear, I ever write a story with a gay fairy, that dude is gonna be 7 feet tall and able to kick everyone's ass, seriously. Because the Sidhe are scary bastards. Hey, my mom's Irish, we learn to fear the fairy, eh?
Ahem, where was I? Oh, yes...classification. Here's the problem...or perhaps, maybe I should say, here's my question to e-publishers:What does a character's sexual orientation have to do with the genre of a story, in terms of plot and conventions?
Answer: nothing what-so-freaking-ever
Which always makes it a surprise, to me, that 'gay and lesbian' or GLBT is listed alongside other genres, situated with others like Sci-fi, fantasy, erotica, and romance. Somehow, I hear that song 'one of these things is not like the other' running through my head.
The other genres tell me what kind of story I'm getting. Swashbuckling, robots, romantic situations, etc... The gay category tells me NOTHING about the plot. If we were going to classify stories in a category like 'GLBT,' we should be consistent. Which means we stop looking at a genre of fiction and start categorizing by character.
The list of titles would be put into categories like this: nerdy straight ex-con, pissed-off bi-sexual biker chick, sword fighting gay narcissist, and hot bi-curious electrician.
Because that's all the gay is, wouldn't you agree? It's talking about a characteristic of a 'character,' not saying anything at all about the story itself. Now don't get me wrong, I'm HAPPY that more publishers are realizing that people LIKE to read about good characters, regardless of their sexual orientation. And sometimes because of it. *uh...raises hand as guilty for that one*
I like the fact that enough books are published for there to BE a GLBT category now in a lot of publishing houses. What I would love to see, however, is for a few more publishers to, say, expand their categorization, just a little bit, to add to our convenience. We can go to the sci-fi genre, and underneath, we could find gay sexuality, het sexuality, violence, angst, erotica, or whatever might help.
I know this is a bit more work on the publishers side of things. But in the world of the web, anything that helps a person find what they want, faster, is going to be good for business, too. If I only have to spend 60 seconds finding a fantasy with gay main characters that has romance, I'm much more likely to buy it than if I wasted five minutes hunting through pages and pages of titles in the 'gay' section.
So please, e-publishers, remember that while we love the characters in the stories we read, it's awfully hard to search for stories by 'character' and nothing else. Please, help a reader out: put in some multiple categories to search by. We'd all appreciate it. Thanks.
April 5, 2010
It's a good day not to die
Today is a good day. Really. A great day. And why, you may ask?
I ate salmon. And it was awesome.
You may have noticed I've been having a bit of a food theme in my blogging lately. It's on my mind a lot. The last 8 months have found me losing about 55 pounds, along with all my foods but 7. It's due to some surprise food issues that cropped up suddenly and nastily. Eating a 'bad' food now can sometimes result in my throat trying swell itself shut, which really kind of puts a crimp in your whole day.
But I have food I can eat, and it's not terrible food, so I can hack it. It simply puts a bit of a different perspective on the role food plays in my life, is all.
However, I seriously cannot even express how strange it is to eat the same 7 foods every single day for months at a time, and then suddenly get to have a new food. Some of you are likely familiar with this phenomenon, from various diets or fasting or MRE's. I wasn't. And it's like...well... it's like...
Let me put it this way. If you ever see some skinny bitch sitting outside a restaurant who eats a bit of food and then moans 'oh my GAWD' over and over in near-orgasmic bliss? That would be me eating the salmon. Or anything else I actually get to try next.
Seriously, not exaggerating. I think my husband was on the verge of asking me and my salmon to get a room.
I almost did, too. >_<
Instead, I finished my salmon and sat down to write down the experience like any good little writer gal would. Because it's different, and new to me, and every little thing we experience is simply so useful for a writer, isn't it? And often in the most unexpected ways.
The whole vampire liquid diet thing, for example. Just the other day, it occurred to me that I could take a look at going vamp in a totally new way. What would it feel like to lose the ability to eat food? I feel like I have the answer to that down to a visceral level.
It's kind of a cool bit of knowledge to have access to, when you look at it that way. And I'm so curious what else there is to get out of this entire experience. I guess I'll find out.
Here's wishing you some interesting and not too painful experiences that can help you and your writing and life, too!
I ate salmon. And it was awesome.
You may have noticed I've been having a bit of a food theme in my blogging lately. It's on my mind a lot. The last 8 months have found me losing about 55 pounds, along with all my foods but 7. It's due to some surprise food issues that cropped up suddenly and nastily. Eating a 'bad' food now can sometimes result in my throat trying swell itself shut, which really kind of puts a crimp in your whole day.
But I have food I can eat, and it's not terrible food, so I can hack it. It simply puts a bit of a different perspective on the role food plays in my life, is all.
However, I seriously cannot even express how strange it is to eat the same 7 foods every single day for months at a time, and then suddenly get to have a new food. Some of you are likely familiar with this phenomenon, from various diets or fasting or MRE's. I wasn't. And it's like...well... it's like...
Let me put it this way. If you ever see some skinny bitch sitting outside a restaurant who eats a bit of food and then moans 'oh my GAWD' over and over in near-orgasmic bliss? That would be me eating the salmon. Or anything else I actually get to try next.
Seriously, not exaggerating. I think my husband was on the verge of asking me and my salmon to get a room.
I almost did, too. >_<
Instead, I finished my salmon and sat down to write down the experience like any good little writer gal would. Because it's different, and new to me, and every little thing we experience is simply so useful for a writer, isn't it? And often in the most unexpected ways.
The whole vampire liquid diet thing, for example. Just the other day, it occurred to me that I could take a look at going vamp in a totally new way. What would it feel like to lose the ability to eat food? I feel like I have the answer to that down to a visceral level.
It's kind of a cool bit of knowledge to have access to, when you look at it that way. And I'm so curious what else there is to get out of this entire experience. I guess I'll find out.
Here's wishing you some interesting and not too painful experiences that can help you and your writing and life, too!
