Tuesday Tunes: She Wants Revenge

My brother introduced me to She Want Revenge's music about four years ago. I like almost their entire library, especially when I'm writing a scene where the character is pissed and is going to make some serious changes—or do some serious ass-kicking. Must be the beat.

So that's the tune for today. Yesterday went as planned (mostly) and didn't have that typical Monday shit (mostly) just as I'd hoped. I ran through two chapters of edits (although, honestly, they might need a bit more polish) as well as two chapters of critique. Which isn't too bad, considering both of my chapters were long ones (over 5K words each) and that I had to work in a dog walk, a trip to the airport to pick up some friends, and a short visit with family as they passed through Calgary.

Oh, and dinner was on the table promptly at six. Let me just apologize to all the women's lib folk out there right now, for the fact that by the time Idiot #1 made it home from work I had the house clean, the yard clean, and dinner on the table. Sick.

So for Staycation Real Day #2, I've got big plans. I'm hoping to cruise through three or four chapters of edits (which would pretty much finish this round of revisions), finish another few chapters of critique, get a plan together for my halloween costume (yes, I know it's still August) and figure out which trophies and medals I need to order for the derby I host every Christmas. See, I'm kind of a plan-ahead type gal.

That's quite a bit to get done, so until next time,
S.

Tuesday Tunes: Them Crooked Vultures

I really should look back through my posts and see if I've already done this song... but I'm lazy, and I'm 90% sure I haven't.

Them Crooked Vultures only has one, self-titled album out there. But it's an awesome chunk of music. That being said, it's a little too laid back for my usual writing tunes. Great for editing to, though! Very relaxing when focusing on those troubling logic problems. And for whatever reason, I really love this album on repeat while I'm designing at the office.

Not now, chief. I'm in the fucking zone.

And I realize I haven't posted since last week's Tuesday Tunes, which isn't very good of me, considering that I recently resolved to post more often... oh well. I made it back to Calgary in time for the weather to turn shitty again, making me wonder if everyone lied about the nice weather they had during Stampede. Hm?

On my return I found my garden in total disarray, but still growing strong. Mostly. I definitely have a slug problem. Let me know if you have toads to sell or give away. The strawberry patch is thriving, and I've found more time for editing than I'd anticipated.

I've finished the simple and easy revisions: the little problems like repetition, grammar, word choice, etc. that my critique partner pointed out. These were mostly changes that I didn't have to spend much time thinking about, it was a simple matter of keeping what I had, smacking my forehead at obvious mistakes and changing it, or a short deliberation and then writing something new or cutting something entirely.

But along the way I've made notes on the bigger issues. These are going to take some serious think-time and list-making. Like introducing Deyl's split personality, which I had halfway decided to cut but my critique partner has convinced me to include. Which means the dual personality parts need to be beefed up, and that affects the entire story in a lot of different ways. I'm also taking another look at how quickly Deyl's knowledge and use of power develops, and thinking about slowing it down. Seems to make more sense if it takes her longer. I also need to clarify a few things throughout the entire work, like what Deyl's weaknesses are and how the fae use their powers. All of these things will affect larger parts of the story, so I want to be sure I have a road map for the changes before I make them.

Since my critique partner is in China until the end of the month, I'll move on to the list-making process while she's gone, and see what I can come up with. Onward!

S.

Tuesday Tunes: Clutch

I've had Clutch's album Blast Tyrant on repeat for a couple of weeks now. I love the southern rock sound with the heavy rock energy. Though their Wikipedia page says they've been around since 1992, I only first heard their music about a month ago.

This song is Ghost. It might not be my favourite off this album, but I find it great for writing to. Maybe it's the pace. Who knows. It just works.

I finished editing chapter twelve this morning, after a couple hours of critique work. I'm hoping to get chapter thirteen done and get into fourteen this evening...

Hope everyone out there is enjoying the same beautiful weather I am!
S.

Big Changes

Man, I'm tired.

No desk job for me today. It was Emergency Graphic Design Only - the rest of my day was spent in the production department, on my feet, trimming graphics and installing displays.

But I still managed to get through chapter nine of my editing process tonight, despite the exhaustion... and yes, I am clearly a wuss.

I was never really happy with the ending for chapter nine. I've re-written it at least twice already, but I still wasn't happy. My beta reader also ran into some confusion there, which just reinforced my opinion that it needed work. I had a wonderful 'Aha!' moment this evening, when I came up with a solution.

My MC, Deyl, suffers from a bit of a Dr. Jeckyll / Mr. Hyde thing, though she is fully aware of the existence of Mr. Hyde. I've struggled with incorporating this alternate personality since my very first rewrite, and I had pretty much decided to cut it altogether. However, there were still some vague references to it scattered throughout the novel, probably because I liked the idea and couldn't really let it go.

My beta reader liked it. Wanted to see more of this Mr. Hyde personality. Bolstering my resolve, I've made comments during this edit on how / when / where I can work Mr. Hyde back in, and make it better for doing so.

And one of these spots is the end of chapter nine. I've just made comments for now, but I am definitely excited to rewrite and see if and how this all comes together. With any luck I'll have chapter ten edited tomorrow, at which point I think I'll go back and put together a more cohesive rewrite plan-of-action, with some questions for my beta...

The Office

I love this time of year. Of course, it snowed Saturday. But everything had melted by Sunday morning, and I have the blisters to prove I actually got some yard work done before relaxing in the sun, Pina Colada in hand.

It was so gorgeous out this afternoon that I moved the office outside. Not only did I get in some critique work, but I finished chapter six and seven in the editing / revision of my own work. Maybe I'll finish chapter eight tomorrow?

And yes, my cat is wearing a sweater. He has a scratching problem, and this is the punishment / cure.

More Scrivener Love

Just a quick post for anyone out there who's been thinking about purchasing Scrivener. Do it. The program is super cheap, and amongst other things, it's great for editing.

Right now I've got two documents on the go: the copy of my manuscript I'm editing, and the marked-up copy from my beta reader. Scrivener lets me keep both documents in the same "binder" and bring them up in side-by-side view. I can adjust the width of each column, scroll up and down each independently, and show or hide my sticky notes comments (thoughts for me to deal with later) on the far right.

And of course, this is just one of the many awesome things Scrivener can do. Try it out.

New Hero: It's Official

Well, the nice thing about snow in April—as opposed to snow in January—is that it all melts the next day. And it has. Looks like spring in Calgary again today.

I finished reviewing the comments from my critique partner through chapter ten tonight, and discovered something: I have a new hero. She's pointed out so many useful little bits of things I hadn't noticed, hadn't really thought about, or wasn't sure about. It's so incredibly helpful!

I think tomorrow I'll go through the text and implement the little changes, the easy fixes, and add to the notes I've already made in regards to the big changes -- the ones that make me nervous. That'll also give me more time to consider those big changes, before I start hacking and slashing.

White Stuff

Ah, Calgary. We don't get even an inch of snow in January, but come April...

Maybe I'll be snowed in and can't get into work tomorrow? Ha... if only. That excuse used to work when I drove a Civic, but I don't think it'll fly when the boss knows I have the Silverado at my disposal. Oh well.

Made it through three and a half chapters worth of notes from my critique partner tonight, after a lovely Vietnamese dinner in the midst of the snowstorm. She's brought up a lot of good points: some things that have surprised me, some that made me face-palm at my own stupidity, and other things that I already felt uncertain about. I'm hopeful that I'll make it to the end of her notes tomorrow so I can create a kind of road map for revisions over the weekend.

A weekend at the house. I was going to go out camping with Husband, until we realized the spot we were heading to is supposed to get like three feet of snow between tonight and tomorrow. So maybe the next weekend...

Hey, how's it going?

Well, I'm back.

So far, 2012 hasn't gone much like I expected it to. A lot of things have come up—some good, some very bad—and I haven't gotten nearly as much writing done as I'd like. In the early part of the year I wrapped up my first draft of my YA novel, SPEECHLESS and moved back into editing mode for my contemporary fantasy, I HAD TO FALL.

That was the end of February. That was also when tragedy struck my family and everything else ceased to matter for a while—I needed time to grieve. Just when I thought I was starting to recover from the loss, a new problem cropped up and I set aside everything else to help some friends through a tough, emotional situation.

Hopefully, though these the experiences were difficult to endure, I'll have gained something from them that will help me become both a better person, and a more well-rounded writer.

So I've jumped back into the editing process of I HAD TO FALL, working with my critique partner to start revisions. I spent a good part of my evening just importing her comments into Scrivener. Once those ducks were all in a neat little row I dove into chapter one, reviewing her notes and starting a list of issues she'd brought up and how I might address them, along with some of my own ideas and issues that have cropped up in the back of my mind while this project has been on the backburner. All in all, it was another good day. One at a time.

Tomorrow (as long as this cold I seem to be catching doesn't lay me out...) I'll try to make it through the next few chapters of her notes.

Growth: Why I hope writing is like designing

Last post I talked about character development, and then I disappeared for a few days. Because I was busy busy developing characters ;)

Now I've got a full cast of well-rounded, multi-dimensional characters to work with, a solid 25K outline that covers everything right up to climax of the story, and I'm ready to start writing!

This is, of course, the best part of the project. And this time, I'm facing the challenge of a main character who interacts with—but doesn't speak to—any of the other characters until a third of the way through the story. Yes, challenge indeed.

Speaking of challenges, I'm also in the midst of learning how to critique others work. I'm beta'ing novels from two different writers and I've already found that it's a very different thing from critiquing my own work. Another interesting thing that's come up, is when one of the writers was worried I'd be offended by her comments. I assured her that I wouldn't be, but it led me into some further connections between my day job as a designer and my evenings and weekends as a writer.

I've mentioned here and elsewhere some of the similarities between the two. There is another aspect of writing that feels like design (and probably like many other jobs, but hey, this is my experience): Growth.

I went to college to study graphic design. My profs taught me the how-to and the rules of design, and then sent me off to give it a go. I laid out my ideas, thought they were amazing, only to have the Profs turn around and tear them apart. They showed me -- either gently or ruthlessly -- what I was doing wrong. Sometimes the feedback was bad enough to nearly put me in tears.

So I tried again.

For three years.

By the time I received my diploma I could hardly bear to look at the work I'd done in my first year--it was so hideous! I'd come a long way since then, and I never would have if I didn't have my professors and colleagues ripping my ideas and my work to pieces.
Then I went out into the Real World. I picked up a job in Calgary almost immediately after I finished school, designing trade show booths. That was four years ago. When I compare my early days there, to the work I do now, so much has changed. I've really learned to separate my ideas from myself—when someone hates my work, it's the idea they hate, not me. Thick skin, that was a big change. Also:

I'm faster. A job that would have taken 8 hours of design four years ago now takes me 2 or 3.

I'm better. I used to have to work through five or six different concepts with clients, making radical changes, before I got what they wanted. Now the design is usually signed off in two or three proofs, covering only minor revisions.

I'm smarter. Four years ago I struggled to see the problems in my own designs, what I could do or change to make the client happy. Now if a client comes back to me feeling unsure about how something works in the layout I can see immediately what I need to change to fix it.

What I'm saying with all this rambling is that I hope, when everything is said and done, that my writing evolves the same way my design has. I spend a lot of time writing, and I think what I write is good. Now I'm having beta readers tear it apart, and that can only be a good thing. I hope I learn a lot from seeing my work from their viewpoints. And I hope in a few years I'll be able to look back on my early writing and cringe.
I hope that, with time and effort, I'll be a faster, better, and smarter writer.

Has that happened for you? Or are you like me, looking ahead and just hoping?

Critique Partner...?

As I mentioned, summer in Calgary is winding down. My life is returning to normal and I'm writing once again. I've got three projects on my mind, and I'm having some trouble deciding which one I want to follow first. Rewrite book two of my Deyl Parker series? Write the high fantasy novel that's been hammering away at my brains? Or breakaway from my comfort zone and try writing my YA dystopian/sci-fi idea?

Whichever way I go, I realize I'm now at the point where I need a critique partner. Someone to kick the shit out of my first novel - an urban fantasy - and someone I can bounce new ideas off of. I'm open to critiquing a wide variety of genres in return: anything YA, dystopian, sci-fi, all fantasy genres, romance, chick lit, etc. etc.

So if you're out there searching for the same, send me a line: shayla.e.s (at) gmail (dot) com.