Ugh, did I write that?

Good ideas do go bad.

I remember the first 'review' I received regarding Camille from DREAM WALK was not so stunning. I wanted a vulnerable heroine who had been kicked around by life and still had to stand on her own two feet. That's what I thought I wrote. Apparently my first scenes were not up to par. A kind but blunt critique partner told me: "Your heroine is a wimp."

Ouch! But she was right. And luckily, it was early enough in the story that I didn't have to tweak too much to make her a more palatable character. I managed to turn my shy, scared heroine into a woman who could kick butt when needed. Oh, she was still shy. She still jumped at shadows and really did not want to talk to the dead. She wanted to run and hide. But she faced her problems -- and her demon and her hero -- head-on.

From this experience I learned that a story being good or bad is most often in the execution of the details. So from now on, we I discover a good idea seems to be falling flat, I ask myself: "Is it really bad or am I just writing it that way?" and "How can I tell?"

Simple. Ask someone I trust to read it and tell me what they think. Or put it aside for a bit, go back to it with fresh eyes. If I find myself groaning out loud, then I know it's time to either scrap it or begin again.

Ugh. Beginning again is really not fun. But that is part of what this art is about: doing it over until you get it right.

Meg Allison

www.megallisonauthor.com

If You Give A Kid A Camera...

Recently, as in yesterday, I had to perform that painful authorial duty that happens to so many of us -- I had to get new headshots. Accompanying me to meet the professional photographer at our chosen outdoor locations were my sister and her 20 month old daughter.

Now my sister is a careful mom who's doing a great job with her kiddo. One thing she does so she can be that careful mom is to make a certain allowance in a certain situation in order to preserve her own sanity. By that oh so descriptive sentence, I mean she has a childproofed old iPoon she lets the baby play with in the car. The iPoon's name is Carl.

Baby has found the camera function on the iPoon. So I thought I'd share some of baby's art on the way to and from my photography appointment. Keep in mind these are merely a small sampling of the images we found on the camera.

1. Shoes!

2. Something fleshy.

3. Baby hair.

4. No more shoes!

5. A gingham toy.

6. A leg.

7. Two legs and a foot.

8. Oooh, nice foot.

9. I need a drink from the sippy cup. Hold on, Carl.

 

 

10. I lost my purple shoes somewhere....new shoes!

11. Caspar the friendly Megablox ghost.

12. Mr. Moto Monkey

13. Baby :)

What does this have to do with writing paranormal and this month's topic of finding writing ideas or when good ideas go bad? Not much, actually. My sister's idea of letting the kid play with the old iPoon isn't bad SO far! And maybe one day Baby will take some pictures that lend themselves to a story...that reveal the perpetrator of a crime...or a shapeshifting alien....except Baby isn't saying much yet, and all we'd have to solve the mystery are 208 photos of almost exactly the same thing.

　

Jody Wallace

Author, Cat Person, Amigurumist

http://www.jodywallace.com * http://www.meankitty.com

When Old Ideas Turn Into New Books

For once, I'm able to contribute to this month's theme! The book I'm finalizing at the moment - Tales of the Were: Grif - started off as an idea way back in 2005 or so. I wrote a good portion of it - probably somewhere around 30,000 words or more - and then let it sit while I did other things.

Maybe I got "stuck". Maybe I just got busy with dragons or aliens or whatever. I can't really recall anymore. Suffice to say, the book sat. And sat. And SAT. Unloved. Unfinished. Unfortunate.

But always in the back of my mind, there were these characters and this situation. A werecougar Alpha who had just sustained terrible loss in his family, and his little sister, both seeking the solace of the mountains to try to heal. And a woman. A human who knew about shapeshifters, who had a debt of family honor to settle.

I wrote about them in other books. I used members of the werecougar family in other stories, all the while knowing there was this older brother out there and all this tragedy in the family's past. I knew these people. I wanted so badly to finish their story, but after so much time had passed, I really wasn't sure how to go about it.

Then, last Christmas, I started self-publishing some of my paranormal stories. The first was Tales of the Were: Rocky, a novella I had written for an anthology call years before. The story was ultimately turned down and my editor at the time wanted me to expand it into a novel. I never quite got around to it before that editor left and I had this great story sitting on my hard drive for years.

I finally polished it up and added to it. I turned it into the story I had really wanted to write originally, but was constrained by the terms of the anthology call to change. I gave Rocky new life and sent him out there, into the world, to see what people might think of my werebear creation.

The response was like nothing I ever expected.

I had figured on just self-publishing the story for my own enjoyment. And maybe for those few, die-hard fans who might like to know where Rocky - a character who had a bit of a cameo role in my book Lords of the Were - had come from and what had happened to him after we first meet him in Lords.

Rocky's book led to a new character. A mysterious shifter named Slade. I was enchanted by him and wanted to know more about him. I sat down and wrote his story in January and February, then published it in March of this year as Tales of the Were: Slade. He was an entirely new character who had come from that "old" book about Rocky.

And then I started to realize how I might circle back around to Griffon Redstone - the werecougar Alpha I had started to write about so many years ago. I finally understood how and where his story fit in among the others I had been writing all this time. Not only that, but I realized where his brothers' stories fit as well.

And now I've started work on a 5-book sub-series of werecougar tales revolving around the Redstone Clan of cougar shifters. The first story - the one I started work on all those years ago - will be out later this month and is called Tales of the Were: Grif (Redstone Clan #1). I know that's a bit of a mouthful, but I'm not sure how else to clarify that this story fits firmly under the Tales of the Were series, but is part of its own little sub-series of 5 stories - one for each brother in the Redstone family.

The first book is, of course, about Grif, the eldest of the five brothers. It is the same story I began so long ago, but I finally know how to end it! There will be other books, later this year, for Mag and his vampire mate, Steve, Bobcat, and the ever-popular Matt, who was also featured in my book Sweeter Than Wine.

It's been a long time coming, but I feel like I'm finally on the track to fulfilling the promise of that story I began writing so long ago. The old idea is new and the "new" ideas that helped me finally finish this story have made it blossom into something I never really expected. I hope you'll enjoy the ride as much as I will!

Tales of the Were: Grif will be releasing in ebook in late May on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. It will release in print in June. Look for it to arrive on iTunes, Kobo, and other fine ebook and print retail sites mid-June. For more information, please visit www.biancadarc.com.

Pretty, pretty

I know this month's theme is when good ideas go bad, but since meeting deadline at the end of April I'm afraid my brain is a useless pile of goo.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to pull SO many all nighters and early mornings.

I'm so distracted. Easily distracted lately as my brain re-gels into whatever state it was in prior to meeting the Harlequin deadline, so I thought I'd share this pretty, pretty with you! Another bear shifter book!

Oh, so very pretty.

It's the sequel to Mounted Release and it's coming out June 7, 2013. YAY!

Here's a blurb:


Jared Stevens hasn’t been the same since he was shot. His duty is to marry a
Mukswa woman and be a strong leader. He lets the elders of his clan choose his bride,
because the woman he wants is only in his fantasies, the only woman who brings him to
exquisite release.

Adele Banks loved being a Mountie, but one shot ended her career and altered
her world forever. Adele is determined to make a life for herself. She’s hired to recover
Beare Enterprises embezzled funds, but what she didn’t count on is being extremely
attracted to her client when meeting him for the first time as he’s naked in his shower.

Adele is Jared’s mystery woman, but she’s taboo. He bonds to her, but has to keep
his society secret, as much as he wants to mark her as his own.

As Jared fights his own inner beast, remnants of the prior chief’s wrath is affecting
the clan and Adele. To save Adele’s life, Jared may just have to betray his clan’s secret
and risk his heart.

A Romantica® paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

When Good Ideas Go Bad

It's relaxing.

Art is therapeutic.

Knitting is easy.

I tried learning to knit many times throughout the years, since I've wanted to knit since I was a child.  My first experience with knitting was with a K-Tel Knitter, something you can't even find anymore and, oddly, the company won't allow any instructions to be posted - so if you do still have a K-Tel Knitter, good luck figuring out how to use the blasted thing!

Thankfully, crafters are a little obsessed and I noticed many more resources this time when I went looking than the last time, which was when I actually wanted to use my K-Tel Knitter.  Irony, thy name is craft.

Or, cat.  Depends on your point of view, especially if you craft in a house with cats.

Needless to say, I could not figure out knitting from a book.  It took me a lot of years of frustration before I learned I have a learning style where I don't translate 3-D to 2-D and vice versa.  I am a kinesthetic learner, which means I learn by doing, and I need to have someone show me things.  I took my first knitting class in 2000 and POOF!  INSTANT YARN ADDICT!

I started Knoontime Knitting in March of 2008, just after I started my main blog.  I wanted to explore this thing called "three dimensions" since apparently, I live there.  An amazing thing started to happen - I wanted to knit everything!  I wasn't alone, either.  There's even a style of graffiti called "yarn bombing", where people put knitting in public places in unexpected ways.

d00d.  How can you resist the pom-pom?  BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

I started taking weaving classes a couple years ago and haven't looked back, with the exception of a sad year where I couldn't afford to go because I was between jobs.  (Don't recommend doing that, it's not very fun.)  But I love weaving and have made some amazing things.

The biggest thing crafts have taught me, though, is that anyone that says they're easy and relaxing and anyone can do it...

Yeah, they're totally right.  It's a ball.  On a stick.  You should try it.

Who knows?  You might end up with the ranks of us fiber addicts.  "Hello, my name is A. Catherine Noon and I'm a knitter."

-- 

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- E.E. Cummings

My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora 

Knoontime Knitting:  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook

The Writer Zen Garden:  The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter

Team Blogs: Nightlight | Nightlight FB Page |  Beyond the Veil | BtV FB Page | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers | LGBTFFW FB Page
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press

Check out BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.

Check out "Taking a Chance", part of the Charity Sips 2012 to benefit NOH8, available from Torquere Books.

Watch for TIGER TIGER, coming July, 2013, from Samhain Publishing.

Calling all Gamers! And Writers! And Readers!

 

Calling all Gamers! And Writers! And Readers!

For over a decade the Wookie and I have been attending the Origins Game Fair in Columbus OH in the summer. The date usually coincides with our wedding anniversary so it's a great way for us to celebrate both our love for each other and have a faboo time with other people who enjoy the same things we do - mostly games!

 

Recently the convention expanded to include a literary track (The Library)  with some great authors not only offering panels and seminars, but also available in the Dealers' Room to sell and autograph their books!

 

... and yes, I iz one! I'll be there with signed copies of "Blaze of Glory", "Heroes Without, Monsters Within" and LIMITED edition copies of "Blood of the Pride" along with discount coupons for ebooks!

 

This year the theme is Superheroes! And not only are there going to be panels dedicated to discussing superheroes but there's also going to be a limited-run short story anthology with such great authors as Michael Stackpole and Timothy Zahn adding their short stories to the rest of ours.

 

Me? I've contributed "By The Seat of Your Pants", a pre-"Blaze of Glory" story dealing with Jo Tanis before the disaster that changed her life forever.

 

Here's a short excerpt:

 

The rules said that all civilians had to be evacuated from the performance area. The police swept it clean, based on a tip that there'd be some sort of superhero face-off happening in the area. There wasn't supposed to be anyone around to get caught in the brawl, letting us grind out the routine without any distractions or worrying about collateral damage.

All of which did nothing to explain the eight-year old boy staring up at me as I hovered a few feet above the ground, waiting for my cue. He wore a light blue dress shirt and black pants, obviously on his way to or from some event with his family. How he'd gotten away from them and slipped through the police barricade was a mystery and one I really didn't have the time to solve.

"Damn," I whispered into my link.

"What's up?" Mike, my Guardian/sidekick/captor replied, sounding like he was standing next to me and not a half-block away. The choreography set-up had Mike coming in for backup after our first confrontation with the super villain. After all, he wasn't the main draw.

I was. Surf, the fabulous flying super who could warp electromagnetic fields to her will.

I’m also the one who made a darned hot pinup poster babe, despite my constant complaining that I didn't want to be portrayed like that. The Agency called the shots and they loved the income from the posters.

"Hi there," I said to the youngster. "Where's your mom and dad?" I tried to ignore the blinking red light on a camera sitting atop the light post. In two minutes we’d be live and on the air, broadcasting around the world. Right on cue I'd flown in expecting to be confronting a super villain in a few minutes and brawling in the streets for millions of eager viewers who loved to see the good guys win.

Instead I was playing babysitter to a wide-eyed kid who didn't know he'd stolen the scene and we were running out of time.

The dark-haired boy clutched a Metal Mike action figure to his chest, sizing me up. The battered robot had been well-loved, the metallic paint worn off his arms and legs. He scowled at me, the tiny face scrunching up into an annoyed glare.

I obviously wasn't his super of choice.

"Where are your parents?" I asked again.

"Away." His eyes were wide as he watched me.

"Woman, we're going to be active in two minutes," Mike said over the link. "Get rid of the kid—can't be putting him in the line of fire."

"You need to go into there." I pointed at a nearby store. "I'll go find someone to come and take care of you."

I couldn't tell the kid we were about to play out a choreographed fight; villain on hero with the outcome already decided. We were the good guys and we always won.

Always.

The moppet looked at the empty grocery store with a puzzled expression before turning back to me. "I can't go in there."

"Why?" I could hear the imaginary clock ticking away. In a minute Wild Billy Bully was coming around that corner tossing cars left and right as he came at me. The Agency could call him off but it'd be problematic. We'd already trained for two weeks for this televised brawl and rescheduling it would be a hassle.

"My mom told me to never go anywhere without an a-adult." He stuttered on the last word. "She'll be mad at me."

I bit back the obvious question—how had he gotten here without an adult in the first place?

"Jo—do something," Mike growled in my ear. I imagined him on the other line with the Agency reps, running through possible scenarios to get the kid out of the way without making it too obvious. Calling the show off wasn't an option. I didn't have the authority; neither did Mike. The Agency could but it was pretty plain with every passing minute they weren't about to exercise that right.

Even so, the Agency prided itself on never having a civilian die at one of their fights.

Right now that record weighed heavy on my shoulders.

---

 

There's only going to be a few hundred copies of this anthology printed so if you're not going to Origins you'll be able to purchase it online after the convention - but not for long!

 

If you're going to be in the Columbus area from June 12-16th consider dropping by the Convention Center and meeting some fabulous gamer folk - and some faboo authors as well! The seminars are going to be great - including mine listed below!

2013 Seminar Descriptions

Thursday:

11am – Crafting the Love Scene: Regardless of the genre you write in, chances are you’ll put a love-interest in it. How do you blend a touch of romance into your story, and how explicit should you be? Learn how romance can strengthen your story and make your characters more real and interesting.

Noon – Superheroes and Sidekicks: Superheroes, sidekicks, and villians--their stories have been told for years. How can you use these tropes in your fiction, make them fresh, and oh, yeah, make them fun?

Saturday:

11am – Writing the Trilogy: Is there more to your story than can fit into one book? Or is it the other way around—do you have too much material for your tale and need to cut a few hundred pages? Our panelists will tackle trilogies and open-ended series, including how to approach writing the multi-part saga and how to market it.

Sunday:

11am – To Market, To Market: You've written either a short story or a novel. You've run it through your writing group and you've polished it. Now what? We tell you how to find the markets to sell your work.

As you can see, there's something for everyone - along with great artwork, games and costumes that'll knock your socks off! So if you're looking for something to do in June that'll stir your creative juices bigtime or just looking for something different why not consider dropping by the Origins Game Fair and visiting?

It's all in the way that you handle it

In terms of writing, there's no such thing as a bad idea.
Seriously. If you can marry Jane Austen and zombies, and give birth to a movie deal, and make international bestseller lists--twice!--with Twilight fan fiction, there is no possible way to screw up on the idea front.
Execution, on the other hand, will kill you every time.
(Yes, I intended the pun.  I get an o-pun-ing so rarely, I have to take them as they come.  Deal.)
It is, as Chuck Berry once said about sex, all in the way you handle it.  Experience and technique play a role.  (Don't they always... Geez, when did this turn into THAT kind of a blog?)
I mean, WRITING experience and technique play a role.  Seth Grahame-Smith of PP&Z had writing credits to spare before he penned his first mash-up.  E L James of 50 Shades of Gray had spent her time behind the keyboard, too--though in different areas.  But luck is a key factor, too.  For example, people have been writing fan fiction since forever.  And I don't just mean Kirk/Spock.  There's a distinct possibility that some of the more out there Arthurian stories, especially those with overheated bro-mances, were fan fictions written by educated ladies for the amusement of their friends. 
Why was James the first to go mainstream?  In part, because she lucked into the historical instant when a host of factors--the Internet, the popularity of her inspiration, popular awareness and access to fan fiction, etc.--her books were there when the public was looking for exactly that sort of story.
The flip is also true.  If she hadn't happened on that historical instant, she would've been dismissed by the arbiters of taste as having wasted a lot of time writing a BAD IDEA.
Piffle.
There are, however, perfectly good ideas whose sole purpose in life is to drive the poor writer into a state of gibbering incoherency--or in the case of those of us for whom gibbering is a way of life, greater blithering idiocy than usual.
For example, about two years ago a new fiction magazine (paying professional rates of five cents a word!) invited me to submit a story to one of their first issues.  We talked about the kind of story they wanted (contemporary urban fantasy featuring magicians and mundanes set in Washington, DC) and the specifications (under ten thousand words).  I did a proposal and a plot outline.  They loved the idea and sent me a contract.  Before it was even written!
Then I sat down to the keyboard.  By the time I reached my due date, the story (which had already been outlined, remember that) was seventeen thousand words and still growing.
I returned the contract with groveling apologies.  Fortunately, it was a "payment upon delivery" deal, so I didn't have to worry about the money.  But still, nobody wants a reputation as someone who fails to live up to their obligations.  In addition, I'd always been a reliable producer of nonfiction for the publication.  So the publishers and I are still friends, and the market remains open.
But without a deadline and the lure of ready cash at the other side, I stalled on the story.  For two. Whole. Years.
Then, about a month ago, I decided to open the file and see how bad a mess I'd made of things.  To my shock, the story was ready for the next word.  Over the next forty-eight hours, I blazed through the nearly three thousand words needed to complete it. 
I had a draft.  It was good.  But it was good at twenty thousand words, not my original market's ten thousand word limit.
Oh well, so now it's a novella.  There are markets for that.
It's all in the way that you handle it.
Happy writing!

#

Jean Marie Ward

A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing

While I was still an unpublished author, but with two novels already completed and gathering dust under the bed, I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo. I wanted to see if I could write under pressure, because although I knew I could write quickly I was looking ahead to when I may find myself under deadline. Pretty cheeky, for a woman who had only, to that point, received a drawer full of FOAD* letters from publishers, editors and agents. Yet, I wasn’t at all sure that if an agent said to me, “I love your premise and I want to see it. How soon can you get it to me?” I’d be able to produce.

I’d also done a lot of learning since I wrote the first two novels—taking courses, discovering just how much I didn’t know, figuring out what the market wanted, finding out all the stuff I was doing that shouldn’t ever be done. I felt ready to move on to the next level, to write a book I could actually have a chance of getting published with. So NaNoWriMo was my personal test, my big push toward success.

For anyone not familiar with National Novel Writing Month, you’re asked to commit to writing fifty thousand words during November. At the end you’re expected to have a first draft, not a book all polished and ready to be subbed. You’re also encouraged to have some kind of plan so you’re not stumbling around writing yourself into corners and wasting time.

Even as a pantser I knew my chances of writing a novel of that size without some kind of outline were slim, so I came up with everything I thought I needed—a plot, character outlines, research notes. I was ready!

I started on November 1^st and cranked out three thousand words the first night. The second night I cranked out a thousand, but it was hard going. You have to understand, I didn’t doubt I could get the word-count. I’d done almost one and a half that much in the past. I was aiming for a good first draft, something that didn’t need much work at the end, so I was paying attention to all those rules I’d learned, trying to follow my plan, pushing, forcing, biting and clawing toward the end.

I didn’t finish writing the book.

It bored the crap out of me.

Hatred isn’t a strong enough word for how I felt about my heroine, hero, the plot, my writing. I had a moment where I thought I was done for. I’d failed the test and had about ten thousand words of unadulterated effluvia to show for it.

I won’t bore you with the details of my depression, hair-tearing etc. I can tell you what I learned from that experience was invaluable. I can’t force a plot or ignore the direction my characters want to go in. I can produce quickly, but there has to be a certain level of freedom to the writing, so I can stay engaged and let my imagination really be in control. But most importantly I learned that slavishly following all the writing rules, trying to conform to every little thing people say you MUST or absolutely SHOULDN’T do is the fast road to boring, stagnant writing and an unfinished book. It’s like I learned in art class…the best abstract artists are those who know exactly how to draw and paint in a realistic fashion, but choose not to.

There was other good news too. On November 12^th I had an idea—a vague, “suppose” kind of idea—started writing it to get the bad taste of defeat out of my mouth, and got the entire 50K first draft finished in time to receive my NaNoWriMo certificate. I still had a lot of work to do to find my voice, to discover which rules I was able to break effectively, and I re-wrote that book a couple of times before it became Breaking Free, my first erotic historical novel.

I’ve had other unfinished books since then, but now I tend to know fairly early when to let go and not waste my time on a thread-bare plot or an untenable character. And I’m still learning when and how to break the rules… Sometimes we're better off not knowing them at all, I think!

*For anyone not familiar with FOADs, that’d be F*** Off And Die.

Good Stories Gone Bad? How About Bad Stories Gone Wonderful?

Today, I am supposed to talk about good stories that have gone bad. You know, the ones that start out as a gloriously spectacular idea and end up a big fat mess.

And I have had those. Don't get me wrong. They give me shivers to think about and are under my bed with the hairy spiders, the voracious dust bunnies, and the creepy monster that groans in the night (no, wait, I forgot I figured out that was just me groaning in my sleep when I turn over).

So I could talk about them.

But I won't.

I want to talk about love. Life. And the gloriously beautiful human spirit.

The past few weeks have been loaded with tragedy. All of us feel the heartbreak, the devastation and desperation. Please except my deep, deep sympathies to those who were touched directly by the Boston bombings and the West Texas explosions. I am so sorry.

But I'm here to say that I have seen more generosity and selflessness in the past few weeks than I've seen in a long time. At Beyond the Veil we gathered around one of our own beloved authors, Xakara, in her time of need and asked for your help. Bless you one and all for contributing. You are angels.

I am so thankful for the men and women who risk their lives every single day to save strangers. And the regular folks who rush in to help others. I was brought to tears by the folks in Boston who ran toward the site of the first bombing, not knowing if there was another.

Last year, a friend of mine had a heart attack during a local triathlon. Do you know that people stood in line to administer CPR until the ambulance arrived? One after another kept his heart going and breathed life into his lungs. A doctor was in that group. He saw how bad off my friend was and told the last guy to stop the chest compressions. My friend had died. That young man, I'll never forget this, that wonderful selfless man (who prior to this moment had been a real competitor) screamed at the body lying there in the street. He yelled at him not to give up. He promised he wouldn't quit either and he didn't until the EMT got there.  My friend lived to tell the tale. In fact, he's still running. He absolutely credits those people who came to his aide and saved his life. Especially the young man who didn't give up on him and he hopes to race against again soon.

Saving lives, offering strength, a hand, a gentle word, a small act of kindness...  This is love people. This is who we can choose to be. Please, take the time to love.

Thank you,

Kimberley Troutte
Kimberley's website

Do get Fresh...or not

Trying to keep writing fresh in my opinion is more about revamping, twisting the old than starting with something entirely new.

I will occasionally watch a movie and wish for a different ending or maybe see something that I'd like to mash up. 

However that said I truly believe the heart of most romances follows your basic fairy tale or love story.

We've seen your: Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet and that's okay.  Why?  Because readers love these stories and they love the resolution that occurs, well maybe not the Romeo/Juliet ending but we tend to make that a happy one.

There's nothing saying that Cinderella can't fall in love with her fairy godmother, That the beast can't be a merman or that Juliet has to be a girl.  You get the idea.

Taking an old story  and putting a new face on it makes it both familiar and fantastical to the reader. 

Tina

Getting Fresh

The topic for this month was where we get 'fresh ideas'. Seems to me that everyone's taken a look at where they get their ideas.

I got thinking about what makes them fresh.

And the answer to that is so easy and so complicated that people really struggle with it.

To me, a 'fresh' idea has to have a hint of the familiar to it. It's a way of looking at something we've ALL SEEN BEFORE.

Romeo and Juliet -- with zombies.
Titanic -- in space.
Sleeping Beauty -- the cyborg.

Each of those twists allows us to tell a familiar story in a new way.

But that's just the beginning.

Because each of us here could be given one of those story ideas as a prompt, and we'd each write the story very differently, because we each bring our own stuff to the table. I'm always absorbed with themes of right and wrong, lies and truth, bravery and cowardice (for example) while another author might be more focused on themes around family and trust, for example.

Ideas are great. They get me motivated, get me excited about a project. But often, the fresh twist that brought me the story -- is the thing that gets lost along the way. "Sleeping Beauty the cyborg" sounds great, but as I brainstorm, I might discover that the story REALLY works if I make her a zombie, instead. Or if I don't use the Sleeping Beauty myth at all.

It's hard to allow myself to let The Idea go sometimes. Because really, Sleeping Beauty, the cyborg (or even zombie!) sounds pretty freaking cool. But sometimes, that's what the story needs so that I can frame the story I REALLY want to tell --which isn't Sleeping Beauty the cyborg, but how absolute power corrupts, or how right can be done for the wrong reasons or whatever my own truth is that I really want to explore.

Thank you

To all the readers of Beyond the Veil for your generosity.  Xakara's Fundrazr exceeded all our hopes.  She and her family are in a much better place thanks to you.
Thank you.  That is all.

#

Jean Marie

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Pictures of RavenCon 2013

If a picture's really worth a thousand words, I just might be able to make up for being such a bad blogger this year.  Besides, you'd much rather see the faces and costumes of RavenCon than hear me blather.  So, without further ado, thirteen photos from RavenCon 2013

 

Author Laurel Anne Hill shows off a steampunk style perfectly suited to her story in the anthology Shanghai Steam.

 

 

Fan Guest of Honor Carla Brindle and Writing Guest of Honor Kevin J. Anderson frame one of Carla's amazing cakes.  Since RavenCon flaunts Richmond's Edgar Allan Poe vibe, Carla baked a fully functional chest containing a beating cake heart. The book leaning next to it was edible, too.  And I can personally attest that it tasted great.

 

Sarah Black and Braxton Ballew of Valentine Wolfe perform their first concert of the weekend.

 

With Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta as the con's Writer Guests of Honor, the costumes were guaranteed to glory in Steampunk.

 

But Star Wars was well represented by the 501st Legion and this fierce Tusken Raider.  Star Trek sent Klingons...and a jail!  But you have to go to my Flickr page to see that. 

 

There were Steampunk writers, too. From left to right: Emilie Bush, David Lee and a guy I really think I ought to recognize...

 

Comics artist Monica Marier gleefully admitted she crafted her shiny SF costume to draw potential customers' eyes.

 

You knew there had to be at least one panel shot, didn't you?  Here (from left to right) Jim Bernheimer, Gail Z. Martin, Ron Garner and John Betancourt discuss professional self-publishing.

 

There were two book launch parties, but I only took still shots of Leona Wisoker's event. Here Leona (center in black) discusses the role of coffee in the party and in her new novel Fires of the Desert.

 

More Steampunk-y goodness. From some overheard conversation (in the bar, naturally) I understand this group later won the Masquerade. Alas, I didn't catch their names, but I do recall that it was the gentleman's first costume competition.

 

Don't tell anyone, but I can't identify these costumes--and I know I should! Sob.

 

Masquerade Masters of Ceremony Billy Flynn (left in scarf) and Rich Sigfrit (to Billy's right) introduce the Ghostbusters of RavenCon.

 

There were belly dancers, too.  And much, much more.  If you'd like a bigger taste, please, check out the rest of my pictures or follow the links from the RavenCon Facebook page.  It's not too early to sign up for 2014, after all.

 

###

 

Jean Marie Ward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Spotted on the Roadside

****


Jody Wallace
Author, Cat Person, Amigurumist, Sadly Untalented Photographer
http://www.jodywallace.com  + http://www.meankitty.com