Short Story and Other Things

I'm more than halfway done with the first pass on my short story; it's taken a slight detour, but it actually makes sense (takes care of one plot point as to why Bella, my MC, hesitated to get her family to safety earlier...). Besides, I'm of the opinion to write straight through the first time around and revise later. (There'll be plenty of that, you can be sure.)

What else? Hmm. Just finished the second book in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series, Living Dead in Dallas. Icky in parts, but fun. The MC, Sookie Stackhouse, cracks me up. (It's in first person, BTW.) And I love the little in-jokes Ms. Harris throws into the mix. For instance, Sookie's vampire, Bill, is shipped in his coffin by Anubis Air (as vampires are now part of the mainstream in U.S. society) to Dallas. Anubis was the jackal-headed Egyptian god of the dead. I know, eyeball rolling time; but I thought it was a good choice by Ms. Harris. And the only reason I got it is because I'm taking an audio course from The Teaching Company on Ancient Egypt. Really fascinating stuff. Try to pick it up whenever it's on sale.

One last thing: The demise of Miss Snark's blog. Boo hoo! No, really, boo hoo! I hadn't looked over there for a little while due to personal stuff, but I start reading it again (without posting) and, all of a sudden, she has post where I can't leave any comments! WTF? So I scrolled down a bit...and that's when I found the post saying she couldn't do the blog anymore. She was putting a lotta work into it, helping those of us who want to be legitimately published, but doing it with her brand of snark (which I really liked).

So, farewell, Miss Snark's blog. It won't be the same without your snarkiness.

~Nancy Beck
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Forging Ahead

First, I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2007.

Second, I want to thank everyone who has visited this blog. All three or four of you make this a worthwhile endeavor. ;-) (Sorry. My weird sense of humor is rearing its head.)

Third, and last, I am indeed forging ahead with a short story. I originally planned on it taking place back in 1919 (egads, you say! WTF, Miss Snark might say). Hold on. I'm taking a CD course on the Broadway musical, its origins and all. I've found it so fascinating, I wanted to have a female character after World War I who was feeling her oats, but I wanted it to be just before women got the right to vote in the U.S. (1920, that is).

It didn't go anywhere, although I did get to look at a lot of neat vintage wear so I could have an idea in my mind as to the clothing styles back then.

I had a brainstorm this morning: why not set it in the Depression of the 1930s? Broadway was forging ahead as well, and I'd have a very good reason to have a literally poor woman making her way to New York and the bright lights therein.

Then I got to thinking about my original premise, about having shapeshifters among the Broadway, or some sort of theatrical, denizens. However, I only had one shapeshifter, a theatrical agent. He hated it, didn't know how to control it. Plus, he wanted to get as far away from his father's tailor shop as possible.

Enter this woman, whom I've called Eva for now. Eva is from the hinterlands of Pennsylvania, arriving by train (of course) in 1931 New York. She's spent all but a dollar of her money to get there, to get away from the boring life she's led in the sticks.

I made her into a shapeshifter, too. She's determined to not only leave her former life behind but to live among the normals, as she calls them.

And I've got the germ of an idea for the conflict: the agent (Irving) is one part of a partnership, with the other partner an ornery scumbag who gives Irving until the end of the week to bring in more clients (read: commissions) or it's back to the tailor shop for poor Irving.

That Eva and Irving need to work together, I think, is a given. But then the other partner throws another curve into the mix. Now, I haven't quite figured that part out, but I have a germ of an idea. Anyway, I did write part of this today; about 500-600 words.

The characters are sassy and determined, and I like 'em a lot. Only time will tell if this will be good enough to send out, but I'll give it my best shot.

Don't give up - keep writing!

So What the Heck Have I Been Up To?

The wonderful Lesia asked where I've been. It wasn't until I noticed the last time I blogged before today (was it really December 8th? Egad!) that I had to wonder myself.

Well, not really. Heh. ;-)

Anyway, I have been writing. I wrote a couple of short stories, and I'll be working on them to see if they're worthy of sending out (something I haven't done in a looooong time). I've also got an idea for another short, but the opening is giving me fits; I know the obvious thing is to write past that and go back to it, but since it's set in the past (about 1919), there are certain things I want to describe (without becoming too wordy and boring) about the character and the milieu. I'm going to let the idea germinate in my brain a little while longer, as it's apparent a few things need to be worked out.

As for my novel...I'm just about done! So it looks like I'll finish this thing by the end of the year (my original goal was about a month ago; what was that old saw about the best laid plans? ;-)). I picked up a notebook computer yesterday (yay! Thanks for the money, Mom!) at Staples, and, once I was set up, I just cooked. Ooo, the words just flowed. But then, this morning, I skipped my workout because something bothered me about the way I ended it yesterday, so I whipped out the notebook, deleted a few things, and rewrote the ending.

I then decided to add in what I think will add immeasurably to the story: Diego's voice (3rd person). So I wrote a scene where he arrives to find what he thinks are two dead bodies. Jackie fought the demon just before, with the end of her scene being that she's waiting to die (and wants to die, because she's in such pain). The fight scene is kind of crappy, but that's what rewrites are for. :-)

I also did another scene in his POV in the prior chapter, where he's racing after Jackie and the demon, dodging traffic on the main drag in my old hometown (and let me tell you, the main drag is just as clogged with traffic as it ever was). He gets stuck behind an SUV with a flat tire, and no one will allow him to go around.

Yeah, tension. And besides, I wanted Jackie to fight the demon alone. After all, this is her story, and she's the one who's supposed to be strong enough to deal with the demon or the "entity," as a couple of the characters are now calling it.

But I digress. I'll be moving on to the last chapter in the story--at least how it stands right now. I'll have to go back and put in Diego's take on things, but the index cards will allow me to slip in those scenes pretty seamlessly.

The writing part of it is another matter, of course. ;-)

So that's where I'm at, writing-wise. I'm just on the cusp of finishing this novel thingy.

Oh, and Lesia? You'll notice I've included my email address (tee hee) like you suggested in the Miss Snark You Tube video. Actually, I should have thought of that a while ago, although you will notice that it has [at] instead of @ just so none of those bandwidth-sucking spiders or bots can harvest my email address. Thank goodness yahoo has a bulk folder so I can just empty most of the viagra/Nigerian scam/gas card dreck can be easily dispensed of.

Have a nice and safe New Year's everybody! :-)

Research and Query Letters

Research for Cats in Manhattan continues. I finished a really nice bio on the protag (possible name: Marina Zarhagian), sketched a couple of others.

My main project was to get a handle on the trap/neuter/return (TNR) thing as it relates to feral cats. Feral, or wild, cats are those that can't be adopted. TNR came about when a lot of people noticed an increase in the cat population and wondered what to do about it. My basic research suggested someone going out with a wire cage, leaving some food about for the wild thing to go after, caging it, bringing it to a vet to get neutered, and then releasing the cat back into the colony (there's usually more than one cat in the feral world; think penguins and their rookeries).

Of course, truth is stranger than fiction (oof, cliche!). In this case, though, it's not strange but more complicated. And I want whatever I write to have the air of authenticity to it--as much as possible anyway. I mean, how do I know someone, somewhere who actually does this sort of stuff won't read my book? For instance, I've heard of scientists getting SF books published and then other scientists reading them. They'd get tripped up by the others, taken to task for some astrophysical impossibility (or whatever).

I'm not going to go overboard on the research, however. There has to be a point where the writer says, "Enough!" and starts to write her story. And if the information is readily available or at my grimy fingertips, then I can refer back to it; I can catch any problems in the first or subsequent revisions.

For Those Who've Written Their Magnum Opuses

I'm not at the query stage yet, but for those of you who are, I'd suggest taking a gander at Miss Snark's blog (see the sidebar for the link). A warning to those with weak stomachs: She's not called Miss Snark for nothing. And those who leave comments on her blog (referred to as Snarklings)? They can be snarky and rough, too.

As I write this, she's currently going through her 3rd Annual Crapometer (not to be confused with the Crapometer link in the sidebar; that's for Elecktra's Crapometer, a fun/interesting blog in its own right). What makes Miss Snark's Crapometer great is that it's a combo (this time, anyway) of both query letter and the first page of the novel, so you get an idea from a literary agent if the letter and the first page work for her.

Alas, most didn't work for her, although there were a few where the query sucked but the first page was pretty good. Take from that what you will. Oh, and the Snarklings get in on it as well.

Always keep in mind that this is just one agent's take on query letters: Your mileage may vary with other agents. But at least it gives you an idea if you're onto something or need to scrap the whole thing and start over again.

Read the queries and first pages. Learn. Absorb. Keep your sense of humor intact.

And, as always, keep writing!