We’re going to St. John’s soon. In semi-unrelated news, whales have been spotted near Signal Hill (this signal hill, in fact) in the past few days. I doubt we’ll see them, but still. EXCITING!
I wonder if a trip out on a boat is in the budget… probably not, since we’re trying to save for our trip to Ontario. How fun would that be, though?!
There were a lot of touching Father’s day posts last weekend. Melissa Janda just posted hers… she wins. I don’t even really understand why I’m crying, but… just read, OK?
You may recall (and you’re forgiven if you don’t, I know how busy you are) that this month I’m working on a few projects. I’m making good progress in my editing on Bound, and yes, added words are being counted toward my word count for JuNoWriMo. I’m not adding a lot; I’m really trying to cut down on the total word count. But sometimes more needs to be said, and today’s WIPpet Wednesday offering is one of those passages. Will it stay? I don’t know. But experimenting is fun. 🙂
So, the WIPpet math for 19/6/13: 19 paragraphs +6 paragraphs -1 paragraph -3 paragraphs. Don’t worry, it’s mostly dialogue. (Aren’s POV)
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My return to town was quiet, made late at night and in the midst of a street festival, but Severn knew I was coming as soon as I dropped the magic dedicated to blocking his awareness of me. He had me brought to his chambers before I had a chance to unsaddle my horse. The only reason I made it without a beating was that the palace guards feared me only a little less than they did Severn.
He dismissed them with a wave, and they bowed as they left us. The room was uncharacteristically cluttered, littered with half-empty wine bottles, and I wondered how many other people had been sent away before my arrival. “How wonderful,” Severn drawled after the guards closed the door. “Just what I wanted for my birthday. A ghost.”
I didn’t speak. I’d learned over the years that if I didn’t have an answer that would satisfy him, it was best to give none at all.
“We thought you were dead,” he continued, his voice as cold as I’d ever heard it. “It’s not like you to disappear.”
“I was injured escaping from the mountains. I needed time to recover, and had no way to contact you without being seen.”
Severn poured two glasses of wine and offered me one. I drank the full glass, not because I wanted it, but to show that I trusted him not to poison me. That, or I feared him enough to do as he wished with no thought for what might happen to me. It didn’t matter to Severn; respect and fear were nearly the same thing to him. “I searched for you. There was no sign.”
“Perhaps the distance interfered with your perception. I can assure you that at no time was I dead.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You weren’t blocking me?”
“I don’t think I could. You know me too well. And I had no reason to.” I held my body still, and kept my eyes glued to his. I have nothing to hide, I thought. I did, of course, but Severn wouldn’t be able to see far into me. He lacked that particular set of skills, and that made me useful to him— and him mistrustful of me.
It was several uncomfortable moments before he released me from his gaze and sipped from his own glass. “You’re ruining my party. Tell me what happened, and go.”
“Annyk is dead.”
“You killed him?”
“His brother did.”
Severn sneered. “I’m not sure whether I’m impressed by your skill or disgusted with your continuing unwillingness to dirty your own hands. Either way, it’s done.” That was the most praise I could expect from him. “Any sign of more magic?”
Now I would have to tread carefully. Severn might not have been able to see my thoughts, but he would know if I lied to him outright. Half-truths would be better. “I think I found someone, but I was attacked before I could bring her in.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Her? Interesting. Where?”
I fought back the tension that cramped my shoulders. There was no chance I was going to let him take her. Not after she saved me. Severn would never understand that, though, and there would be no stopping him if he learned there was an unidentified sorceress in Qittavia. “In the mountains,” I lied. “And well-hidden.”
“Obviously, if Annyk didn’t find her.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“No.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Familiar energy began to build, infusing the air in the stone-walled room, causing the hairs on my body to stand up and remembered pain to race through my body. He wouldn’t be afraid to hurt me if he thought he wasn’t getting what he wanted.
“There’s nothing. I’ll go back and find her again, or I can tell someone else where to search.” The energy leveled off, but did not disperse, and my body broke out in sweat as I fought to not react to the pain.
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Tommorow is the last day of this round of A Round of Words in 80 Days. It’s been fun; I’ll do things a bit differently next time (starting at the beginning, setting clearer goals at the start), but I’ll definitely do it again. I’ve found some interesting bloggers to follow, and it’s always nice to just go through and visit someone new. I like being reminded of how many of us are in this together, writing and struggling and loving it.
As far as my own goals are concerned, I’m catching up on my JuNoWriMo word count, which means I’m currently trying for more than the 2,000 words a day that I’d set as my goal. My reading didn’t have as measurable a goal, but I’m getting it done when time allows. I’m surprised at how much I’m enjoying Matched; it really didn’t seem like my thing at all, but I like the set-up of the Society (and some of you know how picky I am about that sort of thing), and I like how Cassia is developing as a character. Now, I’ve heard from several people that the other two books in the trilogy are a big disappointment, but I’ll at least try the next one. This is one advantage of library books, isn’t it?
School is almost out here; Simon gets a day off on Thursday and only goes in for a few hours on Friday, so I guess today is really the last day of school. We’ll see how having both kids home will affect my productivity. We also have a week-long vacation planned for the end of July, and I don’t see myself getting a lot of writing done there (not sure if I’ll even take the computer), but I can read.
Annnd… that’s about it. Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget that the next round of ROW80 starts next month. 🙂
Free book from A.E. Shaw that looks fantastic. Stop by and say happy birthday, then go grab a new read!
I’m 31 years old today!
To celebrate, my twisty-turny dystopian YA novel The Pulse is FREE to download from Amazon UK and Amazon US (and on all the regional Amazons, too!) so do, please, download, share the link and either forget about it completely, or enjoy it!
I’ve had a wonderful year. Being 30 was much better than I’d imagined. I thought my thirties would be all grown-up and scary, but actually, I’ve been surprisingly childlike and daft, and also, also, much braver than in years. I’ve published my novel, run a half-marathon, lost a slew of weight and fixed a lot of food and exercise things in my mind and body, made some big decisions about who and where I want to be, and, more than anything, I’ve had some really great times. Actual fun. I forgot to have fun a lot in my twenties, perhaps because I was…
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Some of you know that Empire Records is one of my all-time favourite movies. It captures something about the nineties that other movies seem to have missed, an atmosphere that I guarantee you’ll never find in new movies when that decade becomes “retro” and a cool time period to set movies in.
And I’m not ashamed to admit it, I adore Lucas.
But as I was watching last night, I realized that there were things that I, as a writer, could learn from this movie. No, it’s not perfect, but it does a lot of things very well. The first one that struck me was character introduction.
This isn’t a movie with a small cast. It’s not Game of Thrones huge, but it’s a day in the lives of the people who work at a record store, on a day when absolutely everyone is working. So do we open on a scene with everyone running around, doing their thing?
Of course not. The introductions come quickly so we can get to the story, but each character has a moment (or a scene) where we meet them and learn the basics; depth and details come later, but we get enough to push them into our brains and stick a pin in them until we get back to it. Now, I’m talking about the fan edition; forgive me if anything doesn’t line up with the original cut.
First, there’s Lucas. We learn that he’s closing the store, and he’s been instructed not to touch Joe’s (the manager) beer, cigars, or drums. A moment later we cut to Lucas touching all of those things, drumming away on the piles of money he’s been instructed to count twice. But count it twice he does, which tells us a lot about Lucas. We also learn something when he discovers that his beloved Empire Records (an independent store) is set to be turned into a big chain store (booooo!), and he decides to take a big risk to try to save this place he loves.
Lucas may have impulse control issues and/or an odd way of respecting authority, but he wants to do the right thing. This in just a few minutes, and from him closing the store. Not the most exciting set-up, no danger or explosions or fights, but we’re thrown into character and story right away, and want to know what happens.
Boom. That’s exactly what all writers are told to aim for in the first few paragraphs, isn’t it?
Other characters trickle in the next morning. Joe, the grumpy manager. Frustrated, beaten down, but it’s quickly apparent that he cares for the kids who work for him. We get Mark, who’s obviously not all there (hi, drugs!), but he’s funny and seems like a good guy. AJ: artistic, confused, and lovesick.
Next scene, Corey and Gina on their way to work. Corey: perfect, organized, efficient and infatuated with a much-older pop star who she plans to seduce later that day…
Because it’s REX MANNING DAY, folks!
Rex is clearly a bit of a douche. This creates tension as we wonder what in the world the sweet, innocent Corey wants with him, and how that’s going to pan out. Bleh.
Gina: Corey’s polar opposite, except that they’re both pretty (of course).
Other employees filter in (Burko and Eddie are really the least-developed ones, but we still get a feel for them*), adding to the cast in little bits, allowing the audience to adjust and get to know them a little before we’re overwhelmed with more people. And while this is happening, of course, there’s a plot developing.
Several plots, actually.
And this is another thing I think is interesting. You have this plot concerning what’s going to happen to the store after Lucas screws things up. This affects everyone. But the subplots are thick in this one. AJ wanting to tell Corey he loves her. Debra tried to kill herself, and everyone’s worried about her. Rex Manning is a douche, and just makes everything worse in the store (and adding conflict is a good thing, right?). And we also have Warren the shoplifter.
Gina hates Debra, Debra hates Gina. Gina is jealous of Corey but tries to hide it; Corey seems perfect on the outside, but we all know that can’t be right. Everything is coming to a crisis point.
It could be a huge mess, but every sub-plot is tied in to the others, adding to them rather than taking screen time away from them, and everything builds toward the climax and a satisfying resolution. Subplots add depth to a story; keeping them tight and intertwined keeps them from slowing the plot down.
So there’s two things, and plenty of evidence that I can’t just sit and enjoy a movie. There are other lessons, I’m sure. Dialogue is one:
Aah, I love it.
So, what movies have you learned from? Jae, I know you always find lessons in movies (everyone else, have a look!). Anyone else have one movie you just adore and want to share with the class rest of us? Or are there movies/books/shows you thing didn’t do character introductions well, throwing so many people at us that we can’t really tell them apart later on? Share!
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*However, their hairstyles are never adequately explained. Come to think of it, everyone’s hair is pretty greasy… this may be the film’s primary downfall.
Survey on gender and entertainment needs participants. Only takes a few minutes!
So last week I had a little bit of a ranty post about how so many male authors seem to be allergic to any kind of happy ending. And a comment by one of my male pals got me to wondering…what exactly is it that MEN look for in entertainment that is actually being delivered by the books written by their half of the species. Being a social scientist, OF COURSE that means I’m going to GIVE A SURVEY (I do love me some data).
So please, spread this far and wide. I would really like a decent sample size.
Books are fun, aren’t they?
Yes, Kate, they are. Duh.
I have a lot of books. Not nearly as many as most of my friends; space restrictions mean I have to be selective about which ones I keep, and I get rid of anything I don’t love and/or want to keep around to re-read or lend out. Still, it’s been a long time since I had enough shelf space in my house for even half of my collection.
A few nights ago, I got sick of it. I went downstairs, unloaded everything from a shelf in the playroom (it wasn’t much, most of it was already on the floor), and hauled that sucker upstairs. There wasn’t technically space for it in the living room, but I didn’t need to open those desk drawers, anyway.
I went to my room, apologized profusely to the books that have been stacked beside my dresser since we moved here last June, gathered up my library books, and got the shelf set up.
Wheeeee!
That stack on the middle shelf and everything to the right of it are all TBR, mostly things I’ve grabbed when I saw them at Value Village or the used book store. I also have a few in progress or TBR on the Kobo.*
You’d think that would be enough, but noooooo. No, I had to go and remember that I still had Chapters/Indigo gift certificates left from Mother’s Day, and I ordered four more books. All fiction, all Fantasy or Dystopian, all but one YA. Read what you write, right?
I’m especially excited about Shadow and Bone, which sounds right up my alley. Adenture + romance + magic? Yup, that’s me!
And yes, all four are real, paper-and-ink, taking-up-space-on-my-shelf books. I really appreciate the prices and portability of e-books, I do. And I’m learning to enjoy reading them. But if someone gives me FREE MONEY for books? Yes, I’ll pay more plus shipping for the real deal.
Even if it means buying more shelves.
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I ALSO have a few on the Kindle app on the computer, books I got from Amazon when they were cheap or free, and not available elsewhere. Thing is, I can’t sit and read fiction on the laptop. I can’t. So until I get a Kindle or an iPad, those books are going to go un-read. It makes me sad. 😦
So my husband came home last night, long after I was in bed and asleep. He’d had a long, difficult weekend already (and it was barely even Sunday), but he managed to take a few minutes to stop by the goodbye party for the guy he works with. He told me, “there’s a surprise for you in the fridge.”
I LOVE fridge surprises! I did mumble something about how if it was roadkill I’d be very disappointed, but really there was only about a 14% chance of it being that.
And then, being mostly asleep, I forgot about it.
This morning, AJ said, “did you look in the fridge?”
“No!”
I ran to the fridge like a hyperactive little kid hunting for Easter eggs, expecting maybe a chocolate bar (because sometimes AJ’s cool like that) or a bit of dessert from the party.
I was not expecting… THIS:
Pardon my language, but HOLY SHIT THAT’S A WHOLE LOT OF CRAB LEGS.
There was also deep-fried turkey, hashbrown casserole, and… I don’t know, ham or something. I kind of forgot about all of that when I saw the HOLY SHIT CRAB LEGS.
Do you guys have any idea? DO YOU?! The fact that I’m yelling might tell you that I like crab legs a lot. What you might not have guessed is that I haven’t had them in years. They’re expensive, and there aren’t many restaurants around here that serve them (at least, not at a price I can pay). I think the last time I had them was at Mandarin Buffet in Ontario, when my mom and I pretty much ate everything.
I’m not ashamed of that.
Not all of the surprises I wake up to are pleasant; cold cat barf squishing between my toes comes to mind when I consider the less-pleasant ones. But today… today shall live in my memory as a day of celebrating fathers (hi, dad!), unexpected blessings, and HOLY SHIT CRAB LEGS! God bless generous people with too much food at their parties.
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Now, about that Round of Words update (now that I’ve frightened everyone away): through an intense regimen of BICFOC* and all but neglecting my children, I’ve passed the 20,000 word mark for JuNoWriMo. There’s still a long way to go, and I’m not quite on track, but I’m catching up. I’m reading a little when I can, but on rainy days when I’m stuck inside, it’s all about the writing right now. I’ve started looking for an editor for Bound, though I won’t need one until after this round of revisions and a blasting from beta readers… and then more revisions… but I’m putting feelers out there. That wasn’t a goal, but it’s related, so there you go. Also not an official goal, but I’ve been reading a bunch of ROW80 blog updates from people whose blogs I don’t normally follow, and commenting. I feel good about that, and it’s fun; you never know what you’re going to find out there in Blog Land.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have more running around in circles and screaming to do before I go warm the butter.
That’s not a euphemism.
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*Butt in chair, fingers on keys
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