One day I am going to write a book called CARL E. REED: I DON'T KNOW HOW HE DOES IT, and it will just be a long list of his titles.

Keep it up! And CONGRATS!!!!

@LeeAnna: Mega-congrats! You sound exhausted and exhilarated, at one and the same time. So happy for you!  

@Lucy: Thank you! I just keep plugging away, day after day . . . (And try not to let a couple of psychic vampires at the day job deplete me of all creative energy and enthusiasm.) 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 2/2/2014, 3:25 AM--

I actually have most of my outline written for the second novel. I'm just working on the ending parts and the big political war stuff. I still have research to do on 19th century weaponry and tech post-civil war, plus strategies for a military campaign. I might have to do some tweeking since I'm going to have sword, sorcery, and gunpowder technology, but the research still needs to be done. (My world is morphing into some industrial magi-tech society. I can't wait till I get to add Western themes in book 3.) I might save it for when I actually get to those parts just so I can start getting some words down. I won't need it till about half way through the book. Another 200k words. This is going to be fun.

Oh, correction on my original post. I said 2k, I meant 200k. Yes, I must reread an epic fantasy novel to fix formatting errors. 

I hope to work through my difficulties and get back to being more active on BC. I am bogged down in trying to strengthen my logic and simplify my back-stabbing in my pirate episode, which sets up issues that I tackle in book two, so I have to work it out to my complete satisfaction. When I do, I will be ready to hand it off to an editor I have lined up. 

.

In regard to the maritime realities of the time, I find gaps in my logic both large and small, down to, what ports would Moreno have been likely to visit? I cover some material with a disclaimer: I know nothing of sixteenth century ships and shipping except for what I've stolen from a few biographies and many novels and, this is a fairy tale, for crying out loud, so cut me some slack. But I'd like to get it as right as I can. I am reading history, trying to cobble answers that a historian could swallow on his/her loonier days.

.

I'm watching you guys, but my energy is elsewhere.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 2/6/2014, 2:55 PM--

@K. Murphy: I suspect too much detail and color has been expunged from the text. You no longer recognize the words as your own because they're not yours any more; the prose has become your editor's. 

If you agree with the editing, let it stand. If you don't--after giving it a month or two to digest the changes and adjust to the newer, faster-reading, streamlined you--I suggest a re-edit of your prose to take ownership of the words. After all, it's your name going on that story, not your editor's. If you get published but are dissatisfied or uncomfortable with the results--what's the point?!

This is a test of your aesthetic sensibility and good judgment. Without before-and-after examples of your text(s) it's impossible for us outsiders to evaluate fairly.

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 2/17/2014, 10:05 AM--

--edited by Dennis Fleming on 2/18/2014, 7:27 PM--

Whoops, forgot to subscribe to this thread when I replied back in January, so I missed all of the other posts since then.  Fortunately it was the featured discussion today when I logged in so I was reminded to come back to it.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit irrationally down about my writing at the moment.  I got my first feedback that includes more than just the first couple of chapters, and while I think it's helpful feedback I'm still having an "OMG it's not perfect!  This is a disaster!" reaction.  On an intellectual level I understand that it will never be perfect and knowing in what ways it's not is very helpful, but my emotional side doesn't give a rip about that.  It wants universal love.

On the topic of motivation to write, one thing I've noticed is that I have this paradoxical aversion to sitting down to write, not because I don't like doing it, but because when I get started I sometimes have trouble stopping.  All of a sudden my "Oh, I'll just fix up this one sentence that someone commented on" turns into a half hour rewrite of an entire section to make that one sentence change fit better.  The end result is better, but it makes me wary of starting if I don't want to spend an open-ended amount of time on it.

Writing isn't the only thing that I have this reaction to so fortunately it's something I've learned to deal with to some extent.  Just knowing why I'm not motivated can be very helpful, and I've learned to accept that sometimes if it's getting late and I only have 20 or 30 minutes I just have to write off (no pun intended) that day.  Otherwise I'm going to be unhappy with myself when I get caught up writing and go to sleep an hour later than I planned (and I don't tolerate being tired well).  This isn't my job - it's something I do for fun, so if I make it a chore then I'm completely missing the point.

Hi Ben! Great to hear from you!

I know exactly what you mean re: not wanting to write unless you have a big chunk of time to spend on it. That's actually one of the things I've been working on this year, because I have that same feeling, and then the same unhappiness with my output, because who has that kind of endless amount of unscheduled time?

On Book Country and during NaNoWriMo I pushed myself to try to steal minutes here and there to write--even just a sentence. It's hard and I don't do it as much as I should or could, but it's a start.

As for the worries about perfection, I think you are in good company on Book Country . . . we all strive for greatness, and feel sheepish when we don't attain it. I think you've got a lot on your side--you're figuring out how to get feedback, you're becoming an excellent editor (and taskmaster!) in terms of improving upon what you have--and it sounds like you've got a good sense of humor and a lovely attitude about the process. Keep it up!

Lucy

PS: Is the book you are talking about in your post above HIGH ALTITUDE MAGIC, or something new?

Hi, Ben!

Re: "I got my first feedback that includes more than just the first couple of chapters, and while I think it's helpful feedback I'm still having an "OMG it's not perfect!  This is a disaster!" reaction.  On an intellectual level I understand that it will never be perfect and knowing in what ways it's not is very helpful, but my emotional side doesn't give a rip about that.  It wants universal love."

Love the honesty of your response. I think most of us would acknowledge feeling similar emotions when critiqued. All I can say is: You learn to work through that stuff. You immediately implement the criticisms you agree with, ponder the others and discard the rest. Meanwhile you keep writing. And re-writing.  

Re: "On the topic of motivation to write, one thing I've noticed is that I have this paradoxical aversion to sitting down to write, not because I don't like doing it, but because when I get started I sometimes have trouble stopping.  All of a sudden my "Oh, I'll just fix up this one sentence that someone commented on" turns into a half hour rewrite of an entire section to make that one sentence change fit better.  The end result is better, but it makes me wary of starting if I don't want to spend an open-ended amount of time on it.   Writing isn't the only thing that I have this reaction to so fortunately it's something I've learned to deal with to some extent.  Just knowing why I'm not motivated can be very helpful, and I've learned to accept that sometimes if it's getting late and I only have 20 or 30 minutes I just have to write off (no pun intended) that day.  Otherwise I'm going to be unhappy with myself when I get caught up writing and go to sleep an hour later than I planned (and I don't tolerate being tired well).  This isn't my job - it's something I do for fun, so if I make it a chore then I'm completely missing the point."

Man, you've got writer's resistance licked! You have the opposite problem: the inability to tear yourself away from your work when editing/re-writing. Not a bad problem to have for a writer, Ben. Not bad at all. But I think I know what you mean. Structural work: tinkering with your story's plot, narrative descriptions, dialogue, etc.--can lead to untold hours of new work as you realize "If I change this; I've got to change that . . . And now this part doesn't make sense so out it goes. Hmm . . . I need to write new interpolative passages here to harmonize old text with the new. Hold on, I've just had a flash of inspiration on how to improve this particular bit. Let me start playing around with this sentence . . . Think I'll re-write it, oh . . . half-a-dozen times." And the re-writing expands to fill the available hours. This is what writer's work is . . . and why so few are up to the task of doing it. It breaks them. 

You've got the proper attitude and discipline. I wish you well! Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 3/22/2014, 11:39 AM--

Yeah, that's my only active project right now.  And it sorely needs a re-title since the current one refers to a theme that was almost entirely cut from the book.  The file on my computer is still called "Something" because I haven't come up with a title I really like yet.

That describes many of my writing sessions (especially the early ones) so well it's almost creepy.

It's not as much a problem now that the book is "complete" and I'm supposed to be focusing on revisions, but when I was working on the first draft and doing that it pretty much ground my progress to a halt.  Now I try to limit myself to three or four passes through a chapter before I post it here for feedback.  I figure there's no sense fixing things that don't bother readers, and I could spend ages tweaking a single chapter otherwise.  I guess it remains to be seen how that strategy will work out.

Thanks for the well-wishes.

What other titles have you been thinking of, Ben?

 I like HIGH ALTITUDE MAGIC--it's catchy, easy to say, and evocative. Maybe you can use it for something else later if it doesn't fit this theme anymore.

Lucy

Hi LeeAnna--your post made me laugh. Are you a coffee drinker? Coffee is the only motivation I can think of for doing those little edits. They take so much concentration . . . .

Good luck and let us know how it's going (and congrats on finishing the major edits!).

Lucy

LeeAnna: You don't need motivation; you need a rest! Time to recharge those weirdling batteries. All work and no play . . .

I think we all agree that this is damn hard. Does anyone think that it ever gets easier? I'm always reading the interviews with authors, and the comments make me think that it doesn't get easier, no matter how successful/experienced you become. Unless you've found a winning formula, and you stick with it. Hmmm . . .  this is not necessarily a bad thing, we all write from the core of who we are. 

.

Zadie Smith has said, "When I write I am trying to express my way of being in the world." I like to think that this fits Carl E. Reed to a T.

. 

Opinions?

--edited by Mimi Speike on 3/26/2014, 3:37 PM--

Hi, Mimi! I see you've been hard at work revising Sly! Salute.

And who was it who said (Michael Dirda? Martin Amis?) that "literature is best when the book's ambitions slightly exceed the writer's grasp."

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 3/26/2014, 11:16 PM--

Yes, I have been hard at work on Sly. In a few more weeks I will send it off to an editor. After I have dealt with what she has to say, I will repost it here.

.

I have made many changes, but they may not be seen as being for the better. I have broken four very long chapters into twenty-four shorter ones, I've added new active material and shoved a lot of that detail into chapter notes, an additional comic device, that no one has to read unless they can't resist seeing what other crap I've come up with.

.
I've solved a few plot problems that will impact what comes next. All in all, I feel pretty good about what I've done. Yeah, until that editor, who I met on another site, tears it apart.

I thought about taking a break, but being so close is driving me nuts. I keep sitting down at it so I can get it up here as soon as possible. I feel like I should have been done ages ago. I need feedback on the new stuff so I can make sure I'm ready to start querying, and it's just under 200k, so it's going to take people a while to read. I already have notes for 6 more books (yes, 6) set in the Hands universe, and notes for 2 other unrelated novels. I want to work on them, but I don't do well with multiple projects. I guess you could say I need to finish Hands, like now.

Maybe I should just drink more coffee.

Yeah, it wasn't bad, especially for something I came up with in about five minutes when I realized I needed a title to post it here.

The only other thought I've had is something to do with the city where most of the action happens - Deep Isle.  As an added bonus that would likely give me the name of the next book too, but besides that I haven't come up with anything else remotely decent.

Now that you mention it though, I might have another use for High Altitude Magic.  I've had a vague idea for a frame story that would fit perfectly with that title, but of course a frame story is no good without stories to frame.  If only I had infinite time and motivation.

This is a great question to ask of writers.

I am disabled and 61 years old and still kicking, lol. But as a writer I feel I am my happiest.

Life offers us no guarantees after we are born except for us to die.

What we do with our life between those two points is all that counts.

Writers often times want to bang their head on their monitor, their keyboard when they face a writing challenge that seems impossible to overcome. And because each of us have a totally unique personality, we react to that problem and deal with it differently. I know writers who revise, revise, revise, ever trying to polish a manuscript.

I am not saying that is wrong, but it isn't for me.

I write a book once, and then EDIT it several times AFTER I have calmed down from my sense of accomplishment.

Once that is done, I am done. Then its time to go on to my next book idea.

Perhaps if someone feels they are facing a problem they can't resolve, maybe going to the local library and checking out some books about writing, or checking out some writers magazine might help.

Raymond

Hello, Raymond! I salute your commonsensical approach to first-draft writing and subsequent revision. 

And I should hope you're still kicking at the physically callow yet intellectually seasoned age of 61! I wish you many more productive decades of life filled with enriching experiences + love and laughter. And completed manuscripts, eh?

Also: I love your chosen sobriquet: "Raymond the Writer." Strong! No bs. Flatly declarative and empowering. I suspect you've earned it . . . by writing. (Which is, of course, the only way to be a writer—write.)

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/2/2014, 12:48 AM--

Well, answering the question posed here is a tough one, but I figured I'd give it a go, since I have an itch to put in my own two cents worth.

Truth is, I don't know how I feel about my own writing--I like to think it's all right, but without outside sources--other than my Dad's, who hasn't read a fiction book in I don't know how many years--I can't say one way or the other. I know there are people on this site reviewing my WIP--one of them said it looks 'good' in a message they sent me. But as I am unpublished, I'm a timid, hopeful soul that prays my writing isn't complete garbage.

On a different note, I try to stay upbeat as I write--I go on the basis that my writing isn't complete crap. And I write for myself first and foremost. So yay me!

I think most of us bounce between the two polarities you cited, Amber: "I'm great!" and "I suck!" (My terms, not yours.)

I think a bit of Kipling is called for here, that bit in his poem "If" where he references success and failure and then advises ". . . if you can treat those two imposters just the same . . ." 

Keep writing! Learning. Growing. 

All writers are terrible judges of their "best work", anyway, as almost every literary critic and constant reader agrees. 

Writing is an action verb. If you're doing it, you're a writer. Simple as that. And I, for one, salute you--and every other kind, decent, reality-engaged man or woman who keeps pen moving across paper or fingers flying across keyboard in the attempt to communicate with others.

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/4/2014, 7:58 PM--

Hey, Carl. Just wanted to say thanks for the kind words there. And you're right, of course. I really do like to think my writing is at least 'decent'--Over the past six years, I've read dozens of writing styles from so many different writers--fast-paced, slow-paced, simple, wordy, goofy, deep, lighthearted, depressing, funny, choppy. quirky. Some of them I liked. Some of them I didn't. I like to think my own style of writing can--and hopefully will--entertain others. Even if it's only a small selection--twenty or thirty people would be enough to make me happy. So I'll keep on writing and praying and hoping.

Who knows? Maybe one day I'll actually publish something and garner some courage when it comes to my Voice.

Ah, well. A girl can dream.

--edited by Amber Wolfe on 11/4/2014, 7:42 PM--

I wrote in 12/2013 that I felt good about the writing. That’s still true, though my monthly production is low. I have diversions including a day job. Thank goodness I have the best boss in North America. That helps.

My weakness is marketing. I don’t like to do it. I know it’s necessary. I still don’t like to do it. But I’m posting now to strut a little.

Last evening I was the keynote for a group that’s in the center of my target readership. This is hard for me because I am so very shy. I had an outline in my head but my 50 or so (but who’s counting?) minutes was mostly improv. The audience laughed in the right places. When I read from my second short story collection I got a nice round of applause, and another when I quit for the evening. I sold a couple hundred dollars worth of books and signed enough other copies bought through the publisher that I can expect a nice royalty check this quarter. The only issue now is that I paid my dinner and bar tab, and the president of the group is asking for the amount so he can reimburse me. I’m not used to going to places where I’m not allowed to buy my own drinks.

I’ll never make a living at this, but last night I made some new friends. There are a lot of frustrations for us writers, but sometimes we have a little high, like last night.

Now it’s time to spend an hour or two on that first novel. Now it’s time to write. 

Perry--I am so glad you shared this. What a wonderful story. My favorite part is that they want to reimburse you for your dinner and drinks--such a great feeling!

It's really lovely when your writing connects with other people. I do think writers need moments like these to keep it up. It's kind of like marathon training--you shouldn't run marathons just to get medals, but it's nice that a medal is provided.

@Lucy: Here-here!    :::applause for Perry:::

@Perry: I'm so glad you shared that! We, the online writing community, live vicariously through your successes, too, writer-man! That sounds like an absolutely wonderful evening: an appreciative audience listening to your voice followed by paid-for food and drink. The Greeks knew no higher validation . . . 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/7/2014, 12:49 PM--

Lucy and Carl,

Thanks for the kind words. The evening was a validation of what I've been doing. It has continued with thanks and congratulations arriving from some of those in attendance.

In a way, I'm frustrated because I have so little time to do all that must be done. Presently I'm working on Water Pearl, doing some rewriting while several other novels are hanging around, begging to be finished. Also, I have other things I want to write...and read. There's my blog, there's the review to write of a book I've just finished, there's a comment to post on a media site. There's promotion. There's not enough time.

Nevertheless I received feedback on a contest I entered--the 22nd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards. Nope, I didn't win, but the judge's commentary was positive. My science fiction Train to Nowhere is great. So why didn't I win as least an honorable mention? My book cover didn't reflect the depth and complexity of the story. And that comment with its suggestions is one I also prize, because it gives me direction.

@Gloria: I hear ya! There is indeed never enough time to do all of the things we writers would like to do during any particular 24-hr. period: write, edit, read, watch films, exercise, eat, drink. Sleep.  

The way I get around this crushing limitation is to remind myself: You can't do it all (since "I" am but one bifurcated bicameral mind with an emergent property of consciousness giving rise to the illusion of an autonomous self called "Carl" trapped in chronological time) but you can (once you've silenced chattering monkey mind) pay 100% attention to whatever you're doing at the moment. In a word: mindfulness. Arising from "an attitude of gratitude" that focuses the attention on what is enriching, fleeting and oftentimes unexpected: little glints of light, love and laughter sparking betwixt the self and others as we whirl through the cosmos together en route to . . . well, different religio-philosophical systems give differing "final answers" to what happens post-consciousness to egocentric materialist entities besotted with mysticism and mystery. 

All of which is to say: sounds like you're putting in the time (whatever is reasonable and right, given your personal schedule) and doing good work, day after day. What more, really, can you ask of a writer but that they write? 

And congrats on the feedback you received from the judge responding to your Writer's Digest contest entry! Written constructive feedback = artistic validation. But then, you already knew that . . .  

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/11/2014, 3:22 PM--

Yesterday I read over a short piece I'd written the day before, and got really depressed. I thought it was hopeless. Today I read it again, made some deletions, rewrote just a bit, and I think it's good. Very good. Tomorrow I'll probably hate it again.

.

Carl, you've had some stuff published, I figure you're more confident by now. Do you still go through this? Is there such a thing as literary bi-polar? If there is, I've got it. Weigh in here, anybody. Who else goes through this?

--edited by Mimi Speike on 11/12/2014, 7:02 PM--

Mimi,

I think it's a common thing to write something, be pleased with it at first, and later realize it needs an early death or a major edit. 

The faster I write the more editing I need. I have a deliberative writing process and pace, which suits me and reduces the embarrassment and confusion of producing something really bad in the first draft. Others I know are like this too; none of us are candidates for nano because the push for a number of words would result in something unreadable.

We have in a neighboring town an essayist who, after starving at least in a literal sense for years is now making a good living from his writing. He likens his writing process to carving concrete with a plastic spoon. He doesn't do much editing, but sometimes it takes many minutes to find the next word in a sentence in that first draft.

I'm shaky right now. I'm revving up to do a final push on a truncated book one of Sly, to get a novella published as a test-the-waters thing. I think of it as Sherman's march through Georgia, fighting battle after battle that I have deemed it essential to win. I intend a counterpoint struggle, alternate chapters of a new live-action dispute, to break up the backstory and to add another solid reason why Sly has to get out of town. I've thought it out, I know what that struggle will consist of, I just have to write it.

.

I feel that it's put up or shut up time, and I'm nervous as hell. I'm betting the farm on this new brainstorm.

.

Once I'm satisfied that it addresses my biggest problem - on and on exposition - I'll start thinking seriously about art. That means, settle on a style that is appropriate for a variety of uses, a cover, possibly spot illustration, a poster, a mailer, and a promotional paperdoll.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 11/12/2014, 11:51 PM--

@Mimi: Good luck with the overhaul of Sly! I would advise you to break the rewriting into discrete, easily-attainable daily chunks so that you feel a measure of accomplishment at the conclusion of each writing period.

As to the question of being, as you put it, "bi-polar" (literarily-speaking)—I must confess that I'm in love with everything I first write. I have to be. Otherwise I wouldn't have the energy to write it. (Though there is nothing harder for me than starting a new tale and getting those first 1000 words down on paper or screen.) 

Within 48-72 hrs., however, I realize I've made a hash of things and frantically rewrite, excise and interpolate new passages of text to lessen the burn of embarrassment which reddens my cheeks at the many egregious mistakes I've made (errors of syntax, grammar, spelling, plot development, narrative continuity, character details, etc.) the while praying, "God, I hope no one I know has seen this early-draft version yet . . ."

Let me be as direct as possible while broadening my reply to a more general question: What are ten things you've learned about yourself and the process of writing while working on your weird tales?

1.) Trust your original motivating instinct/flash of insight. If a story idea popped into your head and drove you to record it on paper or computer storage device it's worth exploring to the fullest. Really. Truly. At the risk of sounding doltishly repetitive: Trust yourself. Have a little faith. There's something there, some bit of grit caught in the oyster of your mind that wants to become a pearl, if only in self-defense against nagging irritation . . .  

2.) The original motivating instinct/flash of insight is, however, never enough. During the writing you will discover ways of deepening conflict, highlighting your story's theme(s), sharpening details of character and dialogue and better directing your narrative to its end point.

3.) Write with passion; revise with the coldest and severest of gimlet eyes. (That doesn't mean you go minimalist, necessarily. It does mean that you weigh every word of your story for its effect, relevance and impact.)

4.) All good writing is rewriting, ever and always. Those genius writers who publish their first drafts? They'd be even better on draft 10 . . .

5.) Never, ever let ANYONE shit on your talent. (That's your job when battling narcissistic ego and the impulse to be oracular.) Watch out for the thousand-thousand ways false-faced, vicious people work to undermine and sabotage your efforts. Psychic vampires—so-called friends, co-workers or family members who cleverly wound with a little passive-aggressive half-smile or puzzled grimace: "You're not really going to show this to others/post it for critique/publish it, are you? You need to read ______. They do what you do, only so much better. You should write like them."  

6.) Those writers you love? Your personal literary heroes? Keep reading them. Over and over again. They are the ones secretly cheering you on, whether they know it or not; their fictive narratives working tirelessly as your personal trainers and coaches. (Some of these people—real, erm, "characters" in their personal lives and problematic interactions with others—are the first to admit: "The best of me is on paper." Apprentice yourself to the art, not the artist.) 

7.) Art conceals art. Constant reading is essential to a writer's development—but never enough. Build your own reference library of books on writing and study them to improve your craft.

8.) Stop measuring your own writing methodologies, daily output and sources of inspiration against others. Yes, it can be fun to learn how other's work but every writer is a unique individual with unique ways of approaching the craft. Some are prolific, some are not. Some heavy rewriters, most not. Some literary minimalists, others prose poets. Discover what kind of writer you are in the daily grind of production. (Industrial metaphor intended. Real writers are not over-awed by the magic and mystery of what they do; they're too busy working to keep their mouths hanging open as they plunge down the fictive rabbit hole . . .) 

9. Writer's write—it's that simple. I'm not sure what authors do. (Perhaps they write one book and stop. If it's a grand book, thereupon rests their authority and place in the canon. Hurrah! Author.) The rest of us had better get to work . . .

10. All truthful interpretive writing entails risk to the self—financial, physical, spiritual. Understand that when you pick up the pen or place fingertips on a keyboard at least half the world is gearing up to smash you flat. For breaking the mold. For not being like them. For daring to write fiction. (Just who do you think you are, user-of-words-like-the rest-of-us? My six year old can read and write . . .) For refusing to regurgitate the dogma and cant that serves as lulling soporific and source of narcotizing euphoria to rigid thinkers and autocratic ideologues across a wide spectrum of differing religious, political and psychological types. Many of your critics will have one thing in common: They will hate you for goading them to think. And feel. For working to expand their circle of empathy to include the reviled "other". And they will be absolutely relentless in their efforts to destroy you. How you react to their hatred will define you as a writer. (Assuming you haven't already joined their camp and labor to produce propaganda, meaningless distraction or jeremiad on behalf of society's elites. There is this to be said about being a willing tool/lapdog of the 1%—they pay extremely well.)    

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/14/2014, 7:44 PM--

Carl has given me some backbone. I have been writing a prologue. I know that the prevailing opinion is decidedly against prologues, but I feel that an introduction to my thinking may be useful.

In almost any story, what the characters think about events is far more interesting to me than the events themselves. Hopscotch, which I adore, features a man roaming the streets of Paris obsessing about his love life. Julio Cortázar is on at least one list of the hundred most important writers of the twentieth century, so I’m not completely clueless.

This introduction sets the tone of my piece. The only changes to my original story are, I’ve broken it up and added new active material. Sort of active. Much of that quickly degenerates into conversation. I’m working a shell game, moving things around, that’s about it.

Here’s my possible thing. (I may get cold feet.) 

Man! What is with these fonts? I can't figure out how to fix this.

.

_________________________________________________________________________

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Full of Detours, Dolts, Ruts, and Rascals.
.
When an author feels he has something to say, eminently worth the trouble to endure a difficult style, it is wise to court the reader’s good will, to attempt to encourage an inquisitive patience.

.

So advised one (name to come/have to find that attribution) in an introduction to a 1948 edition of The Ambassadors by Henry James.

.

The comment certainly sets a tone, doesn’t it? It could easily be the lead-in to any number of my favorite books, neglected gems all. By, yes, Henry James. And, Henry Fielding. Daniel DeFoe. Also, lesser lights, who often appeal to my sense of the absurd: The Cloister and the Hearth, by Charles Reade. The Poet At The Breakfast Table, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

.

What all these pieces have in common is mesmerizing style. My own approach to storytelling takes its cue from the curiosities. I write what knocks me out: literary mischief. The straight-faced ruminations of a hundred years ago make me howl with glee. Several of the most challenging of the second, possibly even third-rates are my dearest literary heroes. I would be delighted to be the Amanda McKittrick-Ros of the twenty-first century.

.

My story does not rush; it rambles. The characters reveal themselves through their bickering and haphazard reminiscence; the plot (my so-called plot, I call it) is the basis of a narrative that is enriched with an abundance of loopy collateral material. My POV is the flexible omniscient one, well able to abet and exploit exquisite nonsense. My saps confide their perplexities to me and I air their dirty linen as the spirit moves me. We lurch from pillar to post due to my inability to envision a way forward, and I admit it, and sometimes discuss possibilities. I’ve created a convoluted tale packed with faux-scholarly nuggets of diverting misinformation. My aim has been to wring as much fun out of a fascinating period as I could figure out to do.
.
My setting is Elizabethan England, a time of great upheaval. Into the muck and the murk I’ve flung Sylvester Boots, my smirk-filled take on a nursery icon. My cast is a colorful one: John Dee, Elizabeth’s Royal Astrologer, Aiesha, her pet monkey, with whom Sly (a cat, by the way) falls madly in love. Elizabeth figures prominently, certainly, along with a roster of cunning creeps, each with his silly axe to grind. I’ve got a grand group of nincompoops, and I’ve worked damn hard to do them justice. 

.

Still with me? Got your traveling shoes on? Well all right, then, let’s boogie!

--edited by Mimi Speike on 11/13/2014, 1:58 PM--

@Mimi: If you can pull this off, I want an autographed copy! I'll be the book's biggest fan. 

Have you considered sitting down with a book doctor or other editor to help you pull this latest version together? Just wonderin' . . .  

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 11/13/2014, 11:36 PM--

Carl, I do have an editor working with me. She loves some of what I've got and dislikes some. My idea of alternate chapters of backstory and live action is sort of her idea. Well, not really, it's as close as I can come to her suggestion, which is alternate chapters of story and my intrusion. But too much of what I've written has to be firmly connected to the incidents I comment on, so, you'll see sooner or later, I've shoved a lot of stuff into screwball footnotes to get it out of the way of the little momentum I've got.

.

I hope for the best with the active conflict that I am about to inflict on my characters and my potential readers. Members of Rupert's Privy Council, desperate to boost the revenues of the crown, hatch a scheme to fake a Lourdes-type miracle and set up a shrine, hoping to entice to Haute-Navarre some part of the massive pilgrimage traffic headed to Compostela. The king, a truly pious man, is outraged. Sly, a pragmatist, supports the inanity, behind the king's back. This is the wedge that finally drives them apart. 

.

Zagi, my archbishop of Haute-Navarre, whose secret dream is to be a playwright, produces a script for two boys, and volunteers to rehearse their performance. This is going to be fun. 

.

Sly will be an ebook, no hard copy to send you. When the time comes, message me your address and you'll get an autographed poster and mailer and whatever else I dream up. A bumper sticker, for sure. The paperdoll. I don't know ... window decals for the car? Got any ideas?

--edited by Mimi Speike on 11/13/2014, 11:10 PM--

Mimi, you have a unique voice. I checked out Ros - yes, the resemblance is quite noticeable - but I assume she did not indulge in the fantastical. Your Sly is what makes all the verbiage worth it and creates an aesthetic contrast: a cartoonish figure against a baroque literary style. That's quite nice and who knows, even marketable.  It certainly SHOULD be.  Have on with it. A prologue sounds perfectly OK.

Carl, thanks for your 10-point program and your excellent way of expressing it.  I should post it on my wall. Gratitude, yes. That I have a wall, for instance.

I am weary to my bones of all the dragons and wizards.  It's an automatic turn-off.  The only reason I got into detective/time-travel stuff is to mock it. Yes, that's the truth. Then I started having fun with Legion Ayers' voice and even elements of plot.  But God, who needs wizards after Tolkien?  (Correct me by naming a superb work I don't know! Please!) It's also the sense of being part of a amateurish, on-the-make cast of thousands trying to get published based on the same faux-literary conceits.  Terrifying.  If there's a third Legion Ayers novel I hope I can construct a ruthless satire on wiz-lit.  Is that a word? Wiz-lit? I like it.

Baroque. I like that. Thanks, arnbar. All this time I've been thinking, second-tier Victorian with heavy (common at the time) author intrusion grafted onto my own warped point of view. Your term is so much more elegant.

.

Hold it! Is that a classy way of saying mannered? My work was called mannered by someone, and it wasn't said out of admiration.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the other hand, if I want to be another McKittrick-Ros, mannered points me in the right direction. In her effort to be unique/artistic/God-knows-what, she referred to men's trousers as the southern necessary.  Her original (completely serious, part of her charm) phraseology is the major reason she is still read and enjoyed, absolutely enjoyed, not snickered over, by an adventurous few. (Okay, snickered over, indulgently, with affection.)

--edited by Mimi Speike on 11/15/2014, 2:58 PM--

There are days when I wonder what the heck am I doing this for? Face it, I'm not making a living by writing. Yet there is this driving need to do so.

I have about 30+ finished works, three idea which I have written less than a chapter, one with about 4 chapters, one very close to being finished, and one that is about 3/4 done with first draft. Not to mention the unwritten ideas! Those are mostly just concepts that I really want to get to but I have so much in progress, GUH!

There are also days when I can't wait to sit down at the laptop and write my little heart out.  Like when I get an email from a website saying I'm getting a royalty pmt from one of my eBooks or when I'm notified from Book Country that I have a message or a book I have on peer review is featured! And then there are times when my friend Sue emails me and says "Got anything new I can read?" LOL Those are the days when I know it is all worth it.

I publish all my stuff as eBooks so far. It's no way to get big sales but it gets my name out there. I admit that since starting to write in 2011, much of my work was posted on sites where my friends read for free. In the beginning, I was only doing it for the fun of it, for the comments people would make (questions about what's going to happen next or when the next chapter would be posted.) At the time it was enough and I do miss the "instant" feedback chapter by chapter.

While I don't regret sharing my work for free, I wish I had learned earlier that it was so easy to self publish. On the other hand, I read my earlier works and, quite frankly, they are not good. They have immature grammar and underdeveloped characters. I've tried reading some of the older stuff in hopes I can edit and make it publish worthy. I've given up on that. Some are just too far from where I am now as a writer.

Am I rambling?

I guess the question "How are you feeling about your writing?" has a variety of answers depending on my mood and what's going on at the time. It ebbs and flows just like any other emotion!

Good luck to all!

How do I feel about my writing right now?

     I feel like I am stuck in the doldrums of mediocrity.  Book Country is so loaded with fantastic talent that to interact with the whiz kids

working here is a bit intimidating.  As a cosmopolitan reader I like so many genres that it is easy to stay satisfied with what the writing community has to offer.  However, as I peruse the paperbacks at the local grocers I have notice the absence of new Westerns.  I wonder if, in our modern age, that westerns are vanishing completely from the scene. I read the other day here on book country that an author has written nineteen westerns.  Bully for him. I hope he never lets the genre die. I'll try to do my part to keep the genre alive. 

Westerns are my favorite, but the traditional Louis L'Amour, Max Brand, Zane Grey etc type western is nearly nonexistent. It's interesting that L'Amour and Zane Grey's books are still in print. That says there's a market but apparently only for them. Many agents specifically say they don't want the classic 'shoot 'em up' type of western that L'Amour wrote.

It's also of interest that, in another genre, all the Mike Hammer novels are still in print and still selling well. The industry still looks for hard boiled private I type novels, only they want a less hard boiled type these days. Good example is Robert B Parker's Spencer. Hard and tough but not a Mike Hammer.

--edited by ChuckB on 11/15/2014, 5:05 PM--

She likes my voice, overall, even the endless, often haphazard intrusions. But she wishes it were structured as a chapter of uninterrupted plot, a chapter of my smart-mouth comments and add-ons. And she, like everyone, thinks it needs more live action. She loves my characterization.

.

I'm working on all this. I'm working on a counterpoint 'in the moment' new sub-plot, to break up the world-building, timed to come to a head at the point that Sly announces his imminent departure from Haute-Navarre, when the live story really begins. I have given Sly another really comical reason why he has to skip town.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 11/19/2014, 3:12 PM--

Ah,. I think I understand better now. Makes sense.

In the project I am working on right now, there is a ton of backstory. Sometimes, especially because it is NaNoWriMo and it's just good to get words on paper even if you know they're going to be taken out later, I've been just writing out the backstory. After all, it's kind of the only way to know the backstory, right? Once you know it, you can get the "in the moment" story squared away. But to make live action interesting--or even to have it make sense in terms of motivation, POV, etc--I think you sometimes have to really know your backstory.

Sounds like you are absolutely on the right track, and getting great advice from your editor!