My New Year's resolution #1. Help others in need. Enjoy.
http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000089?v=5017561&l=100022574
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
What's peeking out between your words and your sentences?
The more I read queries, first pages, 1000 words etc the more I'm of the mind that agents aren't looking for the quick grab, the interesting set up. I've come to believe, that as much as they may not consider it--I think they are looking for something indefinable between the words and the lines. A well crafted interesting story may still not rise to the top, because the unique voice that speaks to the agent isn't there. Yet it's MORE than that. Maybe it's even something more hard to recognize than voice. Some illusive quality that peeks out from under the words that some people write.
Yes, I know that's very zen like to consider, but as I delve into the reality end of publishing, I realize that there is something else beneath the surface and indefinable in some writer's words.
Just late night musing, but if you've heard anything like this discussed, I'd love to do some reading on it.
May your holidays be wonderful and filled with peace. Meg
Yes, I know that's very zen like to consider, but as I delve into the reality end of publishing, I realize that there is something else beneath the surface and indefinable in some writer's words.
Just late night musing, but if you've heard anything like this discussed, I'd love to do some reading on it.
May your holidays be wonderful and filled with peace. Meg
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The inevitable sadness of letting go
Does anyone else find that writing the last quarter of a manuscript slows you down? I've charged through enough story/plot lines now that I know the inevitable (for me) is happening again. In the last chapters, I'm cutting out tiny parts of my heart.
Even though I have the next project lined up and occasionally sneaking away like a guilty lover in the middle of the night to visit the next and do research. Knowing that I have several more edits to go--there is always the overwhelming emotional goodbye that takes place in my head. My characters will never again be at this point in time, and in the case of Eve, Kai, and Randon their innocence seems to be slipping from my fingers and there isn't a thing I can do about it.
In the final chapters, I'll revel in their triumphs, I'll laugh at their jokes, and I'll let tears mix with pride as I let the raw freshness of the story go.
I don't know how J.K. Rowling ever got through those last pages. I hear she had to go to a hotel and cry her way through them. Do all writers do that, or do they become jaded over the years? Do you gain some 'professional distance' that makes it easier? Do you lose your mothering instinct?
I hope not.
Even though I have the next project lined up and occasionally sneaking away like a guilty lover in the middle of the night to visit the next and do research. Knowing that I have several more edits to go--there is always the overwhelming emotional goodbye that takes place in my head. My characters will never again be at this point in time, and in the case of Eve, Kai, and Randon their innocence seems to be slipping from my fingers and there isn't a thing I can do about it.
In the final chapters, I'll revel in their triumphs, I'll laugh at their jokes, and I'll let tears mix with pride as I let the raw freshness of the story go.
I don't know how J.K. Rowling ever got through those last pages. I hear she had to go to a hotel and cry her way through them. Do all writers do that, or do they become jaded over the years? Do you gain some 'professional distance' that makes it easier? Do you lose your mothering instinct?
I hope not.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
