Yes, yes, yes! I am on schedule! I'm even a day ahead of schedule with my day books!
I know it's only been a couple of days, but considering my last week in August, every consecutive day is a big win! Tomorrow I will finish up my current night book. Since I'm ahead of schedule on my day book, I'll probably devote the entire day to finishing up Picklesfork, the first book in my new series called The Ghost and Mrs. Wiggs. Short Western thrillers that should give readers a few laughs and a nice twist.
Get it? The Ghost and Mrs. Wiggs, written by L.L. Muir. Get it?
Bwahahahahaha!
Then on Saturday I'm going to start on the last scenes of Kiss This, my new Christmas romance.
See a trend here? Lots of projects that were nearly finished when I got distracted by a squirrel, or a new story line. It's just time to clean house, you know?
Something interesting from the day's surfing:
I watched an interview with Diana Gabaldon tonight and she shared some advice she'd given to her writer-son. Besides telling him to never read his Amazon reviews, she also said, "You don't owe the readers anything. Your only loyalty is to the book. There is nothing but you and the book." Then she admitted that there are those who write what the readers want, what they expect, and they make a lot of money doing it. But she writes for herself and her characters.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? I'm really curious. I was a little taken aback by her attitude, but I have to say, the past two books I've written were not intended to make the readers happy, only to tell what really happened to those characters. (And I know that sounds a little crazy, but it's true.) But I can't say I totally disregarded what the readers were expecting. (Both books were sequels. One has yet to come out.)
My question is, do you think such a mindset would be freeing? Or do you think it might get you into trouble? Do you think the quality, the honesty of a book would be better if we all shared that attitude?
Anyway...
I'm headed to bed early. Human hours--again.
Answer this too:
How did you do? And how did you do it? Did you have to hide from the world? Or act crazy so the world would hide from you.
Hm?
You already know the frustration I feel with writing YA in the digital world, and while I write to the older age group, I can't write the "50 Shades" thing for 18 yos and that's what's selling. So do you write to market? I say "no." It's your name, your brand, your reputation that's exposed to the world. I don't want to be known as an author who writes erotica for teens. I want to be known as an author who writes stories about relatable characters who struggle with life in the real world--one much larger than just a bedroom. I also believe an author has to write what they love. If you are writing to market, you are not emotionally invested in the story. It's like painting a room blue when you really want it yellow. You live with it, but you don't feel like it's a true reflection of what you want because it's not yellow. Yeah, you might make more money on the offset, but then you're expected to write what you don't love because you've built your fanbase for that type of story. When you try to introduce them to a story written for your heart and not your pocket book, they'll think you've cheated them and you could possibly lose them. Why? Because they want to read the other stuff, even if they love you as an author. I love Janet Evanovich, but if she started writing werewolves, she'd lose me because I'm not a werewolf fan.
ReplyDeleteBut how often do you feel your readers looking over your shoulder? How often does that affect the direction of your scene?
DeleteI was really surprised at my own reaction. I feel my characters are standing up the waiting room cheering. Does that make sense?
My characters are the ones taking up residency in my office while I write (yes, they're that real to me). Sometimes I'll write a scene leaning more to the "popular vote" and see if it fits what my character would do. I'll let it simmer a couple of days then look at it again. My character will let me know if it works. Problem is, if I change it too much, then I have to change everything that follows after. Nine times out of ten, the popular vote loses and my character gives me a condescending pat on the head.."feel better now that you got that out of your system? Now back to work." :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI find that mindset probably produces the BEST writing! I've read some of Diana Gabbaldon's books and she seems to throw a lot of rules out the window and enjoys doing it! I applaud you both. :)
ReplyDeleteMy experience: you have to write what you care about and believe in. What's interesting to you.
ReplyDeletePeriod.
At the same time, um, this is business. You're making an offer to readers and asking for money in exchange.
And so you'd better dang well advertise clearly what you're delivering. You do NOT want them to buy a box of Cheerios and open it up only to find a bunch of rocks, or coconuts, or men's underwear.
No, Lesli, not even that kind of underwear ;)
Also, oweing readers something and wanting to deliver something that delights readers seem to be two different things. They are to me.
If I delight in beginnings that go boom and want to offer that to the reader, then there's no reason why I shouldn't evaluate my stories to make sure those beginnings rock.
That's not slavishly following the market. That's making my product, the one I'm passionate about, the best it can be.
Finally, we writers tend to have a lot of types of stories we're passionate about. More stories in us than we have time for. I don't see anything wrong with looking at two stories I'm passionate about and choosing to write the one I think has a bigger audience.
First of all, Big Guy, I don't know what kind of underwear you could mean. *hmph*
DeleteBut I do understand making the smart business move when choosing between projects.
On the other hand, if we write fast enough, we CAN get them all written!
I remember taking my stack of nearly 30 cards, all of them with a single project/title, and deciding to change my plan and write only thriller from then on, to scrap every story I had stored up in my brain. It was a relief, like coming home to clean your house and finding my husband has already cleaned it. I was ready to sit down to some clean space and start whipping out the first thriller.
And then Supe got on this kick about writing faster and I dug around in some boxes and found that stack of cards again. Now I'm trying to write them all, in addition to the thrillers, and I no longer have to choose one over the other.
THAT is freeing.
I guess I have some kind of 'suppression' hang up, since I seem to latch onto anything that promises to free me.
I am a writer who, in order to get published, was asked to "write for the market," i.e. Amish instead of western. I wasn't passionate about the Amish because I knew absolutely nothing about them. BUT I was and am passionate about romance, so I took that passion for romance and set it in Amish country. I believe that many writers write for the market without really thinking they are writing for the market because they write what they like to read, which is the stuff that's out in the marketplace. Whew, long sentence. However, I do have three westerns, two fantasies, and a romantic suspense in my head. Someday they will get written--but I am nowhere near as fast as you are, Lesli.
ReplyDeleteWesterns? You'd better get writing!
Delete