What I learned in Voice Class.... This sounds strangely like the topic of a 3rd grade theme! I hope I do not write it like a third grader as well! hahaha! Well, What did I learn?
I came out of the voice class fresh from the soul exploring, wall tearing class of the Girls in the Basement, and truly, I have not completely finished that either. But when I started Voice, I was at a point in the Girls class where we were digging into our ancient raw and reopened wounds. This had a dramatic effect on my ability to think clearly and write from the heart. I started the voice class raw and disturbed, just like I was feeling at the time. I think many of the comments from my classmates helped me along the journey of realistically looking at my mental and spiritual scars and examine them so closely. Once these were out in the open and I began to deal with them one at a time, the voice seemed to wander from happiness and fulfillment to anger and frustration and back.
For me, this was more about dealing with who I thought I was, who I wanted to be, and who I truly am. Instead of discovering my voice, I discovered me. Some of the comments, although heartfelt, really angered me at first. I did not know how to respond, because I did not want to lash out for what was clearly my problem. Upon more reflection, I wondered if I was basically just lying to myself. I started to panic, and my heart and mind filled with doubt and apprehension. I wrote to Barbara about owning everything. I thought I had, but how exactly do you do that, for maybe I did it wrong. I wrote to another classmate about the overwhelming process of “owning” this life. Along the way, everyone gave me so many wonderful and beautiful things to ponder. I mulled them over for many days and nights and came to the conclusion that I really did not see these things as they were, but in only one way; I was terrified of looking at my life as the whole picture and digesting it all at once in it’s entirety. Instead, I took everything piecemeal, one event and experience at at time. I had advised others that all these experiences make you who you are. I did not realize it was the SUM of all these things TOGETHER AS ONE which amounts to who you are. Elated, I could now move forward. For all the wonder, beauty and even ugliness in my life, this is what I learned in voice class:
I am a really great human being. I have a huge capacity to be caring, considerate, and forgiving. I am a good wife, loving sibling, forgiving daughter, a devoted mother. I am conscientious, responsible, and a hard worker. I love God, but I am not limited to where and when I can be in his spirit, nor am I closed to all the possibilities of the nature of his (or her) existence. I am courageous, enduring, and my spirit will bless others and live on forever. I know that I can handle anything life gives me, with a smile - at least at the end. When the world crumbles, I will not only still be standing, but I will be standing strong!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Ho Ho Ho! Christmas Comes Early!
Man, it has been a great week. Other than the kids getting the tummy flu, I mean, it has been a really great week! One of the many highlights included Santa Claus finishing her shopping for the kids - One limited edition, almost out of stock, Nikki - girl of the year American Girl Doll, and the ever elusive Nintendo Wii! Santa has never been so generous, EVER. (Santa has been peddling stuff on Ebay for months. )
I already know what I want for Christmas...Internal conflict. Well, not for me, for my characters. I can’t seem to wrap my head around this one. I write a scene, and toss it. I type all day and then hit delete. The conflict that seems so obvious to me, does not present itself in my writing in an obvious way, or even in an obtuse way. I thought it was genius at first, lending my character a bit of a selfish flaw - but it sits there on the edge of my mind hovering, taunting me at every waking moment.
We know that conflict is what interferes with a character meeting his or her goals. We also know that these said goals are spearheaded by our character’s motivation. This is where I seem to get lost in my head, the a dark forest with so many twist and turns it makes a compass spin.
Perhaps to solve the conundrum of conflict we need to back up. Here is where I am running into trouble. Follow me here:
Internal Conflict for my heroine: (Naming it was the easy part) “fear of abandonment”
OK, this is a paralyzing fear for many people. Now, how does this interfere with her goal, or more specifically what is her internal goal? Well, if she wants to live alone alone she will never worry about feeling abandoned. But living alone would be external, not internal, right? If she surrounds her self with many people, not wait...still external. Internal goal and internal motivation. Find security and true love..well, no not if our heroine is focused on saving her brother and keeping him safe. She has raised him, and she is the only mother he has known. A-hem...External Jackie...get back to the internal. Ok, Internal goals: Security, Safety, to sleep at night and not have to worry about who will take care of them. To feel secure and know that her family will not leave her. Motivation? She is overwhelmed and terrified that yet another person will leave her alone with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Do you feel like your head is spinning? Well, mine does! Does that make sense to you? Let us recap:
Internal Goal: To FEEL secure and safe from harm.
Internal Motivation: She is overwhelmed and terrified to be left with more responsibility.
Internal Conflict: Fear of abandonment is paralyzing her from doing the things she needs to do procure safety and security.
Wow, for the first time in months I feel like I am getting somewhere. This blog started as a desperate Christmas wish, and the universe instantly answered my prayers as I wrote! All I needed to do is just ask. OK - Here is your assignment for this week. Blog about what you are having trouble with. Ask for your enlightenment. Sit back and write as it is divinely given to you.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
I already know what I want for Christmas...Internal conflict. Well, not for me, for my characters. I can’t seem to wrap my head around this one. I write a scene, and toss it. I type all day and then hit delete. The conflict that seems so obvious to me, does not present itself in my writing in an obvious way, or even in an obtuse way. I thought it was genius at first, lending my character a bit of a selfish flaw - but it sits there on the edge of my mind hovering, taunting me at every waking moment.
We know that conflict is what interferes with a character meeting his or her goals. We also know that these said goals are spearheaded by our character’s motivation. This is where I seem to get lost in my head, the a dark forest with so many twist and turns it makes a compass spin.
Perhaps to solve the conundrum of conflict we need to back up. Here is where I am running into trouble. Follow me here:
Internal Conflict for my heroine: (Naming it was the easy part) “fear of abandonment”
OK, this is a paralyzing fear for many people. Now, how does this interfere with her goal, or more specifically what is her internal goal? Well, if she wants to live alone alone she will never worry about feeling abandoned. But living alone would be external, not internal, right? If she surrounds her self with many people, not wait...still external. Internal goal and internal motivation. Find security and true love..well, no not if our heroine is focused on saving her brother and keeping him safe. She has raised him, and she is the only mother he has known. A-hem...External Jackie...get back to the internal. Ok, Internal goals: Security, Safety, to sleep at night and not have to worry about who will take care of them. To feel secure and know that her family will not leave her. Motivation? She is overwhelmed and terrified that yet another person will leave her alone with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Do you feel like your head is spinning? Well, mine does! Does that make sense to you? Let us recap:
Internal Goal: To FEEL secure and safe from harm.
Internal Motivation: She is overwhelmed and terrified to be left with more responsibility.
Internal Conflict: Fear of abandonment is paralyzing her from doing the things she needs to do procure safety and security.
Wow, for the first time in months I feel like I am getting somewhere. This blog started as a desperate Christmas wish, and the universe instantly answered my prayers as I wrote! All I needed to do is just ask. OK - Here is your assignment for this week. Blog about what you are having trouble with. Ask for your enlightenment. Sit back and write as it is divinely given to you.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Voice Class Exercize
The following is an exercise from the Voice Class I took with Barbara Samuels. It was a wonderful class, and I could hear my voice growing stronger with each exercise.
1. Where did you grow up? What are the Old World or native languages that
predominate in that area? Any special accent? I grew up in 36 states. I have no accent that I know of and everyone else did have an accent particular to their area.
2. Who taught you to talk? Do your parents have an accent of any kind? Did
anyone ever speak a language other than English around you/to you? My parents taught me to talk. My father grew up in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the US. He has no accent at all and his speech is very refined and articulate. My Mother grew up in New Hampshire, and still retains a small amount of the Northern New England accent. My Father spoke french and german to me growing up. My grandfather spoke norwegian to his brothers and mother, but refused to speak it to us, because he wanted us to be Americans.
3. What were the main ethnic groups around you when you grew up? WASPs and Native Inuits.
If there's a predominant ethnic group in that geography, do you know any of
the stories/legends/superstitions of that group? Did any of them stick with
you particularly when you were a child? When I was 5, I loved being from Nome Alaska, and I knew many legends and native words and customs of the Inuits. When I was 6 we moved to Northern New Hampshire and the kids teased me so terribly about being an eskimo that my parents took me out of the school and put me in school in quebec, where they did not speak English. I still excelled.
4. Have you ever felt a particular affinity for a geography or culture that
is not your own? I often wish I was still in the lands of my ancestors: Scotland, Ireland, and Norway.
Why? What about it do you love or identify with? The history of the lands and the people.
5. What did you love more than anything on earth when you were twelve? My Sunshine Family Dolls. I wish I knew what happened to them.
What did you want to be then? A marine biologist. I spent every waking moment that I was not at school or swim team exploring the intercostal waterway behind my house in Florida.
6. What are your top five favorite novels of all time? What was your
favorite book when you were 12? Fourteen?
1. Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
2. A prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
3. Emma by Jane Austin
4. Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crieghton
5. Harry Potter 1-7 (Is that cheating?)
Favorite book when I was 12: Tales of 4th grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Favorite book when I was 14: All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
7. Can you point to a writer or a book that made you want to be a writer?
Who/What? No, I started writing when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.
8. What book do you most deeply wish you'd written? Why? What parts of it
make you swoon? Characters? Voice? Plot? Sherry Thomas’ Private arrangements. Her plot is unique, she breaks the rules yet it still flows, her characters are deeply flawed and you love them all the more for it. AS for swooning...no I did not swoon, but I bawled like a baby when I thought they really would never be together.
Try typing a few pages from it, just to see how it feels to you. Where you'd
change the flow of the language, the way the paragraphs are broken. She is much more articulate than I, so the pattern and cadence of her sentences are longer at times.
9. What are your obvious passions? (Hobbies, avocations, etc.) Swimming, scuba diving, trail running, reading, and photography.
10 What are the defining characteristics of these passions? (for example,
gardeners and photographers are usually interested in light and color. Model
builders and cross-stitchers tend to like attention to detail.) Being surrounded by or immersed in nature.
11. What would five friends all say about you if someone asked them to name
a defining passion?
creative artist endeavors - scrap-booking, sewing, cake making, writing
12. What are your secret passions? Reiki and healing arts. I know it is not a secret to many of you who know me on line, but in my social circles that I interact with, I do not tell people about it. Mentioning that you can feel other people’s pain and ease their suffering and they will look at you like you have three heads. That is the world that I live in right now. (Flag-waving, Apple-pie loving, patriotic, fundamental and evangelical Christian Military.)
13, What charities speak to you? What one world or national ill would you fix magically if you could? What world sorrows can move you to tears? Children's’ Charities. The suffering of Children destroys me, crimes against children enrage me. I would change that the fact that billions of adults use power over the small and weak to better advantage or thrill themselves.
14. If you weren't a writer, but could be any other kind of artist/musician,
what would you choose?. What would be your tools? why? I would be a cellist. I love the music and the passionate way the cellist moves with the cello while performing. It is intoxicating.
15. Now focus on your own work: do you notice yourself returning to certain
themes? Yes, the trilogy or love triangles that C. Alyson Love pointed out. Everything has some sort of triangle!
Are there times/places that you use repeatedly? If so, can you identify the
reasons it appeals to you, and if so, are there other times/places that
might also stimulate your passions? Have you ever tried to use those other
places/times? I think I focus on medieval historical because life in the middle ages was more fragile. There were no antibiotics to cure a small cut or a mild fever. There was the plague, and then the plague again. The regime in power could disappear in a matter of minutes, leaving you and your family homeless or dead. There was no time to mess around. Life was short and harsh, marriages were for convenience, political gain, titles and wealth. So when love could be found in desperate situations, it was worth fighting for, worth dying for, literally. I am also interested in the Viking Age, Colonial America, and Regency and Victorian England. I have not used these yet.
What do readers/editors/outsiders seem to respond to most enthusiastically
in your work? Is there anything that they see as a strength that you don't
notice or value? The sexual tension and setting the scene. Some people think that my dialog is witty , but I did not notice that. I really want to be witty though!!! :o)
What would you LIKE people to say about your voice? I would like people to say my voice is witty, passionate, and moves them to a deeper level.
If you could only write ONE book in your life, what book would it be?
I would like to write a book that lifts your soul and leaves you completely satisfied and satiated.
Why aren't you writing it? I did not have the time to devote or the creative energies to devote to it. But now after girls in the basement, and voice, and my little ones going back to school last week, I am ready to go!
Now, if you can, try to condense all these defining things into a paragraph,
or even better, one sentence.
My voice is......,the feeling of Christmas night when you are sitting in front of the fire, sipping hot chocolate, watching the lights twinkle on the tree and the snow drift lightly down outside the window, while Nat King Cole’s Christmas Song is playing softly in the background.
1. Where did you grow up? What are the Old World or native languages that
predominate in that area? Any special accent? I grew up in 36 states. I have no accent that I know of and everyone else did have an accent particular to their area.
2. Who taught you to talk? Do your parents have an accent of any kind? Did
anyone ever speak a language other than English around you/to you? My parents taught me to talk. My father grew up in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the US. He has no accent at all and his speech is very refined and articulate. My Mother grew up in New Hampshire, and still retains a small amount of the Northern New England accent. My Father spoke french and german to me growing up. My grandfather spoke norwegian to his brothers and mother, but refused to speak it to us, because he wanted us to be Americans.
3. What were the main ethnic groups around you when you grew up? WASPs and Native Inuits.
If there's a predominant ethnic group in that geography, do you know any of
the stories/legends/superstitions of that group? Did any of them stick with
you particularly when you were a child? When I was 5, I loved being from Nome Alaska, and I knew many legends and native words and customs of the Inuits. When I was 6 we moved to Northern New Hampshire and the kids teased me so terribly about being an eskimo that my parents took me out of the school and put me in school in quebec, where they did not speak English. I still excelled.
4. Have you ever felt a particular affinity for a geography or culture that
is not your own? I often wish I was still in the lands of my ancestors: Scotland, Ireland, and Norway.
Why? What about it do you love or identify with? The history of the lands and the people.
5. What did you love more than anything on earth when you were twelve? My Sunshine Family Dolls. I wish I knew what happened to them.
What did you want to be then? A marine biologist. I spent every waking moment that I was not at school or swim team exploring the intercostal waterway behind my house in Florida.
6. What are your top five favorite novels of all time? What was your
favorite book when you were 12? Fourteen?
1. Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
2. A prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
3. Emma by Jane Austin
4. Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crieghton
5. Harry Potter 1-7 (Is that cheating?)
Favorite book when I was 12: Tales of 4th grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Favorite book when I was 14: All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
7. Can you point to a writer or a book that made you want to be a writer?
Who/What? No, I started writing when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.
8. What book do you most deeply wish you'd written? Why? What parts of it
make you swoon? Characters? Voice? Plot? Sherry Thomas’ Private arrangements. Her plot is unique, she breaks the rules yet it still flows, her characters are deeply flawed and you love them all the more for it. AS for swooning...no I did not swoon, but I bawled like a baby when I thought they really would never be together.
Try typing a few pages from it, just to see how it feels to you. Where you'd
change the flow of the language, the way the paragraphs are broken. She is much more articulate than I, so the pattern and cadence of her sentences are longer at times.
9. What are your obvious passions? (Hobbies, avocations, etc.) Swimming, scuba diving, trail running, reading, and photography.
10 What are the defining characteristics of these passions? (for example,
gardeners and photographers are usually interested in light and color. Model
builders and cross-stitchers tend to like attention to detail.) Being surrounded by or immersed in nature.
11. What would five friends all say about you if someone asked them to name
a defining passion?
creative artist endeavors - scrap-booking, sewing, cake making, writing
12. What are your secret passions? Reiki and healing arts. I know it is not a secret to many of you who know me on line, but in my social circles that I interact with, I do not tell people about it. Mentioning that you can feel other people’s pain and ease their suffering and they will look at you like you have three heads. That is the world that I live in right now. (Flag-waving, Apple-pie loving, patriotic, fundamental and evangelical Christian Military.)
13, What charities speak to you? What one world or national ill would you fix magically if you could? What world sorrows can move you to tears? Children's’ Charities. The suffering of Children destroys me, crimes against children enrage me. I would change that the fact that billions of adults use power over the small and weak to better advantage or thrill themselves.
14. If you weren't a writer, but could be any other kind of artist/musician,
what would you choose?. What would be your tools? why? I would be a cellist. I love the music and the passionate way the cellist moves with the cello while performing. It is intoxicating.
15. Now focus on your own work: do you notice yourself returning to certain
themes? Yes, the trilogy or love triangles that C. Alyson Love pointed out. Everything has some sort of triangle!
Are there times/places that you use repeatedly? If so, can you identify the
reasons it appeals to you, and if so, are there other times/places that
might also stimulate your passions? Have you ever tried to use those other
places/times? I think I focus on medieval historical because life in the middle ages was more fragile. There were no antibiotics to cure a small cut or a mild fever. There was the plague, and then the plague again. The regime in power could disappear in a matter of minutes, leaving you and your family homeless or dead. There was no time to mess around. Life was short and harsh, marriages were for convenience, political gain, titles and wealth. So when love could be found in desperate situations, it was worth fighting for, worth dying for, literally. I am also interested in the Viking Age, Colonial America, and Regency and Victorian England. I have not used these yet.
What do readers/editors/outsiders seem to respond to most enthusiastically
in your work? Is there anything that they see as a strength that you don't
notice or value? The sexual tension and setting the scene. Some people think that my dialog is witty , but I did not notice that. I really want to be witty though!!! :o)
What would you LIKE people to say about your voice? I would like people to say my voice is witty, passionate, and moves them to a deeper level.
If you could only write ONE book in your life, what book would it be?
I would like to write a book that lifts your soul and leaves you completely satisfied and satiated.
Why aren't you writing it? I did not have the time to devote or the creative energies to devote to it. But now after girls in the basement, and voice, and my little ones going back to school last week, I am ready to go!
Now, if you can, try to condense all these defining things into a paragraph,
or even better, one sentence.
My voice is......,the feeling of Christmas night when you are sitting in front of the fire, sipping hot chocolate, watching the lights twinkle on the tree and the snow drift lightly down outside the window, while Nat King Cole’s Christmas Song is playing softly in the background.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Voice reponse
This week in Barbara's Workshop she gave us Photos to examine and write a response. I think I did it incorrectly. I just started writing from the gut, where everyone else was writing stories. I still like my response, even if it was wrong.
Photo #1 Runner's feet going down the hill:
Freedom. Freedom from my earthly constraint . Freedom to be who I
really am. Free Range Human. Go anywhere unrestricted. No
boundaries, no baggage, no limitations. Anyone and everyone can
obtain this, even me. Running sets you free. There is nothing that
can hold you back nothing that you can tie you down to the drudgery of
our society, the drudgery we have impaled ourselves on, and
conditioned each other to accept as normalcy and happiness. Freedom
to escape all societal shackles.
I love running trails best of all. I will not run asphalt. I have
left the sport of triathlon, to get off the roads. Running the trails is like going to church for me, although some of my christian friends say that the devil is pulling me
away. To hell with that. I find peace and God out there in the woods, along the streams, and high atop the mountains. I have always found him there and listening to me, much
easier than in the dozens of churches I have tried to find him in. He
is there with his feminine persona "Mother Nature". They are one, the
great creator, and I can be out in the middle of his majestic works
and speak to him, rather than in a man made creation designed to teach
me how man thinks I should worship him. Running causes endorphins
that I do not get from swimming. When I swim I am feeling calm and at
peace and I work through problems in my head. But when I run, it is
like a wave of cleansing crashes over me, then pours into me, and then
finally leaves me taking with it all the bad thoughts, fears, and
environmental, social, and mental toxins that have accosted me through
day to day life.
My Freedom, My life.
Photo #2 Nude:
arbara picked Nude for me
It is so interesting that you picked the nude for me. I have been
struggling with body issues for about 14 years now. Although my mother
says I was anorexic before I became an over eater. It started when my
running slowed down. I got a job and I could not run for hours and
hours so I started to snack to deal with stress. When I married my
husband all the issues I had with my parents and their dysfunctional
marriage started to bubble to the surface and I blocked out the issues
with food. My husband withdrew after the first year of marriage for
other reasons, and I consoled myself with food. This became a pattern
with me. When I had finally worked out the issues with my parents and
confronted them with the problems, my weight began to drop. When my
husband realized what an Ass he had become and turned our marriage
around, my weight continued to drop. I was at a very healthy weight
for the first time since puberty. And then I got pregnant, and lost
the baby. And lost another, and another, and another. When Bryn came
along after months of bed rest, and was brought into the world almost
dead from a delivery my OB called, and I quote, "Absolutely horrific",
the roller-coaster of eating to dull the pain and guilt started again.
10 pounds, 20 pounds. Pregnant again, lost it. 30 pounds, pregnant
with twins, lost one, and the other Hung on with tenacity (She is
still the most tenacious person you will EVER meet.) Then everything
was going OK. 10, -20. Annika is diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease, the
Chemo starts, + 10. Pregnant with twin again, lost them both +30. #)
lbs of Pure Guilt. It had to me my fault right? And so on and so
forth. Time is up. I did not mean to whine so much.
Photo #1 Runner's feet going down the hill:
Freedom. Freedom from my earthly constraint . Freedom to be who I
really am. Free Range Human. Go anywhere unrestricted. No
boundaries, no baggage, no limitations. Anyone and everyone can
obtain this, even me. Running sets you free. There is nothing that
can hold you back nothing that you can tie you down to the drudgery of
our society, the drudgery we have impaled ourselves on, and
conditioned each other to accept as normalcy and happiness. Freedom
to escape all societal shackles.
I love running trails best of all. I will not run asphalt. I have
left the sport of triathlon, to get off the roads. Running the trails is like going to church for me, although some of my christian friends say that the devil is pulling me
away. To hell with that. I find peace and God out there in the woods, along the streams, and high atop the mountains. I have always found him there and listening to me, much
easier than in the dozens of churches I have tried to find him in. He
is there with his feminine persona "Mother Nature". They are one, the
great creator, and I can be out in the middle of his majestic works
and speak to him, rather than in a man made creation designed to teach
me how man thinks I should worship him. Running causes endorphins
that I do not get from swimming. When I swim I am feeling calm and at
peace and I work through problems in my head. But when I run, it is
like a wave of cleansing crashes over me, then pours into me, and then
finally leaves me taking with it all the bad thoughts, fears, and
environmental, social, and mental toxins that have accosted me through
day to day life.
My Freedom, My life.
Photo #2 Nude:
arbara picked Nude for me
It is so interesting that you picked the nude for me. I have been
struggling with body issues for about 14 years now. Although my mother
says I was anorexic before I became an over eater. It started when my
running slowed down. I got a job and I could not run for hours and
hours so I started to snack to deal with stress. When I married my
husband all the issues I had with my parents and their dysfunctional
marriage started to bubble to the surface and I blocked out the issues
with food. My husband withdrew after the first year of marriage for
other reasons, and I consoled myself with food. This became a pattern
with me. When I had finally worked out the issues with my parents and
confronted them with the problems, my weight began to drop. When my
husband realized what an Ass he had become and turned our marriage
around, my weight continued to drop. I was at a very healthy weight
for the first time since puberty. And then I got pregnant, and lost
the baby. And lost another, and another, and another. When Bryn came
along after months of bed rest, and was brought into the world almost
dead from a delivery my OB called, and I quote, "Absolutely horrific",
the roller-coaster of eating to dull the pain and guilt started again.
10 pounds, 20 pounds. Pregnant again, lost it. 30 pounds, pregnant
with twins, lost one, and the other Hung on with tenacity (She is
still the most tenacious person you will EVER meet.) Then everything
was going OK. 10, -20. Annika is diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease, the
Chemo starts, + 10. Pregnant with twin again, lost them both +30. #)
lbs of Pure Guilt. It had to me my fault right? And so on and so
forth. Time is up. I did not mean to whine so much.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Why don't I understand secondary characters?
I went back to my closet and went through all my “keepers” looking for a book with notable secondary characters. (I usually pass my books on to others, as we are very short on space in military quarters.) Out of all my keepers I could not come up with six books – or series of books, that had a moving secondary character, one that influenced the story in a memorable way, other than the antagonist. Even in my Collection of the great Jane Austin, I felt the secondary characters were so lacking. In Pride & Prejudice, Jane is such a lackluster individual it is hard to imagine that she and Elisabeth came from the same family.
The one notable exception of course is the Harry Potter series, I love how both Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger help Harry along his true path, supporting him when he needs support, and standing up to him when he is wrong. But what does JK Rowling do wrong? Besides not write about Harry for the rest of her life! Just kidding, we do not want this bright mind to burn out.
But as for my main reading genre, Romance, nothing really stands out. What does that mean? Does it mean in Romance secondary characters are not important? Why have them? Are they just filling up space? No, because all characters must have an impact on the story, correct? Why would they be there if they have no impact and if they have an impact, why can I not remember them?
I do recall one secondary character that did leave an impact on me but it was one of pity, I felt so badly that the heroine treated her friend so badly, it actually made me hate the story because I could not care less about the heroine after her callous treatment of someone who truly cared about her well being.
So, as I wrestle with the role of my secondary characters in my book, I leave you with a list of questions about secondary characters.
1. Are they a necessity to the Romance Genre?
2. What type of role do they have in the structure of a Novel?
3. Do we need the impacts of these characters to be sublime in order not to detract from the story?
4. If antagonists are not considered secondary characters, can a secondary character also be an antagonist?
5. How much of an impact should a secondary character have on your protagonists’ goal, conflict, and motivation?
6. Should they all impact our story, or are some just along for the ride.
I will not taint your opinions with my answers right now, I just would like you to ponder these questions and use your answers to assist your in your MIP. Cheers!
The one notable exception of course is the Harry Potter series, I love how both Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger help Harry along his true path, supporting him when he needs support, and standing up to him when he is wrong. But what does JK Rowling do wrong? Besides not write about Harry for the rest of her life! Just kidding, we do not want this bright mind to burn out.
But as for my main reading genre, Romance, nothing really stands out. What does that mean? Does it mean in Romance secondary characters are not important? Why have them? Are they just filling up space? No, because all characters must have an impact on the story, correct? Why would they be there if they have no impact and if they have an impact, why can I not remember them?
I do recall one secondary character that did leave an impact on me but it was one of pity, I felt so badly that the heroine treated her friend so badly, it actually made me hate the story because I could not care less about the heroine after her callous treatment of someone who truly cared about her well being.
So, as I wrestle with the role of my secondary characters in my book, I leave you with a list of questions about secondary characters.
1. Are they a necessity to the Romance Genre?
2. What type of role do they have in the structure of a Novel?
3. Do we need the impacts of these characters to be sublime in order not to detract from the story?
4. If antagonists are not considered secondary characters, can a secondary character also be an antagonist?
5. How much of an impact should a secondary character have on your protagonists’ goal, conflict, and motivation?
6. Should they all impact our story, or are some just along for the ride.
I will not taint your opinions with my answers right now, I just would like you to ponder these questions and use your answers to assist your in your MIP. Cheers!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Conference Reflections
Seize the moment before it is gone, for another day begins at dawn.
-Clay Harrison
We have been home for a week now, and it seems as though the RWA conference was eons ago. Do not think that all of the excitement is gone, for that is not the case at all. It is more the case of being submerged in a magical world for a short while and then dumped back into everyday existence. I feel the way a seven year old would feel on the day she returned to school after a week of vacationing at Walt Disney World.
The first day was a blur, between meeting my writing buds for the first time and then entering the room at the literary signing, the day was emotionally charged and full of excitement and anxiety.
At the literary signing giddy with excitement, I approached my favorite writer, Jacquie D’Alessandro. She was even more bubbly and cheerful than I had imagined from her writing voice and her adorable photo on the inside back cover of her books. Charming and sincere, she graciously accepted my gush of compliments and graced me with the opportunity for a photo. At the end, she even offered me her shirt featuring the cover of her new book, Sleepless at Midnight. It is hanging on the wall of my office right now as inspiration. Like a schoolgirl I practically skipped back to my room that night, wondering to myself how could the conference get any better?
The next three days continued to be magical. The company was wonderful, the food was great, the lectures were fantastic, and my star struck giddy gently wore down to a admirable respect.
There were a few emotional moments. After hearing an agent speak disapprovingly of unpublished authors who blog, I rashly asked my husband to delete my entire blog. (seven months worth of blogs). I learned quickly over the next few days that everyone in the business seemed to have a different opinion on blogs and everything else, so I immediately regretted my rashness.
Then there were the Golden Heart and Rita awards. Oh, how I cried! I was so happy for all the winners and disappointed for the “runner’s-up”. And as I sat on the plane eight hours later, I envisioned myself in a long beaded gown befit a princess thanking my darling AOTP buddies, without whom this award, for me, would not be possible!
Ah-hum, OK, now back to reality. Upon returning home, I sat and digested all that I had learned, all that I had absorbed, and all that I had observed. Was this everything I had imagined? Is this really the niche I wish to carve for myself in my life? Is writing worth the time, energy, heartache, and personal sacrifice? I leave you with five words to answer these questions. San Francisco here I come.
-Clay Harrison
We have been home for a week now, and it seems as though the RWA conference was eons ago. Do not think that all of the excitement is gone, for that is not the case at all. It is more the case of being submerged in a magical world for a short while and then dumped back into everyday existence. I feel the way a seven year old would feel on the day she returned to school after a week of vacationing at Walt Disney World.
The first day was a blur, between meeting my writing buds for the first time and then entering the room at the literary signing, the day was emotionally charged and full of excitement and anxiety.
At the literary signing giddy with excitement, I approached my favorite writer, Jacquie D’Alessandro. She was even more bubbly and cheerful than I had imagined from her writing voice and her adorable photo on the inside back cover of her books. Charming and sincere, she graciously accepted my gush of compliments and graced me with the opportunity for a photo. At the end, she even offered me her shirt featuring the cover of her new book, Sleepless at Midnight. It is hanging on the wall of my office right now as inspiration. Like a schoolgirl I practically skipped back to my room that night, wondering to myself how could the conference get any better?
The next three days continued to be magical. The company was wonderful, the food was great, the lectures were fantastic, and my star struck giddy gently wore down to a admirable respect.
There were a few emotional moments. After hearing an agent speak disapprovingly of unpublished authors who blog, I rashly asked my husband to delete my entire blog. (seven months worth of blogs). I learned quickly over the next few days that everyone in the business seemed to have a different opinion on blogs and everything else, so I immediately regretted my rashness.
Then there were the Golden Heart and Rita awards. Oh, how I cried! I was so happy for all the winners and disappointed for the “runner’s-up”. And as I sat on the plane eight hours later, I envisioned myself in a long beaded gown befit a princess thanking my darling AOTP buddies, without whom this award, for me, would not be possible!
Ah-hum, OK, now back to reality. Upon returning home, I sat and digested all that I had learned, all that I had absorbed, and all that I had observed. Was this everything I had imagined? Is this really the niche I wish to carve for myself in my life? Is writing worth the time, energy, heartache, and personal sacrifice? I leave you with five words to answer these questions. San Francisco here I come.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Braveheart Who?
Aloha,
This week at AOTP the buzz with those of us who are going RWA convention is “which workshops are we going to attend?”. There are so many choices, it has definitely been a challenge to narrow it down to one choice for each session. I will be leaning mostly to the craft workshops, not the business end, because if assume that if I do not have a well crafted manuscript, it does not matter how great my synopsis is written or how wonderful my query letters are written, or does it matter? Perhaps I should through a few of technical classes in for good measure.
There is such a diverse group of workshops offered at RWA, there are few attendees who will be left wanting. Although on some introspection, I came up with a few suggestions for nest year’s convention.
Tie Me Up 101: Do you long to write, but still have young children home during the day, or older kids home for summer break? In this class we will learn all the ethical ways to “occupy” your children so you may get a least one hour a day of uninterrupted writing time. Topics include; What children can do with a soda can and a butter knife, How much TV can a child really watch without frying her brain?, and Gagging - safe or sadistic? This is so popular it will be offered in two different time slots.
Hovering Over the Slush Pile: For those interested in the Paranormal, this class will teach you spells and incantations that can be used to enhance your completed masterpiece, and get it to your editor or agent. Highlights include: the Hovering Manuscript Spell - always be at the top of the pile. Literally, your manuscript can not be buried! The Query Letter Adhesive Incantation- your query letter will not leave the editor or agents hands until she has contacted you personally via e-mail or telephone. And the long awaited Synopsis Perceive Charm - one look and your editor can instantly see your entire manuscript from start to finish in her mind.
Braveheart Who?: Do you love historical romance, but want to take a break from Medieval Scotland and Regency England? Traditionally editors have shied away from more unpopular areas of time and location for the Historical Romance Genre. In this workshop we will explore the possibility of opening the genre to new and exciting locals and time period: Ancient Mesopotamia - who was that alpha hero (or heroine) who invented the wheel? Medieval Spain - was the Spanish Inquisition that bad? Antarctica - Love among ice and penguins.
Anyone else game?
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