Heroes and Genre

Over on Marie's blog (see new entry under Friends of Debbie), she discusses the phenomenon of wanting favorite authors to have lived lives as exciting as the ones they write about. She uses Jane Austen and the highly fictionalized movie about her brief acquaintance with a gentleman as an example.

I think we do that with all of our heroes. We want them to have lived extraordinary lives before they create extraordinary works. Even with politicians, business moguls, athletes, etc. Because if they were just ordinary before they did these things, well then, why aren't the rest of us ordinary folk doing extraordinary things?

But I think with authors there's another level to it. And it has to do with genre. In order to write in a particular genre, one should look and be a certain way. Face it, we want horror writers to look like Stephen King or speak like Alfred Hitchcock. And romance authors should be beautiful, sexy women who've had dozens of exciting lovers. Only ex-Navy Seals or other special ops veterans can write a good thriller, right? Mystery/crime authors are British men who smoke pipes, and cozy mysteries are written by little old gray-haired ladies with a dozen cats each. Sci-fi writers are geeks with thick glasses. Fantasies, well I picture Neil Gaiman, but I think the standard would be a stuffy old professor of ancient runes. Literary fiction? Too cool for school New Yorker, born and bred. Can't be more than thirty either. Women's fiction? Thirty-something career woman turned housewife.

I'm not sure any of the Pirates fit the mold. Except maybe Bret, who spent 20 years in the Navy. Jenny looks nothing like Stephen King. Shane's pretty cool, but he's from California. Mary, too, is cool but from right here in Colorado. I'm neither 30-something nor a housewife. Ali, not stuffy or old. Nicole, ditto. DB would hit me if I ever called her a little, old lady. Hard. Fleur isn't a British man and I've never seen her smoke a pipe, but who knows? John hasn't settled on a genre, and may not, why should he? But given the examples above, he looks like he could be ex-special ops so he'll have to write straight thrillers.

So we're all doomed. Except, the stereotype is, as all stereotypes are, ridiculous. We don't have to be struggling, depressed, starving artists to write wonderful stories. We don't have to put everything into our work and let our characters lead our lives for us. We can just write. And just live. And be ordinary or extraordinary as we see fit and still create wonderful, magical, incredibly beautiful works.

Dang!

Another month just done flew by. What were my goals for May?

-10 chapters of MMG rewrite. I did 3 chapters for a total of 22 pages. I'll take it.
-Polish Vesta so far and submit to CWC. DONE
-Research Tarot and crystals. ONGOING
-Write 25 additional pages of Vesta. Decided to wait until I get the feedback at the end of June so I know whether or not I'm going in the right direction.

It was amazing how much polishing I felt I had to do for Vesta before I turned it over. This is a tough group, and I don't want to give them anything other than my best. Of course, now that I've said that I'm waiting to get a "That was your best?" from one or two. Or all five.

So June. If I'm not going to work on Vesta until after the meeting on the 30th, I should be able to devote all my time to revision. Right? Jenny's really pushing the envelope on her goals this month (see link at right). And since I'm not at all competitive, I'll say:

--Finish MMG revision. Let's face it, it's about freakin' time.
--Continue research on Tarot, crystals and all things metaphysical.
--Finish critiques for CWC. Only 2 this month for me.
--Graciously receive feedback on Vesta.
--Do critique of HM for D.B.
--Outline TNN again with new ideas to make it even ickier. If that's possible.

I don't think it's as ambitious as Jenny's, but it feels like a bit more than my limit so I'm pushing.

Pleasant Surprises

I was invited to be guest critiquer (shouldn't it be just critic?) at the PPW Open Critique last night. As I've never attended the event, I wasn't sure quite what to expect beyond the little bit I'd been told. People bring in pages and pass out copies to the attendees. Everyone reads for a certain amount of time. Then they go around the circle and give feedback. The "special guest" basically bats clean-up and gives a longer critique on what works and what doesn't with suggestions. I have to say that I didn't think it would be particularly pleasant.

As the day progressed, my prophesy seemed to be right on. There was no information on the PPW website about how many pages are allowed or how many copies to make. I didn't receive an email giving me a heads up as to how many people had registered. By the time I left work, tired, I was hoping that maybe no one would make it. Then I arrived at Cottonwood (where most PPW small events are held) to find that the classroom we normally use was occupied by an art class. The person in charge (PIC) of the event wasn't there. But neither were any other writers. Maybe I'd get home much earlier than expected.

No such luck. Two woman arrived. Both were new to PPW and the Open Critique and looked to me for answers. I had none. But we chatted about writing and PPW. They were very nice. The PIC arrived and informed us that they always use a little table near the back entrance. How silly of me not to have thought of that!

Eight people attended besides the PIC and me. Six of them brought pages to be critiqued. PIC spent a lot of time calculating how much time to allow for reading and feedback, giving me extra time to share my expertise. Somewhere around the sixth computation, I had to physically hold myself in the chair to keep from bolting.

Finally, the first pages were passed around, and we started reading. It wasn't bad. All description and not much action for six pages, but the guy knew his setting. Some good humor and character building. Just move the description into actiony scenes. And he was good about taking feedback. Cool.

Some of the others were really good, others needed a little more work. But there wasn't anything that made me cringe to read--except for the subject matter of one of the memoirs which I won't go into here. Two left me wanting to read the whole book and the other memoir might be my cup of tea with a little work. Except for not getting out until 9:00 (a half hour after the promised stop time), it wasn't bad.

I was thanked graciously and told I'd be invited back.

Yeah, about that......

One Year

Wow! When I started this a year ago, I never believed I'd make it a week much less a year. The results have been sketchy, at best, but it has been a learning experience. And a community of sorts has grown--starting with Ali and Jenny as all things seem to do. Now there's John and Mishell and Marie and Whit. And I've discovered Pat, The Writing Nag, and Lauri and Barb S. and the Eavesdrop Writer and, one of my very favorites, Overheard Lines. And reconnected with Courtney and her blog, where I found out she knits, and beads and does other nifty crafts.

So, all in all, a positive experience.

With the occasional Refresh of Shame.

Here's to another, more prolific, year.

Four Pretty Whole Days

A three-day weekend is a real gift to a writer with a day job. A four-dayer is a windfall. My outstanding boss announced yesterday that we get an extra day in addition to Memorial Day. Huzzah! I'm taking Tuesday.

The day before one of these weekends is a bit strange. Usually, I'm swamped. But since I'm covering upstairs for Giovanna today, I did all my last minutes yesterday. So I'm here basically to answer the phone and check emails. And the day before a holiday weekend is notoriously slow. Lots of free time to ponder 96 hours and what to do with them. Of course, I'll clean the house. And mow the lawn. Not too much time there--5 to 6 hours if get really picky and wash windows and trim around the edges. Maybe check out Territory Days in Old Colorado City. That's a few hours. Run to Home Depot for a new screen door for the patio. An hour. Sunday dinner with the gang. Let's face it--that can take 6 hours if they finish early with critiques. Maybe a movie. Three hours total. 32 hours for sleep, if I'm lucky. That leaves 45 hours. Wow. 5 pages an hour if I'm cooking, say 2 if I'm having to dig for it. At worst that's 90. At best it's a really short novel.

Now we all know that ain't gonna happen because I'm going to watch television and check everyone's blogs and email and call my aunt and talk for who knows how long (our record is over three hours), but there's still a big possibility to knock out a lot of revisions.

I'm psyched.

Critiquing

Critiquing isn't something that has been happening often for me anymore. I gave out MMG last summer for feedback, got it, that's it. [and after reading that I realize what a huge slacker I am for not getting the damn revisions done] I read FJR for Jenny and a couple chapters of things here and there. But formal, every month you've got to submit and/or critique x number of pages just hasn't been on the agenda for a couple years now. (Wow! It has been two years. Time flies when your involved with Pirates.) So now critiquing is back on the menu.

A few of us who have one novel done, and maybe languishing, and are well on the way to finishing another have decided to get serious about this thing. 6 people. 3 a month submit between 50-100 pages. Not "you can submit" but "you will submit." Yikes. Now 50 pages in 2 months is less than a page a day. No sweat, huh? Right. And we have an obligation to do our best critiquing of what the others submit. Potentially 300 pages a month to scrutinize.

What's funny is how everyone was "I really need this" and "This is going to be great" "what a cool idea" in the initial planning stage. And it is great. And I did need it. And it's kinda cool. But the enormity of the thing is setting in. The faces were much more serious last night. I already had enough pages of Vesta to submit, but it took me a week to get them in the shape I wanted. I am worried about next time around, though. I've decided that since the book isn't done, I'll wait until I get the feedback to work on the next part. One of the nice things about every other month submissions is that you can react to the feedback. But that leaves only one month for 50 pages. And I've set myself a goal of trying to get closer to the 100 so I can finish faster. Because, well, that's just me. Serious. Enormous. Needed.

I have another critiquing duty this month, too. PPW has asked me to be guest critic at their Open Critique event on Wednesday the 28th. People bring in the first 5-6 (I think) pages. Everyone there reads it in the group. Then the other participants give feedback. I'll be the clean-up batter and say why I would or wouldn't accept it as an editor. Let's hope I remember my critiquing newbies tact.

Comparisons

I'm currently reading The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. It's about a woman who goes back to her home town, Templeton, to figure out what to do after an ill-advised love affair with her married professor results in pregnancy. But home isn't the quite the safe haven she expected it to be. I bought the book because Templeton is a fictionalized Cooperstown, NY. My sister and her family lived there in the eighties, so some of the places are familiar.

Compared to JS&MN I'm whizzing through this one. More than halfway through in just a few days. And as the tension is building, I'll probably finish before the weekend. And that leads me to my pondering for the day.

Do books benefit or suffer because of the book they follow? This is a much shorter book (only 300 or so pages) with shorter chapters than JS&MN. The writing is more modern, although still with beautiful descriptions and well-drawn characters, and more accessible. But would I be enjoying it quite as much without having just spent over a month on the previous read? I know the converse is true. I've had to put a book aside that I knew I'd like because it followed something that I loved, and it didn't quite make it to the same level.

Makes me wonder if I mightn't be better off hanging out with a crowd of lesser writers instead of the wonderful scribes who populate the Pirates. Then my stuff would look awesome in comparison. Of course, this way, I'm forced to really try to get my best work in front of them. And that's really what helps me in the long run.