I love guacamole. Love it. I can eat it plain, on chips, in tacos, burritos, or over rice. Doesn’t matter. It’s that authentic Mexican flavor that I crave. No matter where I’m at, or what time of year it is, good guacamole is one of those rare dishes that can transform a glum, rainy day into a warm, sunny afternoon. This is the power of harmony. It isn’t the avocado that I love, nor is it the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, or lime. It’s the flavor that’s produced when each of these ingredients are combined that makes the dish the culinary treasure that it is. The same holds true for mood. A combination of smaller elements, mood is the product of carefully placed ingredients peppered throughout a scene/chapter/book. With just the right proportions, it can be used to wonderful effect. (more…)
Archive for May, 2010
In the Mood for Guacamole
Posted in On Setting Mood, tagged cilantro, distinct, effect, elements, fear, guacamole, harmony, ingredients, mixture, mood, scene, story, writing on May 28, 2010 | 4 Comments »
TDDC: Chapter 2: “GODSPEAR”
Posted in On Writing on May 26, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Last week, on The Dead Don’t Cry, Lucy met Mr. Virgil and the Children of Armitage East. This week, we join her father, Jack, as he deals with the repercussions of scattering costly nutrient ore over New Earth. Enjoy!
Plotting: Part I
Posted in On Structuring Plot, tagged Diary of a Virgin Novelist, extrapolate, hands on, image, metaphor, Muse, outline, paradigm, plot, plotting, rope, stitch, story, substance, thread, threading, writing on May 24, 2010 | 4 Comments »
It’s been three years since I started writing The Dead Don’t Cry, three years since I’ve really had to think about my elusive friend, the plot. The last time I wrote about him, I talked about delving into the minds of your characters, letting them do all the legwork. Useful as that can be, the actual art tends to be a bit more gritty, considerably more hands on. We’ve all heard the saying: there’s a story in each and every one of us. What no one told us was just how piecemeal that story actually is. (more…)
Publishing: A Raw Deal
Posted in On Writing, tagged alternative, anachronism, book, cutting costs, dinosaur, eco-friendly, failed business model, gimicks, Huffington Post, indie author, industry, Mark Lopez, marketing, new talent, poineer, Publishing, raw deal, restaurant, SmashWords, stigma, vain, vanity publishing, waiter, writing on May 21, 2010 | 10 Comments »
[My Best Friend] : What do you mean they want you to market your own book?
[Me] : They’re cutting costs across the board. Since we now have the ability to market ourselves, they don’t feel it’s necessary.
[My Best Friend] : I feel it’s necessary that you find an alternative.
He isn’t the only one. After another polite/generic rejection letter, I have to ask myself: what the hell am I doing? I’ve spent my adult life going against the norm, yet when it comes to my single biggest investment in time and money, I’m relying on a dinosaur to pluck me out of obscurity. Stupid. Don’t believe me? Let’s do some homework. (more…)
TDDC: Chapter 2: “Words of Wisdom”
Posted in On Writing, tagged aspirations, book, Cafe Lopez, category, desires, door, family, fears, genre, human, marketers, notion, novel, preconception, reluctantly, science fiction, TDDC, The Dead Don't Cry, wisdom, Words on May 19, 2010 | 6 Comments »
As I stated last week, today’s webisode features the first section of Chapter 2, as opposed to all three. To my friends at Café Lopez, I would like to take a moment to properly introduce my book. If you’ve been following it over the last couple of weeks, you are no doubt aware that it is a science fiction novel. What you don’t know is that I use that term reluctantly, not because I am ashamed of science fiction, or because TDDC somehow doesn’t qualify as part of the genre, but because the term comes with a set of preconceived notions. I did not think about what genre TDDC applied to until the book was finished. The novel was always about one family and how they, as grounded human beings wrought with their own unique desires, fears, and aspirations, come together to overcome extraordinary obstacles.
Marketers force me to categorize The Dead Don’t Cry, I urge you to leave your preconceptions at the door.
And now, without further interruption, TDDC:
Bacon, Eggs, and Prose
Posted in On Characterization, tagged bacon, brilliant, buddy tag, catalogue, character, cliche, delicious, description, descriptor, dilemma, Disheveled, dynamic, eggs, fiction, opportunity, organic, profile, prose, qualities, recipe, reference, springboard, The Dead Don't Cry, theme, trait, Tuscan, writing on May 17, 2010 | 10 Comments »
My girlfriend makes the absolute best bacon and eggs. Crusty, amazingly soft Tuscan bread slathered in butter, moist yet crisp, hickory smoked bacon, and slowly scrambled eggs infused with complimentary notes of garlic, pepper, the wonderful creaminess of my dear friend, milk, and extra bits of bacon thrown in for good measure. Top it all off with tea (milk and sugar), and you have the kind of morning that I could happily wake up to for the rest of my life. So, I have to ask – will anyone ever find my writing nearly as satisfying? (more…)
A Small Token of Appreciation
Posted in On Writing, tagged blog, blogging, criticize, facebook, myspace, smile writer, social networking, suport, thank you, web, writing on May 16, 2010 | 3 Comments »
I won’t be adding a ‘real’ post until tomorrow, but for right now I would like to steal a moment to say thank you. Thank you for visiting my site, checking out my posts, and sharing your thoughts. Although I’ve only just started blogging, the sense of community here has truly become an unanticipated highlight in my daily routine. I tend to criticize social networking sites (such as facebook/myspace) for replacing genuine friendship with stripped down attention deficit correspondence – and while I still think that to be the case, I didn’t expect to find this level of support anywhere else on the web. Simply put, after a long, stressful day, coming home to engaging comments and a satisfying ‘hit count’ puts a smile on this writer’s face. So again, thank you – and keep on writing!
Techno Baggage
Posted in My Writing, On Editing, tagged agents, author, awful, burden, costs, creativity, editing, in the zone, marketing, mundane, orhpans, platform, schmuck, tech craze, technology, trends, widows, widows and orphans on May 12, 2010 | 7 Comments »
I have this number in my head that keeps going up. Three more edits… five… seven. This after reading my book for the umpteenth time, and after having beta readers edit it for me. It makes me wonder how the hell books ever manage to get published in the first place. I imagine some grammar robots spinning through the book the way Christopher Reeve did as Superman (what was he reading?), catching mistakes that somehow always sneak past me. It makes me wonder what happens to our brains when we write that allows for such complete and utter negligence. Does being in the zone suck up so much focus that grammar falls by the wayside? (more…)
In the Name of Love
Posted in On Creativity, On Inspiration, tagged crazy, devotion, divine channel, hopeless, Korean film, nirvana, passion, perfection, Ping Pong, Running on May 10, 2010 | 6 Comments »
If you’ve ever spoken to someone who is passionate about running, you would know that their devotion can sometimes border on fanatical. I know, because I was once one of them. A runner. Not just any, I might add, but a long distance runner, all of whom I’d wager are in fact some kind of crazy. After all, who else would willingly submit herself to physical and mental exhaustion on a regular basis in the hopeless attempt to improve upon an unattainable level of perfection?
Oh right…you. (more…)
Pass the Gravy
Posted in On Creativity, tagged dark secret, dialogue, Film, gravy, imagination, intuition, novel, novelization, plot, protagonist, qualified to write, screenplay, wordplay, writing on May 7, 2010 | 8 Comments »
I have a deep, dark secret that I’m going to share with you: I’ve watched many, many more movies than I’ve read books. The sacred rule is that writers must read – voraciously – and in so doing I’ve broken that rule. Often. More often than not, in fact. Which raises the obvious question: am I qualified to write? (more…)
Solace in Lunacy
Posted in On Editing, tagged crazy, creative, creative spirit, criticism, Edit, editing, improve, obsession, successful book, tweak on May 4, 2010 | 5 Comments »
I have a problem. I can’t stop editing my book.
“You’re afraid to let go…to be judged…to take a risk.”
There’s truth to all of that – but the issue isn’t my obsession (and it is an obsession), it’s admitting that I have a problem. As of this writing, two people have read my book. Under the explicit warning that any and all criticism withheld would only be to my extreme detriment, they both loved it. Yet I continue to edit. Why? (more…)
