2015 Writing Goals

 

As promised, my tl;dr 2015 writing goals:

• 10 tokens
• 2 pro
• 4 subs

My longer read 2015 goals: Write productively by focusing on length and using past experience to set realistic goals. Write broader by putting more effort into other genres I write. Write smarter by implementing what I learned from that Kameron Hurley article.

Write Productively

The novelette has always been my sweet spot even though the market doesn't care for it very much, and vice versa for shorts. I'm focusing on length because I've noticed I have a habit of just writing until a story ends--shorts turn out to be novelettes and novelettes end up having only enough story for shorts, ideas that were too big and plots that cover too much grow unwieldy and difficult. All because I didn't plan and commit to what I wanted a story to be in terms of length and scope. This is counterproductive and results in disappointment and discouragement. At this stage in my journey, I've reached the happy middle on the scale of pantser to plotter.

Write Broader

Writing more poetry last year was a spontaneous why-not sort of thing. I didn't think I was very skilled at it, not the non-rhyming, non-meter, 'serious' kind anyways. But then I started subbing pieces and getting positive feedback. I have been exclusively researching and working to publish sci-fi prose fiction. It's the genre my ideas most readily spring from. I speak the language, so to speak. But that's not all I read or write. Just as I took my poetry more seriously to encouraging results, I'm going to give the other genres a chance to flourish.

Write Smarter

"It's the difference between knowing what I'm doing and doing what I know." That means understanding how I'm able to do it, and it isn't magic. It's replicable, which is the exact opposite of what I have always tried to do. Nothing new must resemble that previous story or else I was being lazy, unimaginative, and cheating. That has led to variety in my bibliography, yes, but also a lot of incomplete works, inconsistency, and long periods of unproductiveness. Here's the link again for why it is okay to be a little formulaic. By plugging new story ideas into existing formulas, by doing what I have already done and not always trying something new from scratch, I know in finer, more tangible detail the contours of similar stories, why having my protagonist make a poor choice is essential here, how allowing others to help her there will be critical later, what skipping this and elaborating on that will do to the feel and structure of the plot. By knowing those peaks and troughs, pitfalls, and yes, cheats, I can work more efficiently and with the most effective techniques to help the story shine.

So those are my aspirations for writing in 2015. Overall, I aspire to be very strategic in playing to my strengths as much as to the market. We'll see how it goes!

What are your aspirations? Comment or link below.

2014 In Review

So, last year I posted my writing goals for 2014. How did I do? What will I do differently this year? Lets get to it!

I had four areas I wanted to push myself on: submissions, revisions, pro-level pieces, and token pieces just to keep in the habit of writing. Here's how close I came to reaching my goals:

• Subs - 80%
• Revisions - 10%
• Pro - 25%
• Token - 112%
• New Pieces Overall - 83%

Not bad. I did a lot more token writing and that was mostly poetry, some of which turned out to be good enough to sub. I've revised that goal upwards this year.

Speaking of subs, I only counted new submissions, as opposed to resubmitting the same piece different places, so I did a lot more subbing than the number reflects. Still, I came up a hair short, so I'm revising that goal down. I realize that I am very picky about what I sub, so even if I wrote more, I may not feel confident sending everything out.

The pro number seems okay, until you realize I only set out to write 4 such pieces. These pieces have always taken me a long time to write. I had hoped to push myself to go faster, but the stories fought me all the way. Needless to say, I'm revising the goal down for this year.

Revisions. When I made this category, I thought I would be dusting off old pieces, spit-shining and firing them off. Yeah, no. I focused my time and energy on new pieces. This goal is going away entirely. Rather, my goal is to write more saleable pieces which, naturally, will have been revised and polished as needed.

Overall, I'd say I did okay and ended the year on an encoraging note, which I'll get into in my 2015 goals post.

How'd you do?

photo credit: Gina Fairchild

It's Okay to be Formulaic

Merry New Year!

I want you to read this article by Kameron Hurley. I want you to read it especially if you are at a point in your journey where your ideas, focus, and creative skills have gained more precision but it feels like you're starting each new piece with a hammer and chisel and you don't know why. If you are more confident about what you can do as a writer, but you are not as consistent and productive as you would like to be from one piece to the next, I want you to read this article.

Spoilers: you're not necessarily doing it wrong. You just need more practice doing it right.

I know you know that. I knew I knew that, until I read the article:

I’ve started a lot more books and stories than I’ve finished, and this is a problem. Why? Surely, when a concept or story isn’t working, you should stop while you’re ahead, right?

"Right!" I say. Not exactly, she says:

The thing folks don’t realize is that learning how to write a piece of work requires you to actively practice how to write the whole thing. Writing five hundred great beginnings will not make you a great novelist.

I knew I knew that. "Tell me something I don't know." She did. A bunch of things. Mainly, I did not know it was okay to be a little formulaic.

It is okay to be a little formulaic.

There is a lot of pressure in literature to be original and fresh, and in the speculative fiction genre that can get to be as arduous as reinventing that wheel. Especially for a short fiction writer in today's market. Even just looking through your own body of work you can feel like you need to do something drastically different each and every time to stay relevant. If you're constantly thinking about what you could be doing differently, you're not really thinking about, much less nailing down, what you did right the last time.

Hurley calls it understanding the form. I understand it as having a formula. Go ahead and read the article. You'll see what I mean, when she talks about her work in corporate writing, how many novels she had to write before her first sold, and how many she wrote after the first that were very similar to the first, until she had that formula down pat and and was ready to move on to a new one.

It is okay to be a little formulaic.

When you have a formula that works,  it is not always necessary to change it up drastically or abandon it straight away, even when you aren't doing anything wrong, and especially before you've had a chance to understand what you did well, how, and why. Got a new idea for a story? Go back and see if you're trying to accomplish something you've done before, see if the circumstances and events map, and if they do, use all your previous hard work to your advantage. You can plug in new values for every factor and variable--characters, world, goal, conflict--and execute it again, over and over, until your results are as reliable and consistent as your creativty demands.

I'm not just talking in broad strokes of beginning-middle-end, goal-conflict-disaster, a fantasy story, a novella, a Heinleinian story. I'm talking fine grain stuff you won't see by emulating someone else's formula. I'm talking about your own recipe for success. I'm talking about knowing why you made the creative decisions you did, what you cut or kept and how that worked or didn't, story elements you'd like to replicate and others you'd like to avoid. What happens when you pull it all together with just the right details in just the right way. It's not magic. It's a formula, and it is okay use it more than once. That is how you practice doing it right.

If you only do it twice, I can attest the process becomes familiar, becomes easier, becomes more efficient and effective. The very last piece I wrote in 2014 was to test Hurley's article. Having a formula to work from was the difference between knowing what I was doing and doing what I knew. I wrote faster and smarter and with more confidence that I would not only finish in a timely manner but I would end up with the story I wanted.

That is how you practice doing it right, over and over, until it seems like you can produce a certain kind of story effortlessly. It really is okay to be formulaic. From what I've seen, the majority of the stories on the market are just that, and to great success, including many by our favorite authors. I knew I knew that. Hurley's article crystallized it.

Spoilers! The Spider Thief Chapters 35 - 44

source: laurencemacnaughton.com

It's the end! But first, what this is all about: here

Ash gets an assist from Prez to evade the feds, cheat death, and then make a clean break from it all. He chooses to stay and fight for his friends and family. Andres tells Mauricio the story of how they found the Spider and became enchanted by her power, until the brothers' dad took it to stop the madness. Cleo is at her wits end, preparing to go on an all-out assault on Andres, when Ash shows up with one final scheme.  Together, they go to make the trade: Mauricio for the statue--but with an ace up the sleeve. The final showdown ensues and it does not disappoint. Of course the plan goes sideways. Of course there's a muscle car in the action.  It's a hair-raising struggle to defeat a crazed and empowered Andres, and it turns out some forces are beyond control.

First, I would like to get one thing off my chest:  What am I supposed to make of Ash calling a guy Kung Fu Noodle Man just because he's Asian and eats noodles? It just isn't creative or funny, so it does nothing for me. The man has a name. It's the Sweeper.

Anyways! There's a final twist about the Spider that I quite enjoyed, because it finally brought the Spooky. When the science-y stuff about the Spider's origins dropped, I was like "That's it?" It felt like known information and Ash was late to the party. It also felt like a letdown for a supernatural thriller. Then the twist happened and I was like, "Yessss!" Well played, Author. I didn't see that one coming.

The final action scene was riveting, of course, underpinned with Andres's madness, the Spooky, and near-death predicaments. It definitely had a cinematic feel to it.

Everyone wound up pretty much where I thought they would. Even Prez didn't fare too badly.

Aside from my previous exceptions, I'm fairly satisfied with the book and enjoyed the read. Again, I'd recommend the story primarily for the fast-paced plot, the cool action scenes, the engaging narrative, and some of the characters. Not every story is perfect on all points and sometimes you just have to roll with it. If you're like me and this isn't your usual genre, The Spider Thief is a nice change of pace and a good gateway book into supernatural thrillers. You won't be underwhelmed or overwhelmed, but you may be pleasantly surprised.

Have you read The Spider Thief, yet? What did you think?

Spoilers! The Spider Thief Chapters 27 - 34

source: laurencemacnaughton.com

What this is all about: here

Yes, eight chapters. I tend to read more when I'm dissatisfied. Sigh.

This one is impossible to keep spoiler-light. Suffice to say, everyone gets in major trouble and serious danger, the result of which is Graves being a jerk to Ash, Ash declaring his feelings for Cleo, Cleo making a tough personal choice, and Mauricio being abducted again.

Let's start with the good. That high-speed car chase scene (and the aftermath) was intense!  Everyone is positioning for the final push; Andres will be going down! Cleo has grown on me. These chapters really showcase her drive and motivations, her convictions and internal struggle. She seems real, three-dimensional.

Now, let's talk about the stuff that left me feeling a type of way. First, I understand Cleo's mindset, I do. I think it's perfectly reasonable to walk away from a job that doesn't match your convictions, but her quitting abruptly felt unnecessary, a plot device and not a character development. Could she not quit after the situation is resolved? Sure, things aren't going well professionally, but has her being in law enforcement actually impeded anything she's done thus far? The way it's handled just struck the wrong note, for me.

Second, I know  their friendship is contentious, but I haven't seen any spark between Ash and Cleo, nothing stronger than a general concern for the well-being of someone you used to know. He thinks she's beautiful and stubborn. She thinks he's a troublemaker but a good guy. They share one good memory of prom night. After 34 chapters, that's it. I'm supposed to be rooting for these two, but instead I just hope everyone lives and don't really care if they wind up together. Worse, I think the pairing is lackluster and forced.

Which brings me to point number three. Ash feels like a construct. He has a save the cat moment early on. He has character witnesses. He has humanizing sidekicks. All crafted to make him the Good Guy. He needs some flaws but not too bad, so he's a con but only to other cons. He blames himself for his tragic past, but we all know nothing is his fault, so it rings hollow when he says it is. Just like his "I love you" to Cleo. The only thing I believe about this character is the only thing his POV truly shows, and that's his love for his brother. Other than that and his scheming, there's just nothing for me to sink my teeth into. He's standard action-thriller hero and wants for some spontaneity in his script. I can tolerate prototypical secondary characters and antagonists (Andres, Graves, the Feds, and Prez et al to a lesser extent) but the protagonist?
Sigh.

So, yeah. Those are my thoughts and impressions going into the final stretch. Ten chapters to go. Will Andres successfully indoctrinate Mauricio? Will Ash and Cleo find him (again) in time? Can Prez help Ash bring down Andres once and for all?

Am I being too hard on the characters? Expecting too much?

Spoilers! The Spider Thief Chapters 23 - 26

source: laurencemacnaughton.com

What this is all about: here

The brothers return to the ruins of their childhood home and find their dad's old safe. Inside is a journal detailing Dad's expedition through the Colombian jungles to a lost city where the Spider was found, but there are pages missing. Cleo pays Prez a visit and he explains how he got involved. He then all but says Ash is The One for Cleo, judging by his actions to protect her.

Okay, wait. Did I miss something? Did Prez mean the original deal or everything that happened after? I have thus far seen no evidence that Ash is doing all of this to protect Cleo, especially, so I'm going to assume he's talking about what we didn't see: the original deal was to protect Cleo somehow. In that case, I called it! Didn't I say there was a personal angle? Yes, I did.

To hear Prez tell it, Andres is a power-mad manipulator who, like the Spider, weaved this web to ruin the lives of our protagonists in particular. Hmm. That's it? Okay, but I'm gonna need something more.

Speaking of power, I likewise see no evidence the Spider grants any. Unless there's some Chosen One stipulation, I doubt anyone will gain supernatural abilities by the end. Andres will probably end up like the Spider's previous victims if he gets his idol.

I have more thoughts on Ash and Cleo but I'll let them simmer for now.

What is Andres's next move? When will he strike? Will Ash and his friends get out of this mess unharmed?

We shall see.

Spoilers! The Spider Thief Chapters 17 - 22

source: laurencemacnaughton.com

What this is all about: here

A mix of POVs and information. Mostly, everyone is regrouping and catching up, so I went ahead and read six chapters. Ash and Mauricio slip the FBI and determine they must fix the mess instead of running away. We meet FBI special agent Graves who has a history with Cleo, if you know what I mean. And I think you do. They check out the preacher's house where Ash escaped from Andres and his men in he beginning and piece together the events directly preceding the story opener. And, finally, we meet Prez. He calls on a hitman? a cleaner? to kill Andres, who had killed two of Prez's men in the process of abducting Mauricio.

So, like I said. It's mostly downtime and regrouping. Not much more than talking gets done. Most of the prior missing events are filled in. The one thing I still don't get is why Prez had gotten involved. Or why Ash originally agreed to deal with Andres over the Spider at all. I'm pretty sure it was another one of his scams that Prez was in on, but why, given how superstitious Ash had been about the Spider? It's kinda the reason he bailed on everyone he knew, but now he just forms schemes around it, bold as you please? Something's not adding up--like there's a personal angle missing. I would be disappointed if it were otherwise.

A few words on Cleo and Graves. They seem to have chemistry and this reflects well through her demeanor around him--he's the serious one and she tells the jokes. It's nice to see her in conversation with someone as competent and professional about the case as she is, working together and not against. It just makes me feel like Ash still has growing up to do, and he's not emotionally ready for any relationship outside his fraternal one with Mauricio. Did I just psychoanalyze a fictional character? Yes, I did. But we all know the hero gets the girl and you can't always depend on straight arrows.

Oh, and Graves is black. Which officially makes Cleo the only major character to remain ambiguous. Why? I ask the question as a writer and not to be flip. These are decisions we have to make, to effects we don't have total control over. I interpret Cleo as intentionally ethnically ambiguous for maximum desirability. Whatever you want her to be, she is. Someone else might interpret her as Latina, or biracial, or black, or even white, since her skin tone is never stated as has been the case for every single major character. My writer's mind wonders at the reasons for this, or if it just wasn't given as much thought as I'm giving it here. I wonder at my own choices and how I would've approached it. Once you start assigning ethnicities, where can you safely stop?

But let me not give the wrong impression. Race is incidental here. The romance angle is minor, so far. This is an action-suspense thriller with a mildly supernatural mystery, and I actually like it that way. We're nearly halfway through, and I'm not expecting anyone to make out or start shooting lightning bolts from heir fingertips.

Cleo wants Andres to face justice, Prez just wants him dead, Andres wants the Spider, Mauricio wants to just get rid of it, while Ash wants to break the curse and end this whole thing once and for all. The puzzle is coming together, a showdown looms, the suspense is building!

How will it all end?