Drawing from personal experience
So we all know the adage that every life is a book waiting to be written. And some of us are mad enough to try. And we also know that it’s usually better to draw from personal experience than to try and wing it cold. Our characters are the most sympathetic when they are authentic. Which means knowing what the hell we’re talking about.
Which brings me to the next question: how close is too close? When do true events stop becoming fiction and start becoming autobiographic? Does it start with verbatim quotes and end with suspiciously similar-sounding names? (“I’ll call my protagonist… Memogen Goods. That will fool them.”) Can you be accused of unoriginality if you were to bring the most annoying character you know to your pages?
When does working the muse become abuse? Read more
Characters possibly getting non-standard and OTT. HELP!
So I’ve finished what I’d aimed to do today – 5 character profiles. One of which involves a pretty creepy villain who can honestly be described as a predatory stalker.
Which leads me to conduct a mini debate in my head over a couple of things.
- I have Christians in my romance novel, but I’m not writing an inspirational romance.
In all honesty, I don’t see why Christians – or any other religion, for that matter – should be left out of romance novels as if religion didn’t exist in Lurve Land. 1 in 3 people the world over are Christians; 85% of the world believes in some kind of religion. And yes, art, as the imitater of life, should be able to talk about sex and romance AND Christianity. Christians can be passionate, too.Problem is, I don’t think most publishers want to talk about Christian romances and all the angst about being in love with a non-believer. And yet it’s one of the most common forms of forbidden love in the world.
- I have a predatory stalker, as mentioned above.
And suddenly, my book seems OTT to me. It’s supposed to be light and fluffy and fun… and I have a villain that is, frankly, creepy. He is part of the subplot involving 2 of my minor characters… but the fact remains that I have a creepy villain who is psychologically disturbed. And I’m lacking the guts right now to go through with it. Even though I want to indulge my darker side.
So. If I were to not have a predatory stalker villain, can someone please devise a way for my subplot hero to save his woman in a grand, heroic gesture? That also involves, preferably, a punch-up?
Or do predatory stalkers happen more often in romance novels than I realise?
Anyone? 2M2Z3UTSJPA9
Wading through the cross currents of constructive criticism
Been poking around Katrina’s blog, and her post about dealing with negative feedback, which reminded me of this great cartoon I received in an email newsletter years ago:
And while it doesn’t quite deal with book critics – or friends who critique your work – it does hit on some home truths: human beings aren’t naturals at dishing out constructive criticism. And we’re even less adept at taking it.
For my Now-Dead-Draft-Two, I had dished out the first 15 to 20 chapters to three people in my writing group, my dearest cousin, a friend from work, and a friend of a friend. And by far the least confusing advice I got were from the ones in the writing group, because they told me exactly
- which bits they liked
- which bits they thought needed work
- what techniques I could employ to fix said bits that needed work.
And immediately, that gave me a roadmap for improvement. Two out of three of them also smothered me with encouragement, which was just lovely and kind and timely. But they hardly know me, and yet they got straight to the point. And I walked away going, “Wow. I need to learn to critique like that.”
And then, there was the other kind of well-intentioned feedback that just left me confused as hell. And while I take full responsibility for junking Now-Dead-Draft-Two, I did it in part because I took EVERYONE’S suggestions on board and, well. Many cooks really can make a lousy clam chowder.
Know thyself, I conclude. I agree with Katrina – discernment is key. It’s not a free for all, and just because your critique partner doesn’t like how you haven’t painstakingly detailed your heroine’s every lump and bump, or what your hero smells like (“He smells like the man your man could smell like!”), doesn’t mean you have to do everything she says. Some feedback just stems from personal taste and opinion. And we can’t all like the same shoes. Because what’s the fun in that?
Crisis of confidence
Maybe it’s ’cause I’m absolutely knackered tonight, despite sneaking in a two-hour nap after dinner because I was that exhausted. Maybe it’s ’cause, like the rest of my life, I really have packed too much into the task at hand.
Whatever it is, I’m very aware that I have exactly a week before I am to finish with the character analysis and plot stage. Which is why it’s very frustrating that I fell asleep in the first place, and only managed to put together half of a sub-plot, broken down and integrated into my master list of scenes. That’s the problem with deadlines – they can take the absolute fun out of the job when they turn out to be stressful. But that’s sometimes the only way to push through difficult bits.
Currently, I’m petrified that I’ve got too many things going on in my book and it’s just going to all fall over. And it probably will. But I’m going to push on anyway, and see how I go.
Tomorrow, despite knowing I’m going to be home crazy-late from my day job, I will endeavour to
- finish off this plotline I started
- add a few other scenes for Carmen (one of my piggy villains).
If you feel like cheerleading a bit, feel free to send me your bestest wishes that I manage to follow through…
