You know you’ve got the writing bug when…
Posted by Merry in 
- Image by Aubrey Arenas via Flickr
I am seriously one of the most absentminded people on earth sometimes. My brain just refuses to focus on things it doesn’t enjoy for very long, and when I force it to, it retaliates by filling itself with fantastic stories. The harder I try to MAKE it behave, the more rebellious it gets. For this reason, there are three places I normally get most of my story-plotting done.
Number one: the car. I have a long commute (20+ miles) every day, and the endless time spent behind the wheel in rush hour traffic gets very boring very quickly. Even the radio and/or my favorite IPod playlist usually aren’t enough to keep my brain entertained, and so most of the time my head starts telling me stories within a few minutes of settling into the drive.
Music is often actually a pretty great accompaniment, as scenes like to start playing out in my imagination like music videos. These very often help me work out the emotional context of particular events or relationships, and there have been quite a few times that a particular song’s lyrics have inspired a detail that I probably wouldn’t have thought of without the music as a backdrop…
Our three kitties, "helping" me sleep...
Number two: in bed, before falling asleep. I suffer from regular bouts of insomnia (runs in my family) and one of the unfortunate side effects of being bitten by the writing-bug is that it often means I don’t get much sleep until the story’s been all hammered out. I lay there trying to fall asleep, but the characters are so busy running amok in my brain that I can’t drift off. *sigh* However, I have to say that probably 80- 90% of most of my stories end up getting worked out in the hours I spend trying NOT to think about them. Many times a logistical problem I’ve been wrestling with keeps me up until the wee hours of the morning, but then in the moments after I’ve groggily slapped my alarm, I find that the resolution has suddenly materialized in my head like a remembered dream.
And number three: the shower. There’s nothing quite like a nice, hot, steamy, relaxing shower to refocus my brain from all of my daily “real life” responsibilities to something much more creative and fun.
Now, normally this distracted, daydreamy state is relatively harmless. However, when my life is especially hectic, or work is especially stressful, it gets increasingly intense…
So, a couple nights ago, I’d had a particularly dreadful day at work and didn’t get out of the office until after 8 PM. In the car on the way home, Ithyria arrived in my brain on a rampage (like it always does when I’ve had to spend an entire day focused on things I don’t particularly enjoy). So I was in full-on daydreaming story-plotting mode by the time I arrived home around 9 PM. I had just enough time to eat some food and kiss my wife, and then jump into the shower where I could continue my pleasant adventures in a world where there are no ringing telephones and constant questions and endless piles of paperwork to process. When I got out of the shower I headed right off to bed, and was sitting under the covers checking last-minute emails on my phone. I absentmindedly ran a hand through my hair and realized that it felt really weird.
Turns out, in all my daydreaming in the shower, I had forgotten to rinse the conditioner from my hair. Shasta could not stop laughing as I jumped out of bed and dunked my head under the sink… I was really glad that I’d noticed it before going to sleep, because I could have very easily found myself with an awful mess to deal with the next morning… and that would most definitely NOT have made for a very good start to the day, haha!
However, absentmindedness in the shower is much less dangerous than in the car, right? (Last night, some strange guy followed me home, which completely freaked me out until he just called out his car window at me that my tail lights seemed to be out… and I realized I forgot to turn my headlights on the whole way home. I have daytime running lamps so I didn’t notice that my rear-end was not as bright as it should have been. *falls over*)
I think perhaps this is a sign that I really, really need a break from work. Thank goodness I’ve got a little vacation coming up next week!!
New BSB Authors Blog – And A Discussion of Using Setting as Character
The fabulous Kathi Isserman (wife of fellow Bold Strokes author KI Thompson) has created a new blog especially for Bold Strokes authors. Yay!! As a long time blogger myself I’m super excited, because I’m awful at keeping up with emails and such but blogging… now that’s my thing. :P
This inaugural post asks authors to answer the following question:
I want to know more about using setting as a character. How hard is it to do? When does an author choose to go this route?
This is actually something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as I’m plotting out the rest of the Ithyria series. The ongoing story arc connecting the novels is driven almost entirely by the war between the gods, and the consequent division of the land into two very different kingdoms. The entire world was originally one land that was divided by the gods’ war; this is something long forgotten by the time the series begins. So the master plan (haha) is to show how, through the events of these five books, the land and people — and the gods themselves — are able to restore unity to a thousand-year rift.
This means I’ve been thinking a lot about the world of the Ithyria series in terms of being its own malleable character that needs to develop as the plot progresses. Like a character, the world has a complicated and emotionally-charged backstory, and political, cultural and spiritual personality quirks that need to evolve in order to reach resolution. Like a character, different parts of the world have different moods and provide for different interactions. Some events simply can’t take place if they’re not set in a specific part of the world, since neither of the gods can extend their powers very far into the other’s territory (a fact that actually plays a very BIG part in Prayer of the Handmaiden.)
As a romance series, each Ithyria book focuses on the story of a different couple. But though the “stars” of each book change, always in the background as a sort of silent third-wheel is the world that molds them all, and that they in turn mold for themselves and for those who will come after them.
Is it hard? HECK YES. There are so many questions that, as the author, I have to find a satisfying and sensible answer to before I can move forward. Sometimes the answer I come up with then undoes some other part of the story I had planned, and I have to go back and figure out how to make them mesh. I have to be as true to the setting as I am to the other characters or the trust that’s built with the reader just falls apart. And as I’m currently still floundering around in that development stage I have to say I’m finding it particularly difficult. But, thinking of the setting as a character in and of itself also feels very… organic, I guess. It’s this treatment that adds depth to plot, that connects the characters and books to each other, that allows the background story arc to progress in a way that (hopefully) keeps the reader in that “willing suspension of disbelief” that Coleridge so aptly described, and which we all know is the only way a person will actually enjoy speculative fiction. :P
I’ve been reading Henry De Vere Stacpoole’s The Blue Lagoon series, which does very much this same thing. I have to admit that perhaps he spends just a little too much time waxing poetic about the beauty of the island and lagoon, when I’m ready for him to get on with the events of the story… but at any rate, I still think his series is probably one of the most perfect examples I can imagine of a writer using their setting as a character. The lagoon is very nearly described as having a will of its own, answering the pleas of the characters from time to time, and then ignoring them at whim as well. It eternally changes, yet it never changes, and throughout all three volumes it is the only constant (though the final book is at last deviating a bit…)
Anyway, I think every story uses its setting as character, whether intentionally or not. It’s pretty much unavoidable, really. Many things that can happen in Ithyria probably could not happen in modern day NYC. The way something goes down in a swamp is probably going to differ quite a bit from they way it would happen in a desert. Night offers different possibilities than day; so does winter from summer. So it’s not so much a question of whether to use setting as a character as it is how that characterization is going to get handled. Some characters are naturally more prominent than others, so it seems to me that setting doesn’t necessarily have to be a main character… just so long as it’s not forgotten!
More Site Tweaking
I did a TON of site tweaking today, most of which will probably go unnoticed by most of you, dear readers. ;) But I reformatted a lot of text and pages so that information’s easier to find / notice / etc. I’m also trying to incorporate more graphics — we all know pages with pictures are much more interesting than pages full of text. Well, at least when it comes to websites, anyway!
I did discover last night that the aforementioned ancient computer I’ve been running Daz 3D on has a grand total of 480 MB of RAM. Guess how much the program specs say it requires? 1 GB. MINIMUM… because it would prefer 2 GB. At that rate, I have to give kudos to my ancient little computer for running the program at all!! Anyway, I’ll be doing a little research to see if I can get that memory capacity expanded.
I still have other sections of the site to finish filling out with information… but I’m afraid that will have to wait for another day.
Playing Around in 3D
I’ve been messing around with Daz 3D, a 3D image rendering program kind of like Poser (except that it’s free.) Unfortunately my ancient computer’s not really fast enough to handle the full memory demands of the program, but I’ve been able to play at least a little with it, and I’ve been having a really good time dreaming up 3D models of my book characters. :)
Wanted to share my favorite of the renders so far — Branded Ann standing on the deck of her ship. I didn’t make the ship render — borrowed it from DeviantArt, as my computer can’t handle a file that big. But still, I thought it turned out kind of cool and that I’d share it!
Click for the full size!
Series Plotting
One of the reasons I’m really struggling in making progress on Prayer of the Handmaiden is that nearly every paragraph I write reminds me of how much of the full story I just don’t KNOW yet. I’m beginning to realize why writing a series is so much more difficult than writing a single book.
For example (and without giving too much away in terms of spoilers) I already know almost exactly what will happen in the fifth and final book of the series. I know who the main characters will be and what their main conflict will be; I know how it will be resolved (though some of the specific details are still a little murky.) I even have several key scenes developed in my head. But, as these scenes develop I’m finding details popping up that will be key in preceding books, each one a big reminder that I really need to flesh out this final book before tackling the ones that precede it, unless I want to write myself into a corner.
I am almost to the point where I think I might have to write — or at least fully plot out in extensive detail — the entire final book, before I can write the second one. O.o And I certainly will have to have a good amount of the last book plotted in order to write books three and four.
My biggest annoyance with this is that I am impatient. I like much more immediate gratification, and it’s frustrating to think of putting so much effort into a fifth book that won’t see the light of day for probably many years to come, before I can finish the second book that is long overdue. *sigh*
So, since the fifth book is running like crazy through my head lately I thought I’d share a peek at my inspiration:
Inspiration for the final Ithyria book characters
I’ve been a fan of the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. for many years. When the English single “All About Us” from their second album was released, I found myself listening to it on repeat while my brain played out its own interpretation of the song’s story — featuring two girls looking very much like Yulia and Lena. These girls and that song in particular are the driving force behind the entire Ithyria series, to some extent. I’ll probably elaborate on that more later, but for now I’ll just share a YouTube video of the song…
They say they don’t trust
You, Me, We, Us
So we’ll fall if we must
‘Cause it’s you, me
And it’s all about, it’s all about
It’s all about us, all about us
It’s all about, all about us
All about us
There’s nothing that they can touch
‘Cause you know
It’s all about us, all about us
It’s all about, all about us
All about us
We’ll run away if we must
‘Cause you know
It’s all about us, it’s all about us
In you I can trust, it’s all about us
If they hurt you, they hurt me too
So we’ll rise up, won’t stop
And it’s all about, it’s all about
It’s all about us, all about us
It’s all about, all about us
All about us
There’s nothing that they can touch
‘Cause you know
It’s all about us, all about us
It’s all about, all about us
All about us
We’ll run away if we must
‘Cause you know
It’s all about us, it’s all about us
In you I can trust, it’s all about us
They don’t know, they can’t see
Who we are -- fear is the enemy
Hold on tight, hold on to me
‘Cause tonight
It’s all about us
It’s all about, all about us
All about us
There’s nothing that they can touch
‘Cause you know
It’s all about us, all about us
It’s all about, all about us
All about us
We’ll run away if we must
‘Cause you know
It’s all about us, it’s all about us
In you I can trust, it’s all about us
It’s all about us
Buy the Books Page update
I added the Romantic Interludes Anthologies to the Buy the Books page (and had a devil of a time figuring out how to get the page to format the way I wanted it to; I finally gave up and just did something simpler…)
I am exhausted right now, as we spent all weekend digging out old fence posts so we can put a new fence in around our backyard. *falls over* Ah, blissful married life! :P My entire body hurts — especially my wrists and forearms. I had just enough time tonight to do this small site update and now I’m going to go cuddle with the wife and fur-children and possibly a large martini.
Finally, a website update!
You may have noticed that I’ve changed the website around quite a bit. I’m proud to announce that MerryShannon.com is now entirely powered by WordPress! This means the site will be significantly easier to update, as I can do so from any computer rather than having to wait until I get home to use Dreamweaver and my FTP client. Hopefully THAT means I’ll be updating a lot more often (and maybe even getting some actual progress accomplished on my next book!!)
If you check out the new site you’ll notice most of the old content is still here, with a few exceptions; I’ve taken down all of my outdated personal image galleries, and will likely be posting personal photos here in the blog from time to time instead. There’s also a new page for “3D Character Galleries” that I’m really excited about — there’s not much on there now, but I’ve been having a great time with this new program I downloaded and can’t wait to share some of its creations with you. There’s a sneak-peek on the main page, in fact, as I used one of the images from the program to create a Branded Ann banner…
You’ll notice a new feature on several of the pages here: the ability to leave comments. I was receiving so much spam via the previous website’s contact form that it was very hard to sift through and find real notes from you guys… so now not only is there a new and improved contact form that will hopefully be spam-proof, you can also leave comments for me here in the blog, or comments about the books on their pages! Cool, huh?
And the other big difference, of course, is this blog itself, which I hope to update with at least some regularity now that it’s up and running!
Not quite EVERYTHING is up yet, as I still have a few sections to finish filling out and some tweaks to the overall design, but thus far I’m really pleased with it. So welcome to the new website, have a look around, and if you like, let me know what you think! <3
Romantic Interludes
In the short story “Rebellious Heart,” a budding attraction forms between actresses in the Japanese all-female Takarazuka theater. “The Whisper” is the story of a comic-book style superhero who rescues her damsel in distress. Two romantic anthologies from Bold Strokes Books.
Sword of the Guardian
On Princess Shasta’s sixteenth birthday, her world is turned upside-down when a cruel assassination attempt takes her brother’s life. Shasta herself is saved in the nick of time by a ragged street performer who becomes her personal bodyguard, but her new guardian hides a shocking secret. He’s actually a girl!
Branded Ann
No pirate on the high seas is more feared than the notorious Branded Ann. When she raids a merchant vessel bound for Jamaica, her only objective is to obtain the map that will lead her to a legendary treasure. But she hadn’t bargained on taking Violet, the merchant’s young widow, on board her ship as a prisoner.
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