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I want to ask my friends three questions but right now my mind is in vaporlock from the rush here at work. I'll get there, I hope.

Quote of the day:

"The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones."

—Joseph Joubert


Writingness of the day: Apparently Charged with Folly got jealous of its brethren with the godawful complicated plots because in the last couple of weeks (especially this week), the plot has plunged straight into the plot complication wokka-wokka machine. So instead of a nice, straight-forward adventure romp--up the revolution!--it's turned labyrinthine on me. Appropriate, I guess, for a story with a labyrinth as its central metaphor. Also, apparently, the first half of the book is going to be a steampunk revolution and the second half is going to be a very strange, steampunk quest story. I can't conceive of writing this in one book, so perhaps I need to reconsider and start asking myself hard questions.

It occurred to me today that I don't seem to be able to write straightforward plots. They bore me. I seem to need the twisty-turny to entice me to spend that much time on one project. I don't mind reading straightforward plots, but . . . meh.

I've also been pondering whether I should just say, "F*** it!" and embrace my paranormal-romantic nature and pump out even more of the damned things. I don't want to write nothing but p-r, and the p-r I've written is hardly typical fare, but maybe it's more marketable? Or not, since I haven't sold anything. The reason I bring this up is because it occurred to me, while all the occurringness was going on, that a novel I wrote nearly 75k on before its central conceit collapsed on me in a pile of steaming guano, that I might possibly be able to salvage it as a werewolf story. The central metaphor there was all about wolves (the working title was even Brother Wolf, but that's way overused and will have to go) and I think I have a semi-original hook that could turn it paranormal on me. Worldbuilding to do and some rewriting, but I think most of the story can be salvaged.

Yeah, I know. There are almost as many werewolves out there as vampires (though not quite as many). Thing is, they're still selling, and people are still reading them. It would be nice to have another book done in a shorter amount of time than usual. It remains to be seen if I can pull anything of the sort off. Keep your skeptical spectacles on.

Date: 2006-09-01 09:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] java-fiend.livejournal.com
Romantic-Paranormal? Interesting... I'd say just write what comes and don't try to force something or coerce yourself into writing something else because it may be "marketable". Just write what your natural inclination is telling you to write and you'll be okay.

Okay, so I've heard of Cyberpunk (though I confess to not really knowing the nuances) but what is "Steampunk"?

Date: 2006-09-04 06:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] java-fiend.livejournal.com
Steampunk sounds interesting. I'd never really heard the term before... thanks for the enlightenment!!!

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