Echoes in a Hollow Space

Random quote of the day:

“New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.”

—attributed to Lao Tzu



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Key and Peele, Celine Dion, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

“Don’t rush or force the ending of a story or book. All you have to know is the next scene, or the next few scenes.”

—Chuck Palahniuk, “Stocking Stuffers: 13 Writing Tips From Chuck Palahniuk,” LitReactor, December 2005

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Lucy and Ethel, Justin Bieber, or the Kardashian Klan. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“All happy endings have a leak in them somewhere."

—Nina Fitzpatrick, Daimons

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

 

“The end is not over there, not on the other side of the wall; the beginning and the end are here.”

—J. Krishnamurti, “How To Live In This World,” The Urgency of Change

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

 

“That a marriage ends is less than ideal; but all things end under heaven, and if temporality is held to be invalidating, then nothing real succeeds.”

—John Updike, Too Far To Go

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

I don't like unhappy endings. I know that in some sectors of the literary life, some people think that only stories with tragic outcomes are “serious fiction,” but so be it. The way I see it, life itself provides far too many of those, so in my fiction bittersweet is about as unhappy as it gets. Most times. I have cranked out an unhappy face here and there, but they’re rare.

But I also don't like artificial happy endings. I don't believe in magically-arrived at solutions that avert the tragedy at the last minute. Unless it's a story about tragedy-averting fairies or a romance or other stories that are required by law to have happy endings. Otherwise, it feels like cheating. If something sad or bad is the best thing for the story, no matter how much I love the characters, then that's where things have got to go. Usually I manage to stick those sad/bad things in the middle of the story and pull happy or bittersweet out of the fire by the end. Most times. I'm not sure I've always succeeded there.

I wish I could write straight comedy, I sincerely do, but it seems my brain isn't wired that way. I may set out to write a comedy, but somehow painful twists and kinks crop up. So when I set out to write my current WIP, although it was mostly meant as a comedy, I knew upfront it would most likely be a serio-comic novel. I knew that would be a difficult challenge. I was completely correct in that. Have I met the challenge? I have no idea. Only time, another draft, and reviews will help me determine that.

Currently, I've got comic and tragic elements battling for possession of the story. Your guess is as good as mine which will win. I know what should happen, but it's not what I want to happen. It's not what I set out to write. A serio-comic novel may be the trickiest thing to pull off—and underrated. Some people assume comedy is easy, but it's not. I think tragedy is easy. Perhaps not emotionally easy to write, but technically easy. You don't have to walk any fine lines with it (except the line between sad and melodramatic). You just uncork it and let it flow. The ride isn't easy, not if you're feeling what your characters feel. It can be a squirming, harrowing experience. But the story elements are generally straightforward. At least that’s the way it looks to me. I could be wrong.

Keeping the tone right when writing comedy with a side of tragedy is maybe the hardest thing I've ever tried. I do seem to like throwing these challenges at myself. I don't always pull them off and failure is always a depressing option. I could cheat. I could have some magic fairy come in, wave her wand, and yell, "Just kidding!" In fact, I came up with such a scenario last week, but it felt wrong, not what my story is calling for, and getting past that big lump of late-in-the-game-sad to the imminent quirky ending is giving me migraines.

For a week I've been staring at that ending (longer if I count the foot-dragging leading up to this point), alternately wondering if I have the cojones to unleash the magic bomb—or if the cojones are for writing things as they should be, then worrying about rescuing the tone for the ending. I guess the answer is: just write it. Rework the tone in the next draft. But I’m resisting both jumps and about to unseat the rider…

La di da la di da, tomorrow is another day. I think I'll go work on content for my website instead.

So the Goodreads newsletter just asked me, "Do you have any new books to share with your friends?"

My answer: "Not that I'd admit in public."

The Argh! book that I mentioned over the weekend could go on the list, but I will probably spare the world my review. And spare myself the embarrassment. I'm still reading the damned thing, in fits and starts, though I don't wanna, I don't! I'm alternating that book with Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow and Medicus by Ruth Downie, and a little bit of Bundori by Laura Joh Rowland. I'm having trouble settling down to a good read right now and what I do seem to stick with is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

I feel vaguely ashamed. I used to be such a hardcore reader, unafraid of anything, willing to slog through the tough stuff in the good cause of betterment.

I'm not that person anymore. Mainly these days I just want to be entertained. I don't absolutely require an HEA—bittersweet can often be better—but I've read enough of downbeat, tragic endings, thank you very much. Life is too short, RL especially good at providing its own downbeat and tragic endings. I want to escape all that. I want to be taken away somewhere marvelous, or some aspect of this life unlike my own, into the deepest of mysteries or the breeziest of romances. My favorite books don't have to be upbeat—can, in fact, be gritty, grimy, dark, moody, bittersweet, and broken.

Just not tragic. Can't take the blues anymore.

I get softer as I get older, not harder, and I'm too much of a wimp now for books that are "good for me." I've learned to live with the guilt, to lap it up like cheap, sweet wine. Makes for a bad hangover some mornings, but ain't nothing a couple of aspirin—or another belt of cheap, sweet wine—can't cure.

Is it wrong to send (as a joke) a series of seriously creepy clown photos from 1923 to a friend who is a coulrophobe?

I thought so. I guess I'm bad to the bone.

In other news: There is no other news. Work is busyfrickingbusy and home is all about paint. Benjamin Moore gold leaf semi-gloss paint, to be exact. However, another chapter (28) of Charged with Folly is done—and really—only one more to go. Okay, maybe two. But there's almost no more plot left so they can't keep breeding like they have been. Yay!

I'm doing everything possible to avoid finishing my novel this weekend, including—gasp!—housework. I don't know why I'm so determined not to focus. I finished a rousing next-to-last or next-next-to-last chapter on Friday and was sure I'd finish the book over the three days I have off. But it just isn't happening. I had a little bit of insecurity about how I'd resolve a certain plot point, but in the shower this morning, I figured that one out. I'm not dreading the ending, it has a nice sweep (I think), my energy is good, its energy is good, all systems appear to be go, but...

Also in the shower this morning I came up with a name change for the novel. Charged with Folly referred to a plot point that has since been "overtaken by events" and isn't quite relevant anymore. I knew I'd probably have to change it but wasn't actively worrying about it at the moment. But the new name popped into my head and it is all about this book: A Rain of Angels.

If I can just get over myself and finish.

There's one or two chapters to go and if I allow for my normal chapter length, the book will clearly go over 120k, but there's a great deal that needs to be fixed and slimmed down in the early chapters, so I'm quite confident I can bring that total back down.

119,750 / 120,000 (99.8%)

Finish, finish, finish!

Chapter 27 is well-launched, but I just couldn't stand to look at the story on Friday, so I took the writing session off, and wound up taking Saturday and Sunday off, too. (Busy weekend.) But I'll dive right back in tomorrow. Swear.

113,750 / 120,000 (94.8%)