writing update 6/28/09

Chrysanthemum

current wordcount: 45,675
last week: 43,263
satisfied?: +2412 Yes! Still could do better, but considering that I wrote almost nothing last week/month, this is a major improvement.
comments: I’m rearranging some things and I think everything’s working a LOT better. I’ve switched the location of two major plot points. Crazy times!

This upcoming week is probably not going to be very productive. I’m going to be in D.C. Monday night and all of Tuesday, and then going up to Maine for the 4th. So maybe I will get a lot of work done in airports/on buses, but yeah that rarely happens. We’ll see.

currently writing

Lookame go!

*typetypetype*

Anyway.

I desperately need to clean my room, but I know I would just use that as an excuse later for not having written, so I am leaving my room a disaster and writing instead. I am the queen of excuses, so I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. Yeah we’ll see how that goes.

Yesterday was an office outing/retreat thing, we went to an island and did a scavenger hunt thing and sports and lounging around. I played softball, and everyone was impressed by my mad softball skillz. (It was almost insulting, actually, how many people were like, “what grace can play softball? wow!” Almost. I decided to be honored instead. haha.)

But anyway that was fun, and the sun has finally come out in Boston, and I’m sitting here writing, and all is well in the world.

I have decided to eat Mango Sorbet for lunch. Good idea yes/no?

/random grace rambling

Michael Jackson!

The rumors are flying. TMZ and NBC say he’s dead. CNN says he’s in a coma.

EDIT: the AP is confirming his death now.

He went crazy in his later life, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was a musical genius. Here’s you to you, MJ.

One of my favorite songs:

(youtube won’t let me imbed the original music video, which is here and fabulous)

who’s surprised, really?

Hahahahahahaha

If I only had a dollar for every time I said I was going to do something and then failed miserably at following through. If only.

Remember SF/F Writers Day? And how I was going to do something? You may have noticed that I didn’t. I’m only a day late, I could pull something together, but… I really don’t see that happening. So, uh. Here’s what the originator of the Day posted on her blog. Have at. Opportunity to win a book!

stargirl update

You may perhaps remember Stargirl from the other day. The girl who “fell asleep” and got 56 stars tattooed on her face instead of the 3 she wanted.

Turns out—now hold onto your hats, my dears—she was lying!!!!

Shocking, right?

She’s admitted that the artist’s story was right all along. She did in fact get exactly what she requested, but when she went home daddy pitched a fit so she made up this fib which couldn’t possibly have any repercussions, right?

Well, the tattoo artist has been vindicated, the girl is in loads of trouble, and I was able to use that picture again. So all is well.

down the rabbit hole

Aptly timed, that last post about Alice and Wonderland. Seems the first legit pictures of the movie have just been released, and omg. Tim Burton is doing it again. Love it.

So, here is the photo gallery that is currently making the rounds of the internet.

Is this not the most amazing thing you have ever seen in your life?

Is it just me or are her eyebrows absolutelyterrifying? I don't really like Anne Hathaway much, but I am cautiously optimistic about this performance.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

words fail me. oh. my. god.

writing update 6/23/09

I’ve put off last week’s update for basically as long as I could.

Chrysanthemum

current wordcount: 43,263
last week: 43,082
satisfied?: +181 hahahaha oh god grace. This is why I kept putting off this update, I was hoping to up that dreadful number. But no. ‘scuse me while I shoot myself.
comments: that +181 might be kind of misleading; it would be higher except I deleted a goodly chunk as I was writing another chunk. So. I think this week is going to be very editing/chop heavy, so next week’s numbers may also be unimpressive. But they *will* be higher, I swear.

zomg

So apparently this is old news.

But Tim Burton is making Alice in Wonderland.

With like 50 of my favorite actors.

*dies*

The usual suspects are in it—Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter), Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen)—but also starring are Timothy Spall, Alan Fucking Rickman (Caterpillar!), Stephen Fucking Fry (Cheshire Cat), Christopher Fucking Lee (the Jabberwock), and Michael Sheen (<3). Anne Hathaway is in it too, but eh.

But omg.

I so cannot wait.

Now that I’ve, you know, caught up to the rest of the world and figured out this movie is happening. :/

zomg.

writing rules: guaranteed to get you a book deal!

This post is part of my “blog cleanup” series and was originally posted at the last Gracetopia, on blogger. I’ve edited a bit and added an addendum to the bottom. Bon appetit.

~

Any way you want it
That’s the way you need it
–Journey

I am a member of/hang out at/lurk at/occasionally read a variety of writing websites. And people are always asking about the rules. “Am I allowed to swear?” “How long should my chapters be?” “Am I supposed to do a prologue? Am I not supposed to do a prologue?” “How much dialogue should I use?” (like literally, “what percentage of my novel should be dialogue?“) “How many plot events do I need in the first 20 pages?”

Good grief, people.

I hereby give you the only writing rule you ever need, the one rule you should remember forever and ever and ever. Free of charge, you don’t even have to credit me when you pass it around.

There are no unbreakable rules.

Anyone who tells you otherwise should be kicked. In the face. (That is not part of the rule, merely a suggestion.)

Write what works for the story. If your chapters are 20 pages, well cool. If they are 50 words, well cool.

Don’t trust anyone who declares there is one right way and then argues with you about their one right way. There are things that have been popular, things that have worked well for many many authors, but that doesn’t mean you have to do them if it’s not what works for your story.

This bothers me like a lot. Not even the answers, the questions themselves.

People ask for rules for a lot of reasons, the main one being they want that one magic bean that will get them published and on the top of the NYTimes bestseller list.

But there isn’t a bean, people. Just write, write, write, and figure out what works for you. Sure, take suggestions, see what works for other people, but if it isn’t what works for you just ignore it.

That is all.

Addendum:

The beautiful and totally fabulous Cat commented on the original post with this:

I like one particular rule, though it’s probably the hardest to follow:

“Leave out the bits the readers skip.”

I definitely concur with that rule. [Elmore Leonard, btw]

Rules that are entertaining/vague/general/witty are ok in the Land of Grace. (See also: “The personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there. ~Mark Twain) General wisdom, I’d call this category. With a bit of snark. I’m pretty sure if you asked Elmore Leonard what percentage of a book should be dialogue, he’d just laugh at you.

deja vu all over again

So I am just going to apologize in advance. To everyone.

I’m having knee problems again. (see previous post about how I was playing a video game…) And once again nothing seems to be wrong—aside from, you know, the massive amounts of pain and the fact that my leg won’t straighten. So I’m going to find an orthopedist and probably get an MRI and probably have nothing wrong with me. We’ll see.

And if last year’s (similar) injury* is any indication, I am going to be very bitchy and whiny for a while. So I apologize; if I am bitchy and whiny to you (moreso than usual, I mean), that’s why. I don’t handle pain well, and this is the second time in 2 years I’ve had to deal with this shit, and it’s going to turn me into a pain in the ass.

So I’m sorry.

Yeah.

.

*For those of you who have not been following my life for the past year-and-a-half, I had a freak-knee-accident in February 2008 that put me on crutches for a while. Nothing showed up on x-rays. Nothing showed up on the MRI (though, granted, I put that off as long as possible b/c I didn’t think I could afford it—6 months). Just lots of pain and a leg that wouldn’t straighten properly. So. Here we go again.