Resolution

I have resolved to let Lauryn finish saying what she needs to say. If at the end, she needs to be scrapped (which is a real possibility) then scrapped she will be. But I will at least let her finish her statement, whatever that may be.

Writing Exercise

So a couple of years ago my brother-in-law (my sister's husband) bought me one of those writing exercise box things. I was messing around with it the other day and it was surprisingly fun. So I thought I might as well post the result here.

He swore on his mother's grave, but then he swore on just about everything. My mom used to warn me about men like him; loud-mouthed, hot-headed and insincere. And yet, though I had known better, as he swore, I believed him.

It wasn't so much that I had been blind to the truth so much as I saw it differently. I mean, yes, he tended to lie and yes, he tended to kill things. But that didn't mean he wasn't sweet. Because he was sweet, in a lying, killing sort of way.  So. He swore. I believed him.

And then everything went to hell. Because you can't really agree to shelter a supernatural bounty hunter without everything going to hell. It's like a law of the Universe.

It wasn't so bad at first. My apartment is small but we kept different hours. And he was usually pretty good about not bringing his work home. But then there was that weekend in Duluth.

I don't even know where Duluth is to be honest. Texas maybe? One evening I was doing the books over take-out  Chinese. He came in (through the window, he never used the door) looking like he was going to kill something. I was beginning to realize that was his normal expression. I think I might have muttered a hello but most of my attention was on the books. I'm not exactly known for my financial acumen but as I ran my own business, there wasn't really anyone else for the duty to fall to.

Anyway, one moment I was eating Chinese, the next I was swimming back to consciousness in a dingy hotel room. In Duluth.

Leafkin

It's that time of year. Leafkin submissions are due today. Which means Drea commences the bulk of her editing tomorrow, which means that I will commence (read: be drowned in) line editing in just a few more days. Then author meetings then .... Formatting.

I've familiarized myself with Adobe InDesign but this will be my first major project. I gotta say, I'm nervous. It's one thing to move simply move around and make minor corrections to a file that's already been formatted. It's another entirely to start from scratch.

In between bouts of editing I'm gonna try to read up on it as much a possible

The System

I want to talk to you about women in Fantasy. From the Kick-Ass Heroine of Urban Fantasy to the Strong-Minded Woman of Epic Fantasy there seems to be a vogue on for women that are Taking Names and Bucking The System. And it's kind of annoying me.

Don't get me wrong. There's some really great stuff out there of that exact variety. I, for one, love Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson novels. And Steampunk pirate chicks are just plain cool. 

But sometimes it seems like authors create social systems just so their female character/s can tromp on it. Or, worse, they've stuck their characters into a world with the gender roles we've come to expect for no other reason than the fact that its normal for fantasy and have their female characters prance about high-kicking the established system with barely a nod to the fact that this is going on. If you want to have a world where women use swords and curse and do all sorts of what-have-you then do it. It's fantasy. You can make it that way. Really. And if you don't want that to be your world, then how about seeing some consequences. 

I'd like to see some strong voices from female characters who are living in The System. Dealing with it. Hell, even using it. Because, quite frankly, even in our days of Womens Lib and Feminist ideals, that's what most of us do. The System is different for us than it was, say, 100 years ago but that doesn't change the fact that we're still living in it, and, on a day to day basis, doing very little to challenge it. 

There are some examples in this in contemporary fiction, mostly, I think from the epic/machinations-of-power sub genre. But a lot of these women are either appendages to men or, quite frankly, manipulative bitches. I'd like to see a woman of the straight up heroine variety deal with living in The System. I'd like to see what that means for her. And, okay, so maybe she's gonna have to high-kick it a little. After all, isn't that what heroes do?

Niggling Self Doubt

I just finished Reading Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, which, I must say, is an excellently fun book. Steampunk pirates, what more could you want? Well there's also some good characterization and lots of humor, if you want to be greedy. (I'm always jealous of funny authors. I'm not funny. I try and all I get are weird looks.)I haven't so thoroughly enjoyed reading a book in ages. Granted there are flaws in it, but they are easily over shadowed by everything that is right with it.

And it has made me realize something. That which I enjoyed so much, may just be lacking in my own writing. Now, I've always been a pretty words sort of girl rather than one of swashbuckling derring-do (or drunken-do as the case most often is in Retribution. Seriously, you should read that book. It's great.) and I'm fine with that. The interesting, fast plot and the well-drawn, vivid characters - each of which had doses of both the despicable and the grand swirling about in them - all swept together with a sort of freeness in the writing itself has made me take a good hard look at my own efforts toward story telling. 

As I said, anything I came up with would be much, much different from Retribution. But there are certain skills, certain elements that are universal. My favorite books have them in spades. Question is, do I? Does my story?

Now, I love Lauryn (my protagonist) but she's not terribly charming. Nor is she terribly fun. And while I am thoroughly entertained by my cast of characters, would anyone else be? Am I capable of creating fully realized characters, not just paper-thin puppets manipulated for my own amusement? 

Oh The Shame!

Alright. It's confession time.

I like anime.

I know, I know. Gasp. Shock. Horror.

All that aside, allow me to defend myself briefly.

What I really, truly, love about anime is that it allows for amazingly epic characters that you can't quite get away with in serious novel writing these days. (Please, no cracks about Fantasy and 'serious novel writing') Even with the resurgence of the fantastic into mainstream television (Fringe, V, Lost ect.) there are still some things you just can't get away with as a 'western' writer.

For example, take a character with violet eyes, a penchant for poetry, that speaks in a pleasing monotone and carries a freaking huge sword. Written by John Smith of Middleton it's self-indulgent nonsense. But if you meet the same character in an anime (or manga, let's not forget manga) he's flipping bad ass.

Because it's anime.

You can have super powers, cute girls, pretty men, swords, guns, giant robots, and gravity defying hair without anyone batting an eye.  And the guy who reads poetry and has a refined enjoyment of tea and flowers is just gonna be that much harder to beat. The clothes are great and you know the kid who just picked up the sword/gun/giant robot is still gonna be able to beat the crap out of the bad guy.

Granted you also get misogyny and (oddly) a fair bit of snobbery but it's all so much fun. And some of it's even good.

I'm not going to go so far as to say that there isn't a fair amount of it that's pure silliness, but I like silliness. And I've always been of the opinion that the fantastic is necessary to the understanding of the human experience. Some things, some ideas, are just too big to get across without it.

So, yeah, I like anime.

arts

So, kind of ridiculous, but here are some pictures a friend of mine, L. H. Reid, did of my characters.

Below is Lauryn, my main character. Under her, is Islin