Friday, March 28, 2008
Carolyn Good Faker
Yesterday was a very good day. And today, why, it's Friday, so that's 2 good days in a row. Yowza! Today, I worked and worked on Chapter 16 and at the end, I was only up 400 words. Rats. I'm doing the book trailer plunge with this release, and that revealed a wee problem unrelated to the money I'm spending on it.
Of course I had to write a synopsis in order to sell
My Wicked Enemy but other than the protagonists' first names, that synopsis bears no resemblance whatever to the book I actually turned in. I knew that would happen. The whole time during the sale process for this book I knew the synopsis I had to slave over like a dog was written in disappearing ink. I told my agent, when she asked about stupid stuff I put in it,
I don't know! I have to write the book first! None of that stuff is going to actually happen. And yet, I had to provide a synopsis anyway, of some other book from some other universe. They gave me money anyway. Carolyn good faker.
So the problem is the book trailer people want a synopsis. And I only have a fake one. And a book trailer based on a fake synopsis? Bad. Bad indeed. But the next book is due May 1. I did not have time to spend 3-4 days bleeding out my eyeballs to write a synopsis. I paid those dues already, Bub! I am not agonizing over this while I pay them. Oh, no never. That's just sick and twisted. So I whipped something together, mostly resisted the urge to edit and sent if off with the last round of edits copy of the book.
Which is most of the reason I'm only up 400 words. That means 1600 words tomorrow.
off to bed.
Labels: Book Trailer, Faking It, Synopsis, writing, writing freaking writing
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Friday, March 16, 2007
Why I write novels not short stories
As previously mentioned,
here,
here and
here, I've been working on the synopsis for Scandal. I sent the chapters and synopsis off to my wonderful agent who had me revise the synopsis. I did that. She sent it back again with some astoundingly spectacular edits and two questions for me to address. I have done that, and sent it back. Monday, unless -- no, it's too horrible to contemplate-- Monday Scandal goes to editors.
People, her edits were amazing. I think she read the thing and just shook her head and said,
ok lookit, the girl can write a novel but she's effen hopeless with the synop. She didn't make huge changes at all, I fixed the really bad bits, but she tweaked little stuff that totally made it awesome. Short writing is way different from long writing. But, gosh, I wish I weren't so darn synopsis impaired.
What else? I'm tired. I had a fabu idea for a scene in Magellan's Witch at the gym this morning. I had this scene that was only doing one thing and even worse, it was doing only one thing that did little, if anything, to complicate the story. A classic warning sign that the scene is boring and thin. Uh oh. Without help, that's a scene that will need to be deleted or sent to the prose-surgeon later. And then your writer's insurance premiums go way up. So I applied a little preventative medicine and as I pedaled away, asked myself what else this scene could do for me that would introduce both conflict and complication.
My hero is in an all night pharmacy trying to get a refill of a prescription for my heroine who is outside in the car very very ill. Goal of the scene: get the refill.
Let's analyze. The hero and heroine are apart. He's in a pharmacy getting a prescription filled. She's in the car. He gets the refill, then he leaves, gets in the car and drives away. Ohmygawd. Yes. really. That's how I wrote it. And I had like three or maybe five pages about that. Oddly enough, putting a wall of condoms in the store did nothing to sex up the scene. Rats.
But I knew this was not right. Here's the notebooked changes:
The guy filling the prescription isn't human. Ooohhh. And he works for the bad guys. Ohh. He knows my hero isn't supposed to have the refill. And my non-human pharmacist is compelled to tell his bad-guy boss what's going down.
Later in the day, as I was driving home from work the second time (don't ask) I suddenly realized that my pharmacist recognizes my hero for what he is and gives him a traditional greeting of non-human respect. And proceeds to betray him, as indeed, he is compelled to do.
Then my heroine comes in the pharmacy, just as the two guys are going to do the non-human equivalent of throwing down. She's ill. She's not sure what's happening to her (something major, I promise) and she then breaks the pharmacist of his enslavement to the bad guy. Totally unexpected by all, let me assure you.
I think there's going to be some cops or something in there. Maybe. Then the ex-pharmacist drives the hero and heroine away, while the heroine reveals something to the hero that totally changes everything.
So, yeah, a non-human guy rescued from being a pharmacist for the bad guys. Now that's exciting stuff.
Tomorrow when I actually write this, who knows what the H will happen. But it'll be way more exicting than standing around in a Pharmacy.
Labels: Magellan's Witch, Scandal, Synopsis, writing craft, writing scenes
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The dragon has been slayed -- slain? um, skewered or something
I completely redid the synopis for Scandal and tweaked the chapters and emailed them to my agent to see what she thinks.
In re Music and Lyrics (what a dumb title!) I still think there was no chemistry (the hot kind) between Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, but I also laughed a lot during the movie and there is that naked torso to consider.
Labels: Scandal, Synopsis
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Monday, February 19, 2007
Igor, hand me that scalple
Today was
Fix the Scandal Synopsis Day, if by
fix I mean
start completely over. Which is exactly what I mean. I'm about three quarters of the way through and I think it's way better so far. I just haven't worked out the scope thing, the extra scandal to add. I have some ideas, but I need to notebook at the gym tomorrow morning to get clear on it.
I went to see
Music and Lyrics this afternoon. Totally cute movie. Lots of great lines for Hugh Grant, really funny ones. Very enjoyable movie. Drew Barrymore was good, too. I'm not sure yet because I'm still in that post-movie 24 hour period during which I love every movie I see (except the remake of Planet of the Apes which is the worst movie ever made). I think there was perhaps a lack of chemistry between Hugh and Drew. But I went to the movie fresh off of wrangling with my hero and heroine in Scandal, and those two are angsty-edgy-hot which this movie was not, so maybe I was projecting. But I think it's true. I feel compelled to note, however, that Hugh Grant has an awesome naked torso and I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to whoever thought of leaving the camera on a medium-close shot of Hugh Grant's naked torso for a quite significant time. Thank you, also for his jeans during that scene, which were low riders. There was some female skin on view as well, but not Drew's, so gentlemen so inclined would also have reason to thank designers who feel compelled to save the environment by using very small amounts of sparkly cloth.
Anyway, I am happy with my progress on the Scandal synopsis and hope to have it finished by tomorrow.
Labels: movies, Scandal, Synopsis
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Friday, February 16, 2007
On Friday, Carolyn's mood improved markedly
I'm driving home and I get an email from my agent, and at the next intersection all I see is the words
mostly I in the text before the light changes. Well, shoot, I think, she hated Scandal. I am depressed the rest of the way home. In the garage, I read the email bits in order. (
Postini, the world's greatest spam stopping program, also lets me forward emails to my phone. Naturally, my agent is on the list of emails I want forwarded.)
Oh. OK. This is
much better,
She doesn't hate Scandal. She loves it. She's excited about it! What she has problems with is the synopsis. Well, those buggers are a challenge for me, no question about it. I've already addressed the comments she made in my chapters, nothing major at all. But the synopsis is a bigger beast, which I will tackle tomorrow because tonight Magellan's Witch is calling my name to the tune of as many dang words as I can bang out. MW is going very well. It's complexifying nicely.
Scandal is totally bitching since I fixed the crap out of it. But she's right, the synopsis needs help. Yesterday I met with my prof and we talked about Scandal as it happens and Prof. Jaffe and my agent made very similar suggestions about what to do with the story. Apparently I am a plotting idiot. Which is true.
Sigh.Off to work on Magellan's Witch and mentally process Scandal.
Also, Monday is a holiday, and the sign needs to go back on my door. Too little time, too many interruptions.
Labels: Magellan's Witch, Scandal, Synopsis
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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The Late Post
Well, I did it. I finished the synopsis for Scandal (as well as I am able do a synopsis) and sent the proposal to my agent. Honest to Fudge (that's my dog, not a stand-in for a curse word) I think the chapters rock. Whacking those 2500 words out of chapter 2 fixed a lot of stuff. Like boring nothing's really going on stuff. And you know, it just about killed me, but heck, I had to do something, and those words were mucking up my project.
Yeah. There's a killer on the loose and she's not sorry.
Labels: Scandal, Synopsis
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Saturday, January 27, 2007
Stick a Fork in it!
Photo by amodiovalerioverde
Yeah. The synopsis for Scandal is done, as in it now tells the story from start to finish. This doesn't mean it's polished but it's done. Yay! I'm off to bed. The read through will have to wait until tomorrow since if I try to stay up late enough to read it all I won't be fresh at all. And so, to bed.
Labels: Scandal, Synopsis
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Another Saturday Night
My son woke up with a fever this morning, which meant we stayed home and kept a low profile. I made an Angel Food cake, and since you have to do something with all the left over egg yolks, I make a yellow cake, too. Both came out great. I bled my synopsis today. Slow agonizing progress, but progress nonetheless. I finished all my RITA books. Fun reading. What else? Nothing. Today was boring. But the synopsis is almost done and in a bit I'm going to print out my first 3 chapters (if I can get the cat off the printer) and see where things stand. Crap? Not crap? I'll find out. Could be I'll cry myself to sleep tonight. Or not.
Labels: RITA, Scandal, Synopsis
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Photo by amodiovalerioverde
