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More on the Maelstrom & Mage conversion challenge
Especially when I have to get up at 7:00 because I'm working a morning shift this morning. Urg.
It occurred to me much of why I'd been dealing with so many personal and writing challenges in both the first grand overhaul and edit of M+M and now this second, of reshuffling and adding more plot and maybe even taking out some of the aruna scenes, is that it will truly make this a Wraeththu novella. Which is what Storm wants to publish. It's not, however, what I wrote. I write relationship-based stories. I think I have from the very beginning. I'm not a plot-driven writer, though of course even in a relationship-based stories, even my longer story arc'ed stories (Magic Immunity, Cartography of Fire, even my first Tolkien novella, Daughters of Oromë) are episodic and there's plot which tells you about the relationships. In thinking about Storm's original trilogy especially, there's a lot of plot going on. I was struck by this in comparing my stuff to hers. I really thrive on writing about the two (or occasionally three) primary characters, and how their relationship changes and evolves due to their personal journeys and what goes on around them. Plot-propelled stories, especially without a lot of more intimate scenes... well, not my strong point to my knowledge. Because until now, I've never written that. Is this project really when I should be trying? At least I do have a very astute editor and if nothing else, if I am able to pull this off to her satisfaction, I'll have a product which I've never had before. But it made me realize more than ever that it would have been easier for me to convert even something like my Tolkien mini-novella A House Divided to an actual novella, despite it, too, being episodic and having the points of view of Morwen, Thengel, Ecthelion, Aragorn and, in the epilogue, Eowyn. Why? Because the plot is there, and for some reason, probably because it's not a period of time and place I created myself, easier to fill in. I can do this for M+M, though the tensions are now far changed from it being focused on the relationship between Ashmael and Vaysh and how that changes in their new enclave, to it being on the tensions of some of the key OC hara there, the community in relationship to the Varrs (who figured only with the appearance of 2 OCs in my original), some hara of Saltrock, and Thiede's overarching plans. So... a 180 in concept and motivating forces. Would I ever have chosen to write that? Um, no. Me, take out sex scenes at this point in my writing life??! It seems anathema to me, but for it to become more in line with published Wraeththu stories, the answer is yes.
Again, I will do this, I will. And having these new elements of self-awareness and just why it's so hard and not seeming like a grand adventure in my writing life does help. It doesn't change the fact that I'm forcing myself into very unfamiliar writing territory, and I may suck at it. I suppose that's what worries me. I know I've become good at writing aruna and/or sex scenes and about relationships. Then again, I didn't start out being the writer I am now, six years later. It was all new at first. I just need to trust that I've been learning the skills and can learn this as well.
Now to finish my coffee. Boy do I wish I'd had more sleep. On the plus side, after my morning shift, our patron services team is being taken to lunch (or breakfast! It's served for most of the day!) at a Portland mainstay named Besaws. Thankfully we were given the menu a couple of days ago as I would be overwhelmed by having to choose a menu item on the spot. I'm still a little undecided.
And at each point, even when tossing and turning at crazy-thirty this morning, when I've been feeling cranky or whiney, I think about
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simons_flower and the fact that I should consider it my privilege to be alive to do these things. I hope that this lack of complacency about each day that I do wake up stays with me for a long time.
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*HUGS*
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and challenging yourself in writing (and life) is always good. sometimes incredibly hard, but good.
will send an email re:weekend
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And sorry about punting about tomorrow! That said, I'm realizing I have a lot of people to try and reach on the phone, plus my roommate will actually be out and about a lot, which means solo house for me. Which is always appreciated. But we can get together next week; it's almost easier for me to meet up on a weekday around lunch-ish!
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:) Lunch sounds fun.
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Lunch was yummy. :D
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I was struck by your saying you're not very good at writing plot. I always used to bore people by saying that I wasn't very good at writing dialogue and yet (puncutation aside), when I look at the comments I get, it turns out that other people think my dialogue is pretty good. I think there's plenty of plot in you and I think you do write plot driven stories, I think you maybe, possibly, are simply confusing 'plot-driven' with 'lots happening' which aren't necessarily the same.
I don't know what Storm has said in detail but if you feel you have to remove some of the aruna for some characters, why not look for places to add new aruna scenes in with other characters. One of the things I enjoyed about Storm's original trilogy was that every now and again there would be a smaller, passing reference to aruna and this would, in many ways be as erotic as the fully developed sex scenes.
This IS a writing adventure, it's just the hard, grinding bit, hauling yourself up the mountain by your bleeding fingernails before you finally cast the ring into the fire and are rescued in the nick of time by intelligent eagles who but you to bed in white linen and wait for you to come round, a hero to all...
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My fingernails and self-esteem will probably both be shredded by the end, and I'll still be wishing I'd just bloody well written a new story with the public as the intended audience. Oh, wait. I have that on my plate, too. :headdesk:
Eagles... hmmm. We'll see who comes to rescue me!
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Good luck and start right away :D
( ( hugs ) )
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This weekend I'll start literally cutting up the story and taping it, as well as writing in the beginnings of Storm's beta, I think. I just can't afford to print out 123 pages of the novella with her comments, so I'll write them in. So, I'll get started, yes sir!
((((missing you so much))))
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I have never thought of myself as a plot-driven writer, the plot is the skeleton for me to hang my characterization on. The psychological makeup and motivations of my protagonists and other important characters remain the key to the plot for me. I need to know the characters like the back of my hand, then I can plot them because then I know how they will react and respond to events. You certainly know your characters in M&M.
I think it might be easier than you believe it is.
Someone recently asked me how I was finding trying to write the short story I have been asked to contribute to the Wraeththu mythos anthology. It’s very hard because I find myself asking: how should this differ from fanfiction?
Interestingly enough, the one observation that I had was that the sex scenes, in and of themselves, are less important than in fanfiction. Fanfiction is an extremely self-indulgent genre. For example, one is often drive to write a fanfiction story by the following motivation: “I love this story. I love the interactions between x, y, or z characters. Wish there were even more sex scenes and that they were more explicit. I guess I can fulfill that wish by writing it.” And the audience, as you noted in a previous entry on this dilemma, has the expectation of some explicit sex scenes. I have always found those hard to write. And I am not shy or reserved. That is not the question, but how does one write a sex scene every chapter, if that is what you feel a given audience wants, and have it remain interesting and sexy without becoming repetitious or simply titillating. I want the sex scene to move the plot forward and not just sit there as a sensual interlude, if that makes any sense? But then sometimes they are just for fun in fanfiction.
But, only the other hand, one cannot ever say sex/aruna is not important in any Wraeththu story or novel, because hara are intensely sensual creatures, they need aruna to survive, and sex takes on a whole series of rich and more complicated aspects. Then there is the ongoing dispute in the early part of the series over romantic love, what it means in the context of the new world and this new species. Then, of course, there is sex magic—grissecon—and, in the later books, sex as a form of healing is central—Cobweb, Snake and that whole story arc. Just how many and how explicit do the sex scenes need to be? I guess it depends upon the plot.
Me, take out sex scenes at this point in my writing life??! It seems anathema to me, but for it to become more in line with published Wraeththu stories, the answer is yes.
I do have complete confidence in your story and your writing. I think maybe you are over thinking it.
You are clearly comfortable and confident in your ability to write an incomparable aruna scene (you're a master at that!). I feel that way about my dialogue--I can really hear characters in my head. But I am also far less confident that I can dream up a really riveting plot. But there is tension and plot in your story, maybe the focus is too narrowly on Ashmael and Vaysh? Perhaps she would like to see other characters as significant in the plot development? Not simply a love story in the standard sense (maybe M&M is a romance novel as it stands—never thought of it that way myself), and needs to be more of an historical sequence in the early development of Wraeththu? It’s hard to analyze the comments you received without having seen them. Ashmael and Vaysh are key characters in the novels that follow your novella chronologically. Your invented history for them is therefore important in the history of the entire world of Wraeththu. Maybe that is essential question: how does your scenario which you develope in your novella fit into the larger picture?
Sorry--too many words and more questions and not enough light. (And, hey, you know I adore M&M. It is very hard for me to think about it critically at this late date.)
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Thanks for your thoughts here; they are much appreciated.
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Boldly venture forth, heh! :D
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