The Waiting Game – & I Haz Planz 19/06

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Raven ShadowHawk

I did it! I did it at laaaaaaaaaaaaast!

Yes, it took me ages but I have finally (FINALLY) sent Slippers & Chains to Breathless Press. I did it late last week and spent only a little time trying to keep my fingers from shaking. I have, however, despite receiving the auto response telling me that my submission had been received, been checking my email every day. Sometimes twice a day. Okay three times. … five times. o.O

Yes, I know I won’t get a response for weeks (four weeks at the earliest) but I can’t help it. I’m so excited I could burst!

screen cut of FB update about checking emails

Yep. It’s that bad.

I know I should pin all my hopes it this one submission (especially since it’s the first of its nature) and I certainly shouldn’t stop working. But for now I’m just enjoying the buzz of knowing that I’ve finally done it.

Though now I’ve done that I really should be looking into the rest of the Meeting Each Other series. I would love for it to be done by the end of the year and I need to finish that before I start on anything else. Ugh.

Guess the best way to do that is to look into my goals, right? 😉

line break, swirling graphics, from openclipart

Following the success of last week (!) I want to push myself a bit more. I want to keep pushing towards achieving the goals set out at the start of the year and be clear about where I want to be at year’s end. After all, there’s only a week or two more before I need to sum up what I’ve done in the last six months and see if I’m on the right track.

So…

Last Week…

~Finish up my synopsis for Slippers & Chains
Done. With bells on. ^_^

~Send Slippers & Chains to Breathless Press.
Done. Finally. Put to bed, laid to rest, whatever you want to call it; the submission has been made and, insofar as this press, there’s nothing more I can do. Phew!

This Week

  1. Look at where I last left Eric & Morgan (Meeting Each Other 4) and see what needs to be done

  2. Look at where I left production on the solo website and plan how best to proceed it

  3. Look where I left Raven’s Diary and see what needs to be done to ensure that newsletter subscribers get their monthly update.

There. Woo!
I really feel like I’m back to normal now. I was able to pick up the Sprogs yesterday with no trouble and do some pretty serious marching up and down the hill with heavy bags, pram and children. I’m still not ready to face the hits of the flack track on my skates, but I can certainly go back and do some gentle skating by the end of the month.

That coupled with the Slippers & Chains submission have made me a very happy woman. How are you lot getting on? 🙂

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Dialogue, Scene Setting & Building Tension: A Study – Pt1 (& Mah Plans 16/06)

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Ileandra Young

I watched The Matrix trilogy over the weekend. I don’t know why… it just ended up in my head and I felt the need to watch it all the way through.

What a mistake. -_-

Screen dump of FB status update

Yes… I was upset

The Matrix was first released in 1999. The next two films came a short while after. I remember watching The Matrix, being so excited about it. It took me three tries to even reach the point where Morpheus gives Neo the choice of the blue or red pill, because various things stopped me being able to watch the VHS (yes, it was a VHS then). When I watched it all the way through I loved it to bits.
I remember talking to class mates in school, being jealous of those kids who had ‘The Matrix Phone’ and being hacked off with my boring Nokia 3330 which didn’t have a cool sliding panel or that great, blocky look.

Ha! If only I knew then what I knew now.

Anyway. The trilogy, despite its age (or maybe because of it) is a fantastic study for me as a writer. I’m going to use my Monday posts over the next three weeks to talk about the different aspects of the film, as highlighted in the title above. Then I’m going to use what I’ve learned (hopefully) to better my own projects.

So…

Dialogue

The Matrix particularly is full of interesting dialogue. I say interesting as I’m unsure what else to call it. I don’t want to call it ‘crap’ because that’s not fair, but it’s not very good either.

almost clones in black suits with sunglassesSome of the best dialogue came from Agent Smith; he was the only character who seemed to give away his personality and inner thoughts with the words he spoke. I got a real feel of his hate for the place and everyone/thing in it.
Cypher was another good one; he was real, gritty and nasty with a hint of humour. And he said what plenty of us were thinking which, I think, is a good device for holding an audience’s attention without letting on what you’re doing.

The others… Morpheus sounded contrived and preachy and most of his dialogue was an excuse to be abstract, haughty and aloof because of the power he felt as a result of his belief in The One. Trinity (cool name though) gave me a sense of there-because-this-film-needs-a-love-interest and her lines were a bit muddled. On the one hand, she was cool, calm, and strong and yet within a heartbeat her dialogue made her appear a blushing damsel. Very strange. Neo was worst of all… because as soon as he takes that red pill, his lines make him sound not like a person, but a device to keep the story moving. It wasn’t natural.

It might be the acting. The delivery of these lines.
If it is, then the writers can’t be blamed (completely) and the actors could have done with better direction.
But…! So much of the dialogue before the blue/red pill scene feels natural and real because it isn’t abstract. The ideas and themes behind what these people say are such that we understand them.
As soon as Neo is able to move freely in and out of the Matrix, there is so much focus on The One and his job to end the war and saving Morpheus that I just can’t focus any more.

The lessons I plan to take from these movies are simple ones:
-Unless my novel is an abstract piece, don’t piss people off with abstract dialogue
-Keep dialogue true to the character (Would this person swear or not? Are they formal or casual? Do they use short sentences or long sentences? Fragments? What words might they choose?)
-Resist the urge to pepper action scenes with ‘cool’ one-liners, because they just aren’t cool. They’re annoying, and stupid, and nobody does that in real life.

This is all stuff I knew anyway, but having it reinforced this way, especially while I’m working on something new, is really good for me.line break, swirling graphics, from openclipartMoving on.

Last week I didn’t post any goals because I wanted to keep relaxing. I did a few odds and ends, as I figured I would, and I do feel a lot better for having let myself relax. Now, however, it’s time to look back and see what needs to be done:

Two Weeks Ago

Edit my flash fiction piece
Yeah right. Not done.

Resubmit my sci-fi story Love Bytes to another competition
I did some searching for suitable markets, but didn’t actually send it. I guess that’s better than nothing.

Continue working on WTRE
A few thousand words done, nothing to skip and jump about. I’ve also been collecting together some of the beta feedback for SORB. So peripheral work has been done.

Relax after my op
Definitely! I feel much better this week and all of my stitches are gone now. I have a cough instead, but that’s a hell of a lot easier to deal with than crawling pain from holes in my gut, so… win! 🙂

This Week

I guess I’d better get back into the swing of working first.

  1. Work on getting my daily output on WTRE back to where it was before the op (2000)
  2. Collate the rest of my SORB beta notes

There. I think once I’ve been able to do these things the rest will fall into place after it quite naturally. I hope so anyway, as that’s what I’m going to do. :p

Laterz!
new ileandra signature,

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The Maniacal Art of Self Sabotage

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Raven ShadowHawk

I’m sure that makes things sound so much worse than they actually are; but as a title, I like it. 🙂

Self-Sabotage; Behaviour is said to be self-sabotaging when it creates problems and interferes with long-standing goals. The most common self-sabotaging behaviours are procrastination, self-medication with drugs or alcohol, comfort eating in the face of weight concerns, and self-injury such as cutting.

~Definition lifted from Psychology Today.

Blimey. Well of those behaviours I think the only ones I don’t do are the self medication and self harming. Two out of four ain’t bad, right? 😉
Sorry; I don’t want to make light of these things. I know full well that people out there suffer from these very real problems and it isn’t easy.

My own self sabotage is minor compared with the two I don’t do and only one of those affects my writing. But, as a writer, they are no less valid.
I procrastinate. A lot.

I find excuses to do other things that I tell myself are useful. I spend months and months going over the same piece of text to make it ‘better’ when in truth I’m too scared to go on. I find ways to avoid doing the last things things I need to do in order to progress myself.

In my goals on Thursday I mentioned Slippers & Chains. It’s lingering because, after my op, I’ve been slow, tired and unable to work the way I used to. But before my op? The novella was ready to go at least a week before the Wednesday I went under the knife. So why haven’t I sent it yet?
Oh… my synopsis isn’t ready.
Oh… I need to format the .docx file to match the guidelines of Breathless Press‘ submissions process.
Oh… I don’t have time because Da Shared Brain is giving all her time to Ileandra to work on her latest WIP.

All of that is bullshit.
Coiled poo in brown with stinky whiffsYes, it’s true, but it doesn’t stop me working. It shouldn’t anyway. The Brain separated us, allowing Ileandra and I to work the way we do because it works.
My op was minor and I was home the same day; bar being unable to pick up the sprogs, I’m back to mopping, washing and generally taking care of my house and everything else the way I was before.
I have to work on my synopsis, but it’s already written; all I need to do is tweak it.

So what the hell am I waiting for?

Crying face from OpenClipArtIf I’m brutally honest, I’m scared.
That’s all it is.
I’m scared of failure and rejection and, so long as I don’t send the manuscript, I can’t feel either of those things. So I make excuses, find ways to avoid doing it.
I touched on this very briefly here but I feel admitting the facts to myself as well as you will help me overcome the fear.

I need to be brave. To trust in what I’ve written. It was received well enough by my betas; I can’t keep second guessing them, telling myself that they were kind because they like me. I chose these people specifically because they wouldn’t do that and Ileandra has done the same for her WIP.
It’s easy to talk the talk here on the blog when the piece is no where near ready to send, but right now, when I have to step up and do it… well this is where I prove to myself that I mean what I say.

I put it in my goals on Thursday, but I’m going to say it here again.
This week I send Slippers & Chains to Breathless Press. No messing around, no more procrastinating or excuses.

My desktop is dead, but I have a laptop.
I’m poorly, but The Funk Master is off work, for the most part, meaning that I have plenty of time, without the boys, to knuckle down and write.
Ileandra is working on WTRE, but Da Shared Brain can ration the time between us so we both get a share.
I’m tired, ill and sore, but eating well, more sleep and lots of fluids will help take care of that.

I’m out of excuses. Let’s just get it done.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Spoiler Alert (The Butler Did It) – & I Haz Planz 12/06

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Raven ShadowHawk

This keeps coming up. Across Facebook, Twitter, general conversation… the prickly subject of spoilers stabs me again and again until I’ve no choice but to talk about it.

Spoilers.
Giving away major plot points/twists/turns to someone yet to read/watch/listen to a book/film/radio show.

I think it’s a bloody mean thing to do unless asked. On some level it steals something from the experience of enjoying a story for the first time. If you know character X is going to die, are you really going to be invested enough to read through the book or watch the film? If you know who the killer is, has the mystery been lost? If you know the final destination, is the journey worthless?

Not if the story is told well.

That *points* is a post for another time because I want to focus on spoilers; mainly spoilers on Game of Thrones.
A Song of Ice and Fire, the hefty book series upon which the HBO series is based first hit stores in 1996.
It’s now 2014.
I appreciate that many people haven’t/can’t/won’t read those enormous books and that they prefer to watch the films, but can we think about this for a second?

If, watching this show, you don’t want any spoilers, you’re effectively asking anybody who might have read these books 18 years ago to keep schtumm about it.
18 years.
Call me odd, but that’s a long time to ask someone to keep quiet about something they love.

And is that fair? Of course it isn’t.

The core of my view on spoilers (for any series/book/show, not just Game of Thrones) is this:

-If your friends or people you know give you spoilers on purpose, when they know you’d prefer to find out yourself, then they need calling out on it. It’s mean, unfair and unnecessary. Like stealing the last cupcake they knew you were saving for after dinner… it’s not on.

-If your friends or people you know give you spoilers by accident, when they know you’d prefer to find out yourself, then let them know what they’ve done, get their apology and move on. If they’re friends, they probably didn’t mean to upset you. In their love of whatever they’re talking about, it may be that they forgot you hadn’t seen it yet. It’s not to spoil your fun, just to express theirs. And really… is it that big a deal? Really?

-If you’re stumbling about on social media and people you don’t really know are enjoying talking about a show/book/film they’ve watched, and you happen to catch an idea of a plot point or upcoming character death in reading through your feeds, then… oops. Can’t be helped. It sucks, but it happened; get the hell over it and move on. Asking/expecting strangers or acquaintances to leave off talking about something just because you might overhear is unrealistic, unfair and unreasonable.

Take steps if it bothers you that much. Some people I know have installed social media filters to block spoilers. Hell… the only reason I ended up in dialogue about this earlier in the week was because I saw a post on it and thought it was a hoax.
A spoiler filter?
Really?!
*shrugs* Fair enough.
I know full well that other people are far more wound up by spoilers than I am; several good friends included. I do what I can to avoid ‘spoiling’ something for them but I refuse to stop discussing them. It’s not fair.

If the story is worth it’s salt, then reaching the point you now know is coming will be satisfying in a different way. You get to approach it from a ‘how did this happen?’ angle. Or a ‘let’s see if I can’t figure it out from the clues’ angle. Yes, to some degree, the experience will be different to had you not known, but would you really have picked up that book, turned on that film, tuned in to that radio show, if you didn’t already like the story? You’re not there just to see who dies, or who marries who, or how the sexy alien casts off from his home planet made of blue cheese and crash lands on Earth in a giant paddling pool of melted peanut butter. You’re there for all of it and, in truth, only a small part of it is changed by foreknowledge.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this. There are plenty of different views and I’m keen to hear them.
Game of Thrones is an odd case, because the books are so old, but what about things like films out on cinema release? I haven’t seen the new X-Men yet or the new Captain America. I haven’t seen any of the seconds series of Orange is The New Black though it’s been out for about a week. And other things made from books; Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, Twilight… do people get as wound up about spoilers for these if they’ve not read the books? Hell… what about films that root in history like Titanic? Is it a spoiler to tell you that pretty much everyone died? I mean… we all know that, right? It actually happened; the damn ship sank.line break, swirling graphics, from openclipartAnyway….

On the goal front I’m still feeling a bit delicate. My stitches are doing well (one of them fell out in the night; I found it in my bed – eeew) and there’s minimal pain. I have a bunch of other stuff wrong with me (I’ve been to the doctors several times already this week and I have to go again today for a blood test) but I’m not longer woosy. I want to be working.

So…

Two Weeks Ago…

~Make the necessary preparations to send Slippers & Chains to Breathless Press.
Nope. Well, some of them. I just need to double check my synopsis.

~Send Slippers & Chains to Breathless Press.
Nope. Not until the synopsis is of a level I’m satisfied with.

~RELAX!
Kinda. If forced bed rest and daytime naps counts. Honestly, I think I’ve slept more in the day this past week than I ever managed when the sprogs were born.

This Week

  1. Finish up my synopsis for Slippers & Chains

  2. Send Slippers & Chains to Breathless Press

There. That’s plenty. ^_^
And… coming up later (Saturday) a post on self sabotage. 😉

See you then!
x

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Choosing My Baby’s Name – (& No Goals!)

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Ileandra Young

I’ve been a bit spacey the past few days. I don’t suppose you can blame me; an operation on Wednesday, powerful pain killing drugs until Saturday and too much sleep as a result of the same.
I won’t go on about it too much except to say that the op went well, I’m fine and that I probably won’t even have scars from the cuts the docs made. Just three small incisions and soluble sutures which will probably be gone by this time next week.

As a result of the break I’ve not done any more work on WTRE, but I have made a very important decision. You may recall this post in which I talk about my name versus that of the female protagonist in my last WIP which is currently with beta readers. You know… SORB?
Well… the strong and consistent answer from you fine people (thank you, so, so much!) was that my name (as a writer) is better known to be Ileandra Young and it’s far easier to change the name of the character than to change my name. And that doing so makes far more sense.

^_^
So that’s what I’m going to do.

Now, I picked this blog title because it does feel that way. Ileandra is my baby. Just as much as Leon and Michael are my babies, I’ve spent the same amount of time, care and head-thumping coming up with something that suits. And it all came down to watching an ancient film starring Sylvester Stallone.

Yeeeeeeah. I love this film. There’s a whole back story as to why I like it, but that’s a story for another day. However for the purposes of this post let me tell you; it was magical. A bit like when I picked the name ‘Ileandra’ in the first place. I just heard it, loved it and knew it was mine.

So… going forward, the name of the female protagonist in the Saar’s Legacy Trilogy is Lenina Miller.

I feel like there should be more fanfare than that. Bells, whistles, song, dance and cider… alas my stitches itch and I’m feeling sleepy again. So there will be none of that.

Also, I think it’s cruel to give myself more goals when I haven’t completed the last set. So, like Raven, I have none this week. I’m going to let myself mill on the wind and see how I feel next week.

Until then, lovelies!
new ileandra signature,

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