Posted by jbrayweber Aug 24 2011, 3:00 am in accountability, craft, mash up novels, mash up story writing, writing challenge, writing tools
Perhaps you’ve noticed. There is a strange, but interesting quirk arising in the world of fiction, called the mash-up novel. What’s a mash-up? It’s fiction combining pre-existing work with new text from popular genres. Think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Authors are taking public domain classics and applying their own spin with new material and alternate plot lines. It’s quite a fascinating endeavor. One with which my reading comprehension deficiency would not allow me to explore. Unless I mixed it up with Green Eggs and Ham and pirates.
A pirate ship! A pirate ship!
Could you? Would you? On a pirate ship?
Not on a pirate ship! Not in a tree!
Not in a car! Sam, let me be!
I could not, would not, in a box.
I would not, could not, with a fox.
I will not eat them in the rain.
I will not eat them on the Spanish Main.
I will not eat them with a bum
I will not wash them down with rum
I will not eat them over or under.
I will not eat them while I plunder.
I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them anywhere.
I do not like green eggs and ham!
I do not like them Sam-I-am.
No, I’d fail miserably at a mash-up book. But recently, a writer friend approached me and two others with a great idea using a similar technique. The four of us meet regularly to decompress and ‘talk shop’, and for the sake of protecting the innocent, we’ll call this merry band of writers The Usual Suspects. Kind of an oxymoron, now that I think of it. Anyway, he approached us with a unique experiment.
Usual Suspect #1 would write the beginning of a story up to around 1000 words. He would then send his story to the next author, who in turn would pick up the story and write another 1000 or so words. Then Usual Suspect #2 would pass it along to Usual Suspect #3, and so forth. After Usual Suspect #4 finished their contribution, it went back to Usual Suspect #1 for another round. When it was our turn again, we read the story thus far and added another chunk. The idea was to go several rounds and create a short story. There was no discussion of genre, plots, characters, or motivation. Imagine our surprise each time the story landed back in our laps, especially given that each one of us has our own unique voice, writing in different genres.
But the bigger surprise came when we finished. We had a great story! Sure, there were plot holes big enough a convoy of beer-toting truckers could drive through and moments of mass confusion. (Where’d Clyde go? He was here a moment ago? Oh, he’s dead now? Really? How’d that happen? Oh wait, it was just a flesh wound? Yeah, someone should fix that.) But the bones were strong. We talked about the problems and how to fix them. We didn’t always agree (can’t trust those shifty-eyed Usual Suspects), but we worked out solutions. Editing came in the same roundtable fashion, sweeping up any evidence of the writer-ly crimes committed.
Though it was an experiment, we didn’t treat it as such. We put thought and honed skills to task. The end goal was to have a marketable finished product. Now the real work begins, agreeing on a title and book cover.
One of my biggest surprises participating in this co-written short story was how much I enjoyed the process. It was … fun! I stepped out of my comfort zone, away from the historical romance genre I write, and blindly tried my hand at something completely different, suspense. There is value in that. I challenged myself and learned I could be flexible with my craft.
I strongly feel that challenges such as our impromptu mash-up and being held accountable by other writers flexes and strengthens our writer muscles, making us understand and grow as authors.
What about you? Have you stepped outside your comfort zone? Have you participated in a writer-related experiment? If so, what were your results?
Posted by Sara Ramsey Aug 19 2011, 12:01 am in Free-For-All Friday, writing tools
It’s almost the end of summer (sob), and as the days get shorter I inevitably develop the desperate desire to hoard writing supplies. I’m sure this comes from the annual pilgrimage to buy school supplies in my lost youth — even though I opened my last textbook almost a decade ago, I still feel like fall is a great time to stock up.
In honor of the end of summer, this Free-For-All Friday is all about your favorite school supplies — whether it’s something you had as a child, supplies for your adult life that you can’t live without, or that special something that’s on your wishlist. What writing supplies are you coveting? Anything goes — I’d love to hear what’s on your shopping list (and maybe steal some of your wishlist for myself!).
Posted by Sara Ramsey May 24 2011, 12:01 am in craft, plotting, writing tips, writing tools
As much as I’d like to be a plotter, I’m a confirmed pantser. My latest manuscript, ONE NIGHT TO SCANDAL, shows the consequences: I scrapped the first two hundred pages — not once, but twice. I love the finished product (and it finaled in the 2011 Golden Heart, yay), but I would really prefer not to go down that dark road again. So as a pantser, the most nervewracking part of finishing my manuscript wasn’t the edits or the proofreading — it was hearing my agent say that she wanted a synopsis for the next book so that she could pitch it to editors along with my finished baby.
That meant she wanted a synopsis for a book I hadn’t written.
Posted by Joan Swan May 11 2011, 12:34 am in inspiration, muse, submission tips, taking risks, writing romance, writing tips, writing tools
My critique partner, Elisabeth Naughton, signed me up to speak on a panel at the Emerald City Writer’s Conference near Portland, OR in October and the topic is…you guessed it, What I’ve Learned Since I’ve Published. (In my case it’s sold, because my book doesn’t come out until April 2012.)
And it occurred to me that I’d love to hear what all the RUBY SISTERS have learned since they’ve sold and/or published. So, I’ll start the ball rolling with one element and I hope everyone who has been down that publishing road will give the ball a little kick and add one thing they’ve learned that hasn’t been listed yet.
Mine: FLEXIBILITY
I’ve learned that the published arena in a much bigger place, and I’m trying to please a whole lot more people, and to do that, I’ve got to be flexible. About everything. Title, cover, character names, the way a plot branches, etc. Being flexible with your time is important because everyone moves at a different pace based on what else is going on in their schedules. Flexibility extends to your marketing plan, your marketing budget, where your career goes after this contract is fulfilled and/or what you write next.
I’ve dealt with the title changes, the long waits, the altering marketing plans. And while I’m still waiting for the edits, copy edits and cover changes to come, right now I live in what-comes-next village.
With the two book contract complete and the option proposal written, I am in that phase of…now what? It’s…an interesting place. The freedom can make you a little giddy – but only for a while. Then it gets a bit dicey. Especially if what you want to write isn’t what’s selling or something you don’t have the voice to master. (There is a fantastic article on this topic written by literary agent Laura Bradford here.) Or maybe you are venturing into a genre that your current agent doesn’t represent, maybe staying in a genre that is saturated and struggling to find a “different” or “fresh” angle or concept to develop.
I recently submitted a proposal to my agent for a paranormal romance. It was rather different from what I write currently, which is a touch more romantic suspense with paranormal elements. How is that for pushing around a genre to fit? But the concept didn’t completely sit right with my agent. Some aspects worked for her, but some didn’t. She couldn’t envision how I would be able to make the premise unique enough to stand out from what had already been done.
Interestingly enough, I wasn’t crushed. I think because my subconscious knew something wasn’t quite right, or maybe I wasn’t completely in love with it. I don’t know, but I went back to the idea stage. Pieces of this story had come from an idea I’d had a long time ago, something quite different–dark and gritty. I took the original idea, fused it with some elements of the newer idea and of course, those two combined created elements unique to this book. As I developed the book, I could see where it would open up into a series of related books.
Luckily, my agent really liked this version. We talked over some issues she had, which if changed would make the idea stronger. Once again, I altered the story and the characters, rewrote the synopsis and am waiting to hear back.
So, that’s just one of the big things I’ve learned since I’ve published…you’ve got to be all kinds of flexible. Try things you never thought you’d try. Think in ways you never thought you’d think. Trust ideas you’d never thought you’d trust.
Think Gumby.
I can’t wait to hear what all of you have learned!!
Tell! Tell!
Posted by Kelly Fitzpatrick May 9 2011, 12:01 am in Kelly Fitzpatrick, writer's journey, writer's life, writing tools
Hi, I’m Kelly and I’m an Internet junkie.
They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. I stumble out of bed each morning, waddle to the next room with my legs nearly crossed so I can turn my computer on. Next stop—bathroom. I’ll leave the details to your imagination. Then coffee. Let dogs out. Final destination—the computer where I check all my email (I have five accounts X five passwords), website, blog (just in case someone might have left me a comment – as if), loops, Facebook, Twitter….All this happens so early, people ask me, “Why were you on Facebook at 5a.m.?”
Insomnia.
Posted by Gwynlyn MacKenzie Jan 4 2011, 12:01 am in accountability, craft, Winter Writing Festival, writing challenge, writing tips, writing tools
SQUEEEEEE–eek!
I don’t know about you, but I find accountability not only daunting but scary.
The impetus a writing challenge provides is immeasurable, compelling you to work harder, be more disciplined, set goals. However, the whole idea of accountability, of being exposed, is enough to make you forget six weeks of productive writing and dive under the covers until spring. What if you fail? Disappointing yourself is bad enough, but in a public venue? *shudder* Worse, since you’ll set your pace, choose your daily or weekly objectives, there’s no one to blame, no faceless entity who doesn’t understand your life. It’s all on you.
You can always pass.
That insidious voice you’re hearing is the voice of self-doubt. It’ll derail you if it can, stifle every dream, every ambition if you let it.
No one will know.
Posted by Elisa Beatty Aug 18 2010, 12:01 am in writing exercise, writing tools
Think it’s hard squeezing your whole story into 100,000 words, or 85,000, or even 40,000?
What if you only had six words? Yes, six.
That was the challenge thrown out by online Smith Magazine, who ran a contest asking readers to capture their own life stories in a six-word phrase. Far from deciding it was impossible, readers deluged the site with more than 500 submissions a day, so many that the site nearly crashed.
Posted by Joan Swan Feb 3 2010, 12:01 am in writing tools
Hello, my name is Joan Swan and I’m a writing-related gadget addict.
It’s a rather recent problem, since I went back to work full time and have both more money to spend and more excuses to spend it on anything and everything that might enhance my writing productivity, because, of course, I have less time to write. I need all the help I can get, right?
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