![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Specifically, on writing m/m stories which, if there as any doubt at all, Long Way Home is.
I am sitting in the library at UTA, waiting for class. I have about 45 minutes, and though being a student again at my old university deserves a post as I have tons of thinky thoughts about life as a returned student, I'll stick to this topic.
Five years thereabouts have passed since I first sold A Red-Tainted Silence. It wasn't my first sale--Home Is Where the Murder Is, a traditional mystery (and I grin at the 'traditional' - I write anything but traditional now). It was with a small press, and got good happy buzz but probably made roughly, oh, 1k off it? Maybe? And then the spouse got sick and I stopped writing.
When I went back--about a year and a half after his heart surgery--life was very different. It was hard. I was the only physically-well parent, our lives revolved around Kel's heart, my son was having a very hard time dealing, and needless to say, Kel was living on borrowed time, knew it, refused to talk about it, and I was left to deal with everything. My weight skyrocketed, my health plummeted. I had no release for my own fears and emotions because I was too busy sacrificing my sanity and health for my family. It was a rough, rough time.
I turned to fiction, as so many do, and stumbled upon slash. I didn't want to read about m/f relationships that were all golden and lovely (unlike my own) but I am a romantic, and well... hello slash! It wasn't soon after devouring all the LOTR slash I could find (ELVES, YO) that I fell into the Savage Garden fandom, and was directed here by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
klgrem, to whom I dedicated ARTS. :) HI LINDA!
I started to write ARTS though back then it was called Odyssey, and was inspired by a Savage Garden video someone named AussieRay had put together about their breakup. Since I always wrote in first person, I decided I wanted to write a story loosely based on that video, and almost 300k words later, Odyssey was done. :)
The special thing about that story though was how much of myself--the parts I couldn't express--were poured into that book, into the characters. There really is a valid reason they are so emotional! I could not be, so they were. They were my voice, my release.
Eventually, about six months after Kel died, I decided to take the kids to Seattle where we met a then-friend (who ended up betraying me and my kids spectacularly, and Nick, and others too), to a writers con. Met Jim Butcher there, and all the Loose-Id people. I rewrote the first chapter of Odyssey, renamed it based on a line in the story, and entered into the con's contest. It came in second! WTH! WOO!!!!
Though I pitched to Ellora's Cave, I am so grateful they passed, and I got to utilize the card that was passed down the table to me from one of the Loose-Id editors. She'd been waiting to hear from me. They bought the story, now completely revamped, made me cut almost 60k (YIKES) and I waited for it to come out.
I told next to no one. The climate back then for ebooks was very different from today. I celebrated its release with close friends and my kids, and went on, both elated and devastated that the book of my heart was done, and out there. It was raw and rough to put that story out there, and as reviews came in over the years I just simply didn't feel like I would ever write any more m/m.
People's minds change, including mine, and I started to miss writing, but fear also struck--it'd been so long since I'd written! Could I really do it again? I'd stayed in touch with my editor, sorta-kinda-not-really, because I have received royalties on the book ever since--but certain things had to click before I finally realized what I honestly wanted to do was write another m/m story.
Part of the huge reason I did was the fan letters. So amazing are they! Wow! The emails asking for Lee's story made me start thinking...and in 2008 when Nick came to visit, and we went to see the Dallas Ballet, an idea formed. It has taken me since then to finally bring this book to life, and I haven't been happier.
So much has changed in the meantime--especially the last year or so, in epublishing and such. I make more money now for ARTS than I used to, and then GoodReads' m/m group decided to choose ARTS as their book of the month read. I about died whenamproof, who has known me all this time, told me. SAY WHAT? ME? MY BOOK? OMG!!!!!
This time around, I am 'out' about what I write to far more people than I ever imagined I would, given 'what' I write. But I am proud now in ways I wasn't in the past, proud and happy to be telling stories people seem to want to read. It is a very welcoming world, writing m/m fiction, and frankly, profitable--far more than I honestly imagined it would be. Of course, time will tell just how much but... as a person on unemployment I am VERY excited to see. :)
What is next? Not too long ago, I hadn't considered making writing m/m a full-time endeavour, but I've changed my mind. I'm revamping a certain story for Loose-Id, and want to write a story based on one of the characters in Long Way Home. I love being epublished, love writing for Loose-Id, loved working with my editor, Raven of the purple comic sans :), love sharing the journey with Nick, my friends here who embrace my choice wholly, all of you.
This is what I am meant to do, and so, here I am. I still love and want to write my fantasies but given a choice, for now, I'm concentrating on this. It feels good and right and exciting and my mind is bursting with other stories to tell for my readers. I am hoping that they start asking for this other character's story...I think they will, he needs one bad, lol. My goal is to get the editing on this rewrite done asap, get it turned in, and then between now and the end of 2012 write three more. That is a lot, but given ARTS took a year, LWH took THREE... But, writing the Merlin Big Bang was a purposeful exercise to see if I could write a manuscript-length story (100k for me) in six months or less, and I did. I also felt like I finally got my writing groove back with that story and I am so very grateful. Next one, I want to write in four. That should be enough time, if I focus on one story at a time.
Anyway, think I will wrap up this thinky post, and get out my rewrite in the time left before class. I have a lot to fix and add to that thing, and am excited about what I am doing to it.
Am so happy to be writing again and now I know I'll never stop again. :)
End of thinky me thoughts!!
I am sitting in the library at UTA, waiting for class. I have about 45 minutes, and though being a student again at my old university deserves a post as I have tons of thinky thoughts about life as a returned student, I'll stick to this topic.
Five years thereabouts have passed since I first sold A Red-Tainted Silence. It wasn't my first sale--Home Is Where the Murder Is, a traditional mystery (and I grin at the 'traditional' - I write anything but traditional now). It was with a small press, and got good happy buzz but probably made roughly, oh, 1k off it? Maybe? And then the spouse got sick and I stopped writing.
When I went back--about a year and a half after his heart surgery--life was very different. It was hard. I was the only physically-well parent, our lives revolved around Kel's heart, my son was having a very hard time dealing, and needless to say, Kel was living on borrowed time, knew it, refused to talk about it, and I was left to deal with everything. My weight skyrocketed, my health plummeted. I had no release for my own fears and emotions because I was too busy sacrificing my sanity and health for my family. It was a rough, rough time.
I turned to fiction, as so many do, and stumbled upon slash. I didn't want to read about m/f relationships that were all golden and lovely (unlike my own) but I am a romantic, and well... hello slash! It wasn't soon after devouring all the LOTR slash I could find (ELVES, YO) that I fell into the Savage Garden fandom, and was directed here by
klgrem, to whom I dedicated ARTS. :) HI LINDA!I started to write ARTS though back then it was called Odyssey, and was inspired by a Savage Garden video someone named AussieRay had put together about their breakup. Since I always wrote in first person, I decided I wanted to write a story loosely based on that video, and almost 300k words later, Odyssey was done. :)
The special thing about that story though was how much of myself--the parts I couldn't express--were poured into that book, into the characters. There really is a valid reason they are so emotional! I could not be, so they were. They were my voice, my release.
Eventually, about six months after Kel died, I decided to take the kids to Seattle where we met a then-friend (who ended up betraying me and my kids spectacularly, and Nick, and others too), to a writers con. Met Jim Butcher there, and all the Loose-Id people. I rewrote the first chapter of Odyssey, renamed it based on a line in the story, and entered into the con's contest. It came in second! WTH! WOO!!!!
Though I pitched to Ellora's Cave, I am so grateful they passed, and I got to utilize the card that was passed down the table to me from one of the Loose-Id editors. She'd been waiting to hear from me. They bought the story, now completely revamped, made me cut almost 60k (YIKES) and I waited for it to come out.
I told next to no one. The climate back then for ebooks was very different from today. I celebrated its release with close friends and my kids, and went on, both elated and devastated that the book of my heart was done, and out there. It was raw and rough to put that story out there, and as reviews came in over the years I just simply didn't feel like I would ever write any more m/m.
People's minds change, including mine, and I started to miss writing, but fear also struck--it'd been so long since I'd written! Could I really do it again? I'd stayed in touch with my editor, sorta-kinda-not-really, because I have received royalties on the book ever since--but certain things had to click before I finally realized what I honestly wanted to do was write another m/m story.
Part of the huge reason I did was the fan letters. So amazing are they! Wow! The emails asking for Lee's story made me start thinking...and in 2008 when Nick came to visit, and we went to see the Dallas Ballet, an idea formed. It has taken me since then to finally bring this book to life, and I haven't been happier.
So much has changed in the meantime--especially the last year or so, in epublishing and such. I make more money now for ARTS than I used to, and then GoodReads' m/m group decided to choose ARTS as their book of the month read. I about died when
amproof, who has known me all this time, told me. SAY WHAT? ME? MY BOOK? OMG!!!!!This time around, I am 'out' about what I write to far more people than I ever imagined I would, given 'what' I write. But I am proud now in ways I wasn't in the past, proud and happy to be telling stories people seem to want to read. It is a very welcoming world, writing m/m fiction, and frankly, profitable--far more than I honestly imagined it would be. Of course, time will tell just how much but... as a person on unemployment I am VERY excited to see. :)
What is next? Not too long ago, I hadn't considered making writing m/m a full-time endeavour, but I've changed my mind. I'm revamping a certain story for Loose-Id, and want to write a story based on one of the characters in Long Way Home. I love being epublished, love writing for Loose-Id, loved working with my editor, Raven of the purple comic sans :), love sharing the journey with Nick, my friends here who embrace my choice wholly, all of you.
This is what I am meant to do, and so, here I am. I still love and want to write my fantasies but given a choice, for now, I'm concentrating on this. It feels good and right and exciting and my mind is bursting with other stories to tell for my readers. I am hoping that they start asking for this other character's story...I think they will, he needs one bad, lol. My goal is to get the editing on this rewrite done asap, get it turned in, and then between now and the end of 2012 write three more. That is a lot, but given ARTS took a year, LWH took THREE... But, writing the Merlin Big Bang was a purposeful exercise to see if I could write a manuscript-length story (100k for me) in six months or less, and I did. I also felt like I finally got my writing groove back with that story and I am so very grateful. Next one, I want to write in four. That should be enough time, if I focus on one story at a time.
Anyway, think I will wrap up this thinky post, and get out my rewrite in the time left before class. I have a lot to fix and add to that thing, and am excited about what I am doing to it.
Am so happy to be writing again and now I know I'll never stop again. :)
End of thinky me thoughts!!
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-16 12:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-16 01:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-16 03:34 am (UTC)Also, cracking up at 100K. I'm so jealous of your crazy word counts. LOL
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:15 am (UTC)Yeah, current one needs about 20k more. Lots more sex too. Definitely more of that. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-16 03:47 am (UTC)you're a wonderful person and a great friend <3<3<3
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-16 11:22 am (UTC)*hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:17 am (UTC)And thank you--I am dead serious about this now. By golly! SO many stories to write.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-25 02:38 pm (UTC)BTW, I wanted to ask you: how is your writing group organised? Do you simply share your texts, do you give each other concrit, is there any kind of formal structure, and so forth? In short: how do you do it?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-25 02:47 pm (UTC)so, if you are interested in checking it out - it is free and the space you get for free is a lot - let me send you an invite so I get the extra space for a referral... LOLOL!! :) :) :)
But, that is how we do it. STick our stuff in our crit folder, and make a separate doc off that and add our names. I have a share folder for my Saturday writing Warriors group (there are roughly 10 of us) and for just me, Cid, Suz and Alice (who now lives in Japan).
Love it to bits.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-25 03:21 pm (UTC)So it's a bit like google-docs, only they sync, too? Or are there other differences as well? I'd like to try it, so please, yes, send me an invite. :-)
And you give each other concrit via dropbox in your group. Do you also meet and write together? I got the impression that you do that? Ten people are a lot to handle - I'm impressed. Do you meet up every Saturday, and is is optional so that the meet up consists of whoever is there?
So many questions! LOL
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-25 03:45 pm (UTC)It syncs, but it is not google-docs. You actually have your doc on Word, and that syncs between computers. For crits with the group, they get versions that are separate from my regular so they can't mess with the original. Works great!
We meet casually, who can come does. Cid, Suz and I missed yesterday but we'll be baaaack next week. If we have somethign to share, we put it in that week's folder under our Warrior Writers main folder. Paper free that way! We meet 10-12 every Saturday, so that works nicely. One thing about us is that Kristen, our leader, followed this dude's method of plotting and it is all something we are giving a shot. Makes it pretty cool (excpt Suz who is a pantser just does her own thing lol) and we get to know each other's works pretty well.
http://www.bobmayer.org/Warrior_Writer_Workshop.html
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-25 04:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-25 06:09 pm (UTC)It syncs, but it is not google-docs. You actually have your doc on Word, and that syncs between computers. For crits with the group, they get versions that are separate from my regular so they can't mess with the original. Works great!
We meet casually, who can come does. Cid, Suz and I missed yesterday but we'll be baaaack next week. If we have somethign to share, we put it in that week's folder under our Warrior Writers main folder. Paper free that way! We meet 10-12 every Saturday, so that works nicely. One thing about us is that Kristen, our leader, followed this dude's method of plotting and it is all something we are giving a shot. Makes it pretty cool (excpt Suz who is a pantser just does her own thing lol) and we get to know each other's works pretty well.
http://www.bobmayer.org/Warrior_Writer_Workshop.html
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-16 03:34 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're writing and happy to be writing.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-16 09:16 pm (UTC)That said, having seen you do battle with so many other dragons in your life, I'm am absolutely beaming with pride to see you whip yet another one. I've never known you to be anything less than an amazing writer, and friend, if I might add.
Hmm... *eyes Halloween Store down the street* I shall buy you a mask and a cape! Would you prefer to be, "Super Snookums" or "The Amazing C"?
Call me so we can discuss a color scheme that won't clash with your hair. Appearence is important, ya know.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 01:19 am (UTC)The Amazing C please! Wonder Woman colors work great with my coloring!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 03:03 am (UTC)AND READ MAH BOOKS!
Srsly, C., your odysseys (and Odyssey) inspire us all. Proud to know you. <3