If you are going to be a writer, you had better check your ego at the door and develope objectivity. Yep! You can give yourself a few days to celebrate the completion of a project; but, when the euphoria clears, you had better be able to look at your baby with clear eyes .
If you are lucky enough to have a few really good friends, they are guaranteed to tell you where your work needs a little more attention. You can either get your knickers in a twist, and say, "They don't understand. My baby is perfect." Or, you can suck it up, pull your lower lip off the floor and say, "Thank you God, that I have good enough friends that they will tell me the truth about how I can improve this prodigy of mine.
But you're not ready for the suck it up routine! That's understandable. Somebody just told you that your precious child has freckles. What do you do? Well, the first thing that you can do is to look around you, and make a list of the things that you have been neglecting in order to write said precious child. Then attack one item at a time, and check them off when they're completed. Checkmarks can make one feel wonderfully superior. That is exactly the frame of mind that one wants in order to make improvements in child prodigies.
Now I'am off to catch a few dustbunnies, and then make my Science Fiction Short Story, SCARS, even better, thanks to some really good friends' advice. Not only did they understand, but they knew what they were talking about. Thank you my friends for caring that I do my best.
Happy writing
Frances
Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future
Showing posts with label Short Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short Story. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
I'm doing the Happy Dance!
I've been working diligently for some weeks on a short story set as a pre-prologue for my novel length Science Fiction Romance, THE HUSBAND. That's right, my novel has a title (in my mind at least). I had not actually finished THE HUSBAND; so, I would just tell people that I was writing a Science Fiction Romance. I hesitated, however, to claim the august title of writer. Until that crucial, orgasmic moment, when I would reach the end of a work, I still considered myself to be a Wirgin!
However, in the wee hours of this morning, I officially lost my Wirgin status. I typed THE END on my short story, "SCARS: An Excerpt from The Solaris System Watcher Chronicles". I are now a writer.
The Set-up:
Following a catastrophic war on Homeworld, humans have been scattered to other star systems within the galaxy. As these people adapted to their new worlds, first technology was lost, and over thousands of years, all memory of their origins on the Homeworld of Solaris System faded.
The remnant left on Homeworld have worked hard to reclaim their planet from devastation, and have turned it into a paradise. Technology has flourished, and they can now travel between the stars. Yet, they have never forgotten those who were exiled to other worlds. Therefore, the Watchers of Homeworld walk anonymously among those exiles, to monitor and to help them. But they are forbidden to interfere without permission.
The hero of SCARS is such a man. In SCARS, the hero, Joran, is called upon to rescue the only heir to a principality that is experimenting with freedom on a planet which has never known any freedom. In this rescue, Joran acquires the scars which his Lady will find in THE HUSBAND. What kind of man would willingly submit to torture in order to save a child... or even save an enemy?
As I told you, I started my blog, Frances Writes, as shameless self promotion as a writer. My next step in preparing to become a published author will be to build a website. SCARS is going to be a freebie on that website. I will keep you posted upon the progress of that endeavor. It's like when I started blogging, "Miss Scahlett, I don't know nothin' 'bout building no web sites!"
Frances
Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future
However, in the wee hours of this morning, I officially lost my Wirgin status. I typed THE END on my short story, "SCARS: An Excerpt from The Solaris System Watcher Chronicles". I are now a writer.
The Set-up:
Following a catastrophic war on Homeworld, humans have been scattered to other star systems within the galaxy. As these people adapted to their new worlds, first technology was lost, and over thousands of years, all memory of their origins on the Homeworld of Solaris System faded.
The remnant left on Homeworld have worked hard to reclaim their planet from devastation, and have turned it into a paradise. Technology has flourished, and they can now travel between the stars. Yet, they have never forgotten those who were exiled to other worlds. Therefore, the Watchers of Homeworld walk anonymously among those exiles, to monitor and to help them. But they are forbidden to interfere without permission.
The hero of SCARS is such a man. In SCARS, the hero, Joran, is called upon to rescue the only heir to a principality that is experimenting with freedom on a planet which has never known any freedom. In this rescue, Joran acquires the scars which his Lady will find in THE HUSBAND. What kind of man would willingly submit to torture in order to save a child... or even save an enemy?
As I told you, I started my blog, Frances Writes, as shameless self promotion as a writer. My next step in preparing to become a published author will be to build a website. SCARS is going to be a freebie on that website. I will keep you posted upon the progress of that endeavor. It's like when I started blogging, "Miss Scahlett, I don't know nothin' 'bout building no web sites!"
Frances
Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Life Gets in the Way, An Apology, Kudos for Me, and a Rant...
Did my title to this post say enough?
What can I say, life happened! I got food poisoning this past week and have had a hard time keeping up with anything. In addition to that, I am attacking "the black hole of long standing." This is not a one day, or even one week job. UGH! Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I missed Father's Day, and really wanted to say something about that. I guess that I will just have to choose another day to honor Dad. I'll surprise you.
On the other hand, the last few days have been extremely productive, writing-wise. I have been writing a short story to post on my website once I activate it. It will be a prequel to the novel that I am currently working on. I hope to have the first draft of the short story finished by tomorrow. Can I crow? I have taken some of the techniques that I have been learning in my writing classes and applied them... I think successfully. You may judge for yourselves after I post it. But, I am so proud of myself. Day before yesterday, I knocked out almost 2,000 words (really something for me), and yesterday I added 1,600 more. About 2,000 more, and I think that I will have this baby ready to age in its own special oak barrel. CAUTION: Although my novel is a Science Fiction Romance with Adventure overtones, this short story is all Futuristic Adventure. It isn't a Romance because the Hero must wait to meet his Lady in their novel. *G* I'll post more later.
Now for my RANT! (aren't RANT's fun?) Yesterday, MSNBC posted a poll online about "Do You Like Romance Novels?":
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25195786/
If you go to the site, you will immediately notice the weasel wording of the questions to be rather manipulative. Being the unreconstructed REBEL that I am, and not liking to be manipulated... I had to comment. I think that they may have opened a rather larger can of worms than they expected. Notice the sum of the first with the last question. If you would like to read the comments, this is the URL: (they're very entertaining *G*)
http://krisharding.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/18/1589197-vote-do-you-read-romance-novels?threadId=293187&cmt=2003476#c2003476
If you don't have the time, this is what I had to say:
I, like the posters above, also found the term "bodice rippers" to be offensive... even though at first amusing. The writers that I know have amazing intellects. They have to be astute psychologists as well as master craftsmen/women.
However, I wish to add to the posts above that, not only is the term dated, it was consciously meant to be offensive from it's first usage. It was meant to demean women. The very thing that women like about the Romance genre is the Happily Ever After ending. It implies hope for the future, along with commitment and stability within the family. These are the very things that hold a society together. When a man belittles a woman, for any reason, he shows his own deficiencies. When a woman belittles a man, she does the same. Any time one person denigrates another, they are working to destroy the society which gives us all the opportunity to achieve our dreams. Call it what you like, by framing your question as you did, you were trying to influence your poll and, belittling more than half of the population of the Earth. Men like Happily Ever Afters too.
Studies have shown that men whose wives read Romance get their HEAs more often than not.
And that my friends is my RANT. Whew, I feel so much better! Time to go write.
Frances
Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future
What can I say, life happened! I got food poisoning this past week and have had a hard time keeping up with anything. In addition to that, I am attacking "the black hole of long standing." This is not a one day, or even one week job. UGH! Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I missed Father's Day, and really wanted to say something about that. I guess that I will just have to choose another day to honor Dad. I'll surprise you.
On the other hand, the last few days have been extremely productive, writing-wise. I have been writing a short story to post on my website once I activate it. It will be a prequel to the novel that I am currently working on. I hope to have the first draft of the short story finished by tomorrow. Can I crow? I have taken some of the techniques that I have been learning in my writing classes and applied them... I think successfully. You may judge for yourselves after I post it. But, I am so proud of myself. Day before yesterday, I knocked out almost 2,000 words (really something for me), and yesterday I added 1,600 more. About 2,000 more, and I think that I will have this baby ready to age in its own special oak barrel. CAUTION: Although my novel is a Science Fiction Romance with Adventure overtones, this short story is all Futuristic Adventure. It isn't a Romance because the Hero must wait to meet his Lady in their novel. *G* I'll post more later.
Now for my RANT! (aren't RANT's fun?) Yesterday, MSNBC posted a poll online about "Do You Like Romance Novels?":
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25195786/
If you go to the site, you will immediately notice the weasel wording of the questions to be rather manipulative. Being the unreconstructed REBEL that I am, and not liking to be manipulated... I had to comment. I think that they may have opened a rather larger can of worms than they expected. Notice the sum of the first with the last question. If you would like to read the comments, this is the URL: (they're very entertaining *G*)
http://krisharding.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/18/1589197-vote-do-you-read-romance-novels?threadId=293187&cmt=2003476#c2003476
If you don't have the time, this is what I had to say:
I, like the posters above, also found the term "bodice rippers" to be offensive... even though at first amusing. The writers that I know have amazing intellects. They have to be astute psychologists as well as master craftsmen/women.
However, I wish to add to the posts above that, not only is the term dated, it was consciously meant to be offensive from it's first usage. It was meant to demean women. The very thing that women like about the Romance genre is the Happily Ever After ending. It implies hope for the future, along with commitment and stability within the family. These are the very things that hold a society together. When a man belittles a woman, for any reason, he shows his own deficiencies. When a woman belittles a man, she does the same. Any time one person denigrates another, they are working to destroy the society which gives us all the opportunity to achieve our dreams. Call it what you like, by framing your question as you did, you were trying to influence your poll and, belittling more than half of the population of the Earth. Men like Happily Ever Afters too.
Studies have shown that men whose wives read Romance get their HEAs more often than not.
And that my friends is my RANT. Whew, I feel so much better! Time to go write.
Frances
Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future
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