There may come a day when I stop dissecting these questions, but today is not that day. Once again, I feel as if the direction my imaginary interviewer has taken is contrary to the one I'd be taking myself. For today's batch of questions I can't help but think "romantic relationships" is intended to be viewed through the lens of Hollywood or Harlequin bodice-rippers. I don't write romantic relationships in this context. There was a time at the height of my "woe is me, I can't get a girlfriend" phase (i.e. high school) that I may have veered off into adjoining territory, but I've never seriously tried to write that kind of romance.
Romance hasn't figured in the short stories I've written since I decided to take writing seriously. It doesn't factor into the shorts I like to read, so naturally it doesn't in the ones I produce. I don't think that's likely to change, but one of the magazines I'm trying to get into seems to print a high enough volume of stories with gratuitous hookups. If once I've got a dozen stories under my belt I still haven't got a publication credit to my name, I may see what happens if I try to follow that formula.
My longer stories, on the other hand, will have a place for romantic relationships. I use the future tense because I intend to have a romantic element to the overall story arcs in both my novels, but haven't written it yet. In my fantasy novel I have the seeds of a love triangle that I intend to use to influence the events in the second novel and onwards. The currently unfinished draft of my second novel (a supernatural mystery/thriller) will have a romance based on betrayal. Because neither are on paper our official answers to questions 1 and 2 are "not yet" and "we'll see".
I'm going to ignore question 3. Why? Because my mom currently amounts to a significant percentage of my readership. Because I haven't found a workshop yet. And because I don't have an editor to advise me on the pros and cons of showing my characters getting it on. Until these three things change, I'm gonna have to plead the fifth.
Monday, August 22, 2011
xlv - Day 16 - Do you write romantic relationships? Are you good with those? Do you write sex scenes?
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
xliv - Day 15 - A writer you admire, whether professional or not!
I'm actually quite surprised how complex this seemingly innocuous, simple question is turning out to be. It turns out "admiration" isn't a concept I think is particularly useful in defining my concept of writers.
Let's take a slight detour and define a writer as someone who follows Heinlein's rules of writing. I personally like Robert J. Sawyer's version with an additional rule. To paraphrase: 1) Write something; 2) Finish it; 3) No, seriously, stop messing with it; 4) Submit it; 5) Re-submit it until it's sold; and, 6) Goto 1. (Sawyer has a full version on his site, available HERE)
You may now have an inkling as to why the word "admire" isn't particularly useful in this context. The act of writing with the honest intention of having the work published is often agonizing, meticulous work. We haven't even touched on the utterly humbling experience of putting something out there. In all my reading about writing, I've yet to come across any published author who doesn't make a point of pointing out their pile of rejection slips.
Even for writers I think are doing a disservice to humanity by virtue of what they write, that they've commited to the act of writing itself warrants no small measure of admiration on my part.
None of this leaves you with a workable answer to the question, though.
So: Frank Herbert.
Why? His style was clear, and he was capable of writing intelligently without hiding behind convoluted language. Not to mention being the author of the most recognized work of modern science fiction. He wrote, he wrote well, and he was successful.
Let's take a slight detour and define a writer as someone who follows Heinlein's rules of writing. I personally like Robert J. Sawyer's version with an additional rule. To paraphrase: 1) Write something; 2) Finish it; 3) No, seriously, stop messing with it; 4) Submit it; 5) Re-submit it until it's sold; and, 6) Goto 1. (Sawyer has a full version on his site, available HERE)
You may now have an inkling as to why the word "admire" isn't particularly useful in this context. The act of writing with the honest intention of having the work published is often agonizing, meticulous work. We haven't even touched on the utterly humbling experience of putting something out there. In all my reading about writing, I've yet to come across any published author who doesn't make a point of pointing out their pile of rejection slips.
Even for writers I think are doing a disservice to humanity by virtue of what they write, that they've commited to the act of writing itself warrants no small measure of admiration on my part.
None of this leaves you with a workable answer to the question, though.
So: Frank Herbert.
Why? His style was clear, and he was capable of writing intelligently without hiding behind convoluted language. Not to mention being the author of the most recognized work of modern science fiction. He wrote, he wrote well, and he was successful.
Interlude, Again
You know what takes up a lot of time? Having a baby.
"But," you may be thinking to yourselves, "you're a man. Your part of the process is a mere fraction of the total effort needed in producing a child." Which is quite right, so I offer this revision:
You know what takes up a lot of time? Getting ready to have a baby.
I've been glued to a computer monitor for most of my adolescent and adult life. Well, I was until a few weeks ago. It's been an incredibly busy summer as my wife and I prepare the house for an autumn arrival. Outside of work, where I -ahem- normally spend my time working, I've been on my PC a grand total of about 15 hours since June.
It got busier 2-3 weeks ago, and the reason I'm writing this entry is to apologize for the slowed pace of posting entries. The room from which I used to type out my posts is now a nursery and I'm still working to assemble a suitable space in a new room, but there's still a lot of prep work to be done before I become a dad.
Things have calmed down a bit (I know I've just cursed myself...) and the PC is back online, so I'm going to be working to get these back on schedule.
"But," you may be thinking to yourselves, "you're a man. Your part of the process is a mere fraction of the total effort needed in producing a child." Which is quite right, so I offer this revision:
You know what takes up a lot of time? Getting ready to have a baby.
I've been glued to a computer monitor for most of my adolescent and adult life. Well, I was until a few weeks ago. It's been an incredibly busy summer as my wife and I prepare the house for an autumn arrival. Outside of work, where I -ahem- normally spend my time working, I've been on my PC a grand total of about 15 hours since June.
It got busier 2-3 weeks ago, and the reason I'm writing this entry is to apologize for the slowed pace of posting entries. The room from which I used to type out my posts is now a nursery and I'm still working to assemble a suitable space in a new room, but there's still a lot of prep work to be done before I become a dad.
Things have calmed down a bit (I know I've just cursed myself...) and the PC is back online, so I'm going to be working to get these back on schedule.
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