Bethany Donne

It's really no secret amongst those in the Inner Sanctum (ie "serious" writers) that writers spend very little time actually writing.  I know, it's sacrilege to say it.  Of course we spend hours at a time sweating on the keyboard, making the joints in our fingers explode from the typing, pulling out our hair, bouncing our legs, chewing on pencils, and ultimately coming out with amazing prose.

What total BS.

A lot of my "writing time" isn't spent in front of the computer at all.  A lot of it spent gazing out a car window with my chin on my hand, seeing demons and angels instead of endless plains of sagebrush.  A lot of it is spent in the shower with hot water pounding on my back, blinking soap out of my eyes, and trying to imagine what a den of blood-suckers would smell like.  A lot of it is spent rambling at my husband, who nods helpfully and offers often-ridiculous plot ideas just to show he's listening.  (I married the bastard for a reason.)  A lot of it is spent stretched out in bed, my fat cat laying on my hips to my chin, purring and cleaning the same spot on my wrist for hours while I dream of conversations.  A lot of it is spent nibbling at a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of my screen, reading what I've already written.

Of course, this isn't to say I don't have more productive periods.  I once wrote 50,000 words in two days.  That was pretty much non-stop writing for twelve to sixteen hours straight on those two days, and that's the image a writer wants to project: productivity.  Also, when I'm editing, I can usually do that for hours on end, since it takes less creativity and more objective, analytical thought.  However, this sort of thing is rare.  I try to spend as much of my supposed writing time in my home office with the door locked to help me look more productive, while really I'm slurping tea by the gallons and playing a video game (what us gaming writers affectionately call "brain-storming").

How do you kindly folks spend your writing time?  And if you say "I actually write the whole time," I'll either laugh at you in disbelief or hate you forever.  Risk it if you dare.  *piercing stare*

I seldom write fanfic these days, but if you watch Dollhouse or Fringe, I do have one fic for each fandom up on my Dreamwidth.  My Dollhouse fic is super duper spoilery, so don't read it unless you've seen all of season one (or don't care).  Extra deliciously, my Fringe fanfic ("What Peter Knows") has been nominated for a couple awards at the Fringe Awards!  Voting hasn't started yet, but you can keep an eye out for when it does.  :)

Those are both great shows, so when the seasons start in the fall, you can expect more occasional fanfic-- but only if you all watch them.  ;) 

I think all writers who take themselves seriously will eventually question whether they would rather make themselves happy or write something that could be commercially viable.  Sometimes, what a writer loves to create has commercial potential, and they are the lucky kind; the rest of us are forced to occasionally make sacrifices to make something that we don't like as much, but everyone else will like more.

In editing my manuscript, I've come across this little dilemma in a couple places, primarily in the characterization of the hero.  I've been told she isn't relatable enough.  I have the choice between making her more like the popular heroines of urban dark fantasy (a sexy, witty, smart-aleck), or going in the opposite direction and perhaps making her completely alien to the reader.  This is what makes me happy: a socially dysfunctional semi-sociopath with no ability to empathize with people, driven to be good only by the knowledge that it's the "right" thing to do, and a fragile relationship with morality.  Most people are not sociopaths, however, and it's hard for a reader to relate to such a cold character.  On occasion, though, she does have a true emotional outburst, and it's spectacular when she does.  Such outbursts are rare, and only one or two make appearances later in the book, so the opportunities for a reader to sympathize with her are few and far between.

That is what I like, but frankly, I don't think it will sell.  This is why I'm asking myself if I would rather make a living off my writing or if I should just write it the way I like it.  I do think if I write something I love, there will be people who love it with me.  Passion is contagious.  I would someday like to live off my writing, though, and it's a risky move to do something different and potentially unpopular with the hero of my series.

What do you guys think?  Is it sellable?  Should I even care if it isn't?

Work, work, work.  My writing site has been completely redone from the front page down (check it out here), and it's been quite an educational experience.  I haven't really hand-coded a site since the days of animated .GIF backgrounds and MIDIs, so trying to make it all XHTML 1.0 compliant with the shiny CSS to match has been both fun and frustrating.  What do you guys think of it?

I finished second draft edits last week, and five queries have been sent out so far for "Death's Hand."  Two have come back rejections (although one with the aforementioned positive note), and I'm trying to stay upbeat.  It's been a long time since I've put myself out there for judgment, and as any writer can tell you, it's not easy.

A few people have volunteered to read my manuscript so far, and the offer is out there for other people too.  At the moment, I'm only accepting offers from people I've known for a long time, such as those from Cipher and my writing groups.  I really appreciate the voices of support from lurkers and friends who haven't been around as long, but I'm staying cautious for now and keeping things close to the chest.  I might change my mind later and get back to you folk, though, so hang tight.  :)

It's even harder to stay upbeat since I've put myself on a diet.  I gained fifteen pounds since the wedding, and it shows.  Bah.  Too much celebratory honeymoon cruise food and Cadbury eggs.  I've never been too bad about emotional eating, but it certainly does make me crotchety to have to turn down cake at the office birthday parties.  Stupid weight gain.  I need a tapeworm or something.

I know I have quite a few friends on the submissions warpath at the moment.  How's it going for you all?

Would anyone be willing to read my manuscript?  I don't need notes or edits or critiques or anything like that.  As silly as it sounds, I just want to know if I'm wasting my time.  I don't know if it sucks or not, and at this point, I feel like I'm just putting all this time into something that might not even go anywhere.

Read-throughs will be repaid with nibbles and big googly thankful eyes.  :D

Edits continue. I'm on page 174 now, and I've cut about twenty pages out throughout the book. Most of my notes are scribbled suggestions at how to improve the flow of the sentence or big blobs crossed with an X to indicate a cut.

Just now, I reached this passage: "Elise gripped Daniel's wrist. She didn't say what she was thinking, but he suspected it involved several expletives. He felt much the same. Daniel shifted so his hand squeezed hers, and he hoped it was comforting."

This is my note on the page:( Read more... )

I received my first rejection for the newest draft of Death's Hand.  The agency seemed pretty eager to read my sample work, and it took them awhile to reject it (which might be a good sign, but is most likely due to the insane workload of the publishing world).  What's best about this rejection, though, is that it came along with a personal note at the bottom:

I've gotten a similar remark before for another manuscript.  "Great story, cool premise, no emotional connection to the characters."  Even though it's always awesome -- really awesome -- to get a personal note,  the similarity to that rejection note a couple years ago stings.  Apparently, for all that I've advanced as a writer lately, the improvements have been largely technical and not artistic.

It's quite possible that another agent later on will look at my novel and say, "Hey, strong premise and background, and I like the characters!"  It's a subjective business, after all.  I can't help but feel, however, that this is a greater problem with both my writing and myself.  My failure to connect to other people and experience normal empathy has translated into characters the reader won't connect with, either.  Bah.  Bah humbug.  Still, I'm thrilled that my first rejection featured a personalized note.  It means that I don't suck; I genuinely wasn't a right fit for this particular agency.  Too bad-- they seem like a really strong, awesome feminist business, and I would have loved to join in the fun.

Never before has my emotional reaction to a rejection been so mixed.  I want to preen about my positive rejection (and so early in the submissions process!), but I also feel crushed that I still can't make characters people care about right off the bat.  It's good to have a strong premise and sound story, but if you have weak characters, it ruins the whole pot.  Conversely, strong characters can really carry a weak premise (I mean, look at all that pop women's lit that repeats the same thing about how fat the main character feels even as she's passionate about shoes).

This is something I need to work on.  Badly.

My weekend has been intense so far.  I literally did nothing today and yesterday evening except edit my book.  Again, my feelings are mixed; parts of the book are awesome, and parts are so shitty I just want to turn off my computer and dedicate the rest of my life to playing video games.  It's fun and wearying.  But this rejection is quite motivational-- once I finish line edits, I'm going to go back to the early chapters and really figure out what makes them so emotionally uninteresting.  Hopefully I'll learn something valuable that I can apply to the rest of the book.

Goodness me, I didn't realize how long it had been since I blogged.  Way to live up to my own tagline of "a much neglected journal."  ;)

Last night, I sat down in my office shortly before five o'clock, and I didn't leave until eight.  I only got up from my chair for an occasional thirty-second dance break (sometimes a song comes on my Pandora I just HAVE to belly dance to, and judging by the pops in my back when I do so, occasional motion is much-needed when I'm working), but the rest of the 3+ hours was spent working hard on second draft edits for "Death's Hand."  I haven't done such a large chunk of work on the second draft since... well... ever.  Three hours might not sound like much to you, but since I'd only just gotten off my Real Job at four and I went to bed by eight-thirty, that was pretty much my whole, tired evening.

I think I've made pretty good progress on shiny-fying the book so far, although I'm still less than a hundred pages in.  Sometimes I feel like I'm just trying to make a pile of crap look like gourmet, but last night I started seeing some little things in it here and there that made me suspect I might actually be cooking gourmet (if that metaphor makes any sense, which it probably doesn't).

A couple things helped.  One is my office-- I have a whole room to myself in my house, so I can shut the door and keep out cats and The Husband (although he's very respectful of my Writing Urges and hopes one day he can make a living off being my personal assistant so I don't really need to lock him out).  Another is the routine of sitting down, starting the music, opening a beer (just one beer, thanks), and facing down an overwhelming stack of pages that I've scribbled all over and need to transfer on the computer.

Possibly most motivational, though, was a reread of Stephen King's "On Writing."  It's easily the best book about writing I've ever read, even though 80% of it is a memoir of King's life.  Somehow, reading about the events in his life that formed him as a writer and surrounds him now in his career is so profound that it makes me examine my own motivations and the events that have made me a writer, and subsequently helps create those aforementioned Writing Urges.  Ultimately, the book isn't about writing at all; it's about life, and the things that we need in order to breathe and keep going and survive horrible car accidents.  He does have some really good advice about the craft, though, even if I don't necessarily agree with everything he says.

I think "Death's Hand" is generally going well, and that makes me happy.  It's on an agent's desk at the moment, being perused and carefully thought about and they're probably drafting a nice, long letter about how wonderful it is.  Ha!  Just kidding.  I'm sure it's in their slush pile, waiting to be glanced at so they can shuffle off a form rejection (as agents have to do, considering their volume of work).  Once they do, it'll be on to another place or six.  But I think this book is The One (I hope I hope).

In writing unrelated news, I'm finally 21.  After having spent all my life being too young to do many things, I'm at last old enough (whatever that means).  I celebrated by being one of the few women married to a man dancing at gay bars.  ;)

How's everybody else's writing going?

Sorry I've been mostly absent off Eljay and all my communities (for those of you who know me from elsewhere as well).  I got married on the 24th of January and only just returned from the honeymoon, and I'm taking a full load of classes in addition to working full-time this semester, so I'm really busy and my attention is selective.  I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, though... yet.  ;)

I just received word that the e-magazine, Drops of Crimson, has accepted one of my horror stories for their late-December issue.  The story, "Another Victory," is about the most eventful night in the (short) lives of a young couple, and will be available to read for free on their site very soon!  I'll let everyone know when it's up.

Unfortunately, I also recently learned that an anthology one short story of mine was going to appear in has been canceled after much deliberation, thanks to the poor market for anthologies.  "Something Wrong" was very well received by several publishers, though, so I hope to find a new home for it soon.  I'm a little disappointed about the anthology, but I was expecting it and am frankly kind of relieved.  The publisher really dropped the ball, and I'm glad to have the story free and available for placement somewhere better.

I know it's a little late, but does anyone still want to exchange Christmas cards?  :)

I just got back last night from OryCon 30, and the convention itself was a great experience.  I got to see cool writers like Lilith Saintcrow, Jean Auel, and Harry Turtledove (from whom I have about a dozen books that I haven't read-- oh dear), and I also took part in an Open Read and Critique on Friday night.  The focus was the first 250-750 words of our manuscripts, and it was a pleasantly surprising experience for me.  I sat through about a half dozen critiques before it came to be my turn, and by that point, I had convinced myself that nobody was going to like what I had written-- everyone else was heavy on the prose and wrote fairly "literary" sci-fi/fantasy, and I'm big into the genre fiction.  In any case, I followed the same job interview advice a girl gave me in high school that landed me my current job and two other job offers: act like you love to be there, and don't say anything negative.

So I didn't tell them I was nervous or thought everyone would hate my writing.  I didn't warn them that people had told me I wrote gory stuff in the past and not everyone would like it.  I didn't try to hide when it came to be my turn, either.  They said, "Who's Bethany?" and I bounced up and said, "That's me!" and read without a hint of worry in my voice even though I was cold and trembling.

Throughout the read, I didn't look up to gauge everyone's reactions.  If they really didn't like it, I wasn't going to let that throw me in the middle of the second page.  I used all the excellent reading aloud practice I had gotten from reading segments of my manuscript to my fiance (and sharing my favorite childhood stories with him as well-- we read aloud to one another almost every day), utilizing my best dramatic voice, and didn't stop until I was done.

When I looked up, everyone was smiling at me.

The feedback was positive.  The critiques were helpfully nitpicky, which is a pretty good sign that it's good enough that they kind of had to look for problems, but I'm planning on implementing some of the suggestions.  (Like they say about critiques, though: take what helps you and leave the rest.)  And pretty much everyone remarked upon how gory it was -- really? -- but how much they liked it.  One guy came to talk to me specifically about the comparison of burning brain to barbecue, and how Elise reacted to it, because he loved that whole "I like this thing that I shouldn't and it makes me even sicker" thing and kept trying to defend me from the rest of the critiques.  Not necessary, but it's a good sign that some people will be able to like my story enough to get on its side, so to speak, and I'd been worried about that.

Of course, my confidence at the ORC was boosted by an earlier event with Ginjer Buchanan, the editor guest-of-honor at OryCon.  I talked about it a few blog posts ago, but the tl;dr is that my mom sort of worked with her back in 1995 on the Quantum Leap tie-in books and it made for a good conversation starting point.  Of course, my mom didn't really have huge ulterior motives; she just remembered Ginjer being very nice and wanted to chat.  Since she's now the editor in chief at Berkeley Publishing Group (which does everything) and publishes books within my genre was a nice add-on.  We all chatted for awhile about Quantum Leap, and then I pitched by book to her and gave her my card.  She doesn't personally handle authors without agents anymore, but she has two close assistants who do, and if they like something then Ginjer will buy it.  It was really cool speaking to such a force of nature in the publishing world, especially finding out she's extremely nice and friendly, and I really, REALLY hope that she'll have one of her assistants give me a call.

After Friday, though, I got sick.  I spent Saturday convalescing in the hotel room, and by the time Sunday came around I was feeling a little better but the con was breaking up.  I spent the rest of the day sight-seeing around Portland and downing Excedrin like my mother-in-law's cookies (and she did make a batch for me while I was out of town).  Even though I didn't really get to do much after Friday, I'm thrilled that I did get to do Friday, and I'm thanking my lucky stars that my "real job" was accommodating enough to help me get to the convention.  I'm so gosh-darn lucky.  And at least I spent lots of time watching movies on the Hallmark channel on Saturday, like "Annie" and "The Santa Clause..." although I don't know how lucky that really is.  ;)

Did anyone else make it to OryCon?

The main character in my book series has androgen insensivity syndrome, also known as AIS.  In other words, she's genetically male -- XY -- and, without a uterus, absolutely sterile, but she's otherwise physically and mentally a woman.  I never make a big deal out of it; it's mentioned that she can't have kids, and at some point I'll probably actually name the syndrome.  I think AIS is really interesting, since it seems like a lot of glamorized female characters should have it-- women with AIS are actually extremely feminine, with luscious hair on their head, and generally no pubic or axillary hair.  They don't have their menses and they can't get pregnant.  With all the consequence-free sex in romance, and body hairless women, you would think this would come up more often, but it doesn't.

Why?  Intersexed and transgendered characters are virtually nonexistant in speculative fiction.  Maybe some writers aren't willing to tackle some of the bigger issues I have to face, like the character's gender identity, sexual insecurity, infertility, etcetera, although there's obviously a lot of ballsy writers out there so I doubt it.  Or maybe it's the stigma, since while gay people are getting acceptance (even as their rights are denied), being intersexed or a trans-man or -woman isn't quite so accepted.

I think it's a shame.  This kind of thing is actually really common, since gender as a social construct is pretty iffy anyway, and AIS alone is born into 1 in 4,000 American women.  Usually, these kinds of people are the ones who most need heroes to look up to-- it's difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to find support when you have such a "strange" condition.  I know, as a genderqueer teen, I had a lot of emotional problems and angst that I didn't feel I could discuss with anyone.  Maybe if there had been a strong, powerful hero/ine for me to look up to, it wouldn't have been quite so bad.  Well, probably not, but it could have helped a little.

Since there are a lot of writers out there willing to tackle tough issues, I do find it difficult to believe that there are no books in the fantasy/horror/sci-fi genre with intersexed heroes.  I certainly haven't come across any, though.  The only intersexed character I remember was Narcissus in the Anita Blake series, and he wasn't exactly someone to look up to.

So here's my question: has anyone else come upon speculatiev fiction with an intersexed, transgendered, or otherwise genderqueer hero/ine?  I'm interested in seeing how other writers handle it.

In summation: I'm getting married in January to my significant other of two years.  I'm not enjoying the planning process already.  It sucks pretty hard, and it REALLY annoys me that the general attitude of the wedding is that EVERYTHING is my responsibility as the "bride," when there's one other person in the relationship and a gajillion family members on both sides who reassured me that I wouldn't have to worry about the planning process too much.  (I expected that to be a lie; I didn't expect those same family members to harass me so much about doing things.)  But it's fine.  I'm not really worried about the wedding day since all I ever really think about is my fiance and being married to him and how lovely that is (but also unnecessary since we could be unmarried and spend the rest of our lives together without any difficulty).

But maybe I'm only feeling negative about it right now because my grandmother just died.

Even though I was closer to her than most others, I'd only seen her a handful of times in the last year, but there's a lot of anger on my part surrounding me and directed largely at my immediate family.  I also regret not taking my fiance to meet her-- she lived in an assisted living home because she was certifiably crazy and couldn't care for herself, and I was worried about how uncomfortable meeting her could make him.  I knew he'd be okay with it, but I guess I wasn't.  Because she was in such a sorry state, I knew she couldn't really go to my wedding, but I was trying to work out a way to take her to the ceremony right before and bring her home right after.  My family probably wouldn't have wanted her there, but I knew it would make her really happy to see it (even briefly).  I guess it was selfish of me to want her to make an appearance, but there you go.

i suspect I'm not the only one a weensy bit peeved that the rest of my family didn't make time to see her and I'm sort of offended by how little they care about her passing, as though she wasn't really their responsibility to worry about.  My aunt (the sister of my grandma) told me how glad she was that I made the time to see her before she died, and something in her tone was both mornful and kind of regretful.  But the way I handle family is very different from the way the rest of my family handles family in general, in life and death.  I suppose I can't get upset at them because they're different, even if I don't like it.  I also think that being angry/annoyed at them is a natural part of my grandmother dying.

Whenever people die, it does two things to me: 1.) I'm reminded of my strongly atheist belief that there is no afterlife and get terrified of dying or losing someone else I know, and 2.) I madly want to have babies.  My urge to breed and create new life with my fiance right now is insane.  Again, this is a pretty normal part of grieving, I'm sure.  It also makes me feel desperate to write and be published.  As I've discussed with my writing group, I want to be published to entertain, and if I got paid for it that'd be nice, but it's not about fame.  It is, in some crazy egomaniac way, about eternal life.  I figure that as long as what I've made is out there and being read or thought about, even fleetingly, I can't really die.

On a side note about eternal life, I fully intend on being buried when I kick the bucket and having a tree planted on my grave.  Wonder why?  See "The Fountain."

Anyhoo, I was debating if I wanted to do NaNo, but I've decided life is too short for me to not do NaNo.  I think a lot of people see death as some far-off "it's going to happen someday," but my grandmother's unexpected passing is a reminder that the grim reaper comes for us whenever it's convenient for him, not for us.  I might die on December 1st for all I know.  Better write a book before then, huh?  (Of course, I could die in November, too, but that'd be pretty irritating.  I'd hate leaving a half-finished manuscript laying around.)

This is too morbid to think about.  Bleh.  I'll stress about dying right before I fall asleep, like I usually do, and focus on doing the dishes and plotting "Hellborn" until then.

Thanks everyone who left such nice comments on my "coming out" post!  I feel so loved.  :) :) :)

I took last week mostly off of school to edit, and I got a lot done on "Death's Hand."  I read one scene that I was fairly certain smelled like donkey doo to Darling Fiance (to be called DF until January 24, at which point he shalt be dubbed Darling Husbandito), and he loved it.  It was a later addition to an early portion of the book, slapped on in a kind of "hey, I guess I could put something here!" kind of way, so I was surprised that he liked it.

Going back through my book is yielding more "wow, this smells like donkey doo" moments than "wow, this is awesome!" moments, although I am having many of the latter.  Mostly it's in those little one-line descriptions that I sneak in without thinking about it.  I seem to be really good at those... sometimes.  Sometimes they make absolutely no sense.  But when they do, it's all shiny!

Working on "Death's Hand" has also made me realize that there's a subplot I never resolved, without ever intending on the subplot being a subplot in the first place.  Yet there it is, staring at me, waiting for me to flesh it out and finish it.  "No," I say, "I am done with this book and I am not going to go back and add another chapter or two where there were none before."  But the book will do what the book wants to do, so it's going to get added.  I already completely rewrote chapter three, and it wasn't as hard as I expected, so maybe this will turn out easy as well.

Unfortunately, I won't have as much time to work on my book this week because I have two chapter tests and a final coming up in financial accounting over the course of the next three weeks.  Boo.

In other unrelated news, I totally got my tongue pierced this weekend.  It is way awesome.  It's my first piercing (and yes, I do mean that even my ears aren't pierced), so I've been showing it to everyone with bundles of enthusiasm and yay!  Unfortunately, the reactions have been largely negative.  I thought that piercings were all mainstream now and nobody would be shocked, but people generally seem grossed out by this little metal ball in the middle of my tongue and say disdainful things like, "You realize you're just conforming to a different group of people now, right?"

Le sigh.  Perhaps it's naive I didn't expect these reactions at all, but I really thought I would just get, "Oh, that's nice" and "Cool!" reactions, rather than, "What will your kids think of you?"  (Note: I do not have children.)  It's not a gross piercing at all.  It wasn't even painful getting it done-- the needle going through just felt like a little pinch.  If anything, I would think it's a funny piercing, since my tongue is still swollen and I vary between lisping and talking like Ewmew Fudd.  And yet here I am, getting supportive statements like, "At least it's not a tattoo."  (Which is on my "body mods coming soon" list, by the way.)

It'll be fantastic when I'm a full-time writer and I will never have to go in public and get snide comments about my piercings.

Today is National Coming Out Day.  I wouldn't normally discuss my sexuality on my writing blog, but I've been failing at discussing writing anyway, so why not  keep going?

I've been "out" for years, much to the dismay of my dad, who frequently sighed, "We are never having grandchildren" as loudly as possible after my sexuality was revealed.  Even so, I am not a traditional gay woman, so I think it bears discussion.

I am genderqueer, a delightful mishmash of male and female.  Most people don't adhere to the gender binary, but I'm a weensy bit past that.  In high school, I struggled with my gender, and for a time thought I was transsexual.  I dressed as a boy, but was attracted to primarily men (making me playfully describe myself as "a gay man" for quite awhile).  It was how I reacted to being confused about my sexuality.  I thought if I wasn't feminine, I must be a man.  Later, when I learned about the gender binary and stereotypes, I realized I wasn't a transman or a woman; I was just me.  Sometimes I dress and act like a woman.  Sometimes I dress and act like a man.  Traditional labels, quite simply, don't fit me-- ergo "genderqueer."

I have dated and loved women; I have dated and loved men.  I guess you could call me bisexual in that respect, but I don't like the connotations of the word.  People tend to regard bisexuals as "slutty" (like that's a bad thing anyway).  Rather, I consider myself attracted to personalities, and a good personality is gender-nondescriminate.

Sometimes I'm told that, because I'm marrying a guy now, I must be straight.  I know, logically, this isn't true, but I still feel funny flying my rainbow and attending gay pride parades with my fiance, as though I've somehow betrayed the gay community.  Accepting myself and who I am is an ongoing process; fortunately, I have a partner that is willing to be with me while I do.  Besides, although my fiance and I pass as straight, neither of us are very heterosexual.  If one were to classify us by traditional roles and behaviors, he'd probably be the wife and I'd be the husband.  Between the two of us, we've definitely got a whole man and a whole woman; one or the other just isn't wholly in each of us!  Haha.

So, I'm gay.  I'm out.  I'm proud.

I encourage those on my flist to come out today in acceptance of themselves-- whether you be gay, straight, or any of the million shades in between.  The first step toward national change, and achieving equal rights for all Americans (not just the ones, like me, who just so happen to be marrying the other gender), is change within yourself.  :)

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
bethanydonne goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Orion slave girl.
anaquana gives you 5 purple licorice-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.
cho_malfoy tricks you! You get an eraser.
iamscullysmile tricks you! You get a clothespin.
kyfairie tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy!
mjcwrites gives you 19 milky white cherry-flavoured gumdrops.
nicbemused gives you 19 yellow mint-flavoured gummy worms.
rahnekat1 gives you 6 tan cinnamon-flavoured jawbreakers.
romaine24 gives you 16 red-orange cherry-flavoured gumdrops.
snapesgirl_62 gives you 3 mauve coffee-flavoured nuggets.
weasleywench gives you 3 red coconut-flavoured gummy worms.
bethanydonne ends up with 70 pieces of candy, an eraser, and a clothespin.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

I haven't written a post in a little while because I couldn't think of what to say.  I've been thinking a lot about politics, and not so much writing, and I promised myself I was done with politics on my so-called "writing blog."  But having watched the VP debate last night, I can't help myself.  I must talk politics.  I'll try to keep it brief.

( Wacko liberalism behind the cut )

Characterization is difficult for some, and easy for others.  I think most writers are somewhere in between, thinking hard about their character's origins and developing a rich history for them, but failing to enable them to think and speak like individuals.  If you read multiple books by the same author, the main character tends to be generally the same person, no matter how different their backgrounds are.  (The born-again virgin/necromancer/cop versus the skankity faerie princess, for example.)

I'm kind of one of those writers mentioned above.  Usually my characters differ based on their history and where they fall on this spectrum:

...so once in awhile I'll sit down and write a basic analysis of how a character thinks and why that is, just to shake it up a little.  Although I rarely shake entirely free of this "witty versus angsty" binary (for some reason, I'm convinced people are one or the other, and I have no idea why), it's still good to think beyond that once in awhile.  Most authors have their own binary, I think, much like the traditional "virginal child" woman versus the "evil temptress" woman scale.  (Was that Shakespeare?  I can't remember.)

Here's an example of my main character's brief analysis, in attempt to break away from my binary.

( Brutal and stoic... )
So Elise probably falls on the scale somewhere here:

Personally, my characters tend to develop pretty organically.  I establish very basic characters at the beginning of the story, and as I mull over the plot and the people in it, they become richer, more developed characters.  By the end of a manuscript, they might as well be real people to me, and that's why I prefer to write books in series format.

Do you have a binary?  What is it?  How do you develop your characters?

I can't post the questions; only the answers.  If you want to know the questions, I can only message them to you in the dead of night by carrier pigeons and you must solemnly swear to post the meme as well.  It's law.  Disobey and Samara from The Ring will come and suck your soul out in seven days.

I don't know if I actually have enough people on my flist to do this, so you might get repeated one or three times.

( Memememememe )