by Charlene Teglia | Feb 24, 2007 | Uncategorized
So I’m back to the Shrek soundtrack and Mary Chapin Carpenter, the music for Miss Lonely Hearts. I figured out what needs to change and where and how, and now it’s just a matter of getting it all done. The figuring it out was the hard part; I spent the last year trying to do that and I only wish I was exaggerating. If I hadn’t finally put it aside around June and worked on other things, coming back to it in between, I would have nothing but a giant headache to show for the last year.
I have learned so many things from this process. At the top of the list would be, if you ever want to make a royal (and almost unsalvageable) mess of a book, try very hard to fight your voice and NOT write the way you write. Because that’s what I did for the first 30K of this book, and while the story is in there, it’s buried and nearly obliterated.
The good news is, I don’t fight my voice anymore. Fighting my voice led to me quitting writing altogether for a good long time because I just couldn’t get around the brick wall tht resulted in. I write the way I write, and as long as I keep doing that, I won’t ever create another multi-headed monster of a book like this. (Cut one head off, two more spring up in its place kind of monster)
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 22, 2007 | Uncategorized
COMPLETE WOMAN has licensed first serial rights to WILD WILD WEST!
The feature– appearing in the July/August issue– will include the 1,300 word excerpt, original illustrations, a cover shot of the book, and a ten book give-away for lucky readers.
This news just forwarded from my St. Martin’s editor. SQUEEE!
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 21, 2007 | Uncategorized
I did finish Only Human yesterday, and actually sniffled over the ending. I felt like Joan Wilder. This was a very challenging story to write and I’m very happy with the results. Will see what my editor has to say about it!
We’re all supposed to write Author’s Notes on the tarot card each story in the Torrid Tarot series is based on, so to give you some idea of the theme of Only Human, here’s my author’s note.
The Star is often the most beautiful card in the Tarot deck, with an image of water. It represents hope, healing, unexpected help and clarity of vision. The heroine of Only Human, Elaine Llewellyn, finds all four of these things in the hero, Damon Thorne. In the story, as in The Fool’s Journey, this card points the way but it’s up to Elaine to take action to receive the promise of The Star and her happily ever after.
As my reward for finishing, I spent the evening reading Untouched by Samantha Hunter. Let me just say that comic book fans and fans of Marjorie Liu’s Dirke and Steele series will love Untouched! Superheroine loses superpowers, what a fantastic premise. I felt for Risa right from the beginning. The plot was exciting and kept me guessing, the romance was sigh-worthy and the story was just plain fun. If you’re in the mood for a fun and fast read, pick up Untouched!
Fingers crossed that Blaze gives her a contract for the spinoff. I want to read more!
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 20, 2007 | Uncategorized
Today I expect to finish my EC novella, Only Human. I’m down to the happy ending part, wrapping up everything in the last chapter. Then I need to read it over, check for continuity, character arc, clarity, make sure the scenes have the oomph and impact they should have, all of which makes the happy ending satisfying and believable.
And then I can ship it off to Editor Suz in Oz and go back to Miss Lonely Hearts. Although I think I’ve resolved all the structural issues in that book now. Just finding the structure was a biggie. For the longest time, every time I worked on it I found myself unable to see the trees for the forest and pretty soon I was wondering lost in the woods. Now I can go back in with a map and a compass.
I keep referring back to Ansen Dibell’s Plot while putting this together because it deals with building to set pieces and echoes and other things I need to pull off to make this book work. If you don’t have Plot, it’s one of the most useful reference books I’ve ever stumbled onto in my life. Highly, highly recommend it.
But today it’s all about the happy ending. And then I get to read Untouched because B&N has delivered. 🙂
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 18, 2007 | Uncategorized
So, the beauty of Mercury retrograde is that it’s supposed to be a good time to finish old projects, and I’m taking advantage of the timing. I did re-watch The Thomas Crowne Affair and took many notes, and by comparing elements I found the centerpoint of Miss Lonely Hearts. I also found the counterpoint. I realized I have one whopping huge setpiece of a scene and I didn’t even know it was a setpiece when I wrote it, but it is the gravitic center of the book that pulls the hero and heroine inexorably together and then changes them as the farce becomes reality. It’s also the thing all the subplots and minor characters orbit around.
Good stuff. And I see why the opening always bugged me. The first scene with Jason in the bar with the Lawrence twins and Sam is directly orbiting around the gravity well of the story’s center, but the opening with Cass? Not. Either I rewrite that in a big way or cut it and replace it with something that pulls directly into the story. Or maybe just open with Jason. There’s a lot in the beginning that’s too slow, too indirect, not spiraling into that setpiece. Now that I know I’m writing to a setpiece, I can go back and lay the groundwork for that throughout the first half of the book and build towards it.
This writing stuff, it is not for whimps. But the book that does not kill you makes you a stronger writer. Or drives you to eat a lot of chocolate cupcakes. Not that I do that. *brushes off chocolate crumbs*
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