Day Four

Indeed, I did not get much done last night but I pushed through the transition part into a section of the story I'm actually interested in. That should make the writing go much smoother... when I have time for it. Tonight I have a ton of things to do to get ready for leaving tomorrow, but I plan on pushing through another two pages.

Last night's total: 17 pages and 11,676 words.

Day Three

Working today so Day Three will be a smaller one. Looking at my numbers, I don't think I'll have this story out by Friday. Ah well, I'm still going to try.

Last night's totals (complete including day one because I'm too lazy to subtract): 15 pages and 10,569 words.

Day Two of Camp Writing Challenge!

I definitely have slowed down today. Part of it is because I'm still at the beginning introduction part, building up tension, character, storyline, yada yada. None of the fun stuff to write! Right now I'm at 10,476 words and 15 pages. I'm going to try to at least get to 17 pages tonight before I go to bed. The next two days I work so it's going to be tough to get it done before I leave on Friday. We shall see, we shall see.

Day 1 of Camp Challenge

Day One went well. I am 11 pages in with 8,134 words. I have also gotten to the point in the story where I need a second document open to keep track of all my characters' names, histories, etc. And for once the storyline is obeying my command as I write it! I don't expect this to last long.

Off to Day Two...

Challenge for myself this week...

I've been giving myself small challenges the last month. Mainly, write at least two sentences per story before you go to bed. It's been working out well, even with wrangling three stories that are not completed. Today's challenge is- that short story you thought up this morning while lounging in bed? Get it out. Now. You leave for Fire Fest on Friday and you can finish it by then.

I don't know why, but even thinking about this is making my heart race. Can I do this? I don't see why not. The only thing holding me back is procrastination, i.e. myself. Therefore, to do this I must get by me. Lovely.

Tonight, B and I are getting together so we can do some writing. I plan on having at least two pages done by then.

Quick thoughts on the Twilight Series

I don't quite understand why people respond in such an extreme way to the Twilight series. They were enjoyable for what they were- a YA series aimed for middle and high school girls. To go into the sexual and gender politics of the books is overthinking it... and would also require an entire analysis of the whole genre.

Here's my response to a friend's very judgmental post about the books (especially considering she had only read *about* the books and never the actual books):

LOL The fourth [book] doesn't involve brutal beatings and rape. If you want to analyze the honeymoon sex scenes, there's actually a bit of a sexually-positive theme (with most likely unintended s/m cultural overtones) of Bella standing up for herself and saying "I don't experience this as pain but pleasure and you're going to have to deal with that".

I think people make a big fuss because these books are popular, otherwise they would care less. They also don't take into account the genre of the books- Young Adult with a leaning towards paranormal romance. It's written for a specific audience- middle school girls. To take it out of that context is a little ridiculous. Sure, I'd love to see the same girls read something more empowering along with these books, but we like what we like. I was reading Clive Barker and Stephen King in jr. high and most of those female characters have a LOT more issues than anything in the Twilight books. My mom hated it and tried to get me to read "better" things. Guess what my reaction was?

Also, most of the books end with Bella doing what she has to to save what she considers her family. Since she's not invincible, extremely fast or extremely strong her way of saving is generally sacrificial. Instead of people reacting to that as a gender-specific thing without taking into account that there are vamps and werewolves in the books that are female and not victims, I think it should be analyzed more as a HUMAN thing."

The Laurell K. Hamilton Syndrome

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/6/2/

This comic highly amuses me while making a great point. Some people like the Anita Blake series, some don't, and then there are those of us who followed the damn series through the first three books filled with rough writing until it finally smoothed out and wasn't painful to read. And then about book 12 or so, something strange happened. Ms. Hamilton started writing only about sex and Anita's feelings and relationships with the many people she was having sex with. Any pretense of a storyline went out the window and we were taken from books with interesting crime-solving storylines to erotica that would make the new Christian Anne Rice blush. (Before Xtianity she probably wouldn't have blushed... probably.) I have nothing against erotica but that wasn't what I was reading the damn Anita Blake series for! I wanted to read about the necromancer investigator who had emotional issues and too many men in her life fighting over her while she tried to keep any of them from touching her. To suddenly go from that to an entire novel blathering about shit I would expect a therapist to say was a letdown that left a bad taste in my mouth.

But I digress...

I like to call what happened to these books The Laurell K. Hamilton Syndrome. Generally, this Syndrome appears at two times in a novel's life. The first is when the book is still a rough draft, much like my novel Drunk. I was so fascinated by the characters writing the story the first time that the actual storyline and suspense became a garnish instead of the full meal. The second time this occurs is when a series is done but for various reasons an author keeps it going. Anita Blake's series should have ended at least five books ago, or at least delayed until she could think of an actual storyline that doesn't involve me having to read about Anita having sex with a new man... again (and when I'm complaining about the level of sex in a book, you know there's an issue). Back in the day I would have been very sad to see it end but now that I've discovered what happens when a storyline continues far past it's prime, I am willing to lose a series rather than have to suffer through this badness ever again.

Getting stuff done!

Last week I took some time off WoW and guess what- I wrote a ton! What a surprise! I'm working solidly on two projects (we'll call them Surrogate and Demon), with Drunk being put to the side while the storyline percolates in my head. Once I have the storyline hammered out, the very long process of rewriting will begin.

B and I met up for coffee on Saturday and writing. Sadly, not much writing happened but we had a good time. Hopefully this week we'll get another chance, but if not then I hope it'll become a once a month date. I love that I have someone to talk to about writing and books I've read that's going through the same process I am right now. We have so much in common when it comes to books and writing but we also differ on so much that we don't stop talking once we start... part of the reason we didn't get any writing done. Next time one of us will have to crack the whip and get us focused.