Redreaming the Scene Dream

I’ve been editing the first three scenes of my manuscript based on critiques that I’ve received. In fact, one scene is totally new and I really like it. However, I feel as though the first scene will never be quite right. And the now-third scene is puke-a-rific. I am still not satisfied with it. I think I’m going to have to delete it and rewrite it completely. It’s got some good stuff going on, but there is something not quite right–maybe it is the setting. Redream the dream, right Mr. Frey?

Anyway with some of it, I like the pared down, simplified version. But in some ways, it kills me to slice out bits that I really liked or that my crit partner said was funny. I want funny to stay, but it isn’t helping move the story forward. I am so emotionally committed to some of these descriptions or backstory bits that I don’t want to give them up. But I must. It is for the good of the whole. My god, it sounds like I’m operating on cancer or making war-like sacrifices.

So I am redreaming the dream and hopefully I can make the voice stronger, keep the story unique, move the plot forward in a smoother manner and keep my story standing above the others. 

Agent Chat a Roaring Success

Last night’s AQ agent chat with Michael Bourret of Dystel and Goderich Literary Management was fabulous. In one hour he succinctly fielded over 40 questions! We had over 47 lovely, ever-so patient guests who really made moderating this chat a dream. Thank you to Michael for taking time at the end of his busy day and thank you to all our wonderful guests who came armed with brilliant questions (many of which I had been wondering about myself).

Michael rocked it!

And we all only got a little bit crazy towards the end. But I think it could have been the cake I was serving.

Anyway, I learned lots and managed to keep all the balls in the air. Go cowgirl!

Now I get to read the transcripts and see what really happened! Keep posted for information on September’s upcoming chats.

Patience

It always comes back to patience, doesn’t it?

In Jackson Pearce’s chat the other night, she touched on patience. Patience to wait before sending out your ms–make sure it is good as it can be. Listen to your crit partners. Make those changes. Wait. Look at them again, then send. Look for those pitfalls. Fix them. Keep listening to the feedback, keep distancing yourself from your work.

Keep plugging!

Join us for the agent chat with Michael Bourret tonight. 8pm eastern.

Fabulous Agent Chat Coming Down The Pipe!

There will be an agent chat on AQ. Be there or be square! Or at least left out in the cold, dark night.

Who: Literary Agent Michael Bourret of Dystel and Goderich Literary Management

What: A friendly chat where he answers aspiring writers ever so eager questions.

Where: Agent Query Connect Chat area. (It is free to join, so go for it!)

When: Monday, August 25th at 8pm eastern

Why: Do I really need to tell you this? If so, go watch some TV instead. I mean, come on! An agent answering questions and letting you into the deep dark secrets of publishing! Well, maybe I can’t promise deep, dark secrets, but well, a girl can dream…

How: Join AQ and enter the chat at the appointed time. I’ll be there to instill calm in the chaos. 

Looking forward to it. See you there!

Upcoming Chat with Author Jackson Pearce

Another chat has been scheduled over on AQ (Agent Query).

So if you’re hanging out eating a bag ‘o’ chips on Friday night and mindlessly flipping through videos on YouTube, pop over to AQ and chat with writer Jackson Pearce. Her YA book As You Wish will be published by Harper Collins in December of 2009.

If you’d like to pick her brain on how to make it or even just to hear what it is like to be awaiting the release of her hard work, join AQ (it is free) and stop by the chat this Friday at 7:30 pm Eastern.

On a related note, I popped over to Debutantes: Feast of Awesome and added my two cents on who I think would win in a fight of Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girls) vs. Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice). Honestly, I think it would be a draw. If you want to hear why, pop over and read the comments. It’s a pile of fun.

 Blair Vs. Elizabeth 

Speaking of fun, I finally got a chance to sit down with a mocha and two hours to myself to bang away at my keyboard. I was adding a scene in and it was SO MUCH FUN!! I love to write. I’d almost forgotten the rush of drafting out a new scene. It was hard trying to get my two characters to fight with each other. They kept wanting to make amends. Maybe the fight scene wasn’t a good idea. I’ll send it to my crit partner once it simmers for a little longer–we’ll see what the flavours are like in a day or two.

God, I love writing.

Bad Logline Contest

Sometimes life is so unfair.

Guide to Literary Agents dot com is having a contest and I can’t enter because I live in Canada. Waaaaaa! That’s as bad as those silly contests sponsored by yummy ice cream treat companies that make you go online and enter a PIN plus all your personal information at your chance to win $100,000. Bastards.

Anyway, write the worst logline and he will give you a prize. He will critique your query and then PHONE you to discuss it. Holy smokes! PLUS you win a book. A BOOK! I love books! I just got six books in the mail from Chapters today. It was like Christmas. Christmas, I say!

Sigh.

So how about something lame like this for a logline:

“During a blue moon, the pink flamingo ornaments on Evelyn’s yard come to life, but she soon finds that not only are her rapidly overgrown prize-winning pansies in danger of getting her disqualified and ridiculed at the national flower show, but her pure bred Schnowzer seems to be pregnant–and she was spayed years ago.”

Okay, that was really lame. But can you out-lame me? The challenge is on. You can bet I will be watching the comments section over at Guide to Literary Agents. And if you are an American, you have until the end of the month to try your hand at lameness on their site. Even the agents are getting in on it. Good luck to you all

The Movie Babel

We watched Babel last night. It was a good movie. It was deep, full of meaning, symbolism and even a warning or two about human nature if you are so inclined to look deep enough. What was nice about Babel was that despite it’s brainy aspects, I could follow it despite many, many interruptions. I caught symbolism and meaning and despite the fact that it is following four different stories and occasionally used subtitles, I felt that I was on top of what was going on.

I’ve been reading Frey’s book lately and struggling with premise. As practice, I have been looking at movies and books and trying to pinpoint the premise of the story. That is, when I remember. And when I am not too lazy. Problem is that I tend to come up with a fuzzy idea of what it could be, then another possible, even fuzzier alternative and then my mind wanders off, going ‘too hard, not concrete enough, la, la, la, la, la…’

So, what would the premise be? One grateful act impacts many lives in negative ways? (Spoiler Alert: A Japanese business man, as thanks, gives a rifle to a Moroccan hunt guide. He sells it. Some boys are playing with it and shoot a tourist. Because the tourists can’t come home, the nanny who has to be at her son’s wedding, takes their children into Mexico. They have trouble getting home and all get lost in the desert. Meanwhile, the shooting boys are freaking out when they hear they have shot someone while the Japanese businessman is oblivious to his involvement in what has become quite the incident. Still, you can see that his wealth and ambition to succeed has screwed up his own life in many ways.) So, maybe a different premise could be: Seeking wealth and ambition harms not only those you love but people barely connected to oneself. Or: Any act can have implications for people all across the world. I could ‘prove’ any and all of these premises, but it doesn’t mean that they are the best possible premises or even THE ONE.

As for themes in the movie, there is the obvious one of Babel and the revering the glory of man can lead to destruction. There is also a communication theme–also related to Babel. (Way back in the time of the Bible, some people built a huge tower in the glory of humans. Happens that this tower touched the Heavens. God got a bit peeved at this and destroyed the tower and scattered the little trouble makers, confusing their languages in hopes that they would not be able to communicate effectively enough to create another pesky tower.) The Tower of Babel in this movie could literally be the one the Japanese business man lives in. He lives on floor 31 (flip unlucky 13) which happens to tower above all others. His success has cost his wife her life and has resulted in his daughter being quite messed up. On the communication theme, his daughter is a deaf-mute. Over in Morocco, the boys miscommunicate/lie to try and cover their sins. The shot tourist’s husband has great difficulties communicating in the foreign language. Back home, their nanny speaks another language as well, but they are able to communicate somewhat effectively. But due to poor communication at the US/Mexico border, trouble ensues. 

You could also argue that there is a theme of deprivation/hardship/loss. The Moroccan farmer is experiencing hardship in a dry, forbidding environment (deprivation) and the loss of his goats to jackals. His sons are sent out with a gun to protect the family’s livelihood but their actions (shooting) create a hardship for the tourist. The tourist has already experienced loss as her infant son passed away shortly before the trip. She and her husband are in a bad place in terms of their relationship and are depriving each other of affection and a chance to get over their grief (due to different styles of conflict resolution). The nanny, back home, is deprived of the chance to see her son get married due to circumstances. She goes anyway and returns to Mexico. In the end, she is deported back to Mexico where she will experience poverty once again (hardship) and she will not be able to care for the children she has raised like her own (loss). Back in Japan, the business man’s daughter is really the one with the storyline. She is deprived of both a mother (loss) and her ability to communicate which is also a hardship. Through her deafness she experiences a sensory deprivation.

There is so much going on in this movie, I loved it. Kudos to the writer! And by the way, I’m really glad the Morrocan guide didn’t accept the large wad of well-intended cash when the ambulance finally came for the shot tourist. Could you imagine what the consequences would be? Well, I suppose it would be another great movie for me to watch!

Re-Dream the Dream in Edits

I’m still working my way through Frey’s book, “How to Write a Damn Good Novel II”.

Today, I read about the ‘deadly mistake’ of the failure to learn how to re-dream the dream. Contrary to your likely assumption that this has something to do with goals or career aspirations in writers, it is actually about editing. Basically, Frey says that if you have a scene that needs editing or rewriting, don’t throw it out and create a new dream. Instead, sit down and re-dream the scene. Perhaps give the characters a new motivation or change up the actions of the scene somehow. Start the scene earlier. Mix it up and see what happens to the current dream. Hopefully it will be better.

For the most part, I have been doing this. However, I have not been doing it consciously. Usually my changing a scene that isn’t working results in me trimming it down–which is good to a point. What I will try to do is to consciously try to mix it up. One of my critique partners is actually pretty good at helping me with this. She drops hints on ways I could change up a scene–honestly the girl should be an editor! Sometimes I pick up her hints and make some changes. Problem is, I am a reluctant changer. Once I have a scene I tend to not want to restructure it very much. I guess, I need to re-dream the dream on a bigger scale than I have been doing.

Look out word processor, I’m re-dreaming the dream! Dear lord, what if I have to re-dream the whole friggin’ book? Yikes!