Author: claudia

While going to and from a Cinco de Mayo party, riding the subway, I worked on plotting for the very last book in the Evernight series. Not only did I make a lot of story progress, but something I hadn’t realized about the mythology finally came clear to me — it’s like it was always there, but I just hadn’t seen it — and now I’m on a high. So much can flow from this point, not just in the fourth book but in two and three as well.

There is this incredible sense of mischief, I guess, when you think of something new — it’s almost like you’ve just put one over on reality, coming up with something fictional that nonetheless feels true. Take that, surly bonds of earth.

I would love to have something to post for the first (annual) Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Wretch Day, a movement started within sfwa to share work for free. Why? Because it’s a good way for readers to find writers they like and then, we hope, buy more of their work.

However, I have nothing to offer. I’ve been so wrapped up in completing Evernight (STILL working on synopses) that I’ve had no time to prepare anything shorter, and I’m such a noob to the published-writer thing that I don’t know the rules about posting any snippets of the book itself. So I simply have to promise to play next year (should this become a regular thing) and to spend some quality time this afternoon surfing around and reading all the goodies sure to be posted on LJ.

(Of course, as a fanfic writer, I’ve been giving it away for free since about 1994. So I’m pixel-stained enough for now.)

Does everyone else out there read The Comics Curmudgeon every day? Because if you ever read the comics page of a newspaper — especially if you ever found yourself getting caught up in a soap comic against your will — you will never stop laughing.

I thought I should thank everyone who sent in hooks for the fangs_fur_fey contest — not only because it’s both flattering and humbling that you guys would be willing to listen to our opinions about your writing, but also because it’s been a learning experience for me, too. Asking questions about other people’s clarity or characterization makes me question my own writing, too, and that kind of reexamination is always, always a good thing.

The breadth of the concepts I got to judge, and the sheer ingenuity of some of the ideas, really delighted me. In most cases, I thought the construction of the hook needed more work, but every single entry had something in it that caught my imagination. More than that, anybody who’s willing to have their work critiqued in public deserves kudos. Frankly, I don’t think I could do it. But I tried to offer the kind of advice I’d want to get if I did step up to the plate, and I hope it was constructive for everybody.

We’re judging anonymously, and rightly so, but if anybody who participated has general questions, I’d be happy to answer to the best of my ability. (I didn’t organize the contest — others deserve the credit there — so questions about rules, etc., would best be directed at the community.)

Goal for today: finally write synopses for all four books in the Evernight series.

At long last, I’ve finished the revisions to Evernight, both editorial and self-imposed. The book is the better for it. I simultaneously feel very, very accomplished and very, very tired. Tomorrow I’ll e-mail it in to the editor, and tomorrow night, after drinks/dinner with some friends, I hope to complete some synopses for the whole series for Writers House.

I’m giving myself one week off after that, maybe two. But on or before May 1, the second book in the series (Stargazer) gets underway. As a wise man once said, “Yatta!”

After book revisions (woo!), a trip to Paris (woohoo!) and a nasty bout of the flu (bah humbug), I am again back in the swing of things. During the next week, I’ll complete my final edits to Evernight and gear up to begin the second book, Stargazer (Unless they switch titles on me — who knows?) I’ve got it outlined, and a lot of it is already very clear to me, so I think the writing process on this one is going to be fast and tremendous fun. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

For those of you who might not watch the urban fantasy writers’ comm fangs_fur_fey, but might be interested nonetheless, you should check out the First Ever Hook Contest. Writers in the community (including me) will read and evaluate hooks, and the winner gets a proposal-and-first-fifty-pages review from agent Rachel Vater (raleva31). Read the post, see what the requirements and rules are, and if you’d like to play, please join us!

Besides, those of us trying to write need all the help we can get — and we always have. For proof, check out this 40-year-old article about the “Famous Writers’ School,” a racket that conned the hopeful much as several self-publishing houses, scam agents, etc. do today. I was fascinated by how little the lies had changed. Well worth reading.

I realize everyone else in the world read this book a couple of years ago, but I just now got to it:

Most of the people whose Livejournals I follow are friends of mine, either in real life or online — people that I share interests with and have plenty to talk about. I’ve started following a handful of publishing blogs, and I might possibly have found several pug owners who post pictures of their dogs frequently. I even worship at the altar of the Comics Curmudgeon.

However, elysesewell doesn’t fit into any of these categories. She was a contestant on “America’s Next Top Model” — a show that I once watched approximately 3 minutes of, and if Elyse was a part of that, I don’t recall. A friend who does watch the show mentioned that Elyse blogged, and I checked it out; since then, I cannot wait for each of her posts. She writes about what it’s really like to be a model: sharing a temporary apartment in Santiago with five bulimic teenagers, the petty humiliations of casting sessions, and the absurdity of the fashion world. She’s worked on at least four continents since I’ve been reading, and she explores every city top to bottom, willing to eat the indescribable, take the metro with signs in a language she doesn’t read, and snap pictures of odd product names that misuse English.

And how can you not love a girl who poses for a snapshot next to every billboard or large ad that features her glamorously made-up face — flipping herself off?

Pretty much everything I love about Elyse’s blog is found in today’s post regarding her current assignment, a top-secret ad that I think is filming in Hong Kong. Read. Enjoy. And remember — your job’s not that bad.

From the beginning, I’d thought that Evernight would come out in fall of this year, but it turns out I’m wrong; apparently the plan has long been for the book to be published in summer 2008. Although I’m eager to see my book in print, I really think the later date is going to work better for a lot of reasons. But the suspense!

I am sort of in limbo right now, waiting for my editorial notes on Evernight before I start work on book two in the series, Stargazer. I already know a lot of what happens — I submitted a rough outline for books two through four back in October, and my editor gave me the thumbs-up for the overall plot structure — but I’d still feel more comfortable plunging into the detailed outline after I know precisely what will and won’t change in Evernight.

Speaking of detailed outlines, I checked out First Draft in 30 Days:

Good news: Evernight went to the editor January 16. I don’t have an editorial note to work from yet, but I know that my editor is happy and isn’t asking for major revisions. This is definitely a relief and frees me to dive into the second book in the series, which is tentatively titled Stargazer.

Those interested in learning a little more about the books’ setting, Evernight Academy, might want to check out evernightupdate, which will offer a little news from time to time.

I hope to get both my author website and an Evernight website running within the next month to six weeks. I’ll let you guys know as soon as they’re ready!

— that writing a sexy scene you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, will in fact be read by your parents?

SOUL DEATH.