No Test Today

I am so excited to see WISCON has extended their deadline for submissions to their writers' workshop. I now have two extra weeks to polish my first four chapters and am anxious to expand on characterization. I am also excited to see the workshop's list of "participating pros." Sarah Prineas (YA fantasy author of The Magic Thief, due to hit stores June 3, 2008) will be there and I really hope to work with her and get some advice from another new author. I might even contact her beforehand. After reading her bio, she sounds like such a great, imaginative person, plus her husband is a scientist and works with weird devices that look like aliens in his physic's lab.

Back to novel writing. It is a crazy thunderstorming day, quite perfect for buckling down and using an extra two weeks to write.

On Writing

I've been thinking a lot about the novel writing process and what changes from a first to second draft.

My initial skeleton (first draft) is so full of creative energy. Of course the plot lines don't all add up or even work and a million changes need to be made, but writing the second draft has become an analytical process and looking back and remembering that first draft helps me remember why I loved this story so much in the first place.

Looking back and using some of the ideas I initially had and the scenes I first wrote makes the second draft unflatten. I also find that since I have been reading so much, my new ideas are not as adventurous and risky. They are more plot driven and simplified so readers can understand them, which is great, but I really enjoy remembering where this story started and what I really wanted it to be about. Finding the balance between the drafts is what will make this novel really work.

beaches

Visiting the beach is so nice. I'm back from a week on Anna Maria Island, which sounds so glamorous, but it was just the beaching I needed. I caught up on a ton of reading and started a new book that is actually out-of-genre--the first I've read in what feels like a long while. The Teahouse Fire, by Ellis Avery, is one I heard a KQED podcast reading of (by Avery) and picked up for the trip. It's perfect for transporting you to 19th century Japan, inspired by Avery's five years of weekly tea ceremony study in New York and five weeks of daily tea study in Kyoto.

After spending time on Anna Maria, I think I might just have to step up the beach scenes in my novel. It already has a bit of beach in it, but it happens to be around a lake. I may make it an oceanfront beach instead--there's nothing the ocean waves can't do for the soul. And now I'm refreshed, ready to start back on novel revisions for the WISCON workshop.

Here's a drawing on did my first day on the island:

While underwater collecting

Whew. Applications for Clarion SF and Clarion West have been submitted. After a ton of work, I keep all toes and fingers crossed. Next up is entering next quarter's Writers of the Future contest and applying for the Odyssey workshop. And then, the first few chapters of the novel go in for review at WISCON.

So, now it's back to novel writing, which I love. I picked up a few more children's books from the library. Some I have never read like Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl." Others are old favorites like C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." What better way to move from writing short stories back to young adult fantasy? I'm also rereading Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

And doing lots of drawing. Here's the latest (that may or may not be me):