Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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Writing goals

A while back I said that one of my writing goals was to publish a book in every one of the following genres. Here’s the updated list with more genres crossed off cause I done ‘em in How To Ditch Your Fairy:1

  • Romance
  • Historical
  • Crime (what some call mysteries)
  • Thriller (the John Grisham, Tom Clancy etc etc genre2
  • Fantasy
  • SF
  • Comedy (do you call ‘em comedies if they’re books?)
  • Horror
  • Mainstream (you know, Literature: professor has affair with much younger student in the midst of mid-life crisis)
  • Western
  • YA

For those keeping track I crossed off “romance”, “comedy” and “SF”. Three down with the one book! How clever am I?

I’m also aiming to publish books that use the following povs:

  • First person
  • Second person
  • Third person limited
  • Omniscient

Sadly, HTDYF is in first person so nothing to cross off there. Poo. But soon, my pretties, soon.

As well as these:

  • Standalone
  • Trilogy
  • Series

Score! HTDYF is a standalone. Now I only have to write a series and that list will be taken care of. Piece of cake.

Crossing things of lists is my favourite thing in the whole world. Almost as good as passing the 65,000 word mark on your latest novel. 65k is a landmark for me because that’s how long my first three published novels are. I passed it today. Woo hoo!

  1. Yes, I know HTDYF isn’t pub’d yet, but, c’mon, it’s only a month away! [↩]
  2. I’m using “genre” and “category” interchangably cause now that I’m no longer an academic—I can. [↩]

Posted by Justine at 0:00, 5 August 2008 under Liar, Sport, Writing goals & milestones | 9 Comments »

Comments

  1. Brent Says:

    HTDYF is SF now? Oooooh, this is gonna be a long month. Faeries, SF, and your writing; three of my favorite things.

    August 5th, 2008 at 1:08 AM

  2. Lizabelle Says:

    I’ll be impressed if you manage second person POV for an entire book! Especially if you can actually persuade anyone to read it :P .

    ZOMG, I think Zadie Smith (and half of the ageing Great American Writers) stole your idea for literature!

    August 5th, 2008 at 1:25 AM

  3. 3. Justine Says:

    Brent: I imagine there will be some debate as to its SFnalness but me and Scott reckon it is.

    Lizabelle: Doesn’t have to be for the entire book. The trilogy is a mix of first and third and I counted it for both. There are some great second person books. My faves are If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino and Black Idol by Lisa St Aubin de Teran.

    August 5th, 2008 at 2:05 AM

  4. Criss Says:

    You could always revive the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books… that’s 2nd person AND series all in one!

    I’ll have to look into the 2nd person titles you mention. Ever since my middle-school English teacher told me books canNOT be written in 2nd person, I’ve wanted to write one. Haven’t gotten around to it yet, but who knows what this afternoon will bring… :P

    August 5th, 2008 at 2:11 AM

  5. 5. Justine Says:

    Criss: It wouldn’t be a revival—choose your own adventures still exist. I, sadly, do not have the brain for it. I know from having watched Scott write three Powerpuff Girl choose your owns.

    Only takes an arvo to write a novel. We pros are just slackers. Off you go! And your English teacher was a liar. It so too can be done. Is just bloody hard.

    August 5th, 2008 at 2:14 AM

  6. mensley Says:

    Charles Stross’ new novel Halting State is written in 2nd person. I believe that one reason he did this was to be an homage to the choose your own adventure books.

    Also, Harry Turtledove wrote an hilarious short called “Deconstruction Gang” which is a great tale about putting your literary criticism degree to work.

    August 5th, 2008 at 5:26 PM

  7. mensley Says:

    Oops. Meant to note that the Turtledove short is also written in 2nd person.

    August 5th, 2008 at 5:28 PM

  8. Cameron Says:

    I think you should consider a unicorn book. This site might give you some inspiration.
    (I nearly puked)

    If your looking for zombie ideas forget a dating site for the undead – it’s been done.http://mingle2.com/zombieharmony/free-dating-sites

    cheers,
    Cameron

    August 5th, 2008 at 7:30 PM

  9. Elodie Says:

    I’ve only ever read one book in second person form, other than those “make your own adventure!” thing. I remember this quite well because I read it around the time my (despicable) tenth grade english teacher affirmed “there are two points of view in fiction: first and third person.” “nah, miss, there’s also second person.” “no.” So I brought the book in. “See?” “well… it doesn’t count.”
    Anyways it was really interesting, and it worked well–like any good book, the actual writing isn’t all that noticeable anyway once you get into the story.
    You should write one! Wow, imagine second person omniscient. That would be quite a cool thing.

    August 7th, 2008 at 5:38 AM

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