Comments on: Writing Goals Redux (updated)

By: Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers :: Women's Publishing Network

Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers :: Women's Publishing Network — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:53:22 +0000

[...] or Madness trilogy and How to Ditch Your Fairy. Her category range is wide and includes gems on her writing goals and milestones and her take on Self [...]

By: wandering-dreamer

wandering-dreamer — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:23:05 +0000

You’re writing a book set in the 30s? Do want! I love stories set in the 20s and 30s, hmm, I wonder if you could write a Western horror novel, that could be interesting….

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:59:58 +0000

The fact that 1930s may be a trilogy or series makes me much happier about the fact that I’m going to be reading a historical novel in the foreseeable future. It’s weird… I’m always wishing for more standalone fantasy, but I like historical better with a broad sweeping series. Maybe it’s because with fantasy I’m always (if it’s good) very connected to the characters whereas I usually have a lot of trouble identifying with characters in historical fiction? And it being a series solves this problem? Hmmm, something to think about, I guess.

By: Jude

Jude — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:41:29 +0000

I can see the temptation to fix “the wrongness that was the movie Australia.” I’ve run into people who love that movie and I look at them and think, “Ah, so that’s who you are.”

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:01:41 +0000

Jude: I was actually going to set my Western in the Northern Territory of Australia, which is totally cheating. In my defence, Zane Grey once did that and I have to correct the wrongness that was the movie Australia.

Brendan: What Patrick said.

Patrick: I suspect that the 1930s book is the Really Large Story series. I very much like the idea of writing a stand-alone series but am not sure I have the patience to stay with the same characters for that long.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:49:43 +0000

To me, there are 2 types of series.

Stand-alone series – recurring characters or place. You can really read them in any order. They can go on for ever.

Really Large Story series – It’s really just one big story with Book Breaks. Something like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.

Do you plan to write both?

By: Brendan Podger

Brendan Podger — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:06:56 +0000

Isn’t a trilogy a series of three parts? What is your criteria for series?

By: Jude

Jude — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:53:33 +0000

When you write the western, I’d like it be based in Colorado, not *just* because I live here but because of *where* I live in Colorado. This is one of those counties where sheep were driven over the mountainside because of cattle/sheep wars; where Kid Curry robbed a train and, when wounded by a posse, turned around and, saying “Boys, I’m done for” committed suicide; where Doc Holliday came to soak in hot springs and die in bed; where a young man named Otto was frequently deputized, once to ride stolen horses back 100 miles overland; where Teddy Roosevelt hunted bears and boys walked 120 miles round trip to meet him; where the deputy ended up being gunned down in a saloon just 6 weeks after he was on the posse that wounded the Kid. Heck, Buffalo Bill came here just 5 days before he bit the dust. And yet, no one writes about this particular county in Colorado (I put all those stories and more on my annual cemetery tour for 3rd graders, though). I’d want to go back in time and find out what really happened when they caught up with Kid Curry.

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:49:44 +0000

Marlee: Excellent. Thank you. Litfic is now crossed off.

I solemnly promise never to write a middle-aged-prof-has-affair-with-student book. You know unless the prof is some kind of demon, and scary bad things happen as a result, and the whole university blows up.

By: Marlee

Marlee — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:38:07 +0000

I think Liar qualifies as litfic. (Please don’t write a middle-aged-prof-has-affair-with-student book. Not that I don’t think you’d do it well, but… ew. )

By: Justine

Justine — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:17:56 +0000

Rebekah: One more vote for Liar as litfic and I’ll cross it off.

Beck J: As Rene says it depend on whether you pronounce the “h” or not. I don’t. Thus I say “an ‘istorical”. But if you pronounce the “h” then you say “a historical”. Simple!

Rene: I think my defintion is why I’m reluctant to admit that Liar is litific. But I like crossing things off so if someone else says it is then I’ll do so. Saves me having to write the middle-aged-prof-has-affair-with-student book. *shudder*

By: Rene

Rene — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:11:38 +0000

I love your definition of litfic.

@Becky J – I think it depends on whether or not you pronounce the initial h.

By: Becky J

Becky J — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:58:53 +0000

This is random but I thought about it while reading this post. Why do people say “an historical ” instead of “a historical” ?

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:25:33 +0000

I would count Liar as literature. I don't really have any good reasons, I just think it can be counted as such. Well, actually, I kind of do. Because it's not really entirely a mystery - there's that element, definitely, but the book isn't wholly focused on figuring out how and when and why Zach died (spoiler?), but rather taking in the nature of people and relationships and how much, why, and how we all lie. Micah spends just as much time talking/thinking about herself and her own lies and how they affect everyone she knows (including herself) as she does trying to sort out what happened with Zach.