Floggidy-shmoggidy!

[cicipsychobunny.livejournal.com]

http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2006/08/almost-too-real.html



It had a note on it that said, Richard's. My first thought was why would Richard have any stuff in my house? I was thinking of Richard Zeeman, one of my imaginary friends.

1) You're fucking crazy, lady.
2) Wait ... so, he's "real enough" that you expect him to have stuff in your house, but acknowledge that he's an imaginary friend. Even in real life, consistency is not the lady's strong point.

The world, the voice, the characters all so real.

ERROR: Verb not found.

The plot coming together, all the various threads, in hand, and we're almost ready to pull them in, like a handful of balloons that you drag from the sky and only when they're close enough are you sure what colors they are.

Yet again, the difference between LKH and real authors: apparently LKH just has NO IDEA what's happening in her own damn books until the voices in her head let her know.

A lot of people on tour asked me, how do I keep the characters straight. How do I remember what they look like? I told them that these are my friends.

Aaaaaaaand the moment of lucidity is gone.

But other than not being absolutely certain of the shade of blue or grey, I know my friends, and my imaginary friends, too.

Oh GODS. Look, Laurell, I assure you that NO ONE here has forgotten the exact shade of ANY of your casts' eyes. Why? Because you describe them EXACTLY THE SAME WAY EVERY DAMN TIME.

Say it with me, folks: DEEP CHOCOLATE BROWN.

I can tell you that they become real for me somewhere between book four and book eight.

And then I went rather too far and completely freaking flipped out.

I think my characters are like my real life friends, the people I like, I like more and more the longer I know them.

And then I abandon them when they start to point out my encroaching insanity. RIP, writers' group, Ronnie, et al.

I love my characters, I just do.

No, hun. You TALK to your characters.


And I'll let the resident pagans handle this one:
http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2006/08/happy-lammas.html

Comments

[randomsome1.livejournal.com]

I still have no idea how she writes anything without knowing what she's going for first... But then again, I suppose this explains why her books now come without plots.

Writing for the sake of writing is all fine by me, but don't expect me to extoll it as a masterwork of anything but the author's ego.

[judes.livejournal.com]

"But other than not being absolutely certain of the shade of blue or grey, I know my friends, and my imaginary friends, too."

insane. this woman is insane.

i love all of her weird ass metaphors though.

[witchgoddess316.livejournal.com]

I love how she says, "When I have moments like this, I'm never sure if I should be happy, or disturbed?", proceeds to say why she's happy, and completely forgets to be disturbed.

[mneiai.livejournal.com]

I guess she has to have them, because otherwise it's all either people who think she's insane or people who do nothing but say "yes" to everything....

I still want to know how someone can call Richard her friend when all she does is abuse him.

This makes my head hurt and my soul ache.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda amused at her repeated use of the term "imaginary" - it's like someone's come along and said, "Laurell, honey, you're confusing the fans between real people and your characters." so she's making a point to try and differentiate between real people, and the people who are real to her.

But other than that, omfg. *curls up in a corner and mumbles "REDRUM!"* SHE SCARES ME SO DAMNED MUCH.

[zgirl714.livejournal.com]

Isn't she just a unique little snowflake?



I blog flogged the link you put up. Credited you.

[dracoliciousss.livejournal.com]

Most authors don't have to sit there and guess as to their characters' height because they have a character bible with all this information in it. This is just proof that the series will never recover. She's such good buddies with all of these FICTIONAL characters that she will never thin the herd and eliminate any of them. ::stomps foot:: i can't take this woman anymooooooore!!!

[gray-ghost.livejournal.com]

Well, she isn't having long conversations with Richard or Anita. Yet...

[hbrogan.livejournal.com]

That we know of. Honestly, I'm pretty convinced she sits at her computer arguing out loud with Anita about plots and such.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I will see your bet! And throw down a BLUE LIKE SUMMER SKIES, and a KITTY-CAT YELLOW-GREEN/CHARTREUSE.

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

Raise and call with a DROWNING MIDNIGHT BLUE

[cicipsychobunny.livejournal.com]

I love you guys.

[hbrogan.livejournal.com]

A lot of people on tour asked me, how do I keep the characters straight.

It's gotta be tough, what with JC and Asher always trying to sneak off to a back room together...

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

*DIES!!!*

Link Fix

[naeko.livejournal.com]

The blog being flogged here is now located at http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/index.php/site/almost_too_real/

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Almost too real
There are signs that the new Anita book is going well, and that I am heavily into her world. What signs? I saw a small pile of mail on the island in the kitchen last night. It had a note on it that said, Richard's. My first thought was why would Richard have any stuff in my house? I was thinking of Richard Zeeman, one of my imaginary friends. It would indeed be surprising if he had real, concrete stuff at my house, or anyone's physical house. It was, of course, a note pertaining to our dear friend Richard, who some of you have met at signings. He was the one with the camera. He is now in Italy with his girlfriend, permanently. But we're still getting his mail and some of the stuff he'd ordered that didn't come in before he got on a plane. So he's got a pile of stuff with his name on it. We'll mail it to him when he tells us where to send it. But for several moments when I first saw that note, I thought only of Richard, the character. When I have moments like this, I'm never sure if I should be happy, or disturbed? Happy that the world is that real to me now, and since I'm in the end game of the book, last third, the world should be at it's most real for me. The world, the voice, the characters all so real. Final choices to make. The plot coming together, all the various threads, in hand, and we're almost ready to pull them in, like a handful of balloons that you drag from the sky and only when they're close enough are you sure what colors they are. A lot of people on tour asked me, how do I keep the characters straight. How do I remember what they look like? I told them that these are my friends. When you go into a room full of your close friends you don't need notes to remember what they look like, they're your friends and you know their faces. I may not be sure who has grey eyes, and who has blue, or how tall everyone is to the inch, but then, truthfully, I don't know the height of my closets friends to the inch, and unless the eyes are amazing I tend to lump bluish, grayish into one color in my head for eyes, as well. But other than not being absolutely certain of the shade of blue or grey, I know my friends, and my imaginary friends, too. I know that some of you that asked that question are writing your own stuff and trying to figure out how things work. I can't tell you how to make your characters that real to you, as a writer, but I can tell you that they become real for me somewhere between book four and book eight. I'm experiencing the same evolution with Merry and her men. Book four was the book that they began to coalesce for me, and it's becoming less effort to remember what everyone looks like, and how they behave, they are becoming real to me, as Anita and her gang became. I think my characters are like my real life friends, the people I like, I like more and more the longer I know them. I like knowing the ins and outs of a person, the good and bad, the happy and sad. I like it all, and my friends let me be the moody bastard I can be, and I allow them the same freedom. The freedom to be yourself and still have people who love you. I love my characters, I just do.
-----
Posted by LKH on 08/02 at 08:05 AM