Blog Flog

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Link: Um, still down.  I'm going to email Darla about it tomorrow after work. For now, http://www.eridine.com/blog/
Title: Rabbit Holes
Date: 28 Jul y2005

LKH is in italics, I'm just the regular text.

For the most part, this entry goes on about how she got the cover mock-up for Dance Macabre, and how she used to do things back in the dim, dark days when nobody knew who the hell she was.  But here's some little gems:

I find it very difficult to blog during the process of a book without giving too much away, or being accused of teasing with hints. I'm not teasing, I'm simply working under the burden of keeping surprises secret. I'd love to be able to talk plainly about the book and plot, but people just can't keep a secret, or worse yet, begin to pick the book apart on the internet before I've even finished the bloody thing.

See, now if she was on LJ, she'd be able to f-lock posts.  I don't think she'd use the blessed thing that is an LJ-cut, because I reckon she'd be one of those people who whines that "They don't know how to do one!" even though it's spelt out clearly in the FAQ.  After all, she can't figure out how to use the bold, italics and underline with blogger either.  I know these things do exist, I used to have an account there.  HTML is not that hard.

But I digress.

So here's the thing - if you want to keep all the book to yourself, and not let anyone know any spoilers about it EVAR, don't post sample chapters on your offical site, hmm? As soon as the sample chapters are up, and amazon gets hold of what the book's going to be about - people will start picking it apart.  And yes, some people are going to be OMFG M34NZ about it.  Cope.

And I don't get how "not telling people the surprise" is such a big freaking burden.  Because when you say that, it makes me think you're giggling and snickering behind your hand while you say, "Oh, you'll totally never guess!" even though I totally will.  Because you're not really fooling anyone when you do stuff like that.  You want to hold something back? Do it, don't write about it on your public blog. Cope, dahling.

I have more clout now, but for years and years, like most writers, I was at the mercy of others.

z0mg, liek woe. There's a damned good reason why you'd be at the mercy of others, as a writer, you really don't know jack or shit about editing, formatting and publishing.  That's why there are editors and publishers.  Being part of an editing committee for going on four years now, I know the headaches involved in trying to get all these things done - it's interesting, and handy to know when it comes to the industry, but if you're just happy being a writer, leave it to other people.  They know more than you do.  Biglots more.

You're a writer, do what you're getting paid to do; write.  Delegate the rest to others.  You'll never be 100% happy, but it really doesn't matter when you've got a finished product that's all shiny and new and good.  That last part is important.

Once upon a time I was ahead of schedule, but that was long ago when the books didn't come so damn close to a thousand pages. My goal next book is to try and figure out how to make the books shorter. I'm not Dickens, I don't get paid by the word. Most best selling writers average around four hundred pages per manuscript. Mine are double that, and with two series going at once, well, you do the math.

Now the question begs, what the hell does she get paid by? If it's not by the word, it can't also be by pages or chapters.  My mum gets paid by the word for magazine articles she writes.  Usually, they're about 900 words long, less and she doesn't get her $600, more and the editors try to hack it back to fit in.  But those are magazines, not books.

My best advice for getting the page count down: less wangst, more plot.  Seriously, the readers don't need the fifty chapters of Anita's internal monologue pondering over her choices in life.  Nor do we need the other fifty chapters of mystical whatsiting during some really bad pr0ns.  None of it progresses the story any further than, say, hopping on one foot while drinking a bottle of tomato sauce.  Only, the hopping and tomato sauce thing would be more interesting.

Who wants to bet good money that this won't happen?

This would have to be the coup de grace:

I hear that Grisham takes six months off between books, must be nice.

(Truthfully, I'd go mad if I didn't work for six months, but a month off would be nice.)

Um: DO IT.

Nobody's holding a freaking gun to her head and telling her to write non-stop for years on end to get out those precious books.  She's not tied to the chair and forced to type endlessly or else Jon will be castrated.  It's not like she's working a 9-5 job elsewhere, and can only write on the weekends, she's a full-time, stay at home, writer.  She sets her own work hours.  She can take time off whenever she wants to.

So, what the hell is the problem with this? *headdesk*

>:\

"...I say, deliver me from Swedish furniture! I say, deliver me from clever art!"

Comments

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

She's not tied to the chair and forced to type endlessly or else Jon will be castrated.

I thought he already was? I mean, if Micah's based on him....

Okay, that was a low blow. (Pun intended.)

And yeah, if you don't want people to prematurely pick apart your book on the internet, then...don't put your book on the internet. Rocket surgery it is not.

Besides, if the point of her blog is to follow and dissect her writing process, then why is she complaining when people, you know, dissect her writing process?

I would seriously like to know who's rushing the books, her or her publisher. Because you'd think a publishing company would know better than to squeeze their writers dry like that and force them to peddle two 400-600 pg. books a year against their will. And yes, I know she's under contract for two different publishers. I assume, though, that they're aware of each other and wouldn't milk her for ginormous novels at lightspeed.

Also, may I point out that Jean M. Auel took twelve years to write the most recent Earth's Children book (not that it helped much >.<), and that's only the sixth book so far. It forever boggles me when people bitch about the wait between LKH books, and now the author herself complains that she can't write fast enough, and wants the books to be shorter (the easier to churn them out)?

Bitch, please.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why she's bitching about stuff which is solely her responsibility. It's not like there's some boogey monster that's going to leap out an eat her if she makes a decision about doing something for herself rather than bitching about how she does do stuff but it's the rest of the world's fault.

So I'll second the bitch, please.

[tsula.livejournal.com]

Change that tomato sauce to bloody mary's and it'd be really fucking interesting. How many bloody mary's does it take to get a lycanthrope drunk?

It should so be explored in lieu of superfluous supernatural seat wetting. Ooh, alliteration!

Grisham also researches his books... with REAL research. Pffft! Some role model, following his lead might mold her into being a well crafted author. What the fuck is that about? I bet he has a thesaurus, too. HERESY!

(ps: Has anyone else ever spell-checked their posts and marveled over how they spell all the hard words right, and the easy vocabulary is all kinds of jacked up? whoa... run-on, followed by fragment.)

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Ahhh ha ha!

Yeah, I've noticed that I can spell the big words with more than two syllables but the small four-or-less letter words tend to be all messed up, and spaces are in the wrong places. I also find that I write neater by hand when I'm practically a zombie than when I'm awake and in the mood to write chapters upon chapters of plot-filled goodness. But y'know? That's why I get my friends to proof-read stuff, they pick up on the little words that I just ignore. *tries to have good writerly ethics even though she can't spell for shit right now*

[tsula.livejournal.com]

SEVERAL friends... get enough fresh eyes and 99% or writerly retardation is cured. Gotta love the Beta Reader. *coughs*

[dwg.livejournal.com]

It also helps that my friends are writers/editors themselves, so they can pick out retardation to the EXTREME!!!

Course, I still get a lot of delight out of picking out, "Hey, how on earth do you spell toaster wrong? When you're writing by hand???" - true story, that one.

[tsula.livejournal.com]

I used to chronically mispell "original". Mistress Pith, here, can attest to that one.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I have problems with things like "occasion", "video" and "which" - if you write a word often enough, it stops looking like a word.

[tsula.livejournal.com]

yeah, or it never looks right.

[nanale.livejournal.com]

There are enough words I'll never be able to spell right without the help of a spell-checker. "Government" is one of them "statement" an other, once upon a time, I memorized them wrong and don't get them out of my system now.

Even worse: to misspell your own name in e-mails. Shame on me, but it happens from time to time.

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

Remember Indy, and the 'Pantries?' (That should have read 'panties.' A word she used far, far too often. *Shudders, TUBSEX...UNCLEEEEAAAN!* Wanders off muttering.)

-Dira-

[dwg.livejournal.com]

UNCLEAAAN! :O

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

See, the book length thing? I also blame her editor for that one, right along with Asher's "light blue bikini's." (I'm trying to decide whether a *facepalm* or a *headdesk* would be more appropriate to follow that; however, the editing in LKH's books is so bad, it makes me want to invent a whole new expression of self-punishing exasperation. The *facedesk*? The *headpalm*? Anyway. You get the idea.)

An editor should be right in there, saying, "You don't need those 300 pages. Summarize them." etc. etc.

I have it on the very best authority, from my editor, that one in every third word I write can easily be removed without noticeably affecting the quality of my articles. :P

[dwg.livejournal.com]

But she's got more clout now, and isn't so much at the mercy of others.

Pity, because the editor is a vital service to all.

I know if I took a red pen to Incubus Dreams, it'd probably get hacked down to a two hundred page piece of reasonable quality. Instead, it's seven snark-filled posts of amusing d00m. The book itself is being used to press the kinks out of a couple of my paperbacks.

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

Hell yes, and Gods know, for the sake of all that is holy and decent, and writing goodness, she damn sure needs the editorial input. Hell, she damn sure needs someone to tell her WHAT TO DO!

-Dira-

[pith]

I hear that Grisham takes six months off between books, must be nice.

(Truthfully, I'd go mad if I didn't work for six months, but a month off would be nice.)

That part infuriated me, and infuriate is not a verb I use lightly. She has "clout"; she's said so herself. I'm sure if she wanted a break—a break in which she could amuse herself by writing "novel-lites" and whatever else she chooses to do—her publisher would be happy to oblige. She's made them enough money. And as a reader, I value quality over quantity: I'd rather have an amazing book every two years than shit-on-paper every six months.

Also... isn't she one of the "if you don't like something, don't do it" crowd? So why doesn't she take her own advice? If she doesn't like the pace, why doesn't she set a new one? Grrr, I say. Verily, I say unto thee, GRRR.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

A-M-E-N.

[nanale.livejournal.com]

I second that!
She is well known enough to set her own death lines and to take some free time without any explanation, why she does it.
Whiny bitch.

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think she got herself roped into a really stupid contract deal of some sort...

which may be a good thing, considering the current quality of her writing.

-Dira-