Blogflog - Merry Gentry novel, or the next one

[blogfloggery.livejournal.com]

Link: Merry Gentry novel, or the next one
Disclaimer: This blog entry is verbatim, as originally posted on LKH's blog. Copyright belongs to Ma Petite Enterprises.

I have blogged about what Merry and I are doing about the next Merry novel. I’ve twitted and I could have sworn FB posted about it, but one more time.

I didn’t abandon the Merry series, she and I fought the good fight for nearly six months. She didn’t like my plot for the next book because it screwed up her happily-ever-after. She is demanding a book plot that doesn’t make her now happy life into a misery. She stopped cooperating as a character and I missed a book deadline for the first time in twenty years of writing. I backed off, and let my stubborn Merry have some space, as I’ve moved off to play with Anita and even brand new stories, Merry has slowly begun to deign to talk to me again. I am hopeful that she and I will reach a compromise.

I just need to tip-toe through the minefield so that I have an interesting book that ties up lose ends from Divine Misdemeanors , but doesn’t blow up Merry’s life with Doyle, Frost, the new babies, and everyone else. If nothing bad happens to anyone it’s not a book, it’s a very long vignette – like a day in the life of. Story needs conflict; Merry needs her happy life, and therein lies my dilemma.

Comments

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

OH DEAR GOD.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

Okay, normally I actually defend LKH on the "characters talking to her" and "taking over the story." It happens to a lot of writers, they just don't articulate it quite as much.

Not This Time.

WTF Merry doesn't want to do anything? You tell her "Too bad bitch, someone just shot Doyle. You'd better do something or he's going to die." (or similar). If the character does nothing or the wrong thing, the other character dies. If the character starts moving because of the inciting incident, you have a book.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my friends and I do this, but this...way, way past the point of...normal? okay?...for any writer who wants to make an actual story.

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Occasionally I'll have "arguments" with my fictional characters about how the story is proceeding, but it's nothing like this. LKH is going a little too far with her laziness. Honey, just insist on doing the story your way and your characters will find ways to work with it. Yeesh.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

One thing that I really don't get about her is that my characters "tell" me to do horrible things to them all the time. If they want anything, it's to be interesting, and they're all a bunch of prima donnas. What prima donna wants to play a character to whom nothing bad happens?

[colliemommie.livejournal.com]

Sounds like someone needs couple's counseling.

[snarky-imp.livejournal.com]

If nothing bad happens to anyone it’s not a book, it’s a very long vignette – like a day in the life of.

If she can see this for Merry, why the blue fuzzy can't she see it for Anita?

[plastraa.livejournal.com]

"If she can see this for Merry, why the blue fuzzy can't she see it for Anita?"

That's exactly what I was going to say. UH we need some BAD in Anita's life for real. :( sigh

[4tonedeaf.livejournal.com]

Agreed!

[othellia.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm starting to think that she's having these problems not because she talks to her characters inside her head, but because she doesn't have that distinction between "characters caught in the full flow of the story" and "characters that know they're characters and exist outside the narrative."

Like it's been mentioned, there're a lot writers that have character/head interactions, but from my experience (myself, friends, and blogs), if there are any interactions, they tend to be more... detached. Like say you kill off a character, any second voice in the back of your head is probably going to go, "Goddammit, why'd you have to kill off another of my friends in the story? Imma go lurk off with them in a corner of your subconscious now." Because stories are constantly changing, some characters fade into obscurity, while others pop out of nowhere, and others might even jump canons. And if you kill off a character, they're still there; you created them, so you still think about them. And since they're there for you, they're there for whoever else you might be thinking about. Like the in-between set breaks of a TV show or the backstage of a play.

And so I don't think LKH has that. She doesn't plan ahead; the characters who are in her head are there fresh off the page. Anyone she kills doesn't stick around. That's probably why she was so distraught after killing off Phillip, why there hasn't been such a death like that since, and why she doesn't want to break a happy ending. It's because she doesn't have that mental waiting room where characters can just chill.

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

I think you totally called it. I don't have a lit if the interactions, but I'll be silly and write little vignettes as if I dead. I kill off a lot of characters, and my zombie dudes all are there bitching about their lot in life. I can't imagine being so deeply ingrained in your created world that the death of a character means they're gone, completely. Its really bizarre, from where I'm sitting.

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

*lot and *did not dead. Stupid auto correct

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

BULL.

SHIT.

[mitrian.livejournal.com]

I can imagine the reaction from her publisher. "What do you mean, the book is late because your imaginary friend didn't like it? GO WRITE! That's what we pay you to do!"

[ladyniko.livejournal.com]

And, how many other deadlines has she missed because she's been screwing around and not writing? This can't be the first one.

[plastraa.livejournal.com]

I get the whole characters author connection thingie. I have written stuff and it's been plotted out and then somehow it ends up somewhere else, because the characters just took it there. Do I think they are real? Do I have imaginary tea parties with them? no.

I think that's only a bit of LKH problem, she has turned them into such real entities that the idea of killing one of them is like losing a family member. I think we might be dealing with a mental disorder of some sort. Like for real, and not in any sort of mocking way.

It reminds me of hoarding, in that you place unrealistic value onto things that have no inherent value at all. I don't know, but this post of hers sort of scares me (for her) more than most of her ramblings.

I think I might be thinking about this too much. heh

[knitterleigh.livejournal.com]

*sagely nod* I've been compiling a list of what it could be fore years. As a psychologist, I'm actually really curious. It sounds almost like she has delusions.

[fangedsekhmet.livejournal.com]

Er...

[deadsong.livejournal.com]

As a book editor who works with a stable of often contentious authors who will come up with every possible excuse for why they can't make their deadlines, most centered around their muse and uncooperative characters...

I call bullshit.

I don't think she believes this any more than any of us do. I think it's a defense mechanism to give herself an excuse, and let her avoid facing an ugly reality that would hurt her ego more than she can handle: she's burned out. When she has a choice between the humiliating admission that she doesn't have the capacity to write the book (or the discipline to power on and approach this like a professional) or dramatic proclamations that let her be a special snowflake artiste suffering the torment of creative passion...she's going to hide behind the special snowflake option. Not only does it make her look precious, but it garners sympathy from her fans (and some people are addicted to internet sympathy--these are the people who'll fake having cancer just for the legions of sympathetic responses; even people who aren't that bad can get a little bit of a rush off the attention you get when you broadcast your woes online and everyone hurries to pet you and make sad panda faces).

If I were her editor, there'd be a Come to Jesus in her future very soon. And a gentle-but-firm reminder about professional public conduct and maintaining her public image as a brand name affiliated with the publisher.

[a-sporking-rat.livejournal.com]

I support this theory.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

If the theories are true...she had a 'Come to Jesus' at the time of DM's writing...where it was May and book is due in October and the first draft wasn't even CLOSE to complete.

By some miracle she got an extension to December.

Then promptly went off the rails, wrote 'Flirt' submitted it to her Anita publisher...then went finish DM for Merry's publisher and handed in a hot mess of manuscript 7 weeks before drop.

Is it any wonder why her Merry Publisher didn't offer her a new contract immediatly?

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

What is a Come To Jesus?

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I agree with this completely. This author is happy to dole out useful writing advice like sit your butt in a chair and write, and do it when you don't want to/could be doing other things - make some time and goddamned write. She's also so proud of getting up at Ungodly O'clock back in the day when she had to balance being a mother and working a day job just to get her first few novels written, then later her professional work ethic of treating her writing like a job (because it is, as it pays the bills) and busting out words, doesn't believe in writer's block etc..

But when it comes to the crunch of a missed deadline, it's totally not her fault! It's her character being persnickety, it's an itinerant muse. She just takes dictation for the voices in her head! All of this is beyond the scope of her control! And this is such fucking bullshit because she's the writer and all the things listed above. And why so many people here are rankled.

(I also want to argue that externalising failure also strips her of owning her success -- blaming the "muse" means that it's never her fault that she missed her deadline, but also none of that hard work in getting X many novels published over the years means anything because the "muse" was with her. None of it is effort on her part, it's always the mysterious invisible creature that alights upon her shoulder to whisper dark tidings.)

She wears the cheese, it does not wear her. Claiming otherwise is just such epic bullshit, but the worst part is that it totally will work to garner sympathy from the fanbase about how hard she works and needs to take a break.

[cheeky-duckie.livejournal.com]

Well said.

[astronauta.livejournal.com]

I can sympathize with her connection to her characters. However, when I'm "disagreeing" with my characters, it's not because they don't want to do it -- it's usually because it's out of character for them, and the following writer's block is a warning signal that I'm going in the wrong direction with the plot or character. So I alter it to feel more organic, not so my characters can be happy necessarily.

This woman. I imagine someone like LKH would get an advance for her books (and I think it was said somewhere here that she was getting advances in the millions? I could be wrong). She'd have to fork that over, right? Something is seriously wrong if she's throwing that much money away for Merry's comfort.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

I don't think she's getting advances like she used to.....if so we are hoping she had the brains to tell her Publisher 'No Merry in December' BEFORE the annoucement during the KtD tour. in June, and accepting any advances on that book.

[kyoko-minamino.livejournal.com]

I know of authors who see their characters as somewhat real in their heads but LKH is the only one I know who just talks like this as an excuse to explain why she can't write. She's just making excuses for the fact that she has a rampant lack of imagination, motivation, and perseverance to finish her own damn series. It honestly disgusts me to my very core. Woman up and face the fact that you don't have the conviction to make this work. Don't blame your "muse" for "not liking" something. That is a user-error. Deal with it.

[4tonedeaf.livejournal.com]

I still maintain the problem is between the keyboard and the chair.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Oh lordy.

I didn’t abandon the Merry series [...]
'...except I kinda did.'
She didn’t like my plot for the next book because it screwed up her happily-ever-after.
...Whaaaaaat?
She is demanding a book plot that doesn’t make her now happy life into a misery
(Merry) I'm free of the author! I'm FREEEEEEEE! ...Now, can anyone explain why all these people with names like 'Richard', 'Asher', and 'London' are sending in petitions to join my new sithen?
I backed off, and let my stubborn Merry have some space, as I’ve moved off to play with Anita and even brand new stories, Merry has slowly begun to deign to talk to me again.
(LKH) The fundamentals of punctuation, however, continue to refuse to return my calls.

ties up lose ends from Divine Misdemeanors
(Plot) Help, help, I lost my ends!
(Merry) Yes, I noticed that around the time she announced we'd have sequels to Swallowing Darkness.

If nothing bad happens to anyone it’s not a book, it’s a very long vignette – like a day in the life of.
(Jean-Claude) Mademoiselle, ze words "Danse Macabre" should trigger ze slightest feegment of memory een zat exotic and darkity-dark mind of yours, non?

[plastraa.livejournal.com]

OK completely OFF topic, but I love your avatar. Unintentional funnies are the best. My favorite was when the author wrote 'for all intensive purposes' instead of 'for all intents and purposes' completely changed the complexion of the paragraph and made me LOL.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

My favorite came from this Harry Potter fanfic (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3678697/12/Mad-Sanity) (emphasis mine:
"No, no, stop it." she said to herself as teasers poured on to her cheeks.
(I actually liked the fic. It's just that the author DESPERATELY needed a beta.)

[terrie01.livejournal.com]

Which book was it where bad guys showed up, Anita had sex with Jason in her car and then the bad guys left town, having never met Anita face-to-face? That was the one that finally killed any little enjoyment I had left in the series. I was baffled by her choice to flush all potential plot down the toilet like that.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Incubus Dreams?

[terrie01.livejournal.com]

LKH has confused a creativity exercise with reality. I do a fair amount of roleplaying games, and I know I've got a character fully fleshed out when it flows with only minimal effort from myself. A good character has a "tone" that is different from my own. Likes, dislikes, goals, they are all part of it. But I never forget that the character is still me and under my control. Of course, I also find doing horrible, terrible things to my characters to be somewhat cathartics, I don't get into "arguments" about happy endings with them. Really, I find myself thinking "If the character can't deal with a change to her happy ending, do something nasty to her. Her response will make for great story." After all, a character who responds Eeyore-style with "Well, I expected that" isn't very interesting.

[astronauta.livejournal.com]

I really like the way you explained it. I think you're completely right with this situational writing.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

I'll sometimes talk or think in terms of what my characters "want", and I'm a very character-driven writer. But if they actually talked to me, they wouldn't feel as "real" to me as they do. I don't live in their world and they don't live in mine. Also, they often pull me toward doing terrible things to them. I have never had a character sit there saying, "waah, I just want to be happy!"

I'm wondering if something like this is happening with LKH. She wants Anita and Merry to just live happy boring lives (or lives she believes are happy), but they want to be interesting.