A writing query for you all

[kyoko-minamino.livejournal.com]

Hiya. Long time lurker, infrequent commenter. I have a question poking around on the squishy grey shelves of my brain that I'd like hear some answers to that relate to our shark-jumping heroine and the deterioration of her storyline.

What lessons have the post-Narcissus in Chains novels taught you all?

I ask because I am a novelist and I've written four novels so far, working on getting them published, which is hard. I've heard bits here and there that suggest some of you are also writers and so I wanted to know if you too have been taking notes on what to do and what not to do based on the crap that Hamilton pulls with Anita.

For the interest of brevity, I'll toss my lessons into a list. Feel free to add yours below if my post strikes your fancy.



1) Avoid a sausagefest. This one was a bit difficult considering my novels have to do with pre-established characters (the archangels of Heaven, who are almost all male), but I've made sure that my main character has a healthy spread of supporting female characters. None of them are crazed judgmental bitches or jealous haters. Anita's vendetta against feminine women has taught me to make sure to show all sides of each woman's personality, from the sweet to the vengeful to the tomboy to the girly girl.
2) Do not force in extraneous love interests. I admit there's a love triangle going on in my first novel series, but I've made it clear that it's just two guys. No one else in my main character's life is in love with her, they do not worship the ground she walks on, and they don't compliment her every single time she walks in a room. Unlike Ms. Blake, who must be worshiped by the opposite sex pretty much all the time in the post NiC novels, to my continual disdain.
3) Keep the main character humble and grounded. Anita's got the worst case of high horse syndrome I've seen in a long, long time. I hate how up her own ass she is sometimes, so I've made a point to have other characters point out my girl's flaws and call her out on things when she's being unreasonable.
4) Conflict needs to be in every single scene. Whether it's internal or external, conflict is absolutely necessary in every scene. This does not fly in the post-NiC novels. A particularly horrific example is Cerulean Sins, where there are literally chapters and chapters of nothing but exposition and info dumps that are boring and have absolutely no conflict whatsoever. If you don't believe me, read the first three chapters. You'll probably gawk at the unabashed lack of conflict there.
5) Everything is not about her. There are other characters who have problems, desires, and inner turmoil, and I try my best to allow them to develop throughout the course of the story. Anita's complete lack of sympathy for her poor sex slaves astounds me sometimes. Consider Nathaniel's background. Or hell, Asher's. Both of them should be receiving oodles of love and support and should have character arcs, but Anita and her magical vagina are clearly more important so they just keep getting kicked off screen like red-headed stepchildren.
6) Try to stay modern and do research to keep the details realistic. Many of you brilliant folks have pointed out how behind the times Anita is, especially when it comes to long term birth control and keeping herself clean before and after sex sessions. I've made sure to pull my glasses on and research everything that I possibly can to avoid the dreaded "Did Not Do the Research" label that other writers and readers will be happy to slap on my work otherwise.

Those are the most obvious ones for me. I hope to hear from you guys because I'm genuinely interested and I'd love to talk shop with other writers. Tchau.

Comments

[zombiegoat.livejournal.com]

Listen to your readers, particularly the ones who have been on board since the beginning.That's not to say you should go down the "give them exactly what they want" school of thought road, but it does mean that if you collected a large group of fervent fans and suddenly they seem to be bailing out in droves, it may be a good idea to find out why. As the writer, you don't always know best. Outside input is important.

[christwriter.livejournal.com]

A writer's job is to screw with the reader. Not to have the main characters have pretty pretty lives or a HEA. My job as a writer is to take your emotions and tie them into a very complicated cat's cradle, jacob's ladder affair. If a story has a happy ending, that's the writer screwing with you. If you are scared that the imaginary person the words are describing will die, that's the writer screwing with you. If you have a cliffhanger that makes you both hurl the book across the room screaming and race to the store/Amazon to buy and/or download the next book in the series, congradulations. The writer has done their job, have a post-screwing cigarette.

Which is why EVERYTHING needs to be viewed from a reader's perspective. Otherwise writing a novel is an excercise in mental masturbation. And the only way to get the right perspective is to give the book to a reader and ask them how they felt during that scene. If it is not what you wanted them to feel, start over.

I believe that LKH lost that perspective several books back from NIC, she regained it somehow for Obsidian Butterfly, and then lost her freaking mind. And her editor.