Facebook flog - Aug 23 2014

[blogfloggery.livejournal.com]

Link: Aug 23 2014, 17:30
Disclaimer: This blog entry is verbatim, as originally posted on LKH's Facebook. Copyright belongs to Ma Petite Enterprises.

DragonCon is rapidly approaching and Laurell will be making her yearly appearance. She hopes to meet as many of her fans as possible during her panels and signing sessions. Her first panel is An Hour with Laurell K Hamilton on Friday August 29th, in the Augusta Ballroom of the Westin. It is a full hour dedicated to answering questions from you guys and is, without a doubt, one of her favorite panels every year. Do you have a burning question about Anita or Merry? Are you an aspiring writer looking for advice on navigating the publishing world? Have you ever wondered what Laurell's writing process looks and feels like? Here is where you have an opportunity to ask directly and get the answer you have been waiting for. We can't wait to see everyone! -MM Jess

Comments

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

I am glad to know that An Hour With Laurell K Hamilton is an hour with Laurell K Hamilton. I mean, clarification is always helpful am I right?

[apep727.livejournal.com]

Do you have a burning question about Anita or Merry?

Not really. And if I did have anything "burning" related to either character, I'd go to a doctor.

Are you an aspiring writer looking for advice on navigating the publishing world?

LKH has been publishing books for decades. I don't think she'd have any really useful advice for aspiring writers re: publishing.

Have you ever wondered what Laurell's writing process looks and feels like?

Pretty sure I already understand her "process":

1) Write ~3 chapters of new content.
2) Re-introduce cast for "new readers"
3) Re-hash same soap opera "plot" for several hundred pages
3a) Include random sex scene every 2-3 chapters
4) Realize final dead-line is approaching, quickly wrap up new "plot" in last 50 pages

I think that about covers it at this point.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

"And if I did have anything "burning" related to either character, I'd go to a doctor."
I understand WHY no one ever gets STDs in LKHverse, but yeah, I'd advise that anyway. You might have gotten a ~NEW SUPERPOWER~ to set things on fire with your crotch, and that could turn awkward very quickly. ;)

"Pretty sure I already understand her "process":"
Nonsense. ASOL was slightly more interesting than that.

Add "3b) Add a scene's worth of new plot and rehash it at least 4x" and "4a) Forget about all the plot introduced in 3b in favor of describing babies' name meanings like this is a bad Harry Potter fanfiction".

:P

[apep727.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder about supernaturals with STDs - just because they aren't manifesting symptoms doesn't mean they aren't carriers. Now that I think about it, that would make a good plot (or at least a throwaway line) in an Unmasked UF series - "My Vampire Boyfriend Gave Me Herpes" or something.

I'll give you 3b and half of 4a - just strike the baby name bit. We're talking about her whole process, not just MG. I submit the following revision:

4a) Proceed to ignore all plot-related developments (either new or ongoing), effectively returning all characters to their starting positions.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

OH DEAR GAD. Oh, that is awful on SO many levels. Vampires are FESTERING pits of disease if they're carriers. They must carry every blood-borne disease known to humankind. MONSTROUS health hazards. Oh jeez...

Fair enough. :P

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

Way too much sex for Anita. Usually sex scenes are more like every 10-15 chapters. The rest of the time is spent arguing about sex in such a way as to elevate Anita to godhood.

[apep727.livejournal.com]

Either way, that's way too much time spent focusing on Anita's sex life. Time that could be spent on, say, actually developing a plot.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

Plot not revolving around Anita's sex life? What would such a strange beast look like?

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Plot revolving around her showing off all her scars to the local policemen, the local policemen being misogynistic, and Anita showing how badass she is by torturing evil blondes to death, thus making them misogynistic towards every woman but her. Yay! Happy ending!

Meanwhile all the background characters with any intelligence or morals develop acute alcoholism.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

I'm trying to figure out how Anita could be misogynistic without bringing sex into it. She accuses other women of being wimps, so there's that (though I bet we could trace that back to sex if we wanted to.) I can't think of any other way in which she judges women that isn't sexual.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking. 'Women are so WEAK and GIRLY and BLONDE and ESTROGEN-FILLED, whereas I am a REAL MAN. And I have better fashion sense than any woman, so ha!' The book would just be even more repetitive than usual.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

I always thought her hatred of blonde women was rooted in sexual jealousy. Though entangling what of her misogyny is based in sexual jealousy and what isn't sounds like an impossible task.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

It may be, but she's never said it outright.

*pause* This adds a whole new and hilarious dimension to her resentment of Asher. Especially since, the one time we explicitly saw Jean-Claude and Asher going at it, Asher was bottoming...

'HOW DARE YOU WANT TO GET INTO JEAN-CLAUDE'S BED TO THE EXCLUSION OF ME, YOU FUCKING SKANK!? NO TALL, HOT BLONDE WILL STEAL HIM FROM ME! FEMALE OR MALE!'

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

Hah! OMG I think Asher has good cheekbones too. Well, the Sim I made of him does anyway.

Isn't Nicky the only blond guy in her stable, unless Asher counts? Nicky, the guy she enslaved and killed through sex at least once.

[openidwouldwork.livejournal.com]

... that makes so much sense!

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Just realized LKH herself is getting blonder and blonder. What does this mean?

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Well, obviously the sort of thing that non-uptight people enjoy. Anyone not interested in endless discussion of three-ways and how beautiful Anita is despite not knowing how beautiful she is obviously has issues with sex and loving more. Those poor people.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

They must all be the jealous women Anita is more beautiful than. As she is explicitly more beautiful than every woman in the world, and in fact if she walks into a room every man will stop wanting whatever woman they used to want, and they will say so in the cruelest manner they can think of to women they used to claim to love -- well, of course we're jealous. It's still no excuse for our continuing to exist, however.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Look, they were just using us for mediocre sex anyway, and frankly it's all we deserve. We're uptight prudes, or else slutty slut sluts who have sex with more than one person without LOVING MORE them, so it's different when Anita does it. We may also commit sins of being tall, blonde, OR looking nearly the same as Anita but less beautiful and amazing in every way. In any case, we simply cannot expect our beloved to stick around. We can probably find some more suitable, inferior man out there, far far from Anita's orbit of awesome. Nobody really cares anyway.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Yep this definitely sounds like a pro PR person rather than a troo, most of this has the feel of canned PR talk you'll find in any blurb anywhere, just switch out the names and this can apply to any author giving a panel talk.

[raven7601.livejournal.com]

It definitely comes across as canned PR talk. Unfortunately her hour long talk is scheduled at the same time as many more interesting events; the Artist Alley opening, the Q & A with Sir Patrick Stewart, and a panel on Urban Fantasy in YA.

[jeza-red.livejournal.com]

..it's much less fun when it's not LKH, y'know? What are we supposed to make fun of now?

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Her supposed Thanksgiving deadline. XP

More seriously, we can wait for the panel itself, I guess. And dwg (http://dwg.livejournal.com/) is doing a sporking of A Shiver of Light (Babies! Dramaz! ...Boredom!), so you can read that in the meantime. :P