Shemar Moore and other Shape Shifters

I'm pondering other books I would like to write as I work on the current set of revisions for this first book. Somewhere down the road, I'll need to explore shape shifters. And I've decided that Shemar Moore (actor pictured left) would be a perfect muse to create this otherworldly entity that through no fault of its own automatically shifts to another creature.

I believe Shemar is a shape shifter. Why? Come on seriously, who looks like this? Sure, a handful of insanely over-developed males who have no right (NONE) on this Earth to exist, except as a result of some mad curse. A punishment to all who think this is what they can be, or what they might be able to have one day.

But without the pretty face, great effect lighting and a few muscles, would you want to spend time with this? I mean think about it. The constant looking over your shoulder. The ridiculous amount of time you'd have to spend in the gym - just to feel what? Adequate? I'm telling you - why put yourself through so much pain? Would it be worth it? What real value would you have from such an experience?

Yeah, you're right. Memories. That's all I'd ask for. Just something (anything) to remember.

Heaven and Hell

This post is about the thing(s) that torture writers. You'd think it was a walk in the park - if you didn't write, you'd swear it wasn't a big deal. Got an idea for a great book? Write it down. Pull out the old sheet of paper and pen or laptop and keyboard and go at it! But for those of us who write, we know the truth about writing. It's all about heaven and hell, and sometimes (oftentimes) more about living in the nine rings of hell then anything else. Okay, I'm in revisions, thus my angst.

But how come so many people on the planet know so much about the pain and agony of giving birth to a manuscript?

What has prompted me to examine this question in all of its highly frustrating denominations? Nothing slight, I guarantee you.

It's a new Meryl Streep movie (check out stage left - facing your monitor). Or it's the fact that the movie is about Julia Child and Julie Powell and what they went through to get their respective books published, and to establish themselves as writers.

Okay, back to my point. Could it be that the writers community has the best PR on the planet. Not only do we know how much we suffer, we know that half the movie-going public also knows and they love to hear, see, or smell something that reeks of failure just before a great success is born.

Now let me state the obvious. Just finished watching Julie & Julia - and enjoyed it immensely. As I watched, I also wondered did everyone in the theater empathize with the main characters in the same spots where I laughed loudly or held back a sob? I think so. Because the general public has been educated by writers (of fiction, television, film, or whatever) about the writer's life in all of its pain and glory.

Why? Because writers of entertainment enjoy sharing their angst. And that's why everyone in the theater during the two hour movie was an aspiring author. They shared the main characters' failure and success, and that's what made the movie so enjoyable for me - the same way a good book is enjoyed - through character. (Okay, recently I was at a writer's convention and told a lie. I said I approach my books from plot. No, I don't. I do think of a situation and then I create characters to dwell in that situation - but I don't always say here's a character and now what am I going to do with him or her. Right now, I'm doing that in REVISION!

Okay, back to the main point of this post - revisions: heaven or hell? I think you know where I stand.

Catching Up

Whew! It's just been a while since I've posted in this blog. My energy has been divided into any number of directions. But today, I'm writing about letting go. It’s a writer’s prerogative to take that leap from making main characters sweet, predictable or safe. They need to go where danger and fear and risk are commonplace.

I had a dream last night (yes, I did). And it was the most outrageously dangerous dream I’ve ever had. And I’ve had my share. It involved two men, gunplay, loads of interaction of the most dominating kind, and there was no remorse.

Think about that for a moment. Ponder the implications, and then think about vampires, and shape shifters and werewolves and creatures that must exist on the edge of what makes sense. Have you written a character who has no remorse? Not across the board, but perhaps just for one action, and it's beyond no regrets...

As a writer, can you cross that line? I'm struggling with my main character during revisions because she needs a sharper edge. At a conference recently the presenter asked a question about how to approach your story through character or plot. I said through plot, or at least situation. Now, I'm writing an outline, and I want to take my plot to task while nailing character. Am I going about it wrong?

Discovery...Writing Big Ideas

After four days of a different level of being absorbed into my craft (attending the Romance Writers of America -RWA- national conference in DC), I am a bit exhausted, fearful, and just plain excited. So much to think about, but sorting through it all is an amazing process of self-awareness.

With that said, what am I talking about? No matter what you write about -- be it the wildest sexual adventures, or the most serene glimpses into ordinary life that explode into drama - the basic ingredients of good writing is how well the writer infuses themselves (their beliefs, their morals, their ideas of what is and what isn't) into their craft.

I may be a girl who is attracted to high concept pieces or whatever you'd like to call them - but fundamentally the story I'm telling is about girl meets boy, girl fights her way through the forest, despite the trees and the thickets, and ends up as happy as her soul will allow. In other words, the forces of nature play a role in the outcome of my urban fantasy/erotic romance tale. Happiness is layered, and defined by circumstance and conflict. (Or from which way the wind blows).

I'm busy revising a few scenes in my book (okay a lot of scenes in the book). However, it's gratifying to have a manuscript to dissect and perfect - but I tell you, it's never easy.

Here's a shout out to all of the fabulous writers and personalities I had a chance to hang out with a RWA. It was good times.

Check out photo of Lafayette from True Blood. Also check out article called "Rough Sex with Vampires: What Does True Blood Tell Us About Women & Sexuality?" I got the heads up on it from a friend.

Goals - Is Your Heroine the Bear or the Fish?

What's the difference between ambition and a goal? Do you remember your goals? Is there a point in life when you forget about goals and start thinking about 'what if'?

Writing-wise - I'm trying to pin down my main character's goal - in the sense of what drives her to make decisions and choices that propel the action. Sounds textbook, but if I can get crass - I need to know what this bitch wants?

Let's explore the word goal: Goal: 1) the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end. 2) the terminal point in a race.

What's next?

I have a vampire cop who is struggling to regain her sanity so that she can continue her simple, basic lifestyle - feed, hunt, solve crimes (that don't involve human beings). She's the queen of avoiding emotion, relationship and angst. She's had her fill of that and since the death of her partner - she just wants the easy life. Of course, the book wouldn't be a book without conflict. No easy life for her - sorry guys - she gets thrust right back into the middle of mayhem and she has to deal or die.

So my question is - will my heroine be a bear or a salmon - both have clear goals. One path could lead to death but it's a goal that is ruled by blood and lineage. It's the path that must be followed and if it leads to destruction - so be it.

Or will she be the bear that waits for her goal to arrive and then pounces -- success achieved only through patience and perseverance.

Anyway, Goal, Motivation, Conflict, the heart and soul of story telling, and I'm worried about bears and fish.

RWA:

Two days until RWA. I'm anxious and semi-focused. But I need to get my brain right. I keep letting opportunity pass me by. That has to end now!

What Would It Take for You To Feel Immortal?

(Relatives? - In 1882 and 1892, some native families from French Guiana and Suriname were brought to Paris, to be shown as specimens of "savage humanity" - My grandfather was born in 1893)

Spent the weekend with my Mom and gave her the third degree about her parents. Sometimes this can be a really, really good thing. Other times - not so good. With my Mom it bordered on the 'not' side of good.

And it wasn't because she had a bad childhood. She's 75 years old and her parents were immigrants from Jamaica and French Guinea, mother and father, respectively. They ended up living in one of the smallest towns in Ohio from 1923 until their deaths in 1989 and 1976, respectively.

My Mom was the baby of five children and she loved her parents and had a fabulous time, being the bell of the ball in many ways even though she was Negro and the only black family of stature in the town of 2000 clay miners.

According to my Mom, her parents were 'saints'. No, seriously, she said the word saints - and meant it. She also said the word perfect. I knew her parents. I lived with my grandparents from the age of 4 until I was 8. I visited my grandparents every summer for nearly three months from the age of 8 until I was 17. I knew them. They were cool. Okay, my grandmother was cool. My grandfather was silent - I swear he said less than a thousand words in the twenty years I remember him being on this Earth. So when I say they weren't perfect. I know of which I speak.

But my resistance to my Mom's tale about her perfect, god-fearing childhood? Well, it's strong. But is it me, or does the story beg - I mean scream and beg - to be pulled apart?

Shit, it might just be me. But I don't think so.

All of this leads to a central theme. In addition to examining the peaks and valleys of an immortal existence (my vampire story). I'm also examining the loose ties that bind generations.

Memories - They are a bitch if you want them to be.

Hey, if you happen across this blog - I'm just finding my way to informative bits and pieces about writing, memory and vampires (think about it...there is a symmetry to this, I swear.)

Don't hesitate to drop me line. Share a memory, and answer the question:

What would it take for you to feel immortal? (As much as I love children, you can't mention your babies in response, okay?:)!

e-publishing? give it some respect, RWA!

There is some serious in-industry flap about e-publishing that I'm only on the fringe of - mainly because I haven't been published. A short story in an anthology (by an e-publisher three years ago) that wasn't very good - my story, that is, not the entire anthology - just doesn't count.

But I was searching the news on the Internet this morning and found an article about an e-publisher who is doing it! Please check out the June 28 issue of The Washington Post about Loose Id... (click here to read it now).

I have a few friends at my journaling home (Live Journal) who have been published by Loose ID and I just love when this kind of story gets coverage especially when the Romance Writers of America (RWA) is giving digital publishing a hard time these days (okay, maybe that's a constant). From what I've been reading, RWA calls most if not all of the e-publishers vanity press, and isn't recognizing these houses or their authors (not giving them their props) who are doing it via e-publishing. I'm going to my fourth RWA conference in two weeks (it's here in DC, and you'd better believe I'll be blogging and twittering my a** off) and I'm sure to run into a hail storm of commentary regarding e-publishing versus the traditional NYC publishing houses.

I'll let you know what's going on.

(Note: I write paranormal - sexy vampires in a world of diversity - but a queen of the genre is L.A. Banks - see the cover above? It's from her first book of the Vampire Huntress Legend series. If you haven't done so - do so, go now and read it!)