i hate it when this happens

Megan Abbott's first book, 'Die A Little,' really rocked my socks, and I died a little when I got back to my sorry excuse for a mystery novel, after reading hers. She's one of those writers that makes you hate her for being so good. I mean, the thing is a high-wire act -- I kept waiting for her to stumble, and she never did. Why can't I be that good?

I forgot to add...

Something I've always wanted to read is how the main characters in mystery stories become who they are. You pick up a best-selling thriller or mystery these days, the flap blurb always starts out "forensic anthropologist Kitten Sexy faces the most dangerous case of her life when..." Damn it, I want to read about how K.S. got to BE a forensic anthropologist. It annoys the shit out of me to have a character jumping fully formed into action without some kind of understanding how s/he got to be what s/he currently is.

Therefore, in this, my first novel, part of the story is how Julia becomes what she ultimately becomes. I'm not even sure, yet, whether I'm going to make her into a detective or what. Probably a private investigator, because that's something that's realistically within reach of the character. I look forward to writing about her having to jump through all the hoops to become what she will ultimately be -- getting the required experience, taking the exams, figuring out how to run her business, etc. The books will be as much about her development as an investigator as about the crimes.

I'm also going to break the advice that everyone seems to give about not letting characters have sex. Apparently, one is supposed to let two characters who are interested in each other lust unfulfilled into eternity, in order to 'increase dramatic tension.' Personally, I usually find this annoying in a novel, so I'm not going to do it in mine. I'm more interested in how my two characters will navigate their romantic relationship over the life of the series, through all the hijinks they will get up to.

Meanwhile, I found one of Megan Abbott's books at Half Price yesterday, and it's good. I'm so glad.

tools

I have two computers, a desktop computer that I also use as the command center for my Real Job (tm), and a laptop that I use mainly for writing. However, from time to time, I like to work on The Book on the desktop, I'm not sure why. It feels more formal somehow. Lately, I've been making better headway when working on the desktop, so I'm continuing the habit, even though it seems wasteful to have the laptop and not use it. I also like to leave the desktop off on the weekends, because it makes me feel like I'm not at work, but this weekend I'm on it. After all, The Book is work, too, right?

Today is my lovely spouse's birthday, so, in celebration:

it's shrinking

You'll notice my word count is lower today than it was yesterday. That's because I'm editing the bloated second chapter, which desperately needs it. Unfortunately, just as I got on a roll, I received some not-so-great news relating to my Real Job (tm) that's put me in a lousy mood.

According to Leo Kottke, though, that's just what you should be in when you edit.

duplication of effort

This blogging thing, really, it's kind of stupid. It's not enough work to write The Book, I gotta write about writing it, too?

I don't have much to say except that I'm still editing, and that it seems to be moving along.

that was fast

OK, no worries. It sucks again.

sunday

is always so depressing. It's the day I have to stop writing for the weekend and pay attention to my Real Job (tm), which I feel kind of guilty complaining about, because it's something I actually enjoy, and that other people have told me they wish they could do. However, on Sundays, I hate it!

The editing is proceeding apace, not nearly as smoothly and effortlessly as I would wish, of course, but it is, in fact, occurring, which is all that matters. There are some thin places in Chapters 7 & 8 that I'm trying to decide what to do with. I have a character that's been languishing on the fringes a bit, and I'm trying to figure out how to torture him adequately that he'll produce some additional material for me. He's part of a red herring that I realized I sort of let drop about halfway through, so there's some quarry there. The problem is, whenever I invent new stuff for my characters, it almost always has a ripple effect on the rest of the plot, and I'm afraid one of these times it's going to throw the whole thing right in the crapper. It doesn't feel quite as precarious as when I began, but it's admittedly a Byzantine nightmare of a plot, and I don't want to screw with it any more than I have to at this point. I guess the question is, how much entertainment do I really WANT out of this thing?

hubris

Been having a couple of days of thinking The Book is the greatest thing since War and Peace. Yeah, that'll last.