Currents

Short Stories Only (taking a break from the tedious editing of BL)

Anti-Depressant

Tyler the Great

The Dead Man's Girl

Autumn Overture (again? yes, again.)

http://www.wattpad.com/upload_done?id=180509

http://www.wattpad.com/upload_done?id=180509

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STORY TIME!
Please read and vote if you like it.
I entered this online writing contest and it is based on voting (which I kind of hate).

And the trouble begins.

So I got a nice big calander planner and I was planning my month because I get a thrill from having everything on a set schedule....

And I realized that my idea to have the BL draft finished by September 15th may not be that realistic. Mainly, I began to block out when chapters would be finished this month, and I got up to chapter 18 in my planner. 18? That hardly satisfies my "vision".

I figure that by the deadline I would only have up to chapter 20 done, and again I highly doubt this story will end in twenty chapters. For goodness sakes, it barely got to the climax... I think that was the climax. No, it appears that I will be pushing this deadline to November, possibly the first week of November.

Keep in mind that I return to school on the 9th of September... why am I even in college pursuing a liberal arts and science degree? Everyone says they're useless. Maybe, I should be an accountant instead?

Delay

There's been a delay in the new BL chapter.
For now it is only in beta, but the finished rough draft will be available by Weds, I think.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

I absolutely love this post courtesey of http://rejecter.blogspot.com/

I did not write this. Credit belongs to The Rejecter at http://rejecter.blogspot.com/

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Literary vs. Commercial Fiction Round 247

So at this point in the life of the blog I am seriously tempted to just write "go away" to people who send in the usual "why is there so much trash in the marketplace while my literary opus isn't published?" email. I decided to make an exception for this one.

Hello Ms. Rejecter,

The dynamic for agents is to find that compelling work that is salable, not an easy task I'm sure. For me some books that are considered page turners are often so empty and the characters so thin I don't care what they do and the plot so mundanely crime-ridden or romance-ridden or horror-ridden that I don't care what happens. I could give many examples of such profitable books with their suspense page turners in different genres that the only reasonable thing is for the characters to self-destruct. Good luck to those writers. I do not envy or begrudge them anything, for life is too short for that. Maybe these books are a kind of therapy in their escapism for readers and agents are part of the therapy business. However, maybe there is kind of writing that tries to sustain us by illuminating the real world.

Now, the dilemma is, do the vagaries of the the marketplace where escapism literature is easily identified and dominate reduce the marketplace need for compelling stories that deal more authentically with the real world?

First, a confession. I had to look "vagaries" up. I don't know everything. It turns out it means "an extravagant or erratic notion or action" or something like that, which I feel really further obscures the meaning of the sentence than if I hadn't looked it up, but fine. Learn something new every day.

Now, there's the standard argument as to why the market is what it is:
(1) People buy books they want to read.
(2) Publishing companies watch sales and take stock of what was bought.
(3) Editors are encouraged to buy new and exciting things in genres that people are actually buying and reading, plus a little "more of the same" to be on the safe side. The company doesn't want to go under or anything.

In other words, if the public for some reason completely stopped buying books about vampires (in a wildly unlikely alternate universe), editors would be less interested in publishing books about vampires, knowing they wouldn't sell. Eventually there would be no new books about vampires aside from a couple companies hoping to buck the trend, because people don't like to publish books that they know won't sell. Publishing is a business, people. A slightly more altruistic business than, say, investment banking, but nonetheless a business.

From browsing the shelves by yourself, using whatever definition of "literary fiction" you want to use, you will probably come to the conclusion that most people don't buy literary fiction, as most things on the shelves aren't literary fiction. And, by the way, it has always been this way. There has been no time in history where people have only read "great literature."

Now, the dilemma is, do the vagaries of the the marketplace where escapism literature is easily identified and dominate reduce the marketplace need for compelling stories that deal more authentically with the real world?

I want to spend a moment for the good of mankind taking apart this sentence.

I'm going to assume that "escapism literature" means "genre fiction" so we don't spend all day discussing. Normally I would just assume that the latter half of the sentence refers to "literary fiction" and just direct you to the explanation above, which is that the buyers dictate the market, not the other way around, but hold on a second. What are "compelling stories that deal more authentically with the real world?" Because generally in publishing, stories that take place in the "real world" are stories that could possibly happen somewhere at sometime, even if they didn't, and if they actually did it's called "non-fiction." So, that eliminates alternate histories, stories that contain ghosts, stories that contain whimsical creatures who are just metaphors for things, and actually most things that are on the shelves, except maybe romance fiction, because people do occasionally have sex with improbably hot guys. Also thrillers happen in real life, but they usually end up with the protagonist dying in a ditch somewhere or never finding out who was chasing him because that's what happens to most spies.

Your given definition of the literature you want to see more of, if interpreted strictly, would knock out most "great literature." You know, like:

All of Greek literature
All of Arthurian literature
Most Shakespeare
1984
Beloved (though I don't know how "great" it is, in my opinion)
The Old Man and the Sea
And a ton of others I'm thinking of right now because I have to get to work

So, you might want to rethink that.

Prolific Chapter Writer? We'll see...

Chapter 11 is done and has been sent via e-mail from my primary e-mail address of panchopiggynator. If you didn't receive it then tell me :] Also, if you're missing any other chapters bug me about it.

I already started chapter 12 tonight, and was amazed at how easy the first scene is turning out be. However, the clock reads 11:30 and so I take my leave from writing today. I need my sleep. I can't give a certain day I plan to finish this chapter on, since I still can't decide if this will be one of those long chapters or a short one (not sure how I want to organize the upcoming EXCITING events!). Either way, I will try my hardest to finish this one within this week.

P.S. I'm starting to fall more in "like" with the character of Edgar. Sorry, Jose.

BL Ch. 9 & 10 Completed. (Speaking in Rough terms, of course)

I already sent out the e-mails with the chapters and if for some reason you didn't receive one then let me know. I am far more satisfied with chapter 10 than 9, which means I would appreciate constructive feedback on 9 (though feel free to also comment on 10).

Also, there is some NEW news regarding Bloody Lineage.
I have decided to put myself on a deadline to finish ALL of BL by September 15th 2009, for I have been slacking off way too much.

However, this means that there may be more mistakes in upcoming chapters because I plan on writing as much as I can and then after September 15th allow the intensive editing session to begin.

Now, what does this mean for you as my early readers? Well, it means that I will attempt to focus only on one story for now so no more e-mails about others. Also, I would really appreciate feedback about current and future chapters regarding the following:

• Characterization
• Descriptions
• On going plot/sub-plots
• Any contradictions you may notice between new and existing chapters (it happens! Jose pointed out I used two different last names for Danielle at one point.)
  
• Things that need to be clarified
• Things that need to be less obvious OR things that need to be more obvious
• Anything else you feel the urge to squeel about :]

So, that concludes my post. I hope you enjoy the two new chapters, and hopefully 11 will be out by Sunday.

Thanks!

New Layout

I hate the layouts that blogger has. They seem absolutely generic, but pretty. So I went on a search for a more interesting layout, and hotdog! I fell in love with this one from the beginning. I like the office feel of it.

Seeing as how I don't have time to create my own layout just yet, this will be the default layout for quite some time.

Time for breakfast and more writing.

This Week's Quickies

Currently Writing: Bloody Lineage Ch. 10, which means that yes ch. 9 is finished, but might be heavily edited once I finish 10. I plan on finishing this by Sunday possibly. If not, then feel free to stone me like in the old days.

Currently Reading: Alright, you caught me. I decided to dive back into Harry Potter, since I never got past chapter 1 in the seventh book. What can I say? I have a soft spot for Draco Malfoy. (Curses, I already read the epilogue though which displeased me greatly.)

Currently Recommends: That you send me your own stories. I know a few of you have these already or want to start on them as well, and well I like to read stuff that's not on the market. It makes me feel like I'm special for being allowed to read someone else's story.

On Deck: The Obscure chapter 3, and possibly finishing up on chapter 1 of The Resistance.

Currently Craves: Non-stop creativity.

To those few that are in my unofficial fan club.

I welcome you.

For those of you who have stumbled upon here by mistake, I worry about you.

The purpose of this blog is to keep you updated on current stories that I am working on and possible ideas I develop. That way I can get feedback from you. I'm still paranoid about posting original content onto the internet, but every once in a while I will post something small at least.

Other then that the e-mails will continue with full chapters for your enjoyment.

Also, if I run into any interesting articles on writing or contests I think are worth a try I will post them here as well.

Thanks.

P.S. Angelica Julia as my author name or stick to the full name? Don't get me wrong. I like my full name, but I think it may be too long for this sort of business.