Hello! Late post due to unexpected work conflict. A therapist quit today and I had to pick up some of the slack. Tomorrow will be busy as well, but never fear! We have another author interview!
But for today, let me direct you in the direction of this wonderful article Nathan Bransford wrote on How to Craft Great Voice.
I have read many articles on how to craft voice, but this one really sums everything up in a nice, neat fashion.
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/05/how-to-craft-great-voice.html
Monday, May 10, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Bad Girl Blogfest
Today is the Bad Girl Blogfest, hosted by The Write Runner so after you're done with mine you should check everyone else's!
This scene is from one of my WIPs, A Dangerous Mind. This is also a continuation of the Bar Scene Blogfest.Enjoy!
After the fist fight Li and his minions showed up every night to Mr. Chen’s club, Stir. I watched them for a reason to pick a fight, but so far they behaved. Mr. Chen assured me they were just there for the club’s protection from the other gangs, but I didn’t believe him.
I watched Li sit in the lounge area with two beautiful Asian girls on his arms, girls I mentally dubbed as cupcakes, and the other members of the Dragon gang around him. Bai, the guy who stabbed me, seemed to be in charge, which was weird, because Li could beat Bai. Normally pecking order in gangs was arranged by skill. But obviously their gang didn’t work on that principal, because Li was just their lap dog.
I leaned over to refill a grungy looking girl’s Screwdriver, and my side screamed in pain. The spot where Bai stabbed me was shallow, but it still hurt like nobody’s business. He couldn’t even stab someone properly. I would keep that thought to myself though. I wasn’t that stupid. I took another shot of whiskey to dull the pain, and felt it burn all the way down.
“Alcohol is bad for you,” Li said from behind me. He barely had an accent, and sounded like he was raised in the United States.
I pretended he didn’t catch me off guard and turned around. He was sitting at the corner of the bar, looking yummy in a tight black shirt and pants. His cupcakes had left, and the other members of the gang were spread out through the club.
“So?” I said.
“Jade, can I get a refill?” That was Josh, asking for yet another refill. I rolled my eyes, and poured him another.
Mr. Chen wandered out from his office and looked around. I poured some refills, and made drinks for the patrons sitting out in the dining area. I even made Stephanie’s customer’s drink twice, even though she’s a terrible waitress and a useless human being in general who didn’t know how to properly ask for liquor specifications, until Mr. Chen walked over. He looked nervous.
“Jade?”
“What?” My side was killing me. Damn Jim for taking my painkillers away. I can handle them. I think. The last time I had a problem with drugs, “Uncle” Jim tossed me on the wagon. He and Caroline raided all of my stashes and threw them away, and threatened all the dealers with jail or worse if they sold me drugs. I was barely allowed caffeine.
Quitting cold turkey was hell.
As a consequence, I wasn’t allowed any painkillers stronger than Ibuprofen for my stab wound. It was fine until I started to walk, or lean over, or drive, or bartend.
“You’re being a little surly with the customers.”
I glared at Li, who had an amused expression on his face. “That’s on the account of someone stabbing me in my side.”
“Take some painkillers then,” Li said, still looking amused. I wanted to fake a punch to his smug face, so I would have the satisfaction of seeing him flinch, but we would both know I wasn’t serious. I thought I wanted to meet someone better at wushu than me, so I could have a challenge, but this wasn’t fun anymore.
“I’m not allowed. I like painkillers too much.”
“Not allowed?” Li said, raising his eyebrows. “I didn’t think anyone could stop you from doing what you wanted.”
Mr. Chen melted away into the crowd at this point, content to let Li bear the brunt of my wrath. “Yeah well, Jim has my better interest in mind, so I listen to him. Usually.”
“If you meditated, you could use your chi to remove the pain.”
“I do,” I replied. It wasn’t a lie. I meditated every night. Or tried to. Mostly what I did was think about what I was going to do the next day. “Inner peace isn’t exactly easy to achieve. If it was,” I gestured at the club full of people. “I would be out of a job.”
Li laughed and I actually laughed with him.
“When I see that guy who stabbed me, I am going to punch him in the face,” I said, wiping down the sink in front of where Li was sitting. “Just so you know.”
Li nodded.
“So, what do you want to drink?”
“I hear the regulars say you’re good at making them up.”
I loved making up drinks on the spot. I perked up a bit. “What sort of alcohol do you want?”
“I don’t care. Make it green, like your eyes.”
I grinned at him, and mixed Midori with Sprite, voldka and gin. I shook the entire thing together and poured it into a martini glass. “I will name this drink Zen. If meditating won’t bring you inner peace, maybe this will.”
This scene is from one of my WIPs, A Dangerous Mind. This is also a continuation of the Bar Scene Blogfest.Enjoy!
After the fist fight Li and his minions showed up every night to Mr. Chen’s club, Stir. I watched them for a reason to pick a fight, but so far they behaved. Mr. Chen assured me they were just there for the club’s protection from the other gangs, but I didn’t believe him.
I watched Li sit in the lounge area with two beautiful Asian girls on his arms, girls I mentally dubbed as cupcakes, and the other members of the Dragon gang around him. Bai, the guy who stabbed me, seemed to be in charge, which was weird, because Li could beat Bai. Normally pecking order in gangs was arranged by skill. But obviously their gang didn’t work on that principal, because Li was just their lap dog.
I leaned over to refill a grungy looking girl’s Screwdriver, and my side screamed in pain. The spot where Bai stabbed me was shallow, but it still hurt like nobody’s business. He couldn’t even stab someone properly. I would keep that thought to myself though. I wasn’t that stupid. I took another shot of whiskey to dull the pain, and felt it burn all the way down.
“Alcohol is bad for you,” Li said from behind me. He barely had an accent, and sounded like he was raised in the United States.
I pretended he didn’t catch me off guard and turned around. He was sitting at the corner of the bar, looking yummy in a tight black shirt and pants. His cupcakes had left, and the other members of the gang were spread out through the club.
“So?” I said.
“Jade, can I get a refill?” That was Josh, asking for yet another refill. I rolled my eyes, and poured him another.
Mr. Chen wandered out from his office and looked around. I poured some refills, and made drinks for the patrons sitting out in the dining area. I even made Stephanie’s customer’s drink twice, even though she’s a terrible waitress and a useless human being in general who didn’t know how to properly ask for liquor specifications, until Mr. Chen walked over. He looked nervous.
“Jade?”
“What?” My side was killing me. Damn Jim for taking my painkillers away. I can handle them. I think. The last time I had a problem with drugs, “Uncle” Jim tossed me on the wagon. He and Caroline raided all of my stashes and threw them away, and threatened all the dealers with jail or worse if they sold me drugs. I was barely allowed caffeine.
Quitting cold turkey was hell.
As a consequence, I wasn’t allowed any painkillers stronger than Ibuprofen for my stab wound. It was fine until I started to walk, or lean over, or drive, or bartend.
“You’re being a little surly with the customers.”
I glared at Li, who had an amused expression on his face. “That’s on the account of someone stabbing me in my side.”
“Take some painkillers then,” Li said, still looking amused. I wanted to fake a punch to his smug face, so I would have the satisfaction of seeing him flinch, but we would both know I wasn’t serious. I thought I wanted to meet someone better at wushu than me, so I could have a challenge, but this wasn’t fun anymore.
“I’m not allowed. I like painkillers too much.”
“Not allowed?” Li said, raising his eyebrows. “I didn’t think anyone could stop you from doing what you wanted.”
Mr. Chen melted away into the crowd at this point, content to let Li bear the brunt of my wrath. “Yeah well, Jim has my better interest in mind, so I listen to him. Usually.”
“If you meditated, you could use your chi to remove the pain.”
“I do,” I replied. It wasn’t a lie. I meditated every night. Or tried to. Mostly what I did was think about what I was going to do the next day. “Inner peace isn’t exactly easy to achieve. If it was,” I gestured at the club full of people. “I would be out of a job.”
Li laughed and I actually laughed with him.
“When I see that guy who stabbed me, I am going to punch him in the face,” I said, wiping down the sink in front of where Li was sitting. “Just so you know.”
Li nodded.
“So, what do you want to drink?”
“I hear the regulars say you’re good at making them up.”
I loved making up drinks on the spot. I perked up a bit. “What sort of alcohol do you want?”
“I don’t care. Make it green, like your eyes.”
I grinned at him, and mixed Midori with Sprite, voldka and gin. I shook the entire thing together and poured it into a martini glass. “I will name this drink Zen. If meditating won’t bring you inner peace, maybe this will.”
Thursday, May 6, 2010
A Kōan for Your Book
Quote: “A monk asked Master Haryo, 'What is the way?' Haryo said, 'An open-eyed man falling into the well”
~Zen kōan quote
Yesterday I talked about have a list of ideas that interest you.
The other part of my list are questions. I am not going to call them themes exactly, although some of them could be, but questions that interest me.
An example of some:
*Why do people fall in and out of love? Why is it when you fall in love, you think, this is the one? And the next guy that comes along, he too, feels like “the one” Why is there just one? Does that make the one guy really special? Could he be really special even he wasn’t “the one”?
*What would happen if you could switch places with someone? Why would you? How would that help? Not just their job or standing, but their emotional experiences?
*Life is Beautiful: Why is it to really live sometimes you have to die? Why is it ironic, why do you have to give up your hair for a hair comb?
*Why is it sometimes the things we want hurt us the most? Is it the act of wanting it? Or the thing itself? Is it us? Our choices? Something we can’t control? Why do we intentionally make bad decisions, eat too much, drink too much, smoke, and hurt the ones we love. Why do we do that to ourselves? Why do we think it will fix? What do we think it will help?
*What is up with people hurting other people? How can someone be born without a conscious? Does that mean someone else can be born without empathy, without the ability to love? What then? Is that just a safe answer, so we don’t have to deal with an unpleasant truth that some people just like hurting other people, for no reason. Not because of their troubled childhood, their genes, their brain chemistry, but just because they like it?
As you can see, none of these are themes, per se. They are just questions, musings of mine I like to talk to people about over a cup of tea late at night in a diner. I especially enjoy deep discussions, and I usually find myself asking a question of similar nature while I am writing a book. It’s almost as if in the act of writing the book itself, I am looking for one possible answer to the question.
For example, one of the questions “Why do people fall in and out of love?” I have examined in several different books with different outcomes. Sometimes the lovers fight and never make up, sometimes they find someone new, sometimes they reconcile.
These questions are almost like a kōan for a book. A kōan is part of Zen Buddhism, and is frequently a story or dialogue the monk mediates on in order to reach enlightenment.
An example of a famous kōan is:
Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?
— Hakuin Ekaku
"...in the beginning a monk first thinks a kōan is an inert object upon which to focus attention; after a long period of consecutive repetition, one realizes that the kōan is also a dynamic activity, the very activity of seeking an answer to the kōan. The kōan is both the object being sought and the relentless seeking itself. In a kōan, the self sees the self not directly but under the guise of the kōan...When one realizes ("makes real") this identity, then two hands have become one. The practitioner becomes the kōan that he or she is trying to understand. That is the sound of one hand." — G. Victor Sogen Hori, Translating the Zen Phrase Book
Here is a modern day kōan from The Tao of Programming:
A student was playing a handheld video game during a class.
The teacher called on the student and asked him what he was doing.
The student replied that he was trying to master the game.
The teacher said, "There exists a state in which you will not attempt to master the game, and the game will not attempt to master you."
The student asked, "What is this state?"
The teacher said, "Give me your video game, and I will show you."
The student gave him the game, and the teacher threw it to the ground, breaking it into pieces. The student was enlightened.
The purpose isn’t to find the one right answer to the question, but to expand your thinking. Finding an answer to the kōan required the monk to let go of conceptual thinking and logical way of looking at the world so, like creativity in art, the appropriate insight and response arises naturally and spontaneously in the mind.
I think of these questions as a kōan for my book. I am not looking to pigeonhole the book, but to find greater insight into the characters and the plot. For me, this question is the heart of the book. Every book I have ever finished had a burning question attached to it. I had to answer the question for myself, and the book wasn’t over until I found one possible answer. Every book I haven’t finished have no question attached. I am not going to say this question is the secret to finishing a book, but it helps.
Most of the time this question is bubbling under the surface. None of my characters ask or wonder it directly, it’s just something that I feel, an instinct.
In short, this question is the reason why I am bothering to write this story with these characters: I have to find out the answer to the question.
I could write three books with the same sort of question in mind, but the characters and plots are always different, so the question itself feels different, even if it’s very similar to a previous questions I asked. It’s the subtle difference between “Are you happy?” and “Are you excited?” There is a slight difference, but that difference could change everything.
And it often does.
You could decide that thinking about questions and themes for your book would mess up some of your process, and that’s fine. No two writing processes are the same, so what works for one doesn’t always work for the other.
But you’ve got to wonder at some point why you’re bothering. Why are you writing, not only in general, but this book with this character and this plot? Why not another idea?
Sometimes the answer is as simple as “because I love these characters” or “this is the only idea I have at the moment”. But even under those deceptively simple answers lies another layer. Why do you love those characters so much? What about them you find so compelling you are willing to spend months or years working with them?
Why is this the only idea you’ve seized upon? You have probably had other, half baked ideas that didn’t interest you at the time. What about THIS idea is so compelling?
I believe our motivation for why we do the things we do, and love the things we love is in our subconscious minds. Most of us aren’t Zen monks, so the self-awareness required to know why you like what you like is beyond us. That’s okay. Some things can stay subconscious.
But I also believe some our interests can be discerned, and when that awareness is applied to our writing, can yield many rewards. After I noticed what a difference having a question made in my writing, I made sure every book I started after that had one, and the razorlike precision I achieved was breathtaking. I haven’t started books yet because I don’t know exactly what the question is.
Finding that question is like putting a name on the passion that fuels the book for me.
So what you do think? Have you ever thought about writing as a way to seek answers? Do you know what themes interest you and why? Do you have any other insight to add?
~Zen kōan quote
Yesterday I talked about have a list of ideas that interest you.
The other part of my list are questions. I am not going to call them themes exactly, although some of them could be, but questions that interest me.
An example of some:
*Why do people fall in and out of love? Why is it when you fall in love, you think, this is the one? And the next guy that comes along, he too, feels like “the one” Why is there just one? Does that make the one guy really special? Could he be really special even he wasn’t “the one”?
*What would happen if you could switch places with someone? Why would you? How would that help? Not just their job or standing, but their emotional experiences?
*Life is Beautiful: Why is it to really live sometimes you have to die? Why is it ironic, why do you have to give up your hair for a hair comb?
*Why is it sometimes the things we want hurt us the most? Is it the act of wanting it? Or the thing itself? Is it us? Our choices? Something we can’t control? Why do we intentionally make bad decisions, eat too much, drink too much, smoke, and hurt the ones we love. Why do we do that to ourselves? Why do we think it will fix? What do we think it will help?
*What is up with people hurting other people? How can someone be born without a conscious? Does that mean someone else can be born without empathy, without the ability to love? What then? Is that just a safe answer, so we don’t have to deal with an unpleasant truth that some people just like hurting other people, for no reason. Not because of their troubled childhood, their genes, their brain chemistry, but just because they like it?
As you can see, none of these are themes, per se. They are just questions, musings of mine I like to talk to people about over a cup of tea late at night in a diner. I especially enjoy deep discussions, and I usually find myself asking a question of similar nature while I am writing a book. It’s almost as if in the act of writing the book itself, I am looking for one possible answer to the question.
For example, one of the questions “Why do people fall in and out of love?” I have examined in several different books with different outcomes. Sometimes the lovers fight and never make up, sometimes they find someone new, sometimes they reconcile.
These questions are almost like a kōan for a book. A kōan is part of Zen Buddhism, and is frequently a story or dialogue the monk mediates on in order to reach enlightenment.
An example of a famous kōan is:
Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?
— Hakuin Ekaku
"...in the beginning a monk first thinks a kōan is an inert object upon which to focus attention; after a long period of consecutive repetition, one realizes that the kōan is also a dynamic activity, the very activity of seeking an answer to the kōan. The kōan is both the object being sought and the relentless seeking itself. In a kōan, the self sees the self not directly but under the guise of the kōan...When one realizes ("makes real") this identity, then two hands have become one. The practitioner becomes the kōan that he or she is trying to understand. That is the sound of one hand." — G. Victor Sogen Hori, Translating the Zen Phrase Book
Here is a modern day kōan from The Tao of Programming:
A student was playing a handheld video game during a class.
The teacher called on the student and asked him what he was doing.
The student replied that he was trying to master the game.
The teacher said, "There exists a state in which you will not attempt to master the game, and the game will not attempt to master you."
The student asked, "What is this state?"
The teacher said, "Give me your video game, and I will show you."
The student gave him the game, and the teacher threw it to the ground, breaking it into pieces. The student was enlightened.
The purpose isn’t to find the one right answer to the question, but to expand your thinking. Finding an answer to the kōan required the monk to let go of conceptual thinking and logical way of looking at the world so, like creativity in art, the appropriate insight and response arises naturally and spontaneously in the mind.
I think of these questions as a kōan for my book. I am not looking to pigeonhole the book, but to find greater insight into the characters and the plot. For me, this question is the heart of the book. Every book I have ever finished had a burning question attached to it. I had to answer the question for myself, and the book wasn’t over until I found one possible answer. Every book I haven’t finished have no question attached. I am not going to say this question is the secret to finishing a book, but it helps.
Most of the time this question is bubbling under the surface. None of my characters ask or wonder it directly, it’s just something that I feel, an instinct.
In short, this question is the reason why I am bothering to write this story with these characters: I have to find out the answer to the question.
I could write three books with the same sort of question in mind, but the characters and plots are always different, so the question itself feels different, even if it’s very similar to a previous questions I asked. It’s the subtle difference between “Are you happy?” and “Are you excited?” There is a slight difference, but that difference could change everything.
And it often does.
You could decide that thinking about questions and themes for your book would mess up some of your process, and that’s fine. No two writing processes are the same, so what works for one doesn’t always work for the other.
But you’ve got to wonder at some point why you’re bothering. Why are you writing, not only in general, but this book with this character and this plot? Why not another idea?
Sometimes the answer is as simple as “because I love these characters” or “this is the only idea I have at the moment”. But even under those deceptively simple answers lies another layer. Why do you love those characters so much? What about them you find so compelling you are willing to spend months or years working with them?
Why is this the only idea you’ve seized upon? You have probably had other, half baked ideas that didn’t interest you at the time. What about THIS idea is so compelling?
I believe our motivation for why we do the things we do, and love the things we love is in our subconscious minds. Most of us aren’t Zen monks, so the self-awareness required to know why you like what you like is beyond us. That’s okay. Some things can stay subconscious.
But I also believe some our interests can be discerned, and when that awareness is applied to our writing, can yield many rewards. After I noticed what a difference having a question made in my writing, I made sure every book I started after that had one, and the razorlike precision I achieved was breathtaking. I haven’t started books yet because I don’t know exactly what the question is.
Finding that question is like putting a name on the passion that fuels the book for me.
So what you do think? Have you ever thought about writing as a way to seek answers? Do you know what themes interest you and why? Do you have any other insight to add?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Write What You Love
Editing has made my creativity run into overdrive.
Apparently editing doesn’t count as writing as far as my brain is concerned, so I am currently suffering the symptoms I experience when I haven’t written something in a while: unable to fall asleep, and tossing and turning when I do, I feel out of sorts and listless, everything seems neither really exciting or really boring—just a gray in between.
As a creative outlet I am tinkering around with ideas (in between editing. I logged thirty more pages today, and thirty yesterday, so I am not slacking off). I have three book ideas that feel very similar on the surface, so yesterday I opened a new MS Word document, wrote out a working title for each book, put it into bold and underlined them, and then listed some basic elements for each book as a way to differentiate between them.
Something wonderful happened. I started to be able to clearly see each book as it’s separate entity, and not the murky brown color they all seemed to be. Part of the problem is one of the ideas was split up into two separate books, so it still felt like characters didn’t quite fit their new home.
Listing each book out clearly allowed me to see each book idea in it’s entirety, and I could compare each one to the other. After that, I went through my “My Themes” document to further mine for ideas.
Let me explain “My Themes”. I think every writer needs a document, whether it’s paper or electronic, where they keep track of all the stuff that excites them. I am not talking about book ideas—that’s another file entirely. I am talking about a list of stuff that makes your muse go into hyperdrive (I fired my last muse, and am now working with his brother, Ira. It seems to be working well so far).
Here is a small sample of my list:
survival in a dystopia
survival after an apocalypse
dreams
Morpheus
Orpheus going back to get his love
death is not the end
bouncers
serial killers
Seattle
1940’s gangsters
Cyberpunk
Mental illness
Hostage situations
Forgotten cities, and ancient lore.
Profilers
Autumn in New York, when the leaves are on fire.
Rocky coast lines
Ghost tours
Twins
Complicated relationships between people
Childhood accidents
Apprenticeships
New kid learning the ropes
Characters forced to be together
Making difficult, no-win moral choices
Heaven and hell battling, angels versus demons
Deals with the devil
Being thrown into a new situation
Constructed people—golems, homunculi, etc
A likable villain
sacrifice
The one person that interests a misanthrope
The bad guys are really the good guys
My list is about twice this long, but you get the point. Notice how I have all kinds of stuff on there? Some are concepts like constructed people, some are conflicts like new kid learning the ropes, and some are settings like rocky coast lines.
Because really, doesn’t this picture give you a thousand story ideas?
But all of this stuff fascinates me. You can even analyze the list and then figure out why I like the TV shows and movies that I do. Let’s see, my favorite TV shows are: Firefly (space western), Criminal Minds (thriller about profilers), Bones (forensic crime solving), House (medical mystery about a misanthropic doctor), and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (crime solving with emotional situations for the cops/victims).
Some of my favorite movies are: Equilibrium (science fiction dystopia), The Prestige (rivalry between former friends who are magicians), The Day After Tomorrow (disaster movie), Legion (heaven versus hell).
Do we see a pattern here? These shows/movies interest me because there’s one or more (usually several) elements in them that I find fascinating.
You’re probably thinking, “No duh, Elizabeth. Of course you like those shows and movies because they have elements you find fascinating.” But it’s really helpful to know exactly what about something interests you.
Because then you can repeat it.
They say write what you know, but I think we should change that to write what you love. If you are not in love with your story, you’re just not going to have the strength to get through all the work it’s going to take to make the story salable. It’s not enough to start with one good idea. You need several good ideas within one book. You might start off with one good idea, and write out the first draft without planning more. That’s fine; whatever your writing process is.
But eventually you’re going to have to analyze the plot elements, and I feel it would behoove you to make sure your plot has several things going for it. When I say “idea” I am not just talking about plot points and characters, but everything. You could set the book in somewhere you find beautiful, have a character in a situation you love, with a cool villain idea, and a new twist on the conflict. It could be something as simple as what the character does for a living. You could make a new book based of off this list, or you could just add the elements you find appropriate for each book.
For example, let’s say I have a new book idea. Let’s say you only have the character idea, like I frequently do. No plot in sight, but the main character shows up as a real person. Let’s say the character is an anti-hero who is a misanthrope. So we have:
Misanthrope who (does something)(not medical related, so no one says it’s just a House ripoff).
To start with. We could leave it at that, and start writing if you are a pantser, or we could just develop the character more if you’re a planner. The obvious direction to go would be Why is this guy such a misanthrope?
Because I hate the “anti-hero with a heart of gold” trope, we’re going to just say that he’s always been kind of a jerk, and bucks society’s rules because he thinks they are pointless. To further avoid the “anti-hero with a heart of gold” trope, let’s say he made a mistake that got someone killed he was supposed to protect (instead of saying mommy didn’t love him enough, and that’s why he’s a jerk. People in real life are more complicated, so let’s make sure our characters are more complicated too, okay?).
You could write a perfectly good book all this jerk, but let’s not stop there. Let’s add more awesome stuff to this already fun idea.
I already have the concept of the one person that the misanthrope doesn’t hate, so let’s add that:
The one person that interests a misanthrope
So now we have character number two. This could be a woman, and they fall in love. This could be a younger girl and he has to raise her (for some reason). It could be a guy, whatever. It all depends on the type of story you want to tell.
Since he’s an anti-hero and a misanthrope, he’s already going to be complicated. So let’s add:
Complicated relationships between people.
Since I don’t see the jerk going out of his way to get to know someone, let’s also add:
Characters forced to be together
Since he’s already a jerk, we could play with:
The bad guys are really the good guys
A likable villain
We could add setting about here:
Rocky coast lines
survival in a dystopia
I picked dystopia because it fits the misanthrope vibe, but you could also go for contrast, and say it’s set on a lush tropical landscape to further show how miserable the guy is.
So to recap we have:
Misanthrope who (does something)(not medical related, so no one says it’s just a House ripoff).
The one person that interests a misanthrope
Complicated relationships between people
Characters forced to be together
The bad guys are really the good guys
A likable villain
Rocky coast lines
survival in a dystopia
And the cherry on the top, a theme of:
sacrifice
Now this books has several ideas going for it that excites me. Some of them might not make it into the story, they might have to be teased out, but it gives you some ideas to brainstorm with at least.
Some of you might be wondering if doing this might not make your books all sound familiar.
I don’t think so. That list is long, and many times I have more developed ideas arrive, without needing to build a book from scratch off of it. And that point I might add one or two ideas to it, but not too much more.
Also, see how vague all of that is? “Characters forced to be together”. There are so many ways character can be forced together. If we were to boil most books down to this bare bones, they would start to look similar.
So the next time you need something extra to a book idea, why not look through your interests list?
Any thoughts on the matter? What are some ideas that you just love thinking and writing about?
Apparently editing doesn’t count as writing as far as my brain is concerned, so I am currently suffering the symptoms I experience when I haven’t written something in a while: unable to fall asleep, and tossing and turning when I do, I feel out of sorts and listless, everything seems neither really exciting or really boring—just a gray in between.
As a creative outlet I am tinkering around with ideas (in between editing. I logged thirty more pages today, and thirty yesterday, so I am not slacking off). I have three book ideas that feel very similar on the surface, so yesterday I opened a new MS Word document, wrote out a working title for each book, put it into bold and underlined them, and then listed some basic elements for each book as a way to differentiate between them.
Something wonderful happened. I started to be able to clearly see each book as it’s separate entity, and not the murky brown color they all seemed to be. Part of the problem is one of the ideas was split up into two separate books, so it still felt like characters didn’t quite fit their new home.
Listing each book out clearly allowed me to see each book idea in it’s entirety, and I could compare each one to the other. After that, I went through my “My Themes” document to further mine for ideas.
Let me explain “My Themes”. I think every writer needs a document, whether it’s paper or electronic, where they keep track of all the stuff that excites them. I am not talking about book ideas—that’s another file entirely. I am talking about a list of stuff that makes your muse go into hyperdrive (I fired my last muse, and am now working with his brother, Ira. It seems to be working well so far).
Here is a small sample of my list:
survival in a dystopia
survival after an apocalypse
dreams
Morpheus
Orpheus going back to get his love
death is not the end
bouncers
serial killers
Seattle
1940’s gangsters
Cyberpunk
Mental illness
Hostage situations
Forgotten cities, and ancient lore.
Profilers
Autumn in New York, when the leaves are on fire.
Rocky coast lines
Ghost tours
Twins
Complicated relationships between people
Childhood accidents
Apprenticeships
New kid learning the ropes
Characters forced to be together
Making difficult, no-win moral choices
Heaven and hell battling, angels versus demons
Deals with the devil
Being thrown into a new situation
Constructed people—golems, homunculi, etc
A likable villain
sacrifice
The one person that interests a misanthrope
The bad guys are really the good guys
My list is about twice this long, but you get the point. Notice how I have all kinds of stuff on there? Some are concepts like constructed people, some are conflicts like new kid learning the ropes, and some are settings like rocky coast lines.
Because really, doesn’t this picture give you a thousand story ideas?
But all of this stuff fascinates me. You can even analyze the list and then figure out why I like the TV shows and movies that I do. Let’s see, my favorite TV shows are: Firefly (space western), Criminal Minds (thriller about profilers), Bones (forensic crime solving), House (medical mystery about a misanthropic doctor), and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (crime solving with emotional situations for the cops/victims).
Some of my favorite movies are: Equilibrium (science fiction dystopia), The Prestige (rivalry between former friends who are magicians), The Day After Tomorrow (disaster movie), Legion (heaven versus hell).
Do we see a pattern here? These shows/movies interest me because there’s one or more (usually several) elements in them that I find fascinating.
You’re probably thinking, “No duh, Elizabeth. Of course you like those shows and movies because they have elements you find fascinating.” But it’s really helpful to know exactly what about something interests you.
Because then you can repeat it.
They say write what you know, but I think we should change that to write what you love. If you are not in love with your story, you’re just not going to have the strength to get through all the work it’s going to take to make the story salable. It’s not enough to start with one good idea. You need several good ideas within one book. You might start off with one good idea, and write out the first draft without planning more. That’s fine; whatever your writing process is.
But eventually you’re going to have to analyze the plot elements, and I feel it would behoove you to make sure your plot has several things going for it. When I say “idea” I am not just talking about plot points and characters, but everything. You could set the book in somewhere you find beautiful, have a character in a situation you love, with a cool villain idea, and a new twist on the conflict. It could be something as simple as what the character does for a living. You could make a new book based of off this list, or you could just add the elements you find appropriate for each book.
For example, let’s say I have a new book idea. Let’s say you only have the character idea, like I frequently do. No plot in sight, but the main character shows up as a real person. Let’s say the character is an anti-hero who is a misanthrope. So we have:
Misanthrope who (does something)(not medical related, so no one says it’s just a House ripoff).
To start with. We could leave it at that, and start writing if you are a pantser, or we could just develop the character more if you’re a planner. The obvious direction to go would be Why is this guy such a misanthrope?
Because I hate the “anti-hero with a heart of gold” trope, we’re going to just say that he’s always been kind of a jerk, and bucks society’s rules because he thinks they are pointless. To further avoid the “anti-hero with a heart of gold” trope, let’s say he made a mistake that got someone killed he was supposed to protect (instead of saying mommy didn’t love him enough, and that’s why he’s a jerk. People in real life are more complicated, so let’s make sure our characters are more complicated too, okay?).
You could write a perfectly good book all this jerk, but let’s not stop there. Let’s add more awesome stuff to this already fun idea.
I already have the concept of the one person that the misanthrope doesn’t hate, so let’s add that:
The one person that interests a misanthrope
So now we have character number two. This could be a woman, and they fall in love. This could be a younger girl and he has to raise her (for some reason). It could be a guy, whatever. It all depends on the type of story you want to tell.
Since he’s an anti-hero and a misanthrope, he’s already going to be complicated. So let’s add:
Complicated relationships between people.
Since I don’t see the jerk going out of his way to get to know someone, let’s also add:
Characters forced to be together
Since he’s already a jerk, we could play with:
The bad guys are really the good guys
A likable villain
We could add setting about here:
Rocky coast lines
survival in a dystopia
I picked dystopia because it fits the misanthrope vibe, but you could also go for contrast, and say it’s set on a lush tropical landscape to further show how miserable the guy is.
So to recap we have:
Misanthrope who (does something)(not medical related, so no one says it’s just a House ripoff).
The one person that interests a misanthrope
Complicated relationships between people
Characters forced to be together
The bad guys are really the good guys
A likable villain
Rocky coast lines
survival in a dystopia
And the cherry on the top, a theme of:
sacrifice
Now this books has several ideas going for it that excites me. Some of them might not make it into the story, they might have to be teased out, but it gives you some ideas to brainstorm with at least.
Some of you might be wondering if doing this might not make your books all sound familiar.
I don’t think so. That list is long, and many times I have more developed ideas arrive, without needing to build a book from scratch off of it. And that point I might add one or two ideas to it, but not too much more.
Also, see how vague all of that is? “Characters forced to be together”. There are so many ways character can be forced together. If we were to boil most books down to this bare bones, they would start to look similar.
So the next time you need something extra to a book idea, why not look through your interests list?
Any thoughts on the matter? What are some ideas that you just love thinking and writing about?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Never Write About Wimps
Song Playing: Soldiers of the Wasteland by Dragonforce
Deep confession guys. Bearing my soul over here.
Did you ever read a book or take a class, read a passage/hear a statement, and think blithely “Nope, that’s not me.”
You read a part about characters think, “I might have issues with pacing and length, but definitely no problems in the character department.”
I think we’ve all done that to one extent or another. Pass over some advice because you think it doesn’t apply to you.
BUZZ! Wrong!
Hubris was the fall of Dr. Frankenstein, and hubris will be the fall of a great many writers. Sometimes you read a book about writing, or talk to another writer, or a helpful blog post (like this one!) and they mention a problem. A problem you think you already have covered.
You could be right.
But you could be wrong. Very wrong. It could be a part of the problem with your manuscript that you were vainly searching for.
There I was, reading my book in the break room at work. It’s called “Thanks, but This Isn’t for Us” by Jessica Page Morrell. I almost skipped this chapter, honestly. It’s called “Never Write About Wimps.”
I have many failings as a writer. Many. There are plenty of areas that I struggle with. Characters is not one of them. I am confident in that. I can create vivid, realistic characters that have three dimensions (my blogfests may or may not reflect this depending on how much editing I have done). It might take several tries and some time to develop said characters, but this is one of the areas of writing I really love. It’s actually the reason why I write: to give my character somewhere to play.
So yes, I almost skipped that chapter, thinking I was A-Okay. My main character for my WIP Masquerade is a lot of things—arrogant, high maintenance, shallow—but weak isn’t one of them. She is not wimpy.
And yet, something was off. The scenes just weren’t working the way I wanted them to. And *gasp* my other secondary character was more interesting.
For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why.
Then I read that chapter, and this passage “Motivation, based on a character’s beliefs, family, and environment and cultural background, provides a trajectory for characters to act and grow on. Motivation compels action, create goals in scene, and drive characters to achieve goals. Thus, motivation provides characters with credible reason for their actions, and they should carry out those actions with plausible skills or acquire skills along the way.”
After I read that part, I did a quick check with my characters. I asked myself what the motivation of my main character is, and then I asked myself what the motivation of my secondary character was.
It hit me like a lightening bolt then, putting the motivations right next to each other, that the motivation of my secondary character is greater than my main character. My secondary character had more at stake, at least at first, than my main character.
How the heck did that happen?! (behind my back, while I wasn’t looking)
No wonder I have been having problems with my main character. My secondary character is more interesting than she is!
This is a good news/bad news situation for me. The good news is now I know what’s going on, I can fix it. The bad news is it’s going to take some rearranging to implement said fixes. And figure out what those fixes might be.
My point? Go over your manuscript with a fine tooth comb and question everything. And I mean everything. Even if you love the character, and the plot, still run it through the wringer.
Deep confession guys. Bearing my soul over here.
Did you ever read a book or take a class, read a passage/hear a statement, and think blithely “Nope, that’s not me.”
You read a part about characters think, “I might have issues with pacing and length, but definitely no problems in the character department.”
I think we’ve all done that to one extent or another. Pass over some advice because you think it doesn’t apply to you.
BUZZ! Wrong!
Hubris was the fall of Dr. Frankenstein, and hubris will be the fall of a great many writers. Sometimes you read a book about writing, or talk to another writer, or a helpful blog post (like this one!) and they mention a problem. A problem you think you already have covered.
You could be right.
But you could be wrong. Very wrong. It could be a part of the problem with your manuscript that you were vainly searching for.
There I was, reading my book in the break room at work. It’s called “Thanks, but This Isn’t for Us” by Jessica Page Morrell. I almost skipped this chapter, honestly. It’s called “Never Write About Wimps.”
I have many failings as a writer. Many. There are plenty of areas that I struggle with. Characters is not one of them. I am confident in that. I can create vivid, realistic characters that have three dimensions (my blogfests may or may not reflect this depending on how much editing I have done). It might take several tries and some time to develop said characters, but this is one of the areas of writing I really love. It’s actually the reason why I write: to give my character somewhere to play.
So yes, I almost skipped that chapter, thinking I was A-Okay. My main character for my WIP Masquerade is a lot of things—arrogant, high maintenance, shallow—but weak isn’t one of them. She is not wimpy.
And yet, something was off. The scenes just weren’t working the way I wanted them to. And *gasp* my other secondary character was more interesting.
For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why.
Then I read that chapter, and this passage “Motivation, based on a character’s beliefs, family, and environment and cultural background, provides a trajectory for characters to act and grow on. Motivation compels action, create goals in scene, and drive characters to achieve goals. Thus, motivation provides characters with credible reason for their actions, and they should carry out those actions with plausible skills or acquire skills along the way.”
After I read that part, I did a quick check with my characters. I asked myself what the motivation of my main character is, and then I asked myself what the motivation of my secondary character was.
It hit me like a lightening bolt then, putting the motivations right next to each other, that the motivation of my secondary character is greater than my main character. My secondary character had more at stake, at least at first, than my main character.
How the heck did that happen?! (behind my back, while I wasn’t looking)
No wonder I have been having problems with my main character. My secondary character is more interesting than she is!
This is a good news/bad news situation for me. The good news is now I know what’s going on, I can fix it. The bad news is it’s going to take some rearranging to implement said fixes. And figure out what those fixes might be.
My point? Go over your manuscript with a fine tooth comb and question everything. And I mean everything. Even if you love the character, and the plot, still run it through the wringer.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Soundtrack for My Books
Monday update time!
I am still making progress with revision. It’s going really slow, but progress is being made.
Today I am going to tell you about music.
Some people don’t like to listen to music while they write, or if they do, they like stuff without words so it doesn’t distract them.
Me? Not so much. I have music playing, pretty much 24/7. The only time I don’t play music is while watching TV. Then it’s too much noise, I can’t stand competing sounds. Sometimes my roommates play music on their computer, which is right next to my desk, and then I have to shut mine off or use head phones. But other than that, I listen to music constantly. All kinds too. I really do listen to a little bit of everything, but I listen to rock the most, and it’s sub genres like classic, pop, opera, etc.
Sometimes while writing I tune out the music completely and all I hear or see is the world I have created (it’s like being in a trance, and way cool to experience, but a little weird to come out of. I imagine people with multiple personality disorders have a similar sensation of coming back to themselves, and wondering where the heck those three hours just went). Mostly I am actively listening to the songs, though, and it fits the mood or setting that I am striving for. I am one of those anal retentive people, who have playlists for each book, and most of my main characters have a theme song, and even certain scenes have a specific song that I associate with it.
The downside to this is I frequently mention or write this into the scene, and wind up having to prune it out later. Also, my characters go to karaoke A LOT. But that might be a sign of my nerdiness and not so much my music obsession. Or my nerdiness and music obsession had a love child, and karaoke is the by-product.
A rather frightening thought.
Speaking of karaoke, yesterday I spend most of the afternoon playing Rockband with my friends. It was FUN!!!!!! It fun to pretend we really are a band, and touring around the world playing songs for adoring crowds.
What I love best about music is it helps me capture an essence that is otherwise missing. It can help me really FEEL what the character is going through, especially if it’s a situation that’s removed from what I have personally experienced. It also inspires me, and can open another level to a character I have, making them seem like a real person to me, and not just, well, a character.
So let’s give a hand for all the musical people out there! Good job everyone!
If you haven’t thought about writing to music, why not give it a shot? It might help. You of course need to figure out what’s best for you, but experimentation can be fun (supervised, of course, don’t try this at home while running with scissors).
I am still making progress with revision. It’s going really slow, but progress is being made.
Today I am going to tell you about music.
Some people don’t like to listen to music while they write, or if they do, they like stuff without words so it doesn’t distract them.
Me? Not so much. I have music playing, pretty much 24/7. The only time I don’t play music is while watching TV. Then it’s too much noise, I can’t stand competing sounds. Sometimes my roommates play music on their computer, which is right next to my desk, and then I have to shut mine off or use head phones. But other than that, I listen to music constantly. All kinds too. I really do listen to a little bit of everything, but I listen to rock the most, and it’s sub genres like classic, pop, opera, etc.
Sometimes while writing I tune out the music completely and all I hear or see is the world I have created (it’s like being in a trance, and way cool to experience, but a little weird to come out of. I imagine people with multiple personality disorders have a similar sensation of coming back to themselves, and wondering where the heck those three hours just went). Mostly I am actively listening to the songs, though, and it fits the mood or setting that I am striving for. I am one of those anal retentive people, who have playlists for each book, and most of my main characters have a theme song, and even certain scenes have a specific song that I associate with it.
The downside to this is I frequently mention or write this into the scene, and wind up having to prune it out later. Also, my characters go to karaoke A LOT. But that might be a sign of my nerdiness and not so much my music obsession. Or my nerdiness and music obsession had a love child, and karaoke is the by-product.
A rather frightening thought.
Speaking of karaoke, yesterday I spend most of the afternoon playing Rockband with my friends. It was FUN!!!!!! It fun to pretend we really are a band, and touring around the world playing songs for adoring crowds.
What I love best about music is it helps me capture an essence that is otherwise missing. It can help me really FEEL what the character is going through, especially if it’s a situation that’s removed from what I have personally experienced. It also inspires me, and can open another level to a character I have, making them seem like a real person to me, and not just, well, a character.
So let’s give a hand for all the musical people out there! Good job everyone!
If you haven’t thought about writing to music, why not give it a shot? It might help. You of course need to figure out what’s best for you, but experimentation can be fun (supervised, of course, don’t try this at home while running with scissors).
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Baking Scene Blogfest
Charity is hosting a blogfest here that you should check out!
This scene doesn’t fit anywhere in a book yet. It features two of my well developed characters, and I was trying to play around with subtext in dialogue. You know, where there’s lots being felt, but the people really aren’t saying things out loud.
This is my first attempt at subtext, and I think it’s about as subtle as a jackhammer, but there you have it.
Also, I cheated. Mackenzie is cooking, not baking, but it’s in the spirit of things!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Kayth had been off all week, Mackenzie couldn’t help but notice. He was a quiet person, but he was brooding over something. He talked, he laughed, he made every show of having a good time, but he was thinking. Hard.
Dinner was her responsibility tonight, and she decided spaghetti was something she could make that would turn out edible. Her friends and family were split between downstairs swimming, or in the basement playing pool. Even Autumn, who had previously been underfoot, was playing pool with her Uncle Cole and Argent.
The only question was whether or not to ask him about it. Kayth wasn’t shy, and usually talked to her about something if he wanted to. He was a private person, and preferred to think about things in his own time.
I guess I will just leave him be, Mackenzie thought, stirring the sauce and humming to herself.
She turned around to grab some spices and almost ran right into Kayth at the kitchen island, tearing up lettuce.
Mackenzie yelped, “Oh!”
“Sorry. I thought you heard me.”
Mackenzie laughed. “You? An elf? No way.”
Kayth pulled some tomatoes out of the fridge, and started slicing them up on the cutting board. His shoulder length black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the way she liked.
She resisted the urge to touch his hair. “Oh, Kayth, you don’t have to help. It’s my turn,” Mackenzie said.
Kayth looked up. “You want me to leave?” He said with unexpected intensity.
“Uh, no. I just mean that you don’t have to help me make dinner. You can enjoy yourself at the pool.”
“I know.”
“Okay,” Mackenzie said. She shrugged, and pulled some oregano, basil, and a bay leaf out of the drawer where they kept the spices. Definitely brooding about something.
Mackenzie tried to think of something to say, but all she could think of was his strange behavior, his quiet intensity. “You guys like going on that pirate walk?”
Kayth shrugged. “It was certainly more informative than I thought it would be. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. Xenarah really enjoyed herself.”
Kayth paused, and added as an afterthought, “There were a few spots that were questionable with ghost activity.”
“Oh, good thing I didn’t come along then,” Mackenzie said. She never liked talking about her magical abilities. She didn’t understand them. “Autumn buried everyone in the sand at the beach today.”
Kayth nodded again. There was a pause, and then he said, “Everyone this time and not just Dallis and Cole?”
“Yep. She even managed to rope in a few of the locals before she was done.”
Kayth smiled, and started another tomato.
Mackenzie tried desperately to ignore Kayth’s strange behavior, but his energy took up the entire kitchen. Before long it felt like the tiny hairs on Mackenzie’s neck was standing on end.
“You guys have any plans for tomorrow?” Mackenzie asked, stirring the noodles.
Kayth shook his head no.
“Autumn wants to go wave running.” The knife hovered in the air for a split second before Kayth sliced the tomatoes. She might not have caught the pause if she didn’t know him so well. What about Autumn going wave running got a reaction out of him? “I’m going to see how many people want to come, and then call the tour guide tomorrow. There’s a ctour of the bay area that looks really fun.” Don’t babble on, Mackenzie. He sees right through you and will know if you’re uncomfortable. He might even ask what's wrong, and then what you would say? You? You're being weird and it's making me jumpy?
Kayth was silent while he started on the cucumbers.
“Do you want to come?”
“Where?”
Mackenzie tried not to let out of puff of air. “Wave running.”
“What’s that?”
Mackenzie grinned. “It’s like a jet ski, only a little smaller, and there’s a stream of water that shoots out of the back. You ride around on it on the ocean.”
“So, self propelled personal boats?”
“Yes. Autumn said she’s going to ride piggyback with her Uncle Cole, since he takes her on his motorcycle and lets her drive sometimes. Personally, I think she’s hoping he’ll let her drive, even though she’s way too young. So you can ride piggyback with someone, or go solo.” Mackenzie rolled her shoulders, trying to calm down.
Kayth nodded. “Who are you riding with?”
“Me? No one. I was going to ride with Autumn, but then she said wants to ride with Cole. We don’t all have to double up, but it’s better for those of us with a little experience to steer for those of us without. You could accidentally tip the wave runner over or something.”
Kayth nodded again, scraping the tomatoes into the salad bowl.
“It’s not hard to learn how to drive them, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Kayth looked at her. “You said it was better to ride with an experienced driver.” His voice was soft, but his voice held undercurrents of emotion like the ocean here had a deceptively strong undertow.
“Well, yeah. But…” Mackenzie blinked. “Anyway. I was just trying to see who wanted to come. We can work out all of the logistics after we get the final headcount.”
Mackenzie turned and stirred the sauce and noodles. The noodles were done. She could feel Kayth watching her, thinking. She wanted to shake him and ask him what was on his mind, but she knew better. He would talk to her when and if he was ready. She never got anywhere from pressing him.
Mackenzie poured the noodles into the strainer, the moist steam rising out of the sink like a small mushroom cloud. She turned the sauce on low, and pulled the French bread out and set it on the counter. The banality of routine settled her nerves.
“I would like to go wave running tomorrow,” Kayth said, sliding the cucumbers into the salad bowl.
“Great!” Mackenzie grinned. “Now we just need to convince Vega.” She started to mix the garlic and the butter together. “I doubt Xenarah will need much convincing. And Argent and Cadence already said they wanted to go.”
“Will you ride with me?”
Mackenzie looked up. “Huh?”
Kayth was watching her face. “The wave runner. You said before that you’ve ridden them. I have not. Will you ride with me?”
Her stomach flip flopped. Don’t be stupid, Mackenzie. It doesn’t mean anything more than he likes you more than a friend. It’s just because it’s technology he doesn’t understand. “Sure. You want to drive for a bit too?”
Kayth shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Mackenzie nodded, as a herd of elephants in the form of the rest of her friends made their way up the stairs. Their dinner senses were going off, and soon the room was swarming with people and food and plates. A warm feeling in the pit of her stomach stayed with her the entire time.
Suddenly tomorrow was looking up.
This scene doesn’t fit anywhere in a book yet. It features two of my well developed characters, and I was trying to play around with subtext in dialogue. You know, where there’s lots being felt, but the people really aren’t saying things out loud.
This is my first attempt at subtext, and I think it’s about as subtle as a jackhammer, but there you have it.
Also, I cheated. Mackenzie is cooking, not baking, but it’s in the spirit of things!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Kayth had been off all week, Mackenzie couldn’t help but notice. He was a quiet person, but he was brooding over something. He talked, he laughed, he made every show of having a good time, but he was thinking. Hard.
Dinner was her responsibility tonight, and she decided spaghetti was something she could make that would turn out edible. Her friends and family were split between downstairs swimming, or in the basement playing pool. Even Autumn, who had previously been underfoot, was playing pool with her Uncle Cole and Argent.
The only question was whether or not to ask him about it. Kayth wasn’t shy, and usually talked to her about something if he wanted to. He was a private person, and preferred to think about things in his own time.
I guess I will just leave him be, Mackenzie thought, stirring the sauce and humming to herself.
She turned around to grab some spices and almost ran right into Kayth at the kitchen island, tearing up lettuce.
Mackenzie yelped, “Oh!”
“Sorry. I thought you heard me.”
Mackenzie laughed. “You? An elf? No way.”
Kayth pulled some tomatoes out of the fridge, and started slicing them up on the cutting board. His shoulder length black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the way she liked.
She resisted the urge to touch his hair. “Oh, Kayth, you don’t have to help. It’s my turn,” Mackenzie said.
Kayth looked up. “You want me to leave?” He said with unexpected intensity.
“Uh, no. I just mean that you don’t have to help me make dinner. You can enjoy yourself at the pool.”
“I know.”
“Okay,” Mackenzie said. She shrugged, and pulled some oregano, basil, and a bay leaf out of the drawer where they kept the spices. Definitely brooding about something.
Mackenzie tried to think of something to say, but all she could think of was his strange behavior, his quiet intensity. “You guys like going on that pirate walk?”
Kayth shrugged. “It was certainly more informative than I thought it would be. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. Xenarah really enjoyed herself.”
Kayth paused, and added as an afterthought, “There were a few spots that were questionable with ghost activity.”
“Oh, good thing I didn’t come along then,” Mackenzie said. She never liked talking about her magical abilities. She didn’t understand them. “Autumn buried everyone in the sand at the beach today.”
Kayth nodded again. There was a pause, and then he said, “Everyone this time and not just Dallis and Cole?”
“Yep. She even managed to rope in a few of the locals before she was done.”
Kayth smiled, and started another tomato.
Mackenzie tried desperately to ignore Kayth’s strange behavior, but his energy took up the entire kitchen. Before long it felt like the tiny hairs on Mackenzie’s neck was standing on end.
“You guys have any plans for tomorrow?” Mackenzie asked, stirring the noodles.
Kayth shook his head no.
“Autumn wants to go wave running.” The knife hovered in the air for a split second before Kayth sliced the tomatoes. She might not have caught the pause if she didn’t know him so well. What about Autumn going wave running got a reaction out of him? “I’m going to see how many people want to come, and then call the tour guide tomorrow. There’s a ctour of the bay area that looks really fun.” Don’t babble on, Mackenzie. He sees right through you and will know if you’re uncomfortable. He might even ask what's wrong, and then what you would say? You? You're being weird and it's making me jumpy?
Kayth was silent while he started on the cucumbers.
“Do you want to come?”
“Where?”
Mackenzie tried not to let out of puff of air. “Wave running.”
“What’s that?”
Mackenzie grinned. “It’s like a jet ski, only a little smaller, and there’s a stream of water that shoots out of the back. You ride around on it on the ocean.”
“So, self propelled personal boats?”
“Yes. Autumn said she’s going to ride piggyback with her Uncle Cole, since he takes her on his motorcycle and lets her drive sometimes. Personally, I think she’s hoping he’ll let her drive, even though she’s way too young. So you can ride piggyback with someone, or go solo.” Mackenzie rolled her shoulders, trying to calm down.
Kayth nodded. “Who are you riding with?”
“Me? No one. I was going to ride with Autumn, but then she said wants to ride with Cole. We don’t all have to double up, but it’s better for those of us with a little experience to steer for those of us without. You could accidentally tip the wave runner over or something.”
Kayth nodded again, scraping the tomatoes into the salad bowl.
“It’s not hard to learn how to drive them, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Kayth looked at her. “You said it was better to ride with an experienced driver.” His voice was soft, but his voice held undercurrents of emotion like the ocean here had a deceptively strong undertow.
“Well, yeah. But…” Mackenzie blinked. “Anyway. I was just trying to see who wanted to come. We can work out all of the logistics after we get the final headcount.”
Mackenzie turned and stirred the sauce and noodles. The noodles were done. She could feel Kayth watching her, thinking. She wanted to shake him and ask him what was on his mind, but she knew better. He would talk to her when and if he was ready. She never got anywhere from pressing him.
Mackenzie poured the noodles into the strainer, the moist steam rising out of the sink like a small mushroom cloud. She turned the sauce on low, and pulled the French bread out and set it on the counter. The banality of routine settled her nerves.
“I would like to go wave running tomorrow,” Kayth said, sliding the cucumbers into the salad bowl.
“Great!” Mackenzie grinned. “Now we just need to convince Vega.” She started to mix the garlic and the butter together. “I doubt Xenarah will need much convincing. And Argent and Cadence already said they wanted to go.”
“Will you ride with me?”
Mackenzie looked up. “Huh?”
Kayth was watching her face. “The wave runner. You said before that you’ve ridden them. I have not. Will you ride with me?”
Her stomach flip flopped. Don’t be stupid, Mackenzie. It doesn’t mean anything more than he likes you more than a friend. It’s just because it’s technology he doesn’t understand. “Sure. You want to drive for a bit too?”
Kayth shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Mackenzie nodded, as a herd of elephants in the form of the rest of her friends made their way up the stairs. Their dinner senses were going off, and soon the room was swarming with people and food and plates. A warm feeling in the pit of her stomach stayed with her the entire time.
Suddenly tomorrow was looking up.
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