Oh Muse, Where Art Thou??????

So I decided to put the book I'd been working on on hold for a while. Ok, so I got frustrated that I wasn't coming up with anything that I liked and decided to scrap the whole damn thing. I did after all change the plot three times. Nothing was working for me. Now I've got a great idea, a tentative plot, and a really solid batch of characters...

And I haven't touched the thing in months.

Now admittedly, my world right now is a blur of Doctors appointments, baby shopping (I have a whopping 2 bottles, and a pacifier so far), and the general 'getting ready for baby' that one begins in the second trimester. But that's still not really a good excuse. I seem to have more than enough time in my day to play Bejeweled on Facebook, to sew, and to read.

So it must be the Muse. She left. Gone. Flew the coop. Any number of other euphemisms.

What do I do now? Do I wait till she comes back? Do I push through and hope I don't get another 'great idea' that ends up in the recycle bin? Or do I just think about it when I can, and hope that something comes to me?

Really, please, let me know.

A day at McJob: There’s more to living than the life of a secret, undercover agent

Picture yourself here: You’re in a bookshop, you see a new urban fantasy or paranormal mystery on the shelf and you pick it up to read the blurb. Your intrepid protagonist is, surprise, surprise… An FBI agent, a private investigator, an investigative journalist, a police detective… Need I go on? Part of my work as a fiction editor involves reading submissions, many of them falling within the paranormal and fantasy genres. Many of the authors’ protagonists are, surprise, surprise, FBI agents, private investigators… Get my point? We have a theme going here, no doubt popularised on telly with programmes such as Dexter, Blood Ties and more, where the popular avenger-of-dastardly deeds gets some sort of twisted, dark or supernatural spin. Often the writer offers his or her audience an endemic lack of understanding of how their country’s legal system works.

Don’t get me wrong, if I’m in the mood to just relax, I’ll watch or read something with a cop or PI as a lead, and I’ll suspend disbelief when I notice plot holes large enough to drive a London bus through. Hell, even lawyers can sometimes do some good and provide an interesting perspective. But really, it’s so done. To death. Why can’t a school teacher or a graphic designer also solve a mystery or become a hero? Surely their unique perspective will lend a different angle than the oft-seen, hard-bitten cop. I’ve lost track of how many crime-busting vampires, werewolves or (insert supernatural creatures of your choice here) I’ve encountered in my quest to escape from reality.

What I’m saying, as authors, is we need to break away and find something a little different. Write what you know. I’ll happily write about artists, musicians, witches, journalists, riding school instructors, veterinarians, tattoo artists, graphic designers, magazine editors, body piercers, bookshop owners or professional gardeners… These are folk I know. These are folk I regularly interact with and have a basic understanding of what they do in order to make ends meet. Because I know their world, I can breathe life into characters who follow these professions, convincingly.

I prefer reading and writing about characters who have real-life worries about not meeting rent or deadlines, and who also have larger problems to overcome, which threaten not only their livelihood, but their lives. How many times have you read a novel where characters dash about with seemingly endless quantities of cash and property? This is not Anne Rice’s Mayfair witches, dah-ling. This is the real world.

Having financial woes or some sort of trouble at work just adds to the building up of tension, making your character more believable. How does Joe Soap the plumber unblock drains, keep his wife in lacy underwear and save the world from the Lovecraftian horror lurking in the city’s sewers? Sometimes an unusual profession will place your character in a unique position to identify a potential threat no one else would notice. Be creative. Have fun, and keep it real, and turn the existing tropes on their heads.

As an afterthought, if you’re still possessed by a yen to write about a police officer, conduct a lot more research than watching a few episodes of the latest flavour of cop show. How about dropping by your local police station and chatting to some of the officers in charge? You’d be surprised how friendly (not to mention helpful) a police officer having a quiet day can be if approached with sincerity. If you can, ask to be given a tour of the station. Find out how police procedure in your area is executed. If your setting is not local, see how much information you can dredge up about where you intend to set your story. Then, dig deep within yourself to find ways to make this tale stand head and shoulders above the rest. Better yet, find out if a real private investigator will allow you to shadow them for a week or so. There’s nothing like a bit of experience to add that touchstone of reality to your story.

My muse? I think she's here somewhere....

Ah... my muse. I feel I should wax prophetic about her. And yet.....

Writing habits are an interesting thing. They are highly personal and yet very public. Think about it. Whether I write or not is up to me, right? I mean, I can sit at my computer and play Facebook games all day or I can open my manuscript and write a few hundred words. Who would honestly know the difference?

Well, I would. It would be obvious to me. And my family would notice. Those rare days when I actually do play hooky from writing are the inevitably the days one family member or another will ask how the story is going. Or my critique partner will want to meet on an "off-time" and I better have something to give her!

But what about those days when you just don't want to write? Or (even worse) can't think of a single thing to type? It happens to all writers — published or not, fiction or non. My friend and writer's group buddy Lori Armstrong tells of a time when she was working on one of her Julie Collins' books. According to Lori, Julie spent more than six months sitting at a stop sign at an intersection on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Lori couldn't figure out which way Julie was supposed to head. It finally occurred to Lori that Julie shouldn't be on the Reservation in the first place!

The same problem happens to reporters — especially small-circulation or just-starting-out ones. Let's get serious! How many craft sales or parades can a person cover before they can't find a new spin on the story?

I've sometimes wondered if I didn't have to share my muse with a more prolific author. Maybe sometimes she hangs out with me, and the rest of the time with someone else. Then I can blame the other writer for my few words written that day. But, if I have to be honest, I don't think that's the case. I think I just plain don't listen.

So how do I find my muse?

• Read a book. No, seriously. Sometimes all it takes to put me back on the "write" path is to read someone else's published work.
• Do a craft. I knit. I crochet. I sew. I paint. I don't do any of those super well, but I do each of them well enough to enjoy it.
• Take a walk. I try to get a walk in each day. It gives me time to think, to plan, to plot.
• Just write. How often do I stare at a blank computer screen waiting for just the right words? I've noticed that if I start typing the "wrong" words, I'll get to the point that the correct ones start to flow. Or at least I'll have something to work with!

What other ways can the muse hit? Anything I should try?

Blessings!

Nichole

Topic of the Week

"My Muse: Over-achiever or under-performer?"

Beginnings, news and something new all around...

Alot of things are going on around here this week, new beginnings (both storywise and lifewise) and surprises.  The thorn in my life aka our house remodel is well on its way to being finished.  Most of the heavy lifting stuff is done and my work list grows shorter, very slowly.  Fall is hinting at the south, meaning its wet, cool, and soggy.  I've warned the family that I fully intend to be moved in by All Hallows Eve, another beginning for us.  By that day, I'll officially be a published author, something I was still dreaming of this time last year.  Frightening Journeys will be a year old as well.  We've all come such a long way since then, ladies.  I'll leave you with two things, the beginning of Gypsy Moon and a contest to honor its October release.  Have a great week, everyone!  May life take you to wondeful new places.

Be blessed,
Beth

1. ----------------

GYPSY MOON by Brianna Roarke published by Red Rose Publishing

Pressing his snout to the wet earth, Howl breathed deep. Mmm, she was close. The musky scent of his mate lingered here, but there was more, a hunter. Hackles rose. Humans mean death. His ears pricked up as a crack broke the country silence. Hot metal burrowed deep into his flesh, pain ripped through him as he ran. An anguished howl turned to human scream as werewolf shifted into man.



Clutching his bleeding arm to his chest, Howl ground his teeth against the white-hot pain. It wasn’t often he recalled events while werewolf, but he remembered the few moments before he’d changed and being shot. How could the change have come outside of the full moon? It wasn’t like there was a guide to go by, he thought bitterly, figuring the injury was enough to shift him back into human form. Sure, let’s just drag out the old magic werewolf book and see if it says anything about silver bullets, or shifting to heal. Yeah, right.




Some will hate me for saying it, but Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, outranked by Christmas (1) and St. Patty's day (2). I think its because of all the pretend. Anyone can be anything they want on that day. I love giving away candy and helping the kids just love fall. It brings to mind cooler air, colorful leaves and football games. Halloween, though alot of people ds with their costumes, though my son is too old to go trick or treating (his rule not mine. I go every year, but I hold off on the candy. lol) and the girls are getting there. Imagine my delight when what I thought would be my second book was actually scheduled for release October 29th, before Earth Enchanted, making GYPSY MOON my first book. Werewolves and witches at Halloween? I couldn't have asked for better timing. What a treat! This month to celebrate the release of my first book I'm having a contest. Details below.

Blurb:
When witch and veterinarian Ana Brannon finds a wounded stranger in the woods surrounding her cabin, she is determined to save his life. Little does she know her gentle way with animals and powerful magic may be just what the werewolf ordered. Howl Raven is a private investigator with a past and a secret. When he shifts outside of the full moon, he finds himself at the mercy of a werewolf hunter. Can Ana’s magic help banish the wolf from his blood or will she be doomed to suffer the destiny of her mate?
CONTEST:

Help me give Gypsy Moon a spooky hello.

I'm running a contest for the October 29 release of GYPSY MOON! To enter you must do one of the following.

1. Friend me on Facebook type CONTEST in a message with your request and a contact email.

2. Sign my guestbook.   http://brynnacurrybriannaroarkebook/ s.webs.com

3. Email me at briannaroarke@wildmailcom and type CONTEST into the subject line.

(since I don't want anyone to get spammed, limit five emails per entrant)

4. Follow me on Twitter and direct message me with your contact email. (BrynnaCurry)

5. Visit http://paranormalwriters.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment on any post since 9/21/09. 

6. Visit http://brynnacurrybriannaroarkebooks.blogspot.com/ and leave me a comment along with your contact email. That's it! You will be entered to win a signed cover pic and a Halloween treat from me. Since I love Halloween, I will choose the winner that evening before I take the kids trick or treating. You may enter as often as you like and each thing you do will enter you once. The winner will be posted in all of these places and contacted privately. Thanks and good luck.

Born of blood, sweat and tears.

Growing up in a mixed religious home, we celebrated a lot of different holidays. I tended to ignore the assumption most kids had that Hanukkah was the Jewish Christmas until a few years ago when for some reason the same folks seems to feel that Christmas had come under fire. Let's face it, the USA is a multiracial nation with a multitude of faiths, and while the majority may be Chritian at the moment, that won't last forever. It's the way of the world. Jews understand this more than anyone.

So, I pestered the cantor and the Rabbi for stories. And yes, I can be a pain in the nether regions at times. The tale of the first Hannukah was really a frightening one. It was one of war, slavery, and a window on an era when the Hebrew people were fighting not only for the right to worship as they wanted, but for the land they occupy today.

When we are born, it is in a torrent of water, blood, fear and pain. Water from the rush of amniotic fluid, blood from our mother and the severing of the cord, fear of leaving the womb and the new, huge world, and the pain of being slapped coupled with the chill of the cold air hitting our delicate nostrils and lungs for the first time. Yet mothers don't focus on the pain or the exhaustion, just the image of their newborn's face as it is placed in their arms, the scent of their skin, the weight in their arms, the joy beating in their hearts.

In a similiar way, many holy days for the Jewish people were born; two of which are my favorites - Purim (I hope to do a story on one day) and Hanukkah - showcased in Festival of Lights. In Festival of Lights it is the rainy season, a time a Hebrew prays for, to nourish the earth for an abundance of crops and lush fields for stock in the next year. There was blood, as the leader of the Maccabees, who had studied the guerilla-style warfare of a certain horse-riding nomadic clan, gathered his diasporic army from the desert to launch the same sort of pitched battles against the Seleucids (Greeks). People ran through the streets of Jerusalem in fear, not knowing if a neighbor was friend or foe until the Maccabee forces came up with the idea to put hammers (translation of Maccabee) on their tunics, something only fellow Jews would understand. Despite the pain of injuries, the loss of tens of thousands of lives, the Jews chose to remember not the military victory, not the eviction of the Seleucids/pagans from the temple but the Miracle of the Oil. The eight days and seven nights where the light in the temple burned, purifying hearts, minds and the building alike with a flask of oil that should have lasted only a few short hours.

When I wrote the story I had an author's note that got scrapped, I'd like to post here:

Many things mentioned in this story have been lost to the mists of time. However, there are a few things of which we are certain.

The Scythians lived throughout what is now the Middle East and in small enclaves in modern-day Crimea. They were a fierce nomadic warrior people who fought on horseback from 1,000 B.C.E until they disappeared. They were greatly feared and admired but their stories were confused by the Greeks (Herodotus) and intermingled with the fear of the Huns until they finally scared the fledgling Christian tribes into the creation of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
How does this fit in with a story on the first Hanukkah? Very simple, Hanukkah is another holiday whose precise story is lost to the mists of time. The most popular is the account of the Maccabees overthrowing the Seleucid Empire attended by the Miracle of the Oil. To this day, Hanukkah is still considered a “new” Jewish holiday, despite its ancient origins.

Now, how are the two really related? One of the oldest bloodlines of the Jews, those originating from the ancestral lands of Judah, is the Ashkenazi. By their name, they are a blend of the Ashken or Ishkuzi race, namely the Scythians, who joined by religious conversion or marriage with the Hebrew. Again, definitive proof has been lost. Some dispute the notion, stating Ashken relates only to the Diaspora and the Hebrew word for Germany. It is solely the whimsy of this writer that sets a definitive date and time for her romantic notion.

It's the year 167 BCE and the practice of Jewish faith has been outlawed in Jerusalem by the Hellenic overlords the Seleucids. Hoping to protect his aspiring Rabbi son, Jacob, Moshe makes a most unusual purchase at the Syrian slave markets - a female Scythian warrior.

Saka Ishkuzi has known nothing but deprivation, battle and harsh extremes of icy mountains and sand dunes. Her background forged the perfect weapon. But the biggest battle wouldn't be protecting the aspiring Rabbi Jacob's life but her heart from his gentle touch.

Return in time to the first Hanukkah to witness miracles of faith and love.

Beginnings...

The opening paragraph, or even sentence, in any book will set the tone for that book, and lay down certain expectations for the reader. No one likes a weak opening. It’s like a limp handshake—sweaty, boneless, and something you can’t wait to get away from at the first opportunity.

Consider these openers:

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea." – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

“Marley was dead to begin with.” -- A Christmas Carol

“Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.” – Gone with the Wind

Consider a book’s opening very much like a pick-up line. If it doesn’t grab you or is charming and exciting, your interest probably won’t be captured and you’ll walk away to be potentially tempted by a new one.

Here’s the opening paragraph for my work-in-progress:

Brilliant light from the Harvest Moon streamed through the window, competing with the weak glow from the candle on her worktable. Rachel Goode snipped off the last thread and placed the scissors into a basket near her elbow.

Finished.

Standing, she shook out the length of the black velvet, pleased with how the dress had turned out. Round, full skirt that fell to the floor in elegant waves, faint glimmers of silver thread gleamed in the folds. The bodice was a masterpiece of scooped neck trimmed with runic symbols in the same silver thread, designed to catch an admiring gaze.

Kinda cool and spooky and intriguing. Well, I don’t really know if I like it yet…

Beginnings.

The thesis paper of your whole novel. But nothing beats them. From the moment I type the opening sequence of a story, I feel such a rush, this wonderful can’t-be-beat feeling that I’m hovering on the verge of quite possibly the most wild ride I’ve ever created. I can’t wait to see where my characters go, why they get into trouble, how they’ll get out of it, when will they kiss, is there going to be a happy ending?

Sigh.

Just one of the aspects of writing that I love. So, as I post this blog, I’m rounding the end of chapter one with this newest novella with high hopes and even higher expectations. See you at the end.

What’s the best opening of one of your favorite books you’ve read or written?