Joely Sue Burkhart

I’m getting ready to leave extremely dark and early in the morning for our vendor in Birmingham.  I need to get to the airport around 5:30 a.m., and it’s about a 30 minute drive…so we won’t try to fit in our traditional breakfast at IHOP.  I’m going to try and carry on one small bag and my EDJ laptop.  I’ve studied all the new restrictions, so hopefully I didn’t pack anything illegal.  The only question, really, is whether the plane I’m catching to Memphis will be big enough to allow carry on baggage.  (I’ve been on a few of those crop dusters that make you check everything planeside.)

I’m not taking my personal laptop this time, so I don’t know how much I’ll be able to check in.  I’m hoping the hotel has free wi-fi so I can at least check my e-mail regularly.  With agent e-queries in progress, I’ll be gnawing my fingers to the knuckle if I can’t check in and see if any news is unfolding in my inbox!

The hardest part of this whole trip…is picking my plane books.  I’m pretty sure it’ll be Omega Games by S.L. Viehl on the way down…and Twilight Fall on the way home.    I’ve been saving them for a special occasion.

Shocking I know.  We’ve all been slightly under the weather.  I wouldn’t say I’ve been sick exactly, but I’ve only had 3 cups of coffee today instead of 3 gallons as usual.  Okay, maybe not gallons, but my favorite Caribou hasn’t been tasting that great.

I’ve been trying to get back to the dark and early schedule, and while I did make it several days…I’ve been too out of it to get much done.  Last night and tonight I just let myself read.  I finished both BloodAngel and Lord of Bones by Justine Musk.  Pretty good reads, athough I did have a few quibbles.  I would definitely read another set in this world if there’s one in the works (couldn’t tell from her website, and Uninvited looks like a different series).

To make matters worse about feeling out of it, I have a work trip coming up.  I leave very, very early Sunday morning for a few days in Birmingham.  I think it’ll be an interesting trip, but I’ve only rarely ever gone there without my dear friend Wanda.  What will I do without a nice long trip to Barnes & Noble for reading material on the flight back?  (It’s sort of a joke–no matter how many books I bring, I always think I need to buy another book or two to tie me over.)  I’ll be packing very, very light–hoping to carry on one small bag and laptop only–so I don’t know how many books I’ll be able to squirrel away. 

I can’t share a Friday Snippet this week.  I have a section I could share from my background work on the Mayan story this week, but it gives away some key elements of my worldbuilding.  Maybe next week I’ll have a less crucial section I could share.  Wanda has given me some invaluable first-hand information about swimming in a cenote that I can’t wait to use.

Have you read a really good book lately?  Anything going on in your neck of the woods?

[Edited to Add:  Sorry, the formatting got all messed up.  That’s what I get for writing it in a Word doc and trying to post it.]

In talking with Debra about Laurell K. Hamilton’s recent Blood Noir, something stuck in my brain that I wanted to talk about.

Crossing lines.

I think that’s why I loved LKH so much in the beginning.  Anita Blake crossed lines.  She shot people when she got mad, even if it worsened the situation.  She killed without hesitation to protect her friends or the innocent.   From the very first book, she faced a dilemma:  would the feared Executioner help a vampire, Jean Claude, or watch him die?   After all, the only good vamp is one with a stake in his heart, right?

This trend of crossing lines continued in later books.   Would Anita kill a human “sacrifice” to raise zombies?  (The Laughing Corpse to stop the voodoo queen)  Would Anita stoop to torturing someone?  (Blue Moon to save Richard’s mother.)  Would Anita do Jean Claude?  (The Killing Dance after seeing Richard eat Marcus)  Would she do more than one guy?  Would she do Nathaniel?  Would she…

Lines, limits, boundaries:  and LKH took her over every single one of them. 

The sex didn’t bother me, because those scenes (initially) continued the line-crossing theme.  I mean, look at my favorite question:  what’s the WORST thing that could happen to this character?  Force Anita to have sex to survive!  It’s actually sort of hilarious when you think about how she so innocently started dating Richard…

(Aside:  that is one thing I never actually bought.  After how she “met” Richard–why on earth did she consent to date him?  How could she NOT know he couldn’t possibly be a friendly neighborhood normal teacher if he’s naked in a vampire’s BED?)

However, there are a few lines that came up–lines that *should* have been examined and crossed–and LKH failed.  Either she let Anita handle those lines off scene–

• dealing with Asher and Jean-Claude’s relationship–oh, I was robbed of that!  I wanted to watch her squirm!

–or she fluffed over it so badly that I felt let down

• dealing with Nathaniel’s needs as a masochist submissive;
• giving blood to Jean-Claude in a non-emergency situation and having a good time doing it.  Hey, if you’re going to write about vamps and blood, at least let them ENJOY doing what they do.

Anita never took care of Nathaniel.  Not like he needed.  She never took care of Asher.  Even lovely Jean-Claude gets the short end of the stick over and over.  Those were lines that Anita *should* have crossed.  LKH fans have put up with a LOT because of these characters we love.  Cross the lines, definitely–to take care of these characters!  That’s what we loved about the series all along.

Instead, we get more sex scenes, more partners, more powers unleashed.  Anita has become invincible.  Even the Mother of All Darkness wants a piece of her. 

What line is left to cross? 

And yet I still kept reading.  Why?  Because of her characters.

However, it sounds like LKH may have crossed an unforgivable line for me this time.  I’ve heard that Nathaniel disregards Anita’s safe word in Blood Noir (no, I haven’t read it for myself–I’m afraid to).  I have two problems with this. 

1. We’ve lost what I personally always loved about Nathaniel.  He was a bottom with no limits.  He could take any pain and find pleasure in it.  Nothing would keep a bad top from killing him.  That’s why Narcissus wanted him so badly, and quite honestly, why Anita was so scared of him.  What if SHE hurt him?  What if she ENJOYED hurting him?  Now, magically, Nathaniel has “grown” into a dominant?  Enough to dominate Anita Blake?  Hmmm.  Not buying it, sorry.  I could buy him being more powerful as a leopard in her tri-power thingie, but I just don’t see him getting over his physical needs at the drop of a hat.  That makes ANITA/LKH feel better, not Nathaniel.
2. The safe word is sacred.  It’s the ultimate symbol of trust between a dominant and a submissive.  Even if I bought that Nathaniel could–and wanted to–top Anita, I don’t believe he’d just toss the word right out the window.  And when has LKH ever covered the safe word?  Has she, and I just can’t remember?  Did Nathaniel ever tell Anita his–not that he’d ever use it?  In all reality, that should be one of the FIRST things a couple beginning a BDSM relationship would discuss. 

From various fan forums, I knew Anita had already messed up the BDSM elements pretty badly.  This, if true, takes the cake, dashes it on the floor, and stomps sickly sweet icing all over the house.

Nathaniel was my favorite character.  I even read Micah just to get to that little scene at the end with Nathaniel!  I admit that he was the original inspiration for Sal and even touched Gregar, the sadist/masochist who has no limits (tossed in with a little of Gabriel, remember him?).  Gregar would feel pleasure in any pain, even his death.  He would also enjoy giving pain to Shannari, especially her death. 

HE HAS NO LIMITS. 

I can’t cheat that.  I can’t fake it.  I tried, believe me.  Gregar dragged me across that line, kicking and screaming all the way.  Do you think I *wanted* to write a love scene between two characters who could literally love each other to death?  How do you let them be together, and yet attempt to save them both?  Who could keep them both from slipping into darkness forever, murdering each other in their love?  (You’ll have to wait for Road to find out)

So please, say it ain’t so, LKH.  Say you didn’t take my favorite character and ruin him.  I love your line crossing.  You inspired me to cross my own lines.  But there’s a difference between crossing a line–because it’s the TRUTH–and crossing a line because it’s EASIER than the truth.

If you broke Nathaniel…then I’m afraid I’ve got a line to cross, too.

Right through your name.

Have any of you read Blood Noir?  Can you confirm or dispute the whole safe word issue?

Alright, I cheated a little.  I actually had TWO copies to give away.  So the winners of the signed S.L. Viehl Omega Games giveaway are:

Teresa Warner, who e-mailed me to enter, and

Ann!

Congratulations, winners.  I will get your prizes mailed out hopefully this week, although I suck at getting stuff to the post office.  Just ask Bethanie.

I had a nice post all written up and my computer wonked out and all I got was garbage. Hopefully this post will go through better.

I have three projects in the queue this month.  I’m not going to set priority–I’ll take whatever work I can get on any of them.  All are in the worldbuilding, plotting, building stage, although I’m hoping to work back toward 1K a day new words, either in backstory or world bible. 

• Mayan urban fantasy
• ANTs, the followup to Letters
• Given in Fire, the other Keldari novella

I’m working back toward the dark and early routine now that the monsters are back in school; however, worldbuilding doesn’t always go well that early in the morning.  I’ll write possible scenes, backstory, etc. as needed, with the goal of hitting full speed in October on a formal first draft.  I hope that will be the Mayan story, but it’s big, real big, and I might not be ready to.  We’ll see what I can get pulled together.

What are your goals for this month?

I hope you’re having a terrific holiday weekend–if you’re in America.  I’m praying Gustav leaves New Orleans and Mississippi as unscathed as possible.

Writing wise, it was a pretty productive week, although I didn’t generate “new words.”  I’m in two separate writing stages now:  submission and building. 

The submission stage for Letters is going well, if only I’d quit reading it over and over and over…and tweaking it!  Just a word here or there…  I did make a small necessary adjustment to my synopsis–a huge opportunity to tie the title to the big dark moment/climax at the end on which I failed to capitalize–and realized I’d missed a perfectly good opportunity to play with “teacher’s pet,” which I quickly fixed.  Now it’s sit back, wait, and print packages as needed.

As for building, I made incredible progress on the Mayan story this weekend.  Of all people, I actually got a lot of help from That Man.  Shocking, I know.  But his favorite show, Prison Break, is coming back on soon, and it’s been on my mind.  I could write up a whole long post on the incredible twists and turns of that show.  Not an episode goes by that I don’t exclaim, “I hate this show!” I’m exhausted after watching it.  Yet every single character is a study in gray areas, and the action is intense.  One week, the villain tries to kill one of the stars–the next week, he’s the only person who can give them what they need.  Literally, the “good guys” change from week to week, and you can never discount anyone.

I want to put some of that intricate ambiguity in the Mayan story.  Who are the “bad guys” and who can Jaid trust?  Very few, actually.  I also realized that I need more characters.  NSR was strictly romance and played with a rather small cast.  Only 3 POV characters, too.  That’s not nearly enough to carry this new story.

I was making casting calls like crazy, saving pictures for people I don’t even know yet, other than the image captured my imagination, but I was quickly getting overwhelmed.  I have so many “camps” of characters–and the threads were too muddled.  I’ve tried just about every writing software package out there, and many other organizational tools, but nothing works for me.

I finally set up a new private wordpress blog just for this project, and it’s actually working pretty well.  I created a category for each character, and as I gathered an image or made a decision about him/her, I captured it in a blog entry.  What makes this story incredibly complex is all the backstory.  NSR is backstory, plus I added tons for Jaid’s father today.  His story about how he met Gilly, Jaid’s mother, and became friends with Sam Gerard, could almost make its own story. 

Really, my vision for this story has changed so much.  NSR was just the tip of the iceberg, and as I gather new data for the bigger picture, I realize how much I limited myself in that first draft.

This time, I’m busting right through that ceiling and going for the very tip top of the ceiba tree.

This month is my writing birthday.  I’ll turn five years old the last week of September.  So 9/1 has always been a sort of “new year” for me.  I plan to get busy writing new words tomorrow (well today, because it’s nearly 1 a.m.), even though it’ll all be backstory from 20+ years ago.  Cool stuff that will give me the depth I need and set up my version of the “Company.”

I’ll post stated goals for September next.

Guys, Lynn Viehl aka Paperback Writer runs the COOLEST contests and giveaways.  A year or more ago, she ran a contest to name the new Varallan ship for her StarDoc series, and I was stunned, awed, amazed when she picked Moonfire, my suggestion!  She’s sent me so many cool things since then, including several SIGNED copies of Omega Games to give away myself.

So for this Labor Day holiday weekend, I’m honored to be able to offer S.L. Viehl’s Omega Games, signed, here on the blog.  To enter, simply comment on this blog entry before midnight CST, Monday, September 1st.  Alternatively, you may e-mail me once with subject line S.L. Viehl’s Omega Games at joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com.

Anyone on the planet may enter, even if you’ve won something from me before.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

This is the last snippet I’ll share from Letters.  This is one of the new scenes (from the final third of the story) with Mason, the math professor, that totally cracks me up.  I took a look at the alien goth short story, and I just can’t share it without some serious work.  My style and voice have changed too much since I wrote it.  What’s scary is that I only wrote it a little over a year ago.  That’s what happens when editors get ahold of you!  (And that’s a *very* good thing.)

“I need your help.” Conn gripped the phone between his chin and shoulder, ignoring Mason’s sleepy groans and mumbles. Yeah, it was early Saturday morning, but they were supposed to drive to Joplin for a Renaissance Festival later today anyway. “Tell me how to get into my campus e-mail.”

“Who’s dead?” Mason shouted and something crashed so loudly that Conn winced. “Is Miss Belle alright? You know the ambulance can find that old barn without you risking the apocalypse by dipping a toe in the internet, right?”

He swallowed hard, fighting for control. His eyes burned from reading all night. He would’ve been riveted to Rae’s letters any day, but as soon as he’d found the CD in the purse that she’d left behind once again, he’d done nothing but read with a growing sense of dread. He’d cursed so loudly he’d scared the dogs, laughed a few times, and yeah, he’d shed a few tears, too, although he’d never admit it to anyone but her.

If he ever found her again. “Rae left. The last time she ran, she e-mailed me and I never knew.”

“Oh, no, I’m sorry. I thought…” Mason cleared his throat. “I would have given you two a very high probability of living the happily ever after. What happened?”

Again, nothing he could admit to anyone but her.  “Can you help me?”

Of course, Mason, mathematician and numerical analysis programmer, could and did assist even the most computer-illiterate professor at Drury onto the internet, to no avail. She hadn’t e-mailed.

“Did you ever learn where she’d been?” Mason asked.

Conn flipped open his wallet and took out her business card. He’d already called her cell, but she’d left it in her purse here. That’s how he’d found the dainty white bag in the first place. That purse was so unlike her, so utterly un-Rae. He should’ve insisted she toss the thing in the garbage and pick out her own purse instead of carrying around Miss Belle’s suggestion.

If he ever saw Rae again, he’d burn the damned thing himself. He’d burn that CD, too, watch it melt into a black pancake, and he’d hold her against his heart until every single dark memory had finally been blazed away by his love. “I have her company name and phone number. I’ll start by finding out where her office is and backtrack.”

 “Miss Belle–”

“I already asked her before I called you, but she was too busy rushing off to help her cook through her husband’s funeral today.” In fact, Miss Belle had tartly told him he’d gotten exactly what he deserved, and then she’d shoved a pink parasol into his hands and demanded he give it to Rae and beg her to beat some sense into him. He’d do so willingly, if she’d come back.

“You really do love her.” Mason didn’t sound pleased, though, not at all. His voice quivered, and if Conn didn’t know better, he’d swear his friend was gearing up for a monumental display of ire. The slow-burners were always the loudest when they exploded, as his father had testified. “I hate what she’s doing to you. You don’t deserve this, Conn. She’s got you running endless laps on a Mobius strip! You’ll never get to the other side, don’t you see?”

“I deserve it,” Conn said flatly. “I scared her. I hurt her. She was fully justified in running both times. But I refuse to wait another five years before begging her forgiveness. Checking my e-mail is only the first of my penance.”

“I’ll be damned. I never thought the great Dr. Connagher who bemoaned the loss of true poetry in this weary world would ever join the twenty-first century. I’ll help you find her just to see if she can convince you to start a Romantic Poetry blog.”

“Balderdash,” Conn retorted, stealing Miss Belle’s favorite word. “By the way, I’ll have to cancel our demonstration today. So how do I find her?”

“Have you ever heard of Google?”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

No matter how much you dread it and put it off, chances are, eventually, you’ll have to write the dreaded synopsis.  I’m far from an expert.  I hate them as much as anyone else.  However, these are a few things that helped me spank a synopsis for Letters (giggles, get it?) into shape.  Is it a good one?  I have no idea.  I’ll share a few pieces of it, but not the whole thing.  If you do want to read the whole thing, e-mail me privately at joelysueburkhart AT gmail.com.  I could use the input!

1.  Provide visual stimulation and inspiration.  Conn was always played by Clive Owen.  Here’s a nice happy Conn.

2.  Brainstorm, cluster, or make a list of a few key words and phrases that mean something very specific for your story.  This may be the key theme, a recurring metaphor, or simply some words you associate with the characters.  For Letters, I had:

• run, running away, leaving 
• Making it Right - Rae’s slogan
• saying “no”, unable to say “no”
• The Fix-It Lady
• Restoration project
• Letters
• Professor, which gave me
• test, finals week, make-up exam, pop quizzes, pass/fail, grades, extra credit… all things I played on through the story, and of course
• poetry, since Conn’s an English professor who gives Rae very…interesting…pop quizzes.  *winks*

3.  Write a 1-3 sentence “hook”.  Mine came from the opening paragraph of Letters and I used a version of it in the query as well as the synopsis. 

Five years ago, RAE JACKSON fell hard for her English professor, and on the last day of class, Dr. Connagher gave her a test she’ll never forget. 

He bent her over his desk, spanked her, and gave her the best orgasm of her life.

4. Write a paragraph or three about your protagonist.  Think about the key struggle your character has to overcome, or the key set up for the story.  This could be the Ordinary World, or simply the main conflict of the story.  Since Letters is so strongly character driven, I spent a few paragraphs setting up the key internal conflicts Rae faces as the story opens:

Even more frightening, she realized she would likely let him do any damned thing he wanted.  What if she couldn’t tell him no?  Terrified of the stark, overwhelming need she felt for him, she used the excuse of a family emergency to leave college.  Afraid the sound of his sexy Texas drawl alone could convince her to return, she wrote him a letter and e-mailed it, although she knew the most computer-illiterate professor on campus would never read it.  

She tried to move on with her life, even married someone else, but she couldn’t forget Dr. Connagher.  She couldn’t forget what happened in his office.

Weeks, months, even years fly by, and she continues to write him letters that she never mails.  Those letters help her through her father’s debilitating accident, a rocky marriage, and ultimately, divorce, until Dr. Connagher is so deeply embedded in her heart and soul she’s afraid she built him up to impossible heights in her mind. 

Surely she hadn’t really come so hard on his desk.  Surely she hadn’t needed him so badly.  Surely she couldn’t still love him after all these years. 

Surely she’d never see him again.

I’ll admit the verb tense switch above is a bit awkward, but I had to transition from “five years ago” to the “now” as the story opens.  Hopefully it works okay.  Other than introductory paragraphs for each character, the rest of the synopsis is written in current tense. 

I also highlighted the key phrases so you can see how I start sticking them in.  Remember the synopsis isn’t about your voice so much as getting the core story components down in black and white.  Do aliens show up in chapter twenty?  Do you kill the hero and call this a romance?  These are the sort of concerns an agent or editor may have as they read your synopsis.  Does it all MAKE SENSE?  Did you carry the story from start to end or fumble in the last quarter? 

You don’t want descriptions, flowery phrases, etc. but you *can* and *should* showcase the special little elements that make your story unique. 

5.  If you’re writing romance, write a paragraph or so to introduce the love interest.  I tried to keep this briefer since Conn’s journey isn’t as significant as Rae’s.

CONN [DR. VERRILL CONNAGHER] never forgot the one student who gave him a big fat “F” on the greatest test of his life. A semester of polite and proper flirting took its toll, and on the last day of finals, he made the biggest mistake of his life. He lost control. For a dominant man like him, that’s a bitter pill to swallow. He’s spent five years worrying about Rae, regretting his mistakes, and praying for one more chance.

6. Write a paragraph or so on the inciting incident.  What kicks this story off to a rousing start?  What sets the opposition in motion?  How does everything fall apart for the protagonist?

Thanks to MISS BELLE, his eccentric grandmother who deliberately hires Rae to restore her Civil War era Missouri plantation, Beulah Land, into a Bed and Breakfast, Conn faces the make-up exam of his life.  When he drags his long-lost student out from beneath Miss Belle’s porch, Rae is just as scared as she was five years ago, but she can’t deny the truth.  She still wants him, more than ever.

As the “Fix-It Lady”, Rae might have signed the contract to restore Beulah Land, but she doesn’t know if it’s even possible to restore her relationship with Conn.  This is her chance to make things right with the one man she could never forget.

7.  Whew, take a break!  Restore your visual well with another bit of inspiration.

8.  Now, skip to the black moment and crisis of the story.  How does everything go bad?  When is the story at its lowest point?  Try to capture all those emotions, all that turmoil, into a paragraph or three.  I’m only going to show a bit of this part, but I think the emotion comes through loud and clear.

She tells him no, gets her safe word out, but she wants nothing to do with his comforting and leaves. She’s so afraid that he’ll ask again–as her ex-husband did–and she won’t be able to tell Conn no. She never loved her ex like she loves Conn, but she gave in to those demands and ended up hurt and betrayed. If Conn asks, she surely won’t–can’t–refuse and will end up hating herself, and eventually him, as much as she hates her ex-husband.

9. It’s important to specify the ending of the story FULLY in the synopsis.  No tricks or “surprises.”  If you try to be sneaky and leave out the end, this Conn may need to come spank YOU.

 For Letters, the key conflict/resolution of Rae’s journey is summarized as:

She finally did it.  She told him no, and he listened.  She really can trust him.  More, she can finally trust herself. 

Conn makes a promise:  Rae can run whenever she needs to, as long as she meets him right here in his bed.  He’ll be Dr. Fix-It and fix whatever he screwed up.

10. Now, depending on how long you want the synopsis to be (a good length for me personally is around 4 pages), you can start adding other little details and events to round out the story and characters.  I added Miss Belle, showed the developing romance, hinted at smoldering poetry lessons, and hopefully intrigued with little bits of humor and character quirks.  Polish, smooth, add transitions as needed, but you’ve got the most important elements down.

A hundred pages could be condensed with:

What ensues is the most agonizingly arousing “finals week” of Conn’s entire life. He’s determined to prove to Rae once and for all that she can trust him, and most of all, she can trust herself. By day, Rae works on Miss Belle’s house, and by night, she spends time with Conn, survives his smoldering poetry quizzes, and falls more in love with him.

 

Extra Credit (hehe, that’s a key element in Letters too):  write a one-page synopsis.  I know you can do it.  Instead of writing paragraphs for each of the parts above, write ONE SENTENCE.  Then smooth with words or phrases, instead of transition summaries or paragraphs.  It’s tough, but it can be done.

Dr. Connagher is very, very pleased with you.

Do you have any useful links or suggestions for writing the dreaded synopsis?

Remember “the Plan” I defined…what…Sunday night?  I never expected *I* might be the one who gets sick.  Middle Monster has been fighting the fall allergy/barky cough/sore throat/cold thing and she shared the wealth with me.  I’m not too sick for coffee yet and have some Zycam (sp?) stashed away somewhere.  I have a business trip in about a week, so I can’t get sick.

As I said, I’m switching gears to the Mayan urban fantasy.  Despite having tons of worldbuilding and background character development (since I’ve written basically 65K of backstory with NSR), I’m really starting from ground zero again.  It’s back to the drawing board for raw data.  I love this stage of writing — there’s something so infectous about brainstorming Story, the back-and-forth volley of “what if” and “how” and … Oh, wow, that is so cool!

One technique I use that I don’t think I mentioned so much in the recent series of plotting posts is how I brainstorm.  I thank Mr. Baker for this technique, my high school art and freshman English teacher, who also taught me all of the Greek prefix/suffixes I still play with.  (Hello, “mythomorphoses” anyone?)  I’ve also heard it called clustering.  Some might call it Mind Mapping.  While I do have FreeMind on my computer, it doesn’t work for this stage (for me).  I need pencil, paper, and the act of scribbling bubbles and doodling on the page for the magic to happen.

Don’t discount this technique as being too artsy/fartsy.  It really can work.  Sometimes it’s the motion of my hand, the freer process instead of typing, that shakes story loose for me.  When all else fails, change pens or paper, too.  Don’t laugh.  Color (ink or paper) and texture (paper) can stimulate other parts of your brain, too, that aren’t so linear and analytical.  I always studied with colored pens to keep my brain awake and as a very anal compulsive obsessive perfectionist, I practially majored in studying.

Brainstorming can be as easy as starting with a key word, character, or question, and draw a bubble around it.  Then play a kind of word association game.  You can truly do the “no thought” answer and simply jot any word that comes to mind.  I’ve actually gotten some fairly interesting connections that way, although it’s a rather ”elementary” beginning to this process.  I like to get more specific with this technique and ask tailored questions to get to the heart of my character or plot.

For the Mayan story, I started with my general group of antagonists.  I drew a bubble for their goal and spelled that out in 3 little words.  Then I began asking:  why?  how?  when?  what does that mean?  Part of the natural process led to a second group of people in the story that are in direct opposition (independent of the protagonist).  I’ll start a new page for their goals, but I thought the immediate intersection of two opposite groups was pretty cool.  I like direct opposition.  Conflict is good.

And at the very middle of that intersection, I found Ruin.  Hmmm.  No, he’s not the protagonist either–I fully expected to find Jaid at the intersection, trapped between a rock and a hard place, literally.  In fact, I wasn’t even sure if he’d still be around.  Remember this little tidbit later after you read the serialization of NSR…

Off to bed and hopefully this cold won’t get any worse.

I’ll bet someone back east is going, “Now why don’t he write?” 
~ Timmons from Dances with Wolves. 

Middle Monster absolutely fell in love with this movie over the weekend.  She loved the horses and buffalo.  After sending out the first wave of queries on Letters, I keep seeing this scene in my mind, where Timmons is pointing to the dead person loaded with arrows.  Irrational, I know, but as soon as I hit “send” on a query, this is what comes into my mind.  Even if it’s a rejection, I want to know now, quick, soon, why haven’t I heard??? 

The waiting game sucks bracken swamp water. 

In nearly five years of writing and submitting, I’ve seen quite a few rejection form letters from agents.  I know they work really hard to convey ”no thanks” without being demeaning or negative in any way, because we’ve all heard that it only takes one yes.  ONE.  That’s it.  So the old “this isn’t for me” isn’t meant as a lame platitude.  Even when our name becomes “author.”

Seriously, though, I think they’re all working way too hard.  In the end, all I really want is a quick response. 

Dear Author:  No.  Agent.

or

Dear Author:  Send x.  Agent.

or even better

Dear Joely:  Sign here.  DREAM AGENT.

See?  I’m easy to please.