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Post by Divides the Waters on Feb 13, 2012 18:39:51 GMT -5
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Post by Kessie on Feb 13, 2012 18:59:59 GMT -5
@yoda: I've been reworking that particular story, and it's almost 100% different from the draft on the website now. It's sooo much better.
@j2: Urban fantasy is just fantasy set in modern day. Fablehaven, Dresden, and to an extent, Harry Potter are all modern/urban fantasy. One could argue that all superhero stories are, too. I'm going with Urban fantasy for this series, because they're running around Phoenix, AZ, and it's, well, urban.
It's not quite done yet (rewriting the climax), but when it's readable I'll be up for tossing it to people for reading.
Also, the Echoing Green is win and awesome. :-) Their creepy song Blind is the theme song of the villain monster.
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Post by yoda47 on Feb 13, 2012 19:15:43 GMT -5
Kessie: I thought I heard you say you've been working on that one, but I couldn't remember if it was that one or the sequel you refered to... Can't wait to read the updated one! (You should post it on Smashwords though...)
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Torrias
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Post by Torrias on Feb 13, 2012 19:47:54 GMT -5
I love Echoing Green's "Suffer," and a fan video made for it first introduced me to the TV miniseries "Tin Man," which proved to be freaking awesome in most regards. Love the words to "Beautiful," but didn't like the music as much.
I'd offer to swap manuscripts, but since getting back into my writing after that long hiatus, I'm reworking so much it's not funny. Anything I could send would have to come with the warning that it's very old writing and a good bit of it is already on the block, lol.
RE: not killing off characters because you might lose certain readers....It's up to each writer what's most important to them and why, and I'm not making any judgments on that, but personally, I like the idea of simply writing---prayerfully---what I truly believe needs to be there and if I get readership, awesome; if not, ok, it wasn't in God's will. Understand I'm not saying that as an ARTIST who refuses to "sell out," but as someone who believes I have something to say, a story to tell, led by the Holy Spirit and for His pleasure. Something He created me for the purpose of saying. I really do have an audience of two at most (including myself), and I believe that would apply to any kind of work I might do---even to life itself---not only to writing. And that's only a very recent shift of attitude and understanding for me, and something I'd needed badly for many years; I'd always had a bit of an addiction to praise/approval from the created rather than the Creator. The change is totally a gift from God, not an attitude I worked myself around into, or an ungodly disdain for other people's likes and sensitivities. It's working wonders in my ongoing project as well as my life.
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Post by Kessie on Feb 13, 2012 20:30:46 GMT -5
@yoda: I'm bouncing around between three stories right now. The first one sucked me in and I wound up rewriting it from scratch. It'll break a nice 60k words when I'm done, I think. If you post something on Smashwords, can you later take it down if you want to pursue publication with a publisher? I'd like to someday get these made into real books with real editors vetting them. Torrias: Oh, just wait until you're ready to show your baby off. Mine's not ready yet, either.
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Post by yoda47 on Feb 13, 2012 20:33:59 GMT -5
Yeah, you can take it down at any time, you retain all rights, you can change the price at any time, they're really flexable.
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Torrias
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Post by Torrias on Feb 13, 2012 21:15:37 GMT -5
The only caveat I'd give for publishing anything online when you might later want to publish in print is that some publishers only want things that haven't been published before. But I'd imagine there are also those who don't care, or who'd be fine with it once it's further revised/updated.
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Post by Kessie on Feb 13, 2012 21:40:56 GMT -5
Torrias: About writing for an audience of One (or two): That's an admirable attitude that I've been trying to cultivate, myself. I've been reading my Bible and telling God that I have an ulterior motive for doing it. I want inspiration for writing. But he's blessed me so much through reading the Bible daily, I don't think He minds my ulterior motive much. As for killing off characters ... if the story needs the hero to die, then by all means, kill him off. Some stories require that to make their point. (Some post-apoc and bad future stories end that way to make a point ... remember how Brave New World ended?) The only time I've killed off my heroes was sending the hero to an alternate future where he either sees himself (and his family) die, or learns how they died and sees his devastated friends. (And then he has to go back to his own time to keep that from happening.) But I'm not writing dystopian or morality fiction (or whatever you call Brave New World and those other whistleblowing science fiction books). I'm just writing stories about people with magic powers who fumble around in their personal lives, screwing stuff up, and trying to save the world somehow, too. I don't want to kill off people in stories like that.
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Post by Divides the Waters on Feb 13, 2012 22:09:35 GMT -5
"Because it's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die. And then dies. But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive?"
Kay Eiffel, Stranger than Fiction
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Post by Kessie on Feb 13, 2012 22:26:32 GMT -5
@divides: YES. *like*
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Torrias
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Post by Torrias on Feb 14, 2012 14:05:31 GMT -5
Eh...Yes, someone that I personally would want to keep alive (heck, the world needs more people like Christ living in it, not just dying out of it), but it may not be what the story calls for, and his/her death may save an awful lot of other people, even him/herself. "He who loses his life for My sake will find it." So I agree as far as that quote goes, lol. Jesus did die, after all, and it was absolutely integral to the story (history itself being a story that we haven't yet reached the end of). God's just the ultimate expert at turning tragedy around into amazing comedy. I think that's probably the foundation of what I personally want to emulate in my own fractured imitation of my Father as storyteller. That concept of eucatastrophe even in the worst and most hopeless-seeming of situations. Especially where the dyscatastrophe itself is turned inside out. And I see distinct possibilities for character deaths---main or secondary characters---to be used in such a way, to provide positive reading experiences, or at least ones that turn out to be positive, and much more strongly than if the death hadn't occurred.
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Post by Kessie on Feb 14, 2012 15:52:59 GMT -5
Torrias: That's true, depending on your story. I just can't afford to kill my main characters because I have a boatload of stories planned for them.
Besides, my hubby would string me up if I killed any of his characters. :-D
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Post by Kessie on Feb 20, 2012 22:20:17 GMT -5
Oh rats, I'm such a hypocrite. I'm outlining the backstory of a character who has died in my series so far. Except in her story, she's the main character and accomplishes some important things.
So now her death in the other story has taken on ominous import. Through her death, she defeats her enemy she has battled throughout her own story, a faceless mastermind of events. She "Xanatos Gambit"s him.
So even though she dies (in chess terms, she has to sacrifice the queen in order to take the king), she ultimately triumphs.
But that spans at least two stories. I'm not killing her on camera, and I'm afraid I'm going to become very attached to her.
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