Taco Tuesday isn't just for hoomans
Happy Taco Tuesday, imgur!
~Happy Tuesday~
yadseuT ocaT
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
5T Tossup
Taco Tuesday or Tuna Tuesday? You decide!
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
3T Writing Tidbit
Show, don't tell. Sick of it yet?
I just have a little real-life illustration I thought I'd share.
Yesterday as I write this, a guy from our neighborhood knocked at our door. My husband answered.
"Hi," the guy said. "I'm a member of Your Local Church. Great news. We just opened a daycare and preschool! We take children from three months old to 3K, and--"
"I'm going to interrupt you right there," my husband said. "You see that big car in the driveway?"
"Y-es?" said the guy.
"That belongs to my younger son."
A beat. "Oh. Have a nice day!" The guy left.
Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.
I just have a little real-life illustration I thought I'd share.
Yesterday as I write this, a guy from our neighborhood knocked at our door. My husband answered.
"Hi," the guy said. "I'm a member of Your Local Church. Great news. We just opened a daycare and preschool! We take children from three months old to 3K, and--"
"I'm going to interrupt you right there," my husband said. "You see that big car in the driveway?"
"Y-es?" said the guy.
"That belongs to my younger son."
A beat. "Oh. Have a nice day!" The guy left.
Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
2T Repeat Performance
In December 2016, the lovely Magical Musings crew decided it was time to
close down their blogging shop. I had three wonderful years with them. This is another of those posts.
What's your major? And other first-meet questions--originally posted October 14, 2015.
Ask any author what the hardest thing is about the business of telling and selling stories. They'll tell you...
Interviews.
All right, maybe not all authors. Maybe it's 4 out of 5 dentists and the gum they like.... But for me, talking about myself is as much fun as getting a root canal with a pile driver.
I'd rather hear about you than talk about me.
Probably odd, given that half the authoring job is getting the news out about my stories. But it is handy when it comes to developing characters.
Remember the questions we used to ask when meeting new people at school? What's your major, how's so-and-so for econ? Starting my career I learned to substitute "Where do you work?" and "What do you do for a living?"
Then I cut back to consulting to be available for the kids. Now my go-to questions changed. I met more people working as full-time caregivers or homemakers. One of the best conversation starters I learned was from the son of our pastor--what do you do with your free time? That question led to a lot of fascinating stories and interests.
It's one of the reasons I enjoy Amy R's So Many Questions posts so much. I get to meet all sorts of new people.
I think that's actually the reason I'm an author. I'm always interested in other people, and I love the stories they tell.
What are your go-to questions meeting a new person? What do you do with your free time?
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| photo credit: victory shake via photopin (license) |
Ask any author what the hardest thing is about the business of telling and selling stories. They'll tell you...
Interviews.
All right, maybe not all authors. Maybe it's 4 out of 5 dentists and the gum they like.... But for me, talking about myself is as much fun as getting a root canal with a pile driver.
I'd rather hear about you than talk about me.
Probably odd, given that half the authoring job is getting the news out about my stories. But it is handy when it comes to developing characters.
Remember the questions we used to ask when meeting new people at school? What's your major, how's so-and-so for econ? Starting my career I learned to substitute "Where do you work?" and "What do you do for a living?"
Then I cut back to consulting to be available for the kids. Now my go-to questions changed. I met more people working as full-time caregivers or homemakers. One of the best conversation starters I learned was from the son of our pastor--what do you do with your free time? That question led to a lot of fascinating stories and interests.
It's one of the reasons I enjoy Amy R's So Many Questions posts so much. I get to meet all sorts of new people.
I think that's actually the reason I'm an author. I'm always interested in other people, and I love the stories they tell.
What are your go-to questions meeting a new person? What do you do with your free time?
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
April 1T Status Update
Night's Kiss is coming! #4 Biting Me Softly (hot!) Golden, deadly vampire meets a St.-Pauli-Girl-Next-Door. Books to Read universal link | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA
- Night's Kiss second round edits turned in!
- First draft of Chicago's Chosen is done.
- Cover requirements for April Fools For Love 2020 happens this month.
- Orchestra started again, concert in May.
- Big presentation for Systems Analysis today (plus a test plus a requirements document due).
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
4T Olio
More Imgur!
A small dump of quotes by some of your favorite celebrities
Stephen Hawking and John Oliver
Aha! A long-lived vampire :)
The difference 481 years makes
When I'm writing the Biting Love Universe and everything coming out of a character's mouth is simultaneously sarcastic and suggestive..."
Archer
With all the celebrity pics out now, I felt this one was worth "hacking"
Someone in the office is a fan of Archer
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
3T Writing Tidbit
This is another in my 25 Ways You're Losing Readers (and what you can do about it) series.
Ignore your readers' expectations at your own peril.
As I write this, I've just seen How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. I'm a big fan of the Netflix series How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge, and was looking forward to the movie for several months.
The day before we went, I was baffled by the relatively low score on IMDb (and relatively high on Rotten Tomatoes).
SPOILER ALERT
If you haven't seen the movie How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and don't want any spoilers, don't read this post. I will discuss the ending.
If you don't know what the series is about, this is a DreamWorks animation series based on Cressida Cowell's children's books. There are three movies and a large number of shorter adventures that follow Viking chief's son Hiccup as he meets and befriends a dragon enemy. Hiccup starts as a young boy, but by The Hidden World he's a young adult and chief of his village, and all the Vikings there have befriended and work with dragons.
The basic plot is that Hiccup is looking for a way for humans and dragons to live together in peace. There are greedy human dragon-thieves and nefarious human dragon-hunters who keep trying to destroy Hiccup's dragon friend. There are further complications, but all you really need to know to understand my point is this:
So when we get the more tragic (and adult) ending of Hiccup letting his dragons go instead, it's a resolution that's flat. Because Hiccup suffers, not to get his happy ending--he suffers to get nothing he wanted.
And by the sobbing of the little kids in our theater, his audience didn't get what they wanted, either.
Contrast other films. Once Dorothy suffers Oz, all she wants to do is go home--and she does. The Ghostbusters want to be taken seriously and to vanquish the ghosts--and they do. Luke wants to avenge his aunt and uncle, rescue the princess, and learn about the Force--and he does. Harry Potter wants to end the threat of Voldemort--and he does.
And these are all things we wanted, too. So when the protagonist accomplishes these things, it's satisfying.
Here's the big one. The Avengers are a bickering mess of would-be superheroes who need to give up their egos and learn to work together.
I understand now why the critics on Rotten Tomatoes love The Hidden World--and why the general public didn't. It's not satisfying. Not because it doesn't do things right, because it does. It does things wonderfully well--for an adult tragedy.
But the kids in the audience didn't go to see an adult tragedy. They went to see an uplifting kids' movie. The movie broke their hearts, and it broke mine a little, too, when what I went to the theater for was to be made whole.
Remember this when you write your next story. What are your readers expecting? If they're coming to you to be made whole, or even just to be entertained for a while, the best story in the world will fall flat if it doesn't fulfill their needs.
Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits. Click here to see all 25 Ways You're Losing Readers.
Ignore your readers' expectations at your own peril.
As I write this, I've just seen How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. I'm a big fan of the Netflix series How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge, and was looking forward to the movie for several months.
The day before we went, I was baffled by the relatively low score on IMDb (and relatively high on Rotten Tomatoes).
SPOILER ALERT
If you haven't seen the movie How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and don't want any spoilers, don't read this post. I will discuss the ending.
If you don't know what the series is about, this is a DreamWorks animation series based on Cressida Cowell's children's books. There are three movies and a large number of shorter adventures that follow Viking chief's son Hiccup as he meets and befriends a dragon enemy. Hiccup starts as a young boy, but by The Hidden World he's a young adult and chief of his village, and all the Vikings there have befriended and work with dragons.
The basic plot is that Hiccup is looking for a way for humans and dragons to live together in peace. There are greedy human dragon-thieves and nefarious human dragon-hunters who keep trying to destroy Hiccup's dragon friend. There are further complications, but all you really need to know to understand my point is this:
- Hiccup yearns to create a home for his people and their dragons.
- And that's exactly what we want, too.
So when we get the more tragic (and adult) ending of Hiccup letting his dragons go instead, it's a resolution that's flat. Because Hiccup suffers, not to get his happy ending--he suffers to get nothing he wanted.
And by the sobbing of the little kids in our theater, his audience didn't get what they wanted, either.
Contrast other films. Once Dorothy suffers Oz, all she wants to do is go home--and she does. The Ghostbusters want to be taken seriously and to vanquish the ghosts--and they do. Luke wants to avenge his aunt and uncle, rescue the princess, and learn about the Force--and he does. Harry Potter wants to end the threat of Voldemort--and he does.
And these are all things we wanted, too. So when the protagonist accomplishes these things, it's satisfying.
Here's the big one. The Avengers are a bickering mess of would-be superheroes who need to give up their egos and learn to work together.
- They don't want to be a team.
- But we want them to be a team. (There's even an audience substitute, unabashed fanboy Agent Coulson.)
I understand now why the critics on Rotten Tomatoes love The Hidden World--and why the general public didn't. It's not satisfying. Not because it doesn't do things right, because it does. It does things wonderfully well--for an adult tragedy.
But the kids in the audience didn't go to see an adult tragedy. They went to see an uplifting kids' movie. The movie broke their hearts, and it broke mine a little, too, when what I went to the theater for was to be made whole.
Remember this when you write your next story. What are your readers expecting? If they're coming to you to be made whole, or even just to be entertained for a while, the best story in the world will fall flat if it doesn't fulfill their needs.
Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits. Click here to see all 25 Ways You're Losing Readers.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
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