The Other Part of Me

I had to think long and hard about writing this post.  It's not because it's too personal but I don't really talk about this.  I answer questions when people ask about it, because I don't mind when outright asked, but I don't offer up this information about me often.  It's because, even though I've lived with this all my life, I don't like it.  It is not a part of me that I'm proud of but more of one I tolerate.

I consider this the secondary part of me, and how it works with being a writer.  I've talked about my writer journey and there's a bit on my About Me page, but I think a proper post is in order.  You know the first part - Elizabeth Szubert, the writer.  The poet.  The person who started with writing fanfiction because she needed time to create her own worlds.

Here's the other part of me - legally blind person.  I have retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, that is slowly destroying my vision.  I am night blind at night, which is exactly as it sounds, and I have days where it hurts to sit at my computer and write.  It's known as a glare problem.  However, what makes me legally blind is the fact that I only have about 12 degrees of my field vision left which is known as tunnel vision.

Yeah.  To get an idea of how that is, cup your hand around your eye.  It's a lot less than what I have, but that's what it is like.  Since I use a red tipped cane, as a blind person does, that's the first thing you're going to know about me before I even introduce myself.  Truthfully?  I hate it, because I am more than this one thing about me.  However, you will not believe how it parts crowds like the Moses vs the Red Sea sometimes.  Welcome to my mild morbid humor, pull up a chair.  It's only here on good days but that's for another post about writing and mental stability.

However, it makes life as a writer harder.  I don't know what it's like to drive a car or do maintenance on one.  Thank everything for Google because it is the one thing that doesn't care what you ask.  I know that some of my writing is stunted because I don't know what it's like to act as someone with good vision.  It is one of the reasons that I edit as much as I do and ask others for editing help.  I do have other problems with my writing, as all writers do, but the one I'm always worried about if I am portraying someone with normal vision correctly.  I know that someone's going to read this and go "why?" but... it's a quirk of mine.  Everyone has something that they worry about while writing and this is one of mine.

So that's the other part of me.  Maybe I'll open up about it more in the future.  For right now, it's just there.  I hate that sometimes I struggle with writing because of it, but it is what it is.  If I don't laugh, I'll cry.

Readers, what is your struggle?  What seems to define you before you can even say "I'm a writer/author"?  Feel free to comment and, from me to you, a big giant hug.  We're more than the assumptions that people make, all of us, and hearing or writing that makes it more real.

WriYe Blogging Circle: Genre

I'm going to make an assumption, dear reader, and assume that you know what genre is.  Considering that our entire lives seem to be run by it via the books we read and what we watch, it's very easy to know which genre you're a fan of.  I can, generally, tell what kind of genre you'll be more likely to read due to what you watch on television.  Say you like Real Housewives, no matter the city, I'd say that slice of life with the twist of chick lit would be best for you.  Are you the biggest Law and Order fan in existence?  You're going to want either good detective stories, if you like the law side, or good courtroom thrillers if you're a fan of the order side.  If you like both, there are a good many series of groups of detectives and lawyers working together.

You get the idea.  I can continue on, but that's the basic gist of genre.  According to the right people you Google on the Internet, there's a lot of support that everyone who is publishing is writing in some sort of genre.  I disagree.  I would argue that there are fewer writers of straight up fiction versus the many writers who are publishing in a genre.  Also, it doesn't help that one of the biggest fiction writers in my opinion, John Irving, only puts out a new book about every seven years.  That's his decision and he's entitled to it, but when you put it up against James Patterson, who is putting out at least 3 books a year if not more, it's hard to measure up.

So that's the mini background of genre.  I highly suggest Googling and reading about genre before you try your hand at it.  I also recommend looking at what you're watching or reading at the moment to see which genre you like.  I know, from first hand experience of attempting to write a romance story, that if you do not like the genre you're attempting to write, you're going to fail at getting your novel done.  I suggest sticking to what you like.  We'll get more into what I like to write in a moment, but the best suggestion I've got about writing is what I just said.  There's also write what you know, but there's Google and the Internet with the reason of why nobody is allowed to look at my search history.

Okay, questions.

What is your main genre?
It's going to surprise everyone, considering what I mostly talk about is this dhampir series I'm working on, but I'm a fantasy writer.  I feel most at home writing about elves and dragons and living in another world.  I would say that my secondary genre is urban supernatural, where I'm writing about supernatural creatures like vampires in a city environment, but it's slowly becoming my main in different ways.  However, if I had to pick only one to write for the rest of my life, it would be fantasy, hands down.

Why do you write in the genre?
You know that tip that I gave at the beginning of writing what you like?  Well, I followed that tip when I first started writing.  I love J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, and a lot of other writers who are in the fantasy genre.  That, along with Elfquest, gave me the basis of what genre I would feel most at home in.  As I write more and more in it, it is more like home and that comfortable chair where you snuggle in for a long reading or watching binge.  It's just the right fit.

Do you have a tip to share for someone wanting to break into that genre?
Dream.  Dream big and then come down to size.  World build, but don't get too caught up in it, and make your own rules.  In the end, write characters that appeal to you.  Lot of tips, but you need them in the fantasy genre.  Also, read!  I gave three that I read/re-read on a regular basis but there are so much more.

What genre would you like to break into?
Mystery/detective novel.  I'm reading the Bosch series by Michael Connelly at the moment and I love his style of writing.  I love how his main character, Bosch, feels real with real world problems.  Based on that, I'm looking into how to structure a detective novel and what I need to do for background.  I've got a few months before I have to knuckle down and prep for NaNo, but I will be writing a detective story this year for it.

Bonus: What is your favorite book written in your genre?
American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  Hands down, it is my favorite book of his and it doesn't feel like fantasy at first.  I highly recommend it.

Okay, readers, what do you think about the genre you write in?  Or perhaps you want help figuring out which genre you should write in?  Share your thoughts below.

Vacation vs Writing

Hello from Indiana!  I'm outside my usual home base of Chicago to visit some friends.  We're all writers on some level and we all know what it takes to write a length of fiction.  However, that doesn't mean that we usually are writing when we all get together but we try to.  This made me, the person who cannot come up with blog topics to save her life (we'll talk about this later), think about writing vs vacation time.

Vacation time is when we usually get away from our jobs.  As a writer, your job is ongoing, unless you take a break from writing, which is not possible for me.  If I'm not actively writing, I'm creating new stories in my head.  I don't want to assume to say that it's like the same for other writers, but it could be.  Feel free to correct me if your writer mind is different, but, yeah, that's how I work.  When vacation comes around, I'm more in create mode instead of putting words on the page mode.

When I say vacation vs writing, it's more if I'm going to allow myself to take time off, even from creating, and just be.  Just relax.  Of course, that doesn't happen - mostly due to the fact that I can't turn my mind off - so this is going to end with writing winning all the time.  Not active writing, mind you, but the writing that is sometimes the most important.  The creating, the world building (as much as I hate it), and shaping characters into what they're supposed to be.

So, am I ever really on vacation from my job?  Nope, because creating is as a strong as part of me as actively writing out a chapter of novel.  Do I mind?  Not really, because I like living in my head.  Also, I think I would go crazy from not doing some sort of writing.

For you, dear readers, what about you?  Do you take active vacations from your writing projects?  Or are you more like me and create vs actual writing?  Tell me in the comments and I'll see you next time.

Writing When Traveling

On the road again... something something something on the road again.  Yeah, that's about as much as I know of that song.  Sad, but that's life.  Today's topic is about writing when traveling.  That can be in whatever mode of transportation that you wish to take.  I'm usually by bus, train, or plane, but that's due to the fact that I can't drive.  That goes back to the fact that I'm not legally allowed to drive due to being legally blind, but eh.  It works out extremely well because it means that I can drag out a piece of writing and work on it.

1. A laptop or other sort of computer device.  I use a Surface Pro 2 when traveling - it's named the Traveler - and it's easier to pull out on a bus than a big laptop.  Well, that also depends on the laptop.  I usually use a big 17 inch laptop, so the Surface is a lot easier to travel with and write on that way.  I recommend, if you use a tablet like device for your traveling writing some sort of keyboard attachment.  The Surface has a keyboard cover, which I love and use all the time, but there are also Bluetooth ones and so on.  If you're in the mood for getting a smaller laptop for writing on the mode via computer, I do recommend a tablet + keyboard combo.

2. Your phone.  Of course, not everyone owns a smartphone or a data package that will allow you to use Google Docs.  However, you can get around the data package, as everything has WiFi now (including the van I took to get to where I am now), so it's really more the phone you're using.  If you can make it look like you're on a phone call and talk quietly, I'd just call into your voicemail and write that way.  You will have to transcribe it later, but that's another way to write using a bit of tech.

3. The good old notebook and pen.  There are a ton of really nice notebooks you can get, from wherever you want to, and sometimes the cheapest pens are the best.  This is the low tech solution and it might not work if you're on a bumpy road.  However, this is possibly one of the best solutions for if you're on a train or a plane.  There's not going to be a ton of bumps, unless you hit turbulence, and even then, you might be able to write clearly enough to see where you were going.

So, those are the three ways I know of to write when traveling.  How do you write when traveling, good readers?  Do you have a secret you'd like to share?  Until next time.

My Writer Origin Story

You have to admit that origin stories are in right now.  Sure, they're for superheroes and not for ordinary people, but I thought that I would share mine.  Not the how I came into this world one, because that's kind of strange and I was nearly born in a car due to Chicago rush hour, but the one that's more towards this blog.  How I became a writer is sort of short and sweet, at least I thought, until I sat down to write this post.  It seems when you're going to tell a bit about your life, your mind calls up really old dusty memories.

The first dusty memory comes from when I was in fifth grade at Robert Frost Elementary.  I had a teacher named Mrs Black, at least that's what I think her name is, and there was a student newsletter of sorts.  You could write things for it, in turn, and it was coming around to my turn.  I didn't have anything interesting, save for a story about my cat, so in it went.  As I'm looking over the memory, I feel like I stretched the truth vs just telling facts.  I wish I knew where it was, as I never throw anything away, but I don't know where it is.  If you're wondering why I think I stretched the truth, it's due to how I'm looking back on a young self.  I felt ashamed about the story, which means it was probably a lie, but a well written one.  That was my first step towards becoming a writer.

Around the same age, I read Elfquest and fell in love with the world.  Along with my friends and younger brother, we created stories that put ourselves in the lives of the major characters.  Or created our own and played out what we thought would happen.  There was another game we would play where we all got sucked into a video game and had to get out somehow.  It was a lot of fun and, even though word never got put to paper, it was still storytelling.  I always looked forward to that, more than playing with video games, as it was easy making things up to play with.

Fast forward to the year 2000.  I'm a freshman at Beloit College, making new friends, and one of them (I suspect Jenn) introduced me into the world of fanfiction.  There are stories, of some kind of words put together in sentences to tell some sort of tale for you to read, but my writing / grammar is horrible compared to now.  That's just how it is.  You have to start somewhere and my start was in the world of badly written fanfiction.  I graduated to better written fanfic and then into making my own worlds.  This led into winning my first NaNo, which was a fantasy novel that took a lot of cliches and turned it into a novel, and I'm very happy for that.

A lot of unfinished fanfics and novels later (see trunking two posts back), I am at the place I am now.  A finished novel with an editor to move towards publishing in some sort of fashion and trying to figure out what I am supposed to be writing now.  I'm working on a fantasy novel - we'll talk about genre and being stuck in a later post (promise!) - and wondering if I should just go back to Mystery of the Dark's world and work on the second novel.  It's an interesting problem to have, one I'll probably always have, but it is what it is.

Readers, what started you on your writing journey?  Did you have a similar start or did you just jump in feet first?

Inspiration for Your Tuesday

Let's be honest - when first thinking of inspiration, our mind flashes to something like this:

You've overcome the big obstacle and now you are on top of the mountain.  You've done it.  You've won.  Or, at least, that's what you're supposed to think while staring at a blank page trying to make words appear when wondering if people are even going to like your story.  I know it can be done.  I've been like the person in the picture on top of the world because my story was done and people liked it.  Yet... the image above wasn't the one that helped me.  The following did:

References:

1st image found on Best Android Apps for Inspiration.

2nd image found on Neil Gaiman Quotes. 

WriYe Blog Circle: Trunking

This month, for the WriYe Blog Circle, we're talking about trunked novels.  Trunked novels are ones that have been set aside, for one reason or another, and you never get back to them.  Like the really nice shirt that you got, maybe wore once to a special event, and it's been in your closet, just hanging there, for the past two years.  That's what trunking a novel is all about.  I've done it and I will probably do it the rest of my writing career.  Sometimes there's just a story that you think needs to be told but, once on paper, it's a completely different story that you don't want seeing the light of day.

Let's get into the questions before I continue on with just rambling.

Have you ever set a novel aside?  What's the difference for you between trunked and simply setting aside?
Yep.  I've set aside at least three because they were just going nowhere.  Either the plot wasn't jelling or my writing was just horrible or I hated the characters.  I've also gotten through writing a complete story and then setting it aside to never touch it again.  There's no big rhyme or reason to it, other than feeling which story I really want to tell, but that's the bar I set for my stories.  Do I want to tell it?  Do I want to go through the blood and tears of editing (that's another post)?  Do I want to see it through to publishing?  The editing question is the most important.  If I don't want to edit a novel, then it's usually trunked.  If I just want a break from it, it's set aside and I'll go back to it in a month or two.  If I never go back to it, then it is trunked by default.

Was it finished or unfinished?
Both.  Like I said above, it can be a completely finished novel and I don't want to edit it.  Or I don't like the story.  Mystery of the Dark, the novel that I've been working on for three different NaNoWriMos, was set aside and tinkered with until things were just right.  That's why it took me two different NaNos to get to a complete rough draft and then the third to finalize who's story it really is.  That is a novel that is set aside vs trunked.  Power, the novel that I first won NaNo with, is trunked because I simply don't want to edit it the way it needs to be done.  I want to rewrite it, but there are other novels I want to write first.  Therefore, it's trunked until I open the trunk and drag it out into the light of day.  I do have unfinished stories that have been trunked but they're mostly short stories that I'm not sure what I want to do with them.

Why did you abandon that novel(s)?
With Power, it needs a really big edit.  I don't have the drive at the moment to go through everything that needs to be done.  I mostly want to rewrite the story, until I open it and realize all the good I have, but the writing is horrible.  It's one of the best examples I have of my old writing vs my new writing but I'd rather keep it in the dark.  With the other stories, some of it is writing quality and some of it is that I don't know what I'd do with the story when it's all done.

What would it take for you to go back to it?
Well... being completely done with Mystery of the Dark series for one.  Being stuck in a room with just Power and nothing else to do is another.  At the end of the day, I have to think if the story really should be out there.  Or if it's just me using a lot of fantasy cliches to string together a novel.  Or maybe a retreat of editing.  Who knows, really?  However, I do know, one day, I will go back to it.  I'll probably go back to a lot of trunked stories in the end.  They're good stories, at their core, or I wouldn't have written them in the first place.

So, that's it.  I hope you've enjoyed reading about my trunked novels and my not-plans for them.  Or plans that might be so far in the future that it seems out of reach now.  Dear reader, do you have any stories that you've put aside?  Feel free to share in the comments and I hope you have a pleasant day.