White Rabbit: Sapphire Edition

So yeah. August. That happened.

Completely failed my tentative word goal, in fact, didn’t even manage to hit 30k for the month (which is my generally prescribed ‘minimum.’) But, you know, over all? Not actually feeling bad. Seeing as how I. Well. Sort of accidentally finished two novels in August. Very much by accident in one case. Once again, what I thought was going to be one novel ended up being two, but at least I noticed before I was halfway through the second. But hey, I’m no longer dreadfully behind on my goal of four projects this year.

So here are the two projects I finished this month:

The Collared Act
A complete surprise, started in December and finished at 79863 words. I was not expecting this one to happen or actually become finished. But damn, it was just a blast to write. On the light side of novel for word count right now, but since I thought I had another half again as much to write, there are several places that can be expanded and fleshed out in subsequent drafts and I plan to get to said drafts before too long. The downside of this one is that I have no idea how to market it. It’s a character centered story about a gay slave who ends up working at a burlesque style theater with psychics, oh, and there is no romance or sex. Obvious selling points? Lacking. Thus, how to find a market? No clue. And none of this has stopped me from taking off and writing the second book, which is now in progress and growing steadily. Yup.

Phoenix and Wolf
Started for Nano last year, finished at 127578 words. And it is a big, ugly rambling mess of a novel. I hit the end and realized that there were two dramatic reveals I was saving that should have happened far sooner in the novel. There’s a glut of needless scenes and exposition, we end up in the library at least two times too many, and I failed to properly explore a lot of the elements which make the actual novel neat. So, while it is a draft that I can declare finished, it’s really not viable and the work that is needed to make it viable will come more in the form of fresh writing rather than editing. Because of all this, and the fact that I’ve got other novels that seem to be going much better, this one will be put on the back burner for a while. I plan to revive it at some point, but have no idea what point that will be.

Plans for this month? Unsure, not bothering with a word count goal since I can’t seem to keep them lately. I am, however, trying to get done another draft of the Cat That Wouldn’t Die. After some of my earlier mishaps with other novels, I’m not confident that I haven’t left some major issues in the draft, especially after reducing its length by a solid fifth.

After that, well, we’ll see what happens.

White Rabbit: Peridot Edition

So I had three goals this month.  And.  I occurs to me that technically, I failed ALL of them!

Major Goal: Begin submitting The Cat That Wouldn’t Die to agents.
Novel is completely ready to submit, I didn’t actually submit it anywhere, I realized. I think at some point, I forgot the goal was to actually start submitting and had it recorded in my head as ‘have ready for submission this month, including all required edits and accessories.’ And I succeeded in that! I have a query letter, synopsis, fully edited novel… I just didn’t actually throw it at anyone. Threw something else at a thing, however, so I don’t actually feel failed.

Minor Goal:  38750 words, or 1250 words per day.
Ehhhh, ended up with around 30k words this last month. So, failed my word count. Most disappointed about this failure, but there were reasons. Focus became a struggle one week, another week I took easy because of my birthday, and then another week I fucked up my hand with inexplicable bruising (FUN TIMES). So, there were reasons my word count wasn’t what I wanted, though logic has nothing on Writer’s Guilt.

Most Minor Goal: Complete Phoenix and Wolf.
So, yeah, I only added about 4k to this project. And the whole thing keeps sliding sideways on me when I jump in to try and tack more words to it. Either I keep forgetting plot points I mean to bring up or it just takes off somewhere else entirely. In general, I’m feeling like this project is not really where I want it to be. There’s a lot of elements that I included, but never did as much with as I wanted to and I kept fucking ending up in the library in the story. Three fucking times, the book goes to the library AND ONLY ONE OF THESE IS PLOT SIGNIFICANT. So, long rant short, there’s a lot of edits in this book’s future, if it has a future at all.

Anyway, that was last month. Moving on to this month! Plans! Goals! Dreams!

…Yeah, I got nothing.

Tentatively going for my 38750 word goal that failed last month, but not feeling good about it since this month has started out rather weak. Not that I can’t recover and recover easily at this point, it is the third fucking day of the month. But my hopes right now are low and I have a few things I’m flipping out at. We’ll see what, if anything, comes of them when I report in next month.

And hell, maybe I’ll blog more than twice this month. THAT would be something to see, wouldn’t it?

The Contradictory Nature of Mary-Sue

So, I said I’d blog more about Mary-Sues and I meant it. Here we are.

One of the big difficulties in defining Mary-Sue comes from the contradictory nature of what we expect out of her.  Looking at the list of traits ascribed to Mary-Sue, we see a lot of contradictions on.  Here’s a couple that I want to talk about:

10) A female character who is too passive or boring
4) A female character who is too powerful

So why the obvious contradiction?  Neither of these can exist together, one must be false.  And yet, both contradicting traits (too active OR too passive) both scream Sue to people.  Why?

The reason is because there are actually two major types of Mary-Sue.  The Action-Sue and the Drama-Sue.

The Action-Sue

Action-Sue is the character who is too powerful without any limits or breaks.  She’s the one who kicks too much ass.  She’s the girl who single-handedly saves the day without even breaking a sweat or mussing her hair.

Also, I’m using feminine pronouns, but the fact is, there are a LOT of Action-Sues who are male that never get called out as Sues.  Even though they are terrible Sues.  Ignoring the low hanging fruit of every super hero ever, think about the classic fantasy knight.  He’s dashing, kind, strong, he saves the kingdom, thwarts the evil wizard, slays the dragon, then comes home and gets the princess AND half the kingdom.  If he’s got a flaw, it’s something he nobly overcomes during the story and then he becomes the perfect king.  How is this any more or less Sue-ish than if a girl does the same thing?

The Drama-Sue

She’s sweet, she’s kind, she’s a picture of loveliness.  And every time you turn a page, something awful is happening to her.  And not just like, her toe getting stubbed or a bad hair day or someone calling her mean names.  More like her dog died, she’s been disinherited, and she has to marry the same asshole who murdered her dog three pages ago.  And that’s just the start of her woes. This the Drama-Sue.  Through no fault of her own, horrible things happen to her. Constantly.

Male Drama-Sues are less common, unless you’re reading certain stripes of yaoi and I could spend a whole blog discussing the problems with yaoi but that is not this blog.  They still happen, but less so, due to a lot of preconceived notions that we hold about gender. Women are expected to be passive and take awful things as they happen.  Men, on the other hand, are expected to be active. If horrible things happen to them, society says ‘man up and do something about it!’  Oh, your evil uncle took the kingdom from you, the rightful heir? Well, if you’re a girl, you’re expected to flee from this tyranny and hide in a miserable cave until bandits sell you into slavery where some handsome prince will see your kind heart in the market and buy you out of bondage but not before a lot of awful, horrible things happen to you.  If you’re a boy in this situation, you run and then RAISE AN ARMY AND KICK YOUR UNCLE IN THE POLITICAL NUTS, though maybe after some horrible things happen.  Men are expected to be active, so male Drama-Sues are uncommon. Unlike Action-Sues, who generally have far more male examples than female.  Just nobody calls them on it, because gender.

 

“But, wait!” you cry, “You’re not covering all the types of Sues. In fact, I’ve seen characters who are both really strong and full of drama. How can you say Sues are one or the other?”

This because there is a third type of Sue.

The Oscillating-Sue

She is, in one scene, the strongest, bravest, prettiest of them all. No one can stand against her, every obstacle is defeated with a smile and an inappropriately vast display of power. And in the next moment, she’s suffering at the hands of cruel fate, unable to do anything. Unable to react. Unable to defend herself. And for no solid reason that the reader can see.

This is the Oscillating-Sue. One moment, she is the hard edged Action-Sue. The next, she’s a helpless Drama-Sue. And she’s always whichever one is most convenient for the story, rather than what actually makes sense. You can bet that her tragic past only causes her problems when it’s convenient, rather than in the middle of battle where her version of PTSD cropping up makes sense.

The Oscillating-Sue is the culprit for why it’s hard for many people to say what is an actual Sue and what’s not. Partially, this is because in modern media, there’s a demand that women characters to be EITHER a drama-sue or an action-sue. Give your bad-ass female character a flaw or actual emotional trauma, and people start screaming sue. Have a regency styled damsel trying to escape a bad marriage who suddenly takes control of her life in a powerful action, clearly she’s a sue. Heaven forbid we see actual balanced female characters who are both strong, in charge of their life, and also have real flaws and issues that they are coping with. Can you hear my eye-roll through the page?

But while this is a pressure that gets put on female characters especially, characters of ANY GENDER can run into issues of Oscillating-Suedom. It’s frustrating, as a reader, to see a character in one scene who is very powerful, too powerful even, and then the next scene, they seem unable to make even the simplest action which would resolve the unabashed hyper drama. Or the reverse, a character who has otherwise done little but wail and sob at the cruelty of fate, only to turn around and do a judo-chop on the villain at a key moment, which they either could have done at any time or is a power they spontaneously sprouted for the sake of drama.

Frankly, that’s a lot of why I don’t like Superman. He smashes through everything without pause (Action-Sue), only to be taken out by Kryptonite right as the bomb drops to one minute (Drama-Sue time), allowing for an over the top dramatic finale, that will ultimately be resolved perfectly in the end. He’s overpowered AND moping that Louis Lane won’t date Clark Kent. The overpowered quality to Superman is bad enough, but then he oscillates into Hyper Drama mode and I’m done.

But there is the crux of the Sue. I know there are many people for whom Superman is the height of storytelling. And that’s okay. Because sometimes, as a reader or a writer, all you really want is the Action-Sue.  You want the unreserved ass kicking, the power player who can do everything. It can be empowering to see a character just wail on an enemy and save the day without restrictions.

And on the reverse, sometimes, you’re in the mood for drama and trauma and horrible things happening to fictional characters.  Drama and tragedy exist as genres because they both fulfill a human desire to watch a train wreck and walk away with a few tears in your eyes but no actual harm to yourself or actual people. Over the long course of a story, you’ll probably see a little of both and that will be deeply satisfying in its own way.

Ultimately, what’s too much power playing in a character and what’s too much drama are going to depend on the individual and their mood at the time. What is one person’s Sue will be someone else’s really enjoyable tough character or heartfelt drama. It’s highly variable and also changes a lot across genre and subgenre.

And even if you have on your hands, either as writer or reader, a genuine Mary-Sue, that’s okay too. Mary-Sue is wish fulfillment.  And there’s nothing inherently wrong with a little wish fulfillment, either as something you produce or consume.  Sometimes, you really crave junk food.* Wish fulfillment isn’t inherently bad and you should find your character fun to write and read. But your story will be better if you take the time to round out your character and give them some genuine flaws, strengths, and agency within their own story.  There is an entire blog to be had for discussing what makes for a genuine flaw in a character and what agency actually looks like (for those Drama-Sues), so I’ll discuss that at a later time.

And, readers, if you see some work that smacks of wish fulfillment and ramen quality characterization… I’m not saying you have to enjoy it or praise it.  But respect that there is probably somebody for whom this is exactly what they want. Comment on specific things you don’t like about the character, the specific things that break your enjoyment of the story. Because so often, characters get labeled as Mary-Sues for specific instances, rather than being taken as a whole character.  If a particular scene bothers you, then say so.  But don’t trash the entire book or character because of it.

Enjoy what you enjoy.  And stop calling out the Sue Mob when you run into something you don’t like.   Because I think we’re running out of pitchforks in here.

* Or in my case, ramen. The cheap ten for a dollar kind, that isn’t just empty calories, it may even be negative calories considering the amount of msg and salt and other awful things in it. But sometimes, I really want some ramen and every once in a while, I give in to the desire and I make a bowl. But I certainly couldn’t go back to living on a diet of the stuff, like I might have during undisclosed times in college.

White Rabbit: Ruby Edition

Happy July and an early happy birthday to me. I have begun celebrating early by picking up some new books, with promise of more before the month is done. Yes. I am shameless.

Hope everyone’s June went well, mine wasn’t abysmal. Well, except on the blogging front. Nnnnot so good at that last month, (for some good reasons and some lazy reasons) but you probably noticed that.

On the other hand, I hit my word goal of 45k words, the majority across two of the projects I started this year, with Phoenix and Wolf coming in at third and a few outlier stories getting a bit of attention. And best of all, I didn’t start anything new! Someone hit the gong and get the marching band

Okay, so I DID start narrating another game on Storium and lost a non-significant chunk of time to building the world and setting. But there’s no new story taking up my word count. And it’s a setting I might play with for my own fiction at some point. So ultimately I can’t feel terribly guilty about it, especially since I managed to get my word count in spite of the distraction.

For July, I’ve got one major goal and two minor goals. Major goals are things I absolutely must do or else I will Bring Shame Upon the House of Gibbs. Minor goals are things I’m aiming for, but will accept defeat on if it comes to that.
Major Goal:
Begin submitting The Cat That Wouldn’t Die to agents. This goal includes some additional polish on the first chapter, a decent query letter, and a synopsis for when those are needed. I have actually started poking at this, doing some of the needed edits and I have a basic query letter. The synopsis evades me so far. But I hate synopses. I especially hate trying to pluralize the word. Anyway, want to start shopping this around, because I’m starting to itch to write these characters again. The urge to see what can be done with a sequel is strong.
Minor Goal:
38750 words, or 1250 words per day. Less than I was aiming for last month, but not a goal to be sneezed at either. Should be enough to stretch me a bit, but allow enough time to tackle a few other things. Like, you know, maybe blog regularly? So far, not doing great at keeping up with my word count, but it’s still early in the month. There’s lots of time to recover and really, I’ve had worse starts on word count goals.
Most Minor Goal:
Complete Phoenix and Wolf. I have hit the last chunk of the novel, we’re building towards a climax and I think a good month of focus will push me over to a “The End” marker on the book. But I’m not really betting on my attention span at this point, which is why this is the lowest goal right now.

Anyway, everyone have a happy July, good luck staying at a moderate and comfortable temperature!

Movie Review: Maleficent

There are things we have a capacity to carry through with stability and reliability.

Blogging is not one of mine.

On the bright side, my word count is looking fantastic this month, so, you know, there’s that. 

Saw Maleficent today, which I see as part of the trend begun by Wicked and continued by Frozen, wherein we take traditionally villainous female characters and rewrite the story with a positive trend.  All around… I’m torn on this trend.  I see the validity of it, as the Wicked Witch of the West and Maleficent are incredibly powerful female figures and by reclaiming them as moral figures, they become role models for future women.

But at the same time, I don’t think they necessarily NEED the help of a movie about how they’re all just misunderstood and hurting inside.  These are women who flat kick ass. They do what they do because they are powers in their own rights, unbound by their gender and morals alike.  If we haul them back into a prescribed model of moral right, then we’re losing the point of what those women stand for.  Which, yes, is a villains role, but equality means that women get to be villains too. 

Up shot is, it’s complicated.  I’m not completely against the trend, but also warn treading with caution.

And all of that said?  I liked Maleficent.  I really did. Not as a ‘redeem the villain’ movie, but as a fairytale retelling.  I am a sucker for fairytale retellings, which take a well known tale and respin it into something new and familiar at once.  Maleficent is an excellent example of this.  It reworks Sleeping Beauty in a way that is both familiar, but a new spin without losing what’s at the core of the story.  Also, it’s a fun and very pretty fantasy film.  I think we need more of those.  So, if you like fantasy movies and fairy tales?  Give it a shot.

White Rabbit: Pearl Edition

THINGS HAPPENED THINGS HAPPENED WHY DID MAY HAPPEN?

By which I really mean, got the first draft of The Cat That Wouldn’t Die finished.  That is to say, I got all the way to the end and have now circled around for draft 2.5 in which I fix the beginning because I’ve realized it’s a mess. Still, its progress, real and definite progress.  Now cleaning up the intro again and debating what to do with the book in question.  Also trying to decide if I want to pick up one of my novellas/longish stories and see about a second draft.  Haven’t decided, probably won’t decide until July at any rate.

So, anyway, that’s ONE project down out of my intended four.  At this point in time, finishing short stories will even count, I don’t care so long as I finish things.  Because, yes, you guessed it, I picked up at least one more project last month.  Yeup.  That happened. 

And so, to help along my many projects that are not getting finished, I’m going for 1500 words a day (on average) in June, for a total of 45000 words by the end of the month.  Not any specific project, but a good solid chunk of words to get things closer to finished.  I’d really like to put a lot of those words towards Phoenix and Wolf, but we’ll see what happens with that stupidly long sprawl of a story in which little happens.

Still, at least for today, I’m not feeling terrible about my state of writing.  Too many projects, slow progress, lots of frustration.  At the same time, progress has been made and I don’t feel terrible about the things I have been writing.  Well, another month done, another to go.  Let’s see what June brings.

Metaphors that Break Scene

There are some turns of phrases that, irregardless of where they are used or how, have this irrevocable power to shatter a scene. I figure most of these are different for most people, that each reader has a different set of triggers that makes them step back and roll their eyes instead of falling a little deeper into the scene like metaphors are supposed to do. Here are a few of mine.

Supple Leather:  You see this one thrown around all the time and it bothers me. Leather and supple go together, you can basically assume most leather is supple. Only describe the quality of leather if there’s a reason the leather wouldn’t be supple. Because, yes, sometimes leather can be hard, but we’re not usually talking about leather that is worn in that case, because it chafes. Saddles? Saddles are made out of hard leather. The other time you may describe leather is if you’re writing porn or an erotically charged scene. Then you’re trying to invoke a sensualist aspect and supple leather becomes appropriately charged. Otherwise, if you’re just describing leather, don’t use supple. Get more creative. Use your writing powers for good or at least interesting.

Ribbons of Silk: Unless we’re talking about ribbons in your hair, just don’t. Just. Don’t. As a metaphor, this one just feels silly. Literal ribbons of silk? Plus one. Metaphorical ribbons of silk? Have you ever actually played with silk ribbons? They’re not as smooth and soft as you seem to think. Actually, I feel that way about most silk. I think people get silk and satin mixed up all the time because we associate both with luxury. Now, there are a lot of different types of silk (it’s a very versatile fabric), but mostly silk is smooth without being slick. It has a lot more texture, or at least it can. Still soft, still lovely, but seriously, now that I think about it, actual silk is highly diverse in texture, thickness, and softness. And yet, so many people just slap silk around as a metaphor that the word is meaningless. Seriously, can we go with satin instead? Satin was originally a specific form of silk, so maybe that’s where the confusion and ‘soft as silk’ metaphors come out of. So, writers, use satin when you want to talk about something soft and smooth.

So apparently, this blog has become a digression on making texture metaphors more diverse or specific. I guess the take away is, avoid cliches.

What are some of the metaphors that break scene for you?

Genre Pet Peeves: Fantasy Racism Is All The Rage

Vampires hate werewolves. Dwarves hate elves. Humans hate everyone who isn’t human. Fantasy racism, you are the trope that never dies. And I am getting so sick of you, you pastiche excuse of a plot device.

One of my favorite things about fantasy as a genre is its ability to explore real world problems in great depth and detail in a space that’s distinctive from our own world and therefore more neutral. Hard topics can be brought up in fantasy, such as sexuality, racism, and sustainability, and then discussed in metaphorical terms rather than literal.

But so often these days, fantasy racism isn’t used in a well crafted and nuanced manner to shed light on our own failings. It’s a blunt tool used by the author to shove the plot wherever they want it to go.

Having trouble figuring out why your destined pair can’t hook up now and run off into the sunset? BAM FANTASY RACISM! Turn one of them into an elf. Cross species pair, all the angst, none of the development!

Not sure why your party wouldn’t just go to the local authority and ask them for help with the oncoming dark hordes? BAM FANTASY RACISM! The king’s now an elf who hates you on sight for not also being an elf!

Having trouble coming up with a conflict or plot that won’t be solved in the next sixteen seconds by your super awesome character? BAM FANTASY RACISM! Your character’s now and elf and everyone hates them for being an elf!

My problem with this trope is not the potential to explore complex inter-species relationship but rather the complete lack of anything complex.

The problem is that real racism, the kind that exists in our world, yes, really, it didn’t die with Martin Luther King Jr., is that true racism is a deeply nuanced thing. This is what makes it insidious and so hard to see in ourselves or the world around us. But when racism gets boiled down to “we hate elves because we are dwarves,” it belittles the impact and reach of racism. It makes racism into something that can be solved by introducing our dwarvish character to an upstanding and good elf who will then, through the power friendship, show the dwarf that his opinions were narrow and shortsighted!

That’s not how racism works. That’s not even the most dangerous aspect of racism. The loudest cry of the biggot is ‘but some of my best friends are elves!’ Racism isn’t ‘we hate elves because elves’ it sounds a lot more like “I don’t have any problems with elves, they’re really great people, but I don’t think they should be hired by the city guard. Would you really feel safe with elves patrolling your street? They’re so flimsy! And sure they’re great shots, but how useful is that in a narrow street? What about ricochet? I’m just saying, can’t they find jobs as rangers?”

As with many of my complaints with peeves, this comes down to a complaint about laziness on the author’s part. If you’re going to use a trope, use it, don’t just lean on it and expect your novel to stay standing.

But in the case of fantasy racism, this trope isn’t just lazy, it’s also damaging and dangerous. Take some time while writing your fantasy world to consider not just the broad strokes of racial unease, but the subtle, more insidious ways that racism will color your world. Then cut out a few broad strokes in favor of something subtler, sharper, and so much more meaningful to your work.

Review: Hemovore

This week, I come to you with a lesson in expectation.

Hemovore is a book that’s been showing up on my suggested reads for some time.  I decided to give it a shot because, as I have mentioned before, I have a weakness for gay vampires.  And ultimately, Hemovore disappointed me.

It’s not that this is a bad book.  Far from it, in fact.  Hemovore contains a well constructed world, where vamprism is the result of a virus contagious via any infected fluid.  The writing is clean and easy to follow. It’s got great pacing divided between action and tender moments of character growth.  It features a relationship both very sweet and fascinating in the issues it addresses.  There’s actually a lot to recommend this book.

But it just doesn’t feel much like a vampire book to me.  In spite of the sexy pale men with aversion to sunlight.  In spite of all the blood drinking.  For me, something was missing from Hemovore.  And when I realized that, I had a good think on just what it is I expect out of vampires.

The first thing is a sense of seduction.  I like vampires who are alluring and hypnotic.  If I’m craving vampires, I’m craving some seduction.  There wasn’t really an seduction in this book.  The characters both care about each other deeply from the start, so the relationship that develops over the course of the book is much more of a discussion than a seduction for anyone.  Which I really, really like, but wasn’t what I was expecting.

Also, this novel has no sexy biting.  No biting at all really.  If you can’t have seduction in a vampire novel, you ought to at least have sexy biting.  There’s blood sharing, but all via syringes and a little clinical.

In general, Hemovore doesn’t read like a supernatural or urban fantasy.  Yes, there are vampires and they have super strength.  Towards the end, we get some nifty vampiric powers showing up.  But there’s minimal magic in this world, just a fair amount of “This world works like x, we’re not going to bring in science to explain it, either you’re buying the world works like x or you’re not.”  The first two thirds of the book reads much more like a social science fiction or a spy thriller.  Not that these are bad things, but again.  Expectations.  The book did not meet my expectations.  These were not the vampires I was looking for.

That said, let’s talk about the book that I did actually read!

As I mentioned, there’s a lot of things going on Hemovore that I really liked and found fascinating.  The relationship resonated with me, as the two characters have worked together for years, the kind of close work where it basically feels like they live together, even if they each keep their own apartment.  Both are attracted to each other, but neither speaks of this fact or does anything about it.  The reason being, Jonathan Varga is V positive (a vampire) and Mark Jensen is not infected.  Catching the virus that causes vamprism ends in a painful, unsexy death without a second try for 85% of the people who catch it.  Therefore, as attractive as they find each other, neither is going to do anything about it, because the risks are too high.  They keep things distant, boss and employee, both pretending that’s all they are toe ach other.

And then, things change.  A series of events are set off that make them both re-evaluate their relationship and what they want out.

Ultimately, this is a novel about intimacy.  Physical intimacy is difficult, nearly impossible without spreading the disease.  The virus dies quickly when exposed to open air, but can survive several hours in fluid outside the body.  Sexual contact spreads the disease.  Kissing spreads the disease.  Sharing a glass can spread the disease.  Your partner drooling in their sleep could even spread the disease.  Basically, vamprism is like mono, only deadly.  The parallels with HIV are obvious, especially since the book features gay protagonists.

Unable to have normal physical intimacy weighs heavily on both characters’ minds, especially as they open up to admit the very real affection and desire between them.  They fight with whether they can make this work or if they’re just setting themselves up for disappointment.  How much of themselves can they share with each other, when so many things stand between them.

My favorite part of the novel is when our protagonists spend a few days with some mixed positive/negative couples and we get to see what kind of a lifestyle they have to live.  Separate bathrooms. A latex curtain between them when they sleep. I wish that our protagonists had spent a little longer here, discussing and negotiating if the two of them could handle it.  Instead, the story moves on to a different, and inevitable, phase of the relationship.  Still, I am a freak and really like complicated and awkward negotiations.

Honestly, I wonder how necessary some of these precautions are, just how infections the virus is.  It isn’t so contagious that it spreads via a positive sneezing, or else they’d all have to wear face masks. Fun fact, mono CAN spread via sneezing, though it isn’t common.  Mono is less contagious than the common cold and I get the feeling that the hemovore virus is less contagious than mono, but more contagious than HIV.  Which means that while unprotected sex is definitely out unless you’re willing to die, some of the other precautions taken might be extreme.  Considering the climate of suspicion and paranoia around the virus (it’s only been rampant in the USA for ten years), the extreme measures make sense.

And hey, better safe than sorry, when sorry means the person who loves you enough to live in this ridiculous lifestyle ends up dying horrible in a matter of months if you’re not safe.

Anyway, digression aside, it’s a fun book.  Hemovore contains little explicit sex (one scene), but has the careful unfolding of a meaningful relationship with lots of action and suspense to drive the story forward.  Worth a read, just check your vampiric expectations at the door and you’ll enjoy it a lot more.

Find Hemovore here!

White Rabbit: Emerald Edition

Well, we are now at the halfway point of my writing year, which means I ought to have two major projects done to be on track. I have… zero. Yup. Progress, I am not feeling so good about it. April was a difficult month because of Uncontrollable Life Things happening, following a March that was similarly not good for focus. So all of my projects, though they’ve moved places, don’t feel like actual progress that I can hold in my hand.

In fact, if anything, I feel like I’ve taken a step backwards. I mentioned, at the start of last month, that I was uncertain whether I should continue submitting Trask or put more work into it. The answer, as I knew it would be, is more work, because at the least, the novel isn’t in a place where I want to publish it. So it feels like I’m back where I was two years ago, with nothing to shop around with agents and a lot of unfinished stories staring at me.

But the writing career is not an escalator. It doesn’t go in one direction and there’s no falling off that lands you back on the ground floor where you started with nothing to show for yourself. If we’re looking for a good metaphor for a writing career, let’s go with Shoots and Ladders, only there is no end goal, just a lot of looping pathways. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few years writing, learning how to put together a story, a scene, a character arc. I’m not going to lose that knowledge because I’m not throwing a subpar novel at uninterested agents. The only way I can actually lose ground is to plug my ears and ignore the flaws in my work. Or give up entirely. Waiting on a step is not the same as giving up.

Agents, you will be hearing from me again.

No, that’s not a threat. Or, well, maybe it is, eh, EH?!