Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Rethinking. Reinventing? Who knows?
Hey, look, I'm still alive.
In the interest of getting back in the saddle, I spent today rereading the lesbian western.
Damn. It's good. Hard to believe I haven't been able to get representation with it.
But historical fiction can be a hard sell in the YA market, and I've only shopped it to YA agents, and, reading it over - maybe it isn't YA? Maybe I accidentally wrote a grownup book? It's a new angle to try, anyhow.
If I want to sell in the market I should probably stop calling them grownup books, though...
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Reason Notwithstanding...
I'm still alive, though I'm sometimes dubious on the prospect. And I just sent out a query for Len, more or less on impulse. Wish me luck.
I have got to get out there and figure out what might serve for comps. Back when I was actively selling comps weren't really a thing, so it's a new trick for me; one I honestly can't take that seriously. I try, and then I get this vision of how the real estate appraisers I used to work for did comparable sales - adjust -5% because the Work is Historical and the Comp is Contemporary, adjust 15% because the Work depicts strong lesbian/horse bonds and Comp doesn't, etc. But does the camel adjust the value up or down? And pretty soon I've collapsed into a fit of giggles.
But hunting for comps ought to be fun, because it primarily involves rounding up and reading a bunch of books. You'd think I could do that much, health crap or no.
I have got to get out there and figure out what might serve for comps. Back when I was actively selling comps weren't really a thing, so it's a new trick for me; one I honestly can't take that seriously. I try, and then I get this vision of how the real estate appraisers I used to work for did comparable sales - adjust -5% because the Work is Historical and the Comp is Contemporary, adjust 15% because the Work depicts strong lesbian/horse bonds and Comp doesn't, etc. But does the camel adjust the value up or down? And pretty soon I've collapsed into a fit of giggles.
But hunting for comps ought to be fun, because it primarily involves rounding up and reading a bunch of books. You'd think I could do that much, health crap or no.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Friday, March 16, 2018
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Idea Garage Sale: Rennies, the Soap Opera
I'm a long way from back, but I did have an obvious garage sale idea the other night, something I couldn't possibly write for myself.
It's Renfaire season in Texas, and our closest friends are essentially living out there for the duration. They only do this one Faire, but many of their friends-and-neighbors make all or most of their income travelling from Faire to Faire all over the country, interspersed with craft shows, flea markets, fan conventions, and similar local events. Known as "Rennies," they are a subculture with footholds in a number of adjacent ones, particular lifeways, roots in the counterculture that go back to the 60s, and a network of fluid connections and intersecting relationships that, while natural to them, look convoluted and confusing to more sedentary professions.
And, people being people, this subculture is full of Drama. Open relationships that turn out to be not as open as all that. Seasonal relationships that are stable as long as no one changes their yearly schedule. Business partnerships that are also romantic ones; ongoing rivalries; children and teens being children and teens, forcing free-spirited parents to be grownups; health crises; emotional crises; shoestring budgets; vicious infighting side-by-side with breathtaking generosity; polyamoury; neurodivergence; religions from paganism to Christian Fundamentalism that are both deeply felt and a kind of performance art; an atmosphere of infinite acceptance that can be savagely broken if certain lines are crossed - tell me all this wouldn't make a great Daytime Drama!
The beauty of this idea is that it would allow the writers and producers to do an end-run around a lot of the problems that a long-running dramatic show is generally faced with. Did a character not work out, or is a popular actor leaving? No need to force a dramatic write-out willy-nilly, just have him change his schedule so it no longer intersects with the main cast's, or quit to work a more conventional job. If the actor comes back, well, the new schedule or job didn't work out; or he's filling in for someone; or he returns with his new family - on the other side of the booth, a consumer rather than a producer of the Renfaire experience. The standard soap practice of ungainly and unrealistic serial marriages punctuated by affairs and divorces is unnecessary in a subculture in which polyamoury and seasonal relationships are so common; and the prospects for High Drama are better due to the intersection of so many different personalities and situations. Children who appear and disappear as required by the plot are far less jolting in a culture in which children of a particular age may live with grandparents during the school year, or live alternately with parents who no longer work the same shows.
My own biggest problem with soaps is that sooner or later people who should know better keep repeating the same mistakes and reliving the same stories, because the choices the writers have are so limited. The Rennie lifestyle renders this unnecessary - there is always somebody who can plausibly throw a wrench into a situation. Why does anyone still deal with the Scheming Matriarch? Why, because she runs the biggest Faire in the circuit! Why does anybody still fall for The Heartbreaker? Because the non-standard expectations of the culture result in just as much drama, but fewer broken hearts.
Anyway, got to get on with my Sunday schedule and can't delve into practical details. But it's a natural. I'm shocked no one's done this.
It's Renfaire season in Texas, and our closest friends are essentially living out there for the duration. They only do this one Faire, but many of their friends-and-neighbors make all or most of their income travelling from Faire to Faire all over the country, interspersed with craft shows, flea markets, fan conventions, and similar local events. Known as "Rennies," they are a subculture with footholds in a number of adjacent ones, particular lifeways, roots in the counterculture that go back to the 60s, and a network of fluid connections and intersecting relationships that, while natural to them, look convoluted and confusing to more sedentary professions.
And, people being people, this subculture is full of Drama. Open relationships that turn out to be not as open as all that. Seasonal relationships that are stable as long as no one changes their yearly schedule. Business partnerships that are also romantic ones; ongoing rivalries; children and teens being children and teens, forcing free-spirited parents to be grownups; health crises; emotional crises; shoestring budgets; vicious infighting side-by-side with breathtaking generosity; polyamoury; neurodivergence; religions from paganism to Christian Fundamentalism that are both deeply felt and a kind of performance art; an atmosphere of infinite acceptance that can be savagely broken if certain lines are crossed - tell me all this wouldn't make a great Daytime Drama!
The beauty of this idea is that it would allow the writers and producers to do an end-run around a lot of the problems that a long-running dramatic show is generally faced with. Did a character not work out, or is a popular actor leaving? No need to force a dramatic write-out willy-nilly, just have him change his schedule so it no longer intersects with the main cast's, or quit to work a more conventional job. If the actor comes back, well, the new schedule or job didn't work out; or he's filling in for someone; or he returns with his new family - on the other side of the booth, a consumer rather than a producer of the Renfaire experience. The standard soap practice of ungainly and unrealistic serial marriages punctuated by affairs and divorces is unnecessary in a subculture in which polyamoury and seasonal relationships are so common; and the prospects for High Drama are better due to the intersection of so many different personalities and situations. Children who appear and disappear as required by the plot are far less jolting in a culture in which children of a particular age may live with grandparents during the school year, or live alternately with parents who no longer work the same shows.
My own biggest problem with soaps is that sooner or later people who should know better keep repeating the same mistakes and reliving the same stories, because the choices the writers have are so limited. The Rennie lifestyle renders this unnecessary - there is always somebody who can plausibly throw a wrench into a situation. Why does anyone still deal with the Scheming Matriarch? Why, because she runs the biggest Faire in the circuit! Why does anybody still fall for The Heartbreaker? Because the non-standard expectations of the culture result in just as much drama, but fewer broken hearts.
Anyway, got to get on with my Sunday schedule and can't delve into practical details. But it's a natural. I'm shocked no one's done this.
Friday, May 12, 2017
News: Island Refuge, Oral History, and Boat People!
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Guided by local folklore, archeologists found one of the "island refugia" (not really an island, but an ice-free zone in the middle of the Ice Age glacial area) that people boating down from Beringia used as a base for their marine hunting and gathering - 14,000 years ago! At last, at last, at last! It's amazing what you find when you look where the most knowledgeable people tell you to...
On a more personal note, turns out I enjoy making patchwork. Who knew? It may be genetic, as the gramma I take after the most was an avid quilter. Not going down that rabbit hole, though. This'll be a skirt. Because I have about two skirts that are fit to be seen in public.
On a more personal note, turns out I enjoy making patchwork. Who knew? It may be genetic, as the gramma I take after the most was an avid quilter. Not going down that rabbit hole, though. This'll be a skirt. Because I have about two skirts that are fit to be seen in public.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Synopsis Spoilers; Another Duh Moment
Trying to rewrite the synopsis for the lesbian western, with Thai yowling almost continuously about the quality of the food in her bowl, I erased everything and started a list of key points. And this is what I got:
Len is a young woman, who is attracted to women, who disguises herself as a man to run away, and continues the disguise to prove a point.
Diana was born in slavery and freed herself by assuming her half-sister's identity when she died.
Lee has surrendered, Texas has not, and civil authority is nonexistent.
The Caves murdered William Bonvillain for financial reasons, but he partially foiled them by hiding his moneybelt.
Much of the plot revolves around the mounts - hand-raised Bean, charismatic and much-coveted Pegasus, misused Sheikh. That doesn't make this an animal story.
Len involves herself in Di's business for Di's sake, even before she meets her.
Um, wait. Len involves herself in Di's business for Di's sake, even before she meets her.
Well, yes, that's what the whole business with the letters blowing around is about.
I was so busy softpedaling the romantic element of the plot, I didn't reveal, even to myself, that I'm dealing with love before first sight.
Well, that lets me off synopsis writing for today. Now I need to go back and figure out where in the story I didn't make this clear. Without losing the soft pedal.
Still more fun than writing a synopsis.
Len is a young woman, who is attracted to women, who disguises herself as a man to run away, and continues the disguise to prove a point.
Diana was born in slavery and freed herself by assuming her half-sister's identity when she died.
Lee has surrendered, Texas has not, and civil authority is nonexistent.
The Caves murdered William Bonvillain for financial reasons, but he partially foiled them by hiding his moneybelt.
Much of the plot revolves around the mounts - hand-raised Bean, charismatic and much-coveted Pegasus, misused Sheikh. That doesn't make this an animal story.
Len involves herself in Di's business for Di's sake, even before she meets her.
Um, wait. Len involves herself in Di's business for Di's sake, even before she meets her.
Well, yes, that's what the whole business with the letters blowing around is about.
I was so busy softpedaling the romantic element of the plot, I didn't reveal, even to myself, that I'm dealing with love before first sight.
Well, that lets me off synopsis writing for today. Now I need to go back and figure out where in the story I didn't make this clear. Without losing the soft pedal.
Still more fun than writing a synopsis.
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