Star Gazing

I have a little side-hobby (in addition to corrupting young minds and spreading nudity world wide)—I LOVE Astrology. I don’t use it like the mad match-makers around the world, but rather for some explanatory entertainment… I like to see how the stars give insight to the character of people I know—and you know what? If you have their whole chart, they are usually spot-on.

East and West

I’ve dappled in both ‘standard’ western astrology, but also Chinese Astrology, wherein the year you were born gives you both an animal and an element. The western variety is more familiar to most people reading English language books, and the personality traits more varied, but the eastern gives society its sort of generational flare. I’ve also found that the couple people who really don’t fit their western signs fit their eastern sign with SCARY accuracy. My mother is one of these—my step dad actually laughed as he read the description of the water pig (1947) it was so accurate.

In Life

[funny... even my astrological sign is innuendo...]  I am a Cancer on the cusp of Gemini with a Virgo Moon, a Fire Horse… and those things all feed into my personality. Among the original members of my writer’s group, four of 6 of us were Cancers, three with birthdays right in a row on the cusp of Gemini—I think there is a pull for this week of the year, the emotionally in-tuned Cancer, and the Communication oriented Gemini to get those words on paper.

The fire horse in me is the part that won’t take no for an answer, refuses to change to suit the status quo, and yet can play harder that most of the other kids on the block. It’s said we leave home early and grow up late… For centuries Fire Horse were euthanized because we are such an independent lot that we inevitably dishonor our families (by not toeing the line).

One of the things I DO DO in real life related to Astrology is give a little romantic advice… it is always tongue in cheek and I know people would never make decisions based on it, but I’ve been known to say things like “A Libra and a Virgo! That’s a TERRIBLE idea!”

So here is YOUR practical love lesson for the day: EASIEST compatibility is 4 signs away (the signs that share elements) because there is an innate understanding; however, those matches often share flaws, so the couple can have some long term obstacles. Best complimentarity is two signs away—that way the strengths are different but in a way that goes together… in my own life I have only EVER gotten serious about Tauruses or Virgos (not intentionally, oddly enough—I didn’t even KNOW any of this until I was married)—had a handful of emotional attachments from other signs, but not nearly in the same kinds of numbers… and strangely, though the Tauruses tend to be more fun, I only ever thought of the word marriage with the Virgos… (all three of them… go figure), but then I have a Virgo moon, so that explains it…

Fire signs similarly… BEST matches are 4 away (or 8) as a horse, I should be with a tiger or a dog (I married a tiger and my son I get along with so famously is also a tiger). So if you’re wanting romantic advice… I’m your tart.

In Reading

Most books don’t explicitly give birthdays to characters, but my FAVORITE series does, and I find Jo did a pretty good job on most fronts—Harry the impulsive, generous Leo, Hermione, the diligent methodical Virgo, Snape the hard-working, no-nonsense Capricorn. Her only real error is probably casting Luna as a Leo (Luna is an Aquarius if ever there was one—possibly Gemini, DEFINITELY air.) She even though, goes so far as to use Voldemort’s birthday (mid-winter) as a herring for Trelawney to misread Harry, which then of course turns out to have a REAL reason behind it.

And per the pairing advice above… Harry and Hermione… was NEVER going to happen… one sign away is the WORST pairing possible.

In Writing

As with everything else I do, I tend to find this useful, but from a backward approach compared to what the average bear might do.

I envision a character with a few really important character details, write them a scene or two to get to know them, and THEN I choose a birthday that fits the personality I’ve laid down. What it allows is for an easy path to round out what some of the strengths, weaknesses and preferences that HAD NOT otherwise been relevant yet for that character are. I also like to use it to give some flavor for who gets along and who doesn’t and what kinds of people someone is drawn to. I have a theory for instance, that earth signs don’t tolerate fire signs all that well… find them rather exhausting. (Taurus is a little more tolerant)

In Confluence I used this… Jessie is a quintessential Aquarius—marching to her own drummer and quite comfortable not conforming, yet absolutely likable for it.


Do I believe in an infallibility of horoscopes? Not at all, there is all sorts of wacky stuff that changes the mix in reality, but I find it a fun, handy short cut with my writing. It helps make for believable people and conflicts, because the stereotypes wouldn’t exist if they didn’t hold true an awful lot of the time.

Sweet Infamy

Bonus Points for the Naked World Domination Tour

I think everyone likes being amused, and I'm no exception, but I probably take the most delight from the completely unexpected amusements in life. I had one of those moments yesterday.

The Build Up

I've added a few stat counter tools to my blog [see to the left] because it's fun to see which things people check out, where my readers live, all that good stuff. It is interesting to note things like... when I am buck naked people don't necessarily comment, but they sure read *snort * (repression is alive and well)

I can tell what portion of readers are Tart Virgins, and who are repeat customers (I run about 38% new and 62% repeat, which seems relatively reasonable to me... you want people to come back, but you also need new blood or you don't grow.

I've had readers from places that have made me completely scratch my head... places I've had to look up on maps... I've had readers from Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Sweden... and those are just the places I don't KNOW anyone. There is Austria, Australia, (Adelaide, Melbourne AND Sydney) Canada, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, and all the countries in the UK (yes, Ireland, Scotland and Wales in addition to plain old England). It is a little wacky. I think the most amusing though, is a repeat reader that LOOKS like he is in the middle of the ocean until you zoom in... (Sao Tome and Principe is my guess... hard to be specific on the map I get)--a Portugese name, but the island is off of Africa—Gabon to the east, Nigeria to the north.

The Clincher...

There is one more tool though, which I only recently discovered. You can see where your last ten viewers were referred from. Now I've had viewers referred from the obvious places. Direct, I am guessing are people who have me bookmarked. I get Facebook and Networked blog referrals. I've had referrals from blogs, Mystery Writing is Murder, Quiddity of Delusion, I'm Not Hannah... and then things I don't get at all (google image search—why does that lead to ME? I don't have any named images.)

But yesterday at work one of these links took me to Google Blogsearch.... in Portuguese... I was the Number One hit (in Portuguese, mind you) for 'Nudist Group'. I think it's been a VERY long time since I've been so amused. Being the place people go when they want to be NAKED has been my goal all along, so I think I can declare a GRAND success.

Sadly, I seem to have dropped to #2

The search page for 'nudist group'

If you want to see the page in Portuguese:

in Portuguese

So to all of you who are already, or considering getting naked... thank you... my reputation thanks you. Because if I can gain enough infamy, I can certainly get a darned book published...

Facebook and What If….

[This would be a rambling blog, rather than a writing blog, but it may lead to thoughts on story ideas… so I will go with that.]

I’m mostly happily married, approaching my 18th anniversary with my husband. One of the things that so bound me to my husband was that he was not a jealous sort… didn’t mind that I had friends who used to be significant in one form or *cough* another, because… well I collect people. At our wedding I had three friends who were ‘former loves’ of varying significance, all clearly only friends by that point, but it still takes a rather significant level of acceptance and confidence to not have been bothered.

One of those, I’ve kept in touch with. Our lives have other overlap, so we’ve always at least exchanged a note a couple times a year (much like many of my girlfriends), but for the most part, my move across the country extinguished any residual… well… anything. I’d just lost touch… with everyone. Not so much anymore, and I’ve been pondering…

Facebook Tiers

My first Facebook friends were friends I had from other online communities… early adopters of online friendships… fellow Harry Potter geeks mostly…

Among the first of my classmates though, was a serious crush from Jr. High… It was ALWAYS only one-sided—any girl who DIDN’T have a crush on him clearly had questionable taste (he was THAT cute). We never even had a class together until senior year. We had communicated around our 20-year reunion though (I did a survey of classmates because that is the geeky thing statisticians do before class reunions), and in reality had talked more via email than we EVER had in person, so that was comfortable, old crush or not.

And then ANOTHER rather obsessive crush (high school now… emotions ramped up a little)… this one lasting longer, and actually containing a handful of dates… still more serious on my end than his… But our families are friends, so there is common ground for a plain old friendship… (he’s one of the three who was at the wedding, actually)... so all was good.

But since that time, the trickle, then onslaught… I found a few, so was prepared, but a few found me… I had completely forgotten how regularly I used to fall for people… the flirtations involved, even with 'just' friends… It is this mad rush of memories I had plum forgotten.

Friendship Faces

It is strange now to reconfigure relationships. The online friendships are more about common interests… with one it is microbeer, with another it is Harry Potter, with another it is common aged daughters or politics or fitness plans… A huge part of me thinks this is a fabulous way to get to know people… you know… were I single… were they single… but nobody is single. Yet there is this layer, this nuance, this connection…

Maybe normal people always had these pieces of friendship. I grew up the only child of a widowed woman, so was sorely lacking in the lessons about boys being people. In fact I was pretty sure they WEREN’T until college when I had my first serious, monogamous boyfriend which freed me to actually see I could be FRIENDS with other guys (they were NOT all oddball possibilities from the dating pool, but rather…people—no need any longer to flirt or impress. I could finally be me)

And now… married… I am still me and am baffled by the common ground (men really ARE people!), but also can spot how easily a person… dissatisfied… might slide into how COMFORTABLE this level of relationship is… might have the all-positive banter of the online (because people don’t tend to come chat when they are crabby—they CERTAINLY aren’t saying ‘is that where that goes?’ to me AGAIN (did you see my eyes roll?). They can’t see the extra thirty pounds or the new wrinkles (I don’t POST those pictures). And so there is this fantasy self, talking to fantasy people (or is this our honest self, once past the physical us?)—you see, there lies the conundrum… it is both a better and a worse place for honesty…

Chat box opens [note: I don’t know those people, I just googled FB chat for an image] and suddenly it is LIVE. On my writer’s profile when someone I don’t KNOW opens a chat (I always find that odd, unless there’s been an interaction first) I try to quickly mention hubby or kids in convo… that profile is about networking and anyone looking for a date is wasting both of our time. In real time though--and on MY profile, it is really fun to visit (depending on how busy I am—prefer it from home)… but another layer is laid in this strangeness of all possibilities at once… a candy box of ‘it might have beens’.

Are writers seeing the potential for stories here? Are the rest of you seeing the temptation and danger? Probably a good thing I generally avoid frunk* posting or I might do something stupid, eh? I have a friend (maybe more) who had marriage problems exacerbated by the online thing. I think the best advice I can give is that in real life you are going to have to deal with the crap. That is how relationships go. Take that online person and pull him into real life and there would be JUST AS MUCH crap you’d have to deal with. Yes, the online is all pleasant… but it isn’t real. You can’t compare and shouldn’t try, even if it is fun to try the samplers…

Back to the writing potential... So I’m envisioning devious people, coming online to seduce lonely old classmates, leading them off naked somewhere… wait… that last part is me… maybe devious is only in the eye of the beholder.


[*note: FRUNK is a word derived from coming online DRUNK and trying to share that information with the people you’re talking to… inevitably a key is hit wrong…]

Plotting Their Demise…

Do you hear the evil laughter? That is the echo from ME last night.

You see, I had reached a place in my WiP where I felt a little like I was spinning my wheels… running in place like the Python Arthurians storming the castle and never making any progress whatsoever.

So I did what I do…

Plotting

I got naked and got in the bath…

[oops… wrong bathtub activity]

...then I thought… okay, where do I need this all to be for the NEXT book to start? I proceeded to outline one of the perspectives through about ¾ of book 3… then thought a little more… decided who my second perspective is going to be and plotted a little of HIS story—I may actually include Athena’s perspective again too—she was one of two in the first book, but she is central to how all the characters intersect and she will be central in the final action of the trilogy. Three PoVs probably makes it longer, but I REALLY like her, and I think she will add to the power of the story.

Looking at most of what I want to happen in Book 3 really opened me up to what still needed to happen in book 2. It helped me re-outline the primary action for the rest of the book (I actually worked backword from the end to where I am in the writing in order to plot it) and I think it will flow more easily for longer…



The Evil in Me

It is a wacky thing though… plotting two deaths and the loss of identity of a 3rd character. Why am I enjoying this so much? Is that natural? Are writers a sadistic lot compared to normal people, or does this actually allow us a release that doesn’t harm anyone and so in the long run we’re nicer? Can I run with that line, even if it's not true?

I DO have a hard time not redeeming my bad guys… I learned this writing a fan fiction about the Malfoy Family… I just couldn’t leave anyone completely rotten if I got in their head for any length of time (though on principle I have avoided writing from the perspective of Umbridge or Bellatrix… no redeeming THEM). It may have something to do with my underlying beliefs that in the absence of true psychosis, most people who do bad things, do them because they’ve been damaged by circumstances, whether teachings, experiences, or deep neglect. People aren’t naturally evil—they are MADE that way… which always makes me want to UNMAKE them that way.

So like I tell people…

I’m not evil. I’m just naughty.



And a Status Check-In

On NaNoWriMo I have completed 38K+ words and I’ve made an observation… I am part of the ‘Ann Arbor’ region and my miserable Regioneers (865 of them—doesn’t that seem high for a city of only 200,000?) have amassed and average of 14,841 words… that puts us in 414th place of 484 (and me at 2 1/2 times the average). Now I don’t think anyone at or above that average is doing that badly… this is still a winnable project with 11 days left (granted, that is more than 3000 words a day, but it could be done)… yet I digress… my REAL observation is the Fan Fiction Veterans I have signed up with are ROCKING. Nearly all of us are at or approaching 30,000 or better, and a couple are ahead of me (which honestly, I’m not sure I expected by this point… I am better at the marathon thing than a lot of people I know… a little at a time, keep plugging away—in fact my graph of progress doesn’t have ANY days with no words-- just under 900 was my lowest day—that is not the norm)

So I am recommending for any tentative writers, or writers who write sporadically, to find a community in which to share that will DEMAND regular updates, as the fan fiction world has for this group. I think there are places for other kinds of stories, though I don’t know any to recommend, but I feel like that discipline, learned in that setting, has been VERY good for us as a group.  I'm very proud...

That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Sama-Lama-Ding-Dong

[Note: Not a writing blog, and probably an over-share, but that is me… naked as always]

My son Sam turns eleven today. I’ve frequently looked at Sam as my reward for not murdering my husband, who at one time was sorely asking for it. After our daughter was born, a series of demons visited our lives and we spent a few very difficult years. In fact we were separated for almost eighteen months of my daughter’s first 2½ years. I wouldn’t revisit that time in my life for ANYTHING, no matter how I adored her toddler stage.

That is the era in which I learned that no matter how badly you’d like to fall apart, SOMEBODY has to stay sane… so there I was, stuck… the sane one by default. I had some tangible help and lots of helpful advice, all of it saying to walk away. You may have learned enough about me by now to know that played no small part in my determining it had to work. Don’t get me wrong. I was insistent on boundaries, therapy, taking time, working through—I even worked an AlAnon program to help sort what was my stuff and what wasn’t... but NOBODY tells me what to do. I also think my refusal to accept failure played in, as did my husband accepting that being tossed out in the first place was a reasonable reaction on my part--probably the best thing I could have done for him—once he’d gotten far enough past it, anyway. Even one hot head in such a situation dooms it. I couldn’t have ‘worked it out’ by myself.

Natalie was planned… after a couple years of taking turns being ready for a baby, by chance we were ready at the same time, tried and succeeded—first time... Sam on the other hand… in spite of coming 3 ½ years later, was an accident. We wanted another EVENTUALLY, but I was only 5 months into a new job, we’d only been back together 9 months, he wasn’t working… it just wasn’t time yet… yet I am completely confident he was the child I was meant to have. I’m not a person of traditional faith, but I believe in SOMETHING, and there it is…

Sam was almost 4 weeks early (never mind he was 7 pounds 9 oz. and 22 inches long). He was jaundiced, and fussy, didn't eat well. He refused to sleep on his back—the adamant recommendation of the day. As he got a little older he hated being away from home, throwing screaming tantrums if we were gone too long (strangers actually used to offer me help and sympathy—he was THAT miserable).

In Preschool he finally got his bearings away from home. At four I realized how good he was with numbers—his grandparents were visiting and he asked the date. Then he asked that day’s date and calculated that meant four days… math with no prompting or training. After preschool we decided on Young 5s because he was so young for his cohort… by the end he was reading, so he went to first grade instead of kindergarten. The kid is smart.

Not only is he smart, he has common sense… pacing himself with work that needs doing, getting things out of the way before going to the fun stuff. I never have to remind him to do homework, and to date can only remember once that he forgot until sort of late.

The real winner though, is his humor… it is mine EXACTLY. From very young he was into word play. He is periodically sarcastic beyond his years. I just enjoy his company. The rest of my family grumbles that I play favorites, and I really try not to, but periodically I just have to remind them that it is easiest to like someone who likes YOU—to be nice to someone who has been being nice. (my other two family members grumble and complain far more often). He gets mad and complains far less, seeks out my company even when he doesn’t want something from me MORE, and is just easy to hang out with. I know that will get to be less as he ages, that his mom will no longer be the cool company, but I have savored it, and hope after his ‘cool years’ that he comes back to it.

So what does he like? Here are some of his favorites:

Books: Cirque de Freak series by Darren Shan
TV: Family Guy
Candy: currently, Almond Joy
Friend: John [the boy on the right up above]

He plays trombone, does basketball, baseball and tried cross country this year. He requested I buy him ‘scent’ when school was starting because he has definitely noticed girls (and heard girls like boys who smell good). He spends a lot of time playing computer or video games, but also climbing trees, riding bikes and generally running around.

And did I mention his feet? His age has finally reached his shoe size… Seriously… he wears a men’s 11. It’s clear how much taller he is than his friends [above], but he is nowhere near done if his feet are an indication… He is already a head taller than most of his peers, some of whom are more than a year older.

Familiar Territory

For a long time I thought I couldn’t write, that I lacked the imagination. I really could never write a whole separate world like the fantasy works I love so much. Creating something from scratch is just SO BIG. I have incredible admiration for those uber-creative types who can do it.

Eventually though, I learned to pull pieces of reality from different places and combine them in different ways… create something fresh from a reconfiguration of things we already know.

Location

My thoughts on this topic began with my NaNo project (now at 35K *YAY!*). My characters have just realized someone was trying to kill one of them and have gone on the run once again. I had them in Colorado because it just seemed like the kind of place that would have a psychiatric hospital not beholden to government forces (since part of what they’re running from is a government agency determined to keep her quiet)… guess Colorado wasn’t as secure as they thought though… so they’ve hitchhiked, and where do I send them? Idaho. You know WHY? Because I know nooks and crannies in Idaho that can give it a realistic feel without a ton of research, and NaNo doesn’t give me TIME for a ton of research. Going into familiar territory is a nice way to have at least ONE layer of the story be easy. [note the itsy bitsy teeny tiny red line that is the only highway from southern to northern Idaho… yeah, it’s mostly only two lanes, and that matters]

CONFLUENCE takes part in a fictional town (Clear Springs) which is a combination of Ann Arbor and Moscow, Idaho, though the surrounding geography is all Idaho panhandle, even though it is never called such. But because it was a fictional town, I had to make maps and decisions, and work hard to keep thing things I was saying consistent with some plan. LEGACY on the other hand, takes place in Portland, so that was EASY. I lived there for twelve years. I could use memory and real maps (plus a little google—for instance I had to change my timeframe by a few years because I use Pioneer Square which wasn’t completed until spring of 1984)

So here I am… using a location crutch to speed things along, since writing speed is fairly critical…


Plot

Some people borrow from real life for plot, whether it is news events they see, things that happened to people they know, or real life. My own real life, plotted as fiction, would yield a sort of angsty, oddly inspirational ‘Chick Lit,’ I think. My romances have been non-conventional and sometimes questionable (probably I couldn't pass as a heroine in most of them, anyway). My worldly experiences have been mostly frantically gleaned in an attempt to have a more interesting life. And my career has been scattered. I think the ONLY thing I have that is all that interesting is a scrappy perseverance… a stubbornness that survives, regardless of obstacles. But to write that story, I have to dish dirt on people I still care about, so it’s not happening, at least not until I can do it honestly, as a memoir, which means acquiring fame first.

I have another plot that is ALMOST mine I intend to write, but not while my aunts are still living. My grandfather had a very tragic life, considering he lived to 91, and the skeleton of the story is absolutely gripping--triple hanky stuff. The family dynamic though is difficult, and I will not be the person to make it more so. Another one for my golden years.

All those 'real life as plot' things though, have a limitation that is HUGE for somebody who wants a career as a writer... you only get to do it once.  Poof, bye bye, plot used...

What I LOVE to use real life for is details. I like small exchanges that give a sense that things really happened that way. They give an authenticity to scenes that would feel forced if a person used something similar but that was fictional. I’m not saying they can’t be altered to be more plot appropriate, but life offers some wonderful scenes.

Character

I think it is a rare writer who doesn’t put herself and people she knows into characters in bits and pieces… this trait or that one, even if it is subconcious. I think our own personalities feed into what we see as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ too. For instance I have a very difficult time writing a sympathetic drama queen. (Ironic, as my teenage heroine in CONFLUENCE is nicknamed Drama Queen, but that is about literal drama). But I just don’t have patience for that personality, sucking all the air out of the room. They make me tired and I could never finish a plot if I let one in. I just can’t yet be sympathetic enough… maybe one day… or maybe as a second…

But I see young writers, or writers early in their development, drawing whole characters that are themselves, or maybe themselves as they would like to be. I’ve never gone that far. I think I am too odd a bird and everyone would identify me for the nudist that I am. I also think it is only good for a book or two, and then the personalities need to shift up a little or people will read it as more of the same (maybe not in a series genre, like mysteries, though I prefer someone quirkier to be the M.C. in those than nearly anybody I’ve met).  Mostly though, it seems like life should be a cabinet of raw materials, mixed and matched in new and unexpected ways, rather than counting too heavily on the pre-made chocolate frog that really only has one good jump in it.

Note:  to the left is a link to Coffee Rings Everywhere.  I haven't read today's because I had a plan and didn't want to be influenced, but it looks to me as if my Thursday Twin and I are on the same brainwave... I hear that happens frequently with twins.  *winks at Natasha*

Middling Mayhem

I’ve decided that book middles maybe should just be called Muddles… I had DAYS that I would write a scrap here, write a scrap there and just feel like I was making no progress whatsoever… then I made a Facebook comment about it and discovered, lo and behold… some people LIKE them! So I thought I’d explore the topic farther…

Reading Middles

Let me be clear… I NEVER EVER skip ahead. I read every word and love it, but no matter HOW good the book, there is a part of me that is saying come on come on come on… get to the part I know is coming! (I am similarly greedy faced with abs like these… I can REALLY love them, but frankly… mostly just because of the indicator they give of the good stuff… knowwhatImean?) EVEN if after the fact I look back and LOVE the middle, I STILL am eager to get to the final action sequence and see how things go. It is what propels me forward. Books that don’t do that for me, I can still read, but I don’t enjoy them nearly as much.

Does that mean the middle could just not be there? NOT AT ALL. Without the middle, I wouldn’t get all that sweet anticipation, which is the part I ACTUALLY love so much, and a well written book drops hints and details (LOOK at the six pack!) through there that make the ending a fabulous wind up of tons of details!

I think my love of anticipation actually feeds the fact that I like LONG books so much better than short ones. I crave that anticipation (seriously… on so many levels). I would NOT be a person who preferred longer books if there wasn’t something truly compelling about the middle, would I?


Writing Middles

Unlike my buddy Stacy, who sees middles like the scrumptious frosting of the oreo—savored and enjoyed, I see them more like the broccoli, which I never start with, because I can’t face it first, but I wouldn’t end with either, because I want something better to be the end note of my dinner…

I think this is hardest because the middle is what I don’t know before I start… even if I have a broad plan, the middle has gotten the least thought. In a normal book session, I can write the beginning and plot my points, and then wait for this connector or that connector to form more fully. With NaNoWriMo though, I can’t skip to a different project entirely for a couple weeks. I need to make progress on THIS project.

So here is how I handled it:

Diagnosis of what was causing the problem: I have two sort of parallel story tracts running—a physical running/keeping safe, and an emotional exploration via psychological counseling (though Phil is considerably more handsome and compassionate that Freud). The LATTER was the part that kept causing trouble (damn psychotherapists), partly because the pacing of it needs to match the action, and the therapy progress kept going too fast and bumping my other plot too much.

Decision to just write the OTHER half for now: I’m not completely skipping it, but I’ve decided to concentrate on the physical journey first, then come back and insert the emotional journey as it most closely runs parallel to the physical one. I think it will allow for the best overall story.

That said, the decision, once I made it, has freed my characters… they’ve gone on the run again… there is about to be a conflict BETWEEN them (all prior conflicts are them together versus external forces) so I think it should up the ante for my action and will set up the breakthrough of the final action sequence, so I am excited once again about my NaNo project.


A Further Look

When I made my facebook comment and a few people mentioned loving middles, I decided maybe it was a genre thing… the two who specifically mentioned loving them write romances… well romances it seems, go meet, resist, give in, conflict, resolve, back together… or something like that… I can totally see where the ‘give in, conflict, resolve’ would be the most exciting portion of that story.

I tend to write something that borders on suspense or thriller, and THAT cycle is more circular, with each sweep having a slightly higher stakes tension. I think the HARD part is coming up with and building to the next tension, then once it is started, that cycle goes smoothly and you get back to the same spot. Now normally, I have maybe 60% of my cycles set, but have a couple where I have to fly by the seat of my pantsless…. This story though, it is more an issue of trying to match the psycho/emotional tensions to the physical tensions. I want to keep them similarly paced and that was getting difficult.

So I’d love to hear if others like to read/write middles and what genre they do both in… trying to see if I’m onto something or just talking out the side of my keyboard…