tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post1758031220149772382..comments2023-10-21T03:54:12.029-04:00Comments on A Gift Universe: 7 quick NaNo takesSheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-56348070425156951732017-12-29T22:56:23.388-05:002017-12-29T22:56:23.388-05:00+JMJ+
I'm training my bragging muscles in th...+JMJ+ <br /><br />I'm training my bragging muscles in the bragging gym as I comment! Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-44457010986606819892017-12-18T13:25:12.649-05:002017-12-18T13:25:12.649-05:00Enbrethiliel, there wasn't any character based...Enbrethiliel, there wasn't any character based on you, but I've been editing lately and I added one. It isn't really you, it's a middle-aged nun who cleans house for the eeeeevil bishop, but I gave her your name so you could have that to brag about! :DSheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-73823864096598766742017-12-06T11:54:46.223-05:002017-12-06T11:54:46.223-05:00Still, they say getting an agent is the toughest p...Still, they say getting an agent is the toughest part!Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-20676654800366486792017-12-04T19:01:47.640-05:002017-12-04T19:01:47.640-05:00Hey Sheila! He’s not published quite yet :) Just i...Hey Sheila! He’s not published quite yet :) Just in the process. His agent has sent his novel to various publishers and we are just in a waiting game to see if it gets accepted anywhere.<br /><br />I just wanted to encourage you that you shouldn’t worry if the process takes a while. :) Andreahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13253894471336737960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-46412901400628402932017-12-03T22:07:46.977-05:002017-12-03T22:07:46.977-05:00Andrea, that's so cool that your husband is ge...Andrea, that's so cool that your husband is getting published!<br /><br />Bat, your first paragraph is opaque, so I can't reply to it. I keep trying to pin down what in the world you're talking about, and every time I think I've got it, you wriggle away.<br /><br />Critics generally assume that Waugh was talking about homosexual in an oblique, plausibly-deniable way. The same is true of the other Catholic book I know of that talks about homosexuality -- Waking Rose, by Regina Doman. I don't believe the word "gay" is ever used, and arguably the character she keeps hinting at isn't gay at all.<br /><br />And this kind of proves my point -- Catholics don't want to read stuff with gay characters, and if they do, they prefer nothing so explicit as the word "gay." Then, of course, the gay characters have to be tormented and repent in the end. There doesn't need to be any straight-up lecturing, but you can't have the book end with a character happy and in a gay relationship.Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-71272682844697693462017-11-30T22:15:39.908-05:002017-11-30T22:15:39.908-05:00Who said "without reference"? It's ...Who said "without reference"? It's really <i>quite simple</i>... Also, I obviously haven't read what you've written, and I rather expect my criticism of <i>Discovery</i> has no bearing on your novel at all.<br /><br />Returning to my digression: there is no mention of any man actually sleeping with any other man, or wanting to, in all of Brideshead. There's cousin Jack's slur against Catholics. There's Charles' <i>very vague</i> "list of mortal sins" remark. <i>Antony</i> puts on a big show of being a Liberace before Liberace was and, most impoartantly, luxuriating in Charles being "an <i>artist</i>", and probably we can believe him; or maybe we can't (the Granada TV adaptation (w/ Jeremy Irons) credibly suggests that Antony grows out of his flamboyance... but that of course is not Canonical). About Charles and Sebastian, we know they enjoyed drunkenness, and there was that time they tried to pick up that pair of easy girls (also while drunk); and otherwise <i>everyone</i> (Bridey, Cordelia, Lady Marchmain) thought that Charles was a suitable friend for Sebastian, until he undermined the Samgrass Ploy.Belfry Bathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00514867101036143597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-18456939294563415982017-11-26T20:31:31.434-05:002017-11-26T20:31:31.434-05:00My husband writes (mostly Sci-if) and just recentl...My husband writes (mostly Sci-if) and just recently went through the process of getting a novel to the submission to editors stage so I thought I’d chime in! The usual process is to obtain a literary agent and then have the agent represent you to publishers. There was a contest that helped him get an agent called Pitch Wars.<br /><br />He was able to get a short story published in podcast form before he had an agent, but I think agents are really helpful for novels. And it is definitely a long process, so don’t get discouraged! He tries sneaks in writing everyday after work for about 45 min and depending on the day he will write anywhere from 200 words to 1500 words. And the process to get it published is also quite long. He got an agent I believe around a year ago, had to make some edits to his novel, and it’s been on sub since.<br /><br />Funnily, my husband just wrote a short story that is supposed to be about people who are like trads who have conspiracy like thinking and extreme views (we are trads ourselves and the extremism that one finds in these parishes can drive us nuts). :)Andreahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13253894471336737960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-36403625116220648112017-11-25T21:54:13.706-05:002017-11-25T21:54:13.706-05:00Ah, so I am. I had actually forgotten that other ...Ah, so I am. I had actually forgotten that other guy!<br /><br />Straight men who run from their vocations don't do it by sleeping with other dudes. Sebastian was gay as heck. Whereas Charles was only gay north-northwest.<br /><br />How exactly does one show a person is gay without reference to the people they're attracted to? *flummoxed*Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-5775555323073177032017-11-25T20:06:53.392-05:002017-11-25T20:06:53.392-05:00Just wanted to let you know that I read your blog ...Just wanted to let you know that I read your blog frequently, if not regularly, and hope you don't stop!Melissa Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15979491469434596513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-39505934007695220132017-11-23T22:26:15.175-05:002017-11-23T22:26:15.175-05:00... I think we're getting our Antonys and Seba...... I think we're getting our Antonys and Sebastians mixed up...<br /><br />The thing is that Charles, when he uses that phrase about the list of sins... he's remembering thinking that thought ironically, when he didn't believe <i>anything</i> and was perpetually flumoxed that Sebastian and Julia <i>actually did</i> believe all our Catholic ideas, even when they would act completely otherwise. (I'm not convinced Sebastian was gay; he was running away from his vocation all the time, until he couldn't even manage that properly, in Tunisia or wherever it was...)<br /><br />For the rest, Yes, it's a show/tell thing, but: the point is to convince the reader of <i>what</i> the characters are, before showing how one of them 'likes' or lusts after the other.Belfry Bathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00514867101036143597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-26732111460652372722017-11-22T10:36:04.541-05:002017-11-22T10:36:04.541-05:00Anon here (the social worker in Pennsylvania who r...Anon here (the social worker in Pennsylvania who reads your blog faithfully): YES. Publishers are interested in first-person accounts of living in and escaping cults and bizarre communities. Leah Remini's series on A&E about people leaving Scientology is very popular. Definitely tell them you drank the kool aid. You can offer the story as a cautionary tale. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-30386999877865960142017-11-20T17:30:36.037-05:002017-11-20T17:30:36.037-05:00E, Miriam was set on being a mouse, and I just use...E, Miriam was set on being a mouse, and I just used her costume from last year for Jackie. But I did think having a tiny cat and a giant mouse was pretty cute!<br /><br />Michael definitely looks like Syndrome in this picture -- I don't think you're the first person to say so!<br /><br />Never worry about telling me to fetch things out of moderation. I forget to check.<br /><br />Anon, thanks. I wonder if a potential publisher would want to hear, in my query letter, that it's based on my own experience? I'm not sure if "I drank the kool-aid" is a plus or a minus!<br /><br />BB, if all you mean is "if they're gay, they have to actually like guys (or girls)," well, yes. Showing and not telling.<br /><br />The moralizing is from Charles, for instance, when he calls their relationship "a kind of naughtiness high on the list of grave sins." And, of course, he breaks it off with Anthony. And I just think a writer who didn't disapprove of homosexuality wouldn't have had Anthony be as broken a person as he is. Not all real-life gay people are alcoholics, for instance!Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-26464252536632725082017-11-19T19:21:35.276-05:002017-11-19T19:21:35.276-05:00I'm not sure who you think does the Moralizing...I'm not sure who you think does the Moralizing about Antony in B.R. (except perhaps Lady Marchmain? ... I don't think she even mentions him to Charles) but there's heaps of humanizing him, not to mention of skewering the stupid Oxonians who think dropping him in that fountain would be Appropriately Funny; but, more than that: Antony is The One Person who speaks honestly to Charles about his painting (if about nothing else).<br /><br />But, now, "Sign"? You seem to be asking me how one should signal that this or that character is <i>gay</i>; I'm just saying that "gay" <i>is</i> as "gay" yearns. One has to establish that a character called gay really is consistently infatuated with <i>reflections</i> of his form rather than with the complementary; which is why I phrased it, above, "a man delecting in other men". I don't know what makes Antony Blanche a successful example of that, but he is. On the other side, I don't really know how to explain why in StTk:Disc, Stamets+Culber (so far) <i>fail</i> to convince, but, well, I'm not convinced. It's almost as if the writers initially wrote Stamets as a woman, but when casting/production decided Burnham and Tilly would be women, Engineering got to be <i>too female?</i>...<br /><br />Of course, there's also deciding how (if at all) your character signals to others that he is gay. And that's entirely up to you. Or them, if you're that kind of writer.Belfry Bathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00514867101036143597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-62043891618792473682017-11-19T18:55:19.359-05:002017-11-19T18:55:19.359-05:00Faithful reader here. You are an excellent writer....Faithful reader here. You are an excellent writer. I always hoped you'd write a screenplay or novel about your experience at boarding school. I suggest you shop your novel around to some literary agents. Also, treat yourself to a copy of "Writer's Market 2018: The Most Trusted Guide to Getting Published."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-9216468448629057302017-11-19T15:32:44.357-05:002017-11-19T15:32:44.357-05:00+JMJ+
1) I haven't written any long fiction ...+JMJ+ <br /><br />1) I haven't written any long fiction in a while, but my own approach has been that the first draft will always be the most awful version. So I think it's a bit early to worry about your story's possible awfulness! <br /><br />2) If there's a character based on me, you have permission to use my name!!! And then also name me in the acknowledgments, pretty please, when it gets published so I can brag that I contributed a tiny crumb to the next big YA phenomenon! <br /><br />3) You're probably right that you need to strike while the iron of YA Dystopia is hot, if you want your best chance at a book deal. But always remember that your manuscript could be the best writing of the year and still be rejected just because it's not what the editors are looking for at the moment. <br /><br />There was one viscerally powerful story that I rejected for that Catholic literary magazine a mutual friend of ours was once editor-in-chief of, simply because it wasn't what we were looking for. Yet it actually haunts me today more than any other story from the slush pile. I don't wish I could go back and change my decision. But I do wish I had asked our mutual friend to read it herself, so if I had been wrong, she could have overruled me, and if I had been right, she could have made me feel better. <br /><br />4 and 5) Poor Marko. I once had a coughing fit so bad that my torso muscles ached for days afterward. I'm glad to hear he's better. If I may suggest something . . . How does he handle garlic? My family's health motto could be "A raw clove of garlic a day keeps the doctor away." <br /><br />6) Did you ever watch <i>The Incredibles</i>? Michael reminds me a little of Syndrome in that picture. <br /><br />7) Did the mouse choose her costume to match the cat's or did the mouse inspire the cat? <br /><br />PS -- I hate to be That Reader. But I think I may have a comment in moderation. Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-174920751692883372017-11-19T08:39:10.606-05:002017-11-19T08:39:10.606-05:00What sign should there be? I'm not much of a ...What sign should there be? I'm not much of a believer in gay-dar. Some gay people are very different from the average straight person. Others are not.<br /><br />Catholics are okay with Brideshead Revisited because there's a whole lot of "THIS IS BAD DON'T DO IT" signalling in there. My book doesn't have that. It isn't possible to write a book without a moral message, because choosing not to include one is itself a statement about the author's morality.Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-46361873518424961692017-11-18T13:11:22.490-05:002017-11-18T13:11:22.490-05:00I can't think of a story that I've ever ha...I can't think of a story that I've ever hated <i>because</i> it had a gay character in it. Heck, <i>Brideshead Revisted</i>, anyone? I <i>can</i> think of stories whose gay-chacters' subplots fell flat because there wasn't a real reason/indication, beyond author say-so, that the gay character was <i>a man</i> who delected in <i>men</i> (or even: <i>some man</i>) as-such. Or the opposite.<br /><br />Just tell the truth about your characters.Belfry Bathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00514867101036143597noreply@blogger.com