tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post1742974014532014751..comments2024-03-29T03:30:18.368-06:00Comments on Blood-Red Pencil: The Monster in My OfficeDanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14471919576687777886noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-50334734066735513522012-10-30T19:22:57.663-06:002012-10-30T19:22:57.663-06:00@Zak: Thanks, buddy. Your developmental edits on T...@Zak: Thanks, buddy. Your developmental edits on <i>The Drowning God</i> make me wish you were around for the first draft of <i>The Wine Ghost</i>!<br />jk@kendley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-17742566545140287702012-10-30T19:13:15.164-06:002012-10-30T19:13:15.164-06:00Mine will be about 70k after I strip it down; if I...Mine will be about 70k after I strip it down; if I rework chapters for length and bring in interstitial elements for continuity's sake, it may come to about 80k. I don't think it's about raw word count as much as how much will stick! Your mileage.may vary, Morgan!jk@kendley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-76248013202034574012012-10-30T17:03:51.818-06:002012-10-30T17:03:51.818-06:00I've got a monster of a first never-been-publi...I've got a monster of a first never-been-published novel around here somewhere as well, but not nearly as long as yours.<br /><br />Morgan Mandel<br />http://www.morganmandel.comMorgan Mandelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10118929301591850918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-35449821693243889392012-10-30T14:45:21.563-06:002012-10-30T14:45:21.563-06:00Having been lucky enough to read the Wine Ghost, I...Having been lucky enough to read the Wine Ghost, I think the effort (and James's reflections on it) showed that first novels, at least, are as much exorcisms as they are works of art. And I think all honest writing hurts like an exorcism, because it is at once autobiographical and exhibitionist in showing your truest demons: what you think about humankind. Zakariah Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12751075547005542773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-49338949394253981672012-10-29T15:47:41.175-06:002012-10-29T15:47:41.175-06:00Thank you, James. ;)Thank you, James. ;)Danihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471919576687777886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-60506467310589558202012-10-29T14:44:58.647-06:002012-10-29T14:44:58.647-06:00@Dani: Perhaps a simple misreading on both parts. ...@Dani: Perhaps a simple misreading on both parts. I've moved on.jk@kendley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-69210670598951842882012-10-29T14:42:31.232-06:002012-10-29T14:42:31.232-06:00@Larry & Linda: I hope you DO take your monste...@Larry & Linda: I hope you DO take your monsters out for a spin! Thanks for the notes.<br />@Terry: Maybe it's just incubating. Some good ones take their own sweet time, don't they?<br />@Helen: You're a gal after my own heart. <i>The Wine Ghost</i> actually grew around a one-paragraph seed I harvested from a short story of mine published in a college litmag. It won't fit in the next pared-down draft, so I've already harvested it for the genre novels. It's a damned fine paragraph, and I'll shuffle it around till I finally squeeze a nickel out of it.<br />Which is actually just about the rate we're looking at this days...<br />jk@kendley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-49647037452161552042012-10-29T14:37:16.755-06:002012-10-29T14:37:16.755-06:00Now,James. Kathryn is one of our resident bloggers...Now,James. Kathryn is one of our resident bloggers. Please be polite. ;) Kathryn, perhaps you were a bit harsh to our guest? He seems to feel this is so. I hope you two work it out. Danihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471919576687777886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-7682099879239269202012-10-29T12:15:22.844-06:002012-10-29T12:15:22.844-06:00@Kathryn: Misreading to construe the post as sayin...@Kathryn: Misreading to construe the post as saying all first-person novels are vomitous semi-autobiographical first novels is disingenuous at best, and to what I may attribute any label, willy-nilly or not, is my business.<br />The vomitous semi-autobiographical first novel is a subgenre all its own.jk@kendley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-66342307410149153052012-10-29T12:10:48.108-06:002012-10-29T12:10:48.108-06:00@ Christopher: I'm sure you do. Good luck with...@ Christopher: I'm sure you do. Good luck with them.jk@kendley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-91029130720251897452012-10-29T11:27:51.119-06:002012-10-29T11:27:51.119-06:00Wow, James ... and I thought I had problems!Wow, James ... and I thought I had problems!Christopher Hudsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03667548312923348614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-1507694391890472912012-10-29T11:00:21.138-06:002012-10-29T11:00:21.138-06:00I'm not sure I have any monsters, but I am an ...I'm not sure I have any monsters, but I am an advocate of never throwing anything away. You may write something, hate it, and know it's not salvageable. But don't throw it away. You may change your mind!Helen Gingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09794759602654727110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-50876129723136897362012-10-29T10:14:21.577-06:002012-10-29T10:14:21.577-06:00Be safe everyone! More fearful than the monster in...Be safe everyone! More fearful than the monster in the closet (or desk drawer) is Hurricane Sandy. Eek!Danihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471919576687777886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-55380530746884533232012-10-29T09:19:56.358-06:002012-10-29T09:19:56.358-06:00James:
"...first-person treatment brands it a...James:<br />"...first-person treatment brands it as an irretrievably vomitous semi-autobiographical first novel."<br /><br />Wow, I guess you don't read the same literary novels I do, where first-person is a well-embraced method of obtaining deep and riveting POV. I can't stop you from thinking of your work as "vomitous," yet please don't attribute the phrase willy-nilly to all of the first-person works I so love!<br /><br />I fully appreciate your expression:<br />"I sometimes want to just strip off everything I can repurpose from The Wine Ghost and leave it like a car on cinderblocks." This sentence speaks well of your ability to write effectively in the first person. <br /><br />Terry: Love your comment!<br /><br />May lose power at any time here. For all those in Hurricane Sandy's path, stay safe. Kathryn Crafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371458857187160425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-6665064328511682242012-10-29T08:55:08.251-06:002012-10-29T08:55:08.251-06:00I have a few paintings tucked away in closets that...I have a few paintings tucked away in closets that are true monsters. They'll never see the light of day. But the novels are still in process - maybe they'll turn into monsters yet. We'll see. No way to turn this into a series, eh? Maybe even for screen?Danihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471919576687777886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-34481231428001114222012-10-29T08:52:08.605-06:002012-10-29T08:52:08.605-06:00I have one of those first-novel monsters lurking o...I have one of those first-novel monsters lurking on my hard drive. Oh, it went to press, sort of (via the self-publishing route), but it needs a HUGE amount of work, including a new title, a new cover, and myriad fixes in between. It might even see the light of day again and in far better form . . . someday. Linda Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06686488133905538811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-80131687861601487372012-10-29T08:43:21.721-06:002012-10-29T08:43:21.721-06:00I have one monster/embryo that is barely begun, an...I have one monster/embryo that is barely begun, and yet put aside already. I had such plans for the story that waits ... it would be a murder mystery and the first of a series, and so it would attract a following. It would bring in badly needed revenue to fund travels that would engender more stories. It would expose those who belittle public education efforts at saving the world.<br /><br />So many targets for one story to hit ... perhaps I am its monster.Quilters' Quartershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09164862226942626710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5704943052235281766.post-24878926323509332452012-10-29T05:55:12.499-06:002012-10-29T05:55:12.499-06:00My monsters are smaller and several, the starts of...My monsters are smaller and several, the starts of brave novels that languish in digital isolation on a file server but who rattle the bars from time to time. Some may eventually escape into the light of day to be beaten into shape, but I thoroughly expect that some will be part of the legacy that my heirs will have to sort out, the brilliant and the flawed, the long-winded and the all-too-brief.<br /><br />But see, you have stirred the little monsters. Now they are calling out to me to look again at their deformed and unformed bodies and to ponder afresh what I should do with them. I writhe in the torture of their cries.<br /><br />Happy Halloween, James! Thanks a lot. ;-)Larry Constantine (Lior Samson)http://amazon.com/author/liorsamson/noreply@blogger.com