![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Writerly Ways
Mar. 24th, 2024 11:41 pmBecause it's somehow after 11 and I've done nothing all damn day including writing, this is going to be a lot shorter than intended. After a week of going down the Hazbin Hotel rabbit hole I see a parallel to where I am now with Blood Red Roulette. For reference this was my last novel with Dreamspinner before everything went to shit. It had a beautiful cover. It was about vampires in Vegas and it was stillborn. I still don't know why. I swear it sold less than 12 books. I was deeply hurt at the time and then things went to hell.
I've been thinking about seeing if Ninestar would rerelease it (or me down the road). However I have a few issues: the reexisting canon.
Hazbin has the same issues. Angel in particular has been in his creator's online presence for years before the show came out. When do you let go of past that no longer serves you? Do you let it define the rest of the canon? For example even before the pilot years ago, she came up with Angel as a 1940's Italian mafioso type, his whole family was in the mob and there were drawings of him in the crime noir style. Now compare to this clip. (note, this is spoilery but also one of the best most emotion packed scenes in the entire show and it details why Angel escapes from his life in drugs because of the sheer abuse he lives with, also there is a ton of swears).
Do you get that he was ever in the mafia from this? It's hard. If I hadn't gone looking for backstory I would never in a million years guessed it (also there were some nearly 10 year old human Angel pics out there that doesn't look a) mobster b) Italian (since we tend not to be white-blond but some could be especially if they're northern) But as this character evolved, she kept the background and I can appreciate that she didn't retcon everything
As for me, I'm trying to decide what to do with Luc and Arrigo's story. I already retconned it because I had a story in an anthology where Luc cheated and that was a left over from the frakking 90s and I MISSED it was in there. No one called me on it (which is unusual in a romance based publisher). We were already pretending it didn't exist and I plan to keep that. However, do I push the retcon button again.
My concern is one of the characters was Japanese because I wanted a non-European magic in there (which ended up not working badly and I have no fucking clue why I didn't change it anyhow) and then the plot demanded she died. And now I've killed one of the two characters of color. I didn't mean to kill the Asian (yet again because they die almost as much as Black characters in movies/books). It's like do I want to keep it. Do I change her entirely? I still don't know. It feels like a cheat if I do. It doesn't feel much better if I don't. Sigh.
Open Calls
Frontier Tales
Short Story Substack April 2024 Window
Last Girls Club Summer Issue mostly here to remind me to send it my dragon thing
Judy Magazine: Now Seeking Submissions
The Evil Cookie Publishing: Accepting Submissions
here.
From Around the Web
How to Write When You Can't Write
Sleep: Embracing Your Inner Koala
Don’t forget to celebrate
Optimize Creativity During Life's Ups and Downs, Part 1
Writers Self-Care ~ Taking Time Off.
How My Novel Was Resurrected From the Dead
Build Your Personal Brand and Sell More Books
How to Promote A Book on Goodreads
How to Write a Book Series
From betty
Six Wordcraft Questions Writers Fight Over
How to Make Large Conflicts Exciting I need to read this 20 times because frankly they always feel boring to me
Four Ways to Jump-Start a Slow Beginning
Crafting Believable Characters – 3 Easy Steps
Beguile Your Readers with Tension, Suspense, and Conflict
Dealing with Doubt Words of Wisdom
When To Gag Your Bad Guys.
How To Use White Space
The Secret To a Compelling Author Bio
Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Reluctant Hero
How to know when you’re really ready to submit or publish
UNVEILING SUBTEXT: THE POWER OF INDIRECT COMMUNICATION IN STORY
SEVEN KEYS FOR BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL WRITER
The Query Letter that Saved Me from the Slush Pile Pay attention to this one guys
I've been thinking about seeing if Ninestar would rerelease it (or me down the road). However I have a few issues: the reexisting canon.
Hazbin has the same issues. Angel in particular has been in his creator's online presence for years before the show came out. When do you let go of past that no longer serves you? Do you let it define the rest of the canon? For example even before the pilot years ago, she came up with Angel as a 1940's Italian mafioso type, his whole family was in the mob and there were drawings of him in the crime noir style. Now compare to this clip. (note, this is spoilery but also one of the best most emotion packed scenes in the entire show and it details why Angel escapes from his life in drugs because of the sheer abuse he lives with, also there is a ton of swears).
Do you get that he was ever in the mafia from this? It's hard. If I hadn't gone looking for backstory I would never in a million years guessed it (also there were some nearly 10 year old human Angel pics out there that doesn't look a) mobster b) Italian (since we tend not to be white-blond but some could be especially if they're northern) But as this character evolved, she kept the background and I can appreciate that she didn't retcon everything
As for me, I'm trying to decide what to do with Luc and Arrigo's story. I already retconned it because I had a story in an anthology where Luc cheated and that was a left over from the frakking 90s and I MISSED it was in there. No one called me on it (which is unusual in a romance based publisher). We were already pretending it didn't exist and I plan to keep that. However, do I push the retcon button again.
My concern is one of the characters was Japanese because I wanted a non-European magic in there (which ended up not working badly and I have no fucking clue why I didn't change it anyhow) and then the plot demanded she died. And now I've killed one of the two characters of color. I didn't mean to kill the Asian (yet again because they die almost as much as Black characters in movies/books). It's like do I want to keep it. Do I change her entirely? I still don't know. It feels like a cheat if I do. It doesn't feel much better if I don't. Sigh.
Open Calls
Frontier Tales
Short Story Substack April 2024 Window
Last Girls Club Summer Issue mostly here to remind me to send it my dragon thing
Judy Magazine: Now Seeking Submissions
The Evil Cookie Publishing: Accepting Submissions
here.
From Around the Web
How to Write When You Can't Write
Sleep: Embracing Your Inner Koala
Don’t forget to celebrate
Optimize Creativity During Life's Ups and Downs, Part 1
Writers Self-Care ~ Taking Time Off.
How My Novel Was Resurrected From the Dead
Build Your Personal Brand and Sell More Books
How to Promote A Book on Goodreads
How to Write a Book Series
From betty
Six Wordcraft Questions Writers Fight Over
How to Make Large Conflicts Exciting I need to read this 20 times because frankly they always feel boring to me
Four Ways to Jump-Start a Slow Beginning
Crafting Believable Characters – 3 Easy Steps
Beguile Your Readers with Tension, Suspense, and Conflict
Dealing with Doubt Words of Wisdom
When To Gag Your Bad Guys.
How To Use White Space
The Secret To a Compelling Author Bio
Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Reluctant Hero
How to know when you’re really ready to submit or publish
UNVEILING SUBTEXT: THE POWER OF INDIRECT COMMUNICATION IN STORY
SEVEN KEYS FOR BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL WRITER
The Query Letter that Saved Me from the Slush Pile Pay attention to this one guys
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}