Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

Well I'm managed to finish the rough drafts for fireandice2009 and fmagiftexchange and even managed to write a little original fiction as well.

I was also inspired to do a story for fma_fic_contest based on FMA ch 102 (as was evil_little_dog who did an excellent Alphonse pov one. Poor Al.) Go have a looksee.

now back to original fiction.

I decided that one way to keep getting my name out there is to at least try the open calls for some of the online publishers. To that end, I'm working on a piece of erotica but I wanted to be a little different. I have it set in Pompeii scant weeks before the volcano goes boom.

This means research. Lots of research. Anyone who has done historical fictiom will tell you a few things:

1) never attempt it unless you like doing the research (for instance I wouldn't do a piece set in a time period or country I didn't have an affinity for in the first place. There's no sense in making in a drudgery)

2) don't half ass it. Historical fiction readers DO tend to know the time period of your story. It's the reason they picked up your tale in the first place.

3) the real trick is putting in enough details without bogging down your story. Trust me this is easy to do. You get so excited about all this new stuff you learned and you want to shove it in all at once. One mystery by Dr. Bass I just read fell into that trap (so yes you can get published with it but usually only if you're already published)

All that said I'm wondering at my sanity of trying to set things in Pompeii. it's going to be a trick.

I wrote 1886 words of original fiction actually this week. That makes me happy. I might even have to move my word count goal one more time but probably not. This score below is for original fiction only. Who knows how much fan fiction I've written.

174282 / 175000 words. 100% done! (it has a different idea of 100% than i do...)

Comments

[marenfic.livejournal.com]

We had the big Pompeii exhibit at our Art Museum last year or maybe two years ago. It was. . . macabre and awe-inspiring to think about what the surviving objects went through and how long they've survived. Heavy heavy stuff.

Good luck on the erotica though ;)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

it is. THe good news is when i go home, I'll have access to the books I gave dad on the subject as opposed to j ust wiki (which is good enough to get me by since I have researched this heavily in the mid-90's for Machiavelli Moon. That's where the protagonist is from. She's a very old vampire

thanks

and can I just say I'm jealous of that exhibition

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Wow. For years my mind has toyed with an idea for a novel set in 18th Century Albion (my hometown, not England), but I keep shoving it away because of the necessary research -- even though I love history. That's quite a chore you've set yourself up for!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

luckily this is only a short story but yeah, research can be tough but it can be fun.

What's exciting about 18th century Albion? Certainly it would be a very different setting for a story

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Nothing at all exciting about it, Albion was just a typical little Midwest town -- we had a bad habit of burning down every few years, but so did every other little community of the time.

I had in mind doing something with the famous fire (well, locally famous!) of 1849, a probably arson blaze that burned down the courthouse and threatened the downtown. Maybe, someday, I'll trace the progress of Albion from then until we established our little volunteer fire department in 1888. Naturally, I haven't worked out the details .... but as with all good stories it would be about the people of the time.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

see that could be interesting though

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Could be -- it's all about plotting, pace, and characterization. The problem with writing an action novel about a historical volunteer fire department is that they just didn't see much action ... but if the story's more about the people's lives, and the challenges they faced back then, it could be a different story. Literally!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

just what they had available to them TO fight fires would be radically different.

part of my problem with writing historical fiction is i get so angry at the roles of women that I get too frustrated to write

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated by what those firefighters did back then, with so little to work with.

I like stories that show women of their times being strong and capable characters -- John Adams' wife is a great example -- but there's only so much you can do with that while also being historically accurate. We have three women on our fire department now; in 1888, the most they might have done is man the bucket brigade, hauling empty buckets back to the well for a refill.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

and just how frightening fires were then. Not that they're not frightening now but then hell you could lose half the town.

I did learn in Lexington this year that in the colonial times EVERYONE had a leather fire bucket and you were fined heavily if you didn't come out to help.

Interesting that you bring up Mrs. Adams, just got a flyer from my book club on a dual biography for her and John.

But yes, you can have good strong women (C.S. Harris, Anne Perry do excellenet jobs of this) but they are limited to what society would allow, something I'm playing with in Beneath the Torn Sky (another reason to move it to fantasy world steampunk since Melantha, Reanna and Ophelia couldn't do half of what they do in the real 1920's)

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things that fascinated me about our courthouse fire, which took place before we had a fire department. Albion almost did lose half the town, and one man was critically injured when he fell off his roof. He was the co-owner of a hotel on the courthouse square, and was throwing buckets of water on his roof when he slipped on ice ... They expected he wouldn't walk again, but he eventually joined the Union army and fought in the Civil War. The call of "Throw out your buckets!" was taken very seriously.

Alternative universes would be one way to get women more involved in historical events -- I like that idea.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

that is pretty interesting

and yes going AU does open a lot of possibilities

[enemytosleep]

*high fives you for the first drafts*

My gift exchange is possibly more epic than I have time to finish. I'm over the word minimum, but yeah. XD Not sure I can end it without stopping short (so for now I plow on and hope for the best).

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

there is a long standing tradition of WIP's in fic exchanges. They can be a little annoying (especially with the fear they won't ever get done)

mine did NOT want to end. I did manage to beat it to death with a stick.