Daily Archives: June 1, 2012

TYPING ‘THE END’

Date: June 1, 2012
Author: Joan
Joan
Categories: Blog
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            Writers everywhere work and work with one main goal in mind: finish the book and get it to an editor or a publisher. Yesterday, I typed the last chapter of my current WIP into my computer. That doesn’t mean it’s polished and ready to go, but the first draft is finished. I thought I would feel wonderful, on cloud nine, ready to conquer the world, or at least kick an ass or two.

            Not so. Of course, I did feel wonderful about reaching the end, but there was another aspect to it. I’d just left my characters, whom I’d grown to love, and wouldn’t be seeing them again for a while. The story, which is the third in a cozy mystery series, was complicated, involved the making of lists such as clues connected to red herrings and to the main mystery, a timeline for events and characters, and a list of characters, among other things. I will go back to the mss and edit and make changes, but the free-flowing part, the initial creation of the story, is over with.

            I felt lost and adrift on a tiny island with no connection to anything. It was as if I had no phone, no one around me, and faced a bleak future.

            But that doesn’t make sense as I’m a person who works on more than one book during any given period of months, although, one is usually primary. I knew I had to get rid of that feeling, but first I had to retire for the night as I had to go to work the next day.

            So, on Friday I had breakfast, picked up the current mystery I’m reading, and then went to work. Well, work is a relative term. I actually volunteer on Fridays for the place where I used to work, answering the phone, which almost never rings. Since they don’t pay me, they allow me to do whatever I want, as long as I’m there to pick up the phone.

            On Fridays I always bring material with me connected to at least one of my books. Since Murder by Spook is now finished (the first draft), I brought along the last two chapters of Widow’s Walk, a time travel thriller/romance I’ve been working on, even though my mindset wasn’t geared up for that book.

            I started out with a cup of coffee with caffeine (I don’t have that at home), boosted up my energy level and, hopefully, my brain, and re-read the last two chapters. As I did that, ideas started generating and I began writing the next chapter. When I finished the chapter, shortly before leaving for the day, I realized I’d added something to the story that would necessitate some major changes to the entire book. Normally, I’d cringe at the idea of changes of that magnitude, but not this time. It made me excited, anxious to work on the mss, to send my characters in the new direction which, I feel and hope I’m right, is a much better one than the original.

            While I haven’t done more work on Widow’s Walk this evening, I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the original plot and the changes I just made. Why am I so excited about those changes? Why don’t I want to return to what I had originally? I’d been quite happy with the way it was going, although at times it was a struggle to come up with the next scene.

            I think we’ve all heard about those characters who refuse to go where we tell them, or who refuse to do what we tell them to do. They go out on their own, creating new pathways and experiences, and some of them even work.

            Analyzing such instances, I would usually claim it’s the writer consciously or unconsciously realizing there’s a better way to go. But sometimes, if you breathe enough life into a character, or characters, they darn near come to life. In this case, I actually feel my characters have become more vibrant, more lifelike, and more real. For the time being, at least, I’m going to go in this new direction, and shush myself up when I complain about all the work I just handed myself.

Joan K. Maze

Writing as J. K. Maze

www.joanmaze.com

http://sleuthingwithmollie.wordpress.com

I like Wearing the Skirt in my Family of One.

Date: June 1, 2012
Author: Michelle
Michelle
Categories: Uncategorized
Comments: 1 Reply

A gentleman I am getting to know asked me about my view on feminism and wanted to know if I thought of myself as a feminist. I’ve spent quite a few days pondering the question. First of all, it’s a phenomenal question for a guy to ask, and second because I had to ask myself am I or am I not?

I believe in equal rights for women. I like the idea that I can be a pole dancer or a corporate shark and it doesn’t matter that I have to sit down to pee.  I know I can do things just as well as a man.  At the same time I want the respect, and quite frankly the chivalry, that comes with being a woman.  I want to play my gender card and have a guy mow the lawn, carry the heavy stuff, and change the oil in my car.

So often, in my perceptive world, feminists have stripped away my femininity.  I applaud the women who paved the way for letting me enter the workforce, vote, and even own property.  It was necessary.  But I am different than a man.  I have the ability to carry and bring life into the world. I am emotional and nurturing, I am softer and more sensitive.  Yet, men, especially the younger generation, do not offer any accommodation for such gifts.  I’ve literately had men see me carrying something that is nearly the size I am and not offer to help. (Granted other women have done this as well).  I’ve seen young boys who turn their heads and try to ignore the pregnant lady on the bus.  Is this what feminism meant to accomplish?  Stripping away who we naturally are and removing the uniqueness of who we are.

Well into the past we were a matriarchal society. Women were revered for having the ability to give life.  I mean, hello – Mother Nature, does she ring a bell.  In the transition to a patriarchal society we allowed ourselves to be oppressed by men, most likely because we were too busy raising their children (darn that birth control was invented later) and cleaning their houses, while they waged war and politics. It’s only right we get some recognition for the stuff we do, for the genetic gift of being a woman. I’m not saying I believe women get special rights, we are equal and deserve such, but don’t treat me like a man.  I am a woman – I am different.

In my thinking I turned my thoughts inward, toward the core of who I am, a writer.  I asked myself am I a feminist in my writing?  How feminine am I in my writing?  What about reading?   I reviewed all of my characters and plot lines and I’m right down the middle. I have a victimized heroine who thrives inside her traditional gender role as a woman in Victorian England.  Another is a trained Scottish warrior who knows how to fight and can defeat even her husband’s men. I have a paranormal character who has been kept in captivity for twenty years, she knows within her species as a shape shifter, she has a define role inherently as a woman.  In a contemporary piece my heroine owns a successful business and does everything on her own until an illness makes her reach out to others for help.  Above all the women are treated as women.  They are equal, respected, and well – feminine.

I discovered I preferred to read historical romances because the women, although oppressed, were treated like women. Men opened doors, and helped them up the stairs.  They dressed in gowns, and wear pretty things because it highlights their femininity and makes them different than the men.   Contemporary novels can be more reflective of today’s society but in the romance genre I’m not surprised to see a more feminine presence.

How would you answer the question?  Who are you as a woman?  Are you a feminist?  Do you incorporate femininity into your writing?  Has feminism stripped away all things that make me a woman?

Toodles,

Michelle