Art Challanges

The styles and techniques between short stories (1-10K words) and novelettes (10,001 to 18K words) on the lower word count side and novellas (18-40K) and novels (40K+) on the higher sides are radically different. Please note that these are the averages I learned over the last thirty years. Each publisher can have different numbers for their specific requirements.

(Don't get me started about flash fiction, i.e. a story less than 1K words. It's a talent I haven't mastered, and mad respect to those who have.)

It's been a while since I've written the shorter forms, so my skills are a little rusty. A writer still needs descriptions and strong characters, but there's fewer words to drag a reader into the story. The genre and editor requirements make a difference.

There was a time I was a natural short form writer, but I was leaving a lot of stuff out that would make my work a better story. In fact, a couple of published author friends said I was writing screenplays, not novels.

But the freedom of being indie is that I don't have to force my stories into particular boxes. I finish the first draft. I edit it. I send it off to my alpha reader. That's it. Whatever the final word count is only matters when I go to make a print version. If it's a short story, I'll publish it as an e-book, and then I'll decide to group stories of a particular theme or by characters and group theme into a an anthology. For example, the Bloodlines short stories and novellas are collected in one paperback.

Unfortunately, when an editor contacts you with an invitation to write a story for them, they have a specific genre, word count, and theme already decided. I have to force a story into their dimensions, which for me is pretty damn difficult. And frankly, it scares me a little bit.

But if it scares me, then I need to do it. That's part of growing in our art.

How Much Has the Publishing World Changed

In looking through some old posts, I realized I hadn't talked much about the publishing industry lately. The why is even more astounding. A whole generation has passed since e-books have gone main stream.

Yeah, I know e-books have been around before 2000, but that's when companies started making inroads. I noticed them and started buying and reading them around that point. They were convenient when I traveled on business trips.

Back on November 19th, Kindle celebrated its 17th anniversary. It wasn't the first device to be a dedicated e-book reader, but it was the first to get some public traction.

Kindle Direct Publishing ("KDP") was introduced at the same time, though it was originally called Digital Text Platform ("DTP"). It changed the game. Writers were no longer dependent solely on mainstream book publishers to reach a national, or international, audience.

By 2010, the hue and cry arose from the publishing companies and trad-published writers that Amazon would totally ruin the industry with their tsunami of unfettered swill. Indie publishers responded by undercutting trad publishing's prices.

Weirdly, older folks led the charge into adapting e-book readers. They could modify the font and size of the print to make it easier to see the words, something they just can't do with print books.

Furthermore, readers had greater options. Contrary to trad publishing's claims they didn't cater to reader tastes. They expected readers to love whatever they put out. Suddenly, readers could find any genre their hearts desired at any time, day or night.

And now. . .

Now, you don't hear much of anything from anyone. Or maybe, I just stopped paying any attention. So, I went through my old blog lists. Nope. Pretty much everyone hollering back in the early '10's when I started Angry Sheep Publishing have stopped posting. The social media most common in the early '10's have been trashified, and the few folks I still keep up with are fleeing to the latest thing.

Furthermore, smart phones and multi-purpose tablets have taken over the entertainment sphere. I can read, watch, or listen to anything my heart desires on small, lightweight devices. I no longer search for purses that can fit whatever paperback I'm reading at the time.

In the meantime, wars have started left and right. We went through a world-wide pandemic. The level of hate and meanness have grown exponentially in both the real life and  virtual space. There are simply more things to worry about than whether some middle-aged lady is writing erotica in her own home and publishing it.

So, yes, it's quieter. I can carry a thousand books on my phone to read any time, any where. And I'm loving it!

Music I'm Listening To

If I've got to listen to Christmas music, I want something fabulous!

What the Hell Is Going on with Suzan?

It's been a little insane at Casa Harden over the last few weeks. The chaos started with one of DH's remaining uncles passed away. It ended with me slipping on ice, tripping over a landscaping brick, and somehow falling on the frozen ground instead of the concrete driveway the day before the Alberta Clipper swept through our area.

I'm still unsure how I managed to injure my right thumb in that delightful show of clumsiness.

Hey, at least, I didn't fall on Princess Bella. The poor thing was merely trying to hurry to get her final constitutional done for the night because even she was cold wearing a t-shirt and her winter coat. (She's a toy breed, and you have to bundle them up because they cannot control their core temps the way a larger dog can.)

There's been a lot more happening in between the emotional and physical aches, but I won't bore you with those details. What it comes down to is I am behind.

So woefully behind.

And what happens? I get invitations from two different editors asking me to submit short stories for their holiday anthologies. For 2025! By the end of the month!

*sigh*

Folks, I literally just finished sending last year's Christmas presents to people!

So, what does it all mean?

It means I'm busting my ass trying to get the books y'all are expecting. I merely took the dates off the Release Schedule because looking at the page was triggering my anxiety.

Today, I skipped yoga, I made sure I had plenty of coffee and tea, and I will be back on the keyboard as soon as I get home from the COVID booster stab.

That's assuming I don't bash my brains on the asphalt in the pharmacy parking lot.

Monday Movie Mania - Here

First of all, I recognize that Here won't be everyone's cup of tea. It's a bittersweet look at life, not a slam bang, explosions, and man fu action flick. Nevertheless, it hit home with DH and me because we became the oldest generation in each of our families two years ago The inevitability that life ends with death of the individual hurts, but the understanding that life will go on is satisfying on a different level.

* * *


SPOILERS


* * *

PROS
1) Robert Zemeckis does something a little different by showing a single place on Earth through roughly 65 million years. To paraphrase Doctor Who, Zemeckis somehow makes sense of the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.

2) The aging/de-aging of the actors wasn't as distracting as I feared it would be.

3) The chesmistry of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright hasn't faded a bit.

4) Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly were simply adorable playing Tom's parents.

5) I have a feeling history will appreciate this movie, much like It's a Wonderful Life was disparaged at its release, but lauded by future generations.


CONS
1) I actually would have liked to see more of William Franklin and the indigenous couple. Their lives were used to punctuate certain events in Richard (Hanks) and Margaret's (Wright) lives, but I would have liked to see some of the differences as well.

2) The pacing was slow at times, but I'm not sure if it was my expectations or an actual problem with the film.


Overall, Here is a movie that doesn't spoonfeed it's audiences, and that's probably the reason I love it. I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Annoying Songs I Love

I'll listen to anything Pharrell WIlliams sings or writes!

Monday Movie Mania (A Day Late) - Wicked Part 1

Like I said on Friday, last week was pretty tough for various reasons. It culminated with finding out about  the death of the husband of one of my readers on Sunday. The afterglow from Wicked Part 1 got me through the rest of the weekend, and I did get a lot more words done on my holiday story.

As for Wicked itself, well, I managed not to belt out the lyrics in the middle of the very crowded local theater. Our cineplex has been nearly empty since it reopened after the pandemic lock-down orders were lifted. This was the  biggest crowd in a movie I attended since Avengers: Endgame was released five years ago.

I'm not going to give my usual SPOILERS warning since the novel was released 29 years ago and the musical debuted 21 years ago. If you don't know the story by now, well, that's on you.

I don't have one CON for this film. Not one. And my PROS have more to do with individual actors and crew.

1) Jon M. Chu made up for the shitstorm of JEM (2015). (Good Goddess, has it been nine years already?) He and the screenplay writers stuck to the original Broadway book. Trust me, there would have been a riot if they hadn't. Any changes to the original script were to expand on certain scenes or to fill in certain insinuations from the original musical.

2) Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera. Those two could out-sing angels.

3) Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth's cameos during "One Short Day" are absolutely hysterical as they play singers in a diva feud. Plus, you can tell they were having a blast with their roles!

4) Michelle Yeoh did a perfect job as Mrs. Morrible. That's not to discount Carol Kane's efforts the first time I saw the musical. The difference is Michelle did a much more subtle job, so when the twist comes, the movie audience who hadn't seem the musical were appropriately shocked.

5) Jeff Goldblum has the chops to be totally evil and still sympathetic. He doesn't get enough credit for his singing.

6) The movie ends with the showstopper "Defying Gravity" (my personal favorite), which also concludes the first act of the musical. Wicked 2 will be the second act.

 

Overall, Wicked Part 1 is the perfect vehicle for the whole family to see over the holidays. Just be prepared for the kids to be singing in the backseat on the way home and demanding the soundtrack for their holiday present.

I give Wicked Part 1 100 out of 10 stars!

Annoying Songs I Like

Bobby McFerrin won't perform this song anymore. Even he got tired of it after thousands of perfermances. I still think it's cute.

Long Day

The clock just rolled over to Saturday, and I haven't had two seconds to even really write. There's a lot of things going on, some of which are other people's stories I'm not at liberty to discuss. But you know something? Sometimes, other people need help. And I'm going to help people who gave me help when I needed it

This will probably piss off some people expecting new stories NOW.

Honestly, I've been stressing about getting things done, too, which doesn't help my concentration. After a super-busy week and today's events, DH told me to put everything down and took me to see Wicked.

It was awesome! I've read the book twice and seen the musical twice. 

And it did relax me. So, I got home with renewed vigor tonight.

I think.

I still pretty tired, so I'll start fresh tomorrow.

Unification

I'll let the music and images speak for themselves, but this brought me a spark of joy in me as rain pelts the roof.