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| Warner Bros. Pictures |
I'm in no position to comment on the trans experience. However, Lana Wachowski does slyly reference the cis-het female experience during Thomas/Neo and Tiffany/Trinity's talk over coffee. Tiffany/Trinity's comment about whether she chose motherhood or did she succumb to societal pressure hit home for me.
But that particular scene delved deeper into Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss's real lives. It struck me that this wasn't a conversation between two characters. It was a conversation between two friends who are getting reacquainted after being apart for years and facing their own choices over that intervening time.
Instead of the downer ending of the third movie, the fourth Matrix ends, not on hope, but the acknowledgement of the power within us all. It shows the hard-won wisdom that comes with age.
Most of the reviews I read today missed all the points Wachowski's story made. That truly is a pity because this movie series not only displays Wachowski's internal struggles within herself, but the eventually acceptance of her self.
Seriously, folks. Don't ask a working writer that question. You're going to get a bullshit answer.
If you do it to me, I'll say, "Neil Gaiman's trash bin."
I've said it before--ideas are a dime a dozen. There's no such thing as a perfect idea. There's really not. There's no such thing as an original idea. There's really not. It's all about the execution.
But if you want to be a writer, start making up shit in your head. Now. Don't wait for a muse to strike. Don't wait for the perfect idea.
That's the reason I showed you the covers I made in the Covers 101 class I took last month. I was doing effing homework! And still came up with a ideas for two series.
I could write about Ebony and Jett, the two black squirrels that romp through our back yard. Or their rivalry with Rusty and Lady Gaga, a pair of gray squirrels in the neighboring tree.
But if you're one of the people who needs an idea spoonfed to you, take the editorial photo I posted above. Are the couple breaking up? Did one of them declare their love? Did she just announce her pregnancy? Are they planning their first trip as a couple? Does he want to try the new micro brewery in their neighborhood?
That last paragraph? Those are all the ideas I typed out in fifteen seconds. (I'm a slow typist.) Try doing it yourself. Take a random picture, and start asking questions. That's all there is to it.
Again, the back blurb is something I often have trouble with. Am I giving too much information? Not enough? Is it boring to the reader?
For some time, I'd been tooling with an idea something along the lines of Dashiell
Hammett's Nick and Nora Charles, but with a supernatural/mild horror twist a la the old Universal monster movies. So when this artwork popped up on my laptop screen, everything clicked in my imagination.
So, here's the cover for the first Chandler and Lillian Quinn Adventure.
And here's the blurb.
"American archeologist Lillian Kent fought hard to obtain a sponsorship for her dig in Egypt. But rumors swirl when her patron Lord Aventine dies suddenly, and his son Chandler arrives in Cairo with accusations of murder. Lillian finds it’s easier to convince the new Lord Aventine she’s not a murderer than it is to convince him she’s most definitely not his father’s mistress.
Chandler Quinn already lost his father. He’s not about to lose the family fortune to a crazy, over-educated suffragette, who obviously kept Father entertained with her tales of treasure along with Jove knew what other enticements. But there’s something stalking the beautiful American through the streets of Cairo. And maybe, just maybe, her wild tales of what killed his father are true."
Before anyone gets excited, these series may be years down the line. I hate to tell you this, but I actually started writing what became Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse in 2015 while sitting to the student pickup lane at the high school. Yep, the idea started seven years ago.
So, yeah, it doesn't take a whole lot to come up with an idea. It's the execution that takes time.
The weekend was spent getting caught up on all the administrative work that piled up over the last two months. It desperately needed to be dealt with.
I jumped into War in White Chocolate first thing this morning. Initially, I was rather proud of waking up before my alarm went off. Only to discover, f***ing Apple had reset my iPhone to its factory settings. In reality, I woke up forty-five minutes late.
*sigh*
At least, I didn't totally miss sprinting with writer friends in the Rockies. One of them and I do an evening session, too, so I should be able to stay on track for getting the third book of Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse written and released in plenty of time.
This afternoon, I need to get caught up on classes I'm taking. I missed the last several homework assignments for Advanced Depth. I'll retake that class later this year. Depth is an area I know I'm deficient in.
If you pay attention to suzanharden.com, you'll notice I added a new book at the bottom of the list, A Mischief of Magpies. No, it's not a new Justice book. I took a Covers 101 class since covers are something else I suck at. It's not that I'll stop using any of the lovely ladies who provide their services. I just like being semi-proficient at jobs I expect other people to do for me.
Anyway, I liked the six covers I put together using stock art so much, the storytelling part of me clicked into gear. Now, I really, REALLY want to write these stories. I wish I had more time in the day to write everything. I already know I'm going to die with stories untold.
I planned to take this trip over two years ago, but the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and...
We finally drove over to Millersburg on Friday afternoon. I convinced DH he needed a break from dealing with his father's estate.
It's located on Jackson Street, which is the main drag through town. I made a point of reserving a room on the Jackson Street side in order to watch the traffic.
Even if I wanted to put a coffee shop there, I wouldn't. There's a (relatively) new coffee shop two blocks to the right of this picture called Broken Grounds. DH and I had breakfast there two of the three mornings. The only reason we didn't stop in the third morning is because they're closed on Mondays.
The Broken Grounds also has church services on Sundays at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. The pastor's a bit of a character, but he reminds me of one of my uncles who is a retired Lutheran minister.
Saturday night, we had tickets to attend Paranormal Night at the Museum. It's sponsored by the Victorian House Ghost Guild and held at the Victorian House Museum. Everyone who attended had a blast. If you want tickets for the evening session, go to the Ghost Guild's Facebook page. Normal visitation and other special events can be found at the Holmes County Historical Society's website.
So, yes, the Millersburg, Killbuck, and Berlin in my stories are based on the real towns in Holmes County. This is what folks mean by writing what you know. But that doesn't mean you can't use a little imagination in the process.
The sequel series, Millersburg Magick Mysteries, is also set there. At the end of 2019 when I first started to write the sequel series, I'd planned to take a long weekend doing some research. It had been nearly thirty since the last time I visited Millersburg. I know stuff changes over the decades. But 2020 and the COVID pandemic forced a change in plans.
I wrote the first three books. And frankly, they sucked. The pandemic had sucked the fun out of me and my writing. So I pulled the books from Amazon (the only retailer I'd uploaded them to at that point), and decide to start over again.
Every time I looked at them though in 2020 and 2021, I got that sick feeling in my stomach. Those were my plague books. And Cthulu, how I resented that plague.
This year, I don't what exactly changed other than things were opening up again, including night-time ghost tours of the Victorian House Museum in Milllersburg. So yeah, that's the plan for Saturday night. Our niece will keep Princess Bella company while we're gone. And I'm simply looking forward to a night out.
I don't expect things to go back to "normal" after the pandemic. But I do like the opportunity to do some onsite research.
Y'all have a great weekend!
Even art for covers is shifting. Many use abstract patterns, objects that frame the text, or a single object for the image.
I've updated my older series, Seasons of Magick and Bloodlines, once already, but I'm coming up on the tenth anniversary of the Justice series. Is it time to refresh the covers?
What about the covers I've already commissioned or purchased for future series? Keep them or get new ones? I hate throwing money down the drain.
Or I could simply wait until that style of cover becomes popular again.
For you indie writer/publishers out there, how often do you update your covers?
I may not be physically capable of marching alongside my siblings, but I write about what we hope to become as a nation. I can volunteer at local polling places. I donate to the causes I believe in.
Friends and family have been asking me what happens next. They are appalled when I lay out the current white supremist end game. They think there's no way it could happen. But it can and it will if the collective "we" don't do something about it.
Because if we don't DO something, America will be spoken of in the same breath as the current Russian regime. Or Nazi Germany.
