Journal Archives
Tune In Tomorrow for my Guest Blogger!
I am so glad that tomorrow I will be hosting a blog for talented and imaginative writer Lisa Lane, author of the dark, erotic vampire series The Darkness and the Night! She'll be talking abou ther book Blood and Coffee and about the concept of Astral sex - I love her Tantric take on it!
I hope everyone will join me and kick in a few questions for Lisa tomorrow!
As for my take on Astral Sex, I have to admit that I recently had to try writing out a scene of purely mental sex for a series that I am submitting to TOR this week. They seemed to like the idea, but more on that later.
But I think that Lisa's explanation is a lot more involved than mine, and quite exciting really, as she takes the act to other dimensions entirely.
I'd like to know what people think of the concept, so do drop in tomorrow!
Talk to you soon,
Lilly
I hope everyone will join me and kick in a few questions for Lisa tomorrow!
As for my take on Astral Sex, I have to admit that I recently had to try writing out a scene of purely mental sex for a series that I am submitting to TOR this week. They seemed to like the idea, but more on that later.
But I think that Lisa's explanation is a lot more involved than mine, and quite exciting really, as she takes the act to other dimensions entirely.
I'd like to know what people think of the concept, so do drop in tomorrow!
Talk to you soon,
Lilly
Posted on 25 Mar 2009 by Lilly Cain
Blown away - things are happening!
I am so excited! I've had a crazy couple of weeks - I now have two editor requests and two agent requests for material based on my Chase the Dream Contest entry! YAY! I am polishing and planning on sending out my responses on Monday.
I have to admit I am a wee bit scared. No really! I once attended a writing seminar that discussed writers' blocks and the reasons behind them. There is one based on the fear of success. I think I might have it, except I am still writing. I think though that what I really fear is being rejected by everyone at once. It is a valid worry. I've grown thicker skin over the years in terms of rejections, but four places is a lot to be rejected from in a matter of weeks. But perhaps one will be positive, or maybe I'll even have a choice to make. :) WOW, that would be amazing.
On a much lighter and interesting note, I will soon be having my first blogging guest - Lisa Lane. Her series The Darkness and The Night is really hot and she'll be talking about the concept of astral sex. Ohhh yummy! More information to be announced shortly.
Lilly
I have to admit I am a wee bit scared. No really! I once attended a writing seminar that discussed writers' blocks and the reasons behind them. There is one based on the fear of success. I think I might have it, except I am still writing. I think though that what I really fear is being rejected by everyone at once. It is a valid worry. I've grown thicker skin over the years in terms of rejections, but four places is a lot to be rejected from in a matter of weeks. But perhaps one will be positive, or maybe I'll even have a choice to make. :) WOW, that would be amazing.
On a much lighter and interesting note, I will soon be having my first blogging guest - Lisa Lane. Her series The Darkness and The Night is really hot and she'll be talking about the concept of astral sex. Ohhh yummy! More information to be announced shortly.
Lilly
Posted on 18 Mar 2009 by Lilly Cain
To Edit or Not to Edit
If you've checked out my News page on this site you will note I have received several requests lately based on an entry I had done for Chasethedreamcontest.wordpress.com. As you might imagine, I 've been very excited! I was tempted at first to mail everything out (or email as the case may be) to strike while the iron was hot.
Then I thought good and hard about what I was doing. Did I want to just send it out? Didn't I want to check it one last time?
There is a danger that lurks in the back of every writer's brain - the self editor. We WANT to make sure each manuscript is perfect. Who doesn't? But there comes a time when we have to stop editing, stop polishing, stop tweaking every single word. Otherwise we will never send out our books.
With that in mind, I've decided that while I do want to send out my best work, I am giving myself a deadline of 2 weeks. I will review this story carefully, but it MUST go out the door within those two weeks.
I feel good about it. The decisions, and the deadline. That is still quick enough that the people who have requested the work will remember why they requested it, lol.
Wish me luck,
Lilly
Then I thought good and hard about what I was doing. Did I want to just send it out? Didn't I want to check it one last time?
There is a danger that lurks in the back of every writer's brain - the self editor. We WANT to make sure each manuscript is perfect. Who doesn't? But there comes a time when we have to stop editing, stop polishing, stop tweaking every single word. Otherwise we will never send out our books.
With that in mind, I've decided that while I do want to send out my best work, I am giving myself a deadline of 2 weeks. I will review this story carefully, but it MUST go out the door within those two weeks.
I feel good about it. The decisions, and the deadline. That is still quick enough that the people who have requested the work will remember why they requested it, lol.
Wish me luck,
Lilly
Posted on 11 Mar 2009 by Lilly Cain
Putting Color Into Your Writing
Intuitively, each of us knows that to use colors as adjectives in our writing allows us to create a picture with words that seems more real to the reader. The largest reason for that is because most people who have the ability to read can see color. It surrounds us, and describing it in our stories allows the pictures formed by the words to be more physical.
The simplest way to describe something we’ve learned since primary school is to add a color to an object – a red apple, a black cat. You can also create an instant association with a comparison by using another object to describe a color. This can strengthen the imagery, and cause a stronger emotional reaction. “The leaves were the flickering color of fire” – implying the reds and oranges we see in autumn, but also the warmth we may feel walking in the autumn sun observing them, or even the melancholy feeling of knowing, like the quick flames, the dying leaves will soon be gone.
Throughout history, the use of color has changed. You can see the movement of the meaning of color through time, if you imagine our ancestors working only with the natural mediums around them – the earth, the plants. Earlier colors are muted, primitive but still have richness, and when using color to make historical reading more realistic we should take into account the use of color in the time period we are researching.
Colors, as we know have meanings, symbolism. There is an entire level of psychological study to colors that I have no time to touch on here, but I would like to remind you to be aware of. Throughout history and even today, we conceptualize feelings through color.
Color meanings can be affected by the culture you come from, the historical period you are writing in, even the difference sin the sexes. I found in particular the color of weeding dresses to be an interesting phenomenon. In our culture, white stands for purity. A white dress equals a pure woman, historically a virgin. Meanings change over time and I might wear a white dress now, were I to marry again, to represent the purity of a new beginning. In China white is the color of death and red is the traditional color of wedding gowns. In India, white is expected, but never un-accompanied, white must be companioned with another color for the wedding.
Take a look at the history of Crayola crayons. I though it particularly interesting to note why the colors were changed or dropped from the boxes. Indian Red, gone, for obvious reasons. Flesh changed to peach for equally obvious reasons. Prussian blue disappears as the country is removed from maps.
Be aware of your choice of colors, their meanings, the theory behind the choices. Here is a little writing exercise that can be fun, and makes you think about color.
Part 1 - Grab a big box of crayons. Pick 4 crayons, two of which must be similar in color. Don’t look at the name on the label. Take each one and scribble on some paper so you can see the true color of the pigment. On your own, name each color. Between the two that were similar, describe the differences in the two colors. What makes them similar, or different. Then look at the labels on the crayons. Do the names inspire the same feelings as those you chose, or make you change your feeling about what you chose?
Part 2 – Using one of the new color names, write a paragraph that uses the feeling you have from the color and uses the name somewhere
Have fun writing,
Lilly
The simplest way to describe something we’ve learned since primary school is to add a color to an object – a red apple, a black cat. You can also create an instant association with a comparison by using another object to describe a color. This can strengthen the imagery, and cause a stronger emotional reaction. “The leaves were the flickering color of fire” – implying the reds and oranges we see in autumn, but also the warmth we may feel walking in the autumn sun observing them, or even the melancholy feeling of knowing, like the quick flames, the dying leaves will soon be gone.
Throughout history, the use of color has changed. You can see the movement of the meaning of color through time, if you imagine our ancestors working only with the natural mediums around them – the earth, the plants. Earlier colors are muted, primitive but still have richness, and when using color to make historical reading more realistic we should take into account the use of color in the time period we are researching.
Colors, as we know have meanings, symbolism. There is an entire level of psychological study to colors that I have no time to touch on here, but I would like to remind you to be aware of. Throughout history and even today, we conceptualize feelings through color.
Color meanings can be affected by the culture you come from, the historical period you are writing in, even the difference sin the sexes. I found in particular the color of weeding dresses to be an interesting phenomenon. In our culture, white stands for purity. A white dress equals a pure woman, historically a virgin. Meanings change over time and I might wear a white dress now, were I to marry again, to represent the purity of a new beginning. In China white is the color of death and red is the traditional color of wedding gowns. In India, white is expected, but never un-accompanied, white must be companioned with another color for the wedding.
Take a look at the history of Crayola crayons. I though it particularly interesting to note why the colors were changed or dropped from the boxes. Indian Red, gone, for obvious reasons. Flesh changed to peach for equally obvious reasons. Prussian blue disappears as the country is removed from maps.
Be aware of your choice of colors, their meanings, the theory behind the choices. Here is a little writing exercise that can be fun, and makes you think about color.
Part 1 - Grab a big box of crayons. Pick 4 crayons, two of which must be similar in color. Don’t look at the name on the label. Take each one and scribble on some paper so you can see the true color of the pigment. On your own, name each color. Between the two that were similar, describe the differences in the two colors. What makes them similar, or different. Then look at the labels on the crayons. Do the names inspire the same feelings as those you chose, or make you change your feeling about what you chose?
Part 2 – Using one of the new color names, write a paragraph that uses the feeling you have from the color and uses the name somewhere
Have fun writing,
Lilly
Posted on 04 Mar 2009 by Lilly Cain
Research - Fun and Games
Tonight I am researching my novella Building Magic. I’ve already done some, reading about ironworkers, reading about dragons (apparently mine is a Western Dragon), Learning a little about jewels. So there isn’t much to research except a bit about desert life. Okay, apparently there is a lot about that I don’t know, but I am not sure how much will filter into the story.
Research is always a guessing game. How much do we really need to know? Do we need more half way through? And take my next novella – I need to research bondage (okay I am looking forward to that and have recently contacted a fascinating man who’s willing to teach me a few things, yum!). Now I know I will need to know more about it than I do. But how far will it actually go in the novella?
It all comes down to planning. Since I generally know the storyline – having written my detailed synopsis which acts as a plan before starting – I can guess the areas that I may need to investigate. And that’s when the fun starts! I love to learn new things!
Now about that bondage… ;)
Lilly
Research is always a guessing game. How much do we really need to know? Do we need more half way through? And take my next novella – I need to research bondage (okay I am looking forward to that and have recently contacted a fascinating man who’s willing to teach me a few things, yum!). Now I know I will need to know more about it than I do. But how far will it actually go in the novella?
It all comes down to planning. Since I generally know the storyline – having written my detailed synopsis which acts as a plan before starting – I can guess the areas that I may need to investigate. And that’s when the fun starts! I love to learn new things!
Now about that bondage… ;)
Lilly
Posted on 19 Feb 2009 by Lilly Cain
Career choice?
Writing can never be about money. At least, not at first and I expect not even when you have achieved a level of success where writing becomes your main source of income. Writing is about loving the art – the craft of telling a story.
I work full time, writing I consider my second job although I haven’t yet been paid for it. Recently, my full time job had a pay but, when is unsurprising given the economic turn of events, but it isn’t happy news. This coupled with several new expenses and changes in income make life a little more difficult. I had to decide whether I would have to cut back on writing or even give it up in favor of a part time second job that pays immediately.
What I came to as a conclusion is that writing pays me in other ways. It is a stress reliever and since I can’t afford massages…well that’s one way. It is also heavily linked now to my social life, to my network of friends. That’s two ways. It keeps me from completely giving up on my dreams of living a creative life and making a mark. That’s three. It sooths my romantic spirit even when things don’t work out with men. That’s four, and while I could go one, it was enough for me to say, nope, can’t quit. I’ll have to look at my budget in another way.
And maybe, someday, it will begin to pay off, this persistence. I will keep trying to learn, keep writing, keep hoping. If you don’t play, you can’t win.
Lilly
I work full time, writing I consider my second job although I haven’t yet been paid for it. Recently, my full time job had a pay but, when is unsurprising given the economic turn of events, but it isn’t happy news. This coupled with several new expenses and changes in income make life a little more difficult. I had to decide whether I would have to cut back on writing or even give it up in favor of a part time second job that pays immediately.
What I came to as a conclusion is that writing pays me in other ways. It is a stress reliever and since I can’t afford massages…well that’s one way. It is also heavily linked now to my social life, to my network of friends. That’s two ways. It keeps me from completely giving up on my dreams of living a creative life and making a mark. That’s three. It sooths my romantic spirit even when things don’t work out with men. That’s four, and while I could go one, it was enough for me to say, nope, can’t quit. I’ll have to look at my budget in another way.
And maybe, someday, it will begin to pay off, this persistence. I will keep trying to learn, keep writing, keep hoping. If you don’t play, you can’t win.
Lilly
Posted on 17 Feb 2009 by Lilly Cain