January 28, 2009

Snow Hump Day!

You know, I usually agree with Simon on AI about 95% of the time. Granted, he doesn't have much tact when talking to certain people. I think he likes to piss off the girls. And Kara really needs to go (and stop singing)...

Could you imagine if Literary Agents or Editors queried people like that? You've got two minutes to tell your story with four people staring at you! I was nervous enough talking one on one with an editor, four of them, I'd probably pass out. LOL I'm not good talking in front of people. Put a mic in my hand, ask me to sing, not a problem at all. How does that make sense? I don't know...

I'm gearing up to revise the Lucky series while I still have people reading the first book. I have to beef up the synopsis and figure out if I want to add a line about book two and three to my query. I'll probably do it both ways just so I have it handy.

I also need to go back to Tiva's books and write up a synopsis and new query letter. Fun.

I've submitted two stories for publication, something I've never done before. I'm interested in seeing what comes of that.

I've entered the beginning of Lucky #1 for an author critique. I sent the first page to Dear Author. I still have three agents and four editors reading. I'll be sending them status update letters on Saturday.

Staying positive isn't always easy, especially the way things are going these days in the publishing industry, but I refuse to be negative about my writing. After skimming through the romance subplot in Lucky's books, I've realized that I did a fantastic job working through Lucky and Kenji's relationship. It's not a typical romance by any stretch of the imagination. But it's real. Lucky has real issues with getting close to people. She has a real reason she doesn't want to fall in love. Kenji isn't the typical alpha male (though it comes out sometimes), he's almost like the chick in the relationship. He knows how to communicate, he just doesn't know how to get through to Lucky because she's completely anti-communication. :-)

Now, I just need to make sure all the little pieces of the main plot work. More Fun.

One of the short stories I wrote and submitted has an erotic twist to it. Sure, I've written naughty before, but never did anything with it. My naughty isn't like other erotica naughty stuff. I'm not big on body parts words. To me, that's more porn than erotic. When I think erotic, I think of sensual, not graphic. Don't get me wrong, I've read some erotica, even with body part words, and it worked, and it was good. That's just not how I like to write. However, the short story is about a cursed man enslaved to a demon. He's been in my head for a while and I didn't know what to do with him. I want him for a novel and writing the short story actually helped me come up with a few ideas.

Problem? It's going to be paranormal in nature.

Everyone is writing paranormal now.

I refuse to write about vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters...not because I don't enjoy those types of characters, it just seems like everyone is doing it. If I do start writing it now, by the time it's done and ready for submission, freaking Romantic Suspense will be the next trend...probably.

So, cursed man, demon chick, and human heroine chick. Not bad, probably been done a million times, but I'm sure the right plot will come to me and tie it all together.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what the hell to write now.

Superhero movies are still big and graphic novels are growing by leaps and bounds. Suspense and Thrillers will always be around but they're never really trendy. I don't write historicals. I can't do humor well enough to even try. Horror, eh, maybe...I am kinda twisted, but torture porn in the movies is already so last year, I don't see it doing so well in books. Publishers want steampunk still. I've seen it. Science Fiction and Fantasy will always have a special place in my heart. Many of my outrageous ideas have a Sci-Fi twist to it. I'm not too bad at fantasy either, just not normally what I like to write.

The only thing I can think of is to look toward anime.

Light Novels are making a huge impact in japan. I think I have a general idea what they are, but I haven't found any english sites that show them as a whole. Problem with Light Novels, I can't draw. Bleh! Nor do I have the time right now to find someone to draw for me.

Anime has no rules. Seriously. I've seen Sci-fi-Horror-Romance-Humor animes. I've seen Paranormal-Romance-Fantasy. They mix up genres more than any other medium out there. But trying to find (or predict) a trend among anime is just as hard.

Kids love their anime. At first, I was kinda ticked off when it blew up and became popular here. I always felt like it was my special secret...okay, along with a few thousand other fans, but it was mine. Then, slowly, everyone else started to love it. (I blame video games!) Now, you can't get away from it. There is SO much anime out there, I can't even keep track anymore.

When I'm searching for a new idea, I try not to watch too much TV or movies, or read any other books. Maybe I should do the opposite? Not sure. Taking pieces from various areas of the pop culture world might actually help me this time.

It takes so much time and energy to be original and even when you think you are 100% original, there's some else out there with an idea close to yours.

If everyone thinks outside the box, does that leave you with an empty box? Maybe I should think inside the box?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck in finding an agent Jenn. Where can we read some of your story?

Anonymous said...

I like the idea about not reading other books while working on a new idea. I do the same. Stay strong. It will happen for you.

Jenn Nixon said...

Hey Anon...

I have some snippets on my website, www.jennnixon.com. I haven't posted much of Lucky yet, but I do have an old draft of it on my livejournal blog!

Jenn Nixon said...

Hey MJ ;-)

I happened to be reading LOTR while I was writing my Sci-fi/Fantasy novels. It actually rubbed off on me...in a good way, but I did have to change some stuff because it sounded TOO LOTR. LOL

Thanks for the positive thoughts!!! I need them!

Mary Lindsey / Marissa Clarke said...

Great post. I love Manga and anime. I hope it's an upward trend that stays. Graphic novels--yeah! I love Simon on AI too. And yes, thank goodness we writers don't have to pitch in front of a panel like that!

Thanks for following the QT blog. Good luck with your writing.