#blogitjuly Tell Us A Story

I'm going to cheat for this episode of Blog It July...I'm just going to tell you the start of a story.

Mr. Smyth had the job of driving me to my new school and residence. My foster parents said I should feel lucky, not about Mr. Smyth, with his rickety oldhorse cart, but about the opportunity to attend this school. I felt anything but lucky at this moment, as I clutched the invitation – sweat and fear ruining it for any keepsake – and wondered, for the hundredth time, why they would want me.

We left behind a bustling thoroughfare and turned onto a desolate lane. Mr. Smyth slowed the horse to a stop at the only drive I saw, an enormous wrought iron gate barring the way.

I considered this closed gate and looked back at the equally closed Mr. Smyth, he nearly smiled, but instead reached behind the bench, grabbed my bag and heaved it. I watched its graceful arc and hard landing at the gates. A good aim, that Mr. Smyth, I thought as I continued to sit and fidget with my skirts and invitation.

            “Well…” he said. “What are you waiting for, a hand down? Get off girl.”

            “It does not look as if anyone’s expecting me,” I craned my head and looked down the long drive and then back at Mr. Smyth.

            He raised an eyebrow in my direction. “Has anyone ever expected the likes of you?”

            Oh. I thought not. An examination of my own life never led to good. “Thank you for,” the right word eluded me, “escorting me, Mr. Smyth—” he interrupted with a guffaw. “I’ll be going now.” I hazarded a smile, he did not reciprocate.

            Lifting my skirts, I hopped down from the cart. Mr. Smyth did not wait to see if I could get in the gates, he barely looked to see if I landed.

            Beyond the gate and down the drive was an imposing stone structure – some might call it a mansion if they didn’t know its purpose. Or name. Not that either was advertised:

            Miss Carmella’s School for Exceptional Girls and Above Average Boys

            That much I did know. I searched the gate for a bell, or lever, or even small hidden doorway, finding none of those things, I resigned myself to simply waiting, something that could be considered almost a luxury at the Theatre. Then the rain began.

This is (possibly) the opening to a YA steampunkish/paranormaly romance (yay!):

Goddess In The Mechanica

I'm at a little over 26,000 words, rough, rough, rough draft. There's a cool school, mythological DNA alchemy, a mechanical spider, Airpirates of the Mississippi (!), and a mad scientist. 

MY "GIRLS IN THE BASEMENT" *

* I first heard this term from Jennifer Cruise, a long time ago, but here's a cool video current video link


So this has to do with my personal "girls" in the basement, the subconscious trio of story idea mongers -- I can see them and I want to share them with you:

None of which are what I see in my mind, but they come close

The top pic is clearly the bad-ass, I am not a bad-ass, yet, sometimes I wish I were, also, my writing NEEDS a bad-ass, to get things done, no matter the cost. Also someone to blow things up. She likes it when things blow-up.

The second pic is the thinker, she too helps in getting things done, she views the carnage of things gone horribly wrong...and figures out how to move the story forward in between "things getting worse-er."

The third is my dreamer, listening to her own voices and taking leaps of faith and coming up with implausible plots in story-land. Preferably without explosions.

When I stay out of their way, cool type things happen, the story moves forward, things explode, surprises are revealed, characters pop up -- the Master of Swords? Who the hell is this and what does she do? She?... See what I mean?

My foible is refusing to give up total control. I over-think to the point of Not Writing Anything.

Nothing.

If I could get out of my own way and let the girls rule for even a tiny bit, I think I could get so much more written.

I took Candace Havens Fast Draft workshop a few years ago... I have never, ever, everer, written so much in so little time as then. Why didn't I continue to use it? It scared me. No control, I mean things, words, sentences, plot twists came out of my fingertips (certainly not my brain) from nowhere. It was scary.

Which is why I need to try doing it that way again. Just let the girls drive.

What stops you from getting things done? And who are your girls?

Sugarland - Incredible Machine: Amex UNSTAGED

I stumbled upon the fact that Sugarland's cd Incredible Machine is full of Steampunk.
What an idiot!
I love Sugarland -- and I'd seen this cd numerous times w/o thinking anything...except, maybe, hey that's kind of cool...

The lyrics to Incredible Machine are gorgeous -- the outfits are fabulous and (now that I've noticed it) the cover is soooo cool.

ROW80 Check In. Where am I?

ROW80 check-in. Star Date, July 27th, 2011.

We find ourself in a strange, non-writing place. The inhabitants are friendly and the climate temperate. Which only leads to our own inability to put words on paper...how much longer can we go on?

This strange place's name? Staycation.

All silliness aside, I had great plans for this staycation 2 weeks of no work and lots of writing time. Yeah, not so much so. As you can see Sunday, when I should have been writing a ROW80 check-in, I was at a Twins game with our youngest. Monday and Tuesday a bit of writing got done, mainly for a contest. Plus, another baseball game, little league semi-finals. They lost :( after rallying back from a 5 run deficit, they were ahead by 1...other team had last ups and they pulled it off.

Plus, I don't know what I was thinking: no work. Ha! No work, except for laundry and vacuuming and dusting and organising and cooking. Not to mention all the stuff that needs to be done, but not enough time like, re-paint porch and basement. Crap.

Enough with the whining.

Even more than new words on the page, I need to nail the outline for my YA steampunk/fantasy.

NEW PLAN

Brainstorm and notecard outline

Re-write query 

Post on Blog 2x a week not counting ROW80 check-ins

I'm not posting a goal for wordcount this go around. We'll see how I feel on Sunday.

How's everyone else doing?

GEARING UP TO GET AN AGENT WEEK 4 FIRST 200 WORDS!

For week 4 of Gearing up to Get an Agent we're posting the first 200 words of our manuscript...I have started this in so many places, I no longer know what makes sense. Here's the first 200 words of my YA steampunk romance:

I was alone in the attic bedroom. That wasn't entirely true, I had the skitterings of Aurora in the eaves to keep me company. My foster sisters were performing in the production tonight so they would not be along to for another few hours. I hadn't felt well earlier and was excused from my duties as second stage-hand. I didn't act or sing, my foster parents said acting was not my cup of tea -- what they meant was, I had no talent for it. It's not the life for you, they'd say.

It's alright, I didn't care for the theatre, I only cared for the corner of the Mississippi I could see with my distance goggles through my bedroom window. Every moment That could be spared I me eyes were on that bend. One day soon, I would see the AirPirate ship that carried the Captain who was responsible for my parents' death.

If only I knew what I would do after I spied the ship. It's not as if I could call him out for a duel. I might be able to tinker a bomb...but, that was no good, I only wanted vengeance on the Captain not the whole crew.

PRETEND BOYFRIENDS

http://mydaguerreotypeboyfriend.tumblr.com/

The link at the top will be enjoyable to anyone longing for an old fashioned kind of guy. Or if you need ideas for a hero for your next historical romance, or Steampunk story. I think he's my favorite.

While looking through my mom's pictures, I stumbled on an old photo of a very handsome young man, thinking it may have been an old boyfriend of hers, I asked, "Who's this?" With lot's of inflection on the 'this.'
"It's your grandfather," she said.

Ooh. And d'oh! And uuuuwe.

Hopefully none of these pics are your grandfather, or, er, great grandfather.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

After much consideration, or, at least, a bit of consideration, I have decided to actually have a point to my blog.

I know.

Anyway, instead of me rambling on about my brilliant life or whining about stupid ideas for writing, I'm going to concentrate on the things I find fascinating, besides the myopia of my day to day life.

Here's my list:
Steampunk and Gaslamp -- anything, books, tv, movies, costume, gadgets. And I'm not going to let the fact that I'm not any kind of an expert hold me back. I loved Steampunkish stuff before I ever heard of it. Hello 1960s Wild Wild West.

Paranormal Stuff and Parapsychology -- because I dig it, and I lived in a parapsychology study center from 1968 -- 1971. Seriously. I'll write about that too.

Friday Miscellany -- cool stuff, cool music, cool sites. And maybe ramblings. You didn't really think you were getting away from the ramblings, did you?

And probably some other stuff as I think of it...

Gaslampery, Or, Fooling Around In a Steampunk World

So, it's no secret I am in love with all that is Steampunk. I think it's the word...steampunk. It seems to encompass all the weird corners of imagination. Nothing is off limits. Pirate air-ships? Yes! Difference machines? Yes! Cool smart chicks with spectacles? Yes! Vampire Physicists? Yes! Technology with social graces? Yes! You get the idea.

I worry I might be taking things too far, at least with my characters. I have a Gas lit world with cool/old/new technology, my characters are teens and more than human, a la League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, they attend school together in an old mansion.  Now, here's where I may be in trouble: I started making these characters more than one weird thing, like, a demi-god/Valkyrie or a werewolf/angel.

Can you say monster mash?

I wasn't sure if it was wicked cool or totally lame. And then the thing happened, you know the thing. You think you have this idea that nooooo one has ever done, like a werewolf/angel, and then you find out an author -- whom you admire -- is coming out with a series of books...and some of the characters are...fallen angels and lycan. Seriously.

Can you even imagine how many times I said "D'oh!" Alright, perhaps it was a different expletive. So, I guess it's probably wicked cool.

The question  is: Do I continue with this idea? Because, clearly, my book will not be her book. And if I do -- will I still feel as if I somehow cheated?