Experimenting with Genre

It's been three weeks since I've updated this blog because:

• Midterm season, which included a research paper, an analytical paper, a portfolio for creative writing, rehearsals for my Shakespeare performance project, and actual midterms, tried to kick my butt. I fought it the best I could, which meant I neglected this blog, neglected revisions, and neglected sleep.
• Uh, I watch a lot of television.

Really, it boils down to busyness and laziness which, when combined, are productivity's biggest enemy.

As mentioned, one of the assignments I had was a portfolio for my creative writing class. We've had weekly writing assignments all semester, and the portfolio was a way to put all of them into a revised, polished package. After triple-checking to make sure it was correctly, frantically searching for all the peer-editing sheets I had to include as appendices in the black hole that is my backpack, and an epic battle with my stapler (that, for the record, my stapler won), I passed mine in Monday morning. And I felt good about what I passed in, which I didn't expect to because it was poetry portfolio.

Now, I adore poetry. I love to read it, and it was all I wrote in, uh, elementary school. Beyond what's been required for school, I haven't written poetry since then and, needless to say, the poem I wrote at seven in which I likened the bathroom to prison wasn't exactly a masterpiece (though it's infamous in my family.) So, I was worried that everything I wrote would be terrible, I'd fail the class, and my professor who is also an editor would tell all of her publishing friends to put me on their blacklists. Naturally. 

I have no idea if my portfolio will come back with an A or an F on it (yes, I only think in those two extremes), but, as I said, I felt good about it. That's because I experienced the same rush writing and revising some of the pieces that I do when I write and revise my novel (which is a far cry from poetry.) Admittedly, two of the poems that happened with had strong narrative elements to them (one was a prose-poem, and the other was a glosa), but they were still quite different from a YA novel due to length and other genre conventions. And, two of the poems I loved to write didn't have stories behind them at all. Ultimately, I wrote pieces I never would have written otherwise--pieces I never thought I could write--that I was happy with, and that was really, really cool (I know, I'm so poetic now.)

I took a break from novel revisions to focus on this project (and to, you know, pass my midterms), but I know that all the work I did for my portfolio will ultimately help me with my current novel and any future novels I write. The best gift this class has given me is the courage to experiment. Maybe I'll write more poetry, maybe I'll try a paranormal, maybe I'll attempt a dystopian. Maybe I'll experiment more within the contemporary genre. Maybe I'll enjoy it and maybe I won't. Maybe it'll work and maybe it won't. 

I think I'd like to find out.

What genre do you write? Have you written in other genres? If so, what was your experience like? If not, would you like to try? Let me know in the comments!

Tweeting Can Help You Revise! Really.

Almost every time I write a tweet, I write more than 140 characters.

When I see my character count is at -25 (not an exaggeration), I tend to take it out on Twitter. Why only 140 characters? Why not 165? Or 200? Or 500? I have too many brilliant things to say about Glee to be censored by your limit!

Shockingly, that is not productive. What I need to do is take my frustration out on my tweets.

My latest tweet started like this:

I know I'm a little late to this party, but Sara Bareilles' Kaleidescope Heart is perfection, and I didn't think anything could live up to Little Voice.

I was over the character limit, so I decided to cut a little because it didn't add to the purpose of my tweet--to let everyone know how brilliant Sara's latest album is---and because it's a lie. I'm really late to that party. I was still over, so I cut I know because, well, I'm the one tweeting, making saying I know redundant. The result was this:

I'm late to this party, but Sara Bareilles' Kaleidescope Heart is perfect, and I didn't think anything could live up to Little Voice.

It says everything I wanted it to say, just in a more direct way.

If you follow me on Twitter, you already know that I don't always put that much thought into my tweets, nor do I do tweet brilliance (this is a great pitch if you were considering following me, eh?) However, you can use the skills you learn in Twitter Land in Revision Land as well. Tweeting teaches you how to get to the point while still conveying all necessary information, which is exactly what we try to do as writers.

You tell me: Are you on Twitter? Do you often revise your tweets? Does it help you revise your novel? 

First Time in Revision Land

On the Playlist: How Many Kings - Downhere

I'll warn you in advance, this post gets rambly and self-indulgent. Sorry. That was not my intention. It's just one of those nights where I need to question everything.

I was a fanfiction writer before I wrote Building Forts. All I knew were first drafts. I’d write a chapter, edit it a little, post it, and continue that way until the story was finished. After I wrote the last chapter, I was done with the story, and ready to shift my focus to a different fanfic.

Now that I’m near the end of Building Forts (I know, I’ve been near the end for weeks now. You’ll see why), I want to follow the same pattern. But, of course, I won’t be anywhere near done with the story after I finish the last chapter. The problem is that when I think of all the work I still have to do to make it beta-ready, let alone query-ready, I can’t help but wonder if I’m wasting my time, if there’s even a chance that this novel could sell, if I’m just not that great of a writer yet and I should write (not revise) a few more novels for experience before querying.

It seems so easy to start over with a new WIP. It’s a chance for me to do everything I should’ve done with Building Forts: make a timeline (not quite an outline) so five scenes aren’t happening with the same characters at the exact same time, save it all in one document (seriously, this was a surprisingly big issue with BF), and actually finish scenes instead of saying, “Oh, I’ll fill in the spaces later” (it’s later, and I still don’t know how to fill in the spaces).

And, of course, I like this WIP. I feel like I understand the characters’ motivation a bit better than I did with BF, though it’s always a little murky at the beginning. I know exactly what’s at stake for the characters. It’s more of a romance than BF is, and I’ve really missed writing stories that are intense romances.

Honestly, when I started this post, I thought I’d be talking about why I need to revise BF before focusing on this new WIP. Now, I’m not so sure what I should do. I don’t know if it’s just fear of the unknown that makes me wary to start revisions, or if some of my above fears are valid. I’d definitely come back to it, but maybe what I need is some space. Then again, sometimes I open the document for BF and go, “Wow, I know exactly how to make this better.” Others, I open it and go, “Wow, this just sucks.”

I know this decision is mine to make, but I’m curious to know what your first time in Revision Land was like. Did you love it? Hate it? Take a thousand detours so you’d never actually get there (that would be me)? Let me know!