Long-Assed Catch-Up

Saturday, October 13, 2007

I had some stuff in mind to blog about re erotica/erotic romance, M/M & M/M/F, 3-or-moresomes, BDSM, and personal boundaries. But it's all still percolating in my mind.

The short version is, for the most part, my various levels on interest in all of the above have dwindled quite a bit. Excess and mediocrity tends to do that. Of course authors whose writing includes any of those elements but do so with skill and depth and whose writer's voice and characterization really work from me are exempt from that blanket statement.

Moving on....

I've been experimenting with working on the WIP in long hand. I bought a 400 page note book and some index cards and so far so good. I focused on plotting, brainstorming, GMC, etc at the moment so I can do a fast draft starting next week as part of the 70 Days of Sweat. Seems every time I get on the pc, no matter what my intentions, I end up wasting time surfing, emailing, planning Minesweeper or FreeCell/Solitaire. :-P Thank goodness I weaned myself off of MSN years ago, or I'd really be in deep do-do.

Anywho, I have chapter 1 & 2 outlined already, plus a whole lot of turning points, points of conflict etc. Think I have a theme. I'm thinking a little bigger with this book with the hope of it being the first in a series of futuristic romances. Series in the sense of stand alones taking place in the same world, with characters might or might not be connected/know each other.

Gonna throw this one out to the agents. *fingers crossed*Conversely, the ::coughcoughseveralcoughcough:: contemporary romance partials I have sitting on the hard-drive will be aimed at Samhain for now. Not sure where the Fantasy Romance is going yet.

With the kid just starting college this year, and just this past week informing me that once he finishes this 2 year course, he wants to pursue a 4 yr degree at University (gulp) I think it's time to man-up and buckle down with the writing.

Lastly, I have to really start thinking about marketing. At this point my big plan is to send out arcs and get reviews, and ::enter the slight whiff of hypocrisy:: set up a MySpace page with book trailer. ::shamed:: lol.

I'm still not a MySpace fan, but I can deal with it strictly as a sort of marketing/billboard site rather than an interactive/discussion site. Plus I'm sure at some point my publisher is going to ask me what are my marketing plans. Chats aren't for me--I've shown up for a couple o friends, but not even an autobuy favorite author will entice me into a chatroom. I'd rather read the (cleaned up) transcript afterwards. But I enjoy Q&A's. Not sure if I should start hosting some here, or contacting several of the sites that them already. Maybe I can do an article or two on craft, despite the evidence on display here, I can string together a grammatically correct and cohesive sentence or two.

Finally, a new website. Big Headache trying think how to show romantic comedy, futurist romance, fantasy romance ranging from dark to light in tone on one site. How do you represent that visually? I won't even get into the whole catch phrase thing. I’m trying out “Take an unexpected turn into romance” in the header of the blog. I think it works. Any thoughts? I googled it and no one else seems to be using it. :-P
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11 comments:

raine said...

I’m trying out “Take an unexpected turn into romance” in the header of the blog. I think it works.

I think that's great!
Covers a lot of bases.

Ditto on the longhand, though I try to move between that & the pc.

Love your enthusiasm. Hold that thought. ;-)

vanessa jaye said...

Thanks Raine! I'm not second guessing myself on this one, so I think it's a keeper.

Yup. The longhand is working much better than the computer or Quickpad. I'm just having nightmares about transcribing everything. :-P

Here's to much progress for yourself, also!

Anonymous said...

I gave up on having a catch phrase about five years ago. Still don't have it. Everything I thought of sounded like taglines for toothpaste and Viagra. Hee.

Shesawriter said...

I'm doing the long hand thingie too. I block out the scene first, going over stuff like plot points and dialogue. It's a great tool because when I use the notebook, I don't feel pressured to come up with pretty prose. I do an info dump, then once I get on the computer, I use the notebook as a guide.

vanessa jaye said...

Gennita, everything I thought of before was lame. The one person who I really think nailed the blurb thing is erotica/erotic romance writer Sasha White. She has 'Enjoy a white hot read' and 'Erotica with Heart, Romance with Heat'. Both I think are dead-on for what she writes.

There's another author (can't remember the name) who has 'whatever you're in the mood for'. This works because she writes in several genres including YA.

But back to your point, when I was trying to figure out something for myself, I looked around the established NY pubbed writers site and the majority did not have a tagline. It was just their name, and maybe their genre, and that was it.

vanessa jaye said...

Tanya, I've done that before, but this time around, I REALLY have to stay of the pc with this wip. I can never get more than a paragraph done before I feel the need to check my email, start surfing, or playing minesweeper. *g*.

I'm looking at this as a first draft though, once it gets transferred to the pc, the editing/revisions will begin.

Good luck to both of us!

Unknown said...

I like that catch phrase as well, Vanessa. Ditto on MySpace. It's a necessary evil for you it seems. I can't stand MySpace, so many predators lurk there (from MSNBC's To Catch a Predator espisodes) but a lot of my co-workers have set up there and a lot people dig it. I just don't.

Shesawriter said...

I get the urge to goof off no matter how I write. ;-)

vanessa jaye said...

Keishon - It seems all the marketing stuff that has NEVER worked for me as a reader, is pretty much what I'll be doing as a writer. :-P At least this time around. I'd really just like to have an excerpt or two up, do a Q&A or two, and send some ARCS out for reviews. Oh, and hope for a kick ass cover. That's the stuff that's worked for me (as a reader).

Those 'Catch A Predator' episodes make me want to put my foot through the tv screen. Ugh. I 100% support 100% castration for peds. 100%. Just leave a hole and a straw for them to piss outta.

vanessa jaye said...

Tanya, yeah, I agree, but if I'm writing longhand, I tend to goof off/procrastinate before I write. Once I start writing I get caught up in stuff. And it's far easier to push myself to keep going. As long as I'm away from the tv/computer the worse I can do is stare through the window for a bit. Not as bad as getting online to check just one site, then two hours later....

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