Update! And Some Thoughts

While I've gotten into the habit of spreading out posts that don't have updates with the scheduling option (rather than spamming my followers with those three-post days), this one will scrape over my current moods and work for a change.

First off, the hard facts/goals of the week:

*UnSung Part 1 draft edit complete: was re-edited to reflect some ideas I came up with in Part 2.

*UnSung Part 2 first edit in progress: hoping to complete this within a few days but that may extend.

*UnOfficial Mascot drawing: I don't normally do the mascot thing, but I have a rather precocious animal character that would be awesome to draw.

*Screenplay edit: I don't disclose details on these, but needless to say, I love reading Antonio's work and it will be a pleasure to comb through another.

*Sleep (optional): whenever the excitement leads to unconsciousness

I've truly been enjoying the whole process of editing for UnSung this time around and that's not something I say often. The first book of the series was a departure from the long-running first series I did, so it was daunting to start again and I wrestled with UnNamed a lot before I started to really feel this world out. The second book became absolutely massive in my head, something that grew when I was devoting my time to making the covers for the first series. Drafting it was both exciting and terrifying because I had to peel through a lot of notes, a lot of plots, to make it a smooth read, each plot feeding into another without confusing myself or a potential reader.

When re-reading it, I was actually sliding through it with little difficulty. I knew there would be a couple of ideas that changed because of Part 2's plots, some conversations to refine and, of course, to make sure what the characters knew stayed consistent with their approach and attitude. Like I did with my first series, I'm working on a character profile post for UnNamed and UnSung. I didn't keep a ton of character notes this time around because I didn't strictly control the readers' impressions of them so things like hair and eye color weren't always clear. I became aware of (as my Quora rebuttal post went into) a tendency to dictate too much about a character as if you were seeing them in a game or movie. 

While it didn't ruin the stories the way I approached this, I did challenge myself to remove the 'romance novel' approach to describing a character head to toe. I've seen enough people in writing groups laboring to describe ombre hairstyles and a character's eye color to know that this can absolutely go from general description to tedious word masturbation best left to creative writing exercises, not novels. It's generally not a good idea to go out of your way to fixate on looks unless you want the reader to be distracted by them or they have some REAL relevance to the story. It's one thing if you want to drop that a mermaid has ombre-violet hair, but describing the cut and curl could be put off until she's twirling a lock of it later if at all. If, and I emphasize IF, it becomes an important detail later, then you can edit it in, but I'd still caution anyone as to where that introduction sits. I find it more fun to read (and write!) when the looks are a subtle tell that don't zip right to how easy it is to describe a gorgeous or repulsive person. When I force myself not to make a subjective judgement, to let the environment react to them (or ack! don't have them describe themselves in a mirror) then I'm offering the bias to the reader, giving them just enough freedom to decide but taking on the burden of pace, storytelling, world building. Give a reader too much homework and you might as well hand them a book of Mad Libs.

Then again, even when a character is beautiful or repulsive in my mind, I still want the emphasis to be on their characters, actions, and emotions. The most alluring or sexy characters, to me, are the ones that don't have to beat you over the face with it. I'm more likely to create fantasies about characters that make me laugh or think, not remind me of their physical features.

So, a little bit to roll around there, but I'm due for a nap. On the personal side of life, we have a lot of mangos in the refrigerator. This is what happens when I tell my dad the boys love mangos. They, however, are completely thrilled about mango smoothies for breakfast every morning. And yes, my excitement for my work is rubbing off on them and they love sharing their ideas with me. The younger nephew, Marcus, started reading my work over my shoulder while editing one day. A kid-friendly part, but not one I thought he'd get into. I read some more of it out loud to him and when I finished the scene, he surprised me by saying he'd love to read more. 

Unfortunately, it's just not kid-friendly, so it's really making me think I want to work on my YA book so my nephews and my friends' kids can read my work. It's an idea I'm no less passionate about (based on dreams I've had since I was a teenager), I just didn't realized UnNamed would grow beyond a single novel until I was nearing the end of the draft and organized a grand plan. When I say I want to write for kids, I don't mean in a cop-out fashion either. Some aspects of human intimacy, violence and life in general are still approachable and I don't think you dumb it down just because you write for a younger audience. I do tend to soften the language and cut out the graphic nature a bit, but the dreams I had were between two best friends who travel the world and beyond, into these surreal pockets that don't need darkness, grit, or 'realism.' The challenge of writing for pre-adults is to trust their imagination more because the insights and depths that adults tend to enjoy just don't interest some of the younger ones.