T.M. Shannon

Hi everyone,

Well, it’s been a trying, melancholic-side of bipolar week – I ended up hitting 2 on the Bipolar Mood Scale (courtesy of Bipolar UK, whose app I’m now using) – but after a longer sleep Friday night I got back to Level 5, Balanced.

It’s kinda slipped to 4, busy Saturday at work so was very tired for 19:40 last night when I started this post, and couldn’t sleep past 04:45 this morning, but that’s okay, I’m rested, medded up, and back to it.

And yeah, I doubled up on a Mental Illness/Addiciton posts, not as many views for last Sunday’s post – lacking interest, too much bleak, just not my week, who knows? But life moves on, and wondering what to post this week, I figured it was time to get back to the writing.

Without further ado, here goes.

It’s Just Too Damn Long!

So, I chanced across the Writing NSW website looking for support in my art, and lo and behold, I found a manuscript assessment service – perfect thing I need, I know there’s some pacing issues and that -, and a guide on how to write a synopsis.

Synopses are my bane. Blurbs, I can do easy, and I think I’m okay for Three Ways; for The Torment, The Shadow, The Heart someone said, “I’d read that,” so hoping I’m catching a similar wave. Anyhoo, how do you compress 483 pages of rite of passage romance into 300 pages?

Now that I have a guide, this dungeon-dragon looks defeatable… And I’m into another problem with it.

They gave an example, a romance up and down in 70k words. What do they do, go on three dates, just talk, action implied, who cares about the thoughts or feelings, and it ends up in a first smooch?

To put in perspective, I’m 75k words 3 chapters short of halfway and the second-act switch, and that’s a lot of conversations, dates, introspection, dosing into the feels – it’s okay, though, the writing style has gotten quite efficient, it’s not bogged down (at least, I think not).

But it got me thinking of this nearly-166k rewrite of mine (down from a whopping 200k with 600 pages), ironing out kinks, changing things around, and getting rid of an ending that was purely saviour trope nonsense.

I’m happy with 483 pages to be honest, and I’m going to keep line editing until any change… Okay, fine, I arrived at my answer: get rid of the work subplot and its resultant anti-capitalism, happy-joy outcome, and total wish fulfilment. But I’m still sticking with Cole’s work friends.

Kill Your Darlings

That is the phrase. And no, it’s not your characters, it’s your narrative, and after chopping out 177 pages worth of darlings, I thought I was done.

After all, I’ve crammed two novellas-worth together initially planning a two-part mini-series, and it’s quite tight vs the War and Peace first draft I spewed out.

I’ll admit, I thought I was sitting on pure gold. Thank goodness for epiphany that ironed out a horrible ending with a well-out-of-character moment – and hello, New Story Idea!

Up until today, I had silver. Now I see more tarnish, but there’s room to shiny it up and maybe find out it’s gold all along. Not a bad thing.

But had you come at me with all this to TSH, man I’d be livid. (I actually was livid with a rightly terrible review of my precious baby bestest book in the whole wide world, if not the very universe).

This time? A proper critical eye.

So, it’s another big chunk of the book that I was loving and justifying just yesterday ready to go bye-byes. Really? The struggle Cole would have with the subplot is already addressed elsewhere, and again, anti-capitalist wish fulfilment, not to mention unnecessary conflict.

Good thing I’m just on the waitlist for that manuscript review and it’s going to be next year anyway, I’ve got time to break out the hammer and sickle to calm the farmers’ Leninist co-op.

Gotta keep it tight and focused on the main characters.

And I’m very okay with that. Trimming this fat will make for a better product, and as much as writing is my passion and expertise, it’s all about the product you put to the market.

So, adios darlings, gotta pay the rent.

In Matters of Style and Style

There’s a second consideration that agents and publishing houses look for – which books’ authors is your manuscript similar to? As in, is it a Stephanie Meyer, Michael Chricton, Eric Carle (love that unhealthy caterpillar), or even Dr Seuss (Green Eggs and Ham ftw)?

And that’s where I come into a conundrum – I’ve evolved my own style in the absence of reader-knowledge, I haven’t looked into any works similar to mine. And given the subject is an alter-ego and the story is based on living with my reality, I doubt there is a similar work out there.

It’s not like I’ve had no exposure to media. I’ve consumed

But I’ve only seen a smattering of romance (P&P, the cheap copy otherwise known as Bridget Jones’ Diary, some romantic plots, and flashes of a Hallmark movie or two) – yet I’ve still got classic tropes and even a cliche heel-raise.

I’ve also had no exposure to rites of passage narratives – in fact, I feel it’s flowery dross, a massive bias to have when you hypocritically try it on for size.

Drama? Love? My first book is a heroic fantasy with epic sword fights, lots of bloodshed, cool, “Hell yeah!” stuff I tuned up once I got a 15th Century fightbook from my favourite historical figure.

What did it feel like to realise I was sitting down to write a love story? Hilarious, and I laughed.

But the drama, conflicts, resolutions came naturally, and characters grow, develop, and change. Cole at the beginning, while far more stable versus his past, is far different to Cole at the end.

How do I sell this? I guess say it’s like the author? Honest and unafraid to combat sensitive topics, and styled as it came to me whilst writing? It’s worth a shot, but I might ask the manuscript assessor what they think, or if they found the style similar to someone else.

Well, I’ll keep you posted.

Surely There’s Strengths

Don’t mind me talking myself up, but dialogue is my strong point. Courtesy of movies (and suffering through normal conversations and arguments where people don’t do this), I’m quite crisp and to the point, not to mention I’m good at levity.

“Ugh.” Cole shook his head, then saw Graham’s critical peer. “Yes?”

“You know he’s got a point, right?”

“About what?”

Graham gaped. “You get girl’s numbers. You don’t give them yours.”

Cole shrugged. “Let’s say this girl’s a little different.”

Graham scratched his head. “What’s that word meaning you’re a mindless dumbarse with no idea what’s going on?”

“Naïve.” Cole’s eyebrows went up. “German I, with the two tittles.”

“Titty-eyes, whatever.” Graham tisked and turned back to his work. “Oh well, you won’t be the last one bowled out by that trick.”

(Yes, I know those two dots are called umlauts versus the single tittle, but the dialogue wouldn’t flow as well).

Evidently, I also write good douchebags and vilifiers, doing my authorly duties in making characters my darling partner – and prolific reader – absolutely hate some characters.

It’s a pity one is getting pared to the bone in the upcoming Murder of the Darlings, but I look forward to crafting a solid villain one of these days, a lawful evil rather than a chaotic – which I’ve got down pat.

I guess it’s lame to say that darling partner of mine loves it, while a reader you might say she’s biased given letting her read it was how I revealed myself to her, but I’m going to run with it – and she later gave me good feedback (and has pulled me up on the business subplot).

Should listen to the wife, shouldn’t I? After all, Cole faces the same thing and it’d be repetition, and the second half is where a lot of his growth regarding this happens.

All this imposter syndrome should pass. I hope so. Ultimately, I’ll need that one good review to get momentum going (and serve as a selling point – see that, detractors? Reviews are for authors, too).

I Think I’m Done

Well, that wasn’t so bad, a nice 9-minute read. And there’s not much from the writing point of view to go on at the moment – need a new project for that.

So, I’ll let you all go, and hope you peruse the links above. I’ll be back for the Monday Madness post tomorrow, the prompt on Wednesday, and another post next week – I’m overdue an On Matters Queer topic.

Au revoir all, I hope you’re having a good week, and if not, I hope you’re supported or can find it in community and outreach.

Take care.
T. M.