The Joss Whedon Post

The next few blog posts are going to be out of order. Between being ill and flying all over the place (literally) I’ve not had time to sit down and view a computer screen. However, one thing I do want to post about is the experience I’ve just had, attending Joss Whedon at the Opera House. I was hoping for awesomeness. Awesome is an understatement.

I’m one among many who find Joss their hero and inspiration. He has been behind many projects. The most well known would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Those in the know also revere Firefly (& the movie Serenity). His more recent shows have been Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog and Dollhouse. As he mentioned on Sunday, it’s a cult (& an awesome cult at that).

The talk on Sunday was hosted by comedian Wil Anderson (recently of The Gruen Transfer & Gruen Nation) who as a fan ‘got it’. The afternoon ran as follows. Joss talks, Wil & Joss chat, Q&A with audience. In the end it ran about 20ish minutes overtime though I’m sure the audience would’ve happily stayed much longer. I know I certainly would have.

Joss mentioned he was switching his format as a result of other experiences including the recent Melbourne talk. So, he started to talk about essentially ‘why’. The why he writes/does what he does. He did it in the context of his shows and how a ‘small adolescent girl with superpowers’ is a recurring character for him. He explained how this works for him – what he is doing when he does this. He calls it going to The Dark Place. You need to capitalise it with the way he says it and as a writer it resonated. Deeply. He did admit that not all writers have this (though I think admitted or not, it happens) but it is what he needs to do. Essentially, it is that place that terrifies the bejeebus out of you but as a creative person you know that is exactly where you have to go.

The Q&A portion of the session brought up a variety of topics. Specifics for shows (Firefly, Goners, The Avengers, and Dr Horrible being the main ones), the writing/creative process and a few very heartfelt thank-yous for what he’s done.

There were a lot of other things discussed and I even managed to write a few handwritten notes (by the light of my phone) which I’m sure will be referenced in future posts.

I’ve really only skimmed what was talked about – if I went into minute details this post would be a novel in itself (& really I have my own stories to tell). I have to go delve into my own Dark Place now…before I head off to AussieCon4 on Friday.

If you’re interested in some of what was talked about, go here for an interview done straight afterwards for Triple J and also read Mel Scott’s Crossed Wires for her wrap of the Melbourne talk.

Romans and Druids at Christina Phillips Blog Party.....Forbidden

Life has been hectic and is not slowing down for another few weeks. Show’n’tell posts will be forthcoming about what I have been and am getting up to (2 cons & one fangirl trip). The short version is the annual RWA conference, AussieCon4, and Joss Whedon at the Opera House.

Once I work out how to get photos from my iPhone to the computer I'll post some pics from the recent Romance Writers of Australia annual conference. While there, I was able to meet in person many friends made online which was fantastic.

I've made many writer friends over the years and haven't been able to work out the how/when/technology to share in their launches/releases (other than attending their blogs, or in person launches). Christina Phillips has the honour of being my first "go look and see". 

To help celebrate the release of Forbidden, Christina Phillips's debut Roman/Druid Ancient Historical Romance from Berkley Heat, she's holding a launch party with lots of amazing authors and fabulous giveaways! In addition, Christina's giving away a signed copy of Forbidden to one lucky person who helps spread the love. All you have to do is mention the party (you can copy and paste this blurb), being held from 1st to 6th September at http://christinaphillips.blogspot.com.

You can Tweet about it, blog, Facebook, MySpace or anything! And then drop her an email at ChristinapPh @ gmail dot com (no spaces) to let her know. Please put Forbidden Launch Party (or something similar) in the subject line. The winner will be drawn for that on Monday 6th September.

The Infernal

Wow, two posts in a month. Could be making up for the lack of March madness, er, I mean musings. The Infernal has a special place in my writing journey. In part the book itself and in part the author. I came across The Infernal in what feels like a million years ago but was in reality 1997 or 1998 while working in a university library. I was putting new titles onto the shelves for students and The Infernal was amongst them.


The original cover grabbed my attention as did the title and I decided to borrow it (alas, I cannot find the relevant cover anywhere to show’n’tell). To this day it is one of the very few (& I mean VERY few) books where I can still recall images created by the words (Kim, if you read this, I now have a morbid fear of pine trees). Kim is one of a very small handful of writers where I will automatically buy their books.


When I first decided I was going to attempt to write my first story (after the passion to write was inflamed on a dare by some o/s friends) I was trapped by research. Having a degree in ancient civilizations meant I’d spent many hours delving deeply into knowledge of topics. I was fairly sure that fictional books didn’t quite need the depth in knowledge but I was unsure (of a lot of things). I came across two authors in an anthology, Mystery, Magic, Voodoo and the Holy Grail, Kim Wilkins and Louise Cusack.


Little did I know the impact this would have on me. Very nervously I sent off an email to each of them basically asking for their opinions about research and fantasy and fiction writing. I had no idea if either of them would read the email let alone reply. Imagine my shock when BOTH of them had replied within a week of my sending the query. I was completely speechless, gob smacked, in awe (you get the idea). Plus the information they gave was (of course) very useful.


Fast forward to the present day. I’ve now have had two wonderful year-long workshop stints with Kim (through the Qld Writers Centre). Louise gently nudged me to join the Vision Writers group and is still an ongoing mentor, keeping me on the track of my writing path (making sure I don’t fall off it) to this day.


So, The Infernal holds a special place. If it wasn’t for the fact Kim scared the living daylights out of me with her visual imagery I wouldn’t have come across the anthology. If I hadn’t come across the anthology I would never have contacted either Kim or Louise. I don’t even want to say how my life would’ve unfolded (though I’m sure writing would’ve reared its head regardless of what I chose). I say my life, rather than my writing life as it has been through my writing life that I have now made a wonderful circle of (in some cases, very close) friends. Not to mention my fiancée.

Now, Ticonderoga Publications is doing a special limited edition release of Kim’s first book. Isn’t the cover pretty?  I love the tone, hues and scripts chosen. There will only be 100 created. I should drop hints to my other half. I’d certainly struggle to justify indulging in such a beautiful copy. Go here to place an order.

What a week it has been. Wow!

I'll say it again. Wow. What a week it has been.

Saw my mentor the very lovely Louise Cusack a fortnight ago to sit down with a mind to layout the 2010 writing plan. Having finished my edits on Firewalker I was umming about what next. I have six ideas that perpetually play around in my head and figured a break (for awhile) from the Elemental Worlds was a good idea. Louise agreed and without further ado, I began researching, mulling and forming ideas for a book from the kernel of an idea. The goal was to start the dirty/zero draft beginning of March. The goal is still there, however it may now be slightly delayed.

On Wednesday morning I opened my emails and discovered I had made it into the 2^nd round for the RWA Australia Emerald award. I was floored. Completely gobsmacked, speechless and stunned. I stayed like that for most of the day. I think writing this post it is only beginning to sink in as I realise I now have until the 17^th to get Firewalker scrubbed and polished and sent back out again.

It was the first time I truly felt like I may be doing something, albeit small right. My goal for 2009 was to write and edit and submit a book to the Emerald. Purely for the feedback it offered after the first round (I actually had to go look up what happens next on Wednesday much to my partner’s amusement). Making it to the 2nd round had not really been on my radar. The warmth and support given by members of RWA has been amazing and I am truly humbled by it all. 

So, Firewalker is back in front of me and I’m madly getting it ready for my two readers. Then it will be a life of red frogs, coffee and no sleep as I absorb their feedback and embrace the art of polishing (it's a challenge even in my housework lists). This was the plan for Firewalker – only to be done in two months time. My pushy salamanders, mermaids and elementals are making themselves heard.

Congratulations to the other wonderful ladies who have made the 2^nd round with me. I know we are all now heads down not coming up for breath except for occasional feeding.

Storytelling

The plan was to blog weekly and already I've veered away from the plan. There is a good reason for it. I’ve been busy. Finishing the draft for FireWalker. Yay!

I made the deadline, with a couple of days to spare, being prepared for the meeting tomorrow with my mentor. For a day or two in there, I thought I wasn’t going to make it. Going away for the long weekend made it dodgy. I surprised myself and wrote while away. Only had one day off last week and that was due to the 6 hour drive on the back of a lack of sleep the night prior.

My tally for the first week for the RWA NaNoWriMo was about the 16,000 mark. I knew it would be high and this week balances that with only about 9,000ish. There are still days left so we’ll see. The tally I set includes playing with a novella. I’ve yet to decide which one I want to play with. So many ideas, only so many hours in a day.

I was very fortunate to be one of the guinea pigs for the now very popular and successful Year of the Edit series of workshops run by the Qld Writer’s Centre. We had the very talented Kim Wilkins as our tutor. I’m pulling on my notes from that year to work on the scene map and commencing the structural edit for this book. I know a lot of people would say it needs to be ‘frozen’/placed in the drawer etc for a bit but I’ve discovered I’m an odd duck. Well, I already knew that but as I discussed the story with my partner, (who also write) he was amused to see how I really do not have any memory of writing some of my scenes. Even ones with my favourite characters are forgotten about. It means as I edit I am reading my story with a ‘first time’ overview. To edit a story detached and methodical are two words that are heard over and over and well, over again.

It leads credence to my theory I am first and foremost a storyteller. If I had lived a few hundred years ago, I would have been quite happy being a travelling bard, telling the stories, slightly different each time. Possibly, I may have had to be male as well, but that is another post for another time. Now in this day and age, stories, to a degree, need to become a static document, captured in time for repeated reading pleasure. It will be interesting to see how detached I will be as in the past my modus operandi was to abandon the baby aka story altogether. It was told, out of my head why would I want to look back at it?