First Scene - magical realism or fantasy?

Several weeks ago I wrote about my first conference and the scene I came up with during the magical realism workshop. I thought I'd post it here. Maybe typing it up will give me some storyline inspiration.

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There was a time when the Elementari were prolfic and welcomed in every town and encampment, their gifts deemed to bring good fortune. But memory of that time was fading. That was before the Long Day. In this age, children born with sense sight were often drowned at birth or abandoned.

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M'miri left the fire circle and wandered up the hillside overlooking the settlement, through brown, brittle grass that crunched underfoot. The bag of coins the elders had given her jangled on her hip. She crested the knoll and circled around. Vibrations tickled the hairs on her legs, letting her know she had found the spot.

She sat down and waited. M'miri closed her sight eyes and opened sense sight. Soon she began to see them. The droplets of moisture drifting lazily in the air. Concentrating, she drew the droplets together. As they joined, their masses increased. They could no longer drift about aimless and carefree. M'miri could feel their wieght pressing down upon her.

As the first raindrops fell, her sense sight closed. She opened her sight eyes and headed down the hill, leaving this village behind. The wind picked up, her scarf blew off exposing her long blue hair. M'miri scooped the silk as it tried to escape in a swirl of dust. She listened to the rain hit the dry leaves of the trees behind her. Down the road lay another settlement in need.

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Okay, I know this needs some editing (I read the passivity and alliteration in some of the sentences I was typing!) But, it's a start. Now to see if it lights a spark.

WordSpring

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a writing conference held at one of the local community colleges with a few members of our local critique group. I wasn't sure what to expect from a writing conference, certainly not one held at a jr. college. I was pleasantly surprised.

Butte College has been hosting WordSpring for several years, this being the 5th Annual. It was a one day affair. I attended four workshops. Three were good, one was meh. Not a bad percentage. Classes were offered by staff from Butte College and published authors.

The workshop I was most excited about was one on Magical Realism. I had no idea what MR was, but it sounded intriguing. The definition given by the presenter was a little vague. I must admit, I'm still not 100% sure about the difference between MR and Fantasy.

Please let me explain my confusion. He said that in MR most of the world is pretty much like this one, whether present day or past, but that within this 'ordinary' world was an element of magic. At this point I kind of thought I understood.

Then someone asked for examples. He offered (among others) Harry Potter. This was hottly debated by audience members and where my confusion comes in. Much of Harry Potter is the normal world, but magic shows up in many places in many forms. Not only that, but there are mystical creatures everywhere one turns. If Harry Potter is MR, then what constitutes fantasy? I could feel my understanding of MR slipping away.

People agreed to disagree and we moved on. Towards the end of his time he told us to take five minutes and try to write a MR scene. I mulled over his words: like this world but with an element of magic.

Element. I guess I fixated on that word. I wrote my scene and when time was up he asked us to share it with a partner. I shared mine with a woman from my critique group. She was impressed and refused to read hers. On the ride back home she told everyone that I had this awesome idea for a book.

Now, who doesn't like to hear that? The problem is, I felt like an impostor. At the moment, I've no idea about any other aspects of the story. She has such faith in me, I hope that inspiration seeps into my consciousness soon.

I Published a Book!

Well, I did it! I self published book one in my historical fiction series.

It is titled: Rule Number One: Know Thy Enemy
It can be found Here

This was in the works a long, long time. It started as something I'd mull around/daydream about driving to and from work at a bookstore in Aptos, CA. I had about a 15 minute commute each way, and it helped me pass the time.

I took a different job, with a longer commute, and when I wasn't singing to my Joni Mitchell tape (yep, I said it, tape) I'd ponder what mischief Genevieve was getting into or out of.

I got married, had kids, and the story didn't go very far. Then, one day as I I stood in the middle of my living room practicing how Genevieve would challenge one of her detractors I stopped. If I'm acting out an imaginary world...in my 40s...isn't that a little crazy?

Then I had a 'Eureka!' moment. It wasn't crazy if I was doing it towork through the characters in a book. I needed to become a writer!

I bought my self a notebook and began writing. That was ten years ago. Egad! Well, to be honest, I didn't yet consider myself a writer. I mean, people like Stephan King, Emily Bronte, and JRR Tolkein were writers, I was just Geri. It took me eight of those years to allow myself to 'come out' as a writer.

So, here I am, with a book--an actually book--in my hands with my name on the cover and my words inbetween.

I hope some peopel buy it, and more importantly, enjoy reading it.

Geri Copitch, author

Dusting Off and Catching Up

Several NaNos have come and gone since I last posted. In fact, I'd all but forgotten that I had this blog!

*Shakes it out*
*sneezes*

To catch things up: I used a summer camp NaNo to edit my middle-grade story and concluded that the voice was really more YA. He is just too mature and sarcastic for a 10 year old.

It's a bit of a tightrope walk, the boundary between MG and YA. My main character (MC) is 12/13. From my understanding, that is the cusp age. However, YA novels--especially contemporary YA, tend to deal a lot with dating, and my MC isn't thinking about girls in that way yet--not really. In fact, I don't want to write a book about teenage dating angst.

So, I find myself in a bit of a quandary. Just where do you fit, Jared?

I'm Done...Now What?

A lot has happened since my last post on the 23rd. Late Monday night (technically Tuesday), day 25, I finished - I crossed the 50k line!

The last 2,000 words were the hardest. I really had run out of story ideas. Then, cooking dinner I decided that the mom of my MC's nemesis-turned-friend needed to get married. A HEA for one character. This became the second to last chapter. It was odd that I wasn't finishing with the ending.

 Did I mention that I had written the last chapter the week before? I had an idea I was excited about, so I chose to jump ahead and write it.

Anyway, it was exciting for the first 24 hours, and then I felt a bit of a let down. NaNo had been my focus for 25 days, and now I felt like I was twiddling my thumbs. I'm over that now and ready to take on the next challenge: editing.

Stay tuned :)

Inner Editor Tries to Escape - Again

I had a fight with my inner editor again. I just can't seem to keep her locked up. Maybe I just need better ear muffs.

Thursday (NaNo day 21) she was at it again. "You have only two chapters left in your head and you still have 12,000 words to go to reach your goal. No way you're going to have enough to say!"

God, I really dislike her.

Finally I had to get out the billy club and beat her back into the trunk. This time I put four padlocks on it. Since then I've been on a tear. I've written 9,000 words. And- I still have most of a chapter to write.

I'll admit, I'm feeling a wee bit proud of myself. I've thought of opening the trunk and showing her, but she's wily. She'll jump out of my grasp and start taunting me again. Nope, best to keep her in there. If all goes well, I'm getting to 45k tonight. (Day 23)

I think I can actually dream about begin done before my sons get here for Turkey Day. What's that?
Damn, she's banging on the trunk lid. Maybe I should keep that goal from her for now. It seems to energize her.

Good luck all!

It's Alive!

So one of the cool things about writing is that sometimes you’re going along minding your own business, when one of your characters suddenly does something you didn’t expect.

Yesterday, my MC’s former nemisis turned best friend, informed me that she does Jujitsu - with her mom. Thanks for letting me know…

Three days ago her good for nothing father told me that he was taking a job in another state - which was three days sooner than he told his own daughter. He waited until the day before he left to let her know. Scum bag.

And...turns out the the social worker who rents the downstairs apartment, not only wants to send my MC to foster care, but has it in for the cat too! She was sneaky about it. There I was typing about her having a lovely cuppa with MC’s aunt, when she surreptitiously kicked the cat under the table - and then lied about it. I thought I knew this woman!

I don’t know where my characters get these ideas. They didn’t let me know about them back in September/October when I was plotting out their lives, but what’s an author to do?

This is one of the fun parts of writing, discovering your characters’ backstories, their flaws, their secret talents. Sometimes your creative nureons fire and your story travels down a road not just less travelled, but that you didn’t even know existed. 

Some people feel that stories are fixed things, static. But we know that stories are fluid, sparking not only the imagination of the readers, but the author’s as well.

I just hope my characters finish filling me in on their lives before I complete the book. 

11 days and 15k to go. So many paths yet to be explored.