Wednesday, February 10, 2010
trapping small animals and other blizzard ramblings
I've been stuck in my house since Friday. Actually I take that back -- I got to go to work on Tuesday, and then drove straight back home. My only attempt to leave the house all week. Our mayor has actually installed a curfew, threatening immediate arrests of anyone driving a motor vehicle after dark, and we have well over three feet of the snow on the ground in an area that normally never sees more than a flurry or two in any given winter.
Cabin fever doesn't even cover it. I'm all twitchy and snippity, and if I play one more game of solitaire, or watch one more rerun of NCIS, I might just lose it. I'm like a small animal that's been backed into a corner (namely, my living room), and is going to come out biting and squealing.
So to occupy myself, I started wondering how Josephine, my current protagonist, would deal with two blizzards in one week. She just got out of prison, and has a bit of a problem with claustrophobia, so I doubt she'd deal any better than I would. Then again, she'd certainly know how to entertain herself for a few days -- what is prison if not cabin fever?
I have another character, Ana Lucia, who has been held hostage in an underground bunker for over a year. Sheesh, anyone else sensing a theme? Both women have been trapped, and been trapped for a long time. Enough time to get much meaner than just twitchy and snippity.
Long enough to come out fighting back.
Everyone reacts differently to being trapped. When we've been backed into a corner, whether it's a physical like my characters, a snow-created like me, or an emotional imprisonment, we all react in our own ways. I just bitch at my husband until he smiles all cute and talks me into playing naughty games to pass the time. Ana Lucia keeps her head buried in a book and tries not to think. Josephine creates new chemical equations, wishing she had an actual lab to test out her experiments and find new ratios for the best explosion.
What do your characters do when trapped? How would they withstand a blizzard? What if their backed into an emotional corner -- do they come out fighting? Who else is buried under feet of snow? Marn, Ter -- you guys holding up?
Cabin fever doesn't even cover it. I'm all twitchy and snippity, and if I play one more game of solitaire, or watch one more rerun of NCIS, I might just lose it. I'm like a small animal that's been backed into a corner (namely, my living room), and is going to come out biting and squealing.
So to occupy myself, I started wondering how Josephine, my current protagonist, would deal with two blizzards in one week. She just got out of prison, and has a bit of a problem with claustrophobia, so I doubt she'd deal any better than I would. Then again, she'd certainly know how to entertain herself for a few days -- what is prison if not cabin fever?
I have another character, Ana Lucia, who has been held hostage in an underground bunker for over a year. Sheesh, anyone else sensing a theme? Both women have been trapped, and been trapped for a long time. Enough time to get much meaner than just twitchy and snippity.
Long enough to come out fighting back.
Everyone reacts differently to being trapped. When we've been backed into a corner, whether it's a physical like my characters, a snow-created like me, or an emotional imprisonment, we all react in our own ways. I just bitch at my husband until he smiles all cute and talks me into playing naughty games to pass the time. Ana Lucia keeps her head buried in a book and tries not to think. Josephine creates new chemical equations, wishing she had an actual lab to test out her experiments and find new ratios for the best explosion.
What do your characters do when trapped? How would they withstand a blizzard? What if their backed into an emotional corner -- do they come out fighting? Who else is buried under feet of snow? Marn, Ter -- you guys holding up?
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62 comments:
Hmmmm. Sorry about the blizzards. Wackadoo! The Olympics are due to start without snow and the East coast is totally buried. Think it's too late to move the Olympics to DC?
Wow, what do my characters do when trapped? Miranda waits for an opportunity to escape. Cameron? Uh...waits for an opportunity to escape. Ivy? Goes insane with plots of total devastating vengence. MaryAnn? waits for an opportunity to escape.
Hmmmm. I sense a theme!
Emily? Tells herself she isn't really insane and waits to see what will happen next.
Funny, I don't think of myself as a patient person, but all my characters, in one way or another, have patience and faith in their ability to get away. And several plan lots o' vengence...
Emotional corners? Oh, they all freeze, though it eventually turns into a smartass fest of try to joke your way out of feeling anything. If that doesn't work, get mad. Above all, don't feel.
man, where is everyone today? Did the scary zombie picture scare people off? I should have posted the kraken.
Think it’s too late to move the Olympics to DC? They've actually talked about trucking some of it up there! Insanity!
How interesting, that your characters have so much patience? An excellent virtue. As is changing emotion to sarcasm -- my characters are quite good at that as well. Hmm, I could take some lessons in that!
I'm here and THANKFULLY we have NO snow. This one pretty much missed us completely. We had a dusting by noon yesterday, but it was gone before I left work. But it's COLD. Which is just pissing me off.
Chance is right, who'd a thunk we'd be burried over here and Canada would be begging for the stuff. I mean, It's CANADA. (I'm in an all caps mood today. Heh.)
My characters would just get bitchier than they already are. You can't stick a control freak in a trapped situation and not have her get angry. It's just a volatile mixture all the way around.
I loved the scary zombie picture. :) LOL!
I'm trapped in too. My husband is at home again today from work and I think he's getting twitchy. I'm home a lot so this isn't a lot different from my real life but there is something to be said for not being able to go somewhere if you want to.
What do my characters do when trapped?
Hmm... since I'm still getting to know my current characters, this is probably a good exercise. Belle... well Belle is trapped, in a life she never wanted but that she's accepted over the past 8 years. She's retreated into herself, tried to hide the parts of her that hate her situation deep inside.
James? I think James would go crazy if he were trapped into anything. A situation, inside, whatever. He's a fix it/do it himself kind of guy. I think he'd lose his mind, get angry and snarly. Panicky. Maybe something that might be fun to watch.
Great blog, Hal!
Great question! (Btw, lots of snow here in MN, but it's not stopping anyone since we're supposed to be this way.)
I'm feeling backed into a corner. Three exams in one day? Do professors all meet and plan this out while practicing their evil laughs? So, paranoia is a symptom. :) And lots of blame and excuses. (The instructor is insane.) Then I either cry or laugh the hysterical "what more can you do to me?" laugh before moving on to making lots of bargains or promises or threats. At the end it's threats. If I fail, I'll quit. That'll show 'em. (No, I'm not going to quit.)
But I imagine a character (some anonymous character since I'm way out of touch with my own right now) would go through these emotions too. I'll take more notes on this for later. :)
The plow just got here! Horray!! :)
Not that I'm going to go anywhere today because the roads are still atrocious, but it's nice to know I potentially could leave my home.
Oh! Sorry Hal about beating up on professors. Nothing personal! LOL!
Marn, you know, Rob was just saying the same thing. He's a homebody through and through, and generally doesn't like to go anywhere on weekends. So you'd think he'd be fine with this. But there's something about nothing having the *option* to go out if you want to. You think George will be back at work tomorrow? It looks like we'll all go back tomorrow.
I really love Belle, and how mess of emotions she's trapping inside. I can't wait for them to all come pouring out! And James would be fun to watch as he went crazy. I could see him throwing chairs at the windows to get out!
Ter, I'm glad this one missed you -- it was bad! 40 mph winds, with gusts up to 50, and full white-out conditions. I could barely see the neighbor's house across the street. Over the past ten days, we've gotten 39 inches. At the BEACH!!! LOL!
Ah yes, trapping control freaks. That would be fun to watch too. What if you trapped them somewhere together? Ha!
Yay for plows!! It took them three days to get plows to our neighborhood last week, and by then it was already snowing again. We've just been using the four-wheel drive to go up and over *g*
Oh, if Emma and Nate were trapped together, Emma would be the one more bothered. She works very hard to keep people at a distance, and Nate is already having none of it. He moves in, she backs up, she loses the fight with herself and jumps him. LOL!
After the initial tussle was over and Emma caved, they wouldn't mind the trapped part at all. :)
He moves in, she backs up, she loses the fight with herself and jumps him. LOL!
I love this. And yes, I could imagine they'd both be *very* happy to be trapped once the first fight was over. They'd have other things on the mind :)
LOL Melissa - i didn't take it personally! I actually worry about that when planning tests or assignments, if it'll be due when everyone else's is due. How's school going besides being crazy busy? Learning a lot??
Our snow is probably nothing compared to what you guys normally get. It's just the unexpected factor, and the fact that no one has things like snow shovels or trucks or even warm enough clothes. I had to go buy gloves! The only ones I have are thin wool and finger-less. Not so good in 3 feet of snow! We finally broke down and put one of my down/puffy vests on the dog just to keep her from freezing :)
I'd give anything for a blizzard. They keep promising snow and we keep getting zilch. Well, four inches of snow just doesn't cut it in my book. I'm in Missouri for fcksakes. It's been below freezing since November. We could AT LEAST get a blizzard.
Doesn't matter much now. I'm leaving Missouri next week until March. And when I come back, I expect it to begin feeling like Spring. Or I'm going hostile on something.
Now, characters. Sadie's been locked up in a mental institute for five years drugged out of her mind. When she finally gets springed, she can't stay inside for long without freaking out or sleep in a room with a closed door or window. She has to be free to come and go.
Kiki confined within herself. Currently she's trapped by a blackmailer, a fake identity and two lives she's trying to live simultaneously. All traps of her own making. She's mentally trapped herself and she's physically trapped. I liken Kiki to a caged tiger. The tiger is all strength and cunning intelligence. You may have it trapped in a cage for now and the tiger may pretend it's fine in the cage, but the tiger's mind is working to escape. Every minute spent trapped is a minute the tiger has spent planning and watching and waiting for the right minute to fuck someone's world up.
For some reason, I imagine your prisoner Josephine would be cool trapped in a house with blizzards. A house is bigger than a cell--she'd have a number of rooms to wander through. It would only be a prison if the guy watching her keeps following her room to room to make sure she doesn't run off--and frankly she'd feel imprisoned no matter the time of year with someone staring at her neck all the time. And as a former prisoner, I imagine she'd be excellent at passing the time, doing the same thing over and over without going crazy. It's part of the drill.
But you'd know your characters much better than me. I'm imagining my own prisoner. *LOL*
What would Adam & Eve do if they were stuck in a blizzard? *LOL* Freak out. I'm trying to imagine people who used to live in Iran 6000 years ago would think of a BLIZZARD. Let alone enough snow to cover the ground as far as the eye can see, 30+ inches deep. Eve gets cold easy; she is no snow bunny. She didn't like being cold in the desert at night--so to be in a land where the temperature would drop below 30 at night would be way miserable.
Adam would probably treat the situation as a disaster and would lock down the house; stock up on supplies and wood; and make sure everyone was warm and secure. (Protector.) Eve would probably cook and watch Oprah. And they'd probably get immensely snippy with each other because they're not having sex.
Every minute spent trapped is a minute the tiger has spent planning and watching and waiting for the right minute to fuck someone’s world up.
Ohhh. I love this! Kind of like when the hubs beats the dog in a wrestling match. Her body goes still and relaxed like she's given up, but her eyes are frantically moving, looking for any escape route.
I can see why Sadie needs a chance to escape. Five years in a mental hospital? That's enough to make anyone insane.
Jeez, that was a bad pun. Sorry, it's a snow day *g*
Hellie, you pegged her perfectly. There's a surveillance team watching her every move, and it's driving her nuts. But she can easily pass the time. She has this thing about braiding her hair. She can pass hours just sitting and braiding, pulling it out, braiding it again...
Iran 6000 years ago vs. 3 feet of snow...I'd think that's freak anyone out! I laughed at your description of Adam. He sounds like he'd be the army general who everyone rolls their eyes at. My hubby is a little like that. He actually drove me down the road to the first plowed street and then walked back home the other night, because he was worried about me on slick streets. Protector all the way through :) So...would they keep snipping at each other or finally just land in bed?
So…would they keep snipping at each other or finally just land in bed?
Depends on the sniping.
For instance, if he laid down the challenge that she probably wasn't as good as she used to be (out of practice and all)--she'd probably fuck him five ways from Sunday just to show him.
If he said something along the lines of "We wouldn't be here if you hadn't done your hare-brained crap a second time and got us kicked out of Paradise."--it will be a cold day in Hell before she sleeps with him.
I like to think Adam, having been married to Eve for as long as he did and knowing what buttons to push, would choose option A.
Hm, if Dex and Kiki were locked up together- Kiki would be agitated. She's got feelings for Dex she's not willing to admit to and he's the only person in the world who gets under her skin enough to unnerve her. Dex would enjoy it. I can see him in my head sitting in a leather recliner, eyes closed enough you'd think he was sleeping but he's really watching Kiki fidget uncontrollably. She hops up from the couch and walks into the kitchen and walks back into the living room and flops back down onto the couch. Then she wiggles around on the couch. She looks out the window through the blinds.
I like to think Adam, having been married to Eve for as long as he did and knowing what buttons to push, would choose option A. LOL! I'd hope so. But you know men... Sometimes the dumb option B just looks so inviting...
Sin - I can totally see that! What a perfect scene, with him just watching, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Love it!
If he wants the sex bad enough, he'll choose option A. *LOL*
Yes, but often, dumb comments trumps a ready penis.
Hi, Melissa! I remember the multiple tests in one day stuff! Hey, you just get into a groove and move from one to the other... You'll do great!
Learning lots of fun stuff?
I can Adam and Eve eyeing that puzzle...
We've done this 15,489 times...
But I like the bunnies in the corner...
They would taste good about now...
Shithead!
Eve is not a protector of bunnies. She finds them tasty too. Fried, a bit of gravy--rabbit friccassee, actually. A nice French comfort stew. (She likes cooking.)
But I get your gist. It's a good one. Familiarity breeds contempt. And attempt.
Yummm.... gravy. That sounds really good right now. On french fries maybe....
Off to cook....
Puppies? Would Eve want to fricassee puppies? I can ammend the bit of dialog to include puppies...
If she doesn't eat puppies that is.
I don't think puppies are on the list. Dog meat is not a big Iranian thing, I'm pretty sure. And Adam is a guy-guy, so I don't see him offering up a dog. He likes dogs. They're loyal; they're friendly; they're always happy to greet you.
If he was going to offer up something objectionable to barbecue, it'd be kittens. I can see Eve being upset about kittens. And I can see Adam "kicking" them if they tangled at his feet. And when Eve's not watching, cuddling with the kitten on the couch as they watched ESPN. (And flinging the cat away whenever Eve entered the room.)
Wow. I leave for a phone call, and the conversation has moved to eating puppies. Nooooo!
Speaking of that phone call, my agent quit last month, which I wasn't allowed to breathe a word about until he got settled in his new job. And I was all out of sorts not knowing what to do next.
But I officially have a new agent! Janet Reid, aka QueryShark, who is much nicer on the phone than she is on her blog, is my new agent. Woot!
Congrats on the new agent, Hal! Wow, the rest of us don't even have one, and now you've had TWO! LOL! Look at you go.
Congrats on your new agent, Hal! (and double yay that she's nice.)
Hmm, what would my characters do if they were trapped. Sarah would be fine, as long as she had her sketchbook.
Drake would probably find something to do to keep his mind off the fact that he was trapped. I can absolutely see him becomming crabby, though.
Di
lol. Well, it's more just a shifting. When my agent quit, I was still under contract with the agency. So it was really just shifting me to a new person. I didn't have to start over the process of searching and querying.
Thanks Di! Sketchbook, huh? I love how artist's minds can be so involved in things they never notice the passing time. And the boy gets crabby - why is always the boy to get crabby first? LOL!
Hooray! I'm glad they figured it all out inter-agency and you don't have to do the hunting around for a new agent. Go you!! :)
Now how have I missed this QueryShark until now? In all my blog hopping, I can't believe I didn't know about this. (Or knew about it at some point and have completely forgotten - see Dorie reference from yesterday.)
That is great feedback for queries. And after reading some of the feedback, I thank my lucky stars I'm not there yet. LOL!
I'm back! See, nobody knew I was gone. :( It's probably just as well I was gone yesterday. I would have been shocked silent anyway. LOL! Weird things have been going on with my ISP most of this morning, so I just got on the Internet.
I'm trying to imagine my characters in a blizzard. After she recovered from the shock of a blizzard in central Georgia, Dori would be fine. She's a nester who's happiest at home, and she creates her art there. Her house is old with lots of working fireplaces, so except for having a bored 15-year-old in the house all day, she'd be fine. Max, having grown up in the mountains of NC, wouldn't be as awed by the snow. The exclusive resort where he is holed up would see that he was taken care of, but he'd probably insist on being taken to Dori's where she would fume that he was there. But he would sing to her, tease her, and eventually charm his way into her graces and her arms.
Janga - I would have loved to read your input on yesterday's topic. You could even chime in now if you want. What do you think of a foursome in a romance?
I also agree it's different when you are stuck in the house simply because there's no other choice. There are plenty of weekends I huddle inside, but I still have the option of going somewhere. Something about the option not being there makes it worse.
Ter - I was TERRIFIED to send her my current proposal, after reading her Query Shark blog. She's blunt! or perhaps brutal is a better word. She did promise that she's nicer to clients *g*
Yeah, it's the option not being there that's the problem.
Or not being invited. *LOL* I mean, I'd rather stay home on my weekends and not see anyone, recharge my batteries, eat ice cream, read books, loaf...but if my friends throw a party but don't invite me? "You wouldn't come anyway!"--that's totally different.
but if my friends throw a party but don’t invite me? “You wouldn’t come anyway!”–that’s totally different. Yeah, that's not cool. Though with my neurosis, I'm always worried that that's happening anyway! lol.
Congrats, Hal! On surviving the thing that bums so many authors...the agent shuffle! Hey, if she's blunt...or brutal...hopefully, that energy will go toward your interests!
Love the visual of Adam flinging a kitten just so Eve won't think he cares... ;)
Janga! Glad to have you back!
But he would sing to her, tease her, and eventually charm his way into her graces and her arms.
Your characters should wonderful -- they know how to properly make use of a blizzard! Though I could see a bored 15 year old making all sorts of mischief in the middle of it all!
Don't worry. I share that neuroses.
I wouldn't have it if I didn't hear about parties later. "When was this?" "Oh"--the voice of someone who realizes OOPS--"it's a private party."
*blows raspberry*
I wouldn't be paranoid if they weren't really out to get me.
Hal's destined to take over the world. I'm not surprised another agent snatched her up. :)
Looks to me like she's honest and a good kind of blunt. You need that on a query if you want to get it right. How many times do we see/hear/read writers lamenting about "I just wish I knew why it got rejected"? She's telling you why. That's priceless.
Hmmmm. Might be nice to query her just for the feedback, since so many have gone for that if we don't reply, we don't want you crap.
Chance - I think you'd have to submit it through the blog. Though I'm not sure, I didn't dig that deep.
Check it out > http://queryshark.blogspot.com/
The directions are on the right side at the top.
I like this lady.
*LOL* She is funny.
"You don't have to be qualified to write a novel."
I bet if she edited resumes, she'd delete every instance of someone saying, "Summa cum laude..." and respond with, "It barely mattered then; and it definitely doesn't matter now. If you really did have brains, you'd know not to include this because you'd know we don't care."
The blog is hilarious.
As long as I'm not the one being critiqued *g*
Congrats Hal! The transition time with the agent turnover must have been nerve wracking, but sounds like you came out with a good result. :)
I'm feeling much better AFTER the exams than I was before. They went well! I'm soooo relieved and now I feel so silly that I built it up my test anxiety to a level comparable to say...going in to defuse a bomb or something! Yeah, that's just silly. But really, I would have given anything not to walk out the door this morning.
It does make me convinced, as recently mentioned here, that writers do not have to have personal experience with something to write about it. It's possible that some comparable emotion or situation will substitute. In most cases, it HAS to be enough. Yeah, now I think I could imagine tackling something foreign like a scene with a character who has to defuse a bomb. Who, say, actually DOES knows how to defuse a bomb, but hadn't done it for twenty years. I wouldn't have a clue about the technical stuff, but I'd get how she might feel. She'd have all that self doubt beforehand of feeling her skills are rusty. Feeling like she's totally going to totally blank out and, if that happens, the consequences are going to be really, really bad. That would be a major anxiety attack. Then maybe she'd actually see the bomb and have that light bulb moment of recognizing and understanding the problem. Whew, what a relief! And then she'd slow down and relax. The clock could tick away, always counting down, but it wouldn't matter. She'd be calm. Everyone around her could be running around like scaird rabbits and it wouldn't matter because she knows inside and out the exact sequence and how long it will take. And when she was finished, she'd say, "it went well." And then faint or something. *LOL*
Yeah, this morning, I would have thought writing a scene like a character defusing a bomb would be frantic all the way through. Maybe at the end she'd jump for joy. But maybe not. And maybe the anxiety would be the same each time. I would hope not, but it just might be!
Today I'm into repeating myself for emphasis. *LOL* totally totally and really really :)
LOL Melissa! I'm glad your tests went well. I do the same thing, working myself up into all sorts of anxiety. But as you were describing it, that calm you get when you just *know* you're going to do just fine -- I could totally see that! It's the perfect analogy. You're right - we don't have to go through the same experiences as our characters. But we've all felt the same emotions, even if the exact circumstances were different. And in the end, it's always the emotions that matter!
EVERYTHING is hilarious, so long as you're not the one being critiqued. *LOL*
EVERYTHING is hilarious, so long as you’re not the one being critiqued.
So true!
very true!
I don't know, haven't gone there yet. but I've already been tricked into a public flogging of a query letter once!
Yes, I learned a lot, but I didn't know it would go public when I e-mailed it in.
I'll check her out, if I get flogged again then I'll be two for two! Now, how does that cheer go?
:) ;)
Whoohoo! Melissa! You survived the multiple test day! You've done it once, you're be fine from now on!
This secrets class is making my ass twitch. And not in the good ways.
1.) 26 people in the class. Not nearly that many doing the homework. What ARE the other people doing? And more importantly are they reading and judging my responses?
2.) Lots of soul searching crap. Which I don't care to do. I mean, I don't mind being a little introspective, but this seems...more in depth. Bah.
3.) What the HELL are the non-talking participants doing? Seriously. What?
Wait! Wait! I know the answer! They're off-line talking about you!
I've seen this in other online classes. A few really participate and most sort of piddle with it. Introspect as much as your comfortable with, not like you're being graded...
;-)
I've been wondering the same things. But on the bright side, it doesn't seem that anyone is reading anyone else's responses, which makes me feel better.
See, I'm too cheap. I figured I forked over my sixteen dollars, so by god, I'm going to introspect as much as this girl wants me too :) lol. I spent hours the other morning going over all the different secrets Josephine might be keeping -- it was actually really helpful in terms of character development.
I just don't like all the introspection because of what it reveals about me. *LOL* And I'm cheap. (Birds of a feather...)
It's been good for my story, but I feel weird posting stuff.
Yeah, it doesn't seem anyone is reading anyone else's responses. Well, I read yours because I'm interested in your book and know who you are. *LOL*
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