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Monday, October 18, 2010
Going From Light to Dark
Quick note: Getting my teeth cleaned this morning but I'm giving you an open forum to bitch or rave. Have at it until I get here.
Taking Care of Business - I have been terribly remiss in not posting a winner from my DEAR LURKERS blog back on the 5th. The winner of either a $15 Amazon or iTunes card (your choice!) is...
MARIA ZANNINI!!
Email me your card preference at DJTLO at YAHOO dot COM and we'll figure out together how best to get it to you.
Now, on with the show...
As most of you know, I finished the first draft of my first full length novel this past spring. It’s still under construction, or rather waiting for me to return to continue the construction, but should be done around the end of the year.
I’m not sure exactly what I would call my writing style, but dark is not a word that comes immediately to mind. Light, fun, angst are more like it. Still plenty of substance, but always with enough sunshine to keep things bright and loose.
On the agenda for later next year is writing the book that connects to this first one. It’s the story of the heroine’s alcoholic sister, Bridgit. By the time the book starts, she’s been sober a year and is working on repairing the damage she’s done to her life, to those around her, and to her reputation. Bridgit lives in the small town where she grew up, and if you’ve ever lived in a small town, you know memories are long and everyone knows everybody’s else’s business.
Hence the need for operation reputation rescue.
As I’ve stated, I’ve no intention of undertaking this book until after I’ve revised the current and written the love triangle story set on Ocracoke Island. This seems to matter little to Bridgit. She’s plotting away, playing out her story in my head, rolling out scenes and making my brain hurt. I’m making notes, so this isn’t such a horrible thing, but what she’s giving me has me worried.
You see, Bridgit’s story is dark. Very dark.
There’s the alcoholism, which is pretty dark already. Then I’ve got a hero with serious guilt issues, a heroine working with battered women, and an ex-fiancé who wants to drop the “ex”. When it comes to the black moment, this book essentially turns into a love triangle between a woman, a man, and a bottle of vodka.
At this point, I have angst out the wazoo, but the light and fun are practically AWOL.
Not that I’m insane enough to be worried about my career and throwing off my readers, since I don’t have a career or readers just yet, but I have to wonder if I’m even up to pulling off a story like this.
Have you ever had a story idea that took you out of your comfort zone? Ever picked up a book by a favorite author only to be surprised that it was nothing like you expected? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Taking Care of Business - I have been terribly remiss in not posting a winner from my DEAR LURKERS blog back on the 5th. The winner of either a $15 Amazon or iTunes card (your choice!) is...
MARIA ZANNINI!!
Email me your card preference at DJTLO at YAHOO dot COM and we'll figure out together how best to get it to you.
Now, on with the show...
As most of you know, I finished the first draft of my first full length novel this past spring. It’s still under construction, or rather waiting for me to return to continue the construction, but should be done around the end of the year.
I’m not sure exactly what I would call my writing style, but dark is not a word that comes immediately to mind. Light, fun, angst are more like it. Still plenty of substance, but always with enough sunshine to keep things bright and loose.
On the agenda for later next year is writing the book that connects to this first one. It’s the story of the heroine’s alcoholic sister, Bridgit. By the time the book starts, she’s been sober a year and is working on repairing the damage she’s done to her life, to those around her, and to her reputation. Bridgit lives in the small town where she grew up, and if you’ve ever lived in a small town, you know memories are long and everyone knows everybody’s else’s business.
Hence the need for operation reputation rescue.
As I’ve stated, I’ve no intention of undertaking this book until after I’ve revised the current and written the love triangle story set on Ocracoke Island. This seems to matter little to Bridgit. She’s plotting away, playing out her story in my head, rolling out scenes and making my brain hurt. I’m making notes, so this isn’t such a horrible thing, but what she’s giving me has me worried.
You see, Bridgit’s story is dark. Very dark.
There’s the alcoholism, which is pretty dark already. Then I’ve got a hero with serious guilt issues, a heroine working with battered women, and an ex-fiancé who wants to drop the “ex”. When it comes to the black moment, this book essentially turns into a love triangle between a woman, a man, and a bottle of vodka.
At this point, I have angst out the wazoo, but the light and fun are practically AWOL.
Not that I’m insane enough to be worried about my career and throwing off my readers, since I don’t have a career or readers just yet, but I have to wonder if I’m even up to pulling off a story like this.
Have you ever had a story idea that took you out of your comfort zone? Ever picked up a book by a favorite author only to be surprised that it was nothing like you expected? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
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Bo'sun's Babblings (Terri)
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48 comments:
Well, I've seen an author go from lighter to darker and as long as it's done with conviction and done well...I can go there.
Yes, I've had one author throw me under the bus with an ending that horrified me...and I'm never reading her again...but it's the first time it's ever happened to me.
I've had authors with a series and now and then, a book seems a little off-kilter. I've come to the conclusion that this is pretty norm. (Plus I had the chance to chat with one of these authors and was told about a specific problem with a new editor...)
I'd say be prepared with the darker story...I bet you'll still find a way to include your lighter, hopeful voice.
I'm off a tooth thing, too...let's wish good luck fer us both!
Poster child for this, hence 2 names. I like to think I'm like you, light with some lead mixed in, but every now and again the dark seeps and overtakes and it's Margaret's turn. And weirdly enough, it was Margaret who got me my agent and first sale. So let Bridgit roam free and see where she takes you.
Terri, I can say EVERY story idea takes me out of my comfort zone. LOL Just when I think "Aha! Now I know what I'm doing!" I get an idea that is great, but requires me to learn something ELSE or try something I don't quite know how to do.
I don't know that I'll ever be able to write dark subjects -- I try to avoid those sorts of things in real life, as well as in reading choices for the most part. However, I would think there would have to be SOME light moments or aspects in your story -- perhaps even in Bridgit's outlook on life?
So I say if it's a story that's calling out to you, DEFINITELY explore it. You just never know what'll happen. :)
I'm with Donna. Every story takes me out of my comfort zone, for the most part, so long as I'm interested in the story. (There have been a couple "conventionals" I worked on that I stopped because I was bored and it wasn't doing anything interesting. I wasn't learning anything about myself. Which I'm sure that statement is going to get you arguing with me. But part of my writing is learning something about myself through fictional characters, like role playing.)
I think you're darker anyway. I mean, you're funny, but you're not really rom-com funny. When you're funny, you're still dealing with something real and bittersweet at its core. Rom-com seems to spend a lot of its time trying to recapture the slapstick, screwball comedies of the 30s, and you're not really slapstick and you're not really screwball. That's too Will Ferrell for you.
So I actually think writing a Will Ferrell like comedy would be out of your comfort zone more than Brigit's story. Because pretty much every word of the Will Ferrell story, you'd be going, "This is SO STUPID!"
But that's just my opinion. Funny IS subjective; and you may feel the funny you write is slapstick. *shrugs* But really you're more dialogue or monologue sardonic than rom-com, which makes you more Jennifer Crusie than Sophie Kinsella (who is SLAPSTICK, OMG! *LOL*)
Hellion, what kind of funny am I then? LOL I feel the need to be characterized now!
And I think you're right about getting bored with writing something that doesn't help you learn something about yourself -- I feel that way all the time.
Donna, I sense a bit more Will Ferrell in you. *LOL* Have you ever read Sophie Kinsella? Her dialogue is hilarious, don't get me wrong, it really is, but I think if you pinpoint what it is that makes Sophie Kinsella hilarious is that she had the sense of ridiculous-hilarious HOW CAN IT GET ANY WORSE complications. Definite screwball. Like Lucy realizing the chocolate machine is moving faster and she's going to have to start eating MORE candies to keep up.
In Sophie's newest book, Mini Shopaholic, the heroine (a shopping addict, but sweet like Jane Austen's Emma) is trying to deal with her 2 year old daughter and she's the worst influence. There's this scene with a professional child psychologist/nanny that is a scream, where the kid is yelling to go to Starbucks and get a muffin, and the kid sees a mannequin and wants to take it home: "DOLLY!"--and instead of telling her daughter "NO" and taking her home, she...doesn't. She logically behaves just like her crazy, shopping addict self--but at no point do you really think, "God, she's an awful parent" and throw the book down. Mostly you laugh and go, "You've got to be kidding me."
ANYWAY, my point is: from the bits I've read of yours, I suspect you're more of the HOW CAN WE MAKE IT WORSE types of scenarios, but they're more of the screwbally type. Not to say your dialogue is not spot on, but you might get to be more known for being screwball.
Chance - I don't think that author threw you under the bus, she threw herself! Just goes to show, you can only push your readers so far. You make a stupid, selfish call and you're going to lose some readers. It's inevitable.
Maggie - My dark isn't quiet Margaret dark. LOL! But Margaret is kicking ass and taking contracts! Maybe we should all try to be a bit more like her.
Oh, and it will still have plenty of light moments. I guess it's that the dark will be darker than I would normally do.
Donna - That is true, and I thought about it while I was writing this. But this is one of those cases where Bridgit's story is a good one, and I'd want to do it justice. Not sure my skill set is up to it. But since I plan on revising the first book and writing a totally different one before starting this, perhaps my skills will be sharper by the time I start.
Hellie - I know I was cranky yesterday, but I have no desire to argue with you. LOL! You're right on all counts. I'm not slapstick or screwball. I mean, I've written the occasional prat-fall, but that doesn't make me slapstick.
And we should always learn something about ourselves through the writing. We just explore that idea differently. Doesn't make either less valid. I think you're trying to tell me I have untapped vats of angst, which I really can't argue with. LOL!
Donna - I'd call you smart screwball, which is the best kind.
Not that you've let us read all that much of your stuff. Ahem.
Nice description, Hellie -- and I think you're very accurate! LOL I do like the over-the-top screwbally stuff, which is kinda surprising to me because I adore the witty dialogue the most. But somehow the outrageous situations just spring to mind. LOL
I haven't read Sophie Kinsella, and I'm not sure why. Probably because I don't want to be consumed with envy. LOL I'll give her a try soon tho. I'm sure I'd love it.
LOL, Terri -- I didn't want to force anything on you guys!
And I know what you mean about wanting to do Bridgit's story justice -- the funny thing is that your skill set is kinda forced to live up to the story, even though while you're writing it you're pretty sure it's gonna kill you (and you almost wish it WOULD, because it would be merciful).
So keep writing stuff down and let your brain ponder it while you're working on the other books -- it'll be "getting ready" for Bridgit's book. :)
I'm extremely envious of Sophie Kinsella, second only to J.K. Rowling, but she's well worth being envious of. You'll laugh so hard, pea soup will fly out of your nose...and you never even ate pea soup.
By the way, T, it's your fault I'm listening to Billy Joel today. But I'm totally into the song you hate. *LOL* The beat is just too catchy not to like it...
The problem is I immediately see that horribly cheesey video. And they so over played that thing when it came out.
But now I need to pull up my Billy Joel on my iPod.
The other day there were different radio stations playing an old Billy Joel song at about the same time. I called my BFF to ask if he'd died or something. LOL That's the only time they do that kind of thing.
Okay, I'm gonna disappear for a little while -- I've got to finish my post for here for tomorrow, and do my own post for Friday and oh yeah, I've got to do some work on a WIP fer cryin' out loud -- just for a change of pace. LOL
The problem is I immediately see that horribly cheesey video.
See, I completely benefited from not having MTV in my house growing up.
Fine, Donna, but yer making the rest of us look bad.
I have definitely been surprised by story ideas. And by what can come out of my fingers onto the page. I like to think I'm not exactly dark either. But in my last MS, I wrote a torture scene. Who would have thought?
As of late my stories have just been a bit darker. I think sometimes it depends on what's going on in my life and the kind of stories that sound appealing to me at any given time.
And Donna, is that productivity I sense?
*hisses and slinks away like a vampire from holy water*
Connie Brockway is the poster author for writing light and dark successfully. I'm sure she has readers who read only one or the other, but there are many who read anything with her name on the cover. I know I'd have a tough time making a choice between All Through the Night, a truly dark book, and As You Desire, which has a heroine called "Dizzy."
As for my own writing experience, I'm so not the person to answer this question. I can't even decide what genre I should be writing. My Nano book is definitely not romance.
Janga - You write beautiful works of art. That's all anyone needs to know.
I've actually never read Brockway. One of many top names I've yet to try. But that's a great example. From shapeshifters (was it cougars?) to a Dizzy heroine is quite a leap!
Marn - Because all the scenes from this new book feel as if they are coming right from the heroine, I forget that they are really coming out of my head. I do have experience living with an alcoholic so I guess that aspect really doesn't surprise me. Oddly, I'm looking foward to writing this one.
And don't be afraid of the productivity. You recently REPRODUCED! Which is the ultimage productivity if you really think about it. You get a pass!
And Donna, is that productivity I sense?
*hisses and slinks away like a vampire from holy water*
LOL -- Productivity, desperation. Tomato, tomahto.
I love several of Connie Brockway's older historicals, and I love how authors can combine the dark and light -- I truly envy them -- one of my historicals is kinda like that, but I think even my characters avoid the dark stuff. LOL
And don’t be afraid of the productivity. You recently REPRODUCED! Which is the ultimage productivity if you really think about it. You get a pass!
Honestly, the longer I wait the more my brain seems to be coming back online. Maybe by the time the youngest gets to college I'll be able to write something marketable. :)
This is a really good blog, Ter, cause I struggle with this too! I think it is because I feel if I give hero and/or heroine something really nasty to deal with (i.e. alcoholism, date rape, child abuse, etc.) I feel like if I crack jokes or speak irreverently about it I'm not taking my subject seriously.
But what I realized is that life is not black and white. People deal with really tough stuff all the time but depending on their personality they either drown in their angst or make fun of life.
The author that came to my mind was SEP. She has tackled some pretty sad/emotional situations but her books still make me laugh out loud.
Irish, I think Anne Gracie does a great blend (like SEP) of the light and dark. I don't think any of us believe life is all one thing or another (even in my most purist views), so yes, death is tragic, rape is horrible, but finding the laughter and love again is the whole point. You have to get by, and you have to learn to do more than get by, but thrive...
I'm right there with you, Irish. And Hellie throws SEP at me all the time trying to get me to get over it. LOL! The reality is that plenty of people do the self-depracating humor to deflect the tough stuff. This herione is trying to be happy and perky and it's not working so well. The hero is way too serious, so they balance each other out pretty well. She'll loosen him up and he'll show her how strong she really is.
Not sure what exactly it was, but something in the last two comments just gave me the ending to my black moment scene. This book isn't going to wait, is it?
Sigh.
Thanks, ladies!
I love those answers out of nowhere. I got one the other day while replying to a comment Scapegoat made on my chances blog...
*lightbulb!
I think everyone handles the ugly stuff in life uniquely. I mean, geez...look at movies like Steel Magnolias and you laugh, you cry... Waht's the other one? Terms of Endearment. Even Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.
If we didn't find a way to laugh our way through these things we'd all just kill ourselves!
Or set each other on fire, which would not be good. LOL! Especially on a wooden ship!
Still reading through the comments when I stumbled upon this lil‘ thought provoking thought…
Hellion, what kind of funny am I then? LOL I feel the need to be characterized now!
Gosh … am I funny? Delusional? Or something else altogether? Hmm … enquiring minds want to know. Then again, maybe I don'twant to know. Especially considering the last thing I wrote( which was on my FB "what are you thinking now" thing) wasn't exactly funny.
Oh well.
Back to reading comments.
Ter, did I miss something? It's Christina Dodd that writes the shapeshifters. Brockway's dark stories are psychologically and emotionally dark. The H/H of All Through the Night are haunted, tormented characters, and they have good reason to be. There's not even a conventional HEA. But I cannot resist a book that has lines like these:
"Dear God, let her be safe. The prayer rose from the center of his soul, where his heart had always remained constant to itself. Please God. Please.
He heard the door open.
'Jack.'
He swung around. Anne stood in the open door, staring at him with huge, fervent eyes and - blessed Lord. A tear. 'Jack, you're all right?' she whispered.
'Yes.' His voice was hoarser than usual. 'Now I am.'"
You didn't miss anything. I've been getting Dodd and Brockway confused for years now. Don't read either one of them. Well, take that back, I tried to read a Brockway and threw it against the wall.
But I know lots of people love her!
That is serious angst right there. Totally sigh worthy.
I wasn't wild when Dodd first crossed to the paranomal side, but I started reading her new paranormal series and I really enjoyed it. All the best stuff of her writing, but with some quirky weird paranormal stuff.
I loved Dodd's Once a Knight and the sequel to it. Medieval setting and CLASSIC banter.
I'm not sure if crossing genres is the same thing, though clearly that can be an example of going from dark to light or vice versa. But if two books connect in the same genre and the second is quite different than what you got in the first, would you be ticked? Is there some kind of truth in advertising to this sort of thing?
Ter, if the cover copy and the promo and excerpts all make clear that the second book is different in tone and/or mood from the first, I don't see a problem. Julia Quinn is the queen of light romances, but When He Was Wicked starts with the heroine happily married and follows her through grieving widowhood and a difficult path to a new love. Most of Quinn's readers followed where she led.
What I have a problem with is a book that begins as one thing and turns into another. Understand I'm not talking about a book that weaves light and dark together. I agree with Hellie that Anne Gracie is wonderful at doing this. I begin her books expecting to be moved to both tears and laughter.
But I recently read a book that made me angry, even though to was written by an author whose books I've been enjoying for years. It began as romantic comedy, but then it switched to this angsty read about betrayal and broken friendship. My disappointment was enough to move this author from my autobuy list to the check-it-first list.
But if two books connect in the same genre and the second is quite different than what you got in the first, would you be ticked? Is there some kind of truth in advertising to this sort of thing?
I think you're discussing Voice again, as well as Branding; and if you published the first book and it was light; and you published a second one and it was darker--well, the fact is that shouldn't be a problem to me. I wouldn't necessarily have expectations of you after ONE book. If you'd written a dozen books that were fluffy bunnies, then wrote a series about a serial killer--that would be odd. But the thing is that we've met Brigit in the first book and she's CLEARLY an alcoholic, so it's only natural her book would be darker.
Also, you're also assuming your first book is all fluffy bunnies when you deal with sexual harassment, etc, and other issues that goes on at the school that isn't all light banter and bobby socks.
You're not as fluffy as you think you are.
Also I think your voice would be similar in your "fluffy" books as it is in your "darker" books. I think that's what people look for more in good reads. They're looking for voice, for the beats, and I think those would remain enough the same that the books would be jarring.
Don't get wrong, I'm not quite insane enough to be stressing over this in a big way. Just one of those enquiring minds things. A combination of "What am I thinking?!" and "Can I really do this?" with some "This is my turd in a punchbowl book" thrown in for flavor.
Ewww! I sure picked the wrong time to come back! LOL
I agree with the Voice aspect of things -- which is why I can read somebody who writes contemps and historicals (and which I hope works for ME since I'm trying to get both published! LOL)
I think the misdirection happens when marketing types want to position a book a certain way, not realizing how pissed off readers will get when they've been misled -- not necessarily the fault of the author either. The problem is that readers don't like being tricked and they have long, unforgiving memories. LOL
This opens another can of worms. How restricted should an author be by reader expectations? I know many thought it was a risk when Kleypas dove into contemporaries. Lucky for her, they were awesome, but it was up in the air around the time of Sugar Daddy's release.
How restricted should an author be by reader expectations?
Technically you shouldn't be restricted. I think you should always write the story as you imagine it should to told: it's YOUR #(*&%$)@*)# story.
HOWEVER, I do think you should keep the audience in mind. There is no pleasing 100% of a group, or possibly even pleasing a solid majority of a group. I think presidents think they're doing good if they please 51% of the population, though they still take it with a grain of salt.
If you willingly and willfully "break" the rules of reader expectations of commercial fiction (i.e. a non-commercial HEA or HFN ending), you better expect you're going to have a smaller audience for your next book. Of all the rules you *cannot* break (i.e. you can't kill the dog, you can't have the hero and heroine broken up and miserable at the end of the book, you can't let the bad guy get away, you can't leave the world you created a little better off than how it started) the absolute thing you cannot do is give a satisfying ending.
I grant you that "satisfying ending" varies from reader to reader, but killing off a hero, murdering the family pet, having it all end in divorce--you've pretty much slaughtered your chances for happy readership. The Hero's Journey is a circle and the circle always, always, ALWAYS ends with the hero (unless he's a flawed tragic hero) winning the day in some way. He's get something; he is HAPPY. We've like THAT story since we've been sitting around the campfire in caves. You don't screw with that.
The hero who doesn't get the HEA is the flawed hero, the hero who is too proud, the hero who destroys himself. I don't know of a romance author who writes about that hero. Oh, we say we do with the occasional dark redemption seeking hero, but that's the thing, the hero of those stories are SEEKING REDEMPTION and that by default makes him a good guy and good guys finally and always win the day.
I believe that is the only reader expectation you cannot break.
However, that said, Harry Potter is a *good guy* and there was a sect of the readership who was pissed he lived at the end of the series.
Wow, sorry I missed so much of this today. Well, Hellion, you know how I feel about author betrayal. I think there is a difference between marketing betrayal, waging a friendly battle with your fans, and out and out betraying your readers.
Ter - Hel is right, book one isn't fluffy bunnies, it's more bunnies on a bad hair day, with a broken coffee machine and a randy jack rabbit running amock. So book number two can contain bunnies in angst and peril. Without pissing off your fans! ;-)
God, that sounds like a good drink, don't it? Bunnies in Peril. Could be perilous bunnies, but that makes me think of Monty Python...
Slipping in to say, thanks for the gift card!
You made my day!
Hellie - That's where it always gets dicey when you're mixing art and business. If you want to sell the books, you need to think of the readers. But you also have to tell your stories your way.
You're right, there's no way to please everyone every time, but I think if you respect your readers and give them your best, that's all you can do.
Thanks for sticking with us, Maria. So happy we could make your day a little brighter!
Chance - We MUST add Bunnies in Peril to the menu. Though now I'm hearing Elmer Fudd sing "Kill da wabbit...."
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