Yesterday, Renard's Menagerie sent me the final proof for my story that they're buying. This was massively exciting to me: there was my story, but looking slick and magazine-like, with the first letter of each section all big and the whole thing in a very slick font. And one other thing -

- the writing wasn't as good as I could do now.

Mostly, I blame the fact that I wrote this story before taking two semesters of Advanced Creative Writing with Professor Robbins. Those classes made a world of difference in the quality of my writing. I did edit the story after that, but not mercilessly enough, clearly.

This feeling has struck me before. I often get nerves about submitting work for possible publication, because I have seen work that I liked, work I thought was good, get much better after I edit. What's to say that this work I now think is good, good enough for publication, isn't one more edit away from massive improvements? Publication takes a work out of a fluid, easily-edited state and effectively carve it in stone, and in front of anyone who cares to look. Personal pride dictates that I send out only work that is as good as I think I can possibly make it. Obviously, I can't keep giving it edit after edit, or I would never send anything out, but it is tough to decide that something is good enough.

It isn't just a question of whether the writing is good enough for the public eye. In many cases, as you surely know, the work doesn't get that far. And there's the other risk: if the magazine or agent rejects the story or novel, and then I edit and improve it, they likely won't want to see the same piece again. This happens to me quite a bit, too, and is especially tough with novels, because agents more frequently accept multiple submissions than magazine editors, so you're more likely to have hit them all with the unedited version, and be left not knowing where to turn once you've fixed it up. So there's that balance. Sending out work that's not as good as it can be spells failure (or, if accepted, a bit of cringing at the knowledge that the general public will read a piece of your work that's not at its best). On the other hand, you've got to send it out sometime!

I think this hits me particularly hard because my serious writing career is pretty young. I wrote my first novel when I was fifteen, for a high school creative writing class. Since then, I've edited it at least twice, and I shudder at the idea of people reading the original. My fantasy world - totally removed from Earth - had people speaking Latin. And calling it "Latin." I laugh to remember that I did, in fact, send the manuscript around to agents when I was about seventeen. Not only have my fiction writing and editing skills improved vastly since then; my query letters have gotten better, as has my judgment of when work is ready to send out. Experience, reading, research, editing, classes, and - of course - writing, have all helped me.

To return to my original subject, I should point out that the story picked by Reynard's Menagerie is far from worthless. It isn't confusing, and contains no errors, just the occasional flabby or awkward sentence. True, if I wrote it today, the prose would be more polished, but:

1. The story is not in my usual style, which made it more difficult to edit.

2. When editing this piece, I was distracted from the prose by the storyline, of which I'm rather proud. In this latest reading, I finally got past the storyline because of how many times I've read the piece lately, and was able to look at the prose on its own. (Thus explaining how I didn't notice its iffiness in earlier proofs.) Such is my theory, anyway.

3. Most importantly, it will soon be published. Whatever I publish next may be better edited, but this one will still be a valuable literary envoy from me to the world. And I get a little experience with the world of professional writing, as well as a check.

So, while it was a blow to see work that I could improve in this final proof (extensive editing is NOT the reason the magazine sends people final proofs, or I wouldn't be having this issue at all), I can dust myself off, pick up my laptop, and use this as motivation to be a more stringent editor. After all, what better incentive than presenting my very best work to legions of potential adoring fans? :)

. . . On a much cheerier note than my last post, another of my cousins just got engaged! This is cousin Emily - by coincidence, also the name of Cousin Andrew's fiancé. Congratulations to her!

She's the one we all thought would get married first. She's younger than Cousin Andrew, but has been with her fiancé longer. I've actually met him. He's a gourmet chef, and a neat guy!

I just finished the last book of the Lemony Snicket/Series of Unfortunate Events set, and I am MAD. A friend had recommended them to me, but I don't think she'd finished them. They were all right - somewhat clever, if bizarre and grim - until the total, infuriating non-resolution that was the last book. My entire opinion of the writer's storytelling competence has plummeted.

Grr. Argh.

Gah, all of my other lj icons feature characters who are Japanese, British, or both! (Ah, Bakura.) Tristan is an American-born cat, so he gets to be my Fourth of July icon.

I baked a zillion cookies for the Hampden-Sydney potluck/cookout/fireworks celebration. Then, my family went to see Wall-E, which I saw the other day with Alice and Laura and really liked. Jon got home from JMU last night, so we got to go to the movie as a family. :)

The party tonight was great! Every year, we (and four or five dozen other people) go to the large front yard of some gracious people on campus, share tons of homemade dishes, grill food, socialize, and read aloud in turns from the Declaration of Independence. Then, the Chemistry professors set off fireworks. They were particularly spectacular this year!

( And now, an unrelated meme, yoinked from Michelle. )

housematehorror
Horror stories from the world of shared living spaces. EEK!

dwseason4
A journal where the alternative fourth season of the TV show Doctor Who is being written.

lol_comics
Keep youself smiling at the little things with some funny comics.

bikes
A community for everyone who loves bicycles, motorbikes, and more.

To begin at the ending, as it were, I think I'm going start calling my work not just "young-adult fantasy" but "character-based young-adult fantasy" or similar.

I've known for years that sci-fi and fantasy are often considered "plot-based" genres, focusing more on wacky, impossible-in-the-real-world happenings than on character development. Obviously, there are exceptions - loads of them. The best sci-fi and fantasy, I think - certainly the kinds I like to read and to see in movies - have both. In the Harry Potter books, for example, magic runs rampant and many important plots and subplots rely on a fantasy world to happen, yet the characters are vivid and compelling. The same is true of many Diana Wynne Jones books.

Recently, when submitting short stories to magazines, I found that many magazines of science fiction and fantasy have a lot of what I would call "world-based" stories. It was easy to spot these, even though I wasn't actually reading the magazines. The advertisements for the current issue would say something like the following:

"Author A takes you to a swamp world whose flying inhabitants have never seen solid ground. Meanwhile, in Author B's 'Moontalk,' explore the politics of a village of werewolves. Ever wonder where your cats disappear to? Why, to 'The Jellicle Tavern of Space and Time,' and Author C will show you the way."

The above, of course, being totally made up by me. And to be honest, I now kind of want to write at least one of those. If I did, though, it might not be pitched that way. I realize that one certainly could write one of the above stories with strong character development, but some audiences seem to be looking for world at least as much as characters - or at least, the advertising at these magazines think so.

This is what threw me a bit this past week: I realized that most of my work does not pitch well without really looking at the characters. I write primarily in one fantasy world, and that world is - *wince* - somewhat generic. I've spent years building it, and it is rife with complexities, politics, different species, magic, and so on, but the world itself simply is not all that different or catchy-sounding. It's a pretty recognizable swords-and-sorcery-type fantasy setting. It has elves, centaurs, and hobgoblins, which are all my own takes on those species (and decently reasoned out, if I do say so myself), alongside original creatures. It has countries and cultures based loosely on not only medieval Britain, but ancient Japan, India, and Russia. It has (some) checks and balances on its magic system. Overall, I would say it is consistent, workable, and in some ways original, but it still doesn't advertise well alone. "Anica Lewis takes you to . . . a world with magic, elves, and centaurs!" Fantasy fans of the world say, "Um, been there, done that." No, my query letters tend to focus on the "who" and "what" of the stories, not the "where." (Interestingly, Dragons Over London is a total exception. So are a few of my short stories, like the one accepted to Reynard's Menagerie.)

All this leads me to one small conclusion and one big worry.

Conclusion: I should be submitting some of my fantasy to more general fiction magazines, providing that they do accept genre work. Possibly, though my work certainly is fantasy, its strengths lie outside the realm of what some fantasy editors value most (i.e. taking readers to a wildly new, different place).

Worry: Some of my work, it occurred to me, might have no real reason to be fantasy. To be clear: my own personal standards would never shut down anyone's work of fantasy that didn't seem to have a real reason for needing magic, elves, etc. (Especially elves.) This is because:

1. I personally enjoy reading fantasy, even when it's mostly just neat little things that happen outside of main plotlines.

2. I understand that, if your fantasy world were a real place, important and interesting events might happen which do not necessarily depend on magic, and I don't really mind reading those stories.

Still, because the default setting of fiction is the real world, there is a feeling of needing a reason why your story is set in a fantasy world - something important to the plot or premise of the story which simply could not happen in the real world. Basically, the author is asking readers to accept and remember a different set of rules from those governing our world, and owes those readers a payoff. For some readers, such as myself, the fantasy is a payoff, but even I admit that I prefer a fantasy story with a plot that somehow couldn't happen in the real world.

Many of my stories have this sort of premise. Dragons Over London does not take place in my fantasy world, but brings fantasy elements into the real world - the characters' reactions basically are the story. Rabbit and Cougar has relatively little magic, but a malfunctioning spell is responsible for one of the biggest problems to be solved in the story; there are also numerous subplots and characters that are overtly magical and have roles in the story that depend on that. Guardian to the Prince, my first novel, is similar in those ways. But I worry that The Dogwatchers may not have enough fantasy in its basic plot elements to avoid that most feared (and thoroughly annoying) question: "Why is this set in a fantasy world?" And looking at some of the plots I have jotted down to write in the future, I realized that at least one involves virtually no fantasy elements. Others do have significant plot reasons to be set in a fantasy world, but still, this makes me wonder.

The conclusions I've drawn from this are, first, the one which starts this entry: that I need to qualify my work as being character-based fantasy. Secondly, some of those plots without much fantasy may need serious retooling. After all, why am I writing them in a fantasy world? "Because I don't want to be limited to a world without elves, familiars, and spells" may be an answer in my own mind, but not a very good one, even as I see it. Certainly not one I can expect a lot of readers to accept.

This worried me for awhile. I've always loved reading fantasy, and have long considered myself a fantasy writer, but I wondered whether I was really using this world just for the flashy tricks that characters could do there. At least I haven't committed the ultimate fantasy faux pas - pulling magic out to solve nonmagical problems. As Diana Wynne Jones writes on her website, fantasy is, whether intentionally or not, a sort of metaphor for reality. Magical solutions (if well-enough explained not to take the reader by complete surprise) are perfectly fine for magical problems, but to solve a nonmagical problem with magic is a sort of mixed metaphor. I don't think I've ever done something like that, but I still worried.

Now, I feel better. Diana Wynne Jones, my writing heroine, sometimes puts her fascinating plots and engaging characters into a world which isn't all that shiny and new, fantasy-wise, on its own. Indeed, the setting of Howl's Moving Castle hardly turns paradigms on their ears, though it does mock them a bit. Her description of that world appears in the first line: "In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three."

So. Was a decent read. Different, certainly, though not as different as I'd like from something I wanted to write myself a while back (why must all my best ideas be already-written! Curses!) Was much more interesting than Snow Falling on Cedars, which I started about a week ago and dropped like a hot potato upon finding To Reign in Hell in a side pocket of my suitcase. S'pose I'll go back and finish it now.

Otherwise:
-I have more work. Good.
-Going to a play in Atlanta tonight. Good.
-Saw Katie yesterday, seeing Rachael tomorrow. Good-good.
-Still no life plan. Notsogood.

EDIT: Oh yes, and I made up a joke yesterday. I was trying to remember one I'd heard once and couldn't, so it may be familiar depending on if I remembered more than I thought. I didn't think it was a very good joke, but I told it to my sister and she laughed most encouragingly.

Q: Did you hear about the farmers from Concord, Massachusetts who sent their cows into outer space?
*pause for dramatic effect*
A: It was the Herd Shot Round the World.

I worked from 10-5 at the library today. At 2:20 or so, I was upstairs finishing my lunch break when a coworker brought up a group of kids for the 2:30 movie showing. Two little kids ran down the wrong hallway and dashed past the open door of the kitchen (I was in a room on the other side of the kitchen, away from where the movies are). As they ran by, I saw what looked very much to me like Willy the Wombat, only bigger.

"Is that a wombat?" I thought.

"Wrong way, guys," called my coworker. "Come on back!"

They ran by again, and I looked carefully.

"That is a wombat," I concluded.

When the movie ended, I was working down at the desk. The kids came downstairs, and I saw the boy with the wombat. The kid was tiny, maybe three or four years old, and had earbuds in from an iPod or something. And he definitely had a wombat, a little bigger than Willy. I had to say something.

I walked over. "You have a wombat." Say something obvious, Nic!

The kid looked up at me seriously. I admit that I was rather afraid he would protest that it was a bear, and I would have to leave it alone, because picking fights with toddler patrons over the species of their stuffed animals does not fit with the "Attitude is Everything" policy discussed at our training yesterday.

"He has five of them," said an older girl, maybe nine, who must have been watching him.

They knew it was a wombat! "I only know one person with a wombat," I said.

The boy continued to look at me. I realized that he actually had a second wombat, this one much smaller, tucked under his arm.

"Do they have names?" I asked.

"Yes," said the girl. "He calls them tikis. The big one is Casey, and the other one is Baby Tiki."

As she was speaking, the boy took a few steps forward and, very solemnly, held out Casey to nose my arm. I was touched and kind of flustered.

"Hi Casey, hi Baby Tiki," I said. "The one I know is called Willy."

"Oh," said the girl, nodding knowingly. I swear. The way you would when someone mentioned a teacher you'd had or something.

The boy never spoke, and they left soon after.

My dad gave blood today, bringing him up to his twelfth gallon. At the end of each gallon, one gets a little enameled pin with a red drop and a number on it. Dad has been waiting for years to get twelve so that he can make a clock out of them. Since he's Type O, the Bloodmobile was certainly cooperative about reminding him.

Also, though this relates less to the title of this entry, I had job training today! The Farmville Prince Edward County Library's employees met with those of their sister organization, the Buckingham County Library, at the Buckingham County Library. I'd never been there, and had never met a lot of the employees there, though I'd talked with many on the phone when asking for interlibrary loans, etc. There were fourteen of us, all women. We had the awesomest training day ever. There was chocolate. And games. And, um, training. And we got to share stories of the weirdest questions people have ever asked us at the library. (These included "Can I take you out to dinner?" "Where is the parole office?" and "Do you have a VHS of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with the original cast?") Also, we had lunch on the library at a nearby diner, and at the end we each got awesome rechargeable flashlights and radios with cranks. (There was a reason! Next year's training day's theme is "Communication and Safety!")

Also, I looked up tons of flight prices today for the BUNAC travel arrangements. I feel responsible!

I love QC. Even though I'm pretty sure Dora can't do that.

I made dinner tonight! We had Phil over. I'd been catsitting and plantsitting for him until Saturday, when he returned from visiting his parents in Florida. It's a pattern: he goes somewhere, he gets back, we have him over for dinner, he invites us over for dinner the next week. And, in the case of times when I cook, dinner takes longer than I expected to prepare. It went pretty well tonight, though! I made flounder stuffed with fake crabmeat, garlic bread, and broccoli, and I made iced almond cookies for dessert.

To rewind a bit, I spent much of yesterday and today working on fake-parchment documents to put up as border images on my website. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. Makes it worthwhile to have carved a linoleum print block with made-up magic symbols to make a "seal", used dip-pens (like quills) and ink bottles, and learned the term "foxing." Oh wait - all that stuff was fun. :) (For the record, "foxing" is the name of spotting on old paper caused by acid damage.)

Also finished today was my petsitting and plantsitting for the Shears. That was a fair amount of work, but really neat. I went over twice a day, and on the morning visit had to water their plants, which takes about half an hour. Water the dozen or so pots on the front porch with front hose. Water the potted plants in the side yard with backyard hose. Take backyard hose downstairs and water bonzai collection. Water tropical plants in pots. Drag hose into greenhouse and water orchids and other assorted non-native species. Wrestle hose up flight of stairs onto first landing of porch, through industrial-strength spiderwebs probably woven by non-native tropical terrorist spiders, and water dozen or so plants there. Water plants in pots that hang from tree beside porch. Bribe, threaten, and cajole hose up second flight of stairs to second landing and water plants there. Return hose to side yard. Try to complete entire operation without losing fatal amounts of blood to voracious, Deet-swilling mosquitoes.

The tradeoff is that the plants are spectacular - a tropical hibiscus just bloomed today, the orchids are thriving, and the bonzai trees are amazing. Dr. Shear has a bonzai privet! As in privet hedges! Who bonzais a privet? And he has a beautiful full-size Japanese maple that used to be a bonzai. Very cool.

knitted_wedding
Follow one woman's quest to knit an entire vow-renewing wedding. Encouragement is encouraged.

brigits_flame
For writers interested in an ongoing competition that tests your narrative chops.

hollow_art
A longstanding art, icon and base archive centered around RPGs.