January » 2010 » 32 Candles

Do It Anyway [Eye of the Em-Effin Tiger]

So I’m almost done with my third pass on my rogue sci-fi novel and I’m about to send it off to a manuscript editor. Really? An editor? you ask. Aren’t manuscript editors for people who can’t write or for people whose novels have so many problems that they need someone to come in and fix it for them?

Well, I would argue that even if you’re one of those writers who thinks her novel is perfect after your third draft (which I’m not), that novel can still stand a pass from someone whose job it is to evaluate manuscripts. I don’t ever think any of my stuff is perfect. However, I do have a threshold for tinkering with things. I do my long rough draft, my longer make-it-readable draft, and my short-by-comparison, chapter-a-day first reader draft. Then I pass it on an editor. And having seen a lot of good writers in need of stronger editing, I hope to write novels this way until the day I die.

From what I understand a lot of writers wait until they’ve been rejected a bunch before they send their novel into a manuscript editor. But IMO, you might as well do that upfront, that way you know for sure that what you’re sending out is your absolute best effort.

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On other notes, you know how a few weeks ago, I was all like, “Meet my new love, THE AWESOME GIRL’S GUIDE TO DATING EXTRAORDINARY MEN?” Well, that was before I actually started the process of writing it and now I’m absolutely terrified of this new novel. I’ve been trying to write the outline since Friday, and every time I sit down to do so, I suddenly become very interested in answering email or commenting on other people’s blogs or clearing out my Google Reader.

I am officially intimidated by this next book, even thought it has a way better chance of selling than my rogue sci-fi novel and even though it’s the one that my agent and publisher actually want to see.

Beginning a rough draft is a little bit like looking down a rabbit hole filled with clawing demons with razor-sharp teeth and then saying, “Oh, well, I’m just going to throw myself down this rabbit hole anyway, b/c once I get past those demons, there might be a really neat adventure on the other side.”

In the end, something my weight loss book said about exercise got me motivated. Basically, the weight loss writer was all like, “You don’t skip changing your kids diaper when you don’t feel like it, you don’t skip paying your mortgage when you don’t feel like. Think about exercise as something you have to do — even when you don’t feel like it.

This goes well with my general philosophy (remixed from The War of Art) that if I’m really afraid to do something, I should just do it anyway.

So I’ve decided to tackle this outline and tackle it no matter what TODAY. Hi-yah!

Seriously, ask me about this outline tomorrow. It will be done-zo. Eye of the em-effin tiger.

Ernessa T. Carter is the author of the novel, 32 CANDLES, which will be released by HarperCollins/Amistad on June 22, 2010. Pre-order your copy on Amazon here.

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Photo Credit: ChrisK4U

And Then What Happened? [The Plot and The Fury]

Towards the beginning of our relationship, my husband used to say this this thing that infuriated me. I would be all upset over a program and he’d say, “Calm down, these people aren’t real.” He got away with saying this a couple of times before I found the words to argue back. “When I’m writing, I totally feel like my characters are real,” I told him. “In fact, I find it hard to believe that they don’t exist somewhere. Some writer toiled over these characters, and I respect that they were written to be real.”

And that kind of thinking is basically why I don’t get writer’s block. I got stuck a few places in 32 CANDLES, and at first I would wait until inspiration struck for the next bit, but when I finally committed to a daily writing practice, I had to write every day and couldn’t wait on my mercurial muse, so I just started asking my main character, “And then what happened, Davie?” After all, it was her story, she should be able to tell me what happened next.

Lo and behold, she always answered. “I decided to fill out a college application,” she’d say, Or “I memorized a bunch of standards” or “I talked to him for three days straight, and here’s what he told me…“

Sometimes, she would tell me things after the fact. Like I’d be driving by a movie billboard, and she’d say, “Did you know that billboard inspired me to do that big thing I do towards the end of the story?” And I’d answer, “No, I thought you just decided to do that out of the blue.” And she’d say, “No, it was the poster.” And I’d have to reopen chapter twenty-whatever and rewrite it to reflect this new information.

I think that’s what makes writing a new book so daunting. It’s not just the months and months of work ahead of you, but also the new relationship with your characters that you’re going to have to build. Right now, I’m getting to know them. I’m prodding them about their motivations, asking them questions about where they live, and reading their horoscopes. I’m also asking around about their backstories and performing psychological evaluations behind their backs.

But most of all, I’m just hoping that they’ll answer when I ask, “And then what happened?”

Collage Credit: Tanja Novakovic

Ernessa T. Carter is the author of the novel, 32 CANDLES, which will be released by HarperCollins/Amistad on June 22, 2010. Pre-order your copy on Amazon here.

My New Love Is Becoming a Demanding Nag

So this week’s mood picture refers to the fact that I’ve sent my last pass of 32 CANDLES back to the publisher, and am now hankering down with a new women’s fiction novel called the The Awesome Girl’s Guide to Dating Extraordinary Men.

As I mentioned last week, I was all sorts of in love with this new novel, but that was before I actually started working on it — or if we want to stretch the romantic metaphor, before I moved in with it. Now, I’m finding out the weird — almost schizophrenic way — that these characters who seemed hot-to-go when I was with another novel, are actually demanding nags.

The novel has four main characters, but there’s one that I like particularly and she has been hinting that she wants to be a comedian. Yes, a comedian — even though I have little to no experience with performing comedy — only writing it. I tried offering her many other career options. I was even willing to let her be a writer, though I try to never, ever make my main characters writers — just because the actual act of writing is so boring that I know it’s not really of interest to anyone but other writers. But she stood her ground and insisted that she had to be a comedian, b/c that’s what she was.

Okay, so though, I’m a write-at-home mom with limited evening time to do research, I shot off emails to a couple of female comedians I know and asked to shadow them at their next performance. Fine. But that’s all! I tell my characters.

But how about the Spanish novellas? the guitarist-turned-singer asks.

Wait, what Spanish telenovellas?

You’ve got to watch some Spanish telenovellas, b/c that’s totally what I do at like four am in the morning to unwind.

How about anime? I say. I love anime.

No, it’s Spanish telenovellas, she assures me.

And don’t forget about Scotland! another character calls out. This book won’t be truly finished until you go to Scotland.

Mind you all of these characters are black, so in 2010 I have to learn what it’s like to be a struggling female comedian, watch Spanish telenovellas, and go to effin Scotland from a black perspective — b/c funny that, there’s not a lot of information out there about black American women who are perform comedy, watch Spanish telenovellas, or take trips to Scotland, so I can’t even cheat, which I would totally be willing to do to get out of researching all of this.

I don’t want to say that this book is way more high-maintenance than 32 CANDLES, but the farthest Davie ever made me go was Solvang. And I’m a little non-plussed that the characters are pushing me so far outside of my comfort zone.

How about you guys? How do you handle research, and have your characters ever started making strange demands like this? Let me know in the comments and wish me luck with this rough draft.

Oh, and let me know what you think of my author photo!

Ernessa T. Carter is the author of the novel, 32 CANDLES, which will be released by HarperCollins/Amistad on June 22, 2010. Pre-order your copy on Amazon here.

The Two New Loves of My Life [Wassup 2010!]

As I’ve told many people IRL and online already, I’m hoping that IVF will produce one more miracle baby for us by the end of 2010. But because I’m anxious, I’ve started to get a little scared that it won’t work the second time as easily as it did the first. Sometimes I think that I just shouldn’t talk about it. Maybe if I keep my hopes secret from the universe, then it won’t burn me.

But then I remember driving to my first date with my future-husband, CH, and saying, “Universe, I’m ready, I’m truly ready,” and that turned out pretty well. So I look at pictures like this 4-seater orange Vespa, and I imagine myself and CH on it sometime during the 2020s with our daughter, Betty, and her future sibling, tooling around the Italiano countryside, and I think, “Yes, this could happen.”

For whatever reason, I’ve always believed that if I talk aloud about something good happening, then it will and if I imagine something bad happening, then it won’t. For example, I never, ever imagined that my mother would die early, but before my date with CH, who I was really excited about, I said, “Universe, I’m ready, I’m truly ready.”

The other day I read something which opined that a novelist shouldn’t tell anyone about her work in progress, just like a mother shouldn’t tell anyone about the life growing inside of her until it’s at least three months old.

I actually believe the opposite. When Betty was confirmed, I told EVERYBODY. I called up friends, I wrote about it on Fierce and Nerdy. If a random friend asked me how I was doing two weeks after I found out Betty was a go, I would say, “Well, I’m pregnant!” I committed to to the new life inside of me.

And I commit to my novels. It’s the least I can do. I’ve never stuck with a guy that refused to label me his girlfriend and I don’t see any sense in not letting people know what I’m passionate about. “Hi, everybody, this is my new love, The Awesome Girl’s Guide to Dating Extraordinary Men, and I’m soooooo into it. I mean my nose is wide-open for this novel, even though I’m not sure if it loves me back yet, just because it is so very, very dope.”

Anywho, orange is my favorite color and I love this Vespa. I’m painting a 2020s picture in my mind of me and my family on this Vespa, and I’m committing to it. It’ll happen.

I just know it will.

Click on the below pic for more info about the Vespa.

Ernessa T. Carter is the author of the novel, 32 CANDLES, which will be released by HarperCollins/Amistad on June 22, 2010. Pre-order your copy on Amazon here.