greygirlbeast | "Where he ought to be, he sees what you can't see. Can't you see that?"

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"Where he ought to be, he sees what you can't see. Can't you see that?"

So, first my grateful thanks for the bazillion or so comments to yesterday's post. It's good to know that I'm not talking to an empty room, after all. And after seeing that I'd ranked #23 in the Top 50 in BlogRanks SciFi & Fantasy Novels Category, I feel a bit better about the time I spend on this journal (usually about an hour and a half a day). Your responses were interesting. One thing I'm always surprised to hear is the oft-repeated concern that someone feels hesheit will be intruding or perceived as "stalkerish" or "fanboy/girlish" for commenting. This is most emphatically not the case. I began this blog in 2001 at the urging of Neil Gaiman, as a means of promoting my work. And though I have allowed the blog to become more personal over the years, this remains its primary function. Promotion. This is not my private journal, or some place where my RL friends gather. This is, essentially, a forum that allows me to describe what being a writer is like (for me), someplace to vent, post news, and someplace to interact with my readers. It was built to have comments.

That said, I don't argue online. So I do ask that readers show some degree of discretion in their comments. Don't troll. Don't pick fights. Please don't make what are obviously inflammatory statements. Don't rag on my friends and acquaintances. Otherwise, comment away, please. One thing that's especially helpful is getting feedback on Sirenia Digest. Unlike my novels, and short-story collections, and unlike my short fiction that appears in anthologies, all of which is reviewed, I don't get much feedback on the digest, unless it appears here or arrives via email. Thanks.

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Yesterday, the dithering came full circle. After a long conversation with Spooky, I decided to continue with "The Alchemist's Daughter," despite my reservations. It just feels wrong not to finish it at this point, even if I really shouldn't have undertaken such an ambitious story for this month's issue. Also, I hope to have time to get a second piece written for #43, "The Mermaid of the Concrete Sea." We shall see, as I also have an anthology deadline this month, and various other things to get done, and here we are, already one third of the way through June. Anyway, yesterday, I wrote 1,055 words on "The Alchemist's Daughter."

I have given my agent House of Beasts as a working title for the next novel after The Red Tree, though I don't actually plan to get to the proposal until September.

Things seem to be rapidly coming together for The Red Tree book trailer, by the way. Yesterday (thanks to Sonya, Bob, and Anita) we found our Constance Hopkins, the only character who will appear in the clip. Details TBA. This is such a different project for me, and I'm excited about it. Though it began as a promotional effort, I'm starting to look as it as a creation in its own right. This very, very, very small film we are going to make. This visual impression of the novel. Ah, and I posted another clip from the test footage we shot at Beavertail last Sunday (June 7) to YouTube. I think I'm going to use YouTub, and maybe Vimeo, to post "making-of" snippets as we proceed towards the finished product (which I hope to have completed by mid July). Anyway, here's clip 2 (the wind screws with the mike for the first 27 seconds or so, but then the sound clears up):

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A quick reminder about the current eBay auctions. Several new items up today. Also, Spooky's taking part in the "yart sale" (yard + art = yart) over at Etsy, so you might want to drop in on her Dreaming Squid Dollworks shop. Thanks!

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A reader at MySpace, "Oddly Enough," has written, "I notice Howard Hughes wiggles his way into your blog titles quite a bit, why is that? Some interest you have, or some relevant point I am missing?"

Howard Hughes is one of my quasi-alter-egos. A sort of avatar. Another neurotic recluse with whom I identify on many levels. Sadly, I'm not also a billionaire, and if I were, I'd certainly never loan $205,000 to the brother of a Republican presidential candidate. However, I do save nail clippings, and bottle caps, and movie ticket stubs, and it would be very like me to build a plane that's too large to actually fly. Also, I would have gladly dated Katharine Hepburn. So, you see where I'm going with this. Or not.

The platypus and the dodo say wrap it up. Thank you for your order. Drive around please.

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I have a bad case of ocean envy. However, I'm deathly afraid of the water. Always have been. Part of being a two-legged cat, I suppose.

I have a bad case of ocean envy. However, I'm deathly afraid of the water.

I'm sort of fearless about water. Spooky has to hold me back.

Hold tight, Spooky. Danke.

As much as I love hearing about a working writer's life (especially a writer I like so much), I'm really enjoying your process of creating a book trailer. The final creation is going to be something special. As someone in the book industry who's personally not too jazzed about e-books and the like, I do think that creative promotions like book trailers add something to the experience of a book: learning about it, seeking it, reading it, and becoming enveloped in its world.

The final creation is going to be something special.

And oddly, the actual trailer will have only a snippet of footage from Beavertail, despite what I'm showing now.

After a long conversation with Spooky, I decided to continue with "The Alchemist's Daughter," despite my reservations. It just feels wrong not to finish it at this point, even if I really shouldn't have undertaken such an ambitious story for this month's issue.

I'm still glad you're going to. I liked very much what I saw of it.

Also, I hope to have time to get a second piece written for #43, "The Mermaid of the Concrete Sea."

I like the title, of course . . .

This very, very, very small film we are going to make. This visual impression of the novel.

This really is going to be cool.

I liked very much what I saw of it.

Well, your opinion was one of the contributing factors in my decision to proceed.

This really is going to be cool.

I hope so. I have anxiety attacks about it turning into the Heaven's Gate of book trailers (note that I actually love Heaven's Gate, but still).

Well, your opinion was one of the contributing factors in my decision to proceed.

Thank you. I'm glad!

I hope so. I have anxiety attacks about it turning into the Heaven's Gate of book trailers (note that I actually love Heaven's Gate, but still).

Heh. I have to say, I think it very unlikely. (Although if John Hurt showed up in your book trailer, that would rock.)

Heh. I have to say, I think it very unlikely. (Although if John Hurt showed up in your book trailer, that would rock.)

Ah, but he would make a fine Charles Harvey.

Ah, but he would make a fine Charles Harvey.

He really would . . .

House of Beasts.

Great title! Can't wait. Any plans to resurrect Joey LaFaye? Loved the Sirenia excerpt and want to see more ...

Um, am also interested in pitching my hat in the ring for a reviwer copy of Red Tree. I do so mindful of the fact that you can get folks like Neil Gaiman and Peter Straub to review your stuff. But even little reviews help generate interest and sales. I've published some (references available) and want to do my part to help Red Tree fly high.

Finally: I do save nail clippings ...

And the eBay auction for those will be ..?

And the eBay auction for those will be ..?

No. Not ever.

Um, am also interested in pitching my hat in the ring for a reviwer copy of Red Tree. I do so mindful of the fact that you can get folks like Neil Gaiman and Peter Straub to review your stuff. But even little reviews help generate interest and sales. I've published some (references available) and want to do my part to help Red Tree fly high.

Well, all the ARCs have already gone out, and the deadline for getting names of reviewers to my publicist was about two weeks ago. That said, there may be "e-ARCs" available before the publication date (I'm having to look into this), and if so, I'll put you on the list. Thanks.

Can't wait. Any plans to resurrect Joey LaFaye?

I hope so, but obviously no time soon. I'm just not the writer I need to be to do that book yet.

Cool. Thanks.

(And I'm not really interested in buying your nail clippings. Or jars of urine, either - in case you were thinking of going whole-hog on the HH thing ...)

That video clip reminds me so much of Dark Shadows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbCqp_a3iE). Notice how they only used about 10 seconds of ocean footage.

Notice how they only used about 10 seconds of ocean footage.

And, in fact, the clip was filmed not too terribly far from where the waves seen Dark Shadows were filmed (Newport, RI, one island over).

I can't wait to see the full trailer, for this. I have to admit, I was confused when I first started seeing Book trailers, but maybe that's just because I hadn't seen one for a book about which I Cared...

True. The very fact of your getting one is a promising thing, in and of itself. As

mech_angel noted, it says something about what the publisher is willing to do toward the efforts of promoting your work.

True. The very fact of your getting one is a promising thing, in and of itself. As [info]mech_angel noted, it says something about what the publisher is willing to do toward the efforts of promoting your work.

I suppose I might not have made this clear, but I'm financing the trailer myself.

Ah, no I missed that. Though that might have been My Own uncareful reading. All the same, I can't wait.

Though it began as a promotional effort, I'm starting to look as it as a creation in its own right.

Which is, I think, what distinguishes the ones that work from the ones that don't. We've all been marketed-to unto death, and an online book trailer that does no more than retail in motion the same info as I'd get in a static ad would be a waste -- no different from the low-content television commercials for new James Patterson novels, or whatever. The book trailers I take time to watch are little films in their own right; they have to have some value as independent entities I would spend time on before I'll let them influence me to buy the book. (Academic in the case of The Red Tree, of course, because I will buy it on release day, but speaking generally.)

The book trailers I take time to watch are little films in their own right;

Which, as I've said, is what I'm aiming for.

Cool beans.

Disclaimer: This doesn't really have anything to do with the blog post.

I read, somewhere, possibly in a previous blog post, that you noticed someone had called Echo a Mary Sue. (Haven't read the Dreaming, but want to, of course) If you were to do the same to someone else's book character, what would your criteria for Mary Sues be?

If you were to do the same to someone else's book character, what would your criteria for Mary Sues be?

Frankly, I was not even aware of the term until very recently, not long before I came across the Echo comment. And it was my understanding that it was a term intended for certain sort of fan-fic character. That said, I think this is all a bit of a non-issue. And I doubt I ever would use such a silly term to describe someone else's character.

The term comes in very handy when arguing with Twilight fans, though...

The term comes in very handy when arguing with Twilight fans, though...

But only if one is willing to apply it to all literature, which I could see quickly becoming rather ridiculous. Sure, Meyer is engaging in wish-fulfillment and crafting unrealistically (even absurdly) virtuous characters. But where does one draw the line? To a degree, all authors have been guilty of this, at one time or another. Many great writers have lived vicariously through their fiction. I'm not defending that Mormon homophobe or her crappy books. I just think it's not a very useful term.

And, too, I'm left to wander what the polar opposite of the Mary Sue character is, because, in truth, that must be what I write, most of the time. Broken, unpleasant, fault-filled people who, in the main, are reflections of my own self-loathing.

Hmm...maybe it's a teen thing. My friends and I take it to be less of "living through fiction" than as a ridiculously perfect character. And then there are those extremely flawed characters who, through no fault of their own, become extremely well-liked. I've never seen this happen, but I can totally imagine it, maybe in a satire. And the term is too subjective (Morpheus the Sandman a Mary Sue? You gotta be kidding me...) along with the Mary Sue Litmus tests. I think they're intended for aspiring teen writers, trying to get them to let go of their fears of writing flawed characters. Or something like that, anyway.

"And, too, I'm left to wander what the polar opposite of the Mary Sue character is, because, in truth, that must be what I write, most of the time."
The anti-Mary Sue? The Bloody Mary Sue?

One thing I'm always surprised to hear is the oft-repeated concern that someone feels hesheit will be intruding or perceived as "stalkerish" or "fanboy/girlish" for commenting. This is most emphatically not the case.

I've been thinking about this. I'm less afraid of this (all my fangirlness is on my journal and perhaps in my artwork?) than simply being rude. You make your reclusive nature known, and I find myself trying to acknowledge that by, well, not saying anything very often.

That said, I do look at your balance, here, of personal and work posting, and how neatly it's done, as a model for what I hope to do with my own as I get more known. There's a difficult equilibrium you seem to have down.

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"Where he ought to be, he sees what you can't see. Can't you see that?"

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