Rat Birds and Mouse Birds

[greygirlbeast]

The snow isn't going anywhere at all. Outside, it's 19F and feels like 10F. Tomorrow, the high is only forecast at 30F. There was a minuscule bit of melting yesterday, but it all goes right back to ice as soon as the sun sets. And FedEx never showed with the iPod, and supposedly it's out for delivery again today. I can imagine deliveries must be somewhat backed up.

Yesterday, instead of leaving the house to photograph graveyards in the snow, I wrote 1,668 words on The Drowning Girl: A Memoir. When I started this book, I vowed to myself that there would be no dream sequences. This goes back to my sometimes feeling like I'm working on autopilot. Dream sequences are a great tool, and allow the narrative to go places it cannot otherwise go. But I wanted to make it through a novel-length narrative without recourse to a dream. That is, I wanted to write a fully waking book. But, I haven't quite succeeded. Yesterday was a list of dreams Imp dreamt between July 9-15th, 2008, with annotations, and it wasn't quiet the same thing as writing actual dream sequences, but still. I think my mind exists always too near that limen, where dreams and wakefulness bleed together.* It was a dumb vow to vow, vowing I'd steer clear of dreams.

Thanks for all the comments the last three days. It helps to hear other voices, and answer. I'm feeling too disconnected these days. There is the world, out there, and there's me and Spooky, in here, and then there's me, in here. And, mostly, I feel stuck in the latter, looking out.

I've started working with Lee Moyer, so he can get started on the cover art for Two Worlds and In Between. We'll be talking later today.

I'm feeling frazzled. This will be day ten without a day off. Maybe tomorrow.

We've begun a round of eBay auctions. Please have a look. Books, people. Books.

I was too tired for much of anything but television last night. Well, DVDs and streaming from Netflix. What passes for television here in the future. Spooky and I have a guilty love for Jeremy Wade and River Monsters (which I think airs on Animal Planet), and we streamed a couple of episodes last night. I have a feeling all the other ichthyologists make fun of Jeremy Wade behind his back. Then we watched del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army again. Having made it through Blade II a few nights back, we wanted to see one of del Toro's better movies. And I see that my thing for Anna Walton as Princess Nuala hasn't waned. Later, we read more of Kit Whitfield's In Great Waters.

Okay. Here come the doughnuts.

* Which may be why I'll never have a bestseller and am doomed to die in poverty and squalor, a junky stranded on the banks of a shantytown deep in the Amazon....

Comments

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

The annotated dream-list idea is amazing! It love it, because it gives the impression that things are happening--consistently, a pattern of things happening--without being discussed at all, because they're too familiar/have no apparent bearing on the narrative, from Imp's possibly-unreliable POV. That's the sort of thing that makes the hair on my neck stand up.;)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased you're intrigued.

from Imp's possibly-unreliable POV

I fear she's definitely unreliable. It's become my forté.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

It's a good forte to have! And hard to sustain, too.;)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

It's a good forte to have! And hard to sustain, too.

I have a harder and harder time imagining the existence of an actual reliable narrator. It's beginning to feel like a myth.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I think you are right.

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

LOVE unreliable narrators. (Sorry to shout, but I really do love them!)

But then, I don't think I would enjoy your work so much if this wasn't the case.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

(Sorry to shout, but I really do love them!)

Now I'm wondering if anyone could show me a truly reliable first-person narration, one I couldn't find reasonable fault with.

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's faultless, but I really enjoyed Justine Larbalestier's Liar. http://amzn.to/ehKudM ETA: Best to avoid reading too much about it if you do ever give it a try. Major spoilers in most reviews, which is a shame.

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

Also, I give up with trying to get the link to show up properly. *sigh*

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I don't read Amazon "reviews," ever, unless they're of my own books, and then I do it so I can grumble about the bad ones.

Haven't read Liars...

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

It is the ultimate unreliable narrator novel, but it does get very mixed reviews - I think mainly because not everything is handed to the reader on a plate (if you see what I mean).

You can read the first few pages on the dreaded Amazon.

I don't read Amazon "reviews," ever, unless they're of my own books, and then I do it so I can grumble about the bad ones.

I'm not sure I'll be able to. My first book comes out in a couple of weeks, and I already got a 1-star review on Goodreads because... the book isn't out yet and the reader is impatient for it.

(I will now go and stab myself in the ear with a fork.)

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I am in a cynical mood today. This is quite unusual, for me!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

My first book comes out in a couple of weeks, and I already got a 1-star review on Goodreads because... the book isn't out yet and the reader is impatient for it.

Wait...someone gave the book a one-star rating *because* it hasn't yet been released?!

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

Yes! In my head I was, like, "Um... thanks?"

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I don't even know what to say to that, except maybe "Gods, people can be amazing idiots."

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

I think that sums it up pretty damn well.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Okay. Here come the doughnuts.

I picture an invading army of doughnuts, rolling in like killer tomatoes, battle cries coming from the doughnut holes (THAT'S what they're for!), lining the streets with icing like blood (and sprinkles scattered everywhere), launching a starchy attack.

Except when they hit, they'd have as much impact as tribbles. Shit, this is a LOUSY attack plan. (Plus I don't want you attacked.)

May the doughnuts be kind. (That may once again be a sentence never written before now...)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I picture an invading army of doughnuts, rolling in like killer tomatoes, battle cries coming from the doughnut holes (THAT'S what they're for!), lining the streets with icing like blood (and sprinkles scattered everywhere), launching a starchy attack.

Wow.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Surprisingly, doughnuts and I do not have a contentious relationship.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

I think my mind exists always too near that limen, where dreams and wakefulness bleed together.

I'd long suspected such, myself. Liminality is one of the most challenging and rewarding states to be able to use, as it becomes necessary, and you do that very well.

But i can understand wanting to do something other than that which has become perceived as "Your Thing."

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Liminality is one of the most challenging and rewarding states to be able to use, as it becomes necessary, and you do that very well.

Then again, it tends to mess with everyone around me.

But i can understand wanting to do something other than that which has become perceived as "Your Thing."

And it's cool having "a thing." But yeah, sometimes I just want to know if my thing and I have a symbiotic relationship, or if I'm just a parasite.

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

Yaay Lee Moyer!!!!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

He just rocks, doesn't he. We're talking about something very whimsical.

[kongjie.livejournal.com]

I got confused when I saw Lee Moyer's name because my wife was talking with him the other day. They worked together a long time ago and have done so again recently. But seeing his name here felt like my home life and the blog were getting confused.

It's like the time many years ago when I got 5/6 lotto numbers. I had the ticket in one hand and the newspaper with the winning numbers in the other. When I looked from the ticket to the paper, I thought, "Something's wrong because the numbers are the same."

[missmonsta.livejournal.com]

Another Del Toro / Perlman collaboration: have you seen the 1993 film Cronos?
Not the best movie ever, but Perlman's character is good fun.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Another Del Toro / Perlman collaboration: have you seen the 1993 film Cronos?

Yep. I think it's a favorite of Spooky's.

[mystical-indi.livejournal.com]

I don't know about you, but for me having a best seller isn't the end all be all of writing. Like you said, writing isn't about pleasing the reader, it's about writing for you. So, as long as people read your books and enjoy them, and you got out whatever it was that you wanted to get out, that should be the end all be all. Yes, having a best seller would be nice because it'd bring in good money, but honestly it's not what's important. I know it'd help, though. Money is stupid, but unfortunately we can't get around that.

On a better note, I love your dream sequences. I think they help make your novels. They tell major motives and wishes and such about the character and are something I think more authors should dwell in. Dreams are interesting characters, that are nearly impossible to work out. And everyone has them, so it's interesting to see what we can come up with.

Just keep writing for you, because you have plenty of people who love your novels even though they aren't on the best seller list. We are trying to spread the word as well, slowly, but surely.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Yes, having a best seller would be nice because it'd bring in good money, but honestly it's not what's important.

I wish I could get my landlord to see the logic here.

Dreams are interesting characters,

Nice.

We are trying to spread the word as well, slowly, but surely.

And for that I thank you all.

[mystical-indi.livejournal.com]

I agree with the landlord comment. Unfortunately they still need the rent. Perhaps we could hijack the best seller list and sneakily put some of your stuff in there, and see how well it works. Just for a weekend or something in the NYTimes.

[sovay]

and am doomed to die in poverty and squalor, a junky stranded on the banks of a shantytown deep in the Amazon....

You should be so lucky?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

You should be so lucky?

Touché.

[kendare-blake.livejournal.com]

The thing I like about your dream sequences is that they ring true. Like they're actual dreams that someone could have had. You manage to pack in the random with the strange. And I think you're right that the list of dreams isn't the same as a "dream sequence". It might read less as experience and more as characterization. I'm looking forward to it.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

The thing I like about your dream sequences is that they ring true. Like they're actual dreams that someone could have had.

Back to living my life stranded on the Borderlands.

And I think you're right that the list of dreams isn't the same as a "dream sequence".

I'm a great believer in "show, don't tell." But this time, I needed to break my own rule, and tell.

[poesillchild.livejournal.com]

Amazing number of words you've created over the past few days. Keep pushing. A Kiernan novel this year will be a welcome sight.

As for River Monsters, I watched it once and felt cheated by the end of the hour because the "river monster" for that episode never appeared.

Cheers

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

A Kiernan novel this year will be a welcome sight.

I think the first quarter of 2012 is more realistic, in terms of production considerations.

As for River Monsters, I watched it once and felt cheated by the end of the hour because the "river monster" for that episode never appeared.

Well, a big part of the show is actually debunking river "monsters," getting the facts behind folklore and crytozoology. But, usually, there are some very impressive fish encountered.

[catconley.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I didn't realize River Monsters is on Netflix. Sweet :) I've been flipping between Monster Quest and Myth Busters, both of which I like, but I'm running out of episodes.

So excited for Two Worlds and In Between :)

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dObBhDF7gU