Story Tetris

This is my last post as a Pacific Northwesterner. By this time next week, I will have relocated to Florida. As you can see, Hatshepsut is very keen on 'helping' with the packing. We're almost done and the moving truck is filling up. I am so tired.

Packing a moving truck is an art. Think Truck Tetris. Or huge, fragile jigsaw puzzle. It's very much like putting a book together. Every book has scenes and characters and arcs. Motivations and conflicts. Those come in varying sizes and weights. The ones I can't lift have to act as the anchors to all the other bits and pieces. As the biggest, heaviest segments settle into place in a story, I have to juggle the smaller ones, slotting them into the perfect place for them. In a moving truck, I do that so the load doesn't shift and break everything. I guess stories work the same way. The pieces interlock. They prop one another up and keep the structure from collapsing under its own weight.


I wish I could talk about whether or not I'm tempted to cave to fan pressure about how a story goes down. But I'm honestly not in that position. I've had a grand total of one, count 'em one, protest about how one of my books ended. And at that point, the book was in print. So it wasn't as if I had an option to change that one to suit the reader. Would I if I had readers beating down my doors over a story?

Probably not. I cannot rearrange a story - shift boxes around - without risking the whole thing collapsing and breaking. That plot twist readers hate is, for me, the ONLY thing that will fit in just that spot in the story. It supports and props up the rest of the stuff that gets piled atop it. But hey. Never say never, right? Who knows what I'll do when faced with a mob of annoyed readers brandishing torches?

Where I DO bow to reader demand right now, though, is in what book to write when. Well. Kinda. I've had a number of readers after me for the conclusion of one of the series I write. Not that I didn't WANT to write it - but eh the rights are mine again and here we go.

So. Sunnier climes ho. When someone yells at me in protest over a plot point, I'll let you know whether I cave or fight back. In the meantime, break out the sunscreen and shades. We're palm tree bound.

The Art of Mixing Genres

Let me begin by saying...

Moving sucks.

The stress and anticipation and scheduling = $$ massage appointments.
The packing of all your stuff = $$ boxes from Uline and free old newspapers from local paper.
Soap to often wash newsprint from your hands = $1.28
Moving truck/gas = $200
Loading truck with 2 helpers = hours + helpers dinner
Unloading truck with 1 helper = fewer hours + dinner for two
Unpacking all your stuff and finding the right place for it = another $1.28 for soap, and WEEKS.

Driving that 20 foot truck and backing that big bitch into both old and new driveways perfect on the first try = PRICELESS!!!!

Seriously, not ALL of it sucks, though.

The prospects of a new phase of life, the adventure in a new place and new people to meet, remembering why you kept this or that, and deciding some of that shit doesn't mean anything and can be trashed... it's also priceless because it reminds you of parts of yourself you might have forgotten and shows you how other parts of you have grown.

And since the big-truck moving stuff was done Tuesday of last week, that is my excuse for completely flaking out last week and not posting a single word. No thought of it even occurred to me. Brain no worky. Error. Malfunction. Does not compute.

I prioritized the kitchen and the office, in that order because COFFEE. Things are settling down, and here I am, late, but posting on the topic: Genrefication. How does working within or without the genre spectrum benefit?

My Persephone Alcemdi series was steadfastly categorized in the genre of Urban Fantasy. I agree with this. It was UF. My next novel (announcing soon) will be of a completely different world and characters and it too, will be UF. I have written (unpublished) Epic Fantasy, Space Opera, Poetry, and Mainstream / Fantasy.

That said, Seph and Co. whittled away at mainstream subjects such as losing old friends/making new ones, parenthood, troubled childhoods with troubled parents, loss, jealousy, murder/committing murder, rape, social constructs and politics (in a world of "non-sters" = not quite humans), aging, actions and consequences, dealing with unwanted responsibilities thrust upon you, etc.

To me, the genres are ways of poking around at topics that wouldn't appear in the normal human world alongside topics that would. It adds a layer of depth as well as a layer of separation. Some folks like the 'comfort' of knowing these genre things couldn't be real, while also taking a look at real current issues.

Let me make comparisons via visual art.

Below is my most favorite piece of pen and ink art ever. It is by the awesome Larry Elmore. In it, there are three values: black, gray, and the white of the page. It is perfectly executed and lacks nothing. The emotion conveyed is tender, yet wary. Tanis and Laurana are embracing, but both remain watchful for their world is a dangerous one.
Sometimes, however, you need (or want to play with) more than three shades. The result can be very evocative.

You may find that introducing just a few colors (read as: "aspects of another genre") can heighten the dramatic tension in incredible ways.


But if drawing on the vibrant aspects of another genre create the only possible image that completes your story, DON'T HOLD BACK.

It's YOUR story. Craft it with all the tools you need, and if you have to learn a few new skills along the way, you'll be stronger, more diverse in your skillset, and hey...that can't be a bad thing.