Fingerprints

What’s Up With the Name of the Blog?

Admit it—some of you have been wondering about “crossing the helix” for a while.

The name originally goes back to the series of novels I was working on when I started the blog. It ended up being a trilogy—the first three novels I ever wrote. If you read those stories (and a few of you have), the name makes sense.

However, that’s not the story I’m debuting with. I have hope that someday I’ll get them out there (after some re-tinkering—see Wednesday’s post). At this moment, though, it doesn’t appear to have much to do with anything.

I’ve kept the name anyway. Here’s why.

For one thing, sentimental value. Those first three novels got me on this road to being an author. I went from “Hey, I wonder if I can write a book” with the first one, to “You know, I think I really have a shot at this” by the last one.

More importantly, I think it can still have some meaning, if very abstractly. It’s all about a journey (“crossing”).

A helix is generally a spiral, and more specifically a three-dimensional one. Think of the thread of a screw. To travel on such a path, you would typically walk along it like a spiral staircase. You’re moving upward, but not in the most direct way. It’s a little meandering, but it’ll get you there.

And once in a while, you make a leap. You “cross the helix” to a higher point by a shorter route. I made some leaps this year. I signed with an agent. She sold my book.

There’s still a lot of “helix” left to travel.

So, for now, the blog name will stay.

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Starting From Scratch, Kind Of (The Mega-Rewrite)

A lot of publishing is about waiting. We send out queries and wait. Get requests for partials or fulls and wait. Our agent submits to editors and we wait. We revise, send to our editor, and wait.

Best thing to do with the waiting is work on something else. One thing I’ve been chipping away at (on an off-and-on basis) is a near-complete rewrite of my very first manuscript.

(Some of you remember Fingerprints, right?)

Can someone coin a term for the writerly version of beer-goggles? I’ve revised and re-revised this thing so many times I’ve lost count. It got better each time, and I don’t think it was ever terrible.

I still believe in the characters 100%. The world, too. Even the plot, largely.

But the execution … ugh. Very “what was I thinking?” in places.

I think this is okay. It’s not beating up on myself. It’s acknowledging the skills I’ve gained and developed over the past three years. If I weren’t capable of writing better now, I’d be worried.

So, the solution?

A blank document. A different opening scene. The same general story, but with new ideas for added tension and conflict. And yes, here and there, some words that are worth keeping.

This is kind of intimidating in some ways. I really hope I can get it up to snuff, so there are lingering worries that maybe it still won’t cut it. Hopefully I can just let those doubts motivate me to silence them through sheer awesomeness.

It’s also tricky because the original is so cemented in my mind. I want to change enough without changing too much, and there’s no telling whether my internal gauge is calibrated right on that count.

Thank goodness for critique partners.

(Yes, Mindy, this means that someday you’ll have to read the darn thing AGAIN.)

Have any of you ever done a from-scratch rewrite? Any advice for making it work?

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Deceptive Appearances

My lovely friend Tracy Jorgensen has beta-read two of my manuscripts for me (so far), and both times has included fan-art sketches with her feedback. I won’t post the one for Significantly Other because it’s slightly spoilerish (kinda-sorta). More recently, she did this sketch for Fingerprints, my much beloved ms #1.

There are the twins, Taz on the left, Raina on the right. Taz has a bowl of yummy, fudgy goodness. Raina (poor thing) got a stinky pile of dog poop.

Think about it. From a distance (and especially from an image so your nose isn’t involved), the two might look kind of similar, right? Tracy had a whole analogy about the ms to go with it. Maybe I’ll share it sometime.

Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your interpretation. What are two things that look very similar on the surface, but upon closer inspection, one is awesome and the other … not so much?

Come on, creative types! What’s the best you can come up with? (Or maybe just a silly caption for the picture?)

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YA Work and the Big Bad

One of the basic elements of storytelling is conflict.  Most sources list between four and six main conflict types.

• Man vs. Self–the identity crisis
• Man vs. Man–“duke it out” (physically or otherwise)
• Man vs. Society–the rebellion
• Man vs. God/Fate–big-time underdog
• Man vs. Nature–the disaster scenario
• Man vs. Technology–“Good morning, Dave.”

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Audience ID

Know your audience.  Sounds simple enough.  It occurs to me that there are two types of audiences, though—the general audience that’s likely to enjoy the book, and the narrower audience that’s likely to think the book is the best ever.

At its broadest, my general audience is teenagers.  Throw in adults who like smart YA work, too, and there you go.  To get a little more specific, I think my novel appeals especially to girls who like math or science, and/or have a bit of tomboy in them.

While at Best Buy with my sister yesterday, I found a succinct description of the sub-population who would most enjoy my work:

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Update: School’s Out!

The end of the school year was a little crazy.  I guess that’s what happens when you agree to help some deaf kids edit the music for the graduation video and you have to pack up your entire classroom because the front half of the building is being renovated next year.  Oh, yeah, and finals … I can’t forget finals.

That’s all in the past now.  Summer’s here, and I can focus almost exclusively on writing.  (YES!)  Fingerprints is looking better than ever after I finally rewrote the longstanding opening.  Still waiting on agents.  Echoes (the sequel) has been through some solid rounds of editing and feels a lot better than it did when I drafted it.  The third book in the series is underway and getting some momentum now that I can spend more than an hour at a time on it.

To keep busy, I wrote another short story and submitted it to the Science in My Fiction contest.  Results due July 21st.  Submitting the earlier story to some other places.  A friend pointed out another contest I might consider, if I can write a story under 2500 words in the next month.

All this happens when I’m not getting sunburned helping my parents work in their backyard.

If I need a break from writing, I’ll spend some time brainstorming ways to get revenge on the student who dropped a water balloon on me at Field Day.  Cue the supervillain laughter.

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