Writers & Soundtracks - Megan Hart

The latest Writers & Soundtracks podcast is now live over at the blog.

This week, I interview erotic fiction author Megan Hart.

Writers & Soundtracks podcast #1 live today!

The first Writers & Soundtracks podcast is live over at http://writersoundtracks.blogspot.com/.

The inaugural podcast features writer A. J. Odasso, who has a unique playlist, and some interesting things to say about writing and music.

And a preview: I'll be interviewing erotic fiction author Megan Hart on March 18. Yay!

Exciting News: New Podcast

Do you have to listen to music when you write? Do you always wonder what songs authors associate with their stories? Do you create soundtracks for your own stories?

Well, then! Have I got a podcast for you :) On March 4, I'll be launching the Writers & Soundtracks Podcast.

Featuring writers as diverse as Darin Bradley, Lauren Dane, Sylvia Dickey-Smith, Catherynne Valente, The Struggling Writer, Megan Hart, and Ekaterina Sedia, the Writers & Soundtracks Podcast will include interviews with authors about music and writing, as well as their playlists/soundtracks AND samples from these songs. I'm having a blast putting them together, so I hope it's as fun to listen to!

So, look for the first podcast on March 4.

Writing update

• NaNo 2007 story: nearly done with draft one. I'm nearly at the story's climax and should get this puppy done by the end of February.


• Oleanna novel: 50% done. On hold until I get some other things off the list.


• Humility story: working on revisions. Should be done by the end of the month and will look for markets for submission. This one's an odd one for me, as it's straight-ahead fiction without any speculative lit elements.


• Dream story: playing, the fun part :)


• Raven Girl story: done, submitted, awaiting response


• Dryad: submitted, doing requested rewrites


• Stone Windows: awaiting response from Podcastle


• The Pilgrim Glass: submitted to a publisher, awaiting response


• Valley of the Heart's Delight: prep for submission to Paradox (re-opens sometime this month)


• The Midnight Son: nothing at the moment

Wow. I'm busier than I thought I was! :)

Dreams

Sometimes, in between dreams of taking a test in a class I didn't know I was supposed to attend, or flying in airplanes low over the landscape (that one happens all the time), I have very cinematic dreams that have nothing to do with me (at least overtly).

I had one of those movie-like dreams the other morning. I woke up with my mind racing, despite the fact that it was 4:30. The imagery was so complete, so saturated with color and sound - I could hear the horses' hooves pounding over the grassy hills. It was like I was presented with the basic plot for another novel.

Now I need to finish this NaNo novel, and maybe start working on the dream novel while I let the NaNo novel percolate. I'm afraid Oleanna is going to have to hold on again.

Does this ever happen to you? Do you get story ideas handed to you in your dreams?

Writing: What is work?

Fabulous post (and comments) over at the Science Fiction & Fantasy Novelists blog about what "work" means in the context of writing.

Special podcast: interview and reading THE MIDNIGHT SON on KFJC

Special podcast: THE MIDNIGHT SON on KFJC.

So, every year after NaNo, Ann Arbor at KJFC (89.7 FM in the Bay Area) has writers come in and read during her Unbedtime Stories segment. Yesterday, I read a bit from THE MIDNIGHT SON, as well as had a nice chat with Ann before and after I did the reading. It was a BLAST! I had a great time and felt really comfortable on-air (despite how nervous I was before I got there). I felt lots of good vibes from my friends (particularly Heather!) who listened to the stream online, and really had a good time with it.

Ann asked me to bring in a CD with a music bed, so I thought I'd share that info with you here.
1. First and Last Waltz - Nickel Creek
2. Allison at the Stoplight - World Trade Center soundtrack
3. Pastures New - Nickel Creek
4. You Deserve Flowers - Chris Thile
5. Appalachian Waltz - Mark O'Connor
6. Short Trip Home - Edgar Meyer

I'll be posting the whole thing on my website, and probably splitting out the interviews from the reading into separate files as well.

Last, I must emphasize that the broadcast and this recording are copyright KFJC.

Playlists

Do you create playlists for your stories? Or your artwork? You know, those songs that seem particularly evocative of your story or characters, those songs that are the "soundtrack" to your story?

Here's my playlist for THE PILGRIM GLASS:
1. London Calling - The Clash
2. Swamp Thing - The Chameleons
3. Around the World - Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. Fibre de Verre - Paris Combo
5. The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams
6. Warning Sign - Coldplay
7. Out of the Woods - Nickel Creek
8. Theft, and Wandering Around Lost - Cocteau Twins
9. Taking the Veil - David Sylvian
10. Fade Into You - Mazzy Star
11. Mercy - Prefab Sprout
12. First and Last Waltz - Nickel Creek
13. Over the Hillside - The Blue Nile
14. An Ending (Ascent)- Brian Eno

And here's my playlist for THE MIDNIGHT SON:
1. Ocean Rain - Echo and the Bunnymen
2. Kjerringa Pa Seter'N (Old Lady On The Mountain Farm) - Lief Sorbye
3. Bridal Veil Falls - Chris Thile
4. Det Star Ein Friar Uti Gare (There'S A Suitor In The Garden) - Lief Sorbye
5. I Don't Understand Anything - Everything But the Girl
6. A Chantar - Beatriz Countess of Dia (performed by Mara Kiek)
7. Pastures New - Nickel Creek

So. What about you?

I've hit the midway point in my Oleanna novel (yay for uninterrputed/no Internet time on the train) but I'm frustrated with my progress. I've been working at it since around January and have only now hit halfway. Now, of course, I do have a full time job that sucks up a lot of time and energy, but I think the real issue is that the themes I'm exploring and the situations my characters are in hit very close to home. Is it weird to say that sitting down with the story scares me sometimes?


Myths, Symbols & Folklore
butter: Valued especially in India as the bearer of cosmic energies, it was ritually sacrificed (e.g., poured in the fire). (Herder)

I'm very blessed to live in California where we can bop down to our local farmer's market of a Saturday morning and pick up amazing, amazing flowers - for cheap! The ones on my writing desk (AKA the kitchen table) are lisianthus, and the ones on the bookshelf are delphinium. They're so vibrantly blue and ostentatious, I love 'em. The lisianthus are delicate in hue and form and definitely live up to their Victorian reputation for "calming".

I'm terribly blocked at the moment on my third novel. Got 30K words in and completely lost steam. So, to the back burner dear Oleanna goes for the moment, and I'm reworking a short story that wandered into my brain just before NaNo last year. Super short story - only 2500 words or so. But I think there's some potential there, so it should be fun to play with that for a while.

Word-hoard
motatorious: constantly active

More on historical dialogue

My friend Tim, a fellow writer, dropped me an email with this fantastic take on writing historical dialogue:

Read your blog on historical dialogue - here's my two cents: have your characters say what is true - the truth inside them. Keep it simple. Keep it genuine. The dialogue does not have to emphasize the given historical period though it should not be anachronistic. Have them say only what they need to say to reveal themselves and advance the conflict of the story. In my opinion, too many historical writers are gilding the lily with period chatter trying to make it seem "real". So many of the words put into the character's mouths should be cut out. Some periods are more formal. The syntax might be different. But the reason why people talk has never changed. The goal is to give an impression of the time so you don't notice it. It's like salt - just a little bit for flavor.

Outstanding advice!

Word-hoard:
diacope: the separation of a word by the interpolation of another or others, as in absogoddamlutely; a deep cut or wound


Myths, symbols, and folklore
wheat: The sowing, growth, and harvesting of grain, specifically of wheat, have represented birth and death as well as death and rebirth. In ancient Greece, the head of grain, as the fruit of the maternal womb of the earth, symbolized the fruit of the human body; it was a symbol of Demeter and played a central role in the Eleusinian mysteries. In Egypt the growing of wheat was regarded as a symbol of Osiris rising from the dead. In the Middle Ages the grain of wheat signified Christ descending to and resurrected from the underworld." (Herder)

3 things

Thing the first: did you see the Litpark article about the evolution of Neil Gaiman's hair? Oh yeah. Good times.

Thing the second: )*(#$)(*#)#($)(#*%(*#$ Sharks. They're killing me. Dallas and Anaheim have owned us this week. Gah.

Thing the third: OK. Writing dialog in a historical context is hard as hell. Well, at least for me. While I'm given to rich, detailed description in my scene setting, my dialog tends to be very real. I like the juxtaposition. In my first two novels, the setting is 2000 and 2004 respectively, so the dialog is very modern. In fact, I had to do a fuck-ectomy on my first novel. My protagonist, Jonas, had a mouth like a sailor (not unlike his creator…) so I had to ratchet that wayyyy back. Too real?

But the novel I'm working on now is set in 1905. In Norway. And I'm having the devil of a time. With my novella set during the late 14c, it seemed easier – I felt much more comfortable attempting an "antique" style. But that seems terribly out of place for a novel set in the 20th century. I thought maybe re-reading Sister Carrie or The Damnation of Theron Ware to get the rhythm of language at the turn of the century – but then I wonder if, because the authors and their characters are all American, it won't be a good representation of what I'm looking for. Argh.

So. If you write historical fiction, how do you deal with dialog?

Word-hoard:
leptology: a boringly detailed discourse on trivial subjects

Myths, symbols, and folklore
ash tree: "It plays a significant role in Norse mythology as Yggdrasil, the eternally green ash tree that holds together, earth, heaven, and hell. For the Greeks the ash, and particularly its wood, signified mighty solidity and stability; occasionally the ability to frighten away serpents was ascribed to it." (Herder)

Researching to write, writing to research?

I like collecting nuggets of information, like a particularly greedy squirrel. History, pop culture, literature, sociology, archaeology, art history, music, whatever.

So, when I started writing fiction about five years ago, it was naturally a great excuse to do research and learn new things. What usually happens is this: I'll write the first chapter or so of a story, and then I'll realize I don't know what the hell I’m talking about. So, hooray, I get to go research!

I've got a couple of decent university libraries nearby (I'm too lazy to go up to Stanford and they're too snooty to let me into their stacks, anyway) so off I go. It's a big production, and I generally spend all day farting around in the stacks. Sadly, the MLK library (San Jose/SJSU joint production) is too new to be musty, but on a Saturday morning there's no one around, so I get the upper floors practically to myself, as well as the huge floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on downtown SJ. It's just a great excuse to pretend I'm in college again, take copious notes, learn new things, and read, read, read.

Over the next few weeks I'll bookmark about a bajillion sites related to my topic and start plowing through those. Thank heavens for del.icio.us – I can finally organize my bookmarks and find them. I try to get the bulk of my research done ahead of time, but new stuff always crops up that I need to learn about, and the challenge there is not getting sidetracked. I've talked with Cas and Heather about this before – it's far too easy to "just check a fact" while I'm in the middle of writing, and find 15 minutes of precious writing time have evaporated.

So. What about you? Are you addicted to research? Is it a good procrastination tool?

Word-hoard
soncy: lucky and thriving


Myths, symbols, and folklore
oriole "In China it is a bird symbolic of spring, marriage, and joy."