Huh. My scene for my online critique group this week was an action one, and I tend to assume that all of my action scenes suck. I'm just a dialogue writer struggling through the other stuff because for some reason the plot bunnies visiting me these days all involve men in uniform, waiting for the next excuse to let my people talk for 10-20 pages.
So one of my CPs just emailed to say that the scene was "AMAZING" (capslock hers), at that this kind of action scene was really my forte.
Huh. I really was sure it sucked. Maybe my plot bunnies are visiting the right person after all.
Oh, and the same CP said one of my secondary characters reminded her of Vanessa from SFU--I've never watched the show, so what's this Vanessa person like? The character in question is practical with a side of ruthless.
I'm making my way through SFU right now and I've just started the third season, so I'm sure someone else can be more helpful. She really wants nice things and is kind of a nag. In some ways she's a bit of a Lady MacBeth type- she will encourage her husband to screw over his bosses if it will help her financially. That said, she does it because she wants her family to be happy and secure, I assume.
So, anyway, I went to the local MWA meeting this morning. Guest speaker was Lyssa Keusch, senior editor at Avon Morrow. One of the deals was, she was going to allow 5-minute mini-pitches from six people, names to be drawn at random. You had to buy a raffle ticket.
She gave a neat talk, and did an extensive Q&A period. I got her attention early with two questions, both of which she reacted to with, "whoa, that's a really good question..."
There were about 70 people at this thing. And about 50 of them had stuff to pitch. And they'd all bought raffle tickets, and they picked six of them out of a basket.
First one out was mine. Meep.
I sat down and gave her the pitch, told her my feelings about it - I start my mystery stuff lighter on the mystery and heavier on the establishment of my characters, because without the truth and reality and voice of the characters, why bother with the journey? She said she wished more people wrote that way.
She doesn't want a partial. She wants the entire manuscript of R&RNF, and the synopsis for WMGGW.
Meep.
The character in question is practical with a side of ruthless.
Vanessa is (damn - forgot the character's name) Rico's wife? Their brilliant assistant?
Because if that's who we're talking about, "practical with a side of ruthless" perfectly describes her, or did, when I was watching the show.
She doesn't want a partial. She wants the entire manuscript of R&RNF, and the synopsis for WMGGW.
Woohooters, Deb! That's awesome!
So of course, I've been frantically working on both synopses, trying to get them as strong as possible. Masses of livejournal input on both.
I was re-reading some old Penthouse Forums lying around the house and I wondered, how does one get into the "No shit, it happened to me!" faux letter writing business?
I've never watched the show, so what's this Vanessa person like? The character in question is practical with a side of ruthless.
That's not a bad description of her. The other thing about Vanessa is that she uses her practical side and ruthlessness as a kind of tough-girl shield against her emotional vulnerability, which sounds much more cliche than it plays. For example, this season she allowed her estranged husband to move back into the house as the best thing for her and the kids, but treated him like crap because (she admitted last week) she didn't want to be in a place where he could hurt her again.
(The spoilers aren't anythign too specific, but better safe than sorry.)
