there really are a lot of books that defy categorization and succeed.

The Name of the Rose. The Lovely Bones. For that matter, years ago, The Bone People by Kerri Hulme. It won a Booker.

Oh, and a little thing called The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay.

"Infinite Jest" although the success that impresses me is that no other book has made me go "Wtf?" so often without my, you know, flinging it with great force. Decisions, decisions...I could have an assignment if I could write my least favorite topic evah...the right to die. I'm not even sure what I *think* exactly, but it could make me quite unpopular. 12 million stories in the disability nation but it always comes down to that...cringe, cringe. I hate the Schiavo family so much, right now..ugh.

When I was in college I used to move Rush Limbaugh's books into the fiction section.

I know someone who moves On Becoming Babywise (an IMO ridiculously rigid and authoritarian childrearing guide) into Horror. Me, I'm too lazy to walk halfway across B&N, so I just hide them behind better books.

I've decided to go on and skip ahead to the scenes I've already envisioned in Anna. Anything to bring my sad wooden characters back to life.

When I was in college I used to move Rush Limbaugh's books into the fiction section.

::snerk:: And the thing is, who would stop you, or even suspect you? Your chair is a good disguise.

bwah...too true. And with this appearance? People think butter wouldn't melt in my mouth. But, come on, he said there were more Indians than in 1492.

Susan, I say go for it. If you have scenes envisioned that excite you, go ahead and write them. And maybe it's worth mulling what about the scenes in between are stalling you. I've often found that if a scene is boring me to write (because it's tedious or just not compelling or whatever), it sometimes just is a boring scene.

Books that defied categorization and succeeded:

• The Eyre Affair and subsequent titles by same
• all of Diana Gabaldon's books (except, perhaps the recent mystery)
• Now You See Her, by Whitney Otto (not as successful as American Quilt, maybe, but with a narrator who begins to disappear)

Good points, AmyLiz. The one thing I did with Lucy that I'm not going to do this time around is right anything too near the ending ahead of time--it makes me feel like I'm finished telling the story, and I lose patience with the process.

I think the scenes I'm having trouble with are a mix of boring scenes and places where I just can't nail down the right motivation and bahavior for a key secondary character. I might ask for help with him tomorrow, when I'm not just home from the symphony (LotR with Howard Shore conducting--we got incredible seats for half their value at the church auction) and battling a splitting headache.

it makes me feel like I'm finished telling the story, and I lose patience with the process

I have this problem when I keep going over my favorite scenes to come in my head, until I decide that they're actually crap so why bother writing them down?

If I think a scene is going to be trickier than usual or I'm afraid I'll lose it, I'll write it down, but I try to write completely linearly myself.

I know someone who moves On Becoming Babywise (an IMO ridiculously rigid and authoritarian childrearing guide) into Horror. Me, I'm too lazy to walk halfway across B&N, so I just hide them behind better books.

I always turn over anything by Ann Coulter/Sean Hannity/etc., or put a better book on top of them.

Yeah, I'm a rebel.

When I send places writing samples, what should I send? I mean, physically. Because the copies of the magazine were all I got "paid" for the tattoo piece, which, incidentally, I can pimp anywhere I want now. I don't really need to send a busy editor a whole magazine to get her to look at pages 32-37, do I? Are copies bad form?