HEE! From a discussion on today's Washington Post:

Mike Peters: I know this one cartoonist and when people ask him where do you get your ideas he says "I have an idea box, and everyday I just go to the idea box and I reach in and I pull out a piece of paper, I read it, and then I do a cartoon." And I said to him, are these just old ideas that you just haven't used yet? And he said, "No, they are bills that I haven't paid yet."

Anyone around to do a very very short prelim beta, on the first chunk of the BoM prologue? Feel, setting, immediacy of characters?

Deb, I could look at it in the morning, but I'm headed to bed now.

I don't know if it would do you any good, because it's mostly the wrong part of Africa and not movie making, but I know a woman who lived in rural West Africa (mainly Sierra Leone) from 1956 to 1968. She was there with her mining engineer husband and two children and has written two books about it, the second self-published when she was 80 [link]

Ginger, even if I couldn't use the information, she sounds amazing.

Leafing through my copy of the Authors Guild quarterly journal - they had a nice panel on the Art of the Story, and here are some really good quotes that came out of it. I love the first two, which are revealing but completely contradictory on the face of it, until you consider them:

"The way I know what to revise is, your editor tells you. I once got a manuscript back that I thought was wonderful and my editor wrote, 'psychotic ramblings.'" R. L. Stine

"I regard commands from agents, from editors, from publishers as dangerous and I view them with suspicion. My advice to you is: You're the storyteller here, not them. If they could do it, they'd be doing it." Thomas Fleming

(this next one is really dear to my heart)

People wonder why genre fiction has increased its audience so much in recent years. It seems evident to me that literary fiction in the main has given up on story and it ceases to be about anything and is usually about itself...genre fiction...has always been about story." Lawrence Block

Also from R.L. Stine, echoing my feelings exactly:

"I think I'm a little strange. I actually enjoy the writing process. I look forward every day to sitting down and actually doing the writing. I think a lot of writers would say they enjoy finishing it...but I love the actual writing part."

And to me, this sums it all up. I love her understanding that her characters are her friends. From Susan Cheever:

"Storytelling is the thing that unites all genres...nonfiction, column writing, biography...it's all storytelling. This is what we do all the time with our friends. And it's also the way we understand our own lives."

"Storytelling is the thing that unites all genres...nonfiction, column writing, biography...it's all storytelling. This is what we do all the time with our friends. And it's also the way we understand our own lives."

Oh holy damn, yes.

And aw, R.L. Stine. I read the Fear Street and Goosebumps books back in the day. Christopher Pike was better, though.

I read the Fear Street and Goosebumps books back in the day. Christopher Pike was better, though.

Better? How? Or do you mean Pike resonated more with you?

I haven't read either, so I'm curious.

And you'll notice, not one word about "plot" in those quotes. They seem to think like me: Plot is the mechanics. Story is the journey.

Everyone needs to go out and buy Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Gilman. It is wonderful and funny and I am in love with it.

Kristin, is it a book about writing, or is that meant for Literary?

For obvious reasons, I'm partial to "psychotic ramblings".