Comments on: You Again Again

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:37:09 +0000

Okay, the first thing I see in comparing your collages on the link page is that your “You Again” reminds me of a pack rats house. Theres tons and tons of stuff and only the owner knows where everything is. Maybe this is contributing to the cast of many? Bogging down the storyline? Maybe you need to clean house in order to find some of the stuff you lost. It’s working with my aunt house and she actually is a pack rat – to the point that as we clean I’m finding mail from ’99. Not to say there anything wrong with pack-rats, but not everything gets to stay. Otherwise, we eventually have to move out of the house because there’s no room for the main character.

By: Jade

Jade — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:26:43 +0000

You might want to consider pulling apart the collage and starting that over before you open the digital crypt. I used to be really into doing collages for my writing and I remember I once threw the collage out the window (literally, so maybe there were some small anger management issues there) and once I started the collage over the whole thing came together beautifully.

By: Strop

Strop — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 08:43:10 +0000

Send ME a copy of the file. I feel that You Again is going to be another breakout book and that’s why you’re stuck. It’s simply that you haven’t written to the necessary focus/ plot/ theme/ thing before.

You’ve written about Zelda before, now I want to know more about Rose. In a way this feels like Rose’s Book, in the way that Anyone But You was Fred’s Book.

So the Christie thread is all these people stuck in a country house with lots of food. I’ve never read Allingham or Stout, so you’ll have to tell me about their dominant themes. In Christie, certainly, there was often a romance going on somewhere, but it wasn’t the driving force in the plot. Do you need to focus on the mystery element rather than the romance?

By: wendy roberts

wendy roberts — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 03:41:03 +0000

Just looked at the collage and description and thought . . . Oh. My. God.
I live in a 3 level house and had 16 people living with me between xmas and new years. I even have that pink chaise lounge sofa. So, yup, you’ve gotta finish it. I need to know how it turned out. I gotta tell you food has to be an issue. Tons of people in a house at that time of year, you’re going to have food issues. Tradion vs new foods. Not that blood was almost shed over that issue here. Nope. Not here where the poetry is more Robert Frost’s Road Not Taken …

By: Sheri

Sheri — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 03:18:15 +0000

Ahhh–it was the butler in the drawing room with the candlestick, eh? Awesome! Christie’s Orient Express has always been a particular favorite, but the one that got me the most was The Crooked House–great twist in the end! (even though she practically tells you at the beginning who the murderer is, it is still the last person you would ever suspect…)

I remember you talking about that book and I thought at the time that it sounded like a great read. Maybe you just weren’t ready for it at the time. After collaborating on a couple of books where you did the murder/mystery sort of thing I think you are better equipped to deal with this book now. I can totally relate to the pulling the book out of cyber dust and trying to figure out what is worth keeping–just did that myself recently. Good luck, and we are here when you need us!

By: orangehands

orangehands — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 02:13:49 +0000

Poor Baby. We’re all here when you need us, Jenny. Use us. Go ahead, we don’t mind.

I’m glad your going back to this one. It seemed so cool. Still does, of course.

Good Luck.

By: Cherry Beach

Cherry Beach — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:39:12 +0000

Yes! Yes!! Yippee! You go girl!

By the way, wasn’t it a menopause thing? If so, and you’re back in the saddle again, then there’s hope for the rest of us.

Soooo happy for you.

By: Diane (TT)

Diane (TT) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:37:49 +0000

I was going to suggest, as BCB did, that maybe there wasn’t room for everyone’s arc to be honored in one book, so perhaps a duology or trilogy was in order. I’m a simple-minded reader, and can handle up to about a dozen characters, provided not too many of them have similar names. Beyond that, I get confused. One of the things I like about my favorite authors (you, Georgette Heyer) is the attention given to the supporting cast. But that can lead to focus issues…

Will there be a railway schedule? Is that why all the watches?

By: K.L.

K.L. — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:29:46 +0000

That was one busy collage. I kind of liked the 3 book scenario. You could keep all your characters, and we could get more JC books. It is a win-win situation all the way around.

By: downundergal

downundergal — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:39:12 +0000

LOL zvi, a writer friend of mind was just telling me the other day that she got that book and followed the principles and wrote 50k and got to the end and realised she had no plot!

By: e

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:37:12 +0000

I had wondered what happened to the “You Again” idea since I read about it a few years ago on your website. I’m glad you’re giving it another try, because it seems a worthy idea.

P. S. I’m so glad you switched to WordPress! Yay!

By: zvi

zvi — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:01:43 +0000

I bet you would like the name of the book, wouldn’t you? No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty.

By: zvi

zvi — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:59:36 +0000

This is sort of a crazy suggestion, but you appear to be in a vaguely crazy place. One of the founders of National Novel Writing Month (you know, the one where amateurs write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days?) wrote a book about how to write NNWM. Towards the end, he includes a chapter about how to deconstruct the story and look at its parts and then work on putting it back together again. This editing advice is aimed at people who started writing by opening a file and typing, with absolutely no idea of plot or characters, so considering how lost you feel, I thought you might want to give it a whirl. Pick it up at your local library … the bulk of the advice is on how to sit down and write, and that it isn’t your problem. But it may give you an additional perspective on how to rework a really tangled story.

By: Marcia in OK

Marcia in OK — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:40:49 +0000

Zelda sounds great. As a reader, I’d hate to see her gone for good. Especially before we even get to meet her.

This may sound stupid, but I teach a communications class, and my material has a section on Problem Solving that might apply.

*Define the problem – be specific (Not Book Sucks! Maybe: too many characters; or Dropped plotlines; or no arcs; or wimpy antagonists; or not enough conflict; or too much conflict; or started story at the wrong action point. . . )

*Make sure you own part of the problem (as the writer, well, this one is all yours)

*What have you tried to fix the problem? (List them out)

*Refer to step 3 . . . and STOP doing that stuff over and over . . . cause it doesn’t solve the problem.

*List at least 3 things you can do differently to solve the problem. (Asking for input for those you trust is OK to expand your options)

*Pick one thing and try it. If it doesn’t work, try another of the 3.

As a natural born “fix-it” person, I understand the compulsion to hammer away until something is FIXED. But, I’ve finally learned that it is OK to let something go if it isn’t working. (I’m having visuals of you hitting the delete key on all those E-mails from LTD 2006.)

Remember, we are Cherries and CBs, we happily read grocery lists.

Sorry to blather on.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:14:32 +0000

In the How Sad Is This? category, I googled for “You Again Collage” and found it on my own website:

http://www.jennycrusie.com/trivia/collage.php

As I said, haven’t been back to this book in quite awhile (although I do know exactly where the real collage is, so that’s something).

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:09:49 +0000

Is the old collage posted anywhere ? What is your one sentence idea

By: roben

roben — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:48:23 +0000

I loooooove brainstorming. Are we going to brainstorm with you on the 12 days? That would be amazing. I’m so excited.

Sometimes I can’t see the wood for the trees (I know it’s a cliche, heh) but in tossing the ideas around with others I usually come up with the answer. Someone tries to lead me down some dark road, or stinky back alley, and I start kicking and screaming and get in a few punches, and then the lightbulb goes on, falters a bit, then a giant blast of pure white light and I’m off and running.

I’m envisioning you right now, tying the laces on your sneakers …

By: ArkansasCyndi

ArkansasCyndi — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:27:25 +0000

I’m offer two dozen Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (flavor of your choice) for breakfast and an excellent bottle of scotch for dinner to be a beta reader!

By: GatorPerson

GatorPerson — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:46:46 +0000

Oops! I was going to post a recommendation, but BCB beat me to it. Those guys might be just the ticket to help you figure out what you need to fix.

I don’t think you meant it this way, but “The 12 Days of Zelda” is an intriguing title for a novel.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:39:24 +0000

Yes, cheers! Ok, so it’s not that we’re cheering on your misery (NO writer should wish this kind of agony on anyone!), but we are cheering YOU on and ourselves along with you. It isn’t the rejection bit that’s encouraging, but the fact you still struggle with stinky drafts. We all do, but we wallow in our own muck and think that we’re the only ones in this mess. Now . . . to get my own butt up and figure out what’s wrong with my own steaming pile over in the corner . . .