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Other Cool Blogs: Literary Hub 4/5/2017

Photo by Fred Kearney on Unsplash

A woman is instructed to “have but two hours (of) intellectual life per day” and “never touch a pen, brush, or pencil again” as long as she lived, to cure a nervous disorder. Her intellectual activities were obviously taking away from her ability to be a domestic wife and channeling energy from her reproductive system, where it could be put to better use.

To prevent a path to insanity.

Cause it more like.

“Hysteria, Witches, and The Wandering Uterus: A Brief History … Or, Why I Teach ‘The Yellow Wallpaper'” by Terri Kapsalis published on April 5, 2017 at the Literary Hub (a very useful website – check it out while looking at this particular posting) can be found here: https://lithub.com/hysteria-witches-and-the-wandering-uterus-a-brief-history/

This paper dovetails the 1891 paper with the 2016 election campaign and captures some of what women were feeling about the whole process during the 2016 summer and fall. The “witch” hunts and accusations of hysteria and all the other items being leveled against women of TODAY.

Doctors may no longer proscribe avoiding any intellectual activity to women, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still being told NOT TO THINK. I, for one, would be clawing at the Yellow Wallpaper.

Author Spotlight: Dylan Birtolo

Amazon Cover

Coming in partway through a series can be problematic. What has been done before, where have the characters been, how did they act? The list goes on and on. Fortunately with the Shapes in the Smoke series by Dylan Birtolo, only one novella had been published before the series transferred to my desk.

When I read the published work, imagine my delight in finding a diverse crew out of Seattle with the lead being a woman of Japanese descent. Her support system includes her best friends from college. They each bring something to the table, creating a solid team. I looked forward to seeing the rest of the series and adding some polish.

I got to work on Deep Currents, Predator & Prey, and the in-process conclusion of the series, Weathering the Storm.

Primarily a game designer (with the Lynnvander team) as well as part-time knight, Mr. Birtolo still has found time to write some books including the Shapes in the Smoke series and a few Shadowrun tie-in books. His voice is both romantic (like a knight) and action-packed (like a game developer). Once you know about his teamwork in game designing, the integration and balance of skills within Ichirin’s monster hunting team comes as no surprise.

If you are interested in seeing what the difference an editor makes in a story, you might want to read Novellas 1 and 2 of this series. (The Omnibus edition with all four novellas should be out sometime in December 2019.) While I was limited by the style choices of Book 1, Mr. Dylan and I worked well together to highlight the strengths of his tale. 

Flash: Dorian and the Ice Queen

freedigitalphotos.net

Rating: Mature

That ass, damn girl. Dorian didn’t mind the cold or wait at all as the female bent over once again, rearranging the unlit lanterns just so in the snow. Maybe he shouldn’t be admiring her, or maybe because she was a supervillain, objectifying her isn’t as immoral as, say, Jameeka in Human Resources. Either way the Ice Queen had one of the finest asses in the state. Perfect heart shape.

He had been a little disappointed when he first arrived to find she wasn’t wearing the impractical catsuit and high heels costume. But the tight white skiing pants, turtleneck sweater, quilted jacket, and fur-lined cap made a fine substitute, at least according his libido. Especially when she bent over, and she had been bending over a lot in the last half an hour. A couple of steps in one direction in the snow in knee-high boots, adjusting something, sometimes burying something, sometimes removing debris, and then she would be moving again. She had said to arrive around midnight, more or less, but not to bother if he was later than one. And not to bother her if she was already there.

Guess she figured I would scope out the area. It’s not like they trusted each other – villain to hero. But that didn’t make the lust go away. She bent forward again and he bit his tongue to keep from moaning. He imagined grabbing that fine white Ice Queen ass, the soft moon-pale flesh slightly red on either cheek after his broad hands had warmed them up with a couple of smacks for being bad. The woman was always bad. Maybe even handcuffs, if he had them. Then she look over her shoulder, her ash-blonde hair in a failing braid like it is now, wisps and stray tresses framing her ice-blue eyes, and say…

 “I’m ready for you now.”

 Her voice soft and husky from effort.

 “Hey Revenger, alley-alley-alley-out.” The Ice Queen stood brushing the snow off her white leather gloves, clapping them. “You can come now.”

 Come, she said come…not…cum. Dorian shook his head to clear out the last of the fantasy. He nearly missed the snow falling from the gloves, hover in the moonlight, take on the sparkle of new snow, and fly in a dozen directions. Before he had dropped from the tree where he was hiding, every step, footprint, handprint, and symbol she had made was erased.

 So much for his theory, based on the lack of snow tracks when he had initially arrived, that she had flown in. He was positive she was a flyer, but no one had ever recorded it. The agency records were woefully blank on her abilities, as they are on any unregistered hero or uncaptured villain, some temperature control at the cold end of the spectrum, possible telekinesis abilities, and, unproven, magic. Magic itself being unproven. So far everyone had tested psychic, technological, or natural mutant.

 Her file was nearly as slim on suspected crimes. He had written most of the entries himself and none of them had enough evidence for a legal arrest warrant, let alone a court conviction. Plenty of photos thanks to her saving his bacon when King Khaos attacked the museum, but no real information. Street thugs were silent about her.

 (words 545; first published 8/18/19)

Geeking Science: Medical Quick List

Image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m at Pennsic. A lot of people are getting hit by sticks. Camping brings sunburn, blisters, and insect bites. The campfires bring real burns, splinters, and coughing fits. I’m constantly covering my cuts to keep the dirt out.

I don’t have time and there really isn’t anyway to condense it anyway, so just go to “Medical Info for your Writing” – created by Lillian Archer on 2017 April 23. (written out the link is:

Read it. Learn how long wounds heal, the effects of infection, and what the best way to spread a plague.

Have fun, play nice, and write lots – I’m going to go see how many of these points I can live out in real life.

***

4/28/2022 – AND IT LOOKS LIKE THE ARTICLE IS NOW DELETED. I SHOULD HAVE SAVED IT WHEN I HAD A CHANCE.

Editing Rant: Repair the Pants

Image courtesy of ladywriter55 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What the…?

Okay folks, it is great to be a pantser. Break free of the constraints of outlining and worldbuilding. Just write things out and get it on paper. Fresh, new, exciting.

Then edit that draft!

Just read a story where the author was obviously a pantser. The action was constant, the plotting – not so much. The reveal of what the human female was and her ongoing issues felt very “slidey”; things were added during the pantsing writing and not fully integrated during subsequent editing passes.

Oh, let’s have her not just be human. First meeting of ex – helpful and healthy – oh, but wait … won’t it be better if he was poison as she starts a new relationship. Great additions, really help the story pop – but created an unevenness in the presentation, a feeling of being tacked on instead of full integration. 

Image courtesy of the internet Hivemind

I understand that draft stage is boring. You know the story now. But this is the difference between telling a haphazard story among friends and creating a coherent manuscript.

Pants it all you want – just remember the tradeoff. With plotters, they do a lot of the prep work before hand. This is the exciting part to them. Writing it out is hard. For pantsers, writing out is fun, it is the draft work that is the chore. One way or the other, details and sorting things out for a full well-written document worthy of publication requires effort.

Go back and repair those pants.