Have You Got a Favorite Baby?

[Bianca_Sommerland]

I've been thinking about it, a lot. It's really not fair, but I just can't seem to help it.

I started when I was fifteen. Snuck around in class and worked on it. Life happened and it got put away for years.

About two years ago I took it out again, rewrote the whole thing, and continued. Two years of ceaseless, tireless work while this brain child of mine raged within, demanding to be set free. It was my obsession.

Seven books later I finally stopped, went back to the first book and told myself I must work on getting my baby out to others. I researched, I rewrote. I cut and bled my darling until I thought she was ready. I was prepared to have to wait months, years even, for my baby to find a home. Which was fine. Nothing was going to make me give up.

I had worked a little on book eight but forced myself to stop. Until book one was out working that far ahead in the series wasn't productive. So I did some work on book two. But now I was getting restless. What had happened to the need to write? Where was my drive? All I was doing was detail work...I wanted to build!

Much more research and I set myself a new goal. I wouldn't wait on my precious to break in. I would attack the steel doors of publishing from as many different angles as I could. Never give up. Never say die!

Noble cause. The only problem was, the fire wasn't quite so bright anymore. There was no raging blaze rage, no obsession.

Some of the stories woke me up a little, but the pull to bring them life was pale compared to the scalding rush giving birth to my favorite had brought. The characters were good, but I didn't love them, my love was fixed with the deep, compelling individuals in the First. The action didn't quite measure up, the love was tepid, the trials paltry.

I am a writer. I have to write. It's like breathing. But right now I feel like I left the mountains, am denied the fresh, crisp air that filled me for so long, and am forced to manage with city smog.

So have you got a fav?

 

[The_Fool]

This title gave me a "deer in the headlights" look. Actually I first typed that "dear in the headlights." The intent of the topic is obvious, but the title twisted in my mind into "Have you got a favorite, baby?" Of course the phrase is spoken in a low sultry voice with the pause being a very dramatic one. The question is accompanied by her stockinged legs sliding against each other, her hands pulling her knees in tight, which of course raises her skirt slightly. Her eyes have that liquid look and her lips offer a humorous leer.

Oh yeah baby, I've got a favorite.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

This title gave me a "deer in the headlights" look. Actually I first typed that "dear in the headlights." The intent of the topic is obvious, but the title twisted in my mind into "Have you got a favorite, baby?" Of course the phrase is spoken in a low sultry voice with the pause being a very dramatic one. The question is accompanied by her stockinged legs sliding against each other, her hands pulling her knees in tight, which of course raises her skirt slightly. Her eyes have that liquid look and her lips offer a humorous leer.

Oh yeah baby, I've got a favorite.

Well that works too

Sensual image. I like. Hope your weekend brings you something that nice

 

[sr71plt]

Each time this question comes up--favorite or best one, five, or ten, I think it's a good question--and than I get tied up in knots trying to limit it down to that. I clearly have favorites and ones I think are better than others. But I doubt I could narrow it down even to a top 100. So, I don't try to.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Actually, I'm rather like Tolstoy. Once it's written I forget all about it.

If you don't know the story, Tolstoy walked into the parlor of his mansion and heard his oldest daughter reading War and Peace to her two sisters. After listening for a while he broke in saying, "That's good. Who wrote that?"

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

Each time this question comes up--favorite or best one, five, or ten, I think it's a good question--and than I get tied up in knots trying to limit it down to that. I clearly have favorites and ones I think are better than others. But I doubt I could narrow it down even to a top 100. So, I don't try to.

Sometimes I think that would be much easier. I feel that way about other things. Songs, movies, books I haven't writen. Picking a favorite would be impossible.

A favorite among my own work is a very irritating obstacle.

Actually, I'm rather like Tolstoy. Once it's written I forget all about it.

If you don't know the story, Tolstoy walked into the parlor of his mansion and heard his oldest daughter reading War and Peace to her two sisters. After listening for a while he broke in saying, "That's good. Who wrote that?"

That's awesome. I guess it takes a different mind frame to be able to do that. Probably healthier anyway.

 

[The_Fool]

Actually, I'm rather like Tolstoy. Once it's written I forget all about it.

If you don't know the story, Tolstoy walked into the parlor of his mansion and heard his oldest daughter reading War and Peace to her two sisters. After listening for a while he broke in saying, "That's good. Who wrote that?"

Actually, I do as well. Kind of a fire and forget. I remember titles and phrases, but never whole poems. I couldn't reproduce one of my poems from scratch to save my life.

 

[sr71plt]

If you don't know the story, Tolstoy walked into the parlor of his mansion and heard his oldest daughter reading War and Peace to her two sisters. After listening for a while he broke in saying, "That's good. Who wrote that?"

I've felt that way about some of the government memos I wrote after they'd gone up channels and come back down too. But for a different reason than you are citing.

 

[wonderingwhy]

When I was about 17ish, I had this rather tame, romantic (ie cheesy) fantasy. About 8 years or so later, I decided to flesh it out and ended up writing it into a screenplay, a romantic comedy. It was a load of crap, but it was a starting point. I rewrote 3 completely different versions, changing almost everything but the inciting incident and the climax. I still wasn't happy with how it read.

I shelved it for years, then pulled it back out a year and a half ago and decided to see if I could turn it into a novel. I've written a lot of things since then, but this story has been, and will probably always be, my baby.

 

[Liar]

Most stories I write here and elsewhere (screen and stageplays mostly) are just excersises to practice on the craft of writing. Once I fart them out, they are gone with the wind. If people are entertained, then all the better.

I have written maybe tree stories in my life that are truly mine and that I care about. One of them is on Lit. I'm not tellingt you which.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

Most stories I write here and elsewhere (screen and stageplays mostly) are just excersises to practice on the craft of writing. Once I fart them out, they are gone with the wind. If people are entertained, then all the better.

I have written maybe three stories in my life that are truly mine and that I care about. One of them is on Lit. I'm not tellingt you which.

Aww...come on! *sulk*

I don't think I have any stories I'm indifferent about. I have some that start off that way, but then I start liking the characters and I hand over the reins. A whole new ball game from that point.

 

[sr71plt]

If you promptly forget the stories you've written, do you ever wonder that you might go back and find out you're just writing the same one over and over again?

I try to remember plots and locales and hooks so I don't overrepeat them (although I purposely use a locale again). However, my characters are up for grabs for reappearance wherever they seem to fit (assuming I didn't kill them in a chronologically earlier appearance).

I do sometimes have trouble remembering the story title this and that were in.

 

[sr71plt]

I have written maybe tree stories in my life that are truly mine and that I care about. One of them is on Lit. I'm not tellingt you which.

That was successful advertising. I'd read it.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

If you promptly forget the stories you've written, do you ever wonder that you might go back and find out you're just writing the same one over and over again?

I try to remember plots and locales and hooks so I don't overrepeat them (although I purposely use a locale again). However, my characters are up for grabs for reappearance wherever they seem to fit (assuming I didn't kill them in a chronologically earlier appearance).

I do sometimes have trouble remembering the story title this and that were in.

I just through one of my favs from one story into another. That was awesome. I was hesitant about doing it at first (one book's young adult...the other's erotic fantasy) but he fit in so well I figured I'd give him a cool cameo and a chance for something other than vanilla sex.

 

[sr71plt]

I just through one of my favs from one story into another. That was awesome. I was hesitant about doing it at first (one book's young adult...the other's erotic fantasy) but he fit in so well I figured I'd give him a cool cameo and a chance for something other than vanilla sex.

Try the Lawrence Durrell approach. Make a minor character major and vice versa in two stories--and then embed something about them in each story that only becomes delicious when/if you read both. It's lots of fun.

My writing partner and I have an e-book out doing that (and a few of our other works do it too), titled I Met a Man. As part of the "joke" it's set in the villa where Lawrence Durrell wrote much of his Alexandria Quartet.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

Try the Lawrence Durrell approach. Make a minor character major and vice versa in two stories--and then embed something about them in each story that only becomes delicious when/if you read both. It's lots of fun.

My writing partner and I have an e-book out doing that (and a few of our other works do it too), titled I Met a Man. As part of the "joke" it's set in the villa where Lawrence Durrell wrote much of his Alexandria Quartet.

That's a cool idea. I know people who like the first book will enjoy seeing him, and I made sure his behavior is entirely in character. Maybe playing around with and expanding on my fav idea will give me some inspiration.

 

[Liar]

That was successful advertising. I'd read it.

Subtle is my middle name.

Ok, not really.

 

[sr71plt]

Subtle is my middle name.

Ok, not really.

Decisions, decisions. Is the best stuf called "stuf" or "more stuf"? I'd hate to guess wrong.

 

[jomar]

My favorite is yet to be written, but will be a a two part story:

Milwaukee Boner - Her Perspective
Milwaukee Bone Her - His Perspective

I predict it will easily outsell scouries!

 

[sr71plt]

My favorite is yet to be written, but will be a a two part story:

Milwaukee Boner - Her Perspective
Milwaukee Bone Her - His Perspective

I predict it will easily outsell scouries!

Will you publishing them together, hers running from one cover in and his running from the other cover in like Carol Shields's Happenstance? Cool.

 

[jomar]

Will you publishing them together, hers running from one cover in and his running from the other cover in like Carol Shields's Happenstance? Cool.

Oooh, great idea! And they'll be in the same book but upside down from each other so that when you flip it over, well, you get the picture.

 

[sr71plt]

Subtle is my middle name.

Ok, not really.

Liar! (hmmm, that sounds repetitive). You mentioned three stories, and there are nine here. You're going to have to be a bit less subtle.

 

[Liar]

Liar! (hmmm, that sounds repetitive). You mentioned three stories, and there are nine here. You're going to have to be a bit less subtle.

I also said only one of the three is on Lit.

And it doesn't matter which one it is. That doesn't mean it's better for you.

 

[JackLuis]

My favorite is the one I'm working on, not necessarily writing but plotting.

I've been working on two stories since last Nov and it is getting hectic, trying to finish one before the other, Crap!

When I saw the title, I thought about apple cheeks and giggles.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

My favorite is the one I'm working on, not necessarily writing but plotting.

I've been working on two stories since last Nov and it is getting hectic, trying to finish one before the other, Crap!

When I saw the title, I thought about apple cheeks and giggles.

I knew the title was gonna make people think all kinds of things.

Sounds like you're really into it. Is it for here or somewhere else?