RESEARCH: It's what we writers call, "research".

By krawky389 @ Deviantart

(I realize I haven't posted a Flash Friday in forever. Meh. Haven't been inspired/have anything to share. Working on bigger things!)

As writers we know (or, uh, should know) that research is important to our writing. Without research, we can look pretty stupid. Or, even worse, (yes, worse), we may come off as racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and a plethora of other -ists that no, you really don't want to come off that way. Seriously.

Sometimes our research is based off our personal experiences. Sometimes it's a mixture of personal experiences and actual academic and practical research. In my case, a series of novellas I've been working on these past two months are about a pair of Japanese lesbians attempting to keep their shit together in modern-day Japan. (Actually, one is in early 90s Japan. So. Much. Crappy. Research. Materials.) Now, I've lived in Japan. Even familiar with the areas they live in/frequent. I've  studied Japanese language and culture half my life. I know first hand what it's like being a lesbian in Japan. I also know what it's like being a lesbian in a generally homophobic and extremely sexist society. What I don't know, however, and will never know, is what it's like to actually BE Japanese. The only thing to do about that is talk to as many Japanese people in these situations as I can, and research as much as I can. Much of my academic research in university, re: my major was actually studying and writing papers about LGBT life in Japan. Academically, and from my own experiences, I feel pretty confident I know what I'm talking about. But I will never know first-hand what it's like to be an actual Japanese lesbian dealing with the bullshit unique to being a Japanese lesbian in Japan. See where I'm going with this?

I'm hyper aware of my privilege when I approach this writing and strive to do my best to not look like a total ass.

I am lucky to know all the wonderful queer Japanese people, men and women and neither, that I do. I am lucky to have lived in various places around Japan, from the queer wastelands to the queer capitals. I've heard stories. I've sympathized with universal human emotions and wants and needs. But I'll never KNOW. All I can do is research the hell out of what I'm writing, from factoids/studies, to personal experiences posted on the internet, to personal experiences I hear from my friends and acquaintances.

Part of my research recently was two-fold when it mixed in with my need to watch some "new" (as in, new to me) cinema from Japan. I guess you could say I miss being bombarded by it on TV every day for a full week every month. A friend recommended to me on a forum thread specializing in LGBT Japanese films that I check out a few. I'm about three in (one is a repeat that I saw before in Japan, but this time I had subtitles, ha!) and I've found a movie that I'm absolutely in love with. So many good feelings, great acting, great story (the premise is a lesbian finding out that both her parents are/were ((mom's dead)) gay and got married just to have a baby while continuing their same-sex relations. "We were mother and father, but not wife and husband", is how it's explained to her.) great kissing and just generally feel-good minus a couple problematic scenes. Anyway, I've been touting this movie everywhere and now it's my turn to share it here. It's a 2006 movie called "Love My Life". You can watch Part 1 with English subtitles on Youtube below (click the CC for English subs,  although it takes a couple minutes to kick in) and the whole thing with Spanish subs. Otherwise you have to find it elsewhere. Check it out!

Anything you've had to make sure you researched correctly? Has your research lead you to any great but maybe unrelated discoveries?

Weekly Writing Check-In: Dissected and Disolved

Dead @ "militarily"

Quiet week from me, thanks to yet another six-day day-job work week aaaaand lots and lots of gaming! Teehee~. Oh well, girl's gotta do what she's gotta do to stay out of a nervous breakdown, right?

Of course, there was editing. A lot of editing. Every night editing! But nothing exciting, just the usual editing monotony madness that comes with buckling down and getting stuff done. That said, here are this week's progress reports!

CROSS//Revenge

So I had a real "OH NO I DIDN'T~" moment this week when I was looking over my notes for this first draft on Thursday. There's a really, really important plot/character development point that needs to happen in this novel, and I TOTALLY forgot the set-up in the draft that I have so far and I'm kicking myself over it. See, there's no place to go back and put it without forcing it in/changing everything. I was not happy. Well, I managed to fix it. The original scene was going to take place in Japan (where my characters are en route now) but I figure it could just as easily take place State-side. The scene takes place in a psychiatric hospital, and part of the original drama was going to be in language issues (the character involved doesn't speak Japanese very well) buuuuuut I'm pretty sure America's ~amazing health care system~ can bring just as much drama. Especially back in 2007 in which the story takes place. Of course this means I have to do all new research now. I know a lot of about hospitals in Japan but now it's time to depress myself with stories about American hospitals. Yay! (Either way, I'm problem solving! Go me!)

CROSS//Rebirth

 Editing sucks. Actually, no, I take that back.  I like editing. I just don't like it when it laughs in my face.

Since this is no longer MASSIVE READ THROUGH TIMEZ for clarity, flow, and checking for major holes, I have to get into the real nitty gritty of every chapter, and I didn't skimp on the first one. For now it's "finished" (until later of course, because editing is never really finished, sigh) but it gave me a headache. You see, I have a very specific way I do these detailed edits. Here's the breakdown:

Step 1: Do a careful read through of the whole chapter, changing anything I feel like/needs changing along the way. I get rid of lingering adverbs and passive sentences that stick out to me. The real focus of this, however, is analyzing characterization, especially in these first few chapters. I ended up changing one scene entirely because I did not like how FMC2 came across at all.

Step 2: Run a search and destroy of adverbs, aka ADVERB SLAYER mode. This starts with the obvious "ly" search, and then searching for non-ly adverbs that I know I'm notorious for over-using. A lot of adverbs that survived the first main edit were culled this time. My goal is to not have more than 1-2 "ly" adverbs in prose per chapter. (My chapters are usually 15-30 pages in length, single spaced, so I think this is acceptable. Also, this all only refers to non-dialogue adverbs.)

Step 3: Passive sentences, ugh. This is trickier to search for because not every sentence that holds the key words are passive, and damn you "to be". Word threw a fit at a couple passive sentences that I decided to leave in because they're in dialogue, and sorry Word, that's how they talk. Get over it. This is my least favorite step at all because I just hate searching for passive sentences. Anyone know of a good  program that can do it for me? Heh.

Step 4: Said. Now, this isn't necessarily OMG EVIL KILL THEM ALL search and destroy. This is because I tend to use said as a crutch as I write, when words don't need to be there at all! So I search for "said" and see if it's actually functioning or if a tag is totally unnecessary to begin with. It's usually about half and half.

There's other little sub-steps in there, but those are the four main ones. With the goal of doing one chapter a week (remember how I said some chapters are 30 pages long, single spaced? Yup. A week is good stuff for me!) I usually do Step 1 for three days (it's very careful, close reading) and each other step is one day. That gives me about one break a week if  I decide to take it.

Overall, I deleted about 1000 words this week. Not bad!

Sometimes you reach a point in editing where, you know there are still some passive sentences/adverbs left over that don't need to be there, but you just don't care anymore man. You just can be assed to look for them because yuo're sick of it. Suddenly it's the beta readers'/editor's problem. Yeah. That's the spirit!

It's not my problem at all~

"But, like, why?"

This picture is amazing.

Since posting my intentions last week I've received some queries from friends / random strangers (don't you love how blogs work?) asking me why I plan to self-publish first before even trying to get published the old fashioned way...which is submitting my works to various (fantasy) publishers and crossing my fingers that they want to make me the next Big Seller.  I've already explained myself to most of those people, but overall it didn't seem like a bad blog topic idea.

I never really considered self-publishing as a foothold into the publishing industry until a few years ago when I attended a conference seminar that was all about tips for self-publishing (mostly, how to market yourself because it's all on you, bro.) I originally took it as a filler, but it ended up being the most informative seminar I attended that whole day. Since then I've thought about it off and on in terms of my long term goals for writing, and within the past year decided it's probably the most feasible option for me. Of course, as a kid and as a teen, I had fantasies about mailing off my manuscript to some huge publisher and having the editor go "YES. THIS. FOREVER!" and still do in a tiny little part of my ego.  But I am a huge realist, and in today's writing economy, the odds of me being picked up, even if a publisher does like my book, are slim to none.  Mainstream publishing is a fickle thing:  it's based around the current tastes of the public, including what is selling now and what the market wants to be selling.  So unless you happen to writing exactly what's up and hip at the very moment, you can expect a swift rejection or the request for a multitude of changes (...If I hear "how about some vampires?" one more time...) that you probably don't want to make.

Self-publishing, which is also sometimes called "vanity" publishing, gets a lot of flack, and for semi-good reason.  Basically, all it takes is money to get published, and then you can publish pretty much any dreck you want.  But it has its logical merits as well.  With most print on demand self-publishing, the author controls just about everything that goes on behind the production of the book, from cover to typos.  It does not take fancy companies to register with the Library of Congress or ISBN, which actually done on one's own without even the self-publisher can be cheaper.  And, most of all, the author retains all rights to the novel, including being able to have it published elsewhere later on if he/she so chooses.

It's pretty much all those things that attract me to self-publishing my first novel, if not more.  I like control, especially over my creative endeavors. I've had cover patterns and ideas for my novels since I first came up with them that I would love to see brought to life, and, damnit, you bet your face I want to retain all the rights for as long as I can. 

There is also the allure of building my own fanbase and gaining the support for my novels as they are, in case they are picked up by larger publishers one day.  I am a stubborn woman.  While I am definitely open to suggestions on ways to improve my novels, I do not appreciate being told to stick in a vampire because that's what sells (can you tell this has happened a lot?)  I like the idea of building my own fanbase on the web to prove to any future publisher that my works can sell with the main plot and idea as is, structural edits aside. I've met quite a few successful authors (from my po-dunk community, even) who started off self-publishing and now enjoy a solid career with their homegrown fanbase.  While I do not indulge in the delusion that that could be me tomorrow, it is comforting to know that it has worked for many others and I'm not just making up wild ideas about the process.

Money will be an issue up front, but I have spent more money on even more ridiculous endeavors.  As it is I do not plan to do too many bells and whistles - the most extreme I'll probably get is hardcovers because hardcovers are cool.  And as I said in my last entry, I really need something for me to save up for.  This is as much about me fulfilling a goal and a dream as it is satisfying my silly ego.

The hardest part will be choosing which self-publisher to go with.  Everyday I do more research, and it reminds me of when I was researching for the day job I have now - which company to apply to, who will give me the best deal/experience, etc.  In the end  I feel like I made the best possible choice there, so hopefully I can repeat that with publishing.  I'm still looking for experiences from other authors who have self-published, mostly based on what companies they went with and the goods and bads they had.  As I learned from researching my day job, it's easy to look things up on the internet - but you have no idea who is being paid off/sponsored/trolling/etc.  Everything conflicts to both extremes, so I always prefer hearing from people I know exactly exist and are not being fed dollars into their pockets to say whatever.

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As for actual writing, preliminary editing is still coming along, and the short story I've been promising is almost done.  Thanks to all who have been and continue to support me in my writing endeavors - you have no idea how much it means to me.

"Hello? Random person? I have a question for my novel...yes, I can hold?"

This covers everything!

From the wonderful people over at Not Always Right,

Me: “Thank you for calling [Gas Station]. How may I help you?”
Customer: “Do you shoot guns?”
Me: “Uh… what?”
Customer: “Well, I know your gas station hires some athletic young men and I was wondering if you knew anything about guns?”
Me: “Actually, I do know a decent amount about guns and shooting.”
Customer: “If you threw a gun in the air and shot it with another gun, would it explode?”
Me: “Wait, what? Why?”
Customer: “Oh, well in the book I’m writing the sheriff is fighting the robber on the balcony of the theatre, and the robber’s gun flies into the air and the sheriff shoots it. Would it explode or hurt anyone?”
Me: “Well, it probably wouldn’t explode, but it would probably discharge either when struck by the bullet or when it hits the ground.”
Customer: “Would it hit someone?”
Me: “You’re the author, ma’am.”
Customer:  “Oh, thank you very much!  I’ll send you a copy when it’s published!”

 What has this piece of idiocy taught me? If I have a question for my novel, I just have to call somebody to get an answer!

Now it all makes sense! Yesterday when I was researching tectonic plates, I should've just called any of my friends living in Japan because they get a lot of earthquakes!  When researching the effects of crack cocaine I should've called the cops because they see that shit all the time! And most of all, when researching the average male penis size yesterday I should've called the local Mason Lodge because there's a lot of dick there!

I can just imagine the conversation!

Him: Hello?
Me: Hi!
Him: Can I help you?

Me: What's the average male penis size?

Him:Excuse me?

Me: Oh, well, I know you're all male members there, so I thought maybe y'all compare in the showers and could tell me! What's your average?

Him:What?!

Me: Well you see it's for my novel, so...

Him: I..I don't know Ma'am, however big you want it to be? You're the author!

Me: Oh, okay! So eight inches then? Thanks so much I'll send you a copy when it's done!

Him: Ma'am I don't think we'll be much interested in a novel talking about penis size.

Me: *click*

 

Thankfully I have all those minutes saved up on my phone! This is going to be great, everything is possible now!

 

And then I go to jail. Sigh.