Today is the 15th of October, or, as the Disney Channel likes to call it, "the fifteenth day of Halloween." Since I have to put up with a full month of Christmas every year, I am okay with getting a month of Halloween to soothe my wounded, ghoulish soul. Anyway, welcome to my monthly current projects post, the regularly scheduled update which provides the only non-hysteria-inducing answer to the question "What are you working on?" It has the extra added bonus of proving that I am able to stop time, since otherwise, even I don't quite understand how the hell I'm getting everything finished in a timely manner. Seriously, I don't think I sleep. This is the October list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list. Late Eclipses and Deadline are off the list because they have been turned in to their respective editors, and I am waiting for page proofs.

The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Welcome to the forty-fourth essay in my fifty-essay series on the art, craft, and occasional mild psychosis that is writing. For a series that started entirely by accident, it sure has lasted a long way. All fifty of these essays are based around my original fifty thoughts on writing, which were written in no particular order.

This explains a lot. Thanks for sticking it out this far. Our thought for today:

Thoughts on Writing #44: I Don't Gotta Like You To Love You.

Context is also love. Bearing that in mind, here's today's expanded thought:

You don't have to like your characters. You just have to stay true to your characters. I may not appreciate the fact that Shaun insults Mahir's wife on a daily basis, but it's what the character would do, and I'm not going to change him just because I don't approve of his behavior. Some people will assume you approve of everything your characters do. Try to learn tolerance. Also, don't punch them.

In the course of writing a story or book, authors will very often need to write about people they don't particularly like. Sometimes those people will be the heroes, sometimes they'll be the villains, and sometimes they'll just be spear-carriers, but they're going to exist. So how do we handle it? More, how do we handle the real people who assume that, just because we wrote about something, we must believe it/agree with it/support it in real life? It's time to talk about the times we clash with the people in our heads, and how we deal with all the consequences that come after.

Ready? Good. Let's begin.

( My thoughts are not your thoughts; my process is not your process; my ideas are not your ideas; my method is not your method. All these things are totally right for me, and may be just as totally wrong for you. So please don't stress if the things I'm saying don't apply to you -- I promise, there is no One True Way. This way for my thoughts on fighting with your imaginary friends.Collapse )