first of all, late thanks to lily_sword (I don't know if she wanted her real name mentioned here ) and to Rachel (_solstice_) for casually asking in e-mails about progress with Honest John. those really encouraged me to go back to working on it ( Read more... )

holy Shakti! have a look at the Wikipedia entry for a YA entitled The Wish List. so what do have going on here? coincidental or not-so-coincidental parallel plots ( Read more... )

tonight on a whim I painted a painting. at the Out of the Blue Deborah told me about someone who said he wanted four or five paintings of apples by two day from now. for what reason he didn't say. she seemed to think he had money ( Read more... )

yesterday I figured how part of Honest John fits together. rather than having a post given to him by others, John has made an unwise vow, and has to live up to it. this solves a major plot problem. Moon won't think she has the curse, she knows she doesn't. that does soften her as a character. this may change, perhaps he persuades her after all, but ( Read more... )

after getting home and wasting time online for hours as usual, I ended up tinkering a little with I had read aloud that night, starting a "new" (planned in my head) and deciding that Honest John had a very good reason to do something other than the plot had said. that explained why, when I had started to write a previous scene, it had felt false ( Read more... )

a few questions about Honest John...

( regarding Moon and how she can not work and where she lives )

in case any aspects of the book sound familiar, the lyrics that largely inspired it. "sensitive" 1970's songwriting. also Beetlejuice and the brilliant, great, Peter S. Beagle novel A Fine and Private Place. all stories about ghosts. despite my sarcasm I actually do like and feel moved by this song. I first heard this at a young enough age that the ( Read more... )

the protagonist of Honest John lives in the small fishing village of Spray, she has a ghost for a friend (she can see ghosts), she doesn't work (how this can happen, I don't know), spiteful, angry, graceful, outdoorsy. can anyone think of a good name for her other than Moon?

I just wrote the first meeting between Honest John and Moon and I think that I have gotten his voice exactly right. I don't mean this ironically when I say that feeling bitter and depressed makes it much easier to get inside the headspaces of these characters. both of them outsiders, just different kinds. truthfully, I realized that a lot of the ( Read more... )

right at the moment I mainly want to write dialogue for Honest John that doesn't sound like me trying to copy a fairly lovable rogue (as _solstice_ said) like the character from a Charles de Lint paperback ("ooh, I travelled the roads all me life, blah blah blah...") I skimmed through once or like Captain Jack Sparrow ( Read more... )