I Love Gryffins!

Laura Highcove

I have loved gryffins pretty much my entire life. While I love mythological creatures in general, gryffins have always held a special place in my heart.

One of the first fantasy books I ever picked up for myself was The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey. It’s possible that part of the reason I loved it so much were the illustrations at the beginning of every chapter of the main characters. I will often pick up a book series just because it features gryffins. I’ve had varying levels of success with this, but I am always happy when a gryffin shows up in a book/movie unexpectedly.

So what is a gryffin? Wikipedia gives a good enough explanation. Basically, a gryffin is a magical creature that has the body of a lion, the wings, head, and front feet of an eagle. Some have feathered ears (I prefer it this way), some don’t have the front feet of the eagle and instead continue with lion for the whole body.

Two things influenced the way I saw gryffins early in my career. One is that there seems to be no ‘right’ way of spelling gryffin, and tons of ‘correct’ ways. As such, I decided to spell it gryffin because I like the letter ‘y’ (I think, perhaps, because it was the only ‘vowel’ in my last name growing up.) and I also liked the look of the double ‘f’ over the ‘ph’. As such: gryffin.

The second was Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series, in which the main character, Kel, is forced to raise a baby gryffin for a while. When the parents finally come to get the baby, they give Kel some of their feathers which give truesight. I latched onto this idea of gryffins being the embodiment of truth as well as protectors (usually of treasure, but I took liberties with that.)

This is much of the way gryffins are portrayed in The Law of the Prince Charming’s world. Gryffins (Though we only meet one in the book.) have the Laws of Truth and Protection, as well as Wings and Wind. Though none of my other books have really made it ‘out there’, they tend to always have a gryffin in them somewhere. In fact, the first story I ever wrote that made it to 100 pages in a word document (I didn’t know about counting words back then) was about gryffins.

Stay tuned for more pictures (and explanations) of the gryffins I have collected. I have lots.

My Favorite Supporting Character Archetypes

Laura Highcove 1 Comment

DIY MFA Book Club, Prompt #7: What’s your favorite supporting character archetype and why?

My favorite supporting archetypes are the bff and the fool.

Most of my enjoyment out of books comes from interpersonal relationships. I love it when two people, or a group of people, come together to form a team based on mutual respect and trust. Bonus points if they really didn’t get along to begin with. That’s why I love the bff (best friends forever) archetype. Most of the main characters in my books end up in relationships like this just because I love it so much.

I am also a huge fan of the fool. For those who don’t know, the fool is the opposite of what you expect from the name. It’s a character put in the story to tell the truth, the way things actually are. Often times they have some sort of information the main character(s) don’t. The favorite example I have from my own stories is Chae. Despite being young, his particular abilities lend themselves to understanding far more than he should at his age.

Removing a Character

Laura Highcove

So after two more weeks of tracking how much time I spend on my writing, I am much happier with my productivity during the week. I am better able to stay on track and I spent more hours working on writing. However, weekends gave me trouble. I don’t have a particular block carved out on weekends because they can be so variable. What this means is while I get writing done, I have dropped the ball on more than one occasion on actually writing down the hours spent and on what.

Added to that the change in schedule caused by some news I got on Tuesday (more details about that in my newsletter this month.) and the Roanoke Regional Writer’s Conference I went to this past Saturday, meaning I’m taking today off, my spreadsheet is nowhere near as beautiful as I would like.

However, I have been feeling productive. (And I think I have been, despite not having all of the cold hard data to back it up.) Being able to look back and see: “Oh yeah, I actually spent an hour and a half smoothing the Huntsman.” Does wonders for dispelling my mind trying to tell me I’m slacking off too much.

I’ll likely keep trying with the spreadsheets and see if I can’t get writing down my time to be more habitual, since it’s something I would like to keep up with.

The “event on Tuesday” also lead to a change in priorities that means I got very little done with the Huntsman. That in itself wouldn’t be horrible except that that morning I had finally decided to pull the plug and yank a (fairly) main character out. So not only did I get less done, I had just given myself more work.

So this journal entry is my reset point for my goals. I need to remove the character from the manuscript, and finish smoothing it out by the end of the month, which is only a week and a half. Looks like that’s most of what I’m going to be doing during this time.

Review: Oathbringer

Laura Highcove

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

My basic summary: In a world plagued by regular hurricane-like storms and made mostly of stone, our intrepid heroes (Established in the first two books) continue on their path to try and reform the Knights Radiant. This book focuses on Dalinar and his purposely hidden back-story as he leads the charge with the Knights Radiant, tries to bring together the monarchs of the world, and figure out who he is, all while exploring a ancient city none of them understands. Then they find out who they’re really fighting.

Why I picked up this book: It was written by Brandon Sanderson.

What I knew going in: I knew Oathbringer was going to focus on Dalinar.

My response: Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Because of its length, I had to read this book over a much longer time period than I usually read books, and as such I think I had far more time to mull over what I was reading before I was finished. This resulted in my stepping back and seeing the writing more than with other books. (Well I suppose it could also be that this book was more poorly written and thus more transparent, but I’d rather liken it to my being more aware of writing instead.)

There were certainly some plot choices where they left me scratching my head, and others that made perfect sense. As always, the climax pulled everything together pretty perfectly. And I am so happy with where Adolin’s story arc is going. I was really worried about him after the end of Words of Radiance.

Also, because these books are so large, I made sure to mark places I wanted to go back to before I left them because I don’t see a world in which I have time to read these monsters more than once. Though most of these were for picking apart his writing at a later date.

Sanderson also did some beautiful things regarding depression and ones view of themselves in this book that brought me to tears. Nothing heavy-handed, but just a reminder that we humans always feel so alone and yet there are other people out there who have experienced what you have.

Will I pick up the next book: While I know it will be at least two years, yes. And I am following details about it closely. (Though truthfully, I am following details about most all of his books and their release schedule.)

“Best Practices” That Didn’t Work for Me

Laura Highcove 2 Comments

DIY MFA Book Club, Prompt #5: What’s one “best practice” that didn’t work for you?

I have a number of these “best practices” that just don’t work for me. I’ve learned to take any and all advice with a grain of salt, even the ones that seem so ubiquitous that there’s no way it isn’t true, like: “Write every day.” So let’s start there.

“Write every day.” – or, you know, on a schedule that works for you

I don’t write every day. I take Fridays off and other days when things are busy. For me, it was just important to set up a schedule and put aside time to write. When holidays roll around, or other “disruptive events”, I honor my reality and take off the days I need to.

I also don’t necessarily write new words every day. Much of my process involves rewriting over and over (I call this ‘smoothing’.). Some days I *have to* reorganize what I’ve already written before I can move forward with the story. That means sometimes I end up with far fewer words than I started the day with, and yet what I have is better.

“Stop writing when you’re on a roll.” – unless that means you lose momentum

The idea here is supposed to be if you stop in the middle of the action, when you sit down to write the next time, you’ll be able to pick up where you left off more easily. This one got me into trouble a few times because when I tried it, I found that the way my mind works is that once I lose an idea, it’s often gone completely. So I would be writing toward a goal, stop in the middle, and when I sat down the next day I would have literally no idea where I was headed. (Occupational hazard for discovery writers more than plotters.)

I have learned that I need to stop and write ideas, even in the middle of an ongoing scene, or else I will often forget it by the time I get done. And I always finish a scene, or at least a thought before I stop writing for the day. I’m learning to identify my natural lulls, which normally means it’s a good time to stop if I need a stopping point.

“Ignore your inner critic.” – when it’s a good idea

This is a tough one. Because a lot of times you do need to ignore the critic in order to move forward, and not get bogged down. But as you develop more skill writing, sometimes it is important to listen to this critic.

An example: I’ve been struggling with my most recent novel, a book two. I have a character in it that I absolutely love, but my inner critic kept telling me she was superfluous. I kept convincing myself that everything would come together with her eventually.

I finally had to admit that I needed to listen to my inner critic and get rid of this character completely. Her being gone left the main character more time to interact with the other characters, strengthening their relationships and tightening the plot. And truthfully, it’s better that I got rid of her now before I wove her throughout the entire story and made her even harder to take out.

“The only best practice is the one that works best for you.” – period

Luckily I had DIY MFA around to remind me of this one. And truthfully, now I roll my eyes whenever I heard an author say the best advice they have is to ‘write every day’. I would encourage you, as you grow more skilled at writing, to practice saying, “Something that has worked for me is …” Because there really is no advice that works for everyone, but there are people out there who will gain benefit from what you’ve learned works for you.

Storytelling Superpower

Laura Highcove

DIY MFA Book Club, Prompt #3: What’s Your Storytelling Superpower?

Result: The Protector

Your superpower is writing superheroes! Your favorite characters see their world in danger and will do whatever it takes to protect it and those they love in it. These characters may not wear spandex and capes, but they show almost superhuman fortitude in their quest to prevent disaster, whatever the cost to themselves. From Scarlett O’Hara to James Bond to Iron Man, you’re drawn to characters who stand up to the forces of evil and protect what they believe in.

Yeah, it fits pretty well for me, the Protector, as well as what I like to write about. My current book series is about a prince charming, who is a girl, and she is always doing whatever she can to protect the people around her. (If you’re interested in reading more about her, you can get a free chapter here.) The theme has come up often in past book attempts as well.

I (the author) like other people and so my characters and themes in my story usually revolve around people all wanting to protect each other in some way. I don’t usually like stories where people betray each other a lot (not that my characters won’t ever do that) or tend to mistrust persistently. I love to see the interactions among people who love and/or trust each other.

The other results for the Storytelling Superpower (I keep trying to type storyteller, because my book has storytellers in it. :p), in case you’re curious are: The Instigator, the Underdog, and the Survivor. You can probably sort of guess as to their meanings from the names, but if you’re interested scroll down on this page and they’re all listed out.

I am also a survivor. Which comes in handy for being an author. 🙂

Honoring My Reality

Laura Highcove 2 Comments

A prompt from the DIY MFA Book Club: Tell a story about a time when you had to honor your reality. Has there ever been a moment when writing felt completely incompatible with your real life–when it felt like there was just no way you could make the two exist together?

The problem I have with honoring my reality doesn’t come from a feeling of being unable to make my life and my writing coexist. Writing has always been a natural part of my life, completely intertwined. If life gets too busy, I stop writing and take care of it, and then I drift back to my writing naturally.

My problem comes from trying to determine the balance between my life and my writing now that I have a goal of being professionally published. I have a hard time figuring out how much time I “need” to spend writing vs how much time I “need” to spend relaxing.

When you have a boss who is not yourself, the appropriate amount of hours/effort is determined by someone else. You know that you work from 9 to 5, with a break for lunch, or that you have certain tasks that need to be done before you leave. You know (if your boss is any good) what is expected and how much of it.

My own hours/goals are defined by …whatever I think is manageable, or what I think I should be doing. Sometimes it’s reasonable, and sometimes I overestimate what I’m able to do. The variability and the fact that I’m the one that sets my schedule makes it very hard to be able to define the amount of work I do as ‘enough’.

There are certainly days where I convince myself that I’ve done enough when I really just want to read a new book, or play another level in a video game. There are other days that no matter how much I write, my mind tells me: ‘well I could be writing right now’ or ‘did I really get enough writing done today?’.

And at those times I try and remind myself to honor my reality. That I need time to write, and I need time to relax. It doesn’t always work. While I’ve never worried that I won’t have time for writing, finding the happy balance between work and rest is an ongoing struggle.

My Origin Story

Laura Highcove 2 Comments


A prompt from the DIY MFA Book Club:

Writing is a superpower and every superhero has an origin story. What’s yours? When did you realize that you wanted to write? What motivated you to get started?

I’m not sure that I can hone in on the exact moment where I remember thinking ‘Now I want to write’. I have just always written. It was as natural to me as breathing, and in fact it was not until much later in life that I realized other people *didn’t* write like I did.

However, the first memory I have surrounding writing, is about a story I wrote a long time ago called Cottontails Big Adventure. Why yes, I do still have the story and yes, you can read it. It has pictures!

Cottontails Big Adventure

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8

The thing I remember specifically about this story is that when I killed off the antagonist at the end of the story by having him fall in a lake and drown, the wonderful teacher that I had praised my originality. She told me it was very creative that my characters didn’t just end up getting along for no reason at the end of the story. (Which apparently many of my classmates had happen. I swear I don’t remember what grade I was in when I wrote this.)

That praise is the thing I remember most. It’s possible that after that is when I started writing more stories, or maybe this was just one in a line of stories I wrote that didn’t survive until today. All I know is that this story helped to define a lifetime of writing.

Starting the New Year Cold

Laura Highcove

Hello and Happy New Year! I do not have any New Year’s Resolutions to report. I am, however, very glad that we are out of this cold snap. I am continuing on in my writing journey in much the same fashion as last year in that I and evaluating what is and isn’t working every week or so and changing things up as needed.

And this week is no exception. A few weeks ago I saw a friend post about a time tracking program she was using to see how productive she is. I decided it might behoove me to check and see how productive I actually am, since I often don’t feel productive just because I don’t spend every waking moment on my writing.

So for the past two weeks I’ve been just (trying) to record my time I spent on what. Part of the problem was remembering to write down my start and end times. This was the time between (roughly) 2 and 5 pm Mon – Thurs and /shrug on weekends. My plan was to do my best to not change my habits and to just record what I was doing.

First week:

19.5 hours
33% of my time was spent on “writing” activities. Either writing, revision, or smoothing. Anything that is actual work on one of my stories.
44% of my time was spent on “Professional development” things, this includes my social media presence, stuff dealing with agents, and any books that I read.
23% was “other” which is cleaning my house, taking breaks, and playing video games.

Yeah, I was rather disappointed with myself, even though this was supposed to be a fact finding mission. So this past week I tried to focus a little more on doing more writing/professional development, even though I still didn’t give myself any hard-set goals.

Second week:

18.5 hours
62% Writing
27% ProDev
10% Other

Which I am much happier with. And now that I’ve seen the general shape of my working habits, now I’m ready to start setting some goals for myself.

I would like to have is 20 hours a week (a part time jobs’ worth) of time spent on Writing, Reading, and ProDev. Not that I won’t take breaks in my day, but overall time spent should be 20 hours a week. That should boil down to 3 hours a day Mon – Thurs and 3.5 each Sat and Sun. At least approximately. It’s also possible for me to make up time on the weekends, most of the time, but any travel or events will throw a wrench in that. I’ll just have to see how it goes.

Goals:

1) I’ll be done with my last polish of The Law of the Prince Charming before Sunday. It will then be sent to my hubby for his read-through. Once I incorporate anything he finds, it will sit around waiting for some lucky agent to request it.

2) I am doing a smoothing pass of the Huntsman with the new changed beginning. I want to have that done by the end of the month in order to send to alpha reader(s). The goal for this week is just to get through a chapter a day., which could either be easy or hard based on how much I have to rewrite.

Review: Jade City by Fonda Lee

Laura Highcove

Jade City by Fonda Lee

My summary:

On an island nation where jade (the stone) gives magical powers to those sensitive to it, clans fight for territory, honor, and jade. Lan inherits the position of Pillar (Leader-man of his clan) from an ailing grandfather who has dementia and doesn’t want to let go. He’s supported by his brother Hilo, who is his Horn (Lead fighty-man for the clan) and a hot-head. His sister Shae comes back after time spent abroad (which was not looked on favorably by the family) and refuses to get involved in the clan and wear her jade. Lan struggles to earn respect in his position, and then he finds out his Weather Man (Business-man for the clan) may be conversing with an enemy clan.

Why I picked up this book:

Truthfully? I saw enough ads for it. And I read this which got me involved in the story around the book as well.

What I knew going in:

Asian style story involving family, honor, and magic. Which, let’s be honest, is all on the front cover.

My response:

Overall a good read, though nothing mind blowing. I gave it three stars. It has a steep learning curve (ie: There is a *lot* of vocabulary to learn.) and it took a while to get used to that, added to the fact that people can be referred to by first or last name. It has all the feel of a culture where family is *everything* and honor fills in whatever gaps are left.

I stopped to think about my favorite character in Jade City and in my mind I said: “Well I love Anden, and Lan, oh and Shae, and I really like Hilo …isn’t that like, all the main characters?”

As per usual, I love seeing strong relationships between characters and them being loyal to each other. There were enough un-reasonable people around to keep things interesting, but even the “bad guys” aren’t just bad. They’re all real characters and have legit motivations for what they’re doing, which I appreciate.

Will I pick up the next book:

I’m not waiting on bated breath, but I will if I see it.