My WIP had the working title of "Gangster Gothic" the first draft. "Hardboiled Gothic" the second draft.
The third draft is going to be titled: "Shadows over Summer House," with the tagline "A Hardboiled Gothic novel."
It literally is half hard-boiled heist story and half Gothic romance, including a big, mysterious Victorian Mansion.
But it is also probably neither. I worry that those who like one genre will be turned off by the other genre.
But it is meshing so well that it is meant to be, I figure.
My hard-boiled stuff is probably silly. I mean, it feels kind of dated even as I write it, but that's the "tone" I'm looking for. Set in current times, but with a fifties hard-boiled feel. Probably not enough blood and gore.
The Gothic romance is probably incredibly tame by today's standards. Probably not enough sex.
But I really like the mix; it isn't awkward at all.
Trying to work out the timing of the coming chapters. For once, it might do me some good to diagram them out a little.
I worry a little that I'm enjoying myself so much that I'm settling into this world a little too much. I never want my pacing to be slow; I don't want to bore people. Then again, I'm enjoying fleshing out things, making the world a little more real, the characters a little more full.
This truly is a fantasy for me. I'm the main narrator to this particular story so in a sense I'm living it. Of course, I'm in no way similar to the protagonist, except in my dreams.
Which is the point.
Someone on Facebook asked what weakness you worry most about in your writing.
I think mine is pacing.
On one hand I want to develop and flesh out my story. On the other hand, the worse crime is to be boring.
I can't account for how people read books, though. I've recommended books that people have come back and said they got bored. If people can be bored by "Snow Crash" or Heinlein juveniles, well, I just have to throw up my hands.
I think there has been a change from when I was a kid. Younger readers don't seem to have the patience that we had. I don't know. I can't prove it.
But just look at the pacing of movies and TV and figure the same thing is probably happening in writing. Cecil B. DeMille movies are glacial in pacing say, compared to Spielberg, and that's not even going into M. Bay movies (which I loath by the way.)
But I still enjoy a nicely developed spun out story. I truly believe that more development, the bigger the payoff.
The third draft is going to be titled: "Shadows over Summer House," with the tagline "A Hardboiled Gothic novel."
It literally is half hard-boiled heist story and half Gothic romance, including a big, mysterious Victorian Mansion.
But it is also probably neither. I worry that those who like one genre will be turned off by the other genre.
But it is meshing so well that it is meant to be, I figure.
My hard-boiled stuff is probably silly. I mean, it feels kind of dated even as I write it, but that's the "tone" I'm looking for. Set in current times, but with a fifties hard-boiled feel. Probably not enough blood and gore.
The Gothic romance is probably incredibly tame by today's standards. Probably not enough sex.
But I really like the mix; it isn't awkward at all.
Trying to work out the timing of the coming chapters. For once, it might do me some good to diagram them out a little.
I worry a little that I'm enjoying myself so much that I'm settling into this world a little too much. I never want my pacing to be slow; I don't want to bore people. Then again, I'm enjoying fleshing out things, making the world a little more real, the characters a little more full.
This truly is a fantasy for me. I'm the main narrator to this particular story so in a sense I'm living it. Of course, I'm in no way similar to the protagonist, except in my dreams.
Which is the point.
Someone on Facebook asked what weakness you worry most about in your writing.
I think mine is pacing.
On one hand I want to develop and flesh out my story. On the other hand, the worse crime is to be boring.
I can't account for how people read books, though. I've recommended books that people have come back and said they got bored. If people can be bored by "Snow Crash" or Heinlein juveniles, well, I just have to throw up my hands.
I think there has been a change from when I was a kid. Younger readers don't seem to have the patience that we had. I don't know. I can't prove it.
But just look at the pacing of movies and TV and figure the same thing is probably happening in writing. Cecil B. DeMille movies are glacial in pacing say, compared to Spielberg, and that's not even going into M. Bay movies (which I loath by the way.)
But I still enjoy a nicely developed spun out story. I truly believe that more development, the bigger the payoff.