We now pause for a word from our academic sponsor

[pbray]

Spending the weekend struggling with a scene in the WiP. I can pinpoint exactly what the problem is--I know too much, and am creating an infodump rather than a narrative. But so far each time I fix it, I merely find another place to put in a different infodump.

Reading: Finished CAST IN SECRET by Michelle Sagara yesterday. The third, and so far best book in the series. Though the tissue thin paper was a tad disconcerting--I was constantly afraid that I'd tear a page as I turned it.

Watching: Was lucky enough to stumble across the premiere of Torchwood on BBC America, and finally got to see what folks have been talking about.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I thought SECRET was the best so far, too! Yay! :)

I'm currently reading (well, LJ at this red-hot second, but) this book called THE SEA CHANGE by some lady called Patricia Bray. It starts off with a, uh, bang. O.O Must get my work done so I can go find out what happens. O.O

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Eek!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Just finished! *hops around* When's the next one out?! :)

I think I liked this one better than FIRST BETRAYAL, in fact, and you're building toward a hell of a crescendo. *rattles around impatiently*!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Phew, glad to hear that you liked it! I'm still too close to the project to make any rational judgments about it.

Next one is out late spring next year, I believe. Manuscript was turned in last month. And readers are in for a hell of a ride :-)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, also: donno if it might work for you, but I frequently infodump in the early chapters, then write it in again later as it becomes more relevant to the story. It helps me move forward rather than struggle with making those early scenes perfect. I find it much easier to cut it out after the fact. (arcaedia is forever telling me, when I turn in proposals, "Sounds pretty good, except it's kind of an infodump there, maybe you should do something about that." :))

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hee, suspect I'll be hearing the same from her :-)

So far I've decided just to keep infodumping and then see how things look when I've assembled a few chapters.

[larryhammer]

I liked the first Torchwood episode, but the next couple are, for a lack of a better word, incredibly trashy.

---L.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Agreed on Torchwood, alas...

Also just finished Sea Change :-). Loved it. Can't wait for the next!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind words on The Sea Change.

I'll admit the preview they showed for episode 2 of Torchwood was a bit off-putting... does it get better after the first few?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

So, does it get better? Or are the raves that I heard an example of a mass delusions?

[larryhammer]

Beats me -- I've only watched 4 episodes, each progressively worse. The fourth one, with a cyberman left over from the Dr. Who season climax, was actively wretched (script, costuming, direction, acting, and all).

---L.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

::adds Michelle Sagara to library list::

::bethinks self of belated online book order including The Sea Change::

::goes to check::

;^)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yes, you must pick up Michelle Sagara's books :-)

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

And it turns out she's in Toronto! And works (or used to work) at Bakka! Which means I may actually have met her, and not realized it ...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hee, small world, isn't it?

She's been writing for a number of years--she did a series that was published by Del Rey in the early 1990s that I really liked, but didn't publish again as Sagara until this Luna series. When the first one came out I was thrilled, and then finally figured out that when Michelle Sagara had disappeared off the shelves she'd actually reappeared as Michelle West, and I hadn't connected the two.