I'll say it: it's been almost ten months since I posted on this blog. (But I did do a guest blog over here, so that must count for something.) That's a little ridiculous, I'm very sorry for that. But in my defense, I didn't have any brilliant ideas, so why force it? I still don't have any brilliant ideas, but I had a tolerable one so we can deal with that.
Fun fact you may or may not know about me: I'm in the process of writing a novel.
Follow up fun fact: I've been planning and working on this novel for something like ten years.
"But Elizabeth," you say. "Practically everyone I know is working on a novel. What makes your novel plans any different than theirs?"
Stubbornness, that's what. It may take me another decade or so, but I will get this novel done if it kills me.
Actually I'm not trying to say that my novel is more important or better than the ones your other friends are writing. In reality, I like to think of myself as the happy middle ground between literary-gold and please-stop-writing. I don't have high minded dreams of a best seller or a movie contract. (But I'm not gonna say no if they ask, you know what I mean?)
For me what it all comes down to is this: I've had characters developing in my head for over a decade now and their story desperately needs to be told. They're wonderful people. For some kids they probably could have been called imaginary friends, but I was a strange kid who didn't believe in having daydreams involving myself so I daydreamed about characters instead. So I know them like the back of my hand but they're not really my friends. Each of them is some important part of me, manifesting itself as a philosophy professor or a skater chick or a surly teenage guy.
"Okay, Elizabeth," you say. "Why exactly are you bringing up this 'fun fact' anyway?"
Good question. The short answer is: it was a random idea that struck me and I ran with it.
But I never stop at the short answer.
The long answer relates to the fact that I am a rare breed known as an Extroverted Writer. By this made-up term, I'm simply referencing the fact that almost all of my writer friends are introverts. I'm the odd one out. I'm sure this has lots of interesting effects on my writing, but the one that troubles me most often is my need for an audience. I absolutely have to have someone ready and willing to read what I'm writing or I have no reason to write. This is also why I can't journal. The idea of a potential audience does nothing. I need friends pestering me. And they can't be pestering me on principle, they have to be excited about what I'm actually working on.
As you can see, it's amazing I get any writing done. (I do have some wonderful friends who have obliged and are enthusiastic fans).
Despite this need for an audience, I am terrible at trying to acquire one. People ask me about my novel and I go "That information is on a need to know basis." They ask for general information and I waffle a bit, deciding if it sounds stupid when I explain it out loud. Heaven forbid you ask for specific details, because then I'll just tell you they're spoilers and you'll have to wait and figure out. I think that even by average author standards I'm pretty bad and the average author lives by this principle:
So here you are, a group of people who are willing to read my writing whenever I get around to a blog post. You might be willing to read a novel if I wrote it, right? But I guess you won't be able to begin to answer that question unless you have some sort of idea what I'm writing.
So down here, at the end of this longer-than-it-should-have-been-as-always blog post, I'm making you an offer. I'm making it down here because it means you actually bothered to read all the way through so you're more deserving than most. If you 1. Would be willing to read a work of fiction of significant length written by yours truly (aka: a piece of my soul) 2. Would like to help me finish a project I've been working on since middle school. 3. Are just a curious sort of person in general.
If you meet any of those criteria, you have my permission to ask me any question you like about my novel. This includes those people who already know about it and have been pestering me for answers for ages. This includes the people who don't have the faintest idea of what I'm writing (it's not fantasy, I'll tell you that much). This includes anyone who stumbles across this blog and has no idea who I am. You're free to ask me anything. I'll do my best to actually answer the questions, but I'm not promising to never withhold information on the basis of spoilers. There's a comment section here on the blog. There's a comment section when I post it on Facebook. Don't be shy.
But also don't feel terrible if you look at the various comment sections and nobody asks any questions. I can survive on trolling my existing audience. I just figured I could give them a break.
