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1. What are you working on right now?

3. Why do you write what you do?

4. How does your writing process work? 

Fantasy and Science Fiction are Totally the Same Thing, Right?


Let me think about that question a little more.



Yeah. No. Not the same thing. Often lumped together (especially in book stores) but so not the same thing.

I don't write science fiction. I've never written science fiction. I might, on occasion, read a book that could be qualified as science fiction light.

I write, read, live, love, breathe fantasy. Have for very nearly all of my life, and don't see that changing anytime soon.

Why am I bringing this up? Because I was called a science fiction writer during a meeting at work today. (In a rather derogatory (and inaccurate) context to boot.)* And apparently I've made my views on this subject known to coworkers, friends, and family. Because as I corrected my coworker for making this false statement, so did several of the other people in the meeting.

Then I got back to my desk and my darling friend Taryn asked how the meeting was. Not long thereafter, my husband asked me the same question. Any of you ever have someone make a completely wrong statement about what you write/writing in general? Ever have them think you're crazy when you object, because really, they're totally the same thing, right?


*Additional note following a conversation I had about this post with Delia Moran: I would like to go on the record and state that I actually don't mind explaining the difference to people who actually care/simply didn't know/are interested and want to listen. What bothers me is when people think fantasy and science fiction are the same because they're both trash anyway. Just a bunch of useless words lumped together. So why bother differentiating? I must know I write the crappiest of crap, so why would that really matter to me? This is like when people ask me why I don't try writing a "real book." Not acceptable. So once more for the road: grrrrrrr.
Posted by Ashley Turcotte at 2:20 PM No comments: 

Why You Should Take A Break After Finishing A First Draft

What it probably actually looks like: Posted by Ashley Turcotte at 11:22 AM No comments: 


And now, without further ado, here's my entry!


If only the stone in her engagement ring had stayed gray. 

So did you ever come up with an idea for a novel, and you loved the idea, and you thought it could really go somewhere, but something about it just felt wrong? Like, not something small or easy (changing a character's name, or making some tweaks to the plot, etc.). Something BIG. And it's like it's there, just on the edge of your brain, and if you only concentrate hard enough, it'll come to you.

Except you spend hours, days, weeks basically going like this: And NOTHING! Absolutely nothing. So frustrating. So you put the story aside and you move on. Clearly, it's not going to happen with this one.

So you come up with some other new stories. For some of them, maybe you just write down a few sentences, because all you have is the basic premise. Something to let percolate and come back to later. Others, your brain is absolutely on fire and you write down plot and setting and character studies and maybe even start some chapters. But maybe your heart isn't in it. Because it's not the story you want to write. So you start to act like this: And you sigh a lot. And you worry that maybe you're going to get frown lines. And then you actually do get worry lines from all the worrying about frown lines. And you have absolutely no idea what you're going to do because everything ever is wrong.

Until you're driving to work one day, listening to the Rock of Ages soundtrack, and suddenly, you're all, "I've just had an apostrophe." And Captain Hook says, "I think you mean an epiphany, Smee." Well, I mean, that was these guys: But whatever. Same difference. Suddenly, out of nowhere, while you're singing Don't Stop Believing (ironic, I know), you know exactly what was wrong. And you were right. It was a BIG thing. I'm talking you had the entirely wrong person as the main character big. But if you change it...oh, the possibilities! So you write down notes and ideas and bits of dialogue like an absolute mad woman because it's just flooding your brain, and you want to get it all down as quickly as you possibly can. Then you read over everything you just wrote and can't help but go: Which then makes you think of Doctor Who. Which only makes you even happier. And suddenly, that tarnished, old idea is shiny. Life is shiny.

Okay, I realize I probably got a bit too specific for this to apply to any of you. But, you know, if you take out the odd details, how about then? Ever go from confused and depressed to, "I'm brilliant!" in the space of a moment? Because that is one of my favorite parts of creative writing. That feeling of shiny elation when a plan comes together.
Posted by Ashley Turcotte at 10:40 AM 6 comments: 

A Bit of Humor

8yo neighbor girl: That's so pretty!

8yo neighbor girl: How long ago was that?

Me: Twenty-four years.

6yo neighbor boy: You're twenty-four years old?

Me: Twenty-eight, actually.

6yo neighbor boy: Were you one of the original pilgrims?

Me: -___- 


Click here to take the survey. 

On Bullies, Apologies, and Making A Real Difference
 

My Very First Blog Anniversary

Delia Moran 


So I'm very late on blogging about these. Several weeks ago, my wonderful and lovely friend Veronica Bartles nominated me for the One Lovely Blog award. Then a little over two weeks after that, my wonderful and lovely friend Delia Moran nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. So I'm lovely and versatile! Yay! And since both awards instructed me to reveal 7 interesting things about myself, I've decided to kind of cheat by combining them. Because I don't know that I can think of 14 interesting things on such short notice. Granted, short here means several weeks, but whatever. Here goes! Here are 7 completely random facts about me.

1. I love to bake. Especially pies. Naturally, I enjoy eating them myself. But even more than that, I enjoy giving them to other people. This is maybe a tad narcissistic of me, because my favorite part of baking is when other people tell me that it's the best pie they've ever eaten. Or that I should quit my job and open a bakery. This was especially exciting for me when I baked a mixed berry pie for Christmas with my father's extended family two years ago. Nothing from my childhood led them to believe I would have any skill at baking, and they were shocked when they tasted it. When they showed up the next year, every single one of them asked if I brought a pie.  :)

2. I have a very high tolerance for pain. My mother has informed me that I used to get these massive double ear infections when I was a young child, and I wouldn't say a word about them. Then all of a sudden the pain would get so bad that I would burst into tears or, on occasion, faint. Apparently, the doctor used to give her looks, thinking she was a terrible mother. (Sorry mom!) I've also been told that when I broke my arm (I was six), my mom noticed me frowning about five hours later and asked what was wrong. My response was, "My arm kinda hurts." And she took that to mean, "My arm is majorly broken. We need to go to the emergency room immediately." She was correct.

3. I don't like the vast majority of modern music. If you look at the CDs (yes, I still have CDs...I don't even like modern ways of listening to music!) in my car, I would venture to guess that 85% of them are Broadway/musical movie soundtracks, 10% of them are Disney, 4% of them are music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s, and that final 1% is music from this millennium.

4. I spent a large part of my childhood on a farm. This farm, to be specific. My grandparents lived there (my grandfather is a farmer) until I was 6 or so, and then built a beautiful home on the property behind it. Those two farms are my favorite places in the world. And it's because of my time there that no one in my father's family believed I could bake. I was always outside, climbing trees, wading through creeks, and just basically getting into trouble. (By that I mean disappearing for hours and making everyone worry, or getting things like poison ivy, Lyme disease, or rocky mountain spotted fever.) My sister was always the one who helped my grandmother in the kitchen/house.

5. For my 9th birthday, I desperately wanted a Felicity American Girl Doll. Instead, I ended up with one of those dolls who you get to look like you. Only I guess they didn't have curly hair as an option back then, because mine had straight hair. And I was upset about it for about 15 years. I don't mean to say that I literally thought about this doll for 15 years. But more like whenever I thought about American Girl Dolls (because I saw a store or a catalog, etc.), my resentment simmered. So then, 15 years later, I asked my mom to give me Felicity for Christmas. So yes, as a 24 year old, I asked my mommy to buy me a doll. And I've never regretted it.

6. One of my favorite activities is geocaching. If you don't know what this is, the tagline is that I use multi-billion dollar government satellites to find tupperware in the woods. Basically, it's like a treasure hunt. People hide things all over the world (there's also a cache on the International Space Station!), and post the coordinates online here. The "treasure" isn't usually anything special. Little plastic toys and the like. And sometimes, the cache is so small that no treasure will fit. I've found caches the size of a pencil eraser.

7. Since this is the last one, I'm going to give the most random fact I can think of. I have a great and resounding fear of static cling. Seriously. I carry around a dryer sheet in a ziplock bag everywhere I go. Then if my shirt gets all clingy with static, I wipe the dryer sheet around the inside of the shirt for a few seconds, and all is well in the world. My husband once had to look in my purse for something and saw my dryer sheet, and decided then and there that I was crazy. But I use it often enough that it's worth it to me. Though maybe taking it with me when I climbed a Mayan ruin was overkill.  ;)
Posted by Ashley Turcotte at 4:33 PM 6 comments: 


Okay, so I know my last post was a long time ago. Like, almost a month ago. Oops.

But I really did have good reason to be away! I went on a cruise, everyone! An incredibly awesome cruise to the Western Caribbean. My darling husband and I chose this cruise specifically because it stopped in Cozumel, Mexico, and an available excursion there was to visit the Coba Mayan ruins. It's a frickin 4,000+ year old Mayan pyramid, guys. And I didn't just get to see it. I got to climb it.

So yeah. That's what I've been up to. And I would've posted this shortly after returning, but I woke up sick the morning we left the ship. The flu. Blech. I missed almost another whole week of work, after taking a week of vacation. Not very fun. But totally worth it. I'd be willing to get the flu a dozen times if that's what it took to get me to that pyramid. We're talking bucket list stuff here, guys. Cross that one right off.
Posted by Ashley Turcotte at 10:05 AM 2 comments: