winterrosewriter

[winterrosewriter]

A thing I'm constantly thinking about since I read gaysandcrime's excellent fic i am a forest fire: in the book, after his confession, the narrator never properly examines the notion that Maxim is a murderer. She completely skips over it, not even seeming to hear him, just immediately focusing on the other part of his statement, that he loves her and not Rebecca.

How she feels about this news separate from everything else just...doesn't get discussed or thought about. She immediately decides to help him, love him, lie for him if need be. I do agree that Maxim has been subjected to emotional abuse by Rebecca (see @conquerthenight's excellent essay post on the topic for more) It's just a really interesting omission and one I'm thinking through as I work on my most recent AU fic, which is an idea I'm shocked not to have seen before: what if Rebecca actually was pregnant?

(I may come back to this post when I am less tired and have more to say about it...)

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Went diving in my drafts folder, so now I'm hyped on ideas, some of which are very old. I'm writing again, yay!

(On the other hand I have way too many ideas...time to get finishing!)

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"I don't like other people touching my things. And you're mine, aren't you, Danny?" (x)

[winterrosewriter]

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.

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regarding used bookstores, here is what i hope

So, as you all might expect due to how much I can't stop obsessing over Rebecca, I love to read. As a result, I have a lot of books. Not as many as some people, but more than people who don't read. Probably around 150, in a big tall bookcase with glass doors.

Lately, I have wanted to own fewer books. I think I got to the point, especially during the pandemic, where the bookshelves became pretty decor, instead of carefully curated reading material.

I kept a lot of children's books I loved. Lots of classics, Fantasy. Signed books. Young adult. You get the idea.

Anyway, last weekend, I went through the books, and bagged up around 60 to pass on to a used bookstore. It's funny, because deciding what to pass on wasn't even that difficult. I asked myself: Am I going to read this again? Have I read this? Did I really, truly love this? Will I be sad if this is not here anymore?

I kept this a pretty quick pass. A lot of the children's fiction that I loved but was ready to move on from went. Some grammar books. Some nonfiction. Some adult fiction. I had read all but one of them. (The exception was Philippa Gregory's Virgin Earth, for the record, because blarg on her historical fiction. Why I picked that up, I don't know.)

I am very pleased I did this. I still have books, just less of them.

I even passed on my Daphne du Maurier omnibus (Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek). It has a scene from 1979 Rebecca on the cover (imo the best version hands down) but I just didn't feel like I needed to keep it anymore. And that feels great. If I don't want something anymore, that means someone else can find enjoyment in it.

I could tell the used bookstore owner didn't really want my books, though he did take them in the end. This bookstore is the kind of old-timey store that writers especially love. It's the kind of store where, if you have the patience and the time, you will wander for a while and then you will randomly find a book that turns out to be excellent and you will wonder at how you found it at all.

There were tons of books in this store, Boxes of books on the floor. Tables full. Piles on the floor. Just books everywhere. When we left, the books I gave them were still in bags on the floor. I can understand why the owner was reluctant.

It can be really hard to know where to take used books. Most are not worth much (if anything). Some libraries don't want books at all. Little free libraries are often full. I don't know a lot of other readers in real life. So, I went with the used bookstore.

When I was a kid, people would give me bookstore gift cards and I would never know what to pick out. My dad resorted once to picking books out for me, telling me they all looked great.

So, here is what I hope:

I hope this store has regulars to pore through the new books people like me bring in. I hope they find something interesting and new and exciting.

I hope a father brings in his 11-year-old daughter because she loves to read, but never knows what to get, and I hope he picks up some of the great children's fiction I hung onto for too long for her, and says, "This looks great! How about this?"

I hope other readers find my books. And yours. And everyone else's. And I hope they enjoy the stories we all have to share.

[winterrosewriter]

Posted my first ever fic deliberately on ao3! (Same username) It's not the start of the series for Rebecca I've alluded to on here before, but a quick oneshot. Excited regardless!

[winterrosewriter]

Emilia Fox as Mrs. de Winter in - ‘Rebecca' 

[winterrosewriter]

✨ Writing slowly does not make your a bad writer.

✨ Needing to do a lot of editing on your writing does not make you a bad writer.

✨ People expressing dislike of the themes and ideas in your writing does not make you a bad writer.

✨ Writing about ideas that have been written about before does not make you a bad writer.

✨ It's okay to take it slow. It's okay to need to edit a lot. It's okay if some people don't like your themes or ideas. It's okay if your work is not completely "original"-- no one's is.

✨ Don't let yourself or other people discourage you from writing.

✨ Don't give up on your writing!

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one thing at a time. one chore, one assignment, one task, one day. one at a time and go from there. breathe. you can do this- this one thing.

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It's a lot healthier to go for a daily walk than to sign up for a gym membership you won't be using because you hate that kind of exercise. It's a lot healthier to eat a frozen meal than to skip a meal because you were too tired to cook something healthy. It's a lot healthier to take a quick shower than to procrastinate an elaborate routine for days. Don't aim so high that you won't be hitting anything!

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Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:

In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.

A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.

In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.

[winterrosewriter]

I’m increasingly worried by all the people on my dash calling themselves insane for loving stories in the way humans have loved stories our whole history. “The brain rot is spreading” — you mean you were changed by art? “I’m not normal about this” — you were moved by it? You felt human emotions about it? “I’m about to be so annoying” — you’re going to talk about art? You’re going to be passionate? You’re going to think deeply about it? You’re going to feel love for the work of someone’s soul? You are not a consumer and art is not a product to be casually used! You are a human and stories are the beating heart of our humanity! You must feel everything and you must know that it is normal!

[winterrosewriter]

*cries into the ether*

I'm writing! I'm actually putting words on the page! Good ones! Huzzah!

in hopes that the ether continues to send me good vibes

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I’m minding my own business with my writing wips in various stages and such, when a totally new, very exciting idea drops into my head. Now I’m daydreaming a modern Maxim/Ich AU, with niche bookshops and art galleries and a Ben and Ich who are best friends. Thanks brain. I needed some comfort today. :)

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I feel goddamned awkward this week in literally all of my social interactions. Thanks, I hate it.

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Me: *typing the name Alexandra for an innocuous, work-related reason*

My brain: Hey, wouldn't that be a good first name for Ich? Hmmm...

My brain: No, because her name, canonically, must be hard to spell and unusual. (But also lovely!)

I have never been able to come up with a name for her I actually like, and this is why writing about nameless characters in third person is hard.

Rebecca fans, what are your chosen Ich names?

(I did see the lovely du Maurier letter that was floating around a while ago. I like Gabrielle, but I have to wrap my brain around it a bit more.)