Tough Love

Yesterday's crit group crucixion--painful as ever, but it was one of those sessions where a lightbulb went off in my head that will affect my writing positively from here on out.

I attempted two things with this story: (a) to finally break down whatever wall that's prevented me from writing something connected to my Asian-American experience ( as well as develop another niche to pimp out my stories) and (b) to write about a fascinating sub-culture that I've only a passing familiarity with.

How did I do, according to my critique group?

FTW

• Set-up was "intriguing"
• Usual compliment re: my "hip rhythm," esp. w/dialogue
• A sci-fi story w/a lot of tech stuff, but still about people/characters having to make particular choices.
• One reader got "everything I need to know about the [protagonist's] family [of origin] dynamic."

Fail!

• (From the tech guy in the group, keeping me honest) Nix the term "RFID," which is already dated (my story takes place, oh, about 15 minutes in the future).
• Need to be clearer what I'm talking about when I make other references (e.g. to cochlear implants, etc.)
  
• Not really clear how pervasive and powerful the tech is that I'm writing about.
• Protagonist's motivations unclear--is what the protagonist doing legal? How does he feel about the world he's about to step into? Why's he stepping into it? (Grrr!)
  
• Short debate about expanding/expounding on technical descriptions but being careful not to do that at the expense of character.
• The most helpful comment and the one I'll take to heart for the rest of forever: To make the world of my story as clear as I made the protagonist's family-of-origin dynamic!

Duh! Not that I didn't know I should do that, but it helps to have an example to point to in my head.

"All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit"

• 09:01 Looking at yesterday's 1.1k words. Need at least one scene more for crit group today. #wip #
• 09:27 Last min crit-group writing playlist: my British Blue-Eyed Soul station on Pandora. #
• 09:50 Vid of last nite's @sufferjets bout. Man, that was fun! www.vimeo.com/5359976 #
• 16:34 Back from biweekly crit group evisceration. Painful but badly-needed feedback, as usual. Blow-by-blow to come.... #
• 16:42 W00t!! Since everything's signed and official, I can announce this: bit.ly/f5peK #blog #
• 19:18 Leave my Google Reader alone for 2 days and I've got 350+ unread items?? Oh, hell no. Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.... #
• 19:19 Time to finish cleaning out office closet. The one I made the mistake of telling gay coworkers about. /Still/ haven't heard the end of it. #
• 19:27 Closet Cleaning/Going In/Coming Out Playlist: Cole Porter--no, I mean CHICAGO XXXII:STONE OF SISYPHUS. #
• 21:10 Closet-cleaning experience: "Or I stumble through the doorway to space and time." #lyrics bit.ly/vv4YN #

Via LoudTwitter

"Signed, sealed, delivered/ I'm yours!"

Now that things are more or less confirmed, I can announce that my short story "Tough Love" will be published in the July issue of Reflection's Edge. That's in a couple of days! W00t!