Month: June 2015

Flame-Con report!

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment
As you may have heard, Riptide Publishing was at Flame-Con in NYC on Saturday. And so I was there as well! 
It was in an OLD building and had ONE elevator…the oldest elevator in Brooklyn. It was hand operated. It was NOT ideal for getting vendors with lots of stuff into the room they needed to go (or out of, at the end of the day). The vendors were also in the greenhouse, so it was hot. Like, sweat-pouring-down-our-bodies-while-standing-stil hot.
That said, the PEOPLE were amazing! For anyone who doesn’t know, Flame-Con is tagged as the “queer comic-con” and this was their first year. They had a pretty good turnout, and some great costumes (especially for a one-day show of this size).
Rachel Haimowitz with the Riddler, Cyclopes, Jubilee, and Daredevil

The photo doesn’t really do the last picture justice. He had a great ring and amazing face-paint. Something great about this show experience was there seemed to be (from what I saw), a lack of body policing, etc, about the cosplay.

There was also a room full of artists selling their wares, and while I didn’t get to spend a huge amount of time there, I was sure to stop by Tab’s table, of Discord Comics / khaoskomix. And buy lots of things. Because he’s lovely and came all the way from the UK. Be sure to check out his work. He is a fantastic storyteller and hits up a variety of storylines with various characters (his current projects are about an asexual man, and the Minority Monsters). 
I also happened upon Morgan of What’s Normal Anyway?, a comic about being trans male. It, like most webcomics, is completely available online, but there’s something about having the paper in-hand. And supporting the author, of course!
I also had some time to buzz around the vendor room, which mostly involved going over to the Cocky Boys’ table and gushing over @levikarterxxx (which Tumblr refuses to recognize as the actual tumblr blog…). I don’t really look at porn, but there’s something about the way he moves that just draws me to him. Of course he’s lovely, but it’s more than that. And hopefully my fanboying didn’t come across super creepy.
We finished the day (hauling everything back down on that elevator…) and finally made our way to get dinner at Veggie Heaven, which is actually really good all-vegetarian Chinese food. Yes, I ate fake meat product, but it was delicious. 
Overall a good time, although exhausting and sweaty.

The forming of words…

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

So before I hand something in, I tweak it, I tweak it, and I tweak it again.

The problem is that I’m making minor changes (generally). A comma, removing a preposition, using a different word. These are all good changes, but they don’t really get to the heart of the problem in some of my writing. But that’s kind of hard to do…finding your own weaknesses, you know?

So I started going to a writers’ group. And at first I was super tentative. The crowd seemed old and didn’t have a lot of writing background/experience…or talent. Not that they didn’t have potential, but they weren’t naturally strong writers. And most of them didn’t go through extensive classes and all that sort of thing. I was glad for feedback, but I wasn’t confident much of it would be useful.

And then some new people joined. They were younger and had experience and skill.

On Thursday we had another gathering and I feel like I got some really good feedback. I know the story that we’re currently going through is some of my more stilted language, but it was still good to hear it. And they gave some positives too. And some places where it fell through. It just felt REALLY good. And I want more of that feedback.

I’d love to have a bunch of beta readers to give that sort of feedback, and I may have one or two, but even they haven’t torn into my piece. (Um, not that I want my heart broken and bleeding on the floor. But, you know…)

But I also know I can’t just rely on the beta reader. I have to strive to improve my own writing. And while putting out the stories is important, putting them out well is even more so.

Now I just need Hermione’s time-turner in order to get everything done.

Still can’t believe it’s…

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

Life sure is funny.

I was fretting over when my next round of edits would be coming in and poof, edits appear in my inbox.

Of course, then there are other things to fret about, but what would I be without that?

The edits are now back with my editor (wee! one less thing on the plate). I’m suffering from a heavy case of “everyone’s a better writer than me,” and my June and July are hectic, so I’m flipping out about that too.

BUT I am doing writing things (like having a file go back to an editor), so I’m trying to keep that in mind when the doom-voice gets me down. Also, it’s mostly the beginning that’s kind of rough, so…guh. However, it really makes me want to work more on my craft, so that’s a good thing. It’s just a matter of following through. Finding people to help point out when things sound bleh.

In other news, I ready Amy Lane’s Black John, which isn’t one of my favorites of the series, but was enjoyable. I enjoyed the progression of a fallen character into a strong character, and also the love interest’s insistence that he had to get strong on his own.

I think that mentality of “thanks for your help, but I have to do some of this for myself” is good, and it was balanced in the story. Friends, loved ones, and support are important, but the desire to be helped is also vital.

I probably enjoyed the “growing-up-how-I-got-here” portion of the novel less than I did some of the others, because I just couldn’t relate. The others felt more grounded in a reality I could understand and associate with, but John’s past just was sort of beyond me. The storytelling was good, of course, so I never got bogged down with the backstory (in fact, I liked the way it was done with memories and flashbacks), but I still just couldn’t get them.

I also re-read (for the millionth time), The God Box by Alex Sanchez. Part of the reason is because Riptide has a book coming out called Lead Me Not by Anne Gallagher, which is an inspirational that looks at homosexuality and religion. There are a lot of similarities between these books because of that, even though the stories themselves are completely different.

Some people may find my love of The God Box odd. Um, Alex, aren’t you an atheist?

Well, yes, I am. But there’s just something powerful about this story. One, because I think it is a beautiful representation of what religion–and especially faith–should be. And it’s all about acceptance–of the self and others. And it’s so friggin sweet. GO READ IT.