Hot and Cold

When I start the shower for Demon Baby, there is a process that occurs of Ninja Water Testing. Too cold, too hot, just a little too hot, just a little too cold . . . just right. And then, once he is IN the shower and acclimated to the water . . . we might have some adjusting. It's as if he knows to within a degree what temperature he likes. And I can say with fair certainty, it's at about the same temperature each time.

So it is with my house. Like a raving lunatic, I will scream and know when Oldest Daughter has raised the temperature on the thermostat a SINGLE degree. (She thinks it's too cold.) In summer, I have tried and tried with various energy-saving adjustments on my A/C, but the fact remains I need it at a certain temperature and not ONE degree hotter. Or colder. And I ALWAYS know--in how I fall asleep or in how comfortable I am at my desk, when SOMEONE (she shall remain nameless) messes with it!

Somehow, I think this internal thermostat applies to writing and reading. We seem to find our tastes, and when we settle in to write, we have some internal meter that tells us we've got something. We know when a scene is just a bit off. We know when we have landed in that temperature zone that signals the perfect spot.

Over time, the temperature swings aren't so wide. It's not ten degrees off, but one. But that ONE degree can be the difference between a sweaty house of meh, and perfection (or close to it). There are so many "almosts."

In my work-in-progress, I think I am in my temperature zone. It's a nice spot to be in. What's exciting is my beta stared at me over coffee and said, "This is it." Though I think he thinks I keep my house too cold.

What about you? Do you have that temperature zone zeroed in?

One Person's Meh is Another's . . .

We got into a whole discussion of "meh" yesterday. That a person can dot all the i's and cross all the t's and still end up with something . . . "meh."

And in reality, reading is so subjective that one person's meh is another's WOW. Or one person's meh is another's "I hate this book so much I wanted to burn it"--those horrible reviews you occasionally see on Amazon.

Even in my own FAMILY. This was my mom's favorite book I ever wrote. Oldest Daughter likes this one. Or this one. But my mom's favorite was truly a meh for Oldest Daughter.

If I was going to say why a book ends up as a meh for me, these would be my top-four reasons:

1. I've read it before. Oh, not literally. But there is nothing about it that distinguishes it, really, from the last detective/psychic woman in peril/bride with doubts/woman with overbearing mom book I read. I could take the character and transplant him or her in another author's book and end up, with the same book. Sure the sidekicks might be different--but they fill the same role.
2. Speaking of sidekicks . . . they're pretty interchangable too. Gay best friend/snarky co-worker/overbearing mother/more adventurous best friend urging main character to take chances.
3. I've read the opening before. A writer recently took offense at my criticism of an opening scene. Um . . . if I have to read yet ANOTHER opening scene or prologue from a serial killer's point of view as he stalks someone . . . yes, they are ALL cold-blooded, they ALL wait for the kill, they ALL have patience. I get it. Meh.
4. Finally, my fourth top reason for a meh is . . . the most difficult to overcome because frankly, I toss the term around without 100% being able to define it. I just know it when I see it. It has to be organic to overcome the meh. Organic writing is when you don't have four rejections and THEN decide to make your cop/detective have a quirk. A tacked-on element that I never truly believe. People have quirks out of their back story. Not as something they don like a coat. I am very eccentric in real life. But I can tell you that 99.99% of the time, I know where it comes from.

Anyway . . . those are my four mehs. Thoughts?