L.R. Burt

This blog is entitled Author In Progress.  To my chagrin, I’ve just realized that my last writing post was on the 16th of December, 2006, when a literary agent responded to my query asking to see thirty pages of The Collapse Of Camelot.

I’m not sure why I never followed up with the news that  said agent did not ask to see any more pages of The Collapse of Camelot; it’s not as if rejection plunges me into the depths of despair.  I’m also not sure why I haven’t written about any of my writing endeavors since the 16th of December, 2006, because as it stands, it looks like my blog would be more aptly called Author, Interrupted.  Which is actually not the case at all.

After floundering with another Arthurian novel I’m not yet, for various reasons, ready to write, I made it my goal to write a short story a month for the year of 2008.  I wrote five, two of which are crap, another one of which I was posting in installments here until I realized that was like asking to be plagiarized (of course, this assumes someone finds my writing good enough to plagiarize), a fourth which I posted to a creative writing group I’m a part of, and a fifth which I entered into a contest I didn’t win.  Which also didn’t plunge me into the depths of despair, because the point wasn’t to win so much as to have goals and deadlines to spur my creativity.

Apparently this was a good career move, as was joining the Plano Civic Chorus last year.  Regular musical activity combined with writing progress to inspire a new novel.

In dire need of a working title, the new project is a romantic comedy (or at least, a love story with humor elements) about a singer and a pianist, and it’s set at Baylor University (where, as some of you may not know, I studied vocal performance for one semester before switching to an English literature major, with the expectation of that degree being only slightly more likely to actually earn me any money).  The novel is in no way autobiographical, nor is my heroine in any way based on myself, with the exception that she, like me, is a Virgo — and that only because I actually needed an early September birthday for a plot point.

Virgo is the point of all this rambling.

Astrology, while a load of utter baloney, is actually quite a useful writing tool.  Or at least it is for me.  (And I admit, if I’ve got a newspaper, I read my horoscope because I think it’s so darn funny to see what kind of day I, along with everyone else born between the 22nd of August and the 23rd of September, am supposed to have.  Why doesn’t my friend, whose birthday is September 17th, have a completely parallel life to mine?)

Whenever I’ve read a book I really loved, I always find myself so interested in the characters that I want to know all the details about them, like their birthdays.  I’m sure many writers, even if they don’t include those details in their books, could tell you their characters’ birthdays if you asked; JK Rowling, for one, has revealed the birth dates of many of the Harry Potter characters.  I don’t know if JK Rowling makes up some of those answers on the fly, as she seems to do at a lot of Q&As, but I think it’s neat to get that level of detail about fictional characters.  It makes them more real, more relateable.  I’ve seen book fans make comments like, “Oh, I love that so-and-so is a Pisces.  I’m a Pisces, too, so I can totally relate to such-and-such facet of his personality.”  My books will never be as widely read as JK Rowling’s, but all the same, I’d love for my readers to have that sort of relationship with my characters.  Thus my quest to come up with appropriate birthdays for the leads of this new novel.

Enter Astrology.  I understand that in real life, people’s qualities don’t usually match up perfectly, or even at all, with their Astrological profiles.  For the sake of fiction, however, I find it very useful to be able to read through lists of personality types and then pick an appropriate birthday rather than an arbitrary one.  I also find myself able to think more multi-dimensionally as I develop my characters and their relationships with one another when I see positive and negative, complementary and opposing traits right there in front of me.

Where Astrology does not help me is in the department of creating my character’s physical appearance.  According to Wikipedia, Virgos

tend to have a graceful figure, a roundish head, delicately-shaped lips, large and clear eyes, small, symmetrical, and refined features, a high forehead, long arms and thin eyebrows. Also, they are thought to usually be of slightly above average height.

Naturally, this lends to my skepticism of astrology because I, Virgo, in no way resemble this picture.  (Ironically, skepticism is a Virgo trait.)

But the part that really convinces me that Astrology is hogwash is the bit about Virgos having having “roundish” heads.  “A roundish head” is pretty much a feature shared by the entire human race, not distinctive to people born between August 22nd and September 23rd, isn’t it?  Are are there people walking around with square heads?  (Saturday Night Live taught us there are Coneheads.  But does Astrology apply to aliens?)  It seems to me that anyone can walk through the grocery store, observe the lack of square heads, and debunk Astrology.

Then again, my English Literature degree plan didn’t include a course on anatomy and physiology, so what do I know?

I guess I’ll just get back to eschewing Astrology as I craft my star-crossed lovers around the fact that Virgo + Taurus = love at first sight.

Although I wonder:  What does it mean that this Virgo experienced love at first sight with a Cancer?

A stimulating affair, for they arouse each other’s beneath-the-surface sensuality. Cancer isn’t too forceful, which suits Virgo fine. And the little attentions won’t be neglected, which suits Virgo even better. Cancer is affectionate and sentimental, and that makes Virgo feel secure. This couple also likes money and domestic comfort, and Cancer’s dependency fits perfectly with Virgo’s protectiveness. On the downside, both tend to be overcritical. On the upside, each draws the other out of its shell.

Oh.  Well, then.  That’s actually Mr. Burt and me to a T.

Of course, we both have roundish heads.

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astrology, character development, harry potter, irony, it's all in the details, jk rowling, learning something new, projects, silliness, tools of the trade, writing