Zoë Marriott's Blog, page 48
August 31, 2011
WEDNESDAY FIVE
Hello, Dear Readers! Congratulations on making it to Wednesday despite this dull and dreary excuse for summer weather that we're having. Today I bring you a random sampling of the shenanigans which are consuming my attention currently. And just to round the whole thing up, we'll call it:
WEDNESDAY FIVE!
Thing the First:
Direct your attention to the right of this post. What's that? No, your eyes do not deceive you. The blog is only four followers away from those purple streaks I've been promising. It barely seems like an eyeblink since I was shaking in my shoes over singing the blues to celebrate 200 followers, and now we're as near as dammit to 300. Meanwhile, there have been many helpful and thoughtful comments on whether I should cut all my hair off or not, which have left me...undecided. So I'll get back to you on that one.
Thing the Second:
Shadows on the Moon has topped 1000 adds on Goodreads. I know, right?! And FrostFire has just appeared there too, so if you feel like adding it to your To Read shelf, go right ahead.
Thing the Third:
Oooh, we're into exciting territory here. The American hardback of Shadows on the Moon is now available for pre-order on The Book Depository and Amazon! There's no cover as yet - it's not finalised, and Candlewick like to keep their artwork under wraps until a bit closer to the release date anyway. But it's there! You can see it, you can order it, it's really, really REAL.
Thing the Fourth:
OMG! There's going to be an audiobook of Shadows on the Moon , released simultaneously with the US hardback in April next year. It will be available on CD or as an MP3 download, produced by Brilliance Audio, who are a really wonderful company with an excellent reputation. I've never had an audiobook made of any of my books before and I'm so stoked to hear what the story sounds like in someone else's voice.
Thing the Fifth:
Slightly less exciting for you guys, but very exciting for me, this one. In September I'm going away on holiday for the first time in about four years. I'll be staying in a log cabin in the Lake District and I will have NO INTERNET ACCESS. Scary but necessary if I'm to do anything different from my normal day-to-day activities while I'm away. This means the blog will be on hiatus for one week, from the 10th of September to the 17th. But never fear, we'll be back to a normal posting schedule the following week.
So - what's your Wednesday Five?
WEDNESDAY FIVE!
Thing the First:
Direct your attention to the right of this post. What's that? No, your eyes do not deceive you. The blog is only four followers away from those purple streaks I've been promising. It barely seems like an eyeblink since I was shaking in my shoes over singing the blues to celebrate 200 followers, and now we're as near as dammit to 300. Meanwhile, there have been many helpful and thoughtful comments on whether I should cut all my hair off or not, which have left me...undecided. So I'll get back to you on that one.
Thing the Second:
Shadows on the Moon has topped 1000 adds on Goodreads. I know, right?! And FrostFire has just appeared there too, so if you feel like adding it to your To Read shelf, go right ahead.
Thing the Third:
Oooh, we're into exciting territory here. The American hardback of Shadows on the Moon is now available for pre-order on The Book Depository and Amazon! There's no cover as yet - it's not finalised, and Candlewick like to keep their artwork under wraps until a bit closer to the release date anyway. But it's there! You can see it, you can order it, it's really, really REAL.
Thing the Fourth:
OMG! There's going to be an audiobook of Shadows on the Moon , released simultaneously with the US hardback in April next year. It will be available on CD or as an MP3 download, produced by Brilliance Audio, who are a really wonderful company with an excellent reputation. I've never had an audiobook made of any of my books before and I'm so stoked to hear what the story sounds like in someone else's voice.
Thing the Fifth:
Slightly less exciting for you guys, but very exciting for me, this one. In September I'm going away on holiday for the first time in about four years. I'll be staying in a log cabin in the Lake District and I will have NO INTERNET ACCESS. Scary but necessary if I'm to do anything different from my normal day-to-day activities while I'm away. This means the blog will be on hiatus for one week, from the 10th of September to the 17th. But never fear, we'll be back to a normal posting schedule the following week.
So - what's your Wednesday Five?
August 29, 2011
BIG SECRET PROJECT PLAYLIST
Hello, my lovelies! Today I am filled with the desperate urge to talk to you all about Big Secret Project. In fact, I am so full of beans that resisting the desire to spill them is causing me to feel a teeeensy bit nauseous. But, as you all know very well, I'm not able to talk to you about Big Secret Project right now in any meaningful way (although I promise I will as soon as I can!) and so instead, I decided that I would share with you my playlist for the part that I am working on right now.
This might tell you all kinds of interesting things about the story...or it might not. Heh heh. Being annoyingly cryptic is the next best thing to spilling the beans.
On with the playlist!
A bit different from previous playlists, I know! What sort of idea does this give you about Big Secret Project? Feel free to guess/speculate in the comments :)
This might tell you all kinds of interesting things about the story...or it might not. Heh heh. Being annoyingly cryptic is the next best thing to spilling the beans.
On with the playlist!
A bit different from previous playlists, I know! What sort of idea does this give you about Big Secret Project? Feel free to guess/speculate in the comments :)
August 26, 2011
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE REAL WORLD #2
Happy Friday, Dear Readers! Today, I bring you a little follow-up to last week's post on diversity in fantasy.
First of all, I urge you to read these very interesting posts - the first one about about the movie business, and how film students, even film students who were female or not-able-bodied or not-white found themselves caught up in responding to headshots of potential actors a certain way, and a response in which isolates the fact that when you try to point out this kind of unconscious prejudice, you're often accused of prejudice yourself.
As the writer of both these posts point out, the warped view of the world we're all presented with near-constantly means that none of us - NONE OF US - is free of ingrained prejudice. I freely admit that I'm not. What matters is to be aware of this, and willing, when you have a response to something, to examine it and be honest about where that response comes from.
Let me elaborate. What is the usual reaction among your friends and family if you hint that something they have said or assumed may spring from prejudice? I'm willing to bet that any suggestion that they are not perfectly liberal, prejudice free, shiny-bright and unbiased is met with defensiveness and anger. 'I'm not a racist/sexist/ableist/homophobe!' they shriek, their brains filled with images of Neo-Nazis, of evil, sweaty monsters, of vile, chuckling villains. 'How can you SAY that about me?'
Anger and defensiveness are a really good warning sign - because people only get angry and defensive when they have something to defend. That 'something' is their own image of themselves, the comfy assumptions that allow them to walk through the world feeling content with who they are. They know they're a good person, not a hateful, chuckling Neo-Nazi. Therefore they cannot be a racist/sexist/ableist/homophobic.
Except that they probably are.
I am. Every prejudice that those angry, defensive people have? I have too. They lurk there in the back of my mind, pretending that they're 'instinct' or 'common-sense' or 'realism' when actually, they are just bigotry.
That doesn't make me a horrible, hateful, chuckling Neo-Nazi. It just makes me not perfect. That's all. A work in progress. A person who is willing to be honest with themselves and the world.
And in admitting that, I become a far more able to recognise and reject prejudice than I ever was when I was striding through the world in my insulated bubble of I'm-A-Good-Person ignorance, refusing to admit that my actions could *possibly* be influenced by evolutionary imperatives to reject those who are different, and centuries of religious and secular bigotry, and a mass media who refuse to represent the world as it really is.
The moment you let go of that image of yourself as a perfect, shiny-bright 'good person' who couldn't possibly harbour prejudice, is the moment you will begin truly working AGAINST prejudice. Honesty is the key. Honesty is the thing that allows you to confront your own ingrained assumptions about other people, your own prejudice, and then put those things aside so that you can act, as much as possible, as if you were NOT prejudiced.
Try it. Go ahead. It doesn't hurt, I promise. Take a deep breath, and then say, out loud: "I am not perfect. I am flawed. I have ingrained prejudices. I will do my best to recognise and overcome them."
Doesn't it feel like a weight off your chest? To admit to yourself that you don't have to be perfect, that it's OKAY to have nasty, knee-jerk reactions to things, sometimes, so long as you're willing to make sure no one else suffers as a result?
Now that we've gone there, I link you to this post, which was prompted by the original Wake Up and Smell the Real World post, and which in turn prompted THIS post.
And the reason that response post is crucial? Is that as a creative person who tries to embrace diversity and who writes about a lot of characters who have experiences and come from backgrounds nothing like mine, I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to write characters or create plots or situations that rub people up the wrong way. Some of those reactions will come from people who've put up with bigotry all their lives and who are just godammned sick of tripping over everyone else's privilege. And they're unlikely to give a flying pamplemoose about my ongoing project to kick bigotry in the behind. They're just going to say 'YOU SUCK' and walk away.
And that's OK. That's really the whole point of this post. It's not anyone else's job to educate me, or give me a pat on the head for trying really hard.
The correct response to having someone notice the fact that, despite my endeavors, I'm still flawed and unconsciously prejudiced, is NOT to flee back into the I'm-A-Good-Person bubble, claim that the ones telling me I suck are horrible, nasty, ungrateful and prejudiced themselves, and say sulkily: 'Fine! I'll just write about straight, white, able-bodied people from now on and THEN YOU'LL BE SORRY!.
Nor is it to curl into a ball on the floor, weeping, and bash my head repeatedly on the tiles chanting: "I am a terrible, horrible, no-good bigot who should be flayed UNTIL SHE IS SORRY!"
It's to listen to what other people have said, acknowledge that those reactions to my work are valid and true and real, and then decide if I can learn from them. Don't get me wrong. It is hard. But it's necessary. Because, I'm coming to realise, it's not enough for writers (or actors or artists or politicians or firemen or teachers or dog-walkers or CEOs) to write the change that they want to see in the world.
We have to BE the change we want to see in the world, and keep on being it, even knowing that we'll never be perfect - only better than we were before.
OK, I've been rambling on for a while here, so let's sum up. In order to fight prejudice in our day to day lives, we must:
Step out of the I-Am-A-Good-Person bubble and admit that we are imperfect and flawed and prejudiced, like the rest of the world
Be honest with ourselves when we say or do something as a result of prejudice
Accept that fighting against prejudice is our own responsibility & our own choice and no one owes us gratitude or enlightenment as a result
Allow other people to tell us when we mess up without dismissing what they feel or fleeing back into the IAAGP bubble again, or trying to drink bleach because we STILL aren't perfect
Rinse. Repeat.
Does this make sense? I hope so. Honestly, you guys are better than a therapist! Let me know what you think in the comments.
First of all, I urge you to read these very interesting posts - the first one about about the movie business, and how film students, even film students who were female or not-able-bodied or not-white found themselves caught up in responding to headshots of potential actors a certain way, and a response in which isolates the fact that when you try to point out this kind of unconscious prejudice, you're often accused of prejudice yourself.
As the writer of both these posts point out, the warped view of the world we're all presented with near-constantly means that none of us - NONE OF US - is free of ingrained prejudice. I freely admit that I'm not. What matters is to be aware of this, and willing, when you have a response to something, to examine it and be honest about where that response comes from.
Let me elaborate. What is the usual reaction among your friends and family if you hint that something they have said or assumed may spring from prejudice? I'm willing to bet that any suggestion that they are not perfectly liberal, prejudice free, shiny-bright and unbiased is met with defensiveness and anger. 'I'm not a racist/sexist/ableist/homophobe!' they shriek, their brains filled with images of Neo-Nazis, of evil, sweaty monsters, of vile, chuckling villains. 'How can you SAY that about me?'
Anger and defensiveness are a really good warning sign - because people only get angry and defensive when they have something to defend. That 'something' is their own image of themselves, the comfy assumptions that allow them to walk through the world feeling content with who they are. They know they're a good person, not a hateful, chuckling Neo-Nazi. Therefore they cannot be a racist/sexist/ableist/homophobic.
Except that they probably are.
I am. Every prejudice that those angry, defensive people have? I have too. They lurk there in the back of my mind, pretending that they're 'instinct' or 'common-sense' or 'realism' when actually, they are just bigotry.
That doesn't make me a horrible, hateful, chuckling Neo-Nazi. It just makes me not perfect. That's all. A work in progress. A person who is willing to be honest with themselves and the world.
And in admitting that, I become a far more able to recognise and reject prejudice than I ever was when I was striding through the world in my insulated bubble of I'm-A-Good-Person ignorance, refusing to admit that my actions could *possibly* be influenced by evolutionary imperatives to reject those who are different, and centuries of religious and secular bigotry, and a mass media who refuse to represent the world as it really is.
The moment you let go of that image of yourself as a perfect, shiny-bright 'good person' who couldn't possibly harbour prejudice, is the moment you will begin truly working AGAINST prejudice. Honesty is the key. Honesty is the thing that allows you to confront your own ingrained assumptions about other people, your own prejudice, and then put those things aside so that you can act, as much as possible, as if you were NOT prejudiced.
Try it. Go ahead. It doesn't hurt, I promise. Take a deep breath, and then say, out loud: "I am not perfect. I am flawed. I have ingrained prejudices. I will do my best to recognise and overcome them."
Doesn't it feel like a weight off your chest? To admit to yourself that you don't have to be perfect, that it's OKAY to have nasty, knee-jerk reactions to things, sometimes, so long as you're willing to make sure no one else suffers as a result?
Now that we've gone there, I link you to this post, which was prompted by the original Wake Up and Smell the Real World post, and which in turn prompted THIS post.
And the reason that response post is crucial? Is that as a creative person who tries to embrace diversity and who writes about a lot of characters who have experiences and come from backgrounds nothing like mine, I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to write characters or create plots or situations that rub people up the wrong way. Some of those reactions will come from people who've put up with bigotry all their lives and who are just godammned sick of tripping over everyone else's privilege. And they're unlikely to give a flying pamplemoose about my ongoing project to kick bigotry in the behind. They're just going to say 'YOU SUCK' and walk away.
And that's OK. That's really the whole point of this post. It's not anyone else's job to educate me, or give me a pat on the head for trying really hard.
The correct response to having someone notice the fact that, despite my endeavors, I'm still flawed and unconsciously prejudiced, is NOT to flee back into the I'm-A-Good-Person bubble, claim that the ones telling me I suck are horrible, nasty, ungrateful and prejudiced themselves, and say sulkily: 'Fine! I'll just write about straight, white, able-bodied people from now on and THEN YOU'LL BE SORRY!.
Nor is it to curl into a ball on the floor, weeping, and bash my head repeatedly on the tiles chanting: "I am a terrible, horrible, no-good bigot who should be flayed UNTIL SHE IS SORRY!"
It's to listen to what other people have said, acknowledge that those reactions to my work are valid and true and real, and then decide if I can learn from them. Don't get me wrong. It is hard. But it's necessary. Because, I'm coming to realise, it's not enough for writers (or actors or artists or politicians or firemen or teachers or dog-walkers or CEOs) to write the change that they want to see in the world.
We have to BE the change we want to see in the world, and keep on being it, even knowing that we'll never be perfect - only better than we were before.
OK, I've been rambling on for a while here, so let's sum up. In order to fight prejudice in our day to day lives, we must:
Step out of the I-Am-A-Good-Person bubble and admit that we are imperfect and flawed and prejudiced, like the rest of the world
Be honest with ourselves when we say or do something as a result of prejudice
Accept that fighting against prejudice is our own responsibility & our own choice and no one owes us gratitude or enlightenment as a result
Allow other people to tell us when we mess up without dismissing what they feel or fleeing back into the IAAGP bubble again, or trying to drink bleach because we STILL aren't perfect
Rinse. Repeat.
Does this make sense? I hope so. Honestly, you guys are better than a therapist! Let me know what you think in the comments.
August 24, 2011
FROSTFIRE TEASER
Hello, Dear Readers! Congratulations on making it to Wednesday. As a reward, I bring you an enticing snippet of FrostFire, which regular readers will know is the companion novel to
Daughter of the Flames,
and which is sheduled to come out from Walker Books in the UK in July next year.
Related to this - I'll probably be setting up a FrostFire page here and on my website soon, so if you've got any thoughts on the information you'd like to see there, tell me in the comments and I'll do my best to provide it.
In the meantime...let me know what you think of this teaser!
I went in low, swinging at the Gourdin's leg. Moving fast for such a bulky man, he brought his right axe down, catching my axe-blade on his pick. His other axe flicked up to catch Arian's sword in exactly the same way. The rebel twisted and pulled his axes expertly. I staggered forward a step, fighting to hang onto my weapon.
Arian let go of his sword and leapt away. The sudden release of tension made the rebel lurch, off-balance. I wrenched at my larger axe. Metal screamed, and the weapon went flying from the Gourdin's hand. I bared my teeth in a grin of triumph. One axe down, one to go.
Arian reached under his jerkin and pulled out his weighted baton as the Gourdin took his remaining axe in both hands and aimed a side blow at my gut. I got my weapon down just in time, deflecting the blade with the iron langet.
Arian surged into the fray and drove the end of his baton into the rebel's stomach. The man went white and stumbled back, almost bouncing off the wooden frame of the doorway .
Trusting Arian to guard me, I took an underhand swing at the rebel fighter's legs that forced him to twist sideways. He struck at my back – Arian blocked the move with the baton, losing a chunk of wood in the process. I danced back and then edged forward, trying to find a space to cut at the man again. As he angled away, clearly believing me and my axe to be the greatest threat, Arian dived in beneath me and smashed his baton into the man's knees.
The rebel bellowed as his legs buckled and he crashed to the ground. At the same moment, I jabbed the iron-bound head of my axe into his temple. There was a crunch as the metal met the rebel's skull, and he slumped to the floor, lying half in and half out of the doorway.
Arian got to his feet and retrieved his sword. Together we jumped over the giant's legs, landing in a large, echoing space, full of shadows.
The room was oddly shaped, with many sides, and was mainly taken by with roughly made wooden furniture – long tables and stools. It looked for all the world like the Hill Guard's mess tent. I had braced myself for more enemy soldiers, but the room was empty.
"They left only one man to defend the doorway? That's crazy."
"They didn't believe attackers would get this far," Arian said, his gaze searching the room. "The inbred belief that they were invincible was the reason the Sedorne lost the war. Come on, we need to keep moving."
We searched the room cautiously, backs to the wall, until we found a doorway. There was no door in it – a rail above indicated a curtain had once hung there, but no more. Arian eased through the gap, still plastered to one wall. I took the other side. The corridor was wide, with a towering ceiling that disappeared into darkness. The only light was from thin window slits high up. I still couldn't hear any movement, no voices or footsteps. It was eerie.
Arian was running one hand over the wall. Then he ducked down and seemed to be touching the floor.
"What are you doing?"
"There are embrasures here for lamps, but they're empty. And I can feel dust on the floors. I think this part is disused," he said.
"That makes no sense. It's directly off the main room," I said, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck lift. "Can I have your baton? There's no space for an axe here."
"Take the knife instead," he said, handing it to me hilt-first. "You're more used to an edged weapon."
We moved forward, weapons ready. I expected to see light at any moment, but instead the place grew darker. It was like venturing into a cave. I was thankful that at least there was no slime or bats. Yet.
"This place is massive," I whispered as we came to a circular chamber with four more empty doorways leading off it. Even lowered, my voice echoed off the walls.
"We're going to have to risk a light," Arian said. "I've got a candle in my belt pouch. Hold this."
He pushed the baton into my free hand, and, after some muttered swearing and scraping noises, a light flickered to life. Then he took the baton back and let some of the molten wax drip onto the end before sticking the candle to it. Now the baton served as a candleholder as well as a weapon. He held the light up high, but the tiny flame didn't offer much illumination – just enough to keep us from stumbling over our own feet.
"Maybe we should go back and try another exit from the main room?" I suggested.
There was a muffled cry from one of the corridors and without another word we both rushed forward.
Related to this - I'll probably be setting up a FrostFire page here and on my website soon, so if you've got any thoughts on the information you'd like to see there, tell me in the comments and I'll do my best to provide it.
In the meantime...let me know what you think of this teaser!
I went in low, swinging at the Gourdin's leg. Moving fast for such a bulky man, he brought his right axe down, catching my axe-blade on his pick. His other axe flicked up to catch Arian's sword in exactly the same way. The rebel twisted and pulled his axes expertly. I staggered forward a step, fighting to hang onto my weapon.
Arian let go of his sword and leapt away. The sudden release of tension made the rebel lurch, off-balance. I wrenched at my larger axe. Metal screamed, and the weapon went flying from the Gourdin's hand. I bared my teeth in a grin of triumph. One axe down, one to go.
Arian reached under his jerkin and pulled out his weighted baton as the Gourdin took his remaining axe in both hands and aimed a side blow at my gut. I got my weapon down just in time, deflecting the blade with the iron langet.
Arian surged into the fray and drove the end of his baton into the rebel's stomach. The man went white and stumbled back, almost bouncing off the wooden frame of the doorway .
Trusting Arian to guard me, I took an underhand swing at the rebel fighter's legs that forced him to twist sideways. He struck at my back – Arian blocked the move with the baton, losing a chunk of wood in the process. I danced back and then edged forward, trying to find a space to cut at the man again. As he angled away, clearly believing me and my axe to be the greatest threat, Arian dived in beneath me and smashed his baton into the man's knees.
The rebel bellowed as his legs buckled and he crashed to the ground. At the same moment, I jabbed the iron-bound head of my axe into his temple. There was a crunch as the metal met the rebel's skull, and he slumped to the floor, lying half in and half out of the doorway.
Arian got to his feet and retrieved his sword. Together we jumped over the giant's legs, landing in a large, echoing space, full of shadows.
The room was oddly shaped, with many sides, and was mainly taken by with roughly made wooden furniture – long tables and stools. It looked for all the world like the Hill Guard's mess tent. I had braced myself for more enemy soldiers, but the room was empty.
"They left only one man to defend the doorway? That's crazy."
"They didn't believe attackers would get this far," Arian said, his gaze searching the room. "The inbred belief that they were invincible was the reason the Sedorne lost the war. Come on, we need to keep moving."
We searched the room cautiously, backs to the wall, until we found a doorway. There was no door in it – a rail above indicated a curtain had once hung there, but no more. Arian eased through the gap, still plastered to one wall. I took the other side. The corridor was wide, with a towering ceiling that disappeared into darkness. The only light was from thin window slits high up. I still couldn't hear any movement, no voices or footsteps. It was eerie.
Arian was running one hand over the wall. Then he ducked down and seemed to be touching the floor.
"What are you doing?"
"There are embrasures here for lamps, but they're empty. And I can feel dust on the floors. I think this part is disused," he said.
"That makes no sense. It's directly off the main room," I said, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck lift. "Can I have your baton? There's no space for an axe here."
"Take the knife instead," he said, handing it to me hilt-first. "You're more used to an edged weapon."
We moved forward, weapons ready. I expected to see light at any moment, but instead the place grew darker. It was like venturing into a cave. I was thankful that at least there was no slime or bats. Yet.
"This place is massive," I whispered as we came to a circular chamber with four more empty doorways leading off it. Even lowered, my voice echoed off the walls.
"We're going to have to risk a light," Arian said. "I've got a candle in my belt pouch. Hold this."
He pushed the baton into my free hand, and, after some muttered swearing and scraping noises, a light flickered to life. Then he took the baton back and let some of the molten wax drip onto the end before sticking the candle to it. Now the baton served as a candleholder as well as a weapon. He held the light up high, but the tiny flame didn't offer much illumination – just enough to keep us from stumbling over our own feet.
"Maybe we should go back and try another exit from the main room?" I suggested.
There was a muffled cry from one of the corridors and without another word we both rushed forward.
August 22, 2011
A QUESTION OF PUBLISHING
Hi everyone - I hope you all had a great weekend! I've been having a wonderful reading binge and actually managed to make a dent in one of my TBR piles, so I'm happy about that, even if the pile will probably magically double in size now just to spite me. Or maybe grow teeth or something...
Today I'm going to tackle a couple of reader questions on the theme of publishing. The first question comes from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous and says:
I'm going to tackle the last part of your question first, because that's the bit which shows a basic and all-too-common mistake about the way in which publishing works. You're asking how to find a publisher BEFORE you've got a manuscript to offer them, as if they were a plumber or something, that you can look up and have on standby for when you need them.
That's not how it works. You've gotten confused here between PRINTING and PUBLISHING. A printer will take any old stack of pages that you offer them, charge you some money, and turn it into a bound booklet or even something that looks like a book you might find in your local bookshop. And then you'll have a box in your living room filled with five or ten or one hundred copies of something that looks like a book. That is not being published. That is getting something you have written bound up.
This is how getting published works, Anon. You write a book. It needs to be a complete story with a beginning, a middle and an end. Then you need to revise and rewrite it and make it as good as it can be. Then, and only then, you go looking for a publisher - because before that point you literally have nothing to offer a publisher. And then, if you have written something that's really good, the publisher will pay YOU to publish your book - and that process will involve helping you to revise and rewrite it even more, then designing a cover, then printing up thousands of copies of the book and making sure they arrive in bookshops all over the country or even the world. And they will NEVER NEVER NEVER charge you a penny for this. In fact, they will pay YOU for the privilege.
You and the publisher will split the profits on every copy of the book that is sold. The publisher gets a much higher cut of the profits than you, because printing and distributing copies of the book costs thousands of pounds. But - repeat after me! - they will NEVER NEVER NEVER ask you to pay them any money.
However, these days most writers do not approach a publisher directly. That's because, before the publisher will take your book and do all those things I mentioned, they will negotiate a legally binding contract with you, which sets all the details in stone. And, like all businesses, they will try to get the best terms for themselves they can, which means that (at a very basic level) they will try to get you to accept the lowest percentage of profits possible. Also, as you've pointed out, you don't really know anything about publishing, or which editors might like your book. And if you send a manuscript straight to a publisher, they will put it right to the bottom of their pile of books to be read because it comes from someone they've never heard of before.
This is why most writers, rather than looking for a publisher themselves, will attempt to find a literary agent. A literary agent is someone who makes their living by spotting talented writers and signing them up. They will sometimes help you to edit your manuscript to make it as good as it can be. They will then use their extremely detailed knowledge of publishing houses and editors to decide who out of the entire publishing industry might love your book and want to publish it. And when they send your story out, the publisher will see that it comes from a professional agent and put it much closer to the top of their pile of books to read. Then, if a publisher does decide they want to publish your book, the agent will negotiate the best contract for you that is possible, trying to get you the best terms and the highest percentage of profits. For doing this, they will take between ten and fifteen percent of the money you earn on any contracts that they negotiate on your behalf.
Other than that ten to fifteen percent, which the agent will deduct from your earnings before sending the rest of the money to you? Good agents will NEVER NEVER NEVER ask you for any money. And you can find the addresses of pretty much all the agents in your country in The Writer's & Artist's Yearbook.
And finally, no one is going to want to steal your work or claim it for their own. For more information on why you don't need to worry about that, check out my Tips page here.
Let's review.Write a book. Rewrite and revise it until it's as good as it can be
Get The Writer's & Artist's Yearbook. Read from cover to cover.
Try to find an agent, using the address and following the rules in the W&AY.
NEVER NEVER *NEVER* PAY ANYONE ANY MONEY.
Okay? Okay. Good luck!
Next question! This comes from Aimen, and asks:
My advice to you is to approach agents first, rather than publishers. Agents mostly now accept email submissions (publishers often still insist on a hard copy, where they will accept unsolicited manuscripts at all) which not only cuts down on your postage costs, but hopefully reduces the waiting time for an answer. When an agent looks at a manuscript they will assess how good it is, what work might be needed on it, where it could fit into the market, how professional you seem and if they think they could work with you. The fact that you live in another country may or may not affect their feelings, but that's going to be personal preference - and for every agent who wants to work with people in their own country, I'm sure there are five more who don't care if the book is great.
I'll let you in on a secret. I've never met my agent. She lives and works in Wales, and I live and work in the far North of the UK. But that's never stopped us from having a fantastic working relationship, or stopped my agent from doing a brilliant job of looking after my interests. And my agent also has a great relationship with my publisher, even though THEY'RE located in London. The truth is that it's all going to come down to the quality of the story you've written, and how you present yourself.
Good luck to you as well, Aimen.
I hope that's been helpful to everyone! If there are any more questions about writing or publishing, pop them in the comments or email me through my website, and I'll do my best to answer next week.
See you on Wednesday!
Today I'm going to tackle a couple of reader questions on the theme of publishing. The first question comes from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous and says:
"i searched the internet and looked at thing all over the place that claimed the would send work to a publisher and all that but asked for money. And then my mom said how if i sent my stories over the web that they could be claimed as anyone's work and so i got worried how do you find a publisher? And once you do that do you need an entire story ready to be printed or can you have just a chapter or even just an outline?"Whoo! You're starting right at the ground floor here - back where I was when I first decided I wanted to be a writer those many long years ago. That means my answer needs to cover a lot of ground, and it won't be possible for me to go into as much depth on various issues as I'd like. So first of all I recommend that you get hold of a copy of the most recent Writer's and Artist's Yearbook. This book is updated every year and it is filled with detailed and informative articles which tell you how to go about making a submission to a publisher and how the process works. Any questions that you have left after reading my answer can be found in the W&AY.
I'm going to tackle the last part of your question first, because that's the bit which shows a basic and all-too-common mistake about the way in which publishing works. You're asking how to find a publisher BEFORE you've got a manuscript to offer them, as if they were a plumber or something, that you can look up and have on standby for when you need them.
That's not how it works. You've gotten confused here between PRINTING and PUBLISHING. A printer will take any old stack of pages that you offer them, charge you some money, and turn it into a bound booklet or even something that looks like a book you might find in your local bookshop. And then you'll have a box in your living room filled with five or ten or one hundred copies of something that looks like a book. That is not being published. That is getting something you have written bound up.
This is how getting published works, Anon. You write a book. It needs to be a complete story with a beginning, a middle and an end. Then you need to revise and rewrite it and make it as good as it can be. Then, and only then, you go looking for a publisher - because before that point you literally have nothing to offer a publisher. And then, if you have written something that's really good, the publisher will pay YOU to publish your book - and that process will involve helping you to revise and rewrite it even more, then designing a cover, then printing up thousands of copies of the book and making sure they arrive in bookshops all over the country or even the world. And they will NEVER NEVER NEVER charge you a penny for this. In fact, they will pay YOU for the privilege.
You and the publisher will split the profits on every copy of the book that is sold. The publisher gets a much higher cut of the profits than you, because printing and distributing copies of the book costs thousands of pounds. But - repeat after me! - they will NEVER NEVER NEVER ask you to pay them any money.
However, these days most writers do not approach a publisher directly. That's because, before the publisher will take your book and do all those things I mentioned, they will negotiate a legally binding contract with you, which sets all the details in stone. And, like all businesses, they will try to get the best terms for themselves they can, which means that (at a very basic level) they will try to get you to accept the lowest percentage of profits possible. Also, as you've pointed out, you don't really know anything about publishing, or which editors might like your book. And if you send a manuscript straight to a publisher, they will put it right to the bottom of their pile of books to be read because it comes from someone they've never heard of before.
This is why most writers, rather than looking for a publisher themselves, will attempt to find a literary agent. A literary agent is someone who makes their living by spotting talented writers and signing them up. They will sometimes help you to edit your manuscript to make it as good as it can be. They will then use their extremely detailed knowledge of publishing houses and editors to decide who out of the entire publishing industry might love your book and want to publish it. And when they send your story out, the publisher will see that it comes from a professional agent and put it much closer to the top of their pile of books to read. Then, if a publisher does decide they want to publish your book, the agent will negotiate the best contract for you that is possible, trying to get you the best terms and the highest percentage of profits. For doing this, they will take between ten and fifteen percent of the money you earn on any contracts that they negotiate on your behalf.
Other than that ten to fifteen percent, which the agent will deduct from your earnings before sending the rest of the money to you? Good agents will NEVER NEVER NEVER ask you for any money. And you can find the addresses of pretty much all the agents in your country in The Writer's & Artist's Yearbook.
And finally, no one is going to want to steal your work or claim it for their own. For more information on why you don't need to worry about that, check out my Tips page here.
Let's review.Write a book. Rewrite and revise it until it's as good as it can be
Get The Writer's & Artist's Yearbook. Read from cover to cover.
Try to find an agent, using the address and following the rules in the W&AY.
NEVER NEVER *NEVER* PAY ANYONE ANY MONEY.
Okay? Okay. Good luck!
Next question! This comes from Aimen, and asks:
"Is it possible to send a manuscript to a publishing house based in a different country? If so, does this actually hinder the publishing/editing/revising process in any way or make it harder to communicate with your editor/agent? Or do agents only ever take up authors in the country which they themselves live? I know that its probably not that hard considering that, well, I'm sitting in a really tiny island in the middle of nowhere and writing an email to a writer in England xD, but what is the general view? Or does that depend on the publisher? If there is no difficulty and it is possible to send it elsewhere, like the US - is it advisable or does that merely complicate the publishing process further?"Excellent question. I'm not an expert on this because, as you've already pointed out, I do live in a country which is a major publishing hub. But authors from different countries get published in the UK all the time, and the same is true of the US. One of the biggest sources of income for most writers/publishers is the sale of 'foreign rights' - that is, licensing publishers in other countries to produce translated editions of books. And, as you've also already pointed out, it's laughably easy to communicate with people in other countries now.
My advice to you is to approach agents first, rather than publishers. Agents mostly now accept email submissions (publishers often still insist on a hard copy, where they will accept unsolicited manuscripts at all) which not only cuts down on your postage costs, but hopefully reduces the waiting time for an answer. When an agent looks at a manuscript they will assess how good it is, what work might be needed on it, where it could fit into the market, how professional you seem and if they think they could work with you. The fact that you live in another country may or may not affect their feelings, but that's going to be personal preference - and for every agent who wants to work with people in their own country, I'm sure there are five more who don't care if the book is great.
I'll let you in on a secret. I've never met my agent. She lives and works in Wales, and I live and work in the far North of the UK. But that's never stopped us from having a fantastic working relationship, or stopped my agent from doing a brilliant job of looking after my interests. And my agent also has a great relationship with my publisher, even though THEY'RE located in London. The truth is that it's all going to come down to the quality of the story you've written, and how you present yourself.
Good luck to you as well, Aimen.
I hope that's been helpful to everyone! If there are any more questions about writing or publishing, pop them in the comments or email me through my website, and I'll do my best to answer next week.
See you on Wednesday!
August 19, 2011
RETROFRIDAY - WAKE UP AND SMELL THE REAL WORLD
Hi everyone! It's been a strange week over here in Zolah-land. I've spent most of it curled up under a blanket, groaning, and hoping that my brain wouldn't start dripping out of my nose. But some exciting stuff has also happened, and I'm hoping to be able to talk to you about that soon (eeep!). In the meantime, it's RETROFRIDAY again! And, despite a bit of trepidation over the way my last opinion piece Exploded Teh Internetz, I've decided to dredge up (and slightly update) one of my favourite rants:
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE REAL WORLD
This post started out one way, and ended up becoming something else. I sat down with the intention of writing a How To article on the topic of world building, with the bullet points and all that. But as I sketched out my process for coming up with a textured and diverse fantasy world, I began thinking about a discussion I've been having with some writing friends lately, and some really interesting blog posts that I've recently seen from other writers, and instead, it turned into an essay.
So first, I need to make a confession. I'm white. And (so far) straight. And pretty much able bodied, although I've got a couple of chronic health conditions. Therefore, I have what is called privilege. This term encompasses a lot, but for the purposes of this essay it means that when I turn on the TV, go to see a film or pick up a book, the overwhelming number of characters depicted, the overwhelming number of stories told, will be of people 'like me'. For much of my early life, I unconsciously felt that those people were the majority of the world, and that those stories were somehow universal, archetypal, the default.
They are not.
When I slowly began to become aware of this, at first I didn't know what to do about it. It was easy for me to argue that I simply didn't have the experience required to write about people who weren't like me. I'm not part of any repressed minority (I'm part of the repressed majority of women, but that's another discussion). I'd never walked down the street and seen automatic caution or fear or disgust in someone's eyes just because of how I was born. I'd never experienced racial abuse, had to defend my right to love whoever I wanted, or come up against the assumption that I was a brave little soul or a freak of nature. When I walk down the street people look at me and see an inoffensive white girl and let me be.
I've seen this argument a lot, from writers. That they don't have the experience, that they'll get it wrong, that they don't want to offend anyone - and so it's better if they just write about characters like themselves. And I've seen writers who have made that arduous effort to include the odd gay or non-white or not-able bodied character talk about how difficult it is to correctly portray someone who is not like them. And I've seen other writers say that they feel they're being pressured to make 'all their characters' non-white or non-straight or non-able bodied, or you know, not just like them, and it makes them feel restricted and uncomfortable, like their choices are being taken away.
But here's the thing. White people are not the majority of the world. 100% straight arrow people who do not challenge modern Western notions of gender are not the majority of the world. Able bodied people are not the majority of the world. We just think we are because the vast majority of the time, people who are NOT white and straight and able bodied only show up in the media in token roles. Look, we included a sassy gay boy who can give the heroine advice on clothes (but will never get a meaningful relationship of his own)! Aren't we tolerant? Look! We included a sassy black/Chinese/Indian best friend to give the heroine advice on being true to herself (who may get a relationship but it will only be with someone of the same ethnic group)! Aren't we racially aware! Look, we included a sassy boy in a wheelchair to give the heroine advice on understanding what is important in life (who won't even get to express an interest in a life of his own because after all people in wheelchairs are just there to prove a point)! Aren't we broadminded!
No. I'm afraid you aren't.
Currently, the media is showing a horribly skewed picture of the real world. Fiction writers, with our limitless power to reinvent the world, to hold a mirror up to it or subvert it, are showing a horribly skewed picture of the world. If you are not white, if you are not straight, if you are not physically perfect (and to some extent, if you are one of the slightly more than 50% of the population who is female) you know how it feels to wonder why no one wants to write about people LIKE YOU for a freaking change.
Why isn't everyone - even the straight white (male) people - bored with straight white (male) characters yet?
The more I force my mind to open, the stranger it seems to me. Straight white physically perfect people are such a tiny minority in the real world that when you're attempting to create any kind of a realistic fantasy world it's quite *un*realistic to keep putting characters with those traits in the majority of the major roles. Unless you're deliberately writing historical Eurocentric fantasy (because you want to re-tell a European fairytale in a European setting, for example) or you're deliberately writing characters that are familiar to you because you want to use your own life experience in your story, why would you LIMIT yourself that way?
I mean, that's not to say that writers with blonde hair can never write blonde heroines. It's not to say that sraight white able bodied people don't deserve to be in books and films. But...come on. With such a startling variety of colours and races, cultures, physical traits, sexual identities and preferences available for writers to extrapolate from, I think it's sad that so many writers do unconsciously chose to write books which only feature main characters 'just like them'. If nothing else, it's boring.
When I wrote a guest post for another blog which briefly touched on this issue, the response in comments really shocked me (that was before the Mary-Sue thing. After that, I'm not sure I can be shocked anymore).
Some people were defensive, saying that their all-white, all-straight, all-able-bodied casts '...just come to me! I don't decide on their race/sexual orientation/physical status! My character are who they ARE!'
Bull. Sorry, but it's bull. You have nothing to do with how your characters turn out? They just magically appear to you, fully formed? Let me tell you what is magically and mysteriously presenting these all-white, all-straight, all-able-bodied casts to you: your own unexamined prejudice.
I'll let you in on a secret. As a white, straight, able bodied person, many white, straight, able-bodied characters 'just present themselves' to me as well. And that's where I stop, remember that I'm the author, and make a decision not to let media programming make my mind up for me. That's when I go searching for characters who deflect a more realistic and diverse picture of the world.
Other commentors on the post took a 'Pshaw! What do YOU know about it, white girl?' stance. It's harder to argue with that one because I'm very aware that I'm making all these statements from a position of privilege. But at the same time, I'm one of the people who is writing works of fiction and putting stories out into the world - and if I'm not allowed to express opinions about that just because of the colour of my skin, then hasn't something already gone wrong with the discussion?
Even though it might sound strange, when we're creating fantasy worlds I think it's vital to look at the real world first. The REAL world. Overcoming our own unconscious assumptions and prejudices is an ongoing process for all of us - not just the white, straight, able-bodied ones - and no one is going to get it right first time or probably all the time, even if they're truly making an effort. But the first step to changing the world of fiction so that it reflects everyone instead of just a tiny, privileged portion, is to think about it and realise that things DO need to change.
What do you guys think?
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE REAL WORLD
This post started out one way, and ended up becoming something else. I sat down with the intention of writing a How To article on the topic of world building, with the bullet points and all that. But as I sketched out my process for coming up with a textured and diverse fantasy world, I began thinking about a discussion I've been having with some writing friends lately, and some really interesting blog posts that I've recently seen from other writers, and instead, it turned into an essay.
So first, I need to make a confession. I'm white. And (so far) straight. And pretty much able bodied, although I've got a couple of chronic health conditions. Therefore, I have what is called privilege. This term encompasses a lot, but for the purposes of this essay it means that when I turn on the TV, go to see a film or pick up a book, the overwhelming number of characters depicted, the overwhelming number of stories told, will be of people 'like me'. For much of my early life, I unconsciously felt that those people were the majority of the world, and that those stories were somehow universal, archetypal, the default.
They are not.
When I slowly began to become aware of this, at first I didn't know what to do about it. It was easy for me to argue that I simply didn't have the experience required to write about people who weren't like me. I'm not part of any repressed minority (I'm part of the repressed majority of women, but that's another discussion). I'd never walked down the street and seen automatic caution or fear or disgust in someone's eyes just because of how I was born. I'd never experienced racial abuse, had to defend my right to love whoever I wanted, or come up against the assumption that I was a brave little soul or a freak of nature. When I walk down the street people look at me and see an inoffensive white girl and let me be.
I've seen this argument a lot, from writers. That they don't have the experience, that they'll get it wrong, that they don't want to offend anyone - and so it's better if they just write about characters like themselves. And I've seen writers who have made that arduous effort to include the odd gay or non-white or not-able bodied character talk about how difficult it is to correctly portray someone who is not like them. And I've seen other writers say that they feel they're being pressured to make 'all their characters' non-white or non-straight or non-able bodied, or you know, not just like them, and it makes them feel restricted and uncomfortable, like their choices are being taken away.
But here's the thing. White people are not the majority of the world. 100% straight arrow people who do not challenge modern Western notions of gender are not the majority of the world. Able bodied people are not the majority of the world. We just think we are because the vast majority of the time, people who are NOT white and straight and able bodied only show up in the media in token roles. Look, we included a sassy gay boy who can give the heroine advice on clothes (but will never get a meaningful relationship of his own)! Aren't we tolerant? Look! We included a sassy black/Chinese/Indian best friend to give the heroine advice on being true to herself (who may get a relationship but it will only be with someone of the same ethnic group)! Aren't we racially aware! Look, we included a sassy boy in a wheelchair to give the heroine advice on understanding what is important in life (who won't even get to express an interest in a life of his own because after all people in wheelchairs are just there to prove a point)! Aren't we broadminded!
No. I'm afraid you aren't.
Currently, the media is showing a horribly skewed picture of the real world. Fiction writers, with our limitless power to reinvent the world, to hold a mirror up to it or subvert it, are showing a horribly skewed picture of the world. If you are not white, if you are not straight, if you are not physically perfect (and to some extent, if you are one of the slightly more than 50% of the population who is female) you know how it feels to wonder why no one wants to write about people LIKE YOU for a freaking change.
Why isn't everyone - even the straight white (male) people - bored with straight white (male) characters yet?
The more I force my mind to open, the stranger it seems to me. Straight white physically perfect people are such a tiny minority in the real world that when you're attempting to create any kind of a realistic fantasy world it's quite *un*realistic to keep putting characters with those traits in the majority of the major roles. Unless you're deliberately writing historical Eurocentric fantasy (because you want to re-tell a European fairytale in a European setting, for example) or you're deliberately writing characters that are familiar to you because you want to use your own life experience in your story, why would you LIMIT yourself that way?
I mean, that's not to say that writers with blonde hair can never write blonde heroines. It's not to say that sraight white able bodied people don't deserve to be in books and films. But...come on. With such a startling variety of colours and races, cultures, physical traits, sexual identities and preferences available for writers to extrapolate from, I think it's sad that so many writers do unconsciously chose to write books which only feature main characters 'just like them'. If nothing else, it's boring.
When I wrote a guest post for another blog which briefly touched on this issue, the response in comments really shocked me (that was before the Mary-Sue thing. After that, I'm not sure I can be shocked anymore).
Some people were defensive, saying that their all-white, all-straight, all-able-bodied casts '...just come to me! I don't decide on their race/sexual orientation/physical status! My character are who they ARE!'
Bull. Sorry, but it's bull. You have nothing to do with how your characters turn out? They just magically appear to you, fully formed? Let me tell you what is magically and mysteriously presenting these all-white, all-straight, all-able-bodied casts to you: your own unexamined prejudice.
I'll let you in on a secret. As a white, straight, able bodied person, many white, straight, able-bodied characters 'just present themselves' to me as well. And that's where I stop, remember that I'm the author, and make a decision not to let media programming make my mind up for me. That's when I go searching for characters who deflect a more realistic and diverse picture of the world.
Other commentors on the post took a 'Pshaw! What do YOU know about it, white girl?' stance. It's harder to argue with that one because I'm very aware that I'm making all these statements from a position of privilege. But at the same time, I'm one of the people who is writing works of fiction and putting stories out into the world - and if I'm not allowed to express opinions about that just because of the colour of my skin, then hasn't something already gone wrong with the discussion?
Even though it might sound strange, when we're creating fantasy worlds I think it's vital to look at the real world first. The REAL world. Overcoming our own unconscious assumptions and prejudices is an ongoing process for all of us - not just the white, straight, able-bodied ones - and no one is going to get it right first time or probably all the time, even if they're truly making an effort. But the first step to changing the world of fiction so that it reflects everyone instead of just a tiny, privileged portion, is to think about it and realise that things DO need to change.
What do you guys think?
August 17, 2011
TO CHOP, OR NOT TO CHOP?
Hi, everyone. Today's post comes to you with the sponsorship of Bleugh, God of Making People's Eyeballs Fall Out, who has been gleefully tormenting me since Tuesday. I've managed to keep my peepers in my skull thus far, but it was touch and go a few times.
But don't worry! Despite the imminent expiration of my eyeballs I still bring you a profound and deeply important post today. A post which may one day be looked back upon as a landmark in the history of the Western world. A post which could change the course of life as we know it.
Guys, I need you to tell me if you think I should cut my hair.
You may remember that back in April I cut my nearly waist-length hair to a much shorter (but still quite long!) layered cut with a fring (bangs, for the USians). So I went from this:
To this:
Now, my hair is very fast-growing, which means it's already a couple of inches longer than that again, but you get the idea. So I need to know if you think I should go from THAT (more or less) to this:
********
Clearly, I am not referring to transforming into a golden-skinned, perfectly groomed Goddess, but merely to being a person with a shoulder-length bob.
ETA: There has bee much useful discussion in the comments. To that end, I offer a new option, thusly:
********
The proper short bob. This was how I wore my hair for a very long time, and I do have nostalgic feelings about how easy it was to wash/dry, although it did mean styling every day since you can't get away with scraping it up if you're having a greasy/frizzy/general bad hair day.
I'm going to put a poll in the sidebar, so please let me know what you think. To chop, or not to chop? That is the question...
But don't worry! Despite the imminent expiration of my eyeballs I still bring you a profound and deeply important post today. A post which may one day be looked back upon as a landmark in the history of the Western world. A post which could change the course of life as we know it.
Guys, I need you to tell me if you think I should cut my hair.
You may remember that back in April I cut my nearly waist-length hair to a much shorter (but still quite long!) layered cut with a fring (bangs, for the USians). So I went from this:
To this:
Now, my hair is very fast-growing, which means it's already a couple of inches longer than that again, but you get the idea. So I need to know if you think I should go from THAT (more or less) to this:
********
Clearly, I am not referring to transforming into a golden-skinned, perfectly groomed Goddess, but merely to being a person with a shoulder-length bob.
ETA: There has bee much useful discussion in the comments. To that end, I offer a new option, thusly:
********
The proper short bob. This was how I wore my hair for a very long time, and I do have nostalgic feelings about how easy it was to wash/dry, although it did mean styling every day since you can't get away with scraping it up if you're having a greasy/frizzy/general bad hair day.
I'm going to put a poll in the sidebar, so please let me know what you think. To chop, or not to chop? That is the question...
August 15, 2011
A QUESTION OF CHARACTER
Happy Monday, Dear Readers! I hope you all had a great weekend.
You'll be (vaguely) interested to know that my achievements this weekend included completing and posting back the U.S. copyedits for Shadows on the Moon (woooh!) and also breaking the 43,000 word mark on Big Secret Project (waaah!). Hopefully I should be able to share some more details of Big Secret Project with you within the next few months. I said hopefully. Cross your fingers!
After last week's blog extravaganza over on The Book Memoirs, today we're back to our regularly scheduled programming - which means answering some reader questions! The first questioner has chosen to remain anonymous, and says:
That's what is really important. In order to 'feel' him, you need to dig into his soul and get to know him. Then I think the problem will solve itself. So, how to do that? Based on what you've told me about him, I think this might help.
But the heroine is only seeing him from the outside. As the author, you need to see him from the inside, even if the reader and the POV character never do. In order to make him real to the reader, he needs to be real to you. Look at him as a person in his own right, not simply as a foil for the heroine. Look at the heroine and the world and his actions from HIS point of view.
Sometimes I find it really useful to let a non-viewpoint character ramble in my head a bit so that they have a chance to express their own internal monologue. The hero's viewpoint may never make it directly to the pages of your ms, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have one. Sit him down in your head and ask him to tell these events in his own words. What events would he start with. What would he have to say about the heroine? How would he describe himself? What are his justifications for his actions? Does he big himself up or play his role down?
Just free-write it, like a long, meandering dialogue. Hopefully soon you'll start to know and understand him not as Main Love Interest #1 but as a person - a complex, maybe conflicted individual with his own hopes and fears and dreams.
Onto the next question, which is from Aimen:
You're looking at your characters from the outside, from the point of view of the reader, and worrying about what they will see. But you're the writer! You shouldn't ever be afraid of your main characters or feel that they're unsympathetic - because you can get inside them and see exactly who they are deep down. You can understand exactly what fears and insecurities and good intentions and fantasies dive them to act the way they do.
I think you should follow the advice I've given the first questioner. Stop worrying about what readers will see right now, because what is important is what YOU see. Ask yourself about the *inside* of the character - what is most important to them, what they fear most, what they love most, what they will fight to escape or protect. Trace their actions in your plot back to events in their past that have shaped them. Write a summary of the events of the story from their point of view, or get them to describe themselves, or another character. Get to really know them.
I think when you've done this you'll find that instead of a bunch of people who make you feel uneasy and worried and whom you feel are probably going to turn out to be b*stards, you'll end up with a group that you care about deeply and understand very well. And when you write them, that understanding and compassion will translate onto the page in such a way that readers will grow to care about them too, even if sometimes their actions are off-putting at times.
One other note (for both questioners!): I find readers have a lot of patience for characters who initially seem abrasive or unlikeable so long as they evolve throughout the story. That doesn't necessarily mean they need to undergo a startling transformation and become a whole new person, but the reader needs to see different aspects of them and watch their relationships with others develop. If they're evolving, that means they're a real person. If they stay completely static, that means they're cardboard.
More questions on writing, reading or publishing? Feel free to drop them in the comments or send me an email through my website. See you on Wednesday :)
You'll be (vaguely) interested to know that my achievements this weekend included completing and posting back the U.S. copyedits for Shadows on the Moon (woooh!) and also breaking the 43,000 word mark on Big Secret Project (waaah!). Hopefully I should be able to share some more details of Big Secret Project with you within the next few months. I said hopefully. Cross your fingers!
After last week's blog extravaganza over on The Book Memoirs, today we're back to our regularly scheduled programming - which means answering some reader questions! The first questioner has chosen to remain anonymous, and says:
"I'm having boy trouble in my ms. The love interest is a supernatural creature who is helping my main character save the world. But the thing is...I don't "feel" him. I know what he looks like but am worried he's just a 1 dimensional character and I'm really struggling to put meat on him, which is making me worry a lot obviously. He is both cursed and blessed with various gifts but I'm thinking he's just a bit meh. Too nice perhaps, too pouty...I don't know. How do I rough him up, dirty him up, to make him attractive and a viable love interest for my main character?"Strip it back a bit. You're telling me all about his outer attibutes here (Note: there was a more detailed description in the email, which I've redacted for confidentiality's sake), like who he is by birth, how he looks, his position, his talents. Clearly you've put a lot of thought into that, and that's great. But who is he inside?
That's what is really important. In order to 'feel' him, you need to dig into his soul and get to know him. Then I think the problem will solve itself. So, how to do that? Based on what you've told me about him, I think this might help.
1) Why is he helping the heroine in the first place?At the moment I think you're maybe focusing too much on what the heroine sees of him, or feels and thinks about him. Don't get me wrong - that's important, because (I'm guessing), that's the viewpoint you're telling the story from.
What is his investment in trying to save mortals? Presumably there's some danger involved - why is he willing to risk it? Is he rebelling against something, trying to make amends for something, just doing it to impress a pretty girl? The reasons will be revealing.
2) What internal conflicts is he facing due to his decision to help the heroine?
He's a supernatural creature and the heroine is not. I'm guessing that supernaturals in your world don't generally go around offering a helping hand to humans just out of the goodness of their hearts, and unless your character has no family or friends within his own community (which, again, would be revealing) there must be some resistance from people he cares about to what he's doing. Is he betraying anyone, or putting his own life or someone else that he cares about in danger? How much does that matter to him?
3) What is his backstory?
What drives him to make these decisions, and take these risks? What has been the moment of supreme fear or anger or joy in his life so far, and how do the events of your story stack up against that? Has he been through so much in his past that nothing scares or moves him anymore, or is he really freaked out about what he's doing/risking?
4) How does he feel about the heroine?
He probably finds her attractive, but how does he really FEEL about her? What does he like about her? Dislike? And WHY? Is he scared of his feelings, or does he accept them easily? Does he conceal them from others, or even himself? How do these feelings interact with everything else he's been through in his life?
But the heroine is only seeing him from the outside. As the author, you need to see him from the inside, even if the reader and the POV character never do. In order to make him real to the reader, he needs to be real to you. Look at him as a person in his own right, not simply as a foil for the heroine. Look at the heroine and the world and his actions from HIS point of view.
Sometimes I find it really useful to let a non-viewpoint character ramble in my head a bit so that they have a chance to express their own internal monologue. The hero's viewpoint may never make it directly to the pages of your ms, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have one. Sit him down in your head and ask him to tell these events in his own words. What events would he start with. What would he have to say about the heroine? How would he describe himself? What are his justifications for his actions? Does he big himself up or play his role down?
Just free-write it, like a long, meandering dialogue. Hopefully soon you'll start to know and understand him not as Main Love Interest #1 but as a person - a complex, maybe conflicted individual with his own hopes and fears and dreams.
Onto the next question, which is from Aimen:
"I have this sort of pathological fear of my main characters. I'm afraid that all of them will turn out to be mean, unlikable b*stards who are unsympathetic and selfish and will eventually become tiring... I'd love to have any tips you can give on characterization and when a misunderstood character becomes so annoying that it is impossible to sympathize with him. I suppose that it also depends on readers somewhat but even if a character is ridiculously immature or in denial, what sort of becomes his redeeming quality? Or is that a question I have to answer?"On the surface this question seems completely different to the first one - but in fact, you're having the exact same problem as Anonymous, Aimen. The exact same one.
You're looking at your characters from the outside, from the point of view of the reader, and worrying about what they will see. But you're the writer! You shouldn't ever be afraid of your main characters or feel that they're unsympathetic - because you can get inside them and see exactly who they are deep down. You can understand exactly what fears and insecurities and good intentions and fantasies dive them to act the way they do.
I think you should follow the advice I've given the first questioner. Stop worrying about what readers will see right now, because what is important is what YOU see. Ask yourself about the *inside* of the character - what is most important to them, what they fear most, what they love most, what they will fight to escape or protect. Trace their actions in your plot back to events in their past that have shaped them. Write a summary of the events of the story from their point of view, or get them to describe themselves, or another character. Get to really know them.
I think when you've done this you'll find that instead of a bunch of people who make you feel uneasy and worried and whom you feel are probably going to turn out to be b*stards, you'll end up with a group that you care about deeply and understand very well. And when you write them, that understanding and compassion will translate onto the page in such a way that readers will grow to care about them too, even if sometimes their actions are off-putting at times.
One other note (for both questioners!): I find readers have a lot of patience for characters who initially seem abrasive or unlikeable so long as they evolve throughout the story. That doesn't necessarily mean they need to undergo a startling transformation and become a whole new person, but the reader needs to see different aspects of them and watch their relationships with others develop. If they're evolving, that means they're a real person. If they stay completely static, that means they're cardboard.
More questions on writing, reading or publishing? Feel free to drop them in the comments or send me an email through my website. See you on Wednesday :)
August 12, 2011
ZOË MARRIOTT WEEK: Day #5
Hello all - happy Friday! It's the final day of Me Week over at The Book Memoirs and today is when I answer all the questions from readers which have been flooding in (OK, maybe trickling in) throughout the week.
And if that wasn't enough, there's a THIRD INTERNATIONAL giveaway, this time of a copy of Daughter of the Flames ! You've also still got time to enter the giveaways for Shadows on the Moon and The Swan Kingdom so get over there and do it if you haven't already.
A massive thank you to Kate and Elle for organising such a smashing week of wonderfulness in my name. I never thought I'd have my very own theme week anywhere. But all good things must come to an end, and so next week we will return to our regularly scheduled programming here on the blog.
If you'd like a Reader Question post next week, feel free to drop your writing and reading and publishing related queries in the comments, or send me an email through my website.
Have a great weekend, all - see you on Monday :)
And if that wasn't enough, there's a THIRD INTERNATIONAL giveaway, this time of a copy of Daughter of the Flames ! You've also still got time to enter the giveaways for Shadows on the Moon and The Swan Kingdom so get over there and do it if you haven't already.
A massive thank you to Kate and Elle for organising such a smashing week of wonderfulness in my name. I never thought I'd have my very own theme week anywhere. But all good things must come to an end, and so next week we will return to our regularly scheduled programming here on the blog.
If you'd like a Reader Question post next week, feel free to drop your writing and reading and publishing related queries in the comments, or send me an email through my website.
Have a great weekend, all - see you on Monday :)
August 11, 2011
ZOË MARRIOTT WEEK: Day #4
What are you doing over here, Dear Readers? If you'd forgotten, it's Me Week on The Book Memoirs, and that means you've still got time to enter the INTERNATIONAL giveaway to win
Shadows on the Moon
and delightful swag, plus another day to enter questions for the Q&A.
Today's entry is a new review of The Swan Kingdom and some fascinating facts about fairytales - along with yet another INTERNATIONAL giveaway of a copy of the book, a signed bookplate and other swag.
Hasten thee hither!
Today's entry is a new review of The Swan Kingdom and some fascinating facts about fairytales - along with yet another INTERNATIONAL giveaway of a copy of the book, a signed bookplate and other swag.
Hasten thee hither!
