S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 203

Wishing You

Not Here

I am not here. Nope. Nor am I posting this. You are hallucinating.

Kidding. I snapped some neat photos at the lake last night, some of which inspired a poem. I posted them together over at the photoblog here. I figured all the people who get annoyed with how private I am with my poetry might enjoy seeing what often inspires it.

I am spending Valentine's Day with the ones I love, so see you on Tuesday.

Unplugging

It's been a tough week, so I'm going to bail on you guys and unplug for the weekend to spend a little more time in my non-cyber reality. So that your visit here was not entirely wasted, here are some interesting sub ops from Ralan.com:

Bete Noire magazine has an open call for their first antho, In Poe's Shadow: "All stories MUST be inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and between 2,000 and 4,000 words (this word count is firm)" Payment: "1 cent a word US, plus one copy", no reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period: "The reading period for this anthology will start July 1st and end July 31st or until filled. Stories sent before July 1st will be deleted unread."

Blood Bound Books has an open call for their Night Terrors II antho: "And volume two is going to take terror to a new level. Like volume I, this second volume will be an open themed anthology of horror. Meaning we want stories from all topics and subcategories of horror. Including, but not limited to: psychological, creatures, paranormal, and gore. Remember, evil has no boundaries and neither do we! Nothing is off limits, so take advantage of the freedom. Science fiction and dark fantasy* will be considered as long as it has a strong element of horror. Try to avoid classic horror conventions/monsters (vampires, werewolves, and zombies), unless you incorporate a unique twist. Third person stories are preferred but we'll read first person stories as long as they are well done or integral to the plot." Length: 750 word to 4.5K, Payment: 2¢/word & up, no reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period opens: March 1, 2011 ("Do Not Submit Before!") Deadline: May 31, 2011.

Weird Tales has been moved to the Pro Market listings, and is looking for: "Short stories of 8,000 words or less (Preferred length is under 6,000). WEIRD TALES is looking for well-written work that is unusual and original; works of the fantastic, stories that are unique and strange with a proclivity toward the dark side. A new take on traditional storylines is also welcome as long as it is different and distinctive. Think in terms of the exploration of the imagination and stories which push the boundaries. Also, interested in the quirky and the peculiar, but the work must still be accessible, so no experimental fiction for the sake of experiment." Payment: 5 cents per word + two copies, no reprints, electronic submissions via online form only, see guidelines for more details.

See you on Monday.

The Unkindest Cut

Marcus Antonius: For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel.
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar lov'd him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart. . . .

-- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 2, 181–186

The last place I expected to find myself at 5:30 am this morning was sprawled by the front door and staring at the ceiling while two Shelties whined and barked as they circled around me, unable to understand why Mama was horizontal and dripping blood all over the floor.

Yet the math is very simple: Rain + dogs tussling + tangled leash + wet floor + slick-soled flats + drowsy writer = nasty spill.

Of course the noise -- and the two bad words I shrieked on the way down -- woke up my kid, who came to my aid and then (very calmly) woke up her father because I was afraid to get up even with her help. I could see myself having a second tumble and taking her down with me.

I don't think I've scared my guy this much since I woke him up one morning nineteen years ago by telling him that my labor pains were three minutes apart. He kept it together, though, and after checking me over he got me vertical and helped me to the bathroom, where we took care of my wounded hand. I kept thinking Stitches concussion emergency room x-rays oh God I don't have time for this now until I realized I wasn't feeling broken bone-level pain. I had a small bump on the back of my head, a slightly sore shoulder and a cut hand. We washed off the blood to examine the wound, which didn't even need stitches.

Everyone has gone off to school and work (my guy didn't want to leave, but I made him go.) My daughter drove us to school so I would only have to drive home. I'm fine. No, actually, I'm not. I'm an idiot. I have a throbbing hand and a bruise on my shoulder and lots of angry hindsight. Why didn't I take the extra three minutes to put on my sneakers this morning? Because, stupid me, I was tired and sliding my feet into my flats was easier. Why didn't I go to bed earlier last night so I'd have been more alert? Because, stupid me, I stayed up late working. Why didn't I control the dogs better? Because, stupid me, I refuse to scold the dogs unless they fight and try to hurt each other. Along with the realization of my own stupidity comes the unnecessary what-if terrors: What if I'd been alone? What if I'd lost consciousness? What if the cut had been deeper, or sliced open my wrist? What if I'd broken something, like my leg/hip/neck?

I am being a drama queen, and I know it. My hand is already mostly useless, so the cut will just cause me a few days of inconvenience and discomfort before it scabs over and begins to heal. I have every bandage known to mankind in our first aid cabinet, so I can keep it dry and protected. End of story, or as my pal Raine would say, Onward.

Perhaps the unkindest cut is the one that could have been easily avoided (if only we'd known it was coming.) We're just doing our thing, and out of the blue, wham, someone knocks us down. No matter how accidental it is (and no matter what we did to contribute to the situation) it feels undeserved. It's the sort of thing that gleefully climbs into our baggage, and forces us to lug it around until we get over it. Unless we don't, and then we have to feed it and give it attention and let it breed until we end up hauling around it and dozens of its spawn in industrial-size crates of resentment.

As with real wounds, allowing the unkindest cut to fester instead of heal poisons you. Imagine if I'd punished the dogs for what happened this morning. Some people would say I had the right to, but my pups didn't wake up this morning and conspire to hurt me. They were just being dogs. I was being human. Add in all the other factors, and it was probably inevitable.

I could stop walking the dogs, but I would be depriving myself of daily pleasure to eliminate the remote possibility of getting hurt. Besides, I've fallen before, and I know it's likely that I will fall again. If the dogs don't knock me down, someone will bump me, trip me or otherwise make me lose my balance. Next time I might blow out the knee, or fracture a hip, or break my neck. I could do that just getting out of bed, too.

The unkindest cut is difficult to forgive, and painfully tough to forget. Learning from it, and taking whatever positive steps you can to guard against a repeat injury, however, is absolutely essential. So tonight I am going to bed an hour earlier, and tomorrow morning I will take three minutes to put on my sneakers. I think I'll also put the little one in her crate before I take out Cole to avoid any future tussles at the door.

My hand feels better already.

Must-Have Kits

The current issue of Country Living magazine has a great article by Katy McColl about Victorian chatelaines, which can best be described as small tool kits which were designed to be worn like pendants (some were also worn at the waist, like this example from the Grant-Kohrs Ranch collection, which sports a penknife, button hook, perfume, note cards and what looks like a watch case.)

I think it's a shame this charming practice fell out of fashion; I'd love to wear some of the tools I use every day in smaller sizes on a chain. I think the vegetable chopper would be a challenge to downsize, though, and I'd probably get a lot of weird looks.

My version of the chatelaine is my must-have kit, which resides in my purse. I was just restocking the other day for the next quilt show I plan to attend. It's a long, flip-lidded tin that usually serves as my quilting kit whenever I travel, and holds whatever essentials I can't live without away from home:



When I'm being a writer, I stock it with a pen, notepad, hair pick (crowded shows get hot and stuffy, and sometimes I'll put up my hair to feel a little cooler) various paperclips and other bits. When I buy a particular fabric from a vendor I like to paperclip their business card to the piece so I can add them and a snip of the fabric to my source book, in case I want more fabric.



This year I actually have my own business cards, so I added a few of those. I'm not planning to toss them around like confetti, but I think they'll come in handy when I get that blank stare from someone who asks, "Who are you again?" or I need to give someone my phone number (which I'll jot down on the back.) I'll probably add a little bottle of hand sanitizer (I like people well enough, but it's always the sick ones who insist on touching me) and a couple sticks of gum. Having everything in one place is convenient and saves time, especially when you're in a hectic situation.

Making up your own must-have kit is easy; about the toughest part is finding the right-size container to hold all your ephemera. If you can't find one that works and you're handy with a needle or crafts, you can always make one (I've recycled old tins and made up my own kit holders from scratch.) Remember to check TSA's prohibited items list if you're planning to take your kit on a plane so you don't bring anything that will be confiscated at the airport (scissors are now a big no-no.) You can also make up must-have kits for writer friends as gifts; they make great bon-voyage presents if your pal is planning to attend a conference.

Related links:

Wikihow.com's Make a Travel-Size Craft Kit

Naomi Szeben's article How to Make Your Own Desk Drawer Emergency Kit has some great ideas on kits you can make up for life's various emergencies.

From Focus to Palette

After reading my Story Palettes post last month, some of you asked if I would give some working examples of how I create a character palette.

Simone, who is a female protagonist in an upcoming novel of mine, has been gradually developing over the course of the last six months while I've put together her backstory, built her personality and figured out who she is, what she wants and, of course, what is the worst thing I can do to her. Simone is a woman of contradictions; everything about her is new and old, yesterday and tomorrow, fire and ice. The problem with all those lovely contrasts is that they make her very hard to nail down. Despite all the character development I'd done, I still had trouble seeing her in my head.

Recently at an art festival I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with watercolor artist Peggy Engsberg Furlin, who painted this little gem (click on any image to see a larger version):



As soon as I saw it I knew it was the focus piece I needed for Simone's character. I can't tell you why; most of the time there isn't a why, it just clicks and I know. So I bought the painting and brought it home, at which point I began building the character palette. First, I took a photo of the painting and cropped it so that no other colors showed:



I then ran the image through DeGraeve's Color Palette Generator to get a working palette, and set up the page for my novel notebook. From there I cut and pasted the DeGraeve palette, and began adding images from my digital collection that I felt suited Simone and worked inside the framework of the palette, until I had this page of visuals:



Colors are an important part of my process. They're symbolic and evocative, and so are the real world elements that I associate with them. They also create new ideas when I combine them. All of these images and colors echo different aspects of Simone's character and what she has to face in the story; defiance, temptation, risk, silence, loneliness, endurance, realization, fruition. They relate to each other, too: Old death, new life; the transition from winter to spring; flowers blooming in snow, what ends to begin/what begins to end, etc etc.

I could go on for pages because now that I have Simone's colors, I know her better. I feel as if I can make her come to life on the page now. Because while I can imagine all the character elements I want, if I don't make the connections between them I can't feel the character or get inside her head. Having a character palette often helps me navigate my way through a lot of uncertainty.

As for inspiration, you should always be ready for it to come at you from any direction or source. Take these gorgeous lampwork beads, which I purchased last week from Pond Art Glass Studio:



I have been revising and updating Korvel, a character who has appeared in the Darkyn series, to serve as one of the protagonists in the new trilogy (there, you have some insider info no one else but my editor has, too.) I never created a character palette for Korvel, and I needed one, but I kept dithering around with old visuals I had from the original series notebooks, none of which were really tailored to his character.

It wasn't until the lampwork beads arrived and I was photographing them for an appeciation shot that I saw Korvel's colors gleaming at me from the intricate swirls in the glass. Twenty minutes later I had put together this palette for him:



For most character palettes I usually narrow it down to three colors, but Korvel and I have a lot of history together, so that's probably why he got a wider range. Readers know a lot about him as a secondary character; now they need to rediscover him as a protagonist, which requires a different approach than presenting a brand-new character. This palette will definitely guide my choices and help me shed some light on the Korvel no one but me yet knows.

I think the key to creating palettes that help you with writing is not to cheat on the focus factor. Inspiration is not something you can artificially generate by throwing together all your favorite colors. You'll be creating a pretty palette that looks nice, but you'll find it does nothing to help you explore your character. Instead, look for something (and not just art, it can be anything at all) that inspires you to think of your character in ways you haven't before you saw it. That's when you know you've got the beginnings of a great character palette.

Just. Not. Ready.

I always reserve the right to make fun of anyone who SPAMs me by e-mail, and this latest piece of work to clutter my inbox is simply begging for it:

Ready To Self-Publish?

No, but I'm fully prepared to rip someone's head off this morning, thank you for asking.

My name is [KINDNESS DUCT TAPE], and like you, I am a published author.

While I've never heard of you. But to be nice, I'll cover all the names in your e-mail with kindness duct tape. Okay, so what other things don't we have in common?

I have worked with traditional publishing houses, and I have self-published. Quite frankly, I have found that self-publishing is more fun, more satisfying, and more lucrative!

Really? Because we're both published authors, that means I, too, could have more fun, more satisfaction and make more money self-publishing. Wow. I should call New York right now and tell them to tear up my latest contract. Tell you what, you hold your breath while I do that.

But don't take my word for it.

You think?

Just ask the many authors I have helped self-publish about their experiences. Authors such as [LOTS OF KINDNESS DUCT TAPE]. Not only have they self-published, they have relied upon [KINDNESS DUCT TAPE] to make their self-published works as ready for discerning readers as any traditional publisher.

And this would be because they also found self-publishing to be more fun, more satisfying, and more lucrative than traditional publishing, or because they can't sell their stuff anymore to a traditional publisher, but still thought they could make a few bucks if they hired you to dress up some trunk novel to make it pretty for Amazon.com and do some substandard overpriced marketing that no one would pay attention to even if they were stranded by a blizzard and it was the only thing in the house they could read?

(peeling back the kindness duct tape to study the names on the list of the many authors you have helped.)

Monty, I'm going to have to pick door #2. I bet you also offered them a discount for giving you testimonials.

Click here to view our testimonials.

Jesus, I am psychic.

You Have Questions...

Only one -- who gave you my e-mail address?

Self-publishing can be overwhelming for even the most experienced writer.

Maybe if they've had their head stuck in the sand for the last five years. Or they're so lazy that their couch has a permanent impression of their ass in their favorite spot. Or they're too busy waiting for the planets to align again properly so they can write a hundred words before tumbling to the floor from spiritual exhaustion. It's their pain and their struggle, you see, and you and I will never ever ever understand it.

"Where can I find a professional editor who understands my book?"

Working at a traditional publisher? Oh, sorry, I forgot, according to you they're unsatisfying no-fun profit-sucking vampires. But does that mean they're also unprofessional and they don't understand books? I mean, why would traditional publishers worry about that kind of thing? I know if I were a traditional publisher, I would only hire amateur idiots who couldn't comprehend the instructions on a bottle of shampoo.

"Can I afford eye-catching cover art that matches the style of my work?"

Um, if you work for a traditional publisher you never have to pay for it. Just saying.

"Is there someone who can convert my book into an ebook or lay it out for print as well as the big publishers?"

My head hurts. Is there someone who can give me an aspirin?

"Do I have to do my own marketing?"

Marketing hard. Marketing bad. We hate marketing. (wringing hands) Why oh why isn't there someone out there to step in and do it for us? Off topic for a sec: did you like get the biggest ninny in the writing universe to think up these idiot questions? Or was it another discount trade-off thing, like the testimonials?

"Should I have a website, and can I afford one?"

Oh, screw the web site. Be really aggressive and get the title of your book tattooed on your forehead.

"Do video book ads really work?"

(raising hand) I know the answer to that one: No! (Unless you're Kinsey Holley or Brent Hartinger.)

Every self-publishing author must answer these questions, but you don't have to do it alone!

I didn't get that memo, so I've been doing it alone for ten years. Shame on me. Should I stop now? Should I ask for someone to come over and hold my hand while I do it? Maybe you guys should help me answer these questions. Okay: Should I have a website, and can I afford one? Why are you guys laughing? I'm serious.

We Have Answers!

You've got something.

[KINDNESS DUCT TAPE] provides all the services a traditional publisher does—editing, cover art, ebook conversions, print layouts, marketing, websites, and video book ads.

Out of the goodness of your heart? Or are you going to pile fee atop fee before the book is released on some digital self-pub platform that takes 40% of the sales and doesn't pay the author until they accrue a certain amount, assuming there are any sales to speak of? Let me guess.

We're ready to transform your manuscript from a rough idea to a polished book at prices you can afford.

While my traditional publisher takes my polished manuscript, does most of that and pays me. I can see why I should dump them like immediately.

Don't give your profits away to the publishers!

No, just give them to you. Before I make them. Yep. Going to jump right on that. Everyone get out of my way!

Don't risk your reputation by publishing a book that isn't ready!

My reputation being so pristine already (yawn.) Sorry, dude, but I guess I'm just not ready to self-peddle my wares on Amazon.com's street corner. Or hire you as my pimp. P.S. if you SPAM me again, next time I won't use the kindness duct tape.

[KINDNESS DUCT TAPE] is ready to help you produce the book you've dreamed of.

I think I had a nightmare like this once. In it I was in a beautiful meadow with a handsome vampire, and then suddenly all my e-mails turned into razor-toothed critters and started attacking us. Wait, no, they were dandelions, not e-mails. Never mind.

Digiart Ten

Ten Things to Help with Your Digital Art

Daz Studio 3D is "a free, feature rich 3D figure design and 3D animation tool that enables anyone to create stunning digital imagery. This is the perfect tool to design unique digital art and animation using virtual people, animals, props, vehicles, accessories, environments and more. Simply select your subject and/or setting, arrange accessories, setup lighting, and begin creating beautiful artwork" (OS: Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X 10.4 or higher)

Greenfish Relief Map Generator is a neat utility program that "generates random images which resemble real relief maps. The randomized maps contain settlements with random names, hills, plains, lakes and seasides. The program can generate random town names (which are fictious and do not exist anywhere), or pick them randomly from a provided text file. The generated images are public domain and can be used anywhere" (OS: Win 9x/NT/2000/XP/Vista)

Inkscape is a "Linux, Windows & OSX vector graphics editor (SVG format) featuring transparency, gradients, node editing, pattern fills, PNG export, and more. Aiming for capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, Visio, etc." (OS: 32-bit MS Windows (NT/2000/XP), All POSIX (Linux/BSD/UNIX-like OSes), OS X, Linux)

OpenClipArt, founded in 2004 by Jon Phillips & Bryce Harrington, is a project that "aims to create an archive of clip art that can be used for free for any use. All graphics submitted to the project should be waived of all rights, including copyright, according to the CC0 Public Domain Dedication."

PhotoFiltre is "a complete image retouching program. It allows you to do simple or advanced adjustments to an image and apply a vast range of filters on it. It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy learning curve. The toolbar, giving you access to the standard filters with just a few clicks, gives PhotoFiltre a robust look" (OS: Win 98/ME/NT/2K/XP/Vista/7)

Sculptris is a "free, 3D digital sculpting program. Sculptris is small and focused at its main task, which is sculpting and painting models" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)

Shape Collageis a "free and easy to use Java based application that will allow you to create picture collages in less than a minute with just a few mouse clicks. Shape Collage will place photos automatically and intelligently using a machine learning algorithm" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X, Linux)

TrueSpace is "a fully-featured 3D authoring package that will let you model, texture, light, animate and render 3D content. As well as traditional images and movies, you can also make 3D content for online shared spaces, and for Virtual Earth. Truespace features quick easy character animation and physics. 1000 frames real time can be rendered in a couple minutes. An entirely re-written X format exporter lets you save your trueSpace creations to load into game engines such as XNA to develop games for Windows or the Xbox 360. Also included is an export to Virtual Earth which will let you place your 3D creations straight into Virtual Earth from trueSpace. Now you can place whatever you make into real world locations in Virtual Earth and share them with others" (OS: Windows XP/Vista)

Whiteboard Lite is a collaborative drawing tool which allows "two iPhone or iPod touch devices to create pictures together over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth peer-to-peer."

WPClipart is "a collection of high-quality public domain images specifically tailored for use in word processors and optimized for printing on home/small office inkjet printers. The common image format is lossless PNG, but in most cases there are also JPG versions as well as transparent PNG, more clip art now includes SVGs and, for some of the page borders/backgrounds, PDFs" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

Hark the Heraldry

Long before there were business cards or resumes people would make themselves known to each other via heraldry by displaying (usually on a shield) a family coat of arms. The practice, which may predate the Roman Empire, was both a way to show off one's pedigree and provide an instant form of identification -- something the probably came in handy on the battlefield. In the confusion being able to read with one glance the coat of arms on someone's shield may have kept more than one confused warrior from accidentally slaughtering an ally.

Over time the coat of arms became synonymous with power, wealth and privilege, something to separate the entitled from the indiscriminately bred. It moved from the warrior's shield to the seals used for wax imprints and crests embossed on letters and documents. Sara Ferguson even had her family coat of arms embroidered on her wedding dress when she married Prince Andrew. Today heraldry is often misused by people who think that because they have a historic-sounding surname they might actually be the ninth cousin of the Duke of Wellington twice removed (btw, his surname wasn't Wellington. Wellington came from the name of a town in Somerset.)

I like to play with heraldry in fiction; for the Darkyn series I employed several variations of it, from jardin colors to family crests. For the new trilogy I'm also putting it to work, so I'm back to researching the symbols and arrangements to see what I can use for my needs. Today I designed the above Ahnclann coat of arms (and not for any particular reason other than I just wanted to test the generator) by using the free online Java version of Coat of Arms Design Studio. I liked this generator because it had a lot of design options yet was simple to use.

There are also product sites online which will let you design your own coat of arms and then (for various fees) will print it on T-shirts, coffee mugs and pretty much anything else you want. I took the online designer tools at MakeYourCoatofArms.com for a spin and made up a fictitious coat of arms and motto for my surname, which then made me curious as to what the real/historic Kelly coat of arms might look like. I ran an image search, and Yahoo brought up this impressive conglomeration ("God is my strong tower" seems to be the family motto. Or maybe it was "Gone Off to Our Ivory Tower" and someone tweaked it.)

There are some great heraldry research sites online that provide an amazing amount of details. I found this real Quelly coat of arms at Eddie Geoghegan'sCoats of Arms from Ireland and around the World site, which is not just valuable for all the free heraldry info he offers; he also provides for free images of the coat of arms for more than 8,000 surnames, as well as an excellent crash course in the customs and practie of heraldry. Even if you don't need a real coat of arms, just looking through the collection can give you some excellent ideas on what to use when designing your own.

Beautiful, Beastly Books

I've been collecting books for a while now, and have spent many happy years chasing down numerous out of print titles by my favorite authors in order to build complete collections of their work. I think it's interesting to see how a writer develops and builds and changes over the years -- something you can only follow by reading all their books in order -- plus looking for and finding the titles can be like a lifelong treasure hunt.

I have scored some major finds, like an excellent copy of Penny McMorris's Crazy Quilts, the holy grail of quilters who love crazies because only 5,000 copies were printed, and a first edition of Byron's complete works (which I found in a junk shop for a couple bucks.) I've also inherited some books cherished by family collectors who came before me, too. My grandmother left to my mother a set of Mark Twain's novels, all signed by the author, and Mom decided to split them up among all her kids. I asked for and got A Conneticut Yankee and his Joan of Arc books, which were the ones I most wanted.

There are a few titles that I'd still like to add to my personal library someday. One is Luigi Serafini's Codex Seraphinianus , a massive work of art that uses nonsense language and fantastic art to define and explore, well, no one is still quite sure (you look at this page from it and tell me what you think.) I know it's nothing but made up gibberish, but I've always wanted to see it anyway. The problem with this one is I know where I can get a copy, but I'm not yet willing to pay the beastly asking price, which is usually around $500.00. This book is also the reason I still make the rounds of thrift stores and junk shops; I have a feeling that's where I'm going to find my copy someday.

There are online sites like The Rare Bookroom that provide digital versions of books that have been scanned to make them available to everyone, which I think is great for rare/ancient first editions of books that the public at large might otherwise never be able to see. It may also be the only way we can preserve for future generations books like delicate illuminated medieval manuscripts, which will slowly but surely be destroyed by the ravages of time.

Is there a rare or hard-to-find book out there somewhere that you covet for your collection? Where do you look for hidden book treasures? Let us know in comments.