Sarah Mäkelä's Blog, page 33

Blog Tour + Newsletter

So, with my book Techno Crazed  coming out in two weeks, I'm going on tour. A blog tour that is. Here's my list of stops. I'd love to see you there!

6/3: Savvy Authors
6/9: RWA's Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter
6/10: Cathy Pegau
6/13: Gabriella Hewitt
6/14: Julia Rachel Barrett
6/15: Interview @ Clancy Metzger
6/15: Darcy Drake
6/16: Castles & Guns + Giveaway
6/17: Interview @ Kelly Whitley
6/17: Romance Reader at Heart + Giveaway
6/17: Fang-tastic Books
6/20: Kinley Baker
6/22: Marilyn Wigglesworth
6/23: Release Party @ The Romance Studio

Also, I'll be sending out my newsletter on 6/24. If you're interesting in the chance to win a copy of Techno Crazed (or you just want to find out more about what I'm doing) make sure to sign up below!



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Technomancy

Wow, it's June already! I can hardly believe it. Sorry about no post on Monday. I spent some time with family. As you all probably know, my cyberpunk romance book Techno Crazed is coming out June 17th, so today's Into the Paranormal topic is related.

Wikipedia's definition of Technomancy is "magical abilities that affect technology, or to magical powers that are gained through the use of technology." This kind of magic can be found in books that cross between science fiction and fantasy (ahem... cyberpunk *grins*) genres. The word technomancy mixes "technology" and "-mancy," which comes from the Greek work manteia meaning divination. A user of this kind of magic is a technomancer or technomage. 

There seems to be two kinds of technomancy. One kind is non-mystical technomancy. In that universe, things are strictly scientific. Characters might gain magic-like powers through technology, but they don't possess magical powers outright. Examples of this type of world would be Babylon 5 (TV show), Mass Effect (video game), and Shadowrun (role-playing game).

The second kind is non-scientific technomancy. This type of universe equips magical objects that operate like technology. This kind of magic is sometimes called "industrial magic." Examples include Harry Potter where owls act as the postal system (among other things) and Dungeons & Dragons' Eberron campaign where spirits power vehicles.

Techno Crazed's world uses the non-scientific method technology in that there is real magic that the hero and other characters utilize.

Interesting Tidbit:
One of the earliest appearances of the term is in the short story "Technomancy" by Steve Martindale in the magazine Aboriginal Science Fiction.Technomancy was used by Willow in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Pretty cool! I didn't remember that.What do you think about Technomancy? Seems pretty cool, doesn't it?

Weekly Wrap Up

I hope everyone is having a Happy Friday! And an awesome Memorial Day weekend (or a great weekend period for those not in the US)!

This week hasn't quite been as productive as last week. I finished reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher... wow! I loved it! I've also begun editing the novel I'll be pitching at RWA's National conference, so I don't have any word count progress.

Yeah, I'm kind of all over right now. haha There's just so many things I'd like to work on! But I think I've figured out what I'll be tackling this upcoming week.

Interesting Links:

Into the Paranormal: Sea Monk

So, as I browsed the list of creatures today, I came across an interesting one I hadn't heard of before, a Sea Monk, which sometimes goes by the name of monk-fish. It was named in 1545 to the fish off the coast of Denmark's Zealand island. The creature got its name by looking like a monk, as you can see from the picture.

It was featured in Conrad Gesner's fourth volume of Historia Animalium, a renaissance zoology book. Gesner, who was a doctor and professor, had previous experience with a similar sea creature in 1531 off the coast of Poland.

The sea monk was made well known in the epic poem La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde by Guillaume du Bartas. The poem reflects the belief that everything on land has something that corresponds in the sea.

In the 1850s, Japetus Steenstrup, a Danish zoologist, came up with the idea that the sea monk was actually a giant squid, which lined up next to one another look similarly shaped. Others believed it could be a walrus, grey seal, hooded seal, monk seal, or even a hoax. Although, there's one more possibility, which came about more recently. Some believe it could be an angel shark due to the fact that it's typically called a monkfish or, in Norway, munk.


What's your take on the Sea Monk? Have you heard about it before?

witchcraft and magic

witchcraft and magic

Guest Author Gabriella Hewitt

Striking Gold With Research

Long ago and far away, my writing partner and I came up with an idea. A mere spark in the dark, if you will, about a detective and an Aztec myth. It was to be submitted for an anthology. We knew next to nothing about Aztecs, only a little bit garnered here and there. So I went to the library and pulled the only book they had, a huge text with beautiful pictures and fascinating stories of gods, rituals, prophecies, timelines, death and
destruction. I mean it had it all. I was riveted and read it every night to the point I was quaking in my boots about the end of the world and the vengeance of gods seeking to annihilate humans. It was crazy. I emailed my partner and let her know that we were so writing this story. Thus was born the Shadow Warriors. We outlined the story and wrote it. The editor liked it, but passed.

We shelved it. Never even considered going back to it.

A few years later and everyone is abuzz about the 2012 prophecy. We got excited except our story is about Aztecs, not the Mayans. We bit our nails and considered if trying to revamp the story would be worth our time. We took the risk because what is life without risk? We read it over and realized we have grown as authors and the story as we originally wrote it no longer held appeal to us. We overhauled it completely. 100 pages straight into the garbage. "What a waste!" you may say, but we didn't. We now knew what we wanted
from the story and what we didn't. We knew that we wanted to make the gods bigger, scarier, and more deadly. We wanted to build a world and mythos that could rival the Aztec warriors themselves and come out the victor.

So we went back to the drawing board and dug deeper, went further, excavated the bowels of the Internet and libraries to find legends, folklore, myths of the Aztecs. What we unearthed had us shaking with excitement. These gods were complex, sometimes even blending with other gods, and their range crossed vast sections of the Americas, from Nevada to Texas to Mexico to Peru. We were astonished by what the Aztecs created and how far their reach extended. What truly made us happy and in some ways humbled us
was the fact that Aztec ways are still celebrated and the culture somewhat remains. Aztecs developed an entire language, which is rare, but there is growing support to bring back the Nahautl language and the culture.

We did create a new myth of the Shadow Warriors, brave men who died in battle and recruited by the sun god to save humanity to earn back their own humanity. These men were given animal spirits as companions until the day they could find their spirit mate—the other half of their soul—before their animal spirit devours them. Still we took much of the fantasy from actual folklore and history. Aztec soldiers wore the skins and feathers of animals after which they modeled their fighting style and ferocity: jaguars, eagles, and coyotes (wolves).

Doing the research is hard work, but it is exciting, wondrous and rewarding. We love getting lost in the lore and there's nothing like that Eureka! moment when we know we've hit gold.

Here are some links to learn more about the Aztecs.
Mexicolore: http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one=azt&two=aaa
Aztec Civilization: http://www.crystalinks.com/aztec.html
Aztec History: http://www.aztec-history.com/index.html

About the author:

Gabriella Hewitt is the pen name of creative writing talents Sasha Tomaszycki and Patrizia M.J. Hayashi. Together they weave tales of romantic suspense and dangerously sensual paranormals. Check out the website www.GabriellaHewitt.com to find out about upcoming releases and events on their blog.


Available Now

DARK WATERS © Samhain Publishing

Available Now http://www.gabriellahewitt.com/bookshelf/

A predator stalks paradise and she's next

On a tropical isle, Frankie Montalvo discovers roots to a past she never knew. Tales of witchcraft, missing girls and el chupacabra surround her, but it will take more than superstitions to scare her away. Determined to create her own home, she enlists the help of an enigmatic beach bum.

She doesn't want to fall for a drifter who will probably break her heart and move on, but when both she and her home are attacked, it's in Rico's arms that she finds safety and protection. All she's ever wanted was to settle down and live life on her own terms, but someone has other plans and Frankie must decide—is Rico her lover or her enemy?

Special Agent Rico Lopez has been to the depths of hell and back. He returns to his native island of Vieques to forget an ICE mission gone wrong only to find himself caught up in the search for a neighbor's daughter—a victim of the legendary el chupacabra. Paradise has a predator and all leads point to a dilapidated old plantation and its sexy as sin owner. Lying to Frankie is the only way to do his job, but is he protecting her or himself?

As the net around them tightens and their lives are put on the line, he'll learn the greatest danger he's ever faced is the risk of losing his heart.

Word or Page Count -- How Do You Keep Track?

Ugh! I'm sorry this blog post is late. I've been on a reading and relaxing binge after I sent off my edits, so blogging apparently slipped my mind. lol

Whenever you go to a publisher's submission pages, you see their guidelines in what the publisher is looking for. These almost always include word counts, and if you submit a story not within the certain word count, chances are great that they'll reject it. This alone could make one stare at the word count meter on their word processor, but after a dose of National Novel Writing Month, the problem can lead to word count obsession.

But then, there are authors who go strictly by page count. Some focus more on that than word count, and they're probably just as bad about having desires to reach their goals.

Someone else I knew said they write the story and then submit it based on the length it happens to turn out at. But is that realistic? How about after you've already gotten a book published, and you're writing the sequel? I don't think it's that easy, especially if one is looking to get a novel published. I have to have a goal in front of me to reach for.

How do you handle juggling a good story and fitting it into the word count requirements for submission guidelines? Do you think writers should write the story and submit based on the length it happens to be? I look forward to your thoughts!

Weekly Wrap Up + Another Award!

Happy Friday everyone! It's that time again for a Weekly Wrap Up. I hope everyone has had an awesome, productive week. The kitty has advice for anyone who might not have been so fortunate.

As for me, I've been putting my Work-In-Progress on hold for now while I do... ta-da... edits, which I'm very near completion on!

Here's my current progress for the WIP, in case you're curious.


7015 / 25000 words

Interesting Link:
http://www.castlesandguns.com/2011/05/premature-sending-writer-affliction.html -- This discusses something I sometimes have problems with as well, fighting the urge to over-commit!Have any interesting links you've found? Let me know! How have you progressed through this week?

And now onto the award! Thank you very much, Inger (Canyon Girl)! I'm honored that you chose me for this. =)

So, for this, I have to tell five things about myself.

I really enjoy learning more about the craft of writing.I keep alternating between being giddy with excitement and nervous about my upcoming release, Techno Crazed.I've most recently been switching between playing The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval when I need to relax or have some fun. I've been listening to a lot of trance music on Pandora Radio while writing and editing.I'm very happy, excited, and grateful for all of the great things that have happened so far this year and the things still to come.I'm passing the award to:Darcy DrakeLisa KesslerC R WardI hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! See you on Monday!

Reincarnation

Hi everyone! I'm hastily working on edits this week, so today's Into The Paranormal post will be me rambling some on a topic instead of packed with in depth research. haha

So, reincarnation... Here is Wikipedia's definition of it:

Reincarnation is believed to occur when the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, comes back to life in a newborn body. However, once born in a new body, things from a person's previous life are forgotten. This doctrine is a central tenet within the majority of Indian religious traditions, such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism; the Buddhist concept of rebirth is also often referred to as reincarnation.

I've seen movies, TV shows, and read novels dealing with it, but I haven't really studied it much. I saw an episode of Blood Ties once about a guy and a woman that had so many lifetimes together, and in each life, they would find each other by going back to a certain tree. In the current life, she was older than him and had gotten married, but he insisted on them being together to the point where he tried to mess up her marriage. It was romantic at first, but then it turned into downright creepy.

I think I prefer the concept of living my life and then my soul moving on to the afterlife. This world can be challenging enough without the thought of living in it several more times! *grins* Besides, if people did reincarnate why would there be such thing as ghosts and spirits trapped here on earth? They would go on to their next life instead right?

Hmm... Never say never...

Interesting Tidbits:
Reincarnation from the Latin word means "entering the flesh again."Reincarnation exists in Norse mythology in the Poetic Edda. The poem, Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, tells the story of Helgi Hjörvarðsson's love with the valkyrie, Sváfa. They reincarnate twice once as Helgi Hundingsbane and the valkyrie Sigrún and again as Helgi Haddingjaskati and the valkyrie Kára.What do you think about reincarnation? Do you believe in it, or are you skeptical?

What Happens in a Pitch Session?

Recently, my friend Darcy Drake asked on Twitter about what happens during a pitch. There are a ton of articles on crafting your perfect pitch, but if you've never been through it, it can be pretty darn intimidating. I know it was for me. But the results can be awesome! I tied for the win in Changeling Press's Shamrock Challenge after a chat room pitch session during Savvy Authors's DigiCon. Now two of my novellas (a cyberpunk and a paranormal romance) are contracted.

There are pretty much three different kinds of pitching opportunities. One is a face to face with an editor or agent, usually at a conference or retreat. There are also chat room pitch sessions, which mirrors face to face, except you're in a chat room in the comfort of your own home. The third kind is blog pitching, which you post a three-line pitch for. Savvy Authors has several of these coming up this year.

Anyways, the types I'll be talking about are face to face and chat rooms. They each have pros and cons. With face-to-face, you can see the other person's reaction to what you're saying, but it's easier to get freaked out and scatterbrained too. With chat rooms, you can pitch in your pajamas and not be sitting in front of the editor or agent, but it's harder to tell what they're thinking during the process because you can't see their faces.

Now for the process as I've experienced it. You wait for your turn, try to calm your nerves, and hope that it goes well. Then you're off and greeting the agent/editor. With both types of pitching, I usually start by saying, "Hello, my name is Sarah Mäkelä…" and jump straight into it.

After you give your pitch, the editor/agent will, most of the time, ask questions. Although, you might get an editor who says at that they don't think it'd be a good fit for them. And that is why it's good to have a second story ready when pitching. When that happened to me, I pulled out a pitch for another story since it'd only taken about 3-4 minutes for my first pitch and for the editor to tell me they didn't have much of a market for my story. She ended up requesting the second one though!

But I digress... The questions. Be prepared! I received a question during one of my first pitches where the agent asked what the climax of the story was. I sat there and scratched my head, not remembering what it was or what to say. haha Not good... I got a request for a synopsis from that, but it's not a good feeling to flub. Other times, there have been questions that made me ponder the answer because it was something beyond what I'd really thought of, but I answered without a lot of trouble. They will let you sit there for a few moments and gather your thoughts. There's no need to feel like freaking out. All of the people I've pitched to have been very nice and if you do get stuck on something, they might try to help out and gently prompt you.

The ones I've done have been about 10 minutes long, so you have a decent amount of time, but it usually flies by. At the end, a moderator (both in person and in chat rooms) might pop in to make sure you don't go over the time limit. At that point, start wrapping things up, maybe exchange business cards and/or copy down information if requests were made. Leave the pitch feeling either super excited, mildly enthused, or disappointed.

Have you ever been in a pitch session? Was it face to face or via a chat room? Any tips you'd like to share?