Barry Lyga's Blog: The BLog, page 33

WiRL: Episode 14 — It’s All Routine

The fourteenth episode of Writing in Real Life is live!

Routines for raising a baby, writing books, and — possibly — staying sane. Bringing gifts to babies. Daycare’s pluses and minuses. Plus: Could you be the next Paul???

All that and this: Get a look at Morgan’s desk!

Please: send us feedback, subscribe/rate us on iTunes, and follow us on Twitter!

(And of course, you have until midnight April 30, 2015 to enter the contest for a signed ARC of After the Red Rain. Listen to Episode 12 for details!)

Book Length(s)

For some reason, people are obsessed with the length of books. And by “people,” I mean aspiring authors. “How long should my book be?” “How long is too long?” “How short is too short?”

I used to answer in the snarky words of my high school Spanish teacher. When asked (incessantly) how long our essays needed to be, Señora Durham would respond, “Make it like a skirt — long enough to cover the topic, but short enough to be interesting.”

And then people would look at me askance for putting it that way, so I stopped. But it’s true. No rules, man — tell your story. Don’t worry about length.

The more I pondered the subject, though, the more my thoughts turned to myself. Because that’s who I am.

So here, for the possible edification of those who might be interested or just really, really bored, is the length of each of my books. Enjoy!1

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl – 77,200
Boy Toy – 102,200 (originally 131,000)
Hero-Type – 68,700
Goth Girl Rising – 81,400
Wolverine: Worst Day Ever – 23,600
Archvillain – 35,200
Mangaman – 20,000
Archvillain 2: The Mad Mask – 44,800
Archvillain 3: Yesterday Again – 66,500
I Hunt Killers – 88,000
Game – 119,000
Unsoul’d – 70,100
Blood of My Blood – 106,100
Lucky Day – 22,700
After the Red Rain – 104,000
The Secret Sea – 95,200

So, what can we learn from this? Hell if I know! First, we need to discard Wolverine, Lucky Day, and Managman, the last because it’s a script for a graphic novel, the others because they’re novellas and therefore deliberately shorter.

Of the remaining books, I’m not sure if there are any lessons for would-be authors. The middle-grade books tend to be shorter, but even there the Archvillain series began as my shortest and then edged into Hero-Type territory, with that book being the shortest of my YA. By the time you get to my most recent middle-grade, The Secret Sea, we’re fully in crazy-length territory.

The longest books are Game and After the Red Rain (which surprises me because I thought AtRR was pretty short). But Boy Toy was longer than them both by far before I chopped about a hundred and fifty pages out of it. (Some of those pages live on the Deleted Scenes page.)

And Unsoul’d, my only (so far) adult novel is shorter than pretty much all my YA (except, again, for Hero-Type).

If you are looking for confirmation that middle-grade should be super-short and YA should be kinda short and only in adult fiction can you really let loose with word count…well, you came to the wrong place.

Follow the advice of Señora Durham, people: Your book is as long or as short as it needs to be, and no more.

Please note that these are approximations. I used the latest version of each manuscript on my computer, so these counts are rounded to the nearest hundred. Given corrections made in copyedits and page proofs, there could be variations of a hundred or more words, but nothing that’s going to make a substantial difference in the final totals.

Do Yourself a Favor: Buy this Book

Hey, everyone. I don’t do a lot of hard selling on the BLog or anywhere else, for that matter, but I’m breaking that unwritten rule to encourage you — no, to beseech you — to buy this book.

Those of you who listen to my podcast or have seen me speak publicly have heard me sing the praises of Paul Griffin. Paul is an author of truly prodigious talents, and if you seek proof that we live in an unjust universe, the fact that he is not bigger then Rowling and King combined should suffice. Paul’s books are full of heart and passion and vivid, poetic language in service of tough stories and brutal honesty.

Yeah, Paul’s a friend of mine, so maybe Lyga’s just doing his buddy a solid, right? Nah. I was a fan of Paul’s before he and I became friends. Fan first. I’m still a fan. The only difference is that now I can call him up and tell him how damn brilliant he is.

Adrift will hit your bookstores in July, but you can preorder it now. I urge you to do so. Let’s make this book a hit before it even comes out.

Amazon
BN.com
Indiebound

If you’d like to sample some of Paul’s work right away, he has four other wonderful novels that you can find at the usual places…

Amazon
BN.com
Indiebound

The First Review for After the Red Rain

I didn’t expect to be seeing reviews for After the Red Rain already ,but the folks at School Library Journal have already weighed in! And I think they kinda liked it…

Facinelli, aka Dr. Carisle Cullen from the “Twilight” movies, and producer DeFranco team up with YA author Lyga to create a powerful postapocalyptic novel. This particular version of the future is so far post the apocalypse that no one can remember how exactly they got there, though theories abound, most of them involving a “red rain” that may or may not have killed half of the world’s population. The main character, Deedra, was raised in an orphanage and now leads a plodding, government-controlled existence working in a factory and scavenging on her days off. It is on one of these trips that she meets the oddly named Rose, a boy her age who seems to have come from nowhere and is completely different from anyone she’s ever met. When Rose’s true nature is revealed—not a vampire or robot but something far stranger and more interesting—Deedra realizes that he may be the key to saving their dying world. She just needs to save him first. The story moves along without feeling rushed, and with the exception of the scenery-chewing magistrate, characters are fully formed and subtly drawn. VERDICT Not just another dystopia: strong characters and adept world-building make this work stand out from the crowd.

I think my favorite part is that bit early on about how “no one can remember how exactly they got there, though theories abound.” That was something I really cared about a lot, as a way of making this stand out from other post-apocalyptic stories.

Anyway, I’m glad SLJ dug it, and I hope you will, too, when it comes out in August!

I Hunt Killers Goes to Japan

Guys, I am thrilled to announce that the I Hunt Killers series will soon be available in Japan!

Publisher Tokyo Sogensha will publish it, and the first book hits Japanese bookstores in May 2015. Yeah, next month!

And look at this absolutely unbelievably amazing cover by illustrator Sky Emma!

Click to embiggen!

Holy cow, right??? Isn’t that awesome? I am so psyched/lucky!

But there’s more. Because apparently in Japan, it’s common to have an afterword of sorts added to the book — part review, part summation — to add context for the reader. For I Hunt Killers, the publisher engaged Fumi Wakabayashi, a well-known Japanese critic, who wrote the following (translated from Japanese):

What is the first impression that you get from a “novel about serial killers,” or from the Japanese title for this novel, “Goodbye, serial killer?” A bloody and gruesome psychological thriller, maybe? Let me tell you, your prediction will be defied, in a good way. The incidents in the story are psychotic indeed, but it’s more than that.

The story opens in a field outside a peaceful town, Lobo’s Nod. A female naked body was found there, and the field is now full of cops. And a boy, hiding in tall grass with binoculars in his hand, is watching them. His name is Jasper “Jazz” Dent, and he’s a 17-year-old high school student.

Seeing a severed finger placed in an evidence bag, Jazz is convinced that this is a part of serial killing, and he gives his thought to Sheriff G. William Tanner.

What made Jazz so sure? His father Billy Dent is an infamous serial killer, who was arrested for having killed more than 100 people over two decades. As Jazz grew up, the worst serial killer of the 21st century shared with his son all the knowledge and techniques for the trade. For Jazz, cutting off a finger from the victim is a clear sign for a serial killer who collects trophies.

However, the sheriff does not buy his idea, and he is against Jazz’s involvement in the case. If more murders occur in this small town, it is obvious what people will think of the son of the notorious serial killer. To stop the murderer, Jazz begins his own investigation.

There are so many mysteries with boy and girl sleuths, but Jasper “Jazz” Dent would be the most eccentric among all. Born and raised as son of a serial killer, Jazz is an expert in abnormal psychology, and he can look at the case from the murderer’s perspective. He’s also trained to manipulate people. Jazz’s hunt for the freaky killer may remind you of a classic “sleuth-and-villain” battle.

While I Hunt Killers is an entertaining thriller, it is far from a mere entertainment which just aims to shock the readers. It’s probably because the story also focuses on the complicated emotions of Jazz, who tries to break the curse as a serial killer’s son and to be an ordinary high-school kid. In fact, he appears to be a boy in your neighborhood: He goes to school, and he has a good friend and a girlfriend. However, the unconscious manifestation of his manipulative skills makes him feel terrible and wonder if he will become a monster like his father after all.

As a 17-year-old boy, who is just between a child and an adult, Jazz has both maturity and child-like fragility. By successfully describing Jazz’s wavering identity, I Hunt Killers can be read also as a great coming-of-age novel.

To talk about this novel, I should also refer to two other characters – Jazz’s best friend Howie and Jazz’s girlfriend Connie, both of whom give warmth and depth to the novel.

Howie is hemophiliac, but he is always positive and serves as an ideal “Dr. Watson” for Jazz. Connie loves Jazz regardless his background. When she takes the role of a slavefor a school play, Jazz asks her if that does not bother her, as she’s black. And Connie says, “I care about the people who are hurting [in Africa]. The wars. The genocide. The famine. […] But no more than people on any other continent who are suffering. And I don’t care about slavery, either. […] But I care about the now, Jazz. The now and the coming. I don’t care about the past. Get it?”

Connie’s remarks here clearly show us an important theme of this novel. Whatever background you may have, you are you, and it’s valuable for you to establish who you are. I believe that Jazz’s agony and the book’s message to it will resonate with readers beyond generations.

I’m really honored to have a critic held in such high esteem in Japan say such kind things about my book. ありがとう!

WiRL: Episode Thirteen – The Lucky One

The thirteenth episode of Writing in Real Life is live and waiting for your ear-holes! Go listen!

Guilt! What is it good for? (Say it again.) Babies need down time. Morgan works on her book! Barry works on his book! Huzzah! Being productive in a short amount of time. Writers writing about writers. Reading marathons vs. sprints. The utility of critique groups. Plus: Morgan reads Barry’s upcoming book.

And please: send us feedback, subscribe/rate us on iTunes, and follow us on Twitter!

(And of course, there’s still time to enter the contest for a signed ARC of After the Red Rain. Listen to Episode 12 for details!)

Guest Bloggin': Piper Center – “What to Write”

The folks at the Piper Center for Creative Writing at ASU asked me to guest-blog on the topic of “What to Write.” I did exactly that…in my own way.

The blog begins “Someday, you’re going to be dead.” Things go downhill from there.

Check it out!

Earth Day Again

Every year on Earth Day, I like to point people to my anti-Earth Day rant.

Worst case scenario, we’re wrong about global warming (oops!), but we still do all this work to clean up the environment and all we have to show for it is cleaner air, cleaner water, better health, etc. Oh, that would suck mightily, wouldn’t it?

Give it a read, won’t you?

Batman v. Superman: Yawn of Justice

So, yesterday, we got to see a laughably awful teaser trailer for the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I say “laughably awful” because the damn thing seemed like a parody of itself, leaning heavily — and cheaply — on the iconography of the two main characters, with hilariously portentous music playing over pornographically intimate shots of…empty superhero costumes.

Ho-hum. Haven’t we seen this kind of crap before? Dude, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers had actual stories that worked. You have to have more than a logo to excite me.

Those empty costumes are looking awful symbolic at this point. It’s as though the folks making this movie are saying, “Hey, you know who Superman and Batman are, and we know you know. We don’t have to show you anything at all — you’ll see it no matter what.” Ugh. Compare this to the first Star Wars teaser from a couple of months ago. It actually showed you things. Interesting things. Exciting things. Scary things. Mysterious things. It wasn’t relying on, “We’re Star Wars — get excited.”

Google the BvS teaser yourself if you like; I won’t be linking to it.

Anyway, as many of you know, I was…displeased with the last effort in this proto-franchise, Man of Steel.

People actually CHEERED at the worst, most aggressively offensive moment of #ManofSteel. I have to live in this world. #fb

— Barry Lyga (@barrylyga) June 14, 2013

Many thanks to @barrygoldblatt for liquoring me up and listening to me rant last night after The Great Travesty. #ManofSteel

— Barry Lyga (@barrylyga) June 15, 2013

Agree with every word of @MarkWaid's review of #manofsteel. I am more depressed than you can imagine. http://t.co/kOTcjFwCJ2

— Barry Lyga (@barrylyga) June 15, 2013

Anyway, people have been asking me: Is there anything that they could to get you to see this movie? And I’ve been thinking about it, and maybe — just maybe — if the movie opened like this:

INT. -- UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The floor is abuzz. Something is happening or about to happen.

TITLE: 3 YEARS AGO

The room fills with the sound of wind. Everyone looks up. Security guys go for their guns...then relax.

SUPERMAN glides over the assembly, occasionally offering a reassuring grin or nod. He drifts to the podium.
SUPERMAN
Ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly and the planet Earth. It is my humble honor to speak to you today, and my gratitude is unmeasurable. Your media have dubbed me "Superman," and while that is a name I would not have chosen for myself, it is one I fully intend to live up to from this moment on.
(continues)
You've no doubt heard the rumors, so let me confirm them: Yes, I am from another planet, one called Krypton, long destroyed. The beings who recently wreaked devastation in Metropolis and in other locales were also from Krypton. They are no longer a threat. I want to take this time to accept full responsibility for what happened in Metropolis and around the world. I was caught off-guard and unprepared. There is no excuse for it. I can do nothing about the loss of life, but beginning immediately, I will work tirelessly to repair the damage to the city. It is, quite simply, the least I can do.
There is no apology I can offer, no remedy I can put forth, that can compensate for the devastation. I can only do this: I promise you that I will spend the rest of my life and all of the considerable power at my disposal helping the people of Earth without prejudice or precondition. I will do everything I can to make certain that nothing like this will every happen again.

We PULL BACK as he's speaking -- to thunderous applause now -- DISSOLVING into a large hi-def screen. We are, we realize, watching the address along with LEX LUTHOR, who sits alone, his fingers steepled before him, his eyebrow cocked in a cunning arch.
LUTHOR
Oh, really?

We would then cut to the present. Superman is a hero to the people, confident in himself and his powers. He has a lingering guilt over the Battle of Metropolis, but it’s not all-consuming because he’s done so much good in the past few years.

Thus, Superman is restored to the bright beacon of hope we all aspire to be, and the story can continue.

But they’ll never, ever do that.

Episode 12: Peter Facinelli’s Autograph

So, our dozenth episode is up!

Morgan is back at work full-time. “It’s only Tuesday.” Morgan and Barry go out to dinner. The first official WiRL giveaway! #excuses How do you plan goals for a revision? When do you discard your editor’s advice? Plus: Leia reasserts her control over the household.

Plus: Listen to this episode to learn how you can win a copy of After the Red Rain, signed by Barry, Rob DeFranco, and Peter Facinelli!

Go for it! And don’t forget to send us feedback, subscribe/rate us on iTunes, and follow us on Twitter!