K.S. Nikakis's Blog, page 6
October 17, 2015
September 11, 2015
The Imaginary Publisher
Beware the #ImaginaryPublisher or the IP for short (no other meaning intended!). I am presently working on my duology or two book series (if you prefer) called Hunter. Book 1 is Heart Hunter and Book 2 is Rain Hunter. This duology started life as a Ph.D thesis, one of the first of the new breed of 'creative' Ph.D's where the vehicle used to explore the hypothesis is a narrative, and the critical exploration of the narrative's 'findings' is an exegesis.
My hypothesis was whether Joseph Campbell's 17 part hero quest or monomyth structure, could be successfully applied to a female hero. In Campbell's treatise 'The hero with a thousand faces' he asserts that the 17 part structure applies to both male and female heroes, but his examples are overwhelmingly male.
So, the driver of Snowmelt (as the Hunter duology was first called) was a narrative that demonstrated these 17 sections. I like to think that this did not detract from a story that was, and still is, worth telling, but it obviously had an effect on the writing.
Once the Ph.D was through, I did what most Ph.D candidates presently do who use narrative as a thesis, and that was to rewrite with publication in mind.
The novel went through a lot of changes before my (then) agent submitted it to Allen and Unwin, the publishers of my first three books. Feedback was provided and I did a lot more work on the story before Allen and Unwin finally declined it.
The first major rewrites were thus from feedback from an actual publisher, but since then, I've had feedback on it from other sources and from pitch sessions.
Each time I've responded with rewrites. It's been a long time since I've submitted it anywhere, and the duology is now a long, long way from the original Snowmelt. It is a very different story, written in a very different way, but is it any 'better'?
Many of the later rewrites have been as a result of imagined feedback from the IP (the dreaded Imagined Publisher). My work with Allen and Unwin's wonderful editors/publishers is still strong in my mind and influential, but I've also been around long enough now to know that, after a certain point, quality/effectiveness/well-writtenness is subjective.
Because I concentrated on NaNoWriMo projects such as The Third Moon and The Emerald Serpent for 18 months, I've only just got back to Snowmelt/Hunter duology recently. The break, as any writer (and editor) will tell you, has been incredibly useful.
Firstly, I don't like what I am reading. Whatever this story is, it isn't mine. It is something which I (used to) hope would please an IP. And in trying to please an IP, I have lost the integrity of what I set out to do in MY story. I have had to work hard to recapture the essence of what I had but am now back on track.
So the moral is? Well, the moral isn't to justify poor writing by saying it's 'my' story and to edit it would be to lose control of it', rather, to write the best story that you can without the IP hovering over your shoulder.
And that's exactly what I'm doing now.
My hypothesis was whether Joseph Campbell's 17 part hero quest or monomyth structure, could be successfully applied to a female hero. In Campbell's treatise 'The hero with a thousand faces' he asserts that the 17 part structure applies to both male and female heroes, but his examples are overwhelmingly male.
So, the driver of Snowmelt (as the Hunter duology was first called) was a narrative that demonstrated these 17 sections. I like to think that this did not detract from a story that was, and still is, worth telling, but it obviously had an effect on the writing.
Once the Ph.D was through, I did what most Ph.D candidates presently do who use narrative as a thesis, and that was to rewrite with publication in mind.
The novel went through a lot of changes before my (then) agent submitted it to Allen and Unwin, the publishers of my first three books. Feedback was provided and I did a lot more work on the story before Allen and Unwin finally declined it.
The first major rewrites were thus from feedback from an actual publisher, but since then, I've had feedback on it from other sources and from pitch sessions.
Each time I've responded with rewrites. It's been a long time since I've submitted it anywhere, and the duology is now a long, long way from the original Snowmelt. It is a very different story, written in a very different way, but is it any 'better'?
Many of the later rewrites have been as a result of imagined feedback from the IP (the dreaded Imagined Publisher). My work with Allen and Unwin's wonderful editors/publishers is still strong in my mind and influential, but I've also been around long enough now to know that, after a certain point, quality/effectiveness/well-writtenness is subjective.
Because I concentrated on NaNoWriMo projects such as The Third Moon and The Emerald Serpent for 18 months, I've only just got back to Snowmelt/Hunter duology recently. The break, as any writer (and editor) will tell you, has been incredibly useful.
Firstly, I don't like what I am reading. Whatever this story is, it isn't mine. It is something which I (used to) hope would please an IP. And in trying to please an IP, I have lost the integrity of what I set out to do in MY story. I have had to work hard to recapture the essence of what I had but am now back on track.
So the moral is? Well, the moral isn't to justify poor writing by saying it's 'my' story and to edit it would be to lose control of it', rather, to write the best story that you can without the IP hovering over your shoulder.
And that's exactly what I'm doing now.
September 10, 2015
News on The Emerald Serpent
#TheEmeraldSerpent is edging closer to publication. The text has been finished for some time, but I've been working on the cover with a fabulous cover artist who happens to be my son. It is an interesting process to have someone design the cover you asked for, and then to realise its not what you wanted after all, or at least, not exactly what you wanted.
Because #The EmeraldSerpent's cover has to work as a thumbnail first, then later as a print cover, it requires a fair bit of thought. Having looked at YA fantasy covers on Amazon, what is apparent is that some of their titles are unreadable as thumbnails, and a lot of the lovely features of the cover art is lost.
#TheEmeraldSerpent's cover will also have to work hard, as will the blurb, because as an e-book, it is the cover, the blurb and of course the title, that gives the potential reader the most information. It is pretty well known that readers who love fantasy will be searching for something that they recognise as fantasy, so its no use having a cover which is artistically brilliant but which could be a crime novel, or a thriller, or chic lit, for example.
While the cover to #TheEmeraldSerpent is in process, i am working on the #Hunter duology. This should be the last edit, then all I have left is proof-reading, and of course, the development of their covers. As #HeartHunter and #RainHunter are a two book series, I am keen the covers are complementary.
These works have pushed my relaunch of #TheKiraChronicles further down the list. Somewhere in here I will also be working on the proofs of #TheThirdMoon which is contracted to @Satalyte Publishing. So, lots of fun writing to be got through.
Because #The EmeraldSerpent's cover has to work as a thumbnail first, then later as a print cover, it requires a fair bit of thought. Having looked at YA fantasy covers on Amazon, what is apparent is that some of their titles are unreadable as thumbnails, and a lot of the lovely features of the cover art is lost.
#TheEmeraldSerpent's cover will also have to work hard, as will the blurb, because as an e-book, it is the cover, the blurb and of course the title, that gives the potential reader the most information. It is pretty well known that readers who love fantasy will be searching for something that they recognise as fantasy, so its no use having a cover which is artistically brilliant but which could be a crime novel, or a thriller, or chic lit, for example.
While the cover to #TheEmeraldSerpent is in process, i am working on the #Hunter duology. This should be the last edit, then all I have left is proof-reading, and of course, the development of their covers. As #HeartHunter and #RainHunter are a two book series, I am keen the covers are complementary.
These works have pushed my relaunch of #TheKiraChronicles further down the list. Somewhere in here I will also be working on the proofs of #TheThirdMoon which is contracted to @Satalyte Publishing. So, lots of fun writing to be got through.
September 5, 2015
The Emerald Serpent
I'm really excited by how close this story is getting to launch day. It started life as a NaNoWriMo project in 2014 and went to my beta readers in July. Now I am working with a cover designer to come up with a cover which captures the spirit of the book and which will work as a thumbnail for digital publication and whole cover for when The Emerald Serpent becomes a physical book.
The Emerald Serpent is the first book where I looked around in existing mythology for inspiration and revisited the Irish Mythological cycle of the Tuatha De Danaan. I didn't end up using any of it!
But, it did give me the idea of different planes of existence and my love of northern Scotland gave me the setting, the Caledonian Forest, an extremely ancient landscape, remnants of which still exist.
How then to capture these things on a book cover? The Eadar are white-skinned, black-haired and emerald-eyed, so this had to be there somewhere. At this stage I have the eyes. It is a an odd and wonderful thing to see something that's lived in my head appear as an image on the computer screen.
Thanks so much to my wonderful designer who I'm so enjoying working with.
The Emerald Serpent is the first book where I looked around in existing mythology for inspiration and revisited the Irish Mythological cycle of the Tuatha De Danaan. I didn't end up using any of it!
But, it did give me the idea of different planes of existence and my love of northern Scotland gave me the setting, the Caledonian Forest, an extremely ancient landscape, remnants of which still exist.
How then to capture these things on a book cover? The Eadar are white-skinned, black-haired and emerald-eyed, so this had to be there somewhere. At this stage I have the eyes. It is a an odd and wonderful thing to see something that's lived in my head appear as an image on the computer screen.
Thanks so much to my wonderful designer who I'm so enjoying working with.
July 9, 2015
Why writing is worth it
I'm presently doing a paper edit of The Emerald Serpent and a screen edit of the Kira Chronicles series. I've also just been involved in enrolling our students for semester 2 of the Bachelor of Writing and Publishing at Fairfield, and today I turn 60. So all these things have got me thinking about the whole creative journey. Thanks to my other half leaving the alarm set for 5, when he got up and went to Sydney at 4, I've had a great deal of time to lay in the dark and consider how long I have left to tell the stories that still lurk inside me.
I feel a creeping sense of desperation about this but how important is it really? What writers labor over, what drives them, what excites and desponds them; does it really matter?
Storying is so old that it's tempting to claim it as being part of what it means to be human and while I never purposefully started to write until 38, I was always wandering about, usually alone, contemplating things - building up a writing store, I realise now. And I continue to do the same; alert always to what seems odd; to what prompts questions; to what resonates.
I'm thinking too that the question about whether storying matters, has two parts: mattering to the writer and mattering to the culture. The writer has their heart and soul invested in what they write (or they should have); so writing is both intensely personal, fulfilling and frustrating. To write is to perpetually grasp after the eternally elusive; to try to capture the vision in the imperfect vehicle of words. And even when captured, storying is not icing on some cake; it is (or should be) nourishment for the soul; it should say something; observe something; not in a teacher-ish way, but so subtly and powerfully that the reader hears and understands without conscious effort.
Whether the culture values storying is evidenced by our narrative-centric society: books, films, ads, apps, songs, politics and so on, all build stories or encase themselves in story. How a culture values individual stories is something else again and comes and goes with fashions and with political climates. The most damaging thing a writer or storyer can do is to trade their unique story for the story they think the culture wants.
As you the writer stumbles about in the dark cave of your story, tripping on stones and barking your shins on plot problems and characters obscure motivations, keep your attention firmly on the dull glimmer that hints of uncut gems. These are uniquely yours, worth the hunt, and they do matter.
I feel a creeping sense of desperation about this but how important is it really? What writers labor over, what drives them, what excites and desponds them; does it really matter?
Storying is so old that it's tempting to claim it as being part of what it means to be human and while I never purposefully started to write until 38, I was always wandering about, usually alone, contemplating things - building up a writing store, I realise now. And I continue to do the same; alert always to what seems odd; to what prompts questions; to what resonates.
I'm thinking too that the question about whether storying matters, has two parts: mattering to the writer and mattering to the culture. The writer has their heart and soul invested in what they write (or they should have); so writing is both intensely personal, fulfilling and frustrating. To write is to perpetually grasp after the eternally elusive; to try to capture the vision in the imperfect vehicle of words. And even when captured, storying is not icing on some cake; it is (or should be) nourishment for the soul; it should say something; observe something; not in a teacher-ish way, but so subtly and powerfully that the reader hears and understands without conscious effort.
Whether the culture values storying is evidenced by our narrative-centric society: books, films, ads, apps, songs, politics and so on, all build stories or encase themselves in story. How a culture values individual stories is something else again and comes and goes with fashions and with political climates. The most damaging thing a writer or storyer can do is to trade their unique story for the story they think the culture wants.
As you the writer stumbles about in the dark cave of your story, tripping on stones and barking your shins on plot problems and characters obscure motivations, keep your attention firmly on the dull glimmer that hints of uncut gems. These are uniquely yours, worth the hunt, and they do matter.
June 17, 2015
Where is the Emerald Serpent
Oh, so my last blog was March 8. So what have I been up to? In April I went on my long anticipated LSL. It was great to write during the day and relax at night. My big plan was to independently publish my NaNoWrimo project, but that hasn't happened. I am back at work now but so much further along with my independent publishing journey. Sometimes it feels like exploring new areas is a waste of time but I didn't find it to be the case.
During my leave I did a short course on Photoshop and one on Epublishing. Both were great but the first once convinced me my time would be better spent writing and paying someone for covers, and the second one taught me to get on with publishing. Writing is always a journey, especially for us pantsers, but I've discovered that independent publishing is too.
I am not quite ready to launch (the emerald serpent?) but I've taken the pressure off myself. I want the best book I can write before it goes out into the big bad world. That moment is soon and I'm so looking forward to people's feedback.
During my leave I did a short course on Photoshop and one on Epublishing. Both were great but the first once convinced me my time would be better spent writing and paying someone for covers, and the second one taught me to get on with publishing. Writing is always a journey, especially for us pantsers, but I've discovered that independent publishing is too.
I am not quite ready to launch (the emerald serpent?) but I've taken the pressure off myself. I want the best book I can write before it goes out into the big bad world. That moment is soon and I'm so looking forward to people's feedback.
March 7, 2015
NaNoWriMo is only step 1.
I recently read a post of someone bemoaning NaNoWriMo. According to the complainant, NaNoWriMo encourages people to think they can write. I think his concern was that said NaNo participants are under the illusion that writing the last line of draft 1 is actually the end of a complete novel primed for publication. However, many new writers slaving away outside of the pressure cooker of NaNoWriMo are also unaware that the novels they buy in book shops have been drafted many times and subject to the skills of multiple editors.
If NaNoWriMo encourages people to think they can write, I'm all for it. What follows this learning process of establishing a writing habit, is drafting and editing skills--if the writer is keen for commercial publication. Many established writers groan over their earlier works and given their time again, might not have pitched their projects so early. Practicing writers all get better in time simply because they are writing, drafting, editing and continually pursuing more powerful and effective ways to tell their stories. If NoNoWriMo moves people to take the first step in their writing journey, I'm all for it. I'm also all for it if it's a one-off dare that proved to be fun.
Water for Elephants is one narrative/film that began life as a NaNoWriMo project and I'm sure there are others just as successful but lesser known out there. My first go at NaNoWriMo in 2013 resulted in The Third Moon. After November was up, I redrafted and edited for four more months. It is now contracted to #SatalytePublishing and I'm expecting further editing will be required on its journey into print. I am presently redrafting my 2014 NaNoWriMo project and expect to be doing so for the next few months.
Anyone with a story in their head they don't have time to write, I'd encourage to jump into NaNoWriMo this year. You have absolutely nothing to lose.
If NaNoWriMo encourages people to think they can write, I'm all for it. What follows this learning process of establishing a writing habit, is drafting and editing skills--if the writer is keen for commercial publication. Many established writers groan over their earlier works and given their time again, might not have pitched their projects so early. Practicing writers all get better in time simply because they are writing, drafting, editing and continually pursuing more powerful and effective ways to tell their stories. If NoNoWriMo moves people to take the first step in their writing journey, I'm all for it. I'm also all for it if it's a one-off dare that proved to be fun.
Water for Elephants is one narrative/film that began life as a NaNoWriMo project and I'm sure there are others just as successful but lesser known out there. My first go at NaNoWriMo in 2013 resulted in The Third Moon. After November was up, I redrafted and edited for four more months. It is now contracted to #SatalytePublishing and I'm expecting further editing will be required on its journey into print. I am presently redrafting my 2014 NaNoWriMo project and expect to be doing so for the next few months.
Anyone with a story in their head they don't have time to write, I'd encourage to jump into NaNoWriMo this year. You have absolutely nothing to lose.
December 18, 2014
Mining for gems in Draft 1
Redrafting my #NaNo project, I'm not pretending I'm at the editing stage yet, is throwing up some interesting revelations. As a #deepfantasy writer, my focus is very much on just a few characters but I did start to wonder if I had written a #Romance. The test of a Romance is often said to be that if you remove the story about the two people grappling with their attraction to each other, you wouldn't have a lot left. And this appeared to be the case. I also began to see that the female protagonist seemed to emerging as a 'Chosen One', you know, the hero with special powers who must save others, and that hadn't been my intention.
My experience has often been that the first draft of a story will be hiding most the elements you need but it is easy to delete them as you focus on just a few things, usually the most obvious. So I have gone back and looked at the 'rough rush' of what I produced in #NaNo time and have been relieved to discover the hints of how I need to proceed. This process requires an odd mix of deep faith in the unconscious and a willingness to keep questioning, exploring and honing--very much conscious activities.
The key danger seems to be fear that it won't all come together. This is both exhilarating and depressing but probably no uncommon, especially for us #pantsers.
My experience has often been that the first draft of a story will be hiding most the elements you need but it is easy to delete them as you focus on just a few things, usually the most obvious. So I have gone back and looked at the 'rough rush' of what I produced in #NaNo time and have been relieved to discover the hints of how I need to proceed. This process requires an odd mix of deep faith in the unconscious and a willingness to keep questioning, exploring and honing--very much conscious activities.
The key danger seems to be fear that it won't all come together. This is both exhilarating and depressing but probably no uncommon, especially for us #pantsers.
December 13, 2014
Should protagonists lie?
The oathbreakers in #LordoftheRings have been on my mind recently because of Tony Abbott and because of one of my protagonists who 'might lie under threat'. It struck me sometime ago, and scholars of myth and fairy stories discuss this, that lying is more often a female weapon than a male one, and this might be why deceit gets such bad press in stories more broadly.
A male protagonist might use physical strength, aggression and profiency with swords and clubs to defeat his enemy but these weapons are not generally available to female protagonists. Without wanting to become embroiled in the nature/nurture debate, most men are stronger and more aggressive than most women, so in a typical sword fight between a man and a woman, the woman is more likely to reach exhaustion first, or, unless she's defending a child, be less driven to kill.
Verbal weaponry however is available, and females tend to have more sophisticated verbal skills than men. Thus, why not write a female protagonist (not antagonist) who lies to protect herself or to get what she wants?
There are good reasons why writers don't tend to and one is that lying is seen as bad, regardless of the motivation. Given that lying is a more useful weapon for females rather than males, it's been argued that most writers, regardless of sex, adopt a patriarchal stance in terms of their 'good' characters lying.
Promises, pledges, swearings and oaths come from preliterate time when 'your word was your bond' and 'keeping your word' meant that you could be relied on, sometimes in extremely dangerous and precarious eras. It linked closely to loyalty and bonds that were extraordinarily deep and meaningful. Thus, the spoken pledge, in all it's forms, remains ingrained in us as something immutable.
So when politicians lie, and then make light of it, or don't admit to it, the damage goes to the heart of trust, and when we write characters who lie, we hesitate--when it is our protagonist.
A male protagonist might use physical strength, aggression and profiency with swords and clubs to defeat his enemy but these weapons are not generally available to female protagonists. Without wanting to become embroiled in the nature/nurture debate, most men are stronger and more aggressive than most women, so in a typical sword fight between a man and a woman, the woman is more likely to reach exhaustion first, or, unless she's defending a child, be less driven to kill.
Verbal weaponry however is available, and females tend to have more sophisticated verbal skills than men. Thus, why not write a female protagonist (not antagonist) who lies to protect herself or to get what she wants?
There are good reasons why writers don't tend to and one is that lying is seen as bad, regardless of the motivation. Given that lying is a more useful weapon for females rather than males, it's been argued that most writers, regardless of sex, adopt a patriarchal stance in terms of their 'good' characters lying.
Promises, pledges, swearings and oaths come from preliterate time when 'your word was your bond' and 'keeping your word' meant that you could be relied on, sometimes in extremely dangerous and precarious eras. It linked closely to loyalty and bonds that were extraordinarily deep and meaningful. Thus, the spoken pledge, in all it's forms, remains ingrained in us as something immutable.
So when politicians lie, and then make light of it, or don't admit to it, the damage goes to the heart of trust, and when we write characters who lie, we hesitate--when it is our protagonist.
December 2, 2014
Novel November and December Draft
Goodbye #NaNo November and hello December Draft, and January Draft, and February Draft and March Editing and probably April Polishing. I met a few people who wouldn't participate in #NaNoWriMo this year because they either didn't finish last year's NaNo project, or else they never did anything else with their 50,000 words and it is still hanging around in all its raw, unfinished, guilt-inducing state. Quite a few people also said that they hate editing.
In contrast, I love editing because I have something to edit. #NaNo teaches you to simply get on with things but we all know it is a beginning not an end. As a pantser I have to write to find out what the story is, and then editing is about actually writing that story. No matter how difficult editing is (or redrafting), I find it far less terrifying than staring at a blank screen.
There is a school of thought that you should put your #NaNo project aside for a while before you start to edit or draft, but I think this separation should come much later. It is far better to celebrate getting to the end of your project, and then going back to the beginning. It is such a long journey to discover the story that sometimes it seems almost to be two stories; the one you started with 40,000 words ago, and the one you discovered at the end.
I am really excited with the potential of what I've discovered in my story, and care so much about the fate of my characters, that I am now I am back at Chapter 1 discovering them again but with the benefit of hindsight. Happy editing.
In contrast, I love editing because I have something to edit. #NaNo teaches you to simply get on with things but we all know it is a beginning not an end. As a pantser I have to write to find out what the story is, and then editing is about actually writing that story. No matter how difficult editing is (or redrafting), I find it far less terrifying than staring at a blank screen.
There is a school of thought that you should put your #NaNo project aside for a while before you start to edit or draft, but I think this separation should come much later. It is far better to celebrate getting to the end of your project, and then going back to the beginning. It is such a long journey to discover the story that sometimes it seems almost to be two stories; the one you started with 40,000 words ago, and the one you discovered at the end.
I am really excited with the potential of what I've discovered in my story, and care so much about the fate of my characters, that I am now I am back at Chapter 1 discovering them again but with the benefit of hindsight. Happy editing.
