Molly Ringle's Blog, page 6

Four-part character arc vs. three-act plot structure

I've always struggled with the three-act plot structure. Where to draw the lines between acts isn't always clear to me; the so-called turning points can too often seem too numerous and I'm not sure which one counts as "the important one." (It's a turning point for Frodo when he flees Bag End for Bree, but also when he volunteers in Rivendell to take the Ring to Mordor, but also when he leaves the Fellowship with Sam, but also...wait, is this Act Two yet?) SO, I was e...

Best of 2017

2017 was...difficult, I think most of us would agree. Not my favorite year ever, for sure. But in the interest of highlighting the positive, here are some of the good things for it in my own personal life!

It was the best of book releases, it was the worst of book releases. The Goblins of Bellwater was released this fall. Publishers Weekly and various librarians and booksellers liked it, which is awesome! Others hated it, largely book bloggers—though certainly not all book bloggers; seve...

New book to come!

If you've ever found yourself thinking, "Molly, these goblins and Greek gods are lovely and all, but you need to put them aside for a bit and write me a swoony contemporary coming-of-age male/male romance with a lot of new wave song references in it," then you are in luck! Because I have written one, and I've just signed with Riptide Publishing (who specializes in the whole rainbow of LGBTQ stories) to get it out next summer! It will probably be titled Dramatically Inclined, though its workin...

My publishing-industry gripes on Stranger Than Fiction, which I love anyway

I rewatched Stranger Than Fiction today, because of course that film is a delight for any fiction writer, and Emma is hilarious as the reclusive, pessimistic novelist. HOWEVER, here are my "oh come on" gripes (which don't include a character coming to life, because I'm apparently fine with that):

1) Publisher wants author to write something new so badly that they send a full-time all-expenses-paid editorial assistant to make sure she finishes her book? Has that ever, ever, ever happened? I me...

Weak words to hunt down and destroy when editing fiction

(This is my personal list, reflecting my own bad writing habits. Use or add to as you like. Obviously you don’t have to delete every instance of the verb “be” or other similarly common and useful words, but in at least some cases you can replace them with more vivid phrasing. E.g., “It was raining” can become “Rain lashed against her face.”)

seem
could
that
this
just
look
glance
stare
know (knew)
hear
feel (felt)
reach
move
watch
was (were, is, be)
-ing
-ly (adverbs)
keep (kept)
have (had)
anyway
actually
paused/...

Kids these days are not destroying English

Every time I see a thread of “don’t you hate it when people mispronounce/misspell/misuse word X,” I feel the need to weigh in with this, as That Person Who Majored in Linguistics:
“Kids these days” are not, in fact, destroying the English language, and in fact fears of kids these days destroying the language go back all the way to early written records in the ancient world. No language has ever fallen apart and gone extinct from being regularly used, I promise you...

Don't punish me with fruit IDs

I just had a good misheard-lyric moment. In Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," I swore I heard "don't punish me with fruit IDs." (Looking it up, I find it's actually "don't punish me with brutality.") But you know, my misheard version is essentially what the "Goblin Market" poem does.

Apples and quinces,
Lemons and oranges,
Plump unpeck’d cherries,
Melons and raspberries,
Bloom-down-cheek’d peaches,
Swart-headed mulberries,...

Not my story to tell

Okay, insecurity crisis time.

I’ve seen people in the publishing industry (and just online in general) advise against writing, say, a novel about being black and experiencing racism if you’re a white author. Or writing about the experience of coming out as gay/bi/trans if you’re a straight author.

Now, for whatever reason, I do feel like the former case (racism) would be “not my story to tell,” and I don’t feel compelled to attempt it. I feel more comfortable...

Guest post: Allan Batchelder on world-building

Allan Batchelder is the author of an awesome grimdark fantasy series, Immortal Treachery, and we've had such fun chatting at Seattle author events (as well as on Twitter) that we lately decided to exchange guest posts. Since world-building is often on my mind and he does such an excellent job of it, I asked him to chat about that. Here's Allan!

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Some writers may find the task of world-building daunting. But if you were lucky enough to grow up like Sherman Alexie, George R. R. Martin,...

A-intoxicant? A-alcohol? A-drinking?

We need a word similar to “asexual” to mean “not interested in alcohol.” Every time I say “just water for me, thanks” while others are ordering alcoholic drinks, I feel the need to explain. I feel like people either think I’m avoiding alcohol because I have an addiction to or similar problem with it (I don’t), or because I’m morally opposed to it and am thus quietly judging them (I’m not). It’s just that alcohol does not d...