Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 171
September 11, 2014
Back to Kindergarten
I survived the first night with the new batch of kindergarteners. I had eight kids, and there are three more on the roster who weren't there. One of them probably won't come much until later in the year because right now there's a conflict with soccer. The beginning of the school year is always a bit of a challenge with kindergarteners because they're getting adjusted to a full day of real school and they either have a ton of pent-up energy at the end of the day or they're exhausted. Half the group was running around like maniacs and half the group was lying on the floor and claiming they were too tired to do anything. I asked one kid what he'd done that made him so exhausted, and he sighed and said, "Eight hours of school."
This group does seem to be a little more receptive to doing what the whole group is doing than last year's bunch. I'm not going to be naive and say it's going to be easier, but I don't seem to have a particular Problem Child with true behavioral issues who ends up affecting the rest of the class. I know just about all of these kids already, which helps.
I also had my first regular choir rehearsal of the season. We've got some fun music to start with, and we get our new director next week (this is music he's already picked out for us). And as a bonus, one of my choir friends who's been seriously ill made it back last night.
So now my "regular" year is back in session. It's even starting to feel like fall, as a front is coming through. I will celebrate with a walk to the library this afternoon.
And then Haven premieres tonight. I hadn't been crazy about last season, but I found when watching the DVDs that I really enjoyed it. I think there were just so many twists that I had to wrap my head around them and get over the shock before I could get into it. One thing I can say about that show is that it always surprises me. This isn't one where I can guess where it's going from the opening scene.
This group does seem to be a little more receptive to doing what the whole group is doing than last year's bunch. I'm not going to be naive and say it's going to be easier, but I don't seem to have a particular Problem Child with true behavioral issues who ends up affecting the rest of the class. I know just about all of these kids already, which helps.
I also had my first regular choir rehearsal of the season. We've got some fun music to start with, and we get our new director next week (this is music he's already picked out for us). And as a bonus, one of my choir friends who's been seriously ill made it back last night.
So now my "regular" year is back in session. It's even starting to feel like fall, as a front is coming through. I will celebrate with a walk to the library this afternoon.
And then Haven premieres tonight. I hadn't been crazy about last season, but I found when watching the DVDs that I really enjoyed it. I think there were just so many twists that I had to wrap my head around them and get over the shock before I could get into it. One thing I can say about that show is that it always surprises me. This isn't one where I can guess where it's going from the opening scene.
September 10, 2014
The Wacky World of Publishing
I kind of went from only the vaguest idea of a book idea to a fairly fleshed-out concept in one day yesterday, just starting from the idea of "maybe I ought to take a trip." Though I think that already having a deal in the works for the book provided a lot of incentive. It's nice to be writing a book for a "publisher" with an advance and all that, even if it's not the usual kind of deal. In this case, the audiobook deal came first.
This tells you how crazy the publishing business is these days. You practically need a chart to keep up with which of my books are traditionally published and which are self-published, and in which formats and locations.
For the Enchanted, Inc. series:
Books 1-4 in the US were traditionally published. They're also traditionally published in translation and in audio. But in overseas markets, the English version is self-published.
Books 5-7 are self-published in English worldwide but were originally written in a traditional deal for the Japanese publisher and are traditionally published in audio.
Now I've got a new contemporary fantasy series that will be launching this fall. I made a deal with Audible yesterday for the audio version of the first two books that are written and for a third book I haven't yet written (and didn't even have a solid idea for until yesterday). I will be self-publishing these books in print/e-books.
Because I've had traditionally published books, I generally count as a "real" author when it comes to stuff like conventions, and I've already got my SFWA membership. But when it comes to promo, a lot of web sites still won't review or promote self-published books. I wonder where these books would fall, since I've got a traditional audio deal, even if the print/e-books are self-published.
And then the steampunk book is entirely traditionally published, both print and audio. Though if the publisher doesn't pick up the option on subsequent books, I do plan to self-publish the rest of the series.
It's nice to have a lot of options and not have all my eggs in one basket. If one thing fails, I have other things to fall back on.
So for now, I need to get this new book written. I found out that our local Nutcracker is at the same time I'm thinking of going to New York, so that rules that out. Not that I think it would teach me that much. I've spent enough time on stage to kind of have a sense for it, even if I wasn't doing ballet at the time (aside from the infamous preschool dance recital "I see my daddy!" incident). This weekend may be a big immersion retreat to get my head into the right space. It'll be nice weather for walking and thinking or reading on the patio.
But for today, I have to finish my lesson plan for tonight and try to wake up from the allergy grogginess. And there's some housework to be done and some other business stuff to take care of.
This tells you how crazy the publishing business is these days. You practically need a chart to keep up with which of my books are traditionally published and which are self-published, and in which formats and locations.
For the Enchanted, Inc. series:
Books 1-4 in the US were traditionally published. They're also traditionally published in translation and in audio. But in overseas markets, the English version is self-published.
Books 5-7 are self-published in English worldwide but were originally written in a traditional deal for the Japanese publisher and are traditionally published in audio.
Now I've got a new contemporary fantasy series that will be launching this fall. I made a deal with Audible yesterday for the audio version of the first two books that are written and for a third book I haven't yet written (and didn't even have a solid idea for until yesterday). I will be self-publishing these books in print/e-books.
Because I've had traditionally published books, I generally count as a "real" author when it comes to stuff like conventions, and I've already got my SFWA membership. But when it comes to promo, a lot of web sites still won't review or promote self-published books. I wonder where these books would fall, since I've got a traditional audio deal, even if the print/e-books are self-published.
And then the steampunk book is entirely traditionally published, both print and audio. Though if the publisher doesn't pick up the option on subsequent books, I do plan to self-publish the rest of the series.
It's nice to have a lot of options and not have all my eggs in one basket. If one thing fails, I have other things to fall back on.
So for now, I need to get this new book written. I found out that our local Nutcracker is at the same time I'm thinking of going to New York, so that rules that out. Not that I think it would teach me that much. I've spent enough time on stage to kind of have a sense for it, even if I wasn't doing ballet at the time (aside from the infamous preschool dance recital "I see my daddy!" incident). This weekend may be a big immersion retreat to get my head into the right space. It'll be nice weather for walking and thinking or reading on the patio.
But for today, I have to finish my lesson plan for tonight and try to wake up from the allergy grogginess. And there's some housework to be done and some other business stuff to take care of.
September 9, 2014
Planning Ahead
I think it's going to be a busy Tuesday because I was a slacker on Monday. Well, not entirely slacking because I had non-writing business stuff to do, and then I got some good business news that got me sidetracked for a while. My career has really turned around in the past year or so, to the point I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it. Not that I've vaulted into the stratosphere of fame, but a lot of little things have come together and snowballed into something resembling momentum. It's the long, slow slog of patience way to making a good living as opposed to overnight success. I've been so used to worrying about making it through the year, and now I'm pretty much set for the next year unless the new things bomb miserably. And even if they don't do that well, I still have my living expenses pretty much covered, so any worry at this point is for two years from now. I don't expect my life to change that much. I just should be able to worry a lot less and try to enjoy myself more. I can even be (gasp!) frivolous.
In other book news, I have a release date for Rebel Mechanics, my YA steampunk book. It's currently scheduled for July 14. That seems like so long away.
Part of my distraction/thinking yesterday was working out my writing plan for the next year or so. For the rest of this year, my priority will be working on the third book of my new contemporary fantasy series (since Audible has already made an offer for it and it only exists in a few scenes and a vague idea) while gearing up to write the second book in what I hope will be a trilogy in the steampunk series. I'm doing some research for that now (and ideas are really starting to flow based on the research). Then next year I'll probably go ahead and write book 3 in that series, since even if the publisher doesn't want more books I'm planning to self-publish them. I also have a standalone more traditional YA fantasy/romance book I want to write. Then I think my next adult book (probably a series) will be something that bridges the two genres of my career -- it has a present-day plot that's contemporary fantasy, with the characters in the present learning about what went on in the Victorian era, and that part told as a parallel plot line. My goal is to have that ready to submit around the time the steampunk book launches, so if it's a success I can capitalize on it and maybe get some adult books out from a traditional publisher even as I continue doing some others on my own.
Sorry, still no new Enchanted Inc. books. Nothing is coming to me so far. I haven't even been able to dredge up story ideas involving secondary characters. There used to be a time when I thought about these people all the time, but they're being really quiet. I know anything I write in that world would sell, and sell well, and the Japanese publisher and the audio publisher are asking for more. I just don't have it. You can bet that if something does strike me, I will write it.
I'm thinking I may have to go for a Christmas/holiday setting for the third book in the new contemporary fantasy series. And that may require a research trip to New York in December (I know, the Christmas season in New York. How awful). That's where wrapping my mind around having money (for a change) is difficult. I'm so used to traveling on the cheap that I can't get used to the idea that I can afford things like a nicer hotel room. I may even see if I can get a ticket to the Balanchine Nutcracker. I find the Nutcracker to be a rather boring ballet, but if you're writing a book about a ballerina set at Christmas time in New York, you kind of have to deal with the Nutcracker. I can get some of the behind-the-scenes research via the company at my ballet school, and there are enough former pros around who can probably give me some scoop about rehearsals and timing, but seeing the real thing at that level would be cool. I may even check on our company's schedule and see if they might still need adults in the party scene because actually performing in a Nutcracker would be excellent experience.
In other book news, I have a release date for Rebel Mechanics, my YA steampunk book. It's currently scheduled for July 14. That seems like so long away.
Part of my distraction/thinking yesterday was working out my writing plan for the next year or so. For the rest of this year, my priority will be working on the third book of my new contemporary fantasy series (since Audible has already made an offer for it and it only exists in a few scenes and a vague idea) while gearing up to write the second book in what I hope will be a trilogy in the steampunk series. I'm doing some research for that now (and ideas are really starting to flow based on the research). Then next year I'll probably go ahead and write book 3 in that series, since even if the publisher doesn't want more books I'm planning to self-publish them. I also have a standalone more traditional YA fantasy/romance book I want to write. Then I think my next adult book (probably a series) will be something that bridges the two genres of my career -- it has a present-day plot that's contemporary fantasy, with the characters in the present learning about what went on in the Victorian era, and that part told as a parallel plot line. My goal is to have that ready to submit around the time the steampunk book launches, so if it's a success I can capitalize on it and maybe get some adult books out from a traditional publisher even as I continue doing some others on my own.
Sorry, still no new Enchanted Inc. books. Nothing is coming to me so far. I haven't even been able to dredge up story ideas involving secondary characters. There used to be a time when I thought about these people all the time, but they're being really quiet. I know anything I write in that world would sell, and sell well, and the Japanese publisher and the audio publisher are asking for more. I just don't have it. You can bet that if something does strike me, I will write it.
I'm thinking I may have to go for a Christmas/holiday setting for the third book in the new contemporary fantasy series. And that may require a research trip to New York in December (I know, the Christmas season in New York. How awful). That's where wrapping my mind around having money (for a change) is difficult. I'm so used to traveling on the cheap that I can't get used to the idea that I can afford things like a nicer hotel room. I may even see if I can get a ticket to the Balanchine Nutcracker. I find the Nutcracker to be a rather boring ballet, but if you're writing a book about a ballerina set at Christmas time in New York, you kind of have to deal with the Nutcracker. I can get some of the behind-the-scenes research via the company at my ballet school, and there are enough former pros around who can probably give me some scoop about rehearsals and timing, but seeing the real thing at that level would be cool. I may even check on our company's schedule and see if they might still need adults in the party scene because actually performing in a Nutcracker would be excellent experience.
September 8, 2014
The Week Ahead
My weekend passed in something of an allergy fog blur. For instance, there's a conversation I had Saturday that I remembered yesterday, but I couldn't remember who I had it with until this morning. I remembered the details and the action item that came out of it, but there was this weird blur over the face of the person I was talking to. I tried mentally plugging in everyone I could think of, and the actual person never occurred to me (and was really the most obvious one). By Sunday, I was a little worried about going to church because my eyes were so red and watery that I looked like I either had a raging case of pinkeye or had been on a serious bender the night before. Fortunately, that cleared up after an afternoon dose of Benadryl, but this morning I still have that tired, foggy feeling, and I have some lovely dark circles under my eyes. I love fall, but fall really hates me and tries to make me suffer as much as possible.
Today's task is a bunch of research reading and doing some editing on the flap copy for the steampunk book. This is my first "flap" copy as opposed to "cover" copy, since on a paperback they put the description on the back cover, but on a hardcover it goes on the inside front flap. I guess I'm moving up in the world. I can't wait to share this cover when I get a final version (I've just seen what's essentially a paste-up without the high-res graphics).
This week's fun is starting my new children's choir. I think I know most of the kids already, and most of them know me. I get back my geeky Doctor Who fan teen helper, and I get a new one -- the pastor's daughter, so I guess I have to be on my best behavior. As if I wasn't already. I can't make jokes about duct taping the kids to the wall anyway because there's a day care center in this area that just got busted for duct taping kids to their nap mats. When it really happens, the joke isn't funny anymore. I also go back to regular chancel choir rehearsals. Summer really is over and I'm back to my "school year" schedule.
And then we get the season premiere of Haven on Thursday. I'm frantically marathoning season 4 to get ready. I don't remember liking last season that much when it was on, but I'm surprised by how much I enjoy each episode as I rewatch it. We're getting a real fall cold front that day, which should help in setting the appropriate viewing mood, as long as I don't lose power in any storms that come with the front (they're mostly talking rain and cooler temperatures, but this is Texas, so storms are a possibility).
So, that's my week.
Today's task is a bunch of research reading and doing some editing on the flap copy for the steampunk book. This is my first "flap" copy as opposed to "cover" copy, since on a paperback they put the description on the back cover, but on a hardcover it goes on the inside front flap. I guess I'm moving up in the world. I can't wait to share this cover when I get a final version (I've just seen what's essentially a paste-up without the high-res graphics).
This week's fun is starting my new children's choir. I think I know most of the kids already, and most of them know me. I get back my geeky Doctor Who fan teen helper, and I get a new one -- the pastor's daughter, so I guess I have to be on my best behavior. As if I wasn't already. I can't make jokes about duct taping the kids to the wall anyway because there's a day care center in this area that just got busted for duct taping kids to their nap mats. When it really happens, the joke isn't funny anymore. I also go back to regular chancel choir rehearsals. Summer really is over and I'm back to my "school year" schedule.
And then we get the season premiere of Haven on Thursday. I'm frantically marathoning season 4 to get ready. I don't remember liking last season that much when it was on, but I'm surprised by how much I enjoy each episode as I rewatch it. We're getting a real fall cold front that day, which should help in setting the appropriate viewing mood, as long as I don't lose power in any storms that come with the front (they're mostly talking rain and cooler temperatures, but this is Texas, so storms are a possibility).
So, that's my week.
September 5, 2014
Going Global
Wow, the ragweed hit me like a brick mid-morning yesterday. Even with allergy drugs, it was a non-stop sneezefest. Today it's a little more under control. I just have the grogginess and fatigue but without so much sniffling and sneezing.
Even so, I got some work done yesterday. I managed a good amount of research reading and came up with a few ideas. And I even did a little business stuff. I talked myself out of a grocery excursion this morning because I realized I was just going to get things for making tonight's planned dinner, and I don't really feel like cooking tonight's planned dinner. Instead, I have some pesto I made yesterday (the basil was getting out of control) and I'll throw that in with some pasta. I also need to make a peach cobbler because the peaches are now teetering on the verge between "ripe" and "bad" (and yesterday they were firmly at "not ripe"). That's assuming I manage to stay awake long enough to do any of this.
I've been remiss in posting this because I forgot to follow up and see if it was all actually up and working, but those outside North America should now be able to buy legal (non-pirated) digital English versions of the first four books in the Enchanted, Inc. series. They should be available in your local version of Amazon and other e-book retailers like Kobo. The contract with Random House was for North America only, and all the foreign sales have been for translation, so the only way for English readers to get the books outside the US and Canada was to get imported hard copies (or pirated versions). But now we've made the digital versions in English available worldwide. The content should be more or less identical, though the layout/typesetting had to be redone. The cover art is mostly the same, though the covers and cover text are slightly different (we couldn't just take the stuff Random House did). We set the prices to match the US versions, but booksellers and local taxes and fees may alter that. So, now you can get your non-American, non-Canadian English-reading friends hooked. Tell the folks you know in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc., or anyone else who reads English. I'm global, baby!
And now I need to research overseas book blogs and maybe do some PR, but that should probably wait until I'm a little more coherent. I'm barely communicating in English at the moment.
Usually it's the first whammy of ragweed season that hits me hard and makes me useless, and then the drugs kick in and my body gets a little more used to it and I'm more functional. The season started a bit earlier this year, so I'm hoping to get the whammy out of the way before the fall stuff I want to do gets started.
Even so, I got some work done yesterday. I managed a good amount of research reading and came up with a few ideas. And I even did a little business stuff. I talked myself out of a grocery excursion this morning because I realized I was just going to get things for making tonight's planned dinner, and I don't really feel like cooking tonight's planned dinner. Instead, I have some pesto I made yesterday (the basil was getting out of control) and I'll throw that in with some pasta. I also need to make a peach cobbler because the peaches are now teetering on the verge between "ripe" and "bad" (and yesterday they were firmly at "not ripe"). That's assuming I manage to stay awake long enough to do any of this.
I've been remiss in posting this because I forgot to follow up and see if it was all actually up and working, but those outside North America should now be able to buy legal (non-pirated) digital English versions of the first four books in the Enchanted, Inc. series. They should be available in your local version of Amazon and other e-book retailers like Kobo. The contract with Random House was for North America only, and all the foreign sales have been for translation, so the only way for English readers to get the books outside the US and Canada was to get imported hard copies (or pirated versions). But now we've made the digital versions in English available worldwide. The content should be more or less identical, though the layout/typesetting had to be redone. The cover art is mostly the same, though the covers and cover text are slightly different (we couldn't just take the stuff Random House did). We set the prices to match the US versions, but booksellers and local taxes and fees may alter that. So, now you can get your non-American, non-Canadian English-reading friends hooked. Tell the folks you know in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc., or anyone else who reads English. I'm global, baby!
And now I need to research overseas book blogs and maybe do some PR, but that should probably wait until I'm a little more coherent. I'm barely communicating in English at the moment.
Usually it's the first whammy of ragweed season that hits me hard and makes me useless, and then the drugs kick in and my body gets a little more used to it and I'm more functional. The season started a bit earlier this year, so I'm hoping to get the whammy out of the way before the fall stuff I want to do gets started.
September 4, 2014
Workplace Injuries
I suffered a terrible writing-related workplace injury yesterday. I'm doing some preliminary research reading and apparently spent too long sitting in the wrong position. As a result, I've got a kink on one side of my neck/shoulder. This seems to happen to me about once a year. Last night after children's choir I sat with a heat wrap around my neck, and I think I'm about to break out the electric neck massager. This afternoon will be swimming pool time. It's not as bad as it usually tends to be. It's not actually painful, just a little stiff so that I can't turn my head as far on that side. I'll have to break out my reading back support pillow that forces me to sit straight instead of curled slightly to the side. Though it's also possible that this comes from sneezing violently at a bad angle (ragweed season is upon us).
The book I'm reading is one on history that I grabbed from the new books shelf at the library because I had this vague sense that it might give me ideas for the sequel to the steampunk book. Then I started reading it and thought I might be wrong. And now I've had a couple of good plot-shaping ideas and some sense of some of the character types I want to deal with. I actually think that the book that this one is a follow-up to would be even more relevant to this project, but of course my library doesn't have it. I'll have to check Interlibrary Loan, or maybe suggest it for purchase because there's little point in having the part 2 without the part 1.
But it looks like I have plenty of time to work on this book because it seems the first book is going to be a summer release. That's probably good because it's during the summer when teens will be out of school, and it falls during convention season, but I'm still impatient, since I started work on this book in 2010. I was hoping to have a sense of sales results on that book before I start house hunting, but this way, it's possible that I could be moved before I have to deal with a book release. This just means I have to work harder on my other books.
So I should probably start brainstorming the next book in the new contemporary fantasy series, which is currently scheduled to launch in October. I can get a couple more books done before the steampunk book is published.
I have this grand plan of trying to achieve a reasonable work/life balance in the fall, getting in my writing time but still making time to do the fall stuff I love to do. We'll see how that goes because I think I've said this for the past several years. I have pages of plans for this sort of thing in my planning notebook, and none of them have come about. Maybe this year! But first fall has to actually get here. In the meantime, I will enjoy the remaining days of swimming pool weather.
The book I'm reading is one on history that I grabbed from the new books shelf at the library because I had this vague sense that it might give me ideas for the sequel to the steampunk book. Then I started reading it and thought I might be wrong. And now I've had a couple of good plot-shaping ideas and some sense of some of the character types I want to deal with. I actually think that the book that this one is a follow-up to would be even more relevant to this project, but of course my library doesn't have it. I'll have to check Interlibrary Loan, or maybe suggest it for purchase because there's little point in having the part 2 without the part 1.
But it looks like I have plenty of time to work on this book because it seems the first book is going to be a summer release. That's probably good because it's during the summer when teens will be out of school, and it falls during convention season, but I'm still impatient, since I started work on this book in 2010. I was hoping to have a sense of sales results on that book before I start house hunting, but this way, it's possible that I could be moved before I have to deal with a book release. This just means I have to work harder on my other books.
So I should probably start brainstorming the next book in the new contemporary fantasy series, which is currently scheduled to launch in October. I can get a couple more books done before the steampunk book is published.
I have this grand plan of trying to achieve a reasonable work/life balance in the fall, getting in my writing time but still making time to do the fall stuff I love to do. We'll see how that goes because I think I've said this for the past several years. I have pages of plans for this sort of thing in my planning notebook, and none of them have come about. Maybe this year! But first fall has to actually get here. In the meantime, I will enjoy the remaining days of swimming pool weather.
September 3, 2014
Getting Started
I start getting closer to my regular "school year" schedule this week. Children's choir gets kicked off tonight, but it's just the pizza party/registration/meet the teacher night, with no lesson plan required. Next week's really back to normal, with a regular children's choir class and the start of chancel choir rehearsals for me. Now, if only the fall weather would follow …
Since it's the start of a new school year, it's a good time to talk about getting things started. If you've decided you want to start writing, what do you do? How do you get started? Some people would say to start writing short stories. Others might tell you to outline a novel. I think my advice would be to write what's in your head and don't worry about what to call it.
Chances are that you're not going to be able to sell the first thing you write, anyway, so why worry about what market niche it fits into? Forcing yourself to try to write one particular thing may only stifle you, and you won't be able to tell what kind of writer you are until you start writing. Although there's a lot of advice about starting with short stories in some genres, short story writing and novel writing are two very different disciplines, and shorter isn't necessarily easier for everyone. At the same time, an entire novel is pretty daunting, and the idea in your head is probably not enough to sustain an entire book on its own. It will require development.
But really, at this stage, the important thing is to write. It's about exploring. Start with whatever you've got in your head and see where it goes. Play with it. Write a character vignette and see what you learn about that character. Write a scene. Write a description. Write a story. Write a chapter. When you've got something written, you can decide where to go with it. Does it stand alone? Is it part of a whole? Is it about a place where things can happen? Is it about a person who might do things?
Depending on the kind of writer you are, you may want to just keep exploring. Or you may want to pause and do some research, brainstorming and outlining before you develop it further. Or you may realize that this idea isn't as awesome as it seemed when it only lived in your head and put it aside to work on something else.
That's okay. While you will eventually have to finish something in order to sell it if that's your goal, when you're just starting out the idea is to develop your skills and to figure out what your talent is. You may write thousands and thousands of words before you hit your stride and start to feel like you've found your voice. You may start and discard a dozen ideas before one really works. What I often find is that two partial discarded ideas will suddenly merge and click into a viable story concept. I wouldn't have had that concept if I hadn't at least tried to develop those ideas.
The important thing is to keep at it and not be discouraged when you don't produce something of bestseller quality with your first attempt. Your first steps were probably pretty wobbly, and you likely fell down rather quickly. The same thing applies to learning just about any new skill. Writing may seem like something anyone can do because you already do it, but writing fiction isn't the same as the kind of writing you've done for school or work. So give yourself a break and let yourself play enough to know where you want to go with it.
Since it's the start of a new school year, it's a good time to talk about getting things started. If you've decided you want to start writing, what do you do? How do you get started? Some people would say to start writing short stories. Others might tell you to outline a novel. I think my advice would be to write what's in your head and don't worry about what to call it.
Chances are that you're not going to be able to sell the first thing you write, anyway, so why worry about what market niche it fits into? Forcing yourself to try to write one particular thing may only stifle you, and you won't be able to tell what kind of writer you are until you start writing. Although there's a lot of advice about starting with short stories in some genres, short story writing and novel writing are two very different disciplines, and shorter isn't necessarily easier for everyone. At the same time, an entire novel is pretty daunting, and the idea in your head is probably not enough to sustain an entire book on its own. It will require development.
But really, at this stage, the important thing is to write. It's about exploring. Start with whatever you've got in your head and see where it goes. Play with it. Write a character vignette and see what you learn about that character. Write a scene. Write a description. Write a story. Write a chapter. When you've got something written, you can decide where to go with it. Does it stand alone? Is it part of a whole? Is it about a place where things can happen? Is it about a person who might do things?
Depending on the kind of writer you are, you may want to just keep exploring. Or you may want to pause and do some research, brainstorming and outlining before you develop it further. Or you may realize that this idea isn't as awesome as it seemed when it only lived in your head and put it aside to work on something else.
That's okay. While you will eventually have to finish something in order to sell it if that's your goal, when you're just starting out the idea is to develop your skills and to figure out what your talent is. You may write thousands and thousands of words before you hit your stride and start to feel like you've found your voice. You may start and discard a dozen ideas before one really works. What I often find is that two partial discarded ideas will suddenly merge and click into a viable story concept. I wouldn't have had that concept if I hadn't at least tried to develop those ideas.
The important thing is to keep at it and not be discouraged when you don't produce something of bestseller quality with your first attempt. Your first steps were probably pretty wobbly, and you likely fell down rather quickly. The same thing applies to learning just about any new skill. Writing may seem like something anyone can do because you already do it, but writing fiction isn't the same as the kind of writing you've done for school or work. So give yourself a break and let yourself play enough to know where you want to go with it.
September 2, 2014
The New Non-School Year
Even though I've been out of school for a long time and even though I'm not sure I ever went to a school that didn't start until after Labor Day, there's something about the Tuesday after Labor Day that feels almost like a second New Year's Day. It's a fresh start, a chance to get myself together and regroup to move ahead.
So I started the "new school year" by getting my cable fixed. It turned out that there was a system problem, which they had fixed over the weekend. Then there was a bad connection in the outside box where the lines to individual homes in the neighborhood branch off. And my converter box was bad. He redid the outside connection and I have the next-generation converter box (apparently the old one was the first generation of HD boxes). I don't think I really had true high-def before because wow, the picture is so very different. The one downside is that my VCR is now mostly irrelevant. I used to be able to record things off the converter box, but the new box has no coax output. I don't record that much, though it was nice to get archive copies of some shows off OnDemand for Internet argument purposes until the DVDs came out or to record things to watch if I was going to be out and didn't want to wait until the next day for OnDemand.
While we were waiting for the new box to boot up, the cable guy and I had a nice discussion about Doctor Who.
I had a supremely lazy Labor Day weekend. I read two books, slept a lot and continued my DVD marathons. It was the kind of weekend that actually leaves me anticipating diving into the work week because I feel rested and eager to get started. So today I will be editing that short story and starting some research for a new novel. This month's work focus will be on novel prep work and doing some marketing/PR stuff. I've slacked off on that, but with a couple of new series launching, I need to get back on track.
I just kind of feel like I should be doing this in stiff new shoes that I spent a lot of time selecting.
So I started the "new school year" by getting my cable fixed. It turned out that there was a system problem, which they had fixed over the weekend. Then there was a bad connection in the outside box where the lines to individual homes in the neighborhood branch off. And my converter box was bad. He redid the outside connection and I have the next-generation converter box (apparently the old one was the first generation of HD boxes). I don't think I really had true high-def before because wow, the picture is so very different. The one downside is that my VCR is now mostly irrelevant. I used to be able to record things off the converter box, but the new box has no coax output. I don't record that much, though it was nice to get archive copies of some shows off OnDemand for Internet argument purposes until the DVDs came out or to record things to watch if I was going to be out and didn't want to wait until the next day for OnDemand.
While we were waiting for the new box to boot up, the cable guy and I had a nice discussion about Doctor Who.
I had a supremely lazy Labor Day weekend. I read two books, slept a lot and continued my DVD marathons. It was the kind of weekend that actually leaves me anticipating diving into the work week because I feel rested and eager to get started. So today I will be editing that short story and starting some research for a new novel. This month's work focus will be on novel prep work and doing some marketing/PR stuff. I've slacked off on that, but with a couple of new series launching, I need to get back on track.
I just kind of feel like I should be doing this in stiff new shoes that I spent a lot of time selecting.
August 29, 2014
Short Story, Long Weekend
I finished a draft of my short story yesterday, so I'm now giving myself a long weekend, which I'd been planning for a while. I don't know what I'm going to do other than read, but that's sort of the idea, to have nothing scheduled, nothing I feel I have to do.
I've been asked why I'm bothering writing a short story and what the problem is with it wanting to turn into a novel. Part of it is as a writing exercise. I know I tend to meander, so it's good for me to focus on telling just one little story without letting it blow out of proportion. In this case, I'd tried starting a novel based on this concept, and there wasn't enough to work with. It was trite and meandering. This is a reboot with the same essential concept but without turning it into an epic quest. The characters came out different, too. Part of it was to have something new to read at conventions, since the novels I have coming out soon I've been working on for years, so I've read from them over and over again. Unfortunately, this may have come out a little long for that. I'll have to see if I can edit it down, or maybe do a reading version. And part of it is professional insecurity. There seems to be an attitude in the science fiction/fantasy world that "real" writing is short story writing, and if you haven't done that, no matter how many novels you've written, then you haven't earned your stripes. Even though short stories don't pay that well and there aren't so many magazines publishing short stories (though there are an increasing number of online outlets these days), the Old Guard sticks to the idea that the way to break in is to write a bunch of short stories, sell those, and then write your novel. Skipping the short story step means you don't get taken as seriously. And that's the way to get awards, too, to have enough stories out to get known in those circles and then get some award nominations. Not that I think this story is necessarily award-worthy, but I do think it's a good exercise to do as a palate-cleanser between novels.
I'll confess, though, that after discovering these characters while writing this story, I kind of want to write a novel about them. I'm just not sure there's enough material in there. I might be able to expand it to novella length and get just the right amount of stuff in, but then it's way too long to read at most cons and that narrows the market possibilities. And I'm not sure if there's a market for it. It's not nearly romancey enough for the romance people and the fantasy people are likely to say it's too romancey. But I think I like it. It started out as a funny story and ended up making me cry.
But that's for later. For now, I'm going to make lunch, then I'm going to spend the afternoon goofing off. Tonight is the last night of summer fireworks, weather permitting, and then tomorrow I have more strenuous goofing off planned.
I've been asked why I'm bothering writing a short story and what the problem is with it wanting to turn into a novel. Part of it is as a writing exercise. I know I tend to meander, so it's good for me to focus on telling just one little story without letting it blow out of proportion. In this case, I'd tried starting a novel based on this concept, and there wasn't enough to work with. It was trite and meandering. This is a reboot with the same essential concept but without turning it into an epic quest. The characters came out different, too. Part of it was to have something new to read at conventions, since the novels I have coming out soon I've been working on for years, so I've read from them over and over again. Unfortunately, this may have come out a little long for that. I'll have to see if I can edit it down, or maybe do a reading version. And part of it is professional insecurity. There seems to be an attitude in the science fiction/fantasy world that "real" writing is short story writing, and if you haven't done that, no matter how many novels you've written, then you haven't earned your stripes. Even though short stories don't pay that well and there aren't so many magazines publishing short stories (though there are an increasing number of online outlets these days), the Old Guard sticks to the idea that the way to break in is to write a bunch of short stories, sell those, and then write your novel. Skipping the short story step means you don't get taken as seriously. And that's the way to get awards, too, to have enough stories out to get known in those circles and then get some award nominations. Not that I think this story is necessarily award-worthy, but I do think it's a good exercise to do as a palate-cleanser between novels.
I'll confess, though, that after discovering these characters while writing this story, I kind of want to write a novel about them. I'm just not sure there's enough material in there. I might be able to expand it to novella length and get just the right amount of stuff in, but then it's way too long to read at most cons and that narrows the market possibilities. And I'm not sure if there's a market for it. It's not nearly romancey enough for the romance people and the fantasy people are likely to say it's too romancey. But I think I like it. It started out as a funny story and ended up making me cry.
But that's for later. For now, I'm going to make lunch, then I'm going to spend the afternoon goofing off. Tonight is the last night of summer fireworks, weather permitting, and then tomorrow I have more strenuous goofing off planned.
August 28, 2014
Insane Cable (and other problems)
It occurred to me later yesterday after my little excursion down memory lane that I first started working in earnest on the book that became Enchanted, Inc. on Labor Day weekend in 2003. I'd had that conversation with the editor at the conference in July, but at the same conference another editor had asked for a book I already had written, with some modifications. I got on the modifications immediately, and meanwhile I came home from that conference to find a request for a manuscript on my answering machine and a positive response to a query letter in the mail. So I dealt with all that stuff (that all ended up going nowhere), and finally at the beginning of September I had time to focus on this new idea. I may have read a couple of books for research before then, but that holiday weekend (and I remember it being a rainy one) was when I did a kind of "retreat," not only reading books for research but also watching the first Harry Potter movie (I think that was the only one on DVD at that time), Bridget Jones's Diary and a few romantic comedy/chick flick movies set in New York.
That started a tradition of spending Labor Day weekend on a reading/movie binge, though I missed the last couple of years because WorldCon was on that weekend. I don't really have a theme for this year's weekend because I haven't yet decided for sure what the next project will be. I do have some reference books for the sequel to my steampunk book, and I suppose that some of the other books fit the contemporary fantasy/romantic comedy theme. My weekend viewing, other than Doctor Who, is likely to be continuing my alternating marathon of Haven and Once Upon a Time (which starts to get freaky when they blur into one seriously crazy small town in Maine -- I'd kind of like to see Audrey take on the Evil Queen, and Nathan and Captain Hook could have the battle of the Sad Blue Eyes).
I'm just hoping I can watch Doctor Who because my cable kind of went insane. I apparently am getting a bad signal for some reason, so it's not strong enough for my converter box to deal with. But it's very intermittent and random. Sometimes I'll get all the channels perfectly in good HD. Sometimes I can watch the standard definition versions but not the HD versions, but only of some channels. But there are some channels where I can watch the HD but not the standard. Some channels are sometimes in perfect HD while others won't come in at all and others are only a few pixels on a black screen and others are kind of coming in but stuttering. It got worse this week when they redid the channel lineup and eliminated standard definition. Now everything's HD unless the channel isn't available in HD, so suddenly I wasn't getting much of anything, and there was no fallback to SD. It stumped the customer service person, so it got escalated. They're apparently working on something from their end because they just called to have me check. At the moment, I'm getting SyFy and BBC America (I had my priorities of what to check), but not the local broadcast networks. Supposedly, they should have it fixed by this evening, but I've got a service appointment for Tuesday morning. It's been going on for a while, I think, but it took me a long time to notice because I've mostly been watching DVDs lately. The only thing I was watching much of on TV was the local news, and for a long time, I thought it was the local station having problems.
But before I let myself retreat, I have a story to finish. I started writing the middle section, then reached what should be the turning point that leads to a resolution and didn't know what should happen, but I figured out the beginning, so I wrote that. Now my beginning has met up with my initial starting point, and I still need to figure out how it will end. I think the ending that keeps coming to mind is a little too obvious. Planning may now be required.
That started a tradition of spending Labor Day weekend on a reading/movie binge, though I missed the last couple of years because WorldCon was on that weekend. I don't really have a theme for this year's weekend because I haven't yet decided for sure what the next project will be. I do have some reference books for the sequel to my steampunk book, and I suppose that some of the other books fit the contemporary fantasy/romantic comedy theme. My weekend viewing, other than Doctor Who, is likely to be continuing my alternating marathon of Haven and Once Upon a Time (which starts to get freaky when they blur into one seriously crazy small town in Maine -- I'd kind of like to see Audrey take on the Evil Queen, and Nathan and Captain Hook could have the battle of the Sad Blue Eyes).
I'm just hoping I can watch Doctor Who because my cable kind of went insane. I apparently am getting a bad signal for some reason, so it's not strong enough for my converter box to deal with. But it's very intermittent and random. Sometimes I'll get all the channels perfectly in good HD. Sometimes I can watch the standard definition versions but not the HD versions, but only of some channels. But there are some channels where I can watch the HD but not the standard. Some channels are sometimes in perfect HD while others won't come in at all and others are only a few pixels on a black screen and others are kind of coming in but stuttering. It got worse this week when they redid the channel lineup and eliminated standard definition. Now everything's HD unless the channel isn't available in HD, so suddenly I wasn't getting much of anything, and there was no fallback to SD. It stumped the customer service person, so it got escalated. They're apparently working on something from their end because they just called to have me check. At the moment, I'm getting SyFy and BBC America (I had my priorities of what to check), but not the local broadcast networks. Supposedly, they should have it fixed by this evening, but I've got a service appointment for Tuesday morning. It's been going on for a while, I think, but it took me a long time to notice because I've mostly been watching DVDs lately. The only thing I was watching much of on TV was the local news, and for a long time, I thought it was the local station having problems.
But before I let myself retreat, I have a story to finish. I started writing the middle section, then reached what should be the turning point that leads to a resolution and didn't know what should happen, but I figured out the beginning, so I wrote that. Now my beginning has met up with my initial starting point, and I still need to figure out how it will end. I think the ending that keeps coming to mind is a little too obvious. Planning may now be required.
