Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 185
February 11, 2014
Book Report: A GOOD Urban Fantasy
I'm kind of time-shifting my week, since I discovered that the way to watch the Olympics is on the NBC Sports cable network, where they show the figure skating live in the morning. Unlike on the prime-time show, they show the whole competition instead of just the Americans and the really famous skaters from other countries, and they just show the one event instead of bouncing around and dragging it out. There are minimal fluff pieces, and few commercials. Plus, I like the announcing team better. So, I guess I'll be spending my mornings watching skating and then moving most of my work to afternoon and evening. That's actually not a huge difference from the way I usually work.
Yesterday, as I was working through my villain's evil schemes, I had a brainstorm about the B plot of the book. What I was doing seemed to lack purpose and was only about finding something to do with that character. But once I figured out what was going on, I came up with an even better idea. This is going to require a fair amount of rewriting, but I'm barely at the halfway point, and I'd rather rewrite parts of half a book and then move forward in the right direction than rewrite a whole book.
I have to thank whoever recommended the series by Ben Aaronovitch because I read the first book, Midnight Riot, and I think this comes the closest I've found to being a Harry Potter for grown-ups. It has that similar British whimsy and tone and the juxtaposition of the real world and the magical world that I like.
The story involves a young rookie police constable who gets stuck guarding a crime scene overnight until the evidence collection team can get there, and a witness to the crime approaches him -- but the witness is a ghost. The fact that he can communicate with the ghost brings him to the attention of what's essentially Scotland Yard's X-Files unit, and soon he finds himself apprenticed to the wizard Inspector who runs the unit. Now he's training to be a wizard, studying Latin, and trying to solve an odd case of normally non-violent people who are erupting in violent rages. Meanwhile, he's got to mediate a dispute between the spirits representing different segments of the Thames.
It does get a bit dark and gory in places, but I love the voice, the bits of humor and the characters. It kind of reads like what you'd get if Terry Pratchett decided to write something like the Dresden Files. I'll definitely be grabbing the rest of the series. But I have to say, the covers don't do the books any favors. I'm not sure I'd have picked this off the shelf if I hadn't known something else about it.
Now I have to work to get my singing voice back in shape because the choir director called me this morning to say he wants to do a piece that involves a soprano solo that he thinks would really work for me. Eeep.
Yesterday, as I was working through my villain's evil schemes, I had a brainstorm about the B plot of the book. What I was doing seemed to lack purpose and was only about finding something to do with that character. But once I figured out what was going on, I came up with an even better idea. This is going to require a fair amount of rewriting, but I'm barely at the halfway point, and I'd rather rewrite parts of half a book and then move forward in the right direction than rewrite a whole book.
I have to thank whoever recommended the series by Ben Aaronovitch because I read the first book, Midnight Riot, and I think this comes the closest I've found to being a Harry Potter for grown-ups. It has that similar British whimsy and tone and the juxtaposition of the real world and the magical world that I like.
The story involves a young rookie police constable who gets stuck guarding a crime scene overnight until the evidence collection team can get there, and a witness to the crime approaches him -- but the witness is a ghost. The fact that he can communicate with the ghost brings him to the attention of what's essentially Scotland Yard's X-Files unit, and soon he finds himself apprenticed to the wizard Inspector who runs the unit. Now he's training to be a wizard, studying Latin, and trying to solve an odd case of normally non-violent people who are erupting in violent rages. Meanwhile, he's got to mediate a dispute between the spirits representing different segments of the Thames.
It does get a bit dark and gory in places, but I love the voice, the bits of humor and the characters. It kind of reads like what you'd get if Terry Pratchett decided to write something like the Dresden Files. I'll definitely be grabbing the rest of the series. But I have to say, the covers don't do the books any favors. I'm not sure I'd have picked this off the shelf if I hadn't known something else about it.
Now I have to work to get my singing voice back in shape because the choir director called me this morning to say he wants to do a piece that involves a soprano solo that he thinks would really work for me. Eeep.
February 10, 2014
Suffering for Fun
I had a bit of an epiphany over the weekend: writing genre fiction is the art of doing horrible things to people you like. And the really odd thing (if you think about it), is that the more a reader likes these people and the worse the things that happen to them, the more interesting the book is.
Up to a point, of course. In genre fiction, they generally ultimately prevail over the bad things that happen. It's not quite as much fun when it's a case of bad stuff happens, the end. And each reader has his/her limits and preferences. There's that "grimdark" fantasy in which life just generally sucks and only a few characters come out sort of okay. Not my thing, but it has a huge readership. I'm kind of a weenie, actually. There are some authors I can only read when I'm in a particular mood and have the time to finish a book in one sitting because they torture their characters so much, either physically or emotionally, and don't let them prevail until the very end, so I can't put the book down midway without being depressed. I also have issues when the horrible things that happen are the character's own fault -- bumbling into trouble by being too stupid to live -- and humiliation is probably more disturbing for me in a book than physical torment, probably because I can mentally gloss over physical woes while reading (it's only as bloody as you let yourself imagine it being) while I find that I feel the character's humiliation.
All this came up as I was working out that problem of not having put my main characters in any kind of jeopardy. I should have known better. One of my favorite authors is Dick Francis, and the thing I love about his books is how he pushes his characters to the very edge. They usually have a few close calls earlier in the book, and then the climax is a true ordeal. It's not so much that I enjoy their suffering as it is that I enjoy seeing them overcoming it all, being able to put aside the pain and think their way out of their predicament. Perhaps my favorite Francis book is the one in which the hero writes survival manuals, and the killer is getting ideas for the traps he sets for him out of those books, which means the hero is really put to the test of drawing upon everything he knows in order to survive.
But the trick is that you do have to have some kind of purpose to the jeopardy. It's not just bouncing from one predicament to the other. In order to have jeopardy that has something to do with the plot, I had to step back and really think about what the villain is up to and how that would affect the various characters. To figure that out, I ended up spending a lot of the weekend reading history books to find similar situations so I could glean a few tactics of what this person might be up to. Now I have to take all that and put together an evil scheme, and from there I can decide how that scheme will affect my characters. The villain may be offstage for the first two-thirds of the book, but the characters will still be feeling the effects of the villain's actions.
Meanwhile, I have the leading edge of a potential story idea nagging at my head, thanks to watching ice dancing yesterday. It was the story behind a piece of music that I now suddenly want to play with. I'm just not yet sure how.
Up to a point, of course. In genre fiction, they generally ultimately prevail over the bad things that happen. It's not quite as much fun when it's a case of bad stuff happens, the end. And each reader has his/her limits and preferences. There's that "grimdark" fantasy in which life just generally sucks and only a few characters come out sort of okay. Not my thing, but it has a huge readership. I'm kind of a weenie, actually. There are some authors I can only read when I'm in a particular mood and have the time to finish a book in one sitting because they torture their characters so much, either physically or emotionally, and don't let them prevail until the very end, so I can't put the book down midway without being depressed. I also have issues when the horrible things that happen are the character's own fault -- bumbling into trouble by being too stupid to live -- and humiliation is probably more disturbing for me in a book than physical torment, probably because I can mentally gloss over physical woes while reading (it's only as bloody as you let yourself imagine it being) while I find that I feel the character's humiliation.
All this came up as I was working out that problem of not having put my main characters in any kind of jeopardy. I should have known better. One of my favorite authors is Dick Francis, and the thing I love about his books is how he pushes his characters to the very edge. They usually have a few close calls earlier in the book, and then the climax is a true ordeal. It's not so much that I enjoy their suffering as it is that I enjoy seeing them overcoming it all, being able to put aside the pain and think their way out of their predicament. Perhaps my favorite Francis book is the one in which the hero writes survival manuals, and the killer is getting ideas for the traps he sets for him out of those books, which means the hero is really put to the test of drawing upon everything he knows in order to survive.
But the trick is that you do have to have some kind of purpose to the jeopardy. It's not just bouncing from one predicament to the other. In order to have jeopardy that has something to do with the plot, I had to step back and really think about what the villain is up to and how that would affect the various characters. To figure that out, I ended up spending a lot of the weekend reading history books to find similar situations so I could glean a few tactics of what this person might be up to. Now I have to take all that and put together an evil scheme, and from there I can decide how that scheme will affect my characters. The villain may be offstage for the first two-thirds of the book, but the characters will still be feeling the effects of the villain's actions.
Meanwhile, I have the leading edge of a potential story idea nagging at my head, thanks to watching ice dancing yesterday. It was the story behind a piece of music that I now suddenly want to play with. I'm just not yet sure how.
February 7, 2014
Danger!
I'd like to blame the snow for my lack of productivity yesterday, but I think maybe my subconscious/muse might have had something to do with it because I finally realized that there's a problem with this book, so something was dragging its metaphorical feet.
It started with realizing the problem with the scene I was working on. It's essentially the midpoint of the book, a big turning point that's also a bit of a spectacle (if this were a movie, this scene would be amazing). But I was midway through writing it when I realized it was kind of boring, in spite of the spectacle. And then I realized that it was because the protagonists weren't in any kind of jeopardy. I didn't feel any sense of tension or risk. I went back to the drawing board to figure out how to add that to the scene, and then I realized that the whole book is like that. My main characters are never in danger.
Not that the protagonists of every story need to face constant danger, but they need to have something at stake, something at risk. In a straightforward romantic comedy without wizards or fairies, that might be emotional risk, and that's often depicted through humiliating moments or personal revelations. I kind of have the personal, emotional stakes in this story because there's something big that the protagonists are trying to achieve, and it will be a huge loss for one of them if they fail. But that's in the big picture. In individual scenes, there's not much at stake, and this is an adventure-type story, so they should be in danger along the way. I went back and looked at each scene so far, and there's one scene in which we might be slightly worried about the fate of one of the main characters, and he gets out of trouble pretty easily. The other main character is a little too invincible. Otherwise, it's just some of the very secondary characters who seem to be in occasional jams. My main characters help other people who are in danger, but they have nothing at risk, themselves.
After I got done with the groaning and banging my head against the wall, I realized that this is an opportunity. While I like some of the individual scenes, I've always had the nagging sense that something is missing from this book, and now I know what it is. I wonder if I was maybe in a conflict/risk-averse place when I wrote the first half because now that I look at it, I can see a lot of places where there could have been jeopardy, but I shied away from it, like I was afraid of making bad things happen to my characters. Now I guess it's a real back to the drawing board for some brainstorming about how, exactly, to fix this. In particular, I need to really shake things up for my heroine. She's the kind of person who feels like she's always in control of a situation, and to make things interesting, I need to get her into fixes she can't get out of by herself or that at least require serious effort on her part.
So, that'll be my fun for the day.
It started with realizing the problem with the scene I was working on. It's essentially the midpoint of the book, a big turning point that's also a bit of a spectacle (if this were a movie, this scene would be amazing). But I was midway through writing it when I realized it was kind of boring, in spite of the spectacle. And then I realized that it was because the protagonists weren't in any kind of jeopardy. I didn't feel any sense of tension or risk. I went back to the drawing board to figure out how to add that to the scene, and then I realized that the whole book is like that. My main characters are never in danger.
Not that the protagonists of every story need to face constant danger, but they need to have something at stake, something at risk. In a straightforward romantic comedy without wizards or fairies, that might be emotional risk, and that's often depicted through humiliating moments or personal revelations. I kind of have the personal, emotional stakes in this story because there's something big that the protagonists are trying to achieve, and it will be a huge loss for one of them if they fail. But that's in the big picture. In individual scenes, there's not much at stake, and this is an adventure-type story, so they should be in danger along the way. I went back and looked at each scene so far, and there's one scene in which we might be slightly worried about the fate of one of the main characters, and he gets out of trouble pretty easily. The other main character is a little too invincible. Otherwise, it's just some of the very secondary characters who seem to be in occasional jams. My main characters help other people who are in danger, but they have nothing at risk, themselves.
After I got done with the groaning and banging my head against the wall, I realized that this is an opportunity. While I like some of the individual scenes, I've always had the nagging sense that something is missing from this book, and now I know what it is. I wonder if I was maybe in a conflict/risk-averse place when I wrote the first half because now that I look at it, I can see a lot of places where there could have been jeopardy, but I shied away from it, like I was afraid of making bad things happen to my characters. Now I guess it's a real back to the drawing board for some brainstorming about how, exactly, to fix this. In particular, I need to really shake things up for my heroine. She's the kind of person who feels like she's always in control of a situation, and to make things interesting, I need to get her into fixes she can't get out of by herself or that at least require serious effort on her part.
So, that'll be my fun for the day.
February 6, 2014
Let it Snow
The light dusting of snow and scattered flurries that was forecast for today turned out to be a blanket of white when I got up. I'd say there's at least half an inch on the ground, and it's still falling. I know that's not a lot, but it's still more than was expected. The falling snow is very light and fluffy, so I can barely see it while sitting in my office without my glasses on. I can just see movement against the dark windows of the office building across the street. I'm also starting to hear something hitting the skylight, so it might be turning into sleet. I'm now very glad I got groceries yesterday and have nowhere to go today.
I have already had part of my Betty Crocker moment. When I got up and saw the snow, I was inspired to cook breakfast instead of having my usual piece of toast. I'd just bought some fresh breakfast sausage, so I had sausage and grits. I'll be making an Italian sausage tomato sauce for dinner. (Can you tell they had sausage on sale at the grocery store? And it's the store that makes their own fresh sausage that's very lean and quite tasty.) I've considered making a batch of bagels today, since I'm out, but I don't know about that. It depends on how much writing I get done.
I'm nearing the approximate halfway point in the current book and had to stop yesterday when I realized I was at a pivotal scene but didn't know what else should happen other than the main plot point. It's a "set piece" type scene that provides some of the imagery and fun inherent in the premise in addition to providing a plot turning point. So, I had to stop and brainstorm, and I think I came up with some good ideas, so I'm ready to write when I get going today.
If I can stop staring out the window at the snow falling. It seems like it's really coming down now, but I can't quite tell how much is actually falling and how much is wind whipping around the stuff that's on the ground. There's something so hypnotic about falling snow.
I have already had part of my Betty Crocker moment. When I got up and saw the snow, I was inspired to cook breakfast instead of having my usual piece of toast. I'd just bought some fresh breakfast sausage, so I had sausage and grits. I'll be making an Italian sausage tomato sauce for dinner. (Can you tell they had sausage on sale at the grocery store? And it's the store that makes their own fresh sausage that's very lean and quite tasty.) I've considered making a batch of bagels today, since I'm out, but I don't know about that. It depends on how much writing I get done.
I'm nearing the approximate halfway point in the current book and had to stop yesterday when I realized I was at a pivotal scene but didn't know what else should happen other than the main plot point. It's a "set piece" type scene that provides some of the imagery and fun inherent in the premise in addition to providing a plot turning point. So, I had to stop and brainstorm, and I think I came up with some good ideas, so I'm ready to write when I get going today.
If I can stop staring out the window at the snow falling. It seems like it's really coming down now, but I can't quite tell how much is actually falling and how much is wind whipping around the stuff that's on the ground. There's something so hypnotic about falling snow.
February 5, 2014
Second Guessing in Public
I wrote actual new words yesterday, and it was very exciting. I may not quite reach my time quota today unless I'm very good because I have to run some errands on the way to choir this afternoon, which shortens my day. I don't have to teach tonight, but I do have to direct the choir in performing. I'm iffy on going to my own choir rehearsal, as I still can't sing very much. But I am now sleeping well with no medication, which is wonderful. Tomorrow is supposed to be really cold and nasty, with possible winter precipitation, so it should be very productive for me, unless I go on a cooking binge, which tends to happen in that kind of weather. At the first hint of snow, I turn into Betty Crocker.
I had to go out to get groceries this morning because I was starting to have to get creative with what I had on hand. Last night, I did an oven-fried chicken breast, using a coating of bread crumbs mixed with Parmesan cheese, and since I had the oven on and it used the same temperature, I roasted a mix of sweet and white potatoes. I think that may now be my favorite way to cook sweet potatoes. But now I have plenty of canned tomatoes, so I have more options. I plan to pick up some Italian sausage and some vegetables on the way to church tonight and make a big vat of spaghetti sauce tomorrow. The up side of cold weather is that I don't have to worry about things sitting in my trunk -- unless it's to worry about them freezing. I may have to bring a cooler to insulate the things that aren't supposed to freeze.
I try to avoid saying negative things about other authors in a public forum, but I have been pushed too far, and now I have to get something off my chest:
Please shut up, J.K. Rowling.
In case you missed it, she gave an interview saying that Ron and Hermione shouldn't have ended up together. Okay, so maybe I'm emotionally invested there because I basically am Hermione and Ron was my favorite character, and I noticed the groundwork being laid in the first book, so a huge part of my enjoyment of the series was seeing the relationship develop as they grew up, and I thought she did a rather brilliant job of conveying it all through the eyes of Harry, who was rather clueless about it, so the clues had to be conveyed in a subtle way so that the reader would notice even if the viewpoint character was rather dense. And I loved that it busted the trope of the hero always getting the girl. Finally, the best friend got the girl, instead, and it wasn't even treated so much as a "reward" as it was those two having time to develop a relationship while Harry was busy saving the world. But even if I didn't have an emotional stake in it, I think it's rather poor form for an author to retroactively second-guess her own work in a public forum.
This follows up the many questionable things she said soon after the last book was published, in which she revealed what the outcome for the various secondary characters would be, in some cases outright stomping on what fans hoped for, and outed Dumbledore, I guess to get credit for diversity without actually putting it in the books. There was a newspaper column written at the time with the title "Harry Potter and the Author Who Would Not Shut Up."
I guess the whole concept is utterly foreign to me, as another author of a seven-book series. The series is what's in the books, period. If I didn't put it there, you're free to imagine what's around the edges, and I'm not going to do interviews saying that you're wrong because this is what happens to those secondary characters twenty years later. While there might be a few things I'd have done differently (not that I can think of any off the top of my head), I'd never say so in public. In fact, anything I might want to do differently, I could use elsewhere. If I wanted a relationship to go another way, I'd come up with a different series with different (though maybe similar) characters, and then play it out the other way. I'm not going to say what happens after the series closes because I really don't know. That's why I'm not currently planning to write more books, because I can't see what's happening. These people drew the blinds on me. If I could see more, I'd write it.
The reason I think it's a bad idea to talk about your own work in that way is that it can alienate the readers who liked the way it turned out. I'm feeling a little betrayed for having bought into what she actually sold me, now that I know she herself didn't like it. That's a strange feeling. I'm used to not liking the way things work out, but then it's my problem, and if I don't like it, I can write my own book. But liking the way things worked out and then being told by the author that I'm wrong violates the sense of trust between author and reader. How would you guys feel if I started doing interviews saying that Owen and Katie really didn't belong together?
I'll talk about back story, inspiration, silly little details, etc., but for the most part, I think the books speak for themselves.
I had to go out to get groceries this morning because I was starting to have to get creative with what I had on hand. Last night, I did an oven-fried chicken breast, using a coating of bread crumbs mixed with Parmesan cheese, and since I had the oven on and it used the same temperature, I roasted a mix of sweet and white potatoes. I think that may now be my favorite way to cook sweet potatoes. But now I have plenty of canned tomatoes, so I have more options. I plan to pick up some Italian sausage and some vegetables on the way to church tonight and make a big vat of spaghetti sauce tomorrow. The up side of cold weather is that I don't have to worry about things sitting in my trunk -- unless it's to worry about them freezing. I may have to bring a cooler to insulate the things that aren't supposed to freeze.
I try to avoid saying negative things about other authors in a public forum, but I have been pushed too far, and now I have to get something off my chest:
Please shut up, J.K. Rowling.
In case you missed it, she gave an interview saying that Ron and Hermione shouldn't have ended up together. Okay, so maybe I'm emotionally invested there because I basically am Hermione and Ron was my favorite character, and I noticed the groundwork being laid in the first book, so a huge part of my enjoyment of the series was seeing the relationship develop as they grew up, and I thought she did a rather brilliant job of conveying it all through the eyes of Harry, who was rather clueless about it, so the clues had to be conveyed in a subtle way so that the reader would notice even if the viewpoint character was rather dense. And I loved that it busted the trope of the hero always getting the girl. Finally, the best friend got the girl, instead, and it wasn't even treated so much as a "reward" as it was those two having time to develop a relationship while Harry was busy saving the world. But even if I didn't have an emotional stake in it, I think it's rather poor form for an author to retroactively second-guess her own work in a public forum.
This follows up the many questionable things she said soon after the last book was published, in which she revealed what the outcome for the various secondary characters would be, in some cases outright stomping on what fans hoped for, and outed Dumbledore, I guess to get credit for diversity without actually putting it in the books. There was a newspaper column written at the time with the title "Harry Potter and the Author Who Would Not Shut Up."
I guess the whole concept is utterly foreign to me, as another author of a seven-book series. The series is what's in the books, period. If I didn't put it there, you're free to imagine what's around the edges, and I'm not going to do interviews saying that you're wrong because this is what happens to those secondary characters twenty years later. While there might be a few things I'd have done differently (not that I can think of any off the top of my head), I'd never say so in public. In fact, anything I might want to do differently, I could use elsewhere. If I wanted a relationship to go another way, I'd come up with a different series with different (though maybe similar) characters, and then play it out the other way. I'm not going to say what happens after the series closes because I really don't know. That's why I'm not currently planning to write more books, because I can't see what's happening. These people drew the blinds on me. If I could see more, I'd write it.
The reason I think it's a bad idea to talk about your own work in that way is that it can alienate the readers who liked the way it turned out. I'm feeling a little betrayed for having bought into what she actually sold me, now that I know she herself didn't like it. That's a strange feeling. I'm used to not liking the way things work out, but then it's my problem, and if I don't like it, I can write my own book. But liking the way things worked out and then being told by the author that I'm wrong violates the sense of trust between author and reader. How would you guys feel if I started doing interviews saying that Owen and Katie really didn't belong together?
I'll talk about back story, inspiration, silly little details, etc., but for the most part, I think the books speak for themselves.
February 4, 2014
Onward, ho!
It's kind of sad when you're looking at sleep as a great achievement, but I managed to really sleep last night without any medical help at all. That must mean I'm somewhat on the mend. I was never really, really sick, but being at a low level of not entirely well for weeks is possibly worse and more annoying than being truly sick for a few days and then getting over it. If I'd had a regular job, I probably would have had to go to work, but I would have felt lousy while doing so. I did get my work done at home, so I suppose I would have managed in an office. I'm not sure about getting up in time to be at an office at eight, though, since I was often sleeping until ten after a night of coughing. Reason number about three zillion why I have to keep making this writing thing work. I'm not sure I could cope with going back to having a regular job. There would be tears.
I spent yesterday re-reading the book so far to get myself into that headspace and to remind myself of what's happened. There was one big question that came up in my second half plotting where I really wasn't sure what I'd written. Now I have that answer. There are a few things I want to adjust in the first part, now that I've revisited it. Then onward-ho!
A couple of little news items:
The Dutch publisher is going to reissue the first three books in e-books and possibly in an omnibus edition. If this does well, they may consider publishing the rest of the series in translation. So if you're a Dutch reader and want the rest of the series, I guess you need to nag people about trying it.
Speaking of nagging people to try … Random House seems to have dropped the e-book price of the first book to 3.99, so if you've been trying to get someone hooked but they only buy cheap e-books, here's the chance. Unfortunately, the other books have the slightly higher price, but they're all still within the mass-market paperback range rather than the trade paperback range they used to be, so once they've given book one a try, maybe they'll be willing to continue. The first book is already back on one of the category bestseller lists. It would be funny if that nearly ten-year-old book suddenly started selling well enough to be a true bestseller, now, after all this time.
I spent yesterday re-reading the book so far to get myself into that headspace and to remind myself of what's happened. There was one big question that came up in my second half plotting where I really wasn't sure what I'd written. Now I have that answer. There are a few things I want to adjust in the first part, now that I've revisited it. Then onward-ho!
A couple of little news items:
The Dutch publisher is going to reissue the first three books in e-books and possibly in an omnibus edition. If this does well, they may consider publishing the rest of the series in translation. So if you're a Dutch reader and want the rest of the series, I guess you need to nag people about trying it.
Speaking of nagging people to try … Random House seems to have dropped the e-book price of the first book to 3.99, so if you've been trying to get someone hooked but they only buy cheap e-books, here's the chance. Unfortunately, the other books have the slightly higher price, but they're all still within the mass-market paperback range rather than the trade paperback range they used to be, so once they've given book one a try, maybe they'll be willing to continue. The first book is already back on one of the category bestseller lists. It would be funny if that nearly ten-year-old book suddenly started selling well enough to be a true bestseller, now, after all this time.
February 3, 2014
Is this Tea?
You know it's going to be one of those Mondays when you realize that you've poured the orange juice into your tea mug. Fortunately, I hadn't yet put the tea in it. It was just sitting on the counter, waiting for the tea to brew, and I suppose orange juice in tea wouldn't be so bad, as I like orange spice tea, but still, it wasn't what I was supposed to be doing and it took me a while to realize that what I was doing was wrong and what was wrong about it.
However, I'm actually feeling much better because I got some sleep and rest over the weekend. I hadn't been sleeping well because of the cough. I didn't even really need to cough anymore, but had that lingering cough reflex so that I was waking up coughing every hour or so. I finally broke down and broke out the prescription cough syrup, and that worked to stop the coughing and let me sleep. I must have been really tired because I nearly slept the clock around two nights in a row. Now I'm close to having my normal energy levels. I was even able to sing a little bit yesterday.
That means I'm ready to start writing again today. Once I send the last book off to the editor, I'm ready to dive in and finish the book I've been working on. All that cover concept brainstorming helped pave the way toward getting back in the mood to work in this world.
And my agent and I finally found a concept we agreed upon. I won't tell which series inspired the idea because I hope it won't be obvious in the finished product. Now to see what the designer has to say about the matter … I've been searching the Internet for reference images to give the designer to give an idea of what's been in my head. The funny thing about this book is that a lot of my mental casting came up after I wrote the book. I did have mental casting for one character, but for the others, it was a case of seeing someone on TV after I wrote the first draft (in one case, after entirely finishing the book) and saying "Hey, that's my character!" Strangely, having a more concrete mental image hasn't at all changed the way I see these characters as I write them. The people I saw after the fact were that close to what I had in my head. Freaky.
Now I need more tea. Without orange juice.
However, I'm actually feeling much better because I got some sleep and rest over the weekend. I hadn't been sleeping well because of the cough. I didn't even really need to cough anymore, but had that lingering cough reflex so that I was waking up coughing every hour or so. I finally broke down and broke out the prescription cough syrup, and that worked to stop the coughing and let me sleep. I must have been really tired because I nearly slept the clock around two nights in a row. Now I'm close to having my normal energy levels. I was even able to sing a little bit yesterday.
That means I'm ready to start writing again today. Once I send the last book off to the editor, I'm ready to dive in and finish the book I've been working on. All that cover concept brainstorming helped pave the way toward getting back in the mood to work in this world.
And my agent and I finally found a concept we agreed upon. I won't tell which series inspired the idea because I hope it won't be obvious in the finished product. Now to see what the designer has to say about the matter … I've been searching the Internet for reference images to give the designer to give an idea of what's been in my head. The funny thing about this book is that a lot of my mental casting came up after I wrote the book. I did have mental casting for one character, but for the others, it was a case of seeing someone on TV after I wrote the first draft (in one case, after entirely finishing the book) and saying "Hey, that's my character!" Strangely, having a more concrete mental image hasn't at all changed the way I see these characters as I write them. The people I saw after the fact were that close to what I had in my head. Freaky.
Now I need more tea. Without orange juice.
January 31, 2014
A Good Month
I finished proofreading the YA steampunk book last night, so that will go to my editor on Monday (I hate to send things like that to people on Friday. I'd rather at least give them the illusion of a cleared desk before the weekend -- and I really hate it when people dump things on me on Fridays). In the future, I will have to make a point of avoiding getting into any other creative projects just as I'm trying to do something like proofreading that requires focus because that was a challenge here. I'd read a paragraph, then get a book cover idea and rush off to look up stuff.
My attempt to make work a priority has done well for me so far this year. I'm already more than a month ahead of where I was last year in time worked (it was more than a month later before I'd worked this much time), and this month I've finished a screenplay, revised a novel and plotted part of a novel. If I can keep this up all year, I'll really rock and roll. Next week I'll get back into the book I was working on, which is the sequel to the one I was talking about yesterday. One benefit of self publishing is that you set your own publication schedule and aren't having to work around other books in the list, so you can put out two books back-to-back. Imagine, only waiting a month before the sequel! But that means I have to finish the book.
I do love the idea of spoofing the generic urban fantasy book cover, but I'm not sure that's feasible because it would require commissioning an original painting, and that gets expensive, probably beyond the budget we're working with. But I did describe the idea to my agent, so we'll see if she knows a way to get it done.
It's very hard to come up with an image that says "whimsical fantasy adventure, with fairies, but not the cute kind, and a dog! But also with some serious women's fiction elements, like family roles and obligations."
In other news, they announced this week that Haven has been renewed for essentially two more seasons. Technically, it's one "season," but it's 26 episodes when they usually do 13-episode seasons, so it looks like a way to get one more season in before they have to renegotiate five-season contracts. I'm very relieved because I was worried about ending things on that particular cliffhanger, and I haven't been able to mentally write my way out of it because I have no clue where they're heading (and that's what I like about it).
Now, though, we're in a TV dead zone because of the Olympics. I may catch up on a lot of OnDemand stuff and do a lot of writing. I tried watching the first episode of BBC's Atlantis, but it was standard-issue bad British fantasy cheese, and not really the good kind, so I'm not sure I'll bother unless I get really bored.
My plan for the day is to pick up some books on hold at the library, wash dishes, and nap. My plan for the weekend is to read, maybe do some housework, and nap. The nagging allergies have really worn me down, and I'm hoping that some slightly more moist air and some rest will help.
My attempt to make work a priority has done well for me so far this year. I'm already more than a month ahead of where I was last year in time worked (it was more than a month later before I'd worked this much time), and this month I've finished a screenplay, revised a novel and plotted part of a novel. If I can keep this up all year, I'll really rock and roll. Next week I'll get back into the book I was working on, which is the sequel to the one I was talking about yesterday. One benefit of self publishing is that you set your own publication schedule and aren't having to work around other books in the list, so you can put out two books back-to-back. Imagine, only waiting a month before the sequel! But that means I have to finish the book.
I do love the idea of spoofing the generic urban fantasy book cover, but I'm not sure that's feasible because it would require commissioning an original painting, and that gets expensive, probably beyond the budget we're working with. But I did describe the idea to my agent, so we'll see if she knows a way to get it done.
It's very hard to come up with an image that says "whimsical fantasy adventure, with fairies, but not the cute kind, and a dog! But also with some serious women's fiction elements, like family roles and obligations."
In other news, they announced this week that Haven has been renewed for essentially two more seasons. Technically, it's one "season," but it's 26 episodes when they usually do 13-episode seasons, so it looks like a way to get one more season in before they have to renegotiate five-season contracts. I'm very relieved because I was worried about ending things on that particular cliffhanger, and I haven't been able to mentally write my way out of it because I have no clue where they're heading (and that's what I like about it).
Now, though, we're in a TV dead zone because of the Olympics. I may catch up on a lot of OnDemand stuff and do a lot of writing. I tried watching the first episode of BBC's Atlantis, but it was standard-issue bad British fantasy cheese, and not really the good kind, so I'm not sure I'll bother unless I get really bored.
My plan for the day is to pick up some books on hold at the library, wash dishes, and nap. My plan for the weekend is to read, maybe do some housework, and nap. The nagging allergies have really worn me down, and I'm hoping that some slightly more moist air and some rest will help.
January 30, 2014
Fitting the Cover to the Book
I think dealing with the kids last night set my health back. I was getting better, but trying to speak loudly enough to get their attention and then having to move around to keep them from killing themselves and each other got me started coughing. The panic when Problem Child climbed on top of a stack of chairs and then proceeded to throw himself off onto the floor didn't help matters. I even had to use the Mean Voice when the tactic of turning off the music and just standing there, glaring, didn't work on all the kids. It's frustrating when I have a few who are eager to cooperate and participate and then there are a few others who ruin it for them. When I just went silent, those few good ones immediately noticed and stood still. A few others never even noticed. But I get a week off next week since we're doing a children's service instead. Our group is singing for that service, but I don't have to come up with lesson plans or be responsible for controlling them.
In the meantime, as I wrap up proofreading the latest round of revisions on the YA steampunk book, I've been doing some strategizing with my agent. We've decided that the problem book isn't going to find a home with a traditional publisher because it doesn't really fit into any niches, so we're going to publish it ourselves. So now I'm looking at cover design ideas, and I'm starting to see why publishers were leery since there's no really obvious cover design for it. I've been browsing through Amazon in all the categories this could fit into, and there's no cover or even cover style that has me thinking that it would be a good fit for this book.
I guess that's my fault for writing a contemporary fantasy for which it would be impossible to put a tattooed, leather clad tough chick on the cover. My heroine is a ballerina (and, seriously, talk about tough, ballerinas are probably tougher than any urban fantasy chick) and very feminine. She wears floral, floaty dresses. So that usual cover look won't do. Though it might be funny to do a spoof of the standard-issue urban fantasy cover, but in pastels instead of blacks and greys and with the pretty ballerina in the tough-girl pose. I'm not sure that would sell, but it's funny to imagine.
There's a dog in the book, a bulldog named Beauregard who's usually just about inanimate but who proves himself pretty useful in the fairy realm. I love him, and so does my agent, to the point that she's all "The cover must be a picture of a bulldog being cute and funny!!!! It will sell lots of books!!!!" (She's a dog person.) I'm less sure because the only books I've seen that had covers consisting of pictures of cute dogs were chick lit and contemporary romance when those genres were waning (and it was cheaper to put stock photography on covers than to commission illustrations). A cute bulldog doesn't really say "fantasy adventure" to me.
The title is A Fairy Tale, and it's kind of a play on words because it's about actual fairies -- more from British and Celtic folklore than from Disney movies and Victorian whimsy, so they're scary, not cute -- but a lot of plot elements from fairy tales pop up -- rescuing someone under a spell does require a kiss, there's an enchanted palace covered in thorny vines until the spell is broken, etc. The characters are aware of the tropes and use them. I've described the plot as kind of like Tam Lin, but it's a sister, not a lover, who has to be rescued from fairy captivity. It's not quite as funny and outright humorous as the Enchanted, Inc. books, but there's still a lot of whimsy and I tried to write the dialogue with the tone of the old screwball romantic comedies. There's a low-level romance element -- a couple that can't get together now, but that you kind of hope might someday. Yeah, I love my slow builds.
And I have absolutely no idea what cover would say all that. While I love the work the illustrator I've been working with does, I want to do something different here because I want to keep the look very distinct from the other series (I don't want anyone thinking "Hey, the next Enchanted, Inc. book!"). I guess this kind of thinking is why the publishers make the big bucks.
In the meantime, as I wrap up proofreading the latest round of revisions on the YA steampunk book, I've been doing some strategizing with my agent. We've decided that the problem book isn't going to find a home with a traditional publisher because it doesn't really fit into any niches, so we're going to publish it ourselves. So now I'm looking at cover design ideas, and I'm starting to see why publishers were leery since there's no really obvious cover design for it. I've been browsing through Amazon in all the categories this could fit into, and there's no cover or even cover style that has me thinking that it would be a good fit for this book.
I guess that's my fault for writing a contemporary fantasy for which it would be impossible to put a tattooed, leather clad tough chick on the cover. My heroine is a ballerina (and, seriously, talk about tough, ballerinas are probably tougher than any urban fantasy chick) and very feminine. She wears floral, floaty dresses. So that usual cover look won't do. Though it might be funny to do a spoof of the standard-issue urban fantasy cover, but in pastels instead of blacks and greys and with the pretty ballerina in the tough-girl pose. I'm not sure that would sell, but it's funny to imagine.
There's a dog in the book, a bulldog named Beauregard who's usually just about inanimate but who proves himself pretty useful in the fairy realm. I love him, and so does my agent, to the point that she's all "The cover must be a picture of a bulldog being cute and funny!!!! It will sell lots of books!!!!" (She's a dog person.) I'm less sure because the only books I've seen that had covers consisting of pictures of cute dogs were chick lit and contemporary romance when those genres were waning (and it was cheaper to put stock photography on covers than to commission illustrations). A cute bulldog doesn't really say "fantasy adventure" to me.
The title is A Fairy Tale, and it's kind of a play on words because it's about actual fairies -- more from British and Celtic folklore than from Disney movies and Victorian whimsy, so they're scary, not cute -- but a lot of plot elements from fairy tales pop up -- rescuing someone under a spell does require a kiss, there's an enchanted palace covered in thorny vines until the spell is broken, etc. The characters are aware of the tropes and use them. I've described the plot as kind of like Tam Lin, but it's a sister, not a lover, who has to be rescued from fairy captivity. It's not quite as funny and outright humorous as the Enchanted, Inc. books, but there's still a lot of whimsy and I tried to write the dialogue with the tone of the old screwball romantic comedies. There's a low-level romance element -- a couple that can't get together now, but that you kind of hope might someday. Yeah, I love my slow builds.
And I have absolutely no idea what cover would say all that. While I love the work the illustrator I've been working with does, I want to do something different here because I want to keep the look very distinct from the other series (I don't want anyone thinking "Hey, the next Enchanted, Inc. book!"). I guess this kind of thinking is why the publishers make the big bucks.
January 29, 2014
Getting Feedback
It's writing post time again, and I had a reader question about getting feedback on your work.
Whether or not you need some kind of feedback or editing depends on your skills and what you plan to do with your work. If you're a fairly advanced writer who's a good editor and you're submitting to agents or editors, you may not need to get someone else to look at your work before you submit it. Keep in mind, though, that today's editors are less likely to be willing to edit. Unless your concept is so absolutely brilliant that they think it's worth the work, if a book isn't close to being ready for publication, it may get rejected. An editor won't read too many paragraphs of awkward sentences or poor grammar to find out that the story itself is wonderful. If you're planning to self-publish, you absolutely need additional eyes on your work before you go public, and preferably at the professional level (someone you hire who does it for a living). While there are authors who have sold novels that no one other than the author looked at before they were submitted, you generally can benefit from getting feedback along the way.
There are different levels of feedback that come at different times in a book's development. You can get feedback at the concept level -- brainstorming the idea itself and its viability and originality.
There's developmental editing, which generally happens at the first draft stage, where you get feedback on the story, the structure, the characters and the overall tone of the piece, without even getting into stuff like grammar or sentence structure. Would the story work better if you moved events around? Is there a character who just doesn't work? Are there plot holes? Are there too many scenes that are too similar? Is there some untapped potential in the story -- something readers might want more of? Getting this feedback can help you structure your revisions to create a stronger book.
Line editing helps with the actual words -- are you using the best, most vivid words? Are you being too wordy? Do you really need that sentence? This is the wordsmithing part of the process, though it may also address some plot, character and continuity issues.
Copy editing is the nitpicking part of the process -- checking grammar, spelling and punctuation, making sure you don't use the same word too many times, making sure terms are consistent. It shouldn't change the story, tone or voice of the book.
Proofreading checks for typos or errors that may have arisen while inserting changes from copy editing or during typesetting. Changes should only be made if something is incorrect.
You can get each of these done on a variety of levels, depending on your own skill and the resources you have available to you. There are critique groups or partners, where the feedback is mutual -- you read their work, they read your work -- or there are beta readers -- it's a one-way street where they read your work. These mostly work at the concept or developmental level, possibly up to line editing. You can also find professionals who specialize in concept coaching and developmental or line editing. Copy editing and proofreading are part of the publication process. If you're dealing with a publisher, the publisher will take care of it (though the manuscript you submit should be as clean as possible). If you're self publishing, you need to get someone to do this for you to create a quality product.
If you're hiring a professional, make sure you make clear the kind of edit you want. There's no point in line editing or copy editing a book that needs significant rewriting at the story level, and it's a waste of money and the editor's time to try to fix the words when the story doesn't work. Whether you're working with professionals or with friends, you need to check your ego to get the benefit of feedback. If all you want is praise, you're wasting their time. The idea is to do what it takes to make your book better. That doesn't mean you have to accept all feedback, even when you're dealing with a publisher. It's ultimately your book. But you do need to thoughtfully consider suggestions. Even the best writer benefits from feedback at some point in the process because it's hard to objectively judge your own work.
Whether or not you need some kind of feedback or editing depends on your skills and what you plan to do with your work. If you're a fairly advanced writer who's a good editor and you're submitting to agents or editors, you may not need to get someone else to look at your work before you submit it. Keep in mind, though, that today's editors are less likely to be willing to edit. Unless your concept is so absolutely brilliant that they think it's worth the work, if a book isn't close to being ready for publication, it may get rejected. An editor won't read too many paragraphs of awkward sentences or poor grammar to find out that the story itself is wonderful. If you're planning to self-publish, you absolutely need additional eyes on your work before you go public, and preferably at the professional level (someone you hire who does it for a living). While there are authors who have sold novels that no one other than the author looked at before they were submitted, you generally can benefit from getting feedback along the way.
There are different levels of feedback that come at different times in a book's development. You can get feedback at the concept level -- brainstorming the idea itself and its viability and originality.
There's developmental editing, which generally happens at the first draft stage, where you get feedback on the story, the structure, the characters and the overall tone of the piece, without even getting into stuff like grammar or sentence structure. Would the story work better if you moved events around? Is there a character who just doesn't work? Are there plot holes? Are there too many scenes that are too similar? Is there some untapped potential in the story -- something readers might want more of? Getting this feedback can help you structure your revisions to create a stronger book.
Line editing helps with the actual words -- are you using the best, most vivid words? Are you being too wordy? Do you really need that sentence? This is the wordsmithing part of the process, though it may also address some plot, character and continuity issues.
Copy editing is the nitpicking part of the process -- checking grammar, spelling and punctuation, making sure you don't use the same word too many times, making sure terms are consistent. It shouldn't change the story, tone or voice of the book.
Proofreading checks for typos or errors that may have arisen while inserting changes from copy editing or during typesetting. Changes should only be made if something is incorrect.
You can get each of these done on a variety of levels, depending on your own skill and the resources you have available to you. There are critique groups or partners, where the feedback is mutual -- you read their work, they read your work -- or there are beta readers -- it's a one-way street where they read your work. These mostly work at the concept or developmental level, possibly up to line editing. You can also find professionals who specialize in concept coaching and developmental or line editing. Copy editing and proofreading are part of the publication process. If you're dealing with a publisher, the publisher will take care of it (though the manuscript you submit should be as clean as possible). If you're self publishing, you need to get someone to do this for you to create a quality product.
If you're hiring a professional, make sure you make clear the kind of edit you want. There's no point in line editing or copy editing a book that needs significant rewriting at the story level, and it's a waste of money and the editor's time to try to fix the words when the story doesn't work. Whether you're working with professionals or with friends, you need to check your ego to get the benefit of feedback. If all you want is praise, you're wasting their time. The idea is to do what it takes to make your book better. That doesn't mean you have to accept all feedback, even when you're dealing with a publisher. It's ultimately your book. But you do need to thoughtfully consider suggestions. Even the best writer benefits from feedback at some point in the process because it's hard to objectively judge your own work.
