Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 217
October 10, 2012
Character Dimensions: Faith
I'm still struggling with that ending. I discovered that the most logical ending isn't all that satisfying. I figured out a fix for that and then realized there was a problem. But I think I figured it out on the way to ballet class last night. Now we'll see if I can write it.
In my writing posts, I've been talking about dimensions of characterization that are generally forgotten about unless they're central to the plot but that can really flesh out a character and help you know how the character would act in various plot circumstances. This series was inspired by a panel at WorldCon on using faith in fiction and how it needs to be part of worldbuilding and characterization but seldom is. I've talked about some other dimensions, like finance and relationships, but now I'll get around to the inspiration for the topic and discuss faith.
Faith is a touchy subject, and that may be why in fiction it's usually either relegated to the "inspirational" category or ignored unless it's somehow central to the plot. But faith or spirituality is still a big part of American culture and even not having a faith is a worldview. One of the audience members asked the panel how faith could be incorporated into a book if the plot wasn't about faith -- in fantasy that tends to be the evil bishop trying to take over the kingdom -- and we got a good start on that, but I think it goes even further.
To begin with, think about what your character's belief system is, and how that came about. Did she grow up in a religious household that observed their faith, was it a nominally religious household that observed major holidays but mostly ignored faith the rest of the year, was it a non-religious household where it wasn't even an issue, or was it an anti-religious household, where the lack of religion was almost its own kind of religion? What was the character's attitude toward this upbringing? Was she actively involved in the religious youth organizations, actively rebelling against her parents' religion or going with the flow without really having a strong opinion or personal belief system?
What about now? Has the character continued with the belief system she was brought up in? Was that out of inertia or guilt or has she really made a conscious decision that this is what she believes? Has she changed belief systems while still maintaining one (changing denominations, converting to another religion)? Why? If the character was brought up in a religious home but now has no religion, was this a conscious decision or drifting away? If it was a conscious decision, when and why did it come about? Is the character neutral or hostile to religion? How does the character practice her faith -- regular activity, major holidays, it's something she thinks about and hasn't actively rejected but not something she really does a lot about?
Some ways that faith may affect a character's daily life (drawing some from the panel answers):
Prayer and/or scripture study as part of a daily habit (the phone call comes while the person is reading the Bible, for instance)
Instinctive quick prayer for help in crisis or thanks after a crisis
Observing dietary restrictions -- fasting at certain times, avoiding certain foods (though this varies by individual. I have had Jewish friends who were fairly active in their temples who still ate bacon, and I've had Jewish friends who aren't observant at all who wouldn't dream of touching pork)
Observing certain holidays or rituals
Observing a Sabbath
Scheduling around religious activities (Wednesday is choir night, it'll have to be Sunday afternoon because there's church in the morning, can't do anything after sundown on Friday)
Charity or volunteer work (or guilt about not doing something)
Sexual behavior -- saving oneself for marriage or having to make rationalizations to justify not doing so in order to avoid guilt ("we're married in our hearts, but we just haven't had the ceremony yet")
Some of these things can be pretty deeply instilled, so someone who was brought up in a faith may still unconsciously (or even consciously) fall into some of these behaviors even after leaving the faith, especially if it was more of a drifting away than a conscious rejection. If you haven't developed a new belief system to replace the old one, you'll likely fall into the old one in times of crisis or you may find yourself feeling surprisingly guilty about doing things your old belief system was opposed to.
A lot of the effect of a personal belief system shows up in little ways that come from having that kind of worldview, though again that will vary by individual and how and why the character believes such things. This can be positive or negative. Religion can make people judgmental or compassionate or sometimes even both at the same time. It's a really complex issue, which may be why a lot of authors don't even try to address it, especially if they come to the topic as an outsider. If you've never had a faith, it's difficult to see how it might permeate someone's daily life, and so you might either ignore it or paint it in really broad strokes. If you want to research it, look for memoirs by people of faith who talk about how their beliefs affected them. That's a good way to get inside their heads and see the world through their eyes. There are also memoirs and books of essays by people who've rejected religion that would be good research for people of faith who need to write characters who have a different perspective. Really, I recommend reading memoirs and autobiographies in general because they're a great way to get into people's heads, and that helps you write better characters.
In my writing posts, I've been talking about dimensions of characterization that are generally forgotten about unless they're central to the plot but that can really flesh out a character and help you know how the character would act in various plot circumstances. This series was inspired by a panel at WorldCon on using faith in fiction and how it needs to be part of worldbuilding and characterization but seldom is. I've talked about some other dimensions, like finance and relationships, but now I'll get around to the inspiration for the topic and discuss faith.
Faith is a touchy subject, and that may be why in fiction it's usually either relegated to the "inspirational" category or ignored unless it's somehow central to the plot. But faith or spirituality is still a big part of American culture and even not having a faith is a worldview. One of the audience members asked the panel how faith could be incorporated into a book if the plot wasn't about faith -- in fantasy that tends to be the evil bishop trying to take over the kingdom -- and we got a good start on that, but I think it goes even further.
To begin with, think about what your character's belief system is, and how that came about. Did she grow up in a religious household that observed their faith, was it a nominally religious household that observed major holidays but mostly ignored faith the rest of the year, was it a non-religious household where it wasn't even an issue, or was it an anti-religious household, where the lack of religion was almost its own kind of religion? What was the character's attitude toward this upbringing? Was she actively involved in the religious youth organizations, actively rebelling against her parents' religion or going with the flow without really having a strong opinion or personal belief system?
What about now? Has the character continued with the belief system she was brought up in? Was that out of inertia or guilt or has she really made a conscious decision that this is what she believes? Has she changed belief systems while still maintaining one (changing denominations, converting to another religion)? Why? If the character was brought up in a religious home but now has no religion, was this a conscious decision or drifting away? If it was a conscious decision, when and why did it come about? Is the character neutral or hostile to religion? How does the character practice her faith -- regular activity, major holidays, it's something she thinks about and hasn't actively rejected but not something she really does a lot about?
Some ways that faith may affect a character's daily life (drawing some from the panel answers):
Prayer and/or scripture study as part of a daily habit (the phone call comes while the person is reading the Bible, for instance)
Instinctive quick prayer for help in crisis or thanks after a crisis
Observing dietary restrictions -- fasting at certain times, avoiding certain foods (though this varies by individual. I have had Jewish friends who were fairly active in their temples who still ate bacon, and I've had Jewish friends who aren't observant at all who wouldn't dream of touching pork)
Observing certain holidays or rituals
Observing a Sabbath
Scheduling around religious activities (Wednesday is choir night, it'll have to be Sunday afternoon because there's church in the morning, can't do anything after sundown on Friday)
Charity or volunteer work (or guilt about not doing something)
Sexual behavior -- saving oneself for marriage or having to make rationalizations to justify not doing so in order to avoid guilt ("we're married in our hearts, but we just haven't had the ceremony yet")
Some of these things can be pretty deeply instilled, so someone who was brought up in a faith may still unconsciously (or even consciously) fall into some of these behaviors even after leaving the faith, especially if it was more of a drifting away than a conscious rejection. If you haven't developed a new belief system to replace the old one, you'll likely fall into the old one in times of crisis or you may find yourself feeling surprisingly guilty about doing things your old belief system was opposed to.
A lot of the effect of a personal belief system shows up in little ways that come from having that kind of worldview, though again that will vary by individual and how and why the character believes such things. This can be positive or negative. Religion can make people judgmental or compassionate or sometimes even both at the same time. It's a really complex issue, which may be why a lot of authors don't even try to address it, especially if they come to the topic as an outsider. If you've never had a faith, it's difficult to see how it might permeate someone's daily life, and so you might either ignore it or paint it in really broad strokes. If you want to research it, look for memoirs by people of faith who talk about how their beliefs affected them. That's a good way to get inside their heads and see the world through their eyes. There are also memoirs and books of essays by people who've rejected religion that would be good research for people of faith who need to write characters who have a different perspective. Really, I recommend reading memoirs and autobiographies in general because they're a great way to get into people's heads, and that helps you write better characters.
October 9, 2012
Almost There
I finally figured out what the outcome of the book will be, and it took me all day. I'd try to work, have a "squirrel!" moment and get sidetracked with something else. That went on throughout the day. Then finally, I sat down to force myself to puzzle it out, and it all just came to me. I guess the subconscious needed time with me out of the way to get the job done. Now I just need to figure out how to get to that outcome from where I am now and what it will look like when I get there. I have about 2,000 words until I reach my target first draft word count, but I suspect I have a lot more than that to get to the end of the story. That may or may not happen today. I have errands to run and laundry to do and dance tonight, which somewhat limits my available writing time.
And then I think I'll go straight into revisions, since the beginning is so long ago that I can take a fresh look at it. I don't think I'm going to need to do a lot of plot rewriting, but I think I'll need to do a lot of scene crafting. I know I need to amp up the emotions because there's a lot of stuff that should be very emotional, but at the moment it's really bare-bones. This is a really complex plot, so I needed to get the framework down to see how it would work. Now I can play with it. I think the second draft is going to be a lot of fun.
It looks like the launch of book 6 was a success, as it sold rather well in its first week. It's not setting the world on fire or doing the kind of numbers you see from repurposed Twilight fan fiction with bonus sexytimes, but it's on a par with the performance of the traditionally published books in this series. If you have read it, you can help by posting reviews to the bookseller sites, Goodreads, etc., blogging and so forth. I'm still open to doing interviews or guest blogs, especially now that I'm just about well and am close to the end of a draft.
I have strong motivation to finish this book because my to-do list of things to do after the book is done is getting rather long, including getting my house back into shape after my housework routines fell apart during the bronchitis, doing a few household repairs, repainting the bathroom (following the AC installation mishap), and then there's something else I want to write that has been nagging at my brain. Not to mention enjoying fall. It's my favorite season and I want to revel in it.
And then I think I'll go straight into revisions, since the beginning is so long ago that I can take a fresh look at it. I don't think I'm going to need to do a lot of plot rewriting, but I think I'll need to do a lot of scene crafting. I know I need to amp up the emotions because there's a lot of stuff that should be very emotional, but at the moment it's really bare-bones. This is a really complex plot, so I needed to get the framework down to see how it would work. Now I can play with it. I think the second draft is going to be a lot of fun.
It looks like the launch of book 6 was a success, as it sold rather well in its first week. It's not setting the world on fire or doing the kind of numbers you see from repurposed Twilight fan fiction with bonus sexytimes, but it's on a par with the performance of the traditionally published books in this series. If you have read it, you can help by posting reviews to the bookseller sites, Goodreads, etc., blogging and so forth. I'm still open to doing interviews or guest blogs, especially now that I'm just about well and am close to the end of a draft.
I have strong motivation to finish this book because my to-do list of things to do after the book is done is getting rather long, including getting my house back into shape after my housework routines fell apart during the bronchitis, doing a few household repairs, repainting the bathroom (following the AC installation mishap), and then there's something else I want to write that has been nagging at my brain. Not to mention enjoying fall. It's my favorite season and I want to revel in it.
October 8, 2012
Weekend Reading
I have to give a big thanks to the recommendation of Hester Browne. Fluffy British chick lit was exactly what I needed for this weekend, and this fit the bill perfectly. I had my semi-annual change-of-seasons migraine all weekend, and oddly enough, after the first hour of staying totally still with my eyes closed, I couldn't deal with the sound and lights/motion of TV, but I could read, and reading made me forget about the headache, which made me less tense, which eased the headache, and this was just the thing for that kind of reading. I'd seen The Little Lady Agency but for some reason thought it was something like The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, more of a mystery thing, and while that's a good book, it's not what you reach for when you're in the mood for fluffy British chick lit.
Saturday's reading was The Little Lady Agency, which is not about a detective agency. It's about a young woman who's lost yet another job -- she's the sort who's really good at organizing things in an office in a way that makes everyone else look really efficient, which means she's often the first one considered expendable when they cut back. When a male friend who has no interest in having a significant other is dreading a family wedding and she agrees to go as his girlfriend and help spruce him up a bit to avoid maternal criticism, she gets the idea for a business she can go into: being a sort of hired wife or girlfriend for men who don't have or don't want a relationship. She can help organize them, pick out clothes, help them get gifts for family members or employees, plan parties, send cards, etc., and she can also go along with them to business or family functions when they need dates. To keep her real personal life separate and to prevent scandal from affecting her prominent family if she's seen around with a lot of men, she wears a wig and creates a more confident persona for her business interactions. But then things get tricky when she starts to fall for one of her clients and knows that if he's falling for her, he's really falling for her alter ego. I read this in just about one sitting. It's a rare chick lit novel in which the heroine has a ton of common sense, doesn't constantly get drunk, doesn't jump into bed with men and generally acts like a reasonable human being, though she does have a few naive moments. However, I really hated the ending. I'd read along, devouring the book, then nearly threw it across the room at the outcome. A quick skim of the Amazon listings for the rest of the series tells me the story isn't over yet, so I'll let it slide for now, but I think if I'd read this before the sequels were published, I might not have read the rest.
Sunday's reading was outside that series, a standalone called The Finishing Touches. Our Heroine has a rather dramatic backstory: she was left as an infant in a box at the door of a prestigious London finishing school and was adopted by the aristocratic couple who ran the school. Now she's an adult, and after her adoptive mother's death, her adoptive father asks her to look into the school, which is losing money and having problems. She realizes that a big part of the problem is that they're still using a 1950s curriculum, and today's super-wealthy parents are more likely to be rock stars, athletes or other celebrities than the aristocrats the school used to serve. So, she comes up with ideas to teach what today's young woman needs to know -- more about eating sushi politely than knowing all the different kinds of oyster forks. And along the way, she realizes that the school itself may hold the key to learning who her birth parents were and why she was abandoned. I liked this one a bit better than The Little Lady Agency because it was a nice mix of elements. There's the fun of coming up with what today's young lady needs to know, there's a romance (and I liked the ending this time) and there's the mystery thread of her tracking down her parentage.
Next time I get in a chick lit mood, I know where to turn because there are a lot more books by her in the library.
But for now, I think I may finish my first draft today. I'm still figuring out whether the resolution should defeat the villain entirely or just foil this evil scheme and whether it's even likely that they can defeat him entirely or if this evil scheme being defeated will ruin him for good. I'm either at the scene where they're going to foil the scheme and save the day or where they think they've foiled the evil scheme and saved the day -- until the villain plays his last card and complicates matters. Have they really destroyed the Terminator, or are the last pieces of the metal chassis still coming after them? So to speak. There are no Terminators in this book.
Saturday's reading was The Little Lady Agency, which is not about a detective agency. It's about a young woman who's lost yet another job -- she's the sort who's really good at organizing things in an office in a way that makes everyone else look really efficient, which means she's often the first one considered expendable when they cut back. When a male friend who has no interest in having a significant other is dreading a family wedding and she agrees to go as his girlfriend and help spruce him up a bit to avoid maternal criticism, she gets the idea for a business she can go into: being a sort of hired wife or girlfriend for men who don't have or don't want a relationship. She can help organize them, pick out clothes, help them get gifts for family members or employees, plan parties, send cards, etc., and she can also go along with them to business or family functions when they need dates. To keep her real personal life separate and to prevent scandal from affecting her prominent family if she's seen around with a lot of men, she wears a wig and creates a more confident persona for her business interactions. But then things get tricky when she starts to fall for one of her clients and knows that if he's falling for her, he's really falling for her alter ego. I read this in just about one sitting. It's a rare chick lit novel in which the heroine has a ton of common sense, doesn't constantly get drunk, doesn't jump into bed with men and generally acts like a reasonable human being, though she does have a few naive moments. However, I really hated the ending. I'd read along, devouring the book, then nearly threw it across the room at the outcome. A quick skim of the Amazon listings for the rest of the series tells me the story isn't over yet, so I'll let it slide for now, but I think if I'd read this before the sequels were published, I might not have read the rest.
Sunday's reading was outside that series, a standalone called The Finishing Touches. Our Heroine has a rather dramatic backstory: she was left as an infant in a box at the door of a prestigious London finishing school and was adopted by the aristocratic couple who ran the school. Now she's an adult, and after her adoptive mother's death, her adoptive father asks her to look into the school, which is losing money and having problems. She realizes that a big part of the problem is that they're still using a 1950s curriculum, and today's super-wealthy parents are more likely to be rock stars, athletes or other celebrities than the aristocrats the school used to serve. So, she comes up with ideas to teach what today's young woman needs to know -- more about eating sushi politely than knowing all the different kinds of oyster forks. And along the way, she realizes that the school itself may hold the key to learning who her birth parents were and why she was abandoned. I liked this one a bit better than The Little Lady Agency because it was a nice mix of elements. There's the fun of coming up with what today's young lady needs to know, there's a romance (and I liked the ending this time) and there's the mystery thread of her tracking down her parentage.
Next time I get in a chick lit mood, I know where to turn because there are a lot more books by her in the library.
But for now, I think I may finish my first draft today. I'm still figuring out whether the resolution should defeat the villain entirely or just foil this evil scheme and whether it's even likely that they can defeat him entirely or if this evil scheme being defeated will ruin him for good. I'm either at the scene where they're going to foil the scheme and save the day or where they think they've foiled the evil scheme and saved the day -- until the villain plays his last card and complicates matters. Have they really destroyed the Terminator, or are the last pieces of the metal chassis still coming after them? So to speak. There are no Terminators in this book.
October 5, 2012
I'm Not Really Left-Handed
I am very, very close to the end of the first draft of Book 7. However, this is going to be the tricky part because the closer I get to the end, the less I know what will happen. The first part of the proposal synopsis tends to be really detailed, but by the end, there's a bit of handwaving, so it reads along the lines of "and then they defeat the bad guys, save the day and live happily ever after." I figure that by the time I get there, I'll have worked it out or I'll come up with an idea. Yesterday, I got there and still didn't have an idea, so I went with something that popped into my head and that veered things off into a crazy direction that is either stark-raving insane or utterly brilliant. It might possibly involve disco as the ultimate weapon for defeating the forces of darkness. I'm almost afraid to look at what I wrote last night, for fear that it really might be crazy and now I'll have to rethink my plans for having the Bee Gees save the world.
My writing got disrupted yesterday by my attempt to buy a new dishwasher. I say "attempt" because I was thwarted. I went to my neighborhood Home Depot, where I must go pretty often because the greeter guy at the front door recognized me. I usually get pretty good service in that store. All I have to do is stare at a shelf for a moment and I get swarmed with help. But that's in areas where I can help myself and just need to take something off a shelf. I went into the appliance section, where you can't just pick up what you want and take it to the cash register, and found something different entirely. For one thing, they don't have much on display these days. I guess you're just supposed to buy online. For another, the one person working in that department was with a customer. I browsed the few things they had in stock and waited for him to acknowledge me enough to let me know he'd be with me in a minute or to call for someone else to help me, but nothing happened. I wandered off to look at the garbage disposals and decided that I definitely need someone to install it because it was a bit too heavy for me to be able to lift and maneuver, especially since in working with it under the sink I'd have to rely entirely on upper-body strength, which I don't have. I wandered back into the appliance section, and it had been totally abandoned. So, I went and picked up a few other things I needed while I was there, then returned to appliances. Nobody was there. By that time, I'd spent about half an hour in the store, so I gave up, bought the things I needed, and left. When I got home, I sent an e-mail via the web site feedback form, and to their credit, the manager of my neighborhood store called me within about fifteen minutes of me sending the e-mail. It might have helped that my slightly snarky e-mail was still polite and kind of funny. If you get a customer-feedback e-mail that uses terms like "lone survivor of an apocalypse" and "invisibility cloak," you're probably going to be curious about that customer.
The guy who called me was able to answer all the questions I wanted to ask the appliance person, and it turns out that there's no advantage in buying the garbage disposal and dishwasher together because they're installed by different people, and I suspect their disposal installation is more expensive than if I just called a local plumber, who can get contractor rates on the parts. The dishwasher installation is free. So I figure I'll call a local plumber and get the disposal taken care of, and then I can get the dishwasher some other time. They had a model of the one I was looking at online at Best Buy, but when you factor in delivery and installation, it's cheaper through Home Depot, and I can just order it online and not have to deal with the store.
In entirely unrelated news, the flurry of posts and articles on the subject has reminded me that this year is the 25th anniversary of the release of The Princess Bride (the film -- the book is older). That makes me feel very old because I was in college when it came out and I remember going to see it with a group of friends. I always hedge when asked my favorite movie of all time, but I think this one may have to be it. Lines from it have become a regular part of my vocabulary, and among the people I hang out with, you don't even have to explain using a Princess Bride reference in conversation. I can watch and enjoy it no matter what mood I'm in. If I stumble across it on TV, I can't seem to stop myself from watching at least a little of it. It doesn't get old for me, and I think it's aged very well. What I love about it is that it's a spoof of fairy tales, adventure stories and fantasy stories while still within itself being a brilliant fairy tale/adventure story/fantasy story. The one weakness is that the romance part of the plot is pretty lame, but I think that's deliberate. The book even hints that this isn't a relationship likely to last, and that's part of the fairy tale spoof, since in all the fairy tales, there really isn't much foundation to the relationship. Sure, the guy went through all kinds of hell to win the girl, but after that, what do they really have between them? That slight undercurrent of edge keeps all the declarations of love from being too saccharine.
I'm rather surprised that Cary Elwes didn't have the kind of career you'd have expected after that role. He seemed destined to be a romantic/heroic leading man, but instead he's either spoofed that image in things like Men in Tights and Hot Shots or he's played creepy bad guys. I rather liked his turn as the shady boss toward the end of The X-Files (when the show was actually pretty good if you didn't think of it as The X-Files), and he's been fun when popping up in guest roles on cable dramas lately, particularly when he played the WWII codebreaker hallucination on Perception. He's one of my mental candidates to play the Doctor on Doctor Who if they want to veer away from the absurdly young after Matt Smith leaves. He has the range for cold and scary, dashing and romantic and wildly funny, all with some of the most supremely snarky line delivery in the industry. Few can do snide superiority better, whether in American or British accent.
I may have to add a Princess Bride viewing to my weekend plans, in addition to reading, baking and visiting the library. Today, though, is all about the writing, and then my Friday TV double feature.
My writing got disrupted yesterday by my attempt to buy a new dishwasher. I say "attempt" because I was thwarted. I went to my neighborhood Home Depot, where I must go pretty often because the greeter guy at the front door recognized me. I usually get pretty good service in that store. All I have to do is stare at a shelf for a moment and I get swarmed with help. But that's in areas where I can help myself and just need to take something off a shelf. I went into the appliance section, where you can't just pick up what you want and take it to the cash register, and found something different entirely. For one thing, they don't have much on display these days. I guess you're just supposed to buy online. For another, the one person working in that department was with a customer. I browsed the few things they had in stock and waited for him to acknowledge me enough to let me know he'd be with me in a minute or to call for someone else to help me, but nothing happened. I wandered off to look at the garbage disposals and decided that I definitely need someone to install it because it was a bit too heavy for me to be able to lift and maneuver, especially since in working with it under the sink I'd have to rely entirely on upper-body strength, which I don't have. I wandered back into the appliance section, and it had been totally abandoned. So, I went and picked up a few other things I needed while I was there, then returned to appliances. Nobody was there. By that time, I'd spent about half an hour in the store, so I gave up, bought the things I needed, and left. When I got home, I sent an e-mail via the web site feedback form, and to their credit, the manager of my neighborhood store called me within about fifteen minutes of me sending the e-mail. It might have helped that my slightly snarky e-mail was still polite and kind of funny. If you get a customer-feedback e-mail that uses terms like "lone survivor of an apocalypse" and "invisibility cloak," you're probably going to be curious about that customer.
The guy who called me was able to answer all the questions I wanted to ask the appliance person, and it turns out that there's no advantage in buying the garbage disposal and dishwasher together because they're installed by different people, and I suspect their disposal installation is more expensive than if I just called a local plumber, who can get contractor rates on the parts. The dishwasher installation is free. So I figure I'll call a local plumber and get the disposal taken care of, and then I can get the dishwasher some other time. They had a model of the one I was looking at online at Best Buy, but when you factor in delivery and installation, it's cheaper through Home Depot, and I can just order it online and not have to deal with the store.
In entirely unrelated news, the flurry of posts and articles on the subject has reminded me that this year is the 25th anniversary of the release of The Princess Bride (the film -- the book is older). That makes me feel very old because I was in college when it came out and I remember going to see it with a group of friends. I always hedge when asked my favorite movie of all time, but I think this one may have to be it. Lines from it have become a regular part of my vocabulary, and among the people I hang out with, you don't even have to explain using a Princess Bride reference in conversation. I can watch and enjoy it no matter what mood I'm in. If I stumble across it on TV, I can't seem to stop myself from watching at least a little of it. It doesn't get old for me, and I think it's aged very well. What I love about it is that it's a spoof of fairy tales, adventure stories and fantasy stories while still within itself being a brilliant fairy tale/adventure story/fantasy story. The one weakness is that the romance part of the plot is pretty lame, but I think that's deliberate. The book even hints that this isn't a relationship likely to last, and that's part of the fairy tale spoof, since in all the fairy tales, there really isn't much foundation to the relationship. Sure, the guy went through all kinds of hell to win the girl, but after that, what do they really have between them? That slight undercurrent of edge keeps all the declarations of love from being too saccharine.
I'm rather surprised that Cary Elwes didn't have the kind of career you'd have expected after that role. He seemed destined to be a romantic/heroic leading man, but instead he's either spoofed that image in things like Men in Tights and Hot Shots or he's played creepy bad guys. I rather liked his turn as the shady boss toward the end of The X-Files (when the show was actually pretty good if you didn't think of it as The X-Files), and he's been fun when popping up in guest roles on cable dramas lately, particularly when he played the WWII codebreaker hallucination on Perception. He's one of my mental candidates to play the Doctor on Doctor Who if they want to veer away from the absurdly young after Matt Smith leaves. He has the range for cold and scary, dashing and romantic and wildly funny, all with some of the most supremely snarky line delivery in the industry. Few can do snide superiority better, whether in American or British accent.
I may have to add a Princess Bride viewing to my weekend plans, in addition to reading, baking and visiting the library. Today, though, is all about the writing, and then my Friday TV double feature.
October 4, 2012
Mood Reading
There's yet another bookseller online. No Quest is now up and available for Kobo. Plus, it looks like we're getting close to having the print version ready to go (as usual, there was an Amazon oopsie to work out first).
Thanks for all the book recommendations. I now have several on hold at the library to be sent to my branch for me to pick up, and there are a few more that are already on my shelves that I need to take another look at. Saturday is supposed to be cool and rainy, and if I keep up my usual writing pace I should finish my rough draft on Friday, so I think Saturday is going to be a reading binge day. I'm so close to being well that a good, restful day may be just what the doctor ordered. I even made it through choir rehearsal last night. I wasn't up to my usual standards, but I was there and I did sing.
Much of the time, I can read just about anything I'm inclined to like, and there are some books I can read and enjoy at any time. There are other times I'm more prone to one kind of thing over another, and there are books I'm more likely to enjoy in particular circumstances. And then there are times when only certain things will do, or books I can only read in certain situations. Sometimes, it's circumstances -- there's a difference between what I want to read on a bright summer day and what I want to read on a cold, gray winter day, or there are books that I have to immerse myself in that don't work when my life is limiting me to a chapter or two before I go to bed at night. Sometimes it's a mood, and that's a lot harder to figure out.
I can generally tell if I'm not getting into a book and it's more about the circumstances than about the book itself. A book may strike me as something I need to come back to on a rainy day or on a quiet weekend when I have time to read it mostly in one sitting. Knowing that I'm just in the wrong mood is a lot more difficult because I often don't even know what the mood is. I know I'm in a weird, particular reading mood when I find myself staring at my bookshelves, at the library shelves or at the pages of my "books I need to read" notebook, and nothing's really striking my fancy. It helps if I read something, it turns out to be just what I wanted, and then I know I want to find more like that, but then often that turns out to be hard to find.
For instance, trying to find traditional but not epic fantasy. There's no category for that on Amazon. There's epic fantasy and historical fantasy. You can check through stuff like magic and wizards, but these days that tends to be more full of urban fantasy (though, hey, Much Ado About Magic comes pretty high on that list, even though it doesn't show up with that category as a bestseller on the book's page). If I look through historical fantasy, there's little that strikes me as "traditional," though I've been writing down titles for when I'm in the mood for fantasy that's not of the quasi-medieval variety. Most of the things that seem to fit are things I've already read. But now I am starting to get a yen to read Stardust again (that would be a good example of the kind of thing I'm looking for).
I'll have to see how Goodreads works for getting something that specific, but then I've found some of their categorizing to be questionable. For instance, when I was going through their suggestions and marking books I'd read to get more suggestions, the first time my own books were suggested to me was in the "mystery" category. But I generally find that the best source for book recommendations is my readers. If people like my books, there's a chance that I might like other books they like.
Now I just have to figure out which of the books I'm getting from the library or have on my shelves I want to read first.
Thanks for all the book recommendations. I now have several on hold at the library to be sent to my branch for me to pick up, and there are a few more that are already on my shelves that I need to take another look at. Saturday is supposed to be cool and rainy, and if I keep up my usual writing pace I should finish my rough draft on Friday, so I think Saturday is going to be a reading binge day. I'm so close to being well that a good, restful day may be just what the doctor ordered. I even made it through choir rehearsal last night. I wasn't up to my usual standards, but I was there and I did sing.
Much of the time, I can read just about anything I'm inclined to like, and there are some books I can read and enjoy at any time. There are other times I'm more prone to one kind of thing over another, and there are books I'm more likely to enjoy in particular circumstances. And then there are times when only certain things will do, or books I can only read in certain situations. Sometimes, it's circumstances -- there's a difference between what I want to read on a bright summer day and what I want to read on a cold, gray winter day, or there are books that I have to immerse myself in that don't work when my life is limiting me to a chapter or two before I go to bed at night. Sometimes it's a mood, and that's a lot harder to figure out.
I can generally tell if I'm not getting into a book and it's more about the circumstances than about the book itself. A book may strike me as something I need to come back to on a rainy day or on a quiet weekend when I have time to read it mostly in one sitting. Knowing that I'm just in the wrong mood is a lot more difficult because I often don't even know what the mood is. I know I'm in a weird, particular reading mood when I find myself staring at my bookshelves, at the library shelves or at the pages of my "books I need to read" notebook, and nothing's really striking my fancy. It helps if I read something, it turns out to be just what I wanted, and then I know I want to find more like that, but then often that turns out to be hard to find.
For instance, trying to find traditional but not epic fantasy. There's no category for that on Amazon. There's epic fantasy and historical fantasy. You can check through stuff like magic and wizards, but these days that tends to be more full of urban fantasy (though, hey, Much Ado About Magic comes pretty high on that list, even though it doesn't show up with that category as a bestseller on the book's page). If I look through historical fantasy, there's little that strikes me as "traditional," though I've been writing down titles for when I'm in the mood for fantasy that's not of the quasi-medieval variety. Most of the things that seem to fit are things I've already read. But now I am starting to get a yen to read Stardust again (that would be a good example of the kind of thing I'm looking for).
I'll have to see how Goodreads works for getting something that specific, but then I've found some of their categorizing to be questionable. For instance, when I was going through their suggestions and marking books I'd read to get more suggestions, the first time my own books were suggested to me was in the "mystery" category. But I generally find that the best source for book recommendations is my readers. If people like my books, there's a chance that I might like other books they like.
Now I just have to figure out which of the books I'm getting from the library or have on my shelves I want to read first.
October 3, 2012
More Enchanted, Inc. Series Questions
At last, the Nook version of No Quest for the Wicked is available at Barnes & Noble. There's still something a bit glitchy with the listing because the top of the page says "paperback" even though on the page it's the Nook version, and you pretty much have to find the direct link because all searches will just bring you that paperback pre-order that doesn't really exist, and you can't even find it when searching by my name, but it is there. It's also available at Google books, which means it should soon be available through independent bookstores that sell e-books. Sometimes it takes a day or two to make it into the individual store catalogs. It's not yet up on the stores I've checked.
I actually made it to ballet class last night. I skipped the petite allegro (fast jumping) because I knew I didn't have the wind for it, and I had to take a few breaks and sip a lot of water, but I made it through the whole class. I don't think I've lost as much strength as I feared. I'm not quite at the level I was before I got sick, but I still held up pretty well. I'm not sore this morning, though that usually hits later in the day.
I've had yet another lesson this week in "what works for some people doesn't work for everyone." I saw a post by a writer friend about how she'd tried this new time management technique that really increased her productivity. You set a timer for 25 minutes and during that time you stay totally focused on the thing you're doing, and then you take a five-minute break before doing another 25 minutes. I thought I'd give it a shot. And it totally killed my productivity, at least writing-wise. It doesn't really fit with my flow. I need to do writing spurts of about an hour to maintain enough flow to accomplish anything. I generally pace myself by word count, since I write about 2,000 words in just under an hour (unless I'm really stuck). I'll write 2,000 words, then take a break. At 25 minutes, I'd usually just hit a bit over 800 words, which feels like an awkward stopping point, and then my breaks were never five minutes. This might work on those days when it's hard to get started, and I can tell myself I just have to work 25 minutes, and by then I'll be in a groove and work more beyond that. It might also work for other tasks, like housework. Or I could use it to manage my goof-off time and keep it from getting out of control -- I can play on the Internet for 25 minutes, but then I have to go work. So today I'm going back to my usual routines.
And now to address some more questions about the Enchanted, Inc. series:
I feel like the blank pages in Ethelinda's book were never explained. I never figured them out. Did I miss something, is an explanation coming, or something else? This has bugged me…
That was a hint about Owen's mysterious past that had somehow been blocked from even magical records. You'd think that an omniscient book that knew everything about both Owen and Katie's histories would have clues about his real identity, but the pages about his birth parents were mysteriously blank and his history only started with the Eatons taking him in as foster parents. And you find out why all that is in Much Ado About Magic. Yes, I was foreshadowing this book that far ahead.
We learn more about magic as Katie does. Now that we know more about these compulsion spells and such.... Why is MSI "hidden" from everyone until they are shown it by an employee or magic user? Is there a compulsion spell to keep people away? A veiling spell? Something different?
There's sort of a "don't notice me" spell on the building, a lot like the "Somebody Else's Problem" field in the Douglas Adams books. The building's not invisible to people who aren't in on the secret, but there is something about it that makes people just not really notice it unless someone points it out to them. That sort of comes out of what happened when I was doing the initial location research for the series. I was wandering lower Manhattan, looking for where the MSI headquarters should be, and I paused at City Hall Park, where there's a gorgeous fountain, with some old gas lamps around it. I took a number of pictures of the fountain. Although I'd spent a fair amount of time walking around that neighborhood, I was still surprised when I was taking one of those pictures and noticed this castle-like building in the background in my viewfinder. I hadn't even seen it before, even though I was sure I'd looked directly at it a number of times. Although the real building is actually relatively recent, in spite of the turrets, I figured that was my headquarters.
I actually made it to ballet class last night. I skipped the petite allegro (fast jumping) because I knew I didn't have the wind for it, and I had to take a few breaks and sip a lot of water, but I made it through the whole class. I don't think I've lost as much strength as I feared. I'm not quite at the level I was before I got sick, but I still held up pretty well. I'm not sore this morning, though that usually hits later in the day.
I've had yet another lesson this week in "what works for some people doesn't work for everyone." I saw a post by a writer friend about how she'd tried this new time management technique that really increased her productivity. You set a timer for 25 minutes and during that time you stay totally focused on the thing you're doing, and then you take a five-minute break before doing another 25 minutes. I thought I'd give it a shot. And it totally killed my productivity, at least writing-wise. It doesn't really fit with my flow. I need to do writing spurts of about an hour to maintain enough flow to accomplish anything. I generally pace myself by word count, since I write about 2,000 words in just under an hour (unless I'm really stuck). I'll write 2,000 words, then take a break. At 25 minutes, I'd usually just hit a bit over 800 words, which feels like an awkward stopping point, and then my breaks were never five minutes. This might work on those days when it's hard to get started, and I can tell myself I just have to work 25 minutes, and by then I'll be in a groove and work more beyond that. It might also work for other tasks, like housework. Or I could use it to manage my goof-off time and keep it from getting out of control -- I can play on the Internet for 25 minutes, but then I have to go work. So today I'm going back to my usual routines.
And now to address some more questions about the Enchanted, Inc. series:
I feel like the blank pages in Ethelinda's book were never explained. I never figured them out. Did I miss something, is an explanation coming, or something else? This has bugged me…
That was a hint about Owen's mysterious past that had somehow been blocked from even magical records. You'd think that an omniscient book that knew everything about both Owen and Katie's histories would have clues about his real identity, but the pages about his birth parents were mysteriously blank and his history only started with the Eatons taking him in as foster parents. And you find out why all that is in Much Ado About Magic. Yes, I was foreshadowing this book that far ahead.
We learn more about magic as Katie does. Now that we know more about these compulsion spells and such.... Why is MSI "hidden" from everyone until they are shown it by an employee or magic user? Is there a compulsion spell to keep people away? A veiling spell? Something different?
There's sort of a "don't notice me" spell on the building, a lot like the "Somebody Else's Problem" field in the Douglas Adams books. The building's not invisible to people who aren't in on the secret, but there is something about it that makes people just not really notice it unless someone points it out to them. That sort of comes out of what happened when I was doing the initial location research for the series. I was wandering lower Manhattan, looking for where the MSI headquarters should be, and I paused at City Hall Park, where there's a gorgeous fountain, with some old gas lamps around it. I took a number of pictures of the fountain. Although I'd spent a fair amount of time walking around that neighborhood, I was still surprised when I was taking one of those pictures and noticed this castle-like building in the background in my viewfinder. I hadn't even seen it before, even though I was sure I'd looked directly at it a number of times. Although the real building is actually relatively recent, in spite of the turrets, I figured that was my headquarters.
October 2, 2012
At a Loss for Books
The new book seems to be a bit of a success. The last time I checked, it was on three category bestseller lists at Amazon. Unfortunately, Barnes & Noble still isn't selling it. Memo to B&N: If you want the Nook to be able to compete with the Kindle, you need to make books available on release day. They had the files at the right time. They just haven't put it up for sale on their site. This is something I'll keep in mind when deciding what e-reader I'll eventually get.
I think I'm going to celebrate the new release by replacing my dishwasher and garbage disposal. I've survived more than a year without a dishwasher, and hand washing dishes isn't so bad, but the bad garbage disposal means that side of the sink is no longer draining well, and that makes doing dishes something of a challenge. If I'm going to replace one of the appliances and have to get it installed, I may as well replace both and get them both installed at once. Then I started calculating, and I figure that based on the amount of time it takes me to hand wash dishes every week and my usual writing pace, if I were writing instead of washing dishes, I could have the first draft of a book in three months of dish-washing time, and that could more than pay for a dishwasher. Not that I necessarily would have spent that time writing, but I know me well enough to know that if I rationalize the purchase that way, I'll make a point of trying to spend that time writing. I already know that the number one way to totally maximize my productivity (other than cutting off my Internet connection for the day) is to decline an invitation because I need to write -- especially if I'm mostly using writing as an excuse. Then I seem driven to prove that I'm not just using it as an excuse. Some of my most productive writing weekends or evenings have come when I used that instead of "I need to wash my hair" to decline a date with someone I didn't really want to go out with. Not that it's just an excuse every time I say I need to write. When I'm on deadline, I'll pass up things I really want to do because the work has to be a priority, and not having bosses leaning over me doesn't make my work any less urgent or important. As I sometimes tell people, if you had an important project going on at work, would you be able to just take off for the afternoon if your friends wanted to do something?
But enough about my books. I want to talk about someone else's. I mentioned that I discovered Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse series at WorldCon. I found the first book in that series, The Sword-Edged Blonde, and I think I liked it even better than the later one I read first. There's an interesting parallel plot going on, as the latest case forces Eddie to revisit his past because there are some eerie similarities to something he's seen before. As he retraces his steps, the story goes back and forth between his present adventure and the previous adventure from years ago. There are still some jolting anachronisms in this blend of hard-boiled detective and sword and sorcery fantasy, like a character talking about knowing how to play the piano (that's a 19th century term), but I don't think we're supposed to be looking too closely at the worldbuilding, other than spotting the hardboiled detective tropes in this fantasy world. These are really quick, fast-paced reads that are a lot of fun. I think people who like the Dresden Files series would like this one because there's a similar tone, although much less emphasis on magic (our hero has no magical powers) and a different setting.
And now I seem to find myself at something of a loss for reading material because I'm not sure what I want to read next. I just read an old chick lit book I picked up at the library book sale because I was in the mood for something light. It ended up being better than I expected from the beginning, but still isn't something I'm sure I'd recommend (and I suspect it's way out of print, anyway). I wouldn't mind finding a really good chick lit book where the heroine acts like a rational human being instead of a nitwit -- no getting into wacky situations because she's ridiculously drunk, no going insane trying to get back the boyfriend who's left her. I'll admit I did that "I'll get him back!" thing, but it was my first serious boyfriend when I was 20. By the time a woman's in her 30s, I'd hope that she'd have come around to the realization that him not wanting to be with her is a dealbreaker.
But I think what I really want right now is a traditional but not epic fantasy -- medieval type setting, some magic and adventure, but not the Game of Thrones style massive cast of characters and huge big-picture plot. More Katherine Kurtz than George RR Martin. Something like a caper, quest or adventure story where the story focuses on one or, at most, two small groups of characters so that we get to spend a lot of time getting to know the characters and seeing their interactions while they deal with plot stuff. I reread all of Rachel Aaron's Eli Monpress books while I was sick, and that series fits the bill, but I want more like that. Unfortunately, putting "traditional but not epic" into the search box at the library site or at Amazon doesn't do much good. I also wouldn't mind a "sucked through a portal" fantasy in which a modern person ends up in a medieval fantasy-style world and the story focuses on that person's impressions. Any suggestions?
I think I'm going to celebrate the new release by replacing my dishwasher and garbage disposal. I've survived more than a year without a dishwasher, and hand washing dishes isn't so bad, but the bad garbage disposal means that side of the sink is no longer draining well, and that makes doing dishes something of a challenge. If I'm going to replace one of the appliances and have to get it installed, I may as well replace both and get them both installed at once. Then I started calculating, and I figure that based on the amount of time it takes me to hand wash dishes every week and my usual writing pace, if I were writing instead of washing dishes, I could have the first draft of a book in three months of dish-washing time, and that could more than pay for a dishwasher. Not that I necessarily would have spent that time writing, but I know me well enough to know that if I rationalize the purchase that way, I'll make a point of trying to spend that time writing. I already know that the number one way to totally maximize my productivity (other than cutting off my Internet connection for the day) is to decline an invitation because I need to write -- especially if I'm mostly using writing as an excuse. Then I seem driven to prove that I'm not just using it as an excuse. Some of my most productive writing weekends or evenings have come when I used that instead of "I need to wash my hair" to decline a date with someone I didn't really want to go out with. Not that it's just an excuse every time I say I need to write. When I'm on deadline, I'll pass up things I really want to do because the work has to be a priority, and not having bosses leaning over me doesn't make my work any less urgent or important. As I sometimes tell people, if you had an important project going on at work, would you be able to just take off for the afternoon if your friends wanted to do something?
But enough about my books. I want to talk about someone else's. I mentioned that I discovered Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse series at WorldCon. I found the first book in that series, The Sword-Edged Blonde, and I think I liked it even better than the later one I read first. There's an interesting parallel plot going on, as the latest case forces Eddie to revisit his past because there are some eerie similarities to something he's seen before. As he retraces his steps, the story goes back and forth between his present adventure and the previous adventure from years ago. There are still some jolting anachronisms in this blend of hard-boiled detective and sword and sorcery fantasy, like a character talking about knowing how to play the piano (that's a 19th century term), but I don't think we're supposed to be looking too closely at the worldbuilding, other than spotting the hardboiled detective tropes in this fantasy world. These are really quick, fast-paced reads that are a lot of fun. I think people who like the Dresden Files series would like this one because there's a similar tone, although much less emphasis on magic (our hero has no magical powers) and a different setting.
And now I seem to find myself at something of a loss for reading material because I'm not sure what I want to read next. I just read an old chick lit book I picked up at the library book sale because I was in the mood for something light. It ended up being better than I expected from the beginning, but still isn't something I'm sure I'd recommend (and I suspect it's way out of print, anyway). I wouldn't mind finding a really good chick lit book where the heroine acts like a rational human being instead of a nitwit -- no getting into wacky situations because she's ridiculously drunk, no going insane trying to get back the boyfriend who's left her. I'll admit I did that "I'll get him back!" thing, but it was my first serious boyfriend when I was 20. By the time a woman's in her 30s, I'd hope that she'd have come around to the realization that him not wanting to be with her is a dealbreaker.
But I think what I really want right now is a traditional but not epic fantasy -- medieval type setting, some magic and adventure, but not the Game of Thrones style massive cast of characters and huge big-picture plot. More Katherine Kurtz than George RR Martin. Something like a caper, quest or adventure story where the story focuses on one or, at most, two small groups of characters so that we get to spend a lot of time getting to know the characters and seeing their interactions while they deal with plot stuff. I reread all of Rachel Aaron's Eli Monpress books while I was sick, and that series fits the bill, but I want more like that. Unfortunately, putting "traditional but not epic" into the search box at the library site or at Amazon doesn't do much good. I also wouldn't mind a "sucked through a portal" fantasy in which a modern person ends up in a medieval fantasy-style world and the story focuses on that person's impressions. Any suggestions?
October 1, 2012
An Earthshaking Day
Two big events happened this weekend. First, I managed to write 2,000 words. That's lower than my usual daily total, but this was the first time I've been able to write in about a month, so I feel like I'm back in the saddle again.
Second, we had an earthquake Saturday night. It was different from the previous earthquake, so I didn't realize it was an earthquake until I saw the story in the newspaper the next morning. The previous earthquake was more like a gentle rippling, where I felt like I was in a small boat on a lake even while I was sitting on the sofa in my living room. This time, I was reading in bed when there was a sudden "boom" and my whole house shook. I felt like someone had jerked my bed back and forth. My first thought was that something really heavy upstairs (like maybe the upstairs) had fallen, so I got up and went around the house checking things. The upstairs bookcases hadn't toppled over, and the floor upstairs seemed to be intact. I had to wonder if maybe a truck had crashed through the brick wall around the yard (it's happened before) and into my neighbor's side of the building, but I didn't hear any sirens approaching, and their response is usually really quick for stuff like that. I went back to bed, and soon there was another, fainter jolt. I just figured that maybe something heavy had fallen in my neighbor's house (I live in a townhouse, with four houses in the building). So then I open the newspaper the next morning and see that there was a 3.4 earthquake the night before, with the epicenter just down the street, followed by an aftershock. This is rather unusual around here. I've lived in this city for more than 20 years with no earthquakes at all, ever, and now we've had two in less than a year.
In other earthshaking news, today is publication day for No Quest for the Wicked. I'll post updates when I know about it going live at various online booksellers, but it should definitely be available at iBooks and for Kindle now.
I look at this book as the start of the second "season," so to speak. In fact, that's the way I described the idea to the Japanese publisher, and I noticed they put that on the cover of the book. I'd wrapped up the major story arc in the fifth book, but didn't really plan to end the series there (as you can probably tell by the way it ended). But I didn't really know for sure what the next arc would be. I had a sense of what the character arcs might be, but I had no idea about a plot. Then the Japanese publisher asked for another book in that universe. They said it didn't have to continue the same story and could be about other characters in that universe. I wasn't quite ready to go there and I had more stories to tell about Katie and Owen. I just had to figure out what they were.
So I went to my literary bucket list, the list of things I want to write someday. One of those things was a classic quest story. The other was a story in a very short, defined timeline. I thought then that it would be fun to send my characters on a quest and to make it a really tight timeline, so the entire book took place in one day. Around that time I came down with my annual bout of bronchitis mixed with a killer cold, and one of the things I did to amuse myself while I was lying on the sofa and coughing up my lungs was watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And then I charted the stages of the quest because I thought it would be fun to semi-spoof what's probably the best-known quest in fantasy fiction. That was the framework I built my proposal synopsis around.
Except it turned out when I started writing that I'd plotted a short story, not a novel, so I had to go back to the drawing board and add some subplots and some complexity to the framework I already had. And then things started to get a bit silly. That tight timeline meant the pacing was pretty relentless (the copyeditor even put in a note about how she hoped everyone got some rest after the book ended because she was worried about them, and didn't they need more of a break during the book?). It also meant it wrote "fast." I didn't give myself too much time to second guess, so if something popped into my head, I went with it. So we get stuff like antique zombie gargoyles, which started as a joke but turned into a plot element. I probably had more sheer fun writing this book than anything else I've written. Book 5 is a little more serious and angsty. This one is mostly a romp, with some serious undertones and real danger, but still generally funnier (I think) than any other book in the series. I cackled to myself a lot while writing it.
So, I hope you enjoy it, and the usual drill applies: please tell people, tweet, post to Facebook, blog, etc., and if you feel so inclined, post reviews at the bookseller sites, Goodreads and places like that. It's a little harder to get publicity for self-published books, and I don't want there to be fans of this series who don't know there are new books.
Second, we had an earthquake Saturday night. It was different from the previous earthquake, so I didn't realize it was an earthquake until I saw the story in the newspaper the next morning. The previous earthquake was more like a gentle rippling, where I felt like I was in a small boat on a lake even while I was sitting on the sofa in my living room. This time, I was reading in bed when there was a sudden "boom" and my whole house shook. I felt like someone had jerked my bed back and forth. My first thought was that something really heavy upstairs (like maybe the upstairs) had fallen, so I got up and went around the house checking things. The upstairs bookcases hadn't toppled over, and the floor upstairs seemed to be intact. I had to wonder if maybe a truck had crashed through the brick wall around the yard (it's happened before) and into my neighbor's side of the building, but I didn't hear any sirens approaching, and their response is usually really quick for stuff like that. I went back to bed, and soon there was another, fainter jolt. I just figured that maybe something heavy had fallen in my neighbor's house (I live in a townhouse, with four houses in the building). So then I open the newspaper the next morning and see that there was a 3.4 earthquake the night before, with the epicenter just down the street, followed by an aftershock. This is rather unusual around here. I've lived in this city for more than 20 years with no earthquakes at all, ever, and now we've had two in less than a year.
In other earthshaking news, today is publication day for No Quest for the Wicked. I'll post updates when I know about it going live at various online booksellers, but it should definitely be available at iBooks and for Kindle now.
I look at this book as the start of the second "season," so to speak. In fact, that's the way I described the idea to the Japanese publisher, and I noticed they put that on the cover of the book. I'd wrapped up the major story arc in the fifth book, but didn't really plan to end the series there (as you can probably tell by the way it ended). But I didn't really know for sure what the next arc would be. I had a sense of what the character arcs might be, but I had no idea about a plot. Then the Japanese publisher asked for another book in that universe. They said it didn't have to continue the same story and could be about other characters in that universe. I wasn't quite ready to go there and I had more stories to tell about Katie and Owen. I just had to figure out what they were.
So I went to my literary bucket list, the list of things I want to write someday. One of those things was a classic quest story. The other was a story in a very short, defined timeline. I thought then that it would be fun to send my characters on a quest and to make it a really tight timeline, so the entire book took place in one day. Around that time I came down with my annual bout of bronchitis mixed with a killer cold, and one of the things I did to amuse myself while I was lying on the sofa and coughing up my lungs was watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And then I charted the stages of the quest because I thought it would be fun to semi-spoof what's probably the best-known quest in fantasy fiction. That was the framework I built my proposal synopsis around.
Except it turned out when I started writing that I'd plotted a short story, not a novel, so I had to go back to the drawing board and add some subplots and some complexity to the framework I already had. And then things started to get a bit silly. That tight timeline meant the pacing was pretty relentless (the copyeditor even put in a note about how she hoped everyone got some rest after the book ended because she was worried about them, and didn't they need more of a break during the book?). It also meant it wrote "fast." I didn't give myself too much time to second guess, so if something popped into my head, I went with it. So we get stuff like antique zombie gargoyles, which started as a joke but turned into a plot element. I probably had more sheer fun writing this book than anything else I've written. Book 5 is a little more serious and angsty. This one is mostly a romp, with some serious undertones and real danger, but still generally funnier (I think) than any other book in the series. I cackled to myself a lot while writing it.
So, I hope you enjoy it, and the usual drill applies: please tell people, tweet, post to Facebook, blog, etc., and if you feel so inclined, post reviews at the bookseller sites, Goodreads and places like that. It's a little harder to get publicity for self-published books, and I don't want there to be fans of this series who don't know there are new books.
September 28, 2012
Still More Fall TV
Oh my goodness, I have a book coming out Monday! I sort of missed September due to illness, so now I'm realizing how much I need to get done, like adding book 6 to the web site. I must be getting better because last night I was making a list of things to do, and I actually want to do them. It's supposed to be rainy tomorrow, so it will be a good day for drinking tea and doing writerly things.
I gave two new fall shows a shot last night, and I liked both of them. I hadn't been planning to watch Last Resort, but the buzz was good, there was nothing I cared to watch on opposite it, and I didn't feel like doing anything else. It reminded me of good Tom Clancy, from back in the Red October days before he became a franchise. The gist of the story is that a US submarine in the Indian Ocean gets an order to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan -- but the order comes through the channels that would only come into play if Washington had been wiped out, and yet it seems like it's business as usual there. When the captain asks for the order to be confirmed through the more usual, official channels, a nearby US ship fires on the submarine. The sub and its crew take refuge on an island that hosts a UN listening station and a shady crime boss. Meanwhile in Washington, the public is being told that Pakistan fired on and sank the sub, and there are hints of some kind of conspiracy involving a president who's about to be impeached. I suspect that this plot might be better served in a movie or miniseries because dragging it out through an open-ended US television series might get old fast, but I found the pilot to be rather gripping. There are a lot of interesting "what ifs" in play. There's a huge cast of characters, but only a few in the pilot stood out. I'll be curious to see how they're developed on an ongoing basis. If this one is available OnDemand, I may shift it to another slot, though, because I'm not in the mood on Thursdays for something that intense, and there's a serious mental shift from this to The Office.
Then there was Elementary, the new Sherlock Holmes series, and I found myself enjoying it a lot. I've never been a huge Holmes buff, so I don't notice or care when they get it "wrong." For the most part, it's another CBS procedural (which is "comfort food" TV), but I like the characters and their relationship. In this version, Holmes is living in New York after getting out of rehab, and his father has hired Joan Watson, a former surgeon, to be a kind of sobriety accountability partner (babysitter) to him. What I enjoy about this version is that the partnership seems more even rather than Watson being mostly an audience surrogate to marvel at Holmes's brilliance. Her strengths mesh well with his weaknesses, and she's not at all in awe of him. Meanwhile, he's a little impressed by how well she takes to detective work when she's dragged into his case because she has to monitor him 24/7. This is less witty fun than the British modernization Sherlock, but there are some things I think it does better. Again, though, I may move this to OnDemand if that's available, depending on the mood I'm in.
But tonight starts the best Friday night of TV since maybe the fall of 2005 when SyFy had the lineup of Firefly reruns, one of the Stargates, Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. We get the cross-network double feature of Grimm and Haven, which fit deliciously well together. It's paranormal procedural night, as well as being Night of the Dark-Haired, Blue-Eyed Lawmen.
Since they premiered around the same time and both were built on fairy-tale themes, Grimm and Once Upon a Time were often compared. I don't think the two series are anything alike, but they do form two ends of a triangle if you connect them through Haven. Haven may not have any outright fairy tale elements -- there's no Cinderella here -- but it does use some tropes and themes that come up in fairy tales, like the town under a curse, secret identities, people sent to break curses without knowing all the facts, etc. I went through the triangle pretty well on a panel at WorldCon, then less successfully at FenCon (thanks to Benadryl), but I'll try to recreate it here.
Let's start on the Grimm end. Both Grimm and Haven are paranormal procedurals that have a case of the week format fit into a big-picture arc. In both series, the main character has a particular gift that allows him/her to recognize and deal with the paranormal stuff that's going on. He/she has the ability to see the reality even when others are seeing something else. In both cases, the main character appears to be a key figure in a greater struggle, and that puts him/her in danger, even though he/she hasn't figured out everything that's going on yet.
But then we bridge over to Once Upon a Time, and though Haven and Once Upon a Time seem nothing alike on the surface, think about the set-up: Both shows are about a snarky blonde with a mysterious past working in law enforcement who goes from Boston to a small coastal town in Maine, where she learns that this town may hold the key to her mysterious past, the town seems to be under some kind of curse, she's immune to the effects of the curse, and she may be the key to breaking the curse for good, which puts her in danger from those who don't want the curse broken. Oh, and in both shows, she becomes a local cop. Only Haven is the Stephen King version of the story instead of the Disney version.
So, tonight is going to be spooky sofa time. I think I'm going to make a pizza and maybe even create some atmosphere by lighting some candles and turning out the lights, and that's something I don't think I've done since the glory days of the X-Files.
And then this weekend, we get the last adventure of Amy and Rory with the Doctor. I'm so very sad. I'll miss Rory. The thing that's cool about that character is that he was an everyman who turned out to be extraordinary, but who never lost that everyman quality. I think he always had the potential -- even at the beginning, he was the one who'd figured out that something was going on and was gathering evidence -- but then there were all the deaths, the two thousand years as a Centurion, and lots of heroics, and yet he was still the Best Friend everyman kind of guy.
I gave two new fall shows a shot last night, and I liked both of them. I hadn't been planning to watch Last Resort, but the buzz was good, there was nothing I cared to watch on opposite it, and I didn't feel like doing anything else. It reminded me of good Tom Clancy, from back in the Red October days before he became a franchise. The gist of the story is that a US submarine in the Indian Ocean gets an order to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan -- but the order comes through the channels that would only come into play if Washington had been wiped out, and yet it seems like it's business as usual there. When the captain asks for the order to be confirmed through the more usual, official channels, a nearby US ship fires on the submarine. The sub and its crew take refuge on an island that hosts a UN listening station and a shady crime boss. Meanwhile in Washington, the public is being told that Pakistan fired on and sank the sub, and there are hints of some kind of conspiracy involving a president who's about to be impeached. I suspect that this plot might be better served in a movie or miniseries because dragging it out through an open-ended US television series might get old fast, but I found the pilot to be rather gripping. There are a lot of interesting "what ifs" in play. There's a huge cast of characters, but only a few in the pilot stood out. I'll be curious to see how they're developed on an ongoing basis. If this one is available OnDemand, I may shift it to another slot, though, because I'm not in the mood on Thursdays for something that intense, and there's a serious mental shift from this to The Office.
Then there was Elementary, the new Sherlock Holmes series, and I found myself enjoying it a lot. I've never been a huge Holmes buff, so I don't notice or care when they get it "wrong." For the most part, it's another CBS procedural (which is "comfort food" TV), but I like the characters and their relationship. In this version, Holmes is living in New York after getting out of rehab, and his father has hired Joan Watson, a former surgeon, to be a kind of sobriety accountability partner (babysitter) to him. What I enjoy about this version is that the partnership seems more even rather than Watson being mostly an audience surrogate to marvel at Holmes's brilliance. Her strengths mesh well with his weaknesses, and she's not at all in awe of him. Meanwhile, he's a little impressed by how well she takes to detective work when she's dragged into his case because she has to monitor him 24/7. This is less witty fun than the British modernization Sherlock, but there are some things I think it does better. Again, though, I may move this to OnDemand if that's available, depending on the mood I'm in.
But tonight starts the best Friday night of TV since maybe the fall of 2005 when SyFy had the lineup of Firefly reruns, one of the Stargates, Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. We get the cross-network double feature of Grimm and Haven, which fit deliciously well together. It's paranormal procedural night, as well as being Night of the Dark-Haired, Blue-Eyed Lawmen.
Since they premiered around the same time and both were built on fairy-tale themes, Grimm and Once Upon a Time were often compared. I don't think the two series are anything alike, but they do form two ends of a triangle if you connect them through Haven. Haven may not have any outright fairy tale elements -- there's no Cinderella here -- but it does use some tropes and themes that come up in fairy tales, like the town under a curse, secret identities, people sent to break curses without knowing all the facts, etc. I went through the triangle pretty well on a panel at WorldCon, then less successfully at FenCon (thanks to Benadryl), but I'll try to recreate it here.
Let's start on the Grimm end. Both Grimm and Haven are paranormal procedurals that have a case of the week format fit into a big-picture arc. In both series, the main character has a particular gift that allows him/her to recognize and deal with the paranormal stuff that's going on. He/she has the ability to see the reality even when others are seeing something else. In both cases, the main character appears to be a key figure in a greater struggle, and that puts him/her in danger, even though he/she hasn't figured out everything that's going on yet.
But then we bridge over to Once Upon a Time, and though Haven and Once Upon a Time seem nothing alike on the surface, think about the set-up: Both shows are about a snarky blonde with a mysterious past working in law enforcement who goes from Boston to a small coastal town in Maine, where she learns that this town may hold the key to her mysterious past, the town seems to be under some kind of curse, she's immune to the effects of the curse, and she may be the key to breaking the curse for good, which puts her in danger from those who don't want the curse broken. Oh, and in both shows, she becomes a local cop. Only Haven is the Stephen King version of the story instead of the Disney version.
So, tonight is going to be spooky sofa time. I think I'm going to make a pizza and maybe even create some atmosphere by lighting some candles and turning out the lights, and that's something I don't think I've done since the glory days of the X-Files.
And then this weekend, we get the last adventure of Amy and Rory with the Doctor. I'm so very sad. I'll miss Rory. The thing that's cool about that character is that he was an everyman who turned out to be extraordinary, but who never lost that everyman quality. I think he always had the potential -- even at the beginning, he was the one who'd figured out that something was going on and was gathering evidence -- but then there were all the deaths, the two thousand years as a Centurion, and lots of heroics, and yet he was still the Best Friend everyman kind of guy.
September 27, 2012
Life Skills and Bruises
I've already accomplished a great deal today. I managed to repair a toilet by replacing the fill valve. There were a few complications, and I've amassed some really impressive bruises where my arm hit the side of the tank while working, so I'll be wearing long sleeves in public for a while. It looks like someone grabbed my arm hard, and if I had a significant other, people might be calling the cops on him. But I have added one more life skill to my skill set. And I've finally done some grocery shopping. Tonight I plan to make a vat of vegetable soup and see if that does the trick for the last bit of healing I need to do. I discovered last night that one sure way to set off a massive coughing fit is to raise my voice at insane kindergarteners after trying to sing and dance with them. They were just plain crazy last night, and dealing with them wore me out entirely. I sat with the parents of my teen helper at dinner, and she came up to them looking utterly shellshocked and said, "They were insane tonight. I don't know what their deal was." I told them they'd been drinking Silly Juice.
I went to the grocery store with the really strange staff and had the strangest bagger. I think he's the guy who once asked me in the parking lot if I could see him when he wasn't wearing his orange safety vest. Today, it's rather warm, and his way of saying farewell to me was to tell me not to freeze out there. The checker was of some Eastern European origin, and it seemed like her way of calling me "miss" was to call me "little girl." It took me aback at first, but then I noticed her accent and her nametag and I figured out what she was trying to say and found it rather charming.
My real joy of the day was that the French bread had just come out of the oven, and it was still warm. I had to nibble a bit on the way home before it cooled off.
And now I've realized that I did my usual shopping of buying "ingredients," and I still don't have anything quick and easy to make. But the soup will last me for days, and I think I'm going to make a pesto and roasted red pepper pizza tomorrow night. If I get really desperate, I can go to the Indian market and get some kind of curry sauce to go with chicken. Or I could get a takeout curry from one of the nearby restaurants.
Now I may actually get some writing done this afternoon, since my morning exertions (and the holdover from last night's exertions) have left me too tired to do much else.
I went to the grocery store with the really strange staff and had the strangest bagger. I think he's the guy who once asked me in the parking lot if I could see him when he wasn't wearing his orange safety vest. Today, it's rather warm, and his way of saying farewell to me was to tell me not to freeze out there. The checker was of some Eastern European origin, and it seemed like her way of calling me "miss" was to call me "little girl." It took me aback at first, but then I noticed her accent and her nametag and I figured out what she was trying to say and found it rather charming.
My real joy of the day was that the French bread had just come out of the oven, and it was still warm. I had to nibble a bit on the way home before it cooled off.
And now I've realized that I did my usual shopping of buying "ingredients," and I still don't have anything quick and easy to make. But the soup will last me for days, and I think I'm going to make a pesto and roasted red pepper pizza tomorrow night. If I get really desperate, I can go to the Indian market and get some kind of curry sauce to go with chicken. Or I could get a takeout curry from one of the nearby restaurants.
Now I may actually get some writing done this afternoon, since my morning exertions (and the holdover from last night's exertions) have left me too tired to do much else.
