Dawn Metcalf's Blog, page 46

Writing With Power

I'm training for my prequalifying exam for my second degree black belt in Shaolin Kempo Karate. This means that I am now training just about as much as I am writing/editing (roughly 2-3 hours a day). This is pretty damned exhausting, to say the least. However, in rare moments of lucidity, I am finding surprising similarities. That or I've burned enough brain cells that I've managed to somehow merge the two in my head. In any case, here were some cool epiphanies/brain sparks I've noticed:

1. It's Hardest Getting Started. In the beginning, there is talk, humor, and easy distractions as you warm up into the idea of dedicating yourself to the task ahead. Unfortunately, the world wants you to pay attention to dishes, TV, the Internet, the clock, etc. and you CANNOT let that happen! No! Fie! Get thee behind me, laziness! So you pick yourself up, stretch and review, taking the time to sink into the mindset of what's in front of you and shed the rest of the everyday. The faster you can do this, the quicker you can get down to serious business.

2. Partners help. A lot. Whether you're about to embark on NaNoWriMo or have a writing partner, a regular critique group, or a sparring partner willing to kick you in the gi pants, just knowing that there are people out there expecting you to get your game on can make all the difference for getting serious fast. These are your cheerleaders, your fellow sprinters, your shoulders to cry on, and your coaches who can nicely (and not-so-nicely) tell you to get off you tuchus and do the very thing you said you were going to do and are now dragging your feet, trying to act cute. It won't work, you know, and you're not fooling anyone. Partners keep you honest.

3. In the Zone. There's a moment when the rest of the world melts away and you are so in it that time has no meaning, the room disappears, and you are simply doing what you do best and it flows through you, crashes over you, inhabits you like a possessing spirit that is borrowing your space for a while going though the motions you know so well that if you stop to think about it, you'll lose it for sure, so you don't and surf the long, cresting wave of THIS MOMENT RIGHT NOW. AND NOW. AND NOW. as long as humanly possible. This is why you're here.

4. This, too, Shall Pass. That feeling only last for so long (although it's a killer when those moments pop up at inopportune moments such as driving in the car or in the middle of the night!): that itch to nail something down will wax and wane like the lunatic moon you worship and leave you breathless and slightly embarrassed as you become aware of yourself in the wake of whatever just passed. You suddenly smile like an idiot. It feels good.

5. Kill Your Inner Critic. Let's face it: most of what you did sucked. You may have even been aware of it at the time, but you kept going. Sometimes there may have been a sparkle of something truly marvelous, but you kept going. Keeping going is the *only* way to get through this and those hunks of gold are what make it all worthwhile, but the minute you attempt to try for all gold, you're lost. Admit that 99% of the exercise is trash and that 1% will get better and easier with time. This isn't about becoming perfect. This is about becoming the best that you can be...for now.

6. Regular Practice Means You Get Better & Better. How can you make the pacing work? How will you get your timing right? How will you manage to get from Point A to Point B? Practice. Hours and hours and hours of doing it. If there was a magic potion, we'd all be chugging it right now. If there was Aladdin's lamp, it would have been burnished to a nub. The truth is there's only one way to get there, and it's *through.* This is easiest when it becomes a habit: a certain time, a certain place, a certain mindset: ready, set, go. It starts when you decide to begin.

That's what I've got (as well as a few fascinating bruises...) -- I'm sure everyone can think of other parallels, but next time mine may be how writing a novel is like baking brownies! For now, it's time to sweat.

It All Comes Back To Writing

Last week I learned that the word "cupcake" makes the entire Twitterverse perk up their ears and start waxing melodic about the virtues of tiny round cakes with bright-colored frosting and sprinkles.


Evidently, I need to go to Portland! (photo via www.portlandmercury.com)

Oddly enough, the word "cupcake" makes me think of "cup-pie" from the darling Chuck in Pushing Daisies (which I miss like a phantom limb).


So so so so cute and delightfully twisted!

Pushing Daisies makes me think of the dewy-eyed pie-maker, Lee Pace (as well as the narrator, Jim Dale, whose honey-rich voice colored the world of Harry Potter on audio. *love*)


Why, yes, I'd *LOVE* another bite...

Lee Pace makes me think of The Fall which is an incredible film that captures the magic of storytelling better than just about any other film I've watched in the past ten years.


This is so good, words fail. Except for these: Blockbuster, Netflix, local library. Go!

And now we see how the randomness of Dawn's brain always comes back to writing. Go watch! :-)

Calloo Callay!

In case you ever wanted to know what copy edits look like, they look like this:



It may not look exciting, but it *is*, dear reader -- it *IS*!

And the blurb that appeared at the Frankfurt Book Fair let me see it through someone else's eyes, which made it all seem real:

LUMINOUS

Metcalf, Dawn

In the spirit of bestsellers like Wicked Lovely and City of Bones, an edgy, modern fantasy with the Day of the Dead theme. Consuela is a typical suburban Latina teen until she unwittingly slips into the world of the Flow. Discovering that she has paranormal powers and a mission to save people from dying before their time, Consuela—who has the power to slip out of her worldly skin and cloak herself in elemental skins including water, fire, and air—joins other teens with extraordinary abilities, bound together to safeguard a world they can affect, but where they can no longer belong. Yet when murder threatens to undo the Flow, the Watcher charges Consuela and elusive, and attractive, V (who might prove more than an ally in battle) to find and stop the killer.

*wow*

Today's Amusement: Les Femmes Dangereuses

Thanks to victor_vito for this link to this hilarious female character flow-chart from overthinkingit.com! Clicking around, I'm delighted to find that it's a short hop from Zoe from Firefly to Hit Girl from Kick Ass by virtue of their age category (I love how both are on the "feminine/offense" list and share what John Cusack in Grosse Point Blank might have called "a certain moral flexibility") & how Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan is considered the "nearly perfect" woman in the "crone" category.


This is MUCH funnier in a larger format, I assure you!

The funny thing is seeing how true this all seems, how there is such a small nudge in one direction that can utterly change a person merely from how a small tumble of dominoes shaped events in their lives or how they interpret those events in their lives. Did the death of someone they loved utterly destroy them into a sobbing heap, did it break something moral inside them so that they can kill with emotionless abandon, or did they rise up from the ashes, swearing to protect and serve so that this sort of thing would never happen again? Key decisions like whether or not to keep the unplanned pregnancy or the answer to the question "Why isn't she married yet?" (the funniest thread on the board, go see for yourself!) shape not only who the character may be, but perhaps more telling is how she is perceived: again, it's a single skip between "the perfect wife" (Lois Griffin from Family Guy") to "not" (Yoko Ono) based on whether other people "like" her or not, ala Mean Girls . (Also pictured here.) I'm personally amused at just how many animated, SFF & comic book characters are present; a key factor seems to include whether this character makes it alive to see the final act, thereby making the difference between "victim" and "noble heroine" (Go, Ripley!)

Is this *all* there is to female characters? Not by a long shot. I'd like to think about making strong characters and nevermind the plumbing is based more on active choices, moral centers and sympathetic goals, myself, but there's something neat and clean about seeing it all laid out like this that delights my writerly heart in all it's "squashed spider" glory on paper. Whenever you get stuck, it might be nice to have bookmarked this little gem!

Then and Now: Damned Good Writing

I love reading old stories, myths, and fairy tales. I did when I was younger and it hasn't stopped me now. Going back to beloved compilations of Grimm and Lang, Andersen and Wilde, I stumble across stories that I remembered one way and now experience completely differently. One such passage from Elinor Mordaunt's THE PRINCE AND THE GOOSE GIRL struck me up the head and made it ring:

"Once there was a great Prince who was so great a fighter that no one dared to deny him anything that he asked, and people would give up their houses and lands, their children, and even their own freedom rather than offend him."

Did I even read that when I was a girl? Did I understand the weight behind those words or stop to ponder them or was it just another pretty introduction like "Once Upon A Time"? Could I have understood it when I was too young to vote? When cable TV had just come to be? When the world was a plastic globe atop the teacher's desk and politics were fireworks and marches in Washington D.C.?

Now I think about Benjamin Franklin and the 2000 election. I think of the Orwellian "Patriot Act" and Cory Doctorow's LITTLE BROTHER and M.T. Anderson's FEED and Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD. I think about local soldiers overseas. I think about China. I think about tyranny. And I think about how all of this came up for me in the first sentence of the first paragraph of a short story written by a British woman long ago and how *THAT* is writing: trickling down through the ages to light a fire in my mind and make me think, make me question, make me care about something that hasn't even started yet.

This is the essence of storytelling. This is where I want to be.

Then and Now

I love reading old stories, myths, and fairy tales. I did when I was younger and it hasn't stopped me now. Going back to beloved compilations of Grimm and Lang, Andersen and Wilde, I stumble across stories that I remembered one way and now experience completely differently. One such passage from Elinor Mordaunt's THE PRINCE AND THE GOOSE GIRL struck me up the head and made it ring:

"Once there was a great Prince who was so great a fighter that no one dared to deny him anything that he asked, and people would give up their houses and lands, their children, and even their own freedom rather than offend him."

Did I even read that when I was a girl? Did I understand the weight behind those words or stop to ponder them or was it just another pretty introduction like "Once Upon A Time"? Could I have understood it when I was too young to vote? When cable TV had just come to be? When the world was a plastic globe atop the teacher's desk and politics were fireworks and marches in Washington D.C.?

Now I think about Benjamin Franklin and the 2000 election. I think of the Orwellian "Patriot Act" and Cory Doctorow's LITTLE BROTHER and M.T. Anderson's FEED and Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD. I think about local soldiers overseas. I think about China. I think about tyranny. And I think about how all of this came up for me in the first sentence of the first paragraph of a short story written by a British woman long ago and how *THAT* is writing: trickling down through the ages to light a fire in my mind and make me think, make me question, make me care about something that hasn't even started yet.

This is the essence of storytelling. This is where I want to be.

A Near Witchy Wednesday

I know Victoria Schwab through the Elevensies, Twitter, YA Rebels, and from her glorious efforts to bring relief to flooded Nashville through her efforts with fellow YA authors in hosting the amazing Do The Write Thing For Nashville which raised over $70,000 in 10 days.

And karma is a wonderful thing!

Victoria got her ARCs and is ready to show them off to the world! Here. Now. Check it out:



The PITCH for THE NEAR WITCH:

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
There are no strangers in the town of Near. These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life. But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him. As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.

Are you excited?! I'm excited! (And so is Victoria introducing her book for the very first time in ARC form. Isn't she cute?!?) Is it wrong to say I'm "moor" excited than you? Probably. THE NEAR WITCH is available for pre-order so you have *NO* excuse!

Happy reading!

A Good Weekend

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I sure did. We had friends visit for concert, Crumb cupcakes, and abject silliness along with more friends as an encore like faelad and family for some rollicking good fun playing outside with kids on a perfect autumn day. It's times like these that make me glad to be alive and happy and healthy with good people and great conversations.

All too often I find that I'm so intent on what is happening in front of my face that I forget about what's happening around me and I poke up my head out of the proverbial hole (ostrich or groundhog, take your pick) and, blinking, discover that I'm in a rut. It helps to have familiar faces yank you out of said hole in said setting in set rut and drag you out into the light to see things a little different, think thoughts you'd forgotten were interesting, and reignite the passion about What's Absolutely Cool In The World That We Live In.

Such things included a Pinkalicious cupcake, the smell of dying leaves on a warm wind, curry soup, lots and lots and lots of talk about YA books and the launch of a new tour featuring a new song by Ingrid Michaelson, "Parachute":



Anyone have something awesome that has made you feel new and refreshed?

Bid Today. Score An ARC. Make A Difference.

Sometimes, you just have to do something.

Swati Avashti did by stepping up to raise money and awareness for Domestic Violence Prevention by holding an auction featuring *incredible* donations made by the generous people in the writing community. For the nth time I cursed the fact that I didn't have an ARC (although I'll admit that I've cursed that fact for different reasons in the past), but I had just read an ARC, XVI by juliakarr , which touched on domestic violence issues (a book and author which I will talk about more later on this blog) and I asked if she'd be willing to donate the copy she'd sent me. Generous as always, she was happy to join the cause.

Now you can, too.



Please check out
As Swati says, "Get stuff you want, have fun, and while you're at it, make a difference."

OFFICIAL DEETS:

To honor National Domestic Violence Awareness month, author Swati Avasthi has combined a blog tour for her debut novel, Split, with a charity auction. Over 40 authors, agents and editors have donated manuscript critiques, personalized books, and more to an online auction that anyone –reader, writer, booklover -- can bid on and buy. All proceeds go to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. In addition to the auction, Avasthi is donating $1/comment on her 26-stop, month-long blog tour, coordinated by Kari Olson at Teen Book Scene. If we reach the goal and cap of $250, Swati will double the donation to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. The CDC estimates that one in four women will experience intimate partner abuse during her life and UC Davis estimates that a child who grew up witnessing abuse is four times as likely to perpetrate abuse, 25 times more likely to commit rape and 6 times more likely to commit suicide. Family Violence Prevention Fund has some great initiatives, including Coaching Boys Into Men and Start Strong, that are about breaking the intergenerational cycle and preventing abuse. So, follow the tour, get stuff you want, and make a difference.

About Split: 16-year-old Jace Witherspoon drives 19 hours straight after finally hitting his father back. He shows up on the doorstep of his brother, who he hasn't seen or heard from in 5 years, with a few bucks, his re-landscaped face, and a secret. Split is about what happens after; after you've said enough, after you've run, after you've made the split.

How NOT to Get Published

Publishing is a strange and mysterious business I've previously likened to Calvinball, but for all its wacky weirdness and mental anguish, there are a few things that are commonly recognized warning signals along the pathway to publication. I'm sure you've heard the horror stories, but don't be discouraged! You, yes you, CAN be published -- all it takes is dedication, tenacity, and a sense of humor (even if it's decidedly black-humor. Like French films.)
BUT if you want a hard and fast way to ensure that you make a total fool out of yourself and tank your chances of getting published, well, here's a handy-dandy Guide to Screwing Up Royally:

1) Write, Write, Write and Send! It's so good to get to those magical words "The End" and know that you've spun pure gold. True genius is a divine gift so as soon as you're done, don't muck things up by letting it sit, re-reading it only questions your inspiration! You *know* that it's good so why doubt yourself? And if anyone else's opinion mattered, they wouldn't publish 99% of the crap out there so don't dilly-dally, just send it off to as many publishing houses and literary agencies as you can. Be sure to open with "Dear Sir or Madam," so you can cover all your bases at once.

2) Seize the Day! Good ideas are hard to come by and trends change so fast, who has time to sit and write an entire book first? As long as you've got that killer opening (where the character wakes up in the prologue, remembers everything about the world they're living in, and contemplates their deepest, heartfelt desire and why they don't have it yet while laying abed for twenty pages), you *know* where the rest of the plot is going and a good professional will obviously see it, too. You'll probably be able to finish it by the time the first check comes in, anyway, so send your query ASAP! You can even promise that it will be a finished manuscript with a word count of around 200,000 (approx.) to ease any concerns. Best yet, this will give you time to start each book in the planned twelve-book series and practice your inevitable acceptance speech.

3) Ignore The Blather. You know those helpful bits of information professionals put on their websites or submission pages? Who needs 'em? Certainly, this is put there to weed out the mindless drones who can't think creatively for themselves. Do anything it takes so that *your* piece of genius stands out from the crowd! Perhaps try colored paper with pretty graphics in the margins, purple ink, and doubling the page length for starters. Make it single-spaced in 10-point font to get as much of your work as you can in front of their eyes! (Might want to include a magnifying glass for the occasion.)

4) Bribes Work Wonders! You want to be remembered? Send chocolate, cookies, balloons, potential swag, buttons, postcards, bookmarks, bookplates, joke items, homemade trinkets, character sketches, your kid's art for the cover, a list of potential actors who can star in the movie, or favorite munchy snack mentioned on their blog (to show that you've been paying attention) along with your query or submission. This is best done in summer, when the slow months means these people have got nothing better to do than pry your paper out of a pool of melted chocolate and scrape it off a rubber gag gift. Maximum hilarity makes YOU memorable!

5) Compare Your Work to the BIGGEST Names Out There. Everyone wants to find the next "Harry Potter Meets Twilight"! Or perhaps "Eat, Pray, Love meets Zombies"? Sure, your book is really a thoughtful, thinly-disguised autobiography about a misunderstood but insightful retired school teacher who fights against incredible odds to find their soul's purpose through writing thinly-disguised autobiographies, but it's always important to attract a professional with the thing they value most: another potential blockbuster hit! They'll recognize a winner when you compare it to one.

6) Tell Them How Much Your Kids/Students/Neighbor's Kids/Mom/Grandma/Dog Just LOVE It! Nothing says "world-wide" appeal as much as friends, family members, and innocent children. Their opinions are what matter because these are YOUR potential audience and professionals will respect that. The "Everyman" who happens to be related to you in some way through blood, friendship, or interpersonal obligation certainly has a lot more pull than people who have been reading professionally for years. They're clearly out of touch, having probably no friends, family members, or innocent children of their own. Think "Six Degrees of Separation" and we're all connected. That's what Facebook is for! (Friend all professionals and Poke them often -- they love the attention!)

7) Check In Often. In this age of electronic anonymity, what's missing is the human touch, the personal connection that can only be achieved by calling or dropping by unannounced. Don't be shy! Just pick up that phone and ask to speak to the editor or agent you want to tell them all about you and to introduce the next big thing that's going to make you both millionaires! They'll appreciate your "Can Do" attitude and your unflagging tenacity when you call back daily to see if they've received your stuff, read your stuff, liked your stuff, are sending your contract, can advance you your advance because your mortgage is past due, and beg them not to sign that Restraining Order that has recently appeared in your mailbox.

8) You Stalk Because You Love. Nothing says "You want to publish me" more than seeking out your favorite agents and editors (or, heck, ANY agent or editor) and dropping your manuscript down with a flourish. Be it at an industry conference, walking down the Avenue of the Americas, or Googlemapping their home address -- sticking your unasked-for pile of paper along with your contact information on their desk, car seat, or under the bathroom stall is *just* the sort of thing that screams "I'm a professional and not a crazed lunatic!" (Don't be surprised if actual screaming occurs!)

9) Make Sure That They're Wrong (and Be Sure to Tell The World). Okay, so maybe you got rejected. It could be a mistake! Never assume. Write back (or, best yet, call!) and ask if they're sure they don't want to maybe read it again, or ask what it is about the manuscript or query that they didn't like -- you're willing to change (some) things, after all! And if they aren't being reasonable, you should stand up for your yourself and all your hard work by explaining in no uncertain terms that they'll rue the day they passed on your genius and are obviously blind to what's considered "good" outside their narrow-minded little box! That'll show 'em! In fact, the best way to make sure they get the message, as well as perform an important public service, is to scan their rejection letter and post it online along with scathing commentary, being sure to mention names and bemoan your fate. You never know, maybe they'll reconsider after the backlash.

10) Do It Yourself. Screw the industry! What do they know? A real self-starter grabs the bull by the horns and toots it to boot! There are a million places that will publish your manuscript that claim to be reputable without all the bother about editors or proofreaders that promise to get your book in your hands in no time. (Should you want to have that security blanket feeling, you can pay the perfectly reasonable "reading fee", "processing fee", "consideration fee" or "placement fee" listed on their high-school grade website.) Then YOU can reap all the rewards by hand-selling it to your friends, neighbors, and perfect strangers while raking in the dough without paying a percentage to *anyone*! HAHAHAHA on them! Bookstores, supermarkets, and bulk food stores will only be too happy to stock your book (with minimal misspellings) along with all those other ones sitting on the shelf. In fact, why not leave it as a surprise and scootch a little room on the endcaps, facing out? Instant visibility! Or skip the whole outdated mode of paper production and make a downloable ebook, pop it online, sit back, and let the money pour in $0.99 at a time! Ah, the wonders of the electronic age. Good thing you're savvy!

I know these are only a few handy-dandy tips. I'm sure there are plenty more where that came from, and you can leave them in the comments section for everyone to enjoy!