Krista D. Ball's Blog, page 12

Who scares me the most?

Jackie B's winning question was Of all the people in all the world living or dead who scares you the most? Why?

This is a great question and I've had to think long and hard about it. I've decided that extremist personalities scare me the most. Now, when I say that term, I know that there is a group that get an image of Arabs strapping bombs to their chests, and other group who will picture Westboro Baptist church members.

Yes, both of these represent extremist personalities, but I'm also talking the everyday extremists. They're in every office that has more than 20 employees. They are the folks who lock up the office supplies, who have meetings to discuss if the fabric of your skirt matches the dress code, who insist that there is only one way to make apple pie, etc.

See, bullies don't bother me. I'm such a bigger bully and I have no trouble stepping on the necks of anyone who tried to stand in my way, tries to oppress me, or stomps on those I love. But the extremists? I have no idea what to do. I just usually stand there, staring, unable to speak. How do I argue with someone who makes us sign up pencils and pens to ensure that I'm not stealing office supplies? (Which, really, had consistently made me steal office supplies off that person's desk out of spite…don't worry, this happened many years ago – not at my current workplace!).

I find it so difficult to get answer this kind of personality trait. I know that I'll just get into an argument and will end up getting very frustrated and declare that the person is the reason the human race is doomed to fail…this never ends well. So, I just stand there. Staring slack jawed at the person.

Yup. Extremists. They scare the hell out of me, especially when they are in control of the office supply cupboard.

What Have I Learned?

The answer to Winning Question #1 – Chrystalla Thoma for What have you learned from the books you have written?

This question really stood out to me. In the late fall, I'd been furiously editing "Road to Hell." The story had been sitting on my hard drive off and on for a couple of years and, finally, I'd pulled it out to finish. I never liked the story much because I couldn't quite get it right in the past.

Then, I was also editing "Tranquility's Blaze." It only needed minor touches, but my writing had improved since I'd last finished it and it was time to dress it up a little.

So, Chrystalla's question really came at a time where I was discovering what I've learned from my work. And this is what I've learned:

I've gotten better. This is a fantastic feeling, knowing that my skill has improved. That means, I might continue to improve. Better ideas, better drafts, better execution might be down for the road for me. There's a lot of hope in that. And, also, there's some pride, too. I've worked really hard and I'm so happy to see that it has not been in vain.
Writing the first book is the easiest part. I was able to take all the time in the world to write Tranquility's Blaze. I wasn't published at all. No one cared if I ever wrote again. No one expected anything from me. Then, I started publishing short stories. Then, I got an intern position at a spec fiction magazine. Then I got a position as a slush at a spec fiction house. Things really started snowballing. It was good, but it was terrifying.  I started to worry that I wasn't good enough, that someone would eventually figure out I was a hack (or that people already thought that, but were being nice), or that I've never write anything interesting again. Writing Road to Hell was so much harder than Tranquility's Blaze, especially since I was finishing Road to Hell after seeing all of these really great reviews for Harvest Moon…I was genuinely worried that I'd never achieve that level again.
I could not do this is I didn't enjoy it. This isn't a life for the faint of heart. I joke around a lot about how I only work 21 hours a week at my "real" job while I spend the rest of the time in my PJs on Twitter. That isn't true (well, the PJ part might be true). I work really hard, and a lot. For the last week, I spent every waking moment in my office editing "Tranquility's Blaze." And even all the joking around on Twitter isn't about me wasting time. Twitter is a place where I have conversations about my career. I've found work on Twitter (my freelance gig all last year came from Twitter), met vital contacts, and have interacted with readers who actually enjoy my work (always exciting). But it's hard writing, promoting, connecting…I don't get paid as much as you'd think, considering how much work I put into it all. I also wouldn't change my career for anything.

I hope that answers the question!

Six Sunday

If you've been coming here for the last while, you might recall the piece from "Road to Hell." I'm happy to announce that it had been picked up for publication in 2012. Yay!

I'm in the process of submitting a fantasy novel into the scary world of publishers. It's called "Tranquility's Blaze." Here are the first six lines from it (ok, 7 so that I can finish the paragraph!).

"I am your Goddess now, gutter drudge."

Bethany paused to let her words sink through the stubbornness of the two hundred fresh-eyed recruits in front of her. When the desired uncomfortable silence settled over the large gathering room, she continued. "I don't care who you are or why you're here. Whatever your title or rank was in the world, it means nothing here. You are the lowest now. From this day forward, you will do exactly as you are commanded."

I interrupt this blog for an important announcement.

My SF thriller novel Road to Hell has been accepted by MuseItUp Publishing for a Jan 2012 publication! They plan to do the ebook first, followed by a print edition later in the year.

Road to Hell started out as a short story early when I started writing. It was re-written several times, as I just wasn't happy with the format. Finally, I decided that it needed to be a full-length novel. And here we are today!

Here's my "winning" query:

Captain Katherine Francis is about to disobey every Ethics Law the Union of Planets throws at her. After the Union's enemy destroys her home planet and murders her family, she makes the decision to bring an end to the war—whatever it takes. When an opportunity arises to ally with the neutral Alliance and turn the tide of war, Katherine throws aside her moral code, partners with a known spy, and risks sacrificing the very core of who she is. And when faced with choosing between her conscience and stopping the bloodshed, she realizes that, either way, she'll lose.

Road to Hell is complete and standalone, sitting at 50,000 words. Road to Hell is a military science fiction novel in which Katherine discovers ethics never exist in black and white and, instead, come in various shades of grey.

I have published a number of short stories in different anthologies and magazines. My novelette, Harvest Moon, was recently published by MuseItUp Publishing and I have a second story coming out with them in the spring of 2011. I have also co-edited four Karma RPG books and have over twenty freelance articles published, including a number of feature articles with Edmonton's Merge Magazine.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Krista

And the winners are…

Chrystalla Thoma for What have you learned from the books you have written?

Jackie B for making me spurt OJ on the monitor Of all the people in all the world living or dead who scares you the most? Why? (my initial answer was "my mother")

Eileen for Which writers influence you the most — and why?

Thank you everyone for some really awesome questions. They were shockingly tame so now I don't need to put a warning on the blog [image error] I will be answering the three winning questions this week, so stay tuned.

Now, to answer everyone and scare you all off forever…

What's your typical writing day like?

I write exclusively on Tuesdays and Fridays, with a little most other nights. Now, when I say writing, I mean the entire deal. That's actual new words on the page, editing old work, marketing my books, blog posts, and so forth. "Writing" as a career is a lot more than updating my word count on Twitter these days.

I try to get the big stuff done, especially editing, first thing in the morning. My mind is generally clearer and the house quieter. If I'm doing first draft material, I can write that just about anywhere and at any time.

In November, I finish and submitted my SF novel, "Road to Hell." I took most of December off to recover from the brainmelt that happened. I planned to send out "Tranquility's Blaze" so spent January reading through it, and making changes. I'm nearly done and it should be leaving the house this week.

Then, I'll go back to the deadline plan I have. I always set those up, so that I'm on track. Generally, I'll meet about 75% of the goals. I judge if I can take a little time off based on how things are going deadline-wise (even if they are self-imposed).

I want to visit Newfoundland some day. Tell me something fascinating about it

What folks say about Newfies are true: we really are a nice group of people. Newfoundland is a stunningly beautiful and rustic place, but it's the people that others always talk about. When 9/11 happened, a town of 10,000 people took care of 7000 passengers who were diverted there. They brought them into their homes, their churches, their schools. They fed them, clothes them, let these strangers make long distance phone calls. How could you not love a place like that?

For the ABC special on Newfoundland (that pronounces our name wrong ,but we'll let it go), click here. (the ending has a religious message from the poster of the video, but you get the general idea)

When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

I don't really remember. I got my first typewriter at 12 and pumped out a multipage story that night. It was the first story I'd ever written and it just came naturally. Haven't really looked back after that.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I've never really been much of a traveller, so probably just going back to the east would be fine. However, I wouldn't mind living in rural Britain for a couple of years. I have a history degree and would love to see all of the places that I had studied.

What has been the wildest adventure of your life–so far?

I have no idea. I've not done a lot of crazy things. I was in the reserves when I was in university, though. I got to fire a rocket launcher. I don't know many other people in day-to-day life that can say that [image error]

What three things would you take with you if you had to flee the zombie apocalypse and why?


Cannon fodder, SAS survival guide, canned meat. The reasons should be obvious….


If the world was about to end, with you being the only survivor, and you could take three books with you to safety, what would they be and why?

The SAS Survival Guide, Persuasion, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

If you found yourself trapped in an alternate universe where fiction was illegal, how would you cope?

I'd make picket signs and start protesting. I lack the coping gene.

Why isn't there a version of the game Monopoly for zombies, werewolves and vampires? After all they're sorta people too.

Would the game board sparkle in the sunlight? Dear god.

If you could only use one published work of yours to barter for food, beer, whatever, on the alien planet you crashed landed on, which one would it be?

Oh lord. I'd have a lot better luck if I just sold my body into slavery or something.

What fictional character would you like to visit for a weekend and why?

Bella from Twilight. That girl needs a good, stern talking to about what "creepier stalker" means.

When you write a work of fiction, how much of the story do you have in mind when you start writing? and a related question- Do you ever look back over something in process and wonder where did that come from?

I always have the big things in mind – who, what, when, where, why, and how. Sometimes, bits and pieces will change to make the answers to those questions more logical. Or, I come up with an idea that's better than the original way I thought things should be done. I'll change things accordingly.

I actually find it very difficult to do anything without being overwhelmed by ideas. I have entire notebooks filled with story ideas, scene ideas, and concepts that come to me. When I die, I hope these are given to an author who has no ideas of their own, so that someone else will have time to write them!

Where on The Rock would you most like to live if given the chance to move back?

I plan to move back there, or one of the Atlantic Provinces, when the kids graduate high school. I would probably move near where I grew up, but not in the same town. I want to have a nice big house and a nice big lot, grow potatoes, and write while watching moose eat said potatoes.

And from facebook:

How do you make brownies?

I have never successfully made brownies. They tend to be too gooey in the centre for my taste.

What is an "Alberta Clipper?"

It's a really stupid name that someone put on a cold front entering the US from western Canada.

Thanks once again!

Six Sunday – a snip from "Harvest Moon"

Here are six lines from the first scene of my novella, Harvest Moon, published with MuseItUp Publishing. Our heroine, Dancing Cat, was caught not  doing her work correctly by the matriarch of her band. Now, she endures the lectures and dreams of a life when she is no longer the Cursed One:

And on it went for the afternoon, story after miserable story about women who starved to death. It would have been bad enough for just her grandmother to have told the stories. Instead, the others joined in, telling of captured Red Valley, Cree or Inuit wives who had been left to starve when food stores ran low. All at her grandmother's say. Hawk Sight might have been a great healer, but she was also cold and merciless in Dancing Cat's opinion.

They told the stories to make her work harder, but it had the opposite effect.

Since Flying Kite, Crashing Ship has been such a crowd favour, I'm hosting a little contest that's running until Monday. Ask me any question and I'll answer it. The top three questions are going to be turned into blog posts throughout the week. Want to ask a question and enter the contest, just click here.

Interested in seeing what the other Six Sunday authors are doing? Check it out here.

What do YOU want to know?

I'm having a little blog ennui right now. So, I'm taking a page from Maria Zannini and turning the tables. Ask me anything. I'll answer it. The answer might be snarky, it might not be what you want, but I'll answer it [image error]

If it's a really good question, I'll turn it into a blog post. The first three that I turn into a blog post will win a free copy of Flying Kite, Crashing Ship. Make sure to leave your email, so that I can contact folks!

Let's whip it out on the table and see what we can come up with!

Can your hero kill 3285 orcs and still find time to forage?

My inaugural post for "A Nibble of History" generated a wonderful discussion amongst the SF Canada crew. All of us vented our frustrations over foraging in fantasy novels. How can anyone kill the orcs, rescue the damsel in distress, consult the King, hike 20 miles, and still be able to find all of his nutritional needs.

Which has lead me to an important conclusion: backpacking should be a requirement for all high fantasy authors.

I'm dead serious. Have you ever tried to forage for food? I'm not talking going to the local U-Pick, either. Growing up in Newfoundland gave us access to all kinds of will berries, including raspberries, blueberries, partridgeberries, and "bakeapples". I've picked a lifetime's worth of berries and I can tell you that it's not something you can do while killing orcs and hiking across the countryside.

Blueberries grow on the ground. You have to bend down to pick them. Kneeling on the ground hurts. Bending hurts. Sitting on the ground slows down the process. Picking blueberries are rather tedious, especially if picking with my mother who insisted you pick each individual berry instead of just cleaning off the branch and picking out all the debris afterward.

Raspberry bushes, especially wild ones, are dangerous. The thorns rip your clothes and cut your skin. And there are always wasps and hornets in those bushes.

And, have you ever eaten a few cups of berries, especially on an empty stomach? Um, there is that entire intestinal distress issue that can happen. A hero can't fight if he's unable to leave the outhouse.

So, what about meat? Hunters today go into the woods with high-powered rifles and fancy archery bows with scopes. They often return with nothing. Now, try hunting for a deer or pheasant with just a dagger and a flimsy bow and arrow? Is the land your hero walking through owned by anyone, including the monarch? Is hunting even allowed? Will your hero be hung for poaching?

A big issue I've seen in both published and critique group material is the lack of seasonal knowledge. Not all animals are butchered at the same time of the year and not all forage food is ripe the same time of the year. It's not all growing next to each other.

Now it's your turn. What is your food pet peeve in fantasy fiction?

A Verbal Six Sunday

For a bit of fun, I've recorded my Six Sunday for all of you. It's from Harvest Moon . I hope you enjoy.

Click Me For the Reading! (it takes a couple of seconds to load, just fyi)

Ten Things Novels Get Wrong About Homeless People

As many of you know, I worked at The Mustard Seed – Edmonton for nearly three years. I experienced it all: the mundane (handing out socks and bandaids) to the awkward (giving safe sex talks whenever I handed out condoms, talking safety to prostitutes) to the scary (having someone slice their wrists in front of me) to the heart breaking (attending the funeral of a man who froze to death).

I am critical of any author who doesn't get homeless right in their books. It isn't that hard, really. A tour and a few days of volunteer work at any drop-in center can educate you more than enough for the majority of stories out there. And don't even get me started on books that mention street prostitution and treat it with the glamorous appeal of a Las Vegas brothel owner.

I've read slush that I've physically thrown across the room and have critiqued folks whom I've not been able to get past their first chapters all because of the homeless issue. So, here are my 10 Things that novels seem to always get wrong:

Homeless people are vulnerable to violence. It's amazing how people fail to understand the extreme vulnerability of homeless people. They endure a staggering amount of violence. Shelters are often not safe, especially regarding thief while you sleep. I've had men show up in their sock feet because their boots were stolen off their feet in the middle of the night. Not to mention violence from those high or in withdrawal. And then, let's not forget the people who think it's funny to hurt homeless people. I remember one gentleman whose tent was caught on fire by a couple of well-to-do kids because "fucking homeless people deserve to die." (that's what they shouted as they caught a tent with 5 people in it on fire).
Homeless people work. This confuses people. Homeless people often hold down different kinds of jobs than what me and you do. They often have general labour skills, or specific tradeskills. They can usually get jobs at temp agencies, where they get work either by the day or, sometimes, for a few days. They are paid less than their housed peers, paid every day in cash, and are charged for everything including boot rental ($10/day), sandwich and juice box lunch ($8), and transportation ($5). Since they have no where safe to store equipment, or it gets stolen, a significant portion of their daily wages is eaten up. And let's not forget our bottle pickers and scrap metal collectors! Those are workers, too, which provide an interesting environmental service to the community by helping keep it clean.
Homeless people have dreams. Yes, they do. They dream of getting university degrees, becoming lawyers, becoming authors, becoming employed permanently. They dream of having a house with a garden, being able indoors, being able to turn up the heat, being able to have a shower. They dream of seeing their children, their parents, their families. They dream of not having mental illness, addiction, and sickness. They dream, just like me and you.
Homeless people aren't lazy. I have never met a lazy homeless person. You might think they are lazy because they do not live the style of life that you feel becoming of an industrious person. But, you would be wrong.
Homeless people are in survival mode. I once read a story where the main character was a teenage street prostitute and going to a private school because he was servicing the head master, and then gets a scholarship to Oxford. Another had a homeless teen girl living in abandoned buildings and going to an upper-wealth school and hiding her life from the others. Um, no. In fact, hell no. First, prostitutes work at night. Second, prostitution is dangerous. Very dangerous. So, I'm not sure how these kids are managing to not appear the lease bit tired all day at school. Second, how can someone living night-to-night in abandoned building with drug use, violence, and prostitution going on around them and study for final exams? Not likely.
Homeless people have families, too. Homeless people have families. Sometimes, they are turned out because of addiction or mental illness. Sometimes, they leave themselves. Either way, they often have routine of contacting home every Sunday afternoon, Saturday evenings at 7pm, etc. And, when a call date is missed, you will get flyers and visits from family. It's heartbreaking to get those.
Homeless people are kind and have a code of conduct. It's really odd to say this, considering that addiction, mental illness, and violence are a big part of the homeless situation. And yet, being an inner-city worker allowed me to see a completely different side of things. I remember one night a stoned man too a swing a me. He was so slow with it that I was able to step back and give him "the look." In a split second, two other homeless men jumped a table to beat the living tar out of him for daring to touch me. I ended up having to stand in front of the man who just tried to hit me and talk the others down! Hitting one of the workers was just *not* done. And if someone broke that rule, well, things could get rather scary for them.
Homeless people are often overweight. Now, this one I can only say of the Edmonton homeless population. your mileage might vary. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, you can't starve to death here. There are plenty of places to get free meals. They are often nutritionally void, full of cheap, processed food, but it is food. If you are coming down off a high, the high sugar content can help with the shakes. It also makes you fat. Folks sleeping outside in -30C weather (yes, that happens) eat to stay warm. And, when folks come off the dope, they often gain weight. I could always tell when people went back on the drugs or came off, just based on their weight.
Homeless people are unhealthy. I know, seems obvious. Or does it? Know what street feet is? How about crotch rot? There are only a couple of places where homeless people can shower in town. Think about wearing the same socks and underwear for a week, often not having access to toilet paper. Think about wearing wet socks. Think about wearing wet underwear and pants for a couple of days. Think about walking 8-10 hours a day to stay warm in too-big sneakers in the snow. Now, think about the physical condition of your body.
Knowing God does not cure homelessness. If there is one thing that I wanted people to "get" when I worked at the Seed was that Christianity wasn't going to change homelessness. Now, I know this is controversial, so let me explain. I'd often have churches who would come and want to evangelize to the homeless people after serving dinner. They assumed that none of these people were "saved", "born again", or "knew God" because they were homeless. What people didn't realize is that many homeless people are Christian, are "saved", "know God", and are STILL homeless. It was insulting to a lot of the Christians who struggled with their mental illness and/or addictions to have people come in and tell them that all their problems would be fixed if they just knew God.

There are a hundred more things that I could tell you about, but those are my big ones. Obviously, this is based on my experiences as an inner-city worker in Edmonton, who has about 2500 homeless people (2010), 75% male, and (if I recall) 40% aboriginal.

Have questions about homelessness, either as research or for your own information? Feel free to ask in the comments and I'll try my best to answer.