Rachel Aaron's Blog, page 33

Win the Eli Monpress Omnibus!

So, Orbit is launching The Legend of Eli Monpress Omnibus this month! Hooray! Isn't it pretty?


And it's got three books in it, so it's HUGE! Also, the finish is smoooooth, but the book isn't too heavy, and it smells nice. In short, a very pleasant thing to hold in your hands.

It seems kind of absurd this phonebook only costs $10.98 on Amazon ($9.99 for the ebook, that's like $3 per book!), but the dealz, they are realz! I couldn't be more excited. I think Orbit did such a great job on the packaging for this book. That's why I'm giving some away!

The Eli Monpress Omnibus Giveaway Raffle!

The Prizes!
To celebrate the release of my omnibus and get the word out, I'm giving away 7 personalized signed copies, one for each day until Tuesday, February 14! Also, at the end of the contest, I'll combine all the entries to pick one grand prize winner who will get a signed omnibus and a $50 Amazon.com gift card to spend on the book of your choice!

How to Enter
Happy as I am about the omibus release, binding the first three Eli books into one volume means I leave all my lovely reviews behind. The Spirit Thief has over 100 reviews on Goodreads, the omnibus has only 5, and that just sucks because they're the same books. But there's no way to link them...

SO! Here's the deal! If you rated or reviewed The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion, or The Spirit Eater, I'm asking you to please take a moment to copy it over to my new book on Goodreads and leave a note that you did so in the comments. Every transferred review is an entry to win!

Didn't write a review, don't feel like moving it, or haven't read the books yet? No worries! You can also enter simply by spreading the word of the omnibus's release! Post about Eli on FB, Twitter, your blog, or any other social platform of your choice and then drop me a note to let me know what you did and I'll enter you!

This is a raffle, so you can enter this contest multiple times. Every time you spread the word about the omnibus's release or move a review (or write a review, if you're so inclined, but only if you want to. You know how I feel about reviews. They are precious gifts! But if you want to write one, I would be delighted and it would totally count for the contest.), put it in the comments below with a link. Move a review, post on Twitter, and mention the book on your blog? That's 3 entries! Tell me so and I'll enter your name 3 times.

I'll be drawing from the comments on this post every day, including today, so the sooner you enter, the more chances you have to win! You can also keep promoting the book to increase your chances ever further! Winners will be announced the morning of the day after they win, so today's winner will be announced tomorrow morning, etc.

The grand prize drawing will be on Tuesday, February 14th at 12:00 PM, east coast US time (EST). After this, entries will be closed and I'll be mailing out a lot of books!

Boring Rules Stuff
This contest to open to everyone in the US, Canada, the UK, and Auz/NZ. Only one entry per moved review/social network (so no posting it a million times on Twitter for a million entries :P). New reviews and moved reviews count as 2 separate entries. Also, you can move reviews/post new reviews for the omnibus on other sites besides Goodreads. Readers who win one of the earlier signed copies are still eligible for the grand prize gift card, but since they already have a book coming to them, I'll pick a new winner to get the extra copy.

If you have any questions about the contest, the rules, or the books, please contact me! If you want to read a sample of the book you'll be winning, you can do that here.

Good Luck!
And please spread the word of the contest around. If I get a lot of people, I'll just give away more books to keep the chances even.

Thanks for reading!
- Rachel

Editing for People Who Hate Editing

Note! I am giving away signed copies of my new omnibus on my blog starting tomorrow (Wed, February 8!). Check back for a chance to win!
Since I wrote my posts on how I drastically upped my word count and plotted my novels, a lot of people have been askingme to do a post on editing. I can totally understand why, editing canbe very intimidating. I actually used to dread edit time because thatwas when I actually had to deal with all the problems I'd beenputting off while writing, not to mention that by the time I'd readthrough my book the requisite 5 times it took me to finish an edit tomy satisfaction, I invariably hated it.
But after 8 finished books, I've comearound to a different way of thinking. These days, editing isprobably my favorite part of the writing process. This is partiallybecause all the planning I do means I have far fewer horrifying messesto deal with in the editing phase of things (yet another benefit toplanning your novel), but mostly it's because I started thinkingabout editing in a whole new light. A new light that I'm not goingto attempt to explain in the hopes that others can learn from theyears I spent banging my head against things.
So, without further ado, here is mytake on the editing process, complete with the tools I build for eachbook. I can't promise it will work for you exactly as written, every author'sbrain works differently, after all. But I do hope it will at leastencourage you to approach edits with a new frame of mind.
Disclaimer: Unlike my work counttips, which I think can work for anyone, this process is highlypersonal. If something I describe doesn't work for you, feel free toignore it or replace it with something you find more useful. I offerthese only as examples of methods I use to save time and lower stress during the editing process.

But Rachel, I HATE Editing!I hear this allthe time in a million different variations. Hell, I used to say thismyself. Now, though, when someone tells me they hate editing, I answerthus: No, you don't.
Editing iswriting. If you like writing, you like editing. Editing is just thepart of writing that's at the end, meaning the problems you've beenputting off tend to collect there, which earns it a lot of bad press.However, what most people fail to realize is that editing, likewriting, is a skill. Like writing, it gets better and easierwith practice, methods, and attention. But just as each pie baked makes you a better baker, each house designed makes you a better architect, and each book written makes you abetter writer, so does each editorial process make you a better editor.
I firmly believethat every good writer can become a good editor if they're not onealready. The same skills that make you a good story teller make you agood story perfecter, you just have to stop hating the process andstart treating your editing like you treat your writing – somethingyou strive to be good at, something you do every day, and somethingthat you want to make a career out of. Because trust me, if you're apro writer, you're going to spend a LARGE part of your careerediting. A writer who ignores their editing skill is like a carpenterwho can design and build a table but completely ignores the sandingand finishing. Sure it's a working table, maybe even a really niceone, but no one's going to want to sit at it and get splinters intheir elbows. Editing is power, embrace it.
Ok, Ms.Smarty-Pants, how do I get better at editing?The most effectiveway is to write a lot of books and edit them, though I admit that'snot the most practical solution, especially for people trying to gettheir first book ready for sale. Another good way is to edit otherpeople's work, though it can be hard to bridge the gap betweenfinding someone else's problems and solving your own. So, ifyou're in a hurry to edit your own work quickly and effectively,here's how I do it.
Rachel's Editing Process
Step 1:Changing the way you think about editing. Whatis editing? This is one of those stupid questions I ask, but bearwith me. When you're editing a novel, what are you actually doing?Sure, you're rewriting the prose to make it prettier and you'refixing characters and making the plot make sense and so on, but whatare you reallydoing? What is the point of all this work? Even getting the novelready to go to a publisher is still only a step, not the end goal. Sowhat is the final destination of editing?
Answer: Reader experience.
When you write a first draft, you arewriting a story. You're telling your character's tale, spinning youradventure, whatever. When you start to edit a novel, you're no longerjust telling a story, you're getting ready to put on a production, to invite a reader into your world. Think ofyour book as a fun house ride. You might have built this funhousebased on your fantasies, but once you invite people in, it's no longyour world alone. The world has to make sense to others, it has todelight and surprise and, most importantly, capture them. The readers might be drawn in by the glitz at the front door, but from the moment they set foot insideyour domain, it's your job to keep them there.
This, for me, is what editing is about.You are no longer just getting words down, you're no longer asking"what happens next?" You're asking "how can I prepare thereader for what happens next?" and "how can I make them LOVEIT?" You're not just crafting a story, you're crafting anexperience that you are going to share with each person who picks upyour book. It is your job to make sure your plot and world make sensenot just within the book, but in the mind of the reader. Your job tomake sure your characters are engrossing, not just effective for yourplot. Your job to give these people a reason to stay.
This is my editing mindset. Everychange I make from here on out is for the reader. I've found thinkingthis way can take a lot of the tediousness out of editing. It alsohelps me pull back from the story to see its flaws. After all, thisisn't just my story anymore, it's a production I'm putting on for aworld wide audience with my characters doing the acting, mydescriptions forming the scenery, and my plot making the audience gasp.
I hold out my hand to the reader andsay, let me show you something amazing. The reader grabs hold, and off we run down the path into worlds that don't exist. Editing isperfecting that path. I told you it was awesome.
Step 2: Editing ToolsOverblown rhetoricaside, let's get down to the nuts and bolts of the business. When Ifinish a book, I usually wait one night and then jump straight into editing. Some people like to wait, but I'm impatient and preferto strike while my understanding of the book is still fresh. This isa very personal choice, do whatever feels right for you.
The first thingI do in any edit is to identify what's wrong with the book. The reasoning behind this is the same I used to up my wordcount: knowledge. Just as you write faster when you know what you'rewriting about, you solve problems faster when you know what thoseproblems are. Simple, right?
But identifyingwhat needs fixing in a story is actually a lot more complicated thanit sounds. Usually, I can pull the first several right off the top ofmy head, but there are many other problems that run too deep to seeafter only one draft. These are the problems I have to hunt, and forthat, I use three tools – a scene map, a time line, and a To Dolist.
The Scene Map:If you've read my post about how I plot novels, you already know whatthis is. A scene map is just a very quick jot down of what happens inthe book broken up by chapter. As an example, here's an entry from the scene map forthe first chapter of the book I just finished editing:

Ch1 (7452)
D gets Caldswell tip from Anthony D goes to star port, checks the tip, sees the Fool D has her interview, impressive, gets the job Basil takes D on the tour, we see R, job is laid outVery simple, veryshort hand. You're not writing a synopsis here. The point of thescene map is to be a guide, literally a map to what happens in yourbook. Why do I do this? Well, when I finish a novel, there may be scenesback at the beginning I haven't looked at in months. A scene listhelps me refresh my memory for what I actually wrote while atthe same time helping me see the big picture.
Also, with a scene map,identifying plot lines becomes very easy. I often print my map out andhighlight the scenes in different color markers to denote what plotlines they touch – love story scenes, main plot scenes, secondaryplot scenes, etc. This lets me see visually how my book is puttogether. That may not sound like your thing, but I highly suggestyou try it at least once. I think you'll be surprised by how useful it can be.
Finally, a scenemap lets me easily jump around my book, a benefit that willbecome apparent shortly.
(Silly but UsefulTip: Notice how marked the chapter's word count at the top? I do this to makesure all my chapters are roughly the same length. Since I haveScrivener which already lays this info out for me on the manuscriptpage, I don't really need to do this, but if you're not usingScrivener I totally recommend marking your chapter word counts somewhere so you can spot any anomalies. Ifyou have one 4k chapter and one 8k chapter right next to each other, for example,the 8k will feel like it's dragging no matter how good the tensionis. Always good to keep an eye on these things.)
The Time Line:This is just what it sounds like. After I jot down my scene list, Imake a time line of all the relevant events that happen in the novel(plus before and after, if needed). Once I've got those down, I goback again and add in what all my characters were doing at thosetimes, especially those characters who are doing things "offscreen".
I usually draw my time lines out in my notebook, and I never draw them to scale. Thistimeline is less about showing the relative distance between eventsand more about keeping track of what happens when, who's togetherwhen, and where everyone is when important events occur (and, thus,how much these absent people could be expected to know about saidimportant event at what times). So really it's more like a time and space line, butyou get the idea.
Why waste effort ona time line now, especially if you already made one during the planningstage (which you can totally update and use, by the way)? Well,making a time line forces you to think about where everyone actuallyis, what they're doing, and why. Just the act of thinking about thiswill often reveal problems in your book that you never even noticed. 
If a scene map isa map to your book, a time line is a fault finding device for yourplot. It can also help point out places where the action is too looseor too tight, identify where tension might be lagging, and show whena character's been out of the picture for too long (my villainsespecially seem to spend a lot of time sitting around. This is bad,characters with enough motivation to be antagonists do not sit ontheir hands).
It doesn't have tobe the best drawn time line in the world, but remember that eventhough you're the only one who will be looking at it, do you reallywant to use a crappy tool? Of course not. Take the time to do itright and you'll find your time line has all kinds of unexpected uses.
The To Do List: Sonow that you've built your scene map and your time line, it's time tostart putting your novel through the wringer to squish out theproblems. Every problem I find, I put on a To Do list. I use a sheetof notebook paper for this, but you can use anything you want. Theimportant part is to make sure the list is somewhere you can easilyaccess it, because you're going to be adding to it a lot.
OnceI've written out every problem I can think up or hunt down, I organize themby level of trouble they'll be to fix, starting with the largest andmost complicated and ending with the smallest. See, editingis like cleaning a house. You know how you don't vacuum before youdust because then the dust will get all over your nicelyvacuumed floor? Editing is the same. Solving problems is a messybusiness, and you don't want that mess getting all over scenes you'vealready edited. So rather than work linearly through a book frombeginning to end, I work on each problem separately starting with thebiggest and working my way down. More on this in the next section.
Step 3: Actually EditingMaking my toolsand my To Do list usually takes me about a day. Once those are doneand I have my list, though, it's time to get to work.
Fixing the big stuffAs I mentioned upin the To Do list, I do the bulk of my editing from biggest problemto smallest, not from first page to last. I do this because I don'twant to make more work for myself by messing up already editedscenes. But while I think this is the smartest and most efficient wayto work, I can completely understand why other writers might not wantto edit things this way. Jumping to the middle of a scene can feelreally disconnecting.
However, if you'reworking on getting better at editing and you haven't tried doingthings this way yet, I do suggest you give it a go. The beginning ofyour book might feel like a natural starting place for your edit, butwhen you start at page one, its very easy to get distracted. Sinceyou're following the story rather than your list, you'll be hittingthe problems all in a jumble, and it can very quickly getoverwhelming.
Going from problemto problem rather than from start to finish lets you focus on onething at a time, thus letting you keep control, which is vital to agood edit. When I'm editing, I try to keep my focus pin point. Isolve one problem at a time, and if I encounter new problems whileI'm working, I add them to my To Do list and keep going. That is whyI have a To Do list, it remembers to fix problems so I don't have toget distracted.
If you've writtenyour novel well, your story will constantly be tugging you in directions other than the way you're going. As well it should, you wrote it be engrossing, after all.But the edit is not the time to get caught up in things. I use my scene listlike an anchor to pull me through my To Do list, jumping from scene toscene until all the major items, the ones I startedwith and the ones I added, are crossed out. When I'm down to thedregs of nit picky pervasive problems (things like misspelled namesor mismatched eye colors), it's time to move on to the read through.
The read throughBy the time I'vefinished my To Do list, I've usually visited every scene in my novelat least once in the course of chasing down problems. Also, mynovel is usually a MESS. The read through is where I clean things up.Now I start on page one and I start reading, cleaning things up as Igo. I also keep an eye out for consistency issues, things I missed inmy bigger edits, and of course, reader experience. The read throughis where I try to really finesse the book. This is the part where I pour oversentences, bring out my hooks, and obsess over end of chapter cliffhangers. Fortunately, since I've already addressed all my bigproblems, I am free to do this without worry. The hard part is over and I'm clear to sweat the small stuff. It's a very liberatingfeeling.
Generallyspeaking, by the time I reach the end of my read through, I've founda few more items for my To Do list. If these items are small, I address them during the read through, but I try to save the big stuff for theend. Once the read through is done, I go back and fix everything thatstill needs fixing until my To Do list is now completely scratchedout. At this point, my novel is officially edited, but there's stillone thing left to do.
Activating the Reader BrainMy book is nowabout as good as I can make it. Oh sure, there are still things I cantweak (there are ALWAYS things I can tweak), but generally speakingI'm pretty happy with the whole affair. However, I don't send themanuscript off yet. First, I need to make sure I'm not deluding myself about the book being good. It's time for the final test, to read my book as a readerinstead of a writer.
This is kind of ahard thing to pull off. After all, I've spent months with the storyby now. The key is to find a way to trick your brain. I do this byputting my book on my Kindle. Since I do almost all my pleasurereading on my Kindle, this lets me disconnect from the part where I'mreading my book and actually get into the story for what it is.Also, since I can't edit the text at all while it's on the Kindle,it's easy to just relax and enjoy the story. Of course, I keep a notebook handyin case I do find things, but mostly I just read. Let me tell you,there is no better feeling than reading something you wrote andthinking "wow, this is actually pretty good!"
And that's a wrap!If I can getthrough this point without any huge red flags popping up, the edit isofficially done. Now, it's time to send the novel on to its nextstage of existence. For me, this means sending it to my agent. Forother people, it means sending it off to beta readers.
(You'll notice howI didn't mention beta readers before this, right? Well, that'sbecause I don't believe in beta readers of any sort before I'veedited my book at least once. First off, I think its rude to asksomeone to read something as unfinished as a first draft, and second,if I rely on others to spot my problems for me, then I'm not growingas an editor or a writer. Finally, I think its a waste of an editor, both professional and beta readers alike, to have them catching the sort ofhuge, obvious problems found in a first draft. Save the fresh,foreign eyeballs for the problems you can't find yourself, anythingelse is a waste of everyone's time.)
The Wheel of Edits turns...Of course, nomatter how carefully I edit a book, it will still come back from myagent full of notes. Same for when it comes back from my editor. Thisis as it should be. If I could catch everything myself, we wouldn'tneed editors. Every time notes come back, I do my editorial process over again.I update my scene map and time line if needed, make a To Do list, organize the problems, etc. My books usually go through three rounds of edits beforethey enter official production – my initial edit, my agent'snotes, and my editor's notes. I can't speak for other authors, but Ithink this is pretty typical.
A note for the first time novelistWith all thepressure on first time novelists to turn in a picture perfect draftthese days, it can be tempting to edit your book over and over in aquest for perfection. Once I met a writer who'd edited her firstnovel thirty times! Not that I don't understand the impulse. After all, thereare still things in the Spirit Thief I wish I could go back andchange. However, there is such a thing as editing too much.
Every edit you do has diminishing returns. After a point,you're just moving words around and wasting your time. Sooner orlater, you have to say goodbye and turn that sucker in. So if you don't have a publishing deadline yet, set onefor yourself. Don't let your editing become an endless process.You've got a lot of books to write, after all. Don't let any onenovel monopolize your time and keep you from writing all that you canwrite.
Step 4: Tips to a Happy, Low Stress,Successful EditEvery edit is asdifferent as the book it's trying to fix. Some novels come out almostperfect, others are enormous messes. Planning at the beginning helps,but it's impossible to anticipate everything. No matter how preparedyou are, there is no avoiding an edit, which means there's noavoiding the problems, and frustrations, an edit brings. That said,here are a few general tips I've found that help 99% of the time.
#1 - Don't be too hard on yourselfI said at the verybeginning that editing is a skill, and I've found that I'm a lothappier if I treat it as such. Editing is hard, especially if youhaven't done it a lot yet. You wouldn't get mad at someone whocouldn't play the piano perfectly after their very first lesson, sodon't hate on yourself if your first edit goes less than smoothly.Don't get frustrated when you don't know how to solve a problem.Instead, step back and think of things in the bigger picture.
Most importantly,edit daily. Just like you write every day during the first draft,edit every day during the editing process. If you get stuck, move onto another problem, but always remember that you are practicing askill, and unless you're a savant, you're not going to begreat at it to start with. Have patience with yourself and yourbook. Don't give up. You learned enough about writing to get to TheEnd, you can learn enough about editing to get your manuscript readyfor publication.
#2 - Trust your instinctsIf you care enoughabout stories to want to write them, you probably have good storytelling instincts. You can't explain it, but you like some scenes better than others. Conversely, you might hate ascene and not know why. With the lack of any easily identifiableproblem, it can be tempting to just ignore the nagging feeling andmove on. Don't. You got your story instincts over years of exposureto the best stories our world can deliver, books and movies and playsthat have survived not only commercial production, but also the testof time. Trust your instincts. If you dislike a scene, that meanssomething is wrong. Go back and figure out what it is. Never put ascene you don't love in your book.
#3 – No problem is unfixableThere is no sloglike a bad edit, and when you're first learning how to fix a book, there's noavoiding a bad time. I have never, ever been as depressed aboutwriting as I got during the edits for The Spirit Rebellion. I'mgenerally a pretty happy person, but there were days I just didn'twant to get out of bed because I couldn't stand to deal with stupid,unfixable problems any longer.
But no problem is truly unfixable. When you're writing a book, you are god. You can changeanything, which means there is no corner you can paint yourself intothat you can not get out of. True, finding a solution that worksmight be difficult, and you might not get the right solution on the first try, but it will come. You might need to cut off someone's arm toget there, but you will always reach The End if you are willing toopen your mind, embrace your limited divinity, and think beyond theplot.
And that, in avery large nutshell, is how I edit. Again, these arejust my opinions on the subject. Every author operates differently,but I really hope you found something in all this that will help youwith your own editorial process. Thank you for reading, and if youhave comments about this post or suggestions for things you'vefound helpful, please leave them below. I love hearing how otherauthors work.
Thanks forreading, and as always, keep writing!
Yours sincerely,Rachel Aaron

To the book reviewers

This might come as a shock, but I like to read. I know! An author who reads books? Well try to keep your eyeballs in your heads, folks, because I'm going to tell it like it is. Straight up truth! Ahem, anyway.

SO, I like to read (duh), and because there are way way way more books out there than I could possibly ever consume even if reading was my full time job, I also enjoy book reviews. Especially clever, funny, insightful reviews that are as entertaining to read as they are informative about the book (see all of Smart Bitches). I have an RSS feed of dozens of reviewers I read on a regular basis just because I like hearing about books. This list includes reviewers whose opinions I never agree with, but who I keep reading just because I like seeing the other side. And as an author, I especially love book reviewers because without them, getting any attention for a debut novel that doesn't have a big ad push behind it would be nearly impossible.

I know what you're saying, "Ok, Rachel, we get it, you're a book review nerd. Why are you stating the obvious?" Well, because there's been some shenanigans going on across the internet that, I feel, need some addressing.

First off, let's review what a book reviewer actually is. A book reviewer is someone who reads and gives their opinions so that other people who might be interested in a title can get a taste for if the book is their thing or not before they purchase it. This means a book reviewer's audience is their readers, the people who come to their site or column or Goodreads account to check out what books are worth pursuing. A book reviewer has no obligation to give a book a good review. A book reviewer has no obligation to review a book AT ALL (well, unless they work as a reviewer for a paper that demands reviews of certain books as part of the job).

The vast majority of book reviewers these days, especially in genre fiction, write reviews as a labor of love. They don't get paid for it other than whatever advertising they can get from their websites, and many don't make any money off their reviews at all. With this in mind, I get astoundingly frustrated when I see things like this. Yep, that is a contract sent by a (small) publisher to a book reviewer. A CONTRACT, for a book review, telling them things like what review system they should use, and trying to make them sign over rights to their review, etc. etc. And in return for all this rights snatching and bombastic downtalking, the lowly reviewer has the honor of reviewing the publisher's books.

*deep, calming breath*

Ok, so this is one really horrid example of how people can get forget the fact that every time a book reviewer selects a book to talk about, they are doing the publisher a favor. But there are plenty of examples of authors and publishers treating reviewers and book bloggers like they are the ones who should be grateful, and that's just not how things works. A good review is not the reward you get for sending someone a free copy of your book. Every review, good, bad, or otherwise, is a gift. Each one represents a book lover taking time out of their life to read and write something thoughtful about your work. Authors and publishers should spend their time worrying about how they can thank reviewers and make getting books to them easier, not how they can best ensure a stream of positive reviews in time to meet their pub date.

So, just in case I haven't made it clear yet, let me go ahead and give you Rachel Aaron's official policy on book reviews:

If you reviewed my book, thank you. If you loved it and said so, you made my day a million times over, thank you! If you hated it, I'm sorry, but still, thank you for reviewing it. If you reviewed it on Amazon, thank you. If you gave it one star, it made me sad, but I'm STILL GLAD YOU DID IT. I said it before and I'll say it again, every review is a gift. Every single person who took their time to say something, anything, about my book deserves my appreciation and thanks.

There are thousands and thousands of books published every year in the US alone. For a new author like myself, the greatest threat is getting lost in that sea of titles. My fear isn't getting bad reviews, it's having my book sink because no one knew it was there. Every time someone writes a review of my work, even if that review isn't glowing, new readers hear about my book, and the risk of fading away grows less.

Book review work is demanding, the least I can do is try my utmost to make sure it is never thankless. So to all reviewers out there, the big ones and the small ones, the pros and the casual Amazon raters, thank you. Thank you for reviewing my book. Thank you for reviewing books period. Thank you for helping to get new authors going and bring attention to older books that might have gotten overlooked. I owe a great many of my sales to my reviews, and I never, ever forget that.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you. And if anyone tries to treat you badly, I will cut them.

Yours forever,
Rachel

Orbit France made me a BOOK TRAILER!

Seriously BLOWN AWAY!


La légende d'Eli Monpress, Le voleur aux... by Orbit_Books

It's in French, but you get the general gist. DailyMotion is kind of annoying with ads, I'll put up a better link if I can I get one. Still, the trailer is COOL. Soooooo cool!!! Thank you guys!!

Fantastic Eli Review, now in English!

So a few days ago I was utterly blown over by an incredibly imaginative comic-style review from Sita at http://www.sorcelleries.net. Only problem (for me, at least)? It was in French! But then, as I bemoaned never getting to read it, Sita contacted me over Twitter with an offer to translate! Rachel's Day: MADE! So, without further ado, here is the translated review!



Is that not the best thing ever? Thanks again to the wonderfully talented Sita for drawing this! Her other reviews are just as cool, you should totally go to her site and check them out! You can read the original French version here if you're cool like that. Thanks a million times, Sita, and I hope you enjoy the other books when they come out in French!

- Rachel

The Spirit War, coming at you!

As you might have noticed from the lovely new look, I've updated my website and blog to match my glorious new covers!
I mean, can't have new covers without a new site, can you?
But that's not the best part. The BEST part is that my new site includes a big, 3 chapter sample from The Spirit War, including the prologue which might as well be a Josef short story! It's still a long wait until the book comes out in June, but hopefully this will help ease the wait. Or make it worse? Either way, I hope you enjoy it, along with my spiffy new site!
Now, back to the final edits on Spirit's End. Siiigh, it feels like the end, too. Poor Eli, he was so enjoying being the main character. Don't worry, Eli, you'll always be my main character! (Eli: You say that to all your characters. Rachel: *innocent whistling*)

A happy New Year indeed!

There is no one more excited about 2012 than I am, and for reasons that have nothing to do with ancient calendars. 2012 is the year when the final two Eli books come out at last! I am SO HAPPY about this! Finally I get to share the end of the story with everyone, which means the time when I can stop worrying about slipping up and dropping a spoiler is in sight. Woo!

The Spirit War comes out in June, and Spirit's End, the fifth and final Eli novel, comes out in November. And even though I'm not supposed to have favorites, I have to tell you that these two books are probably the best I've ever written. I am UNCOMFORTABLY EXCITED about people getting to read them at last!
To celebrate, here's a large, lovely version of the cover of The Spirit War, as well as the back cover blurb! (Warning, back blurb might be a spoiler if you haven't read the first three books. Not a bad spoiler, but if you're very sensitive about these things, you might want to skip it. Or read the first three books, a much better idea!) 


"All Eli Monpress wanted was the biggest bounty in the world. He never meant to have obligations, or friends, but master swordsman Josef Leichten and Nico, the daughter of the dead mountain, have saved Eli's life too many times to be called anything else. And when a friend upsets your plans and ruins all your hard work, what's a thief to do?
After years of running from his birthright, Josef is forced to return home and take up his title as prince. War is coming for humans and spirits between the Immortal Empress and the Council of Thrones, and Josef's little island is right in the middle. But conquest isn't the Empress's only goal, she has a personal vendetta against a certain thief.
What started as a simple side trip to help a friend is rapidly turning into the most dangerous job of Eli's career, but he can't back out now, not when Josef needs him. But when you're under attack from all sides, even the world's greatest thief can find himself cornered, and it's going to take all the fast talking Eli can muster to survive the next few days."
ALSO! Did you see that the lovely and amazing Felicia Day reviewed the first three Eli novels on Goodreads? Well she did, and she had lots of nice things to say! I've been a fan of hers for years, and I gotta tell you, I nearly died when I saw she called The Spirit Eater, caps lock quote, "a REALLY good book." To say I was fangirling over this would be an irresponsible understatement. I was positively levitating with happiness. Having people you admire read and like your books out of the blue? Priceless.
And in other big news, I've written a short story set in the Eli world that will be coming out on Feb. 15 to celebrate the Omnibus! It's called Spirit's Oath, and it's the story of how Miranda and Gin met. Here's the full blurb:
"Four years before the events of The Spirit Thief, Miranda Lyonette was a young apprentice Spiritualist on the cusp of a promising career. But on the eve of her return from bonding a wind spirit, a night that should have been a celebration, she finds instead that her father has come to take her home. Now, Miranda must choose between her duty to her family and her future at the Spirit Court. But while she's trying to make her parents see reason and avoid an arranged marriage to a man she can't stand, she stumbles across the one one spirit who needs her more than any other, a caged ghosthound who doesn't want her help. To save him, Miranda will have to earn the dog's trust, but what she gets in return is a friendship deeper than anything she expected."
At 20k words it's more like a mini-novel than a short story, but if you enjoy ghosthounds you should totally give it a try. It will be available digitally through Orbit Short Fiction, which is a really fantastic little story shop if you haven't seen it yet.
Whew, ok, I think I got everything there. Lots of great Eli stuff coming your way, I hope you're ready! I know I am!
Thanks for reading!- Rachel

The Two Bird Minimum

In my Eli Monpress series, Eli, my charming degenerate of a main character, has a favorite saying - "My stones have a two bird minimum." Of course, since it's my book and Eli is my character, this is also one of my favorite sayings, and I try to apply it as often as possible. Especially in my writing, and especially when I'm planning out a scene.
For example, yesterday I was cooking dinner and thinking about this new scene I was going to add to my new novel (the one from my 12 Days of Glory post, for those of you playing along at home). My editor had requested a few changes, and I'd decided right off the bat that a new scene was needed. But while I had the perfect scene in mind, I had a problem. While this scene nicely solved the problem my editor (quite rightly) wanted addressed, it didn't do anything else. Since my scenes tend to run around 2k, I was reasonably sure this new addition would only fatten my novel by around that much. But, to make the scene work I'd have to move my characters to a new location, which would add another 1.5-2k words to get them there, describe things, and get them back. And then there'd be everyone else's reaction to the location change (the problem with an ensemble cast, all those story lines have to be taken into consideration), so that's another 1k spent covering my bases and 5k in total once everything was added in.
5k is a LOT in a 110k novel, almost a full chapter, and way too much space to dedicate to fixing one measly problem. But I liked the scene a lot, so, I decided to make it earn its keep in the novel and set about finding other work for it to do. If this scene was my stone, I was going to whack as many birds as possible with it by the time those five thousand words were done. 
As I've talked about in tiresome detail before, when I write a scene, I demand that it do three things - advance the story, reveal new information, and pull the reader forward. But the real secret I've found for scenes is that you can hit every one of these points from multiple angles at once, and the more angles you hit, the better the scene tends to get. 
Complexity in a novel isn't a matter of having lots of people doing lots of things, it's about how well those plots are revealed and well they fit together. When I plan a scene, I try to do at least two stories at once, preferably more. For example, if my main characters have to go to a space station to get information about the main plot, I'll put hints of a secondary character's secret past on that station as well, and then maybe use the stop over as an excuse to have my main couple get some down time to have a serious conversation. So, in this one scene, a stop at a space station, I've hit on three story lines: the main plot, the subplot, and the romantic plot. Any or all of these plots can hit the three scene hooks for me - the discoveries for the main plot can advance the story, the hints of the subplot reveal new information and pull the reader forward, and the growing romantic tension can pull the reader forward and advance the story and reveal new information, especially if we get a hint of the hero's mysterious past. The possibilities are endless!
Every time you add a scene, you're bulking up your novel. You're putting more words between your reader and the end of the story. The way I see it, it's up to me to make those words count. It's up to us, as writers, to make each scene necessary, interesting, and purposeful, to really make the scene work to earn its place in the book. To this end, whenever I write a scene, I'm constantly thinking "what else can it do?", what else can I make happen. Of course, you can go too far with this and overload a scene, but part of writing is learning how much is too much, too little, and just right.
In the end, my new scene did end up being right about 5k long, but rather than just solving the problem I'd created it to solve, the new location gave information about the world at large, offered a perfect set up for some foreshadowing of later events, got me some great character interaction, and turned into a really fun little interlude before the big battle. Many birds were hit, including some I didn't know were up there. Final verdict: Great success! I wish you many great successes as well. Keep writing!
- Rachel


 

Out and About

I am breaking my writing hermitage for some news!

First off, if you haven't already heard, I will be a guest this weekend at RoundCon! It's most an anime convention, but thanks to John Hartness, there are a lot of writerly types showing up as well. Best of all, though, I'll get to hang out with Kalayna Price, who floats my boat all the way to China. If you're in the area and have a chance to stop by the con, please find me and say hello! We will gab Eli and I will spill all the secrets for you!

Second, I did an interview with Tracy S. Morris about my writing process. I think the most interesting new topic I talk about in there is the difference in my process for pansters/discovery writers. Namely, how I don't know how people write like that, but if you do, more power to you!

Again, I do hope to see some people at RoundCon if anyone lives in SC! People who've read my books are my favorite people in the world.

- Rachel

Eli Monpress Week!

The lovely Mel over at Mel's Random Reviews has declared this Eli Monpress Week! Eli, of course, would like to remind people that every week is Eli Monpress week, but he is none-the-less delighted to accept the honor. All week there will be reviews of my books and the audio versions as well as a big fat interview Mel and I did earlier in the month full of news about the new books and some really great questions about where Eli and the crew came from coming later in the week. I hope you'll head over and check it out!