Robyn Bachar's Blog, page 20
October 21, 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013 Prep: Tips for Making Your Daily Wordcount
During NaNoWriMo, you have 30 days to write 50,000 words. That's about 1,667 words per day to hit 50k on November 30th. Some days that goal seems like a piece of cake, and other days every single word is agony. Here are a few tips to help you make your word count goal.
1. Avoid things that are distracting to you.
Notice the emphasis on "to you" there? Yeah. Everyone's writing process is different, and only you know what's going to distract you from getting words on the page. For example, I can't work if it is quiet. Seriously. Silence makes my ears ring, and it makes me twitchy. I have to have music or the TV on in order to be able to write. Some people need silence. Some people need to turn off the Internet. Occasionally I'll put my cell phone in another room so I'm not distracted by the urge to check for texts or tweets.
2. Be comfortable.
I have a lovely desk with a fast computer and a widescreen monitor, but I do most of my writing on my laptop. Why? Because the couch is comfy. I sit at my desk when I have my serious face on and I'm editing or proofreading, but the couch is the best for me when I need to get the words out. As much as I love coffee, I don't get as much writing accomplished in a coffee shop, because my muse refuses to cooperate if my table is wobbly or my chair is too stiff. She's a diva that way.
3. If you get stuck, skip ahead.
Some scenes are harder to write than others. If you hit a block, don't fixate on finishing whatever you're stuck on. Skip it and come back to it later. I tend to get stuck on fight scenes, so for the first draft I'll put in a placeholder, like [fight scene here]. This is why I've come to appreciate writing a plot outline ahead of time, because it gives me a guide to the action.
4. Declare a Word War.
In a Word War, you battle other writers over a set amount of time (usually an hour), and the one with the most words at the end wins. BFF Diana and I used to Word War all the time, with the loser buying a sandwich for the winner. You can do battle at a write-in or online, whatever floats your boat. There are often people on Twitter looking for opponents.
5. Don't edit.
November is for writing. December is for editing. Resist the urge to go back and obsessively fiddle with a scene you've already written. It's okay if it's not perfect. Really nothing is supposed to be perfect in your first draft--that's why it's your first draft. After you have the words down and you've succeeded in writing the beginning, middle and end, then you can edit to your heart's content.
Have any NaNo tips you'd like to share? Please feel free to leave them in the comments!
1. Avoid things that are distracting to you.
Notice the emphasis on "to you" there? Yeah. Everyone's writing process is different, and only you know what's going to distract you from getting words on the page. For example, I can't work if it is quiet. Seriously. Silence makes my ears ring, and it makes me twitchy. I have to have music or the TV on in order to be able to write. Some people need silence. Some people need to turn off the Internet. Occasionally I'll put my cell phone in another room so I'm not distracted by the urge to check for texts or tweets.
2. Be comfortable.
I have a lovely desk with a fast computer and a widescreen monitor, but I do most of my writing on my laptop. Why? Because the couch is comfy. I sit at my desk when I have my serious face on and I'm editing or proofreading, but the couch is the best for me when I need to get the words out. As much as I love coffee, I don't get as much writing accomplished in a coffee shop, because my muse refuses to cooperate if my table is wobbly or my chair is too stiff. She's a diva that way.
3. If you get stuck, skip ahead.
Some scenes are harder to write than others. If you hit a block, don't fixate on finishing whatever you're stuck on. Skip it and come back to it later. I tend to get stuck on fight scenes, so for the first draft I'll put in a placeholder, like [fight scene here]. This is why I've come to appreciate writing a plot outline ahead of time, because it gives me a guide to the action.
4. Declare a Word War.
In a Word War, you battle other writers over a set amount of time (usually an hour), and the one with the most words at the end wins. BFF Diana and I used to Word War all the time, with the loser buying a sandwich for the winner. You can do battle at a write-in or online, whatever floats your boat. There are often people on Twitter looking for opponents.
5. Don't edit.
November is for writing. December is for editing. Resist the urge to go back and obsessively fiddle with a scene you've already written. It's okay if it's not perfect. Really nothing is supposed to be perfect in your first draft--that's why it's your first draft. After you have the words down and you've succeeded in writing the beginning, middle and end, then you can edit to your heart's content.
Have any NaNo tips you'd like to share? Please feel free to leave them in the comments!
October 17, 2013
NaNo Revisted 2010: Bad Witch Sequel 2.0
2010 was a busy year for me, author-wise. In April I attended the Chicago North Spring Fling and fangirled all over SB Sarah Wendell, and Blood, Smoke and Mirrors released in ebook in May. The book did rather well and received several good reviews. It went on to become a finalist in the Paranormal Romance Category of the 2011 EPIC eBook Awards and won third place in the Light Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Category of the 14th Annual PRISM Contest for Published Authors. Not bad at all.
But, as I mentioned, the second Bad Witch book had been rejected. Cue much authorial angst and despair.
So for NaNoWriMo that year, I wrote an all new second book: Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered . This one, as you may have guessed, was accepted. ;)
Here's a snippet from the book:
“Where are we going?” Lex asked.
“Millennium Park. You can follow my car. Well, you can try to follow my car in that SUV of yours. If you lose me, we’ll meet up at the gate,” she replied.
“Which gate?” I asked.
“Lord and Lady, you really don’t know anything, do you? The Cloud Gate.” I blinked at her dumbly, and she shook her head. “The bean. You’ve seen the bean, right?”
“Yeah, that big mirrored thingy? Oh. Oh…” I said as realization dawned on me like sunrise over the lake. The bean was a giant piece of modern art in Millennium Park that looked like a big, mirrored kidney bean. It had never occurred to me that it could have more than mundane tourist-attracting powers, but it was a giant mirror. It could be used as a gateway to all kinds of places, including Faerie. Huh.
After she locked up behind us, we followed Patience out of her office and into the parking lot. The lot was pretty full, thanks to the plethora of trendy bars and restaurants in the area, and she made a beeline for a red sports car. Lex let out a low whistle, so I assumed he recognized whatever it was. I don’t know much of anything about cars, but it looked fast and expensive. Dealing with demons must pay well. We tried to follow behind her as we made our way downtown, but she wove in and out of traffic like she was auditioning for the latest Fast and Furious, and I knew Lex wouldn’t drive that fast with me in the car. Mostly because I would scream like a scared little girl the entire time.
As we approached the city, the twenty-four-hour Harrison radio station got louder in my head, because he was home in his tower. At first I was worried that he would wonder what I was up to, but then I realized that he was busy entertaining a woman for dinner. She was the dinner. He caught my irritation long enough to comment that he’d rather be eating me, and I told him to die in a fire. Zach went back to playing with his food, and I ignored him.
We made it downtown and parked in a parking garage that cost a truly obscene amount of money, and walked the rest of the way to Millennium Park. Plenty of people were milling about, and I wondered if there was a concert going on. The crowd helped us blend in, and the long cashmere coat I wore concealed the sword and dagger strapped to my side. Patience was waiting in front of the bean, her hands on her hips. For someone named Patience, she didn’t seem to have much of it. We drew to a halt in front of her, and she reached into her messenger bag and withdrew three rusty, old-fashioned keys tied to long, black ribbons. She slung one around her neck before handing the other two to us.
“Do not take those off until we’re back here. I mean that. I’m not obligated to go after you if you end up somewhere else in the shadow realm,” she said.
“Right.” I slipped the key on and hid it beneath my blouse, and it tingled against my skin. “Now what?”
“Follow me.”
Patience turned on her heel and marched toward the bean. It was dark, but the park was still open for a bit, and a few people were hanging around. Our guide ignored them, and I hurried to keep up. She walked straight into the mirrored bottom of the bean, and instead of smacking into it, the surface enveloped her. Not unlike my dressing mirror at home when it was tuned into Faerie, but on a more epic scale. Lex and I followed a few moments later, and our surroundings went from twilight to near-total darkness. The ground turned soft and squishy beneath my boots, and the temperature plummeted. One moment it was a chilly October night, and the next we walked right into early December frost.
Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered is available in print and ebook from Amazon, , and Samhain Publishing.
But, as I mentioned, the second Bad Witch book had been rejected. Cue much authorial angst and despair.
So for NaNoWriMo that year, I wrote an all new second book: Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered . This one, as you may have guessed, was accepted. ;)
Here's a snippet from the book:
“Where are we going?” Lex asked.“Millennium Park. You can follow my car. Well, you can try to follow my car in that SUV of yours. If you lose me, we’ll meet up at the gate,” she replied.
“Which gate?” I asked.
“Lord and Lady, you really don’t know anything, do you? The Cloud Gate.” I blinked at her dumbly, and she shook her head. “The bean. You’ve seen the bean, right?”
“Yeah, that big mirrored thingy? Oh. Oh…” I said as realization dawned on me like sunrise over the lake. The bean was a giant piece of modern art in Millennium Park that looked like a big, mirrored kidney bean. It had never occurred to me that it could have more than mundane tourist-attracting powers, but it was a giant mirror. It could be used as a gateway to all kinds of places, including Faerie. Huh.
After she locked up behind us, we followed Patience out of her office and into the parking lot. The lot was pretty full, thanks to the plethora of trendy bars and restaurants in the area, and she made a beeline for a red sports car. Lex let out a low whistle, so I assumed he recognized whatever it was. I don’t know much of anything about cars, but it looked fast and expensive. Dealing with demons must pay well. We tried to follow behind her as we made our way downtown, but she wove in and out of traffic like she was auditioning for the latest Fast and Furious, and I knew Lex wouldn’t drive that fast with me in the car. Mostly because I would scream like a scared little girl the entire time.
As we approached the city, the twenty-four-hour Harrison radio station got louder in my head, because he was home in his tower. At first I was worried that he would wonder what I was up to, but then I realized that he was busy entertaining a woman for dinner. She was the dinner. He caught my irritation long enough to comment that he’d rather be eating me, and I told him to die in a fire. Zach went back to playing with his food, and I ignored him.
We made it downtown and parked in a parking garage that cost a truly obscene amount of money, and walked the rest of the way to Millennium Park. Plenty of people were milling about, and I wondered if there was a concert going on. The crowd helped us blend in, and the long cashmere coat I wore concealed the sword and dagger strapped to my side. Patience was waiting in front of the bean, her hands on her hips. For someone named Patience, she didn’t seem to have much of it. We drew to a halt in front of her, and she reached into her messenger bag and withdrew three rusty, old-fashioned keys tied to long, black ribbons. She slung one around her neck before handing the other two to us.
“Do not take those off until we’re back here. I mean that. I’m not obligated to go after you if you end up somewhere else in the shadow realm,” she said.
“Right.” I slipped the key on and hid it beneath my blouse, and it tingled against my skin. “Now what?”
“Follow me.”
Patience turned on her heel and marched toward the bean. It was dark, but the park was still open for a bit, and a few people were hanging around. Our guide ignored them, and I hurried to keep up. She walked straight into the mirrored bottom of the bean, and instead of smacking into it, the surface enveloped her. Not unlike my dressing mirror at home when it was tuned into Faerie, but on a more epic scale. Lex and I followed a few moments later, and our surroundings went from twilight to near-total darkness. The ground turned soft and squishy beneath my boots, and the temperature plummeted. One moment it was a chilly October night, and the next we walked right into early December frost.
Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered is available in print and ebook from Amazon, , and Samhain Publishing.
October 14, 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013 Prep: What the heck is a trope?
My local RWA chapter has recently been discussing tropes and how to use them in our writing. Today I'm sharing some of my tropetastic findings with you, you lucky intarweb inhabitants. Complete with references!
What is a trope?
According to TV Tropes [i], “Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations.” In other words, a trope is a plot, character, setting, device, or pattern that the audience recognizes, like the unassuming farm boy hero, the rebellion against an oppressive government, or the wise mentor character [ii]. Tropes make stories run, and all stories have tropes. They’re kind of like the building blocks of genre fiction, or bits of basic structural code.
In the article "Originality in Genre Fiction – An Oxymoron?" [iii] the appeal of genre fiction to readers is credited to the “reassuring repetition of central archetypes, elements, themes, or tropes. … [G]enre books are often ‘coded’ in a certain way for their readers, meaning that when you encounter a big, dark, cop hero, you expect an alpha taming story (i.e. the beauty and the beast retelling). … I would argue that this coding is part of the pleasure and satisfaction genre readers derive when they seek out genre books.”
Essentially, romance readers expect a love story and a happily ever after, mystery readers expect a crime to be solved, fantasy readers expect dragons. Okay, maybe not dragons, but the reader goes into the story with expectations he or she assumes will be met based on the genre. Tropes are the conventions within the genre. Like in the above quote, if a romance reader sees an alpha male being all alpha-y, it's expected that he's probably the hero, and that the heroine is going to have to "tame" him. (Preferably with a swift kick to the groin if he's being an alph-hole.) Tropes are appealing because of these familiar expectations. A reader is rewarded with an expected payoff like the hero and heroine finally defeating the villain and true love conquering all, or a reader can be surprised when a favorite trope is twisted in a new or interesting way (like, “OMG dude, I did NOT see that coming. That was awesome!”).
How is a trope different from a cliché?
A trope becomes a cliché when it is predictable to the point of boredom (like, “OMG dude, I saw that coming miles away. I just wasted hours of my life that I’ll never get back.”) [ii]. If tropes are bits of software code, then an author uses tropes to build an app that is familiar to the user and meets their needs, but fresh and exciting enough to warrant downloading it. It's the difference between "Yay, I'm so glad I got this app! It has everything I wanted!" and "Seriously? I have twelve apps like this already. All they did was change the font color. Total ripoff."
Examples of Popular Tropes in Romance Novels
Friends-to-Lovers/Best-Friends-to-Lovers: Rhonda Helms [iv] explains this one as, “[T]he girl who had a crush on her brother’s bestie for years and years, and he saw her as nothing more than a friend…until one day, VA-VA-VOOM, suddenly she comes back into his life looking SMOKING hot and he’s all, holy crap.” I've always liked this trope, because instead of two strangers falling into insta-love after just meeting, these characters have a history together.Reunited Lovers: This is related to the Friends-to-Lovers trope. These characters have a history; they loved each other once, but it didn’t work out, like in Nora Roberts’s The Key of Knowledge and Face the Fire. I LOVE the Three Sisters Island trilogy, so Face the Fire has a special place in my heart. Mia is one tough cookie, and she doesn't want a damn thing to do Sam ever again. Fate, of course, has other ideas for them. Awesome ensues.Enemies-to-Lovers/Hate-to-Love: In Beyond Heaving Bosoms [v], Sarah Wendell refers to this as “I don’t wanna love you. I don’t wanna like you. I can’t stop thinking about your hair, dammit!” These two characters hate each other, usually due to some past wrong, yet are extremely attracted to each other. There is much angsty hate make-out.Arranged Marriage/Marriage of Convenience [vi]: This trope is often used in historical romances, and is a reader favorite. These characters think that marriage will solve all their political/financial/social problems and that joining forces will be “convenient” for both of them. Then both characters do the one thing that both of them swore they would never do: They fall in love! This is usually followed by pages and pages of angst about, "I love [character], but [he/she] will never love me in return!" So much angst.Broken Marriage: This trope often happens when the Arranged/Convenient Marriage goes horribly wrong. Maybe the bride was sent away to the New World, and they’ve spent years apart. Or maybe the characters were high school sweethearts who married too young and divorced, but are reunited as older, wiser people. In the words of the philosopher P!nk, these characters are not broken, just bent, and can learn to love again.Class Differences: Hoo boy. She’s a society darling, he’s the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He’s a trust-fund baby from old money, she’s the tough businesswoman who worked her way up from nothing. She’s a princess, he’s a pauper. Clearly they can never be together, but true love conquers all. There is much rejoicing.Road Trip: “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.” These characters are on a journey somewhere, and they’re stuck together for the duration. Shenanigans ensue.Sacrifice: In this trope, a character is dutifully sacrificing for someone they love, such as working two jobs to support a sick loved one, giving up their college fund so a sibling can go to school in his/her place, or working the family business instead of pursuing his/her dreams (think "It's A Wonderful Life"). Then along comes another character who can make everything better. Or worse. Or just make the character see that things will get better, and this too shall pass.The Big Misunderstanding [v]: The Big Mis is a common trope of old school romance novels, usually historicals. The Big Mis is based on an unfortunate circumstance—a character overhears gossip about another character, or witnesses a character doing something innocent that is misinterpreted. The Big Mis is a world of bad juju, because the “conflict” it creates can usually be resolved by 5 minutes of honest conversation between the characters.One-Night-Stand: Often this trope results in another trope, the Secret Baby. The characters have a steamy night of passion. Consequences ensue. Sexy Protector: This trope is a standard for romantic suspense novels. One character is in trouble—on the run from the law, the mob, ninjas, aliens, zombies—and is being protected by a sexy authority figure. This can lead to the One-Night-Stand and then the Secret Baby. Romantic suspense is not really my genre, and though I can certainly understand the appeal of a sexy man (or better, woman) in uniform, but I just don't get the "we are being chased by bad guys, let's stop here for a moment of life-affirming lovin'." Anyway...Boardroom Romance: Powerful execs, using office furniture in ways that the manufacturer never intended. This has seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to the recent obsession with billionaire heroes. (Yes, I am guilty of having a billionaire hero--well, Harrison's not exactly a hero.) I wonder if this has to do with the sex appeal of characters in well-tailored business attire. Rawr.
Okay. But why are tropes important to me?
Because you can use tropes as inspiration in plotting your novel. Take two or three, incorporate them into your story, then make them yours. Everyone knows the hero's journey--one moment a character is in their ordinary world, then something happens to drag them out of it, drama and angst ensues, then the conflict is solved, the end. It's how you tell your character's story that makes it yours. All the nutritious world-building, all the delicious character quirks, the tasty dialogue, the twist of lime. Mix together, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, and viola! A story that your reader will devour and leave them hungry for more.
So what are your favorite tropes? I loves me some Secret Baby romances. I almost always include a secret baby in the first draft. I can't help it.
References
[i] Television Tropes and Idioms. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://tvtropes.org.
[ii] Heine, A. (2011, June 10). Tropes vs. Clichés [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://www.adamheine.com.
[iii] Reader, R. (2010, October 19). Originality in Genre Fiction – An Oxymoron? [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://dearauthor.com.
[iv] Helms, R. (2012, April 23). You Tell Us: Your Favorite Story Tropes [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://carinapress.com.
[v] Wendell, S., and Tan, C. (2009). Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels. New York: Simon & Schuster.
[vi] Crutcher, W. (2012, October 3). Romance Tropes and Themes: Marriages of Convenience [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://www.rtbookreviews.com.
What is a trope?
According to TV Tropes [i], “Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations.” In other words, a trope is a plot, character, setting, device, or pattern that the audience recognizes, like the unassuming farm boy hero, the rebellion against an oppressive government, or the wise mentor character [ii]. Tropes make stories run, and all stories have tropes. They’re kind of like the building blocks of genre fiction, or bits of basic structural code.
In the article "Originality in Genre Fiction – An Oxymoron?" [iii] the appeal of genre fiction to readers is credited to the “reassuring repetition of central archetypes, elements, themes, or tropes. … [G]enre books are often ‘coded’ in a certain way for their readers, meaning that when you encounter a big, dark, cop hero, you expect an alpha taming story (i.e. the beauty and the beast retelling). … I would argue that this coding is part of the pleasure and satisfaction genre readers derive when they seek out genre books.”
Essentially, romance readers expect a love story and a happily ever after, mystery readers expect a crime to be solved, fantasy readers expect dragons. Okay, maybe not dragons, but the reader goes into the story with expectations he or she assumes will be met based on the genre. Tropes are the conventions within the genre. Like in the above quote, if a romance reader sees an alpha male being all alpha-y, it's expected that he's probably the hero, and that the heroine is going to have to "tame" him. (Preferably with a swift kick to the groin if he's being an alph-hole.) Tropes are appealing because of these familiar expectations. A reader is rewarded with an expected payoff like the hero and heroine finally defeating the villain and true love conquering all, or a reader can be surprised when a favorite trope is twisted in a new or interesting way (like, “OMG dude, I did NOT see that coming. That was awesome!”).
How is a trope different from a cliché?
A trope becomes a cliché when it is predictable to the point of boredom (like, “OMG dude, I saw that coming miles away. I just wasted hours of my life that I’ll never get back.”) [ii]. If tropes are bits of software code, then an author uses tropes to build an app that is familiar to the user and meets their needs, but fresh and exciting enough to warrant downloading it. It's the difference between "Yay, I'm so glad I got this app! It has everything I wanted!" and "Seriously? I have twelve apps like this already. All they did was change the font color. Total ripoff."
Examples of Popular Tropes in Romance Novels
Friends-to-Lovers/Best-Friends-to-Lovers: Rhonda Helms [iv] explains this one as, “[T]he girl who had a crush on her brother’s bestie for years and years, and he saw her as nothing more than a friend…until one day, VA-VA-VOOM, suddenly she comes back into his life looking SMOKING hot and he’s all, holy crap.” I've always liked this trope, because instead of two strangers falling into insta-love after just meeting, these characters have a history together.Reunited Lovers: This is related to the Friends-to-Lovers trope. These characters have a history; they loved each other once, but it didn’t work out, like in Nora Roberts’s The Key of Knowledge and Face the Fire. I LOVE the Three Sisters Island trilogy, so Face the Fire has a special place in my heart. Mia is one tough cookie, and she doesn't want a damn thing to do Sam ever again. Fate, of course, has other ideas for them. Awesome ensues.Enemies-to-Lovers/Hate-to-Love: In Beyond Heaving Bosoms [v], Sarah Wendell refers to this as “I don’t wanna love you. I don’t wanna like you. I can’t stop thinking about your hair, dammit!” These two characters hate each other, usually due to some past wrong, yet are extremely attracted to each other. There is much angsty hate make-out.Arranged Marriage/Marriage of Convenience [vi]: This trope is often used in historical romances, and is a reader favorite. These characters think that marriage will solve all their political/financial/social problems and that joining forces will be “convenient” for both of them. Then both characters do the one thing that both of them swore they would never do: They fall in love! This is usually followed by pages and pages of angst about, "I love [character], but [he/she] will never love me in return!" So much angst.Broken Marriage: This trope often happens when the Arranged/Convenient Marriage goes horribly wrong. Maybe the bride was sent away to the New World, and they’ve spent years apart. Or maybe the characters were high school sweethearts who married too young and divorced, but are reunited as older, wiser people. In the words of the philosopher P!nk, these characters are not broken, just bent, and can learn to love again.Class Differences: Hoo boy. She’s a society darling, he’s the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He’s a trust-fund baby from old money, she’s the tough businesswoman who worked her way up from nothing. She’s a princess, he’s a pauper. Clearly they can never be together, but true love conquers all. There is much rejoicing.Road Trip: “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.” These characters are on a journey somewhere, and they’re stuck together for the duration. Shenanigans ensue.Sacrifice: In this trope, a character is dutifully sacrificing for someone they love, such as working two jobs to support a sick loved one, giving up their college fund so a sibling can go to school in his/her place, or working the family business instead of pursuing his/her dreams (think "It's A Wonderful Life"). Then along comes another character who can make everything better. Or worse. Or just make the character see that things will get better, and this too shall pass.The Big Misunderstanding [v]: The Big Mis is a common trope of old school romance novels, usually historicals. The Big Mis is based on an unfortunate circumstance—a character overhears gossip about another character, or witnesses a character doing something innocent that is misinterpreted. The Big Mis is a world of bad juju, because the “conflict” it creates can usually be resolved by 5 minutes of honest conversation between the characters.One-Night-Stand: Often this trope results in another trope, the Secret Baby. The characters have a steamy night of passion. Consequences ensue. Sexy Protector: This trope is a standard for romantic suspense novels. One character is in trouble—on the run from the law, the mob, ninjas, aliens, zombies—and is being protected by a sexy authority figure. This can lead to the One-Night-Stand and then the Secret Baby. Romantic suspense is not really my genre, and though I can certainly understand the appeal of a sexy man (or better, woman) in uniform, but I just don't get the "we are being chased by bad guys, let's stop here for a moment of life-affirming lovin'." Anyway...Boardroom Romance: Powerful execs, using office furniture in ways that the manufacturer never intended. This has seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to the recent obsession with billionaire heroes. (Yes, I am guilty of having a billionaire hero--well, Harrison's not exactly a hero.) I wonder if this has to do with the sex appeal of characters in well-tailored business attire. Rawr.
Okay. But why are tropes important to me?
Because you can use tropes as inspiration in plotting your novel. Take two or three, incorporate them into your story, then make them yours. Everyone knows the hero's journey--one moment a character is in their ordinary world, then something happens to drag them out of it, drama and angst ensues, then the conflict is solved, the end. It's how you tell your character's story that makes it yours. All the nutritious world-building, all the delicious character quirks, the tasty dialogue, the twist of lime. Mix together, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, and viola! A story that your reader will devour and leave them hungry for more.
So what are your favorite tropes? I loves me some Secret Baby romances. I almost always include a secret baby in the first draft. I can't help it.
References
[i] Television Tropes and Idioms. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://tvtropes.org.
[ii] Heine, A. (2011, June 10). Tropes vs. Clichés [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://www.adamheine.com.
[iii] Reader, R. (2010, October 19). Originality in Genre Fiction – An Oxymoron? [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://dearauthor.com.
[iv] Helms, R. (2012, April 23). You Tell Us: Your Favorite Story Tropes [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://carinapress.com.
[v] Wendell, S., and Tan, C. (2009). Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels. New York: Simon & Schuster.
[vi] Crutcher, W. (2012, October 3). Romance Tropes and Themes: Marriages of Convenience [Web log post]. Retrieved October 11, 2013 from http://www.rtbookreviews.com.
October 10, 2013
NaNo Revisted: 2009, the Bad Witch that Wasn't
Every author dreams of what they'll do when they get The Call. In my case, it was The Email. On November 17, 2009 I received the offer from Mr. Sam Hain to publish my 2006 NaNo
Blood, Smoke and Mirrors
. There was SO MUCH REJOICING! At the time BFF Diana was also co-worker Diana, so she was the first one to hear the good news. We had the world's quietest celebratory happy dance of joy in her cubicle.
I was well into my 2009 NaNo, Bloodlines and Broomsticks, the second Bad Witch book, and visions of being a multi-published author danced in my head. I dreamed of being a best seller, of having legions of fans, movie deals, my own theme park...
And then Bloodlines and Broomsticks was rejected. Such is the way of the Force.
It was a hard lesson to learn--just because you've written a novel, doesn't mean it's going to be published, and just because you've published one novel, doesn't mean you'll get published again. Every author has rejection stories. My favorite was the form letter rejection I received at 8 a.m. one Valentine's Day (talk about a mood breaker). Eventually I wrote a new, different second Bad Witch book, Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered . Really the best advice I can give in dealing with rejection is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep writing.
For now, Bloodlines and Broomsticks lives on my hard drive. Occasionally I open it and poke at it, wondering what might have been. Here's a scene from it where Riley and company meet the infamous Zachary Harrison:
Then it clicked, and I recognized him. Zachary Harrison, the real estate mogul. “Shut up!” I said, shocked. Beatrice raised an eyebrow at me, and I pointed at him. “He’s famous. Really famous. Like a movie star.” And he was also the sexiest man alive, according to the gossip magazine currently residing on my coffee table. Though if he were a vampire as Benedick just said, I guess he wouldn’t be very alive. He seemed very tan though. Weren’t vampires supposed to be pale? I was paler than him. Then again I’m paler than most people—when we went to Disney World on a family vacation, Snow White joked that I was fairer than she was.
“Do you want an autograph?” he asked dryly. I actually pondered it for a moment, and then shook my head when my brain kicked back in. Celebrity vampires. What next?
“At any rate, I don’t usually prey on college girls,” Harrison said. “I don’t see a reason why I should be accused of attacking you.”
“Because a necromancer killed my Maureen,” Beatrice said darkly. “Her killer is still out there.”
The dry amusement faded from his face, and he eyed me again.
“You’re related to the former Titania?”
“Yes. She was my grandmother.”
“I see.”
“And if you can swear that you’ve done no harm to Riley or her family, then we can move on to finding the real hunters,” Benedick pointed out. “Can you swear to that, councilman?”
The vampire seemed to carefully consider his words before he replied. “I haven’t harmed her or her family.”
There was something in the way he said it that made me suspicious. “But you know who did?”
“Yes, but they’re both dead.”
“Who was it?” Beatrice asked. The scent of earth and leaves surrounded her, and her expression was deadly calm.
“The names won’t do you any good. Suffice it to say the new Oberon and Titania took care of them.”
That seemed to placate Beatrice somewhat, but I wasn’t convinced. There was no way I was going to take the word of a vampire, especially about the new Titania. “Why should we trust you?”
“You don’t have to. If I may?” Mr. Harrison asked, pointing to his jacket. Being the closest threat, Jeremiah nodded his permission. The vampire reached in and withdrew his cell phone and raised it to his ear. A silent moment passed, and he sighed. “This is business, Duquesne, let me speak with her.”
I frowned. He’d called Marie, the guardian? Why? She hadn’t been much of a help so far. She should’ve been here right now if she was truly investigating the hunter problem. It didn’t speak well for her guardian abilities that Jeremiah and I found a lead she didn’t.
“Good evening, Catherine. I’m in Oak Glen trying to locate Anthony, and I’ve run into a problem with a few people who fall under your jurisdiction. I’d like you to speak with one of them…Yes, one moment.” He held the cell phone out to me, and I reluctantly crossed the room to take it from him. The man made my skin crawl, and the moment I picked up the phone I walked past him to stand next to Jeremiah.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hi,” a woman’s voice greeted me, and she sounded very unhappy. “I’m the Titania, who are you?”
Her brusque tone irritated me, and I stood straighter as I answered. “No, you are the new Titania. I’m Riley O’Driscoll. My grandma was the former one.”
I was well into my 2009 NaNo, Bloodlines and Broomsticks, the second Bad Witch book, and visions of being a multi-published author danced in my head. I dreamed of being a best seller, of having legions of fans, movie deals, my own theme park...
And then Bloodlines and Broomsticks was rejected. Such is the way of the Force.
It was a hard lesson to learn--just because you've written a novel, doesn't mean it's going to be published, and just because you've published one novel, doesn't mean you'll get published again. Every author has rejection stories. My favorite was the form letter rejection I received at 8 a.m. one Valentine's Day (talk about a mood breaker). Eventually I wrote a new, different second Bad Witch book, Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered . Really the best advice I can give in dealing with rejection is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep writing.
For now, Bloodlines and Broomsticks lives on my hard drive. Occasionally I open it and poke at it, wondering what might have been. Here's a scene from it where Riley and company meet the infamous Zachary Harrison:
Then it clicked, and I recognized him. Zachary Harrison, the real estate mogul. “Shut up!” I said, shocked. Beatrice raised an eyebrow at me, and I pointed at him. “He’s famous. Really famous. Like a movie star.” And he was also the sexiest man alive, according to the gossip magazine currently residing on my coffee table. Though if he were a vampire as Benedick just said, I guess he wouldn’t be very alive. He seemed very tan though. Weren’t vampires supposed to be pale? I was paler than him. Then again I’m paler than most people—when we went to Disney World on a family vacation, Snow White joked that I was fairer than she was.
“Do you want an autograph?” he asked dryly. I actually pondered it for a moment, and then shook my head when my brain kicked back in. Celebrity vampires. What next?
“At any rate, I don’t usually prey on college girls,” Harrison said. “I don’t see a reason why I should be accused of attacking you.”
“Because a necromancer killed my Maureen,” Beatrice said darkly. “Her killer is still out there.”
The dry amusement faded from his face, and he eyed me again.
“You’re related to the former Titania?”
“Yes. She was my grandmother.”
“I see.”
“And if you can swear that you’ve done no harm to Riley or her family, then we can move on to finding the real hunters,” Benedick pointed out. “Can you swear to that, councilman?”
The vampire seemed to carefully consider his words before he replied. “I haven’t harmed her or her family.”
There was something in the way he said it that made me suspicious. “But you know who did?”
“Yes, but they’re both dead.”
“Who was it?” Beatrice asked. The scent of earth and leaves surrounded her, and her expression was deadly calm.
“The names won’t do you any good. Suffice it to say the new Oberon and Titania took care of them.”
That seemed to placate Beatrice somewhat, but I wasn’t convinced. There was no way I was going to take the word of a vampire, especially about the new Titania. “Why should we trust you?”
“You don’t have to. If I may?” Mr. Harrison asked, pointing to his jacket. Being the closest threat, Jeremiah nodded his permission. The vampire reached in and withdrew his cell phone and raised it to his ear. A silent moment passed, and he sighed. “This is business, Duquesne, let me speak with her.”
I frowned. He’d called Marie, the guardian? Why? She hadn’t been much of a help so far. She should’ve been here right now if she was truly investigating the hunter problem. It didn’t speak well for her guardian abilities that Jeremiah and I found a lead she didn’t.
“Good evening, Catherine. I’m in Oak Glen trying to locate Anthony, and I’ve run into a problem with a few people who fall under your jurisdiction. I’d like you to speak with one of them…Yes, one moment.” He held the cell phone out to me, and I reluctantly crossed the room to take it from him. The man made my skin crawl, and the moment I picked up the phone I walked past him to stand next to Jeremiah.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hi,” a woman’s voice greeted me, and she sounded very unhappy. “I’m the Titania, who are you?”
Her brusque tone irritated me, and I stood straighter as I answered. “No, you are the new Titania. I’m Riley O’Driscoll. My grandma was the former one.”
October 8, 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013: Plotting, Pantsing, or Both?
Writers tend to identify as plotters, who plot their novels ahead of time to some degree, anywhere from a few notes to detailed outlines, or as pantsters, who "fly by the seat of their pants" and let the story develop as they write it. The official NaNoWriMo guide book is
No Plot? No Problem!
(and you can get an autographed copy of it from their store), so their love of pantsters is well known.
When I first started NaNoing, I was a pantster. However, as I wrote more novels I realized that pantsing wasn't for me. At about 30,000 words I would hit a wall of writer's block, give up on the project and walk away to find a newer, shinier idea. Converting to plotting allowed me to move past that block, because if I got stuck on a scene, I could skip it and move on to the next. I often use placeholders in brackets like [fight scene here] or [ninjas!] when struggling with a scene, and then fill the details in during a later draft.
Thankfully, NaNo allows plotting:
One simple plotting exercise that I like involves lined note cards, like index cards. You start with 10 cards. You write your opening scene on the first card, your ending on the tenth card, and then start filling in the scenes that have to happen in between. Take A New Hope, for example. Card one is the opening where Princess Leia hides the Death Star plans on R2D2. Card ten is the Death Star exploding, and the rebels rejoicing. Each card between describes the steps taken in the story to move from one to ten.
Now, as you know, I write romance novels. One of my very favorite articles on plotting is "Do All Roads Lead to Plot Mapping?" from Romance University. Author Tracy Montoya gives an overview of the map, using examples from the Sandra Bullock movie "While You Were Sleeping." This was super helpful to me, because I've seen that movie many times so the examples Tracy gave immediately made sense.
I have several articles on plotting as part of my Storyteller: A Gamer's Approach to Writing series, including Story Structure: Levels, Bosses and Rising and Falling Action; The Impenetrable Forest: Steering Your Characters Down the Right Path; The Burning Van: When Your Adventure Gets Away From You; and Critical Fail: Making Your Characters Suffer.
Do you have any plotting techniques you'd like to share?
When I first started NaNoing, I was a pantster. However, as I wrote more novels I realized that pantsing wasn't for me. At about 30,000 words I would hit a wall of writer's block, give up on the project and walk away to find a newer, shinier idea. Converting to plotting allowed me to move past that block, because if I got stuck on a scene, I could skip it and move on to the next. I often use placeholders in brackets like [fight scene here] or [ninjas!] when struggling with a scene, and then fill the details in during a later draft.
Thankfully, NaNo allows plotting:
Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.So today I'm sharing some of my favorite plotting thingies. First, I like WriteWay. It allows me to develop character profiles and paste them from book to book, and it has a useful outline feature. I have author friends who are fans of Scrivener, though I've never used it.
One simple plotting exercise that I like involves lined note cards, like index cards. You start with 10 cards. You write your opening scene on the first card, your ending on the tenth card, and then start filling in the scenes that have to happen in between. Take A New Hope, for example. Card one is the opening where Princess Leia hides the Death Star plans on R2D2. Card ten is the Death Star exploding, and the rebels rejoicing. Each card between describes the steps taken in the story to move from one to ten.
Now, as you know, I write romance novels. One of my very favorite articles on plotting is "Do All Roads Lead to Plot Mapping?" from Romance University. Author Tracy Montoya gives an overview of the map, using examples from the Sandra Bullock movie "While You Were Sleeping." This was super helpful to me, because I've seen that movie many times so the examples Tracy gave immediately made sense.
I have several articles on plotting as part of my Storyteller: A Gamer's Approach to Writing series, including Story Structure: Levels, Bosses and Rising and Falling Action; The Impenetrable Forest: Steering Your Characters Down the Right Path; The Burning Van: When Your Adventure Gets Away From You; and Critical Fail: Making Your Characters Suffer.
Do you have any plotting techniques you'd like to share?
October 3, 2013
NaNo Revisited: 2006, the Birth of the Bad Witch
In the beginning, there was NaNoWriMo, and it was good.I've blogged before about my NaNo journey. I was even featured on the official NaNo blog once (there was so much happy dancing about that, you guys). So I won't rehash the story again here...I'll just sum up. I discovered NaNo as it kicked off in 2006. I had no plot--really I had nothing, other than the idea that the heroine was called into the restaurant where she worked to hear the bad news that someone important to her had been murdered.
50,000 words later, the first draft of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors was born. That was 2006. It was contracted by Samhain Publishing in 2009, and released in 2010. Note the few years in between first draft and "OMG PEOPLE ARE BUYING MY BOOK!". There was so much revising. So. Much. Revising. I joined a critique group. I joined RWA. I took online workshops and went to conferences. I revised some more. I harassed people into beta reading for me. It was a long journey to publication, but I made it.
Here's an excerpt from the book:
I turned around to examine the rest of my temporary prison, and saw an enormous golden eye staring at me, less than ten feet away from where I stood.I did what any sensible witch would do in my circumstance. I screamed like a scared little girl.
The eye blinked. Once, twice, and then shifted as the dragon turned its head toward me, regarding me with both golden eyes. “I could have eaten you, you know.”
I nodded numbly and stammered, “Thank you for not doing that.” I knew dragons existed in Faerie, though I’d never seen one before. Dragons are reclusive as a rule and tend to guard their privacy ferociously, so only the overly brave or overly stupid seek them out on purpose. The creature was huge, taking up a good portion of the room with its bulk. Black scales covered its body, and leathery wings were folded against its back. Smoke puffed out of its nostrils for a moment, and my stomach leapt in panic.
“I only eat virgins though.”
I stared at the dragon in disbelief, feeling the inexplicable urge to defend my past sexual history. My mouth worked as I struggled to find an appropriate response, and I thought I saw a glint of humor in its golden gaze.
“Oh,” I managed. “Why am I here?”
“Because you wish to be Titania.”
“Well, yes, I mean why am I here in this room?”
“Because you wish to be Titania.”
“Right…” I suppose I should have expected that and just been grateful it wasn’t picking bits of Catherine out of its teeth. Turning around, I surveyed the room again, seeing no obvious exit or entrance.
Blood, Smoke and Mirrors is available in print and ebook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and a whole bunch of other sites listed here. Next week I'll be discussing outlining, story mapping, and other fun things I do to plot a novel. And I'll talk about my second NaNo win, and the Bad Witch book that never was.
Hey, fellow NaNoers, want to be my writing buddy? This is me!
October 1, 2013
NaNoWriMo approaches. Will you answer the call?
It's that time again. The most wonderful time of the year--National Novel Writing Month! Or at least it soon will be. As November approaches, I'll be discussing my NaNo plans as well as sharing snippets from NaNos past.
Some of you love NaNoWriMo, some of you hate it, and the rest are probably wondering what the heck NaNoWriMo is. It's very simple: you have 30 days to write 50,000 words of a new novel. Succeed and you're a winner, and can bask in the glory of victory. Fail, and the world will end and zombies will devour us all. I always knew it was writers who would bring the zombies...
Okay, not so much. You don't "win" anything other than the satisfaction of having accomplished your writing goal. And yes, when you're an author technically every month is NaNoWriMo. I'm always working on something new, but NaNo is unique. It was where I first learned that I could do this. I could write a novel. Blood, Smoke and Mirrors was born from my first NaNoWriMo experience, and NaNo will always have a special place in my heart.
I have three published NaNo novels:
2006 NaNo: Blood, Smoke and Mirrors 2010 NaNo: Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered 2011 NaNo: Poison in the Blood Not all of my NaNo novels ended in success. My 2009 NaNo, Bloodlines and Broomsticks, the original sequel to Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, is unpublished, and my other NaNo ideas didn't get very far. Most NaNos aren't published, and that's okay. National Novel Writing Month is a chance for anyone to be an author, to take the crazy idea they've always had for a book and run with it, and to share that experience with people all over the country. There's something empowering about going to a write-in.
So. Who else is answering the NaNo call this year?
Some of you love NaNoWriMo, some of you hate it, and the rest are probably wondering what the heck NaNoWriMo is. It's very simple: you have 30 days to write 50,000 words of a new novel. Succeed and you're a winner, and can bask in the glory of victory. Fail, and the world will end and zombies will devour us all. I always knew it was writers who would bring the zombies...
Okay, not so much. You don't "win" anything other than the satisfaction of having accomplished your writing goal. And yes, when you're an author technically every month is NaNoWriMo. I'm always working on something new, but NaNo is unique. It was where I first learned that I could do this. I could write a novel. Blood, Smoke and Mirrors was born from my first NaNoWriMo experience, and NaNo will always have a special place in my heart.
I have three published NaNo novels:
2006 NaNo: Blood, Smoke and Mirrors 2010 NaNo: Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered 2011 NaNo: Poison in the Blood Not all of my NaNo novels ended in success. My 2009 NaNo, Bloodlines and Broomsticks, the original sequel to Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, is unpublished, and my other NaNo ideas didn't get very far. Most NaNos aren't published, and that's okay. National Novel Writing Month is a chance for anyone to be an author, to take the crazy idea they've always had for a book and run with it, and to share that experience with people all over the country. There's something empowering about going to a write-in.
So. Who else is answering the NaNo call this year?
September 20, 2013
SFR Brigade Presents: Nightfall, Cy'ren Rising Book 1
Greetings! The SFR Brigade Presents is back, and I'm very excited to be a part of it this round. I'm sharing a bit from the opening of my space opera romance,
Nightfall
. In case you missed me squeeing about it, Nightfall recently won second place in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi category of the 8th Annual Passionate Plume Contest. w00t!Please stop by and visit the other blogs featuring SFR Brigade Presents this week:
Liza O'ConnorVeronica ScottJaleta CleggRinelle Grey
Here's a Nightfall excerpt:
They hurried through the corridors and down to the docking deck. Crew members passed them, but due to the busy dinner hour most were too wrapped up in their own concerns to notice anyone else. Talena’s palms grew slick with sweat—either from fear or pheromones, probably both—and she furtively wiped them against the skirt of her work dress. Dack exuded an aura of calm, looking as though nothing was out of the ordinary. He moved without pain, and that was impressive, for the wound in his side must be agonizing.
When they reached the docking level, Talena hesitated at the door leading into the terminal. “This is as far as I can take you.”
“Come with me.” Dack placed a hand on her shoulder, and she shied away as though the contact burned.
Tempting, far too tempting. She licked her lips as she resisted the sudden desire to kiss him, stepped back and bumped into the wall behind her. “No. I’m happy here. At least I was, until you showed up. Now go.”
“Don’t you want to be free?”
Talena frowned. He thought she was still a slave? “But I—” she began, but was interrupted by the flare of a laser bolt exploding near them.
“The door,” Dack shouted as he drew his weapon and returned fire.
Talena slapped her palm against the scanner as a volley of bolts hit the walls around them. The door opened and Dack grabbed her arm and hauled her with him as he charged through it. More shots followed as they rushed into the arrival area, and crew and passengers scattered. The door shut and Dack blasted the scanner, jamming the lock and keeping the security team from following.
They hurried on into the terminal and more shots zinged their way, this time from ahead of them. Dack skidded to a halt next to an arrival counter and ducked behind it, pulling Talena down with him.
“Let go of me,” she demanded.
Dack peered around the corner of the counter and jerked back as a bolt scored the floor near him. “Malenson’s between us and my ship.”
“That’s your problem. Let go!”
“I can’t leave you here. They’ll arrest you.”
“You put a gun to my head. I think they’ll understand.”
The computer screen on the counter above them exploded, raining pieces of plastic over them. Dack grimaced. “The Eppes aren’t real understanding.”
Panic gripped Talena, and she struggled to breathe past the fear. He could be right—she didn’t know about this mysterious Eppes group, but the authorities might not care if she was coerced. She’d helped a runner, and now she was as guilty as he was.
“Stay behind me. I’ll clear the path, you get the door. Ready?” he asked.
No, she thought, but she nodded. Better to get it over with before she fainted from terror.
When a wounded runner stumbles into her workshop, sculptor Talena Spenser’s comfortable, quiet life is shattered. Aiding the escaped slave risks losing more than just her freedom. She is in phase, when Cy’ren females are overwhelmed by the drive to mate.Mordacki Loren, shadow sword of House Nightfall, knows the pain of losing a mate. He never intended to take another. But Talena, raised by humans with little knowledge of Cy’ren ways, leaves him no choice. As the mating lust consumes them, Dack promises to honor her wishes—even if that means letting her go.
Scarred and hardened by a munitions accident that sent her Alliance career up in flames, Carmen Hawke joined the Cy’ren resistance as captain of the flagship Talon. When old flame Dack returns from a mission with Carmen’s childhood friend and first love, Talena, in tow, the temptation to allow someone—or two someones—close to her again cracks her emotional armor.
Pursued by an unknown enemy, the trio works together to discover the secrets of Talena’s past, and to uncover a threat that could destroy the fragile peace of the Cy’ren homeworld.
Warning: If the epic space battles, gunfights and swordplay aren’t enough to get you going, strap yourself in for a male-female-female threesome that’s scorching enough to fire your engines into overdrive.
Nightfall is available in print and ebook from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Samhain Publishing.
September 6, 2013
You Can't Take the Sky From Me
When I was in seventh grade, I won second place in Congressman Lipinski's All-American Boy and Girl Awards. Finalists were interviewed by a panel of judges, and I'm convinced that the answer that got me into the top three was my response to the question, "If you could meet anyone in history, living or dead, who would you pick and why?"
I picked Gene Roddenberry.
I feel like that says a lot about how much Star Trek, and science fiction, has influenced my life. I was a Trekkie before the Next Gen fans demanded to be called Trekkers, and then I was that, and a member of various other fandoms since (Browncoats, Whovians, and so on). I could list my geek cred resume, but that's not why I'm posting today. Instead, I'm here to say thank you to my parents.
My parents are former athletes. I generally suck at sports, but that didn't stop them from encouraging me to play. They are of the opinion (especially my mother, who was a beneficiary of Title IX), that everyone has a right to play, and that everyone should play fair. The idea that "girls don't play sports" never existed in my house. Just as the idea that "girls don't read comics" never existed, because my mom read Superman, Spiderman, Batman, The Hulk, Avengers, and more. At the time, I never noticed that I was the only girl in the comic shop.
My dad taught me to love sci-fi, starting with re-runs of classic Star Trek. Our father-daughter bonding time was spent watching Star Wars, Aliens, and the X-Files. It never occurred to me that "girls don't read sci-fi" until I was informed of it in high school. By a guy who loved sci-fi. Because, as I have learned since then, it's not some mysterious "other" who makes up these rules. It's members of the fandom.
How weird is that?
Maybe I'm dating myself in that I remember the "us versus them" as being geeks against people who didn't identify as geeks. Not geeks against other geeks deemed not good enough to qualify as geeks by some arcane system of "if you don't know this, then you're fake." It was interacting with other members of this community that taught me that I was somehow "less" in the eyes of "real" geeks. During my years as a LARPer there were times where I was made deeply uncomfortable by men at our game, and times where I felt not just unwelcome but unsafe. I've been harassed in online games by male gamers. I've deleted characters and quit games entirely due to harassment. I've come to expect this treatment as the price of admission, and that's just sad.
So it's not surprising when I see articles where men complain that women are tainting their sci-fi with our icky estrogen cooties. Or that romance writers just ruin everything with their girly feels. In fact, I once had a former member of my critique group post an early manuscript of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors on his blog, and used it as part of a series on why men don't like romance novels. It was not a positive experience.
But harassment hasn't stopped me from playing other online games, just as negative reviews and angry articles haven't stopped me from writing. I think of my mom, who as a physical education major once endured a basketball class where she was the only woman. (The men put her on the "skins" team in shirts versus skins. So she made T-shirt that read "skins.") I think of my dad, who is always eager to watch a sci-fi movie with his daughter. Our family motto is "walk it off" (also known as "there's no crying in baseball"), and I believe that one day we can all geek out together, regardless of age, gender, race, allergies, level of Klingon spoken, total xp, or phattest loot.
In the meantime, you can't take the sky from me, and if you try, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet that I will end you.
I picked Gene Roddenberry.
I feel like that says a lot about how much Star Trek, and science fiction, has influenced my life. I was a Trekkie before the Next Gen fans demanded to be called Trekkers, and then I was that, and a member of various other fandoms since (Browncoats, Whovians, and so on). I could list my geek cred resume, but that's not why I'm posting today. Instead, I'm here to say thank you to my parents.
My parents are former athletes. I generally suck at sports, but that didn't stop them from encouraging me to play. They are of the opinion (especially my mother, who was a beneficiary of Title IX), that everyone has a right to play, and that everyone should play fair. The idea that "girls don't play sports" never existed in my house. Just as the idea that "girls don't read comics" never existed, because my mom read Superman, Spiderman, Batman, The Hulk, Avengers, and more. At the time, I never noticed that I was the only girl in the comic shop.
My dad taught me to love sci-fi, starting with re-runs of classic Star Trek. Our father-daughter bonding time was spent watching Star Wars, Aliens, and the X-Files. It never occurred to me that "girls don't read sci-fi" until I was informed of it in high school. By a guy who loved sci-fi. Because, as I have learned since then, it's not some mysterious "other" who makes up these rules. It's members of the fandom.
How weird is that?
Maybe I'm dating myself in that I remember the "us versus them" as being geeks against people who didn't identify as geeks. Not geeks against other geeks deemed not good enough to qualify as geeks by some arcane system of "if you don't know this, then you're fake." It was interacting with other members of this community that taught me that I was somehow "less" in the eyes of "real" geeks. During my years as a LARPer there were times where I was made deeply uncomfortable by men at our game, and times where I felt not just unwelcome but unsafe. I've been harassed in online games by male gamers. I've deleted characters and quit games entirely due to harassment. I've come to expect this treatment as the price of admission, and that's just sad.
So it's not surprising when I see articles where men complain that women are tainting their sci-fi with our icky estrogen cooties. Or that romance writers just ruin everything with their girly feels. In fact, I once had a former member of my critique group post an early manuscript of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors on his blog, and used it as part of a series on why men don't like romance novels. It was not a positive experience.
But harassment hasn't stopped me from playing other online games, just as negative reviews and angry articles haven't stopped me from writing. I think of my mom, who as a physical education major once endured a basketball class where she was the only woman. (The men put her on the "skins" team in shirts versus skins. So she made T-shirt that read "skins.") I think of my dad, who is always eager to watch a sci-fi movie with his daughter. Our family motto is "walk it off" (also known as "there's no crying in baseball"), and I believe that one day we can all geek out together, regardless of age, gender, race, allergies, level of Klingon spoken, total xp, or phattest loot.
In the meantime, you can't take the sky from me, and if you try, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet that I will end you.
August 29, 2013
On Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered
Kids, if you haven't entered the LASR giveaway yet, there's still time! Click on the banner, and go forth and win phat loot. Thus far this week I've discussed my tattoos, my hatred of volleyballs, and how BFF Diana and I have awesome singing voices (in the car).In other news, there is still time to enter the Goodreads giveaway of Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered!
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Goodreads Book Giveaway
Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered by Robyn Bachar Giveaway ends August 31, 2013. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win
Again, LASR had great things to say about it. Here's a quote from their review:
Having loved the first book in the series, this installment shouted “Read me!” I’m so glad I did.
I loved Cat and Lex in Blood, Smoke and Mirrors and was thrilled to get to review Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered.
...
I love how Ms. Bachar blurs the lines of good and evil in her characters. Like real people, no one is just one thing. Everyone has motives and, happily, in this story, the motives make sense. I particularly appreciated how “good” people in Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered occasionally make bad decisions, and how sometimes the best intentions have bad results. Best of all, “bad” creatures can actually be good, or at least better than those labeled good. It makes for a complicated, yet realistic world. Very fun to read.
Ms. Bachar does a fabulous job creating three-dimensional, quirky, secondary characters with unexpected loyalties which I especially enjoyed.
Keep ‘em coming, Ms. Bachar, I’ll have my eye out for future installments.
--Long and Short Reviews, 4.5 book review
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