Tate Hallaway's Blog, page 46

Newbie Question #5

5. What do you consider the most important principle of fiction?

This is a good one, and I'd love to start a discussion about it because I'm not sure I have a ready answer.

My first impulse is to quote Stunk & White: Be Bold. Be Clear.

But I'm not sure that's a "principle," per se. I know that when I was first starting out, I spent a lot of time arguing with other genre writers about the importance of clarity. Some people thought that it was more important to be clever. They thought my...

Newbie Question #4

4. How do you get ideas for stories?

A lot writers have weighed in on this question, but I love Neil Gaiman's response, and I respectfully suggest you read what he has to say.

The joke answer "from an idea factory in Schenectady [New York:]" has been attributed to a number of science fiction writers from Ray Bradbury to Harlan Ellison.

My own answer builds on what Gaiman says in his essay, which is, essentially, ask questions and let those questions lead you to more questions. My addition is...

Newbie Question #3

3. Did you have any formal training in order to become a writer? Classes? A degree?

The short answer is no.

I do, by chance, have undergraduate degrees in English and history, but I didn't take any class in creative writing during college that wasn't a requirement for graduation. Later, I took a game-changing class in writing science fiction and fantasy as an adult learner at a place called The Loft, but I'll talk about that in a second.

I think that more important than taking classes about...

German Cover Art

Just out of total curiosity I Googled my German title NICHT SCHON WIEDER EIN VAMPIR and got this hit for cover art. Awesome, no?

And, yes, I finished my article for "Love Letter" the German Romantic Times. Actually, I was saved by the fact that I was asked to do something like this for my British release, only they never used what I wrote. So I polished and updated the older one, and viola as they say in another one of those European countries.

Newbie Question #2*

2. How do you come up with character's names?

Ah, yes…. Naming. If you ask me names have magic.

I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time considering Names. I have several "Baby Name" books at home (and did, years before actually having a baby to name.) There are several baby name websites out there, some which are even organized by "most popular baby names for 1976" or even 1796, so you can use them for your historical novels, as well.

Also, because I was writing before the Interwebs, I...

Questions from a Newbie

I came into the office (aka Amore Coffee) this morning and discovered a lovely email from a young woman who is considering writing her first novel. She sent me a list of twenty-two questions about writing craft and publication, and rather than send back an email large enough to crash a server, I thought I'd answer them one by one here:

1. How do you develop your characters? Are they people you know?

I think that if you want write believable characters it helps to be a kind of Sherlock Holmes i...

I Need Help

I'm sitting at the coffee shop this morning banging my head. I'll tell you why. I've got about three days to write an article about "the Wiccan aspects of your series..." for the German equivalent of Romantic Times to help promote NICHT SCHON WIEDER EIN VAMPIR (Not Another Vampire) aka TALL, DARK & DEAD.

First of all, I *suck* at writing non-fiction. They only want 500 words, which is really, nothing, but it might as well be 500,000 for as difficult as I'm finding this. Secondly, Wicca...

LEGOs and a New Laptop

Santa was very nice to our family. Mason got more LEGOs than he could possibly ever need, and I got a new .mp3 player (mine broke) and a new laptop. I'd been doing pretty well with the Mac that was given to me by friend and fellow writer Eleanor Arnason, but, I'm a PC girl, alas. More importantly, Penguin is PC. In order to do my revisions, I really needed a PC. Strangely, I feel guilty about this. I mean, I watch TV. I know Mac people are more cool than the PC folks.

Santa, however...

Recovering... Sort of

Ugh. I have been so sick. This is now week three of a bad cough that I just can't seem to shake. (I should probably go to the doctor, but, like many people in this country, I don't have decent health insurance. I have "catastrophic" coverage, so if I'm ever hit by a bus, I won't be bankrupted, but the deductible is so high I might as well not have any.)

Also in deference to the holidays (for me, Solstice), I've taken a break from working on my revisions for ALMOST. Now I'm back at work and...

The Urge to Click*

One of the things that often surprises my students is that, until very recently, every bit of editing that happened to my manuscript was on paper. My editor might email me her comments, but after that I was expected to do them and then print out two copies and mail them to New York. (One stayed with my editor, the other went to a copy editor).

Until very recently (like within the last two years), I would get a copy edited manuscript back with post-it notes stuck all over it where the copy...