Thea Atkinson's Blog, page 5

Writing a series? 5 things to ponder before you commit

book 4 is now available

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”

I forget who said that, and I suppose I could look it up if I wasn’t so lazy, but I also know that I’m easily distracted and I’m trying to write a blog post about what I learned during the time I wrote the series “Witches of Etlantium”, and if I take the time to go Google the originator of that quote, I’ll end up spending time checking Facebook, going on Pinterest, checking my sales stats (and exactly why oh why aren’t they moving?), and jumping onto twitter so I can talk to a few people I haven’t been social with for a while.

Now that the series is done, I’m telling myself to sit back and relax, to enjoy the feeling that I actually finished the thing. Time for a celebration. I do have the bottle of Dom Perignon to the ready after all.

You see, writing the Witches of Etlantium was a huge learning curve for me. I’ve spent most of my writing career (erm…wrote my first novel at 15, and middleage shame keeps me from telling you how old I am now) aiming towards the literary fiction market. I wanted to be Alice Munro or Margaret Atwood, maybe even Thomas Raddall (all famous Canadian literary writers.)

It wasn’t until I began self-publishing onto Kindle that I realized litfic was even harder to sell than it was to get traditionally published. And so I sat back and took a good long look at whether I wanted to earn a little money and gain an audience or write a bunch of novels that would mold in the depths of the Amazon jungle for all eternity (already have a bunch of those, actually: Anomaly, Secret Language of Crows, One Insular Tahiti to name a few.)

I’ve never written a series, I’ve never written fantasy, but I had a character that spoke to me from a flash fiction piece and she was “special”. Her story was a long one. I knew it would be a series. Yikes.

Enter my biggest issues: I always tried to let my plotting come from character. I never gave much thought to audience when I wrote; it was about me me me. What did I want? Where did the character want me to take them. What would I learn about the character. Fortunately, all that can still be…and should be…in any genre, in any good story. So I set out blithely ignorant of all sorts of conventions.

And of course I learned a few things…a little late, mind you, but I did learn and since I “can’t” I’ll teach.

You really have to have a good idea of where the story is going. Even as a person who writes by the seat of my pants rather than by outlining, I spent a lot of time lying on the couch with a pillow and a blanket, thinking through all the things I had written and seeing if they would fit where I wanted to go. Sometimes I ended up letting my ‘oopsies’ become plot points later because I couldn’t go back after publishing and just change those things.

Know the audience and genre you’re writing for. I started out not really understanding who I was aiming the novels to. As a literary writer, I assumed a certain audience, but I discovered that those who read series need to become invested even more in the characters and their outcome. So you need to know if you’re actually hitting the diehard fans of your genre. Is it typically romance the readers are looking for? Is it action and adventure? Is it new adult? (This lesson came a little late: I started out believing I was writing young adult and felt very restrained by the boundaries of the genre, and so then adjusted on-the-fly to a new adult age group, then realized that new adults are looking for more sex in their books. sigh)

Know exactly what your characters look like. Keep a character table or a series of photographs that you can refer to later on throughout the series. Print them and tack them onto a board in front f you. You might also want to do the same thing with a scene list. Or specific details. It’s easy to forget after a couple of books the details of what happened to who and when. It’s also easy to change eye color through the middle of the series. Don’t do this. Readers will notice.

Plot, plot, plot. You have to keep the thing moving, after all. And in a literary world, where the character’s evolution can often be the entire plot, it’s not so much with a series. What I ended up doing at the end of each novel was taking each chapter and listing out exactly what happened during the scene. Then I went back and looked over each one and asked myself if what happened was external or internal. I have a tendency towards the internal, and so therefore I discovered a lot of my writing was taking place in the character’s head. My main question: is it truly exciting? If yes, leave it; if no, cut and replace. Written as just lines f text instead of ‘the writing’ I could be more objective. Just so you know, I had to ruthlessly cut cut cut or throw something in to put my character off footing. I’m still not sure yet if I managed to do all of that successfully, but it is certainly foremost in my mind as I begin my new series.

Create an aggressive writing and publication schedule. If I could have gone back and done this again, I would have two of the books finished before I published the first. With my literary writing, it takes me a year to write, edit, and revise a novel to my standards before I even get someone else to look at it. If I followed the same publication schedule for my series, I would’ve lost readers because they would’ve forgotten all about the book, Forgotten all about the characters, Or lost interest in what happened to them. I ended up releasing each of the four books about six months apart. I’ve discovered this is not an ideal time frame. Readers of series want to move from one book to the next as quickly as they can without waiting. My recommendation is to wait the least amount of time possible in between.

Yes, I know I said 5 things. Consider this a bonus. KNOW what keywords, categories you put into Amazon ahead of time. Seek out the hot new releases in your category (find a novel in the category and look to the left top for releaes 30 days, 60 days, 90 days) try to pick something that has a low number and aim your writing in that direction if you can so when you release, it’ll have a chance of finding some good initial traction.

Most of the other things I learned were more personal and probably not of interest to you. But I can say that as a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, literary, tending-to-dark, character-driven writer, I gave myself a lot of obstacles before I even started the series. It was an incredible challenge for me to write in the genre, add plot, let the writing move itself without agonizing over every word and cliché, understand exactly what the audience might be looking for, and lastly to realize when enough was enough. But the character of Alaysha so intrigued me after that first little flash fiction piece, that exploring her journey and helping her find peace and happiness was well worth the effort.

For those of you who think you might like to give the series a try, it’s available anywhere e-books are sold and by Christmas, the entire series will be available in paperback. In fact, Water Witch is available right now from Amazon

Happy writing and reading!

Note: the witches of Etlantium series is by far my biggest seller and I’m so encouraged with my own learning that I’m now working on a new series, hoping to bring to bear all of my new experience to create an even better second tale.

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Published on September 21, 2013 06:12

Alex Colville RIP

One of Canada’s Treasures passed away yesterday: Alex Colville. I interviewed him for a magazine a few years back, and when the issue ultimately got pulled and the magazine went bust, this little ditty never saw the light of day.

In memorium, I present my little piece to celebrate a life lived and a treasure bestowed.

Colville

By

Thea Atkinson

It’s 3:30 on a November Saturday. The oak leaves on Alex Colville’s back lawn bunch up in spots like mounds of golden fleece. The air is crisp despite warning of rain and the threat of wind. Blue clusters of berries droop from spindly branches that hang over the driveway, and a small dog stands ready to greet anyone daring to intrude on his driveway. In all, a regular type of autumn day in Wolfville.

Colville, one of Wolfville’s most recognizable residents, sits in his living room with his back to the window, but angled enough that what light does strike his face, does so on only one side. The other is left in just a hint of shadow. He could be a portrait himself in this light, except the gaze behind his barely-there glasses roams his walls every now and then to light on several serigraphs he designed and created. A heron sweeps across an expanse of mossy water in one, a willow tree with two figures and a small dog–a dog that looks remarkably like the canine now lounging on the carpet—in another. This particular one is his last serigraph, done four years ago, and it’s stunning as anyone would expect. There’s an ambiance of nostalgia to the couple who enjoy a bit of refreshment beneath the tree branches and a quietness—or sense of grace—to the illustration as a whole. A grace that Colville exudes in his muted grey sweater.

“I always save one for my wife,” he says of the serigraphs. “I don’t give her any of my paintings because that’s how I make my living.”

His living. What Colville does for his living is very visible on the world stage, and consequently, fetches an ever-increasing price tag. Yet a casual visitor would never realize the scope of his reach from the inconspicuous manner he displays. He doesn’t press it. Art is simply what he does, and well-known simply is what he is. When a German film crew comes to Wolfville for two weeks to film him, he takes it in stride, like he takes most requests for interviews or opinions.

Colville was born in Toronto during August of 1920, a year of great cultural and civic progress; this is the year that women are finally granted the right to vote in the U.S. and the year the League of Nations has its first meeting in Geneva. Twenty two years later, in 1942, when Mussolini marches on Rome, Colville, in a smaller, younger part of the world, enters the Canadian army. He’s already a two-year marriage veteran when the world has its gaze on Europe and its beaches and concentration camps. Some of these scenes will later be viewed as watercolor drawings done by Colville, who has been sent overseas as a war artist to capture in images what soldiers often can not repeat in words.

The army eventually takes him to Ottawa, where he finishes his war artist duties. He spends several years teaching art history at Mount Allison University and has already had three personal art exhibitions. When the ’60s bring world attention to Martin Luther King, JFK, and John Glen, Colville is receiving honors like the Dunn International Award. He’s being commissioned to design Canada’s centennial coins, and is obtaining exhibitions of his art in New York, Venice, and Toronto. By 1978, when Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I, Colville is invited to design a medal for the Governor General and Mrs. Jules Lèger.

These are just his early years. In his time he has received a raft of honors: Officer of the Order of Canada, honorary degrees, Canada Council awards, just to name a few. By 1982, he becomes a Companion of the Order of Canada, and by 1993, he has exhibited his works around the globe.

And yet, all of this under his belt, he still enjoys painting the everyday. He enjoys seeing the extraordinary in a simple image. “I like this kind of ordinary kind of stuff,” he says. “There is a certain kind of situation–a person, an animal…a conscious being in a particular situation, that seems to help. I wouldn’t do it if it didn’t interest me.”

His style has been described in many ways, and each of the descriptions seems to fit: Magic Realist, Naturalist, Impressionist because his work is detailed, concentrating on showing more than it can tell in a single glance. Indeed, there’s the touch of the metaphysical in each piece that takes an everyday setting and turns it into something more, and in the end, that’s what Magic Realism (sometimes called Metaphysical Realism) is all about. “They all involve a kind of joining of what you might say are plain things which seem to have something else in them,” he says. “What that something else is, is sometimes known as metaphysical realism.”

He could have sculpted; did, in fact for a brief period, but it didn’t provide the sense of fulfillment that comes for him when he explores atmosphere and what tensions can be created by light and color. “In painting, you see what I call relationships,” he says.

It’s these relationships between living beings and the places they find themselves in, the story of what brought them there, and how it makes a difference to that moment, that appeals to him. And it’s just these qualities that viewers of Colville’s paintings appreciate: there’s always something more, just beneath the surface. Something extraordinary in the ordinary.

Which may be the appeal to Colville of the Valley. He could live anywhere; in fact, before he moved to Wolfville in 1971, he was offered and accepted an opportunity to work as a visiting artist in Berlin. Paradoxically, he was once offered an opportunity to apply for a Guggenheim fellowship but declined the invitation because it would have meant moving away from his studio. “My wife is very attached to this area…and because I’m an artist, I can live wherever I want. She likes to be here; I like a small, college town…I like this type of ordinary place.”

It’s easy to see the correlation between the simple things Colville likes to imbue with a touch of the mysterious and the fact that he lives in an ordinary hamlet that itself has a tinge of the astonishing. If he sees himself as plain, his work, his history, and the effect they’ve had on the artworld paint a different picture.

“I lead a pretty unspectacular life,” he says, and his voice is as hushed as the atmosphere. “I get up at 6 a.m., go bike riding, then have my breakfast. After that I go to work till noon.”

By late afternoon, the leaves have rustled a bit, readying themselves for their dance on the wind, the berries still droop over the driveway. The rain has yet to come, and Colville gets back to doing the little things he does everyday that make him the spectacular man the world knows him to be.

-30-

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Published on July 18, 2013 04:51

kobo readers: Whitecaps (#shortstory) co

kobo readers: Whitecaps (#shortstory) costs nothing at Kobo. Check it out. http://ow.ly/lCEfO

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Published on June 17, 2013 05:41

” If you’re looking to get lost in a world full of magic…”

” If you’re looking to get lost in a world full of magic, angst, deception, love and betrayal, this book is the one to buy.” http://ow.ly/lCFdK

A wonderful review for Water Witch. Please check it out and consider putting it on your Kindle or ereader

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Published on June 05, 2013 08:06

” If you’re looking to get lost in a w

” If you’re looking to get lost in a world full of magic, angst, deception, love and betrayal, this book is the one to buy.” http://ow.ly/lCFdK #bookreview #ipad

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Published on June 05, 2013 08:06

New Release day again. Mysti Parker guests with a new launch

Blurb:

In Tallenmere, fate has a way of catching up with you…

Somewhere, hidden in the waters of the Southern Sea, lies an island unlike any other. Within the amber glow of its pyrogem-laden cliffs, legend says the very heart of the dragon god Drae keeps the island, and its occupants, alive.

Loralee Munroviel, daughter of Leogard’s High Priestess Arianne, had no idea what she would face when she arrived by boat ten years ago and was left alone in exile. All she knew about Draekoria’s inhabitants was written in one tattered notebook. Now, her life revolves around keeping Drae’s descendants happy. Never in her life did she imagine being a Dragon Keeper.

Captain Igrorio Everlyn, known as Sir Robert to his unit of Holy Paladins, has faced his share of hell, battling the evils of Emperor Sarvonn’s tyranny and the dark god Tyr’s abominations. But none of that compares to the ten years of hell he’s been without Loralee, presumed dead.

One freak storm changes everything. Now the two of them must fight to reestablish the delicate balance of the island before the dragons take things into their own hands. Through it all, they discover the secrets that kept them, and their hearts, exiled for a decade.

Excerpt #1 From Chapter Three:

After a shipwreck, Sir Robert wakes up in a strange cottage, only to find Loralee, the love of his life, whom he thought had been dead for a decade…

“I don’t understand. What is this place?”

“It’s an island. Very few know of its existence.”

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog of this confusing dream come to life. “But, why would you be here, and why would you be sorry? Unless…”

The words wouldn’t come. My racing mind pitched in to help. Unless she didn’t want to marry me after all.

Wrenching pain I’d kept tucked inside broke free, and I clambered to my feet. Loralee followed suit, backing herself into the small dining table.

I tried, but could not hide the bitter anger in my words. “How could you do this to me? Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?”

Her eyes widened. She clutched the table with one hand and her robe with the other. “What you’ve been through? I didn’t want this. I was forced here.”

“What do you mean, forced here? Where are your shackles?” My voice roared through the little cottage as I gestured around me with one arm. “Where are the bars? This looks like no prison I’ve ever seen.”

Her voice cracked the air, rivaling with my own. “I was betrayed, forced into exile. Don’t you understand? I never wanted to leave you. I never wanted anything so much as I wanted you.”

Pacing away, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I had to calm myself, to let the weight of this discovery, the improbability of her explanation to sink into my water-logged brain.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at her just yet, so I stared at my bare feet instead. “Why didn’t you tell me, write to me?”

“I tried. I begged the supply ship crew to bring my letters to you. They always took them, but never brought one in return. I suspect they destroyed them, but I had no way of knowing.” She sucked in a shaky breath as though trying to hold back her tears. “I never stopped loving you.”

Turning back to face her, I felt like a mindless beast. Here I was, raging against the love of my life when she’d all but been brought back from the dead.

“Loralee.” I eased toward her. She cringed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Without a word, I leaned in and pressed my forehead to hers, allowing myself to breathe in her scent for the first time in a decade. We stood suspended like that for a while, lost in time, and emerging from a purgatory neither of us had imagined ten years ago. I would have been content to stand like that forever, but Loralee burst into tears and wilted to the floor.

I followed her down and opened the quilt to wrap us both inside. I held her tight while she cried.

While I cried.

I finally got enough breath to speak again. “What did you mean by forced here? They told me you were…” I couldn’t say it, not with her warm and so very alive against me.

“I know.”

The weight of it all came crashing down on me. “This is my fault, isn’t it? You’re here because of me.”

She made no attempt to wipe her cheeks, but shook her head and stared at the rafters as though entreating the gods. “No, it’s not your fault. Not at all. There is so much to explain, I don’t know where to start.”

I couldn’t comprehend any of it, so I focused on the here and now. “You found me on the shore?”

She nodded.

“The crew, Francis…did you find anyone else out there?”

“No, I had Xax-, I mean, no, I searched but didn’t find anyone else.”

The familiar weight of grief squeezed my chest, and a few more tears escaped before I could stop them.

She pulled me close and whispered, “I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved him. We all did.”

“We all grieved for you. You’ve been here…all this time?”

“Yes.”

“By the gods, Loralee, I’ve missed you so much.” I put my wet cheek against hers and pressed my lips to her soft skin. “Part of me died the day I thought you… please…just tell me how you ended up here.”

Loralee took a few deep breaths and finally pulled away from me. She caressed my cheek and smiled weakly. “I’ll make us a pot of tea. And then, I think we should start at the beginning, back to the Great Plague and when we first met. Do you remember that?”

Smiling past the sadness, I covered her hand with mine and closed my eyes. “How could I ever forget?”

Bio:

Mysti Parker (pseudonym) is a full time wife, mother of three, and a writer. Her first novel, A Ranger’s Tale was published in January, 2011 by Melange Books, and the second in the fantasy romance series, Serenya’s Song, was published in April 2012. The highly anticipated third book, Hearts in Exile, has already received some great reviews. The Tallenmere series has been likened to Terry Goodkind’s ‘Sword of Truth’ series, but is probably closer to a spicy cross between Tolkien and Mercedes Lackey.

Mysti’s other writings have appeared in the anthologies Hearts of Tomorrow, Christmas Lites, and Christmas Lites II. Her flash fiction has appeared on the online magazine EveryDayFiction. She has also served as a class mentor in Writers Village University’s six week free course, F2K.

Mysti reviews books for SQ Magazine, an online specific publication, and is the proud owner of Unwritten, a blog voted #3 for eCollegeFinder’s Top Writing Blogs award. She resides in Buckner, KY with her husband and three children.

Contact the Author:

Blog: www.mystiparker.blogspot.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mysti-Parker/103786449704221

Twitter @MystiParker

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4625596.Mysti_Parker

The Tallenmere series is available at www.melange-books.com, Amazon, B&N, and many other online bookstores.

A Ranger’s Tale, Tallenmere #1

Serenya’s Song, Tallenmere #2

Hearts in Exile, Tallenmere #3

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Published on June 04, 2013 11:34

New Release day again. Mysti Baker guests with a new launch