Reena Jacobs's Blog, page 41

Novel Review: Dark Life by Kat Falls

A few weeks ago, I signed up to win Dark Life by Kat Falls (couldn't find a website for her) in a Goodreads giveaway. And wow! I won! When it arrived this week, I honestly thought I had a brain fart when I entered. The reason? I've made it a habit over the past months to only enter giveaways for books I really want and plan to read. Here's the thing. After I opened to the inside cover and barely skimmed the blurb, and I swore it's the first time I'd seen it. Plus, I'm not an underwater fan. The only rational explanation I have is the giveaway must have mentioned something about dystopia, which I'm just starting to get into after reading the Hunger Games series. Ramble, ramble, the blurb from Goodreads:

Set in an apocalyptic future where rising oceans have swallowed up entire regions and people live packed like sardines on the dry land left, DARK LIFE is the harrowing tale of underwater pioneers who have carved out a life for themselves in the harsh deep-sea environment, farming the seafloor in exchange for the land deed.

The story follows Ty, who has lived his whole life on his family's homestead and has dreams of claiming his own stake when he turns eighteen. But when outlaws' attacks on government supply ships and settlements threaten to destroy the underwater territory, Ty finds himself in a fight to stop the outlaws and save the only home he has ever known.

Joined by a girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her prospector brother, Ty ventures into the frontier's rough underworld and begins to discover some dark secrets to Dark Life.

As Ty gets closer to the truth, he discovers that the outlaws may not be the bloodthirsty criminals the government has portrayed them as. And that the government abandoning the territory might be the best thing for everyone, especially for someone like Ty, someone with a Dark Gift.

The novel plopped me in the middle of nowhere. I was afraid it would be one of those books full of random events which would leave me lost. Thank goodness, it wasn't. By the end of chapter one, everything had smoothed out, and I was totally on board.

An underwater adventure. Like I said, the setting wasn't my typical read. However, Ms. Falls did an glacial job with the world building. It didn't take long for my misgivings about the watery world setting to evaporate. I could almost picture a community under the sea. How I would love to visit a place like that, even if freaky things did happen to my brain because of it.

The story was told entirely from Ty's perspective, a teenage boy, living at the bottom of the ocean with his family. For the most party, I liked Ty. He was practical and water  smart, yet still fallible. I also had a bit of child recklessness in him. Not the crazy risk-taking like he was a superhero, but rather the kind I remember as a child–it's not too bad if I don't get caught and my parents are overreacting about the dangers.

Gemma was the supporting actress in Dark Life. The girl had quite a bit of spunk, which I loved. Where Ty was responsible, she was rash–100%. The only thing which gave her pause was occasional doses of fear. Even then, she wouldn't let fear keep her from accomplishing her goals. I do have to say, my girl wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, and did her share of stupid thing, dragging Ty along for the ride. She was still a fun character though.

Plot wise, we had two going–Gemma's missing brother and saving the underwater ranches. Ms. Falls was awesome about weaving these two pieces together to form a big picture at the end. The only complaint I had is about the deep POV. As you all know if you keep up with my reviews, I hate being left in the dark when inside a character's head. There was a lot of that going on when it came to the "Dark Gifts." I knew Ty had one, as well as his sister, early in the novel. Yet the big reveal didn't occur until after the halfway mark. On one hand, I could see why Ms. Falls wanted to keep the info as a surprise. On the other, not knowing what the main character knows kind detracts from the POV, but that's just me. Others may feel differently.

For parents looking for a safe book for your tween or teenager, I'd recommend this one. It had romantic elements which were sweet, and age appropriate behavior for youngsters. I certainly plan on passing this one on to my 13-year-old. There was a bit of violence which drew a sympathy wince or two. Of course, I'm a baby about pain.

Do I want more? You betcha! I'm looking forward to Rip Tide which comes out this August.

Looking for Dark Life? It's is available at the Book Depository!

Guest Post: Rachel Haimowitz on Work-For-Hire Part I

A few months ago, I got the opportunity to read and review Anchored by Rachel Haimowitz (see review here). I hadn't had much success with M/M romances until this story. Awesome read! Today she's joined us to give us a leg up on self-publishing. Thank you, Rachel.

So You Want to Publish a Novel . . .

Anyone who's surfed round the writing blogosphere this past year has no doubt heard quite a bit about self-publishing. Via Amazon.com's digital text platform, B&N's PubIt!, Smashwords, Createspace, and specialty stores like AllRomanceEbooks opening their doors to indie and self-pubbed authors, anyone with talent, marketing skills, and the right presentation has a shot at becoming the next Amanda Hocking . . . or at least at paying the cable bill each month with your royalties.

But what I haven't seen in my online trawling were posts addressing the how of it. And I don't mean how to write a novel, or how to use PubIt!, or how to leverage Smashwords for file conversion. I mean how to hire a good editor, a good cover artist, a good layout artist, a good proofreader, maybe even a good marketing consultant. And if you think you can get away without any one of these things (except the marketing consultant—you can self-educate pretty quickly to do that job if you're willing to put in the time), then you're kidding yourself. You might sell a dozen poorly edited or poorly presented copies, maybe even a hundred, but those customers won't come back for your next book, or recommend the one they bought to friends. Packaging a book is a team effort. I'm here today to talk about how to find that team.

Working Both Sides of the Fence

This is the point at which I, as a reader, would be wondering, And just who the heck are you? So, a little bit about my experiences in this regard:

Though I've published with three houses, I also chose to self-publish some contemporary BDSM stories in a book called Sublime: Collected Shorts. I gave away a thousand free copies in its first week, then began selling it for $2.99 via Smashwords (where I did all my file conversions to multiple formats), Amazon, B&N, and AllRomanceebooks.com (ARe). Since its January release, I've sold a modest 250-or-so copies—nice pocket change for not having to split my income with a publishing house. I blame the vast majority of these sales on artist/author L.C. Chase's excellent cover.

On the other side of the fence—that of a freelancer doing work, rather than an author seeking to hire—I have been copyediting, developmental editing, proofreading, and project managing for almost a decade. I've done substantive edits on two self-published projects that went on to land six-figure publishing contracts with major houses (Don't Get Caught with Your Skirt Down by Jill Keto, and Shmirshky: The Pursuit of Hormone Happiness by Ellen Dolgen). I've hired subcontractors (researchers, outliners, rough drafters, proofreaders, transcriptionists, etc.) with client permission when my own schedule was overloaded or the client needed fast turnaround. I know my way around the freelance marketplace as both an employer and an employee.

Who You Need

Developmental Editor: If you're planning to self-publish, the first thing you need is a good editor. No, make that a great editor. And I don't mean someone who will just find all your typos (although make sure you get a person to do that too, because nothing screams "AMATEUR!" to readers like a book full of misplaced commas and dangling modifiers). I mean a developmental editor: someone who will gut your story on a structural level, point out issues with character, plot, flow, pacing, tone, POV, word choice, authorial voice, authenticity, logic checks, the whole nine yards. This may involve you restructuring the whole story, reordering things, cutting whole chapters or even whole characters or plot points, etc. etc. Even the most seasoned authors need this kind of help; unless you are some rare unicorn of an Olympic-class talent who has worked and trained for this your whole life, don't assume you're somehow magically above it.

Copyeditor: Once that process is done—and don't rush it, it can take weeks or even months to do right—the next step is line edits. The bones of your story are all nice and shiny, and now it's time to smooth out the musculature atop those bones. A line (or copy) editor will go through with a metaphoric (or actual) red pen and address issues in your text sentence by sentence. The idea here is to fix issues without stepping on the author's voice or style, so a good copyeditor will write a great many queries (for instance, "This is your eighth sentence fragment in as many paragraphs; is it a deliberate style choice or an oversight?"). They'll also fix the obvious things without querying (for instance, changing "two" to "too"—a mistake that neither your spellchecker nor a proofreader would find). Whether the copyeditor queries or simply fixes issues in between (things like word choice, non-conventional punctuation or sentence structure, extra "that"s, head-hopping or other POV slips, etc.) will depend on the rules you've established and the level of trust between you.

Another essential function of the copyeditor is to enforce uniform style. This doesn't necessarily mean CMS (Chicago Manual of Style)—though that's the style guide of record for most fiction presses. What it does mean is that your manuscript must remain consistent to itself, whatever style you choose or adapt or even invent. Want to use "towards" instead of "toward" even though you're American? Fine; a good copyeditor will make sure you spell it the same each time. Have your own made-up fantasy language or a habit of spelling out the number three instead of using a numeral? Again, fine; a good copyeditor will enforce that internal rule. Any copyeditor worth her salt will even make something called a style sheet—a list of every non-conventional usage in the document—to facilitate consistency.

Sound like a giant pain in the ass? Now you know why you need professional help.

Proofreader: The last editorial step is proofreading. A proofreader generally does nothing but ensure proper use of punctuation (not grammar—that's for the copyeditor) and formatting. She'll make sure your commas are inside the quotation marks (unless you're in the UK, in which case she'll make sure they're outside), make sure all your scene breaks and chapter breaks are handled with the same number of blank lines or centered asterisks or whatever you've chosen to use, make sure your footnotes (if you have them) are formatted correctly, make sure the page numbers in your table of contents line up to the correct pages on which your chapters start, etc.

Sometimes, you'll find an editor (like me) who can do all three of these jobs. More frequently, you'll find it's best to hire different individuals for different jobs. Sometimes it's a matter of qualifications (the best developmental editor in the world might not be able to line edit or proofread to save their lives), and sometimes it's a matter of cost (a qualified developmental editor will charge three to five times as much per hour as a qualified proofreader). Often, it's a matter of both.

Tune in for Part 2 to learn about layout and cover artists, and how much you can expect to pay for artist and editor services. And if you have any questions about what I've discussed so far, or wish to add to (or argue with) my information, please leave a comment. I'd love to discuss!

 

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Rachel is an M/M erotic romance author and a freelance writer and editor. She originally dipped her toes into cable news and book publishing, decided the water was cold and smelled kinda funny, and moved on to help would-be authors polish and publish, write for websites and magazines, and ghostwrite nonfiction.

Currently she has a contemporary BDSM collection (Sublime: Collected Shorts) and two M/M erotic romance novels (a high fantasy adventure titled Counterpoint: Book One of Song of the Fallen, and a modern-day slavery alternate universe story titled Anchored: Belonging Book One) in print. Her third novel, Crescendo: Book II of Song of the Fallen, will release in the fall of 2011 with Guiltless Pleasure Publishing; and her first novella, an M/M cyberpunk story co-written with Aleksandr Voinov titled Break and Enter, will release with Samhain Publishing around December of 2011.

You can find Rachel at RachelHaimowitz.com, tweeting as RachelHaimowitz, chatting in the Goodreads forums, and blogging at Rachel-Haimowitz.blogspot.com. She loves to hear from folks, so feel free to drop her a line anytime at metarachel (at) gmail (dot) com.

A Round of Words in 80 Days #ROW80 – Update 10

Second update in March. I'll just keep this short and sweet.

March: Edit Alley Cat

Okay. Here's the deal with this. I haven't. I've been stuck on scene 2 since last week. Yeah. I suck. And to top it off, I've been playing WoW when I should have been editing. Good news though. I've finally faced reality. I knew why I was having trouble with it–I need to make cuts. I did it and am back on track… I hope.


Bonus Goal: Maintaining 100+ words a day over at Word Count Union.

Continue working on New Adult novel ~ I Loved You First. At last count I was at 30,130 words. Now, I'm at 31,122. I did miss one day of writing (yesterday), which I only put in 19 words. I'm actually having some problems with the ending. It's not working out the way I want it. What I might do is just leave it and come back to it during the next round of edits. We'll see what happens tonight.
Begin new 100-word-a-day novel. Trinity's Awakening ~ New Adult Suburban Fantasy. I might start this tonight and lay off I Loved You First.

I totally need to just get motivated. I'm overstressed because I've been procrastinating and stuff has piled up.

For those of you who are interested in keeping track of ROW80 participants, head over to the linky.

Novel Review: Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

Kresley Cole's Immortals after Dark (IAD) is one of those auto-buy series. And like a loyal fan, I pre-ordered Dreams of a Dark Warrior (book 11). One of the things which continues to impress me with Ms. Cole is she's managed to keep the story line fresh even after 10 novels. That being the case, I'm always a little scared going into her next book. How long can she keep it up? Well, before we find out, how about a little blurb from her website:

He vowed he'd come for her. . .

Murdered before he could wed Regin the Radiant, warlord Aidan the Fierce seeks his beloved through eternity, reborn again and again into new identities, yet with no memory of his past lives—only an endless yearning.

She awaits his return. . .

When Regin encounters Declan Chase, a brutal Celtic soldier, she recognizes her proud warlord reincarnated. But Declan takes her captive, intending retribution against all immortals, unaware that he belongs to their world.

To sate a desire more powerful than death. . .

Yet every reincarnation comes with a price, for Aidan is doomed to die when he remembers his past. To save herself from Declan's torments, will Regin rekindle memories of the passion they once shared—even if it means once again losing the only man she could ever love?

So here we are… book 11. Let's just cut to the chase. After reading Dreams of a Dark Warrior, I turned to my husband and said, "Kresley Cole is my favorite author." Yep… that's right, I've graduated Ms. Cole from one of my favorite authors to my favorite author. I'm not going to lie and say this is the absolutely best book I've read. However, Ms. Cole continues to remain consistent with putting out quality work. The woman just knows what she's doing. I

The characters: We've got Regin the Radiant. She's your typical bad ass Valkyrie. She doesn't get in much fighting time, but her mouth is as wicked as ever. One of the things I love about this particular love line is the Valkyrie isn't in denial about her feelings. She recognizes she has them, but doesn't want them because of the consequence that go with giving in to her feelings. Then we have Declan. I have to say he's the most tormented character I've yet to encounter in the IAD series. He's like a very tame version of Zsadist from JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. He's undeserving of love, and even if he did deserve it, he wouldn't want it from some crummy old Valkyrie.

As for the plot, this one overlaps with several other novels in the series. I've noticed Ms. Cole doing a lot of that lately. I'm so freakin' excited. It makes me think we're leading up to a grand finale. Did she know where the story was going way back when she wrote A Hunger Like No Other? Damn it! whose story is next?!!? Lothaire? Nix? Please put me out of my misery. Regin and Declan's story. I have to admit, I predicted how it would resolve early in the novel, but it didn't keep me from enjoying the book anyway.

Favorite lines:

"Squirrel!"
"Time for you to die, Chase." [Brings back memories of Everquest "Time to die, a skeleton!"]
"Everyone makes a bad day trade now and again…"

So once again, I highly recommend the IAD series. Not just Dreams of a Dark Warrior but ALL OF THEM. If you're looking for a series that's not going to disappoint, this is it!

I got my copy of Dreams of a Dark Warrior from the Book Depository.

A Round of Words in 80 Days #ROW80 – Update 9

I have to say, cutting back on emails has increased my productivity greatly. Let's to a February recap before I moved on to March goals.

February:

Finish the first draft of Stray CatChasing Shadows

Write 500 words a day. I started this update at 31,370. I finished February with 32,038 words. I bombed the last few days. However, I'm satisfied with the first draft… and frankly, tired of working on it. I'll be setting aside Chasing Shadows for a few months. I plan to come back to this in May or June for edits. As you can see, it's a short piece. I think the final version will be about 35k. Until then, you're welcome to read the first chapter of Chasing Shadows which is in my Free Reads section.




Write the Sex scene for Control Freak: Regina's Story. Didn't do again this month.


Do the first round of edits on Unprotected. I did work on it once, but haven't finished it. I'm not even sure this will get published.
Bonus: Work on New Adult Novel

Maintaining 100+ words a day over at Word Count Union. Last check-in I was at 28,374. As of February 28, I was at 29,708. So I've been doing well with this. I have 2-3 scenes left before I wrap this up and start on the next project. Hopefully, I'll have this finished by the end of the week or next. Another shorty. I'm pretty happy with this first draft. I can see this being about 35k also when said in done.

So here we are in March. Let's see what we have planned for the last month of #ROW80.

March: Edit Alley Cat

Alley Cat (working title) has 26 chapters and an epilogue. According outline, I have 4 unwritten scenes. Originally, my goal was to edit one chapter per day or write one scene. Here's the thing. I absolutely hate editing, that would really push my endurance, and likely lead to a shut down. What I think will happen is one scene per day. I'm going to give myself two months to edit the first draft of this work. My progress thus far. I edited chapter 1, scene 1, but I'm not satisfied with the job I've done, so I'll go back to that. I also started editing chapter 1 scene 2. I'm hoping to get my edited nice and tidy the first time so I don't have to go through it again before sending it off to critique partners and beta readers.


Bonus Goal: Continue working on New Adult novel ~ I Loved You First



Maintaining 100+ words a day over at Word Count Union. I hope to finish this novel this week or early next. As of February 28, I was at 29,708 words. Currently I'm at  30,130. So, I'm still doing well with this one.


Begin new 100-word-a-day novel. Trinity's Awakening ~ New Adult Suburban Fantasy

I'm feeling pretty great about March. Even though Alley Cat is the last of the Striped Ones series, the idea of sitting on a finished piece of work is quite exciting. It'll mean I might be able to release the last two novels fairly close together.

For those of you who are interested in keeping track of ROW80 participants, head over to the linky.

Novel Review: The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

Welcome to another episode of Reena come lately. I picked up The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook after reading her novella Here There Be Monsters in the Burning Up Anthology (review here). If you're too lazy to read the review, I will say it was an excellent Novella. I certainly was looking forward to reading the Iron Duke. So the blurb from Ms. Brook's website:

After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power — and fear — of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession.

Mina can't afford his interest, however. Horde blood runs through her veins, and despite the nanotech enhancing her body, she barely scratches out a living in London society. Becoming Rhys's lover would destroy both her career and her family, yet the investigation prevents her from avoiding him…and the Iron Duke's ruthless pursuit makes him difficult to resist.

But when Mina uncovers the victim's identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England. To save them, Mina and Rhys must race across zombie-infested wastelands and treacherous oceans — and Mina discovers the danger is not only to her countrymen as she finds herself tempted to give up everything to the Iron Duke.

First off, I have to say, Ms. Brook is an EXCELLENT writer in my opinion. I love her style. She's one of those writers I don't even get a chance to go into critique mode. Bravo!

On to the characters. Majority of this story was told from Mina's POV, so I really got a sense of her personality. I rather liked her. She had a hard outer shell and a soft interior. For the most part, well-balanced and acted true to her character. She was a woman I could admire. Rhys, I had a love-hate relationship with him, or rather I didn't understand him very well in the beginning. He seemed to suffer from the same syndrome as Eben–lustful but without any particular reason… at least not at first. His determination to possess Mina made me think of a rapist at times. The guy just didn't seem to respect the "no." For a guy who seemed so honorable, I didn't get that aspect of him.

Other characters I quite liked were Yasmeen (a side character from Here there be Monsters) and Scotsdale. According to Ms. Brook's website, Yasmeen's story is next along with the mysterious Archimedes Fox. Exciting! Can't wait to read their stories.

One group who played a huge indirect role in all this was the Horde. I still feel like I'm in the dark about these folks. I understood what they did, but I didn't understand why. Also, what was so different about them physically? I think at one time they might have been mentioned as Mongols?

As for the plot, it was well paced–quite a twisted web. I'd call this one a mystery, which really isn't my preferred genre. I imagine that's why it took me more time than usual to get through this work. Cause when I add things up, we've got great writing and interesting characters, I should have loved, Loved, LOVED it. But then we add the genre mystery. Oh well. Since I'm not so familiar with the genre, I can only guess it'd make a hit with mystery lovers.

Ms. Brook went a bit heavier with the steampunk this round, and I loved it! The gadgets added a great touch. She didn't go into extreme details about the way the goodies worked, which was excellent for my non-mechanical little mind. Plus I got a better understanding of the nanoagents. I'm quite excited to read about the future of the little buggers.

I can see myself becoming a huge fan of Meljean Brook. However, it depends heavily on if her works have strong mystery elements, cause really she is a kickass writer. My preferences just don't lean toward mystery.

Reviews, Interviews, & Giveaways

Greetings, Friendlies and Unfriendlies. May the force be with you.

Monday is my day to review a book. I still plan to do that, just not right now. Seems I still have about 30 pages left to read of the Iron King. I hope to finish that sometime this afternoon. I'm rather curious to see how it winds down.

Until then, allow me to point you to some recent Shadow Cat reviews & giveaways, as well as a couple of interviews.

Yara at Once upon a Twilight reviewed Shadow Cat. She's also did an interview and giveaway me.

Blood Rose Books reviewed Shadow Cat.

ParaYourNormal interviewed me and is offering a copy of Shadow Cat. Plus stop by for the Talk Radio interview today (3 pm PST/6 pm ET). You can put me on the spot. The number is 619-639-4626.

Good luck to all who enter, and I hope to talk to you real soon.

Guest Post: Terrance Foxxe on Gaining Fame Part Three

Gaining Fame: Part Three
by
Terrance Foxxe

Part Seven

I think most writers fall into one of two cracks in the floor. They either don't let themselves have fun when they write, afraid of what others might think of them, or they think too much about their own words. Not by choice, mind you. I have been guilty of inhabiting both musty grooves at one time or another. What pulled me through was reading lots of books, absorbing their styles, seeing how their authors put their words together to make their writing work.

The book which drove this point home to me was, The Elements of Expression by Arthur Plotnik. Here's why. You ever watch one of those documentary films on Public Television, where they read the letters of those whom lived the history? The Gold Rush of 1849 was great for words. Most of them folks were not what you would call highly educated, but their words live and breath, even to this day. Why? They were not subject to the information overload we have to muck through from day to day. They had to reach to describe their world, and their words are elegant, even if crude by our overly educated standards.

Why should I bother with understanding how a short story is constructed, or a novel? Everybody does their own thing when it comes to writing.

Because I read both novels and short stories most of my adult life, I had a sense of what they should be. I had absorbed enough about novel and short story construction to write a novel and short story. I realized there were many similarities between novel chapters and short stories. What I didn't realize were their differences. Both need hooks in order to start. A novel needs a big hook, preferably one that will carry the reader through to the end of the book. That big idea behind the story. One that dangles or promises, leading the reader deeper into the novel.

A short story needs a hook, too. One that starts the conflict, or exposes the conflict within. Short stories have an end, hopefully with an ending that leaves you saying "good story!" A resolution to the conflict you started with the beginning hook.

And what are hooks anyway? Reader grabbers. The very first sentence every reader will read. Lookee here at the hooks I wrote.

"I intend to swallow alive and kicking from humanity's womb the greatest minds and things history has ever produced."

Leslie Tharp roused tired, as she always did exiting hibernation.

Percible Traynor held charge over most of the Eastern Seaboard whether anyone knew it or not.

Bryan-with-the-bright-green-eyes saw it coming.

Rafe Dehi paused on his way out of the truck stop's nasty, stinky rest room long enough to wash his bloody hands, then he was back on the bus like nothing ever happened, stuffing the little red bag Tomas (whatever his last name was) had into his duffel.

"I want nothing to do with this."

Six different hooks. The power of voice.

Here's one more thing to think about. Novels are between 70,000 to 150,000 words. Those really thick paperbacks you buy and read, they're about 250,000 words. Short stories are between 100 to 17,000 words. The average for a novel is about 100,000 words. For a short story it's about 4000 words.

Guess what? A story is only as long as a story should be. A novel should only have as many pages as it has. If it tells the story within 70,000 words, you have a scrawny novel, but a novel nonetheless. If it takes 200,000 words, that's what it takes. If the story is good, it doesn't matter how few or how many words it takes. My novels average 90,000 words.

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Terrance Foxxe is crazy enough to share everything he knows about catering to readers, because readers matter most to the Indie Author of today, and tomorrow. He had two books published under his real name, only to discover publishers really suck. After being royally ripped off and then some, he is the Indie Author of A Post-apocalyptic Story of Love, $2.99 USD & In The Dreaming, $0.99, both for the Kindle. Links provided. He's now a happy man. Buy his books. Read them. Write reviews.

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

Be sure to check out Part One and Part Two of this post.

Guest Post: Terrance Foxxe on Gaining Fame Part Two

Gaining Fame: Part Two
by
Terrance Foxxe

You have to know the rules, and there are rules for everything. There are exceptions to the rules that are rules unto themselves! Writing for clarity of thought, and clarity of form. This clarity is what you give your reading public.

I may spend five or six months jamming away on a manuscript–I'm one of those writers that like to do that–only to pick it apart line by line to get it all right. Write the book, and then make it sing. Ignore the rules if you must, but you'll learn. You'll learn you can't ignore even one rule.

When writing works, it's doing a job. Voice is part of writing well, and I didn't get it for the longest time. Voice was what I was lacking most. My stories craved voice.

What is meant by "voice?" This is my voice. You're reading how I speak. But my voice can change when I want it to. I simply pretend. I become the character. "I am the story."

Verbosity can be your friend when exploring voice. Don't be afraid to overwrite your manuscript. You can always delete unneeded words at a later date.

Another example I'm sure you can understand, and I mean no disrespect against the writing styles of Stephen King, but he can get a little "golly gee whiz" at times. Now read The Green Mile, and after that read The Eyes of the Dragon. Two perfect and wonderful examples of his voice. Both different, both Stephen King.

The closest I get to across the pond is watching Doctor Who. But, I do a lot of homework, and I understand voice. This little bit starts my very first novel. My boring, had promise but lacked something, novel. What it lacked was voice. It lacked a layer of excitement. By inventing the narrator of this story, giving him a unique voice, allowing him to tell the story, I added a subtle layer of needed sophistication.

I, am a fool. The Fool, and my emperor requests a gratifying tale from me, but which compelling narrative in my vast repertoire shall His Fatassness receive? A questing yet witless knight, braving outlandish elements of fable and fantasy with a personal code of honor sufficient to turn any stout stomach? Or, perhaps, an adventurous yet resourceful thief in his perpetual pursuit of liquid wealth, tight wet fellowship and heady spirits? Alas, with both I must provide a companion, and I'm not feeling generous.



The Empress, in turn, invites a poignant tale within whose dark heart exists a riddle. May I pluck the knotted hair off her pointed pale chin and from under her bulbous reddened nose for such an unsatisfactory suggestion.

The Lovers stop their perpetual grope to propose forbidden love as a topic. They should stick to the task in hand and let me tell the story I wish.

The Executioner puts in his recommendation, but tonight is not a night for bloody revenge. The Hierophant wants redemption with ascension. The Hanged Man, dangling such as he does, says nothing.

Then it comes to me, inspirational lightning, pinning me down with a wondrous tale that must surely gratify all. A fantastical saga from long ago, when there existed such things as space and time.

"Get on with it, Fool," commands The Emperor between mouthfuls of roasted meats and tiny sweet cakes, quaffing at will wine made by old, ineffectual, impotent and incontinent gods. "You're milking it."

"Of course, Majesty," I say, thinking about a large chunk of that moldered meat lodged deep in his throat, stealing what he calls his pitiful excuse-of-a-life out of him.

I must confess I am milking it for all it's worth. I'm a bit of a ham. What fool is not? To draw the audience inside the story is my vocation. To keep them enthralled by the narrative is my gift. I endeavor to give generously.

"A proper piece of pretentious nonsense must have an appropriate beginning," I say, "and this chronicle is without exception. The question here is not where to begin, because I know where to begin. The question here is who to begin with?"

And I think Xavier Collen will do nicely.

That's him, the spry old fart pacing the carpet around his desk. Top floor of the Collen building, London proper. A titbit of prime tattle from the queen herself, no less, set his shallow money obsessed thoughts spiraling down the loo, and that was just the beginning.

The point of view shifted with the scene transition. My Fool narrates this novel; from first person present, to third person past present. I let him tell the story for a reason not evident until the very last paragraph of the novel. He became my voice for A Changing of the Guard, coming soon.

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Terrance Foxxe is crazy enough to share everything he knows about catering to readers, because readers matter most to the Indie Author of today, and tomorrow. He had two books published under his real name, only to discover publishers really suck. After being royally ripped off and then some, he is the Indie Author of A Post-apocalyptic Story of Love, $2.99 USD & In The Dreaming, $0.99, both for the Kindle. Links provided. He's now a happy man. Buy his books. Read them. Write reviews.

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

Stop by tomorrow for part Three. And if you missed part one, be sure to check it out.

Guest Post: Terrance Foxxe on Gaining Fame Part One

Today Terrance Foxxe is back for another series. This time on gaining fame. Please be kind to Mr. Foxxe over the next few days as he takes over my blog.

Gaining Fame: Part One
by
Terrance Foxxe

Ignore the rules.

And there are so many of them. Sentence construction, punctuation, grammar, format. Did you know my The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, The Unabridged Edition is 12 x 9 ½ x 3½ inches thick? My Illustrated Oxford Dictionary by DK Publishing, Inc., isn't as impressive in height or length, but it is two and a half inches thick, with hundreds of sweet illustrations. I use both of them each and every day. You should see my arms.

It's one thing to know the word you want to use, it's another to actually spell it and use it in its proper context. I want each sentence to be understood. Everything together takes the reader from the beginning to the end of your story. The skill of the writer is to impart meaning and emotional impact.

I'm published, intelligent, and it has taken me years of working completely and utterly alone to learn how to choose or spell most of my words correctly, punctuate for clarity, and not make a grammar goof. I won't go into the many, many mistakes I've embarrassed myself with, but there have been a few. I still make mistakes, mind you. Nobody is perfect.

During my journey I had to figure out what I was doing wrong, and what I was doing right. To that end: There are eleven books I think are worth the money I paid for them.

The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, The Unabridged Edition.

The Illustrated Oxford Dictionary by DK Publishing, Inc.

The Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer. Collier Books. This nifty little tome takes your across good grammar's landscape. Chapter headings are as follows: Recognizing Good Grammar, Points of Grammar, Capitalization, Punctuation, Expressing Numbers, Spelling and Choosing Words (including words most often confused) and Signs and Symbols.

Punctuate It Right! by Harry Shaw. Harper Perennial. Subtitled: A complete, authoritative, quick-reference guide to modern punctuation and related mechanics of writing, showing what marks to use, when, where, how, and why, including a detailed glossary of "punctuation for clarity."

Webster's New World Thesaurus by Charlton Laird. Warner Books.

Thesaurus of Alternatives to Worn-Out Words and Phrases by Robert Hartwell Fiske. Writer's Digest Books. Which, to me, is a good way to keep clichés out, or think up new clichés to replace the old and worn out.

The Elements of Expression by Arthur Plotnik. Henry Holt and Company. A must-have read if you want to understand the force words can have, and the voice lurking inside of you.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. Illustrations by George Booth. Subtitled: How To Edit Yourself Into Print. Harper Perennial. This book can teach editors what's what.

The Writer's Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing.



20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them) by Ronald B. Tobias. Writer's Digest Books.

Make Your Words Work by Gary Provost. Writer's Digest Books. It's one of the easiest books to read and understand. The man walks you through everything, and gives you homework. Do your homework, write well. Have fun, write well. Never be afraid to tear it loose and write well.

Eleven books out of thirty-five. Eleven books that will make you a literary hero.

Those books are the only books I want to read again and again, because they helped me the most. They helped me understand punctuation, grammar, plotting, editing and voice. Tools of the trade.

****************************

Terrance Foxxe is crazy enough to share everything he knows about catering to readers, because readers matter most to the Indie Author of today, and tomorrow. He had two books published under his real name, only to discover publishers really suck. After being royally ripped off and then some, he is the Indie Author of A Post-apocalyptic Story of Love, $2.99 USD & In The Dreaming, $0.99, both for the Kindle. Links provided. He's now a happy man. Buy his books. Read them. Write reviews.

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

Stop by tomorrow for part two!