Chantal Boudreau's Blog, page 27
July 25, 2013
A Current Endeavor – I Smell Burnt Flesh
Branding – you hear a lot of talk about it in writer circles nowadays. Of course, they are talking about a means of marketing your work and not burning a permanent insignia into your skin, but I often think I’d be better off scorching myself with a red-hot iron symbol (*sizzle*).
“Why?” you may ask.
Well, the main points I’ve garnered from discussions surrounding branding is that:
a) You must show focus, which means sticking to one genre and displaying your particular style and writing strengths in only that genre. This is so that people develop a specific impression of “you” in their mind and have certain expectations regarding your writing so they’ll read future works as well, and…
b)That whatever that brand is based on it has to be authentic, genuine and true to you. Otherwise people might see right through you as a fake, or it’ll come back to bite you in the butt later when those initially fooled eventually catch on.
Well, I have a problem with this combination of things. The first conflict comes from the ideas of “focus” and “being true to you”. I am now and have always been a dabbler. I have great difficulty focussing on one thing, because the world is too big and interesting, and life is too short, to sample only a minute portion of the experiences out there, in my not-so-humble opinion. So if I were to say…stick to one and only one genre, I would be doing something totally out of character for me and definitely not genuine. You can see how I might have a problem here.
Now, you’ll get people saying “if you write in different genres, you should use pseudonyms for the genres other than your primary, at least until you are well-established.” Well-established, I’m assuming, as in Stephen King and J.K.Rowling well-established. Yeah – I’m not banking on ever getting there.
Well, I don’t like the idea of having to write under a dozen plus pseudonyms, which is what I would have to do. And then there’s the issue of what I would define as my primary genre. Some might say horror, but I don’t have a horror novel published to date, just short stories. Some might say fantasy. Only two of my novels published to date are standard fantasy and almost no short stories in this genre. And then there the cross-genre books, which happen to be the majority of my novels. They aren’t easily categorized, by either genre or age group in some cases.
So based on the talk out there, if I am to brand myself, I have to focus my work, avoid cross-genre pieces (at least until I’m “well-established”) and in the process box myself in to some neat and tidy package – all while being authentic?
Not going to happen.
It’s not just a matter of I won’t do it; I can’t do it – not if I’m supposed to be true to myself.
I guess that makes me a marketing nightmare. What else is new?
Now where’s that branding iron?
July 23, 2013
Step by Step
Reblogged from Guild Of Dreams:
I was discussing my various goals as far as my writing goes with my husband the other day and he said I should lay it all out in a blog post. I’m not one for writing rules (guidelines perhaps but non-technical “rules” are stifling to my creativity) and I’m not even that fond of writing tips, so you can just consider this my observations and how they gave me direction – not that it would necessarily apply to you.
July 19, 2013
A Current Endeavor – Lucky Seven
I just finished up Chapter 13 and it’s “Lucky Seven” time again. So I’m doing my part before I start into Chapter 14.
I was tagged by Bruce Blake. Thanks, Bruce.
The rules: Go to page 7, 70, or 170, of a current WIP or recently published book. Copy the first paragraph or seven lines. Tag 7 more authors to do the same.
From my WIP ‘Endeavor”:
“Can I come out yet?”
Sam had been so distracted by Elaine being in Providence and the fuss over Leo and Faith that he had almost forgotten Three, still stranded in the hover. Elliot had not given him the okay to show himself yet. They wanted a chance to prepare everyone who had not yet met Three for what was to come. Sam hoped the fact that Royce and Elliot were willing to vouch for the Little-gone-wrong meant the others would find the wherewithal to view the mutant in a positive light, despite past clashes and appearances.
“Wait. Give Elliot a moment. Nobody here has ever met anyone quite like you.”
Tag, you’re it: Jay Wilburn, Joseph Eastwood, Suzie Lockhart, T. Fox Dunham, Tim Marquitz, Thorgil Ragnarrsson, Ren Garcia
July 18, 2013
A Current Endeavor – Summer Slacking
I have to admit, I have a hard time staying disciplined when it comes to writing posts for blogs in the summertime. I much prefer going to the beach and gardening to sitting huddled in my stifling living room or descending to the musty but cool bowels of my basement to type up something other than Sam’s latest (and rapidly darkening) adventure. Or sometimes I’d just rather hang around watching bad movies with a cold beer in hand. Nevertheless, while not posting consistently, I am posting. That must count for something.
I’ve also been working overtime and trying to hustle to get extra work done before I go on vacation next month. I’m sure many of you working desk jobs know what that’s like. There’s no one to replace you when you’re gone. If you don’t clear away more than you would on an average couple of workweeks beforehand, the backlog you come back to after “relaxing” will often seem overwhelming.
When I’m feeling overworked, I often tend to write more (but do less of the promotional things…like blogging – I feel like I’m doing enough work already.) The truth is, writing helps me relax, and as long as I’m not stressed to my breaking point, I’m better able to write when I need that escape. I’m happier to lose myself in the plot and characters. I find solace in details and background story. The fiction becomes more real for me.
So chapter 13 is coming along nicely and I can see the end of Endeavor quite clearly in my mind’s eye from here. The characters have been playing with me and I’ve had to rewrite parts of the outline, but I think it’s for the better. I have discovered plot threads that will lead me into book 6, Dominion, and beyond. I’m also laying the groundwork for the end of the series, which culminates in book number 9.
My conclusion? Summer slacking’s not so bad, and with regards to Endeavor, it’s proving to be reasonably productive.
July 15, 2013
The Blurb on Other People’s Words – Bruce’s Book Release!
You’ve seen the cover – well now you can read the book (along with the two that precede it, if you haven’t already,) For you reading pleasure, SECRETS OF THE HANGED MAN, the third novel in the acclaimed Icarus Fell dark urban fantasy series by Bruce Blake is now available. For a limited time, get the new book for only 99 cents by signing up for Bruce’s newsletter…follow the link, register, and receive your Smashwords coupon!
What’s it about? Here’s a reminder…
Icarus Fell thought the afterlife couldn’t get any worse…until Hell came looking for him.
When you are the orphaned child of a disgraced nun, and you’re saddled with a ridiculous name like Icarus Fell, you don’t expect things can go drastically downhill.
Until death comes along and an archangel recruits you for a job you screw up so badly you nearly lose your son to a demonic priest and a fallen angel.
And then, burdened by the lives lost because of your foul ups, you travel to Hell, a detour that costs you more dearly then you could ever have imagined.
No, things couldn’t get much worse in the afterlife…unless Satan sends his lap dog to bring back the one thing he thinks belongs to him.
You.
Why couldn’t death be easy?
Take it from me, Icarus is quite the character and his adventures are beyond exciting. Seeing the next installment, it’s enough to make any sane person want to jump for joy (the insane ones don’t need any prompting – they’ll jump for joy just for the heck of it.) It certainly makes me want to smile…just like this.
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And who is the wonderful culprit guilty of creating this desire to jump and smile as well as read? Just in case you need a reminder of that too…
Bruce Blake lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. When pressing issues like shovelling snow and building igloos don’t take up his spare time, Bruce can be found taking the dog sled to the nearest coffee shop to work on his novels.
Actually, Victoria, B.C. is only a couple hours north of Seattle, Wash., where more rain is seen than snow. Since snow isn’t really a pressing issue, Bruce spends more time trying to remember to leave the “u” out of words like “colour” and “neighbour” then he does shovelling. The father of two, Bruce is also the trophy husband of a burlesque diva.
Bruce’s first short story, “Another Man’s Shoes” was published in the Winter 2008 edition of Cemetery Moon, another short, “Yardwork”, was made into a podcast in Oct., 2011 by Pseudopod and his first Icarus Fell novel, On Unfaithful Wings, in Dec., 2011. The second Icarus Fell novel, All Who Wander Are Lost, was released in July, 2012, and the Khirro’s Journey epic fantasy trilogy followed between Oct., 2012 and Jan., 2013. His next project, another epic fantasy series titled The Small Gods, should begin seeing the light of day by Sept., 2013.
Find him at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BruceBlakeWrites , Twitter: @bruceablake , or his website: www.bruceblake.wordpress.com
Now here’s a taste to show you why I’m smiling:
Excerpt:
“What’s happening?” the woman’s spirit said.
She appeared better than her dead self on the couch—thinner, more fashionable, hair parted in the middle and brushed back from her face—but with a sadness to her mien. I took a breath, giving myself a second to decide the best way to break it to her—a part of my job that continued to bring me discomfort.
“You’re dead,” Dido blurted out in the same tone she might use while playing a game of tag and touching the woman, proclaiming her ‘it’.
I let out an annoyed breath and stopped myself from giving the young girl heck for her lack of tact. She shouldn’t be here, so how could I expect her to know how to act? I’d find time to explain it to her later, after I chased the frightened soul as she ran away from her ultimate fate the way my first harvest did when I made the same mistake.
The muscles in my thighs tensed, waiting for her to make a run for it. She didn’t.
The spirit contemplated her corpse, probably wishing she’d chosen different attire to be found dead in, or regretful she hadn’t wiped the unattractive glob of jam off her cheek. Possibly considering Cheerios might have made a better breakfast choice, too. After fifteen seconds, she looked back at me, wide-eyed and fearful.
“It’s okay,” I pulled the scroll out of my coat pocket for a quick memory jog, “Meg Medlin-Williams. Everything will be okay.”
She shook her head. “He did this.”
Remember the line on my forehead that shows up whenever I’m puzzled? It made a return appearance. I raised an eyebrow in an attempt to disguise it, but she’d turned away, staring off into space. My lips parted, getting ready to ask who she meant, when Dido decided she wanted to be involved.
“No one did this to you,” she said. “It’s your time.”
Apparently, she didn’t quite understand when I told her to stay out of the way, so I shot her a look I figured should make it obvious I meant her to be quiet and leave this to the professional, but she took a step toward the woman anyway. I slipped between them, blocking her out.
“I’m going to get you where you need to go,” I told her, crossing to her to put my arm around her shoulders. Comforting and preventing her from fleeing. “Everything will be fine.”
“He killed me,” she said, her voice shaking. “He killed them all.”
“No, Meg. The little girl is right.” I winked at Dido and she glared back at me; I took mental note for the future, filing away her dislike of being called a little girl. “No one did this. Your time has come, is all. It happens to everyone.”
Well, most of us.
I led her past her corpse and to the open front door. She hesitated crossing the threshold, so I gave her a gentle push to keep her going. I didn’t worry the escort angel might tire of waiting and leave because they literally had nothing else to do, but I didn’t want to spend my entire day here, either.
“Will I be safe from him now?”
“Who, Meg?” Dido asked, forgetting my threatening expression. “Who did this to you?”
She looked at the girl, then at me. Fear might as well have been the color of her eyes.
“My son,” she said, voice trembling. “He’s the devil.”
So why not take advantage of this special offer? You can find this new release here:
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/33502
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Books/secrets-of-the-hanged-man
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secrets-of-the-hanged-man-bruce-blake/1115994569?ean=2940148274759&itm=1&usri=2940148274759
www.amazon.com/Secrets-Hanged-Icarus-Novel-ebook/dp/B00DWTJBNS
http://www.amazon.ca/Secrets-Hanged-Icarus-Novel-ebook/dp/B00DWTJBNS
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Hanged-Icarus-Novel-ebook/dp/B00DWTJBNS
July 14, 2013
A Current Endeavor – Accepting the Unexpected
Things don’t always grow when and where you intend them too. I found that fact out in more ways than one. Take this year’s garden. We planted several types of seeds, and we had a second year’s growth from our asparagus – although we have to wait for year three in order to harvest that. We planted chard, beets, beans (three types), squash, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, peas, zucchini and pumpkin. The peas and yellow beans didn’t come up at all. The cucumbers made a go at it, but then died. The spaghetti squash met with a tragic accident, but everything else is doing at least okay.
And then there’s the rogue pumpkin.
We have a pumpkin growing in our bean row. We didn’t plant it there – in fact you could say that while we are responsible for it being there, we didn’t put the seed “in” the garden. It went into the compost used to fertilize the garden, the remains of Halloween, and it just happened to grow. Now it is bigger than anything we planted with intent, and has crowded out some of our bean plants.
I kind of feel that way about my Fervor series. I never planned to write it in the first place, but when frustration at failing to get any response from agents was getting to me (I still don’t have one BTW and stopped trying to get one long ago after some unpleasant experiences) I tried something a little different. I took a stab at an agent’s “theme wish-list”, picked one at random, wrote up an outline over a lunch hour and six weeks later had the first draft of Fervor in hand.
And, of course, after a couple of rounds of edits the agent in question wouldn’t even look at it.
I tossed it in my writer compost, throwing it out there with no expectation for it to grow, but a small press liked it and agreed to publish it, and several readers liked it too. It was only meant to be a one-off, but I got asked to write more and now I’m working on book number five in the series with plans on nine total before the end. It has grown like crazy… a seed that I didn’t plant and that I never intended to grow – but there it is.
I’ve planted plenty of seeds – I’ve completed twenty novels to date and only four have been in my Fervor series, but my Fervor novels are the ones doing the best. It’s nice in one way, but a little disappointing in another, just like with my garden. Sometimes, like it or not, that’s just the way it is. You can’t necessarily predict how things are going to work out. What will grow, will grow.
And at least I’m going to end up with a lot of pumpkins.
July 11, 2013
A Current Endeavor – Glum, Torn and Grateful
I made it to Chapter 12 – a turning point in many of my novels and one that brings with it a bit of a hump to overcome. I usually ride on feedback here to get me through, and while I do have enough from other things to keep my psychic vampire side from starving (thank you, Brad), it’s not the steady flow I’ve relied upon in the past. Add to it a heavier than normal workload at my day job, some unbearable hot days (record-breaking), another “maybe” I was hopeful could turn into a “yes” but ended up a “no,” and a summer cold (when I hardly ever get sick) – and I’m feeling glum.
I’m also feeling torn. I read the book “Ender’s Game” long ago and it rated up there amongst my favourites. I would love to go see the movie when it comes out, but I can’t in good conscience. As long as there is the likelihood that some of the profit from that movie will be going to support anti-gay marriage organizations or any groups spreading hatred and intolerance, I won’t be spending my money to see it. It’s sad, but that’s the way things go sometimes. I stand by my gay and lesbian friends and would never knowingly do anything to support someone who would see their rights suppressed. Love is love and family is family. Nobody should be denied that.
Despite being glum and torn, I’m still feeling very lucky. This cold may be annoying, but it’s just a cold and it’s already starting to go away. Otherwise I’m healthy. I may be struggling without feedback and getting a lot of rejections lately, but I’m still writing and submitting and I have had my work published in almost two dozen anthologies along with my several novels – much more than the “absolutely nothing” I had published at this point three years ago. The weather may be jumping from extremes of ridiculously hot to utter downpours, but my garden is growing really well. And I have a family I adore. I’m especially aware of that because of tragedy that has struck two other employees at the department where I work, one losing a young son and another, a husband. It makes me want to hang on tight to my own loved ones and make sure they know how much I care about them.
Glum or not, torn or not, I’m not about to lose that sense of gratitude. As long as there are things to be happy about, I’ll find a way to get around the not-so-happy stuff.
July 8, 2013
The Blurb on Other People’s Words – Hanna
I usually reserve my reviews…or should I say “recommendations” because I don’t review things I don’t at least like in some way…for books. But movies have words too – otherwise they wouldn’t need screenwriters – so I’m going to offer up my thoughts on the movie Hanna today.
I just saw this movie, and in addition to some pretty fabulous cinematography, it was one of those stories where as a writer you grit your teeth and wish you had written it yourself while you enjoy every minute of it. It included so many of the themes that inspire me in my writing. It had powerful female characters, some beautiful scenes filmed in Finland involving reindeer and wolves, a bucket-load of fairy tale references paying homage to the Brothers Grimm, some delightful scenes set in Morocco and Spain, and a science fiction element involving children, experiments and genetic manipulation (most of you know how interested I am in those things). Oh, and there was oodles of action in just the right places to maintain excellent pacing for the story. As I watched it I was wallowing in cinematic bliss.
The protagonist was fascinating. She was skilled in many ways, exceptionally so for her age, well-learned with just the right mix of social awkwardness and curiosity to make her both interesting and a touch imperfect. She was intrigued by music, fearless, and had a freedom of spirit that some of the secondary characters admired or envied.
Now the niggler, watching with me, did have one or two mild objections regarding the action scenes. He hates the “head-twist-neck-break” manoeuvre common to many action movies that he says is “totally unrealistic” and he protested when one of the main characters did not grab a pipe as a weapon when he had the opportunity to do so (when the villain following behind him did). But otherwise, he mostly kept mum aside from agreeing with me that it was a great movie – and that says a lot.
I won’t offer up any spoilers. I’ll just finish by saying that this movie was heart-thumping exciting, mentally-stimulating, and artistically original – a rare breed in an industry that usually focuses on one of those things exclusively. It gets a big pair of thumbs up from me, and kudos especially to Seth Lochhead who wrote the story/script while in the Writing program at Vancouver Film School. This rates up there as one of my favourites.
July 4, 2013
Show Me Fireworks
Reblogged from Guild Of Dreams:
You hear it a lot in writing circles: "You have to start with an action scene or you won't hook your audience," "today's reader has a short attention span so you have to keep your plot high-paced," or how about "this generation is used to TV and movies – if your writing doesn't compare you'll lose them."
I think what people want in a story depends on the individual reader, honestly, and I don't think you can whitewash readers with a common "generation" paintbrush.
July 3, 2013
A Current Endeavor – Decisions, Decisions…Argh!
Some decisions are happy ones in the making – like participating in the Darlings of Decay zombie anthology. It is getting lots of great publicity and it has given me the opportunity to share in something with many other fantastic female horror writers. It’s available now on Smashwords for free!
Other decisions, I’m not so sure of. Every time I submit something somewhere, I always have to wonder if it will be at the expense of a better opportunity somewhere else, especially when I get the latest pro-rate venue telling me I made the shortlist out of 500+ submissions, but I didn’t make the final cut (yet again *sigh*).
My current dilemma is the result of such a decision. I submit regularly to a certain writing competition that I’m never likely to win because of my non-conformist ways. That being said, I give it a shot every quarter. Now I find myself in an awkward situation because of my latest submission. I just found out about a pro-rate venue looking for stories with very particular criteria that the short story I sent in to the contest actually meets. Aside from an appropriate word count for my story, they want a tale set in 1400 to 1920 – my story is a period piece set in the 1600s, they want it set in the real world – mine is set in New World Canada during the arrival of the first French colonists, they want some form of marginalized character including the disabled – my protagonist is hearing impaired, and it needs to have a supernatural component – I included a mythological monster of Native American legend from the area where the story is set. It is a *perfect* fit for the anthology, already written and ready to go.
Except it is sitting with this contest until a winner, not likely to be me, is decided. And that decision won’t happen before the July 31st deadline for the anthology.
So what do I do? I won’t submit to both places at the same time when both specify “no simultaneous submissions” so I could scrabble around to see if I can somehow retract it from the contest, if that is even an option, and then submit to the anthology. Or I could leave it be and miss what is potentially a much more likely win with the anthology.
These are the kind of decisions I hate, and they seem to come my way on a regular basis. Sad but true.
At least I have four weeks to make up my mind…
