Chantal Boudreau's Blog, page 41

Anything but Ordinary

It’s funny how sometimes we can draw inspiration from characters. I’ve seen articles lately about how readers can be influenced by the characters in the books they read, carrying over elements of the characters into real life – a method of transforming theory into practice, I guess. If that works for readers, I suspect it also works for writers. I’m not sure if this is a common experience for all writers, but I often feel a profound connection with my characters, more so than the ones in the books I read – even those that have touched me in a very strong way.

I find myself identifying with the strangest of characters, like my gnomish ex-schoolteacher wizard’s apprentice, Reeree, who appears in my Masters and Renegades series, both in Magic University and my soon-to-be-released Casualties of War. Now I’m not a fan of the colour pink, and I’m often one of the taller people in a crowd, so on a physical level, I can’t relate to her very well. But what I do understand is playing it safe for the better part your life and then suddenly reaching a place where you realize a risk is necessary or your life will prove quite pointless. While nobody would ever accuse me of being normal, I certainly let things play out in an “ordinary” way, until I found it just wasn’t enough. Like Reeree, I came to the conclusion that I wanted my life to be something more than ordinary. I want to do something significant and meaningful. I want to serve some higher purpose.

At the point in my life where that notion truly hit home, I started taking chances. It would have been nice to make as drastic a change as Reeree – to make that leap without looking back...no regrets, but I’m afraid I wasn’t as bold. My chosen path has been slower going, a gradual transformation, but I’ve done a lot in the last few years, much of which I might have considered impossible before now. I’m hoping it will eventually lead me to that opportunity to make a real difference in the world, be it writing a book that moves people to better their lives, or even just helps one person to overcome some sort of adversity, or perhaps, make some sizable contribution to a charitable cause.

In the meantime, I’ll keep working towards that objective of being anything but ordinary, like Reeree, but with smaller steadier steps. I’ve managed to get this far in a very short amount of time and ... hey ... it doesn’t hurt to dream.

Someday...

I’m hoping someday I won’t have to tell people that I write. It would be wonderful if they would just know, at the mere mention of my name. I know that’s a lot to hope for, but I really hate telling people I write. Even if you can confirm that, yes, I have been published, many folks will still look at you as if you had just told them that you eat babies.

“What did you write? Have I heard of it? Can I buy it in *fill-in-the-name-of-some-chain-bookstore-here*?”

If you can’t say yes to these questions, you then get that look that suggests that not only do you eat babies, but you just asked them to eat babies with you.

It’s hilarious, in a sad and pathetic sort of way. If I tell people I do artwork, I get a completely different response.

“Wow! You’re an artist? Can I see some of your work?”

No cold stares like I’m some sort of leper. No demands if any of my work is hanging in the Louvre, or the Met, or even the local art gallery. They are interested, in a positive way. When I show them my work, despite the fact that I’m not a particularly good artist, I usually get an equally positive response, unless the person is a professional artist. Rarely will I get any comments like “I don’t think that’s the appropriate medium for that piece,” “I think you used the wrong perspective for that one,” “how come that woman isn’t positioned at the centre of picture with a powerful pose? This is sexist.” They look things over with a hint of admiration in their eyes and say: “These are really nice. I particularly like this one and that one.”

On the other hand, if I give them a story to read, along with being less than receptive because I’m a “nobody” writer, everybody becomes an expert and a critic. “I think this would have been better written in first person,” “this isn’t descriptive enough – I wanted to know exactly what the chair in the far corner of the room looked like,” or “the story ends too abruptly...yes, I know it is horror and the main character just died, but you should have found a way of extending it.” Few people respond the way they would have if you had just showed them a drawing of equal merit. The focus is almost always on exactly what they think is wrong with your work.

I have to say I am grateful for folks I know who have buckled down and forced themselves to read my work. Many of them don’t look at me like I eat babies anymore. Some of them are even eager to read anything new I have to offer. This along with the fact that I have publishers who have been willing to invest effort and money in publishing and promoting my work does give me some sense of validation. It still doesn’t mean, however, that I don’t have to prove myself over, and over, and over again. And I can guarantee you that I will slip up from time to time. Everyone does.

Someday, I hope my work and name will stand on its own, and readers don’t spend the majority of their reading time scrutinizing every corner for the negative. They’ll just take it at face value and enjoy it for what it is, the way they would with one of my drawings. That’s what I long for.

Someday...

Appreciation and Disappointment

I’m going to start this blog post with a thank you. A group of my writer friends have deemed this week “Publishers Appreciation Week” in support of a publisher who is having a rough time with an author and Amazon, despite the fact that this publisher is following the rules and being very professional in the dispute. I’ve seen this happen more than once, where an author feels entitled to more than what is in their contract and makes a stink about it. I hope this passes and things work out for this publisher, who has contracted one of my stories (which will be published under my pseudonym.) Good luck, Gina.

That explained, I want to celebrate five of my publishers who have been great to work with and I feel deserve my thanks:

The first and probably most obvious is May December Publications – three novels published, two more in the works and hopefully, many more to follow. They have published my shorts in multiple anthologies. They have provided me with enthusiastic support and spectacular cover artwork (from Shawn Conn). I consider Denise and Todd good friends.
Find more details at http://maydecemberpublications.com/

The second on my list, and the first to purchase one of my stories, is Notreebooks. Eve is a great editor and I thank her for giving me my first real break.
Find more details at http://www.notreebooks.com/

The first publisher to accept one of my non-fiction works was Rymfire eBooks. I have now participated in a couple of their publications and I enjoy working with Armand.
Find more details at http://rymfireebooks.com

I have two pieces published with Crowded Quarantine Publications and I have my fingers crossed that there will be more. Adam is fun and talented, with a good eye for horror.
Find more details at http://www.crowdedquarantine.co.uk/

And lastly, I have to thank Dark Moon Books, and Stan, for giving me the opportunity to share pages with some writers I greatly admire. I have my fingers crossed for more to come with them as well.
More details at http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/

With my “thank you”s made, I have a comment now directed towards other writers regarding blurbs and sampling. I usually enjoy reading my writer friends’ book blurbs and flash fiction, but please, please, please make sure they are polished before sharing them publicly with others. It’s one thing to put out excerpts of WIPs, where people are aware you are still in the editing process, or casual blog entries with the occasional slip, but when you offer a book blurb that is supposed to properly represent that book and there are multiple grammatical errors, or you present a piece of “complete” flash fiction, that is supposed to be a solid example of your work, with a spelling error in the very first sentence, it might dissuade potential readers. I feel really disappointed when I see those types of mistakes, knowing that my friends’ promotional efforts might be doing more harm than good. You may not be able to control everything with regards to your books and stories, but at least take care of the smaller things you do control.

Prolific – Good or Bad

I noted a running theme in writer circles lately surrounding the notion that writers write too much, and therefore much of what they create is of lesser quality (as Richard Ford would have us believe) and should never be exposed to the reading public. You’ll find essays out there on the matter and in some cases, ironically, those essays ramble on drily with far too many irrelevant comments before getting to their point. In a rather circumspect way, the essayist, perhaps, is supporting their own opinion. That might also be why they feel that way in the first place, subject to that problem themselves. Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone suffers from that same affliction.

On the flip-side, you’ll also find writing advice from established veteran writers suggesting that a novice writer *must* write everyday if they aspire to be a great writer and that the whole point of writing something is to have it read, so be sure to refine it and get it out there, once it is written.

Do we write to our inclinations, and if so, do we share everything we create? - A bit of a conundrum there.

Some writers find it difficult to write everyday. They have to push themselves to keep to routine. They may write in spurts followed by dry spells, and others require an extra dose of self-discipline to finish what they start, often abandoning their current work mid-stream to stray into one or two new stories…or perhaps even a dozen, without returning to the original tale.

Some, like me, suffer from a mild case of hypergraphia. It’s an addiction and one that is enabled by friends and family who encourage us to write because they don’t like how cranky we get when we don’t. I’m also fortunate enough that I hate leaving things unfinished, so the desire to finalize what I’ve started outweighs the lure of new ideas which are also begging for my attention.

This means I’m very prolific. Is this a bad thing, and should I screen my work, only putting out the very best of what I produce? Well that notion has its own set of problems. How do I decide what is my “best” work. Some of my favourite stories didn’t go over well with about half of my test readers. Some of my stories that my test readers adored got scathing critique from submissions editors. Define “best” – better yet, who gets the privilege of deciding what has merit, and if it is the industry proper, then how will I know what they consider my best work unless I send it all out at some point?

Two things I’ve learned while writing and working at getting published: the first is that if I want to stay happy, I have to ignore the majority of the mess of conflicting information out there and just do what works for me, even if others disagree with it. The second is that the whole process is one big balancing act, and while some people shove extremes and absolutes in your face, the answers lie somewhere in the moderate, middle-of-the-road.

Are being prolific and the resulting output good or bad? Well, I guess that just depends on who you ask.

She Doesn’t Have to Be an Amazon to Be “Strong”…

I noticed on a friend’s blog that archeologists have uncovered proof of another female gladiator in the Roman arenas. It brought me back to a discussion I had with a writer friend regarding strong female characters. When I suggested I like to see strong female characters, she automatically jumped to the idea that I was implying the stereotypical fantasy swordswoman, battling alongside the men with her rippling muscles, bronze brassiere and Xena-like war-cries.

Far from it.

All I meant was: “please don’t give me another story where every woman significant to the plot is either a doormat, an ornament or a victim.”

I admit - I do have warrior women in some of my tales. I have female Templars, soldiers like my Dee Aaronsod or Brianna, and my apprentice mercenary character, Carlisle. In fact the head of my Red-Sun mercenary guild is a villainous woman named Minerva. But a lot of my strong female characters are miles from the stereotypical Amazonian fighter. They range from a stout little middle-aged, ex-school teacher who is willing to brave a mountain full of dangers for the sake of helping others, my Reeree in the soon to be released “Casualties of War”, to my super-mom, Margot, who works as a financial administrative assistant and takes on some exceptional responsibilities, in “Just Another Day”. I even have a primary female character in my unpublished Snowy Barrens trilogy, the shamaness Fawn, who is extremely strong, despite being a healer, a social outcast because of some disturbing facial scarring, and a pacifist. I consider Sarah one of my strongest characters in Fervor, but she is not physically strong, wilful, contrary or bold. She is loving and understanding and offers as much of herself as she can possibly give, even though it might put her in danger.

Strong doesn’t just mean emotionally fierce and physically powerful. Strong can mean taking action, not bending when others oppose you, offering commitment to follow through on the things you’ve started and showing resolve when things get tough. It can mean not turning away and leaving things for others to fix, if they go bad. It can mean staying true to yourself, and helping those you love, or even helping complete strangers who need you, for that matter. Strength comes in various shades and designs, not just a single stereotype.

I’m not playing the feminist card and saying every woman in the story should be strong, for the sake of serving as a positive role model for any girls/young women who might be reading it. Fiction should reflect life, and there are a range of people out there, including doormats, ornaments and victims, so these personality types will play a part in stories – what I’m saying is there are an awful lot of women out there who make a very positive impact on others’ lives, and that should be reflected too, especially if you want me, as a reader, to be able to relate properly to your story.

So please, give me something other than just damsels in distress or women who can’t go on without their man. Give me something strong.

Parents - They Get in the Way of Good Fiction

I’m sure my title to this blog posting has people offended, or scratching their heads in confusion. My discussion today falls back to a conversation in my fantasy writers group where it was noted that in YA stories, parents of child or youth protagonists are commonly absent in one way or another. I don’t consider my work YA, but in my own stories I can honestly say that the same thing applies. Don’t believe me? Here are many examples of absentee parents and a number of reasons why they are no longer there:

Dead – One way to guarantee parents won’t be around is to kill them off. Sometimes it is both parents, like with Harry Potter, or my own character, Dee Aaronsod in Casualties of War. This usually means you’re going to have to offer up a surrogate, possibly another relative, like Dee’s older sister, Juliana, or some other guardian, but the replacement will never be as invested in the character as their actual parents would be. This is important for the story. Other times it is only one parent who has been taken before their time, like Katniss’s father in the Hunger Games. This leaves a custodial parent, but one who may be grieving, overwhelmed or distracted. This leads into my next example.

Mentally Unavailable – This is usually more likely to happen when there is only one parent remaining, and they’ve either suffered some kind of breakdown as a result of the loss of their partner, like Katniss’s mother, or are simply overwhelmed with trying to make ends meet o their own. They might mean well, but not have the time and energy to invest in their child and they end up neglecting them to some degree, as a result. In other cases they might be totally distracted by something that ranks as high a priority, or higher, as their offspring. An example of this is Mo, the father in Inkheart. He is so caught up in trying to protect and possibly retrieve his wife that he isn’t always there for his daughter when she needs him. Addy’s mother and father in my When You Whisper are both mentally unavailable, her mother because of clinical depression and her father because of his addiction and abusive nature. You’ll also have the family that is swarming with kids and the parents are forced to focus their attention and efforts on the youngest of their passel, leaving the older children to manage on their own.

Missing – Abducted, lost at sea, or merely having runaway to escape life, sometimes one or both of the parents are completely gone, but not necessarily dead. I took this to an extreme in Fervor, where the children and youth don’t know what has become of their parents or their surrogates, their Minders, who just up and abandon them. Sometimes the whole premise of the book will be bent on the child’s search for the missing parent(s). Other times it is a matter of an attempt at self-preservation, with the children left to fend for themselves.

Sick – Not as serious or finite as death, but still a threat and one that can incapacitate one or both parents. This is a common tool in fairy tales, where the child goes off on a quest for a cure for their ailing parent. In my Casualties of War, Clayton has been entrusted to the care of his older brother, Gillis, and separated from his parents as a result. When his guardian falls ill, he can’t turn to Gillis to solve his problems and Clayton takes it upon himself to try to help rectify the situation.

Divorce/Separation/Life Circumstances – More likely a theme in contemporary genres, the facts of life can impinge on a character’s circumstances. Voluntary separation or divorce will break up a family and may leave the custodial parent bitter and inattentive. The non-custodial parent might move away, or simply be resentful of the situation and not remain involved with their child. I use this technique in Intangible, where Troy’s parents have divorced, making his father unavailable and his mother too busy to be involved significantly in his affairs. The separation might also be involuntary, such as a military person who is shipped off to serve overseas, or a business person who has to spend lengthy periods away from their family for business purposes. This is just one more way of taking one or both parents out of the picture.

Sometimes we aren’t even given an explanation why the parents aren’t there, it’s just clear that they are not. My character, Nolan, in Casualties of War, is a parentless street urchin, but also very secretive about his past, so the reader doesn’t discover how he ended up that way. We don’t even know if he knows why he’s on his own.

The question, then, is “Why?” Why is it necessary to eliminate parents when your protagonist is a child or young adult? Well, the fact is that a good, invested parent will get in the way of the story. Such a parent will go out of their way to protect their child and shield them from tragedy, shoulder any major responsibilities, and help them deal with any obstacles they might encounter. This is okay if your story is offering a whole family of protagonists, but not if you want the focus to be on the individual. If it is a trial the child must endure, alone or with his or her peers, you don’t want a concerned mother or father meddling in the process. I think that’s the best explanation as to why you aren’t likely to see competent well-balanced parents accompanying protagonist children and youths. Parents simply get in the way of good fiction.

- Casualties of War, the second in my Masters & Renegades fantasy series from May December Publications, is scheduled for release later this year. You can find Magic University, the first in the series, at:

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Universit...

Eight-Legged Eats

While doing research for a story you will run into things you would never expect. One story led me to look into situations where spiders are eaten and associated facts. What did I discover? Well, aside from learning that spiders supposedly taste like peanut butter, I also found out that they are cooked and eaten in some recipes in Cambodia (http://www.cambodiancooking.com.au/). Mention that to most people, and they’ll cringe and say, “ewww!”

Are spiders such an unusual dish? Arachnids are not far off from crustaceans, and we happily eat crab, lobster and shrimp (all things a non-seafood-eating friend of mine likes to refer to as bugs.) And how about escargot? Why would eating snails somehow be acceptable but the idea of chowing down on the creepy-crawlies with eight legs makes you want to spew?

Ever hear of chocolate-covered ants? Apparently those are available for consumption too.

Insects, spiders, worms, grubs, slugs – all manner of wriggly invertebrates are high in protein and could conceivably end up on the menu. What decides what we choose to eat and what we turn away? The choice for all cultures is not the same.

Some people have even gone so far as to cast aside societal reservations and eat the things that disgust their neighbour. Survival shows and reality TV do it all the time, showing us close-ups of people sucking the juices out of a camel spider, crunching into a still wriggling cockroach or spitting up the giant grub that just exploded its guts into their mouth, for the shock factor. Our local natural history museum has presented a “cooking with bugs” series that has been an effective draw. You can even find entire cookbooks on the topic, such as David Gordon’s Eat-a-Bug Cookbook:

http://www.amazon.com/Eat-bug-Cookboo...

or how about Julieta Ramos-Elorduy, Phd’s Creepy Crawly Cuisine:

http://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Crawly-C...

How many of you groaned, uttered a heart-felt “gross!”, or even clutched at your belly to stop it from doing flip-flops at the thought?

Some of you may be thinking that these are novelty cookbooks, which they are, but only because our society has decided to discount bugs as a proper food source. It’s that novelty, however that has brought us such treats as the Cricket Lick-it, a candy-encased bug, and its kin, a candy-coated scorpion (my husband and I bought one of these for my sister-in-law, one Christmas). You can find them both at Hotlix, along with many other buggy delights.

http://www.hotlix.com/index.html

So what do you think – if you have the chance to sample some arachnid cuisine – would you go for it?

Charity Anthologies

If you do a quick scan of the writer and publisher blogs out there, you’ll find a vast number of complaints about authors giving work away for “exposure” and how it devalues the work of authors in general. Of course, this usually comes from established writers who already have name recognition and don’t understand just how much the publishing industry has changed recently and how hard it is to create a name for yourself. And it does make a difference. There are plenty of publishers out there that won’t even consider your work unless you already have a name they recognize. Also, sampling is supposed to be one of the most effective means of marketing for writers.

That being said, while I might post the occasional story for free on a few sites out there so people can sample my work, ignoring the naysayers, and I gladly agree to the freebie weekends for my ebooks that my publishers have used for promotional purposes, I’m not keen on contributing my work to for-profit anthologies where I don’t even get a contributor copy. In fact, I have said “no” to specific requests of this type that have come my way. I’ll willingly, however, contribute to charity anthologies. I have two stories now in these types of books and a third submitted and waiting for a response. I don’t see a problem with donating my work for a good cause. I do it all the time in other ways. I donate money regularly to charity, I’m O negative, so I make a point of donating blood, and I donate artwork and baked goods and books for raffles and the like – so why not simply donate my words?

Surprisingly, you’ll find folks criticizing this choice out there as well, although it is less common and usually limited to the more abrasive types who just like to rant and be negative. I witnessed one small press publisher go on a tirade while attacking his peers who were not paying contributors and he included charity anthologies in his rant. But in general, these anthologies are well received. They are also a potential opportunity to have your work in the same book as established writers whom you respect. I’ve enjoyed that experience as well.

If you want to check out the charity anthologies to which I have contributed they include:

Waking the Witch- from May December Publications – all proceeds go to the Red Cross

http://www.amazon.com/Wake-The-Witch-...

Slices of Flesh – from Dark Moon Books – Net proceeds from this book will go to several charities including literacy programs, the Horror Writers of America hardship fund and the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation

http://www.amazon.com/Slices-Flesh-St...

Mental Music

The discussion came up in one of my writers’ groups as to whether it’s better to listen to music while you write or to sit in silence. Opinions differed, and I don’t think that any one answer is correct. Some people want a completely distraction-free environment and that’s how they work best, but that’s not what I find works for me, and I’m not alone. Others insist that they can only listen to instrumental music and that lyrics draw them away from what they are writing. Once again, I don’t share that belief, for my own writing. I enjoy listening to music when I write and find it highly inspirational, preferably songs with lyrics and most often alternative rock.

I’m not suggesting that my method would work for everyone. Some people need to be very single-minded when they do something creative, but even in silence, my brain is cluttered and music seems to help me to drown out some of the clutter and to focus. Considering I’m one of those oddball dual-sided thinkers, I wouldn’t expect my creative process to match that of the typical right-brained scribe.

Science does provide some positive evidence for those in favour of listening to music as they write. There are scholastic studies that support the notion music heightens creative processes through increased pleasurable emotions, although particularly with music that the individual enjoys. While not necessarily having drastic effects, there is an “enjoyment arousal” factor (a term coined by C. F. Chabris) that can improve creative performance (see details of stimulating effects of music in the study paper “Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion” by Anne J. Blood and Robert J. Zatorre, from McGill University). The study specifically shows an increase in higher thought processes and a decrease in the more animalistic brain functions in response to the music. The music also has a calming effect (as per the Harvard Gazette article, Music on the brain: Researchers explore the biology of music, by William J. Cromie), and relaxation is helpful when trying to be creative.

A second paper from McGill supports that emotional responses correlate to the music played, something else we discussed in the group. If you are writing a love scene versus a battle scene, the two definitely call for different musical playlists to generate the appropriate ambiance.

The studies also support those who say they need to write in silence. If a writer hasn’t found a type of music that can draw that pleasurable reaction, then the response to the dissonance caused by the music is the exact opposite - the music would create a negative result and actually draw their attention away from other things, such as the story they are trying to create. It could very well be that those who need silence in order to write have yet to find a music with which their mental functions are in sync, if one exists for them at all.

Musical food for thought...

Morality for Sale?

I think it’s interesting. I started boycotting PayPal ages ago for a variety of reasons. I watched them freeze friends’ accounts for no legitimate reason and do other somewhat nefarious things. The last straw was a situation where someone used their policies to rip me off when I was purchasing something from eBay, many years ago. The vendor, recommended on eBay with high ratings, never provided the merchandise I paid for. It was a small purchase, only $23, but instead of trying to be helpful, PayPal took my money and then spit in my face (figuratively), shrugging their shoulders and telling me it was my problem even though I had followed all of their directions with purchase follow-ups. I swore I would never use them again, if I could help it. I only buy from vendors who accept some other method of payment, and I’ve only made one exception for the sake of charity.

I’ve heard many other people say, what other options are there? I buy from vendors who accept regular credit cards, not via PayPal, and on many occasions I have sent money orders or cheques. I have yet to have a vendor rip me off when I have used those methods of payment, but I can’t say the same about PayPal, so what does that tell you? I was not the lone victim of that dishonourable vendor that day – it was a scam of massive proportions and PayPal turned a blind eye and a cold shoulder to those who were cheated. They were quite content to profit from another’s wrongdoings.

Now, the irony.

Here comes their latest round of interference in the erotica writing industry and PayPal feels they have the right to play censor. I don’t agree with that, but I can’t boycott them anymore than I already do – sorry folks. Now I do have a conservative outlook on life and I don’t think that erotica that condones certain behaviours should be available for purchase from legitimate vendors, but from what I understand, PayPal isn’t being selective in their ban on these topics. The mere mention of these topics, even in a negative light, is being targeted, and that I don’t support. You can’t strive to fight terrible things if you aren’t allowed to discuss them in a mature and meaningful way. They are also blacklisting vendors in full, even when some of the people they sell for are not selling anything that goes against the new policy.

I feel PayPal is overstepping their authority by playing judge and jury when that should be some other type of regulator’s place, a public agency rather than a private business with private prejudices and biases. Considering the wrongs they have allowed or perpetrated in the past, why should they have the right to play moral police?
I’m only one person, and they are a giant, but that hasn’t stopped me from at least expressing my distaste for their unfair policies, even if they don’t hear my one little voice out of millions (or perhaps billions). It would take a lot of individuals willing to do what I’m doing, and make the necessary stand and sacrifices, before they’d even notice. I don’t blame the vendors in this, Smashwords or others, who have bent to PayPal’s will. They are clearly feeling powerless in the face of the bully. I only hope this triggers new competitors who are willing to offer other options.