Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 110

Random Friday

Mighty Joleene Naylor gave me the Sisterhood of the World’s Blogger Award! She’s the most awesome indie author I’ve ever met and she’s still blogging after all these years and her Amaranthine series is one of my favorites, so go check her if you don’t know her already!

Here are the award rules:

Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.
Answer the 10 questions given to you.
Pass the award on to 7 other bloggers of their choice and let them know that they have been nominated.
Include the logo of the award in a post or on your blog.

Point 1: check

Point 2: will do in a sec.

Point 3: I don’t know who to pass this on, so if you who are reading this want it, grab it, answer the questions and link back to this post so I can read your answers!

Point 4: check.

My answers to Joleene’s questions!

1. You’re going on vacation to a deserted island and you get five things (besides toilet paper, food, and the essentials). What do you take?

notebook, pen and pencil, and da Kindle Keyboard – with that Stupid Phone that works as MP3 reader! ;)

2. What’s your favorite movie or TV show?

I don’t watch TV since the early Nineties. Anything with Da Muses tends to become a favorite, so I’ll say their latest movie, John Wick & Bang Bang (which are both action movies, but Muse H has also romance. And those jaw-dropping dance steps). And apparently both are getting sequels as well! ;)

3. What’s something you collect?

Art books. DVDs. comic books.

4. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Nothing at this time. Call it middle-age wisdom! ;)

5. Cats, dogs, or squirrels?

Unicorns or other legendary creatures, thanks!

6. What’s a hobby people might not guess you have?

I’m afraid it’s all pretty much in the open…

7. Do you roll or fold your socks (or just stuff them in the drawer)?

pair them with a half roll and stuff then in the socks box.

8. What is the closest object on your right?

besides the mouse? Tablet for digital painting (not much used, unfortunately)

9. If you could be known for only one thing, what would it be?

My wonderful stories! :D

10. If you were a ghost, who would you haunt?

Screenwriters – especially if they were trying to make movies out of my books!

Writer Wednesday

Did anyone notice this post is late, or is everyone on newsfeeds or whatever? Anyhow, not much on the writing front. The Desi vampire is out to betas and I’m getting ready for Carrara Show. I shall tell you all about it next week, but I’ll probably be offline the whole weekend and until next Tuesday.

I feel relieved that I have permission to leave my old stories in the drawers. I might rewrite what was done as graphic novel, but the rest may rest in peace. My thanks to Writing Guru Dean and his topic of the night. I had more or less gotten it, but now I can’t ignore it anymore! ;)

Another post worth reading is Writing by Committee. That’s one of the reasons I quit screenwriting. I want to keep control of my stories. I don’t want someone else rewrite it because some suit in Hollywood thinks it would sell better if.

And that’s why my editors are mostly proof-readers and I rely on betas for rewrites. I don’t need a “developmental editor”, thank you. I want a reader’s reactions. And that’s what I give when I am requested to beta-read.

You need a trusted first reader who is not a writer. Just a reader. Someone who can be honest with you, and who tells you simply this: Did they like the story? Did they find it compelling? Would they have read to the end if they encountered it in an anthology or bought it off a store rack?

That’s beta-reading to me. That’s what I expect a beta to tell me – along with comments on settings and pacing. I try to give them the most polished manuscript I can write, but there will be grammar mistakes and typos (although my proofreader tells me I send her very clean manuscripts compared to some native writers! ;) I might have become almost bilingual, but I’m still an ESL writer and reader…). Like in any published book.

I will keep this short. I need to prepare the posts for when I’ll be away and get back to… reading. I must finish the novel I’m currently reading before I leave (I probably won’t mention it, since I’m not loving it, though)! :)

Have a great week!

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

The art of dragon killing:

Dragons have been eating humans for centuries. Now heroes throughout history stalk their legendary foe. Learn how to hunt, kill, and eat the wild dragon. Never before has revenge tasted so good. A literary feast for the bloody-minded.

In Janet Morris’ anthology on the art of dragon killing, seventeen writers bring you so close to dragons you can smell their fetid breath. Tales for the bold among you.

HEROIKA 1 — DRAGON EATERS, an anthology of heroic fiction edited by Janet Morris, features original stories by Janet Morris and Chris Morris, S. E. Lindberg, Jack William Finley, Travis Ludvigson, Tom Barczak, J. P. Wilder, Joe Bonadonna, Milton Davis, Alexandra Butcher, William Hiles, M Harold Page, Walter Rhein, Cas Peace, Beth Waggoner Patterson, Bruce Durham, Mark Finn.

 

Watch the book trailer!

Amazon and Amazon UK links.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, Alexandra Butcher’s interview! Stay tuned for more authors!

Where do you live and write from?

I live in Bristol, in the South West of the UK. It’s a historic city, John Cabot sailed from Bristol to America, Isambard Kingdom Brunel built bridges and railways here, and there has been a settlement in these parts since the Stone Age.  Truth be told I am not a city person, but my part of the city is quite rural, we have a nature reserve and a holy well close by and there are lots of good walks in the woods and by the river, when I’m up to it.

When did you start writing?

At school, same as everyone else…. Seriously though I assume you mean storytelling? I was always an imaginative child, I was the one writing the poem/short story for the school display or off somewhere in my own head. I’d make believe, as many kids do and I wrote plays or poetry, or short stories a lot at school.  Some were, well, rubbish but a fair few were worthy at note, even then. I was often asked to write something for the school display. I loved the writing but I have terrible handwriting, and these were the days before word processors so that aspect I struggled with.

This progressed to writing fan-fic for Phantom of the Opera and adventures for games.  Then onto novels and short stories.  I think either you are a story teller or you aren’t. Learning the technical ins and outs – now that is another matter. An author can always learn something new.

What genre(s) do you write?

Fantasy, fantasy romance and erotica. I’ve mentioned the poetry and I occasionally dip into horror – in fact last year I published two short horror stories and a poem about Jack the Ripper with the Indie Collaboration. The Jack the Ripper story is very visceral, very dark.  Mostly though it’s fantasy based work.

Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?

Everywhere. Books I’ve read, films I’ve seen, nature, people, other stories I’ve written. I think every writer puts him or herself into his or her own books, certainly fiction writers do.  If you mean do I cast myself? Not on purpose.

Do you have a specific writing routine?

No. I have lots of folders of notes and half-ideas. I am far too chaotic for routine;) I also have a few health issues and a full time job so I sometimes don’t find the time I’d like for writing.

Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?

See number 5. I have vague outlines but they are just that – vague. I’ve tried to plan but they end up changing so now I just have notes and ideas, which work, or don’t. I do have someone I discuss ideas with and she tells me if they are stupid.  I work full time so I only get to write in the evenings and weekends, assuming I am not too tired. If I am good and motivated I can usually write a short story in an afternoon but a novel – that is a totally different matter. It usually takes me about a year or more to write a novel. Is that fast or slow?

Tell us about your latest book

Heroika: The Dragon Eaters contains my latest story – Of Blood and Scales. It forms part of a Heroic Fantasy anthology in a shared world/theme anthology from Perseid Press and edited by Janet Morris. The collection is dark, deadly and filled with heroes, dragons and myths from this world and others. It was quite a challenge to write the tale as I was also working on a couple of other projects, and for a while I wasn’t sure of the ending.  The collection as a whole is supreme – heroic fiction filled with myth, mayhem and of course dragons.

http://www.amazon.com/HEROIKA-DRAGON-S-E-Lindberg-ebook/dp/B00VFVCQRS/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HEROIKA-DRAGON-S-E-Lindberg-ebook/dp/B00VFVCQRS/

Also recently published The Stolen Tower: The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book III.  It is the latest installment in my adult fantasy series.

http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Tower-Light-Beyond-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00U8A9044/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stolen-Tower-Light-Beyond-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00U8A9044/

Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?

Indie. I like the freedom it brings. The deadlines and control of the book are mine. My books are generally a little outside mainstream as the novels contain a degree of erotica. Indie publishing allows for the more varied and outside mainstream books to be published.  Of course there are downsides.

Any other projects in the pipeline?

Book IV of the Chronicles, plus several short stories for the Tales of Erana series.

What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?

Finishing my series, and hopefully publishing a few more novels. I’d like be able to live from the writing, but for indies that is rare. What am I doing? I’d like to produce a role-play game system for the world as well. That won’t be until most of the series is done, and I need to find an artist for that.  I try and promote regularly, but that too has its pitfalls. The line between promotion and over-promotion is a thin one indeed. Networking has provided some great contacts and opportunities so one never knows where that might lead.

Author Bio:

A. L. Butcher is the British author of the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles fantasy series, and several short stories in the fantasy and fantasy romance genres.  She is an avid reader and creator of worlds, a poet and a dreamer. When she is grounded in the real world she likes science, natural history, history and monkeys. Her work has been described as ‘dark and gritty’ and her poetry as evocative.

Blog: http://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6430414.A_L_Butcher

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alexandra-Butcher/e/B008BQFCC6/

Twitter:@libraryoferana

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarkFantasyBeyondTheStorm

Random Friday

It’s something between a writing and a reading post. I’ve realized that in the past few years I’ve read mostly other indies and sort of lost track of what traditional publishers have to offer. Good or bad, I don’t know. Some of those writers were at a lower stage of their writing than mine, so even if one should read both the good and the bad, it made me feel like I knew everything.

Wrong, of course. But I was also daunted by the length of those traditionally published books (I bought A Game of Thrones in London before they made a TV series out of it, and it’s still sitting on my desk – can’t bear myself to get to those 800pages knowing there’s more to come). When I stared at the TBR pile, I always went for the shorter book at hand – and tried to get an idea of e-book lengths for the same reason.

Like Dean Wesley Smith has been telling us for years, in traditional publishing wordcounts were inflated. Now Moira Allen has realized that too – and that older classics are much shorter than today’s novels. That might be a reason why I didn’t start on George Martin’s book(s), I’d rather read 10 shorter books than one of those series! :)

Might be the workshop, might be the latest read, but I think this year is another step in my writing career, so I was thinking of doing some kind of recap – mostly for me.

So in the 1980s I just wrote, longhand, for myself. At school I sometimes had a classmate reading my stuff, but mostly I was my only reader. I read and re-read the same books over and over, and tried to write like my then favorite author, Brunella Gasperini.

In the 1990s I started going to comicons and did my photocopied fanzine and started making new friends and getting a few more feedback. Jump in quality, thanks to that feedback! Unfortunately, it came from a bunch of yaoi lovers, so it didn’t improve the rest of my writing much! ;) I read most of David Eddings’s series, Jennifer Robertson’s Cheysuli series and some Dragonlance novels – lots of traditional fantasy (but not LOTR).

In the new millennium I tried my hand at screenplays in English and did my first creative writing workshops. I can still remember that in 2003 I discovered things like points of view (a.k.a. no omniscient narrator and no head-hopping in contemporary prose, thank you!) and thought “Wow, 25 years of writing I should just throw away!”

Which of course I didn’t! ;) I still have everything, because I’m like that. Anyhow, I went back to prose and before I started querying, the indie revolution happened. I started publishing what I considered my backlist, all those stories written before 2011 but after 2003.

And then I went back into my old old writing, and boy, it’s getting harder and harder to make decent stories out of that material! The pacing is wrong, the omniscient narrator is everywhere and it’s so summarized that I have no idea of what I meant to say in the first place – not to mention some very obvious naivetés since I was young and dumb.

Add to that the new ideas that pop up, and I’ll probably leave in the drawer all those 500 stories written in the previous stages of my writing! ;) Not that I’ve become proficient yet, but I’m getting better. I still can’t cry on my own stories (managed to get a little lump in my throat once or twice) while I do cry on other people’s stories. So, still a lot to learn.

This year I’m writing less, but trying to learn more. I’m also trying to read more, and not just indies, but also best sellers or traditionally published authors, to study them. Might be because the publisher’s web page is still in “coming soon” stage after two months and I already have to upload 100 covers, might be because I’m rebranding some titles, I don’t know, I’m publishing a lot less, but I don’t care.

I’ve been prolific so far by “recycling” old stories (most of Silvery Earth stories were written between 1990 and 2005), I’m less prolific now that I’m writing new stories. A few of the Star Minds shorts are recycled, but some are brand new.

I also noticed that last year I read a lot of short stories and not many novels. That’s probably why I haven’t really written novels this year yet – well besides Star Minds Next Generation and the current Desi vampire (a shorter novel – but then, my longest novel is 90K, so “short” for today’s standards).

So I better go back to reading novels and keep studying, because… you never stop learning! :) Even the strengths I thought I have are not so strong, but now I know how to improve. We’ll see if I actually improve within the year or not! :)

And if you’re adults who don’t have time to spare and like to read shorter fantasy novels, the Silvery Earth books are all standalone and the longest is Books of the Immortals – Air (which has an inflated wordcount because… I wanted to submit it to traditional publishers. I couldn’t reach the minimum 100K they wanted for a fantasy book, so I self-published!)! ;)

Have a great weekend! I’ll be doing the final pass on the Desi vampire…

Writer Wednesday

I have completed the Strength Workshop and I’m trying to write a short story while I wait for a couple of research books for the Desi Vampire. I shall definitely go back to those online workshops later in the year, since they are indeed enlightening.

In the meantime, there’s also another bundle of writing books worth catching right now. I’m very much interested in writing about horses since I don’t know a thing about them, and I’m not sure I’ll use Jutoh yet, but well… maybe the coupon won’t expire.

I still have to read last year’s bundles, so I better settle some kind of reading routine for the next few months! One fiction and one non-fiction book a month, that’s my goal! I’ll start in June since I still have a novel to beta-read, but I hope to be done with it by the end of May or before.

Not really writerly, but you need to read this post by Hugh Howey on Christianity and Homosexuality. Nobody could have said it better than he did. And there are great comments as well. And it goes well with Belgian PM getting married to a man! :)

Cutlure wars invade science fiction – or how someone his trying to rig the Hugo Awards. I’m still behind with finalists of past editions and won’t be voting this year, so… I’ll let them fire away among themselves. SFWA might have opened to indie and self-published, but I’m still not one of them, so…

Last writerly link – on book designing. I might hire one sooner or later. At the moment I’m already in the red… maybe when the publisher site is up, I’ll add links to those services that I try, since I can’t really do it on my own – not forever! :)

Have a great week!

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

My name is Brenda de Zorig and I’m a journalist for the Konigtown Gazette . I’ve been on the road for years as an actress in an itinerant company, but eventually decided to go back to my hometown to start living of the thing I like the most – writing. So while I write my Masterpiece, I took this job at the Gazette and they send me on various assignments… I thought I might as well starting interviewing random people. Since I intend to write fiction, but truth is always stranger than fiction, I’m eager to hear about people out there – on my world or beyond.

We have two people here today… Two handsome, mysterious men… Let’s start with the younger. Tell me a little about yourself

My name is Zafar Nagarkar, but the galaxy got to know me as Zaphadin, the king of music. I’m thirty-five now and I retired from the spotlight – at least with that stage name. I might come back with my real name for other artistic endeavors. I love dancing and singing, but I’m a complete entertainer, so I wouldn’t mind try acting as well.

Describe your appearance in ten words or less.

Brown curls and bedroom eyes… Boneless body when I dance!

Do you have an enemy or nemesis? If so, who are they and how did they become an enemy?

Besides myself, I guess my mighty manager Dahumada became the enemy. I trusted him too much and he squeezed the life out of me, giving me a complete nervous breakdown. I was young when I met him, and he promised me fame and fortune… and he did give it to me, but…

Would you kill for those you love? And would you die for them?

I’m a meek Ypsilantian man, I couldn’t kill anyone. And I’m very queasy in the presence of blood. As for dying for the ones I love… I was very close to attempt suicide, but never found the courage to do it.

Where do you live?

On Marc’harid, the former Imperial planet. I was born on Ypsilanti, lived fifteen years on Vilas Lok – when I was in the music business – and now I’ve retired on Marc’harid, preparing for my next projects.

Are you involved in a relationship? If so, with who and what is it about them that you find appealing?

Yes! Although I almost lost him! He was my professor at university, I fell in love with him at nineteen. He was with me when I started my music career, but soon I got carried away and completely forgot him. He’s the only one I ever loved – he’s older than me and can be a father, a brother, a lover… and he writes marvelous song lyrics and stories and… can you tell that I adore him? I’m going to marry him!

What is the biggest challenge you face in the story?

Get out of the celebrity machine. Ten years of struggles before I could actually be free.

Do you have a family? Tell me about them.

I’m the third of three children. My elder sister Jaya has always been my supporter. My mother opposed my dreams at first, but when she saw how I came alive on stage (at Jaya’s wedding), she forgave me and allowed me to be what I wanted to be – even though on Ypsilanti men don’t have much freedom.

Please give me an interesting and unusual fact about yourself.

I think I said it all in my autobiography…

All right, I guess we’ll have to read the book then… Let’s hear your partner, here. Tell me a little about yourself

My name is Rashaun Khanna, I’m a professor of Ypsilantian culture. I lost my post at Lycoris University to follow Zafar in his dream, so I became a writer. I still do some teaching to make ends meet, but most of my income is royalties from the stories I write.

Describe your appearance in ten words or less.

Tall and dark-haired.

What is your role in the story?

I was Zafar’s manager until Dahumada walked into our lives. Zafar was a wedding singer and a model who wanted so much more… So we followed Dahumada to Vilas Lok, where at first he hired me to write Zafar’s songs and then did his best to throw me out of Zafar’s life. He succeeded – keeping us apart for ten years.

What is your relationship with the protagonist?

I absolutely adore him. Who wouldn’t? He’s so handsome and sweet and… I wasn’t much older than my students when I met him, and I’ve had another student coming at me, but only Zafar swept me away. I couldn’t resist him.

Where do you live?

Ypsilanti, except for the brief stay on Vilas Lok. I was there only for five of Zafar’s fifteen-years career. Then I went home. Well, of course now we both moved to Marc’harid, but that’s another story.

What is the biggest challenge you face in the story?

He let me go – apparently forgot me for his career. But ten years later he came back, drained, and as soon as I lay my eyes on him, I knew he was still the only man I wanted to spend my life with. I had found someone else by then, but Aryan immediately knew he couldn’t compete with Zafar. Zafar owns my heart since he was nineteen.

_____________________

King of Music – Zaphadin (the true story of the man behind the myth)

He loved to entertain his friends with songs and dance moves. And one day at a wedding banquet he met the manager who made him a galactic phenomenon – he can dance, he can sing, he can entertain you like nobody else, he’s the king of the music business! During his fifteen years career, the star of Zaphadin kept rising in popularity while at the same time the man’s morale plummeted into desperation. That’s why at the height of his fame, he walked away from it all.

Random Friday

Reading post – sort of! I gave up Varney the Vampire – definitely a 19th century book where people ejaculate instead of exclaiming and other funny stuff. Which brings me to today’s rant – what makes me put down a book. Please note my point of view is from an ESL reader. If you’re also an ESL reader, leave your comments at the bottom: what annoys you the most when you’re reading a book in English and it’s not your mother tongue?

Okay, here are my pet peeves in no particular order. I won’t say which books I did not finish, so this is all very generic. And I’m talking about contemporary novels now – what turns me off an author and makes me decide to put down the book and not finish it (unless bound by beta-reading duty) or finish it but never buy another book again from the same author?

Chat/Twitter English. I was quite baffled in the 1990s when I got my letters from America (you know, good old snail mail?) and someone wrote “How RU? GR8!” It’s less annoying these days since I understand better those acronyms or whatever it is those things are called, but it’s still a minus on the book’s chart.

Accents and weird spelling in dialog. It doesn’t make your character’s voice more distinctive, it makes it unintelliglible to me. And especially if the badly speaking character is passing on some vital info on the plot, it very much annoys me.

Purple and flowery prose. Boring. Also, if I don’t understand what’s going on because the plot is too obscure, I won’t read your story. I’m sorry, literary fiction and other plotless books are not for my tastes. (But I also DNF some sci-fi stories, maybe even Hugo nominated, because I couldn’t follow what was going on for various reasons).

Typos or bad formatting that turn the sentence into something unclear or utterly unreadable. Omophones used badly (principle/principal being the most misused in the books I’ve read so far). Once it’s a typo, twice maybe the author needs to find a better proofreader, 3 times – the author and the proof-reader know less English than I do!

I might finish your book if the story is interesting enough, but I won’t buy another title from you, thinking I’ll have to go through the hassle again (just happened – book finished in two days, 4stars for the story, 2 for the typos. And I’m not reviewing books anymore, so no names here either. It’s a standalone but also third of a series – I’m not going to check the other two books).

And I’m skipping the wrong spelling of the words our emigrants took to the other side of the world in the 20th century because I’m trying to be nice. I love English, or I wouldn’t be reading in English so much, but sometimes even the natives don’t seem to know what they’re doing, and it’s very frustrating.

Culture-specific description and brand-naming. America might think it’s the center of the world and everything you have or do is also everywhere else. Sorry, no. And it’s not just something trivial like telling me a character has a Prius or whatever (I can’t tell a Toyota from a Ford, so it’s false detail to me), it’s using brands to name things. I won’t go googling to see what the hell is a Twinkie (okay, I know that one, but I hope you get what I mean).

If I get too confused by the useless details, I’ll just put down the book and not finish it. Sometimes false details (or more generic descriptions) help whoever reads in English as second language. Some times too specific description gets lost on foreigners. And I do know quite a lot about America, since I have many American friends… Just sayin’.

And now my final two questions:

1) if you’re an ESL reader, what do you like or dislike of English prose?

2) if you’re a native English speaker, do you read foreign authors translated into English? Do you notice any difference in the way they tell their stories?

Wishing you a great weekend! :)

Writer Wednesday

Mmm… is Amazon getting desperate with all those of us who refuse to use that button that is now so prominent in the new dashboard?

Sorry, Amazon, not going exclusive, thank you… the other retailers’ sales might be abysmal today, but I’m not giving up on them! ;) BTW, only the first page is changed, the rest is more or less the same…

So, the new title is OUT everywhere I upload to – Amazon, Apple, Barnes&Noble, DriveThruFiction, Kobo and Smashwords in strict alphabetical order! King of Music – Zaphadin is a Star Minds novella, although the main characters of the series are barely visible… but if you’ve read SMNG Kay-low, you know who this is! :)

King of Music – Zaphadin (the true story of the man behind the myth)

He loved to entertain his friends with songs and dance moves. And one day at a wedding banquet he met the manager who made him a galactic phenomenon – he can dance, he can sing, he can entertain you like nobody else, he’s the king of the music business! During his fifteen years career, the star of Zaphadin kept rising in popularity while at the same time the man’s morale plummeted into desperation. That’s why at the height of his fame, he walked away from it all.

Draft Zero of the Desi vampire is done, I’m waiting for a couple of books to make a more realistic setting. I’m almost done with the Strength Workshop, and it seems I don’t have that many strenghts, LOL!

But the weaknesses were confirmed, so I’m trying to put more setting in my stories. Beta-readers will still have to be patient with me, since I still write the bones first and add in setting and descriptions on the second pass. But since those passages bore me as a reader, I tend to skip them as a writer. So the very first draft will be rougher than expected anyway.

Anyhow, if you still need someone to help you concentrate or remind you to dream big, there you go. And if you want to be prolific – there’s David Farland and Dean Wesley Smith. In spite of being bummed by the oucome, I highly recommend Dean’s online workshops. I might take a couple more later this year. Since it’s the year of working on craft more than publishing! ;)

And I’m a stage 3 writer – somewhere in that lobby, seeing those stairs and wondering what’s upstairs. I don’t have any of the mentioned problems and I am learning, so… I’ll get upstairs eventually. And if you want to know what’s the best way to support your favorite authors (including yours truly, if you’re just a reader), head over @ Hugh Howey’s blog. Words of wisdom once again.

To finish this post, the Top 5 Dumbest Business Practises in Publishing! :) I haven’t forgotten the importance of POD books, but I’m waiting until I have two to format and order, so the next printed titles will come out some time in June… After I spend a few days at an Italian fair (book fair? Comicon? Dunno yet. First time con and maybe they don’t know either! ;) ) and will let you know how it goes…

Have a great week!