Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 198

Linky Friday

Wah, two more weeks gone already? OK, again some of these links are that old, but I thought I'd share them anyway…

Literary Lab went to a Neil Gaiman reading. Quite an experience, apparently!

A list of stuff an author (or the publisher???) should do by Prue Batten – how many did you check on that list? Me, not as many as her, but close… More on marketing for indies: Shaina on the Amazon Author Central Page (still a sore spot for me, but I still don't have the strength to deal with it at the moment) and how to help your readers find you.

Writers, those loners… Clarion blog on writing out/with others, and Blood Red Pencil on who are we hanging out with. And at I love Smashwords an experience with an indie writers Facebook group…

Blood Red Pencil on knowing your editor – I have commented on that, although I'll keep this topic for another post  – and Passive Guy  wondering if you have to quit your day job to pursue your art – methinks not until you earn a living from your writing, but that's why I love Kristin Kathryn Rusch's words:

And yet…the book is on an upward trend.  Which means that the three original readers probably told a friend or two who read the book, and those friends told more friends, and so on and so on.  Yeah, you won't get rich in 2011 with those numbers, but with some patience, and a willingness to write and publish more books (instead of spending all your time promoting), you might make a small living on that book in 2013.  And by 2015, you might have enough to kiss your day job good-bye.

That's my goal, actually. A present for my 50th birthday!

Agent Jessica Faust on writing what you want to write – and she's an agent!!!

Copyright issues: the "end" of Ruth Ann Nordin's adventure (I have considered pulling everything down myself, but, like she said, the only way not to be pirated is to keep everything for yourself. BUT I'm not putting any more paperbacks on Lulu for the moment – I know I have only one reader for SKYBAND anyway, and she'll probably wait for the omnibus, so useless putting out the single chapters for now) and I love Smashwords on the topic for indies.

Have you heard about that guy who wrote for the Wall Street Journal about how we're going to miss those damn gatekeepers? Here he is torn to pieces by Kristin Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith, David Gaughran and Joe Konrath. Hope he can take the bashing…

And you could add Michael Stackpole's view on the business as well… words of wisdom by the dozens!

On Writing Magazine that I bought in London last May I found a few links for submissions – but I chose only the SFF or romance links. Here we go in no particular order.

Macmillan new e-romance imprint. Beachwalk press. Carina press (Harlequin e-books division). Avon new romance e-imprint.

Buzzy mag (SF/F/H). Anarchy books UK. Analog magazine. Fantasy Magazine. Aurealis reopens to submissions Down Under. Darwin's evolutions.

Funny links: EditMinion for a robotic editor and Autography to autograph your e-books! Happy querying, writing and whatnot!

book blurb feedback

My offline writers group must be… offline for the summer as nobody answered my plea for comments. So you, dear blog reader, will have to step in. I'm preparing the book blurb for the next BoI, Water, and I need some feedback. If there are glaring grammar mistakes or typos, please do say so, as I'm going to use this also for the book trailer. Tell me also if you feel compelled to know more, are confused or whatever crosses your mind. I really appreciate any comments you can give. Here goes:

Kahnee kissed a goddess. Now he is invulnerable to everything, including feelings.

Damir shipwrecked and found himself in an underwater world he didn't know existed. Now he is in love, but his rival is a long lost childhood friend.

Kahnee left his island ten years ago to follow a foreign captain, with the protection of the Goddess's kiss, and now has been sold as a slave to the Queendom of Maadre. His lover Morgan would do anything to get him back while his new owner, twenty-year-old Keira, would do anything to keep him.

Damir struggles to adjust to life in an underwater city and his fights with his rival, Conall, have him evicted from the submerged paradise.

Two years later Keira and Kahnee leave her home country to take him back home while Damir attacks the underwater city and manages to capture his rival.

Will Kahnee get his feelings back from the Goddess? Will Conall ever be free from Damir's hatred?

To thank you for this feedback, here's Kahnee and Morgan, as I won't use this illustration anywhere, so here it is for you.

What? You think that's my Muse? Well, of course he is! He started out as a secondary character and stole the spotlight… that's what muses are for, I guess!

Speaking of him, I found his "quotes" on one of the Six Sentence gals' blog, so I'll leave you with his words of wisdom (and thanks Liz for posting it!)… he might even become a writer eventually, so I might be able to post his words on Saturdays!

Old Fashioned

This is actually the weekly photo challenge, but when I read it I started to scream in my head like Donkey in Shrek: "Pick me! Pick me! Me! Me!" so there you have it. Old fashioned – that's me. I could put a picture here, but I guess words are more suitable to explain why I consider myself old fashioned.

1) I'm the opposite of a fashionista. I have no idea of what's trendy, and I don't care. I dress how I like, which usually means an old fashioned look. A part of me is stuck in the 1980s, you see… "we were young, we were free"… ahem, whatever, enough changing somebody else's lyrics!

2) I'm technophobe. Before I accept any new technology, it probably reaches version 5 or 6. My cell phone is still only a cell phone, my desktop computer has no web-cam and I still have to buy an e-reader. The only technological things I'm fan of are DVDs and email.

3) I like using my hands. I like handwriting, drawing with pencil and paper (even if I learned some "digital painting"), I like handcrafted things, used to make jewelry with beads (not anymore, being in indie author is full time work, no time for the hobby that doesn't pay! ) and castles with the sand (if and when you manage to see me on a beach, that is). Oh, and PEN palz, although unfortunately they're now all on Facebook, so snail mail letters don't go around much anymore. Sigh.

While rewriting old stories I discovered I was never a big fan of Prince Charming, or better, usually the prince was a spoiled bastard and the heroine (either rich or poor) always fell for someone noble of heart instead of birth. So I guess I'm NOT old fashioned towards men, although up to my 20s I wanted an old fashioned wedding and all that stuff. Not anymore, so that's ruled out, phew.

I was old fashioned while I was still in the dating game (sort of) as only once in my life I asked a man out (old fashion dictates the man should ask first, ladies, let's not forget it. Although there are no old fashioned gents left, I'm afraid, so you'll soon find yourself an old spinster like me).This has changed because I got out of the dating game and don't care anymore. But I'm sure that if and when I met a guy I'm really interested into (my Muse? ), I'll probably ask him out. Or maybe not. Some old habits are hard to die.

Anyway, this is old fashioned me. I'm sure I missed something, but well… the post is done. And I even have a picture fitting the challenge – my cell phone and snail mail!

editing rambling

I'm NOT going to mention title or author because she's indie (and probably very young or uneducated), but I stumbled upon a free read that deserved 1 star for grammar/style/formatting and 3 for story. So I'm not going to mention who suggested it either, but other reviews went from 1 to 5 stars – which probably means something.

What I felt is she uploaded her piece too soon, without even bothering a pass with the spellchecker. Punctuation was an optional, correct formatting of dialog and whatnot almost unknown and similar sounding words (you know, like their/they're/there?) were constantly misused which made the story really hard to enjoy (and sometimes even to follow). That's the 1star part.

I hated her crybaby protagonist, which reminded me of a friend's story in the same genre some 15 years ago, where both her (male) protagonists were crybabies. Here it's only one, but it's still too much. But then, I also usually hate romance heroines, so I'm probably the sociopath here! And I couldn't appreciate the high school setting, because I'm not American, so it didn't remind me of anything (which was a good thing for the highest rated reviews).

Anyway, I'm certainly not going back to that author. A typo or two will always be in any manuscript or traditionally published book, but one or two on each page is way too much. Her English is worse than mine (she keeps using "then" instead of "than" by the way…), and I'm not a native speaker, so if I can't improve MY English, why waste my time!

So what I would like to recommend to ANY and ALL writers is: be aware of your limits. If grammar or punctuation are your weak spot and you don't have the money to pay a pro editor (like I do with the novels, but not the shorter pieces), find a friend who is an English geek  and use him/her for proofreading. You live in English speaking countries, it can't be too hard to find somebody! My friends mostly speak Italian (that's why I rely a lot on my beta from my offline writers group), so it's harder for me now that I switched languages. But when I did write in Italian, I knew what my weaknesses were and I had specific friends to catch my specific problems (like putting too much Roman dialect in dialog, so I had a Tuscan friend go over it – Tuscany is supposed to speak "real" Italian, so those are the best judges).

It's hard to catch your own mistakes, so always have at least another set of eyes checking your work of fiction before putting it out there, either as submission to trad pub or uploaded as indie.

Maybe in a few years this author will be the next Amanda Hocking (who has been criticized for bad editing of her best sellers, in case you didn't know), but at the moment she's on my "forget her" list… don't do that to yourself, or even giving away your stuff for free won't bring in any new readers…

Happy writing!

Happiness is…

Six Sentence Sunday

Oh, boy, it's Sunday again, and I almost forgot to sign up this week… must be the summer heat!

Anyway, welcome back Sunday visitors, especially if you leave a comment! I'm continuing with Falcon, a bit further down the same scene as he's trying to figure out what happened after he fell asleep…

****

"I remember running to call Guido, to warn him… the ambush! Where is Coldwinter?"

Kyler looked sympathetic.

"He died that day on the battlefield, along with Guido and many more…"

"You mean the war is over?" Falcon interrupted him, stunned.

"Yes, the Varians were crushed, their kingdom destroyed," Kyler answered sourly.

****

Books of the Immortals – Fire is available on Smashwords, Kindle and in print on Lulu… Now hop back to the official blog for more six sentence goodies!

WoW Saturdays

Both "writers on writing" and "words of wisdom" can be shortened with the same word. Thus, welcome to WoW Saturdays, June to September 2011. Enjoy this collection of writers quotes throughout the summer.

To write is to invade another's space, if only to memorialize it. To write is to invite angry censure from those who don't write, or who don't write in quite the way you do, for whom you may seem a threat. Art by its nature is a transgressive act, and artists must accept being punished for it. The more original and unsettling their art, the more devastating the punishment.

- Joyce Carol Oates

If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day. The consistency, the monotony, the certainty, all vagaries and passions are covered by this daily reoccurrence.

- Walter Mosley

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."

- William Wordsworth

"Ink and paper are sometimes passionate lovers, oftentimes brother and sister, and occasionally mortal enemies."

- Terri Guillemets

"Writing fiction is a solitary occupation but not really a lonely one. The writer's head is mobbed with characters, images and language, making the creative process something like eavesdropping at a party for which you've had the fun of drawing up the guest list. Loneliness usually doesn't set in until the work is finished, and all the partygoers and their imagined universe have disappeared."

- Hilma Wolitzer

Book review – The Story Book by David Baboulene

My Amazon review:

I have by now read a certain number of books on writing. I found this one entertaining AND useful. It covers most kinds of writing (screenplays, prose, you name it – and I've tried them all, so I know what he's talking about) in an original and effective way, with excellent examples, loads of writerly wisdom and mostly reminding aspiring writes that there are no rules except "keep writing".

I might not agree with everything he says in the book, but 90% is really good advice, so if you're still looking for somebody who can guide you in your writing journey, this is an excellent mentor – including the guests at the end.

Blog extras:

It's the first time I read in a book on writing that structure comes AFTER the creative part – thank you, David, for saying it out loud! He also debunks all the structural myths (I love anyone who debunks a writing or publishing myth – Dean Wesley Smith, anyone? ). He even explains subtext as knowledge gap, I had never considered it that way, but it makes sense…

Part of it I had read on Writing Magazine (which had reminded me the book was still on the TBR pile and prompted me to check it in full – I read it in 3 days), and he did a guest post here back in March, during his book tour.

I highly recommend this book to all writers – and personally I very much enjoyed the British humor. Oh, and don't forget to watch Back to the future (yes, the 1985 movie, if you haven't already) before plunging in the reading of this non-fiction book… Now David was kind enough to answer some of my usual nosy questions…

- Where do you live and write from? Tell us a little about yourself.

I live in Brighton, by the sea on the south coast of the UK. I have four children and a very busy family life. Writing allows me to be very involved in my children's lives and at the school gates and so on. I'm very lucky to have so much time with them.

- When did you first become interested in becoming a writer? What was the deciding moment for you?

Great question. It's interesting, because in my youth I didn't have the confidence to be a writer. One of the key moments for me was when I read a book of early, previously unpublished work by my hero, PG Wodehouse. It was, quite frankly, rubbish, and I realized that he made it as an author not because he was a genius, but because he worked really hard to get good. PG Wodehouse was human, so am I. Therefore, if I could get half as good as him, I'd be very pleased indeed. (I'm still working on that bit…). It doesn't matter who you are, if you work at it, you can start out writing rubbish and get good too. If you think about it, that's what all writers do!

- What do you love most (and then least) about what you do?

I love having a creative product from my work. Something I can point at and be proud of and say 'I did that.' I love getting mail from people who have enjoyed my work. I particularly like finding out that my travel/humour books have made a complete stranger laugh his head off on the other side of the world. That's a great feeling – makes it all worthwhile.

The hardest thing about being a writer is finding enough time to get everything done. Nobody else can do it for you, so it's all about putting in the hours, and I need another life to get it all done. Marketing is the main cause of frustration. Writers don't become writers in order to be salespeople, but it's a necessary evil which sucks up all the time. I also find marketing a bit embarrassing. I hate the sense that I'm 'selling' myself. It seems a bit wrong somehow. I try to just make lots of friends and see how it goes.

- When and where do you write? Do you have a specific routine?

I have a music studio at home and write in there mostly because I just love the environment. I also take my laptop to the university and write up there for a change of scene as it's so buzzing and full of life up there. I tend to write mostly early in the morning and work through until lunchtime with the phone turned off, no facebook, no email. (Good grief, I'm such a liar… It's the thought that counts, though…).  I do have a routine – I kind of stalk my computer as I get toast and coffee, then I'm right on it. I take breaks every 45 minutes or so, when I stalk some more and make more coffee. Quote of the day: If there was no coffee, there would be no books.

- I've met you through a non-fiction book, but I see you've done some fiction also. Which one do you prefer?

I love them both. Story theory is SO interesting, and to watch a film and to see the story turning over like an exploded view of an engine turning – I love seeing a story 'in motion' and understanding where it's running well and where it's grinding badly. But when I have a story of my own to tell and it's pouring out of me, there's nothing like that feeling and the feeling of immersion in another world – that is wonderful. I love both.

- You also do seminars and consultancy, how do you think you can help new writers besides your great book on story?

I started my interest in story theory when I won first prize in a film story competition – the prize was to work on my story with a 'name' scriptwriter. He meant well, but he basically ruined my story by showing me how he would do it. As a novice myself, I knew that wasn't helpful, and I realized most gurus do the same thing – they teach structure and formula. That isn't what aspiring writers need. The word 'education' comes from the Latin, meaning 'to draw out', and I think that is never more important than in story consultancy. People's stories come from within them, and it is all about helping them connect with their story and bring it out and communicate it in ways that are meaningful to them and powerful to their audience.

I generally refuse to read my clients' stories (that surprises them!) – I ask them questions and we work on what drives the story and what it means and so on. What I 'teach' is all about story power and the craft of story so writers can find their own story for themselves and tell it to its best. I feel I have a duty to keep away from the individual's inspiration and motivation – those things are so personal – and simply help them to understand and work the tools that are available to help them get their own story out of themselves in the way they intend.

Me think the man is great.  The book on Amazon. David's website.

post a day

So, I'm posting every day, hence the need to write something, anything. And wondering if I should post less. Most of the other bloggers post irregularly or twice a week. Not because I wouldn't know what to write about, but sometimes I feel I'm boring and repetitive… So tell me what you'd like to see more of on this blog, please! More fiction? More unedited pieces of manuscripts you can comment on? More rambling? More reviews?

Updates: Almost done coloring chapter 7 of SKYBAND – then I'll have the lettering to do. During the weekend I might start drawing chapter 8 when I'm not typing or working on Photoshop. About my "writing space" I'll resend you to another post – a post by someone else, when I know it's live, I'll post the link.

Started the "fiction" on the historical novel with a longer prologue. It will still take me some time to work it throughout the whole thing (which, as usual, isn't abnormally long, but quite the opposite, it's abnormally short for an historical…), but as I don't have a deadline for that one, I can keep writing at my own pace. Yes I will complete it by the end of the year (should have been June 30…), but I still have a couple of months of work to do before I start sending out the "first" draft to beta readers.

Tomorrow I'm off to see how Water cover is coming out, last day off Day Job until September, probably. Not that I want to do much when it's this hot anyway… In the morning it's still fine to walk a little, but at lunch time when I'm supposed to head back home it's HOT! Ah, well, I should be used to it by now… but it gets worse every year, sigh!

Hoping to watch a movie or two during the weekend as well… and of course I better start another novel (and I have 3 more ready to be printed out and read – yeah, it's e-books, but I don't have an e-reader, so go PDF!), so in a couple of weeks you can have another book review!

On a less selfish note, last Friday I forgot to mention Stories for Sendai is now OUT! It's for a good cause, so check the official blog and pick your version of this anthology of great authors. I will buy mine later because I don't want to buy anything traveling by snail mail in summer (tomorrow picking up the last Amazon parcel ordered back in June…) and hopefully at the end of the summer I'll buy myself a Kindle and will be able to buy the e-book. But if you already have one, go for it and help Japan. It's an idea by JC Martin with the help of Michelle Davidson Argyle, both great authors that I like to call friends even if they rejected my story (which wasn't my best in the first place, but again, I'm not at my best with short stories! ). If you prefer comics/manga, you can help a single Japanese artist purchasing Barb&Masayo's Stories instead.

Daily prompts

OK, I don't get the digest e-mail anymore, but I know where to look for those prompts. The latest ones were a little too philosophical for this weather (if you started your own nation, what would be in your constitution? What does freedom mean?), so I went a little back to find something I could discuss. And then picked up the photo challenge, while I was at it.

So, first prompt: do I need another social network (prompted by the release of Google+)? Uhm… no. Facebook is more than enough for me. I can't even manage forums – I joined two more groups on Goodreads, but don't have time to check the actual forums. And that's where my prospective readers are. But I fully understand and totally accept the rule that authors must be active members of any forum before pitching their works, so I'll probably just wait until I'm ready to pitch anything. I should enter into some discussion thread first, and that scares me at the moment!

But as I'm reading fiction again now, I'll probably be able to interact as a reader there before I decide to be an author. Then I'd rather do some real social networking (workshops, writers conferences, whatever) or I'll become an hermit! I'm closing this post with the weekly photo challenge: sky. I love taking pictures of skies and clouds, so I had to choose… here are my 3.