R.S. Hunter's Blog, page 9

In Situ is Now Available!

In Situ, a new science fiction anthology from Dagan Books that is centered around archaeology, is now available for purchase! The wait is over!

According to the publisher, In Situ is loaded with “science fiction stories featuring alien archeology, hidden mysteries, and things that are better off left buried. [...] These fifteen evocative science fiction stories will take you from dusty archaeologists digging up our alien past into a distant future where we’ve become the relics. Thought-provoking and entertaining, IN SITU explores science, theology, preservation, and the art of alien finance, in a whole new way.”

My story, “Jewel of Tahn-Vinh” is a science fiction horror story about things left adrift in the depths of space that  are better left alone. There are other great stories in the anthology, and I have to say that “You’ll Always Have the Burden With You” is quite fantastic.

In Situ is available in DRM-free ePub format for only $3.99.

To get a copy for Kindle, buy it here.

And the trade paperback is also available from Amazon.

 

Learning from Bad Manuscripts

Today I pulled the plug on my WIP manuscript, The Swarm. At final count, the unfinished collection of garbage words weighed in at just under 53,000 words. Considering that novels run anywhere from 60,000-75,000 words and up, shouldn’t I be sad that I stopped so close to “the end?” Hell no!

I’m glad I stopped working on this manuscript. Despite spending months and months on it, I don’t consider any of it wasted time. As writers we can learn just as much from a piece o’ crap novel (and rejections) as we can a masterpiece. Don’t believe me? Well, it’s time for some truthfacts–with examples taken straight from The Swarm.

So why did The Swarm fail as a story? Let’s start with the characters. I tried to write a book with three separate main characters whose stories are mostly separate from one another until the very end where their paths finally converge. While multiple protagonists can work (see the A Song of Ice and Fire series for example), in my case trying to write multiple characters meant that the protags were watered down and spread thin. Each one had maybe a third of the amount of personality that they should have had if they were the book’s sole focus.

One of the characters, Galtiero, had no flaws other than the fact that he slowly becomes unhinged as he tries to fulfill his “destiny.” But even that wasn’t coming through in the manuscript. He continued to get what he wanted. He won battle after battle (all of them happened off screen, of course). He became the ruler of his country easily. Even though I talked about people plotting against him, nothing ever happened. Galtiero was boring because nothing bad ever happened. Hell, nothing really happened on screen in general.

Of the other two characters: one was an asshole (that was his only defining quality) and the other barely had any screen time. In the fifteen or so chapters that I wrote, I think she was featured in about two or three of them. She would have gotten more chapters from her POV as the story went on, but the whole novel would’ve been unbalanced. Blegh. Nobody wants that.

And that takes us to the plot. The Swarm failed because like the main characters, having three separate storylines meant that each of them got less “awesome plot juice” than they deserved. There was no clear antagonist in any of the storylines. Only at the end would one of the characters turn into the “villain,” but by then it would have been too little too late. The characters didn’t have clearly defined goals that would in turn drive the plot forward. Without those motivating factors, things happened in each of the storylines, but all the events lacked pizzazz.

So how could I fix The Swarm if I ever wanted to? There’s several possibilities, but they would consist of major rewrites, probably all the way back to the outline level. I’m thinking this post about novels as engineering projects where every chapter needs requirements, and this post about using “Yes, but… and No, and…” to help develop stories and outlines would be extremely helpful. I’d have to carefully examine all of the characters’ motivations and find ways to deepen them, find ways to thwart their desires, and basically scrap everything I’d already written.

Not everything is gloom and doom, though! Because I learned what went wrong with The Swarm there’s a chance that I’ll be able to avoid those same problems with my next project. In fact, because I’m using the principles discussed in those two posts, I already have a good feeling about my current novel outline.

What about you guys? Has anyone else abandoned a manuscript more than halfway in? Did you learn anything from writing a “bad” or “unsalable” manuscript? I know I sure did.

Do Rejections Have Something to Teach Us About Our Writing?

Rejection is fact of life when it comes to being a writer. It’s going to happen no matter how famous/wonderful/handsome/talented you are. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you can get past rejection’s harsh sting.

The other day I read a post by Maurice Broaddus about learning from rejection letters. He shows a few of his personal stats when it comes to rejection. Rejections: 460. Acceptances: 56. While acknowledges that his stats have changed over time as a result of becoming more of a known entity (receiving invitations to participate in anthologies, etc.), he states that “there can be a difficult learning curve to rejections. [...] Different kinds of rejections tell you different things. A lot of quick arriving form rejections may be telling you that the story’s not ready.”

So let’s look at what rejection letters can tell you. Obviously, when it comes to personalized rejection letters, they can give you invaluable feedback on your story. However, checking my Duotrope stats–practicing what Kelly Lagor calls “rejectomancy“–most of my rejections have all been form rejections. Does that mean that all of those stories weren’t ready? Not necessarily.

As Lagor states in her blog post about being a slush reader for Apex, “The timing of a rejection means nothing.” Many publishing houses and magazines get so many submissions that it would be impossible to provide detailed feedback about why they’re rejecting your story. There’s just too many submissions.

So when you get a form letter it might not mean anything more than a scenario like this: “Duotrope says a bunch of form rejections went out in three days last week and yours has been out for seven? Maybe I really liked it and I’m chewing it over for a few days. Maybe I sent it up to the editor. Or maybe I was in Texas all week for a work meeting.”

The rest of her post talks about some of the reasons why she rejects stories: boring the slush reader, problems with the ending, cliches, and simple matters of taste. This is all useful information to keep in mind, but without personalized feedback, you might never know for sure exactly why your story wasn’t accepted.

So, can rejections teach us things about our writing? Yes and no. It’s not always a cut and dry answer. If you get a personal rejection letter like I got from Angry Robot Books, then it told me a lot about my story, its personality, and the type of sensibilities Angry Robot was looking for. However, sometimes form letters are just that: “Sorry, this just didn’t grab me.” It’s up to you to interpret what that could mean. The timing of the rejection probably means nothing.

But can rejections teach us things about ourselves? Absolutely. One hundred percent yes. They can teach us not to get discouraged, that nothing in the writing world comes without some blood, sweat, and tears. Broaddus hits the nail on the head here: “sometimes the biggest lesson is getting up, dusting yourself off, and sending your story out again.”

Free eBooks from Hydra Publications This Wednesday & Thursday

Hey you! Yes, you! Do you like free ebooks? Of course you do! You’re in for a special treat because on Wednesday, May 2nd and Thursday, May 3rd, a number of titles from Hydra Publications will be free for you to download through Amazon.

Hydra is a small publisher of fantasy, science fiction, and speculative fiction and will be the home of my steampunk novel, The Exile’s Violin, this fall. But until then, why don’t you head on over there and check out some of the great free ebooks that are available. One of my favorites is The Universal Mirror by Gwen Perkins. Now stop wasting time and go pick up some great books!

A New Way of Looking at Elves in Fantasy Literature & Games

I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy and playing games like The Witcher 2 and Dragon Age: Origins lately, and I find myself focusing on elves. It’s fascinating to see how much Tolkien influenced the depiction of elves in popular culture. Even within this all-encompassing version of elf-ness, there are many different angles that could be explored to create something new within the fantasy literature sphere.

Common depictions of elves

So these games and books got me thinking: elves are always kind of depicted the same way, but even in these similar forms, there are issues that nobody really explores. For example, elves are usually “similar to humans but fairer and wiser, with greater spiritual powers, keener senses, and a closer empathy with nature.” While games like Dragon Age portray them as persecuted, second-class citizens, that wiser/fairer bit is generally accurate. In addition elves are usually immortal or extremely long-lived. This fact is what inspired this post.

If elves live longer than humans, then why is it a common theme in fantasy literature and games for elves to have a smaller population than humans? You commonly see elven characters saying things like, “Humans multiply like insects” or “humans are short-lived people with no connection to nature.” Why is this?

It seems to me that an author could create something really interesting if they explored the underside of “elven culture.” While they are normally serene and harmonious, sometimes authors portray elven society as rigid and socially stratified. There’s so much potential there: a society where you live a long time, but are kept limited in the role you’re able to play.

Elven societies in fantasy literature

Also if men multiply quickly, then why don’t elves? Apparently Tolkien wrote about elven reproduction and sexual norms in “Laws and Customs among the Eldar” in The History of Middle-earth, but I haven’t read it so I can’t elaborate. But still, you’d think because they live for such a long time that elves would be having children like crazy. Do they only have one set of children or something? Why do you rarely see works that focus on elven overpopulation? Think of the social implications of that.

Or if elves don’t have lots of children, is that because they have an extremely low birth-rate where their pregnancies, eggs, larvae–I don’t really know how these made up beings breed–rarely carry to the full term? If that was the case, that low birth-rate would influence almost every level of society.

Imagine if a writer explored these things in a fantasy setting. A stratified society dominated by reproductive issues like a low-birth rate or a high infant mortality rate would at the very least be different from the standard “elves as wise, harmonious nature-lovers” you see so often.

Other fantasy tropes and races

What other fantasy races would you like to see explored from a different angle? Sick of technologically-inclined dwarves that mine for treasure all day? What about blood-thirsty orcs or hungry halflings? Let me know in the comments.

Symbolism, Fate, Fantasy, (And Yes, Star Wars, too)

Today’s guest post comes from fantasy author Rachel Hunter (no relation as far I’m aware). Her novel, Empyreal Fate — Part One of the Llathalan Annal Series, is coming soon from Hydra Publications. Now onto the post!

Greetings!

First of all, a large ‘thank you’ to Mr. Hunter for allowing me to post a little something to his blog. It is an honor to be here, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to post about a topic that intrigues me: Symbolism.

What is it and why do we care? First of all, according to the first definition from Dictionary.com, ‘Symbolism’ is “the practice of representing things by symbols; or of investigating things with a symbolic meaning or character.” Indeed. And most of you are probably thinking along the lines of this:

And yes. Perhaps what authors write is completely random and without deeper purpose. Perhaps there is no other reason that the Weasley family’s hair color is red, Gandalf transitions from “Grey” to “White”, Thomas Covenant starts out with a sour disposition, or a certain stone was left overturned – other than the fact the authors woke up one morning and thought, “Aha! I know the most random details to apply, and apply them I shall!” Well – perhaps it’s the psychologist in me, but I disagree. Although not every detail or characteristic in a work is necessarily crucial to the plot, there generally is something relevant or telling that may be gleaned from it. The interesting part is determining whether or not one is reading into the psyche of the actual characters – or into the author her/himself. Now that’s the fun part to determine.

Symbolism can take many forms: colors, shapes, characters, personalities, seasons, events, creatures… even the direction the wind blows or the way a lake ripples in a breeze. But what does it mean? That, my friends, is up to you. The reader – whomever you may be. And that is usually the part I find contention with regarding English teachers and their crticial analysis of various works: it is not that something is supposed to mean one thing or another; rather, it’s the importance of what the symbol means to the reader. The reader is the one who takes the meaning out of a work and carries that meaning inside of her/himself: however great or small the impact. But it is interesting to note the generalizations of certain symbols and the meanings they indeed carry. For example, some common interpretations of symbols are as follows:

Seasons:
Spring: birth/renewal/“awakening”
Summer: maturity/growth
Winter: death/stagnation
Fall: aging/decline
Colors:
Purple: royalty/confidence
Blue: calm/serene/detached
Green: hope/growth/renewal
Red: emotion/passion/bravery
White: purity/innocence
Nature:
Water: regeneration/cleansing/renewal
Sun: vitality/strength
Cavern: womblike/secretive/mysterious
Direction:
North: hostility/alienation
South: warmth/expression
East: youth/renewal
West: old age/decline

Of coure, there are far more generalizations than that – and those are merely simple observations. It is another thing altogether to delve into the “whys” of particular actions and/or events. Or – “What does (insert object/person/event) signify?”

Throughout my readings, I have identified several symbols that hold particular meaning to me. But, again, the interpretations of one may be completely opposite in meaning to another. As an example, I would like to share a few interpretations of others relating to various works that I have found quite thought-provoking:

Mark Murdoch interprets the ‘Eye of Sauron’ (as found in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series) quite interestingly. Here is what he has to say:

“Sauron lacks corporeal form and is depicted as an all-seeing eye at the top of an obelisk-like structure. The all-seeing eye is an ancient Egyptian symbol traced back to the solar cult of Aton and is commonly associated with power groups like the Illuminati and the Freemasons. Note, too, another Egyptian connection: Egypt was known as the black land, and Mordor is also the black land.

Sauron then can represent the dark force behind the power elite who have ruled civilization throughout history. The Freemasons use the eye to depict The Great Architect of the Universe, the demiurge or, as the Gnostics refer to him, Ialdaboth, the false god.

As the all-seeing eye, Sauron sweeps the land in search of the ring and in search of knowledge. Here is another clue. For as Freemason Francis Bacon stated: knowledge is power. The all-seeing eye seeks power, seeks to control and dominate all it beholds.

All of this — the dark lord, the false god, the power-seeking ruler — leads us back into ego territory again: the all-seeing eye or all-seeing “I”? Even the phallic obelisk on which the eye is perched is representative of the pronoun “I.”

Yet Sauron is not just another representation of the ego. Sauron represents the capstone eye to a pyramid of power. For as Tolkien tells us of the power of the One Ring, no matter who believes themselves to wield it, it is ultimately Sauron who is in control. All of the magical rings were bound to his One Ring.

This suggests that all of our individual ego strivings towards power flow upward into a greater network of power from which an elite few can control the many. We see this revealed today. The greatest threat to individual freedom is centralized, corporatized power — the New World Order.

We are all wired into Sauron through our rings, our individual egos.”

Todd McCaffrey – son of Anne McCaffrey (author of Dragonriders of Pern series) – takes note of the various cultural differences and beliefs relating to the dragon. He sums up mans’ general fascination in a brief interview with NPR:

 “I think dragons are a really fundamental embodiment of our wishes and dreams,” McCaffrey says. “They are incredibly powerful,” he adds, “and they embody the best of humans and their aspirations.”

Justin Bruce shares his opinion of religious and historical influences in George Lucas’s Star Wars:

“Although not quite as powerful in Star Wars as the symbolism of religion, I believe that there is a strong historical influence behind many of the scenes in the film.

In religion, I compared the character of Darth Vader to Satan’s second-in-command, Beelzebub, because Vader takes orders only from the Emperor Palpatine, but is in command of virtually all of the destructive forces operating from the Death Star. Likewise, Beelzebub is in command of Satan’s legions of fallen angels, or more specifically, demons. Since World War II, many have classified the actions of German commander Adolf Hitler as Satan-like due to his extreme evil qualities and persecution of the Jewish. Hitler was effective enough at commanding his forces that most actually enjoyed the horrible acts that they carried out on the prisoners of war in their captivity. Although it is not likely that George Lucas intentionally designed Darth Vader to be perceived in this manner, with the other comparisons between historical events and Star Wars, it is not difficult to place him in this role.

After escaping the Death Star, Luke Skywalker must return to destroy the center of evil operations before it is within range of destroying the rebel encampment. After receiving the initial strike from evil forces at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, that set up World War II, America was forced to retaliate with strikes on the enemy. Just as the Jedi strike on the Death Star was a valiant effort against overwhelming odds, many of the strikes in World War II suffered heavy losses, but were overall successful. The Allied bombing raids on Berlin, Germany, from November 1943 to March 1944 were effective at damaging the city, but almost 600 bombers were lost in the strikes. This is reminiscent of the strike on the Death Star, in which most of the Jedi fighters were destroyed, but the center of Empire operations was annihilated.

The historical aspect of Star Wars that I have found most comparable to the German forces in World War II is the title that Lucas has given to the Empire soldiers. They are known as Imperial Storm Troopers, just as Hitler’s soldiers were called Storm Troopers. I find this far too close to be coincidental, and this strengthens the symbolic link between Adolf Hitler and Darth Vader.

Whether George Lucas intentionally intended these religious and historical allusions in Star Wars is uncertain, but many have felt their presence in the film. This interpretation is probably one reason why Star Wars enjoyed so much success as a science fiction film.”

At the same time, my novel – Empyreal Fate – has its share of symbolism. Although I shall not spoil anything for you here, I will mention that the Laymeur flower (as depicted on the cover) lends nicely to the concept of ‘Fate’. But again, it’s all perspective. Although readers may find various connections and interpretations that I have not even thought of, I hope that the relationship between the two is readily identifiable on an abstract level. If not, I would be thrilled to discover what readers make of the relationship – what they internalize – as well as what they make of the other ‘hidden’ elements. Just remember: whatever the work and whatever the subject – a symbol attributes meaning through the lenses from which the reader views it. Not all interpretations are the same, and there is no “right” or “wrong”. Rather, the significance of a symbol comes in when once decides for himself: what does it mean to me?

Find Rachel Hunter on the web:

Website

Blog

Goodreads

Facebook

Characters Count: Keeping Them Consistent

Engaging characters can make or break any story. You could have the coolest setting in the world  and a mind-blowingly awesome plot full of ups and downs, thrilling twists, and a dramatic conclusion, but they would amount to a fat load of diddly (squat optional) if your readers don’t care about your characters.

Readers Notice Inconsistencies

I just finished going through the first round of content edits and revisions on The Exile’s Violin. One of the common threads that ran through the editorial notes centered on my characters and their…character (for lack of a better word). I’d written them behaving one way earlier in the book, but by the end they were reacting to things in ways that just weren’t them. I didn’t keep my characters’ character consistent. And if my editor noticed, you can bet your ass that readers would pick up on it too.

For example, my main character, Jacquie, comes across as a no-nonsense type of young woman, one that may have anger issues, in the opening chapters. However as I was reading later chapters, she was doing things that were completely out of character. Trying not to cry after a setback instead of getting angry. Feeling ashamed instead of not caring what other people thought–especially when she hadn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t have that spark that made her interesting in the beginning.

Avoiding Flat Characters

All the writing advice gurus talk about making sure your characters change and grow–avoid flat, two-dimensional characters! But there’s a difference between character growth and inconsistency. You better break out your red pen and do some rewriting when you see these kinds of mistakes.

Having a character learn to care about other people rather than just themselves, that’s growth. When two characters develop romantic feelings for one another in an organic, unforced way, that’s growth. When a character hates eggs in chapter 2 but then spends the rest of the book only ordering omelettes, that’s an error. So when Jacquie starts crying all the time (seriously it was embarrassing how many times I’d put that in there), it looked like her behavior was coming out of left field. I rewrote those sections to have her keep her original attitude. As a result, her character stayed more consistent, but still retained room for growth.

You can turn inconsistencies into genuine growth though. Using that egg example: you could add reasons into the story, plot points, dialogue, etc. that shows why that character learns to love eggs to the point where they’re eating omelettes for every meal. That would be growth.

It’s all about how you present it to the reader. You can show them a character’s behavior in one instance and say, “This is fact. This is how my character acts.” That’s all fine and dandy. But if you then show the character acting differently in a similar situation and say, “This is fact. This is how my character acts” they’ll call BS. No author wants to have their readers call them out on something like that. It’s just plain embarassing.

Starting the Revisions Process

I just got the first round of comments and suggestions back for my debut steampunk novel, The Exile's Violin. This is super exciting and scary at the same time. On the one hand, the initial feedback I got in the email with the manuscript notes was good. The word "riveting" might have been used in the first sentence. So yes, that's always positive.

Still I haven't opened the marked up manuscript file yet. I'm kind of scared to do it. I mean before I read the email, I was afraid that my editor was going to read my manuscript and think, "Bleh, why did the company agree to take this mess on? This isn't worth publishing."

I mean that didn't happen. And besides, if an editor really thought something was that bad, then my manuscript probably wouldn't have been good enough to get accepted and to this point anyway. So that fear is just irrational. I know.

So why haven't I opened the file yet? I don't think I have "Editor-Phobia" as outlined in a guest post by Muffy Morrigan on Christine Rose's blog. I'm not afraid that my editor is going to completely cut my voice out of the story. No, I think the thing I'm worried about the most is that I have an irrational fear of my own writing.

I don't like the sound of my own voice on recordings. And similarly, I don't like rereading things I've already written and revised on my own. And finally, despite all the advice that says to do this, I also hate reading my stories out loud. For some reason just thinking about reading things I've already written makes me cringe. It's something I have to get over. If I want to keep growing as a writer, I know I'm going to have to learn to look at my works with a more critical eye.

Well if there was ever a time to toughen up and just get to it, this is it. My book is an actual thing that is being published. It will be a product people can buy and read. But if it's going to get to that point, I got to take this first step. Who knows, it might end up being fun, and undoubtedly it's going to make The Exile's Violin stronger.

Repost: When Mass Effect 3 and Doctor Who Collide

This is reposted with some minor adjustments from my gaming-related blog over at Destructoid, but I thought it was worth sharing here.

The original article talks about how the interactivity offered by videogames made me feel in ways that books, TV, or movies couldn't. There's definitely something powerful at hand when you can take ideas from one type of media and apply them in another. Mass Effect 3 wouldn't have affected me emotionally if they hadn't used good characterization and storytelling techniques perfected in places like books.

When Mass Effect 3 and Doctor Who Collide

Originally posted on Destructoid 3/19/2012

I want to talk about Mass Effect 3, but don't worry, I'm not here to talk about the ending; I haven't gotten that far yet. Instead I want to talk about how it made me experience one of the most awesome moments in gaming ever. Better yet, it combined my love of the Mass Effect series with my love for Doctor Who. There will be spoilers for those playing through Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect is one of my favorite series of all time. I played the original back in 2011, years after it was released. I'd heard the name of the game before that, but nothing about more about it. I picked up a deeply discounted used copy and decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did. Despite certain flaws, the game grabbed hold of me. I loved the space opera story, the meticulousness of the in-game universe and backstory, and the music. (The soundtrack deserves an article all its own).

As soon as I finished the game, I bought a copy of Mass Effect 2 and proceeded to play it through twice back to back. I enjoyed its many improvements and loved its character-oriented story. My companions became my friends, especially ones carried over from the first game: Tali and Wrex.

At first I felt like the character interactions in Mass Effect 3 were lacking compared to Mass Effect 2, and I missed seeing my old squadmates. Then I got to the Tuchanka mission and everything changed.

You go to Tuchanka to earn the krogan's support by curing the genophage (basically a sterility plague) that's affected their species for years now. But there's a twist. Another species–the salarians–implores you to sabotage the genophage cure because they're afraid that once the Reapers are defeated, the krogan will go on another bloody rampage across the galaxy like they've done in the past.

Since I'm playing as a Renegade, I decided to do the "evil" thing and agree to sabotage the cure. Several times during the mission I had to lie to my companions, including Wrex, about my intentions. I know it's just a game, but it was one of the hardest things I've had to do.

In order to rationalize my decision, I ended up turning to Doctor Who. In that show, one of the running themes is that everything has its time; everything dies at some point. That's what I told myself as I progressed through the mission, inching closer to the point when I'd stab Wrex and his entire species in the back.

I thought: The krogan had their time before. They devastated their world with nuclear war. They got a second chance when the salarians uplifted them. Then they blew it again with the Krogan Rebellions. It's just their time to go now. Everything has a time.

I told myself that over and over until I reached the mission's climax. I was in a crumbling facility with the salarian Mordin (also one of my favorite characters) seconds away from deploying the genophage cure. Mordin decided he had to make sure it deployed properly. The game presented me with a terrible choice: let Mordin go cure the genophage and potentially unleash the krogan on the galaxy again or murder him and basically doom the krogan to a slow extinction.

My resolve crumbled. Then in my mind's eye I saw Matt Smith (the current Doctor) standing there in his coat and suspenders. His head is lowered and he's saying, "Everything has to end sometime…" Dramatic pause. You think he's going to go through with it, condemning an entire species to death. Then this song kicks in. The Doctor looks up with a maniac's grin on his face, he points right at the camera and shouts, "…but not today!" Then he saves the day.

As soon as I saw that in my head, I leapt to my feet, pointed at the TV and shouted, "But not today!" My girlfriend in the next room probably thought I was crazy. It didn't matter that I was ruining my pledge to play as a Renegade; I couldn't bring myself to betray a friend, murder another one, and condemn a species to death on a mere possibility of a future disaster. I let Mordin go cure the genophage. And then the game ripped him away from me.

That mission affected me deeply on multiple levels. I felt so much for these fictional characters that I couldn't betray one of them. Then I was devastated when another one was taken from me. But multiple types of media are able to make you care for fictional characters, so it couldn't just be the fact that I cared.

No, Mass Effect 3 really brought home how the interactive nature of videogames allows the player to experience feelings that TV, movies, or books can only show them. I've watched all six seasons of the current Doctor Who, but I've never had a moment where I felt like I was in the Doctor's shoes. This Tuchanka mission did that to me. I felt like I had the weight of galaxies and entire species on my shoulders.

I feel like that kind of experience has to be unique to videogames. Movies and books have played with my emotions before, but nothing quite on this level. Rather than absorbing things passively, I had agency (within the confines of the game's mechanics and narrative of course) and the ability to change things on a galactic scale. Mass Effect 3 was the perfect game to make me experience something like this because of how well the characters were written and presented since the first game. I doubt I would've felt the same way if this type of decision had been presented to me in a different game.

You Got a Book Contract, Now What?

Last night it really hit me that the process for getting The Exile's Violin published is far from over. Over and over in my head I kept hearing myself say, "You got that contract. Now what?" I have a feeling that I'm not alone and many first-time authors are asking themselves that same question. So really, now what?

As a writer your job doesn't end once the ink's dry on the contract. It's not all hookers and blow (that can come later if that's your thing). You still have a lot of work left to do.

Usually what comes first is a round (or two or five) of content edits. Content edits are when an editor reads your manuscript and looks for problems with character development, pacing, plot, structure, names, and continuity. Usually things like spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are overlooked at this stage.

For the most part, this is where all the heavy lifting is done with rewrites and revisions. An editor will make you realize you spelled something one way in chapter two and three different ways in subsequent chapters. They'll help make your characters more rounded and interesting. A good content edit can help turn a good book into a great book.

Great now that the revisions are done, your job as an author is done, right? Guess again Lazy McLazyperson! (See, a good editor would make a note that that's not a very good character name) Now it's onto copy edits and line edits.

I may not know all the semantics between copy edits and line edits, but I know that this stage is all about the words themselves. Now your editors go over your manuscript with a fine-tooth comb. They look for spelling mistakes, grammar, sentence structure, and a whole host of other things you probably weren't thinking about. I'm an author! I throw words on the page and it's art! Yeah, not always. Sometimes what you think is a wonderful, poetic sentence is just a gurgling mess of adjectives and dangling participles.

Well now the book's edited and ready to be printed. Time for hookers and blow? Nope! Unless you have a contract with one of the big six, chances are you're going to have to do some–say it with me–marketing! You got blog tours to arrange, reviews to solicit, blog posts, interviews, press releases, and animal sacrifices to the Marketing Elder Gods to make. Plus you gotta get busy writing that sequel!

As an author you may think your job's done once you write the book, but it's really just begun. And that's what kept me awake last night. But with the proper planning and hard work, this process doesn't have to be overwhelming. (It can just be regular whelming) I need to remind myself of that. Then maybe figure out who actually celebrates with hookers and blow. That's a thing big celebrities do, right?