Daniel M. Bensen's Blog, page 121
May 5, 2013
Podcast 7: Partnerships (promotion strategies part 3)
07Writing Promotion Strategies3
You can form partnerships with other creative people (hi Kalin!) and they will involve their fans in your mutual project.
Pay it forward. Do favors and help those in need, not necessarily because you expect them to pay you back, but to create the kind of atmosphere in which everyone helps everyone else. Kalin mentions http://scifi.bg/ as his good partner.
Make yourself so useful to your partner that their own self-interest will motivate them to cooperate with you
However, be careful offering unsolicited help, since doing so might make the recipient feel like they need help, which might make them angry.
Media partners will really only help you if you’re already somebody, so if you’re just starting out, don’t look to established news outlets for help.
You can, however, leverage fame from communities that already recognize you as important, using them to convince other people that you are worth paying attention to. I mention the speculative evolution forum. Also, the Speculative Dinosaur Project!
Also why large forums can sometimes be mean 
Your platform is your fan-base, of which the bigger the better. Figure out who they are, perhaps at conventions. Shout out to Simon Roy and his bearded, manly fans!
So remember, no man is an island. Writing might be “the most fun you can have by yourself,” but successful writers are successful because they have friends and partners who help them get their message out.
April 29, 2013
Lake Vostok
I have four different projects running at the moment, plus a job, plus a baby, plus a visiting mother, BUT like an idiot I’m starting a new one.
Lake Vostok was sealed under Antarctic glaciers as early as 25 million years ago and we entirely untouched until the (southern hemisphere) summer of 2012, when a team of Russian scientists drilled past its surface. The water taken from the lake has not yet been analyzed, but it’s only a matter of time until we get that analysis, plus sediment samples, robot probes, and manned expeditions.
What will they find?
Antarctica was a very different place 25-14 million years ago, with cool, damp southern-beech forests similar to southern South America and New Zealand. Moss, diatoms have been found in fossil beds in the Dry Valleys region, descendants of which might have survived in lake Vostok.
Or not. With no light to drive photosynthesis, there would need to be some other source of energy. That might be chemosynthesis driven by bacteria digesting the rock under the lake, or even better from the minerals released by hot springs, as in hydrothermal ecosystems in the ocean. Let’s assume we have some of those, and therefor the base of the food chain is mats of chemosynthetic bacteria.
Cypridoidean ostracod fossils have been discovered in Miocene lake sediments in Antarctia, making them a shoe-in for Vostok species. Despite their puny wikipedia page, ostracods are very cool crustaceans, which swim around in bivalved shells, like a shrimp shoved into a clam. Giant versions of these usually planktonic creatures might be Vostok’s answer to the giant, spiky, awesome amphipods of Lake Baikal.
Marine species might be a stretch since Vostok water is fresh, but I think 25 million years and a poor fossil record give us enough wiggle room to permit descendants of Hoploparia lobsters and Atarctidromia crabs. See also echinoids, bivalves, bryozoans.
Fish are probable too, although my Google-foo has been unable to find a particular kind.
So some ideas for Vostokian lifeforms are:
Chemosynthetic bacteria, perhaps living in concert with Antarctic lichens or mosses.Or, you could have sessile ostracods using the bacteria the way Riftia worms do.
Other ostracods! Big one, little ones, grazers, predators. Perhaps huddling together for warmth in big, mobile colonies.
The same could work for fishes. Imagine large fishes with smaller ones living commensurally around them, surrounded in turn by smaller fishes or ostracods and so on. Call them “infinitems”
Plus of course all the “normal” forms of deep-sea fishes, including giant mouths and luminescent lures.
And giant glowing bryozoans? Say yes!
April 25, 2013
What makes us keep reading?
I start reading a lot of books. I finish, maybe, a quarter of them. Occassionally I will delete a book from my kindle with a growl of disgust, wishing that I lived with the primitive people of the 20th century, and could experience that atavistic catharsis of throwing a wood-pulp book across the room. More often though, I just flick the kindle joystick to the left and press down with a shrug and a “meh.” That book just didn’t grab me. It didn’t give me that little shiver of excitement. I had better things to do than read it.
Why? What’s the difference between a book that grabs you and a book that doesn’t? Let’s call that difference a Hook.
A Hook will be different things for different people, of course. Personally, I will continue reading a book if there’s a promise of learning something new and interesting about the world. I read through Fragment mostly because I wanted to know what kind of monster was going to eat the next character. My wife, on the other hand, wouldn’t continue (or probably even pick up) Fragment, but she enjoys books about how people solve personal problems. The books of the Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, for example, are sweet and well written, but would be improved by some more monsters eating people.
So my own personal psychoses aside, what hooks work on people? Here’s a list of emotional reactions that some people find enjoyable.
Fear—what horrible thing will happen next?
Suspense—how will they get out of this one?
Fighting—watch the blood fly! Biff Bam Pow!
Wonder—look at the size of that mountain!
Discovery—what kind of aliens live on THIS planet?
Romance—will they or won’t they?
Anger—oh I hope that character gets their comeuppance
Humor—And the horse says, “look, a talking dog!”
Human interaction—And she said…
Education—now let’s pause the action for a moment to describe EXACTLY how a nuclear warhead works.
Mystery—he killed that guy HOW?
Wish-fulfillment—let’s read more about how someone just like me gets revenge on all the people who wronged him.
Contentment—and then a cat came and curled up next to the baby. Aww.
Notice how closely this list maps onto the genres you see in a bookstore? Sci-fi, Romance, Literature? That isn’t a coincidence. What genre you like is what Hook you respond to. The guilty pleasure that will pull you through a story that has no other redeeming qualities.
Now, as a writer, how do you make sure your reader finishes your book? Obviously, put in a Hook or two. But you have to be careful to:
Choose a Hook that you find interesting and exiting yourself (this is why I will never write a teen vampire romance.)
Make promises—let people know from the first line whether they can expect a book that will appeal to them
Keep your promises—keep track of reader expectations and, if possible, top them.
Get bigger—whatever your hook is, make sure it becomes more powerful as the story progresses. You had small monsters eating people at the beginning? Make the monsters bigger. The main character had a delightful luncheon with the elegant Mr. Bakersworth? Make the next meal a formal dinner.
Be balanced—All joking aside, a book that appeals to only one kind of person isn’t as good as it could be. It takes skill and experience to juggle several Hooks at once, but it’s worth it because you’re catching that many more readers. Plus monsters eating people is all well and good, but what if the monsters also get into epic battles, have tragic personal problems, and are hilarious? That’s what you’re striving for.
…
Yes, I was talking about Lois McMaster Bujold.
Did I miss any Hooks? Let me know in the comments!
Or come and talk about it with me in person!
April 21, 2013
Podcast 5 Promotion Strategies (part 2)
06 Writing Promotion Strategies2
Go to conventions and writing workshops, and even contests to meet people.
The more specialized a social network is, the better. Some good ones are:
Consider the motivation of the other people on a forum or network.
Be succinct. Small is beautiful. In other words, don’t post something every day. Post once a week (although that post might be rather large).
Keep updates regular to remind people what you’re working on. But just posting updates is boring.
April 16, 2013
Writing Panel: How Can a Writer Make Sure Readers Will Finish a Book?
What makes readers keep reading? Is it action, romance, humor, all of
those, or none of them?
SF author Daniel M. Bensen and Kalin Nenov, editor at the Human
Library, will talk about what makes books fun, why fun is important,
and what else is there to keep us hooked.
WHERE: Seminar Center, 154 G.S. Rakovski St.
(http://www.facebook.com/of.rakovski)
WHEN: Friday the 26th of April, 17:00-18:00
WHAT to bring: Your ideas of an enjoyable read 
COST: Free!
CONTACT: Daniel M. Bensen, bensen.daniel -at- gmail.com – BEFORE
Wednesday the 24th of April
Daniel M. Bensen was born in Chicago and has lived in Maine,
California, Montana, Japan, Boston, and now Sofia, where he teaches
English as a second language.
His work has been published on 365 Tomorrows and in the Prehistoric
Times, and he has attended an Odyssey workshop. He is represented by
Jennie Goloboy at Red Sofa Literary Agency.
More information about Dan’s work and his first novel are available on
his website, http://www.kingdomsofevil.com/.
Kalin M. Nenov is a translator, editor and literary agent. Meet him on
his personal blog: http://kal.zavinagi.org/, or at the Human Library:
http://choveskata.net/blog/
April 15, 2013
On dinosaur names
Just a little fun from here:
The very helpful lamna said “And the plural of triceratops is triceratops. Like the plural of sheep is sheep.”
Is it really?
The Anglo-saxons did not know about triceratopses and did not include that word in their list of animal plurals (as opposed to plurals for people, objects, and things that would have an umlaut in Old High German). “Triceratops” is a modern English word and should therefor decline like other regular plural nouns in English. Book-books, triceratops-triceratopses.
The other alternative would be to decline it like the Ancient Greek. Marsh chose the word “Triceratops” to describe his newly-discovered genus becuase the word comes from Ancient Greek tri (three) kerat (horned) ops (eye, but figuratively face). “Ops” is well attested from Ancient Greek sources and has the full compliment of Greek plural forms. One triceratops, two triceratope, three or more triceratopes.
But why force English into the mold of Ancient Greek just for plurals and duals versus singulars? If we wanted to be really “accurate,” wouldn’t the word also have to follow other Greek rules? Thus “The triceratops is given ferns” but “I give ferns to the triceratopi.” “That is the triceratopos fern.” “I ride the triceratopa.”
But that would just be silly. 
References:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%BD...
Partridge, Eric, Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English, revised by Janet Whitcut (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1997), pp. 238–39.
April 14, 2013
Podcast 5 Promotion Strategies (part 1)
05 Writing Promotion Strategies1
This is part one of a long (3 part) conversation I had with Kalin Nenov of the Human Library on the subject of promotion strategies for books. We talk about:
Getting outside people involved (for example, by running contests and polls).
Giving manuscripts to lots of beta-readers (and giving them prizes!)
C. M. Kosemen, Darren Naish, and John Conway‘s book, All Yesterdays, and their clever contest.
Going to forums to get help with background and worldbuilding.
Alternate History Forum
Speculative Biology Forum
Deviantart
Dinosaur Mailing List
Hell Creek Forum
TVTropes
(suggestions for other good forums? Add them in the comments!)
Reading forums are often more useful than writing forums. (Writers must comment on other people’s work, not only advertise their own.)
In Bulgaria, some forums are:
Shadowdance: http://www.shadowdance.info/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
Citadelata: http://www.citadelata.com/forum/
Chitanka’s forum: http://forum.chitanka.info/literature.html
Ivan Efremov’s forum: http://sf-sofia.com/forum/index.php?f=7&rb_v=viewforum
Eurocon!
Sborishte na trubaduri: http://trubadurs.com/
SciFi.bg: http://scifi.bg/
Az cheta: http://www.azcheta.com/
Knigolandiya: http://knigolandia.info/
Anna Hells: http://annahells.wordpress.com/
Preslav Ganev: http://literaturatadnes.com
Branimir Sabev: http://chetene.blogspot.com/
Parvi vpechatleniya ot posledno prochetenoto: http://zonkobg.blogspot.com/
Palatkov lager za pingvini: http://alvinbg.blogspot.com/
Stars in My Pocket: http://ikosmos.blogspot.com/
Valentin D. Ivanov: http://valentindivanov.wordpress.com/
Grigor Gatchev: http://www.gatchev.info/blog
Priumici: http://knigoman.wordpress.com/
TANSTAAFL: http://angelbogdanov.blogspot.com/
In English:
http://www.antipope.org
http://aidanmoher.com/blog/
http://joshuadavidbennett.com/
www.scifireaders.net
http://www.thetexfiles.com/
Add your suggestions in the comments!
Talk to larpers.
http://larp-bg.org/forum/.
http://fantasylarpcenter.com.
(Thanks to Fix it in post for audio help)
And don’t forget to tell us what kind of shoes YOU think elves should wear!
April 11, 2013
Indistinguishable from Magic
No, this isn’t a blog devoted to how awesome Aaron Diaz is (although he deserves one >sigh
As Arthur C. Clark famously said and the Strugatsky brothers demonstrated so well, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. That means that if, for example, we ever meet aliens, they will probably be using devices that:
a) make their lives easier or more convenient
b) don’t make any sense
and c) don’t play well with humans (not having been designed for us to use)
So what can we expect from alien magic-technology? Here are some of my ideas. Add yours in the comments.
pixielights (are these glowing, swarming light sources animals of some kind? Robots? Windows into the hearts of stars or other universes? All we know is they fly around, illuminating whatever people look at, and they breed)
the constituator (this field breaks objects apart into their constituent mono-elements)
a foreshort telescope (actually a tube that is shorter on the inside than the outside. A small one appears to be a telescope. A big one is an FTL superhighway.)
A 4D cannon (shoots you or your luggage on a parabola through the fourth dimension, meaning when you “land” you pop into 3-space somewhere far away from where you set off. An alternative means of FTL travel)
inertia canceller. (decouples mass from inertia. Sorry, Einstein.)
a four to threespace down convertor (just like a 3 dimensional gas can suck heat off a 2-D surface, this thing sucks up ambient heat)
Other ideas?
April 7, 2013
04 Literary Agents
In this podcast, I talk with Kalin Nenov of the Human Library about Literary agents.
What agents are and what they do.
Writer’s water-cooler. (where you can talk with other writers about agents and other things)
Duotrope (general information for writers)
Agent query (where you can search for agents)
Odyssey writing workshops. (Where I learned about agents)
Queryshark. (examples of good and bad query letters)
My agent. (Jennie Goloboy at Red Sofa Literary)
