Cordelia Kingsbridge's Blog, page 14

Hi Cordelia! I just want to say thank you for all the great stories you created! I bought both your books and also a patron :) and really happy that you decide to add more contents to your patreon. I have question about the director commentary polls though

That’s a fair question, although I will point out that, while the Boston ‘verse is free to read, the audio commentary is for patrons at that bonus tier or higher. So I don’t know that the Boston ‘verse being free would influence a vote for something that isn’t.

In any case, I’m not intending to do a poll every time I do a director’s commentary! This was just to kick things off for the first one and gauge where the initial interest lay. In the future, I’ll do them for my other works as well. :-)

Thank you so much for your kind words and generous support!

Director’s Commentary

The ultimate winner of the polls to choose the subject of this month’s Patreon bonus feature is Regrets and Second Chances of the Boston ‘Verse! I’ll be releasing an audio director’s commentary on this story for patrons of Coquette tier and higher on November 15. There’s a post open now for readers to leave any questions they’d like me to address in the commentary, so go check it out!

So one day I hope to be publish one of my stories, it's the dream. But I work for a company that I write articles and I find it really hard to take criticism, like I feel it as a personal blow and feel really upset even when it's not phrased nastily? So I'

Here’s the thing: nobody’s good at taking criticism. Some people are better at it than others, yes, but nobody likes it. Even when well-meaning and diplomatically phrased, it always sucks.

If you really want to be a published author, though, constructive criticism is something you just have to get used to. And the only real way to do that is to keep exposing yourself to it, kind of like you’re trying to build up an immunity.

Please note that I’m talking about constructive criticism here. There is a huge difference between constructive criticism and regular plain old criticism, and another important thing an author needs is to learn how to tell the difference.

The kind of critique you’ll get from a professional editor (if they’re good at their job) is nothing like what you’d hear from someone who’s reading your book for pleasure. The reader is invested in their own enjoyment (as they should be!); the editor is invested in helping you make a better book.

In my experience, editors are quite skilled at communicating their thoughts tactfully, in ways which make it clear that they want to help you improve your writing and not just tear you down. Most importantly, when an editor makes a suggestion, they will always give a rationale for it: “This sentence flows a little awkwardly; what if we tried rewording it like this?” “This character’s action here isn’t quite believable because earlier she said [x], so let’s look at ways to make this more plausible.”

That rationale is the main difference between constructive and non-constructive criticism. Constructive criticism targets the more objective aspects of writing, inasmuch as anything about writing can be objective: creating a smoother, cleaner writing style; addressing structural issues; catching continuity errors; etc.

Any statement that starts with “I like/dislike/love/hate…” is not constructive. Those statements are certainly valid for the person who made them, but they’re only a commentary on how well something suited that particular person’s tastes. And of course it’s impossible to write something that suits everyone!

If you really want to move forward with your writing, my advice is to find people whose judgment you trust and who you know can be constructive in their approach to helping you improve. When you hear something difficult, give yourself a moment to deal with that instinctive pain, and then examine the advice closely. I can’t tell you how much I learned about writing in my internet-publishing days through discussions with readers! These days, every time I go through the editing process with a book, I learn new lessons that I carry forward with me into the draft of the next one.

As for negative, non-constructive criticism, that always hurts - but since it won’t help you become a better writer anyway, you can just ignore it! The best way to do that is to not even read it in the first place, if you can manage it. 

But if you do run into that situation, it can help to remind yourself of something you don’t personally like that a lot of other people do. For me, that’s pistachio ice cream - it grosses me out, for no reason I can explain, but tons of people love it! There’s nothing wrong with pistachio ice cream as a flavor. It’s just not my thing. Books are no different - and that’s great, because think of how boring life would be if everyone liked the same stuff!

(Belated) Sunday Update

mahoganyeclipse:

ckingsbridge:

I completely forgot to do this yesterday! My usual routine’s been very off-kilter the past few days, because between taking care of my sister’s sick dog and my own A/C breaking, I’ve spent most of my time at my parents’ house. The silver lining is that it was cool enough today for me to just open all the windows and be pretty comfortable with no air conditioning (which is still broken).

I hit a major milestone last week in finishing the rough draft of A Chip and a Chair. I don’t feel much of a sense of relief yet, though, since it needs so much revision before I can turn it in. I let it sit for a couple of days as planned, and dove into the revision process on Saturday. If I stick to the schedule I set for myself, I should finish up in time to meet my goal of turning the manuscript in before the end of October.

Also coming up this week, on October 25, is the first Cordelia’s Workshop! This is a new Patreon bonus for patrons at the Rebel tier and higher, in which I’ll break down an aspect of the writing process every month, illustrating my discussion with one of my own works. This month, I’ll be discussing how to plot a novel using my favorite three-act structure, with Kill Game as the example reference. Story structure is a favorite subject of mine, and I’m excite to delve into the nitty-gritty of my process in a way I’ve never shared before.

Have a great week, everyone!

Nevermind! I got your post mixed up with someone else’s lol

Hi Cordelia! I recently reread Blood Red and I just noticed the Binding Ceremony required a sexual domination. Didn't the Old Ones kept one of their children to be bound to them? Did they also rape their children?

The first thing I want to address here is that sexual domination and rape are in no way the same thing, which this wording implies. The binding ceremony in Blood Red requires an act of sexual domination. It does not require rape.

I haven’t read BR since I wrote it (in 2012-2013), but I’m pretty sure the binding ritual also requires the person being bound to consent to it. That consent can be coerced, which of course would make the ritual not consensual at all, but the point remains the same: it doesn’t require rape. It literally can’t.

Also, I’m 99.9% sure that the Old Ones didn’t bind their own children to them; they would raise a child specifically to be bound to another sorcerer, like an arranged marriage. Again, it’s been about 5 years since I’ve read the story, so my memory is rusty. But I can’t imagine that I would create a scenario that would encourage incest!

hi! hopefully you've been well :) i just wanted to ask - how do you feel about underage followers? i'm asking on anon because i've been your follower since the close protection days and i was definitely underage then (i literally turned 18 this past month)

I started reading explicit fanfiction when I was 14, so it’d be pretty hypocritical of me to object to people under the age of 18 doing something similar. I certainly don’t think I suffered any ill effects. In fact, fanfiction was my first real exposure to same-sex relationships (this was in the early 2000s, when LGBT media representation was far less prevalent than it is today), and it helped me explore and understand my own bisexuality during what was a very confusing time for me.

That’s my opinion as a human being. Here’s my opinion as a creator, and it’s going to be perhaps uncharacteristically blunt:

The age of my readers is neither my responsibility nor any of my business. I’m not anyone’s parent, and I’m not the age of consent police.

All of my works are and always have been clearly labeled as containing explicit content. That’s where my ethical duty begins and ends. The responsibility for what minors consume on the internet (assuming such content is appropriately labeled) rests entirely with that minor and their guardian(s). 

If you’re a parent or guardian and you don’t want your underage kids reading explicit stories, don’t rely on a stranger on the internet to limit their access. That’s your job.

All of that being said, if you’re underage and you’re reading explicit fiction, whether fanfiction or original, don’t tell the author that you’re underage. (What this question-asker did is fine, since they remained anonymous, which I appreciate.) Your age isn’t the creator’s problem, so please don’t go out of your way to make it their problem. Honestly, if you’re underage, you really shouldn’t be telling anyone on the internet that in any context!

Monday Update

I’m changing the name of this, because it’s pretty clear that I can’t remember to do it on Sundays! ;-)

I’m so close to finishing the first-draft revision of A Chip and a Chair. Unfortunately, I had trouble over the weekend with some intractable dizziness that made it difficult for me to get much work done. (I think it’s due to the sudden change in weather and resultant temper tantrum in my sinuses.) I’m still feeling a little dizzy today, but it seems like it’s getting better, so fingers crossed! I only have about two solid days’ worth of revision left before I can turn this draft in and heave a big sigh of relief.

Over on Patreon, I’m running the first of two polls to choose the subject of November’s bonus feature, an audio director’s commentary. The first poll, which is to narrow down the choice to a particular book, will be open for about another day. Then I’ll run a follow-up poll to choose the specific chapter (or installment - right now, the Boston ‘verse is quite heavily in the lead!) that I’ll do the commentary on. Head on over and vote if you haven’t already!

What do you think Levi and Stanton’s first date would have been like?

I think they went for something low-key for their first date, like drinks at a classy rooftop bar - somewhere they could talk and get to know each other better without too much pressure. Then, when they ended up hitting it off really well, they decided to keep the night going with dinner.

They didn’t sleep together after their first date, though! Two notable exceptions notwithstanding, Levi has rarely ever slept with someone before going on at least a few dates with them. ;-)

im in your 5 dollar tier right now and unfortunately its not in my budget to go up to your $10 tier yet but im saving up and im really looking forward to the day where I can read your workshop pieces because I'm really interested in becoming a writer! hop

Thank you so much for your support! If you do decide to move up tiers in the future, all of the past installments of Cordelia’s Workshop will be waiting for you. :-) My goal is to build an eventual treasure trove of helpful writing articles and discussions.

Sending good vibes for your own writing!

Hello! I’m excited to learn from your Cordelia’s Workshop (and I love all the new content you are doing!) but I just wanted to check: will this be done via document with explanations, or will it be done via streaming/voiceovers? I’m hard of hearing, and I

This is a great question! Cordelia’s Workshop is going to be done via document, like an article or blog post. I’m much better at explaining concepts by writing about them than talking about them, and I also want the workshop to be something patrons can save and refer back to later at their leisure.

I really have to thank you for bringing this to my attention, because next month’s bonus feature is actually going to be an audio “director’s commentary” of a chapter of one of my works. (There will be polls to choose this coming up soon on Patreon!) Until I got your message, it hadn’t even occurred to me that this might be inaccessible for people with hearing difficulties. I’ll include a written transcript with the commentary!