Jen McConnel's Blog, page 60

Vacation, part II: Portland

I’m so thankful that my husband grew up in Oregon: otherwise, I never would have discovered how cool the northwest is.

Whenever we’re out there visiting family, we have a few things that we ALWAYS try to do, like visiting Portland, going to a Moonstruck Cafe, and hitting a new (to us) winery to see what’s on offer.

This year, we had the chance to go to the Portland Zoo.  Now, I haven’t been to a zoo since I was a kid, partly because I wasn’t sure how my empathetic adult self would feel about seeing animals out of their natural habitat.  I know, I know: zoos aid in preservation and species re-population, and they are wonderful educational resources, but still, not my ideal.

But mostly, I enjoyed the Portland Zoo. (except the elephants: please give them toys so they aren’t so miserably bored!)

Some highlights:

Spotting Lani Taylor.  No, I didn’t ask for an autograph, but it was still SO COOL to see her there.
The otters.  Oh. My. Gosh.  So cute!
The very sleepy bobcat.

But the coolest part?  The African Predators section, where I fell in love with a lioness and watched a cheetah try to eat a small child through the glass.  Click to view slideshow.

What about you?  Favorite zoo memories as a child (or an adult)?  And what do you think about zoos in general?

 

 

Writers on Wednesday: M Cid D’Angelo, author of ARTEMUS DARK

This week, I’m thrilled to host author M Cid D’Angelo.  The author of the ARTEMUS DARK series has graciously agreed to stop by today and talk about the issue of the moral compass in writing.  Enjoy!

The Moral Compass in Writing

 “Morality is a hindrance. We limit ourselves because of our perception of social norms, of believing in fair play. The greatest magicians are those who are willing to accept the consequences of their actions. They do not believe in accidents, in randomness. They believe that they are forever at the center of their existence, in control of their fate.” The Red Queen, ENCHANTRESS ON THE EDGE (M Cid D’Angelo)

It was Machiavelli who illustrated well the philosophy of unreserved action without troubling oneself over consequences. He argued that the Prince should show no mercy when applying his will; that he should accept everything that he does and desire as so long as the Prince understands and accepts the consequences of his actions.

In this argument, morality is abstract; it is but a quaint invention of human society. Nature is cruel, but not cruel by intention if by design. Social animals and insects rarely thrust their individual needs before the group; their instincts hardwired into their behavior for the good of the hive, pride, what-have-you. These social structures in nature become one unit, acting at the will of what that society deems necessary to survive.

Human beings are individualistic social animals. We perceive ourselves with self-identity, yet, we also desire the survival tactic of being stronger en masse. The self-identity then becomes a random factor in what would be a true communistic society if everyone shared the same ideals and goals. We have those who show a great deal of altruism instead of selfish pursuits; we have humanitarians and murderers.

In Dr. Joshua D. Greene‘s essay, “Fruit Flies of the Moral Mind”, the philosopher proposes several well-known scenarios to illustrate the moral dilemma that human beings can face from day-to-day, offering altruistic or utilitarian choices.

The Crying Baby Dilemma

You have an infant in your arms while with a group of people. There are enemy soldiers nearby looking for your group. If they find you all, they will kill you. Suddenly, the infant begins crying, so you place a hand over its mouth. You then are faced with a moral problem: if you keep holding your hand over the baby’s mouth, you will end up suffocating it; if you do not, the infant’s cries will alert the soldiers and they will end up killing you all. What do you choose to do? Kill your baby, or face the wrath of the soldiers?

The Switch Dilemma

There is a group of people near a railroad track. At that moment, a train loses control and will jump the track and kill everyone unless the far switch is activated. However, there is no time to hurry over to switch it. The only recourse is to push an unsuspecting fellow into the switch as hard as you can, throwing him into the train’s path and killing him. The upside? You save the many people across the track. The downside? The man you push dies. What is the best option? The life of one for the life of others? Or is the choice of murdering the unsuspecting fellow too much for you to take on – at least if the group of people die, it was not at your hand?

In my Artemus Dark novel, Dark Running, one of the hero’s adversaries is a cold, calculating fellow who will stop at nothing to gain his objectives. He has no social moral compass, but he does possess the capacity for social efficiency, i.e., he does not kill or hinder anyone just for the sake of causing harm. This moral question is brought up again in my other novels, Darkness Becomes You and Enchantress on the Edge. In both we have “villains” who understand the need for social norms and morals for the group to survive, but, individualistically, they are quick to take the road of self-interest in furthering their own goals.

The moral compass of a character in a story, even beyond the dilemmas of the hero/heroine, creates a vortex of inner strurggle and turmoil. Are we altogether altruistic by nature, or just a society of individuals bounded by our own self-interest? After all, we live our lives subjectively. No one travels our same road. Whether we live for others or live for ourselves, we all reach the final fate.

 Bio:

M Cid D’Angelo is the author of the Artemus Dark (Dark Universe) Paranormal Novels and is published in Aiofe’s Kiss, Third Wednesday, Eureka Literary Magazine, Midway Jounral, among other literary journals.

Blog:http://artemusdark.blogspot.com/

Dark Running: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Running-ebook/dp/B004KZOPR0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1344003805&sr=1-1&keywords=m+cid+d%27angelo

Darkness Becomes You: http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Becomes-Second-Artemus-ebook/dp/B008OXK1NQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1344003805&sr=1-3&keywords=m+cid+d%27angelo

Contest Winners Announced

Winners announced from my first Rafflecopter giveaway:

Congratulations to Christie Rich, Julie Wenzel, and Nancy Armisto!  Ladies, please shoot me an email at jenmcconnel [at] live [dot] com and include your mailing address so I can get your prizes sent out ASAP!  I hope you will proudly display your cool new decals.  Thanks for participating, everyone!  I hope you had fun: I sure did, and I think I just may have to do another contest in September.

 

Take Our Poll

Didn’t win this time?  That’s okay: you still have a chance to enter to win a signed ARC of THE BURNING OF ISOBEL KEY.  Check out this post for details.

Writers on Wednesday: Charity Bradford on Punctuation

This week, I am pleased to present Charity Bradford.  She’s stopped over to talk to us about punctuating dialogue, so get your note pads ready! (This post first appeared at displacedyankeeinnc.blogspot.com in January 2012)

Thanks Jen for the opportunity to guest post. It’s made me look some stuff up that I’ve been putting off for too long.

How the heck do you punctuate dialogue?

That’s a question I’m frequently asking myself. I decided it was high time to educate myself on the rules. This post will not be “fun” to read, but I hope it will help answer some of your questions as well.

Here are some quick basics that I think we all get right. But just in case…

Commas, Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation Marks

A comma separates dialogue from its dialogue tag. Periods and commas ALWAYS go inside the quotation marks. Question and exclamation marks go inside the quotation marks if they apply to the dialogue, outside if doesn’t have anything to do with the material quoted.

Incorrect: “It’s a lovely day“, Charity said.

Correct: “It’s a lovely day,” Charity said.

Incorrect: “I think we should go for a walk“. Charity up her sweater and walked to the door.

Correct: “I think we should go for a walk.” Charity picked up her sweater…

What if the dialogue tag comes in the middle of the talking? Place a second comma after the tag, and after any words that come between the tag and the continuation of the sentence.

Incorrect: “If you want,” he saidhis smile persuasive. “They can find a place for us to stay.”

Correct: “If you want,” he said, his smile persuasive, “they can find a place for us to stay.”

This is the one I mess up all the time–

If a character takes action after speaking, that action usually begins a new sentence and should not be punctuated with a comma, as if it is a dialogue tag.

Incorrect: “We need to leave in case someone comes back,” Landry took Talia’s hand and helped her up.

Correct: “We need to leave in case someone comes back.” Landry took Talia’s…

Dashes and Ellipses

Dashes indicate where a sentence breaks off. For example, when one character interrupts another. Ellipses indicate that the dialogue trails off. The fade out if you will due to uncertainty or a reluctance to finish the sentence.

Incorrect: “I never got a chance to tell you . . .”

“Shh,” he placed a finger on her lips. “You don’t have to say anything.”

Correct: “I never got a chance to tell you—”

“Shh.” He placed a finger on her lips, “You don’t have to say anything. I already know…”

(That last one is questionable on the ellipses. In my mind that’s where he bends to kiss her–so the ellipses.)

Here’s some more basic stuff.

Capitalization

The first word of dialogue is always capitalized.

Incorrect: She asked, “when will we get there?”

Correct: She asked, “When will we get there?”

When dialogue is divided by a speaker attribution, begin the second half of the sentence with a lowercase letter, not an uppercase one.

Incorrect: “We can be there by morning,” he said, “If we get started right away.”

Correct: “We can be there by morning,” he said, “if we get started right away.”

And finally, the all important question of more than one paragraph of one person’s dialogue.

When a character has more than one paragraph of dialogue, use closing quotation marks at the end of the final paragraph in the sequence only. Start each new paragraph of continuous dialogue by one character with quotation marks.

Incorrect: “(large chunk of text) We do not detect any plant or animal life on the surface, but we believe that if we heat up the core of the moon we can catalyze the terraforming process.”

“As we heat the core, the polar ice caps will melt, providing the liquid water needed to increase the thickness and quality of the atmosphere.”

Correct: “(large chunk of text) We do not detect any plant or animal life on the surface, but we believe that if we heat up the core of the moon we can catalyze the terraforming process.

“As we heat the core, the polar ice caps will melt, providing the liquid water needed to increase the thickness and quality of the atmosphere.”

Well, there you go. Some of the most common mistakes we (read me) might make when writing dialogue. I hope some of it was helpful. Good luck and happy writing!

Links used while writing this post:

Punctuating Dialogue from Writing World. The easiest to read.

How to Punctuate Dialogue Correctly I used a lot of their example formats.

Punctuating Dialogue

Punctuation in Dialogue from The Editor’s Blog

Charity Bradford has been a voracious reader ever since her 5th grade teacher introduced her to the world of books. She is the mother of four kids that keep her on her toes, and remind her that imagination still makes the world go round. Her preferred writing genre consists of a mix of science fiction, fantasy, adventure and romance. Her first novel THE MAGIC WAKES will be released in 2013 from WiDo Publishing. She blogs at Charity’s Writing Journey and co-hosts a critique blog called Unicorn Bell with six other amazing ladies.

Links:

http://charitywrites.blogspot.com

Wido http://widopublishing.com

UB http://unicornbell.blogspot.com

UPDATE: The folks over at UB are hosting a three week query extravaganza this month. The info can be found at http://unicornbell.blogspot.com/2012/07/calling-all-followers-with-completed.html

Cover Reveal: Want to Help?

As many of you know, my debut new-adult novel, The Burning of Isobel Key, is due out this fall.  Despite the work that’s gone into this over the past four years, it’s only just starting to feel, well, real.

For the past few weeks, I have been going back and forth with my excellent cover artist, Heidi Sutherlin.  I stumbled upon her on Elance, but you can also check out her portfolio here.

The end result?  I have a cover!  The most amazing cover I could have ever imagined.  Heidi is a master: she was able to take a poorly envisioned concept that was floating around in my head, bring it to life, and make it infinitely better than I had ever imagined.  It’s exactly what I wanted for this book, and I can’t wait to share it with you all.

But I am going to wait, just a bit, because I wanted to ask if any of you would like to join me on August 21st by posting my cover reveal on your own sites.   I’m super excited about this, and I can’t wait to share the cover art with y’all.

If you want to help me reveal the cover for The Burning of Isobel Key, email me at jenmcconnel [at] hotmail [dot] com and I’ll send you the necessary information.

But wait, there’s more!  Everyone who participates in the cover reveal will have a chance to win a signed ARC of The Burning of Isobel Key.  Just make sure you send me the link to your post, and I’ll put your name in the drawing.

Thanks, everyone!  Can’t wait for August 21st.

 

 

Vacation, Part I: Lake Coeur D’Alene

My husband grew up in Oregon, and we try to travel to the west coast at least once a year to visit his family and favorite places.  I love this annual trip, and this year more than most it’s a much-needed getaway.  I taught my first summer semester at the community college this year, and I’m beyond fried.  To give you an idea of why, let me break down my schedule for you.  In the spring, I taught a total of three classes, which equaled about 12 hours on campus per week.  This summer, I taught two classes but spent 18 hours on campus each week.  You can see why I was ready for a vacation!

His grandfather built a beautiful little cabin on a bluff overlooking Lake Coeur D’Alene, in Idaho, and that’s where we spent the first half of our trip.  It’s the most peaceful, beautiful place I’ve ever been, and every time we come out here, I rejuvenate.  I also got a lot of writing done, staring at the blue waters of the massive glacial lake, so that’s part of what makes this a good vacation.

Sometimes, it’s so nice to get away from all things familiar and take refuge in a place with a lot of old family energy.  Where do you go when you need to recharge?

Stay tuned for vacation, part II: Seattle, Portland, and Oregon wine country.

*In other news, there’s still time to enter my summer giveaway.

Writers on Wednesday: S.M. Boyce, author of LICHGATES

Welcome to the first Writers on Wednesday.  This weekly feature will include interviews and guest posts from a variety of writers.  I’m super excited to be starting this feature with a wonderful writer from my online writing group.  S.M. Boyce, author of The Grimoire Trilogy,  is here this week to talk about Indie publishing.

Thanks for having me, Jen! I’m excited to do this interview. Guess I won’t hold us up with chit chat. Let’s get to it!

1. What is “Indie Publishing”?

Indie Publishing is one of two options an author has when they consider publishing their work: either go the traditional way of agents and publishing houses, or go it alone. The latter option is called indie, or self-publishing.

2. Why did you decide to go the indie route?

Trust me, it wasn’t an easy choice. I researched for weeks. I read books, discussions on the subject, blogs both for and against the indie route. I even wrote a mini-thesis discussing my decision. I’ll try to keep it as concise as possible because I could talk about this all day.

In the end, the scales were tipped towards indie publishing for a few reasons, the most important of which was the fact that most new authors aren’t supported by their publishers. All of the marketing is left for the new author to tackle on their own, and if they get enough sell-throughs (a ratio of books sold to books published) with that and the next few books, they’re considered for a bigger marketing budget. But only if those numbers look good. Otherwise, they’re stuck as a middle grade author selling barely anything. On top of that, I read articles and blog posts where quite a few authors claimed that their book was never or minimally edited. So I gathered from my research that (1) I wasn’t likely to get any marketing help, and (2) I wasn’t likely to get much in the way of editing.

So…by going traditional, I would pretty much be in the same boat as I would be as an indie: doing it myself. I figured it was silly for me to pay someone 82.5% of my royalties to do the work myself.

Now, dear reader, this might not be your experience. If it isn’t, I’d love to hear how things went for you. But based on my research and the discussions I continue to see online about the indie revolution, I feel like I made the right choice.

The next topic to consider was distribution. Traditional publishers had a monopoly on getting into brick and mortar bookstores, and going indie would mean I wouldn’t have that. That was a tougher choice to make. I’d always dreamed of walking into a bookstore and picking up a book. But the fact of the matter is that more and more people are turning to online book sales, and more and more brick and mortar stores are closing. It didn’t seem like a good business decision to ignore the other benefits of indie publishing for the chance to be on the bottom shelf in a bookstore.

3. What regrets do you have/things that you wish you’d done differently?

I wish I’d done more research on the marketing aspect of selling my book before I released it. As it was, I was so hell bent on releasing it that I didn’t pause to think about a blog tour, launch celebration, or even how I’d market it. I definitely recommend you have a marketing plan before you publish.

4. What advice can you give other authors?

In the age-old words of Joe Konrath, “don’t write crap.” It’s important that all authors – indie and traditional alike – give readers the highest quality. Get an editor. Write several drafts. Don’t publish it until you’re 110% happy with it.

Also, make sure you keep your thick skin. It’s hard to see negative reviews of something you put your life and soul into, but the fact of the matter is not everyone will like it. Shrug off the bad reviews, focus on the good, learn from your mistakes, and keep writing.

5. What’s been the best part about going indie?

The autonomy. I have control over everything: the marketing, the website, the content, the cover…I love it. I’m a business-minded person, so I like to manage that sort of thing. But it’s also nice to make 70% royalties on my novel, have control over the price, and have the flexibility to adjust prices and promotions on a whim.

Thanks for having me! I’d love to continue the discussion in the comments. What do you guys think about indie publishing?

Thanks for the great interview, Boyce! It’s really interesting to learn what your experience has been, and I’m so glad you feel like the choice you’ve made has been the best possible fit for you. That’s what we all want as writers, right?

Interview first posted 4/10/12 at displacedyankeeinNC.blogspot.com

Free Stuff!

Happy end of July!  To beat the heat (and to celebrate the fact that my summer semester of teaching is officially at its close), I’m giving away fun stickers.  Three lucky people will win the “Careful or you’ll end up in my novel” decal from Cafepress.  It’s the perfect way to show the world that you’re a writer with a sense of humor (and a dangerous pen).

So what are you waiting for?  Go ahead and click over to a Rafflecopter giveaway and give it a whirl!  There are multiple ways to enter.  Have fun!

Travel Writing: Egypt, part 4

Remembering unexpected moments of beauty.  Egypt is a tricky place: on the surface, it’s polluted and brash, but just beneath that layer rests a vibrant, bustling culture full of the kindest people I’ve ever met.

On New Year’s Eve, our last day in Egypt, we visited Coptic Cairo (Coptic is the branch of Christianity most practiced in Egypt. It’s part of the Eastern Orthodox tradition). Egypt has a long history of religious tolerance, and Coptic Cairo is OLD. The remains of Roman towers mark the entrance to the Coptic Museum, and the area used to sit right on the banks of the Nile. The Hanging Church conducted baptisms for a few centuries in the waters of the Nile, and Coptic Cairo also houses a church-turned-synagogue which is said to mark the location where pharaoh’s daughter found Moses in the rushes. Like I said, it’s an old area of Cairo with a lot of history.

The Coptic Museum was beautiful, and boasts an amazing assortment of religious artifacts and items from daily life, not to mention some ancient manuscripts and beautiful fabric samples. The Hanging Church is famous for its massive collection of Coptic icons (over 100), and we visited the church on the heels of a New Year’s service: Coptic Cairo may be old, but everything there is still in use.

We discovered just how off the beaten tourist path this area is after visiting the Hanging Church. Taking a winding alley in the direction of signs that said led to the Church of Saint Barbara, we found a man varnishing the church doors. He noticed us hanging back, and warmly invited us inside. The glistening icons of Barbara (a kind of Rapunzel figure to my fairy tale trained mind) overwhelmed me, and I didn’t at first realize that the church was full. Of children. Wearing Santa hats and singing along joyously to a video on the screen.



We had stumbled into Sunday school while in Cairo. We snuck out quickly, but we were more joyous than embarrassed.

An icon of Saint Barbara from her church in Cairo

Giveaway!

Just for fun, I’m hosting a Rafflecopter giveaway next week.  It’s super easy, and you can enter more than once.  What’s the prize, you ask?  Three lucky winners will get their very own “Careful or you’ll end up in my novel” decal.

So what do you have to lose?  Enter, retweet, and repeat!

The contest runs from 7/30-8/6, from midnight to midnight.  I’ll be announcing the winners and getting prizes sorted the following week.

Thanks for playing!  In the comments, why don’t you tell me what you’d like to see in a future giveaway?