Olga Godim's Blog, page 2

Cliffhangers are lies

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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DECEMBER QUESTION: Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?

MY ANSWER: I hate cliffhangers. As a reader, cliffhangers offend me. In my head, when I start a book, the author and I establish an accord: she promises to tell me a story from its start to its end. I read with that expectation in mind. If the story doesn’t end by the last page, the author lied to me. More often than not, if a book ends on a cliffhanger, it is a marketing decision. The underlying assumption is that the readers would want to know what happens after the cliffhanger and buy the next book. The reality is the opposite, at least for me. I get so disgusted by the author breaking her start-of-the-story promise to me, I rarely read the next book. I don’t trust that author anymore.

Of course, because I dislike cliffhangers so much as a reader, as a writer, I never use them. When I start a story, it is implied that I’ll finish it by the last page. Besides, there are other ways to keep the readers’ attention. One of them is the ‘open ended’ type of story. The writer tells the story of the main plot line from start to end, but some sub-plots are allowed to be left hanging. The writer’s tacit pledge to end the story inside the same volume doesn’t extend to all the subplots. Some secondary characters might start their own stories, but not have time or page space to finish them by the book’s denouement, giving the author a clear road to more stories in the future.       

What about you? How do you feel about cliffhangers?     
 

Book covers for fun

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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NOVEMBER QUESTION: What creative activity do you engage in when you’re not writing?

MY ANSWER: Many of you know that I dabble as a book cover designer. I recently made a cover for one of IWSG members, Pat Garcia. It was a challenge to work with an actual writer on the cover for her book. It was also extremely satisfying to mesh my vision and hers into a seamless whole. Her book, The Power of Touch, could be found on Amazon.

I also make pre-made covers for imaginary books, usually speculative fiction, and for my own stories, which I plan on self-publishing … one day. Probably soon.

Recently, I also made covers for a series of sci-fi novels by Michelle Diener. I wasn’t asked to do it. I’m just a fan of the author, I love her books, especially this particular series, called Verdant String, but I dislike their covers. So, I decided to make my own just for fun.

Here are a few of those covers:

I’m looking forward to learning what kind of creative activities my friends from IWSG enjoy the most.     
 

WEP October 2024 – What Scares You

Here is my entry to the WEP October challenge. Not a horror story, but a science fiction story, although it answers the question of the challenge. I hope.

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Neva snuggled deeper into the armchair and smiled into the darkness. Behind the wide window of her sister Saray’s room, the nightlife of Erenburg, the planetary capital of Vega Siberia, hummed with energy. Inside, sinister skeletons whisked around the vid’s holo display, their swords glittering, as they threatened a bunch of cowed people in a small enclosure. Dramatic music blared from the vid’s audio.

Neva’s current leave from her post as an elite combat officer of the Fleet – a SPECTer – proved unexpectedly delightful. Her lips twitched in amusement. Her tours of duty would’ve been so much easier if her enemies were as farcical as these cinematic skeletons. With prop swords. She almost giggled but refrained at the last moment. She didn’t want to spoil the vid for Saray and Saray’s friend Galy.

Still smiling, Neva dozed off and missed the skeletons’ grand finale, but she woke up to Galy’s piercing squeal.

“What?” Neva asked sharply. Her body tensed to meet the unknown danger. She was half-out of the chair, hands in fighting position, eyes scanning the room rapidly, but all she could see were the names of the vid’s creators rolling down the blue holographic sheet. Both girls eyed her with alarm. She sank back into her chair. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

“You fell asleep,” Saray said. “It’s the best horror vid of the past two years. It won awards, and you fell asleep.”

“Horror?” Neva said faintly. “I thought it was a comedy.”

“You philistine,” Saray declared.

“No, she is just tired,” Galy said. “Leave your sister alone. I’m not surprised she is hair triggered. I saw the news. Neva was in the thick of that mess on Pechora. Weren’t you?”

“Yes,” Neva said. She didn’t want to talk about Pechora. It had been too intense, too traumatic.   

“I’m sorry, sis,” Saray mumbled contritely and kissed Neva’s cheek. “Of course. You just rest. I’ll bring snacks.”

She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two full trays of local delectables, including Neva’s favorite cheese balls.

“Is that vid really considered scary?” Neva asked. A warm ball melted in her mouth.

Both girls nodded in unison.

“But those skeletons were funny,” Neva said. “Were you really scared?”

“Well,” Galy said thoughtfully. “It was …” she hesitated before continuing, “… thrilling. Made my nerves tingle: the story, the music, the emotional subtext.”

“But would you be frightened by hopping skeletons in real life?” Neva persisted. “They were cartoonish.”

“Maybe,” Galy allowed with a grimace. “But I’m not brave, really. Some things truly scare me.”

“Me too,” Saray piped in.

“What?” Neva asked.   

Saray perched beside Neva on the wide arm support of her chair and hugged her sister. “I hate snakes. They are slimy.”

Neva glanced at her sister in surprise. “Where did you see snakes? You live in a metropolis. There are no snakes in cities.”

“In a zoo. They have snakes from the jungle of the Archipelago.”

“And septopuses,” Galy chimed in. “Have you seen them, Neva? They are huge and scary. We have a family in the city zoo, too.”

“I saw.” Neva nodded.

“Would you be afraid to meet one in life?” Saray asked. “I know you SPECTers are not supposed to be afraid of anything, but it doesn’t feel human to be afraid of nothing.”

Neva shrugged. “True, but I’m not afraid of animals. There is no malice in them. They just do what their instincts demand. If you’re careful and prepared, you can be safe with any animal. Of course, if you do something stupid—” She popped another cheese ball onto her mouth and chewed happily. “Your own stupidity can kill you, but don’t blame the animals.”

“Not even the monsters of Lemuria?” Galy asked. Her blue eyes sparkled with interest.

Neva shook her head. “Those poor suckers are huge and terrifying, true, but I have been on Lemuria three times, guarding scientists, and I never lost any of my charges. And none of the monsters ever hurt me or a member of my team.”     

“Is there anything that scares you?” Saray’s fingers caressed Neva’s shoulder. “My heroic SPECTer sister.”

“What does SPECTer stand for, anyway?” Galy asked.

“Space Planet Elite Combat Team,” Neva translated automatically. “But yeah, something scares me. Very much. Human evil.”

“Pechora,” Saray whispered. “We saw the documentaries.”

“Yeah.” Neva’s mood turned grim at the memories. “That dictator killed and tortured and imprisoned hundreds of thousands of people, and nobody would stand up to him. The atrocities he perpetrated …” Her hands bunched into fists. “The entire continent was poisoned by fear. Decency, honor, kindness—all erased. People betrayed their family and friends because they were terrified. Nobody dared to talk of anything. Even after we killed that murderous thug and his associates.”

Her lips curved in distaste. “Even after the Fleet swept in and freed every prisoner from those horrible mines. People there are still afraid to think for themselves, much less talk. The whole society is warped by suspicions of each other. And it could happen anywhere. If we let it.” She stared out the window, at the cheerful lights of nighttime Erenburg, but she remembered a different night. “There is an old Earth legend about a wise chieftain. He liberated his tribe from slavery and led them towards a utopian place of freedom and happiness. But it took him forty years to reach that place. He wanted to change generations. Only after the old folks were pushed aside, and the younger ones born free rose to prominence, did he allow his people to reach paradise. The Fleet sociologists speculate it might take as long for the Pechorans to truly embrace democracy. A new generation. A scary prospect, isn’t it?”

Tagline: Human evil is the most terrifying thing in the universe.

Ghosts aren’t always scary

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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OCTOBER QUESTION: Ghost stories fit right in during this month. What’s your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

MY ANSWER: I’m not much of a reader for horror stories, so most classic ghost tales – which usually belong to the horror genre – don’t work for me. Anyway, I haven’t read many. But there is one contemporary urban fantasy series that incorporates a few ghosts, and I love that series. I’ve read and re-read it several times. Fortunately, it is not horror.

I’m taking about Sarah Wynde’s Tassamara Series. The main ghost in the series, and one of the leading characters, is a 15-year-old boy Dillon. Most of his family members have special paranormal abilities. Dillon’s father is telepathic. His uncle can find things. His aunt can see the future. But Dillon doesn’t have anything like that, and he wants to. He wants to be special.

When his friends at school mention that such an ability could be triggered by lots of drugs, he decides to try that method. He locks himself in an old family car and doses himself with prescription drugs. And overdoses. And dies. Now, he haunts the car he died in, but he wants more. He wants to live again, even as a ghost. His adventures as a ghost – a charming, curious, and compassionate personality, as full of anxiety as only a teenager could be – form a big part of this delightful series. 

I would recommend this series to anyone who likes urban fantasy. The stories are light, humorous, and fast-paced. The characterization is superb, not only of the resident ghosts, but of the living people as well. The plots are fascinating and wildly imaginative, the descriptions vivid, and the narrative top notch. The books included in the series are:

A Gift of GhostsA Gift of ThoughtA Gift of TimeA Gift of Grace        

There is also the 5th book, A Gift of Luck, but there are no ghosts in it.

What about you? Have you read this series? Do you know another ghost that doesn’t reside in a horror story? 

What I like in fiction

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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Lately, I have been very picky about the books I read. Sometimes, I would start a book – a good book according to multiple reviews, a book several of my online friends recommended – and couldn’t finish it. After a couple of chapters, I would become so bored, I couldn’t continue.

Other times, I would pick up a book by an unknown author, a book nobody recommended, a book I learned about by chance, read it, and rejoice. And think: what a wonderful writer. I want more of her stories.

What differentiates one from another? After some consideration and examination of the books I liked and disliked, I came up with this list below.

What I prefer in fiction:

The narrative is mostly dialog and action. No involved self-searching. Minimum inner monologues. The heroes talk and do. They rarely stop to contemplate their tragic past, at least not for more than a couple paragraphs.The characters are seldom alone on the page. They need someone to interact with: a friend, a lover, a teacher, a neighbor. Even a dog would do in a pinch.The plot moves fast. The action starts immediately (second page at the least) and happens all in the now. Minimum flashbacks or info dumps.Limited descriptions: only the necessary details. The text is spare and clear. No long, convoluted passages that serve no purpose but to display the author’s ability to produce gorgeous prose.No philosophizing. No proselytizing. A story should entertain, not promote an agenda.Not too dark. Grimness is not my friend. I want light, a bit of humor, and hope.Deep POV: I want to be in the protagonists’ heads all the time. I want to experience their emotions, not just learn their thoughts. The omniscient POV rarely works for me. Emotional distance doesn’t work at all.I need to like the protagonist. He/she should be a good and capable person with no artificial flaws. Alcoholics – no. Drug addicts – no. Doormats – no. Assassins – no. I don’t mind a Mary Sue, in fact I appreciate such a heroine. On the other hand, a nasty bitch with a hidden heart of gold (for redemption stories) is frequently a turn-off for me.The protagonists are adults. I’m not into YA – fictional teenagers often irritate me. Too much angst, too little sense.

Writers that satisfy my list include Jayne Ann Krentz (in all her nom de plumes), Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Jennifer Crusie, Lois McMaster Bujold, and many others – all my favorites. A number of them are bestsellers – obviously I’m not the only reader who enjoys their stories.

The funny thing about my list is that no literary fiction and very little mainstream fiction needs to apply. No surprise: I don’t read much of either, because books in those genres usually have the opposite attributes: too much introspection, the action is slow, flashbacks abound, the prose is lavish but pointless and half of it could be cut out without the plot suffering. And the protagonists are profoundly flawed. Meh.

Mostly the genres I read are romance and speculative fiction. I’m a lightweight that way. And of course, I write speculative fiction and try to abide by my own rules in my stories. 

What about you? What do you like/dislike in fiction? Do you have a marked preference for certain features? Certain genres? 

Mysteries then and now

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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I would like to talk about mystery novels. Many of you write mysteries, and millions of readers enjoy reading mysteries, especially cozy mysteries. I’m not one of them.

For some reason, most mystery writers put their detectives in danger during their investigations. That’s what puts me off mysteries. I dislike reading about people risking their lives, especially decent people, people I sympathize with. One of the rare mystery writers I do enjoy, Dorothy Sayers, wrote about her sleuth Peter Wimsey solving mysteries as intellectual puzzles. There was almost no danger to Peter in any of his novels, and I liked it that way. Agatha Christie wrote in a similar vein, and her worldwide fame speaks for itself. Unfortunately, both  Christie and Sayers were active during the first half of the 20th century. Such mysteries are rare nowadays. 

I recently tried reading Emma Jameson’s mystery series, Lord and Lady Hetheridge. It’s written very well. The series has 7 books in it (so far), and I’ve been reading them one by one. The series started as a police procedural, with little danger to the heroes, and I enjoyed the first few installments. But as the series progressed, the danger to the protagonists escalated. It came to a head in book #5, Blue Blooded, which was my least favorite in the series. I decided not to read more of this series after that. I didn’t want to see the heroes hurt again.

What about you? Do you like mysteries? Are you OK with the heroes getting hurt? Do you know of mysteries where the heroes are not in danger? Do you write mysteries. Tell me in the comments.

Website complications

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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Recently I was a co-host on an IWSG day. Like all co-hosts, I visited a certain number of websites and commented on their posts. And I encountered some difficulties. Not with the posts’ content, per se,  and not with my comments (that issue has been resolved by Google), but with finding the relevant posts. Some websites and blogs employ unusual templates that require endless scrolling before you can get to the latest posts. With such templates, navigation is complicated. All the posts on such blogs are arranged as icons, usually grouped thematically, and discovering one IWSG post among dozens of others is a time-consuming chore.

I’m sure the template creators thought it would be a more modern approach – like swiping up and down or sideways on a cellphone screen – but this approach doesn’t work well on a computer. A computer screen functions much better with a more logical structure: a menu below the header and the latest post always above all the others. Like our Ninja Captain’s website, for example.

Perhaps writers who want their posts read widely should consider changing their templates to accommodate a laptop, not just a cellphone. Of course, more and more people do everything digital on their phones these days, but still. The latest post should always be on top, not hidden in the field of others below.

Another pet peeve of mine: many sites have a pop-up that requests that the readers subscribe to the blog. Sometimes, I haven’t even got enough time to read one post before this pop-up unfolds, interrupting my reading. It feels intrusive and aggressive. Subscription should be totally voluntary, in my opinion, and not pushed on the visitors by cheap gimmicks. There is always an option to subscribe on the side of most blogs. If I want to, I’ll go there.   

What about you? Do you have any problems with certain website templates? Tell me in the comments.   

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A little bragging. One of our members, Pat Garcia, has a new story published on Amazon. I made the cover for it. You can see it here. I’m proud of this cover. 

I miss WEP

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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JUNE QUESTION: In this constantly evolving industry, what kind of offering/service do you think the IWSG should consider offering to members?

MY ANSWER: Many of us could help each other with writing-related services for low or no charge. Perhaps we could have a list of services offered by the members, similar to the list of services for self-publishing, but restricted to members only. For instance, I would like to offer my services as a book cover designer. I recently designed a cover for one of the IWSG members, and she seemed quite happy with my cover. Maybe others would like it too, but not many people know I design book covers. I would like my name to be on such a list. I’m sure there are other members who could offer editing, book formatting, beta reading, web design, marketing, etc.  

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My musing below also comes under the heading of possible offerings by IWSG. From 2015 until 2023, I’ve been a member of WEP blog hop. For those who don’t know, WEP was a bi-monthly event which offered its participants 6 themed challenges a year. Most participants wrote flash fiction, up to 1000 words. Others wrote poetry or non-fiction. There was also a contest each challenge, and the winner got some recognition and a minimal prize. But for me, winning the contest was never the point. The point was: WEP forced me to write 6 flash fiction stories a year, and I loved it. I also further challenged myself by writing connected stories each year, usually stories about the same protagonist. Sort of a mini-series – a different one each year.

This year, WEP closed, and I miss it. I miss writing flash fiction. I thought about joining another flash fiction challenge – there are a few in cyberspace – but most limit their word count to 500 words or 200 words or even less. None allows 1000 words, at least none that I’ve found, and I don’t think I would enjoy writing stories of 500 or 200 words. It feels more like a writing exercise than a story.

I also contemplated starting a similar blog hop myself. Not resurrect WEP as it was, no. It was a baby of my online friend, Denise Covey, and I wouldn’t poach on her turf. No, I would change the name, minimize the admin, drop the contest feature altogether, and adopt the two aspects that were dear to me: the 1000 words limit and the themed challenges. And the list of participants, of course. I could come up with the themes for each year and create beautiful badges for them. Maybe do it 4 times a year – once a quarter – instead of 6. But the technical angle daunted me. Marketing prospects terrified me. Maybe I could persuade IWSG to take the idea of such a blog hop under its umbrella. Run it on its website? If someone helped me with the technical details and the marketing, I would be happy to manage it. But most of all, I would be happy to write for it.

What about you? Would you want to write flash fiction once a quarter? Participate in such a blog hop? Did you ever write for WEP? Could you offer a service to the IWSG members for free? Tell me in the comments.

Book titles

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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Writers employ a number of different techniques to select titles for their books? Most writers (I’m among them) tie the title to the book content:

Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand

Some, especially romance writers, often produce generic titles:

Deception by Amanda Quick Deep Waters by Jayne Ann Krentz

Sometimes, titles incorporate one specific keyword to denote the genre or sub-genre:

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (regency romance) Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers (mystery)

Or a title could be just one word – the name of the heroine:

Arabella or Frederica by Georgette Heyer Circe by Madeline Miller

Series often include one specific word too, so the readers would know which books belong to which series:

Lyssa Key Adams – in her bromance series, every book title includes the word Bromance .   Anne Gracie – the titles of one of her historical romance series play with the word Bride . Another – with the word Daughter .

Anthologies are often called by the title of one of the stories inside or their titles might reflect their themes.

What is your approach to book titles? As a reader? As a writer? Do you have a favorite book title or two? Would you read a book based exclusively on its title? Tell me in the comments.

My guest post for A to Z challenge

A-Z Challenge is a popular blogging endeavor taking place every year during the month of April. When I looked at the list of participating blogs on Apr 3 of this year, it contained 202 entries. The themes the bloggers explore vary from blog to blog: brand management and writing craft, health and animals, art creation and travels. A few years ago, I conducted an experiment: I joined the fun. Unfortunately, blogging daily was too much for me, even for one month. I never repeated the experience. This year, I wrote a guest post for only one letter, L. Its day is today, April 13. And my word is Loneliness. Here is my post.