Nenia Campbell's Blog, page 61
January 18, 2013
And Now for Something Completely Different
In an age of extremely derivative works, I'd like to take a moment to celebrate the works of authors that truly are original and creative.
So I just made a list devoted to stories that stand out from the rest. Please, feel free to check it out!
So I just made a list devoted to stories that stand out from the rest. Please, feel free to check it out!
January 17, 2013
How to Write a Book Blurb Like the Professional Reviewers!
Welcome to Advanced Literary Criticism!
by me, Nenia Campbell
Is anyone else tired of seeing those review snippets about a book that really don't do anything to tell you what the book is about or whether it's actually good?
Yeah. Me, too.
However, in case you ever want to know how to do it on your own, I'm going to teach you how in three simple steps! By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to write just as good* as the New York Times' columnists!
All you need is:
An ADVERB
An ADJECTIVE
and a GENERIC OPINION (the more redundant the better)
Examples:
Relentlessly original! There's nothing else out there like it! Except, of course, for all those rip-offs that are exactly like it!
Genius homage...excellently done! Like reading fanfiction, or work by a top-notch plagiarist! Great job writing just like somebody else!
Savagely unique! Like wearing a bikini made out of fur! I didn't read this book! Look at my creative analogies!
Fiercely blunt! Says "fuck you!" with a smile and a wave! Main protagonist is a hilariously heinous bitch you'll probably hate!
Mischievously clever! The laughs sneak up on you and bash out your brains, just like a violent burglar! Invest in some seltzer water! It's best for removing blood stains!
Seductively cinematic! Almost--but not quite--as good as watching actual porn!
Daring, adventurously sexy fun! This book is about fuck-all but it's got lots of swearwords and makes oblique references to sex! The scandal!
Dark, edgy, romantic...psychologically intense! Fucks with your head like an abusive boyfriend, which is most likely what this book is about!
Adverb adjective! Adjective adjective! Ellipses! Adjective! EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! PUDDING!!!!!!!
This concludes our lesson for Advanced Literary Criticism 101.
by me, Nenia Campbell
Is anyone else tired of seeing those review snippets about a book that really don't do anything to tell you what the book is about or whether it's actually good?
Yeah. Me, too.
However, in case you ever want to know how to do it on your own, I'm going to teach you how in three simple steps! By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to write just as good* as the New York Times' columnists!
All you need is:
An ADVERB
An ADJECTIVE
and a GENERIC OPINION (the more redundant the better)
Examples:
Relentlessly original! There's nothing else out there like it! Except, of course, for all those rip-offs that are exactly like it!
Genius homage...excellently done! Like reading fanfiction, or work by a top-notch plagiarist! Great job writing just like somebody else!
Savagely unique! Like wearing a bikini made out of fur! I didn't read this book! Look at my creative analogies!
Fiercely blunt! Says "fuck you!" with a smile and a wave! Main protagonist is a hilariously heinous bitch you'll probably hate!
Mischievously clever! The laughs sneak up on you and bash out your brains, just like a violent burglar! Invest in some seltzer water! It's best for removing blood stains!
Seductively cinematic! Almost--but not quite--as good as watching actual porn!
Daring, adventurously sexy fun! This book is about fuck-all but it's got lots of swearwords and makes oblique references to sex! The scandal!
Dark, edgy, romantic...psychologically intense! Fucks with your head like an abusive boyfriend, which is most likely what this book is about!
Adverb adjective! Adjective adjective! Ellipses! Adjective! EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! PUDDING!!!!!!!
This concludes our lesson for Advanced Literary Criticism 101.
The Cost of Free: A Few Notes on Cheap/Free Online Publications
One of my friends recently directed me to an author rant bemoaning the devastating effect free books had on her own profit margins and claiming that they were hurting her business. Really? I'm not going to name names because gossip is not very polite. (Google is more into that sort of thing than I am.) Chronic foot-in-mouth-disease is not the topic of the day, however. No. Today, I'm going to talk about why cheap and free is actually a very good thing--particularly in the here and now, in the age of social networking.
I feel quite strongly about this because I started out on fictionpress.com, where I posted for several years. I wrote for free, because it was a free site, and really, it's a good thing I did because looking back on what I wrote as a teenager I think I would feel really guilty if people actually paid money for what I wrote. It wasn't bad, mind, but it was clearly written by a teenager.
And you know what? I didn't care I wasn't making money. Granted, I was in high school at the time so making my own livelihood wasn't an issue. But the thrill of knowing that people were actually reading my--yes, MY--books was infinitely more valuable. Even better was the fact that, because my stuff was free, people were more willing to branch out and try my atypical plots. And some of them liked it! And became fans! And gave me really good writing advice!
For free!
I ended up leaving the site because of the massive plagiarism attacks. People seem to be under the impression that if you post your work for free you must not care about it, and that it's fair game. I blame this attitude on people who tote the idea that the only good books you can find out there are the ones that cost money. I can think of about ten books offhand written by indie authors that are currently available for $3 or less (some are even free) on kindle that are 10x better than that erotica novel that shall not be named, but rhymes with thrifty even though the price of it now is anything but. And that book initially started off free, too.
Free books are good because they make more people read your books. Yes, it's nice to get money for your writing, but I think what a lot of people fail to take into account is the fact that retail-priced books are expensive, and with the economy being as crap as it is, a lot of people don't have the money to spend on them. But cheap books, and free books? You're making your stuff accessible to more people, and therefore opening the gates to more reviews and publicity. I think people underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. That's how Twilight and certain other over-hyped books became so famous. And that's also how so many writers ended up on thousands of blacklists within the last two years. Word spreads fast.
Now that I do hope to make a career out of writing, my books are no longer free (although I am more than willing to post the odd teaser for occasional promotions--wink wink). But that doesn't mean that I'm against the idea of free books, or that I'm going to charge $7.99 for an ebook that hasn't had any professional editing (seriously, who does that?), or that I'm going to be screaming mad if a group of friends pools their money to buy ONE copy of my book so they can all take turns reading it. In fact, I'm down with that idea. Yay for people reading my books! The more the merrier--especially if they all write reviews, or come find me on GR, or tell their friends about my books.
People love free stuff. That's not going to change. Ever. It makes us super happy, and that means people are going to be in a better frame of mind to read your book. I'm certainly more judgmental about books I've paid good money for than books I've gotten for a buck, or for free. That's why I enabled lending for the kindle editions of my books, and signed up for the package where plus users can check out my book for free as part of their one-free-book/month perk. No, you can't get rich off free, but you can get famous off free.
Plus, starting out free really makes you take into consideration what makes a writer worthy of spent money. A lot of my old fans purchased my books, and in anticipation of this I spent a lot of time revising and making my books new, because I didn't want readers to feel like they were paying money to read the exact same story they already read for free. I added new scenes, tweaked character development, made back stories more complicated, and really upped the amp in terms of quality. My books are still a long ways from perfect, but I think they are worth the $2-3 dollars I've set them as. More importantly, my readers seem to think so, too.
I finally feel like I'm on my way to fulfilling my dream of being a published writer--and it's all thanks to free.
I feel quite strongly about this because I started out on fictionpress.com, where I posted for several years. I wrote for free, because it was a free site, and really, it's a good thing I did because looking back on what I wrote as a teenager I think I would feel really guilty if people actually paid money for what I wrote. It wasn't bad, mind, but it was clearly written by a teenager.
And you know what? I didn't care I wasn't making money. Granted, I was in high school at the time so making my own livelihood wasn't an issue. But the thrill of knowing that people were actually reading my--yes, MY--books was infinitely more valuable. Even better was the fact that, because my stuff was free, people were more willing to branch out and try my atypical plots. And some of them liked it! And became fans! And gave me really good writing advice!
For free!
I ended up leaving the site because of the massive plagiarism attacks. People seem to be under the impression that if you post your work for free you must not care about it, and that it's fair game. I blame this attitude on people who tote the idea that the only good books you can find out there are the ones that cost money. I can think of about ten books offhand written by indie authors that are currently available for $3 or less (some are even free) on kindle that are 10x better than that erotica novel that shall not be named, but rhymes with thrifty even though the price of it now is anything but. And that book initially started off free, too.
Free books are good because they make more people read your books. Yes, it's nice to get money for your writing, but I think what a lot of people fail to take into account is the fact that retail-priced books are expensive, and with the economy being as crap as it is, a lot of people don't have the money to spend on them. But cheap books, and free books? You're making your stuff accessible to more people, and therefore opening the gates to more reviews and publicity. I think people underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. That's how Twilight and certain other over-hyped books became so famous. And that's also how so many writers ended up on thousands of blacklists within the last two years. Word spreads fast.
Now that I do hope to make a career out of writing, my books are no longer free (although I am more than willing to post the odd teaser for occasional promotions--wink wink). But that doesn't mean that I'm against the idea of free books, or that I'm going to charge $7.99 for an ebook that hasn't had any professional editing (seriously, who does that?), or that I'm going to be screaming mad if a group of friends pools their money to buy ONE copy of my book so they can all take turns reading it. In fact, I'm down with that idea. Yay for people reading my books! The more the merrier--especially if they all write reviews, or come find me on GR, or tell their friends about my books.
People love free stuff. That's not going to change. Ever. It makes us super happy, and that means people are going to be in a better frame of mind to read your book. I'm certainly more judgmental about books I've paid good money for than books I've gotten for a buck, or for free. That's why I enabled lending for the kindle editions of my books, and signed up for the package where plus users can check out my book for free as part of their one-free-book/month perk. No, you can't get rich off free, but you can get famous off free.
Plus, starting out free really makes you take into consideration what makes a writer worthy of spent money. A lot of my old fans purchased my books, and in anticipation of this I spent a lot of time revising and making my books new, because I didn't want readers to feel like they were paying money to read the exact same story they already read for free. I added new scenes, tweaked character development, made back stories more complicated, and really upped the amp in terms of quality. My books are still a long ways from perfect, but I think they are worth the $2-3 dollars I've set them as. More importantly, my readers seem to think so, too.
I finally feel like I'm on my way to fulfilling my dream of being a published writer--and it's all thanks to free.
January 16, 2013
Succinct Much?
1. Yourself
Delightfully dull.
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend:
Curiously nonexistent.
3. Your hair?
Bland brown.
4. Your mother:
Pretentious Janeite.
5. Your Father:
Engineer Extraordinaire.
6. Your Favorite Item:
Of what?
7. Your dream last night:
Surreal insanity.
8. Your Favorite drink:
Dr. Pepper.
9. Your Dream Car:
Looks beetley.
10. The Room You Are In:
Involves beds.
11. Your Ex:
Not telling.
12. Your fear?
Everything frightful.
13. Where you want to be in 10 years?
Quietly famous.
14. Who you hung out with last night?
My characters.
15. What You're Not:
You, maybe?
16. Your Best Friend:
Opposites attract!
17. One of Your Wish List Items:
MANY BOOKS.
19. The Last Thing You Did:
TV marathon.
20. What You Are Wearing:
Winter wardrobe.
21. Your Favorite Weather:
Soft rains.
22. Your Favorite Book:
Too many.
23. The Last Thing You ate:
Dark chocolate.
24. Your Life:
Presently going.
25. Your Mood:
Feeling feels.
26. Your body:
That's right.
27. What are you thinking about right now:
Cohesive cognitions.
28. Your Crush:
Sexy scientists.
29. What are you doing at the moment:
Bugger all.
30. Your summer schedule:
Laziness abounds.
Delightfully dull.
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend:
Curiously nonexistent.
3. Your hair?
Bland brown.
4. Your mother:
Pretentious Janeite.
5. Your Father:
Engineer Extraordinaire.
6. Your Favorite Item:
Of what?
7. Your dream last night:
Surreal insanity.
8. Your Favorite drink:
Dr. Pepper.
9. Your Dream Car:
Looks beetley.
10. The Room You Are In:
Involves beds.
11. Your Ex:
Not telling.
12. Your fear?
Everything frightful.
13. Where you want to be in 10 years?
Quietly famous.
14. Who you hung out with last night?
My characters.
15. What You're Not:
You, maybe?
16. Your Best Friend:
Opposites attract!
17. One of Your Wish List Items:
MANY BOOKS.
19. The Last Thing You Did:
TV marathon.
20. What You Are Wearing:
Winter wardrobe.
21. Your Favorite Weather:
Soft rains.
22. Your Favorite Book:
Too many.
23. The Last Thing You ate:
Dark chocolate.
24. Your Life:
Presently going.
25. Your Mood:
Feeling feels.
26. Your body:
That's right.
27. What are you thinking about right now:
Cohesive cognitions.
28. Your Crush:
Sexy scientists.
29. What are you doing at the moment:
Bugger all.
30. Your summer schedule:
Laziness abounds.
January 13, 2013
25 Things Every Indie Author Should Know
1. If you are vending inferior goods, don't be surprised if you don't have any takers. You wouldn't buy moldy food or a shirt that's falling apart, right?
2. Do set your book at a reasonable price. Cheaper is probably better. People are more willing to branch out and experiment if the cost to them is low.
3. Your readers are not walking bags of money. Don't treat them as if they are. They are people with thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and their respect and interest must be won, not wrested.
4. Big egos are lethal. If you are your own worst critic, nothing anyone says will bother you and advice will be easier to stomach if you admit to yourself that you are not perfect.
5. What happens on the internet does not stay on the internet. Anything you say can and will be held against you. Don't be a jerk. Not just because you'll inevitably get caught, but also because it's just not professional.
6. Don't take your readers for granted. Having a steady following doesn't mean people won't notice when you let your writing go.
7. Don't write things you're not comfortable with, even if it's a popular trend. Nothing is more painful to read than an awkwardly written sex scene.
8. Do read over your stories. Spell-check doesn't catch all typos--in fact, sometimes it causes them--and it doesn't do anything for grammar.
9. Do feel free to engage with your readers. If you're enthusiastic and positive, other people will be, too. Readers don't have to stay readers--they can also be friends!
10. Don't attack people for negative reviews. If they were unhappy, it was probably for a reason. Pay attention to their criticism and be honest with yourself: is it warranted? If yes, read over your draft again and see if anything needs fixing. Feel free to ask for elaboration (politely), but don't be pushy. If no, ignore them. Seriously. Some books just aren't for some people.
11. Don't be derivative. No matter how clever you are, people will know when you are copying other works and writers. Dare to be different!
12. Do write flawed and realistic characters. There is a Mary Sue Litmus Test that can tell you how cliche your character is. Take advantage of it.
13. Do be an active user. Presence is great publicity. It lets people get to know you and, subsequently, your books. Plus, you'll meet a lot of interesting people, and it'll make your readers feel like their opinions are actually heard.
14. Don't get involved in internet drama. It's like trying to rollerblade on a mountain of gravel. Not just a bad idea and potentially dangerous, but also a total downhill slope.
15. Do be passionate about your writing.
16. Do participate in ARC giveaways, sales, special events, interviews, conventions, tours, and other promos. It's a great way to build hype around a book and meet new people.
17. Do trim your books. If you find yourself repeating words or overusing adverbs, remove them. Unnecessary passages and excessive descriptions can also go. Remember: if a passage is boring to you, your reader will find it doubly so.
18. Write what you love. Your work will be so much better because of it.
19. Don't preach at your readers. Unless you're writing to a very specific audience, excessive religious, political, ethnic, and/or gender-based undertones should be treated with caution. Be expecting more negative reviews just because of that.
20. Don't rely on tropes, cliches, and stereotypes, unless there's a point (i.e. hipster irony). If you find yourself resorting to stereotypes try to think about the situation in a new way.
21. Do think of your characters as actual people. Understand that their motives and thoughts might differ from yours, and that sometimes they will frustrate you, creep you out, and/or piss you off.
22. Do have a plot. Few people can do a successful character-driven story. Plus, your plot is a handy guideline to keep you and your story on track.
23. Preview your formatting, especially when converting files to different formats. Sometimes automatic settings don't transfer, and everything gets screwed up.
24. Make reading as easy and effortless as possible. Don't use tiny, hard-to-read font. Do be concise. Don't use words just because they look fancy, especially if you're not 100% sure what they mean. Don't rely on thesauruses; sometimes the words they supply are only related to, or approximations of, the words listed. Do use spacing correctly. Do vary the length of your sentences to keep the flow of the narrative. Don't have large, blocky paragraphs of text.
25. Don't be afraid to research! With the internet, fact-checking is easier than ever before. You might be surprised by what you learn.
And most importantly--be professional. If you want to write for a career, think of your readers as your bosses. Even if you don't agree with your boss, you wouldn't insult him or stalk him and his friends, right? Nope! Not if you want him to keep giving you your paycheck.
Happy writing!
xNenia
2. Do set your book at a reasonable price. Cheaper is probably better. People are more willing to branch out and experiment if the cost to them is low.
3. Your readers are not walking bags of money. Don't treat them as if they are. They are people with thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and their respect and interest must be won, not wrested.
4. Big egos are lethal. If you are your own worst critic, nothing anyone says will bother you and advice will be easier to stomach if you admit to yourself that you are not perfect.
5. What happens on the internet does not stay on the internet. Anything you say can and will be held against you. Don't be a jerk. Not just because you'll inevitably get caught, but also because it's just not professional.
6. Don't take your readers for granted. Having a steady following doesn't mean people won't notice when you let your writing go.
7. Don't write things you're not comfortable with, even if it's a popular trend. Nothing is more painful to read than an awkwardly written sex scene.
8. Do read over your stories. Spell-check doesn't catch all typos--in fact, sometimes it causes them--and it doesn't do anything for grammar.
9. Do feel free to engage with your readers. If you're enthusiastic and positive, other people will be, too. Readers don't have to stay readers--they can also be friends!
10. Don't attack people for negative reviews. If they were unhappy, it was probably for a reason. Pay attention to their criticism and be honest with yourself: is it warranted? If yes, read over your draft again and see if anything needs fixing. Feel free to ask for elaboration (politely), but don't be pushy. If no, ignore them. Seriously. Some books just aren't for some people.
11. Don't be derivative. No matter how clever you are, people will know when you are copying other works and writers. Dare to be different!
12. Do write flawed and realistic characters. There is a Mary Sue Litmus Test that can tell you how cliche your character is. Take advantage of it.
13. Do be an active user. Presence is great publicity. It lets people get to know you and, subsequently, your books. Plus, you'll meet a lot of interesting people, and it'll make your readers feel like their opinions are actually heard.
14. Don't get involved in internet drama. It's like trying to rollerblade on a mountain of gravel. Not just a bad idea and potentially dangerous, but also a total downhill slope.
15. Do be passionate about your writing.
16. Do participate in ARC giveaways, sales, special events, interviews, conventions, tours, and other promos. It's a great way to build hype around a book and meet new people.
17. Do trim your books. If you find yourself repeating words or overusing adverbs, remove them. Unnecessary passages and excessive descriptions can also go. Remember: if a passage is boring to you, your reader will find it doubly so.
18. Write what you love. Your work will be so much better because of it.
19. Don't preach at your readers. Unless you're writing to a very specific audience, excessive religious, political, ethnic, and/or gender-based undertones should be treated with caution. Be expecting more negative reviews just because of that.
20. Don't rely on tropes, cliches, and stereotypes, unless there's a point (i.e. hipster irony). If you find yourself resorting to stereotypes try to think about the situation in a new way.
21. Do think of your characters as actual people. Understand that their motives and thoughts might differ from yours, and that sometimes they will frustrate you, creep you out, and/or piss you off.
22. Do have a plot. Few people can do a successful character-driven story. Plus, your plot is a handy guideline to keep you and your story on track.
23. Preview your formatting, especially when converting files to different formats. Sometimes automatic settings don't transfer, and everything gets screwed up.
24. Make reading as easy and effortless as possible. Don't use tiny, hard-to-read font. Do be concise. Don't use words just because they look fancy, especially if you're not 100% sure what they mean. Don't rely on thesauruses; sometimes the words they supply are only related to, or approximations of, the words listed. Do use spacing correctly. Do vary the length of your sentences to keep the flow of the narrative. Don't have large, blocky paragraphs of text.
25. Don't be afraid to research! With the internet, fact-checking is easier than ever before. You might be surprised by what you learn.
And most importantly--be professional. If you want to write for a career, think of your readers as your bosses. Even if you don't agree with your boss, you wouldn't insult him or stalk him and his friends, right? Nope! Not if you want him to keep giving you your paycheck.
Happy writing!
xNenia
January 12, 2013
What I'm Reading
Ever since I started going to town on my own writing, I've kind of been slacking on my reading. Unfortunately.
So to help get myself pumped I took some fun snapshots of this (extremely small and unrepresentative) segment of the perilously high Mount Bookmore off in the corner of Messyroomlandia.
Also, some book swag I got along with my ARC of Child of Vengeance. I didn't like the book, unfortunately, but I looooooved the pin!!!
Oh, hey, look--it's my hand.
So to help get myself pumped I took some fun snapshots of this (extremely small and unrepresentative) segment of the perilously high Mount Bookmore off in the corner of Messyroomlandia.
Also, some book swag I got along with my ARC of Child of Vengeance. I didn't like the book, unfortunately, but I looooooved the pin!!!
Oh, hey, look--it's my hand.
January 10, 2013
Notes on the Genre by a Female Sci-Fi Fan
I used to hate science-fiction because the only examples I'd ever read were the horrible dystopian novels that I'd been assigned as required reading in school (1984, Cat's Cradle, Brave New World, etc.). I thought the entire genre consisted of those, and of the horrendously bad space-opera that people portray nerds reading--the kind like the Barsoom series, except with skimpier outfits and trashier writing.
It wasn't until my freshman year of college that I really got into the science-fiction and fantasy genres. I made a point to read pretty much everything I could get my hands on, and because of this, I was soon able to tell the "good" from the "bad" (at least where my own opinion is concerned).
A lot of people are confused by the distinction between science-fiction and fantasy, and tend to lump them together in one solid group (i.e. scifi-fantasy). Even though Robert Heinlein's writing unfailingly ends up pissing me off with its hackneyed prose and sexist themes, he summed up the difference between these two genres the best with his quote: One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. Basically, if the technology in question could be designed by an advanced race with the necessary skills, even if said race lives on another dimension/planet, the genre is probably science-fiction, which is why my own shelf for this genre, which mockingly thumbs its nose at Field of Dreams, is called "if-we-build-it-they-will-come."
SPACE OPERA
Space Opera is pretty much my favorite subgenre of science-fiction. The bad ones are laughably bad, but the good ones are completely amazeballs and can lead to better world-building than even the best fantasy. I grew up with the Animorphs series, which is a kid-friendly sci-fi about evil aliens that take over the brains of their hosts, and the teens who try to stop them. Sound familiar? I'm pretty sure Stephenie Meyer was an Animorphs fan, because her Souls are a lot like K.A. Applegate's Yeerks.
Space Opera takes place in space. Duh. There are space-ships, aliens, interstellar traveling, and it's basically a laser-light show x 10000000. Sometimes these various races are at war with one another, and sometimes the writers take a more anthropological approach, where visiting races learn compelling facts about the native inhabitants of the planet(s) in question.
Nenia's Favorite Space-Opera:
(o) Grass by Sheri S. Tepper
(o) The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
(o) Stardoc by S.L. Viehl
(o) Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
(o) Ilium by Dan Simmons
(o) Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
DYSTOPIAN
I call this shelf 'help-help-i'm-being-repressed.' A dystopian society is the opposite of a utopia. Sometimes, it is even a utopia gone wrong (most famously, The Hunger Games, where the Games are meant to deter violence and revolution, and end up causing it in spades). Sometimes the dystopia is a society run by a tyrannical and oppressive government. Sometimes it is an anarchic free-for-all, frequently in the wake of an apocalypse, with nut-jobs running around and killing whomever they please. And sometimes, there is a single oppressed group, such as clones, or robots, or altered races. And sometimes, most terrifyingly, we become our own prisoners through excessive fucking around with science, or too heavy a reliance on technology.
However, a dystopian society does not even necessitate the presence of advanced science. Sometimes just putting a bunch of dysfunctional people together and then doing the literary equivalent of shaking up a bunch of beetles in a bottle to see if they'll fight is enough. Lord of the Flies, High Rise, and Battle Royale all fall into this category of dystopian novels, which I call "survivalist" fiction.
Nenia's Favorite Dystopians:
(o) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
(o) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
(o) Under the Dome by Stephen King
(o) The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
(o) Wither by Lauren DeStefano
(o) Scored by Lauren McLaughlin
POST-APOCALYPTIC
Alternatively known as, "Ahhhhh, we're all going to die!" This genre can also be tagged as pre-apocalytpic and apocalyptic, but no matter what you call it, all books in this subgenre pretty much boil down to the same thing, which is ultimately the end of the world as we know it.
You might think that there are only so many ways that one could destroy the world, but you would be wrong. The possibilities are endless! Plagues, robots, aliens, zombies, technology, genetic-manipulation, dinosaurs--these are just some of the tools writers have used in this genre in the past.*
*It's important to note that while dystopians and post-apocalytpics are often used in tandem, they are not the same thing at all, and caution should be exercised when classifying science-fiction novels with these terms if you are not personally familiar with them.
Nenia's Favorite Post-Apocalyptic:
(o) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
(o) The Stand by Stephen King
(o) Cell by Stephen King
(o) Blindness by Jose Saramago
(o) The Dawning by Hugh B. Cave
CYBERPUNK
Cyberpunk novels frequently take place in the distant future and virtual-reality and/or video-games and/or the internet are all frequent and heavily used motifs in this subgenre.
After space-opera, this subgenre of science-fiction is probably my favorite. What can I say? I'm a recovering video-game addict living out my fantasies vicariously through the mode of reading.
Nenia's Favorite Cyberpunk:
(o) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
(o) Heroes Die by Matthew Stover
(o) Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane
STEAMPUNK
Steampunk is the opposite of cyberpunk: it features comparatively primitive technology powered by steam or gears or ether, generally featuring nineteenth-century/early twentieth-century-era technology and terminology. This typically features a fun fusion of historical-fiction and science, though it can also take a more fantastical approach, like Soulless by Gail Carriger.
Nenia's Favorite Steampunk:
(o) The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
(o) His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
(o) A Matter of Circumstances and Celludrones by Claire Robyns
(o) anything by Ekaterina Sedia
NEAR FUTURE
Near future is exactly what it sounds like. It is a science-fiction novel that takes place in a foreseeable future, and builds off of the technology that we already have available. This makes it all the more realistic and frightening, IMHO.
Nenia's Favorite Near Future:
(o) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
(o) Contact by Carl Sagan
(o) Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
(o) Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
TIME-TRAVEL
This is basically a pretext for a modern-day character to go back in the past (or into the future) and still have a narrative that is accessible to us humble twentieth and twenty-first centurions. I'm going to assume that you all know what time-travel is (trust me, I'm the Doctor), and it's such a fusion of other genres (fantasy, science-fiction, cyberpunk, dystopian, historical-fiction) that I'm not going to bother to go into it in much detail.
However, one of the best time-traveling novels I have ever read is by my favorite author, Sheri S. Tepper, and is called Beauty. It literally contains elements of everything I just described, and is such an aching portrayal of the trade-off between magic and mystery, and science and knowledge.
PRECURSORS AND EARLY SCIENCE-FICTION
Before science-fiction was really established as a genre, there were still some books that fell under this umbrella and are now considered the pioneers to shaping the genre. They tend to be more speculative than scientific, and harbor many elements of fantasy, as well.
Nenia's Favorite Precursors:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
And while I'm not personally a fan, Flatland and anything by Jules Verne also fall under this category.
Hope you enjoyed! Live long, and prosper! ♥
It wasn't until my freshman year of college that I really got into the science-fiction and fantasy genres. I made a point to read pretty much everything I could get my hands on, and because of this, I was soon able to tell the "good" from the "bad" (at least where my own opinion is concerned).
A lot of people are confused by the distinction between science-fiction and fantasy, and tend to lump them together in one solid group (i.e. scifi-fantasy). Even though Robert Heinlein's writing unfailingly ends up pissing me off with its hackneyed prose and sexist themes, he summed up the difference between these two genres the best with his quote: One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. Basically, if the technology in question could be designed by an advanced race with the necessary skills, even if said race lives on another dimension/planet, the genre is probably science-fiction, which is why my own shelf for this genre, which mockingly thumbs its nose at Field of Dreams, is called "if-we-build-it-they-will-come."
SPACE OPERA
Space Opera is pretty much my favorite subgenre of science-fiction. The bad ones are laughably bad, but the good ones are completely amazeballs and can lead to better world-building than even the best fantasy. I grew up with the Animorphs series, which is a kid-friendly sci-fi about evil aliens that take over the brains of their hosts, and the teens who try to stop them. Sound familiar? I'm pretty sure Stephenie Meyer was an Animorphs fan, because her Souls are a lot like K.A. Applegate's Yeerks.
Space Opera takes place in space. Duh. There are space-ships, aliens, interstellar traveling, and it's basically a laser-light show x 10000000. Sometimes these various races are at war with one another, and sometimes the writers take a more anthropological approach, where visiting races learn compelling facts about the native inhabitants of the planet(s) in question.
Nenia's Favorite Space-Opera:
(o) Grass by Sheri S. Tepper
(o) The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
(o) Stardoc by S.L. Viehl
(o) Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
(o) Ilium by Dan Simmons
(o) Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
DYSTOPIAN
I call this shelf 'help-help-i'm-being-repressed.' A dystopian society is the opposite of a utopia. Sometimes, it is even a utopia gone wrong (most famously, The Hunger Games, where the Games are meant to deter violence and revolution, and end up causing it in spades). Sometimes the dystopia is a society run by a tyrannical and oppressive government. Sometimes it is an anarchic free-for-all, frequently in the wake of an apocalypse, with nut-jobs running around and killing whomever they please. And sometimes, there is a single oppressed group, such as clones, or robots, or altered races. And sometimes, most terrifyingly, we become our own prisoners through excessive fucking around with science, or too heavy a reliance on technology.
However, a dystopian society does not even necessitate the presence of advanced science. Sometimes just putting a bunch of dysfunctional people together and then doing the literary equivalent of shaking up a bunch of beetles in a bottle to see if they'll fight is enough. Lord of the Flies, High Rise, and Battle Royale all fall into this category of dystopian novels, which I call "survivalist" fiction.
Nenia's Favorite Dystopians:
(o) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
(o) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
(o) Under the Dome by Stephen King
(o) The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
(o) Wither by Lauren DeStefano
(o) Scored by Lauren McLaughlin
POST-APOCALYPTIC
Alternatively known as, "Ahhhhh, we're all going to die!" This genre can also be tagged as pre-apocalytpic and apocalyptic, but no matter what you call it, all books in this subgenre pretty much boil down to the same thing, which is ultimately the end of the world as we know it.
You might think that there are only so many ways that one could destroy the world, but you would be wrong. The possibilities are endless! Plagues, robots, aliens, zombies, technology, genetic-manipulation, dinosaurs--these are just some of the tools writers have used in this genre in the past.*
*It's important to note that while dystopians and post-apocalytpics are often used in tandem, they are not the same thing at all, and caution should be exercised when classifying science-fiction novels with these terms if you are not personally familiar with them.
Nenia's Favorite Post-Apocalyptic:
(o) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
(o) The Stand by Stephen King
(o) Cell by Stephen King
(o) Blindness by Jose Saramago
(o) The Dawning by Hugh B. Cave
CYBERPUNK
Cyberpunk novels frequently take place in the distant future and virtual-reality and/or video-games and/or the internet are all frequent and heavily used motifs in this subgenre.
After space-opera, this subgenre of science-fiction is probably my favorite. What can I say? I'm a recovering video-game addict living out my fantasies vicariously through the mode of reading.
Nenia's Favorite Cyberpunk:
(o) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
(o) Heroes Die by Matthew Stover
(o) Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane
STEAMPUNK
Steampunk is the opposite of cyberpunk: it features comparatively primitive technology powered by steam or gears or ether, generally featuring nineteenth-century/early twentieth-century-era technology and terminology. This typically features a fun fusion of historical-fiction and science, though it can also take a more fantastical approach, like Soulless by Gail Carriger.
Nenia's Favorite Steampunk:
(o) The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
(o) His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
(o) A Matter of Circumstances and Celludrones by Claire Robyns
(o) anything by Ekaterina Sedia
NEAR FUTURE
Near future is exactly what it sounds like. It is a science-fiction novel that takes place in a foreseeable future, and builds off of the technology that we already have available. This makes it all the more realistic and frightening, IMHO.
Nenia's Favorite Near Future:
(o) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
(o) Contact by Carl Sagan
(o) Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
(o) Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
TIME-TRAVEL
This is basically a pretext for a modern-day character to go back in the past (or into the future) and still have a narrative that is accessible to us humble twentieth and twenty-first centurions. I'm going to assume that you all know what time-travel is (trust me, I'm the Doctor), and it's such a fusion of other genres (fantasy, science-fiction, cyberpunk, dystopian, historical-fiction) that I'm not going to bother to go into it in much detail.
However, one of the best time-traveling novels I have ever read is by my favorite author, Sheri S. Tepper, and is called Beauty. It literally contains elements of everything I just described, and is such an aching portrayal of the trade-off between magic and mystery, and science and knowledge.
PRECURSORS AND EARLY SCIENCE-FICTION
Before science-fiction was really established as a genre, there were still some books that fell under this umbrella and are now considered the pioneers to shaping the genre. They tend to be more speculative than scientific, and harbor many elements of fantasy, as well.
Nenia's Favorite Precursors:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
And while I'm not personally a fan, Flatland and anything by Jules Verne also fall under this category.
Hope you enjoyed! Live long, and prosper! ♥
January 8, 2013
Interview with Angela Horn
In case you somehow missed my flailing a few days earlier, here's a link to my being interviewed by the lovely Angela Horn on her blog.
She's a reallllly nice person, and an author and reviewer as well, and I was super surprised and flattered when she asked me if I wanted to be interviewed.
Plus, she had some really cool questions, too. Check it out! :)
She's a reallllly nice person, and an author and reviewer as well, and I was super surprised and flattered when she asked me if I wanted to be interviewed.
Plus, she had some really cool questions, too. Check it out! :)
January 4, 2013
Promotions Dressed to the Nines--an Idea
I've been thinking about future promotions for my books while trucking away on Armed and Dangerous, and just thought of an idea.
My books have now been added by the better half of 1,000 people! (Which I am IMMENSELY grateful for!) And I was like, gosh, can you imagine if little old me got added a thousand times? Even nine-hundred and ninety-nine times?
And that cinched it. I had my idea!
If my books are added 999 times (this includes the to-read shelf in addition to currently-reading and read), I will set ALL MY CURRENTLY AVAILABLE WORKS to 99-cents for one whole day. And maybe post a teaser from one of my WIPs of your choice--for free--in this here blog of mine.
I wanted to have something that would benefit everyone in some way, and not preclude people who have already bought my book(s) (which, you know, makes you all the more awesome and lovely and OMG). I think this does the trick nicely, or at least I hope it does!
What do you guys think? Is that a good way to say 'thank you'? :)
My books have now been added by the better half of 1,000 people! (Which I am IMMENSELY grateful for!) And I was like, gosh, can you imagine if little old me got added a thousand times? Even nine-hundred and ninety-nine times?
And that cinched it. I had my idea!
If my books are added 999 times (this includes the to-read shelf in addition to currently-reading and read), I will set ALL MY CURRENTLY AVAILABLE WORKS to 99-cents for one whole day. And maybe post a teaser from one of my WIPs of your choice--for free--in this here blog of mine.
I wanted to have something that would benefit everyone in some way, and not preclude people who have already bought my book(s) (which, you know, makes you all the more awesome and lovely and OMG). I think this does the trick nicely, or at least I hope it does!
What do you guys think? Is that a good way to say 'thank you'? :)
January 3, 2013
Why I Love Writing
Sometimes people ask why I love writing, since it's a hobby that rarely turns into an actual profession, and nothing but a steep, uphill climb.
Well. It's like taking the threads of your thoughts, rearranging them, and weaving them into something new and beautiful; something tangible that's transcended one dimension and taken form in another in a new and interesting form; it's a tapestry of storyboards that others can see and, hopefully, enjoy.
I love writing because, as with a picture, you can say so much with a story without really saying much at all. And that quiet eloquence, and that bonding with the reader, is what keeps me going. It's magic, plain and simple.
♥
Well. It's like taking the threads of your thoughts, rearranging them, and weaving them into something new and beautiful; something tangible that's transcended one dimension and taken form in another in a new and interesting form; it's a tapestry of storyboards that others can see and, hopefully, enjoy.
I love writing because, as with a picture, you can say so much with a story without really saying much at all. And that quiet eloquence, and that bonding with the reader, is what keeps me going. It's magic, plain and simple.
♥
