Sharon Joss's Blog, page 18

Ten Most Memorable Books

Sharon Joss Writes

Here are the rules: list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take more than a few minutes and don’t think too hard–they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.   Reply in the comments, or FB or twitter, so I’ll see your list.

Here’s mine:

 

1. Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling

2. White Fang – Jack London

3. The Black Cauldron – Lloyd Alexander

4. Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury

5. The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley

6. Maia – Richard Adams

7. The Stand – Stephen King

8. Obsidian Butterfly – Laurel K. Hamilton

9. Devil in the White City – Erik Larson

10. Horse Heaven – Jane Smiley

Interesting to go back and look at the list when you’re done.  Fun!

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Cold Shoulders

Sharon Joss Writes

The big chill is on.

For this past week, we’ve been in the throes of a deep freeze here in Oregon. Today is a bit too nippy even to walk  the dogs.  I lived in Rochester, New York for seven years, so I know what I’m talking about. When the outdoor temps drop below about 22 degrees, even a ten-minute walk hurts their toenails and paws.  And right now, the temperature is less than 20 degrees, with blustery winds.  Not sure what that means for the wind chills, but I’m guessing single digits.  Yowza.

But I don’t mind, nasty temperatures outside mean its good writing weather inside.

Speaking of which, I got a form rejection from a publisher yesterday, rejecting a manuscript I’d submitted eighteen months ago.   I couldn’t believe it had taken them that long to reject a 10-page query submission (although I have to give the responder credit for responding at all).

The rejection was for a manuscript called MYTHICA.  I laughed. That same manuscript was released this week as Brothers of the Fang.  It was the most satisfying rejection I have ever received.

So far.

 

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Oh Boy: Brothers of the Fang

Sharon Joss Writes

It’s here!

Like Destiny Blues, Brothers of the Fang is an urban fantasy which takes place in upstate New York, but that is the only similarity between them.

In this one, ex-cop Mike Bane is a shape-shifter with two beasts.  One is a 300-lb black jaguar with a taste for turtle meat, the other is a psychotic Olmec shaman named Tehuantl with a taste for blood.  When the cat is happy, everybody’s happy.  When the cat is unhappy, Tehuantl comes out and people die.

When Mike accepts a job at Mythica, America’s only supernatural amusement park, he discovers an unexpected kinship with the park’s werewolves.  For the first time in his life, he doesn’t feel like a monster.  But when his curiosity gets the best of him, he becomes entangled in a centuries-old feud between Mythica’s owners and the Fae of the neighboring High Tor clan.  Only Tehuantl’s magic can save Mike’s brothers of the fang; in return, Tehuantl wants permanent possession of Mike’s body, mind, and soul.

Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

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Slogging the Blog: YOY Statistics

Sharon Joss Writes

Keeping track of my blog statistics isn’t one of my favorite activities, but I force myself to take a look a few times a year.  And one of my goals every year is to improve my blog statistics (first time and returning visits, unique visits, and pageloads).  I mean, I’d probably write this blog even if nobody came, but it’s fun to see where the traffic comes from (Australia, France, even South America), and although  haven’t yet figured out what to change to bring in more readers, it’s been gratifying to see the year-over-year growth.

This year (in May, to be exact), I switched blog hosting sites (from Blogger to Word Press) and changed my whole writer platform.  The first thing I noticed was that I stopped getting comments; in fact, non in the past several months.  And then I started getting all these followers (hundreds!) from places that made no sense (countries where English is not widely spoken).  I finally figured out they were bot crawlers; non-human applications which sign up to websites and look to get added to your mailbox as a legitimate ‘person’ so they can avoid spam filters and sell your email address.  I never had any problem with those on Blogger, but once I took care of those, my stats fell off to a trickle.  I told myself it didn’t matter, since they weren’t ‘real’ followers anyway.

But when I checked the statistics today, I felt pretty good.

In November of 2012, my Blogger Blog had 411 pageloads, 145 unique visits, and 30 returning visits.
In November of 2013 my Word Press Blog (with only 6 months activity) had 827 pageloads, 188 unique visits, and 130 returning visits.

I don’t know how or why it happened, and I’m finding it pretty hard to believe, but this year is definitely an improvement over the 2012.  Now I know I’m no John Scalzi or Hugh Howey or anybody like that, but thanks for coming. Tell your friends.

We’re open all night.

 

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Volume II: In Search of the Voice

Sharon Joss Writes

No, not the one on television, the one in my current WIP.  After publishing Destiny Blues earlier this year, I’m knee-deep in the second novel in the series, Legacy Soul.  But I wrote two other novels (and several short stories) in the two years since I finished Destiny, and I’ve lived and breathed in the minds of several other characters (not all of them human).  So getting back into the minds and hearts of my Destiny cast of characters is essential for a seamless transition into Legacy.

First and foremost, I immersed myself in the story by rereading Destiny again and going over my notes and the first few chapters I started on LEGACY. But it takes more than a quick re-read to get back into character.

Fortunately, I do something I call a ‘character interview’ with each of my key characters before it start, and whenever I get stuck.  The early interviews use open-ended questions to get at the characters motivations and attitudes. The later interviews focus on the characters’ emotional states and how they’ve changed/what they’ve learned since the beginning.  I found these notes to be unbelievably helpful in reclaiming the voice of the character.  In fact, when I did another round of interviews on my returning characters for Legacy, started to feel as if I was catching up with old friends I hadn’t seen for a long while. And the new characters bring a whole new energy to the cast mix.

Once the voices returned, I was ready to write. I can’t wait to see what happens.

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The Dark World

Sharon Joss Writes

Spoiler alert.  I Saw the new Thor movie this weekend.

I went in with high expectations.  There are a lot of really pretty people in in that film.  The special effects and art direction are very cool.  It’s even got Stan Lee in a cameo role!

But that doesn’t hide that fact that it’s a one-hour movie delivered in a two hour package.  I started checking my watch forty-five minutes in, which was also about the time I started yawning.  It’s the only movie I can remember going to where it seemed like half the audience had to get up in the middle of to go to the bathroom.

Since I’m generally pretty easy to please, I tried to figure out why it was so boring.  I mean, there was a plot, and plenty of explosions and action, but it just didn’t work for me.  The characters never really seemed to connect to each other. During all the biggest action scenes, its was almost as if the cast just stood around and watched the action.

When the Malekith attack, the camera focuses on the big baddie and Thor; while Loki and girlfriend Jane just sit there and watch with ‘concerned’ expressions on their faces.  When the giant space ship of the Dark Elves lands in London, the only people in the entire city seem to be in the library, and they all run to the windows to watch Thor.  No screaming; no awe for a the giant friggin’ spaceship that just landed! And when the giant ship is destroyed, there isn’t a single human being or car in the area.  Almost like it happens in a vacuum.  There’s no tension, and its deadly dull.

There’s a lesson there.  Whether the story is on the page or on the screen, you can’t have the cast standing around watching the action.  Every action must generate responses and reactions in all the affected characters.  If you’re part of an invading alien force, you invade; you don’t stay on board the ship and wait for someone to blow it up.  And if the love of your life is getting his ass whupped, you don’t just stand there; you do something.

At least the popcorn was good.

 

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Writers Weekend

Sharon Joss Writes

Not only did I make it out to Orycon this weekend for the Writer’s Workshop with a couple of terrifically helpful authors David W. Goldman and Kristin Landon, but I also managed to scarf up a few of the latest titles by some of my favorite authors over at the Sci-Fi Author Fest at Powells Books at Cedar Hills Crossing with my fellow aspiring author pal, Liz B.   Thirty Sci-Fi authors all in one place!  The good folks at Powell’s even threw in a free book bag!

Yes, I needed that book bag.  I picked up signed editions of Dean Wesley Smith’s Dead Money, Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Dissappeared, Diana Pharaoh Francis’ Blood Winter, and Honeyed Words by J. A. Pitts, to name a few.  It was neat to see so many authors and realizing that I’d met or knew a third of them.  The Pacific Northwest is just teeming with great writers.

So glad I moved here.

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