Kyell Gold's Blog, page 44

Beta Readers

Kat Howard posted recently about her beta readers, and so I thought I would add my thoughts, as OOP3 is off being beta read right now and I got some of the same questions.

In general, I am right on board with her thoughts: my beta readers are either writers or accomplished readers with whom I’ve had in-depth discussions on writing and story and stuff in the past. Certain writers are better at certain aspects of critique; I have friends who are great with plot, others who are great with voice, others who are quick to point out story problems, and so on.

I also don’t send out to a whole lot of beta readers. From the responses of the handful I have, I get a pretty good idea of what’s working with the story and what isn’t. More people would either reinforce or confuse those results. I don’t think there is an optimal number, other than “as many people as will read your story and will give you useful feedback up to the amount of feedback you can realistically process.” My writing group is five other people; I have a couple other reliable readers outside the group and a handful of writing friends who are intermittently available. Among that group, all of whom I have either known and shared writing with for years or spent a grueling writing workshop with, I can usually find enough people available to give me a good, useful amount of feedback.

So thank you for your offer to be beta readers. It’s a heavy responsibility and a fair amount of work, and if you can do it for your friends, I’m sure they will be eternally grateful.

Doghouse of Justice e-book update

You will have noticed that despite being advertised as coming out October 1, there is still no e-book of Doghouse of Justice. This is entirely my fault, but I hope to remedy it in the next week before leaving for OklaCon. The illustrations are rather complicated to include, and it won’t be as pretty as the book, but I’ll manage.

Also I am going to put together a PDF, I think, of the original versions of Don’t Blink, Third Date, and Modern History, which have more explicit content than the versions in the released book (and which are all available in that format on FA for free) and will post it to FA or something for people who want those stories on their e-reader as well.

Anyway! Working on it, up soon.

In related e-book news, foozzzball made a comment that dug deep into my data-loving spirit and made me start to compile numbers on e-book sales, at least from Amazon. Good news! The numbers overall are going up! (At least for totals. The numbers on individual books stay very amazingly static.) OOP has been my best-selling e-book by far, with about 850 sold. Volle, which has been up the longest, is second with about 550.

So thank you all for buying! I am trying to get some more books up there, although of course you will likely have to wait a while for the third Dev and Lee book to make it to electronic form…but hopefully not a year.

Gaylaxicon Day Three

In which our fox awakes late, speaks on a number of different panels about fandoms, diversity, and werewolves, regretfully attends a Closing Ceremony, and reflects on future conventions.

After crawling out of bed around ten, running down to the breakfast buffet at ten-thirty, and finishing up in time for my eleven o’clock panel, I was ready to spend a day Talking About Stuff.

The first panel was “Writing Across Fandoms,” with Lyda, Naomi, Eleanor Arnason, and Haddayr Copley-Woods. Lyda, Naomi, and Eleanor are in a Minnesota writing group together that sounds pretty awesome, and the experience of all four was with selling stories to pro markets, publishing novels with large houses, and so on. Eleanor (author of “Ring of Swords,” a terrific book), talked about all the furry things she’d written before knowing there was such a thing as the furry fandom; Naomi talked about her Ursa Major story. Lyda has written romance under another name, as well as science fiction and fantasy, sometimes combined. Haddayr has written a lot of genre-inspecific books too. And my experience was with starting to write for a more mainstream SF audience, as well as having my books cross over to gay romance.

We talked about why we write things that don’t fall neatly into one category or another, and I think the conclusion was that they were stories we wanted to see, and that we viewed them as challenges. We all seemed to have a little contrarian streak that made us want to write things people generally said were impossible. And we talked about how to address other fandoms we stumbled into—with respect. If you stumble in unintentionally then there’s not a lot you can do about it, but if you’re trying to push into a new fandom, it behooves you to read a bit of it first so you don’t repeat what’s been done. A lot of the panel ended up being “how I accidentally wrote a furry story,” but we allowed as how furry is one of the easiest fandoms to accidentally write into because everyone knows animals and, sooner or later, probably writes about them.

My second panel was on “Diversity in SF,” with John Ricker and Erika Hammerschmidt. I’d had lunch with John the day before and had corresponded with Erika about the panel, and I think overall it went well. They are both self-identified high-functioning autistic people, and talked about bringing that kind of awareness to their stories. I talked about gay characters and how cultural background is different when including furries. We had a lively audience discussion that brought us around to how important it was for minority people to see heroes in their literature who are like them.

I signed some books and then at 3:30 went to talk about “Werewolves and Sexual Identity” with Catherine Lundoff, whom I’d also met at WorldCon and had been sort of corresponding with since we released similarly titled and themed werewolf books within two weeks of each other in April.

Catherine’s book, “Silver Moon,” is about a middle-aged divorcee going through menopause and becoming a werewolf as she discovers a pack of similar werewolves in her town. My book, “Silver Circle,” is about a middle-aged divorcee discovering a werewolf pack while on a vacation and falling in love with a young, dangerous werewolf (yes, it’s a straight romance).

We had a really good discussion of why werewolves have become a symbol of freedom, why they relate well to the queer community, and why we both picked middle-aged female protagonists while most often, werewolves and stories of changing who you are happen to adolescents.

Finally we found ourselves at Closing Ceremonies, all too soon. Gaylaxicon, in case you don’t know, rotates like WorldCon between different cities and staffs, and the North Country Gaylaxians have been planning this convention for about three years—since soon after the last one. They did a great job with it; there were about 300 people there and I think everyone had a good time.

The next Gaylaxicon is in Atlanta in May. I don’t think I’ll be able to make that one, but if it comes back to Minnesota, or if some enterprising folks would like to bring it to the West Coast, Kit and I will most definitely be back.

Midnight Slash

In which our fox reflects on the path that led him to this place, is amused at someone else’s discomfiture, experiences the same discomfiture himself, battles his six-year-ago self, and ultimately emerges, if not triumphant, at least alive.

Lyda Morehouse was one of the other GOHs and is a really fun person. We met her at WorldCon when we went to one of her readings (an in-progress superhero book which is so entertaining that everyone I tell about it immediately wants to buy it) and then talked with her and Naomi Kritzer, another engaging writer (she has a story in FurPlanet’s Ursa Major Award collection, a story that she didn’t find out had been nominated for an award until they asked her for permission to reprint it in the collection) for like two hours even though it was already past eleven.

In the course of that conversation, Lyda talked about writing slash fanfiction. She had once done a reading where she had to point to people in the audience to say certain words for her because she was too embarrassed to say them herself, which we thought was adorable and awesome. The conversation came around to her saying, “What I would love to do is a midnight reading of slash at Gaylaxicon.” I said (without thinking) that I would happily do that with her, and she said, “All right, done!” So we set it up and were both kind of happily looking forward to it as a fun thing we’d do, and we’d laugh about it, you know.

Only I had started thinking after I agreed to do it that I don’t really write that much fan fiction, and what did I have that really qualified as slash? There was only one story, or set of stories, and those were the six-year-old Loonatics Unleashed fan fiction stories I wrote (you can find them over on SoFurry if you really want but I am not going to link them ). The first one is just a “what if these characters hooked up” story; the third one got very plot-heavy because I was so frustrated that the writers of the show were not putting these characters in more interesting situations. But the second story was about 4,500 words, had good character moments as well as sex, and seemed just right.

Meanwhile, Lyda was getting more nervous. She asked me if she should read something more erotic or less erotic, and I said my story was pretty detailed erotica, and she ended up bringing both of hers. She writes fan fiction for Bleach, shipping Renji and Byakuya (Google says those are the correct names), and she said one of her stories was more funny and the other was more sweet. So once it was midnight and we got to the panel and started, you know, doing this thing, we decided that since she had two and I had one—my wordcount was a little shorter than her two combined—she would start, then I would read mine, then she would read her second one.

And then she stared at the paper and kept saying, “I can’t believe I agreed to do this. Whose idea was this?” I tried to encourage her (perhaps a little too much) and eventually she got up the nerve to go ahead and start. And it was a very sweet story, and it was erotic but not at all explicit.

So when she was done, I said, “I hope that was your less erotic one,” and she said, “Um, no.” And I thought about my story, which has two pretty detailed blowjobs in it, but you know, I was up there on stage already and there were a good thirty people in the panel (it was the best-attended panel I think either of us had the whole con). So I went into my spiel, where I had to introduce not only the concept of the Loonatics show and the characters of Tech and Rev (I printed out pictures), but also for the non-furries had to explain what a “sheath” is (and why a bunch of us had giggled at Lyda’s reading when Renji, in taking off his sword, had “held on to the sheath a little longer than necessary”). There were no knots in the story, but of course that came up as well.

And then I found myself just as embarrassed as Lyda had been, because here I am reading this story from a terrible show about a bunch of characters close enough to the familiar Looney Tunes that people have context for them. And as with Lyda, I think the embarrassment comes from the use of the characters. Of course, in my case, I also had to read lines like “found the roadrunner’s hardness” and so, yeah.

The saving grace of that story is that it is funny. I mean, as the author, I meant it to be funny, and the people laughed at all the right times. Also at some of the times that are funny just because sex is funny. And by the time the sweet ending happened, I got a big “Aww,” from people, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

The most amusing part was that after about a page, Lyda started reading over my shoulder, and would often react to things I was about to read, and several times the audience laughed at that. I did not get to see most of her reactions because I knew if I looked, I would just start laughing myself. Fortunately (maybe), Kit was recording the whole thing, and he has promised to post it online somewhere.

Then Lyda read her second story, which was indeed funny, and also sweet, and also not explicit at all. She mumbled something about the explicit parts being online if people wanted to look for them. But Julia Rios, of the Outer Alliance (sitting in the front row and smiling up at us the whole time) said that the sequence actually worked well, because Lyda’s first story was really a lot of foreplay, and then mine was sex, and then her second one was post-sex relationship issues.

After that we hung around on the panel and gave away her printouts of her stories and the three pictures I’d brought to people who told us their favorite/weirdest slash pairings. The first winner was an “Atlas Shrugged” pairing; someone else said “Swamp Thing/Silver Surfer”; one of the furries in attendance said “Scar and Beast,” which led to a little discussion about Disney slash, Mickey Mouse bondage, and Harlan Ellison. And overall it was a lot of fun, and I’m glad to have done it. It seemed like everyone had a good time.

Then it was about two in the morning and we had to go to bed, so naturally we stayed up chatting with Lyda and Julia for another hour.

(I’d met Julia in Boston this spring, and then completely missed her at WorldCon. But she was at the Thursday dinner and we had a very enjoyable extended talk on Friday, with lunch. She is very active in the writing community and knows a lot about everything and everyone.)

Gaylaxicon Day Two

In which our fox is interviewed, discusses weighty sociological matters, attends an awards presentation, enjoys a cabaret, does not peel a sticker off of a half-naked young man, and prepares to humiliate himself in front of loving friends and strangers.

Today started with a spotlight interview I shared with Sofawolf Press‘s Jeff Eddy. The moderator, Donovan, had some great questions prepared; the only one that stumped both of us was “what are you sick of hearing?” Because, you know, even the questions I get over and over again (no, I am not planning a “Waterways” sequel) come from a love of my work and a desire to see more of it, and I would much rather hear those questions than nothing.

At 2, I sat on a panel about Homosexuality and Furries with Procyon, whose Powerpoint show talked us through the early stages of furry fandom, which coincided with the emergence of gay culture into mainstream life, and how the two got together with that oh-so-experienced matchmaker, The Internet. He had some takes I hadn’t heard before, and I was able to point him to some [adjective][species] info that he wasn’t aware of. Neat panel.

At 3 there was a chocolate tasting in the con suite that Kit and I dashed in for before running out to lunch. And then at 5 I attended the Spectrum Awards Best Novel announcement.

Isolation Play had been submitted and read, but I didn’t expect it to receive a mention, because really, it’s not Fantasy nor Science Fiction. The people on the panel, three of the four judges of the award, talked about how this year there had been books that sparked discussions of what was really “genre,” and then announced the shortlist. And IP was not mentioned. And then the winner was…a book called “Honeyed Words,” by J.A. Pitts, which actually sounds pretty awesome.

But in the after-discussion, someone asked whether the books skewed more heavily toward fantasy or science fiction, and the judges talked about genre in general. It varies from year to year, they said, and then said “We got our first furry book this year, and we want to see more!”

In fact, they said, the furry book was the one that had sparked a week-long discussion over what belonged in genre. The book, you will have already guessed, was Isolation Play, which they revealed when someone asked and added, “Written by our guest of honor.”

Ultimately, they said, they concluded that IP was not genre (which I agree with). “But it’s a fabulous book,” one of the judges said, and another said, “We loved it, and everyone should read it.”

So hey, you know, it’s nothing I can put by the title or in my publication credits, but a personal shout out by the judges of the Spectrum, who seem really dedicated and thoughtful about their award, was the best consolation prize I could have asked for. And publishers, authors: send your furry genre books to the Spectrum! I’m going to send Green Fairy this year in the hope that it’s a little more appropriate to the award.

We ran down after that to the banquet, where we got to have a good extended conversation with Don Kaiser, the chair of the con. Like all the staff, he’s a really nice guy, and once you’ve talked to him for a while, it becomes pretty clear why the con runs so well with the attitude it has. His cheerful enthusiasm for the convention comes through everything.

We were given front-row seats for the cabaret, and were then treated to just under two hours of belly dancing; burlesque dancing; a comedy/juggling act; a comedy/psychic act; a surprisingly good rendition of “If You’re Good To Mama,” from Chicago, while dancing; a drag king/sock puppet act (Fox Smoulder—look him up on YouTube, especially “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”); and a light-dancing show that was flashy and impressive and included a bullwhip segment that made Brer of Sofawolf, nearest the aisle, somewhat nervous, and also included two pretty well-defined guys in tank tops who danced and did a bit of acrobatics with each other. It was rather amusing that they put a bunch of gay guys up front for a show where the dancing/burlesque acts were all female; we generally agreed afterwards that the drag king and the two guys from the light show were pretty cute. And you know, the women danced really well, too, just most of us aren’t into shaking boobs, even with tassels.

During the first act, there were “sticker boys” coming out, dressed only in tight swim trunks and otherwise covered with “Vote No” stickers. For a contribution to defeat Minnesota’s proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man and one woman, you could peel a sticker off of one the guys. Some of the stickers were half-under the suits, and the more you donated, the closer you were allowed to get to the suits, apparently. Kit donated $10 and was allowed two stickers; he tried to give me the chance to take one, but I declined. There’s a picture somewhere online of him peeling off his sticker, and you can likely find it if you really want to.

After that, we visited with a local friend who came down for an hour or so, and then I had to go to that midnight slash reading… (to be continued)

Gaylaxicon: Day One

This is a nifty con put on by some awesome people. I sat on stage at opening ceremonies, and then had to talk briefly into a mike to a crowd. I got a gift basket with SPAM and a Batman figure and candy and a “Larry and Leonard” comic, and got to meet some new awesome people and see a couple people I knew and hadn’t expected to see. Lyda Morehouse is a very fun person, and Gary Russell and Barbara Schulz are also cool, as is Zan Christiansen of PRIZM Comics, and of course, Jeff Eddy of Sofawolf Press. All of us were on the Outer Alliance podcast (#25) with Julia Rios tonight and we talked about Dr. Who, furries, briefly about bronies, and about how furries and queers and geeks are all at various stages of acceptance into mainstream society. And I got to tell my story about the person who was shocked at the Out of Position cover and the implication that a fox could give a blow job “because of all those teeth.” So yeah, awesome stuff. Check it out if you’re interested in geekery or Dr. Who-ery or queer geeky Dr. Who stuffs.

Tomorrow I get to talk about “Homosexuality and Furries,” and something about writing diversity. I also get to chill with some awesome-cool people and then read my story at midnight with Lyda. It’s gonna be fun, y’all. If you’re in the Twin Cities area, and you’re not here, you should think about stopping by.

Books at OklaCon: Revised!

After some consultation with various publishers and con staff, there WILL BE limited quantities of my books available at the con store on the Saturday of OklaCon! Get there early if you want to get the ones you want, because while most of my books should be there, I don’t know how many of each will be. And I have no idea which books are being sold, so if you ask me, all I’m going to be able to say is “I don’t know.” I’ve requested more of the newer titles, but I don’t know how many that is. If you want to be absolutely 100% sure of having a particular book at the con for me to sign, your best bet is to order from Sofawolf or FurPlanet NOW so that they can ship the book to you and you can bring it to the con.

Books at OklaCon

Hey all! RainFurrest was great and I am going to write up a con report soon. Thinking about future cons, it looks like there won’t be anyone selling my books at OklaCon. But fear not! I will happily sign any books you bring, and if you order this week from Sofawolf (sofawolf.com) or FurPlanet (Furplanet.com), you should get your books in time to bring them camping.

Now I’m off to enjoy Seattle and then flt home and start prepping for Gaylaxicon!

Conventions for the Fall

My new schedule is up, good through Further Confusion. I have a busy fall, starting this weekend at RainFurrest and continuing through Gaylaxicon the following weekend and OklaCon two weekends later. Absent from my schedule this year is Midwest FurFest, because Kit and I will be leaving soon after that weekend for Australia to attend MiDFur for the first time! I visited Chicago last month for WorldCon, so my quota of yearly Chicago visits will remain filled, and besides, we are tremendously excited to visit Australia for the first time and meet a whole bunch of awesome people there.

Sorry we will miss our MFF crowd, but we’ll look forward to seeing a bunch of new people in Melbourne! And of course, if you will be in Seattle, Minneapolis, or Oklahoma, we will see you sometime within the next month.

Out of Position 3: Update

Major revision pass finished. There will be a short smoothing pass early next week.

Some stats: The draft before the start of this revision was 129,464 words. The number of words in my “unused” file (removed from the draft) is 15,703 (for this revision; it’s 18,523 overall). And the total number of words in the story now stands at 141,182. So I have added (quick reference to calculator) 27,421 words to this draft.

I did this in about two and a half weeks of work, including parts of weekends. There are many new scenes and a couple old ones rewritten from scratch, but probably at least half of those words are plot-related, getting the through-lines right for Lee and Dev, and maybe a tenth by volume are stylistic changes. Often when I was just changing the words around, I wouldn’t bother dropping the cut words into the unused file, but sometimes I did.

I am not going to be talking about the plot, nor about which characters appear or don’t–at least, not very much(*). What I will say is that I think this is a strong story, and I think you will like the development of some existing characters as well as the introduction of a couple new ones. I also want to assure people that there IS going to be a book 4 and likely a book 5; the end of this book was originally the midpoint of the entire manuscript I wrote, and while the overall plot is resolved, there are certain threads that are intentionally left dangling.

* If I haven’t gone into my reasons for not giving spoilers before, it boils down to: the only thing it does is start you imagining the story in your head before you’ve had a chance to read it, and then the actual story will likely be a letdown compared to the story in your head because that’s the one YOU WROTE. So if I say something like, “there’s a scene where Dev and Lee go to an amusement park and WINK WINK(**),” you immediately start thinking, “Ooh, I bet I know what they do there!” and then when you read MY scene, it’s almost certainly NOT what you’re thinking, and so you’re a little disappointed. I don’t want you guys to be disappointed. So just hang on. I promise you it’s a good story.

** Dev and Lee do not go to an amusement park.

I’m excited about this revision. I got a lot of good work done on it, I think I got back into the feel of Dev and Lee in a way that makes me happy, and it’s only four months or so until you guys get to see it. Also I don’t have to be stressing about it when I go to RF, so yay. (I am going to RainFurrest and debuting another book there. Did I mention? You should check it out. I’m proud of that one too. I’ll post more about it this weekend.)