Diana Pharaoh Francis's Blog, page 3

Flowers Are Flowering!

I just want to share some pictures from my garden. The first flowers!

 

Free Conference On Writing!

I’m taking part in a free conference on writing hosted by Weeknight Writers. It’s titled Storycrafting Sessions: Drafting. It’s a day long and I’m on the last panel, which is about how to craft a satisfying ending. While we all know this is of paramount importance, we sometimes don’t remember to think about why. Writing is all about the reader experience. They want a good story, and that means they want to be emotionally invested and desperate to find out what happens or how the characters get out of this mess. They are racing through the reading with desperate uncertainty, ready to get to the end and see how it all plays out. They think they know the ending they want, and they might be right that that’s the best ending. But in the end, what they want is an emotionally and intellectually satisfying ending.

I never watched Game of Thrones, but I’ve heard a lot about how disappointing the ending was. All that investment that the audience made came to nothing. They felt cheated and angry and like they wasted their time. That they put up with having their emotions wrenched every which way because they knew it would be worth it, only to discover it wasn’t. You have got to stick the landing, in gymnastics terms. No matter how good you do during the event, if you don’t stick the landing, the result is disappointment. In the case of gymnastics, it’s sympathetic disappointment. You’re rooting for the athlete and it’s heartbreaking when they don’t stick the landing.

When it comes to readers, though, they do blame the athlete, or more specifically, they blame the writer. They are quite correct to do so. You have to make sure that you give that emotional catharsis you’ve been building up to. If you’ve gone to great depths of emotion in telling the story, you’ve got to go to great heights to compensate and satisfy. People want to see villains get karmic punishment. They want to see good people rewarded. They want to see suffering end and arrogance and meanness avenged.

And so in this conference panel (remember the conference is FREE to attend) me and my fellow writers will be discussing how to make that ending powerful.

I have two stories that I just adore. One is by Susan Glaspell and is called “A Jury of Her Peers” (also a one act play called Trifles). The other is an Edith Wharton short story titled “Roman Fever.” Both are relatively quiet novels with endings that just punch you in the gut. I remember the first time I read “Roman Fever.” The last paragraph required me to turn the page, so I had this moment that served as kind of a drum roll and then this cymbal crash as I read the last lines. It was POWERFUL. A lot of it had to do with suddenly reorganizing your understanding of everything based on that ending. “A Jury of Her Peers” is similar. The ending is perfect and you just end up sitting with it and wanting to read it all over because it’s both that good a story and that good an ending.

I like to think I stick my endings and I hope that you have a chance to come by and visit during the conference.

I’m curious. What stories/books have really nailed the endings for you? I’ll add one more. Tigana. I won’t discuss that ending because the book is that good, but it hits on all cylinders. Yowza.

XOXO

Di

Merlin Says The Floor Is Lava

And so, because the floor is lava, Merlin must sit on the chair.

It’s March and It’s Rainowing Here in the PNW

Yep, we have rain and snow and rain-snow and snow-rain. At least I got the dogs out to run today without a ton of falling wetness. Go me!

My taxes are nearly done. And by that I mean nearly organized enough to go to the accountant. This will be a load off my back. It’s currently 2:40 in the afternoon and I havne’t eaten lunch and I’m cold. Where’s a menopausal hot flash when I need one? Oh, right. It’s waiting until it can annoy the holy fuck out of me.

I have relaunched my Patreon!! I’m excited because I’m having a lot of fun and I’m hoping to really build it into a vibrant community where people will come and hang out with me. You should check it out. I’ve got several new tiers and some cool perks and freebies, including two tiers targeting writers who might want some one-on-one coaching or want to step up their game with some help from me. If I hit $300 a month, I’ll write a short story for my Patrons set in a world of their choosing. I’m almost halfway there!

I’ve just sent out my latest newsletter, so if you haven’t signed up to receive it, you might want to, and if you have an haven’t received it, check your spam folder. I’m also going to be doing a couple of online conferences, one at the end of March and one in April. I’ll post more info on those soon. They are free to attend so keep an eye out for my post on those.

I’ve got new covers for my next two Everyday Disasters books. I’ll be posting them here in the next day or so. Clearly I have a lot going on and so I will do my very best to keep you updated better. Meanwhile, cuddle up somewhere with a good book and enjoy the day!

 

Let’s Talk About George Santos…as a fictional character

By now everybody has probably heard something about George Santos, the congress critter from New York who may or may not be actually named George Santos. He’s lied about, well, everything as far as I can tell. From his family dying in concentration camps, to his name, to I don’t even know what. There’s a whole political rant that could happen, but no, not going there.

No, what I’m interested in is the fact that he’s a poorly written character. Or a tremendously amazing one and you’ll find that he escaped an Elmore Leonard book. I don’t know how I’d get away with writing this kind of character. He’s really a caricature and there’s no depth to him. Figuring out his motivations and goals would be terrifically hard. Is it to get to congress? Is it fame? Or infamy? Is it money? Is he secretly a Russian spy? The reincarnation of the the three stooges all rolled into one?

In many ways, he and Trump are similar characters because they lie. Trump’s motivations seem more obvious, though, which is money, power, and attention. I’m not all that sure that Santos’ character is after money, or if he is, it’s more a byproduct of something else. I do think he loves the spotlight, but again, don’t know if getting attention is a byproduct of what really drives him. Of course, Trump is more of a known quantity. We know more about his family, his history, his general life. Santos is more like Humbert Humbert (unreliable narrator of Lolita). We only know what he tells us, and he only tells us lies.

I can see Shakespeare writing Santos and Trump. In fact, King Lear is very Trumpian. Or vice versa. Santos is comic relief at this point. Obviously not in real life because he has impact in the real world. Remember, this is only fiction we’re talking here. I can see Santos as the principle in Ferris Bueller or the obnoxious father in a Twisted Sister video. The buffoon who is sheer comic relief.

I don’t know if he’d be an evil character in a book or a chaotic character in a book. Probably chaotic because that would mean he’d bumble about like a pinball and sometimes he’d win points and sometimes he’d lose the game.

What kind of story would you put him in and why?

 

Book Giveaway! Enter to Win

Yep, you can win books and an e-reader. All you have to do is CLICK HERE and you’ll go to the sign up page. Good luck!

Orchid Growing in a Teva Planter

I supported this kickstarter for Teva Planters quite awhile ago. Like pre-Covid. The planters arrived in October, I think, but I didn’t plant anything because I was giving one away for an Xmas present and didn’t want my boyo to see it. Today I finally planted one. The theory of the planters is that they are made of a porous material with a honecombed exterior and a hollow interior. You fill them with water and put a lid on to keep the water clean, and then you can spread seeds on the outside, or you can rubberband a plant to them. Not all plants grow well on them, btw. Orchids are supposed to so I put one of my orchids on there. It may not survive, quite honestly. It wasn’t doing all that well and I’m hoping that this will help bring it back. I couldn’t put any of my other orchids on it because they are all either blooming or about to, and I don’t want to risk having them not bloom.

I really like orchids and for some reason, they like me fairly well. Maybe because I ignore them a lot. I don’t have any fancy ones (ie expensive). I think that this one wasn’t doing so well because I replanted it into too large a container and orchids like to be trapped. Which is another reason why the Teva planter might not work. On the other hand, they do grow on trees, so maybe it’ll think the planter is a tree limb. On the positive side, it will be given moisture without getting wet, and it will have humidity around it at all times.

Here’s a link if you want to check them out. 

About Me and About Patreon and my Patreon Tiers: I’m looking for feedback

Hello Everyone!

I have been doing a lot of work on myself of late through therapy, and through this class I’m taking from Becca Syme, which helps identify my personal strengths and weakness as a writer and learn to lean into the former and manage the latter. It’s been pretty fascinating. One of the things I’ve learned is that I must stew and masticate and ponder and research before I can make movements forward. I have to build that into my writing planning.

I have also come pretty close to deciding to retire from teaching. That’s a huge decision for me and my brain is telling me that’s the smart choice, but my heart isn’t quite there yet. I have been involved in education most of my life in one way or another, so even though I realize it will be healthier and wiser to leave it and to focus on my writing and my joy, my heart is still getting there regarding about identity.

One of the things that I’ve decided to do as a consequence or a subsequence? Is that even a word? I’ve decided to focus more on my Patreon. Partly it so I can replace the earnings from teaching. Can’t get around that. A bigger part, though, is for me to be able to build a community space where I can indulge in some teaching, a lot of silliness, creative endeavors, and some other things. Toward that end, I’m going to be adjusting my tiers and two will be for writers who are interested in learning and in sharing and so on. I’m thinking of facilitating a critique group in the upper tier. I’ll be tinkering and shifting the updates according to what works and what gives value to subscribers.

I feel like I will get a better chance to really get to know people and to engage with them through posts, Discord or Slack, Zoom, and possibly other ways. I’m pretty excited about it. I don’t get to go to cons often anymore, and I don’t know when I’ll get back to them, but even if I go to a bunch, I still don’t get quality time with readers and fellow writers. This seeks to cure that.

So I wanted to mention my potential Patreon tiers here for commentary. I’m interested in you opinions on the offerings, on what you’d like to see or the value I’m offering in each tiers. Please do give me your thoughts! I want to update my Patreon tiers starting in the next week.

Tier 1: $3  For the Love

Photographs

some snippets

occasional life posts

Tier 2: $5 

Everything included in Tier 1 plus:

Access to once a  month Zoom call where I might read, do a Q and A, or possible a social hour.

A flash story or poem written from a single line. It probably won’t be good, but it will be fast, and likely silly.

Talking about horse painting

Life posts

Some rough drafts of scenes or chapters

Tier 3: $10

Everything included in Tier 2 plus:

I’ll share cool things I’ve learned in my research.

Vote on the line on which I’ll base my flash story

Access to a brand new discord group

Rough drafts offered once or twice a month.

Eligible for monthly giveaway.

Tier 4: $20

Everything included in Tier 3 plus:

Propose the potential lines for the flash story

Digital copies of all books before release day.  (They may be unproofed and uncorrected).

A gift sent to you twice year. Could be home made. Whatever it is will be fun.

Behind the scenes looks at my process, cut scenes

Help Di fix problems: exclusive discussions of my books in progress where you help me figure out how to fix problems.

Your name included in the acknowledgements of every book release.

Tier 5: $25 Scribblers Anonymous

Everything in Tiers 1-3 (so does not include 4) plus:

co-writing zoom meeting 2x a month

Zoom Q&A about writing and/or a potential lesson on writing

Can propose lines for flash piece

Monthly writing post (You can suggest topics for me to address)

Access to Discord Writing area

Digital copy of any writing books I publish while you’re a patron.

Your name in the acknowledgements of any writing book I publish based on posts or discussions we have.

Tier 6: $50

Everything in tiers 1-5 plus, and limited to 10 people:

Written critique of up to 30 pages once a quarter

One on one Zoom or phone call each month to discuss your writing (up to 1 hour).

Print copies of all books released in print.

The New Year Is New

Hello everybody!!

I’ve been doing tons of things and not reporting in here. So business as usual. LOL.

I had a great holiday. It was relatively quiet and because I got on top of some things earlier than usual (aka didn’t wait until last minute) I wasn’t running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off. We had a few guests along with the fam, and we ate good food and laughed a lot. No drama, as is my favorite kind of holiday.

I’ve been horse painting, too, and am showing you a few pictures. I’m learning a lot about it and getting better at it. If you want to see what I’ve got currently selling, it’s on ebay.  I really like a few of these. Actually I like them all, but I especially love a few, like the snowflake guy. The two in this post are newly finished and I’ll be posting for sale. The problem is is that the big guy is a stallion, so while it looks like a mare and foal pair, it’s not.

As I mentioned a few months (or awhile, I can’t remember) ago, that I’m working on my mental health. I’ve gone off my welbutrin, and my memory has been coming back. As in, I don’t forget things in the middle of talking about them. I started seeing a therapist, who I like very much, and it seems to be helping me. I haven’t felt sad for a few weeks. That’s huge. And by sad, I mean melancholy, randomly weepy, and so forth. I am having some insomnia, though. That’s a drag. But since I think I’ve begun hitting menopause, there’s a good chance that’s involved. Because of health issues, I can’t and won’t take hormones.

As for some of the things I’m learning about myself, it’s that I have a deep-seated need for recognition. Awards maybe. I know it’s huge for me when my daughter tells me she loves my books. It’s random and not frequent that she mentions that, but it’s huge. I’m not sure where that need comes from. It’s been with me a long time, like since I was a kid.

Another thing I’ve learned is I have this idea that work isn’t worthwhile or valuable if it isn’t difficult and/or painful. Like if I don’t suffer for it, it’s not good (whether it’s writing or something else). Working on figuring that one and figuring out why. The sad thing is that I may never know the why as it very well might not be available to me. What’s fun is that some of my background in literary theory helps me understand a bunch of this.

Im also taking a class from Becca Syme called Write Better, Faster. A lot of it focuses on personality traits, mental strengths, and etc., to figure out how I work best and how I can embrace my strengths and manage my weakness to improve my writing habits. And life habits. It’s been fascinating to learn some of that and to think about how I do things and see why. It’s enlightening. For instance, for my Clifton Strengths, my top five are: 1. Learner 2. Intellection 3. Input 4. Context 5. Positivity. Those together mean I like to explore information, learn it, assess it, think on it, and then take action. At the same time I’m doing all the other, I’m plotting a new  novel in a new world and paying attention to how I’m doing it and I’m noticing that I do have to pause and think for a bit and gather information.

Now here is where you’re going to laugh at me. I was writing out the scenes and I reached a point where I’d not thought about what came next and I wrote something down. Then I told myself: “Well now you’re just making shit up.” *headslap* “Uh, Di, what do you think writing fiction actually is?” But the fact was it wasn’t that I was making shit up, it was that I hadn’t yet ruminated (no cud involved). So I have since been ruminating and am progressing.

Our dog’s been seriously sick a couple times this month, so I’ve been freaking out about that. He seems on the mend. I’m also giving thought to giving up teaching. I think it might be time to retire there. I’ve been thinking about how much ‘good’ time I have left in my life before my body or mind goes. I’ve been thinking what I have left to do in my life that I haven’t done and how I’m going to make time for that to happen, and so I’m thinking that I’ve done enough teaching. That said, I will continue to coach and do critiques and participate in workshops at conventions. I enjoy those a lot.

I’m also giving thought to adding a weekly or monthly phone call or Zoom type call to my Patreon. Whether as an individual or ina  group.

Well that’s the current update. I’ve been also doing some knitting and reading.

How have all of you been doing?

Why Do You Read My Books

I have been talking to other writers and I watched a video this week about reaching  readers. One of the points made (by Becca Syme) is that there are a lot of books out there and finding new readers is about curating. That’s why Booktok is popular. Readers discover books they will likely like from favorite Booktokkers who’ve done the work of discovering if the book’s good or not and who will like it or not. It saves readers time and money. Now I think this applies to books that are not in something like Kindle Unlimited, where the reader pays a monthly fee and reads whatever she wants. It’s easy in that case to just stop reading, since you can move on to the next book without losing money.

I’m trying to figure out how I can get my books into the hands of new readers. Obviously if I get reviews on Booktok or other places, new readers might see those and take the chance. But what other ways are there? I’m not entirely sure. One thing that did occur to me is to wonder why readers read my books and what makes them come back. When they see a Diana Pharaoh Francis book, what are they expecting? So that’s what I would like you to answer: Why do you read my books? What brings you back? Do you have a series that you prefer and why?

I have thoughts on why people might read, but I’ve never really asked actual readers. It feels a little squicky, honestly, like I’m digging for compliments or something. I’m not. It’s a genuine why do you read my books question. I’m also trying to decide if I want to know what turns you off about my books. I’m not sure I’d change anything and knowing that might make me paranoid as I write and I might freeze up wondering if readers will hate something. So I’m trying to be careful about that, since as I told you, I’ve got depression and I’m doing all I can to maintain my writing. I’m afraid thinking about what people don’t like would derail me.

But knowing why people do read my books could help me figure out how to direct advertising or help me figure out how to get my books curated to new readers, which would really help me be solvent. I would really appreciate everybody who can take the time to answer.

In my next post, I’m going to ask how you find new books, but if you feel like mentioning that here, please do.