Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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Writing Questions for Josh
Mod
I wish I had the kind of brain that could self-copyedit but, alas, I don't. But let's look at the big picture. If authors could do this ourselves, we wouldn't need copyediters, so thus we preserve a whole job sector. ;-)
Josh wrote: "Sorry to go on about it - reason see above. AE 3 & 4 are fabulous books, and both publishers did them a great disservice by not paying attention to fairly important details. I wish I had the ki..."
I think it's normal to ask somebody else to look at texts with a "fresh brain". I do spell checks for my husband's English docs all the time.
Edited to add: yes, my husband can actually spell perfectly well. But, to quote an author friend: "I stare at the damn thing forever and after a while I stop seeing it. Doesn't help that I'm attracted the the music of the damn thing and it can sing in my head differently from what is actually on the page, and I don't notice it, which is a problem."
I've been meaning to ask you... do you have any plan to create your own publishing house, Josh?
Mod
No. I don't think that's my skill set. I'm a decent content editor and that's about it. Plus, I'd be a nervous wreck taking responsibility for someone else's success.
I'm going to do a few projects on my own next year, but in 2013 I plan to get back to work on the series books I have with various publishers. I like working with publishers for the most part.
Josh wrote: "I'm going to do a few projects on my own next year, but in 2013 I plan to get back to work on the series books I have with various publishers. I like working with publishers for the most part...."Any hints what next year's projects might be?
Mod
Not so far. I'm batting a few ideas around. Probably a couple of long short stories/short novellas. This last PM I did for Jordan, reminded me of how much I enjoy writing that length. I don't know if everyone is going to love that story as much as me, but it's one of my favorites this year.
I'll be doing a lot of consolidating my empire. ;-) I have translations of the AE series in the works. I'll be doing another print collection. That kind of thing.
emm..if you don't mind me asking - how come no more partners in crime stories - really loved them as well as discovering really good new authors like JCP etc that you patnered with.
Mod
Thanks for asking! I don't work with MLR Press anymore.
I do still do anthologies on occasion -- I'm doing a Christmas antho for Carina Press and this fantasy antho for Blind Eye Books. But you know there really seemed to be mixed reaction about the two author pairings. I thought they were a great idea, but an awful lot of readers didn't seem to like them.
**I guess I should ask...what do you all think of that kind of two author pairing? Good idea or not?
Josh wrote: "I guess I should ask...what do you all think of that kind of two author pairing? Good idea or not? "You can pair up with JPC anytime :P
Josh wrote: "I'll be doing a lot of consolidating my empire. ;-) I have translations of the AE series in the works. I'll be doing another print collection. That kind of thing...."Translations? Into which languages? German? I'm trembling in anticipation (which may be a good or a bad thing)
I very much enjoyed the pairings and anthologies - I buy them because of your stories,however in the main you were paired with some really good authors - thats how I discovered them - I also very much enjoyed the Carina press release from Christmas last year - I liked you story best - however I did very much enjoy the rest of them as well. So yes to more pairings and anthologies please - it is a good way of discovering good authors I may not have read before!
Josh wrote: "I guess I should ask...what do you all think of that kind of two author pairing? Good idea or not?..."I liked them.
Mod
Translations? ..."
German and Dutch and Spanish. Don't worry, I'M not doing the translating. :-D Although I can think of nothing funnier than running my stuff through Babelfish and publishing it.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Just imagine it.
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You can pair up with JPC anytime :P"
Yes! I think that was a good mix.
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Josh wrote: "I've loved all the pairings I've had. There was always a positive energy to those PinCs. Even though we didn't write together or anything like that."It is also a great way to introduce new promising authors, if one is interested in that.
Josh wrote: "Minne wrote: "emm..if you don't mind me asking - how come no more partners in crime stories - really loved them as well as discovering really good new authors like JCP etc that you patnered with."..."
Pairing is a good idea, I liked them all :)
Mod
It is also a great way to introdu..."
That was the original idea with Sarah and I think it worked really well. I still think it's a nice way for authors to help each other out -- introduce each other to a new audience.
I think Carina does a good thing by allowing readers to either buy the anthology or the stories separately, so readers can have whatever they want. Jordan does a similar thing. If you buy all the PM stories, you get a nice discount. Or you can just buy the individual ones you want at full price.
Josh wrote: "Liade wrote: "Josh wrote: "I'll be doing a lot of consolidating my empire. ;-) I have translations of the AE series in the works. I'll be doing another print collection. That kind of thing...."..."
Dutch! That I want to read. I wonder if the words will be as beautiful as in English though. Dutch language doesn't flow very easily in my opinion but I'm very curious about it.
Josh wrote: "...I can think of nothing funnier than running my stuff through Babelfish and publishing it.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Just imagine it."
I dare you to do that to translate a story -- any story -- into, I dunno, Swahili or something. Hell, take one of your freebies or 99ers (do you have 99ers? I could swear I got a couple of old shorts from you -- boy does that phrasing sound incredibly inappropriate and wrong, lol -- for like a buck or two on Amazon). Well worth the bwa haha. ;D
Yes, to more two-author pairings, btw. Loved the PiC books. Moar pls. LOL
Josh wrote: "I can tell you that as I venture into self-publishing next year I will hire a content editor, a copy-editor, and a cover artist. It is worth the money, even if there is little money to be had, to m..."I've read some books that weren't proofed.It's a mess and hard to read. One should never proof their own work.
Jorrie wrote: "I always thought that Cards on the Table might have taken a bit of a hit for being paired, in digital, with another book and not being on sale individually."I'm pretty sure Josh knows my feelings on this subject, since I've asked him 3 times to please take back his rights to COTT whenever he can, and sell the ebook individually. :)
Jorrie wrote: "**I guess I should ask...what do you all think of that kind of two author pairing? Good idea or not? I think it's a great idea for print, but problematic if you must buy the two-novellas-in-one f..."
I've tried anthologies and i don't like them. I don't like novellas either. I've tried but I don't like authors paired and I always feel short-changed story-wise. Anyway...tried them...didn't like them.
I've really loved the PiC series, and have been happy to buy them in the pairs. Same with the anthologies to which you've contributed. I've learned to trust your pairings, so that I know whoever is in the anthology/pair with you is going to be worth reading (and my tastes in m/m tend to be pretty narrow, I find).I do think that Jorrie raises a good point however -- in that with ebook publishing, seems like a good model would be to charge more individually than for the set, in the case of anthologies. I know that for your last Xmas anthology, a friend bought me your story, which I devoured of course, but then I went out and bought the entire anthology anyway. :) And wasn't disappointed.
And I'm someone who prefers long meaty novels to shorter work. But if the writing is good, that trumps all.
An aside -- Nicole, I rarely speak up, but wanted to say I sure appreciate reading your input in these discussions. Always thoughtful and meaty. Do you blog somewhere that I've missed (I'm pretty sure I friended you at LJ, but don't see much out of there)?
Mod
Jane, do you usually feel like that about novellas or is it just when they're in anthologies? I know some readers just do not care for the novella even though it's pretty much the backbone of epublishing.
Mod
I always appreciate Nicole's jumping in with her insights as well.
Um. Hopefully it goes without saying that I come here for yours... :)
L.C. wrote: "Josh wrote: "I can tell you that as I venture into self-publishing next year I will hire a content editor, a copy-editor, and a cover artist. It is worth the money, even if there is little money to..."I'd love to see more work from you! :D
Cleon wrote: "I'd love to see more work from you! :D"LC did the lettering on Collared -- which, btw LC if you see this, I DLed the whole font family so my titling for promo in other materials (blurbs, excerpts, etc) will match up with the actual font used on the cover, which is a first. I keep my fonts uniform for that stuff, yeah (consistent! consistent! consistent!), but this is the first time my font matched my cover's font...
Holy shit. I'm so anal retentive, it's a blood miracle I'm not on thorazine.
Mod
*whistles nonchalantly looking up at the sky with hands in pockets* ;-)
.."
Yes. In a New York minute. In fact, when I saw the news about Riptide I thought, drat, she'll be too busy to take on anything from me now.
Mod
:-D Thank you!
Sagajo wrote: "Jane wrote: "I've tried anthologies and i don't like them. I don't like novellas either. I've tried but I don't like authors paired and I always feel short-changed story-wise. Anyway...tried them....."Sindustry 1st volume from Dreamspinner is very good. I normally don't like anthology too, but that one has a lot of beautiful stories.
Josh wrote: "German and Dutch and Spanish."COOL!!
That means I can convince my non-English reading friends to read your work!!
Nothing can stop me infecting them now lol :)
I'm on the fence about anthologies and partnered books. I agree that in e-format, it's just easier to have them apart.I'd rather read books on their own, anyway, but every now and then an anthology catches my eyes and I'll get it.
The parnered books. I still have to read most of the partners. Then again, I got them very early on in my e-reading stage and I was too into reading Josh's work, that I ignored the partners ... and haven't really gone back to read them (too many items on my to-read list)
I do like novellas (and I'm not just saying that because I've been asked to turn my short story into a novella), but my first love will always be novel length stories. (Though every now and then I read a novel that I feel would have been much better as a novella)
I've barely been online for two days, and I feel like I've missed a week of conversations ... *sigh*
Josh wrote: "German and Dutch and Spanish. Don't worry, I'M not doing the translating. :-D''As a translator I find the idea of translations... worrying.
In general because you have to find good translators to do it. Secondarily because I can't imagine reading something from you in another language than English.
Still, to have your books translated into other language is a proof of the level of success you achieved. So, congratulations!
And considering that there are many people not able to read English, to give them translations is an eminently democratic goal. So given that I advocate for a more democratic society, I should... shut up ;-).
''Although I can think of nothing funnier than running my stuff through Babelfish and publishing it"
Maybe someone had the idea before you: I once read an excerpt of a German m/m translated into Italian. At some stage it did look like an automatic translation...
Josh wrote: "I've tried anthologies and i don't like them. I don't like novellas either. I've tried but I don't like authors paired and I always feel short-changed story-wise. Anyway...tried them...didn't like ..."I've read good novellas (some are yours!) but I try to avoid them as I prefer full length novels. I guess a novella is longer than a short story? Sometimes I've bought novellas if they sound really good. I try to check to see the length of stories...it is just my preference. Especially when it's a good novella like A Dickens Christmas...I wish it were longer.
But if I had my druthers, I buy a novella over an anthology any day.
Sorry, it's just me. The longer the novel the more I love it.
Jane wrote: "Sorry, it's just me. The longer the novel the more I love it. ...."That goes for me too. If I like something I want length and sequels and more... But I've started to enjoy novellas more. Still not much for short stories, and I don't usually like anthologies unless they happen to have a lot of favorite authors in them (like Elrod's Dark and Stormy Knights.) It's hard to get real character building in short form.
German version of AE!?! Cool. I will definitely get them - it will be the best and most fun way to refresh my German. Wonder if Adrien's subtle little Britishness would still come through in another language. Very interesting.
Thelastaerie wrote: "German version of AE!?! Cool. I will definitely get them - it will be the best and most fun way to refresh my German."I didn't know at all that you speak German! And apparently well enough to be able to read in the language. If I think back, how long it took me to reach that stage, pheww...
Anyway, why don't you come and play with us in the German speaking (m/m) sandbox? ;-)
Mod
But with some of your older work, I feel like I'd rather you simply compile your stories into an anthology of just your work. I guess that's simply because I'm trying to catch up on your older works, and I feel like the other authors would get in the way of that, when I just want your work. Silly me.
Anything current you were to do with someone else though, I'd probably go for it with gusto. It's just the catching up to make sure I've read everything you've written that has me wanting something different. Especially if the other authors are not ones I'm familiar with.
Does that make sense? Or just make me sound delusional?
I don't know if I'm strong enough to read Adrien in German. Or strong enough to resist the temptation.
I generally detest reading books translated from English into German - I'm a translator myself and I'm always second-guessing what the original words might have been. And worse, sometimes that's actually obvious. And a much-loved book in translation particularly shows up any mistakes that may have krept in.
But not all Germans have the same prejudices against translation - I remember reading somewhere that Germany is the biggest market in the world for translated books. No doubt there will be new friends for Adrien & Co.
Antonella wrote: "Thelastaerie wrote: "German version of AE!?! Cool. I will definitely get them - it will be the best and most fun way to refresh my German."I didn't know at all that you speak German! And appare..."
Sandbox?
I`ll send Thelastaerie an invitation...:D)
Mod
For me, the question of novella versus novel is one of plot. My novella plots are usually pretty simple -- how two guys meet and why they decide they might like to try a relationship. Even my novella mystery plots are usually pretty simple and the time frame is usually pretty tight. That's because I grew up reading my mother and grandmother's old mysteries, so my training was really in the very lean, tightly written crime fiction of the 30s and 40s. In those days 40-45K was considered a novel.
I don't put filler in my novels. No preservatives or additives and no hormones. :-D It's all lean meat.
Kidding, but sort of not. I read a lot of stories that are certainly bigger, longer, but they aren't filled with the kind of thing I particularly want to read. I'm easily bored as a reader. Sub-plots often bore me, side characters usually do little for me, so I leave that out in my own work and just focus on what I like when I'm the reader. Which I guess can make for a skimpy read.
I don't think I shortchange the central story, but again, I'm writing to my own taste. Not everyone feels the same.
I am writing longer in general than I originally did. My novellas were all originally 28-30K. They're now all more around 35-40K. My short stories were around 6-10K and they're all coming in at novelette length. For example, my Petit Mort only needed to be 10K and I think it came in around 16K or so. My Christmas story for Carina only needed to be 18K and I think it came in at 25K.
So I've definitely started accomodating readers by giving them longer stories.
And STILL they want more. :-D Where does the madness end????
Josh wrote: "And STILL they want more. :-D Where does the madness end????...."With beatification? The patron saint of m/m romance (imagine the pope handing out that one)? Your books definitely don't have filler, and that tight writing is probably one of the things that has garnered you so many fans. Frankly, I think writing short is much harder than writing long.
Mod
I like reading any length, but when it comes to writing, I find it very difficult to write an original work less than 50K, usually. My plots end up complicated. That's why I had so much trouble writing that 10K HJD story. I need more practice doing that though, keeping things spare, because I like that style too when I read. Sometimes those are the best stories. Like In Sunshine or in Shadow. It was a simple story, but one of the best I've read.
Of course, when I used to write fanfic, I could easily write a 500 word short story, which I did twice for a challenge. And most of those works were shorts, but fanfic is so much different than original. If I wasn't so busy trying to plot and finish two novels right now, I'd take the time and force myself to get away from both for awhile to write another short story as a challenge to myself. I need to do it. Maybe someday I'll do it. If I can finish my current work by September.
Mod
So long as I don't end the way of most patron saints, I'm good with that. ;-D
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Sometimes the stars just align on a story. That's probably my favorite short.
Antonella wrote: "Thelastaerie wrote: "German version of AE!?! Cool. I will definitely get them - it will be the best and most fun way to refresh my German."I didn't know at all that you speak German! And appare..."
Oh dear, Antonella, although I do have "German as foreign language intermediate level" certificate, but the last time I actively use German on a daily basis, Jurgen Klinsmann and Lothar Mattheus were PLAYING in the national football team... Thanks for the invite though ;)
Mod
Hey thanks! I do have a blog, but I am the worst blogger ever, in that I hardly ever post. Mostly I guest blog at places like jessewave. (In fact, I am supposed to be writing one of those this very second--eek!)
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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Ah yes, the dastardly duo of Grimaldi/Garibaldi. My personal bugbear. Interesting though the way both publishers dealt with it: MLR had the names mixed in each of three books, Loose Id at least decided to stick with one name per book - though sadly not the same.
Sorry to go on about it - reason see above. AE 3 & 4 are fabulous books which I re-read regularly, but both publishers did them a great disservice by not paying attention to some fairly important details.