Women writing Science Fiction - Questions from the Readers

Greetings,

Someone on twitter asked how women were doing compared to men in terms of writing Science Fiction.

This is not an easy question. This is also one I do not have a definitive answer for. However, I'll take a stab at my opinions and thoughts on the matter.

First, there have almost always been women writing Science Fiction. However, the brave women who were the early pioneers of a feminine touch in a male-dominated genre often hid their genders behind male pen names.

While women have been accepted in much higher frequency than ever before, there is still a very strong male lead in the genre.

That said, my book case has a decent amount of science fiction. Almost all of the authors are females. I enjoy their writing.

I cannot give you exact demos on male versus female, but the few publishers I DID manage to corner have said the same thing, "Females are increasing in number."

How high is the percentage? No clue.

The best way to find out, perhaps, would be to take a tally of authors -- especially best sellers -- and figure out how many are men and how many are women.

Since this branches a lot of different publishing houses, both large and small, this would be a massive undertaking.

If you have solid information on the split between males and females in science fiction, please note your resources. This is something I am definitely interested.

Releasing edited older works - Questions from the Readers

Yesterday -- sometime before I finished my book -- I polled individuals on twitter on what they wanted to see written about for this blog. There was a very quick response.

Today, I am going to cover the very interesting subject of releasing a new version of an old novel. By this, I mean this: a writer dislikes a book they once wrote and published. They go back and rewrite or do massive edits to it and release it again.

The subject came up as one mouse (Hi Squeecha!) noticed that an author had done exactly this and had left both copies for sale.

From a personal point-of-view, I would love to release a new version of an older, crappier work. But, as a reader, I am going to be quite upset if I am expected to buy a second copy of the same book because the author was too lazy to do the job right the first time.

Once you publish, unless you are correcting minor things like a missed spelling-error during typesetting... please don't do this. This is entirely of personal opinion, but if I buy a book, and the author slaps me in the face by releasing a new version of it because they didn't do a thorough job of writing it the first time, well... this will upset me as a reader.

I could never do that to my audience as a writer.

Sure, I will improve my writing skills as I write, but I find this sort of behavior as the ultimate insult. If I buy a book, I buy it because I want to read it. If you release a new copy of the book -- where the story has been rewritten or massively changed -- I will feel like I have been ripped off.

The only way I think I could accept this is if I were offered a free copy of the new version to read. This is something I could accept, as it would show that the author wanted to give me the best story.

If I'm expected to pay for them correcting their mistakes or changing the story, I would be very, very upset. To the point I wouldn't purchase books from this author again.

I can't put a logical explanation to this. It is entirely my opinion, and there are no studies or logic to it.

Yes, I know, I usually post factual sorts of things, but I finished my book last night before bed. I'm allowed. (But just for today.)

There isn't much more that I can say on the subject than that.

More Questions from The Reader to come! If you have a question you want to ask, @rebeccablain on twitter with it and it might show up here!

More on Self-Publishing Versus Traditional Publishing

The past few days have been dedicated to the growing conflict between my spouse and me regarding the differences of opinion relating to self-publishing.

Here is the basic argument: My husband believes that self-publishing is the route I should take.

His primary reason for this is the delay between a publisher accepting a piece of writing versus the time it actually makes it into print. He views the delay as a loss of money, as self-publishing would allow for a longer print run.

Now, I cannot disagree with this. The harsh reality is a 14+ month wait from acquisition to print. It is a difficult pill to swallow. Now, granted, I can be working on my next novel in that period of time, but with ever shrinking advances, 5k (and that is being too charitable!!) isn't a whole lot to live on for 14 months. I can make more than 5k in 14 months on cheap contract work. (Which my husband enjoys pointing out.)

I do not want to delude myself into thinking I could get a big advance. I'm somewhat realistic.

However, my argument comes up in I would have to foot the bill on the things the publisher would typically pick up. These include:

- Cover Art
- Formatting for print
- Formatting for ebooks
- Editing
- Basic Marketing
- Distribution

Now, there are a few perks to going this route. These include:

- Picking my own cover art, hiring the artist of choice, etc
- Picking my editor.
- Handling my marketing or picking someone I trust to do my marketing for me.
- Fast publication time.
- Selecting my own pricing.

There are disadvantages. These include:

- A lot more edit work I have to do on my own.
- Investment for all of the above things a publisher would normally handle.
- No brand backing my work.
- No agent for advice. Some self-pubbers have agents, but I strongly doubt I would get approached by an agent, and I expect I would be busy enough where I would not have time to go shopping for one.
- The negative impact of having gone the self-publishing route.

There are shared advantages and disadvantages of each, of course. The most notable point being::

- There is NO guarantee that I would succeed either by traditional OR self-publishing methods.

There are a lot of things missing from this list. I realize this. This is a uncomplicated form for those who are just dipping their feet into the process of determining which route is best.

On a personal front, I want to support the traditional publishing venue. However, I have to be realistic as well. I can afford to invest ~$1,500 to get my cover art, start marketing, and pay an editor to pick over my book.

I do not think I can afford to wait 14+ months with no chance of income at all. It is all-or-nothing in my personal situation. I have the choice of contract work -- which is paying less and less with each passing day as individuals seek volume and sacrifice quality. Or, I can buckle down and start producing books and selling them for the kindle or print.

At least this way, the stories I love to write might make it out to the populations that like to read. It is unlikely I will land in the coveted top 100. But, if I do not take life by the horns and ride the bull, I will never have a chance at all to shine.

Throwing off the Mantle...

Today's post will be a little out of the normal. Mainly because this national novel writing month, I returned to my roots as a writer and did something I haven't indulged in for a long time: I pantsered this book.

I am usually a fan of my plotting and my careful details. However, this time I said screw it, threw away my plot (which I had spent an entire month working on) and decided that I would dive in with nothing but my poet-possessed laptop and my brain.

Really, it was a great idea.

This novel does not use a unique concept. It uses a plot mechanism used before, but done in a way unique to me. This is also outside of my usual method of operation. While I won't quite say it has a cliche plot, I focused more on telling a good story than trying to tell a unique story. There is a little irony in that I think I managed to come away with one of my better stories just by focusing on having fun.

This got me thinking a little. When I stepped back and viewed my book on the level of telling a good story, there are often similar plot mechanisms I like in a story. 'Snicker's' bars versus fillet mignon, but.... I think this month I went for a book that would be a fun read.

And somehow, I think I have succeeded.

By throwing off the usual controlled style of writing, I think I touched back on why I love to write. I think this let me relax and do what I love the most. This reflects in the quality of my writing, as well. This book will need edits, but I am not so certain that it will need a rewrite. I know scenes that I want to tune, but so far there are none I want to scrape.

It is a pleasant, uplifting feeling. While I am usually able to write a good quantity of words when I apply myself, I do not usually feel so eager to get up in the morning and get to work on a book.

Thank you, November. Thanks for letting me get back in touch with my roots and remember what it is like to write a book off the seat of my pants!

This is the book that I will send to a publisher and agents. It will need work, it will need polish, but this is the one that I will take all of the way.

The First Three Chapters

Twitter has once again spawned a discussion subject in my brain. Thanks, twitter. Really. I should be working on other things right about now!

Joking aside, this is something that writers of all calibers should pay attention to.

Your first three chapters are very important. They will be what gets the interest of an agent or a publisher. It will be what hooks your reader into the story. Everyone knows that a story needs a strong foundation to stand upon. This is often done within the first three chapters. In fact, if you haven't built into your real story within the first three chapters, well, there is probably something very wrong. Even if your plot doesn't directly tie in with the climax or conclusion, it should somehow lead your character towards it.

Even if it is a swift kick in the butt to leave their door and go do something with themselves.

I feel that this is a generally accepted concept. However, I am going to take the mold and I am going to go smash it into a wall over there.

Do not polish your first three chapters and neglect the rest of your novel. The first three chapters are important. There is absolutely no denying it. You cannot have a great piece of fiction without a strong start.

You cannot have a great piece of fiction without a strong finish.

I like to call the syndrome, "Great opening and then came the can o' crap!" Crap is generally viewed as a negative thing. Because really, poop is gross. Toilet humor can be funny, but unless your book is about toilets or somehow features poop, you do not want this to be a descriptive term of your story.

I have read many manuscripts during the course of editing and critiquing that have really gripping starts and then they turn to crap. The polished, flowery language that worked so well in the first few chapters turns into a tired, lame horse that can't quite manage to climb the hill. The disappointment factor is typically so great that I have to step away from the computer so that my line edits are constructive rather than mean.

Those of you who have endured my critiques are probably aware of how bluntly honest I try to be. I firmly believe that you can learn the art of writing by doing a *lot* of critiquing. I certainly learned how to improve my craft this way.

This is advice, do as you wish with it. But, if you spend the same amount of time polishing your first three chapters as you do the entire novel, chances are that you will have a novel really worth something at the end of the day.

Also... just because you have polished your first three chapters, do not send them out immediately until your entire novel is done. This is just.... ugh. Don't do it. You never know when an agent or publisher will get back to you. You need to be able to send it out the next day if you get a reply asking for the complete manuscript.

True story: A friend of mine got a reply from Tor asking for the complete manuscript. She IMs me in a complete panic. She has not edited her novel.

Some 8 hours later I returned a line edit so she could panic through her corrections. It was perhaps the worst evening of my life.

I did it because she is my friend, but you should never put yourself into this situation. You want to be a responsive writer who is prepared. If they want the manuscript? It better be ready, printed, sitting on your desk in a nicely wrapped package and ready to send out the following morning. You don't necessary need to overnight the manuscript unless there are circumstances where they ask for it by a certain date. If it is by email, you should just have it ready for emailing.

There is nothing wrong with doing a one last reading before you send, but you should not be needing to do any significant edits. When you send your proposal or query, your novel should be ready from start to finish.

Your new editor or agent may suggest changes, but you should be sending them something that you feel is up to the publication standards of your genre.

The Purpose of the Plot

Greetings, Pantser. Hello, Outliner. Warm welcome to those in-between.

No matter what type of organizer you are it is important that your story has a plot. There is one exception to this which I will go over at the very end of this post. Please deal with my humor until then.

First, no matter how good or how bad a story is, no matter what genre that story belongs to, it shares one simple thing with all stories. There is some form of plot. When you put a sentence down to the paper, you are writing about *something*. That something will become your plot. Or at least part of it.

When you write your first draft, you may not know what your plot is until you get there. That is one of the joys of being a pantser -- or someone who writes by the seat of their pants. I have served my time as a pantser. It can be a great deal of fun. It keeps the mystery alive. Until the last word, the last page, when you sigh and realize that you are 'finished'. Crossing the finish line as a pantser can be very rewarding.

But let us not forget about the dedicated outliner. These folks -- I've done this as well -- plan their plots, their conflicts and their characters in advance of writing. These folks know where their story is going. These folks sit through the hard moments where they know exactly what is to come and cope with having to wait to get there. In a way, the outliner may feel as if they are putting the finishing touches on a story by writing the dialogs, the descriptions and the scenes out true to their outline.

Then there are the few who are both pantser and outliner. I fall into this category. After having done dramatic experimentation with both outlining and pantser'ing. These folks have a direction but leave the details up to chance. Many pantsers will often have a concept of where they want to go, but it changes on the fly. The hybrid will know where they want to go, the getting there is just an adventure waiting to happen.

All of these methods are correct. The magic is in the editing, but that is a different subject altogether.

Now that we have covered the three basic types of writers, let us dig right into the heart of the issue.

What is a plot? Why do I need it? And why do *you* feel like you need to tell me why *I* need a plot? Who the hell are you anyway?

There are many more questions that could suffer answering, but I will start with these.

What is a plot?

A plot is the driving force behind a story. It is your story. It is your synopsis, it is the reason your reader wants to keep reading your book. It is the conflict. It is the drama. It is the breath-taking moment when your character's dream has come true. It is every defining moment of your book. It is the why of your book. It is also the how of your book. It is the purpose of your book.

The plot, in the nitty-gritty world, is the series of events that take your book from the start to the end. It is the tangled weave that your character spins as he or she goes out on their adventures. It is the series of events that take your character to the conflict and the events that allow them to resolve the conflict.

Wikipedia defines a plot as: A literary term, a plot is all the events in a story particularly rendered toward the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect or general theme. An intricate, complicated plot is known as an imbroglio, but even the simplest statements of plot can have multiple inferences, such as with songs in the ballad tradition. Basically a plot is the story line or the way a story is written.


Why do I need it?

Why do you need air? Why do you eat? Why do you sleep? Why do you ask me this question?

This has been something that I have been answering a lot lately. This is actually what spurred me into writing this post. With National Novel Writing Month quickly approaching, many writers are struggling with this concept. Some are even throwing their hands up in disgust and giving up because they focus on their characters and end up with no plot, no world and no purpose for them. When asked about this.... they'd get offended and say their characters are the plot.

No, your characters -- no matter how beautiful or wonderful -- are not your plot. You need a plot. Get over it and make one. Start with your conflict. Once you know what the main conflict and the climax (The most tense, story changing event in your novel) it is MUCH easier to figure out the rest of your plot. Just remember, you do NOT have to have all of your plots tied to the climax. Side-adventures are allowed. In fact, they are encouraged. They can add a lot to a story even if it may not be directly related to the climax. Your climax is very much your defining moment in the book.


And why do *you* feel like you need to tell me why *I* need a plot? Who the hell are you anyway?

I am just a writer like any other. I just love the craft so much I feel the need to ramble on about it. You don't have to follow my advice. It is, after all, just advice. Do what you want. But, your story will be much better off with a good plot.

And if you somehow manage to get me to critique your book, you won't get the lecture about plots and realize 80,000 words in that your story is actually lacking a defining plot and you need to rewrite the whole thing -yet again-. If you fail to get a good plot, you will end up doing a full rewrite.

I know I have fallen into this trap.

As a side-note, a good plot does not need to be a complex plot. Sometimes the best plots are the simple ones.

Now, as I promised early (Look, Ma, I kept my promise. Really, I did!) there is a situation where plot... well, who needs it? National Novel Writing Month!

All the rules are gone for this. If it is fiction, have fun. Write whatever. No plot? Pfffft. Who needs a plot anyway? The point and beauty of National Novel Writing Month is to enjoy writing. To accomplish something you haven't before. By all means, throw aside the wicked plot and just write. You might be surprised at the plot that sneaks in, but do not be afraid to experiment and play. It isn't for the professional, but for that scared little writer who really wants to write a book but needs the experience.

Don't worry. You can worry about your plot on the next book. November is for you, new writer.

Character Detailing

As I have matured as a writer, I have found myself forming the habit of making very detailed notes about my characters. While I will often leave the general plot points flow as they will in the rough draft, it has become a habit to try to flesh out my characters as much as possible.

There are several reasons for this. The primary one is that I am building a world that is shared among several novels. By doing this I build a familiarity with the world that allows me to write new stories in the same general locations. By sharing locations I give myself the opportunity to decide if I want a light story or an epic story and have all of the materials I need to just sit down and write at leisure.
One thing I have noticed is that this process is not an easy one. I am going to share with you some character detailing from one of my books. I will also explain why I feel this information is useful for me.

There is no right or wrong about detailing your characters. This is not a post to tell you how to do things. However, if you are interested in creating a thorough plot and a world of your own, this may be of use to you.

Hair: Blond
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 135
Real Name: ***plot note

History: ***plot note – Heritage details

Timeline:

1602, Age 10: ***plot note
1602, Age 10: ***plot note
1604, Age 12: ***plot note
1608, Age 16: ***plot note
1608. Age 16: ***plot note
1608, Age 16: ***plot note.
1609, Age 17: ***plot note.
1610, Age 18: ***plot note
1610, Age 18: ***plot note
1615, age 23: Married
1619, Age 27: First Born
1621, Age 29: Second Born
1626, Age 34: ***plot note
1637, Age 45: Third Born
1637, Age 45: Death of Wife
1638, Age 46: Death

The first section of my character notes I dedicate to physical statistics. These are stats that I use frequently. Someone of 5’2” that is male I would describe as short. 5’5” would be of average height; over 5’9” would be tall. I view the average female between 5’3”-5’5”.

Next, I have their real name. In the writing program I use, the main panel has me put their first name, last name, date of birth, date of death and occupation. Unfortunately, I have to follow the ‘real world’ calendar on dates. I randomly selected the 1500-1600s as the date range I would be working with. This may or may not carry over into the novel. I picked the months based off of the seasons. Regular months do not exist in my world, but rather a series of holidays that separate the year, the seasons, and the number of moon cycles within the season… there are terms for these spans of time, but I will worry about those as a last finishing detail. For now, the 12 month cycle is enough to give me an idea of the seasons.

The ‘History’ section is notes on heritage or anything of importance I feel I need to include that does not fit into the character’s timeline.

The timeline is major events in the character’s life and the year they occur.
Consider me paranoid, but I am not going to expose the plot of my novel to the internet at random. That is why I have used the handy ***plot note function. I left the things at are non-plot critical. :)

When I am setting up the timelines, I find that having the ability to look at the year something occurs help keeps plot bunnies at bay. It also gives me a feel for location. If I know that in this year, a character was somewhere doing a specific something, I can make certain that the events surrounding the character are more consistent at a glance. This prevents a character from being at two places at one time. I have done this before. It was rather embarrassing.

Once I am completed the timeline, I will add the following traits:

Personality: Fun-Loving, Affectionate, Prankster, Care-free
Skills: Rope Tricks, Horseback riding, Archery

These traits were randomly selected and not a part of the actual character, but meant as a demonstration. Once I have selected the Personality and Skills traits, I embellish on their levels with the trait and how it alters the behaviour of the character.

This becomes the foundation for the character. As I write the story, I will add to the timeline by marking seasonal notes. Example:

1637, Age 45: Third Born
Male, $name
1637, Age 45: Death of Wife
Winter, Childbirth
1638, Age 46: Death
Spring, Illness

I will try to leave the timeline as open ended as possible until the first draft is done.

The worst part about doing detailed character notes like this is the time investment it takes to ensure the timelines are accurate. However, it is well worth the time investment due to the sense of world I get from doing it. It also allows me to build an overall timeline for the kingdom I am working with. If I choose to do a true epic, this will allow me to build the kingdom timeline for the continent / global timeline.

I hope this sharing gives you something to think about!

The Point of the Rough Draft

There are many types of writers. There is the casual writer, the serious writer and the professional author. While there are many different subsets of writers, I find that these three basic categories often catch most people. Not all people, of course, but like a good stereotype, there is truth to be found in it.

This could also match the experience level of the writer. A serious writer, however, can still be a beginner.

What does this have to do with a rough draft? It is simple. I strongly believe that these three types of writers view the rough draft in drastically different lights.

I will make a disclaimer here. This post is on a rampage with the stereotypes. In fact, there may be some good old fashioned mockery thrown in with the stereotypes. I am not making fun of any of you. In fact, I am poking the most fun out of myself, as I can see how my personal journey as a writer has reflected on this concept of the writer stereotype in regards to rough drafts.

The casual writer -- or "My rough draft is my final draft!"

When I started my journey as a writer oh so long ago, I was convinced that I was perfect and infallible. (Please. Snort. Laugh. Just don't choke on your tea or coffee. We'd rather the audience be alive to enjoy the rest of the humor in this posting.)

My first book. I was convinced that all I needed to do was send it to some fortunate agent who would be delighted to receive what would -obviously- be a bestseller...

I have to take a short break here to stop laughing at myself.

If you are in this stereotype, please do not be offended. There are a few people in the world who can write a perfect first draft. These people are often professionals. They are also extremely rare.

They typically write extremely slowly and do extensive plotting before they write a word to the page. Sometimes I would classify their 'plot lines' as a draft just due to their level of completeness.

As a casual writer, I think the importance of the rough draft is often lost or missed in the general excitement of writing a book. You may have written many drafts or you could be working on your first. No matter what, I think that it is very important that you take a moment to consider a point:

The rough draft exists for you to find out just what your story is about. It is there for you to experiment and to enjoy writing. It is not a place where grammar rules all. It should not be the place where you edit. You should be putting words to the page with the goal of expressing what you need or want to express in a scene. It exists for your personal gratification.

Edits are for the second, third and fourth drafts. Depending on just how far you took the experimental process, you may end up with five or more drafts. This is alright.

Writing is a lot of work, but you are supposed to have fun with your rough draft.

The serious and professional writer usually share very similar views on their rough draft policies. Of course, writing is a subjective task and there is no one right way to do it. But, I have not yet met a published author who did not make use of the rough draft as an experimental toy. I even know one lovely fantasy writer who realized her one book project was actually two books and split it halfway through her rough draft.

I seem to recall her worrying about what her agent and publisher would think of the sudden change. (To throw it out there, it worked out fine.)

The rough draft can surprise even the experienced professional. Allow yourself the freedom to experiment and to play. Edits are for the second draft.

The quicker that you acknowledge that your first story or your first draft will not be publishable (and barely tolerable in some cases) you will be much better off. You may even find yourself completing the first drafts quicker and more consistently.

That said, I feel that it is important that you remember one important thing:

You must find a style of writing that suits your needs. This starts with the rough draft, and must continue right through editing and polishing.

But I think it is definitely worth noting that the poor rough draft is underestimated and underutilized. Let your rough draft serve as a powerful tool in your writing hobby or career. The more freedom you give yourself to play in your draft and experiment, the more you will grow as a writer.

Publishers and agents do not want static authors who cannot mold their style and mature. In order to mature, you need to play. In order to play, you need to be flexible.

Most of all, you need to be willing to try and to leave your comfort zones.

NaNoWriMo looms on the horizon

It is that time of year! NaNoWriMo is looming on the horizon and many people are trying to decide whether or not they wish to participate.

Here is my guide for diving into NaNoWriMo face first and surviving it.

For those of you in the Montreal area, I will likely be covering these subjects in an upcoming workshop in October as well as at Con*Cept. While I am still in talks with the good folks over at Con*Cept, an appearance by the Montreal ML crew is likely.

1: What is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. While National implies it belongs in one country, don't worry. It takes place in many countries around the world. It does not matter what gender, age or occupation you have.

The concept behind NaNoWriMo is to write a novel in 30 days. Starting November 1st and ending at midnight on November 30, your goal is to write 50,000 words. This is technically shorter than some published novels, but it is long enough to properly classify as a novel.

You can view the rules of NaNoWriMo here.

Here is a glimpse of what is required to be an official participant: (Yes, this is a direct copy paste from the link above.)

* Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
* Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people's works).
* Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you're writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
* Write multiple words (not the same word repeated 50,000 times).
* Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.

Pretty easy, huh?

Not quite.

2: Just how hard is it to win at NaNoWriMo

From my personal experiences, I have years I have won and years that I have not won. However, it is important to realize that the point of NaNoWriMo is not to win, but to experience the thrill of writing your own book. Sometimes victory is not in reaching 50,000 words, but the journey you took when you set out to do it. It does not matter if you succeed or fail. It matters that you tried at all.

3: I am not certain I have enough time to dedicate an entire month to NaNoWriMo! I have school, work, exams, etc...

Excuses get you no where. Do what you can as you can. Your goal is to write 1,667 words a day. If you know that you cannot reach that goal, set a smaller goal for yourself that you can win.

4: I really want to reach 50,000 words, but I don't know how to do it. Help!

Practice makes perfect. Writing a novel in 30 days is hard no matter how you look at it. Break your novel down into sentence sections. Sit down and force yourself to write a sentence. That goal is not difficult to meet. Anyone can write a sentence. Stop viewing your writing as 50,000 individual words that make a plot and a story. When you sit down, focus on the sentence you wish to write. If you're stuck and you do not know what to write, I find it is easier to focus on a small little piece rather than the overview.

5: This doesn't make sense. Novels are supposed to be good and well written. Why are you suggesting that I ignore my plot and focus on sentences? One sentences does not make a plot!

Oh dear. You're right! How could I have missed that? Why? Because NaNoWriMo is not meant to make a great story. In fact, I would state that NaNoWriMo is more about writing the crappiest story that you possibly can. If you do not care about quality, quantity will come. While professional writers do participate in NaNoWriMo, this month is not for them. It is for the person who has sat at their computer and wished that they could write a book. It is for those who have never accomplished something so large. It is for the unpublished writer who wants to taste sweet victory without a looming rejection on the horizon. There are no rejection notices in NaNoWriMo. The only person you have to please is yourself. If you do not have a plot but 50,000 words of rambling sentences, you have still succeeded.

You can try to write a book that makes sense later.

4: Seriously. Quantity over Quality.

It is worth a second look at. For the person who has never written a novel before, it is important that you get that first story under your belt. If your dream is to be published, use NaNoWriMo as a stepping stone. The first draft of a novel is there to find out what the novel is about. Use NaNoWriMo to make that first draft. You can repair the plots and do the other things this blog suggests in December.

5: Who should participate in NaNoWriMo? Who should not participate?

While I believe anyone can benefit from NaNoWriMo, or at least have a little fun, I think it is harder for the professional writer to get something productive out of it. Their livelihood is based on the quality of their writing. If you do not have a deadline and need to do a draft anyway, then it may be the ideal situation for a professional author. However, it really is meant for the amateur who doesn't know if they can reach 50,000. It won't stop me from participating, but I always keep in mind that I need to make certain I meet all of my requirements as a professional writer before I have fun with NaNoWriMo.

I have, however, made a point of ensuring that I won't have any contracts for November this year. /innocent

6: What do you suggest I do to survive NaNoWriMo?

I have hours of content on what you can do to survive NaNoWriMo. It won't all fit here. Not without writing a novel on the subject. To make a long story very, very short, here is a list of things that you can do to help yourself survive November.

* Get a writing partner who is working at NaNoWriMo with you
* Hook up with your Municipal Liaison. They are there to help you.
* Set aside a time specifically for your writing.
* Use sites like 750words.com or WriteorDie.com to help you focus
* Keep high supplies of caffeine and sugar within easy reach.
* Turn off IRC, Twitter, Facebook, Instant Messaging and your phone when you write. They do not help you.
* Believe in yourself.
* Ask for plot help on the forums if you get writing block. Do not sit and stare at a blank screen.
* Write something. Anything. If you're blocked, writing angry commentary about how you're stuck might help you get unstuck. It may not make sense in your book, but you are writing and that is the entire point of NaNoWriMo
* Have fun. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, but this is a chance to do well without needing quality. Take advantage of it. You don't get the chance often.
* Help others as they have helped you. Take a break from your writing long enough to help someone else. How much they help you later may really surprise you.
* Remember -- there are thousands of people just like you participating. This can quietly lift your spirits even when you question why you are putting yourself through the nightmare of 50,000 words in 30 days.

7: How can I help someone else succeed at NaNoWriMo?

Sometimes the best support is quietly letting someone know that you are rooting for them and making yourself available if they need someone to listen. However, you help someone best when you tell them they should be writing rather than chatting if they have overcome their plot problem or have cracked through their writing block. Listen if it is necessary. Nudge them back to writing when it is not.

Good luck, everyone! I will be right there with you this year, rooting you on and hoping that all of you experience and enjoy NaNoWriMo as it was meant to be enjoyed.

Suspending Disbelief

While all types of fiction require that the author make their works believable, science fiction and fantasy share the need to actively suspend disbelief. Because of the very nature of these genres, failure to meet this lofty goal can result in unpleasant consequences. The worst of these being that the person reading your work is disappointed or dislikes your book.

If you are interested in selling your book to a publisher make note of this. If you cannot suspend disbelief for the average reader, potential agents and publishing houses are going to send you a rejection. If you are fortunate it will be a form rejection.

When I write a novel I try to focus on several things:

1: Making my storyline feasible within the rules of my world and society.
2: Make my characters as ‘real’ of people as I can.
3: I try to steal my character’s shoes.

But what does this mean?

1: Making my storyline feasible within the rules of my world and society.
Whenever I write a novel I set rules on the societies, the functions of magic or the processes of science that will take place. My science fiction piece has a planet with two suns. It is questionable, at the very best, that such a planet can exist.
In order to suspend disbelief I found one simple solution: the planet cannot exist for a long period of time.

In a golden cradle situation, where the planet is trapped just at the brink of the two battling suns, my characters fight for their survival by seeking a way to get away from their planet. Before either one of the suns exert dominance over the globe and it is destroyed out of that golden cradle zone where life can exist.
Weather patterns change as the planet is pulled towards the more dominant sun, and the sun that is being overwhelmed is being pulled with it. The one sun is dying a slow death, and the other will be consumed in the last moments of its sister’s destruction.

Especially as the villain accelerates the process.

By admitting how infeasible the concept is, it is possible for the reader to temporarily suspend disbelief and accept that this situation could – in the light of advanced science – be feasible.

In science fiction, suspending disbelief is even more important. A reader approaching a fantasy book wants to explore new worlds where things that cannot happen do happen. Science fiction fans want to imagine that something might – somehow – happen and want to see just how the author believes it can be so. Obviously there are some genres of science fiction that share the easily suspended belief of a fantasy book, but there are more genres that require a steady foundation and reasonable suspensions of belief.

2: Make my characters as ‘real’ of people as I can.

When I read a book, I want a character I can relate to on some level or another. Because of this, I try to make my characters as real as possible. I believe this is a key part of writing a good book. This is just my opinion, however.

Finally, 3: I try to steal my character’s shoes.

What the…?

I’m sure the shoes of these poor characters are not that comfortable. In fact, I like reading about characters that have to struggle and fail before they succeed. However, there is one thing I remind myself when I think of my characters’ shoes. If I am going to steal their shoes to walk around with, I want to be as far away from them as possible when they find out. This way, I have their shoes and I am really far away from them when they try to kick my butt.

No matter how you look at it, it often becomes a notable point that characters in science fiction and fantasy novels are really, really made of awesome sauce and could kick my butt in a street fight. I mean, really. Would you want to be caught with the shoes of a character that can shoot lightning beams out of their…
I’m sure you get the idea.

Writing is not an art where you can write about characters without leaving some sort of trace of yourself in them. It happens whether or not you are aware of it. This is due to the simple fact that when you write, you are drawing on your own skills, your own experiences and your own perceptions of how a society should be within your world. Some writers ‘get into the heads of their characters’ while others state they do not.

In either case you will often leave something of yourself behind. It is this link that will allow your reader to see glimmers of things that they can relate to with your characters. It is also this relation that will help you suspend disbelief.
I am not suggesting that you make every character a cookie cutter form of yourself. However, you need to somehow ensure that there is enough of a ‘human’ side to your characters – especially the protagonists – which they can believe in what these characters are doing.

The further outside of the realms of normality you stray the more important that this becomes.

Read your own writing and ask yourself one little question: If I had not been the one to write this, would I believe it?

Sometimes looking over your own works with a grain of salt and a lot of scepticism can help.

Good luck, writer. This is a long and difficult journey.

Motivation and making excuses

It seems like one of the most common threads of discussion among writers is how to stay motivated. It can be hard. I fail at it myself. However, there are a few things that you can do to keep yourself going.

For me, I think one of the biggest things that helps keep me on pace is one very simple tip:

A novel is much larger than a sentence.

When I think of a novel and writing one, it is difficult to get past the scope of what I am doing. No matter how I look at it, the idea of undertaking a novel is enormous. You cannot sit down and write a completed novel in a day.

Really. I don't think it is statistically possible. Maybe if you were superman.

For those interested, you would have to write 2083 words an hour (34 words a minute) for 24 hours. Without stop. Maybe a very fast typer could manage it, but the whole lack of sleep and plot bunnies thing would probably prevent a successful completion. If you have managed 50k in 24 hours, however, I'd be interested to hear from you. What color would you like your shrine in? :)

I stray.

The point remains that the average person cannot write a novel in a day. However, the average person *can* write a sentence in a day. In fact, I would hazard that most people could write a sentence every few minutes, if they were really interested in doing so. Enough people manage to write many sentences in a few minutes on twitter.

Do not view your novel as a novel. If you have trouble maintaining your motivation when you consider your novel, view it as a connected series of sentences. Sit down, every single morning, and tell yourself the following:

Today I will write one sentence.

Sit down and write one sentence. Sometimes, just sometimes, that one sentence can bloom into several sentences. Time twists and warps, as your fingers settle into the steady rhythm of typing. Because you sat down with the goal of writing one sentence, you may find an hour has passed you by, and your moment of dedication evolved into something much better than a moment.

Do not tell yourself "I cleaned, I edited, I walked the dog. I took care of the children. Maybe I will find time tomorrow to write.

Do not push off to tomorrow what you can do today. If you have enough time to log onto twitter, check your saved searches, see who messaged you and respond, you have enough time to sit down and write your sentence.

The only person you fail is yourself. The instant you have time to go to a website like twitter, visit my blog, or go to facebook, you have enough time to write a single sentence.

After all, the greatest stories of all times began with a single sentence.

The only person that you fail when you choose twitter or facebook or a blog is yourself.

I wrote 2846 words so far today. That is many sentences.

It all started with one.

Stop viewing your novel as a novel, and start viewing it as a sentence that happens to have a lot of other siblings. Are you stuck? Don't think of the plot. Think of the next sentence. If you are still stuck, write something -- anything -- onto the page.

Even if it is something as simple as:

"I can do this."

Excuses hurt you and do not define your character as a writer. The difference between an author and a writer is quite simple:

The Author didn't make excuses.

They corrected what they were doing wrong, sat down at their computers or typewriters, and wrote their sentences.

You can do it, if you stop making excuses and start making sentences instead.

Quality will come with time.

National Novel Writing Month is coming up in November. Starting today, you can see what results practicing your sentences today can do for your writing of tomorrow.

Handwriting versus Keyboarding

Hey -- sorry for such the long delay in making any posts. Things have been busy.

Today, I am going to throw to the table the classic argument of which is better: Handwriting versus Keyboarding. By Keyboarding, I mean typing your story directly to the computer.

This is not as easy of a subject as it sounds. There are lots of arguments for both. In fact, there is no one right way to do it. This is completely subjective.

This level of subjectiveness is what makes this a *fun* topic of discussion. What do *you* do?

I do both. It depends what mood I am in when I start a project. This is the key point: What mood I am in when I *start* a project. I think a very costly mistake is trying to do both at once. I write completely differently on notebook paper when I do to the computer. I don't know what it is about notebook paper, but I write to the plot, plot bunnies abound, and I usually tell an entertaining, if not horribly written story.

That said, once I go to the computer, I often end up with a better product at the end of the day. I lose the tendency to edit while I am writing, so every word I add is being directly productive.

This is just me, of course.

Here is a very small list of pros and cons for handwriting -- specific to me:

Pros:
Inability to edit
Inability to see word count
Pure story-telling
PENS.

Cons:
Inability to see word count
Aching Wrists and Hands
Need paper + Pen. Lots of pens, and lots of paper.

I really like pens. No, seriously. I love pens. You want a friend for life? Give me a pen. Costco sells pens in bulk. My husband tries very hard to avoid that section of the store.

There is one benefit to handwriting that is hard to list as a con or pro. It is the primary reason I still use what many view as an archaic form of writing. When I transfer the handwritten work to the computer, I am able to 'see' the story better. I can fix many of the plot holes, add in the descriptions I need, and track the correct character appearances. (As an aside, my characters change their looks 10 or so times each when I handwrite. Absolutely zero attempts at consistency. I will pick their 'true' appearances when I copy the writing to the computer.)

On the other hand, when I try to type directly onto the computer, I tend to develop some bad, lazy habits. This is great for projects like NanoWrimo, where the entire purpose is to write for fun and solely for fun and word count. I find I take a few steps backwards from over analyzing when I write draft onto the computer.

I think the primary source of this is my contract work as a professional writer/editor. When I see text in a word processor, my mind begins to go into editing mode.

After much thought, I realized the only way to solve it for my situation was to cease the word processor.

That said, I have not used many 'writing programs'. I consider trying them, but either they are extremely expensive or I am too lazy to follow their suggested method of doing things. I have always done things in the way that suit me best. For a more coherent example of the differences in the type styles, I will cover my thoughts on my own writing, first on handwriting and then on keyboarding.

Writing Quality - First Draft - Handwriting

Poor quality. I spend little time on spelling, while i make efforts to use somewhat proper grammar, this is secondary to getting the story told. I focus on elements that drive the story. If a description is important, I have a tendency to over-describe it. There is a lot of focus on dialog and basic character actions and interactions.

Writing Quality - First Draft - Keyboarding

Higher quality. I bog down with grammar fixes, spelling and word choice and general flow. I have a secondary focus on description, and I am less likely to include any frivolous conversations between characters. There are less plot-bunnies, but often less plot in the first draft.

Writing Quality - Second Draft - Handwriting

At this point I am copying the draft to the computer via Keyboarding. Draft quality is significantly higher. I refine what is there, kill off the bunnies and groom the ones I wish to keep.

Writing Quality - Second Draft - Keyboarding

Lower quality compared to handwriting. I am just polishing first quality draft. I end up with 'less work' because it is already on the computer, but sacrifice quality in the sense that I did not play as much outside of the box when I originally drafted.

Word Choice - Handwriting

More natural word choices. I am less likely to hit a thesaurus and more likely to just use the first appropriate word that comes to mind.

Word Choice - Keyboarding

Much more likely to use higher level vocabulary since a thesaurus is a click away.

Grammar - Handwriting

First draft grammar is laughable at best. If there is a rule for something, I have likely broken it. However, the benefit to this is learning through experimentation. Since I know sentence structure will likely not remain the same, I feel free to try new things since I know they will be corrected upon transfer to the computer.

Grammar - Keyboarding

Those green squiggles sometimes make me go back, often, and think of better ways to write a sentence. I tend to refine my grammar on the first draft. This is slower to write, but somewhat educational. That said, I don't totally trust those green squiggles. Humans are better at grammar.

Spelling...

*snort* There is no point in this entry. Keyboarding wins.

Editing - Handwriting

I have half pages chunks scribbled out. If I have made a 'this must be gone error', it is immortalized in big scribble marks. This is good for reference later.

Editing - Keyboarding

I do not track my edits on a novel to keep file size down and prevent more sources of potential crashes. I sometimes miss seeing the horrible sections I removed. If I removed a section while handwriting, it was just *that* bad.

Time - Handwriting

Counter to initial thought, I write faster when handwriting in many cases. I won't win a straight word count battle versus my keyboarding skills, but I do not stop and go. I just keep a constant stream of fairly quick writing going on. Because I am not saddled to my computers, I can write in more places conveniently.

Time - Keyboarding

If I am on a roll, I can whip out thousands of words an hour. IF I do not edit, IF I know exactly what I want to do, and IF I can ignore facebook and twitter. That is not often the case.

In a way, it takes longer to deal with handwriting because of the fact I have to copy it to the computer after. However, when I am copying, I am not using facebook, twitter and other distracting websites.

All in all, handwriting wins for when I want to write something seriously. Sigh. Now if only I could convince my husband that yes, I really need the hundreds upon hundreds of pens I want and that he refuses to buy for me...

Researching your novel

One thing that some Fantasy and Science Fiction writers (and authors) fail to realize is that research should be an important part of your world building process. It is very easy to fall to the temptation of just writing whatever you want when you are working on a F/SF novel.

This should not be the case.

I have been working on a young adult novel project lately. This has some fantastical elements - ghosts, legends, myths and the kin. But, in the end, it really is about a modern girl who gets to experience some pretty fantastic things. Fantasy? In a way.

Factual? As factual as any myth or legend can be.

Researched? You bet.

But, as I have been doing the research for this project, I realized something. No matter how much I would just jump in and write a fantasy novel, I would be doing research. However, not as much research as I should have been doing.

What things should I have researched for my fantasy novel projects? Well, I will provide you a list and my reasoning. Writing this young adult, I feel, has greatly improved my ability to see a plot line and condense it into something manageable. I will go into this a little later, as there is a research element involved here as well.

1: Basic sciences.

Magic, as we all know, is magical! It is not science. However, one thing should remain the same, even if you use magic in your world. This law of science should still apply. You suspend this, and you break your concept. Suspending disbelief -- or the act of convincing your reader that this could actually happen -- is vital if you want your fantasy novel to succeed. You can do this by looking at every action taken with magic and applying a basic physics law to it.

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

If you throw a fireball, there will be the same force of the fireball expanding from the explosive point. In exchange, there should be a similar -- equivalent -- cost to the user. If you have a character that can just throw around massively damaging fireballs with no consequence and no reaction, belief in the sciences of the real world will not be suspended.

If you use fire a lot, research fire. This can include materials that burn best, and materials that do not burn at all. If throwing a fireball means that your character gets hit with the backlash, how can the character best protect themselves?

Exhaustion, both physical and mental, are the standard equal and opposite reaction of magic. Someone casts a fireball, and they become tired. If they become too tired, they risk death.

In the case of a cannon, the cannon recoils. But, hey, it is magic. You can bend the rules a little. But, you should always have this little rule in the back of your mind.

I would also keep the one about "What goes up must come down" firmly in mind. Especially if you have a character prone to tripping up the stairs.

2: Location, Location, Location.

Many people have it set in their minds that a F/SF novel must take place in many different locations. In some cases, this is true. In others, it is not. However, one thing does tend to be clear: The higher the number of locations pursued in a novel, the more convoluted the plot tends to become. Do not add locations just for the sake of adding locations. More locations does not give your novel an epic feel. Your writing, your style, and your story give your novel an epic feel.

When you research locations for a SF/F novel, there will be a lot of creation. The world should be yours. However, in order to suspend disbelief (here we go again...) you need to make your locations at least somewhat realistic. For this reason, I have taken to researching the equivalent on earth. Then, I see what is nearby.

Why do large cities tend to be where they are? Water supplies. Most large cities are near some form of major water supply. My home is actually on an Island. Many people I have spoken with did not realize that Montreal is in fact an island, but sure enough... there is water on all sides. Lots and lots of water. (For those who are not familiar with Montreal, it is in the middle of the St Lawrence river in Quebec... directly north of New York State.)

New York City? It has the Ocean. Baltimore? Chesapeake Bay. Miami? Ocean. Los Angeles, San Fran... Oceans, rivers and Lakes all fairly close. Ottawa? Has a river. Toronto has a lake. Chicago, Milwaukee both have a lake. Detroit likes those lakes, too. London has the ocean...

I'm sure you are getting the idea. Pay attention to the details of your location. This is particularly true of Fantasy novels. Your people will not live in a region where they can not get their basic needs: Food, Water and Shelter. They can make their own shelter, but they are in a lot of trouble if they cannot get food or water. Sure, that barren wasteland may seem like an awesome place to put a city, but large numbers of people will not be able to reside there. Not without a heck of a lot of explanation.

3: Resources

Civilized lands need resources for trade or for crafting. The resources available are determined by your location. When you research location types, do not forget to research valuable resources. You may not mention them in your novel, but these factors need to be kicking around in the back of your mind. This is an important part of what makes your world function.

4: Politics and Religion

Both of these are something that many are advised not to talk about in polite company. They can break friendships (and couples) about as fast as a penny falling to the floor from the counter. That said, these are often driving forces behind many plots. Making up your own politics and religion is great! But, you better do your research and see just how politics and religion can change a nation -- for better or for worse. With so many politicians around the world -- professional and the type who sit on their couches and comment on it -- you need to have a good idea of what actually is going on. Hitting the history books may be wise.

There are so many more things that you can research to make a SF/F novel happen. That said, it is important that you do not lose focus on the most important thing:

Your story needs a plot. It is not a story without a plot.

A plot has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is really just a big problem that needs solved. The resolution of the problem is the climax, and the stuff after that is just wrapping up the details.

You may love to write about a character, but your character needs to serve an important role to your plot.

Often, the most simple of plots are the most enjoyable to read. The more plots, the harder it is to follow.

A few examples of simplistic plots include Twilight and Harry Potter.

I will use Harry Potter in this case, as most people have had long exposure to it.. that, plus I have not read Twilight. I might read it in the future, but we will see.

Harry potter, through all of the books, has one main plot. This is the conflict between Harry + Voldemort. There are many subsequent plot lines, but all of them actually contribute, in one way or another, to the final showdown between Harry + Voldemort.

This is very important, people. Pay attention.

Every subsequent plot, in some way or another, contribute to the final showdown between Harry + Voldemort.

Your novel needs to be the same way. Every scene, every action and every dialog somehow needs to link to your main plot line.

This will really make your life a lot easier. It will also eliminate many plot holes. Easy to fix a problem when it doesn't exist in your book. (They will exist... but they will be much more minor than if you're flying off the cuff without your primary plot.)

I will leave you to chew on that a while on your own.

Good luck!

Pitches and Queries - Part Deux

This is not the first time I will delve into pitches and queries. It will not be the last time. Last time, I posted a few tips and query fails as found on twitter.

Today, I will show you the singes and burn marks from passing a pitch to a willing victim... err... volunteer.

Meet the nice folks over at @Seagman on twitter. You never know if you are talking to Aaron or Scott, but they are both great folks with equally great senses of humor. Aaron was nice enough to be cornered and take some time out of his busy schedule to rip apart a query.

As my experience with queries is limited, I wrote a query specifically for the purpose of education. My education. Now, your education. As I am shameless, I will post the entire thing for you to learn from. There are some purposefully seeded #queryfail moments. (Which Aaron caught and lectured about. I guess it is a good thing that I have thick skin.)

Now, onto the query in question:

The query itself is 166 words long. This is also a #queryfail in a whole, but it was a first attempt at a serious query.

The first noted #queryfail is the fact that Aaron does NOT represent the science fiction and fantasy genres. He represents more along the lines of mysteries, thrillers and suspense. However, this is a common issue. I was astounded to discover just how many people would query out of genre. While this was a controlled experiment, done with Aaron's blessings, I strongly suggest that you do NOT do this. Learn from the ripping of this critique. These are the immediate thoughts of an agent reading the query. Do you REALLY want an agent thinking these things about your writing? I didn't think so.

When I wrote the query, I had not intended on including any manuscript with it. Why? This was an experimental query. That said, as I was about to hit send, I decided on sending a blurb along with it. Aaron seemed to enjoy ripping through it, so I'll share with you the importance of sending only POLISHED works to an agent. By polished, I mean, spit-shined polished. That manuscript better have more luster than a pearl. I am not including the entire section that I included with the query email. I don't think I could survive the embarrassment. Yes, it is a rough draft. No, I'm not happy with said rough draft. No, it was never meant to be sent to an agent. Ever. Ah, well. The things I do for the craft.

Dear Secret Agent Man Aaron,

In a single night, three hundred years of history burned to the ground.

Propelled by hatred and racism, Danar sought the annihilation of Kelsh and her people. Unprepared and undefended, the city of Heliash toppled, her inhabitants slaughtered, captive or on the run.

Mari had returned home expecting a warm reunion with her mother, father and siblings. Instead, she found plumes of dark smoke coiling towards the uncaring sky and the stench of death. Her decision to fight her way into the city to find her family's fate hurls her into a living nightmare.

Lost, alone and despairing, Mari discovers the Tower of the Rising Sun. Never found by those seeking it and never granting its power to those who desired it, the Tower was both legend and myth.

What Mari did not expect was the high price the Tower would demand.

Burdened with a pledge unbreakable even by death, Mari must stop the demons of Danar, even if it means the destruction of her soul.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Rebecca J. Blain

Faint screams drifted on the gusting winds of the Sariano plains. The acrid stench of burning flesh assaulted Kari, the force of it so great she yanked her horse to a halt. The dark mare tossed her head and snorted, ears laid back. Falling over the saddle’s horn, she clutched at her mouth with a hand, fighting the waves of nausea that sought to overwhelm her.

Kari blessed the stars and the sky that Luna was so well trained. Legs braced in place, the horse patiently stood as she struggled to sit upright. Kari’s lungs burned as she choked and coughed. While the smoke was not thick, the putrid odor was so vile that her stomach churned despite her best efforts.

Her throat swallowed and convulsed as she sat up. Days of sweat and dirt had a unique and disgusting scent of its own, but it bought her the precious moments to steel her nerve and her guts.

After all, days on the road without a bath gave her plenty of time to adjust to that smell.

With the dark tendrils of night falling over the plains, she did not dare kick her horse into a gallop to climb the hill and discover the source of the sounds and scent. Turning Luna into the wind, she settled on a sedate walk.

_Goddess above, what is happening here?_

Kari knew the stench of decay or of burning bodies but that did not make it any easier to endure. She had survived two wars that bore more death and hardship than she wished to remember. The smell was reminiscent of the aftermath, the sacrificial pyres of the dead so that the survivors might not die of disease even as they recovered.

--

Now, onto the critique.

Dear Secret Agent Man Aaron,

This should be just Aaron, or Mr. Montaine to impress my mom.

In a single night, three hundred years of history burned to the ground.

Nice opening line. No, really. I like it.

Propelled by hatred and racism, Danar sought the annihilation of Kelsh and her people. Unprepared and undefended, the city of Heliash toppled, her inhabitants slaughtered, captive or on the run.

This is kind of interesting, except . . . why? Besides the whole hatred/racism thing, why does Danar want to annihilate Kelsh? That's not something you hear every day. Also, is Danar male, female, a unicorn? Is Kelsh a city or a queen? And I'm not sure what Heliash has to do with Kelsh, Danar or the unicorn.

Mari had returned home expecting a warm reunion with her mother, father and siblings. Instead, she found plumes of dark smoke coiling towards the uncaring sky and the stench of death. Her decision to fight her way into the city to find her family's fate hurls her into a living nightmare.

Danar, Kelsh, Heliash and now Mari . . . I'm already getting dizzy. I suspect Danar took care of Heliash, and is now going after Kelsh, and Mari is, I assume, going to be the savior. I'm pretty sure most skies don't care, so to specify that this particular sky is "uncaring" is a bit of over-writing. Also, hurling into a living nightmare is not very specific or descriptive. Is she tortured? Raped? Forced to watch Dancing With The Stars? Those are living nightmares.

Lost, alone and despairing, Mari discovers the Tower of the Rising Sun. Never found by those seeking it and never granting its power to those who desired it, the Tower was both legend and myth.

This is a bit confusing since she's lost, yet finds a tower no one else has found. She should buy a lottery ticket. And if she finds it, it is technically no longer a myth. The language is nice, but it doesn't tell me anything. What is its power? Why does everyone want to find it? And since the House of the Rising Sun was a brothel, I can only assume the Tower of the Rising Sun is going to get busted by the cops any day now.

What Mari did not expect was the high price the Tower would demand.

Yeah, this is vague too. I get that Mari might have lost her family -- that's a big deal. Everything else is a nicely painted mish mash of nothing. I don't know what it means, and you really haven't given me a reason to care. I should care, I want to care, but I don't. Why should I give a hoot about Mari and her missing family if there are thousands of other people burning, dying, watching Dancing With The Stars? I want to give a hoot. I have too many and I'd hate to throw them out. But Mari? She doesn't deserve any of my hoots.

Burdened with a pledge unbreakable even by death, Mari must stop the demons of Danar, even if it means the destruction of her soul.

The most concrete part of your plot yet: Mari must stop the demons of Danar. But why? Okay, I understand they're demons, and stopping them is a good thing, but she must stop them? Who said? And what would happen if she didn't? Would that high price the Tower demanded get a 25.7% APR added to it? And if it destroys her soul, wouldn't that put a damper on family reunions? I mean, a soulless Mari would just sit there and eat all the Pringles.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Word count? (I know you don't have one yet, but it's nice to pretend.)
Rebecca J. Blain

Okay, gotta go. Dancing With The Stars is on.

But wait! There's more!

Faint screams drifted on the gusting winds of the Sariano plains. The acrid stench of burning flesh assaulted Kari, the force of it so great she yanked her horse to a halt. The dark mare tossed her head and snorted, ears laid back. Falling over the saddle’s horn, she clutched at her mouth with a hand, fighting the waves of nausea that sought to overwhelm her.

Is this part of the other thing? Because it's not helping. A "gusting wind" is kind of like a "smelly fart" -- redundant and highly reminiscent of my Uncle Olaf, who was gusty in many different ways.
I don't know how a stench can assault someone, since it can't hold a club. Unless you were referring to Uncle Olaf.

The last two lines are kind of confusing since the dark mare snorted, then apparently clutched at her mouth with a hand, which means this is one special horsie. I believe you meant Kari was about to barf, but that's not what it says.


Kari blessed the stars and the sky that Luna was so well trained. Legs braced in place, the horse patiently stood as she struggled to sit upright. Kari’s lungs burned as she choked and coughed. While the smoke was not thick, the putrid odor was so vile that her stomach churned despite her best efforts.

The second line is also confusing because it's not clear who is struggling, Kari or Luna. It gets cleared up in the next line, but the confusion is still there.


Her throat swallowed and convulsed as she sat up. Days of sweat and dirt had a unique and disgusting scent of its own, but it bought her the precious moments to steel her nerve and her guts.

Okay, we get it -- three paragraphs about stinky. And it's not quite clear how her own stink gave her nerve.


After all, days on the road without a bath gave her plenty of time to adjust to that smell.


Is this really how you want to start your novel and introduce your character? Kari The Smelly?


With the dark tendrils of night falling over the plains, she did not dare kick her horse into a gallop to climb the hill and discover the source of the sounds and scent. Turning Luna into the wind, she settled on a sedate walk.

If it's all so putrid, wouldn't she go downwind and around the hill so she wouldn't have to revisit her lunch?


_Goddess above, what is happening here?_

I don't know what those little underline thingies are doing there. Just italicize it.


Kari knew the stench of decay or of burning bodies but that did not make it any easier to endure. She had survived two wars that bore more death and hardship than she wished to remember. The smell was reminiscent of the aftermath, the sacrificial pyres of the dead so that the survivors might not die of disease even as they recovered.

Back to the stink? I know the creative writing teachers emphasize using the senses, but some of the others would be nice.

--

Can you smell burned feathers? Those are mine. Once again, let me comment on the importance of never, ever sending a draft to an agent. Many of the problems that Aaron points out here I correct in edits and revisions. The draft is just that: draft. It isn't meant to see the light of day.

There was a line I bolded and italicized. Why? It is my favorite.

You will get burned as you write your queries. Take a moment and learn from mine. You can also learn from @Janet_Reid and her awesome @queryshark. I strongly recommend following Janet, her shark, Aaron and Scott. You won't regret it.

You will see a mention of using _ rather than italics. I had been fussing with an easy way to find out where I was using italics in a file and they were throwbacks. I typically use italics! That said, look at your agent's submission guidelines. Some agents absolutely do NOT want to see italics. Others want to read it as they would read the novel. Watch your submission guidelines very closely. Remember, if you do not prove you are capable of reading their guidelines, the agent will not believe you are capable of writing.

As a fare-thee-well, I leave you with a gem from twitter:

@Seagman Will the owner of a query missing a name, address, etc, but sent from the email "ILoveMyShnookies" please claim it in dumpster. Thanks.

A long time coming - Writing from Experiences

First, I must apologize for the very long delay in blogging. Things have been hectic, and I have not had time for everything.

This post will be shorter than my usual, and it will not be full of links or resources. This is a personal journey, and as such, it will be my thoughts. Today, I want to comment -- briefly -- on writing from your experiences.

From the length of time that you have maybe noticed from my previous post to this one, a lot has happened. There has been family drama, the death of my great uncle, and other things which I do not wish to delve into.

A lot of drama and personal problems often results in a writer not writing. It happens to me, and it happens to those I know who also write. However, this is the perfect time to be writing. The experiences are ways to have you as a writer delve into the real pain, tragedies and personalities of characters. If you want your characters to be real, give them real emotions.

To learn those real emotions, examine your own emotions. Examine the emotions of those around you. That is how I try to make my characters real.

Crap happens.

Me, I'll use that crap to my advantage.

Once I get done digging out from a back log of other things I must get done, I will resume posting useful tidbits of information, but it will be at least another week or two until that point.

Cheers!

Help, I've fallen and I can't get up! (Or how to resume writing if you have stopped)

Before I begin with this entry, I wanted to extend a kind thank you to those who have started to follow this blog and for those who have linked to specific entries, or even the blog itself! Your support is greatly appreciated.

I write this blog with no intent to profit or benefit from it beyond having taken the journey doing it. As you've probably noticed, I have not added ads to the blog, nor will I ever. I do not even have a donation button. So, that anyone has taken the time to respond to this blog at all is extremely valuable to me. I hope that you continue to enjoy and make use of the things I have learned.

In addition to this, I would like to point out -- once again -- that these are my opinions. I try to support my opinion with the opinions of other writers. Sometimes, I even find some facts out there on the internet! Please do not swallow every word I say with blind trust. I want every person who reads this blog to reach out and come to their own conclusions. If it happens to be inline with mine, that is wonderful.

Now, onto the real subject.

Something I hear about frequently is that a writer friend of mine has abandoned writing or has not picked up their pen in months. Some made the long haul for Nanowrimo and have since jumped off of the bandwagon. In some cases, they face-planted directly into a mud puddle. This often just adds insult to injury.

It causes a bit of pain to realize that I too have suffered from this syndrome. I think all writers do from time to time.

I have some insights that I have developed, oddly enough, without much influence from others. Writing is a very personal journey. For me, even more so. I'm fairly willing to hand out copies of my work to people who want to read if I have any trust in them whatsoever. However, until the moment I dedicated myself to posting to this blog as I became inspired to, I had not shared many of the details of the actual journey itself.

This post, I warn you now, is extremely personal for me. Because of this, I will be opinionated, stubborn and sometimes surly. I may even sound grumpy. (That may be due to the fact that it is 5:19 AM and I am looking at a draft with 61,661 words and I don't want to type a word because I really enjoy the look of that word count.)

Yes, I am procrastinating.

In order for this post to make sense, I will have to tell you a bit about two projects I am working on. This is relevant, because this is what I had to do to dig myself out of the latest hole I have buried myself in.

I will also warn you that this post meanders in all sorts of directions. If you're looking for the nice, neat and tidy posts you are used to. . . look away. Quickly. This is the union of a pig sty with chaos. This may sound angsty as well. In a way, it is. Emotions tend to be angsty things, and these are some of the darker emotions of writing.

The Projects!

Project One: My epic fantasy series. (As of yet, Untitled)

This is the novel series that I started with NaNoWriMo '09. I have 61,661 words to it at the moment. I have done some drafting, I have done some minor edits, and I have done a lot of world building for this story. I am writing slowly. After November, I admit to having done the inelegant face-plant directly into a pile of ....

... I'll let you imagine just what I fell into.

This story is my love child. It has been hard for me to write, however. I have strayed outside of my normal comfort zone and have not only pursued an epic, but I have pursued a story where people die. I have pursued a story that delves into grief, joy and difficulties. I have pursued a tale where a man must give up the things that he loves in the hopes of protecting them and giving them a future, only to find out that those hopes and those sacrifices meant nothing in the end.

I pursue a tale where men and women struggle for things that they believe in for the sake of people other than themselves. I pursue a tale where these same people then sacrifice those things they have fought so hard and long for in hopes of doing something purely for themselves.

This is a tale about building a future through a shroud of tragedy. It is a dark epic that finds glimmers of light in the oddest of places.

It is action and adventure paired with a little romance. And lust. (What is a good story without at least a little bit of lust, after all?)

I fell off the bandwagon on this story for a few reasons. As I mentioned before, it is difficult to write. I do not like writing of the deaths of people, even fictional. I have always been a fan of those stories where many people somehow manage to survive against all odds.

This time, I sacrificed those people. I let people die as is their fate. If someone is struck through the heart with an arrow, I allow them to bleed and become a statistic.

I have let main characters survive and die as necessary. After all, these people are but human, and humans are fragile.

So, I admit, I did get a keen sense of pleasure from killing off the random villages and describing their fates. There was something thrilling about the process. Also, there was something gleeful about making some of my friends squirm as I discomforted them.

I love a good, dark epic fantasy. So, this is my journey to write one. But I fell off! Woe is me.

Project Two: Ten Years Later (Tentatively titled: Darkest before the Dawn)

Yep. I revisited the world of the epic fantasy ten years later, on a different side of the continent that the main story takes place. Characters from the epic reappear. Ones who have not yet been introduced earn their keep. Ground work on "What Happened After?" is set into place. A few major players from the epic have minor roles, but are not the stars.

The star of this book is someone who does play a major role in the epic. However, she is not a major character, nor does she have a long term role. Her story did not begin until after she died and became a witch.

Er.. what?

In my world, in order to become a witch, you must first suffer fatal injuries. In a sense, it is a divine intervention of sorts. The powers of a witch are powers of nature, and a tie with nature that can only be completed once she (or he) has experienced all aspects of life. Including death.

If the person who dies is to be a witch, then he or she survives the injuries after walking through the shadows of death, of a sort. It is those "I have seen the light in the tunnel and somehow survived" type of people, who by all rights should have died. More people with the power to become a witch die than actually become a witch. It takes someone - or something - with a lot of dedication to keep one of these people from dying completely.

In this character's case, it was a bit of both.

This story is also a dark tale, at least at first. However, the main point of this story is a story of hope. It is the story of someone who has lost it all and has somehow survived despite that fact and has a glorious chance to take it all back. With an indominable spirit and a desire for vengeance, this witch goes on to not only serve justice, but to reclaim everything that she has lost.

It also touches into grief and healing, but is mostly a feel-good story about someone who does overcome those odds.

This novel was how I picked myself up off of the ground.

How I stood back up

After NaNoWriMo '09 ended, I think I wrote maybe 1,000 words a week total. Of which I deleted more words than I added. Very counterproductive, that. In furstration, I put it aside completely at the end of December, flailing in general. Who doesn't, sometimes?

I knew where I wanted to go with this story. I worked hard poking at it, but the inspiration that is still with me was having trouble coming to the surface. It is a form of writer's block, but somewhat different. I had the entire story, I knew what I needed to write, I knew what was happening in the scene. I just could not get myself to type the words onto the computer.

When coupled with a general sense of failure, this can result in tragedy for a writer. And the inability to put words to the page.

So, I asked my husband one day to buy me some writing journal or another. I wanted to jot down some story idea or another that was rattling in my brain.

He came out of the store with a pack of four 16 sheet journals.

Truly, these were the bestestestest things I have ever laid my eyes on. I squealed. There is a yellow, a blue, a green and a pink journal in each pack.

My creative juices had a collective freak fit and went into a state of catatonic shock. Who ever would have thought something so simple as a 16 sheet writing journal could make such a difference?

Armed with these journals, I began to write random stories. I had two false starts before I found project #2 kicking around in my skull.

The first 24 hours resulted in 6,400 handwritten words.

By the weekend, I had 12,800 and had the starts to a story I was really satisfied with.

After the shine wore off a bit, I found myself right back to where I had left off: saddened, discouraged and thinking I would never get a project properly finished, edited and out the door.

I took a step back, blogged a bit to motivate myself, and glared at my computer.

Then, I fell onto the solution of my problem.

Belief.

For one critical moment, I believed I could do this. I just had to figure out how. So, I made this expression at my computer and my writing paper: >:|

Project One is my dream novel(s). It is the story I wish to publish and share with the world. I had reached that precipice and stared into the abyss. The abyss stared back and mocked me.

No one is going to help pick you up when you fall. You must do it on your own. I realized this and started trying to find out just how to do it. I sat on my rump and reflected and found that I still had that critical belief in myself. It had just gone into hiding into some dark, dusty corner. It was a skeleton in my closet.

Just to repeat this: No one is going to help pick you up when you fall.

People will say kind things and try to help, but only you can help you get back up at the end of the day.

This is kind of painful to write about. And embarrassing. But, I am human, so there we have it.

Again, just in case the first two times weren't opinionated and stubborn enough:

If you want to be a writer, stop relying on other people to pick you up and start relying on you. People, like me, will tell you kind words or mean ones trying to motivate you. But at the end of the day, when you fall in the mud, you need to believe that you can stand back up. An agent may love your story, an editor may shower you with praise. A publication house may pick up your story. However, none of this will ever happen if you do not believe that you can make it happen.

Now, onto the next stage of recovery:

Remembering to Write

Life gets in the way. Some of the time, I just forgot to fit writing into my day. I got distracted by shiny objects or by how warm and comfortable my bed really was and how much I enjoyed sleeping.

I cannot tell you how to remember to write each day! I fail at it miserably enough. (I am one week in of non interrupted writing. I feel like I'm succeeding at rehab.)

One tip I can suggest: Never ever take a day off completely. Write one sentence at a minimum. Once I fail to do that, it is sometimes a month before I pick up my pen again, which is totally unacceptable if I wish to become a professional author, as I do wish to do.

Finally, making progress!

Once you have gotten back up, it is easier to stay on the horse than to get back on after you have fallen. Train yourself not to give up. Once you do, you have to go back and find those shreds of belief and motivate yourself. This is hard. Oh, is it ever hard. But if you sit there and tell yourself that you can do it AND you actually do it, good things will happen.

Oh, yes. Good things will happen.

Believe. Remember to Write. Make it Happen.

Three very simple things that are extremely difficult to do. But, I stand by it. Hindsight is rather good for me, and each time I have fallen off, this is exactly how I ended up getting back up on the saddle and riding off towards that gorgeous sunset.

Now, as soon as I submit this and drink some tea to soothe my frayed nerves, I will exceed that shiny 61,661 word count. I want 75,000 by Monday, and they will not write themselves down.

By Friday, I want 85,000.

Two weeks from now, I want 100,000.

Can I do it?

I don't know. But I'm back up on the saddle, and I refuse to fall just yet. If I do, I will get back up.

But, I can thank four little 16 sheet writing journals and Project Two for helping me get the courage to resume on Project One. I will continue to write Project Two as a reward, but I have rededicated my focus back onto Project One where it properly belongs.

I would like to note that I had five spelling mistakes in this entire entry. For writing at 5-6 AM, not bad!

Also, a piece of advice before I find some fancy schmancy quotes to share: Do not forget to take your tea bag out of your water. It leaves unpleasant surprises an hour later.

Quotes on Motivation, Inspiration and anything else I feel interesting at this hour:

• Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it. – George Lucas
• A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. - John Barrymore
• The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore. - Dale Carnegie
• Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. - Mahatma Gandhi
• The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them. - Robert Frost
• The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination. - Tommy Lasorda
• The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. - Vince Lombardi
• One’s best success comes after his greatest disappointments. - Henry Ward Beecher
• Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps. - David Lloyd George
• A man's doubts and fears are his worst enemies. – William Wrigley Jr.
• Failures are divided into two classes - those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought. - John Charles Salak

Statistics and Writing

Twitter is quite an amazing website, especially if you are interested in learning about the in depth details of certain industries. I peek at twitter a few times during the course of the day, which spawned an interesting conversation. Thanks go to Jane Smith and Carole Blake for bringing this subject up to my attention. If you have a Twitter account, I suggest that you follow both of these ladies. Carole is a writing agent, and Jane is a writer and editor who has a little blog that you can find here.

The article in question can be found here. I suggest you read it so that you are aware of what I am speaking of.

There are many, many opinions on the writing world, which in turn includes the discussion of publishing through a publishing house (see Tor, Penguin, DAW, Random House) or through a self-publishing agency (see Lulu). Both have their advantages, both have their disadvantages, and both have those supporters who believe one or the other will be the death of the publishing industry.

For the sake of argument, publishing houses are oranges and self-publishing agencies are apples. We all know that comparing apples and oranges can cause problems. Mixed together, they can make a delicious drink. In this case, they only cause problems. Perhaps the self-publishing agencies should be milk in this example. Then you could see how milk curdles when you add orange juice to it.

I have a few issues that i have with the article that I linked above for your reading pleasures. Above all, he compares apples to oranges and expects grape juice as a result.

What do I mean by this? Let me show you.

As Jane Smith mentioned on her twitter:

Para numbered 5: "The average book in America sells about 500 copies"
Paragraph numbered 8: "And the average new book generates only $100,000 to $200,000 in sales"
From that we can assume that the average book price in America is $200-$400. See the problem?

Apples and Oranges, ladies and gentleman. I preserved her tweets as they were in their form, only switched around so that they are easily read. (Twitter organizes by time published.. so it reads backwards according to regular logic.) This is directly from our discussion.

In the self-publishing world, it is true that the average book will sell somewhere between one hundred to five hundred copies.

In the publishing house world, a book is not viable for publication unless it can pay for the advertising and the editors that work on each book. As such, they need books to sell significantly higher in order to be viable. Because of this, the quality of writers for these publishing houses is also higher. After all, most self-publishing agencies do not require quality checks in order for a book to be printed with them. This is the beauty of print on demand. However, this lack of quality control is exactly why many of these books never make it onto a book shelf.

If you are a writer and wish to become published, just as I wish to become published, open your eyes, take that pinch of salt, and swallow it. While I try to expose the in depth world of writing to you even as I take that journey myself, you need to make certain that your sources are reliable.

Every advice, every grain of knowledge, you should approach as if it were a spider. Sure, some spiders are harmless, but others are quite poisonous. Some spiders even enjoy being pet! Others will put hairs in your eyeballs if you even think of trying it.

Even publishers have opinions. Just because an agent or a publisher states something is so, it is your responsibility to check your sources. If a publisher states something? Find out just what type of publisher that they are. Every genre is different. Harlequin, for example, functions far differently compared to Tor.

I might suggest you buy salt in bulk. It will save you a little money down the road.

Now, I will approach the meat of this, and go into what I feel are some of the misleading aspects that you should in turn research for yourself and make your own conclusions on.

Point 1: On Book Growth.

Truth: Self-Publishing has picked up phenomenally.
Misleading: Self-Publishing number focus does not indicate the health of the standard publishing industry. It just shows that people are willing to dip into their own pockets to see their book in print in any form.

Point 2: On Book Sales

This is misleading. First, he doesn't account for aspects like the recession. Inflation aside, that there was any increase at all % wise is phenomenal. That means people are still spending money despite that fact that many people have lost their jobs and have less money to spend in the first place. Second, he does not mention if the sales are by book or by retail value of the book. These numbers are rather meaningless in the long run. Nor does he account for whether or not these are publishing house or self-publishing sales. These are two totally different industries.

Point 3: Book Sales, by the book

Read this carefully. Then, I refer you to Jane's commentary above. She says it best.

Point 4: On Stocking.

Once again, I return to the differences between self-publishing and a publishing house. Of course many books will never make it on the shelf. Most people who purchase a self-publishing option acquire an ISBN. This allows them to be put on the shelves. This does not mean that the bookstore will be willing to carry a book from an unknown author without the backing of a legitimate publishing company. That would be like putting a blindfold on and driving 95 miles per hour down a busy highway. Someone is going to crash. The bookstore would be making a rather stupid error if they took every single self-published novel and stuffed them on the shelf. They want novels from the major publishers that have a good chance of being sold.

Point 5: How hard it is to sell books...

Of course it is hard to sell books. It is much harder to sell a book unless you have a name for yourself or you have a reliable company vouching for you. I don't know about you, but I choose TOR and DAW books over other publishing houses because that is the type of writing I enjoy reading. I am certain many other people have similar preferences.

... to be blunt, I have made it to the half way point and I am spluttering. There are many misleading details. Each one of these points could have their own blog post of notable length to the entire blog post in question just clarifying where these numbers come from.

Statistics, ladies and gentleman, are often assumptions that support your opinion. When someone mentions a statistic, I get nervous.

When someone mentions a statistic without specifying which of two very different industries it comes from... then I get disgusted.

Please be careful about what you believe. A nice presentation does not necessarily mean that something is true or completely accurate.

Personally, I will judge the publishing industry by one simple fact: There are books on the shelves that I have not read and wish to buy. So I continue to buy books.

Until the day comes where I cannot find an interesting novel or four to buy in a bookstore at any one given time, I do think the publishing industry is safe enough. Especially if you go with a reliable publishing house.