My Bloggish Blog Thing

I Can Haz Book Deal... Part Deux!

2012-01-31T08:39:00.005-06:00

So, I've been absent for a while on the blog, but I have a good reason!

From Publisher's Marketplace:

Children's: Young Adult		Josin McQuein's PREMEDITATED, about the lengths one girl will go in order to get revenge on the boy who ruined her cousin's life, to Krista Vitola at Delacorte, at auction, for publication in Fall 2013, by Suzie Townsend at Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation.

Posted:		January 30, 2012 at 11:06 p.m. Eastern

YAY!

A year ago, this was entry #192 on Query Shark. The book went out on submission earlier this month, and then to auction last Wednesday.

A Random Teaser Tuesday

2012-01-10T11:59:00.003-06:00

I wanted to post today, as I have done an excerpt post in a while, but I did it a little different. I put the page counts for 2 books into the random number generator and received page numbers. So, I'm going to post a snip from those pages.

Enjoy!

Premeditated - - Page 125

“I need someone to dial it,” Brooks said. “Maybe it’s close enough to hear the ring - or someone could find it.”

“Can’t call without a phone,” Dex said. He turned a bit red, crossed his arms and looked at his feet as he ground the toes into the floor.

“I’ve got mine,” I said, quick-scrolling through my very short contact list to find the number Brooks had put into it after Cavanaugh’s class. I pressed the button and prayed my mad-genius of a best friend was either out of range or had thought to turn the ringer off.

I was also praying neither Brooks nor Dex could tell I was holding my breath until I was sure there wouldn’t be a ring.

“Where’d you get that?” Dex asked, while I pretended to search the food court for a hint of sound.

“Uncle Paul,” I said with a shrug, then hung up. “He wanted to make sure any news got through, so he gave me a new phone.”

“Who are you related to? Seriously?”

“Just Uncle Paul,” I said, turning to Brooks to add: “No answer, sorry.”

Dex was practically salivating. My phone wasn’t the usual pre-paid-from-the-drugstore piece of trash I was used to. It was a gift from one of the companies with a buy-in on Uncle Paul’s game – a beta version of a model that wouldn’t hit stores for another three months. They were hoping he’d give them special consideration on an app or something to increase their audience base. (I’m sure the company suits would have passed out if they knew Uncle Paul had handed their next-big-thing to his teenage niece, who then dragged it around the city on her quest to skirt the line between misdemeanor and felony.)

I slipped the phone back in my pocket, and for once I was fairly sure hormones had nothing to do with why Dex was staring at my backside. He looked like a starving man forced to sit at a banquet with his hands tied. At Lowry, he had a well-polished suit of social armor in place – no different than making sure his tie sat straight – but in the wild, when he didn’t have to conform to a set way of acting, the want for things he couldn’t have showed through. It made the moment uncomfortable enough that I was happy to join in on a physical, if pointless, search that meant we all had to split up to cover more ground.

Sing Down the Stars - - Page 176

"You’ve seen this before – I only want to know who made it. It saved us. There’s no mark on it, but if I didn’t know better, I’d think it was something of my father’s."

Squint ran his calloused thumbs over the medallion, and gave a heavy, resigned sigh.

“It’s Magnus’ work all right. Early stuff, though. Way before The Show – before your mother, too. He’s always had the gift.”

“But how would Sister Mary Alban have gotten something of my father’s?”

“That may be the name she uses now, but I’d bet it’s not the one she was born with. Did she look familiar at all?”

“As familiar as a mirror.”

Squint nodded along, as though he had suspected as much.

“Renata. That’s the only one she could be.”

“Who’s Renata?”

It wasn’t a common name, and certainly one I’d never heard before.

“Your father’s youngest sister. His twin.”

“My father had brothers and sisters?”

I had aunts and uncles? No one had ever mentioned them.

“Only sisters,” Squint clarified.

“Where are they? Why aren’t they here? Why weren’t they with us on the train?” It seemed that every time I got an answer, three new questions came to take its place.

“He had only sisters, Penny Dreadful, in the same way you have only sisters. Renata was the fifth… like you. They were like you and the girls, where do you think they went?”

To “no one knows,” that’s where. No one knew where the Estabulary kept their Hounds, or how many there actually were.

It's the End of the World as we know it...

2012-01-06T19:46:00.004-06:00

Bad song lyrics aside, there is something earth shattering going on this year, and it has nothing to do with a long-dead carver running out of space on a Mayan calendar.

If you've been pretty much anywhere in the vicinity of writerdom since New Year's Eve, you've been watching Goodreads trainwrecks and blog pile-ons and likely rubbernecking the carnage like the rest of us.

THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING.

Professional writers are starting to sound like whiny pre-teens on a fanfiction site who bemoan how mean their commenters are and declare all dissenters to be haters and flamers. And what's worse, the reviewers who are caught in the middle are starting to think all YA writers have slipped a few cogs in their craniums. (Can you tell I've been writing Steampunk? I think you can.)

I would like to point out a few things that should be obvious.

1 - if you are published, then YOU'RE PUBLISHED. Your book is out there, in the open, being seen and being read. THIS IS THE GOAL OF THE PROFESSIONAL WRITER. If you want compliments, head to Kinko's and print copies for your family and friends. Personally, I'd rather sell books to people I've never met and have them maybe tell others they should buy them, too.

2 - You're a professional. ACT LIKE IT. The best analogy I've seen is comparing the review explosion to getting a performance review. Before you comment or blog, try and imagine saying what you want to say to your boss while standing in the middle of cubicle-land and while screaming at the top of your lungs. You'd be fired before you could take your next breath.

3 - readers DO NOT owe you a good review. You put out a product. They paid money. They are the consumer, and it's the consumer's privilege to decide if their money was well spent or wasted. All they owe you is the cost of your book in whatever format they choose to acquire it. That's it.

4 - Criticizing a book DOES NOT MAKE A REVIEWER MEAN. It doesn't mean they hate you. It means they didn't connect with your book... like all of those "not for me" rejections that come along while querying. You know how you shouldn't respond to those rejections with venom and vitriol, but rather file them away in the circular cabinet with the rest of the things you toss out? APPLY THE SAME LOGIC TO BAD REVIEWS. Maybe your book hit a nerve, maybe it brought up something uncomfortable for the reviewer, maybe it utilized faulty logic that 98% of people wouldn't notice, and the reviewer is one of the 2% that did. It doesn't matter. The book "wasn't for" that particular reviewer, and if they go into detail as to why, then be grateful they paid attention. For all you know, what they found distasteful, someone else will love.

5 - REVIEWS ARE NOT FOR THE WRITER. They're for the reader. They are not the same as getting a bad mark on a lit paper in school. They are not telling you how to improve, as the book is in a fixed state. Look away. Keep your distance. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TOUCH.

6 - a bad review WILL NOT sink your career, but alienating those who do the leg work passing on recommendations can. Book bloggers blog books because they love them. Others read their blogs for the same reasons, and if you alienate the loudest voices advocating for you and your contemporaries, then you've just headed out into the desert with a canteen YOU poked holes in, and a compass YOU removed the needle from.

7 - ranting embarrasses you, your agent, your editor, and your publisher. It makes readers give you weird looks. It makes people not want to touch your books because they're afraid of what will happen if you find out they didn't love them.

Remember, you chose this career. It may feel like your blood and your soul is fused to every copy of your words out there, but it's ink and paper and ideas. Ideas can't stay exactly as you create them. They move; they expand as others interpret them. That's how it's supposed to work.

Reviews go away. They may stay on the site where they're posted, but people forget about them. But, if you dig in your heels, pitch a tent on a review site and start making a fuss, then it's going to spread. It's going to hit Twitter and Facebook, and maybe even media outlets. Then an exponential number of new people are going to go in search of that one, bad review. Nothing else. They will focus solely on that as the definition of you and your work, and it will be YOUR fault because you did the same thing by ignoring the positive reviews in favor of that one bad one that rubbed you the wrong way.

Take a breath. Walk away.

/a less ranty rant.

Go Ahead and Judge

2012-01-04T08:58:00.005-06:00

Yes, this is another cover post.

We're told you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, yet that's exactly what readers do. It's not the sole component of choosing what to read/ pick-up / buy, but it's a big one. The cover is what usually catches a reader's attention, which is why "facing out" is such a good thing in a book store. No one notices spines; they notice cover design.

So, I was wondering exactly how much you can tell about a book by its cover. To that end, I propose a challenge. I'm going to post a set of covers that I've made for existing, trunked, or contemplated projects. See if you can figure anything about the plot out from those covers. Can you tell YA from MG from anything else by just the image and tagline?

I'll even make it easy and post a couple you've seen before.

Don't worry about hurting my feelings if you think these are terrible (I'm well aware that one looks like it belongs on a poster from a 90's Scanners movie), this is just for fun and information. And if you see hints of a watermark or two, don't freak out and flame me. These aren't final product, commercial covers. Many of the images are "unapproved" samples used to figure out which images fit best. If the covers were to be used, then the images would be licensed.

This one should be easy:

1.

2.

3.
tagline: Answer one question and you are free -- Why do you wear the Red Hood?

4.
tagline: Getting in is the easy part.

5.
tagline: Do you know what you're made of?

6.
tagline: Innocence makes the perfect camouflage.

7.
tagline: They always come back to you.

Wordle Wrap-Up

2011-12-31T08:30:00.001-06:00

It's the end of the year for those of us using the Gregorian standard, and this is the time of year that all things turn to clip shows and reminiscences. And thanks to the nifty little creation engine on Wordle.com, I can give you clips for the year. YAY! (Pretend this is exciting. I've got a reputation to main - kthxbai)

So here is the year in review:

1st up, ARCLIGHT - aka: The book that sold.

Here's the book at a glance (or at least the book in its most recently edited incarnation). You'll find protagonists and antagonists. Good guys and bad guys. Setting, friends, and for some reason "Mr." counted as a separate word. (It should actually be attached to the word "Pace", as that's the character's name.) I won't give away much, but I will tell you that "Fade" isn't a verb...

Next, we come to: PREMEDITATED - AKA: Query Shark #192 and First Page Shooter #3

This is the one that I think most people who follow this blog assumed would be my first sale, but I went with the novel which had series potential first. (That, and at the time I sent that query to Madame Shark, the novel wasn't exactly finished...) But it's done now, and it's shiny, and it's soon to be on its merry way out in the world.

And finally, we come to: SING DOWN THE STARS - AKA: the book in my sidebar.

This one's a little different for me, because it wasn't something I planned to write. On April Fool's Day of this year, Absolute Write had its annual day of lunacy. This year's theme was "Steampunk'd", (Oh look! It moves!!) and it was the most awesome thing ever. (Here's the thread, which was archived, but it's such a tiny, tiny part of what happened that day. AW is an amazing place to hang out every April 1st.)

Anyway, during the fun crazies a few of the participating writers started doing a real time writing exercise where we'd write for an hour, then share. All that steampunk saturated my brain and this character appeared - she was a clockwork mermaid. For the span of hours we did this little exercise, I posted about this girl with a metal tail, and how she was inside a tank at a circus.

Then I put the story away... but it wouldn't leave me alone. Sometime around July I picked it up again and the story morphed into more than just a circus tale, and ironically, it's one of my favorite things I've ever done. I'll have this one to super-Suzie either today or tomorrow. I was going to wait, but Dec 31st seems to be my cut-off for patience.

So that was my year in completed novels. For 2012, there's sequels and nearly-there MG thing-a-ma-jobbies to get finished, but that's another day, another year, and another post.

Happy New Year, everyone!

The Cost of Free Downloads

2011-12-27T07:30:00.003-06:00

I have an odd habit. No, it's not pirating books :-P (But it IS related to the practice.) Ever since I was sent the link to a site which allowed users to freely share copies of books they hadn't purchased, I've been somewhat fascinated by putting authors' names in the search bar and seeing if they're on the "available" lists. (I then tell said authors, if they are, so don't smack me.) I tend to do this when I get stuck on a WIP because it makes me feel productive. Add that to the recent Guardian article about a prominent Spanish author who has decided not to write for a while in protest of such "sharing" practices, and this post was born.

Let me say this upfront: This is NOT a post debating whether or not file sharing is thievery (though if you want to debate this in the comments, that's your right - just try and keep it civil).

It's also NOT a post defending those who choose to upload/download/share files they have not paid for, nor is it a post vilifying them.

I'm NOT going to get into how major authors have found ways to turn book pirates into a tool to boost their sales, or how other authors have tried to mimic those methods and had them fail.

What this post IS:

There's a very specific response to discovering one's books have been passed around, or are available for download, that makes me want to scream - mainly because I think it does more harm than good. It makes the author turn into a snarling banshee, which in turn makes the recipients of their ire go on the defensive, and that's never the best position to be in when you're trying to make a point that will hopefully change the other party's mind about a certain behavior you want to stop.

On its surface, this response makes perfect sense, but the logic doesn't bear out, and in the end all it does is lead to a lot of screaming and finger pointing, and eventually the sort of defensive flame wars that end up going viral.

Here's what usually happens:

Suzie Q. Author has a book. Maybe it's doing well, maybe it isn't, but the fact is the book exists, and as sure as it exists, it's likely on a pirate or file sharing site somewhere. Either a friend/fan or Suzie herself discovers that the book has been uploaded to one of these sites. She checks the download count, sees 5,678... and hits the roof.

"FIVE THOUSAND DOWNLOADS!" she screams, tallying the royalties that would have been paid had those been sales for profit through a legit provider. She hits Twitter and Facebook and her blog and rails about how she's been cheated out of nearly six thousand sales.

Only... she hasn't.

Those illegal downloads don't correlate to sales. They're the equivalent of someone snatching a free flier off a table and stashing it in their shopping bag; if the flier had cost money, it's not likely it would have ever left the table. Free downloads are popular simply because they're free. People take them because they're there; it's not an indication of whether or not someone would ever pay money for the same property.

When a (legal) free novel goes up on Amazon, it can rack up thousands of downloads a day - even if it's gibberish. There are dissertations offered for free, but written in obscure languages or concerning fields with less than 50 members worldwide; they'll still be gobbled up because they're free. They're likely never even opened.

If I were to take 10 public domain novels and put them(even backward or mixed together) into an "omnibus edition" and offer it for free, it's possible that it could be a "best seller" by Amazon standards... because it's free.

Some of these sites are run by kids who swap homework assignments; they've branched out to books. It's not likely they've ever considered what they're doing to be theft. In fact, from what I've seen, most equate it to checking out a book from the library or loaning one to a friend, not realizing that those libraries actually purchase the copies on their shelves.

And if you've never seen the quality of one of those "free" downloads, you may be picturing a high quality version of the novel like you'd get from Amazon or B&N -- it's not. Most are garbage. They're a formatting nightmare that's barely coherent. (I understand from others that a program called Calibre has made this almost a non-issue, but I couldn't say myself.)

The point is, you can't assume that even 1/10 illegal downloads would have ever been a sale.

Again, I'm not excusing the practice - piracy is piracy. I'm just tired of seeing authors jump up and down, waving virtual banners with these huge numbers on them under the delusion that, had they just been paid for those downloads, their advances would go up and they'd be on the NYT bestseller list. Sure they would, but those were never "sales" to begin with.

Let me put it into different terms. I used to write fanfiction. Between my different screen names and fandoms stretching from the ultra small to the über large I had tens-of-thousands of readers on a regular basis. (I've had 5-6 different screen names, but I'll only cop to 2 ;-). ) I didn't write in the larger fandoms for long; there are several writers who did which had audiences approaching 100,000. It would be easy for someone with a reader pool that large to assume that it would carry over (I know for a fact there are people who think this is a given.) But again, this is flawed logic.

Fanfiction audiences read in a universe with which they are familiar; they have a vested interest in characters already in existence. And most of all -- fanfiction is free. You can't guarantee that a single person willing to read your work for free will do the same for a fee. Some won't - some can't - others... might.

Does piracy exist? Of course it does.

Is piracy a pain? Of course it is.

Does piracy cost writers sales? Of course it does.

Does piracy cost writers a sale for every download? Not even close.

"If I'd been paid for just 1 out of 4..." is the same idea as "If I had a nickel for every time you said..." It's a nice thought, but it's not reality.

If someone's file-sharing or pirating your book, then do what you're supposed to -- TELL YOUR PUBLISHER. The offending party may not even realize that what they're doing is any different from handing a friend a copy of a book they love; if you come at them, fists swinging, all you're going to do is create an enemy who won't listen to you. If you allow the publisher to handle things, and they submit a shiny C&D or notice that the offending person / site is violating Terms of Service or copyright or whatever else they're able to do through their legal departments then you're more likely to get your books taken down.

There are a couple of file sharing sites that I check regularly and then tell authors with whom I'm familiar that their books are available if I find them, so they can have their books removed from the site if the site runners are willing to do so. (Some are; some aren't.)

I wasn't even aware these sorts of sites existed until a couple of years ago when I was looking for information on a specific book. I was given a link to a site which I thought was some sort of on-line library, only it was a download site. One author in particular, who I knew through a writers' site, was listed with every book she'd ever published - nearly 10,000 downloads. She informed the site, and they took down her books. Recently I checked my site stats and found that a few readers were jumping over from one of those homework sites I mentioned; I took a look and found that there were hundreds of books there being passed around.

Never assume that a site which was intended for large scale file sharing knows about, or condones, the transfer of copyrighted files. Some are attempting to run a legitimate service, and will cooperate with anyone who holds copyright to something that's been uploaded to their site.

10 Facts

2011-12-22T14:11:00.003-06:00

Since I'm out of ideas for blog posts at the moment, I'm taking the suggestion to do a "10 Facts About Me" post.

1. I once ate so many carrots that I turned orange. I was either in elementary or intermediate school, and for some reason I didn't like eating anything else. I still love carrots, but I'm much more careful with them now...

2. I stopped growing taller when I was about eleven; my feet stopped growing when I was around seven.

3. My grandfather was both saved, and killed, by a lit cigarette. (And no, I don't mean from cancer. The first incident involved a sniper, and the second involved high explosives.)

4. My other grandfather helped design the insulation for the space capsule which carried the first chimps into space; I have a piece of the prototype in my closet. They called it a "space sandwich", according to the plate on it.

5. I live in a town which was part of the filming for Born of the Forth of July. I moved from where they filmed Places in the Heart, after moving from where they shot Pure Country, after moving from a town which became a Lifetime movie of the week.

6. I have gone to 3 universities, and never attended a single class. (MIT, Tulane, and ORU, if you're interested.)

7. My French teacher was a survivor of the Warsaw ghetto and incarceration in a concentration camp.

8. While I don't consciously remember much French, I do occasionally dream in French.

9. My original major in college was Genetic Engineering.

10. I, at various times, attended school in a toga, a death shroud and cowl, and a headpiece made to look like a Christmas tree, with a wrapped box for a skirt.

And, a bonus one:

11. The city in which I attended school was the proud owner of the first failed attempts at solar power on an elementary school, as well as a high school.
It was the last "officially" integrated school district in the country - not a point of pride, but ironic when you consider that it was the home town of John Howard Griffin, the author of Black Like Me.
Until it was razed to make way for a new high school, the city had the world's oldest, continual indoor rodeo.
Anyone who cares to Google any of that information will discover that the aforementioned "movie of the week" dealt with a headline-grabbing homicide... one of the murderers was the checker at our grocery store; the victim was in my church youth group.

Flash Fiction - The Unexplainable Photos

2011-12-16T20:19:00.005-06:00

Over on Chuck Wendig's blog, it's a Friday tradition to do a piece of flash fiction. I haven't done one in a while, but this week, my curiosity was piqued when he linked to a set of (really, really - disturbingly - really, really) odd old photos. The idea was to create a story based on one of them, but instead, for what I'm putting here, it was the communal sense of otherness that came from the collection.

I think at some point, this may become the prologue to a creepy book, but for now, I give you

MOUNTAIN MAGIC:

People born to the mountains know, it’s more than air you breathe up there. If you climb high enough, and have the nerve to lose yourself in the parts of the world that haven’t touched human hands since apples only grew in Eden, you’ll know it, too.

Every breath is magic.

It hangs heavy and thick, like moss off the trees. It bursts off burning logs as embers that turn to fireflies, carrying just enough of that sense of other to unnerve those weaker souls who come too close. It lives in grandmothers’ tales of ghosts and strange happenings, and it drizzles down in the creeks come spring, when ice that formed before your ancestors were born melts off the peak and brings its memories with it to the world below.

You can’t touch real magic and not know it.

You can smell it, and if the night is very, very clear, and your ears are open, you can hear it. A song that drifts along the lazy breeze in places where the trees are packed so close they don’t sway in the wind.

When the wind calls to you, you answer, simple as that. Try to ignore it, and the urge to run and feel the air on your face becomes overwhelming, exciting for the promise of whatever lies ahead, as though you’re running toward something you can almost see, and it’s the thing you want more than anything else in the world, even if you don’t know what it is yet. It gets in your blood.

Things like that change a person. Though for the good or bad, no one knows until it’s too late to change your mind.

Meet Dinah

2011-11-18T09:55:00.002-06:00

Okay, so technically, if you've read this blog for a while, you've already met Dinah. She's the main character from PREMEDITATED, my first attempt at a contemporary YA novel (which is currently being shined to perfection by Super-Suzie).

I mentioned her here, and the original query was on Query Shark almost a year ago, here.

As I stutter and stumble through NaNo, blogging's been sort of falling off my to-do list on a regular basis, so I thought I'd remedy that by putting up a snip from Premeditated's first chapter. So, here you go; I hope you enjoy it.

"Your aunt and uncle really appreciate this," he said, rather than argue the point. "Having you around the house makes it easier..."

He let it drop, the way everyone did when they started to mention Claire. They all choked on her name, like she was ghost who hadn't quite caught on yet.

"Don't think you have to shoulder this, kid."

"I want to stay close in case something changes, and I don't want to go back to Ninth Street if I'm only going to be here a few weeks." That was the conservative estimate. Claire would either wake-up, or they'd stop expecting her to. "I'd just have to say good-bye to everyone again when Mom makes me come home. This way, I'll only be leaving strangers, and Aunt Helen and Uncle Paul didn't waste the tuition money."

"In a few weeks, they won't be strangers anymore."

Our truck melded into the flow of sedans and SUV's circling a paved drive with an ornate fountain in the middle. Stone deer and bear cubs played in marble flowers, while fairies poured water into a stream that emptied into the main bowl.

My old school had a flagpole and a dirt ring that, according to legend, held gladiolas at some point.

"People from a place like this will always be strange to me."

"I'm proud of you, D," he said.

D, which is short for Dinah, which is short for my great-grandmother, is my given name, and the first recorded instance of my dad protecting me from my mother. She intended to name me Diamond Rain or Rayne or Rhane – the spelling changes with each lament when she retells the story. Kind of like plain old Stacy became Stacia for the acting career that never was. Dinah, and all associated nicknames were rejected as too plain for her taste; they set off her allergy to the mundane. Thankfully, Dad still had a spine in those days, and filled in my birth certificate before her meds wore off.

Dad's hands tightened on the wheel again as he coasted into the "departing" area where other kids were climbing out of other cars. They gawked like they'd never seen a no-longer-quite-cherry red truck outside its natural habitat of the mechanic's shop before.

"Batter up, baby doll."

He may speak English, but sports analogies are my dad’s mother tongue.

"You haven't called me that since I was-"

"A real blonde?" he teased.

"Young enough to count my age on my fingers," I said.

"Same thing."

"Bye, Dad."

"It's nice to see the real Dinah again."

The real me, also known as the "me no one had seen since sixth grade", was how he referred to my choice of clothing before I actually had a choice. When my mother used me as her personal paper doll, and paraded me down every runway within a hundred mile radius.

"Don't miss your flight." I shut the passenger-side door as he shouted a last request for photographic evidence that I'd returned from the dark side to give Mom when he got home.

'Over my dead body,' I thought.

Lightning was welcome to strike me down – so long as Brooks went first.

Random Ramblings - winter cleaning edition

2011-11-10T10:31:00.005-06:00

My brain is NaNo fried at the moment (ignore the sidebar counters. They haven't been updated.). While looking for things to do other than write (things I could at least pretend were important enough to skiv off writing for...) I decided to clean out my closet. Not just any closet...
...
...

wait for it....

...
...

THE JUNK CLOSET O'DOOM! (DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!)

Terrifying as this prospect was, it yielded some interesting things. I found $65, my dog's walking harness, and a whole stack of old sketches stretching back to my high school days. Right in the middle of that stack, I came face-to-face with one of the earliest incarnations of what would become Arclight.

Now, I know I've said in another post that the original idea for Arclight came from a story about army ants on the news, and I'm fairly certain that I've told you that the novel was Frankensteined together from other things, including a screenplay I wrote when I was in high school.

The screenplay (which I also found) was nothing like Arclight on its face. It wasn't YA; it wasn't set on Terra Firma, and the main character wasn't a teenage girl. Ouroboros, named for the spaceship where the story was set, was a hard core sci-fi space opera with lots of Alien-esque jump-out-of-your-seat moments, conspiracies, and a rip-your-hair-out (cliched...) bait-and-switch ending.

I actually loved, and still love, that original incarnation, and if I could figure out a way to pare down some parts to a YA or MG level, I'd retool what I didn't use for Arclight and make something of it.

The main character was the ship's captain, and while his image wasn't among the ones I found, I did find these three (I apologize for the quality; these things are old and I hate my new scanner):

CYIA MYRE

If you've ever "seen" me on Absolute Write, you'll recognize the name "Cyia" as my screen name there - this character is where it came from. I *LOVE* this character to pieces and bits. She's one of my absolute favorite that I've ever created, a sort of combination of Han Solo and Princess Leia, who is, actually a princess. But she's a princess in a duster coat and at the helm of a smuggling ship because her entire planet was pretty much overrun by the big bad villain, and this is how she fights back. (Firefly parallels are inevitable, but Cyia came before captain Reynolds and Zoe, so there :-P )

CASSANDRA

Cassandra was a half-human / half-Nari (my alien species) who ran what amounted to a galactic switch-house for travelers going different places, only via wormhole rather than train tracks. She died a noble and tragic death.

Somewhere, this image exists in full oil color painting, complete with the earth outside the funky-looking window arch behind her. You have to imagine her with silver-blue skin and black stripes. What looks like "dots" would be red or gold, and they're a part of a very detailed social order that went with the species. They're what hold that veil-like thing on the lower part of her face.

Take away the veil and the dots and the bone ridges, and you get the origin of the way one of the groups in Arclight looks. (Another part of that group came from a species called simply the Aether, because that's where they lived. They only appeared as a shimmer or smudge to most people, as they were trans-dimensional.)

And finally, there's this one:

THE RAUJAG

These were the "ruling" aliens in my story, and I really don't remember much about them other than their name came from mixing the letters of "Jaguar", they were red-skinned with heavy tattoos, and while they appeared antagonistic at first, in one of the later installments (I wrote 3), they were actually a great help to the MC's.

Sadly missing was the schematic of the Nari ship, called a Hornet's Nest, which was basically a giant gyroscope with attack ships attacked on the upper and lower halves (Hornets). It was a sphere when in one piece, but the Hornets could break off into individual manned (and semi-sentient) vessels. The whole system was pretty cool - at least it was to me when I was in high school.

I could go on and on, but I'll spare you that torture and get back to NaNo now. Thanks for putting up with my silliness. :-P

Wherein I Answer a Question that Made me Laugh

2011-11-03T17:46:00.002-05:00

Question: Why are your profile pictures either cropped or distorted?

Answer: I suppose this is the nice way of asking if I'm hiding something horrible about my face, eh?

Just kidding - the honest answer is that I was having a vanity moment and wanted to hide the fact that I have a Spock eyebrow. :-P

With the "cartoonized" image I use for Twitter, you can't see it because it's in a color block:

But in the source image, you can see how my left eyebrow goes vertical in the middle. It's not always like that, but for some reason that day, it was being weird. When I uploaded the image to my computer, I decided to work around it, so I used a cartoon filter for Twitter and I cropped off the side of my face for my profile picture here.

There are very few pictures in existence with me in them - I HATE cameras. I realized I'd need a real picture of myself when Suzie sold my book, so I took this one. (Here's another secret - I took this in my bathroom mirror, myself, and photoshopped the pecan tree into the background.)

Sneaky writer is sneaky...

So... NaNo...

2011-11-02T12:05:00.004-05:00

Well, it's day 2, meaning that yesterday was day 1, and so far, things are going okay.

I'm not doing NaNo in the traditional sense of starting a new project and finishing it in a month, but rather, I'm using the time to polish a project and finish out a draft of 2 others (yes, that's 3 projects, so I may be slightly nuts).

Anywho....

If you're interested, here's a snip of yesterday's progress:

1. Sing Down the Stars:

The sister reached up and took a chain from around her neck. It was long, and hung hidden inside her dress, and when she laid it in my palm, the gold medallion on the end was warm where it had touched her skin. It was much heavier than its delicate appearance hinted at.

“We can’t take anything else from you,” I said, and tried to hand the necklace back, but she curled my fingers around it into a fist and pressed my hand away from her.

‘It’s a gift, and it’s been given. There’s no returning it, now – and I think you have more need for it than I do. That’s St. Christopher; he’ll keep you safe on your way home.

I opened my hand and took a better look at the medallion. It was small and brassy, with a man on the face who carried a walking stick. He had a strange, etched halo around him, and looked a bit like Zavel - too old to do much protecting, but I was sure she meant well, so I put it on and tucked it into my dress. I’d been right about the weight; it wasn’t heavy, but it dragged down low.

Sister Mary Alban and I had burned through the excuse of talking about destinations and handing off gifts; I needed something else to create a conversation before she found more questions to ask that I didn’t want to answer. I went for the most obvious.

“Is there nothing mechanical here at all?” I asked.

2. Blue:

Early the next morning, when the sun had barely begun to shine, O’Keefe was no longer thinking about strange flames on candles. The rain had stopped and was well on its way to soaking into the ground, and the sky outside was clear. It looked like it might be a perfect day. (Though he was going to have to insist on new curtains. His father had hung the ones he’d used in Kindergarten, and he’d long since lost interest in cowboys and horses.)

Despite the hour, O’Keefe thought he might stay awake and get his first real look at South Avenue. He threw on his jeans, which had dried from the night before, but didn't bother with combing his hair or putting on shoes, as he'd always liked squishing his feet in muddy lawn puddles. There was really no better way to judge a new house than by the quality of mud it provided and there was no better way to judge a new street than to see if it contained others who felt the same way. He hoped maybe he'd be lucky and find some other children his age in one of the neighboring houses.

3. The Glower House:

From her seat at the head of the table, Madam Webb clapped her hands. Hundreds of spiders dropped down from the ceiling, making Leni jump. The spiders lassoed all of the large vases full of wilted flowers which ran in a line down the center of the table and pulled them up into the rafters.

Leni found this fascinating, as the spiders who occasionally found their way into her house on Mulberry Street were never quite so helpful, but seemed to prefer spinning webs at the precise height required to hit her face when she walked through them.

The spiders dropped onto the now bare table and skittered from one end to the other in a wide line. As they passed, a new tablecloth spun behind them until the entire tabletop was covered, and a knotted bridge had been built that crossed from the floor to the table's edge.

“Just lovely,” said Madam Webb. “Thank you. I'm sure our guest appreciates your effort.”

“Oh... yes, of course,” said Leni, when she realized the spiders were waiting for an answer from her. “I've never seen a better spiderwebbing tablecloth before... it's so grand, I really don't know what to say.”

Apparently, this made the spiders very happy, as a set of five hurried back to her part of the table and added a table-mat before disappearing into the ceiling with the others.

Why Can't Agents Just Say What They Mean?

2011-10-28T12:00:00.001-05:00

If you've ever gotten back a form response to a query with politely worded "not for me" kinds of answers, you may have wondered this yourself. It's a common complaint - How is someone supposed to improve if no one tells them what is and isn't working?

Well, if this sounds like you, or if you're simply in the mood for some honest query feedback, then let me point you in the right direction.

My agent, Super-Suzie, is having a contest to celebrate settling in at Nancy Coffey.

Here are the details:

Can you handle the truth?

Many writers want to know what an agent is really thinking when they pass on a query, right? You want the truth...but can you handle the truth? Well next week I will respond to the queries I receive in complete honesty. You may see something as simple as "Not bad, but just not for me." or "I don't represent legal thrillers." OR you may see something like "I stopped reading when you mentioned that the mailman was a vampire space zombie who has come to deliver a message of PAIN. Because come on...seriously?"

So, if you want the truth, query me next Tuesday morning, between 9-10 am EST. Read on for the rules.

The rules and whatnot are on Suzie's Confessions blog, so if you want to participate, pop on over there and find out what you need to do.

This is only valid for one short hour on Tuesday, so make sure you've got everything ready to go when the window opens.

Good luck!

What Books Can Do

2011-10-24T13:13:00.004-05:00

There's really no reason for this post, other than I wanted to share.

At the school where my mom works, they have themed doors throughout the year, meaning that each teacher/class decorates a door to go along with whatever the semester's focus happens to be. I wanted to share a picture of the door I helped her put together for the "reading" semester. (It won 1st place...)

Mom wanted something that illustrated how much of an impact books could have on a kid, so I immediately thought of this (you've likely seen it before):

It couldn't be used as-is because a - the graffiti isn't elementary school appropriate and b - doors are big and we don't have a printer big enough to make this thing door-sized. So, after doing a bit of brainstorming, this was the result:

It took the pile of books from the original and turned them into stepping stones the kids (the girl is a total copy of Mary Englebright's little painter, btw. The boy is the same thing, flipped, with a haircut and dye job ;-) ) I like the change, because it makes the kids proactive. Where the boy in the original is using books as an escape to dream (as many kids do), the painters are creating their own world from what they've read - and that's the true magic of reading. (I also love that, when assembled, it was the girl "painting" Star Wars instead of a princess fantasy.)

If you're interested, the books used are:

The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg
The Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynne Reid Banks
Transformers, (I think this is a "read with me" book).
The Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkein
Hank, the Cowdog, by John R. Ericson
Faery Rebels, by R. J. Anderson
Where the Wild Things Are, by Max Sendak
The Oxford English Dictionary
Peter Pan, by James M. Barrie (despite the Disney-fied cover)
Miss Nelson is Missing, by Harry Allard

The boy is standing on:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by JK Rowling and Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

The girl is standing on:

Wings, by Aprilynne Pike, and one of the Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice books.

New Adult

2011-10-19T11:51:00.002-05:00

I'm starting this by saying I hate that title. I hate it as a post header and I hate it as a category descriptor. (Transitional or some such would be a lot less insulting to those in that age group. If they've already been "young" adults, then how are they suddenly "new" adults?)

I've read and commented on a couple of blog posts about this subject recently, so rather than continuing to repeat myself, I'm going to do my own post.

It's no secret that NA's a tough sell - just like it's no secret that those who write college age protags are stuck in a sort of limbo where they feel they have to either age their characters up or down to fit the market. However, there are some stories that ONLY fit a young person who is tasting the first freedom (and fear) that comes with college-life, or the disappointment that comes with missing out on it.

The main problem, from a marketing standpoint, seems to be that post-high school life is so diverse that there's no real common ground that stretches across all of it. (FYI, life is always diverse. If you think going to HS in Texas is like going to a school in NYC, maybe I should explain that there's a greater difference between states than simple geography. Never mind the changes that come when you leave the country and get into 6th form schools and the like.)

So for those of you who write in this age group (I've done it myself.) let me offer what I think is a bit of logical hope: Think digital.

This goes for publishers, too.

Your core audience for "new adult" are those in college. This year's incoming freshman mark the first generation of kids born completely after the rise of the Internet; they've never lived without it. They're more comfortable with the technology required for reading e-books than any others before them. Between smart phones and e-readers (and Kindle apps for their laptops) e-books provide them the kind of convenience and portability that's necessary for college life.

Many universities are already going to e-books for their courses, so downloading a few extra titles of interest isn't a stretch.

I truly believe that, while it's an age group and not a genre, "new adult" will be the first group of books where the successes are solidly e-book (commercially published or otherwise). Sure, there will be some print ones, but given the core audience and the hectic pace of life in university, it's more likely that they'll latch onto something meant to compliment what they're already carrying and not add another ounce to their bags. (iPhone for the win - a library in your back pocket!)

College kids talk. They share. They're web-savvy and they pass on the things they like. If what they like is a well written series that stars someone they could either know, or be, then so be it. I know I'd love to have them talking up something I wrote, paper or not. I'd sure love to have them Tweeting links to an Amazon purchase page with my name on it.

Wherein I am Annoyed by Rude People

2011-10-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

I live in a tiny town. Tiny. Search for it on a map, and if it's not Google, you won't find it. (However if you do put it into Google images, one of the first that pops up is a sad, yet beautiful photo of my Aunt's late-father-in-law's home as an "abandoned" farmhouse.)

This town is so tiny we have no bookstore. We "technically" have a library, but it's in the public school. (Not near, IN. As in, you have to go in, let the principal scan your ID and then browse while kids are doing schoolwork "in". I've never done this, but as it's the "public" library for this town, I imagine others have. It honestly gives me the creeps.)

Thankfully, this year, a Half-Price Books was built in one of the closest cities to where I live, but for a "real" bookstore, with new books still wearing their shiny dustjackets, I have to go many, many miles. It just so happens that recently I was in a mall with a Barnes & Noble... YAY! There's a very particular book I've been wanting to buy for someone who wants it, but also can't get to a place with shiny dustjackets, so I skipped (not literally, stop looking at me funny) over to the YA section and was happy to see three copies.

I picked one up, but there were wrinkles in it, so I figured it had been thumbed through and put it back.

The second copy was also wrinkled. Wrinkled and creased - with dogeared pages.

All three "new" copies of this book were in the sort of condition you usually find at a rummage sale.

Someone, or many someones, had completely disrespected the store, the books, and the people who might have purchased them. (And I'm not naive enough to assume it was a child who did it. There are a lot of adults out there with less manners than their children.)

Please don't do things like this. Books are ideas taken out of the Aether and put on paper (or into electrons, for those of you with e-readers). They're not something to abuse or manhandle. They're precious things, and should be treated accordingly.

Making a Bookcover, Redux

2011-09-30T07:00:00.005-05:00

Friends do not let friends use horrible cover art.

A while back, I did a post about basic cover making because someone had asked me how I made the mock covers I used to post. I thought I'd do another, with a bit more detail, for those of you who need to make your own for uploading e-books to Kindle, nook or the like.

Most self-published covers look something like this:

They're obviously amateurish, with blocks of color that don't really match, an irritating font (Papyrus should only be used by people with "Ankh-Amun" in their family name. Bonus points if you're a king named Tut.) There's nothing visually stimulating about this cover, nor is it memorable. There's no clue about the subject matter or age group.

Perhaps, if you write a decent blurb, this is a surmountable obstacle, but why risk it? Why put the same cover on your book that thousands of others have used? You don't want people to think your book is one of the tidal wave of self-published slush, do you? Then you're going to have to put as much effort into the execution of the cover as you do the contents of your novel.

First off, book covers tell as story every bit as much as the narrative itself does. It's a one frame deal, like those comic strips that only get one little box in paper, but with some planning, you can turn that one frame into something that will make someone stop browsing and read your blurb. Maybe even check the writing sample. By that point, you've got a shot at making a sale.

This is the cover I'm using as my example. I made it this morning.

Big difference, no? Same title, same (potential) blurb, but put up against the other cover, which one do you think would get more clicks?

This cover tells us something. It sets a dark tone with shadows and highlights. We can tell that it's likely YA, with a boy protagonist.The metallic/industrial font gives a hint to genre, and while we may not know what this "cube" is, we know from the tagline that it's going to be the setting and part of the struggle. That little frame in the top left corner confirms that our protagonist will be entering something. Our journey is to follow him as he tries to get out.

Now, how does a person get from blah to something more marketable?

Much like the process of plotting a novel, you must plot your cover. Think of this as your query letter to the reader. When querying an agent, you get a tiny amount of space to pique their interest in your characters and plot - the same applies to cover art.

What's the tone? Who's important? If your book was a movie, what would be the tagline on the poster. Think about these things, and then go find photos or artwork that conveys what you want to get across. You will either do this by taking your own photos or going to a site that allows you to license their stock photos. For this particular cover, I used Shutterstock, but there are others.

DO NOT STEAL ANYONE'S PROFESSIONAL WORK. (For that matter, don't steal their amateur work, either.) They are in the same boat as you, putting their craft out there in hopes of making money from it. Don't be the jerk who decides no one will notice if you use what you haven't paid for.

For the tone, I went for something dark, and painted a blank page black to use for my base. Easy Peesey.

Then I went searching for photos on Shutterstock.

Since this was a darkish story, I used "sad teen" for my search and was rewarded with page after page of angst. From that, I chose four images that fit what I wanted. (Actually, I chose five, but one got the boot.)

I had only gone in search of faces, settling on these:

But one of them was near this image:

which fit perfectly for the idea of entering this thing called The Cube.

Now that you have your pieces, you have to decide how best to assemble them. In this case, the boy is the main character, so he gets to go in front. The girls are supporting characters, so they're used to frame the center line of the cover, keeping a potential reader's attention where it should go.

I cut each teen's face from their original photograph and pasted it as a separate object on my black background, then played with the sizing tool until I got them into the right configuration. I used the "Fade Out" brush to make the edges transparent so all three images would blend. (I've also found that if you'll set the main image transparency to something like 5%, it will make the tone and layering look better as a whole.

After I'd removed the logos from the clothes, and adjusted the lighting on the main character's face so it wasn't so stark, I was left with this:

Next, it was time to place the boy in the door. I did a bit of clone-brushing to give him a haircut, and chose the left side of the cover because of the way the boy in the photo is walking. Flipping the image or putting it on the other side would have made him look like he was going with the grain instead of against it, and this needed to look like a decision being made. I tilted the frame with a distortion tool to make him look off-kilter. If your guy's going to be headed into another world, especially a dangerous one, then things are going to be a bit off center for him.

Now I had this:

Which left things perfectly placed for the title on the right side, top.

Most people don't think about fonts, but I can guarantee you, the eye notices them. You need to choose a shape that fits your genre and a color, alignment and size that meshes with the rest of the image. I chose something high impact, with all caps, and a rusted metal finish. By coincidence, the space between the "c" and "u" fit perfectly over the point of the guy's hoodie, so I went with it. Each little detail adds up to a more complete picture.

The tagline should be smaller than the title, but you can use the same font (make sure it shows up when placed). Try and locate a simple, punchy sentence that encapsulates your story or the struggle your characters will face in it. It doesn't need to be complicated. "Getting in is the easy part." is fairly straightforward, and that's what you want. Intrigue without confusion.

Ideally, your cover will generate good questions along the lines of "I wonder what happens." rather than "What was he/she thinking, and why should I care?"

So there you go. How to create a book cover in a few simple steps, and one really long blog post. There are, of course, dozens, if not hundreds, of options for every book's cover, and you may even think I've blown it with this one because the process is highly subjective. But, if you're set on going it alone, then you're going to have to find a way to pick the ones that work best for you.

So THAT's What an Editorial Letter looks like...

2011-09-26T12:08:00.002-05:00

As my camera is dead, I can't make like Natalie Whipple and show you a photo of the editorial letter that just arrived by UPS. (The guy drove right past my house and had to come back. I knew he would!) Instead, you'll have to settle for a description.

First, if you're like me, you may have assumed that an editorial letter was a letter. (Crazy, right?) This letter, I assumed, would give suggestions on things to move, change, add, cut, etc. There actually is a 3 page letter like this in the envelope, so I wasn't completely off base, but the bulk (and I *mean* bulk) of this "letter" is something else entirely.

Do you remember sitting in high school English and getting back a four page term paper with red marks all over it showing you, in detail, everything you did wrong? Well, multiply that by 100 and you'll have an idea of what an editorial letter entails. It's the full manuscript, printed out, and marked up - by hand.

I'm beginning to understand why Natalie separated hers into folders so she could tackle a chunk at a time. Taken all at once, it's daunting and terrifying, and makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. But, it's also exciting. These are the trenches, where the book gets whipped into publishing shape so that it comes out all shiny and fit on the other side.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find folders before I go crazy looking at this huge stack of paper.

Average is an Illusion

2011-09-23T07:00:00.003-05:00

The average child can...

The average teen plays...

The average girl wears...

The average boy reads...

We get tons of information in tidbits like this. For those of us who write for people not in our own age group, we rely on it. But the secret is... it's not accurate. I'd never given much thought to this until McNish made a comment on another post, but he's right.

Averages of any kind are heavily reliant on variables that can change from person to person or hour to hour. Just because the sixteen-year-old boy down the street wears baggy jeans and likes to shock the little old lady next door with his four-letter vocabulary, that doesn't mean that the sixteen-year-old boy at the supermarket is the same. Just because your daughter likes perfume and pink doesn't mean someone else's loathes them.

Some kids squeal in delight over the idea of spiders; others run screaming (and have to beat their parents to their hiding spot).

Some kids embrace the giant, costumed cast members at Disney World, others freak out when the character that used to be two inches tall and stuck in their TV is now a foot-and-a-half taller than their dad.

Some teens like gore, others go nearly catatonic inside a G-rated haunted house.

The point is, personality and experience are things you can't plan for when you're trying to hit the right notes with a given pool of people. They might love you or loathe you, and that opinion might change over the course of the day.

Write your characters the way they need to be written, not because you "know" that's how a kid/teen/girl/boy would react, because when it comes to it, you don't know as much as you think you do.

Wherein I Answer Much Less Awkward Questions

2011-09-20T07:00:00.004-05:00

First off, if you'll look to the right, and my "What I'm Working On" list, you'll notice a lovely blue "DONE" beside WIP #1. This means: PREMEDITATED IS DONE!

WOO HOO!

Now, of course, that's "Done: Level 1", meaning the novel is with my agent, and she's using her super sekrit spidey-senses to make it as strong as possible, but IT'S DONE, PEOPLE.

Now, on to the actual blog post. I have a few questions to answer, so I thought I'd do them here (anonymous as always).

Q: Where can I buy your book?

A: You're jumping the gun by more than a year. Print publishing through a commercial house takes time and many steps.

Q: Do you ever "cast" your characters when you write?

A: I assume this means do I picture actors/actresses/etc. as the characters. Yes, of course. I think most writers do this; it makes it easier to visualize the character if you have a solid image of someone in their role. (But, that doesn't mean I'll fess up to who I see in my head when I'm writing a particular character.)

Q: Why don't you write about puppies and happy children and rainbows?

A: Mom, we've been over this...

Q: Do you have a favorite character?

A: Yes and no. I have characters I love to write, but others that are less pleasant to write are also essential to the story. I love all the characters for different reason.

Q: Will you post your favorite scene from your book?"

A: No, but I'll tell you what it is... sort of. It's a traveling scene starring the book's main character and one of the main male characters. The location mirrors the heroine's feeling of helplessness and chaos pretty well, but the real reason I love the scene is because I've tried working that scene into at least four projects over the years. I was happy to find a place it actually belonged.

Q: Shouldn't you put a disclaimer at the front of your book to remind people it's not real?

A: Mom...

Q: Can you send me your book? I won't share it with anyone. (Or, the other variation: I have a book blog and would like to review your book, please.)

A: Sorry guys, can't do it.

The book's not "done", meaning it's still going through edits with my editor at Greenwillow.
I can't just send copies to whoever I want; it's too big a risk. (To be honest, I haven't even let my family read the book, yet.)
WAY too early. Even if you're a legitimate book blogger, you wouldn't get a copy to read for review until much closer to the book's release date.

The Business of Art

2011-09-16T07:00:00.003-05:00

Over on agent Jennifer Laughran's blog, she discussed a tweet she had received decrying the idea that publishing was more about money than art. The Tweeter was hoping this wasn't true, Ms. Laughran said it was, then went on to say why that's the way it should be.

I have to agree with what she said, namely that the arrangement between writer and agent is a business one, and therefore money is part of it. I'd also like to add something to it

I think when people start on the money vs. art debate, it's easy to slip into the same mindset that by virtue of being a business, you must sacrifice, or at least, skimp on artistic nature. It's faulty logic. Just because there's a business component doesn't mean the artistic one has to suffer or diminish. Create your art, and value it for what it is. (Art DOES have value, yes?)

Selling a piece of art occurs independent of the act which created it. It's nothing but a distribution method to make sure others can enjoy said art as they were meant to, and it doesn't cheapen whatever the creator went through to create.

You're under contract and writing to put food on your table, so what? That doesn't mean you can't write with passion or vision. It doesn't mean that you can't pour heart and soul into your next novel.

Art and business aren't matter and anti-matter. They don't cancel each other out, nor do they create an explosion when they meet. They're partners, and by treating them as partners where both halves give everything they have to the betterment of both, then you end up in a place where you're enjoying the art of business while reaping the benefits of the business of art.

Bunny Juice (AKA - How Kids See the World)

2011-09-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

I write YA (This will not be a surprise to anyone who reads this blog.)

I also write MG. (Also, not likely a surprise.)

Voice is important in both of these age groups because no one (kids especially) wants to be talked down to. And kids are experts at detecting fakers. (Those who toss a few text phrases into what could otherwise be the narration of a 36 year-old divorcee.. LoL!) But as important as it is, voice is also extremely tricky in these instances.

Adults don't think like kids. Adults don't speak like kids. Adults filter the world through a layer of experience that kids haven't lived long enough to experience, and there are serious chemical changes that happen during childhood and adolescence that separate the reasoning capacity of those who are and aren't biologically mature, and sadly, too many adults forget this the second they turn 22. (Most neurologists say that emotional maturity kicks in when a person is in their 20's.)

An adult writing for children or teens is essentially an exercise in translation. It doesn't matter that you speak the same regional dialect as those younger than you, you're still not speaking the same language, and if you want to succeed in writing something a kid of any age won't roll their eyes at, then you have to learn the dialect.

By this point, you're probably wondering what any of this has to do with the Bunny or Juice referenced in the post title. Well, it's a case in point.

I was at the supermarket and there was a harried mother pushing a cart with a girl in it who I'm going to guess was in the 3-4 year-old range. This little girl was being very well behaved, and at one point, she stopped chattering and playing with her doll to ask: "Mommy, can we get some Bunny Juice?"

The mother gave her an instant 'yes' and kept going. It was a cute moment.

Later, I saw this same mother and girl in the dairy section. Mom was still shopping; the girl was still behaving herself, and once again, she asked "Mommy, can we get some Bunny Juice?"

Again, Mom said 'yes', but this time, you could tell, Mom was getting frantic. You see, she'd promised the girl some Bunny Juice, but had no idea what it was. She scanned the milk cartons and juice jugs, searching for any clue as to what Bunny Juice might be. Maybe carrot or some brand the girl had tried at day care that had a rabbit on the label, but she couldn't find anything.

As I went on, there was another request from the girl, and another assurance that Mom would find this elusive drink.

When I was leaving, I spotted them again, in the checkout line. The girl had a container of Nestle Quik. She didn't know what it was called, only that it was a drink, which in her mind made it 'juice' and there was a bunny on the carton. Bunny Juice, simplified. (I'm sure I've missed a few things in this little story, but this is the basic version.)

This is the thing with a 'real' kids' voice. An adult would put something like that in the context of "Mom, can I have some of that chocolate milk you make with the powder? The one with the rabbit on it." if they didn't know the name of something.

A kid distills that into 'Bunny Juice'.

You can't force voice to sound right in a story any more than you can speak a foreign language and not have an accent at first. You have to work at it; you have to practice. And to do that, you need to listen. Listen to the people who are in your target readership and get a feel for how they say things and how they interact with others. (*note*If you are writing for kids, this does NOT mean you should stare at or follow random children. Their mothers will report you as the 'creepy' man/woman to security.)

Read novels others have written. Watch the television shows geared toward that age group. If you can nail the voice, the rest of the story will be a whole lot easier to get across.

Arclight UK

2011-09-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

So I got some good news last week, and I can share it now. Not only is Arclight going to have a German edition, but it was picked up by Egmont UK, as well. So there are going to be two English versions of the novel: one for North America and one for the UK! And the best part is, the UK publishers want THREE books.

YAY!

Arclight in der Deutschen

2011-09-06T12:59:00.003-05:00

(If that header doesn't say "Arclight in German" blame the babelfish. It was an auto-translation, so any insults to one's mother, sister and/or puppy dogs is unintentional.)

It looks like Arclight's going international! It will be published in Germany through Ink, an imprint of German Egmont!

YAY!!!

An Addendum to the Awkward Question

2011-09-01T16:52:00.005-05:00

...

^ This is me taking a deep breath.

The first thing I want to say here is that nothing I've said is privileged information; it's not even hard to find. I don't have special sources or resources, just Google. I'm not a publishing professional. To find those, I'd suggest going to Writer Beware, Absolute Write, or a blog called How Publishing Really Works. If you want to go the self-publishing route, then again check out AW, or look up Joe Konrath's blog or Amanda Hocking's blog. There's Nathan Bransford's blog archives and Query Shark and Pub Rants and on and on. All of these are awesome for gathering information.

I'm saying all of that to mean this -- No, I will not take the name of a supplied press and find out for you if it's legitimate or not. If you can email me or message me, you have access to a computer. If you have access to a computer, you can do a simple search yourself. I am not a counselor; I don't give career advice.

Don't make me make the 'mean face', it gives me wrinkles. *GRRR* (are you scared yet?)

START WITH GOOGLE. If that's not enough, then go to Preditors & Editors and look the press up there. Go to Absolute Write and check their Recommendations, Bewares, and Background checks sub-forum. You don't even have to be a member to use it.

If you're serious about writing as a career, then you have to do your own research and your own leg work, and you have to take your own chances.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll get into this, which is an offshoot of the "awkward question" post.

P.O.D. IS NOT EVIL. It's a technology, not code for "I am scamming you." Very large and very legitimate publishing houses use this technology. There's a very cool machine called an Espresso book machine that uses this technology to print you a personal copy of a book in 3 minutes while you watch.

All P.O.D means is "Print on Demand". (It can also be "Publish on Demand". If anyone tells you these are different, they are either misinformed or lying.) And all THAT means is that a copy of a given book is ONLY printed when it's ordered.

Normally, if you're with a commercial publisher, they decide how many copies of a book to publish when a book is put out. Let's say 5,000 for an example. Those 5,000 books are all printed at once, then stored in a warehouse until they can be shipped to the stores which are showcasing the book, or, in the case of Amazon, until someone orders a copy on-line.

With POD, this doesn't happen. A single copy of a book is printed when a single order comes in. (The lack of bulk printing is why most POD tiles are priced higher than mass produced books.) These books don't have a "stock" kept in warehouses, therefore if someone checks, they're "out of stock", but they can be ordered. When a press says a book is available "through major chains" or "through stores" as opposed to "in" them, this is what they're talking about. You can walk up to a counter, ask the clerk to order "Book Title" and they will send it to you.

POD is used for many reasons, out of print or niche titles among them. Don't freak out just because you see that Press X uses POD.

Yes, it can be confusing. Yes, it can be complicated. But, thankfully there's a ton of information out there that will help you find real answers.

Wherein I Answer An Awkward Question

2011-08-29T13:20:00.011-05:00

Hi guys. I'm going to answer something today, and I'm not calling out any names or anything because I don't want to embarrass or anger anyone, but this seems to be a fairly common line of questioning, so maybe this will help. I'm going to be a bit frank, but please don't think I'm belittling anyone's ability. This is NOT about the writers who have asked, but rather about the companies they've mentioned.

If you write a book and either skip or have no luck with the agent step, you might be tempted to send your book direct to publishers. Okay, fine. That totally works for some people, and despite the odds, YES, sometimes real publishers will respond to unsolicited submissions. I know this for a fact because I've done it. I don't recommend it, but I've done it. (years ago, pre-agent, and the book was not published).

Having said that --

IF said publisher turns around in 2 days or less and screams that they want to give your book a chance, I know it's hard not to jump up and down and start composing letters in your head to all those people who said you'd never achieve your goals, but please - PLEASE - before you agree to anything with a publisher, unagented, and with no advocate on your side, DO SOME RESEARCH.

Google is your friend. There are many legitimate small presses out there, and you may not have heard of them, so Google to make sure the one that's offering isn't a vanity press if you aren't specifically looking for a vanity press. (There are real reasons to use a self-publishing service, and if that's what you want, and the company is upfront about their services, then more power to you.)

If you get an offer from a company you've never heard of, do this:

go to Google
type in: "really awesome publishing company SCAM"

If this results in a long list of complaints, then READ THEM. Yes, it sucks to think you got excited over something and then that something turns out to be not what you thought it was, but it's better to find out before you sign anything.

Call your local bookstore and ask them if they stock books by Really Awesome Publishing Company.

You can also query a couple of agents with the header :I HAVE AN OFFER FROM A PUBLISHER. and see if anyone responds. Most agents will tell you flat out if the "offer" is from a scam press (assuming it's one they've heard of). Please listen to them. They are not jealous of you or trying to keep you down. They are people who love writing and books and writers and don't want to see a potentially amazing book thrown into a black hole.

There are 2 kinds of vanity presses -

A regular vanity press says "pay me $X.XX and I will give you YYY". Very straightforward. If you want only a couple of copies of a book or if you write to a small niche audience, then this might work for you. (It might not, that's not my call.)
The sneakier option is a "reverse" vanity press. They say they're "traditional" in that they don't require payment for a book to be published. They may offer a small "token" advance. They're very careful to word things so that you will assume that by signing with them your book will be on shelves and that you will have signings and that you will be able to pay your bills with your royalty checks. Then, as soon as the contract is signed, they start bombarding you with offers to buy copies of your own book.

There are tons of these places out there and they know exactly what to say to make it seem like you're getting an amazing break, but please take the time to find out about any publisher (or agent) you've never heard of before. You spend months, if not years, writing your book, so don't risk throwing it in the trash by only taking ten minutes to find it a home.

Just some things to consider, pulled from different sites/companies, etc.

A press cannot simultaneously be a small press and still put out over 3,000 books a year. This is a #logicfail
They will dazzle you with statistics like how few "books" are sold in bookstores these days. (Less than 40%). What they don't tell you is that "book" =/= "novel". Most books aren't for commercial use; they're technical manuals and reference books put out for specific industries, but when added into the volume of all books published in a given year, they skew the percentages. Remember: Numbers don't lie, but you can lie with numbers.
No legit publisher tries to find you another publisher to take on your book after they've bought the rights to it.
No legit publisher tries to find you an agent to sell the book they've contracted for.
No legit agent requires you to pay them to read your submission.
No legit publisher charges you to fix typos
No legit publisher charges you for galleys.
No legit publisher will sell you a USB drive with your book on it in e-form.
Even the smallest of micropresses will give you at least 1 free copy of your book

Work out the average earning/author with the company's provided stats. Most of them will tell you, upfront, the number of authors they have. This is to make you think there are thousands out there, happily churning out books for the company. The company will likely also tell you that it's reached some major milestone in royalty payments, usually a million or two. Don't be awed by all those zeroes - do some basic math. Take that threshold and divide it by the number of authors the company claims.

If they say they have 75,000 authors, and that they've cleared 3 million in royalties:
3,000,000/75,000 =$40

$40 is the average total royalties per author, and that's assuming none of those authors have more than one book with the company. Is your book worth more to you than $40? (or whatever total you come up with given the company's stats)

These are just a few red flags, but there are hundreds of others. If you see them, heed them. Don't ignore them because of the glow of being accepted. <--- this is what these companies count on. They know that the average writer dreams of being someone snapped up right away, and so they do it. But by doing this, and having such a quick turnaround, they can pressure a potentially commercially successful author into signing away their rights. Once those rights are gone, they're gone. The book is published, and it now has a sales history -- as do you. 99.99999% of the time that sales history will be dismal. (Vanity published books average in the low double digits for sales.)

Now for the big one. If you've signed with a vanity press by mistake...

IT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE A BAD WRITER.
IT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE STUPID.
IT DOES NOT MEAN YOUR BOOK IS BAD.

It means none of those things. ALL it means is that you ran into people who are professionals in the business of persuasion and insinuation, who prey on the hopes and dreams of those who have worked hard to create something they're proud of, and you made a mistake. It's NOT the end of the world, and it doesn't have to be the end of your writing career.

These companies are not set-up to make a writer successful. They're not equipt to handle the demand that would arise from a book becoming popular. They can't get an author into a worthwhile situation because their experience isn't in real publishing and their reputations are trash in the industry. No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to succeed as a writer through a scam vanity press, because their definition of success is to get as much money from the writer as possible before the writer realizes the truth. They actually make it difficult to sell/ship to anyone other than the author because outside income sources don't pay off as well as continuing to ransom the dream back to the dreamer. If you're stuck with one of these companies, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT THAT YOUR BOOK ISN'T SELLING. It's the way the system is set up.

When someone tells me "OMG, I'm being published, too!" I want to be able to jump up and down and smile and say "YAY!" right along with them. I don't want to get messages like this, then hear the company involved and feel a cold knot in my stomach because I know that elation is going to be short-lived. I hope everyone who reads this blog and wants to be published reaches their goal. (It's possible, statistics are only important for those who conform to them.) But I hope they take the steps to keep that dream from turning into a nightmare.

A Little Something Different

2011-08-15T08:50:00.005-05:00

This is my tree - the one in my backyard, specifically. (Please ignore my trashcan next to the pile of what would be a picnic table had the kit not been missing its braces.) When I first moved into my house a few years ago, this tree had issues. It had a weak limb, so I had to remove it to save the tree. The space left behind when that limb was excised created this image.

I'm not Catholic, none of my immediate family is Catholic, but everyone who sees my tree says the same thing, which is some variation of "That looks like Mary!" (or St. Mary or the Virgin Mary, or whatever the given viewer's qualifier is).

(ETA, one of them shaded in what they say they see to make it clearer, and to be honest, now it's all I can see when I look at my tree, too. Here's that version... yes, before anyone says anything THIS ONE IS PHOTOSHOPPED. Most people wouldn't question that, but there's always someone who thinks they're funny. )

So what does that have to do with writing or books or anything else? Not much, honestly, but I think it's unusual and interesting, and if I must tie this into something useful in the writing world, it's a metaphor. If I'd left the diseased limb on the tree, the tree would have still looked okay. It probably would have been strong enough to live for years, but by cutting off a seemingly good bit of the tree, something completely different became clear. Sure, it's just the way the wood snapped, but it's still nice to look at, and it gives my tree character it didn't have before -- editing books can be the same way.

Maybe what you've got works, but if you cut out the weakest portion, then you may find something completely unexpected that will take you places and directions you never imagined.

I is For...

2011-08-13T18:36:00.003-05:00

I haven't done one of these in a while, but I'm trying to get back into the habit. So, now we pick up our alphabetical trip through writing, publishing, and anything else I can convincingly tie to the process of being professionally delusional (read: writing fiction) where we left off -- the letter "I".

I is for Idea -- that thing which is simultaneously priceless and worthless. Writers have ideas; it's what starts the process. Something appears in your brain, nearly as (or even more) real than the world in which you live, and it begs to be put down on paper (or on screen) before it disappears back to the aether never to be experienced again. Sometimes ideas are stubborn and hide behind blocks; other times, there will be so many available and vying for your attention that you'll feel like the sheer number is crushing you.

It's a hard truth for new writers (and consequently one that crushes many) that there are no "new" ideas. There are variations and spins and slants, but all ideas have come from the ideas of those before us. Our ideas are the product of environment, exposure and belief, and it's not impossible for someone with a similar background to have a similar idea independent of the one they created. Or to say it simply, no, that guy didn't steal from you just because you both have a book about goats in space.

I is for Ingenuity -- where the mundane becomes magic. There are only 26 letters in the English language, and yet those 26 letters can be used in an infinite number of combinations. It's up to the writer to determine how to take those plain old letters and turn them into something never seen or heard before. (Yes, I'm aware that I just said there were no new ideas - deal with the dichotomy or pick a new career, dude.) Your ingenuity is what makes your worthless ideas priceless.

I is for Ick-factors -- the lines a writer refuses to cross. We all (or at least most) have them. Maybe you can't write out graphic violence or intimate love scenes. Maybe you refuse to detail the rotting stench of a zombie's presence. Maybe you just... can't... make... your... character... do... er... that... (whatever it happens to be). If you're uncomfortable, it will read in your writing - that can either help or hurt you. If it's going to give a scene weight and legitimate awkwardness, then consider the "cowboy up" method of doing what needs done. But if you find yourself sneaking in euphemisms for things you can't seem to stomach saying in earnest, then maybe you should fade to black lest your emotional turmoil turn to snicker-worthy spork bait on the page.

I is for Inspiration -- it has to come from somewhere. Ideas don't spring independently from a primordial soup in your head; people you know or things you've seen will creep into your creative process. They may be unrecognizable once they hit the page (and unless you're being very, very kind, this is probably for the best), but you should always keep your eyes open for the striking moments in every day life.

One day, I will find a way to work the trio of Catholic nuns and trio of Buddhist monks who were both in line for rides at Disney World into a story. I will.

I is for Irritating, Insulted, Irate, Insomnia, Incomplete, Insanity and Integrity.

You will find it irritating when people equate your time on the computer with "playing" or utter the words "since you aren't doing anything, could you....", you may even be insulted or become irate, but remember... they don't get it. They live in the "real" world and are therefore to be pitied. To use the term Chuck Wendig coined, they are Pen-Muggles, and therefore do not understand your word-magic. Leave them to believe your pen is a pen and not the wand that transfigures blank pages into a new world they can't even imagine.

Get used to Insomnia, as it will find new and insidious means of making itself known. (Usually, these will be sneak attacks disguised as ideas telling you to get up and write before they disappear on you.

Do not fear the Incomplete story. For all you know, it's not the beginning you think it is, but the middle of another story you haven't thought of yet.

You make things up for a living, and then pretend they're real. You can either call this lying or Insanity - one makes people hate you and the other gets you labeled the loveable eccentric. Also, eccentrics get to wear capes and no one can say a word. When liars wear capes, they get called villains. (Yes, I own a cape and no, you can't borrow it. Cut up your own drapes.)

And then we come to Integrity, which is what you have and what you can lose. The Internet can be a friendly place or shark infested waters (sadly not the kind who munch on queries for their daily snack). What you say and how you conduct yourself on-line can lead to people knowing your name, just try and make sure it's for your work and not your melt-downs. (sheesh, I feel like such a high school guidance counselor with that one.)

Next time, J is for Justice, Jealousy and Just write the *(^%& thing already.

Goodreads!

2011-07-30T22:43:00.004-05:00

Yes, I know the book was "real" before, but now it has its own goodreads page! Now it's more real. Now it exists in a database other than my own hard drive and it's clickable.

It's just a cool, cool moment. :-D

"Your" Book vs. Your Book

2011-07-30T11:18:00.005-05:00

That title confusing enough for you? Good, now let me explain.

I've gotten a few questions since my book deal notice went up, and most are simple, but this is a subject I'd rather do a full post on. It concerns things like titles and book covers that may or may not (<-- most likely) be under the author's control.

When you start writing a book, it's a solitary and often insular activity. The characters live inside a world you create (at least with fantasy or sci-fi), that - up to the point you get it on paper - only exists in your own mind. No one else can see what you see and no one else can know what you know. You have complete control.

Then you send your book out into the world.

Here's where things get tricky. The universe you've created? It still only exists inside your head. No matter how well you've described it, every set of new eyes that takes in your words is going to see something slightly different as your words are filtered through the reader's experiences. Just think how many times you've seen a novel-turned-film and thought the actor looked nothing like the picture in your head.

It happens. Intent isn't always synonymous with result, and while something may be completely obvious to you, you can't assume, as a writer, that what comes through on the page is what you meant to convey. And the same holds true for the person who designs your cover.

I can't tell you how many temper tantrums I've seen on various sites when authors discover that they can't control what goes on the cover of their book when it comes to title or cover art. They create mock covers (similar to what I've shown you here before), only with the expectation that those covers will be the final product, then they stamp their feet and scream that it's their book so they should get to decide what's on the front.

But, here's the secret: That book you wrote? It's not only yours anymore. If you sell it to a commercial publisher, then it's theirs, too. They have entire departments dedicated to marketing; they have experience in the market itself; they know what titles are being used for upcoming novels and they know that if yours sounds too similar it can hurt sales; they know how to craft a cover that will attract attention so a potential reader picks up the book and reads the back or skims the first pages. Most likely, you don't. And while your main focus may be to create a "perfect" image that conveys all the little nuances of your plot, the designer also has to focus on selling books, and that means a cover attractive to the market.

If it were up to me, I know exactly what I'd put on a book cover. It would be a perspective shot of my MC running toward the reader with her hand stretched out and her fingers dissolving to wind-blown particles of dust. The title would be Arclight, and the tagline would read : "There is the Light. There is the Dark. And no one survives the Fade."

But, at the same time, I'm excited to see how someone else interprets the book. What do they think it should be called? How do they see it? Because in the end, I didn't write it for only myself; I wrote a book because I wanted to share the story with others.

It's still your book, full of your words and characters and effort. You're a writer, so do your best with the parts you can control and don't sweat letting people who know more about design handle the parts that are their responsibility.

What Would You Like To Know?

2011-07-27T10:32:00.002-05:00

I've never done an open question thread before, but I've seen others do them, and I'm curious if anyone reading this blog has any questions. I can't promise I'll be able to answer everything, but I can at least pretend I know what I'm talking about. ;)

So... what do you want to know?

I can haz book deal?

2011-07-25T10:30:00.002-05:00

I CAN! I CAN!

Some of you may have seen this over the weekend, as it ran early in Publisher's Weekly, but I wanted to wait until I had the Publisher's Marketplace announcement to go with it before I put it on the blog:

		July 22, 2011


		Children's: Young Adult		Josin L. McQuein's debut ARCLIGHT, a science fiction/dystiopian thriller, where a parasitic race is driving humanity to the point of extinction, and no one who leaves the last safe enclave ever returns until one teenage girl, a stranger, stumbles out of the Dark, to Martha Mihalick at Greenwillow, in a two-book deal, in a major deal, by Suzie Townsend at FinePrint Literary Management (NA).

And now... HAPPY DANCE!

H is for...

2011-06-27T16:06:00.003-05:00

H is for Heroes -- those goodest of good guys (we've established I make my own words on this blog, yes? Good, then move along.) Hero Goodguy is the one who gets the glory, the one who has the exciting life, the one everyone wants to kill (at least if you write fantasy). He should be good, but not too good. Dirty him up, give a dark secret (toe fungus counts, in case you're wondering), and above all else, give him a weakness or two that can actually hinder him.

H is for Heroines -- your own brand or otherwise... oh wait, that's the other kind of heroin (I'll get to homophones in a minute). Heroines should be as dimensional as their male counterparts. They should have strengths and weakness and not be used as a convenient plot device (any more than a male character should be used as a plot device for the female one) If she starts going MarySue on you, you may need to kill her (or find a priest who deals with such things).

H is for Homophones --Dear, deer, know, no, there, their, two, too, to... and on and on (anon!). Did you really mean to say what you said? Are you sure?

H is for High Concept -- Here

H is for Hard -- the thing that writing is, but no one bothers to tell you when you're a starry-eyed youngster who thinks it's all book tours and signings or movie deals and getting your names on those things on shelves with pages in them.

H is for Happy, Hope, Hate, and History --

You will be happy when you finish your book, and each subsequent version of it. You will have hope that said book will net you an agent and a publishing deal, and then make readers smile. There will be times you will hate your book, or the process that goes into finishing it. (You may even hate your dog for jymping up onto your keyboard and plopping her fat belly down so that she presses the delete key and leaves you with 376 fewer pages than you had before her nap.) But hang in there, some day, when your book is sitting all shiny on a shelf or taking up memory in someone's e-reader, that roller coaster will be history. (Though, on the subject of history, if you're writing historical fiction, then please know what you're talking about. If you don't, someone will notice; I promise.)

Next time: I is for Idea, Ingenuity, and Ick-factors...

Flash Fiction Challenge

2011-06-24T12:37:00.003-05:00

It's another Friday, so over on Chuck Wendig's blog there's another flash-fic challenge. I haven't tried one of these in a while, and I found the prompt interesting, so here goes my attempt at a noir/steampunk mash-up:

The dock-side markets used to smell of rotted fish no one had bothered to buy earlier in the day. They'd lump it all up in the back and let the birds take it or cut it for bait to make the night's haul. Maybe it still smells that way... it's not like I'd know the difference. Nah, my whole world carries the scent of copper and machine oil with a chaser of whatever sludge they use to tint the gaslines to let you know when there's a leak.

Maybe it was the morphine they pumped into me for the sake of comfort, or maybe I was the sucker born at the right minute, but a metal body to replace failing flesh sounded good at the time. And I guess in the long run it's better than taking the usual road for a guy who lost one fight too many, but how great can my life be when I spend my nights longing for the stink of a rotted haddock?

I turn down Water Street, into what the locals call the Chapels, but there's no church about them. Tiny shacks and pitched up tents around buildings that would fall without poles and posts to hold them up, and each one of them lit with a red lantern to show business is in session. Queen over the place, the Abbess stands outside the main hub, one hand clutching her shawl round her shoulders and the other wound into the shirt of some ponce who tried to run out without payin' his fee.

From the sound of it, he didn't like the look of his dolly once he got her up close... wasn't put off enough to leave elsewhere, mind, just enough not to pay.

"I want a nightmare, I can stay home with my own," he says. "Don't gotta pay there, won't make me do different here." He's trying to pull up his trousers as he goes, but the suspenders are tangled in his feet. "Call a cop if you want to make a deal of it. A'int no blue bottle gonna step into the wasp's nest on account of any of you hags. Chapel's no man's land, and this man's leaving."

He's not the first to call the Abbess a hag, and it's true - she's a fair bit of nightmare, all bones and scabby skin, barely any hair left on her head. But she takes care of her girls, and even if I still had heart to claim there'd be no pity in it for the berk still caught fast in her fingers.

"Don't need no blues," she says, smiling into the shadows where I stand across the street. I don't know how she knows where I am, but her eyes find mine no matter the distance between us. "We got one better."

The Abbess lets go, and the deadbeat tries to run, not realizing that the spider only lets go of the fly if it's sure the fly's not going anywhere.

And that's my cue.

There's a whoosh and whine as the pistons that pump my muscles respond a little slower than my own legs used to, but once they're going they're more than fast enough to make up for the gap. I hear the ground below my feet but don't feel it, hear the iron fingers riveted onto my hands cut the air with a whistle, but there's sense of cool on my skin. I don't have skin, not anymore.

I catch the man up as he runs, lifting him off the ground with one hand to hang by his collar, and he begins to choke from the pressure. I give him a little shake to loosen my grip and make it easier, but instead of curses or blubbering or anything else, I get a tiny snap before he goes rag-doll limp. It wasn't intentional, but I'm still not used to the strength.

"Not 'ow I'd've settled up, but done's done," the Abbess says. She reaches into his pocket for her girl's due, and takes the rest of his money along with it. "No sense lettin' it waste. Once you dump 'im someone's gonna lift it, so it might as well be me, eh?" She actually laughs, showing off surprisingly straight teeth. Then she dips back into the man's coat for his gold pocket watch. "Don' guess 'e'll be needin' to know the time where 'e's gone, either."

She hands the watch off to the red-faced dolly who'd been the man's company earlier in the night. The girl's older than she's painted up to look, with pancake white and baby-doll braids

"For your tears, dearie," the Abbess says, and the girl goes back to her tent, clutching the watch to her bare chest.

I sling the corpse across my shoulders and turn to take it back to the fish dump. The birds can have what they want, and whatever's left by morning won't be much to speak of. If the smell's still what I remember, no one's likely to notice him anyway.

"You shouldn't wait for trouble for an excuse to come to Chapel," the Abbess tells me. "Plen'y of the girls round here miss seein' what's left o'your face. You're good people, more or less."

As close to a compliment as anyone gets out of the Abbess, so I remind myself to chuckle.

She gives me a kiss on the cheek with her leathery lips, but I don't feel it.

I don't feel anything. I guess it's still better than dead.

High Concept

2011-06-21T08:26:00.003-05:00

No, I haven't abandoned my alphabet posts, but as I was considering "H" words, I thought maybe one of those should get its own post. The dreaded, yet coveted "high concept".

It's something you'll hear over and over if you're trying to figure out how to pitch a particular story, but what does it mean?

If you've read this blog for a while, then you know that way back when I was a kidlet I had aspirations of being a screenwriter. Trying to figure out the ins and outs of that particular field was where I got my first taste of this idea called "high concept". And, like most people, I took the phrasing to mean that this was some big, complicated thing, because that's what it sounds like it should be, but the good news is -- it's not.

High concept means you can - clearly and concisely - explain your book/story/movie in one (maybe two) SHORT sentences. (And you thought boiling it down to a query summary was hard, ha!)

When you try and sell a screenplay, you develop a logline - the actual 1 or 2 sentence encapsulation of your entire story. And the "rules" aren't much different from those used to pitch a book.

Strip it down to the core premise - not plot, premise.

An orphaned boy learns magic so he can destroy the evil wizard who murdered his parents.

There are nearly 1,000,000 words in the Harry Potter series, and it takes less than 20 to give the premise.

A teenage girl discovers a family with a centuries old secret - they're vampires.

Twilight takes less than 15. (This would also work for Tuck Everlasting with "immortal" in place of "vampire")

A determined teen replaces her sister in a televised fight to the death.

Hunger Games.

The thing about a concept like The Hunger Games is that you can also get the concept across by putting it into the context of an existing idea.

It's Survivor, if getting voted off the island meant a spear through the heart.

There really isn't a sure fire way to do it "right", but basically, you want something like:

A [adjective] [noun - NOT the character's name. The name holds no meaning][strong verb, present tense, not state of being].

Preferably all of this will lead to a sense of the stakes for the story.

For Harry, avenging his parents is at stake.
For Twilight, discovering the secret is dangerous.
For Hunger Games, it's life or death.

Forget the plot, forget the subplots, forget the relationships and all the window dressing. High concept is only about the linchpin that holds the story together. It's that one, central something that would cause catastrophic failure if you removed it as an element of the story.

Hopefully, this will make it a little easier for you to determine.

You Know, Maybe We Should Want to Write Like Judy Blume

2011-06-06T17:26:00.004-05:00

Yes, this is another @WSJ post.

Judy Blume is a name that anyone who writes for kids/teens (or anyone who was, at one time either a child or a teen) should be familiar with. Hers are some of the stories I grew up on, and they are some of the stories that inspired a love of reading, which led to a love of writing. She was cited in "that article" as the nostalgic "why don't they write like this anymore" writer from back in the day. The one, lamented the article writer, whose style of writing could no longer be found.

Maybe, in all the research that should have gone into the article, but somehow didn't quite make it onto the page, the writer could have popped over to Ms. Blume's website. Right at the top, there's a lovely tab with the word "CENSORSHIP" crossed through in red. Click it, then read the words there in light of the complaints issued in the WSJ article.

I'm going to quote a couple of things here and if, by some quirk of fate Ms. Blume should happen to stumble across this post, I hope she won't mind.

First, I give you this:

I felt only that I had to write the most honest books I could. It never occurred to me, at the time, that what I was writing was controversial. Much of it grew out of my own feelings and concerns when I was young.

Guess what? This feeling is the same one shared by those of us who write MG and YA lit today. We write because of the concerns and feelings experienced by the young. Those concerns have changed, so literature has changed to meet them.

Then there's this:

But in 1980, the censors crawled out of the woodwork, seemingly overnight, organized and determined. Not only would they decide what their children could read, but what all children could read. Challenges to books quadrupled within months,

Which means, that at the time her books were published, she was the one, not Andrew Smith or Jackie Morse Kessler, having that bewildered parent stare at her books with disgust for what they represented. The banner of wholesome, decent YA lit of a bygone era that the WSJ would like us to imitate was someone decried as warped and wrong and leading children into places children shouldn't go. She was the one parents wanted out of their kids' hands, and yet, she's the one, now that those parents are grown up, who they want their children to experience.

There's a pattern here that may be difficult to see from the perspective of someone staring up at that wall of books you don't recognize from your youth. The writers you cherished as children and teens are the ones who didn't toe the line and regurgitate the stories your parents read; they were the ones who stripped the paint off and let you see what was real and what was fake. They were the ones who were less interested in "writing for kids" than they were "telling stories".

Ms. Blume has this little note posted on her site, that says, succinctly, what every writer who participated in #YAsaves was trying to get across:

Dear Judy,
I don't know where I stand in the world. I don't know who I am.
That's why I read, to find myself.
Elizabeth, age 13

It's a human tradition. Stories are passed down and new ones are spun to hand off to the next generation so the chain keeps going. When you try and pull back on the chain, you snarl the line. That tradition of storytelling and communication is what shapes the next generation, and when you refuse to incorporate new experience into the tradition, then you condemn those who come after to a future of the mistakes you've already made. You deny them the chance to learn from those who came before so they can make things better for themselves and their own children.

Kids look for information, and they look for truth. You can't protect children from dark things by pretending they don't exist, and exchanging the windows in your house with mirrors won't make the world outside conform to whatever reality you create within your own walls.

If you visit Ms. Blume's page, and I hope you do, then pay attention to not only the links on the left side of her "censorship" page, but also take care to read her closing statements:

But it's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.

Yep. When I grow up, I want to write like Judy Blume, and I hope the rest of you who stick your toes into the waters of YA lit do, too.

Darkness Too Visible

2011-06-04T21:38:00.004-05:00

If you're a writer who's been anywhere near Twitter tonight, you'll recognize this as the title of an article published in the Wall Street Journal. about how horribly dark YA literature has become.

It begins with a forty-six-year-old mother lamenting the lack of acceptable reading material for her thirteen-year-old daughter. It was all "too dark", according to this woman, who apparently made the cliche literary faux pas of judging an entire wall of books by their covers.

On one hand, I have to ask why, if this woman makes a habit of buying reading material for her kids, this came as such a shock. The darker / more realistic tone to even paranormal YA has been trending for quite a while now. It's certainly nothing new. On the other, I have to ask if the article's author intended her title as ironic.

The only way to fight the darkness is to make it visible.

Sure, the girl who caught fire isn't the same as Buddhist monks or former soldiers who set themselves on fire to force attention onto the things and places the general public would rather forget exists, but books like The Hunger Games can make a social splash without the clinging stench of scorched flesh in the air.

Perhaps the person who penned this article, and the mother who objected to the books she's never read, are unaware of what drives YA writers to choose their content and audience.

Perhaps they're unaware that while Americans entertain themselves with shows like Survivor, real teens and children are fighting each other for scraps of food and garbage so that they can survive long enough to do it again the next day.

Perhaps they're unaware that while top teacher concerns in the day of Judy Blume, who they mention in the article as a comparison, were things like talking in class, chewing gum and skipping school, today's concerns are violence, rape, and gunfire.

Perhaps they're unaware that teens struggling with their sexual identity are at a higher risk of violence and suicide.

Perhaps they're unaware that Native Americans who still live in reservation communities have the highest suicide rates in the country, despite their small population.

Perhaps they're unaware that there are areas where hunger is a daily reality for kids in American public schools, and that the same kids beaten down by those in authority are often "difficult" because at home, they ARE the authority for their brothers and sisters because their parents are at work before they wake up and come home after they're asleep.

Perhaps they're unaware that there are families who "camp" for a living because a tent at national park gets them access to bathrooms and running water, and the weekly fee for their space is all they can afford.

Perhaps they're unaware that too many kids today feel like they're shouting into a hurricane without anyone on the other side to hear them and that they're being crushed by pressure from their parents, themselves, their friends and society to the point that if they don't make those tiny cuts in their arms and legs they'll be sliced to ribbons from the inside out.

Perhaps they're unaware that, statistically, someone that thirteen-year-old goes to school with will commit suicide or overdose or be raped or murdered or otherwise impacted by violence before graduation.

Perhaps they're unaware that girls the world over are victims of violence by family and friends. That they're sold and used until their AIDS and other STD riddled bodies are no longer profitable, at which point they're taken out with the trash. That they're kidnapped in areas where gender-bias has led families to destroy the girls born to them, in favor of sons, leaving an entire generation of men without enough women.

Perhaps they're unaware that a 140 degree, metal, semi-truck trailer can hold more than 100 people standing up as it rattles across borders, or that the people who choke to death on their own waste and body heat have paid out their life savings for a crap shoot that will end one of three places: freedom, death, or human bondage.

Perhaps they're unaware that most of the time, it isn't freedom.

Perhaps they're unaware that the electronics we use and the jewelry we wear often comes at the price of innocence on a scale most couldn't imagine, because it's the youngest who procure the raw materials under pain of death, until they die.

Perhaps they're unaware that in certain parts of the world, being larger than the gun you carry is the only qualification required for being a soldier.

I see an article lamenting that literature has lost its innocence and that the days of Judy Blume are past. But what I also see, that the article writer and the woman she featured don't, is a time when teens are no longer told they have to be quiet. They can speak and scream and share their pain before the burden of carrying breaks them. They can purge the poison that comes from hiding a canker until it festers beyond control and leads to something far worse than a fictional account of violence.

For the outsider, this is a time when they can find a sympathetic ear and someone willing to tell their story. This is a time when those forced to eat their sorrow can find others who are willing to stand up and scream the things their voices can't say. This is a time when it's no longer acceptable to pretend that things are nice and neat behind white picket fences where life is beautiful for everyone.

Is the darkness visible? Yes.

Should it be? Damn straight.

Grab a match and light it up. Burn the darkness until it has nowhere left to hide.

Making Covers

2011-06-03T20:18:00.003-05:00

This is a post by request.

Authors, unless you're self-publishing, don't make their own cover art. There are many factors, including being able to design a full jacket image that can catch someone's attention, knowing how to make a mock-up, designing a bar code, etc. I know how to do exactly none of that.

If you are self-publishing, or just want to make a cover for fun, then maybe this will help you.

First, open your photo-editing software. (I use PhotoImpact.) Your screen will look something like this:

Now, select the base image you want to use. (Note, if you're going to be making a commercial cover, for purposes of publishing / advertisement, then make sure you own the images you're using. Just because they're on the Internet doesn't make them free. There are royalty free clip art and photography sites you can find with Google. The image below is not the one I used in my original cover (under the "Wolf-killer" tab). I found it online, and it's not mine, so no using it for anything other than fair use kthxbai)

Your image will likely be the wrong size, so you will have to alter it. The specific resolution should be listed on whichever site you're using, so go by those guidelines. For the purposes of this, I went with "sort of book shaped" as the official size :-P

Open a crop-box and highlight what you want to use.

Hit "Crop" and adjust the final size according to your needed resolution specifications. It should look something like this:

Now you decide what you want for the main image, be it a person, thing, or whatever. This is a re-telling of Red Riding Hood, so I took a photo of a Ren Fest Cape and altered its color to what I needed, then cut out the image:

Drag the image over and combine the overlay with the base image:

Go around the edges with an eraser to make sure the image is cleanly cut, or else it will look strange in the final product.

Now, to create an appropriately creepy atmosphere, I used the "particle" toolbar and the "cloud" brush to create a blue haze on the background before merging the images, then used it again on the foreground image in a lighter color to give the impression of rolling fog.

Merge the images into one with the "merge" command.

Type out your title with the default font to make sure it's spelled correctly. (Do not laugh; it happens.)

Select the appropriate font from your list and adjust its size and position according to how you want the final image to look. Titles are more than words on paper, they're a matter of composition. Make sure the color and shape fit the rest of the cover's space and tone.

Add your name and a "tagline" to catch a browser's attention.

Save the image as a JPG (or whatever format's required)

Keep in mind that your image should not only look good in color and at normal size, but it should also be attention getting at thumbnail size, as that's what most will see in the e-book store. For Kindle users, it should also be legible in black and white

Any questions? I'll answer them if I can.

Ideas and Where to Find Them

2011-06-01T15:03:00.002-05:00

It's an oft-asked question by those who want to write or who are simply curious about the process. "Where do your ideas come from?"

Well, that's both difficult and easy to answer. Ideas don't "come" from anywhere; they simply exist. At the same time, they're built from everything. Every sight, sound, smell, memory and experience filtered through your unique personality and perspective is an idea. A minute detail that 761 people have overlooked may fire off a creativity explosion in your head.

One of the hardest things for non-writers to understand is that YOU CANNOT TURN IT OFF. Ideas keep coming. They form unions and picket your brain. They fight turf wars over your attention. They butt in on each other when it’s not their turn to be written.Your mind is the primordial soup of the universes of your own creation, and it's just waiting for you to drop a line and catch something.

A writer will come to a point of choice and pick a direction, but the possibility of that other choice will spawn an entirely new idea. Then your tenth grade English teacher’s voice pops into your head, reciting “The Road Less Traveled” and suddenly that other idea now stars a guy named Frost because there’s no other possible name for him. (Fanfiction thrives on this sort of thing.)

Schrodinger and his cyanide-huffing cat had nothing on the infinite possibilities that live inside a writer’s mind. To a writer, there’s no question that multiple universes exist because we see them all, simultaneously, running side-by-side with their infinite branches splitting each possible storyline.

And it NEVER STOPS.

Which brings me, finally, to this:

I have finally tracked down the definitive answer to "Where did this idea come from?" concerning Arclight. I went data mining through all the junk I've saved from way back when and found it. So are you ready for the reveal? Ready? Ready?

The answer is... ANTS!

Not the creepy CGI version with a "z" at the end, but actual ants. Army ants to be precise. That which became Arclight came from a nugget of an idea after learning about a troop of army ants that swept through a village in South America. There was a description of a person glancing at their wall, at night, and saying that it appeared the wall was moving. Then they realized it was ant season, freaked out and ran away because the swarm was unstoppable.

So there you go.

Tolkein watched a Shakespearean play as a boy, and in his disappointment that the "moving trees" were nothing but an army with heavy horse, he created the Ents.

I see a story about army ants, and in my disappointment that the "moving walls" were nothing but said creepy crawlies, I created "The Fade"

What We Remember

2011-05-30T07:17:00.003-05:00

Time to make my traditional Memorial Day post:

I come from a family where military service is common.

My paternal grandfather was in the Army; WWII - Africa, where he survived a sniper attack. The sniper was trained to shoot at night by targeting cigarette glow, assuming the cig would be in someone's mouth. My grandfather happened to be holding his in his hand, which is what was hit.

My maternal great uncle was a Marine; WWII; Okinawa - 18 years old and he lost his leg above the knee because he threw his body on top of a grenade to save his friends. It cost him a kidney and he came home full of shrapnel. He only made it home at all because a general in the area thought he was a dead man and gave up his seat on the chopper so he wouldn't die there. He had horror stories of Naha City of the most literal kind.

His brother was Army Corps. of Engineers; Korea - they built what needed to be built when and where it needed to built whether it was possible or not.

My father tried to join every branch, but the combination of color blindness and flat feet excluded him. His brother was Navy.

My maternal grandfather was one that worked for the guys making the equipment at General Dynamics; Ft. Worth. (I have a piece of the original test model for the chimp capsule he helped design the insulation for. They called it a "space sandwich.)

My paternal grandmother was an Army WAC; WWII.

And most recently, my cousin did 3 tours in Iraq with the Marines.

Thankfully they all survived their service. Others didn't, and today marks the time we honor that as well as the reasons those who didn't make it back died. It's easy to say Freedom isn't Free, but their sacrifice deserve more than that. There are as many reasons as there are fallen soldiers, but I'll focus on the big 10.

1. It's thanks to the men and women who serve that you don't have to hold your church services or Seders in darkened basements, and you can take out your prayer rug and bow to the east. That whatever icons are important to your religion can be displayed with pride instead of hidden in fear or made a source of shame. Thanks to them, Christmas trees and menorahs can be lit bright in the window and those who participate in the Festival of Color can enjoy their day. No one's forced to eat during Ramadan for fear of being discovered. You can wear a head scarf, but can't be forced to sew a Star-of-David on your coat. That's freedom of religion.

It's thanks to the men and women who serve that our news comes from different outlets and different angles and isn't stamped "Approved Government News". We don't have someone looming over our shoulders to make sure we don't find out what's going on in another part of the world or cleaning up opinions of our leaders. We don't notices telling us not to worry about hurricane season or flooding because our leaders took care of that problem or warning us to ignore "propaganda" that exposes short comings that could impact the public. And you don't have to register every moment on line so someone knows where you look and what you say. That's freedom of the press.

It's thanks to the men and women who serve that we can gather together in peaceful protest and shout with a louder voice than we'd able to use on our own. We can get attention directed to the people who have no voice of their own at all and keep the spotlight on those trying to hide things that shouldn't be covered up. That's freedom of assembly.

It's thanks to the men and women who serve that you know who represents you in government and that you know where they stand on what issue. You can get together with like minded individuals and bring your wants and needs to them, and if they don't act the way you think they should, you can tell them your vote's going elsewhere in the next election. That's your right to petition.

2. Even though most of us will never have to use a weapon to defend our home, family or person, the men and women who serve do so to make sure that the right is there if you need it. That's the right to bear arms.

3. Those who serve do so to ensure that your home is your home and not a convenient place to park the local reserves. You have a right to a locked door that can't be breached because a person in uniform wants to use or abuse your property, family or person. That's the right not to quarter.

4. Those who serve do so to ensure you have a right to what's yours and a right to tell others that what's yours is none of their business. You have a right to security and privacy in your own home, and a right to keep what belongs to you in whatever legal manner you choose inside your own space. That's the right of no illegal search and seizure.

5. Those who serve do so to ensure your right to keep your mouth shut. Government officials can't force or coerce you to say you've done something wrong, nor can they put those words in your mouth. They don't have the right to write your confession and have you sign it or take what's yours just because they want it. They have to compensate you. That's the right not to self-incriminate.

6. Those who serve do so to ensure that you aren't shuffled off in the middle of the night never to be seen or heard from again. They make sure that you get a trial where your voice can be heard and your face can be seen, where friends or enemies can speak on your behalf and where your fate is decided by those of your own station rather than an arbitrary decision by someone in authority. That's your right to trial by jury.

7. Those who serve do so to ensure that rights to trial don't only apply to criminal cases. They make sure that your property and business gets a chance to make their case in court with facts to support your side being presented. That's your right to civil trial by jury.

8. Those who serve do so to make sure that no official body throws a child in jail for life for stealing a meal or beats someone to death in the street as punishment. They ensure that the perpetrator of a crime is the sole recipient of the punishment, and that his/her children and spouse aren't jailed as well. They ensure that torture isn't a penalty assigned by the court and that no force to engage in the practice has the right to operate. That's your right not to have cruel and unusual punishment.

9. Those who serve do so to ensure fancy words and regulations don't outsmart common sense. That's your right retain rights not specifically listed.

10. Those who serve do so to ensure the republic remembers that it's made of many parts and that those parts have rights, too. They ensure the states remember that they are made of many people and that those people have rights, too. No right of one entity can exclude another from its rights. That's the right of state and person.

Most people know about the Bill of Rights, few can tell you what they say beyond "Pleading the 5th" or freedom of press/religion. But every one of those rights was bought and paid for with blood of men and women who died believing they were worth protecting for their families and children and friends and strangers. Every right and privilege you overlook is a death in vain because you can't exercise rights you don't know you have.

Those red stripes aren't just representative of the colonies that started this country; they're a tribute to the blood spilled to birth it and used as the ink to write the contract with its citizens.

Remember those who gave more than their fair share to make sure your got yours, and remember the gift they gave you. They don't deserve to be forgotten.

Happy Memorial Day.

How long from Idea to Novel?

2011-05-28T15:51:00.003-05:00

As I sit here doing revisions on Arclight (read: procrastinate), I started thinking of blog post material (Yes, I'll get back to the ABC's... eventually.) So, to continue on with the current dance fest from getting an agent, I thought I'd tell you something about the process that surprised me.

Every single agent I spoke with asked me the same question: Where did you get the idea for the novel?

It's a generic and obvious question, but it was still one I never considered being asked. (I don't know why; I stopped trying to make sense out of my brain a long time ago. Life's happier that way.)

They also all had very near the same reaction to my answer - surprise.

You see, I wrote Arclight when I was 17 (18?).

Way back when I had just gotten my very first computer, this idea bloomed that I wanted to be a screenwriter. So, shiny new computer on desk and screenwriting software in the optical drive, I hammered out four screenplays. (Three and 1/2 but I won't tell if you won't.)

Untouchable was a contemporary soft sci-fi story about people on the run from a gov't agency because they had all been bio-engineered as poison carriers. They could make people sick or even kill with a touch. The organization's crowning achievement was a little girl meant to be the "perfect" assassin, so the only one of the test subject who had yet to "trigger" (become lethal) ran with her. They got picked up on the highway by a trucker who thought they were running from an abusive father and taken to his friend who ran a battered women's shelter. The other subjects committed mass suicide rather than allow themselves to be used as weapons and the agency was left with no option but to pursue this little girl cross country.

Kat Burglars; Inc. was a sort Alias meets Heathers with a cast of characters who had names which were all variations on "Katherine". Katherine, Kitty, Katie, Kate and Katya. They were a mod squad sort of group who had been retired and were having to come back together after the death of one of their members put their current assumed lives in danger. It was what I think Charlie's Angels would be if it was a more serious story rather than slapstick.

Echo, which I swear I'm going to novelize one of these days, was another contemporary sci-fi, but based around time travel. It was also a murder mystery and ghost story unlike any you've ever seen. I'm being vague on purpose, because I don't want to give the twists away if I do get to novelize it... maybe NaNo this year.

And then there was Ouroboros, the screenplay that would become Arclight.

At its inception, Ouroboros (the name of the spaceship where the story was set) was a space opera built around the conceit that aliens exists and had been cooperating with humans for decades while the general population was unaware. There were twin space stations - one in the desert (Gaia) and one on the moon (Luna). The people who lived on Luna had never been on earth and had a sort of inborn prejudice against "EB's" or the "Earth Bound". It was very much not a YA story, with all the characters being adults, and ironically the character who knew the most in Ouroboros became the girl who knows nothing in Arclight. I *loved* this story; I even wrote two sequels, the second of which has sadly disappeared from existence as far as I can tell.

I even designed the aliens and their culture and their socio-economic climate, and about a dozen other things that normal 17-18 year old girls weren't doing.

Then the reality of having people in the family who needed constant care set in. I put the screenplays (and the horrendous 130 some-odd page MG story I'd written) away and decided they were dreams rather than reality.

Fast forward a few years to 2007-2008 when I wrote a vampire novel. I didn't know vampires had hit HUGE. I didn't even know Twilight was about vampires until the first movie spots aired. I've had a softspot for vampires since I was a kid, so it was only natural that my first "real" book be about bloodsuckers.

I polished, I queried, I got numerous requests. I even did a revise/resubmit, but realized that 1 - the market was bloated and 2 - my heart wasn't in it the way it should have been. So, I scrapped vampires and thought "Ah ha! No one's writing zombies..."

I hammered out a bit of what would become Arclight and let someone see the opening. They said "This sounds like The Forest of Hands and Teeth".

I was crushed. I had just starting hearing that there was a new zombie book due to come out soon, but I refused to read it for fear of being influenced by it.

It was very tempting to just pack it in and give up there. But then I remembered those screenplays I had stuck in the metaphorical drawer way back when. I located (on floppy disk, no less) the files I had saved, bought a floppy reader to plug into my computer and discovered that I had lost very little data to storage for so long. After transferring every floppy file I could find, I began strip-mining bits of Ouroboros and bits of the zombie book and melding them together into what would become Arclight. Which leaves me with a darkish and pleasantly creepy sci-fi story for Young Adults.

So, how long does it take to go from Idea to Novel? If my idea was a child it would be a moody teenager about now. :-P

The vampire book took less than three months.

And that, my friends, is the point. There is no answer to that question other than the one specific to the book you're currently writing. Ouroboros took me maybe a week. The zombie book was into about it's second or third month when I shifted gears. The mash-up took about a year, if I remove the six months life butted in and I didn't write a word.

(I do believe this may be the world record for saying "it depends".)

Agented!

2011-05-25T06:11:00.004-05:00

Last night I accepted Suzie Townsend's (Fine Print Lit.) offer of representation. She's sending me actual stuff to read and sign, so I'm taking that as official enough to make a blog post.

Now we dance, yes?

Okay, enough of that. People are watching! (Seriously, the things some people do in public...)

For those of you who are interested, here's the timeline:

4/21

I sent out queries (Stupidly, I might add, as it was right before Easter, but of course I missed that detail.) Those of you who read this blog will probably be surprised to know that it wasn't Premeditated I queried, but Arclight. I decided to go with the one that had series potential first.

4/23

Suzie asked for the full manuscript, which I sent, and I got an email stating that it would probably be 60 days before I heard back because she's got a lot to read. It sounds awful, but that's like a hiccup in publishing years.

4/28

I get an email saying she'd checked out Arclight on a break and she was loving it.

5/14

Suzie, who is officially the awesomest agent alive for giving feedback to someone she didn't even rep, said she had some thoughts on Arclight. She sent me FOUR PAGES!

5/16

Suzie says she's been stuck in the world of Arclight all weekend and asks if she can call me. (This didn't require much thought on my part, but it did look something like this post from Teherah Mafi. Just substitute "call" for "full request".)

5/17

THE CALL!!!!!!!!

Suzie called. I answered. I hopefully did not sound like an idiot.

She offered representation, so I went and emailed all of the other agents who either had fulls, partials or queries. I ended up with an avalanche of requests and a few who backed out because they couldn't read it within a week. (FYI, the week before BEA is not the best time to ask agents to read quickly...)

For the next week, I talked by email with agents and spoke to them on the phone, and in the end... there was no contest. Suzie was the best choice for me. Which leads me to:

5/24

I accepted Suzie's offer of representation! I'm officially agented.

YAY!!!!

So, all in all, not a bad run from query to offer to acceptance. Just a few days over a month.

Now, we dance. Again.

(All right, that's enough. Knock it off so I can go back to revising already!)

7 Query/Agent Myths I Can Officially Bust

2011-05-18T14:00:00.003-05:00

Since it is functionally impossible for me to concentrate at the moment, I thought I might do a little post on "Those Things" we're all told when we get ready to query (or, even from the time we decide to write an actual book). These are those "known facts" facts that somehow even people who know nothing about writing a book (other than they're fairly certain words are involved) will rattle off like a Pavlovian bark the instant someone mentions hoping to make a go of writing.

#1 - Only those with connections can hope to get an agent's attention. The rest of us are out of luck.

I live on the backside of beyond in a town no one has heard of (unless you're a fan of obscure movie facts and know what mid-80's film was shot here that I might have been an extra in while wearing footie PJ's and toting a pillow...) I have NO contacts. Until four years ago, I had NO internet access. I'd tried, once, to get an email account using a public computer at the library in slightly less minuscule town where I used to live. (If you watch Lifetime movies of the week, that town you will have heard of.) I started from scratch, armed only with Google.

#2 - Agents don't actually read anything they're sent; they just hit auto-reject. (Assuming they can be bothered to reply at all.)

They read. Some skim; some devour, but they definitely read. I've gotten personalized rejections that were obvious cut and paste jobs (not complaining), and those that were a few paragraphs of what the agent in question did and didn't think worked. The first agent who offered representation sent me pages of notes and suggestions on plot elements and pacing; her clients, (whom I may or may not be forum stalking at AW) say she's even more devoted to the people she reps. So yeah, agents read.

#3 - No agent wants to take a risk on a new writer

All writers are new at some point, which means that every one of their agents took a risk on them. I haven't had a single response with the words "Not interested in writers not already published.

#4 - If you don't have a million followers / Twitter friends / people who like you, you can forget catching an agent's attention. (Likewise: If you haven't self-published and sold 100K copies, then no one likes you.)

*looks at follower count*
*falls in floor laughing*

Unless Blogger's hiding a few zeroes from the total, I have around 200 followers as of this post. I can't even say for certain they all like me. :-P

#5 - Never use a pen name.

*snerk*

I'm fairly sure I've mentioned this, but "Josin" is a modified nick name, and not my legal name. It came from my teenage dream of being a screenwriter and having people tell me that obviously female names could make things a harder sell. My legal name is that pesky "L" in the middle of the URL up there. What little on-line presence I have has been done under my pen name, so it would be silly for me not to include it.

#6 - Agents all have some kind of God-complex and like to dash writers' dreams

When I sent out emails yesterday to inform those agents still considering my MS, every responder that didn't say they were bumping the MS up in their reading queue to see if it was something they'd like to consider offered congratulations and a very polite bow out. Some of those responses were more excited that the read requests themselves.

One agent in particular asked who the offering agent was. When I told her, she answered back again - relieved - because she had wanted to make sure the agent wasn't a scam artist. (Quick turnaround on a read can be a red flag.) She said, had the agent been one of the bad ones, she'd have swooped in, but felt better bowing out knowing that the agent was legit and I'd be okay.

Agents love books, so by extension, they love the people who write books. They really do try to help as many as possible.

#7 - There are no magic words to make an agent read your MS.

*places tongue firmly in cheek*

"I have an offer of representation" seems to work pretty well, to me :-P

Riding the Query - Go - Round; Three Weeks In

2011-05-17T12:06:00.003-05:00

As of this morning, I have an official offer of representation from a real agent-type-person. No details yet, but I'll share ASAP.

I would dance, but sadly, it would look like this:

mixed with this:

Only with less stylish clothes.

G is for...

2011-05-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

G is for Genre -- Do you write sci-fi? Romance? Fantasy? Contemporary? This is a question you need to ask yourself, and it's one you have to be able to answer with some degree of certainty. If you don't know where your book fits, then you won't know what its competition is. If you know its competition, then that should give you an idea of where your book fits in the market. At some point, someone is going to ask you to answer this question, and it's not something you can shrug off and let someone else figure out.

G is for Galleys -- Think of them as last minute proof copies of your book. At this point, everything should be ready to go, but you want to look over things one more time to make sure there aren't any glaring errors. Glaring error, in this case, meaning your MC underwent gender reassignment without your permission or that Tokyo is now in China for some inexplicable reason. This is NOT the time to decide you want to rewrite "that scene" in chapter four.

G is for Green -- Which is more eco-friendly - paper books or e-books? You'd think e-books, right? Well, the answer is actually... "maybe". While e-readers don't require paper (beyond the packaging they come in...), they do create tech-waste, which isn't at all eco-friendly. And since, like most tech, they're designed with obsolesce in mind, you can bet that, at some point, that e-reader on your night stand is going to be landing in a landfill somewhere.

G is for Green -- the other kind. While money may not be your primary motivation behind seeking publication, I think most people would agree that it's not a bad goal. The commercial viability of your novel (or book, if you write non-fic) is something to consider when deciding on a publishing path.

G is for Google that sh-- STUFF! (I was gonna say stuff, Mom, honest!) -- Seriously, Google is a great first step for seeking information, and it's basic enough that it can keep you from slipping into some serious rookie faux pas. Google agents. Google publishers. Google the places you write about. Google famous people. Google is a verb now; use it accordingly.

G is for Goosebumps -- something you will get when an agent says they like your writing and then asks if they can call you. Don't panic; this is not a rash and it's highly unlikely that you are allergic to the agent in question. Back away from the Benadryl.

G is for good, giddy, giggles, and goals --

Good enough is not a four letter word, but it can be much worse. If you're on a first draft, then, yes, you can get away with "good enough" to just get the story out of your head. But, when you get to the point that you're editing, never let yourself fall into the "good enough" trap by comparing your work to that of others who you find inferior, despite their published status. Maybe your "good enough" really is better than their book, but settling that way should never be good enough for you, yourself. Give it your best, or you might as well delete your book right now.

When you get compliments on your writing, don't get too giddy. Getting giddy often leads to a flare up in the idea that something;s "good enough" when it can, in fact, be better. Compliments are nice, but success is better. Don't flatter yourself into complacency.

It's okay to laugh at yourself and your lousy writing. Celebrate the cheesy dialogue. Glory in the cliched set-up. Get the Giggles, then use the endorphin boost to power through and fix it all.

Goals are great. Words/day. Chapters/week. Etc...etc...etc.... However, they're only great so long as they help you. Once they become a burden rather than a tool, you might need to reevaluate your system. Just because something worked yesterday or for your last project doesn't mean it still applies today.

Next time, H is for Heroes, Heroines, and Homophones...

Riding the Query - Go - Round; Two weeks in.

2011-05-08T21:30:00.005-05:00

I'm looking like this about now.

That is all.

F is for...

2011-05-02T11:48:00.006-05:00

F is for First pages -- First page, first paragraph, first word - they're all essential. More so than a random page in the story, in fact. If James Bowie were drawing his famous line in the sand across your book, the first page is where it would be. That's where you stand or fall when it comes to attracting readers. The cover may get them to pick your book up; the blurb on the back may get them open it, but the first words in which you introduce your world and your MC (and your plot if you can make the hat trick) is your shot to hook their attention and make them read the whole thing.

F is for Fresh voice -- No matter the era in which your book is set, it shouldn't read like Jane Austen wrote it. Or James Joyce. Or Charles Dickens. Or any of the other "classics" you read in high school (or at least watched the moves for). Times change, and readers change with them. One of the easiest ways to lose a reader is for the voice of the character not to be one they can relate to.

F is for Framing -- and I don't mean the frame we all know you're waiting to stick your first dust jacket into. (It's sitting empty on the desk next to the one for your first contract, or is that just me?) How is your story structured? Is a story within a story? Is it linear? Does it hopscotch around twenty different time periods? Framing a story is like framing a house ... make sure it's plumb or things are going to slide. Then the foundation will crack. Then the doors between areas won't work the way they're supposed to.

F is for Freakin' Friggin' Frakin' F-bombs -- My usual, personal variation is actually 'frick'. It's a safe bet that were I to change it up and shorten that to four letters, nothing world-ending would happen, but why tempt fate? Just kidding - although I can't quite figure out how one would pronounce 'frck'. It looks a bit like one of those "Artist formerly known as..." names.

All of that is a lot of space-wasting for me to say this: Characters can curse, even if you don't. Characters don't have to curse, even if you do. The character, while a product of your imagination, is not you. Therefore, there is no need for them to speak like you if it isn't in character for them to do so. While it may sound natural for me to say 'frick', or for my 12 year-old girl character to do the same, were my character a 29 year-old Marine in combat, it would be... um... strange.

Cursing is fine in YA. (If you don't believe that, listen to your average high school kid). Like anything, it shouldn't be for the sake of "startle factor", but if your kid has a mouth, then he has a mouth. Really the only genres where it would get you instant rejections or even funny looks would be MG or picture books.

F is for Flashback -- Long ago, in a memory far, far away... Once up on a thing that happened before the story starts... When I was your age, you little whipper-snapper. Stories don't exist in a vacuum, and sometimes it's necessary to show what came before. If you can't do this through dialogue, then it's likely you'll need a flashback scene. They're not evil, but they can be tricky. Try and keep them clearly defined so the reader can tell which time period they're in. And, like anything else, make sure you really need the scene.

F is for fans, famous, forgettable and finished.

Fans are great. We all want them, right? Fans mean repeat business for sequels. YAY! However, fans also bring with them: Fan Expectations, Fan Favorites, Fan Art, Fan Fiction, and Fan groups/boards. All that writing you used to do for yourself, just got a lot more complicated. Now, you have the means to know that 62.9% of your readers want the heroine to choose the guy you intended to lose the tug-o-war. That toss-away character from chapters 7 and 19? She's got her own Yahoo group and her quirky style has unintentionally struck a cord with your core reader group... maybe you shouldn't kill her of after all. Did you know that two of your main characters were secretly engaging in an affair off the page? Did you know they were both of your male MC's? No? Well the fanficcers did... welcome to slash-fic. Fans change the game in ways you may not have thought about.

If you're writing to get Famous, then - yes, I'm laughing at you. Fame through writing is a slow crawl toward a very distant horizon. And you have weights on your legs. And it's a desert. And you have no water. And that buzzard over there's been tracking you for two days. Sure, you might find an oasis or some nice guy in an Army Jeep might give you a lift, but mostly... it's a desert and you're out of water. Aside from Stephen King, JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer and James Patterson, who have been on the TV in the last week, name me three writers you'd know on sight in a crowd. You may end up a known name, but I'm not sure I'd equate that with fame.

Forgettable is one of the worst words starting with F for a writer. If you don't stand out, if your book isn't distinct, if the characters don't sparkle (figuratively, in most cases) then you're going to find it difficult to build a following. That means it will be difficult to convince people that book 2 is worth their time and money. On the flip side, throw one mega-tantrum on-line and no one will ever forget you. Ever.

Finished is a great feeling. It's that moment you think you might want to do a handspring or twelve like Gomez Addams (hopefully followed by the moment you remember you weren't a gymnast and would rather not break both wrists and a leg or two). Finished is the moment of accomplishment.

Next time - G is for genre, galleys, green (as in eco-friendly, not cash :-P )

Riding the Query-Go-Round -- one week in

2011-04-29T19:31:00.004-05:00

It's now been one week since I sent off my first batch of queries, so I thought I'd give you a bit of an update.

Keep in mind that one week is a ridiculously short time period in publishing, and that my moronic self chose the day before Easter, which was also just prior to Passover, to query.

Having said that... things are going great.

It's difficult to keep time in perspective when it comes to querying, especially when you feel the need to check your email every hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, five minutes... :-P It makes it feel like things are taking longer than they are. I have to keep reminding myself of that.

I refuse to shoot myself in the foot with specifics, so I'll keep this vague. I've got multiple fulls floating around out there, and I've had one partial request as well. And the feedback from those reading... OMG, people if you could see my face...

The feedback I've been getting is flat out amazing. I may actually be able to write the very first non-fiction account of someone learning to fly if things keep going like this. My feet are seriously wanting to leave the ground.

Oh yeah, this requires dancing - and firefly:

Dance with me; I'll protect your identity with my failsafe image guard:

E is for...

2011-04-26T19:00:00.001-05:00

E is for Edit -- aka hacking away at the parts of your soul bonded to your MS and setting them ablaze. Nothing's perfect the first time out. Even if your MS is clean, there are things that can be tightened or adjusted to accommodate a new sub-plot that didn't exist when you wrote chapter 1. Continuity needs to be checked (Are the hero's eyes blue in each mention? Did the villain drive off in a Vette, but climb out of a Camaro? No, a Welsh accent isn't "basically the same thing" as an English one.)

E is for Editor -- there's more than one kind. You can hire a copy editor to go through your book and tell you what's wrong with it grammatically and structurally. Some people do this prior to submission, but it's expensive and somewhat counterproductive. If it takes a professional editor for you to produce a clean MS, then what are you going to do when an agent or In-House Editor (the other kind of editor) asks for revisions? The In-House Editor will make suggestions on the book on behalf of the publishing house. Maybe there's a specific voice the house tries to maintain or an image they don't want to deviate from, or maybe your book is a bit too close in one scene to another, so they may ask you to revise it.

E is for Effort -- even when it's coming easy, there's still effort involved. The amount of conscious effort you put in will affect the final product.

E is for E-book -- you know, that "thing" destined to save/destroy writing for future generations. E-books are not new, people. They've been around for like 20 years. Kindle, nook, Sony's e-reader, et al have made them more popular, but they're not some new thing to fear. (And they're not nearly as popular outside the US as they are inside.) And even with E-books, those getting the largest market share are still the e-versions of already in print commercial novels.
(I'll say more about self-e-publishing on the letter "s", but the short version for here is -- know what you're getting into and realize the risk involved when hit submit. If you've got that down, then more power to you and I hope you sell a million.)

Which segues me into --

E is for Expectations -- whichever route you choose, commercial or self-publishing, know your odds and set your expectations accordingly. YES, you should absolutely try and beat the odds. ABSOLUTELY believe in your writing enough to think it rocks, but understand the hurdles that come with both types of publishing.

E is for Expressive, Expressions, Elation, Evil, Ending, Era, and Envy --

The human face is Expressive (Don't believe me? Watch Lie to Me and see how many expressions your face can make without your conscious notice.) There are glowers, glimmers, and grimaces, smirks, sneers, and smiles - all are specific descriptions with specific connotations. Figure out what it is you want to convey and use the best expression you can find to fit the mood.

Then there are "Expressions" of the sort that means colloquialism. They're a great way to add voice to a piece - certain things get said down south that would make a northerner's eyes spin in their sockets and vice versa. There are benign sayings in American slang that would make lovely old British ladies turn red, cover their grandchildren's ears and smack you on the head with their hand bag. (Brits don't wear fanny packs on vacation, nor does the mention of anything called "Spunk"meyer carry the connotation of a sweet treat...) Be careful. Know your audience. (This is where those lovely in-house editors come in handy, too, btw.)

Elation will ebb and flow through your writing process so often, you'll begin to wonder if you aren't suffering a chemical imbalance. The shiny new idea, the end of the novel, getting those first requests for partials and fulls - all make your endorphins soar, but you have to be cautious and not let the moments where the story hits a snag or you're sick of reading the full through to edit (AGAIN!!!) or those first two requests end in rejections crash your enthusiasm so far into the basement you're tempted to give up. Sometimes you need to walk away and do something else. No one can hold a muscle tensed forever, and that's what you're doing when you write. It's okay to slow down and relax.

Evil comes in many shapes, colors and degrees. Know which one fits your story best. If it's not geared toward a mustache -twirling Dastardly Dan, then don't force one into the story just to have someone "really" evil. Subtle evil, like a cold finger running over the base of your neck can be just as dangerous, and even more terrifying.

Endings MUST fit the rest of the story. If you have a last minute save, then every other minute should have been building toward the possibility of that save happening. New powers, new characters, sudden personality shifts so that a passive character turns into a bad ass or the bad ass turns into a coward for no reason, non-conflict in place of a battle scene -- none of these do your characters any favors and they void the trust you've built with your readers.

Consider your Era. Whether you're writing meticulous historical or a fun, anachronistic steampunk, there's a certain flavor you need to match for the writing to come off as authentic. You need to know the voice and the social mores, not just play with cool costumes and inventions. (While your feisty heroine may run around with a page boy haircut and leather pants, that doesn't mean that the high society ladies will automatically approve of their upper crust son or daughter tagging along for the adventure.)

Beware Envy; it will rot your best efforts from the inside out. So what if Author A got a major multi-book deal? You don't write their genre, so it's not comparable? Who cares if Author B landed an agent after one query in less than 24 hours? That agent doesn't rep your genre anyway? There are so many variables present in every book deal that to try and compare yours to one that's already happened is only going to make you hate yourself and your writing. Others' success means nothing in relation to you. It doesn't make their book better or worse; it just means they found the combination that worked for them

Next time, F is for: First pages, Fresh voice, and Framing...

First Page Shooter

2011-04-25T13:32:00.003-05:00

Agents Suzie Townsend (Fine Print) and Joanna Volpe (Nancy Coffee) have a new feature on "Confessions from Suite 500", called "First Page Shooter". Basically, you send them the first 250 words of your WIP or finished MS, according to their side bar instructions (says the girl who had to resend because she screwed them up...) and they pick out entries to workshop on the blog.

The idea is to give writers an idea how agents read those all important first pages, and why they do - or don't - continue reading past them. It's an awesome feature on an awesome blog, and if you aren't already following "Confessions", you should be.

Today, Suzie put my first page up.

A confirmation form-letter goes out when they pick your page, letting you know when your page will be on the blog, and I've been nothing but nerves since I got the e-mail. I was practically dancing this morning when I read Suzie's response to my page.

Click the link if you'd like to read it, or even if you'd just like to see how First Page Shooter works and submit something yourself.

(BTW - Yes, I took my first page tabs off the top of the blog. It occurred to me that having "non-final" first pages might not be the best representation of my work.)

D is for...

2011-04-20T11:04:00.006-05:00

D is for Deal -- this is where you get paid, if you go the commercial route. A "deal" is negotiated by your agent (if you have one) and, in part, covers your advance. (An advance being what your publisher thinks your book is worth in the long run.) I am by no means an expert, but the basic "tiers" in deal speak are:

nice deal: $1 – $49,000
very nice deal: $50,000 – $99,000
good deal: $100,000 – $250,000
significant deal: $251,000 – $499,000
major deal: $500,000 and up

Regardless of where your deal falls on the scale, you don't get all the money up front; it's split over the number of books involved in the deal, and split again depending on the publisher's guidelines for acceptance of a manuscript.

D is for Dialogue -- You have to write like people talk, only better. Humans are rhythmic creatures, but it's not something most are consciously aware of. Detecting speech patterns is ingrained in our habits as a way of distinguishing friend from foe, social class, region of origin, assumptions of education, etc. You need to hear your characters in your head - and as much as people will tell you to listen to conversations to get a feel for how to do it, I don't think that's the best way. Listen to theatrical conversations instead. Pick movies, TV shows, plays, etc. by writers you love and listen for the sound more than the content. That way you're not bogged down with the sort of awkward breaks that pepper most everyday speech.

D is for Diversity -- Never mistake your mirror for a window. Not everyone looks like you; not everyone thinks like you. You are not your characters, and it's not only okay for them to look, sound or act differently from you (and each other), it's essential.

D is for Details and Description -- How silly of you to think these are the same thing. :-P
If you describe a character, you tell me his / her physical attributes. What are they wearing? What color is their hair? How do they sound? But details of character are something else all together.

Details are where you get your hints about backstory and the inner-workings that make your character tick. (Literally, if you write steampunk.) What happened to your character when he was six that made him fear water? Why won't he cross the bridge on Elm? What was his nickname in summer camp?

Descriptions tell me what he looks like; details tell me what make him who he is.

D is for Dropbox -- one instance of somehow deleting all but four pages of a four-hundred page manuscript will burn this one into your brain for eternity.

D is for Die, Die my Darling -- "Murder your darlings." I think Stephen King gets quoted on this more often than he does his novels. Most everyone has a passage of writing they love to the detriment of the story as a whole. Maybe it's a flashback or just some particularly "pretty" writing. It could be something with special meaning to you. But if it doesn't fit the flow, then you've just shot your MS with a decorative bullet. Just because it's pretty doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.

D is for Delete, Drama, Delirium, Discipline, and possibly even Dramamine --

When you edit, it's a surgical strike and the Delete key is your scalpel. Cut deep, and make sure you get rid of as much of the problem as possible so any later edits will go smoother.

Storytelling is Drama and drama is conflict. You don't have to have a problem on every page, but every page should deal with the problem, either by making it better or making it worse. (Bonus points if you can pull of both at the same time.) Drama can also be subtle. You don't have to blow things up every other chapter for the story to be compelling.

Most writers talk about getting "in this zone". What they really mean is they've achieved a state of voluntary Delirium where the real world fades to white noise and their imagination takes over their hands for a short time. Some stellar writing happens this way, but I should warn you, little things like a sense of hearing, the need for food and water, and possibly even showering can lose their immediacy in the delirium... and that's no fun for anyone. :-P

If you want to make a career out of writing, then discipline is a must. If you're a mechanic, you fix cars everyday. If you're a lawyer, you work on legal documents. If you're a writer, then you write. It doesn't have to be much, but it should be something. Treat writing like a hobby, and you'll get a hobbyist's results. Treat it like a career, and you'll get a professional's results. I'd rather take the one that pays more.

Why Dramamine, you may ask? Because the decision to be a writer can spin you in so many directions and involve so many conflicting ideas of what's right or wrong, hot or cold, in or out, and a thousand other contradictions that it's easy to end up motion sick. It's up to you to keep yourself balanced through it all - that way, when you get "the call", you won't be so dizzy you lose your lunch on whichever agent makes it.

Next time on Josin's Junction, E is for Edits, Effort, and E-books.

(btw - I've started querying as of last night. Yes, it was stupid to do so on a holiday weekend, but I forgot about Good Friday being this week. Send me some good thoughts, okay?)

C is for...

2011-04-20T05:25:00.004-05:00

C is for Contract -- the oft-sought golden ticket/brass ring and ultimate goal for the first time writer. A contract, no matter the monetary value, is proof that someone thinks your writing is worth investing time, money, and effort.

C is for Characters -- the people who populate your world and allow you to control their every thought, action, and intent. (Though, if you've written more than say... a page... you know this is never the case. Characters, if done well, develop their own quirks and their own will and trying to make them deviate from where they want to go is harder than bending steel.) Key characters should be three dimensional, with flaws and strengths, no matter how subtle. Smaller roles can be filled by the nameless horde, but that doesn't mean they have to be cardboard cut-outs.

C is for Critique -- not fun to give or get. Getting a critique means that someone's about to poke holes in the bubble you've created around your WIP; they're about to scratch off all the gold leaf you've used to camouflage your mistakes and haul the imperfections into broad daylight. Giving a critique means walking the line between honesty and compassion. I am of the opinion that a harsh critique is more compassionate than letting someone go forward with the false assurance that their work is ready to be seen by professional eyes when it's not. (Translation: I'm a mean 'ol meanie pants.)

C is for Connect -- what you need to do with your reader. You need to craft characters that they can relate to. No matter how deplorable your character, there's usually some way to forge a connection and create sympathy with the reader. (Forge as in build, not falsify -- you do not want anything to ring false with your writing.) If you can't create sympathy, then make your character or world or writing so compelling that the reader hangs around to see what happens to the guy they now love to hate.

C is for Clarity -- Say what you mean and mean what you say. Metaphor is fine, and it should be used when appropriate, but the point behind it should be clear. If no one can understand what you're trying to say, then they'll lose interest. (Either that, or they'll label your novel literary and you'll win the Pulitzer :-P )

C is for Copyright -- if you don't know what that means, then educate yourself. In the US, you own the copyright on your work from the moment it's in a fixed form (be it printed or saved). That's not the same as registering your copyright, but you still own your words in the specific configuration you set them. "Poor Man's Copyright" (the practice of mailing yourself a printout in order to get confirmation from the Post Office of when the book was finished) is a myth. It's no more effective than being able to show your writing history and when you saved your work; it's also not enforceable. Save yourself the postage; your publisher will register copyright when the book's ready.

C is for craft, creation, crazy and compulsion -- If you're writing anything other than a hobby piece or diary entry, then you can't ignore the craft involved. This is more than just words on paper or screen - you're creating a puzzle with words as your pieces and only you know where they need to go to create the final product.

Writing is creation. You're taking a blank space and filling it with something that never existed before. If you don't, then no one will. No matter what you write or how proficient your skill level, you've changed the world as we know it by introducing something that wasn't here yesterday. It's the first ripple in the pond and you have no way of knowing how far the effect will go. No one else can do what you do because no one else knows the story you have to tell.

Writing / writers are crazy. We just are. We talk to and for people who don't exist. We believe in things we cannot see (be it our characters or that elusive contract). We toil in solitude for hours with no guarantee of a payoff at the end of our labor. We can give voices to the silent and fill their mouths with the kind of elegant speech that means people will listen whether they want to or not. Writing can be a tool, a comfort or a weapon, and the writer is the person crazy enough to believe it's all three.

Writing is a compulsion - try and stop; I dare you.

Next time on Josin's Junction -- D is for Deal, Dialogue and Diversity

B is for...

2011-04-15T08:00:00.003-05:00

B is for Beta-reader -- a hopefully honest sort who will not only read your MS before you send it off to agents/editors/kindle, but will tell you that your main character is too-stupid-to-live and has filed papers to have her name legally changed to Mary Sue. You will love your beta and hate your beta; you will consider writing mean things to your beta and (hopefully) delete them rather than send them. You may even (secretly) name a minor character after your beta and then take pleasure in making the poor character miserable. Your beta is your first taste of editorial changes and your first reality check that what you see in your head doesn't always make it onto the page.

B is for Blog -- this is that feeling that you're screaming into the abyss of cyberspace and hoping someone pays attention. ;-P

B is for Bad reviews -- they happen. They hurt. They suck. We want people to love our books, but not everyone will. Maybe the reader doesn't like the genre or maybe the book was over-hyped to them by a friend and didn't meet their expectation. Maybe they wanted a happy ending to a sad story or a less happy ending to a romance. Even if you score the next runaway, mega-seller, someone out there will hate it. (If that happens, it's likely that thousands of someones will hate it.) They will tell others and your feelings will be hurt, your ego will be bruised, and your hackles will be raised. At this point, B is for Be Careful, lest a Bad Attitude turn into Bickering and Bad Press.

B is for Backstory -- aka, Anakin Skywalker vs. the Star Wars title crawl. No matter where your story starts, or what condition your character is when he/she is introduced, their life as known by you is no more a product of that independent moment than you just appeared on the bus fully-clothed in 2nd grade. Good stories start before "Chapter One" and continue after "The End", or at least that's how it should seem to the reader. The question is, how much of what happened off the page should actually be ON the page? Here's a hint: "Luke, I am your father." is a really important detail the audience needs to know. The entire socio-economic history and breakdown of trade negotiations for planets never to be used again? Not so much.

B is for Breathless, Bitter, Bright, Beg, and Bored -- action should leave your reader breathless; you should never betray their trust to the point you leave them bitter; bright ideas are a dime a dozen (while good execution is rarer than platinum); if you do it right they'll beg for another installment; never, never, never leave a reader bored. The only reason a reader should fall asleep over your book is because they stayed up until four in the morning to finish it.

Next time on Josin's Junction: C is for Contracts, Characters and Critique.

A is for Author

2011-04-13T17:54:00.004-05:00

I've been a little light on posts lately, not so much because of the 10,000 word delete-a-thon with the MS edits, but more because I was waiting for an "awesome" blog topic to drop into my head. Then it came to me - blogging is like writing (Okay, blogging IS writing. Shut up or I'll kill you off in a novel in ways you can't even imagine.).

Anywho -

Blogging is like writing. Sometimes, it just takes BIC (butt-in-chair) time to get posts done, even when there's no parting clouds or heavenly choirs involved. To that end, I'm going with the ABC's - each letter will be a different aspect of the writing process or journey. So my dear blog-buddies, skip on over to Josin's Junction (not as close to Sesame Street as you'd imagine, though there is a resident grouch and purple vampires are always welcome... unless someone turns Barney, then we put the priest on speed dial.) Let's start with "The Letter A".

A is for Author -- what we all aspire to be. You are a writer the second you put words in a chain to form a story, but to be an author requires input from an outside source. Either someone buys the rights to your story and publishes it, or someone buys your Kindle novel to enjoy, or someone clicks on your FictionPress account and puts you on alert for future chapters. To be an author, you must have readers.

A is for Agent -- what most of us aspire to have some day. These lovely people know the ins and outs of the business. They know the editors and they know the market. They know how many vanilla-flavored were-dolphin (It's a real South American folktale, do not give me weird looks, or I'll write you in as the bait in a piranha attack.) novels are due to hit shelves. At times, they seem beyond reach, but we keep trying to land one. (The agent, not the were-dolphin).

A is for Anger, Apathy, Admiration, Agony, and Aspiration -- things you will feel at some point during the writing process. Sometimes, you'll feel them all at once, think you're losing your mind, but quickly realize that as an writer you're allowed to have multiple personalities and voices in your head. (Check your union card; it's on the back.)

Next time on Josin's Junction: B is for Beta-reader, Bad reviews, and Backstory...

Flash Fiction -- Flaming Moe

2011-04-08T11:26:00.003-05:00

It's that time again. Chuck Wendig has issued his weekly flash fiction challenge (but cut the words in half this time). The title this week had to be a cocktail, and then he went and posted about a bear with a scimitar and a jetpack on meth. So, I blame him for this.

I chose the title "Flaming Moe" because there's something decidedly Simpsonesque about this whole set-up.

Like most bad ideas, it sounded good at the time. Considering "the time" was a moment when all involved were so plastered they couldn't remember their name, eye-color, or state of residence, it probably would have been best if they'd just passed out on someone's couch.

Idiot Number One (as their names were being withheld by authorities) had picked up some extra shifts at the convention center while the circus was in town, so he had access.

Idiot Number Two had a car.

Idiot Number Three had a camera. (All three had smartphones, but, being idiots, they forgot this tiny detail, and actually waited to find a camera.)

When they reached the convention center, as near as anyone can tell, Idiot Number One let the others in through a back door meant for service personnel. They snuck through the auxiliary areas into the portion of the prep-space that had been cordoned off for circus use. (As no one thought there was a danger of three idiots sneaking in to annoy several thousand combined pounds of wild animals, security was light.)

Now, at this point, they could have gotten bored, or chosen one of the smaller animals because they had no idea how the place was laid out or how long it would take to locate something more spectacular, but Idiot Number Two (whose possession of a car meant he knew how to turn knobs and push buttons) found a light switch.

Turning it on only made things worse because that was the point they discovered that not only was the room full of animals, but the circus trunks were littered about as well, and since they were already miles down the road of ill intent, they figured a few more feet along the way couldn't hurt.

While Idiot Number Three selected a target, Idiots One and Two raided the costume trunks, and in their addled stupor came to the conclusion that a Turkish scimitar went smashingly with the Human Bullet's jetpack. (It was the jetpack that did them in really, because they had to pick an animal with "arms" to fit it. Up to that point, Idiot Number Three had set his sights on the giant tortoise.)

The young grizzly they finally decided on was still half asleep when they picked the lock on his enclosure and slipped the jetpack on his back. They used a scarf to tie the scimitar to one of his paws, then stepped back so Idiot Number Three could line up a shot... but the bear just wanted to go back to sleep.

Undeterred, the three idiots, who were still trashed, decided the poor animal needed a pick me up, and never having been the kind to hoard their stash, spiked a bit of food from the treat barrel and tossed it over. Then they waited and waited and waited and...

… well, no one really knows what happened after that. The camera didn't stay upright long enough to capture more than their screaming voices.

And that's where I ran out of words :-(

Steampunk'd!

2011-04-01T06:36:00.002-05:00

Today is April 1, which means you can trust nothing you see, read or hear online (or almost anywhere else) until midnight.

As per tradition, Absolute Write has altered itself for the day, and this year's "theme" is Steampunk! YAY!

(Okay, so maybe I just wanted an excuse to upload my steampunk'd self...)

Anyway, fire up the old computational engine and be on your guard, for today, nothing is as it seems!

*atmospheric, creepy laughter*

Those Books We Loved... but can't remember

2011-03-30T12:56:00.003-05:00

I've been reading some blog posts today about the books we loved as kids. This one in particular, which is part of the YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday, sparked this post.

At the time the post went up, Kathleen, the blogger, mentioned a series she loved as a kid, but couldn't remember the name of. (Thanks to some details provided, someone else gave her the title.) I found myself in a similar spot - knowing the plot, but not the title of a book I'd loved as a kid. I realized half-way through my answer that one of Kathleen's favorites was the title I was missing.

My list of favorite books was similar to hers:

The Dollhouse Murders
Wait 'Til Helen Comes
Christina's Ghost (the forgotten title)
The Vampire's Promise novels (though I'm fairly certain they had a different name back in the day)
Christopher Pike
I also read a lot of Poe, and the "Spooky Stories to Tell in the Dark" short stories.

It's really not all that difficult to see where my proclivity for dark-slanted tales comes from. (The irony of this is, I'm not a fan of gory horror. I much prefer psychological chills to blood and guts.)

All of that was just the lead in for my "real" post:

There's a book I read as a kid that I loved, but I've since forgotten the title. I'm wondering if anyone out there recognizes this set-up:

It would have probably been published in the early 90's (though it's possible that it was an 80's hold-over), paperback and not very thick.
The story was vampires (I've mentioned my fascination with the bloodsuckers, yeah?)
The main character was a teenage boy 15-16 yrs old who lived in a boardwalk town (I'm wanting to call him Jesse.)
His best (girl) friend had been taken by the "big bad" vampire, who was living in the shuttered boardwalk amusement park.
The "less bad" vampire (because she certainly wasn't good) agreed to help rescue the girl because she wanted to destroy the "big bad" vampire, so she and the teen teamed up.
They rescue the girl, and the big bad gets killed, but what made me remember this book was that it wasn't a happy ending. The last scene was in a sort of clubhouse, or treehouse, where the teen had taken his friend (because it was a standing structure with a threshold that couldn't be crossed, IIRC). She was out cold in an easy chair, and the very end had her waking up, him hugging her happily just as the scene faded to black on the light glinting off her new fangs.

Granted, I read a TON of thriller-style books as a kid, so it's entirely possible that my brain has melded two or three into one storyline that never actually existed, but I really want to find out the title of this book if it's out there.

Most kids' books are of the "happily ever after" and "problems solved by dinnertime" variety. Stumbling on one where victory was pulled out of reach at the last second was jarring, and obviously left an impression.

No Question About It.

2011-03-29T14:12:00.002-05:00

GAH!

I have developed a new writing "tic", and I have no idea where it came from. I keep leaving off the friggin' question marks from the ends of questions and replacing them with periods.

I've caught myself doing this over the last few days, and have even found instances of it in my WIP's. Why is my pinkie finger avoiding the ??? key?

WHY?????????????

There... I feel better now. :-P

Back to work.

Self-Publishing Quandry

2011-03-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

Here's a thought for discussion:

We've seen, over and over and over, writers put forth the mantra that it's not the idea, it's the execution that matters. So, putting that together with the idea that self-publishing might be on the upswing (with ebooks), let me ask you this:

What do you think the effect will be on trends?

Assume that the marketplace settles into a happy medium, with commercial publishers operating as they have been, but with another branch of successful "straight to ebook" self-publishers who have their own fans waiting to gobble up books as fast as they can hit upload. (What I think is the likely outcome to this "shift", but that's beside the point.)

Okay, now assume that a debut author nets a major deal (it's rare, but it happens *waves to Teherah*), and Publisher's Marketplace goes on to list the "specifics" --

First time author Newly Published, in a 3-book deal to Major House.
REALLY AWESOME SERIES is a fresh take on ... blah, blah, blah. It was pitched as Twilight meets Glee, but with garden gnomes.

So, all the writers out there who choose to write to trends start penning stories about singing, sparkly garden gnomes. Other publishers are looking for similar material to put out at the same time, yadda, yadda, yadda... 18 months later the shelves are full of pointy-hat-wearing gnomes singing and pining for human girls they want to eat for dinner.

However, two months after the PM announcement, someone with a decent fan following on Kindle, who happens to have very fast fingers uploads their own "Twilight meets Glee, but with garden gnomes" novel.

It's not plagiarism, because it's their book. It's not even unusual, given that writers tend to chase trends, but what impact do you think it'll have at the end of that 18 months, when the hardbound gnome book hits shelves and those who've been chomping through ebooks are tired of gnomes?

Do you think the two systems will have their own trends, independent of each other or what?

** discuss **

Writer Survival Kit

2011-03-21T15:02:00.003-05:00

I do believe this may be the most concise -acurate - representation of a writer's life I've ever seen. A desk, writing implements, and the means to mainline caffeine, all in one convenient package.

Too bad there weren't any teacups to go with the teapot. :-(