Novels vs. Fanfiction

By now, most (if not all) of you will have heard of a series of novels starting with "50 Shades of Grey." They're usually spoken about with nervous whispers and twittering giggles or wink-wink, nudge-nudge looks because "you know what kind of books those are." (BDSM erotica, for those who don't.) The books have become a phenomenon unto themselves, as has the author.

They've been talked about on various writer sites and blogs, and discussed at length on message boards, but not necessarily for the reasons you'd think. You see 50 Shades began, not as a commercial work of fiction, but as a decidedly un-commerical work of FANfiction.

For those of you not in the know, fanfiction is what you get when fans of a particular book, movie, TV-series or whatever decide to write their own piece based in another writer/artist's universe. These are usually posted for fun, and not intended for profit as US copyright prohibits people from profiting off of others' work. Sites like Fanfiction.net, and others that focus on a particular fandom, allow anyone with an account to post stories set in established universes that may or may not involve canon characters. It's a complex set-up that could fill its own technical manual.

Now, the point of this post isn't 50 Shades of Grey, or whether or not the book should have ever been sold. Nor is it the pros and cons of being a fanfiction writer who branches into commercial writing (there are some big-name successes out there, btw). It's more basic than that.

I wrote fanfiction. I wrote in more than one fandom, with more than one screen name. I wrote for a spattering of short-lived vampire TV shows, and did some "written-to-order" Harry Potter fanfic. (seriously - never write in HP-land if you don't have a strong constitution - seriously. Yes, it requires seriously on both sides. It can be intimidating territory, with awesome pay-offs in the form of followers, but the sheer size is daunting.) There were others which I will never admit to...

When I got my agent, the fanfic disappeared from the net to the best of my ability (though no fanfiction is every "completely" gone). And yes, sadly for those who were reading them, some disappeared unfinished - for which I apologize.

I liked writing fanfiction. It's great for practice, especially with voice if you're trying to match a character to the way he/she was written by the original author. It takes the pressure of world-building off. And it's fast. I can, and did, knock off over a million posted words in one year - in one fandom, for which I received near-instant feedback... not something you get in the commercial writing world.

The biggest difference between writing a novel and writing fanfiction (which can be a novel, too) is the idea that reviews should never be responded to. With commercial writing, you aren't supposed to respond to reviews - for the good or the bad. This seems a strange idea to a lot of new writers. They want to thank those with kind words and defend their work from those who "don't get it." (Or, from those who have made legitimate mistakes by confusing characters or even authors.)

But, coming from a fanfiction background, I can tell you that the silence method is usually best. Fanfiction operates on the exact opposite system (as do many sites like Inkpop or Authonomy). It's about interaction, and writers are encouraged/expected to answer reviews. Usually this can work fine - for a while. But the problem with it is the same one that's becoming more prevalent with the rise of Amazon-self-e-publishing: It breeds flame wars.

When fanfic writers (often young or inexperienced) get upset, they have an easy outlet to vent. And if said writer is popular, they have the means to drag their supporters behind them into the fray. Those supporters often afford the fanfic writer the same allegiance as they would the original author, and they will defend said fanfic writer - viciously.

When inexperienced writers get upset, they also have this outlet, but until recently they didn't often utilize it. But now that Amazon's e-self-pub arm has turned their Kindle store into something akin to the back-catalog of Fanfiction.net (for size and lack of gatekeepers), some of these new (and shockingly some established) authors are taking their cues from the fanfiction and peer sites.

It can be a rough transition from the expectations of instant feedback and that desire to defend oneself, and honestly, some former fanfic authors never make that transition. I won't say it hurt their sales, because it doesn't, but it still creates a negative vibe in their corner of the industry, and those vibes can spread to others. Especially those coming in from fanfic and seeing their role models exhibiting the same behavior that got them flamed before they made the switch.

Okay... I'll stop rambling now.

(But in case you're wondering, this is what happens when you start a writing career. You, too, will ramble :-P )

The Return of the Return of Blogger the Terrible.

For those of you who don't know (which is likely all of you, as I don't know why anyone would have this bit of trivia taking up space in their heads) Blogger the Terrible is my 6' tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Viking counterpart. She's a person of great reknown, only no one knows it because BtT only shows up when I don't blog for a loooooooooooooooooooooong time.

Then, as soon as I come to post, she runs away and hides in fjord somewhere, wearing brass armor and one of those hats with the horns on it.

Now that my delusional counterparts are out of the way...

I've been a bad blogger. I was never a particularly good blogger, but I've been a baaaaaaaaaaaaaad blogger lately. But that doesn't mean I don't have an excuse.

I've been busy.

I've sent back the revised version of Premeditated and am waiting for word on Arclight. I've done some Super-Suzie revisions on Sing Down the Stars, which will hopefully be out in the wild very soon. And now, I'm back to finishing up Arclight 2.

I'd thought to have it finished by the end of March, but it wasn't due as soon as I thought, so I set it aside to do Premeditated and SDtS. Hopefully, I'll have draft 1 to Suzie by the end of April. For some odd reason, I seem to be hand writing most of this one on a yellow legal pad, so it's taking time to transfer it to Word.

So that's it. No real news to report, just me being a busy writer person and pretending I'm all professional and stuff.

Laters. (And if you see a Viking lurking about, don't worry, she's just guarding the place until I wander back through.

Lucky 7

I'm currently in the process of revising Sing Down the Stars for my agent, while writing Arclight's sequel and waiting on my editorial letter on Premeditated, which is coming this week, and waiting to see if Arclight #1 is officially "finished". In short - I'm busy. Very, very busy. But still, last week I got tagged for the Lucky 7 Challenge:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.

2. Go to line 7.

3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating.

4. Tag 7 authors.

5. Let them know.

I'll be stopping at step 3 because I don't usually pass these things along, but this one seemed like a fun way to break up the day.

So here goes: 7 paragraphs of Page 77 of the "in revision" SING DOWN THE STARS.

“Out of my way,” his companion ordered. “Gimmee a go at it. I'll get us in.”

There was a shuffling of feet and coats beyond the door as the second man replaced the first. Either he was stronger or more stubborn, because soon the sound of cracking wood and popping nails had me and Winnie staring at each other again. We huddled down as the boards gave way completely and two large shapes filled the door, backing in as they inspected it.

“Must've warped in the weather,” the first man said. “We'll have to find some new wood.”

But his companion didn't answer. While the first man was busy inspecting the damage to the shed, the second had turned, likely drawn by the lantern he couldn't ignore once inside. He swung his own high and wide, flooding the tiny building with light. Winnie and I held onto each other, shaking in way that had nothing to do with damp or chill.

“Lookie what we've found 'ere, Bull.” The man facing us smiled, and my stomach sank at the sight of his greenish teeth.

Bull turned slowly, then straightened with a startle.

"Well, well well," he sang. “Looks like we hit the mother lode."

Didn't We Do This Last Year?

It's the 21st of February - again. Which means......
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{pretend you hear a drumroll, okay?}
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IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

For those of you keeping track, I'm (still) over 10 and under 100, and plan to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Another Post on Free (pirated) Downloads

Okay, so here goes.

You can't download Arclight for free.

This isn't some plea against online piracy; it's a simple fact. You cannot download Arclight for free. You cannot download Arclight for profit. You cannot download Arclight for a bushel of bananas meant to pay-off the monkeys at my keyboard.

You can't download Arclight period.

Arclight is still in processing. It has no cover. It doesn't exist as an ARC (advanced reader copy) yet. It doesn't exist as an e-book. It doesn't exist as a PDF. It exists on my hard-drive, and that of my editor, and if you find a way to snatch it out of the aether in the space between either of those two locations, then the FTC would likely want some unhappy words with you for hacking. (I don't know if that's true or not, btw.)

My point is -- dear person who keeps Googling "Arclight book download free" -- it ain't gonna happen, okay?

Repeat after me:

You can't download Arclight.

You can't download Arclight.

You can't download Arclight.

And if you could, you certainly wouldn't find the means to do it on my blog. (Seriously, think about the absurdity of that assumption for a minute.)

The book isn't in its final form, which means it hasn't been copyedited or formatted or any of that other stuff that has to happen before "a book" is "A BOOK!!!"

(I should also add: No, I won't send you a copy in Word, even if you're really, really nice about how you ask. I'll err on the side of flattery for the request, but still -- no.)

I will, however, leave you with this. It's part of the poem Darkness, by Lord Byron (1816), and something I'd love to have at the front of Arclight when it's finished (which it's not...).

Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:

And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings--the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,

And men were gathered round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:

A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire--but hour by hour
They fell and faded--and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash--and all was black.

Writing's Like...

It seems that writing a novel is one of those things that a ton of people want to do, or even attempt, or at the very least have an interest in that's high enough to make them ask questions when they find out someone in the room is being published. One of the most common questions is "What's it like to write a whole book?"

I've found the perfect answer. Look at this picture - THIS is what it's like to write a novel.





You have all these ideas buzzing around in your head. Characters, plots, sub-plots, chapters, scenes, back story, etc. And they don't look like much to anyone who isn't in your head. They're just pieces of shiny glass.

But in your head, they're the image on the screen. You, as a writer, can see the final picture. You know how all those little pieces line up and dovetail.

Sadly, it's at this point that most who attempt to write something stop. They assume the image in their head is what the reader is seeing, without realizing that something's missing. They don't know there's a disconnect, and also sadly, far too many of them get upset when the people who are looking at those shiny bits of glass don't see anything other than a jumbled mess.

They're forgetting the light. That's the trick. You have to weave that current through all those ideas until the image starts to form and their readers can see it taking shape. The characters have to blend with the scenery, and must fit inside the setting without gaps on the sides to spoil the illusion.

As a storyteller, it's your job to take those mundane bits and make them shine.

Random Numbers

This is my blog traffic on a normal day:

Day	Date	Page Loads
Monday	30th January 2012	71
Sunday	29th January 2012	48
Saturday	28th January 2012	50
Friday	27th January 2012	44
Thursday	26th January 2012	42
Wednesday	25th January 2012	37
Tuesday	24th January 2012	42

If, on a given day, I put up a new post, that yields a slightly higher number:

Day	Date	Page Loads
Wednesday	4th January 2012	115

However, add a link from QueryShark into the mix on the day I announce a sale, and this happens:

Day	Date	Page Loads
Tuesday	31st January 2012	2,038