Write Well Wednesday: Creating the Vocal Character

This post is the third in a series of posts about characterization.  To read the others, go here:  Creating the Visual Character and here:  Creating the Active Character.

Today we're talking about my favorite aspect of the dynamic character!  It's already technically Thursday and I'm bone tired...so, it's going to be a short, sweet post (and I hope I'm not so tired that it doesn't make sense)! 

Today's topic: Creating the character's voice.  This character trait has two areas.  The internal voice and the external voice.

The internal voice is the way the character vocalizes his or her thoughts or feelings to his or herself while the external voice is the way the character expresses his/herself to the other characters in the story.  The reader is privy to the internal voice while the other characters are not, thus creating a bond between the main character and the reader. 

Quite often, the internal voice is very different than the external response.

Example:  A teenaged boy is dared to egg a house by his friends. 

Internally, he's really a good kid and doesn't want to do it; however, he explains to us how much he wants to fit in with his friends.  He'll go through the motions of wondering if he'll get in trouble and he might consider the feelings of the house's owner.  He's having an internal struggle on whether to do it or not and weighing how his friends will react if he says, "No."  The reader is following him through this internal struggle, learning all about his strengths and weaknesses, wants and needs.  From this voice, we come to know that the boy is really a good, sensitive kid who just wants to fit in.  And, depending on how good the author portrays his internal character, they may even come to sympathize with the boy's plight.  They may even see themselves in the boy.  You want this kind of emotional stock!

Externally, the boy's friends watch as the boy, exuding an air of bravado, gets out of the car, tells them he's going to aim for the window, and throws the egg.  He turns around with a big stupid grin on his face when he hits his mark.  From the friend's perspective, we learn that the boy is fearless, brazen, and pretty damn cool.  He can hang with us!

The boy has saved face with his friends, but at what cost to the internal voice?  And how does the reader feel now that they know the boy betrayed his true self so that he could fulfill a social desire?  A writer must think about where they want to lead the reader with all of this conflict!

On the flip side, one character might think that they are exuding a particular air to others -- perhaps trying to reflect what their internal voice is telling them to do, perhaps trying to do the opposite -- but others may not being perceiving them the way they want to be perceived.

Our boy wanted to be cool for one set of friends, but what does he look like to the eighty-year-old grandmother whose house he just egged?  He looks like quite a jerk doesn't he?

These are the kinds of complications that make characters rich.  Be sure to always divide your character between who they are on the inside, what they want others to think, and how those others actually perceive that character.

Write Well Wednesday: Creating the Visual Character

I'm going to create a series of entries over the next few weeks!  This series is going to be on characterization.  Specifically, how to create multidimensional, believable characters.  I'm breaking it up into multiple entries because putting everything about characterization into one blog would make it quite long! 

Today's topic is the easiest part of characterization: Creating the visual of your character.

If you're going to create a character of any kind, you have to provide the reader with a template by which to visualize your character.  This, like setting, should be established early on to prevent the reader from creating their own idea of what the character looks like.  The most confusing thing to a reader is learning that your heroine has brown hair and eyes three books into the series.

1.  Establish the basics.  Decide what your character's driver's license would say about them.  What is their hair and eye color?  How tall are they?  How old?  These are the basic things that readers want to know so they can at least create a shadow puppet of your character.

2.  As you continue writing, provide additional physical descriptives.  Lots of readers want to know what the character's build is, what their face is shaped like, and what sort of fashion sense they have.  Depending on how important you feel a feature is to a character's personality is how close it should be to your basic description.  If your character is overweight and you feel that it's important to the story and the character's development, you need to alert the reader to this feature.  Discovering little quirks like knowing someone has a birthmark on their elbow or a gap in their front teeth lets the reader feel like they are learning about the character and the character thus becomes more like a real person.  Almost like making friends!

3.  Avoid the cliches.  Most authors think the whole character in front of the mirror thing does an awesome job of giving you the physical description (especially if the piece is written in first person).  It doesn't!  Think of a more creative way of portraying these details.  Avoid laundry lists of features!  One of the marks of a good writer is being able to pepper physical features in without saying, "He was 6'2," had sharp brown eyes, and wore an expression that matched his military buzzed black hair."

4.  Bedazzle the ordinary.  Don't just say she had pale skin.  How pale is it?  Is it like a canvas or maybe like freshly pressed paper?  What's it like? Does it glow?  Does it have a pink hue?  Is it soft or firm?  Does it remind the person looking at her of something in particular?  Maybe rose petals or velvet?  What about those black eyes of his?  How do they twinkle?  Are they bright like stars or more ominous, like obsidian?  What do they make her feel like?  Do they stare right through her or make her feel a dark comfort?  These details add additional building blocks to your character (which we'll talk about later) while laying the foundation.  Plus, spreading things out with additional descriptives helps prevent that laundry list from piling up!  However, be careful not to get cliche here either.

5.  Don't go overboard.  A little goes a long way with a reader.  Readers like to imagine when they read a story, if you feed them everything, then there's nothing fun left about learning your character.  Save certain tid-bits for later or never mention them at all.

Toolbox Tuesday: Ironclad Will

By "will" I mean the will to do things.  This runs the gamut from simply having that self-starter mentality that will get you approaching the subject of becoming a novelist all the way to the sheer bull-headed (or pigheadedness) that you're eventually going to need not to give up.  In other words, stubbornness.  From general willingness to being strong willed.

Especially, the strong will.  This is where you go all medieval knight on your career and get Ironclad.

Starting a novel is easy.  Finishing it might even be easy.  It's when you start going through the edits and people are going to start criticizing you; pitching agents for YEARS; dealing with being on submission to editors and continually getting rejected by your dream houses; fighting with your publisist who pick bad covers and make useless book trailers; AND THEN having to adhere to a grueling touring schedule, making deadlines for the next book, and possibly STILL getting dropped because sales are too low -- where people start to crack.  Gosh that's a long sentence!

Many people just can't deal with it.  They either give up or take alternate routes.  I'm not saying that taking the alternate route is bad, I'm a strong believer in options for everyone.  While NY is my goal; I am, myself published through a small e-publisher and will probably, once in my life self-publish something.  But being an Indie author has its own set of trials and tribulations, especially if you aren't coming from NY and bringing your readers along with you.  If you want to sell at all, you have to promote yourself ENTIRELY on your own, often without being carried by larger retailers.  A hecktic self-promo schedule and, very often, (since you don't have the financial support of the big publishing house) a chunk of money coming out of your own pocket can run an enthusiastic self-published author into the ground.

I'm not sure many people realize just how frustrating and trying being an author can actually be.  People might even think it's easy...and maybe for someone like Nora Roberts it is.  But I bet it wasn't in the beginning.  Even J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer had trouble in the beginning.  It's always hard in the beginning.  And it takes wanting something so bad it hurts to keep you trudging through it all (even if the trudging hurts more).  Just envsion yourself an intrepid explorer on Mount Everest.  The air is frigid, you can barely breath, and every move hurts.  Will you lay downa dn let the snow bury you or will you continue plodding against the razor-sharp wind?  Depends.  How badly do you want to get to the top?

If your thinking of being an author, ask yourself that simple question.  Do you want it that bad?  Are you willing to do anything to get to the top?  Are you that kind of writer? 

If you are, then welcome to the very exclusive group of those with ironclad wills.  For you, the universe will hold nothing back...probably because you're just stuborn enough to beat it up for trying. :) 

Write on, dear friends.

How to Punk Your Steampunk

This posting is a follow up to Get Punk'd.

So, one of my followers asked me to talk about HOW to get punk'd when writing a Steampunk piece.  This is a little difficult for me to explain because punking things up seems organic to me (blame it on my revisionist tendencies), but I'm going to try my best to explain how I do it.  In the process I'm going to cover, in general, how to write Steampunk.  In the interest of space and time, this is a little disjointed and it's quite close to midnight and I've been going since the wee hours of the morning, so yeah, apologies ahead of time.

Action One: Decide on a story to tell.

One: TELL A STORY.  Just because there is Steampunk in your book doesn't necessarily mean it has to completely swallow your MC whole.  Stop focusing so much on making everything Steampunk and let it develop organically. I think where a lot of people get caught up with writing Steampunk is the fact that they focus too much on how it will be received.  "Is my technology right?"  "Did I adequately describe the taste of treacle?"  "Would a woman say that back then?"  "Is it "punk" enough?"  It becomes all about how your readers could bash you for getting it wrong.  Before you worry about any of that, you need to worry about the kind of story you want to tell.  Is it about a romance between a maid and an airship captain?  Because if she's the main character, she's not going to understand anything about the technology she's seeing on your Captain's lovely ship.  And, if you're that worried about what your readers are going to say, then perhaps she is the POV you should be writing?  There's an idea:  Write to your handicap!  If you are the type than can imagine something up but have no clue how it might work in real life, then write from the perspective of a character that doesn't get it OR knows it so well that they talk and think about it like you're an idiot for questioning how it works.

Two: TEASPOONS vs. SHOVELS.  Once you know what kind of story you want to write, figure out WHO your readers are.  Are they YA readers?  Cause they aren't going to get half the techno-babble you throw at them and you may be making that political entanglement too complicated for them to follow.  Are you writing romance?  Romance readers care a lot more about the way someone's dress looks than how the mechanical "toys" function. Your readership is going to determine how much of what goes into the story, including how punky you want to get.

Action Two: Once you have a story to tell, punk it up.

One: PERIOD CHARM.  The first part of Steampunk is "steam," which means you need to have a "steam" period element in your piece.  This is pretty much the Steam Era or the industrial revolution. Though it has a mostly Victorian connotation, I've seen Steampunk swing all the way into what others might consider Dieselpunk.  Since I have an anthropology background, I enjoy building entire cultures; which is why my Steampunk tales take place on an alternate world that looks similar to earth during the Victorian Era.  But most Steampunk is alternate history, so I'll focus on that.  Writing alternate history isn't easy.  Remember that whole Writing What You Know post  I wrote?  Well, you should know as much about something as you possibly can before you completely pull it apart and re-write it.  Depending on WHEN and WHERE your blip in history takes place will depend on how much you need to do research.  If, for example, your blip happens during the Victorian Era, then you're going to have to build a believable Victoriana.  Know the area, the clothes, the language, the social hierarchy, the political structure, etc.  Then find out who was in charge and who didn't like it.  That's a perfect platform for your punk establishment. 

Two: ATMOSPHERE.  Whether you're building from the ground up or going back in time and trying to re-write history, if you're going to put the "punk" in your steam, you need to have some kind of socio-political hierarchy.  If there's no one to rebel against, there's no room for your punks.  I think first and foremost, if you write fantasy or science fiction of any kind, you need to get in touch with your inner social scientist.  Having a believable socio-political structure is one of the pillars of making you a good writer in any reader's mind.  Whether your focus is social, political, economic, or religious, there needs to be an established system and there needs to be someone who doesn't like it.  There will always be discontents in a society and in your Steampunk these will be your "punks."  If you've studied anthropology, political science, or sociology it should be easier for you to build a believable socio-political system for your characters.  If you make a set up where someone benefits more than the others then you've got a very easy situation where there is an obvious villain and an obvious person who will fight to get what the one on top has.  Then, all you need to do is make the person who want son top to be active in that desire.  Women wanting to break out of social molds can dress or act certain ways, miners can picket, young lads being drafted into the military can start holding up trains.  Anything goes in punk.

Three: INSPECT THE GADGETS.  Part of what makes Steampunk appealing is all the fun gadgets.  You'll have to decide who makes the gadgets, why, and when they started coming about.  Also, make sure to research what was available to tinkers during the Victorian era.  If you incorporate something that was not available in that time period, you'll have to explain why it's there in this alternate history.  Keep in mind that part of the punk ideology is a strong DIY mentality, so it might be beneficial to have a couple of tinkers or engineers in your punk group, and it might be necessary to let your imagination run wild.  If you can't churn out tons of fantastical things to play with, then you may want just one crazy piece of technology that your MC is working on (like a time machine or a weather balloon or something), and have everything else be normal.

Four:  NOT ALL PUNKS ARE ROCKERS.  Remember that your punks can run the gamut between just being a little off-color to blatantly wanting to bomb parliament.  All people are different, some more extreme than others.  Keep that in mind when deciding just how punky you want your punks.  You could have something as simple as a cooky old codger who tinkers in his basement, to an avaunt garde aristocratic explorer, to a surly airship pirate, to an alchemist who's into pyrotechnics.  The beauty of Steampunk is that your MCs don't have to be the "punks."  What we need to understand as writers is that there are always bystanders in any world.  The hero doesn't always have to be the guy with the ball-peen hammer or the airship. Watson anyone?   And even if they are, these characters are people too!  They have other aspects to their lives than just repairing clockwork soldiers or hijacking the Empire's latest dirigible.  You could write about an airship pirate who doesn't go anywhere near an airship for the duration of the story; or your character can be someone who has never experienced the punks until one fateful day when XYZ happens; or they can be someone who is watching the "punks" from afar.  Whatever you choose, just make sure that your punks know what they want and aren't afraid to fight for it!

Five:  HAVE FUN.

I hope that helps?  Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Write Well Wednesday: Know What You're Writing

This goes without saying, but I'm saying it anyway because people still seem to mess it up!  There's a reason why we tell writers to write what they know...Because it's more real to a reader if you write what you're familiar with. 

If you write about someone who rides horses, but you've never been near a horse or bothered to do research, you're going to come off sounding like an idiot.  For example, horses have hooves, not feet.  Anyone who has spent five minutes caring about horses should know that.  So, therefore; your horseback rider should think and talk about the horse's hooves, not the feet.  Anatomy is only a small part of it.  You should be familiar with simple ritual barn acts such as mucking stalls, picking hooves, and grooming procedures.  You should know the tools and the tack, the structure of the barn, the scents and sounds of a barn.  Does the character ride Western, English, Hunt Seat, Dressage?  What breed is the horse?  That will impact the horse's temperament.  If you get a chance, you should take some riding lessons.  This will help you understand gait, riding posture, and the horse's behavior.  Don't just assume that because you've watched a couple of westerns that you know what you are talking about!

The horse thing is just a sample!  This goes for anything.  Wine, yachting, cars.  If your character drives a '08 Dodge Caravan, you should know what one looks like inside, feels like/sounds like when driven.  You should know if it's standard or automatic.  You should know if it has any model flaws. 

Simple things like this can enrich a story beyond simply writing dialogue and describing the character's bedroom.  Like with most pieces of literature, the final manuscript shouldn't include the bulk of the author's knowledge on the subject.  Just look at J.R.R. Tolkien!  You don't need to tell the reader everything you've learned to get your expertise across; if you really know what you are talking about then your familiarity with the subject should come out on it's own.

Toolbox Tuesday: A Clock

Whether it's your great-grandfather's pocket watch or the tricked out timepiece you purchased at the last Steampunk convention, every writer needs some kind of clock.  I mean this in both the literal and figurative sense -- in other words -- both an internal and external clock. 

While it seems that the publishing industry moves at a snail's pace, that doesn't mean you should follow suit.  In fact, you want to be the opposite.  I'm not saying be the hare, because often slow and steady does win the race.  But you do need to be conscious of the time and you need to use it wisely.

Try the following:

1.  Don't procrastinate.  If you get an idea, write it down.  If you design the perfect dialogue while driving to Wisconsin, pull over and write it down.  It doesn't matter how busy you are, you need to make little concessions for your muse when she speaks to you.  Otherwise, when you eventually sit down to write, she might give you the silent treatment for ignoring her.  I'm not saying write that whole battle scene between Carlos and Gustav -- just a quick outline will do.  A few seconds here or there won't hurt.

2. Offer fast, reliable turn-around when your agent or editor sends you edits.  Don't sit there and say, "Well it took them five months to send me these, they'll have to wait for me now."  First of all, that's just a crappy attitude.  Second, if you want anything out of the industry, you've got to make it happen for yourself.  You want speed?  Do it yourself, cause you are the only thing you can control about this industry.  Plus, if you make yourself a punctual and reliable individual to work with, you're more likely to get more projects.

3.  Work on a clearly defined, reasonable schedule for the production of new work.  At this point, you should know yourself and what you are capable of.  How long would it take you to write, edit, and polish a manuscript cover-to-cover?  Use that time-line and allow yourself up to a month of buffer time (just in case you hit a snag or a little bit of writer's block).  Then, try to budget that time into a daily or weekly writing routine that you can stick to.  I know that, if I give myself time, I can finish a book in a month, but I give myself up to a year because I have external responsibilities that I can't ignore and my job often makes it so that I can't adhere to my daily writing schedule.

4.  You want to budget your time and energy so that you are producing literature while still participating as a member of the human race.  My first few novels were produced in this muddy haze of being lost in a 60 hour a week job and then coming home and hammering at a computer until I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I pretty much disappeared off of the face of the earth for a year.  No hanging out with friends, limited contact with family, and no R and R time.  Granted, I can and often do argue that writing is therapy for me, but that's no excuse for missing out on an entire year of the lives of people that I love and care about (not to mention missing out on a year I'll never get back).  I look back on that year and all I can remember is work and writing.  Be certain to wear the writer hat, but also make sure you're giving yourself time to wear the other hats.

5.  Avoid White Rabbit Syndrome.  You want to be aware of time, but don't let it rule your life.  You are an artist and masterpieces take time and patience to complete.  This is why we need realistic goals.  If you want to be published then you need a very clear understanding of just how much time it's going to take to get to the finished product and you need to understand that not all writers work well under pressure.  I learned that the hard way.  I know I can't go crazy obsessing over how long everything is taking because I'll just make myself sick or negatively impact my creativity.  If you find that you're having trouble writing while something is on submission, take a step back and analyze how you're handling the submission process.  Sometimes it's as easy as taking your bunny to a yoga class. :)

Hope that helps!  See you tomorrow!

Write Well Wednesday: Get Punk'd

Do you really know what Steampunk is?  Mini top hats and brass ray-guns, right?  I thought I knew...until I went to a Steampunk convention and ended up watching a panel full of Anarchists talking about upholding the Steampunk culture...Wait, there's more to this genre than pretty Victorian clothing and airships?  I can't just take my YA paranormal romance, put in a few canes, cogs, and corsets and sell it like that???

Nope, not if you want it to actually be good Steampunk.  There's a reason why "Punk" is in the title. 

If you write Steampunk, it's a good idea to have a clear grasp on what the mentality behind the genre and the movement actually are.  Why "steam" why "punk."  Don't just keep it contained to Steampunk either!  Trust me, adding the "punk" mentality to any piece of literature will only serve to enrich your work.

Wikipedia, always a good place to start: GET PUNK'D

Toolbox Tuesday: Sword

I've already addressed a writer's need for armor in this industry, but what warrior of the pen would be complete without a sword?  Yes, even those of us who choose the pen to fight our battles need to get down and dirty every-so-often.  I'm not talking literally stashing away some throwing stars with the names of people who reject you on them.  I'm talking about standing up for yourself and fighting back when the industry attempts to roll you over.

What do I mean by this?  You need to be your own chevalier if you don't want to get stomped on or lose sight of who you are and what you represent.  If you have an agent then you have an ally.  They can help fight a publisher for your contractual rights and the true worth of your work.  BUT there may be times when you even need to use your sword against your agent.  A perfect example from my own experience came about during the editing process for Scar-Crossed.  For the most part, I agreed with what my agent told me needed to be fixed, but there were certain things I refused to budge on.  I didn't want to change certain words because she thought they might be too difficult for YA readers.  I said, "They need to be challenged."  So, I left them in there.  And, like a good agent, she respected my opinion.  We came to an understanding and now my choice of words is something that will stand for future pieces.

If you don't have an agent you need to be even more inclined to take up your sword and fight.  You'll be working out your own contracts and agreeing on your own fees.  Your going to need to work to keep your head above water, get yourself noticed, and prevent publishers from taking advantage of you.

It sounds like something so simple, but often we get into this habit of telling ourselves, "Well, they know the industry better, so they must be right."  While that is true a lot of the time, it's not always true.  YOU are the novelist, you know your characters and your story best.  You know what you want in a contract, you know how much you are worth, and you know what you are comfortable with.  If something rubs you the wrong way, (as long as there is a clear and reasonable reason behind it) then don't do it.  You'll ruin the integrity of your own work and lose respect in yourself.  If your agent or editor refuses to accept your feelings, then you'll have to compromise...or duel.  Each one of you should come out of the situation feeling like you haven't lost everything.

Thoughtful Thursday: Without Ease

Still no power!  Since it's NANOWRIMO and I have a goal to meet, I've been resorting to the arcane method of handwriting by candlelight.  I'd like to take today to tip my hat in respect to the writers of old. 

We often take for granted just how lucky we are to be part of the information age.  Our PCs make it incredibly easy for us to write and edit a book.  Yet, we still complain!  Imagine having to rewrite -- by hand -- the dozens of versions of a manuscript it takes to create a polished book.  No wonder there are so few books from the past!  I can certainly understand why books and scrolls were once so very valuable.  Besides the fact that the resources required to create a written document (ink, paper, quills (even the ability to read and write) were often rare and expensive; the simple manpower required to write a legible book by hand is mind boggling. 

So, ladies and gentlemen, before you start whining about how little time you have or how annoying the process of trying to edit is, take a moment to think about what it used to be like for those poor souls who had to do everything by hand. 

Toolbox Tuesday: Glue

This week's post are going to be short and might be late! 

Sorry guys, I still don't have power at my house and I'm being sneaky writing my blog while I'm at work. :)

To go along with the scissors in your writer's toolbox, you're going to need some glue.  Not everything that you cut out of a manuscript is going to have to get trashed.  Much of the time, you simply need to tighten or rearrange your plot.  In order to do this, you're going to have to use your mental glue.  You will have to use forsight and a good bit of imagination to figure out where certain pieces should go and how to reframe them.

Toolbox Tuesday: Armor

Since I just got another rejection from a big NY house this past week, I thought it prudent to address the author's need for armor in their toolbox.  Depending on what kind of writer you are and where you want to take your book, you're going to need to make sure you've got a good set of emotional armor.

If you're like me and your dream is to become a New York or USA Today Bestselling author, then 9 out of 10 say go the conventional way through New York.

First, you're going to deal with having to go through numerous edits with beta readers before you even think of pitching an agent.  Sometimes this is the most difficult part for a writer: taking that primary step and letting someone else look at your baby.  Being as shy and self-conscious as I can be, this part was very difficult for me.  I kept wondering, "What if they don't like it?"  Of course, at 20 (when I started all of this) not liking my book translated to not liking me.  I was also terrified that I sucked and sucking at writing meant I couldn't be a writer.

I assume everyone has this mentality at first, but then you live, you learn, and since you're too big for Luvs, you build armor.  I almost cried the first time I got a manuscript back from a beta reader.  I had been intelligent in choosing my old roommate (she'd been an editor for her school paper and thus the toughest Grammar Nazi that I knew), but man, did it ever hurt.  I also had many arguments and discussions with people who told me certain aspects of the novel didn't make sense or were unclear or they didn't like a particular character.  I got defensive, told them they weren't supposed to understand or that was just how things were.  But then I realized that if I actually wanted to be published, I had to make some sacrifices for the sake of the reader. 

My biggest lesson as an author: If you're not willing to bend a little for your readers, your market, or the industry, then you aren't writing for other people, you are writing for yourself...And if it's just for you then why the heck are you torturing yourself with trying to get published?

Things got better after that.  It turned out that I didn't suck, I just needed to work on some things.  So, I did the best I could with my beta readers, compiled a list of agents, wrote a query, and started pitching.

And got rejected.  And rejected.  And rejected.  I got a couple of partial requests...and got rejected.  During all these rejections, I was writing another book.  It was the only way to prove to myself that I could use what I learned and write something better than what was being rejected.  I was challenging myself as an author.  When I finished, I gave that novel to my betas.  They loved it, there wasn't that much I needed to fix.  I was jubilant!  So, I decided to pitch that one instead. 

And got rejected and got partial requests...and then got full requests.  Then an agent who was willing to consider taking it if I made some changes.  We will call her Agent A.  After a brief phone conversation with her, I started a huge edit that completely changed my book.  I gave it back to her and waited.  During that time I got rejected by two other agents who had asked for full requests.  And then Agent A got back to me and decided not to take it despite my three painful months of changing my book for her.  Luckily, I had met an agent (B) at one of the conferences I go to and she'd asked to see it if Agent A didn't pick it up. 

She liked it, signed me, but suggested making changes to it as well.  Month after month, edit after edit, I kept thinking, "This is it!  This is perfect!  This will be the last one!"  But it never was.  I cried, I screamed, I went through a period of writer's block.  Nine months later, the only thing that kept me going was sheer determination not to let my own monster kill me.  And then one day, that was it.  I was done and we were going on submission.

And now the rejections are coming again.  My dream houses, Tor, Simon and Schuster, Penguin...they've rejected me.  Why?  Not because my book sucks, but because the market is too full of the kind of book I've written.  I have a piece of gold, but it holds little value in an inflated market.  But I hope and pray everyday that someone will like it enough to hold it up and say, "This piece of gold is better than the rest!" 

Until then, I continue to write and I've gotten a few of my short stories published through small publishers.  Still, even here I need my armor.  I have to deal with getting reviews from people who don't like my work and I need to deal with having to promote myself if I want sales.

When my novel does sell, I know that I'm going to have to deal with contractual issues, deadlines, promotional fiascoes, touring, and a grueling schedule.  I'm also going to have to contend with the very real possibility that the book will tank and no one will want to publish anything by me again.

I started writing my first book when I was 18.  Seven years later, I've completed four manuscripts and still don't have a novel published.

Toolbox Tuesday: Scissors

I'm thinking figurative scissors, so if you're feeling particularly homicidal, you may want to skip this tool.

As a writer, you need to know what to cut out of a manuscript.  Often our pieces are too long for the market, we have scenes that drag on, or we have dialogue that just doesn't get to the point.  This requires a good amount of cutting on our parts.

The best tool to deal with this is a sharp pair of mental scissors.  Preferably, a pair with a fine tip for those difficult extractions.

Don't be afraid to practice with your scissors!  Learn where and when to cut to get the best results.  Use them often and love them!

Toolbox Tuesday: Patience

What writer doesn't need a little PATIENCE?

Honestly, it's one of the fundamental instruments in the writer's toolbox.

Let me put it into perspective.  I wrote my first book in 2008.  I spent six months waiting for my beta readers to finish reading it.  I spent another year submitting it to agents.  It took me a year because some of them took so long just to reject me and others took even longer to read the partial or full manuscript requests they asked for.  By then, I gave up on that work and started another one.  I finished Scar-Crossed at the end of December in 2009.  My betas didn't finish reading it until May of 2010.  I started submitting to agents and didn't sign with one until October 2010.  I spent nearly nine more months editing Scar-Crossed with my agent.  I went on submission in New York in mid August and I'm still there.  I could be there for another year.  When I do get signed by a New York publishing house it will take 1-2 YEARS for my book to be published.  Every single day SOMEONE asks me, "Are you published yet?!"

All I can do is restrain myself from beating them over the head.

So yeah, be patient.  Sometimes it takes a really long time to hear back from agents.  It usually takes longer to hear back from editors.

Betas in the Bowl

Some authors don't realize how important it is to have other people review and critique their work before they submit it to agents or editors.  It's crucial to have a fresh pair of eyes to find your plot holes, embarrassing grammatical errors, and to just give you an overall review of the work in question.  Some readers use critique groups.  While critique groups can be awesome for some, they don't work for everyone.  I personally have never been part of a critique group.  Instead, I use a group of people called Beta Readers.  These are random family, friends, acquaintances, or fellow authors who are willing to read and review your book for you.  Their input can be a critical step in the creative process.   However, not all betas are created equal.

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.  That being said, each beta who reads your work will offer you varying levels of feedback.  It's your job as the author to maximize on that variety.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when you use beta readers to review/critique your work.

1.  Keep a variety of betas in the bowl.  I have people who are excellent at catching grammar problems.  I have others that really see the plot holes and know how to question my motives as a writer.  I have others that are simply litmus readers who can tell me if people in the genre will like the work.  I have others that will sit down and line-edit the entire manuscript.  I try to find others who don't read the genre at all and can give me an idea of whether or not a book can appeal to readers across genre lines.  I also have a wide range of "educated" readers and some people who usually don't read at all.  Having people with strengths and weaknesses in certain areas is a good thing.  Get to know how your betas read and critique, then make up a schedule of who should read first, second, third, etc.  As a rule, I suggest grammar and line editors go last.

2.  Some betas have a tendency to linger while others are nothing but a fleeting thought.  Leave a lot of time for betas to get back to you.  Over the course of my beta-usage career, I've had readers who finish a novel in a day and others who take a year.  You want to be flexible with your time frame.  After you figure out who has a good track record for fast turn around, you may want to change your schedule.  Also, don't me afraid to change it up.  I have about four people that I know I can rely on to read anything I send them and give awesome feedback.  Despite that, I try to find some new readers for every new piece I write.  I think it's good to have fresh takes on my writing.

3.  There will be betas who go belly up.  More often than I thought possible, I had people who promised to do something and never got it done.  I've lost count of the number of people who I've given my MS to and never hear from them again.  Others will read and never give you any feedback.  Some develop ADD while reading and never finish.  At first, I hen pecked these people.  Then I realized that some people have good intentions but are just lazy or too busy.  You need to roll with the punches and don't take it personally.  Just remember who the unreliable people are, it will save you time and energy in the future.

4.  Betas are a writers best friend.  You want to make sure that you have people who are going to be honest with you while still being your friend.  You also want people who you are brave enough to trust with your work.  It's very difficult for some authors to ask people to read something that is so near and dear to them.  Find betas who are there to help you develop into the best author you can be, not hurt you with discouragement.  You want cheerleaders not the opposing team.

5.  Betas need to give feedback.  People who simply say, "It sucked!" or "It was great!" are not good betas.  You want people who give you the who, what, where, when, and why.  Sometimes you have to prompt it out of people.  People do know how to analyze a piece of literature, they spent how many years of school doing it?  You just need to help them remember how to think like a student playing teacher.  I've done everything from designing questionnaires to having a beta get-together where my betas had a book-group discussion while I moderated.  I need to know WHAT they didn't like about that character so that I can fix it or WHY they liked this particular scene so that I can do it again.  Again, not every one of your betas will be good for this, but you should have a least a couple.

6.  Too many fish in one bowl clouds the water too quickly.  Try to space out your betas.  If you have everyone read all at once, then who are you going to get to read the newly edited document?    It's a true and fast friend who will continue to re-read the same book every few weeks.  You'd better buy that one a soda or something.  Most people will read it once and do a good job, but after that they start to get bored and miss things.  Also, if you have twenty people all giving you feedback, you might just blow a gasket.  Save yourself by spreading it out.

7.  Not everyone can be a beta.  When I tell people what I'm working on, a lot of them ask to read it.  At first I'd give my WIPs to everyone and call them another beta reader.  It doesn't work like that.  These days I have to explain to them that this is my job and I can't just give everyone my work.  If they REALLY want to read it or support you, they'll buy it when it comes out and help spread the word.

8.  Shop for the best breed of beta.  Above all, you want reliable, trustworthy, and honest betas. Any variety beyond that is acceptable :)

I hope that helps you in your beta populating process!  Good luck!

Concision and Cutting Your Manuscript

I first learned the value of concision from one of my Anthropology professors in college.  I don't always use what he taught me, but the rules he taught me came in handy when it came to cutting my manuscript down for submission to publishers.  I went from 116K to 98K and you can too!

Here are seven simple rules to help you do the same!

1.  Cut out as many modifiers and adverbs as possible.  These are the"ly" words and fluff that make you think you sound like a writer, but they hurt more than help.

2.  According to Stephen King, you should cut out "so," "just," "really," "quite," "perhaps," and "that."  I agree with him.  I also agree with his 10% rule.

3.  Learn to say it as simply as possible.  Wordiness is only useful if you need to add more words to your manuscript.  Instead of saying, "He was the type of man that wasn't like anybody else," say "He was a man like no other," OR "He was unique."

4.  Instead of describing how the characters feel and what they are thinking, put as much dialogue and physical reaction as possible.  This not only makes the scene move faster, but it usually shortens it as well.  Don't talk about how pissed of Sally is, make her stamp her foot, scream, and slap Jack.  It's more exciting that way anyway.

5.  Start at the real beginning.  It often takes a writer a little while to get into the characters and the story.  Find where the heart of your story begins and cut everything before that out.  If there is important information that you need to relay from what you've removed find a way to insert tid-bits of it throughout the story.  DO NOT INFO DUMP.

6.  Don't make a mountain out of a mole-hill.  In other words, don't use "utilize" when "use" works just as well.  There are exceptions to this rule, but remember literary genius is not in the word itself, but in how the word is used by the author.  The simplest tools are often the most worthy.

7.  Learn to say goodbye.  We know you love that scene where Sally gets her hair stuck in the hair-drier, but it isn't necessary to the story.  Cut it out and put it in a special file folder for all those wonderful scenes that just don't advance the romance between Jack and Sally.

Does that help?  Hope so!  What do you do?

Two Weeks Notice

The edits on my two shorts for Tease should be coming along in mid-July.  My cover for The Alchemist's Perfect Instrument is done.  It's lovely!

Also... My agent likes the edits on Scar-Crossed!

She's meeting with one more editor on on the 19th and then we're going to start sending out the manuscript for Scar-Crossed.  I'm so excited it's finally happening!  Now all I have to do is come up with a clear idea for the sequel o.O

I have a couple of ideas, but then I've had sequel ideas for the past year and none of them seem to thrill me when I write them out.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to deal!

On top of figuring all that out, I have a couple of little projects that I can work on.  I think I'm going to take her up on the short for a Chicken-Soup spoof and I'll put the erotica on hold.  Erotica isn't really my thing and I'd rather work on the things I'm passionate about...at least until this becomes something I do as a full-time professional.  She wants me to put Tamrin and Fawning on the back-burner and work on something that's in another genre so she can show it to an E- or an Indie-Publisher.  That way I can get my foot in multiple doors.  So, I'm going to try re-vamping (no pun intended) Will of the Fallen and finishing The Great White Light.

Everyone wish me luck!

chugging

Still not all that much to report. I've plugged through to Chapter 24 and I'm expecting to get at least two more done this afternoon. Though, the next few chapters are a sort of long, so I can't promise anything. I'm giving myself at least an hour every day this week to work on editing, but I'm not sure how many pages that translates to. I have to go to a wedding this weekend so I'm not sure how much I'll get done, but I will try my best. I'm expecting Book 2 to come back with corrections any day now, so I need to get my butt in gear and finish Book 1.

Other fun stuff: I have to say, I like Curve. I've also started reading another book (well it's a collection of books, actually) Chronicles of The Black Company by Glen Cook.

short stuff

Today's blog is short. You can all breathe a sigh of relief. Little update: TWoNR edits are now up to chapter 18...that's out of 81 chapters...so, yeah a lot more to go, but I'm enthusiastic that I'll get it done by the end of June...hopefully. Other than that, I finished reading Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. It was about vampires. Kinda funny in a way, I didn't read the back, so I didn't know it was going to be. Nothing else to talk about. Happy Memorial Day!

Reflections on CAPAU

I went to CAPAU on Saturday. I'm breaking up the blog so that you can see the highlights of each event!

Opening speaker: Gina Barreka. She is a professor at UCONN and super sassy. I suggest everyone hear her speak at least once in your life, she's awesome. Her books (think feminist humor) have been added to my ever growing list of things to eventually read. She talked about what actually makes a writer. The most memorable attribute being EXPERIENCE. A dreaded word to a green writer like myself, but yeah. There is a reason why they say you have to write a million words before you can consider yourself a good writer. Practice makes perfect. There is a reason why my publishing professor told me to read more in my genre before attempting to publish. You need to be able to draw parallels between you and other writers. There is a reason why I have a list of things to read. I know I haven't got the experience I need, but I'm trying to publish anyway.

Agent Panel: Most of the 9 agents that were there handled non-fiction...that made me sad. The interesting stuff they had to say was mostly for people who were publishing in non-fiction and the other stuff they had to say I already knew.

Panel 1: Three professional editors (Beth Bruno, Rita Reali, Roberta Buland) talking about the editing process, the different kinds of editing (did you know there are three kinds of editing?), and why you should edit. It was interesting to learn about the different kind of editing:
1. Structural/Directional editing (which is basically someone reading your work to tell you what does and doesn't function well and where the big story gaps are),
2. Copy editing (someone going through and fixing grammar and sentence structure),
3. Proofing (going through with a fine toothed comb and fixing places where you didn't space things properly. Then someone asked the dreaded question: "What if your attempting to get published through a publishing house? Don't they provide you with an editor? In that case, I don't need to hire a professional editor before I submit to an agent, right?" Of course, the answer was: "Of course you need to hire a professional editor before submitting to an agent! It's so competitive these days that if you aren't perfect they won't even look at you!" Well, something to that effect. That just made me feel awful cause I know I need an editor and I certainly don't have the money (upwards around 50$ an hour) for one.

Panel 2: A self published fantasy novelist (M.J. Allaire) shared her thoughts on fantasy writing. It seemed like she basically pulled a bunch of research off of the internet, fed it to us for the first ten minutes and then talked about being self published for the rest of it. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was pretty interesting to learn how the self publishing process works and how she'd been marketing her series. It was obviously her element, so I don't blame her for being all over it like white on rice. It definitely opened my eyes and made me decide never to self publish. Why? You have to pay for it all up front, then do your own marketing and hope that you eventually break even. Though, the good side is that you are in charge of everything, from book contents to cover to where it gets sold.

Panel 3: This was a panel put on by Shel Horowitz who is like the promotional marketing whiz. I didn't get a lot out of this, mainly because my agent pitch was right in the middle of it and I got lost in translation. What I did hear was obvious marketing stuff Such as: Look for unlikely allies to sell your books. Basically that means: If you've written a book about troubled teens, try approaching youth hospitals and guidance counselors. He also put a big emphasis on the internet and social networking sites. I knew this already, that's why my blog is here.

Agent pitch: This was the thing I was most nervous about. Let me explain something to you first. When I applied to CAPAU, I was an early bird sign up. When you sign up, you go through a list of agents attending and pick the top three you'd like to meet with. Then CAPAU matches you up with one of your choices. The list, as mentioned earlier, was sadly lacking in distinct fantasy/sci-fi agents. There were a couple, they went on my list. Then the coordinator emailed me and told me my first choice (Susannah Taylor) wasn't coming, so he'd certainly put me with my second choice (Gina Panettieri). I had to mail in my query letter so that the agent could look at it before hand...the query clearly states that I have a FANTASY NOVEL. When I get to CAPAU I'm told that the agent I'm supposed to meet with isn't going to be there. So, I look at who they sign me up to meet with, Jessica Regel. Jessica Regel clearly states in her agent bio that she DOES NOT handle fantasy/sci-fi. That gets me a little upset. Not only did I not get my third choice (the only other agent who handles fantasy), but I end up with one who handles mostly non-fiction and clearly wants nothing to do with fantasy.

The story has a happy ending though. Jessica Regel was super nice and critiqued my query letter for me. Other than one or two little tiny things, she said that the query letter was very good. She also gave me the contact information for Jennifer Weltz, someone in her agency who DOES handle fantasy/sci-fi. So, special thanks to Jessica Regel for being awesome and not-so-special thanks to CAPAU for not putting me with someone who handled my genre when they obviously had my FANTASY NOVEL query and I should have had spot preference because I was an early registrant anyway! Okay, I'm done being bitter.

Final notes: Anyway, I had a fairly good time. I made some new friends and I'm considering joining CAPA. I felt like CAPAU was more for self published authors and small time publishers, but it doesn't hurt to know any of those people in the business.

EXTRA: I picked up the physical mark-up of Book 1 from my friend. I'm able to divide my friends by their editing abilities (now that I know the different kinds of editing). So far, most of the readership has only been able to give structural/developmental support. My friend who did the physical mark-up is the only reader I'd consider a copy-editor sort of reader. She made a lot of corrections, all very good ones. So, I feel a little better about not being able to afford an editor before I submit to an agent. It will take me a while to do the corrections, and she still has to do Book 2, but with a newly polished query and the types of updates I'll be giving to my manuscript, I'm feeling very confident about my book. I'm aiming for a final edit completion around mid-June and queries will be going out shortly after that.