Worldbuilding: Maps

Hi everyone! Good news: I finished NaNo early this year. It energized me with a new story that has been aching to be told for years, an urban fantasy that is very different from the YA high fantasy I typically write. So I stuck it in a drawer until I can come back to it with fresh eyes unclouded by the quantity-over-quality madness that cheerfully defines NaNoWriMo. I'll be back later this week with more notes, finally, but yesterday a conversation on worldbuilding at Magical Words led to the discussion of maps, so I thought I'd talk about that first.

I love drawing maps. It's about all I can draw (hence why I consider myself very fortunate to have artist friends who can do better than I when it comes to character sketches). But I love it.

Passions can wax and wane, but I believe this one will always stay with me. Aside from knowing not to put a searing desert beside a frozen tundra (okay, and being able to describe geological features through the eyes of my characters), this has to be the biggest and best use of my Geography degree.

I've been focused so much on revising and writing lately, especially as I prepare Sign of the Star for submission to agents, but it was nice to remind myself of this. I'll be re-drawing the map of Nem soon to fit all of the changes made to the story since it was first created. I can't wait to get started again.

Map drawn for the land of the webcomic The Dementia of Magic by Nicholas Killewald.

Map drawn for a now-defunct roleplaying game, Lycoria, at Speculative Vision.

Original map of the part of the world where Sign of the Star takes place. I'll be revising this soon.

Map of Takara, a world that hope to one day come back to, but not for some time, because I want to do its stories justice when I do.

Sketch-map for a friend for an abandoned project of his. I like drawing contour lines, can you tell?

So, yeah. Maps are fun. *grins* Back with those previously-promised notes later this week!

Pacing: Keeping the Action Going (SIWC 2012 Notes)

 Aaaand we're back with the first set of notes from SIWC 2012.

Which was awesome, by the way. I took a different approach this time around; rather than just attending panels, I remembered why I was really there, and so I took some more time to focus on pitching. What I said last post still holds true: I need to focus on sending my manuscript out. So I don't have *as* many notes to share this time around, and I'm okay with that.

The first set comes from a request I received from another attendee of the panel, who had to duck out to pitch his own novel. Could I send him my notes? I had to clean up these notes before sending them, so I thought it would be a great kick in the pants to get me to post them, too.

This class actually took place on the Sunday, the last day of the conference, but I love the subject matter. I found it very useful. Pacing is one of those things I know intuitively, but can't put into words very easily. And the tips here are great for doing what Donald Maass recommends, "Increase tension!"

* * *   Pacing: Keeping the Action Going  Boyd Morrison

A great rollercoaster ride is as much about the buildup of suspension as it is about the thrills. You want to know what’s going to happen next to the characters.

Suspense can be used in *any* type of fiction.

First rule: There are no rules.
-   Writing is subjective. You may hate the book I love, you may love a book I can’t stand, and that’s okay.
-   Everybody has a different writing style and method.
-   But when you’re doing something that many others caution against doing, be sure you know why, and make sure it’s for the right reasons. (And make sure you do it well!)
-   Take all pronoucncements you hear in a writing seminar with a grain of salt (e.g. “You must never outline” vs. “You must always outline”. Think about them critically and decide whether the guidance works for you. Will that criticism make the story better, or is something important to the story you’re telling?

Storytelling
-    Think about how you tell a story verbally to someone you know – imagine the reader yawning, rolling their eyes, looking art their watch. Anything that would make you do these things, leave it out.
-    Elmore Leonard: “try to eave out the parts that readers tend to skip”
-    Exclamation points not necessary unless a character is shouting. Esp not in narrative. The words should convey the excitement of the action.
-    Everything in the book should advance the plot. By knowing where you are (describing settings), who the characters are (show how characters react and the reader will get what kind of person they are), and by conjuring mystery about what will happen next.  

What does “Fast Paced” mean?
-    It’s about rhythm and momentum. Building momentum as the story goes.
-    A thriller should be like a roller coaster: Build-up of suspense going up the first the first hill. The release and exhilaration fot ehfall. In a novel, the biggest hill should be the end of the ride.
-    Give breathing room after an action scene. Allow the reader to build up adrenaline stores for the next action scene. Without the quiet scenes between the action scenes, it will be too much. Pull back and catch up – how does the action change the characters, change the plot, what do you need to know for the next action scene? Eg. in the video game Halo – the music gets fast-paced until the last bad guy is killed, then the music slows down. When he writes, he listens to movie soundtracks for this very reason. (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Inception)
-    Vary the sentence structure of writing depending on the type of scene. Shorter sentences and paragraphs speed up the pace. Your eye flows down the page very quickly. You have the sense that you don’t have time for long sentences. They're trying to not get killed! They don’t have time to look at the pretty scenery. Long descriptions will seem inappropriate in a gun fight.

In media res
-    In media res: In the middle of things.
-    Start the story already in progress. Begin by presenting a scenario that invites questions from the reader.
-    Start from character. A sentence that doesn’t orient you to character doesn’t drive the reader.
-    Don’t begin with backstory, character descript, weather, or scene setting. Start with evoking a question.
-    Dreams of waking up in bed are cliché. If you have them wake up, it has to be in a very weird situation. Unless it’s unique, it will be rejected. And dreams? You’re cheating the reader by giving them a sense that something didn’t really happen.
-    Explain things later. Keep questions in readers mind.
-    A prologue is fine as long as it directly affects the story that follows. Sometimes if the rest of the book answers what happened in the prologue, then it can work. But if it doesn’t relate to the rest of the bk, then it shouldn’t be there.
-    Kurt Vonnegut: “Start as close to the end as possible.” The latest you can start the story and still make it work.

Suspense
-    Setting the rules. The reader should understand what’s at stake, who the players are, and what the consequences of the action will be. Suspense results from the reader understanding and caring about what happens to the characters. What are the consequences of the character not succeeding? Explain the rules to the reader. And give your readers a reason to care about the character. “To make them immediately sympathetic, make them kind to a puppy or kitten” You also want the reader to feel relief when the villain is defeated.
-    Alfred Hitchcock’s theory of suspense: Surprise is when a bomb blows up in a restaurant; suspense is knowing the ticking bomb is under the table when the character sits down for dinner. Surpise is shocking and the aftermath is tragic, but suspense does so much more.
-    Seed your resolutions from the beginning. If your character offs the villain with a drill, don’t introduce it in the paragraph before. Find a place in the book with enough distance so that the reader forgets about it, but still thinks it’s clever when it’s ultimatey used. If you show a gun on the mantle in the first act, you gotta use it by the third act.

Coincidence
-    Coincidence can kick off a story; believability is the key.
-    Don’t use coincidence ot make things better for the protagonist. It’s a cheat, and readers will call you on it. Too convenient. Eg. rain when the house is on fire. If the gunman’s shot goes awry because the sun got in his eyes, it can’t be because the clouds suddenly parted; but it *is* okay if the protagonist used a hidden mirror to shine the sun in his eyes. But the mirror has to be there for a believable reason, too. You have to put a lot of thought into making the plots work. Not just because it’s convenient.
-    Coincidence can make things worse for the protagonist – just don’t overuse it. Don’t have floods, tornadoes, Acts of God, and bad luck making things worse for the hero. Have the villain make things worse.

Cliffhangers
-    Have them at the end of every chapter; it's a page-turning factor.
-    Avoid direct foreshadowing. “Lttle did he know, but he had less than five minutes to live”. Be subtle. Don’t clobber the reader over the head with things. Use only info the character would know.
-    Pose a new question to the reader. Doesn’t have to be life or deah; should pertain to plot or character, pref both. A new discovery.
-    Don’t save a character’s life at the end of a chapter. Unless it unveils a new mystery or plot problem. And don’t save the life in the first sentence of the next chapter. We know readers will skip forward. Even better, switch to a different scene, something totally different.
-    Try to end chapters on a strong note, particularly the last sentence or even last word. Especially viscerals.

Enter late, leave early
-    The “Law and Order” technique
-    Void showing mundane activities: opening doors, driving directions, etc. Just enough to make the reader understand what’s happening. Unless it’s germane to the plot. If it’s important.
-    Skip traveling scenes. Have characters teleport to the next place. Unless exposition or curuicial events happen during the travel.
-    Skip all the stuff we know happens: Sleeping, eating, bathroom breaks, and any other normal routine. Unless it’s important, leave it out! If it’s not routine, include it, but only if it relates to the plot.
-    Flash forward to the next part of the story that’s important. Summarize anything pertinent that happens in between. But don't have whole chapters about it.

Research
-    Only include 10% of the research you do.
-    Don’t info-dump. Dole it out a little at a time.
-    Don’t have a character explaining something another character should already know. E.g. “As you know, Dr. Tindale, the liver produces enzymes critical to…” – Include a character who’s new to the situation or isn’t a subject matter expert. Explaining jargon doesn’t work unless that new character’s there, to make it as simple as possible to understand.
-    Long exposition and paragraphs slow stories to a crawl. Limit those, and try to put as much of that in dialogue as you can.
-    Leaning things is fun for readers, but balance it with story.

Dialogue
-    White space makes for a fast read. When people talk about a page turner, they mean that literally, because there’s a lot of dialogue and it
-    Use dialogue tags sparingly. But don’t confuse the reader about who is talking. Try to crate the characters such that you could tell who’s speaking just by their style, grammar, and syntax
-    Avoid spelling out a drawl or patois – usually it’s confusing or distractiogn. Can be conveyed by word choices. Eg “Alabama Accent”. And a Southern person uses colloquialisms.
-    Avoid dialogue tags other than “Said” and LEAVE OUT ADVERBS modifying “said”. You can use other words sometimes, especially when it’s odd – e.g. “I’m going to kill you,” she whispered.
-    Avoid monologue-ing. Can put conflict and interjections into that. Long blocks of dialogue are daunting to a reader. Short sentences work. Unless the villain has an agenda for the monologue.

Stakes
-    Give the protagionist a high personal stake in the outcome. James Bond saving the country is okay, but in Casino Royale, he has a stake in the girl – and isn't just doing this because it’s his job. The best thillers have that personal reason, sometimes internal (eg a sense of justice because the hero’s family was killed and he doesn’t want other families killed; a characters being depending on how he solves a case)
-    Life or death stakes are reliably gripping. But the reader has to care about the people who live or die. Without them feeling that stake, they don’t care. We can’t imagine ourselves as a hundred thousand people dying in a nearthquake, but
-    The stakes should get progressively higher as the novel develops. Gets worse as the story goes on, more personal. Two steps forward, one step back. Apply frustration and conflict. They’re not fun inreal life, but they’re essential in storytelling. You don’t want to make it easy for your protagonist!

Obstacles
-    Make it unlikely for your protagonist to survive or whin. Overwhelimg odds against achieving goasl. The protagonist’s flaw simede progress.
-    Make your villain better than your protagonist in some ways. But give your villain flaws, some wof which he may not even not think are flaws. They may see them as advantages, even. (e.g. superconfidence – the theory they’ll awyas be right, something your protagonist can take advantage of to succeed.) Why are the henchmen willing to throw away their lives?
-    Don’t make the obstacles occur by random chance. (e.g. a tornado randomly wiping out evidence).
-    Use obstacles to raise the stakes. One flows from another.

The Ticking Clock
-    Add  a ticking clock, then shorten it.
-    Countdowns can be extremely tense.
-    Remind the reader of the timeline on a regular basis. But don’t hammer it down the reader's throat; work it in naturally.
-    Orient the reader in time. Can be difficult in international thrillers with characters in multiple time zones. Try to make it natural. If one scene is happening in Vanouver and another in London, there’s a 9 hr time difference. Don’t make the reader waste time doing calculations.
-    Keep track of the time.
-    Make sure there’s enough time for the events and action. Can all the things happen in that time period? Have beta-readers double check.

Action Scenes
-    Don’t pause in the middle of the action. If someone’s shooting at you, you don’t think back to your childhood. You’re trying to figure out how not to die.
-    Details, however, can seem more pronounced or intense. Memories of intense or traumatic events can be triggered by odors, so don’t forget the sense of smell, in addition to sight, sound, feel (texture of ground?), even taste (the bile at the back of your throat or the gunpowder residue landing on your tongue). Not just sight and sound.
-    Make the action plausible. Make sure someone can’t keep shooting because they’re out of bullets. Factor in number of bullets and time to reload. Can build that into the suspense of the scene.
-    Describe the setting beforehand so that the reader doesn’t get lost. So that it doesn’t need to be described during the action scene. Lay out in detail so it can be referenced when needed. Otherwise
-    GET THE GUN INFO RIGHT. Readers hate it when you get it wrong. But does your character know about the gun? It’s more plausible if they don’t know, and you don’t describe it directly.
-    Sometimes shock is fine.

Flashbacks and Dreams
-    Use flashbacks with caution.
-    Like prologues, they should be directly linked to the sotry.
-    Keep them short.
-    If you use dreams to foreshadow, don’t be heavy-handed with theme. Also, DON’T start a novel with a dream; it deceives the reader, who won’t trust you after that (Inception is a good example of an exception done well)

Switching POV
-    When writing in third-person multi POV, change POV from chapter to chapter
-    Works especially well when thera re two related but separate plot threads going simultaneously.
-    BUT don’t switch within a scene – called “”Head-hopping” and can be confusing to a reader. Takes reader out of story.
-    Try to limit POVs to only three or four main characters. You can add in minor characters’ POV, but do it sparingly.

The Payoff
-    Don’t rush it. This is what readers have spent 400 pages waiting to see.
-    No deus ex machina – the protagonist cannot be rescued, the protagonist has to use resourcefulness, skill, stamina, or willpower to defeart the enemy. That’s satisfying to the reader.
-    Make the villain get an appropriate comeuppance. Make sure they know they didn’t succeed before they die.
-    Answer all the big questions and resolve all the plot threads.
-    Leave the reader wanting more.

Donald Maass uses lots of thriller novels for examples in Writing the Breakout Novel; Writers Digest has a lot of books, too; How to Write a Damned Good Thriller.

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More notes to follow; in the meantime, you know what month this is, folks. NaNoWriMo! 'Scuze me while I go write 50K. ^__^

The Case of the Mystery iPod

This is just a quick note to say that yes, I am well aware that I haven't updated my blog in weeks.  Mostly, this is because I have been revising like mad because hey, SIWC 2012 starts on Thursday. (Okay, and I paused for a breather, and I have another WIP that I'veplotted in earnest in preparation for NaNoWriMo. But mostly the revising thing.) To be perfectly honest, as someone not much published yet, I think my focus needs to be on my work, and this blog is fun, but it can wait right now. There's a novel to be polished.

I still have ConCarolinas 2012 notes.

This is going to be the running joke, isn't it?

Regardless, I still think the notes are worth sharing. One of the nice things about my belatedness is that it often brings back fond memories of SIWC and ConCarolinas long after the fact.

So I'll be back soon with notes from both ConCarolinas and SIWC, but no promises as to when.

In the meantime: here's an interesting writing prompt for you.

See that beat-up iPod in the photo? The college where I work had a garage sale on Wednesday. Some of the things sold include items turned into Security but not claimed after a year. I scored that for five bucks. People were dubious about whether it would work, especially since the top panel (not pictured) is missing. But I took it home, plugged it into an i-charger (yay ubiquity) and sure enough, it works just fine

Sure, I could wipe it and use it as a spare, but I don't need a spare, not right now. But here's the thing: it still had all of the former owner's music loaded onto it.

What is that music? What does it tell me about the original owner?

This sort of thing definitely gets my creative juices flowing. Tell me, what do you think? Who was this guy or girl? What sort of playlist was it? What if the person I assume it is by profiling the playlist is nothing like I think?

Have fun, kids. See you on the other side of SIWC 2012.

In the meantime, it should be noted, however belatedly, that Charlie Holmberg was kind enough to interview me for the "Someday Stars" feature of her blog at the end of August. Want to know what I'm up to? There you go. The only update to that is these revisions I'm working on, when in the interview I state that SotS is complete. I am so grateful for my beta-readers, who it must be noted are *awesome*.

I Believe in Magic (ConCarolinas 2012 Writing Panel Notes)

So about those ConCarolinas notes.

Ever experience a dramatic event that throws you off your game? Well, this is what happened to me. Look at the picture above. See that shiny glob of gold splotched onto the RAM? I knew my laptop had an overheating problem. I just hadn't realied how bad it was until it imploded. I joked with friends that my computer had a meltdown, and I thought it was hyperbole. Then my friend Drekian was over at my place for a write-in and killed time waiting for the others to arrive. So he took apart the dead laptop for fun. Turns out, it actually melted down.

Anyway, everything's good again. The universe was nice to me; the night it stopped working, I found an amazing deal at Best Buy to replace the poor pile of sludge. All is well again. I've let it interrupt my blogging rhythm. But now, I'm ready to get back to work!

So without further adieu, here's more notes; and what could be more fitting after all that technology stuff than for us to talk about magic?

* * *

I Believe in Magic

Betty Cross, Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, Rachel A. Aaron 

Moderator: Stuart Jaffe

There’s a wide-spectrum of what you can do with magic. From Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn saga (magic is created by ingesting certain bits of metal for certain effects) to [missed example] (“Magic is anything we say”).

Tell us about your magical systems.
-     BC: Falls closer to Brandon Sanderson. Finds amature writers make magical powers unlimited, with lots of Deus ex machina. Superman has to have Kryptonite.
-    FH: Has written two magical systems. Rogue Mage – learning how to use raw energy with the abilities each mage is born with. It’s a gift they have to learn themselves, like a  child teaching themselves to walk. The limits: if you don’t learn it and you overuse it, you explode. Jane Yellowrock – she’s a Skinwalker, which is learned. Jane has the skill but was only taught a bit before losing her teacher. Her new work involves a pre-set system ahead of time. Some people come up with their magical systems first. She does a lot of figuring out how her magic works as she goes.
-    KP: Two different magic systems – Does worldubilding and character-creating at the same time, because the society will determine how the magic is used. Haven: Magic is underground. Grave Witch: everyone knows about magic.
-    RA: Creates magical systems for fun. Her spirit world – everything has a spirit, have to work with those spirits
-    SJ: Difference between external and internal magic. In his world, most of the knowledge is lost. Characters are discovering their powers with the reader.

How much do you find you have to reveal about the magic system?
-    RA: Plots an info map of who knows what. Plotting how much to reveal, misunderstandings about magic, stopping to think about how you reveal the information, means you can do amazing things with tension, who knows what.
-    KP: Establishing what the magic is very quickly is very important, but establishing the full parameters goes through the book. But make rules and *stick* with them. Unless you have a very sound plot reason that changes things, that is plausible.
-    FH: No rules for Rogue Mage, until she made the roleplaying game. Has had to make rules for that. Has learned to create systems and write stories based on that. Likes the revelatory process of discovering the magic as she goes. Plots out a lot of her books, big outlines, so discovering the magic is fun, but then she sticks by the rules.
-    BC: Big on having limits on her magic. Characters explain magic by reference to other magic.

Do you create a bible, a document to make sure you stick to your rules?
-   RA: Stays true to the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. Based on a fundamental understanding of the system.
-    FH & KP: create bibles.
-    SJ: Only one rule: if it works, it works.
-    KP: Readers will only suspend disbelief so far
-    RA: If you break a rule, you have to have a good reason.

Creating magic based on myths and folklore:
-    KP: Has twisted bits of folklore based on what her books need
-    SJ: Example: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon – blends myth and magic
-    FH: Skinwalker – lots of research into pre-Christian, NA tribal version of skinwalkers.
-    RA: Important to remember, you’re not chained to the folklore. It’s your book.

What about weird stuff for the sake of weird stuff?
-    There is an audience (e.g. China Meiville)
-    SJ: We’re coming out of the 80s and 90s with big thick trilogies, medieval fantasy was really selling, that seemed to be canon. That’s no longer the case.

And what about stepping on the toes, borrowing/stealing other magical systems?
-    BC: It’s okay. Writers do it all the time.
-    FH: With enough twists that a creative mind can put into their own work, don’t worry. Make changes. You can give a plot line or magical system to ten different writers and they’ll go ten different ways.
-    SJ: Everyone’s coming up with new takes. Look at how many different takes there are on vampires.

Can you draw from real magical systems?
 -    Sure, those are great sources for inspirations. E.g. Voodoo, paganism, high magic,
-    KP: If you’re going to use beliefs currently in practice, be respectful.
-    BC: Can be very subtle about it. E.g has system based on Kabbalah

Can you combine sex and magic?
-    FH: No limits for the genre. Fantasy as a genre can become erotica very easily. Depends on what you want to write. Kushiel is very mainstream. But other books can be powerful, terrifying, and off-putting. LKH does it well, even though she’s changed. Do it well, you can stay mainstream; don’t do it well and you can fall into a different group. Sex must forward the plot, not just be titillation.  Otherwise it’s erotica.

Other things to keep in mind: 
-    KP: You can explain less if you can assume the reader is well-versed in a similar magic system.
-    Good to have the good guys screw up. Magic can be a source of humour, be funny.
-    Remember to think of the consequences. You MUST build consequences into your magical system. The magic shapes the story. So the consequences are an integral part. That’s an integral part of the conflict.
-    Any magical system can be used for good. Even necromancy. Any magic can be used any way you want, it just depends on how you build your system.

The Next Step (ConCarolinas 2012 Writing Panel Notes)

 

Here's a look at what we should be doing once we've finished writing a novel.

* * *

The Next Step

Authors: John G. Harness, Misty Massey, Terry W. Ervin II, Edmund Schubert, Gray Rinehart 

Moderator: David B. Coe

So you’ve finished your book … what now?
- This is assuming that you’ve already sent it to beta-readers and edited it.
- Having a good beta group geared towards publishing really really helps.

As the author, what should we be doing?
- TE: Get the novel best you can, research markets, check guidelines to see if it’ll be a good fit; write other stuff while waiting on response. You can always read the guidelines of the publisher but also read what they’re publishing. Know what you’re going for. Check the bookshelves in the library and the bookstores.
- MM: Start the 2nd book right away because if you sit and wait and stare at your e-mail, you’re just wasting time. These books don’t write themselves. Keep moving, keep writing. Novels. Short stories. Work on *something*. Momentum is hard to regain once you let it die.

- JH: Took the self-publishing route after trial and error. When he finished his first novel, he tried the “submit to agents” route, then realized he had no idea how to craft a query letter or who to submit to. Spent a year submitting poetry and lit fiction to small presses. Learned the process. Didn’t make much money. Self-published first, and then started learning by fire the self-publishing route. Went through self-publishing process on a much smaller scale, then realized he couldn’t categorize his first novel. So he hired an editor, formatted and reformatted the book for print and e-publishing. Was not an immediate success. Now he has a publisher for his books.

For the editors in the panel, did their experience change anything?

- GR: No, because he started as an author. Started making all the mistakes generally made on the writer’s side. Didn’t have experience to draw some. Didn’t have beta-readers; that was a big mistake. Did Orson Scott Card’s boot camp. Started writing short stories when he was really young. Gave up for a little while, and came back to it later. DON’T give it up, or you’ll have to re-learn. Wrote a few more short stories then went to the novel.
- ES: Also was a writer first; also did Orson Scott Card’s boot camp. Realized he had so much to do. His beta group was great but everyone was interested but not experienced. He wrote novels before transitioning to short stories. Turned to short stories to learn his craft. Then went back to the novel feeling more competent.

Should we be writing shorrt fiction first?
- JH: Wrote a lot of articles for the poker industry. Didn’t write short fiction until he started self-pubbing novels and needed something to fill in the holes between self-pubbing his novels. Quick turnaround time. Quit his day job.
- MM: Writing a short story is easy. Started writing short stories. Also, instant gratification from short stories. Novels take a bit longer. FH encouraged her to write novel-length.
- TE: Short stories are great, but writing fantasy/sci-fi shorts is a challenge because you also have world-building, too.
- ES: It is possible to write a novel full of short stories – a cluster of standalone short stories that has an overarching arc or links, but would take more time and effort to write this than to write a novel.
- DBC: Still, this isn’t something he’d recommend to beginners.

About queries:

- ES: Query-writing is a science. Getting a rejection doesn’t mean that your book sucks, it means that your query letter sucks.

About agents:

- Most authors agreed that it was important to find an agent first, but only one had an agent at the time of this panel.

- Publishing is a hurry-up-and-wait game.

- One author went though a small publisher.

- One author: Had an agent who sold the author's first book. Signed with that agent because the agent had the connections in New York. You need someone enthusiastic who’ll believe in your work. But then as time went on, the author realized the agent wasn’t doing much to help, and didn’t even look at the second book before passing it onto the publisher. The author currently looking for a new agent.

About editors:

- DBC: Editors can be friends. The average writer will go through several editor relationships. An agent author relationship is a marriage. Ending it is like a divorce. The relationship is complex; there should be rapport. There should be support. They should be there for you.

How long does it take to publish a book?
- JH: finishes a novel-length Jan 1, hired a good freelance editor. Sent it off. Gets it back from editors and proofreaders by the end of February. Meanwhile has consulted with cover artists. By March 1 is ready to sell/upload. Meanwhile sold the contracts to re-release older works to small pub last August, and the books should be ready to go this August.
- DBC: Handed in Thieftaker on time Feb 1, 2010, will be published July 3rd, 2012. And it didn’t need that much rewriting. Tor is notoriously slow. Editor is glacially slow in the context of Tor editors.
- GR: The process of creating cover art, releasing arcs for review, is 6 months to a year. Publishing schedule is 18 months to 2 yrs. Lots of BAEN authors are very prolific. As far as what you can expect, if you submit a novel today, you’ll get a response in nine months. Don’t expect exclusivity. Appreciates being notified if the novel has been picked up elsewhere. If he likes the start of the book and sets it aside, it’ll take much more time for him to look at. Then if he really likes it he’ll submit it to his boss (chief editor), and then that will take more time.
- ES: Remember, there are a lot of little steps in the process. You want the publisher sending out review copies. The reviewers want the books 3-4 times prior to being published, too, and you want it reviewed, because good reviews drive sales.
- DBC: Got blurbs by sending out manuscript to authors, which adds a few more months (but this is also very important)
- TE: Smaller press means smaller pub schedule. Depends on blurbs, reviews, etc.
- JH: There are many of self-published authors who sell tons of copies.

Social media before submitting?
- DBC: Social media is a great way to market a book that is already most of the way through the publishing process. But it takes up more time that you should spend revising a novel, and you should focus your energy on writing.

Kidnapping Your Muse (ConCarolinas 2012 Writing Panel Notes)

Back again, finally. Sorry for the delay, folks. Canada Day fell on a Sunday, so our statutory holiday was Monday ... and, well, not much sleep was had that night. Let alone posting. My rhythm, it was interrupted.

This next panel, "Kidnapping Your Muse", was technically called "Part One", but I never did make it to Part Two (which featured different authors). But this was pretty good. It was about writer's block (if you so choose to acknowlege it), overcoming simply being stuck, and how to keep the inspiration flowing.The responses were very insightful into process!

Again we had a round-table sort of discussion going, so here's what I transcribed.

* * *

Authors: David B. Coe, Crymsyn Hart, Misty Massey, Allen Wold, Faith Hunter 

Moderator: A.J. Hartley

AW – Does writers workshops, teaches

MM – Fantasy writer, Mad Kestrel, pirate magic adventure, on the Magical Words team, MW book

FH – Jane Yellowrock series, on the Magical Words team

DBC – Now also writing as D.B. Jackson – Thieftaker, on the Magical Words team

CH – Paranormal erotic e-romance

What to do when the book we’re writing doesn’t want to be written – inspiration, and more specifically, what to do when it dries up

What do you think about Writer's Block?
 

AW – gets blocked when his story takes a left hand turn and goes off in the wrong direction, that can be discouraging – when he lets a character down, when he pushes them down a wrong path or make a wrong decision rather than what they want to do – that’s why he’s often stopped writing. So he has to go back and find that place and where he’s supposed to go and then he can continue with the story.

MM – hates the term writer’s block. Two types – 1. The temporary, where she’s stuck at the computer and the words aren’t flowing – gets up and moves, walks around her house; dances; that; 2. Emotional issues in her real life that stand in the way of her being creative – she calls friends and seeks solace, or turns to something completely different from what she’s working on, for forward motion.

FH – Instead of not allowing a character enough freedom, she gives the character too much freedom and they do something stupid. Has to back off, put the words elsewhere, and make the character do what she promised to do in the outline. Also, can’t write when house is dirty; has to houseclean to get work done

DBC – Doesn’t believe writer’s block exists – that term presupposes writing is easy, is supposed to flow, everything should go smoothly from beginning to end – Writing is hard. There are fits and starts and stumbles. That’s writing. This is a hard process. Block is just the wrong word for it.

FH – It’s a creative process.

CH – When creative process stops or dayjob gets in the way, characters are screaming in the air to write them, there’s a spot she gets to that she has to write

AJ – Writing time is circumscribed. Very specific deadlines. Has to produce x words consistently in places to get it done. He’s not blocked, but he’s bored sometimes by sitting in the same place, etc. Has to get re-excited about the book again. Something about the term writer’s block  - it’s a legitimizing excuse for not working.

AW - It’s about not being able to move forward for some reason. There are several different varieties of reasons – You must be able to identify it and then you’ll get unstuck.

Outlining?

FH – does not deviate from outline. If she leaves outline, it gives her trouble. (She only outlines plot points, not how the character feels or reacts).

MM  - Used to be a pantser, let narrative carry her along – tried outlining and is now completely committed. If she’s not sure where to go, she looks at outline. She’ll occasionally deviate if it turns out in the narrative that it’s not a really good idea – She outlines the events, not the reactions.

AW – every book is different. Has written with and without outlines. "Outline" is like “block”; it means different things to different people. The more detailed, the less he can write.

AJ – Outline not written in stone – tells story as he imagines it at the start – discovers things about characters as he goes along – it’s a balance. He may not need the outline in the end, but it gives him faith that there is a story to be told that he can get to the end of. Occasionally he glances down to make sure it still working.

CH – Is a pantser. She just keeps going. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, and she writes something different.

DBC – Writing a 15 pg outline would be death. Each chapter gets 2 sentences. This is his creative process. It's like a bottle of soda – every time he opens it to talk about it, to outline it , it goes flat. He is sparing in what he does in prepping because that release of energy is his creative process. He re-outlines as he goes along if he needs to.

AJ – Does write a 15 page outline – very loose, and he writes from character perspective so that it reads like  a short story with lots of emotional colour with lots of specifics that are missing. He knows what has to happen in the next 70 pgs, but doesn’t know how it’s going to happen.

Outlines with novels vs. short sotries?

DBC, AW: don’t outline their short stories. The outline is the objective the character is trying to accomplish, whether he gets it or not. DBJ has no idea what’s going to happen, how it’s going to end. Writes with faith, treats it like an adventure. The characters tell him. Misty: outlines short stories. On paper.

AJ: However much outline he does, there will always be a point where he has to create a document, “What the hell is this book about”. What the core of the story is about. What the narrative arc is. This is after writing the story, though.

CH – Doesn’t outline anything, writes the outline in her head and not on paper.

Does the quality change whether you struggle in real life or don’t?

CH – Where your mind is is a big thing.

AJ – They tend to go together.. A miserable day in real life or writing is a miserable day. They're not separate. Writer's block is a sign that he’s lost faith in a story.

When you have a bad day, do you find refuge in your writing to turn your day around?

FH – Sometimes.

AW – If he has a bad day, he can’t write. Except when he gets a very very very nasty rejection.

MM – Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

FH – Writes well when upset if she can find a way to channel that energy.

What's one thing you do when you’re stuck that works for you?

FH: (You mean, other than drinking?)

DBC: Opens a separate file, talks about where the story needs to go. Also goes back and reads what he has so far (even if it’s the whole book), and takes notes.

AJ: Sometimes the act of re-reading gives you faith that it works.

CH: Steps away from the book.

AW: Goes back and sees where he made the mistake. If you can’t get much done, it’s time to stop and go back. 

MM: Moves – dances (exercises). Easiest way to jumpstart her brain. Stops reading what she is writing and looks at something else.

FH – Outlines in a web outline, starting with the main point in the centre, to try to pinpoint what's not working.

AJ – Walks, any time he runs into a part where he’s bored, struggling , or stuck. Doesn’t run. Energizes his body but keeps his brain free. Imagines conversations – the act often helps get the issue figured out.

MM – Does her best dancing when she stops talking to herself. It’s about disengaging the brain. Can think about writing because her body is doing stuff.

DBC – Can’t walk away. When faced with that thing that isn’t working, he pounds away at it until he figures it out.

AW – Ideas come clear to him when he first wakes up, because all of the critical aspects of thinking are eliminated.

AJ – Wrote a problem on a piece of paper and stuck it under his pillow before bed. It worked. Because he was aware of it.

Do you ever have moments of doubt even after completion of the novel?

  

DBC – Every novel at 60%, he has a serious crisis of faith. Everything sucks. Then he gets over it.

AJ – Neil Gaiman's 3 things : “Produce good work, on time, and be nice and easy to work with. If you have two of those, you can get away with the third.”

MM – Yes, we doubt. The night before her book came out, she thought of better ending.

AW – There’s always another book, another story to tell.

 

Can you read fiction when you’re writing fiction?

AW – No.

MM – Yes, reads all the time. Tries to save it for bedtime, like a treat for having written. Everybody’s different, though.

AJ – Yes, but things that are different from what he’s writing

DBC: Didn’t used read what he is writing, because he was afraid of similar voices creeping into his head. But at this point he does and he’s glad, and it took him awhile to be comforatable enough with his own writing.

CH: Doesn’t read romance because that’s what she writes.

If you’ve built your world for your novels, do you therefore stop reading in that genre to avoid lifiting ideas?

AJ – Yes, so he doesn’t subconsciously.

You Had Me at Hello: The Importance of the First Chapter (ConCarolinas 2012 Writing Panel Notes)

This set of notes was mostly a round table discussion. Because of how the chat flowed, I've kept it as is, and attributed speakers where possible.

* * *

 You Had Me at Hello
Panelists: Rachel A. Aaron, Jim S. Bernheimer, David B. Coe / D.B. Jackson, 

Gray Rinehart, Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, Edmund Schubert

Moderator: James Maxey

The first chapter doesn’t have to get you excited if you know the author,  but that’s not usually the case.

By the end of the first chapter, you should have your reader completely hooked.

What’s important?

ES (editor of e-zine Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show): In short stories, first lines are more important, less time to get the attention of a reader. Especially first lines that don’t make sense on first read. Start with something on the surface that doesn’t make sense; that gets his attention.

GR (“Slushmaster General”, in charge of slushpile submissions at Baen Books): The advantage of a published book is that we can pick up the book and read the back of it. That advantage is not available when reading what’s being submitted to the slush pile. So to him, the voice in the opening really matters. Your first line is critical; the one after that almost as much. Same with the first paragraph, the first page, the first chapter. Customers often make the decision to buy based on the first page or two.

RA: The primary purpose of the first line is to get the reader to read the second line. To get them to read the rest of the story. Through voice, odd first line, other ways. She gives a writer three sentences – downloads the Kindle first chapter. Then makes her decision whether to read/buy based on that.

JB: Don’t give weather reports. Don’t have a long build up , a slow burn, a meandering prologue. Give it a running start. The reader will catch up as the character does. Give the reader something about the character that they want to know, they want to find out, so they’ll keep reading. Create interest in the character.

DBC: Don’t give it a cinematic start, where you zoom down onto the scene omnisciently. Omniscient is not a good voice; editors frown on it. Establish the voice and the character. Start in someone’s point of view. That’s what matters. E.g. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: two scenes in quick succession (a bank heist, a poker game). At the end of those two scenes, you have an idea of exactly how the two characters will play out.

FH: Don’t open with wakeup, bad news. Start in media res. Find a beginning that grabs voice, character, point of view, setting, and tone, and go with it.

KP:  In your first chapter, something major has to change. The inciting incident should happen by the end of the first chapter.

DBC: Disagrees – establish something with the character and do something to get the story started. You don’t necessarily have to introduce the major conflict.

FH: Yes you do.

GR: Doesn’t have to be the *main* conflict, but something that tells us everything we need to know.

ES: Yes, Indiana Jones does this – the first scene has nothing to do with the conflict, but it sets up his character.

What else?

Be prepared to change your opening:
- You may need to backtrack, may need to introduce character and narrative correctly (balance it)
- When you finish your book, look at that first chapter again.  Be able to go back and look at it again.
- There’s always more than one way to do a scene. Do not be afraid to throw away good words for great words.

RA: At the start of Avengers, there’s two throwaway minutes of Loki doing bad stuff. Then he doesn’t have to go back and show why he’s doing bad stuff.

KP: Starts with a stranger, snarky opening (has been asked to tone it down some)

ES: To work with a story, it’s not so much rewriting as it is restructuring or tightening. It must be really close and he really wants to publish it – he takes great raw material and polishes it. He respects that it’s the writer’s story, not his.

GR: Sometimes you need to restructure the novel to tell a better story.

RA: Best writing came from a blog about writing for comics – Is this moment you’re starting with the most interesting moment in your character’s life? If not, why not? Start with the moment the boulder starts rolling down the hill, when everything’s supposed to start going wrong.

KP: Establish character, establish voice – make it interesting and snappy, establish the tone of the novel.

JB: Bangs out first chapter right away because it’ll be the part he’ll spend most time on, but he won’t know the first word until the last word is written. BUT he dresses first chapter like it’s going out on a date (in revisions). Not much room to slack off in the frist chapter. Entire book should also be treated well

You have a contract with reader in the first chapter – you show that you know how to write, that it’s worth reading, that it’s clear and not confusing and intriguing (doesn’t give it all away)

DBC: Slightly disagrees – Will spend as much time on the first paragraph as he will on the entire rest of the first chapter as he’ll spend on the next four or five chapters. However, this can lead to winding up hating them because those chapters are overworked and not necessarily as flowing. Not that the first chapter shouldn’t be polished, just that you shouldn’t obsess about it too much. There’s a balance between refining it to the point of it shines and editing it too much.

JB: Works on a lot of anthologies. He puts the best story in the second or third slot, and the second-best story in the last slot.

RA: You won’t know the right way to start the book until after you’ve written it. Even if you have to rewrite it five times. You learn as you go.

JB: Each book is a puzzle, has a “right” way of telling it. You won’t know until you start. What works for one book probably won’t apply to the next book. Don’t stress out about the beginning. The last line of the book is where the editor decies whether or not to buy the book. Make sure you get a good story with a good ending because the entire book. Don’t put all of your egs in that one book

RA: Don’t strive for perfection. If you strive to make it perfect,  you’ll be unhappy. Just learn to say when good enough is good enough. We have so many books in us and it’s stupid to waste time.

The First Step (Concarlinas 2012 Writing Panel Notes)

 

Aaaand we're back with notes from this year's ConCarolinas. Rather than push myself to release ALL THE NOTES at once, and for the sake of my sanity, I'll be posting these once a week (on Mondays) for the next twelve weeks or so. Hope that's all right with everyone. (If not, um, well, sorry, that's the way it's going to be.)

The first panel of this year's convention? Vital info for beginners, and important reminders for the not-so-newbies.

* * *

The First Step
 
Panelists: William Hartfeld, Allen Wold, Carrie Ryan, James R. Tuck

Moderator: Stuart Jaffe

On Ego:

WH: You need a healthy ego, but you also need to be able to ask for and accept criticism.

SJ: You need an ego to write it, but you need to check your ego at the door to revise it.

CR: Be an “Insecure Egomaniac”.

Round table: General tips

- Don’t just look for external validation.

- Be stubborn.

- Be able to deal with rejection. A LOT of it. Even after you’ve sold and published.

- You MUST have a thick skin.

- You must have more than one book in you, be aware of being able to let things go if they’re not working and move onto the next thing.

- Revise. Everything. Ask yourself: “Is this scene working?”

- Read everything out loud.

- Have perseverance.

- Research first, too. Hours and hours of it.

- Stick through it, even when you feel like quitting

- You must also be disciplined. TV, Facebook, and social media in general are all ways to be distracted, excuses not to write. You must say to yourself, “At 9:00,” (for example), “this is writing time. No Facebook. No TV.” (etc)

Recommended writing books:

- Thanks, but this isn’t for us – Jessica Page Morelle

- How Not to Write a Novel – Howard Mittelmark

- Story – Robert McKee

- Save the Cat – Blake Snyder (a book on screenwriting, but still *very* useful)

- The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell

- The Hero's 2 Journeys (video) – Vogler & Hague

When reading these books, keep in mind:

- You learn after a while which books are worth reading.

- So much info, especially when you’re starting out, that you won’t review

- Books by authors about how they write

- Work out your own system. No matter what anyone tells you to do, you must find your own way.

- Loosely apply books on screenwriting to your work.

- Don’t necessarily read them cover to cover, just bits and pieces as needed.

- Sometimes even the most basic book or blog post will trigger your brain, give  you a nugget.

Remember to read:

- Read as many of the books in your genre that you like, and write what you read, and learn to tell what each author did poorly or well.

- Often finishing a good book can give you energy and inspiration for your next book.

- Read other books. You internalize what you read. And if you don’t read your genre, you fall prey to tropes and clichés.

- Reading is so important. It never ends.

- Reading is part of your job. Don’t feel guilty taking time to read provided you’re meeting your deadlines.

- Read your genre. Then read widely, expose yourself other stuff.

- Find something that’s related to what you’re writing, to ease yourself into that other genre. You might also find you like those other genres, too. Then branch out from there. These books will add to your internal monologue. But if you hate it, don’t force yourself.

- Don’t be afraid to be judgemental if you pick up a “classic” and think it’s crap, or don’t like it.

- Read poetry, too.

Rules?

- There are no rules. But be aware of the guidelines so you know which you’re following and which you’re not. i.e. don’t write an 800,000-word novel.

- Bear in mind, the rules change. Headhopping used to be the norm.

Be aware – if one book did something successfully doesn’t mean that you should experiment in.

Must read current books to see what the market is like.

- Have a critique group.

- What "beta group" means: The writer is the alpha, the readers are the betas.

- The value of a critique group isn’t just in getting feedback, it’s in giving feedback. When you critique other stuff, you notice their mistakes and can apply it to your own work.

- Actually, there are 6 rules: Read Read Read, Write Write Write.

Pitfalls

- Don’t assume you don’t need editing.

- Be aware it takes a long time, no matter what path you take.

- Get on with it: finish the book. It’s okay to suck. Don’t worry about making it pretty, just get it done and we’ll fix it later. Get it on paper first. Can’t write a second draft without the first. “Can’t fix a blank page.” Also, “The Muse is a Fickle Bitch.” Don’t wait for the muse.

- Be okay with your writing process.

- Don’t spend so much time building your online presence to the point where you don’t get any writing done.

- Be able to recognize bad critiques.

- Be able to develop a desire to be an editor.

- Even crappy critiques can really help. Be able to put them in perspective.

Important Miscellanea:

- Re: self-publishing: It may be faster to get your stuff out, but it takes just as long to get it sold, and still takes many drafts.

- If self-publishing, understand that you have two completely different jobs, being a writer and being a publisher. Be a writer first. Learn that first.

- Collaborations: different systems depending on who you’re working with and how you work it out. Learn to write first, though, so you don’t drown each other out. Be able to trust the person so if you dispute, figure out how it’s resolved. If you both disagree, chances are you’re both wrong. There’s a third path. And have a written collaboration agreement to start with.

- Remember: You’re not Heinlein, and when you're reading his stuff, what you’re reading is his LAST draft. Nothing like his first draft. Neither will

- Perseverance: Don’t rewrite except to editorial direction (Heinlein’s 3rd law) – unless you think a critique is valid, don’t change something that’s good unless you already have an editor telling you to change it.

- Don’t quit your day job. This isn't a get-rich-quick lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination.

Nothing is Sacred

"Im ready to go wif U. I pakt mai pilla to sleep on, mai toy mice, sum string,
da rings offa da milk jugz, an two ded bugz."

 
Quick aside: Later this week I'm headed cross-continent to ConCarolinas again, which from its schedule looks to have many awesome offerings as far as writing panels go. My passport is valid this time, so getting there should be less of an issue this year. I shall return with more notes! And happy memories of seeing many of my Magical Words friends and mentors, of course. I'm sooo excited right now!

Now, onto the rest of the post.

* * *

So I've been revising. Still. Bit by bit, honestly. I'm going slowly partly because I want to be sure I properly address the issues that I've realized must be addressed, and partly because I keep learning new ways to make the story stronger. (In particular, I'm enjoying Faith Hunter's "Top Ten (Okay Eleven) Things You Should Know About Your Own Book" series. Such a wealth of information that has changed my story for the better.)

And since I've been revising seriously since the end of October (NaNoWriMo excepted), one truth keeps coming back to me.

Nothing is sacred.

I'm serious. I think I've hinted at this before, but I'm going to say it again, here, just to make the lesson clear: when it comes to revising, nothing is sacred. Nothing escapes the chopping block if it needs to go.

It's easy to get attached to a certain turn of phrase, a style that seems important, a particular course of events. It's even easier to assume during revisions that these things are SET IN STONE. They can't be changed! It has to be like that, right?

Hahahahano.

The only thing that *is* sacred is the story's soul. Its heartsong. The essence that makes it the story it is. All else is negotiable. Characters, writing style, events, you name it—they don't *have* to be there. Or if they do, they don't have to be exactly as you originally imagined them.

I'm not gonna lie here: chances are, your beautiful shiny manuscript bubble will be popped, repeatedly, by well-meaning beta-readers. Usually they'll have excellent feedback. Often they'll suggest changes that make sense. They may seem like big changes. You may get frustrated. You may want to scream and rage (hopefully privately) about the feedback that rankles you. Sure, get angry. I sometimes do (privately. only privately, people).  I've heard revisions compared to the Five Stages of Grief, and rightly so.

Perhaps this post isn't very helpful, except to let you know that if you're frustrated with rewrites, you're not alone. But for me, at least, realizing that I can tell a better story if I let go and open myself up to the possibilities before me has made this stage easier to deal with. Even if, at first, it really doesn't seem like it.

Take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. Sure, it's frustrating. But if it makes for a stronger story, then isn't it worth it?