Re: Proposed change to new lapsharing arrangements/monopolization of space normally used for writing.
It has come to management's attention that some sort of agreement has been reached amongst the feline members of the household in re: lapsharing (the process by which writer-in-residence lap time is arranged). Said agreement seems to involve a continuous rotation of laptime amongst the four younger cats, said rotation working not unlike a relay race.
While such feline cooperation is laudable in terms of the increased level of inter-feline amicability, it does have one rather severe drawback. To whit, displacement of the laptop belonging to the writer-in-residence. Which fact, in turn, causes a significant loss in potential productivity.
For more notes on same, see attached charts. Chart one maps the difficulty of typing whilst a cat is resting her head on the writer's wrist (Isabelle). Chart two shows reduction in productivity directly related to cats frequently licking the thumb used to manipulate the trackball (Ashbless and Nutmeg). And, of course, chart three shows the total loss of productivity caused by the repeated smashing of a cat's forehead into the nose of the writer-in-residence (Jordan). Please contrast this with the lack of impediments to productivity caused by laying in front of the heater some yards from the writer-in-residence's place of writing (Leith) as outlined in chart four.
Management would very much like to see more laying about near the writer-in-residence during the hours of production and less laying on the writer-in-residence during those same hours. Management proposes an increased distribution of treats and decreased amount of abruptly dropping cats off of said lap to offset lost laptime. Further, management is open to other possible compensation to be proposed by the collective.
We eagerly await your response.
All best,
Management (speaking for the writer-in-residence)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Kelly's Rules for Writers
I'm not a big fan of writing rules, but I have learned a few things in this business that I think are globally useful.
Writers Write
There Are 1,001 Ways To Write A Book, Every One Of Them Right
Love The Work
Finish What You Start...But Don't Let That Be An Anchor Around Your Neck
Send It In
Never Reject Your Own Story
Rejection IS An Achievement
Write The Next Story
Good Writing Is The Ultimate Trump Card
Never Give Up...Really, Never Give Up
Back Up Your Work!
Money Flows To The writer (Yog's law)
And I think that covers an awful lot of the ground. You'll note that not quite everything is attached to link. I don't know about you, but that suggests to me that I have a couple of things there that I still need to post about.
Updated: title.
Writers Write
There Are 1,001 Ways To Write A Book, Every One Of Them Right
Love The Work
Finish What You Start...But Don't Let That Be An Anchor Around Your Neck
Send It In
Never Reject Your Own Story
Rejection IS An Achievement
Write The Next Story
Good Writing Is The Ultimate Trump Card
Never Give Up...Really, Never Give Up
Back Up Your Work!
Money Flows To The writer (Yog's law)
And I think that covers an awful lot of the ground. You'll note that not quite everything is attached to link. I don't know about you, but that suggests to me that I have a couple of things there that I still need to post about.
Updated: title.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Smart Things--Copyright
Justine Larbalestier saying smart things about what is and is most definitely not infringement, plagiarism, etc. Nice discussion in comments as well.
P.S. sorry about not getting the next research post up. I've been working on WebMage IV and other priority stuff instead.
P.S. sorry about not getting the next research post up. I've been working on WebMage IV and other priority stuff instead.
Faerie Market --(For the Love)
Selly Breagle from BroadUniverse passed this on:
Faerie Nation Mag is looking for flash fiction. The deadline for the next issueis Feb 9, and I know they still want stuff for that issue. The mag's readers are" spiritual outlaws, social innovators, poets, clowns, Faeries, and other happily mad folks — the lunatic fringe of the alternative community. Our spiritual focusis not religious; it is interfaith mysticism. We're people for whom alternative modalities just aren’t alternative enough. " Submission guidelines are at http://www.outlawbunny.com/FNMsubmissions.html
It doesn't pay, but you get a free 50 word ad (promote your book!). The editors like eccentric stuff, as long as it's accessible - - not obscure - - because theytry to reach diverse readers. Your piece doesn't need to be spiritual. They just want interesting stuff.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sexing Things Up
As a romance novelist, you'd think I'd be comfortable with the idea of sex scenes. I actually dread writing them.
It's not that I don't like sex. I do. But, writing about various sexual acts is a vastly different animal than participating in them. When I wrote SF, I tended to write a very strong romantic element, but I'd do a discrete "pan to the left" when it came down to the actual business of gettin' it on. Now that my genre is romance, it's rather expected that I describe the action. After all, for some people, that's a large part of why they picked up the book in the first place.
I have a number of issues with sex scenes, and at least one of them *is* personal. The personal issue I have is that for some reason I'm one of those people who blushes easily. Luckily, my partner finds this charming, but it makes the writing out of the nitty-gritty more difficult. I'm grateful that I know how to touch type, because I actually have to look away from the screen while I'm typing certain events. Even though I've participated in a "slash slam," I had to have a stunt reader yell out words that I just couldn't say....
The other reasons are slightly more writerly. As Kelly can tell you, I work very hard to keep my novels moving forward -- that is to say, I resist any scene that doesn't serve the plot in some key way. And, I honestly think that the best sex scenes are anything but gratuitous. I read a great on-line resource about writing sex scenes that talked about this (...this isn't it, I couldn't find the original, but it's a good resource anyway: 20 Steps to Writing Great Love Scenes... Naomi, do you remember the one you recommended?) and I was very impressed that the author of the article had the same concerns I did about gratuitousness. She suggested that, at the very least, a good sex scene should reveal something new about your characters.
The other issue I have is labeling. What do you call everything? We've all read those horrible novels where there's a lot of "throbbing manhood" and the like. Nothing kicks me out of the moment more than nomenclature that's either too harsh and crude or too purplish in its prose. So, you have to find the words that fit, and, frankly, we all know the proper terms sound awfully clinical in a moment of passion. I've found terms that work for me, but they're not perfect.
Plus, there' the tricky business of preferences. I'm not talking about one's orientaion (although for me that's certainly a consideration,) but, like, what turns you on. I'm often worried that the stuff that turns me on, well, either isn't printable, or would bore the heck out of the majority of my readers. Also, I've discovered having run a few sex scenes through my critique group there's the issue of what consititues a sexual act for some readers. I've written long involved scenes that included nakedness, kissing, and things I consider "the deed" only to have my readers say, "Uh, but there was no SEX." (Turns out I forgot a major male organ... see above issue with orientation.)
So, what do you do about sexing things up? Do you write sex scenes? What's your opinion of them? Any advice?
It's not that I don't like sex. I do. But, writing about various sexual acts is a vastly different animal than participating in them. When I wrote SF, I tended to write a very strong romantic element, but I'd do a discrete "pan to the left" when it came down to the actual business of gettin' it on. Now that my genre is romance, it's rather expected that I describe the action. After all, for some people, that's a large part of why they picked up the book in the first place.
I have a number of issues with sex scenes, and at least one of them *is* personal. The personal issue I have is that for some reason I'm one of those people who blushes easily. Luckily, my partner finds this charming, but it makes the writing out of the nitty-gritty more difficult. I'm grateful that I know how to touch type, because I actually have to look away from the screen while I'm typing certain events. Even though I've participated in a "slash slam," I had to have a stunt reader yell out words that I just couldn't say....
The other reasons are slightly more writerly. As Kelly can tell you, I work very hard to keep my novels moving forward -- that is to say, I resist any scene that doesn't serve the plot in some key way. And, I honestly think that the best sex scenes are anything but gratuitous. I read a great on-line resource about writing sex scenes that talked about this (...this isn't it, I couldn't find the original, but it's a good resource anyway: 20 Steps to Writing Great Love Scenes... Naomi, do you remember the one you recommended?) and I was very impressed that the author of the article had the same concerns I did about gratuitousness. She suggested that, at the very least, a good sex scene should reveal something new about your characters.
The other issue I have is labeling. What do you call everything? We've all read those horrible novels where there's a lot of "throbbing manhood" and the like. Nothing kicks me out of the moment more than nomenclature that's either too harsh and crude or too purplish in its prose. So, you have to find the words that fit, and, frankly, we all know the proper terms sound awfully clinical in a moment of passion. I've found terms that work for me, but they're not perfect.
Plus, there' the tricky business of preferences. I'm not talking about one's orientaion (although for me that's certainly a consideration,) but, like, what turns you on. I'm often worried that the stuff that turns me on, well, either isn't printable, or would bore the heck out of the majority of my readers. Also, I've discovered having run a few sex scenes through my critique group there's the issue of what consititues a sexual act for some readers. I've written long involved scenes that included nakedness, kissing, and things I consider "the deed" only to have my readers say, "Uh, but there was no SEX." (Turns out I forgot a major male organ... see above issue with orientation.)
So, what do you do about sexing things up? Do you write sex scenes? What's your opinion of them? Any advice?
Friday, January 25, 2008
Frivolous Friday Post - Dreams
Do you ever dream about celebrities?
I've heard it's pretty common for some people to dream about movie and TV stars. Certainly, I've had that one about Brad Pitt (which actually included his brother Doug... have you ever seen a picture of Doug Pitt? He's actually a fairly good looking guy, but his brother is Brad Pitt, so standing next to Brad he looks like a schlub.) I've also dreamed that I was a pilot on Battlestar Galactica, complete with SciFi Channel CGI effects.
That all seems pretty normal to me.
Lately -- okay, really since becoming a science fiction professional in '01-- I've also started dreaming about, well, SF/F celebrities. Neil Gaiman visits my subconscious a lot. If you've ever been to a convention party where I'm in that sort of mood, you may have heard me tell the first rather embarrassing dream I had that involved Gaiman. It's not really repeatable here mostly because this is a public forum and I would absolutely DIE if it got back to him. But, you know, ask me if you see me and I'll happily tell you all the gory details (unless of course you happen to BE Neil Gaiman, in which case I will deny all knowledge of this).
Anyway, Gaiman has mutated over the years to represent fame -- particularly the fame I have yet to achieve. This association has been fueled by my son's strange attachment to Gaiman. When Mason was quite little, perhaps a year and a half, he imprinted on a picture of Neil that appeared on the cover of LOCUS. He actually carried it around with him and wanted us to play peek-a-boo with Gaiman's face. It was very odd, and, perhaps not surprisingly, Gaiman became a feature in my own mind as well.
I wrote over on my LiveJournal about a dream I had last night which involved another local writing celebrity -- actually several, and that made me wonder how *I* would feel if I stumbled across a post like this where someone dreamed about ME. And it made me think about the public life of a writer in general, because, as I confess in the other post, I have created in my own mind rather complicated relationships with people I really don't know at all. But because they've achieved a certain amount of fame in our community, I react to them in ways that are fraught with meaning -- both in my real life (tm) and in dream-time.
Weird, huh?
I've heard it's pretty common for some people to dream about movie and TV stars. Certainly, I've had that one about Brad Pitt (which actually included his brother Doug... have you ever seen a picture of Doug Pitt? He's actually a fairly good looking guy, but his brother is Brad Pitt, so standing next to Brad he looks like a schlub.) I've also dreamed that I was a pilot on Battlestar Galactica, complete with SciFi Channel CGI effects.
That all seems pretty normal to me.
Lately -- okay, really since becoming a science fiction professional in '01-- I've also started dreaming about, well, SF/F celebrities. Neil Gaiman visits my subconscious a lot. If you've ever been to a convention party where I'm in that sort of mood, you may have heard me tell the first rather embarrassing dream I had that involved Gaiman. It's not really repeatable here mostly because this is a public forum and I would absolutely DIE if it got back to him. But, you know, ask me if you see me and I'll happily tell you all the gory details (unless of course you happen to BE Neil Gaiman, in which case I will deny all knowledge of this).
Anyway, Gaiman has mutated over the years to represent fame -- particularly the fame I have yet to achieve. This association has been fueled by my son's strange attachment to Gaiman. When Mason was quite little, perhaps a year and a half, he imprinted on a picture of Neil that appeared on the cover of LOCUS. He actually carried it around with him and wanted us to play peek-a-boo with Gaiman's face. It was very odd, and, perhaps not surprisingly, Gaiman became a feature in my own mind as well.
I wrote over on my LiveJournal about a dream I had last night which involved another local writing celebrity -- actually several, and that made me wonder how *I* would feel if I stumbled across a post like this where someone dreamed about ME. And it made me think about the public life of a writer in general, because, as I confess in the other post, I have created in my own mind rather complicated relationships with people I really don't know at all. But because they've achieved a certain amount of fame in our community, I react to them in ways that are fraught with meaning -- both in my real life (tm) and in dream-time.
Weird, huh?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Smart Things--Smart Things
Interesting article on Wired about SF as the only remaining philosophical literature. I found it via this post at sciencefictionbiology.blogspot.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Research pt. 2
In this and the next post I'm going to talk about specific, directed, research in the context of five books, Outside In (incomplete and temporarily trunked), Numismancer, The Black School, Winter of Discontent, and WebMage VI (which may or may not ever be written). I pick these because the primary research process for each is fairly accessible and is really just an extension of the general techniques described in my last post.
A brief digression here on the value of librarians and other human sources. One of the secrets of my research success is knowing a number of good librarians and keeping track of who in my social network knows what about what–i.e. if I ever need to know anything about felt or felting I'll call Paula. Many research problems have been solved by my emailing my librarian friend Jody or others in my network of experts and some of that happened with each and every one of these books.
Outside In:
This book was intended to be a dark contemporary fantasy exploring the secret magical history of architecture. I've written several novels of this sort–though none has yet sold–and it's a genre I really enjoy writing. This particular iteration was closer to horror than I usually get and that's part of why it got trunked.
As with any book I write, a huge portion of the overall structure rests on things already in my head at the beginning of the book. In this case, a bunch of stuff on the Roman household gods (particularly the Lares and Penates–the gods of the cupboards and doors among other things) tied itself together with the grounding I'd gotten in architecture while taking Art History classes and the construction techniques I'd learned as part of my technical theater training. There were other influences, but that was the core of it.
My research for the book broke down into three major components: setting, context, and history and I'll address them in that order.*
Setting: In this case, St. Paul/Minneapolis ~2006, a made-up but plausible curriculum for a special Masters program in architecture at the U of M, a huge and semi-haunted mansion in St. Paul's Summit Ave neighborhood. To cover all of that I needed: 1) a good St. Paul/Minneapolis atlas (already owned). 2) the online course catalogs of a half-dozen architectural Masters programs. 3) Websites detailing several historic Summit Ave. mansions including the James J. Hill house as well as websites for a couple of other non-Summit mansions. Because the setting was so terribly important for a story built around the magic of buildings, one of the very first things I did was to make top elevations of the multiple floors of the mansion.
Context: Magical and architectural. In this case, the Roman gods structure provided a good deal of my underlying magic and was something I'd already refreshed myself on in the course of writing and researching the WebMage books which reading was in turn built upon intense childhood interest in mythology. The main part of my magical research was to look for more extensive sourcing on the Lares and Penates. Sadly, a perusal of Google and the ERIC academic article search system demonstrated that there isn't much written on them. What there is, I've mostly read at this point. My other primary sources were a copy of Trachtenberg and Hyman's Architecture which I read cover to cover and extensively highlighted and bookmarked, and The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture (used as a secondary source rather than read through). The former was the suggestion of a friend who'd spent some time in the U of M's architecture program, the latter is an Oxford reference which I pick up whenever I find them cheap enough.
History: Mostly my research here came from the Trachtenberg and Hyman and Oxford Dictionary of Architecture mentioned earlier, with a leavening of historical summaries from the various mansions I'd studied.
Numismancer:
Another secret magical history book, in this case, the secret history og money. This one came out of a dream I'd had in which coins from a fountain drove away a bunch of dark fey that had been chasing me. Set in Edinburgh and Brussels around 2007 with strong references to the Scottish Parliament, the E.U. banking system, small craft sailing, and schizophrenia.
Setting: For this book I drew a great deal on the almost two months I've spent in the Edinburgh area over the past fifteen years. I also picked up a good European atlas (which covered Brussels) and an ordinance survey map of Edinburgh (the primary setting).
Context: My main book reference for the context and history of money and coinage was The Teach Yourself Guide to Numismatics which is a sort of history and lexicon of numismatics in alphabetical order and is absolutely fantastic. It breaks the study up into easily digestible and fascinating info-nuggets. I will buy any of this series if I ever see them again. My sources for the E.U. banking system and the Scottish parliament were primarily the websites belonging to those institutions. They contained more information than I could use or digest laid out in a relatively straightforward format. Sailing ? I'm no longer certain what reference books I used for that. I'm not seeing them on the current dig through the heap, though What's What: a Visual Glossary of the Physical World probably played a part. For the schizophrenia sourcing I mostly called on a lot of memories of what it was like to spend a good deal of time with a close relative who is a paranoid schizophrenia. This last is a rich source of information but can be hard on both the schizophrenic and the observer.
History: Various general histories of Edinburgh originally read because I love both history and Scotland and because I read non-fiction voraciously as fuel for the fires. Also, many text and sites focusing on Edinburgh features that became important to the story as I went along, including the parliament site, websites and books about the history of the Forth bridge, the University of Edinburgh's website and many others.
That's it for today. Next time I'll get to the other novels and wax rhapsodic about the wonders of Google's image search and a couple of great general reference tomes.
As always, questions or comments are most welcome.
-------------------------
*Actually, that's probably true of almost all of my directed research projects and I may adopt it for the rest of this essay.
A brief digression here on the value of librarians and other human sources. One of the secrets of my research success is knowing a number of good librarians and keeping track of who in my social network knows what about what–i.e. if I ever need to know anything about felt or felting I'll call Paula. Many research problems have been solved by my emailing my librarian friend Jody or others in my network of experts and some of that happened with each and every one of these books.
Outside In:
This book was intended to be a dark contemporary fantasy exploring the secret magical history of architecture. I've written several novels of this sort–though none has yet sold–and it's a genre I really enjoy writing. This particular iteration was closer to horror than I usually get and that's part of why it got trunked.
As with any book I write, a huge portion of the overall structure rests on things already in my head at the beginning of the book. In this case, a bunch of stuff on the Roman household gods (particularly the Lares and Penates–the gods of the cupboards and doors among other things) tied itself together with the grounding I'd gotten in architecture while taking Art History classes and the construction techniques I'd learned as part of my technical theater training. There were other influences, but that was the core of it.
My research for the book broke down into three major components: setting, context, and history and I'll address them in that order.*
Setting: In this case, St. Paul/Minneapolis ~2006, a made-up but plausible curriculum for a special Masters program in architecture at the U of M, a huge and semi-haunted mansion in St. Paul's Summit Ave neighborhood. To cover all of that I needed: 1) a good St. Paul/Minneapolis atlas (already owned). 2) the online course catalogs of a half-dozen architectural Masters programs. 3) Websites detailing several historic Summit Ave. mansions including the James J. Hill house as well as websites for a couple of other non-Summit mansions. Because the setting was so terribly important for a story built around the magic of buildings, one of the very first things I did was to make top elevations of the multiple floors of the mansion.
Context: Magical and architectural. In this case, the Roman gods structure provided a good deal of my underlying magic and was something I'd already refreshed myself on in the course of writing and researching the WebMage books which reading was in turn built upon intense childhood interest in mythology. The main part of my magical research was to look for more extensive sourcing on the Lares and Penates. Sadly, a perusal of Google and the ERIC academic article search system demonstrated that there isn't much written on them. What there is, I've mostly read at this point. My other primary sources were a copy of Trachtenberg and Hyman's Architecture which I read cover to cover and extensively highlighted and bookmarked, and The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture (used as a secondary source rather than read through). The former was the suggestion of a friend who'd spent some time in the U of M's architecture program, the latter is an Oxford reference which I pick up whenever I find them cheap enough.
History: Mostly my research here came from the Trachtenberg and Hyman and Oxford Dictionary of Architecture mentioned earlier, with a leavening of historical summaries from the various mansions I'd studied.
Numismancer:
Another secret magical history book, in this case, the secret history og money. This one came out of a dream I'd had in which coins from a fountain drove away a bunch of dark fey that had been chasing me. Set in Edinburgh and Brussels around 2007 with strong references to the Scottish Parliament, the E.U. banking system, small craft sailing, and schizophrenia.
Setting: For this book I drew a great deal on the almost two months I've spent in the Edinburgh area over the past fifteen years. I also picked up a good European atlas (which covered Brussels) and an ordinance survey map of Edinburgh (the primary setting).
Context: My main book reference for the context and history of money and coinage was The Teach Yourself Guide to Numismatics which is a sort of history and lexicon of numismatics in alphabetical order and is absolutely fantastic. It breaks the study up into easily digestible and fascinating info-nuggets. I will buy any of this series if I ever see them again. My sources for the E.U. banking system and the Scottish parliament were primarily the websites belonging to those institutions. They contained more information than I could use or digest laid out in a relatively straightforward format. Sailing ? I'm no longer certain what reference books I used for that. I'm not seeing them on the current dig through the heap, though What's What: a Visual Glossary of the Physical World probably played a part. For the schizophrenia sourcing I mostly called on a lot of memories of what it was like to spend a good deal of time with a close relative who is a paranoid schizophrenia. This last is a rich source of information but can be hard on both the schizophrenic and the observer.
History: Various general histories of Edinburgh originally read because I love both history and Scotland and because I read non-fiction voraciously as fuel for the fires. Also, many text and sites focusing on Edinburgh features that became important to the story as I went along, including the parliament site, websites and books about the history of the Forth bridge, the University of Edinburgh's website and many others.
That's it for today. Next time I'll get to the other novels and wax rhapsodic about the wonders of Google's image search and a couple of great general reference tomes.
As always, questions or comments are most welcome.
-------------------------
*Actually, that's probably true of almost all of my directed research projects and I may adopt it for the rest of this essay.
Interesting Discussion
Over at Jay Lake's livejournal. He's started a conversation about refusing a contract or leaving an agent and when it's the right thing to do, even for the beginner. It's just getting started, but I suspect some real meat will develop over time. I've never turned down a paying gig, but I'm willing to do it if I have to and I've come close a couple of times.
P.S. I'll put up part II of the research post late today or early tomorrow, it's looking like 3-4 post total.
P.S. I'll put up part II of the research post late today or early tomorrow, it's looking like 3-4 post total.
Fun SF Markets
From Gila Queen's Guide to Markets..... (both pay, but not extraordinarily well)
Giant Creatures Anthology—Permuted Press; See Web site. Editor: Ryan C. Thomas. "There was a time when the atomics industry fueled more than political debate—it fueled the growth spurts of God's creatures, which turned the tables against the domineering species known as man. Giant spiders, towering ants, train-sized Gila monsters, praying mantises larger than 747s, and yes, even mutated leeches big enough to swallow you whole."
"These were the themes behind the classic Creature Feature films of the ’50s and ’60s. By the ’70s we learned that no amount of atomic radiation would cause a flea to grow so large it could leap across an entire city, but that doesn't mean we can't look back on those drive-in films with a sense of fondness. They are as fun today as they were back then. It was, after all, the sight of these giant beasts attacking man that became the catalyst for many of today's horror writers to pick up a pen."
"Permuted Press is now opening up submissions to fill a collection of original giant creature stories for an anthology to be released in 2008."
What we want: "Original stories of animals/insects/etc. grown to enormous sizes (or at least vastly bigger than they should be). Take something that exists on earth and show us what happens when it gets really big. Anything from germs to spiders to rodents to monkeys to naked mole rats to swordfish—the opportunities are endless. Stories can be set in any location at any time period. Monsters need not be the result of radiation either—King Kong was simply big. Get creative, people. All genres welcome. (And please note this is not a Daikaju book, so Godzilla stories will be a very hard sell). Yes, giant people are okay, but you'll need to really impress us. Same with plants."
What we don't want: "No fan fiction or reprints. Again, try to stay away from Japanese Monsters—there are already anthos out there for that. No aliens or mythological creatures (stories CAN have sci fi elements, however). Think outside the box—we can only print one story of the army fighting a giant insect, if you get our drift."
3000–5000 words; pays $15 + copy. Query for longer submissions. "E-mail your manuscript as an attachment to [address below]. Please use a 12-point readable font—SINGLE SPACED. Include your name and E-mail on the cover page. Place the title of the story, page number, and your name in the header of each page. Please only submit one story at a time. No simultaneous submissions. [E-mail: permutedgiants@yahoo.com; http://www.permutedpress.com]. Deadline: March 5, 2008 "or until filled. Because we have invited a number of popular authors to participate, there are only a select number of open spaces left, so don't wait." RT—"We will get back to you as quickly as we can."
------------------------------
Robots Beyond—Permuted Press; See Web site. Editor: Lane Adamson. "Robots. Intelligent machines, usually bearing at least some resemblance to humans, performing the routine drudgeries of life and freeing mankind for the pursuit of nobler goals."
"Karel Capek conceived the term. Isaac Asimov codified their behavior (and then spent the next fifty-plus years figuring out ways to get around his rules). Phillip K. Dick humanized them, chillingly. George Lucas and James Cameron, for good or ill, made them pop culture icons (as did their predecessors in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, FORBIDDEN PLANET, and LOST IN SPACE, to name but a few)."
"But speculative fiction is, at its heart, the art of what-if. That's what this collection is all about: Robots Beyond the normal sci-fi boundaries, crossing into other genres with their customary logic and precision."
"Feel free to speculate on the role of robots in the Cthulhu Mythos, or how androids might interact with werewolves, vampires, or zombies. But stretch your imagination, and roam farther afield."
"What if an army of blue-steel robots burned Atlanta in ‘Gone with the Positrons,’ or a swashbuckling crew of mechanicals took to the high seas in ‘Robots of the Caribbean?’ Tell us about the passions behind the white picket fences of ‘Desperate Androids.’ These, of course, are just some slightly facetious starter ideas. That doesn't mean they can't be used—in fact, they're free for the taking. But don't be afraid to venture far beyond traditional robot fare. How might Philip Roth, Sylvia Plath, or Tennessee Williams have written about robots? What about Louis L'Amour, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—or Don Pendleton?"
"Your robots may be murderous or benign, terrifying or whimsical. Above all, they must be thought-provoking."
"Please be sure to avoid copyrighted characters and settings; fan-fiction is fun, but has no place here (our legal staff told us so)."
3000–7500 words (by word-processor count); pays 1¢/word + 1 copy. Stories "must be in standard manuscript format: one-inch margins on all sides, Courier New font, etc. Send to E-mail address below "in either .DOC or .RTF format."
"Good spelling, punctuation, and grammar will not hurt your cause, either. Much like wearing a suit to a job interview, it might not make the actual qualifications of the applicant any better, but it does make it look as if you care." [E-mail: robotsbeyond@live.com; http://www.permutedpress.com]. Deadline: April 4, 2008. RT—"Responses will be completed no later than 30 days after the close of submissions; all submissions will be acknowledged within one week of receipt."
Giant Creatures Anthology—Permuted Press; See Web site. Editor: Ryan C. Thomas. "There was a time when the atomics industry fueled more than political debate—it fueled the growth spurts of God's creatures, which turned the tables against the domineering species known as man. Giant spiders, towering ants, train-sized Gila monsters, praying mantises larger than 747s, and yes, even mutated leeches big enough to swallow you whole."
"These were the themes behind the classic Creature Feature films of the ’50s and ’60s. By the ’70s we learned that no amount of atomic radiation would cause a flea to grow so large it could leap across an entire city, but that doesn't mean we can't look back on those drive-in films with a sense of fondness. They are as fun today as they were back then. It was, after all, the sight of these giant beasts attacking man that became the catalyst for many of today's horror writers to pick up a pen."
"Permuted Press is now opening up submissions to fill a collection of original giant creature stories for an anthology to be released in 2008."
What we want: "Original stories of animals/insects/etc. grown to enormous sizes (or at least vastly bigger than they should be). Take something that exists on earth and show us what happens when it gets really big. Anything from germs to spiders to rodents to monkeys to naked mole rats to swordfish—the opportunities are endless. Stories can be set in any location at any time period. Monsters need not be the result of radiation either—King Kong was simply big. Get creative, people. All genres welcome. (And please note this is not a Daikaju book, so Godzilla stories will be a very hard sell). Yes, giant people are okay, but you'll need to really impress us. Same with plants."
What we don't want: "No fan fiction or reprints. Again, try to stay away from Japanese Monsters—there are already anthos out there for that. No aliens or mythological creatures (stories CAN have sci fi elements, however). Think outside the box—we can only print one story of the army fighting a giant insect, if you get our drift."
3000–5000 words; pays $15 + copy. Query for longer submissions. "E-mail your manuscript as an attachment to [address below]. Please use a 12-point readable font—SINGLE SPACED. Include your name and E-mail on the cover page. Place the title of the story, page number, and your name in the header of each page. Please only submit one story at a time. No simultaneous submissions. [E-mail: permutedgiants@yahoo.com; http://www.permutedpress.com]. Deadline: March 5, 2008 "or until filled. Because we have invited a number of popular authors to participate, there are only a select number of open spaces left, so don't wait." RT—"We will get back to you as quickly as we can."
------------------------------
Robots Beyond—Permuted Press; See Web site. Editor: Lane Adamson. "Robots. Intelligent machines, usually bearing at least some resemblance to humans, performing the routine drudgeries of life and freeing mankind for the pursuit of nobler goals."
"Karel Capek conceived the term. Isaac Asimov codified their behavior (and then spent the next fifty-plus years figuring out ways to get around his rules). Phillip K. Dick humanized them, chillingly. George Lucas and James Cameron, for good or ill, made them pop culture icons (as did their predecessors in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, FORBIDDEN PLANET, and LOST IN SPACE, to name but a few)."
"But speculative fiction is, at its heart, the art of what-if. That's what this collection is all about: Robots Beyond the normal sci-fi boundaries, crossing into other genres with their customary logic and precision."
"Feel free to speculate on the role of robots in the Cthulhu Mythos, or how androids might interact with werewolves, vampires, or zombies. But stretch your imagination, and roam farther afield."
"What if an army of blue-steel robots burned Atlanta in ‘Gone with the Positrons,’ or a swashbuckling crew of mechanicals took to the high seas in ‘Robots of the Caribbean?’ Tell us about the passions behind the white picket fences of ‘Desperate Androids.’ These, of course, are just some slightly facetious starter ideas. That doesn't mean they can't be used—in fact, they're free for the taking. But don't be afraid to venture far beyond traditional robot fare. How might Philip Roth, Sylvia Plath, or Tennessee Williams have written about robots? What about Louis L'Amour, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—or Don Pendleton?"
"Your robots may be murderous or benign, terrifying or whimsical. Above all, they must be thought-provoking."
"Please be sure to avoid copyrighted characters and settings; fan-fiction is fun, but has no place here (our legal staff told us so)."
3000–7500 words (by word-processor count); pays 1¢/word + 1 copy. Stories "must be in standard manuscript format: one-inch margins on all sides, Courier New font, etc. Send to E-mail address below "in either .DOC or .RTF format."
"Good spelling, punctuation, and grammar will not hurt your cause, either. Much like wearing a suit to a job interview, it might not make the actual qualifications of the applicant any better, but it does make it look as if you care." [E-mail: robotsbeyond@live.com; http://www.permutedpress.com]. Deadline: April 4, 2008. RT—"Responses will be completed no later than 30 days after the close of submissions; all submissions will be acknowledged within one week of receipt."
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Deleted Scenes
Do you ever write a scene you KNOW you're going to end up deleting for the final draft?
I did last night. Due to a bunch of circumstances I won't get into because it would reveal spoilers for the fourth book, Garnet and Sebastian end up talking about where Sebastian was during World War II. Sebastian, remember, is Austrian. As someone else in the scene points out, so was Hitler.
After a great deal of consideration about this, I decided that history is a complicated thing when you're living through it. There are, for instance, atrocities going on today that I know about. Things that history may judge to be as evil as things that went on during the Third Reich. Yet, there's only so much a human being can do, and, you don't REALLY know the extent of all that stuff until it's over and you have perspective. So, I decided that, though he wasn't expressly a NAZI, Sebastian had fought on what we would now consider "the wrong side" during WWII.
Lots of people did, after all.
And, my sketchy college courses on WWII taught me that Hitler was very attractive during the time he was alive. He was charismatic, and his policies improved Germany's crumbling economy. He also inspired a great deal of nationalistic pride. Things that are hard to resist. When the economy is good, a lot of the rest of the evils in the world, no matter how truly horrific, are easier to ignore. It's true that most of us don't give a damn until our own lives are personally affected.
I wrote a scene in which Sebastian talks about hindsight, and wishing he could change the choices he made in the past with the information gained over time. I think it's a great scene, but I don't think it'll survive the draft process.
Why?
Well, for one, I think my readers, perhaps rightly so, would rebel against the idea of a ROMANTIC hero who fought in Hitler's army, regardless of his current level of regret or the fact he never joined the NAZI party. (The scene, as written, actually has Garnet react similarly. She spends the night on the couch after Sebastian confesses this trying to deal with the loadedness of his revelation.) I think, if I left it, my editor would ask me to change or get rid of it, with the marketability of the book in mind.
Secondly, even though I think the scene is great for understanding and deepening Sebastian's character, it's not 100% necessary for the advancement of the plot.
It'll probably end up in the file I keep with all the scenes that don't make the final cut. So why not cut it now, or not write it at all? Well, that's the question isn't it? I guess for me, writing scenes like this one are part of my creative process. I need to write through it in order to get to the next moment. As I was telling Sean the other night, one of the reasons I rarely feel like I have a lot of ideas to spare (writers like to talk about having more story ideas than they have time to write, but I never have felt that way), is because I make stuff up on the fly every night. I have an outline for my Garnet Lacey books, but they don't go on a page by page level, so a lot of the interactions are, in point of fact, spontaneous. And they change the nature/feel of the novel as I write them.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Research pt. 1
So, quite a while back I promised I'd talk about research a bit. With 18 books either completed or attempted this is something I would seem to know a bit about. I'm not entirely sure that's the case, since it's an awfully idiosyncratic process, and not just in terms of writer to writer, but even book to book. Still, there are a few commonalities that are worth mentioning.
In list form and starting with the general stuff:
1) Ongoing and general research. I would recommend that every writer do this in whatever way is most suited to them. Which means:
1a) Read. Read constantly. Read non-fiction. Read widely. In my case I do a good bit of web reading–following interesting links from news and science sites. I also always have at least one non-fiction book going, usually several. Right now I'm reading How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World (anti-mumbo-jumbo, pro-science screed), Plants in Hawaiian Culture (just what it sounds like and just started-this one is directed research and I'll talk about it more in part II), The World Without Us (a book on how fast and in what ways the Earth would change if people were removed tomorrow), A book on Indian (India) myths and legends, and two novels. I'm also reading–as a part of my regular ongoing reading–articles in Discover, Science News, and Popular Science--I get an amazing number of fantasy ideas from science magazines, not to mention a few science fiction ideas.
1b) Take notes. Every time I go somewhere or do something out of the ordinary I encounter new and interesting bits of information. Anytime that any of them tickle my writer-sense I write them down. Sometimes a bit leads nowhere, but just the act of writing it down fixes the whole experience in my memory and other things that happened near the thing I thought was potentially useful are the ones that turn out to be useful.
2) Directed/Undirected useful habits.
2a) Bookstore browsing. Everywhere I go I try to spend some time looking at the local book selection, especially the local used book selection. I'm especially careful to do this in places that are geographically remote from my home ground (Hawaii, Halifax) or intellectually focused (Cultural Museums, History Centers). No matter the topic there are a jillion books on it, but without being able to physically browse through them and see what the local authorities think of as important it can be difficult to figure out just what you want to pick up. I look especially for small press and/or scholarly work on topics relevant to the place/mission. That's how I ended up with the Plants in Hawaiian Culture book which promises to be fascinating.
2b) Big Books of ______, Cultural/Historical Atlases, Visual Histories, Timelines, See How A _______ works, Encyclopedias. Scour used bookstores for these. Pick a price point and buy anything that falls under that price point, because you never know which ones are going to be terribly terribly useful three books down the road and these kinds of book are priceless.
You want something aimed somewhere between the smart 12 year old and the seriously curious tourist because that's really the level of detail most readers are looking for, the cool stuff. The really deep, deep expert stuff is usually too much. If you care too much about the really deep details you will often end up including stuff that bores the daylights out of the reader.
Read them, especially the encyclopedias–juicy little fact bits make great grist for the writing mill and can provide fantastic telling details. The atlases are also especially useful, allowing you to orient yourself both physically and historically. There you're looking for things like a historical atlas of London with neighborhoods and landmarks shown, or an Atlas of World War II battles that gives you strategic and positional information on the war.
That's probably enough for today. Tomorrow or Wednesday I'll go into more specific detail using a couple of my books and the stuff I picked up for them as examples.
Thoughts? Questions on my research process? Questions on specific projects of your own? Other questions? Criticisms?
In list form and starting with the general stuff:
1) Ongoing and general research. I would recommend that every writer do this in whatever way is most suited to them. Which means:
1a) Read. Read constantly. Read non-fiction. Read widely. In my case I do a good bit of web reading–following interesting links from news and science sites. I also always have at least one non-fiction book going, usually several. Right now I'm reading How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World (anti-mumbo-jumbo, pro-science screed), Plants in Hawaiian Culture (just what it sounds like and just started-this one is directed research and I'll talk about it more in part II), The World Without Us (a book on how fast and in what ways the Earth would change if people were removed tomorrow), A book on Indian (India) myths and legends, and two novels. I'm also reading–as a part of my regular ongoing reading–articles in Discover, Science News, and Popular Science--I get an amazing number of fantasy ideas from science magazines, not to mention a few science fiction ideas.
1b) Take notes. Every time I go somewhere or do something out of the ordinary I encounter new and interesting bits of information. Anytime that any of them tickle my writer-sense I write them down. Sometimes a bit leads nowhere, but just the act of writing it down fixes the whole experience in my memory and other things that happened near the thing I thought was potentially useful are the ones that turn out to be useful.
2) Directed/Undirected useful habits.
2a) Bookstore browsing. Everywhere I go I try to spend some time looking at the local book selection, especially the local used book selection. I'm especially careful to do this in places that are geographically remote from my home ground (Hawaii, Halifax) or intellectually focused (Cultural Museums, History Centers). No matter the topic there are a jillion books on it, but without being able to physically browse through them and see what the local authorities think of as important it can be difficult to figure out just what you want to pick up. I look especially for small press and/or scholarly work on topics relevant to the place/mission. That's how I ended up with the Plants in Hawaiian Culture book which promises to be fascinating.
2b) Big Books of ______, Cultural/Historical Atlases, Visual Histories, Timelines, See How A _______ works, Encyclopedias. Scour used bookstores for these. Pick a price point and buy anything that falls under that price point, because you never know which ones are going to be terribly terribly useful three books down the road and these kinds of book are priceless.
You want something aimed somewhere between the smart 12 year old and the seriously curious tourist because that's really the level of detail most readers are looking for, the cool stuff. The really deep, deep expert stuff is usually too much. If you care too much about the really deep details you will often end up including stuff that bores the daylights out of the reader.
Read them, especially the encyclopedias–juicy little fact bits make great grist for the writing mill and can provide fantastic telling details. The atlases are also especially useful, allowing you to orient yourself both physically and historically. There you're looking for things like a historical atlas of London with neighborhoods and landmarks shown, or an Atlas of World War II battles that gives you strategic and positional information on the war.
That's probably enough for today. Tomorrow or Wednesday I'll go into more specific detail using a couple of my books and the stuff I picked up for them as examples.
Thoughts? Questions on my research process? Questions on specific projects of your own? Other questions? Criticisms?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Smart Things--Clarity
John Scalzi quite some time ago on The New Comprehensible, or writing for the non-scifi reader. Via Jay Lake and a link to johncwright.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
A Writer's Subconscious--Kelly
So I thought I'd take a crack at this meme, though I have my doubts about it since I write in three very distinct modes and there's not a huge crossover between them (I think I'll skip the science fiction and focus on fantasy here). Of course, none of my darker mode stuff is in print at book length, but I'm working on that.
1) There will be classical references.
2) There will be black humor (in varying amounts depending on mode).
3) There will be fey or the remnants of fey with vivid descriptions of same.
4) There will be theater or theater people somewhere in the story.
5) There will be a happy ending for some value of happy.
6) There will be a romance.
7) The story will probably take place on a compressed timescale.
8) Unusual magic systems will be important to the story.
9) Someone will raise an eyebrow.
10) Things that are believed by characters early on will turn out to have been false or misinterpreted.
11) Bonus point and the one that is truly subconscious for me. The female lead has an 80% chance of having a name that ends in A. The WebMage books are almost the only book length work I've done where this is not true.
1) There will be classical references.
2) There will be black humor (in varying amounts depending on mode).
3) There will be fey or the remnants of fey with vivid descriptions of same.
4) There will be theater or theater people somewhere in the story.
5) There will be a happy ending for some value of happy.
6) There will be a romance.
7) The story will probably take place on a compressed timescale.
8) Unusual magic systems will be important to the story.
9) Someone will raise an eyebrow.
10) Things that are believed by characters early on will turn out to have been false or misinterpreted.
11) Bonus point and the one that is truly subconscious for me. The female lead has an 80% chance of having a name that ends in A. The WebMage books are almost the only book length work I've done where this is not true.
Smart Things--Writing and Markets
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Smart Things--Lots of Them
So, one of the advantages of going walkabout is that when I come back I get to discover a bunch of people saying smart things about writing.
Nancy Pickard, showing it with pictures on the topic of first drafts.
Justine Larbelastier on the complete lack of symbolism in her draft process (I'm the same way).
Maureen Johnson has brain monkeys (snerched from Justine) and all I can say is: me too.
Scott Westerfeld on sometimes a zombie is just a zombie–written long ago, but still relevant (once again snerched from Justine, though I originally read this by following a link from Making Light)
Jeff Vandermeer on writing a novel in two months (via Jay Lake). This is faster than I currently write but not enormously so, and in the range I'm shooting for, i.e. three books a year with about four months of fallow time built in there in big blocks.
GhostFolk says smart things about honoring your process and learning the craft in comments on one of my posts here at Wyrdsmiths. If you missed it, it's worth taking a look.
Nancy Pickard, showing it with pictures on the topic of first drafts.
Justine Larbelastier on the complete lack of symbolism in her draft process (I'm the same way).
Maureen Johnson has brain monkeys (snerched from Justine) and all I can say is: me too.
Scott Westerfeld on sometimes a zombie is just a zombie–written long ago, but still relevant (once again snerched from Justine, though I originally read this by following a link from Making Light)
Jeff Vandermeer on writing a novel in two months (via Jay Lake). This is faster than I currently write but not enormously so, and in the range I'm shooting for, i.e. three books a year with about four months of fallow time built in there in big blocks.
GhostFolk says smart things about honoring your process and learning the craft in comments on one of my posts here at Wyrdsmiths. If you missed it, it's worth taking a look.
All About Moi...
...Again.
A friend and regular reader of this blog (hi, Lynne!) pointed me to this lovely bit of name dropping in an article on io09.com called Science Fiction Angels Who Are Really Aliens in Disguise. The article briefly discusses my AngeLINK series, and mentions Archangel Protocol and Fallen Host specifically.
While I absolutely love this recognition, it frustrates me deeply. Let's say someone gets really jazzed about me and my work after reading this article and they think, "hey, I'll go over to Amazon.com right now and buy seventeen thousand copies." Well, guess what? They're out of print.
You can still buy them used via Amazon, and, if you're willing to do some searching, you can find my books new from both Dreamhaven Books and Comics and Uncle Hugo's. (Why do they have new ones? Well, because I sell them copies!)
I think that one of the most frustrating things about being published with a large New York publishing house is this issue precisely: their idea of what constitues a "profit" vastly differs from what I consider a profit. Add to this the tax laws regarding inventory (which I have to comply with as well, but, perhaps obviously, I don't have billions of books in my basement, only hundreds.) Despite moderate success, my books weren't worth the space to store them.
I didn't make a million dollars for my publisher when my books were briefly in print, but I might have given enough time. Archangel Protocol earned out and made what constitues "significant" royality payments to me, so the book wasn't a complete business bust for my publisher even while in print. But who know what would have happened given several more "shelf years"? From what I can tell locally, my books still go out the door at a decent clip. It's not boxes of books a month or even a year, but these out-of-print books continue to sell.
This is an old rant for me, and I apologize if I'm being a broken record. I realize books come and go and that's just the nature of the publishing industry. It's the great mystery of the publishing industry -- why is it some books strike a cord with readers and become run-away bestseller and other books don't? But I wish that the industry had more wiggle room for us "mid-list" authors and we still lived in a time when a good that only sold moderately well, but sold consistantly could continue to be ordered new. Alas! Alack! Oh, the humanity!
Seriously, I guess this is the niche that smaller presses try to fill. But there are problems with small presses as well -- namely distribution. Although Amazon and other electronic media help solve that problem as well. I don't know. Maybe in a couple of years I'll have some perspective on all this.
A friend and regular reader of this blog (hi, Lynne!) pointed me to this lovely bit of name dropping in an article on io09.com called Science Fiction Angels Who Are Really Aliens in Disguise. The article briefly discusses my AngeLINK series, and mentions Archangel Protocol and Fallen Host specifically.
While I absolutely love this recognition, it frustrates me deeply. Let's say someone gets really jazzed about me and my work after reading this article and they think, "hey, I'll go over to Amazon.com right now and buy seventeen thousand copies." Well, guess what? They're out of print.
You can still buy them used via Amazon, and, if you're willing to do some searching, you can find my books new from both Dreamhaven Books and Comics and Uncle Hugo's. (Why do they have new ones? Well, because I sell them copies!)
I think that one of the most frustrating things about being published with a large New York publishing house is this issue precisely: their idea of what constitues a "profit" vastly differs from what I consider a profit. Add to this the tax laws regarding inventory (which I have to comply with as well, but, perhaps obviously, I don't have billions of books in my basement, only hundreds.) Despite moderate success, my books weren't worth the space to store them.
I didn't make a million dollars for my publisher when my books were briefly in print, but I might have given enough time. Archangel Protocol earned out and made what constitues "significant" royality payments to me, so the book wasn't a complete business bust for my publisher even while in print. But who know what would have happened given several more "shelf years"? From what I can tell locally, my books still go out the door at a decent clip. It's not boxes of books a month or even a year, but these out-of-print books continue to sell.
This is an old rant for me, and I apologize if I'm being a broken record. I realize books come and go and that's just the nature of the publishing industry. It's the great mystery of the publishing industry -- why is it some books strike a cord with readers and become run-away bestseller and other books don't? But I wish that the industry had more wiggle room for us "mid-list" authors and we still lived in a time when a good that only sold moderately well, but sold consistantly could continue to be ordered new. Alas! Alack! Oh, the humanity!
Seriously, I guess this is the niche that smaller presses try to fill. But there are problems with small presses as well -- namely distribution. Although Amazon and other electronic media help solve that problem as well. I don't know. Maybe in a couple of years I'll have some perspective on all this.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Paying Market for SF/F Wolves
Permission to forward granted
Wolfsong Anthology, Volume I, published by Wolfsinger Publications; edited by M. H. Bonham.
The wolf has been a creature of mythology and legend since humans first told stories. Feared and reviled, or worshipped and loved, the wolf symbolizes wildness and power. In the Wolfsong Anthology, we’re hoping to capture the wolf in new stories that celebrate their magic and mysticism. What we’re looking for are original, well-constructed SFF stories where wolves play a major role. The story can be fantasy (epic fantasy, mysticism, sword and sorcery, urban fantasy, or heroic fantasy), science fiction, dark fantasy (not quite horror), or slipstream (no pure romance and absolutely no erotica). Word length 2000 to 7500 maximum. Will consider reprints IF you own the rights.
What we’re NOT looking for: Conventional, run-of-the-mill werewolf stories. You can have werewolves, but they better be unusual, captivating and not the typical werewolves we’ve seen in current literature. Note – werewolf stories may get bumped if we get too many of them, so stick with wolves, if you want a better chance. Stories without a beginning, middle or end – or stories without a plot. Erotica – This is PG-13. Don’t even think about bestiality. If it’ll embarrass my mother-in-law, I don’t want it. Really bloody horror. Violence is ok if it is necessary for the plot, but splatter and gore isn’t. You can be dark, but remember the PG-13 rating. Strictly romance, mainstream, or mystery. You can be almost mainstream or mystery, but you should have a fantastic element in it. Poetry. Anything under 2000 words or over 7500 words.Simultaneous and multiple submissions. (We’re striving to have our selections done by August 1st).
Submissions are open from February 1st to May 1st. Format your work to standard manuscript format: double-spaced type, Times New Roman 12 or something similar, and include your name, address, phone number and email. Please use italics for italics and bold for bold. Lastly, send us only RTF files. No exceptions. That means save your word document as an RTF. Send us your full manuscript (in RTF format) via email to editor@wolfsingerpubs.com. Please put “Wolfsong Submission: your story title” in the subject line. Don’t bother with queries. If the story fits the guidelines, we’re interested in looking at it. In your email, tell us what you’ve had published, or if you haven’t been published, tell us that too. Your lack of credentials doesn’t preclude you from being accepted. If the story is a reprint, tell us that too, and tell us where it was first published. We pay $5 advance and 50% royalty split between authors. Good luck!!!
Wolfsong Anthology, Volume I, published by Wolfsinger Publications; edited by M. H. Bonham.
The wolf has been a creature of mythology and legend since humans first told stories. Feared and reviled, or worshipped and loved, the wolf symbolizes wildness and power. In the Wolfsong Anthology, we’re hoping to capture the wolf in new stories that celebrate their magic and mysticism. What we’re looking for are original, well-constructed SFF stories where wolves play a major role. The story can be fantasy (epic fantasy, mysticism, sword and sorcery, urban fantasy, or heroic fantasy), science fiction, dark fantasy (not quite horror), or slipstream (no pure romance and absolutely no erotica). Word length 2000 to 7500 maximum. Will consider reprints IF you own the rights.
What we’re NOT looking for: Conventional, run-of-the-mill werewolf stories. You can have werewolves, but they better be unusual, captivating and not the typical werewolves we’ve seen in current literature. Note – werewolf stories may get bumped if we get too many of them, so stick with wolves, if you want a better chance. Stories without a beginning, middle or end – or stories without a plot. Erotica – This is PG-13. Don’t even think about bestiality. If it’ll embarrass my mother-in-law, I don’t want it. Really bloody horror. Violence is ok if it is necessary for the plot, but splatter and gore isn’t. You can be dark, but remember the PG-13 rating. Strictly romance, mainstream, or mystery. You can be almost mainstream or mystery, but you should have a fantastic element in it. Poetry. Anything under 2000 words or over 7500 words.Simultaneous and multiple submissions. (We’re striving to have our selections done by August 1st).
Submissions are open from February 1st to May 1st. Format your work to standard manuscript format: double-spaced type, Times New Roman 12 or something similar, and include your name, address, phone number and email. Please use italics for italics and bold for bold. Lastly, send us only RTF files. No exceptions. That means save your word document as an RTF. Send us your full manuscript (in RTF format) via email to editor@wolfsingerpubs.com. Please put “Wolfsong Submission: your story title” in the subject line. Don’t bother with queries. If the story fits the guidelines, we’re interested in looking at it. In your email, tell us what you’ve had published, or if you haven’t been published, tell us that too. Your lack of credentials doesn’t preclude you from being accepted. If the story is a reprint, tell us that too, and tell us where it was first published. We pay $5 advance and 50% royalty split between authors. Good luck!!!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Quick Re-Direct: SF Novelists
I have a silly post about writing and the dark side of the Force over at SF Novelists called Why I'm a Darksider....
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Self Discovery of Writing, as Opposed to Writing to Discover One's Self
Eleanor got me thinking in her post below about writers and angst, and about how writing feels to me. I have a very similar impression of what writing is like--it's a struggle, where I am trying to find the right way to express a story so that I convey something important to the audience--a tone, a sense of history, a sculpted piece of life. I find it extraordinarily difficult to do, because it is important. There is nothing more fundamental to being human than the stories we tell, and what we learn from them. That is a weighty charge, and one I take seriously.
Some have said this is a romanticized view of the artist. Perhaps. I'm not suggesting that all writing needs to be "great art", but I am saying that there is a reason behind each story, and that the story needs to be told as well and as honestly as possible, and that the writer is responsible to struggle against their own lassitude in order to make the tale as vibrant, as real as possible.
Running a marathon is not easy. It requires a great deal of preparation, literally sweat and tears, and a great deal of determination. It is not, however, the length that is the great difficulty--many people, given ten or twelve hours, could walk the distance without difficulty. It is running the distance--despite the protestations of the body, despite the innumerable and colorful arguments the mind will provide for stopping--that is the task at hand. Writing a novel is no different.
Am I saying that no writing is easy? Of course not. Sometimes a runner has an amazing race, simple and efficient and gracefully easy. A scene may come into being on the first pass through that is just right, just exactly as the writer intended. A scene like this should not be tampered with, for beauty is fragile by nature, easily marred and misshapen. Writing like this is the exception, though, not the rule. Most often, we get something workable down and then have to go back two, three, five times to mold it toward what we want to get across.
I think it is the process of struggling with what we are, with who we are and what we believe, that bears out revelations about ourselves and about the world. These are very powerful moments of self-awareness, "eureka!" moments. There are people who write in order to experience this sort of revelatory moment, to learn about themselves. I believe that writers, though, push their understandings of the edges of the world not in order to learn about themselves, but in order to communicate a fresh truth; we learn more about our selves, about our mental thresholds, as we go, and that growth is excellent and important, but I don't think it is the purpose of writing. Or, at least, outward focused writing. Journaling, the keeping of a diary--that can have exactly this self-discovery as its purpose.
I'm not trying to make a black and white distinction here. The two processes are very similar in their pattern and in their outcome. But I think the writer-for-self is seeking enlightenment, inherently, and the writer-for-audience is seeking to communicate universal truths, no matter how personally they may be framed. Something for others to connect to, to identify with, perhaps even to learn from.
As always, you are free to disagree.
Some have said this is a romanticized view of the artist. Perhaps. I'm not suggesting that all writing needs to be "great art", but I am saying that there is a reason behind each story, and that the story needs to be told as well and as honestly as possible, and that the writer is responsible to struggle against their own lassitude in order to make the tale as vibrant, as real as possible.
Running a marathon is not easy. It requires a great deal of preparation, literally sweat and tears, and a great deal of determination. It is not, however, the length that is the great difficulty--many people, given ten or twelve hours, could walk the distance without difficulty. It is running the distance--despite the protestations of the body, despite the innumerable and colorful arguments the mind will provide for stopping--that is the task at hand. Writing a novel is no different.
Am I saying that no writing is easy? Of course not. Sometimes a runner has an amazing race, simple and efficient and gracefully easy. A scene may come into being on the first pass through that is just right, just exactly as the writer intended. A scene like this should not be tampered with, for beauty is fragile by nature, easily marred and misshapen. Writing like this is the exception, though, not the rule. Most often, we get something workable down and then have to go back two, three, five times to mold it toward what we want to get across.
I think it is the process of struggling with what we are, with who we are and what we believe, that bears out revelations about ourselves and about the world. These are very powerful moments of self-awareness, "eureka!" moments. There are people who write in order to experience this sort of revelatory moment, to learn about themselves. I believe that writers, though, push their understandings of the edges of the world not in order to learn about themselves, but in order to communicate a fresh truth; we learn more about our selves, about our mental thresholds, as we go, and that growth is excellent and important, but I don't think it is the purpose of writing. Or, at least, outward focused writing. Journaling, the keeping of a diary--that can have exactly this self-discovery as its purpose.
I'm not trying to make a black and white distinction here. The two processes are very similar in their pattern and in their outcome. But I think the writer-for-self is seeking enlightenment, inherently, and the writer-for-audience is seeking to communicate universal truths, no matter how personally they may be framed. Something for others to connect to, to identify with, perhaps even to learn from.
As always, you are free to disagree.
Friday, January 11, 2008
The Proverbial Adverb-sary
At a recent Wyrdsmiths meeting, we were discussing a story that I'm working on, and the point came up that I use rather a lot (too many) of adverbs and adjectives--which I do, I'll happily admit. I certainly can see the need to cut down the number of descriptors overall throughout the text.
But. I'm working on a scene now where a boy (12) enters a room full of (socially) powerful men, and realizes that he has been brought here by them, though he doesn't know why. He is, of course, terribly nervous. He recognizes his teacher from back home as one of the men, though. This is a bit of the interaction:
"Here was Elias, though, his teacher from back home, smiling at him encouragingly. He managed to smile back, fingers twisting the fringe of his mantle."
Now, when we smile, we often try to communicate something along with that to the recipient of our smile. Do we find that person attractive? Are we commiserating over an awkward situation? Do we want to let them know everything is all right? Are we proud of them? Those are just a few possibilities, and our faces look different for each of them--yet each could be described, accurately, as "smiling". So here, it seems necessary to me to note that Elias smiles "encouragingly".
Also, the boy is terribly nervous, and his smile in return is going to fall flat--it just happens, when we are tired, angry, nervous, disquieted, that we don't quite nail that smile telling someone that we agree with them. Muscles are much less likely to lie than words, and we've all seen someone whose mouth turns in a smile though their eyes and other facial muscles belie the expression.
Now, that last clause: "fingers twisting the fringe of his mantle." I could just as easily have replaced it with one word, "nervous", but then it would be A) just another adjective, and B) it wouldn't have been nearly as visceral. This way, I can establish physical tics that reveal the nervousness, which give a better physical picture of what's happening.
Does this work? Yes. Do I need this much description? That's probably more a matter of who is reading the scene, what he or she brings to it--how implicit, for each reader, the idea of nervousness is when confronted by a room of older, powerful people, and what that nervousness means. People handle that sort of emotion differently.
I'm not sure this solves my dilemma, but equally, I'm also sure that this is going to be an ongoing struggle for me. I tend to over describe certain elements, leaving others out almost entirely.
This isn't a new problem, though. Most writers face down a tendency to over-tell certain elements, at one point or another. So tell--what techniques have you come up with to circumvent the easy descriptor? How have you learned to shape your story so this kind of information is more implicit, less pasted on? Or conversely, what issues have you run into in trying to convey the nature of a scene?
But. I'm working on a scene now where a boy (12) enters a room full of (socially) powerful men, and realizes that he has been brought here by them, though he doesn't know why. He is, of course, terribly nervous. He recognizes his teacher from back home as one of the men, though. This is a bit of the interaction:
"Here was Elias, though, his teacher from back home, smiling at him encouragingly. He managed to smile back, fingers twisting the fringe of his mantle."
Now, when we smile, we often try to communicate something along with that to the recipient of our smile. Do we find that person attractive? Are we commiserating over an awkward situation? Do we want to let them know everything is all right? Are we proud of them? Those are just a few possibilities, and our faces look different for each of them--yet each could be described, accurately, as "smiling". So here, it seems necessary to me to note that Elias smiles "encouragingly".
Also, the boy is terribly nervous, and his smile in return is going to fall flat--it just happens, when we are tired, angry, nervous, disquieted, that we don't quite nail that smile telling someone that we agree with them. Muscles are much less likely to lie than words, and we've all seen someone whose mouth turns in a smile though their eyes and other facial muscles belie the expression.
Now, that last clause: "fingers twisting the fringe of his mantle." I could just as easily have replaced it with one word, "nervous", but then it would be A) just another adjective, and B) it wouldn't have been nearly as visceral. This way, I can establish physical tics that reveal the nervousness, which give a better physical picture of what's happening.
Does this work? Yes. Do I need this much description? That's probably more a matter of who is reading the scene, what he or she brings to it--how implicit, for each reader, the idea of nervousness is when confronted by a room of older, powerful people, and what that nervousness means. People handle that sort of emotion differently.
I'm not sure this solves my dilemma, but equally, I'm also sure that this is going to be an ongoing struggle for me. I tend to over describe certain elements, leaving others out almost entirely.
This isn't a new problem, though. Most writers face down a tendency to over-tell certain elements, at one point or another. So tell--what techniques have you come up with to circumvent the easy descriptor? How have you learned to shape your story so this kind of information is more implicit, less pasted on? Or conversely, what issues have you run into in trying to convey the nature of a scene?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A Writer's Subconscious
I'm not sure how far I can go with this, since I am ambivalent about looking closely at my writing...
Ten things that tell me I (and not someone else) wrote a story:
1) It's science fiction or fantasy. Everything I write is science fiction or fantasy, even if it doesn't entirely seem to be.
2) It will be funny. As far as I am concerned, everything I write is funny.
3) There may well be people covered with fur, though I also like feathers and scales.
4) I was writing about medieval fantasy perils in my previous post and came up with dragons and aardvarks. The aardvarks came out of nowhere as I wrote. But they sound funny and not perilous, unless you are an ant. (If you look for the aardvarks now, they are gone. I edited them out.) There must be a technical word for this, created by experts in rhetoric or English Lit: lists which include something that obviously does not fit in and makes the rest of the list look a bit silly. It's a kind of a pratfall, a way of pulling the rug out from my story. I do this a lot, though never completely. A story should be serious as well as funny.
5) There will food and drink.
6) There will be bathrooms.
7) There will lots of words that describe light: gleam, glitter, shine, flash, shimmer, glow...
8) The characters will not fit into their society. Especially, they will not be comfortable with established roles for men and women or ordinary, decent sexual behavior. They will be gay in a straight society or straight in a gay society.
9) The main characters are usually more good than bad, though now and then I try to write a jerk. But mostly I write about people I would enjoy spending time with: smart, verbal, thoughtful, mostly honorable and kind.
10) The protagonist will be alive at the end and able to keep moving on. I don't write sad endings. There is too much sadness in real life.
11) A bonus characteristic. This one really comes from my subconscious. I noticed it years ago and decided, what the heck. The characters I indentify with will have names that begin with E, A, L or N. The reason for E and A is obvious. Why L or N? Sound out Eleanor.
Ten things that tell me I (and not someone else) wrote a story:
1) It's science fiction or fantasy. Everything I write is science fiction or fantasy, even if it doesn't entirely seem to be.
2) It will be funny. As far as I am concerned, everything I write is funny.
3) There may well be people covered with fur, though I also like feathers and scales.
4) I was writing about medieval fantasy perils in my previous post and came up with dragons and aardvarks. The aardvarks came out of nowhere as I wrote. But they sound funny and not perilous, unless you are an ant. (If you look for the aardvarks now, they are gone. I edited them out.) There must be a technical word for this, created by experts in rhetoric or English Lit: lists which include something that obviously does not fit in and makes the rest of the list look a bit silly. It's a kind of a pratfall, a way of pulling the rug out from my story. I do this a lot, though never completely. A story should be serious as well as funny.
5) There will food and drink.
6) There will be bathrooms.
7) There will lots of words that describe light: gleam, glitter, shine, flash, shimmer, glow...
8) The characters will not fit into their society. Especially, they will not be comfortable with established roles for men and women or ordinary, decent sexual behavior. They will be gay in a straight society or straight in a gay society.
9) The main characters are usually more good than bad, though now and then I try to write a jerk. But mostly I write about people I would enjoy spending time with: smart, verbal, thoughtful, mostly honorable and kind.
10) The protagonist will be alive at the end and able to keep moving on. I don't write sad endings. There is too much sadness in real life.
11) A bonus characteristic. This one really comes from my subconscious. I noticed it years ago and decided, what the heck. The characters I indentify with will have names that begin with E, A, L or N. The reason for E and A is obvious. Why L or N? Sound out Eleanor.
Writers and Angst
I'm different from Kelly and Lyda. For me writing is slow and difficult, and I have a lot of self-doubt. Why am I doing this? is a question I ask a lot.
I started telling stories -- serial adventures -- before I could write. My poor kid brother had to listen to them; and we played an elaborate game with small plastic animals about a society on Mars where there were no humans, only animals. This was a story too. I think it was one I mostly told.
I know I was writing poetry in grade school and probably fiction, though I don't remember doing this. I was certainly writing both in high school. I have kept on writing both my entire life, though with breaks, often long, because I don't find writing easy and am often frustrated with my work.
I guess at this point in my life I would call myself a writer. I wasn't able to do this for many, many years.
I sometimes wonder if I was influenced by the idea of the artist as a person who suffers for his or her art. My father was an art historian, and my mother loved books. I grew up knowing about the avant garde artists and writers of the 19th and early 20th century. These were people who struggled to create a new kind of art, with little support from society at large. The most famous example is probably van Gogh, who suffered hugely and sold only one painting during his life.
My father liked artists and was the chair of a combined art history and studio art department at the University of Minnesota. So I knew artists, both local people and members of the New York school of Abstract Expressionists, who came through town from time to time.
My sense was these were people who worked hard to say something individual and new, and their struggle was not an entirely pleasant process.
So, is my sense that writing is difficult learned? Do I think artists and writers ought to suffer and question, that this is part of the process of making art?
I try not to write the same story twice, and when I master a skill and find that telling a certain kind of story is becoming comfortable, I want to push on and try something new.
I want every story to say something important, that matters to me, and say it in a new way. I never want to write simply for the sake of writing.
I started telling stories -- serial adventures -- before I could write. My poor kid brother had to listen to them; and we played an elaborate game with small plastic animals about a society on Mars where there were no humans, only animals. This was a story too. I think it was one I mostly told.
I know I was writing poetry in grade school and probably fiction, though I don't remember doing this. I was certainly writing both in high school. I have kept on writing both my entire life, though with breaks, often long, because I don't find writing easy and am often frustrated with my work.
I guess at this point in my life I would call myself a writer. I wasn't able to do this for many, many years.
I sometimes wonder if I was influenced by the idea of the artist as a person who suffers for his or her art. My father was an art historian, and my mother loved books. I grew up knowing about the avant garde artists and writers of the 19th and early 20th century. These were people who struggled to create a new kind of art, with little support from society at large. The most famous example is probably van Gogh, who suffered hugely and sold only one painting during his life.
My father liked artists and was the chair of a combined art history and studio art department at the University of Minnesota. So I knew artists, both local people and members of the New York school of Abstract Expressionists, who came through town from time to time.
My sense was these were people who worked hard to say something individual and new, and their struggle was not an entirely pleasant process.
So, is my sense that writing is difficult learned? Do I think artists and writers ought to suffer and question, that this is part of the process of making art?
I try not to write the same story twice, and when I master a skill and find that telling a certain kind of story is becoming comfortable, I want to push on and try something new.
I want every story to say something important, that matters to me, and say it in a new way. I never want to write simply for the sake of writing.
A Writer's Subconscious
Over at Fangs, Fur & Fey, they're doing a meme asking writers to list the answer to "Top Ten Signs This Book Was Written By Me." I think this is interesting because what it gets at are a writer's subconscious themes. So, here are mine (as Lyda. I plan to answer this as Tate over there.)
So that's me. Do you have any unconscious themes in your work (embarrassing or otherwise) that you'd like to share?
1. One or more of the characters' religious views are essential to the plotline.
2. There is at least one reference (usually an obscure joke) regarding Unitarian Universalism.
3. One of the secondary characters is gay, lesbian or transgendered. Often this isn't obvious to the casual observer, but there will be "hints" to queer readers, as in a reference to sensible shoes, etc.
4. The fashions are dubiously 80s-inspired. (I wish I could get away from this, but apparently, my brain imprinted on 80s fashion and I can't quite shake it.)
5. Somewhere in the background there are cyborgs, mutants, junkies and/or prostitutes.
6. At some point in the novel, someone speaks a language other than English (usually one requiring transliteration).
7. Someone will be a fan of country western music.
8. Coffee will be drunk by almost every character, and nearly all of them will take it black. Similarly, hardly anyone will eat.
9. At a critical moment, someone will offer this plan, "I know: I'll distract them, while you rush them."
10. Geek culture will insert itself at some point. Someone will make a gaming, comic book, Star Wars, or other SF pop culture reference.
So that's me. Do you have any unconscious themes in your work (embarrassing or otherwise) that you'd like to share?
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Because It's All About Me...
Just to interrupt Tate... I want to point to a fabulous interview with, as Ms. Piggy would say, "moi" over at Illusion.tv.com:
http://www.illusiontv.com/features/author-blast-lyda-morehouse/
http://www.illusiontv.com/features/author-blast-lyda-morehouse/
Philip K. Dick Award Announcement
For Immediate Release
2007 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced
The judges of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society are pleased to announce seven nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:
GREY by Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
UNDERTOW by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)
FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN by Minister Faust (Del Rey)
NOVA SWING by M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra)
GRADISIL by Adam Roberts (Pyr)
ALLY by Karen Traviss (Eos)
SATURN RETURNS by Sean Williams (Ace Books)
First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, March 21, 2008 at Norwescon 31 at the Doubletree Hotel Seattle Airport, SeaTac, Washington.
The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. Last year’s winner was SPIN CONTROL by Chris Moriarty (Bantam Spectra) with a special citation to CARNIVAL by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra). The 2007 judges are Steve Miller, Chris Moriarty (chair), Steven Piziks, Randy Schroeder, Ann Tonsor Zeddies
For more information about Norwescon: http://www.norwescon.org/:
Contact NorthWest SF Society: (360) 438-0871
###END###
2007 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced
The judges of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society are pleased to announce seven nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:
GREY by Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
UNDERTOW by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)
FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN by Minister Faust (Del Rey)
NOVA SWING by M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra)
GRADISIL by Adam Roberts (Pyr)
ALLY by Karen Traviss (Eos)
SATURN RETURNS by Sean Williams (Ace Books)
First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, March 21, 2008 at Norwescon 31 at the Doubletree Hotel Seattle Airport, SeaTac, Washington.
The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. Last year’s winner was SPIN CONTROL by Chris Moriarty (Bantam Spectra) with a special citation to CARNIVAL by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra). The 2007 judges are Steve Miller, Chris Moriarty (chair), Steven Piziks, Randy Schroeder, Ann Tonsor Zeddies
For more information about Norwescon: http://www.norwescon.org/:
Contact NorthWest SF Society: (360) 438-0871
###END###
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Pain and Writing
I'm a lot like Kelly when it comes to writing and pain. I write because I love it, and, while there are times when I'd rather be napping or watching BSG, I enjoy the process most of the time (okay, okay I HAVE whined about revisions, but I'm mostly still enjoying myself, certainly I've rarely truly DESPAIRED over revisions).
Some of the business bits have been known to make me crazy -- things like publicity and sales figures and all that jazz, but the thing that frustrates me the most about the business of writing is the waiting.
Waiting for a story to come back from a magazine editor.
Waiting for the story (or novel) to appear in print.
Waiting for the deal to be negotiated so I can officially pop the bubbly and celebrate.
I started writing partly because I'm impatient. When I started reading SF/F novels, I was frustrated by the publishing schedule. Who can wait a whole year for another book I'm going to read in three days?? So, I started filling in my time writing what was essentially fan fiction -- the continuing adventures of my favorite Pern and Deryni characters or Star Wars or Star Trek... and then, once I'd satisfied those cravings, I moved on to original fiction.
Impatience served me again when I sent my very first novel attempt out to its first editor/agent query. The guy sat on that book so long, I got frustrated waiting and started writing the next one (which, as it happened, was the novel that became Archangel Protocol.)
So it's a quality of mine I wouldn't want to completely rid myself of, but, MAN, it's hard to wait.
--Lyda (who is impatiently waiting to announce some good news.)
Some of the business bits have been known to make me crazy -- things like publicity and sales figures and all that jazz, but the thing that frustrates me the most about the business of writing is the waiting.
Waiting for a story to come back from a magazine editor.
Waiting for the story (or novel) to appear in print.
Waiting for the deal to be negotiated so I can officially pop the bubbly and celebrate.
I started writing partly because I'm impatient. When I started reading SF/F novels, I was frustrated by the publishing schedule. Who can wait a whole year for another book I'm going to read in three days?? So, I started filling in my time writing what was essentially fan fiction -- the continuing adventures of my favorite Pern and Deryni characters or Star Wars or Star Trek... and then, once I'd satisfied those cravings, I moved on to original fiction.
Impatience served me again when I sent my very first novel attempt out to its first editor/agent query. The guy sat on that book so long, I got frustrated waiting and started writing the next one (which, as it happened, was the novel that became Archangel Protocol.)
So it's a quality of mine I wouldn't want to completely rid myself of, but, MAN, it's hard to wait.
--Lyda (who is impatiently waiting to announce some good news.)
Friday, January 04, 2008
Shilling for Friends' Creative Endeavors
And now for a commerical break: if you've never heard of Black Hat Collective, well, you've been missing out. They are a group of Twin Cities area comic artists who have published a new graphic novel anthology "A Day in the Life," which is available for sale at the Source, Comics and Games in Saint Paul, MN.
Also, a WisCON regulars, Charlie Anders and Annalee Newitz are involved in a new blog io9.com, which has the subtitle: "Strung out on Science Fiction," which is just plain fun.
And now back to our regularly scheduled program....
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Happy Writer
Aspects of Justine's enormously useful post on rewriting have inspired me to write a post I hadn't planned.
It's really all because of this paragraph: Reading through what you have written with all those contradictory and annoying comments scrawled in the margins will most likely fill you with despair. Don’t worry: Despair is an integral part of the rewriting process. Your despair will deepen. When you’ve been over a manuscript four or five or twenty or a hundred times you’ll know the true meaning of despair.
This idea drives me crazy. Yes, despair can be a part of the process, and for many writers it is. But "integral?" No, I don't think so. I've certainly felt despair as a writer, but always over the business, never over the writing. I love writing. I love rewriting too. I even love finding those structural flaws Justine talks about. Do I like that they're there? No. But I love the problem solving game involved in fixing them.
I actually find the idea that every writer must have moments of massive self-doubt and misery over their work to be deeply pernicious. It has the potential to cause happy writers to either devalue their own non-despair inducing process or to seek out misery in hopes that it will improve their work. And that's just not right. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the whole thing.
If you do happen to feel despair as part of the process, that's all right--there are 1,001 ways to write a novel, every one of them right. But if you don't, don't beat yourself up over it. Revel in not suffering for your art. For a longer take on that, go read Jane Yolen's wonderful book on writing: Take Joy.
The process doesn't have to hurt.
It's really all because of this paragraph: Reading through what you have written with all those contradictory and annoying comments scrawled in the margins will most likely fill you with despair. Don’t worry: Despair is an integral part of the rewriting process. Your despair will deepen. When you’ve been over a manuscript four or five or twenty or a hundred times you’ll know the true meaning of despair.
This idea drives me crazy. Yes, despair can be a part of the process, and for many writers it is. But "integral?" No, I don't think so. I've certainly felt despair as a writer, but always over the business, never over the writing. I love writing. I love rewriting too. I even love finding those structural flaws Justine talks about. Do I like that they're there? No. But I love the problem solving game involved in fixing them.
I actually find the idea that every writer must have moments of massive self-doubt and misery over their work to be deeply pernicious. It has the potential to cause happy writers to either devalue their own non-despair inducing process or to seek out misery in hopes that it will improve their work. And that's just not right. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the whole thing.
If you do happen to feel despair as part of the process, that's all right--there are 1,001 ways to write a novel, every one of them right. But if you don't, don't beat yourself up over it. Revel in not suffering for your art. For a longer take on that, go read Jane Yolen's wonderful book on writing: Take Joy.
The process doesn't have to hurt.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Smart Things-Rewrites
Justine Larbalestier is saying very smart things about rewriting at her blog. It's an involved post and definitely worth reading. As usual I don't agree with her about everything, but I'm a funny sort of monkey and much less prone to rounds of self-doubt and low self esteem than the average author.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Again with the Happy
Happy New Year!
From all of the Wyrdsmiths, we hope your 2008 is more productive, successful, and satisfactory than any year up to this point. Keep writing!
From all of the Wyrdsmiths, we hope your 2008 is more productive, successful, and satisfactory than any year up to this point. Keep writing!
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