Frightening Journeys

Time to say farewell

2011-07-28T00:01:00.007-06:00

The time has come to say farewell, not only for me, but for Frightening Journeys too. Earlier this week, I came to a decision to bow out of the blog. It wasn't easy. I don't like to give up or set things aside without a good reason. Still, I felt with my family obligations, I couldn't wholeheartedly commit to being here each week anymore and hadn't posted in a long time. I had yet to tell the others when Nicole contacted me about putting the blog to rest. After consulting with Nerine and Sonya, we all agreed it was time.

We started FJ in October of 2008. None of us were published, just hoping and working hard to make it there one day. Each of us had families, jobs and other commitments, but we also had a dream to become published authors, helping others by sharing our pitfalls along the way. We said farewell to four wonderful ladies Heather, J.K. Mahal and Barbra Annino who started blogging with us, and Sandra Sookoo who joined us later and became a must-read author. And welcomed Nerine Dorman, multi-published author and editor, and authors Sonya Clark and Melissa Glisan. We've all grown as writers since beginning FJ and I can't help but think we learned alot from each other along the way.

As for my absence, well my husband is in bad health and has been since his car wreck in 2007. March of last year, he caught pneumonia and wound up in ICU for a week. Then in May he got very sick. We thought he had a virus, but he was back in the ICU with Diabetic Ketoacidosis. A month later he was put in for the same symptoms and we learned he has Gastroparesis, a complication of Diabetes. Since he was diagnosed, he has been hospitalized at least once a month, sometimes twice, for a week or more at a time. At last count he's been in ICU at least ten times. Needless to say, the stress of spending days at work, evenings at the hospital until midnight, trying to keep up with contract deadlines, edits and just for fun lets throw in the kids volleyball and cheer obligations. Things went crazy. They still are and I'm not sure if they will be "normal" again.

I'm nearing the end of my Elemental Magic Series. Miraculously, I've managed to finish four of the five books amidst the craziness. The fourth will release next month. My editor and publisher have been very understanding, moving release dates around to give me more time to compose when his illness keeps me from work. My bosses at work have done pretty much the same, allowing me to be off when I need to, etc. I am blessed to work with great people and I thank God for them everyday. Right now I'm really thanking God for my job in the lovely air conditioning. It's a heat index of 100 outside and that's mild compared to last week.

So, thank you everyone for following along with us. This doesn't mean we have given up blogging for good. You'll be able to find us on our individual blogs. I try to post every couple of days at brynnacurry.com. I hope you'll visit me there.

Nerine, Nichole, Sonya, it has been wonderful working with you ladies. I wish you all the best in everything you do. Thanks for letting me be a part of your journey.

Until we meet again, be blessed.

Brynna

So long, farewell...

2011-07-25T09:38:00.001-06:00

They say all good things must come to an end, and that seems to be true for this blog. After this week, there will be no new posts here.

We’ve had a good run, I think, but each of us Frightening Journey bloggers have decided that we can’t continue. I’m a little saddened, I won’t lie. The idea of a blog where authors of paranormal mysteries was originally my idea. It morphed, obviously, into a blog for paranormal authors. And that was a good thing.

Now we seem to have morphed once again. Or maybe we just outgrew this stage, like a child outgrowing his favorite shirt.

I will miss my fellow bloggers, but I hope I won’t have to miss you. I plan to blog at my own site (http://www.nicholerbennett.com) on a more regular basis.

Thanks for joining us on this “frightening journey” toward publication and may all your dreams be achieved.

Blessings!

Nichole

Making room for the art

2011-07-18T10:43:00.003-06:00

I'm sure just about everyone has heard about "art imitating life." For an author, that phrase is even more true. Even in the sci-fi or paranormal genres, an author does write what's familiar. At least a little bit.

Even as a "paranormal cozy mystery" author, my life does manage to make its way into my writing. Some of the characters in my work bear a distinct resemblance to people I know in my day-to-day life. The locations I write about are ones I've actually visited.

I have trouble, however, making time for the art. Lately life seems to get in the way. Or, to use another phrase: "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

I've been having trouble balancing my life and my art. Not just the writing part of my life, either. The knitting, the spinning, the painting...they've all been suffering lately as well. I'm not sure why. My theory is that there are a ton of changes going on in my world and it's sucking my creative juices right out of me. Maybe not, but it's better than having no clue at all.

So for all the creative people out there: what do you do when your creativity is on vacation? I'm looking forward to your suggestions!

Blessings!

Nichole

There’s more than one way to publish words

2011-06-28T05:20:00.002-06:00

(Or how to get a bunch of authors hot and bothered)

You know, I didn’t really want to get dragged into this whole debate because, you know what, opinions are like assholes, and everyone’s got one. But yeah, I’m going to let mine hang out now.

What sparked this off was a passing comment by an unpublished author, that small/indie publishers are somehow not real.

Now that I’ve managed to unglue myself from the ceiling and I’m not spitting fire anymore, I want to ask you what makes one form of publishing any less valid than another. Granted, we may not *like* a particular form of publishing but the point remains is that words are still disseminated to readers. Hence, a story is published.

As we say in South Africa: finish en klaar, hey?

Well, yes and no.

What is clear is that the entire publishing industry is in a massive state of flux. When you have big names heading into self-publishing or starting their own publishing companies, then something’s up. Let’s not look at the analogy of rats abandoning a ship but yeah…

Plainly put, the old model of publishing is not sustainable. I’m not saying it’s going to fail. Hell no. It’s just that the big traditional publishers are going to have to seriously relook at the way they’re doing business.

What we’ve also seen is a massive influx of small and indie presses that have grabbed an opportunity with all the new technology coming online. Authors have never had such a wide variety of publishing options available to them and, with the growth in reading gadgets, avid book fanatics are spoilt for choice.

The problem comes in when one discerns quality. With so many authors now getting heard, it’s not always easy telling the difference between the good, the bad and the ugly. That’s not to say that the indie-published fantasy adventure that could have used a bit more spit and polish is somehow worth less than the polished traditionally published fantasy novel that may not have such an unusual storyline.

And even that’s a broad generalization. I kinda like my reading rough around the edges where authors have cut loose and experimented a little.

At the end of the day, the reader is the final arbiter, and some books certainly have more appeal to some readers than others. Does it really matter at the end of the day who published the book or how?

With regard to quality, the onus is on the author to ensure that his or her words are as good as they can be. An editor can only make so many suggestions. Obviously traditional publishers carry more clout with their editorial suggestions but it’s still up to the author to decide whether he or she will comply. It’s also up to the author to make sure that their writing evolves and that they don’t repeat the same mistakes over, and over again.

So, how do we wade through the glut of published novels to find the author we like? My answer to this is to follow authors’ and reviewers’ blogs. Follow your favourite publishers and authors on Twitter. Goodreads is also a fantastic place to find new authors to read or to discover which ones aren’t so hot. It’s kinda like an Easter egg hunt, or at least that’s the way I’m looking at it. And I can tell you this much, I’ve discovered some fresh voices that would have been lost to the world had it not been for the shift in the industry.

You may not like the books I read but you know what? That’s okay. Really. I probably won’t like yours either. Just be glad that we now have a greater selection that is almost instantly available in a variety of formats.

Just My Blood Type

2011-06-21T13:47:00.005-06:00

While there's a lot going on behind the scenes, I'd love to share a bit of news. A few weeks ago, I teamed up with author Carrie Clevenger to collaborate on a bit of a short fiction entitled Just My Blood Type. At time of writing we're finalising the final proof before we upload, but we can share the cover art.

To give credit where it's due, the photography and retouching is by none other than my lovely husband, Thomas Dorman. You can see more of his artwork here.

The typographical treatment for this was done by the very talented Danielle Eriksen, who is available for layout work. She can be contacted at Danielle@dislocate.co.za

Of course the real star of the show is Xan Marcelles, a drop-dead gorgeous vampire who plays bass in the band Crooked Fang. Therese von Willegen, erotica author, swung by the town of Pinecliffe, Colorado, to interview him, and got a little more than she bargained for.

Follow Xan Marcelles on Facebook, or look out for him @crookedfang on Twitter, and keep up to date with developments. We'll announce the short story's release soon.

Nichole discusses research

2011-06-06T07:41:00.003-06:00

I really enjoy research.

Don't laugh. I do. It doesn't matter what I'm searching for, I love the thrill of it. Whether it's hunting for treasures in the Black Hills National Forest (a hobby called geocaching) or searching for a long-lost relative as I trace the family tree (I love ancestry.com), the idea of researching energizes me.

There's a lot of research involved in my writing, as well. I spend a lot of time looking for the right murder method: poison, gun shot, stabbing. I visit the locations where my books are set. Of course, it helps that I live in the area.

I even research the paranormal aspects. For Sleeping Bears, the second Cerri Baker novel, I've read everything I could get my hands on about fairies. For my second series featuring Allison Webber (at least I think that's going to be her name) I've been studying up on auras.

Researching the paranormal is harder than researching genealogy. Finding a document from the 1860s usually leads you to another document. Finding a website or book about auras doesn't normally lead you anywhere else. And often the next book or site you find will give you different information.

That's where the fiction writer takes over for the researcher. It's the fiction writer in me that determines which information to incorporate and which to ignore. And which to totally change for the world I've created. It's not always easy.

Sometimes I find that what I want to happen flies in the face of all the research I've done. But this is fiction, and that's okay. It just means I have to make sure that the rules in my world are consistent, even if there's no one else who believes what I need.

Maybe that's what makes fiction so enjoyable for me to write: it's an opportunity to learn something but still make up my own rules.

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-30T07:58:00.003-06:00

To all the US, have a happy and safe Memorial Day. Rather than a fresh post today, I would like to just point you all to the post I did on Saturday at Second Wind Publishing's Blog.

Nichole

Call for Submissions: Meet me at Dusk

2011-05-24T14:32:00.002-06:00

As Edgar Allan Poe once deep into darkness peered, to wonder, fear and doubt, he also dreamed dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. And Nietzsche, while warning against hunting monsters, was quite fond of that abyss which gazed back.

The light of our hearts' delight can only shine sweeter against a backdrop of despair. Darker stories swirl and fester in the midst of the mundane; mysterious creatures prowl at the edge of awareness to seduce and devour.

Conflicts bleed into our world, to snare unwary mortals; tantalize us with hints of magic and enigma beyond our ken. Love is lost and found, empires rise only to crumble, and few dare to step beyond the threshold.

Did you grow up reading Poe, Burroughs and Lovecraft? Do Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and The Sandman graphic novels languish on your bookshelves next to Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls and Storm Constantine's Wraetthu novels? Lyrical Press is looking for works of dark fantasy that explore the contrasts of modern urban living with that of the supernatural, expressed in a gritty tone redolent with pop culture references and noir elements.

See the submission guidelines at http://www.lyricalpress.com/submissions.php and email nerine@lyricalpress.com with your query.

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

2011-05-23T14:30:00.004-06:00

I've been really struggling with my writing the past month or so. It's not that I don't have ideas floating around in my head.

My problem is purely technical.

In early May, my hard drive crashed. I lost everything. Yes, everything.

I lost family photos. I lost passwords. I lost work files; I'm a web designer, so that goes hand-in-hand with the passwords. I had to re-install software. It was not a pretty sight.

I managed to recover most of my WIP*, thanks to my critique groups and some friends who I'd sent various parts for their input. All but one chapter, that is. The second to last chapter I'd written before losing everything.

You would think that losing a "middle chapter" wouldn't be so bad. And I'm more grateful then anyone will ever know to have only lost one chapter, believe me. And I know where I want the chapter to end up, I know what clues must be woven into the fabric of the story. I just can't remember exactly how I got there.

For everyone who is nodding sagely, thinking "run an anti-virus" or "make sure you back up," I have another confession. It was my Mac that bit the dust. It had nothing to do with spyware or malware or viruses. A section of the hard drive lost it's magnetism. (Or some such thing...the computer guy tried to explain it to me, but I was still devastated at the time.) And I own an external hard drive. It's even connected to the computer in question.

But external hard drives are only useful if you actually put stuff on them.

Learn from my misfortune. Back up your important files. Heck, back up the things you don't think are that important. Then you won't be missing a section in the middle.

*That would be Work In Progress. Or the novel I'm currently working on.

Superstitous?

2011-05-09T08:45:00.002-06:00

The word "paranormal" can mean a whole lot of things. Ghosts. Witches. Shape shifters.

No matter what, though, there are almost always superstitions attached to the word.

Personally, I'm not really superstitious. I don't "knock on wood" or hold my breath crossing a bridge.

Some superstitions make a lot of sense. Really, is it bad luck to walk under a ladder? Maybe not, but I don't think it's that smart. If you bump the ladder, whoever is on it might fall. Or they might drop that bucket of paint all over you. It may not be bad luck, but it doesn't seem smart, either. Does one apple each day keep the doctor away? Doubtful. But people who pick more healthy foods are usually, well, healthier. What about the idea that a cat will try to steal a baby's breath? Not true. But a cat will try to get that milk all over the baby's face and can (in extremely rare cases) smother the baby while doing so.

Some superstitions have made their way into the realm of tradition. How many brides have worn something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?

One of my "favorite" superstitions, however, happens this week. Friday, to be exact. Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th is a combination of two different superstitions: Friday and the number 13.

Most people have heard of the number 13 being unlucky. And anything to do with that number is "taboo." Hotels skip the 13th room, buildings the 13th floor, city's the 13th street. It's not lucky to have 13 letters in your name: Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy. Planning a dinner party? Avoid having 13 people at the table. One is said to die within the year, a superstition that dates back to the time of Jesus when he dined with his 12 disciples.

Bad luck on Friday is a less common belief. Most people I know look forward to Fridays, since it's the last day of the traditional work week and the start of the weekend. Sailors, however, avoid Fridays. Years ago the British government wanted to quell the "Friday superstition" and did everything they could to prove how silly it was. They commissioned the HMS Friday, christened the ship on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected the crew on a Friday. They even put Captain Jim Friday in charge. The ship disappeared on her maiden voyage.

Combine it all, and it's understandable why some might be tempted to stay home this Friday. Those who don't may have some "bad luck"—or they may find themselves victims of a self-fulling prophecy.

Me? I'll be going out to dinner with the family. No, not as a way to thumb my nose at fate. Instead, my family will be celebrating. It's not every Friday the 13th that the baby of the family turns 18, is it?

Blessings!

Nichole

When an author's creations come to life

2011-05-03T02:01:00.000-06:00

While I can't show the visuals, I had an awful lot of fun on Saturday with some of the BlackMilk crew, who offered to help me shoot some promotional visuals for my next vampire novella, What Sweet Music They Make. Now, if all goes well, my publisher will like the final results well enough to use for the front cover. Or at least that is my intention. And even if the visuals don't make the grade, I've some stunning prints to use as promotional material when release day swings round.

Why am I doing this? Many years ago I majored in illustration and photography when I studied graphic design, and I'd always hoped one day to have a shot at cover design. While I'm no PhotoShop wizard, I do have an idea of how to style visual communication.

The secret now: work with professionals. I am heavily indebted to the expertise of Leon Visser, who is the cinematographer and editor for BlackMilk Productions, an indie film production company here in Cape Town. Thanks go to my husband, for lending us his professional lights. Many thanks also to Lohan Koegelenberg and Anika Molnar, who took the roles of Severin and Tersia respectively, for this shoot. The two happen to be close friends and when I'm ready to show the final results, you can definitely see the chemistry.

In the meanwhile, you'll have to contend with the after-shoot silliness where my creations spring to life to give me a nibble, or two.

Follow me on Twitter: @nerinedorman or like my Facebook author page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nerine-Dorman-author/173330419365374

Paying it forward

2011-04-19T16:23:00.002-06:00

When I was just starting out with getting into author-mode a few years ago, I bumped into an old friend of mine who was a little further along the way than me. She was already **gasp** agented, and she graciously offered to beta read for me. And boy oh boy did she poke sticks at my writing; made me cut reams of exposition **sobs** and generally tell it like it is in publishing.

I value this woman’s no-nonsense judgment. I wouldn’t have gotten this far if it weren’t for her. She can say horrible things about my writing at times but I know I deserve it, because good constructive criticism freely offered is worth more than paying an editor to do it for you. By the same measure, she praises, telling me when she can see where I’ve improved. And I feel like I can believe her. To be honest, I’d sooner have honest judgment than vague reassurances that everything’s just hunky dory. ’Cos it’s not. There’s always room for improvement.

What matters now, more than ever before in publishing, is a buddy system. I remember the encouragement I received from the likes of Dave Wolverton, Fiona McIntosh and John Everson, who always replied to my emails with sound advice. Yes, I may still be in awe of these people, but they never lost that essential human touch. They weren’t up on a pedestal.

While I’m nowhere near reaching their stellar heights, I’m already much further along the line than I was when I sold my first novel in 2008. I’ve made an effort to make friends, not only with my fellow authors, but also with the authors for whom I’m now playing editor. We help each other, be it a friendly eye or a guest-blogging slot or review. Hell, sometimes we give the go-ahead for a bit of name-dropping. It all helps. The publishing pond is big enough for everyone and I’m amazed at some of the doors that have opened to me because I haven’t developed an attitude.

And if I develop an attitude, I expect my buddies to slap me upside the head.

A funny thing has started happening now. I’m paying it forward. It’s a weird feeling. Aspiring authors are turning to me now for advice, are looking up to me as someone who's been around the block a bit, and, while part of me wants to shake her head and exclaim what the hell, I’m able to pass on some of the advice I’ve been given.

I can’t tell you how great it feels to see an author take those first toddling steps, get their first contract offered, or start making those sales. Then later I get a quiet email on the side saying, “Hey, I just want to thank you, I’d never have…”

Feck. It feels good. And I’m going to carry on paying it forward. It makes the overall experience better for everyone concerned.

Music for writing

2011-04-18T08:05:00.004-06:00

I'm of the belief that creative people are creative in lots of different areas. I, for example, spin and knit and sew and paint and well, lots of things.

But sometimes it's tough to get into the creative mood. Those juices don't always come on demand.

Those are the times I listen to music. And lots of it. There's just something about music that helps to inspire me.

And I like all kinds of tunes. As a child of the '80s, I fondly remember the "big hair bands" like Warrant, Poison, and Stryper. My first album was a Men at Work one. At some point I found a few country artists who spoke to me: Toby Keith, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift.

Then there's the classics. Sometimes it's better to have the instrumentals just so I don't get caught up in the words.

However, my favorite writing music has a Celtic undertone. Enya and Celtic Women are often heard from my office as I crank out a few thousand words for the day.

Like any other "mental devise," though, even my stand-by selections don't always work. I'm often in search of new bands, new songs to add to the mix.

What music do you suggest? What inspires you? What is good to write to?

In praise of free reads

2011-04-13T01:30:00.001-06:00

Free reads are awesome. In the age of digital books and the internet, it's very easy to find perfectly legal free reads. And I don't mean just contests to win books, though that's cool too. I mean a totally free ebook, through various sources. Booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble both have free sections. Publishers will offer temporary promotional freebies to get readers hooked on an author or series or a niche genre they publish. Authors will offer free short stories on their websites to entice readers.

Speaking as a reader who doesn't have a lot of money to spend on books, I really appreciate all these sources of legal free reads. Sure, there are duds out there. Some of what I've gotten for free I never finished because I just didn't care for the book. But I've lucked into some really good stuff for free too. One of the freebies I got from Amazon introduced me to an author who is now an auto-buy for me. All these freebies are a great way to test drive authors that are new to you, authors that you might not otherwise be too sure about spending money on. But once you've tried them and know you like their work, if you're like me you probably wind up searching for their back list. Especially if that initial free read hooked you on a series.

Because I have seen myself and other readers spend money on authors first encountered as a free read, as a writer I am a big proponent of the idea. That's why I have a Free Reads page on my blog with two short stories for download that serve as prequels of a sort to my May release Mojo Queen. I think it's a great idea for any author, especially one just starting out, to give readers a free taste of what you can do as a writer. I'm hoping people might come across these stories and decide to give Mojo Queen a try. Even if it only nets a few sales, it's worth it to me. Besides, I wrote these stories out of love for the characters so it only makes sense to share them. It certainly can't hurt anything.

Work in progress

2011-04-12T11:48:00.001-06:00

After what feels like an eternity I’m getting round to the all-important revisions for my urban fantasy novella, What Sweet Music They Make. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I’m not superwoman, and that I cannot write new works in progress while revising AND still try to keep on top of my editing obligations for Lyrical Press. And while this all happens, I’m still beta-reading for my fellow authors, reviewing books and writing blog posts and newspaper articles.

There’s more than enough work present to keep me out of mischief. What’s worse is that my revisions have been piling up. I still have my steampunk novel featuring vampires and pirates waiting in the wings, not to mention some hard decisions about revising Camdeboo Nights, my only foray into YA urban fantasy. So the buck stops here. I’m in revision mode. I’ve just completed second-round edits on Hell’s Music, my next Therése von Willegen novel, so I have no excuses keeping me from the other titles languishing in the wings.

I had fun writing What Sweet Music They Make. It combines two of my greatest loves: vampires and music. The story is a dip into the same setting where my current Lyrical release, The Namaqualand Book of the Dead kicks off. I’ve spent time working out how vampires function in my milieu and the reason why there are always fewer vampires than mortals. C’mon, we can’t all be undead and sparkly.

Jokes aside, my vampires don’t sparkle. And after many decades, most of them lose the taste for immortality, though they remain tenacious, anachronisms in many cases.

I’ve had some great feedback from my betas so far. Two chapters need to bite the dust at the start. This doesn’t pain me as much as I’d have thought, because I’ll be releasing the first chapter as a freebie prologue in anticipation of the story’s actual release. Yes, yes… I know I haven’t sold the story yet, but that’s the least of my worries. What I do know is that I’ll need to add additional material near the end, and the epilogue may go the way of most prologues upon submission.

This is the fun part of revising, where the novella is still fluid, where I can tweak and layer, make people care more about my characters. And you know what? I’m in no mood to rush, either. I’m going to savour this time where I can return to the world of Severin and Tersia, and groom them into memorable characters.

Follow me on Twitter @nerinedorman or like my Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nerine-Dorman-author/173330419365374?v=wall

Is the world ready for this?

2011-04-11T09:11:00.002-06:00

When I woke up Friday morning, I heard voices.

That may not have been a bad thing if they were the voices I was used to hearing. Instead, these were new voices with new stories.

So, I have come here to ask if the world is ready for the new voice in my head.

My idea is for a young, rich woman to purchase a bed and breakfast in western South Dakota. The B&B would be located on a sheep ranch, so there is a small herd that came with the house. Because of the sheep, there would be an opportunity for knitting and spinning circles at the home, especially in the "off-tourist" season. She also sees ghosts.

There are ghost mysteries. There are knitting mysteries. There are B&B mysteries. But is the world ready for a three-for-one combo? I'd love your thoughts!

Some thoughts on self-publishing

2011-04-06T02:00:00.001-06:00

Nerine had a good post yesterday about self-publishing and traditional publishing. I don't think I've said much directly about self-pubbing but since it is one of the hottest topics in the publishing world, everybody gets to have an opinion, right?

I recognize that people choose to self-pub for different reasons, I just hope they do it for the right ones. Want to keep your backlist out there without having to sign a contract? That's a reason that makes sense to me, especially if you can afford good cover art and book design. You've already got a foothold in commercial publishing and want to experiment with putting out a short work by yourself - I get that one too. Especially if you can afford the cover art, book design, and editing. You've been rejected time after time by both the Big Six and small press - okay, to be honest, this is the one I don't get.

Self-publishing is not for me for a number of reasons. The top reason is money - I can't afford to hire out freelance cover art, book design, and editing. I don't spend my money on books with cover art that looks like a bad Photoshop job or the free Kindle sample is littered with editing problems. I would never even consider asking a reader for money for something like that that I released. So I have to be good enough for a publisher to offer me a contract. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. When I'm not I keep working on the story and it'll either get better or it goes in the trunk. I'm a big believer in writing the next story.

That's another reason why I would not self-publish. To quote Nerine: "if a novel has been rejected countless times, even by the small presses, there’s usually a very good reason for this." I agree with this so very much. If that first book keeps getting rejected, it's okay to let it go. Put that paper in a drawer, put that file on a flash drive, raise a toast to it as a valiant effort, mourn for what could have been and will never be - then tell it goodbye. Let it go like a leaf on the wind and get busy hunting for your next book. Because the truth is, if you're a writer, there's going to be a next book. There can't not be a next book, because you are a storyteller and this is what you do. The only way there won't be a next book is if you were more interested in being published than being a writer. If that's the case, then choosing to self-publish is probably more about vanity than anything else.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but there it is. Look, I really don't have anything against self-publishing. If it's something a person wants to do and they can afford it, I wish them the best of luck. Depending on your reasons I may not understand you, but I will always wish you luck.

What I do not like is when self-publishing gets lumped in under an umbrella term like digital publishing. The term digital publishing, to me, means small press commercial pubs that are digital first / digital only. Examples include Lyrical Press, Loose Id, Samhain, Carina, Noble Romance - there are quite a few. When you're pubbed with these digital presses you get editing, cover art, all the usual stuff - and authors do not pay for these things. So to me there is a huge difference between self-publishing and getting a contract with a small press that happens to be digital. Unfortunately not everyone sees this.

Now you have my thoughts on self-publishing and frankly I hope I won't be revisiting the topic. Next week I'll talk about why I think posting stories for free can be a great thing for a writer to do. Yes, really.

Trotting out that old pony, again

2011-04-05T11:26:00.001-06:00

Once again I’m thinking about self-pubbing vs. traditional publishing. Because, yes, face it, self-published authors, once they’re established, have the potential to earn oodles more money than traditionally published authors. Or so it seems if certain sources are to believed.

But I’m scared to do it. Really. Even though Smashwords makes it ridiculously easy to put material out there, I’m not entirely certain I want to do that. At least not yet. Granted, I’m happy to put out my short stories in that manner. After all, the paying market for short stories isn’t worth it when I consider the amount of effort that goes into the submissions process.

Making my short stories freely available to my readers makes sense. They’re already following me on Twitter or Facebook because they **want** to read my writing. That way my short stories also don’t get lost in anthologies or buried deep in links with online magazines.

My longer works?

Why I keep working through reputable small presses is because a) I don’t have to worry about cover art; b) I have an editor assigned to me (face it, mistakes always creep through, it helps to have a second set of eyes); and c) I don’t have to worry about dealing with vendors.

But… What I will do one day when my first rights revert to me (usually after three to five years) is I’ll start putting my back list upon Smashwords. Now that makes sense. It means I’ll be able to revise and apply a lot of the new tricks I’ve learnt to older works that have already undergone an editing process. I’ll be able to choose my own cover art. It means my older works will be archived under a unified banner.

Yes. I think that is what I’ll do.

Granted, there are works that may be difficult to home some time in the future. Self-publishing will offer me the chance to put them out. This is only after careful consideration, however. My feelings are that if a novel has been rejected countless times, even by the small presses, there’s usually a very good reason for this.

And yes, you know what, no matter what people say, I’m still aiming for that Holy Grail of a book contract with one of the Big Six. What’s nice about publishing now is that authors have a lot more freedom. There’s no such thing as “out of print”.

Follow me on Twitter @nerinedorman or like me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nerine-Dorman-author/173330419365374?v=wall

A dash of BlackMilk

2011-03-29T04:08:00.003-06:00

What I love about being in touch with some of the avant garde happenings in Cape Town is that occasionally I get to play fly on the wall when stuff is created. As you can well imagine, this creates much fodder for my future writings. What I’d like to share with you today is a short film the BlackMilk productions crew created over this past weekend.

My husband is one of the directors and I’ve been behind the scenes for all their films. This is hardly as glamorous as it sounds, let me assure you, but with all the hard work also comes some pretty riveting entertainment.

On Saturday some of the BlackMilk crew dropped by my house so they could work on their shot list. Of course nothing is quite that simple. We’re talking about a bunch of creatives here.

At about 10pm they hauled out our cache of musical instruments and started making a god-awful racket with piano, accordion and violin. Which they recorded (well, of course).

Please bear in mind that none of them could actually **play** any of these instruments with any degree of proficiency.

They then started talking about doing a short film since they’re currently finding creative ways in which they can promote their DVD boxed set. So… On Sunday they got all dressed up, painted and posed…

And if you click through on the link here: http://www.youtube.com/blackmilkproductions#p/a/u/0/Sra94gOiSdI

Granted, I know everyone in this but when I saw the rushes as they came off the camera, I laughed so much I cried. I thought by the second or third time I saw this I’d not laugh as much but I was wrong.

You really have to watch this about two or three times just to get all the facial expressions. One day I’m sure I’ll write a novel about an indie filmmaking crew but for now I’m just stoked that I’m able to see things in action and watch these guys grow in their art.

It's a very inspiring to be surrounded by so many fascinating people and it's definitely making me feel that I'm not the only one fighting against mundania.

The idly curious are welcome to click through here to check out the official BlackMilk website. http://www.blackmilkproductions.com/

Can I have a coffee IV, please?

2011-03-22T01:06:00.002-06:00

It never ends. And I never feel like I’ve done enough. Yesterday was a public holiday in South Africa and my husband and I spent the day at his office. He was busy on some awful newsletter of about 16 pages while I flattened about 40 000 words of editing. Half of this was for a Lyrical Press author I’m working with and the rest was my urban fantasy novel, Inkarna.

But there’s so much work that still needs to happen this year I’m honestly frightened because I don’t know when I’m going to find the time. This is without considering the editing work I do. Next on my “to do” list is second-round edits on my Therése von Willegen novel, Hell’s Music, which is due for line edits at the end of April. I need to finish way before then.

I still have my next urban fantasy novella to revise so I can submit to Lyrical, more vampires in a story entitled What Sweet Music They Make. Then I must finish writing a short fantasy romance story I still don’t have the right title for, though it’s called The Slavemaster’s Daughter. Tentatively. I’m about 6 000 words in. Let’s not even think about that one going anywhere any time soon. I still have to put it through my crit group.

The Black Goat is still languishing on my hard drive. I’ve done a major revision on chapter one but the novel’s been stagnant for such a long time I suspect I’m going to roar through it with massive revisions when I do get there. But let’s place emphasis on when. Ironically, it’s Inkarna that’s going onto the submissions mill way before The Black Goat, which was written more than a year ago.

On top of all this, I still have a safari-style erotic romance to write for the Therése von Willegen brand. And I’ve tentatively started outlining my next epic fantasy. Let’s not even suggest a working title for that one. You’re going to laugh. I’m calling it The Bird Girl because I can’t think of anything else right now.

Between this madness I’m still reading submissions from my existing authors and considering cold submissions that come through Lyrical. And I have a full-time day-job.

How the hell did this happen? Please can someone tell me because I honestly didn’t see this coming. I need another cup of coffee.

Now go and like my Facebook fan page, okay: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nerine-Dorman-author/173330419365374?v=wall

What Color is Your (Character's) Aura?

2011-03-21T09:14:00.005-06:00

Sonya's post about auras reminded me of a book I read once called What Color is Your Aura? The book, which I'm pretty sure I still have around here somewhere, is mostly one huge quiz.

It's an interesting book, even if you don't believe in auras. It's really a book to help you understand your personality.

As an author, I enjoy books like that. Not just for their insight into me, but also for insight into my characters.

Yes, I know I can make my characters do whatever I want them to. But even in the realm of paranormal fiction, I believe the character has to be "realistic." A werewolf must be part human, part wolf. An invisible man must deal with the issue of clothing. At some point a ghost must realize he or she is dead.

Characters must fit the story. If the character isn't believable, the story won't hold up. Therefore, I like those personality quizzes so I have a great idea of how my characters would act in a given situation. (I also look up their Sun and Moon signs for an astrological look into their personalities.)

If you can't tell, I enjoy the character driven stories. In my mind, nothing is as interesting as people and why they do whatever they do. Finding out what color their aura is, what their moon sign is, and even which Michael Jackson dance step they are most like is important to me.

So, what are your favorite personality quizzes? I'd love to know!

A character who sees auras

2011-03-16T14:37:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite things about writing in the paranormal genre is it lets me indulge my curiosity about weird stuff. Actually, that could probably be said about most any genre. But it works really well with paranormal!

There's a funny scene in one of my favorite movies, Almost Famous. The fifteen year old fledgling Rolling Stone music reporter is on the phone with him mom, trying to convince her he's okay and that she has no reason to worry about him being on the road with a rock band. There's a couple of groupies trying to talk to him at the same time, hydroponic pot is mentioned at alarming volume, and then one of the girls starts talking about how she can see his aura. The kid tells his mom he can't hear her and of course HydroPot Groupie thinks he's talking to her. So she starts yelling, "I CAN SEE YOUR AURA! IT'S REALLY PURPLE!" Or something like that, and the poor kid looks like he wants to crawl under a rock.

This horrifying exchange is pretty representative of the average person's view of people who claim they can see auras: hippies high on hydroponic pot, flaky new-age types with fake names like Raven Granola Moonbeam or Crystal Glitter Dragonrider. I find the idea of being able to read auras a bit disconcerting. First let's talk about what an aura is: an energy field that radiates several inches out from the body, with colors that can represent everything from emotions and personality to physical health and psychological state. I wanted to explore what it would be like for a character who could see the aura and interpret what they mean. How old was she when this "auric vision" started? Did she have any understanding as to what she was seeing, have some idea why her vision began to resemble a hazy Impressionist painting? How does she learn to interpret those colors? Does she base her interpretation on something like chakras, witchcraft color correspondences, pure intuition, or a combination of methods? Is she able to turn it off and on, so to speak? Because turning it off would become very important, not only for her peace of mind but in order to respect the privacy of those around her. Think about it - your aura could act as a giant mood ring and tell the reader what you're feeling, whether you want those feelings known publicly or not. Would you want someone to "read" you like that? Would you want such an intimate glimpse into the emotions of others, including random strangers you're in line with at the grocery store?

And if a character were able to see auric energy, what else can they see? Spectral energy? Ghosts? Deciding the answer was "yes, ghosts!" I had my main character for my upcoming release Mojo Queen. Her name is Roxanne Mathis and she is a paranormal investigator who uses her ability to see auras and spectral energy to help people who are in over their heads with supernatural problems. That's not all she uses, but we'll talk about hoodoo another time. :)

Less than a week before release date...

2011-03-15T11:08:00.003-06:00

The day started with good intentions and I actually had the snippet that would lead to me having something vaguely intelligent to relate about being an author but, as per the risks of working in the media industry, things went south fairly quickly. Suffice to say this blog post will be a quick and excited heads up that my urban fantasy novella, The Namaqualand Book of the Dead will be releasing on March 21.

Why should you read it?

It's set in contemporary South Africa, damn it! I'm pulling a Poppy Z Brite move on Cape Town. If New Orleans captured the imagination of dozens of readers, I counter by saying that the Mother City offers equal allure.

Step into my West Coast Gothic romance with a twist of fang.

http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_22&products_id=313

Bright sparks during an otherwise awful week

2011-03-07T23:29:00.002-07:00

Sometimes in the midst of all the dross, some good things do happen. I’m going to be blunt. I had a really terrible time of last week. It was a combination of the pre-production stress my husband’s film production company is going through (I’m talking near-endless meetings almost every night of the week) and also a lot of car trouble.

I find it easier to get by if my home life is running smoothly but last week it didn’t, and it had a horrid knock-on effect on my overall mindset. Coupled with this was the nagging sense that nothing good was happening for my writing career.

Most of us who are published can attest to the fact that things seem to occur in fits and starts. We can go for weeks without any feedback then suddenly get a stunning review or be contacted by someone who’d like to feature our book on their blog. Or, it can go totally the opposite, with a spate of rejections followed by one or two bad reviews. This happens. It’s a see-saw existence and we have to take the highs with the lows.

But I've had two good things happen this past week...

A chance conversation with one of my editors at the newspapers about the pitfalls of self-publishing electronically resulted in her commissioning an article, which was published in The Star before being archived on our website: http://www.iol.co.za/tonight/books/bringing-new-writers-to-book-1.1035338

Then, an added bit of happiness came when one of my reviews also went to print in The Star: http://www.iol.co.za/tonight/books/bullet-1.1035348

I guess life isn’t all bad and, even if it is, it’s important that we, as writers, need to carry on working, blogging, writing, revising and reading. We have to understand that life rarely if ever goes smoothly, and that whatever gets thrown our way, no matter how horrid, merely prepares us for the next wave of stress. And, you know what? The next time something ugly rears its head, we’re better prepared for dealing with it.

And there will always be a few bright sparks along the way.

Oh, and you can always "like" me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nerine-Dorman-author/173330419365374?v=wall

Every little bit counts.

Girl power!

2011-03-07T09:18:00.003-07:00

Love her or hate her, she has shaped at least two generations of women. She's a doctor, a lawyer, a princess, a fighter pilot, and a rock star. She has family, friends, and a steady man.

She's changed a bit in the past 50+ years. She was originally a woman of "ill reputation," even, though she's long since lost that image.

She has a car, a house, a swimming pool, and pets. She is known world-wide and her very name conjures deep emotion from many people.

You name it, she can do it.

Barbie turns 52 this week. She doesn't look a day over 19.

I'll admit I enjoyed my Barbie. My mom enjoyed hers. Both my girls enjoyed theirs. I'll also admit that I'm not a big fan of the "shape" Barbie is in. I'd much rather her be more...well...normal. Maybe 10 or 15 pounds overweight. A crooked smile. Her nose a little off-center. A little smaller "up top," as my grandmother would say.

But for all her faults, Barbie did one thing really, really well. She taught little girls that they can be anything. She provided an additional outlet for imagination. That's the reason my girls had Barbies and that's what I consider to be her biggest legacy.

Here's to another generation of girl power!

Mimosas At Dusk

2011-03-02T09:00:00.001-07:00

Mojo Queen will be out in two months and to gear up for the release I've got two short stories about main character Roxanne Mathis and her best friend Daniel to post as free downloads. First up is Mimosas At Dusk.

Blurb:

Paranormal investigator Roxanne Mathis thinks her latest job is a simple ghost eviction. When she discovers the ghost might not be the scariest thing in the house, it will either send her screaming into the night or be the beginning of her strangest friendship.

Excerpt:

I knew it wouldn’t work, though. This stubborn old ghost called for a serious banishing. Holy water, bells, candles, the works. Damn it, I might even have to chant. There was a bag full of all the supplies I’d need in the trunk of my car, but was it really a good idea to do this with a dead body in the foyer? There would be enough awkward questions from cops. I didn’t need to add, “why did you wait so long to call 911?” to the list. I glanced around for a phone, distracted by a soft moan.

The dead guy on the floor, the one with no pulse and a cracked skull, sat up and gave me a wide grin. “Guess I shouldn’t have got in the ghost’s way, huh?”

One word screamed through my brain as I gaped at him: FANGS.

Mimosas At Dusk is 3840 words, about ten pages. It is available for download in three formats:

PDF

MOBI for Kindle

EPUB for Nook/Sony

This should give you a little taste of what the Mojo world is like and hopefully serve as an entertaining introduction to Roxie and Daniel. You don't have to read this or the second short story to read Mojo Queen - think of them as extra goodies. But you will have to wait for Mojo Queen to meet Blake the Sexy Sorcerer. ;-)

I hope you enjoy Mimosas at Dusk and feel free to spread the word. Blog it, Tweet it, Facebook it, even (gasp!) speak to someone face to face about it. :-) And feel free to let me know what you think - you know the only thing a writer loves more than fresh coffee is feedback!

Happy reading!

The story behind Inkarna

2011-03-01T00:37:00.002-07:00

Ashton Kennedy wasn’t a nice guy. He cheated on his girlfriend, knocked up a powerful drug lord’s sister, and abused vast quantities of illegal narcotic substances. The guy who ran him over with a big shiny SUV was doing the world a favour. His very male and rather tattooed body is the last place Elizabeth Rae Perry – a member of an ancient Egyptian cult – expected to reincarnate in, instead of the three-year-old girl she’d been promised.

Not only must she now come to terms with her new existence in the body of a rather disagreeable man, and clean up the mess he made of his life, she also has to unravel the mystery of why House Adamastor’s chapter house is standing empty and find a way to protect a dangerous secret she had no idea she was supposed to keep. As if fate couldn’t deal her another blow, she has also attracted the attention of a very malicious and potentially dangerous ghost.

* * * *

Well, there you have it. My current “heart” book is complete and subbed out for its initial round of submissions. Inkarna was sparked by death. The first was that of a musician who was and is one of my heroes. I had a peculiar dream about him the week he died, before I knew he’d gone. I dreamt that I, as a woman, was walking around in this 6-foot body, shouldering past people, somehow in his frame. The disjointedness of the difference in how a woman and a man move really freaked me out. It was one of those dreams that didn’t just vanish with the dawn. I wrote it down in my journal. A few weeks later I had another dream. I was having a conversation with this man then had a point of lucidity. I told him, “You’re dead,” and he replied, “But you’re dreaming.” It was just weird. It left me rattled for days. I still get gooseflesh when I think of those two dreams and their impact on my subconscious.

Then one of my best friends died. Shaen had been sick for a while. I’d been editing his book and had always held a wild hope he’d somehow beat the cancer and we’d one day sit around a table chugging back beers again. That never happened. Shaen passed away on Halloween. Typical of him. Gotta give him points for style. I cried my heart out for him, for the guilt of being one left behind, for not having (in my mind) been a good enough friend. Because I never went to see him when he’d been in hospital. I couldn’t face the trauma of seeing a once-vital man reduced to an animated corpse on life support.

We gave him a great send-off, Egyptian style. He wrote his own funerary rites and we held an awe-inspiring celebration for him on the banks of the Crocodile River, hosted at a private lodge near Johannesburg. I dreamt about Shaen too, about three days after his death. We stood on a beach, and he was as I remembered him, in his better days. We spoke about his book, and my sorrow that he’d not been able to finish his work. I felt in a way I had to take up where he’d left off and he told me not to, that it was enough that his work had touched me, and that I must be true to my art and my magic and not take on the words of others.

Inkarna came into being round about the time of Shaen’s death but my entire year had been tinged with a grief, of a constant gnawing strain that eventually resulted in my own emotional breakdown. I stared death in the face and I realised I wasn’t ready to go.

What if we had a second chance, to put things right?

A week after my meltdown, a friend of ours committed suicide.

On December 28 I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to write Inkarna and I didn’t stop until the first week of February. I had to write this book. It was catharsis, a way to come to terms with my own mortality, a way to put all the pain I’ve been carrying in me, the sorrow, into words.
I can step back now. I feel relieved. Empty. Ready to go onto other projects. In many ways last year was hell. The person who’s writing these words has a clean slate. She’s colder, more in command. That other part of her has died and it’s good to have clarity of mind to continue.

Magical Food

2011-02-28T09:16:00.002-07:00

Did you know that food can be magical?

I don't mean just that it helps your body. I don't mean the process of converting food to energy, either.

Food can hold magical properties.

Consider the whole idea of "comfort food." There are just some foods that make you feel better, aren't there? For me, it's chocolate. Thankfully, I have a husband who knows and appreciates that fact.

I wanted to share a recipe for some magical food that I mention in my book Ghost Mountain. Cerri Baker makes a Gypsy Casserole as comfort food. This casserole is said to help with clearing a person's thoughts—something Cerri really needs!

I found this in A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook and wanted to share it with you.

That's Cerri's comfort food. Although she is a huge fan of chocolate, too. What's your comfort food?

Where to from here?

2011-02-22T00:35:00.002-07:00

People seem to be under the impression that being a published author is glamorous, that there’s oodles of money involved and there’s some sort of mystique attached to getting a book contracted. I’m almost sure I’ve blogged along a similar vein before. To be honest, whether you get contracted to a small press operating out of someone’s home in NYC or a big publishing house in London offering a five-digit advance, there’s still a helluva lot of slog involved.

Granted, with the small presses, you end up looking forward to those monthly or quarterly royalty statements. With the big book deals, you worry about whether you’ll earn out that lovely advance your revenue service probably snitches about a quarter of before you get to spend it. One means working on the whiff of an oil rag; the other adds a bit of performance anxiety. What if my agent hates my next novel? That sort of thing.

Ja, hey, so I’m still languishing with the small presses. I should look back on my career at this point and feel some sort of thrill, since I’ve now published two urban fantasy novels, an erotic romance (under my Therése von Willegen brand) and an upcoming urban fantasy novella to be released in March.

But I sometimes have these days, like today, where I’m feeling the ache of burning muscles and exhaustion. And I understand that no one ever said it was easy. It’s a slow crawl forward at snail’s pace while other authors seem to live charmed existences. Hell, stabbing myself repeatedly through the hand with a ballpoint pen is less painful than being an author.

It’s not easy maintaining perspective but I need to remember where I was in 2008 before I made my first sale. I need to remember where I was: hopeful, reeling from countless rejections. A lot of people say they want to write a novel then never finish it. Some write novel after novel but then don’t bother polishing their text, putting out one title after the other in a blizzard of sub-standard schlock.

I need to remember why I write. I write because I have stories that need telling. I write because if I don’t, my life is smaller, empty and colourless. I write because words are magic, that shape my world and touch the lives of others. I write because I have to, because there are stories itching at the tips of my fingers. I must never forget that. It’s not about that PayPal deposit at the end of the month because, to be quite honest, I’d be starving pretty quickly if I had to rely on that pittance.

And, while I won’t be giving up my day-job anytime soon, I will continue to write and breathe life into my dystopian visions because, as broken as my characters are, as twisted and dark as the tales are that hit the screen, they are a small way in which I can continue to live my dreams. The best part is that I can share these dreams with my readers, and drag them into other worlds for a little while. If we lose the ability to dream then there’s no point to living, is there?

A Valentine's Day history lesson

2011-02-14T09:01:00.005-07:00

Isn't it interesting that I would be the one to post on February 14? I think I'm the only one at Frightening Journeys who doesn't write even the hint of romance.

Clearly the Universe has a twisted sense of humor.

Or maybe the entire celebration is a little twisted.

Do you know the history of Valentine's Day? Sometime around the year 278 AD, a priest in Rome disagreed with the government. See, the ruler (Claudius the Cruel) decided to ban marriage. His thought was that if the men were single, they would be much more willing to go fight in some unpopular war. I'm sure it made sense at the time....

Anyway, Valentine thought that was kind of a dumb law. So, much like my father with the speed limit, he decided to ignore it.

When Claudius found out, he was livid. Really. He did some ranting and raving and decided that Valentine should be put to death.

Bad news for Valentine, but it didn't stop the priest. Legend has it that while in the slammer, Valentine befriended the jailer's daughter. Before his execution, he left her a goodbye note signed "From Your Valentine."

He was put to death on February 14.

Today we celebrate the day of his death by giving chocolates and flowers to each other.

A little twisted, don't you think?

Happy birthday, Laura!

2011-02-07T09:18:00.007-07:00

Today is the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie series and one of South Dakota's most famous daughters.

I didn't know that it was her birthday until I was searching for inspiration for today's blog post. I confess that I wasn't a big Little House fan as a kid. I didn't care much for horse books, or the idea of living on the prairie.

My youngest daughter, however, went through a big Little House phase. She is a huge history lover and the idea of Westward expansion fascinated her for a time. As an adult, then, I became well acquainted with the Little House story. I've even been to the family homestead in DeSmet, South Dakota, and seen the shack where Carrie was born in Kansas.

Even if you've never read the books or seen the television show (which ran from 1974 though 1982 and can still be found on re-runs), you know who Laura is. Isn't that amazing?

It made me think of what stories did inspire me as a child, so I thought I would share some of my favorites.

Anything by Dr. Seuss: Nothing can be too wrong with the world when you can be silly and laugh.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell: This story of a young girl who risks her life for her brother only to be left alone for years on an island is inspirational.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle: Another story of a young lady who does something incredible to save those she loves.
Animal Farm by George Orwell: Those who know me won't be surprised that I really enjoy satire and Orwell is one of the best.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis: Anyone surprised that I selected a series where children are empowered to save their world? I didn't think so.

I know there are more, but these were the first five I could think of. Now I ask you: What stories or authors from your childhood have stuck with you?

Villainy is in the eye of the beholder

2011-02-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!

My tables - meet it is I set it down

That one may smile and smile and be a villain.

Without a doubt the best villains are the ones that are such fully-formed complex characters, it's not hard to imagine them as the protagonist in their own story. Motivation is a big factor in this: is the villain evil just for the sake of being evil, or is there something more interesting going on underneath the surface? Something that makes you understand why the villain is doing all these villainous things, even if you don't agree with their actions.

Here's a kind of sideways example:

Laertes is a young man who sees his family destroyed. His sister Ophelia is treated horribly by her suitor, a man who seems to toy with her affections before ultimately rejecting her. Then that same man murders their father Polonius. It's a case of mistaken identity, but the killer shows no remorse. Worst of all, Ophelia is driven mad by grief and heartbreak from these events, taking her own life. When offered a chance at revenge, Laertes of course accepts. In the end, though, both Laertes and the man who destroyed his family, a prince named Hamlet, die by a poisoned sword.

But the play's not called Laertes, is it? I called this a sideways example because while Laertes wasn’t a villain in Shakespeare's play, I do think it's a good example of how one person's protagonist is another person's villain. Meaning Hamlet, of course. I used to have kind of a thing for Hamlet. Not a literary crush, exactly, more like a mild obsession. I saw him as this punk slacker who couldn’t live up to his destiny, and consequently was relieved to greet death. This eventually transformed into a mild obsession with Kurt Cobain, but that's a different topic. It's been a number of years since I read the entire play instead of leafing through the pages that mark my favorite quotes. My favorite line will always be this:

In my heart there was a kind of fighting that would not let me sleep.

There's another one that I have found myself looking at frequently. It fits with the sideways view of the melancholy prince as a mad villain.

Tis now the very witching time of night,

When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out

Contagion to this world. Now I could drink hot blood

And do such bitter business as the day

Would quake to look on.

Dare I say it - Vampire Hamlet?

Wrapping grey matter around new technology

2011-02-01T01:52:00.002-07:00

Sometimes the universe makes decisions for me, decisions like “Thou shalt have an electronic reader device other than the laptop or your computer at work.”

Last week a friend of mine in Oz told me she had a spare Kindle floating around, which she kindly donated to my cause until we discovered that the thing’s lithium batteries create a bit of a tizz with the postal services. Hence, I told her not to bother…only to have another friend drop down from upcountry for a visit, and give me his old Sony Reader, which he isn’t using anymore.

It’s taken me less than a week to fall irrevocably in love with my new Reader. No more getting my nice books munched at the bottom of my bag. No more having to haul out the laptop to read ebooks. I can read in bright sunlight. I can make the text bigger. The document opens on the same page where I left off.

The Reader is compact, it’s slim and it doesn’t weigh as much as a book (or at least the doorstoppers I'm accustomed to reading). I’ve now got almost 90 books stored on it, with plenty of space for more. There are two SD card slots as well, so I can expand with further memory, should I need to. And, after hearing some of the frightening capacities of the memory cards coming onto the market nowadays…

I’m a happy puppy. A really happy puppy.

Because, to be quite honest, I’ve run out of shelf space at home. It’s chronic. I have to start making some hard decisions about letting some books go. And, while I’ll always have a bit of a book problem **laughs** I’m so chuffed I’m now fully into this ebook thing. It feels more “real” now that I’ve a reading device in hand.

I’ve been keeping pace with some of the changes the publishing industry is undergoing, and I’m glad I got my toe in the door about two years ago because I’ve a feeling this whole electronic publishing shindig is still going to do some amazing things for a lot of authors who wouldn’t ordinarily have had an opportunity.

I don’t care much for the attitude that “ebooks” aren’t real books. To me it’s the words that count, how the content of what I’m reading makes me feel. It’s not about holding paper in my hand. New forms of media are changing the way we exchange information, and I embrace this change with open arms.

Gone are the days with me stressing about a package in the mail, of waiting sometimes more than a month for my precious book to arrive from the US or UK. What I’m getting now is instant gratification to feed my reading weevil.

Write what you know

2011-01-25T03:40:00.001-07:00

This is an old adage: write what you know. As far as possible I try to apply it to my writing but sometimes this does require that I go out and do stuff I wouldn’t ordinarily do. Like this past weekend, for instance. I climbed a mountain in my area to specifically visit a cave I’d heard a lot about while I was growing up.

I’ve a scene in my current work in progress, an urban fantasy novel entitled Incarna, where my main character climbs the same route late at night during a storm to go hide an artefact.

When I wrote the initial scene, I’d envisioned the route, based on a vague knowledge of the area and a contour map I downloaded off the internet. Not happy with the results, I decided some practical experience was necessary so, on Sunday, myself and my long-suffering husband put on our walking shoes and embarked on our little jaunt.

While my idea of timing was pretty spot-on, the route wasn’t. I’d chosen the wrong route in my novel because the quicker route proved to be the one I’d considered more difficult by looking at the map.

More importantly, while I’ve explored caves in the Table Mountain range before, I’d not gone as deep into a cave in this region before. I’d imagined the floor to be sandy, the rocks dry. In real life they weren’t. They were quite damp and, inside the mountain it was cold, and almost frigid, with the constant drip of moisture in some areas.

When my hands came in contact with the stone, my skin came away with a layer of sludge. There was no convenient sandy floor but uneven rocks. Footing was quite treacherous.

The only happy coincidence was that in my story, I’d written in a small chamber with a narrow lateral passage where my main character squeezes in to hide his artefact. Imagine my surprise when I encountered almost the exact same kind of passage in real life.

Most of what I write is based on some sort of practical experience. I feel this gives a nice ring of authenticity to my stories. While the internet may provide a good starting point, I encourage authors to go out there and try things for themselves.

Are you writing about a mortician? Approach a funeral home in your area and talk to an actual mortician. If you’re not squeamish, go and shadow them for a day or two. Are you writing about someone who’s into fashion design? Do the same. Go out, talk them, see what their day-to-day work is like.

Authors are, by their very natures, Jacks of all trades. We know a little about everything. Make it your mission to engage in novelty at least once a month. Do something out of your usual routine. You’ll be surprised at what you may discover and how this can enrich your writing.

* * * *

My next urban fantasy tale, The Namaqualand Book of the Dead, releases on March 21. Read an excerpt here: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_22&products_id=313

Is there such a thing as a good bad guy?

2011-01-23T13:51:00.002-07:00

Well, yeah. Kinda. Since I write mysteries, I look at the villain a little differently. In my fictional world, the villains usually do some seriously nasty things—murder, kidnapping, theft, whatever.

I was told once, and I don't remember exactly where, that the antagonist is the hero of his or her own story.

My villains think they're doing the right thing. They usually aren't, but they think they are. Sometimes it's a case of doing the wrong things for the right reasons. At least in their minds.

That's what makes a good villain. Very few people in the non-fiction world are pure good or pure evil. A variety of factors make us who we are: our environment growing up, our friends, our families, even our eduction. None of us live in a bubble. Everything effects us, even if we don't realize it at the time.

One of the things about fiction is that we—as authors—can manipulate the lives of our characters in ways we can't do with the real people of the world.

So what makes a good villain? Being multi-demtional. Knowing that they think they're doing something right. Them having a reason for it (even if the reason isn't logical to the rest of the world).

What I want to know, though, is this: who is your favorite villain and why?

Team Brat

2011-01-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

One of the topics that Nerine suggested for me last week is this: how does your environment inspire your writing? I didn't think I'd be able to discuss this topic because I didn't think I felt a strong enough connection to my environment for it to inspire my writing. For the first half of my life I was raised on military installations in various parts of the US, as well as Japan and Germany. The longest we ever lived in one place was two and a half years, and frequently we stayed for less time than that. I had very little stability growing up and never had the chance to be anything but an outsider. I thought that would change as an adult and I tried to adapt to living in a small town. I could not have been more wrong. Despite all the years I've lived here, it still doesn't feel like home. I don't think any "place" will ever feel like home. My home is a person instead of a place - my husband.

So if I don't have the standard place or environment that most people think of as home, is it possible that has had some influence over my writing? A brief exchange with a friend on Facebook got me thinking about that. Okay, yes, it was either figure this out or switch to another topic. The more I thought about this question, the more I wanted an answer, even if it was one I didn't want to publish in a blog post. My friend asked me about other writers that grew up as military brats and I couldn't think of any at that moment, but I did a Google search later. Turns out I'd forgotten all about Pat Conroy, mostly because I've never been brave enough to read The Great Santini. My search also led me to this fascinating Wiki page about military brat subculture. I found myself nodding in agreement with quite a bit of it, recognizing some of both the positive and negative patterns in myself and my life. This passage especially struck a chord: a pattern (for those military brats who do not choose military service) of work that is more independent (self-employment / avoidance of direct subservience to authority figures) and along those lines also favoring creative and artistic professions that offer more independence. That made me think of Kris Kristofferson because he is my favorite famous brat, and then surprisingly, my own characters.

So far my main characters have had certain things in common. They are all outsiders to some extent, usually a great extent. They are all independent, and if they answer to any authority figure it's out of personal loyalty and not some kind of corporate loyalty. They are all either other themselves or unusually accepting of anyone other. (See the anti-racism section of the Wiki article. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, makes my blood boil more than the small-minded cowardice of bigotry.)

Let me break this down a little more with specific characters. Both Jessie of Bring on the Night and Roxanne of Mojo Queen believe in using their supernatural gifts to help people. I grew up around people in uniform who believed in something greater than themselves, and I believe that is a huge part of why I love hero stories. Putting yourself on the line for someone else's benefit is an amazing thing to do. Jessie has a boss but is mostly autonomous. Roxie runs her own business as a paranormal investigator and root worker. Aislinn, the main character of my Paranormal Beat series, has an editor in chief but she's her own managing editor and pretty much does as she pleases. And I recognized very early on in the writing of the first Paranormal Beat novella that standing up against bigotry and for treating all people with kindness and basic decency was a deep underlying theme. I think that's a pretty common theme in a lot of paranormal fiction, though. Right on the first page of the first Sookie Stackhouse novel vampires are referred to as having come out of the coffin, and there is nothing subtle about the "God Hates Fangs" sign briefly glimpsed in the opening credits of True Blood. Having grown up with people of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, it is so hard for me to understand the deliberate demonization of people who are just, well, people. The monster metaphors help me to write about this without dissolving into tears and rage at what feels like a betrayal by some of everything good I was raised to believe. They also help me to accept my status as an outsider. That's something I thought would surely eventually change, but it hasn't and I guess it never will. So I write about outsiders, and they do the best they can with what they've got to help people, to stand up for what's right, and to keep their souls and their integrity intact.

I guess that was some pretty powerful inspiration after all.

Good writing habits

2011-01-17T23:55:00.003-07:00

It's heartening to know I can do it: bettering my previous score for NaNo. I got to 30 000 words for the 2009 NaNoWriMo then ground to a halt when my day-job bit me on my posterior. And yes... that unfinished epic is languishing on my hard drive somewhere. I suspect it's also another one of my "lost" novels.

I started writing Incarna on December 28 and I'm now just shy of 60 000 words. How do I do it, you may ask? I've been writing almost 3 000 words every day, though I don't beat myself over the head if I don't quite make it, for whatever reason. This is on top of my day-job and editing obligations for my publisher.

To be quite honest, I don't know how, save that I'm very disciplined in my approach to working. While I do spend a bit of time involved in social networking (reading blogs, Facebooking and Twitter), when I work, I unplug myself from cyberspace and go hide either in the lounge, sprawled on the couch, or in my bedroom.

I work in bursts, which means I'll start by reading 10 pages of a submission, edit 10 pages of a novel then reward myself by writing a page of my own work. This kind of round usually takes about 3/4 of an hour. Then I get up, fold some laundry, water plants or feed the animals, check my mail, and go back to the couch.

Granted, this works when I'm home all day. But on an ordinary work day? I get up at 5.30am, feed animals, have coffee, check mail for 15 minutes, get ready and catch the 7.20am train to town. I then work for 3/4 on the train, usually handling 10 pages of edits for my publisher then treating myself to my own writing until we arrive in the CBD. During lunch I usually do the same kind of editing cycle as I would on the train. The only time I have to read for pleasure is an hour on the train going home during the afternoon. This is my chill-out time, because when I get home, I wash dishes, feed the animals (including the husband), allow myself half an hour to reply to emails... and start with an hour or three of reading subs, editing and writing.

I don't watch TV anymore. Personally, it bores me to death. I have what I fondly refer to as a YouTube attention span. Anything over six minutes and I lose interest.

Also, another thing, I divide my writing time into two phases: writing and revising. I don't write new words while I'm revising. I simply can't give my revisions the kind of attention they deserve if I'm emotionally invested in laying down a first draft.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you too can write a novel in a month or two. Do so by giving yourself a deadline, and make it your goal to write the required word count every day. Identify times of the day you can use for this, even if it means getting up an hour earlier every day. If you really want to do this thing, you can. Then get your butt on the chair and write. You'll find it becomes easier the more you get used to the routine. But do remember to allow yourself to do some of the fun things between, without them becoming distractions.

Environmental factors

2011-01-17T04:47:00.001-07:00

Since Sonya so wonderfully asked for topics and Nerine so graciously gave some ideas, I'm going to use them!

Nerine's first question was "How does your environment inspire your writing?" Well, let me tell you mine does. In just about every way.

In Ghost Mountain, the murder occurs at Devils Tower, just 100 miles from my home. In the sequel, the murder takes place at Bear Butte, 40 miles from home. Obviously, my location is important to my work. Anyone who has ever visited the Black Hills of South Dakota can attest to the beauty of the area.

But writing doesn't happen there. Yes, I may get inspired by the beauty which surrounds me, but I don't write outside. Especially not in South Dakota's winters. It was -15 F last week! I didn't want to walk out to start the car, let alone sit out there an write!

My inside writing environment isn't always the most conducive to work, however. There are days my house is more like a zoo than a house. Well, I do have four cats. And three dogs. And two kids. And a husband. So one of the kids has "flown the coup" but she still lives in town (hooray!). The other is a senior in high school and looking forward to leaving for college in the fall. But I take my mom duties very seriously and have been known to stop what I'm doing if either of them need something—even if it's just to talk. Hubby is in a class by himself as far as time commitments. You'd think that since we are both home all day, every day, it would be easier to have him wait, but I find that I drop my projects when he asks. Oh! And don't forget my other job. Yes, I may work from home, but it's still a job.

With all these distractions, I often find myself...well, distracted.

So what do I do? For starters, I have been known to give the "Evil Mom Death Glare" to anyone brave enough to enter my office when they know I'm working. It's the same glare that tells them not to bother me on the phone unless they are bleeding or dead. Doesn't always work, however. I've also been guilty of the phrase "just give me a minute" before doing something as mundane as starting dinner. Often this will cause them to cook, or at least fend for themselves. Not always the best solution, but it works. And no one in the house has starved while I finish a scene.

My environment provides both positives and negatives. But doesn't everyone's?

Help a blogger out

2011-01-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here I am once again without a blog topic. So I'm going to ask you, Dear Reader, what would you like to see here on Wednesdays? What sort of topics are you interested in, what questions would you like answered? Because at this point about all I've got is live-blogging my Great Buffy/Angel Rewatch of 2011 Event. Once I actually start doing that, which I haven't yet.

Any ideas?

Suggestions?

Please?

Pretty please, with sugar on top. ;-)

Back in the Saltmines, again...

2011-01-11T02:32:00.003-07:00

I'm quite surprised I've lasted this long. By the middle of 2011, I will have worked for the same company, a national South African newspaper publisher, for six years. Before that I'd never lasted more than two years before terminal boredom set in.

Granted, my day-job isn't the most inspiring, but it has opened doors for me to write lifestyle and travel-orientated editorial, which is published nationally. I've turned what could have been a very boring day-job into something fun and challenging, but it does require going beyond the call of duty and putting in a lot of extra hard work I don't get paid for.

What I realised this past week or so while I was on leave, is that I really enjoy my freelance work as a content editor. I've also realised that if this job were to ever pay the right kind of money, I possess the discipline to turn this into a full-time profession.

And I've really revelled in a fortnight of hiding in my Treehaus in the far south of the Cape Peninsula. After the year I've had, this time of isolation was so necessary, just to catch my breath and establish fresh current for 2011. I'm cautiously optimistic about what this year will bring and have managed to get some quiet time.

What struck me as well during my leave was that I really enjoyed working from home, on my content editing. Not only do I have the satisfaction of seeing an author's work go out into the world, but there's the quiet joy of giving authors that toehold in the publishing industry.

When I see how authors bloom and gain confidence, it's a source of joy and wonder. With each first contract offered, I recapture some of the excitement when a letter that said, "Dear author, thank you for querying, but..." reads "Dear author, we are pleased to offer you a contract..."

And when those first good reviews come in, I recall the hours of hard work and I feel that warm fuzzy glow knowing I was partially responsible for shaping these words that have pleased readers.

There's something subtle and satisfying in seeing new cover art for the first time, remembering the sometimes hesitant query letters I read when I reviewed a submission of a previously unpublished author, how a manuscript has gone from a MS Word document to a final .pdf with lush cover art.

And, while some of my charges are going on to bigger, more ambitious projects, this gives me a sense of accomplishment for having been there to give them that much-needed boost so they can go out there and realise their dreams.

Yes, I'm a facilitator of dreams, and I love it. And, while it sometimes stings that I can't do this full-time, I'm doing it because it's something that adds quality not only to my own creativity, but to those of others who are also prone to dreaming.

The Precious

2011-01-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I don't feel like writing. Sometimes all I want to do is read. Like the past week, while I am enjoying having a brand new Kindle. Right now it is far more enchanting to me than the idea of working on my own manuscripts. This is especially true today, now that I am home from the dentist and my mouth hurts from getting a shot and a filling. All I want to do is curl up on the couch with my puppy and my Kindle and read.

My husband commented last night that I seemed to be reading more now that I have a Kindle. That's true, and I wonder if it's because it's a shiny new toy or will the device really change my reading habits. I can tell you it's easier to hold than a paperback, certainly easier than a hardback, and much easier than reading on my laptop. Once the new wears off and I've burned through all these books I bought, I'll have to pay attention to what happens with my reading habits and see how having an ereader changes them.

Not only am I curious about the amount I'll be reading, I'm curious if this will change what I read. There are a lot of classics in the public domain available for free - will having a Kindle finally be the thing that gets me to read Pride and Prejudice? I would like to read more classics, but I so love a good trashy genre novel, so I'm not going to hold myself to any lofty expectations. We'll see how it goes.

I have not yet named my Kindle but I keep thinking I should. I thought of calling it Giles, after my favorite fictional librarian. Or maybe just The Precious. Let's pretend for a moment I have the skill to photoshop a picture of Gollum holding a Kindle. Sadly I don't, which is too bad because that would be an awesome picture. I do have this, though:

My Kindle, with my book!

Anyone else get a new ereader this holiday season? What do you think of it, and do you think it will change your reading habits?

Here's links where you can get Bring on the Night for your Kindle or Nook. It's quite the action-packed little story with a great kick-ass girl vampire, and I guarantee 100% of my royalties from your purchase will go toward more books for ~~The Precious~~ Giles!*

*Let's just blame any goofiness evident in this post on that trip to the dentist, shall we? My mouth hurts. :(

Once upon a time...

2011-01-03T06:14:00.004-07:00

Last week I blogged about my goals for 2011. This week I thought I'd look back a little.

I didn't always want to be a novelist. When I was really little, I wanted to be a police officer just like my dad and my grandmother. That didn't last too long, however. You see, I really dislike exercise. And police officers need to be fit.

My sense of justice didn't disappear with my change in career plans. After police work, I being a lawyer would be great fun. Oh, I didn't want to be just any lawyer—I wanted to be Perry Mason. I wanted to end every cross examination with a brilliant declaration of "who dun-it" because of course, my client would always be innocent.

I don't remember who convinced me that becoming a lawyer was a bad idea. It could have been my dad, who probably wondered how he would afford to send me to college and law school on a cop's salary. Whoever opened my eyes to the reality of a lawyer did so fairly quickly and my law school dreams were short lived.

I've said before that I was first published at the age of 7 in Daisy Magazine, the official Girl Scout magazine at the time. I always wrote, but it wasn't until a high school journalism class that the writing bug defined my life. That's when I decided to be a reporter.

Law enforcement and the media seem to have a mutual distrust of each other, so Dad wasn't all that excited about his oldest pursuing a career in that field. But he's always been supportive of his daughter's goals, so he "sucked it up."

It wasn't until I graduated college and couldn't find a job as a reporter (I did, however, work as a production tech for a local television station for a bit) that I opted to seriously work on fiction.

So what does this have to do with my novels now? I think it's one of the reasons I write mysteries. Obviously I've always wanted the "good guys" to win and justice to prevail. We all know that doesn't happen in the "real world" but in fiction we expect things to end that way. My protagonist is a free lance writer, which helps me use my own experiences and eduction for Cerri's benefit. And I've been able to use my dad as a great "expert" for my law enforcement characters.

I believe that people learn from every experience and every thought. What you learn, what you take away, is partially up to the individual. People just need to open their eyes, their ears, their minds, and their hearts to learn. As a novelist, I've been able to use my previous wants and desires in my fiction. Those same wants and desires allowed me to grow into the person I am today.

Am I were I thought I would be career-wise? Nope.

But I am where I'm supposed to be.

Adventures in urban fantasy: the birth of Incarna

2010-12-28T02:05:00.004-07:00

Today is the official day I started work on my next "heart" book, an urban fantasy entitled Incarna, which, depending on how good I am, may be complete and revised in time for the Angry Robot open submissions month in March. Yes, I know I'm being ambitious but hell, it doesn't hurt to try, does it?

So, where does Incarna come from? It's born from my love of the esoteric, which makes me ask all sorts of questions about life, the universe and the concept of Self. The question that sparked Incarna was: what if there were magicians (or in this case groups of sometimes opposing houses or factions of magicians) who could reincarnate throughout the centuries, each group or individual jealously guarding secrets from each other.

Today I officially got stuck into the first draft I outlined recently with my dear dark brother, Andrew, who helped me tweak motivations for the assorted characters. We spent a very late night and early morning plotting, after attending the funeral of a close friend of ours. I must admit I was inspired by the ritual, which was based on a rite from the Papyrus of Ani, part of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Incarna is redolent with Egyptian imagery. In fact, the concepts for the human soul are very much based on the ancient Egyptian ideas of the various components. Other themes include love, justice and making amends. My main character, Lizzie, returns to an incarnated form after spending time in the limbo state. Only, things go wrong. Instead of returning in the body of the comatose and braindead three-year-old girl that had been earmarked for take-over, she reincarnates in the body of a twenty-one-year-old barman and gothic metal musician.

Ashton Kennedy wasn't a nice guy. He cheated on his girlfriend, knocked up a powerful drug lord's sister, and abused vast quantities of illegal narcotic substances. The guy who ran him over with a big shiny SUV was doing the world a favour. His very male and rather tattooed body is the last place Elizabeth Rae Perry, with her Victorian sensibilities, expected to get stuck in. But Lizzie needs to make do. Not only must she figure out what went wrong with her intended reincarnation, but she must patch up the life of her host and deal with an angry ghost. Lizzie finds love in unexpected places while saving the world from a powerful House, hellbent on uncovering the secret she didn't know she was supposed to protect.

Watch this space for further updates!

Nichole's writing goals

2010-12-27T06:25:00.004-07:00

I am NOT a fan of resolutions. They get broken way too often. Just the phrase "New Year's Resolution" seems to beg to be broken. Maybe that's because resolutions are often just too vague: "lose weight," "get fit," "get organized," "be a better person." Seriously? While each of those resolutions is admirable, anyone who sticks with just those statements is doomed to fail.

Goals, however, are much more practical. Maybe it's because resolutions seem more...lofty. Goals are more measurable.

Therefore, I don't make resolutions. I do, though, make goals. Usually very detailed ones and in every aspect of my life. Yes, I have been accused of planning a little too much.

Okay, let's be honest. Resolutions. Goals. It's all semantics. As Juliet would say, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But there's also a perception. If someone created a beautiful black rose with a white streak through it and called it a "skunk rose" would we expect it to smell sweet? Probably not.

In that spirit, then, here are my 2011 writing goals:

Write 10,000 words each week. I'm not saying a certain number of words each day, or even write at a certain time each day. I just want to get 10,000 words on screen (since I don't write on paper!) each and every week. That doesn't count editing. Just new words.
Finish Sleeping Bears. This is Cerri's second adventure and takes place almost a year after Ghost Mountain. I have a solid start, but I need to finish it.
Get a really good start on Day of the Dead. Yes, this would be Cerri's third adventure. Yes, I know I haven't finished book two. But I had a really great idea and I had to write THAT down.
Market better. That means using Twitter and Facebook more to my advantage. Keeping my website up-to-date. Heck, that even means being better at blogging. Wish me luck...
Keep track. No goals are worth thinking up if you can't measure them. I plan to create a spreadsheet to track my words written. That should help keep the other goals attainable.

There you have it. Five goals I've set for my writing career in 2011. Are they attainable? I think so. But, like anything else, it will take hard work and dedication to achieve them. Wish me luck!

Words! Words! Words!

2010-12-21T00:18:00.003-07:00

One of the problems of being both author and editor happens when said sad individual (me) tries to read for pleasure. I wouldn’t be in this sorry mess if it weren’t for the fact that I love reading. The blame can be dropped squarely in JRR Tolkien’s lap, as well as subsequent authors such as Ursula K Leguin, David Eddings, Ann McCaffrey, Neil Gaiman, Poppy Z Brite and others, who filled my teenaged head with the wild notion that I, too, could one day write books or pursue a career in publishing.

Granted, nowadays, my time for reading has been curtailed severely. I sneak in ebooks while I work (one of the benefits of .PDF documents, which can conveniently be minimised) and read for exactly one hour each day on the train in the afternoons. These novels are, invariably, review books. My feedback is published with a review website, as well as South African newspapers.

Review books are, generally, within the genres I’ll read (fantasy, SF, horror and paranormal romance) but are not the books on my “to read” list. No, those books languish on my hard drive or on my bedside table, which by now resembles the leaning tower of printed material slowly trying to topple onto me while I sleep.

Reviewing books has some benefits. For instance, I have now discovered that I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, read Laurel K Hamilton willingly. You’d have to hold a gun to my head. I would never have discovered this if I didn’t review books. Likewise, I’m now eternally a Giles Kristian fangrrrl and I’ve interviewed him for the newspapers. Now THAT rocks!

But…

I also read submissions for one of my publishers, for whom I’m under contract as a content editor. These are either cold submissions, where I have to read a good few pages before I can decide whether a manuscript blows my hair back, or will be a submission from one of my existing authors, whose writing won’t make me want to gouge my eyes out with a ballpoint pen.

Somewhere, between these activities and my day-job as a sub-editor at a newspaper publisher, I still find the time to edit manuscripts and, oh, gosh, write a little on my own. (Add disclaimer: I do not have children. Also, I do not have a social life beyond a meal or drinks with friends here and there or Facebook.)

So… **takes deep breath** It is a rare thing indeed if I read something I want to.

People keep telling me, “Oh you must read so-and-so.”

I sort of look at them blankly and say, “That’s nice dear. I’d love to.” Of course the chances of me reading a book someone recommends are about as good as a snowball’s survival in Hell. I still have a friend’s copy of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, somewhere in the pile on my bedside table. I want to read it. I just don’t know when.

So, here are two of my pet gripes:

Publishers that have sub-par editing. It drives me absolutely dilly when I read published works riddled with homophone and apostrophe abuse, weak transitions, typographical errors, misplaced modifiers, plot holes… I see it. All the time. It makes me want to claw my way up the walls. Mostly, all I can do is point and laugh. Human error creeps in everywhere, it just depends how much of it is concentrated in one manuscript.

Authors who make the same mistakes over and over again: this dubious honour I also extend to newspaper sub-editors and writers who, despite years of being exposed to years of house style and proofing, insist on repeating the same mistakes. This suggests that the idiot with the red pen clutched in her hand (that’s me) is wasting her time trying to communicate the need for improvement so that my job (proofing and editing text) can be made easier and said offending wordsmith becomes better at doing their job. And also not run the risk of defenestration from a third-storey window.

Or maybe I’m just OCD. Maybe it’s my mother’s fault. She used to be an English teacher. Maybe I need to go on a long holiday on a remote farming hamlet where there is no electricity and they’ve conveniently hidden all form of written word. Just for a while until I stop frothing and get more than four or five hours’ sleep a night.

Or maybe I’m just crazy, because whenever someone has told me “Hey, your writing sucks badly here, here and here…” I’ve generally sucked up my pride and made damn sure I didn’t make the same mistake again.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, shaping words is my passion and if I’m your editor, I’m going to be absolutely vicious. I’m going to make you do horrible, nasty things to your darlings, but I’m doing it because I love your writing. I wouldn't be tearing it pieces if I didn't see ways to make it so much better.

Christmas at Cerri's

2010-12-20T08:38:00.005-07:00

Today I thought I might post what Christmas would be like at my protagonist's home. Cerridwen Baker is a family woman. A wife and mother of three, Christmas would be all about the kids. She'd have the tree up early and gifts would be wrapped underneath. Cookies would be baked. There would be an excitement in the air that nothing could squash.

Family is important to Cerri. She would make sure that her kids knew the traditions Cerri and her husband, Matt, celebrated as children. And advent calendar would hang near the front door for the children to count down to the big day.

Because of her love for family, I can just imagine Cerri loading the kids up in the car and heading toward Storybook Island to see the lights and visit with Santa. Cerri's biggest holiday wish would be to see her kids happy.

Christmas day would start with too little sleep and three kiddos running to the tree to see if Santa had come. Of course, there would be some type of breakfast food in the oven (Monkey bread? French toast casserole? Regular old bacon and eggs?) and coffee would be brewing. Cerri is the kind of of woman who would relish in the fact her kids were having a good time. Cerri would make sure her husband was well fed. She would be the axle in the wheel of activity around her.

And what, you might ask, would Cerri teach her kids about Santa? The same things she learned as a child...that Santa is an elf, a fairy, a brownie. He is as real as you and I and, of course, is also the embodiment of the spirit of the holidays. Do you agree?

Dabbling across genres

2010-12-14T01:43:00.003-07:00

A good few months ago, I was chatting to a few romance authors about their craft, just asking how they feel about this whole electronic publishing gig. I had an overwhelming response of "hell, yeah, it works!"

Why? If you capture your readership, you make far more percentage-wise in royalties off ebooks than with print. Looking at my own monthly royalty statements, I'm afraid I have to agree, tho' my books don't move in vast quantities as my chosen genre is firmly dark/urban fantasy with a horror edge.

Ebooks don't have so many physical overheads, like printing or postage, so the profit margins are better. That's a no-brainer. Hell, and my inner eco-warrior loves saving trees and pandering to the "buy it, download it, and read it now" ethos.

But it's also clear that one of the genres that is doing the best in this field appears to be romance. Now, if I were to see some returns for my efforts, it's also a no-brainer that I should up my erotic content, no?

So I gave it a shot. I wrote my first contemporary erotic romance. And, guess what, I enjoyed writing it so much I'm planning more and am definitely looking at selling some paranormal romance. And, I've had a peek at my sales within the first week for my first contemporary erotic romance novel. Things are looking promising. And I am cautiously optimistic about my future as a career author.

But crossing genres not going to stop me from writing my "heart" books, as I've heard one author describe her works that don't garner astronomical sales figures. Hell, I'm still going to write them. I'm still going to fish for literary agents. I'm still going to submit to bigger and other publishers. It makes sense to have a broad footprint when I'm just a small fish competing in a big pond for thousands of other small fish.

It's not easy getting noticed nowadays, when just about every Tina, Dina and Harriet is getting published. And it freaks me the hell out when I see that some of the stuff hitting virtual shelves is so not ready for publication. Modern electronic publishing is somewhat of a sausage factory. For every professional who approaches this method with clarity and precision, there are half a dozen hacks who put out absolute garbage.

What hell it must be for readers to discover quality reads among the dross. And, how difficult is it for genuinely fantastic authors to be noticed above the howling mob...

So, what I'm hoping, is to snag the attention of readers who like my romance enough to go take a look at my "heart" books.

This is a highly competitive industry and it pays authors well to be creative in their approach and to be adaptable.

Even though I had a well-known hardcore SF/fantasy author warn me that "dabbling" in romance would eventually blur the boundaries between my "serious" writing and "romance" (which I gain the opinion that he looked down upon) I really couldn't care. If my favourite authors like Storm Constantine and Jacqueline Carey write bloody awesome narrative underpinned by highly charged erotic content, then why they hell can't I mix the two with my usual gritty signature?

So, expect more from me, some fang-bangers, hell, even some shifters, I don't care, but also know that I'll intersperse these with my usual "weird sh1t" as a friend of mine calls my writing. I'll carry on writing the kind of books I enjoy reading, but I'm going to be more conscious of what the market is asking for.

* * * *

Tainted Love was released on December 9 through Siren Bookstrand. I describe it as a reverse-Cinderella tale with a bit of spice. The story was sparked by my conversations with a number of friends who worked as dancers in clubs for a number of years. I also read a number of autobiographies by ex-dancers and dug a little into the history of the sex industry. It was my aim to present my story without prejudice, and I've had some encouraging responses from my readers.

The blurb:
Retrenched and persuaded to participate in amateur night at a strip club all in one day, Marianne discovers she’s actually a damn fine stripper, and baring all brings in far easier money than dying by degrees as a temp in a cubicle farm.

But things between her and her ex-boyfriend, Carl, have gone horribly sour, and there’s no denying that her fascination with Brett Gentle, the owner of Imperial House Gentleman’s Club, will bring more complications than she has bargained for.

Even as she gains confidence in tantalising men with her sex appeal on stage and on laps, Marianne’s life starts spinning out of control, tainting the love she has dared to taste.

See more here: http://www.bookstrand.com/tainted-love

Lacking the spirit....

2010-12-13T08:55:00.002-07:00

For the sake of honesty, I admit that I've never been the kind of person who lives in the moment. I'm a planner and a goal setter. Don't get me wrong! I enjoy the holidays as well as the next gal and love knowing that I've got the perfect gift for someone or that I don't have to stress because I've gotten everything done that I had planned on (and sometimes even a little more).

But this year I'm just not feeling it.

It's not the weather. True, there isn't a lot of snow on the ground—an unusual occurrence for a December in the Black Hills—but that's okay with me. I'm not a big fan of snow anyway. Seriously, I hate snow. The few years I lived in the Virginia Beach area I had no problem with the mild weather.

It's not the baking. I have all the cookies done and boxed up. And a number of them have been eaten. YUM!

It's not the gifts. I'm just about finished with the shopping.

I really don't know what the deal is. The holiday spirit seems to be alluding me this year. I have the same problem with my writing. Getting into the writing groove is difficult as well.

So what should I do? I know January will be here before too long, so I'm not worried about the holidays. I will spend some serious quality time with my family and enjoy their presence (and their presents, truth be told!). But what about the writing? For those who struggle with something similar, how do you pull yourself out of the funk?

Much ado about writing

2010-12-07T00:00:00.003-07:00

A few years ago I went for career guidance at a well-known placement agency that focuses on the media industry. I was at odds at the time because I knew I wanted to move into fiction editing or take on a position as an editor for a publication, but I wasn't quite sure how that would happen. Back then I'd come to the conclusion that my current position, as a newspaper sub-editor working on commercial features, was a dead-end job. About the only bright spark in my day was laying out a weekly travel supplement and writing stories once in a while.

Going nowhere slowly? I couldn't be more wrong. Viv, the lady at the placement agency, was absolutely fantastic. At that time, I was very despondent. I was busy writing my first novel (Khepera Rising) but I felt like I was stagnating. Sure, I was occasionally picking up freelance fiction editing jobs but generally (and I'll be brutally honest) the paying freelance jobs are generally not half as much fun as working on something that has gone through a submissions process with a publisher.

Viv said to me, "The only way you're ever going to be noticed is if you write and get your name out there."

I took her advice. Sure, I carried on working on my fiction, but I also started stepping up my travel writing. The travel writing got me noticed by an editor for a lifestyle and entertainment supplement for a national newspaper. My stories started appearing there and I received invites to write reviews for lodges and hotels in foreign countries. During all this, my novels started being published and I picked up the content editing gig at Lyrical Press. Now I'm also reviewing novels and putting in author interviews in newspapers. And I'm blogging. A lot.

Yes, I still have my somewhat sh1tty day-job but it pays the bills. I put up with the dross because I'm doing what I'm passionate about: writing and working with text, be it fiction or editorial. I've had the chutzpah to add the activities I enjoy to a job that sucks otherwise. I've come a long way from the production assistant at a health and lifestyle magazine who had to call clients for advertising material.

Going above and beyond my official job description does mean I have to work a lot harder than most, but at the end of the day, when I see my name in print, it's helluva worth it. And the biggest thanks is when people say "Hey, we read your piece in the newspaper last weekend. It was really cool!"

Or, even better, "I read that article you linked on Facebook, and I went and bought your book, and I'm really enjoying it."

And hey, I'm starting up quite a collection of stamps in my passport. Who knows, I may be able to work my way all the way to the top of Africa soon.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you have to give it 110%. Work with the resources at hand and find ways in which you can modify what you're already doing into your dream job. Never give up, and never pass up the opportunity to put your name out.

And sometimes there are just days...

2010-11-30T02:28:00.004-07:00

It's not often that I end up on my blog day with nothing to say, but today is one of them. Call it end-of-year fatigue or what-not, that's probably the closest thing I have in my vocab to express how I feel right now.

We've just returned from what I hope is my last plane flight for the year. If I look back over the past month or so, I've flown about... bah. Cape Town to OR Tambo Airport; OR Tambo Airport to Livingstone International, Zambia. Livingstone International to OR Tambo to Cape Town International... Cape Town International to Lanseria and back again. Twice in the past two weeks. It feels like a bloody litany.

The reasons for these trips include reviewing accommodation, attending a friend's funeral and being present at film screenings. To say I'm tuckered out is a plain understatement.

Oh, and I spent exactly twenty minutes in Zimbabwe to view the Victoria Falls. Call me crazy.

Somewhere between all that I've still had to cope with the end-of-year madness at the newspapers while keeping head above water with my editing obligations, which include taking care of edits for two of my own releases due over the next six months, oh, and be the beauteous wifey who cooks supper and keeps the house in some semblance of order.

I really just want to hide in my treehaus for a few weeks and pretend I'm not home.

How do I cope? I'm not quite sure, but when things threaten to overwhelm, I make sure I attack the situation one deadline at a time. That's the only advice I have. What is the most important fire that needs to be put out NOW.

Then I put out the fire. Oh, and try to get more than five hours' sleep a night.

On the plus side, I chatted with a lady at the SA HorrorFest this year and told her about my Khepera series, not expecting to hear from her. To my absolute delight, she's gone and bought book one. She'd told me she liked crime thrillers, and I told her my novel can fall under the "occult crime thriller label" (and no, I wasn't taking a long shot, okay?)

Well, this morning she messaged me on Facebook to tell me how much she was enjoying Khepera Rising. That kinda made my day a little better.

Now, go on and make an author happy. When you read their novel, mail them or post something nice on a site like Amazon or Goodreads.

Be a patron of the arts

2010-11-22T23:33:00.002-07:00

A well-known South African author whom I’m friends with has been incredibly encouraging of my initial faltering footsteps into the world of publishing. She imparted these words of wisdom: “You know, it doesn’t matter who you’re published with, it’s word-of-mouth promotion that will get people reading your novels.”

And, if one looks at the success of authors such as JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer and Stieg Larsson, it’s definitely been a case of readers raving to each other about a particular novel until such point that just about everyone either knows of the titles or are intending to borrow or buy copies.

Granted, not all authors are going to write novels that are universally popular, but sometimes, just sometimes, an author has the ability to tap into an “X-factor” as I call it, that offers almost universal appeal to a large cross-section of readers. It’s almost like a snowball that turns into an avalanche and, face it, most of us who’re starting out with the small presses dream of one day “making it big”.

Most of us, however, if we are diligent in our craft and, if we’re lucky, build a small, dedicated clique of readers who will rabidly follow our releases. That’s great, but there’s quite a bit we can do as passionate readers and author to help each other.

One of the most important methods is to review each other’s writing. And, I’m not talking only blogging about each other, but also posting reviews at sites such as Amazon or Goodreads, that attract a good deal of traffic. I know that if I am considering buying a book, I visit these two sites to see what others have written about the book I’m about to purchase. Every person will read a story and come away with some opinion and I find it fascinating to see who likes what.

So, write those reviews! Then, Tweet them and paste links on your other social networking sites such as Facebook or forums where you participate. Spread the word. If there’s an author you really like, the best thanks you can give them after enjoying their story is to let the world know.

Or, if you’re a passionate blogger, add to this by interviewing your favourite author. Nowadays there is so much information out there it’s sometimes difficult for an up-and-coming author to be heard above the thousands of others who are competing for the same piece of the pie.

And, lastly, a small word on piracy. There are numerous sites out there that offer pirated ebooks for sale or download. Don’t support them. Sure, an ebook may cost you around $9 but that money goes to support people who work very hard to ensure that they bring you only the best in the latest novels.

Just like I make a point of purchasing music directly from my favourite musicians, I like to support my favourite authors by purchasing legal copies of their works.

In the old days, artists, musicians and authors often had to have a rich patron supporting them, nobles who took pride in the fact that they had the likes of JS Bach or Handel “on their books” so to speak. Nowadays, you can do the same, and even brag about the fact that you’re supporting a particular creative. And, really, it is something worth bragging about, and you’re taking a small but positive step to encourage the arts and investing in our cultural heritage.

* * * *

South Africans can now purchase my Khepera series (books one and two) directly from one of our largest national retailers, Exclusive Books. See: http://www.exclus1ves.co.za/books/search/;jsessionid=B494300F895DECF94658936C0BA53381?q=khepera+&submit.x=10&submit.y=15

5 things I'm thankful for

2010-11-22T08:11:00.007-07:00

This week is the American Thanksgiving, so I thought it would be appropriate to list some of the things I'm thankful for. These are in no particular order, nor is it an all-encompasing list.

Family and friends. By family, I don't mean my husband and kids, though I'm very thankful for them. I learned a long time ago that family isn't made up of only your blood relations. I have a few "brothers from other mothers" and "sisters from other misters" and sometimes I think they understand me better than the people who share my DNA.
My wonderful hubby. Okay, so that's a little like number 1, but a little different. This is a guy who makes it his mission in life to spoil me. Who wouldn't be thankful for that?
My publisher. Second Wind Publishing has been awesome to work with and for that, I'm completely thankful!
A house. I'll be totally honest, this one is probably lame. But I have a reason for it. Did you know that an estimated quarter of a million people are homeless at any given time? And that's an old number. With the economy the way it is, that number could be much higher. Today, however, I'm completely grateful for the warmth of my home. The six or so inches of snow blanketing my little corner of the world probably has something to do with why this is on my mind!
My health. This one might be a little lame, too, but I'm serious. There are people who have much greater challenges than I face.

What about you? What are you thankful for?

Skipping the bandwagon

2010-11-20T02:00:00.001-07:00

Sci-fi fantasy blog io9 has decided zombies are the new vampires, as detailed in this post A History of Zombies in America. The post has some interesting ideas and the new television show The Walking Dead has certainly gotten a lot of buzz. However, I don't care. You can have your zombies if that's your cup of tea, but I remain firmly on Team Vampire. The zombie trend is one I am happy to let pass me by. I sat through the movie Zombieland and that was enough for me.

Why do I dislike zombies? I think it's two reasons. One is the overwhelming amount of gore found in zombie stories. It's just too much for me and I don't enjoy it. That level of gore is not remotely entertaining to me, but that's just a personal preference. It doesn't bother others and that's fine. I try not to judge people for their entertainment choices, unless it's reality shows. I think reality shows are stupid, which coincidently is my second reason for disliking zombies.

Most portrayals of zombies are of the brainless cannibal variety. One point in the io9 post is about zombies being something of a metaphor for mindless consumerism and I think that is an excellent point. If you want to see a zombie horde in action, go to Walmart on Black Friday, the opening bell ringing in the holiday shopping season. We were actually going to go this year because our microwave is dying and we thought we'd get one on sale. Come to find out, Walmart won't have any microwaves on sale. So now we have no reason to go to any shopping place on Black Friday and I can't tell you how relieved I am. I'm so relieved I could bake (and I never bake. My husband does the baking in our family.)

Basically there's just nothing interesting to me about zombies. There's no clash of wills, matching of wits, and certainly no seductive temptation. I know there are authors out there who are refashioning zombies into something new and different rather then the old brainless shambling lump, and I applaud their creativity. I hope this new zombie craze brings them fabulous books sales. And I hope they understand when I don't jump on the bandwagon, either as a reader or a writer. I will follow vampires back into the dark shadows from whence they came.

Query, query quite contrary...

2010-11-16T00:08:00.004-07:00

When I wear my editor hat, I end up reading a number of queries each week when it’s time to go through submissions. And, trust me, just when I think I’ve seen it all when it comes to abysmal query letters, an author will come up with something fresh that will make my toes curl.

One of the things I hate seeing is when authors tell me what to think of their novel. An example: “Readers will love the fast-paced action of the story, and be thrilled by depth of vivid world-building…”

Really? And what if the manuscript doesn’t live up to my expectations after I’ve been told it’s set up to work in a certain way? Yes, by all means generate excitement by writing a short blurb at the start of your query but let the editor or agent you’re querying make up their own mind. Please.

Here’s an example of a hook that will make me want to go on to reading the synopsis, with apologies once again to Little Red Riding Hood:

The Great Forest is dark and dangerous, filled with creatures with sharp teeth. Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother lives in a clearing at its heart, and the young lady needs to take her granny her all-important medication. Little does Little Red Riding Hood know that her journey, this time, will be fraught with terror. A predator is watching her, and he is hungry.

That definitely puts another spin on an old classic, doesn’t it? See if you can sum your entire novel up in one paragraph. Think of the kind of copy you’d see on the back of a novel. The editor or agent reading your query reads dozens if not hundreds of queries each day. You need to convey the essence of your tale in as few words as possible.

Afterward, you tell the author/agent what you’re offering:

Little Red Riding Hood, a fantasy novella complete at 23 000 words, is available for your consideration.

Then, go on to offering publishing credits or, if you don’t have, relevant experience that would indicate that you know what you’re talking about. For instance, if you’ve written a novel about sword-fighting, relevant information would be that you’re a member of a fencing club or that you collect ancient weapons. Once again, keep it short. In general, agents and editors don’t care that you’ve been working as a plumber and are now writing books on fairies. The catch phrase is “keep it relevant and to the point”.

If you’ve had a few stories or novels published before, list them, but do realise that self-published works don’t count in your favour. I'm normally a bit leery of self-published authors because I worry that they may be difficult to work with when I make editorial suggestions. But that's just me.

And, lastly, when you query agents or publishers, do your homework. Don’t just send out queries blindly in the hope that someone will pick up on you. I usually first visit a site like www.publishersmarketplace.com, do a search to see which agents are accepting in a chosen genre. Then, I click through to the agent’s official website. I ask myself, does this agent represent books similar to mine? Do I think we’d gel? It's no good if they're very conservative and your book is about things that may upset them. If things look all right in that department, I do a background check. This includes checking their status by searching on sites such as www.absolutewrite.com/forums and Preditors and Editors: http://pred-ed.com/

If something smells fishy, it probably is. Remember that no agent is better than a bad agent.

Ditto for publishers. If anyone asks for money to publish your novel, avoid at all costs.

And lastly, the wheels of the publishing industry turn slowly. Be patient. Often agents and editors simply don’t have the time to tell you why they’ve rejected your novel. It could simply be because although the writing was sound, the story simply didn’t appeal to them. Why an agent or an editor doesn't like your manuscript could be that they simply didn't love it as much as you do. Keep trying. Don’t take rejection personally and, if you do get some feedback from an agent or an editor who tells you why they rejected your writing, take that advice to heart and see where you can apply it to future works. Good luck! And don’t give up! And keep on revising and resubmitting.

For some great examples of how not to query (and sometimes how to query), I suggest subscribing to http://queryshark.blogspot.com

Time is fleeting...

2010-11-08T07:10:00.003-07:00

Madness takes it's toll....

Okay, so I have the Time Warp (from the Rocky Horror Picture Show) stuck in my head this morning. But those two lines are important to any writer—especially a mystery writer.

Think about it, people read fiction as an escape. They want to be entertained and amused. In order for the author to deliver, timelines need to be, well, adjusted.

As someone on one of my mystery lists recently said, the fastest way to kill your story is to ask for a search warrant. True...

But the reality of solving crime isn't the only time issue an author faces. When do you introduce characters? How soon do you explain the crime? How long will it take you to write the novel? What about all those things that are not in your control? You know, those things commonly referred to as life?

Of course, I have no control over life. Who does? But the timeline of my novel, I can control. I have a large white board on my office wall. On it, I have one huge timeline with important events listed. It is the way I keep my characters on track.

Do I list every little thing? No. And sometimes I find events that would work better and need to erase. Sometimes I have to move things to keep the action going. Thankfully, I have lots of dry erase markers and sticky notes!

Yes, time is fleeting. But by using the tools I have, maybe I can keep madness at bay.

Special recipe

2010-11-06T13:59:00.000-06:00

I've hit a snag in my current work in progress. Not a major one, but rather a minor case of "what happens next?" I have a rough outline of the story but not all of the little detours are mapped out. The subplot is still a bit on the vague side, too. I have to figure out a way to get my characters from Point D to Point E in the main plot, preferably with a detour that involves the subplot. If I don't come up with something soon, I'll have to use my special story recipe.

What is my Special Story Recipe, you ask? It is a time-honored proven method of advancing the plot, action, and character development in any story. Here goes:

Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Lather, rinse, repeat.

You may have also encountered this under another name, Blow Stuff Up.

Complications are an integral part of storytelling. Without complications, your story is going to be very short. If you're writing a short story, that's fine. With a novel-length work, you're going to need complications, twists, and turns. You're going to have to make your characters work for their resolution, and sometimes that means throwing bombs at them. In action oriented genres like urban fantasy that might mean a literal bomb, or a supernatural creature that causes as much chaos and mayhem as a bomb. In the romance genre, or a romantic subplot, that might mean finding a way to complicate the relationship. For instance, misunderstandings or romantic competition might make for a complication. So would Character A accidently revealing something they didn't want Character B to know. Something guaranteed to make Character B absolutely livid…

Um, okay. I have to go blow something up now, and throw my characters into a fire.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T01:05:00.001-06:00

I wrote this quick bit of flash fiction last year after finding this gorgeous piece at Deviant Art.

Happy Halloween by Yaichino

The delivery boy heaved a deep sigh. He hated delivering to this house. Having to pick his way through a patch of pumpkins all snapping and biting and hungry for a taste of ankle. Then there’d be that long climb up the tree, with scratching bark and roving limbs and those fleshless squirrels with flat black eyes and scissory teeth that liked to jump out of the dark and take little nips from his skin. Not to mention all the birds and bats and cats and every other manner of familiar, cawing and mocking and tripping him into falling right off the tree and landing in the marshy ground flat on his back. He couldn’t afford to fall tonight. He had too big of a load with him. His pack was full to bursting with all manner of things: eye of newt, toe of frog, scale of dragon, tooth of wolf. Herbs and oils, incense and charcoal. Party streamers, everburning candles, and a special centerpiece: a tall black pointed hat made of rich velvet and trimmed with satin and lace, inside which waited a troupe of ghost orchid pixies set to provide part of the evening’s entertainment. Yes, the sisters were going all out for their New Year’s revels this year. Well, really, they did every year. And every year, the task of delivering their specialty items fell to him. He heaved the pack on his back and gave another sigh, looking wearily at the full silver moon above and the leering pumpkins below, eyes and mouths lit with the bright orange light of their hunger. Oh, he hated to walk through that patch and climb up that tree. But they tipped well, and they’d be sure to give him a bottle of their moonlight wine as a New Year’s gift. That stuff always guaranteed a happy New Year. So he steeled himself for it, and stepped into the pumpkin patch.

*

Have a happy Halloween and a blessed Samhain!

Revising your manuscript

2010-10-26T04:05:00.003-06:00

Possibly one of the most important and often neglected aspects of writing is revisions. It’s all fine and dandy to bash out a novel in less than six weeks then have the horrors of the manuscript burning a hole in your hard drive. So many authors (and I include myself here) have, at some point or another, submitted a manuscript for consideration to a publisher or literary agent without first revising it. And it shows, trust me.

Granted, when I first started out I was still blindingly convinced of my sheer and utter brilliance. Funny how these things change after being rejected countless times and one discovers literary agents and publishers aren’t falling over themselves to consider your submissions.

After each rejection I’d retreat to lick my wounds. The first thing I realised about why my short stories weren’t selling was that they were novels in disguise. Or so my crit partners were telling me. I listened to them. Solution: start writing novels. If I’d continued writing short stories in the hope of one day having enough cred to write a novel, I’d still be unpublished. And I admit freely that I cannot write a short story to save my life. (That’s not to say I don’t write them from time to time, for fun, but I tend to hide them on my fictionpress profile).

The first and most important lesson an author can learn is: don’t take advice from crit partners and other industry professionals personally. Once in a while you’re probably also going to meet a right twunt who’s going to say nasty things just for the sake of being a b1tch, but if you’ve worked hard to find some decent folks who care about you, you will have a better idea whether your writing stinks.

Your mom, cousin or the nice lady down the road will not give you an objective view of your novel unless they happen to be authors themselves. And, let’s be brutally honest here, folks, most ordinary peeps simply don’t possess the critical function to critique writing and tell you what’s really wrong with it. C’mon, they read (insert your least favourite cruddy best-selling author here).

Which is why writing groups can work for some. I’ve met my best crit partners, authors with whom I have a very close working relationship, who are at a similar stage that I am, through writing groups. I love and respect their writing. They love and respect mine. When they mention something about mine, I listen to their advice and I consider it. It’s a relationship based on trust. Most successful authors have their crit partners – like the ones who aren’t afraid to tell the likes of Stephen King when he’s being a daft bat.

The best thing you can do once you’ve finished your first draft is to send it to your crit partners. AND FORGET THE MANUSCRIPT EXISTS. Forget about it completely. It doesn't exist. Don’t daydream about which agent you’re going to query or which publishers you’re going to submit to. STEP AWAY FROM THE NOVEL and start your next project.

Yup, you heard me. Start your next first draft. Give your crit partner about a month or two to read your novel and get back to you. Then, if you’re one of those dreadful super-charged Energiser bunnies like me, you’ll almost be done with the first draft of your next work.

Now here’s the difficult part. ONLY start your revisions once you’ve finished the next WiP. Now you can send that to a crit partner while you get cracking on revising the novel that’s just returned.

You know what’s even more magic? You’d have taken two or so months’ break from your manuscript and, guess what? Your eyes will be fresh. Hell, it’s going to be like stepping into a new story. And the scary part is you’ll be more apt to see mistakes.

Oh, lordy, did you repeat “realise” twenty times in one paragraph? Or, goodness, Bill had a black tie on but it’s turned purple about halfway through dinner… Trust me you pick up stupid stuff you missed the first time. Stupid stuff that would make editors and agents groan and have a ::head desk:: moment, or laugh and point at assorted instances of homophone or apostrophe abuse. Or those darn pesky dangling modifiers.

There’s no standard rule of “Thou shalt revise your manuscript half a dozen times before you submit it anywhere” but you know what? Three or four revisions can’t hurt before you start submitting. If you’ve got the luxury of printing out an entire MS, go at it with a red pen while sitting on your veranda or in front of the fire with a cuppa.

And, perhaps the greatest rule of all: patience. Remember that the publishing industry is a waiting game. Be patient. The wheel, she turns slowly, mmmmkay? Don’t try to get everything done overnight. You’re only going to exhaust yourself and lose hope. Until you’ve got print deadlines to worry about, take your time and enjoy improving your craft. Learn from past mistakes and avoid them, finding ways to make each novel grow better than the last.

Because, trust me, your editor doesn’t want to correct the same kinds of mistakes you make in books three or four that occurred in book one.

What's Nichole working on?

2010-10-25T08:35:00.001-06:00

After months in preparation, Rubicon Ranch, a collaborative novel that will be written online by authors of Second Wind Publishing, is just days away!

Recently widowed writer/photographer Melanie Gray finds the body of an eight-year-old child in the desert. Was it an accident? Or . . . murder! But who would want to kill Riley Peterson? It could be anyone in this upscale housing development. Everyone is hiding something. Everyone has an agenda.

The girl’s parents, Jeff and Kourtney Peterson have an eight-year-old secret they will do anything to defend, perhaps even going so far as to kill their own child. If she is their own child.

Honor student Dylan McKenzie has a secret life that gives him a feeling of empowerment. Does he find murder even more empowering?

Psychologist Mary “Moody” Sinclair, has already killed one child. Is she adding to her resume?

Sleepwalker Cooper Dahlsing is afraid he might have killed the girl. But is she his first victim? Or his second?

The motto of private investigators Mark and JamieWestbrook is: “Make a quick buck, and don’t get caught.” Could murder their way of making a quick buck, or perhaps their way of not getting caught?

Self-appointed neighborhood guard, eighty-two year old Eloy Franklin keeps watch for anyone who dares to endanger his Rubicon Ranch. Was Riley a danger?

Sheriff Seth Bryan, a recent transplant, is overqualified for his job. Still, he finds compensations, his most recent being the mysterious Melanie Gray. Does she have something to hide? Or is she only protecting herself . . . from him?

So who dunnit? We don’t know and won’t know until the end. With so many great authors involved, anything can happen! To make the unveiling of the killer even more interesting, after all the evidence has been presented, you can tell us who you want the killer to be.

We will post one chapter every Monday, beginning October 25, 2010, at: Rubicon Ranch. We hope you’ll enjoy reading the novel while we are writing it. To make sure you don’t miss a single chapter, you can subscribe by email at the Rubicon Ranch site: http://rubiconranch.wordpress.com

Please join us on our adventure — it will be fun for all of us.

Some useful links

2010-10-23T12:06:00.000-06:00

I'm having one of those days where I feel like a complete fraud and have absolutely no business talking about writing, much less giving anything that could be construed as advice. So instead of a normal post I have some useful links, from people who actually know what they're talking about.

Allen Guthrie's Infamous Writing Tips - from the Absolute Write forums. Not only do I have this bookmarked, I printed out the initial post to keep in my Home School For Writers binder. The 32 tips are pretty straight-forward, mostly things that can easily revised once you get into the second draft of your first novel. After that you should be able to follow these tips in the first draft of everything else you write.

The SFWA's author information center has several articles on multiple topics.

The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words - your editor will thank you.

Nathan Bransford's How To Write A Novel post. Not only is he an agent, he's written a novel. In fact, if you're a writer and you're not following his blog, you need to do so. Seriously. Follow him.

Another blog every writer should follow is Writer Beware. It keeps followers updated of scams designed to separate a hopeful and perhaps desperate writer from their money. It would be great if every writer was savvy enough not to fall for scams, but sadly it seems that not everyone is aware of this rule:

Yog's Law: money flows toward the writer. A writer should never pay to be published. As far as I'm concerned, it's just that simple.

So take a look at these links - these people know what they're talking about.

Writing press releases...

2010-10-19T03:36:00.003-06:00

...without sounding like a complete tosser

Why press releases, you may ask. And why would you, an author, write one? I can think of a number of reasons. Press releases can announce a sale, a release or awards. You write a press release because you want to give a journalist or an editor incentive to follow up with a more in-depth article. Now wouldn’t it be nice if your local community paper, radio station or a magazine wanted to feature you? Hell, wouldn’t it be nice if they even knew you existed?

Here’s a scenario:
Author Marge Pennyroyal sold her novel, Little Red Robbing Hood, to Grimm Press and the book is due for release in a month’s time. She’s won a number of awards for her previous offerings and a well-known, best-selling author has written a puff for the upcoming work. Marge would like to generate some media interest in her writing, especially in her home town.

These are already brilliant bits of information to offer the media. Now, this is what Marge does with the information...

Local author releases follow-up to successful novel

Marge Pennyroyal is pleased to announce the release of her second paranormal romance novel, Little Red Robbing Hood (Grimm Press), on November 13.

Says best-selling author Stef May: “Little Red Robbing Hood had me laughing out loud all night. Marge has definitely got a winner here. Her characters are larger than life and her magical world is very well-realised.”

A winner of numerous literary awards, including the Golden Scroll award for “Best Debut Novel of the Year 2009” and a Ruby award from Paranormal Authors Unite (2010), Pennyroyal’s latest offers readers a continuation of her existing setting popularised in Dawn of the Poppies (Grimm Press, 2009).

See the author’s website at www.pennyroyaltea.com or email penny@royaltea.com for additional information.

Okay, that’s just a very short example. And no, those links aren’t real, and neither is Marge but, generally, press releases shouldn’t be more than about 150 to 500 words. They are short bursts of information that are quick to read.

What to avoid…
Whatever you do, don’t tell people what to think when you write your release. Avoid flowery writing. Don’t use superlatives like “the best” or “the most fabulous”. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve edited out words such as “unique” or “the most luxurious” from press releases I work on during my day job. If you’re going to try to slip in something good, rather have a respected industry professional say something nice about you to include in the piece. Or, if you’re going to try to personalise the piece, pretend you’re interviewing yourself while writing it. You need to report on the information. Don’t write in first person.

When all else fails, keep it simple…
Try to aim for objective writing when putting together your press release. What are you trying to say? Do yourself a favour and read some newspaper articles. Try to emulate the kind of objective style journalists are supposed to write. Your aim is to pass on information, not sound like a right twunt bragging about your achievements. You want to communicate clearly and succinctly. Take some time to think up a snappy headline that will communicate the gist of what the piece is about. Don’t go over 500 words. Most media types have the attention-span of a goldfish (speaking from personal experience, okay?) in an environment filled with numerous distractions. We simply don’t have time to read essays.

What next?
Find out who the book editors at your local newspapers and magazines are. Find out who their equivalent is at your radio stations. When you send out your release (and by gum I hope you proof-read it and get some of your writing buddies to cast their beady eyes over it), include low-res images of cover art and perhaps an author’s mug shot. But low-res, please. If an editor or journalist wants high-res visuals (of more than 500kb, they’ll contact you).

Oh, and be sure to include relevant contact information in your release, like phone numbers and email addresses. There’s nothing worse than needing a high-res image yesterday and the individual who sent you the release two weeks ago simply isn’t replying to her emails today, an hour before print deadline.

Get in the habit of writing a press release for every milestone you achieve, be it a book release, a book launch, an award or a new contract. Be diligent in sending these out to the right people and, you never know, you may just have given yourself the edge over many of your fellow authors.

* * * *

Apart from writing urban and dark fantasy, Nerine Dorman works as a sub-editor for a South African newspaper publisher and edits fiction when other people are sensibly watching TV or hanging out in shopping malls. Occasionally she pretends to be eccentric contemporary romance author Therése von Willegen. Yes. She’s a sucker for punishment. Follow her blog at http://nerinedorman.blogspot.com

Who knows what evil lurks....

2010-10-18T08:25:00.004-06:00

I have a confession to make. I really enjoy writing the bad guys.

I do. There's something about them that is just plain fun to write.

Okay, so I don't get really graphic with the evil in my stories. I don't normally watch horror flicks, and don't often read uber-violent thrillers. My entertainment choices are more character driven than plot driven.

Maybe that's why I like being able to write about the bad guys. Someone once told me that every person is the hero of his or her own story. Very few people are pure good or pure evil.

The best heros in any story are the flawed ones. Take Harry Potter, for example. No matter what you think of the story, it's the obstacles Harry faces that make Harry a believable character. Who wouldn't feel for a kid with such a rotten family life? And Dumbledore? His knowledge and willingness to help those less fortunate make him just awesome.

Even Professor Snape is a great character. He hates Harry. He hates Harry's father. But he loves Harry's mother. And Snape does help Harry when necessary.

It's not just fictional characters who have these multi-demensions. Arguably one of the most evil men in history, Adolf Hitler didn't drink, didn't smoke, and was a vegetarian. Interesting.

As I write, I keep Harry and Hitler in my mind. Not only does my hero have to be flawed, but my anti-hero can't be all evil, either. It's as important to me who did it as why they did it. The reason someone committed the crime in my mysteries has to make sense....at least to the evil-doer.

Maybe that's why I enjoy writing about the bad guys. It gives me another perspective on the same story.

Milestones

2010-10-16T00:35:00.000-06:00

There is so much work that goes into a manuscript. It can be a struggle to shape an idea into a coherent story. Fully developed characters take effort to craft. Research can be time-consuming and will sometimes send your plot on a whole new tangent. There's days when the words come so slowly you wonder why you bothered to open the document.

But there are also days when the words flow like a river, when everything comes together and your story winds up in a place you didn't even know it was headed, but it's so perfect it couldn't be better if you'd planned it. With all the hard, lonely work writing can be, it's important to enjoy those little triumphs. The big ones should be celebrated, too.

I'm not a very fast writer so in the three years since I've been writing seriously, there haven't been that many manuscripts to get as far as a finished first draft. That is still a new and exciting feeling, one worth celebrating. I've been working on this novella for about two months now. After I let my critique partner have time to read it and give myself a little break from it, I'll work on revising it and getting into shape to submit. There's a lot more work ahead, but for right now I'm going to enjoy the fact that I have a completed first draft sitting in my hard drive.

Not that my celebrations are particularly extravagant. "Loud music" pretty much covers it. Usually something that has to do with the story, music that either reflects the mood of the story or is referenced directly, or best of all, both. For this novella it was Led Zeppelin III. The album served as background music in one scene and I listened to the tracks from the second half several times while writing. It may not seem like much, but it's nice to kick back and bask in the glory of a completed manuscript to the tune of Bron-Y-Aur Stomp.

What do you do to celebrate reaching writing milestones?

Spreading the word

2010-10-12T04:02:00.002-06:00

The internet is a marvellous thing. If this resource had been available to me when I was younger, chances are good I’d have had a head start with my writing career. There is a plethora of informative sites available geared toward writers taking those first steps. There is so much information available, it’s sometimes quite bewildering, but if you take time to hone your filtering, you’ll definitely find more than enough knowledge to write, revise, find an agent for or publish your first novel.

But that’s not where it ends. Many authors don’t consider possibly one of the most important aspects of being successful: marketing. Here’s where being handy at writing your own press releases, blogging and social networking can really help you. You can’t expect your book to fly off vendors’ shelves if your readership doesn’t know the work exists. And the buck doesn’t stop with the internet. You have to become adept at finding promotional opportunities in your immediate environment.

Over the decade or so that I’ve been involved in the media industry, with emphasis on below-the-line marketing, I’ve picked up a few tips that I’m happy to share.

The first question you need to ask is: who is your target market?

Who will enjoy your book? Where will you find them? In my case, I need to aim at people who enjoy urban fantasy with a gritty, dark edge (think Goths with an interest in the supernatural, Twilight fangrrrls and folks who slurp up Charlaine Harris’s writing). Where do they lurk? Social networking sites like Facebook and interest-specific forums provide ample opportunities to share links, as does Twitter. Blogging platforms such as blogger.com or wordpress.com are just as useful. They’re even more magical if one combines them. Even better: they’re all free.

Add free press release sites to the mix, and you’ve got a helluva lot of outlets.

Written a novel about a young woman learning to become a belly-dancer? Then see about sending press releases to local belly-dancing studios in your area and beyond. Now here’s a really devious idea: design snappy flyers of your novel and leave them in coffee shops and internet cafés, or slip them into books similar to yours at your local library. Give just enough information to make people save the slip of paper and look you up online. Perhaps hold off the guerrilla tactics in your local bookstore, okay? Unless they’re already stocking your novel, that is.

Although many people complain about Facebook as a waste of time and energy when it comes to all the apps and stalking, take some time to consider the site. Used properly, it’s a powerful tool. Sure, you’ve added your best friends (as in real people you see once or twice a month); old school or college mates (you probably only bump into at clubs or shopping centres then bitch about how fat/bald they’ve become); family (now you don’t have to call them, hey?); industry-specific peers (other professionals you like or stalk); and friends of friends (random acts of friend-requesting that will probably because “I liked your profile pic and think you’re cute”).

One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve actively begun marketing my novels is that people talk. I receive messages from people who buy my novel, enjoy it then mail me, purely because they first heard about it through the links I’ve shared. Sometimes they are moved enough to post a link to their status reports. This makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

As one of my friends, a South African author published through a large multinational publisher said to me, “It’s by word of mouth you’ll sell your novel, and it doesn’t really matter if you’re with a big or small press.”

It’s quite simple: the more “friends” you have, the more people will know about your work and will, perhaps boost your sales. People talk. Recently a friend of mine on Facebook bought a print copy of one of my novels upon seeing it was available locally after I shared a link. She read it and enjoyed it so much she lent it to a mutual friend who liked the story enough to tell me that much the next time we spoke. And I know of yet another mutual friend in that circle who’ll most likely borrow that soon-to-be dog-eared copy of Khepera Rising. Sure, I’m not generating additional sales but that’s three people who know of me and perhaps say good things to a wider circle. “Hey, I read this novel by this crazy Goth chick who lives up the road…”

Sure, I’m not making huge sales but I’m definitely creating a buzz. I don’t expect to churn out one best-seller after the other in the same vein as Ms. Meyer, but I want to make sure the right people know about my books and that I can gradually build loyal following of readers. And while I don’t have budget to pay a PR company, there’s much I can already do on my own.

Some people complain that nobody follows their blog. Well, maybe that’s because no one knows your bloody blog exists. Don’t just blab about your boring day at the office. Make your blog interesting by interviewing fellow authors, writing reviews and discussing some of the issues surrounding your craft in a way that will invite people to comment. Write about what inspires your tales. Share success stories. Blog it then flash the link via sites like Facebook or Twitter. This will not only alert potential blog followers that you blog exists but will also divert some traffic if people have their interest sufficiently piqued.

Another useful tip: get your friends to write reviews on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads.com after they’ve read your novel. Granted, most people are just plum lazy but I’m blessed with friends who aren’t afraid to tell me what they liked or disliked, and I’m steadily building some lovely balanced reviews. These are far better than reviews that froth or gush. People like to read reviews about the product before they hand over their credit card details. Hell, if your friends don’t do it for you, band together with other authors you’re friends with and agree to write reviews for each other.

And if you tell me you don’t know any fellow authors, then you may as well just go and crawl under a rock and stay there. Networking in this day and age is vital. Piggy-backing on your peers is an excellent way of saying “Hey, howzit!” to potential readers.

Press releases are a great way to send out important news, like a sale or a new release. Where to send them, you ask? Mail them to your local newspapers. You never know, one of the editors might decide to use the information as a filler or, even better, send a journalist to do a story. Mail these to online press release sites. It may often feel like you’re farting in the wind but trust me, you may not see results immediately but they do help in building awareness. Ditto for arranging your own release event. Even if you’re meeting at a bohemian café, are serving cupcakes and reading a few pages to your best friends, do it. It helps you build confidence. And, once again, people talk.

Marketing is ninety percent bullsh1tting. If you present yourself as a professional, with a great product (and you’d better back up your claims by doing those revisions) then people will come to see you as a success. Once again it boils down to a simple axiom: people talk.

Say you’ve written a paranormal romance about wolf shifters, see about running give-aways of your novel online over Halloween or Valentine’s Day. Donating copies of your novel as prizes for charity events is excellent, as well. Not only will you get some coverage, but you’re also associating your brand (yes, your name) with a worthy cause. Copies of Khepera Rising will be donated at the upcoming SA Horrorfest as well as the Love Cats fund-raising event for the SPCA. The latter’s organisers have even gone so far as putting my name as a sponsor on the flyer. It may not seem like much, but this steady kind of publicity has made a difference. I’ve noticed in the past year that people are already referring to me not just as photographer Dr-Benway’s wife, but as Nerine Dorman, that crazy writer chick. I kinda dig that.

* * * *

Best-selling South African author Sarah Lotz has this to say about Khepera Rising, “Definitely not for the faint-hearted or easily shocked, Khepera Rising is part hardcore murder mystery, part revenge fantasy and dark Gothic horror, and effortlessly subverts preconceptions about religious intolerance, the dark arts and Cape Town’s underground Goth culture with devastating effects. With its deliciously morally ambiguous narrator, non-stop pace, high body-count and gore-splattered pages, it’s sure to outrage some, but lovers of noir, black humour and no-punches-pulled horror will be hooked from the first page. It’s an accomplished, scathing and daring debut from Nerine Dorman, who clearly has a brilliant career ahead of her.”

Khepera Rising (book one) and Khepera Redeemed (book two) are available electronically and in print, from Amazon.com, Kalahari.net or direct, from the Lyrical Press website (www.lyricalpress.com), as well as other vendors.

Follow my blog at http://nerinedorman.blogspot.com

On Writing: Your Ideal Reader

2010-10-09T02:00:00.002-06:00

First of all I have to apologize for missing last week. Our internet went down Friday night and we couldn't get a repairman until Monday morning. Not having internet access didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, that is until Sunday afternoon. By then I'd had enough of being unplugged from the world. But I did read two books last weekend, plus we watched a few episodes of Firefly so that was good.

In Stephen King's On Writing he talks about having what he calls your Ideal Reader. He's not talking about a critique partner here, though that's certainly something a writer needs. A critique partner can help you break down your story and find the problem areas, whether it's grammar or characterization or a million other things. Having a critique partner is invaluable and when you have the right one, you can help each other and learn a great deal from each other. It can enrich both your writing itself and your life as a writer.

An Ideal Reader is something different. King is talking about the person who will read your work strictly as a reader, for the journey and the pleasure of the story. He mentions watching his wife read his work, eager for her reactions. I've done exactly that with my husband and it always makes me feel like I'm going to twist myself in half. On the one hand I want to watch over his shoulder and see if he laughs at what is supposed to be funny, does he cringe at what's supposed to be cringe-worthy, does he cringe at a paragraph I thought was really good. But on the other hand I can hardly stand to see his reaction. Usually I'm so nervous I have to be in another room while he reads something I wrote. He's always sure to tell me what I need to know the most: I like it, I don't like it (that's only happened once), and the response I find most nerve-wracking - what happens next? That's always exciting to hear, because it means he wants to know what happens next, but it can also be stressful because sometimes I don't know what happens next and it may be awhile before there's more for him to read. This is why I've gotten to where I finish a story before letting him read it.

While your ideal reader doesn't have to be your significant other, it should definitely be a person who enjoys reading whatever genre you write in. I'm lucky in that my husband enjoys urban fantasy and isn't phased when a vampire turns up in a story. If he hated paranormal, though, I'd have to find a different ideal reader. After all, we write for an audience that will enjoy our books, so our ideal reader should, too.

Hunting down those gremlins

2010-10-05T03:50:00.004-06:00

It’s very rare for me to read a book nowadays without wanting to reach for a red pen. In my day-job and my after-hours work, I wrestle with words. I write, edit and proofread everything from advertorial and press releases through to paranormal romance. This has obvious benefits for my own writing but I’d like to share some tips for writers wanting to clean up their writing before they start submitting to publishers and literary agents. These tips are by no means exhaustive but they’ll go a long way toward helping you self-edit your manuscripts and saving your poor, dear editor so she can concentrate on other aspects of your story. At any rate, these five gremlins are the ones I catch most often, so I’d like to share the love.

Filter words
He said, she thought, Paul heard…
These are filter words that clutter up text and steal some of the immediacy and impact a stronger sentence construction. Granted, there are times when this kind of construction is unavoidable, but when overused, it chokes the flow of a sentence. Here are a few examples.

Davy heard the sound of water falling and saw the rain falling outside the window.

This sentence would be much more effective if:
Rain drummed on the tin roof and splattered on the paving outside.

If you’ve already introduced Davy as a viewpoint character then you don’t need to keep mentioning his name and, by using more descriptive words as active verbs, you’re saying helluva lot more about the situation. Words are not acting as separators and you can create more mood.

Dialogue
I want to weep every time I see characters chuckle, smile or laugh words. These are physical actions and are not related to how we speak. I’m a big fan of “said”. Such a simple little word but it’s almost invisible. Laughing happens before or after we speak. Here are some examples.

“You ate my grandma!” Little Red Riding Hood said, stomping her foot.

Can be simplified thus:
“You ate my grandma!” Little Red Riding Hood stomped her foot.
You avoid overusing “said” by turning a dialogue tag into an action tag.

“You big bad wolf, I’m gonna get you,” Little Red Riding Hood smiled wickedly.
This one should read:
“You big bad wolf, I’m gonna get you.” Little Red Riding Hood smiled wickedly.

Little Red Riding Hood's smile is a separate action from the speaking and can also be appended before the dialogue, to have her smile before she speaks. A full-stop closes the dialogue, on the inside of the quotation marks. When I see punctuation on the outside, I weep.

While house styles may differ from publisher to publisher, my personal preference is for “said” as a dialogue tag, aiming for action tags when I don’t want to overdo a “he said, she said” kind of conversation. Also, by using action tags in large stretches of dialogue, you also give a better idea of how the characters are feeling or what they may be doing.

Head-hopping
I have a suspicion that because many of us watch a lot of films and TV programmes, which by their very nature offer us an omniscient viewpoint, many beginner writers feel the need to tell their readers everything. Although a third-person omniscient viewpoint is not wrong, it takes a masterful storyteller of the calibre of Terry Pratchett or William Horwood to pull this sort of writing off successfully. Current trends in commercial fiction show a preference for a deep-third point of view, either in first- or third-person, with one viewpoint per scene.

My advice to writers: Resist the temptation of giving away all your secrets. What keeps readers turning pages is not knowing what will happen next, and by sticking with the limited and often unreliable narration of one or two characters, readers know only as much as the characters and you can gradually build up to a denouement that will have people staying up late at night to see what happens next.

THAT word
We all have pet words, like that, really, actually, practically, virtually… or insert any of your choice that you end up using too often. That, more often than not, is one of the words I end up cutting. Most times it’s used it’s not necessary and more often than not acts as a word that fills space without adding real meaning. As for the others, I try to limit them to dialogue because hey, let’s keep the way people speak natural. But I expunge them from the narrative unless I’m using them in the correct context.

Let’s look at practically:
Little Red Riding Hood practically gave up hope.
Should read:
Little Red Riding Hood almost gave up hope.

Correct use of practically:

Little Red Riding Hood was practically orientated, and manipulated a hair pin to unlock the cupboard door.

Look at your manuscript and see if you have other pet words. Some of mine include however, perhaps… Find them and kill them, and you may see an immediate improvement in your writing.

Attack of the killer He or She
Watch out for too many similar words at the start of consecutive sentences. For instance:
He walked to the bank. He took out his wallet and drew money. He turned around and left.
Granted, that’s an extreme example but I see it. Often.

Look out for repeats, especially of names of characters, he, she, her, his and the. Watch also for the opening words of paragraphs being the same. Be alert for other words repeating within the same paragraph and jump out. Sometimes repetition of words that jump out is unavoidable, but catching the ones that are, for instance too many characters whispering at each other on one page, or overusing the word kiss… As an author, it is vital that you make an effort to increase your vocabulary, to become a walking thesaurus, if you must.

In closing, when you do reach the point where you are working with an editor, take time to analyse which points he or she highlights. Which gremlins crop up again and again? Internalise those gremlins and, when you begin work on your next manuscript, try avoiding making those same mistakes again. It will make you a better writer, and help you push your boundaries, which in a very competitive market is important if you want to make a go of being successful.

* * * *

Nerine is a published author and content editor for Lyrical Press, inc.
Email her at nerine@lyricalpress.com

NaNoWriMo: Searching for the perfect crime....

2010-10-04T06:19:00.004-06:00

Once again, I'm desperately working on my Cerri Baker novel. This one, a sequel, will take place during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. And the murder happens at a different Black Hills location.

And I've been selected by my publisher to participate in a collaborative novel—Rubicon Ranch.

And Halloween is almost here. And I have some projects due for my web designing day job. Oh, don't forget the book signing in Pierre, South Dakota, this weekend.

Given all that's going on, it must be time to sign up for NaNoWriMo!

I'm excited about "forcing" myself to sit at the computer and write. A lot. (1,667 words each day for 30 days.... yeah, that's a lot.) My biggest problem right now is narrowing down the ideas. Where should the crime take place? Should it be a murder? What time of year should the book take place in? The Black Hills have numerous beautiful—and secluded—places for mayhem to occur.

So I'm asking for suggestions... Where should Cerri's next adventure take her?

When to take a step back

2010-09-28T00:53:00.003-06:00

Ask any author whether they have novels they’ve shoved beneath their beds or buried in the deepest hole in their backyard, and you’ll have more than a few cringing visibly and telling you about that novel they never want to think about ever again.

Sure. I have a number. None of them were bad stories. In fact, some had some pretty memorable characters and some lovely descriptive passages. But they were flawed and, in most cases it was because the plot just didn’t happen. Kinda like a lead balloon, okay? My earliest pieces were thinly veiled fanfiction, but now we’re talking about the material I wrote during my teen years, which I’ve thankfully put far behind me. If I even get a vague urge in that direction, I write fanfiction. I do not try to dress something derivative in original trimmings.

As much as people love to pooh-pooh fanfiction, it has its place. It’s fun, and it gets any ideas of clones out of my system if I happen to fixate on an existing setting. Mind you, I don’t write this kind of stuff often, but sometimes I do feel the urge to play in Pern a while, or spin a yarn based on The Crow’s milieu… Hell, I even wrote a Highlander fanfic recently. It was fun and a bit of a holiday from my commercial fiction, which I needed to remind myself that I write primarily to offer entertainment, not only for my readers, but for myself. It clears my head and I move on. Writing is supposed to be fun, okay? Remember that. Tattoo it on your left hand. WRITING IS FUN.

But, it brings me back to my stories I abandon. Mind you, this is not a decision I take lightly. Usually by the time I shelve a piece, I’ve already invested hours of my life in a story—hours I won’t get back. But if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that sometimes it’s the best thing to pull the plug. It’s not as if I’ve thrown away the story or the characters. These lie fallow for me to return and dig out the gems among the dross and, at times, I do recycle characters or routines I like.

And realise this, none of the writing you shelve is wasted time. I have no idea who said it but there’s this statement that a good writer will need to churn out a million mediocre words before they write a great novel. Okay, I’m probably paraphrasing horribly but hell, it’s true. When I think back to all those abortive short stories and partial manuscripts I’ve hidden in boxes to eventually find their way into the trash, I don’t weep for those “lost” hours. No matter how dreadful the execution, these malformed creations were an important part of my development as a writer.

It took me a year to write my first novel and the initial manuscript was well over 100 000 words long. My crit partners and editor helped me pare this down to just over 96 000 words and, since then the logic behind constructing a novel seems to have taken hold. I get my ending first, work in approximately three climaxes then look for a suitable beginning. I work backward now, embroidering around the core of an idea. I'm not scared to throw away words.

Because I’ve written enough clunkers, I have a better idea of how to structure the novels that will sell. So, my advice to beginner authors: Don’t be afraid to put something aside if you’re starting to get feedback that the piece isn’t working. Establish why it’s not working then create something new you can invest your time in. I’ve seen good writers get bogged down because they fixate on a magnum opus they’ve reworked so many times they’ve gone word-blind, and all that joy has fled from the writing, resulting in ponderous prose that just doesn’t sing.

So, ja… go on, take the plunge. It’s a breath of fresh air that may just communicate through your new writing. And, given a few months, you can go back to that old manuscript and you may just have the key to unlocking that story.

Celebrating Banned Books Week

2010-09-27T06:57:00.005-06:00

That's one of my dad's favorite quotes. He had gone to college to become a history teacher before he took a "life-turn" to become a police officer.

As I was growing up, Dad and I had many conversations about history and personal responsibility. I don't remember Dad asking a lot of "what would you do if..." questions, but rather pointing out that Hitler's army was able to defeat a number of European countries because they knew where all the guns were thanks to the mandatory registration laws. Dad's philosophy was to work within the system to make changes for society.

What does that have to do with writing? Maybe nothing, but it does have something to do with reading. Especially this week—Banned Books Week.

I've often wondered what would make a book "dangerous." I'll admit that I've been rebellious enough to read a number of the books which have made the list. I've even encouraged my children and nieces to read such books. Heck, I've even encouraged other people's children to read banned books.

Don't get me wrong...I don't think every book is appropriate for every person. My nephew, for example, probably shouldn't be exposed to George Orwell's 1984 just yet. Then again, he's not even a year old and the theme of the novel would be lost on him. My nieces are older and might be able to grasp some of the concepts. (Though the rat scene is really creepy and still gives me the heebie-jeebies.) I'm sure they would understand Orwell's Animal Farm, though, and it would spark some interesting discussions between the girls and their parents.

Isn't that what books are supposed to do? Spark discussion? Engage imagination? Teach something? Whether a book is fiction or non-fiction, there is something to be learned in each and every book. Even Harry Potter taught us something—good will triumph over evil.

The freedom to read is similar to so many other freedoms we have. In America, we have the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom to assemble. Each of those freedoms can be lost if we don't exercise them. With those freedoms come some responsibilities.

So this week, take some time to exercise your freedom to read. Grab a banned book and read it. Share it with someone else. You just might learn something. Oh, and let me know what your favorite banned book is. A list of classics can be found at the American Library Association's web site.

Banned Books Week

2010-09-25T01:03:00.000-06:00

Today is the start of Banned Books Week in the US. Every year the American Library Association holds this event to celebrate the freedom to read. You might think something like this wouldn't be necessary in the twenty-first century. After all, censorship, book banning, and book burning are all a thing of the past, right? Unfortunately, that's not true. Attempting to and succeeding at removing books from public schools and libraries is still happening with shocking frequency. It's all well and good for someone to decide they don't want to read a book because they find the content and/or themes objectionable, and to also make that decision for their children. But do you want others deciding what you and your family can have access to in a public library?

It's almost as if the universe wanted to bring extra attention to Banned Books Week this year. The book blogosphere fairly exploded last weekend with discussion of a man in Missouri whose children do not attend public school writing an opinion piece in his local paper advocating the removal of several books from local schools. One of those books is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This man included Speak - a book about a teenage girl dealing with rape - in a diatribe about books that he considered "soft pornography." This was the first time I'd ever heard of rape being considered pornography, which by definition is something "intended to cause sexual excitement." I never want to be alone in a room with a man who thinks of rape like that. Ms. Anderson wrote a blog post about this and it's one of many you'll find. I write fiction that is meant purely for entertainment. I do not have the emotional strength it would take to immerse myself in the emotions needed to write a book like that, but I am deeply grateful there are authors out there that can do it. There's nothing to be gained from pretending horrible things like rape don't happen, and anything that might help a survivor in their recovery should be lauded. I have no idea why people think their children need protecting from books. If I were a parent, I would be far more concerned about protecting my kid from the man who finds rape titillating.

The ALA's website has some great info about what books have been challenged and why. The list of Banned and Challenged Classics is quite illustrious. The Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Color Purple top that list. Catch-22, one of my old favorites, is also there. There's also a list of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009. At the top: the Harry Potter series. I think that fact alone says more about the type of people who attempt to ban books than just about anything else that could be said. There's a PDF about the event that features information on the most banned/challenged books from May 2009-May 2010. The Stephenville, Texas school district has the distinction of banning not one but two paranormal Young Adult series that aren't even finished yet, which means they've banned books that haven't even been published yet. (That's the House of Night series and the Vampire Academy series.)

Take a look at these lists and see how many of them you've read. Even better, see what's on there you might like to read. I've got a copy of Kerouac's On The Road, number 31 on the classics list, that I never got around to reading. Banned Books Week might be the perfect time to take it off the shelf.

Psychology of a predator: big cats

2010-09-21T00:54:00.003-06:00

As a keen reader, author and editor, if there’s one thing that gets my goat about some paranormal shifter stories, it’s the representation of the big cats as pack animals, as though they were wolves. Big cats are not wolves and their social structure is very different.
I am a South African who has always been fascinated by the big cats of my land of birth. I’m understandably quite passionate about this topic. I’ve been fortunate enough to go on a number of game drives. I’ve spoken at length with game rangers and folks involved in big cat conservation. Hell, for a long time I was even planning on taking up a career as a game ranger, so I consider myself relatively well informed on the ins and outs of Mother Nature.

So, here’s my take on wild kitties, running through some of my favourite felines.

LIONS
Majestic hunters, lions are probably the most social cats, and the closest you’ll get to a “pack” cat. In this case, it’s a pride of lions, not a pack. Their social structure is hinged around a dominant male or pair of brothers, who stake out a territory and are attended to by a grouping of lionesses, who are generally related to each other as mothers, sisters, daughters and aunts. The males make sure no other males encroach on their territory. The females tend to do most of the hunting (lucky men!) and the boys get exclusive rights to mate with the females. When rogue lions do encroach, serious fights occur and if an existing lion is ousted, the new male will come in and kill all the youngsters the old lion sired so that the females will come into oestrus sooner. Sounds harsh? That’s nature. She’s red in tooth and claw.

Oh, and here in Africa, spotted hyenas and lions are mortal enemies because they’re competing for the same prey, so there’s another interesting dynamic to follow if you’re looking for a good point of conflict for your shifters.

LEOPARDS
Leopards are solitary. They’re also very elusive. Males tend to maintain the largest territories overlapping with those of a number of females but they usually don’t hang out together unless they’re, well, getting down to do the dirty. It goes without saying that lions (and other predators) will kill a leopard’s young if they find them, hence the reason why leopards tend to den in inaccessible areas and tree their kills. Did you know one leopard can carry an antelope that weighs almost as much as it does into a tree? A female tends to raise between one and three cubs, who stay with mom until they are able to hunt, but when she’s ready to raise the next cub, the elder cub has to go on out and find his or her own territory. That’s just how the cookie crumbles.

CHEETAHS
I absolutely adore cheetahs. They’re possibly one of the most underrated species I’ve yet to see in shifter novels. The fastest land mammal, they’re capable of speeds of up to 120kmph (75mph), which they can maintain for short bursts. They tend to borrow the best of being sociable with being solitary. Siblings will often band together shortly after going out to find their place in the world, so you’ll have a pair of brothers or sisters teaming up and co-operating for a while until they’re established. Mom tends to raise her cubs on her own, and will have anywhere between one and five (yes, five!) youngsters. Problem is they’re incredibly vulnerable to pressure from other predators. Often lions and other predators will drive them off their kills. More dog-like than feline, cheetahs have historically been kept by royalty and used for hunting. They hunt chiefly by sight, stalking prey up until a point where that critical short burst of super speed will prove an advantage against the gazelle or prey animal they want to take down.

PLOT BUNNIES
As an editor, here are some plot bunnies I’m setting loose into the wider world. What if a pride of lion shifters runs a small town and a rogue male decides he’s going to take on the big cat in charge? What unique challenges does a young male lion shifter face when dad tells him it’s time to leave the home range? How does a female lion shifter deal with the situation when her lion man gets ousted? How about a lion shifter who’s a gang lord? Or a fun-loving rogue male who gets into way more trouble than he’s capable of dealing with?

What if a leopard shifter hasn’t found one of her kind in more than five years? What if someone starts bumping off the few leopard shifters who are known to maintain a large selection of territories? How do two leopard shifters resolve a territorial conflict? Leopard shifters could be awesome private investigators or thieves. Can anyone say “Catwoman”?

And here’s one that made me laugh: what if a cheetah shifter becomes a famous catwalk model? (I’m almost begging for a submission from an author for this one.) What about two cheetah shifter brothers who go out into the world for the first time and have to work together to solve a mystery? How does a cheetah shifter deal with a pushy pride of lions? How about the cheetah shifter who is employed by a business tycoon to act as a spy or even an assassin?

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Our shifters stand with their paws in two worlds. I often feel that innate wildness, that frisson of danger when associating with these creatures, is often lacking in shifter stories. Get to know the animals you want to portray then find ways to marry their true nature with the human side so that you can build a complex and fascinating creature that marries the best aspects of both species. I feel of late too much emphasis is placed on just the “finding mates” theme. Boinkfests can be fun but, really, I’d like to see more.

What sort of spirituality would big cat shifters have? Think beyond the obvious Lady Sekhmet or Bast of Egyptian cosmology.

There is so much more to play with if we would just look deeper and conduct more research. Shifters as protagonists can do so much more than just have absolutely earth-shattering encounters of a carnal kind. I’m not saying we should cut back on erotic content. Cats are amazingly sensual creatures but hell, we’re missing out on an epic adventure.

And, as an aside, I suppose I’m adding that yes, I’d love to chat to authors about a shifter novel with a difference, so drop me an email at nerinedorman@gmail.com if you’ve an idea or two.

Marketing ideas

2010-09-20T07:49:00.003-06:00

We talk a lot about writing here, but there's another aspect to this journey that's pretty dang important, too. Welcome to the world of marketing.

Gone are the days where an author's only job was to stay locked in his or her attic room, smoke cigarettes, drink whiskey, and type on the manual typewriter. Frankly, I'm not sure those days ever really existed for the majority of authors (Hemingway doesn't really count for so many reasons....)

Today there are authors with the big publishing houses, with small ones, authors who write every word themselves and don't even let a copy editor see it, and authors who probably don't even write the stories their names are on. Heck, you can even see authors playing poker on television!

The one thing they all have in common, though, is that they are marketing their work.

And for many of us, that's harder than writing the novel to start with.

So how do we do it? Sadly, there's no black and white answer. But here are some of the more common ways to get the word out.

Blog tour. Many authors tour the country from the comfort of their homes. Guest blogging is a quick way to reach readers. Think of it as a virtual "lecture tour" where you meet potential readers you may not have thought of. (By the way, if you write paranormal, feel free to contact one of us for a guest blogging spot!)
Website. Who doesn't have a website now? The biggest thing to remember with a website is that it needs to "feel" like your novels and be up to date. It's all about branding.
Speaking of branding, don't forget newspaper ads. Have a "real world" book signing? Take out an ad in the local paper.
Press release. Even better than an ad, because it's free!
Book trailers. I'm not sure what I think about these. For those who don't know, a book trailer is a mini-movie which advertises your novel. I'm fortunate that my publisher does this for me, since I don't have the patience to produce something like this.
Talk it up! This has got to be the most important part of your marketing plan. Tell everyone you know that your book is out. Make sure they know where to get it and how much it will cost. Seriously, word of mouth is the best advertising you'll ever find.

I know there are other ways to market your novel, but these are the ones which have worked for me. What's worked for you? What avenues have I forgotten?

The way we write

2010-09-18T05:00:00.002-06:00

My oldest short stories were written long hand, the two oldest in pencil (second grade, there's also a scratch and sniff popcorn sticker from the teacher on one of them). My earliest attempts as an adult were also long hand, albeit in pen (usually black but sometimes blue ballpoint). If I tried that now I'd barely be able to read my own handwriting. I'm so used to typing, my handwriting - which was never all that great to begin with - is now nearly illegible. I do still make notes about works in progress with pen and paper, but the real writing takes place on the laptop.

I don't print anything out for editing and revisions anymore, either. For one thing I do a lot of editing and revisions while in progress, fiddling and making changes. I've changed names, appearance, location, reordered scenes, rewritten scenes, changed the point of view, turned the story inside out and upside down long before getting anywhere near "the end." If I get to, say, chapter five and come up with something that needs to be referenced or changed earlier in some way, then I can go back in the document and work on that right then, weaving in revisions as I go. It astounds me that writers got anything done before word processing and the wonder that is copy/paste. And the ease of saving multiple versions of scenes so that you can decide whether a scene should be in This character's point of view or That one's - whoa. That's some awesome stuff right there.

I'd never used the track changes feature in Word before the editing process of Bring On The Night. Now I love it so much I use it on my own. Why in the world would I want to waste paper and ink by printing something out when I can take a virtual red pen to my work with track changes? It's made the process so much easier, not to mention cheaper. I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone how costly ink can get.

Email has been great for writers too. I think there are still places that only take paper queries and submissions, but they'll never hear from me. The internet allows us to connect with fellow writers all over the world, something that has been very valuable to me as I don't know any other writers in real life. The internet's also given me a virtual classroom, teaching me how to do a snowflake outline, how to be a sex writing strumpet*, and how to make a mojo hand.

My laptop, Word, and the internet have become invaluable to my writing process. Taking advantage of this technology has made many aspects of writing easier, giving authors more energy to focus on the heavy lifting - the actual storytelling. I, for one, love it.

Has technology changed the way you write, and how do you feel about it?

*Okay, I'm still practicing that one.

Changing my reading habits

2010-09-14T01:49:00.003-06:00

I have a problem. The house I share with my husband, two cats and two dogs, is too small for all the books we own. It got so bad a few years ago we had to sell our cottage and move into a bigger place. I’m not kidding. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but we do own far too many books, many of which we’ll probably never read but own for the sake of having the title.

To say that I love books is an understatement. But it’s not so much for holding paper in my hands, it’s about reading the story and the easier it is for me to access the story, the better. That’s why I absolutely love electronic formats. It’s easy to get to the last page I was reading and, the other bonus: electronic files don’t take up a lot of space or constitute a fire hazard. I keep a few ebooks on my hard drive at work so I can read during down-time. I keep ebooks on my netbook, so I can read when I’m hanging around my husband’s photo- and film shoots. That’s when I’m not busy editing and writing, of course. Or mopping up the fake blood, for that matter (not kidding on that one).

There will always be “keepers” as I call them, that I absolutely must own in physical form but I’ve found over the years that reading physical, as in “that rectangular object with paper pages in it” becoming more and more difficult. I like being able to zoom in on text, scroll down or press a button to get to the next page. So, I keep a few “paper” books in my backpack and try to read on the train in the afternoons. I find, however, that it’s taking me longer to read physical books than their electronic counterparts.

But this shift to electronic publishing has gotten me thinking. I buy most of my physical books second hand. This means the author doesn’t get paid royalties for this sale. Some books, if looked after, change hands several times, the sellers often making a tidy profit, none of which goes to the authors.

As someone who is passionate about writing, I’d like to show my support to authors and what better way than now, with ebooks? Yes, the publishing industry is changing, and not all of us can afford to buy new books in print, which means in the old days, it was difficult to pay tribute to favourite authors. This is changing now. And more of my favourite authors’ writing is coming available electronically. I have an opportunity to thank them for the hours of enjoyment they’ve given me. The other benefit: no stressing about a package getting lost in the mail, and no postage fees. Instant delivery instead. Instant gratification.

This is not going to be a rant about how bad piracy of electronic books is. But think of it this way. An author has written a story they are in a position to share with you. You wouldn’t go to a music concert and slip in through a back door to skiv off paying the performers, would you? In the same way, we can show our support to authors by buying their books electronically. The benefits? You’re saving trees. You’re supporting creative people. There are fewer middlemen and more of the money goes to the person who deserves it, your favourite author who, I can guarantee, often slaves away for many hours crafting his or her words so you can have hours of enjoyment.

Think of yourself as being a patron of the arts, like in the olden times when musicians and artists were often attached to noble houses. By becoming a patron of the arts and supporting creatives, be they musicians, authors or artists, you are bringing more beauty into the world by helping these people pay their bills.

Don’t forget also the people behind the scenes: the publisher and his or her team of dedicated professionals—cover artists, technical support and editors. These folks deserve to be thanked for the often unnoticed support they offer authors so you can carry on reading the latest fiction. They are the quality control so neccessary in this industry where the world and his wife can claim to be published.

Things are definitely shifting in authors’ favour with the advent of the smaller presses, and what better way to feel warm and fuzzy knowing your favourite author has a roof over her head, a shiny computer that works and some nommy biscuits to feed her muse?

Making time

2010-09-13T09:16:00.003-06:00

Are you busy?

I am. In addition to working on my second mystery novel, I own a web site design business. I'm a wife and mother—both full-time jobs. I'm involved in a number of community organizations. I have hobbies.

Making time for writing can be tough.

I like the phrase "making time" because sometimes that's what it feels like. I know there are only 24 hours in a day, but at times I feel that I'm stretching that to 25 or 26 hours to get it all accomplished.

I know there are authors who write first thing in the morning, but that doesn't work for me. I can't speak coherently, let alone write well, before my first cup of coffee. Sometimes not even before the first POT of coffee. Because I'm the boss and chief web designer, sometimes those "paying projects" take the next bit of my day. Hey, I have to pay the bills, right?

I often manage to get a few hundred words in during the afternoon—somewhere between returning phone calls, sending out invoices, and making dinner.

But it's the evenings where I really "jam" on my projects. I'm a night owl. My creative juices are on fire sometime after dinner. As long as my family obligations don't sidetrack me. And that happens.

Thankfully, I have an understanding family. They support me and my writing goals and do their very best to make sure I can get my writing done. I couldn't follow this path without them!

On Writing: What's it all about?

2010-09-11T06:00:00.002-06:00

From Stephen King's On Writing:

Because you're not really writing about vampires, or shapeshifters, magic users, ghosts, zombies, whatever. Or even lawyers, for that matter. All these monsters are a metaphor for something. The trick is to know what. A disturbingly high number of people go through life blissfully lacking in self-awareness. They have no idea why they do anything, and lack the curiosity to figure out the reasons. Writers are constantly asking questions about everything, looking under the surface of things for the truth and for hidden meaning. There's more going on here than just a paranormal investigator who can see auras getting mixed up with a sorcerer who summoned a demonic entity. So what is it? What are all these monsters a stand-in for, and what is fighting monsters with magic all about? A writer may never want to share publicly what all this craziness is really all about, but they know. They know exactly what part of themselves that both the monsters and the magic come from.

A writer also knows what obsessions and interests keep cropping up in their work story after story. For me, one thing is outsiders - how they function without slipping through the cracks of society, why they still give a damn even when they are told over and over they aren't good enough. For reasons I can't begin to understand, people are scared of anything too different, too foreign. I can't make sense of that, mostly because I have such a low opinion of it, but I am interested in how those that are too different manage to navigate their way through a world that doesn't want them. I keep seeing little echoes of that turning up in one story after another, sometimes just a small hint of it, sometimes as part of the main plot.

Another thing that interests me and keeps popping up in my writing is gender roles and how they're changing in the twenty-first century. My vampire in Bring on the Night is female because of this. I'm also interested in technology so if I ever manage to write cyberpunk, you'll know where it came from.

When you look at your work, re-reading scenes for the umpteenth time trying to tweak the dialogue or the action, or lie awake at night thinking about your characters, what recurring themes do you find? What are you really writing about that you cover up with vampires and sorcerers?

So, where do you get your ideas?

2010-09-07T01:19:00.003-06:00

This has got to be one of the age-old questions most authors dread. Writing’s a funny kind of business, especially when the bug bites you at a tender age, like it did with me. I must have been about twelve or so when I first figured I wanted to write novels, and it all started with getting excited about a story.

I remember that night all too well. It was December 28, and it was the year between me finishing primary school and starting high school. Don’t ask me which year, ’cos I’m not telling, okay? I watched Highlander for the first time and the movie blew my mind. It wasn’t the first movie that had excited me that much (that dubious pleasure belongs to Ladyhawke a year or so earlier) but the conflict between Connor McLeod and the Kurgan worked on my imagination on some primal level. Back then I was still very much concerned with dualistic good vs. evil scenarios and I quickly set about starting to write my very own tale.

Back then ordinary folk couldn’t afford computers, so I painstakingly started writing by hand and my dad’s secretary typed the piece out for me. I got about as far as chapter three. Thanks be to all the mercies I never finished, because what I was creating was thinly veiled fanfiction. I wanted to recapture that same sense of magic and excitement I felt the first time I watched Christopher Lambert in action.

After that I’d get very inspired by some of the authors I read, particularly Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern but then later also Poppy Z Brite’s Lost Souls, and I so wanted to write stories and I’d sometimes get these ideas of scenarios: a girl riding a horse across a desert plain; shape-shifting aliens embroiled in an ages-old battle; a young man who vanishes at sea; and so on and so forth. These occurrences were random. I’d be sitting in class and I’d “see” in my mind’s eye and “feel” what these characters were experiencing, and I’d want to tell their story. I’d have vivid, tactile images. It was a helluva lot more exciting than algebra, that much I can tell you.

I wasn’t a very successful story-teller until I reached my mid-twenties, however. It’s all fine and well to have great ideas but unless one is able to think them through and find a story’s conclusion, it’s like setting out on a treasure hunt without a map. That’s why so many of my notebooks had the first three chapters and nothing more. I didn’t possess much of a knack for following a story through to a conclusion.

For a while role-playing games ameliorated some of that itch, but I soon got frustrated at the turn some of the tales took in the hands of another story-teller. I started creating games of my own, but then the players would never quite do what I wanted them to. It was time to start writing novels.

But finding that idea that sparks a novel is a magical process, and it requires an author to be a “waking dreamer” while going about his or her daily business. Sometimes it’s a newspaper article, or a lunch hour spent browsing in a library, or a conversation with a friend. Whatever the source, a story kicks in when an author asks two words, “What if…” And it’s usually because some esoteric process has started deep within an author’s subconscious when identification has happened.

An author identifies with a situation, which resonates with likes/dislikes and an emotional hook occurs. An author, liking the idea will start asking more questions, thereby finding points of conflict for a character, who slowly gains a name, a face and an identity. At the end of the day, the characters that are born are fragments of an author’s psyche, who embark upon adventures an author may never experience. Or, perhaps these adventures are born from something that has occurred in an author’s past. No matter where the germ of an idea originates, writing a novel is a journey, a life-changing experience, which is highly personal.

And in a world full of restrictions, there is a certain magic about being able to shape a setting according to one’s personal whims, and being able to say how an idea can be nurtured then harvested. What’s even better is being able to share these stories with readers.

The worst part of my vocation is that I have more ideas floating about on my hard drive as twenty-word summaries than I can stab a ballpoint pen at.

From a book to a cemetery to a book

2010-09-06T09:24:00.004-06:00

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, Of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

Albert Einstein.

Mr. Einstein would never have thought I had an empty mind, I'm sure of that. I'm not a neat freak. I never have been and I never will be.

My desk is very much like my mind. There's a little of this next to a little of that. The things which may not make any sense to you are deeply tied together for me.

Let me explain. As I look at my desk, I notice a book my teenager suggested I read. The book, Amen, Amen, Amen, is about a girl with OCD. Next to that, I have a copy of the DSM-IV, which I used for my minor in psychology. Next to that, is a zen garden to remind me I need to make time to de-stress.

Then comes the knitting magazine. Knitting is something I enjoy doing as a de-stresser. My mother enjoys knitting. She taught me a lot of different crafts. My parents live about 450 miles from me, and I should call them.

Actually, much of my family has lived and died in that area for generations. That reminds me of the latest search I did on ancestry.com Oh, and then there's the book put out by that historic cemetery where much of my family is buried.

Wait! A book... I have this book I've been meaning to read about a girl with OCD....

Things are really on my desk like that. And they are in my mind that way, as well. I think a lot of "creative" people have these wacky associations. It's what makes them creative.

Or maybe I'm just a little crazy.

Where did I see that DSM-IV?

Questions about voice and rules

2010-09-04T05:00:00.002-06:00

I'm the first one to admit grammar and sentence structure are important. They are the rules that bring order to what might otherwise be chaos. I wonder, though, at that point where the rules collide with a writer's voice, what's the best choice to make? A writer might bend or even break the rules for emphasis, for style, or because it suits the story. If you're writing a story in first person, you are not the narrator. Your point of view character is the narrator. Should the narration sound like that character? And if it doesn't, will that difference pull the reader out of the story? Even when you're writing in limited third person, drilling down into just one character's head and heart, shouldn't the narration sound like that character? I'm not talking about throwing the rule books out. I just think that maybe there's got to be some room for an author's voice - a character's voice - to come through. If not, then why don't all the books we read "sound" the same?

These are just some things I'm thinking about lately and I wanted to post this to get some opinions and input. This whole thing of voice versus rules is something I'm still figuring out. My instinct is to follow the rules as much as possible, but ultimately to obey the story. What do you think?

Going pro?

2010-08-31T07:48:00.003-06:00

I’ve lost track of the amount of people who’ve told me they’re interested in becoming a professional writer. Especially those who tell me they want to go full time. So, here’s the million-dollar question. How does one go full-time in the media industry as a wordsmith?

Okay, you can do it the hard way, and study journalism and, if you’re lucky, start working as a journalist for a newspaper or magazine. But most people I’ve spoken to have already got jobs in some other industry, probably because they’d (sensibly) thought to have a job that would actually pay the bills, and don’t really have time to pursue these qualifications.

The media industry being as fickle as it is, editors and journos’ positions are often the first to be shed, should a company look to tighten its belt. I’ve also encountered a perception that writing for a magazine or newspaper is some kind of glamorous job. It’s not. It’s a job, like any other, and if you’re chasing daily or weekly print deadlines, it can be extremely pressurised.

There’s another way. You can study copy writing at an advertising school, university, college or technikon. These can either offer you a diploma, certificate or degree by way of tertiary qualification. You’ll end up working in marketing, at an advertising agency or, like me, as a commercial features sub-editor for a national newspaper publisher. And, no matter what the TV shows lead you to believe, this is not a glamorous job, either. You can only write so much promotional editorial or advertorial before you want to reach for a blunt spoon and slit your wrists. Granted, this has given me an excellent grasp of the English language but it’s dead boring. The only benefits I can think of is that one of my projects is a weekly travel publication and I occasionally get to go out and review game lodges or five-star resorts on tropical islands. Place the emphasis on “occasionally”. I don’t get paid for this extra writing. I do it because I love it. Ditto for the books I end up reviewing in the papers. Or the lifestyle pieces I craft. I don’t get paid for these stories, okay?

Then you have your average, garden-variety freelancer. Some of these individuals studied languages, copy writing or were just damn hot and learned on the job, so to speak. They write editorial for magazines, newspapers, promotional material and websites. But they were not making oodles of money overnight. It takes a long time to build up a decent client base and, more often than not, these intrepid writers end up spending most of their time writing copy for corporate clients. Corporate clients can also be full of s***.

And you don’t just break in into this industry. You go freelance only once your extra work is paying you the salary you’re already earning. Generally, unless you’ve got a very strong handle on grammar, I don’t advise sudden career changes unless you’re absolutely certain you know exactly what you’re doing to the English language. I’ve seen people try to make this jump after working in an unrelated industry, often resulting in a spectacular income failure when they were still learning the basics. And, trust me, it looks really bad when you write copy for a corporate client when you abuse homophones or don’t punctuate your sentences properly.

And there’s the last category that makes me smile. Sometimes people approach me and tell me they want to write novels with the view of staying at home and being a career novelist. I’m in agreement with one of my friends, who said her first impulse is to tell them to take a ballpoint pen and repeatedly stab themselves in the hand because it will be less painful. I know very few full-time authors. Those who are, were incredibly lucky and got in with a big publisher the first time round with huge deals and a best-selling international series. Many of them held onto their day-jobs until they were earning the royalties to replace that income. But that was usually only by books six or seven, and they were proven authors.

Others are big names but still have day-jobs. Sure, they may have a number of books with a mass-market paperback publisher, but they hold onto that day-job. Some of the ebook authors I know write fulltime but I’ve been told they write the books they know will sell (romance and erotica) and sometimes write the books they want to read. And even this is hard work because you’re competing against so many other people who are established brands. This means that you must constantly strive to improve your writing skills and learn from what your editor or writing buddies tell you about your writing. You don’t just sit down and write an instant best-seller in the space of a month.

So, before you start writing, ask yourself this question: Why are you writing? If you’re writing to make money, then look at the choices that will actually pay. And if you decide to embark on that trip, make damn sure you’re passionate about that type of writing because, trust me, it shows when you aren’t.

Another blog post... maybe

2010-08-30T14:24:00.002-06:00

I've come to the realization that I need another book. Yes. Yes, I do.

I have books on police procedure, books on types of poisons, books on the duties of first responders, grammar books and spelling books. I have many more that I consider pleasure reading.

What I really need, however, is a book with suggested blog topics in it.

I think it would be similar to those story starter/idea books. The ones that say things like "Write about a delivery that goes astray." or "Write about forbidden fruits." I can use those. I may not always like them, but prompts like those give me a jumping off point.

I have no idea what a blog post book would include. If I knew, I probably wouldn't struggle with what to write here each week.

So, I ask you. What should I write about?

On Writing: Secondary Characters

2010-08-28T00:05:00.000-06:00

In On Writing Stephen King says:

It's also important to remember that no one is "the bad guy" or "the best friend" or "the whore with a heart of gold" in real life; in real life we each of us regard ourselves as the main character, the protagonist, the big cheese; the camera is on us, baby. If you can bring this attitude into your fiction, you may not find it easier to create brilliant characters, but it will be harder for you to create the sort of one-dimensional dopes that populate so much pop fiction.

It's easy to put so much energy, so much thought, into creating your main characters that all those secondary characters wind up being cardboard cutouts. "The best friend" or "the wacky sidekick" or whatever else have a purpose to fulfill, in relation to the story and the main characters. The trick is to not write them as if that's all they're for. The trick is to write them as if there is an alternate universe of the fictional world you are creating and in that alternate universe, that secondary character is the main character. Some of the best, most fully realized novels I've ever read had secondary characters that were so interesting, I would gladly have read a book about their adventures.

One of the best examples of this I know is the Harry Potter world. While I understand why JK Rowling doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life writing Wizarding World stories, as a reader nothing would delight me more than reading the further adventures of some of the side characters, especially George Weasley and Neville Longbottom. In fact I loved the entire Weasley family and loved every minute they were on the page. As for Neville, his own journey through the course of the books was every bit as amazing, and occasionally heartbreaking, as Harry's. When Neville had his big moment in the Battle of Hogwarts I cheered so much I dropped the book. In the hands of a lesser storyteller, Neville would have been just the stereotypical nerdy picked-on kid, and a prop to reflect aspects of Harry's own journey. But instead we saw glimpses of a young boy on his own Hero's Journey, every bit as compelling as the main character.

Who are some of your favorite secondary characters that you'd love to read more about?

Some thoughts on the whirlwind of publishing...

2010-08-26T14:33:00.001-06:00

Note* Debuting the cover for Wait for the Wind. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Since we seem to be discussing the business side of publishing this week, I'm going to just jump right in with my two cents worth. Times are changing. As Nicole said, with the economy so poor right now publishers are looking for ways to cut costs while staying in business. For every customer who holds the rank of editor or author there are probably twenty everyday folks spending their hard earned dollars on our words. When it comes down to the bottom line, their budget for little luxuries like books is swallowed up by rising food and energy costs. Perhaps that's why a lot of publishers are beginning to take a second look at eBooks and the benefits of publishing electronically.

Dorchester's big change to a digital model with print on demand sent ripples of surprise through not only the publishing community, but the reading one as well. Will other big print houses do the same? I wonder what would happen if every publisher that prints actual books conformed to the same model. I think eventually we will see it happen though it may be years into the future.

Which brings me to another soapbox, eBook pirating. Okay, pirating people. Johnny Depp as a pirate, cool. You? Not even a smidge of frost. I wish these pirates would realize what they are stealing here. It's more than thoughts, electronic words and art. It's money the author uses for everyday things. Here that pirates? You're taking the money for their kids lunches, gas, bills,and thousands of other things. There needs to be better security on eBooks that doesn't hinder the reader from enjoying them. Ebooks are not meant to be forwarded or transferred. Do your part. Don't become a pirate. Report shady ner'do wells to the proper authorities and let the publisher know too. *climbs off soapbox*

On another note, I'm gearing up for the release of To Take Up the Sword on September 6, 2010 with a release party at The Romance Studio on 8-28. http://theromancestudio.com/party/ Several authors are scheduled to be in attendance. Interviews with Rachel Leigh on 9-1 www.rachelleighromance.blogspot.com
and You Gotta Read Reviews 9-7 http://yougottareadguest.blogspot.com

During the month of September I'll be the featured on author at The Romance Studio and on 9-24 I'm giving away a copy of the book in their Book a Day giveaway.

Lastly, 9-16-9-19 I'm participating in RBR's Halloween Bash. Details below and I believe this event last through Halloween. www.trinagon.blogspot.com

Upcoming Event: Halloween Bash. Do you love spooky tales? Do you like to read about shape shifters and their mates? Or perhaps enjoy a spine tingling ghost story right before bedtime. Well starting in September, Ramsey's Book Reviews is the place to be for all your "Needful Things". Stop in and visit with over 30 authors, enter their free book giveaway contests and read what scares them the most. There will be many books/ebooks to choose from, all with their own twisted story. We look forward to your arrival.

I'd love for you to drop by and visit.

Be blessed,
Brynna

Dealing with criticism

2010-08-24T03:21:00.005-06:00

As an author, one of the first things you learn is some readers will absolutely love your writing and others will react badly, making you wish you could crawl under a rock and never pick up a pen again. Maybe it’s a decade spent in advertising and newspaper publishing that’s given me a very, very thick skin, but as an author I welcome criticism.

But there’s a condition. It’s not what a person says but how he or she says it that matters.
At the papers I’ve had editors throw my work back at me telling me exactly how bad it is in colourful language I’m not going to repeat here. I’ve had people tell me I’m all manner of horrible things, including “amateur”. I’ve been reduced to tears on numerous occasions and each time I just carry on. But that’s my day-job. Thankfully over the years I’ve learnt to suck it up and get on with my work. And, trust me I don’t make the same mistake twice.

So, when it comes to the groovy world of commercial fiction, I pretty much say it like it is, sans the melodrama, of course. I conveniently forget that some people don’t want to hear that their self-editing is not up to scratch or they need to give their writing a little more oomph by avoiding passive sentence construction and cut out filter words.

I’m not going to tell an author they suck, or should give up writing, but I’m not going to lie and tell them, “Oh, this is great! You’re faboo!” when their writing needs some serious work. That being said, I also don’t give praise lightly, so if you suddenly find me clinging to your leg and declaring myself as your undying fangrrrl, I mean it.

And when I deliver criticism of someone’s writing it’s not to make them fall into a pit of despair. It’s because I can see, based on my experience in the industry, where they could improve. Hell, I wouldn’t be where I am today without my writing buddies who I can assure you, didn’t coddle me.

A few of my author friends have graciously offered to share their opinions on how to cope with criticism. Take note, and take heart!

What the authors say…

Cat Hellisen
When I get back editorial/agent/beta letters, first I have a full-blown panic attack. This is before even opening them. Then I try skim through while hyperventilating. Then I cry some more, and condemn the writer of the letter to several terrible fates, and curse their unborn children.

Luckily for me I have a very close group of writer friends who talk me down from my cliff and give me suggestions, and encourage me with soft words and cupcakes. Finally, I realise that they are making more sense than I am, and I try read through the letter again, this time making notes. Nowadays it takes me about a week to get to this point, which is way better than my original time of around three months.

Eventually, about a month later, I’m hardened by repeated reads, and I realise that what’s there is not a long list of YOU SUCK YOU SUCK YOU SUCK DIE DIE DIE, but advice and suggestions designed to bring out the best of my novel. Obviously, being the special snowflake that I am, I’m going to fight people on one or two points, but usually by this time on board with the majority of the suggestions, and better than that, I’m excited by them.

Lesli Richardson, who also writes as Tymber Dalton
Hmm, depends on the source and the content. If it’s constructive criticism in the writing stages, I look at whether it’s just one person pegging a certain point or several hitting the same issue. If it’s just one, it could just be that person’s opinion. If it’s several, I take another look at it. After publication, I try not to pay too much attention one way or the other to criticism. Not everyone will like what you write, that’s just part of the business. Of course I love to get positive reviews, that’s a given. But bad reviews, fortunately they’re few and I just ignore those. My feelings are if my beta readers liked it, and my editor and publisher liked it, and at least some of my readers liked it, then I’ve done my job. You cannot please every reader, and if you try, you’ll drive yourself crazy. You can’t try to write to a specific audience because then your focus isn’t on the story.

You also have to consider the source of the criticism and the spirit in which it’s given. Is it someone genuinely trying to help you improve your writing, or is it someone who might have other motives.

That’s why it’s extremely important to have good beta readers who will be honest and point things out to you that you might not see otherwise.

Carol Hone
As I read what’s been said I give it more weight if I know it’s coming from someone I know, trust and respect. Though if they seem to be saying something utterly daft I will still ignore or mark down their criticism.

So after reading what they’ve said I will take a note of the points they’ve made that seem relevant and compare them to what others have said. Then I decide which points I think are correct. This method breaks down if you only get a few critiques. And “gut feeling” does play a part.

Even if I think a point is valid I may not act on it or I may do less than what they advise—this is because people like different things.

Once I’ve rewritten a story I will preferably give it to more people to read to try to see if the problems are fixed.

The above is my logical response to criticism.
Emotionally if I get too many downer crits I get depressed. :(

And/or I call the critiquers many bad names. Sometimes I do the above then I do the logical stuff once I’ve recovered.

Manda Benson
If you mean criticism of my writing, that depends too. If people who don’t know me read something of mine, decide they don’t like it, and then either attack me personally or ridicule it, I ignore them—they’re f***tards. If someone politely says it just cannot stand something I have written, I thank that person for its time and accept that individual didn’t get it and just isn’t the right audience for it. If hundreds of people say this and none say the opposite, I consider that the intended audience may be extremely small, or nonexistent. If someone says, “I like a, b, c; but I don’t like x, y, z for these reasons,” then I carefully compare with my own opinions on x, y, and z and what other people have said of them, I leave the writing alone for a bit in order to think through what I need to change, and then I make an outline of what needs to be done and do it.
If you’re talking about reviews, in that someone buys something I wrote and hates it, and writes about this on Amazon or wherever, there’s nothing you can do about stuff like this. You just have to accept the first or second statements in the above paragraph, and take whatever comfort you are able from the fact that you now have said person’s money. :-P

I also am wary of taking people’s comments at their obvious meaning.

Often if there is high-level stuff wrong with something, people can have the right sort of idea of what to do with it, but not the complete picture. “I want to know more about what this character is thinking” doesn’t necessarily mean that. It could be that the character’s history and interpersonal relationships need to be better established (discreetly) to provide a framework for the character's motivation to be apparent from. Particular example: The original first chapter of Pilgrennon’s Beacon didn’t work (in fact, I think it was *three* chapters back in the earliest version).

With retrospect, I can now see why. I had an axe to grind regarding my own childhood. I put in way too much stuff about horrible schools, vile teachers, and being ostracised. “This is too long,” beta readers said. “Cut some stuff out.” I kept trying to cut stuff out and it wasn’t working. What I really needed was a future, wiser version of me to tell me to throw it away and start again from scratch, with a clear head, and only including such information as was absolutely necessary so as to establish the character and begin the story. Which is what I eventually realised I needed to do.

Greg Hamerton
I pay very little attention to it, because it always relates to something I wrote a long time ago. The time between finishing the story and finally releasing it to the market is measured in months, sometimes years. Even with digital releases, there are many editing and proofreading and production steps. So when you criticise my latest work, it doesn’t make me feel the need to change anything in the story. It is done. You didn’t like it? Sorry for you...there are many others who *will* like it.

But I do *listen* to criticism. It is useful feedback from my readers.

How I deal with it depends on what kind of criticism it is: bright criticism, cynical criticism, or stupid criticism. Bright criticism is the only one worth paying attention to. It is an intelligent commentary on my writing, and although it is always coloured by the critic’s own tastes and limitations, it shows which aspects of my writing worked for them and which aspects could be improved.

The problem with criticism is that you have to read the criticism first to classify it, and this is where you can be hurt if you are just starting out, over-sensitive or insecure. That’s when cynical or stupid criticism can be damaging.

Cynical reviewers are writing to flex their own snarky egos. Their “special skill” is the art of the put-down. You have to pity them because they won’t ever finish writing a decent novel...they will find too many faults with it. Authors have to combat this aspect of their own psyche and not let it out until the editing stage. Cynics *seem* intelligent because of their command of the English language and their incisive wit, but in fact they often miss the art of the storytelling entirely and focus on a few technical aspects. When they are linked to a large readership they can become confused by the attention and believe they are “guardians of the art” when in fact they are writing words that will have a lifespan of about five minutes. Some reviewers are genuinely interested in good writing, and write enlightening responses which are worth their weight in gold.

Others are cynics. Consider if the review is bright or cynical, and if it is the latter, forget you ever read it at four minutes fifty-nine seconds. That way, you win.

What I have found is that when one reader strongly dislikes an aspect of the storytelling, another will praise the book for that same quality. Reviews are entirely subjective. You will never please everyone, because some people are by nature unpleasant.

The reviews that really piss me off are people who give low-star ratings on books without having read them, those who lambaste a book they didn’t like when they admit they don’t like that genre, or the twits who make up facts to fit their opinions. It would be nice to blow them off as harmless, but negative reviews are damaging to sales.

It costs the “reviewer” nothing, but it threatens my livelihood.

However, I don’t argue or challenge these reviewers on their opinions, just as I don’t beat up the crazy man on the corner who says f*** you to everyone who passes. Hopefully my readers are intelligent enough to disregard the mutterings of orcs.

So look out for bright criticism. Pity the bitter cynics. And ignore the stupid critics...they’re the bottom-feeders. Don’t let them spoil your party. Write something for the rest of us.
http://greghamerton.com

DJ Cockburn
I don’t think I’ve ever thought out a set of guidelines! I think the cardinal rule has to be to take what’s useful and leave the rest, irrespective of where it comes from. It’s easy to get turned off by a critique that comes across as didactic and arrogant, but that’s not to say that there isn’t something potentially useful in there somewhere.

Conversely, there are people whose opinion I respect and seek out, but that’s not to say that I will do anything and everything they suggest.

Whether we’re talking about a specific story or my development as a writer, we are talking about something that is mine and mine alone, and no criticism can ever be more than observation and suggestion that it’s up to me to make use of or disregard.

With regard to work-shopping, I put all the comments in one place and work through them systematically. If I regard a comment as not being useful, I’ll disregard it. If it’s something that’s obviously useful and only involves a minor change, I’ll make the change there and then. If it’s something that immediately makes sense, but involves more than writing or deleting a couple of sentences, I’ll make a note of it and address it when I’ve been through all the comments. For example, if some people aren’t following something, I need to foreshadow it better, but I’ll have to work through the whole story to work out where to put the foreshadowing.

The hardest decisions are when comments come up that I’m not sure whether to act on or not. If one critiquer out of twenty said they didn’t understand something, should I change it? Was that person not paying attention? Or did several have the same misunderstanding and not bother mentioning it? In that case, I usually make a note but don’t make a decision until I’ve read all the critiques.

The future of publishing

2010-08-23T09:11:00.005-06:00

One thing we haven't covered much on Frightening Journeys is the future of publishing. And from the authors I've talked with, the publishing industry is pretty dang frightening.

Let's start with the economy. Ewwww!!! At least in the US, the overall economy is keeping some people from purchasing books. And that means publishers aren't taking risks on new authors.

It also means that bookstores are in trouble. Have you heard the recent news about Barnes and Noble? They are exp

ected to report a loss this week and the board is currently arguing about the future of the stocks and the make up of the overall board of directors. In the world of small, independent bookstores, the news isn't much better. A number of mystery stores have closed in the past few years.

If that weren't enough, there are other changes in the air. No longer is a "book" limited to a paper-based product. You can read just about any printed matter on your computer or e-book reader. But the Kindle stuff isn't read on the Sony reader... Many people are just waiting to see who pulls out ahead in the deal. It reminds me of the VHS/Beta format war.

It's a scary time to be striking out in the publishing world. Or else it is an adventure, just waiting to be undertaken.

Either way, there is change in the air and I'm excited to be a part of it!

On Writing: The "What If"

2010-08-21T00:04:00.000-06:00

In On Writing Stephen King says:

A strong enough situation renders the whole question of plot moot, which is fine with me. The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question.

In all honesty I don't see much difference in "plot" and "situation", but let's talk about using What If as a starting point for a story. Sometimes a novel will start with a character that is so compelling, he won't stop haunting you until you tell his story. Sometimes a novel will start with a question. What if this happened, what if that happened? That initial question will invariably lead to more questions. For instance, what was the fallout? Who was affected? How did they react? All of these questions are just a variation on the theme of, and then what happened? What if is your jumping off point, and if it's compelling enough you'll jump into the story with or without a safety net.

For Bring On The Night my initial question was, what if the noir tough guy was both a girl and a vampire? Followed by the question, what if she didn't brood and fall in lurve? I went from there, asking more what ifs as the story progressed. With the short story that eventually mutated several times until it became Mojo Queen, my starting point was, what if someone chose to be possessed by an evil spirit? Mojo Queen went through quite a few incarnations but in the end that initial question could still be found as an integral part of the plot. I found myself floundering when I tried to write a follow-up, until a question occurred to me: what if a natural disaster, like a flood, created havoc on the spirit plane just like those events do in the physical world? How would ghosts and spirits react, how would that affect people, and what would it take to calm these rattled spirits down again? I've worked out answers to the first two of those questions and I’m sure I'll figure out the third one in the course of writing. I’m also sure more questions will come up.

Have you ever started a story with a what if question? Was that a successful way for you to start?

What to do when struggling for the next word

2010-08-16T07:12:00.005-06:00

I'm sitting at the computer. The curser is flashing, waiting for me to begin typing. I start cursing at the curser because I have no clue what to write.

Does this happen to anyone else? Anybody?

I don't believe in writer's block. Ask any journalist and you'll learn that the story must get written. Whether they work for a daily, a weekly, or a monthly, there is no time to struggle with writers block. Deadlines must be met.

Fiction, however, can be a little more tricky. I do have some suggestions for those who are stumped.

Take a break from writing. Sometimes a new perspective will help you figure out what needs to happen next. (Hey, this is when I get my Farmville fix!)
Do some research. Since my novels mention real spots, I've been known to visit so that I can get a renewed "feel" for the location.
Write a different scene. Stuck at an intersection and can't decide which way to turn? Write whatever happens next and come back to it later.
Read something. This is very similar to the "take a break" suggestion. I firmly believe no one can be a good writer without being a veracious reader. So even though you're taking break from the writing, by reading a book, you're helping yourself become a better writer. (Might I recommend Ghost Mountain?)
Draw a card. When all else fails, I've been known to ask my characters what they want to do next. Usually this involves drawing a tarot card and seeing what that tells me. It's not a suggestion that will work for everyone, but I've had success with it.

I'm sure there are a ton of other suggestions. For the authors out there, what works for you?

A scary new journey

2010-08-14T00:04:00.000-06:00

Writing has always been a very solitary thing for me. I've never been part of any kind of writer's group, but that's something I've been thinking about a lot in recent months. It just seems like it would be great to be part of a community of writers. People that understand the things you're going through, that can offer advice, support, and best of all - feedback. That's not something I've ever had before. I live in a small town and don't know any other writers in real life. There are a handful of local authors that I've read about in the newspaper. From what I can tell they are mostly retirees who have written memoirs or children's books. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it makes me afraid that me and my urban fantasy would be met with a double chorus of "get behind thee Satan!" and "get off my lawn!" So I've been extremely reluctant to try creating a "real life" group. I've decided to give a virtual group a try. Not sure about how to find one to join, I just created one on my own. We're going to use a Yahoo email loop to communicate and though we only have a few members to start out, I have high hopes that it can become something that is both fun and useful for its members. Since I started the group I thought it would be only fair that I be the one to post the first excerpt for critique, so I posted the first chapter of one of my current works-in-progress. This may not seem like a big deal to those of you who are used to working with writing and critique groups, but I can assure you that this is a scary step for me to take, in a lot of ways. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that it's a success.

The group is called Write Club (tag line: Chaos. Mayhem. Books.) It's open to writers of all genres, so if you think you might be interested drop me an email at clarksonyab @ gmail.com.

Don't forget to recharge

2010-08-07T13:41:00.002-06:00

Discipline is a good and necessary thing to have, but the truth is sometimes I just don't feel like writing. Burnout is a very real possibility when you push yourself hard to reach a deadline or work on a project that for whatever reason, the words just aren't flowing easily. Once that deadline is met, or you've pounded your head against a wall so much it feels like there's a dent in your forehead, it's a good idea to take a break.

When I need a break from writing, usually the first thing I do is reach for someone else's fiction. I think it's fair to say all writers were book-loving readers first, and stay that way for life. Getting immersed in a story is always a terrific escape. Sometimes you want to completely unplug yourself from books and enjoy a good movie or television show. Sometimes the only thing that will blow the cobwebs out of your mind is to do something completely unrelated to fiction - working in a garden, going for a long drive, working on some household project. Whatever you do, it's important to know that it's okay to take the time to recharge and let your brain rest. We writers live and work in our heads so much of the time, it's easy to forget to take a vacation.

What are some of the things you do to take a break from writing? Is there a particular favorite activity that helps recharge your creative batteries?

The voices in my head.....

2010-08-02T13:30:00.002-06:00

I’ve been hearing a lot about voice lately. And, no, I’m not taking singing lessons.

One e-group I’m on shared a link designed to tell the user who they write like. Just submit some text and you have it. I must be fairly eclectic. I tried it four times with different sections of Ghost Mountain and got four different answers: Margaret Atwood, H.P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Dan Brown. Not sure what that says about my own voice. I’ve opted to take it as a positive sign that I combine the best of all of them.

I write like
Ursula K. Le Guin

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Around my house, however, my voice has been sounding a bit like Robin Williams’ version of Adrian Cronauer, the military disc jokey who inspired the movie Good Morning, Vietnam. Our air conditioning is on the fritz and I’ve been quoting “It’s hot! Damn hot! Real hot!” As it happens, Mr. Cronauer and I have something else in common — I graduated from the same Department of Defense training school he did… and with similar unremarkable scores if the rumors are correct.

Another voice has found its way out of my mouth lately, and it’s one that is hard to own up to. My daughter is getting ready for her senior year of high school and I’ve found myself being possessed by the voices of my own parents. “How are those college applications coming?” “Have you been looking for scholarships?” “What do you expect to do with that major?” “You know, if you don’t keep your grades up . . .” I’m trying to avoid those voices, but they do sneak out when I’m least expecting it.

Seven. That’s seven voices—besides my own— running through my head at any given moment. Legally insane criminals often say the voice in their head made them commit their heinous acts. St. Joan of Arc claimed she heard three voices. I wonder what it means to have seven.

Maybe it just means I’m a writer. . .

Nichole Bennett is the author of Ghost Mountain, available on Amazon.com or secondwindpublishing.com

An author's public face

2010-07-31T01:44:00.000-06:00

One of the things I struggle with as a new author just starting out and trying to establish a professional persona, if you will, is how much of myself to reveal. There's no shortage of opportunities for me to shoot my mouth off, thanks to social networks, my own blog, this blog. All of the advice says to be positive, upbeat, interesting, entertaining, blah blah blah. Most of all - inoffensive. Being inoffensive is something I have to work really hard at, and it usually leads to a great deal of self-censorship. While I understand the basic rationale behind the advice to be inoffensive and uncontroversial - you might run off a potential reader - I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of it.

I'm a fan of Anne Rice on Facebook and unlike some of the celebrity pages I've fanned, I haven't hidden her in my newsfeed. Ms. Rice is never boring. She will offer comment on just about everything under the sun, and a couple of recurring topics always catch my attention. One is her crush on actor Matt Bomer from a show called White Collar. I've never seen this show but I recognize the actor from being on a handful of episodes of a show I do watch, Chuck. She says Bomer would make a terrific Louis and I have to say, he does look very close to how I always pictured him. I find her mentions of him charming, plus it makes me feel a little less self-conscious about my adoration for Misha Collins. The other topic that always catches my eye is religion.

Several years ago Ms. Rice famously stopped writing her Vampire Chronicles, though she never renounced Lestat. She returned to the Catholicism of her youth and wrote about Jesus and angels. It confused me because I always felt like many of her books, especially the ones with Lestat, were theological and existential exercises anyway. Why retire a character that gave such great voice to all of that, just because she decided to go back to church? Anyway, if you’ve been following her fan page for awhile you've probably noticed that it hasn't worked out. Earlier this week my jaw dropped when I read her status that she was quitting Christianity, though she still considered herself a follower of Jesus. But the more I thought about it, the less surprised I was. She gave a lot of reasons for her decision which I won't go into here, but none of them were out of the blue. She'd talked about all of them on her Facebook page, frequently. I know what you're thinking: it's Anne Rice, for pete's sake. She can say anything she wants, she's already had her best-sellers. But what I'm thinking is, all of these reasons she gave for leaving the church can also be found in her work.

I think it's pretty much impossible for a writer to keep their personality, their beliefs, their interests and obsessions, out of their fiction. We are hard-wired to follow the old rule, "write what you know." If we're going to have a public persona and engage with readers as all writers are told they have to do now, is it a form of false advertising if we keep all that potentially offensive stuff hidden from view? If our fiction runs to a darker tone, do we really have to pretend to be Mary Sunshine all the time, as if that darkness comes from nowhere? This is something I'll probably continue to struggle with but it's been fascinating to see Ms. Rice set a brave example in being true to oneself. She may lose some readers with this very public decision, but there are many already who are hoping this might mean the return of Lestat. (Let's face it - someone needs to show SparkleVamp how it's done.)

What are your thoughts? As a writer, are you comfortable being honest enough about yourself that you might alienate a potential reader? As a reader, how much is too much? If you find out a writer's life or beliefs don't fit certain parameters, have they lost you as a reader?

Read, read, read…

2010-07-27T02:09:00.002-06:00

If there’s one pitfall many first-time writers fall into, it’s that of not reading. Since I’ve started fiction editing professionally, I’ve seen it again and again. It’s admirable that people are inspired to write, especially in the wake of highly popular made-into-film novels such the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomena. Hell, I’m biased. Anything that gets people to give fiction writing a go is a great idea. The problem comes in that often people who start writing do so haven’t grown up in a culture for loving words, which suggests having read novels across more than one genre.

For me writing fiction is therapy. Sure, most of the time I admit I write fluff, be it purely commercial fantasy or erotic fiction. Hell, my husband despairs of me creating anything “literary” and, who knows, maybe one day I will write something a little more serious, but right now I’m having too much fun. I love the English language, I love telling stories. But that doesn’t mean I’m not averse to a bit of William Burroughs, John Fowles or Aldous Huxley when the mood fits, on top of reading popular contemporary offerings.

The problem comes in when first-time authors haven’t built an awareness of the other stories that are out there. I’ve lost count of how many Twilight and Underworld clones I’ve encountered during the submissions-reading process. While it’s all fun and games to play with an existing concept, many first-timers end up with a work that’s entirely derivative. My feeling: you may as well be writing fanfiction then, which is also fine, since websites such as fanfiction.net cater for exactly that market. I understand the enthusiasm for timeless classics, such as werewolf vs. vampire conflict and the sheer joy of continuing the excitement of what you enjoyed about the book/movie in your own writing, but unless a writer puts a seriously original spin on the existing theme, it’s not going to pique the interest of editors who see this kind of writing daily.

Derivative works make slush-pile readers say “Meh” and move onto another manuscript that shows more potential, in the process dashing the hopes of hundreds of promising authors who may have stood a chance had they taken that idea one step further.

There’s a current underlying opinion that vampires in fiction are so passé it hurts. This is not the case. While the bigger publishers who have more of a capital outlay in the fiction they release may think twice about the horse they perceive to be flogged to death, there are scores of small presses willing to publish variations on popular themes. The trick is finding that X-factor in a classic scenario and putting a unique spin on it to make it your own, which means avoiding Edward-and-Bella clones, okay?

And to do that, my advice to first-time authors is to read, and read widely. Go read The Great Gatsby. Read Wuthering Heights. The Magus by John Fowles: yes, it’s a doorstopper but in my opinion it’s also one of the most important works of literary fiction to be published in the past century. Gorky, William Golding, Burroughs, the Brontë sisters… Go read them. Go visit the “classics” section at your local bookstore or library and read at least one of these titles a month.

There’s a reason these are considered timeless examples of fiction (and there’s a reason these books were foisted upon thousands of schoolchildren during their formative years at school).

If you, like me, can step back and say “This is why I don’t like Ernest Hemingway” then you’re on the right track. Learn to love words, to eat, sleep and breathe them. Then you’re already on the right path to being a fantastic author.

* * * *

Books one and two of my urban fantasy Khepera series are available at the following links:

Lyrical Press: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=authors&authors_id=107

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=nerine+dorman

Kalahari.net: http://www.kalahari.net/page_templates/searchresults.aspx?searchText=nerine+dorman&navigationid=632&displayShop=books

Give your vote on past lives: yes or no?

2010-07-26T08:08:00.004-06:00

Brynna asked an interesting question last week--do past lives really exist?

I will readily admit that I have no clue. A google search for "past lives" gives you more than 147,000,000 hits. That's 147 million.

There is the idea that a finite number of souls actually exist, so they have to be "recycled." There is the idea of Akashic Records, a place where all the lessons a person is to learn are held for examination before a soul comes to Earth. These are said to be similar to the "collective consciousness." There are belief systems which claim no one can be good enough to live in paradise on their first try.

Each of those "academic" arguments for or against past lives seem logical. I mean, other resources are finite, why shouldn't souls be? If birds "know" to migrate, why shouldn't humans "know" things? If you're completely honest with yourself, are you good enough for an eternity in paradise?

See, they all make sense, don't they?

Now let's look from a more "emotional" point of view. How do you explain a child's fascination with a certain period of time? It would be easy to say "oh, the parents push it." In some cases, I'm sure that's true. It wasn't in my child's, however.

When the kid was young (she's going to be a high school senior this year), she was homeschooled. In fact, she didn't "go" to school until the 9th grade. Because of that, we were able to focus on some of the things that interested her. Like ancient Egypt. For weeks at a time. And I'm not talking about the pharaohs. She wanted to learn about the "regular people." For weeks at a time. When she finally left Egypt (I used to joke that we spent more time there than the Israelites did), it was on to... the American Revolution. Do you think she wanted to learn about General Washington? Try again. She wanted to know what it was like to just be "home" at that time.

So, either I have an odd kid, or she felt some connection to the everyday people of those time periods. (To be truthful, there are days where it could go either way...) Makes ya think, though.

I don't know what the answer is. I think it's possible. Heck, just about anything is possible. On the other hand, would't more people have "memories" of the past? And most of the arguments "against" past lives are seeped in fundamental Christianity. Then again, how can you prove it when someone says "I was the Queen of Sheba" ? Really? How many Queens of Sheba where there?

There ya have it. Can you see why I'm completely stuck in the Land of Maybe? Do you believe? Convince me. I want to hear what you think... and WHY!

On Writing: The Great Commandment

2010-07-24T01:29:00.000-06:00

Here's another quote I have underlined in Stephen King's On Writing:

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.

He later refers to "read a lot, write a lot" as the Great Commandment, and I agree with him that it's one all writers should follow. My favorite genre to read is paranormal fiction, and that's also what I write. Reading outside your chosen genre is important, though, and there's a fair amount of diversity on my bookshelves. Mysteries and thrillers, a smattering of literary fiction, biographies and histories, an entire bookcase full of books I refer to as the "musicology section." I use research as an excuse to slowly expand the metaphysical section. I've got my favorite authors and favorite books, both in and out of my genre. There are plenty of books that turned-down page corners and underlined passages. Sometimes I'll pull a book from the shelf and just re-read a favorite marked passage. Whether I'm looking for inspiration or a visit with an old friend, it's always nice.

The "write a lot" portion of the Great Commandment is harder. Writing every day is a huge commitment. Sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes the voices are quiet and there's no story to tell, at least not with any great urgency. King says you should write two thousand words a day. I think that's a great goal to have, as long as I have two thousand words of something to say every day. Last year I made it to the goal line of fifty thousand words for National Novel Writing Month, but after three weeks of forced daily word counts I was churning out pure garbage. It felt like a hollow, empty accomplishment. My opinion on daily word count goals is, your mileage may vary. If you love writing, you will write a lot, but don't sweat it if you're not keeping up in the daily word count reports on Twitter. I think the main goal a writer should have is, don't let any story you want to tell slip away. Capture it, write it, make it the best you can, then capture another. Never stop writing.

A dangerous question...

2010-07-22T00:01:00.008-06:00

*peeks in the door* Hi, I'm sorry I've been MIA lately. It's been a rough month, but I missed you guys. I really needed to get Wait for the Wind finished and off to Piper (on time). I was almost done when a computer virus wiped out my computer and the backup I had on my flash drive and I had to rewrite half the book, then Jackie (for those of you out of the loop, that's the hubby) went back in the hospital. I took my vacation time from my day job to finish up the book and take care of some family stuff the first week of July.

Somebody up there must have thought I really needed a vacation, because as soon as the book was sent, my cell phone and both laptop cords died. I finally found a replacement for the Acer on eBay, but it still hasn't arrived yet. My kids laughed at me when the cell died and I couldn't check my email. I felt blind and naked without my laptop and phone. Funny how you become so dependent on something. Got the phone working, but the laptop is still dead. *Sigh* Soon. Good thing I remembered to set my 'out of office' message before I left for vacation.

Another trip to the ER and a hospital visit for Jackie last week and unfortunately a death in the family. Jackie's baby cousin passed away July 13 in a drowning accident. Just one of those horrible freak things that happen, but its so terribly sad. Jackie got out of the hospital three hours before her funeral. We went home, changed and drove to Tuscumbia to attend. It was indescribable in the worst way. Gracie would have been two July 26. She was such a sweet little angel, and I cry if I think about her and her mama. So, I work.

I've started Sea's Sorceress: Elemental Magic Book 4. I don't want to give away too much, but it picks up right where Wait for the Wind: Elemental Magic Book 3 leaves off with the birth of Liv and Jack's twins. I've been slowly creeping back into the manuscript with the spell that started the series, showing bits of Liv's legend (EM Book 1) here and there. I'm sort of out of my element again. This time with past lives.

I'm so on the fence about the topic, yet I chose a long time ago to use this scenario for book four. Why? Not sure except that Skye and Rhiannon demand it, so I must obey and let these characters tell me their story. I was raised in a true holy-roller Church of God. (I mean no offense by the term, it's just what we call them down here.) They believe in gifts of the spirit such as prophecy and the laying of hands (healing by prayer), but I'm pretty sure I've yet to see a church endorse past lives. Now I might be wrong, but the bible belt Alabama ones don't. So why continue on this path? Because I've seen enough weird things to believe there is so much more to the universe than any of our minds can comprehend.

I knew where the hidden staircase trigger was located in Arlington House long before the guide reached it or mentioned it. I knew where the old slave cabins and kitchens were at Belle Mont when I'd never been there before. I could have drawn a map of the entire house before I ever set foot inside it. Past life memories? Deva vu? Turned out the curator was related to the Pitts as well as some of the former owners (I think), maybe that explains it? Then there is my fascination with swords, particularly Japanese and the kind you'd imagine King Authur's knights would carry. So...what if?

Dangerous question. Here's another, just for fun. If there are past lives, who were you and when were you? I think I would have been a temple priestess in feudal Japan, or maybe a noble lady who desperately wanted to be a knight. Or maybe I was a writer...

Be blessed,
Brynna

Get into that writing routine.

2010-07-20T01:49:00.003-06:00

People are often amazed when I tell them I’m able to write a 60 000- to 70 000-word novel in under two months. This is notwithstanding that I have a demanding day-job at a South African newspaper publisher and, on top of that, still have editing obligations for one of my publishers in the States.

Add to that that I’m often helping out behind the scenes on indie movie sets or photo shoots, and sometimes have a social life over the weekends. How is this possible?

First off, it’s not easy. Routine is everything. I try to squeeze in the writing and editing on the train in the mornings, during my lunch hour, then have to dedicate at least two or three hours in the evenings. There’s no getting away from that. I have to do this every day. And sleep is a valuable commodity. I’ve learnt to cope on five to six hours a night.

I divide my work into an editing, reading and writing cycle, giving my full attention to a scene or chapter at a time before moving onto another manuscript, working on up to five documents in a cycle. Why? I have a very short attention span. This means I usually work in bursts of about three quarters of an hour. Then I get up, stretch, maybe check email or make a cup of coffee, and start all over again.

But that’s me, and I’ve found that diversifying my activities helps me concentrate and be fresh when I return to a manuscript in the next cycle.

What you have to do is find a system that works for you but then be consistent in applying it. If you are easily distracted by the television or internet, set aside time every day, be it half an hour or an hour, every day, where these evils will not keep you from your work.

Because I can never guarantee where I’ll be at any given time, I’ve had to make my workspace mobile. Investing in a netbook has probably been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I honestly don’t know how I managed without, but I didn’t let that stop me. I used to write my earlier novels out longhand in notebooks before inputting them whenever I was near a computer.

The point I’m trying to make is if you really want to succeed at being an author, you’ll find creative ways in which to overcome your limitations. I’ve met so many people who’ve told me they’ve got this great idea for a novel. It’s all stored up in their grey matter. All they need to do is write it.

But they never do. They’re always making excuses.

“I’m waiting to buy a new computer.”

“I’m waiting for things to settle at home.”

“I need to pack out the boxes so I can use the study.”

You know what? There’s never a perfect time to write a novel. You just have to knuckle under and do it, even if you’re living in a trailer and don’t always have electricity. Otherwise you’ll always be talking about it.

* * * *

Books one and two of my urban fantasy Khepera series are available at the following links:

Lyrical Press: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=authors&authors_id=107

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=nerine+dorman

Kalahari.net: http://www.kalahari.net/page_templates/searchresults.aspx?searchText=nerine+dorman&navigationid=632&displayShop=books