middling

I’ve reached my least favorite bit of novel writing again, the end of the middle. In the beginning everything is peachy, I’ve got drive, energy, and none of my plans have turned out to be stupid wastes of time yet. As I write the energy dissipates and problems emerge – I start to uncover gaping idiocies, characters make very good points about why they would never do something like what I needed them to do for the plot, etc. The novel is starting to go off the rails.

Every time this happens, I struggle desperately to hold it on course, and sometimes this gets me through. Other times it just means wasted words on a plot that’s not worth keeping (see previous novel). Either way, I always run into the wall at the exact same place, the 2/3 mark. It’s the place where my bright beginning seems like hair brained scheming, but the end is still so far away I can’t see the finish line. Every morning I wake up feeling like I should just stop, go back and edit my way into something resembling a coherent plot. Sometimes, I give in, but not this time.

I’ve talked before about the novel as a wicked problem, a problem you don’t know how to solve until you’ve solved it. This was true two novels ago, last novel, and it’s true now. The 2/3 mark is where I’m deepest in the problem, my feet haven’t been able to touch bottom for a while, and I’m getting really tired of swimming. But I know if I keep going, push through to the good scenes that are still there, I’ll finish. Of course, the novel will be terrible, but my first drafts are always terrible. I’m just starting to realize this is because I’m secretly a much better reviser than a writer.

Some people really don’t need more than 2 drafts. Some writers just seem to know where their story is going. Some writers take dozens of drafts. All of that is fine, if we all wrote stories the same way, our stories would probably all be the same. It took a while, but I think I’ve finally made my peace with the idea of being a rewriter rather than a writer. I like to tell myself  this skill is because of my amazing problem solving abilities, but really it’s because it takes me a while to have all my good ideas. This is fine, writing is not a performance art. So long as I get the story right by the time it goes out, nothing else matters. Now to just keep repeating that until the novel’s actually done.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving and good luck with all your projects!

Navel-gazing and turkey. Except turkeys don’t have navels.

At a mock-Thanksgiving dinner a couple of weeks ago, someone brought up how people in the city where he’d recently moved tend to introduce themselves based on their creative work, instead of their day jobs, as opposed to the other way around here in greater Boston.  I don’t know how much of this was just his impression or if it actually is widespread,  but it did get me thinking about how we construct identity.  It took me a very long time to be able to introduce myself first as a writer, even though I’ve thought of myself that way for years.

But with family, it’s different.  And with Thanksgiving coming up, it’s on my mind again.

For one thing, you’re not introducing yourself in most family situations; maybe Uncle Edith doesn’t really remember what it is you do for a living these days, but what you did at the reunion in ’94 has cemented your identity in his mind as “the one with the macaroni.”  And it’s really hard sometimes to ask the same people who saw you throw a tantrum over Lego bricks to take you seriously as a creative artist.

I don’t know if anyone else has this problem, but I get this weird defensiveness about my writing in family situations that is completely out of proportion to everything else.  It’s as if I feel I have to justify my work by bringing up the practicalities, the business side of things, rather than the more fun parts of it.  Even though I’m very lucky in that my family enthusiastically supports what I do, there’s still part of me that expects to be asked “so how is your real work?”  Call it my own insecurities poking through.

In the past few years I think I’ve mellowed a bit on this point, or at least have stopped automatically defending my work.  Some of it is probably because of the books, but I think more has to do with me accepting that yes, this is my real work.

I’ll be spending this Thanksgiving with my in-laws, which means I’ll probably miss the story about the gnomes (or whatever strangeness comes out of this year’s dinner).  But for all other writers and musicians and poets dreading family dinners, here’s to you and your real work.  Enjoy the turkey, even if the ham’s a little dry, and remember that no amount of questions over dinner can make your work more or less real.

—-

(Also, best thing about Thanksgiving?  Pie for breakfast on Friday.)

Never assume you know your readers

Sorry about the Sunday post… AGAIN. Fridays keep blowing up in my face, mostly in good but terribly busy ways.

So the other night my husband and I went to a local place called Taco Stand which serves…. wait for it… tacos! Delicious tacos! It’s cheap, tasty, and very popular with families (what kid doesn’t like tacos?). This makes for a weird mix of townies and students, groups that are normally oil and water in our little University town, but it also means I run into people I don’t normally see. Unfortunately, this mixing has a bad habit of spawning the “what are you doing now, oh you have a book coming out!” conversation I thought (back before I was published) I would love having, but in reality is always pretty awkward given most people’s vague notions of fantasy and weird ideas about how authors spend their time.

This particular night I ran into a woman I used to work with at the church (my first job out of college as a designer/receptionist and, coincidentally, where I wrote my first novel), named Tami. Even though Tami was older than me and a mother with kids, we were cohorts in the trenches at our job, fighting against the pretty terrible decisions of those above us, and I always enjoyed her company. But, other than work stuff, I didn’t know her or her husband very well, always thought of them as a fairly conservative couple. So, while I was happy to see her looking so well, I was pretty anxious when she came up to say hello after four years and the “what are you doing now” conversation came up. I took the cheat way out and just told her I had a book coming out. Fortunately she had a tray full of tacos headed towards a table of hungry children, so the conversation was truncated and I fled to the other side of the room, safe (I thought) from having to explain yet again that no, my book was not Harry Potter or Twilight or Eragon.

Fifteen minutes later as my husband and I are walking out, Tami stops us. My heart sinks. Here it comes. I can almost see the Oprah question in her eyes. She asks what kind of book I wrote. I tell her fantasy, and to my utter amazement, Tami and her husband are immediately excited. What kind of fantasy? Epic like George R.R. Martin? Urban? Her husband lights up as he tells us how much he loves Joe Abercrombie and how upset he is that Patrick Rothfuss hasn’t put out a second book yet. Tami’s asks who I’m getting published by, and when I tell her Orbit she knows exactly who I’m talking about and tells me she loves their stuff.

At this point, my mind is blown. Here is this woman I worked with for a year, whom I thought I knew as a conservative small town lady with her husband who owns the local office furniture store, more likely (I thought) to read Rachael Ray than ever read Rachel Aaron, and they’re asking me what fantasy books mine is like. What new books can I recommend? Will my book be suitable for their 10 year old, who is already an avid fantasy fan? (My books are not YA, but they have no cussing or sex, just bloody swordfights, so I said maybe to that one. Tami assured me they’d both read it first, and I actually believe they will.)

In the end my husband had to pull me away from the conversation so we wouldn’t be late for our party. Still, I got a very valuable lesson about making assumptions about people, their reading habits, and my future audience. When I wrote my books, the reader I had in my head were people like myself and my husband – geeks, gamers, internet nerds, people who wrote fanfiction in highschool, etc., etc. But there are fantasy readers out there who never go to cons, get involved in geek culture, or even consider themselves geeks. They just like a good fantasy story.

Being so deeply involved in geek culture it’s easy to forget that there are people outside the bubble who buy the same books I do. Who may buy my book if they come across it. Fortunately, this encounter was a very gentle wakeup call and not the foot-in-mouth disaster it could have been. Still, lesson learned.

RWA-MWA Drama, Contest Winner!

No post today, folks. Since I spent a good chunk of yesterday in jury duty, I lost a day of writing, and as I’m already behind on Book 3, today was catch-up. I did, however, post a little rant on my own blog about the “Harlequin Horizons” drama and how it impacts me as a fantasy writer. Check it out.

And I haven’t forgotten that today is the end of my ARC giveaway contest! I got a lot of great entries by email and in the comments of the post, for a total of sixteen magnificently made-up gods. Thanks to all who participated!

The choice was tough. Frankly I wish I had more ARCs, because some of the entries were hilarious or just beautifully-written; our own Rachel Aaron’s was a case in the latter point. In the end, though, I was seduced by Jackie M’s entry:

Elena Niobe is the goddess of Falling Things. She has no home, and no homeland, and is most often found in the company of caravaners, nomads and transients. She has control over waterfalls and rain storms, market prices and dominoes, meteors and stars tumbling into black holes. She is a perfect savant with numbers, and can speak any language, but she is completely illiterate.

The color of her skin and shape of her face changes to blend in with her current company, but her eyes are always black, and her dark hair is always streaked with gray. To discover Elena Niobe in human form brings immense fortune; to break her trust by revealing her to others brings the worst of calamities. And she cannot stay for too long in one place–for while she always has the power to make things fall down, the longer she makes a home for herself, the less able she is to stop things from falling. Her favorite lovers have all a bad habit of dying abruptly and tragically.

The best way of winning her favor is to do something truly kind for someone who has either lost their home, or who has never had one. Conversely, she does not look well on those who exploit the vulnerable.

Lovely. So, Jackie, please send me your mailing address and I’ll drop the ARC in the mail to you ASAP!

Something to do with all that spare time you have

I’m an information junkie. I like to know things. I don’t like to be in the dark and I want to know the rules of the game.

In other words I LOVE the internet!

I’ve ranted before about how I have little patience for writers who don’t understand how the publishing industry works. (By the way, that hasn’t changed. I still think that if you can’t be bothered to understand how this industry works, then you shouldn’t be trying to break into it. Would you go into police work without learning the basics of the legal system?)

But, I also understand that the internet is a huge and often intimidating place, and it can be hard to find the information you need amidst all the other “noise” out there. So, I’m going to get y’all started with some helpful links.

First off, some other group blogs that are almost as wonderful as The Magic District:

http://www.deadlinedames.com/

http://www.sfnovelists.com/

http://magicalwords.net/

http://storytellersunplugged.com/

http://www.ninc.com/blog/

 

Other incredibly useful blogs:

There are many sharks in the publishing waters. Read Writer Beware to learn how to avoid them: http://accrispin.blogspot.com/

The wonderful Miss Snark. Alas, she’s no longer blogging, but the archives are a goldmine of information. http://misssnark.blogspot.com/

Agent Kristin Nelson shares TONS of knowledge: http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

So does BookEnds Literary Agency: http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

And Dystel & Goderich: http://dglm.blogspot.com/

And Nathan Bransford: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/

 

Various posts that have fantastic info:

This post has links to a dozen other awesome posts. Read them all! http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/10/publishing-related-backlist.html

A good explanation of how royalties and advances work: http://apparentlyaprilynne.blogspot.com/2007/12/do-math.html

Sub-rights! http://apparentlyaprilynne.blogspot.com/2007/12/sub-rights-or-yet-another-reason-you.html

Word count limits. Why they exist, and why they matter: http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-there-word-count-cap-for-debut-novel.html

 

These are just a sampling of the links in my “Writing” bookmarks folder. What online writing/publishing resources do you find invaluable?

 

a consumer’s take on why ebook readers still have a long way to go

As an author I’ve been thinking a lot about ebooks – how they’re changing/may change publishing, if we’re going to eventually move to the ebook business model of high royalties instead of advances, (but not piracy, I’m with Cory Doctorow on this one: An SF writer’s biggest problem is obscurity, not piracy) etc. So from the writer mind side I’m wringing my hands, which is kind of stupid, because my reader mind (which is deeply tied to my consumer mind) is pretty made up on the subject: ebooks, specifically ebook readers like the Kindle and the new Nook, are a bad choice if you like owning books and saving money.

ARC Giveaway Contest!

OK! In just over 3 months now, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms will launch. (February 25, 2010, to be specific; you can preorder now at most of the major online booksellers.) So I’m getting ready to go into hardcore promotional mode. Keep an eye on my own website for lots of changes in the coming weeks — a new look for the site, more giveaways, sample chapters, and more, all up to the big day.

But that doesn’t mean the Magic District will get short shrift. Ergo, I’m kicking things off here with the first of two Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) giveaways (the other will be at my site in a few weeks). Details below the cut.

Post With Four!

(No relation to Game With Four, as you can probably tell from the language.  Serious posts will follow eventually; sorry to be so fluffy of late.)

Four books that always make me cry:

• Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
• Nation, by Terry Pratchett
• The Innkeeper’s Song, by Peter S. Beagle
• Busman’s Honeymoon, by Dorothy Sayers

Four elements I’ve always wanted to work into a story and haven’t (yet):

• Locks. Not in the sense of keys and locks, but in the sense of canal locks. I don’t know nearly enough about the dynamics of them, but something about them appeals to my sense of Grand Metaphor. It may be for the best that I’ve never written about them.
• A conspiracy theory as a pernicious and harmful (and potentially sentient) meme or a curse.
• Figured bass notation. At least once every ten months I’ll get this Gene-Wilder-in-Young Frankenstein look, yell “IT COULD WORK!!!” and scratch out an outline for a story about this, then realize that it’s either so bogged down in infodump or too flimsy to go anywhere and junk the whole thing.
• Surrealist art — specifically, Max Ernst’ collages. I know this is triggered by a story I read some time ago involving these collages, but I can’t remember the author or title or even the anthology. I had a big long outline worked out for a novel along these lines, and even a rough first draft, but it collapsed under its own symbolism.

Four books for which I’ve wanted Cliff’s Notes:

• Vellum, by Hal Duncan
• The Mistborn series, by Brandon Sanderson (Luckily, I think notes for these exist; I’ve just been lazy in finding them)
• The Urth of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
• Infinite Jest (oh GOD Infinite Jest) by David Foster Wallace

Four scenes for which my internal soundtrack involves far too many overwrought guitar riffs:

• Temeraire and the Divine Wind.
• The battle at the end of The Book of Three.
• “No living man am I.” YEAH.
• The last climactic scene of Wild Hunt. I refuse to feel bad about this.

Comment with four?

Interview: Lindsay Ribar

I’m delighted to introduce y’all to Lindsay Ribar, assistant to my agent, Matt Bialer, at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates literary agency. Lindsay’s been working with Matt for long enough that she has a terrific insight when it comes to queries and slush, and was willing to answer some questions for us. There’s a lot of great information here, especially for those of you who are–or will soon be–agent-hunting. (Psst.. by the way, Lindsay’s always on the lookout for potential clients!)

Thnaks for joining us, Lindsay! I’ll cut right to the chase: How many unsolicited submissions do you normally get per week?

I had to go back through my epic “Rejected” folder to get a better idea of this, because I am long past the point of reading everything as soon as it comes in.  The average looks to be around 60-75 per week via email, with an additional 30-40 via snail-mail. 

Of those, how many follow the guidelines for submission?

A surprising amount! I would have to guess that about 85% (yes, I’m making up numbers) follow the guidelines.  (The guidelines, by the way, are on our website.  They will not be different if you call me on the phone and ask me about them.  If you do that, I will merely point you toward the website.)  Some  don’t include a synopsis.  Some don’t include a separate biography.  Neither of those is really a Kiss of Death in my book.  The biggest mistake that authors make is not including sample chapters with their queries – not because it’s “against the rules,” but because it’s a wasted opportunity for the author to show off.

Think about it this way: as someone who has been reading slush (among other things) for over two and a half years, I am (a) lazy, (b) jaded, and (c) LAZY.  I do read everything that comes in (until I have read enough to make a decision), but… well, say I read a query letter that maybe isn’t wonderful, but is interesting enough to make me want to check out the author’s writing.  If the sample chapters are attached to the email, I’ll double-click it and read.  If they are NOT attached, what are the odds that I’ll go to the trouble of contacting you and asking for a partial?  Not great.  By sending sample chapters in your initial email or query package, you are saving me a lot of trouble.  Which makes me like you more already.

What are your biggest peeves?

Oh, there are SO MANY!  These are just a few that came immediately to mind – and please keep in mind that these are my own personal pet peeves.  I know a lot of people who actually really enjoy vampyres-with-a-Y.

– Query letters that pitch a concept instead of a plot

– The word “feisty” as used to describe either the heroine or the token female love interest

– Authors who use their query letters to tell me why they think fantasy (or fiction in general) is an important part of our culture

– Authors who say that their chosen genre is basically a cesspool of shit, but their novel will single-handedly redeem it

– Authors who don’t understand the subtle difference between phrases like “my book would fit nicely on a shelf next to the Harry Potter series” and phrases like “I AM THE NEXT JK ROWLING”

– Authors who pitch their book as a Guaranteed Insta-Bestseller, or berate the slush-reader for “missing out on a golden opportunity” if they dare to send a rejection letter

– Fantasy novels featuring characters with utterly unpronounceable names

– Fantasy novels featuring character and/or place names lifted directly from Tolkien, Pullman, Rowling, Lewis, etc.

– Intentionally misspelled words like “magyck” or “vampyre,” especially in urban fantasy

– Overuse of prophecies, destiny, fate, and anything else that kickstarts the action  without anything actually happening.

– Authors who quote bits of my boss’s website bio in their query letters

 Is there anything that’s an instant “kiss of death”?

YES.  Stupidity – which can often be found in the following forms:

 – Impersonal query letters, i.e. “Dear Sir or Madam”

– Query letters in which my boss’s name is misspelled

– E-mail queries that say little more than “Please see attached.”

– Queries in which the author asks permission to submit a synopsis / sample chapters / proposal

– People who insist on pitching their books over the phone

– People who call every week to follow up on their submissions

– “My manuscript is complete at 945,000 words!” Seriously. That happened once.

– Authors who include their own cover art (bonus points if it’s poorly drawn in MS Paint!)

– QUERIES WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN CAPITAL LETTERS

– Snail-mail queries consisting of one copy of the author’s self-published book… and nothing else

– People who include the first three chapters of their book… even though each of those chapters is 75 pages long

– People who include chapters 4, 11, and 23, because “that’s where I feel my writing is the strongest.”

 What makes you keep reading?

I really enjoy finding a narrative voice that is unique, yet still accessible.  (Think Jeff Lindsay.  The “Dexter” series is an exercise in pure genius.)  It’s a fine line to walk, since stylized narratives are often a very tough sell, even when they’re done well.  My boss pegged my taste in writing right away: I like things that are “clean and crisp.”  A good example: the writing of one Diana Rowland.

I also really enjoy finding vivid, memorable characters.  Coming from the world of fandom as I do, I know how much readers enjoy falling in love with characters, because I do, too.  Now, at the risk of seeming like a total shill for the authors I work with, I’ll say to look at Rachel Aaron’s first chapter of THE SPIRIT THIEF for an example of How To Write A Character With Whom People Will Fall In Love.

So, in short, voice and character.  I like an author with a good sense of story structure, too, but if the natural talent for voice and character are there, structure can be taught.

 What makes you bounce in your chair and make “squee!” noises?

Werewolves.  Unique systems of magic.  Brand-new takes on age-old themes.  Ironic use of phrases like “DOOM!”  And, seriously: werewolves.

What are you seeing way too much of?

Vampire romance novels.  (Bet you didn’t see that one coming!)  See, the thing is, vampire romances are still selling like hot cakes, so we’re actually actively looking for them.  But the more popular a thing becomes, the more people write them – and the harder it becomes to find good ones among the crap.  Many writers pitch themselves as “the next Stephenie Meyer” (on which I will not comment, because my thoughts on her series are the subject of a whole separate essay), but I find that 99 times out of 100, those authors are rehashing the same old vampires tropes that we’ve all read a million times, without adding anything new.  And whatever you may think of sparkling vampires… let’s face it.  That was new.  It was enough to get somebody’s attention, and now Stephenie-with-an-E, Twilight, RPattz and K-Stew, Bella Swan, LOL RENESMEE, and Team Edward vs. Team Jacob are phrases that you can avoid only by moving into your very own apartment complex under the rock of your choice.

My point is this: if you’re going to write in what is arguably the world’s most popular fiction genre right now… do something different.

 It’s also worth mentioning that I am still seeing a lot of epic fantasy, and that’s just not selling well right now.  Which brings me back to “do something different.”  It’s great if your “tale of an unlikely group of companions who must band together in order to rid the world of evil” is well-written, well-edited, and well-reviewed by your friends and family… but so is everyone else’s.

What are you seeing not enough of?

Werewolves.  Let me rephrase: werewolves who are NOT Jacob.

What do you wish more people would do in their queries?

Spell things correctly.  Write in complete sentences.  Display a working knowledge of (a) the querying process and (b) the publishing business.  Sell me on your plot, your characters, or whatever it is about your book that makes you stand out from the crowd.  Most of all, be nice.  Nobody wants to work with an author who isn’t nice.

How many queries do you pass on to Matt?

When I first started working here, I passed along a few every week, just so I could get a sense of what he was and was not looking for.  He would tell me what to request – and what not to bother with.  Now that we’ve worked together for a while, though, I’ve been able to figure out where our tastes overlap (which is pretty often, at least when it comes to fantasy stuff), and I only show him things that I think have a really good chance at selling.

Does he always recognize your genius and good taste?

Heehee!  Well, we usually tend to agree on what’s good.  Oddly, we often have differing opinions on what’s NOT good.  For instance, right now he is reading a book that my (wonderful, delightful, speed-reading) intern passed along to me.  It wasn’t really my style, but he sees potential and is determined to prove me wrong.  Verdict pending.  Make your wagers now.

Do you have any advice for people trying to break into publishing?

Oh, lots.  But I think the most important thing is that if you really want to be in this industry, you have to do it for love.  It’s a slow-moving industry, and it’s notoriously hard to get a foot in the door – as it is with any creative business.  The starting pay for most entry-level jobs is… let’s say “not great.”  You’ll have to work on projects you don’t like, and you’ll have to smile while doing it.  But if you really love books, then it’s all completely worth it.  If you don’t… well, I guess if you don’t, you aren’t reading this blog anyway.

On Batman

When I was a kid I was never really in to American comics or superheroes. That said, I LOVED Batman. I watched the animated series religiously every day after school (favorite episode: Harley and Ivy), and later I stole my boyfriend’s Frank Miller Batman comics (which are what I miss most about that relationship). I never really did become a comic reader. I couldn’t stand how convoluted and unending the stories were (they never END! No one stays dead! There’s never any closure!), but my love of Batman has never really let up. Conversely, I hate Superman with a burning passion.

Even though Bruce Wayne is handsome and impossibly rich, he’s still only human. Everything he uses to fight crime – the toys, his strength, his connections, he has to work for them. Superman was just born with his powers, and while he struggles nobly not to abuse them, he still has freaking eye lasers. Where Superman is treated as America’s weapon of mass destruction with a conscience,  Batman is a detective. Superman punches holes in walls, bounces bullets off his chest, then fries the Ant King with his laser vision. Batman follows clues, makes deductions, and then is waiting in the dark in the drug lord’s hideout before the evil doer even knows he’s been caught. Batman, SO COOL.

When I wrote my very first novel (which, thankfully, I never finished),  I had a main character who was the only one of her people born with great magical power. I wanted a heroine having to accept the greater destiny she was born to. Classic first novel stuff, I don’t have to tell you how bad it was. I worked and worked on this novel, but I could never get it right, and eventually I threw it away as a failure. Years later, while I was thinking about all the novels I’ve started and never finished (it’s a long list, folks), I found myself getting caught on this story again. I still like the magical system and the basic world premise I created, so why hadn’t it worked? I kept thinking on this question until, a few days ago in the shower, it came to me.

I’d written a novel with Superman, not Batman.

See, by giving my main character fantastic powers at birth and making her the only person to have them, she never had to do anything for herself.  Any challenge I made for her she could overcome by using her fantastic powers, and she never really had to suffer or fight for her choices. This isn’t to say there weren’t fights, the book was pretty much a running string of fights, but the MC was never pushed, never sent to the edge. She never had to think or grow, she wasn’t even a character really, more like a talking jar with generic humanist values I stuck super powers in. In short, boring.

Contrast this to the book that made it, The Spirit Thief. I’m not saying my main character, Eli Monpress, is Batman, but lets’ just say he would have had Batman pajamas as a kid.  Make no mistake, Eli is powerful, but he lives in a world full of powerful people, which means power is no longer enough. He has to use that power in new, clever ways which, by default, gives me, the author, conflict to play with right off the bat.  His power is not what makes him interesting, it’s how he uses, or doesn’t use, that power. In fantasy I think it’s very easy to fall into the trap of giving your characters too much power, of making them Superman. This can be done overtly, by just giving them super powers, or subtly, by giving them an inescapable destiny of victory.

This set up can work just fine (hell, it worked for Superman), but I prefer Batman stories where the power is in the person, not the magic or the sword or the alien artifact. After all, take away Superman’s powers and he’s just this guy. Take away Batman’s money and he’s still god damn Batman (which is why, whenever the Justice League travels into the dystopian future, Batman is always the only one still alive).  Like most authors, I’m a sum of all my influences, and I think there’s a little bit of Batman in all my main characters. If any one of my characters were stripped to their barest parts, they would still be themselves, still be dangerous, still be able to get things done.

At the end of the day, I’m happy with that. Batman for life!