What the Heck Is Fantasy Anyway? A Book Review of A Wanted Man & More

While goofing off the last month or so re-reading fantasy books I'd saved, I got caught in some existential questions about what fantasy is. Frankly I don't even care what the SFWA thinks. I'll fall back on the infamous "porn" definition. I know fantasy when I see it.

Fantasy is by definition unrealistic.  My prime example, even though bookstores don't shelves the books in the Fantasy section, is Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Just finished A Wanted Man as a break in all the oldies I was reading. [And still itch to read]

Why do I think Reacher is a fantasy hero. How ofter do you think someone reaches into a moving car and not only grabs the the cell phone but the driver too? And, survives with their arm intact? Yet the New York Times Book Reviews will give Child and other mystery writers regular mentions but only it only reviews fantasy when it's Young Adult or written by the likes of Margaret Atwood.

In case you haven't heard, Jack Reacher is a 6'6", muscle bound, former military MP hitchhiker who gets in all sorts of trouble while he's travels around the country with his trusty toothbrush. A Wanted Man has Reacher getting involved in an FBI operation when he is picked up by some bad guys on the interstate. 

Child writes a terse style which makes the action in his plots seem faster than it is. His character development shines with an ability to make the same-old, "stock" law enforcement people into individuals. His villains are well drawn too, but often sink into cliche territory. 

Most enjoyable for me is Child's dead pan humor. An example, in A Wanted Man, he has an FBI agent copying Reacher's pattern of buying new clothes when the old ones get dirty. Only she saves her old blouse to wash later.

Again, how realistic is it for a guy to maintain basketball-sized biceps by throwing bad guys around rather than working out in a gym for hours. For me, every Jack Reacher novel is a must read ... at least until they become cliches of themselves. May that be many books from now.

An Addition

Re-discovered a gem: Katherine Neville's The Eight.  While it's been sleeping behind a bunch of other books, it's become something of a thriller classic. I reviewed it for Goodreads. [I think.] If you like cross-genre fiction with a strong fantasy element you might look at it. Warning: The plot structure is more complex than most novels written today, and it's slow to start since there's a lot of back story about a mysterious, magical incident from Charlemagne's time involving a chess set.

Updates

While I'm supposed to be a writer, I've been mainly fussing with my websites. Hope all the stubborn broken links are fixed now, and I haven't seen any typos the last couple of times I looked. 
You might take a look at the Far Isles Half-Elven site. 

I've put up the opening chapter of The Pig Wars ... though I may change the title to The Black Tail War. Must give the pet pig her proper due.

And a little gift for all your writer's out there if you don't follow Janet Reid, Literary Agent. Watch this video.

Golden Fantasy Oldies -- Revisiting Favorite Reads

Most fantasy readers I've talked to still get warm fuzzies from the favorite fantasy worlds of their youth. It's enough to make me feel unnatural because I seldom feel warm fuzzies about anything. Yeah, old pickle puss, that's me. Still I do reread and reread some of the same books over and over. 

Andre Norton's Year of the Unicorn and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight are just two recent examples.

The Year of the Unicorn is what might be called a novella today by some publisher requirements, but it was an Ace single when I bought it. The lords of Dales made a bargain with a pack of were-riders to give them 13 brides of good birth if the weres helped them defeat their Alizon attackers. The Unicorn book tells the story of how the debt was paid and how two young misfits who must find a their place in the world.

Set in Norton's Witch World,  Year of the Unicorn demonstrates one of the things Andre Norton does best -- a coming of age story of two talented young people who don't fit their society's expectations. The story is sparsely written but characters and setting come through loud and clear as the two struggle for their lives.

Anne McCaffrey's world of Pern is another classic fantasy franchise. I read Dragonflight  with enjoyment. The plot lines of the two main characters, Lessa and F'lar, coping with a deadly danger from space and each other held up well. So well it sucked me right into reading the sequel.

Can't say the same about Dragonquest where coping with a four-hundred-year time difference is the prime problem . Lessa became a secondary character, and F'lar become a deus ex machina with the right answer for everything. A few dust ups but no conflict, let alone angst.

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Am spending huge amounts of time on the computer ... but not getting much writing or blogging done. Primarily because I don't know what I want to do. Oh, I have plenty to do. 

The beginning of the Half-Elven of the Marches ... some 20,000 words into it. Is it the beginning of a novel? Another novella. The more I ponder while petting my muse, I think it will be a series of novellas. Then, if it ever becomes a novel ... Who knows what will happen.

There Be Demons is waiting for the teen editors. It's an interesting concept to have teens part of the editorial process. On the other hand, teens are part of the editorial process. Not quite ready to start singing: Some Day My Edits Will Come.

Have been as slow to blog as to write. I don't do formal well ... so I'm going back to mouthing off. It's what I do best ... even if no one agrees with me.

Summer's over with. Hope you have lots of interesting projects to keep you busy over the winter. Maybe even a bright new idea for NaNoWriMo.

Mixing Fantasy Elements to Create a Gripping Story

Came a little late to Cassandra Clare's Immortal Instruments series. The family lending library had to send City of Bones to me in a bunch of books to trade. City of Bones was a keeper though.

By way of explanation, I remember seeing the books prominently displayed in bookstores, but never bit even though the storyline seemed interesting. Why? Well, the books are trade paperbacks. If you could see my two bookshelves, crammed with mass paperbacks, you'd know why. Even after we traded five boxes of books, there's no room. -- Besides, have I ever mentioned I'm cheap?

Cassandra Clare is an award-winning YA author who takes an interesting view of the Nephilem, angel-human hybrids. City of Bones is just one of many books exploring this  world by way of the shifting alliances among Shadowhunters, Demons, Fae,  Werewolves, Warlocks and Vampires. Along the way she twists on preternatural stereotypes quite nicely.

In City of Bones, Clare takes the common situation of the main character [Clary] learning s/he's living a lie and must learn to use her/his burgeoning powers to save ... well, something.  This time it's the MC's mother who had been living in hiding after she escaped from her husband who rebelled against the Shadowhunter authorities and has been found and tortured to reveal the location of a sacred artifact needed to renew the rebellion.

The storyline bounces from danger to danger as the three major characters -- Clary, Jace, and Simon -- learn about themselves and the parallel magical world that exists along side the mundane one. Sound familiar? The ideas may seem common, but the way Clare uses them isn't.

Some of the elements she weaves into the story line that I really liked:
       -- the travelogue of New York City, especially Brooklyn, which mentions places I know ...
       -- includes a normal, who contributes to the action, even though those with magical powers put him down ...
      -- the furtive, loyal personal relationships that persist in spite of ethnic discord and open warfare ...
I could name more ... but I'm not a cataloger. 

Rating: Four Stars -- Nice interesting book ... but it didn't keep me reading beyond my bedtime. Nor did it give me the itch to buy another trade paperback. On the other hand, I know the family lending library is buying more volumes ... and I get them for free.

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Have you even cringed when you go back and read your early writings?

At the moment, I'm working on the beginning ... like at the beginning ... Far Isle Half-Elven novella -- or novel depending on how many points of view I use in telling the tale. 

Why cringe? Well ... it's almost all telling except for pieces of dialog every page or two. I having got any great hooks at the end of the chapters. Also the action seems predictable. 

Good thing I get to discuss new chapters with my critique group and hope they throw me a life preserver.

Looking for the Next New Thing in Genre Fiction: What's Your Flavor of Dead?

What's your favorite "new" thing in genre fiction? For awhile, vampires were the most popular dead things. Zombies soon got their day in the sun. Or is that the moon for both? Then, there are the ghosts that float through fiction genres from mysteries to paranormals and more. 

Stephen Blackmoore uses some different preternaturals in his new book Dead Things, a stand alone novel that adds the supernatural to a down to earth mystery with lots of suspects heating up the action. If you want to learn more about Blackmoore, you can visit his website. You might find some ideas to liven up your website.

Eric Carter is on the run from his past. While he's more than willing to use his powers to fight the bad guys, he's reluctant to return to Los Angeles. He wants to protect those he loves/likes from his powers as a necromancer and his ability to talk to the dead and gods. When he learns his sister is murdered, he must decided whether on not to return home and solve the crime. Blackmoore gives the reader a lovely ride with a twisting mystery with lots of well-drawn, lively characters.

Liked the opening, especially since I'm struggling with three different openings at the moment:
     "When I pull up to the bar, the truck kicking up dust and gravel behind me, I know it's already too late to help anyone. Of the eight or nine cars in the parking lot, two of them are Texas State Troopers', their roof racks still flashing."

Immediately, you know the narrator is a "good guy" and that something bad is coming down. The fight in the first chapter demonstrates Carter's powers against a murdering demon which earns a warning by some voodoo loa in payment. Then he learns of his sister's death. Carter's pulled back to Los Angeles to finish a fight he left undone many years ago.

What I found remarkable in this book was Blackmoore's use of preternatural lore. Human friends and enemies display varying magic skills that fit into a consistent magical system. Plus his well-drawn Voodoo gods, demons, and Santa Muerte, who has a bigger role than you might think, stand out as individuals.

Rating: Five Stars. This is a keeper for me. Also read it in two days in spite of being busy. I think both his website and this book can serve as good examples to study.

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As I said, I'm really interested in openings at the moment. I'm putting Mac and the Hag Stone back in the files, but I want to rewrite the first chapter first. After critique group discussions, it's going to be one book again.

I'm going back to my Far Isle Half-Elven world. After some of the reviews of Troublesome Neighbors, I feel obligated to come up with another story. This time, at my critique group's urging, I starting at the beginning of the saga -- with Teemon's arrival in the Far Isles. I'm opening with a confrontation between Teemon and Seradith on the elf planes. The fact that it's a revision of a novella length draft makes this an attractive project.

I'm also revising a short story, called The Noticing One about emotional vampires, because I feels a need to have something else to submit or self-publish. I don't know which at the moment. Probably both.

Piling on the Dilemmas: A Review of Kristan Callihan's "Moonglow"

If yah love a book that starts out with a bloody, gruesome murder, would you love a book more that starts out with two? Would you love the book more if the female MC "meets" the love interest in the book after she's been buried under the body of one of the corpses? 

Picture this scene. "A small groan broke the spell. Someone shouted in alarm. The dead man moved, rolling a bit, and the crowd jumped back as if one. Ian's pulse kicked before he noticed the soft drape of blue silk beneath the man's twisted legs." All the werewolf gore, crisp characterization, and that discovery ... introduced in the first fifteen pages. What's more, Moonglow by Kristan Callihan doesn't slow down ... until the two lovers marry. -- No that isn't a spoiler because the book's a paranormal romance.

What impressed me most: Moonglow offers the reader more than gore and thrills as threats and murder pursue the protagonists. The book explores the price of love between a mortal and a supernatural without falling into a cliched relationship. Oh the elements of a mysterious dark handsome guy with secrets and a beautiful, feisty girl with new found powers are there, but Ian and Daisy stand out as rounded characters without paragraphs of rumination over "should I or shouldn't I" go to bed with the bloke. This is accomplished with minimalist flashbacks scattered throughout the book.

Let me make this clear. Most books throw problems at their characters and force them to make decisions. Often, the decisions are as cliched as the plot. Callihan manages to raise the stakes of "do or die" to a higher level, especially since Daisy's sisters also face the same kinds of choices. More important, the orchestrating villain doesn't turn out to be the expected one.

Set in Victoria England, the book's atmosphere isn't as ripe as those created by Anne Perry, but the setting feels authentic -- though a historian might pick at some details. 

The surprise? The book lived up to the blurb given by Diane Gabaldon, a New York Times Bestselling Author. "Callihan has a great talent for sexual tension and jaw-dropping plots that weave together brilliantly in the end." I couldn't say it better. Moonglow is the second book in what is probably a trilogy. 

[Kristen Callihan. Moonglow. New York: Hatchette Book Group, 2012.]

Rating: Totally Green with Envy
But, I think I'll trade it. 

In need of a chuckle? Read Kristen Callihan's blog on changing character names during the editing process. No  wonder commercially published authors sometimes pull their hair out.

Update:

"Troublesome Neighbors", the prequel to the Pig Wars, continues to progress -- in spite of a slight setback on the cost of a cover. [Not an unexpected problem when you're dealing with a professional artist ... but her stuff is so good, I had to ask.] Anyway, I think I'm looking at getting the manuscript to the editor by September. Maybe it'll be available by Halloween ... or before? 

Guess I should go looking for reviewers ... but not until the edits are done. That means coming up with a tantalizing blurb. Maybe I should give up before I start. I've never been coaxing. I'm more of a take it or leave it kind of gal.

Once the edits are done, I'll put the first section up on the Far Isle Half-Elven webpage.

Some Writerly Advice for Writing Success

A while back the New York Times Book Review ran an article on writing by Colson Whitehead, a MacArthur award winning novelist. The piece gives writers some easy rules on "How to Write". I especially like the eleventh one: "There are no rules. If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it., too?" -- Yeah, I know I write genre and the NYT emphases literary. My position is good writing is good writing.

Does dialog = a cure for writer's block? Came across this quote on Advice to Writers by Jon Winokur, via  Writing News quoting Dave Mamet: Dialog is easier than plotting. Really struck a note with me, because when I hit a blank spot, I sit my characters down and have them talk about their reactions to the situation they're in, then have something disturb their colloquy. Then, I edit, revise, add setting, descriptions, movements and surprises. Seems to work for me in that I get words down on paper. How good the words are is something else.

Of course, there are as many kinds of winter's block as there are writers. Laura Lee Carter has another take on writer's block. She writes about how she no longer suffers from writer's block at her blog: What's Writer's Block and Why I Don't Have It.  If stress has become one of your writer hangups, you might check out Laura Lee's blog on a regular basis.

I actually block more on promoting my writing than actually writing my stories. Maybe that's why I always look for negative comments about book promotion. So, when does promoting your book become spam? Yasimine Galenorm wrote a blog knocking begging writers, in effect.  Her rather pointed comments made me feel somewhat guilty -- even though I try to interact with my few readers. Check out her blog to read a master writer's take on blogging, Twitter, and Facebook.

Then, when you get tired of promoting your books, Angela Scott, a YA author, gives you *Ten Ways to Promote Your Book and Get Sure-Fire Results*. 

How do I promote my books? How about a mention of my Half-Elven Facebook page:

http://on.fb.me/Ji16iT

I'd appreciate a few more likes on it. 

[I actually have one.]

While tooting my horn, my website is: 

http://www.half-elven.com

It comes complete with links to a couple free fantasy estories. 

 

Except the Queen: Using Many Viewpoints to Break Through Plot Conventions, a Book Review

Is there a greater convention than the heartless Queen of Faery? I'm sure Meteora and Serana, sisters of the Greenwood, think so when the Queen banishes them to the mundane world for spying out one of her secrets. The sisters are forced to live in different cities and forbidden to talk to each other.

Jane Yolen, one of the premier American writers, and Midori Snyder explore how a fey might cope in an American big city in Except the Queen. The plot twists and turns and intertwines story lines until an attempt by the Unseelie to take over the Seelie Court and mundane world is defeated. 

For those not in the know, in the Celtic tradition the Seelie Court is the domain of the fair folk, who are inclined to help human folk when their selfishness doesn't get in the way. The Unseelie are those fey with malevolent attitudes towards humans, who would as soon harm a human as look at them. They are responsible for the "elf bolts", sour milk, and changelings of mythology. Granted, the Unseelie were banished back in the dawn of time, but they always seem to create mayhem humans and fey alike.

Except the Queen is a study in using multiple viewpoints to tell a story. At first, the presentation is disjointed even though interesting. Each chapter uses one of several different characters' viewpoints. The beginning narrative is hard to follow, but slowly the characters meet and interact until the Unseelie are defeated and star-crossed lovers are united.

Some of the parts I especially liked include:
     -- the use of birds as messagers when the sisters are forbidden to talk to each other;
     -- using tattoos to possess and work evil; and
     -- the use of ash baseball bats to defeat the Unseelie.

Granted the story line distills into the same plot as a thousand or more other stories, but here the execution is everything. Just savor this opening from a chapter from the viewpoint of an unseelie who's trying to break free of his slavery. The rhythm of these lines is just an example of the writing in the book.
    
"My father left blood spoor at my door in the hind end of the night. It was a child's blood, one not yet weaned. I had to follow; there was never any choice. Gods, how I hate him. And how he feeds on that hate.

     "The trail led me to the park as I knew it must. He does not like the gray buildings. They heap [sic?] him. They leech him. They age him as they age all fey who settle here in the human towns. Green runs in our veins like sap. It keeps us young."

Except the Queen is a YA that can be enjoyed by all ages ... even, I suspect, by those who don't care for fantasy. This book is definitely a keeper for its elegant prose and plot twists.
[Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder. Except the Queen. New York: Roc, New American Library, Penguin Group, 2012.

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The Half-Elven Pig Prequel is now "Troublesome Neighbors" and has an ending. I've sent it out to be critiqued. Other parts of the self-publishing process are falling into place: have the formatters, a cover artist, and editor ... not necessarily in that order. Feels good to have accomplished something. Who knew weaving several story lines together could be such a pain in the behind.

Thoughts on Things I Read

A question raised by Susan Adrian has popped up in several places I visit: What to do When You're Waiting? You know that time when you sell your book and it's going through the publishing process. [Self- Publishers don't have to worry. Their book's already e-available.  Usually, too soon.]

I saw Adrian's question, and my mind immediately jumped to the words: write something new. Adrian of course doesn't have such a simple answer. She even goes into what you shouldn't do while you are waiting. Take a look at her blog. I've been reading her for years, and Adrian offers lots of sensible advice.

That's the positive. On the negative side, what's with all these people putting "50 Shades ..." in their title. Yeah, I know the books are best sellers. I've even skimmed through some pages and thought it was boooorrrriiiinnnngg. -- Guess its my anthropological bias again. You know, "participant observation"? -- That's a joke people.

Felt good when I found Writer Beware riding one of my favorite hobby horses: learn your craft if you want to be a writer. The Watchdog blog had a guest posting by Marcia Yudkin, a major author with credentials even.  Yudkin takes on those "get rich quick" promoters of self-publishing in "In Praise of Ripening".

Also found myself in sympathy with Marcella Burnard over at Word Whores. She blogged about "Shouting in the Windstorm" on how the media awkward can be seen/heard in the babble. I'm as guilty as the next in creating babble in the social media as I try to promote on Twitter ... not very effectively. Guess, I spit into the windstorm.

 Finally, you might check the New York Times Book Review section for 28 July 2012. They have some good how-to articles on writing well. If I was dedicated, I'd go down and get the section ... but I don't want to make my hip whine more than it is. I still want to start revising my Pig Prequel tonight.

Oh. Cross your toes for me. I'm still waiting on the critique of  For the Price of a Pig -- my Half-Elven novella in progress -- so I can revise it. I hope to self-publish it before Christmas.

Think I'll be using Book Baby rather than chasing around on the web. 1) I have no idea for a cover. 2) I never seem to have enough time to do everything. ... Maybe when the family get together is over. ... Ha.

One Character, Two Characters, Three Characters, More?

How many characters should appear in your first chapter? It's a question I'm  sweating over since I have an agent interested in looking at samples of Dark Solstice. Yeah, I gotta write a whole new chapter from scratch. The second chapter, the much-revised original first chapter, was rejected, partly, because it had too many people in it. Guess I'll have to revise it too and take out some of the named characters.

The "Ugh" reaction is so big, I doubt I'll do it. The above publisher-attitude makes me wonder how much the mental abilities of the "American public" have been "dumbed down".

Old Haunts by E. J. Copperman is one of the books on my stack of "read, but not reviewed". Haunts is a well-done ghost-story mystery. The premise is neat: the ex-husband of one of the ghosts haunting Alison Kerby's guest house is found buried on a beach, murdered some years ago. 

Amateur sleuth Kerby reluctantly agrees to investigate when someone wants to hire her to investigate, and the dead ex-wife of the victim, who lives in her guest house, convinces her to take the job. The major complications arrive in good time to compel the reader to keep reading: the arrival of Kerby's own ex who pretends to want to reconcile and the arrest of the ghost's mother for the murder when Kerby investigates.  The resolution flows well from the incidents, both major and minor, in the story line.

So, how are the characters introduced? Copperman involves three characters in the first chapter -- the owner and the two ghosts who were killed at the guest house -- plus a fair amount of back story. I didn't consider the information an info-dump, but then, I'm tolerant of background. [If you've read any of my stories, you know just how tolerant.]

Copperman is an American, so she follows the American short-chapter pattern. She includes a few characters and sets up a complication at the end of the chapter. In this case, the complication was the arrival of the MC's ex-husband, "The Swine". The "Guaranteed Smile" here would raise the sympathy quotient of many female readers. [Yeah, I know females can be swine too. Got one in the extended family.]

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Have you heard about Pinterest yet? Have you explored it? I'm trying to limit my social networking ... but I find the concept intriguing. Jeff Bullas at jeffbullas.com discusses Pinterest plus gives some tips on using the site in your marketing. If I don't have to visit the site every day, I might put up the covers of my two free Half-Elven stories.

Speaking of social media, do you use a Facebook author's page? I have the Far Isle Half-Elven up there as well as my personal page ... or whatever they call it. Chanced to Google "Half-Elven" while checking my daughters new promo pics. Was surprised to see I've three links to pages on my website on the first page, including an earlier version of The Foiling Gorsfeld from Renna's point of view

If you Goggle "Far Isle Half-Elven" I've got the monopoly on the first page of listings. Now, I have to spend time exploring the links. Would you believe Chinese search engines have found my website?  -- And, no. The listings haven't increased the downloads of my free stories on Smashwords or the sales of Taking Vengeance. 

Though I'm beginning to wonder about Smashwords' statistics. I know four people who say they boought the novellette on Smashwords, and their statistics say I've only sold one. Good thing I don't care that much.

Some Things Promotional

For the record, I still haven't given up on promoting my writing -- only I'm promoting my two free Half-Elven stories more than Taking Vengeance. Did set up a Facebook page for the novelette, not that it has many likes. Don't keep it up like I should either. Such fares the social networking when you're running behind.

At the same time, I'm thinking of setting up a new website under my author name -- M. K. Theodoratus. Grumpy Dragon says they are progressing on the artwork revisions for the vowel-controlled, color-a-comic pre-primer. How's that for a mouthful. That's the academize for Pat, the Pet.

Whatever, the ladies over at Duolit shared some info on search engine optimization: Five Things that Really Matter to Search Engines. It includes some useful tips well worth seeing if you can modify your current networking endeavors.

Once Search Engines find you, the people who searched will want to know more about you. That's where your "About Me Page" comes in.  Sonia Simone recently blogged, asking if you are making these seven mistakes with your about page. Rather than doing a major retooling here, you get a chance to improve with relatively minor revisions.

Writing Quandries on Marketing the Non-Commercial

The Northern Colorado Writer's conference is coming up [March 30-31] which means I have to decide if I'm going to pitch or not. Bummer, because I'm not particularly interested in the pressure of commercial publishing. -[No, that doesn't mean I don't promote.]- Have a possible publisher of my MG manuscripts, but that leaves my Half-Elven in the breech without only my weak marketing skills to sell it. To add to the quandary, a fantasy agent is coming to the conference. Decisions. Decisions.

 Don't think I have to worry. I don't think the Half-Elven are really commercial enough. [Do I waste the agent's time or not? That is the question.] Or, to phrase it differently: I'm not commercial enough. Still, the Half-Elven haven't bored fickle-me yet after writing in their world for years.

If you're at the looking-for-an-agent-stage, you might read Rachelle Gardner's article: Is Your Book Good, Great or Hot? It gives writers an insight into how and why agents make decisions. [Yeah, if I pitch, I'll be going in, expecting to be rejected.]

Not commercial or hot enough? Another blog I read on "strong women" emphasized why my stuff isn't commercial ... even though I write strong women characters, I think.  [My son says Mariah doesn't kick enough ass, though.]

Anyway, check out J. C. Andrijeski's blog: "Strong" Female Characters and Why So Many Bug Me. It's one of the best thought out blogs I've read in a long time and continues my previous comments about "strong" women.

The above link is an example of why I like Twitter and visit it a couple times a day. I discover interesting points of view now that my following's inching towards 300. Once I skim though all the promotion stuff [ Yeah,I'm guilty of posting my Half-Elven stories there too.], I stumble upon retweets or links to information I might miss otherwise.

Hanging in the same pack can reduce your exposure to new ideas, however much you enjoy them. Preconceived notions are limiting and sometimes wrong. Had to chuckle when I crossed with a Galley Cat blog, thanks to Tamela Buhrke. It's a great listing of how many one star reviews besting selling authors gathered.  


No. Bad reviews aren't the reason I think I'm not commercial. My worst review was two stars for the free Gorsfeld short story. Complaint? The story was too short ... even though it's free!  Speaking of free. I've permanently made "Cavern Between Worlds" free too. Hopefully, both stories will lure more people to buy Taking Vengeance -- if I can break out of the "writer track".

And, remember. You don't have to have an e-reader to read an e-story. You can download both into your computer at Smashwords.

Buying Books by Intriguing Titles

The family lending library finally delivered Jim Butcher's Ghost Story, the thirteenth Harry Dresden novel. Thought the title rather cliched since the twelveth novel in the series, ended with Dresden getting shot. If I wasn't a fan of the series, I don't think I would've pick the book up. 

[Google "Ghost Story" and see how many different books come up, if you're curious and have lots of time. I was surprised at how many.]

In Butcher's Ghost Story, Harry Dresden's caught between life and death after he's been assassinated. In no-man's-land, he's told that three friends will die if he doesn't solve who killed him. So, he returns to Chicago only to discover he's a ghost who can't interact with the physical world. Imagine Dresden invisible, inaudible and unable to blast his way out of danger. On top of this, you just gotta know that the world has become a more dangerous world after his last encounter with the Red Court vampires. 

Watching Chicago's favorite wizard learn how to manipulate events indirectly is fun and the plot twists and turns through a distopian Chicago. New and old characters join the romp as Dresden tries to save his friends. Though Molly seems to have gotten burnt the most by Dresden's adventures.

More important, the story introduces a thinking Dresden. I found this an interesting character development in this long enduring series. I'll have to add this to my list of ways to keep a story line evolving to different heights rather than sinking into carpal tunnel syndrome. I looking forward to new additions to the series, featuring a new more subtle Dresden.

Butcher's prose is just as delicious, as always. An example of distopian Chicago:
"Seedy wasn't a fair description for the place, because seeds  imply eventual regrowth and renewal. Parts of Chicago are wondrous fair, and parts of Chicago look postapolcalyptic. This block had seen the apocalypse come, grunted, and said, "Meh." There were no glass windows on the block--just solid boards, mostly protected by iron bars, and gaping holes."

Yeah the books going on my keeper pile. 

Titles:

Have been muttering about titles -- "on and off the air" ... since my Half-Elven work in progress is title-challenged. Current title is: Traitorous Tides, which at least hints at the scope of the story more than The Somant Troubles.

Titles are one of my many weak spots. Seems every thing I write goes through several title changes. Like, if you've read me for any length of time, you know I've twiddled with the title of this blog too. Felt good to learn I'm not the only one. Kirkus McGowan complained about sappy blog titles. Check it out for a fun read.

What Are Your Goals for Your Piles of Words?

Do you have huge piles of words in your computer?. More than what you just wrote for NanoWriMo or the last novel or short story you're drafting? Completed stories/novels you are submitting don't count. Stories you sold, especially don't count in your answer.

Just put my Half-Elven novella in the closet to ferment before I go back and tear it apart. Yeah, it's got flaws, major structural flaws. So, now I have two recent things festering in there which I need to rewrite, a MG novel [Emma Kloken] and the above novella, The Somant Troubles. Now, to organize time to do it amidst the seasonal baking and presents and clearing off my desk which has piled higher and deeper again.

Went to procrastinate by reading some blogs, and N. R. Williams slapped me up the side of the head with a blog reminding me about how inadequate my description was in The Somant Troubles. Her article on The Writing Craft: Description is worth studying. Actually, if I remember right, she's doing a series on writing craft.

Perhaps my most sizable pile of words, sitting like a lump in the web-cloud, comes from blogging. [So far, I haven't figured if I can do more with them than leave them here.] I've been blogging for, maybe, three years. A good question: can anyone have anything new to say after you've blogged for a month? Six months? A year? 

Roni Loren at Fiction Groupie wrote a neat little blog on blogging stages the life cycle of a blogger. You might've missed it in the NaNo madness so I decided to link to it here. Just loved the pics, and wish I knew how to do the mechanics to dress up my blog with free artwork.

I hope I've avoided the problem of boring myself by commenting on other blogs and doing fantasy book reviews. Blogging is like self-publishing. As long as someone reads the blog each week, guess this blog will continue.

As any NaNo writer knows your words need to be polished before they are worth reading. No one will read a formless pile -- other than you first readers/writing buddies. They need purpose. Chuck Wendig, who's published by Angry Robots, weighed in with a list of reasons why readers will stop reading. I took the blog to heart because I often quit reading a book when I get bored -- after the cover blurb, and opening intrigue me.

My goal is to organize my time so I can revise/edit/polish my word piles. I plan to spend evenings revising. For the new year, I'll be writing new stuff, including a short story a month. I plan to practice taking a character, giving her/him an introduction, problem, complication, and solution in a well-described world. 

In short, I'm setting the goal to polish my craft skills. Oh, I'll be finding some new words to finish my NaNoWriMo story. Have toooooo many words piled up in 1/3 draft to ignore. 

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Then, there's the ever-present need to promote your words after you can see your face in them. Came across a great way to promote: tattoo your book's url on your forehead.

For more ideas, check out Angela Scott's 10 Ways to Promote Your Book. The smiles are worth the time.

Encouragement for NaNoWriMo Failures

Do you consider yourself a NaNo failure because you haven't churned out 50,000 words? I didn't, and I don't. My goal was to pick up my writing speed ... and I did it. I'm thinking I doubled it from 500-words-a-day to a thousand, sometimes more, depending on what the priority task is for the day.

Thanks to The Colorado Writer's Daily by Tamela Buhrke, I found Rachel Aaron's blog on how she increased her writing speed to 10,000 words a day.  --  The screaming you hear are my thumbs. If they could run, they'd be heading for the hills at such a thought. --  Aaron gives both some great macro- and micro-tips on increasing your word flow.  Give her a read. You may find something useful.

My favorite insight was one I sort of fell over while doing NaNoWriMo. -- I realized I didn't have to outline to increase my word flow. I just needed to know what direction I was going. I set up docs for my chapters: 1, 2, 3, etc. Then, started writing notes to myself at the top of each chapter in red. As a thought occurred to me, I'd jot it down on a sticky note ... and then, add it to an appropriate chapter. If the idea didn't get used when the chapter was done, I transferred it down the line ... until it was thrown away in the "bits and pieces" file.

Point: Even if you don't suceed in writing 50,000 words in one month, you may still have set a continuing pattern or habit that'll help you be more productive. Oh, yes. I realize NaNoWriMo isn't done as I write this, but I'm done. I quit trying before my thumbs gave out. Like, I'll be able to write tomorrow.

While not writing for Thanksgiving, I wrote a new opening chapter for The Somant Troubles ... which hooks readers with an unusual situation [I hope] that shows the MC's [Mariah] openness to the "99%" of the Marches. Then, the chapter introduces the continued bickering between Mariah and Linden plus how she maintains her friends at the Half-Elven military Camp even though Linden has banished her. 

Now, I still have to write the ending, ie. give more detail and action to the summary for chapters 20/21 or combine them into one. -- Who knows what'll happen tomorrow.

An Indie Writer's Pain: Gettting Book Reviews

Kay's Book Reviews:

Indie writers can envy writers, like Kevin Hearne, who are published by the corporate big boys. For example, here he's getting a review of his book Hammered, the third novel in his Iron Druid series, and he didn't ask me for a review. -- We won't talk about the almost a hundred reviewers I queried with little results, and no this isn't sour grapes. Just an observation. 

Actually Hearne dismayed me when I first started reading. The opening didn't sparkle like his previous books ... until I hit his ode to salad spinners. This bit after he'd finished turning Asgard, the plane of the Norse gods, on its ear. More important, he doesn't dwell on his genius bit of humor but jumps right back into the plot of avoiding god-generated disasters and making Thor pay for his centuries of cruelty and entitled attitude.

Yeah, I admit my envy of humorous writers since I'm incapable of writing funny. Oh, I understand the basic structure of juxtaposing two incompatibilities. Like the forgetful rabbi making the "sign of the cross" with the punch line: spectacles, testicles, watch and cigars. I'm condemned to spending my life being an appreciative audience for others. Books that do humor well while keeping the plot moving ... fast, should be cherished.

Yeah, this book isn't as funny as the others, but more important, it's more than competently written. The lives of the main characters and major secondary characters continue to develop and the loose ends are tied just enough to leave some dangling hooks to pull you into the next set of books. Let's hope Atticus  O'Sullivan continues his Brer Rabbit conniving for many books to come. 

Bonus Review:

The NYC son has a fascination for old for old cover art. I benefited by rereading Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen in the 0.25 Ace edition, yellow pages and all. I had forgotten what a great chase it was. 

Just as Tolkein marked fantasy tropes, I think Alan Garner set off a bunch of his own. Of course, he used tropes himself -- wise old wizard and kids landing in an adventure when they are removed from their normal lives.  It's what you do with the trope that matter. I found Garner's mine escapes more exciting than Tolkein's.

Grumbling About My Writing Lessons:

Time.  Where does it go. Of course, I had my critique meeting last week ... and my old man's second eye surgery. Even though I was told, not too gently, I need to add more back story to my new Half-Elven novella, I've been spending enormous amounts of time looking for book reviews.  

Yes, it is a long, involved process.  I blame the book reviewers for being too interesting.  First, I have to go to their websites to see what they do.  Then, most of them suck me into reading a couple reviews, sometimes more. There are some really good books out there ... even those written by indie writers.

Want to try reading some new writers without breaking your wallet? You might visit: The 99-cent-Book Network run by the Indie Book Collective. Contrary to popular opinion, you don't need a reader to download an e-book ... even on Amazon.

Before I go any further, I must share a link on Why Books Don't Sell from MuseInks. Since I'm one of the thousands who have an abysmal Amazon ranking, I thought I'd share this before I proceed.

Getting ready to draft a new novel? I used to do it every fall, and I bet many of you with children do the same as soon as the school bell rings. C. A. Marshall revealed a simplified way to check on your plot development: The Nine Grid Plan. I printed it off since I could even understand it ... unlike the snowflake method so many people swear at. 

Trivia:

Gotta crow ... even if you aren't interested.
Richard Hayes who reviewed Taking Vengeance at What I Wrote said:
Theodoratus' Half-elven "...is a new approach to the Elven legend which is really refreshing." 

Lollygagging Vengeance Trailer

The trailer for Taking Vengeance trailer is done!
The final version is 2 minutes long, granted, with a great harp muscic/score by my daughter.  The music is worth listening to all on its own.

 Click to view trailer.  Be sure to have the sound on.

That said.  I can see where some people won't like it because it doesn't quite follow the story. ...  That said, I like it for it's playfulness and irreverence. There are a few anachronisms, but they add to the fun.

The proof will be in the pudding, ie. if my sales increase. Incidentally, I have no way to tell if Taking Vengeance is selling.  I do know that no one has reviewed it yet. Caverns?  It's doing the freebie thing.  Maybe some five or so people download it a day.  How's that for spectacular?  At least there's only one posting up now and all the downloads go in one place.  

Bad Haiku:

                                      Heir in Danger
                                     4

The King’s men dig trap

While the stripling heir hunts game,

Guard dogs on leashes.

Heir hunts through forest,

Sees deer in meadow grazing,

Stalks deer.  Dogs stalk heir.

Dogs chase.  Heir sees earth

Disturbed, jumps the hidden trap,

                                                  Runs through stream. Trees hide. 


The Next Big Step:

Somewhere in all my copious free time, I have to figure out how to get an author's site co-ordidnated ... as opposed to the Half-Elven world website ... up.  Am looking at Wordpress, but haven't figured it out yet.  Frankly, the internet makes me feel stupid.

One great thing though ... my controlled vowel pre-primer script is out to beta readers.  And, I'm in the process of outlining a new Half-Elven story featuring Mariah investigating tales of a wolf terrorizing the northeastern coast of the Marches. --  I'll leave you to guess whether it's a werewolf story.

Cover Art 's Here & More

Cover Art
Taking Vengeance:

Artwork: Marge Simon

Don't know what progress has been made on getting the printing on the cover.  I thought I'd wait until today to bug the publisher ...  after I take my friends good jewelry to the estate buyer ... and whatever else rears its time-consuming head.  I think I'm going to get five chapters revised today?

One thing surprised me.  The WolfSinger Publications site mentions the book is coming out in trade paperback ... or maybe that got misplaced from another pub.  Another thing I have to ask them about.

Okay.  I have trailers on the mind too, just one reason why I enjoyed Got YA's blog on book trailers so much.  Actually, they've posted 20 reasons to like their blog.

My trailer for Taking Vengeance?  The script is done and the work under way.  My daughter will be doing the music.  Fortunately, she has a huge number of special effects pedals.  They were made of guitars, but she's used them to good effect with her harp.  Yeah, I'll be posting it along the side.

All in all, I don't know what I'm learning here -- except to paddle fast enough to keep my head above water.

Once I get "Taking Vengeance" semi-settled, I'll be self-publishing a short story which has been rejected by all the major and semi-major- paying zines.  Another Half-Elven story:  Cavern Between Worlds.  "They" say sales increase with the number of e-offerings you have listed ... but I don't think "they" mean that two pieces are enough.

Publishing Blues

While procrastinating before writing this blog, I discovered Rachelle Gardner's blog on how she "invented publishing".  Actually, she was asking for writers to be understanding ... and don't kill the messenger when the agent has bad news ... whether on a query or a rejection by a publisher.

Her discussion pointed out some things I'm doing right [which made me feel good].  Blogging.  Trying to social network.  Sticking to a genre [sort of since I write fantasy for both for adults and older middle grade].  She also confirmed my suspicion that my writing, even if decent, may not fit into the guidelines publishers and their marketing departments prefer. 

Yeah, there' a system with guidelines on how publishing works.  Thus, a problem for my writing.  I've skirted "proper" rules for decades.  I don't think my psyche is going to change at this date to get my writing accepted.  

Is this the time to say:  "Thank the powers for e-publishing?"  

The charms of self-epublishing's are growing in the back of my mind.  I just discovered bookbaby.com, thanks to an AW Water Cooler forum.  They only distribute through four sources:  Amazonkindle, B&N Nook, Sony Reader, and iPad.  More important they format your doc or rtf manscript for distribution, can supply a cheap ISBN, and do covers.  

Being me, I wondered how bookbaby.com handles the money.  Even though they deposit though PayPal or your bank, they could hold your money for weeks or months.  Not to worry said my NewYorkie daughter.  Seems bookbaby.com is a new venture by CDbaby.com, and she distributes several CDs through them without any complaints on the money front.

So, why is this spinning around in my head?  The "Taking Vengeance" cover art has been sent to WolfSinger Publications, and the "check is in the mail" to the trailer maker.  So, I'm sitting here in wait mode, probably thinking too much.

Did decide one thing though.  I'm going to self-publish a Half-Elven short story as soon as I get the trailer settled.  Reason?  That way I'll have two things up for sale.  Given my computer klutzieness, paying bookbaby.com their fee is worth it in aggravation to me.

If I get the Renna stories combined and rewritten in proper format, I'll have three -- but that'll be a novella and more worth the fee per word.

Stumbling Towards Publication

Went to New York City ... and DC ..., and the one thing I didn't expect was no internet connection.  Had access to computers but the signal was too weak to use where I could sit without my hip throwing a tantrum.  So, no blog.  Sorry.  Didn't even get much of a look at my emails ... so I didn't know what was happening with the WolfSinger cover art.

WolfSinger Publications has sent "Taking Vengeance" to an artist for a cover art!  It's enough to warm the cockles of a pessimist's heart.  I'm working with her now.  She has drafted an okay picture, but my Half-Elven are much darker than Tolkien's elves.  She drew Mariah as a "sweet young thing" ... which she definitely isn't.  [From the prequel partials, I doubt if she was a "sweet young thing" when a child.]  I'll be getting back to the artist today, once we finalized the last details of my nursing-home friend's funeral.

Also, the contract is in process for the trailer.  I've got to sign and send money.  I've read several comments lately on blogs and in forums that writing is much more expensive than it used to be.  I can remember when I only spent money on paper, postage, envelopes and miscellaneous.  

Now?   Having a computer is just the starters.  Where do the trailers, websites, editing, and marketing campaigns ... figure in your writing?  My hat's off to any reader who has landed a traditional publisher for their book.  {Of course, I don't wear hats.  Not since Vatican II and before that, I wore a mantilla.} 

Also, "Dark Solstice" came in at 76,500 words.  Probably, another reason it won't sell.  It's too short.  Novella, anyone?  --  I should have never removed the redundancies and passives and incomplete revisions.  Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot.

Trivia:

Last year sometime, I wrote  a review of The Ghosts of Crutchfield Hall, and gave the book to a step-grandkid after he said he like to read about ghosts.  He ignored the book.  

Two weeks ago, his non-reading, school-hating sister devoured the book.  When she started talking about Sophia doing this, and Sophia doing that, it took her mother a day to realize the kid, who doesn't read, had finished the book.  She immediately launched into Wind in the Willows, which she thinks is the funniest book ever.  --  Can this be an argument for giving free books to kids just to have them sitting on a shelf and accessible?       

Fantasy or Science Fiction: What's Your Genre?

Science Fiction or Fantasy?  Have you decided what genre your WIP is?  What happens if your idea straddles the boundary between science fiction and fantasy.  Of course, it could be argued that science fiction is really just another form of fantasy.  On that level, literary fiction is fantasy too.  It's all made up, even if some actual event is the spring board that launches you into the story.

The question came up at my last critique meeting.  One of my critique partners had a short story published by a regional e-publisher.  [Steven A. Benjamin:  Just Desserts, TWB Press]  It's a fun story about the devil and attacking desserts, and I'm a great-aunt of the story since we critiqued the holy heck out of it -- which Steve admits.  [So, the link]  

TWB Press does science fiction, supernatural, horror and thriller short stories.  Not, dyed-in-the-wool fantasy so I couldn't submit "There Be Demons" even though it has a supernatural element.  It's a novel anyway.  I did put it on my publishers list because I may write a short story that'd be appropriate.

In my mind, the question involves "Dark Solstice" after it gets rejected.  [Hey, I'll be pleasantly surprised if they request a full ... but I don't know how close the the target my premise gets to the publisher's sensibilities.]  The question:  Is "Dark Solstice"  science fiction or fantasy. 

The argument for science fiction, granted social science rather than hard science:  the effects of genetic drift on a mixed population with two distinct genomes.  In the "old days", I might have used the word "races" to discuss the genetic combining of elves and humans, but that's not kosher anymore.  What happens is that traits and skills get mixed in a population:  1/4 genetically the same in one population, 1/2 mixed genetically, and 1/4 genetically the same in the other population.  Half the population would have no magic, and the other half would have an over-abundance in basic Mendelian terms.  Of course, that's for just one gene.  The possible manifestations increase with the number of genes.

The problems of mixing gets more complicated because genes don't stay on their original chromosomes.  They jump [transfer] from maternal to paternal chromosomes and back again.  So, you never quite know which traits might appear in a physical individual.  "Dark Solstice" is set in a background where most of the population has mixed genetically ... while still being governed by the original mostly elvish population four hundred years later.  ---  Try to fit that into a query or snynopsis.

Other change thread concerns the economic structure:  from a feudal society to a mercantile one -- which doesn't have a hard science component.   [If economics was a hard science, the US wouldn't be in the fiscal mess it's in.]

The argument for fantasy?  We're talking about elves here, philandering elves, who abandon their offspring, at that.  I doubt if most American publishers would see beyond the elves to see the social science.

The bottom line?  I'll probably self-publish in a couple of years ... making another critique partner happy -- since she sees no sense in bothering with the traditional publishing scene.  I'm with Steve.  It's nice to have the imprimatur of someone who's willing to put their money where their mouth is. 

So, what's my genre?  A jumble of ideas, aka a mixed genre story.

Trivia:

It must be Spring.  I'm mixing sorrel and chives in with the store lettuce.