Long Books: Are They Easier to Write than to Read?

Oh, yes, I can read long books, fantasy or otherwise. Case in point, Spirit Walk by Richie Tankersley Cusick. Okay, if you want to nit pick, it's two books in one volume, but I started reading it as I got bored with Great North Road. And--I don't think I finished it because it was 200 pages shorter, either.

Spirit Walk is solid Young Adult fantasy where the protagonist moves to a new town just as she's developing the talent to see and hear ghosts. 

Miranda Barnes gets relocated when a hurricane destroys her old life, and when she's moved to her mother's home town, she learns that her grandfather is the town's lunatic eccentric. Turns out his "strange spells" come when he contacts the spirit world, but he dies before he can teach and guide Miranda to control her developing abilities. Fortunately, she finds a group of friends who are more than willing to help her cope, including the local "bad boy" who provides the love interest.

Sounds like a cliche, but it's a cliche like romance books are a cliche. It's all in the writer's imagination and ability to develop a plot line. In this case, Cusick demonstrates good craft skills plus plausible depictions and explanations for the phenomena she works with. Miranda is a good kid trying to find her feet in a new world and, thanks to Cusick, does it in a logical way with only a few normal freakouts. Her sidekicks are all well differentiated and, while they are familiar types including a southern belle, have kinks that move them away from the norm. 

The ghosts? They're the best of all. They come across as characters with real problems rather than flitting balls of light.

As for being long, there are two major things that can go wrong with a story line. One you go into so much detail that you lose your reader's interest. [Like the Great North Road did for me. Though George R. R. Martin does it for me too.]

Another reason is all the writers, who are still learning their craft as their storyline meanders in and out of plot twists and extraneous scenes, who give up. If the beginning writer's lucky, they keep writing until they learn how to construct a novel. If they are luckier, they'll go back and discover a mouldering draft containing inspiration for a number of different novels.

One example of this is a recent blog by Margo Berendson about a unicorn novel she wrote when she first started writing. ... I was an early critiquer of the unfinished novel, way back, but the plot line always has stuck in the back of my mind. I'm glad she's recycling the material now that she's gained a better mastery of her skills. Check out her experience on rekindling her writing dream.

I'm doing much the same thing with some short stories I wrote way back when. Discovered that some of them could be rewritten to fit into my Andor world [There Be Demons and Noticing Jamilla]. I'm now in the process, while I wait for The Grumpy Dragon to do its thing, of converting the short stories into planks in my platform.

Have you made any other use of your trunk novels, besides making a home for dust bunnies?

Oh, Spirit Walk. I give it a five star rating because it kept me reading past my bedtime.

Things a Writer Needs to Do for the New Year

It's the New Year ... at least in the Europoean calendar.  Time for all good writers to organize for a more productive year. Me? So far, I've organized my day into three parts -- AM: drafting new MG novel, Afternoon: goofing off, errands, and social media, and Evenings: revising The Pig Wars, the sequel to Troublesome Neighbors. -- This is all well and good ... but there are all the other loose marbles rolling around in your mind while you try to write.

The pattern above is a refinement on what I tried to do last year. After one week, it's sort of working. Do have a new chapter of Hag Stone Magic drafted ... as well as doing tons of research on comics and something else I can't remember at the moment.

Am using an on-line Thesaurus I like a lot. I put it up as soon as I connect to my manuscript and character files. Try the link and see what you think. I find it helpful in finding strong verbs at the beginning rather than when I do print edits... plus I think just looking at the possibilities helps me become aware of better alternative words than what usually pops into my mind.

Then, there's all that other nitty-gritty a writer needs to know why building their craft skills. Perhaps the most heart-wrenching for many is accepting rejection. I feel for those who are paralyzed by the fact someone else might think they aren't any good. Anyway, was lucky enough to fall over a couple blogs on the subject.

Kevin Hanrahan blogged about his soaring enthusiam  after a writer's conference ... and the let down when the agents ended up rejecting him: What Do You Do When Rejected by Literary Agents? Most writers suffer from agent rejection. Yeah, you need a plan for what you do when you slapped up the side of the head.

Over at Chiseled in Rock,  Janet Fogg discusses how she handles rejection angst and how you might feel better using her ten coping skills. Fogg sets a great example on grieving for ten minutes and then carrying on. It's a sensible, but gentle pep talk worth the time to click.

Then, there's me. I expected to get rejected and wonder what's taking the agents so long in sending me the dreaded "it's not quite for me" letter. I consider agents salespeople. Knowledgeable salespeople, but salespeople, not the less. They earn their keep by selling so they have to meet the market's needs. In publishing, this is further constricted by their contacts in the publishing houses. 

When I look at that daunting hurtle in the concentrated publishing world, I just know I'm not going to fit in. I've never fit in. I can't see why I should suddenly fit in at this stage of my life. But I'll continue writing because it amuses me. Every once in awhile, I get the impulse to share ... which is why I self-publish.

You say I'm all wet. I don't understand the fear of rejection you feel. Writing buddy Margo Berendson has a blog on overcoming stumbling blocks ... of all kinds. Best of all, she all for dumping useless resolutions. Go on. Take a look.

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Got a whole two chapters done on Hag Stone Magic. For a snail writer [no 1,000 word days for me], that means I'm meeting my target: a chapter a week. Since I'm writing middle grade at the moment, that means about 1500 words plus light revision.

The Pig Wars continues to be revised ........s l o w l y. Seems I'm tired after dinner ... even if I sleep through the news. [So, the gerrymandered GOP is unresonable. What's new?]  --  Hey, I'm going to need a couple beta readers soon.  But, I'm not quite going to pat myself on the back yet.

NaNoWriMo Thoughts Worth Thinking About

Doubt if I'll ever complete a NaNoWriMo year -- though I always get some writerly tips from the people who survived the challenge ... and from those who didn't. [Don't think I can sit long enough to write 2,000 words a day without injuring myself. But lots of people manage to do it every year.] Here are some thoughts on the results.

But first:
All you guys who earn that badge of hard, dedicated work

have my admiration. 

Ending or Beginnings?

Margo Berendson discusses which part of writing is hardest. This year she used NaNoWriMo as a tool to finish an in-progress manuscript. Thought it would be relatively easy. Read what happened.

Which do you think is harder? 
The ending or the beginning of your novel?
Explain why your reasoning.

Me? I think they both present headaches which require many "aspirins" [rewrites] to cure.

What Else Happened during NaNoWriMo?

Sarah Ahiers not only finished her fourth NaNo but also crows about writing her 500th blog.
The woman has endurance. 
[And some people are amazed when I've written only 300 of the things?]

So What do you Do with Your NaNo Words?

Lee Bross blogs on finishing NaNoWriMo: "You have everything you need for a successful climb in front of you and there is nothing stopping you from getting to the top. It will take patience and diligence and a little luck, but you can get there." 

In other words, it's time to start revising.

Are You Bored or Burned Out by Your Story? 

Ace Jordyn at the Fictorian Era offers a pep talk for people who don't know what to do with their NaNoWriMO results. Look at the most recent blog on story-telling crutches too. There's always lots of interesting stuff at this blog.

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So, what have I been writing at my snail speed?

Not much ... though I did get a Prologue [two-three pages] set up for Troublesome Mac where I start right off with her grandmother calling her MacKenzie. I think of that as a girl's name, but I know it can be a boys name too ... as well as a last name. 

Silly little back story. Troublesome Mac is the result of a writing prompt at a Northern Colorado Writers class. [Yeah, I still take classes. I still gots lots to learn.] Any way, I did a few paragraphs on Mac plotting on how to get noticed by a wizard that just moved into her neighborhood. The people who discussed my effort all thought Mac was a boy. 

Do you think they might be telling me something about the book's eventual saleability?

Mining Faery Lore for Plot Lines: "Bones of Faerie"

Writers and story-tellers mine Faery Lore for stories, probably since the idea of the magical little people was invented. The first written faery story that I know of is Apuleius's Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass, aka Beauty and the Beast by any other name. I've been known to steal ideas myself in a draft lost somewhere in  my computer.

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner is a dark, lyrical telling of the aftermath of a war between humans and Fey. As in all true apocalyptic novels, the atmosphere is foreboding with the MC struggling for survival in a hostile world. Fun note: after a truce of sorts, the St Louis arch marks the border between the two planes. Ya gotta love it when an author knows her stuff [or his] well enough to throw factoids like that ... and make them real.

The well-drawn characters did disappoint a bit. Though three-dimensional, they seldom drifted from their pre-ordained role in the plot line. One notable element, I thought: the use of MC's newborn sister's infanticide since the babe becomes an on-going character who is important to the denouement. -- Hey it's fantasy, and not all dead characters are zombies.

Simner makes the settings real with economy which allows her to tells us a complex tale within a 250-word YA book. After the Apocalypse humans struggle in a world were the vegetation is mobile, maybe not as fast as animals ... but faster than the regular wheat field. The trees are so menacing that it's almost impossible to raise enough food to survive the winters. 

Physical survival isn't the only problem the MC faces. Her village has prospered because her father has systematically killed anyone who shows signs of magic, even newborns.  

The opening of Chapter 3: "Words froze in my throat as I stared at my father. Had he seen the light in the sink, the paleness in my hair? Cast out the magic born among you. Yet I was no babe to set out in the night. Father had told me often enough how he'd have dealt with Cam had the boy lived: "With a single stroke across the throat, swift and deep."

This is the first book in a trilogy.

[Janni Lee Simner. Bones of Faerie. New York: Random House Children's Books, 2009]

This is a new author to me, who entered my home with a bunch of books my kids sent me, but she's a acclaimed writer if you want to visit her website. I'm still debating whether to keep it, but I'm afraid the hardback pile will topple if I add another book.

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Plot isn't all. You need people to live in your world ... aka characters. Have been thinking a lot about characters the past week. Got an editor request for a rewrite ... one of the points was the "main" character wasn't fleshed out enough ... in a flash piece. I'm working on it, but can't see where I have much wiggle room.

Margo Berendson has also been thinking about characters. You might take a look at her blog on making and breaking character "rules". You might learn something ... if only a new take on dragons. 

Margo much more disciplined than I am and worth reading regularly. Maybe because she writes at a higher altitude than I do.

Pssst! Want the Secret to Writing Success?

Now that I have your attention, Chuck Sambuchino does indeed offer the four keys to the kingdom of writing success. There's one caveat, I think. You must have a finished story to work on. I think these tips will help you revise your stories structure. Of course he talks about middle grade fiction. But, a good story is a good story is a good story.

Of course, all this comes with a disclaimer. If you checked the link above, you'll note that he lists a number of craft skills a writer must master. That's why writing is hard, time consuming work ... once you want to be published ... even if you publish yourself. Go back to Mac's guest post and count how many ways/times he edits.

If you need more detailed instructions for getting your story going, Margo Berendsen has an awesome list on getting started and keeping a reader reading. A real nice compilation of 17 tips to check for your revision. Berendsen has some other useful lists in her archives if you want to hone your craft skills.

After you've revised your story into a galloping read, you have to draw a reader's attention to it. That means you need a good cover -- even for ebooks, maybe especially for ebooks. What's a good cover? Here's a link to Yasmine Galenorn's blog where she reveals the new cover of her latest Otherworld novel, Haunted Moon.  -- I dare you not to pick up this book and not read the blurb, if you're a fantasy reader. Note how easy it is to read the copy on the cover.

Last but not least, if your cover is attention getting, you have to publicize your book -- because chances are you won't have a publicity department with deep pockets behind you. Katie Salidas in her 4 July 2012 blog at Written in Blood, gives writers some criteria to judge blog tour services. You better believe I printed Let's Talk About Blog Tours out for future reference.

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So, after I given all that advice, I can just hear you asking how my own writing's going. Slow but sure. I seem to be getting my grove back ... in that my to-do list gets crossed off into oblivion until the next day. The secret to that? 

I'm getting better at writing things before doing social media things.

Where are your priorities?

PS: Maybe some of you clicked an empty blog with a similar title. This blog gives you the content.