Fiction Writers, What Kinds of Worlds Do You Create? Flat or Three Dimensional?

I do love me a book that draws me into a living breathing world. My reading pleasure seems to double when the pleasure drops unexpectedly into my lap. Case in point: Martin Cruz Smith's Rose. It's not fantasy. Just a fabulous Mid-Victorian mystery set in Wigan, Lancastershire, with plenty of twists and red herrings to keep you guessing, Oh, the clues are well marked along the way but there are so many suspects with so many guilty secrets, including the missing cleric whose disappearance must be solved.

Wracked by malaria, Jonanthan Blair, a disgraced mining engineer, accepts a commission to find a missing curate, who happens to be the fiance of his former boss, a bishop, lord-of-the-manor, and mine owner. If he's successful, Blair can return to Africa to find new gold mines under the imprimatur of the bishop's commercial interests. As he searches for the cleric, all clues lead back to Rose, one of the Wigan pit girls who is the linchpin that holds the plot together until the twisty ending.

Cruz Smith is known for his research. At least, a lot of reviewers reference it. What they don't say so much is the sensual way he uses that background to create a touchable, smellable, gritty world. Can't remember one info-dump in the whole story ... and this is a historical novel that's true to its period.  He writes  good fight scenes too,  using brass-tipped clogs no less, something that was new to me.

One apt quote that had me laughing outloud: "Leveret handed him an envelope as covertly as if he were passing French postcards." It's a beautiful example of Victorian hypocrisy.

For me though, it's the multiple-dimensional characters that shine. All writers know the drill of creating living characters -- describe them, list three memories, set goals, set conflicts and give them a tic or two. Cruz Smith goes way beyond Characterization 101. Even his sadistic villains exhibit well-layered motives ... and the plotline is filled with villains of many ilks.

The book appeared out of the bowels of the basement as we tried to clear tradeable and donateable books from the shelves. Now I have mixed feelings because Rose is so well-crafted. Cruz Smith deserves his reputation if his other books are as well done. Unfortuantely, I don't often read in his genre. 

This is a five star book, in case you want a commitment.

Still don't know if it's a keeper.

###

Doesn't time pass fast when you're having fun?

Don't usually pay attention to milestones. I know I missed the fact when I posted my 300th blog. This is my 350th. Basic question running through my mind at the moment: Why I'm still here. Guess I can't shake bad habits. ... I consider this blog sort of like talking to myself even though the stats say between 75-100 page views happen. My highest view rate? 875.

Hey, other bloggers out there.

How many blogs have your written? 
Or, did you give up somewhere along the way?

Another fun statistic: My author website now ranks under 900,000 according to Alexa. I think I need to revamp it, though, because I can't see where it's helping me sell my novellas.

Thinking Good Writing's a Blending of Craft Skills

Lot's of people who talk to me think revising is the number #1 writing tip. I don't think so. That's a little like having a donkey push the cart. Yeah, writers need to finish writing something first to revise, but that isn't all. Writing is a blend of craft skills that takes practice and more practice. Yeah, I think writers are jugglers ... that's why we drop so many balls when we first start creating.

Oh, I think revising is the linch-pin of getting your writing published. You gotta get the words in some semblance of order, but once you have the story line down, you need to create images in your reader's mind and a hundred other different things.

That's where revising comes in. Writer's Digest, that helpful trade journal, posted a guest blog by Brian Kelms on tightening the screws on your readers in the first 50 pages of your work. This is important, because agents seldom read more than 50 pages in their first reaction to your query. More important, the excerpts given online aren't that long either. You've got to hook your reader early ... and show your competence.

Another thing. You have to carve out the time out of your life to write and revise. I struggle with this as much as most other writers. Then, I came across a tweet on how you only need to blog once a week on Twitter. Music to mine ears. Mohana Rajakumor's blog on Pro-blogger is a must read if you want to make a big splash in the blogging sphere. For most of us, writing and worrying about writing one blog a week gives us more time to work on our current manuscript.

Me? I think I was looking at the once a week excuse, but I think blogging too much can rob your creative juices unless you are mainly reporting on happenings.

So, how are my writing craft skills going? I'm having a hard time hitting my target of adding to Hag Stone Magic [500 words] this morning. If you also have a similar problem of meeting your priorities, check out Kristen Lamb's blog on Setting Priorities. It's about how social media overwhelms you. 

Hey it's only the 31st of January and I think I have my first blog for February almost done. *smiles*.

Haitus

Yeah ... It's the middle of February ... Ash Wednesday to be exact, if you follow such stuff. Still, it's a good time to reflect on how insignificant we are in the scheme of things. 

Still, the above advice is still pertinent, and I'd like to add another tip of my own. If you read this blog even semi-regularly, you've read me complaining that I'm a slooooow writer. Was it the dreaded writer's block. No. My mind was building a growing chapter outline. [very loosely structured]. But after a running start of over 500 words a day ... word production slowed down more and more as new questions rose about Mac's world.

Why? I kept have to explain things plus adding the notations in the "bible". Yeah, the dreaded clumps of back story kept clogging up  the flow of the story line. The solution didn't pop into my mind until I explained why magic existed in my post-apocalyptic world to my critique group. I was trying to write book two first. So, Hag Stone Magic has been relegated to a file of it's own. I'm still world-building but it's from the boonies-point-of-view rather than an administrative center. -- Did I just steal that from Suzanne Collins?

My tip? If you're suffering from "writer's block", maybe you aren't starting your story in the right place.

Oh, Dean K. Miller, a fellow Northern Colorado Writer, did a blog featuring my author website. Why don't you click the link and see what he has to say.

Author Kay Theodoratus http://wp.me/p1pN8h-uW

And, it's Valentine's Day.
I should proof read this again, but you're getting this typos and all.
It's been festering in my computer too long.

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. 

#

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.

Long Books, Short Books

Kay's Book Review:

What's the proper length of a book? The question comes up regularly in writers' forums, and someone retells the conventions for the various genres. Never thought much about the length of the books I read, though I did notice that they tend to be in the 300 pages range. Mostly because the manuscripts I write tend to be shorter. -- Yeah, the old doubt: Am I doing it right? [I'm beginning not to care.]

Lately, however, the books in the grocery store book section seem to have gotten thicker, maybe a result of G. R. R. Martin's increasing popularity.  Peter V. Brett's The Warded Man is a good example. In a world caught in a war between demons of the night and humans, Brett follows his three survivors as they grow into into the stuff of heroes, perhaps saviors.  The book's rather episodic and skates along the edges of being back story, but the action and the good transitions keep the book tied together.

The three dimensional characters carry the story from they beginning attack to saving a village with newly found weapons. Brett even gives his secondary characters a in depth motivations which give them three dimensionality too.  I had high hopes for an almost perfect book ... until the last pages.  The story dribbled into two dimensionality when it tried to set up for the second volumne.  --  Did I sense the hand of the marketing department, perhaps?

Grumbling About My Lessons:

If your writing area is like mine, it's piled higher and deeper with paper.  Oh, I have managed to keep one card table free as a desk area.  Even managed to do the final edit of Cavern Between Worlds before I uploaded it to Amazon. It even survived my revision of the outline of my new story. -- Everything's going so smoothly I may break my arm patting myself on the back.

Then, I read Shelley Hitz's 26 Free Author Tools, and rediscovered how much I don't know and how unorganized I really am.  Take a look at her sources/tips.  You'll find suggestions about  everything from self-publishing a print book at Createspace to some sources to print-on-demand products to use promoting your book. 

Hitz's website is crammed full of self-publishing tips and tools.  You might even find some of her suggestions useful if you have a traditional publisher.  --  Me?  I printed off a copy and am underlining the things I should already know. My card table desk is no longer neat and tidy.

Now, I'm grumbling because I have another bunch of information to study.

Bad Haiku:

Desperation

10

Ships line island shores,

The anvils ring bright death’s knell.

The battle prep starts.

False king’s court dances,

Pretends all’s well in the land.

Servants drift away.

King seeks new allies.

Demons demand greatest price,

His young daughter’s life

Trivia:
How many times to blog? Some say once a week. Some say three times a week.
I'm going to try blogging once a week towards the weekend.
Why? Came to the conclusion that I mainly blog now to update my website the easy way.
I'd rather read blogs than write blog.

Book Turn-Offs?

The Reads ...  A given.  Not every book you start to read -- even in your favorite genre -- will hold your interest.  While reading how to survive when the economy collapses, I kept taking books off the to-read pile and transferring them to the trade pile.  Two authors who got caught in the shift, Lori G. Armstrong and Anne Ursu, both popular and respected authors.

Why didn't I read them?

Lori G. Armstrong had lots of potentially interesting characters running around in the beginning of Blood Ties and an interesting premise.  Hey, I bought the book, after all.  The protagonist is a no-nonsense, take-the-bit-in-her-teeth kind of gal with some convoluted family issues which aren't the worse others in the cast of characters must face.  Still, I did no more than skim it.  My internal editor just wouldn't turn off, and the "red pen" got a little heavy.  

Anne Ursu's The Shadow Thieves, the first in her The Cronus Chronicles, didn't even get a skim.   This was a contribution from the NYC fantasy readers, and I was looking forward to reading a middle grade novel ... after putting Emma on the shelf.  I didn't get beyond page 7.  The telling voice just ... plain ... turned ... me ... off.

What kinds of things turn you off when you settle down, expecting a reality-suspending read?

Must admit that, Beka, Blood Hound finally came in.

Web Stuff ...

All  writers need support ... and northern Colorado writers of all levels and genres have the Northern Colorado Writers thanks to Kerrie Flanagan.  Members, like me, enjoy many benefits like coffees, classes, conferences with big-time agents/editors, a Yahoo group, newsletter ... and an informative blog.   M-F, five different writers offer helpful info and insights about writing.

Fridays are especially valuable for writer's without much time to scour the web.  Brooke Favero of "The Writing Bug" does the slogging for you.  This last week she included outstanding info on querying agents, building platforms, and improving your writing craft skills.  --  To tell the truth, she's always includes outstanding information from some of the best bloggers on the web.

And then, there's Facebook.  After a couple months of experimenting,I recently limited my Facebook page to family and real friends who I might even talk to once in awhile.  For the life of me, I couldn't comprehend how a my page would help me as a writer.  Maybe you wonder the same thing?  Well, Jessica Faust in her Bookends blog gives some pointers on how build a business platform on Facebook.  She uses one of her clients, Ellery Adams of A Killer Plot, as an example.  Check it out.

[For me, it came at an opportune time.]

Progress ...

The Voices, the Voices ... got new chapters tacked on them last week ... in spite of me having to write promotional material for Taking Vengeance.  I think my decision to just write 1,000 words a day -- no matter what kind of cr*p it is -- might work.  I knew I had to go back and add description as soon as I noticed I was staring at my end-of-chapter hook.  The chapter also has that unusual problem of "telling" rather than showing the action.

Then, there are the Demons, Gargoyles, and Britt ... have loads of changes to make, thank to my lovely beta reader.  [Now, if she'll only send me her chapters.  Hint.  Hint.]


I'm getting a down and busy view of the publishing world.  No more day-dreaming.  Have sent my contract, bio, and back cover copy to WolfSinger Publications.  [You might check them out at Amazon or Barns & Noble.] -- No, my teeny effort (We're talking 12,000 words.) won't be published until sometime in 2011.

A reality check on the odds of acceptance.  I'm assuming a couple hundred submissions were made last year.  I'm one of 11-2 contracts offered for 2011.  WolfSinger also publishes a couple e-magazines.  You can check the guidelines and contracts out.  Sorcerous Signals closed to submissions on June 15th.

Trivia ...

The robins were squawking up a storm yesterday morning.  I woke up to something chirring back at them.  I opened the blinds to the robins dive-bombing something with a bushy tail disappearing over the fence. --  I don't think robins like raccoons.  (Another good reason to keep the cats indoors, as if the hawks weren't enough.)

Hooking a Reader's Interest

The Read:  My opinion: the second book's the key to hooking the reader's interest in a series -- the charm that launches a series ... or a reader turn-off.  

Started Caitlin Kittredge's Pure Blood. second in the Nocturne City series (trilogy?).  The opening starts off much the same as the first -- with a dead body.  Problem?  Well, in the first book, the body immediately hooked you into the possibilities of something nefariously supernatural happening.  The second book?  The body looks like a routine overdose while the MC and reader stand around getting cold feet -- even though the medical examiner does mention the eyes aren't consistent with the OD assumption -- The book then drifts away to departmental politics before the hook is set. 

A slo-o-o-w start with one-note characters.  Got a tenth of the way into the book before I reached the first spark of interest -- the MC gets saddled with an unwanted partner who just happened to be from a prominent good witch family, but without a hint of magic and looks like a Barbie-clone.  I was ready to throw the book on the trade pile, but by page 40 the storyline snagged me enough to continue reading.  Why?  I thought it'd furnish a good exercise for the blog. -- Duty above all.  [Please don't gag.]

The simplicity of the characterization bothers me -- [actually, my thoughts are more profane].  Don't want or need huge amounts of back story at the beginning of the second book, but your secondary characters need to come across as humans, not cardboard space holders.  [That's the tertiary characters' role.]  

Examples:  Partner - the poor little rich girl.  The New Love Interest - a self-centered adolescent that feels like he's being set up to be dumped.  The New Boss --  an intolerant autocrat.  Main Character -- caught up in her anger to the point of unreason and self-destruction.  (Might work for literary, but commercial?)

So, why do I continue reading? The MC and partner got stuck in a S&M bondage situation while investigating the death of a blood witch about a 1/3 of the way into the book.  (Blood witches in this world are bad guys.)  Finally, I got hooked even though I was yawning enough to go to bed. 

Web Notes:  I sometimes wonder if my blog is wasted effort -- even though I'm comfortable talking to myself.  Then, something strange happens.  I checked the statistics for my blog and clicked the who's reading my blog button ... and there was somebody reading at the same time as me.  Well, I thought it was interesting even if you don't.

When I first started writing a blog, I really didn't think about readers.  I worried about thinking up enough words to say.  --  I should have had more confidence in my "big mouth".

All the above raises the question:  So, you got your blog.  What are you going to do with it?

Justine Musk recently wrote a blog on how to organize your social media platform in three parts.  http://tribalwriter.com/2010/04/06/author-platform-framework/    I assume the end result would help increase readership for a published writer.

That means my blog is probably useless.  *shrug*  Not really, I've learned a lot from it.  As for following Musk's suggestions, I need to sell something so I know what audience/readership I'm talking to.  --  Another bit of information to tuck between my ears.

Progress:  Maren is metamorphosing.  Maybe I should give up and write something else.  [I have several possible ideas sitting in my idea file.]  Have consigned the opening chapter to the odd bit file.  *sniff*  All that lovely back story gone ... and maybe one character.  Now I've got to figure what the characters are going to do since my tentative outline is in the trash.

Trivia:   Snow dusted us last night.  No shoveling for the old man since the sidewalks are clear, but we're still on Apricot Watch.  Usually, we get a massive freeze as soon as the apricot blooms, and we get nothing by leaves from the tree.  This year, we just might get a few apricots --  not that I really like them that much.  I prefer peaches -- which tree is showing no signs of blossoming yet.  (Yeah.)

What's Your Ending?

Let's give thanks to the Irish

the post-Roman Irish who copied every book they could find so

ancient knowledge didn't end when the Romans imploded.

Without them, we wouldn't be writing what we write.

(Thanks to a New York Times opinion piece by Thomas Cahill for reminding me.)

  
The Read:  The ending didn't disappoint me, actually ... but Cinda Williams Chima's The Warrior Heir finished just about like I expected.  The great battle happens and the rules of the Wier change to treat the modalities -- wizards, sorcerors, enchanters, and warriors -- more equally.  The fact that the wizards killed off most of the warriors in the tournaments (the event which supplied the climax) added a little poignancy.  The MC opponent in the tournament was also telegraphed, but the writing overall carried the predictability forward to the end.

The next book in the series is The Wizard Heir, I think.  (I'm not going downstairs to check.)  I'm debating whether or not I'll read it even though the first chapter develops an intriguing character.  I have a Diana Wynn Jones waiting to be read.  Then, I discovered that Karen Marie Moning's Faefever is out in paperback.  While the series is called "delectably dark and sexy", I'm glued to the development of the MC from sunny Southern belle (a Georgia peach?) to a hero who can give the Unseelie court headaches.  As much as I admire Moning's writing, I missed this when it came out in mass paperback last year.

Blog Comments:  Discovered a wonderful resource ... for romance writers, The Passionate Pen from reading The Turning Point today.  [Jenna Petersen's website which she updates about once a month: http://www.passionatepen.com/]  Lists of publishers, lists of agents, the experiences of published writers -- what's there not to like even if you don't have a romantic bone in your body.  [Like me.]  I'm green with envy.  There may be such a site for fantasy writers, but as far as I can tell, the same info is scattered over many sites.

If you're interested in fantasy writer blogs, you can check AW Water Cooler's Fantasy and Science Fiction section for a list.  Read all the postings since people are listing their blogs there.  (Yes, they included mine, thank you.)

Progress:  I think I've muddled my way out of the first three chapters of Maren.  They've gone from an outline ... to a chapter ... to actually several chapters where I tried to decide where to start.  While I'm a "seat-of-my-pants" writer, I have to know where my characters are starting from and who they are.  All sorts of people are starting to pop out of the woodwork.  --  Some I never guessed at when Maren nagged me to get on with her story.

Biggest revelation:  I needed a reasonable way to allow Maren, as a pseudo-American teen, to travel all over the county she landed in.  Guess what?  Her guardian/foster mother decided to run for county commissioner (in a backward county).  All I have to do is not be too specific about election law, and I've got it made.  I used to be active in politics.  Don't know a pinch about police procedure, but I know something about people and the stupidities of politics.

Trivia:  It's Saint Patrick's Day, and I'm not wearing green.

Increasing the Pace

The Read:  Slow starts can pick up speed, thank goodness.  Am halfway through the current read, and Cinda Williams Chima's The Warriors Heir has finally picked up steam with the two factions vying for power trying to capture our hero -- plus his relocation from his US hiding spot to England.  Liked his encounters with the ghosts of previous knights/ warriors who died in the continuation of  the War of the Roses which continues down to the present day for the Weir.

Interesting thing.   I think there was more description in describing London and the "evil doctor's" office than in the first part I thought so slow.  I need to go back and check if that comment holds, but that's my impression as I write.

Blog Comments:  Hooks have reared their snaggy heads.  Think I've reached some sort of critical mass on the blogs I follow.  I find I'm skipping some of them if the topic revealed in the notice doesn't catch my interest.  I suggest a review of your openings.  Example:  This blog first started with "halfway".  I don't know if the first sentence snags any better, but I thought it an improvement.

Progress:  Maren plods along.  My first chapter is now three.  Am thinking I need some more description.  In short, I write s...l...o...w.

Trivia:  Still savoring Susan Wechsler's mosaics in my head.  They're worth the time to Goggle her.

Slowly Changes the WIP

The Read:  Am getting into the new read:  Cinda Williams Chima's The Warrior Heir -- after stumbling through the prologue.  (Hey, the science magazines are coming in so the books have more competition than usual.)  I'm far enough into the book to see where the back story is important, but I think this is a case where bits and pieces inserted into the text would have served just as well.  --  But who am I to say anything.  I'm not the published writer.

For a change, this is a young adult fantasy with the premise that secret magic workers live among us -- only to be sacrificed by rival factions seeking political dominance.  (I think.)  An interesting concept as far as it goes.  I haven't determined who're the good guys yet, only the potential victims.

Locus (the "journal" of science fiction and fantasy) came today bearing good news.  Three writers I drool over are coming out with new books which hooked good reviews:  Patricia Briggs (Silver Bourne), Jim Butcher (Changes), and Kim Harrison (Black Magic Sanction).  The bad news for cheapskates like me --  they're hardbacks.

Progress:   Emma is slowly filling a binder of her own so she can be filed away.  Printing is taking a long time because of the slipping roller in the printer.  (Guess who's too cheap to buy a new one.  "Wasn't a monitor enough?", she whines.)

Maren.  The scenes in the first chapter are starting to make sense.  I may have two chapters done by Saturday.  --  Don't get impressed.  I prefer short chapters.  So far, the YA chapters are only slightly longer than the MG ones.

Blog.  I guess regularly posting a new blog up is progress of a kind.  So, I'll take the credit.  ;-)

Trivia:  I martyred myself and made some polenta stuff since the old man kept asking about the three unopened packages in the pantry.  Slimey.  Or, have I insulted you because you like the stuff?  Better yet, do you have an edible recipe for it.  No?  Scrambled egg sandwiches, here I come.