How to Weave Settings, Plot and Characters Together -- Anne Bishop's Take

  Discovered Anne Bishop's The Black Jewels series -- Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of the Darkness -- while browsing in a used bookstore. My mouth sort of hung open in amazement of her writing chops as I read, figuratively but sometimes for real. Bishop uses the same storyline most writers do for one novel but gets three action oriented, psychological fantasy thrillers out of this go. The extra wordage goes into creating intricate settings, solid characters, and multi-dimensional conflicts between primary and secondary characters.

  What's more impressive, Bishop has written another well received series. Can you imagine getting close to 2000 reviews from one of your books? In comparison this pipsqueak writer's The Ghost in the Closet has 19 reviews. But then, I'm not the recipient of as many awards as is Bishop, including the RT Book Reviews 2013 Career Achievement Award in Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

 In a world of turmoil and despair, a few of the Blood, magic workers and rulers whose powers are exemplified by the darkness of the jewels they attract, hope for the coming of a witch queen who will end the corruption staining their world. Two rivals fight to control the witch-queen when the prophecized child appears, and the political games begin, using magic, politics, intrigue, and betrayal. I read the first three books in the series which ended with Jaennel and her consort achieving power but still facing terrible battles if she's to protect her people from other Bloods' greed for power.   

  The tone of the series is set in the first sentence of the book [I' ignoring the powerful prologue here.]:
   "Lucivar Yaslana, the Eyrien half-breed, watched the guards drag the sobbing man to the boat. He felt no sympathy for the condemned man who had led the aborted slave revolt. In the Territory called Pruul, sympathy was a luxury no slave could afford."

  The storyline soon makes it clear that the vampiric Saetan is one of the main characters, and he's soon flipped into a fearsome good-guy. Which gives the reader the clue, they are reading a highly original twist on the Christian netherworld mythology. [I use the term mythology because Satan's realm is interpreted in many ways by different Christian sects.] This is a world where the "the bad guys" live out their lives by their values, not ours. 

  The plot elements amaze as the depth of the society's corruption is displayed. They include a coherent take on a matriarchal society where males still are essential to wielding power, priestess and witches vying for supremacy, complications from groups who don't appreciate magic, a intricate but coherent magical system involving the color of different jewels, demon-dead, unicorns, harpies, and political perversion as greed takes the ascendency. The importance of love, in its many forms, is stressed repeatedly as the conflicts in this dark world unfold. The Black Jewels has it all, defined in some truly original tropes. More important, there's a glossary that helps the reader keep people and talents straight.
  
  The craftsmanship of the writing just blows me away. There are so many plot lines and sub plots intertwining around each other, one would expect an unintelligible mess. Bishop not only keeps the tangle understandable, but make its seem almost linear. Add to that complex characters, both primary and secondary, with internal conflicts. Overall Bishop creates a lush world that defies simple description.



Truly recommended. And, I still have more books set in this world to read.

~~#~~

Think writers in other countries have it better than American authors? Think again. Here's a link to an Indian on-line writer's magazine that gives one reason for why I waste so much time doing social media. Five Scary Truths about Becoming an Author.

There are prizes, ... and then, there are prizes.

Ben Okri, Booker Award winner in 1991, recently achieved one of the more dubious awards, the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award. Thought you might enjoy the link. 

~~#~~

  Then, there're my anemic efforts. I do short reads because I don't have the energy to publish a full-length novel on my own. I'm also too cheap. Good editing costs, and I use both a content and

a copy editors.

  Still I may get Hear That Damn Owl out towards the end of December as another freebie. Then, I think I'll raise the price on my e-novelettes to $1.99. They don't really sell that well, so what the heck.

  Oh, The Ghoscrow is also sitting, waiting for outside edits too, but that's for the January or February.

  Next project. I'm going to return to the Far Isles Half-Elven. First off is a revision of Taking Vengeance. I'm going to add a fight at the beginning since too many people look at the sample, and then, don't buy it.  Next is The Pig Wars, the sequel to Troublesome Neighbors. I may combine the two books into one longer work which I might also do in paper.

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.

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.

NaNoWriMo Madness

Do dogs drool over meaty bones? I'm beginning to think writers drool over NaNoWriMo. 

Went to the monthly Northern Colorado Writer's, and they devoted a fair amount of discussion to the Time-of-Writing-Frenzy. I knew the two independent book stores in town, sponsored writing tables for NaNoWriMo participants. I didn't know our public library was also in the act of encouraging writer to pound out the words. They even ran "classes" for teen and adult writers.

Even if you aren't participating, I recommend you read the blogs that mention NaNoWriMo. There a lot of good advice on the mechanics of producing words. Breaking through writer's block. Setting up your characters. Plus, much more.

Over at Operation Awesome, Lindsay gives her reasons for not doing NaNoWritMo. She's into quality more than quantity. More important, she gives some links to other blogs with great craft tips.

Morgan Bailey takes the opposite stance in her blog asking: Are You Ready for NaNoWriMo? She even hides some writing tips hidden within the text which will help you whether you join the madness or not.

Then, there's me.  I don't expect to come out of the month with 50,000 new words in the computer, but I'm doing it any way. I hoping that pounding out words, without thinking much about them, will help me break my 500 words a day habit. -- I may be planning to shoot myself in the foot. Thanksgiving's at my house, as usual, plus I start my Christmas baking about that time.

Think ... I sort of ... get NaNo ... though. Writing is mostly a solitary activity except for critique groups and writing buddies. In November, writers party and write for the heck of it..

'Tis the Season: Ghost Story Review #1

 Mary Downing Hahn must be the Queen of chapter book ghost stories. Granted she writes more than ghost stories, but it's the ghost stories I keep running across in used book stores. Wish I could squeeze out the suspense from my stories like Hahn does. What's worse for the inferiority complex is that Hahn makes it look easy.

Picked up Wait Till Helen Comes at the farmer's market. Hahn takes her talent for combining kid's family problems like lost secrets and general friction, then combines them with more tension in the form of a ghost story. Her books may be "simple" chapter books, but the story is scary enough to raise chills in an adult. [Guilty.]

In this 1986 book, Hahn tells the story a blended family -- the mother with two older kids who are expected to take care of their step-dad's younger daughter who hides a heavy secret. All the kids are unhappy about moving to a new home, but the youngest feels picked on until she finds a "friend", Helen, who wants to take her to a hidden land where she'll be happy forever. Molly, the older step-sister, soon finds herself trying to "save" a step-sister who doesn't want to be "saved". Molly finds herself caught getting blamed for causing trouble because every time she tries to help, her step-sister twists events so Molly appears in the wrong.

One of the wonders of a good chapter book is that it has all the elements of a larger novel, but there isn't as much internal dialog, complicated settings, or description to get in the way of the core. An adult reader can easily follow the basic craft structure of a novel in Helen: the introduction of characters, the complication that emphasizes the danger a character's in, and the working out of a realistic the solution. On this simplified framework, Hahn creates a scary story with a warm and happy ending, a must for younger readers.

###

Yeah, writing for kids is deceptive -- looks easy but ain't. I can remember how once I thought I'd write kid's books so I could finish one book in one year. Two tween books even sit in my computer waiting for revision. See how that idea got blasted out of the water? WolfSinger Press, also,  sort of distracted me and pulled me back into my Half-Elven world.

If you're having problems plotting your novels, you might study writers like Mary Downing Hahn who have a closet full of awards. The books are relatively short and uncluttered, making the pace of the structure easy to see.

Yeah, when I revise, I go back to this elementary drawing board. I find I can learn a lot from reviewing what I thought I knew.

Writerly Goals

Goals:  Someday I want to join James Mitchner's niche.

[No, not on the best seller lists.]

"I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent re-writer."
-James Michener

Lessons from My Reading:

If you are one of those organized people who outline, have you ever wondered who'll complete your draft?  If you're a writer like me -- a minnow swimming in the shoals -- it's probably a dumb question.  If you're a much published author with a couple of popular series under your keyboard, it's probably a major headache for your estate when you die.  So, if you're aiming for your writing career to land over the fence, you might consider what's in your files.

More than a friend's death raised this question in my mind.  I also discovered a copy of Hastur Lord on the grocery store shelves.  The book sported the co-authorship of Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross.  Now, I've been a fan of Darkover since discovering a couple thin books back in the 1970s. [I still have some of the Ace books I bought at the time.]  When I saw the new book, I had to read the story of Regis Hastur's life after his grandfather's death.  I'm sure many other fans grabbed the book as quickly as I did.  It fills in an important gap in the life of a major character.

Was it a good book?  I'd say it was good enough.  I enjoyed it.  I'll keep it ... just because it illuminates in an important part of Darkover history. At the same time, this book didn't engross me as the latter books, time wise, in the series had.  I won't say Ross did a bad job, but the plot lines just didn't seem as elaborate as I had expected.  But then, not everyone has the vision of a master when rewriting, ie. I suspect Bradley would have come up with some telling phrase that'd create greater depth to the scene at hand. 

For the record, I don't think I'll have to worry about who completes any of my outlines after I croak.  I write by the seat of my pants.

Web Promotion & Writing Craft Stuff:

So, I'm been dithering on the age level of my manuscript: THERE BE DEMONS.  Michelle Schusterman  at the YA Highway recently wrote a helpful blog about five distinctions between middle grade and young adult books.  I thought the distinctions very useful even though I'm trying to figure out the differences between young adult and adult when your human characters are young teens.  I know I write fantasy.  But, where the blazes does it land in the marketplace?

Before you say, "have an agent tell you", my submissions of this book have exhausted the major agents who specialize in younger fantasy.

Again on YA and Middle Grade.  Mandy Hubbord of the D4EO Agency blogged about The Epic Trends (YA & MG).  Granted I'm up to my ears in revising rather than writing, but I think trends in one reading level wash over into other age groupings.  --  Bunnicula, anyone?

Thinking of self-publishing?  While chasing links, I found Alan Ringler's blog at Books Unbound. While he discusses reasons for author's to get back the rights to their back list, he also gives links to some useful places self-publishing authors need.

Progress:

I'm getting too accustomed to getting next to nothing done.  Oh, I spend a hell of a lot of time dithering around, but I'm not accomplishing what I want to do.  Write.  Creaing something new.  Getting excited about what I'm doing. 

This week I messed around trying to get the links to "Taking Vengeance" properly up so people could buy my books from the blog and from my website.  Notice: the cover to the right and text below.  I won't whine about how long it took me to get the links up here and on my website. --   Next step up is getting some author's pages going.

Do have Cavern Between Worlds in the process of being converted [aka formatted] for e-publication plus a cover.  Not a back list item, but at least it'll give me two publications on my author's page when it's up -- maybe in a couple of weeks.

[Hey, if anyone bought the book or buys it, I'd appreciate a review.  Hint.  Hint. :).]

Trivia:

When it rains, it pours.  After four to five months of drought, we're getting enough rain to bring us up to average precipitation for the year in 18 days.  With our heavy snowpack, I'll probably soon be moaning about floods.