Immersed in a Master Craftsman's Mind

 The Writing Lesson ...

I'm savoring master craftsman Laurel K. Hamilton's new mass paperback, Skin Trade.  Wish  I could just sit and devour, but I've got too much other stuff demanding my attention.  In a way, I've already taken the bait.  Her opening hook is masterful.  "I'd worked my share of serial killer cases, but none of the killers had ever mailed me a human head."  The first sentence of the book rips your cheek out it lodges so firmly.

Even more impressive is the way she weaves the series back story into the first 4 page chapter.  She leaves out some things, but who cares.  I don't think this book will disappoint.  Hamilton has so many themes running through the Blake series that she  must had quite a time squeezing the references in.  At least, Blake seems to have gotten over her puritanical upbringing.

I'm about a third of the way in.  I don't know if Hamilton intended comments to be funny, but I found myself laughing out loud when characters referred back to situations from other books. Another bit that had me sitting back and thinking:  Hamilton gives an argument against those thinking commercial fiction is dumber than literary fiction when Blake raises objections to joining a witches church because it's too Gnostic.  How many Christians know what Gnosticism is?

Progress ...

My big bitch of the moment isn't getting an ending on Voices, though that bothers me.  It's getting my agent files set up so they are usable.  How many times have you read agents complaining about about sending inappropriate queries?  I gather it's one of the prime newbie mistakes.  I also gather you increase your chances of sending a partial (or full !!!) if you send something the agent is interested in.  --  A quick example.  I'd be wasting my time sending my stuff to an agent who only represented Christian romances.

Two of the best places I've found to get in depth agent info ... besides individual agent blogs ... are Casey McCormick [Literary Rambles] and Chuck Sambuchino [Guide to Literary Agents]  I think I've mentioned them before.  Well, this week-end I've been combing through their archives searching for agents who like fantasy.  

And, no.  Not all agents who like paranormal and/or urban fantasy do magical realism.   If you do sword and sorcery, the agent pickings get even slimmer.  So, I'm putting together a master list of agents who might be be interested in the kinds of fantasy I've written or have in my idea files.  My problem is complicated by having several adult, young adult, and middle grade manuscripts as done as I can make them.

Some examples I just stumbled across.  Michael Bourrett of Dystel & Goderich is looking for gritty, blue-collar YA paranormal.  For a few minutes I thought There Be Demons would be a good fit -- until I read he doesn't want science fiction or high fantasy (with magical creatures).  Then, I would love to query Jill Corcoran of the Herman Agency -- but she only does kid's stuff and doesn't have anyone in her agency that does adult, that I can tell.  --  It stands to reason that I think I'm an "exceptional" writer.

So, my manuscript files reflect my mind -- a Crazy Quilt.  Which makes me wonder if other writers stick to one genre specialty or do they bounce all over the place until they land on an idea that's publishable.

One thing I'm not doing is only bobbing like a dippy bird transferring agent info.   I'm "studying" book trailers on YouTube.  My NYC daughter, being a musician, knows a little about promoting yourself on the web, has promised to help me. 

Then, there are all those lovely trailer reviews at 1st Turning Point.  This week Rick Taubold points out the good points of a trailer for a children's picture book.  I found it interesting they used both English and Chinese in the production.  Whatever, I hope I can come up with something half as good for "Taking Vengeance".

Trivia ...

Disappointed the gurus trying to jump start the economy.  The old man stuck his foot through the bottom sheet.  Did I buy one of the many sets prominently displayed for my buying pleasure?  No, I dug around even though my back was cranky until I found a single fitted bottom sheet the right size.  Who cares what color it is? 

Plot Points

The Read:  Plot points, big and little, need to be embedded a story -- fiction or narrative non-fiction.  I think plots work as a compass to keep us on track to where we need to end up.  Think of a hook dragging the writer through the story.  If we're lucky, the happenings will hook readers into our tale and keep them there.  Woe be to the writer who can't stay interested in the book they are trying to write.  They will gnash their teeth mightily. 

Now that I've played Cassandra, all gloom and doom, I'll move on to admire Charlaine Harris's nimble exercises in keeping the action in Dead and Gone moving.  No secret that Harris is one of my favorite authors.  I started the book sometime over the week-end (Sunday?) and expected it to take as long to read as Pure Blood.  Only, I was more than half-way through it as of Tuesday, making me wonder why the novels I like the most finish the quickest.  

Dead and Gone is the ninth in the Sookie Stackhouse series [in mass paperback, at least].  I picked it from the pile to comment on because I'm watching the True Blood DVDs.  Only the two don't compare too well.  So, I'll gnaw on the plot points.  By the first fifth of the book [some 60 pages],  Sookie contends with the weres of America coming out, finds herself married to Eric [the New Orleans vampire], and having her sister-in-law [Jason's wife and a werepanther] crucified with silver nails.  A third of the way into the book, Sookie discovers her life's in danger because her great-grandfather (a faery prince) is in the middle of a fae war.  Also, somewhere in that mix, the FBI has shown up to determine whether Sookie's powers are real enough to recruit her.  Yeah, Harris ties it all up in a smoothly flowing story.  --  My mouth hangs open in admiration.  I'll try not to drool in front of you.

In the middle of all this, I went out and bought Dead Until Dark, the first in the series after spending a half hour last night looking for my Charlaine Harris pile.  (I was certain they were behind the Laurell K. Hamiltons, but they weren't.)  It'll be a couple days before I finish the DVDs, and then, I might have something to say about the differences between the two formats.  [Actually, I stayed up late last night and finished them.]

Web Notes:  Technically, I'm commenting on printed material, but since the editor is Chuck Sambuchino of Guide to Literary Agents  [ http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/ ] , I'm going to mention the Writer's Digest Get an Agent.  Haven't looked at too much of it yet, except for the 21 agents panting for new clients.  --  Just my luck.  Very few of them were interested in MG/YA or fantasy.

The publication offers lots of tips to digest, if not implement.  Revising your manuscript.  How not to start your book.  [Probably the next thing I read after failing to get Maren out of the blocks.]  Successful Queries.  Lots, lots more.  Much of the information can be gathered free by reading agent blogs, but I think it's nice to have it contained in one publication.

This blog.  I'm always amazed at the number of non-Americans taking a look at what I write.

Progress:  Gave up on Maren and consigned her to My Documents ... maybe after some fermentation, she'll reappear in another form.  At least, a different story.  I still like her and the new villains.

Emma.  Still, thrashing over a query.  Or, is that twisting in the wind? 

Kaffy Anne.  Pulled her from limbo where she's been languishing for a couple years.  From the looks of it, it's 2/3s drafted with lots of notes for the subsequent chapters.  Got a couple chapters read yesterday, and it wasn't too distressing to read even though it was written before Britt and the gargoyles.

Trivia:  After laying in a stock of sheep sh*t bags ... we went looking for the kind of parsley the old man likes.  The flat leaf kind since he thinks it's best, but that may be a Greek prejudice.  --   I like it too since it has more flavor.  Gives more snap to my mom's German noodle dishes.

Keeping a Reader Hooked

The Read:   Once a writer gets a reader to buy the book, they have to keep them hooked long enough to keep reading.  Right?  Well, Caitlin Kittredge has pulled me pass the middle of PURE BLOOD.  Hey, I'm squirming here, but still reading.  [Duty is a harsh mistress.]

The writing isn't that bad.  The structure is twisting tighter with a bomb blast starting the change in the dynamics of the MC's partnership with the Barbie detective.   I'm at the last third of the book, and Kittredge is finally concentrating on the war between the two witch clans.  Must admit I'm hooked enough to want to see how she semi-resolves the issues with MC's personal and professional life.   But ...

The DVD set of True Blood arrived.  [Have you notice fantasy has gotten decidedly bloody in the last couple years?  Oh, for simple marauding orcs!]  The HBO series is based on Charlaine Harris'  Dead Until Dark.  Like the casting of the Bill Compton character, but I don't think Sookie Stackhouse  is portrayed with enough dippiness.  Grew up with kids like her [without the ability to hear thoughts], once removed (by parents moving to California), and don't think Paquin quite catches it.  Still, I look forward to the news ending so I can fire up the next episode.

The reading of Pure Blood is going to take a long time.  Too much competition for my free time.

Web Notes:  Got my horizons broadened by a blog again yesterday.  Nugget of wisdom:  You shouldn't limit your visits to classrooms to promote your book -- if you're lucky enough to be published.  Jewel Allen did a guest blog on Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents with a wonderful suggestion to find out what kind of stories children like.  Visit their classrooms with a partially written story ... and have the kids put the ending on it.  Visit http://tinyurl.com/yge42uk  to read all her excellent suggestions.
 
Blogging:  I'm thinking more and more that the web/social media are a huge time vampire.  Maybe that's why so many people are writing about the undead, you think?  They're trying to use the research they did when trying to discover ways to escape from vampires?  --  I now follow so many blogs, you have to hook me into clicking as I rush through my allotted web time.

Progress: I'm staggering on with Maren's metamorphosis.

Trivia:  On a more positive note.  Had tempura for lunch.  Love unhealthy vegies.

How Now Research?

The Read:  Research?  I've been have fun reading a middle grade adventure story about a girl who travels through a portal to Clovis times in the Texas Hill country.  This is definitely a time period where current fiction writers don't have personal experience, so how do you make it real?   Do you think it's even important to get your facts straight?

The book:  Peni R. Griffin's 11,000 Years Lost.  Is this fantasy?  No more than any daydreaming kid, I think.  Here's an example of how kid lit has always skirted the boundaries of the the real and the imaginery.

Griffin's end notes on her research were notable -- she hiked the Texas Hill country were her MC tramped with a Clovis band chasing mammoths, their favorite prey.  Time/distance ratios change if you travel by car or by foot.  I also think you have to try hiking all day to get an idea of how each aching muscle reacts to the terrain.

While there is a lot of personality conflict among the band members open to change and those who aren't, one thing stands out loud and clear in the book:  how central food is to hunters and gathering bands.  The MC has problems adjusting to to the limited diet, bugs, dirt, and limited world view of her adopted band members, but her biggest problem is how she can return to her own time.  Griffin does a good job in foreshadowing the pieces of the solution as well as coming up with a realistic one.  --  A nice example of effective novel construction.

Web Notes:  Are you looking for an agent?  Do you want to do it right?  If so, it's important you don't piss the agent you query off.  To prevent this, you might look at this The Guide to Literary Agents link to four articles discussing agents' pet peeves:

http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Footnotes+4+Articles+On+Agent+Pet+Peeves.aspx

The blog is among my extra-useful links and is always worth reading whether Chuck or a guest is the author. 

Progress:  Maren is learning English.  The problem: how does she do this without pages of showing.  Also, does her magic help her learn fast?  I think so ... or else I'd get bored writing it.

And Emma popped her binder open when I mentioned research.  Emma might be called a historical since it occurs in 1921, but research thing was crucial here when considering the material environment that was similar to our own but very different.  For example:  This was about the time various people were experimenting with selling peanut butter in grocery stores.

The internet was a great place to find dates and pictures of artifacts (appliances, decor, clothes, foods, etc.).  The surprise came when I realized I used a lot of my personal experience for the background.  I knew that I channeled my mother (who had me late in life) for expressions, but I didn't realize my mom was 11 in 1921 until one day I did the math.  I also grew up with people who lived in houses that had been much remodeled beyond when they were build in the 20s.  Guess, your life experience shows up in your writing even when you don't consciously try.

Trivia:  Another nice warm day, but snow is lurking in our future.  It's spring in the Rockies.  --  The snow/freezing better not kill my peaches this year.  I don't care about the apricots.