Getting to Know You -- Using Flashbacks to Develop Characters

Did you miss R. S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, when it first came out? 

I know I did. I can't even remember seeing the striking cover in the new books sections of the two bookstores I frequent. Fortunately, the family lending library treated me to the read. Guess New York City stores get to sample more books than the boonies where I live. Not only did the book keep me reading past my bedtime, but it snuck up on me with a lovely, believable steampunk subplot.

The Six-Gun Tarot takes place in Golgotha, Nevada on the other side of the 40 mile Desert from Reno/Virginia City. Belcher gives us one of the most ethnically mixed populations I've encountered in my reading and integrates the various belief systems into a complicated, occult fabric that's one of the most original takes on the western fantasy arcana I've seen. Yeah. The Tarot plays a big part in it.

Belcher develops his characters with extensive flashbacks which almost stand as novellas. Each of the main characters having some occult power or other ... even the supposedly Christian ones ... was just frosting on the read. Through the flashbacks, the reader learns about the acute danger the town faces.

Of course, the wounded hero and his pals must save the sheep like citizens. Sound like the cliches runneth over? Don't believe it. All the characters have odd-ball pains and strengths that will save the people of Golgatha ... if they can only arrive at the pit in time.

So recommended, I've been lending or suggesting the book to all my writer friends, even the ones that don't read fantasy. See excerpt and reviews at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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Interesting Links

To Blog or Not to Blog. Rachelle Gardner recently posted some interesting comments about effective social media and writers. It all boils down to what you are passionate about. Makes me wonders why I'm blogging. Is it just a marketing myth? You can read it by clicking here. Care to comment on what you think? 

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My Writing Rut

Guess I'm back. Just ran out of steam over the winter doldrums. Medical issues didn't help. Besides I was/am tired of doing book reviews. Reminded me too much of English classes, I guess.

I'm in the process of revising my whole media presence. keeping Facebook ... because I interact with people I know there as well as having an author page, where it's easy to interact to comments -- when they happen. Yeah, I'm a pipsqueak, but the only media that turned out humanish was Facebook, in spite of all the manipulations.

May continue on Twitter, too, where I have two accounts: a "personal" one and a promotion one. Chances are you're reading this by responding to a tweet.

Oh, yeah. The writing. May have been scarce on social media, but I've been writing. I've finished the draft of On the Run. The 50 page novella turned into a 280 page draft with an entirely different protagonist than the one I started out with. Guess there won't be a sequel to Noticing Jamilla. The short story did give me a better idea of my demons than the outlined world I used in Night for the Gargoyles and There Be Demons, but I guess Cassy Mae will remain a singleton quick read.

Now I'm incorporating all the addenda into the draft so I can get On the Run to my beta readers. Then, I get to go back to edit There Be Demons because the world is more complicated than it was before.

Are You Honest About Your Writing? Do You Know Where You Want to Go?

Am deep in the first round of edits for There Be Demons ... which will become a book with a real publisher, Grumpy Dragon. They may be small, but I have a lot of respect for the editor/publisher and how she and her husband have grown their business over the last couple years. 

So, I'm even more of a double-threat writer. I will be published by two small publishers as well as having self-published some of my Far Isle Half-Elven stuff. 

--And no, I don't like Grumpy Dragon because they like my comments on my Far Isle Half-Elven Facebook page.

All this leads into a link I found on Facebook, courtesy of Writer Beware sharing it. Chuck Sambuchino hosted guest blogger Matt Mikalatos writing about the 5 lies unpublished writers tell themselves. Yeah, he's published by a major company and gives some hints on the right tactics so you can share his status. 

-- Bottom line. Don't whine and make excuses. Writing an fresh intriguing story competently helps too. I say this even though I'm ambivalent about dipping a toe in the big league pools. I don't think I have the energy to maintain the pace needed at this point.

Then, let's the question on its head. What do other writers think of writers? Found this link on my Facebook page and got more than one chuckle out of it so decided to share. "The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History"

Then again, there's Rachelle Gardner's blog on when a writer is ready to get published ... and why having a few trunk novels isn't such an bad idea. "Will Your First Book Be Published?

-- I'm not exempt from this question because my first novel is still sitting in my file cabinet ... typed on erasable bond, if it hasn't rubbed off over the years. Everyone can blame The Clue of the Clay Cats for my addiction to writing 

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Checked in with my editor today. She liked what I said I was doing with There Be Demons.  ... But I bet she's reserving judgment until she sees it completely edited manuscript.

Can Your Characters Stand the Series Test?

Picked up a copy of Christine Feehan's Samurai Game, the new Ghost Walker novel, in the grocery store. A couple of books back I stopped looking for her new titles because it seemed to me that she was giving the same character different names and matching him up with a different woman who was a cookie cut-out from the previous heroine. I think this is a minority opinion because they are re-issuring her Carpathian series -- and publishers don't do that unless an author's books are selling.

In the series, the Ghost Walkers defend themselves against Dr. Whitney's attempts -- the man who created them by enhancing their psychic abilities to use as military operatives -- to regain control of the soldiers and their women. At this point in the story line, the pairings of different Ghost Walkers have now produced children. Whitney plots to kidnap the babies for further experimentation. This time around, Feehan complicates the story line with an added element --  a female character is as lethal as the overprotective males.

So, how did Samurai Game stand up to being read? Well, I read it all the way through with very little skimming. ... All the action you expect from a Feehan novel is there, maybe more than some previous volumes in the series. What kind of action? Well, how about three assassinations in the first 20 pages. Firefights, intrigue, more assassinations follow, and plenty of sex in between the fights.

The book's well worth studying for how Feehan paces the plot. Even though this is tenth in a series, very little back-story clogs the action. Even though I hadn't read the last few books, it didn't matter. Dribbles of info here and there gave me enough to know where this book fits in the story line.

I still haven't decided whether this book's a keeper or is going on the trade pile, but I recommend it as a read.

[Christine Feehan. Samurai Game. New York: Jove Books, Penguin Group, 2012.]

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Looking for success with the help of an agent? Rachelle Gardner, one of the best for sharing publishing info, recently blogged on what catches an agents eye. So, if you'd like a pointed commentary on what agents look for in a writer, the info is only a click away.

I'd add one other point that's a necessity if you are seeking an agent's quality time. Write consistently and productively. There's a pace in the commercial publishing world that can eat up a writer alive ... especially if you write genre fiction. Read the blogs of professional writers, especially when they write about revisions and copy editing.  Both eat up hours.

At least Gardner nor any other agent need to worry about me clogging their in boxes. Since I can't sit at the computer long enough to be efficient, I've decided not to query agents ... even if I had something to query with.

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Which reminds me of the status of my writing. My pig prequel has a new title ... Troublesome Neighbors ... and I'm slogging somewhere in the last third. So much for spending a week on writing a free short story. Worse than being a slow writer is trying to tie together several story lines into a new whole.

Avoiding Cliches: Some Writing Crutches to Build Your Story Line

Cliches are the bane of a writer's existence. They things pop up in the words we use. They undermine the characters we build.  The darn things even undermine our story lines, because you structure your stories like so many other writers have done. So the question: how to avoid cliches. Here are a couple links that struck me as helpful.

What can be more cliche than a private eye? We can't all come up with a Harry Dresden, but we can give our private eye ... something different to investigate.  Reed Farrel Coleman blogged on Ten Reasons to Hire a Private Eye at the Writing PIs.  Once your main or secondary character is chin deep in the investigation, you can throw odd ball complications at her/him. It's the "odd ball" that gives your story its freshness.

Another way to avoid cliches is choosing a setting that is uniquely yours. We all have places we know better than most people.  We know the possibilities for danger that are unique to that place and its hidden beauties. When we weave them into our stories, we create a sense of freshness.  MaryLu Tyndall did a guest blog on Rachelle Gardner's blog that gives you some hints on different ways to weave a settings into your stories ... until the setting becomes a character in its own right. 

I would have had another set of good hints, but the blog had all sorts of dire warnings about lifting info from it that I decided not to link to it. Which maybe reminds us, we should think twice about what we put in our blogs. Basic question you should ask yourself: Do you mind complete strangers knowing about what you write?

And then, there are my snarly elves. I've gotten the revisions done for two-thirds of "For the Price of a Pig". At least, I think I tied up the loose ends. I even have the last third of the story outlined in my rough fashion.  -- Mainly writing down some suggestions actions that might take place. Of course, everything is subject to change. 

At least, I've worked the black tailed pig into the ending of the story. My daughter still won't like it because she thinks the pig should be magical. I think she spent too much time in Wales.

Now, I get to resolve the story line ... and introduce the love interest ... only I can't decide which guy it'll be.  --  That doesn't mean I'm done. It still has to be critiqued and rewritten, yet again.

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.

So. What do Agents Feels About Queries?

Several blogs back, I mentioned Janet Reid's formula for a good query ... ie. one that might give her a positive attitude when she reads your sample ... provided your query lures her on. A query that's low on description and high on action.

I was trying to use her formula for my new query for "Dark Solstice", using Linden as the focus rather than Mariah. So, I had been thinking about queries a lot before NaNoWriMo, trying to get away from describing feelings to show action. Still, I've talked to several people who think writing queries is a waste of time, too hard, or ????? Since self-publishing is so easy, they say, I should just go that route.

Jessica Faust gives an agents viewpoint on why a query is important in her Bookends Blog: The Archaic Query. She considers it just another craft skill which writers have to master. The upside? It allows agents, and probably publishers, to work through their submissions faster.

While we're thinking about queries, agent Rachelle Gardner wrote a blog on interpreting "agent euphenisms": Decoding Query Rejections. What I found interesting: she linked to Janet Reid's Query Shark as a place where writer's can get a specific reaction to their query -- if their query is lucky enough to be chosen. Though I should warn you Janet Reid isn't as nice as Rachelle Gardner.

Then, there's the other end of the process, getting some publicity for your book -- whether traditionally or self-published. The Passive Guy gives some good tips on using Good Reads to reach a targeted market of readers. He makes such a good argument that I may have to go back and visit the site regularly in addition to Facebook and Twitter. After NaNoWriMo, of course.

How am I doing with NaNoWritMo?

I'm behind, of course, but not by much. Sunday threw me off my count when I went to Denver, and I was short yesterday too. Still, I've discovered a completely undreamed of character who is central to the mid-story conflict that launches my main character into deep doo-doo, only I don't know what she's going to do to get out of the mess her contentious attitude gets her into.

PS: Got a good laugh when I discovered all my typos after I published an except of "Combine Mythos" yesterday.  Oh, I'm also thinking of calling the story "Combine Blues".

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.

Mining the To-Read Pile

The Read ...

Actually, went to the to-read pile for a book to read.  I only have four piles ... at last count.  At least I took care of three dust-catchers.  Two landed on the trade-pile after a few pages because I couldn't sink into them.  The other:  Anne Perry's Long Spoon Lane.  Frankly, I can't believe it was sitting there unread.  The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series has been one of my favorites since the Cater Street Hangman first appeared.

The book was enjoyable and competently written.  Sounds like faint praise, but when there are so many books in the series, that's a great compliment.  I was disappointed that Charlotte wasn't  featured more and that her family was almost absent.  [I like the dynamics in the juxtaposition of social class in late Victorian England.]  Still, Aunt Vespasia, one of my main ladies, got a decent role in this episode.

The book languishing on a to-read pile bothers me a bit.  I've completely missed a couple mass paperback editions somewhere I think.  Problem:  I think the lapses will continue to a greater degree since B&N has reduced their display space in favor of other peripheral merchandise.

Web Stuff ...

Have you noticed the buzz about censorship lately?  Well, lots of good people are speaking out against it.  I've read several blogs, but I think literary agent Janet Reids' "This I believe With All My Heart" blog gives you a good start with its links.  If you missed it, take the time to read it.  I know I'm a little late with the comment ... but reading is a basic right that needs to be monitored constantly.

Personally, I've always had problems with people who think childhood ... life, actually ... should have no problems.  While mine were mostly economic, others have had more shattering personal experiences.  Bottom Line:  I think books should discuss all the problems that life can present for kids ... if only to present possible solutions and examples that it is possible to survive.

Then there's the possibilities of making money blogging.  It's the secret keystone of building a platform -- you want to sell your book ... someday ... somewhere.  There's another way of making money, ProBlogger.  Along with lots of ads and information, they have a job board of people who want articles for blogs.  Didn't notice much for fantasy writers at the few listings I looked at, but if you're into memoir and personal experience -- you might find a source to increase your exposure and get paid too.  [I got the info from an article on "Buy Like Buffett" about three ways to make freelance money on the web.]

For fiction writers, Rachelle Gardner has another excellent blog; this time on selling your work.  While she's emphasizing crafting your pitch, the advise she gives also applies to writing your magnum opus.  If your story-telling doesn't cover the answers ... maybe you should go back to the revising board.

Progress ...

Wasted my writing time last night formatting Dark Solstice for submission to a small e-publisher.

Still, since I'm doing the website thing, I feel compelled to go back and market.  Ugh!  Still have some Word stuff to clean up.  More Ugh!!  

Someday, I may get the next Half-Elven story written.  In the meantime, I blogged about writing short stories.  Need to get in my noodle that the arc of a short story is like the arc in a chapter.  Anyone want to go back to writing one-oh-one with me?

Trivia ...

Time to praise asters, black-eyed susans, and fall crocus.  Without them, there'd be little color in the garden.  On the other hand, the zucchini aren't dead yet. 

Castle is back.  At first it seems like he was giving the team the brush off, but they made up in the end [no surprise since this is a television series, after all] in the process of solving a nicely complicated murder mystery.  Think it's going to be an enjoyable season if they mine the possibilities indicated in the course of the action.  Love still developing characters. 

Nuggets of Wisdom

No read today -- though I started reading Lee Child's new mass paperback, Gone Tomorrow.   At first, glance you think the opening description is lo-o-o-o-ng, but before I was ready to skip pages, I could feel the tension building -- all with the subway doors opening and closing with Reacher contemplating the Israeli terrorist screening list.

How fast was slow?  I thought I just barely scraped the beginning.  When I went back and looked, I was almost at page 100.  This even though I still had a headache from the bright lights at the NCW conference last night.

The Northern Colorado Writer's Conference

The following occurred in no particular order, so be warned I'm being my normal incoherent self.

First, I want to praise Kerri Flanagan, the director of the Northern Colorado Writers.  She's been doing the conference for five years, and each year some new useful new tool appears.  This year's gem was a spiral bound notebook with presenter info, session handouts, and lined pages to write on scattered through out -- all in alphabetical order.

Veteran conference goers said repeatedly that this was one of the best they've attended.  Summary opinion.  It's small enough to talk to a good share of the writers, and the presenters were all stellar.  I agree, but it's nice to know others agree with me.

Being me, I might quibble about the food -- but Kerrie didn't cook it.  (The Hilton people did.)   I'm lucky to live where I do -- even if I was ready to move from the place two days in coming here -- back in 1966.

Granted I couldn't go to all the sessions that looked useful,

but here are some nuggets of wisdom

from my notes.

Stephen Cannell (A-Team, The Rockford Files, and the Shane Scully mystery series) just happened to be doing a promotional tour through Colorado, and Kerrie snagged him for our keynote speaker.  I just listened without taking many notes.  Most important thing he said, in my opinion:  Don't take yourself too seriously. .

Mike Befeler, a mystery writer of "geezer-lit" (Paul Jacobson, "It's Murder ..." mysteries) won a medal of bravery for competing with the session:  Agents Read the Slush Pile.  His comment about mysteries -- that the murder has to occur in the first 20 pages -- applies to all books, I think.  Only one might say: something significant that changes your main character's world.

If you're feeling down, you might consider John Calderazzo (a multi-published writer who teaches at Colorado State University) words:  Writers seek the wonders of the world.  I think this is true regardless of genre.

Then, there's Trai Cartwright, a former screenwriter trying to convert to novels, who always blows my mind away.   Some of the things she said:

Focus on the hero (MC) and what s/he wants.

Something must happen in each scene to move the story.  

(characters facing conflict, a partial solution, and a reversal that makes things worse.)

Then, a whole quote from Trai:  "You know what your strengths are.  If you love writing dialogue but scene description isn't your forte, don't sweat it.  Write the scene to your strengths, knowing that after you get out the initial burst of inspiration, you'll go back and work on the other components in another pass."  This applies to scenes in screenwriting and chapters in novels.

Page Lambert, a mostly literary writer from the examples she read during her session on "Creating a Sense of Place",  gave the all important advise that writer's should use all the senses in creating descriptions.  More important, I thought she gave a neat device to eliminate back story:  Use an artifact to bring memory into the scene you're writing.  I think that'd also apply to something in the surrounding.  [A tip:  This is very similar to including action as your dialog tags.]

Todd Mitchell, a YA author (The Traitor King) and CSU professor, gave lots of many pointers:

Be sure your dialog is feasible.  Read aloud.

Subtext of dialog gives more info about characters than what's said.

You need to know what each character wants to have happen in each scene.

Joe Monti, of the Barry Goldblatt Agency, talked about why there are few books written for boys.  The circular reationship:  publishers don't think boys over 11 read, so they published few books for YA boys other than spy stuff, so boys don't read.  Who says marketing people know everything.

Monti did make one thing clear:  Your book cover is the most critical thing for your book's success.  So, if your cover sucks, make this the turf where you insist on something better, even if it's your first sale.

Those were the sessions I attended.  All were worth while -- even if I had to spend money to attend.   

My most fun moment at the conference:    

  

Got into line for food and discovered Rachelle Gardner, agent extraordinaire, in front of me.  I just had to mention the picture of the pristine desk she put on her blog.  She admitted the picture didn't show the over-stuffed bookcases in her office.