On Writing | Fantasy Tropes Revisited

I am the editing and revising machine lately! Rawr. And I've not been posting much, sorry. Ironically, the blogs I watch have been posting so much more in recent weeks - I've had a hard time keeping up. 

Source: Actionpointcomic.com

Let's cut to the quik - I like fantasy tropes. No, I LOVE them. I know there's at least two generations of people who grew up with Tolkien and Asimov and T.H. White who have spent the past five or so decades watching their favorite fantastic stories told over and over and over again in books, television and film.

You know why those stories get retold? Because they're good! To this day, people still know about Helen of Troy ("the face that launched a thousand ships") and what a Trojan Horse is. That story is two THOUSAND years old. (Uh, right? Older?)

Anyway, I read this post by forthcoming debut novelist Jeff Salyards over at SF Signal, entitled "Jeff Salyards on Avoiding Tired Tropes When World Building."

Nicely written post, I really enjoyed it. GO READ IT. Here's an excerpt.

What they all have in common is they don’t lazily rely on established motifs or character types. Can you still write about elves? Sure. I guess. But if they are sing-songy, lyrical, tree-dwelling hippies, then you’re missing the grand creative freedom of being a fantasy writer. Make them terrifying cannibals, or disenfranchised revolutionaries. In fact, somebody’s probably done both of those already. Tread carefully. 

And I left a lengthy comment, like so:

This is a good post. Tropes are a tricky topic, you have to admit. On the one hand, there is comfort in familiarity – and it’s that comfort which allows the reader immersion, escape, into the entertainment that is reading. On the other hand, the market and experienced readers demand freshness, creativity, originality.

It’s almost impossible anymore to write something that hasn’t been told. Even traditional fables have tons of variants on the same theme, across different cultures. Yet they persevere throughout the ages, and are retold to each generation, in one form or the other.

I’m comfortable with the tropes, personally, and employ several. Theoretically, I make them my own, but there’s no reinventing the wheel, so why bother – it’s almost an insult to the reader. What I try to focus on is to take that wheel and put it somewhere unexpected, or go further back, and discover why the wheel is the way that it is. (Well, not literally wheels, of course.)

There’s only so many ways that “departing from the classic tropes” can go, before they go too far and THAT becomes the new trope. For instance, ‘gritty’ is the new big thing – but that’s going to wear itself thin. Fantasy wasn’t built upon rape scenes, and readers will get tired of that, just like they grew tired of the peasant boy who becomes a king. After awhile, a good old-fashioned ‘boy becomes King’ yarn will be more popular (again) than Blackie McBlackNight the dirty rotten scoundrel’s tale.

What’s an author to do? Write a good story: cream always rises to the top.

Truly, this is a topic that I could go on and on for days about. But I have revisions to attend! However, if you want to engage the topic with me - revisions can wait, because this is my favoritest topic ever!

Anyway, what about you? Tired of the same ole stories? Do you want a refreshing take on the classic tale? Do you want something more realistic? Both? Neither? How about a re-imagined Middle Earth where the Dwarves aren't comic relief and the Elves aren't entirely feminine? Hmm? Hmmmmmm?

Writing Tip Posts, June 11, 2011

You may have noticed that I keep tinkering with the blog title and the "about me" section. That's why I persist in these little 'writing tip' posts - you can never stop improving the craft. And below you'll see the link that made me realize what I need to do differently on here. Everything in my life is a Work-in-Progress (WIP), and every week I get a little better, even if there are greater challenges.

If nothing else, I'm confident that I'm headed in the right direction.

You want proof? My little blog got a shout out this week! Yayy!! Thank you, Erin Reel! *happy dance*

What can I say, I'm often easily amused. I was out for drinks (Rum!) with friends on Friday night, and a coworker said to me the following day, "You're like Peter Pan." I said, "That's not a very masculine comparison." "Oh, no, you were just bouncing around and having fun."

Yes. Yes, I was. In a masculine way. (I got 939 on the boxing glove machine. Rawr.)

Now the post that made me see the light of day with this 'ere blog 'n stuff? Kristen Lamb (no surprise there), Why Writers Blogging about Writing is Bad.  'Nuff said.

Having said that, I'm sure I'm not the only starving, struggling artist in the world, and maybe we can learn stuff from each other along the way. So these posts shall continue.

Openings that Annoy. There's always so much dialogue about the first 5 pages, 5 chapters, 1000 words. Heaven knows I've revised my opening paragraph (what feels like) a thousand times. I'm THIS close to posting it on here in the hopes of constructive criticism. (I suspect I need more followers to get the feedback I want.)

Why publishers reject manuscripts and what you need to do to get noticed.

At Magical Words, a guest post by L. McKenna Donovan, Sharpening Our Narrative.

There are days when I'm not sure what to write, or not able to revise what I've already written. In other projects, I tend to write freely as the thoughts come together, then go back and revise while I'm still thinking about the topic. Most of the time, that turns out well. This post by Melissa Donovan caught my eye: How Freewriting Can Help Writers Overcome Procrastination.

Livia Blackburne: Improving Creativity: The Absorb Brainset and Twenty Ways to Describe Your Characters BFF.

I had a link recently about reading your work aloud. It's something I live by - being a former DJ probably helps me find the rhythm in the words, and since I have no skill with any musical instrument (other than a sound board), I'm sure this is a developed skill. Sarah Duncan has a good post on this, Rhythm in Prose. While mentioning her, this was also an inspiring, quick read: Learning from an Olympian.

On phraseology and rewording. This post goes well with some of the posts above.

Terri Giuliano Long does a guest post on Erin Reel's blog: 7 Ways to Pick Yourself Up After a Painful Rejection. Solid advice in there.

Former-agent-now-author Nathan Bransford has a really sharp post on How to Craft Mystery in a Novel.

Agent Rachelle Gardner advises Write a Break In Novel. wherein she makes several valid points, things I've noticed in sf/f debuts.

And to end this week's linkhappygoodness on a funny note, check out this video shared by agent and query shark Janet Reid. Oh My God, Yes.

Thank me now, thank me later, or even better - share some links in the comments to inspire and compel the improvement of our craft. Cheers!

TiStF | Government Scandals

As much as I enjoy The Daily Show, I must admit that I am weary of hearing about Congressman Weiner's weiner. In last night's episode, there was a strong bit that essentially said, to paraphrase, women don't really care to see a man's junk, unless it can cook, clean, listen, provide financial security and comfort her parents. Now you know.

In Jon Stewart's defense, this is comedy gold at the end of the comedy rainbow. It's too good to ignore, and there is a year's worth of parody and satire and punchlines that will honor the idiot who tweeted his stuff to some female constituent.

Ugh, make it stop.

An interesting way to gain votes.

I was going to post video, during which I tried to come up with some clever way of saying something which hadn't been said. After all, this isn't a political blog, by any stretch of the imagination.

Which got me to thinking...

Our history as a culture is filled with government scandals. There's always a mistress, from Henry VIII to John Edwards. Where now we have CNN and Jon Stewart, even the Greeks had parodists, the Romans had cryers, and medieval times had bards.

Senator lifts his toga and flashes his stuff at a young female thespian in the alley behind the Parthenon. Did it happen? Seems very likely.

Scandal. Bloody scandal. There was even a Discovery episode about such things. Missed it? It's on DVD: Scandals of the Ancient World.

When I write, I try to not to go for those melodramatic conflicts. I like purity of intent, of action, and in my mind, that creates a more dramatic conflict, because (in theory), the reader should empathize with both sides, and in that, they must either choose a side, or sit back and see what happens.

It feels false to me when there is some melodramatic love triangle, when someone is being wicked just for the sake of doing so. To me, it's more compelling when a character is driven into temptation. "Bad" people should have serious motivations, and be well aware of the cost of being naughty.

Then, I watch the news. Pick up the newspaper. Read the headlines on my web browser. Watch a little political satire show. It stares at me, reminds me, that humans are very flawed.

I've been revising Catalyst, and there's multiple character arcs. The arc that I'm currently reworking seemed a little bland to me, so yes, I've had to go back and tighten up the older protagonist, give him a little edge to reflect his experiences. I've had to purify the younger protagonist, so that he would be a little uncomfortable as events unfold that he's never experienced.

But the other arcs seemed fine to me. More organized and coherent peoples, the conflict is more direct, and they all unite - it's pretty standard epic stuff.

Yet, here is the Universe reminding me that people are flawed. That even in Congressman Wiener's perfect life, with his new wife and his secure political position - he goes and mucks up his entire career for no apparent reason. With no sense of logic or responsibility or grace, this otherwise relatively successful man is essentially a fool.

It seems so cheap and vulgar to include this sort of failing in fiction. It's so ridiculous and cheesy. Yet, history is full of these anecdotes. Modern society can't go a week without a scandal.

What's a writer to do?

Do we imagine a world where honor and a person's truth and integrity actually means something - where two people who claim to love each other, actually do so (without either one of them enteraining offers and suggestive notions from another outside the relationship)?

Or do we reflect the decay of organized society? Men (and women) who rule counties, countries and worlds, are simply base peoples, with the same lust, greed and self-indulgent motivations of their constituency?

On the one hand, a perfect paradise is potentially very boring.

On the other, epic heroic fantasy still sells today - because when we are surrounded by war, greed, lust and government scandal, it's nice to escape into a world where people are exactly what they say they are, and that they will fight against all odds to uphold those beliefs.

What do you think?

Writing Tip Posts, June 3, 2011

Longer list this week, as I've been heavy into revisions of Catalyst, and striving to reaffirm my goals and intents. Also, just maybe, I was lazy last week. Either way, there's lots of gems within this list. Cheers!
All done? Great post on Who to Query First?

Query Shark Janet Reid always has something helpful.
- How to Pitch
- How to Format an Email Query
- Yea, this.
Or maybe you're on the other end of that journey? What's a Newbie Novelist to Do?

Some very insightful posts at Magical Words recently.
- Beginnings, by Lucienne Diver
- What Else Does Your Character Want, by Edmund Schubert
- The Opening Chapter, by Diana Pharoah Francis

Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner reposted several good columns from her archives this week, amongst them Story vs Craft and What's the Story on Backstory?

Speaking of backstory, Do Flashbacks Make Your Butt Look Big? (Excellent analysis in this post, Ms. Blackburne.)

Kristen Lamb: Scene Antagonists - The Making of a Hero.

Hannah Moskowitz: How to Write a Negative Review. (I should have read this long ago, huh?)

Everyone likes numbered lists, right?

Non-fiction writers - Seven Tough Questions for Useful Proposals.
3 Signs You're Renovating a Condemned Novel
3 Things that Screenwriting Taught Me
8 Badass Books that were Rejected by Publishers
T.S. Welti offers 10 Ways to Improve Your (Re)Writing.

On rewriting, Scott Eagan debates whether or not to invest in a huge rewriting project.

One of my biggest issues in my revisions is how to handle dialects. So, I've kept this post bookmarked and keep going back to it for clarity.

Universal themes. Whether you're writing about lasers or Elves, catapults or catacombs, your work should contain A Deeply Felt Theme that will help the reader connect to your story.

Kim Wright: The Value of Reading Your Book Aloud. Something I have always done, and strongly recommend. 

If there's any helpful writing tip posts you've found recently, please share! Have a great weekend!

Writing Tip Posts, Week of May 25, 2011

In the midst of the long Memorial Day Weekend here in the States. Hopefully you're getting some writing done with an extra day off.

 

Short list of writing tip posts that I found interesting this past week.

 

• Jurgen Wolff talks about the authors guild and why you should join.

• Joanna Penn offers some Ebook Publishing Tips.

• Sarah Duncan on choosing the right point of view. And When the Right Person to Have Viewpoint is Wrong. Something I've been tinkering with, in my revisions, is shifting scenes to different perspectives.

• Along those lines, How Many Characters is Enough? Either way, Characters Must Come First in any Genre.

• At Novel Publicity, Rob W. Hart does a post on manuscript spacing.

• Kristen Lamb: What "Finding Nemo" Can Teach Us About Story Action.

• Meg Mitchell Moore, on Writing about Children. At SF Signal, What Guillermo Del Toro taught me about writing child characters.

• Lots of good information, but I suspect we all sometimes need a little jump in the mornings to knock out a reasonable word count for the day. Maybe this will help: Morning Meditations to Unleash Creativity.

 

Feel free to share any helpful writing tip posts in the comments. Otherwise, I hope some of these were useful to you. Have a great holiday weekend!

Reconciliation of Efforts

This blog doesn't get a lot of traffic. Truly, that's alright... it's expected with a new blog. You've got to build up readership.

Interestingly enough, I've never had any blog on blogspot that got a lot of traffic - although the last one is still averaging 50 hits a day for some reason. (I'm thinking it's the pictures.)

Anyway, this blog is what it is. As much for my own amusement, my own efforts towards becoming published and having a platform by which to express myself in terms of writing, speculative fiction and other geeky goodness.

I have written recently of my foray into reading "dark" fantasy. While "Catalyst" is not nearly as dark as I can get (I'd label it epic high fantasy), it's a direction that I intend to go in the series. It is the whole reason I built Zherlios, from the ground up, to facilitate my notion of the perfect fantasy world for me to play in. I read other authors' dark fantasy just to see where I fit into the literary scheme.

Meanwhile, I have still have urges to express. Dark, provocative thoughts, ideas, explorations. Ideas that float around in my mind. In the past, in other locations, when I have gone this route, those efforts have been well received.

In my mind, it does not belong here. So, I have ignored my own desires, and plugged along with this more "professional" public effort.

Do I want to soil my platform? Do I make myself unpublishable, because I am, perhaps to some, a wicked man? At first, I thought this might be the case - it is why I removed my book reviews.

Every author has their own interests. We've seen authors on their public blogs discussing medication, depression, anxiety, football, religion, rape, politics - we've seen authors on other blogs arguing over the quality of others' reviews.

They're still publishing.

I would prefer not to shock you. This is a nice, friendly place - with the exception of the occasional adult language when I quote from a book. Most of the time, I'm a nice guy. Maybe even a little boring.

I don't want to hold myself back. Writing is all about the honing and perfection of the craft, and it's an effort without end. Even when I am published, I know for a fact that I will be able to get better. I am reading authors lately who are much more skilled than I am - which just pushes this notion, that I must needs work harder, even further.

For these reasons, I have started another blog, a new playground for me to explore the more provocative aspects of my writing process. To dabble in flash, in prose, in poetry and scenes of a more adult and/or dark nature.

If such things are of interest to you, then please - stop on by. Otherwise, business as usual here.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Writing Tip Posts, Week of May 20, 2011

I spend more time these days reading and revising than writing new material. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but it's a pretty established industry observation that all most authors are insecure of their work.

I find myself torn between wanting to put the finishing touches on this WIP, and begin the next - and avoiding all the traps and errors of the unpublished novelist.

But first? An amusing video!



Now since I'm about six months behind on keeping up with blogs and posting to this one, this post will be lengthier than what I have in mind.

For those further along in the process, here is The Best Agent Blogs of 2011, some of which were new to me. Also, Rene Sears answers Questions on Slush. That's a good start.

Before we take this whole thing too seriously... take it seriously, of course... but bear in mind that blogs about writing tips number in the millions these days - it's a way to draw traffic to the blog. As noted in my reading journal, what I'm getting from my reading is that VOICE and STYLE (and TALENT) are more important than following the rules. Livia Blackburne did an excellent post on this very topic.

Okay? Good! Now let me share with you some links that have caught my eye, or that I have found useful.

Toni McGee Causey, on The Art and Soul of POV, as recommended by Janet Reid, the "query shark".

Kristen Lamb always has some great advice. I am sure you'll see links to her blog quite often. Here are 5 Common Writing Pitfalls and a very extensive look into the Anatomy of Conflict.

Over at A Dribble of Ink, John Ginsberg-Stevens does a guest post on "Mind-blowing" Genre Fiction.

Jurgen Wolff has a nice three part series on writing descriptions, beginning here.

Jennifer Hubbard offers some advice on how to end your writing session.

Rebecca Serle: 7 Things I've Learned So Far. I was impressed by how many of those things I've either told myself or needed to hear.

Ten Universal Tenets of Story, 7 Unmentionables Authors Should Keep in Mind, and 3 Underhanded Ways to Show instead of Tell, courtesy of The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog.

I hope you find some of these links useful. Found a good writing tip article this week? Feel free to share in the comments.

Have a great weekend!

Aspiring...

If we met today, over coffee (or a beer or a glass of wine), I'd eventually tell you that I'm an aspiring novelist, in the genre of fantasy fiction.

Which would be true. But, you (maybe) as well as I (certainly) know that there is no shortage of those. It's a cliche', the starving artist - the cliche' is a little less meaningful with internet access.

Last year, I kept a two-party blog, which focused mostly on book reviews and SF/F news and such. Then I moved, found a night job, and the months went by as life got busy. My blogging partner found another outlet for her creativity, and I was focusing on other things. (Edit: I went ahead and imported some of my older posts, for the sake of continuity.)

This isn't my first blog. I started off on myspace, believe it or not, a decade ago. Following my online roleplaying friends, I kept one on LiveJournal, which lasted awhile. People's lives change, and so do their blogs - which, more oft than not, do not last very long. This one will be my last, methinks.

I kept my first journal at the age of 8, did my first creative writing around that time, and self-published for the purpose of entertainment in high school (before I was recruited by the school paper). Public performance replaced the written word for a decade, and then I went back to it.

I write for adults, in case you're curious. Even when I was a child, I wrote for adults, parodying and rambling on about how messed up things were. I was trying to be funny, but in a laugh-when-people-fall-down way. (You couldn't air Three Stooges or Abbott & Costello in our current politically correct climate.)(Although it is arguable that vaudeville has been replaced by over-the-top scripted reality television.) I tried to fuse intellectual (geeky) humor with slapstick mentality. Ah, youth.

I got some attention when I wrote about my character(s) in roleplaying games, developing their backstories and coming up with scenes for when I wasn't logged in (obsessively) actually playing them. This resparked my interest in the written word.

I have even dabbled in erotica (under a different pseudonym, of course) - but, that was just a way to meet women who weren't interested in Elves and Dragons. I tease. A little.

I won't be blogging every day, not at this point. The purpose of this blog is to continue to develop a platform for when I am published - which sounds very methodical and calculated.

In truth, I just want a place to share random thoughts on the process of creativity, on what inspires me and motivates me, some observations about the process (writing, querying, publishing), the fantasy genre and whatever other cathartic expression which will help me become a better writer.

I'm glad you're here. Hopefully, I'll make it worth your time.

Cheers!

Free Reading, Giveaways, WFC Panel and Nano

You KNOW that I am procrastinating, but these things were so good, I had to share!

Great article on Urban Fantasy by Daniel Abraham. Specifically, the unwritten, yet understood limits of the female protagonist. Very thought provoking.

Nanowrimo! No, I'll do a post tomorrow on that. But this post by Chuck Wendig had me in stitches.

N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has won a few awards this year. If you haven't already checked it out, you can read Chapter One here.

Speaking of The Knight Agency, they've got a great giveaway happening today.  One of the benefits of not having a huge following is that I can tell you about it without ruining my chances for goodies!

I've been stalking google for uploaded videos from the World Fantasy Convention that took place over this past weekend. My diligence paid off today, when author Blake Charlton put up 4 Videos from the epic fantasy panel.

I'm so excited I couldn't wait to share. Now, if you don't mind, I have to get back to my procrastination!

Wednesday Writer's Report

Tada! Finished? No. But this is the last one you will see for awhile (or not, if I can conceive a solid story idea for Nanowrimo).

I have one or two chapters left. And I'm going to stop there. Although I'm a completionist, this is the resolution of the story. The hard parts are done, over. Now I need to tie on a bow. And the bow should be meaningful, as opposed to making the reader want to sling the package across the room.

I realized, about 20k words ago, that I will need to redefine the characters in "Tribe E" - so it follows that anything I write now for their ending will be meaningless and will need to be redone. Seems a waste of time to do it now, only to have it to do it all over again later.

It's actually rather telling. At this point in the story, their ultimate conclusion should be relatively predictable. No, I won't offer spoilers, but the fact that I'm staring at the screen and realizing that I don't have a fitting dialogue... that was telling. I can say more, but I think it would be spoiler-ish.

All the other characters have an ending sequence. The other characters need some polish and such. But these characters, no. They need help.

There will be a lot of editing, though. The book is too big for the story - the prose is decent, but not quite as lush as say, Jacqueline Carey, so that tells me there's a bit of babbling. Additionally, it's been suggested to me to introduce more POV's - and that's going to add words, not subtract. That means I'm going to have edit even more heavily to be able to fit in the additional "complexities".

Don't even get me started about the two "stories within the story" that aren't finished.

So! Parts of the story are going to be rewritten from different (new) POV's in order to reduce the word count and speed up the pace. Current arcs need to polish the characters, now that I figured out what I want them to do, from beginning to end.

This could take a while.

The upshot, however, is that I was pretty close at predicting my pace - good news for the future. This is by far my largest single writing project.

And no, I'm not querying yet.

Otherwise, while not quite the content heavy blog I promised for this month so far, there's still a couple weeks left. Cheers.

Banned Books Week

Several of the (mostly agent) blogs that I follow have been hyping up this week, "Banned Books Week", and I think that it is my responsibility to say a thing or two.

Before I do, however, I want to note that I think others will ultimately say it better. As such, I am going to add some links at the end of this post. If you stumble across a particularly riveting article, please add it in comments.

*

In this, the Information Age, the act of censorship in and of itself is counter-intuitive to every other social movement. I know pre-teen children that are being issued laptop computers (with wireless internet), as part of their curriculum.

The phenomenon of social media encourages the exchange of information. Status updates on facebook, myspace. GPS locators built into smart phone technology. A day spent in the local library is now replaced with five minutes on Google.

Every social movement suggests, "We can share with the world more than anyone should ever want to know." Society has evolved to embrace that, in all aspects, from sports and games and hobbies and entertainment to politics and medicine and ecological issues. You are not alone, even if you sit by yourself in front of a computer. The world is at your fingertips.

Is this dangerous? Yes, it is.

But so is censorship. Moreso, in fact.

Freedom of information, of the exchange of ideas, suggests only one thing - that others may listen. It is conducive to an environment where people with wicked and evil ideas may gather together to wage philosophical, economical and societal terrorism on the unexpectant masses.

Then again, in the same stroke, lies the ability for people who have survived or suffered, who face very personal grief, terror and tragedy in their lives, who feel so very alone to reach out and find others - and to learn, indeed, that they are not alone.

Somewhere in the middle, within our nature as a social animal, technology has furthered what has been the case since before the recorded history of man - that we seek approval and acceptance, the birth of cities rose from communities of commonality, and in the 21st century we are linked to each other in ways that were only previously imagined.

In books. In stories. Written recordings of what was originally oral history, passed from parent to child, philosopher to student, king to warrior to farmer. Variations on those themes and ideas, as science and evolution and history all teaches us more of ourselves and more of our past and broadens new ideas towards our collective future.

Censorship cannot be allowed. It is a tyrant's tool, an ancient failure brought forward, when ideas were so powerful that they could create revolutions in thoughts and beliefs. It is an act of fear.

Some many others will write about freedom, about amendments. Those are valid reasons, but they are not mine. I will present to you a universal truth, that does not require legislation.

Friend or foe, if I take the time to teach you my beliefs, I assume you have the ability to understand it. Sheep or lion, it makes no matter who or what you are. Society now does this on the grand scale, we covet information, we respond as a society to knowledge and wisdom.

We live the life that the ancient sages could have only dreamed, but with this one fatal flaw.

Censorship suggests an illogical belief, that you, the reader do not know how to think. Censorship is someone taking your hand and saying, "You may think this, this or this - but not that, oh no. Let me take that from you."

Censorship is putting a cover on an electrical outlet, because you are a child who does not know to not stick your finger in there.

I do not believe in this.

I believe that too much time and effort is spent in telling people what to think. All this information, the task itself is impossible.

It is now time, friends, to tell people HOW to think. To let them decide for themselves. To not treat people as children or horses, blinding their eyes from the frightening realities of the world they live in.

Teach people that all stories have value, all opinions have value, and the wise can turn a critical eye without blinders and decide for themselves what is right - based upon their beliefs.

Do you gain more satisfaction from being followed blindly, by those cowered in fear and ignorance - or would it be better to know that those who follow your beliefs know exactly what's out there, and have made a critical decision made with full knowledge of their options?

I choose the latter. Censorship chooses the former. I will take an educated and wide-eyed decision. I will choose the critical thinker over the fearful faithful.

For the love of humanity, use this opportunity to teach people HOW to think, to make their own decisions and stop deluding yourself into thinking that in this Age of Information, that you can hide ANYTHING from the masses. You can't. You're foolish to try, and you insult everyone in the process.

In the Age of Information, can we spend no effort in teaching people HOW to think critically? How is it so politically correct to cherish the individual, to treat everyone as equal with one hand, but then take away their ability to make their own critical choices with another?

Faith remains after beliefs are manifested. But you must give people the tools by which to construct beliefs that are true to the world they live in.

People are NOT too stupid to make their own choices. Censorship suggests they are, and for that reason alone, it shames me to know it still takes place.

~ Bill, Coyote.



Links:

American Library Association

Banned Books.com

Tahereh will review her favorite banned book, Sep 30.

Agent Janet Reid (aka Query Shark).

Agent Suzie Townsend and a couple of banned book reviews here.

Banned Book Review Week Excitement, ala The Rejectionist.

Wednesday Writer's Report

Pace was down this week. It wasn't so much that life got in the way, it's moreso that I let it. If it is my intention to be a writer, I'm going to have to learn to live with Crohn's Disease, and keep writing in spite of "uncomfortable" days. Additionally, even *I* watched some football on Sunday with friends, then there were some family things that required my time.

Mostly just distractions that pushed at the heart of what I'm facing. I have two critical scenes that were pivotal in steering towards the events of the climax. I've had some misgivings about my characters and those are starting to show up now. Glancing up, I see that my word count may come in a bit high for what the story is. I managed to do one of the scenes, and the other is staring at me like a homeless guy in a downtown crosswalk.

The food for thought, this week, is that when you're facing difficulties, it is easier to find reasons not to write. I certainly didn't have to spend an hour watching the Fox Fall Party Webcast, in spite of my eager anticipation for season 7 of House. The misconception is that the scenes have to be great - and they don't - they just have to get written.

Rule # 4: Write now, Edit later. (I may have mentioned this last week, huh?)

So my answer has been to break up my routine, which I started on Monday, and it seems to be working. Previous to now, I had one writing session per day, and that session would go until I concluded a scene, a chapter, whatever my daily goal was. It was never about word count, it was about completing it in bits and pieces.

Mostly, that works for me. However, this week I've started two writing sessions a day. The first is 250 words or thereabouts, early in the day, before my internal editor comes online. The second, in the evenings, picks up where that left off and finishes the scene, and keeps going until I'm out of brain juice.

I share that with you because I know Brian and Luna are writing as well. And the following is for your benefit, too.

Rather randomly, I glanced over at the Suvudu thread of unread posts, found something that caught my eye, and that led to another blog, which led me to Jim Butcher's Live Journal, which he hasn't updated in over two years.

I haven't read the Dresden Files (yet), for which he is more well known, but I am doing a reread of his Codex Alera next month. It's not a bad epic tale, and I think more people should learn about it.

Butcher's LJ has only about 15 posts, and most of those are to do with craft. Oddly, many of his suggestions are ones that I was already doing (particularly where concerned the "Great Swampy Middle"), but there were plenty of things I haven't paid enough attention to. Well worth the couple hours (or less), it took to read through his advice.

Aside, I know it's been quiet here lately. I'm holding off until I recapture my pace, before I post the few things I've set aside for now. I'm sure you understand.

Raine, I know, has started a new job and other things going on in her household, plus I think she told me the last book she read wasn't worth a review. Gotta love that. Once she gets her schedule settled, I'm sure she'll be back in action.

This is a picture of my favorite dog, Rocky, who belongs to some friends of mine. He is a male Bull Boxer.



What I'm doing is showing the size of his gigantic melon-sized head by holding it next to a regulation size tennis ball.



Big, monstrous dogs make me happy, and they're fun to write. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Worldbuilding vs "Nerdism" (nerdism, seriously?)

Larry, over at OF Blog of the Fallen, is a bit of a literary elitist. That's a compliment, Larry. I read his blog because he represents that end of the scale, and he reminds me of some of the overly bright folks I used to socialize with.

This morning he resurrected an old argument from 2007, which you can see and research here.

It's a lovely discussion, and me only one cup of coffee into the day. You see, I am absolutely the fan of "world building" (i.e., secondary world creation) and it is an inherent aspect of my work-in-progress. Yes, I have maps, and languages and gods and tigers, oh my!

Why? Because I'm a nerd? Maybe. Anyway, here's something from an old Larry post that caught my eye...

Sounds more like a weak and twisted version of studying history, without the desire of those that do study history to apply that knowledge toward a greater understanding of ourselves. ~
Larry, 2007

Let's talk about that. I'll be the first to admit that history wasn't a strong subject while I was in school, all that bloody memorization of dates didn't work for me.

Yes, the appeal of Tolkien's Middle Earth, of tabletop gaming, of online gaming was the immersion into a secondary world that I could know and understand and participate in on some level. That cracked the egg, if you will, into giving me more interest in human history. The enjoyment gained from that level of immersion allowed me to step up to historical fiction, in books and movies.

For example, yes, "300" was not really historically accurate, but damn it was fun to watch. After that, reading Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield was far more enjoyable (and slightly more accurate). It didn't feel like I was back in high school, slipping notes to the hot spanish girl in the mini skirt while pretending to pay attention, while the teacher droned on and on.

After reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, I looked up some material on the War of the Roses, and the Hundred Years War, from which the fiction is influenced.

Isn't that the point of fiction? To draw relevance in a way that is spectacular, if not inherently more digestible by virtue of it being fiction? Storytelling, from an ancestry of the oral tradition to our modern day usage has always served a dual function of entertainment and communication.

Good worldbuilding will not only immerse, it will inspire. Humans just aren't that original, and you aren't going to find a political or military event in all of fiction that hasn't been documented somewhere.

So what if it's 300 Dwarves against 100k Goblins beneath a mountain somewhere? Maybe that'll make you think of the Spartans, and next thing you know you're exploring your Greek roots.

Some immersion will be pure escapism, and that's fine. Who are we to judge what the individual reader gets from a story?

What is it that a story should achieve, exactly? Good prose gives appreciation for the beauty of language. Good dialogue allows the opportunity to savor the human condition in the exchange of words, whether they be witty, humorous, profound or provocative. Good characterization and growth allows the reader to relate, to understand, to empathize in order to gain a greater understanding of the self.

There is no story without setting - so why not make the setting incredible, educational, inspirational? How many castles, swords, mountains, valleys and oceans do you have to read about before you find the urge to explore your own world?

All of this is very nerdy, hmm? Maybe it is (but nerdism, as a phrase, makes me giggle). So what, I'm a nerd. You don't break 150k words on any sort of writing unless you are, methinks.

I don't think that info dumps are helpful, as that's a reminder of why school was sometimes boring. I believe in the power of prose, the magic of language, and I think dialogue should be true to the characters, and the characters should be true to themselves. The story is what matters, and the story should take you somewhere, and bring you back. Communicate and entertain.

I do have an agenda in my own writing, my own secondary world creation and perhaps it is jaded by the role my education has had on me; I suspect that's not only natural, but redundant as a statement.

I'm fascinated by ancient cultures, and how they were honed by their geography, their challenges, the geology of the land itself. My story(-ies) takes place in a secondary world with parallels to cultures that never did meet in our history, and yes my (secondary) purpose is to show how much humans were affected by where they ended up, and what they had to endure.

Why? Why not? If setting is going to be created anyway for the purpose of weaving a tale, why not make it something valuable in and of itself? So long as I don't overpower the narrative with my shiny creation, what's the problem, exactly? It's not making me a bad person for studying Neolithic cultures, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, the Roman Empire, the Incas, et al.

If the passion I've found in the discovery of the secrets of the earth, from people to plants to animals to geology can translate to my readers, to a desire for them to find their own place in the Universe, then I consider I've gone above and beyond in my role as a writer.

Wednesday Writer's Report

Had a good week, comparatively speaking. Have had to slow down to take 2-3 research days, as the story approaches new geographical and cultural challenges.

Much of my research has been in animal behavior. So far, the story has stayed within relatively predictable and populated areas. The E tribe has ventured outside of their known territories, meeting new people and new lands (to them), and it's fun to write about.

But I want to do it right.

I'm going to be putting up a few tiny animal video clips from youtube over the next few days. I want to share what I'm doing. I've probably logged 20-30 hours of watching documentaries this past week.

A book would be more informative, but raw video I find to be inspiring for conveying imagery. Movement, behavior - that's stuff you have to see. I'll take my own African Safari after the book has sold.

Currently Reading: Infinite Possibilities by Mike Dooley, from my mother. Not sure if I've mentioned this book or not yet, but it has really helped me get over the writer's block I had, and stay focused on the end game. It's arguably "new age", but he presents things in such a way as that they are pretty easy to understand. More later.
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. I'm having a hard time with this one. Either it's slow to start because it's part of a trilogy, or it's a YA book and I missed that in the description. It's an older book, and I've heard very good things about Williams, so maybe this one just takes a while to get into, or it's not a good sampling of his work.

*

Interesting discovery of the week: Raptors, as made popular by the movie Jurassic Park, were incorrect in one depiction - they should have had feathers. Cool, huh?

This world that we live on is so full of fascinating geologies and biologies, cultures and histories, that I really don't understand why we don't see more of it in fiction. Maybe I haven't read enough.

Why create an imaginary creature when the ones that used to (or still do) walk earth are infinitely more interesting? I think centaurs are cool as a semi-intelligent creature goes, but dinosaurs and poison frogs and ambushing snakes and bears, wolves, giant cats that will stalk humans and eat them? So much better! Ah, you'll see. I got some fun videos coming up.

Til the next.

Wednesday Writer's Report

Back to work for me. My little summer break did me well, and now it's back to the grind.



"Grind" makes it sound like a bad thing, but it's not. I'm having fun. Probably writing too much material in relevance to the plot and storyline, but that's okay for now. I can edit more later.

As I was telling Raine yesterday, I'm reaching the part of the story that I have fantasized about for months (if not years), the key conflict/tensions that leads to the climax. I have been writing scenes for this part of the story for months; my desk and walls are filled with notes and many of them are related to this next section.

So, yes, I'm busy.

There's always some threads about writer burnout or why authors take so long to finish the next book in their series. I came to a realization of sorts over the break. Much of my writer's block was self imposed. Life always gets in the way. It's really a matter of not allowing it - and that's the discipline that agents and editors and successful authors are always going on about.

For me, though, it was more of a revelation that when I actually sit down and type, it turns out okay. Often better than okay. It's just pure belief in myself and the process of creativity. I think that can be hard to find sometimes, and I think that's why some writers take longer than others.

I'm as subject to burn out as anyone, I suppose. In planning for my "world", I made it overly diverse. My theory is that if I get tired of writing about Elves, I can pop over to another section of the world, and write about another culture or race.

I'm a little windy today, as it's been awhile since I've gotten to chat about the WIP, and I'm excited. Can you tell? :-p

But, let's talk about you! How was your break, what are you up to, what are you reading/watching?

Don't want to talk about yourself? Let's talk genre. Some random questions I came up with while lying in bed last night. No right or wrong answers, in theory.

1) Dragon Pregnancy: From the time two dragons mate, and the egg is laid - how long does a dragon need to sit on its egg before it hatches? How big is a newborn dragon?

2) If the author is writing in an era before modern measurements, we already assume that the dialogue won't include words like "foot, inch, yard, meter, pounds", etc. But what about description? Is it acceptable to say, "The giant stood 6'6"" or would you rather read descriptions like that from the POV of the protagonist: "The giant stood a full head and shoulders above them both."? The debate being the ease of understanding versus immersion into character POV.

3) What do you think about foreign words in dialogue, to show regional flavor? My observation is that fluent multi-lingual people, where English is not their first language, tend to color their English with the occasional word from another language, particularly in casual speech. If the meaning can be deduced from the context, then it should be bueno. Thoughts?

Or just say hi. Whatever. We have a few reviews that just went up and some more are scheduled, as I whittle down my TBR list.

Til the next.

Why I Write

An interesting guest post at the Mad Genius Club, prompted this reply.

One can, a la Sigmund Freud, pontificate on one's own childhood and upbringing and rationalize one's own current outlook and motivations. In this, my reply is that I was an only child raised by a workaholic father, which left me with the time, means and necessity by which to entertain myself. Within sight of whatever adult authority figure was appropriated to my "care".

So, I read. Lots. Unlike other (like omg, dude, every) vigorous writer/reader that I know of, I cannot cite great influences. Oh yes, I read Tolkien and Asimov very young, and they linger with me conceptually, in world building and storytelling.

My childhood was also dotted with stage bound performances, acting, and that also remained as a vague theme of something influential (successful performances became validation of self-esteem queries); again, I could not tell you the names of the plays I did.

Back to the question. Why do I write?

In my sin-filled twenties, I was a performing Emcee, a DiscJockey who could sing, dance, tell jokes and run contests. Fame and glory were mine for the taking.

I did not care. I still do not care.

Ladies and gentleman, there is something greater than fame, glory and power (and even slightly better than the women who love the same) - there is satisfaction.

That satisfaction, to this day... let me describe a cheesy scene.

* * *

Winter. Pinellas County, Florida. The Canadian retiree population is there en masse. It is Tuesday evening. Karaoke has started early, with another host, and I have taken over for the night time festivities. The night is still young. The crowd wants to leave, because I am a young kid, and I do not sing doo-wop hits of the 50's. But, I give them a smile, remember their names, encourage them to stay a bit longer.

I am young and full of energy. It pulses. It washes over the crowd like the scent of wildflowers in a midwest meadow. I play music with a heavy bass line and dance like no one is watching. I know they're watching, but that's not why I dance.



I savor their moments with them, I see their little grey heads bob up and down to the tunes of choice. They smile freely, without worry.

The thirty somethings begin to show up. They've worked hard all day. They just need a few drinks to take the edge off. I greet them with a knowing grin.

An hour into a show where people mostly entertain themselves, and I am simply the conductor, the emcee, the host - the energy mingles. The group unwinds. The pulse of energy is contagious, it is a virus of passion, of desire to forget what we think we know.

I see a retiree doing the Electric Slide. Then another. I see the corporate executive loosen his tie and serenade his girlfriend with a horrific rendition of some angsted 90's alternative rock ballad - and the crowd goes wild, and the girl looks about to cry.

One by one, over time, they forget who they think they are, and become something that's okay to be. Unburdened by societal pressures, by the nuances of age. They laugh, dance and smile. One by one, I watch them, encourage them, indulge them, their momentary escapism.

That is my job.

The night lengthens, and reality calls from its faraway corner in the shadows of their mind. Work, responsibilities, budgets. Slowly, some leave. Never without thanking me for this or that. Me, I'm still bouncing around, I'm a jester, a fool without a care in the world as far as they know. But, I drop the mask for just a moment and thank them for stopping by, for allowing me to entertain them.

There is no greater satisfaction in the world, in that single moment of connectivity with an absolute stranger. That I have provided the salve of escapism that soothed the worries of their day, week, life.

* * *

In writing, I can take that one step further. Back to my love of psychology, I can help a reader escape - AND - I can force a reader to think, to consider, to ponder their own what ifs.

In my childhood, that was my benefit from reading. When I read a book, I imagined myself the protagonist, living the world that the author provided, pondering the notions - and for a time, I forgot that I was maybe bored, or lonely or whatever else was on my mind as a son being raised by a workaholic father.

I can do that. I know I can. I can bring the best experiences of my life, the satisfaction I got from seeing that smile; and take it one step further, into unlocking the mind, letting the mind escape.

I create - in writing, in real life - a world where the possibilities are within reach. I provide a window to escape. Sometimes, let's face it, life/living is pure hell. When I see that I have allowed someone to escape their own shackles, I swear there is no greater satisfaction. It is gift given and gift received in one.

That is why I write.

GRRM participates in Dragon Page podcast.

Listening to it now, thought I'd share. Maybe I'll return with some thoughts afterwards. Follow this link.

Ooh. Even better, a link to the interview with Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune (conducted during C2E2, but not released until today).
Follow this link.

Some scenes from the pilot will have to be reshot thanks to cast changes: HBO has confirmed that the role of an exiled noblewoman, Daenerys Targaryen, is being recast and Tamzin Merchant will not play that role in the series. In March it was announced that Jennifer Ehle has dropped out of the project and Michelle Fairley has taken over the role of noblewoman Catelyn Stark.

Pity. I had rather warmed to the idea of Merchant as Dany.

Wednesday Writer's Report

Did you miss me last week?! Well, I was unwell. Covered that already. Moving on.

Being sick or distracted by the real world tends to bugger up the writing process, but I did spend a couple days earlier in the week spinwheeling out of the mud.

I admit that one of the biggest retardants to my creative process is the demon I've come to embrace in bloglandia. You see, I read a lot of agent, author, publisher blogs - for the advice, perspective, duh? - as well as a crapton of other review blogs, and sometimes I get this sense, this feeling that

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, THERE'S TOO MUCH COMPETITION IN THIS MARKET.

And, frankly, it's a little depressing. Then I go and try make comments to these GURUS, trying to make new friends (ten million posts on making friends in the biz, yo), and they go unanswered.

DOOM DOOM DOOM!!

Then, I stumble upon someone's manuscript. Not any of YOURS, gentle readers* - people chatting with agents and so forth, they post up their junk out of their trunk, word. (*Haha, gentle reader apparently is very annoying to many people.)

Anyway, I see that and I read it with a critical eyeball and I remember to think, "I'm at least half as okay as that." (In broader, more egotistical mental strokes, mind you.)

Am I really, truly? Dunno. But navel gazing annoys me (wait for it before you scream hypocrit), so I don't want to get to this circle-jerk exploration that seeks validation in why I'm doing what I am doing.

In the past year, almost to date, I've written the count you see above. I can do better than that, and that's why I'm doing this. It motivates me to stay on top of my game, to watch my progress - and wait, why make it public?

I used to be a performing Emcee/DJ, and just before I'd start a show, I'd be very nervous, butterflies, anxious - but when I got up there to do my introduction, once that microphone was in my hand and I knew that people were watching me - I was a superstar (in my head)(in a low rent pub in the middle of nowhere)(something other modest goes here) and I felt the power. The power to succeed. Rawr.

You can ignore or comment on these posts as suits you (Precious LOVES comments), but I like to track what my thoughts are and I like to make it public, on a trend, so that I'm forced to feel that same power when I stare at my blank screen, as I used to feel before I took to stage.

***

Anyway, I am thinking of some more interesting content, and I was going to include that notion in this post until I started babbling - in short, because the warriorwriter said so, I want to chat about fantasy stuff in addition to books, movies, TV shows, etc., that I like.

Any fantasy tropes you wanna kick around? Vampires vs Elves, Vikings vs Pirates vs Ninjas vs Assassins, Dragons vs Griffons, etc, etc. Yea, eventually, I'm going to cover them all, because (ha!) I write about them all. I do. It's a REALLY big world and I like to mash things together that shouldn't BE together. (They have super cool conversations!)(Okay, I'm not really planning on Vampires and Werewolves, per se, but I do have a derivative idea where I can mock.. er.. mix them up a bit.)

Okay, don't answer that - I'll do another post tomorrow.

P.S. congrats to China Mieville for winning the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Sunday Muse-ings. Accents.

I usually read books that are written by authors who are more talented than I am, particularly where descriptive prose is concerned. It helps me find my inner voice, by challenging me.

I lost a little ground this week in writing progress because I had to go back and revise stuff that I had written while reading for my first review. Grrrrr. No worries, though, I'm doing the Malazan challenge and Erikson doesn't affect me that way. I find him very hard to read, and that, believe it or not, makes my writing better.

I'm originally from the Isaac Asimov school of prose, which is essentially plainspeak. It has a level of accessibility that still addresses complex people, places and things. That noted, I still wanna be GRRM when I grow up. Seriously. ;-)

I received my first 'critical review' return on the first chunk of my novel, and I am pleased to announce that it didn't get burned! Yay!

Which brings me to what I'm musing about this week.

*

Accents. If a character has a regional dialect, this brings up a couple of concerns.

One is - will it sound like an accent to others with the same accent? If two people from Boston are talking to each other, do they even realize - or hear - their Mass. accent?

You're thinking, "Probably not."

So, the question REALLY is: Should a reader hear their accent if the speakers don't recognize them? (And yes, this will leave me with a crapload of revising if I change how I'm doing things.)

Second question!
Let's say Billy Joe Bob has a thick southern accent. Yeehaw, ya'll! Giddy up! (Etc.) Does the voice in his head, his internal monologue, have that accent, too? Or as JoeBob might say, "Dunno what de're goin' on 'bout, ah tawk jes fine."

I'm of the opinion that internal monologues are never accented. Because that voice in our head is perfect.

I'm of the opinion that accents consist of two distinct attributes. One is the formation of lips, tongue and teeth to produce the words inside the head. The other is the vernacular, certain words used to describe certain things, which may sound unusual to someone from another region.

"Pop", "Soda", "Coke", "Cola", "Cool refreshing beverage." - Same thing, just depends where you're from.

Bonus question: Once you've been through a few chapters with a heavy accent, is it okay for the accent to disappear a little bit (and spare you trudging through it), since you've sorta gotten used to the characters and their oddities - and then if/when they meet someone from another region/culture, to reintroduce that accent, because it will be an unfamiliar usage of the language to the new perspective?

Or is it better to keep up the accent throughout?

I've studied a few languages (I'm barely fluent in English, sorry can't impress you here), and I'm a huge fan of regional dialect as a way to distinguish cultural gaps. But if you're not well traveled or experienced in foreign languages, accented dialogue could be a bit annoying.

I'm interested in whatever you have to say about it.

Otherwise, have a great week.

Wednesday Writer's Report

Good morning (or good afternoon, for those in Europe).

In case it wasn't obvious, for the record, that "excerpt" was not real. It was an April Fool's thing. Ha ha?

A semi-productive week. Finished the revisionary/pacing on the E tribe's current chapter, knocked out a scene in the latest D tribe chapter, and am about 1/3 to 1/2 way through the first short story chapter.

This week's goal is to finish the D chapter (3k words should do it) and finish the first short (4-5k estimate). This weekend I am receiving the first 'heavy edit' return from one of my readers, regarding the first 8 chapters.

It's too early for serious revising, but there is backstory and exposition to cover along the way - so it's important to know when/where this stuff should go.

Catalyst starts out pretty active, then pauses for a few chapters (where I'm at now), then picks up the pace again to reach climax and slip towards resolution. I will have to reindulge myself in some research again in the near future, to refresh my memory.

Of note, this week, I've shifted my "schedule" in order to better deal with external factors. It seems to be working, though my daily average is just over 1k a day - I'd rather see that closer to 2k for this particular story.

I'd like to blame the world on my lack of productivity, but it's me. My self discipline has taken a dive. I'm easily distracted by shiny whatz-its and interesting noises.

*

I'm reading Terry Goodkind in prep for my first review. I figure he's such a staple of the genre that you can measure my response to him versus your own tastes. He's the litmus test, if you will.

I'm reading the first novel in his epic series, and coincidentally, I'm 40pct through it.

I'll leave the review for the review, but I want to ask you something...

How much do you need explained to you, when you're reading fantasy fiction?

In other words, would you rather be told exactly how the characters are feeling, sitting or standing, or would you rather figure it out based on available information?

For myself, I tend to write only the stronger sentiments, but otherwise, I let you try to figure it out with subtle gestures, body language and vocal tonality.

For instance:
1) Bill wanted to write a nice blog, but he was hungry and to make matters worse, he was hungover. But, he was almost done, so he pushed himself, typing fast at the keyboard. Finally, he leaned back and felt a sense of accomplishment.

or

2) Hunched over his desk, Bill clacked away at the keyboard. An empty wine glass from the night before kept vigil over his work. He stared at the screen with a vacant expression on his face and grunted in annoyance when his stomach growled. After a few more keystrokes he said aloud, "Aha. Done!" and leaned back with a smug smile on his face.

The two paragraphs say the same thing, but the latter is closer to how I would write it. The latter forces you to draw conclusions based on evidence - I only provide observations that you would note if you were standing there.

Occasionally, I will let you inside a character's head, but usually when they are uncertain - because that's a subtlety in expression that would not necessarily be obvious to a bystander watching the world go by. But, I'm a keen observer of people, and by default, so is the reader.

Otherwise, I prefer to let the smirk or quip or comment carry the scene, and you can figure out if it's a legitimate response or a defense mechanism, etc.

I will do inner monologue if it's not obvious where the POV's head is at, particularly with those stoic types who are conflicted.

Anyway, if you've any thoughts on how much information you need to be told, I'd appreciate it.