The Writer's Chronicle

Twitter Power

2011-05-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

I admit it: I'm a Twitter addict. Twitter is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the best things ever. Sure, some people (and I'm including myself in this) post really stupid things sometimes (I have been known to post about going to take a shower), but it's a valuable networking tool--especially in the publishing industry and the world of writing at large.

Never mind all the awesome book giveaways that happen fairly frequently (I just won an awesome ARC from Random House) and forget the solidarity that comes from moaning about the evil chapter thirteen (I'm going to kill it. I'm going to kill it DEAD) on the #amwriting thread. Shoot, go ahead and forget about the awesome people you might meet and become best friends with IRL (@MireyahWolfe, if you're reading this--totes can't wait for this weekend).

Beyond all that, there are the publishers, the agents, the pubbed writers that all dispense valuable advice. There are the writing chats (#writechat, #flitchat, #yalitchat, etc., etc.), there are the publishing Q&A threads (#askagent among these), there are the folks that share important news and updates from the writing world and beyond--Twitter is such a valuable tool for writers that there are some days I can't imagine why people think it's dumb.

Granted, it's easy to get distracted and get caught up in the novelty of it all, but when you get down to it, Twitter is an amazing tool that I'm personally glad was invented. Plus it's one heck of a way to kill time when you've got nothing better to do. And let's not forget the gossip threads, the profiles of fictional characters, and @LordVoldemort7. Heh.

In short, Twitter rocks.

What about you guys--do you agree with me, or are you one of the Twitter holdouts?

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

--J.

The Insufferable First Draft

2011-02-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

Most writers I know fall into one of two categories: slow and steady or quick and dirty. They either take their time on the first draft of a WiP and make it as good as they can make it, or they speed through it in as little time as possible and get the basic story down so they can come back, play in the mud, and fix what they need to.

I'm firmly in the speed-writing category. For god's sake, I wrote my entire first draft of my current WiP in four days. I'll be revising and editing for a good while, but I like knowing that the basic story is done and I have a foundation. I can sit down, play in the mud, and know that I have a framework. It just works for me. For all my talk, I actually do enjoy the revisions process, and I like having the story written so I can build it.

I know plenty that find that repulsive, though--speed through the writing without savoring it? "Ick," they say. "No thanks." And, hey, that's cool, too--to each his own. There really isn't a wrong way to go about the writing process. There are pros and cons to each side. I'm pretty sure revisions are a lot easier if you have a more solid first draft, but if you like revisions, it's not an issue. If you hate revisions, taking your time on the first draft might be a better idea.

What about you guys? Slow and steady? Quick and dirty? Some third category? What do you feel are the pros and cons of each side? Discuss!

Lovey-Dovey: What Does Your Character Love?

2011-02-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Anybody that knows me knows that I'm less than fond of good ol' V-day, but don't let me spoil the fun. ;)

Love is in the air today, and as I sat down to write earlier, I began to wonder what my characters would do for Valentine's Day. I have some that would go all out, some that would buy a simple box of candy and move on, and some that probably wouldn't even notice V-day if it bit them on the nose. From there I got to wondering--what do my characters love? I know their goals and their wants, but I don't often think about what they love.

Is it another person? Is it order? Chaos? Food? Their pets? Love can be extremely powerful, especially in fiction, and I think it's important to know. Love can be the driving force behind a character's goals and wants--for example, a character that loves his pet fish above all else, besides needing to get out a little more, would probably desperately want to keep the tank clean and the fish healthy, and punish anybody who messes it up, overfeeds his fish, or knocks the tank over.

That's a rather silly example, but it gets my point across: love can drive goals and wants, and goals and wants are what drives a character.

A question for you on this fine Valentine's Day:

What does your main character love? How does it affect his goals and wants?

Some Monday Inspiration

2011-01-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

On my own writing blog, I do a weekly feature called Monday's Muse, in which I post a picture of art, a photograph, a quote, and a video. The whole idea is to start the week off with a dose of inspiration and, hopefully, get my own creative juices flowing.

I actually quite like writing from pictures, especially if there's something to accompany it and give me a few different angles to work with. My challenge to you on this fine Monday (don't look at me like that--Monday can be good, I promise) is to take a look at the following picture, read the quote, and see if you can somehow connect the two and craft an interesting story. Here goes!

"Being normal isn't necessarily a virtue. It rather denotes a lack of courage."

Practical Magic

Write away, my lovelies! May your Monday be merry and may your week be wonderful. See you Friday!

--Jen.

[Insert Title Here]

2011-01-25T11:38:00.001-08:00

Titles are hard. Like, really hard. There are those that are great at them and those that aren't, but most people I've talked to agree that they're difficult to come up with.

They have to be catchy, they have to describe the book, they have to be original, and they have to fit the genre ("The Lord of the Rings" is a really cruddy title for a Western, just for an example). There are lots of different "rules" and guidelines for a good title, and when you think about it, it's all marketing. And marketing...marketing is hard.

The Lulu Titlescorer is a great little tool that analyzes your title and generates the probability that your book will become a bestseller. I can't tell you how accurate it is, but it raises an interesting point--that titles have something to do with the success of a book.

If you suck at titles, I'm right there with you. I usually go through lists and lists and lists of possible titles before settling on one. There is, of course, also the chance that once you're ready for publication, the marketing department will ask you to change it. Oh, titles.

One thing I like to do to title WiPs is go to quoteland.com (or something similar) is search for quotes that have to do with my main theme or the point I want to make. I scan those quotes for a word or a phrase that seems like a good title and I try it on for size. Sometimes I find great titles, sometimes I don't. But it is one way to do it, and it's kind of fun.

So what about you guys--naming a WiP: easy or difficult?

Harsh Critiques: Accept, Analyze, Move On

2011-01-21T13:31:00.000-08:00

Getting critiques is a part of any good writer's life. Getting harsh critiques is part of any great writer's life. Because, let's face it, folks--you get tired of your works-in-progress pretty dang fast when they're all you spend time with.

You lose objectivity, get cranky, and let things slide. You need at least one person who can look over your work and help you find what could be better. You can't submit until you're as close to perfect as possible, and critiques help you get there.

It's great to hear that everything is "great" and your crit partners would "read on," but what's even better is to hear, "this is great, but this needs to be reworked, your grammar here is shoddy, and this character serves no purpose."

Ouch, I know. But if it's there to be caught, you need somebody to catch it. You need somebody that will go over your work with a fine-toothed comb and show you every detail that could be made better. That's not to say that you want somebody who will nitpick or throw cruel words at you, but you do want somebody who will be thorough and tell you what you need to work on, straight-up and without any skirting around the issue.

Harsh critiques suck eggs. I hate getting them. But there's a thing about getting them that you have to master--accept, analyze, move on.

ACCEPT

Accept that you got a harsh critique. Accept that your crit buddy found something they didn't like or feel could be a lot better. It happened, you can't change their crit, and you have to accept it before you can go anywhere else.

ANALYZE

Analyze what your crit buddy said--is it fluff? Is it overly critical? Or did he or she have a good point that you could use to your advantage? Take a careful look at your critiques and decide what you can use to help you.

MOVE ON

You got a harsh critique. You've analyzed it and used what you can. Now move on and don't let it bother you anymore. You fixed what you can fix, and you're better for it. Keep on truckin'.

Yeah, harsh crits suck. Yeah, you'd rather not get 'em. But in the end, they're worth it and they make you a better writer. They can mean the difference between languishing in the lands of "SOMEDAY I'LL BE PUBLISHED!" and the lofty realm of "OHMYGOSH, I'M ON THE NYT BESTSELLER LIST!"

Question for you:

How do you deal with harsh critiques?

Patience, Young Grasshopper

2011-01-17T17:33:00.000-08:00

If there's one word I hear tossed around, it's "patience." Hearing back from colleges and scholarship foundations, getting through the last few months of high school, working on my senior project...and, oh yeah, that writing thing. The word patience gets thrown around in that faction of my life, too.

A life of writing requires copious amounts of patience--patience while waiting to hear back from agents or editors, patience while trying to get through the tedious outlining/revising/rewriting/revising more/editing/revising more/editing more/rewriting more/revising even more/editing/etc. stages, and, heck, even patience while trying to get through the first draft. Every single freaking step requires great amounts of patience with the characters, the plot, the idea itself, and especially yourself.

It's extremely easy to get frustrated with yourself for messing up or the WiP for being just plain irritating. But you can't quit. You've got to stick it out, be patient with yourself, and allow yourself to muddle through. Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say, and your book isn't going to write itself overnight.

So when you're feeling down, try and be patient for just a little longer. It's hard, it's irritating, and sometimes you want to smash your computer to pieces (tip: don't), but in the end, a little patience really does go a long way.

Question for you:

How impatient are you when it comes to writing? Do you want things to be over and done with ASAP, or do you enjoy the process?

Practical Experience

2011-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you folks, but I hoard reference books. History books, books about world religions, art books, atlases, you name it, I've probably got one somewhere. One of my biggies happens to be books about language arts and writing. I had shelves and shelves of writing reference books until very recently, when I finally got around to weeding my collection.

I've learned a lot of things through reading these reference books and some of my favorite blog posts have come out of ideas found in the pages and pages of advice. But if there's one thing I took away from them, it's that you can memorize all the tips and tricks in the world, but until you get out there and hang out in the writing world, they do you no good.

You have to actually write. You have to actually edit and revise and talk to agents and submit. You can learn only so much from reading books before you have to get out there and experience what they're talking about.

You can read about writing effective dialogue all week long, but until you sit your happy behind in the chair and write some godawful dialogue, you can't get better. You have to experience things for yourself, because no matter how many tips you can regurgitate, you can't escape true learning through trial and error.

What works for one doesn't work for another. What one agent likes, another hates. The phrase "I read it in a book once" is about as useful (and will get you taken about as seriously) as popping out with "you know, the aliens told me once..."

So get out there. Write. Read. Revise. Edit. Submit when you're ready. Learn from your own mistakes and take all the advice you read with a grain or two of salt. Get some of your own practical experience and remember that just because you read it in a book, doesn't mean it's set in stone.

Happy writing!

Hunker Down

2010-12-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

Well, November has passed and we've hit December running. For those of you who participated in NaNoWriMo this year, I hope you did well! For those of you who didn't, I hope you got plenty of your own writing done.

Ah, December. It's cold, it's gross, and many of us want nothing better than to hunker down with blankets and a steaming cup of hot chocolate with plenty of mini-marshmallows (except those freaks in the southern hemisphere, that is ;]). But instead of curling up and napping through the month, I like to use December to hunker down in writing, as well. I've just come off of NaNoWriMo, I'm running on a writing high, and as far as I'm concerned, if I've still got it, I'm going to keep using it.

Currently, I've got two projects on the front burners, one in the lineup, and one on the backburner, with a small list of other projects I want to tackle later on. Yesterday I sat down and figured out how I want to go about tackling each, and I've come up with this:

Front burner: The Enigma (the long-awaited second draft) and The Pixiehunter (revisions). Both of these are to be worked on during my daily writing time, with Wednesdays devoted to making notes and gearing up to start writing the second draft of The Enigma. When said notes are finished, I'll alternate days, working on The Pixiehunter one one and The Enigma on the next.

In the lineup: Drifter (outlining). If I find myself with nothing to do, I'll work on the outline and notes for this project, and I'll start the actual writing once I get the first round of revisions finished on The Pixiehunter and get a good ways into The Enigma. It's going to take awhile to get there, but, hey, I've got patience.

Backburner: The Surface of the Deep. I'll get back to this poor thing eventually. I worked on this project almost constantly from November '08 to June of this year, and I need a break so I can come back with fresh eyes.

So, as you can see, I've got a plan. I've got a bit of a schedule. I'm finally recovering from the past year, which I have dubbed "the year of crap and no writing time," and I'm ready to hunker down and get some work done. And, even if you don't choose December, I recommend that all of you who've been in a writing slump try and find at least one month to "hunker down" and get some serious work done.

Question for ya:

How many of you are going to "hunker down" this month? If not this month, do you have a month of work planned for the near future?

Out There

2010-11-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

Today on my blog I wrote of Other Things and how, really, it's impossible for writing to be the Everything we want it to be. There's too much other stuff in a day that we have to put up with. Which, y'know, kind of stinks. But on the plus side, there are lots of things out there for us to look at and contemplate while put up with all these Other Things.

I've always been one of those writers that touts the benefits of keeping a "stock" folder, in which you write down interesting things that you've seen, heard, or thought up as you go about your day. Even if they don't seem relevant, all that important, or even completely interesting, I've always been one to write these random little tidbits down and put them in my "stock" file. You just never know when things you've seen Out There will be useful in jump-starting your imagination or help you out of a sticky spot in your plot.

Darn useful, that Out There. I've talked about my now-infamous example of the homeless man with a Siamese cat on his shoulder, who inspired not only a character, but an entire novel idea. That was one of my "stock" moments from Out There. I got bored, I needed an idea, and the man with the cat just happened to be there.

It's not always that obvious, but those little moments really do work their ways into stories. Watching people and keeping an eye on situations is, in my opinion, one of the best things a writer can do. Even if it's just learning how people interact with each other, you can take so much from things like that. Whether something from your stock file ever inspires a novel isn't important--the act of paying attention is.

That's not to say that you should go out and spy on people, of course, but keeping an eye on the events of Out There is a pretty dang good idea.

Questions:

Do you keep a "stock" file? Do you observe everything "Out There" for the purpose of good storytelling?

Hearing Voices

2010-10-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Emily, our overlord, recently posted on her blog about that elusive thing called "voice." Essentially, she was asking what all of us ask: "What the heck is it?" And while it's my opinion that voice is one of those undefinable things, I'm going to take a stab at it.

According to NTC's Dictionary of Literary Terms (by Kathleen Morner and Ralph Rausch), voice is defined as the following:

A term used in literary criticism to identify the sense a written work conveys to a reader of its writer's attitude, personality, and character. As is the case with the closely related term tone, voice reflects the habit of thinking of writing as a mode of speech. Inexperienced writers are often instructed to "get more of your own voice into your writing." The concept of voice is sometimes compared to Aristotle's concept of ethos, the personal image projected by an orator.

So, in fewer words, voice is a writer's "signature." It is the personal imprint and style of writing that is unique to everybody and that shows through no matter what kind of work is being written.

For a good example, check out the awesome Kiersten White, author of PARANORMALCY: the voice in her book is exactly the same as on her blog. This isn't to say that the main character is exactly like her or that her book is a chronicle of her life (although if it was...okay, see, that would be kind of cool). Her voice is the same in both places in the sense that she's funny, straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is, and uses similar sentence structure in the book as on the blog. You can tell that the same woman wrote both things.

That's what it boils down to. You know you have a strong voice if somebody that barely knows you can take two things that you wrote that are completely different (ex: a research paper and a novel excerpt) and tell without a doubt that you wrote both of them.

As for how you develop voice...well, I'm not sure I have much advice for that one, other than simply "write a heck of a lot" and "don't think about it." I'm of the opinion that trying to force voice is counterproductive, and that it's just one of those things that sneaks in when you're not looking.

Questions? Thoughts? Suggestions for developing the elusive voice? Leave 'em in the comments!

The Swap

2010-10-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've got a writing prompt for you today, Chroniclers. I know we haven't done one it awhile, but bear with me. This is based on an exercise we once did in my creative writing class (man, I miss that class...), and it was a pretty interesting experience.

Sadly, I can't access the video we used, but the exercise can be done with any video or picture. What I want you to do is look at this picture for a few minutes. Really think about what's going on.

Looked at it long enough? Figured out what might be going on? Good. Now write about it (in first person, please). But hang on--all you ladies out there have to write from the guy's point of view. All the guys have to write from the woman's point of view. Make it interesting, write well, and really get into your character's head. Think about what makes him/her tick.

Oftentimes it's difficult to get into the head of a character that isn't like us. I sometimes have trouble with it, a lot of my friends have trouble with it, and even published authors have trouble with it at times. It's all about stepping outside of your comfort zone and trying your hand at something new--and then practicing. Do this exercise often, and write from the point of view of the person that is most different from you.

Post your piece in the comments--I'd love to read them!

'Tis the Season to be Writing

2010-10-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's October. October is always a great month for me--Halloween (my favorite holiday!), fall weather, color-change leaves, costumes, and that feeling of winding down...I love it all! October also brings that mad-dash NaNoWriMo scurry (as I like to call it), wherein I start planning what I'm going to write for National Novel Writing Month in November.

This will be my third year doing NaNo, and I'm going for my third win. In 2008, I wrote the somewhat infamous The Surface of the Deep, which is about to get set on a shelf so I can take a long, highly-needed break from it. In 2009 I wrote the completely infamous The Endless, which will probably get revisited sometime, if only so I can reassure myself that I've gotten a lot better since I wrote it--because it sucks. This year I'm taking a stab at my first adult novel, titled The Pixiehunter, and I totally can't wait. I've been outlining for the past few days, and I'm really looking forward to writing it.

A lot of people hate NaNo, and I completely understand why. It's a quantity over quality thing, and agents detest it because immediately after, they begin to get really crappy query letters from people that don't know what they're doing. I'm on the pro-NaNo side, however, as it's a great tool for productivity. I get more done in November than I get done during the rest of the year, I think.

Whatever side of the debate you're on, NaNoWriMo is still creeping up, and it's on the minds of many. What are your thoughts? Are you participating?

Oh, and if anybody wants to add me as a buddy, I can be found here. Happy writing!

Family Dynamics

2010-10-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

Family dynamics always seem to be a little off-the-wall in fiction. In YA, oftentimes you rarely see the parents, if they're there at all, and that's just one example. Sometimes it seems like writers just write out their characters' families because they don't want to have to deal with the dynamics.

Thing is, even if the family isn't seen, its impact is still present--or should be. I've talked about this in characterization posts before, but it bears repeating: the early years are what influence personality, values, and opinions. Even if your story doesn't center around family or even involve family at all, if you're going to focus on character development in your story, you really do need to know about your characters' families.

(However, if you're writing something that's essentially explosions, fast cars, and sexy people...well, if it's all about the action and not so much about the characters' growth, you won't have to focus on family and characterization as much.)

Today's is a short post. I just want to throw this out there, so that you'll remember to think about your characters' influences and background. Without them, you've got cardboard--which, as we all know, is one of the most deadly things in fiction.

Whether or not you show families or not, make sure you do spare a thought for them.

The D Word

2010-09-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

In the writing of books, we deal with characters. And characters are people (well, sometimes they're animals, but that's another post). And people come in all shapes and sizes and ages and cultures and everything else.
But unless you really have experience with a lot of different groups and types of people, it's hard to work a lot of diversity into your novel. I've read stories where the writers try too hard to make everything diverse and "politically correct" that, honestly, it backfires and they wind up looking stupid or even racist.
And we don't want that to happen, am I right?
I guess my biggest nugget of advice on this one is, if you don't have experience with the group you're trying to portray and you don't feel that research is helping, just stick to what you know. If diversity isn't a big theme or issue in your novel, don't try too hard.
Not, of course, saying that diversity is bad. On the contrary, it's fantastic. I'm all for it. I just think that if we get so caught up in making things diverse and being politically correct and not offending anybody, we honestly do offend people when we screw up details.
I'm also not saying that you can't write about people different from you. Again, I'm all for doing that. Just...well, make sure you have it right! Get some friends from that group and have them read over your work. Research. Learn. Changing the skin color or the accent of your character doesn't mean you've done all that you need to.

So, basically, be as diverse as you want...but make sure you get it right.
Question for the comments:
How diverse are your works? How do you make sure you've portrayed everything and everyone correctly?

(Reposted from As the Plot Thickens)

Lag

2010-09-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

It happens all the time: in blogging, in writing, in networking...you get a little apathetic, plead "no ideas," and burn out. Hell, I had a huge period of lag over the summer (though part of that was because I was busy as heck).
People wax poetic about this kind of thing all the time. "Oh, find a writing prompt online!" they say. "Look up other blogs and see what they're posting about!" Feh. That doesn't cut it a lot of the time. And then, of course, there's everybody's favorite: "Stop whining and just get it over with!"

Today, I spent about three hours complaining to my mother that I had nothing to blog about. Her response was something along the lines of "find something or shut up." Sound advice, that. If you're not going to force yourself to sit down and write/blog/whatever, be quiet. Nobody's going to give you an idea if you can't even help yourself.

Harsh, but sometimes that's just how it is.

Question for the comments:

How do you deal with lag/burnout? Just muddle through, or something else?

Cassandra Clare Interview Stream

2010-08-06T04:18:00.000-07:00

Cassandra Clare, author of the amazing Immortal Instruments series, decided to do a live chat with fans answering questions about the series and the clockwork angel series. Fans tune in, Cassandra reveals some exciting news . . . YaY!!!

Thanks to David Maybury for heads up!

Dublin named City of Literature

2010-07-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I had to post about this :)

In recent years, there have been lots of initiatives by Dublin Tourism to encourage Cultural tourism. One of which is One City, One book with Last years book being 'Dracula' and this year is 'The Portrait of Dorian Gray'.

Today, Dublin (capital of Ireland) has been named UNESCO city of literature, one of only four such cities wordwide!

The UNESCO City of Literature award is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network launched in 2004.

Dublin joins Iowa City, Melbourne, and Edinburgh on the UNESCO list. :)

It's great that Dublin (Ireland too) is being recognised for it's literary contribution. It's really easy for us to forget how much this little country has contributed and hopefully will continue to contribute in the future!

Starting Anew

2010-07-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't written anything new in a good while. Oh, sure, I've banged out a few paragraphs in a new document, but nothing sticks. I keep going back to revisions or editing or some old, familiar story. Why? I'm afraid to write something new.

Do you ever get those feelings that you've peaked and nothing that you write after your current project will be any good? I do. But I have something to say in response: Feh!

When that happens, I look back at my old drafts and notes on my "oh so great" WiP. When I look at those, I realize that, hey, in the beginning...well, it really wasn't that great. Every story starts off rocky, and every story needs to be polished. Expecting perfection on the first try is...well, it's just kind of dumb. Even if there was such a thing as absolute perfection, the first draft isn't when it's going to show up.

So get those anchors out of your pants and get cracking on that new project you've been thinking about for the past three months. Stop playing with the old project--you're beating it to death. If it's done, it's done. Go on, start something new.

Take the plunge.

News Flash for YA writers

2010-07-09T02:40:00.001-07:00

Medallion is to set up a new line of Ya-Ya fiction, where it plans to publish YA titles for 13-28 year olds written by young adults.

“Helen Rosburg [Medallion's publisher] wanted to provide young adults with a voice, with the ability to tell stories to others in their age range,” explained Paul Ohlson, Medallion director of sales and marketing. “Instead of adults writing for young adults, young adults are writing for young adults.”

Its currently seekin submissions for the Ya-Ya line! So if your teenager, get on over to their site :)

God I wish i was a teenager again, I think this will be great opportunity for lots of talented young writers!

Source

Blowing Off Steam

2010-06-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, long while, but this is Jen, coming at you with a post about stress and blowing off steam.

Over the past few months, I've been stressed. Very stressed. And with me (and large parts of my family), heavy stress leads to manic depression or hysteria (bipolar also runs in my family--I suspect that's part of it). When I get stressed, I write. I mean, I write anyway, but I tend to write a lot of short stories and snippets when I get stressed. It's my outlet, most of the time.

But sometimes I get frustrated with writing, too. Sometimes the words don't work, the characters are cardboard, the prose is trash, and everything that can go wrong with a story goes wrong. It sucks. It's not fun, and I think if I didn't have a secondary outlet, I'd go legitimately insane.

What's my secondary outlet? Painting. My room is lined with paintings, both on paper and on canvas (and one on a piece of plywood), that I've done during periods of writing woe. It's my thing. Well, my *other* thing. I love writing, but sometimes it gets on my nerves so much that I have to walk away.

My question for you today is this: What's your secondary outlet, if you have one? How does it help you with your writing?

Have a great afternoon/night/whatever it is wherever you are! :)

--Jen.

This week in Book News. . .

2010-06-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

So what's been happening in the world of book news for the past week?

In Book News. . .

Richard and Judy have joined up with WH Smith for a new book club. For autumn, then spring and summary 'The Richard and Judy Book Club' will return. It will be promoted in stores but not through a TV show. Read more here. . . For non UK/Irish readers, Richard and Judy are two presenters who book club has launched many excellent books into the bestseller list. As a buyer, you are 99% guaranteed a brilliant read if a book has Richard and Judy stamp. Glad to see this is back again - will make picking good books alot easier.

In lieu of global deals, US publishers are chipping away at traditional UK rights territories, with India being on of the most contested areas, followed by Malaysia, South Africa and Singapore. In most cases US publishers seek non-exclusive rights, meaning that although UK pubs can export, they have to compete on launch dates and price. Seems there may be a bit of conflict ahead which will make spats over territories 'small skirmishes' when compared with larger issues of global territories which is "a huge battle to be found" according to Anthony Goff, President of Association of Authors Agents. Read more here. . .

Penguin accidently axed the fictional foreword of Lolita, Penguin is now pulping the books and reprinting - whoopsy!

Artemis Fowl has been voted the Puffin of Puffins (68%) in a national poll, set up to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Puffin Modern Classics. Read more here. . .

Transworld plans on publishing two untitled books by Terry Pratchett, which were started in 1986 but left unfinished because of the DiscWorld Series. The Books are due out in spring 2012. Read here for more. . .

Everyone knows the genuis that is Stephen Fry, but soon the world will get to know the secrets of Mrs. Stephen Fry! Edna Fry (who has 56,000 twitter followers) shall recount her life as a celebrity wife and mother of 5-7ish kids in her 'top secret diaries' which Hodder & Stoughton have acquired. The book will be published in Hardback this Christmas. News reports state that Mrs. Fry has been very excited since hearing the news, having a good chat with Mrs. Norton and Mrs. Winton. Personally I can't wait to hear all the sordid secrets of the Fry household! Read more here. . .

Popular Self-help author Wayne Dyer (never heard of him myself?) has been accused of plagarism by author Stephen Mitchell (nope, never heard of him either) who filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in LA yesterday. Mitchell claims that Dyer plagarised 'at least 200 lines' from his Tao Te Ching: A New English Version in two books and digital spin offs. Read more here. . .

In the happening world of the book blogosphere. . .

The amazing Nathan Bransford has done another critique post on Monday (and will again today around GMT 21-23.oo) which provides great insight into the mind of agents who are assessing your work!

CKHB has done a great post listing of agent and publisher's blogs - invaluable information so check it out!

The Wonderful Rachelle Gardner, is talking contradictions and confusion for writers in regards to Feedback and Advice on signing with agent !

Edward Nawotka from publishing perspectives ask the question: Does working help or hinder your writing. . .

AND extremely important post which shall have huge reprecussions on writers everywhere (or should I say 'cuddly' writers such as myself) - so definitely give this a read. . . i'm making a shopping list as I type lol. . .

GLEE-irific Book coming soon. . .

2010-06-11T03:23:00.001-07:00

Note: I'm going to be doing a book news update here and on my personal blog once a week (usually on a monday- but I thought I'd post this now)

Well for those of us, who love GLEE - it's time to Rejoice (or not) because even though the series is over for the moment - there's money still to be made.

Publishers Weekly has revealed that Little Brown have just announced that they are launching a 'Glee' publishing programme starting with a prequel entitled 'The Beginning' which delves into the backstories of our favourite characters!

Cha-Ching!

Not entirely sure how this will work? The appeal of Glee (for me) is definitely the music BUT if they have the writers of the show (i.e. the person who writes Sue's lines) writing those books then I might pick up a copy!

Competition!!!

2010-05-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quite note to let everyone know that we're having a great competition over on the book bundle courtesy of Daeonica, a member of the blog.

So hop on over and check out how to enter and the prizes :)

You know you've made it when . . .

2010-04-29T01:44:00.000-07:00

. . . you have your own book trailer. . .

Lego Style!!!

News: The Twilight effect

2010-04-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

It seems the effects of the Twilight series are spreading beyond the realms of modern YA fiction. Many of you have probable noticed the new twilightised cover for Wuthering Heights? Well it looks like this repackaging has worked:

Sales of Emily Bronte's 1847 classic Wuthering Heights have quadrupled over the last year, with the Daily Telegraph attributing renewed interest in the novel to its mention in the Twilight series.
Citing BookScan data, the newspaper points out that before the first Twilight book came out in 2005, Bronte's novel sold 8,551 in one year. However, after Harper Collins reissued Wuthering Heights last year, with Twilight-inspired cover artwork and the tag-line: "Bella and Edward's favourite book", this figure peaked at 2,634 in one week and totalled 34,023 during the year.

Read more here

Leaves one to wonder why books such as Pride and Prejudice, Midsummer's nights dream etc. (which aren't mentioned in the books but have been mentioned by Stephenie Meyer) haven't been similar repackaged.

Get Board With Your Plot

2010-03-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

How many of you make outlines? I do, usually. I at least make an overview, so I know where the story is going. I know some people that get really, really involved and make note cards, diagrams, numerous notes, and all sorts of other things.

One of my favored strategies lately is actually to make a very loose outline overview and then break it down, making a general outline on a white board as I get to each new chapter. It really helps with revisions, and is useful with the writing part, too. I started revisions on chapter twelve last night, and this was my board (for the record, ch. 12 is NOT called "The Battle." I head my plot boards with the major event of the chapter I'm working on, so I can center everything else around said event):

I've got a list of characters in the chapter, a basic timeline, notes, and, in the corner, a little map of the setting. It's not a lot, but enough that I'll stay on track. I highly recommend a plot board to all of you, even if your "board" is only a notebook or piece of scrap paper. It really does help to know where you're going.

We are all different, though, so I'm curious:

If you don't use a plot board or outlines, how do you keep yourself on track when writing?

Forget Freud - Here's Jung!!

2010-03-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

We've all heard of Freud (obviously) but many people over look his contemporary Carl Jung, the proposer of many psychological concepts, which as writers we encounter daily, such as the Archtype.

Now, why am I writing about Jung on a Writing blog?

Well writing, like psychology, involves the exploration and understanding of the human mind and behaviour. The main difference being, one is based in reality and the other in fiction, but both can lend themselves to the other.

A very good example of psychology being used in the writing process concerns Character Development.

As writers we seek to understand the very depth of our characters thoughts, actions and motivations so we can paint a realistic picture for our readers. Often we ask and seek answers to questions such as these:

Why did this character do that? What is their underlying motivation? Why did that character react differently from the other character when x,y,z happened? Why does this character believe the end justifies the means? Does this character regret their actions?

Often when trying to fill out a character, we can get frustrated or lost when trying to concieve and build something as complex as a human mind from scratch, especially when we then have to comprehend how our character percieves the world and makes decisions while leaving our own perceptions behind.

This underlying internal aspect (the internal consistency) aka the personality forms the basis for any character and is key to development.

Remember: Personality is a stable individual difference, which doesn't change hugely overtime. Events/actions/moods etc. may happen but your character's underlying personality will not change drastically. So, actually having a personality type for your character can provide a great foundation.

What do I mean by Personality Type?

Well, another contribution Jung has made to psychology and the world is that the psychometric instrument, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is based on his type theories.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a questionnaire that measures people's psychological preferences in percieving and acting in their world.

There are four Dichotomies:

Dichotomies
Extraversion	Introversion
Sensing	iNtuition
Thinking	Feeling
Judgment	Perception

Examples of Dichotomies (using extraversion vs. introversion):

Extraverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented.
Extraverts and seek breadth of knowledge and influence (big picture), while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence (details).
Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction (lots of acquaintances), while introverts prefer more substantial interaction (only a few but close friends)

From these 4 dichotomies, there are 16 possible personality types.

ISTJ - The Duty Fulfillers
ESTJ - The Guardians
ISFJ - The Nurturers
ESFJ - The Caregivers
ISTP - The Mechanics
ESTP - The Doers
ESFP - The Performers
ISFP - The Artists
ENTJ - The Executives
INTJ - The Scientists
ENTP - The Visionaries
INTP - The Thinkers
ENFJ - The Givers
INFJ - The Protectors
ENFP - The Inspirers
INFP - The Idealists

I'm not going to get into the specifics of each dichotomy, the combinations or the types here, because there are many other places (link below) which do a much better job than I would.

So, if you're finding it hard to get a grasp on one of your characters, I advise finding a good MBTI questionnaire, get inside of your character and answer the questions for them.

I think you'll be happily surprised at the results and the information you can use and build on when you continue working on your character's development.

Remember: There are MBTI questionnaires all over the internet (Just make sure it's a good one)

When you've your type, I highly recommend checking out this website :

http://www.personalitypage.com/home.html

which gives you a good overview; details on career, love, friendship and development (strengths/weaknesses) of each personality type.

Hope this helps!

Hagrid's Buttons

2010-03-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

How many of you are Harry Potter fans? Whether you are or not isn't particularly important, but those of you who are nuts for Potter will definitely appreciate this one. ;)

A good while back, I was watching a special on TV about the Harry Potter universe. There was an interview with Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, and she told the camera why she loves the books so much. She said that they're great because there are so many details and that if you wanted to know the color of Hagrid's third coat button, it's right there in the book.

Now, of course, that's an exaggeration (I checked--button color isn't mentioned), but she's got a point: there are quite a few details in the Harry Potter books, as with almost any good book out there.

I've talked about using too many details before, on both this blog and my own, but another common problem is the lack of details. Details, of course, shouldn't be dumped. Long lists of description tend to make readers snooze. But when they are inserted at strategic points, they make the story that much more dynamic.

For example, in a detailed character description, don't march your character to the mirror and have him describe everything he sees. Don't have him examine everything about each new person he meets. Spread the descriptions out across the introductory scene, and include them in a way that would be natural for the narrator. If your narrator notices hair color first, mention that first. If your character wouldn't notice that the guy behind the checkout counter is shorter than he is...well, don't mention it. Unless it's important, of course.

So, basically, be sure to get those details in there--but don't dump them. Make them dynamic, real, and natural.

Question for you:

How do you go about inserting descriptive details?

Revival

2010-03-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! Jen here. I hope you've all had a great week!

I'm officially on spring break, so I'm going to get as much writing done as possible. I'm also going to have a bit of a "revival" with my writing. I've been a little dead in the water lately, and I've been looking at writing as a job or a chore or...well, it's been kind of flat for me.

See, I live in the smack center of Bible Belt, USA, and my house is directly across the street from one of the biggest churches in my city (and that's saying something--the churches here are freaking huge). One thing I've noticed since moving here is that a lot of churches have "revivals" every now and then, to draw in more people and rev up their churchgoers. I've never been to one (not a Baptist), but I've heard that they're pretty exciting things for those that are into it.

I think the same thing can be applied to writing quite nicely. If your writing has been feeling a little stale to you or you've been treating it as a chore, take a few days to revive yourself and your words. Go back and read some of your favorite passages in your WiP, play with your characters, throw in a plot twist (whether you end up keeping it or not), and have fun with it. Don't take yourself seriously. Do something crazy. If you don't want to mess up the integrity of your actual MS, open up a blank document or get out a fresh notebook and make a mess on that. Add new characters, take some away...go NUTS!

That's my challenge to you this week: have a writing revival and be as absolutely insane as you possibly can. Inject some fun into your writing. And even if you're already having tons of fun...have more. :)

Ciao for now,

Jen.

Bad Writing

2010-03-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

Yet again, things have been dead. But hey, there are some things you just can't do when you're on a tight schedule and in the middle of the dreaded Crunch Time of Junior Year. Blogging tends to fall on that list. But here I am, back on a somewhat-regular schedule, bringing you a neat writing activity that I was going to give you on Friday, but ran out of time to post.

Last week, my writing teacher, the awesome Mr. Kirby, told us to get out a piece of paper and write the worst possible story opening that we could. This was mine:

On the barren, desolately empty, darkened, windswept moor, my feet slapped quickly on the disease-ridden, half-rotten, ill-tended lawn and I kicked up tiny clouds of dusty dirt as I frantically ran toward the exquisitely beautiful manor-house, eloquently proclaiming thus: "Lady Seraphina Sabine Evelyne Aurora de Lyon, it is I, your most beloved of all lovers, the handsome and ravishing Count Balderic Horatio Adderfop McJones, and I come hither to carry you away into this beautiful, moonlit, virgin night!"

Bad, right? Horrible. Terrible. Possibly the worst thing I have ever written. But, as Kirby pointed out, it takes a good writer to write something that bad...on purpose (I'm sure plenty of people write things that bad on accident all the time).

The point of this bad writing exercise was, in my mind, to make us all more aware of, number one, how great we actually are, and, number two, to show us what good writing is. If you look at everything that makes my opening bad (the weird description, the adverbs, the ridiculous names, etc.), you know that good writing either doesn't use it or uses it in moderation. It's learning from opposites.

My challenge for you is this: write the absolute worst story opening humanely possible. Kill the opening. Destroy all chances of that potential story. Do your worst. And then learn from the horrible writing, taking everything that makes it bad and putting it in your "don't do this" or "use in moderation" file.

Take it away! :)

The Leap of Faith

2010-02-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

It's not often that I come across writing advice from a psychological book, but when i picked up 'The Social Animal' edited by Elliot Aronson, the introduction about 'Social psychological research' resonated with me - both as a psychology student and a writer.

Why?

Well, Aronson makes two big points about research in social psychology being a leap of faith - which can easily be transferred to the realm of fiction writing. I'm going to deal with the first example and later in the week discuss the other.

Aronson talks of two very different ways to doing science (and in my opinion) in doing writing. In this chapter, Aronson demonstrates his point by referring to Camus's novel The Plague. In this book, there is a writer called Monsieur Grand. He wants every sentence to be flawless, every paragraph to be magnificent, every page to be fantastically beautiful! He wants it to be so perfect that when he sends it to the publisher, the publisher will read the first sentence and be WoWed!

So, what happens? Monsieur Grand spends alot of time on that first line, actually he spends all his time on the very first line, until he has 50 pages worth of versions of that line. Then, he becomes ill and is about to die. He turns to his friend, and tells him to destroy the manuscript with such energy that his friend is compelled to do so. The next day, Monsieur Grand regrets his decision. Aronson highlights the irony, that the one action on his part that actually was spontaneous was in the interest of destroying the thing that he created with anything but spontaneity!

How does this relate to science (and more so to writing)? Aronson states there are two ways to doing science. One is the slow, methodical, one-step-at-a-time manner (like Monsieur Grand) and the other involves a sketch of a study, where one doesn't obsess but pilots, tests and runs with the moment. Neither is worse or better than the other. Except one doesn't involve going back to the drawing board every time something goes wrong because the researcher feels compelled to create the mythical 'perfect study'.

Similar it could be said there are two ways of writing. In my mind, it is all to due with confidence. Eventually the time comes, when the outlining or edits have to stop. Sometimes as writers we become so obsessed with the idea of being 'perfect' we never actually get past the outline of our novel because we are always going back to the drawing board when things go slightly skewed. Just like the mythical perfect study, there is no perfect book.

And this is where 'the leap of faith' comes in. Aronson reminds us, that if the realm of science/psychology can make mistakes and go in wrong directions to further the advancement of our collective knowledge, well then as writers can't we do the same? Isn't writing a 'leap of faith' but more internally? Rather than building on work done by others before us, we build on our own previous work? and if we never get past that first line and continue to write those 50pages of first lines, - we'll never make mistakes but then again, we'll never progress either.

What do you think? Is writing a leap of faith? Do you think Aronson is right, that sometimes enough is enough and we have to take the leap?

Networking: The Great Time Eater

2010-01-31T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hey, everyone, Jen here, comin' at ya with a post about our pal, networking. :)

Now, I'm a huge fan of the Internet and networking, don't get me wrong. But I've found that it can eat up a lot of time if you don't keep on top of things and network wisely. Through trial and error, I've come up with three solid tips for navigating the good ol' Internet:

1. Less is More

Don't sign up for every social networking site in the world! Only sign up for ones that you find useful and worthwhile, and if you find that you've overloaded yourself with too many blogs, profiles, sites, and Twitter pages...delete a few! The world will understand. Spreading yourself thin helps nobody. Sure, you want to have a wide platform, but you don't want it to have huge gaps. A small, solid platform is better than a huge one with a lot of holes.

2. Watch Your Time

If you're doing nothing but networking, you have a problem. There are other things in life that you need to be doing--like writing, eating, work, school, etc. If you blow off your entire life and devote all your time to the computer, you'll get nowhere. After all, what's the point of networking if you have nothing to network about?

3. Keep Updated

Tying in with number two, you don't want to do nothing but network, but you also don't want to spend no time on it. If you have a blog, keep it updated. If you have a Twitter page, check in once in awhile. Et cetera. You can't let your pages just sit there and expect them to work for you. You have to put work into them to get anything out of them.

There are many more, of course, but these three are the ones I consider the most important. You can't keep a good blog/Twitter/Facebook/whatever if you're neglectful, and you can't have anything to network about if you do nothing but goof off on the computer. So be sure to watch your time, and don't let networking eat it all up.

--Jen.

What do you think of writing?

2010-01-23T04:35:00.000-08:00

Ok am still in the process of making the Dissident Writer's blog pretty, but i've made up a questionnaire, if people would like to answer it? Maybe pass it on with a link to the DW Blog?

Whats the DW Blog, you ask? Well following this post about my feelings on writing, i've made up a support group/blog for those of us who find writing isn't the easiest or most pleasurable thing in the world.

So Are you a DW Writer?

Well take a look at our lovely questionnaire below.

1. You read the following comment and react in the following way:

"I absolutely love to write, if I couldn't write - I would die"

a. Agree completely, you feel the exact same way!

b. You 'get' the comment, you love to write!

c. You don't get this statement at all, writing is this strange masochistic tendency you seem to have to perform - being a dominatrix would be much more profitable and feasible career!

2. You consider the question "Why do you write?" and answer:

a. I love it, writing is my life and my only true vocation! It is my absolutely dreamjob and i love every moment of it - even when its hard and awful - i wouldn't have it any other way. I live for my stories and characters

b. I have a story to tell, maybe more than one. I love to write, and explore my characters and their plots. Although I could live without writing, I don't want to.

c. I don't know. I just have to - its terribly annoying itch that i have to scratch. Seriously I don't know why i bother writing, everything i write is complete crap.

3. You post a piece online or give it to a beta reader or critique group and get constructive criticism. How do you react:

a. Hurt. It feels sort of like a personal attack because you know you've worked hard on this piece and you love your characters and plot so much. You realise though that you need to take it all on board to be a better writer.

b. It stings a bit, but you look at your piece and evaluate their advice/critique and make your own judgement on your work.

c. You feel like you've been ripped apart for about three seconds, asking 'how could they say that?!?' then you realise they are all completely right, that you are a FOOL to write such garbage and decide to delete it all/store in a secret place because you are so ashamed! You consider bribing mods of SYW forums to make your posted piece 'disappear' forever.

4. How do you find the writing progress:

a. Absolutely amazing. I love writing so much, it all flows so quickly. Before you know it I've written the first draft and am really happy with it. I know that editing will be hard - but after writing 2-3000 words a day, i really don't mind. I just can't wait to start on my next book. . .

b. I have a routine. I really enjoy writing but I usually lay out a plan first, then start the first draft. Sometimes i get stuck in parts, but i know that i don't have to write amazingly well the first time round, and plod along - getting my words down. Seeing the word count go up every day gives me a great feeling.

c. Pure hell. I've been staring at this page for six hours - i've written 200 words and deleted them - everything i write is utter crap. Writing is like having my nails pulled one by one, yet i keep going. Seriously Masochism does not cover it! I don't feel satisfied with my writing - never ever - even if my word count gets higher every day, i know its all awful

5. One of your writing habits are:

a. Thinking of your characters constantly - conversing with them etc. You absolutely love them and their universe and let them guide you through writing.

b. BIC - butt in chair. you have a routine and you keep to it. Your only problem is that you wish you had more BIC time because you really get into a stride during these sessions.

c. Delete button is you bestest friend in the whole world. After you die and presumable museum is erected to honour your masterpieces - you plan on there being no 'evidence' of first/second/third drafts. Even if this means you never get past 200 words of your WIP

Results

A

You are the complete and utter opposite to a DW. Your cheeriness and love of writing makes us shrivel up like vampires in the sun. Be happy in the knowledge that you love what you are doing and will more than likely succeed in writing a huge body of great work (like Ray Bradbury)

“Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.” - Ray Bradbury

B

You are a calm, self assured lover of writing. You are aware of the negative side (intellectually) but in your heart you are a writer and love being one. You are balanced in your thoughts and feelings, but really enjoy what you're doing. So, you are not a DW - perhaps in moments of Writer's block you might cross the line and dip the toe into our pool of crazy - but only for a short time.

“Whether or not you write well, write bravely” - Bill Stout

C

Aw welcome fellow DW!! I think you'll like it here very much. You don't know why you write, its an unanswerable question that hangs over you as you push and strain (like a woman giving birth) to write a single sentence that you won't delete. You feel defective as a writer because you don't feel that 'love' that many writer's speak of. Your relationship to writing is a love/hate one, where you come out feeling stressed, drained and usually drunk after an argument with it. You think you are alone, a freak but you're not!

“Writing a novel is like making love, but it's also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it's like making love while having a tooth pulled.” Dean Koontz

Neglected

2010-01-17T09:31:00.001-08:00

I'm still here, I promise! I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've just been busy, and with several other blogs to keep up with, schoolwork to do, brothers to babysit, chores to do, and all that other good stuff, remembering to post over here has been a bit of a challenge. But I'm working on it, promise.

Today I'd like to throw out a topic that's really been on my mind lately--description and dialogue.

One of the most common things that people tell me in a critique is that my dialogue is great, but a lot of times it isn't balanced with description of things outside of the conversation. I sometimes make the mistake of forgetting that my readers can't see the setting like I do unless I actually, you know, write about it. I get so caught up in making my dialogue realistic and intense that my outside description suffers.

This isn't to say that dialogue-heavy stories aren't great. They are. It's just that you have to have SOME outside description or your story just reads like a script. And that just doesn't work nine times out of ten.

Go through your manuscript next time you sit down at the writing desk. Make a note of how much description you have outside of your dialogue. Is there a lot, just the bare minimum, or virtually none at all? Read through a portion of your story, forgetting that you're the writer and know everything that's going on. Be the reader. Can you clearly see the setting and the people in it?

If you can't, why not? Is it because there isn't enough description between all the dialogue? If it is, make yourself a note to go back and amp it up during revisions.

Remember, description is what shows the readers the scene. Don't neglect it! :)

Revisionland

2010-01-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

I'm currently in the middle of (what I hope is the last round of) revisions on my WiP The Surface of the Deep. And, as it's the last round (I hope--I've been getting fantastic feedback), I'm really buckling down and getting to the nitty-gritty. Anything that seems off is examined with a microscope, and if it doesn't make the cut it's out of there faster than you can say "adios." If something needs more, I'm after it, writing long into the night and then examining the new words for any flaws. Et cetera, et cetera.

Point is, I'm going revision crazy.

An excellent point was recently brought up to me, however, by a friend who sometimes reads over my work after I finish a revision round. He told me that in some parts it's as if I'm over thinking and over-revising.

What?

Over-revising?

Really?

That can happen?

Yes. Yes it can. I don't do it often (or at least, I hope I don't), but sometimes I get so caught up in making everything OHMYGODPERFECT, I cut things that need to be there or add unnecessary explanations or shoddy twists. In the attempt to make things better, I make them worse.

Today's post is a caution for those of you navigating Revisionland, no matter what part of it you're in--don't go too crazy! Yes, be sure everything is as spot-on as it can be, but always, always, always take a step back before you make cuts or additions and ask yourself, "is this really the right thing to do?"

I have a pretty nifty little trick that I use. Before I edit a scene, I copy it and paste it into a separate document that I've named the "Editing Bay." I make all of my revisions there, and then read both the revised scene and the original. Almost every time the revised is better, but sometimes something in the original catches my eye and I realize that because I was over thinking, I cut it or added too much to it (etc.) in the revised copy. It helps me see my mistakes and fix them, and I highly recommend this to anyone prone to over-revising.

So, my question for you today is this:

Are you prone to over-revising? If so, how do you help cut down on the problem?

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T14:15:00.001-08:00

Hey, everybody! Jenna, here, coming at you after a way-too-long absence to say a big HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope 2010 is treating you as great as it's been treating me--if not better. If things are off to a rocky start, I hope that everything clears up soon. :)

I'd like to apologize for my lack of posts over the past few weeks. I got attacked by that lovely little thing called "life" and got sucked up into exams, friend troubles, a minor family crisis...all that fabulous stuff. But I'm back now, and hopefully I'll be able to start bringing you the Friday activity and Sunday help post again!

Without further ado, here's this week's activity:

It's the first day of the new year. Most of us have made resolutions or goals, and are (hopefully) going to start working toward them. But what about your characters? What kinds of resolutions would they make? Take a minute to write some down.

A lot of people I know would have a lot of trouble with this. Why? Because they don't truly know their characters. They're not sure of their characters' faults, positive attributes, likes, dislikes...anything.

If you're having trouble making a list of resolutions for your character, first take a while to fill out some profiles, work with your characters, and build them up.

When you have a character you know well and have a list of resolutions for him or her, take that list, pick and choose, and take your three favorites and try to somehow incorporate them into your work in progress. Make them a part of the story. You can have your character succeed, fail, fail miserably...it's up to you.

What's the point of this? Realism. Real characters, like real people, have goals and make resolutions, even if they're not quite aware of it. Giving your character something to work for gives the character (and the story) depth. And depth is something we all want, right?

BONUS:
Figure out what the opposite of your characters' wants are. What would make them want these opposites? What happens when they want both simultaneously? Obviously they can't have it both ways. Incorporate this dilemma into a story for further conflict.

Happy new year, everyone!

--Jenna.

What a Character!

2009-12-11T18:53:00.001-08:00

Hello, everyone, this is Jenna (aka Novel), coming at you tonight with a writing exercise. I meant to post this earlier, but ran out of time. It's Saturday for some of you, still Friday for others, so you'll have to forgive me for not getting this up while it's still Friday for you all.

Okay. Now. We're going to do something tonight that is geared toward helping with characterization and creativity. So here we go!

Actually, before we start this exercise, I need you to do a few things:

First, think of a number between ten and seventeen. This is your new character's age.

Pick a gender, build, hair color and style, and eye color. Get a clear picture of your character.

Pick a hobby, any hobby. This is now your character's favorite activity.

Now, to round your new character off and get him/her ready for the exercise, take a minute to think of any extra details you might want to include.

Got your character? Good, good. Now guess what? That character is now you. Writing as your new persona, finish this story:

I never did forget the time that my sister dragged me to...

Psychology of Writer's Block - Part Une.

2009-12-07T03:37:00.000-08:00

Description of Writer's Block

One of the most dreaded concepts in the world of writing is writer's block, which is a condition, associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. Often the concept of 'writing block' is described and applied in a general manner which does not take into account the concept of the 'ability' that has been lost and the time in which this has lasted?

This ability to produce new work is 'creativity'. Creativity being the ability or power to build/create into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.

In regards to Writer's Block - there are two common complaints which relate to the loss of creativity and the occurrence of writer's block - lack of ideas or lack of ability to portray ideas.

Type 1: Lack of Ideas/Plot

Interestingly, this 'type/symptom' is often overlooked when people refer to Writer's Block. Often the writer is left with feeling of inferiority/inadequacy and dispair - as their purpose is not being fulfilled. Unlike type 2 writer's block, type 1 has repercussions for type 2 with writers not being able to write at all due to lack of plot.

Advice for lack of ideas/plot usually includes that this statement is 'not true' - that ideas are 'everywhere' etc. - which often leads type 1 writer to feel more inadequate to nonWB writers as their perceptions of the world and 'ideas' are not coming into fruition or being realised - no matter how hard they look.

Other common advice includes writers being advised to go to prompt generators, go for a walk, look at pictures etc. Writers are also often told that there are no new ideas, and to stop focusing on this aspect of writing - A 'stop thinking' approach.

The prevalence of this condition among the writing population indicates however that the advice/treatment that currently exists may not provide a 'cure' but may temporarily alleviate symptoms. Often like other 'creativity-loss' conditions, time is the best cure.

Type 2: Lack of ability to portray ideas/plots

Type 2 WB, most commonly known as 'blank page syndrome' is a condition commonly experienced by both experienced and novice writers. The symptoms that classify this condition often include low word count and slow progression with work. Although writers have an abundance of ideas/plots - their words are paralysed.

Within Type 2 WB, there are two subgroups. 'Self-delete', where the sufferer writes, reviews and deletes work and 'blank stare' where sufferers make no progress or don't write at all - often resulting in a 'blank stare'. Both subtypes lead to feelings of inadequacy which often result in low self-confidence and low self-esteem which causes a vicious circle to occur. The power of this vicious circle is emphasised because one of the main causes of this condition is due to the writer's overly high expectations of their abilities i.e. 'harsh self-critic'.

This condition is quite common in the writing community, with symptoms ranging from chronic and severe to temporary and mild depending on the individual and their circumstances

Common advice for type 2 WB often includes 'BIC' which stands for Butt In Chair. Practitioners of this technique advise setting a regular routine, in which the writer writes in a fixed place, at a regular time, daily. The underlining concept is developing 'habit' - possible this concerns making regular neurologically pathways so writing becomes easier with practice and repetition. Although this advice takes time and commitment, anecdotal evidence has shown it to be successful.

Next week : Etiology of Writer's Block
What causes writer's block?

*Disclaimer: obviously this is a 'sad' and 'nerdy' mix of psycho-babble and real info about WB. Please take some of information seriously and take rest of it with a grain of salt.
Let me know what you think? :)

Generic Conventions

2009-12-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Genres are, as defined by Dictionary.com, is a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epic poetry; the genre of symphonic music.

In writing, the genre of our book influences our choices in agents, the publishers we can get our work submitted to, our placement in the bookstores, our fans, and pretty much everything. There are so many subcategories within the big ones, and then there are the huge factions--literary, commercial, yadda yadda. A lot of the time it's difficult, if not impossible, to figure out what your book is pegged as.

Genres are, to my mind, unbelievably irritating. They make it easy to figure out what books one likes and where to find them, but to the writer they can be hindering. There are so many books that cross genres, books that don't seem to have a genre, and books that seem like no matter what genre you cast them as, they're still not fitting in it the "right" way.

On the forum a little while back, Emily threw out this little gem:

"I don't think its good for a writer to have to pin themselves with a
certain label."

I have to say that I agree. It's so easy to spend forever and a day trying to figure out what genre your work is that you forget to actually write the story. It irritates me at times that we have to peg our books so that we can submit. My current WiP, for example, has elements of several different genres, and no matter what I peg it as, it still doesn't seem right. I've settled on fantasy, but it makes me wonder--is it, really?

And, of course, there are some writers (like me) who write everything that pops into their heads, no matter what genre it is. Once a writer is established, it's difficult for them to move into another genre with a new book or series, because their fans might not transfer and because they've been labelled as writers of another genre, new fans might be leery of picking up a new book because they don't like the author's established genre. If that makes sense. Such writers often have to resort to multiple pseudonyms to make things work out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that genres, while helping sell books, can be a nightmare for the ones writing the books.

Questions for the comments:

What are your thoughts on genres? Do you think writers should have to designate themselves as writers of a certain genre? What are, to your mind, the pros and cons of labels and genres?

Make a Mood

2009-12-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone! This is Jenna, AKA Novel Goddess or just plain Novel, coming to you today after a long stretch of no posts. We're trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon and we've got a fancy new blogging schedule, which can be found on the sidebar. I'm taking Sundays and Fridays. Sundays will be just regular, random writing posts, and Fridays I will post different writing activities, prompts, or exercises.

Today's activity is one of my personal favorites, which I have adapted from an exercise in Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint, by Nancy Kress (by the way, fantastic book. I recommend it, along with the rest of the series, to all of you). In the book, it's geared more toward characterization, but I felt the basic idea behind it could be tweaked to work for mood and tone. So here goes!

I'm going to post a short sentence, and your task is to take it and rewrite it three times, incorporating a different mood from the list each time. It's a great way to work with connotation and denotation, and a fantastic way for you to work on using more than just "he felt angry" to present a mood.

Remember, you can use all manner of things to indicate mood: dialogue, movements, actions, etc. You don't have to write only one sentence--write however many you want. Make it longer, write a paragraph, add things, tweak things, whatever you want.

The sentence:

Jane walked through the hall.

The moods (pick three):

Anger
Sorrow
Lust
Joy
Excitement
Trepidation
Fear
Suspicion
Confidence
Defiance
Exhaustion
Recklessness
Boredom

Have fun with it, and I hope you have a good weekend!

--Jenna

Publishing News

2009-11-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Everything Must Go - Borders Closing Down Sale!!

Borders (uk) launched a closing down sale this weekend, with all 45 branded Borders and Books Etc stores across the UK affected. The news will fuel concern among both publishers and rivals that the chain could be set to launch a fire-sale of stock.

It also came as a shock to staff who had not been told before the news emerged late on Friday (27th). According to one insider, stores were delivered the new POS on Saturday morning, which included huge 'Store closing!' banners, and discount POS up to 90%. Stores are currently selling stock with between 20% and 50% discounts. There is also reported friction over the chain's Electronic Gift Cards, with the administrator currently accepting the cards, but only if customers spend more than the value of the card. One member of staff told The Bookseller that they didn't know for how long the cards would be accepted in stores. Read More here . . .

Publishers Exposure Minimised

Publishers have limited their exposure to Borders, an attempt to avoid the major industry losses of a year ago when the collapse of EUK is estimated to have cost them £25m.

It is estimated that Borders stores could be holding as much as £20m in stock, about half what the store had at the end of its last reported financial year (February 2008), though publishers said that tight controls had been put on book supply in the months following the management buy-out in July, with some stock bought for cash. Penguin UK chief executive Peter Field said the publisher had retention of title on its stock and would now contact the administrator and await a reply. However he added: "We've been watching this quite carefully over the last few months so although it [the Borders collapse] has been really disappointing, it's not a great surprise. We've been managing the situation very carefully to minimise exposure." Read More here

Thoughts? Comments?

On Other News

All Women Short List for BBC Short Prize

An all-female shortlist has been revealed for the BBC National Short Story Award, with Orange Prize-winner Lionel Shriver battling four other authors for the £15,000 prize.

More than 600 entries were received for the award, which celebrates the best of contemporary British short stories and is part of the national campaign "story", which supports the form. The shortlist was revealed on Friday evening (27th November) on BBC Radio 4's "Front Row".
Read more here

Genre Break Down

2009-11-29T03:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the minor Hiatus - we will have this blog going again soon. Promise!!

Just a little note though in the meantime about a member of our forum, Anne R. Allen's excellent post about Genre Categories!

Seriously click the link - very useful information for those of us confused by all these labels :)

Winners

2009-11-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had an amazing Halloween!!

I've just put all the entries into a hat, and i've gotten my lovely assistant (my little sister) to pull the first three names out.

First winner: Anne R Allen (grand prize)

Second winner: Wendy Sparrow

Third Winner: Grace Scully

Thank you to everyone for entering - i really appreciate it :)

I'll be contacting the winners and sending prizes shortly

Reminder: Halloween Competition!!!

2009-10-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just a little reminder that we're still going Halloween mad here and on the forum, and offering three halloween themed sur/prizes! All you have to do is click here and leave a comment to be entered!

There will be a grand first prize, second prize and third prize!!

Winners will be announced on the 31st of October!

Now the theme of the prize is obviously going to be all things spooky, but will also include abit of an irish spin to it!!

All you need to know about the Third act

2009-10-23T05:03:00.000-07:00

Dear God, i'm drooling . . .

Source: Dresden Codak

The Google Deal Thinkens . . .

2009-10-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) has asked for all European works to be excluded from the revised Google Settlement. The FEP has held face-to-face discussions with the Association of American Publishers (AAP) at the fair to press its case.

The AAP is one of the two plaintiffs that originally brought a lawsuit against Google over its digitisation programme, and is currently renegotiating the deal with the internet giant.
The FEP, which represents publishers associations from 27 countries including the UK, said neither the AAP nor the second plaintiff, the US Authors Guild, "had a mandate to negotiate on behalf of their international counterparts". Read more here

Following this,

European books could be removed from a revised Google Settlement, according to one of its chief architects. The development followed a row over Google's book scanning programme at the 61st international Frankfurt Book Fair, held last week.

According to various reports Professor Roland Reuss, a literature professor from Germany's Heidelberg University, struck out at Google and the Settlement, negotiated in the US by the Association of American Publishers, and the US Authors Guild with Google. He described Google's lofty ideals as "just a whole garbage of hysterical propaganda", and warned of a threat to traditional publishing, saying "you revolutionize the market but the cost is that the producers of goods in this market will be demolished". Read more Here

Well, what are your thoughts?

To Cater or Not to Cater...

2009-10-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

...this is the question.

Hey, all, it's Jenna again! First off, I'd like to apologize for my absence from the blog and the forum. I was sick for a good while, I had exams to study for, my grades in my AP classes were floundering...and, well, life just kind of reared its head and said "forget the blogging, I'm going to throw all sorts of curveballs at you and keep you from doing ANYTHING! HA!"

Anyway...

Lately, one of the major discussions between my writing friends and I has been whether or not to cater to the market. Whether or not to try and write to the trends, whether or not to find an agent and write to what they want to see, and whether or not to "follow the crowd" and "write what everyone else is writing."

Honestly, I can see where everybody comes from, no matter what side they happen to be standing on. Personally, however, I just write what I want and then try and find a place for it. To some, that sounds like the more difficult path, but to me it just makes more sense. The market changes so rapidly and so unpredictably that to try and anticipate and cater to it is like trying to predict the way the river will go. Sure, it flows generally in the same direction, but it's so full of twists and turns and rough currents and obstacles that you're never quite sure what's coming until you get there.

Maybe the "secret," if there really is one, is a mixture of both. Maybe the trick is to write what you want, but purposely include elements of things that have proved to be popular. I don't know. I just try to write what I want and then work around the market, instead of allowing it to dictate my words and my life.

Of course, I love debates, and I'd love to hear your opinions! So, everyone, I have a...

QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS:

Would you ever write for the market? Why or why not?

COMPETITION ALERT: HALLOWEEN!!

2009-10-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, Halloween is almost here ( i absolutely LOVE this holiday) so to celebrate the Writer's Chronicle forum and blog are going to have a competition for some spooky prizes!!

There will be a grand first prize, second prize and third prize!!

Winners will be announced on the 31st of October!

Now the theme of the prize is obviously going to be all things spooky, but will also include abit of an irish spin to it!!

So, what do you have to do to enter?

Just leave a comment to this entry, telling me your favourite spooky book or film?

The comment gives you one entry, and additional entries can be gained from the following:

+10 for actually posting an introduction thread on the Writer's Chronicle Forum
+7 for alreading being a member of the forum
+5 for joining the Writer's Chronicle Forum
+3 for being a blog follower already

+2 for becoming a blog follower

+2 for doing a blog post about this contest

+1 for listing the contest on your blog/website

+1 for tweeting about the contest/posting on facebook

You must let me know in the comments if you are doing these things, and link to the appropriate places.

Contest is open to everywhere in the world

Novel News: 30th September

2009-09-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

So, to add on top off yesterday's electronic news, Bookseller has an article about how divided publishers are over the actual pricing of e-books. An overwhelming majority of publishers believe that e-books should be less expensive than the printed version, but only 15% support Amazon.com flat-rate of $9.99 on front-list titles, a survey from the Frankfurt Book Fair has suggested. The survey indicates that publishers remain unsure about how much cheaper e-books should be, with the FBF saying that the industry remains "completely divided about appropriate e-book pricing".

Also, more e-news! Disney is going digital!! The Walt Disney Company (DIS) pushed into the digital book market today, hoping to corner the first generation of digital book-savvy kids with a new distribution model: selling $79.95 annual subscriptions to readers, providing online access to 500 Disney storybook titles in digital form.

According to the NY Times, the project will target children aged three to twelve. Onscreen, the digital pages turn like pages in a print book. The site will provide online pronunciation advice, quizzes, games, and a number of the books will have actors read the story out-loud, complete with music. via MediaBistro On a personal note - Disney have books!?!?!?!

Related to e-news, is the announcement by Neil Jones, founder and chief executive of Interead, said his COOL-ER ebook reader has become the best selling gadget of its kind in Europe.

"It's in fact tens of thousands that we've sold in only three months.

"We launched on the 29th of May. We are already in profit."

Read more here, sounds like quite a system - to rival sony and kindle! Via SkyNews

NEWS FOR FANTASY LOVERS via BookSeller,

Gollancz associate publisher Jo Fletcher has acquired a "major" new fantasy series that will open in 2011. Fletcher bought world rights to three books by Elspeth Cooper from Ian Drury at Sheil Land Associates.

The first title, Songs of the Earth, is due out in early 2011, with Trinity Moon and The Dragon House following subsequently.

Fletcher described Cooper as "a winner". She added: "There is no shortage of good books out there, but when you read a really great novel you know, instantly, that you have an absolute gem in your hands. This is one of those rareties: an unputdownable fast-paced adventure with characters who leap off the page at you and leave you begging for their stories."

The books follow novice knight Gair, whose gift is being able to hear the songs of the earth, creating magic from them. But in the Holy City where he lives, that makes him a witch. Gair is condemned to death, but with help from "an unlikely source" he escapes to a secret retreat in the western isles, where he can learn to master his new skills.

Chased by an "implacable witchfinder", Gair must also help in the fight against "a renegade Guardian is striving to tear down the Veil that will release evil, uneathly monsters into the human world".

IMO, Sounds like an excellent series, definitely one to watch me thinks!

Electronic book News : 29th September

2009-09-29T02:48:00.000-07:00

So, a little bit of electronic book news, first up as previously mentioned Amazon piloted an academic focused kindle in a number of American univeristies. The results are in - well in Princeton where students felt that "this technology is a poor excuse of an academic tool. It’s clunky, slow and a real pain to operate." Read more here at BookSeller

So in recession hit times, its the small publishers that are really feeling the pinch, well it seems the shift to digital books is helping the little guys, and the trend is being reinforced with Smashwords announcing that it has a distribution agreement to get its books published on Sony’s new eBook portal.

Smashwords lets authors publish their books in online formats in a matter of days. Now those books can be downloaded to the Sony Reader, the company’s eBook reader gadget. Smashwords takes manuscripts from writers in Microsoft’s Word format and converts them into Adobe PDFs and eight other formats that can be read by eBook readers such as the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader. Now those eBooks can be uploaded into Sony’s portal, the eBook Store, where users can buy and download them. Read more here via Digital Beat.

Los Angelos Times has an interesting article about e-readers being the 'it' gift for xmas, replacing the Wii and according to an online survey, 1 in 5 shoppers said they planned to buy an electronic book reader such as a Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle this year. Related to what was said above Sony today is announcing it is throwing the doors open to independent authors to publish electronic books on its site. Sony said it has partnered with two companies, Smashwords and Author Solutions, to help independent writers self-publish digital books on Sony's eBook Store, which currently sells more than 130,000 titles. It also distributes millions of free public domain books via a partnership with Google. Amazon, on the other hand, boasts 350,000 titles for its Kindle readers.

I love physical books, but if e-readers can encourage kids to read well i'm all for it!!

Anyhoo, Drop a comment and let us know what you think of the new age of digital? personally i love gadgets but i think i'll be waiting for the 'finalised' version which is common as muck and has all the kinks out (and is cheaper lol). And well i love my books!

BBC Lauches real life Short Story Competition

2009-09-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Anyone with an interesting story to tell?

Well BBC is launching a competition to find "the greatest real-life stories never told", with the prize of a publishing deal "with a prestigious UK publishing house", now disclosed as HarperTrue. The prize, which could go to a maximum of five of the finalists, also includes an advance and royalties based on sales.

The announcement precedes the launch of "The People's Author" competition on ITV1's "Alan Titchmarsh Show", in association with Orion, on 5th October 2009, which offers a publishing contract to the member of the public whose real-life story makes it through four televised heats and a public vote. The Orion title will be published towards the end of spring 2010.

The BBC's "My Story" launches this month with the website: bbc.co.uk/mystory; the public are asked to submit their "true untold real-life stories" in 300–1,500 words to the website or via an entry form in the My Story magazine. Up to 15 successful entrants will get the chance to appear in a TV series on BBC1 during spring 2010.Read More Here . . .

For those of us who live mundane lives of everydayness . . . aw well lol.

Book Bundle Competition Give-away 2

2009-09-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

We're having a contest over on the book bundle, we're you've the chance to win a free copy of Tom Holland's 'The Vampyre: the secret history of Lord Byron'

From the back cover:

"I have written my memoirs - but omitted all the really consequential and important parts - from deference to the dead - to the living - and to those who must be both"

- Lord Byron, Detached Thoughts

What was the deadly secret that haunted the writings of Lord Byron, that most brilliant and notorious or romantic poets? Tom Holland, in this dazzlingly crafted blend of fact and fiction, offers a truly terrifying answer. Impeccably researched, vividly imagine, The Vampyre i gothic fiction at its most atmospheric, allusive and thought-provoking. As Byron himself pointed out: truth is stranger than fiction.

So drop on over to the book bundle, look at our competition and enter - its so easy!

Novel News: 25th September

2009-09-25T03:10:00.000-07:00

So a slight change to the format today, ala Nathan Bransford, due to the number of interesting stories today.

First off, The Society of Authors (SoA) is to explore options for urgent collective action against the cuts in author advances, says the new chair of the society Tom Holland (author of some excellent historical and fiction books!). This news came as the acting president of the association of author's agents confirmed advances are being cut by as much as 70%. Very Interesting article, and as always it seems middlelist authors are the ones feeling the squeeze. Via Bookseller.com.

Second, after being asked to omit Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, some of the giants of publishing were asked what would be the Xmas number one. Jamie Oliver's Jamie's America got a resounding vote for number one with Peter Kay's Saturday Night Peter coming in a close second (this is UK based), via Bookseller.com. So it seems all we hear about is recession as of late, well GOOD NEWS, the publishing trade is bracing itself for a second 'super tuesday' October 1st because as according to Nielsen BookData, next Thursday will see nearly 800 new hardbacks, almost 10 times the daily average, including the usual xmas hits, Via bookseller.com

The Guardian asks an interesting question (which for any SFF readers/writers will be especially relevant) Why hasn't there been a SF Booker winner? Never has a SF book ever even made the long-list for the booker prize although there is a wealth of books! Very interesting article. But On a personal note, Never Let me go was nominated for the booker (and in my opiniong, wasn't that Science Fiction?) or is it classified as something much different because the writer is literary?

Also Check out an interesting video over on Galley Cat about Editor's future: is it more work for fewer people (and isn't that the same for almost all industries at this point?) and more importantly how does this impact on you!

Novel News: 24th September

2009-09-24T02:54:00.000-07:00

The Host to become a Movie

Andrew Niccol, who wrote and directed Gattaca, will reprise both roles for The Host, billed as a love triangle involving two bodies. In a near future in which Earth has been overrun by alien body-snatchers, one of their number is fused with a dying woman in an attempt to track down the planet's last remaining human resistance. However, complications ensue when the alien finds herself falling in love with the human's missing mate. Read more here . . .

Stephenie Meyer had this to say on her website

I'm so excited to be working with Nick Weschler, and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz to bring The Host to a visual format. They've all been a dream to work with, so lovely and collaborative, and I feel like we're in a really good place to make a great movie together. And then to have Andrew Niccol writing and directing? Truly awesome. If you've never seen Gattaca, go watch it now. One of my favorite movies of all time. It's such a great example of character driven science fiction, which is ideal for The Host, no? I'm having an absolute blast imagining different dream casts, which I would post if people didn't take my silly blogs so seriously these days. I'm looking forward to seeing the cast lists you come up with in the fansite forums, and if any of them match mine.

Early Years Awards Winners Annonced

The winners of the 2009 Early Years Awards, administered by Booktrust, were revealed last night (23rd September); the prizes are intended to "celebrate, publicise and reward the exciting range of books being published today for babies, toddlers and pre-school children".

The winner of the Baby Book Award was Chick by Ed Vere (Puffin); the winner of the Pre-School Award was Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide by Mara Bergman, illustrated by Nick Maland (Hodder Children’s Books); and Katie Cleminson won Best Emerging Illustrator for Box of Tricks (Jonathan Cape) Read more here . . .

Choosing an E-book, Pondering the format is an interesting new york times article about the trials and tribulations which face Steve Jordan, a self-published science fiction novelist faces by only publishing in e-format. A very interesting article!

Linger

2009-09-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hello, all! It's been a while. This is Jenna, also known as Novel-Goddess, one of the moderators at the Writer's Chronicle Forum. Remember me?

First off, I'd like to wish you a happy Monday! I hope your week has started off right, and I hope it will continue to be great or will pick up and end up fantastic. I've been mad busy lately, but now I'm back in the game and will be bringing you several posts throughout the week.

Today I'd like to talk about the staying power of books. We've covered it before, I believe, but I'd like to revisit it.

If I finish a book and am still thinking about it a week later, I know I've just finished a great book. If an author can make me care about the characters so much that I think about what happens to them after the book, that's an author that I'll admire for a long time to come.

Think back. What's one book that you've read recently that has really stuck with you? What's one book that you just can't stop thinking about?

For me, one such book is Naked in Death, by J.D. Robb. What makes me remember this book? The characters are strong, the story is compelling, and the action is...ahem...killer. Long after I read this book (and the twentysomething sequels), I kept thinking about the characters and the events. I wondered how those events would affect the characters in the future, and I wondered how the rest of their lives would play out.

If you can achieve that and make a reader care like that, you've written a great book. To achieve staying power and make your book linger in the minds of your readers, create a strong foundation for your story. Make the settings and situations real. Give the characters realistic reactions, thoughts, feelings, and traits. Flesh everything out and make it well-rounded. Don't make elementary mistakes. Tighten up your sentences and make every word count.

Make us care. Make us think about your book for days, weeks, months, years to come. Force those characters and those events to stick in our minds. Write a killer book that lingers in our thoughts and hearts.

So, this brings me to the...

Questions for the comments:

Who is your favorite author, and how does he/she achieve staying power in his/her books? How do you work to achieve staying power? And what really makes a book stick in your head?

Novel News: 20th September

2009-09-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Surprise Surprise

Dan's Brown latest novel, The Lost Symbol has set new records with spectacularly high sales and discounts of more than 70%, meaning that it will become the highest discounted number one book ever.

Transworld claimed that in its first 36 hours the book had broken the record of total lifetime sales for any adult hardback novel ever published in the UK, a record previously held by Thomas Harris' Hannibal, which had total Nielsen BookScan sales of 298,773. The publisher also confirmed that it was to reprint the book, which had an initial UK print run of one million. Read more Here

Kindle Vs. Print version of The Lost Symbol

The Kindle version of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol is outselling the print version, according to Amazon.com's own chart. The Mystery & Thrillers chart, which is updated hourly, combines both print and Kindle editions, with Kindle-watchers reporting since yesterday that the Kindle edition has been ahead of the print version.

Blogger Stephen Windwalker who runs a daily blog for Kindle users wrote: "Maybe that isn't the biggest story of 2009 in the world of reading. But I am having trouble imagining what could be bigger." Another added: "The electronic book age is really about to burst upon us." Read More Here

Bad News for Children Writers.

Children's publishers have cut their acquisitions by up to one third in response to the recession and a narrowing of range among the high street chains. Children's agent Elizabeth Roy said publishers were "delaying the books they are contracting; they are slower to commit to projects and slow to produce the contracts".

Macmillan Children's Books announced this summer that it would cut its list by more than one third, from 245 titles in 2009 to 155 titles in 2010. Hachette Children's Books has slimmed its list to focus on series and big brands, said m.d. Marlene Johnson. "Without a doubt, the market for wonderful, one-off books is gone because the risks involved are high and the possible gains are not high enough to be worth the risks," she said. Read More Here

Debut Authors?!?!?!?

2009-09-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

So, over on the Writer's Chronicle Forum, we've started a 'debut authors' thread.

Diana asked a great question about whether you would buy a 'debut novel' or not, or would you wait till your got recommendations? and where does that leave the debut author and their sales (and space on the bookshelf).

If your a debut novelist with a book coming out, please drop in and let us know what you think? or how are your finding 'getting the word out' about your book?

and it also got me thinking (and maybe someone can help me?) is there a place (like goodreads) which has a list of all debut novels coming out in the coming year that say a curious cat might wander?

The Lemonade Stand Award

2009-09-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you very much to the lovely Diana Paz who gave this blog this amazing award!! Check out her wonderful new blog!

Now that my blog has been nominated I'm set with the task of nominating ten other worthy recipients...

As the Plot thickens
Author is Progress
A Novel Adventure
Anne R Allen's Blog
Authors promoting authors

Here are the rules:~Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post.~Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.~Link your nominees within your post.~Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.~Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award.

Thanks everyone who's following or reading Writing Roller Coasters! I hope you're having fun!

New Look!

2009-08-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new and improved 'Writer's Chronicle' blog! i hope everyone likes the new look.
This look was chosen to match with our new website (which is underconstruction) and our forum (which is very active - please drop by!).

Apart from the facelift, we have some serious plans for this blog (and for the forum/website too) so please stay tuned!

Also please feel free to comment if you have any suggestions about what you would like on this blog!

RIP Frank McCourt

2009-07-20T02:13:00.000-07:00

Just a small note in remembrance of Frank McCourt, the beloved raconteur and former public school teacher who enjoyed post-retirement fame as the author of "Angela's Ashes," the Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of woe about his impoverished Irish childhood, died Sunday of cancer at age 78.

"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood," was McCourt's unforgettable opening.

McCourt will be cremated, his brother said. A memorial service is planned for September.

Genre: Now What is Magic Realism?

2009-07-03T01:31:00.000-07:00

Now i thought i had a handle on Slipstream/New Wave Fabulism. Recently though i wandered into a Waterstones in dublin and came across the category 'Magic Realism'. Now i've heard of this genre type before, but when i looked at the books in the section, such as the dream eaters and the princess bride, i got more confused. Both would be considered slipstream?!?! Wouldn't they?

So now i'm going to 'try' and tackle 'magic realism'

While looking up this genre, i came across the Encyclopedia of SF and this is what they stated:

Magic realism (or magical realism) is an artistic genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realistic setting. As used today the term is broadly descriptive rather than critically rigorous. The term was initially used by German art critic Franz Roh to describe painting which demonstrated an altered reality, but was later used by Venezuelan Arturo Uslar-Pietri to describe the work of certain Latin American writers. The Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier (a friend of Uslar-Pietri) used the term "lo real maravilloso" (roughly "marvelous reality") in the prologue to his novel The Kingdom of this World (1949). Carpentier's conception was of a kind of heightened reality in which elements of the miraculous could appear without seeming forced and unnatural. Carpentier's work was a key influence on the writers of the Latin American "boom" that emerged in the 1960s.

With the elements of Magic Realism being:

Contains fantastical elements
The fantastic elements may be intrinsically plausible but are never explained
Characters accept rather than question the logic of the magical element
Exhibits a richness of sensory details
Uses symbols and imagery extensively.
Emotions and the sexuality of the human as a social construct are often developed in great detail
Distorts time so that it is cyclical or so that it appears absent. Another technique is to collapse time in order to create a setting in which the present repeats or resembles the past
Inverts cause and effect, for instance a character may suffer before a tragedy occurs
Incorporates legend or folklore
Presents events from multiple standpoints - ie. alternates detached with involved narrative voice; likewise, often shifts between characters' viewpoints and internal narration on shared relationships or memories.
Mirrors past against present; astral against physical planes; or characters one against another.
Open-ended conclusion leaves to the reader to determine whether the magical and/or the mundane rendering of the plot is more truthful or in accord with the world as it is.

Also reading this article, a number of the books mentioned in my previous post about slipstream are included under the genre of Magic Realism e.g. One Hundred years of solitude. The article does highlight however that the genre has recently been too broadly used to describe Harry Potter and the Stepford Wives.

Now i'm completely confused.

I'm hoping this might clear things up slightly though.

Magical realism often overlaps or is confused with other genres and movements.

Postmodernism – Magical realism is often considered a subcategory of postmodern fiction due to its challenge to hegemony and its use of techniques similar to those of other postmodernist texts, such as the distortion of time.

Surrealism – Many early magical realists such as Alejo Carpentier and Miguel Ángel Asturias studied with the surrealists, and surrealism, as an international movement, influenced many aspects of Latin American art. Surrealists, however, try to discover and portray that which is above or superior to the “real” through the use of techniques such as automatic writing, hypnosis, and dreaming. Magical realists, on the other hand, portray the real world itself as having marvelous aspects inherent in it.

Fantasy and Science fiction – Fantasy and science fiction novels, using strict definitions, portray an alternate universe with its own set of rules and characteristics, however similar this universe is to our world, or experiment with our world by suggesting how a new technology or political system might affect our society. Magical realism, however, portrays the real world minus any definite set of rules. Some critics who define the genres more broadly include magic realism as one of the fantasy genres.

Slipstream – Slipstream describes fiction that falls between "mainstream" literature and the fantasy and science fiction genres (the name itself is wordplay on the term "mainstream"). Where science fiction and fantasy novels treat their fantastical elements as being very literal, real elements of their world, slipstream usually explores these elements in a more surreal fashion, and delves more into their satirical or metaphorical importance. Compared to magical realism the fantastical elements of slipstream also tend to be more extravagant, and their existence is usually more jarring to their comparative realities than that which is found in magic realism.

McOndo – McOndo is a literary movement favored by several younger Latin American writers. It seeks to distance itself from magic realism and the stereotypes about Latin literature that some McOndo writers argue were perpetuated by magic realists and magic realism.

So - basically the difference is extremely minor between MR and Slipstream - it really is down to a matter of degrees of the 'extravagent fantasy'. Honestly between all the labels/genre names which exist for essential the same body of literature - it makes me wonder why all our little books don't have mutliple personality disorder!?!??!

Authors who have written in the style of magic realism (Encyclopedia source)

A New Genre? Slipstream Vs New Wave Fabulism

2009-06-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

Recently i've been thinking alot about 'categories' and 'genre' in regards to my writing and that of my favourite books. "The Gargoyle"; "The Book Thief"; "Darkmans"; "Beyond Black"; "Life of Pi"; "The Book of lost things"; "Kafka on the shore"; "Neverwhere"; "American Gods" Often when some one asks about these books, its hard to call them, fantasy/ science fiction/literary because they are both but neither. As Carter Scholz & Bruce Sterling states, there is this new emergent genre:

it is a contemporary kind of writing which has set its face against consensus reality. It is a fantastic, surreal sometimes, speculative on occasion, but not rigorously so. It does not aim to provoke a "sense of wonder" or to systematically extrapolate in the manner of classic science fiction.

Instead, this is a kind of writing which simply makes you feel very strange; the way that living in the late twentieth century makes you feel, if you are a person of a certain sensibility. We could call this kind of fiction Novels of Postmodern Sensibility, but that looks pretty bad on a category rack, and requires an acronym besides; so for the sake of convenience and argument, we will call these books "slipstream."

He further continues that:

It seems to me that the heart of slipstream is an attitude of peculiar aggression against "reality." These are fantasies of a kind, but not fantasies which are "futuristic" or "beyond the fields we know." These books tend to sarcastically tear at the structure of "everyday life."Some such books, the most "mainstream" ones, are non-realistic literary fictions which avoid or ignore SF genre conventions. But hard-core slipstream has unique darker elements. Quite commonly these works don't make a lot of common sense, and what's more they often somehow imply that *nothing we know makes* "a lot of sense" and perhaps even that *nothing ever could*.

It's very common for slipstream books to screw around with the representational conventions of fiction, pulling annoying little stunts that suggest that the picture is leaking from the frame and may get all over the reader's feet. A few such techniques are infinite regress, trompe-l'oeil effects, metalepsis, sharp violations of viewpoint limits, bizarrely blase' reactions to horrifically unnatural events . . . all the way out to concrete poetry and the deliberate use of gibberish. Think M. C. Escher, and you have a graphic equivalent."

Is this the new wave for the genre of SF/Fantasy?

According to Rosenfield's article slipstream writers in reference to Carter Scholz and Sterlings article (above quoted and below listed) include just about everyone writing fantastic fiction working outside the "Science Fiction and Fantasy" section of the bookstore e.g. Paul Auster, Margaret Atwood, Kathy Acker, William Burroughs, Steve Erickson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Phillip Roth

But what of New Wave Fabulism?

"Fabulism," you see, is a term used to describe Magical Realist writings by people who are not Latin.New Wave Fabulism is the term invented by Conjunctions to cast a broader net, to include fantastic writing that simply isn't Magical Realism. In practical terms one wonders what the difference between "New Wave Fabulism" and "Slipstream" really is? Why didn't Conjunctions just call the issue "Slipstream" and be done with it?
The real difference between the terms is an illustration of why we can't declare the tension between those inside and outside the genre finally over and break out the champaign. The term "Slipstream" was created by Bruce Sterling to describe people predominantly outside the genre, but because he himself was inside of it, talking to people inside of it, the term has come to be used primarily by the SF community. "New Wave Fabulism," however, was proposed by a literary magazine to describe people inside the genre, and it is already coming to be used by people in the Literary world as a way to describe SF writers who are, you know, "good," because apparently we can't just call it Speculative Fiction without turning people off. In 2006 an anthology was released with the unwieldy title of Paraspheres: Extending Beyond the Spheres of Literary and Genre Fiction: Fabulist and New Wave Fabulist Stories. In the statement-of-purpose essay from this anthology, editor Ken Keegan reveals:

On several occasions I initially described the work we would be publishing as "speculative fiction," only to receive a response like, "Oh, you mean science (or fantasy, or genre) fiction. I don't read science (or fantasy or genre) fiction. I only read literary fiction."

So essentially Slipstream and New Wave Fabulism are one and the same - a mix of literary and SF and according to Rosenberg's article both sides of this 'new genre' (literary and SF) are breaking out in hives at the thought of mentioning the other genre's existence.

The difference between Literary Fiction and Speculative Fiction is not the content, but the communities, communities which are often wildly ignorant about one another, and more significantly, openly hostile to one another. Which is not to say there aren't exceptions; obviously Bruce Sterling reads Literary Fiction and the editors of Conjunctions read Speculative Fiction. But the very existence of two terms, "Slipstream" and "New Wave Fabulism," to describe something that, if they aren't the same thing, might as well be, highlights the communal divisions even between the people who are most open to crossing their borders.

*sigh* i started this post, excited that i could label my favourite books with a genre name and be able to say i read 'such and such' genre and maybe be able to find more books that are similar. . . Now it sounds like i just walked onto the bookworld version of westside story!?!?!?!

THE SLIPSTREAM LIST - Carter Scholz & Bruce Sterling


ACKER, KATHY - Empire of the Senseless
ACKROYD, PETER - Hawksmoor; Chatterton
ALDISS, BRIAN - Life in the West
ALLENDE, ISABEL - Of Love and Shadows; House of
Spirits
AMIS, KINGSLEY - The Alienation; The Green Man
AMIS, MARTIN - Other People; Einstein's Monsters
APPLE, MAX - Zap; The Oranging of America
ATWOOD, MARGARET - The Handmaids Tale
AUSTER, PAUL - City of Glass; In the Country of Last
Things
BALLARD, J. G. - Day of Creation; Empire of the Sun
BANKS, IAIN - The Wasp Factory; The Bridge
BANVILLE, JOHN - Kepler; Dr. Copernicus
BARNES, JULIAN - Staring at the Sun
BARTH, JOHN - Giles Goat-Boy; Chimera
BARTHELME, DONALD - The Dead Father
BATCHELOR, JOHN CALVIN - Birth of the People s
Republic of Antarctica
BELL, MADISON SMARTT - Waiting for the End of the
World
BERGER, THOMAS - Arthur Rex
BONTLY, THOMAS - Celestial Chess
BOYLE, T. CORAGHESSAN - Worlds End; Water Music
BRANDAO, IGNACIO - And Still the Earth
BURROUGHS, WILLIAM - Place of Dead Roads; Naked Lunch;
Soft Machine; etc.
CARROLL, JONATHAN - Bones of the Moon; Land of Laughs
CARTER, ANGELA - Nights at the Circus; Heroes and
Villains
CARY, PETER - Illywhacker; Oscar and Lucinda
CHESBRO, GEORGE M. - An Affair of Sorcerers
COETZEE, J. M. - Life and rimes of Michael K.
COOVER, ROBERT - The Public Burning; Pricksongs &
Descants
CRACE, JIM - Continent
CROWLEY, JOHN - Little Big; Aegypt
DAVENPORT, GUY - Da Vincis Bicycle; The Jules Verne
Steam Balloon
DISCH, THOMAS M. - On Wings of Song
DODGE, JIM - Not Fade Away
DURRELL, LAWRENCE - Tunc; Nunquam
ELY, DAVID - Seconds
ERICKSON, STEVE - Days Between Stations; Rubicon Beach
FEDERMAN, RAYMOND - The Twofold Variations
FOWLES, JOHN - A Maggot
FRANZEN, JONATHAN - The Twenty-Seventh City
FRISCH, MAX - Homo Faber; Man in the Holocene
FUENTES, CARLOS - Terra Nostra
GADDIS, WILLIAM - JR; Carpenters Gothic
GARDNER, JOHN - Grendel; Freddy's Book
GEARY, PATRICIA - Strange Toys; Living in Ether
GOLDMAN, WILLIAM - The Princess Bride; The Color of
Light
GRASS, GUNTER - The Tin Drum
GRAY, ALASDAIR - Lanark
GRIMWOOD, KEN - Replay
HARBINSON, W. A. - Genesis; Revelation; Otherworld
HILL, CAROLYN - The Eleven Million Mile High Dancer
HJVRTSBERG, WILLIAM - Gray Matters; Falling Angel
HOBAN, RUSSELL - Riddley Walker
HOYT, RICHARD - The Manna Enzyme
IRWIN, ROBERT - The Arabian Nightmares
ISKANDER, FAZIL - Sandro of Chegam; The Gospel
According to Sandro
JOHNSON, DENIS - Fiskadoro
JONES, ROBERT F. - Blood Sport; The Diamond Bogo
KINSELLA, W. P. - Shoeless Joe
KOSTER, R. M. - The Dissertation; Mandragon
KOTZWINKLE, WILLIAM - Elephant Bangs Train; Doctor
Rat, Fata Morgana
KRAMER, KATHRYN - A Handbook for Visitors From Outer
Space
LANGE, OLIVER - Vandenberg
LEONARD, ELMORE - Touch
LESSING, DORIS - The Four-Gated City; The Fifth Child
of Satan
LEVEN, JEREMY - Satan
MAILER, NORMAN - Ancient Evenings
MARINIS, RICK - A Lovely Monster
MARQUEZ, GABRIEL GARCIA - Autumn of the Patriarch; One
Hundred Years of Solitude
MATHEWS, HARRY - The Sinking of the Odradek Stadium
McEWAN, IAN - The Comfort of Strangers; The Child in
Time
McMAHON, THOMAS - Loving Little Egypt
MILLAR, MARTIN - Milk, Sulphate and Alby Starvation
MOONEY, TED - Easy Travel to Other Planets
MOORCOCK, MICHAEL - Laughter of Carthage; Byzantium
Endures; Mother London
MOORE, BRIAN - Cold Heaven
MORRELL, DAVID - The Totem
MORRISON, TONI - Beloved; The Song of Solomon
NUNN, KEN - Tapping the Source; Unassigned Territory
PERCY, WALKER - Love in the Ruins; The Thanatos
Syndrome
PIERCY, MARGE - Woman on the Edge of Time
PORTIS, CHARLES - Masters of Atlantis
PRIEST, CHRISTOPHER - The Glamour; The Affirmation
PROSE, FRANCINE - Bigfoot Dreams, Marie Laveau
PYNCHON, THOMAS - Gravity's Rainbow; V; The Crying of
Lot 49
REED, ISHMAEL - Mumbo Jumbo; The Terrible Twos
RICE, ANNE - The Vampire Lestat; Queen of the Damned
ROBBINS, TOM - Jitterbug Perfume; Another Roadside
Attraction
ROTH, PHILIP - The Counterlife
RUSHDIE, SALMON - Midnight's Children; Grimus; The
Satanic Verses
SAINT, H. F. - Memoirs of an Invisible Man
SCHOLZ, CARTER & HARCOURT GLENN - Palimpsests
SHEPARD, LUCIUS - Life During Wartime
SIDDONS, ANNE RIVERS - The House Next Door
SPARK, MURIEL - The Hothouse by the East River
SPENCER, SCOTT - Last Night at the Brain Thieves Ball
SUKENICK, RONALD - Up; Down; Out
SUSKIND, PATRICK - Perfume
THEROUX, PAUL - O-Zone
THOMAS, D. M. - The White Hotel
THOMPSON, JOYCE - The Blue Chair; Conscience Place
THOMSON, RUPERT - Dreams of Leaving
THORNBERG, NEWTON - Valhalla
THORNTON, LAWRENCE - Imagining Argentina
UPDIKE, JOHN - Witches of Eastwick; Rogers Version
VLIET, R. G. - Scorpio Rising
VOLLMAN, WILLIAM T. - You Bright and Risen Angels
VONNEGUT, KURT - Galapagos; Slaughterhouse-Five
WALLACE, DAVID FOSTER - The Broom of the System
WEBB, DON - Uncle Ovid's Exercise Book
WHITTEMORE, EDWARD - Nile Shadows; Jerusalem Poker;
Sinai Tapestry
WILLARD, NANCY - Things Invisible to See
WOMACK, JACK - Ambient; Terraplane
WOOD, BARI - The Killing Gift
WRIGHT, STEPHEN - M31: A Family Romance

Slipstream/cyberpunk book reviews

John D McDonald: A Million Words

2009-06-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

I wrote this over on my personal blog, but i thought it would be suitable for here too. Take my advice and drop by 'why new novelists are kinda old' - really excellent post.

I've read almost all the comments on the post "why new novelists are kinda old" both the post and comments are excellent - real food for thought, especially in regards to the potter analogy (you wouldn't expect a masterpiece the first time you approach a potters wheel) and the lifetimes outlines. Also though in the comment section was John D Mcdonald's quote (taken from Elmore Leonards blog

John D. McDonald said that you had to write a million words before you really knew what you were doing. A million words is ten years. By that time you should have a definite idea of what you want your writing to sound like. That’s the main thing. I don’t think many writers today begin with that goal: to write a certain way that has a definite sound to it.

Malcolm Gladwell also stated:

it takes 10 000 hours of practise to get good at anything (about five years of eight hour days, or considerably longer if you’re doing it around your day job, rather than as your day job).

So moral of the lesson from reading this post - i'm 22 and i've 1 million words to go :)

WC Blog Roll!

2009-06-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that this blog is connected to a writer's forum, well i got an idea from absolute.com about a members blog roll.

Essentially people who want to have their blog added to the WC members blogroll, leave a message with your blog and name and i'll add you to it.

The only rule is that you must post the blogroll onto your own blog, or your blog will be removed (its just a way to make sure we all get equal advertising etc.)

Heres the code so far (remove the * symbols) : I will continuously edit when i get new blogs :)

<*marquee
onmouseout="this.start()" direction="up" width="250" onmouseover="this.stop()" loop="true" scrollamount="2" height="130">
<*a href*="http://annerallen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Anne's Blog
<*a href*="http://thechroniclesofemilycross.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Emily's Blog
<*a href*="http://write-ideas14.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">ReNu's Blog
<*/*marquee>

TwitteRevolution

2009-06-25T02:51:00.000-07:00

Some interesting headlines surrounding the world of Twitter-ville

Twitterature

Is there no end to Twittermania? Last week we saw the social networking tool Twitter deployed on the streets of Tehran. This week, moving seamlessly from the sublime to the ridiculous, it is being used to aid the digestion of the world's greatest literature.

Fans of the classics will either be delighted or appalled to learn that the New York-branch of Penguin books has commissioned a new volume that will put great works through the Twitter mangle. The volume has a working title that will make the nerve ends of purists jangle: Twitterature.

In it, the authors will squish the jewels of world literature - they mention Dante, Shakespeare, Stendhal, Joyce and JK Rowling - into 20 tweets or less - that is 20 sentences each with fewer than 140 characters. READ MORE HERE

Libraries Tap into Twitter

Libraries throughout the UK are testing the waters of Twitter as a way to both engage with their readers and dispel their image as fusty, silent enclaves staffed by old-fashioned introverts.

At the British Library (@britishlibrary), they're talking about riding on John Berger's motorbike; "about as good as it gets I think". Aberdeenshire's libraries (@onceuponashire) are recommending books – "Katherine by Anya Seton is a great romp through the 14th century, well worth a read" – while the John Rylands University of Manchester library (@jrul) informs us that it has just made a 14th century cookbook available online, complete with recipes for porpoise, pike and blancmange. Read More here

US Justice Department begins to ask questions about Google deal

2009-06-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

According the Bookseller the US Justice Department has sent formal demands to Google Inc and publishers, including Hachette US, for information about the Google Settlement, in a move that it has been suggested could further stall the deal.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the civil investigative demands, or CIDs, are the strongest sign yet that the Justice Department may seek to block or force a renegotiation of the Settlement, which was struck last year between Google, US authors and US publishers. "It's also an indication of the more intense antitrust scrutiny promised by the Obama administration."

According to Bloomberg, the Authors Guild, which was part of the Settlement received a civil investigative demand from the agency last week. Hachette Book Group also received a formal request for information from the Justice Department.

Additionally The European Commission has also confirmed that it was to launch an inquiry into Google's mass digitisation, to see whether the European Union should protect authors and publishers.

For those who are revising . . .

2009-06-10T01:34:00.000-07:00

Thought that those of us who are at the revision stage might find this checklist on Nathan's Blog useful. I've also included the below list, which has been sitting on my computer since the dawn of time. God only knows where i picked it up - hope it helps!

Put your manuscript away for at least a couple of weeks, then read it right through, asking:

• Have you kept the spotlight on your basic theme and main characters? Sub-plots and minor characters should not overshadow these.

• Have you developed your characters fully, portraying them through their actions, reactions and interactions, and keeping them 'in character' throughout? Don't let them act out of character without a good reason.

• Has your protagonist changed (or been changed) by the end? A main character who neither changes nor grows in some meaningful way between the first and last pages will be static and unconvincing.

• Is your story logical? Even a fantasy needs to make sense within its own terms.

• Does the story maintain a satisfactory 'cause and effect' sequence, with each event following on logically from what has gone - before? A plot that relies on coincidence, for example, or the convenient arrival of a new character, will strain your reader's credulity. Coincidences do happen in real life, but they're seldom convincing in fiction.

• Have you kept control of your chosen narrative voice (or voices) throughout? Check for unintentional switches or slips of viewpoint?

• Does every scene take the action forward, enrich characterisation, increase tension, or provide a calming or reflective interlude? If it does none of these, ask yourself why it's there. Could it be cut without harming the story?

• Check every piece of dialogue - is it 'in character'? Does it contribute to characterisation and/or move the story forward?

• Have you been sparing with description and explanation, leaving room for your reader's imagination to come into play?

• Is the writing strong, evoking all the senses? Have you used passive voice where active voice would work better? Have you used 'to be' verbs supported by adverbs where strong verbs alone would be more effective? Flabby writing can dull the impact of the most brilliant story.

• Look again at the story as a whole. Is the structure balanced? Have you begun in the right place? Don't jeopardise your chances by starting the story too early, providing too much background and taking too long to get things moving. Many a story has been saved by cutting out the first chapter and plunging straight into the action.

• Have you sustained momentum through the middle section, moving the story on through cause and effect, action and reaction, tightening tension as you build to the climax?

• Have you left your reader feeling satisfied that the whole story has been told? Make sure you haven't left any unintentional loose ends.

• Are you absolutely sure your novel is as good as you can make it?

The New Look

2009-06-08T08:42:00.001-07:00

So i played around a little with the format and that, what do you think? I'll try and change font colours to coincide better with the forum.

Headlines: 8th June

2009-06-08T02:47:00.000-07:00

Slumgirl Rubina Ali's Story to be Published

Transworld has bought world English rights in the life story of Rubina Ali, nine-year-old star of "Slumdog Millionaire". Slumgirl Dreaming: My Journey to the Stars will be published simultaneously in adult and children's editions from Transworld's Black Swan imprint and Random House Children's
Books' Bantam imprint, (both £6,99, 16th July).

The rapidly evolving world of digital books is presenting new
challenges - Authors are ready to throw the book and online pirates.

FEEL like reading Australian author Colleen McCullough's Thorn Birds, but don't want to pay for a copy?

Then just hop onto a site like Wattpad.com and the book is available free as an electronic download. While this might be a bonus for readers, it is a disaster for authors, who get no royalties from the downloads. Read more here . . .

Also of interest in this article is the discussion is that last month, Scribd, a Silicon Valley start-up, announced plans to morph itself from a document-sharing website into a vanity publisher, which plans to set up a new store to allow authors to publish their works and set their own price, in an arrangement that will allow authors to keep 80 per cent of the revenue.

Google is offering more than 60 per cent, which will pose a real challenge to the traditional publishing industry standard of 20 per cent royalties to writers.

Any thoughts on whether this is the future of the publishing industry?

Headlines: 5th June

2009-06-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

David Eddings Dies

Bestselling fantasy author David Eddings, who wrote The Belgariad and the Malloreon series, has died aged 77. Read More . . .

Publisher Strikes back at Salinger Lawsuit

The Sweden-based publisher behind the unauthorised sequel to J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye has described the author's attempt to oppose publication of the book as "ludicrous". Read more . . .

Authors Call for Better PLR guidance for new authors

Novelists Jon McGregor and Danny Scheinmann have called for better guidance for first-time authors about the need to register for Public Lending Right, after missing out on payments due to them for their library loans. It follows the revelation last week that Tim Butcher received no PLR payments for Blood River (Chatto), the most borrowed travel title in 2007/08, because he was unregistered. Read more . . .

P.S. PLR - will be a future topic on this blog.

Why I love dog walks

2009-05-29T03:40:00.000-07:00

Hey, Daeonica from the forum here!
Today I'm talking about dog walks. Well, and thinking time. But it starts with walks.
I don't write a plan for my stories - I tend to know what's going to happen for the next 3-4k words, or 2-3 chapters. This means I spend a lot of time thinking about things as I go along. But finding the time I can focus on whichever little problem I'm currently at can be difficult. And this is where the walks come in. Because I do most of my writing at the weekend, I then have to take an hour out of the afternoon to walk the dogs. It's always annoying having to get up from the computer, and just leave everything for a while. But then when we're walking, I find I can just let my thoughts wonder. And it becomes the perfect time to mull over things in my story.
For example, the other day, I knew what was happening in the scene I was writing. I knew everything that was going to be revealed. But then, I wasn't sure how another character in the scene would react. And his reaction was going to be very important. I ended up going through this whole paragraph in my head of how things would seem from his point of view. I don't think I would have taken the time to work that out otherwise. I love that I have this time when it's just me, wandering along, and I can just think. There's nothing to interrupt me. And it's so calm, and quiet. I love it. *g*

So, what I'm saying today is, I think one thing that's vital to writing is thinking time. Some people I think will manage to do all that before they really start, by making a very detailed plan. But even if you do that, I think there's bound to be things along the way in the story that you have to stop and think about.

When do you have your 'thinking time'? What do you do? Do you just sit somewhere, staring into space? Do you do it while you're exercising, or walking dogs, or just sitting around outside? Do you think it's that important to take the time to think, or not?
Love to hear your thoughts on this.

Right Time, Right Place

2009-05-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hey, everybody. This is Jenna from The Delusional and As the Plot Thickens. First off, before I get into the meat of the post, let me just apologize on behalf of myself and the other mods. We've all had a lot of craziness lately (especially Emily, who hasn't been around in ages). Exams, end-of-year crap, and general life-type craziness.

But, since I'm now DONE with school for the year (can I hear a "whoop whoop"?), I'm going to come in and remedy the lack of posts.

Moving into the real post:

A few people have been buzzing about settings lately. Time, place...general "where and when" stuff. There is a grand debate between whether or not to set the story in a "real" place, and also whether or not to mention the year in which the story takes place.

Let me touch on the second debate first.

If a novel is not meant to be historical fiction, mentioning the year can be potentially problematic in the minds of many authors. For example, my first novel was set in 2007. But I wanted it up-to-date, so when it crossed into 2008, I had to go back and fix dates and things like that. And when it crossed into 2009, I did it again.

Honestly, it was one big headache. And then some.

This problem can be avoided by never mentioning actual dates or years and just going by months, maybe days of the week. This seems to work and doesn't really distract from anything. Me, I've just decided not to stress over it. If I absolutely need to mention a specific date (like in my WiP The Enigma, with dates on tombstones), I just do.

Now, as for the debate between real or imagined settings...hm. There are positives and negatives for both options. The obvious downside to using real places is that there is generally a lot of research involved. Whereas in a made-up place, a lot more worldbuilding is involved.

In The Surface of the Deep, the majority of the story takes place in another world. So I didn't have to research anything. However, about two-and-a-half chapters take place in our world -- specifically, in Petal, Mississippi.

Yes, this is where I currently live. I could have just as easily used Petal as a base and then given the town another name, but I decided that since the majority of the book takes place in another, completely fictional place, some reality was needed. So I plopped my characters into my city.

In The Enigma, I made a completely fictional town, but based it heavily on Gainesville, Florida, which is my hometown. I needed it detached from reality just enough that it was almost surreal -- after all, it deals with ghosts and the like.

I think the decision really just weighs on how much research you want to do. Research a real place, make up a fake place...up to you. Or you could take the easy way out and not mention it at all. Me, I don't like that last option. It kind of annoys me when I read a book and I don't know where on Earth the book is set.

For example, the Vampire Kisses series by Ellen Schreiber. The town is only ever called by its nickname, Dullsville. It does say that it's in the USA, but other than that...nothing. It alludes to it being in the Midwest (or at least, I think it does), but it's not clear. And it bugs the crap out of me. I at least want a city name. That way it seems more "real," even if it is, in fact, a made-up place.

So what about you? How do you approach the settings of your stories?

* * * * *

Okay, now that I'm done with the main post, I have something else for you. Since I'm about to go out of town for the whole summer (I'll be around, just not as much) and everybody else is still busy, I'm going to leave you with some linkspam, mostly to interesting writing-related posts that should tide you over until one of the other mods is able to get a post in.

So here goes:

* This first link is to a post on my writing blog, about cliffhangers: Cliffhangers

* CJ Darlington has some more thoughts about settings: Location, Location, Location...Of My Book

* Natalie has a great post about writing YA: How to Write YA

* Lady Glamis posted a great bit about foils on The Literary Lab: Create a Foil

* And, finally, KLo has an awesome post about reading and writing: The Relationship Between Reading and Writing

And...that's all I've got for today. Hope everybody out there in the writing world is doing great, and hope to see you around. ;)

~ Jenna

Headlines: 7th May

2009-05-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

Harper Collins 3/4 loss

HarperCollins Worldwide saw its sales shrink 20% in the first three months of 2009, with a $30m restructuring charge relating to its recent round of redundancies sending the business into a third-quarter loss. The result continues a difficult trend for the publisher, with sales down 25% and operating profits off by three-quarters in its previous quarter. Read More . .

Spanish Coup Novel for Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury has acquired world English rights to a Spanish novel that tells the story behind the attempted coup against the country's parliament in 1981. Read More . . .

Media men reject Kindle DX

Leading newspaper-owners have rejected Amazon’s charging model behind the Kindle DX, following the online retailer’s announcement of its new large-screen device yesterday, the Financial Times has reported.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch said his newspapers will not be signing up to Amazon.com’s Kindle DX, despite expressing confidence in the model of e-reading devices.

Murdoch, who owns newspapers such as the Sun, the Times and the Wall Street Journal, said: “We will not be giving our content rights to the fine people who created the Kindle.” Read more

Headlines: 6th May

2009-05-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

Kindle Comes to Schools

Finally with the dawning of e-readers, thousands of school kids backs might be saved from carrying heavy books to school as Amazon is planning to lauch a Kindle which is redesigned to support text book and academic tables.

Beginning in Autumn, some students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland will be given large-screen Kindles with textbooks for chemistry, computer science and a freshman seminar already installed. The university plans to compare the experiences of students who get the Kindles and those who use traditional textbooks. Read more here . . .

Come See us Over at the Forum!

2009-04-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

A YouTube advertisement made by Writer's Chronicle Forum moderator, Novel-Goddess (aka Jenna).

Description: Too Much, Too Little

2009-04-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, all! This is Jenna from As the Plot Thickens, here today to talk to you about description. Enjoy!

Description is important in every kind of fiction. It tells readers what that character looks like, how that fish swims, what color that flower is, and how that person is acting. Even the simplest "she looked bored" is description.

A lot of people can't use description correctly. I read a lot of writing from my peers (both on-line and friends from school) on a regular basis, and lately I've noticed something: there's either too much description or not enough. Not to say that this is always the case, but it's common.

Too little description is like watching a television screen full of static: you can't get a clear picture. Everything is distorted. A lot of writers, when encountered with a lack of description in their own work, bulk it up, saying what color something is, the exact size, the exact weight...no. Okay, no. It's stale. I'll admit, I've done this before, especially with characters. It's easy when introducing a new character (especially a secondary or bit-player) to just rattle off gender, eye and hair color, and maybe the height.

But that just doesn't work.

The first things I notice when meeting somebody new aren't simply what they look like. I always note several other things: how they hold themselves, whether or not they look me in the eye, the expressions on their faces, and what they seem to think about their environment. Your POV character would probably notice these things, too, instead of just what would go on a police report.

Compare the following descriptions (I'll use my character Astra, since I've been working with her story a lot lately):

Astra was tall, with red hair and silver eyes. Her arms were crossed and she frowned at me.

Astra was tall, and she used it to her advantage, towering over me and making me feel even smaller than I was. Her flaming red hair was pulled back so that it couldn't fall into her narrow, shining silver eyes that regarded me with utter contempt. Her arms were crossed and her thin lips formed a serious frown, as if she'd already decided that I was worthless and was only there to annoy her.

Honestly, which one sounds better? The second one? Thought so. Granted, it was a quick write, but you have to admit that it still kicks the fist description's butt.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, too much description can be catastrophic. I once read one of my friend's stories, and, God love her, she had some amazing description. But it didn't work. Why? Because it was unnecessary. She spent a page and a half describing a single flower -- but the flower was in no way shape or form important to her story.

It's like not revealing the murderer in a murder mystery. You build up all that suspense and then leave your reader falling flat on their face. If you're going to spend almost two pages describing a flower, you'd better make sure that the flower's important. If I read all that description about that flower and nothing happens to that flower, I'm going to feel cheated.

Basically, you can't just insert a bunch of description and expect it to carry the story. It has to be there for a reason. And if there's an important scene, you darn sure better describe exactly what it looks, smells, feels, tastes, and sounds like, and you'd best be sure that you describe your character's reactions to it, too. We expect somebody to be scared crapless by a big, scary monster and if you don't describe your character's fear, it's going to sound off. Or, if your character *isn't* scared of the big, scary monster, you'd better tell us what he/she does feel.

Recall the two descriptions. The second one had the POV character's thoughts about Astra as well as description. Which gives a better image of the scene?

Just keep this in mind when writing description: Make sure it serves a point, and make sure that you've described it beyond just giving a police report.

~Jenna

Bloomsbury and a Dog named Bo

2009-04-16T02:39:00.000-07:00

First off

Bloomsbury have sparked a row over cover prices

Bloomsbury has removed the recommended retail price from a number of backlist titles to enable it to increase prices of older books to deal with rising costs. But the move, which Bloomsbury claimed was "common practice", has surprised retailers, with Foyles c.e.o. Sam Husain saying that it amounted to a "a major shift in the industry". Read More Here. . .

Bo gets star role in Picture Book

US President Barack Obama's new dog, Bo, is to star in his own picturebook.

According to Sky News, Bo, America's Commander in Leash will be published next week. Mascot Books, a small independent publisher from Virginia in the US, has rushed out the title. The creators had been researching the title for two months, leaving spaces for pictures of the dog before Bo was chosen. Read more . . .

Commander in leash = so cute!!!!!

Amazon blames error for censor

2009-04-14T03:51:00.001-07:00

Well in the last few days the blogosphere has been littered with #amazonfail and other threads discussing the recent removal of certain books from the online charts (mostly gay, lesbian, erotica etc.)

"Amazon has claimed that the removal of a number of so-called adult books from its online charts over the weekend was due to "an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error". It has denied that this is a deliberate policy, despite some claims that the retailer does delist what it considers to be 'adult' material from its charts." READ MORE HERE. . .

Novel News

2009-04-13T03:51:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that i have quite a number of blogs, one of which is novel news (which has been neglected lately due to real life stuff) which gives updates and happenings in the world of publishing. I've decided to delete the blog and move all news posts here. It makes more sense.

thought i'd give yeh all a heads up

'Ello!

2009-04-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello, readers of The Writer's Chronicle. I am one of the happy little mods from The Writer's Chronicle Forum, and one of the new contributors to this blog! You may know my as Jen from The Delusional and As the Plot Thickens, or Novel-Goddess (or Novel) from The Writer's Chronicle Forum.

This isn't a fancy writing post (I've yet to come up with a topic to clear with Emily), but I figured that I'd better to my introduction post sometime soon. So here it is:

I'm a young adult fantasy writer, and I like to think that my writing is authentic since I actually am a young adult. I've been coming up with stories since I could form complete sentences, and I've been telling them for ages. I picked up the pen in fifth grade, shortly after reading "The School Story," by Andrew Clements. If you haven't read that book, go read it. It's what first inspired me to want to get published.

I started working on my first "serious" manuscript in November of 2006, but it's since fallen to the wayside in favor of my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel, The Surface of the Deep, which is currently in the revisions/querying stage. Meaning that I sent out seven queries and got seven rejections before realizing that I needed to do some more revisions. People, don't send out those letters until you're sure that you're ready. But now it's almost up to par and I'm drafting more letters.

Anyway...

The best complement that I've ever receivedwas from one of my fellow pre-published (I hate the word "aspiring") authors, saying that I have more talent than many published authors twice my age. My worst enemy/friendly rival is my English teacher, who is also attempting to find representation for his novel. It's turned into a contest, and whoever gets an acceptance letter first gets to rub it in the other's face. Let's hope it's me that gets to do the gloating.

Anyway, that's all for now. Look for more posts from me in the future!

♥Jen

Hello, and Sticking Power

2009-04-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
Emily recently invited my to contribute to the blog, so I thought I'd start my first post with a brief introduction. I'm an aspiring author, having completed my first 'novel-thing', and am hard at work on a second. It's called 'Dangerous Dances' and is Urban Fantasy. Or paranormal romance. I'm not quite sure yet. Anyway, it's about the adventures of a college student called Sally, who works in a bookshop where some of the books come alive. And at the moment, it's being haunted. Her other problems include an ex-for-the-moment boyfriend, Matt, who happens to be a vampire, and the fact that her best friend keeps falling out with her over Sally now being friends with vampires.
I'm posting it in it's roughest-of-rough-drafts state on dA, and the first chapter, if you're interested, is here: Chapter One

Now, the main post.
One thing that I've found to be a really valuable piece of advice is, stick to one story.
Easy, you might say. And so did I. You start out with this lovely, shiny story idea that you're so excited with. If you're a planner, then you've got this exciting plan, you know where it's going, you think it's going to be your best story yet. THIS will be the book that you get your publishing deal with.
There will probably be other ideas bouncing around your head, if not at once then maybe after a few weeks. But it doesn't matter, you're too busy focussing on this lovely book.
And then, somewhere along the line, you'll get to a bit that's harder than the stuff before to write. And suddenly the other idea starts to look easier, nicer.

What can often happen then, though, is that you'll never finish something. There will always be harder parts. The trick is to keep going. Don't let yourself get distracted, unless you really think the story is beyond saving.

This is a bit of an issue for me at the moment - one of the ideas that's been in my head for a few months has started to shout louder. And I'm at a sticky bit in my main novel. I want to write lots of the new one - in fact, I was bad, and wrote several pages when I was trapped on a long car journey at the weekend. But if I start doing that, I know Dangerous Dances will get lost. I won't want to come back to it. I have to stick to it for now, and save this new one for later.
I'm not really saying, don't write anything else than your main story. I think it's better to work on your main story first. Set yourself goals - 'I'll write X in the morning, then work on Y in the afternoon' or, try and write a certain amount of the 'main' story before you work on a side project.
I think what I'm going to do for the moment is use my shiny new idea as a kind of bribery - I can work on it if I write 1000 words of my main story in a day.
So, I think my main point here, is that it's important to stick to an idea. Without sticking to my novel, I won't finish. This other idea will be here later. There will be a time to work on it. Try and remember, in the difficult parts, how much you loved the idea to start with.

What do you think about working on multiple stories at once?
Do you find it hard to stick to just one?
Do you think it's too easy to be distracted to new ideas, and end up not finishing things?

My main blog is here: Livejournal - I talk about my writing there. Just comment to be added.
I've also got one on blogger, that will be up and running properly soon, about my gap year: Adventures in America.

AC Article about the writer's Chronicle

2009-04-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

The talented Jennifer White wrote an amazing article about the Writer's Chronicle for AC.

How can someone be so talented!?!?!

All About the Writer's Chronicle Community Forum
Many writers find that their critique groups aren't as helpful as they'd like. With The Writer's Chonicle, writers can get positive feedback and advice on any topics related to writing.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1615143/all_about_the_writers_chronicle_community.html

The Writer's Chronicle Community Forum

2009-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody!

I thought i'd let you all know that i've set up a community forum for writers.

I'm hoping this foum will be a place for people to share/discuss issues and topics related to writing.

Blogging is amazing but often posting can be very one sided. I'm a member of a similar board (the writer's draft) and the advice and help i've received from others there has been amazing.

So please drop in and have a look, and maybe join.

Thanks Emily

The Writer's Chronicle Forum

Good Idea/Bad Idea: Fanfiction

2009-02-05T03:18:00.000-08:00

FanFiction

"In the world of fan fiction, great TV and movie characters never die. They just get new scripts" Malene Arpe

or

"Fanfiction is saying, "the original author really screwed up the story, so I’m going to fix it" - Robin Hobb (original post was deleted from her website)

The practice of Fanfiction is not a new one, but it certainly is controversial!

Since the beginning of the written word, people have taken from others, changed the perspective etc. and honed their skills and expressed their enjoyment of a story by penning 'what if' scenarios for the likes of sherlock Holmes & Little women novels. This was the 'secret' pass time - stuff people never would see or hear of but was done purely for the writer's own pleasure - until now.

Hello and welcome to the Internet.

Hello and welcome to 'Fandoms', 'Fanfics' and 'Fanart'.

Hello and welcome to authors being asked their opinion of whether Fanfiction is a Good idea or a bad idea.

First off, Fanfiction is defined by Wikipedia as (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF or fic) a broadly-defined term for stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator.

Works of fan fiction are rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work's owner, creator, or publisher; also, they are almost never professionally published. Fan fiction, therefore, is defined by being both related to its subject's canon fictional universe while simultaneously existing outside that universe.

Good Idea

Enjoyment (non profit): In the argument of good vs. bad in regards to the practice of fanfiction, the main idea of FF is overlooked. FF in itself does not start out purely as a way of training and honing your skills as a writer (this is a positive side effect) but as a method of fan self expression. As a child i used to spend hours imagining different scenarios and characters for my favourite TV programmes like Buffy, Angel, Xmen etc. you can imagine my absolute delight and surprise when we finally got the internet and i came across 'fanfiction.net'.

It was like finding the holy grail - what i had done for years in my head, could be written down, posted and critiqued and i was not being judged for doing it! A whole community opened up for me and i began to have 'fans' of my own and made friends.

i never thought that i was insulting the original author/writer with my harmless crossovers and poems or that i was breaking any law (i always used a disclaimer) but was merely writing for the sheer fun of it. Looking back i also know that i was developing my 'writing style' and improving my writing through both having 'beta's' correct my grammar and spellings and people reviewing my work.

I never thought of my ff as any more than a hobby and a bit of fun. I never thought that they would ever be published or ever make money and more than likely damage my reputation (when/if get published) as a writer in the long run.

Imitation (not stealing) is the greatest form of flattery after all, isn't it?

Development of Skills:

I think these two quotes sum it up better than i can, Scott Lynch is on fire:

"Anyone truly interested in becoming a better writer-- anyone with the diligence and the self-honesty needed to improve their work sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph-- can use fanfic as a means to that end. I wrote Doctor Who and Dune fanfic in my early teen years, long before I knew there was a term for what I was writing. That fanfic was pretty rapidly overtaken and replaced by my original work, but the fact remains that I did it, and that fanfic was really my first attempt at the complex structure and multi-level narratives of adult fiction." Scott Lynch

" fiction writing is much less a magical talent than it is a set of fairly discrete skills that can be identified and trained, that must be identified and trained, in fact. And fanfic can be used as the creative equivalent of a training vessel-- a means to teach the nuts and bolts of the craft; a means to become familiar with the narrative toolkit from which stories are constructed and through which characters are illuminated. There is a time for every writer with professional aspirations to leave the fanfic nest and stretch their wings, but the fact is, there's nothing dirty or dishonorable about having been there in the first place." Scott Lynch

In Summary

Fanfiction is a great starting point to both hone your skills and just enjoy writing! eventually if you look to be published you have to leave the world of fanfic behind, but at least you have the basics to work with.

Bad Idea

Is fanfiction legal?

Is it fan admiration/ free speech or copyright infringement/plagiarism?

I think the negative aspects of fanfiction can be summarised using Robin Hobb's points of argument (original post deleted):

Fanfic is a form of identity theft
Fanfiction insults the original author
Fanfic is a bad way to learn how to write
Fanfic is copyright infringement
Writing fanfic is analogous to being an Elvis impersonator
Posting fanfic sullies the author's good name

Addressing the more objective point of Hobb's argument - the reason that the legality area is so murky is because Fanfiction lies between the grey area of copyright law and fair use use (due to its non profit nature) and is defined as a derivative work which could be subject to US copyright laws.

as Henry Jenkins states

"Nobody is sure whether fan fiction falls under current fair-use protections. Current copyright law simply doesn't have a category for dealing with amateur creative expression."

Also the legality issues of copyright law, trademark law, fair use law does not take into account the scope of the vastness and the international community of the Internet!

It should be noted though that when an author expresses that they do not want fanfiction written about their work - "you don't have the option of not complying; if you post unauthorized derivative material and the rights-holder asks you to edit or remove it, you're bound by law to do so-- and you should consider yourself bound by common courtesy to do so, as well." Scott Lynch

However the fact is that Fanfiction is the manipulation of characters, plot and writing created by another person for non profit distribution to the public.

for many authors such as Robin Hobb (quoted from Scott lynch LJ) the legality issue is only a small part of the negative aspect of FF for writers (as the FF work will never be 'published'). For most authors who don't like FF it is more of a question of 'taste' and abuse of their characters being the problem.

"Every fan fiction I’ve read to date, based on my world or any other writer’s world, had focused on changing the writer’s careful work to suit the foible of the fan writer. Romances are invented, gender identities changed, fetishes indulged and endings are altered. It’s not flattery."

Author/holders of copyrights differing views:

Anti - Fanfic Vs. Pro - Fanfic

For a long time i believe FF was a 'don't ask, won't tell' sort of hobby, in which the majority of writers turned a blind eye. in recent years though there has been an explosion of pro-anti views in regards to fanfiction, which was mostly due to a very scalding attack on FF writers by Robin Hobb.
You wouldn't think a (normal) post denouncing FF would cause such a stir especially when you have authors such as Anne Rice & George R. Martin voicing similar opinions (but in a nicer way). However there was Nothing normal about Hobb's post which crossed the line with words like;

"At the extreme low end of the spectrum, fan fiction becomes personal masturbation fantasy in which the fan reader is interacting with the writer’s character. That isn’t healthy for anyone."

Backlash was fierce across both her own and a number of other fandoms. Writers like Joss Whedon and Scott Lynch voiced their opposition to her perspective and the 'rant' is now been deleted and replaced with another on the evils of blogging (as you can see i've given up on being objective at this point).

I can understand why she may have been frustrated with some FF (which can be truly awful) but do so quietly or at least nicely - cause those same fans buy your books. She is under the impression people write FF about books they don't like, its actually the opposite - so she just alienated a huge fanbase who would buy her books no matter what and alienated potential readers (like myself) by calling FF writing 'unhealthy'.

Other writers have the polar opposite view, and see fanfiction as something that will 'live after' their tv shows are gone or their novels have been read to death and shows the fan's love for their stories!

"I love it. I absolutely love it. I wish I had grown up in the era of fan fiction, because I was living those shows and those movies that I loved and I would put on the score to Superman and just relive the movie over and over," says Joss Whedon, when asked how he feels about his shows living on in the fanfic community.
Alot of production companies such as those involved with Star Trek and Buffy even compile these fanfics into published books for fanbase consumption.

JK Rowling says she loves fan fiction of all kinds, though she admits to finding some of the works to be "quite bizarre," and has also complained about sexually explicit HP fan fiction in 'child friendly' FF zones.

It seems to me that the majority of writers are in the pro/don't care category and turn a blind eye to FF so they don't have to be painted into a corner and have to chastise fans over copyright. Most seem to enjoy the fan admiration but are obviously wary of certain types of fanfics which would be classified as 'disturbing'. In my opinion however there is only a very small percentage of those fanfic writers who 'push the boundaries' of whats acceptable.

I think authors need to remember that "Readers aren't worshippers; they're paying customers of an entertainment product that depends on its interactivity for its power to compel and fascinate. " Scott Lynch

fanfiction = free publicity

any publicity = good publicity

A perfect example of anti vs. pro can be seen in Scott Lynch's critique on Robin Hobbs rant on fanfiction.

Thanks for reading, leave a comment and let me know what you think about either this post or this topic!

Interesting Links & Resources

Good Idea/Bad Idea: Pen names

2009-02-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

Pen Names: Good Idea/ Bad idea

What is in a name?

The debate about whether a pen name benefits or hinders your writing career is still being hotly debated. It is my understanding (from all those hours spent scouring websites for useless info) that the benefits/damage of a pen name all depends on a person's specific circumstance.

Some of the biggest names (pun) in writing have used pen names e.g. Stephen King, Nora Roberts etc. so the question is: Is it good/bad for you? Only you know what your circumstances/ personal preference are. Personally for me, I didn't believe my 'real' name was marketable, also at the time i chose Emily Cross, there was a chance that i would become an academic writer. And well you know Emily Cross is such a coooool name.

Below I'm going to go into the pros/cons of having a pen name (links to info sites below)

Richard Bachman, Lewis Carroll, Trevanian, George Sand, Mark Twain, Nora Roberts, Stephen King. All these authors and a load more have written some of their best works under a pseudonym (pen name). I'm going to briefly outline the Good Points of having a Pseudonym:

Anonymity: This is the most common reason why first time writers use a pen name. As a first timer, we have a lot to prove both to ourselves, publishers, family and friends. Sometimes being able to hide behind another identity makes this easier.
On a less personal level some authors chose the anonymity of a pen name as they wish to separate their 'day' job from their writing job. for example, a professor of literary fiction who spends their nights writing 'genre' fiction may not wish to be known under the same name.

Marketability: If you have the name 'Amanda Bent' (yes i knew someone with that name) you could hardly hope to be taken seriously as a writer. Alot of authors whose names are less crinchy, chose a pseudonym because they understand that in the 21st century being an author is not just about the writing. its about the 'Brand' of your name, the marketability and finally the SALES. A recent example (although it is her real name) is Stephenie Meyer - her name has become a market onto itself and is instantly recognisable as the leading name in YA fiction. Stephenie Meyer is a suitable name for an author in the genre of female YA fiction. I doubt Twilight would seem half as appealing to its 'audience' if it was written by 'Butch Weeds'. As i have found out recently - platforming and reaching out to your audience/ readership is key to success. So think long and hard about picking your name.

Crossing the Genre: Many established writers such as Nora Roberts change their name when establishing themselves in another genre. Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb gave the illusion and 'expectation' of the thriller/crime genre by not eluding to her previous writing or even her gender. Its important not to confuse readers/fans by publishing works that are completely different from the genre you usually write in. Ian Banks was asked to provide a pseudonym for his Science fiction works. Ian M. Banks was born. Clever Man, lets his readers know with one letter what to expect.

Protection: A pseudonym in some cases provides protection to the author if they are going to publish something controversial and can also add a sense of credibility to a work. Sadly although in most places gender of a writer does not matter, a pseudonym can protect an author by hiding their sex, ethnicity, race and even religion. A pseudonym can also protect an author from themselves. Writings which were 'flops' can be forgotten and the author can start a new with a new identity or their original name.

Pseudonym is it a Bad idea? Many authors/editors/publishers for legal, copyright and sales issues believe so feeling it can have a hit/miss appeal with readership. here are some of the main arguments against pen names.

Sign of the amateur? Many Literary agents and publishers see the pen name as the sign of an amateur, and often question whether the author themselves are actually proud of their work. Apart from the headache's it provide publishers/editors to sign cheques to fictional name etc. it is a gamble for them on whether this pen name will work as a 'brand'. Often first time pen names can come across as gimmicky or even pretentious and can affect whether a L.A or publisher will want to work with an author. During the course of researching for this article, the advice 'use your real name unless its horrible' is heavily emphasised. Basically establish yourself and only when you go to a different genre - consider a pen name.
Media Frenzy: In today's media crazy world, anonymity is not realistic or should i say 'profitable'. The book business has changed and the image of the writer as an isolated fellow in slippers and dressing gown are done and dusted. Book signings, Radio, TV shows etc. are the order of the day in a writers life. The fans want to know their authors and interact with them. Example Stephenie Meyer, she used the Internet to reach out to her small base of fans - and by the time the third novel of the TW quadrilogy came out she was on the top of the new york times best seller list. You have to be prepared to face the media, promote your book and promote your pen name too. Fans like their authors to be transparent. Often the pen name can back fire into 'flops' and low sales if the readers favour turns.
Legality/copyright: This is a complicated area, which many first time authors forget to consider. i REALLY am not qualified to even begin to explain how this all works but i just want to make people AWARE that you have to consider that a pen name will en cure more work.

I hope the Good Idea/Bad Idea points have helped.

Remember: Pseudonyms are generally a personal choice and can be determined by a number of factors such as previous experience, situations, and future prospects. Its up to you to Decide.

When i decided to pick Emily Cross, I had to consider a few things. At the bottom of the article i've provided a few tips i kept in mind.

The Logistics of Pseudonyms

I found the below excerpt from Moira Allen's article extremely helpful as to how to go about 'introducing' your Pseudonym to publishers (link to her article below).
If anyone shows further interest, let me know, i may look into the schematics of the 'hows' and 'legal stuff' of introducing it and do a separate post addressing this issue (and maybe hunt down what some common L.agents/publishers' stances are on this)

Often, writing under a pseudonym is as easy as putting the phrase "writing as" on your manuscript. For articles, short stories, and poetry, you can simply put your real name in the upper left corner of your manuscript (or on the cover page), and list your pen name as your byline beneath the title. However, to ensure that your editor publishes the work under the "correct" name, you may want to remind the editor in your cover letter that you are "writing as" your pseudonym.
The final thing to keep in mind when using a pseudonym is that it will not protect you from any legal action that might result from your writing. A pseudonym has no existence as a "legal" entity; no matter what name you put on your work, the ultimate responsibility for that work always rests on you.

Tips when it comes to Pen Names:

Don't pick something generic or forgettable but also don't pick something too gimmicky or hard to spell. You'll need something that will appeal to your publishers/editors and to you readership, so memorable but easy to spell is KEY
Think about Shelving: if you are writing in a certain genre think about where your books will be placed. Most publishers/authors think a name beginning in the ABC's is a good idea.
Research: Its easy now a days to google your name and see if its already taken. There are a number of Emily Cross out there, but none are authors/writers and none are serial killers or criminals so for now i think i'm safe.
Pick a name which reflects the genre you are writing in: if you plan to write horrors, the pen name Zoe Valentine will not provide the 'expectation' that readership looks for.
Look into the legalities and copyright before signing contracts etc. Make sure it is clear that you own the pen name.

Articles Used:

Should a writer adopt a Pen name?

Moira Allen Article

Further Information:

Author Names

Information on the legal and copyright issues involved in using a pseudonym

If you have any questions or comments on whether this was helpful, Let me know!

Also if you have any specific topic you want in the next good idea/bad idea post let me know!

The Best of Blog: PlatForm Building

2009-02-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

So here is my first Best of Blog post. Basically, as i have hopped from blog to blog, i have come across some great gems of info on certain issues, so i've decided to share!

Today the topic is Platform Building.

Now the reason i set up this blog was due to an article i read called Moon-rats Guide to Being Published. Most of the points sounded all too familiar to my aspiring author's ears but one thing that struck me was the concept of Platform Building.

What is Platform Building?

Platform Building is creating a 'brand' or image of yourself that you can sell to the literary agents and publishers. Part of this is both building up legitimate credentials (your moms opinion does not count) by previous publications and building up a base or network of fans.

Basically, platform building is not rocket science, as Christina Katz says its merely

" ... the ways you're visible and appealing to your potential, future or actual readership. To build a platform, an author must create and maintain a Web presence without sacrificing too much regular writing time or paying a fortune in fees. Platform development is not only important to existing authors, it's also crucial for wannabe authors or soon-to-be authors."

Why Do I Need a Platform? I'm amazing as is, right?

In my mind i thought this was unnecessary - Talent shines through, but as it has been pointed out numerous times on various blogs, sometimes the ok author with a good fanbase wins over the great author with none.

Its the world we live in as Moon Rat says "This is the Walmartization of the book industry".

What does this mean?

Basically you have to Brand and Market yourself and what your selling (your writing). Exactly like the Branding of products in your local supermarket - its all about differentiating a product on the shelf from everything else. Its all about the packaging, the product and the volume.

Ok so its fine when your talking about branding some inanimate object like a tin of beans and not some one's 'masterpiece' or 'talent' - well 'Brand Management' is alive and well in the business industry and it seems to be leaking into the publishing world. A perfect example of a Branding Phenomenon is Twilight

As a marketing blog says

"How did a then 32 year-old stay-at-home-mother named Stephanie Meyer, with no prior novels published, take a dream she had about a romance between a vampire and a teenage girl and turn it into every author's dream - more than 25 million books sold and a knockout Hollywood adaptation?

The Internet had a lot to do with it."

"So she created a personal website, StephenieMeyer.com, that was far more personal and intimate than the website Little, Brown developed. She posted blogs and was eager to engage personally with those who would comment. Not content to relegate the 'conversation' to StephenieMeyer.com, she went to other websites and interacted with individuals on their online turf."

Whatever your opinion of Twilight, you can't deny its success and that it is a viable product which was pitched perfectly to its intended audience and used proper 'branding' methods to launch a platform for itself. An Apple with two pale hands will always be seen as 'Twilight' related from now on, with even a CS Lewis book with a similar cover causing fan outrage.

Its like the Obama brandomania craze that's everywhere now. Branding Sells. Ask CoCa Cola.

Is it any wonder that l.Agents and Publishers want an established fanbase 'prior' to publication if Twilight is the result of 'post-publication' platforming. Granted, it took two years and the third book in the series for Stephenie Meyer to even dent the bestseller list, but that was primarily due to her 'word of mouth' fanbase exploding.

With scary stats like these, branding/platform building is becoming as essential as editing to the writing world.

How Do I Build A Platform?

Basically there are two main steps to building a platform.

1. Credentials -

NonFiction: Expertise, Credentials etc.

Fiction: Readership, Awards, Previous Publications (Short stories etc. in magazines etc)

2. Networking -

Website, Magazines, Journals, Competitions, E-Zines, Blogs, paper columns, etc.

as the BookEnd Lit. Agency state "a platform goes beyond just who the author is. The book itself also has to have a platform."

The essentials of good writing obvious need to be there, but you also need to establish yourself with a readership (especially if its non fiction, where expertise and regular readership is essential). For example in the post dawn era of the DaVinci code and other similar books Nathan Bransford posted a blog entry about 'what is a platform?' and talked about the influx of terrorism themed books.

"But here's the problem: no one who is writing me is an expert on terrorism."

Nathan further makes the great point that

"Let's say you are thinking about writing a book of nonfiction. The first thing you need to do is assume that every single person in the entire world wants to write a book (which isn't really an assumption, it's basically true). The second thing you need to do is ask yourself if you are the most qualified person in the entire world to write that book. "

So this is nonfiction - credentials, expertise and knowledge are very very important.

Fiction is the same - you need credentials to help but being KNOWN helps more.

Just Look at the Celebrity bestsellers. Cha-Ching.

"Publishers are even starting to look more and more at platform in fiction. A lot of debut novelists already have a web-based following or are fixtures in their local writing scenes. Or they are a celebrity or have a good back story. You can see publishers' obsession with platform reflected in the JT Leroy scandal. Great writing is not always enough, and, recognizing this, a struggling writer created an entire fictional author with a tragic (completely made up) life history just to get ahead. It actually worked until, you know, the supposedly HIV+ transgender former teenage prostitute author was discovered to be a 42 year old woman"

So apart from creating a false identiy - here is my list of tips for 'lazy' platform building (fiction)

Network - Join communities of writers either in 'real life' or online, either through community forums like the writers draft or critique groups etc. Join associations affiliated with your genre as well.The world of publishing is very very small.
Web 2.0 - Online community forums, web rings, websites, blogs, e-zines etc. get the word out that you exist!
Credentials - this is the BIG one. L.Agents like to see credentials such as previous publications in known/independent (basically not your own ezine mag) magazines or placements or awards in competitions!

For More tips (that involve being less lazy) have a look at this pdf file.

Ten Top Tips for Platform Building

What Now?

Go Platform Build !! You can never start too early! (and *cough*network *cough* link me!)

I hope that people found this article interesting and that you click the links, cause there is a great source of information out there from people in the know and in the industry.

Thanks for Reading (if you got this far down the post)

Sources (in no particular order)