gravy
mashed potatoes
summer squash and wild mushrooms
cauliflower and cheese sauce
yeast rolls with walnuts
fresh spinach salad
pumpkin pie
apple pie
No dressing.
The refrigerator decided to freeze my vegetables.
Celery does not like to be frozen
Friday, November 27, 2009
Ah .... the holidays
gravy
mashed potatoes
summer squash and wild mushrooms
cauliflower and cheese sauce
yeast rolls with walnuts
fresh spinach salad
pumpkin pie
apple pie
No dressing.
The refrigerator decided to freeze my vegetables.
Celery does not like to be frozen
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Technical Topics -- Beginnings and Tipping Points
I was thinking about story openings, since I will have to do one soon. I was trying to decide what makes a good opening, and how I start my own stories. These two are not necessarily linked by bands of steel.
Thinking about process ...
The story opening is determined by the big crisis that lies at the heart of the story. The Climax. The Big Kahuna.
Now, of course, there's lotsa stuff that leads up to that Crisis. Various characters did this and that and weather happened and a declaration of war and Susie came down with the pox.
But when I go seeking for a good opening, I'm looking at what the female protagonist does -- Her thoughts, actions and decisions. Because, for me, the book is about the female protagonist. She's going to determine where the story begins.
So ... I look at the protagonist's actions as far as I have them figured out.
Of course, I don't look at every bloody thing she does.
There are those actions that are absolutely necessary for The Crisis to occur and the story to take the path it does. This is 'story action'.
Then there's a whole bunch of to-ing and fro-ing that could be changed without affecting the story much. That is not 'story action' and I can kind of ignore it.
Entering the vampire cave is necessary. It is 'story action'.
Buying eggs at the market -- not so much.
It's like that.
When I wander through the protagonist's story action, what I'm looking for is 'tipping points'.
One of these tipping points is going to be the first scene in the story. I just have to find the right one.
"'Tipping points'?" you say.
And "?"
Yeah. Ok.
Every story has many places where a different decision would lead to a different Crisis and a different story. These are 'tipping points'. These are moments where the protagonist has an opportunity to change everything. Her decision could go either way. What she decides matters.
Going aside here to natter about generalities ...
Tipping points make the protagonist strong and interesting. Story is not about what happens to the protagonist. Story is what the protagonist decides to do with what happens to her.
And the tipping points are her decisions.
This is where she grabs hold of the story by the throat and wrestles it down and makes it do what she wants.
Writers -- giving my opinion here and knowing it is not necessarily true -- want to show these tipping points, because they are so important and so revealing and just so generally cool. Even if everybody who's slogged their way to page 134 knows the protagonist will not run from the upcoming battle, the reader still wants to see that decision to stay and be brave. She wants to see the 'tipping point' where the protagonist has a choice and makes it.
All of which is just generally to speak in praise of tipping points.
Anyway. Getting back to where the beginning of the story is going to be.
I look at my protagonist's actions. I look at her decisions.
I want to start the story with a tipping point.
Why do I pick one tipping point and not another?
What is characteristic of the scene and the tipping point that starts the story?
*-- The tipping-point decision in the scene that starts the story is necessary for the action of the story. It directly leads to the Crisis at the end.
*-- The start scene is early in the long sequence of protagonist actions related to the Crisis.
(Right. The beginning scene is early. yeah. duh ...)
But not too early.
What it is ...
There's a long line of protagonist actions, stretching way into the past and extending far into the future. Maybe like, y'know, beads.
Only a little section of this action can happen 'on stage' in the book.
We know the last on-stage actions are going to be when The Crisis is resolved.
The first on-stage actions ...
Well, we're working on the beginning right now.
We want to scoop as much important story action into the book as we can. We want all the good stuff to happen 'on stage'. Essential story action that happens before the beginning of the book has to be shoved into some flashback or backstory or some kind or prologue. This is a weakness in the story structure.
Note how I'm talking only about 'story action'. We want to scoop in story action. The important stuff. We want to write it out as scenes and put it on stage.
We don't want to write scenes that have no story action and only convey information. We especially do not want to start with a scene like that.
*-- Ideally, we want to start with a scene that is chronologically tight with the rest of the story. That is, we do not want an outlier in time. This avoids a hiatus in the action.
If we can manage it, we don't go all prologue-y with a, 'Two years before' . . .
Prologues are necessary in some stories, but I feel it may not be the tightest of all structures. There are folks who disagree with me.
Full disclosure time here -- I have to keep knocking my hand off the keyboard to keep myself from writing prologues.
*-- A tipping point means the protagonist makes an active choice. She has the capacity for some sort of action.
Sometimes there doesn't seem to be much the character can do. The protag is a victim trapped in the dungeon. A Cinderella bound to her stepmother's will.
What the writer does is shake the story around to give the protagonist choice. Even a limited choice can be the tipping point.
In the dungeon, the protagonist makes a decision not to reveal her secrets whatever happens. Her silence keeps her alive long enough for the partisans to rescue her. She gives half her bread to the other inmate -- the man who will later be the key to getting her out of the fortress. She palms a spoon to scrape through the rocks and thus has a weapon the next time the cell door is opened.
Cinderella decides to approach each daily, demeaning, unfair household task with a stalwart heart and a generous spirit. It is her light-hearted singing --rather than sullen acceptance -- that leads the Prince to her.
The tipping point is a decision that changes the story.
It can be made even when the character is under fierce constraints.
And if the protagonist's actions and decisions keep not affecting the outcome of events . . . why not?
*-- It is especially exciting if the tipping point is a decision that rests on a knife edge. Where it could go either way.
*-- All else being equal, I like a tipping point that involves 'big screen action'. That is -- the protagonist makes a decision that results in big bodily motion. Getting-into-a-car-and-racing-down-the-mountain decisions, rather than stern conversation or hiding the jewels in the sofa cushions.
This is just me. Personal preference. Ignore it.
*-- For the first scene, you want a tipping point that reveals one of the most basic aspects of your protagonist. It's not just an important decision. It's the decision this character, idiosyncratically, would make.
*-- A tipping point is always encased within 'story action'. Every scene is built around 'story action, of course, (did you notice I don't use initials for tipping point?) but the first scene is especially built around story action. And the tipping point is embedded in this action. It is not just wandering off in the mist somewhere admiring the action over its shoulder.
The tipping point can never be description of an average morning or talking heads informing us about the lost gold mine.
*-- While the tipping point has to occur somewhere in the first scene, it need not be laid out right in the opening lines. It doesn't have to be the major action shaping the scene.
It can be quite a small thing. Not obvious.
*-- In genre Romance, one or more tipping points are likely to arise in the hero/heroine meeting.
These are neat tipping point to start the story with because the H&H meeting all by itself ties up a bunch of plotting thingums the writer has to get out of the way in the first couple chapters.
So, in genre Romance, a good beginning might be the tipping point where the female protagonist decides how to deal with the hero . . .
'Will she rescue the hero or leave him in prison?'
'Will she approach this dangerous man on the street, or back off and find some more cautious way to accomplish her ends?'
'Will she stay to spy on the approaching stranger on the chance he is the messenger she's waiting for, or will she run to safety?'
Three small decisions. (Three books.) The decisions pass almost unnoticed in the scene. But these tipping points define the protagonist. If she had acted differently -- no story.
Thinking about process ...
The story opening is determined by the big crisis that lies at the heart of the story. The Climax. The Big Kahuna.
Now, of course, there's lotsa stuff that leads up to that Crisis. Various characters did this and that and weather happened and a declaration of war and Susie came down with the pox.
But when I go seeking for a good opening, I'm looking at what the female protagonist does -- Her thoughts, actions and decisions. Because, for me, the book is about the female protagonist. She's going to determine where the story begins.
So ... I look at the protagonist's actions as far as I have them figured out.
Of course, I don't look at every bloody thing she does.
There are those actions that are absolutely necessary for The Crisis to occur and the story to take the path it does. This is 'story action'.
Then there's a whole bunch of to-ing and fro-ing that could be changed without affecting the story much. That is not 'story action' and I can kind of ignore it.
Entering the vampire cave is necessary. It is 'story action'.
Buying eggs at the market -- not so much.
It's like that.
When I wander through the protagonist's story action, what I'm looking for is 'tipping points'.
One of these tipping points is going to be the first scene in the story. I just have to find the right one.
"'Tipping points'?" you say.
And "?"
Yeah. Ok.
Every story has many places where a different decision would lead to a different Crisis and a different story. These are 'tipping points'. These are moments where the protagonist has an opportunity to change everything. Her decision could go either way. What she decides matters.
Going aside here to natter about generalities ...
Tipping points make the protagonist strong and interesting. Story is not about what happens to the protagonist. Story is what the protagonist decides to do with what happens to her.
And the tipping points are her decisions.
This is where she grabs hold of the story by the throat and wrestles it down and makes it do what she wants.
Writers -- giving my opinion here and knowing it is not necessarily true -- want to show these tipping points, because they are so important and so revealing and just so generally cool. Even if everybody who's slogged their way to page 134 knows the protagonist will not run from the upcoming battle, the reader still wants to see that decision to stay and be brave. She wants to see the 'tipping point' where the protagonist has a choice and makes it.
All of which is just generally to speak in praise of tipping points.
Anyway. Getting back to where the beginning of the story is going to be.
I look at my protagonist's actions. I look at her decisions.
I want to start the story with a tipping point.
Why do I pick one tipping point and not another?
What is characteristic of the scene and the tipping point that starts the story?
*-- The tipping-point decision in the scene that starts the story is necessary for the action of the story. It directly leads to the Crisis at the end.
*-- The start scene is early in the long sequence of protagonist actions related to the Crisis.
(Right. The beginning scene is early. yeah. duh ...)
But not too early.
What it is ...
There's a long line of protagonist actions, stretching way into the past and extending far into the future. Maybe like, y'know, beads.
Only a little section of this action can happen 'on stage' in the book.
We know the last on-stage actions are going to be when The Crisis is resolved.
The first on-stage actions ...
Well, we're working on the beginning right now.
We want to scoop as much important story action into the book as we can. We want all the good stuff to happen 'on stage'. Essential story action that happens before the beginning of the book has to be shoved into some flashback or backstory or some kind or prologue. This is a weakness in the story structure.
Note how I'm talking only about 'story action'. We want to scoop in story action. The important stuff. We want to write it out as scenes and put it on stage.
We don't want to write scenes that have no story action and only convey information. We especially do not want to start with a scene like that.
*-- Ideally, we want to start with a scene that is chronologically tight with the rest of the story. That is, we do not want an outlier in time. This avoids a hiatus in the action.
If we can manage it, we don't go all prologue-y with a, 'Two years before' . . .
Prologues are necessary in some stories, but I feel it may not be the tightest of all structures. There are folks who disagree with me.
Full disclosure time here -- I have to keep knocking my hand off the keyboard to keep myself from writing prologues.
*-- A tipping point means the protagonist makes an active choice. She has the capacity for some sort of action.
Sometimes there doesn't seem to be much the character can do. The protag is a victim trapped in the dungeon. A Cinderella bound to her stepmother's will.
What the writer does is shake the story around to give the protagonist choice. Even a limited choice can be the tipping point.
In the dungeon, the protagonist makes a decision not to reveal her secrets whatever happens. Her silence keeps her alive long enough for the partisans to rescue her. She gives half her bread to the other inmate -- the man who will later be the key to getting her out of the fortress. She palms a spoon to scrape through the rocks and thus has a weapon the next time the cell door is opened.
Cinderella decides to approach each daily, demeaning, unfair household task with a stalwart heart and a generous spirit. It is her light-hearted singing --rather than sullen acceptance -- that leads the Prince to her.
The tipping point is a decision that changes the story.
It can be made even when the character is under fierce constraints.
And if the protagonist's actions and decisions keep not affecting the outcome of events . . . why not?
*-- It is especially exciting if the tipping point is a decision that rests on a knife edge. Where it could go either way.
*-- All else being equal, I like a tipping point that involves 'big screen action'. That is -- the protagonist makes a decision that results in big bodily motion. Getting-into-a-car-and-racing-down-the-mountain decisions, rather than stern conversation or hiding the jewels in the sofa cushions.
This is just me. Personal preference. Ignore it.
*-- For the first scene, you want a tipping point that reveals one of the most basic aspects of your protagonist. It's not just an important decision. It's the decision this character, idiosyncratically, would make.
*-- A tipping point is always encased within 'story action'. Every scene is built around 'story action, of course, (did you notice I don't use initials for tipping point?) but the first scene is especially built around story action. And the tipping point is embedded in this action. It is not just wandering off in the mist somewhere admiring the action over its shoulder.
The tipping point can never be description of an average morning or talking heads informing us about the lost gold mine.
*-- While the tipping point has to occur somewhere in the first scene, it need not be laid out right in the opening lines. It doesn't have to be the major action shaping the scene.
It can be quite a small thing. Not obvious.
*-- In genre Romance, one or more tipping points are likely to arise in the hero/heroine meeting.
These are neat tipping point to start the story with because the H&H meeting all by itself ties up a bunch of plotting thingums the writer has to get out of the way in the first couple chapters.
So, in genre Romance, a good beginning might be the tipping point where the female protagonist decides how to deal with the hero . . .
'Will she rescue the hero or leave him in prison?'
'Will she approach this dangerous man on the street, or back off and find some more cautious way to accomplish her ends?'
'Will she stay to spy on the approaching stranger on the chance he is the messenger she's waiting for, or will she run to safety?'
Three small decisions. (Three books.) The decisions pass almost unnoticed in the scene. But these tipping points define the protagonist. If she had acted differently -- no story.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Close to the end of Maggie
I am close to the end of Maggie. Just a little writing still to do.
Feels good.
Technical Topics -- Organizing the Manuscript
I cannot imagine a more boring topic.
How do I handle the sheer overwhelming mass of research, multiple drafts, out-takes, backups and so on
that constitute a novel?
ETA: This is SO boring I put it all below the fold.
How do I handle the sheer overwhelming mass of research, multiple drafts, out-takes, backups and so on
that constitute a novel?
ETA: This is SO boring I put it all below the fold.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Technical Topics -- Bibliographies . . . French Revolution History
I was thinking I'd add a
'Useful Bibliography of the History of France, with particular attention to the period of the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon'
on the off chance that this would prove interesting to somebody, someday.
So the bibliography is here , at LibraryThing.
A different kinda bibliography exists here.
This latter bibliography is about one third useful resources on France of the period.
And one third Regency England books.
And the last third is many, many refs on slang and dialect of the time.
I am not absolutely sure that just anybody can get into these spots. If you try, and you can't, let me know.
'Useful Bibliography of the History of France, with particular attention to the period of the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon'
on the off chance that this would prove interesting to somebody, someday.
So the bibliography is here , at LibraryThing.
A different kinda bibliography exists here.
This latter bibliography is about one third useful resources on France of the period.
And one third Regency England books.
And the last third is many, many refs on slang and dialect of the time.
I am not absolutely sure that just anybody can get into these spots. If you try, and you can't, let me know.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
A week to Thanksgiving
I look up and Boing! it's a week to Thanksgiving.
Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll get the turkey from Whole Foods. They have always had a good, fresh, small turkey at the last minute.
We'll also do sage and onion dressing. Instead of gravy, I generally make cheese sauce. Then there will be sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, and some kind of potatoes. I'd like something else kinda crunchy. Canned corn? Braised carrots?
And I'll make an apple pie and a pumpkin pie.
So, anyhow, I'm pondering crunchiness.
Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll get the turkey from Whole Foods. They have always had a good, fresh, small turkey at the last minute.
We'll also do sage and onion dressing. Instead of gravy, I generally make cheese sauce. Then there will be sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, and some kind of potatoes. I'd like something else kinda crunchy. Canned corn? Braised carrots?
And I'll make an apple pie and a pumpkin pie.
So, anyhow, I'm pondering crunchiness.
Recent Keepers
which is another way of saying that today I sat down to work and didn't get anything much done,
though I may have indulged in Deep Thought.
Anyway ...
Recent additions to the Keeper Shelf
Judith Ivory, Angel in a Red Dress
I imagine there might be a Judith Ivory book that doesn't go on the Keeper Shelf. I mean ... I subscribe to this as a theory. Hasn't happened yet, of course.
Pam Rosenthal, The Edge of Impropriety
I've been reading everything of hers I can get my hands on since she beat the pants off poor Spymaster's Lady in the RITA competition.
Just saying.
Just saying.
Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
What kind of parent names their helpless and innocent kid, 'Jerome Jerome'? Is this the emotional trauma that leads one to write comedy?
Eloisa James, A Duke of Her Own
This may be her best. I'm going to come back to it in a few months and see why the plot works.
Loretta Chase, Lord Perfect
I love Loretta Chase. Y'know.
David Garrioch, The Making of Revolutionary Paris
Which has moved onto the Research Keeper Shelf -- a shelf which obeys wholly different rules from the Regular Keeper Shelf.
I'm going to have to do a Revolutionary and Napoleonic France Bibliography one of these days.
Tanith Lee, The Secret Books of Venus
I don't want to write like Tanith Lee. The writing is too complex and too distracting for the sort of story-telling I'm trying to do.
But she sure does write pretty.
But she sure does write pretty.
I didn't read these half dozen books today and yesterday, of course. This is the pile of books ready to be put up on the Keeper Shelf. It's been accumulating a while. Six months or so.
I have great books still on the TBR shelf.
Including one by Mary Jo Putney
which is next on the list.
Including one by Mary Jo Putney
which is next on the list.
.
I finally sat down and opened Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel. I've been taking Maass down from the TBR shelf and putting him back for four or five years. Then, at the July RWA Conference in Washington I got to listen to about the first fifteen of a speech he was giving and it engendered in me a desire to get to the book.
Though I'm only through the Introduction.
Why I'm mentioning this ...
Maass says,
"Complexity will do that to you. [overwhelm you] Do not panic. Trust the structure of your outline; or if you are an organic writer who works in successive drafts, trust your unconscious mind. The story is there inside you in all its complexity."
So now I know that I'm an 'organic writer'.
I didn't have a name for it before, I just did it.
I didn't have a name for it before, I just did it.
.
Whenever I see Maass' name, I think there's something wrong with typewriter keys, somewhere.
.
Oh. And being FTC compliant I just want to say that nobody gave me any of those books for free.
Or anything for free, really.
Though I did pick up the Jerome K. Jerome book at the SPCA Rummage sale so one could argue that the SPCA is paying me off, I suppose.
Or anything for free, really.
Though I did pick up the Jerome K. Jerome book at the SPCA Rummage sale so one could argue that the SPCA is paying me off, I suppose.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Technical Topic -- What an editor does
I was relaxing after the long sprint to the final on the manuscript of MAGGIE. And I knew I had to come back and face my echoing, empty blog. I feel like this teenager sneaking home and tiptoeing up the stairs WAY after curfew.
So this is me pussyfooting back into the blog, all casual like, and whistling a nonchalant little tune.
Anyhow ... I was posting an answer to a message board in response to how manuscripts get bought -- or not bought -- after an editor has shown some interest.
Having thought about this and made some notes about it, I thought I'd put the information I gleaned here in the blog, too.
n.b. I am not talking about things I have direct knowledge of. I'm pointing towards some more knowledgeable folks. This is useful and interesting but no one should mistake it for me actually knowing anything.
So. What happens after an editor says, "Yes. I like this"?
In a big New York print house, the editor takes the manuscript to a regular committtee meeting of the various associate and senior editors and the managing editor and some sales folks. They've mostly read the manuscripts.
The committee chooses among the possibles. They're going to do this based on what's good, but also on what books they've already bought, what other manuscripts are being offered this week, and generally what they think will sell.
The choices is ALSO going to depend on how enthusiastic the editor is about the manuscript. I think this is why we hear about editors turning down a manuscript they 'like but don't love'.
. . . Because the editor has to convince a hard audience to love the manuscript as much as she does.
Some 'day in the life of' blogs about being an editor are
Lori Foster's interview with Monique Patterson, Cindy Hwang and the much-missed Kate Duffy here, and a bit more stuff, here.
Bloomabilities here.
Moonrat, League of Reluctant Adults, here. And since you're nearby, go ahead and read about The Dream Author (from the Editor's point of view,) here.
Lucia at the Avon blog, here and here.
A Witchy Chicks interview with Kate Seaver of Berkley here.
And an interview with Betsy Mitchell of Warner here.
Steve Whacker, (Ok. Maybe it has nothing to do with committees,) here.
So this is me pussyfooting back into the blog, all casual like, and whistling a nonchalant little tune.
Anyhow ... I was posting an answer to a message board in response to how manuscripts get bought -- or not bought -- after an editor has shown some interest.
Having thought about this and made some notes about it, I thought I'd put the information I gleaned here in the blog, too.
n.b. I am not talking about things I have direct knowledge of. I'm pointing towards some more knowledgeable folks. This is useful and interesting but no one should mistake it for me actually knowing anything.
So. What happens after an editor says, "Yes. I like this"?
In a big New York print house, the editor takes the manuscript to a regular committtee meeting of the various associate and senior editors and the managing editor and some sales folks. They've mostly read the manuscripts.
The committee chooses among the possibles. They're going to do this based on what's good, but also on what books they've already bought, what other manuscripts are being offered this week, and generally what they think will sell.
The choices is ALSO going to depend on how enthusiastic the editor is about the manuscript. I think this is why we hear about editors turning down a manuscript they 'like but don't love'.
. . . Because the editor has to convince a hard audience to love the manuscript as much as she does.
Some 'day in the life of' blogs about being an editor are
Lori Foster's interview with Monique Patterson, Cindy Hwang and the much-missed Kate Duffy here, and a bit more stuff, here.
Bloomabilities here.
Moonrat, League of Reluctant Adults, here. And since you're nearby, go ahead and read about The Dream Author (from the Editor's point of view,) here.
Lucia at the Avon blog, here and here.
A Witchy Chicks interview with Kate Seaver of Berkley here.
And an interview with Betsy Mitchell of Warner here.
Steve Whacker, (Ok. Maybe it has nothing to do with committees,) here.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Chinese
We're coming out in Chinese.
'Chinese, Chinese, Chinese,' she sings.
Lord and Spymaster and Spymaster's Lady will be out in Chinese
in a really bitty bitty print run.
If the books were beer, the Chinese run would be a microbrewery.
Largest reading population in the world.
A handful of books.
I am continually impressed by the oddness of reality.
'Chinese, Chinese, Chinese,' she sings.
Lord and Spymaster and Spymaster's Lady will be out in Chinese
in a really bitty bitty print run.
If the books were beer, the Chinese run would be a microbrewery.
Largest reading population in the world.
A handful of books.
I am continually impressed by the oddness of reality.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Technical Topics -- Four Necessary Things
I was looking at an incomprehensible snippet of writing yesterday. Someone had posted the first 300 or so words of their novel for comment. A brave deed. Like the '300' Spartans, this sample had been sent out to die in the interests of the greater good. Got pretty much mowed down in the comments section, of course.
The snippet was not just unpublishable and non-commercial in present form, but literally unreadable.
Yenta that I am, I gave the author a basic on 'telling' and 'showing' in fiction. A small crit because this looks like a newbie.
But it got me thinking.
'How do I know this is not James Joyce?' asks I to myself, being in an introspective mood this morning before I drink my coffee.
'How do I know this is baaaad writing,
(or a joke, or madness, or possibly a Turing machine,)
instead of good-but-experimental stuff I'm too stuffy and stupid to understand?
Am I telling Bartok he needs a melodic line?'
So I sat and thought about the irreducible minimums of good writing.
I came up with four things.
The first is STORY.
In fiction, an aliquot of 500 words plucked anywhere out of a work is going to contain comprehensible story.
Lookit this passage pulled at random from Joyce:
Burke's! outflings my lord Stephen, giving the cry, and a tag and bobtail of all them after, cockerel, jackanapes, welsher, pilldoctor, punctual Bloom at heels with a universal grabbing at headgear, ashplants, bilbos, Panama hats and scabbards, Zermatt alpenstocks and what not. A dedale of lusty youth, noble every student there. Nurse Callan taken aback in the hallway cannot stay them nor smiling surgeon coming downstairs with news of placentation ended, a full pound if a milligramme. They hark him on. The door! It is open? Ha! They are out, tumultuously, off for a minute's race, all bravely legging it, Burke's of Denzille and Holles their ulterior goal.
Confusing? Wow, yes. But Joyce tells us a little bit of story in those 100 words.
(Though the posted snippet also tells story, so it passes the first test.)
The second requirement is PRECISION.
Good writing is words chosen with skill, set in place with care. The language is precise within a dozen parameters. Expression is economical. The good writer doesn't deal only with the definition of the words. Sound, connotation, and cadence all convey meaning.
Joyce, of course, is a master. The paragraph above is poetry. Not a syllable is laid down by happenstance.
The snippet posted for comment was filled with clunky language. Lookit one phrase:
she was gradually beginning to feel like the point of life where you wait for something to happen, was passing, and the best part was yet to come
This is not a poetic way to say,
'The time of anticipation was over. Now for the good part.'It's a wordy, awkward way to say it.
The third requirement is ORDER.
At the sentence level, at the page or paragraph level, at the whole-opus level, a good work of fiction is skillfully and intelligently structured. This is especially true in experimental fiction.
The snippet -- this is a first page -- commits several obvious sins of structure. It is an info dump. It has POV problems. The sentences are too long, too complicated and contain too many disparate thoughts.
So this is not a skillful experimental structure. Such basic faults do not add to the work in any way.
The fourth, irreducible requirement of good writing
is that it is INTERESTING.
Unless you are lucky enough to be a Dead White Man from the 1800s, no one will ever be forced to read you. Good writing need not be pleasant, intelligent, accessible, grammatically correct, or morally uplifting . . . but it cannot be boring.
Boring is the cardinal sin of fiction.
The snippet was not just unpublishable and non-commercial in present form, but literally unreadable.
Yenta that I am, I gave the author a basic on 'telling' and 'showing' in fiction. A small crit because this looks like a newbie.
But it got me thinking.
'How do I know this is not James Joyce?' asks I to myself, being in an introspective mood this morning before I drink my coffee.
'How do I know this is baaaad writing,
(or a joke, or madness, or possibly a Turing machine,)
instead of good-but-experimental stuff I'm too stuffy and stupid to understand?
Am I telling Bartok he needs a melodic line?'
So I sat and thought about the irreducible minimums of good writing.
I came up with four things.
The first is STORY.
In fiction, an aliquot of 500 words plucked anywhere out of a work is going to contain comprehensible story.
Lookit this passage pulled at random from Joyce:
Burke's! outflings my lord Stephen, giving the cry, and a tag and bobtail of all them after, cockerel, jackanapes, welsher, pilldoctor, punctual Bloom at heels with a universal grabbing at headgear, ashplants, bilbos, Panama hats and scabbards, Zermatt alpenstocks and what not. A dedale of lusty youth, noble every student there. Nurse Callan taken aback in the hallway cannot stay them nor smiling surgeon coming downstairs with news of placentation ended, a full pound if a milligramme. They hark him on. The door! It is open? Ha! They are out, tumultuously, off for a minute's race, all bravely legging it, Burke's of Denzille and Holles their ulterior goal.
Confusing? Wow, yes. But Joyce tells us a little bit of story in those 100 words.
(Though the posted snippet also tells story, so it passes the first test.)
The second requirement is PRECISION.
Good writing is words chosen with skill, set in place with care. The language is precise within a dozen parameters. Expression is economical. The good writer doesn't deal only with the definition of the words. Sound, connotation, and cadence all convey meaning.
Joyce, of course, is a master. The paragraph above is poetry. Not a syllable is laid down by happenstance.
The snippet posted for comment was filled with clunky language. Lookit one phrase:
she was gradually beginning to feel like the point of life where you wait for something to happen, was passing, and the best part was yet to come
This is not a poetic way to say,
'The time of anticipation was over. Now for the good part.'It's a wordy, awkward way to say it.
The third requirement is ORDER.
At the sentence level, at the page or paragraph level, at the whole-opus level, a good work of fiction is skillfully and intelligently structured. This is especially true in experimental fiction.
The snippet -- this is a first page -- commits several obvious sins of structure. It is an info dump. It has POV problems. The sentences are too long, too complicated and contain too many disparate thoughts.
So this is not a skillful experimental structure. Such basic faults do not add to the work in any way.
The fourth, irreducible requirement of good writing
is that it is INTERESTING.
Unless you are lucky enough to be a Dead White Man from the 1800s, no one will ever be forced to read you. Good writing need not be pleasant, intelligent, accessible, grammatically correct, or morally uplifting . . . but it cannot be boring.
Boring is the cardinal sin of fiction.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Title, title ... I've got a title
We're going to call the MAGGIE story, The Forbidden Rose.
I'm pleased with the title, which I have decided has all kinds of thematic relevance.
Forbidden Rose is set in the same fictive world as Spymaster I and II.
They tell me Forbidden is not going to have scantily clad people on the front.
I don't know whether this is good or bad.
Many folks like the scantily.
But I'm game for anything. It'll be interesting to to see what they'll come up with in the not-so-much-nekkid category.
In other news, I'm doing the first plot layout of Adrian . . .
and working like the devil to fix Forbidden Rose,
(I'm not used to calling it that.)
which still has plotholes you could drop a mack truck through.
But, y'know ...
the fun part of writing, for me, comes when I'm doing the last fixes on a manuscript and making the language just right, or when I'm dreaming up the basic story.
Now I get to do both of these at once.
Yip -- as it were --ee.
I'm pleased with the title, which I have decided has all kinds of thematic relevance.
Forbidden Rose is set in the same fictive world as Spymaster I and II.
They tell me Forbidden is not going to have scantily clad people on the front.
I don't know whether this is good or bad.
Many folks like the scantily.
But I'm game for anything. It'll be interesting to to see what they'll come up with in the not-so-much-nekkid category.
In other news, I'm doing the first plot layout of Adrian . . .
and working like the devil to fix Forbidden Rose,
(I'm not used to calling it that.)
which still has plotholes you could drop a mack truck through.
But, y'know ...
the fun part of writing, for me, comes when I'm doing the last fixes on a manuscript and making the language just right, or when I'm dreaming up the basic story.
Now I get to do both of these at once.
Yip -- as it were --ee.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Booklist -- The Top 10 Romances of 2009
And it's out ...
Booklist's Top Ten Romances of 2009,
Take a look at them here.
Always Look Twice by Geralyn Dawson
The Bridegroom by Linda Lael Miller
Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stewart and Lani Diane Rich
Hot Flash by Kathy Carmichael
Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton
The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor
Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James
So Enchanting by Connie Brockway
Straight from the Hip by Susan Mallery
When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James
Way cool.
Booklist's Top Ten Romances of 2009,
Take a look at them here.
Always Look Twice by Geralyn Dawson
The Bridegroom by Linda Lael Miller
Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stewart and Lani Diane Rich
Hot Flash by Kathy Carmichael
Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton
The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor
Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James
So Enchanting by Connie Brockway
Straight from the Hip by Susan Mallery
When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James
Way cool.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Technical Topics -- Registering Your Copyright
Since I'm not getting any appreciable amount of blogging done, I thought I'd repost something I put up elsewhere.
In answer to the question of whether someone should register a copyright for their unpublished manuscript:
The very short answer is that this is something you don't have to worry about.
The longer answer is . . .when you put your work in permanent form -- when you type it into the computer -- it is copyright RIGHT THEN.
The moment your work hits the computer, it has all the protection available under copyright law.
No further action is necessary.
Most folks who ask this question are worried about three considerations.
The first is -- 'What if somebody steals my work and claims it as her own?
What if a subeditor at the publishing house takes my manuscript and puts her name on it and submits it? What if somebody plagiarizes this scene?
How can I prove it's mine?'
I do not say this has never happened. But you are much more likely to get struck by lightning while playing the nose flute.
If you lie awake at night worrying about this, go register the copyright. It's cheaper than prescription sleep aids.
A simpler way prove authorship is to take the seven letters of your last name and start seven chapters in a row with those letters.
Or add seven sentences where the first word starts with those letters.
Or name characters after your greatgrandparents.
You now have evidence the manuscript is yours. Sleep in peace.
The second consideration is --'Will somebody steal my idea and go write their own book before I can get mine published?'
Skipping nimbly back from the brink of saying anything uncharitable about the originality of most people's ideas ...ideas cannot be copyrighted.
Even if your copyright registration proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that you were the first person in history to write about an m/m/m/f/m werewolf junk band that fights crime ... you can't keep other folks from using the same idea.
The third consideration --'Is registering copyright part of the business?' Am I supposed to do this to look professional?
Well, no. It doesn't make you look professional. It makes you look like a dork.
In e-pub and POD pub, copyright registration is often one of those upfront expenses the publisher passes on to the writer.
Check your contract to make sure the publisher hasn't grabbed the copyright himself.
Then pay to have the copyright registered if you want an official copyright.
In standard print publishing, the publisher pays to register copyright.
In answer to the question of whether someone should register a copyright for their unpublished manuscript:
The very short answer is that this is something you don't have to worry about.
The longer answer is . . .when you put your work in permanent form -- when you type it into the computer -- it is copyright RIGHT THEN.
The moment your work hits the computer, it has all the protection available under copyright law.
No further action is necessary.
Most folks who ask this question are worried about three considerations.
The first is -- 'What if somebody steals my work and claims it as her own?
What if a subeditor at the publishing house takes my manuscript and puts her name on it and submits it? What if somebody plagiarizes this scene?
How can I prove it's mine?'
I do not say this has never happened. But you are much more likely to get struck by lightning while playing the nose flute.
If you lie awake at night worrying about this, go register the copyright. It's cheaper than prescription sleep aids.
A simpler way prove authorship is to take the seven letters of your last name and start seven chapters in a row with those letters.
Or add seven sentences where the first word starts with those letters.
Or name characters after your greatgrandparents.
You now have evidence the manuscript is yours. Sleep in peace.
The second consideration is --'Will somebody steal my idea and go write their own book before I can get mine published?'
Skipping nimbly back from the brink of saying anything uncharitable about the originality of most people's ideas ...ideas cannot be copyrighted.
Even if your copyright registration proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that you were the first person in history to write about an m/m/m/f/m werewolf junk band that fights crime ... you can't keep other folks from using the same idea.
The third consideration --'Is registering copyright part of the business?' Am I supposed to do this to look professional?
Well, no. It doesn't make you look professional. It makes you look like a dork.
In e-pub and POD pub, copyright registration is often one of those upfront expenses the publisher passes on to the writer.
Check your contract to make sure the publisher hasn't grabbed the copyright himself.
Then pay to have the copyright registered if you want an official copyright.
In standard print publishing, the publisher pays to register copyright.
Little bits of Good News
I know. I know.
I promised I would be done with the manuscript on August One
and said I'd show up again bright and happy and full of blogwords after that.
Ummm .... Not quite.
I'm still stuffing the story octopus into the plot coke bottle.
So, not so much keeping up with the blog is going on, though it is only a postponement of blogkeepery and a veritable torrent of creativity will be unleashed when I finally finish the manuscript.
Maybe.
Two nuggets of news:
My Lord and Spymaster is out in Russian. Here. I had forgotten this was going to happen.
The title seems to be, 'My Sweet Spy'.
.
See the cover? Isn't that pretty?
In this case it is Sebastian who cannot keep his shirt on.
(Metaphor-taken-literally-itis sweeps Romancelandia.)
And Jess is blonde.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
The other news is that the French rights to Spymaster's Lady have been sold. Woot woot. Yes!
That one I'll be able to read.
Oh Frabjous Day.
Jo
My Indian name is AshkoHaHa.
I promised I would be done with the manuscript on August One
and said I'd show up again bright and happy and full of blogwords after that.
Ummm .... Not quite.
I'm still stuffing the story octopus into the plot coke bottle.
So, not so much keeping up with the blog is going on, though it is only a postponement of blogkeepery and a veritable torrent of creativity will be unleashed when I finally finish the manuscript.
Maybe.
Two nuggets of news:
My Lord and Spymaster is out in Russian. Here. I had forgotten this was going to happen.
The title seems to be, 'My Sweet Spy'.
.
See the cover? Isn't that pretty?
In this case it is Sebastian who cannot keep his shirt on.
(Metaphor-taken-literally-itis sweeps Romancelandia.)
And Jess is blonde.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
The other news is that the French rights to Spymaster's Lady have been sold. Woot woot. Yes!
That one I'll be able to read.
Oh Frabjous Day.
Jo
My Indian name is AshkoHaHa.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Getting a RITA
I posted this in the comments trail, and then decided I would make it a post of its own. Because getting prizes is part of writing, and anyone who decides to be a writer should be prepared for What Happens in the Writing Life.The RITA ceremony has about 3000 people there in a grand ballroom,
all of them sitting in rows and rows of chairs and looking down at this little stage in the far distance.
(How do they get 3000 people to come do this without giving them food? Though they give them food afterwards, of course.
But still ... would YOU come to hear thirty people get up on stage one after another to somewhat incoherently thank their editors and agents and families and stare like deer caught in the headlights?)
Since nobody can see the stage
the helpful technicians at RWA have set up huuuuuuge TV screens. Those puppies must be 40 feet high.
They show every pore on the faces of the RITA winners, (or Golden Heart winners,) when they get up to speak.
This is reality TV.
AAAARRRRGGGGHHH.
I do not say I would rather face a firing squad, because, of course, I would not.
I think.
But anyhow ... there I was and I had just found out I was NOT going to get a RITA for Spymaster's Lady, having lost out to the excellent and wonderful Pam Rosenthal whose work impresses me so much it is almost not like losing at all to lose to her ...
(though not quite,)
and I am now relieved because the ordeal is over and I am not going to have to mount the scaffold ...
ah ... podium ...
and can now relax,
and they say My Lord and Spymaster.
So I drop my glasses, without which I cannot see.
Anything.
And I drop my very short speech, which I have written in Big Letters on a piece of paper,
and which consisted of only five people to thank,
not because I am stingy but because I didn't think I was going to be able to say anything at all.
So they are gone somewhere in the darkness below my chair.
And I have to walk up on stage and make that set of acks.
I do not actually remember much that happened after this point. It was so horrible my mind has repressed it.
I do not AT ALL remember standing there and staring out at THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE and saying the right words, but I have been assured by people who wish me well that I did just that and that I did not make a fool of myself.
This is good.
This is very good.
I understand they played the theme from James Bond for the 'walkup'.
No memory of this.
So, anyhow, getting the RITA is like being beaten with long, flexible bamboo poles and at the same time being tossed in a blanket while someone plays La Traviata in your ear on a penny whistle. When you come to the other side you have this beautiful little gold statue sitting on the floor in front of your feet and you are sitting down again.
I am going to put the RITA on the shelf over my desk.
It's heavy, and the gold quill the lady holds is fragile. It would still be suitable for knocking burglars over the head with.
The RITA in the photos is not my RITA. It is the RITA of Jennifer Ashley who is here and who just wrote The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. Go. Read it.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
A Spanish Excerpt from Spymaster's Lady
The first chapter of Spymaster's Lady in Spanish can be found here..
Desarmado por un baile
Joanna Bourne
Editorial : Valery
Precio: 16,95€….
You can order it here.
Por supuesto, ella estaba dispuesta a morir, pero no
había planeado hacerlo tan pronto o de un modo tan incómodo,
y que llevase tanto tiempo, o que lo haría en manos
de un compatriota.
Se desplomó contra la pared, que era de piedra y muy
sólida, como suelen ser los muros de las cárceles.
—No tengo los planes. Nunca los he tenido.
—Soy un hombre de poca paciencia. ¿Dónde están
los planes?
—Yo no los tengo…
El bofetón llegó sin previo aviso. Durante un instante,
sintió que estaba a punto de caer inconsciente, pero luego se
recuperó, en la oscuridad, dolorida y con Leblanc.
—Te lo has ganado —Él tocó su mejilla, en el punto
donde la había golpeado y la obligó a mirarlo. Lo hizo con delicadeza.
Tenía mucha práctica en hacer daño a las mujeres—.
Continuemos. Esta vez tendrás más ganas de ayudar.
—Por favor, lo estoy intentando.
—Me dirás dónde has escondido los planes, Annique.
—No son más que un sueño de locos, esos planes
Albión. Una quimera. Nunca los he visto —Incluso mientras lo
decía, podía visualizar claramente los planes Albión en su mente.
Había tenido en sus manos las múltiples páginas, los bordes
manoseados, los mapas cubiertos de manchas y huellas dactila-
res, las listas escritas en letra pequeña y cuidada. «No voy a
pensar en esto. Si lo recuerdo, lo verá en mi rostro».
. . . and the rest of the chapter follows on the link above.
Desarmado por un baile
Joanna Bourne
Editorial : Valery
Precio: 16,95€….
You can order it here.
Por supuesto, ella estaba dispuesta a morir, pero no
había planeado hacerlo tan pronto o de un modo tan incómodo,
y que llevase tanto tiempo, o que lo haría en manos
de un compatriota.
Se desplomó contra la pared, que era de piedra y muy
sólida, como suelen ser los muros de las cárceles.
—No tengo los planes. Nunca los he tenido.
—Soy un hombre de poca paciencia. ¿Dónde están
los planes?
—Yo no los tengo…
El bofetón llegó sin previo aviso. Durante un instante,
sintió que estaba a punto de caer inconsciente, pero luego se
recuperó, en la oscuridad, dolorida y con Leblanc.
—Te lo has ganado —Él tocó su mejilla, en el punto
donde la había golpeado y la obligó a mirarlo. Lo hizo con delicadeza.
Tenía mucha práctica en hacer daño a las mujeres—.
Continuemos. Esta vez tendrás más ganas de ayudar.
—Por favor, lo estoy intentando.
—Me dirás dónde has escondido los planes, Annique.
—No son más que un sueño de locos, esos planes
Albión. Una quimera. Nunca los he visto —Incluso mientras lo
decía, podía visualizar claramente los planes Albión en su mente.
Había tenido en sus manos las múltiples páginas, los bordes
manoseados, los mapas cubiertos de manchas y huellas dactila-
res, las listas escritas en letra pequeña y cuidada. «No voy a
pensar en esto. Si lo recuerdo, lo verá en mi rostro».
. . . and the rest of the chapter follows on the link above.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Book Signing -- Washington DC, July 15
I will be at the RWA Literacy Signingin Washington , D.C.
on July 15,
Wednesday,
from 5:30 to 7:30,
at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
That is right next to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro.
The Literacy Signing is a wonderful cause.
Publishers donate their books to sell for the support of literacy programs.
My books are donated by Berkley Sensation/Penguin.
This year, the money goes to support ProLiteracy Worldwide.
Their website is here.
Some of the writers signing their latest books --
Shana Abe
Ann Aguirre
Victoria Alexander
Jo Beverley
Mary Blayney
Stephanie Bond
Celeste Bradley
Anna Campbell
Nicola Cornick
Jenny Crusie
Victoria Dahl
Claudia Dain
Jacquie D'Alessandro
Tessa Dare
Meredith Duran
Suzanne Enoch
Susan Gable
Jenny Gardiner
Anne Gracie
Laura Lee Guhrke
Linda Howard
Elizabeth Hoyt
Madeline Hunter
Eloisa James
Sabrina Jeffries
Carolyn Jewel
Jayne Ann Krentz
Susan Krinard
Gennita Low
Donna MacMeans
Delilah Marvelle
Cathy Maxwell
Brenda Novak
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Andrea Pickens
Mary Jo Putney
Julia Quinn
Deanna Raybourn
Patricia Rice
Nora Roberts
Pam Rosenthal
Anne Stuart
Sherry Thomas
J.R. Ward
Christine Wells
Lauren Willig
C.L. Wilson
That's only a few of them. .
(Print the list out. Drop by those wonderful authors.)
If you have my books, come by anyway and say hello.
I will give you a bookplate for the books you already own, that I haven't signed.
Here's two of the bookplates in this post.
They're really pretty in person.
Oh. Oh. That second picture there. The girl. That's what Maggie looks like.
EDITED TO ADD: This is me at the booksigning.
RITA: The Interview
The RITA awards.
I'm nominated.
Did I mention that?
(. . .more than about fifty thousand times?)
I did an interview on getting nominated for the RITA a while back, for my local chapter of RWA.
I'm reprinting it here, which is quick to do and will not prevent me from a hard morning of work on the manuscript of MAGGIE.
Leah: So. Why did you enter the contest?
Jo: The RITA? Oh, the RITA is the big time for all of us. I think every Romance writer dreams of entering the RITA.
Leah: What do you hope to achieve from being named a finalist and possible winner?
Jo: RITA finalists seem to get a good bit of publicity at the National Conference. Some folks, when they're looking for a good read, leaf through the RITA Finalists.
I've seen it on book covers -- 'RITA Finalist'. I gotta tell you, that looks good. Not as good as 'New York Times Bestseller' --- but pretty good.
Leah: Did you celebrate the notification of being a finalist in any particular way?
Jo: My husband took me out to lunch. A place with tablecloths.
It's sort of a funny story. I got an e-mail telling me about the RITA nomination for Spymaster's Lady in the morning.
"Oh, yipeee!!!" yips I, bouncing about the room.
I will admit, I spent a moment regretting not getting the nom for My Lord and Spymaster, which is a book dear to my heart and nobody likes it as much as Spymaster's Lady and I feel protective.
But I said to myself, "Do not be greedy," and I did not repine.
Then we came back from lunch and I opened up the e-mail and there was the nom for My Lord and Spymaster.
I was knocked over and amazed and excited by the first nom. You can imagine how I felt about getting two.
My agent sent me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. Oh my. Lovely.
Leah: What are your impressions of the competition? How does it differ from other contests you've entered (in terms of process, format)?
Jo: I don't think I've entered any other RWA Contests. I'm not much of a contest person, generally.
Entering the RITA isn't terribly complicated. You fill out a form online. That's straightforward.
The publisher was kind enough to send the books and pay the entry fee for me, so that part was dead easy.
When the Finalist nomination comes in, there's a flurry and a deadline and it all takes you by surprise. You have to get yet more books to RWA in Texas -- again, the publisher does that for you.
And you have to supply a publicity photo, (which I didn't have. I had my picture taken. This is an utterly daunting process,) and you have to dig up the 300 dpi files of your cover which have winkled themselves into a back corner of the computer.
This all has to be done in a mad rush.
You also have to buy a fancy dress, unless you are one of those folks who has a long black formal dress hanging in her closet at all times. There's another daunting prospect. Buying clothes.
Then all is serene sailing till you get to the National Conference. There, mysteries are performed and secret rites are held of which I know nothing. One may be sworn to secrecy at some point.
Leah: Will you be attending Nationals in D.C.? How will you celebrate if you are named winner?
Jo: I will be at National. There's a reception afterwards which is pretty celebratory. I'll be going to it to congratulate people in any case.
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