Archive for March, 2010

Mar

When Not to Write

Posted by: Michell in About Writing, Irreverent Muse

For those of you who feel that writers must write always, don’t get up in arms thinking I’m espousing (how’s that for a $50-word?) a movement away from writing. What I’m talking about is only writing what’s relevant to the story.

This question came up from friend Dan Absalonson via voicemail for ‘Get Published’ and the more I think about it, the more important it feels to me personally. Dan’s question, in a nutshell, was when should I be changing scenes and POV and how do I explain all that nitty gritty stuff that happens in between?

Before I answer that, let me stage a bit of an example. The story is a typical fantasy quest story. Our heros have just survived an ambush and are wearily resting. Their sword arms ache and they are covered in cuts, bruises and blood. Now what?

Sounds like a good place to end that particular scene. Why? Simply put, we don’t care to hear about how they pulled their water-skins out of the saddlebags from their horses, pour a bit of the cold water onto a cloth and gently wipe the blood off their bodies so they can dress their wounds. We don’t care that they are bone-weary but cook a meager supper, which they eat, then lay out their bedrolls and go to sleep.

I mean, we DO care about what they’re doing because they are awesome characters and we lover everything about them, but we don’t need to see their every step, hear every snore. At least, I don’t think we do. It’s easy enough to get caught up in the minute (not time, min-u-tay, only a $10-word this time) of the story. Fantasy novels are supposed to be immersive, aren’t they? But do we care to see a character dress? How about go to the latrine?

The answer is a qualified maybe. We need to see those things if they MOVE THE STORY FORWARD (not shouting, just emphasizing a point). For example, if the heroine is dressing and she slips a dagger into her bodice because she expects she might need to use it, you might want to mention that ahead of time. If you only bring it up because you like describing a woman’s frilly underthings, maybe you should be writing in a different genre.

Here is another example. In fantasy quest stories, characters typically do a lot of travelling (called questing as mentioned earlier in the sentence). Travel by foot is extremely slow and by wagon or horseback only marginally less so. Do you need to mention every plodding step? I hope not!

An attack by an evil wizard who is trying to prevent them from meeting their comrades might be worth mentioning. In this case you might want a scene for step A (i.e. the beginning of the question), Step D (attack by the wizard), Step L (they stop to rest and discover a magic sword or a rusting tin-woodsman or whatever) and so on.

My personal rule of thumb is, when its hard and monotonous to write, it’s probably that way to read too. I try to one of a couple things at that point: (1) I ask myself if this is really necessary and cut it if it isn’t, (2) I ask myself if it is really necessary and if it is, find a way to only focus on the important bits and write those in an interesting manner.

I usually find when it gets hard like this I’m telling, not showing too, which is a great tip-off.

When I follow my own advice I have a story that flows a lot better. It’s usually fast-paced and more interesting (to me anyway). When I don’t follow my own advice I plod and poke my way through the writing. What I put down eventually gets cut out. I guess the lesson here is to heed my own advice sooner.

This very thing happened when I was writing the latest episode of ‘GalaxyBillies’. I hit a point where the story simply wasn’t moving. Then I realized that I could write all I wanted but it wasn’t really important. My listeners/readers would fill in any blanks I put in for scene breaks and it would be more interesting than anything I’d write. As soon as I did that, the story took off once more.

Personal Update

Back to waiting for responses on some of my submissions, but I’m definitely not standing still. I’m working on getting a couple extra episodes of ‘GalaxyBillies’ written so I have a cushion (no matter how small). I’ve also started another short story (I expect it to come in at about 2,500 words or so).

No rest for the wicked.

Tags: Dan Absalonson, Galaxybillies, Get Published, irreverent muse, Michell Plested, minute, scenes, writing

1 Comment

Mar

Get Published Episode 27 – Publisher/Author/Editor Carol Hightshoe Talks Writing

Posted by: Michell in Get Published (Podcast)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Today’s guest is Carol Hightshoe (http://www.carolhightshoe.com/). She has been published in various anthologies and magazines including “Creature Fantastic”, “Illuminated Manuscripts”, PanGaia Magazine, “Stories of Strength”, “The Stygian Soul”, Baen’s Universe, Tales of the Talisman and Beyond Centauri.

She is also a contributing author to Dragon Moon Press’s “Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction”.

In addition to her own writing, she is the editor and publisher of the online e-zines: The Lorelei Signal and Sorcerous Signals
She also runs her own micro-press – WolfSinger Publications.

I’m also very pleased to announce that the show has a sponsor. Paulette Jaxton is sponsoring several episodes. Paulette purchased the spot as part of “The Boom Effect” auction. You can find out more at http://empresssword.com/.

Thanks for listening.

-Michell

Show Notes

00:00 — Opening – Get Published, Episode 27 – Publisher/Author/Editor Carol Hightshoe Talks Writing

Everything has to start somewhere and this is the start of “Get Published”

0:14 — Introduction – Get Published, Episode 27 – Publisher/Author/Editor Carol Hightshoe Talks Writing

Welcome to the show.

00:58 — Promos: The Empress Sword by Paulette Jaxton

http://empresssword.com/

02:28 — Feedback – Get Published, Episode 27 – Publisher/Author/Editor Carol Hightshoe Talks Writing (continued)

Dan asks, how do you handle slow points in the story and change of POV?
Email feedback at getpublishedpodcast dot com with your comments or call the voiceline at (206) 203-2031

07:20 — Promos: GalaxyBillies

http://www.michellplested.com/

09:08 — Get Published, Episode 27 – Publisher/Author/Editor Carol Hightshoe Talks Writing (continued)

Mike and Carol Hightshoe talk about publishing and writing.

58:50 — Promos: Archangel

http://www.archangelnovel.com/wp/

1:00:44 — Closing

Let me know what you think and definitely use the voicemail line to your heart’s content!

Tags: baen's universe, beyond centauri, carol hightshoe, creature fantastic, dragon moon press, Galaxybillies, illuminated manuscripts, irreverent muse, loralei signal, Michell Plested, pangaia magazine, paulette jaxton, scott roche, stories of strength, tales of the talisman, the sorcerous signal, the stygian soul, wolfsinger publications

3 Comments

Mar

Internet Marketing

Posted by: Michell in Irreverent Muse

Before you say “Bah” and flip to something more interesting, I’m NOT trying to sell you anything. I’m also not trying to tell you how to increase your followers or get rich working from your home.

I just want to talk, honest.

This whole building an author’s platform and selling yourself on the Internet is a big question mark to me in certain ways. Sure, I get that if you reach out to people and get to know them they’re more likely to care about you than if you simply try and shill a product. In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Part of the writing thing for me has always been about connecting with people through my stories. Yes, I do want to sell books at some point in my career but I’d be writing even if that wasn’t a possibility.

Enough trying to spout my motives. This discussion is about what to do to get known. I still don’t really know what the magic bullet is. Sure, there are millions of people on the Internet. It is this great, global info dump. How do I get noticed amongst all the other writers, podcasters, etc. out there?

If I knew that answer, I’d probably be the next JK Rowling. I know that word of mouth is as important as anything; if I can get people talking about my podcasts and books, then others will come. But what is the compelling thing that gets those people talking? And just who are THOSE people anyway?

I know of some ways to get partway down that treacherous path. I can use social media tools to meet and make friends with people. I can podcast my work to get others. I can try and tap into known quantities (like podiobooks.com) to build audience. But that will only get me so far.

I can ask people to review my work. That should be good for a few more hits. If I leave comments on websites and podcasts, contribute to forums and chat rooms that will even draw more people in, especially if I can say brilliant things all the time.

Still, when you take the sum total of all these activities, how much does it really add up to?

When I look at my peers who have gone before, some are successful and some are not. I know that the success or lack thereof is not a factor of talent. Great writers/podcasters have fallen short when equally talented ones have gone on to do big things.

Is it as simple as personality? Does someones drive push them over a certain threshold? I simply don’t know the answer. I wish I did. What do you think?

At the end of the day, I would like my books to be successful. I too would like to work full-time as a writer. I don’t expect to, but I would sure like to. All that’s missing is that magic… something.

Chime in if you have any thoughts on the subject.

Personal Update

Just got (another) rejection on my YA novel. This was the writing contest I entered. I’m not totally bummed. It just means I need to keep sending it out. Maybe next time.

I also set up a new group on Facebook (my first) at the suggestion of Ross Gallagher. He said I should have a page for fans of GalaxyBillies so he could start spreading the word. Hopefully this is what he had in mind. Ross is a great example of how word-of-mouth can spread the message. He heard about GalaxyBillies from Megadan who was my winning bidder for the GB character spot. Megadan talked about it on a WoW podcast. That’s an audience I hadn’t thought about approaching (yet).

I think I need to set my sights to the horizon and find the new possibilities. Have a great week.

11 Comments

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