Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour 2015/4: Readers' Sites

 

       I don't hang out in reader communities much these days. I did for a while, trying to be friendly and take part in conversations but I quickly learned one important fact: readers are not like writers. Yes, all writers are readers, but people who are readers only sometimes have a different view of the work. I know it seems strange that I shouldn't have realized this, but I've been writing for such a long time that the two are braided into one for me. I can't always sit back and see a book (mine or someone else's) apart from the act of creating it. I have studied how other authors work. I've seen, sometimes, the trace of a world building hint that might lead back to an original concept. I become as enthralled in a book for it's lovely story as for the work that went into creating it.

And that's where I found that I didn't always connect well with a few readers. Sometimes they get very odd ideas about how books are created. I've seen a couple incidents where they seemed to think book creation was a group project, and as readers they had the right to tell the author what should be in the next book. I found that . . . unpleasant. I also have a problem with the 'authors on parade' concept. I understand the idea of marketing and using electronic media as a way to reach more people, but because both sides are nothing more than words on a screen, things are said that would never happen in a face-to-face encounter. I see problems leap out of nowhere and they aren't easy to fix. Since I'm prone to that kind of misunderstanding, I have just stood back and watched instead.

And there are the problem groups who make decisions that seem to be based almost entirely on 'How annoying can we be?' rather than any logic. I don't understand such groups, and they have, unfortunately, given places like GoodReads a very bad reputation.

I once ran a site that was, really, a good reads site -- I wanted nothing but good reviews posted because I wanted to find the books people loved and to know why they read them. I didn't care what others hated. I wanted to find good books based on what I found interesting in their reviews and a few other people agreed with me. The site was my vision of how to locate those treasures. I didn't want space taken up by the junk as well.

Unfortunately, a group began complaining about how they had the right to post bad reviews, that this was not a helpful site because it didn't give equal opportunity to slam books, etc. I pointed out they could simply go post somewhere else for whatever types of reviews they wanted. It was not enough. THIS site had to be what they wanted.

I shut it down after about a year of constant arguing, and that is where I first began to realize that people on the Internet are not interested in reason or cooperation -- or even, really, talking about books most of the time. If they find something they dislike, they will worry at it and drive people crazy until they get bored or the site disappears.

As I've gotten older, I've lost patience, I think. I know there are good points to such reader sites and that many of the people there enjoy the interaction. I know some writers enjoy sites like WattPad as well, but that's not the direction I want to go. So I'll stick to hanging around with writers. Yeah, like I've had a lot of luck there, too.

You know, maybe it's time for a bit of personality adjustment!

Merry-Go-Round Tour 2015/3: Hobbies and Writing

 

     Somehow I just keep getting later and later. I set alarms and they don't go off. I put the information on notes on my desk and the cats sleep on them. At some point, I'll get this into my brain again.

But writing and hobbies. . . .

I am a photographer. I can't think of a better hobby for an author because it does two things that helps with writing. First, the obvious: You look at the world and analyze it when you are doing photography. If you want pictures of a nice storm, you have to understand weather well enough to get out there at the right time. You need to know where -- and when -- to go to find certain kinds of birds, too. You need to be aware of light and color (even if you are taking black and white photos) -- and that doesn't take into account all the camera settings like shutter, aperture and ISO. Photography takes a lot of attention to get somewhat good at the work. It takes a lot of practice.

Taking pictures can also provide you with a wealth of inspiration. Take pictures of buildings and of roads. Take shots of newly blooming flowers and dead trees. Build up portfolios of things to look at and describe. Yes, you could do the same by grabbing pictures here and there and dropping them into a Pinterest page -- but you won't have the same connection. A picture came help you recall the sounds, scents and the feel of the breeze as you stood there.

What is the second thing photography does for writers?

Photography takes us away from the computer. Even if you're doing nothing more than taking shots of the cats in the house or birds in the yard, often you have to move away from the spot where you are likely to spend far too much time. Photography allows you to focus back on the real world, and in a way that can help you appreciate some of the small things around you. Subtle colors and unusual shapes catch your attention. Light reflecting through a glass of iced tea becomes wondrous.

You might take the photography a step farther and (back to the computer) start looking at some of the wonderful programs out there that can help you transform pictures into new forms of art. If you are lucky enough to have a skill at drawing and painting, the computer-based programs probably won't interest you, but for the rest of us they allow artistic freedom.

I've met many people who limit their photography to 'important events' and family shots. Back in the age of film-based cameras, this could make sense. Each picture cost you back then, so you might have been more careful. Now you can practice and experiment and take thousands of pictures and it cost you no more than the original camera investment. Most cameras come with CDs that have all the programs you'll need to get started, and if not, there is always the very nice Picasa program from Google.

I take pictures every day. I have a Picture-A-Day Blog that just crossed 3000 pictures and I only post pictures taken on the day of the post. (If on vacation and post later, I'll note what days the pictures were taken on to fill in the spots.)

Go to zoos, too. They're great for science fiction and fantasy writers as well as for people writing in locals they're not used to. The zoo I love (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, about 100 miles south of me) has a wonderful indoor jungle as well as a desert. The aquarium is full of alien creatures.

Get a camera, use it often, and explore your world. You might find it makes you a better writer.

Merry-Go-Round Tour 2015/2: The Perfect Writing Retreat

 

       Yes, I am late again. Sigh.

I've been busy with the writing stuff. I just finished the last big edit of a novel (In the Shadow of Giants) and just have to wait back on stuff from the editor. This is going to be my first release for 2015. It's been difficult work, but I love the story.

Which brings me to the subject of this month . . . The Perfect Writing Retreat.

I would have a problem with something like this. I really would, and not because I can't write away from home. I can write anywhere and at any time. The idea of a retreat appeals to me for a change in scenery more than for a place to get work done.

And that's the problem. I'd have to take my cameras. I don't care where the retreat was -- mountains, desert, middle of the city -- there would be new photo opportunities, and I'd spend more time doing pictures than I would be writing. Not take the cameras? I'd be miserable because those opportunities would still be out there and now I could do nothing about it.

For the record -- I'd vote for mountains with lots of scenic views.

Would there be others there as well? I'm not really big into the 'read your piece and we'll tear it apart' stuff. I'd rather have critiques on line because I do have bad emotional responses sometimes to perfectly legitimate things and on line puts a bit of a barrier between things. I would think that the retreat would have to be genre-based for it to be helpful as a writing-improvement gathering.

On the other hand, I've known a couple different people who have booked rooms at local hotels for a weekend when deadlines were looming and they simply needed to get the writing done. That always sounded like fun to me, but since I'm not on a traditional path any more, deadlines are a lot more fluid for me.

Besides, I average about 3k a day anyway, so I don't think I truly need to write more.

Okay, then how about people to gather around the fire at night and discuss writing (but not THE writing)? Yeah, that wouldn't be too bad. I've nothing against people, as long as they're writers. Non-writers are sometimes difficult to deal with because they don't quite understand why I find the odd rock their son found far more interesting than the discussion on window dressings. (Clearly, they have never been in my house.)

I suspect I am simply not the writing-retreat kind of person, though on several occasions I've pointed to old motels in small Nebraska towns and said that would be a perfect place to buy for an on-going retreat. Middle of Nebraska? Am I crazy?

No. Small town with limited distractions: That's what most of the writers I know need. A place where there is simply nothing else going on would be perfect to really settle in and write. A motel so each person had their own little space and maybe a microwave and small fridge might be the retreat a person really needs, and not somewhere fancy with lots of people to talk to and lectures about writing. In the end, many of us simply need to just sit down and write.

Including me.

It would be nice if there were some good sunsets for pictures, though.

Merry Go Round Blog Tour: What to do in 2015?

      I suspect this is a sign of how 2015 is going to go in general, because I am late with the first post to this round of the tour. Dare I even make plans for a year where I am already falling behind?

Might as well live dangerously.

Every December I make certain I've finished up everything for the year. That means completing whatever drafts I am working on, tidying up outlines, and completing edits. When January 1 dawns, I am free to do whatever I want. It's a whole new year with nothing that has to be finished. I started with a lovely new sf novel a little bit after midnight on January 1.

But you know, I haven't really thought much about plans for the rest of the year.

Oh, there's the usual stuff. Write new things. Publish older things. I am determined to get at least one paper bound book out this year, which means really and truly setting down with InDesign and working my way through the entire process, not this start and stop stuff I've done for the last two years. Silky will be the first print publication, and if all goes well, there will be others.

I have changed the release dates for the new issue of Vision to get it away from the start of the year when everything is so crazy. The new first issue of the year is February 1. I may only do three issues a year from now on. This is year 15 for the ezine and it is getting very hard to get new articles. I'll work something out.

I plan for my first ebook novel release to be in March. This is a new approach for me, not to have something new coming out each month (short stories or longer novels as they get done) like I did for the last four years. Truthfully, I've run out of the 'easy' things to publish, the ones I'd had mostly finished and prepared for submission to agents and publishers. Now I'm delving into newer material that is still in the first draft stage and will take longer to process. I have 54 publications right now, the first published on February 7, 2011. That has been a lot of work.

Currently I'm working on a number of new things, all of them at different levels of completion, and requiring different types of work. It's easy for me to move from one to the other when they're in that vast array of The new sf novel, Home Year 1: Crash is moving along at about 500 words a day; a purposely slow approach to this one until I can get the real feel for the world and the characters.

I'm rewriting a fantasy novel called A Plague of Rats which is kind of up and down. There are parts of it that are really good, and other sections that I keep cutting out completely that are just dead boring.

During all this I got an idea for a new urban fantasy (Outcasts: Sleeper Awake) that looks like it could be a series if I want. I've been jotting down a few notes here and there -- and now I have about 5k in notes. LOL.

Weekly flash fiction stuff . . . Finishing off an sf/adventure called Company Policy, which is down to the last two or three entries. Since it's flash fiction, each entry is just a bit short of 1k. Those have been fascinating to write. I'll do a few weeks of independent stories, and then probably start the flash fiction serial sequel to Going Elsewhere. (Yay! Edmond the talking cat will be back!)

I also have the final, nitpicking edits on In the Shadow of Giants for February release and Silky for the print copy.

Yeah, I'll be busy for a while.

And by the time I'm done with all that, I'll have a dozen more things I want to do. Then there is the daily photo blog (just short of 3000 entries right now) which is hard to keep up in the winter when I don't go out much and we've had virtually no snow. Getting new pictures each day isn't easy in those cases. (Here, kitty kitty. Okay, teddy bears, then. Or maybe the shelves of tea again? How about pictures of pictures!)

Oh and that brings us to art stuff. I've been playing with new programs and I've been so enthralled with them that they've actually taken time away from writing for the last week or so. It's been wonderfully exciting and fun, because I get to work with my 150,000 photos (I am not exaggerating. I have them cataloged in Adobe Lightroom, which is a wonderful program)and make art prints out of them. This has been a lot of fun and a good thing to get me away from writing for a bit each day. Yes, even I need a break from it now and then.

So this might be my year for art.

And photos.

And writing.

Sounds normal to me!

Check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour for more posts by writers!

Merry Go Round Tour #28: The Projects of 2013

With only about 85k to go to reach 1 million new words this year, you can imagine that I've done a lot of projects. Not so many as you might think, though. A novel a month? It's possible for a first draft if you are really dedicated and writing has become your profession. You also have to want to write them, and not spend your time surfing the web, watching shows you don't particularly like, etc. Not many people can devote the amount of time I have to writing. I'm lucky.

If the first drafts are near or over 100k, you only need ten of them and there you are at the one million mark. However things are never that easy. For me, this year meant a lot of editing as well. I compare the original count to the new count. Sometimes there are new words, sometimes not.

If I am rewriting from scratch, though, I count them all. That's when I either write an outline based on the earlier story or I take the book, read a page and rewrite it. Those are drastic projects.

This years projects included getting something ready for publication each month.

The fiction publications were:

1. Mirrors (Urban Fantasy)
2. Vita's Vengeance (Science Fiction)
3. Paid in Gold and Blood (Fantasy)
4. Devlin's Team 2: Farewell to Summer (Science Fiction)
5. Xenation: Draw the Line (Science Fiction)
6. Waiting for the Last Dance (Contemporary Young Adult)
7. Playing with Fire (Shorter, Science fiction)
8. Badlands (Science Fiction)
9. For the Honor of the Hunt (Collection, Science Fiction)
10. Don't Go Home for the Holidays (November release, Science Fiction, Humor)
11. Journey to Winter (December release, Fantasy)

(Link to all my work on Smashwords, which has formats for Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo and more)
 

So, besides those books, all of which were edited before publication, there were the last three 2YN books, a short book on writing short stories, and two issues of Vision in ebook format. That's probably enough work for anyone.

But those aren't the first drafts for the year. I started the year with the third Summerfield novel. I have the 4th ready in outline for the last of NaNo. I did a number of rewrites from scratch, including Badlands and a couple others that are on the published list, which then had to go through editing as well. Other new stuff included The Legend of Tom Luck, Connor of Northgate, Whispers of the Past, The Path: Ost, and a couple others that I can't call to mind right now.

(To be honest, this is mid-NaNo. I've already written over 100k, and it's a wonder I have a brain left at all.)

There is one project this year that I've found a lot of fun. I started by writing Flash Fiction every Friday. A couple months ago, I changed that into a flash serial series called Surviving Elsewhere. It has been a real challenge to write an entry that is right around 1k and have something exciting happen each time. I expect it to go for at least a year and then I'll probably rework it into a novel. I'm not sure. The serial is here on the blog and the link to all the sections is up above.

I have made a good dent on my 50 year project (also see link above). How will next year go? I have an outline ready to start on January 1. After that I have no idea what I'll do yet. Let's survive NaNo first. Which means . . . Yes. Time to get back to writing.

Merry Go Round Tour #27: Books on Writing and Inspiration

Yes, I am late this month. Honestly, this has been such a strange month for me that it's a wonder I remembered to do this at all.

I have a very large collection of books on writing. I've stopped buying them in the last five years or so, but they still fill several shelves and I pull out one or two now and then and just skim through them again. Sometimes it's good to have reinforcement of things that helped you understand the process of writing. I can get lazy sometimes. I can forget pieces that help me see the process clearer. And sometimes, like with The Writer's Journey by Vogler, I can see different ways to approach a new story. The Marshall Plan for Novel for Novel Writing was one of the best overall books for book writing that I've ever found.

I've written a few books on writing as well. Some people find them helpful and others do not. And that's where we come to inspiration.

You never know what's going to help fill in some blank in either your ability to write or in a specific story. You don't know when you look out at a sunset if you are going to suddenly imagine a person watching the sun go down a hundred years ago. A thousand years ago -- or ten thousand years from now. Writers see more than the real world around them; they imagine how it could have been and how it might be. We are visionaries, each in our own special way.

Sometimes inspiration lags. I've had the problem this month while I prepare outlines for NaNo. Last night a piece finally fell into place when I started thinking (for no obvious reason) about another story already published. My brain had made the link that I had not seen until I started looking at the name for one of the gods in this fantasy.

Inspiration is not something that can be controlled, but I have found that the more you use it, the more likely it is to come to your aid when you really need some help. I don't go chasing after every story idea that pops up. Ideas are easy; expanding them into plots takes a lot more work. Even so, letting ideas play around in my brain lets it kick out odd things now and then. Sometimes they don't look helpful at all. Why should I be thinking about characters in a book already published? I am not writing a sequel to it, after all. And yet, a moment later, there was a link to the overall structure and world building that I could adapt, and having done so -- I saw a wide new vision of how the book needed to go.

I've rarely been able to force inspiration, though. Either the story is ready to unfold (usually in an outline) or it's not. I don't leap into the work until I feel that I have a good grasp on what I have. Even then, an outline can suddenly slow and stop, as this last one had. I knew I was missing some key piece to the background.

Inspiration doesn't usually come from my own work, though. Reading everything helps. Nonfiction is my favorite place to find new ideas, but sometimes watching a show will help. Shows don't inspire me so much with plots, but characters and character interactions are sometimes helpful.

I am rarely inspired by real life, though. I know some writers enjoy 'people watching' but I find most people either boring or rude these days, and I can imagine both without having to see it in real life. That's also why a lot of television and movies don't inspire me, either. I am not looking for the same sort of stories that are often popular.

I think this is why 'searching for inspiration' doesn't always work for some writers. They look in places that are mundane, at least to them, or too well known. They'll read a favorite book they've read before or watch a favorite show -- and this might have helped in the past, but you can only dip into a certain well so many times.

For me, the best inspiration is often to learn new things. History can be adapted to a wide range of adventures and biography can inspire new characters. Science expands the reach of the world and religion brings new depth to cultures. A writer who isn't interested in learning anything new is stuck either getting their inspiration second hand from someone else's story (television, movies, games, etc.) or they add very little new material to what they have on hand.

Inspiration (like the muse that represents it) needs fed.

If you want to get to read about other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Merry Go Round Tour # 26 -- Research

Oh yes, the wondrous world of research where you think you are looking up something on Victorian England and end up digging through the history of Sargon and his successor, Rimush. You pull yourself back to Victorian England and end up reading Bleak House and studying fishing cycles in the North Sea. Oh yes. Research.

I love research. I have a huge library of hardbound books, most of them history-related and a few science-related. I have quite a few travel books that go deeper into the ecology of a place rather than a list of the best hotels. Through them I study different types of habitats and the types of plants and animals you're likely to find there. Desert? What type of desert? Wetlands? Are they marsh, bogs, swamps -- what? Every type of habitat comes in various flavors, just as every ancient civilization had it's on, unique face. Once you move past the generic, you are likely to create something special and exciting.

The problem is that I rarely write anything actually set in a real-world place or time. That doesn't make the research any less helpful. Even when you're creating a world from scratch for your fantasy novel, it helps to know how things work. With that in mind, I don't devote my research only to when I need specific information. I read a considerable amount of history, science and anthropology just as a regular part of my reading material. I pick up things and file them away for later use, and while they sit around in my brain, they mutate and grow and sometimes entire new novels come out of the oddest things.

(Some predatory birds will not hunt within a certain radius around their nests, keeping the area clear of dead things. So a field mouse living at the base of the tree where they keep their nest is actually safer than he would be farther away. Oh yes, that's worked into one of my fantasy books when I created a culture for a non-human group.)

Specific research? If I don't have a book on something, I'll order it. That's a lot easier in the age of ebooks and my wonderful Nook. But even so, I'm likely to have something, somewhere on any subject I'm going to write about, especially since I have four sets of encyclopedias. Wiki? Yes, I'll look there for a quick answer, but I do a lot of my research the old-fashioned way with books and notes. Wiki is great for a quick answer, but if I want to go into depth I'll grab several books by different authors and get a good cross reference on things. I am most likely to find what I need in my own house, which helps. That's because I write about things that interest me. Why shouldn't I? I use ancient history to build fantasy and science fiction societies. I use real-world animals to put together something alien. These may not be obvious (and usually shouldn't be) in my work, but the background is there.

Here is a trick that might help you if you need to do research on some area that you know nothing about. Don't go look for the most extensive, scholarly work for your first time through. Look for something aimed at teens in school. This will introduce you to the basic facts and give you a list of things you can narrow down and research more carefully. You'll get far more out of a fast, easy introduction to a subject than you will to something boring an deep. Librarians can help you here. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to collect large libraries that spill over into two houses (we bought the small house next door where Russ keeps his office and his American History books, which number well over a thousand on their own.)

A couple years ago I realized I needed some information on Egypt. I admit that Egypt is not one of my favorite ancient civilizations, mostly because it is the one studied most often in school and it got boring after awhile. Give me Elam or Akkad and I'm a happy little person. But I needed Egyptian information and I wasn't certain I would be able to find enough in my own library.

Half an hour later, I had more than 15 books sitting on my desk, all of them dedicated to Egypt, and I hadn't even touched the encyclopedias. I hadn't even realized how much I had collected down through the years until I needed them.

So my research routines are rarely fixed. I study all the time. At some point I might need to go and refresh my memory on some point, and it's always far more handy to have the books on hand rather than having to wait for the library to open and hope that what I need happens to be on the shelf. Besides, libraries have that distressing habit of wanting their books back.

Take notes. Get those wonderful little flags you can put on pages, marking something important (this is really nice if you own the books, so you can go back to that place as often as you need). If you are really serious about the research, use more than one reference because no book or website is ever going to give you the full story. Be careful of multiple websites because many of them are simply grabbing information from other sites, and there is no real research into credibility.

And if you are writing anything except nonfiction or historical fiction, remember that even disproved theories can be helpful to a writer. Think of them as little touches of alternate-earth possibilities. These can sometimes be great points where you start a culture for your novel.

Read anything that interests you. This isn't school and you aren't going to be tested. However, the more you are willing to learn, the better your writing will be. 'Write what you know' should really be 'write what you can learn -- and be willing to learn anything.'

 

 

 

If you want to get to read about other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Merry Go Round Tour # 25 -- Motivation

I have written 634,310 words this year.

I have written over a million words each year since 2002.

So what is my motivation?

My motivation is very simple and directly related to writing and nothing more: I have stories to tell and I want to see them completed. I think tossing aside unfinished work is a writer's worst sin. It is a waste of precious writing time that most people have to scramble to find. To see them waste it seems a horrible crime. Oh sure, for some there are works that are practice pieces and aren't really intended to be finished, but others will toss aside a story the moment they hit some plot snag.

I do not. I work my way through the problem, including massive rewrites, and I finish everything I start. I also do so within the year that I started the work because it would be far too easy to say 'I'll finish it later' and let the story sit for years. Finishing in this case means a current draft (or outline) and not all the way from idea to publication in one year. That will rarely ever happen with me, and only on shorter pieces. I know the need for editing and the power of letting the story sit for a long time before I pick it up to read and edit again.

Is my motivation also publication and readers? Yes, of course it is, but that's not why I write. I was writing for twenty years before I realized I might have readers. This was the fault of a teacher who told me that only people who went to college could be published. I came from a very, very poor family so I was not going to get that chance. However, I still wrote and held on to the love of writing and creativity that helped me create my own special worlds. Silky came out of those years. So did the first glimmering of the Devlin series and many others.

Eventually I learned differently about publication. I did well in the small press world and the early on-line paying markets. I started to become disenchanted with the world of traditional publishing when I realized I was finding fewer things on the shelves I wanted to read, and since I write what I want to read I knew this meant I wasn't going to find a publisher. My type of story was not popular.

So how does a person find motivation if they are motivated by publication and realize they aren't writing for the current market?

You can face it one of two ways:

1. Change what you write. Be careful of this one, though. If you try to follow a current trend, chances are the trend is going to be long past by the time you can write, edit, submit and resubmit to find a publisher.

2. Throw caution to the wind and leap into the world of Indie Publishing. I am not a best selling Indie Author, but I have made more income there then I ever did in the traditional route. I also hear from more readers. There are pitfalls, of course, but if you motivation for writing is to get readers, then go out and get them.

My motivation to write is that there is nothing else I would rather do. My motivation is my love of creating stories and if it were anything else, like making big sales or winning exceptional notice, I would have quit. That is, in fact, why a number of people do quit. They are not going to be the next big thing; the story they tell is only a ladder to get what they truly want.

Fame and fortune would be nice. All in all, though, I'm happy to be writing the stories I enjoy.

If you want to get to read about nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Merry Go Round Tour # 24 -- Online Writing Communities

   Now here is an interesting subject for me. As the owner of Forward Motion for Writers, my view of Online Writing Communities is a bit different from that of people who are just members. My personal 'wants' may be the same, but trying to organize and encourage others to help their fellow writers is not always easy.

What do I think makes a good online writing community? One in which the people help instead of lecture and one in which the people write and not just talk about writing. A writing community should also focus on writing and not the latest scandal or flamewar. FM fits that bill pretty nicely, but it's hard work to keep the site moving and on focus, especially when there are some who try to work against what I feel is the better choices for the site. We actively encourage people to write in order to write better. It not enough to just to study how to write a good line -- though that's important too -- but you also need to write to learn how to make a story flow.

It's also hard to encourage people to add posts to the site to help others because, honestly, scandal and flamewars are far more fun then discussing some point of writing interest. Helping other writers in any long term way is a major project. It takes commitment and more than a blithe statement about someone's ego in a flamewar.

It also takes an understanding that people work in different ways. You can say 'this works for me' but you cannot say 'this works.' There are amazingly few absolute rules.

But those are all the odd things about sites and they don't address the real core. At this core has to be a group of people who are willing to share what they have learned and discuss writing. We live in an age where the lonely writer, locked in a dark room with a single light and pounding out their magnum opus in poverty and solitude is anachronistic. Writers are no longer solitary creatures without social skills; they interact with others in ways that can sometimes be counter-productive because it is so easy to drop into the Internet and start chatting when you should be writing. To counter that, FM has chat rooms where people write, chat for a bit, and write more. It works for a surprisingly large number of people who like to share their writing-time with other writers. 

At the same time all sorts of social media can save them from problems later. Learning about bad practices, things not to do for both traditional and indie writing can save a considerable time. There is a lot to learn out there, and what took some people years and years before the Internet, is now just a few clicks away. The downside is that there is so much bad information that you need a way to sort through it.

That's where the larger sites come in handy. If you can get a group of solid people you can trust in one place, then you have a good chance of finding out what is trustworthy. At the very least, you'll find good questions and answers.

We don't have to stand alone. That's the best part of community. Support comes in many ways, from help in finding answers to sharing the joy of finishing a first draft --and all the way to publication. That's one of the best part of online communities. You get to share story-related stuff with people who understand and who don't go glassy-eyed and fidget while you talk.

Well, at least not where you see.

If you want to get to read about nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour #23: Favorite Characters

Should this be favorite characters I've read? Characters I've written? How about a little of both? There are at least four characters I follow, hoping for a next book and a next book and . . . Yeah. Series I never want to end. One is Dresden, of course. Almost everyone who reads urban fantasy enjoys Butcher's Dresden Files series. The character does the right thing no matter what the cost, but he maintains a wonderful wise-cracking sense of humor. He is loyal as well as honorable. And he gets into such incredible messes.

Oddly, Gen from The Thief and the subsequent books by Megan Whalen Turner has much of the same feel. The later books are not as bright and fun as The Thief but they are wonderfully well-written. For me, that means having a very good central character that I can connect with.

Bren Cameron from The Foreigner series by C. J. Cherryh is another set I love. In this case the character is so perpetually out of place (living with aliens) that it is fascinating to see him adapt and adopt what he needs. Equally amazing is to watch how he doesn't do as well with humans as he does with Atevi after awhile. Besides, there are few authors who can do world building as well as Cherryh.

The last character I'm fascinated with is a recent addition for me. Ian Ruthledge is a Scotland Yard Detective in Post World War I. He is very well-written, dealing with what we would consider Post Traumatic Stress, but they called Shell-Shock and didn't take very seriously, considering the men cowards at best. This is a mystery series. I am now reading #4 and even though I tell myself to take a break between them, I end up buying the next one within a few hours of reading the last. Nook=instant gratification.

What about my characters?

I am character-driven as both a reader and a writer. I have to like the characters I write about or I will not like the story, not matter how well the ideas and world building are played out.

Many of my character find themselves in situations where they are the outsider (I blame Cherryh for this since I've read so many of her books with the outsider as the main character and love them -- more than just Bren.) Some of those books are the Silky Trilogy (fantasy), Ada Nish Pura (Science Fiction), Muse (Contemporary humorous mystery), The Servant Girl (Fantasy) and Paid in Gold and Blood (Fantasy). In each of these books the main character is in a place where he or she does not know the rules, but by being loyal and honorable can, eventually, make a difference.

I like those characters. I like seeing how they react when they don't fully understand the situation. I like having them do the right thing, even when it is not in their best interest. The character of Silkation (Silky) will likely always be an 'up towards the top of the list' favorite, though. I spent a lot of years with him watching him change and grow.

Not all my main characters are in that sort of situation. Both Glory (Futuristic Urban Fantasy) and Devlin (Science Fiction) are tough, take charge characters. Devlin is a long-time favorite, too. She gets things done. She's not very diplomatic and in her job as one of the top Inner Worlds Council Security agents, she's known to have caused havoc in order to do the right thing. (Yes, doing the right thing is a recurring theme in my books.) However, even tough IWCS agents have their odd moments:

Cha opened the door.

No amount of training could prepare a person for some things. Etech Cha Hao Chan in a lovely, long silk robe with his hair hanging free turned out to be one of those moments for Devlin. She stood there, stunned.

"Good morning, Devlin." Cha held the door open for her.

She forced herself to move forward without tripping. "Thank you. Nice morning. Good to be back. I brought us breakfast." Stop babbling! She mentally tried to slap herself instead of watching the way he moved past her with his hair floating behind him.

Dancer sat on the sofa watching with amusement, which didn't help at all. She took a breath and crossed to the kitchen table, pushing aside some of the equipment and putting her basket down. She did not watch Cha as he moved past.

So there it is. It sounds simplistic, but the characters are never that easy to write. However, as long as I can connect to that part of the characters that I find most admirable and at the same time the hardest fo teh character to deal with . . . Yeah, this is fun.

There's nothing else I can imagine doing for a job. We're lucky people.

If you want to get to read about nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Current Projects: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour # 22

As many people know, I have strict rules when it comes to starting new projects. First, I make myself finish everything I start (and learn a lot from the stories that give me trouble) This makes me slow to start new things before I feel that they are solid stories. I might do a few notes, but once I hit outline or first draft, it will go all the way to the end of that version. I might do the outline one year and the actual novel the next year. I might do a first draft one year and do the edits a year or two later. This always gives me projects at various stages. If I start a project, I finish it within the year.

What surprises people, given my rules about finishing, is the number of projects I have going at once. There is only two times a year when I'm down to one project: January 1 and December 31. Also remember that I write every day and I dedicate time to it that others spend watching television and such. Television holds no lure for me these days, except an occasional show on DVD. I would much rather be writing.

So here we are coming close to the middle of the year. What have I got going on? Oddly, not as much as usual, but that's partly because I just got a major project done. I am about to publish a new novel on Smashwords today. Devlin's Team, File 2: Farewell to Summer is the second in a long set of books about a top Inner Worlds Council Security Agent. She finds trouble, even when she isn't looking for it.

Devlin has arrived on Summer where she expects to do nothing more than keep watch over Cha and Dancer. However, even before the two arrive, she's found trouble of a different kind. Even though the people of Summer are leaving as the world begins a long, inhospitable winter, there's still time for deceit, lies and murder.

I have written three short stories this month for the Forward Motion Story Dare. I hope to write at least a couple more.

I am working on a new fantasy novel titled The Legend of Tom Luck. I've been writing it in about 500 word jumps, though not every day now. It is up to about 30k and is interesting to work on that way.

I am in the final edits of Badlands, a science fiction novel, but I held back on it because I knew there was something more I needed. I think I've finally pieced together the problems there and I can get back to work on it. From the start again, I think, but I expect this to go quickly.

I am about to tackle a young adult contemporary mystery that I wrote years ago and even had edited, but I had to put it aside because I could not get the opening the way I wanted it. I think I see it better now and what it really needs is just cut back off the start. At any rate, Waiting for the Last Dance is next up on my 'massive rework' list.

Marisha Fortier is only days from high school graduation. Living in the exclusive community of Deervale, she is surrounded by security and riches. Deervale, however, isn't without trouble. Over a year ago, a drug-related auto accident left Gian, the boy next door, in a wheelchair. And now Akio, the person who was driving that car, has returned to Deervale for her father's funeral.

Gian is recovering, and Akio has spent months in hospitals as well -- but can Marisha deal with the return of her former best friend? Can she bring herself to believe that Akio is not a monster? As Marisha tries to reconcile her conflicting emotions, she finds herself drawn closer to Gian, and inexplicably becomes the target of someone's wrath as she begins to question what happened on the night of that accident.

The other work is building a massive background for a new science fiction series that does not take place in my Inner Worlds Council universe. I'm enjoying playing with new ideas there. No huge hurry on that one, but I do have the basics of the first novel in place.

I am also working on the Two Year Novel Course book which I hope to write for NaNo. This one is an odd little urban fantasy/ science fiction combination. I've been having fun with it so far.

And last (yes, one more) I have a new idea for a fantasy novel that's starting to grow in my head. This one has promise and I'll probably start committing to the background work in the next few days.

So yeah, maybe that is more than I thought. I guess I better go get to work.

If you want to get to read about nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Writing Routines: Merry-Go-Round Tour #21

Here is my writing routine:

I sit down at the computer. I pull up the current story. I write.

Down through the years, I have developed the ability to write at almost any time and place. For instance, if I have a few minutes between work emails, I go and write a couple hundred words on a story. If I happen to be sitting in the car, I'll often do notes on some story or write a scene (My Nook HD emails the work back to my main computer. I love that!)I have, over the years, created an attitude (and yes, this is about attitude) that allows me to fall directly back into any story I'm working on.

I want to write.

Wanting to write -- really wanting to write, not wanting to have written something -- has made a huge difference in my work habits over the last few years. This is, of course, part of being prolific. Prolific doesn't mean anything if you don't finish first drafts and edit the work, though. You have to follow through on all steps, including either submissions for those choosing traditional publishing or publishing for Indie authors. (And here is a secret -- that last step is where I fall down. Right now I have three books all but ready to go to Smashwords, and I haven't done the last step to get them there. I'm positive something more needs to be done before I release them. This is an attitude problem I'm still working on.)

But let's get back to actual writing. I usually like quiet when I work, so there's no sorting through music. I might put something on if there are loud noises outside, but mostly the quiet works best for me. This is also good since it allows me to take advantage of those little breaks between other work without wasting the time looking for the right music, etc.

The cats are most apt to disturb me, though. And I swear whoever invented the Control+z command must have had cats. No, really, I didn't want to say uerwpqorwiu there, Zaphod. I'm sure it's a very proper kitty word, but it doesn't fit. Thank you for the help, though. Control+z and pop the epic 3,000 word battle back in that the somehow erased.

I think a lot of people have writing routines to set their writing apart from the rest of their real-world work. I think that's important in a lot of cases. I'm lucky because much of my real world is still involved in writing, and there's no huge dichotomy in moving from one part of my life to the others. I don't need to put that line between me and the rest of life.

So now I'm going to go work on getting one of those books up on Smashwords. It's time I hit my own problems straight on.

Wish me luck.

 

If you want to get to read about nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer

Writer's Block? Merry Go Round Blog Tour #20

I am going to say something that will annoy a lot of people.

I have never had Writer's Block.

I understand the concept behind it, but there are two huge factors that have allowed me to avoid this problem. The first is that I have always turned to writing to escape real-world pressures. How does this make a difference? Many people fall into the pit of writer's block when bad things happen in their real life and it carries over. I have been able to divorce my real-world problems (and yes, there are plenty of them) and escape to the writing world where I can put my MC through hell and make myself feel lots better.

I'm not sure that's entirely sane, but still . . . Better than not having the release.

The other aspect of my life that has helped is that I am prolific. There is always something I can work on, even if it's just notes for a story I want to write in the future. This means that no single story is going to stop me dead. There are times when a story hits a snag and needs more time, but I've found that if I focus on that one and try to force it through, I don't get anywhere. I can't see around the problem and that's as close to writer's block as I get. When that happens, I move over to something else and let the problem child rest for a bit. Most often, the story answer comes to me when I am not trying to force it.

Maybe something will happen in the future and I'll suffer from writer's block. It can happen to anyone, after all. But I've been lucky and careful not to purposely set myself up into a situation where this is likely to happen.

The reason I don't suffer from this is not going to be a help for others. We all have our own approach to writing and our own levels of anxiety. I suffer from what might be called 'fear of release' syndrome. Novels stay with me for years before I finally either submit them, or more recently, publish them. I will rewrite an entire novel rather than consider releasing it, even when I know this isn't really what it needs. I'm breaking myself of that habit, but it's a tough demon to face.

Just as the demons you face in writing are tough.

If you want to get to read about nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Be sure to read tomorrow's post by Sharon Kemmerer