So what's been happening in the last year?
Let's start, continue, and conclude with the books.
I'm currently on a schedule of releasing one book every three months. All of them are available from Amazon. Right now that includes:
Kassandra's Song
Minus One
Firestar
Morosini's Children
On Foreign Shores
Setosha
The last four listed above are part of the Families War series. Setosha was released on Oct. 1, 2012. That means right around the first of the year Boabdil will come out. It will be a little different than the other stories. There will be at least two more following Boabdil.
What do I have in the queue? A couple more novel length stories: first, The Shifter Feeler, which I've alluded to before. It is a detective story involving a900 year old shape shifter. And in the final draft stage, Bush Pilot, a New Zion story. Possibly coming out (I haven't decided yet) will be Operatino Georgia, which is a Families War story. It's in rough draft form right now.
And then there are the short stories. I'm looking to release those in a collection form. They fall into the following categories: the Dryad series, Wheelchair Annie, the Shifter stories, and Kalliste's Storytime.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Website!
The domain name is www.kassandras-song.com. I thought of using my name, but I am constantly amazed at how people butcher my last name. So I went with the name of a book (my first one). I also chose Yahoo Services.
My reason for choosing Yahoo! were many. First, several local writers I knew had done so, and they all reported being happy with them. Second, the price compared to the others (1on1, Intuit, and GoDaddy) was a wash. Third, I figured I could master the tools fairly quickly, though that was also a wash. I'd be doing this site myself.
Back in my Premera Blue Cross days I designed the web pages for the Tech Services department. I shocked the company Webmaster by using native .html and Notepad. It wasn't that I didn't trust FrontPage or the others, but I wanted to know what the code did. I did load it up with plenty of comments, though, for whoever would maintain it after that (was this premonition?). There wasn't a line of code in there that I didn't know what it did. It was nice and tight, and used several visual features I'd learned in document design. That's because I treated it as a document, though I printed to screen, not paper.
I treated my website the same way. I wanted a certain look to it, and while I'm probably only 98% happy, I do like what I have. There are tweaks I want to make, but (and this is important), I realize a website can be an enormous time sink. Time spent on that is not time spent writing, and since my stay in the hospital in 2010, I keep in mind: "So many stories, so little time".
Other things -
Different World wrapped up on www.beyondthefarhorizon.com, and I didn't solve the mystery. The costabulary have the killer, but who sent him? That will be book #4, and has a working title of Cold Case.
I'm also filling in bits and pieces of the Families. The latest installment starts on Nov. 6 for two weeks, Wolfhound Six, about an Imperial fighter pilot woulnded at Medina. There was Homecoming, this is one from the other side. And the one about Sir Livan and his putative associates is chugging along. Chapters 1, 2, and 4 are done, 3 is a work in progress.
The domain name is www.kassandras-song.com. I thought of using my name, but I am constantly amazed at how people butcher my last name. So I went with the name of a book (my first one). I also chose Yahoo Services.
My reason for choosing Yahoo! were many. First, several local writers I knew had done so, and they all reported being happy with them. Second, the price compared to the others (1on1, Intuit, and GoDaddy) was a wash. Third, I figured I could master the tools fairly quickly, though that was also a wash. I'd be doing this site myself.
Back in my Premera Blue Cross days I designed the web pages for the Tech Services department. I shocked the company Webmaster by using native .html and Notepad. It wasn't that I didn't trust FrontPage or the others, but I wanted to know what the code did. I did load it up with plenty of comments, though, for whoever would maintain it after that (was this premonition?). There wasn't a line of code in there that I didn't know what it did. It was nice and tight, and used several visual features I'd learned in document design. That's because I treated it as a document, though I printed to screen, not paper.
I treated my website the same way. I wanted a certain look to it, and while I'm probably only 98% happy, I do like what I have. There are tweaks I want to make, but (and this is important), I realize a website can be an enormous time sink. Time spent on that is not time spent writing, and since my stay in the hospital in 2010, I keep in mind: "So many stories, so little time".
Other things -
Different World wrapped up on www.beyondthefarhorizon.com, and I didn't solve the mystery. The costabulary have the killer, but who sent him? That will be book #4, and has a working title of Cold Case.
I'm also filling in bits and pieces of the Families. The latest installment starts on Nov. 6 for two weeks, Wolfhound Six, about an Imperial fighter pilot woulnded at Medina. There was Homecoming, this is one from the other side. And the one about Sir Livan and his putative associates is chugging along. Chapters 1, 2, and 4 are done, 3 is a work in progress.
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Prison Experience
I had a reader of Minus One who openly procliamed that she was not a reader, tell me she couldn't stop reading. As an author, I want to know why so maybe I can repeat this. Apparently part of it is "the prison experience". People are fascinated by things that they have little or no knowledge of, and that horrify them. Look at the popularity of horror/slasher flicks.
Now I won't compare Minus One to a horror flick, but prison has all sorts of auras about it, and so the book opens a little bit of a window into an experience all too many people are curious about.
There are a number of other sources. On television you have Lockup, stories about life in prison. But they focus on the most notorious things, and don't get the drudgery of life inside. And for the most part they don't touch on the experience of women behind bars.
Minus One is fiction, but it is based on a lot of interviews and shared experiences. There are alumni of prisons all over the place, and you would be surprised at how many there are.
And then there is Orange is the New Black. The author spent a year in a Federal prison for something she was involved with several years before, part of a money laundering scheme that supported the illegal drug trade. Her experiences should be read and studied. She gives voice to what I heard in interviews time after time, the loneliness, the caution inmates develop, and the (sometimes) raucous nature of a society of nothing but women. She also touches on one of the central facts that doesn't apply as often in a men's prison: what of the families?
Famileis are built around women. Especially, there are growing children. When you take the mother out of the family, what happens to it? In some cases the father/husband holds it together, but in too many cases the woman enters an ever-tightening spiral. She leaves prison with no prospects, some go into shelters, some return home and try to pick up the pieces. But the only thing they know is what got them put in prison to begin with, and for too many, they end up going back inside.
As for the children... They're on the edge of being cut adrift. If the woman is pregnant when she goes in, and gives birth in prison, she gives up the child, hopefully to her family. In some cases it is to foster care. In Indianaalmost as an exception, mothers are allowed to keep their children with them for several months (imagine the problems of designing prison cells so little fingers won't be hurt).
This only touches on the whole experience of going to prison. But too many people who have been inside still feel the bars around them after they get out, and this is not related to the recidivism rate. The human mind can adapt to an awful lot, and someone who has come to grips with life in prison has to adapt all over again to life outside. But there is the security of being inside. You know what to do, where to go, and when to do it. There are dangers and a lot of petty (and not so petty) annoyances. They don't have those in the outside world. The freedom has struck some as frightening. They miss the order and security. It takes time to adapt to life in prison, it takes almost as long, or perhaps longer, to adapting to life outside.
One of the most important people I met while researching Minus One was a woman who had a one-person cleaning service. She had been a free spirit before her troubles, and life in the Women's Prison at Purdy (Washington) took a lot of that away from her. She liked her job because it was a routine. Every day she did the same thing. She did good work, and she liked that. She did do other things, but they were non-threatening. She lived as low-level an existence as she could. Reading and writing poetry was her liberation, but it was a small part of her life. Most of it was consumed with routine.
An essential part of Minus One was what happened after Jan Sutherland got out of prison. Rebuilding a life is very difficult. She had her brother's help, and the group. But the person has to do it for herself. And that struggle has to form part of the story. It gets back to what one of the lines in the story, that touches upon a critical point: "...it is among them still that I feel I still dwell".
Minus One is a story of change and growth, and it attempts to mirror the experience of women who have gone through the System. It takes her soul and anneals it in a prison experience.
I had a reader of Minus One who openly procliamed that she was not a reader, tell me she couldn't stop reading. As an author, I want to know why so maybe I can repeat this. Apparently part of it is "the prison experience". People are fascinated by things that they have little or no knowledge of, and that horrify them. Look at the popularity of horror/slasher flicks.
Now I won't compare Minus One to a horror flick, but prison has all sorts of auras about it, and so the book opens a little bit of a window into an experience all too many people are curious about.
There are a number of other sources. On television you have Lockup, stories about life in prison. But they focus on the most notorious things, and don't get the drudgery of life inside. And for the most part they don't touch on the experience of women behind bars.
Minus One is fiction, but it is based on a lot of interviews and shared experiences. There are alumni of prisons all over the place, and you would be surprised at how many there are.
And then there is Orange is the New Black. The author spent a year in a Federal prison for something she was involved with several years before, part of a money laundering scheme that supported the illegal drug trade. Her experiences should be read and studied. She gives voice to what I heard in interviews time after time, the loneliness, the caution inmates develop, and the (sometimes) raucous nature of a society of nothing but women. She also touches on one of the central facts that doesn't apply as often in a men's prison: what of the families?
Famileis are built around women. Especially, there are growing children. When you take the mother out of the family, what happens to it? In some cases the father/husband holds it together, but in too many cases the woman enters an ever-tightening spiral. She leaves prison with no prospects, some go into shelters, some return home and try to pick up the pieces. But the only thing they know is what got them put in prison to begin with, and for too many, they end up going back inside.
As for the children... They're on the edge of being cut adrift. If the woman is pregnant when she goes in, and gives birth in prison, she gives up the child, hopefully to her family. In some cases it is to foster care. In Indianaalmost as an exception, mothers are allowed to keep their children with them for several months (imagine the problems of designing prison cells so little fingers won't be hurt).
This only touches on the whole experience of going to prison. But too many people who have been inside still feel the bars around them after they get out, and this is not related to the recidivism rate. The human mind can adapt to an awful lot, and someone who has come to grips with life in prison has to adapt all over again to life outside. But there is the security of being inside. You know what to do, where to go, and when to do it. There are dangers and a lot of petty (and not so petty) annoyances. They don't have those in the outside world. The freedom has struck some as frightening. They miss the order and security. It takes time to adapt to life in prison, it takes almost as long, or perhaps longer, to adapting to life outside.
One of the most important people I met while researching Minus One was a woman who had a one-person cleaning service. She had been a free spirit before her troubles, and life in the Women's Prison at Purdy (Washington) took a lot of that away from her. She liked her job because it was a routine. Every day she did the same thing. She did good work, and she liked that. She did do other things, but they were non-threatening. She lived as low-level an existence as she could. Reading and writing poetry was her liberation, but it was a small part of her life. Most of it was consumed with routine.
An essential part of Minus One was what happened after Jan Sutherland got out of prison. Rebuilding a life is very difficult. She had her brother's help, and the group. But the person has to do it for herself. And that struggle has to form part of the story. It gets back to what one of the lines in the story, that touches upon a critical point: "...it is among them still that I feel I still dwell".
Minus One is a story of change and growth, and it attempts to mirror the experience of women who have gone through the System. It takes her soul and anneals it in a prison experience.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Behind Kassandra's Song
This story grew out of "Kalliste", epublished on www.beyondthefarhorizon.com. Kalliste is the personal servant of Potnia, or The Most Holy, aka the Earth Mother, one of the earliest Goddesses we have record of anyone worshipping. She (Potnia) is outside of the normal hierarchy of Gods and Goddesses, as some search on the name will show. Kalliste, born in 1651 BC became the personal servant of Potnia (or P'dania), and was gifted with certain powers, among them being that she doesn't get sick or age, poisons have very little effect on her, and she can alter her guise to appear young, old, or somewhere in between. This does not fool cameras, by the way.
Kassandra became the personal servant of Apollo. Those up on the Greek myths know she was granted a little of Apollo's ability to "see" the future. But only in part. She sees the probabilities, and experience has shown/taught her how to make them come out. But she also bears Apollo's Curse: any prophecy she tells someone will not be believed.
In the myths she was killed by Klytemnestra or Orestes, depending upon which myth you choose. In my version, seeing what was coming, she escapes during the confusion surrounding Agamemnon's death, and goes to Delphi where she raises a temple to Apollo. They reconcile, though he does not take back his Curse. She becomes the Pythia or Prophetess of Delphi.
One of the things I noticed early on in reading Greek Mythis was that the Gods always left a way out. You had to be clever, and if you were, you could wiggle out of whatver dilemma they put you in. In Kassandra's case, we go back to the actual mechanics of the prophecy the Pythia would give. The petitioners would "make a donation" to the temple, and then be allowed to ask a question. The Pythia would go into a trance and babble something in an unknown tongue to a priest. He would write it down and give it to the petitioner. Nowhere in that do they actually hear her give the prophecy, or understand it, as it is in a language they do not know.
This neatly avoids Apollo's Curse. They are handed their answer, and can choose to believe it or disbelieve it. She did not tell it to them, she told it to the priest. Wiggle room. Of course the answer is slightly cryptic, and can be misunderstood. In retrospect, of course, it is seen to be exactly on target.
Whenever you create a character you have to create problems. The other problem all of these personal servants of the Gods have is that they must have contact with one of Them from time to time, otherwise the stresses of their long lives begin to byild up. In Kassandra's Song Kit has a psychotic episode or two, and consciously tries to ignore her past.
So you have an undercover cop who can alter her appearance, has mental problems, and is placed in danger. She's shot at the end of Chapter One.
So what does this have to do with the previous post? I needed to fill in Kassandra's past, including her guilty feelings (still there) over the death of her family and the destruction of Troy, for which she blames herself. And for that, I kind of needed to have an idea of when that war probably occurred.
Are there other personal servants? Yes. What about the Ten Commandments? Remember that comment about wiggle room? Think about it. Kassandra (and Kalliste) both remind people that they aren't Christians.
And, by the way, a long life lets me include doing plenty of flashbacks, and I like writing flashbacks.
Kassandra's Song is available from Amazon, and is also on the Kindle.
This story grew out of "Kalliste", epublished on www.beyondthefarhorizon.com. Kalliste is the personal servant of Potnia, or The Most Holy, aka the Earth Mother, one of the earliest Goddesses we have record of anyone worshipping. She (Potnia) is outside of the normal hierarchy of Gods and Goddesses, as some search on the name will show. Kalliste, born in 1651 BC became the personal servant of Potnia (or P'dania), and was gifted with certain powers, among them being that she doesn't get sick or age, poisons have very little effect on her, and she can alter her guise to appear young, old, or somewhere in between. This does not fool cameras, by the way.
Kassandra became the personal servant of Apollo. Those up on the Greek myths know she was granted a little of Apollo's ability to "see" the future. But only in part. She sees the probabilities, and experience has shown/taught her how to make them come out. But she also bears Apollo's Curse: any prophecy she tells someone will not be believed.
In the myths she was killed by Klytemnestra or Orestes, depending upon which myth you choose. In my version, seeing what was coming, she escapes during the confusion surrounding Agamemnon's death, and goes to Delphi where she raises a temple to Apollo. They reconcile, though he does not take back his Curse. She becomes the Pythia or Prophetess of Delphi.
One of the things I noticed early on in reading Greek Mythis was that the Gods always left a way out. You had to be clever, and if you were, you could wiggle out of whatver dilemma they put you in. In Kassandra's case, we go back to the actual mechanics of the prophecy the Pythia would give. The petitioners would "make a donation" to the temple, and then be allowed to ask a question. The Pythia would go into a trance and babble something in an unknown tongue to a priest. He would write it down and give it to the petitioner. Nowhere in that do they actually hear her give the prophecy, or understand it, as it is in a language they do not know.
This neatly avoids Apollo's Curse. They are handed their answer, and can choose to believe it or disbelieve it. She did not tell it to them, she told it to the priest. Wiggle room. Of course the answer is slightly cryptic, and can be misunderstood. In retrospect, of course, it is seen to be exactly on target.
Whenever you create a character you have to create problems. The other problem all of these personal servants of the Gods have is that they must have contact with one of Them from time to time, otherwise the stresses of their long lives begin to byild up. In Kassandra's Song Kit has a psychotic episode or two, and consciously tries to ignore her past.
So you have an undercover cop who can alter her appearance, has mental problems, and is placed in danger. She's shot at the end of Chapter One.
So what does this have to do with the previous post? I needed to fill in Kassandra's past, including her guilty feelings (still there) over the death of her family and the destruction of Troy, for which she blames herself. And for that, I kind of needed to have an idea of when that war probably occurred.
Are there other personal servants? Yes. What about the Ten Commandments? Remember that comment about wiggle room? Think about it. Kassandra (and Kalliste) both remind people that they aren't Christians.
And, by the way, a long life lets me include doing plenty of flashbacks, and I like writing flashbacks.
Kassandra's Song is available from Amazon, and is also on the Kindle.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
The Trojan War
I recently stumbled on Herodotus' version of the Trojan War. I downloaded free copies from Gutenberg at www.gutenberg.org He approaches it from the historical point of view, and concludes that war did happen in the Troad. He has an estimate of when, it occured, but more on that in a bit.
Before going any farther, it is my opinion that Troy/Illios/Wilusa were one and the same, and that the Ahhayian's mentioned in Hittite archives are the Achaians. After reading everything I could find, there was a "Trojan" war, though it may not have been quite like we find in the Illiad, Quintus of Smurna, and so on. A war did take place there. Was it Troy VIIa at the Hisarlik site? My opinion is yes. Now back to the "father of History".
One of the things he mentions is that there was plenty of provocation on both sides. Each side, Asia and Hellas, were stealing each other's women to work as slaves, or as wives, for some time. Things kept escalating, and nobody would back down. War became inevitable. What he explores is whether someone named Helen was actually taken to Troy. He suggests that when Alexandrros/Paris docked in Egypt, Helen and the treasure he had stolen was removed by the Egyptians.
Aside from some navigational oddities, like why go to Egypt when your destination is the Dardanelles, this makes the whole storyline that this was all to rescue Helen nothing but a big mistake. There is some evidence that this was a fig leaf.
It doesn't take much research to discover that a lot of food was grown in the Black Sea littoral. That wheat was traded with what is now Greece. Illios, being a good place to dock and wait out bad weather when traversing the Dardanelles (the harbor has since silted over, but 1832 Royal Navy charts show the bay still there) would be in a position to exact a toll. That city would grow very wealthy as it was also where East-West trade crossed. And such wealth would appeal to the acquisitive instincts of the Argives. It was almost natural that a war of some kind would follow.
The mistake a lot of people make is in not looking at the slightly wider picture. In my stories I've characterized Priam as King of Illios and King of the Dardanians. He would have a lot of resources farther inland to draw from. That is the context of the "Trojan" War.
Now per Herodotus, the Greek expedition landed in Mysia, sacked some cities, and otehrwise chewed up the countryside. Imagine their chgrin when they learned they were in the wrong place. So then they sat waiting for the right wind so they could go to Illios. And this is important. The Aegean is not a placid lake. Sailing at the wrong time of year could be disastrous. And if they wasted most of a summer burning and pillaging in Mysia, they would face autumn storms, not something you want to do if given half a chance.
Now we begin to enter into the mythical elements. Iphigenia is sacrificed to get favorable winds. The Argives land. They fight for several years. Eventually they take the city with the Trojan Horse. Much slaughter, burning, pillaging, raping, and otehr things. The men are killed, the women become slaves. And then the victors at Troy go home.
And a city grows at the same spot, Troy VIIb, but the Argives have other problems. Economics are a very powerful force.
Herodotus covers some of this. More is found in the Illiad and Quintus of Smyrna. Recent archaeology has filled in some of the blanks. For instance, on the day that Odysseus returned to Ithaka, there was a total eclipse of the sun. This was in 1199 BCE. If we run the clock backwards and say he was gone for 20 years, that puts the start of the Trojan War in 1219 BCE.
Now I have my doubts that: a) the war took 10 years of siege outside the walls of Troy; b) it took Odysseus 10 years to get home. The war probably did last ten years, but I think only 18 months of it were spent in the Troad. And as for returning home, all but three years are tossed away leaving him 4.5 years when he was gone. This pushes the Trojan part of the Trojan War to around 1204 or so BCE.
I've seen dates that suggest anything from 1176 BCE to 1224 BCE. The 1204/05 time is almost right in the middle.
When you read Herodotus, when you read The Illiad, and you throw out the supernatural elements, you get the account of a military expedition and event.
And when you do all of that, you end up with the hooks for a story or two. More of that next time.
I recently stumbled on Herodotus' version of the Trojan War. I downloaded free copies from Gutenberg at www.gutenberg.org He approaches it from the historical point of view, and concludes that war did happen in the Troad. He has an estimate of when, it occured, but more on that in a bit.
Before going any farther, it is my opinion that Troy/Illios/Wilusa were one and the same, and that the Ahhayian's mentioned in Hittite archives are the Achaians. After reading everything I could find, there was a "Trojan" war, though it may not have been quite like we find in the Illiad, Quintus of Smurna, and so on. A war did take place there. Was it Troy VIIa at the Hisarlik site? My opinion is yes. Now back to the "father of History".
One of the things he mentions is that there was plenty of provocation on both sides. Each side, Asia and Hellas, were stealing each other's women to work as slaves, or as wives, for some time. Things kept escalating, and nobody would back down. War became inevitable. What he explores is whether someone named Helen was actually taken to Troy. He suggests that when Alexandrros/Paris docked in Egypt, Helen and the treasure he had stolen was removed by the Egyptians.
Aside from some navigational oddities, like why go to Egypt when your destination is the Dardanelles, this makes the whole storyline that this was all to rescue Helen nothing but a big mistake. There is some evidence that this was a fig leaf.
It doesn't take much research to discover that a lot of food was grown in the Black Sea littoral. That wheat was traded with what is now Greece. Illios, being a good place to dock and wait out bad weather when traversing the Dardanelles (the harbor has since silted over, but 1832 Royal Navy charts show the bay still there) would be in a position to exact a toll. That city would grow very wealthy as it was also where East-West trade crossed. And such wealth would appeal to the acquisitive instincts of the Argives. It was almost natural that a war of some kind would follow.
The mistake a lot of people make is in not looking at the slightly wider picture. In my stories I've characterized Priam as King of Illios and King of the Dardanians. He would have a lot of resources farther inland to draw from. That is the context of the "Trojan" War.
Now per Herodotus, the Greek expedition landed in Mysia, sacked some cities, and otehrwise chewed up the countryside. Imagine their chgrin when they learned they were in the wrong place. So then they sat waiting for the right wind so they could go to Illios. And this is important. The Aegean is not a placid lake. Sailing at the wrong time of year could be disastrous. And if they wasted most of a summer burning and pillaging in Mysia, they would face autumn storms, not something you want to do if given half a chance.
Now we begin to enter into the mythical elements. Iphigenia is sacrificed to get favorable winds. The Argives land. They fight for several years. Eventually they take the city with the Trojan Horse. Much slaughter, burning, pillaging, raping, and otehr things. The men are killed, the women become slaves. And then the victors at Troy go home.
And a city grows at the same spot, Troy VIIb, but the Argives have other problems. Economics are a very powerful force.
Herodotus covers some of this. More is found in the Illiad and Quintus of Smyrna. Recent archaeology has filled in some of the blanks. For instance, on the day that Odysseus returned to Ithaka, there was a total eclipse of the sun. This was in 1199 BCE. If we run the clock backwards and say he was gone for 20 years, that puts the start of the Trojan War in 1219 BCE.
Now I have my doubts that: a) the war took 10 years of siege outside the walls of Troy; b) it took Odysseus 10 years to get home. The war probably did last ten years, but I think only 18 months of it were spent in the Troad. And as for returning home, all but three years are tossed away leaving him 4.5 years when he was gone. This pushes the Trojan part of the Trojan War to around 1204 or so BCE.
I've seen dates that suggest anything from 1176 BCE to 1224 BCE. The 1204/05 time is almost right in the middle.
When you read Herodotus, when you read The Illiad, and you throw out the supernatural elements, you get the account of a military expedition and event.
And when you do all of that, you end up with the hooks for a story or two. More of that next time.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Formatting and the Written Page
I got dinged in a contest once because the reviewer took out a ruler and decided that my margins were 0.95", rather than the industry standard (and contest required) 1.0"! Nothing was said about the content of the story, but everything was said about the format.
I've had newbies in my writer's group ask about ms format. I can recite it off the top of my head:
** this is a matter of judgment. One site told me 1/2 way down the page. Now I go 3 blank lines, the title line, a blank line, and then verbiage.
Word count is a critical thing. I won't go into the definitions of lengths. The results you get from different methods are all over the place. There are a number of ways of figuring this.
The important thing is to be consistent. I found that going to www.sfwa.org and using their methods works the best, which puts Minus One at 102,250 words, and if you allow for partial pages (i.e. those pages with just a couple of lines on them) you can be fairly close. There's also a method of counting the words per line on three different pages and so on. I'd rather use the tools I outlined.
Now a word about getting things uniform. The margins are easy, but Word, and presumably WordPerfect (I also use Open Office) will do things to the bottom of the page so you don't have the same number of lines per page. Turn Orphan Control off in M/S Word. Do a CTRL-A to select the entire text. Then go to the Format Tab and select paragraph. Then select Line and Page Breaks. Click on the box for Orphan control until it is blank. Exit. You'll find that you the last line on the page will always be in the same place (until the last line, of course). This evening out helps when calculating the word count.
Headings - I do this now so it's automatic. I use Headers, and in the upper right hand corner put in Last Name/Title*/Page #. If this is a chapter, I'll put Last Name/Title*/Chapter #/Page #. So, to pick on Minus One again, this looks like Bretthauer/Minus One/135. *if you have a long title it is permitted to use a key word from the title: Bretthauer/Engage/Chap 3/5 which is page 5 of the 3rd chapter of Engage the Enemy More Closely.
Why the upper right corner? Because the majority of editors and agents are right handed, and would hold your m/s in the left hand. And if they drop it on the floor, or it gets knocked off the desk, this will help them reassemble the story.
Page breaks and end of chapter/story. I use a # for line breaks, centered. This is an old typesetter mark that said line break. At the end I use # # # to indicate chapter or story end. Do I have to say The End? You can, but you don't have to. I did have something get mislabeled because the person posting the story was expecting "The End" and it wasn't there. That got straightened out in a hurry.
Alternatively, use * * * for your scene and chapter breaks. Whatever you do, make it consistent!
Courier New vs. Times New Roman. The former is a fixed-pitch font, the latter is a proportional font. This means that in Courier New, each character takes up the same space. An 'i' is the same width as a 'Z'. I do the former rather than the latter in a submission unless requested otherwise. Agents read for a living, and their eyes get tired. Nobody ever lost a sale by making it easier on the customer. But check Writer's Guidelines or Writer's Market for suggestions. Don't use a fancy font. I know Courier looks boring, but you are not there to jazz it up. That's what the typesetter does. Your job is to get the story in the hands of the editor who will buy it. That's why you check Guidelines. If they want it in Verdana, Arial, Bookman, or New Century, a click of the font tab will give it to them. But you'll find most want it in something easy on the eyes.
What about special characters and formatting? Don't. Okay, so you have to do some things. Use underline instead of italics. Don't use bold at all. Why? Only underline shows up when you use Courier or Courier New. And turn off the conversion thing that converts two dashes -- into an em-dash. Again, you want to make things clear.
None of this applies if it is an e-publishing as those have their own rules and you have to rely upon the editor to convert it to the format he/she wants. It's worth some time to learn a little about HTML. And you can always edit HTML in Notepad.
One final point: You've created your m/s and it comes in as a bloated 156k file in M/S Word. How do you trim out the goo and dribble Microsoft puts in everything? Open it in Wordpad. Save it. Reply yes to the request to save it as a .rtf and then close. Magically all the things that were eliminated but so helpfully kept in the file by Word are gone as they are not supported by Wordpad (which is a bare bones version of Word). You'll have to check your margins again (Wordpad likes 1.25" margins) and your header will have been wiped away. That's easily adjustable.
So now all you have left to do are the ideas in your story.
When you want to be a writer, sit down and write. You'll make mistakes. But you learn by doing, and you'll gradually get better. And after a million words or so, you should be ready to be published.
Happy writing!
I got dinged in a contest once because the reviewer took out a ruler and decided that my margins were 0.95", rather than the industry standard (and contest required) 1.0"! Nothing was said about the content of the story, but everything was said about the format.
I've had newbies in my writer's group ask about ms format. I can recite it off the top of my head:
- 1" margin all around
- double-space
- 12-point
- Courier or Courier New *
- single-sided
- chapter starts 1/3rd of the way down the page **
** this is a matter of judgment. One site told me 1/2 way down the page. Now I go 3 blank lines, the title line, a blank line, and then verbiage.
Word count is a critical thing. I won't go into the definitions of lengths. The results you get from different methods are all over the place. There are a number of ways of figuring this.
- if using M/S Word, use the Word Count tab under tools.
- count the spaces and characters and divide by 6
- turn orphan off and divide the total page count by 250.
The important thing is to be consistent. I found that going to www.sfwa.org and using their methods works the best, which puts Minus One at 102,250 words, and if you allow for partial pages (i.e. those pages with just a couple of lines on them) you can be fairly close. There's also a method of counting the words per line on three different pages and so on. I'd rather use the tools I outlined.
Now a word about getting things uniform. The margins are easy, but Word, and presumably WordPerfect (I also use Open Office) will do things to the bottom of the page so you don't have the same number of lines per page. Turn Orphan Control off in M/S Word. Do a CTRL-A to select the entire text. Then go to the Format Tab and select paragraph. Then select Line and Page Breaks. Click on the box for Orphan control until it is blank. Exit. You'll find that you the last line on the page will always be in the same place (until the last line, of course). This evening out helps when calculating the word count.
Headings - I do this now so it's automatic. I use Headers, and in the upper right hand corner put in Last Name/Title*/Page #. If this is a chapter, I'll put Last Name/Title*/Chapter #/Page #. So, to pick on Minus One again, this looks like Bretthauer/Minus One/135. *if you have a long title it is permitted to use a key word from the title: Bretthauer/Engage/Chap 3/5 which is page 5 of the 3rd chapter of Engage the Enemy More Closely.
Why the upper right corner? Because the majority of editors and agents are right handed, and would hold your m/s in the left hand. And if they drop it on the floor, or it gets knocked off the desk, this will help them reassemble the story.
Page breaks and end of chapter/story. I use a # for line breaks, centered. This is an old typesetter mark that said line break. At the end I use # # # to indicate chapter or story end. Do I have to say The End? You can, but you don't have to. I did have something get mislabeled because the person posting the story was expecting "The End" and it wasn't there. That got straightened out in a hurry.
Alternatively, use * * * for your scene and chapter breaks. Whatever you do, make it consistent!
Courier New vs. Times New Roman. The former is a fixed-pitch font, the latter is a proportional font. This means that in Courier New, each character takes up the same space. An 'i' is the same width as a 'Z'. I do the former rather than the latter in a submission unless requested otherwise. Agents read for a living, and their eyes get tired. Nobody ever lost a sale by making it easier on the customer. But check Writer's Guidelines or Writer's Market for suggestions. Don't use a fancy font. I know Courier looks boring, but you are not there to jazz it up. That's what the typesetter does. Your job is to get the story in the hands of the editor who will buy it. That's why you check Guidelines. If they want it in Verdana, Arial, Bookman, or New Century, a click of the font tab will give it to them. But you'll find most want it in something easy on the eyes.
What about special characters and formatting? Don't. Okay, so you have to do some things. Use underline instead of italics. Don't use bold at all. Why? Only underline shows up when you use Courier or Courier New. And turn off the conversion thing that converts two dashes -- into an em-dash. Again, you want to make things clear.
None of this applies if it is an e-publishing as those have their own rules and you have to rely upon the editor to convert it to the format he/she wants. It's worth some time to learn a little about HTML. And you can always edit HTML in Notepad.
One final point: You've created your m/s and it comes in as a bloated 156k file in M/S Word. How do you trim out the goo and dribble Microsoft puts in everything? Open it in Wordpad. Save it. Reply yes to the request to save it as a .rtf and then close. Magically all the things that were eliminated but so helpfully kept in the file by Word are gone as they are not supported by Wordpad (which is a bare bones version of Word). You'll have to check your margins again (Wordpad likes 1.25" margins) and your header will have been wiped away. That's easily adjustable.
So now all you have left to do are the ideas in your story.
When you want to be a writer, sit down and write. You'll make mistakes. But you learn by doing, and you'll gradually get better. And after a million words or so, you should be ready to be published.
Happy writing!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Gee, it's nearly the end of October, and what have I been up to? What's new on the writing front?
First, The Minstrel was published in Winter's Night magazine! Payment was typical for an inaugural issue: a free copy. But woo-hoo!
Second, I've been putting the 2009 version of Firestar on Beyond the Far Horizon. This is the expanded version, and comes in at 30 chapters, and 209,000 words. A far cry from what Joshua was looking at. I'll expand on this in a moment.
Third, I've been polishing Minus One. It first came in at 105,000, but now it's up to around 120,000. Mostly I've been cleaning up loose ends and completely rewriting the ending so Jan has a much bigger role in the events. I've also started on the synopsis and pitch letter.
Related to that story is Plus One, which are the stories related to Minus One, but follow what happened afterwards. It also touches on the experiences of the members of the group, her attorney, some DJs who knew her, and her husband. That's at 86,000 words, more or less, but will probably come in at 100,000.
A moment about word count: I know MS Word has a word counting feature. I use that for a rough guess, but my method is twofold: first, I convert the ms to Courier, and count the pages. I take 1 page off for every other chapter, the divide the resultant by 4 (because in Courier with 1" margins you get 250 words/page). I also turn Orphan control off so each page has the same number of lines. Then I use MS Word to tell me how many characters and spaces, and divide that number by 6. That is probably slightly more accurate, and it's kind of interesting how close those two numbers come.
Fourth, I finished Body of Evidence, another Gina Stone story. This one brings in Marge Bergeron and ends with Gina married. This is the first draft, and is around 110,000 words in 15 chapters.
I've also started something new: shape-shifters. I have one I'm 6 chapters into, and am fighting off the urge to stop to do other things. More some other time.
~~~~~~~~~~~
All right, the difference in Firestar is that the one Joshua saw ended with Corey assigned to Morosini's Children. There was to be a story by that name as a follow-on, but it wasn't coming together. So I grafted the last back on to what I'm calling Firestar09, and have been posting that on Gina Wylie's sight. That means that the first one for deadtree is going to be Setosha. I've spent some time with it, and, well, we'll see. I'm probably going to have to trim it as well as rewrite it even more.
While I'm doing that, I'll try to see where I can send Minus One. I have hopes for that story as general fiction, and think it's publishable.
To date, since 1999, I've written 3.2 million words, or so, mostly since 2003. Ironically The Minstrel was written in 1986. And Kalliste, 400,000 words, was between 1999 and 2001. And Kalliste's Storytime was extracted from that. Still leaves 2.8 million words. That's a few.
First, The Minstrel was published in Winter's Night magazine! Payment was typical for an inaugural issue: a free copy. But woo-hoo!
Second, I've been putting the 2009 version of Firestar on Beyond the Far Horizon. This is the expanded version, and comes in at 30 chapters, and 209,000 words. A far cry from what Joshua was looking at. I'll expand on this in a moment.
Third, I've been polishing Minus One. It first came in at 105,000, but now it's up to around 120,000. Mostly I've been cleaning up loose ends and completely rewriting the ending so Jan has a much bigger role in the events. I've also started on the synopsis and pitch letter.
Related to that story is Plus One, which are the stories related to Minus One, but follow what happened afterwards. It also touches on the experiences of the members of the group, her attorney, some DJs who knew her, and her husband. That's at 86,000 words, more or less, but will probably come in at 100,000.
A moment about word count: I know MS Word has a word counting feature. I use that for a rough guess, but my method is twofold: first, I convert the ms to Courier, and count the pages. I take 1 page off for every other chapter, the divide the resultant by 4 (because in Courier with 1" margins you get 250 words/page). I also turn Orphan control off so each page has the same number of lines. Then I use MS Word to tell me how many characters and spaces, and divide that number by 6. That is probably slightly more accurate, and it's kind of interesting how close those two numbers come.
Fourth, I finished Body of Evidence, another Gina Stone story. This one brings in Marge Bergeron and ends with Gina married. This is the first draft, and is around 110,000 words in 15 chapters.
I've also started something new: shape-shifters. I have one I'm 6 chapters into, and am fighting off the urge to stop to do other things. More some other time.
~~~~~~~~~~~
All right, the difference in Firestar is that the one Joshua saw ended with Corey assigned to Morosini's Children. There was to be a story by that name as a follow-on, but it wasn't coming together. So I grafted the last back on to what I'm calling Firestar09, and have been posting that on Gina Wylie's sight. That means that the first one for deadtree is going to be Setosha. I've spent some time with it, and, well, we'll see. I'm probably going to have to trim it as well as rewrite it even more.
While I'm doing that, I'll try to see where I can send Minus One. I have hopes for that story as general fiction, and think it's publishable.
To date, since 1999, I've written 3.2 million words, or so, mostly since 2003. Ironically The Minstrel was written in 1986. And Kalliste, 400,000 words, was between 1999 and 2001. And Kalliste's Storytime was extracted from that. Still leaves 2.8 million words. That's a few.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
My initial reaction to getting home from PNWA is/was drained and depressed. Part of that was the Agent/Editor interviews, part of it was the heat, some of it was the sessions, and some of it was the state of the industry.
Industry - there are fewer large publishers, and what you get from them, assuming you land a contract, is less help than before. So you'd better learn how to do the marketing yourself. Small Pusblisher? They're great in that it's very likely you can find one, but they'll print 2,500 copies of your book, and that's it. It's up to you. And they go out of business with surprising frequency. POD? Bookstores don't like them because there's no return policy for unsold books. And the sheer amount of garbage that was produced in the first wave of POD printing has led to a stigma that they're all crap. Web? Sure, but find a way to do so so you get paid is a challenge. Remember, it's all a numbers game. People are tight with their entertainment dollars.
Some of this came out in the editor interviews. There are 5-6 of you around the table with the editor. He/she starts with those words: "I can't acquire anything." You give your elevator pitch anyway, and judge the reaction. Then they answer questions and explain how a book becomes published. They have to "love" it. They promote it to the editorial board, who has to "love" it. Then the senior or managing editor, again, who has to "love" it. Then you have marketing. Again, "love" is a factor. Finally, after all of that, it gets put on the schedule, usually a year to 18 months out. Do editors edit? Yes, though they've pushed a lot of that down to the agent. The editor edits, then the copyeditor does his or her thing. The average editor does between 12 and 20 books a year. And did I mention the layoffs in the publishing houses? Since a lot of them were acquired, there have been layoffs and shrinkage as they want their book divisions to be as profitable as possible.
Agent interviews - here's a secret. Constantly check the board near the agent interview rooms. That's where cancellations are put. You might score another interview or two. Know what the agent is looking for. Have your pitch ready and honed. This is your one-paragraph pitch. Know how long your m/s is. First time novelists, they're looking for around 100,000 words. You get 10 minutes. And the agent won't be taking anything back with them. The good news, electronic submission is getting to be the thing. Server space is so much less room than paper. Your goal is to have them ask you for your work. The dreaded words are "I'm sorry, I don't think I can represent that." That is all too common. But did you know that in fully 90% of the time the author doesn't send anything in?
Work on your elevator pitch - this is the 1 minure or less summary. It's called the elevator pitch because you have to be able to give it in an elevator or in a bar. A lot of work gets done at a conference in the bar. One of the people I met spent 20 minutes talking to an agent in a bar. That's a good reason to go to the site and stay rather than commute.
Sessions - these are 90 minutes long, and at most you can get 5 in. That's a depressing ratio of minutes to dollars spent. The good news, there's a lot of really great information. I attended the ones on marketing, small press, and legal affairs. The world-building one was pretty good in that I ended up with a lot of questions to ask about background in a story. And you get an idea of what you should have been writing two years ago because of the way the industry is tending. There are also nuts-and-bolts things you can pick up. For example, writing query letters. Three paragraphs. Writing a pitch, both elevator and sit-down (and you are encouraged to practice it frequently). All of these are things to know. They assume the other nuts-and-bolts things are taught in community colleges, high schools, colleges, or wherever. For sessions in general, you pays your money, you pick and choose.
Overall experience - PNWA this year had the feel of an organization that is changing to suit the member's needs. In the past it was very much an old guard type organization, and they did things, but you didn't see how it benefitted you, the writer. That's changing. The big thing about a conference like this is to give you face time with the agents. Think of going as an investment. And you get free meals out of it at breakfast and dinner. Reaction from others? I met several people who've decided to keep writing, but only for themselves, with maybe a POD contract. I think that was the most depressing thing to come out of the experience.
Industry - there are fewer large publishers, and what you get from them, assuming you land a contract, is less help than before. So you'd better learn how to do the marketing yourself. Small Pusblisher? They're great in that it's very likely you can find one, but they'll print 2,500 copies of your book, and that's it. It's up to you. And they go out of business with surprising frequency. POD? Bookstores don't like them because there's no return policy for unsold books. And the sheer amount of garbage that was produced in the first wave of POD printing has led to a stigma that they're all crap. Web? Sure, but find a way to do so so you get paid is a challenge. Remember, it's all a numbers game. People are tight with their entertainment dollars.
Some of this came out in the editor interviews. There are 5-6 of you around the table with the editor. He/she starts with those words: "I can't acquire anything." You give your elevator pitch anyway, and judge the reaction. Then they answer questions and explain how a book becomes published. They have to "love" it. They promote it to the editorial board, who has to "love" it. Then the senior or managing editor, again, who has to "love" it. Then you have marketing. Again, "love" is a factor. Finally, after all of that, it gets put on the schedule, usually a year to 18 months out. Do editors edit? Yes, though they've pushed a lot of that down to the agent. The editor edits, then the copyeditor does his or her thing. The average editor does between 12 and 20 books a year. And did I mention the layoffs in the publishing houses? Since a lot of them were acquired, there have been layoffs and shrinkage as they want their book divisions to be as profitable as possible.
Agent interviews - here's a secret. Constantly check the board near the agent interview rooms. That's where cancellations are put. You might score another interview or two. Know what the agent is looking for. Have your pitch ready and honed. This is your one-paragraph pitch. Know how long your m/s is. First time novelists, they're looking for around 100,000 words. You get 10 minutes. And the agent won't be taking anything back with them. The good news, electronic submission is getting to be the thing. Server space is so much less room than paper. Your goal is to have them ask you for your work. The dreaded words are "I'm sorry, I don't think I can represent that." That is all too common. But did you know that in fully 90% of the time the author doesn't send anything in?
Work on your elevator pitch - this is the 1 minure or less summary. It's called the elevator pitch because you have to be able to give it in an elevator or in a bar. A lot of work gets done at a conference in the bar. One of the people I met spent 20 minutes talking to an agent in a bar. That's a good reason to go to the site and stay rather than commute.
Sessions - these are 90 minutes long, and at most you can get 5 in. That's a depressing ratio of minutes to dollars spent. The good news, there's a lot of really great information. I attended the ones on marketing, small press, and legal affairs. The world-building one was pretty good in that I ended up with a lot of questions to ask about background in a story. And you get an idea of what you should have been writing two years ago because of the way the industry is tending. There are also nuts-and-bolts things you can pick up. For example, writing query letters. Three paragraphs. Writing a pitch, both elevator and sit-down (and you are encouraged to practice it frequently). All of these are things to know. They assume the other nuts-and-bolts things are taught in community colleges, high schools, colleges, or wherever. For sessions in general, you pays your money, you pick and choose.
Overall experience - PNWA this year had the feel of an organization that is changing to suit the member's needs. In the past it was very much an old guard type organization, and they did things, but you didn't see how it benefitted you, the writer. That's changing. The big thing about a conference like this is to give you face time with the agents. Think of going as an investment. And you get free meals out of it at breakfast and dinner. Reaction from others? I met several people who've decided to keep writing, but only for themselves, with maybe a POD contract. I think that was the most depressing thing to come out of the experience.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Gee, here it is in July, and I haven't posted in months. What's been going on?
Completed projects:
1) The Tree Spirit - another dryad story. Eco-freaks are camping in a tree to prevent logging in an area. They injure Jen the Dryad's husband, and she deals with them.
2) The Ted Wannabe - Caitlinn O'Shay is a lieutenant in the Seattle Police Department, and head of an interagency task force. Young women have been disappearing, sort of like what happened with the Green River Killer and Ted Bundy. Caitlinn is a shape-shifter, one who feeds off of life-energy, and she is attacked and kidnapped by this guy.
3) Minus One - and Minus One: Related Stories - MO is a novel, 120,000 words. I wrote this in a frenzy starting on March 23rd, and having the essentials done in less than a month. It is now in its last rewrite (a lot of details). Jan Sutherland is a musician accused, convicted, and sentenced to 7 to 10 years in prison for Second Degree Manslaughter. The story is about her time inside, what led up to it, and what happens after she's paroled. Hint, the crime is on the first page (in the first paragraph), but most people haven't seen that it was until the last chapter.
Related Stories are the stories that spilled over in the telling: her twin brother Jay's version of events from the outside; her best friend Angie's story; Jan's telling of the next few years after she wins her complete and unconditional freedom, up to and including her wedding and the birth of her first child; band member Pete's story of those events; and band member Charlie's story of watching Jan emerge from the emotional walls prison built around her.
4) I got "Theseus and Ariadne" back from the PNWA writer's contest, to mostly uncomprehending reviews. You can't do much in 14 pages, and this was the shortest Kalliste story other than The Dance.
5) I got "Cross Time Cop" back from the PNWA writer's contest, to mostly terrific reviews. They dinged me on the synopsis, though, and I've been looking to rewrite it. JABberwocky Literary Agency declined to represent it, and again I think the synopsis had a lot to do with it. I did find an excellent link to writing a synopsis, and include it here: http://jpsorrow.livejournal.com/143076.html
6) I'm rewriting "Setosha" with the aim of publishing. I'll have to allude to events in "Firestar" in passing, which will sort of end any suspense of what happens to Corey, but the critical questions are obvious in the opening chapter of "Setosha". Have to write a good synopsis, too.
So that's an update. Back to writing. And I just had to share that synopsis link.
Completed projects:
1) The Tree Spirit - another dryad story. Eco-freaks are camping in a tree to prevent logging in an area. They injure Jen the Dryad's husband, and she deals with them.
2) The Ted Wannabe - Caitlinn O'Shay is a lieutenant in the Seattle Police Department, and head of an interagency task force. Young women have been disappearing, sort of like what happened with the Green River Killer and Ted Bundy. Caitlinn is a shape-shifter, one who feeds off of life-energy, and she is attacked and kidnapped by this guy.
3) Minus One - and Minus One: Related Stories - MO is a novel, 120,000 words. I wrote this in a frenzy starting on March 23rd, and having the essentials done in less than a month. It is now in its last rewrite (a lot of details). Jan Sutherland is a musician accused, convicted, and sentenced to 7 to 10 years in prison for Second Degree Manslaughter. The story is about her time inside, what led up to it, and what happens after she's paroled. Hint, the crime is on the first page (in the first paragraph), but most people haven't seen that it was until the last chapter.
Related Stories are the stories that spilled over in the telling: her twin brother Jay's version of events from the outside; her best friend Angie's story; Jan's telling of the next few years after she wins her complete and unconditional freedom, up to and including her wedding and the birth of her first child; band member Pete's story of those events; and band member Charlie's story of watching Jan emerge from the emotional walls prison built around her.
4) I got "Theseus and Ariadne" back from the PNWA writer's contest, to mostly uncomprehending reviews. You can't do much in 14 pages, and this was the shortest Kalliste story other than The Dance.
5) I got "Cross Time Cop" back from the PNWA writer's contest, to mostly terrific reviews. They dinged me on the synopsis, though, and I've been looking to rewrite it. JABberwocky Literary Agency declined to represent it, and again I think the synopsis had a lot to do with it. I did find an excellent link to writing a synopsis, and include it here: http://jpsorrow.livejournal.com/143076.html
6) I'm rewriting "Setosha" with the aim of publishing. I'll have to allude to events in "Firestar" in passing, which will sort of end any suspense of what happens to Corey, but the critical questions are obvious in the opening chapter of "Setosha". Have to write a good synopsis, too.
So that's an update. Back to writing. And I just had to share that synopsis link.
Friday, April 24, 2009
What of my other work?
Joshua didn't care for Kassandra's Song, so I sent him Crosstime Cop. I entered the latter in the PNWA contest as a thriller. We'll see.
On the SF stuff, I just shut down on Firestar, so I'm not working on it for a bit. I like how it starts. I am working on Setosha instead. The off-hand group is giving me some very good feedback on it. I also submitted Kassandra's Song for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and got cut right away. This wasn't mainstream fiction. They should have said so up front. I may forget to enter next year.
Then there's Minus One, which meant I didn't work on anything else. I didn't mind. The words were flowing.
Joshua didn't care for Kassandra's Song, so I sent him Crosstime Cop. I entered the latter in the PNWA contest as a thriller. We'll see.
On the SF stuff, I just shut down on Firestar, so I'm not working on it for a bit. I like how it starts. I am working on Setosha instead. The off-hand group is giving me some very good feedback on it. I also submitted Kassandra's Song for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and got cut right away. This wasn't mainstream fiction. They should have said so up front. I may forget to enter next year.
Then there's Minus One, which meant I didn't work on anything else. I didn't mind. The words were flowing.
On Writing Jags -
A writing jag is when you get totally consumed by the writing. You come home from work, you write for several hours, you go to bed, sleep poorly, get up and write some more.
Another way to say 'writing jag' is to look at numbers. How about these? I started writing the novel Minus One on March 23rd. I finished the last update on April 23rd. 103,000 words. Or this: in the first week I wrote 50,000 words. THAT is a writing jag.
So what is Minus One about? It's a mystery, but it's also a novel of personal growth and change. Jan Sutherland is a singer in a group that does folk, some country, and some oldies pop. She, her twin brother Jay, and the other three members of their group (Angie, Charlie and Pete) are "Friends Making Music". When the novel opens she is giving a farewell performance. At the end she walks off the stage, is cuffed, and transported to the Women's Prison in Hannah, KY (a fictional place). There she is to serve 7 to 10 years for manslaughter.
The story flashes back to how this happened, and then resumes with her time in prison. She is paroled after 5 1/2 years, and reluctantly is persuaded by her twin brother to go back on stage. The group has changed their name to Minus One as a reminder to people that they are a singing group that is minus one member. When she rejoins them, they become Minus One and Sister Jan, a country group that also does some traditional and some folk.
There is a caution for language. There's no lurid scenes of sex or even very much violence (though she did kill two men).
I did some research on prisons, and the story draws from an amalgam of prisons in the US. Conditions in state prisons vary widely. Some, when someone is paroled, give the former inmate a bus ticket, some money, and that's it. Others, such as Virginia, Washington, and Colorado make a very strong effort to rehabilitate the inmate so they can re-enter society. There are some very dedicated people who have to balance society's desire for punishment with society's desire to make these inmates functioning members of society. It is not an easy path. And the work of parole officers is often only seen in the exceptions when someone resumes a life of crime.
I picked Kentucky for the location of the story because of the music scene there, that it still had links to the folk music world, and it was in the middle of the country. Jimmy Jack's, a restaurant/bar that is a central location in the story is based on my memories of O'Reilly's Pub in downtown Indianapolis (which, despite the name, is not Irish). Indianapolis has a very active music scene, and some of that was transplanted.
One other point (I might blog about this some more later); Jan and Jay are that very very rare set of twins: male and female, but who appear identical except for the male and female bits. That happens in something like once in every couple thousand sets of twins. It is both important and unimportant to the story. It helps personalize Jan by showing the differences between her and Jay.
I'll let the reader ponder the rest of the story. Prison isn't a pleasant place, but what some people call coddling has been found, through a lot of experience, to be a very effective way to lower the recidivism rate. These are people in there, and we need to try very hard not to make enemies of them.
A writing jag is when you get totally consumed by the writing. You come home from work, you write for several hours, you go to bed, sleep poorly, get up and write some more.
Another way to say 'writing jag' is to look at numbers. How about these? I started writing the novel Minus One on March 23rd. I finished the last update on April 23rd. 103,000 words. Or this: in the first week I wrote 50,000 words. THAT is a writing jag.
So what is Minus One about? It's a mystery, but it's also a novel of personal growth and change. Jan Sutherland is a singer in a group that does folk, some country, and some oldies pop. She, her twin brother Jay, and the other three members of their group (Angie, Charlie and Pete) are "Friends Making Music". When the novel opens she is giving a farewell performance. At the end she walks off the stage, is cuffed, and transported to the Women's Prison in Hannah, KY (a fictional place). There she is to serve 7 to 10 years for manslaughter.
The story flashes back to how this happened, and then resumes with her time in prison. She is paroled after 5 1/2 years, and reluctantly is persuaded by her twin brother to go back on stage. The group has changed their name to Minus One as a reminder to people that they are a singing group that is minus one member. When she rejoins them, they become Minus One and Sister Jan, a country group that also does some traditional and some folk.
There is a caution for language. There's no lurid scenes of sex or even very much violence (though she did kill two men).
I did some research on prisons, and the story draws from an amalgam of prisons in the US. Conditions in state prisons vary widely. Some, when someone is paroled, give the former inmate a bus ticket, some money, and that's it. Others, such as Virginia, Washington, and Colorado make a very strong effort to rehabilitate the inmate so they can re-enter society. There are some very dedicated people who have to balance society's desire for punishment with society's desire to make these inmates functioning members of society. It is not an easy path. And the work of parole officers is often only seen in the exceptions when someone resumes a life of crime.
I picked Kentucky for the location of the story because of the music scene there, that it still had links to the folk music world, and it was in the middle of the country. Jimmy Jack's, a restaurant/bar that is a central location in the story is based on my memories of O'Reilly's Pub in downtown Indianapolis (which, despite the name, is not Irish). Indianapolis has a very active music scene, and some of that was transplanted.
One other point (I might blog about this some more later); Jan and Jay are that very very rare set of twins: male and female, but who appear identical except for the male and female bits. That happens in something like once in every couple thousand sets of twins. It is both important and unimportant to the story. It helps personalize Jan by showing the differences between her and Jay.
I'll let the reader ponder the rest of the story. Prison isn't a pleasant place, but what some people call coddling has been found, through a lot of experience, to be a very effective way to lower the recidivism rate. These are people in there, and we need to try very hard not to make enemies of them.
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Good News --
First, pitchers and catchers report today. Baseball is back, even if they're only doing their physicals today.
Damned funny game, baseball. The defense controls the ball, and the offense only gets to do anything when the defense messes up. You have no clock, but you have time-outs. And defense can dominate a game and completely alter a player's statistics. An example: putting Ichiro! in right field against a line-up of left-handed pull-hitters will lower the pitcher's Earned Run Average because of Ichiro!'s defensive skills (and that arm of his).
But baseball season gets underway today, at least the Spring Training portion where players practice and sharpen their skills in large, climate controlled environments like Florida and Arizona.
Second, www.crossedgenre.com will be carrying one of my dryad stories, The Eyes That Catch! This garners an official "Woo-Hoo!" The story will be in the March 1 release of the e-magazine. They also have a print version that will appear on April 1. Detective and urban fantasy. Interesting combination.
Third, www.beyondthefarhorizon.com, also known as BTFH, or Gina Wylie's site, is about 35 chapters into Kalliste, having previously done Counterfeit Line (which will soon go back in the shop for some maintenance). Kalliste was my "practice novel", the first one that I actually did all the way through to the end. From it I extracted Kalliste's Storytime, which certainly garnered all sorts of feedback (including from archaeologists and other professionals in the field). The story certainly needs some rewriting, especially knowing what I know now. But as an example of organic plotting (plot as you go), it was certainly educational.
Fourth, Setosha is nearly rewritten, and I got enthused, sort of, for Firestar again. Have I done anything new? Firestar, with a different starting point, and a different conflict. We'll see how it goes.
Other things (Fifth): I entered Kassandra's Song in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and I'm submitting both Crosstime Cop and In the Heart of the Woods for PNWA's literary contest this year. I have to get cracking, only one weeks to go on those.
So, yeah, so far this year it's been pretty good.
First, pitchers and catchers report today. Baseball is back, even if they're only doing their physicals today.
Damned funny game, baseball. The defense controls the ball, and the offense only gets to do anything when the defense messes up. You have no clock, but you have time-outs. And defense can dominate a game and completely alter a player's statistics. An example: putting Ichiro! in right field against a line-up of left-handed pull-hitters will lower the pitcher's Earned Run Average because of Ichiro!'s defensive skills (and that arm of his).
But baseball season gets underway today, at least the Spring Training portion where players practice and sharpen their skills in large, climate controlled environments like Florida and Arizona.
Second, www.crossedgenre.com will be carrying one of my dryad stories, The Eyes That Catch! This garners an official "Woo-Hoo!" The story will be in the March 1 release of the e-magazine. They also have a print version that will appear on April 1. Detective and urban fantasy. Interesting combination.
Third, www.beyondthefarhorizon.com, also known as BTFH, or Gina Wylie's site, is about 35 chapters into Kalliste, having previously done Counterfeit Line (which will soon go back in the shop for some maintenance). Kalliste was my "practice novel", the first one that I actually did all the way through to the end. From it I extracted Kalliste's Storytime, which certainly garnered all sorts of feedback (including from archaeologists and other professionals in the field). The story certainly needs some rewriting, especially knowing what I know now. But as an example of organic plotting (plot as you go), it was certainly educational.
Fourth, Setosha is nearly rewritten, and I got enthused, sort of, for Firestar again. Have I done anything new? Firestar, with a different starting point, and a different conflict. We'll see how it goes.
Other things (Fifth): I entered Kassandra's Song in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and I'm submitting both Crosstime Cop and In the Heart of the Woods for PNWA's literary contest this year. I have to get cracking, only one weeks to go on those.
So, yeah, so far this year it's been pretty good.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
It's been nearly three months since I posted. I knew I was slack, but this is ridiculous. So it's time for an update.
Firestar came back at the end of November with a suggestion for a rewrite giving more background on the Families. This makes sense. You have to distinguish your product from everyone else. So what unique things about the Families need to be brought out in the early part of the story so it isn't all spaceships exploding? If you want that, there's always the Honor Harrington stories (hats off to David Weber for them; I've spent many an enjoyable hour reading them). So that's in the works queue again.
Joshua said he'd be willing to see other things I've written, so off went Kassandra's Song. We'll see how it does, but personally, I've always liked that story.
I've been posting a related story (Kalliste) on Gina Marie Wylie's Beyond the Far Horizon. No real rewrites there (though I duplicated a chapter - since corrected).
I've been readying Cross Time Cop for submission, and to that end I've been taking it to the spin-off writer's group from the one in Woodinville. I've rewritten through Chapter 6, changed the names of some of the characters (thank goodness for Global Change - but watch out for spelling changes), and smoothed out a lot of rough spots.
I also posted an earlier version of Counterfeit Line on Gina's site, and have gotten some good feedback. That'll go back in the queue. I still think I can place this story somewhere.
And I completed a couple of more dryad stories. I think that makes 4 or 5, including one that's going to a contest for mystery/fantasy.
So much for what is done. What's in progress?
After working on the plot for Firestar, I decided that the events needed another story in the cycle: Morosini's Children. I'm up through Chapter 5. Slow going as other things have been taking my time (including a decrease in writing time due to real life). But this fits with other things, and, who knows, maybe I'll make this one I skip over and 'come back to'. Certainly Setosha is nearly done.
I continue to flog away at Body of Evidence. This one brings together Marge Bergeron from Cross Time Cop and Gina Stone from Counterfeit Line. I'm about to confuse Marge a bit with things; nothing says your characters can't reach the wrong conclusion. But this does mean that Different World will have to be completed, too. I wrote myself into a box there, and have to back up a bit and figure a way out. Or maybe have the characters do that. Hmm....
So I have been busy (see my Ober-Bindlestiff Blog for other things I've been doing lately). It is the season, and I find my writing schedule as busy as ever. But since I transitioned to graveyeard shift, my writing time is taken up with sleeping instead. I knew there'd be a penalty to pay for that decision, but there were real/life reasons for it.
Firestar came back at the end of November with a suggestion for a rewrite giving more background on the Families. This makes sense. You have to distinguish your product from everyone else. So what unique things about the Families need to be brought out in the early part of the story so it isn't all spaceships exploding? If you want that, there's always the Honor Harrington stories (hats off to David Weber for them; I've spent many an enjoyable hour reading them). So that's in the works queue again.
Joshua said he'd be willing to see other things I've written, so off went Kassandra's Song. We'll see how it does, but personally, I've always liked that story.
I've been posting a related story (Kalliste) on Gina Marie Wylie's Beyond the Far Horizon. No real rewrites there (though I duplicated a chapter - since corrected).
I've been readying Cross Time Cop for submission, and to that end I've been taking it to the spin-off writer's group from the one in Woodinville. I've rewritten through Chapter 6, changed the names of some of the characters (thank goodness for Global Change - but watch out for spelling changes), and smoothed out a lot of rough spots.
I also posted an earlier version of Counterfeit Line on Gina's site, and have gotten some good feedback. That'll go back in the queue. I still think I can place this story somewhere.
And I completed a couple of more dryad stories. I think that makes 4 or 5, including one that's going to a contest for mystery/fantasy.
So much for what is done. What's in progress?
After working on the plot for Firestar, I decided that the events needed another story in the cycle: Morosini's Children. I'm up through Chapter 5. Slow going as other things have been taking my time (including a decrease in writing time due to real life). But this fits with other things, and, who knows, maybe I'll make this one I skip over and 'come back to'. Certainly Setosha is nearly done.
I continue to flog away at Body of Evidence. This one brings together Marge Bergeron from Cross Time Cop and Gina Stone from Counterfeit Line. I'm about to confuse Marge a bit with things; nothing says your characters can't reach the wrong conclusion. But this does mean that Different World will have to be completed, too. I wrote myself into a box there, and have to back up a bit and figure a way out. Or maybe have the characters do that. Hmm....
So I have been busy (see my Ober-Bindlestiff Blog for other things I've been doing lately). It is the season, and I find my writing schedule as busy as ever. But since I transitioned to graveyeard shift, my writing time is taken up with sleeping instead. I knew there'd be a penalty to pay for that decision, but there were real/life reasons for it.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
And a review of The Black Whole
http://bookzombie.blogspot.com/2008/09/review-black-whole-jacqueline-m-jones.html
I even got a mention for Spiked! out of it.
http://bookzombie.blogspot.com/2008/09/review-black-whole-jacqueline-m-jones.html
I even got a mention for Spiked! out of it.
Friday, September 19, 2008
My Brother Was Interviewed on the radio -
He had an interview on KONP radio in Port Angeles, WA. His writing partner was also on via phone. Here's a picture of the event.
He reported that the studio was "bloody hot", and that he could barely hear his writing partner so accidentally stepped on him from time to time.
All in all a nice interview (IMO) that covered the basics of the story Escape to Destiny, gave people reason to want to buy the book, got in that sales have been pretty good, and otherwise did a pretty good job of promotion.
There are more books in the series coming out, and the preliminary publication projection suggests next Spring. They have 16 or 17 of the series either done, or close to it. Now that's a writing machine.
I didn't check their website, www.konp.com, but I think they have archives and people can listen to them. The interview was at 1:00 PDT on 9/19/08.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Black Whole published
The Black Whole is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Check it out at:
Barnes and Noble http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Black-Whole/Jacqueline-M-Jones/e/9780970943378/?itm=1
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Black-Whole-Jacqueline-M-Jones/dp/0970943377/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219342205&sr=1-6
If those wrap, just type in "The Black Whole" in the search bar.
Super cool.
I'm in it with Spiked!, the first of the dryad stories.
The Black Whole is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Check it out at:
Barnes and Noble http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Black-Whole/Jacqueline-M-Jones/e/9780970943378/?itm=1
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Black-Whole-Jacqueline-M-Jones/dp/0970943377/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219342205&sr=1-6
If those wrap, just type in "The Black Whole" in the search bar.
Super cool.
I'm in it with Spiked!, the first of the dryad stories.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Good News!!!
I just learned that Spiked! will appear in The Dark Whole Anthology. Publication date is tentatively put as December 2008. The publisher is Down in the Country press.
Here's the link: http://www.press.downinthecountry.com/theblackhole.html
Woot! Woot! Woot!
Wow. I was pretty sure it'd make it into the anthology, but there's always that element of doubt. They wanted a fantasy with an element of darkness to it, and the ending of Spiked! gives that as the eco-freak is trapped in a tree that's about to run through the saw at a sawmill.
There's still work to do, galley proofs to check, mainly, and any editorial corrections the editor requests.
This feels kind of cool in a way I can't quite put into words.
I just learned that Spiked! will appear in The Dark Whole Anthology. Publication date is tentatively put as December 2008. The publisher is Down in the Country press.
Here's the link: http://www.press.downinthecountry.com/theblackhole.html
Woot! Woot! Woot!
Wow. I was pretty sure it'd make it into the anthology, but there's always that element of doubt. They wanted a fantasy with an element of darkness to it, and the ending of Spiked! gives that as the eco-freak is trapped in a tree that's about to run through the saw at a sawmill.
There's still work to do, galley proofs to check, mainly, and any editorial corrections the editor requests.
This feels kind of cool in a way I can't quite put into words.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Next Steps
After a brief email exchange with Joshua, I sent the first 57 pages of Firestar to him. Why 57 and not 50? The section ended with page 57. Now I cross my fingers. In the meantime I tweaked 17, 20 and 21 to remove references to Heather (Corey's sib-sister) being pregnant, and to give Corey some beginnings at political skill.
Why? Heather's pregnancy will be a stress element for Corey in the next book, and the political skill will come in handy farther down in the story arc.
So what is the next step? I've already alluded to Morosini's Children. I'm still working on the beginning of it. Read books on the racks at a bookstore or in a supermarket. You start off with a bang, either in the middle of the action (en media res), or with a puzzle. Three examples come to mind.
Crosstime Cop - Marge says "This is stupid." which makes you want to find out what is stupid, and why.
Counterfeit Line - There was nothing like a dead body to brighten up the day. Right away you need to know why that is. You turn the page.
A Perfect Murder - Sarah Hammond, in my writer's group, used a line: It was the perfect day for a murder. to get the action underway. You need to find out why, and who, and so you turn the page.
There's a phrase for this: "shoot the sheriff in the first page." In other words, get the novel underway right away. Don't do mood setting, gradually focusing in on the characters and action. I did this in the first draft of Counterfeit Line. During the Maui Writer's Cruise I was strongly advised to get to the action sooner. Four chapters became two, and at the end of chapter two the main character had been thrown through a mysterious doorway. The story reads tighter for it. Russian authors of the 19th Century have a lot to answer for (IMO). Much better is to study Chekov and other playwrights who get you involved right away.
So what is the line or opening in Morosini's Children? Damned if I know...yet. But as I see it, Corey has to state the problem early on so we know what her "must do" compulsion is. That's the McGuffin, the kernel of the plot, and everything revolves around it. Of course Corey has other problems:
That might or might not be enough, but that's all that I extracted from the original source (which was the original version of Firestar).
But it all starts with a great opening. One person said you have only 5 pages to capture a reader, others think it's the first page. Nobody said writing is easy.
After a brief email exchange with Joshua, I sent the first 57 pages of Firestar to him. Why 57 and not 50? The section ended with page 57. Now I cross my fingers. In the meantime I tweaked 17, 20 and 21 to remove references to Heather (Corey's sib-sister) being pregnant, and to give Corey some beginnings at political skill.
Why? Heather's pregnancy will be a stress element for Corey in the next book, and the political skill will come in handy farther down in the story arc.
So what is the next step? I've already alluded to Morosini's Children. I'm still working on the beginning of it. Read books on the racks at a bookstore or in a supermarket. You start off with a bang, either in the middle of the action (en media res), or with a puzzle. Three examples come to mind.
Crosstime Cop - Marge says "This is stupid." which makes you want to find out what is stupid, and why.
Counterfeit Line - There was nothing like a dead body to brighten up the day. Right away you need to know why that is. You turn the page.
A Perfect Murder - Sarah Hammond, in my writer's group, used a line: It was the perfect day for a murder. to get the action underway. You need to find out why, and who, and so you turn the page.
There's a phrase for this: "shoot the sheriff in the first page." In other words, get the novel underway right away. Don't do mood setting, gradually focusing in on the characters and action. I did this in the first draft of Counterfeit Line. During the Maui Writer's Cruise I was strongly advised to get to the action sooner. Four chapters became two, and at the end of chapter two the main character had been thrown through a mysterious doorway. The story reads tighter for it. Russian authors of the 19th Century have a lot to answer for (IMO). Much better is to study Chekov and other playwrights who get you involved right away.
So what is the line or opening in Morosini's Children? Damned if I know...yet. But as I see it, Corey has to state the problem early on so we know what her "must do" compulsion is. That's the McGuffin, the kernel of the plot, and everything revolves around it. Of course Corey has other problems:
- her project is a research project, and that means a different level of funding and administrative support than a military project;
- elements of her Family want all members out of Space, especially her, who is a real hero. They don't want her at home in uniform as that will inspire other girls in her Family to go into Space. So they want her to resign from the Navy (besides, she has three birthrights, so she might as well use them).
- the Families Navy is gearing up for offensive warfare to put the Idenux away once and for all, and the Children go on some raids;
- Sonia is revealed as having an important job that impacts Corey's work, and the complications that follow from that. Of course that revelation has to remain secret from the Family. Nothing is easy.
That might or might not be enough, but that's all that I extracted from the original source (which was the original version of Firestar).
But it all starts with a great opening. One person said you have only 5 pages to capture a reader, others think it's the first page. Nobody said writing is easy.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Some Changes & Things -
I've said several times that Firestar is done. Now I think it is. I've gone through suggestions from the edit team, and I've tweaked and added and foreshadowed. The conclusion leads inescapably to book 2, Morosini's Children. That will be sandwiched in before Setosha. I'm going to have to do a status of the various people before I go any further.
I'm nearly done with the synopsis, too. This is a critical piece that most people forget. And an email to Joshua.
On to other things - I'm plotting out the last half of A Different World. I've gone as far as I can plotting off the top of my head. We'll see how this shapes up. I know the ending, I'm just fiddling while I get there. In some ways it feels good to do DW for a change. We'll see how long I can hold off doing Morosini's Children.
Good wargaming this last weekend, even if I did go 1 and 1. I lost a HoTTs game, but did all right in galley fighting. The galley rules are shaping up, and I want to put them on some time and get the "ooh-wow" factor.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
It's Off (or done, or whatever)!
Okay, this time more or less for sure. Firestar appears to be done and is off for commentary. The problem was the last two chapters.
You have to have the protagonist solve the problem. In this case it was two-fold, though only one was stated obviously: learn how to beat the Idenux; overcome the arthritis that cripples the Families Navy. Corey does so. And is sent to the next problem, beating the people behind the Idenux.
With that (temporarily) off my back, I turn to rewriting the synopsis and sending it to the agent.
And I am going back to revisit my earlier uncompleted story about Jen the Dryad.
Too bad Real Life is getting in the way of things.
Okay, this time more or less for sure. Firestar appears to be done and is off for commentary. The problem was the last two chapters.
You have to have the protagonist solve the problem. In this case it was two-fold, though only one was stated obviously: learn how to beat the Idenux; overcome the arthritis that cripples the Families Navy. Corey does so. And is sent to the next problem, beating the people behind the Idenux.
With that (temporarily) off my back, I turn to rewriting the synopsis and sending it to the agent.
And I am going back to revisit my earlier uncompleted story about Jen the Dryad.
Too bad Real Life is getting in the way of things.
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