The winners of the VW#1 giveaway are:
BookWish: Robin Connelly
Goodie Bag: Nicole
Winners, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com (Robin, please also let me know the title and author of your BookWish), and I'll get these prizes out to you.
Before I start today's workshop, two of our LB&LI workshop writers, Karen Duvall and Alison Kent, have very kindly made up some very cool graphics for use by other writers who are participating in LB&LI on their blogs. As they've given me permission to use them, I've posted them on Photobucket at the following links:
Karen Duvall: http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/LynnViehl/LBLIGraphic.jpg
Alison Kent: http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/LynnViehl/lbli.gif
I think Karen's graphic would be good for blogs with dark or black backgrounds, and Alison's graphic would be the same for blogs with light or white backgrounds. To post either graphic on your blog, use the HTML code < img src = " " > with the spaces removed and the URL of the graphic pasted in between the quotation marks.
And now -- let's workshop!
I. The Editing Dance of Doom
Aspiring novelist Jane Duoh has an amazing story idea. Maybe she's thought it through, or perhaps it just hit her like a thunderbolt. Doesn't matter. She's ready to make writing! She sits down to write what will surely this time be the One She Sells to NY.
Jane has great fun writing her first page, but backreads and notices it doesn't exactly start off with a bang, which she knows she needs to get an editor's attention, so she fixes that. Have to jump on these things right away so they don't kill the momentum, she thinks. Happily she finishes the first scene, but backreads again just to be sure it's topnotch writing. And it isn't, so she changes some things here and there, and backreads again to check her revisions, and makes a few more adjustments. But no problem, Jane is still having fun, and is now ready to write the next scene.
About halfway through scene two Jane gets the sense that the new stuff is not meshing with scene one, but she really needs it to lead into the car chase scene she has planned for Chapter Four, so she backreads and finds the trouble spots and makes those changes. Then, of course, she has to do a little retuning of the first scene to make it fit properly with the new material, and alters the beginning because that doesn't exactly fit now. Jane's not really having much fun anymore, not with all the work she has to do to fix her screw-ups, but after a few more backread-and-change, backread-and-change sessions, she's finally ready to continue work on scene two and get to that car chase scene, where she's sure everything will pick up nicely.
Only it doesn't. As Jane writes, she will repeat these steps a couple of dozen times, until around the middle of chapter three, she's no longer having any fun at all. She's exhausted. This, she thinks, was a stupid idea. Jane is so sick of rewriting that she doesn't even care about the car chase scene anymore. And if she looks at that opening line one more time she's going to hurl. All this work! Obviously her amazing idea wasn't all that great, and she's wasting her time trying to make it work.
At this point Jane is now primed for a distraction, and sure enough, another brighter, shinier idea will pop into her head, and she'll dump these hopeless, useless chapters and begin a new project with the new idea. And the cycle will start all over again.
I don't mean to kick Jane in the teeth. She's probably a good writer, works hard, and is at the keyboard every day of the week. She's likely got some great ideas, too. But if Jane doesn't make some serious changes, in a few years all she'll have to show for her pains is a nice, big collection of partial manuscripts she's never finished. Why? Because Jane is doing what I call the Editing Macarena. She can't finish anything because she's too busy standing in place and dancing the same three steps, over and over: backread, change, repeat.
II. Breaking the Cycle
I was at a New Year's Eve party the first time I saw a writer dance the Macarena (literally.) The demonstrator told me she had learned it on a vacation cruise. It was, quite possibly, the dumbest dance I've ever watched (and I've seen dumb; I grew up in the time when everyone was obsessed with mastering The Hustle.) It certainly popped right into my head the minute I searched for an analogy to the endless loop of editing doom that so many writers get stuck in.
Editing your work is a basic part of the writing process; one of the less pleasant tasks involved with creating a story that sells. I know a few writers who do very little editing of their work, and I've heard of those gifted wordsmiths who never need to edit and refuse to let anyone change so much as a punctuation mark. In the real world of Publishing, however, learning how to effectively and efficiently edit your work is just part of the job.
To be a professional writer, you have to present a product that is written at a professional level, and you will almost always have to re-edit that work when an editor requests revisions or a copy editor rips through the ms. It is in your best interests to learn how to avoid dancing the Editing Macarena and find a method of effective, efficient self-editing so that you can finish your stories. A finished ms. is one you can sell. You'll never sell just three chapters that have been edited to death.
III. The Five Effs of Effective/Efficient Editing
For this workshop, I came up with a five-step editing plan that I think can put an end to all the editing macarenas being danced out there. And in honor of how much we all love to edit, each step is represented by an eff word:
Find - Fix - Fine-tune - Follow up -- Finalize.
Here's how it works:
1. Find: With your favorite highlighter and editing pen, read through a workable section of the WIP that you've printed out on paper. Using your editing pen, circle any typos, grammar problems, punctuation mistakes or other technical blips. With your highlighter, highlight any word, sentence or paragraph that needs work. Do this through the entire section you're editing.
2. Fix: Pull up your WIP on your computer and go through the section you've edited, correcting all the technical errors you circled with your editing pen.
3. Fine-tune: Go back and read the highlighted sections of the WIP. One by one, decide what's wrong with them and handwrite in a revision or correction (if a large amount of text needs fine-tuning, you can do this on the computer ms. to save time.) Once you have all your rewrites written in on the paper copy, transfer them to your computer copy.
4. Follow-up: After you take a break from the ms., review the edited piece to make sure you've made the changes you want, spell check the piece, and then save.*
5. Finalize: When you've finished editing the entire story using the first four steps of this process, and have taken a break from it (I recommend at least 48 hours if possible), repeat the first four Fs, but this time do it for the entire manuscript.
Each of the first four steps is performed one time and one time only for the section of the story you are editing. Once this edit is done, you do not backread or change anything. You move on and write new material.
When you have edited the entire story, you then perform the fifth, Finalize step, but do this only once. Once you have completed all five steps, you are finished self-editing.
*If you've made changes that affect earlier portions of the WIP, you have two options.
1. If it's a simple fix, such as changing the name of a character from John to James, make the change by performing a search-and-replace on the entire WIP.
2. Larger changes that require reworking or rewriting should carried on as changed through the new material of the ms. but be noted on the page where you first change them, i.e. [from here Jessica has red hair and is an orphan from Albany instead of a brunette from Miami.] When you go to do your Finalize step and come across these notations in the ms., then go back over previous sections and make the necessary changes.
IV. But We Love to Dance the Macarena!
Some of you are sitting there reading this and thinking, "That's not nearly enough editing. She's nuts." You know that you need to edit your ms. over and over and over or it will turn out to be garbage because you write a crappy first draft, and a second, and a third, and a fortieth or whatever. Or you will have other excuses that explain why you have to take so much time. If there's one thing writers do very well, it's finding very good reasons not to write.
If you're still not convinced, consider the benefits of streamlining your editing process. Not only will it make you a more productive writer, but it will compell you to improve your drafts. If you know in advance you're only going to get two chances to edit whatever you write, you will naturally be more meticulous when you create that first draft. Think of it as anti-sloppiness training. Having that preset limit on the amount of times you can edit is also excellent practice for what happens when you're turn pro, because we only get about three shots at editing (during the revisions, copy-edit, and galley stages) before what we write ends up in print.
If you don't feel comfortable testing out my formula on a book-length project, try it for one scene or chapter and see if it cuts the amount of time you spend editing and still improves the WIP. If it does, try it for a larger portion of the story, and see what happens. I think you'll be surprised by what you can accomplish.
A couple of you still don't agree with me, I know. You need those extra two or three hundred editing passes, and you're going to keep dancing the editing macarena no matter what I tell you. That's not to say all hope is lost if you do. True story: I once sat next to a very respected literary author at a Publishing luncheon. Very Respected was a nice man and had a lot of inspirational things to say about our craft. I'd never heard of him or any of his books, but I liked his easy-going personality and his hair. For a guy writer, he had great hair.
When Very Respected got up to speak (he was also the GoH) he mentioned taking ten years to write his last book. As my jaw fell into my mystery chicken entree, Very Respected explained how carefully he wrote and edited and rewrote everything, and how much every single word meant to him. He was, without a doubt, the unacknowledged Master of the Editing Macarena.
I would have asked Very Respected more about what it's like to spend ten years writing a single novel, but he had to leave the luncheon immediately after his speech to go back to his non-publishing day job.
However you decide to edit your work, keep in mind the most important eff word in regard to any working writer's WIP: Finished.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) A stack of my favorite how-to writing books -- unsigned copies of:
Adair Lara's You Know You're a Writer When . . .
Joseph Campbell's Oriental Mythology ~ The Masks of God
Rich Frishman and Robyn Freedman Spizman's Author 101 ~ Bestselling Secrets from Top Agents
Lee Lofland's Police Procedure & Investigation
Dr. Eric Maisel's A Writer's Space
Richard R. Powell's Wabi Sabi for Writers
Todd A. Stone's Novelist's Boot Camp
Ralph L. Wahlstrom's The Tao of Writing
A signed-by-me copy of Philip Martin's The New Writers Handbook 2007 (I have an essay in this one) and a signed/ printed copy* of my own how-to e-book, Way of the Cheetah.
2) a goodie bag which will include unsigned copies of:
Death Angel by Linda Howard (hardcover)
Steal the Dragon by Patricia Briggs
Wild Hunt by Lori Devoti
Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
In Danger by Alison Kent
The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Charlene Teglia
Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker
plus signed copies of Evermore and Twilight Fall by Lynn Viehl as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, comment on this workshop before midnight EST today, July 29, 2008. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the goodie bag and the other the stack of my favorite writing books. Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on August 5, 2008 for a brand new AlphaSmart Neo. All LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
*As this is an e-book, this copy will be printed out on standard bond paper and placed in a three-ring binder.
Other LB&LI Workshop Links (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day)
Worldbuilding with a Wiki by Sandra Barret -- Architecting your world using a free wiki.
The Anatomy Of Sex Scenes by Jaci Burton -- Writing sex can sometimes be the most uncomfortable part of writing the book. But it doesn't have to be. A few key pointers that may help charge up your sex scenes and drag the writer out of their 'discomfort' zone.
Creating Great Beginnings - the Why and How by Sherryl Clark -- If your beginning works, the rest will follow. We're going to look at why it's crucial, what is the contract with the reader, Dos and Don'ts (and why/why not), story questions vs hooks, situating the reader, and writing backwards. I'll also invite readers to send in their first 200 words for feedback.
The Comparison--metaphor and simile by LJ Cohen -- a week of workshops using poetry and poetic techniques useful for novelists (tune in each day this week as LJ presents different poetic tools with examples of how to use them in your own writing.)
Gender Differences for Writers by Cheryl Corbin -- Male and female body language, speech and thinking differences.
Marketing on a Budget by Moondancer Drake -- How to make the most of marketing your book on a limited budget.
Writing Effective Description by Karen Duvall -- a week of workshops on how to write vivid description using all the senses, covering one for each day of the week.
WRITING PROCESS: Conceive, Develop, Write by Jamal W. Hankins -- An overview of my writing progress from story concept to actually writing a story.
The Voices in Your Head by Alison Kent -- When discussing "voice," where and how do character voices fit in?
Everyone has to Edit by Belinda Kroll -- Five steps to edit: putting the first draft away, being brutally honest, showing not telling, telling not showing, and focusing on those nitty gritty details.
Balancing Motherhood and Writing by Dawn Montgomery, Kim Knox, and Michelle Hasker -- How to write a 1000 words in the zen of toddler meltdowns. Motherhood is a full time job and holding a family together is only half the battle. How do you find *your* time to write without losing your mind?
Self-Editing by Emma Wayne Porter -- The things your editor secretly wishes you'd do before submitting, and how to survive Track Changes afterward. Checklists and Stupid Word Tricks included.
Not Going to Frisco Workshop by Joan Reeves aka Sling Words -- Writing Biz Reality
Cover Art: From Form to Finish by Mandy M. Roth -- Tips and tricks for filling out your cover art forms, the steps and stages a cover goes through, the finished product and a walkthrough on using your cover to make your own static banner ad.
Hey Fatty (Or Does Your Character Need That Flaw) by Amie Stuart -- I’ll be blogging about Characterization, flaws and motivation all week, using TV, movies, books and my own writing for examples.
Astronomy for Writers: Look to the Sky
by Suelder -- 1,000 Suns (and then some), The Birth of a Star: Star Fields, Binary Stars and Star Systems, Size Matters - How Stars are Classified, Size Matters, pt.2 - The Life and Death of a Star (the second in a five-part workshop series on basic astronomy and how to think about it from a writer's perspective.)
Begin with a business plan by Charlene Teglia -- the first in Charlene's workshops this week on the business of the business.
Short Stories & Novellas- Workshop Day I - Plotting by Shiloh Walker -- the first in a series on writing short stories & novellas.
VOICE: The Magic Behind The Words by Sasha White -- Advice to help you discover and strengthen your personal voice and style, and show you the way to the magic behind the words.
Workshop is in 5 sections. A new section each day this week.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
VW#1: Power Plotting
I. Power to the Story
I've seen story plot defined by writers in a dozen different ways. Some consider plot to be an orderly plan for writing a novel; others see it as an intricate and sometimes confusing tangle of characters, settings, conflicts, running threads, revelations and resolutions. There are pro-plotters out there who won't write a story without first plotting it, anti-plotters who see plotting as beneath them and sniff over anyone who does it, and plot-phobics who avoid plotting like it's got eight legs, poison-dripping fangs and wants to eat their muse alive.
Today I'd like you all to think about plot a little differently. Imagine it working for your story as electrical service does for your home.
II. Why Wire a Story?
If I were to show you how your house is wired for power with individual circuits, it would probably look something like this:
Confused? Don't worry, so am I. Even color-coded and simplified, all those individual circuits bouncing around the rooms make it look like someone just blew up a bubblegum machine in there. Writers face the same sort of dilemma when they try to write a story without having a plan of some sort -- during the creative process, they have so many scenes, characters, storylines and ideas bouncing around inside them that confusion is inevitable.
What we need to do is go back and begin where everything starts; at the source: the main electrical panel for the house. This is where it all begins:
The same is true with plotting a novel. We're going to plot out a story as if it were an electrical panel that provides main power, channels it to the appropriate places, diverts and uses it in various outlets in order to make the entire story system work.
III. The Main
In an electrical panel, the main is where it all begins; the primary source of power for an electrical service. It's why the power company bills you each month, and what they shut off if you don't pay the bill.
In your story, the main is your main conflict. It's the Why? of the story, the reason all of the characters in all of the places do and say all of the things that occur in the story. It's the source on which everything else depends, and it has to be powerful enough to run everything else depending on it.
Choosing your main conflict may be the most important decision you make for a story. A weak main won't carry the entire story; inevitably it collapses under the strain. An unfocused or unstable main will result in story lag and confusion. The main may not be the first decision you make when writing, but it demands you make it a strong, focused statement when you do:
A Russian captain defects with a prototype silent-running missile submarine.
A secret about Jesus Christ is hidden in a Da Vinci painting.
A misfit girl falls in love with a vampire boy at her new high school.
Remember the main in main conflict. If you don't supply enough power to a characterization, or a setting, or an exchange of dialogue, you may lose that part of your story. If your main conflict doesn't have enough power, no matter how great you've wired everything else, you lose the entire story.
IV. Setting -- the Bus Bars
In an electrical panel, the bus bars channel the main power to the breakers. They are the foundation to which everything that needs the main power is attached.
The bus bars of your story are your settings. The Where? of the story may not seem as important as the main, but think of that Russian sub captain trying to defect in the middle of South Dakota, or trying to find the secret of the famous Da Vinci painting in Antarctica, or the misfit and the vampire trying to fall in love in the Sahara desert. Choosing where your story happens channels the power from the main to the appropriate place.
In this part of your diagram, you don't have to get too detailed. Pick the general locations where your story happens according to the scope of the story -- if you're going continent-hopping, select the cities and countries. If you plan to stick in one city or town, use general locations within the city limits. Once you have your locations picked, you know where your story plays out and can do your research accordingly.
Again, this might not be the first decision you make for the story, but it's also one you need to think out carefully. You may love the idea of writing a story set in the middle of Antarctica, but if you've never been there you're looking at extensive research (unless you like penguins, can make the voyage and find a scientific expedition willing to let you tag along so you can get the authenticity via personal experience.)
V. Characters: The Breakers
Breakers are the places in the electrical panel where the power supplied by the main and channeled by the bus bars start to go in different directions. Breakers split the power up to different circuits (all those bouncy lines up there in the household wiring diagram) and provide power to the different outlets.
In your story, your characters take the power from the main conflict through the settings and basically run with it through the story. How many characters you put in your story can affect how well the power of your main conflict is distributed; too few and you don't use your power effectively; too many can cause an overload situation.
Just as a breaker should divert a portion of power to where it's needed, a character needs to do something with the main conflict that serves the story. Look at each of your characters and what purpose they serve in the story. If you've got a lot of characters feeding off your main but they're not doing anything but creating a drain on the system, put them to work or get rid of them.
VI. Main Events: The Circuits
Circuits are the wires that run from the breakers to the outlets; the true "wiring" in "wiring diagram." They run through every part of your house, in the walls, under the floors and through the ceilings. There isn't a room under your roof that doesn't have a circuit in it.
Your story circuits are the main events that happen. You've heard me refer to using timelines for plotting, the main events are what constitute a timeline. Generally the main events follow a logical chronological order: this happens, and then this, and then this, and so on. Or, if you prefer the traditional story construct, beginning, middle, end.
Figuring out your main event circuits can put you into a snarl unless you remember a simple rule that applies to basic wiring as well: deal with one circuit at a time until you've traced it out and resolved it, then move on to the next.
VII. Scenes: Outlets
We've come to the end of the household electrical service system: the outlets. From the main, through the bus bars, divided up among the breakers and running through the circuits, the bulk of the power ends up waiting to be used at these little receptacles called outlets.
In your story, each scene is an outlet. It depends on one of your main event circuits, which was diverted to it by your character breakers, that was channeled to them by your setting bus bars, and empowered to all by your main conflict. The scene is the end of the line for your story elements, because here they all come into play to make the story work.
Scenes are where the magic does or doesn't happen. If you've wired your system properly, at this point they should write themselves. If there's a problem up the line, the scene won't work.
VIII. Hey, We're not Electricians!
I had planned to provide you all with a template for the wiring diagram, but I don't have a photoshop program working on the new monster computer yet (it refuses to take my Photo-It software and I think it ate part of my backup freeware.) Also, as everyone will have different amounts of characters, settings, events, scenes, etc. it would be hard to come up with a one-size-fits-all-stories template. But to at least give you a visual, here's a very simplified example that I made with Word.
(Added: Things are running a bit better this morning, and I was able to upload a better example over on Scribd*; I filled out this one with the plot for John & Marcia's book to demonstrate how it works. Here's a blank version you can use as a template.) *Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.
I remember the first time I looked inside an electrical panel. I was raised to believe that females were not supposed to touch anything with wires. Plus just seeing all those mysterious switches and lugs and knowing high voltage came through this thing -- who in their right mind would mess with that?
I also remember not being able to afford an electrician, and desperately phoning my dad, who talked me through changing out a fuse (this was back in the days before all these nice neat breakers they have now.) After the lights came back on, I felt like running around my neighborhood shouting Look! Look! I fixed the electric! And I'm a girl!
For those of you who want to try wiring your novel, I hope you'll give my diagram idea a test drive. And please feel free to adapt it to your particular writing style and needs.
As for whether a writer needs to plot or not, I've learned to respect writers who say they can write without plotting, because I've seen them do it and produce amazing work. But for most of us who don't have that incredible gift of spontaneous genius, plotting is useful and helpful.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) a BookWish (any book of the winner's choice which is available to order online, up to a max cost of $30.00 U.S.; I'll throw in the shipping)
2) a goodie bag which will include an unsigned hardcover copy of The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi, and unsigned paperback copies of The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs, Wild Hunt by Lori Devoti, Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione, At Risk by Alison Kent, Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker, signed paperback copies of Evermore and Twilight Fall by Lynn Viehl as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, comment on this workshop before midnight EST today, July 28, 2008. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the goodie bag and grant the other a BookWish. Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on August 5, 2008 for a brand new AlphaSmart Neo. All LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Other LB&LI Workshop Links (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day)
Creating Great Beginnings - the Why and How by Sherryl Clark -- If your beginning works, the rest will follow. We're going to look at why it's crucial, what is the contract with the reader, Dos and Don'ts (and why/why not), story questions vs hooks, situating the reader, and writing backwards. I'll also invite readers to send in their first 200 words for feedback.
Verbs Rule, Adjectives Drool by LJ Cohen -- a week of workshops using poetry and poetic techniques useful for novelists (tune in each day this week as LJ presents different poetic tools with examples of how to use them in your own writing.)
Gender Differences for Writers by Cheryl Corbin -- Male and female body language, speech and thinking differences.
Marketing on a Budget by Moondancer Drake -- How to make the most of marketing your book on a limited budget.
Writing Effective Description by Karen Duvall -- a week of workshops on how to write vivid description using all the senses, covering one for each day of the week.
WRITING PROCESS: Conceive, Develop, Write by Jamal W. Hankins -- An overview of my writing progress from story concept to actually writing a story.
The Voices in Your Head by Alison Kent -- When discussing "voice," where and how do character voices fit in?
Everyone has to Edit by Belinda Kroll -- Five steps to edit: putting the first draft away, being brutally honest, showing not telling, telling not showing, and focusing on those nitty gritty details.
Balancing Motherhood and Writing by Dawn Montgomery, Kim Knox, and Michelle Hasker -- How to write a 1000 words in the zen of toddler meltdowns. Motherhood is a full time job and holding a family together is only half the battle. How do you find *your* time to write without losing your mind?
Self-Editing by Emma Wayne Porter -- The things your editor secretly wishes you'd do before submitting, and how to survive Track Changes afterward. Checklists and Stupid Word Tricks included.
Not Going to Frisco Workshop by Joan Reeves aka Sling Words -- Writing Biz Reality
Astronomy for Writers: Look to the Sky
by Suelder -- What do you see when you look up? The Sun, The Stars, The Moon, Effects of the Moon (the first in a five-part workshop series on basic astronomy and how to think about it from a writer's perspective.)
Begin with a business plan by Charlene Teglia -- the first in Charlene's workshops this week on the business of the business.
I've seen story plot defined by writers in a dozen different ways. Some consider plot to be an orderly plan for writing a novel; others see it as an intricate and sometimes confusing tangle of characters, settings, conflicts, running threads, revelations and resolutions. There are pro-plotters out there who won't write a story without first plotting it, anti-plotters who see plotting as beneath them and sniff over anyone who does it, and plot-phobics who avoid plotting like it's got eight legs, poison-dripping fangs and wants to eat their muse alive.
Today I'd like you all to think about plot a little differently. Imagine it working for your story as electrical service does for your home.
II. Why Wire a Story?
If I were to show you how your house is wired for power with individual circuits, it would probably look something like this:
Confused? Don't worry, so am I. Even color-coded and simplified, all those individual circuits bouncing around the rooms make it look like someone just blew up a bubblegum machine in there. Writers face the same sort of dilemma when they try to write a story without having a plan of some sort -- during the creative process, they have so many scenes, characters, storylines and ideas bouncing around inside them that confusion is inevitable.
What we need to do is go back and begin where everything starts; at the source: the main electrical panel for the house. This is where it all begins:
The same is true with plotting a novel. We're going to plot out a story as if it were an electrical panel that provides main power, channels it to the appropriate places, diverts and uses it in various outlets in order to make the entire story system work.
III. The Main
In an electrical panel, the main is where it all begins; the primary source of power for an electrical service. It's why the power company bills you each month, and what they shut off if you don't pay the bill.
In your story, the main is your main conflict. It's the Why? of the story, the reason all of the characters in all of the places do and say all of the things that occur in the story. It's the source on which everything else depends, and it has to be powerful enough to run everything else depending on it.
Choosing your main conflict may be the most important decision you make for a story. A weak main won't carry the entire story; inevitably it collapses under the strain. An unfocused or unstable main will result in story lag and confusion. The main may not be the first decision you make when writing, but it demands you make it a strong, focused statement when you do:
A Russian captain defects with a prototype silent-running missile submarine.
A secret about Jesus Christ is hidden in a Da Vinci painting.
A misfit girl falls in love with a vampire boy at her new high school.
Remember the main in main conflict. If you don't supply enough power to a characterization, or a setting, or an exchange of dialogue, you may lose that part of your story. If your main conflict doesn't have enough power, no matter how great you've wired everything else, you lose the entire story.
IV. Setting -- the Bus Bars
In an electrical panel, the bus bars channel the main power to the breakers. They are the foundation to which everything that needs the main power is attached.
The bus bars of your story are your settings. The Where? of the story may not seem as important as the main, but think of that Russian sub captain trying to defect in the middle of South Dakota, or trying to find the secret of the famous Da Vinci painting in Antarctica, or the misfit and the vampire trying to fall in love in the Sahara desert. Choosing where your story happens channels the power from the main to the appropriate place.
In this part of your diagram, you don't have to get too detailed. Pick the general locations where your story happens according to the scope of the story -- if you're going continent-hopping, select the cities and countries. If you plan to stick in one city or town, use general locations within the city limits. Once you have your locations picked, you know where your story plays out and can do your research accordingly.
Again, this might not be the first decision you make for the story, but it's also one you need to think out carefully. You may love the idea of writing a story set in the middle of Antarctica, but if you've never been there you're looking at extensive research (unless you like penguins, can make the voyage and find a scientific expedition willing to let you tag along so you can get the authenticity via personal experience.)
V. Characters: The Breakers
Breakers are the places in the electrical panel where the power supplied by the main and channeled by the bus bars start to go in different directions. Breakers split the power up to different circuits (all those bouncy lines up there in the household wiring diagram) and provide power to the different outlets.
In your story, your characters take the power from the main conflict through the settings and basically run with it through the story. How many characters you put in your story can affect how well the power of your main conflict is distributed; too few and you don't use your power effectively; too many can cause an overload situation.
Just as a breaker should divert a portion of power to where it's needed, a character needs to do something with the main conflict that serves the story. Look at each of your characters and what purpose they serve in the story. If you've got a lot of characters feeding off your main but they're not doing anything but creating a drain on the system, put them to work or get rid of them.
VI. Main Events: The Circuits
Circuits are the wires that run from the breakers to the outlets; the true "wiring" in "wiring diagram." They run through every part of your house, in the walls, under the floors and through the ceilings. There isn't a room under your roof that doesn't have a circuit in it.
Your story circuits are the main events that happen. You've heard me refer to using timelines for plotting, the main events are what constitute a timeline. Generally the main events follow a logical chronological order: this happens, and then this, and then this, and so on. Or, if you prefer the traditional story construct, beginning, middle, end.
Figuring out your main event circuits can put you into a snarl unless you remember a simple rule that applies to basic wiring as well: deal with one circuit at a time until you've traced it out and resolved it, then move on to the next.
VII. Scenes: Outlets
We've come to the end of the household electrical service system: the outlets. From the main, through the bus bars, divided up among the breakers and running through the circuits, the bulk of the power ends up waiting to be used at these little receptacles called outlets.
In your story, each scene is an outlet. It depends on one of your main event circuits, which was diverted to it by your character breakers, that was channeled to them by your setting bus bars, and empowered to all by your main conflict. The scene is the end of the line for your story elements, because here they all come into play to make the story work.
Scenes are where the magic does or doesn't happen. If you've wired your system properly, at this point they should write themselves. If there's a problem up the line, the scene won't work.
VIII. Hey, We're not Electricians!
I had planned to provide you all with a template for the wiring diagram, but I don't have a photoshop program working on the new monster computer yet (it refuses to take my Photo-It software and I think it ate part of my backup freeware.) Also, as everyone will have different amounts of characters, settings, events, scenes, etc. it would be hard to come up with a one-size-fits-all-stories template. But to at least give you a visual, here's a very simplified example that I made with Word.
(Added: Things are running a bit better this morning, and I was able to upload a better example over on Scribd*; I filled out this one with the plot for John & Marcia's book to demonstrate how it works. Here's a blank version you can use as a template.) *Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.
I remember the first time I looked inside an electrical panel. I was raised to believe that females were not supposed to touch anything with wires. Plus just seeing all those mysterious switches and lugs and knowing high voltage came through this thing -- who in their right mind would mess with that?
I also remember not being able to afford an electrician, and desperately phoning my dad, who talked me through changing out a fuse (this was back in the days before all these nice neat breakers they have now.) After the lights came back on, I felt like running around my neighborhood shouting Look! Look! I fixed the electric! And I'm a girl!
For those of you who want to try wiring your novel, I hope you'll give my diagram idea a test drive. And please feel free to adapt it to your particular writing style and needs.
As for whether a writer needs to plot or not, I've learned to respect writers who say they can write without plotting, because I've seen them do it and produce amazing work. But for most of us who don't have that incredible gift of spontaneous genius, plotting is useful and helpful.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) a BookWish (any book of the winner's choice which is available to order online, up to a max cost of $30.00 U.S.; I'll throw in the shipping)
2) a goodie bag which will include an unsigned hardcover copy of The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi, and unsigned paperback copies of The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs, Wild Hunt by Lori Devoti, Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione, At Risk by Alison Kent, Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker, signed paperback copies of Evermore and Twilight Fall by Lynn Viehl as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, comment on this workshop before midnight EST today, July 28, 2008. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the goodie bag and grant the other a BookWish. Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on August 5, 2008 for a brand new AlphaSmart Neo. All LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Other LB&LI Workshop Links (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day)
Creating Great Beginnings - the Why and How by Sherryl Clark -- If your beginning works, the rest will follow. We're going to look at why it's crucial, what is the contract with the reader, Dos and Don'ts (and why/why not), story questions vs hooks, situating the reader, and writing backwards. I'll also invite readers to send in their first 200 words for feedback.
Verbs Rule, Adjectives Drool by LJ Cohen -- a week of workshops using poetry and poetic techniques useful for novelists (tune in each day this week as LJ presents different poetic tools with examples of how to use them in your own writing.)
Gender Differences for Writers by Cheryl Corbin -- Male and female body language, speech and thinking differences.
Marketing on a Budget by Moondancer Drake -- How to make the most of marketing your book on a limited budget.
Writing Effective Description by Karen Duvall -- a week of workshops on how to write vivid description using all the senses, covering one for each day of the week.
WRITING PROCESS: Conceive, Develop, Write by Jamal W. Hankins -- An overview of my writing progress from story concept to actually writing a story.
The Voices in Your Head by Alison Kent -- When discussing "voice," where and how do character voices fit in?
Everyone has to Edit by Belinda Kroll -- Five steps to edit: putting the first draft away, being brutally honest, showing not telling, telling not showing, and focusing on those nitty gritty details.
Balancing Motherhood and Writing by Dawn Montgomery, Kim Knox, and Michelle Hasker -- How to write a 1000 words in the zen of toddler meltdowns. Motherhood is a full time job and holding a family together is only half the battle. How do you find *your* time to write without losing your mind?
Self-Editing by Emma Wayne Porter -- The things your editor secretly wishes you'd do before submitting, and how to survive Track Changes afterward. Checklists and Stupid Word Tricks included.
Not Going to Frisco Workshop by Joan Reeves aka Sling Words -- Writing Biz Reality
Astronomy for Writers: Look to the Sky
by Suelder -- What do you see when you look up? The Sun, The Stars, The Moon, Effects of the Moon (the first in a five-part workshop series on basic astronomy and how to think about it from a writer's perspective.)
Begin with a business plan by Charlene Teglia -- the first in Charlene's workshops this week on the business of the business.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
SanFran Ten
Ten Things to Do While You're in San Francisco
You'll have to take a boat to get to it, but it's worth the trip to go to Alcatraz Island to take a walk-through tour of the old prison and find out more about the island's history, which dates back to the Civil War.
Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 is definitely one of my favorite places in SF, and the week of RWA Nat'l is Shark Week at the aquarium (I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Ha.)
Chinatown is a wonderful place to visit, but a few safety tips: go in a group, visit during the day, and stick to the areas with restaurants and shops near the Dragon Gate. Saturdays are when most of the tourists descend and the shops are most crowded, so go during the week if you can. Also, animal lovers, be aware that some shops sell animals for purposes other than being pets.
If you plan to visit the Coit Tower, which offers some excellent views of the city, do read this article, which gives some excellent tips on parking and getting there.
It's always great to walk down Fisherman's Wharf, buy some sourdough bread (this you will see everywhere in SF) or some Ghiradelli's chocolate and look out at the bay. It's probably the most tourist-y place in SF, but I never miss it. Lots of fun.
Everything you want to know about Golden Gate Park, courtesy of SF Gate.
Erik Sumiharu Hagiwara-Nagata, the great-great-grandson of the man who created the Japanese tea garden at Golden Gate Park has a web page with a brief history of the lovely spot here.
The Palace of Fine Arts at Presidio is a great place to have a picnic or check out the Exploratorium, which among other things has a team over in Xinjiang, China to record the solar eclipse on August 1st and a bunch of events scheduled for that.
Take a walking tour around the city of San Francisco with SF City Guides (free, although donations are always welcome; see web site for daily schedule.) If you do plan to walk SF, wear very comfortable shoes, joint braces if you need them, and be prepared to be walking either up or downhill for the majority of the walk, as most of the streets in SF are "hilly."
For the dedicated shoppers, try Westfield Shopping Center, which opened last year with 170 stores and specialty boutiques.
You'll have to take a boat to get to it, but it's worth the trip to go to Alcatraz Island to take a walk-through tour of the old prison and find out more about the island's history, which dates back to the Civil War.
Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 is definitely one of my favorite places in SF, and the week of RWA Nat'l is Shark Week at the aquarium (I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Ha.)
Chinatown is a wonderful place to visit, but a few safety tips: go in a group, visit during the day, and stick to the areas with restaurants and shops near the Dragon Gate. Saturdays are when most of the tourists descend and the shops are most crowded, so go during the week if you can. Also, animal lovers, be aware that some shops sell animals for purposes other than being pets.
If you plan to visit the Coit Tower, which offers some excellent views of the city, do read this article, which gives some excellent tips on parking and getting there.
It's always great to walk down Fisherman's Wharf, buy some sourdough bread (this you will see everywhere in SF) or some Ghiradelli's chocolate and look out at the bay. It's probably the most tourist-y place in SF, but I never miss it. Lots of fun.
Everything you want to know about Golden Gate Park, courtesy of SF Gate.
Erik Sumiharu Hagiwara-Nagata, the great-great-grandson of the man who created the Japanese tea garden at Golden Gate Park has a web page with a brief history of the lovely spot here.
The Palace of Fine Arts at Presidio is a great place to have a picnic or check out the Exploratorium, which among other things has a team over in Xinjiang, China to record the solar eclipse on August 1st and a bunch of events scheduled for that.
Take a walking tour around the city of San Francisco with SF City Guides (free, although donations are always welcome; see web site for daily schedule.) If you do plan to walk SF, wear very comfortable shoes, joint braces if you need them, and be prepared to be walking either up or downhill for the majority of the walk, as most of the streets in SF are "hilly."
For the dedicated shoppers, try Westfield Shopping Center, which opened last year with 170 stores and specialty boutiques.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Off to Prepare
I had to juggle a few chainsaws this week, and we won't talk about how horrendously behind I am on e-mail, but all is well at Casa PBW. I'm just going to unplug to get everything ready for the workshops.
See you all on Monday for LB&LI.
See you all on Monday for LB&LI.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Final LB&LI Reminder & Link Info
Looks like there's nine minutes left before the end of today, so I'm extremely tardy, but I still made it. Don't ask why I'm this late. You don't want to laugh that hard; you'll give yourself the hiccups.
Here are the instructions for sending me links to the workshop(s) you'll be holding on your web site or blog during Left Behind & Loving It, the week of virtual workshops I'm having here at PBW from July 28th through August 4th, 2008:
I know some of you are going out of town, so at any time from now until August 5th, send an e-mail to LynnViehl@aol.com with the following information:
Subject Line: Workshop Link
Your name, pseudonym or online handle
The title of your workshop
The topic of your workshop, or a brief description
The URL link to your workshop when it goes live, or what the URL will be when it goes live and the date you plan to post it.
When I post your link on PBW, it will look something like this:
Power Plotting by Lynn Viehl -- how to plot using a novel wiring diagram.
I will also link the title of your workshop to the URL where you're posting it, so my visitors can click on the title, come over and join in. I expect links to come in at any time during the week, so I will be checking e-mail regularly in order to update the link list on my workshop posts.
If you have any questions, please let me know in comments.
Here are the instructions for sending me links to the workshop(s) you'll be holding on your web site or blog during Left Behind & Loving It, the week of virtual workshops I'm having here at PBW from July 28th through August 4th, 2008:
I know some of you are going out of town, so at any time from now until August 5th, send an e-mail to LynnViehl@aol.com with the following information:
Subject Line: Workshop Link
Your name, pseudonym or online handle
The title of your workshop
The topic of your workshop, or a brief description
The URL link to your workshop when it goes live, or what the URL will be when it goes live and the date you plan to post it.
When I post your link on PBW, it will look something like this:
Power Plotting by Lynn Viehl -- how to plot using a novel wiring diagram.
I will also link the title of your workshop to the URL where you're posting it, so my visitors can click on the title, come over and join in. I expect links to come in at any time during the week, so I will be checking e-mail regularly in order to update the link list on my workshop posts.
If you have any questions, please let me know in comments.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Virtually Workshopping
I had to deal with NY again yesterday, so I'm running a little behind today. Tomorrow I will be posting all the information on how and when to send me the links for your LB&LI virtual workshops, and I'll repeat this post again on Sunday. I don't want to post it too early as that usually results in people either missing the info or sending it in too early.
A couple of you (you know who you are) have asked exactly how one goes about presenting a virtual workshop. The good news is you don't have to dress up, put on heels, have your hair and nails done or wear pantyhose (unless you have some sort of live webcam thing involved, in which case I recommend not wearing your SpongeBob Squarepants pajamas.)
The basic ingredients of a virtual workshop are 1) a place to hold it (ideally, your blog), 2) a writing- or biz-related topic you know well and can discuss with other writers and 3) a personal spin or approach to your topic that can be a benefit to other writers.
For example: On Monday I'm holding a workshop on power plotting. I am a militant pro-plotter and constantly look for new ways to prompt other writers into giving plotting a try. I also know that a lot of writers dread plotting (almost as much as writing a synopsis.)
I had an idea to use the mechanics of a main electrical panel as a metaphor for how plotting works and what it should do for a story. During my years in the commercial HVAC field, I learned a lot about industrial electrical systems (on which my guy is also something of expert, which gives me an in-house consultant.) I also have some excellent reference books on power service installation and basic wiring. By playing around with some standard electrical wiring diagrams, I came up with a new template to "wire" a story plot.
It's a lot of information to present, so I've condensed my notes, simplified the idea and put together three graphics and a universal template. When I present the workshop, I'll introduce the idea, show how it works, use it to solve some common plotting problems and offer links to other writers' sites with different approaches to plot outlining as second opinions and alternate resources. The rest of the workshop happens in comments, when my visitors ask questions and/or offer their opinions on the topic, I respond, etc.
More things to consider when giving workshops, virtual or otherwise:
1. Talk about what you know, and know what you're talking about. If you have problems with or aren't clear on your topic, that's going to come through during your workshop. Also, there's nothing more embarrassing than a visitor asking a question and all you can answer with is "I don't know."
2. Keep it fresh. One reason I looked for a new approach to plotting is because there has been so much written online about the more traditional methods. Also, much as I love to plot novels, plotting can be a very boring topic.
3. Make it fun for you and your visitors. When I was in RWA, I sat through so many dull workshops that I'm surprised they didn't give me narcolepsy. The best workshops are always those that use humor in some capacity, even if you just offer an ice-breaker with an opening joke that relates to your topic. Something like:
"In English," the college professor said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."
A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."
One final note -- if it's not your style to use humor or a light-hearted approach when virtually workshopping, don't force it. Do what you're comfortable doing. While I'd rather use humor than get too serious, the two posts on PBW that to this day still bring in the most e-mails from other writers are two that didn't use humor at all: Courage and Mansions.
A couple of you (you know who you are) have asked exactly how one goes about presenting a virtual workshop. The good news is you don't have to dress up, put on heels, have your hair and nails done or wear pantyhose (unless you have some sort of live webcam thing involved, in which case I recommend not wearing your SpongeBob Squarepants pajamas.)
The basic ingredients of a virtual workshop are 1) a place to hold it (ideally, your blog), 2) a writing- or biz-related topic you know well and can discuss with other writers and 3) a personal spin or approach to your topic that can be a benefit to other writers.
For example: On Monday I'm holding a workshop on power plotting. I am a militant pro-plotter and constantly look for new ways to prompt other writers into giving plotting a try. I also know that a lot of writers dread plotting (almost as much as writing a synopsis.)
I had an idea to use the mechanics of a main electrical panel as a metaphor for how plotting works and what it should do for a story. During my years in the commercial HVAC field, I learned a lot about industrial electrical systems (on which my guy is also something of expert, which gives me an in-house consultant.) I also have some excellent reference books on power service installation and basic wiring. By playing around with some standard electrical wiring diagrams, I came up with a new template to "wire" a story plot.
It's a lot of information to present, so I've condensed my notes, simplified the idea and put together three graphics and a universal template. When I present the workshop, I'll introduce the idea, show how it works, use it to solve some common plotting problems and offer links to other writers' sites with different approaches to plot outlining as second opinions and alternate resources. The rest of the workshop happens in comments, when my visitors ask questions and/or offer their opinions on the topic, I respond, etc.
More things to consider when giving workshops, virtual or otherwise:
1. Talk about what you know, and know what you're talking about. If you have problems with or aren't clear on your topic, that's going to come through during your workshop. Also, there's nothing more embarrassing than a visitor asking a question and all you can answer with is "I don't know."
2. Keep it fresh. One reason I looked for a new approach to plotting is because there has been so much written online about the more traditional methods. Also, much as I love to plot novels, plotting can be a very boring topic.
3. Make it fun for you and your visitors. When I was in RWA, I sat through so many dull workshops that I'm surprised they didn't give me narcolepsy. The best workshops are always those that use humor in some capacity, even if you just offer an ice-breaker with an opening joke that relates to your topic. Something like:
"In English," the college professor said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."
A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."
One final note -- if it's not your style to use humor or a light-hearted approach when virtually workshopping, don't force it. Do what you're comfortable doing. While I'd rather use humor than get too serious, the two posts on PBW that to this day still bring in the most e-mails from other writers are two that didn't use humor at all: Courage and Mansions.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Blasts from the Past
Negotiations continue and will probably take a bit more time to resolve, as these things do, so I'll just wait until I actually have a puppy (or maybe two) before I post any more about it.
One nice bit of unrelated news: my Christian fic publisher, will be repackaging my GCI novel Portraits of the Past in trade paperback for a national wholesale chain. That was one of my favorite stories that I wrote for the series -- the ladies get involved with an art mystery -- so I'm quite happy to see it returning to the shelves.
Jonathan Feinberg's Wordle, the word cloud generator and my new favorite online toy, now has some additional features: you can pop out the applet in a resizable window as well as edit the palette to create your own custom background and font colors.
Finally, one of my Latina friends sent me a link to the cover art for the Spanish translation of If Angels Burn. Not quite what I expected, but very pretty in pink:
I think the translation* is something like Burning the Angel or Angel Burning. Maybe Burns the Angel? Of course my Spanish is so rusty that when I first looked at the title I thought it said Boiling the Angel.
Don't tell me if it actually says that, though, okay?
*Added: I'm definitely wrong on this one -- my Spanish-savvy visitors have some more accurate interpretations in comments.
One nice bit of unrelated news: my Christian fic publisher, will be repackaging my GCI novel Portraits of the Past in trade paperback for a national wholesale chain. That was one of my favorite stories that I wrote for the series -- the ladies get involved with an art mystery -- so I'm quite happy to see it returning to the shelves.
Jonathan Feinberg's Wordle, the word cloud generator and my new favorite online toy, now has some additional features: you can pop out the applet in a resizable window as well as edit the palette to create your own custom background and font colors.
Finally, one of my Latina friends sent me a link to the cover art for the Spanish translation of If Angels Burn. Not quite what I expected, but very pretty in pink:
I think the translation* is something like Burning the Angel or Angel Burning. Maybe Burns the Angel? Of course my Spanish is so rusty that when I first looked at the title I thought it said Boiling the Angel.
Don't tell me if it actually says that, though, okay?
*Added: I'm definitely wrong on this one -- my Spanish-savvy visitors have some more accurate interpretations in comments.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sub Op Ten
Ten Places Where You Can Submit Your Work
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, billing itself as "a new online magazine of literary adventure fantasy", is open to submission of literary fantasy stories 10K or less, will consider longer if attention-holding, pays .05 cents per word (qualifies as professional rate sale under SFWA guidelines), reading period opens August 1, 2008 (don't submit before that date), electronic submissions only with specific requirements, see writer guidelines here.
Double Dragon E-Books is currently accepting novel submissions through August 31, 2008 for their 2009 e-book line-up, presently open to only Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy and Horror novels, no length specified. No advance offered, pays 30% of all net sales, electronic submissions only with very specific format required, see writer guidelines here.
Escape Pod, a weekly audio/podcast SF magazine, buys "quality" SF stories and flash fiction to be read by their performers, length 2-6K for stories, up to 1K for flash, will consider longer if brilliant stuff, pays $100.00 for fiction, $20.00 for flash, electronic subs only with specific requirements, see writer guidelines here.
Gryphonwood Press is currently accepting short SF/F novel submissions for POD/e-book publication, length 60K or less, no advance offered, pays 40% of net. Electronic submissions only, first three chapters/synopsis/cover letter in .doc or .rtf format, some general writer guidelines here.
Necrotic Tissue e-zine has an open call for Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror, a themed horror anthology (see guidelines for specifics on theme and theme requirements.) Length 2-4K for stories, will consider some 100 word flash subs, pays flat fee of $25.00 for stories, $10.00 + contributor copy for flash, reading period July 1st until September 30th, 2008, electronic submissions only, writer guidelines here.
The Pedestal Magazine, which bills its editors as being "committed to promoting diversity and celebrating the voice of the individual" is looking for poetry (submit up to six), flash fiction up to 1K, short fiction up to 6K, book reviews of 850 words-1K, and interviews (query first on the book reviews and interviews.) Pays $30.00 for poems, $.05 per word for short and flash fiction, .02 per word for book reviews, interview payment not specified, electronic submissions only, closed to submission one week out of every month, see more details, writer guidelines and submission schedule here.
Permuted Press is looking for completed novels between 70-110K words (85-90K considered ideal) with Apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic tales and/or zombie themes (genres: horror, science fiction, and speculative fiction.) Pays $500.00 advance + 6% royalty, requires exclusive Eng. language rights of 5 years, submit query with synopsis and three chapters in .doc or .rtf format, see writer guidelines here.
Tesseracts Thirteen, a dark fantasy and horror antho to be edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell for EDGE and Tesseract Books, is open for submissions of short fiction and poetry only to "Canadians, landed immigrants, long-time residents, and expatriates" (Sorry, Yanks.) Length 5K or less, pays "$20.00 for poetry, $50.00 for stories under 1,500 words, rising to a maximum of $100.00 for stories over 5,000 words." Deadline October 31, 2008 (postmarked); snail mail and electronic subs okay, writer guidelines here.
Norilana Books has posted an open sub call for Warrior Wisewoman 2, a SF anthology for stories about powerful women, length up to 10K (longer stories will have to be exceptional), pays .02 cents per word on acceptance and a pro rata share of royalties plus contributor's copy, reading period begins on August 1, 2008 (don't submit before that date), deadline December 15, 2008. Electronic submissions only, writer guidelines here.
The publisher of my StarDoc series, Ace/Roc Science Fiction and Fantasy, does currently accept unagented subs (e-subs with query + first ten ms. pages, snail mail subs with query, synopsis and first three chapters.) Preferred length 75-125K, pays negotiated advance plus standard percentage royalties, writer guidelines here.
All of the above were found while checking out the latest market listings at Ralan.com.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, billing itself as "a new online magazine of literary adventure fantasy", is open to submission of literary fantasy stories 10K or less, will consider longer if attention-holding, pays .05 cents per word (qualifies as professional rate sale under SFWA guidelines), reading period opens August 1, 2008 (don't submit before that date), electronic submissions only with specific requirements, see writer guidelines here.
Double Dragon E-Books is currently accepting novel submissions through August 31, 2008 for their 2009 e-book line-up, presently open to only Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy and Horror novels, no length specified. No advance offered, pays 30% of all net sales, electronic submissions only with very specific format required, see writer guidelines here.
Escape Pod, a weekly audio/podcast SF magazine, buys "quality" SF stories and flash fiction to be read by their performers, length 2-6K for stories, up to 1K for flash, will consider longer if brilliant stuff, pays $100.00 for fiction, $20.00 for flash, electronic subs only with specific requirements, see writer guidelines here.
Gryphonwood Press is currently accepting short SF/F novel submissions for POD/e-book publication, length 60K or less, no advance offered, pays 40% of net. Electronic submissions only, first three chapters/synopsis/cover letter in .doc or .rtf format, some general writer guidelines here.
Necrotic Tissue e-zine has an open call for Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror, a themed horror anthology (see guidelines for specifics on theme and theme requirements.) Length 2-4K for stories, will consider some 100 word flash subs, pays flat fee of $25.00 for stories, $10.00 + contributor copy for flash, reading period July 1st until September 30th, 2008, electronic submissions only, writer guidelines here.
The Pedestal Magazine, which bills its editors as being "committed to promoting diversity and celebrating the voice of the individual" is looking for poetry (submit up to six), flash fiction up to 1K, short fiction up to 6K, book reviews of 850 words-1K, and interviews (query first on the book reviews and interviews.) Pays $30.00 for poems, $.05 per word for short and flash fiction, .02 per word for book reviews, interview payment not specified, electronic submissions only, closed to submission one week out of every month, see more details, writer guidelines and submission schedule here.
Permuted Press is looking for completed novels between 70-110K words (85-90K considered ideal) with Apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic tales and/or zombie themes (genres: horror, science fiction, and speculative fiction.) Pays $500.00 advance + 6% royalty, requires exclusive Eng. language rights of 5 years, submit query with synopsis and three chapters in .doc or .rtf format, see writer guidelines here.
Tesseracts Thirteen, a dark fantasy and horror antho to be edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell for EDGE and Tesseract Books, is open for submissions of short fiction and poetry only to "Canadians, landed immigrants, long-time residents, and expatriates" (Sorry, Yanks.) Length 5K or less, pays "$20.00 for poetry, $50.00 for stories under 1,500 words, rising to a maximum of $100.00 for stories over 5,000 words." Deadline October 31, 2008 (postmarked); snail mail and electronic subs okay, writer guidelines here.
Norilana Books has posted an open sub call for Warrior Wisewoman 2, a SF anthology for stories about powerful women, length up to 10K (longer stories will have to be exceptional), pays .02 cents per word on acceptance and a pro rata share of royalties plus contributor's copy, reading period begins on August 1, 2008 (don't submit before that date), deadline December 15, 2008. Electronic submissions only, writer guidelines here.
The publisher of my StarDoc series, Ace/Roc Science Fiction and Fantasy, does currently accept unagented subs (e-subs with query + first ten ms. pages, snail mail subs with query, synopsis and first three chapters.) Preferred length 75-125K, pays negotiated advance plus standard percentage royalties, writer guidelines here.
All of the above were found while checking out the latest market listings at Ralan.com.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Quick Heads Up
There is an order system computer glitch affecting author Elizabeth Bear's new novel, Ink & Steel ISBN 978-0451462091, which is creating distribution problems and preventing the book from getting into stores. If you are looking for the book and can't find it at your local brick & mortar, please ask them to order it by ISBN (evidently it is not in the order system under byline or title.)
I've also had reports (which I've since confirmed are true) that my new StarDoc novel, Omega Games, is now being shipped by B&N.com. Which really isn't a problem except that it's being distributed two weeks ahead of the laydown date. Nevertheless, if you want to get it early, that's where to go.
I've also had reports (which I've since confirmed are true) that my new StarDoc novel, Omega Games, is now being shipped by B&N.com. Which really isn't a problem except that it's being distributed two weeks ahead of the laydown date. Nevertheless, if you want to get it early, that's where to go.
LB&LI Schedule
Next Monday, July 28th, we'll kick off Left Behind & Loving It, my third annual week of virtual workshops here at PBW. For those of you who would like to join in, hold workshops on your blogs and have me link to them, please read this post for all the details.
The schedule of my workshops will be as follows:
Monday, July 28th: Power Plotting -- plotting techniques; how to use my novel wiring diagram to organize your plot quickly and logically
Tuesday, July 29th: Eff the Editing -- my take on editing, and how to keep it efficient and effective
Wednesday, July 30th: World-Building I -- the first part of my workshop on world-building within reason
Thursday, July 31st: World-Building II -- second part of my workshop on world-building within reason
Friday August 1st: Styling -- ways to use your personal style to market your work
Saturday, August 2nd: Brand Me -- creating a memorable brand for your work, your blog, or yourself
Sunday, August 3rd: Write the Life -- avoiding burnout, coping with the biz and living the writer's life that you want
Monday, August 4th: Ask PBW Anything -- Open Q&A where you can grill me on anything writing- or biz-related.
Each day I will be holding a giveaway for my usual LB&LI goodie bags, filled with books, gadgets, and neat writer junk. This year I'll also be giving away:
--A signed set of the Darkyn novels, including an author-generated unbound galley copy of Stay the Night
--A signed set of all the StarDoc novels published to date, including Omega Games, my August 5th release
--The original watercolor I painted for the cover of my workshop companion e-book, It Only Took God Six Days ~ World Building within Reason, signed and framed.
--A stack of my favorite how-to writing books, including a printed & signed copy of my own Way of the Cheetah
--A lapquilt, sewn and signed by me
--A BookWish (any book of the winner's choice which is available to order online, up to a max cost of $30.00 U.S.; I'll throw in the shipping)
--A MusicWish (any CD of the winner's choice which is available to order online, up to a max cost of $30.00 U.S.; I'll throw in the shipping)
--An ArtWish (a $50.00 U.S. gift certificate from Art.com)
Everyone who participates in the workshop by commenting will be entered into the drawing for that day's giveaway (if you don't want to be entered for the drawing, just note that in your comment.) All giveaways will have a 24-hour entry period, and comments will be closed when the next day's workshop is posted. All workshops will be posted at 12:00 AM EST on the date scheduled (unless there's a power failure or some other unforeseen computer problem, in which case, they'll be posted as soon as I can get back online.)
Finally, on Tuesday, August 5th, I will draw one name from everyone who participated during the workshops and send the winner my LB&LI grand prize, a brand new Neo from AlphaSmart.
As always, all of my giveaways during LB&LI are open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
The schedule of my workshops will be as follows:
Monday, July 28th: Power Plotting -- plotting techniques; how to use my novel wiring diagram to organize your plot quickly and logically
Tuesday, July 29th: Eff the Editing -- my take on editing, and how to keep it efficient and effective
Wednesday, July 30th: World-Building I -- the first part of my workshop on world-building within reason
Thursday, July 31st: World-Building II -- second part of my workshop on world-building within reason
Friday August 1st: Styling -- ways to use your personal style to market your work
Saturday, August 2nd: Brand Me -- creating a memorable brand for your work, your blog, or yourself
Sunday, August 3rd: Write the Life -- avoiding burnout, coping with the biz and living the writer's life that you want
Monday, August 4th: Ask PBW Anything -- Open Q&A where you can grill me on anything writing- or biz-related.
Each day I will be holding a giveaway for my usual LB&LI goodie bags, filled with books, gadgets, and neat writer junk. This year I'll also be giving away:
--A signed set of the Darkyn novels, including an author-generated unbound galley copy of Stay the Night
--A signed set of all the StarDoc novels published to date, including Omega Games, my August 5th release
--The original watercolor I painted for the cover of my workshop companion e-book, It Only Took God Six Days ~ World Building within Reason, signed and framed.
--A stack of my favorite how-to writing books, including a printed & signed copy of my own Way of the Cheetah
--A lapquilt, sewn and signed by me
--A BookWish (any book of the winner's choice which is available to order online, up to a max cost of $30.00 U.S.; I'll throw in the shipping)
--A MusicWish (any CD of the winner's choice which is available to order online, up to a max cost of $30.00 U.S.; I'll throw in the shipping)
--An ArtWish (a $50.00 U.S. gift certificate from Art.com)
Everyone who participates in the workshop by commenting will be entered into the drawing for that day's giveaway (if you don't want to be entered for the drawing, just note that in your comment.) All giveaways will have a 24-hour entry period, and comments will be closed when the next day's workshop is posted. All workshops will be posted at 12:00 AM EST on the date scheduled (unless there's a power failure or some other unforeseen computer problem, in which case, they'll be posted as soon as I can get back online.)
Finally, on Tuesday, August 5th, I will draw one name from everyone who participated during the workshops and send the winner my LB&LI grand prize, a brand new Neo from AlphaSmart.
As always, all of my giveaways during LB&LI are open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
This/That Ten
Ten Things You Can Have for Free
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
3D, Basically: Alibre Design Xpress 3D Solid Modeler is "a rich and capable 3D solid modeler for creating mechanical parts, assemblies and 2D drawings - and is free. Alibre Design Xpress equips the person needing basic 3D design capabilities" (OS: Win 98/ME/NT/2000/XP)
Rush the Blog: BlogRush is a free widget that will automatically promote your related blog posts across the internet.
The Art of Time: Clock-Desktop.com has a bunch of colorful/unusual screen saver and widget clocks, all yours for the downloading.
Much Cheaper Than Adobe: doPDF "is a free PDF converter for both personal and commercial use. Using doPDF you can create PDF files by selecting the Print command from virtually any application. With one click you can convert your Microsoft Excel, Word or PowerPoint documents or your emails and favorite web sites to PDF files" (OS: Win 2000/XP/2003)
No-Brainer Templating: Create and customize your own web templates online and then download the codes over at doTemplate beta (link filched from Gerard over at The Generator Blog.)
Really Yell at Your Crit Partner: JDVoiceMail allows you to "send voice email messages to anyone with an e-mail address. JDVoiceMail generates compressed .wav or.mp3 files reducing the size from 16 to 10 times. The recipient doesn't need any special software to listen your messages, by just double-clicking the file, he can listen it using the default audio player." (OS: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista)
Just Don't Print it Out and Drop it on Your Foot: Get your free, 750-page copy of The Newbie's Guide to Publishing, an e-book by author Joe Konrath.
Found it, Finally: Took me a while, but I found out what happened to Papel, a freeware program designer Michael O'Donnell created for writers working on novels back in '06. To quote the hosting site: "The project was unfortunately abandoned and his [Michael's] site taken down; and since there is no source code, it cannot be improved." I know a couple of you were looking for it, and if you click on the link, it will take you to a download for the original version. (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3)
Can We Talk? Yaplet will host a chatroom for your web page or blog for free; all you do is create it and put the link on your page.
Juggle Your Text: ZZEE Text Utility "performs various operations on a text buffer: search and replace, regular expression search and replace, reformat text width, remove email reply quotes, add email reply quotes, remove empty lines, remove duplicate lines, sort lines, randomize lines, replace tabs by spaces, etc. Result is automatically copied to the clipboard. ZZEE Text Utility uses UNICODE and supports various languages" (OS:Win 2000/XP/Vista)
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
3D, Basically: Alibre Design Xpress 3D Solid Modeler is "a rich and capable 3D solid modeler for creating mechanical parts, assemblies and 2D drawings - and is free. Alibre Design Xpress equips the person needing basic 3D design capabilities" (OS: Win 98/ME/NT/2000/XP)
Rush the Blog: BlogRush is a free widget that will automatically promote your related blog posts across the internet.
The Art of Time: Clock-Desktop.com has a bunch of colorful/unusual screen saver and widget clocks, all yours for the downloading.
Much Cheaper Than Adobe: doPDF "is a free PDF converter for both personal and commercial use. Using doPDF you can create PDF files by selecting the Print command from virtually any application. With one click you can convert your Microsoft Excel, Word or PowerPoint documents or your emails and favorite web sites to PDF files" (OS: Win 2000/XP/2003)
No-Brainer Templating: Create and customize your own web templates online and then download the codes over at doTemplate beta (link filched from Gerard over at The Generator Blog.)
Really Yell at Your Crit Partner: JDVoiceMail allows you to "send voice email messages to anyone with an e-mail address. JDVoiceMail generates compressed .wav or.mp3 files reducing the size from 16 to 10 times. The recipient doesn't need any special software to listen your messages, by just double-clicking the file, he can listen it using the default audio player." (OS: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista)
Just Don't Print it Out and Drop it on Your Foot: Get your free, 750-page copy of The Newbie's Guide to Publishing, an e-book by author Joe Konrath.
Found it, Finally: Took me a while, but I found out what happened to Papel, a freeware program designer Michael O'Donnell created for writers working on novels back in '06. To quote the hosting site: "The project was unfortunately abandoned and his [Michael's] site taken down; and since there is no source code, it cannot be improved." I know a couple of you were looking for it, and if you click on the link, it will take you to a download for the original version. (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3)
Can We Talk? Yaplet will host a chatroom for your web page or blog for free; all you do is create it and put the link on your page.
Juggle Your Text: ZZEE Text Utility "performs various operations on a text buffer: search and replace, regular expression search and replace, reformat text width, remove email reply quotes, add email reply quotes, remove empty lines, remove duplicate lines, sort lines, randomize lines, replace tabs by spaces, etc. Result is automatically copied to the clipboard. ZZEE Text Utility uses UNICODE and supports various languages" (OS:Win 2000/XP/Vista)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Satchel Paige, Literary Great
Negotiations are taking a break for the weekend. The pony is still on the table, but they're waffling. I might have to compromise at puppy.
I'm putting together name lists for the new books, and in the process came across a stunning fact in Bruce Lanksy's 100,000+ Baby Names. On page 99 Bruce offers The Name Exchange, lists of professional and original names of important historical, literary and entertainment figures. I always read those because it's interesting to see what the great names started out with. Under the list of Literary Figures, right between George Orwell (Eric Author Blair) and Anne Rice (Howard Allen O'Brien), was Satchel Paige.
Satchel Paige wrote books? And I never heard about this? I got all excited and went right over to B&N.com to check for the titles.
Well, turns out that it was a typo, because while dozens of books have been written about Satchel (Leroy Robert Paige), he didn't personally write any of them. Which now I think is a crime, because he was a superb athlete, a wise human being, and said some pretty wonderful things. He was not only part of some of the most fascinating years of baseball history, he made baseball history. I think he would have made one hell of an author, too.
Which historic figure do you think should have been a writer, too? Let us know in comments.
I'm putting together name lists for the new books, and in the process came across a stunning fact in Bruce Lanksy's 100,000+ Baby Names. On page 99 Bruce offers The Name Exchange, lists of professional and original names of important historical, literary and entertainment figures. I always read those because it's interesting to see what the great names started out with. Under the list of Literary Figures, right between George Orwell (Eric Author Blair) and Anne Rice (Howard Allen O'Brien), was Satchel Paige.
Satchel Paige wrote books? And I never heard about this? I got all excited and went right over to B&N.com to check for the titles.
Well, turns out that it was a typo, because while dozens of books have been written about Satchel (Leroy Robert Paige), he didn't personally write any of them. Which now I think is a crime, because he was a superb athlete, a wise human being, and said some pretty wonderful things. He was not only part of some of the most fascinating years of baseball history, he made baseball history. I think he would have made one hell of an author, too.
Which historic figure do you think should have been a writer, too? Let us know in comments.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Still Dealing
Nothing to report yet, although things seem to be going well. The editor's first reaction to my pitch, and I'll quote: Oh, this sounds so cool! I know, she's toying with me, trying to lull me into a false sense of security so she can talk me out of the pony, but that's how this stuff works.
And if I can't sell anything more to NY, all is not lost. I could go and write for a rag for a while. I bet Romantic Times would love to hire me to do all their article research verification for them! Okay, maybe not. But maybe I could do a column for something like True Confessions*. I've already got some title ideas: I Helped Aliens Abduct My Ex, Married in Middle School, and How Can I Keep Hiding My Prehensile Tail from My Boyfriend?. I'd still be writing fiction. Mostly. Look, the aliens were going to abduct him anyway.
Thank you all for cheering me on, and keep your fingers crossed.
*I would provide a link, but my extremely paranoid software advises me that the official magazine web site is not to be trusted.
And if I can't sell anything more to NY, all is not lost. I could go and write for a rag for a while. I bet Romantic Times would love to hire me to do all their article research verification for them! Okay, maybe not. But maybe I could do a column for something like True Confessions*. I've already got some title ideas: I Helped Aliens Abduct My Ex, Married in Middle School, and How Can I Keep Hiding My Prehensile Tail from My Boyfriend?. I'd still be writing fiction. Mostly. Look, the aliens were going to abduct him anyway.
Thank you all for cheering me on, and keep your fingers crossed.
*I would provide a link, but my extremely paranoid software advises me that the official magazine web site is not to be trusted.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Off to Deal
Now that you guys went and put Twlight Fall on the Times list for two weeks straight -- Valentin & co came in at #33 on the extended list -- I'm in trouble. Specifically, the folks in NY want to talk to me. Right now. They don't know exactly where I live, but they have all my phone numbers, and they're not afraid to use them.
I have to get myself mentally prepared for these deal-or-no-deal conversations, too, or I'll agree to things I don't want to do, like write a novel every ten minutes. No matter how much money they wave at me, it still takes twenty. Anyway, I'm going to bail on your guys so I can get ready and then make the calls. First I need to meditate, center myself and repeat my professional mantras:
I will be kind and sensitive, and not make those jokes about retiring. When I retire, I will send them a postcard from whatever tropical beach I'm going to sit on for the rest of my existence.
I will not use this as an opportunity to air every single grievance I have had with Publishing dating back my first mean rejection letter in 1975. No matter how much they freaking deserve to sit there and listen to it.
I will not drop hints about how much I want Robin's cover artist to do every cover I have from now until the end of time.
No matter how tempted I am, I will not ask them for a pony just to see how they'd react.
See you all later, hopefully with some good news.
I have to get myself mentally prepared for these deal-or-no-deal conversations, too, or I'll agree to things I don't want to do, like write a novel every ten minutes. No matter how much money they wave at me, it still takes twenty. Anyway, I'm going to bail on your guys so I can get ready and then make the calls. First I need to meditate, center myself and repeat my professional mantras:
I will be kind and sensitive, and not make those jokes about retiring. When I retire, I will send them a postcard from whatever tropical beach I'm going to sit on for the rest of my existence.
I will not use this as an opportunity to air every single grievance I have had with Publishing dating back my first mean rejection letter in 1975. No matter how much they freaking deserve to sit there and listen to it.
I will not drop hints about how much I want Robin's cover artist to do every cover I have from now until the end of time.
No matter how tempted I am, I will not ask them for a pony just to see how they'd react.
See you all later, hopefully with some good news.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Taking It with You
Writers often travel a lot, and hauling the hardware of our profession along for the trip can be a pain. A laptop is often heavy, expensive to replace if lost or stolen, and not really necessary if all you want to do is a little work on the WIP. At the same time, it's nice to have the convenience of a keyboard and memory storage when your muse kicks in while you're away from the home system. Really, who wants to write all that stuff out in longhand on the hotel stationery?
A portable word processor, aka a notetaker or smart keyboard, is a great tool for the writer on the go. Most are basically full-sized keyboards with small display screens that store your writing until you can beam it or download it to your home computer. All are designed to be lightweight (most weigh no more than 2.5 lbs.) and built to take the kind of abuse that can majorly wreck a laptop. From the prices I've seen the average cost of a portable word processor runs around $200.00-$300.00, a nice alternative if you can't yet afford a laptop.
The major disadvantage of a portable word processor is that it's basically a suped-up typewriter. You can't expect it to do all the neat things your home computer or laptop do for you. However, this can be an advantage when you want to focus on just the writing. Sometimes all the neat things our other tech does are very distracting, and often tempt us away from the work.
If you're in the market for a portable word processor, here are some products to check out:
AlphaSmart Neo -- lightweight but full size portable word processor/keyboard that can store up to 200 pages and run 700 hours on three AA batteries. Also offers a rechargeable battery pack you can purchase for working up to 300 hours on a single charge. I've heard the old AlphaSmart models are virtually indestructible, and the brand is highly recommended by every romance writer I know who owns one.
CalcuScribe is a simple word processor and interactive calculator; sends your files to a PC or a Mac, into any application.
Fusion -- a portable word processor with a text-to-speech function; good if you like to have your work read back to you.
HP iPAQ -- handheld PDA, has mobile version of Microsoft Word in addition to all the cool PDA features.
Laser PC6 -- another portable word processor with a text-to-speech function, uploads to PC or a Mac.
Palm Tungsten E2 -- in addition to all the bells and whistles of a PDA, you can use Documents To Go gives you access to your Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and (with a simple conversion step) you can read Acrobat PDFs. I own one and use a wireless keyboard with it just to take notes when I'm away from the computer; works nicely but battery frequently needs recharging.
QuickPad -- a portable, low-frills word processor/notetaker with additional organizer features.
Before you buy any portable writing device, ask around and get opinions from other writers on the different types and models available. Check office equipment and supply stores in your area to see if they sell them and if they have a display model you can try out. Or, if you're attending a writing or biz conference and see a friendly-looking colleague using one, go over and ask if you can give it a spin.
Do any of you guys already use a portable, or know of one I haven't mentioned? Let us know in comments.
Related links: Venice Kichura's article, The Advantages of Portable Word Processors
A portable word processor, aka a notetaker or smart keyboard, is a great tool for the writer on the go. Most are basically full-sized keyboards with small display screens that store your writing until you can beam it or download it to your home computer. All are designed to be lightweight (most weigh no more than 2.5 lbs.) and built to take the kind of abuse that can majorly wreck a laptop. From the prices I've seen the average cost of a portable word processor runs around $200.00-$300.00, a nice alternative if you can't yet afford a laptop.
The major disadvantage of a portable word processor is that it's basically a suped-up typewriter. You can't expect it to do all the neat things your home computer or laptop do for you. However, this can be an advantage when you want to focus on just the writing. Sometimes all the neat things our other tech does are very distracting, and often tempt us away from the work.
If you're in the market for a portable word processor, here are some products to check out:
AlphaSmart Neo -- lightweight but full size portable word processor/keyboard that can store up to 200 pages and run 700 hours on three AA batteries. Also offers a rechargeable battery pack you can purchase for working up to 300 hours on a single charge. I've heard the old AlphaSmart models are virtually indestructible, and the brand is highly recommended by every romance writer I know who owns one.
CalcuScribe is a simple word processor and interactive calculator; sends your files to a PC or a Mac, into any application.
Fusion -- a portable word processor with a text-to-speech function; good if you like to have your work read back to you.
HP iPAQ -- handheld PDA, has mobile version of Microsoft Word in addition to all the cool PDA features.
Laser PC6 -- another portable word processor with a text-to-speech function, uploads to PC or a Mac.
Palm Tungsten E2 -- in addition to all the bells and whistles of a PDA, you can use Documents To Go gives you access to your Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and (with a simple conversion step) you can read Acrobat PDFs. I own one and use a wireless keyboard with it just to take notes when I'm away from the computer; works nicely but battery frequently needs recharging.
QuickPad -- a portable, low-frills word processor/notetaker with additional organizer features.
Before you buy any portable writing device, ask around and get opinions from other writers on the different types and models available. Check office equipment and supply stores in your area to see if they sell them and if they have a display model you can try out. Or, if you're attending a writing or biz conference and see a friendly-looking colleague using one, go over and ask if you can give it a spin.
Do any of you guys already use a portable, or know of one I haven't mentioned? Let us know in comments.
Related links: Venice Kichura's article, The Advantages of Portable Word Processors
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
LB&LI 2008 Reminder
In two weeks I'll be holding my third annual Left Behind & Loving It virtual workshops here at PBW, beginning July 28th and continuing daily through August 3rd. Back in May I put out an open invitation for all you writers out there to join in, and many of you responded with ideas, requests, and offers to do workshops on your blogs. This post is to nag those of you who are still interested or planning to join in to get ready.
The details:
1. It's open to all -- anyone can hold a workshop; it doesn't matter if you're unpublished, published, agent, editor, employed, unemployed, student, retiree, whatever. If you've got something related to writing or publishing that you want to workshop, you're in.
2. You run the show -- you can do a single workshop or as many as you like, and hold them at any time during that week.
3. Linkage -- if you hold your workshop on your blog during the week of July 28th through August 3rd, I will link to it here on PBW for the entire week while I'm running mine.
My suggestions (all optional):
1. Keep your blog comments open so your visitors can discuss the topic of your workshop, ask questions and add their own ideas. The real fun of a virtual workshop is always the visitor participation.
2. If applicable, put together worksheets, outlines, or other helpful materials related to your topic for your visitors' use. You can post these online as part of your workshop or have them available for downloading elsewhere(I recommend Scribd.com if you don't have a website and/or need a place to park them; I used it last year to publish an e-book version of my workshops.)*Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.
3. Link to articles, web site pages and other sources on the internet that are relevant to the topic of your workshop. I especially like to find links to writers who have a different perspective than mine because they offer second opinions on the topic.
4. Consider having a giveaway(s) for your visitors. Published writers, if you've got some extra author copies sitting around and you can swing the postage, have a drawing for a signed copy or two. Unpublished writers, if there's a how-to book, magazine or other resource that has helped you, consider giving away a copy of it during your workshop. Along with my usual goodie bags, this year I'm putting together a special e-book on world-building as a giveaway, which will be available for everyone to read online or download. Or think up your own unique giveaway -- whatever you do, it will be appreciated.
I will be posting my workshop schedule as well as another reminder next week, and a call for participating bloggers to send me their workshop links beginning on July 27th (I'll also accept links whenever you all send them to me, up through August 4th.)
Does anyone have any questions about LB&LI? If you do, please post them in comments.
The details:
1. It's open to all -- anyone can hold a workshop; it doesn't matter if you're unpublished, published, agent, editor, employed, unemployed, student, retiree, whatever. If you've got something related to writing or publishing that you want to workshop, you're in.
2. You run the show -- you can do a single workshop or as many as you like, and hold them at any time during that week.
3. Linkage -- if you hold your workshop on your blog during the week of July 28th through August 3rd, I will link to it here on PBW for the entire week while I'm running mine.
My suggestions (all optional):
1. Keep your blog comments open so your visitors can discuss the topic of your workshop, ask questions and add their own ideas. The real fun of a virtual workshop is always the visitor participation.
2. If applicable, put together worksheets, outlines, or other helpful materials related to your topic for your visitors' use. You can post these online as part of your workshop or have them available for downloading elsewhere
3. Link to articles, web site pages and other sources on the internet that are relevant to the topic of your workshop. I especially like to find links to writers who have a different perspective than mine because they offer second opinions on the topic.
4. Consider having a giveaway(s) for your visitors. Published writers, if you've got some extra author copies sitting around and you can swing the postage, have a drawing for a signed copy or two. Unpublished writers, if there's a how-to book, magazine or other resource that has helped you, consider giving away a copy of it during your workshop. Along with my usual goodie bags, this year I'm putting together a special e-book on world-building as a giveaway, which will be available for everyone to read online or download. Or think up your own unique giveaway -- whatever you do, it will be appreciated.
I will be posting my workshop schedule as well as another reminder next week, and a call for participating bloggers to send me their workshop links beginning on July 27th (I'll also accept links whenever you all send them to me, up through August 4th.)
Does anyone have any questions about LB&LI? If you do, please post them in comments.
Monday, July 14, 2008
19
Today is Monday, and also my birthday. I would lie and tell you I'm 29, but these days that only fools the people with white canes and guide dogs. I think we need another way to measure age. Let's see, in dog years, I'm 6.7142857142857142857142857. Or the square root of 2,209 (if you say that really fast it sounds like 29.)
We're not officially partying until tonight when my guy gets home from work, but this past weekend he arranged a lovely romantic dinner for us. I've shamelessly dropped hints for the last couple of weeks, so tonight when I unwrap my gifts I expect to find a reading lamp for the living room, a set of corn holders, and a new purse to replace the only one I own, which the Smithsonian has asked me to donate for their upcoming exhibit on Jurassic-era accessories.
On the professional front, things have been a little tough. My latest release didn't make it into many stores in time for the holiday weekend, and a significant piece of advertising for it that I had been counting on was misplaced or lost. It didn't seem fair, but Publishing rarely is, so I battened down the hatches and resigned myself to disappointing the folks in NY again. I even e-mailed my agent in advance and warned her how poor the book's performance was likely to be under the circumstances.
Then you guys go and put Twilight Fall at #19 on the New York Times mass market bestseller list. Now what do I say? Aside from Holy Toledo, is that really my book on there? and I have the best readers on the planet, I mean.
I honestly don't know what to say. I've written this post about two thousand times already, and no matter how much I edit it, I still sound like I'm babbling. I am so grateful to you, to all of you.
I'm 47 today, and my novel is 19. It's a gift I'll never forget. Thank you.
We're not officially partying until tonight when my guy gets home from work, but this past weekend he arranged a lovely romantic dinner for us. I've shamelessly dropped hints for the last couple of weeks, so tonight when I unwrap my gifts I expect to find a reading lamp for the living room, a set of corn holders, and a new purse to replace the only one I own, which the Smithsonian has asked me to donate for their upcoming exhibit on Jurassic-era accessories.
On the professional front, things have been a little tough. My latest release didn't make it into many stores in time for the holiday weekend, and a significant piece of advertising for it that I had been counting on was misplaced or lost. It didn't seem fair, but Publishing rarely is, so I battened down the hatches and resigned myself to disappointing the folks in NY again. I even e-mailed my agent in advance and warned her how poor the book's performance was likely to be under the circumstances.
Then you guys go and put Twilight Fall at #19 on the New York Times mass market bestseller list. Now what do I say? Aside from Holy Toledo, is that really my book on there? and I have the best readers on the planet, I mean.
I honestly don't know what to say. I've written this post about two thousand times already, and no matter how much I edit it, I still sound like I'm babbling. I am so grateful to you, to all of you.
I'm 47 today, and my novel is 19. It's a gift I'll never forget. Thank you.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Winners
From Kat: I never thought I would get so many comments for my giveaway, so thanks everybody for sending me all the great titles!
From Kat's mom: I'd also like to thank you guys for joining in and recommending so many books for Kat's giveaway. She's made a long list for the next time we hit the book store and I expect we'll empty out at least half the YA section.
Kat got the honors of working the magic hat tonight, and the winners of the giveaway are:
Karen Mahoney, who recommended Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
cas2ajs, who recommended Mari Mancusi's Coven series
Sam, who recommended Therese Raquin by Emile Zola, The Secret of Shabaz by Jennifer Macaire, and The Saddle Club.
Winners, please e-mail your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get these books out to you (to do my part, I will definitely be buying the books recommended by the giveaway winners, and plan to read them along with Kat.) Thanks again to everyone for making my daughter's very first blog post such a wonderful experience for her.
From Kat's mom: I'd also like to thank you guys for joining in and recommending so many books for Kat's giveaway. She's made a long list for the next time we hit the book store and I expect we'll empty out at least half the YA section.
Kat got the honors of working the magic hat tonight, and the winners of the giveaway are:
Karen Mahoney, who recommended Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
cas2ajs, who recommended Mari Mancusi's Coven series
Sam, who recommended Therese Raquin by Emile Zola, The Secret of Shabaz by Jennifer Macaire, and The Saddle Club.
Winners, please e-mail your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get these books out to you (to do my part, I will definitely be buying the books recommended by the giveaway winners, and plan to read them along with Kat.) Thanks again to everyone for making my daughter's very first blog post such a wonderful experience for her.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Mind Candy Ten
Ten Artists to Check Out
I found these artists in ImagineFX's March 2008 print issue, which paid tribute to Frank Frazetta and his art in honor of his 80th birthday (my own tribute to him comes out next month in Omega Games.)
For each artist I've also added a link to a particular artwork or painting of theirs that caught my attention. They all have fantastic galleries, often with hundreds of works that are quite inspirational (all of the images I linked to here are what I'd consider work-safe; but be advised that certain others among the different galleries may not be.)
Arventur: The Awakening of Forest Princess
Pascal Blanche: Babymoon
Eli Effenberger: Black Cat White Cat
Uwe Jarling: Angels Rock
Ville-Valtteri Kinnunen: Horned Dragon
Raphael Lacoste: North Kingdom
Kirsi Salonen: Nayru
Katarina Sokolova: (Untitled)
Raymond Swanland: The Owls ~ The Forgotten Mountain
Tiberius Viris: Hall of the Dragon Mist
Finally, if you didn't catch the link Eva Gale passed along last month, do check out the mind-blowing world-building art of Jesse van Dijk.
I found these artists in ImagineFX's March 2008 print issue, which paid tribute to Frank Frazetta and his art in honor of his 80th birthday (my own tribute to him comes out next month in Omega Games.)
For each artist I've also added a link to a particular artwork or painting of theirs that caught my attention. They all have fantastic galleries, often with hundreds of works that are quite inspirational (all of the images I linked to here are what I'd consider work-safe; but be advised that certain others among the different galleries may not be.)
Arventur: The Awakening of Forest Princess
Pascal Blanche: Babymoon
Eli Effenberger: Black Cat White Cat
Uwe Jarling: Angels Rock
Ville-Valtteri Kinnunen: Horned Dragon
Raphael Lacoste: North Kingdom
Kirsi Salonen: Nayru
Katarina Sokolova: (Untitled)
Raymond Swanland: The Owls ~ The Forgotten Mountain
Tiberius Viris: Hall of the Dragon Mist
Finally, if you didn't catch the link Eva Gale passed along last month, do check out the mind-blowing world-building art of Jesse van Dijk.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Kat's Giveaway
Twilight
written by Kat, PBW's Daughter
A few months before the book fair at my school, I saw a lot of my friends reading the same book. The cover was black with snow white hands holding a bright red apple on it. I never knew that in just a few months, this book would become my favorite novel.
written by Kat, PBW's Daughter
A few months before the book fair at my school, I saw a lot of my friends reading the same book. The cover was black with snow white hands holding a bright red apple on it. I never knew that in just a few months, this book would become my favorite novel.
Although my mom didn’t know it, I stayed up all that night reading Twilight. About the time when the sun rose over the horizon, I had finished. I was so tired but I had to know what would happen next to Bella. My mom went out right away and bought the next two books, New Moon and Eclipse, for me.
Twilight has some kind of magnetic pull to it. It’s like you can’t get away from reading it, even if you don’t like that kind of stuff. I personally never cared for vampires, nor did I like romance, but Twilight kept me reading, and I really loved it. It is a young adult book, but I think it’s a great book for anyone to read.
My mom says you should give copies of books you love to other people, so I asked her if I could give away three copies of Twilight here on her blog. She said I could but that I'd have to write up the post myself. So here it is. If you’d like a chance to win one of them, in comments name a book you think I’d like to read (I'm thirteen and a half years old, and right now I’m reading Beauty by Robin McKinley and The Ruby Key by Holly Lisle.) Post your comment by midnight EST on Saturday, July 12, 2008, and then I’ll draw three names from everyone who comments and send the winners an unsigned copy of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer plus a bookmark I made myself. Mom says my giveaway is open to everyone on Earth, even if you’ve won something here at her blog before.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Winners
I'm glad to see so many of you are reading such interesting e-books. I saw some titles mentioned that I wasn't even aware were in e-format, so that's pretty cool to know.
We revved up the magic hat, and the winners of the Felicity Arrives giveaway are:
Lee
Margaret Yang
Jane (who has been reading Elle Kennedy's Heat of the Moment.)
Tami (who has been reading Sherrilyn Kenyon's Seize the Night.)
May
Jean
aka_Nik
Yvonne Chan (who has been reading Christine Feehan's Dark Magic, Anne Bishop's Tangled Web, and Katie Macalister's Holy Smokes)
applejacks0711
Heather Wardell
Winners, please send an e-mail to LynnViehl@aol.com with your preferred format for the e-book (Adobe, eBookwise REB1150, HTML, Mobipocket/Kindle, MS Reader, Rocketbook or Sony PDF) and I will send by return e-mail your copy of Felicity Stripped Bare by Vanessa Jaye. My thanks to everyone for joining in.
We revved up the magic hat, and the winners of the Felicity Arrives giveaway are:
Lee
Margaret Yang
Jane (who has been reading Elle Kennedy's Heat of the Moment.)
Tami (who has been reading Sherrilyn Kenyon's Seize the Night.)
May
Jean
aka_Nik
Yvonne Chan (who has been reading Christine Feehan's Dark Magic, Anne Bishop's Tangled Web, and Katie Macalister's Holy Smokes)
applejacks0711
Heather Wardell
Winners, please send an e-mail to LynnViehl@aol.com with your preferred format for the e-book (Adobe, eBookwise REB1150, HTML, Mobipocket/Kindle, MS Reader, Rocketbook or Sony PDF) and I will send by return e-mail your copy of Felicity Stripped Bare by Vanessa Jaye. My thanks to everyone for joining in.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Freebie Ten
Ten Things You Can Have for Free
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
Gamer Alert: Construct is "a free powerful and easy to use development software for both DirectX 9-based games and applications. It includes an event based system for defining how the game or application will behave, in a visual, human-readable way - easy enough for complete beginners to get results quickly. Optionally, advanced users can also use Python scripting to code your creations" (OS: Win 2000/XP/Vista)
You Information Are Important: The freeware edition of Essential PIM "allows you to keep all you information in electronic form. All your appointments, tasks, to do lists, notes and contacts are stored in a graphical and easily accessible form" (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3)
Free, Conditionally: Harpercollins/Avon Eos hasn't stopped celebrating their tenth anniversary; this month they're offering a free e-book version of City of Pearl by Karen Traviss. As with last month's free e-book download offer, they still have some bizarre age & residence prohibitions, and you still have to jump through some hoops to actually get to the download, but essentially it is free for the taking until August 31, 2008. (Unless you're European. Or twelve. Okay, I'll stop bitching now.)
Track the Linkage: Thinking the Web's Linking the Web "monitors backlinks to your site. If some of the links don't exist, contain wrong anchor, are covered by a "nofollow" flag or hidden by robots.txt then you will be immediately notified by email. Also the program can keep track of your purchased links and notify you about their expiration dates" (OS: Windows, all versions)
Sasha Rules!: Author Sasha White has generously posted her story Meandros as a free read on her web site; no hoop-jumping required at all (thanks to Charlene Teglia for the heads up on this one.)
Need More Desktops? Fusion-Software's MultiDesk "extends the size of your desktop by creating multiple "Virtual Desktops". It can expand the size of your desktop from 2 to 10 times allowing you to divide your work across them and work in a less cluttered enviroment" (OS: Not specified, but looks like a Windows program.)
Raising the Freeware Quality Bar: PaintNET is an "image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows XP or 2000. Paint.NET is jointly developed at Washington State University with additional help from Microsoft, and is meant to be a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with all Windows operating systems" (OS: Win XP/2003/Vista)
Edit That Photo: SunlitGreen.com's PhotoEdit is "a lightweight yet powerful photo enhancer and editor. It enables you to view, resize, rotate, apply color corrections and effects to your photos in a professional way" (OS: Not specified, but like MultiDesk, looks like a Windows program.)
Mac User Collaborators, Rejoice: The free trial version of SubEthaEdit is "a powerful and lean text editor. And it's the only collaborative one that is a joy to use. By combining the ease of Bonjour with the world's best text collaboration engine, it makes working together not only possible but even fun" (OS: Mac OSX 10.4)
Color Me Small: The Picker 2.0 is a "very small and simple color picker utility. It sits at the top of the screen where it is always visible but still totally unobtrusive. The window of The Picker is so small that it won't interfere with your work area. You no more need to work with a color picker whose window itself takes up half of your screen. The Picker's main window shows the proximity area of the mouse pointer with 2x zoom" (OS: Win 98/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3/Vista)
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
Gamer Alert: Construct is "a free powerful and easy to use development software for both DirectX 9-based games and applications. It includes an event based system for defining how the game or application will behave, in a visual, human-readable way - easy enough for complete beginners to get results quickly. Optionally, advanced users can also use Python scripting to code your creations" (OS: Win 2000/XP/Vista)
You Information Are Important: The freeware edition of Essential PIM "allows you to keep all you information in electronic form. All your appointments, tasks, to do lists, notes and contacts are stored in a graphical and easily accessible form" (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3)
Free, Conditionally: Harpercollins/Avon Eos hasn't stopped celebrating their tenth anniversary; this month they're offering a free e-book version of City of Pearl by Karen Traviss. As with last month's free e-book download offer, they still have some bizarre age & residence prohibitions, and you still have to jump through some hoops to actually get to the download, but essentially it is free for the taking until August 31, 2008. (Unless you're European. Or twelve. Okay, I'll stop bitching now.)
Track the Linkage: Thinking the Web's Linking the Web "monitors backlinks to your site. If some of the links don't exist, contain wrong anchor, are covered by a "nofollow" flag or hidden by robots.txt then you will be immediately notified by email. Also the program can keep track of your purchased links and notify you about their expiration dates" (OS: Windows, all versions)
Sasha Rules!: Author Sasha White has generously posted her story Meandros as a free read on her web site; no hoop-jumping required at all (thanks to Charlene Teglia for the heads up on this one.)
Need More Desktops? Fusion-Software's MultiDesk "extends the size of your desktop by creating multiple "Virtual Desktops". It can expand the size of your desktop from 2 to 10 times allowing you to divide your work across them and work in a less cluttered enviroment" (OS: Not specified, but looks like a Windows program.)
Raising the Freeware Quality Bar: PaintNET is an "image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows XP or 2000. Paint.NET is jointly developed at Washington State University with additional help from Microsoft, and is meant to be a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with all Windows operating systems" (OS: Win XP/2003/Vista)
Edit That Photo: SunlitGreen.com's PhotoEdit is "a lightweight yet powerful photo enhancer and editor. It enables you to view, resize, rotate, apply color corrections and effects to your photos in a professional way" (OS: Not specified, but like MultiDesk, looks like a Windows program.)
Mac User Collaborators, Rejoice: The free trial version of SubEthaEdit is "a powerful and lean text editor. And it's the only collaborative one that is a joy to use. By combining the ease of Bonjour with the world's best text collaboration engine, it makes working together not only possible but even fun" (OS: Mac OSX 10.4)
Color Me Small: The Picker 2.0 is a "very small and simple color picker utility. It sits at the top of the screen where it is always visible but still totally unobtrusive. The window of The Picker is so small that it won't interfere with your work area. You no more need to work with a color picker whose window itself takes up half of your screen. The Picker's main window shows the proximity area of the mouse pointer with 2x zoom" (OS: Win 98/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3/Vista)
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Felicity Arrives
About a year ago a certain blogpal posted this lovely news at her place, and I've been waiting impatiently ever since to write this post.
Over the years that we've been cyber-acquaintances, Vanessa has had to put up with a lot from me. There was that rumor I started about her looking exactly like Angelina Jolie that has never entirely died down (hey, compare the lip photos and tell me there's not a resemblance.) Then there was the time I told off some ninny book doctor pimp posing as an author in her comments (very impolite of me to do that on someone else's blog, and I did apologize. To Vanessa, not the anonymous ninny, may she rot in scammer hell.) I'm pretty sure Vanessa doesn't realize I'm the one who . . . wait, we'll talk about that later during the Secret Jaye Expose chat.
I am particularly happy about Vanessa's novel coming out because 1) I get to give her a hard time about any mistakes I find in it and 2) it's an e-book. Regarding the latter, that means I don't have drive to the bookstore to buy it or wait around for the UPS guy to deliver it. I can have it as soon as Samhain downloads it to me. This also means I don't have to pack it up and ship it -- I can simply e-mail it to my winners.
Which brings me to the giveaway portion of this post. :)
If you'd like to read Felicity Stripped Bare along with me, in comments name the title and author of an e-book that you've enjoyed recently (or if you're e-book deprived, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Wednesday, July 9, 2008. I'll draw ten names at random from everyone who participates and e-mail the winners a copy of Felicity Stripped Bare by Vanessa Jaye. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Added: Some folks have e-mailed to ask what format Felicity is in -- I'm buying my giveaway copies from MyBookStoreAndMore.com so the winners will receive the e-book in their choice of the following formats: Adobe, eBookwise REB1150, HTML, Mobipocket/Kindle, MS Reader, Rocketbook or Sony PDF.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Skiffy Ten
Ten Things for the SF/F Lovers
And I thought I hated SF writing workshops -- A Workshop Lexicon by Bruce Sterling.
Because if they behaved, they'd be boring -- Lee Masterson's article Aliens and Faeries: Non-Human Characters Acting Badly
If Hawking won't lend you his copy -- Free to read online from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics -- Martin V. Zombeck's Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics
"Elf, dwarf, centaur -- you know the drill" -- On World Building by China Miéville.
Need stars, lots of stars -- Check out the Physics and Astronomy links online at Physlink.com
Look, Flash -- it's Eujyuidd Xi!: For those times when you have a world but can't think of a handle for it, The Planet Name Generator.
Also from Seventh Sanctum: for those times when the Singularity arrives, and your SF protagonist can't find his Dimensional Awl or Vortex Nanogrinder, the Science Fiction Tool Generator.
CH71 FRI 3:30PM GMT: Venus City ~ While exploring the interior of a derelict starship, a respected scientist is trapped inside of a stasis field and is sent backward in time to prevent a disastrous occurence -- a skiffy idea brought to you by The Science Fiction TV Show Synopsis Generator.
Free homework -- Jeffrey A. Carver's online writing course site, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Get over Starship Troopers already, will you? -- Author William Mielke's post Writing Science Fiction -- Ten Cliches to Avoid
And I thought I hated SF writing workshops -- A Workshop Lexicon by Bruce Sterling.
Because if they behaved, they'd be boring -- Lee Masterson's article Aliens and Faeries: Non-Human Characters Acting Badly
If Hawking won't lend you his copy -- Free to read online from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics -- Martin V. Zombeck's Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics
"Elf, dwarf, centaur -- you know the drill" -- On World Building by China Miéville.
Need stars, lots of stars -- Check out the Physics and Astronomy links online at Physlink.com
Look, Flash -- it's Eujyuidd Xi!: For those times when you have a world but can't think of a handle for it, The Planet Name Generator.
Also from Seventh Sanctum: for those times when the Singularity arrives, and your SF protagonist can't find his Dimensional Awl or Vortex Nanogrinder, the Science Fiction Tool Generator.
CH71 FRI 3:30PM GMT: Venus City ~ While exploring the interior of a derelict starship, a respected scientist is trapped inside of a stasis field and is sent backward in time to prevent a disastrous occurence -- a skiffy idea brought to you by The Science Fiction TV Show Synopsis Generator.
Free homework -- Jeffrey A. Carver's online writing course site, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Get over Starship Troopers already, will you? -- Author William Mielke's post Writing Science Fiction -- Ten Cliches to Avoid
Sunday, July 06, 2008
One More Wordle
Last week I blogged about Wordle, the online text-to-word-cloud generator that I thought might be helpful for writers looking for a new way to spot words they frequently use (or over-use).
Turns out that since then, Wordle's designer, Jonathan Feinberg, has enabled Wordle to create word clouds from the URL of any blog, blog feed, or any other web page that has an Atom or RSS feed. So if you'd like to wordle your blog, you can.
Here's what came up when I put in the URL for PBW (click on image to see larger version):
Generators, novel, work, will, and read something -- yep, that about sums it up for this place.
Turns out that since then, Wordle's designer, Jonathan Feinberg, has enabled Wordle to create word clouds from the URL of any blog, blog feed, or any other web page that has an Atom or RSS feed. So if you'd like to wordle your blog, you can.
Here's what came up when I put in the URL for PBW (click on image to see larger version):
Generators, novel, work, will, and read something -- yep, that about sums it up for this place.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Winners
I hope everyone is having a great holiday and/or weekend. Here at Casa PBW, we made the magic hat pull a double shift tonight to pick winners for the two giveaways this week, so without further ado:
The winners of the Risks Will Be Taken giveaway for a copy of Linda Howard's Death Angel are:
wolf
lissalb8
Kristi
Nemhain
Rob
The winners of the Illustrating Marjorie giveaway for a copy of Marjorie M. Liu's The Iron Hunt are:
Robin F. (whose comment started with When I was young my father read me a Grimm's Fairy Tale every night. I remember repeatedly asking him for the 12 Dancing Princesses...)
gillpolack
Ann
kayelle-allen
Bonz
Peri (whose comment started with I always liked The Lute Player. It was in an Andrew Lang collection of fairy tales...)
Kristin Laughtin
Amy (whose comment started with I'm going with the "not really a fairy-tale" thing also, but just a story that meant a lot to me as a kid...)
Sevastian Rubakhin
Mel Hiers
If you are one of my winners, please e-mail your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can send your book out to you. Also, just an FYI for our newest visitors, I keep all name & address information given to me strictly confidential, and only use it to ship your winnings to you.
My thanks to everyone for joining in.
The winners of the Risks Will Be Taken giveaway for a copy of Linda Howard's Death Angel are:
wolf
lissalb8
Kristi
Nemhain
Rob
The winners of the Illustrating Marjorie giveaway for a copy of Marjorie M. Liu's The Iron Hunt are:
Robin F. (whose comment started with When I was young my father read me a Grimm's Fairy Tale every night. I remember repeatedly asking him for the 12 Dancing Princesses...)
gillpolack
Ann
kayelle-allen
Bonz
Peri (whose comment started with I always liked The Lute Player. It was in an Andrew Lang collection of fairy tales...)
Kristin Laughtin
Amy (whose comment started with I'm going with the "not really a fairy-tale" thing also, but just a story that meant a lot to me as a kid...)
Sevastian Rubakhin
Mel Hiers
If you are one of my winners, please e-mail your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can send your book out to you. Also, just an FYI for our newest visitors, I keep all name & address information given to me strictly confidential, and only use it to ship your winnings to you.
My thanks to everyone for joining in.
Friday, July 04, 2008
The 4th
Happy Independence Day from Paperback Writer
". . . the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors, or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors — but always most in the common people, south, north, west, east, in all its States, through all its mighty amplitude." -- Walt Whitman, Preface, 1855, to First Issue of Leaves of Grass
Photo credit: © Elementalimaging | Dreamstime.com
". . . the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors, or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors — but always most in the common people, south, north, west, east, in all its States, through all its mighty amplitude." -- Walt Whitman, Preface, 1855, to First Issue of Leaves of Grass
Photo credit: © Elementalimaging | Dreamstime.com
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Illustrating Marjorie
One of the stories I loved as a kid was a Japanese folktale called The Boy Who Drew Cats. In the version I read, the monster was a demon, not a giant rat, and the illustrations of the boy drawing his cats on the walls of the temple were especially divine. It was an exotic, exciting tale, and the notion that something drawn on paper could (under the right circumstances) come to life thoroughly charmed me.
Marjorie is one of the most talented novelists I know, so I always expect a great read from her. With The Iron Hunt, however, she takes that talent and her readers to a new and different level. I can't imagine what to compare it to -- the writing itself is so striking and lyrical that at times I felt I was reading poetry that had somehow shed its skin and morphed into prose. Like Maxine's tattoos, in fact (and I wish I could say that better. I've been wrestling for two days with how to describe this book and do it justice.) As with all her work, the story also has this beautiful structure and rhythm to it that is one of Marjorie's trademarks, but this time she really cranked it up. It was an amazing read, and it illustrates exactly what a phenomenal writer Marjorie M. Liu is.
You don't have to take my word for it, of course. In comments to this post, name your favorite fairytale or story from childhood (or if you had a deprived childhood where they made you read the newspaper or something, just toss your name into the hat) by midnight EST on Friday, July 4, 2008. I will draw ten names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners an unsigned copy of The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Risks Will Be Taken
Nothing warms my heart quite like a novel with protagonists who are unlikely, controversial, or irredeemable. The most fun I've had as a writer has been working with characters like Akela from Red Branch and Lucan from Dark Need, because they not only break all the novelist rules, they rewrite them. They also push me to take risks with my work, and I'm a firm believer in nothing ventured etc.
Death Angel will no doubt ruffle a lot of feathers because it features characters who are unlikely, controversial, and in some ways completely irredeemable. It challenges the reader to set aside all the same old acceptable safe stuff along with their preconceived notions about heroism, and step across traditional boundaries to see what's on the other side. I think anyone willing to go there will be as surprised by what they find as I was.
But as always, you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, name a novel that challenged you or your beliefs in some fashion (or if your belief systems are inviolate, just throw your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Thursday, July 3, 2008. I'll draw five names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners an unsigned hardcover copy of Death Angel by Linda Howard. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Valentin Returns
Today is the release day for my sixth Darkyn novel, Twilight Fall. This book features Valentin Jaus, the suzerain from Chicago who first appeared in Private Demon, and Liling Harper, a gardener who (indirectly) works for Jaus at a private rehabilitation hospital. The series protagonists, Alexandra Keller and Michael Cyprien, also return to continue their quest for everlasting love, a cure for the Darkyn, and what to do on the LearJet during those long, boring flights to the West coast.
So far the feedback from my readers has been quite positive, something I really wasn't expecting after the popularity of Evermore, which was a very different book from this one. Also, two cameo scenes from TF have resulted in a flood of requests for Rain and Farlae's story. I would have to do that as a free e-book, and I can't promise anything, as I've already got Incarnatio to work on for this fall. But if/when the work schedule permits, I hope to write a novella about the guys and how they met.
It's tough for me to ask readers to buy my books when the economy is so bad, but this is how I make my living, and sales of my work in print provide the funds for everything else I do here at PBW. That and if I don't do at least one straight self-promo post for the book, I think they will send someone to the house to break my legs. So if you enjoy dark fantasy and vampire fiction, and you have some room on a gift card or a few bucks to spare, I hope you'll check out Twilight Fall, now available for order online or at most U.S. bookstores nationwide.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
