Under the Sea

Tags

#amwriting, Fantasy Romance, Indie Writer, NanoWriMo

Another NaNoWriMo came to a close and as a participant I think I’ve almost recovered from 30 days of frazzling intensity that comes with using every spare minute of life toward reaching the 50,000 word goal. The good news? I MADE IT!! Yes, it came down to the very last day. And yeah, my count was 50,003 words, but it counts baby! This is the first time I’ve won so there was a lot of fist pumping and I might have done a victory lap around the room…followed by tripping over one of the thousands of Hot Wheels my boys have parked around the house, followed by graceless hopping and cursing under my breath. Motherhood keeps one humble.

I’d mentioned before that I used NaNo to move forward on three separate projects I’m working on. Last year I dedicated it to a single project so maybe the trick is to have multiple WIPs, kind of like dipping sauces in an eating contest so you don’t burn out on one flavor.

Ahem, anyway, when the NaNo dust settled the 50,003 word allocation broke down thus:

Martyr (Insurrection Book Five): 12,335 (Like book four, this one is shaping up to be longer than novelette sized, but it’s the conclusion to the series so I’m fine with that)

Dark Frost (Sundered Kingdoms Book One): 22,450 (added on to the approximately 40,000 words I already had. That glorious first draft is in sight!)

Salt & Waves: Fantasy Romance Novella: 15,218

I’m still working on a permanent title for the fantasy romance novella. I have a couple in mind but can’t seem to commit quite yet. I hinted before that this story involves North Sea and ocean mythology and, wow, that lore is chock full of some pretty rad and hair raising creatures. Of the oodles of things I read and researched, only a few will be included in the final version of the novella so as to avoid the ole “look how much I know and now feel the need to teach you about” syndrome that bores and irritates the hell out of readers. Some details I adjusted to put a new twist on the myths but here are a few creatures of that folklore who made the cut:

The Nine Sisters of the Northern Seas

Also known as the billow maidens, these ladies were the nine daughters of the God Aegir and Goddess Ran, the father and mother of the sea. The daughters personified the different aspects of waves. The eldest, Kolga (shown above) makes an appearance in the upcoming story. She is of the arctic ocean, of icebergs and the coldest parts of the seas. Yup, I totally worked with those elements.

The Graeae – Sea Daimones

These creatures were three ancient sea-daimones who personified the white foam of the sea. Daughters of the sea-deities Phorcys and Ceto and sisters to the gorgons. The graeae took the form of old grey-haired women but I have found them depicted as beautiful as well (as shown above). Yeah, I’m going for the more freakish version of them because, seriously, they share one eye and one tooth, which they take turns using. Grotesque possibilities abound.

And of course, one can’t forget

Merfolk

I decided against mermaids (enough with the seashell bras, already), opting for a merman instead. In general merfolk are not considered the gentle and benign creatures that Disney made them out to be – sorry Ariel. What I read of them made me think more of sirens than anything else, sweetly luring sailors to their deaths and then gnawing on their bones. Rude. Merman tales are harder to find but it appears they aren’t deadly like their female counterpart. There’s a nice windfall for the ladies.

One other thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of underwater mythology has a lusty feel to it, as if the unpredictable nature of the ocean makes it intrinsically wild and wanton. All great elements for a romantic tale, am I right?

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November & Inroads to Insanity

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#amwriting, Fantasy Romance, Indie Author, NanoWriMo, Science-Fiction

For a while now I have wondered why in God’s name NaNoWriMo is held in the same month as Thanksgiving, a major U.S. holiday that requires large amounts of time cooking, cleaning, and chumming with family, both loathed and loved, while crammed into the same house for hours. I’m thinking this will be an especially interesting year what with the election and all (and aren’t we all praying no one brings THAT up at the dinner table?).

Holiday stuff makes it more challenging to keep up with the daily word count necessary to reach 50,000 words and win this thing. Currently I’m sitting at 32,568. Not bad in my opinion though I sure would love to have a clear schedule for the next week and a half that’s left . Which brings me back to my question:

Why is NaNoWriMo in November??

The answer is less interesting than you’d think. It all began in July, 1999 when freelancer Chris Baty started the project in the San Francisco Bay area. It was later moved to November “to more fully take advantage of the miserable weather” — a phrase I’m not sure anyone living in California is entitled to utter. Minnesota definitely dedicates itself to miserable weather this time of year, but I’d love it if NaNo was in January, you know, when the holiday madness is over and when people are ready to take on their New Year’s resolutions. Or is everyone hung over in January? Maybe that isn’t a great idea either…

Whining aside, I will keep soldiering on toward that 50,000 word goal, regardless of family foibles and cooking Olympics. For this year’s NaNo I’ve been punching at three projects:

• The final installment of my Insurrection series. By the way, I’ve moved the Pinterest board from secret to public if you’d like to see some of the images/vids that inspired the story.

• The second half of Dark Frost, the first book of my Sundered Kingdoms trilogy — a Fantasy novel scheduled for 2017.

• And a Fantasy Romance novella I plan to publish around Valentine’s day. The story for the novella actually sprang up from out of nowhere and demanded my attention. I tried to explain to it that I’m busy with other things right now but that excuse was promptly shot down. Now I’m all embroiled in North Sea mythology with no escape in sight.

So, with all that, with the election, NaNo, the impending Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday mania, November is chock full of ways to lose your mind. For the record, I don’t participate in Black Friday shopping. I could say that it’s because I don’t agree with the premise of it — ie. the consumer hysteria that grips the hoard as they barrel into stores and shopping centers, trampling the occasional clerk, and devolving into a mental state more animal than human — but the truth is, I really don’t want “stuff” enough to shift myself out of my post-Thanksgiving torpor and into the cold…Okay, and I’m also not sufficiently ruthless to survive such an ordeal.

There is however a bright spot for me personally this November. Well, every November but this year especially. My husband and I celebrated 10 years of marriage (woo hoo for beating the depressing marriage stats!). Below is a picture of yours truly on my wedding day. My husband and I met in Holland while I was researching Dutch immigration policy. He was a local social worker interning at a refugee organization where I volunteered for the summer of 2004 to get interviews and data for my senior thesis. Much later he told me he thought he knew me when we first met, that he said to himself, “There you are” as if he’d been waiting for me and at last I showed up. Sweet talker:)

How is everyone else doing this November? Hanging in there? Or hanging by a thread?

A Matter of Perspective

Tags

#amwriting, Craft, Fantasy, Indie Author, Self-Publishing

I love YA books.

There, I said it. I’m not a teen (or anywhere close to that age, ahem) but I love the genre and gorge on it regularly in all its forms (Mature YA, YA/NA). All books include an element of self-discovery and reflection, but it’s my opinion that these themes are especially poignant when centered around a protagonist living those years when you’re still unsure of who you are.

Something I’ve noticed about the YA/NA genre is it tends to be written in the first-person, present-tense point-of-view (POV). Seems logical since first-person POV can feel more intimate (the reader follows the protagonist’s direct voice) and present-tense lends a sense of immediacy–And young adults definitely (at least what I’ve witnessed from my teen nephews and cousins) live in the Right Now with some rough sketches of what the future might look like. It’s the charm and the madness that is them. And hey, those are tough years as they try to get a grasp on what the hell this life thing is about and how they should handle it…That’s what I remind myself of when one of them makes a creative move on the highway and narrowly avoids causing a massive collision that would’ve resulted in twisted metal, shattered glass, and calls to First Responders.

Currently I’m about halfway through a draft in the first book of a planned YA/NA Fantasy trilogy titled Sundered Kingdoms. Each book will be centered around one character’s perspective and thus I put things in the first-person, present-tense form. I’ve done first-person, past-tense before in my first novel and enjoyed the process. Switching into present-tense takes some attention but I do like the immediacy of it.

And then…

One of my (very) early betas came back saying that he found it difficult to engage with the first-person, present-tense format and felt it was throwing off the read for him. Granted, early drafts are ugly bastards by nature with rough sections of monologue-ing and info dumping which will be mopped up in subsequent drafts, but the commentary did give me pause. The plot is most definitely through the eyes of a single character and I want to keep it in her voice. I took that to mean it should be in first-person, but does it have to be?

There are a lot of opinions out there as far as when first person vs. third person POV is best. So, let me ask all you readers and writers out there:

If you are reading a story that is from a single character’s perspective, do you expect or prefer it to be in first-person? Or are you cool with a single third-person POV throughout a novel?

Silent Night

Tags

#amwriting, Craft, Indie Writer, Inspiration

As is typical of Minnesota, it releases us from winter’s snow and ice only to plunge us into summer’s wrath, as if the place is irritated it has to warm up for any portion of the year and makes us suffer for it. Tuesday a huge storm cell rolled through the Twin Cities and, naturally, as I left work that day the thing was just making its debut. Timing is ALWAYS perfect for me when it comes to these things. There I am, driving home, obsessively looking in my rearview mirror, watching as this mass of roiling black clouds chases me down the highway.

The sky turned green. Streets flooded with torrential rain. Howling winds ripped trees from their roots. Thunder and lightning crashed hard enough to rattle the windows and make me wonder if Thor could be something more than mythological. Of course, if he looks like Chris Hemsworth I might be willing to convert.

Then BOOM! The nearby transformer explodes and everything goes dark. Thus began our two-day stint without power. This was made all the more awesome by the fact that my daycare is closed for the week (where they didn’t lose power), the air temperature the following days was 90 degrees without a breeze and two out of my three kids had a fever. I shuffled us over to my mother’s house but my mom has this aversion to using air conditioning, thus keeping her house at a balmy 84 degrees (still cooler than my house).

When the Xcel Energy truck showed up at last to repair our transformer, people came out of their houses in droves. We sat on the curb watching the guys work on it, our stares fixed on their movements, hopes and prayers thick in the air. Then someone yelled from a kitchen window that the lights came on and a cheer went up. A block party almost broke out except we all ran home to huddle around the cool air coming out of our vents.

Yes, I’m being dramatic here but it was a tough couple of days. And I did feel a little guilty about my internal (and external) complaining as I remembered other places that had storms in the past which knocked out power for weeks, sometimes months at a time. I can’t even imagine it.

But something interesting arose from all this chaos…the complete lack of it at night. When the kids were in bed, the coolers of food squared away, and the paper plates disposed of (don’t hate me for using them), I sat down at my table to write. By candlelight.

I may or may not admit to feeling a tad Jane Austin as I did this. I had taper candles too. There I was, scribbling along the page, adjusting the angle of the light as the wax burned down, the flame flickering when my breath swished past it. Writing in such an environment, surrounded by shadow beyond the candle’s corona, narrows one’s focus to what’s in right front of you: the page.

This is what it was like every day for writers of the past (except maybe for the full belly, ball point pen, and superior state of health). There’s a silence to the night when the world is that quiet, when the house is soundless but for the scratch of your pen and the thoughts in your head. I experienced an odd contradiction of emotion as the hours rolled by. I felt both more connected to my work and more isolated. Fulfilled and empty. Satisfied and yearning. I attribute this a bit to distraction withdrawal, but also I think it’s because the night has two faces when distilled to its primary essence of silence and darkness. It embraces and it smothers. Soothes and frightens. The intensity of the atmosphere takes creativity to amazing places. There are only the words and the page. It was “A lonely impulse of delight.” to quote Yeats. Beautiful and strange.

Have you ever written by candlelight? What was it like for you?

Dark Voices

Tags

#amwriting, Speculative Fiction, villains

If you’re like me then you love a well-written bad guy. Sometimes they’re even more interesting than the main character, regardless of how distinct the hero might be (Case in point: Hannibal Lecter). I’ve decided the biggest reason for this is because we enjoy exploring the darker side of humanity, that door into the basement, that shrouded place of both screams and silence.

In my reading I’ve noticed three different types of antagonists. Sometimes they overlap to varying degrees but in general they fall into these categories:

The Thug: Straightforward killer, brutal in their way, predictable and singleminded.

The Villain: More menacing in their motivations. Clever and complex, layered by circumstance, twisted by fate or ambition.

The Madman: The creature who not only lives with the darkness inside him but embraces it–the kind who abides by no agenda, the kind who inflicts pain for its own sake. Because they like it. Because it excites them. The kind that, if we caught a glimpse of what lay behind that darkness, we’d find only a deeper pit devoid of light and compassion.

As I’ve been finishing up Inquisitor, the third installment of my Sci-Fi series Insurrection, I thoroughly trekked into that darkness. Told from the point of view of an antagonist, the character falls under the last category with maybe an elbow in the second one. Writing him has been tricky. He evaded me for a while, not letting me into his head, laughing at my frustration, but I finally cornered the bastard and tuned into his voice. It concerns me a touch to find myself fascinated as I explore that viscious mind, those cunning and fearsome thoughts. In the end, I came to this conclusion: The scariest people don’t come on like a storm, raging and wild as they rush in from the horizon. No, for me, the most terrifying people are the ones whose malice oozes from them like a clot of oil from the ground, whose eyes track your every movement debating whether to let you pass by…or not. A cold shadow whose gaze is both empty and overwhelming, and completely inhuman.

In all my movie watching, I’ve come across only a few of these monsters who made my heart thunder from their mere presence on the screen, a softly spoken voice that shutters something truly heinous. From No Country for Old men, this is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen:

What are some of your favorite bad guys, either in movies or books? Do you prefer a raging antagonist of unthethered brutality or one who moves with unpredictable quiet?

Striking Notes

Tags

#amwriting, Dystopian, Inspiration, Science-Fiction, Writing Tips

It’s probably not news to anyone that music is inspirational. It stirs memory and emotion in a way nothing else can. As an author I find it immerses me into the scenes of a story line and energizes my creative thinking. Music is another one of those things that I’m in awe of, particularly since I haven’t any talent in it myself. Yeah, I can play a little “Heart and Soul” on the piano and I can sing on key (Don’t look for me to appear on “The Voice” or “American Idol”. I have a firm grip on the extent of my singing abilities), but that’s about it.

The odd thing about me though, and I don’t know if others share this, is that the music needs to have decent lyrics for me to really enjoy it (if it has vocals). Musical lyrics, like poetry, are the most abbreviated version of a story out there in my opinion. They have little space to communicate emotional impact so every word counts. You’ve heard a song with tons of filler or one that tells a story in a way you’ve heard a thousand times. It lessens the piece. It seems writing, in any form, is hard.

Hearing a song with music and lyrics that feel like a soundtrack to a story I’m writing is like getting hit by a lightning bolt. It doesn’t even have to be a new song. It can be one I’ve heard before that suddenly takes on a new meaning. I’ll easily surpass two thousand words in a day when this happens. I know, I know, a lot of authors out there write double or triple that (Lindsay Buroker is renowned for her writing speed), but I don’t usually go that fast. Three kids and a full time job will do that.

As I’ve been writing the installments of my short story series Insurrection I came across a few songs that zapped me in the inspiration department. Since it’s in the Sci-Fi/Dystopian genre, it has themes centered around rebellion and redemption.

Muse’s song “Uprising” is a track I’ve replayed quite a few times while writing. Their videos are pretty radical. Raging teddy bears, etc.:

Then there’s the new version of “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed. I found a fan video that paired it to images from Mass Effect (love that game!) and it’s pretty awesome. Since part of my story line involves a past where humanity was almost destroyed by an alien force, it felt like watching a piece of my own story. Of course the details are completely different, but the music and the visual accompaniment of a world on the brink of annihilation is exactly what I’d envisioned.

How has music inspired you creatively? Are you like me in that the song has to have good lyrics in order to really capture your attention, even if there’s a good beat?

A day in the life…

Tags

#amwriting, Indie Writer, Writing Tips

Recently I read an article by Hilary Mantel in which she expounded on what her writing day looks and feels like. If her name is unfamiliar to you, she writes amazing historical fiction, the kind of stories that hold on to you long after you’ve finished the book. A lot of people love her work, but those who don’t like it REALLY don’t, so fair warning. Either way, her stuff makes an impact.

Anyway, on to my point: I love reading the little insights into how professional authors approach their day because I always learn something from them that I can apply to myself. Okay granted, I’m not really a professional author in that I don’t earn a living from it (yet?) but I still like to treat the endeavor professionally, and part of that is being flexible with the things I think I know.

As is typical of Hilary Mantel’s writing style her descriptions use simple language that is nonetheless so visceral in its detail that one can’t help but feel immersed in her experience:

“Days of easy flow generate thousands of words across half a dozen projects – and perhaps new projects. Flow is like a mad party – it goes on till all hours and somebody must clear up afterwards. Stop-start days are not always shorter, are self-conscious and anxiety-ridden, and later turn out to have been productive and useful. I judge in retrospect.”

This really spoke to me, especially the part where she works on multiple projects. I’ve heard a thousand times from other sources that authors should stick to one project at a time and off on other ideas until they finish that one project. I still think there’s wisdom in this to a degree. If you’re constantly bopping around from one idea to the next, you’ll never finish anything. But, as with so many unbreakable “rules” you hear about in writing (or any creative field), one should allow some bend when following it.

In my case, I usually have several projects cooking at the same time. In fact right now I have a short story series I’m in the third installment of, a couple of novella series (one in its third, the other in its first installment), and a novel. Novels tend to have multiple story lines going on, and character arcs to keep track of, and a larger cast of characters. Sometimes I just want–nay, need–to churn out shorter works. I find it helps center my brain for the complex web of larger story lines. After that break I’m able to get back into them with greater energy and joy.

Stupid as it sounds, that one-project-at-a-time-rule always had me feeling a bit guilty about it, as if I were cheating on the novel somehow. Ms. Mantel’s description of her writing day points out that the creative mind isn’t like a train with tracks leading one way or another. It’s more like riding a horse. You lead it, but it’s important to remember that it has a will of its own. You work together. Sometimes you keep it to the path, and sometimes you let it run loose across that open field.

And finally, this:

“I stop for the day when some inner falling-away says, that’s all there is. It feels like a page turning inside – the next page is empty. Nothing is left then but to go to bed and wait for dreams and for the next day.”

Such a beautiful description of something I think all authors experience.

For the full article–and it’s worth a read–click here

What about you authors out there? Do you find you need to stick to one project at a time or do you work on multiple things?

From the revisions booth & other news

Tags

#amwriting, Dystopian, Newsletter, Science-Fiction, Self Published Book, Writing Tips

Those of you who frequent the ramblings of my blog, or the newsletter, know that I’m almost finished with revisions of my first novel, “A Ransom of Flames”. Yes, I know, I’ve been saying that for a while now. It’s amazing how a teething baby can interfere with the writing schedule. But laments aside, the plan is still to publish this month. I went through all of my editor’s comments and now I’m doing a final read through to tighten up sentences and make everything as crisp as I can.

So, every writer has a few twitches when it comes to their prose. You know, that handful of words they tend to use over and over and over, unaware the mania is even happening.

A few of my own:

• People meeting each other’s gazes–A little goes a long way. I had to take out a bunch of these. Seriously, it’s like I had them in staring contests.
• WAY too much of the word “about”: Hands gripped “about” a weapon. Belts “about” the waist”. Cloaks “about” shoulders. Good GOD, already. Make it stop!
• Tendency to…trail off dialogue sentences. Again, some of this is okay but I was…stretching it. I’ve mentioned this about a book I reviewed some time ago. Apparently noticing it while reading doesn’t mean it’ll be noticed while writing. *face turns red* Thank goodness for…revisions.

Publication will be a bit later in March than I thought, but better a small delay than rushing things out before they’re ready. Of course, a couple of weeks ago I took a short detour from revisions to start a Science-Fiction/Dystopia short story series titled “Insurrection”. The beginning installments will be published in the next few weeks. Constant rewrites started to drive me bananas. I had to break ground on something new.

Those of you who subscribe to the newsletter will get the first story of the series for free in the next edition. Not signed up? You can do so here

The cover of Book One:

For now, it’s back to the revisions. I’m starting to understand why authors say they are sick to death of their book by the time it goes to publication. This will be my sixth time through.

What about you fellow authors out there? Any writer ticks you notice frequently in your manuscripts? What tricks do you use to find them/get rid of them?

The First Lines

Tags

#amwriting, Fantasy, First Paragraph, Self Published Book, Speculative Fiction

As most of you know, I’ve been working on my first novel for a little while now. I’m deep into revisions right now and pretty much squeezing every last second available  in the day to get the new draft to my editor (I’d get a lot more done if we could add that 25th hour). For those awaiting reviews, I apologize for delays. I’m still reading and will post a review to everyone I’ve agreed to review. Your patience is greatly appreciated. Not one of you has prodded me angrily and I love you for it.

I thought I would give a glimpse of what I’ve been up to though. In my Mission Control series I critique the opening paragraph, or the hook, of a novel. But let it not be said that I’m opposed to the same critique. So, here it is, the first paragraph of my soon-to-be-published Fantasy novel “A Ransom of Flames”:

My child died before she took her first breath. As she left my womb I felt her life ripped from the world, devoured, like the heart of a doe beneath the jaws of a predator.

Just so everyone knows, I wrote these words BEFORE I ever conceived my sweet little girl born last June. Essentially, I tried to think of the worst possible thing that could happen to my main character, Maleia, and led with that.

So, there you have it. I’ll put up the first chapter at some point, but for now, any feedback on this snippet is welcome. How’s my hook doing?

2016 New Year’s Resolutions

Tags

#amwriting, Author Goals, Self Published Book

New Year’s resolutions get a lot of flack. In fact, my husband calls them a bunch of nonsense. “You should do what you’re supposed to all year long. Not because of a holiday,” he says. God bless the Dutch and their practical logic.

But I disagree in some ways. We humans are creatures of ceremony after all, and making goals as the New Year begins can have a grander impact on the psyche than, say, some random day in April while you’re lounging on the couch (Forgive me, all those who have made couch resolutions.)

Naturally, there are a few points to keep in mind when making resolutions to avoid the “nonsense” issue. They need to be specific. Measurable. It’s not, “I’ll be kinder this year.” It’s “I’ll give someone a compliment every day and I’ll make a note on the calendar afterward.”

As a writer, I think resolutions are especially helpful. Goals help to ground me because, let’s face it, I don’t exactly live on planet Earth most of the time. Tethers are good. They help focus my energy toward getting things done.

There’s a lot I want to accomplish, but the goals/resolutions I’ve set for this year are those I actually have control over.

Here they are:

1. I will publish the damn book
2. I will read something about craft every day (but I’m allowed the weekends off)
3. I will attend at least one writer’s conference (MNCon, here I come)
4. I will listen to criticism
5. I will keep up my blog and social networks
6. I will support other self-published authors through my blog

Phew, it’s going to be a busy 2016 but I’m definitely raring to go!

Anyone else made resolutions or goals for this year?