Links of Interest

MARKET NEWS: SF/Fantasy publisher Pyr now accepts unagented queries.

http://pyrsf.blogspot.com/2010/02/opening-floodgates-pyr-now-accepting.html

THE WRITING LIFE: The physical hazards of being a novelist. (Yes, really!)

http://www.genreality.net/how-about-some-hazard-pay

EDITOR INTERVIEW: Interview with Selina McLemore of Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books)

http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/meet-selina-mclemore

MEDICAL INFORMATION FOR WRITERS: How DOLLHOUSE got it wrong.

http://www.sfwa.org/2010/02/how-to-kill-your-imaginary-friends-joss-whedon-im-calling-you-out/#more-7787

USING REALITY IN FANTASY: Talks about the Harry Potter novels and English boarding schools, but the subject is food for thought on your own fantasy worldbuilding.

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=58806

LIFE OF THE WRITER: Ten Rules for Writing which deals with the life of the writer rather than craft.

http://southernweirdo.livejournal.com/101078.html

CRAFT: Backstory isn't always evil.

http://behlerblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/backstory-isnt-always-evil/

WORKSHOPS: I now have two workshops scheduled with another TBA.

The Big Question: How to Create a Powerful Novel from a Few Ideas and One Big Question, April 11-May 8, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=172

Have you ever read a story then felt dissatisfied by it as you put it down? All the story elements--plot, characters, romance, and suspense--were there, but something was missing. That something is often called depth or resonance, and it's that element that turns an ordinary story into one you couldn't put down.

How do you create a story like that? It starts with the creation of the story. I’ll show you how to take a simple plot idea, premise, or character and turn it into a novel with resonance.

Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal, Fantasy, or SF World. October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=173

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your paranormal romance, they will be to a reader. I'll show you how to create a fantasy or paranormal background from scratch and how to make it utterly believable.

The Emotional Content of a Story, CRAFT

If you aren't happy with the emotional content of your story, you may want to look at the central story idea. Do your character/characters have a real emotional reason to be doing what they are doing?

Their hunt for the lost treasure should be as much about their emotional reason for needing the treasure as it is about simple greed. That emotional reason should be important enough to make the reader want them to succeed as much as they do.

Maybe the main character is after a magical sword which is the only weapon that will kill the dragon currently ravaging his homeland, and he doesn't really care about other treasure and the life of drunken decadence and dancing girls it promises the other characters.

Maybe the other characters have laughed at him, but they've admired him and gradually they have been drawn into his quest for the sword, and in the end, they'll choose to get the sword with him and lose the other treasure.

Maybe the one who laughed the hardest and made the main character's life hell along the journey will be the one to sacrifice himself so that the hero can rescue a homeland the scoffer has never had, but now wishes to have with his whole heart.

Now that's a story that will grab your reader where a simple quest for gold will not.

Links of Interest

TIME TRAVEL: A theoretical physicist discusses the possibilities of time travel. Includes a podcast

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/theoretical_physicist_sean_carroll_on_writing_about_time_travel_151655.asp

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: Why your first novel shouldn't be the start of a trilogy.

http://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-your-first-novel-shouldnt-be-volume.html

MARKET NEWS: Carina Press, Harlequin's ebook only line, is looking for historicals.

http://carinapress.com/2010/02/a-call-for-historical-submissions/

AGENT INTERVIEW: Agent Jennifer Laughran. (YA and children's books)

http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2010/02/11/guest-post-ask-agent-jennifer/

AGENTS: Why sometimes an agent isn't the right answer for your career.

http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/author-agent-business-model

CRAFT: When narrative and the viewpoint character's voices clash.

http://behlerblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/staying-in-character-dont-break-the-umbilical-cord/

CRAFT: Problems to look for as you revise your story.

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/02/potholes.html

MARKETS: The fantasy short story anthology (strong female viewpoint!) SWORD AND SORCERESS's guidelines for this year.

http://norilanabooks.livejournal.com/85540.html

WRITING A SERIES: Hints before you sell that first book.

http://behlerblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/the-series-sashay/

CRAFT: The very important small things to look for when you are doing a revision.

http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2010/02/re-write-wednesday-spit-shine.html

CRAFT: How to find the problem when you sense that something is going wrong in your novel.

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/02/feeling-something-is-wrong.html


WORKSHOPS: I now have two workshops scheduled with another TBA.

The Big Question: How to Create a Powerful Novel from a Few Ideas and One Big Question, April 11-May 8, 2010 at Savvyauthor.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=172

Have you ever read a story then felt dissatisfied by it as you put it down? All the story elements--plot, characters, romance, and suspense--were there, but something was missing. That something is often called depth or resonance, and it's that element that turns an ordinary story into one you couldn't put down.

How do you create a story like that? It starts with the creation of the story. I’ll show you how to take a simple plot idea, premise, or character and turn it into a novel with resonance.

Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal, Fantasy, or SF World. October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

http://www.savvyauthors.com/event.cfm?EventID=173


Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your paranormal romance, they will be to a reader. I'll show you how to create a fantasy or paranormal background from scratch and how to make it utterly believable.

Creating a Character's Emotional Reactions in Action Scenes, CRAFT

The viewpoint character's emotions and senses must be as much at play in a fight or action scene as his body and weapons.

I make a special effort to include all the senses in my descriptions. What does he hear? See? Smell? Taste? Feel?

How do he react to killing someone? The death of a friend?

Adding emotion isn't an either/or situation. It's just as vital to add emotional layers to the physical action as it is to have brief moments of introspection when the battle isn't going on.

Characterization also isn't just introspection. It's characters interacting with each other and revealing themselves in bits and pieces.

Your band of adventurers may not sit around "sharing their feelings" in touchie-feelie moments like a Dr. Phil show, but they've been around each other enough to know that one hates the bad guys because they murdered his wife and kids, and he's liable to attack without thought and ruin their surprise attack.

He may be clutching the sword at his side, his other hand opening and closing in nervous energy, and another adventurer may warn him to relax and may mention the wife and kiddies.

The image of his wife's raped and brutalized body could flash through his mind, and he fights his raw anger and lust to kill. That won't slow the action down like having a long interior flashback of him finding his family's bodies, and his vow of revenge. Instead, it adds to the excitement of the coming action because the reader now questions whether this guy will lose his cool and get everyone killed.

An even better way to present this information is to put it in an earlier scene that isn't action intensive so the reader will know the details and will only need a slight reminder of this character's motivation and tendency to attack without thought.

Remember, though, that a character's emotions are meant to increase the intensity of the scene, not slow it down or mar its pacing.

WORKSHOPS: I now have two workshops scheduled with another TBA.

The Big Question: How to Create a Powerful Novel from a Few Ideas and One Big Question, April 11-May 8, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

Have you ever read a story then felt dissatisfied by it as you put it down? All the story elements--plot, characters, romance, and suspense--were there, but something was missing. That something is often called depth or resonance, and it's that element that turns an ordinary story into one you couldn't put down.

How do you create a story like that? It starts with the creation of the story. I’ll show you how to take a simple plot idea, premise, or character and turn it into a novel with resonance.

Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal, Fantasy, or SF World. October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com October 4-31, 2010 at SavvyAuthors.com

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your paranormal romance, they will be to a reader. I'll show you how to create a fantasy or paranormal background from scratch and how to make it utterly believable.

Links of Interest

EDITOR INTERVIEW: Jessica Sebor of Bantam Dell

http://www.winniegriggs.com/industry_vip_J.Sebor.html

EDITOR INTERVIEW: Avalon's Julia Weis

http://avalonauthors.blogspot.com/2009/12/julia-weis-interview-with-avalons.html

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: Some of the ugly truths about a publishing career.

http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=1044

STYLE SHEETS: Why they are important to the writer.

http://www.sfwa.org/2010/02/the-importance-of-style-sheets/

CRAFT: Holding back information from the reader, the good and bad.

http://www.genreality.net/still-learning

CRAFT: Premise versus plot

http://www.genreality.net/still-learning

CRAFT: How character secrets can liven up a plot

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/02/secrets.html

CRAFT: Blending in backstory into the plot

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2010/02/08/ask-the-editor-tips-for-blending-in-the-backstory/

MEDICAL INFORMATION FOR WRITERS: A new column that explains medical problems with the writer in mind. First up, how TV medical shows are wrong about what happens during a flatline.

http://www.sfwa.org/2010/02/how-to-kill-your-imaginary-friends-flatlines/

CRAFT: Writing the perfect ending.

http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/07/i-suppose-youre-all-wondering-why-ive-called-you-here-today/

BUSINESS OF WRITING: Getting permissions to use music lyrics, poetry, etc. in your book.

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/02/obtaining-permissions.html

AGENT INTERVIEW: Scott Eagan.

http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/meet-agent-scott-eagan

Creating a Character's Physical Actions in Action Scenes

For physical battles like sword fights, I visualize the fight and choreograph each character's moves. I often get up from the computer and pretend I'm holding a sword, imagine the opponent's move, and block it noting my balance, what I'm leaving open, and possible return blow.

I also use the physical location of the hero to vary fighting. The floor may be bloody from his first opponent so the hero or villain may slip and fail to parry a blow, etc.

I rarely write out blow for blow because I think that's boring. Instead, I'll give occasional overviews of what's happening. For example, the hero is thinking about how his body is learning the rhythm of the fight, or he's aware of other fighters around him.

I try to avoid using technical terms to describe the fight because I'm writing as much for those unfamiliar with swordplay as those who are, but I try to be accurate about how to use the weapon, and I use a sprinkling of correct terminology to make it seem more realistic.

I've never fought with a sword, but I've held a number in my hand, and I've watched others fight with them. I try to remember the weight of the weapon, the sound a fighter makes as he swings the heavy sword, and the sheer weariness of the weight of fighting something or someone above you.

This advice holds true in any other form of action scene, too.

QUESTIONS, I TAKE QUESTIONS: Have a question about craft or the writing business? Just ask via this blog. I've had to put this list on moderation because Chinese spammers have become bothersome, but I will get your question.

Links of Interest

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: Professional courtesy, particularly with fans.

http://kriswrites.com/2010/01/28/freelancers-survival-guide-professional-courtesy/

CRAFT: The eyes don't have it. Too much use of eyes in fiction.

http://odysseyworkshop.livejournal.com/27400.html

AMAZON VERSUS THE PUBLISHERS CRISIS: An interesting overview:

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/02/kindle-missile-crisis.html

MARKETS: Young adult is hot. Three agents discuss what a book needs for this market.

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2010/01/30/ya-is-red-hot-tips-from-3-top-agents/

QUERIES: Top 10 query mistakes.

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/02/top-ten-query-mistakes.html

CRAFT: How to use different types of words to express point of view.

http://talktoyouniverse.blogspot.com/2010/02/point-of-view-more-personal-than.html

CRAFT: Removing the fat, aka the boring stuff, from your story.

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/02/editing-out-extras.html

Mapping Out a Fight Scene, CRAFT

Once you have figured out what the characters have to lose in a fight scene, you must decide on each character's special abilities, weapons, etc.

Your viewpoint character/hero's special abilities, weapons, and skills should have been set up long before this fight scene so it won't look like you pulled new abilities or weapons out of the air for your own convenience.

List the special abilities of the viewpoint character then give his opponent a skill or weapon that is equal to or slightly better than his. Equal powers make interesting contests. Extremely unequal powers make for a dull fight.

Now, you can map out the coming fight. Remember that the hero must barely survive each kind of attack, and he must start running out of options.

Especially in the final showdown, the hero must be forced to go beyond his abilities and must face some element of his ultimate fear. He must do what he considers unthinkable or impossible to win.

In an unpublished novel, I had a hero who must face a were-dragon. This was the climatic fight between the two characters, winner take everything. The hero, who wants to die because his life will be a living hell, must survive for the sake of the woman he loves because her life is at stake, too.

I wanted him to face his weakness and fear of living as well as his own tendency to care more about himself than anyone else.

Since this is the climax of the novel, I wanted the fight to extend over several chapters, and I didn't want it to be boring and repetitive.

First, I thought about the weapons of a dragon -- claws, teeth, fire, size, and wings. Considering the dragon's many weapons and ways to fight, I realized that I could divide the fight into three acts.

The first act is ground-fought and will involve fire. The dragon will also use its human intelligence and voice as an emotional weapon.

The hero is tentative in his skill, and he's distanced himself from fights before so his weapon is a lance. He has a magical shield and armor which will help against the flame, but he can't survive the flame for long, and the dragon is creating a conflagration with the vegetation.

The hero's uncertainty is also used against him by the dragon with its taunts until the hero acknowledges his feelings for his lover, and this allows her to bring magical rain.

In the second act, the dragon has lost its fire because of the heavy downpour which has soaked the terrain as well as dousing its flame so it takes flight, and the two battle.

I thought about flying warfare and the different ways a dragon can use its weapons in flight. I decided that the dragon would strafe the hero by using its claws to attack, and its wind in flight would be so strong the hero could barely stand to face it. The dragon would also use its weight to knock the hero down.

After the initial fighting where the dragon uses these methods of attack, it manages to get the hero's shield which he's used against the claws and proceeds to shred him at each pass and exhaust him because of the heavy wind created by its wings.

Barely staying on his feet because of exhaustion and blood loss, the hero finally retaliates by using the lance like a spear and throws it into the dragon's underbelly.

In the third act, the dragon can no longer fly because of damaged wings from the lance so he and the hero are forced to face each other in close quarters with no retreat. The hero uses a sword.

The hero now knows his own heart and has discovered his courage. He will no longer give up the fight. The dragon has discovered that it can die in this fight, and it's afraid for the first time, but it's forced to stay because the two are locked in a mythic pattern which neither can escape.

Since the battle is in close quarters, I thought about the dragon's different weapons, and the hero's battle plan. The hero must get close enough to stab into the dragon's heart, but the dragon uses its long neck, its size, and its speed to stay safe. The hero finally uses a distraction to shift the dragon's attention and stabs him.

Notice how I negated the different weapons of the dragon so that the fight itself changed dramatically, and the hero was forced to use different weapons, both physical and emotional, against each change.

The battle is also hard fought on both sides, and the hero wins more from sheer cussedness than any skill or weapon.