Monday, July 13, 2015

Sex and the Single Alien

The sexy alien has long been a media staple, but it has never been an accepted trope in literary science fiction which has higher standards of accuracy.  

If an author tosses in a sexy alien who is not only sexually compatible but also offers offspring, she might as well give up any hope of having people who read "real" science fiction as readers.

Aliens, according to many scientists, probably won't look like humans. You can create a reason why aliens do look like humans if you want to. I did for my race, the N'Videri in THE ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN. (Note: ONCE is sf adventure/space opera so readers give you a bit more leeway than in standard sf, and I was counting on that leeway.)

In my worldbuilding, the N'Videri protected and nurtured those races who looked like them and pushed evolution for bipeds on certain planets so that they would have living camouflage for their own secretive presence in space. Humans, unlike many space races, were protected from conquest or self-destruction so they went safely into space.

It is extremely unlikely that a human and alien could produce a child. Human DNA has more in common with Earth grass DNA than it would have with any alien. 

Alien differences would also make breeding unattractive. For example, find two old pennies that are made of real copper. Wash them really well then put them in your mouth. The seriously nasty taste is what kissing Spock with his copper-based blood would taste like. 

Anything more than a small amount of copper is also toxic to humans and an effective, if hazardous, spermicide so there’s no way in heck that Spock would have been born even with scientific help.

Aliens that are essentially humanoid forms of Earth animals have their own problems. Fish reproduce outside of the body. (The female lays the eggs, and the male sprays his sperm on them then.) That's not exactly wild or possible sex for a human female. Lizards and snakes have a much cooler body temperature than we do. Part of the sexual excitement of the act involves heat.  A cold-blooded male in a hot-blooded female would be uncomfortable for both parties.  A hot-blooded male in a cold-blooded female might very well lose his erection because of the chill.

Aliens based on mammals have the danger of bestiality to be considered. Most of us are repelled rather than excited by reading about a human sexual encounter with a dog, big cat, horse, or whatever. Werewolves and other were-animals also have this problem unless they change into human form for sex.

I'm sure some people get their sexual buzz from all the above, especially in erotica which has little to do with logic or scientific accuracy and probably shouldn't, but any writer who wants their books read outside of a narrow category of readers has to consider such things.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Links of Interest

USING PARALLEL TIMELINES:


DOING A PHOTO SHOOT FOR YOUR BOOK COVER:


USING METADATA TO IMPROVE SALES OF YOUR SELF-PUBBED BOOK:


CHARACTER MOTIVATION:


HOW TO CREATE A SMARTPHONE “SHOWCASE” FOR YOUR BOOK:


HOW SELF-PUBS CAN HAVE THEIR BOOKS DISTRIBUTED TO LIBRARIES:


MAKING YOUR CRITIQUE GROUP FLOURISH:


MISPLACED MODIFIERS, THE SCOURGE OF MANY WRITERS:


SAVING A BUNDLE ON EDITING COSTS:


THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATEGORY ROMANCE AND SINGLE TITLE:


WRITING REALISTIC DIALOGUE:


GIVING YOUR CHARACTER A GOAL:


MAKING SENSE OF THE FIRST DRAFT:


CONNECTING PLOT POINTS:


WHEN THE STAKES AREN’T HIGH ENOUGH IN YOUR STORY:


WORKING ON THE SAGGING MIDDLE OF THE BOOK:


SELF-PUBLISHING PLATFORMS:


TELL BETTER, SHOW MORE:


THE DREADED DREAM SEQUENCE:


THE BIG PROBLEM WITH THE NEW AMAZON REVIEW ALGORITHM: 


SETTING THE RIGHT TONE FOR YOUR STORY:


THREE WAYS TO TEST TENSION AND PACING IN YOUR STORY:


BOOK MARKETING, STARTING WITH A SMALL GROUP:


USING LINKEDIN TO SELL BOOKS:



Monday, July 6, 2015

Figuring Out that Cover Copy

QUESTION: I’ve read your article on blurbs, but I still can’t figure out one for my book.  Help!

If my tools aren't enough to dissect your book into a blurb, you may want to get some second opinions (critique or beta readers) on the book to see if you have a coherent plot with your main character's goal firmly in place.  If you don't, you are probably far from the point of self-publishing or sending it out to agents or publishers.

If even this doesn’t help, you may have a truly different book.  Years ago, I helped one of my science fiction publisher's authors with the blurb from hell.  Her novel was a series of mythic stories within stories within stories like A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, and we ended up using a comparison to NIGHTS and a famous book of amassed mythology but on speed.  A comparison like this works only in cases of desperation, and you need a comparison that many readers would know.   

Once you have your blurb written, get your critique partners or some helpful reader friends to read it to see if it draws them in.  Make sure they actually read this kind of book.

There is, also, one site that does query critiques— Agent Query.   

Every so often, one of the sites I check for my “Links of Interest” posts will have a temporary free critique offer so keep an eye out for those in my Wednesday links post.

Good luck!


Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Links of Interest

FIVE WAYS POV MAKES YOU A BETTER WRITER:


THE VACUUM OF SPACE AND THE HUMAN BODY:


FOUR DANGERS OF WRITING GROUPS AND HOW TO FIX THEM:


CREATING AWESOME SECONDARY CHARACTERS:


USING BACKSTORY EFFECTIVELY:


BUILDING A BLOG TOUR:


TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE RESEARCH:


NEGOTIATING A CONTRACT:


HELP FINDING A CRITIQUE PARTNER OR GROUP:


PUTTING BLOG READERS FIRST:


DESIGNING A READABLE BLOG POST:


HOW TO BOOKS ON FANTASY WRITING:


UNDERSTAND GIRL GROUP DYNAMICS:


PUNCHING UP YOUR ACTION SCENE:


AN OVERVIEW OF PUBLISHING’S INTEREST AND REACTION TO CURRENT CHANGES:


TWEAKING AN UNLIKEABLE CHARACTHER:


HOW STARTING WITH ACTION CAN FAIL AND HOW NOT TO:


THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A GOOD BEGINNING OF A STORY:


RAMPING UP TENSION AND PACING:



Monday, June 29, 2015

Formating Telepathic Dialog

QUESTION: I have a character who is a telepath. Should I italicize what she picks up from others' minds?

If the characters are "speaking" mentally, I've often seen authors italicize the conversation.

Mary thought to Matt, What happened to my son?

He fell into the river but grabbed a log.

If, however, Mary is picking up the images from Matt's head, I'd do something like this--

Mary tilted her head and concentrated harder on what Matt was trying to show her with his thoughts.

Darkness. A river surging past. A hand reaching out of the water and grasping a log. Then her son's head coming up out of the water as he pulls himself up onto the floating log.

"He's not dead," Mary sobbed and rubbed away her tears. "Billy's not dead."


I’ve also seen writers use colons for mental dialogue in the same way as you would use quotation marks. 

Mary thought to Matt, :What happened to my son?:

:He fell into the river but grabbed a log.:

The advantage of using the colon is that there will be no confusion about when speakers change.


Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Links of Interest

BANDING TOGETHER FOR PUBLICITY:


A TIP FOR USING FIRST PERSON:


CREATING AN UNFORGETTABLE VILLAIN:


QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AS YOU ARE EDITING:


AMAZON’S PAY PER PAGE, SOME INTERESTING THOUGHS AND ANALYSIS:


STRAGEGIC BLOGGING TO FIND READERS:


BEST MARKETING STRATEGIES:


PICKING THE RIGHT WORDPRESS THEME FOR YOUR BLOG:


WRITING EFFECTIVE DIALOG:

IS YOUR MAIN CHARACTER WORTHY OF YOUR READER’S ATTENTION?


FOUR WAYS TO IMPROVE PACING:


FIVE WAYS WRITERS GET LAZY:


STORY 101, WRITING CHARACTER:


LESSONS LEARNED IN LINE EDITING:


YOUR CHARACTER’S SECRETS AND HOW TO USE THEM:


AVOIDING GUN ERRORS:


EFFECTIVE WAYS TO SHOW CHARACTER EMOTIONS:



Monday, June 22, 2015

Naming Your Characters

Finding the right name for characters involves a number of variables.

*The period the story is set in.  Names must be authentic for the period.  A number of websites are available for different historical periods as well as recent years.  Do your research, and don't have a Medieval heroine named Tiffany. 

Here are a few sites to look at

Popular first names in recent years:  http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html

*The location of the story and ethnic background of your characters.

Popular first name by state: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html  

*The current impression the name gives.  Years ago, for example, men were named Leslie, but it has become a woman's name.  Naming your hero Leslie might be authentic for the period, but it will give your reader the wrong impression.

*How hard the name is to type.  I avoid some names because I can't type them.   If you must use a name that's hard to type, pick a simple nonsense string of letters then do a universal search and replace.  Be absolutely sure the letters are nonsense so you don't insert the name in the middle of words that have that string within them.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS' NAMES

The right name for your hero or heroine is one of your most important decisions.  

For major characters, I don't just pick a name I like.  Instead, I wait until I see a name, and a frission goes through me to tell me I've hit the name for my character.  Most of my character names have been gifts of that sort.  Sometimes, the character will tell me his name at a certain point in the creation process.  

The name, in other words, is as much a part of making the character real for the writer as it is for the reader.  

SECONDARY CHARACTERS' NAMES

Try to avoid  a secondary character's name that is similar to your major characters' names.   That includes names that begin with the same letter or look similar (Al, Sal, and Sally).  

Before I start writing and after I have my main characters' names, I make a list of other names I can use in the book which fit the period, etc., as well as being different from the major characters' names.  This allows me to pick a name for that waitress who has a few scenes without having to stop my writing while I think up a name.  

USING SIMILAR NAMES

I have used similar names deliberately in my writing.  In TIME AFTER TIME, my hero remembers all his past lives, and he's trying to convince the heroine they have been reincarnated lovers in each of those lives.  He restages and retells their past lives and their loves so I needed different names for them in each time period.  

I decided that I'd  use the same first letter or letters of their current names for each past name so that the reader would recognize instantly when I mentioned a name even if they couldn't recall the period that name was from.  Each name would have to fit the historical period as well as the personality of the character.

Justin was earthy Jed in the Old West, and Alexa was Annie.   In the 1940s, Justin was sophisticated Jared and Alexa was Alicia.  Their other names also reflected character and period.

THE GOOGLE TEST

For main characters, particularly villains, it's a good idea to put the name into a search engine to see if someone out there shares the name.  Put the first and last name into quotation marks so you will only receive results with both those words close together.  If you find someone with that name, you may want to consider a different name.  

This is also a good idea for book titles.

THE NAME GAME

As you develop characters and names,  you'll discover a new fascination with names and their power, and you'll probably find yourself scanning obituaries and phone books for that unusual name to add to your name list.  Enjoy this.  It's part of the fun of creating characters.

Posted by Marilynn Byerly at 4:22 PM Comments (0) pastedGraphic.png pastedGraphic_1.png Links to this post