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A Look Back

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on January 4, 2012| 4 Comments »

This is the last post about resolutions or goals for a while. I promise.

The turning of the year is a time not only to look forward to what we want to accomplish in the coming year, but also back on how well we did last year.

My 2011 Goals:

  1. Get MAGE STORM out on submission. 

Yes. It’s even gotten one request for partial and another request for the full manuscript. I’ll keep querying it at least until SEVEN STARS is ready, about April.

  1. Keep writing and submitting short stories. It’s not the primary focus of my writing, but it is good practice. The publication credits wouldn’t hurt, either.

By my records, I made nine submissions of three different short stories in 2011. No publications, but I did get an Honorable Mention in Writers of the Future.

  1. Finish two books this year.  Current candidates (subject to change without notice) DREAMER’S ROSE (which is in rewrite) and SEVEN STARS (which will be a first draft)

Yes. SEVEN STARS and MAGIC’S FOOL. I very nearly finished BLOOD IS THICKER, too. DREAMER’S ROSE is on the shelf until I figure out how to fix it.

  1. Learn.  There is always more to learn. 

Yes. Of course, there’s still more to learn out there.

  1. Read widely in the YA genre.

Yes, again.

  1. Never give up. Never surrender.

Well, obviously. I’m still here, aren’t I?

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Stuck

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , on December 28, 2011| 4 Comments »

Unfinished BLOOD WILL TELL COVER art

I have to admit that I’m stuck–for the moment–on BLOOD IS THICKER. Only two chapters from “The End”, too. I’m not happy with the last couple of chapters and a little nervy about making a time jump at this point in the story, even though I’m sure that’s what the story needs and trying to drag through the intervening time would probably feel just like dragging.

I’m filling the time by playing around with the potential cover art for the first book in the series, BLOOD WILL TELL, in case I decide to e-pub it after all. (I’ll know more about that, hopefully, in a couple of weeks.) Here’s what I’ve got so far (obviously only half finished).

I’ll get myself unstuck pretty soon. I have a couple of things to do to get there:

  1. The latest podcast of Writing Excuses is about finishing your story. I haven’t listened to it, yet, but I think I need to make some time for it.
  2. I need to remind myself–until I believe it–that this is only a first draft. First drafts don’t have to be perfect. In fact, they’re not supposed to be perfect. That’s what second, third, etc. drafts are for. I can fix it later, but not if I don’t get it down in the first place.
  3. But, meantime, letting my brain up for a few days to play with something else may not be such a bad idea.

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Christmas Scene

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on December 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’m going to post another short scene from BLOOD IS THICKER today.

Since this is not the beginning, here’s a little background. As you might have gathered from the previous scene, dragons aren’t limited to a single form. They can, for example, appear human–an ability they use heavily when spending time in our world, for obvious reasons.

Valeriah has never been here when she wasn’t working as a bodyguard. To her, Christmas just means more crowds, noises, and smells to make her job harder. Rolf, on the other hand, has had more recreational time here. This leaves them with different views of the season.

Kamara is Rolf’s younger sister, here for the very first time.

As soon as she saw the decorations on the light standards in the parking lot, Valeriah groaned. “Christmas. Perfect. Busiest shopping time of the year.”

“Well, we left here six months ago and it was June, then,” Rolf said.

“I know. It’s just easy to lose track of the dates over here when you spend a lot of time in Chimeria.”

“What’s Christmas?” Kamara asked from the back seat.

“A big holiday in the main religion over here. They all go out and buy each other gifts they can’t afford and don’t need.”

Rolf laughed. “Scrooge! Christmas can be fun. Singing. Parties. Decorations.”

“Dragging a dead tree into the house.”

“The piney smell of the forest drifting through the house.”

Valeriah made a rude noise.

“Eggnog.”

Valeriah made a face. “Yuck.”

“Hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps, then.” As the look on Valeriah’s face changed, Rolf continued, pressing his advantage. “Peppermint bark, candy canes, fudge, Christmas cookies.”

“It sounds like fun. Are we going to celebrate Christmas?” Kamara asked, interrupting Rolf and Valeriah.

“I believe a Christmas party for the employees of Goldings Bank is traditional,” Rolf said.

“Oh, good!” Kamara said, bouncing in her seat

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Preview

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on December 21, 2011| 6 Comments »

This is my 200th post. In honor of that and as a sort of early Christmas gift, I’m going to post the first page of the first draft of my current WIP, BLOOD IS THICKER.

“Rolf?” Valeriah pronounced his name carefully, even though it didn’t have any of the soft ess sounds that were so difficult for a dragon’s tongue and throat to produce without hissing.

“Hmm?” Rolf answered, opening one eye. He lay stretched out on the beach, dozing and digesting the cow they’d shared for lunch. They were both resting before her afternoon flying lesson.

“How long iss thiss going to take?” Damn, those esses were hard.

“Which this is that, sweetheart?”

Show off. He didn’t have any trouble with his esses. Then again, he’d been a dragon from birth. He’d had a lot more time to practice. “Learning to be a dragon.”

Rolf stretched out his huge golden wing to embrace her and reached out with his long neck to rub his chin along her back.

Signs he knew she wasn’t going to like the answer. She felt herself tensing, subconsciously balancing her weight as if she were going into a fight.

“Most dragons take about ten years to master a new form,” he said.

“Ten yearss!” She jerked, half unfolding her wings in outrage, and clunked Rolf’s jaw with the top of her head.

Rolf pulled his head back but continued to rub his wingtip along the edge of her wings. “It’s not just learning to fly and speak Draconic. You’ll have to learn dragon magic. And, because you’re a red dragon, you’ll have to learn to breathe fire, too. That’s one I can’t teach you. Golds don’t breathe fire.”

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Story Length

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on December 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It looks like BLOOD IS THICKER is going to end up being short. I’m at just about 40,000 words with only about three chapters left to go. Of course it will grow some during the second draft when I add in some missing descriptions, the missing background from BLOOD WILL TELL, and delve deeper into the characters thoughts and emotions in some of the early chapters.

But I doubt it will double in length. It’s not likely to make the 97,000 words of BLOOD WILL TELL. More like, about 60,000 would be my best guess at finished length for this one.

That’s outside the novella range (17,500 to 40,000 words), but still very short for a traditionally-published novel intended for an adult audience. A few years ago, this would have been a major concern. There’s no market for novella’s unless you’re a name author and next to no market even for novelettes (7,500 to 17,500 words). Very short novels (outside of certain genres) run into as much trouble (at least from unknown or debut authors) as extremely long novels.

However, the publishing world is changing. There’s e-publication now. And I’ve been seriously considering this for BLOOD WILL TELL and its sequels anyway. (Look for a final decision on that early next year.)

In e-pubs, the artificial limits set by traditional publishing don’t have to apply. That’s very freeing. It’s one of the great benefits I see from the rise in e-publication.

It would just affect the price I choose to set on the work. Less for a substantially shorter story. Or, I could choose to bundle. Maybe add a short story (or novelette) into the bargain. Or both, and give the reader the option. There are any number of choices I could make.

 So, I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to tell the story the best way I can and the length will be whatever it is.

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Writing the Fun Parts

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , on December 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’m feeling better. Not all better by any means, but better. My m’s still sound like b’s and I have a cough like the bark of a seal, but I do believe I’ll live. The poor dogs may even get a walk today, but let’s not get crazy.

I’ve kept up writing even when I didn’t feel so good. Hopefully it’s all coherent, but I guess my readers will let me know that. Well, writing is a nice, quiet, not physically taxing activity. That’s part of it.

But a big part of what’s kept me going is that I’m at the point in BLOOD IS THICKER where I get to write the “fun” parts. Things are coming to a head.

All of the set up has been done. (Well, my readers tell me I’m going to have a bit of work in the second draft, but that’s for later. The delicate balancing act of giving enough information about what happened in the first book, but not so much that it drags the story to a halt isn’t quite right, yet. This is a stand-alone story, but some things that happened in the first book are relevant to how the characters got to where they are now.)

Now I get to write the parts where things really move. In the last two chapters I’ve had a suspense scene and an action scene–and I’m not even at the climax, yet. Although I’m getting close enough to the climax now that the excitement is building. I can feel the downhill slide towards those magical words: “The End”.

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Sick

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on December 11, 2011| 2 Comments »

I’m sick, so this is going to be a real short post.

I hate getting sick at this time of year. There’s too much to do. The decorating is only half done. The wrapping is barely started. I have hand-made gifts to finish. I haven’t even started the baking.

Worse yet. Mom’s sick, too. She actually got sick two days ahead of me. Not good for a woman her age.

I must be a real writer, though. Because in spite of getting sleep in two-hour bursts (before the coughing wakes me up) and generally feeling as if I’d been pulled through a knothole backwards, I managed to finish Chapter 18 of BLOOD IS THICKER and have started on Chapter 19.

 

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Getting Back in the Swing

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , on December 7, 2011| 2 Comments »

Well, last month I finished up the first draft of MAGIC’S FOOL and turned my attention back to BLOOD IS THICKER.

BIT had run off into the weeds about half-way through November and I had to figure out how to get it back on track. It’s a first draft. These things happen sometimes. Sometimes, even if you outline–which I do only in very broad strokes–you get to a place in the story and realize your characters simply refuse to do what you’d planned for them. Then you have to break out the carrots or the whips and try to drive them back out into the storm.

In this case, I’d brought my main characters back to something that is endangered that they are trying very hard to protect. (No, I’m not going to tell you what. You’ll have to wait and read it.) Anyway, one of the people who had promised to guard this something for them so they could go out and seek a solution had let them down. They came back just in time to avert disaster. It was an important point for the two main characters, who had been somewhat at odds, to come back together again.

Now, the problem was to find a way to get them to leave again. Obviously, they can’t put their faith in that character again. Their obvious motivation would be to stick right there. The quest so far hadn’t really required their particular talents; others could do it just as well. So, I needed to figure out how to push them out of the nest (so to speak.)

I needed some inspiration. By letting my subconscious turn this problem around, I found a complication that makes their quest more urgent. It also ties in neatly with a subplot I’d set up earlier. I also found a way to use their peculiar talents–something the other characters can’t do as well.

So, all’s well with BLOOD IS THICKER again. All I need to do now is build some momentum.

I will say, though, it’s interesting switching gears between a middle grade fantasy and a paranormal romance.

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Stories That Grab You by the Throat . . .

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , on November 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 . . . And won’t let go.

At last count, I had about 25 books in my To-Read pile. But for some reason earlier this month I just couldn’t get into either of the ones I’d picked up. I’m likely to drop one and come back to the other later. What did I do? Did I pick up another book from that teetering stack? No, I didn’t.

I went back to a tried and true story I’ve read at least twice before. THE SHARING KNIFE series–BEGUILEMENT, LEGACY, PASSAGE, and HORIZON–by Lois McMaster Bujold. I know exactly how this story is going to go and how it’s going to end, and I am as caught up in it as if I were reading it for the first time. I can’t even think about picking up another book. I’m finding extra time to read.

That is the kind of story I aspire to write. So, I have to spend a little time trying to figure out exactly what it is that makes this story so enthralling.

In large part, it’s the characters. Lois McMaster Bujold does the redemption of damaged characters better than any other writer I can think of. Characters who start out half-dead inside, then find a reason to fight to live, and then nearly lose it again. That is a riveting story.

But it’s more than that, of course. It’s how alive those characters feel. With virtues and flaws and dark places they don’t want to probe too deeply.

It’s the way the setting is drawn on my imagination. It doesn’t hurt that THE SHARING KNIFE is in a non-standard fantasy setting. Not some parallel medieval setting for this one. This is much more like–very much like–the Mississipi River Valley during its early settlement.

It helps that in addition to the individual trials of the characters, there are also two cultures in conflict. And nasty monsters–some human, some definitely not–that have to be vanquished along the way.

And, of course, it’s all tied together with her writing style that just eases me into that world with no bumps or hitches along the way.

But really, I think it’s the characters.

There’ve been a few other stories that grabbed me this way. Stories that often made me keep thinking about those characters long after I’d finished the book(s).

Back to reading. And thinking.

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The End is Sweet

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on November 27, 2011| 2 Comments »

I am just about to type “The End” at the bottom of the manuscript of MAGIC’S FOOL. It’s a rough first draft. All first drafts are, but this is rougher than usual for me. And, while I was worried about this story when I started, I’m now happy with it, which is even better.

I know most of what needs to be fixed or expanded in the next go ’round. And I can take as much time as I need next year, while querying SEVEN STARS, to make those changes until I think MAGIC’S FOOL is ready to take its turn in the query hopper.

Counting manuscripts that have been shelved (a couple of them probably permanently), this is my seventh completed manuscript. It still feels almost as good as the first.

So,after today, it’ll be back to BLOOD IS THICKER, which ran off into the weeds unexpectedly earlier this month. I need to create some kind of emergency to kick my characters back out into the fray. I have a couple of ideas about that which could have the added benefit of tying in some additional plot elements.

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