Today is a holiday in the United States to honor a man who had a vision and dream of a better world for all.
It would be hubris to compare myself to such a one but I too have a dream-- a writer's dream. I dream of being published. While that time may be close at hand it does not feel that way.
But I am also concerned about the walls that still exist along the road to publication. I think they are still quite high. I may have scaled them at last but many have not. Of course many do not want to. They take the path of least resistance: self-publishing. But I think that's because there is tyranny surrounding the publication process. I dream of a world without this tyranny, one in which all voices can be heard.
Then there are personal dreams of finishing the fantasy series I started. Seven books is a lot to write and I only have partial drafts of Books 4 to 7. So I wonder of I will finish it. I don't have any intention to abandon it but accidents happen. I would hate to leave my readers hanging.
But today is a day to envision the world as it should be and not as it is. To dream our dreams and find ways to make them happen. To strive to make the world a better place.
So what's your dream?
Monday, January 16, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Lightning, Sparks, and a Little Fire
I'm beginning to see why many writers I've spoken with about their first book have decided to self-publish subsequent books: getting a good contract is hard. While my publisher seems to be willing to consider the cover I want to use and will give me final say on many aspects of the publication process, they seem to also want to me to give them rights that they won't be using now and for which the compensation is not clear.
That's not acceptable and I may have to walk away but since I've not seen the final contract I'm reserving judgement until then. Still, I see how hard it is for writers to get a good contract and this is probably why a writer friend is urging me to do it all myself.
He has pointed me to several articles on the web that make the case for writers to go directly to bookstores and bypass publishers altogether. This argument is compelling since it requires me to give up no rights and I receive a greater share of the money that is received by the bookstore when a sale is made.
But it is based on the assumption that sales keep trickling in. That's not my experience with self-publishing. My experience is few or no sales. Readers are either unwilling to spend the money for my work or they grab the free sample, putting it on their to-be-read list. While it is nice to be included in the lists, they doesn't help me because they may never belly up the bar and place an order.
Additionally, the likelihood that someone will find you in a bookstore, say Amazon, is slim because the store isn't advertising your book on their home page in most cases and most of us don't have name recognition. Likewise, searching in the genre, say fantasy, will bring back thousands of results and most people won't sift through them.
The end result is we are a direct channel to the market but we are buried under a lot of other stuff. That's where the publisher comes in. The publisher can help you break through all that (at least that's my hope) but that begs the question: at what cost? Is it worth giving up rights to the audiobook version or the screenplay adaption? And that's what I'm wrestling with.
I don't have the answer but I'd love to hear from anyone who does.
That's not acceptable and I may have to walk away but since I've not seen the final contract I'm reserving judgement until then. Still, I see how hard it is for writers to get a good contract and this is probably why a writer friend is urging me to do it all myself.
He has pointed me to several articles on the web that make the case for writers to go directly to bookstores and bypass publishers altogether. This argument is compelling since it requires me to give up no rights and I receive a greater share of the money that is received by the bookstore when a sale is made.
But it is based on the assumption that sales keep trickling in. That's not my experience with self-publishing. My experience is few or no sales. Readers are either unwilling to spend the money for my work or they grab the free sample, putting it on their to-be-read list. While it is nice to be included in the lists, they doesn't help me because they may never belly up the bar and place an order.
Additionally, the likelihood that someone will find you in a bookstore, say Amazon, is slim because the store isn't advertising your book on their home page in most cases and most of us don't have name recognition. Likewise, searching in the genre, say fantasy, will bring back thousands of results and most people won't sift through them.
The end result is we are a direct channel to the market but we are buried under a lot of other stuff. That's where the publisher comes in. The publisher can help you break through all that (at least that's my hope) but that begs the question: at what cost? Is it worth giving up rights to the audiobook version or the screenplay adaption? And that's what I'm wrestling with.
I don't have the answer but I'd love to hear from anyone who does.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Show and Tell
Ironic that the craft of storytelling has nothing to do with telling you anything anymore. These days, as I'm sure you know, fiction writing is all about showing you what happens not telling you. I was reminded of this the other day when I got a look at an old draft of the novel I'm writing. The draft goes out of its way to describe the town that the main characters are visiting. None of this adds to the story; it is all background information and reads like a travel log which tells you which parts of town to visit to enjoy your stay.
Ick. All of that is useless text and will not be in the new draft. But it got me thinking how far my writing has come since I wrote that old draft. I now write small scenes, as if the story was a play or a movie and then string them together. That seems to work. The benefit of that approach is I can focus on small bits at a time and when they are ready put them together and polish them into something larger. Often I need to read the scenes together and do some editing to make them all fit as a unified whole but that's okay because by the time I get to that stage, my focus is bigger and broader.
The other benefit of writing scenes is it is harder to lapse into telling the reader anything. Oh, sure, I can tell you how a character feels, or what he looks like -- how else are you going to know if I don't -- but I only resort to describing feelings when a character is alone. If there is another character around, then this information is perfect for some dialogue and a scene all by itself. That way, I tell you less and show you more.
Is it dull and melodramatic? I don't know. Usually my characters aren't revealing deep personal feelings, but rather feelings about things connected to the plot. (Oh sorry, I forgot, some of you think plot is a four-letter curse word, so let's say that characters are revealing feelings about events that have transpired since the story began). Example: the main characters meet a woman on the road, Nancy. She is being attacked by some bandits. They rush to help her (they are heroes, after all) and the bandits flee.
Nancy does not trust them because this attack is the second one she's suffered through in the last few days. In the first days, she lost her traveling companions. But the main characters convince Nancy to come with them since they are all traveling in the same direction.
Later, the main characters begin to learn are few things about Nancy that are odd and makes them not trust her. They discuss these feelings privately. I do this to build tension about Nancy. Eventually the truth comes out but not until much later.
All this being said, it is still easy to fall into the trap of telling. I've done this where suddenly a memory is triggered and you are telling the reader about this. A better technique is to show the memory. That, of course, takes longer and is harder and is generally why I don't do it. In fact in just about all cases, when I lapse into telling, it is because I've gotten lazy. So if you find a section where you are telling, rip it out and rewrite it by showing the same thing. Your readers will thank you for it later.
Ick. All of that is useless text and will not be in the new draft. But it got me thinking how far my writing has come since I wrote that old draft. I now write small scenes, as if the story was a play or a movie and then string them together. That seems to work. The benefit of that approach is I can focus on small bits at a time and when they are ready put them together and polish them into something larger. Often I need to read the scenes together and do some editing to make them all fit as a unified whole but that's okay because by the time I get to that stage, my focus is bigger and broader.
The other benefit of writing scenes is it is harder to lapse into telling the reader anything. Oh, sure, I can tell you how a character feels, or what he looks like -- how else are you going to know if I don't -- but I only resort to describing feelings when a character is alone. If there is another character around, then this information is perfect for some dialogue and a scene all by itself. That way, I tell you less and show you more.
Is it dull and melodramatic? I don't know. Usually my characters aren't revealing deep personal feelings, but rather feelings about things connected to the plot. (Oh sorry, I forgot, some of you think plot is a four-letter curse word, so let's say that characters are revealing feelings about events that have transpired since the story began). Example: the main characters meet a woman on the road, Nancy. She is being attacked by some bandits. They rush to help her (they are heroes, after all) and the bandits flee.
Nancy does not trust them because this attack is the second one she's suffered through in the last few days. In the first days, she lost her traveling companions. But the main characters convince Nancy to come with them since they are all traveling in the same direction.
Later, the main characters begin to learn are few things about Nancy that are odd and makes them not trust her. They discuss these feelings privately. I do this to build tension about Nancy. Eventually the truth comes out but not until much later.
All this being said, it is still easy to fall into the trap of telling. I've done this where suddenly a memory is triggered and you are telling the reader about this. A better technique is to show the memory. That, of course, takes longer and is harder and is generally why I don't do it. In fact in just about all cases, when I lapse into telling, it is because I've gotten lazy. So if you find a section where you are telling, rip it out and rewrite it by showing the same thing. Your readers will thank you for it later.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Didn't I Do this Last Year?
Sigh. I've got this strange feeling more and more that I've travelled back in time and am doing many of the same tasks I did last year. In January, for example, I collect the forms I need to pay my taxes and purchase the tax software I need to complete them. At the same time, all my deductibles for my medical insurance kick in now and last unless I satisfy them.
Next month I will file my taxes and begin paying my car insurance. The car insurance payments last until about April or May when I need to pay my house insurance. Somewhere in there is my wife's birthday, our anniversary, the renewal date for my web site, and a host of other things that I'd swear I just took care of.
I guess this is why I feel time is rushing past me like wind in a tunnel. I know that's my imagination and a function of some law of other, whose name I don't even know. The law goes something like this: the rate at which time seems to pass is based on the age of the person and their level of stress. Mathematically this can be expressed as:
T = A * SL
where T is the speed at which time is perceived to pass, A is the age of the person perceiving time passing, and SL is the person's stress level, rated from 1 to 10. From this we see that for young children time passes more slowly than for a 30-year old with a stress level of 5 or 10.
This is in no way scientific, of course, but it does help to explain how I feel and why I have the sense of repeating the same tasks I just completed not that long ago.
I'm begin to think that the year should have 24 months in it so that we can use the second set of 12 months to rest from the first set of 12.
Or it could be I need a vacation. Yes, that could very well be it.
Next month I will file my taxes and begin paying my car insurance. The car insurance payments last until about April or May when I need to pay my house insurance. Somewhere in there is my wife's birthday, our anniversary, the renewal date for my web site, and a host of other things that I'd swear I just took care of.
I guess this is why I feel time is rushing past me like wind in a tunnel. I know that's my imagination and a function of some law of other, whose name I don't even know. The law goes something like this: the rate at which time seems to pass is based on the age of the person and their level of stress. Mathematically this can be expressed as:
T = A * SL
where T is the speed at which time is perceived to pass, A is the age of the person perceiving time passing, and SL is the person's stress level, rated from 1 to 10. From this we see that for young children time passes more slowly than for a 30-year old with a stress level of 5 or 10.
This is in no way scientific, of course, but it does help to explain how I feel and why I have the sense of repeating the same tasks I just completed not that long ago.
I'm begin to think that the year should have 24 months in it so that we can use the second set of 12 months to rest from the first set of 12.
Or it could be I need a vacation. Yes, that could very well be it.
Monday, January 2, 2012
More Lightning and one Spark
After waiting three weeks to hear back from my publisher, I decided to write to them asking if they were still interested in my novel. I noted that I was expecting to hear back in two weeks per their email to me.
They replied saying yes, they are still interested and then they send me a sample contract. This has got me going on what kind of deal I might get and has my generating all kinds of questions.
For the moment, I'm not going to share these here. Later, when the deal is done or not done I will share the details so others can learn from this experience. Suffice to say, I've been searching the Internet for information and talking to other writers. One writer friend gave me lots of good advice, and I've traded email with the other writers who are published with this company. I have also marked up the contract with lots of questions I need to ask. The answer to these questions will determine if I go forward with this publisher or not.
Ironic, isn't it? Now that I found someone who wants to buy my work, I might very well say, "No, thank you."
Keep in mind also that this is publisher #2. Publisher #1 got my revised draft back in May and will not be reading it until sometime this month. At which point, they may also want it. We'll see. But I'm not counting on Publisher #1 at all. I am evaluating the contract I received on its merits and trying to determine what is fair so that when the publisher comes knocking and is ready to talk to me I can negotiate a deal or walk away. And I have to be prepared to walk away. That will really hurt since I've worked long and hard to find someone who is interested. But I can't let my work go to a publisher who doesn't care about compensating me in the manner I believe is fair. I've worked too hard. My novel, Aure, the Topaz, represents many years of writing, revision, research, and editing. I can't let it go unless the deal is right.
So I'll be sitting on my hands waiting while I burn some oil to got Book 3 completed.
What a way to start the year!
They replied saying yes, they are still interested and then they send me a sample contract. This has got me going on what kind of deal I might get and has my generating all kinds of questions.
For the moment, I'm not going to share these here. Later, when the deal is done or not done I will share the details so others can learn from this experience. Suffice to say, I've been searching the Internet for information and talking to other writers. One writer friend gave me lots of good advice, and I've traded email with the other writers who are published with this company. I have also marked up the contract with lots of questions I need to ask. The answer to these questions will determine if I go forward with this publisher or not.
Ironic, isn't it? Now that I found someone who wants to buy my work, I might very well say, "No, thank you."
Keep in mind also that this is publisher #2. Publisher #1 got my revised draft back in May and will not be reading it until sometime this month. At which point, they may also want it. We'll see. But I'm not counting on Publisher #1 at all. I am evaluating the contract I received on its merits and trying to determine what is fair so that when the publisher comes knocking and is ready to talk to me I can negotiate a deal or walk away. And I have to be prepared to walk away. That will really hurt since I've worked long and hard to find someone who is interested. But I can't let my work go to a publisher who doesn't care about compensating me in the manner I believe is fair. I've worked too hard. My novel, Aure, the Topaz, represents many years of writing, revision, research, and editing. I can't let it go unless the deal is right.
So I'll be sitting on my hands waiting while I burn some oil to got Book 3 completed.
What a way to start the year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)