Haven't done a linky post for a while, and I'm currently hunting through my archives of starrred/favourited posts in preparation for teaching creative writing again next semester - this time I'm going to be ORGANISED and have BOOKLETS! Woohoo!
So anyway, a few fun things I've found around the nets of late:
How To Secretly Work On Your Novel While At Your Day Job - priceless information for those of us who aren't lucky enough to be able to lock everyone out of the house and write all day (includes a section fo SAHMs)
What My Job Is... - Yeah, I have to say I agree with Liana on this one: sure writers need to work at representing reality, but I don't think that means they're bound and required to reflect the crappy parts of life just because it happens.
And speaking of The Job, editing. (Yeah, that was an awkward segue. The Minion is crying because He's Not Tired, Mum, No He's Not!, so you'll have to forgive my brain). But anyway, Maggie Stiefvater managed to convince a whole bunch of published authors to dissect some pages from their own novels to provide some excellent insight into the editing process.
For something a little more lighthearted, Ilona Andrews has collected all the various incarnations of rules for mystery writers. Some of the historical ones are somewhat o.0.
Also in the o.0 realm, Jim C. Hines did a follow-up to his January post about female cover poses on Posing Like a Man. Also amusing, and equally illuminating.
And now that you've had fun with those links (don't tell me you didn't at least consider trying one of those poses), something a little heavier. The King Of Elfland's Second Cousin has done a marvellous job of differentiating between voice and style. It's a long one, but worthwhile.
In order to make it through, it might be useful to know How To Be As Energetic As Your Kids.
And of course, no post is complete without the obligatory tasty food - and for that, I shall just direct you to my Pinterest board O:)
Any exciting links you guys have found of late that I need to read?
Showing posts with label voice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voice. Show all posts
23 May 2012
20 January 2010
Applying Hot Iron: Recalcitrant Characters
So, those of you who follow me on twitter will know that for the last week or so, I've been working pretty hard on Sanctuary. I got nearly 5k yesterday, huzzah!! But really, I don't feel like this is a really major achievement, because it's been easy. The MC, Edge (real name Emma), is a chatterbox. She wants to stop and talk about everything, everyone. She's guaranteed to always have a comment or an aside, and her voice just flows, because she Doesn't. Stop. Talking.
This is a good thing. Really, it is. It's just frustrating that I won't have much writing time in the next week due to family weddings and a new job! :D But on the other hand, it gives me confidence that I can drop the story for a week and come back to it without missing a beat - Edge will still be there, ready to chatter away the instant I put fingers to keyboard.
In complete contrast, let me introduce you to Deviran. He's a co-MC of my Magic Eyes Universe books, the sensible and silent to Mercury's loud and silly. I adore Deviran. He's gorgeous, he's smart, he's sensible, dependable, reliable... And silent. Oh. So. Silent.
Okay, I can deal with having a character who's the strong silent type. I can deal with having a character who doesn't have much to say. I can...
*implodes*
See, what's really frustrating about Dev is that he's not only the silent type in-story, he's also silent out of story. Which makes it near impossible to find out anything about him. I love him, I adore him - but who the heck is he??
So. Today, let's look at some techniques you can use on recalcitrant characters - and if you have any others, leave them in the comments. Trust me, I need all the ammunition I can get.
1) Interviews. These work best for chatty characters, but a few well-leveraged questions can often open up the silent characters too. If you're really having trouble, consider asking a friend to play the role of interviewer while you respond in-character. That way, you won't be able to anticipate the answer because you won't know the question.
2) Role Playing. For your character, that is. Tear them out of their own story/universe, and make them uncomfortable. Throw them to the sharks, have them fight a tiger, expose them to any nasties your other worlds might be harbouring. Anything and everything - throw them at your character, and watch and see how they respond. Liana Brooks calls this one the Reaction Chamber.
3) Kill them. Again, and again, and again. As creatively and painfully as you can, on paper for the world - and your character - to see. Have a competition with a friend to see how many deaths it takes before the character is willing to crack and give you information.
4) Find the Detail. Often, there is one particular detail about a character that triggers off a whole ranges of questions and answers, like a chain reaction. It's just a matter of finding the right detail. Go through everything you know about your character, piece by piece, and threaten you character with either the destruction of this detail, or the reversal of it. Threaten to make the guy a girl, the mother a teen - or in my case, threaten to give the only guy in the entire Academy without a familiar a new one. o.O
5) Ask Someone Else. Like everything in life, it really is possible to get too close to the situation. Sometimes it's hard to see the character for the characteristics - or vice versa. Ask a friend (preferably a writer, or at least someone like an actor who is used to the business of characterisation) to read over what you've got written down with your character (including any or all of the above suggestions) and tell you what they think of your character. You might be surprised at how clear the character is to someone who isn't you.
With Deviran, 4 and 5 were most successful. I found out a whole bunch about his past and now all of a sudden who he is in the present makes sense.
Have you ever used any of these tactics with success? What other suggestions do you have for dealing with recalcitrant characters?
This is a good thing. Really, it is. It's just frustrating that I won't have much writing time in the next week due to family weddings and a new job! :D But on the other hand, it gives me confidence that I can drop the story for a week and come back to it without missing a beat - Edge will still be there, ready to chatter away the instant I put fingers to keyboard.
In complete contrast, let me introduce you to Deviran. He's a co-MC of my Magic Eyes Universe books, the sensible and silent to Mercury's loud and silly. I adore Deviran. He's gorgeous, he's smart, he's sensible, dependable, reliable... And silent. Oh. So. Silent.
Okay, I can deal with having a character who's the strong silent type. I can deal with having a character who doesn't have much to say. I can...
*implodes*
See, what's really frustrating about Dev is that he's not only the silent type in-story, he's also silent out of story. Which makes it near impossible to find out anything about him. I love him, I adore him - but who the heck is he??
So. Today, let's look at some techniques you can use on recalcitrant characters - and if you have any others, leave them in the comments. Trust me, I need all the ammunition I can get.
1) Interviews. These work best for chatty characters, but a few well-leveraged questions can often open up the silent characters too. If you're really having trouble, consider asking a friend to play the role of interviewer while you respond in-character. That way, you won't be able to anticipate the answer because you won't know the question.
2) Role Playing. For your character, that is. Tear them out of their own story/universe, and make them uncomfortable. Throw them to the sharks, have them fight a tiger, expose them to any nasties your other worlds might be harbouring. Anything and everything - throw them at your character, and watch and see how they respond. Liana Brooks calls this one the Reaction Chamber.
3) Kill them. Again, and again, and again. As creatively and painfully as you can, on paper for the world - and your character - to see. Have a competition with a friend to see how many deaths it takes before the character is willing to crack and give you information.
4) Find the Detail. Often, there is one particular detail about a character that triggers off a whole ranges of questions and answers, like a chain reaction. It's just a matter of finding the right detail. Go through everything you know about your character, piece by piece, and threaten you character with either the destruction of this detail, or the reversal of it. Threaten to make the guy a girl, the mother a teen - or in my case, threaten to give the only guy in the entire Academy without a familiar a new one. o.O
5) Ask Someone Else. Like everything in life, it really is possible to get too close to the situation. Sometimes it's hard to see the character for the characteristics - or vice versa. Ask a friend (preferably a writer, or at least someone like an actor who is used to the business of characterisation) to read over what you've got written down with your character (including any or all of the above suggestions) and tell you what they think of your character. You might be surprised at how clear the character is to someone who isn't you.
With Deviran, 4 and 5 were most successful. I found out a whole bunch about his past and now all of a sudden who he is in the present makes sense.
Have you ever used any of these tactics with success? What other suggestions do you have for dealing with recalcitrant characters?
12 October 2009
Letting Characters Characterise Themselves
So, I have a bit of a problem to confess: All my MCs sound the same. Did. Did sound the same. Before I realised, that is.
Do you ever have this problem?
It's something that can creep up on writers in two ways: either you write your books consecutively, writing just one at a time, so you never notice that your MCs sound the same; or you write books concurrently, several at a time, and the voice of one bleeds over into another.
It can also happen if you develop a habit - accidentally or deliberately - of writing about the same kind of people. When I talked about patterns in writing last week, it made me realise just how easy it is to write the same character over and over in different situations, rather than writing different characters.
I mentioned three female characters who all start out thinking they can't do whatever it is that needs doing, and then, at some point, realise they can and have to. While it's - of course - okay to use that kind of generic 'template' to structure a character's arc of development - and there are only so many ways a character can develop after all; that's what people mean when they say there are only x number of plots in the world - it's not okay to fall into the trap of making them all the same person.
How are they different? How would they all react to each other's situations? There should be differences there, even if they are subtle.
My MCs all sounded similar, at least for the major novels I was working on. This became especially obvious to me last month, when I wrote so many shorts where the MCs had great, developed and unique voices.
And in a conversation with my twin the other day, I realised why: I was trying to characterise the characters, instead of letting them do it themselves. I was shouting over top of them, telling them how they ought to be, instead of listening and letting them tell me who they were. Prime example: one of my YA MCs, Edge. She had two older sisters, one grown up and married. This is what I kept telling her (amongst other things); and as a result, her story refused to budge. It wouldn't come, and when it did, it was labourious.
But after the conversation with L, I shut up and let Edge speak for herself. She told me that, actually, she had a brother and a sister, both close in age to each other but quite a bit older than her.
I blinked in shock, and was tempted to argue - but I held my tongue, and as a result I wrote nearly 2k on her story in just the one day.
I have something else to confess: My middle sister had to have speech therapy when she was four. She couldn't talk properly - because I kept talking for her.
Turns out, I haven't changed: I just do it to my characters instead of RL people.
Maybe I should send my characters to speech therapy *grin*
Listen to your characters. They know who they are, and who they need to be. Don't try to force them to do things that aren't true to their nature - and if you listen, if you let them characterise themselves, they won't sound the same. They can't.
Have you ever had characters who sounded the same? Have you ever realised you were steering your characters in a direction they weren't supposed to go? What did you do to overcome this?
Do you ever have this problem?
It's something that can creep up on writers in two ways: either you write your books consecutively, writing just one at a time, so you never notice that your MCs sound the same; or you write books concurrently, several at a time, and the voice of one bleeds over into another.
It can also happen if you develop a habit - accidentally or deliberately - of writing about the same kind of people. When I talked about patterns in writing last week, it made me realise just how easy it is to write the same character over and over in different situations, rather than writing different characters.
I mentioned three female characters who all start out thinking they can't do whatever it is that needs doing, and then, at some point, realise they can and have to. While it's - of course - okay to use that kind of generic 'template' to structure a character's arc of development - and there are only so many ways a character can develop after all; that's what people mean when they say there are only x number of plots in the world - it's not okay to fall into the trap of making them all the same person.
How are they different? How would they all react to each other's situations? There should be differences there, even if they are subtle.
My MCs all sounded similar, at least for the major novels I was working on. This became especially obvious to me last month, when I wrote so many shorts where the MCs had great, developed and unique voices.
And in a conversation with my twin the other day, I realised why: I was trying to characterise the characters, instead of letting them do it themselves. I was shouting over top of them, telling them how they ought to be, instead of listening and letting them tell me who they were. Prime example: one of my YA MCs, Edge. She had two older sisters, one grown up and married. This is what I kept telling her (amongst other things); and as a result, her story refused to budge. It wouldn't come, and when it did, it was labourious.
But after the conversation with L, I shut up and let Edge speak for herself. She told me that, actually, she had a brother and a sister, both close in age to each other but quite a bit older than her.
I blinked in shock, and was tempted to argue - but I held my tongue, and as a result I wrote nearly 2k on her story in just the one day.
I have something else to confess: My middle sister had to have speech therapy when she was four. She couldn't talk properly - because I kept talking for her.
Turns out, I haven't changed: I just do it to my characters instead of RL people.
Maybe I should send my characters to speech therapy *grin*
Listen to your characters. They know who they are, and who they need to be. Don't try to force them to do things that aren't true to their nature - and if you listen, if you let them characterise themselves, they won't sound the same. They can't.
Have you ever had characters who sounded the same? Have you ever realised you were steering your characters in a direction they weren't supposed to go? What did you do to overcome this?
07 October 2009
Patterns
This post follows on from Monday's post last week on examining your voice in writing. I was really interested to see how people described my voice; it was all very positive, which was touching. Thank you :)
I’d like to build on the concept of voice a little bit today and talk about patterns in writing. I mentioned last week that I could tell who had written what from my CC friends, and if you take another look, you’ll notice that mostly what I referred to was patterns in their writing.
Voice – patterns; patterns – voice. Same thing? Maybe.
So what patterns can I see in my own writing?
First of all, characters. The friend who I quoted last post described my characters as mostly being softies with a core of steel. Let’s have a look at how that holds up:
Athara, from The Black Gates – Yup, definitely true here. Athara is forced into becoming her town’s Healer when her mother dies unexpectedly, and for a long while she’s overwhelmed by it all - and then she realises that no one is going to step in and solve the problem for her; she has to do it herself.
Callie from Magician's Thunder - she'd kill me if she thought I was calling her a softie, but really, she is. She doesn't want to get involved, using the excuse that the entire idea of magicians is stupid - but really, she's afraid. It's not until her little sister goes missing that she realises how strong she can be...
The original Jess from Jesscapades - A tricky one, here. Reading through the draft, she comes across softer than she ought to be. I'm working on that for the next draft.
And to round it out with the boys, Logan from Logan's Prize, the unnamed MC from Neighbourhood Watch, and Toby from Guns and Ostriches.
Also, a lot of my characters seem to be YA. I wonder if that's because that's truly what I enjoy writing more, or if it's my 'lack of life experience' (frog, how I hate that phrase) showing through.
Settings: Well, since I write urban & contemporary fantasy, we're of course going to list suburban and urban settings. But recently, also, schools! We have the Evil Overlord Academy, the Shard Academy, the Secret Breaker Academy, Fiddlefern Elementary, Olivia Batterby's school,
Themes: Redemption. Confronting your inner darkness. Making peace with yourself. Fighting for what's right. Making peace with your life.
Other Randoms: Souls. Glass and other shiny objects. Magic being tied somehow to colour; colour in general. Whenever I think of magic, I see an iridescent shimmery rainbow glow cast over everything. Animals, both made-up and real. Sisters. Demons o.O
So, how about you? What totally random things show up often in your writing?
I’d like to build on the concept of voice a little bit today and talk about patterns in writing. I mentioned last week that I could tell who had written what from my CC friends, and if you take another look, you’ll notice that mostly what I referred to was patterns in their writing.
Voice – patterns; patterns – voice. Same thing? Maybe.
So what patterns can I see in my own writing?
First of all, characters. The friend who I quoted last post described my characters as mostly being softies with a core of steel. Let’s have a look at how that holds up:
Athara, from The Black Gates – Yup, definitely true here. Athara is forced into becoming her town’s Healer when her mother dies unexpectedly, and for a long while she’s overwhelmed by it all - and then she realises that no one is going to step in and solve the problem for her; she has to do it herself.
Callie from Magician's Thunder - she'd kill me if she thought I was calling her a softie, but really, she is. She doesn't want to get involved, using the excuse that the entire idea of magicians is stupid - but really, she's afraid. It's not until her little sister goes missing that she realises how strong she can be...
The original Jess from Jesscapades - A tricky one, here. Reading through the draft, she comes across softer than she ought to be. I'm working on that for the next draft.
And to round it out with the boys, Logan from Logan's Prize, the unnamed MC from Neighbourhood Watch, and Toby from Guns and Ostriches.
Also, a lot of my characters seem to be YA. I wonder if that's because that's truly what I enjoy writing more, or if it's my 'lack of life experience' (frog, how I hate that phrase) showing through.
Settings: Well, since I write urban & contemporary fantasy, we're of course going to list suburban and urban settings. But recently, also, schools! We have the Evil Overlord Academy, the Shard Academy, the Secret Breaker Academy, Fiddlefern Elementary, Olivia Batterby's school,
Themes: Redemption. Confronting your inner darkness. Making peace with yourself. Fighting for what's right. Making peace with your life.
Other Randoms: Souls. Glass and other shiny objects. Magic being tied somehow to colour; colour in general. Whenever I think of magic, I see an iridescent shimmery rainbow glow cast over everything. Animals, both made-up and real. Sisters. Demons o.O
So, how about you? What totally random things show up often in your writing?
02 October 2009
Revealing All
Meant to combine this with the last post, but I forgot: the answers to this week's Most Asked Question: Who Were Those Writers?
First up:
One tends to be sparse on description. She abuses commas horrendously, the genre's either sci fi or smart alec fantasy, and the characters are all cool-headed and logical. Everything's a puzzle to be solved.
This is none other than my kindred twin, Liana Brooks.
Another I can tell because everything is tinged with darkness; there are descriptions that range from lush to sparse, but underneath it all there's always the sense that something is just about to go wrong. Her characters are usually emotionally torn, often abused, dwelling in the grey spaces between life and death, good and evil - and fighting back against the world to protect themselves or those they love.
This one is prolific, ferret-loving overlordess, Merc.
And the third one I didn't finish writing! So I'll finish it now:
A third I can tell right away because of the sheer awesomeness of the world building, and the slow, meandering narrative. Her characters have a snarky wit and a charming sense of melodrama and are possessed with fascinating insights into the way the world works. Her plots revolve around intrigue, and her narratives are full of exotic biology and scheming politics.
The one who can make everything awesome just by describing it, The Feral Biologist, Sparky.
So there you go. That's what I think of you ladies :P:D
Anyone get all three correct?
First up:
One tends to be sparse on description. She abuses commas horrendously, the genre's either sci fi or smart alec fantasy, and the characters are all cool-headed and logical. Everything's a puzzle to be solved.
This is none other than my kindred twin, Liana Brooks.
Another I can tell because everything is tinged with darkness; there are descriptions that range from lush to sparse, but underneath it all there's always the sense that something is just about to go wrong. Her characters are usually emotionally torn, often abused, dwelling in the grey spaces between life and death, good and evil - and fighting back against the world to protect themselves or those they love.
This one is prolific, ferret-loving overlordess, Merc.
And the third one I didn't finish writing! So I'll finish it now:
A third I can tell right away because of the sheer awesomeness of the world building, and the slow, meandering narrative. Her characters have a snarky wit and a charming sense of melodrama and are possessed with fascinating insights into the way the world works. Her plots revolve around intrigue, and her narratives are full of exotic biology and scheming politics.
The one who can make everything awesome just by describing it, The Feral Biologist, Sparky.
So there you go. That's what I think of you ladies :P:D
Anyone get all three correct?
28 September 2009
What Do You Sound Like?
Fluffy pink elephants with shiny toenails, it's Monday already. And I didn't post on Friday. Oi.
Anyone got a spare vial of Organisation they want to loan me? No? Pity.
First up today, thank you to everyone who's asked (very interesting) questions! If you haven't asked a question yet, take the opportunity now to head down to last week's post and ask me a question. I'll answer them all on Friday :)
Today, a revisitation to the concept of voice. If you don't follow Liana Brooks's blog(and you should!), you might have missed this awesome article on voicethat she linked to. It's by a food blogger, not a writer, but it's still pertinent - and more, the advice it gives, I'd just done the day before I read it!
Confused yet? *grin*
The advice that Garrett gives is to get someone else to analyse your voice for you. And oddly enough, that's exactly what I'd done the day before I read the post.
Voice is a tricky thing, and it's often hard to pinpoint what your own voice is. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to recognise other people's voices. I can pick up anything by any of my writer friends on Critique Circle and know right away who's written it.
One tends to be sparse on description. She abuses commas horrendously, the genre's either sci fi or smart alec fantasy, and the characters are all cool-headed and logical. Everything's a puzzle to be solved.
Another I can tell because everything is tinged with darkness; there are descriptions that range from lush to sparse, but underneath it all there's always the sense that something is just about to go wrong. Her characters are usually emotionally torn, often abused, dwelling in the grey spaces between life and death, good and evil - and fighting back against the world to protect themselves or those they love.
A third I can tell right away because of the sheer awesomeness of the world building, the slow, meandering narrative, and the melodramatic, snarky wit of the main characters. Her characters have
So what about me? How do people know they're reading my work?
Well, I've only asked one person so far, so it's not exactly widely research. If you're a reasonably regular reader of my writing, feel free to comment on what you think my voice is like in the comments ;)
But according to the one reader I questioned, this is how she knows she's reading me:
"Your characters tend to be softies. They're people that look like easy marks and push-overs, but wind up having a core of steel. The humor tends to be present but light; cheerful. The darkness in most of your work is either very sad or comical; your books are the kind that don't make readers reach for brain bleach, snap at people, or feel worse after reading."
*grin* I don't know about you, but I'm pretty happy with that as an analysis of my work at present. And it's true: I can't write a depressing ending to save my life. Nor do I want to, really. I like to read books that make me feel like they were worth reading, tha I've learned something important from the process, and that my life will be better and enriched because of it. For me, books with depressing endings don't meet any of these criteria, so it's little wonder I don't write them.
So, now it's your turn! You have options: Either hunt down someone to give a quick paragraph comment on what they think your voice is, and post it in the comments here, OR if you've read some of my work, you can comment on my voice.
Either way.
But it's quite surprising how much you learn about your writing from this exercising - trying to characterise others' voices equally as much as getting them to characterise yours.
So, what's your voice sound like?
Anyone got a spare vial of Organisation they want to loan me? No? Pity.
First up today, thank you to everyone who's asked (very interesting) questions! If you haven't asked a question yet, take the opportunity now to head down to last week's post and ask me a question. I'll answer them all on Friday :)
Today, a revisitation to the concept of voice. If you don't follow Liana Brooks's blog(and you should!), you might have missed this awesome article on voicethat she linked to. It's by a food blogger, not a writer, but it's still pertinent - and more, the advice it gives, I'd just done the day before I read it!
Confused yet? *grin*
The advice that Garrett gives is to get someone else to analyse your voice for you. And oddly enough, that's exactly what I'd done the day before I read the post.
Voice is a tricky thing, and it's often hard to pinpoint what your own voice is. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to recognise other people's voices. I can pick up anything by any of my writer friends on Critique Circle and know right away who's written it.
One tends to be sparse on description. She abuses commas horrendously, the genre's either sci fi or smart alec fantasy, and the characters are all cool-headed and logical. Everything's a puzzle to be solved.
Another I can tell because everything is tinged with darkness; there are descriptions that range from lush to sparse, but underneath it all there's always the sense that something is just about to go wrong. Her characters are usually emotionally torn, often abused, dwelling in the grey spaces between life and death, good and evil - and fighting back against the world to protect themselves or those they love.
A third I can tell right away because of the sheer awesomeness of the world building, the slow, meandering narrative, and the melodramatic, snarky wit of the main characters. Her characters have
So what about me? How do people know they're reading my work?
Well, I've only asked one person so far, so it's not exactly widely research. If you're a reasonably regular reader of my writing, feel free to comment on what you think my voice is like in the comments ;)
But according to the one reader I questioned, this is how she knows she's reading me:
"Your characters tend to be softies. They're people that look like easy marks and push-overs, but wind up having a core of steel. The humor tends to be present but light; cheerful. The darkness in most of your work is either very sad or comical; your books are the kind that don't make readers reach for brain bleach, snap at people, or feel worse after reading."
*grin* I don't know about you, but I'm pretty happy with that as an analysis of my work at present. And it's true: I can't write a depressing ending to save my life. Nor do I want to, really. I like to read books that make me feel like they were worth reading, tha I've learned something important from the process, and that my life will be better and enriched because of it. For me, books with depressing endings don't meet any of these criteria, so it's little wonder I don't write them.
So, now it's your turn! You have options: Either hunt down someone to give a quick paragraph comment on what they think your voice is, and post it in the comments here, OR if you've read some of my work, you can comment on my voice.
Either way.
But it's quite surprising how much you learn about your writing from this exercising - trying to characterise others' voices equally as much as getting them to characterise yours.
So, what's your voice sound like?
22 June 2009
And A Voice Called In The Darkness...
Voice.
It's that elusive thing that we all know we're supposed to have, but aren't exactly sure how we get it. Agents and editors and kindly writer friends tell us it's a good thing; we agree. We kind of know the definition - it's the way of writing that an author has that makes them different from others.
We need to be different, unique; we know that.
But how?
Not so long ago, I would have had no clue about how to answer this question, but finishing Jess has been a wonderful experience, not just because I finally got it finished (only my second completed novel), but because I've learned so much in the process.
I'm beginning to hear my own voice.
It's such a fragile thing that I'm not even sure how to put it into words - or even whether to do so might not somehow break the limited understanding that I do have. But for the sake of the blog - for you, who read it - I'd like to try.
I spoke last week about how Jesscapades is a different story now to what I'd planned. That's okay. This is pretty standard state of affairs. You can never know everything there is to know about a story until it's written - and even then you won't know it all. (A favourite writing quote of mine: How can I know what I think until I see what I say?)
But in the process of becoming, Jesscapades has shown me not just what it can be, but what my writing can - and should - be.
Originally, Jesscapades was intended to be action-y, fast-paced, full of cool action scenes and fights and technology. But looking back over the story, there isn't actually a lot of that in there. Oh, sure, there are a few fight scenes (we are talking about a guild of assassins here, after all), and there are a couple of mentions of technology - but on the whole, the focus of the story is on the main character, and on her development: how she confronts her past and changes as a person.
When I first realised that, I was sad. "I've failed," I thought. "I tried to write an action novel and I failed!"
But thinking on it, I realised something else: Failure is relative. Okay, so I didn't do what I set out to do - but I certainly did something else. And the book certainly isn't bad.
So what did I do? Well, I'm still not 100% sure - I'm looking forward to reading the novel with fresh eyes once I come back from holidays - but I do know a few things. My novels will always be character-driven. Sure, Jesscapades has an awesome plot, and some Really Cool Things happen; but it took me a while to find my focus in the novel, and when I did, I realised it was actually all about the character.
And then there's that voice thing. It's so hard to articulate, but after 70,000 words on this novel and, let's see *checks stat sheet*, about 260,000 words of writing over the previous two years, I'm finally beginning to sense my voice. It's somewhere in between ornate and sparse (wow, that's descriptive; I mean, don't all voices fall somewhere in that range? o.O), probably more towards the sparse end of the spectrum, but there are moments of worldbuilding that really seem to shine. The dialogue seems to have a rhythm to it, and I can feel myself becoming intimately familiar with my own pattern of syntax; my choice of words, my turn of phrase, the length and rhythm of my paragraphs - all these things are working together to develop a voice - and slowly, slowly, I'm beginning to hear it.
What about you? Can you hear your own voice yet, or is it something you're still developing? Do you think we can ever hear our own voices clearly?
It's that elusive thing that we all know we're supposed to have, but aren't exactly sure how we get it. Agents and editors and kindly writer friends tell us it's a good thing; we agree. We kind of know the definition - it's the way of writing that an author has that makes them different from others.
We need to be different, unique; we know that.
But how?
Not so long ago, I would have had no clue about how to answer this question, but finishing Jess has been a wonderful experience, not just because I finally got it finished (only my second completed novel), but because I've learned so much in the process.
I'm beginning to hear my own voice.
It's such a fragile thing that I'm not even sure how to put it into words - or even whether to do so might not somehow break the limited understanding that I do have. But for the sake of the blog - for you, who read it - I'd like to try.
I spoke last week about how Jesscapades is a different story now to what I'd planned. That's okay. This is pretty standard state of affairs. You can never know everything there is to know about a story until it's written - and even then you won't know it all. (A favourite writing quote of mine: How can I know what I think until I see what I say?)
But in the process of becoming, Jesscapades has shown me not just what it can be, but what my writing can - and should - be.
Originally, Jesscapades was intended to be action-y, fast-paced, full of cool action scenes and fights and technology. But looking back over the story, there isn't actually a lot of that in there. Oh, sure, there are a few fight scenes (we are talking about a guild of assassins here, after all), and there are a couple of mentions of technology - but on the whole, the focus of the story is on the main character, and on her development: how she confronts her past and changes as a person.
When I first realised that, I was sad. "I've failed," I thought. "I tried to write an action novel and I failed!"
But thinking on it, I realised something else: Failure is relative. Okay, so I didn't do what I set out to do - but I certainly did something else. And the book certainly isn't bad.
So what did I do? Well, I'm still not 100% sure - I'm looking forward to reading the novel with fresh eyes once I come back from holidays - but I do know a few things. My novels will always be character-driven. Sure, Jesscapades has an awesome plot, and some Really Cool Things happen; but it took me a while to find my focus in the novel, and when I did, I realised it was actually all about the character.
And then there's that voice thing. It's so hard to articulate, but after 70,000 words on this novel and, let's see *checks stat sheet*, about 260,000 words of writing over the previous two years, I'm finally beginning to sense my voice. It's somewhere in between ornate and sparse (wow, that's descriptive; I mean, don't all voices fall somewhere in that range? o.O), probably more towards the sparse end of the spectrum, but there are moments of worldbuilding that really seem to shine. The dialogue seems to have a rhythm to it, and I can feel myself becoming intimately familiar with my own pattern of syntax; my choice of words, my turn of phrase, the length and rhythm of my paragraphs - all these things are working together to develop a voice - and slowly, slowly, I'm beginning to hear it.
What about you? Can you hear your own voice yet, or is it something you're still developing? Do you think we can ever hear our own voices clearly?
05 December 2008
Link-a-bet Soup
*sigh* I was supposed to post on The Sentence today, however my brain has gone awol, my back is broken, and 'tis subsequently impossible to think. I'm very sorry. The Sentence post will come next week, I promise :)
Besides, it's traditional to post something slackerly on a Friday O:)
EDITED TO ADD: I totally did not realise that in order to access the Inkfever Download Area, you were required to have a pbwiki account. This was a mistake on my behalf, which has now been rectified: anyone is now able to view this site, with or without a pbwiki account.
Re the title of this post: Yes, no more Link Salads. I completely thieved the concept from a well-known agent, and it's high time I got original and came up with my own name ;):D
A whole bunch of random, interesting sites this week. First off, have you ever stressed about where your gold comes from? If you're like most people, probably not - people are generally more worried about where it goes O:) But, for the eco-friendly among us, I present GreenKarat.
And on the topic of the environment, you simply must watch this. It's half an hour well invested ;)
Which leads into this article - when science fiction morphed into politics.
Speaking of politics, censorship is something that's been discussed a bit lately. Neil Gaiman has his say.
But really, in the midst of an economic crisis, can we talk about writing anything as a career? Perhaps we're all condemned to be starving writers...
Though at least, if we write, we have a voice - and if you need help with that, this is a great article on what voice is. And if we have voice, it's because we have something to say - that's why we're writers, after all, right? So, who are we writing for?
Of course, the whole crisis thing could just make you want to go out and scream, or do stupid things like (gross warning) tattoo your eyeballs....
Or you could just get eaten by a velociraptor. That works too.
I could survive for 54 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor
Besides, it's traditional to post something slackerly on a Friday O:)
EDITED TO ADD: I totally did not realise that in order to access the Inkfever Download Area, you were required to have a pbwiki account. This was a mistake on my behalf, which has now been rectified: anyone is now able to view this site, with or without a pbwiki account.
Re the title of this post: Yes, no more Link Salads. I completely thieved the concept from a well-known agent, and it's high time I got original and came up with my own name ;):D
A whole bunch of random, interesting sites this week. First off, have you ever stressed about where your gold comes from? If you're like most people, probably not - people are generally more worried about where it goes O:) But, for the eco-friendly among us, I present GreenKarat.
And on the topic of the environment, you simply must watch this. It's half an hour well invested ;)
Which leads into this article - when science fiction morphed into politics.
Speaking of politics, censorship is something that's been discussed a bit lately. Neil Gaiman has his say.
But really, in the midst of an economic crisis, can we talk about writing anything as a career? Perhaps we're all condemned to be starving writers...
Though at least, if we write, we have a voice - and if you need help with that, this is a great article on what voice is. And if we have voice, it's because we have something to say - that's why we're writers, after all, right? So, who are we writing for?
Of course, the whole crisis thing could just make you want to go out and scream, or do stupid things like (gross warning) tattoo your eyeballs....
Or you could just get eaten by a velociraptor. That works too.
I could survive for 54 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor
Created by Bunk Beds.net
13 October 2008
Book Review: Armed and Magical by Lisa Shearin
Woohoo! 1 down, 156 to go :D
Quick Stats
Genre - Urban fantasy, with a street detective-esque bent
Length - about 300 pages
Author - Lisa Shearin
Overview
This is book 2 in the Raine Benares series. Raine has arrived at the Isle of Mid, and the Saghred has been placed in the Guardians' most secure containment rooms - only they're not terribly containing, not for the Saghred with its seemingly limitless power. But that's not Raine's real problem. The real problem is that there are about a bazillion different factions on the Isle, and they all want a piece of her - or her in pieces. Some of them aren't fussy.
First Impressions
Fun! Oh yes, this stands up to my expectations well :) Just like Magic Lost, Trouble Found, the action starts right on page one, setting in place a chain of events that's exciting, dangerous, and above all, fun. I love Raine and her snarky, street-smart attitude :D
High Points
The general snarkiness of Raine, and the awesome, action-filled plot! She has a truly loveable cast of characters, from the rogue pirate Phealan to the sweet and not-quote-so-innocent-anymore Piaras, to the dreamy Guardian Michael, steamy badboy Tam... Ya know. The works B-)
And the plot just never stops; the pace is relentless from page one, and you're never quite sure what's going to blow up next. Lovely. Just the way things should be.
Low Points
The only minor qualm I have with this series of books is that, essentially, they are 'fluff'. I love and adore these books, and they have had a huge impact on my own writing - but they are ultimately there for entertainment. There isn't really any 'deeper meaning' behind them, and thus far in the two books I've read, there isn't a whole lot of character growth in Raine.
Some days, though, you just gotta have something that's entertaining, and easy on the brain... So there's nothing quintessentially wrong with fluff :)
Rating
So, because five stars, or marks-out-of-ten, or whatever, are boring, I'm going to rate my squillions of TBR books by where they're most suitable to read. I know, I'm a little odd, but work with me here...
So, this one has quite literally been my bathroom book for the last week %-) (Just fyi, my bathroom includes the bath, the toilet, the sink and the shower). I haven't really had time to read, but I started it in the bath last week and couldn't bear putting it away until I had time to finish it. So I've been reading it in snatches every time I'm in the bathroom.
It's a pretty good bathroom book, because it's so action-packed you can get a great deal of entertainment out of each chapter, while the plot is linear enough that you don't forget what was happening between times. The strong voice helps to keep the story fresh in your memory, too. The single only problem with it being a bathroom book is the carried-away factor, where someone bashes on the door and you realise you've been there for fifteen minutes O:)
And I confess, as I got to the climax, the book became a never-leave-my-side book until I finished it :D
Quick Stats
Genre - Urban fantasy, with a street detective-esque bent
Length - about 300 pages
Author - Lisa Shearin
Overview
This is book 2 in the Raine Benares series. Raine has arrived at the Isle of Mid, and the Saghred has been placed in the Guardians' most secure containment rooms - only they're not terribly containing, not for the Saghred with its seemingly limitless power. But that's not Raine's real problem. The real problem is that there are about a bazillion different factions on the Isle, and they all want a piece of her - or her in pieces. Some of them aren't fussy.
First Impressions
Fun! Oh yes, this stands up to my expectations well :) Just like Magic Lost, Trouble Found, the action starts right on page one, setting in place a chain of events that's exciting, dangerous, and above all, fun. I love Raine and her snarky, street-smart attitude :D
High Points
The general snarkiness of Raine, and the awesome, action-filled plot! She has a truly loveable cast of characters, from the rogue pirate Phealan to the sweet and not-quote-so-innocent-anymore Piaras, to the dreamy Guardian Michael, steamy badboy Tam... Ya know. The works B-)
And the plot just never stops; the pace is relentless from page one, and you're never quite sure what's going to blow up next. Lovely. Just the way things should be.
Low Points
The only minor qualm I have with this series of books is that, essentially, they are 'fluff'. I love and adore these books, and they have had a huge impact on my own writing - but they are ultimately there for entertainment. There isn't really any 'deeper meaning' behind them, and thus far in the two books I've read, there isn't a whole lot of character growth in Raine.
Some days, though, you just gotta have something that's entertaining, and easy on the brain... So there's nothing quintessentially wrong with fluff :)
Rating
So, because five stars, or marks-out-of-ten, or whatever, are boring, I'm going to rate my squillions of TBR books by where they're most suitable to read. I know, I'm a little odd, but work with me here...
So, this one has quite literally been my bathroom book for the last week %-) (Just fyi, my bathroom includes the bath, the toilet, the sink and the shower). I haven't really had time to read, but I started it in the bath last week and couldn't bear putting it away until I had time to finish it. So I've been reading it in snatches every time I'm in the bathroom.
It's a pretty good bathroom book, because it's so action-packed you can get a great deal of entertainment out of each chapter, while the plot is linear enough that you don't forget what was happening between times. The strong voice helps to keep the story fresh in your memory, too. The single only problem with it being a bathroom book is the carried-away factor, where someone bashes on the door and you realise you've been there for fifteen minutes O:)
And I confess, as I got to the climax, the book became a never-leave-my-side book until I finished it :D
22 July 2008
Absent Because of Beginnings
Today's title is somewhat non-sensical, but I like the sound of it, so it's staying :P As it suggests, I have been a little absent from the blog this past weekend because of beginnings - one hundred and fifteen first pages, to be precise, as posted over on Miss Snark's First Victim. I'm proud to say that I've read and commented on every one, and also read what no-longer-secret agent Holly Root had to say about them all. And I'm especially proud because with the ones that I commented on before she did, we agreed on nearly every one ;)
Why is this worthy of a post, you ask? Well, my good friend and Twin of Darkness and Good, who goes by the name Liana Brooks, posted a couple of days ago about which openings she liked and why. Which made me think I ought to do a similar post, since similar thoughts have been coruscating throughout my brain for the last few days. (Yes, coruscating. They're very shiny thoughts.) I'm amazed by how much this competition has taught me, and I know that once again my own writing will be made stronger because of it.
So, what struck me about the openings that I loved, versus the openings that were just so-so? Firstly, and mostly, voice. Stories that opened with a unique, identifiable voice that was in some way quirky had me immediately. It almost didn't matter what the subject of the story actually was, if the voice was great, I was hooked. (I say almost because there was this one that had a great voice, but was about a visit to the dentist... Others liked it, but I just couldn't feel that interested. Probably because I've never had a negative experience with a dentist, I'd say.)
And this is something that I know I need to work on for TP - Heather's characterisation is still all OVER the place, and she needs a solid character with a great voice to really make the book sing. But it has potential, and I'm glad of that much :)
Other things I noticed:
* Big paragraphs of description really suck. I skim. That even relates to paragraphs that may not actually be description, but look long and dense. Hoorah for small paragraphs!
* Punctuation, grammar, and spelling really, really, really count. Especially comma slices. (Death to splices! *waves pitchfork*)
And finally, the other biggie: conflict. You may recall that I wrote an article on conflict a while back, basically saying that there are lots of types and that it's the meat and bread of a story. Beginnings are no different. Even if the beginning has a good voice, is clear of mistakes and has nice sized paras, there has to be conflict. And more, the conflict has to be relevant. There has to be a sense that the conflict portrayed matters somehow within the context of the story.
So, personal checklist for beginnings: voice, conflict, bite-sized paragraphs, and no errors. Easy! :D
Why is this worthy of a post, you ask? Well, my good friend and Twin of Darkness and Good, who goes by the name Liana Brooks, posted a couple of days ago about which openings she liked and why. Which made me think I ought to do a similar post, since similar thoughts have been coruscating throughout my brain for the last few days. (Yes, coruscating. They're very shiny thoughts.) I'm amazed by how much this competition has taught me, and I know that once again my own writing will be made stronger because of it.
So, what struck me about the openings that I loved, versus the openings that were just so-so? Firstly, and mostly, voice. Stories that opened with a unique, identifiable voice that was in some way quirky had me immediately. It almost didn't matter what the subject of the story actually was, if the voice was great, I was hooked. (I say almost because there was this one that had a great voice, but was about a visit to the dentist... Others liked it, but I just couldn't feel that interested. Probably because I've never had a negative experience with a dentist, I'd say.)
And this is something that I know I need to work on for TP - Heather's characterisation is still all OVER the place, and she needs a solid character with a great voice to really make the book sing. But it has potential, and I'm glad of that much :)
Other things I noticed:
* Big paragraphs of description really suck. I skim. That even relates to paragraphs that may not actually be description, but look long and dense. Hoorah for small paragraphs!
* Punctuation, grammar, and spelling really, really, really count. Especially comma slices. (Death to splices! *waves pitchfork*)
And finally, the other biggie: conflict. You may recall that I wrote an article on conflict a while back, basically saying that there are lots of types and that it's the meat and bread of a story. Beginnings are no different. Even if the beginning has a good voice, is clear of mistakes and has nice sized paras, there has to be conflict. And more, the conflict has to be relevant. There has to be a sense that the conflict portrayed matters somehow within the context of the story.
So, personal checklist for beginnings: voice, conflict, bite-sized paragraphs, and no errors. Easy! :D
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