Everyone Has Something To Hide

This almost sounds like something from my previous career. For ten odd years—and dang, was they odd!—I worked as a private detective. But as true as the title of this Monday’s blog may be for those sleuthingly-inclined, I actually learned the phrase this past weekend at my local RWA chapter’s Author and Agent Day mini-conference.

We were blessed to have mystery author Hallie Ephron (she of the Dr. Peter Zak mystery series) as one of the guest speakers.

Hallie is an amazingly good speaker. In the two hours of her dang-near non-stop, fun, witty, fascinating instruction, she had so many gems for authors and authors-to-be that I don’t have space to list them all here (hint: she has a How-To: Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel). But I’d like to touch on one of her points for those of you who are authors or authors-to-be. And I’d also like to expound on that point for those of you who haven’t the slightest interest in penning your own tome but want to know more about Linnea Sinclair’s upcoming books and characters. (It’s not always easy to address both parties that read this blog but I’m going to give it a go.)

Hallie said that one of the important thing to remember when your planning or writing your book is that Everyone Has Something To Hide. Granted, she writes mysteries. I write science fiction/romance. But the statement is applicable across the board and across genres.

Why? To paraphrase my Writing Heroes, Dwight Swain and Jack Bickham: a story is a recounting of how someone deals with change.

“A general rule, across the board, has been that you should start with trouble...Which immediately brings up another question: What do you need, to
start a story? You need change.” (Dwight Swain, Techniques of the Selling Writer)

Nothing creates more trouble—or change—than having to deal with something you do not want to deal with. And on the very lowest scale of motivation, that—itself—could be the character’s secret: I don’t want to have to do this today. And then everything in the story forces the character to do exactly what she doesn’t want to do (and therein lies even more change—the character must change her routine, change her motivations, change her priorities, change her thinking, change the excuses she had planned and make up new ones and so on and so on... )

Most (okay, all) of use procrastinate at some point in time. None of us likes to admit it. We weave all sorts of little white lies as to why [fill in the blank] hasn’t been done, why the front walk hasn’t been shoveled, why the taxes haven’t been filed, why the sales report hasn’t been finished. On the surface, all innocuous things.

But to a writer, a potential for trouble. A potential for plot.

Why hasn’t the front walk been shoveled? (Is there a dead body under the snow? )

Why haven’t the taxes been filed? (Can I spell e-m-b-e-z-z-l-e-m-e-n-t?)

Why hasn’t the sales report been finished? (Is there a drinking or drug abuse problem keeping someone from performing their duties?)

Force the character to confront the reason why something hasn’t been done, and you start upon the path of the revelation of a secret that he does not, under any circumstances, want revealed. Something he wants to stay hidden. Because everyone has something to hide.

And this doesn’t only work—as I said—in mysteries.

Let me jump into the BSP (Blatant Self Promotion) venue for a moment and talk about my upcoming (February 27, 2007!) release, Games of Command. Science Fiction Romance. Loaded, absolutely chock full with secrets and subsequent revelations that incite change. That spawn trouble.

And one of the biggest ones has little to do with space battles or the like. It has to do with the fact that Admiral Branden Kel-Paten—a bio-cybernetic construct—has bypassed his programming, re-accessed his human side and fallen in love.

That’s Kel-Paten’s secret and biggest fear: he loves Tasha Sebastian, his former nemesis and the current captain of his flagship.

What’s the change, the trouble he faces because of it?

1 – He could be reprogrammed or even terminated if his superiors find out
2 – This emotion creates a hole in his defenses that an enemy could use to control him
3 – His sense of self-worth would be devastated if Tasha finds out what he feels for her—and rejects him

Oddly—or perhaps not so, being this is sci fi romance—it’s the last item he fears the most.

Secrets = trouble = change. Change = conflict and as the esteemed Jacqueline here will tell you, conflict is the essence of story.

So when you’re crafting your story and your characters, think about their secrets, even what might be their seemingly innocuous ones. What fears do they hold in their hearts? What could they not face if those things were revealed? How far would they go to prevent revelation?

Keep in mind a secret doesn’t have to be a dead body under the snow. It can be something as simple as a lack of self-worth (which, I assure you, is far more common than a dead body under the snow but can be equally as motivating).

And when you’re choosing a book to read from the shelves (or your friend’s TBR pile), take a moment to read the back cover blurb and an inside snippet, if there is one (or go to the author’s site and seek it out). Are secrets hinted at? Will the revelation of same hold dire consequences? If so, buy/borrow the book. You’re in for a rollicking good read.

And in the spirit of continuing BSP, I will include Games of Command’s back cover blurb:

The universe isn’t what it used to be. With the new Alliance between the Triad and the United Coalition, Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian finds herself serving
under her former nemesis, biocybe Admiral Branden Kel-Paten—and doing her best to hide a deadly past. But when an injured mercenary winds up in their ship’s sickbay—and into the bands of her best friend, Dr. Eden Fynn—Sass’s efforts may be wasted …

Wanted rebel Jace Serafino has information that could expose all of Sass’s secrets, tear the fragile Alliance apart—and end Sass’s career if Kel-Paten discovers them. But the biocybe has something to hide as well, something once thought impossible for his kind to possess: feelings...for Sass. Soon it’s clear that their prisoner could bring down everything they once believed was worth dying for—and everything they now have to live for…

Happy reading and writing, ~Linnea

It's all about the Horny Berries

"What's it about?" the potential Reader asks at a book-signing.

I panic. I know I'm not good at this. More often than not, I say too much, and bore people. On the four hour drive down to Cincinnati for this signing, I've rehearsed over and over, with the loving help of my biggest critic. My thoughts spin like a tickertape parade.

Do I say, "Horny Berries"?

Do I say, "Remember that Harrison Ford movie where he was a hard drinking pilot who crash landed with --I think it was Ann Heche, playing a Vogue editor-- on an uninhabited island, and they had to survive. Only it's different, because in my book, the hero and heroine are politically embarrassing alien royalty, and someone is trying to kill them--"

"Someone tried to kill Harrison Ford," my critic snarled.

"Those were pirates. It's not the same as assassins sent to find them. Anyway, I didn't see that film until after I'd written Insufficient Mating Material."

"Who cares?" My critic shrugs. "What's different?"

"My book has this 'Face Off' element. The hero has had his face changed. He's the same guy that the heroine fancies herself in love with, but he can't tell her, and she doesn't know. Since she thinks she's in love with someone else, it's the worst thing in the world for her... to be marooned with a horny stranger."

My critic grunts.

"Oh, I'm soooo lame!" I wail.

Critic laughs.

"And, they don't have a plane-load of supplies to live off. After they are shot down, their plane sinks..."

"You shouldn't call it a plane if it's science fiction," critic objects.

"Their two-seater spaceship sinks in eight feet..."

"Shouldn't you use alien words for measuring?" he interrupts again.

"How polite is that, when I only have a couple of seconds to get my message across? The couple has to survive with what they are wearing and what they can find, like my book's survival consultant Survivorman..."

"Good! You should talk more about Survivorman."

"I don't want to give the impression that the book is about him. It's futuristic romantic fiction. It's not even quite "Alien Survivorman with Sex." It's true that Les and I both use entertainment to communicate some vital --and accurate-- wilderness survival advice, and Les read my book, and gave me some extra tips, and set me straight on a detail or two that I got wrong... And he gave me the cover quote. Anyway, when I show people my poster, it's the horny-berries that they ask about."

Critic snorts. "Are there horny berries in the book?"
(He hasn't read it.)

"No, but..."

"Can you say HORNY in a bookstore?"

"There are horny toads. They're respectable. Horny doesn't just mean 'in the mood to be sexually active' but it does suggest to the reader that this is a book with sexually graphic language. Berries are an important food source, but if they are alien berries, you have to find out if they are edible or poisonous. You start by smearing a little juice on your wrist... anyway, my hero does all that, to the heroine, and at first she thinks he's building up to kinky sex.

"Of course, when she realizes that he's using her as a food-testing guinea pig, she is furious. And very depressed. And, she is a fashionista, a bit like Paris Hilton only crossed with the most scandalous female member of any European royal family you can think of. She doesn't like having to wear a plain white, man's T-shirt. So the hero uses berries' juice to tie-die her T-shirt... while she's wearing it."

Meanwhile, while I try to remember my best pitch, my potential Reader is reading the blurb on the back cover. The keywords there are "shot down", "failing to mate", "guitar glue", "psychic sleuths", "disguises", "a killer", a "damning tattoo" on the hero's "tool of seduction", and there is Survivorman's quote.

There's no mention of Horny Berries. I came up with horny berries when making the Insufficient Mating Material book promotion video. One has about eight frames (excluding frames for titles and credits) to tell a story, and between three and five words per frame. I should probably throw out something new.

But, it's too late. While I've been tongue-tied, my potential reader has moved on. Next time, I'll do the 'Carpe Scrotum' thing.

"It's about horny-berries," I'll say in my best BBC English voice.


Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

(Speaking!!! and signing Sunday February 11th, 2pm to 4pm at the Barnes and Noble on Telegraph and Maple, in Bloomfield Hills)

Spike

Spike is a classic example of a hero’s journey. Spike first appeared on Buffy as a bad guy who would eventually be killed off but instead turned out to be the one who saved the world and the girl in the final episode.

How did Spike go from bad guy to hero?

They writers put him through extreme pressure.


SPIKE

Spike started out as a villain. A punk rock vampire who treated people like walking happy meals and slayers as the really cool prize in the box. His rush was the kill and he kept it simple. Spike must feed. Spike must kill to feed. Spike was the essence of Evil. Not a good guy at heart. He didn’t have a heart. But Spike was very popular. For those of you who don’t know him think Billy Idol with an aristocratic sniff. So how did the writers turn Spike from bad guy to save the world?

1. They gave him a passion. Druscilla. Spike cared deeply for Dru as much as a man without a soul could. He would have died for her. And that gave him a tiny spark of humanity. Why did he love her? Because she was the first woman to treat him like a man and she saved him from his humdrum existence. “I may be loves bitch but at least I’m man enough to admit it.”

2. They gave him a back story. We find out that Spike was a poncey ickle mommie’s boy who spent his days writing poetry in hope to win his hearts desire. She tells him he’s beneath her (as Buffy does) and he goes off crying with a broken heart after being told that it would be better to have a railroad spike driven through one’s brain that listen to his poetry. Druscilla changes him at his weakest moment. He goes back, drive railroad spikes through peoples brains, which gives birth to his name. He goes home, tells his mommy, changes her, then kills her because he realizes he doesn’t want to have to listen to her anymore, nor does he want to for all eternity. Spike goes on a hundred year killing spree. “I don’t want to be this good looking and athletic but we all have our crosses to bear.”

The back story makes us sympathize with Spike. After all we’ve all felt geeky and unwanted at sometimes in our lives. And we would all love to have gotten revenge.

3. They set the stage for Spike’s return. But he’s a vampire and Buffy is a slayer. So how can they coexist? They put a chip in his head that keeps him at bay. He’s now a tame vampire. “We like to talk big…vampires do. I’m going to destroy the world. That’s just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You’ve got dog racing… Manchester United. And you’ve got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs.” So what do tame vampires do? Spike dreams about Buffy. She is after all the bane of his existence. He loves killing slayers but he can’t kill her because of the chip. He also becomes humanized. He gets hooked on Passions. He chats up Buffy’s mother. He drinks hot chocolate. He rummages through Buffy’s underwear drawer. He becomes obsessed with Buffy. Which is something we can all relate too. Because he is obsessed with Buffy he hates her. Why? Because Buffy emasculated him. He’s once again the weenie boy spouting poetry to the girl who thinks he’s beneath her. “I hope she fries, I’m free if that bitch dies. I better help her out.” Spike decides to kill Buffy no matter how much external and internal pain it causes him. Instead of pulling the trigger he comforts her because she’s crying over her mom’s death.

Spikes internal conflict is does he love her or hate her?

4. Spike does something wonderful. Spike promises to take care of Buffy’s sister Dawn. Something very human. Buffy dies (she comes back) so Spike keeps on watching over Dawn because he promised Buffy. “I do remember what I said. The promise. To protect her. If I’d done that…even if I didn’t make it, you wouldn’t have had to jump. I want you to know I did save you. Not when it counted, of course. But after that. Every night after that. I’d see it all again , do something different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways…Every night I save you. Then just when Spike is the hero, or tries to be he does something so totally bizarre that reminds us that he is a vampire. He has sex with the Buffybot. He’s constantly at war with his inner demon. The human part which is growing stronger every day is fighting the vampire part.

More Internal Conflict.

5. Buffy comes back from the dead and Spike is able to hurt her now. Spike realizes that instead of him having to be good for Buffy, she’s bad like him. But she denies it. Which leads to internal and external conflict. So the conflict between the two keep building until they have sex and in the sex act they bring down a building. Which also reinforces that this is just a physical act. No love there because technically Spike can’t love because he doesn’t have a soul. So now Buffy is using Spike to do the nasty but he wants more. Then she decides he’s dragging her down so she rejects him and he tries to rape her because he loves her in his own twisted way.

Spike is tortured by his internal conflict. He believes that Buffy is his redemption.

6. Spike decides that he doesn’t want to be redeemed. Because he feels emasculated. And being a vampire is a big high for him. “If every vampire who said he was the Crucifixtion was actually there it would’ve have been like Woodstock. I was at Woodstock. I fed off a flower person and I spent six hours watching my hand move.” Spike takes off to the one place where he believes he can get the chip removed. But instead he gets his soul back. Now he’s really tortured. He sees the horrible things he’s done. He has a bout with insanity.

Character is what rises to the top when put under extreme pressure

7. Spike saves the world. Spike saves the world and Buffy because he knows deep down in his restored heart that Buffy will never love him. He did it for Buffy but ultimately he also did it for himself. He made the ultimate sacrifice. And in doing so he knew that Buffy would never forget him. And even after he became corporeal again he didn’t go to her. Because he wanted to keep the memory of Buffy considering him a hero alive in his mind and hers.

Worldbuilding and Art

Folks:

Lots of things going on this week! Here's a sample.

I'll probably be on a couple of program items at ConDor in San Diego in March

http://www.condorcon.org/html/mainmenu.html

about The Dresden Files and Buffy and Angel and other fantasy/horror/sf TV shows.

Oh, don't miss THE DRESDEN FILES -- hot stuff there. (it's world has vampires of a sort, and Dresden is a hunk with the Relationship potential of HIGHLANDER (the TV series, not the movie).)

While the programmer for ConDor was sending last minute panel ideas, I got an email from a reader of my review column.

He wrote concerning my column on String Theory (SF/Fantasy review column roves the known and unknown universe for topics). January 2007 starts a series of columns on The Soul/Time Hypothesis, a Kabbalah based concept deeply connected to the capacity to love.

This writer refers to www.psychotronics.org as the place to find out more about his work. I haven't looked at it but he's been seeking scientific proof of estoeric theories so that website could be a wonderful worldbuilding jumping off point. He found my column in The Monthly Aspectarian.

Meanwhile, I got a note from Joan Slonczewski ( http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/slonc.htm ) that she'd just reread House of Zeor and found it had been an influence on some of her work when she'd read it years ago. Her comment is at
http://www.simegen.com/jl/influencedbyJL/

And also this last week I got 3 new stories from one of the Sime~Gen fan writers, D. Dabinett! They will be going up on the Companion In Zeor webzine site soon.

The new stories are a spinoff of the other novels she has in Companion In Zeor starting with Issue #13 only these new stories focus on a junct Farris Channel. To find the Dabinett novels A NEW BEGINNING -- scroll down this index:
http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/cz/ --

These novels take place in the Interstellar Era -- but this new series leaps to another planet that is at the stage Earth was in during House of Zeor. Fascinating alternate-alternate Universe worldbuilding! And I believe every word she writes!

The Sime~Gen Universe stories (House of Zeor being the first novel, not the first published story) has intense and detailed worldbuilding behind it. Writing a Sime~Gen story is more a matter of what to leave out than of creating more universe around it.

So Linnea's comments on Worldbuilding just rang a bell with me.

Studying The Matrix film for the scriptwriting course I'm taking, The Dresden Files (books and film), and commenting on student writing, while reading also for my review column -- I find myself haunted by a question.

What is the objective most fantasy writers aim for when they are building one of these elaborate, intricate, multi-level fantasy worlds?

Generally these new fantasy novels start very poorly with long, loving, lists of irrelevant details about the world that the writer believes you must understand before you can see how interesting the story really is. Mostly that's not true, and I tend to toss those books aside. (Contrast that with The Dresden Files or Buffy which leap write into the story and build the world incidentally as you go along.)

For these new Fantasy novels, the worldbuilding becomes the POINT rather than the telling of a riproaring good story.

Linnea is careful to point out how vital worldbuilding is to even contemporary writing -- but that background IS background not foreground.

In the newest huge, thick, "fantasy" novels the backgrounds seem to have become the foreground and the world itself the hero, rather than some character with a problem.

Well, that's OK -- I'm a worldbuilding fanatic and it's fine by me that the details of Creation should become the point of the story.

BUT

If the "way things work in this reality" is in fact the point of the story -- what is that point?

Where is the ART behind the worldbuilding?

Worldbuilding, to me, is what you do to sink the boring philosophy into the subtext and keep it out of the way of the story. Why do these writers build worlds?

The purpose of building an artificial world in which to tell stories is to make a new, creative and original comment on the true nature of the "reality" we live in via daily consciousness -- without ever articulating it in the story. That is the purpose of worldbuilding is to SHOW rather than TELL something profound about our true reality.

Yes, worldbuilding is mostly science if you're creating an alien planet or a future earth post catastrophy etc. But storytelling is an art -- and the scientific choices you make for your created world have to be artistic in nature.

Art is a SELECTIVE RECREATION OF REALITY -- not a copy of reality.

What I have noted absent in a whole stack of new Fantasy novels that I've plowed through looking for books to review -- is the ART. I can't discern the writer's selective process in their worldbuilding.

In other words, the poetic dimension is missing from their worldbuilding -- and in the reality I live in, the Divine Creation appears to have been arranged by a master Poet.

That poetic harmony in worldbuilding is what lets me suspend my disbelief because it makes the constructed world similar to everyday reality -- no matter how bizarre the construct.

Can anyone recommend a Fantasy novel or series of the last year or two that has poetic precision and selectivity behind the worldbuilding? Can anyone interpret the thematic significance for me? Point me at a good book!

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.simegen.com/jl/

Whose World Is This Anyway?

I just found out that along with RITA winning author Robin D "HeartMate" Owens, I’ll be teaching a world building workshop at RWA National in Dallas this summer. The title of the workshop is above and I hope, based on how I’ve constructed the blurb, to bring in more than just SFF writers. Not that I don’t love SFF writers. I do. But I think SFF writers are more attuned to world building than those that write in other genres and…as those who attend the workshop will find out—world building isn’t solely an SFF disease.

Good world building should be as integral part of your story as good dialogue and good characterization. This is true if you write chick lit, cozies, westerns or space opera or any other genre. If your characters exist and interact in a setting, then the setting is important.
It’s even more important you learn how to use that setting to improve your characterization and dialogue.

Just as we are affected by our environment, our social system, our culture, our religious upbringing, so are your characters. This kind of influence doesn’t stop at the outer orbit of Moabar. It’s equally important in Michigan.

Let’s say you write romantic suspense. Your male protagonist is a cop from Newark, NJ—a pretty tough place with a large ethnic population. Let’s say for reasons you—writer—invent, that NJ cop finds himself in Pensacola, Florida. Or some tiny town in Idaho. Trust me, it would be as if he had been beamed to Moabar or some other place on the outer reaches of the universe. Even though he’s in the same country, there will be language differences: accent and slang will differ. What was soda in Newark will be pop in Idaho.

Let’s take another slant: you’re writing a chick lit set in Palm Beach, Florida. You throw in a few palm trees, half a dozen BMWs, a couple of Rolls Royces. That’ll do it, right?

Wrong. For one thing, Palm Beach is a lot more than that.

For another, your reader might be from Small Town, Idaho and to him or her, Palm Beach is the same as Moabar or the outer reaches of the universe.

You, writer, have to make Palm Beach or Pensacola as real and vibrant and memorable as you would Port Rumor or Marker Station. You have to write those locales through fresh eyes—your readers’ eyes and your characters’ eyes.

Because I am a science fiction author and am more attuned to world building, I see many contemporary (or non-speculative fiction) novels that fall flat in the area of world building. I see many lost chances where the writer could give the reader a much deeper insight into a character by utilizing world building—and they don’t.

Your character is a product of his/her environment and affected by his/her environment. Never forget that.

Let’s go back to that contemporary romantic suspense where our tough guy cop from Newark, NJ finds himself in Small Town, Idaho. The cop is probably a helluva lot more crude than the Idaho farmers are used to (not saying farmers can’t get raucous—they’re just different than a Newark beat cop). He’d be used to interacting with people more abruptly with probably more personal space. The farmer’s daughter—a nice church-going gal—who runs the local Ma and Pa restaurant, is used to hugging her customers and inquiring about every aspect of their personal life. She’s more easy-going and trusting because of the world she grew up in. If you plop that cop down into that setting and DON’T make him uncomfortable and a fish out of water, than you have no understanding of how environment affects characters.

And you need to.

If you’re getting comments from crit partners or notes in rejection letters from agents and editors to the tune that your characters are flat, take a look at whether or not you’ve included good world building in your story—and in your characters’ lives. Pensacola isn’t a cookie-cutter beach/military town and Palm Beach isn’t a cookie-cutter rich town. Cookie-cutter towns make for boring reading. Flat world building.

And we all know the world isn’t flat. So don’t let your world—or your world building—fall off that edge into the abyss. For every major setting in your story, know that locales climate, religions, educational level, economic level, politics, social strata and mixture of cultures (if any). And then look at your characters and contrast each one’s world building elements—personal religion, education, economic level, etc.—with where you’ve placed them and see how that impinges on their place and progress in the story.

Whose world is this? It’s one you’ve created. Use it fully.

~Linnea

www.linneasinclair.com

Insufficient Mating Material

For details of how to enter the "Hidden Image" (on the covers of Insufficient Mating Material) contest visit
http://www.rowenacherry.com/hiddenimage/

Runaway characters

So what do you do when a character runs away with a story?

You let him.

Lots of people ask me where and how do I come up with my characters. I think they are just born. And like a child growing up they develop into full blown creatures who have a mind of their own and often misbehave. But you have to remind them of who they are and what their task is. Then you let them find a solution in their own way.

There have been some very interesting characters in film that have run away with the story. The first that comes to my mind is Riddick. Wow. Do you think the writers wrote him that way? Do you think it was their intent for people coming away from that story to go Wow? Who is that guy? Where did he come from? How did he get there? I think Riddick was as much a creation of Vin Diesel as he was the writers and David Thwoy. And yes, I want more. The First Chronicle movie was not enough.

I'm also sorry that we never got to see more of Malcom Reynolds. Now there was an onion that needed peeling. Where did he come from? Why did he fight with the browncoats? And why was he so hung up on Enora being a "whore"

And veering away from Aliens for a moment. Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday. If ever a character ran away with a story, he sure did. He took a cardboard character and made him real, warts and all.

So yes, its okay to let your characters take over. Just as long as they get where they are supposed to go. The most important thing it making sure they stay true to who they are. It's okay if the bad guy has a good time. Remember, he thinks he's the hero of his own story. He didn't wake up and say I want to be bad. He woke up and said. I want this. And this is how I'm going to get it no matter what it takes.

The good guy has his own wants. The problem is his principles get in the way. Sawyer from Lost is a good example of this. He's supposed to be a bad guy. He thinks he'll do what ever he has too to survive. But then he surprises himself.

Next week I'll talk about Spike.

Insufficient Mating Material

I apologize for our silence since Thursday.
Blogger forced us to change to new accounts, and I --at least-- have had some difficulty with the technology.
Normal service will resume as soon as possible.

Meantime, please watch my book promo!

Best wishes,

Rowena Cherry

technology

The other day my daughter was teasing me because I couldn't get my blog to upload a picture. She siad I should have lived a hundred years ago. But the truth is that I should have been born in the future, to a place where I could say, upload x picture to y blog and it would obey. Instantly. With no glitchs.

In the meantime, I'm totally frustrated with blogging. The email addy I've used for ten years needed an update so I could use a new server--but now half my old passwords won't work because the User ID changed. Sheesh. Now I'm even talking gobbly gook.

And why can't I cut and paste from Word to a blog? Or from one blog to another? I mean come on, why is this stuff so hard?

I have a page at Myspace that my son's friend put up for me. And it won't recognize me because I now have a new email addy. I'm sure someone under the age of 12 can probably tell me how to fix the problem as well as reset my watch. But what I'd really like is to give voice instructions and not have to think. Really, I want to save my brain power and creativity for stories. I'm not anti-technology. i want more technology. Better technology.

Which is probably why I love to write stories set in the future--with technology I can dream up. Since I have a book coming out ISLAND HEAT around Feb. 6th I really should be blogging about it. Saying something snappy so you'll all go to my web site, look at the booktrailer and read. Maybe even better, you'll tell your friends. But I'm tired and grouchy and grumpy. And have nothing brilliant or clever to say. Sorry.

So I'm going to take a nap instead.

Susan Kearney

How to play the Fiction Delivery System

Folks:

Cindy Holby wrote in her Saturday Jan 27th post here:

I write very strong characters. Characters that seem to make an impact on my fans as every letter I get mentions how much they love the characters, how much they were drawn into their lives and how much they think about them long after the story is over.

----

The last few weeks, I've posted some comments on Genre and how though it is enforced and defended by publishers, Genre is really invented by and perpetuated by readers.

Linnea Sinclair, in her Monday, Jan 29th post (yesterday), commented that at a panel she did, a reader expressed how she felt about writers inventiveness. Linnea discussed the creation of one of her characters.

As a fiction consumer, you can up your odds of getting what you want from a book by learning something about how publishers tell writers what they want to buy.

One of the requirements you see over and over in writers' Market Reports (where publishers describe what they're buying now) is "strong characters."

They want "strong characters" because those books (and films) make bigger profits.

But writes, publishers and readers often mean something different when they say "strong characters.'

Publishers don't mean characters the reader can identify with, nor characters that have big muscles, nor characters that impress the reader and make the reader remember their names.

Publishers mean characters whose decisions direct and energize the plot.

They want a protagonist who makes the initial move that sets the story in motion, and an antagonist who acts to prevent the protagonist from achieving the goal.

Publishers do not want characters who agonize, wring their mental hands, or worry. A strong character is a person whose "character" is strong -- who has values and sticks to them, backs them with life and limb, takes risks, stays focused on the goal, and maybe goes down swinging.

That's what publishers are currently demanding of writers. And I've never seen a Market Report where a publisher asked for "weak characters."

They don't want to buy stories where the main point of view character is someone to whom the story happens. They want the main point of view character to be someone who makes the story happen.

So what kind of book do you want to read? Do you prefer to read about someone who is a victim of circumstance and their own ineptitude or lack of forethought whose problem is ultimately solved by someone else's actions?

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.simegen.com/

Speculative and Romantic

I was toying with the idea of building on Linnea's and Jacqueline's previous posts about genre, with particular emphasis on comedy in science fiction romance, because some people seem to think I'm funny.

And, if comedy could be one of the selling points for my new novel INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL which comes to bookstores everywhere on Tuesday (January 30th) then I ought to take advantage.

However... the iguana-with-an-erection story is topical, and it's good to be topical, even if one is an author of futuristic romances.

I just cannot leave a good double penis story alone. (I was sorely tempted to omit a noun from that last sentence for the sake of sensationalism.)

Did you see the Reuters article about the iguana named Mozart who has sported an erection for almost a week? Concerned vets have decided to put a stop to the unruly erection by amputating.

"The good news for Mozart and his mates is that
male iguanas have two penises.

Mozart, sitting on the shoulders of his keeper as camera crews
focused on his red, swollen erection, seemed unperturbed..."


Is red and swollen a problem?
I confess my ignorance. I have no idea what color a healthy, happy iguana's penis ought to be.

I really hope the vets aren't being hasty.

Who is this erection bothering most? Reportedly, the male iguana doesn't seem concerned.

As for what use I can make of news like this... well, here's how one speculative romance writer speculates.

I ask myself:
What do I know about double penises?

I know that Barbara Karmazin wrote a wonderful book, The Huntress, and the hero had one.

I've seen partially-insertable sex toys with an appendage apparently designed for simultaneous external stimulation.

I know that one fabulous theory about dragons is that they squirted fire by having two nozzles at the front of their mouths --like doubling up a snake's snorkel-- that sprayed different liquids. The liquids became combustible when combined.

I know that there are super glues, drain cleaners, and other household products --I think there is a beauty product, too-- that comes in a double barrelled container, so the substances only combine when squirted onto or into whatever they are designed to be squirted onto or into.


Now I start speculating:

I wonder why an iguana has two penises.
One to use and one to rest?
A spare?
One for fun and one to get the job done?
Do they work like the cannons in Star Wars? Like pistons? One recoils while the other fires?

What if the iguana has super-glue semen? (In that there's different stuff in each barrel, and it's only effective if both barrels are discharged.)

And finally, after I've amused myself sufficiently, I ask myself:

Will my editor buy a LoveSpell Romance hero with this level of complicated, high-tech equipment.

As Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry used to say, "A man has to know his limitations."

So does a writer.



Best wishes,

Rowena Cherry

PS. In conjunction with the launch of INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL, I am running a HIDDEN IMAGE contest from January 31st until February 28th 2007.

One entrant will win a $500 bookstore buying-spree. Details, entry form, rules can be found at www.rowenacherry.com/hiddenimage/

The Craft Of Writing

The Craft of Writing

Some fans of our blog has asked if we would address some craft issues. And since I have just finished a book I volunteered.

I write very strong characters. Characters that seem to make an impact on my fans as every letter I get mentions how much they love the characters, how much they were drawn into their lives and how much they think about them long after the story is over.

In order for your writing to strike a chord with your readers you characters need to be real so that your reader can identify with them.

I like to compare my characters to onions. You keep peeling away the external layers to find another layer as you use deep POV to reveal their internal conflicts.

Definitions

Characteristic: a distinguishing trait, quality, or property
Characterization: to describe the character….external layers
Character: distinctive quality…the complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person

Character is what rises to the top when put under extreme pressure.To make your Hero real he must have an internal conflict to resolve before he can act on the external conflict which leads to the HEA.

In other words give you hero an insecurity which leads to an inner battle.

From Rising Wind by Cindy Holby August 2007

“My brother seems to think there is something between us…”
His gut clenched.
“Is there?” She seemed anxious. As if his answer were very important to her. As important as it was to him.
What could he say? Was there? He certainly wanted there to be. He wanted it more than anything he ever wanted in his life. But wanting something and having something was two different things. That was a lesson he learned long ago and one not ever to be forgotten.
He fingers curled around the bars of the window and hers did the same and he could not resist the urge to run his thumb over her hand where it fisted at the palm.
“I have nothing to offer ye lass.” He looked from her hand to her face. “Nothing at all.”
“I didn’t ask you about your prospects Connor,” she said with a slight smile.
“Tis simple enough. I have none.” He returned it with one of his own.
“Answer my question. Is there something between us?”
She was kneeling in the dirt in the middle of the wilderness while he was in a cell about to be lashed. It wasn’t exactly the kind of life she was suited for.
Did he want her? Every part of his being screamed out for her. But what kind of life could he offer her? A cabin in the wilderness? Every day a chance that they could be killed or captured by the Shawnee? And if they did make it through that part there was the risks of every day life. Of childbirth. Of illness. Of accidents.
There was the alternative. They could live in Williamsburg. Or one of the other towns. But how would they live? How would he support her? He had no skills beyond that of a woodsman and the natural ability with horses that he inherited from his father. Could they live on a stable hands pay?
No. She was meant for better things than he could offer her. And yet she sat in the dirt waiting for his answer looking so lovely that it made his heart ache.
“Tis nothing between us,” he said and turned away from the window.

More next week!

Spiders, Rats, and Bridging Differences

Recently I saw the new live movie of CHARLOTTE'S WEB, one of my favorite books. I can't say it's either better or worse than the old animated movie, which has beautiful art and songs; it's different, but each is very good in its own way. I was sorry the new film left out Charlotte's line, "I love blood," when she's explaining that she doesn't eat flies, she drinks their blood. The book and both movies place strong emphasis on the importance of friendship. The new film especially stresses that theme (through the voice-over), not only between Wilbur and Charlotte, but among all the animals. I love the way this story foregrounds love between two creatures who are so different, one of whom is generally thought of as scary and revolting. The live movie also plays up the character of Templeton the rat. In this adaptation he seems genuinely offended (maybe even a little hurt) by how disgusting the other animals consider him (even if he does deserve it). He refers to himself in third person as “The Rat” but doesn't want the others talking about him in those terms. An implicit analogy is drawn between Charlotte and Templeton, both of them regarded as repulsive by many people, and by the end they form a sort of alliance. We've discussed the possibility of an amorphous blob as a romantic hero. Could we conceive of an intelligent spider as not only a friend but a romantic love object?

This is an excerpt from near the end of my vampire novel CHILD OF TWILIGHT. Gillian, an adolescent vampire-human hybrid, has just been rescued from vengeful vampire Camille, who tried to seduce her to the dark side. What little confidence Gillian ever had in the possibility of being able to fit in with either side of her ancestry has been undermined. Roger (hero of my earlier novel DARK CHANGELING) is her half-human (but vampire side dominant) father. Claude is his half-brother; Britt and Eloise are their significant others; Volnar is Gillian's mentor (and head of the vampire elders). I enjoyed playing with the analogy between a spider and a vampire, both of them blood-drinkers, both unjustly maligned by the general public:

"She needs human blood, doesn't she?" said Britt, taking a seat next to Roger. "And she's afraid to take it, poor kid. Camille couldn't have traumatized her worse in such a short time if she'd planned it that way."

"She probably did," said Claude.

At that moment Gillian walked timidly into the room, wearing a robe of Britt's. She approached Roger and stood with her hands folded and head downcast. "You spoke to Lord Volnar? What's to be done with me?"

"Confound it, you're not on trial!" Roger moved over and gestured for her to sit between him and Britt. "Volnar will pick up your education where he left off, if you're willing to go back to him. No one will force you to do something you aren't ready for."

"That's what she said."

"Camille?" said Britt softly.

Gillian nodded. "She promised not to force anything upon me—and then she—" She covered her eyes and shuddered with tearless sobs.

Britt's fingers curled with the urge to comfort Gillian. Roger noticed Eloise leaning forward, straining against the same desire. He, too, knew better than to touch Gillian at a moment like this, no matter how much he yearned to help.

After a while Gillian lifted her head and stared at Roger. "Lord Volnar wants to continue as my advisor? He doesn't think I am irreparably tainted?"

"Oh, good grief!" Britt curbed her anger and modulated her voice to a soothing tone. "Gillian, we call that kind of thing blaming the victim. Nobody here thinks that way, and I certainly hope a creature who's lived God knows how many millennia has better sense."

"I shared Camille's—emptiness."

"That must have been terrible," Roger said. "But it doesn't have to shape your entire life. Vampires are highly adaptable, and so are human beings. Both sides of your heritage are in your favor. And another thing—would you like to spend part of your time here? Learn from me—and Britt, for that matter?"

Gillian's eyes glowed. "You don't want to get rid of me?"

"I'd hardly suggest this if I did." He felt an unexpected surge of affection, which he didn't know how to handle. It had taken him long enough to learn how to express his love for Britt. And now I want to start all over with a child?

Britt reached for Gillian, then drew back, unsure whether the girl was ready to be touched. Gillian groped for Britt's hand and squeezed it. When Britt winced, Gillian looked stricken. "I hurt you. I knew I shouldn't—"

"Stop worrying, it was an accident," Britt said. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Perhaps you should be. I know I wasn't supposed to crave human blood yet. I don't know whether I can feed safely—whether I can even associate with ephemerals safely."

Eloise said, "Are you thinking of what Camille said about being a monster?"

"Partly." Gillian tensed as she watched Eloise cross the room with the bag she'd been holding.

"Here, I got you an early Christmas present." Eloise sat on the rug next to the coffee table, stroking Gillian's clenched fingers as she might stroke a kitten. "This is one of the most beloved and respected children's books of all time. The heroine is a creature most people think of as monstrous, and she lives on blood." She got out the book and placed it in Gillian's lap.

"Charlotte's Web! Eloise, that's perfect!" Britt applauded.

Though pleased at the gift's effect, Roger was puzzled. He knew the story only by reputation. [A fable about a pig and a spider, colleague?]

[You haven't read it? How culturally deprived can you get? Take my word, colleague, it's perfect. I'll bet Volnar never would have thought of this.]

-end of excerpt-

So which Genre is not even a Genre?

Linnea Sinclair has raised an important point with regard to Genre. She wrote yesterday :

------------
My answer is, why should it be just any one thing or genre? You’ve never had rum raisin ice cream? You’ve never had mocha fudge mint chip ice cream? Must books be only chocolate or vanilla? Or how about a Cosmo Martini? Or Mango Mojito: mango rum, sugar, crushed ice, mint leaves, club soda. Our culinary palettes have expanded. Why not our literary palettes?
----------

Translate that from cuisine to story, and what she's describing is Literature with a capital L.

Last week, I explained a little about the economic origins of genre in the demands of a reader not to waste their money on something they don't want to read.

But I didn't touch on Literature. You know what I'm talking about -- the books titled

THIS TITLE
a novel

The books published without a genre label are Literature, great and otherwise.

OK, so what's the formula for Literature -- and how do you tell Literature from Best Sellers?

Oh, yeah, "Best Seller" actually is a genre. In film, it's called HIGH CONCEPT. It's High Concept novels that get the promotion to become Best Sellers. I think I did a post here in this blog about High Concept. If anyone wants to discuss that, drop a note on this entry.

High Concept novels will break genre stereotypes and become market makers.

Literature can be LOW CONCEPT -- i.e. not aimed at the dubiously educated masses.

So, how do I define Literature?

Well, in short, I define Literature as Science Fiction.

Other people (perhaps somewhat misguided?) believe Science Fiction to be a genre. It isn't now and never has been a genre.

How can I (an SF/F writer?) say such a thing? It sounds so ridiculous!

Well - let's take a long historical look at what SF is, where it came from, and why what's happening now is happening.

Originally, some young kids (Isaac Asimov, Hal Clement, Robert Heinlein, E. E. Smith, the folks now known as First Fandom) started writing these stories. They'd read H. G. Wells and Doyle, and everything classical and everything there was and (being all geniuses, you know) they'd run out of stuff to read so they wrote some for each other basically.

Look at the list of First Fandom - see any women? Not till the 1950's or so (except married to male writers).

They were all just barely post-adolescent BOYS with a passion for things like Chess and Physics, Math and Chemistry (a lot were Chemists which is why I took my degree in Chemistry in order to become an SF writer). Science was both profession and hobby - fantasy was where they lived.

And so they wrote about young boys who saved the world, humanity, the galaxy, etc. by inventing something adults would never think of.

So the group of readers they attracted were young boys dreaming of being The Hero and rescuing the damsel from the Monster of the Week.

Publishers looked at who was buying this stuff and asked writers for more stuff like that because these kids had money for books.

Once publishers started pouring real money into making and distributing lots of copies -- well, the same dynamic I described as creating genres swung into action. In order not to lose money, the publishers had to LABEL this stuff and make sure that each one was exactly like the others only different.

(which is why Hollywood wants "exactly like everything else only different" -- which is what High Concept means essentially.)

So publishers, and the only really successful editors who could keep jobs a long time and get promotions -- successful editors! -- learned and memorized the harsh lesson, ONLY YOUNG BOYS READ SCIENCE FICTION because all the stories are just adolescent male fantasies for geekish kids.

Where did they get that idea? They were taught that idea by the writers and the readers.

The women who entered the field, Andre Norton in the 1940's and a few others, hid behind male bylines. In the 1950's (1955 I think) Marion Zimmer Bradley's short story Centaurus Changling revolutionized the field when it appeared in one of the magazines. I have it here somewhere.

It just so happened that Marion's actual given legal name is ambiguous -- spelled with the O. Only fans who knew her from conventions knew she was female.

She wowed everyone with a RELATIONSHIP story. What a shocking thing.

In the 1960's, the start of a burgeoning golden age of SF, "Adult Fantasy"allowed women to enter the field under female bylines. (notice C. J. Cherryh isn't CAROLYN Cherry). Even then, when you were writing SF you really should have had a male or initialed byline. I chose Jacqueline Lichtenberg out of sheer contrary cussedness.

Meanwhile, the geekish teens who started the field (Isaac Asimov was 19 when he sold his first story) had grown up -- and a new generation came along with college degrees in Literature (Gordon R. Dickson) and Psychology (Marion Zimmer Bradley) -- others who tried to bring Literature into SF creating the failed but huge New Age of SF sub-genre (dystopian, nihilistic, "everyman" themes).

The readers likewise grew up, but were way outnumbered by the new kids entering the field -- and face it, teens have more disposable income for books than parents with kids, cars, mortgages and pension funds.

So publishers could still pretend that SF readers were geekish teens ONLY.

Let's skip the 1970's of Feminist Polemics -- and the heaps of scorn on STAR TREK which was at that time a FAILED TV show of very VERY old fashioned SF. (it was 1930's SF)

That publisher's pretense broke down in the 1980s -- Katherine Kurtz's type of adult fantasy.

So in the 1980's I said at almost every convention:

"'Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote the Darkovan proverb that there's a hidden man in every woman and a hidden woman in every man. We are all both masculine and feminine. ' But we are (mostly) definitely male or female. As it happens, adolescent males love stories with a physical problem, physical action, and a physical resolution. Adolescent females love stories with a psychological problem, psychological action, and a psychological resolution. Adults like a balanced combination of the two - and that balanced combination is called Literature."

And though all my novels are set on other planets, or involve aliens relating intimately with humans, or in the case of Sime~Gen humans mutating into two parts which may as well be aliens, I write science fiction which is Literature."

One of my career objectives is to have in print a Sime~Gen novel (no one disputes that Sime~Gen is SF -- but it's ever so mixed-genre because it contains ESP as well as Magick) a Sime~Gen novel in every genre.

But today it isn't necessary anymore -- just look around you. Read some books labeled SF.

You can find an SF novel that contains the elements of any genre you name. Western, Mystery (hey don't miss THE DRESDEN FILES - a forensic wizard Private Eye), Action, Romance, -- you name it.

Now one good definition of Literature should be "contains all genres at once" -- if we use the definition of genre I suggested last week -- "what you leave OUT defines the genre" -- then Literature would be what you get when you include ALL GENRES.

Combine all colors of the spectrum and get WHITE.

Well, Science Fiction -- as writers on this blog are busy proving -- just naturally contains all genres. Therefore science fiction is not a genre - it's Literature.

Where did this distorted notion that science fiction is a genre come from? It's a historical artifact of the pure happenstance that several barely post-adolescent males started writing about the futurology of science - extrapolating scientific and technological impacts on human civilization.

But it never was a genre -- it's just that the first stories written were all of a certain type.

We got relegated to a straight-jacket formula for a few decades, but that was an artifact of the commercial publishing world, not a property of the essence of the Literature of The Imagination.

So today professors hold an annual Conference where they get Professor brownie points for reading papers to each other -- and they're all talking about SF/F. They call it the Conference ono the Fantastic and it's held in March every year.

If you don't think SF is Literature - go listen to them!

The fact is that the READER sophistication and general educational level has gone up considerably in the last 40 years. Genre is created by readers, not publishers. But maybe, with the advent of all these great TV shows that have SF/F elements, just maybe they won't be able to get readers to shove SF/F back into a single genre.

Maybe readers will be willing to admit they're reading Literature when they read SF/F.

Maybe not. After all, the pocketbook rules. I want to buy a book, I want to know it's got the stuff in it that pleases me -- but that it's all new. I want to read it over again - for the first time.

My Genre-tini: A dash of adventure, a drop of romance, a shot of mystery, shaken not stirred…

I hope you all paid attention to Jacqueline’s blog last week on how genres came about and how they function in the book industry. Because if you don’t understand that, then the ‘mixology’ of combining two or more genres is only going to muddle you further.

The plain fact of the matter is that almost every commercial fiction novel on the shelves today is a mixture of more than one genre. The plainer fact of the matter is very few authors or publishers will admit to that.

The why is…::points to first paragraph::. The why is why genres exist in the first place. I’m not going to discuss that.

What I am going to talk about is taking the plunge, coming out of the genre closet, breaking free, rising like a phoenix and any other bad cliché you care to throw in here. I’m going to talk about starting out admitting that yes, my book fits the bill for two or more genres. It’s a genre martini.

"Cross-genre” we’re often called when in reality, combi-genre is probably more accurate. In my case, it’s science fiction and romance and—with my current WIP, The Down Home Zombie Blues—science fiction, police procedural and romance.

Why do I do that? For one thing, real life is combi-genre, isn’t it? Your morning might be a comedy (What? No clean underwear? What? The dog puked in my purse?), your first few hours at work could be a thriller (What is that weird moaning noise coming from the copy machine?), your lunch hour might be a western (Get a long little hot doggies!) and your after work stop at the local bar might, just might, be a romance.

When I decide to craft a story, I’m very aware that all these same episodes may well occur in my character’s lives. What particular part of their lives I highlight in the book inevitably defines the genre—or narrows down the genre because, as I said, any commercial fiction novel contains multi-genres. So I highlight certain aspects of a character’s life—let’s say, Trilby Elliot in my Finders Keepers (RITA Award Finalist!) and because Trilby was a starfreighter operator, and because the opening scene takes place on a distant planet, and because Trilby’s sidekick is a very C3PO-like ’droid, Finders Keepers is deemed science fiction/speculative fiction. But when Trilby and the male protagonist, some pushy guy named Rhis, suddenly decide to stop fighting and start kissing, whoa, Nellie! We’ve got ourselves a romance.

Now, in The Down Home Zombie Blues, Commander Jorie Mikkalah is an intergalactic zombie hunter (check: science fiction), who arrives on this planet (we call it Earth and Jorie finds it apt that such a boring place is named after dirt…) via a starship (a Red Star Class Three Intergalactic Combat and Recovery Vessel, to be exact), then the genre powers that be would deem the book to be science fiction. But wait! The male protagonist is a Florida homicide detective sergeant. And he’s investigating the suspicious death-by-mummification of an unlucky human. So, hmm, we’ve got police procedural here. But wait, again! The intergalactic babe and the hunky cop start locking lips a few chapters in. Romance!

So what is it?

My answer is, why should it be just any one thing or genre? You’ve never had rum raisin ice cream? You’ve never had mocha fudge mint chip ice cream? Must books be only chocolate or vanilla? Or how about a Cosmo Martini? Or Mango Mojito: mango rum, sugar, crushed ice, mint leaves, club soda. Our culinary palettes have expanded. Why not our literary palettes?

It really wasn’t any big deal for me to craft Zombie Blues. I didn’t sit down one day and decide, hmm, I’m going to write an SF Romance Police Procedural. I sat down to write Jorie’s and Theo’s story. Just like I sat down to write Rhis’ and Trilby’s, and Mack’s and Gillie’s and all the rest.

Why I chose homicide detective for Theo’s profession was two-fold: 1) one of the opening scenes is the discovery of the mummified body (who is Jorie’s teammate) and without that discovery, there’d be no story and 2) I wanted to play the law enforcement mind set against itself. In Finders Keepers, Trilby was the independent in more ways than one. She was not just an Indy freighter captain, she was an independent personality. A loner. Rhis was the military, in control person. In Zombie, both Jorie and Theo are—by the nature of their professions—used to be in control. I wanted to put the two together and see sparks fly.

I’m a character-driven writer. If you’re a character-driven writer, I think you shouldn’t shy away from a certain professions for a character just because it might add another element or taste of another genre to your story. All science fiction doesn’t have to star scientists or spaceship captains. (I wouldn’t deliberately force a profession onto a character just to add a genre, either. It has to be natural to the character and the storyline.)

In Jacqueline Lichtenberg’s terrific Those of My Blood, one of her main characters (Titus) is vampire-like and a scientist. Most of the story takes place in a science station on the moon. Scientist-science station-vampire all bespeak science fiction.

But what if her main character wasn’t a scientist but a cop or a private detective? That could bring a whole new element into the story, possibly turning it into something like the detective/science fiction of Kristine Kathryn Rusch and her (wonderful) Retrieval Artist novels. Yes, science fiction. Yes, police/detective.

But Jacqueline’s character’s profession as a scientist was required for the character to know and do the things he did. It wasn’t a slapped-on career. It was an integral part of the plot which yes, also contained romance.

Just as Theo’s profession as a homicide cop in Zombie is essential for the plot to go where it has to go. Had he been a professional ice hockey player or an attorney, the story—and his interaction with Command Jorie Mikkalah—would be completely different.

In my upcoming February release, Games of Command, the story absolutely would not have worked if Sass hadn’t also been Captain Tasha Sebastian and Branden not also been Admiral Kel-Paten. I needed to use their ranks as well as their duties as military officers in order to create much of the conflict and tension between them. If Sass had had Trilby’s job—and Indy freighter operator—she’d not have as much to lose. And the admiral wouldn’t have the reason to interact with her as much as his did. Another genre mix: space opera and romance, with a touch of woo-woo paranormal.

Our daily lives are not all one theme: comedy or tragedy. Our flavors of ice cream are varied. Our alcoholic libations are equally as blended. Why shouldn’t the stories we enjoy be just as varied?

Feeling adventurous? Why not sit down and mix yourself a genre-tini. Let your characters live on the edge in your novel, exploring their limits and their conflicts using your full creativity. Keep it texturally rich and potent. And as always, shaken not stirred.

Just be aware that the marketing teams of the NY publishers can get mighty confuzzled when you do so. And dealing with that is a topic for a whole ‘nuther blog.

~Linnea
www.linneasinclair.com

Thusness (and the importance of a jolly good ending)

I don't see "Thusness" being talked about very much. One of my English professors at Homerton College, Cambridge, taught me the expression and the concept, and I've never forgotten it.

At the time, I believe we were studying Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Epic poetry. Medieval Fantasy SpecRom opera with never-ending quests for the Holy Grail, swords, sorcery, treachery, maidens being surprised in their bathtubs by horny rotters. Inspiring stuff, really! That's what I remember. But it could have been Browning, or Coleridge.

Maybe someone will want to tell me that the Arthurian legends aren't SpecRom. I might answer that it all depends who is retelling them, and how.

The bottom line with "Thusness" --as I internalized it-- is that all the interwoven story threads are tied up so neatly by the end of the story that the reader is left with a feeling of great satisfaction and justice. Not only is everything explained (that needs to be explained), but there is harmony, balance, and maybe that forehead-slap of enlightenment.

"Thusness" makes a story memorable and thought-provoking (in a pleasurable way) after the last word has been read, and the book has been put away... or returned to the library. The ending is "right" and has a quality of inevitability. Of course, in a romance, it is generally accepted that, inevitably, the hero and the heroine will live happily ever after together.

That's not quite what I mean by "inevitability."

Perhaps "thusness" is like the old definition of obscenity. "...I know it when I see it."

If that is the case, how does a writer achieve "Thusness"? Some of us are plotters, outliners, linear writers. Others are pantsers, channellers. Some do both. Some put a book together like a jigsaw (I do). Some plan it like dinner... you know, it has a beginning (starter), a middle (main course), and an ending (the pudding).

"Pudding" might not be entirely felicitous. Some end with a Bombe Surprise, or cheesecake, others with a swiggable yoghurt or quick coffee. It's all good, but probably it's most satisfying if it is a balanced meal.

I try for thusness. If I have three prologues (of course, they cannot be called that), I need three epilogues. This might mean that a lot has to be cut from the middle to meet the publisher's page limit (about 400 double spaced pages at 250 wpp).

Once the ending is written --and not all authors know the details of how their heroes' stories will end when they begin-- well, then you have the linear warp, but not the weft (weaving imagery). Then, knowing how your story ends, you go back to the beginning and weave in the almost-invisible details at regular intervals.

Perhaps your editor wants the villain to be badder. (Given that badder is good English). For "Thusness" as I see it, it isn't enough to put super bad thoughts into his point of view one scene before he gets his come-uppance, though that would be the quickest and easy edit... and on a deadline, quick and easy is very tempting! In my opinion, the first time the reader sees this villain he has to be doing something bad, although it could be stealth wickedness. We may not recognize his evil for what it is, after all, he hasn't been caught.

And so it goes. A hint is woven in, and it has to be repeated, not necessarily every seventy pages, but that's a reasonable rough guide. The Imperial March was a pretty cool tune. They say the devil gets all the best tunes. It took a while before we realized that it meant that the bad guy was up to no good. Same with the Jaws horn riff. (If horns can riff).

Because Jolly Good Endings and striving for "Thusness" is important to me, I was thrilled with a recent review by "Bookmaedin" posted at http://www.ibookdb.net/review/58607

Excerpt
"This book also has one of the best ending sequences. Everyone in the story pulls together against a common enemy. Ms. Cherry has created a seriously evil villain. What goes around comes around, and it definitely came back on this villainous specimen.

Trust me, INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL is a book you don’t want to miss. Be sure to check out the back-story in Rowena Cherry’s previous book, Forced Mate.

~Review by bookmaedin for iBookDB Review: Insufficient Mating Material"

INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL will be in bookstores on January 30th.

Predicting the Near Future

I've been thinking a little more about predicting the future of society and technology, in between reading bills, etc., for the Maryland General Assembly at my day job. It's “crunch” time, so don't expect great coherence from me, I'm afraid! Recently I read IMMORTAL IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts), because so many people have mentioned how good this near-future police procedural mystery series is. Police detective Eve Dallas is a strong, interesting character, so I do want to read more of these novels. I admire the way the author handles the setting, around the year 2050. Relationships and social institutions are familiar, but the technology is just advanced enough to make us aware we're not in our own time, without being jarringly far-out. No extremely Jetsons-style futuristic gadgets. (Personally, I'm still waiting for the robot maid.) There's casual mention of Eve's ultra-rich tycoon fiance making business trips off-planet, but the onstage narrative remains firmly earthbound. Speaking of culture rather than technology, who in 1950 would have predicted most of our currently predominant mores? Forward-thinking people would probably have expected racial equality (perhaps to a greater extent than we have achieved), but how many would-be prophets would expected premarital sex and open homosexuality to be acceptable to mainstream opinion but smokers to be publicly shunned? Or red meat to be viewed with suspicion? As for technology, only science fiction writers expected computers in every home, and even most of them didn't envision the compact machines we now take for granted. And in Robert Heinlein's HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL, in an imagined future when a colony exists on the Moon, his teenage hero owns a slide rule! Visionary authors have been writing about advanced reproductive technologies for decades, but what direction will these methods take us in, now that they are becoming reality? What will the mores of 2100 be like? Or even 2050? Will social laxity (as our grandparents would have viewed it) run rampant, or will we experience a backlash similar to the more restrained middle-class Victorians' reaction against what they saw as the loose lifestyles of their 18th-century grandparents?

Genre: The Beginning

Folks:

I'll begin this discussion/explanation of genre and how a writer can use it and what a reader can do with an understanding of it -- with a personal annecdote.

There are two things I've learned about GENRE in my career that "changed everything" for me: a) it's origin and b) it's definition because of that origin.

Where did I learn these two vital things?

Believe it or not, reading Star Trek fanzines incessantly and obsessively -- and watching the field of media fanzine (on paper) publishing evolve right before my eyes. This is a 20 year phenomenon which has now shifted almost entirely to the Web.

The economics of fanzine paper-publishing are identical to the economics of Mass Market paperback publishing except that the fanzine publisher can't make a profit (i.e. must not sell at a profit material based on someone else's copyright).

Fanzine publishers doing TV show pastiche are using the "fair use" clause in the copyright contract and that applies only so long as they don't do it for profit.

That's a big difference, to be sure, but it highlights the origin and purpose of genre in stark relief.

Fanzine paper publishers must (and I mean must) break even or almost even when their 'zine has a distribution of about 1,000 copies. Nobody can afford to subsidize a 2,000 copy print run out of pocket indefinitely (unless they're Bill Gates!).

So they have to charge the cost of paper, printing (offset press printing or copying used to be even more expensive than today), postage, and office supplies such as envelopes, file folders, etc. But they can't charge for the writing. That, they give away, just as they do today online.

Immediately, this vast expense puts the fanzine publisher into "business" figuring costs against the probability of sales to cover those costs. To get the sales volume to cover costs, they start to think about content and pleasing their readers to get repeat business.

Unlike Mass Market publishers (of olde!) fanzine publishers would get LETTERS OF COMMENT (LoCs) lambasting them for including distasteful stories or poorly written or copyedited stories along with the "good" ones.

This reader feedback caused publishers to separate one type of story from another and publish them in separate 'zines with clear labels so readers would buy only what they wanted.

PRESTO! They re-invented genre in response to exactly the same market forces that Mass Market publishers respond to! Economics prevailed.

And in response to that genre invention, readers bought even more copies, guaranteed of a good read.

So fanzine publishers did more of it and the readers invented terms for each of the sub-genres.

Then came the backlash. Once in a while a publisher would include a story from another universe, or a cross-universe story (Star Trek/ Dr. Who, for example), in a 'zine, and little by little in response to reader feedback, publishers went to the "Gen 'zine" -- a general fanzine that could have stories from a long list of TV shows. Or even stories based on novel series such as Sime~Gen (Dr. Who/ Sime~Gen was invented this way.)

It's READERS who invented and named genre in defense of their pocketbooks.

It's publishers who responded by separating genre stories into separate publications and labeling them.

And exactly the same thing happened in the previous hundred years or so in Mass Market publishing. Reader pressure forced publishers to invent genre.

But throughout the decades, readers keep forcing Mass Market publishers to GUESS what they want, to guess the rules the readers want followed.

Hence the invention of the Western Romance, one of the first cross-genre innovations.

Now for the SECOND blinding insight into Genre that changes everything.

This is really more for writers than readers.

What is the core element that defines or distinguishes GENRE in the eyes of the publisher who could pay you money for your book?

Remember, this question first arose because someone asked on another blog how a writer who has an idea for a story selects what genre to write that story in. And here is the biggest piece of the answer to that question.

A Romance writer came to me with a werewolf story she (a well established professional) had been unable to sell. I read the draft she'd been submitting, and told her what to do using this insight into the definition of genre, and she sold the book and its sequel to an sf/f publisher.

Genre is defined in Mass Market publishing today not by what is included but by what is EXCLUDED from the work.

Note how I explained above that fanzine publishers got tons of letters (snailmail in those days) from readers offended by the inclusion of a story that included material they didn't like in a zine full of stories they did like. Fanzine publishers learned to EXCLUDE material of one type from a zine filled with material of another type.

And that's the origin of genre - "don't turn your readership off!"

But editors and Manhattan publishers look at it differently, especially since the advent of computerized tracking of sales.

Editors believe that if you include an element that doesn't belong in the genre (i.e. put a werewolf or vampire (horror genre) in a romance story) you exclude two readerships and can sell the book only to the portion of the two readerships that overlap. (think of the Venn diagram of two overlapping circles -- the greater part of the readership is excluded by the inclusion of "foreign" genre elements.

That's what they believe and they believe it (well, used to believe it) because of sales statistics generated by computers.

It is that belief on the part of editors and publishers that rigidified the genre structure and proved to be such an obstacle to those of us writing SF/Romance, Fantasy/Romance, SF-Fantasy, and so on.

For an editor, to publish books that fail in the marketplace is to lose a job. In judging whether to buy a Manuscript or not, the editor is using a very personal criterion -- will I lose my job over this? Better safe than sorry -- therefore genre is defined by what is excluded rather than by what is included.

A werewolf story that consists of one bedroom scene after another has the structure of a romance which (was at that time) EXCLUDED from SF/F imprints. A Romance that has the EXCLUDED horror element of a werewolf in it (no matter how handsome, gentle, kind, and tormented) was excluded from the Romance imprints.

So what happened? I told this romance writer to get the story out of the bedroom and narrate directly some of the action that took place offstage, get the woman involved, etc. She did and it sold -- but HER FANS (romance readers) went after that book. Publishers noticed the sales stats in the computers. New writers began to imitate her.

Now that wasn't the first time such a thing happened. A number of SF writers moonlight as Romance or Mystery writers and vice-versa. Authors write different genres under different names.

But now, as readers have demanded changes, publishers have begun to shift what has to be excluded in order to qualify as this or that genre.

The changes are enabled by the Web and forums and Lists and newsgroups. Publishers are getting feedback now the way fanzine publishers used to - fast, and direct.

The change in readers habits is forcing changes in publishing. I believe I alerted you to the meltdown in the distribution sector a couple weeks ago. Yet another large distributor went into Chapter 11.

This last week, several publishing announcements show us the counter moves in publishing.

Here is a headline from the Wall Street Journal (subscribers only get the article).

Publisher Perseus to Buy RivalAs Book-Industry Deals Pick UpBy JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERGJanuary 11, 2007; Page C3

In a move that quickens the pace of consolidation in the troubled book publishing industry, Perseus Books Group, an independent publisher owned by Washington private-equity firm Perseus LLC, has signed a letter of intent to acquire rival Avalon Publishing Group Inc.

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Here's the Perseus article free online from another source (if it turns up in 2 or more places, it's important). This is from Canton OH.

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=329569

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And here's one on HarperCollins in a deal with LibreDigital to create a services company to help paper publishers produce and market digital books (i.e. e-books, downloadable books).

http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=21079

This is PUBLISHING's response to the Distributor meltdown. Does anyone need a detailed explanation of what this does to a writer's existing contracts with a publisher?

Now these changes in publishing aren't just due to changes in readers' tastes in genre formulae.

There are a number of forces converging on publishers and distributors and retailers such as Barnes & Noble which is closing stores because this last Christmas season didn't keep it afloat.

But it is these economic shifts that are leaving publishers willing to explore the potentials of cross-genre -- or INCLUSION of foreign elements in a genre book.

So ask your questions and I'll answer here next week. What else do you need to know about genre?

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.simegen.com

Talk to me, my darlings...

First a bit of BSP but with a purpose. I'm teaching some on-line writing workshops in the next two months and, as a number of you have emailed me about how I write, here's your chance to find out, for real. Please note these are TWO DIFFERENT VENUES. Oh, and the February one (Florida Writers), the website reg info is wrong--Paypal is offline. Registration is checks only for everyone until it's fixed.

FEBRUARY 2007

February 1 - 15, 2007 - Pitches, Tag lines & Blurbs, Oh My!, Linnea
Sinclair, MINI

http://floridawriters.net/wgrps/eregion/e-workshops.htm

Description:

It’s the three-liner on the front of the book that catches your eye. It’s the two paragraphs on the back of the book that tickles your interest. It’s opener of your query letter and it’s the phrase you have at the ready when a top NY agent asks you: “So, what’s your book about? Tell me in less than three minutes.”

Pitches, blurbs and tag lines are those indispensable tools every writer must have in order to sell a book. They’re pithy, they’re short, they stay in your mind. That’s why they work. They also help you craft your marketing plan once you sell. Learn the formula for creating pitches and tag lines that will sell your book to agents and editors at conference pitch sessions or via queries, from award-winning NY-published author and former news reporter, Linnea Sinclair.

Speaker Bio:

Linnea Sinclair is a former news reporter and retired private investigator turned science fiction romance and fantasy novelist. Her books include Finders Keepers, Gabriel’s Ghost and An Accidental Goddess, with three more titles due out from Bantam/Random House in 2007. Her books’ have won or finaled in the RITA, Prism, Sapphire, Pearl, Dream Realm, FWA Royal Palm and several RWA chapter contests. Her essay column for Futures magazine was a Pushcart Literary Nominee in 1998 and in 2002-2003 she was a John W. Campbell award nominee. She can be reached through her website at www.linneasinclair.com.

Registration Deadline: January 25th


MARCH

http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/

March 1-31, 2007
Character Torture 101
INSTRUCTOR: Linnea Sinclair
Cutoff date to receive registration and payment: February 27, 2007

CLASS SUMMARY:
Writing Guru Dwight Swain said that it’s the author’s job to manipulate the emotions of the reader. There’s no better way to do this than for the author to put his characters through one roller coaster episode after another, taking the reader along for the ride. But how much conflict, how much character angst is too much? How can an author keep the action from becoming cartoonish? Bantam Spectra author Linnea Sinclair answers those questions and more in this fun and fast-paced (because torturing students is good, too!) workshop that explores the importance of conflict in today’s commercial fiction novels.

INSTRUCTOR BIO:
A former news reporter and retired private detective, Linnea Sinclair has managed to use all her college degrees (journalism and criminology) but hasn’t soothed the yearning in her soul to travel the galaxy. To that end, she’s authored several award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels, including FINDERS KEEPERS, GABRIEL’S GOHST, and AN ACCIDENTAL GODDESS (all from Bantam-Spectra), and her upcoming 2007 Bantam releases including CHASIDAH’S CHOICE and THE DOWN HOME ZOMBIE BLUES (a sci fi romance procedural). Sinclair is the winner of the Sapphire, PEARL, EPPIE, a 2006 double RITA nominee and RITA winner! When not on duty with some intergalactic fleet or deep space security agency, she can be found in Florida with her husband and their thoroughly spoiled cats.
~ ~ ~ ~

The other thing I want to mention is that authors love hearing from readers. It's one of the reasons we do this blog. I know a number of my readers read this but don't comment because--they tell me--they didn't think I'd be interested in what they have to say. OF COURSE I would! I wrote FOR you, so your thoughts and ideas interest me.

So whether you're a writer wanting to improve your skills or a reader with questions about my books--TALK TO ME. I'm here for ya'. And I love talking writing theory/ideas and I love talking about my characters.

~Linnea (getting over the flu and on medication and antibiotics now--hence the late blog. Was at the Walk In Clinic most of the afternoon...)

www.linneasinclair.com

Time Wasting, The Twin Paradox (and SFWA and MySpace)

I need to start with this humble caveat:

I got a B grade in Biology Ordinary Level examinations --which was a pretty good grade in my day--, but the chemistry teacher competed with the music teacher to dump me (ie. both encouraged me to elect to study with the other).

The chemistry teacher lost out, in that I elected to inflict my youthful self upon her class for another year. She had what might now be described as a "snarky" streak, and I enjoyed her barbed wit, even when it was directed at me, more than I enjoyed sitting in the front row of the music class watching the music mistress's bare toes jerk in time with Beethoven's Fifth.

As you may infer, I've been a "Manwatcher" most of my life.

I write futuristic romance with a strongish bias towards character (over events, ideas, milieu). I've got my own under-the-stairs research library with fabulous resources such as The Physics of Star Trek, The Science of Star Wars, NASA handbooks about mining on the Moon, about a dozen Writers' Digest reference books on aliens, classes of stars, and worldbuilding...

In Insufficient Mating Material (out January 30th 2007) there's plenty of biology --after all, a significant portion of the story takes place on a deserted island-- and only a few NASA-inspired tidbits.

Shameful though it is to admit, I have a hard time with some aspects of science, like relativity. It doesn't help that "what is known" changes from time to time. Occasionally scientific theorists are discredited... or reinstated. It's not easy for layperson to keep up!

Actually, I occasionally have trouble with the deeper meaning of putting clocks forward and back, and the small examples of time travel in our everyday lives.

Last week, I did a bit of TimeWasting.

I googled NASA and Ask An Astronaut, to see what I could find out. What a wealth of fascinating insights, including definitive proof that projectile-firing weapons are not currently smiled upon in spaceships! (Great news for those who find sabers cool!)

My Search skills may be lacking. I had difficulty honing my search and only reading facts of immediate relevance to an alien hero revisiting Earth, who needs to know if his childhood friends will still be "the same age" as he is. I should have gone straight for The Twin Paradox (only I didn't know what it was called) or Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

That could be a useful tip, if anyone else at the moment is contemplating their own fictional heroes and heroines leaving Earth at light speed or faster, and coming home again after some time has elapsed.

I happen to be a member of SFWA -- www.sfwa.org -- and I should have asked a question on their message boards first. In fact, I asked on the MySpace Bulletin boards.

"...as the traveler approaches the speed of light, according to Einstein's theory of relativity, time would begin to slow until stopping soon after reaching the speed of light."

Helpful links that were suggested to me:

http://www.npl.co.uk/publications/metromnia/issue18/#article2

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/22mar_telomeres.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/hotsciencetwin/

where you'll find a "game" to plug in the velocities and so on to find
out how much a traveler would age compared to his/her twin on earth.

After all this research, I may end up giving my hero a Swiss bank account!

Best wishes,

Rowena Cherry

Does Human Nature Exist?

Thinking about prediction last week reminded me of Isaac Asimov's robot novel THE NAKED SUN. In this book, human detective Elijah and his robot partner solve a murder on a world where people very seldom interact in the flesh. "Meetings" usually occur by means of holographic projections so refined they look real. Even married couples spend very little time physically together. Nothing is said about sex, but one must assume it's customarily of the virtual type. Reproduction is accomplished in vitro, and offspring are brought up in public creches rather than family homes. Babies, of course, are still born with the instinctive need for touching (so we know these are normal human beings, not a mutated subspecies). This "impolite" behavior is trained out of children at an early age. Yet, as far as we can tell, the people of this outwardly idyllic world somehow grow up more or less normal aside from their distaste for physical contact—instead of turning into the emotional cripples, perhaps even sociopaths, they assuredly would become in a real-life equivalent of this culture.

The fact that Asimov and his contemporary readers accepted this society as plausible illustrates a belief prevalent through much of the twentieth century and deconstructed by Steven Pinker in his penetrating book THE BLANK SLATE, the assumption that human nature is infinitely malleable. The same idea lay behind the devastating experience of the boy whose story is told in AS NATURE MADE HIM, whose penis was severely damaged in a botched circumcision during infancy. Doctors recommended that the child undergo sex reassignment surgery and be raised as a girl. Despite being treated as a girl throughout childhood and given female hormones, he/she never felt or behaved "feminine." Eventually learning the truth, he chose to be restored to his original male sex, since he had thought of himself as more boy than girl all along despite never having consciously known what had been done to him. Apparently, contra the behaviorists and their followers, there IS such a thing as "human nature." While we certainly aren't completely controlled by our genes, we can't ignore them, either.

The "blank slate" ideology underlies so much literature of the mid-twentieth century, even among authors whose philosophies are radically dissimilar. For a few decades it seems to have been one of those shared cultural assumptions no one even thinks to question. Despite their vast philosophic differences, WALDEN TWO (by B. F. Skinner), BRAVE NEW WORLD, 1984, and C. S. Lewis's nonfiction THE ABOLITION OF MAN all assume that “conditioning” can mold people into anything the conditioners desire. Skinner viewed this prospect positively, while the other authors mentioned deplored the idea, but none of them seemed to doubt that it could be done. On the contrary, we now know that certain human traits really do seem to be inborn. Babies enter the world with individual personalities rather than “blank slates,” and on a wider scale, a common set of basic reactions, emotions, and social institutions can be found in cultures and ethnic groups throughout the world. No matter how much technology changes, it's probable that our descendants two or three centuries from now will be, in the essentials that make them human, fairly similar to ourselves.

Request for a discussion of genre

Folks:

I was asked to discuss genres -- how a writer would decide which genre to write a particular idea in -- how a reader can figure out from the publisher's labels what books they really want to read (or avoid!).

This is a big topic and I'm way out of time for today. But I do have a great deal to say about genres - where they come from, what they're good for, and why the commercial establishment adopts them then defends them beyond all reason.

We are, as I noted last week, in a vast seachange in the Fiction Delivery System - paper publishing melting down.

And genre barriers that have been absolute and rigid are finally starting to melt down too.

Now is the time for writers to jump in there and create new genres -- and readers need to help.

If you're interested in this area of discussion, please drop a comment here and ask your questions. It's a huge topic - I'd like to carve it up into small pieces.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.simegen.com/jl/