Weekly Update: April 29 to May 5

Weekly word count: 5975

There are ten weeks left before RWA Nationals and I've done the math on what I need to do in order to have a completed first draft done.  (And reaffirmed that doing the math is never a sign of something pleasant.)  I've got 57k done, and there will likely be another 50 to 60k for the manuscript.  So that means I need to do at least 5-6k every week and realistically, I should be aiming for 6-7k each week, because not every word that I write deserves to be kept.

When I first started, I thought I might be able to achieve 2k per day on weekdays.  If I had my scheduled 2 hours each day, then 2000 words is a possibility.  But I rarely get my full two hours.  Things nibble into that margin and I usually lose at least half an hour.

I'm fighting a bit of give-up-itis.  It's actually kind of impressive how far my brain can go down the cascade of failures:  I'll never get it done.  Even if I get it done, it won't be good.  Even if I think it's good, agents and editors won't want it.  Even if they want it, book sales are down... so on and so on.  I think I eventually get to the point where I'm hiding alone and unloved in a basement somewhere, having been exposed as a total fraud and hack.

Here's the thing: I know this is all garbage.  My goals are still achievable and while there's plenty out of my control, the parts that are under my control are very do-able.  So I'm going to go ahead and register to pitch to agents and editors at RWA and then it's going to be up to fate and the gods about what happens next.  But I refuse to let the dark little voice inside my head win.  It's stolen enough of my life with its false predictions. 

Some Thoughts on Cliffhangers

The cliffhanger used to be a staple of story-telling.  Scheherazade used them to extend her life for a 1001 days.  The term "cliffhanger" comes from the old serial adventure films, which often ended with the heroes hanging off an actual cliff, the villain about to succeed, and the admonition to "Tune in next week!" to find out what happened.

I'm sure he'll be fine.

Today, though, they're not as popular, at least not on the audience side.  It can be incredibly frustrating to see To Be Continued... crawl across the screen when it's not expected.  Or to get to the last page and still not know who the Big Bad is, or what their plan is, or how our heroes are going to thwart it.

The issue goes back to story structure.  Regardless of whether one uses a three act structure, a five act structure or the 22 plot points of the Hero's Journey, a resolution is always the last step.  It's not always in the heroes' favour but it is an ending, one way or another.

There are points where I feel that cliffhangers are acceptable.  Some stories are too big to be told within typical page or time limits.  Dividing them into several parts is a valid choice but it's a challenge to make sure that the audience is satisfied at the end of each installment.  And it's critical that the audience knows that the story is ongoing.

I am not a fan of the start-on-a-cliffhanger technique, where the audience is shown the heroes in peril or doing something uncharacteristic, and then we flash back to "Two days earlier" and the creator shows how they got to that point.  It invariably feels like a cheap tactic to generate tension.  It's not even a particularly effective tactic since it's been used so many times. 

If an audience thinks the creator is stringing them along in order extort more sales, they will be rightfully furious.  It's a fine line between a hook and a cliffhanger, and it's mostly in the audience's perception.

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Weekly Update: April 22 to 28

Weekly word count: 6329

This week's wacky adventure in my world involved losing almost all of my scheduled writing time due to several minor emergencies.  Which left me with a difficult choice: do no writing at all or lose sleep and stay up late to try and get some words down.

I chose stay up late.  So all this week, I've been starting writing around 10 pm and going until 11:30 or midnight, which requires a lot of caffeine.

That works in the short term but isn't sustainable for more than about five days.

I'm hoping that this week works better.  I'm putting the finishing touches on Judgment so that it'll be ready for release.  And I've got some swag to order for Limestone.

Ink Tip: But That's Not What I Meant! (Working With An Editor)

There are days when I wonder how anyone is able to communicate with one another... most of those days happen when I'm doing edits. 

Maybe I meant to say he grabbed a bear and took a drink!  It could happen!

Words are supposed to be straightforward.  Say the right ones and other people will grasp the information you are conveying.  This is the myth that we cling to and it's probably the basis for all civilization and culture.  But it's not quite entirely true, as is obvious to anyone who takes half a minute scrolling through the arguments on social media.

There's a lot of variation in interpretation of the words we use to communicate.  And often what we think we've said is not what we've actually said.  Editors and beta readers can help an author to narrow that gap, but it is an ego-shredding process.  

My rule of thumb is that I will not argue with my editor about a problem that she has identified, though I may not agree with her about the way to fix it.  This has saved a lot of headaches and arguments on both sides.  If she is asking why a character isn't jumping through the window to save the day, then I can't argue that I've laid out a dozen reasons already.  Either potential readers aren't making the connection with the previous reasons or those reasons don't seem like a sufficient excuse to avoid window-jumping.

That brings me to a choice: I can take out the window-jumping scene, I can tweak previous scenes to emphasize the reasons, or I can add a direct thought about why they're not window-jumping.  There are lots of options, I just need to figure out which one works best for my story and my style.

Sometimes there are other issues which can start to infringe on an author's voice.  Personally, I love using unusual words and descriptions but I know it can become off-putting for a reader to constantly have to guess what I mean.  So when my editor starts indicating that I need to take them out, it can feel like a personal sting.  But it forces me to consider each one: do I really need this? does it match the pacing of the story or am I slowing the reader when I shouldn't be?  I fight for the ones I really want and that I think are critical, but the vast majority get simplified.  By making me face how many times I've used the word "eeled" in a manuscript, I'm forced to hone my writing and avoid repetition.

One of the biggest reasons I use an editor is to ensure consistent writing style, i.e. use of commas, tenses, and italics.  There's a fair amount of variation in what is actually "right" in the English language (I have friends who will live and die in their defense of the Oxford comma) but it's inconsistency that makes most readers cringe.  My editor keeps my style consistent and I am eternally grateful, even if I sometimes go wide-eyed at the number of commas that I apparently missed.

None of these things are easily handled by an author on their own.  I know some authors who pay for three or four editors in the developmental stage, just to make sure they get a variety of viewpoints looking at it.   I know authors who do multiple line edits to make sure all of the typos, grammar and punctuation errors get caught.  (Though if you are going to do this, make sure that each line editor is familiar with the style that you have chosen: Chicago, Strunk and White, etc.)  An editor isn't your friend, but he or she is absolutely necessary if an author wants to move past the amateur stage.  It is a partnership and both sides have the same goal: to make sure a book is the best possible book it can be.  

My next best possible book, Judgment, will be coming out on May 14th and you can pre-order it now.  Sometimes the most ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things and you should never underestimate a mom with a mission.

Previous Post: Romance vs Reality: What Makes a Great HEA?

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Weekly update: April 15 to 21

Weekly word count: 4903

Not bad considering I got my line edits at the end of last week and have been spending two-three hours a day going through them.

This is the point in the process where I wish English was a more precise language with more definite dos and don'ts when it comes to punctuation, grammar, spelling, and style (like when to use italics and when not to).  Most of the time, I love the flexibility that allows for so much nuance and depth.  But not when I have to justify why I want to use a colon instead of a comma.  And both are technically right.

Deadly Potential is flowing nicely.  After this, I should be able to mostly concentrate on writing the manuscript, though there's still plenty to do for Judgment (like make up quote cards) and for the start of conference season.  I don't think I was ever under the delusion that writing was an easy career, but I still didn't imagine anything near this workload.

Romance vs Reality: What Makes an HEA?

An HEA (Happily-Ever-After) is an intrinsic part of romance, one of the defining features of the genre.  Stories like Romeo and Juliet or The Notebook might feature a love story but their tragic endings mean they are not romances.  If a book is labeled as a romance, the reader can know from page one that no matter how dark and horrible things seem, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  It’s one of the reasons why romance appeals to me (and to many other readers).  We always get an HEA in romance, unlike in real life.

Romance view: mood lighting ; real life view: fire hazard

But not every HEA is created equal.  Every reader will have a slightly different opinion on what constitutes a satisfying HEA.  For some, they want evidence that the relationship survives its early turbulent days: i.e. an epilogue set a few years into the future.  For others, they want a wedding as a sign that the characters are committed to each other.  Some readers might want every aspect of the characters’ lives to be improved (great job, great relationship, all troubles resolved) while others are satisfied with knowing that the characters will be facing the difficulties ahead together.

It’s a tricky balance between what the author considers a satisfying HEA and what the readers demand.  I’ve heard of readers getting turned off of books because the HEA included a reconciliation gesture with an abusive family.  In their mind, the HEA would have been more satisfying if the characters had cut ties with people who had hurt them so deeply before, allowing them to be free of the ongoing pain.  Personally, I find a last minute wedding to be off-putting as part of an HEA.  If the characters have spent 90% of the book at odds with one another, then I’m not okay with them suddenly deciding that everything will be great once they’re legally bound.  (I do make an exception where the wedding is part of an epilogue and it’s clear that some time has passed and they’ve resolved their differences and are treating one another with respect.)

Romances are fantasies, and as such, they can explore scenarios which would be deeply problematic in real life.  For some readers, they want those fantasies untethered from the concerns of reality.  It’s okay for them if one character kisses another despite the second’s objections, because they know it’s all going to work out.  For other readers, that invalidates the HEA and destroys the illusion they were hoping to enjoy.  They want their romantic fantasy to be an attainable one, something that could happen in their own lives (werewolves, vampires, and superheroes notwithstanding). 

I tend to fall on the attainable fantasy side of the equation (and I will cling to my illusion that one day I might find out that superpowers are real).  If a hero or heroine does something that would be unacceptable to me in real life (like kissing someone who has said no, using insulting slurs against someone’s gender, race, or background, or going to an isolated location with a threatening stranger) then it no longer matters to me if everything is going to work out in the end.  Perhaps it’s overly judgmental of me, but in my mind, the character has no longer earned that HEA.  (Again, I can make exceptions if it turns out that the infraction is part of a character’s growth arc and they will learn why their actions are not okay and make amends.)

But even though I have strong feelings on what makes an HEA, you won’t find me telling someone else that they should find an HEA unsatisfying.  Because I don’t have the right to dictate what fantasy will or won’t work for someone else.  There are so many stories out there that everyone should be able to find HEAs that they can enjoy.

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Weekly Update: April 8 to 14

Weekly word count: 5876

Two days this week where life got the better of me, but I'm still pleased with the overall total and progress.  

I got my line edits for Judgment back on Friday and now it's a mad rush to get them sorted out so that I can get the final text in place for release day.

Sunday's ORWA meeting was great despite the horrible weather.  Eve Langlais did a great job at going through the different self-publishing platforms and what authors should consider when deciding whether to self-publish or go the traditional route.

There's a lot of discouraging news coming out of the publishing industry right now.  It's hard to separate out rumour from fact but it does seem like the subscription model has drastically affected purchasing patterns.  Add in the fact that it's also incredibly vulnerable to scammers and there's a lot to be concerned about.  

It's the same trend that the music industry went through.  When songs first started being digitized, there was rampant piracy and a sense of entitlement to "free" music.  People bought less and less music and it wasn't necessarily because they were downloading free stuff.  People might buy individual songs, but they didn't want to go to the expense of buying whole albums or the time-cost of going to the record store.  It became harder for new artists to become discovered and even top level artists had their income slashed.  Add in the subscription/streaming services, and it's become even harder on the artist level.  

I understand the desire to pay less as a customer.  Money doesn't stretch as far as it used to.  But I also see it from the artist's perspective.  If companies can't turn a profit from an artist's work (be it books, music, whatever) then they aren't going to invest in it.  That applies on the individual level as well.  If artists need to have day jobs to pay the bills, there's less time to create and fewer of them are going to go to the expense and challenge of creating good products.

Lots of people have expressed the idea that it's okay to demand cheap or free entertainment  because the big global corporations are making tons of money so it doesn't really hurt them.  Paying ten dollars for something when the company gets $9.90 can seem like supporting an exploitive system.  But regardless of how you feel about the industry, the artist could probably use that dime.