Laura Bush Loves Books More Than Her Husband!

Talking to the AAP (which I figure is the American Association of Publishers - but don't quote me on that ;-)), and as reported in the free Publishers Lunch Deluxe (which I get delivered into my email box on a daily basis), First Lady Laura Bush said:

"So many of you are responsible for the greatest love affair of my life--books." Her main message was to link reading with thinking, and "literacy and liberty."

Heh.

Hmm.

Me like her. :-)

As for her husband...I plead the Fifth (as in Amendment, y'all ;-)).

~Nancy Beck

Overrated and Underrated Books

I saw this thread over on FantasyBookSpot and was intrigued. They, in turn, were intrigued by a post somewhere else (read the link in the very first post).

I'll admit...I've only heard of one person mentioned (Borges), but I've never read any of his stuff.

Meh. No big deal.

Anyhoo...this stuff is in no particular order.

Overrated Books

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

Although I finished it, it was tough going. I don't remember much about it, except that it alternately bored and angered me. I think the main thing was that I couldn't connect to the main character of Ender. I've read other reviews of this book, and it seems that the younger you are, the more you "get it". Or something.

American Gods, Neil Gaiman

This wasn't an easy one for me to pick, because I loooooved Neverwhere; I will go back and read that one at some point. American Gods, though, was a disappointment. What I remember from this one is that this one god, who is now physically on earth, loves sex like there's nothing else to do on this planet. (My guess is a lot of men feel that way, ;-), but it should be interesting than what I read.) Mr. Gaiman also throws in a lot of product placements, which ticked me off. The most annoying thing, believe it or not, was the endings of the few chapters I read: I loved those! He expounded on old gods and goddesses and what they might think about the physical world...but that wasn't the main thrust of the story. Too bad. If the chapter endings were the actual book, I think I would've enjoyed the story. Bummer.

The 4th book of the World of Time series

I know, I know, it's probably not nice to put this down, what with the author no longer in this world. (May he rest peace.) But after reading the first 3 books - in fact, the 3rd book was exceptionally well done - I opened the 4th book with relish. Round about chapter 4 or 5, I just couldn't take it anymore - Nynaeve (I think) pulling on her braid endlessly, and the huge descriptions of everything known to man and womankind - it was just too much, and I put the book down, never to open it again. Maybe his later books were better, but after trying to get through that book, and I just couldn't be bothered with picking up where I left off. (I eventually gave away all of the WOT books.)

Underrated Books

This is a tough one for me. I've only come up with 2 books (one's a series, the other eventually will be a series).

The Fifth Ring (trilogy), by Mitchell Graham

I saw this on Amazon, and I bought it because...well, the cover looked kinda cool. ;-) Not the best thing to go for (because wonderful covers can make up for a crappy story).

But it proved to be a good buy. It's the typical reluctant hero who comes by a darkly magical ring, etc. The difference is in the writing - it's super, with finely realized characters, mostly unstereotypical (a battling priest, who's very good at fencing, is one of the most interesting characters I've come across). The 2nd book in the series, The Emerald Cavern, I didn't find quite as good as the first, but it was decent. And the last in the series, The Ancient Legacy, was also quite good. BTW, by "finely realized characters" I mean that the characters made mistakes; characters that are all-knowing (read: Mary Sue) are irritating to me. I mean, who the heck out there is perfect? (Besides me, I mean. ;-))

Magic Lost, Trouble Found, by Lisa Shearin

I'm not sure if this is underrated in the entire fantasy reading world, but I feel like it might be. This is my favorite book that came out last year (and I read a few debuts last year; something new for me :-)). I couldn't get over the quick pace, the humor, the kick-ass heroine, and the overall writing skill of Lisa Shearin. Raine is an elf who gets caught up in something she shouldn't have gotten caught up in, something that could cause her death sooner rather than later . (Check out the reviews on Amazon, and my own review here .) It doesn't sound like much, but it's a must read as far as I'm concerned. It's so well done, I can barely wait for the 2nd book to come out in April. And this from something I bought on a whim because, again, I liked the cover. ;-) If there was any hype about this particular book, it was well deserved.

What About You?

Any books that you think don't live up to all the hype? What about those that you think should get more attention?

~Nancy Beck

Anthology to Help Preditors and Editors

Here's an update on the Preditors and Editors situation.

Some fine people have decided to have an anthology printed up, with all proceeds going to help Dave Kuzminski at P&E.

What a wonderful idea! They're taking all genres, and, as stated, everything will be sent to P&E's defense fund. So if you're in a short story writin' mood, why not consider sending something their way?

Rather than just give out a link, here's what Dave wrote at Absolute Write:

HELP THE CAUSE AGAINST PUBLISH AMERICA:

Charity Anthology:

Calling all authors:

In February, it was learned that the business practice known as Publish America is now suing P&E (Predators and Editors)

Predators and Editors is a valuable resource for aspiring writers and publishers on who are who and what is what in the Publishing industry.

I am fully engaged in helping the fight against Publish America and what they are doing to authors across the nation:

David Kuzminski who runs P&E needs your help: His group has been receiving donations for the legal case.

I, Eric Enck and David Kuzminski am asking all writers of any genre to give us some stories. They can be fantasy, horror, SF, bizzaro, romance…it doesn’t matter. We want good stories to put together an anthology for purchase in the beginning of May 2008.

Every cent will go to Predators and Editors for the legal case.

Please send submissions in double space 12pt font (Times New Roman preferred) to

screwpa@hotmail.com

The cover is being illustrated by renown artist, Danielle Serra.

Deadlines for stories is April 5th 2008.

Love that submissions email. :-)

If you have something, send it in and support the cause. Or click on the Donation button up on the right. Or wait until the anthology comes out and buy it.

If you're short on funds (like me, at the moment), just blog about the whole situation, and put up the Donation button on your own blog or site. (Send me an email, and I'll send the code to you; it's quite easy to figure out.)

Go get 'em, Dave! :-)

~Nancy Beck

Tuesday Morning - Finish the Sentence #1

I've been getting into the idea of writing prompts and the like as a way to kind of kick start my writing. It's amazing to me how your brain can get into writing mode when actively participating in these things.

So I've decided to start a Tuesday morning thingie and designate it as Finish the Sentence morning. I'll probably resort to lines out of older books at some point, but I thought I'd try extricating something out of my own brain first.

Herewith is the 1st sentence you can try to finish (or not ;-)):

Billy ran out into the snowstorm with only his T-shirt, jeans, and a scarf on because...

The idea here is to scribble down the first thing that comes to your mind, and see where it takes you. From my own slightly mildewed brain:

Billy ran out into the snowstorm with only his T-shirt, jeans, and a scarf on because his mother was only two steps behind him, swinging an axe. What the hell's gotten into her? Billy thought, as he skidded and slipped down the sidewalk. Already his fingers had trouble bending in, and his feet felt as if he'd stepped into an ice cube bath.

Stopping, though, wasn't an option.

Not exactly the greatest, but that's not the point. Will this help you unstick your brain in some way? Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but at least you'll be getting in some sort of writing today, eh? ;-)

Tune in next week...same Bat channel...same Bat station. (Can you tell I loved all those goofy 60s shows like Batman, The Addams Family, and The Munsters?)

See ya soon! :-)

~Nancy Beck

This May Be More of a Freelance Idea, But...

...it is writing related, and even if you're not going to monetize your blog in any way or offer any services...it's an interesting idea.

When I originally set up this blog 2 years ago this August (can't believe it's been that long!), all I had in mind was the idea of goading myself to write and maybe the occasional writing tip or technique.

This post on the Pro Blogger blog (from 2006...still getting hits 2 years later!) has a nice little template focusing on altering your About Me or Profile page.

The idea is to to let people know who you are, your expertise and the problems or goals it addresses (especially good for freelancers and business owners), and how to contact you.

It wasn't until I'd been blogging for a number of months when an online writer friend clued me in that there was no way to contact me on my blog (!!). Simple stuff, but something I'd overlooked.

Getting back to the profile page...my thought on this is that you can make it as personal or as formal as you think it should be. And to get you thinking what you want to offer to the online world - again, even if it's just a word a day or just how you're toughing it out by writing Your Great Novel - I think is a great idea.

I have to admit that my original profile was just kind of slapped together (I figure that's what most people have done!); just a basic, "yadda, yadda, yadda, dis is my day job."

I'll probably tweak it from time to time, as certain things may fall by the wayside; only time will tell. But I've got the new one plugged in now, and although it's not perfect, I think it's serving it's purpose much better.

For now. :-)

~Nancy Beck

Preditors and Editors Is Being Sued

Can you believe this?

Some scammer had the temerity to go after P&E, one of the 3 golden sites (in my opinion, the other 2 being Writer Beware and the Absolute Write Water Cooler) that helps writers figure out who's on the up-and-up and who's a scammer.

Bastards.

I've got the Donate button in the right side bar, right at the very top of the blog.

It's just a "give what you can if you can" type of thing (Paypal, as you can see). Unfortunately, my credit cards are almost completely maxed out, so unless I see a street address or p.o. box somewhere, I'm going to have to pass.

Which pisses me off.

BTW, if any writer out there needs the code, shoot me an email, and I'll send it off to you. It's quite easy to post on Blogger, by just going into Layout. Set it up as an HTML code thing.

~Nancy Beck

If You Want to See An Email Deconstructed...

...James D. MacDonald does so brilliantly in this post at Absolute Write's Water Cooler. This is the infamous WL Writers Literary Agency (and The Children's Literary Agency and, aw, you get the idea - check out the thread), and it/they threatened "3 writers" with not just one lawsuit, but a "series" of lawsuits.

Bwahahaha!

Yeah, like they'd ever want to be in a courtroom. BTW, they threatened all last year, and the year before...going back to 2004.

Still no lawsuit (or series of lawsuits) filed, and you know they never will...until someone gets someone in law enforcement to pay attention. Unfortunately, scam literary agents tend to go on under the radar because usually the amounts of money are small potatoes, among other things.

This is why I write blog posts against such scammy "agents."

Because if I can (or any other writer, for that matter) keep people away from such, that's that much less money in the scammer's pockets.

Remember - do your research first! Don't click on Google ads for literary agencies or publishers! And, by all means, have fun and send "Sherry" or Bobby or best (worst?) dreck and see how long it takes you to receive a similar email.

~Nancy Beck

Conflict

I saw this post on the Daily Writing Tips blog. In fact, I've just joined her RSS feed. She has another part of the blog with Word of the Day stuff, which is right up my alley, too. :-)

Back to the Post

Anyway, the post talked about a specific Sol Stein book, one I hadn't seen or read, How to Grow a Novel. (Sounds intriguing, huh?) Mr. Stein has this to say about conflict in your novel (that is, is it necessary):

Yes, conflict was and is a necessity, it is the essence of dramatic action. The engine of fiction is somebody wanting something and going out to get it. And if you let him get it right away, you’re killing the story…Without…opposition, fiction is a vehicle without an engine.

I know a lot of you are probably saying: Duh. ;-) But really, how many times have you written a scene in your first draft (hopefully it's just in your first draft and not the final one! :-)) that is just dull/dried out/blah? Or have you seen the same when critting a portion of someone's novel?

Too many times. Writing something like that in the first draft is fine; the idea is write it down fast, eschewing whether it makes sense or not, then revise/cut.

The idea to keep in mind is that you want readers to keep reading...to turn the page, and keep turning the pages until they've finished your novel.

Remember to put up as many roadblocks between your main character getting whatever he or she wants, or the conflict will dry up too soon; if it does happen rather quickly, you might want to consider making your story into a short story instead. Or coming up with those roadblocks and hindrances, no matter how outlandish they might first seem. (Always give in to your creativity with that first draft; tell your inner critic to take a vacation for a while.)

But, yes, conflict is the essence of a novel. Without that, it's just so much dead wood (and that goes for e-books as well as dead-tree books! :-))

~Nancy Beck

Jumping Heads

I just finished critting the first chapter of someone's novel, and it was a tough slog. Not because it didn't have its exciting moments; it did. Not because the opening sentence was a fairly good start; it was.

The author, though, insisted on jumping from one point of view to another - sometimes within the same paragraph!

I know, I know: Larry McMurtry did that in Lonesome Dove. Or so I'm told, as I haven't read the book.

I'm not a fan of it, Mr. McMurtry notwithstanding.

Why? It confuses the heck out of me, that's why. Whose thoughts am I supposed to be getting into? Who am I rooting for or hissing at? To me, if there's a great big jumble in one paragraph, I'm not going to stick around and sort it out (especially if I still don't understand after reading said paragraph 2 or 3 times).

Let Me Know When You Make the Switch

The one WIP I have has 2 different points of view, so I'm obviously not opposed to multiple viewpoint stories. All I ask is that you let me know ahead of time when you switch from one character to another.

'Kay?

Just set 'em off with 3 asterisks (***) or with a pound sign (#), and I'll be happy. Well, at least with knowing that I'm about to embark on another character and his or her thoughts.

About Different Viewpoint Characters

That's not the only thing to think about. In the excerpt I critted, there were 3 different viewpoints. That, in and of itself, is fine. I read Elizabeth Bear's first trilogy which, if I remember correctly, had 3 (or was it 4?) viewpoint characters.

But they were carefully delineated, with one in the form of short diary entries, another in present tense, etc. It was fairly easy to follow, but it took me a while to get used to present tense; after finally reading a short story that worked extremely well in present tense (a lovely story out of Realms of Fantasy magazine), I went back to the opening book of that trilogy - and that part clicked. It turned out to be quite and intense and dark first book. (Alas, too dark for me at the moment. I still have to finish the other 2 books, but I'll get to them at some point.)

Anyway, I made the suggestion to limit this author's particular story to 2 viewpoints, which, interestingly enough, included not only a man's viewpoint, but a dog's viewpoint. I'm a dog lover, so I was hooked. :-)

I think it's something all fiction writers have to keep in mind: How best do I let this story unfold? One viewpoint? Two or more viewpoints? Through which characters' eyes should this story unfold?

And, sometimes, even the right POV (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) is a big question.

But that's a question for another post. :-)

~Nancy Beck