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March 4th, 2010
11:12 pm - Why We Need Editors
As in most aspects of life, so it is in story revision: Fixing the problem is easy. It's finding the problem that's hard.
Repairing a flawed story is usually relatively simple; often a matter of changing only a few lines or paragraphs. The challenge lies in deciphering ambiguous and often contradictory feedback in order to determine what the problem actually is. I have seen stories murdered in revision by authors struggling to address random symptoms rather than searching for the as-yet-unidentified underlying problem.
This, I think, is why a good editor is worth his or her weight in gold. I've heard people claim that editors edit because they can't write. I don't think this is true. Or rather, I think it is irrelevant. Editing -- that precious skill of being able to sift through pages of prose and spot the one key flaw that is causing all the others -- is a very different skill from the ability to paint a story with words. Most writers train both skills over time, but there's no rule that says they must necessarily both be present in the same person. A good editor may also be a good writer. Or he may be a lousy writer. But an editor's writing ability says, in my opinion, absolutely nothing about how good he or she is at editing.
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February 28th, 2010
10:22 pm - Bad Subconscious, Good Subconscious
This week, I am scheduled to finish a web site, expand some financial software, write numerous story critiques, and complete several thousand words of fiction. So what do I do with my day off?
I write 1600 words about a bright, introverted kid and his technophilic cat. *Sigh*
The good news is, my son wants to hear the next part of the story. Unlike adult relatives, six-year-olds don't pull any punches, so at least I know I didn't spend my Sunday writing junk.
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February 21st, 2010
07:47 am - This woman has just earned my respect
I have not previously spent much time thinking about J.K. Rowling, except to wonder whether the struggling-mom-to-billionaire story had been unrealistically hyped up by the press and to contemplate which factors may have shot Harry Potter to its incredible status.
Yesterday I watched one of her public addresses for the first time. I was impressed both by her skill in crafting and presenting a public speach and by the topics she chose to hilight.
She has officially gone next to Lois McMaster Bujold on my list of authors I admire.
J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.
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February 2nd, 2010
08:41 am - Amazon vs Macmillan
My six-year-old wandered in this morning and looked over my shoulder while I browsed Livejournal. He was hoping I'd have time to play with him, but I told him I needed to work.
Alex: Reading stuff isn't work!
Me: Yes it is. I'm staying informed on what's happening. For example, this weekend there was a big fight between a publisher and an online retailer, and it's good for me to know about that.
Alex: So you can stop the fight?
Me: Well... this fight is between such big corporations that I don't think I could stop it. They wouldn't listen to anything I have to say.
Alex: But you could try. If you don't try, you'll never know.
Me: Um... they're really big corporations...
Alex: If you don't try, you'll never know.
* * *
What's a woman to do?
World, this is my best effort as a loving mother. Can't we all just stop fighting and get along?
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January 28th, 2010
03:50 am - One Cobble at a Time
Today is my sister's birthday. In addition to being my relative, she's the author of a children's book, an active and inspiring blog, and a story in Julie Czerneda's Ages of Wonder anthology.
Sandra's very nice to new people, and over the years she's taught me about everything from childraising to business marketing. If you'd like to meet her, stop by and say hello at One Cobble at a Time.
Happy Birthday, Sandra!
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January 18th, 2010
08:29 am - Stories for Haiti
Crossed Genres Magazine is hosting a Stories for Haiti campaign to help raise relief funds. In support of that effort, I'm posting a complete story here on my blog.
This story first appeared in the June 2009 issue of Jim Baen's Universe. If you enjoy it, or any of the other stories posted for Haiti, please show your gratitude by donating to a charity involved in the Haiti relief efforts.
In the Halls of the Sky-Palaceby Nancy Fulda | |
 | The clack of castanets tapped out a crisp, clear rhythm beneath the smoky torches of the dining hall. Jeweled fingers glinted in the firelight. Brightly colored silks swirled like ardent lovers around thighs and forearms.
Aesva watched the dancers from a crack between free-hanging tapestries. She had to admit that they were very beautiful. They moved beautifully, too, even the dead ones. In the flickering brightness, their pallid skin looked no different than that of the living, but Aesva was not deceived. Even amidst the swirl of fabrics, it was easy to spot the ones with no heartfire.
Across the dining hall, the Sky-King shifted on his chair, unaware that half of his performers no longer breathed. He hardly noticed them anymore, for all that he took great care to trot them out whenever he entertained guests. Such exquisite faces, he would exclaim. Such grandeur of hair and skin tone! They were his war trophies, each woman a tribute to a fallen empire. Aesva was old enough to remember the last time he had--
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January 14th, 2010
07:47 am - Magic Phrases
Around our house, you have to be very careful how you say things. Our oldest son has a preliminary diagnosis on the autistic spectrum. He communicates wonderfully, but every once in a while we stumble over phrasings that just don't compute. (This is true of every person, I suppose, to a varying degree.)
As an example: Asking him to throw balls more softly or play games less roughly seldom had any effect. Asking him to throw or play more slowly worked wonderfully. He'd slow down the physical muscle movements, resulting in a softer throw and gentler play. Similarly, asking him to speak more quietly seldom works. He says, "Ok," willingly enough, but then continues speaking at full volume. However, if I ask him to reduce the amount of air he's using when he speaks, his volume drops immediately.
This focus on the physical mechanics of an action, rather than on the subjective effect of an action on nearby people, seems to be fundamental to his thought process. I wish I could figure out a mechanics-based way to help him understand personal space. He tends to find the shortest path from point A to point B and bonk shoulders with everyone he passes on the way.
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January 8th, 2010
03:33 pm - Reluctant Readers
I've been thinking about reluctant readers; that subset of school children who do not spontaneously seek out reading experience and whose parents and teachers would like to motivate to read more.
As reading is a fundamental skill in our society, is directly related to written and verbal communication ability, and is the cornerstone of education, I highly approve of reluctant reader programs. I've often considered whether it's possible to target books specifically toward reluctant readers, and I keep coming up with the following train of logic:
Proposition A: The people who grow up to write novels frequently share personality traits. (One would have to run a study to determine what these traits are, but it might include things like a love of reading, social isolation, high verbal intelligence, and so forth.)
Proposition B: Most novelists write books that appeal to their personal aesthetic.
Assuming that A and B are true, it follows that most novels written represent the interests of a fairly small subset of the population: that subset which feels naturally drawn to the written word and seeks to write creatively. Reluctant readers, however, do not necessarily belong to this subset, and may not be attracted by the same features which most writers emphasize.
I suspect that if you want to engage the interests of reluctant readers, you're going to have to write a different kind of book than you would write for natural bookworms. I wish I knew how to go about identifying and resonating with reluctant readers' aesthetic.
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January 6th, 2010
04:28 pm - Where to find free kids' games online
I've spent the last few weeks scrounging around the internet appeasing my pixel-hungry children. Figured some other folks out there might appreciate the list.
Knowledgeadventure.com -- A nice suite of classic games, plus some innovative new ones.
Tux Paint -- Open Source graphics program for children. Includes a rubber stamp tool that lets them populate their picture with ducks, astronauts, and so forth.
Barbie.com -- The games are dorky and poorly implemented, but they're PINK! With princesses! And sparkly tiaras! (My four-year-old spends a lot of time here.)
Tetris.com -- Various instantiations of tetris.
MyFreeFarm.com -- Um. This one shows up in German on my computer. I presume that it's just picking up on my regional and language options, though.
Lemmings -- The original Lemmings remade as a browser game. Lags a bit, but plenty of fun.
World of Goo Demo -- Watch out. The demo is so fun you might find yourself paying money for the full game.
JumpStart.com -- I hate the way the video on the front page starts playing without you doing anything, but the game itself is quite good. It's a virtual amusement park with snowmen, scuba diving, an adventurer training camp, and various other things that kids find cool.
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January 2nd, 2010
08:06 am - Disguising the Cavalry
When I was a new writer I spent a lot of time in critique groups and frequently saw a familiar pattern. Critiquers would like a manuscript overall, but complain that the ending felt too contrived, or too sudden, or too unrealistic. The harried author would then proceed to rewrite the entire ending: even if it was his or her favorite part of the original piece.
Oh, the atrocities that have been committed in the name of revision!
I'm going to share a little secret. When critiquers complain about the end of the story, it is not always the ending of the story that is broken. The end of the story is merely the point at which readers noticed a problem.
Case in point: in my current work in progress the protagonist defeats evil enemy troops by triggering a landslide. "Yeah, right," I can hear my readers saying, "How does this girl from a primitive society know which rocks to loosen in order to begin an avalanche? And what makes her so sure it will work?"
The solution, it turns out, is to go back two dozen chapters, very near the beginning of the book, and work in a scene in which she and her tribe flush quarry out of the mountains by -- you guessed it -- strategically creating a landslide. The previously unrealistic ending suddenly feels believable because my heroine is working on her home turf and she's triggered dozens of avalanches in these cliffs before.
See how easy that was?
My point is, don't give up on your ending just because critiquers complain that something feels unexpected or unrealistic. It's perfectly fine to have the cavalry come charging across the desert to rescue your hero from certain doom. Just make sure the reader knew the cavalry was somewhere nearby already, and maybe dress them up as extraterrestrials so they blend in better with the milieu.
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December 21st, 2009
08:01 pm - How to Switch Houses Quickly, Cheaply and Easily
The title of this post is a hoax. There is no quick, cheap and easy way to move. At best you can pick two of the three. At worst, it's a none-of-the-above type of deal.
My husband and I have moved six times since we married, four times with small children in tow. We have done 'stressy'. We have done 'last-minute'. We have done 'let's move into an apartment our friends picked for us because we don't have time to fly out and pick one ourselves'.
This year I was hoping to do 'pay a bunch of money for someone to pack our stuff in the truck for us'. Alas, that plan faltered on the 'bunch of money' part. Instead we've settled for a slow, easy transition. I've been gradually packing boxes over the past six weeks. On Wednesday we'll head to Oma and Opa's house, where the kids and I will stay while Fabian makes the trip with the moving van. We will continue to bunk at Oma and Opa's place until the new house is not only livable but actually mostly set up.
It is a slow, drawn-out way to move, but far less stressful than our first few attempts. Or maybe I'm just getting better at packing stuff into boxes...
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December 19th, 2009
07:04 pm - James Maxey: Silent as Dust
James Maxey's story Silent as Dust is available free at IGMS until Dec. 31. This is one of the creepiest and most beautifully-written stories I've ever read. If you're looking for some extraordinary reading, take time to stop by.
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December 17th, 2009
04:33 pm
Got a nod from Rich Horton in his year-end summary for Baen's Universe.
The story in question is In the Halls of the Sky Palace and I consider it one of the best stories I've ever written, so I'm pleased that it snagged some attention. I'm especially pleased to see my name lumped in next to Mike Resnick's. (Boggle moment.)
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November 20th, 2009
03:38 pm - Random Weirdness
There is a word -- and I wish I could remember what it was -- that describes an advanced technology being used to imitate a more primitive technology. Rolling ticker tapes on web sites are a prime example.
Example #2 is the way I keep my place during revisions. When I get to the end of my writing session, I type "BOOKMARK" into the manuscript. A simple text search gets me right back to my spot in the morning.
So it turns out that I am using a multisyllabic phenomenon whose name I can't remember on a regular basis.
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November 17th, 2009
11:18 am - Why Host Writing Contest?
Most of you know that AnthologyBuilder sponsored a writing contest this year. (The judges are still out on the finalists: results soon.)
Of the marketing tools I've utilized, writing contests rank very near the top. Why?
1. They attract attention
Contests are fun, and nothing is quite as alluring as the prospect of shiny prizes. People will not only enter the contest, but will cheerfully tell their friends about it, link to it, and so forth.
2. They encourage new visitors
Many marketing efforts are aimed at encouraging previous visitors to come back to the web site. Contests reach a new audience because they're interesting to groups who have had no prior exposure to your product.
3. They are not pushy
I hate pushy sales-people, blinking web banners, and pesky spam emails saying "Buy! Buy! Buy!"
Contests are a pleasant marketing tool because they are totally laid-back. Entrants don't have to make a purchase or ever come back to the site. It serves the noble goal of marketing ('making people aware of your product') without falling into the sleazy pitfalls ('pressuring people to buy something they don't really want').
4. They give something back
Writing contests are a great way to support and enourage aspiring writers. (I'm not sure why, but new writers seem far more likely to enter contests than they are to submit to established magazines. Perhaps it's because contests feel less threatening.) It gives something back to the community, and that makes me feel all warm-fuzzy inside.
* * *
Short version: I heart contests. If I ever manage to (a) finish A New Kind of Sunrise and (b) sell it, I am sure as heck going to find a way to tie a writing contest into the marketing strategy.
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October 28th, 2009
11:21 pm - Salvaging
Six-year-old Alex has developed a keen interest in all things electrical; especially in taking them apart. So far we have dissected a flashlight, a hand microscope, a remote control caterpillar, and an electronic alien-in-a-car with a broken wheel. He squealed with glee when we connected the caterpillar motor to a battery and it started spinning.
I find I enjoy both the time spent together and the excuse to get rid of items that I otherwise would have kept. It's hard for me to throw away electronic toys even if they have stopped functioning. This way, I can chalk their destruction up as a learning experience.
Alex is carefully collecting circuit boards, LEDs, battery mounts, and motors from each dismantled object. He wants to use them to build a robot even better and cooler than the Wowee Robot Uncle David sent us for Christmas several years ago. He plans to do this in stages, taking each robot apart to re-salvage the parts into an even better model.
Today I picked up a soldering iron at the hardware store. Tomorrow the real fun will start.
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October 27th, 2009
08:22 pm - Randomness
Hexes and Tooth Decay is now up at Darwin's Evolutions.
Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses. Gosh. Wow. I don't know whether to be entranced or appalled.
Schlock Mercenary books can now be ordered from local game stores. Makes me wish I had one nearby so I could pester the manager to put more copies on the shelves.
By the way, the bargain hunter in me just noticed that the Schlock Store has a clearance section. Just in case you're a cheapskate like me who cares more about the book's content than about whether the spine has a crease.
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October 17th, 2009
01:15 pm - Does reading require more effort than watching a movie?
The generally accepted knowledge -- at least among booklovers -- is that reading is a far more active experience than watching television because you have to imagine what everything looks like.
I find myself wondering whether that's actually true.
Books leave more room for the reader to visualize the situation, I'll concede that. But what about complex tasks like extrapolating characters' motives, predicting what they'll do next, or wondering what that mysterious man in the black overcoat is up to? Books often hand that information to you cut-and-dried, where as movie-watchers, unable to read the charaters' thoughts, must figure it all out.
There's a lot of trash on tv, no question. (There's a lot of trash on bookshelves, too, as it happens.) But let's say we take truly high-quality entertainment from both mediums: the best book you've ever read and the best movie you've ever watched. Is it really true that watching the movie is a passive experience while reading the book is somehow more active, more intellectually stimulating, or otherwise better for you?
I'm not sure it is.
Does anyone know of studies that compare brain activity while reading a book to brain activity while watching a film?
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October 15th, 2009
10:35 am - Servant of a Dark God
 
The first book in John Brown's trilogy was released this week. John is very cool, and is also one of the judges for the AB Writing Contest. Yes, he's going to be reading finalist stories during the first month of his book's release, bless him.
Random Coolness: On the Amazon page for this book, four of the 'Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought X' links are also written by someone I know.
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October 14th, 2009
10:04 pm - Things Writing Can Do That Movies Can't
When I watched Moulin Rouge I experienced a moment of utter despair. (It happened to occur during the rotating aerial view of the golden elephant room, but really, it could have happened anywhere in the movie.) The combination of imagery, music and story was so powerful, so omnipresent, so... so... cinimatic that it made me long to write a story that could do all the same things. And I knew I couldn't. If you want music, imagery, and raw power, cinema has literature outclassed. Cinema has a direct link to our primary senses -- sight and hearing. Writing doesn't.
I moped around for several days resenting the technology that made my writing feel so hopelessly lackluster. I decided that, if I couldn't match movies in visual and audial stimulation, I would just have to find literature's strengths and learn to capitalize on them.
Here are five areas where literature is more effective than cinema.
Secondary Senses
Cinema may dominate in the realm of sight and sound, but it falters at subtle sensations like the nip of winter air or the rough texture of tree bark. A camera zoom on a woman with her hair blowing in the wind lets us know the weather is windy, but it doesn't make us feel the rush of air against our skin.
Cinema is even more handicapped when it comes to depicting smells, and must often resort to heavy-handed methods. (We've all seen coffee commercials where a well-dressed woman inhales deeply over a steamy cup of coffee, right?)
Point of View
This is perhaps the most frequently touted advantage of literature: the idea that you can get inside a character's skin and experience the world as he or she does.
While it's true that you can't read the minds of characters on the silver screen, cinema circumvents this problem through dialogue. The dialogue patch falls short, however, when we leave the realm of third-person limited and move into omniscient POV. A character may reveal his fears, his prejudices, his virtues and his passions through his speech, but he cannot reasonably talk about things he doesn't know.
Selective Description
Each person, upon walking into a room, is likely to view it differently. A pickpocket might notice the wallet lying on the table. A gardener might see that the floral arrangement is wilting. A child might focus on the stuffed teddy bear.
In cinema, although it is possible to zoom in on particular elements of a room, it is not possible to place emphasis on part of the scene the same way literature does. In writing, the reader has only the few details the author provides. The selection of these details, therefore, gives the author far more power to manipulate the audience's experience than the director has when he designs a set.
Telescoping Time
A written narrative may spend pages discussing a few seconds of action or skim over decades within a sentence. Cinematic approaches to time manipulation -- slow motion effects and the musical montage -- are neither as subtle nor as natural as the literary equivalents.
Unexpected Analogies
Movies frequently tap into analogies that viewers are likely to expect: using a plant as the symbol of a relationship, for example. But movies cannot introduce a startling, unexpected analogy with ease. Literature is free to liken love to oysters, gunmen to hamsters, and loneliness to socks hanging from the laundry line on a sunny day, and it doesn't have to worry that the audience might not pick up the hint.
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