Babel Clash

I have really enjoyed reading what Marjorie & Kelley have had to say about comics, writing, and climbing over (or pushing through) writer’s block, but it is once again time to pass the torch.  Anything you want to add, Marjorie or Kelley, before we hand things over to . . .

Nicole Peeler & Jaye Wells!

Nicole writes the Jane True series.  It’s about selkies (among other fantastical creatures), which have been this blogger’s favorite mythological creature for a long while!  Oh, and she’s also a professor in the MFA in Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill in Pittsburgh.

Jaye Wells is the author of the Sabina Kane series, a wicked, dark, funny, and just plain awesome take on urban fantasy.  After years as a freelance writer and magazine editor, Jaye decided to reject reality and create her own, much to my delight.

So buckle up, it’s going to be a fun two weeks as we welcome Nicole and Jaye to Babel Clash!

If you’ve ever seen authors depicted on TV or in movies, you have a pretty good idea of our lifestyle.  Get beyond the cinematic novelist’s angst and it’s a cushy job.  Write for an hour or two a day, and spend the rest of it hanging out with friends or solving crimes.

Now, I kind of suspected that’s not how real writers lived.  But I’ll admit I had this crazy idea that full-time writers wrote full-time.  Plan the book, write the book, edit the book.  Repeat annually.  With good time management skills and an early-bird start, you should be done with your day by noon.  And I’m sure I could be . . . if that was my entire job.

The part I was leaving out?  Promotion.

Promotion is an ugly word for some writers.  I was recently on a panel to discuss ways authors can promote themselves, and after listing everything I do, another panelist blamed publishers for this sorry world where authors need to “whore themselves” like that.

The truth, as I discovered very early on, is that few people will buy a book by an author they’ve never heard of.  Promotion, then, is not about whoring yourself - it’s about getting your name out there.  When someone sees your book in a store, it helps if they think “I’ve heard of that author before.”

Getting your name out there doesn’t mean flogging your books.  I couldn’t sell one to save my life.  If asked “Why should I buy your book?” I suggest, if they’re interested, they check it out of the library instead.  Or I direct them to my site for more information and free sample chapters.

To me, promotion means getting my name out there by doing things I enjoy.  Giving writers workshops.  Sitting on panels at conventions.  Interacting with readers online.  Providing free stories online.  Writing guest blogs like this.

Yes, all that adds to my day.  Yes, I’m often running behind on it.  But while I may be backed up on the business/promo side, I never miss a novel or short story deadline.  That’s my priority, and it should be, because nothing is a better promotion tool than a good novel.

That’s it for me.  Thanks for tuning in for our visit!

I’ll follow up on Marjorie’s post again.   She was having one of those days when things demand your attention and none of them have anything to do with writing.  I just had one of those weeks, and with me, it’s a summer problem.

It’s not that the sun i shining and I feel like playing hooky.  I love my job.  When I first became a published author, I was warned taht my love of writing would diminish.  It would become a job rather than a hobby.  It hasn’t.  So goofing off really isn’t a problem.  It’s those pesky outside forces that live in my house.  Not evil spirits or demons.  I’m talking about my family.

For nine months a year, the pattern is established.  Get up right after my husband leaves for work at 5:30.  Edit while drinking my first cup of coffee.  Get the kids up and off to school at 7:30.  Then write and edit until they come home at 4, along with my husband.  It’s a great system.  Only it doesn’t work when summer holidays come.

It’s not their fault.  They’re good about letting me get work done . . . well, mostly.  But I can live with the interruptions.  The problem is that when they’re home, I’m accustomed to spending time with them, not holed up in my office.  So while I do retreat to my writing dungeon, I come out regularly, and often stay out for longer than I stay in.

This summer, I finally wised up and cleared my plate for summer.  Or I cleared it of the writing.  As I’ve discovered, thought, that doesn’t mean it’s clear.  More on that in my next blog!

Do you ever have days when really important things happen that demand your full attention…and that have nothing to do with work?

Yeah. That’s my day.

Having said that, I have cleared out the morning, and I’m ready to get down and dirty with the book.

Time management is always an issue in any job — but I find that writers have to fight especially hard to keep track of the minutes and hours, especially those of us who work at home full-time. Distractions are easy to come by. Emails bing. Cats meow. Poodles want to kick you off the couch. Maybe you need another snack to help you think.

Sometimes you’ve got to turn it all off. Go hide out. Close the door on the pets, lock yourself away from the internet. Easier said than done. And not even practical for some.

Everyone has a different process. At the end of the day, though, you need to get the work done.

So, off I go!

The winner of my last blog contest was Emily, who procrastinates by looking up pictures of hot guys on the internet, then sending them to friends to distract them.  Because, if you aren’t getting your work done, you’ll feel so much better if others aren’t either

Speaking of not getting work done… Marjorie blogged about writer’s block, so I’ll follow suit.  It’s a question I get asked at about 35-50% of events and I always start with the warning that what I experience as writer’s block may not be the same as what others experience. I believe it’s different for everyone, and the techniques to overcome it will differ as well.

For me writer’s block is one of two things.

The first type? I’m stuck in the plot.  I sit down for a day of writing and I know where I ultimately need to go, but I have no idea how to get there.

Solution?  I treat it the same way I would anytime I have a destination and no route.  I make sure I don’t get behind the wheel of my computer without a map.  I outline.  Not extensively.  And I’ve never stuck to one in my life.  But I never sit down without knowing what scene comes next and how it begins.

The second type?  Lack of confidence.  I sit down for that day of writing and I don’t feel up to the task.  I worry that the current story isn’t good enough.  It’s not as good as my last one.  Or not as good as the one I read the night before.

Solution?  Accept mediocrity for the day. I give myself permission to write crap, knowing no one ever needs to see that first draft, and I’ll have plenty of time to fix it later.  At the first draft stage, the goal is simply to get the story down.  I remind myself that I can’t fix a blank page, and plow through.

Are either of these problems “true” writer’s block.  I have no idea.  They’re what passes for it with me, and these are the solutions I’ve found.  Your mileage will vary

So, it turns out that I did jinx myself the other day. Fabulous!

It’s not writer’s block. I’ll call it a…conundrum. A twist in the story. A sense that something is not quite right.

I printed out the book. I’m going to read it through. Contemplate what works and what doesn’t. Try to find the fun again.

At Comic Con, a very sweet young woman asked me about writer’s block and how I handle it. What I told her is that it has been a process. When I first began doing this professionally — when I had my first deadline, and a story that had to be written, and oh Lord what happens next was always on my mind, without any good answer — I would keep trying to bang at the wall until something broke. That was my answer to writer’s block.

Except nothing would break. I was writing a story that had gone off the rail, because I didn’t want to backtrack and throw out all that other work I’d done. I was hoarding. I was hiding. I was being a coward with the words.

Don’t be afraid to throw out your words. That’s what I learned. Because, just between you and me, you never really lose anything (unless your computer goes bonkers, but that’s another story). Salvage what you can, place it in another part of the book…but don’t hold on to what doesn’t work, even if it’s beautiful writing. You’ll drive yourself crazy.

So, as I said, I’m going to sit back today with a cup of hot tea and the manuscript in my hand…I’ll read with a pen, and something sweet to eat.   I’ll take a walk in the sunshine, and go through those pages.

I’ll think about the book. I’ll think about the kind of story I’m trying to tell, and I’ll figure out what needs to come next — what to keep, and what to discard — and I won’t hit the wall. I’ll just climb it.

Okay, so I’m home, which means I should be ready to knock off a killer blog, right? Mmm, no. I just got back from two weeks on the road, with a family vacation starting Friday, and I seem to have fallen into a pit between trips. I keep looking up, seeing a pile of “post-tour” and “pre-vacation” work teetering on the brink, and just huddling closer to the side, hoping that, if it falls, it won’t completely bury me.  Or if it does, at least I’ll catch up on my sleep until someone realizes I’m gone.

So, while it’s not quite 7:30 in the evening, I’m ready to call it a day. Or, at least, spend the rest of the evening doing mundane tasks that require no creative thought, like laundry (which did not magically get done by elves–or my family–in my absence). So I’m going to give up any attempt to write a thought-provoking blog and distract you from my negligence by giving stuff away.

Prize? Any one of my published books that I can still order (which excludes the sold out Angelic–always gotta mention that, because it’s the one everyone asks for!)

How to win? Give me your best distraction technique for getting out  work.

I’ll pick my favourite Thursday, when I’ll return with a real blog.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable. ~Francis Bacon

I’m writing a book at the moment.

This is not unusual. I’m always writing a book. I don’t want to discuss it too much, because I might jinx myself. But I will say one thing: this latest project is my answer to the itch and urge to explore something new.

Kelley spoke about restlessness yesterday. I don’t know whether or not this book will lead into a new series, but it could. And despite the extra work, I’ll be happy to have another playground to build sandcastles in.

I’m asked most about where I get my ideas, where inspiration comes from. Those are such hard questions, because the answer is: I don’t know. Inspiration is elusive – and finding it, or being found — is like being hit by lightning. Unexpected and unpredictable.

Inspiration is not a calculation. It’s a force of nature. Your nature, born of an unconscious lifetime. It’s like dealing with any other gut instinct – you have to listen to it, cultivate it. Show some trust.

Which is easier said than done, because trust alone doesn’t make a great story, or solve plot holes or write a fight scene. It doesn’t help you turn a description of the shining moon into a glint on broken glass (to paraphrase Anton Chekov).

But trust, friends, is the same as faith. And when you’re in the trenches, when you’re alone with your story in the middle of the night and you’re exhausted, and the end is nowhere in sight, you need to draw on that faith – in yourself and in the idea. You need to reach for the inspiration that struck you, and use it to keep the fire burning.

The fire is always burning.

My hotel room didn’t have wireless internet, so this blog is coming to you from the airport in Lansing Michigan, which has an amazing (and totally empty) business centre.

Like Marjorie, I have trouble sticking with one format and one series. For me, even a permanent narrator within a series is too much to ask for.

I think writers quickly figure out what works best for them, in everything from genre to process to form. Some are happiest immersing themselves in a single series, sticking with the same characters for as long as they can. Some can’t imagine revisiting the same world even for a second round.

I fall in the middle. When I create a universe, I want to stick around a while, but I get restless, too, wanting to explore every nook and cranny, meeting new faces and telling their stories.

Not surprisingly, then, since first being published in 2001, I’ve created three series. I started with the Otherworld. Even there, by book 3 (Dime Store Magic) I’d shifted to a new narrator (and am now on book 11 and narrator 6). Next came my non-paranormal crime series, (Exit Strategy and Made to be Broken) Haven’t abandoned my hit woman narrator there yet, but at only two novels, it’s still early! For my YA paranormal series, I’ve gone one step farther, changing to a completely new set of characters for the upcoming second trilogy, rather than just spinning off with a character from the first.

For me, this is what keeps story-telling fresh. I’m never bored. Never feeling like there are no more stories to tell. My Otherworld series is contracted through 13 books, and I’m starting to think a change might be in my future. I still love these books, and I’m sure I’ll never stop telling Otherworld stories, but I can see the day when my Otherworld-novel-a-year schedule will end and I’ll be off exploring a new world, popping back to this one when I can’t stay away

When I come back Tuesday, I’ll be home again and I’ll celebrate with a contest!

The first book I sold was TIGER EYE, a paranormal romance about a psychic metalsmith and a shape-shifting warrior cursed to spend his life as a slave to others. I set the first half of the book in Beijing, China.  Other writers told me that was a “risky” move.  You know, because books set outside America wouldn’t sell.

“Whatever!” I said. And when I was informed that someone with a Chinese last name would turn away readers…well, I made a similar, but far less polite, reply.

You have to follow your heart, and listen to your gut. Be your own guide. The artist, Elizabeth Briel, wrote: “It’s not that I have a problem with authorities - I just choose to make my own way through the world, rather than pay their edicts too much attention.”

Exactly.

I still write paranormal romance. I love it. I also love reading romance, though I tend to gravitate toward historical novels instead of the supernatural (with some exceptions:  Lynn Viehl, Eve Silver, Kelley Armstrong, etc).  Lisa Kleypas novels are reproducing on my nightstand at an alarming rate, making babies with Liz Carlyle (and having secret love children with Elizabeth Hoyt and Loretta Chase). Will I ever write a historical? Never say never, though at this point, I seriously doubt it.

Still, one should never be afraid of trying new things. Some years ago, I had the opportunity to write the novella, HUNTER KISS. In doing so, I met a character I didn’t want to let go of. Maxine Kiss, last descendant of an ancient bloodline, and covered in living tattoos: little demons with a taste for teddy bears and rock music.

So I switched hands. I jumped from paranormal romance to urban fantasy. I wanted to tell a different kind of story. Shake things up. Stagnation can creep upon you without a warning, and it was happening to me, I could feel it. Write in only one voice for too long, and that’s the only voice you’ll ever have. Writing is a muscle, friends. You need to flex it in different ways.

Then came comics. Another chance to do something different, in a whole new medium. I wasn’t thinking about expanding my audience (though I have).  I wanted tell a story (again) in a brand new way. I wanted to push myself.

You never stop learning. You never let yourself grow complacent. Love the challenge of trying new things, of taking opportunities that are a risk — but a lovely risk that will feed you, and teach you, and expand your view of what is possible.

Don’t be afraid to try.