My Favorite Books of 2017

As 2017 draws to a close, I’d like to use my Novel Spaces spot this month to take a look back at some of my favorite titles from the past year. The books are listed in alphabetical order by author and I’ve included the text of the review I wrote for each book.

A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate by Susanna Calkins:

This is one of the few books I've read recently that has held my interest long enough for me to stay up past midnight turning pages. I was entranced by the descriptions of what life was like in 17th century England, and the author does a superb job of setting up the events of the story against the events of that time in history.

From the Plague to the Great Fire of London, from the goings-on above-stairs to the goings-on below stairs, from the realistic setting to the real-life crimes being committed during that time, I learned an incredible amount about the Regency period. I loved the characters, especially the magistrate (the head of the household in the story), Lucy (the main character), and the other servants. I was pretty sure I knew the culprit behind the murder at Rosamund's Gate several times during the story, and the author surprised me at the end with a fabulous twist I didn't see coming--that's the measure of a great book, as far as I'm concerned. Surprisingly, the only character I couldn't get a handle on was Adam--his quicksilver reactions to the events in the plot are the only thing keeping me from giving this book five stars. In fact, I wish I could give 4.5 stars.

The Way of the Labyrinth by Helen Curry:

I have read this book with rapt interest and though I haven't had a chance to visit a labyrinth yet, I have a feeling the advice and recommendations given in the book will turn out to be life-changing. The author takes a subject I've seen referred to as "New Age hype" and turns it into something spiritual and beautiful and wholly subjective. I'm eager to learn more about labyrinths after reading this book.

Mixed Messages by Patricia Gligor:

The only thing that could have made me stop reading this book through to the end would have been the death of my Kindle. Once I started reading, the fast-paced plot, the fascinating backstories of the characters, and the way Patricia Gligor deftly intertwined their lives made the book impossible yo put down. My flower beds may have suffered because I spent an entire Saturday afternoon reading this book, but I'm glad I did it. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character, and with that character's thoughts come all the baggage that character carries into the story. I was sure I knew who the culprit was, but I turned out to be wrong, and that's my favorite thing about reading mysteries.

Murder at the Moonshine Inn by Maggie King:

Whenever Hazel Rose gets involved, I want to read about it. Maggie King has done a fabulous job with Murder at the Moonshine Inn. From the twists and turns to the surprise ending (the clues were there all along), this book was a fun read with plenty to keep readers on their toes and turning pages. I'm looking forward to the next installment of the Hazel Rose stories.

Murder and Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction by Amy Metz:

I loved every single page of this book and I'm going to get Heroes and Hooligans just as soon as I finish writing this review.

The characters were developed with mastery, the plot never stopped moving, and there are enough laugh-out-loud Southern sayings to ingeniously lighten the mood of this based-on-a-real-event mystery.

The characters are like family, so I hope to meet them again when I visit Goose Pimple Junction--soon.

The Brain Maker by Dr. David Perlmutter:

I have not yet reviewed this book because I’m still in the process of wrapping my mind around everything it says, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in better eating and improved gut health.

The Mediterranean Table by Sonoma Press:

This is another book I haven’t reviewed yet, but I will. I’ve become more and more interested in the Mediterranean diet and this book is a great introduction to some delicious, easy recipes. It’s because of this book that I tried Haloumi cheese for the first time and I LOVE it.

Shrimpin’Gold by Bob Spearman:

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

From the pirates of centuries ago to the modern-day struggles of the lowcountry shrimping industry, Bob Spearman weaves a tale of greed, fear, and impossible choices set against the hauntingly beautiful coast of South Carolina.

The Dodd family has been a fixture of the lowcountry shrimping community for generations. Harlin, the current captain of the Dodd business, is trying to provide for his family, something that's getting harder and harder to do with each passing year. When the economic stresses of Harlin's day-to-day work combine with his desire to give some financial help to the family of a long-time employee, his daughter's drive to become part of the business, and his son's burgeoning career as a baseball wunderkind, he finds himself entangled in a situation that could prove to be either the family's salvation or its undoing.

This was a well-paced story that resonated with real-life struggles, family dynamics, and crackling suspense. It asks the reader to do some hard thinking about what he or she might do if placed in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.

Descent by Kristina Stanley:

I've had this book on my Kindle, queued up on my TBR, for months. And now that I've read it, I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner. Peopled with a long list of possible suspects, backstory galore, thrilling suspense, and even some romance, this story kept me intrigued from the first page to the last. The characters were well-drawn, the pacing was excellent, and the setting was fascinating. I highly recommend Descent and I'm looking forward to Blaze, the second book in the Stone Mountain series.

The Right Wrong Man by Pamela Wight:

The Right Wrong Man hooked me from the very first paragraph and didn't let go until the very last. It's full of twists and turns I didn't see coming, all intricately laid out and presented brilliantly. I was never confused, despite the complexity of the plot, which says a lot about the author's ability to write clearly and with precision. Pamela Wight has a way of putting the reader right in the middle of the action, of making the reader feel all the emotions the characters are feeling. I am so eager to read her next book!

New Release - The Mind of a Man: 365 Relationship Scenario Discussion Questions

Please allow me to post this month about the release of my upcoming non-fiction title, The Mind of a Man: 365 Relationship Scenario Discussion Questions. 

I was debating what to post, and then I remembered that the release date for The Mind of a Man is in three days, so I decided to do a little promo post, and also try to make it fun.

The Mind of a Man is the follow-up to The Mind of a Woman: 365 Relationship Scenario Discussion Questions, which was released in September of 2014. 

For both titles, I've used questions that I've posted on social media over the years, and a lot of questions that I came up with on my own specifically for the titles, as well as some anonymous scenarios that my FB friends have asked.

These two titles are indeed all questions, but the best part thus far, for The Mind of a Woman in particular, has been allowing readers, callers (via radio shows), those in the audience of a book event, during book club meetings, or even with my family and friends, to simply pick a random number between 1 and 365, and that would be the number that the individual would answer, and if anyone else wanted to chime in, they could as well. 

The books are indeed fun, and they breed great discussions about relationships, which is my favorite topic. I once hosted a talk show in Los Angeles called The Opposite Sex, and just as I enjoyed posing questions to my guests, I really do think that the reactions to questions from The Mind of a Man and The Mind of a Woman make for great debates, and in some ways, can change an individual's way of thinking. But the most important thing is to be open to everyone's personal views, without trying to change anyone's mind.

So, I thought I'd post some questions here. The questions are directed to men, but if anyone, male or female, would like to post a reply to one or more in the comment section, it should make for some good exchanges.

Question: #20 - Your fourteen year-old daughter hates your new girlfriend. Now what? Would it be different if your daughter was thirty?

Question #145 - Could you date you?

Question #154 - Can a woman teach her son how to be a man? Why, or why not?

Questions #163 -  Which body part would you insure for a million dollars, and why?

Question #182 - Once a cheater, always a cheater. True or false?

Question #226 - Is monogamy learned over time or is it natural?

Question #365 - Is it ever a woman's fault if a man cheats? (i.e., alienation of affection, too busy with her career, only gives her time to the kids, etc.)

The Mind of a Man: 365 Relationship Scenario Discussion Questions officially releases on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, and is available on Amazon, both in ebook and trade formats. I hope you will check it out, or tell a friend. Link:  THE MIND OF A MAN Amazon link. My website address is: www.marissamonteilh.com

Thanks so much for allowing me this opportunity, my fellow scribes. Looking forward to future titles from us all. Write on!

Cross-Pollination

Many a sage has opined on the value of cross-pollination as a marketing tool, so I decided to try it out.  I’ve been reading Joe Konrath’s blog for more than a year, as well as about twenty other blogs on a daily basis.  And one bit of wisdom I’ve encountered again and again is that the best marketing device for your current book is probably your next book.

In my recent posts, I’ve been discussing my ebook The Mummies of Blogspace9, and my frustrations with finding readers.  Since then, Mummies hasn’t exactly taken off, but when I look at my sales numbers, I can definitely see that I’ve sold more copies of my other titles.  I have ten titles on Amazon now, which can be viewed on my Author Central page.  And as the ball gets moving (it's barely budging), I hope the synergy will propel sales.

Why?  I don’t know.  Maybe its because once people start paying a little bit of attention to you, they start paying more attention to you.  Maybe too, it’s because I’ve aggressively promoted my books in each new book.  The Mummies of Blogspace9 has twenty hotlinks that will take you to my Amazon author page, my blog, my website, and directly to my Amazon Author Central page.  You cannot get through Mummies without learning about American Caliphate.  

So I got to thinking -- one other frequent bit of blog wisdom I’ve come across is that nonfiction is a much easier sell than fiction.  And that never did much for me because I’m a mystery writer at heart, and I don’t want to start writing nonfiction.  BUT, I have been working on a little back-burner project for about three years, and I thought maybe it was time to bring it to the front burner, or maybe even microwave it into fruition.  So I did.

I’ve been a college professor for fourteen years now, and I’ve learned a lot about college, so I’ve been feeling it was high time to write a book about college.  Well, here it is.  If you have any loved ones about to take that trip to college, please consider picking up a copy of How to Do College Right.

And just in case you’re wondering - no, you won’t be able to read through it without hearing about my mystery novels.  And the hotlinks will take you directly to my webpage.  You could have yourself a copy of Grave Indulgence or American Caliphate in no time.

Will this experiment in cross-pollination work?  You can guess I’ll keep you posted.  And if you keep reading, I’ll tell you a little bit about How to Do College Right.

The secrets of college success have been passed down from professor to professor for many centuries. Now, for the first time, these secrets are revealed!

How to Do College Right is a guidebook, providing essential insights on how to navigate the foreign land of college. Without a guidebook, a traveler might wander around for a long time, missing out on some important landmarks, or wasting money by focusing on the wrong things. A student can just as easily wander through a couple years of college without accomplishing much. And that can prove costly. 

Other than the purchase of a home, a college education is the biggest expense that most American families have. With tuition at some colleges approaching $50,000 per year, a four-year education can cost $200,000. Most people don’t think twice about consulting a realtor or a lending consultant before buying a house. They want to be sure that their investment is sound. But those same people will shell out a great deal of money for college tuition without making sure it’s well spent. 

How to Do College Right can help you make the most of your college experience by laying bare some of the expectations that guide professors in educating and evaluating students. College is hard; it’s meant to be. And it’s easy to screw up. I’m a professor. I know what it takes to succeed in college, to make the most of it, and to graduate fully prepared to take the next steps in life. 

And I’ve seen too many students who don’t make it, students who have the ability to succeed but fail anyway, or otherwise waste their time. College is a program of expectations, and you would be wise to learn the rules that underlie those expectations. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, or if you’re headed to the Ivy League or to the local community college. This is an important stage of your life, and you have to treat it as such. 

The secrets revealed in this book can help you make the most of your college experience.

For more information, please visit www.williamdoonan.com

How creative can creative nonfiction be?

I'm currently taking a course in creative nonfiction as I work toward my master of fine arts degree in creative writing. For me the mixing of 'creative' with 'nonfiction' is fraught with dangers – how creative can one be with the facts and still be telling the truth?

This past week I found myself among the minority in a debate over whether David Sedaris writes nonfiction. (For those who don't know Sedaris's work, I recommend starting with "Me Talk Pretty One Day," an anthology of his essays.) In his piece "Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa." Sedaris wrote that his life growing up in North Carolina had been so dull compared to his partner Hugh's upbringing as a child of the diplomatic corps stationed in various African nations that he coopted Hugh's childhood. Not out of a sense of wanting to be closer to his partner or out of any empathy for his partner's experiences; he deliberately presented events from Hugh's life as his own memories for no other reason that he found them more interesting than the truth – and by extension made him more interesting. Sedaris revealed that he routinely picks up other people's life experiences "like swiping change from on top of the dresser" and uses them as his own. To my mind this was an admission to breaking a rule, perhaps the rule for a journalist or essayist – that whenever reality is not what he'd like, he makes things up.

Strictly speaking, reality isn't always necessary for truth. There is a kind of truth that can be revealed through exaggeration or parody. In this regard stand-up comedy comes to mind. Mostly because I like stand-up – but the stand-up I like is that which holds up a mirror. One of my favorite devices for explaining our peculiar brand of racism here in the USofA is Christopher Titus's "I'm whitey and I apologize" routine. (Legally available in two parts here: part one and part two.) Most folks get it. As I'm sure most folks can think of at least one comedian whose humor illuminates truths that might not otherwise be seen. Or at least talked about.

There's also a breed of truth revealed in fiction. I suspect everyone has had the experience of being moved or enlightened by something in a novel or story that perhaps would not have affect them to the same degree if it had been prosaically stated. The same is true of song and poetry. As Chief Bromden so eloquently avers in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: "It's true even if it didn't happen."

There are a lot of essayist whose work I enjoy who may address truth but make no claim to writing nonfiction. I'm a big believer in truth through humor. Garrison Keiller - taken in small, carefully monitored doses - comes to mind. His 'memories' of Lake Woebegone probably contain elements of truth – the bones beneath his stories, as it were. But his insights into human nature are conveyed and illustrated through the fiction he builds around what truth there is. Jon Stewart wouldn't be able to bare the heart of American politics as effectively as he does if The Daily Show was a nonfiction news program.

Even in nonfiction, reality and truth are not always linked. Journalists often create composite characters – particularly when the identifying individuals might put them in danger. For the most part we accept accounts in which time is telescoped, the pace of the narrative flow skipping over gaps of time where nothing relevant happened, creating the impression events were closer together than they were, as nonfiction.

In the 1970s Hunter S. Thompson's "gonzo journalism" introduced us all to a subjective, first person reporting told from so deep in the narrator's mind that his fantasies, fears, prejudices, and hopes were injected into the factual account – a stream of consciousness in a blender approach that nonetheless conveyed a true and trustworthy presentation of events as the reporter perceived them. We knew – and hopefully he did, too – that he never conversed with spokes-lizards for the administration or witnessed sequined weasels devour each other at a cocktail party. He was using metaphor to characterize and editorialize. But underlying his surreal imagery was a foundation, a soul, of truth as he understood it; he was being honest. As he said somewhere, and I'm paraphrasing: "None of the great journalists in history were objective. Thomas Payne, Mark Twain, H.L. Mencken, all knew journalism was a means of affecting their environment. I have never understood the worship of objectivity in journalism. Of course, flat-out lying is different from being subjective."

In each of these arenas of creative nonfiction – gonzo journalism, memoir, first-person accounts, remembrances, investigative reports, biographies - we as readers can accept that the writer sometimes uses composite characters and/or events to illustrate while protecting the privacy and perhaps safety of others and we (usually) have no problem with humor and/or exaggeration employed to make a point. We as readers take as a given that the writer is presenting truth is being honestly presented. (Note that opinion - from movie reviews to political 'analyses' - are not, strictly speaking, nonfiction. Those presentations of subjective impressions have their own rules.)

A creative nonfiction writer - or a creative writer of nonfiction - can use humor, exaggeration, parody, composite characters, telescoped timelines or even reordered events and still give her readers an honest and insightful experience. A writer cannot pass off things she has made up when the truth does not suit her purposes and still call what she writes nonfiction.

What about you? What admixture of 'creative' do you think is acceptable in nonfiction. At what point and under what conditions does creative nonfiction go over the line into fiction?

Guest author Jeffrey Rasley: 3 Requirements for Meaningful Memoir Writing

Jeff Rasley

I began keeping a journal when I hitchhiked from Indiana to Florida and then to New Orleans for Mardi Gras at age 18. For a small town Hoosier kid, some of the characters I met on the road amazed and moved me. There was the back woods Tennessean couple who lived off shooting squirrels and rabbits. They drove me as far as I was willing to pay for gas.  The town constable of Pleasureville, Kentucky put me up for a night, fed me, and staked me in a match with the local table tennis champion.  I lost.  Four guys from Chicago loaned me their Ford Maverick to drive from Miami back to Chicago while they went to Jamaica to become drug dealers.  They were kicked out of Jamaica and had to retrieve the car in New Orleans where I left it with a burned out clutch.

My travel adventures over the years have taken me to many places far more exotic than Pleasureville, KY, and led to encounters with characters more interesting than incompetent Chicago drug dealers.  But that first great adventure inspired a habit of keeping a travel journal.  As I developed an interest in writing and began to practice the craft by submitting feature articles, my journal served as a primary source.

Of course, a publishable article requires more than a mere recording of events.  The serious memoir writer must interpret meaning from one's  experiences, but meaning beyond the immediacy of the moment.  I would record in my journal the facts of a travel experience and my reaction to it.  To turn the journal writing into a worthy article or book there had to be an insight, lesson or wisdom which I could offer to others.

The personal essays I have been inspired to write are mostly about extreme experiences such as Himalayan mountain climbing or solo sea-kayaking.  I have learned important lessons about life from these adventures.  For example, I was inspired to write about the strength and beauty of the human spirit and the willingness to be self-sacrificial after witnessing a Nepalese guide and porter risk their lives to save and care for others who had been trapped by an avalanche.  I wrote about the need to respect other species and their habitat after an encounter with a mother humpback whale and calf.  The mother allowed me to caress her calf because I approached them with respect.

After twenty years of article writing I had accumulated enough material and confidence to risk a book.  I was lucky.  I sent it unsolicited without representation to Conari Press, and they published Bringing Progress to Paradise.

Essential to making a memoir interesting and worthy of publication is to have a central theme that carries the narrative forward.  Without a thematic narrative, we are back to mere observation or a random collection of insights without a guiding light.  The narrative must include factual details to make it interesting.  Without interesting, quirky or astonishing factual details, a personal essay is boring.  A point made in the abstract is likely to be forgotten as soon as the reading device is turned off.

Finally, the memoirist should have a fine tuned sense of personal ethics.  The last point I cover when teaching a class about memoir writing is to consider carefully whether to identify or to change the identity of individuals, organizations or companies referred to in the piece.  Friendships can be damaged and libel/defamation suits can be filed.  It is easy enough to disguise an identity with a fake name and to attribute some intentionally misleading characteristics to protect the privacy or reputation of a person or organization.  Consider the consequences and choose wisely.

In Bringing Progress to Paradise a character named Bill represents the quintessential "ugly American" tourist.  I included accurate descriptions of Bill's culturally insensitive behaviors in the book.  I decided it was important to the narrative theme to show the negative of one of the truths I wanted to convey, which was how to engage productively with local people in alien cultures.  The name "Bill" was a pseudonym and aspects of him were changed so as to disguise his identity.  Still, I lost a friendship as a result of the book.  I'm still ambivalent about whether it was worth it.

Jeff is giving away a copy of Bringing Progress to Paradise to one lucky commenter on this post. Good luck!

***

Jeff Rasley is author of Monsters of the Midway, Light in the Mountains—A Hoosier Quaker Finds Communal Enlightenment in Nepal, Islands in My Dreams, Nepal Himalayas in the Moment, False Prophet and Bringing Progress to Paradise.  He has published numerous articles and photos in academic and mainstream periodicals, including Newsweek, Chicago Magazine, ABA Journal, Family Law Review, Pacific Magazine, Indy’s Child, The Journal of Communal Societies, The Chrysalis Reader, Faith & Fitness Magazine, Friends Journal and Real Travel Adventures International Magazine.  

An avid outdoorsman and recreational athlete, Rasley leads trekking-mountaineering expeditions in Nepal and has solo-kayaked around several Pacific island groups. He is currently partner in Knowledge Capture Publishing and Editing, president of the Basa Village Foundation USA Inc. and U.S. liaison for the Nepal-based Himalayan expedition company, Adventure GeoTreks, Ltd.  He teaches classes for IUPUI Continuing Ed. Program and Indiana Writers Center.

Jeff Rasley's website: http://www.jeffreyrasley.com
His author page on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/jeffrasleypage

On bees and stories

Most of the writers in the Novel Spaces group are novelists; that is, writers involved in book-length works of fiction. But it took a conversation with my husband only this morning to highlight the importance of writing, regardless of type or length.

We were talking about honey and its relative price. Here in Malaysia, we get honey from Australia, New Zealand, China and some local producers. It seems a pretty innocuous subject, right? We spoke about the taste of it and whether the Chinese honey, so much cheaper than the others, is real honey or synthesised.

"You can synthesise honey?" I asked.

"Oh sure. Used to happen in Poland a lot," my husband replied. "Mix some syrup with a bit of colour, add in some real honey and pour it into a jar. There were always little tricks sellers would get up to, especially those from the villages and smaller towns. They'd load up their carriages and come into the cities. Of course, looking at them, horse, carriage, the whole bit, you'd assume everything was fresh from the farm or hive. But that wasn't always the case."

Agog, I listened to him as he told me the things to watch out for when buying from honey-peddlers. How sellers would mix generic, store-bought cheap honey with the strong, throat-roughening stuff from their own hives (the real deal, in other words) and dilute it down.

It's easy to get around that trick, you might say. Just taste the honey. Ah, but there are tricks there too. Like tasting, then buying, honey from large clear glass jars rather than coloured glass. That's to get around the "layering" trick where the top of the bottle (where you get a quick taste) contains real honey and the rest of the bottle contains synthesised or poorer-quality product.

"My grandmother had a special spoon she'd use when the peddlers came around with barrels of honey instead of jars," J continued. "There'd be a tap at the bottom where they'd pour out the honey and you'd buy it by weight. A lot of people would taste the honey from the top, but my grandmother had a spoon with a very long handle and she'd sink it till it was right at the bottom, then pull it up and taste it. Just so she'd be sure of what she was buying. But of course she used to buy a kilogram of honey at a time, not just one little jar, so she thought she had the right to taste it in such a fashion."

I have been married to my husband for more than a decade, yet this was the first time I'd heard such fascinating stories about the kind of life his grandparents led. This is part of my children's heritage, I thought. Wouldn't it be a shame to lose stories of such experiences?

And, because I can't think of a science-fiction story to slot this kind of experience into, I thought I'd put it down here to share with a wider audience. How many history-laden stories does your family contain? Wouldn't it be great to dust them off and bring them out every now and then, just to tickle and delight the younger (or marriage-related) family members?

Somebody should write these down, you're thinking. Well, why can't it be you? Wouldn't that be something wonderful to add to the collective family memories?

I'll be encouraging J to come out with more such stories. They are so different to what I experienced, growing up in south-east Asia then Australia. And, hopefully, the kids will enjoy them too.... And maybe generations after that. You never know.

Honey peddlers. Who knew?

Building a Foundation for Like Mayflies in a Stream

In my last post on February 6, I explained how reading nonfiction can improve a writer’s fiction and promised to tell you about my background reading for my 2009 novel, Like Mayflies in a Stream.

Since then, Kaz Augustin posted about the boggling array of scientific topics she needed to research for her current science fiction romance novel. (See her post here.)

I'm not sure I ranged as far afield as Kaz, but I did need to research a wide variety of topics. Like Mayflies in a Stream is a historical novel set in ancient Iraq in the world’s first city, Uruk, during the time when Gilgamesh was its king. In contrast to most historical novels, for which writers can use contemporaneous records, in Gilgamesh’s time, writing was still in its early stages and was primarily used for record keeping. Historians and archaeologists have to rely on archaeology, later texts, and lots of deduction to reconstruct this time.

When researching, I referred to books and articles for children, laypeople, students, and professional archaeologists in English, French, and German. The sources I used to make Like Mayflies in a Stream as historically accurate as possible and to bring it to life for the reader included:
• Two online dictionaries of Sumerian
• A book about 3rd millennium B.C.E. Sumerian and Akkadian personal names
• A book about cylinder seals
• Historical and modern atlases
• Online photographs of items in the collections of the Baghdad Museum, the British Museum, and several American museums
• A book about cooking in ancient Mesopotamia
• Several books on Mesopotamian religion
• Several books on Mesopotamian history
• Several books on daily life in ancient Mesopotamia
• Maps of the temple complexes at Uruk in different historical periods
• Online and printed resources on geography, deserts, desert animals, palm trees and other natural resources of Iraq, growing seasons for various crops, Sumerian proverbs, clothing, Marsh Arabs, magnetic prospecting in archaeology, beer making, growth hormone disorders, city planning, history of the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” and the history of Uruk
• A videocourse about the ancient Near East

Thank goodness I did this research; it kept me from making many embarrassing factual mistakes in my book. But was it enough? No. I still had questions that I could not find answers to. I extrapolated from other societies or time periods or wrote around the problem. Some things in history will always remain a mystery.

What odd things have you had to research for your novels?


I’m glad you stopped by today. I’ll be blogging again at Novel Spaces on March 8.

—Shauna Roberts

More thoughts on non-fiction

Google-fu, don't fail me now

Shauna's recent post on why fiction writers should read non-fiction struck a real chord with me. That's probably because my editor and I are currently grappling with a science-fiction romance I wrote, oh, more than a year ago now.

In revisiting the novel, I'm struck by all the bits I managed to stick in there that were definitely non-fiction. Quantum physics had a look-in, with a dabble in relativistic computations, fusion experiments and stellar temperatures. Chemistry joined, with scouring of books (and the internet!) to find out what compound could form a message. I used group dynamics and basic human psychology to sketch how people would behave in particular situations. Human biochemistry led to a class of drugs that can tamper with memory. And that's not even including, you know, the actual story! And, of course, I have a background in a few sciences, so there are all my references -- my back-up brains -- sitting on the bookshelves as well. I'd love to grapple more with mathematics, but I fear my love affair with that particular branch of science is shared by few others. Then again, the world would be a boring place if we were all the same.

So, after noticing all the non-fiction bits, what I'm really worried about now is whether I put too much in. Are readers going to be put off? Even as one fear is allayed, you'll notice that the chronic writer finds another impending apocalypse to focus on. In case you were wondering, we're all like that.

I know, in going through the non-fiction bits of my novel, I haven't told you about the novel itself. Well, that might have to wait until the contract negotiations are concluded. As far as I'm concerned, nothing is a given until that contract has been signed, counter-signed and delivered to both parties. Actually, my sense of scepticism is such that I'm not really happy until the thing has been released, but I'm relaxed enough now to offset my paranoia to a certain extent.

Sooooooo, no finalised contract yet so no news, but still a kick-arse post from Shauna. Hopefully I'll have something for you within a month.(Have I told you how slowly publishing moves?)

Why Fiction Writers Should Read Nonfiction

In my last post here at Novel Spaces, I argued that fiction writers would benefit from reading about world history, biography, psychology, religion and mythology, technology, grammar, and many other areas of nonfiction. Today, I talk about four areas in which a writer can improve by reading nonfiction.

Mechanics

The most obvious area is mechanics. Most agents and editors stop reading if the first page or two of a manuscript contains spelling and grammar errors, is printed on perfumed pink paper, or describes scenery or backstory. A writer who reads books about writing and studies up on grammar and proper manuscript formatting can avoid basic pitfalls.

Believability

Simple errors of fact can throw readers out of a story and ruin its believability. I’ve read stories in which small colonies on isolated planets have technology that requires deep social infrastructure, wide-ranging trade networks, and workers with specialized skills; stories in which pre-1492 Europeans eat foods native to the New World; and stories in which the demographics of a human society were ludicrously out of whack. Much speculative fiction written before about 1970 is impossible to take seriously because it assumes women are less intelligent, less ambitious, less creative, less varied, and less everything else than men.

A basic knowledge of social, biological, and physical sciences would help a writer avoid such errors. One need not struggle through dull textbooks; magazines such as National Geographic, Psychology Today, and The Smithsonian and children’s books such as those in the Eyewitness Books series can give a writer a good grasp of the nature of people, animals, the Earth, and the universe.

Breadth and Depth

What traits do all humans share? Scientists may argue, but spiritual beliefs, death rituals, music and dancing, tool-making and -decorating, storytelling, social hierarchy, ceremonies to mark important events, standards for proper and improper emotional expression and sexual behavior, and self-decoration are probably among the universals.

Yet how often do we see most of these in speculative fiction. For example, in most societies, spiritual beliefs are essential, and sacred and secular are integrated. Yet religion is absent or a minor element in much speculative fiction. Similarly, furniture and tools are often utilitarian, and the arts often play little or no role in people’s lives. Why do some authors serve up this watery gruel, when most societies are more like minestrone or a robust gumbo? Is the writer unconsciously or lazily using life as depicted on TV as a model? Or—what I fear is more likely—is the writer ignorant both of human universals and of the dizzying diversity of ways in which different societies express them?

A writer who is well read in nonfiction is better equipped to create a fully realized world. Instead of opening a can of soup, the writer will cook a roux until it is golden, sauté an array of ingredients to bring out their flavors, add a long-cooked broth and fresh herbs, and simmer it all until the flavors deepen and meld.

Originality

Originality in writing is an offshoot of its depth and breadth because details make the difference. Many fantasies are set in a stock preindustrial world with a European landscape and a mannered society with a many-leveled hierarchy topped by a monarch. A writer who reads widely can leap free of these stale tropes. Dozens or hundreds of civilizations have risen and fallen in a variety of climates and latitudes. What if you set your story in a jungle? Or African-like steppes? Or the sub-Arctic? What if the society was based on that of the Mayans or the Egyptians or the Hittites or the Javans? What if the political system was a republic or a confederation of villages? Just one tweak on the Tolkienesque opens up new possibilities for characters and sets them new challenges.

I've been abstract, too abstract for my own tastes. So in my next Novel Spaces post, on February 20, I’ll get down to the nitty gritty and talk about a real example: the many topics I read about to write Like Mayflies in a Stream.


Thanks for dropping by.

—Shauna Roberts

The nonfiction writer's guide to the fiction business

When I started writing fiction, I expected that my many years of experience as a professional magazine writer would translate into no learning curve in fiction.

Boy, was I wrong. When I began to submit, first stories and then queries for novels, I discovered many rules and practices I took for granted did not apply in the fiction world.

Major lesson number 1: Fiction publishing lags behind nonfiction publishing in technology. I was shocked to find that I often needed to send queries, and sometimes even short stories, by snailmail. I hadn't submitted nonfiction on paper since 1994.

Major lesson number 2: Fiction publishers are much pickier about margins, typefaces, spacing, and other formatting matters, sometimes posting on their Web sites long, detailed lists of rules for formatting a manuscript. Nonfiction editors, on the other hand, are usually happy if a manuscript arrives on time, complete, double-spaced, and close to the right length.

Major lesson number 3: Different work environments have created different sets of manners. Fiction book editors and short story magazine editors seem incredibly overworked compared with the editors at the many nonfiction magazines I've written for. Probably as a result, fiction editors sometimes answer emails slowly or not at all, and they tend to discourage phone calls. Unsigned form-letter rejections, complete with typos, are common and not considered rude.

Major lesson number 4: "New and different" doesn't mean "new and different." An editor who says she's looking for a fantasy novel that's "new and different" actually wants yet another dark novel with a Tough-Talking Kick-Butt Vampire Fighter in High Heels, but with a slight twist.

Major lesson number 5: Most short-story venues reject stories rather than ask for edits. In the nonfiction world, writers expect magazines to edit their pieces and ask for changes. Short-story magazines, being understaffed (see lesson number 3), instead often prefer to reject stories that need tweaks in hopes that the next story in the slush pile, or perhaps the one after that, will be perfect.

In no way am I bashing the fiction market. The nonfiction magazine world has its own unspoken conventions that confound newbies. I discover new ones each time a friend asks my advice about submitting a nonfiction article to a magazine and her assumptions surprise me.

Nonfiction writers who want to write fiction should seriously consider joining a professional association (such as Women in Crime or Romance Writers of America) as well as a critique group that contains a more advanced fiction writer. The differences between nonfiction and fiction publishing are sometimes great, sometimes subtle, but they definitely exist, and the best way to learn the conventions and practices of the fiction world is to have someone with more experience as a guide.

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My next Novel Spaces post will be August 23. Come back then and learn how the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Workshop creates better writers. See you later!

—Shauna Roberts