New short story coming out in May

Writing news? Are you feeling okay, Kaz?

Have you noticed that whenever you've bought a car, you start noticing other similar models on the road? Or if you've bought an item of clothing in a particularly becoming shade, suddenly every billboard or shopfront also contains that particular colour somewhere in the mix?

Well, let's see if you can guess the general outline of my new short story.

Air New Zealand has courted some trouble with its latest ad campaign featuring single middle-aged women as "cougars", hunting down dazed young men. If you want to see the ad and read a bit about it, Melbourne's The Age has a nice write-up.

But that's in the air. Closer to ground zero, Carnival Cruises, in a burst of prudish double standards, has categorically refused to host cougar-themed voyages, even though they were all "smashing success"es. Here for the article.

(Yes, I know, I must be one of the few authors out there that actually expect you to do some background reading before I'll tell you about an upcoming release! Consider it part of my eccentric charm.)

Have you guessed that the story centres around a cougar? If so, go and treat yourself a muffin/latte/pot of tea. Go on, I won't tell anyone. :)

The working title for the story is "Singapore Sizzle". I say "working" because I've had a few change on me recently. This is par for the course and you should never become too wedded to your title. While I do take the time to come up with something I consider to be catchy, yet descriptive, I only ever look at it as a convenient tag to use for filing purposes and, if you're a writer, so should you.

Okay okay, I'm moving on with the details. Sheesh, impatient much? *g*

Onto "Singapore Sizzle", a cougar story.

Sophie is English, divorced, living in Singapore...and bored, Bored, BORED! But is she ready for handsome, exotic, young Adrian Pereira?

We have an older woman with a younger man in a tropical setting but, just to mix things up a bit, the younger man is a Portuguese Eurasian hunk by the name of Adrian Pereira. (Portuguese Eurasians tend to be a little on the conservative side when it comes to naming their kids. There are hardly any Sienna's or Madison's in the bunch, but heaps of Anthony's, Ruth's and all those old-time names.)

Sophie, while bored, is still apprehensive about getting involved in any relationship after her divorce a couple of years ago. And when she finds that the man she tumbled into bed with happens to be -- * gasp * -- younger than her, her insecurities go into overdrive and she flees the scene of the multiple, intimate clinches.

However, Adrian is a lot more savvy than even she realises. He tracks her down and offers her an opportunity for a relationship. We're not talking "happily ever after", more "let's see where this goes", but even this is too much for Sophie's insecurities. Can she take the next step and allow herself to fall in love with an exotic, younger man?

We've all been there, haven't we, and it hasn't necessarily had to be a situation where we're talking about an older woman and younger man. No matter how confident or assertive we think we are, there's always the child inside us, a little vulnerable, a little afraid of committing ourselves in case we get hurt. And, although it's set in Singapore, Sophie's story is our story too, whether it was back in high school or yet to play out in our futures, or both.

The anthology is due for release from Total-E-Bound in May with -- if things run true to form -- each story available as a standalone e-short as well. More news as it comes to hand.

Amazon shenanigans

There are thousands of people, I suspect, who would answer 'Amazon' with no hesitation if you happened to ask the name of their favourite store. I'm one of those thousands. Amazon makes burning my hard-earned money extraordinarily easy, and enjoyable too. So in one sense I'm a big fan of the corporation. But alongside my fandom there is a whole other story, and the more I learn, the more distrust I have for their pronouncements, and their statistics.

We'll rest aside their crazy, secret 'algorithm' for determining sales rank. I've watched the ebb and flow of the stats for my own book over the past year and a half and I have good reason to believe that marketing imperatives cover a lot of sins. It's a lot of fun to watch - for me anyway.

So what's in my cross-hairs today? None other than the vaunted Kindle e-book reader. I have no problem with those who prefer to buy and read their books this way; it's not my thing, but whatever floats your boat, as the saying goes. I have friends who don't read much but are excited over the e-readers. If the Kindle toy gets them to buy more books I'm all for it. From the perspective of the author, sales are sales. My real issue here is the hype about the Kindle and book sales over the Christmas period. My skepticism kicked in from the start, and it was interesting to discover I'm not alone in this. Then there's this fascinating tidbit from Galleycat - that 60 of the Kindle's top 100 'sellers' are free books. I can't make up stuff like this; here's the Kindle bestseller list.

Here's another writer who doesn't buy the hype.
And another skeptic.
What's with us skeptics?

Claim #1: The Kindle e-reader has become the most gifted item in the company's history.
Mysteriously, no sales figures are provided. Give us the numbers, boys, or we won't take you seriously. So you've sold more Kindles than, say, Hanes hi-cut cotton briefs via the gift lists? Um, whatever.

Claim #2: Amazon's customers purchased more Kindle e-books than physical books on Christmas Day - a first for the company.
Say it ain't so! If the claim that hordes of buyers gave the gift of Kindle for Christmas is valid, it's not a stretch to imagine that all or most of those who found a Kindle under the tree on Christmas morning started downloading e-books right away. Those who gave actual dead-tree versions of books would have done their shopping BEFORE the big day. How about you tell us the ratio of physical books to digital books sold in the lead-up to Christmas? How about the period after the holidays? I'd really like to see those figures and make comparisons.

Misleading claims about the size and growth of the e-book sector do a lot to feed the gloom and panic in which the publishing industry is mired right now. Yes, the industry is changing. That's life for you: change, or die. Yes, the e-book sector, and sales of e-readers, are growing. But here's the reality check: e-books sales are currently 3% of total book sales. It's a growing sector, and no one knows how far this trend will go, but my guess is that paper books will be here for a while yet. Amazon, however, knows that hype moves goods. If I'd gambled many millions in developing the Kindle I'd be making these claims too, no matter how far out of shape they stretch reality.

—Liane Spicer

Changes

My home is in chaos.

Two weeks ago I started a renovation, fixing up the walls and laying floors in the Brooklyn loft I have lived in since 1982, sans the ten years I spent in Los Angeles. It’s been a long time in coming, and it’s all thanks to my mother, who left her children the family home to sell and divide the proceeds.

I am sure I will be thrilled when it is all done, but for two weeks I have lived upstairs on an inflatable mattress, with a lot of what I own piled around me, while I watched my home being spackled, sanded, painted and now floored. It has left me floored, and exhausted, even though two friends have done most of the actual labor. While they did the main job, I followed along tweaking a wall here, a touch of paint there, and sorted through the pile of stuff I have sworn for two years that I would go through, sort and winnow down. I’ve thrown out bags of old papers, assorted objects I was sure I could use in an art piece one day, old toys I haven’t looked at in years...you know the drill.

It has been an ordeal as I have gone through the emotions of many of the revelations found there, and joy as I was reminded of other, better times, and found memories I’d almost forgotten. Yesterday flooring went well, the bedroom was completed, but today complications set in, and I fled to Ikea to find an area rug and to Loew’s for venetian blinds...by the time I returned the crisis had been met, even if the floor had only advanced by a few feet.

It has been Hell, and while the vision of what I will have when it’s done keep me going, it’s not easy. While I have input, and am “in charge” as the client, I am also dealing with people I know and don’t want to treat like worker drones I am ordering about. As I prepare to go to bed on a couch, giving the air mattress to the flooring friend staying over until the job is done, I am reminded of the year I spent on my last novel, and how similar the experience is. You knew I’d get there eventually, didn’t you? Writing is slow progress, day to day, sometimes you see the changes, and sometimes you feel it will never end, but once begun, I always feel committed to completion.

I have put off the novel I went back to after each of the first two, convinced I could finish it before I went back to the Vampire Testaments to work on the third novel in the opening trilogy. I knew that once the construction started, I wouldn’t get much more than re-reading book two and research for three done until I was back in my completed workspace, spick and span and ready for the year ahead. Keeping in mind that I am only days from moving my stuff back downstairs (I have been lucky enough to have the empty space upstairs to use, thanks to my downstairs neighbor and house partner Linda, who owns both) and that every step of the way I have been blessed is all that keeps me going.

Faith. It works in religion, construction and writing. Faith that what you are doing is worth writing, that you are a good writer, that what you began can be finished -- I could pound the analogy home, but the bottom line is that writing takes patience, hard work and belief in yourself and the work. It took me twenty years to get my first novel out, and much of what slowed it down was uncertainty that I knew what I was doing. I didn’t, as it turned out, but I also knew when to listen to those who told me what I might be doing wrong, and learned to do it better, until I did it “right”.

As I wait to go home again, a newly remodelled home beyond anything I might have dreamed possible a few years ago, I also wait to see what the third installment of my vampire epic will be. I know who is in it, what they want, when it is set and where...the materials are all gathered together, and all that’s left is building them into a suitable structure.

It’s exciting, scary, and the potential for failure and success is frighteningly equal. Failure feels disastrous, but pulling it off, standing back to see the work and truly loving the results -- there’s nothing like it. Last night, when the bedroom floor was done, horizontal bamboo, stained a dark rosy brown that set off the dark blue walls and ceiling perfectly (when I turn out the lights, I turn off the lights...) I lay on a pillow where my bed will be, and saw for a moment what the room would be when done. It was the same feeling I have after a satisfying key chapter is completed that lets me see the book I am writing more clearly. In the same way, I can also see what is still needed to -- if not perfect it -- make it better.

So, if you feel like you’re in over your head, that there is no end to your own personal Hell, be of good cheer -- everything ends. Octavia Butler said that God is change in “The Parable of the Sower” and truer words were never spoken. Change is the only constant, and writing and renovation celebrate it equally, with equal rewards if pursued properly.

I’ll let you know how they both went when I am done.

Writers and Reading

Have you ever met a writer who didn’t love to read? I suspect most writers’ desire to write grew in soil made fertile by reading.

Reading continues to nourish writers at all stages of their careers. Reading can spark story ideas, deepen one’s knowledge of people and of the world, improve vocabulary, and provide models of good and bad writing, among many other useful gifts. But how much should a writer read?

One writing teacher I know of recommends that writers read five hours for every hour they write, which would seem a near-impossible goal for most writers. I try to average two work days of fiction writing a week. So I should be reading 80 hours a week? Not going to happen. I couldn’t free up that much time even if I gave up sleeping.

Other people recommend a book a week. That’s 53 books a year—probably manageable for most writers. Even in my craziest, most time-deprived years I read that many . . . but it's not enough to give me the foundation for writing I want.

The answer to the question of “how much should a writer read?” is probably “as much as possible.” That answer suggests a follow-up question: What should a writer read?

Writers who read only for fun build their stories on sand, with no foundation underneath to support it. I suggest that SF/F should also choose reading material that builds knowledge, nurtures creativity, and cultivates wisdom.

To that end, the reading pile of an SF/F writer should contain nonfiction, including books and articles on:

•world history
•biography
•cultural anthropology
•psychology
•animal behavior, especially primatology
•literary criticism of SF/F
•world religions
•mythology
•science and technology
•the arts—music, painting, dance, etc.
•running a business (because being a writer is a business)
•grammar
•writing technique

as well as fiction, including:

•classic SF/F novels and short stories (to learn the tropes, to be able to converse knowledgeably with other writers, and to avoid accidentally copying well-known ideas)
•newly published novels by new authors (to see what publishers are currently buying)
•novels in other genres
•novels that are similar to ones they want to write
•bestsellers in their field (to see what readers are buying)
•works by great stylists (to learn new ways of putting words together)
•classic works of literature (to see what lasts)

In my next post at Novel Spaces, on Saturday, February 6, I’ll have more to say on the importance of reading nonfiction. Until then, what do you think of my lists? Are there glaring omissions? Items you disagree with? I'm curious to hear how your lists of suggested reading would differ.

As always, thank you for visiting Novel Spaces today.

—Shauna Roberts

Just One Writing Tip

The other night, I'm in bed tossing and turning, counting sheep at nearly three in the morning, trying my best to fall asleep, when those amazing, fully-alive characters I created from the book I'm wrapping up kept talking to me, one after the other, and I couldn't make them stop. Seems they always try to talk when I'm in the shower, or driving, or when I'm trying to fall asleep. A while back when ideas would come to me - like when a character whispered to me that the murder suicide wasn't really a suicide at all, but that the murderer was still alive - I'd either get up and run into my office to jot them down, or I'd stay in bed, too lazy to move, finding ways to embed it all into my brain so I'd remember it when I woke up, but of course, I didn't.

My one writing tip is for authors to remember to always keep a notepad, post-it, tape recorder, rock, Etch-A-Sketch, something, beside the bed so that these yapping characters we obviously did such a great job bringing to life can tell us what's up, and then we can get our crafty, character-birthing, word-loving selves some sleep. Got it? Get up, flick the switch to the night-light or write in the dark, and make note of it. It's a whole lot easier than driving ourselves crazier than the bug-eyed woman in the above picture the next day, missing out on what could have made your next chapter a whole helluva lot easier. Write on!

Can you pick just one tip for writers? Please share. :-)

Writing Lessons from Bootcamp

A few posts back I told y’all about enrolling in Bootcamp Workout classes to research my work-in-progress.

At the time, I figured dropping a few pounds would be the only added benefit of those hellish workouts.

I didn’t expect running outdoors at dawn in 19-degree temps only to come inside and face a barrage of push-ups, sit-ups and weights would also teach me a few lessons about living the writer’s life.

Here’s what I learned:

Gather your gear the night before. Not being a morning kinda gal, I pulled my workout clothes from the closet at night. It made it easier to get myself into gear when the alarm went off at 4:45 am. Now I place everything I need to get going (Alphasmart, notebook, index cards) on the kitchen table before heading to bed. If I’m planning to write in Starbucks or the library, I throw my stuff in a tote and hang it on the door.

You’re not in competition with anyone. I won’t lie. It was kinda demoralizing being the oldest and most out of shape in class. My stronger, fitter, younger classmates left me in the dust. The first days, pride made me damn near kill myself trying to catch them. Then our instructor told me to slow down and instead focus on my breathing and setting my own pace. In other words, focus on your body (writing career) – not anyone else’s.

It’s coooold. I’m sooooore. I’m gonna throw-up. The number one rule of Bootcamp – absolutely no whining. If I can run, sprint, do jumping-jacks sit-ups, push-ups without a single complaint, then I push through a difficult scene without bitching.

So those are the bonus lessons I got from my heroine’s bootcamp experience. Fortunately, my delving into my hero involves chocolate!

www.phyllisbourne.com

Ch- ch- ch- Changes

Because I knew I would be writing this column on the third Monday in January, my first thought was to write about race in writing. I figured the flap about Avatar being racist while winning the Golden Globe would be a natural launch point. But the more I thought about it , the more I realized that was a political topic better suited to my own LiveJournal than this convivial writing forum. My second thought was to write the column Farrah wrote -- but she published first. (I've saved what I'd written before I saw her column and herein officially dibs the topic for next year.)

So, for a change of pace, I think I'll write about writing. Or more precisely, rewriting. I have often said I do not rewrite. I am not one of those walk away from the keyboard writers. When I finish with a story I spell check, and mail.

To be sure, if an editor requests a rewrite -- particularly if the rewrite is a condition of sale -- I rewrite if I can. (I can't always. The first of this year I sold two stories, but one of the sales didn't stick. As sometimes happens in media tie-in writing, elements of my story conflicted with established continuity. It was not a major point relative to the intellectual property -- the editor didn't notice until one of the continuity checkers found it -- but it was essential to my story. The story would not work if I changed it and I had to withdraw my ms.)

This year on my Live Journal I've started something new; something that's forcing me to really look at how I write and what I do with words. I'm posting the number of new words I write and keep each day. That "and keep" is important, because I'm discovering that I only keep about a third of the words I write. Prior to this daily record keeping, I would have told you I kept two thirds to three fourths of what I wrote; maybe deleting a sentence or two that doesn't flow well (or flows too prettily and distracts from the tale). Now I'm realizing I throw out paragraphs and pages wholesale.

Today's entry, for example, says merely "500 fiction." The fiction in this case is "Bad Water," a military science fiction story about a retired constable and his fishing boat being pressed into service by a reconnaissance squad. As originally sketched in on my graph paper (see "It's all a Plot") it would have run about 10-12k. Today I was close to the 8k mark when I realized the story was too damn linear. It didn't just need another try/fail cycle or two, it needed a convoluted side trip to save it from predictability. So I deleted 1600 words and hit my protagonist over the head with a piton. Then I spent about twenty minutes alternately staring into space and sketching on my graph paper while I worked out why he'd been hit on the head and what would have to happen to lead most effectively from that point to the denouement. (And, if I'm reading my flow chart right, the final story will clock in at 14-16k. We'll see.)

So what's your process? At what point in the writing do you spot things that need to change? And how do you go about making the changes?