State of the Author

Want a peek into the wackiness of author brain? Okay, first of all, here are the things I’m working on right now:

  • The Snow Queen’s Shadow — 42,000 words into the second draft
  • Synopses for three books in a new series — I have some rough ideas for book one, and tentative titles for all three
  • Article for the SFWA Handbook — need to review and finalize that one

Compared to many of my author friends, it’s a modest list.  But it’s enough to keep me busy.  Now guess which one of these projects my brain is stuck on.  Go ahead, guess.

What I really want to work on right now … is a fake book review blog, authored by the protagonist of the unsold new series.

::Headdesk::

That’s right, my brain is stuck on the idea of posting extra “goodies” material for a character from a series that 1. I haven’t sold yet and 2. won’t appear until at least 2012 even when and if I do.  It would be one thing if I was obsessing over the synopses, which I could at least get to my agent so we could try to sell the silly thing.  But the protagonist’s blog?  Really, brain?  (I have the coolest title for the blog, too!)

I’ve also been obsessing about progress on Snow Queen.  When we negotiated the contract, I asked for 14 months to write this one, which means my deadline isn’t until October 1.  But I look back and realize I’ve been working on this book for eight months, and I’m a long, long way from being done.  Given that I usually do three or four complete drafts, am I going to have time to get this one right?  I’m wrapping up a series — this book has to be as good as I can make it.

It’s helped somewhat to remind myself that this is normal.  I looked through last year’s blog posts and realized I didn’t even finish the first draft of Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] until March 23.  I finished draft two on June 8.  I still rewrote it again and turned everything in by August 15, and even though I got frustrated and discouraged at times, I think Red Hood ended up being a damn good book.

It doesn’t make the stress go away.  It doesn’t erase the fear that maybe this book won’t be as good as the last one, or that maybe I’m not a good enough writer to tell this story.  But it does help to recognize that I’ve been here before.  This is an unpleasant place to be, but it’s familiar, and I know I’ve gotten through it.  Which suggests I can probably get through it again.

Even if I’d rather be doing site design for a book review blog.

Health Care Thought

There’s a Democratic Congressman named Jim Himes in Connecticut who voted for Obama’s health reform plan.  As a result, for months now, my Google Alerts have been sending me angry blog posts and web pages by spelling-impaired “real patriots” reacting to Himes’ endorsement of this socialist plot.

I haven’t written much about the health care debate, and I’m not planning to do a full-blown rant here.  However, for those of you who are my fans and readers, here are a few projects you might have seen if the U.S. had decent universal health care:

  • A fourth Jig the goblin book (tentatively titled Goblin Lord)
  • A YA book or series, following the adventures of Danielle’s son Jakob and the daughter of the fairy queen from Fairytown
  • An alternate-universe short story about Snow and Talia
  • More short fiction

These are all ideas I’ve thought about trying to do, but after looking at the demands on my time — specifically, the need to work the full-time day job so that I and my family have health coverage — there’s no way I can make them happen.

Would all of these projects have materialized if we had universal health care?  I can’t say for certain.  There’s still a lot to be said for a stable income, which writing doesn’t provide.  But given what I make now, if I was able to write full time and produce an extra book a year … especially that fourth goblin book, considering how well they’ve done in Germany … well, let’s just say the odds of seeing those projects would be much better.

I’m not complaining.  I’m thankful to be employed, and happy to be able to do one book each year.  But I’d also love to have the option of doing more.

Winners and More Answers

The not-a-raffle raised just over $1500 for rape crisis centers.  More than that, actually, since for at least part of this month RAINN has been matching donations, meaning much of your generosity was doubled.  Not to mention everyone who donated goods to shelters, or offered their time as volunteers.  Y’all are awesome, incredible people.  Thank you!

73 people entered the drawing.  Congratulations to Elektra, who won an autographed ARC of  Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], and Marie, who won the bonus prize of Heroes in Training.  I’ve e-mailed you both with details.

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In my first round of answers to the Q&A post, I said Talia would beat Batman in an (unfair) fight.  Many of you argued this point, but now we have proof!  Pictures don’t lie.  Click on the thumbnail for the glorious evidence.  Thank you socchan for settling this issue once and for all.  Now for a few more answers…

  • Kevin Stewart asked, “How do you outline a book series based off one idea that you know will take that long to tell in the way you wish to tell it?”

I don’t know, because I haven’t really done it yet.  Goblin Quest was originally a standalone novel.  I didn’t get the idea for book two until I was halfway through writing Quest.  I think I did a pretty good job of building on the story and creating a larger arc by the end of book three, but very little of that was planned in advance.

With the princess series, I knew I wanted to write multiple books, and had some ideas about overarching plot arcs.    But they were very loose ideas, things I wanted to develop or come back to, but nothing planned out or outlined in detail.  I sold Stepsister Scheme in a standalone deal, then sold Mermaid and Red Hood in another deal.  The sale of Snow Queen came later.  So I didn’t even know for certain if I’d have four books to finish the story.

When I finally get around to pitching my next series, I’m going to try to plan it out in more detail and see what happens.  But knowing me, even if I outline every last twist, by the time I start writing the third or fourth book I’ll be going off in completely new directions anyway 🙂

  • atdt1991 asked “What’s the worst thing about being diabetic?”

Probably the worst thing for me are the times when I can’t get my blood sugar under control.  Overall, I’ve been fortunate to be able to maintain very good control, but some days, for whatever reason, I just can’t.  Whether it’s because I’m sick, or the pump’s infusion site isn’t working, or whatever, I absolutely hate the feeling of being out of control of my own body.

  • Finally, Sean asks, “Who would win in a fight, Jig or Talia? We’re talking prison rules here.”

Dude, Talia took out Batman.  I love Jig, but if he ever goes up against Talia, it’s not going to be pretty.  Fortunately, Jig is clever enough to know when he’s outmatched, and would probably find a way to avoid the fight altogether.  Either by tricking the hobgoblins or the orcs into fighting for him, or simply running the heck away.

Birthday Blogging

Today’s my birthday.  So what did ya get me? 🙂

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Today is also the last day to participate in the not-a-raffle for rape crisis centers.  So far, we’ve raised $1265!  My thanks to everyone who’s donated.  Tomorrow I’ll be drawing names and giving out an autographed ARC of Red Hood’s Revenge, as well as a copy of Heroes in Training.

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Yesterday brought a royalties spreadsheet from my agent.  I’m happy to say that all three goblin books have earned out and are paying royalties, and Stepsister Scheme is very close to doing the same.  Given that there’s still a large reserve against returns for Stepsister, I’ve no doubt at all that it has basically earned out as well, and will be paying royalties the next time around.  To all of my readers, a huge thank you!

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Here’s an interesting tidbit.  That spreadsheet included numbers on e-book sales as well as print.  E-book sales account for only 1-2% of all sales of my books.  (with the exception of Stepsister Scheme, where e-book sales rose to almost, but not quite 3%).  But hey, at least e-books don’t have any reserves against returns, which is nice!

The Great Rape Conspiracy

comrade_cat posted about an article by Heather MacDonald called The Campus Rape Myth, which takes on the “campus rape industry.”  Warning: reading the article is likely to significantly raise your blood pressure.

MacDonald spews more than 6000 words to “debunk” college rape as a ridiculously overblown myth fueled by false reports, radical feminist research, and slutty college girls.

She’s not alone in her beliefs.  I remember a response to one of my own rape posts, in which a man said he liked what I was saying, but thought I was making up the part about how many of my friends had been raped, because he didn’t believe it happened that often.

As pissed off as I was by this response, I couldn’t help appreciating the parallel … after all, how often do rape victims share their stories, only to be told they’re lying?

MacDonald targets a single article in her attempt to reveal the falsehoods of the great rape conspiracy:

“The campus rape industry’s central tenet is that one-quarter of all college girls will be raped or be the targets of attempted rape by the end of their college years … This claim, first published in Ms. magazine in 1987, took the universities by storm.”

She goes on to point out that many of these “so-called” rape victims didn’t identify the experience as rape, and didn’t even report it!  She also refers to a 2000 study by the Department of Justice.  I assume she means The Sexual Victimization of College Women, which studied rapes over six months and estimated that “Over the course of a college career — which now lasts an average of 5 years — the percentage of completed or attempted rape victimization among women in higher educational institutions might climb to between one-fifth and one-quarter.”  (As everyone knows, the U. S. Government is a just hotbed of radical feminism.)

Page 23 of the study lists some reasons women chose not to report:

“…common answers included that the incident was not serious enough to report and that it was not clear that a crime was committed. Other  reasons, however, suggested that there were barriers to reporting. Such answers included not wanting family or other people to know about the incident, lack of proof the incident happened, fear of reprisal by the  assailant, fear of being treated with hostility by the police, and  anticipation that the police would not believe the incident was serious enough and/or would not want to be bothered with the incident.”

Gosh, where could they have gotten the idea that people won’t take them seriously if it was friend or date raped them?  How could they think that if they were raped after partying or drinking, that they might be mocked and treated with outright hostility?  Who taught them that unless it was a black stranger with a knife, it doesn’t count as a “real” rape?[1. From MacDonald’s article, “Like many stranger rapists on campus, the knifepoint assailant was black, and thus an unattractive target for politically correct protest.”]

Buried in MacDonald’s article is a valid point.  When working in rape education and prevention, I saw a tendency to toss statistics about without being able to back them up or explain where they come from.  Given how many people refuse to accept how common rape is, I believe it’s important to back up the numbers when possible.

Mostly though, MacDonald’s article is crap.  Sadly, it’s crap a lot of people choose to believe.  Because we don’t want to admit rape can and has happened to people we love.  Because it’s easier to ridicule the numbers — and the victims — than to accept we have a problem.

I’ve mentioned sitting in my college dorm with several female friends when two guys walked by, mocking the 1-in-4 statistic.  “If that were right, it would mean one of you had been raped,” said one.  Unstated was the assumption that this was utterly ridiculous.  How absurd to think that someone he knew had experienced such a horrible crime?

Of course, he was right.  MacDonald does the same thing in her article:

“The one-in-four statistic would mean that every year, millions of young women graduate who have suffered the most terrifying assault, short of murder, that a woman can experience.”

Well, yes.  That’s the point.  And you can either turn your back on those women, or you can open your eyes and try to do something about it.

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Mad Libs Reviewing

It surprises me sometimes how many people are uncomfortable reviewing books.  I don’t mean a professional, paid review for the New York Times, but just a note on the blog or Amazon or wherever.  A lot of people have told me they just don’t know what to say, or they don’t believe they can write a good review.

Fear not good people, for I have the solution.  Mad Libs Reviews take the stress from reviewing, and make for a much more entertaining read.  (In some cases, probably more entertaining than the actual book.)

If I were a programmer, I’d set up an app to do this automatically.  But I’m not, so we do it the old fashioned way.  Choose your words, then read your review of a hypothetical goblin book.  Feel free to share any particularly fun lines in the comments.  (But remember, this is a family-friendly blog.)

Have fun, and tune in next week when I use Mad Libs to write the promo piece for THE SNOW QUEEN’S SHADOW!

1. Noun: ________________
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3. Adverb: ________________
4. Animal: ________________
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7. Name: ________________
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9. Adjective: ________________
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13. Emotion: ________________
More

Negative Reviews = Great News!

The fundraiser for rape crisis centers has raised more than $1000 as of 9:30 this morning.  Y’all are wonderful!!!  To celebrate, I’m adding an autographed copy of Heroes in Training [Mysterious Galaxy | B&N | Amazon] to the prize giveaway.  Thank you all!

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Over the past few weeks, Google Alerts brought word of a number of new reviews of my books.  At least half were wonderfully positive (thank you!), but some of them were … less flattering.

This is a good thing.

Don’t get me wrong — I’d much rather see more reviews describing the books as the best books ever.  I’d be lying if I said the negative reviews didn’t sting.  However, there’s no such thing as a book that appeals to everyone.  If you expect absolutely everyone to love your writing, you’re gonna be mighty disappointed.

“Wait a minute,” you protest.  “That’s probably true, but just because you know it’s pretty much inevitable that someone’s going to trash your book doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.”

Excellent point, imaginary reader.  Let me explain where I’m coming from by describing a random author who recently spammed a discussion group I was reading.  He was advertising his book, and included the line “Only 5-star reviews on Amazon!” as a selling point.

I had a pretty good idea what to expect, but I clicked over to the book’s listing anyway.  Call it morbid curiosity.  His claim was absolutely correct.  He had a handful of 5-star reviews, all praising this book to the Heavens.

The thing is, almost any book is going to get a few good reviews.  At the very first signing for my very first book, my friends and family were there to support me.  They bought copies, and some of them (not all, sadly) even read the book.  Those that hated it, well, I’m someone they know — they’re unlikely to trash me online.  Meaning the only reviews from that group are probably going to be positive.

Call them first circle readers.  It’s great to get those positive reviews, but I don’t give them much weight.

These days, I also have what I’ll call second circle readers — people who’ve read my stuff and are loyal to me as an author.  They already know they like my style, and are therefore fairly likely to enjoy my new books and post positive reviews.

Then there’s the outer circle.  Readers who don’t know my fiction.  Sadly, this is the biggest circle for most of us.  Here’s where things get risky.  Some of them will love it, and some won’t.  Statistically speaking, this is where most of the negative reviews are usually going to come from.

The fact that more reviews are cropping up for my books, and that these reviews are a mix of both positive and negative, suggests to me that I’m reaching that outer circle.  New readers are picking up my stuff and giving it a try, and that is a very good thing.

(That said, if those of you who like my books want to run out and post 5-star reviews all over the web, I certainly won’t object!)

Lego Transformers (aka, Jim has a Geekgasm)

The not-a-raffle has raised more than $900 for rape crisis centers so far!  I’ll be picking a winner on 4/16, which means there’s still time for us to push that amount past the $1000 mark.

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There was more I intended to blog about today, but none of that matters anymore, because I have seen this:

A Flickr user named Orion Pax built Optimus Prime out of Lego.  A transforming Optimus Prime.  Click the pic or this link for the full set of Pax’s Lego Transformers.

Oh yes, I said Transformers plural, including Grimlock, Soundwave, Starscream … I think I’m in love.

My over-the-top squeeing aside, check out the details on this thing.  I didn’t even believe it was all Lego at first.  Prime’s fingers?  Blue legs from minifigs.  Windshield wipers are a pair of Lego harpoon guns.  The gun, the matrix, Roller … I just … wow.

I now know what I want for my birthday next week.

Answers, Part 1

Thanks for the great questions!  I’ll be working through these over the next few days/weeks.  To get things started, I picked the most controversial, burning question of all:

  • From celestineangel, “Who would win in a fight: Talia or BATMAN?”

Notice how Batman is in all-caps?  It’s a subtle psychological technique to give Batman the edge.  He’s full of tricks like that.

The first question is which Batman?  The Adam West incarnation?  Talia wipes the floor with him.  Frank Miller’s version?  That’s a nastier fight.  Batman from The Brave and The Bold?  He has a laser sword, and the Batmobile is a freaking Transformer!  I’m going to assume a kind of blended uberBatman which merges the most popular features of the character.

Both characters are armed to the teeth, but Batman’s toys have a technological edge.  Also, Batman spent his whole life training to be the best at everything.  Talia only started learning martial arts after awakening from her fairy curse.  On the other hand, fairy magic gives Talia superhuman grace and skill.

It’s a difficult question.  Therefore, I’ve decided to skip it and come back later in the post.

  • From alienpenguin: “[W]ere there any folklore history or analysis books in particular that you found helpful in researching the princesses series?”

The SurLaLune web site is a wonderful resource.  The site includes multiple versions of various fairy tales, many of them annotated, and I often found myself referring back to the site to check details of different fairy tales.  I’ve kept a complete collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales on my bedside table for several years now.  I also read a variety of essays, both online and in print, that talk about the symbolism, history, and meaning of various fairy tales.  Though to be honest, after four books, it’s all a bit of a blur.

A blur like Batman, swinging through the night!  Remember that Batman tries to avoid killing his opponents.  Talia doesn’t.  This gives Talia an advantage, because she doesn’t hold back.  But is it enough of an advantage?

  • From Matt W: “How much time do you devote on an average day to writing? What do you sacrifice to have that writing time … and do you have it at the same time every day?”

You know how Batman has to balance his daily life as billionaire playboy with his second job as the dark knight?  What I do is exactly like that.  Exactly!

In 2001, I chose to take a state job because it came with a union-regulated lunch hour.  I’ve been writing on my lunch break for nine years now.  It lets me do 4000-5000 words a week, which translates to about a book a year.

These days, I need more time to catch up with correspondence, meet unexpected deadlines, and figure out stories that become more complex with every book.  When I’m on deadline, I’ll try to sneak in some evening writing, and my wife sometimes takes the kids out on weekends to give me extra time.

I don’t play video games, because I can’t spare the time.  I don’t read as much as I’d like, and I make it to the movies maybe 2-3 times per year.  I try to make family, my day job, and the writing my top priorities, but it’s a struggle to balance everything, and some days I do better than others.

Speaking of family, Batman has none.  He works alone, or at best allows Robin to tag along.  Whereas Talia has Snow and Danielle as backup, meaning she’s got a can of magical whoop-ass waiting in her corner, not to mention the animal revolution Danielle can summon up.  Cheating?  Maybe … but only fools fight fair.

Therefore, I’m going to call this one for Talia.  Further debate (and fan art — lots of pretty, pretty fan art!) should be carried out in the comments.

Q&A

As of 8:00 this morning, the not-a-raffle fundraiser has raised $744 for rape crisis centers.  Sweet!  On a related note, my friend shadesong is fundraising for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center as part of the 5th Annual Walk for Change.  Her donations page is here.  If you donate, make sure to let me know so I can add your name to win that ARC of Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon].

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It’s open question time here on the blog.  I’ve done this a few times before, and the rules are the same as always.

Ask anything you’d like.  Writing-related or not, serious or smart-ass, everything goes.  Want to know who would win in a goblin vs. princess no-holds-barred smackdown?  How I got my agent?  The worst thing about being diabetic?  What happened when the church tried to give my 5-year-old son communion yesterday?

(I’ll give you that last one for free.  He tossed the bread into the wine cup.)

You can leave your questions in the comments.  If you prefer not to have your name attached, you can also e-mail me.

I’ll answer as many as I can in future blog posts, though I reserve the right to not answer certain questions.  I.e., if you ask me whether Talia will hook up with [SPOILER] in book four, I’ll either ignore the question or taunt you with false rumors about her running off with Gabrielle (from Xena).

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