It feels good to start typing, and find that the words that you had been looking for, that you thought were lost, were actually just hiding out of sight. I've been trying for weeks to finish this second WIP, and have been stuck in a mire of confusion. One subplot not working, another incomplete, things not quite gelling.
I went back and re-edited a previous WIP based upon some well-received agent comments, and stalled over the present WIP. And stalled, and stalled.
So, yesterday I was packing food into boxes and airtight plastic bags in preparation for "tenting" (dry wood termites...need I say more?), growling about how much work it is, and then left for a funeral, of all things (and the funeral service was very well-done, BTW, not too long and full of happy memories...but I digress). I sat in the tiny Beach Chapel, squished between a wrinkled man with a graying pony tail and a little bit of a woman who, despite the fact that she is elderly and as fragile as raw spaghetti, is sitting halfway on my seat as well as her own, listening to the priest talk about the gospel of John, when the solution just sort of pops into my head.
How is that for timing? I find it interesting, and a little disturbing, how much my Catholic background (and I use that term loosely, lapsed Catholic that I am) figures into what I write. Some of my characters are Christian, and some not, and the stories always seem to end up with a thread running through them about religion or belief or faith.
In any event, apparently my heroine is still one of the good guys, as I originally planned, and she'll figure that out, but I have apparently decided that before she can win she has to fall from grace, and fail miserably, in order to grow enough backbone to stand on her own principles.
Now I have to go back and edit, edit, edit....
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Research for Writers, Part II -- Some Handy Tips
Much has been written about research for novelists, and there are far more sources available for proper research than I am willing to count here. However, I think it's possible to distill some basics of research here, with a few tips that may be helpful for other authors looking to research a book:
1. Preliminary research should always be completed after the concept of the novel or non-fiction has been fleshed out, but before any writing begins. Background knowledge of the manuscript's basics can ease the writing process, and words on the page will feel more authentic if the author knows of what she speaks. For example, if your novel is set in Manhattan, NY, and you are not a native of Manhattan, a visit is definitely in order, along with extensive research about the area. Get a feel for the culture, as much as the "facts" about the area. How do people act when you pass them on the street? What birds live there? Are the roads crowded in the morning? In the middle of the day? How do the tall buildings in affect how the sunshine is perceived from the street? If your protagonist sees a bird in Central Park, it should be possible to see such a bird there in reality (unless there's some reason the bird would be in Central Park, despite the fact that it's not a native).
2. Online research is just as acceptable as library research, with a few notable rules:
First, use reputable sources. The Encyclopedia Brittanica on line is a great resource; Wikipedia, by contrast is not. Just because something is written on line, does not make it CORRECT, or AUTHORITATIVE. Choosing the right source is imperative to obtaining valid and accurate information.
Second, take care to note the web sites from which information is gleaned. If you are using information that is subject to copyright laws, you will need to provide source information to ensure that no copyright infringement occurs.
Third, save all links in a favorites folder dedicated to your manuscript, and/or save research information in a folder on your computer, where you can access it again. So many times I have found what I was looking for, after extensive research, only to find that I could not locate it again weeks later, when I needed to check something else.
3. Many times, however, on line research is not as detailed as the information that can be gleaned from reference books. A web page with a few hundred words about natural cures may be accurate, but it will necessarily contain less information than a 200-page book on the same topic. Obviously, this will matter more if your book's main protagonist is an herbalist, than if a secondary character mentions the benefits of garlic therapy.
4. Don't skimp on research for the sake of speed. It may take time to research things that seem like minor details, but if your character in 1200 AD incorrectly doffs a cowboy hat at a woman, then despite the fact that the mistake happens in a single sentence in a minor story scene, you've pretty much just soured your reader on the entire story.
5. On the other hand, don't over-research. It's tempting sometimes to research everything, from soup to nuts, to make sure that a manuscript is accurate and complete. Although it's better to err on the side of more research, rather than less, there are some things that don't need to be researched. Scenes with which you are already intimately familiar, details that can be left to the imagination, and commonly known facts can be incorporated into a novel without the necessity of research. For example, it's probably not necessary to research the effect of scalding soup in the mouth (we've all done it).
With just a little attention, research can make a manuscript sing with authenticity. Hopefully that, combined with a great plot and some awesome characters, keeps readers coming back for more!
1. Preliminary research should always be completed after the concept of the novel or non-fiction has been fleshed out, but before any writing begins. Background knowledge of the manuscript's basics can ease the writing process, and words on the page will feel more authentic if the author knows of what she speaks. For example, if your novel is set in Manhattan, NY, and you are not a native of Manhattan, a visit is definitely in order, along with extensive research about the area. Get a feel for the culture, as much as the "facts" about the area. How do people act when you pass them on the street? What birds live there? Are the roads crowded in the morning? In the middle of the day? How do the tall buildings in affect how the sunshine is perceived from the street? If your protagonist sees a bird in Central Park, it should be possible to see such a bird there in reality (unless there's some reason the bird would be in Central Park, despite the fact that it's not a native).
2. Online research is just as acceptable as library research, with a few notable rules:
First, use reputable sources. The Encyclopedia Brittanica on line is a great resource; Wikipedia, by contrast is not. Just because something is written on line, does not make it CORRECT, or AUTHORITATIVE. Choosing the right source is imperative to obtaining valid and accurate information.
Second, take care to note the web sites from which information is gleaned. If you are using information that is subject to copyright laws, you will need to provide source information to ensure that no copyright infringement occurs.
Third, save all links in a favorites folder dedicated to your manuscript, and/or save research information in a folder on your computer, where you can access it again. So many times I have found what I was looking for, after extensive research, only to find that I could not locate it again weeks later, when I needed to check something else.
3. Many times, however, on line research is not as detailed as the information that can be gleaned from reference books. A web page with a few hundred words about natural cures may be accurate, but it will necessarily contain less information than a 200-page book on the same topic. Obviously, this will matter more if your book's main protagonist is an herbalist, than if a secondary character mentions the benefits of garlic therapy.
4. Don't skimp on research for the sake of speed. It may take time to research things that seem like minor details, but if your character in 1200 AD incorrectly doffs a cowboy hat at a woman, then despite the fact that the mistake happens in a single sentence in a minor story scene, you've pretty much just soured your reader on the entire story.
5. On the other hand, don't over-research. It's tempting sometimes to research everything, from soup to nuts, to make sure that a manuscript is accurate and complete. Although it's better to err on the side of more research, rather than less, there are some things that don't need to be researched. Scenes with which you are already intimately familiar, details that can be left to the imagination, and commonly known facts can be incorporated into a novel without the necessity of research. For example, it's probably not necessary to research the effect of scalding soup in the mouth (we've all done it).
With just a little attention, research can make a manuscript sing with authenticity. Hopefully that, combined with a great plot and some awesome characters, keeps readers coming back for more!
Research for Writers, Part I -- The Nuts and Bolts
As an attorney, nothing comes more naturally to me than researching a topic before writing about it. Attorneys are, by nature, obsessive...er, make that anal...about their research. One slip of the tongue, one wrong fact or misrepresented case, and your client could be hanging by their thumbs in a dank gaol. Alright that is a bit of an exaggeration. Still, research is necessary to proper "lawyering", as it were.
Writing, even fiction writing, is much the same. (Ah, I can hear the sighs and groans now.) The prospect of research can be daunting to an author looking to write a manuscript, especially if the author is not experienced in research.
After too many years of practicing law, and nearly a year writing for a publisher of legal treatises and consumer publications, I have learned, through trial and error, a few simple facts about legal research. Although I don't have a particular method for my research, I research everything that I write, if I am not intimately familiar with it, keeping my research in an online folder with the manuscript drafts (or, for research found in print, in a physical folder with the manuscript name.)
As an example, for my first novel, a fantasy set primarily in Britain in 1912, the research in my online folder was nearly as many pages in Word as the novel itself, containing research on such topics as Egyptian, Norse and Celtic mythology, availability of plumbing and electric lighting in 1912, the evolution of cars, and styles of dress. I also had a physical folder with everything from maps (to locate places and estimate travel times between them, for example) to name genealogy, to ensure that my novel was as grounded in fact as possible.
For a sci fi novel that is in the preliminary planning stages, I have thus far researched the speed at which planets in our solar system rotate -- on their own axis and around the sun -- and how that rotation affects their environments, in an attempt to determine/imagine how a race of humans on another planet would be affected by basic changes in their environment caused by a difference in the planet's rotation. And for a work in progress set in Scotland in 115 AD, I have spent hours researching the rather patchy information about the lives of the people living in those societies at the end of the iron age.
This is not to say that research is the end-all of novel writing. In fact, it is a novelist's job to imagine what research can't tell us: how humans might fare in a world where the equivalent of sunrise to sunset on earth, takes a full week to accomplish, or how the homes of Scottish lowlanders might have smelled, and sounded, to those living there.
But if not the end-all of novel writing, research is certainly the base, the beginning of any good novel. A thorough grounding in research is necessary ingredient to imbue a novel with an sense of authenticity, even when the story is a complete work of fiction. For example, if I describe a person bathing in 1900, but describe a rather modern tub instead of the claw-foot tub that research shows was in popular use at the time, my novel is likely to feel false. Readers are savvy: they can sense a falsehood coming before they can even see the whites of its eyes, and the fastest way to turn them off to a story, is to have story feel unreal.
As authors we want our readers to believe that this world we have created is REAL. Research gives a novel the credibility that it needs to connect with readers, so that they keep reading.
(Next time, Research for Writers, Part II -- Some Handy Tips)
Writing, even fiction writing, is much the same. (Ah, I can hear the sighs and groans now.) The prospect of research can be daunting to an author looking to write a manuscript, especially if the author is not experienced in research.
After too many years of practicing law, and nearly a year writing for a publisher of legal treatises and consumer publications, I have learned, through trial and error, a few simple facts about legal research. Although I don't have a particular method for my research, I research everything that I write, if I am not intimately familiar with it, keeping my research in an online folder with the manuscript drafts (or, for research found in print, in a physical folder with the manuscript name.)
As an example, for my first novel, a fantasy set primarily in Britain in 1912, the research in my online folder was nearly as many pages in Word as the novel itself, containing research on such topics as Egyptian, Norse and Celtic mythology, availability of plumbing and electric lighting in 1912, the evolution of cars, and styles of dress. I also had a physical folder with everything from maps (to locate places and estimate travel times between them, for example) to name genealogy, to ensure that my novel was as grounded in fact as possible.
For a sci fi novel that is in the preliminary planning stages, I have thus far researched the speed at which planets in our solar system rotate -- on their own axis and around the sun -- and how that rotation affects their environments, in an attempt to determine/imagine how a race of humans on another planet would be affected by basic changes in their environment caused by a difference in the planet's rotation. And for a work in progress set in Scotland in 115 AD, I have spent hours researching the rather patchy information about the lives of the people living in those societies at the end of the iron age.
This is not to say that research is the end-all of novel writing. In fact, it is a novelist's job to imagine what research can't tell us: how humans might fare in a world where the equivalent of sunrise to sunset on earth, takes a full week to accomplish, or how the homes of Scottish lowlanders might have smelled, and sounded, to those living there.
But if not the end-all of novel writing, research is certainly the base, the beginning of any good novel. A thorough grounding in research is necessary ingredient to imbue a novel with an sense of authenticity, even when the story is a complete work of fiction. For example, if I describe a person bathing in 1900, but describe a rather modern tub instead of the claw-foot tub that research shows was in popular use at the time, my novel is likely to feel false. Readers are savvy: they can sense a falsehood coming before they can even see the whites of its eyes, and the fastest way to turn them off to a story, is to have story feel unreal.
As authors we want our readers to believe that this world we have created is REAL. Research gives a novel the credibility that it needs to connect with readers, so that they keep reading.
(Next time, Research for Writers, Part II -- Some Handy Tips)
Monday, July 27, 2009
To Write or Not: The Value of a Back-Woods Vacation
I just returned from a "short" week-long vacation in the north Georgia Mountains, and the adjustment to ordinary life has been painful after a week of hiking through a canopy of green, picking (and eating!) the fresh raspberries and blackberries that grow along the creek beds, and talking before a roaring fire well into the evening.
Before leaving, I was uncertain whether to completely avoid my laptop, phone and TV. The only times I really get to write are when my son is sleeping (and usually I'm craving my own pillow by then), or when I don't have to work, such as on weekends and during vacation time. In the car on the way to our cabin deep in the Nacoochee National Forest, however, I pulled out the laptop and sat it on my lap desk, where it remained for an hour before I put it away. I never pulled it out again. My willingness to avoid reality entirely surprised even me.
Not that my writing was ever far from my mind. While hiking a steep, rocky incline up to the Appalachian Trail, I thought about a scene from one of my books, where the characters escape to the mountains in New England. While stirring flour, sugar and butter into a dough for my fresh-picked-raspberry-blackberry-apple crumble, I decided how one of my books should end, an issue that has been plaguing me for weeks now. While sitting before an enormous, almost too-hot campfire, watching my son roast marshmallows to make endless s'mores for me (he doesn't eat them himself, but insists that I eat many), I felt the pain of the many agent-rejections begin to recede, as my skin thickened again and my resolve grew to have my work published.
And I finally read Diana Gabaldon's 1991 book, OUTLANDER, which has been on my reading list for years. Such a lovely story, brilliantly conceived and written! Unfortunately, I now must read the entire series, which speaks volumes of Gabaldon's skill as an author.
The question of whether to work, or whether to clear my mind entirely, had seemingly been decided for me. The phone did not work so high up in the forest, and my fingers resisted my one attempt to type. I did not make a conscious decision to take a break from work, but I must say that I'm glad that I did. In much the same way that writing fills the creative side of me in a way that my rather dry legal career cannot fill, the journey into the mountains feeds my soul in a way that living in the flat humidity of Florida cannot. Refreshed, recharged, relaxed...for now.
Before leaving, I was uncertain whether to completely avoid my laptop, phone and TV. The only times I really get to write are when my son is sleeping (and usually I'm craving my own pillow by then), or when I don't have to work, such as on weekends and during vacation time. In the car on the way to our cabin deep in the Nacoochee National Forest, however, I pulled out the laptop and sat it on my lap desk, where it remained for an hour before I put it away. I never pulled it out again. My willingness to avoid reality entirely surprised even me.
Not that my writing was ever far from my mind. While hiking a steep, rocky incline up to the Appalachian Trail, I thought about a scene from one of my books, where the characters escape to the mountains in New England. While stirring flour, sugar and butter into a dough for my fresh-picked-raspberry-blackberry-apple crumble, I decided how one of my books should end, an issue that has been plaguing me for weeks now. While sitting before an enormous, almost too-hot campfire, watching my son roast marshmallows to make endless s'mores for me (he doesn't eat them himself, but insists that I eat many), I felt the pain of the many agent-rejections begin to recede, as my skin thickened again and my resolve grew to have my work published.
And I finally read Diana Gabaldon's 1991 book, OUTLANDER, which has been on my reading list for years. Such a lovely story, brilliantly conceived and written! Unfortunately, I now must read the entire series, which speaks volumes of Gabaldon's skill as an author.
The question of whether to work, or whether to clear my mind entirely, had seemingly been decided for me. The phone did not work so high up in the forest, and my fingers resisted my one attempt to type. I did not make a conscious decision to take a break from work, but I must say that I'm glad that I did. In much the same way that writing fills the creative side of me in a way that my rather dry legal career cannot fill, the journey into the mountains feeds my soul in a way that living in the flat humidity of Florida cannot. Refreshed, recharged, relaxed...for now.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Role Models in Literature, ie, Lessons from Harry Potter
The headline reads: "For some fans, lessons of "Potter" carry over into real world." (http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/16/potter.activists.irpt/index.html?iref=mpstoryview, CNN.com, Jul 16, 2009)
I will admit, a bit sheepishly, that my initial reaction was one of derision. I mean, can't people tell the real world from a movie, or a book? Then I read the rest of the article. It turns out that this group, at whom I was snubbing my nose, has 4,500 "hardcore" members, and has accomplished such goals as sending books to children in Rwanda, helping sign people up to vote, and increasing literacy in the United States.
Now, don't get me wrong. I still think that promoting "Dumbledore's values" is silly. He is, after all, a character in a children's book, and not a real-life role model (and I'm not sure that he is much of a role model, even in the books, but that's another topic for another day).
The part for me that is most interesting, however, is that the group compares Dumbledore to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. They have consciously chosen a book's character as their role model, when they understand that there are real-life role models who have ostensibly held the same values in high regard as their fictional one.
So, why choose fictional character over the real one?
I believe that there are at least two reasons. First, and perhaps foremeost, is the fact that children and young adults don't actually remember either Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi. It's much easier to relate to a role model who is current, than one who is, well, history.
The second reason extends from the first. The dearth of strong role models in our society whom children (and in this case, adults) can look up to, argues for using a current character from a widely-popular book. Okay, some may argue with me that role models do exist -- athletes and actors and political figures -- who, most of the time, do the right thing. But to be completely truthful, do any of them deserve to be role models? Do they compare, really, to Mahatma Gandhi? To Martin Luther King Jr.?
So if books (and entertainment) are being used to fill the gaps, what responsibility do authors and creators, have to the children who look up to us? I don't have the answer. It's easy to say "none, of course...I'm just writing a book for fun", and to some extent that's always true. But what about the effect of that book on others? That is something that we can never anticipate.
Just as JK Rowling never anticipated that a charity would be named after, and follow the values of, characters in her best-selling series.
I will admit, a bit sheepishly, that my initial reaction was one of derision. I mean, can't people tell the real world from a movie, or a book? Then I read the rest of the article. It turns out that this group, at whom I was snubbing my nose, has 4,500 "hardcore" members, and has accomplished such goals as sending books to children in Rwanda, helping sign people up to vote, and increasing literacy in the United States.
Now, don't get me wrong. I still think that promoting "Dumbledore's values" is silly. He is, after all, a character in a children's book, and not a real-life role model (and I'm not sure that he is much of a role model, even in the books, but that's another topic for another day).
The part for me that is most interesting, however, is that the group compares Dumbledore to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. They have consciously chosen a book's character as their role model, when they understand that there are real-life role models who have ostensibly held the same values in high regard as their fictional one.
So, why choose fictional character over the real one?
I believe that there are at least two reasons. First, and perhaps foremeost, is the fact that children and young adults don't actually remember either Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi. It's much easier to relate to a role model who is current, than one who is, well, history.
The second reason extends from the first. The dearth of strong role models in our society whom children (and in this case, adults) can look up to, argues for using a current character from a widely-popular book. Okay, some may argue with me that role models do exist -- athletes and actors and political figures -- who, most of the time, do the right thing. But to be completely truthful, do any of them deserve to be role models? Do they compare, really, to Mahatma Gandhi? To Martin Luther King Jr.?
So if books (and entertainment) are being used to fill the gaps, what responsibility do authors and creators, have to the children who look up to us? I don't have the answer. It's easy to say "none, of course...I'm just writing a book for fun", and to some extent that's always true. But what about the effect of that book on others? That is something that we can never anticipate.
Just as JK Rowling never anticipated that a charity would be named after, and follow the values of, characters in her best-selling series.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Ham on a Blog Roll
I am the ham, and I am on a roll...a "blog" roll.
Today I presented the Executive Director of a legal aid program with a proposal to begin a blog for the organization, with the goal of creating a pro bono "community" consisting of lawyers, paralegals and law students who provide legal services to the indigent. The project would be funded by a grant from the Florida Bar Foundation. And, of course 90% of the set-up, moderation and entries would be created by moi.
The writer in me is thrilled to get paid to write about almost anything, even legal aid-related topics. Hopefully, I won't need to blog all on my own, and the staff at legal aid will provide information on a number of topics, including legal topics related to juvenile dependency, domestic violence, and family law; Florida law updates; and announcements from the legal aid organization.
I'd much rather write about fun stuff, like magical stones, armies of the dead and the interference of the gods in the lives of humans (can you tell that my primary genre is fantasy?). But, really, I'll write about almost anything.
This post is proof positive.
Today I presented the Executive Director of a legal aid program with a proposal to begin a blog for the organization, with the goal of creating a pro bono "community" consisting of lawyers, paralegals and law students who provide legal services to the indigent. The project would be funded by a grant from the Florida Bar Foundation. And, of course 90% of the set-up, moderation and entries would be created by moi.
The writer in me is thrilled to get paid to write about almost anything, even legal aid-related topics. Hopefully, I won't need to blog all on my own, and the staff at legal aid will provide information on a number of topics, including legal topics related to juvenile dependency, domestic violence, and family law; Florida law updates; and announcements from the legal aid organization.
I'd much rather write about fun stuff, like magical stones, armies of the dead and the interference of the gods in the lives of humans (can you tell that my primary genre is fantasy?). But, really, I'll write about almost anything.
This post is proof positive.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Put Down the Manuscript and Walk Away
I just can't leave it alone. My first novel is completed, and it sits on my hard drive, waiting, while I seek representation for publishing. Each time I send out a partial for a potential agent to review, the manuscript calls to me.
Fix me. Read me one more time, and make me better. I know, you've given me two major rewrites and several "fixes." Still, I could be so much more.
I have given in to temptation numerous times. I have edited my dialog, cut out unnecessary chapters, shortened it by 50,000 words (it was quite a tome at first), refined the plot and rewrote awkward paragraphs. Yet, I am never satisfied.
I know the dangers of over-editing, of course. There is the danger that the voice, or the tone, becomes stale. And, of course, the danger of removing something necessary to the plot, without realizing that I am doing it.
Still, I'm not happy at all. Even as I struggle to complete the second novel (which, in my opinion is much tighter than the first), my fingers itch to go back and work on the first novel again.
I have to tell myself, again, "Put down the manuscript and walk away."
Fix me. Read me one more time, and make me better. I know, you've given me two major rewrites and several "fixes." Still, I could be so much more.
I have given in to temptation numerous times. I have edited my dialog, cut out unnecessary chapters, shortened it by 50,000 words (it was quite a tome at first), refined the plot and rewrote awkward paragraphs. Yet, I am never satisfied.
I know the dangers of over-editing, of course. There is the danger that the voice, or the tone, becomes stale. And, of course, the danger of removing something necessary to the plot, without realizing that I am doing it.
Still, I'm not happy at all. Even as I struggle to complete the second novel (which, in my opinion is much tighter than the first), my fingers itch to go back and work on the first novel again.
I have to tell myself, again, "Put down the manuscript and walk away."
Sunday, July 12, 2009
New Blog, New Day
Today is a day of "news": New blog, new website (check it out! www.susancalistri.com), and a new laptop. The new blog and website are exciting without any reservation on my part. The new laptop...well, that's a bit bigger, no less exciting but there's a little nervousness as well.
I saw a blog post yesterday about piracy, and one of the comments was about the used book market, and how authors don't receive royalties for their works when sold on the used book market. Given the size of Amazon's used book market, as well as the used booksellers just in St. Petersburg alone (if you come to town, be sure to check out Haslan's), I don't see what can be done, besides remembering that the market for books are the new-book purchasers, those who love to browse and feel the paper in their hands, not the end-readers, necessarily.
Besides, it may just be that the blogger, literary agent Kristin Nelson, was also correct that book publishing is going the way of everything else: becoming a digital enterprise. And that means worrying less about used books, and more about digital piracy.
I saw a blog post yesterday about piracy, and one of the comments was about the used book market, and how authors don't receive royalties for their works when sold on the used book market. Given the size of Amazon's used book market, as well as the used booksellers just in St. Petersburg alone (if you come to town, be sure to check out Haslan's), I don't see what can be done, besides remembering that the market for books are the new-book purchasers, those who love to browse and feel the paper in their hands, not the end-readers, necessarily.
Besides, it may just be that the blogger, literary agent Kristin Nelson, was also correct that book publishing is going the way of everything else: becoming a digital enterprise. And that means worrying less about used books, and more about digital piracy.
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