Remember the Rumor Mill/Speculations?

If you used to head over to the Rumor Mill, it apparently is no more. (Yeah, I used to go on there all the time, until I found the Absolute Write Water Cooler.)

In case you're wondering, Sue O2, or Sue Oxygen, I guess :-) has put together a little site on Geocities to kind of gather the troops, so to speak (sorry for the cliche, heh).
More...
Website/Email - Former RMers

She's asked for former RMers to send their website/blog/whatever info to her, at the following email address:

ye_olde_rmers at yahoo.com

Except replace "at" with the @ sign in the address above.

Goblin Quest?

I got this off of one of Jim C. Hines' LJ posts (he has another great series going on right now; I'm still working on his first series, the "Jig" Series or whatever it's called). Lots of humor, and it moves at a good clip.

But I'll have a review on that at some point. In fact, I just picked up the rest of the books (there's three) in the series.


Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Remember the Rumor Mill/Speculations?

If you used to head over to the Rumor Mill, it apparently is no more. (Yeah, I used to go on there all the time, until I found the Absolute Write Water Cooler.)

In case you're wondering, Sue O2, or Sue Oxygen, I guess :-) has put together a little site on Geocities to kind of gather the troops, so to speak (sorry for the cliche, heh).
More...
Website/Email - Former RMers

She's asked for former RMers to send their website/blog/whatever info to her, at the following email address:

ye_olde_rmers at yahoo.com

Except replace "at" with the @ sign in the address above.

Goblin Quest?

I got this off of one of Jim C. Hines' LJ posts (he has another great series going on right now; I'm still working on his first series, the "Jig" Series or whatever it's called). Lots of humor, and it moves at a good clip.

But I'll have a review on that at some point. In fact, I just picked up the rest of the books (there's three) in the series.


Love and kisses,

~Nancy Beck

Writing Excuses

I was over on The Book Swede's blog (one of many very good fantasy & SF review sites/blogs) and noticed he had a post on writing advice.

My eyes fell on one of his website/blogger/forum suggestions - Writing Excuses. It's a podcast, but don't worry about having an MP3 player: You can click on the little right arrow within the post.

Sound quality is quite good - even on this old fart of a work computer. :-) The first podcast I semi-listened to was one of their regular (free!) ones - Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. It's their take on overcoming writers' block.

And Who Are "They"?

Glad you asked. ;-)

It's a threesome:

• Brandon Sanderson - He wrote the Mistborn fantasy series. I haven't read it as yet, but it looks and sounds interesting. Meh. So many books to possibly read, so little time (and money, at the moment, lol.)

• Harold Taylor - A cartoonist. I'm not up on his stuff, but a cartoonist, as far as I know, has deadlines just like any novelist does.

• Dan Wells - A horror novelist. Horror isn't my cup of tea, and the loading of his - and the others' bios - were taking forever to load (stupid computer), so I clicked the stop button.

Sounds, though, as if they'd be quite able to offer all sorts of advice, considering they're pubbed authors (I wonder if Mr. Taylor has any graphic novels pubbed? Just wonderin'...).

Might be worth a look around, especially if you have trouble (like me) getting your butt in the chair and typing away, or any other problems you might have with your writing.

I love finding a new writing resource, and this looks like it might be a good one.

~Nancy Beck

Writing Excuses

I was over on The Book Swede's blog (one of many very good fantasy & SF review sites/blogs) and noticed he had a post on writing advice.

My eyes fell on one of his website/blogger/forum suggestions - Writing Excuses. It's a podcast, but don't worry about having an MP3 player: You can click on the little right arrow within the post.

Sound quality is quite good - even on this old fart of a work computer. :-) The first podcast I semi-listened to was one of their regular (free!) ones - Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. It's their take on overcoming writers' block.

And Who Are "They"?

Glad you asked. ;-)

It's a threesome:

• Brandon Sanderson - He wrote the Mistborn fantasy series. I haven't read it as yet, but it looks and sounds interesting. Meh. So many books to possibly read, so little time (and money, at the moment, lol.)

• Harold Taylor - A cartoonist. I'm not up on his stuff, but a cartoonist, as far as I know, has deadlines just like any novelist does.

• Dan Wells - A horror novelist. Horror isn't my cup of tea, and the loading of his - and the others' bios - were taking forever to load (stupid computer), so I clicked the stop button.

Sounds, though, as if they'd be quite able to offer all sorts of advice, considering they're pubbed authors (I wonder if Mr. Taylor has any graphic novels pubbed? Just wonderin'...).

Might be worth a look around, especially if you have trouble (like me) getting your butt in the chair and typing away, or any other problems you might have with your writing.

I love finding a new writing resource, and this looks like it might be a good one.

~Nancy Beck

Zombies in Egypt?

Oh, Evil Editor would love this!

Thanks to writtenwyrdd for pointing to the article.

Yes, It's An Article

It's at the website of the Archeology Insitute of America, so methinks the real world has finally come around to thinking zombies were - are? - real.

How cool is that?

For you fantasy writers, doesn't it make you drool and want to write something? Or at least beat your chest (not too hard now) and proclaim, loud and clear, "I told you academics and literary types that there were zombies!"

Or something.

~Nancy Beck

Zombies in Egypt?

Oh, Evil Editor would love this!

Thanks to writtenwyrdd for pointing to the article.

Yes, It's An Article

It's at the website of the Archeology Insitute of America, so methinks the real world has finally come around to thinking zombies were - are? - real.

How cool is that?

For you fantasy writers, doesn't it make you drool and want to write something? Or at least beat your chest (not too hard now) and proclaim, loud and clear, "I told you academics and literary types that there were zombies!"

Or something.

~Nancy Beck

Live! From New York

It's Satur...

Oops, wrong show.

And now

Direct to you

From the Internet

It's...

EVIL EDITOR'S 2ND ANNIVERSARY SHOW!

Starring...EE!! (Naturally.)

and

the Minions!! (Naturally.)

Follow the Link...

In appreciation for all he's done for the Minions (yup, that includes ME!), and for werewolf popes and weredingoes everywhere, I've set up a Google Page, just for this occasion!

Check it out here:
http://nbecksurv1962.googlepages.com/home

Happy Anniversary, EE and Minions! :-)

Oh...and head over to the special anniversary page. There'll be partying and chances to win gifts (well, you'll have to do some work to get any of those things!) and just an all-around fun time.

~Nancy Beck

Live! From New York

It's Satur...

Oops, wrong show.

And now

Direct to you

From the Internet

It's...

EVIL EDITOR'S 2ND ANNIVERSARY SHOW!

Starring...EE!! (Naturally.)

and

the Minions!! (Naturally.)

Follow the Link...

In appreciation for all he's done for the Minions (yup, that includes ME!), and for werewolf popes and weredingoes everywhere, I've set up a Google Page, just for this occasion!

Check it out here:
http://nbecksurv1962.googlepages.com/home

Happy Anniversary, EE and Minions! :-)

Oh...and head over to the special anniversary page. There'll be partying and chances to win gifts (well, you'll have to do some work to get any of those things!) and just an all-around fun time.

~Nancy Beck

Gaming the Amazon Review System

As a writer and a reader, I find authors who "game" the Amazon review system to be terribly dishonest.

Everyone Is Not Going to Like Your Story

There's a discussion over on the Dear Author blog about yet another romance epublisher having problems (Highland Press). At the end of that particular post, Jane says:

As a reader, I am far more disturbed about the last item which appears that MacGillivray is using her position to game the Amazon review system. I’m sure that there are dozens of authors who would like negative reviews to be removed. Other fans and authors find this practice disturbing as well.

Amen!

When you or I write a book, it's expected that not everyone is going to fall in love with it (at least, not as much as the writer has). This follows through from agent to publisher. It's just something an author has to live with: Some people are going to love your book, some are going to be lukewarm about it, others are going to hate it.

To do this writing thing, you have to have a thick skin, or you'll end up in therapy for quite some time.

Bad Reviews Removed

So a romance author/illustrator has her groupies (or whatever you wish to call them) go around on Amazon "reporting abuse" on all the negative reviews on her books.

Shame on her.

Look, I understand wanting to get paid. I understand you have bills to pay, mortgages and whatnot. Believe me, I've got oodles of friggin' credit card debt.

But negative reviews = not getting paid? Didja ever consider that maybe your published book might - just might - be a craptacular book to a certain portion of the reading public?

I'm sorry, but having minions abuse the system is just low.

Live with the bad reviews. LIVE WITH THE DAMNED BAD REVIEWS!

Bestselling authors have to deal with it, so why can't you?

In Summary

• Gain a thick skin.
• Write another book.
• Stop having other people - and stop yourself! - from removing bad reviews.
• Write another book

'nough said? Thanks to Jane at Dear Author for the interesting post.

~Nancy Beck

Gaming the Amazon Review System

As a writer and a reader, I find authors who "game" the Amazon review system to be terribly dishonest.

Everyone Is Not Going to Like Your Story

There's a discussion over on the Dear Author blog about yet another romance epublisher having problems (Highland Press). At the end of that particular post, Jane says:

As a reader, I am far more disturbed about the last item which appears that MacGillivray is using her position to game the Amazon review system. I’m sure that there are dozens of authors who would like negative reviews to be removed. Other fans and authors find this practice disturbing as well.

Amen!

When you or I write a book, it's expected that not everyone is going to fall in love with it (at least, not as much as the writer has). This follows through from agent to publisher. It's just something an author has to live with: Some people are going to love your book, some are going to be lukewarm about it, others are going to hate it.

To do this writing thing, you have to have a thick skin, or you'll end up in therapy for quite some time.

Bad Reviews Removed

So a romance author/illustrator has her groupies (or whatever you wish to call them) go around on Amazon "reporting abuse" on all the negative reviews on her books.

Shame on her.

Look, I understand wanting to get paid. I understand you have bills to pay, mortgages and whatnot. Believe me, I've got oodles of friggin' credit card debt.

But negative reviews = not getting paid? Didja ever consider that maybe your published book might - just might - be a craptacular book to a certain portion of the reading public?

I'm sorry, but having minions abuse the system is just low.

Live with the bad reviews. LIVE WITH THE DAMNED BAD REVIEWS!

Bestselling authors have to deal with it, so why can't you?

In Summary

• Gain a thick skin.
• Write another book.
• Stop having other people - and stop yourself! - from removing bad reviews.
• Write another book

'nough said? Thanks to Jane at Dear Author for the interesting post.

~Nancy Beck

Hilarity Ensues

Word Count

Time to flog me, word count buddies. :-( Yesterday, April 7, I did no writing on my WIP. Between going nuts with various stuff at work (that's what happens when the company you work for is bought out by another company), I've also been working on updating and un-boring my blog.

Which brings me to...

Un-boring My Blog

I'll admit it: I have fun tweaking tech stuff. No, really, I do. :-) I've been happily (and sometimes frustratingly) setting up test blogs to see what colors work, fonts, adding another sidebar, yadda yadda yadda. I've been perusing the Blogger Buster blog for all kinds of fantastic tips and tricks for Blogger. Amanda, the owner, has also offered a free e-book to help with some of this stuff (it's an ebook that encapsulates all of her template tutorials).

If that's your thang, then check out Blogger Buster.

If not...well, I'll grant you the right to let your eyes glaze over all of this. ;-)

~Nancy Beck

Hilarity Ensues

Word Count

Time to flog me, word count buddies. :-( Yesterday, April 7, I did no writing on my WIP. Between going nuts with various stuff at work (that's what happens when the company you work for is bought out by another company), I've also been working on updating and un-boring my blog.

Which brings me to...

Un-boring My Blog

I'll admit it: I have fun tweaking tech stuff. No, really, I do. :-) I've been happily (and sometimes frustratingly) setting up test blogs to see what colors work, fonts, adding another sidebar, yadda yadda yadda. I've been perusing the Blogger Buster blog for all kinds of fantastic tips and tricks for Blogger. Amanda, the owner, has also offered a free e-book to help with some of this stuff (it's an ebook that encapsulates all of her template tutorials).

If that's your thang, then check out Blogger Buster.

If not...well, I'll grant you the right to let your eyes glaze over all of this. ;-)

~Nancy Beck

Is That Why I React the Way I Do to My Double?

Well, I've never actually seen someone that I thought was my doppelganger.

Then again, I've had to deal with my hubby's delusions (no, seriously; he truly believed a lotta stuff, including truly believing he saw celebrities and political figures around town, plus he also truly believed one alternative recording artist had several bots around, just waiting for him to find them).

So, writtenwyrdd's post on this syndrome, called Delusional Misidentification Syndrome, piqued my interest in two different ways. One way is noted above.

The Second Way - And, Yes, It's Related to Writing

When anyone decides to write fantasy in any of its many genres, we generally write about beings, etc., that are figments of our imagination or are taken out of myth: Think vampires, think gods and goddesses of different cultures.

For instance, in my current WIP, I have a minor Roman goddess transporting the MC back in time to the 1940s. The MC wants to find her birth mother, and, as a goof, decides to petition this minor goddess, since everything else she's tried hasn't helped.

Of course, the goddess helps her. But how does she react to the goddess?

Since she's in her old bedroom in her adoptive mother's house, there's no one except her to react to the strange goings-on. And she freaks, naturally; who the hell wouldn't, especially when she opens up the bedroom door and something (not the goddess herself) is not quite right out in the hallway... ;-)

The twist I have is that another character sees the goddess in the flesh. The MC figures she's going to get that character - that the other character is going to faint dead away.

Except, the other character doesn't.

Which makes the MC almost faint.

There's another story there, but I ain't tellin' it. Might turn into a prequel of sorts (if I can just get the damn story in the shape I want it to be in).

But I digress.

So What's This Syndrome All About?

I'll writtenwyrdd describe it briefly:

The nifty thing about DMS is that describes a bunch of monoschematic delusions, which is to say, that they think one thing is changed in the delusion and otherwise reality is pretty much normal.

I have a fantasy tales from around the world book at home, and at least one of the stories is the old chestnut about a woman giving birth to a perfectly-normal baby only to look again in the morning or whenever and see that it looks differently.

Ah, yes, the changeling.

The story I'm thinking of is from Ireland; the basic idea is that sometime during the night or day someone that the mother pissed off in faery (or wherever) decides to get back at her by taking away her newborn and replacing it with a changeling (looks similar to the human babe but not exactly).

Something excellent that must be considered by fantasists. Because, let's say a vampire pops up in front of a cop on the street: How is that cop going to react? How is the MC going to react? Others can react in different ways, too, depending on their backstory (as noted in my own example).

~Nancy Beck

Is That Why I React the Way I Do to My Double?

Well, I've never actually seen someone that I thought was my doppelganger.

Then again, I've had to deal with my hubby's delusions (no, seriously; he truly believed a lotta stuff, including truly believing he saw celebrities and political figures around town, plus he also truly believed one alternative recording artist had several bots around, just waiting for him to find them).

So, writtenwyrdd's post on this syndrome, called Delusional Misidentification Syndrome, piqued my interest in two different ways. One way is noted above.

The Second Way - And, Yes, It's Related to Writing

When anyone decides to write fantasy in any of its many genres, we generally write about beings, etc., that are figments of our imagination or are taken out of myth: Think vampires, think gods and goddesses of different cultures.

For instance, in my current WIP, I have a minor Roman goddess transporting the MC back in time to the 1940s. The MC wants to find her birth mother, and, as a goof, decides to petition this minor goddess, since everything else she's tried hasn't helped.

Of course, the goddess helps her. But how does she react to the goddess?

Since she's in her old bedroom in her adoptive mother's house, there's no one except her to react to the strange goings-on. And she freaks, naturally; who the hell wouldn't, especially when she opens up the bedroom door and something (not the goddess herself) is not quite right out in the hallway... ;-)

The twist I have is that another character sees the goddess in the flesh. The MC figures she's going to get that character - that the other character is going to faint dead away.

Except, the other character doesn't.

Which makes the MC almost faint.

There's another story there, but I ain't tellin' it. Might turn into a prequel of sorts (if I can just get the damn story in the shape I want it to be in).

But I digress.

So What's This Syndrome All About?

I'll writtenwyrdd describe it briefly:

The nifty thing about DMS is that describes a bunch of monoschematic delusions, which is to say, that they think one thing is changed in the delusion and otherwise reality is pretty much normal.

I have a fantasy tales from around the world book at home, and at least one of the stories is the old chestnut about a woman giving birth to a perfectly-normal baby only to look again in the morning or whenever and see that it looks differently.

Ah, yes, the changeling.

The story I'm thinking of is from Ireland; the basic idea is that sometime during the night or day someone that the mother pissed off in faery (or wherever) decides to get back at her by taking away her newborn and replacing it with a changeling (looks similar to the human babe but not exactly).

Something excellent that must be considered by fantasists. Because, let's say a vampire pops up in front of a cop on the street: How is that cop going to react? How is the MC going to react? Others can react in different ways, too, depending on their backstory (as noted in my own example).

~Nancy Beck

Why You and I Should Be Ticked Off At This "Advice"

I have a publishing credit from a few years ago (a short story), and I haven't yet cracked the publishing world on the novel end of things. (All in due time. :-))

I subscribe to a feed for the Daily Writing Tips blog, and the blogger's post about a certain published author's "advice" left me a bit ticked. Not the blogger; she couldn't believe what this author said.

The Author's "Advice"?

So what the heck did this author say, making it sound like some sort of rule?

That you, the writer, should only write in the Point of View (POV) of your gender, and that you should only write a POV character with your own past experiences.

To which I respond: Bullshit.

To Write or Not To Write In Your Own Gender

A few months back, I came up with an idea for a story set in a town not far from where I live. Just for the heck of it, and since I had never tried it before, I wrote from a male perspective.

I revised the first chapter a couple times, curious as to what people thought of it. I submitted it to Evil Editor's blog, received a really funny continuation, and it ended up in EE's first Novel Deviations book (OF COURSE I bought it :-)). Anyway, if I remember correctly, there were 2 comments that said it sounded as if the male MC sounded more like a female. Heh. :-) Made me grin and realize I had a lot to work on. I've since put that aside, but I'll continue to experiment with male POVs just because can, nyah, nyah, nyah!

Guess what? That's a personal thing with me. I would never, ever offer that as writing advice. And it's obvious why: Plenty of authors have written POV characters that weren't in their own gender. And have done well with it. J. K. Rowling immediately comes to mind, as I'm sure other writers will come to mind, too. (A recent author, who writes mysteries, is J. A. Konrath, a man writing as a woman. On his site, he readily admits to getting advice from his wife and mother, and knows that if he gets something wrong, he'll get whacked for it. :-))

So...don't be afraid, if you're a woman, to write as a male, and vice versa. Maybe it'll suck, but maybe it'll be brilliant. Who knows until you've tried? :-)

Me? That's something I have to work on!

As For Using Only Your Past Experiences?

More horse hockey.

If by past experiences, this particular author means work and personal experiences (bringing up kids, working as a brain surgeon, bungee jumping off the Eiffel Tower, etc.), again, I feel this is something particular to her, and not a rule or guideline.

For instance, in my current WIP, I have a POV from a woman who has 4 kids (I don't have any) and from a woman's POV character who works as an editor at a small publishing house (this part is set in 1940s, BTW).

Now, according to this woman, I CAN'T write about a mother and her kids because I don't have any. Baloney. I remember how my mother treated me (and it's specifically between this woman and just one of her kids, a daughter), plus I have an imagination and can imagine how this woman would feel in certain situations (especially when the woman is tricked into leaving her daughter...)

As for the other...there's a writers' website I've frequented where I feel I've received quite an education about the publishing world. True, it's about the publishing world as it exists today, but I can't imagine it's too far away from the 1940s (huge discounts for bookstores and the agenting thing notwithstanding). Besides, the people running the publisher have no idea what they're doing, the woman-POV character doesn't what to be editing the types of books she wants to edit, etc. And any ineptness feeds well into the storyline.

The other part of the storyline, setting most of it in the 1940s, is because I have an insatiable interest in the 1940s. Setting in and near Hollywood during that time is also near and dear to my heart: I have the movie studio books to prove it (and have read through them hundreds of times over the years).

Do Want You Want...and Do It Well

The thing to remember is to write characters that are believable, whether they tie in to your past experiences or not. Maybe you've come up with a character that has a profession or passion for something that suddently piques your interest. So who's stopping you from writing about that person, whether it's a he or a she?

Yourself, of course. And you shouldn't let it, just because some multi-pubbed author has problems with it. That's her problem, her business.

Persist, have fun with it! Don't let someone else's problem become your problem.

~Nancy Beck

Why You and I Should Be Ticked Off At This "Advice"

I have a publishing credit from a few years ago (a short story), and I haven't yet cracked the publishing world on the novel end of things. (All in due time. :-))

I subscribe to a feed for the Daily Writing Tips blog, and the blogger's post about a certain published author's "advice" left me a bit ticked. Not the blogger; she couldn't believe what this author said.

The Author's "Advice"?

So what the heck did this author say, making it sound like some sort of rule?

That you, the writer, should only write in the Point of View (POV) of your gender, and that you should only write a POV character with your own past experiences.

To which I respond: Bullshit.

To Write or Not To Write In Your Own Gender

A few months back, I came up with an idea for a story set in a town not far from where I live. Just for the heck of it, and since I had never tried it before, I wrote from a male perspective.

I revised the first chapter a couple times, curious as to what people thought of it. I submitted it to Evil Editor's blog, received a really funny continuation, and it ended up in EE's first Novel Deviations book (OF COURSE I bought it :-)). Anyway, if I remember correctly, there were 2 comments that said it sounded as if the male MC sounded more like a female. Heh. :-) Made me grin and realize I had a lot to work on. I've since put that aside, but I'll continue to experiment with male POVs just because can, nyah, nyah, nyah!

Guess what? That's a personal thing with me. I would never, ever offer that as writing advice. And it's obvious why: Plenty of authors have written POV characters that weren't in their own gender. And have done well with it. J. K. Rowling immediately comes to mind, as I'm sure other writers will come to mind, too. (A recent author, who writes mysteries, is J. A. Konrath, a man writing as a woman. On his site, he readily admits to getting advice from his wife and mother, and knows that if he gets something wrong, he'll get whacked for it. :-))

So...don't be afraid, if you're a woman, to write as a male, and vice versa. Maybe it'll suck, but maybe it'll be brilliant. Who knows until you've tried? :-)

Me? That's something I have to work on!

As For Using Only Your Past Experiences?

More horse hockey.

If by past experiences, this particular author means work and personal experiences (bringing up kids, working as a brain surgeon, bungee jumping off the Eiffel Tower, etc.), again, I feel this is something particular to her, and not a rule or guideline.

For instance, in my current WIP, I have a POV from a woman who has 4 kids (I don't have any) and from a woman's POV character who works as an editor at a small publishing house (this part is set in 1940s, BTW).

Now, according to this woman, I CAN'T write about a mother and her kids because I don't have any. Baloney. I remember how my mother treated me (and it's specifically between this woman and just one of her kids, a daughter), plus I have an imagination and can imagine how this woman would feel in certain situations (especially when the woman is tricked into leaving her daughter...)

As for the other...there's a writers' website I've frequented where I feel I've received quite an education about the publishing world. True, it's about the publishing world as it exists today, but I can't imagine it's too far away from the 1940s (huge discounts for bookstores and the agenting thing notwithstanding). Besides, the people running the publisher have no idea what they're doing, the woman-POV character doesn't what to be editing the types of books she wants to edit, etc. And any ineptness feeds well into the storyline.

The other part of the storyline, setting most of it in the 1940s, is because I have an insatiable interest in the 1940s. Setting in and near Hollywood during that time is also near and dear to my heart: I have the movie studio books to prove it (and have read through them hundreds of times over the years).

Do Want You Want...and Do It Well

The thing to remember is to write characters that are believable, whether they tie in to your past experiences or not. Maybe you've come up with a character that has a profession or passion for something that suddently piques your interest. So who's stopping you from writing about that person, whether it's a he or a she?

Yourself, of course. And you shouldn't let it, just because some multi-pubbed author has problems with it. That's her problem, her business.

Persist, have fun with it! Don't let someone else's problem become your problem.

~Nancy Beck

Preditors and Editors Is Being Sued

Can you believe this?

Some scammer had the temerity to go after P&E, one of the 3 golden sites (in my opinion, the other 2 being Writer Beware and the Absolute Write Water Cooler) that helps writers figure out who's on the up-and-up and who's a scammer.

Bastards.

I've got the Donate button in the right side bar, right at the very top of the blog.

It's just a "give what you can if you can" type of thing (Paypal, as you can see). Unfortunately, my credit cards are almost completely maxed out, so unless I see a street address or p.o. box somewhere, I'm going to have to pass.

Which pisses me off.

BTW, if any writer out there needs the code, shoot me an email, and I'll send it off to you. It's quite easy to post on Blogger, by just going into Layout. Set it up as an HTML code thing.

~Nancy Beck

Preditors and Editors Is Being Sued

Can you believe this?

Some scammer had the temerity to go after P&E, one of the 3 golden sites (in my opinion, the other 2 being Writer Beware and the Absolute Write Water Cooler) that helps writers figure out who's on the up-and-up and who's a scammer.

Bastards.

I've got the Donate button in the right side bar, right at the very top of the blog.

It's just a "give what you can if you can" type of thing (Paypal, as you can see). Unfortunately, my credit cards are almost completely maxed out, so unless I see a street address or p.o. box somewhere, I'm going to have to pass.

Which pisses me off.

BTW, if any writer out there needs the code, shoot me an email, and I'll send it off to you. It's quite easy to post on Blogger, by just going into Layout. Set it up as an HTML code thing.

~Nancy Beck

Conflict

I saw this post on the Daily Writing Tips blog. In fact, I've just joined her RSS feed. She has another part of the blog with Word of the Day stuff, which is right up my alley, too. :-)

Back to the Post

Anyway, the post talked about a specific Sol Stein book, one I hadn't seen or read, How to Grow a Novel. (Sounds intriguing, huh?) Mr. Stein has this to say about conflict in your novel (that is, is it necessary):

Yes, conflict was and is a necessity, it is the essence of dramatic action. The engine of fiction is somebody wanting something and going out to get it. And if you let him get it right away, you’re killing the story…Without…opposition, fiction is a vehicle without an engine.

I know a lot of you are probably saying: Duh. ;-) But really, how many times have you written a scene in your first draft (hopefully it's just in your first draft and not the final one! :-)) that is just dull/dried out/blah? Or have you seen the same when critting a portion of someone's novel?

Too many times. Writing something like that in the first draft is fine; the idea is write it down fast, eschewing whether it makes sense or not, then revise/cut.

The idea to keep in mind is that you want readers to keep reading...to turn the page, and keep turning the pages until they've finished your novel.

Remember to put up as many roadblocks between your main character getting whatever he or she wants, or the conflict will dry up too soon; if it does happen rather quickly, you might want to consider making your story into a short story instead. Or coming up with those roadblocks and hindrances, no matter how outlandish they might first seem. (Always give in to your creativity with that first draft; tell your inner critic to take a vacation for a while.)

But, yes, conflict is the essence of a novel. Without that, it's just so much dead wood (and that goes for e-books as well as dead-tree books! :-))

~Nancy Beck

Conflict

I saw this post on the Daily Writing Tips blog. In fact, I've just joined her RSS feed. She has another part of the blog with Word of the Day stuff, which is right up my alley, too. :-)

Back to the Post

Anyway, the post talked about a specific Sol Stein book, one I hadn't seen or read, How to Grow a Novel. (Sounds intriguing, huh?) Mr. Stein has this to say about conflict in your novel (that is, is it necessary):

Yes, conflict was and is a necessity, it is the essence of dramatic action. The engine of fiction is somebody wanting something and going out to get it. And if you let him get it right away, you’re killing the story…Without…opposition, fiction is a vehicle without an engine.

I know a lot of you are probably saying: Duh. ;-) But really, how many times have you written a scene in your first draft (hopefully it's just in your first draft and not the final one! :-)) that is just dull/dried out/blah? Or have you seen the same when critting a portion of someone's novel?

Too many times. Writing something like that in the first draft is fine; the idea is write it down fast, eschewing whether it makes sense or not, then revise/cut.

The idea to keep in mind is that you want readers to keep reading...to turn the page, and keep turning the pages until they've finished your novel.

Remember to put up as many roadblocks between your main character getting whatever he or she wants, or the conflict will dry up too soon; if it does happen rather quickly, you might want to consider making your story into a short story instead. Or coming up with those roadblocks and hindrances, no matter how outlandish they might first seem. (Always give in to your creativity with that first draft; tell your inner critic to take a vacation for a while.)

But, yes, conflict is the essence of a novel. Without that, it's just so much dead wood (and that goes for e-books as well as dead-tree books! :-))

~Nancy Beck