Month: June 2012

Vacation is so close, but the slippery little devil manages to slither through my fingers until 4 o’clock. So I work. I have started three projects and completed two other projects. So work and I, we’re jakes for now. I mean there are other things I could be doing, but you know, I’m kinda tired. Time for a wee break.

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I guess we’ll call this the pre-Taos post. I received another rejection this morning, this time after making it up to second tier evaluation. The publisher was kind enough to send the comments from the committee that reviewed the work, and they varied. It serves as an underscore to the unevenness of my appeal at this point– a well-divided verdict.

What is the point of where I’m going with this? We-ell, there were a few pieces that I read in getting ready for the critiques I’ll be doing next week. The workshop submissions were certainly varied, and you now, subjective tastes in part color what you think, as do expectations you’ve had about craft. There were some of the entries that you sped through. I read with pen in hand, poised to make a comment, or fingers placed on keyboard, ready to snap something out in a series of clicks. When you find yourself farther along than you thought you’d be in the story, without noticing you got there, I used to call that falling in.

Now that I’m thinking more in terms of being an author, I call it the glide. Maybe a better analogy is the wave. If you’re going to catch the wave, the surf has to be perfect, and you have to hit it a certain way. If you don’t, you get a trip that isn’t what you’d hoped for. If you do, you glide. At the end of the glide, you assess where you were and where you are. But you didn’t do it during the glide, because you were too busy enjoying the glide.

Continue reading “The Glide, the Wave”

I was on two panels at Wiscon myself: Baba Yaga and Other Retired/Secret Goddesses and Newly Professional Older Writers: What Helps, What Hinders.

Of the Baba Yaga Panel: We really had some good participation. One of our audience members turned out to be a Russian scholar who knew a great deal about BY. I handled the academic angle with references to stories and the variants. Will Alexander talked about his thoughts, since he had used BY as a character in a recent book. Georgie Shnobrich told several BY stories. We were all wrangled adeptly by Delia Sherman. I am, alas, not the person to post notes from this panel, as I was on it.

Similarly, of the Newly Older Professional Writers Panel: This was more of a discussion than a panel, which was a good thing. The panelists ranged from insecure about this issue to talk about how they had perhaps a false confidence, since they were used to being competent. Pluses and minuses of the older writer were talked about. On the plus side, we have more experience and have practiced professionalism. Coming to writing later often means our income is more stable as well. Negatively, we can’t party as hard or last as long. David Levine suggested that what older writers need to learn is different from what younger writers in general need to learn. Sure.

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Then, there was the sign out. I enjoyed it immensely. Caroline was kind enough to save me a spot, and lots of people stopped by to chat. I find it very easy to do that kind of thing. The hard part, I suppose, is writing and selling books.

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Thanks to all who made this year’s Wiscon an enjoyable experience. No, Governor Walker does not get kudos.

So…that finishes the two things I’ve been working on before Taos. I think, for the next two weeks, you’ll be getting Taos stuff. See you at 10,000 feet.

And…this is the last of these posts that I’ll be doing for a while, as I wanted to do posts up to the contemporaries of the Black Widow, to illustrate which female Avengers might be good film candidates. That said, given the surprising popularity of the series, maybe if I have time, eventually I will return to the series.

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Please note Ms. Marvel’s name. She is one of the first Marvel characters with a liberated name. In an age of the Invisible Girl or Marvel Girl, Ms. Marvel emerges as a mod character.(Note the two incarnations of her outfit: the oldest on the right, a little damaged, and the newest on the left.)

Her origin is equally progressive. Carol Danvers was a member of the United States Air Force, already a woman with a career. Through an interesting accident, her human DNA was merged with Kree DNA and she gets her super powers. She has a solid super hero career in the 70s, working with the Avengers in several encounters.

Things go south in the 80s. I don’t know if the guys at Marvel just couldn’t handle a strong, together woman, so they essentially had her brainwashed, seduced and impregnated, essentially raped against her will by a character called Marcus. The truly appalling part of this is that all the Avengers characters let her go when she told them this was what she wanted, in spite of its contrariness to past behavior.

Chris Claremont uses Danvers as a plot device. She returns to Earth after Marcus dies of old age and promptly has her powers absorbed by the mutant Rogue. Professor Xavier restores her memories, and Ms. Marvel rebukes the Avengers for their role in her rape.

And then Danvers becomes Binary because of Brood experimentation. Eventually Danvers reverts to her Ms. Marvel powers. She calls herself Warbird for a bit and rejoins the Avengers, but has some issues with alcohol. Hell, I should think so! She goes through a comics phase as an active conservative supporting the Mutant Registration Act. When that all blows over, she returns to the Avengers, and pretty much most of her troubled past is glossed over as Marvel returns her to her strong woman roots.

Ms. Marvel would be an AWESOME addition to the Avengers films. She is an unapologetic strong woman with immense powers and a sense of duty. Not always the most likeable character, she is nevertheless a hero who is consistent in doing the “right thing.” She’d round out the team nicely.

This might be why I like the man so much.

President Obama had this to say about Ray Bradbury’s death:

His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world. For many Americans, the news of Ray Bradbury’s death immediately brought to mind images from his work, imprinted in our minds, often from a young age. His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world. But Ray also understood that our imaginations could be used as a tool for better understanding, a vehicle for change, and an expression of our most cherished values. There is no doubt that Ray will continue to inspire many more generations with his writing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

Among the science fiction and fantasy community, this will be THE post for the next few days. But this one I can not ignore, and so forgive me for posting along with everyone else. It’s one of those occasions where it is appropriate to follow the crowd.

When I was fifteen, The Martian Chronicles mini-series debuted on television. I watched as an interlocked series of fascinating stories embroidered upon the theme of life on Mars. I was stunned at how much each little vignette spoke to human experience.

I hurried to my school library and checked out the book. I found out that the mini-series was a pale shadow of the book, and that the book struck chords and depths in me I didn’t know I had. I remember crying when I read Ylla and The Green Morning.

As a fifteen-year old, I did not have the vocabulary or the breadth of literary study to explain to you what I can easily explain now. How Bradbury, the lyricist, made my hands tremble when I read the poetry of his books. How Something Wicked This Way Comes has dark influences that climbed into my subconscious, took root there, and became something of the Klarions. How I regretted that Charles Halloway was not my father, and how he became the father of my imagination. I watched the movies on the skin of the illustrated man. And Greentown spoke to me of the American experience as surely as Winesburg, Ohio ever did.

The gifts of Bradbury were so many. What is perhaps the greatest tribute is that in the American conscious, he was not only considered a master of genre, which would have been an accomplishment in and of itself, but he was seen on a par with literary mystics like Marquez. He was recognized for what he was–a poet and a seer, a weaver of truths that reached under your skin, a magnifying glass that examined human nature ruthlessly but tenderly. He was a teacher, he was a writer, he was a creator of music.

My soul knew that. I only have to pick up one of his books now to feel that warm tingling of creativity he invokes in me, his words making me want to sway to their rhythm throughout the long slow waltz of my life interacting with his through his words, the music we both heard, on the page.

Good bye. You will never come again. And that makes every treasure you’ve given us even more bittersweet.

This panel addressed many of the aspects of Trade Publishing.

Panelist: Liz L. Gorinsky (editor), Dorothy Hearst (Current novelist and former editor), Sharyn November (editor), Eddie Schneider (agent), Carolyn Stevermer (author and editorial assistant)

The watch word among all of these publishing professionals is professionalism. Authors need to treat submissions of any sort as a business venture. Do your research. Make sure the agent and editors you approach represent or publish the kind of book you have. Make sure that you are finished with your book. Make sure that it is the best it can be.

While some editors and publishers continue to take direct submissions, in today’s market, an agent is the more preferred method for reaching a publisher. Doors are open there that are not open when you are soliciting for yourself.

Make sure that you follow the guidelines for formatting. Get Word, even for Mac. Use the software everyone uses.

Don’t give people a reason to reject you. Don’t be gimicky. You don’t want to seem crazy.

Continue reading “Wiscon Day 3: The Nuts and Bolts of Trade Publishing”

Now Patsy Walker, she’s got the best story ever.

Patsy’s mom made her daughter’s life into a Gidget-like comic book, the romantic adventures of her daughter. Patsy didn’t have too much interest in this “girl” comic, but enjoyed the super-hero adventures that her mother’s colleagues turned out. Patsy married childhood friend and comic book sweetheart Buzz Baxter. Because of one of Buzz’s security jobs (Buzz is military), Patsy meets the former X-men the Beast and discovers his secret ID.

After her marriage ends, Patsy decides that maybe a super hero can help her get super powers, so she puts pressure on the Beast to help her be a super heroine. During an investigation of Brand Industries, Patsy finds the suit of the former super heroine the Cat, and puts it on, thinking that the suit gives her super ability. It doesn’t. It’s all Patsy, but she finally has the abilities she’s looking for.

Continue reading “Your Feminist Avengers Post 4: Hell-Cat”

What do you mean 4 posts in one day is extreme?

I can only offer up that I didn’t have time over the weekend to do any posting. Not that I was incredibly busy. It was a pleasant weekend. My computer, however, was incredibly busy getting imports and updates. I am pleased to say that after about $600 worth of hard drive, new software, and a computer guy house call (All hail Brent, patron saint of computer guys!), Super-Kuma-San, my MacAir is back from the dead.

So, that cost about half the cost of a new computer. Still a savings. Glad it’s over though. Feels like I’d lost an arm for a while.

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I will industriously try to finish the last two feminist Avengers Posts, and the last two Wiscon posts I have to wrap up the experience before I go off to Taos Toolbox next Sunday. I’ll also post any of the 4 Writing Process Interviews I have out at the moment which might come home before I go. What can I say? I got a little carried away.

I’ll be in Taos for two weeks learning how to write more better. I’ll try to check in from there as I can. I mean, they have Internet up there. But I’m supposed to be transforming from an ugly duckling to a swan, and I think that takes some work, so I might be busy.

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At any rate, stay tuned. You get at least four more posts before Saturday.

If you didn’t see me around much Day 2, it’s because I took a nap. That’s right. Tired writer was tired. I also had an abbreviated party round Friday night. I’m sure it was because of all the awesome information I had been absorbing at panels.

But a couple of things did happen during the day that paint me to be social. I met up with Julia Rios for breakfast. Before she arrived, I had an excellent conversation with Ellen Klages whom I had complimented for her book The Green Glass Sea. We had a talk about her writing process, since she was journaling at her table. She was kind enough to let me send her some questions about that.

Julia and I caught up on lots of things. Honestly, I was lucky enough to have breakfast with Julia twice, and if you know Julia, you know what excellent company she is. My understanding was that she and her husband Moss were taking a few days away from the Internet. Because you know, everyone, that there is an out-of-doors?

Yolanda, Caroline, Charlotte and I went out for yak meatballs (yup, there’s a phrase you don’t get in every blog entry.) That was good. Four brilliant women. Brilliant conversation. All to the good.

Dinner was very low key. Dan, Lisa, Yolanda and I went to the pizza place that has the world’s best macaroni pizza(!) which I did not have, but I did have this awesome burrito pizza (New York Style, beans, cheese, sour cream, all yum!). On the whole, a nice, drowsy day.

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Sunday. You guessed it. More panels, for which I will do write ups. I had forgotten my killer Mad Men dress at home for the Dessert Salon. Bryon on the home end and Lisa tried to get it overnighted to me, but there was FedEx fail due to the holiday, so I resolved to wear my white Donna Reed ensemble which I had just bought for day wear. Bought some books.

Joined in on the Codex Lunch, which is always a pleasure. Chatted with Anne, Ada, Vylar, Keffy, and met Sarah Frost for the first time. Found out Keffy had gone to school in Finland. Want to have an “I Read Giganatosaurus Before It Was Cool” t-shirt, and I do. In my head.

Lisa Cohen joined Dan, Lisa, Yo, and myself for dinner, and steered us toward tapas. She’s compiled a list of the goodies we had here. I could so totally do that again, soon. Tuna tartare, baybee. Mmmm…

Then there was the dessert salon. The Tapas crowd was joined by fellow Codexian Michael Underwood and Lisa Cohen’s partner Ian for some dessert and speeches. Yo and I closed the night with drinks until the bar shut down.

Expect a few panel reports from day 3 soon.

On this panel, authors discuss multiple stories in one universe, aka writing a series.

Panelists: Cassie Alexander, Alex Bledsoe, Dorothy Hearst, and Ellen Kushner

An initial grounding began the series. The authors introduced themselves and talked about writing series, including continuity.

Ellen mentioned that what every series writer needs is an obsessive fan to catalog whats happening in the series. Alex added that you can get those nasty fan letters telling you why what you did contradicts what you had done before.

In some ways, the preset rules can sometimes spark your creativity. It’s a constant challenge–giving your readers what they want that they are familiar with while keeping each story fresh.

There are several different approaches to writing a series. Alex mentioned he has one series that focuses on one character at a variety of ages. In another series, he tells the story from a different character’s POV for each book.

Ellen discussed writing her characters, and then looking at her characters through the eyes of others. What do they look like from the outside.

Other ways? The place can be the constant factor. So can the character. Minor characters in one book can become major ones in the next.

Cassie asked the authors if they felt hemmed in by the expectations publishers had for their series? The answer was mixed.

Cassie also asked if the book was sold as a series. The answer was no, but essentially a wise author leaves some area to explore as another story for a potential sequel.

How do you know when it is time to move on from a series? Working in the same world can be cool, but it can be daunting. Alex discussed the Spencer series, which is being written after the author’s death. He feels that the original books are the only ones in the series.

One of the authors said this about writing a series: “I feel less locked in than lucky. I spent my whole life trying to have my cake and eat it to…and I can.”

When people say they love a series, they are wanting the same crack in each book.

Continue reading “Wiscon Day 2: I Didn’t Mean to Write a Series”