Well, I'm Done: Cipher

I haven't published any novels for a while, and there's a reason for that: for the past three-and-a-half years, I've been working on a single book -- and, since it's the first of a trilogy, it's taken me much longer than my two-year average.  (The plus side of this is that the second book will only take a year or so.)

I talked in a previous post about the necessity of other professionals to help with your novel, and so I'd like to demonstrate that I do this myself.  Here, then, is a timeline of the last year:

February: finish rough draft, send to two critiquers.  After receiving their critiques and considering for several weeks, I begin to rewrite the whole book, making massive changes.

September: finally finish the rewrite.  Send back to my original two critiquers and to three new critiquers.  (This was overkill; two would've been plenty.)  A receiving their critiques and considering for several weeks, I begin to add interludes, to a total of about 11,000 words.  I also do a complete copy-edit.

January: finish changes and send to first proofreader, whom I also ask for critique.  After she's finished with it, I copy-edit the book again myself, including the most effective editing technique I've ever found -- reading it aloud.  After that, I send it to my second proofreader.  I also, during this time, send portions of the book to a gun expert to make sure my facts are straight. 

February: send the book to my third and final proofreader.  After I get it back, I again read aloud the beginning of the book to make sure I like how everything sounds.  I will probably read the whole thing aloud again before the book is published.

So there you go -- eight other people who've read the complete manuscript.  And the book is much better for it.

Unsung Hero

Imagine someone without the benefits of beauty, intelligence, inclination, culture, or education dropped into a highly dangerous and strange situation. Imagine this person being shot at, venturing into hostile environments where the very sun and climate are painful to the skin. Imagine this person thrust into authority with no idea of what's going on or the different factors. Imagine this person being denied essential information

Now imagine this person rising to the occasion. Imagine this person navigating foreign waters to the best of his ability, striving for the good not only of his own people but of all people. Imagine this person staying kind and honest and brave throughout it all. The person is far from perfect; he can be manipulated by evil people when his friends don't share vital information that they themselves learned from outside sources. But then, anyone can be tricked.

Who is this hero? Jar Jar Binks, of course.

Book Recommendations

I sometimes have trouble finding new books I want to read, in part because I am very picky.  I've therefore compiled a list of some of my favorites.  In cases where an author has multiple books or series I like, I've limited myself to three  (otherwise, I'd have to list pretty much everything Diana Wynne Jones ever wrote, for example) and in many cases to one.  These books range from the cheesy to the serious, juvenile to adult, scientific to flighty.  I've starred the ones I would hesitate before handing to someone under 16 because of sexual content.

Addison, Katherine

            The Goblin Emperor

Bujold, Lois McMaster

*Vorkosigan series (first book: The Warrior’s Apprentice.  Also published in Young Miles).

Butcher, Jim

            *The Dresden Files series.  First book: Storm Front.

Cialdini, Robert

            Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Clarke, Susanna

            Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

                       

Dean, Pamela

The Secret Country Trilogy: The Secret Country, The Hidden Land, The Whim of the Dragon

Elgin, Suzette Haden

            The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense at Work

Gaiman, Neil

            Coraline

           

Goldman, William

            The Princess Bride

Herriot, James

            All Things Bright and Beautiful (quartet)

Jackson, Shirley

            The Haunting of Hill House (I recommend the audio book read by David Warner)

Jones, Diana Wynne

            Archer’s Goon

            The Chronicles of Chrestomanci (first book: Charmed Life)

            Dark Lord of Derkholm

           

Landy, Derek

            Skulduggery Pleasant series: (first book: Skulduggery Pleasant; published in the US as Scepter of the Ancients)

Lewis, C.S.

            Mere Christianity

            The Screwtape Letters

                       

MacLean, Alistair

            The Golden Rendezvous

            The Satan Bug

            Night Without End

           

Marks, Leo

            Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War 1941-1945. 

McKinley, Robin

          *Sunshine

                       

Nix, Garth

            Abhorsen trilogy: Sabriel, Liriel, Abhorsen

            The Keys to the Kingdom series: (first book: Mister Monday)

           

Pehov, Alexey

The Chronicles of Siala: Shadow Prowler, Shadow Chaser, Shadow Blizzard.  Translated by Andrew Bromfield.

Pratchett, Terry

The Discworld series (Not necessary to read in order.  My personal favorite is probably Night Watch)

Rowling, J.K.

            Harry Potter series

Stroud, Jonathan

            Buried Fire

            Bartimaeus series (first book: The Amulet of Samarkand)

Lockwood & Co. series (first book: The Screaming Staircase)

                                   

Thurber, James

            The Thirteen Clocks

            The Wonderful O

Velde, Vivian Vande

            Wizard at Work

           

Wells, Dan

            John Cleaver series (first book: I Am Not a Serial Killer)

            A Night of Blacker Darkness

Zahn, Timothy

            Deadman Switch

The Icarus Hunt

            Manta’s Gift

Writing Advice

I've been asked on multiple occasions if I’ve ever read Stephen King’s On Writing, and have always answered that no, I haven’t, only to be told that it's excellent and that I ought to read it.

But you see, I feel that if one is going to read something on how to write, it should be by a writer one admires and would like to write like—in which category Stephen King does not, for me, fall.  He’s prolific and has things he does very well, but I don’t like his genre and his prose doesn’t speak to me.  Quite simply, he’s not a writer I’d like to emulate, and so taking his advice on writing would be at best unhelpful and at worst harmful.

What about authors whose writing I do admire?  Diana Wynne Jones, Jonathan Stroud, Dan Wells, Alastair MacLean, Garth Nix, Timothy Zahn, and others?  Would it benefit me to read a book one of them wrote on writing?  And would there be any downsides?

Here’s the thing: everyone writes in different ways.  I once heard that Stephen King writes 2000 words a day, every day, no matter what.  Now, I’ve done that several times (excluding Sundays), and it’s brutal.  After six weeks I’m exhausted, my brain is dried out, my creative juices have evaporated, and it takes me months to recover any ability to come up with something new.  And that’s if I'm really, really ready to write for that long—if I already knew exactly where I was going.  If I didn’t already know, then I end up having to toss every word I wrote.

So clearly, the Stephen King permanent marathon isn’t for me.  I don’t write every day; I don’t have to.  I finish novels while not working every day—and sometimes, when exhausted from excessive writing or excessive editing, I don’t write anything but the occasional short story for months.  This gives my brain time to refresh and (importantly) helps me recognize the problems with my novels.  Then, when I’m ready, I’ll slowly pick up speed, writing a couple of thousand words a week and, finally, a day.  If writing were a sport, I’d be a sprinter.

You have to decide for yourself what works best for you.  In the end, there are only a few absolutes that I’d advise for all writers.  They are:

1. Read more than you write.  Preferably, read a variety of books, both fiction and nonfiction; don’t just stick to your favorite genre.

2. Write in such a way that you finish projects within a reasonable time frame.

3. Do your homework.  You’ll look really stupid if you don’t.*

4. Get two critiquers you trust and respect and listen to all their advice, then use your own judgment on what to change or not change.

5. Get a great copy-editor and listen to all his or her advice, then take most but not all of it.

6. Get a great proofreader and take all of his or her advice unless you’re really, really sure there’s a mistake, in which case check a style guide to make absolutely sure.** 

If you really feel you need advice on, say, how to stage and pace an action sequence, don’t go to a book on writing.  Instead, read.  Which authors write the best action sequences?  Go find one of their books and read a sequence, making notes if necessary on how the author achieves such great action.  Synthesize the information for yourself and choose which data you want synthesized—and if something doesn’t work, reject it (something that’s far easier to recognize when reading a novel than when reading writing advice).

--

*Over and over again, I encounter the poison curare used incorrectly in books and other media.  I don’t know what it is about that poison that people like using it without researching it.  For the record, curare is completely harmless when ingested; it’s only deadly when administered directly into the bloodstream.  It kills because it paralyzes you, including your diaphragm, causing suffocation.  One of the first things paralyzed is the mouth, which means no talking.

**I have more than once had clients undo my edits to make punctuation or grammar incorrect.  I even had a client who wouldn't believe I was correct when I showed him the Chicago Manual of Style; I had to convince him by sending him a link to the Wikipedia page.  Don't be that person.

Apparently, living at you computer is a Bad Thing. Surprise.

Just a quick update here; I'll add more when I know more.  But since this is the first day of NaNoWriMo (and yes, I will be participating), I thought a caveat might be helpful:

Don't spent all the time at your computer.  It's bad for you.

Yes, thanks, Mom.  I know I need exercise and stuff or I won't be healthy.  But so what? 

No, I mean it's really bad.  As in, "Chronic pain despite All The Ergonomic Things and Gunnar Optik glasses."

During NaNoWriMo, I'm still getting up every hour and walking around.  And I advise you to do so, too.

Also: good luck and have fun to all of those doing National Novel Writing Month!

It's a Metaphor

I've lately begun sketching.

 

My first draft is often fairly rough.  You can see the shape of the narrative and some of the details, but there are no real subtleties.  Sometimes, I'm tempted to stop there.  It's good enough, isn't it?  Well, no, no it's not.  It's not good enough until I know, realistically, that it's the best I can do.

When you add a few more details, you can see the shape coming in in more detail, but sometimes this makes your work look choppy and uneven -- and you still don't have some elements as more than a rough outline.  Keep filling in.  Keep shading.

At this stage, it's sometimes helpful for a bit of professional advice, or at least to stand back and look at your work from another angle, or in the mirror.  For all you know, one eye might be proportionally too large.

You're almost done, you really are.  "Almost done," by the way, doesn't mean "almost perfect"; it means "almost about as good as you, with your skill level, can get it."  Just a few more tweaks.

At this point, you've done as well as you can, and if you work at it any more, you'll do more damage than good.  (That one spot wouldn't erase, and I was just damaging the paper.)  Stop for now.  It's good, and you're done.  And the next one you start will be better.  But before you go any further . . .

BACK UP YOUR WORK!!

The cat spilled water all over this picture.  If I hadn't scanned it in at 600 dpi, I'd be really sorry right now.  But because I backed it up, I can always get a decent print of it.

I once met an author who backed her book up in two places and both crashed and her computer crashed and she had to start from scratch.  So back it up online and on a memory stick and with your mother/sister/best friend and in an email to yourself and in hard copy. 

Young Hooligans and Their Musical Expressions

Five or six cars full of Young Hooligans visited our apartment last night around 1:30 a.m. They brought impressively high quality amplifiers in order to share their music with the world. Unfortunately for them, our apartment complex prefers other genres, and before long the police added attractively flashing red and blue lights to the melee. With a last few dozen honks, the Young Hooligans found it necessary to flee into the night.