It’s now only five days until SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB is published. I have my author copies (see yesterday’s post) and I know the book has started filtering into bookstores, although I don’t think it’s made its way onto any shelves yet.
So let’s talk about something else instead.
When your dream is to get a book published and then you do get a book published, what then? Do you retire with perfect satisfaction to exist in zen-like peace for eternity, having achieved your dream? Do you heck.
Nope, it’s time to come up with new plans. So, these are my five goals for the rest of 2016:
Pitch a book 3 in the SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB series. My publisher bought two books (SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB and THE EMPEROR OF MARS (the sequel to SECRETS…)). I want to see if she wants a book 3 as well.
Write another, completely unrelated, middle grade novel. I started one with wizards and murder and mystery, and I want to get that done. Unless I get commissioned for book 3, in which case I’ll be doing that instead.
Revise THE EMPEROR OF MARS. I’m gonna have to do that anyway. My editorial letter should arrive this month (fingers crossed) and I’ll be doing the rewrite, making it more fun, more snappy, and more awesome.
Write a related novelette or novella in the same world as SECRETS. I’ve actually written one already, but I’d like to do another. There’s another story that is not about Edward and his family that I want to keep pursuing. Also, the novelette I did has dinosaurs in, so how could I not want to keep going on that story arc?
Start work on an adult novel. The first novel I seriously tried to write after I’d started publishing short stories was an adult fantasy novel. It was kind of a mess and I abandoned it, but I still like the basic idea behind it, and I really want to try it again, now that I know what I’m doing. (Kinda…)
So, those are my new goals, and somehow I’ve got it into my head that I’m going to do them all this year. You can hold me to it. Probably.
That’s today, folks. Tomorrow it’s four days to go. *Deep breaths. Deep breaths.*
I’m doing a blog countdown until SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB is published, on January 12th, 2016. Today, there are seven days to go, so it must be time for some rock ‘n’ roll.
Well, kind of.
Back when I was … quite a bit younger, before I had children and before 10 o’clock sounded like a late night, I used to go down the pub every Friday or Saturday night with my friend, Neil. The pub we usually went to was one of those that has a band playing most weekends. Not always great bands, but not bad bands, either. Most of them were pretty good, musically and technically. But a lot of them weren’t great performers.
They would play, and nobody much would be paying attention.
These bands, it wasn’t that there was anything wrong with their ability, but they seemed to have forgotten that they were playing to an audience. They would look at each other. They would peer at their shoes. They would stare into empty space. But they never looked the audience in the eye. They never tried to grab your attention.
The difference between them and the bands who really got an audience rocking was painfully obvious. The bands who engaged would be right there at the edge of the stage, leaning forward, grabbing your gaze, refusing to let go.
And it occurred to me: that’s not so different to being a writer.
No, no. This isn’t just an attempt to make being a writer seem as cool as being in a rock band, because we all know that’s not true. Sorry, it just isn’t. No one ever became a writer to look cool. Somehow, being hunched in front of a laptop just isn’t as rock and roll as having a Les Paul or a Gibson slung low.
Here’s the way I see it: when you write, you need to be looking your audience in the eye. You need to be telling the story to them. It’s easy to stare at your feet when you’re a writer, to focus on the processes of writing, the technical challenges and the act of putting the words on the page. It’s easy to forget you are writing a story for readers.
That’s not to say that you should try to “sell out”. I’m not for a moment suggesting that you change your story to please an audience. No really great rock ‘n’ roll band changed their music to please listeners. But you do need to remember that you are writing for someone to read. You need to write with that audience as a focus and build a story that they will respond to. You have to look them in the eye, force them to engage, and never let them go.
Your audience, of course, can be anyone you like. It can be as small or as large as you want. It can be your child or wife or husband only. It can even just be you.
Whoever that audience is though, when you write, write as though you are telling them a story and you want them to be as excited by it as you are.
Don’t stare at your feet. Your feet don’t care.
And…
And, in case you came here expecting some rock ‘n’ roll and feel cheated, and in memory of the great Lemmy, here is Motörhead with “Rock n’roll”:
It’s ten days until SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB is officially published! I figured I’d count down until the big day with a series of blog posts on books, writing, and maybe the odd story. Yes, folks, this may be the only time in my life that I blog ten days in a row.
Today I’m starting with the five best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever received.
1: Everyone is the hero of their own story
Yes, you have a hero for your book. Maybe more than one. But they are not the only heroes. Every single character who appears in your book has their own story and they are the hero of that story. That spear-carrier who blocks your hero’s way at the castle gate? She’s not there for the benefit of your hero. She’s there because she’s living her own story. And in that story she is the hero. She’s got ambitions and frustrations, wants, needs, fears, hopes. If you know what those are, she isn’t a cardboard cut-out. She adds to the story.
The same goes for your bad guy (if you have one). They didn’t go out that morning deciding to be evil and make life difficult for your hero. They think they are doing the right thing, for themselves, even if not for anyone else. They have their reasons and their motivations. Know what those are and you’re well on the way to a rich, three-dimensional story.
(Advice from: George R.R. Martin)
2: Cut 10%
When you’ve finished your book, revised it, polished it, and made it perfect, go back and cut 10% of it.
I’ll admit, when I first read this advice, I was massively skeptical. If anything, I thought, I needed to add to what I wrote, to flesh out scenes and characters. Well, I did have to flesh out some parts. But my editor told me I had to make my book shorter, too. And you know what? She was right.
Even though I thought the book was as tight as I could make it, when I approached it knowing I had to reduce it in length, I found it wasn’t as tight and efficient as I thought it was. There were redundant words and sentences, even whole scenes that just didn’t have to be there.
So give it a go. When your book is done, cut another 10%.
(Advice from: Stephen King)
3: Every Scene Should Do At Least Two Things
It’s easy to write a scene that does one thing, advances the plot or changes your protagonist or reveals something about your world. But a scene that does only one thing is flat and boring. It’s the kind of handle-turning writing that leaves a reader feeling underwhelmed.
But make that scene do two things – creating an arc for your protagonist and moving the plot on, for example – and make those two things be intertwined and then you’re flying.
(Advice from: Nalo Hopkinson)
4: Coincidences Are Bad
In real life, coincidences happen all the time. Unless you believe that every part of everyone’s life is controlled by some external force and we are but will-free puppets, then coincidences are a part of life.
But not in stories.
If you solve a plot or character problem through a coincidence, your readers will throw your book across the room in frustration, and rightly so.
There is one circumstance where you can have coincidences in stories, though, and that is where they make things worse for your protagonists. The coincidence where they bump into the person who has all the answers? Nope. The coincidence where they bump into an enemy looking to waylay them? Yep. Make things hard for them!
The only coincidences you should have are bad coincidences.
(Advice from: Connie Willis)
5: What’s the Worst That Could Happen?
Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, ask yourself in every scene, “What’s the most awful or embarrassing thing that can happen to my hero?” And then make it happen.
Humiliate them. Drop them into hell. Make everything go horribly wrong. In each scene, your character should have to deal with the disaster created in the previous scene and then something even worse should happen. Rinse and repeat, and at the end, you’ll have a book. (Obviously, your hero will have to win eventually (unless they don’t), but not until the end.)
The kind of story where your character drifts through easy successes is the story that nobody is interested in.
(Advice from: Stephanie Burgis)
That’s it. The five most useful pieces of writing advice that I have ever received. They might not all work for you, but if you’re wondering why your story doesn’t work quite as well as you were hoping, give them a go. You might be surprised.
It’s swimming lesson time. Seven-year-old MrD is in the pool. Two-year-old MrX is up in the viewing gallery with me. I’ve had an idea for a story. I remembered my notebook and pen (for once). MrD is looking up at the viewing window. He’ll know if I’m not watching him. MrX is making a run for it. He finds this hilarious. Somehow I scratch out a couple of lines while chasing. Not sure I’m going to be able to read this later.
It’s early morning. For once, MrX didn’t wake up in the middle of the night and it’s my morning “lie-in” (my wife and I alternate) so I get up early to try to get a bit of writing done. Okay, I’ve only had four-and-a-half hours sleep, but that’s actually pretty good. I grab some breakfast. Too late! The boys are awake. MrD is tired. He wants a family breakfast. “I need my daddy” he shouts, grabbing hold of my legs and not letting go. By the time it’s done, it’s time to get them ready for school / child-minder and drive them off.
We’re hosting a children’s party. We haven’t cleaned the house for weeks. There’s so much chaos everywhere, you couldn’t fit a spare sock in most rooms, let alone eight hyperactive children and their parents. Writing time? Not this week.
MrX is up half the night, throwing up. It’s 2 a.m. and I’m scrubbing carpets with only a few hours until I have to get up again.
You’d have to be mad to have children as a writer. They eat time and energy. They’re brain leeches. They’re not going to listen to “I have to go and write”. And even if you sneak away, your brain is so addled how on Mars are you supposed to hold all those things you need in your head? Plot, character, theme, voice, good writing. You’re supposed to balance them all, intertwine them, tie them together. Even one of those is way too much for a child-sapped brain. You don’t even remember the last thing you wrote or who all those characters are or what’s going on.
I’m driving to school with the kids in the back. “Tell me a story,” says MrD, just like he does every day. So I do, just like every day. Stories of Captain Monkey and Queen Alora (with her pet T. rex), of the upside down land on the far side of the world, of dragon mountain and secret doors hidden in trees that lead deep into the Earth, of Evil Dr. Baddie, the raptor scientist, of adventures and exploration, of time tunnels and alien worlds.
Telling stories to a child as you drive to school makes you an agile storyteller. You don’t have the luxury of choosing your favourite cafe or putting on your playlist or making green tea. You don’t have time to think or plan. You don’t have time for outlines or inspiration. You have to get going, right now. “Let’s have wolves and a baby dinosaur,” he shouts as you’re half way through a story, and so you do. “Why don’t they do a spell to open a door?” “Why doesn’t he get kidnapped by monkeys?” “An earthquake!”
You’re never going to get that kind of enthusiasm from any other reader, the shining eyes, the excited bouncing in the seat, the full-on, undivided attention.
“Let’s write a book together!” he says.
“Your book is the best book ever!”
He proudly puts his copy of your book on his bookshelf, even though he’s too young to read it. He stares at the words and the cover and the illustrations. He wants to know what you’re writing next. He wants to write a sequel.
And two-year-old MrX, who has only managed a handful of words, trundling toward you, clutching a book, shouting “Ree! Ree!” (“Read! Read!”)
You’re a zombie. Your brain is 90% sludge and 10% caffeine. You forget why you walked into a room or where you’re driving to. You don’t even remember the last time you had five hours sleep. (Hell. You don’t even remember yesterday.) Writing comes in stolen moments when you really, really just need to slump onto your bed.
But it’s all made up for when your kid says, “Write me more!”
Being a parent and writing (and having a day job) is hard. Far harder than you’d guess before you have kids. Without kids, you’ll be far more productive. You may even write better. But you probably won’t write happier and your stories won’t matter anywhere near as much.
This was written as part of a Parenting And Writing/Editing Blog Tour. Here are links to the other blog posts so far in the blog tour. (I’ll add more as they happen.)
I don’t know how many of you do this. You know how it is when you’re working on a novel (or maybe you don’t) and you don’t have much free time. You need to get into the right headspace as quickly as you can. For me, the best way to do it is by coming up with a playlist of songs for each particular book.
I don’t always choose songs that fit thematically with the book I’m writing (I wrote one whole book listening a single song, Blind in Texas, by W.A.S.P. on repeat, even though neither blindness nor Texas featured in any way in the actual book.)
For the book I’m writing now, tentatively called The Mystery of Firelake Hall, though, I’ve come up with a list of songs which all, in some tenuous way at least, link in to the themes or events of the book. Here it is. Ten points if you can figure out the themes of the novel from this. (And what do points mean? Well, pretty much nothing. Have ’em anyway.)
The songs are:
7 Days to the Wolves – Nightwish
Empire of the Clouds – Iron Maiden
Coming Home – Iron Maiden
Paschendale – Iron Maiden
Beyond the Realms of Death – Judas Priest
Tears of the Dragon – Bruce Dickinson
Wish I Had an Angel – Nightwish
Les Morts Dansant – Magnum
So, what do you reckon? And does anyone else use playlists?
Things move on. The first pass pages of SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB have arrived!
A sabre tooth is an essential part of any editing process. For those deep cuts.
For those of you who don’t know what they are, the first pass pages are the pages of your manuscript laid out exactly the way they will appear in the final book. Now is the chance to go through and pick out any errors that might have been missed in the so many times you’ve gone through the manuscript before or which have been introduced at recent stages.
When you hold a book in your hand, it has been through SO MANY rounds of editing and checking. For example, once I’d finished editing and revising SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB (which involved at least seven major drafts), it went through:
One round of revisions based on my agent’s feedback
Two major rounds of revisions based on my editor’s feedback
One round of copyedits
And now this set of first pass pages.
It’s possible (probable) that there will be more rounds to come (I assume that that is why it’s called FIRST pass pages).
Apparently, at some point in between all of this, writers are supposed to write other books too. :)
First pass pages are where you go through and check every word, every comma, every spelling and have the last chance to pick up anything important that has slipped through the net. You can’t blink or you can miss something. It’s kind of brain-intense.
This is kind of weird for me. I used to write lots of short stories, and I published maybe 17 or so of them before I decided to switch to writing novels, and then I stopped on the short stories altogether. In fact, I’m struggling to think when I last wrote a short story.
According to my website (which is the source of all wisdom), the last short story I published was in June 2011. It was a fairly short piece called The Equation and I wrote it all in one go on Christmas Eve in 2010 as a Christmas present for Steph. I wracking my brain, but I really think that was the last short story I wrote.
However, with SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB due to be published in January 2016, I figured it might be nice to write a tie-in short story as an introduction to the world or as something for people who liked the book to read. And also because, you know, writing a novel is such an enormous job that sometimes I need a break.
I made an attempt a couple of months ago, but the story got carried away and turned into a novelette, called The Dinosaur Hunters, which I will revise and try to publish (or self-publish), but I still wanted to do a short story.
And today I finished it. It’s just under 5,000 words on first draft, so it is definitely a short story this time around, and it’s called The Bad Guys. SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB is a middle grade novel, but The Bad Guys is definitely an adult story, not least because it has *whispers* rude words in it.
Anyhow, the next thing to figure out is whether it’s actually any good. I’m rusty at the short story game. I’m just hoping I haven’t completely forgotten how. Wish me luck!
NASA have just announced that Mars once had a vast ocean covering a large part of the northern hemisphere. In fact, oceans may once have covered 20% of Mars, up to a mile deep, meaning that abundant water would have been around for plenty of time for life to have evolved (certainly longer than it took for life to evolve on Earth). Here’s the video explaining it:
For me, this is utterly, totally cool, because, of course, my book Secrets of the Dragon Tomb is set on a Mars where there are oceans, animals, and of course all sorts of alien weirdness. In fact, the map I made (adapted from Google Mars) has oceans in similar places. Here’s my map:
My personal map of Mars adapted from Google Mars.
My map doesn’t show most of the ocean areas, because that’s not where the story takes place, but there’s some it showing.
I love it when things like this turn up and make me all excited for my novel. Now I really can imagine that there were pterodactyls flying through the sky, strange clockwork machines, and ancient dragon tombs. Because if I was right about the oceans… :D
So, I’ve just finished the copyedits for Secrets of the Dragon Tomb. This is actually the first time the book has felt really real. Obviously it’s not laid out yet, or bound up in a cover or anything like that. It’s still a printed manuscript. But seeing it like that, covered in copyeditor and editor marks, with notations for the layout and so on, well, that basically says: this is going to be a real book. Everyone involved is acting like it’s going to be a real book. It’s not just in my head. A machine is in motion and it’s gaining momentum.
Anyway, that’s not what I was going to blog about. I was going to blog about copyediting.
This manuscript, this Secrets of the Dragon tomb has been read dozens and dozens of times. It has been read by me (over and over and over and over again), my critique partners, by Steph, by my agent and my editor. It’s been reworked and revised and polished repeatedly. So it should be good. It should be a shining jewel of sparkly unicorn-ness. Right?
Oh dear.
This, folks, is why we have the absolute lifesavers called copyeditors. These wonderful, lovely people seek out errors and inconsistencies like I seek out the last square of chocolate in the house.
Here are just a few of the errors that my lovely copyeditor picked up:
I used two different names for the same character in the first two pages (oh, and since you ask, this is the version currently doing the rounds on international submissions…)
I clearly have no idea how to use hyphens. Not the slightest idea. At least 90% of my hyphens were deleted by the end
Similarly, me and commas have only the slightest acquaintance. Indeed, if we were at a ball in Regency England, we would need a third party to introduce us before we could properly speak to each other
And so on. That’s just the beginning of it.
I know not everyone goes through a traditional publisher when they put their book out. I know a lot of people self-publish (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that; it works for a lot of people, and very well). But if you do, for all that’s holy, please, please do yourself a favour and employ a copyeditor, because no matter how well you thought you did it, you absolutely have to realise you are but a worthless worm of incompetence without them.
An aside (or a below)
You can now pre-order Secrets of the Dragon Tomb pretty much anywhere except Amazon.com (because they are being weird):
Today is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. I know this because it says so in all the newspapers.
Today the sky is high, blue and clear, and the sun is the bright with that kind of brightness you only get in winter. The hills and mountains around us are capped in fresh, white snow. The air is sharp and clean.
I’ve got old vinyl spinning on my turntable, green tea steaming in a mug, dark fruit-and-nut chocolate to nibble, and a short story with fourteen (fourteen!) major characters to write.
Today is not depressing.
Image credit: “Snowdon in the Snow” by user Eifion on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License. Used with thanks!
