by | March 3, 2011 · 10:08 am

Caught Between Zones

by Gail Z. Martin

When I’m actively working on a book, I’ve found that I don’t like to read epic fantasy.  Part of it is not wanting to be subconsciously influenced by anything I’m reading.  Part of it is probably a desire for something different from what I’ve spent all day working on.  The difficulty is, now that I’m writing two fantasy books a year, it either means I have to figure out a new way to approach the problem or I won’t get to read any epics at all!

Lately, I’ve been enjoying urban fantasy, paranormal mysteries and cross-genre stuff like the Undead and Unwed series (a little of both with some paranormal romance thrown in, though with an emphasis on action/humor).  Since I often spend my time mentally living in the middle ages, it’s fun to spend my free time reading books that are so thoroughly modern.  Although, as I’ve mentioned to a couple of my friends who write paranormal mysteries, what is it with the Internet?  How come people don’t just Google what they need to know, like in real life, as opposed to saying, “Gee, we can’t catch the bad guy because we need to know something and the library is closed until Monday!”  I often will check the copyright date if characters in a book are stuck with only the library as a research tool or if they don’t use a cell phone.  I’ve also chuckled at some of the ways authors have managed to avoid a slam-dunk rescue by putting the hero out of cell phone range or making a point that the cell phone is dead.

On the other hand, over on the epic side of things, I often have to face the reality of how slowly information could get from one place to another in the pre-telephone/telegraph/email days.  Throughout history, battles were often fought weeks after the treaty had been signed because no one could get the word out to the troops in time!  As someone living in the modern world, I have to constantly remind myself that it would take weeks or months to send the fastest messenger, meaning that there’s no way characters separated by distance can know what’s going on with each other (unless there’s a magical alternative).

Writing books set in a time period other than the one I live in does make for an interesting feeling of being caught between zones.  Don’t even get me started on word origins

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by | March 2, 2011 · 1:00 am

Questions

by Crymsyn Hart

After some debate with friends on writing, there are many different opinions and questions about what an author should write. Some people say write what you know. Others go real deep into research to get things exactly right in a story. Others do both and some just wing it. Sometimes it depends on the subject of the novel as we authors want the reader to enjoy what they are reading. Hoping they can fall into the story and let their minds follow the characters to destinations unknown.

I do a little bit of both depending on the storyline or the characters. If the main characters are witches or psychics, I write from experience because I’m both. The same with any vampire novel I write only because I’ve done tons of research on them in the past so it’s pretty much committed to memory. However, I also do research on what I don’t know which is a lot. It’d be great to say I knew it all, but then my head would explode.

Then again, there is the question on writing just for the market and not following the muse that screams in a writer’s head. Over the past year, I’ve had to face that same question. My muse has tendency to go against me when it comes to including the amount of sex in a book that I like to put in and what the readers want for erotic romance. The market calls for a lot and there are times it’s just hard to put out. But I go to a place and come to a meeting of the minds with my muses and it gets done.

All in all, I do whatever it takes to get the book done and made the characters interesting. As questions come up, I answer them the best I could. But where there are more answers there are always more questions.

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by | March 1, 2011 · 4:00 am

Even more Little Green Notes

by

J. F. Lewis

(If you’re just joining us, I’ve been talking off and on about the Little Green Notes on my wall and why they’re there.)

Little Green Note Number Six is a twofer

How does it Look?
How does it feel?

In the medium of words, a writer obviously has to paint a picture in the reader’s head that is good enough for the reader to understand what is happening without giving a laundry list of what is in a given room or sounding like we’re trying to help a sketch artist create a wanted poster of character as if in some strange attempt to allow our readers to pick our characters out in a lineup.

There are tons of ways to go about it, but my favorite style pops up most often in the hardboiled detective novels of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Walter Mosley (though I’ve just started reading Mosley, I do not hesitate to count him in such high company).

Take this partial description from the beginning of Chandler’s THE LONG GOODBYE:

“Her hair was a lovely shade of dark red and she had a distant smile on her lips and over her shoulders she had a blue mink that almost made the Rolls-Royce look like just another automobile. It didn’t quite. Nothing does.”

With just those few sentences, we have an image in our head and an attitude.

In Hammett’s “Death on Pine street”, there’s a great line from the middle of a fight scene:

“His belly was flabby, and it got softer every time I hit it. I hit it often.”

He’s gives us a feel for the fight without resorting to a blow by blow, there’s more to it of cruse, Hammett isn’t afraid to spend time on a fight scene, but his blocking is fluid and evocative, rather than weighted down.

I like to think reader’s can see a little bit of my “writing DNA”… the hardboiled detective stories I love so much when they read my Void City series. Maybe in passages like this one from the fight at the very beginning of STAKED:

“Time sped up again. I watched the blood spurt from his jaws, splattering when he hit the wall of the alley with a wet cracking noise. Bones had broken when he landed. Some of them sounded important.”

Another thing these first person narratives do is put the reader in the head of someone who isn’t necessarily very nice, but, by showing his thoughts, feelings, and emotions, let the reader care about him (or her) even when we disagree with what they do. It doesn’t always work of course. But when it does, anti-heroes shine and readers are willing to excuse them lies, larceny, and maybe a little murder or two. If the writer does it just right, the reader will make excuses for the character even when the character doesn’t take the time to make excuses for himself. We’ll read Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins as he mentions his attempts to stay away from married women in DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS:

“I swore to myself that I’d never look at another man’s woman. I’ve taken that pledge many times since then.”

We’ll read that passage and, when he inevitably fails, if Mosley’s magic has worked the reader will excuse Easy’s infidelity with little more than an “at least he’s trying.”  🙂

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by | February 28, 2011 · 11:00 am

A Healthy Future

by Jeffrey Thomas

In early 2007, Gail Z. Martin and I were among the first wave of authors to release books through the then brand new imprint, Solaris Books. Well, actually Gail headed that wave, as her novel THE SUMMONER was the first novel released by Solaris. My own novel was DEADSTOCK, a science fiction thriller set in my multiverse, Punktown, with a private eye named Jeremy Stake at its center. Gail continued her Chronicles of the Necromancer series through Solaris, and they let me bring Jeremy Stake back for a second outing with BLUE WAR.

Since then, we have both gone on with other books for other publishers. My next novel set in the gritty and dangerous far-future city of Punktown – close on the heels of BLUE WAR – was HEALTH AGENT (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2008). HEALTH AGENT also took the form of a noir thriller, but this time starring “health agent” Montgomery Black, whose role is preventing the manifold health risks Punktown can fall prey to. Black and his partner/lover are given the task of investigating a brilliant but sociopathic performance artist who calls himself Toll Loveland. Loveland’s approach to art takes the form of biological terrorist acts, such as infecting people with a lethal disease. After attending one of his performances, before Loveland’s threat is fully comprehended, both Black and his partner are exposed to and contract the aforementioned deadly plague. With time running out as the disease ravages him, Black hopes to both avenge himself and his lover, and protect the rest of Punktown’s citizens from Loveland’s threats. But Loveland’s monstrous games have only just begun…

Actually, HEALTH AGENT was written in the late eighties, but languished as a handwritten manuscript for years. At the time of its writing, the AIDS epidemic was still something new in the public eye. But this fact should hardly date HEALTH AGENT; I don’t recall AIDS having yet been eliminated, and we are always dreading the next avian flu or even biological attack by some hostile group. Another interesting fact is that I took a year off in the middle of writing HEALTH AGENT, in order to write another novel, but somehow was able to come right back into what may well be the most twisty, tricky, labyrinthine plot I’ve yet devised. In fact, HEALTH AGENT might just be my favorite of my Punktown novels to date.

As I have mentioned, HEALTH AGENT was released several years ago, but I hope it will garner more readers; maybe those who read and enjoyed the more widely distributed DEADSTOCK and BLUE WAR would be willing to check it out. I think they’ll find themselves in for a healthy dose of thrills, scares, and suspense.

So I thank Gail – not to mention J.F. Lewis, Sabrina Lewis, and Tina McSwain — for letting me stand at the podium for a while. Gail’s been very supportive of me over the past few years, by featuring me in her podcasts, so she’s well deserving of my gratitude and indebtedness. Now back to you, guys!

P.S. — If you’re interested in purchasing HEALTH AGENT, please head on over to the publisher’s web site, here: https://www.rawdogscreaming.com/agent.html

You can listen to the audio from when Jeffrey was a guest of Blog Host, Gail Z. Martin’s Ghost in the Machine podcast here:  https://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WXnzLmn4

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by | · 10:08 am

Crisis Apparition

Paranormally Speaking
By Tina R. McSwain

One group of “ghosts” that often goes unmentioned is the “crisis apparition”. These spirits are not technically of the haunting variety. Their appearance is usually a brief single event caused by their death.  This event marks the passing of a loved one. These manifestations  most often occur at night or in the early morning hours. Typically the spirit will visit a loved one either to deliver a positive final message or to bring news of their passing. It may seem to the recipient that they are dreaming.  But this is not the case.  The experience is usually described as a loving and peaceful exchange, not the terror we expect from a haunting. Most crisis apparitions occur within 12 hours before or after the death of the “visitor”. Usually this spirit will appear to only one person, but it can appear to two or more family members as well. Although this type of case would not be investigated by ghost hunters, the reports of this phenomena lend some credence to the subject of ghosts and paranormal activity as it is repeatedly experienced by the general public.

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by | · 12:15 am

Paranormally Speaking

By Tina R. McSwain

Crisis Apparition

One group of “ghosts” that often goes unmentioned is the “crisis apparition”. These spirits are not technically of the haunting variety. Their appearance is usually a brief single event caused by their death.  This event marks the passing of a loved one. These manifestations  most often occur at night or in the early morning hours. Typically the spirit will visit a loved one either to deliver a positive final message or to bring news of their passing. It may seem to the recipient that they are dreaming.  But this is not the case.  The experience is usually described as a loving and peaceful exchange, not the terror we expect from a haunting. Most crisis apparitions occur within 12 hours before or after the death of the “visitor”. Usually this spirit will appear to only one person, but it can appear to two or more family members as well. Although this type of case would not be investigated by ghost hunters, the reports of this phenomena lend some credence to the subject of ghosts and paranormal activity as it is repeatedly experienced by the general public.

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by | February 25, 2011 · 10:00 am

Freebie Friday from Mur Lafferty

Our guest bloggers this week, Mur Lafferty has graciously agreed to share a free excerpt of Marco and the Red Granny at Smashwords!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31661

Hear it free at Hub- https://www.hubfiction.com/2010/09/new-hub-podcast-serial-by-mur-lafferty/

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by | February 24, 2011 · 10:07 am

A Life of Their Own

by Gail Z. Martin

Long-running series can be lots of fun because they take on a life of their own.  At the same time, it can be intimidating for new readers because once several books in the series are out, it can be daunting to get “caught up.”  That was the challenge I faced when I wrote The Sworn, which just came out in stores at the end of January.  It’s my fifth novel, and it’s set in my world of the Winter Kingdoms with many of the same characters as my first four books.  But I wanted to create a gateway into the world where someone new could enter without having to read the first four books (of course, I hope they’ll decide to do that later) and still enjoy the book.

Creating that kind of gateway changes how you write, because you can’t take for granted that every reader has the same collective memory about the places, events and characters.  At the same time, since you’re hoping that many of the people who’ve read your other books will want to read your new one, you don’t want to bore them by spending too much time recapping what went on before or re-introducing characters they already know.  It’s quite a challenge.

Before I wrote The Sworn, I paid attention to how other series writers handled the issue.  I noticed how they referred to important past events that had spoiler potential but which had to be explained at least in passing.  I noticed how subsequent books introduced long-running characters.  And I tried to examine from a reader’s perspective where I thought the situation was handled well and where it left me confused or bored.

I learn a lot from paying attention to how other authors handle certain types of plot issues.  It brings a whole new dimension to the way I read, because on one hand, I’m reading for plot and action just like a “regular” reader.  Then the writer side of me is busy looking under the hood to see how the other author handled the “mechanics” of the story.  I guess it’s like eating out at a restaurant when you’re also a chef.  You enjoy eating food that tastes good, but you can’t help wanting to peek into the kitchen to see how it’s cooked!

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by | February 23, 2011 · 1:30 am

The Writer’s Den

by Crymsyn Hart

Every writer has a special place where they write. To some it is their home office. To others it is wherever their laptops take them. Being such a mobile society, we can travel to the ends of the earth as long as we have a strong signal to connect. Besides that, every author that I know has a little slice of heaven where they can relax and let their mind’s wander.

I have several places where my muses feel comfortable.

One is my home office. The walls are lined with dark images from my favorite artist Joseph Vargo and to balance the darkness, I have pictures of goddesses on the opposite wall. This office serves a dual purpose for my day job too.

A glimpse into my strange world.

Originally, we were going to set up my office in one of our more spacious closets. We got the idea from an issue of This Old House magazine actually, but it turned out that with all the equipment I got for the day job it just wouldn’t fit.  And the puppies would keep bugging me. If that happened, then no writing would be happening at all. So I had to convert our second bedroom into an office.

The other place I love to write is a favorite coffee shop where they make the best chai. The smell of coffee in the cafe and the taste of the chai helps transport me to another world. And if I don’t find myself in either of these places then I’m sitting some place outside, on a nice day, and using my Blackberry to type. It’s nice to have an actual place to go, but my writer’s den is really inside my head, tucked away in a corner of my brain where I can get cozy and get to the business of creating other worlds.

What does your sanctuary look like? Do you have a particular place you love to write? If so, let us know.

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by | February 22, 2011 · 2:12 pm

Paranormally Speaking

By Tina R. McSwain

Poltergeist

The word itself comes from the German language for “noisy ghost”, a poltergeist is just that. This type of haunting is usually manifested by strange knocking noises or banging, and loud movement of objects. This movement of objects can sometimes be violent, such as items being thrown off of dressers, tables, shelves, or walls.  While this type of entity may respond to questions with raps and taps, there is no audio or EVP produced. Also absent is an apparition of any kind.

The key difference between poltergeists and other types of hauntings is the origin of the manifestations. Some believe that an actual spirit is present, but the traditional cause of the disruption is believed to be an adolescent girl from the haunted family. It is thought that some girls, at or near the onset of puberty, can develop a psychokinetic ability. This means that they can move and affect objects with their thoughts by use of mental energy. Whether they are purposely causing the chaos or merely unable to control their powers is a subject of debate.  The activity itself will eventually subside, but it cannot be driven out or exercised.  As the young girl begins to mature and understand the changes in her body and learns to deal with the  emotions that come with that process, the angst or fear experienced at first begins to subside, thus diminishing the activity altogether.  

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