Jeri Smith-Ready

Fangs Fur & Fey Topic of the Week

If you've ever wondered why I often don't blog on Mondays (yes, I'm sure you've pondered this mystery for hours on end, perhaps speculating with friends over appletinis at the local fern bar), it's because that's the day I post the Topic of the Week over at Fangs Fur & Fey.

Each Monday I present a question on a writing topic--sometimes urban fantasy-related, but usually more general. Then we discuss! Both Members (published UF authors) and Watchers (fans and aspiring authors) are encouraged to participate. Anyone can submit a Topic, but when the submission well runs dry, I make up my own. It's a great way to get a lot of people sharing their experiences.

Today's topic is How We Begin, what gives us the spark that makes us start writing a new project. Titles? Characters? Story? Scene?

Here are all the Topics of the Week in one place.

Anyone can be an official Watcher in the FFF community. All you need is a LiveJournal account (a basic one is free) and an enthusiasm for Urban Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy or Paranormal Romance.

And just to read the blog? You don't need nothin'! Here's a list of the fabulous FFF authors, many of whom can be found commenting there every week.

It's the place to be, so stop on by!

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Now playing: The Raveonettes - Somewhere in Texas
via FoxyTunes

Labels: craft, LiveJournal, reading

• posted by Jeri @ 1:26 PM
• 1 comments

Foster dog update

Still untangling the end of Bad to the Bone (important lesson: sometimes when a scene doesn't want to be written, it means it wasn't meant to exist), so I've only got time for a quick Furface post.

Turns out, Annie got adopted (yay!), so we'll just be fostering her sister Beanie, beginning next week (Wednesday, I think).



Must. Hug. Now.

Labels: craft, foster dogs, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 5:37 PM
• 3 comments

Blog Whore!

I mean, Blog Tour. If you're not already sick of reading my inane babblings, here are three more opportunities to have your brain cells coated with my thoughts (I recommend a nice vinegar rinse afterward). One of them has something in it for you.

Interview at Ann Aguirre's blog. Find out my secret celebrity boyfriend, my favorite drink, and whether a dolphin could take on a ninja. Or a pirate, I forget. Anyway, one lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Wicked Game.

Interview at Fangs, Fur & Fey. Rachel Vincent asks about my favorite scene from Wicked Game, how I researched the book, and why the hell I chose to write in first person present tense.

Big Idea at John Scalzi's Whatever blog. This is one of my favorite blogs going way back, so I'm tickled and terrified at being featured on it myself. The Big Idea is--well, just go look. It's pretty short.

Thanks to Ann, Rachel, and John for picking my brain!

Labels: blog tour, Contests, craft, food, interview, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 11:55 AM
• 2 comments

Guest blogging at Southern Fried Chicas

The blog tour makes its first post-publication stop today at Southern Fried Chicas, where I discuss the concept of "brainspace" (I think I made this word up). Basically, how do writers settle into "the zone," what interferes with it, and how to tell if distractions are getting the best of you.

I'm giving away a signed copy of Wicked Game to one commenter. You have until noon Eastern time tomorrow to comment (EDITED TO ADD: on the SFC blog itself, not here), so let's hear your strategies for conquering the Enemies of Brainspace! How do you resist the internet, television, and other things that clutter up your mind?

Also, my final answers to the intriguing questions at Fallen Angels blog are up. Find out something shocking about me, where I got the idea for the playlists, and more!

Labels: blog tour, Contests, craft

• posted by Jeri @ 10:22 AM
• 2 comments

Guest blog at Fresh Fiction

Today's stop on the Blog Tour is Fresh Fiction, where I discuss how a character's place and time of origin affect his or her personality. Whether it's an economically ravaged Youngstown, Ohio, or the segregated Deep South in the early 20th Century, or the corn fields of Saskatchewan, the characters in Wicked Game each have roots that make them who they are--or who they try not to be.

We all come from somewhere. So stop by and tell us how your background has affected who you are. Do you embrace it or rebel against it? Are your favorite characters a product of their hometowns? Or just come by and say hi to an awesome blog.

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Now playing: Brain Damage - Pink Floyd
via FoxyTunes

Labels: blog tour, craft

• posted by Jeri @ 10:59 AM
• 0 comments

Interview at Darque Reviews

My Blog Tour continues today, with an interview at Darque Reviews.

Find out which character I'm most attached to, why I hate first drafts, and how much potential I have for becoming a crack addict.


Beginning now, I'm taking a long weekend off to do some intensive work on Bad to the Bone. I'll fill in plot holes, untangle storylines, and oh, I don't know, maybe finally figure out what happens in the last chapter. And whatever happened to the disappearing journalist. And that other guy.

May your weekends be full of fun!

Labels: craft, interview, vampire series, writing life

• posted by Jeri @ 6:30 AM
• 0 comments

Just you and me, ChickLitGurrl...

I'm kicking off my Blog Tour with an interview at ChickLitGurrl's blog. Find out how I got the idea for Wicked Game, which three songs would be on the soundtrack to my life, and my single biggest piece of advice for writers.

Excuse me while I go follow that advice....

Labels: blog tour, craft, interview, vampire series, writing life

• posted by Jeri @ 11:52 PM
• 1 comments

The post with something for everyone

And you are...?

That's probably what you're thinking, since I haven't blogged (first I typed "blooged," which shows you how out of practice I am) in ten days. This morning I turned in the rewrite for The Reawakened (yes, you will cry buckets, but not until November) and found out I'll be getting the line edits back in ten days, before I've had time to forget what it's all about.

Line edits, basically, are when the editor gets a little more nitpicky than the first go-around (where he or she discusses major issues, such as character and plot and I dunno, maybe the fact that the manuscript is twenty-five thousand words too long, just as a fr'instance). The author makes changes as quickly as possible and sends back the manuscript so it can go to the copyeditor.

For both of my publishers, the line edits are done on paper, which means I write each change on the manuscript, and then the editor (or her lovely assistant) types in my changes. Some publishers are moving toward electronic edits, which I imagine involve Microsoft Word's comment and track changes functions (anyone with electronic edits, feel free to enlighten).

---

So, the latest updates:

1. There's one more day to enter the ARCs for charity contest. Please consider donating to the MS Walk. Even a fiver would help me make my fundraising goal and more important, help treat and one day cure this devastating disease.

2. The May issue of Romantic Times (on newsstands now!) has a feature on me and Wicked Game. My name is on the front cover 'n' everything. You can read an excerpt of RT's and other reviews on the Wicked Game home page. I won't post each review on my blog, because if I'm going to be self-aggrandizing (and oh yes, I plan to be), it should be in a less boring way than linking to reviews. Like linking to interviews, of which there shall be so many, I'll probably have to start lying just to keep everyone entertained.

3. WVMP Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll swag will be available very soon. As in, days.

4. I'll be at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention next week Tuesday through Saturday around 2. I'm on the Urban Fantasy 101 panel on Friday at 11am, with fellow authors Kelley Armstrong, Keri Arthur, Richelle Mead, and Jeanne C. Stein, as well as Paula Guran, editor of Juno Books. I'll also be signing copies of Eyes of Crow and Voice of Crow and sneak previews of Wicked Game at the Book Fair on Saturday from 11-2. If you see me at the convention (hint: try the bar), stop and ask for a "Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll" or "Feed the Need" button.

5. Then I'll be at the New York Comic Con on Sunday, April 20, signing pre-publication copies of Wicked Game at the Simon & Schuster booth from 12 to 1.

***This is the first time this novel will be available to the public, and it will be FREE!***

So if you want a free signed book, stop by the S&S booth as close to noon as possible, before we run out. I'll stick around until 1:00 and sign cover flats, your arm, or your forehead--or just to chat.

Speaking of the real book...here it is! They came in the mail yesterday.


That's Misha (Mikhail Kristanovich), galvanized by the greatness that is Wicked Game (or possibly by the guy honking his horn in the next door neighbors' driveway--geez, what is his deal? Just go to the door, for cryin' out loud!)

I think that's it for now. As you can tell, I'm a bit fried. Tomorrow I'm thrilled to be doing an interview with Fast Forward TV. Wish me luck, and a complete lack of stuttering stupidity!

Labels: appearances, Contests, craft, Eyes of Crow, good, vampire series, Voice of Crow

• posted by Jeri @ 5:12 PM
• 8 comments

Guest blog, ARC giveaway, and rewrites

I'm today's guest over at the blog of author Jaye Wells, as part of her Adopt a Vampire Novel Month. The topic is "Vamp Like Me: In Defense of Defanging," in which I discuss whether vampires have gotten too mushy and romantic in today's literature. Find out how feminism and Archie Bunker have entered the argument.

Oh, and I'm giving away an ARC of Wicked Game to one lucky commenter. But you only have one day to comment, so skedaddle!

Speaking of prizes, the winner of a signed copy of Justin Gustainis's Black Magic Woman is...Lori! Lori, please send your mailing address to jeri AT jerismithready DOT com, and I'll pass it on to Justin for your prize.

You have until Monday to enter the giveaway for a signed copy of Rachel Vincent's new book, Rogue.

I finished the rewrite of The Reawakened last night (okay, early this morning), and today I start the revision stage. I'll explain the difference in more detail in a post soon, but basically in the rewrite I change the story, rip out scenes, and add new ones. For instance, in this draft of The Reawakened, three characters who died in the first draft get to live, while three (edited: four edited again: five) others who lived get to, well, die. The ending of both Parts One and Two are completely different. The epilogue is the same, though (except without those formerly living characters).

Revisions, on the other hand, consist of going through the manuscript to see if the rewrite makes sense, filling plot holes and smoothing out character inconsistencies. The final pass is the polish, where I make every scene and sentence as strong as it can be.

Have a great weekend!

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Now playing: Evenstar - Various Artists
via FoxyTunes

Labels: Contests, craft, The Reawakened, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 8:56 AM
• 8 comments

Page proofs

This weekend I worked on the second-pass page proofs for Wicked Game. I was pleasantly astonished to receive them at all--I don't think it happens very often, as usually the production schedule doesn't allow time for it. But this is my first book with Pocket, so maybe it's standard for them.

If nothing else, it gave me peace of mind that all my corrections from the last set of page proofs made it in (and any of you who have read the ARC know that they are legion). This time around it was tiny things, such as:

a) band names not being listed as "The" (e.g., "The White Stripes" instead of "the White Stripes")
b) one "blocking" flub I never noticed before (a cat jumps off the lap of a character who was standing up--oops!)
c) dialect "fixes." I was thrilled that the copyeditor didn't correct the dialect of my Jamaican or Mississipian characters (though he did attempt to "de-Pittsburgh" the hero), but the proofreader changed a couple of the Jamaican guy's phrases to correct English. Which made him sound, well, not Jamaican.

It was a great time for me to reread Wicked Game, as I'm in the last stages of the sequel's first draft. It reminded me of some important themes, character issues, continuing plot threads, etc.

Little things, too, like the fact that in Book One, a character is described as 'slim,' but in Book Two, he's buffed out. So clearly he needs to start going to the gym in the three months between books (story months, not publication months). But he has a life-changing event in Book One that causes him to start treating himself with more respect, so it totally makes sense that he would start working out, probably pretty religiously.

Speaking of which, my creaky elliptical machine is calling...


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Now playing: The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - The Pogues
via FoxyTunes

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 10:25 AM
• 0 comments

New interview and WordWatch 2007

Heidi Ruby Miller sent me her famous Pick 6 interview, in which authors choose six out of fifteen questions to answer. I managed to squeeze into the end of the year, so go check it out.

You might remember that last year I embarked on the Quarter-Million-Word March. And failed, mostly because I wasn't in the middle of any first-draft projects. This year I passed that mark somewhere around Thanksgiving (woo-hoo!), and have nearly reached my goal of writing three hundred thousand words in one calendar year.

I have 18,856 words left, so with five days, that means 3,771 words/day. Definitely a challenge, but not an insurmountable one, considering I'm in the middle of the first draft of the second vampire book (if you can call 15% finished "in the middle").

Each day I'll post my current count. If I make 300K, what should be my reward?

Labels: craft, interview, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 11:21 AM
• 1 comments

Fill in the blank and win an ARC!

Every week from now until the end of January, I'll be giving away Advanced Reader Copies of my upcoming urban fantasy novel, Wicked Game (aka, the vampire DJ book, release date: May 13, 2008). Most will be simple drawings, but this week, the first two winners will have to work for it.

Ready? Here we go:

-----

Everyone knows the importance of a book's opening lines. Not only must they grab the reader, but they must indicate character, tone, and style.

It's a lot of pressure to lay on the shoulders of just a few words. Earlier this year I spent half a day rewriting the first three paragraphs of Wicked Game, then the rest of the day on the next two pages.

Here are the opening two paragraphs as originally submitted:

Family curses never die, they just get watered down. In Greek mythology, the Curse of the House of Atreus began with a guy making soup du jour out of his own son. But I’ll bet anything that generations later, the Curse only made the Atreus family forget to send each other birthday cards.

The Curse of the House of Griffin, whatever sinister form it may have taken in the Old World, has left me with a knack for the things I hate most: sales and marketing. I wish I had talent for singing or landscaping or alligator wrestling—anything that wouldn’t put me behind a desk in a straitjacket and pantyhose.

And here they are in the rewrite:

Family curses never die, they just mutate. In Greek mythology, the curse of the House of Atreus began with some smart-ass making soup du jour for the gods out of his own son’s meaty bits. Things went downhill from there. These days, though, the curse probably just makes the Atreus family forget to send each other birthday cards.

The curse of the House of Griffin, whatever sinister form it may have taken in the Old World, has left me with a gift for the persuasive arts. In the straight world, this means sales and marketing—or as I like to call it, S&M.

In her line edits, my editor changed the end of the first sentence back to "watered down." I thought "watered down" was an inherently weak image, so I changed it back to "mutate." (In effect, I stetted her stet.) But I wavered over it for a long time, because "watered down" has a slightly better rhythm.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: find me another word or phrase to end the sentence, "Family curses never die, they just________."

I'll choose two winners: Funniest and Most Appropriate (i.e., the one I'd actually consider using instead of "mutate"). No limit to the number of entries--give me as many choices as you can yank out of your pretty little brains. Winners will be chosen among the commenters on my jerismithready.com blog, my MySpace blog, and my LiveJournal.

Deadline for entries: Wednesday, December 19, noon EST.

Each winner will get an Advance Readers Copy of Wicked Game. On Page One they'll see something so forehead-slappingly painful/hilarious, they'll understand why this sentence is such a big deal.

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Now playing: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
via FoxyTunes

Labels: Contests, craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 11:28 AM
• 17 comments

Done

I just finished and turned in the first draft of The Reawakened. There's no way to describe the complicated mixture of triumph and sorrow and relief I feel. Let's call it triliefow.

The triliefow-ness (triliefow-icity?) is more intense with this book than any before, partly because it's the end of a series, and partly because it was the longest novel I've ever written, coming in around 142K words. If you add in all the crap I cut when I revised two of the storylines, I ended up writing 200K. They don't call it epic fantasy for nuthin'.

But the work on TR has just begun. I will likely tear out at least half of what I've written, rearrange the rest, and add on another 50K words or so. My friend and awesome novelist Maria V. Snyder likens the process of writing a book to building a house, where a first draft involves building the frame and the walls, and the revisions are the remodeling and decorating.

If that's the case, I'd be the most expensive homebuilder in the business. I'd be the one ripping down walls, digging up foundations, and maybe even relocating the house to a different neighborhood.

But everyone's process is different. I might write a first draft twice as fast as Maria, but mine are probably twice ten times as embarrassing. (Every first draft is embarrassing; let's not kid ourselves.) Most of my time and effort goes into the rewriting stage--I'll probably spend two months' worth of ten-hour days rewriting The Reawakened, if I'm lucky enough to get that much time.

Or maybe lightning struck this time, and I nailed the basic story and characters on the first try, and the revisions will be about remodeling and redecorating--deepening themes, beautifying the prose, smoothing the rough transitions.

Yeah, right.

But that's all later, in January and February, after I hear from my editor and beta readers and have a chance to put a fresh eye on it myself.

First, I'm taking the weekend off, for the first time since, hmm, July. I'm going to do anything I want.

Tomorrow I shall start the brain-douching process with the entire series of Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan, the tenth and final volume of which I never read, because I wanted to reread Vols. 1-9 leading up to it.

Monday morning I'll start writing Bad to the Bone. Monday evening during the slaughterfest biggest upset in NFL history I'll begin the million little business things I've neglected over the last six weeks.

But right now I'm not even going to think about that. I'm just going to sit here and admire those two little words:




Oooh. Pretty.

Labels: craft, football, reading, The Reawakened, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 8:36 PM
• 2 comments

Map making do

I'm trying to get my head around some of the events in my third Aspect of Crow book, THE REAWAKENED. It has more settings and POV characters than the first two books, and trying to keep everyone's whereabouts straight was driving me mad and wasting time that could be spent writing.

So first order of business: make a map. I love maps, in real life and as a reader. I've never made one as a writer before. I could have put one in VOICE OF CROW, but I didn't want to lock myself into hard-and-fast distances and topographical features that were irrelevant to the earlier books, in case I needed to use them in the last book. For instance, the village of Tiros is mentioned in Books 1&2 but never depicted until Book 3, so I wanted to leave my options open as to its exact location and geography.

Is that cheating? I prefer to think of it as maintaining flexibility. ;-)

Robin D. Owens has made gorgeous maps for her worlds using Fractal Terrain software. I downloaded the demo, but the learning curve was too steep, considering I Need. Maps. Now.

drum roll.....PowerPoint to the rescue! The program's drawing tools were all I needed. It has a lot of AutoShapes that can be made to look like anything:

trees = forests
triangles = mountains
explosions = quarries
purple thought balloons = vineyards
sofas = garrisons

Well, from above, a sofa icon kinda looks like a garrison. Loveseats make great armory outposts.

So here's my unimpressive but highly useful impromptu map, courtesy of PowerPoint:





It's not on the key, but that little star thing is the site of Rhia's Bestowing in EYES OF CROW.

I think it needs more loveseats, don't you?

Writers, do you make maps to help you write, whether or not they'll ever appear in your book? Readers, do you like to have maps to refer to when you read a novel?

UPDATE: I just realized that I need to add another bridge, on the road between Velekos and Asermos. Which works perfectly with the story, actually.

Labels: craft, The Reawakened

• posted by Jeri @ 7:34 PM
• 2 comments

L'Engle justifies my revision madness

As with all my books, Starfish was more rewritten than written, and with each subsequent book the need to rewrite becomes more rather than less. As the writer struggles to grow in knowledge of techniques, characterization, theme, more and more work becomes necessary.
--Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water

Thank you! I thought I was just growing more and more incompetent with each book. The final version of Voice of Crow was 25% brand-new material; the final version of Wicked Game, 35%.

I'm already tearing apart The Reawakened, and anticipate much more bulldozing to come both before and after I turn it in to my editor. I doubt even half of what's currently written will remain standing at publication.

Make that a quarter, or a fifth.

Hmm, I could go for a fifth of something right now, just thinking about it...

Labels: craft, The Reawakened, vampire series, Voice of Crow

• posted by Jeri @ 10:18 AM
• 6 comments

Insert incoherent noise here

I've been flying along on The Reawakened for six weeks now (and three weeks in March) without outlining, just having fun with the book, getting words down, feeling pretty good. Basically the opposite of the approach I took to Voice of Crow, because I spent most of the first draft of that book feeling scared and cramped and pretty much hating it.

Last night I realized I have about two and a half weeks before I want to have the first draft of The Reawakened finished. So I figured I should probably list the scenes I have and the scenes I have left to write (as much as I can).

I have just reached the 100K-word-mark on The Reawakened, and I'm not even halfway finished the story.

Heh.

It gets better.

I'm not even sure what the second half of the story entails, except three events at the very end and a lot of vague guerrilla war stuff before that. (I am counting on Mao Tse-tung to drag my ass out of the fire on that one.)

I don't worry that the book will be too long, because I know that at least 30% of those words are crap, just filler, some ambling conversations that consist of the characters taking my place to think out loud about the plot. Many of the words are just parenthetical musings about the worldbuilding or plot that I decided to count anyway, because I wanted to always be pushing forward, forward.

I don't regret using this method for this novel. In writing The Reawakened in such a haphazard fashion, I've stumbled upon many surprises and discoveries about the world and characters and plot. If I'd done a scene-by-scene outline ahead of time I never would have had so many serendipities.

But it's a mess. A magnificently ambitious mess that may someday turn into a halfway decent novel, but not yet. Not even close.

I just read a post over at Kate Elliott's blog about writerly insecurities that made me feel better, though. It's nice to know that so many authors I admire have the same fears and inner monologue/dialogue as I do. Right now I love every single one of them, even those I'm not sure who they are because it's LiveJournal and everyone has these cute but cryptic usernames that totally disguise their identities.

So I'm not crazy--and more importantly, I'm NOT ALONE.

If any writers are reading this, how do you deal with these moments of panic/insecurity? If it involves a one-way ticket to Fiji, can I come with you?

A-Z Update: momentarily suspended due to the demise of Natalie T. Steppenwolf's motherboard.

Labels: craft, The Reawakened, writing life

• posted by Jeri @ 3:15 PM
• 12 comments

And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone who helped with my 90s slang dilemma. Y'all are da bomb.

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 11:31 AM
• 0 comments

Help needed - 90s slang

What word meaning 'cool' would most make you think of the 1990s?

a) boss
b) bangin'
c) hype
d) Insert write-in vote here

Here's the context: "Your [CD] collection's pretty _______."

It has to be distinctively 90s. Even though we used 'awesome' back then, we also used it in the 80s and now, more than ever.

In other words, it has to be slang that would make you wince if you heard it today.

Oh, and no hip-hop terms. 'Phat' is out of the question.

Thanks!

A-Z Update: "Maps and Legends" by R.E.M.

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 7:01 AM
• 11 comments

Dialects: a Pittsburgh State of Mind

Shane McAllister, the vampire hero of Wicked Game, hails from Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown is at the western edge of the most specialized dialect in the country: Pittsburgh. One New York Times writer called Pittsburgh "The Galapagos Islands of American Dialect."

Wanting to sprinkle a little verisimilitude into Shane's speech, I consulted Da Pittsburghese Translator.

Just for yuks, I threw one of Shane's diatribes into the translator. Here's how it reads in normal English. (For context, he's arguing against our heroine's marketing gimmick, "WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll," in which the radio station aims for higher ratings by "pretending" the disc jockeys are vampires.)

But I’m not human. None of us are. If we spend too much time out in public, someone’ll figure out the real truth. Next thing you know, late one night we’ll find ourselves delayed on the way home. Then it’s ‘Good Day Sunshine,’ and they’ll be sweeping us into a dustpan.

And here's how a proper Pittsburgher would say it:

But I’m not human. None of us are n'at. If we spend too much time aht in public, someone’s bound to figger aht da rill truth n'at. Next ting jano, late one night we’ll find ourselves delayed on da way home n'at. Then it’s ‘Good Day Sunshine,’ annay’ll be sweeping us into a dustpan.

Hee. Don't worry, I'm never having him say 'n'at'. Writers have to be rilly really careful when using dialect. It's better to show an accent through vocabulary and sentence rhythm. Less is always more.

I recently got very annoyed with a book in which one of the main characters was supposed to be Scottish. Every once in awhile, he would call the main character 'lass,' and I'd be jerked out of the story, because 99.9% of the time he sounded nothing like a Scot. I tried reading his lines in my head with a Scottish accent, and it didn't work, because the sentence rhythm was pure Midwest American.

So back to Shane. As a DJ, he would have modified his native dialect as much as possible, so I went easy on the Pittsburghese. The only things I changed were to have him use 'anymore' to mean 'these days,' and call someone a 'jagoff' instead of a 'dickweed.' In both cases the meanings are obvious from context, so the reader doesn't hit a mental speed bump.

Oh, and the Steelers are the "Stillers," because that's like a religion.

What about you guys/y'all/yinz? Read any good dialects lately? Which accents do you find the most annoying/pleasing when done on the page or on the screen?

Best Baltimore accent by an actor: hands down, Danny DeVito in Tin Men.

A-Z Update: "Look to Your Orb for the Warning" by Monster Magnet

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 2:25 PM
• 2 comments

Whew

Read Wicked Game today, and it doesn't suck. It still needs lots of polishing, and certain scenes need to be pumped up for better effect, but I didn't ruin it in the rewrites. It's deeper, yet still funny. Most importantly, I didn't sap the life out of the main character by making her less of a bitch.

Still lots of work ahead, but the major surgery is over.

Did I mention that I found out the release date? Also, I should be seeing a cover soon, but I might not be able to post it for awhile, until the final version is ready.

Speaking of covers, I should soon have the final version of the Voice of Crow cover. VOC is coming out September 25 and, is now available for pre-order. So go reserve your copy now! What are you waiting for?

A-Z Update: "Just a Phase" by Incubus

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 8:10 PM
• 0 comments

Wicked Game 3.0 done!

After a full month of rethinking, reimagining, and rewriting, the pen-penultimate step is complete.

I've changed a lot, refocusing the plot on the fantasy elements instead of the romance (and in the process, making it more romantic than ever). Characters have been added, fleshed out, given personality lifts. Jokes have been hacked, replaced with (hopefully) better ones. Also, more blood--always a plus for a vampire novel.

It's probably a mess. After a few days away from the manuscript, I'll read it all the way through in one sitting (not counting snacks) to see where it needs patching. Meanwhile I'll do any last-minute research/inspirational reading, video-watching, and music-listening.

Then, after the whole darn thing makes sense, I'll take a week or two to polish the language, make sure the characters come to life on the page, that I don't fall prey to cliched descriptions or overuse of any particular words. (I can already tell "scoff" is going to hit the trash a dozen times or more.)

At last, on or before the July 9 deadline, I'll turn it in and hope my editor still loves it, that I've interpreted her suggestions better than she could've ever imagined. Or at least not royally screwed it up.

But that's later. Right now, I'm taking the rest of the day off. All 32 minutes of it.

*A-Z Update: "Indian Summer" by The Doors

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 9:00 PM
• 6 comments

Index cards are our friends

Writing may occur in the here and now, but editing takes place in the there and then.
--Dennis Palumbo, "Perspective," from Writing from the Inside Out

I mentioned earlier how I outlined Voice of Crow using index cards. (I can't find the blog post, but I talked about it question 3 of my Writer Unboxed interview.)

I didn't use index cards to outline Wicked Game (fka Bad Company, for those keeping score). I wrote a loose synopsis before I started the book, but didn't plan it out scene-by-scene.

This week I've been brainstorming changes to this novel, since I need to cut it by about ten thousand words and retool it to land farther on the fantasy end of the romance/fantasy spectrum. I've come up with some exciting ideas, but they're spread over dozens of pages in my little notebook. I needed a way to organize my thoughts.

INDEX CARDS TO THE RESCUE!

Just like with Voice of Crow--except after-the-fact instead of before--I created a card for each scene, with date, setting, characters, and events. On the back I jotted my ideas for changes and cuts. (One advantage of the index cards is that I can slap a rubber band around them and take them anywhere--not so with a 6-pound manuscript).

But the miracle was not in the increased level of organization. The miracle was that in a few of the early-ish scenes, when it came time to list "events," I made a startling discovery:


Sure, there's plenty of witty banter and world-building (usually some indispensable fact about vampires), but beyond that, the scenes barely inched the plot forward.

So I'll cut entire scenes, pulling the good bits and inserting them into other scenes (y'know, the ones where stuff actually happens). If I hadn't taken each scene on its own in this analytical way, I never would've noticed how much these sandbags were slowing the momentum of the book.

The more chaff I can eliminate in the beginning, the faster things can develop. Happy readers. Plus, cutting words early on means I have more room to add major complications later. Happy writer.

Not-so-happy characters. But they'll deal, now that they have room to breathe.


A-Z Update: "Gangsta Tripping" by Fatboy Slim

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 9:08 AM
• 2 comments

PNR Paraphernalia interview

My first online interview! My ramblings forever carved in pixels to embarrass me for the rest of my life. Yay!

I'll be participating in my first live chat on the same site on Monday night at 9PM eastern time.

In other developments, I've added a FAQ page on this website. All of them are true FAQs, not QWWPWA's (Questions We Wish People Would Ask).

A-Z Update: "Brain Damage" by Pink Floyd

Labels: craft, interview, website, writing life

• posted by Jeri @ 7:50 AM
• 2 comments

Character birthdays, Part Two

I mentioned a few weeks ago that March 1 was the birthday for Shane, the hero of my vampire novels.

One reader asked me offline if I bought Shane a birthday present. A couple of months ago a discussion on this subject took place on the Smart Bitches site, prompted by a post on Laurell K. Hamilton's blog. The discussion centered on how real the characters are to authors, how much they drive the plot, and how thoroughly we know the contents of their pockets.

I can usually tell you what kind of music my main characters like (in Bad Company it's sort of the point) and even how they take their coffee:

• Lucifer: Black and bitter, as dark a roast as possible
• Beelzebub: Tons of cream and sugar--he hasn't an ascetic bone in his body
• Ciara: Three sugars, no milk, except when she's really tired, when it's time for a gigante mocha, organic two-percent milk, one-and-a-half shots of coconut, no whipped cream, lots of cinnamon, and a little nutmeg
• Shane: Black and cheap

There's no coffee in the Aspect of Crow world, which is one reason I'd never want to live there. They make do with chicory. Also, without electricity it's a lot easier to get a good night's sleep.

I use character interviews to deepen my knowledge of these people, but usually not until after the first draft. The first draft is the getting-to-know-you process. I put them through hell and see how they react. Do they crumble? Do they run? Do they fight back with nasty words? Fists? Do they blame others? Themselves?

If I know how they face down certain death, the rest comes easy. When they step up to a coffee counter and the bored barista says, "What'll you have?" the answer is waiting on the tip of my brain.

Back to Shane's birthday. I wanted to get him food, because like a lot of gift-buyers, I go by what I would want most (be honest, you do it, too).

But vampires can't enjoy solid food ("everything tastes British") so I settled on a six-pack. The local liquor store didn't have any microbrews from his home state of Ohio. Instead I bought some Smithwick's Irish Ale, made by the brewers of tar-in-a-bottle, aka Guinness. It was a nod to Shane's heritage, and the whole reason for posting this musing today and not tomorrow, or, say two weeks ago when it would've been more timely.

A brief product review: Smithwick's is fantastic! It's extremely smooth, while somehow maintaining a rich, full-bodied ale taste. How did I get this far in life without trying it? Go pick up one (or six) for yourself, and have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A-Z Update: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day

Labels: craft, food, holidays, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 9:04 AM
• 5 comments

Character birthdays

I'll get to Part 2 of Requiem for a Slacker tomorrow when I have more time to write (going back to the old job today to help my replacement with the dreaded taxes). Besides, today's date brings up a topic some authors give a lot of thought to: character birthdays.

I don't usually pick a specific birthday for my characters unless it's pertinent to the plot. Sometimes I have an idea of a time of year or month when they were born.

OKAY, OKAY, I CONFESS: sometimes I think about what astrological sign they would be, even though I don't believe in that stuff. It helps to consider at least which element (water, air, fire, earth, plutonium, boron) they gravitate toward.

But beyond astrology, certain birthdays can affect one's personality or outlook. Example: I gave Shane, the hero of my vampire books, March 1 as a birthday (and thus she finally reveals the purpose of this post!). I first decided he had to be a Pisces like his hero (whose 40th birthday I just missed), because that would mean something to him--he identifies with him a tad too much.

Then I picked March 1 because it must be the single most forgotten birthday of the year. I always have trouble remembering birthdays that come at the beginning of the month. Even if I were to write down birthdays on a calendar (I hear some people do that), I wouldn't see them until I flipped the page, usually around the 3rd or 4th day.

March sneaks up on us faster than any other month, because February, apparently, has sucked throughout history. Which makes March 1 the stealthiest date of the year. I know, because my best friend in the world has that birthday, and I usually forget it (but not this year! Hah!).

What would that do to a person's sense of self-worth if even his own family routinely forgot his birthday?

It doesn't seem to bother my friend. Then again, nothing does.

Afternote: My subconscious celebrated Shane's birthday by dreaming about him this morning. I dreamed we were trying to get tickets to the University of Maryland women's lacrosse game. They must have been playing Duke, because we had to resort to scalpers. (Yes, dear, I swear that was all we did.) Also, he must not have been a vampire, because it was daytime, unless he was wearing (WARNING! WARNING! GEEK FIT!) the Gem of Amarra.

A-Z update: "Baby Please Don't Go" by Muddy Waters

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 7:47 AM
• 4 comments

Word watch Day One

Word count 2006: 222,932
Words remaining: 27,068

Godspeed, little fingers. Godspeed.

Labels: craft

• posted by Jeri @ 7:06 AM
• 0 comments

Cocooning

[T]his discontent is the basic trait that turns a person into a writer. To become a writer, patience and toil are not enough: we must first feel compelled to escape crowds, company, the stuff of ordinary, everyday life, and shut ourselves up in a room. We wish for patience and hope so that we can create a deep world in our writing. But the desire to shut oneself up in a room is what pushes us into action.
--Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, from his acceptance speech

After six weeks of putting myself "out there," promoting the new book, I'm ready to crawl back into my creative incubator and get some work done. First, the proposal for Wings of Crow, due Friday. Then a madcap two weeks in which I write ten pages a day of anything, anything at all, to make my 250K goal.

I might blog during that time, or maybe not. I haven't felt like it lately, as you can probably tell.

I'm tired of the world outside my head. Because I'm a lousy compartmentalizer, it's encroached too much upon my created worlds. My idle thoughts--while driving, showering, or housecleaning--have been turning to real life issues rather than those of my characters. When I hear a song on the radio, I hear it for me, not my protagonist. And that's just wrong.

So it's into the cocoon, without which there'd be no books and stories to share with you in the first place.

If we don't talk before then, Happy Holidays!

Labels: craft, writing life

• posted by Jeri @ 8:54 AM
• 5 comments

The (quarter) million word march

The other day I calculated that I've written 222, 000 words this year--by far my most productive year ever. Yay! These are all first-draft words, not revisions, although I do count significant additions to later drafts (such as the three poker scenes added to Bad Company in the second draft).

The breakdown:

Voice of Crow: 113K
Bad Company: the final 68K (begun in 2005)
Angel's Gambit Book One: the final 26K (begun in '03, continued in '04)
"The Wild's Call": 15K

Which leaves 28K to hit the quarter-million word mark by the end of the year. This normally wouldn't be a problem (I usually about 2K/day when I'm in full first-draft mode), except that I'll have revisions to Voice of Crow (which don't count toward the total, remember, unless I add scenes) and will probably only include one chapter in my Wings of Crow proposal.

But I will make the 250K mark, even if it means cranking out the first 100 pages of Wings of Crow or Angel's Gambit Book Two in the last week of December.

It's good to have goals, however random. Anyone else have end-of-the-year goals or unfinished New Year's 2006 resolutions?

Labels: craft, vampire series, Voice of Crow, Wings of Crow, YA series

• posted by Jeri @ 6:37 AM
• 8 comments

Outlines: hoop or help?

I was going to post about the process of writing an outline, since I just turned in the outline and first chapter of Voice of Crow. But thriller writer JA Konrath blogged it for me. Nice guy, huh?

A big "What he said" applies to almost his entire post. Our processes differ mostly in the specifics of the outline's form. I don't list the players for each chapter/scene; heck, I don't even know exactly where the chapters break.

I describe the events and try to impart a sense of their emotional and thematic significance. My editor wants to know not just "What happens next?" but also

• "What does it mean to the characters?"
• "How do these events contribute to the overall theme?"
• "Who wants to order Thai for lunch?"

As I mentioned in a comment to Joe's post, each publisher wants a different length, style, and focus for an outline. I know an author whose editor wanted to know only the basics: Who, when, and which planet?

One might be tempted to interpret a request for a detailed outline as some kind of vote of nonconfidence: we don't trust you to write a good story, so tell us exactly what happens and if we like it, we'll show our approval in the form of a nice little checky-poo.

But it's not like that at all. I think publishers ask for outlines for two main reasons, both of which are meant to help the author:

1. Like high school English teachers who ask for a term paper outline a month before the paper's due, they want to make sure you're not putting off the novel until the last minute (not that I EVER did that with a term paper or, say, changed my topic the day before it was due).
2. They want to help you keep the story on track, which is to say, keep it from sucking.

For instance, the first draft of my VOC proposal called for a real downer ending. My editor didn't say, "Dude, you're bumming me out, show me the happy," but she asked some pointed questions about why the heroine would let certain events occur without putting up more of a fight. I realized her concerns were spot-on, worked to create a more coherent plot, and ended up with a much more satisfying story, one I'm actually excited to begin writing.

As in, right...now.

Labels: craft, Voice of Crow

• posted by Jeri @ 7:33 AM
• 5 comments

Insert Tab A into Plot B

Emperor Turhan (dying): How will it all end?
Kosh: In fire.
--Babylon 5, "All Alone in the Night"

Sometimes when writing a story you head bravely down one plot path, only to realize that it's a dead end. Then comes the Big Delete.

For instance, I thought I had the Major Jeopardy at the end of my vampire novel figured out. A fire seemed like a scary climax, since vampires are a bit allergic to it, and a fire during the daylight would be just about the worst thing that could happen to them. If they stay, they burn. If they leave, they burn.

But then I realized, what bunch of dumbass vampires wouldn't have some sort of emergency plan in place for such an occasion? Not my bunch of dumbass vampires, that's who.

So I un-wrote the fire. It was a silly idea to begin with, a result of trying to cram my story into the formula that states:

When X number of pages remain, at least one of the main characters must find themselves in mortal danger.

Pah! This sub-subgenre is riddled with cliches as it is. I already had a more moving, shocking sequence planned for the scene after the Stupid Fire, when the audience should be taking a deep breath, thinking, Whew, they survived the fire, now everything's--Holy %$&^!


Blogger's Note:
I wrote this post about a week and a half ago, while I was finishing the first draft of Bad Company. Since I was using all my creative brain cells for the novel, the post ended up disjointed and rambly (yes, more than usual). But I thought it made a good point about the temptation to produce cookie-cutter material in this age of copycat publishing.

Anyway, I found a way to delay the shocking moment until near the end of the last scene, which should be a denouement, when things are looking happy and relaxed. And it just now occurred to me that the tension is resolved by setting a fire. Hah--the joke's on me! But it's not a Stupid Fire.

Hmmm, come to think of it, I'm still not very coherent. Try to wrest some meaning out of this post if you can. Or not. I'm going back to bed.

Labels: craft, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 8:04 AM
• 5 comments

Blowing off steam for a moment

I hate plots. Complicated plots are even worse. You know, the sort where every little piece has to fall into place and be foreshadowed many pages in advance. The Ocean's Eleven-type plot. Not my strength. My strengths are fascinating characters, evocative descriptions, and snappy dialogue.

So what do I do? I play on my weakness by creating a story about an ex-con artist who, in order to achieve her goal, defeat the Big Bad, and save the day, must devise a complex scam, one that provides a role for every minor character in the book (otherwise, why introduce them if they're not going to play a pivotal role in the climax?). There are roughly 3,497 loopholes in this scam, and every time I tighten one, another two open up.

For instance, I need to temporarily "dispose" of one character in a way that doesn't cause grievous bodily harm, then have them return at just the right moment to cause more headaches. Since it's a comedy, I'm allowed a certain amount of goofiness, yet I want the solution to be reasonably realistic. I want to limit the "Oh, come on!" factor in the reader.

Imagine beating your head against the wall, breaking through, only to find another wall behind it. That's what this feels like. I can almost see the end of the book, but the vision appears through a dozen layers of lucite.

I think it's important for authors to challenge themselves with each new work. With Eyes of Crow, it was my first time writing from a female point-of-view, first time building a world, and the first time writing without profanity. With Bad Company, I don't have any of those limitations (the main character's a woman, but I've gotten used to thinking like a female), but this one will, in the end (literally), test my ability to work my way into, and out of, a big friggin' mess.

There ought to be a rule: never create a character who's more clever than you are.

Labels: craft, Eyes of Crow, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 4:31 PM
• 12 comments

Pickup Lines

Saw this on Laura Anne Gilman's blog [UPDATE: and mystery writer J.A. Konrath's blog) and decided to be a copycat, but since I don't have any short stories (not a fan of the form, and it's apparently not a fan of me either), I'll include first lines from all my novels rather than just my works-in-progress, and I'm going to include the full first paragraphs, just 'cuz.

Hope they grab you and make you wanna get to know me better, maybe take me home with you, rather than throw a drink in my face and call the bouncer.

Waiting in Ambush (never-to-be-published first novel):

He took a long swig of cold water and thought, it’s just not the same without scotch in it. But those days were behind him now, like the gray highway unraveling in his rearview mirror.

Requiem for the Devil (Warner, 2001):

Some days it's good to be the Devil. November 7, 1997, started out as one of those days, and ended as something quite different.

Rivers in the Desert (as-yet unpublished third novel):

REPENT
The word sprawled across the hood of the black sport utility vehicle, block letters in yellow spray paint.

The Forgetting (unfinished direct sequel to Requiem):

The American wet dream is self-employment, or so they say. Own your own business and be your own boss. Take orders from yourself instead of the Man. Work hard, be clever, and someday you, too, can be a software kingpin or a drug tycoon.

Angel's Gambit (unfinished eventual sequel to Requiem):

Killing babies was against Agatha's nature, but not nearly as much as standing by and watching the world burn.

Bad Company (vampire novel-in-progress):

Family curses never die, they just get watered down. In Greek mythology, the Curse of the House of Atreus began with a guy making soup du jour out of his own son. But I’ll bet anything that generations later, the Curse only made the Atreus family forget to send each other birthday cards.

The Eyes of Crow (Luna, 2006):

The dog would not die.

Labels: craft, Eyes of Crow, Requiem for the Devil, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 7:12 AM
• 0 comments