What is different? by Jo Ramsey

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What is different? by Jo Ramsey

That’s a question I’ve asked a lot in the schools where I’ve worked, where it seems pretty common for the “different” kids to be picked on. Answers vary widely. Different is wearing the wrong brand of jeans. Having purple sneakers. Wearing glasses that don’t quite fit the “accepted” style, or instead of contact lenses. Not having money; having too much money.

What none of the kids I’ve asked seems to be able to tell me is who decides what “different” is. A couple of high schoolers I spoke to recently said it’s the media, which does have some truth to it. After all, the media is the one who advertises all the jean brands, and the “right” color sneakers, and so on. TV shows present their own ideas of attractiveness and normalcy. And often, anyone who varies from that presentation is considered different, whether in a middle school or an office building.

Different varies from person to person. The kid who wears purple sneakers might consider the ones who all wear matching sneakers to be different. A kid who wears glasses might think of someone with contacts as different. Of course those who fit what the majority considers to be “normal” will wind up being the popular kids at most schools. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t different in some way.

Whatever one considers to be different, though, and whether one is popular or not, that doesn’t give anyone the right to put someone down for not being exactly like them, or not being the way they think people should be. In my novel Connection, Shanna Bailey is picked on and harassed because of something she didn’t do, and because she talks to herself and spends a lot of time alone. Jonah Leighton is teased and even feared by his school mates because he meditates in the school lobby and has some beliefs that don’t fit in with what most of the other kids believe to be true. Is it right for them to be bullied and teased? Many of the other kids in their high school seem to think so.

Don’t get me wrong. Connection isn’t a book about bullying, or about how great the “weird” kids can be. It’s about two kids with special abilities who encounter a demon. But if there’s one thing I’d like readers to take from it, aside from an exciting story, it’s that maybe people who are “different” aren’t as unlike you as you might think.

Do yourself a favor. Or do me one, depending on your point of view. After you read this blog, say hello to someone you wouldn’t usually talk to because they’re “too different”. You might just find out you have more in common than you think.

Jo Ramsey is a former special education teacher who uses her experiences (and sometimes her former students) to help create her stories. She’s been writing since age five, though Connection is her first published young adult novel. Jo lives in Massachusetts with her fiance, two daughters, two cats, and a fish. You can learn more about Jo and her books at http://www.joramsey.com/

Characters in Charge by Susan Berliner, author of DUST

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Characters in Charge

by Susan Berliner, author of DUST

www.susanberliner.com  

When I began writing DUST, I knew my main characters (Karen and Jerry), the plot of the story, the ending—and not much else. I always pictured novelists outlining each chapter before writing it, but that's not what happened with me. I just sat at the computer each morning and wrote. The words poured out, often without me knowing what was going to happen. The characters themselves determined the action. 

Recently I read an interview with famed author Elmore Leonard who described his writing process in a similar way, saying he makes it up as he goes along and his characters let him know what comes next. So I've got good company! Here's the link to his comments:  http://www.aarpmagazine.org/people/leonard_making_it_up.html 

I was part of an Authors' Panel a few months ago and a man in the audience brought up the subject of characters, saying novelist Stuart Woods was asked why his books had so much foul language. Woods' response was that he didn't curse; his characters did. 

I understand exactly what Stuart Woods meant. It's almost as if the characters I write about have their own lives. Often, much to my surprise (and sometimes to my annoyance), the characters say and do things I don't expect. But not knowing exactly what will happen makes the writing experience much more entertaining!  

I visualize the characters in my novels as actors performing their roles on a stage or movie screen. However, last month, a fellow writer on Facebook had a different take on the subject. He said his characters were real people he would never meet, not actors or actresses.

I'm not sure there's much of a difference between our two viewpoints. Even though I imagine my characters as actors, I still think of them as real people. In DUST, for example, Karen is still Karen, no matter which actress is playing her, and Jerry is still Jerry. Visualizing them as current movie stars just makes them more real to me.

If you're one of the 25% of the population who thinks as I do and visualizes book characters as actors, check out this website and cast roles for DUST--or any other favorite novel: http://www.storycasting.com/work.aspx?id=4f9a2b40-3d60-4dc7-bc16-f2440184b4b7

Do I continue to think about my characters after I finish a novel? The answer is "no." I think about the characters continually throughout the writing, editing, and revision processes, which can be very lengthy. However, when the book is completely done, so are my characters. With DUST, it's like Karen and Jerry finished playing their roles, bowed to the audience (readers), and walked off the stage—forever.

Maybe that's why, unlike some other writers, I don't envision my novels as series or sequels. When a book is finished and the final curtain falls, it really is "The End."

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Susan's Facebook group page for DUST is http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=96392594143

Moved over from the SFF Insider Blog to the Night Owl Reviews blog on 5/1/2010.

Promotion Tips by Kim Smith

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Promotion Tips by Author Kim Smith

Every author when asked to present a promotion plan can bring up the most obvious item such as building a website or a blog. But when asked what else they will do to get the word out about their book, they usually have to really think about it. This promotional effort is really critical in building a buzz about your book.

The author taking an active role in his or her promotion is a little bit of a new thing. Used to be the publisher went the promo route on the author’s behalf and they could focus on what they did best, write. The changing industry and unfortunate downsizing recently has shifted the plan and now the author is the key player in the promotion game.

Today, there are many ways to promote a book. None of them is an island and useful unto itself however, so be sure to mix and match, and keep changing up the plan.

I promote at many social networks including the big three, Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. There are plenty more out there and I challenge you to try out having blogs in several places like LiveJournal, Journalscape, and Gather. See, readers have blogs in all those places, and as a writer, we should, too.

I recommend having a website of course, and keeping it updated. I have recently changed mine from a static site to a Wordpress theme that I host on my domain and can change at will. Again, this keeps people coming back! They love new info about you, your writing, and the life of a writer.

Also, I recommend radio. You can find a ton of them at BlogTalkRadio and book yourself a tour just with radio shows. Fans of online radio will soon get curious about you when you appear on a few of these. My radio show has had over 9500 listens as of this time. That means a lot of people are checking out radio.


Writing articles is another great way to get noticed by readers. You oftentimes get a chance to place your bio and book info at the end of such pieces, which in turn will help build a readership and fan base.

The best bit of advice for a new author in the throes of promoting is to remember not to be obnoxious with your promo. I have recently heard that for every ten tweets you place on Twitter, only one should be a promo. Instead, build relationships between you and your potential readers. Allow mutual interest and friendship to do the heavy lifting of selling for you.

Bio:

Kim Smith is the author of the Shannon Wallace Mysteries and is also the hostess for the wildly popular Introducing WRITERS! radio show on Blog Talk Radio.

Moved over from the Suspense Insider Blog to the Night Owl Reviews blog on 5/1/2010.

Creating a Setting for The Prophecy (Part 1 of the Peace Child Trilogy) by Gill James

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Creating a Setting for The Prophecy (Part 1 of the Peace Child Trilogy) by Gill James


By the time I started writing The Prophecy I already had 30 books published. I was quite used to the amount of planning needed and even to doing the odd bit of research for real life stories and ones set in historical times. I’d made up worlds before, because I’d written quite a bit of fantasy. However, most of my fantasy was not set in an alternative world – rather it had magic coming to a world we already know well.

The Prophecy, therefore, was different for me in two ways. It was the first REALLY BIG BOOK I had written – it is 103,000 words long and the second part which I have written but am still editing is just as long - and it was the first science fantasy story I’d tackled.

I now had to put as much effort in creating a world for Kaleem and his people as I had before into creating characters and crafting plausible plots. Of course I still had to do that as well. For months before I started writing the actual novel, creating the worlds of Zandra and Terrestra became a major occupation. I’d work on it whilst sitting in cafés, travelling on trains, waiting at the dentist and doing the ironing. My writer’s journal was always quite close –yes, even when doing the ironing, though one or two shirts got singed in the process - and I have now have several books full of notes.

I needed to work out:

· What Terrestrans and Zandrians eat

· How they cook

· What they wear

· Where they live

· Who they live with

· What transport is like

· How they communicate

· How they entertain themselves

· How they are educated

· How media works

· What their medical facilities are like

· How they are governed

· What their laws are like

· Whether they have any religion and what it’s like

· What they do that is exactly the same as what we do

· What they do that is totally different from what we do

· How might this setting make them act and feel

To create a fantasy setting or an historical one you need to know these things as well, though in the latter case you need to research rather than imagine.

I really did spend a long time on this, so when I started writing I really knew what I was doing. However, there are always surprises. Sometimes you think “Goodness, how on earth do they do such and such in this world?” Then you have to stop writing and go away and think for a bit. Occasionally, also, you haven’t thought of the consequences of one aspect of your setting.

In fact, it was a surprise like that which has given me a major dilemma for my characters in Book 2, Babel. Although I already knew the basic stories for Books 2 and 3, this dilemma caused by an important aspect of the setting really peps up Book 2.

No, I’m not going to tell you what that is … it would spoil the surprise. Babel comes out in September 2010.
 
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CREATING A STORY WORLD by Phyllis Irene Radford

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CREATING A STORY WORLD by Phyllis Irene Radford (aka C.F. Bentley / P.R. Frost / Irene Radford )

A story world is not limited to alien planets and cultures in Science Fiction/Fantasy novels. The glitz and glitter of Los Vegas in a romance novel, a rural parsonage in upstate New York for a mystery story, the quirky coffee shop that’s the neighborhood gathering place, or the gothic mansion hosting a ghost all require the author to invest in creating a story world.

The tricks of inviting readers into your story world and keeping them there are in the details and in consistency. There are times to reveal subtle differences between the here and now and your story world. There are times when the author needs to throw masses of sensory detail at the reader. Determining which is called for is the hard part.

An author cannot forget characters and their attitudes as well as their costumes when creating a story world. Attitudes toward racial and gender issues, superstitions, religion, health and beauty, and politics changes along with vocabulary and hem length. Characters and how they react to their world, or being transported to an alien world, reveal a host of details that help convince the reader that the story is “real”.

Cover art and striking cover blurbs may attract a reader. A convincing story world that draws them in and enthralls them from start to finish keeps them reading.

When I start a project I pick one thing that is different. In my first book The Glass Dragon by Irene Radford, I had an idea. Dragons are born a dark pewter color, get more silvery as they grow until they are as clear as glass. I had to invent a world that would support these dragons and find an ecological niche for them. Then I needed to develop a culture that would either revere or condemn them.

I think in spirals when I’m world building. I started with the dragon and built outwards, their habitat and diet, their interactions with humans. Then onward with the government, culture, and religion of the humans.

I spent a lot of time and energy avoiding creating a religion. Probably I spent more time avoiding it than I actually did in creating a religion when I realized that every human culture has a religion. Our very secular approach to life in this century is unique and very modern. When humans first emerged as human they possessed language, fire, and religion. The only fantasy books I’d read without a faith of some kind are Anne McCaffery’s Dragon Riders of Pern series.

I came to this conclusion when I went searching for an appropriate epithet. Earth curses revolve around private bodily functions or consigning the object of the curse to a demon or a hell. Some societies get quite creative. “May you suffer the fleas of a thousand camels.” That is one kind of hell. Or “May your sister marry the son of a sewer alligator.” Another phrase for a demon. But most good old fashioned Anglo Saxon curses reference the deity or the opposite of same.

So I invented a religion. I’d inserted a family joke into The Glass Dragon about Captain Kirk violating the prime directive once again. From that I expanded three smuggling space jockey brothers into The Stargods. I got another trilogy contract out of writing their story. Each book added more details in my story world, gradually building a rich culture that I loved.

Closer to home, when writing an urban fantasy, cozy mystery, or gothic romance, the home or office, or even hotel becomes a story world. Not everyone presumes the living room is to the right of the front entry as I do, so you do need to have a map of the building in your head and specify where things take place. But what makes the spooky old mansion unique? Perhaps it is a Chinese Gong that the butler clangs to summon the family to rise, to come to meals, to greet visitors, or retire for the night. Sounds like a motive for murder to me. Does the threadbare carpet, draperies and upholstery belie the opulence of the grounds and exterior. In an office, the dominant piece of furniture is the desk. Is it stark chrome and glass, or a massive antique roll top? Whatever, let the desk reflect the personality of its owner.

In an historical, like my Merlin’s Descendants Series, I have to let the history dictate the world. From the iron age hill forts of 500 A.D. to the opulent court of Elizabeth I or the high energy of colonial America, I have templates, but again, I need to hone in on a few key differences from modern day that define the period.

Have you ever read an historical where the only difference between then and now is the length of the dresses and substituting horses for cars? The attitudes of the characters come across as very modern, too. Think about cultural attitudes when building any story world. Gender differences, religious restrictions, xenophobia, reliance on magic, the presence of dragons? Whatever is right for your world should shine through, making all the details consistent. Connect the dots outward from your starting point in an ever-growing spiral, each one leading out of the previous one and all leading back to the wonderful starting point when you began the journey into your story world.

Phyllis Irene Radford

aka C.F. Bentley - http://www.theflyingparty.com/

aka P.R. Frost - http://theflyingparty.com/prfrost/

aka Irene Radford - http://www.theflyingparty.com/radford/

Moved over from the SFF Insider Blog to the Night Owl Reviews blog on 5/1/2010.