Anyone who has ever tried to get his/her work in print knows how tough (virtually impossible?) it is to do. Publishers and agents are inundated with dozens/hundreds of submissions every month; how can they possibly separate the wheat from the chaff? I’ve heard many times that a manuscript must be truly exceptional to be considered. That raises the question for me, how many first books fit that description? Often the reason an author’s second book is better than the first is because the author has had the chance to go through the editing process. Without the first book you as an author may never get the second book chance. Granted, you can always hire an editor to work through the book with […]
Read moreCategory: Irreverent Muse
How Much Should Your Character Know?
It’s always a challenge to keep your characters from knowing too much. After all, your characters come out of your head and you are the one with all the answers. How can they not know too much? I realized that I had the problem after one of my protagonists acted too understanding towards another character. That compassion, while praiseworthy was not natural. The character was rude, obnoxious and mean to my protagonist. I didn’t even notice it until it was pointed out to me. I had to step back and really evaluate what was going on. I came to the conclusion that the reaction was normal only if the protagonist knew the demons that haunted the mean character. Since the […]
Read moreKeeping Your Character’s Voice Consistent
You have a character in your head who is clamoring to get out. You already know his or her entire backstory: where he/she was born, who were the parents, first loves, first broken bone, etc. etc. You also know how the character should grow during the story. So far so good. Then you start to write and the character ‘magically’ goes from being a hard-headed bitch (substitute bastard for a guy if you like) to someone who gets all emotional over the smallest thing. And it all happens in a few short chapters. Maybe even in a few paragraphs. Sound familiar? It happened to me in my book “The Goddess Renewed”. One of my protagonists, Paena (female, in case you’re […]
Read moreThe Writing Life: Trying New Things
For those of you who know me (or have read the “About Me” section of this site) you will know I typically write Fantasy, Science Fiction and YA Adventure. You would also probably know that I prefer to write novels over short stories. But is that the limit to my creativity? Am I a one (or in this case three) trick pony? I certainly hope not. I like to try new things. For example, I’ve always wanted to write humor. Specific to humor, I’ve always loved “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Not the movie or old BBC episodes, but the books themselves. I used to read the Guide at least once per year, usually when I was in a […]
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