One Track Mind for Writing Tools and Apps

DepositPhoto

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Updated writing tools/apps - what's new and different in your writing world."

I don’t use any tools or apps in my writing other than the keyboard (which gets replaced several times a year since I literally bang away on the keys as if I was still typing on the old Royal typewriter I got when I was 8!), the laptop and WORD. Sometimes I might actually use a pencil and a piece of paper for the odd note here and there.

Everything else is up to my Muse…who is housed in my own brain, not on a computer or other device.

I’m not much for apps in the rest of my author life either. I’m on Facebook and Twitter as places to connect with other authors and my readers. I have an old fashioned Wordpress blog but it works for my purposes. I have an Instagram account, where I post daily (usually earrings of which I have hundreds of pairs, cat photos, book snippets and flowers) and a Pinterest account where I forget to post. I tried Books+Main (exactly – who has really heard of it, especially in the scifi romance world???) I’m open to new things but not exactly a person who rushes out to seek and exploit them.

I use Canva a lot. It’s a program for making designs, documents, graphics etc. In conjunction with that and my other social media I also use DepositPhoto for stock photos to give my posts pizzazz without worrying about copyright infringement issues. (They license the photos and I trust them. So far, so good.)

I like Canva as for me it’s pretty self-intuitive and it fits my skill level. And my patience quotient! Which is really important because I am not at all patient. I want to get in, do the thing I came to do, download it and exit the program. I’m sure Canva has all kinds of potential and capabilities I never touch but I’m not the type of person to log and play and try things out. I’m very mission focused. I need a promo graphic for the new book – GO. Make it, post it, move on to the next thing.

There’s a tool named Book Brush which many of my fellow authors swear by and I did sit through an excellent private demo by one of their inhouse experts. I saw all the cool features and the “overlay this/tint that/animate the other thing and here are our 10,000 backgrounds”…but for me it’s just too much. I did try it out, but it’s not self-intuitive on my level, whatever weird and idiosyncratic level that may be, so I got frustrated, I knew I could have done what I needed to do on Canva faster and been done…so I didn’t pursue Book Brush any further.

I have used Book Funnel maybe three times, when author friends invited me to join specific scifi romance giveaways. The thing is, I have a newsletter but I only send it out when I have a new release of my own. It’s also a very small, organically grown list. So on the list of ‘sharing’ that BF tracks and reports back to organizers, I show up as pretty much a freeloader – I’m there but not sharing. Except I am, just on my various other platforms BF doesn’t track! I’m always very clear up front with the organizer about where I will share the BF if they include me.  So I don’t do many BF’s and that’s fine with me, although I’m always honored to be invited.

I use Mail Chimp for my newsletter but I don’t actually use it – I have a lovely person who prepares my NL for me after I write the content and sends it out. She swears laughingly that it’s too complicated for me and she’s probably right.

I still use Triberr (a social media sharing tool) to share blog posts but it’s basically a legacy tool that I expect to go away at some point. It’s time has passed, at least in my humble opinion.

I’m going to have to learn to Zoom and fast, because I’m doing both a book reading and a scifi romance panel for the upcoming online, free AMAZINGCON being put on June 12-14 by the AMAZING STORIES MAGAZINE. "A different con for a different world." I contribute to their online blog and I’m excited about doing the reading and Q&A session (I’m going to read from Aydarr, the first book in my award winning Badari Warriors series about genetically engineered soldiers of the far future and the human women they love) and the panel discussion. I have New York Times and USA Today Best Selling Author S. E. Smith and USA Today Best Selling Author Pauline B. Jones on my scifi romance panel – WOOT! 

Lots of other fun content on the conference’s schedule too, weighted more to science fiction than the romance.

So far I’m totally inexperienced with Zoom but I know I need a good background and that there’s a mute button. Wish me luck!

(And check out the AMAZINGCON site for more information…)

Not Entirely Writing Apps

Writing apps. I've pared down my list this year. Maybe it's quarantine. I don't know. But the whole financial insecurity thing has made me conscious of what I pay for these days. So a bunch of random subscription services got the axe. The one I am using, though, is 4thWords this is a website where you create a character and progress through a story line by 'defeating' monsters who require that you write a certain number of words in a certain time frame - all of them reasonable. There are special events and different rewards to chase if those things light you up. Or you can sit back and pursue a project as you see fit. You have complete control over how you approach the environment. I happen to like the structure and the defined time frames. It gives me permission to brain dump. Most of that is garbage, but every once in awhile, I glean a really great story piece out of it.

Then there's Calm. Sure it's a meditation app. I don't actually use it for that. It also has a huge selection of sleep music to select from as well as ambient soundscapes. When Dad decides he's going to watch some craptastic war movie at incredible volume, I'm gonna need something keeping my blood pressure near normal. Calm and a pair of headphones do a good job of that.

For book formatting (for ebooks) I use Jutoh. I can produce any format I want, including .mobi. It does an amazing job of sorting through your manuscript and telling you if something won't pass muster for Amazon. I guess they have this weird fetish about Em and En dashes. Don't get me started. Regardless, Jutoh builds the encoding seamlessly. I won't lie. It does have a learning curve, but it's not steep and there are great tutorial videos to step you through everything. It didn't take me but a day to figure out how to get a book formatted, built, and saved out to every single file type I needed. Because I'm a dedicated Windows gal, I can't use Vellum, which I hear is THE software to use if you can. Sadly, it's only available for Mac. And based on what it costs to get a Mac, that's never going to happen.

What else is there? I'm always open to the new and cool.
PS: I still have unreasonable love for OmmWriter. But you knew that already.

New writing tools or apps?

I don't have the mental bandwidth to research new/up-and-coming writing tools right now... I still use Scrivener (Scrivener 3) and I love it. That's all I've got!

How about you? Have any new apps or tricks to share?

Apps for focus, drafting, and file prep

The skinny on apps, from someone who doesn't use many:

For Wrangling Your Brain into Writer Mode

Years ago, my critique partner Sloane Calder recommended this iPhone app called Brainwave, and I downloaded it immediately. Have never looked back. It's better than playlists for getting my brain right into the writing groove fast. I draft best to Euphoria/Medium Rain and switch that to Concentrate/Medium Rain for editing. YMMV

For Drafting Your Manuscript

Okay, so most writers start off with Word. I'm not saying that's a bad choice, but do read all their info. A friend recently discovered that -- surprise! -- Microsoft no longer autosaves unless you are using their cloud storage gizmo for your saves. So if you're using Dropbox or your hard drive or literally any other thing, I recommend manually saving and OFTEN. This friend lost a lot of work, and we are all whoa sad about it because her stories are ah-mazing and the world is less sparkly because Microsoft is a greedy beast.

(Confession: I have a long and very unfriendly relationship with Microsoft. Next time we hang out,  ask me how Billy G and Co lost more than a year's worth of client emails when they migrated from Hotmail to Outlook and never acknowledged their mistake, apologized, or compensated me for all that money I wasted on a subscriber account. Yes, I am extremely bitter. We hates them, precious.)

Anyhoo... I now use Google Docs for drafting and back stuff up on Dropbox. I love Google Docs especially for co-writing, which I'm currently do it. If you're co-writing and you aren't using Google Docs, you should absolutely try it.

For Preparing Your Book for Publication

In terms of file preparation, I recently bought Vellum for my Mac (as it is only available for Mac), and y'all, it is the cat's meow. I mean, if meow meant "better than super stinky sardines" and also you were a cat. In other words, if you're in a position where you have to make your own book files (i.e., self-publishing), this is the premiere software for the task. And if you write a lot, it will save you its cost pretty fast because you'll no longer have to contract file prep, which can be pricey. Recommend.

3 Useful Author Apps Beyond Word

What apps in addition to Word & Exel do I use to support my career?

1. Book Brush
The guys behind the image design app are constantly innovating new features that are actually helpful. From expanding their background image offerings to animations to book trailers to book covers to one-click background removal. The app was built specifically for authors who aren't graphic designers, which gives them a leg-up on other design sites. If you're doing your own marketing creative, I highly recommend this very easy-to-use app. They offer free features, pay-as-go credits, and two levels of annual subscriptions.
       Note: Canva.com is also a good image design site with free, pay-as-you-go, and subscription levels. However, their audience is a general audience, thus lack book-specific features.

2. Book Funnel
This is a distribution site that allows you to put digital books in readers' hands. They handle the hosting and tech support. Billing is done through your preferred service (e.g. Paypal Integration) if you want to get into Direct Sales. They offer the ability to bundle, coupon codes, eARCs, etc. Have a newsletter and want to give new subscribers a free story? Use this service. They take the headache out of delivering your finished product to readers. They offer free features and subscription-level features.

3. Dropbox
Back up your files. Back up your files. Back up your files. Back up your files. Back up your files. Keep a copy on a thumb drive. Keep a copy on a cloud. Back up your files. Back up your files. Back up your files. Back up your files. Back up your files.

Bwahahahahahaha...!

This week's subject is to discuss any new tools that we use for writing.

YEah. None. I do not change. I am legitimately opposed to altering my routines.

Do what works for you. That's what I do.

THE FIERY CROWN today at GRRM's Beastly Books!

Check out this super cool video of THE FIERY CROWN from George R.R. Martin's Beastly Books here in Santa Fe!

This was supposed to be a live event, but it's virtual now. Instead of a live interview, Melinda Snodgrass, of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, interviewed me via Zoom and we had a great conversation. You can watch it this afternoon at 4pm Mountain Time here. You can also support this wonderful local indie bookstore by ordering a signed copy of THE FIERY CROWN from them - plus get it well before the May 26 release date! (Or you can preorder via the links below.)

Afterward, I'll be doing a Facebook Live *and* Instagram Live Q&A. Look for me on Facebook or Instagram, according to your preference. I'll be on once the Beastly Book event ends, around 5pm Mountain Time.

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Updated writing tools/apps - what's new and different in your writing world." My answer? Umm... nothing? I'm pretty happy with my current system, which I've been using for years now. I write in Word, track everything on my own spreadsheets I've meticulously retooled in Excel, and I save everything in Dropbox. It works well for me and I see no reason to add more "tools."

Available at these Retailers

         

Writing Is Like Polishing an Uncut Gem

Detail from  rug woven by Author's late Father-in-law

Our topic today is whether we write scenes piece by piece and knit them together, or if we have ever had to knit-in scenes?

I don’t knit, I don’t weave, I don’t garden (because the other metaphor for writing books is often gardening) and although I loved Marcella Burnard’s dinosaur bones analogy in her Friday post, I don’t do that either.

I sit down at the keyboard and I write. I start at the very beginning and I go straight through the story until the end. When I begin working on a book, I usually know the overall situation, the two main characters and several key scenes. The rest comes to me as I write and as I’ve said many times, I’m superstitious about my process and I never examine it too closely. The Muse is as the Muse does and the words flow…I’ve learned to trust the creative process I was lucky enough to be born with and that as I write on into the story over the days, the plot developments, other characters and insights I need will present themselves. And they always do. It’s been working that way since I was seven years old so why mess with success?

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve had one scene I was so super excited about that I wrote it out of sequence and fit it back into the narrative. Or else then proceeded to write the events leading up to that now semi-completed scene.

DepositPhoto

I’ve had a few occasions in the developmental editing phase where the editor made a really good point about adding something else to the book, or a comment from them set off a train of thought in my head which caused me to write a chunk of new scene or scenes. I think the biggest case of this was in Warrior of the Nile, where the editor really wanted a specific thing to occur between Khenet the warrior of the title and Nephthys, the Egyptian goddess. I wasn’t quite on board with all of the suggestions but I did write an entirely new scene, which then rippled through the rest of the book and probably did make it stronger. (This was my second and last book written under a contract.)

After I finish the first draft of a book, I immediately start over on page one and go through in my own editing process, adding depth, more action, more feelings, more everything. I’ll be doing that today in fact on my next scifi romance novel, having finished the initial draft at 64,330 words last night. I always say the first draft is meant to be ugly and clunky (speaking for myself). It’s “get the words on the page” time and then in the edits I smooth everything out. The process takes me a few days and then I set the book aside for two or three days to cool off, after which I read it again, make a few more tweaks and send it to the editor.

The story's in there, somewhere! From the Author's collection.

So if we must have a metaphor, and since I love jewelry and shiny sparkly things, maybe for me the process is more like being a jeweler, who takes a raw clunky gemstone surrounded by rocky material and shapes it and polishes it to be a thing of beauty. I assure you, I have never explained myself in those terms before when it comes to writing and probably never will again!

Luckily, there is no one perfect process for writing a book. An author has to do what works for them and not worry about anyone else. I totally get that for some authors it’s very useful for them to consider what other people do, and/or to adopt or adapt a recommended structure or technique. More power to them! For me, sitting down and writing is what works.

And taking long drives on the SoCal freeways, with music blasting also helps whenever I have a plot issue to ponder. This probably developed because at one point I had a three hour commute home from the day job, which was boring and stressful, so I’d think about my stories as I went. Usually at an infuriating 0 to 25 mph too, given the traffic! Well, at least I had my music…

Not the Author, not her purple car either but sure looks like fun!
DepositPhoto

Piecing it All Together

Some books want to be linear. You get a nice, neat formula that takes you from point A to point B, you may find you have to detour at point C, but whatever. You mostly get to The End without a hitch.

The has never happened to me. My books are archeological digs with millions of bone shards that I have to put together a single piece at a time only to find out that psych! That piece doesn't really go here, it goes way over there.

Here's what I can say about the process, though.

I always have a general idea of the thing I'm digging up. I know the ending. I may not know how I'm going to get there or how I'm going to reconcile beginning to end, but the ending of the book is my starting point. I know where my characters must end up. Then I look for a beginning based on the characters' flaws and/or weaknesses. Some books can be written beginning to end. They are rare for me. Far more often, I write scenes from all over the place. I'm firmly of the opinion that if I don't know what happens next in a story, I move on to where ever I DO know what happens. This is wasteful. I do write scenes I end up not being able to use. One some books, it means overwriting the book to the point that I have two of the thing. It's useful in that I gain insight into what the core conflict of the book is. Eventually. The day comes, however, when I have to take my collection of disparate and oddly jointed scenes, pin them together into a skeleton, sculpt some flesh and features and see what looks back at me.

That's the easy part. Getting the original bones out of the ground, that's hard. Once I have a collection of scenes, I can pin those together with transitional scenes and a the glue of a few sentences about POV character drives. The initial revision pass polishes up the structure, and adds the flesh. It's the developmental editor who really gets me to put the features on the critter. We glue in the glass eyeballs so they stare into you no matter where you go. The copy editor does the airbrushing to make it look like it could move at any second.

Yeah. I far prefer the archeology metaphor to knitting or weaving. Cause, dinosaurs! and I guess I'm still twelve.

Why I avoid knitting...scenes that is.

I’m a Type A, technically-minded person…that’s why I was a laboratorian! And working in lab you’re trained to follow point A to point Z in the correct order. 

And knitting is like that. You follow a pattern, you piece it together in a certain way. So I should be good at knitting? Except…we’re not talking about the yarn kind of knitting today. We’re talking about knitting scenes of a book together.

So it’s really not surprising that I write from beginning to end; no detours, no skipping ahead, no passing go to collect $200 dollars. It’s how my brain is wired. And knowing how your own brain works is key.

Some writers I know need the candy bar method Vivien mentioned yesterday. They have that one perfect scene complete in their head and once they put it to paper, the creative floodgates open and they can knit their story together. Does that way of writing work for you?

If so, huzzah! Go forth and write! If it doesn’t…maybe your brain’s more analytical and the following might help. 

Each book I’ve written, and the manuscripts I’ve outlined and started, all began with that one perfect scene for me. Usually the scene comes from one of my dreams, like it’s been handed to me in a mini-movie format. But I never try to write it as a chapter right away. Because…that would be out of order.

Instead, I take my perfect scene, or you take your instigating idea, and sketch out the scene in outline format so I don’t forget the details.

*Note: I always know exactly where my scene fits in my story: beginning, end, climactic moment etc. If you don’t know this yet, take some time to brainstorm and ask yourself: what happens after, what needs to happen before, what changes for your MC (main character) in this scene?

Now that you know exactly where your perfect scene/idea sits in the timeline, it’s synopsis time! 

*Second Note: Lots of writers do not use a detailed outline/synopsis to write. YMMV This step is included here because my technical brain follows a well-laid plan easiest.

When writing my synopsis I build from or around my originating scene and the rest of the world and plot details flow from there. I like to go for super detailed here…remember, lab girl here? The more detail and direction I put down in this stage the better off I am in the drafting stage and THE LESS I HAVE TO TRY KNIT IN LATER!

All that because I suck at knitting in scenes. Why? I say it’s because when I plot out my books I do a lot of detail on the frontside and when I’ve needed to weave in new scenes that change things in the timeline…it gets messy. 

Sort of like Ullr’s rope bone that started out all tightly woven together (pictured at top of post). The rope was smooth and strong, but once my pup started tugging here and there it began to unravel in spots. That's what I feel like happens to my books when I mess with them and try to knit in scenes. 

So I do my best to not have to, or at least not have to knit in major scenes that shift the trajectory of the story. That’s like…like, your chemistry analyzer going down before you even get your day’s samples loaded! 

I’ll keep attempting to avoid that nightmare. How ‘bout you? Do you avoid knitting or are you a master weaver?

Confessions of a failed knitter

Little story: In middle school I drew a lot. Like, a lot. Most of my sketches were of women -- fairies and princesses and crazy 18th century gowns and hairdos -- and they were pretty okay for a kid. As I was drawing, I'd devise whole stories for these characters, and eventually I decided it was time for me to draw not just the character but the background too. I had it all in my mind, the way the castle and grounds should look. I even checked out some books at the library to see pictures of the sort of thing I had in my mind.

When I sat down with my pencil and sketchbook, I was ready to go. And blew it. Big time. I started over, and even a third time, with similar results. I just couldn't ever make the background match my character. It always looked too cartoony or too... something. Wrong.

That's how I am with "knitting in" scenes in stories. Yeah, I can write a scene out of order and make an attempt to write toward it, but almost every time I have to significantly change it because the scene I wrote out of order never quite matches the story as it feels by the time we get to that scene.

Years ago I took a writing class with Holly Lisle where she suggested writing the "candy bar" scenes to get started on a project. You know, those couple of scenes you just really, really can't wait to write and are compelled to sketch out long before the story gets to that point, just to "see" them on paper? After roughing them out, per her process, you'd put those scenes in order, fill in the blanks to get from one candy bar scene to the next, and *insert-miracle* poof, you'd have a complete story. Gotta say I love this process. It sounds so amazing, and I am super envious of folks who can make it work.

But I haven't been able to replicate it. I have a whole folder of candy bar scenes of books that went somewhere else. I still love those scenes, and they were great inspiration for developing and getting started with stories, but they never made it into the final books and will never be seen by anyone but me.

So, yeah. I can't knit, neither yarn nor story. But I admire those of you who can.

Knitting Scenes into Stories: Nah, I'm Way Too Rigid

Knitting in writing. Do I? Have I? Should I?

~slaps knee~

Oh, dear Readers, I have attempted the great "write scenes as they come to you, then knit them together into a cohesive story."

Such. A. Disastrophy.

My analytical brain had apoplexy. It shrieked. It flailed. It gave me a two-week migraine to ensure I never, ever, ever pulled a stunt like that again. The time it took to write that story was years longer than it should've been. The isolated scenes I'd written never made it into the final story. Worst of all, the plot and pacing of the book never recovered from trying to incorporate those pre-written islands. That is a 300k under-the-bed book that will never see the light of day.

The pole up my butt is way too stiff to let me do patchwork story writing. I am too much a girl of process and flow. A, then B, then C. My clunkiest stories are ones I didn't plot. Trying to warp a plot around pre-written scenes is 10x worse for me and the reader because it's obvious I'm trying too hard to make Fetch happen. You might think having a plot then writing the isolated scenes would make them easier to incorporate. Dear Reader, you'd be wrong. 

My method of writing requires Ch 2 to build off Ch1 and to set up Ch 3. Ch3 builds off Ch 2 and sets up Ch 4. Rando chapter out there, holding up a boombox playing "Don't You Want Me, Baby" will never fit. It'd be like a tangle of dog hair laundered into your sweater. It's not the right texture or color. It's got strands that waggle beyond the warp and weft; it's a total distraction....that gets removed.

What about developmental edits that ask me to move pieces around?

~scratches blossoming rash~

That--that's a rewrite of the whole fucking book. Knit one, purl two. If you purl one, knit two in the middle of the back piece you've got to undo everything that came after and re-knit. Or you live with the glaring flaw. Thems your options. 

Admittedly, there are many successful authors who can and do beautifully knit scenes into great stories. I'm not saying you shouldn't; I'm saying I can't. So, do I knit? Not literally. Not figuratively. 

Not much for weaving...

This week's subject asks a rather significant question: Do you Weave?

In this case, weaving means to go back to a story and add in scenes to change the tale. Now, sometimes that men's in a situation where you're repairing a tale. In other cases the real question is Do You work in a linear or non-linear fashion.

I'm linear. I HAVE had to weave in repairs, but I don't like to do it.  know the beginning, the middle, and the end of a story before I start. it might change as I go along, but it's incredibly rare for me to add in a scene after the fact.

It's a matter of structure and a matter of how my mind works I've had a few occasions where something wasn't work was writing it, but in most cases that meant deleting part of the book stopping what I was doing ad rewriting a block of the tale before I ever got close to finishing it.

The one serious exception was SERENITY FALLS, which is easily the largest piece I ever wrote. The first version of the book was 300,000 words long and came out as a single volume When the paperback version came out it was decided by the publisher to make it a trilogy. In order to make that happen, I added 40,000 words of story and shuffled quite a bit of the book around to guarantee easy story flow.

No, that's not a typo. I added half a novel worth of work in the weave. It was necessary in order to make the story as seamless as possible and meant adding well over a dozen new scenes. I do not regret any part of that work, just for the record.

Still, I'd rather not is my point.

Do You Knit... or WEAVE?

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is... knitting? Did our calendar guru pick this for Mother's Day week, or is it a coincidence?

Anyway, it's not the knitting you think. (Or not the knitting *I* thought.) We're asking each other if we write scenes piece by piece and knit them together, or if we have ever had to knit-in scenes?

I am not a knitter. If I go for a textile metaphor, I'd say I'm a weaver. I line up all the threads, begin at one end with nothing but a lot of colors and textures, and then I weave them gradually into a tapestry. That said, I've occasionally had to weave scenes, themes, and clues into the finished story - which is probably what the topic poser is getting at here.

It just doesn't feel like knitting to me.

For example, for developmental edits on THE FIERY CROWN (out in only two weeks!! preorder now!! Eeee!!!), my editor Jennie Conway asked me to add in some scenes early in the book. She wanted to see some of the secondary characters sooner. She also wanted discussion of a later issue to happen sooner. So I ended up adding two scenes and fleshing out a couple of others.

The thing is, this isn't like patching a tire or splicing a soundbite into a podcast (which I've learned to do!). Nor is it like reworking some part of a painting. That's why I think of it as weaving. In order to add scenes and characters to an earlier point in the tapestry, I have to adjust the warp and weft before that to accommodate them. Then I have to alter the pattern of the threads thereafter, to keep the texture even and the pattern tight.

It was all for good reasons - and made for a better book - but yeah... I don't knit. Either in my writing or in real life!

Available at these Retailers

         

Let's Make My Science Fiction Rock Star Romance into a Musical!

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is "Your book as a musical: which book would you choose to have made into a musical and which composer/lyricist/songwriter would you have score it?"

No problem answering this one – I wrote a science fiction rock star romance so let’s make that one a full blown musical! Here’s the story of Star Cruise: Songbird: Grant Barton, a Security Officer on the Nebula Zephyr, is less than thrilled with his current assignment to guard an Interstellar singing sensation while she’s on board the ship. It doesn’t help that he and his military war bird Valkyr are dealing with their recent separation from the Sectors Special Forces and uncertainty over their future, with their own planet in ruins.

Karissa Dawnstar is on top of the charts and seemingly has it all – talent, fame, fortune and devoted fans, but behind her brave smile and upbeat lyrics she hides an aching heart. When a publicity stunt goes wrong, Karissa finds herself in the arms of the security officer assigned to protect her – and discovers a mutual attraction she can’t ignore.

Trouble continues to plague the pair, driving a wedge between them and leaving Grant certain that Karissa is in more danger than she realizes, from overzealous fans and her own management. Grant is determined to protect Karissa whether she wants his help or not. Can he discover the truth behind what’s going on before he loses Karissa or is there someone else plotting to keep them apart – permanently?

I love the rock star romance genre and among my favorites are Nalini Singh’s Rock Kiss series, J T Geissinger, Liora Blake…plus movies such as “The Bodyguard” and “Beyond the Lights”.  That, and my fascination with any number of behind the scenes documentaries about rock tours, helped influence me when I was writing this book. I think it’d be fairly easy to turn the storyline into a musical, with Karissa, the rock star in question singing full out production numbers during the stage shows and a pensive ballad or two when the romantic hard times occur. I’d love to have someone create the pulse pounding finale song, which Karissa has written as a tribute to her love for Grant.

Can we get the antigrav dancers too? Oh and the two alien birds?

I’m not too up on composers and etc. I like what I like and I don’t analyze the details too much. Probably if one of the current rock stars could be interested in creating songs for the movie, we’d be in great shape! Katy, Taylor, Beyonce, GaGa….I kind of rattle around in my musical tastes from vintage rock to Disney tunes to 1930’s and 1940’s musicals to Rodgers & Hammerstein to country to Backstreet Boys to certain current artists to…well, you get the picture. So I say let’s put together the movie deal and see what happens! Let’s make a musical!

(Too bad the composer of the "Fireball XL-5" full theme song isn't available...)

Now if we wanted a musical that was more about the dancing, Star Cruise: Mystery Dancer would be ideal and could feature different dance production numbers from the audition montage to the finale, as well as a ballad or two for those moments when the heroine reflects on her tragic past or the destiny facing her or the impossibility of her love for the hero (but of course we all know that turns out fine by the closing curtain)…

Here’s the plot: Tassia Megg is a woman on the run after the death of her elderly guardian. She needs to get off the planet in a hurry when chance directs her to an open dance audition for the luxury cruise liner Nebula Zephyr’s resident troupe. One thing Tassia can do is dance.

Security Officer Liam Austin is suspicious of the newest performer to join the Comettes. She shows all the signs of being a woman on the run and seems to fit the Sectors-wide broadcast description of a missing thief, accused of stealing priceless artifacts. As he gets to know Tassia during the cruise, he starts to wonder if she’s something more – a long vanished princess in hiding from deadly political enemies of her family perhaps?

And what’s the story with the three eyed feline companion other crew members swear Tassia brought aboard the ship? Does the animal even exist?

As the ship approaches its next port of call, all the issues come to a boil and Liam must decide if he’ll step in to help Tassia or betray her. F’rrh the alien cat is the key to the mystery and Tassia’s fate.

A science fiction romance take on the Anastasia tale...

If it seems like I’ve had it too easy answering this week’s question, I’ll offer you a third choice that doesn’t ‘star’ a singer or a dancer – Trapped on Talonque.

Here’s the plot and then I’ll explain my vision for the musical: Will an alien sleeping beauty awaken to save him, or to destroy everyone around her?

Space Marine Nate Reilly and his Special Forces team are in deep trouble. Prisoners on a backward alien planet, they're brought before an alien 'goddess', sleeping in her high tech seclusion. Nate is astonished when she awakes and establishes a psychic link with him. But her news is not good--he and his men must win a brutal challenge set by their captors, or they will die. She'll give her aid, but in the end their courage and strength must win the contest.

Bithia sleeps in her chamber, as she has for thousands of years, since her own people unaccountably left her there. Viewed as a goddess by her captors, she must hide her ancient secrets to survive. But only the bravest of men may free her. Can she use her psychic powers to keep Nate and his men alive long enough to help her escape, or will her only hope of freedom die with them?

I could envision some really heart rending duets, with the trapped alien heroine and the stalwart human Special Forces soldier, as they meet in dreams, and of course a triumphantly happy one at the end of the book. I could see a certain sporting event set to music, lots of quick cuts and pulse pounding rock beats…the soldier vowing revenge after one of his men is murdered in their captivity, which could make for a powerful song of defiance and determination…perhaps one of the scenes with the planet’s inhabitants conducting a ceremony which would allow for a fantastic set piece…there’s a sort of light hearted village dance toward the end…of course a love song, on the beach…and a rousing instrumental anthem as the happy ending is achieved (no spoilers from me).

I’m not as excited about this one, probably because I never envisioned it as a musical but hey, if Lord of the Rings can be done as a stage musical, why not?

Happy reading!

Note: All book covers done by Fiona Jayde.

True Love, High Aventure, and Explosions: The Musical!

When I think of the musicals I've seen and the ones I've been in, I think of grand sweep tales (the ones I've seen) and the utterly silly (the ones I've been in). We won't talk about the show where I was painted blue and singing about a unicorn. Or the show where I sang a rhapsodic song about my pink Airstream trailer.

Anyway.

Musicals. I'm not sure how you score a science fiction romance. I mean. I suppose if someone could score Victor Hugo, there out to be a rousing score for Enemy Within. So long as it didn't end up sounding like Pirates of Penzance. I admit that like Alexia, I see SFR in a more cinematic ligh - - - WAAAAIT.

I write Space Opera. What if - stay with me here - WHAT IF I could get a Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd What's Opera Doc adaptation of Enemy Within?? SIGN. ME. UP.

Do I see my book as a musical?

Hmmm….which one of my books would I turn into a musical? Tough topic this week, SFF Seveners! 

It shouldn’t be difficult though, right? I mean, I’ve never been to a live musical. The closest I’ve been would be South Dakota State’s production of Capers and I don’t remember there being music other than some background stuff…I’d label it comedy satire, excellent comedy-satire.

No live stuff, though I am a fan of some classic movie-musicals: My Fair Lady, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Greatest Showman, and about every Disney movie ever. 

But turning one of my books into a musical? I think I’m in Vivien Jackson’s camp on this one…I don’t see it. 

Sci-fi thrillers just don’t make good musicals. When I write sci-fi I definitely see what I’m writing, exactly like a movie. Sometimes when I’m writing I even lean back in my chair and enjoy the show…I just need to remember to make some popcorn when I do that.  

On the other hand...my fantasy writing could be turned into musicals. Awakening the Blades would be equated to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a lot of parallels there. But that movie ended up being a horror/action flick, which I’m totally down for! My second fantasy could be compared to the Lord of the Rings, very epic, large cast of characters, and the balance of the world depends on a single choice. So, I guess if you can picture Gandalf the White belting out tunes then we’ve got somethin’. 

Personally, I’d rather stick to imagining my writing as blockbuster movies. They already play out that way in my head and the music I listen to as I work is 99% instrumental. 

Wait…instrumental…that’s big in musicals too, right? I mean, there’s music everywhere in a musical. It’s happening when the curtain’s shut. It’s chiming when you’re supposed to be sitting down! It’s crescendoing as the scenes are being changed over!! Nooooooo!!! My books could be musicals one day!!!

My panic aside, do you have a favorite read or book that you’d LOVE to see as a musical?  

Robot Kissing: The Musical? Nah

So this week we are imagining a book of ours... as a musical. And while I think this musicalization thing worked out really well for Buffy, I can't see my stories on stage at all. I think that's because I'm not a super visual person, and when I'm writing I try to focus more on the other senses, whereas theater is principally visual? Or because I did too much musical theater in high school and am still scarred by Li'l Abner?

Anyhow, when I was writing Wanted & Wired, I did have a playlist, so maybe that counts. It was a lot of of AC/DC (all of Back in Black, which is one of two albums I consider the best ever, fight me), The Killers, and Prince (because Prince works as mood music for everything). Some Foo Fighters, Bikini Kill, and other random stuff. I added The Eagles' "Desperado" for Perfect Gravity -- because, hello cowboy -- and Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album for More Than Stardust (shocking, I know). Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" is my personal theme song, so it comes up from time to time, too.

So I guess you could score my books like that? Dunno. I still don't "see" it.

Right now I'm writing to the persistent and violent lullaby of my kids' multitude of remote-learning videos. I can tell you one thing: that stuff? Not inspiring.

Dream Team for Scoring The Hanged Spy: The Musical

If one of my books were to be made into a musical, The Hanged Spy would probably be best suited to the stage for the sake of sets and how the magic can be shown with creative lighting. It'd also lend itself wonderfully to audience inclusion in both staging and effects.

Who would I have score the show and wrangle the lyrics? Lzzy Hale (of Halestorm) and Maria Brink (of In This Moment) would be amazeballs. Not only do they both write songs that shove you into potent pockets of emotion, but their music also takes listeners along a journey of highs and lows necessary for storytelling. Maria's live shows are rich with theatrics, so she gets how songs and staging need to work together. Lzzy is the queen of collaborators across genres, so penning music that enhances the uniqueness of the diverse factions is totally in her wheelhouse.

I would love, love, love to hear what these metal powerhouses would compose for Bix's personal anthem and for the soul-crushing duet with Bix and Tobek. Oh, and they can do sinister so well that the antagonist might end up with the show-stealer. Then there'd be the insouciant ditty for Drew the draugr. Earworm stamped all over it.

~shuffles playlist and gets back to writing~

Music and Mayhem

This week's subject is interesting: which of our books would we like to see as a musical, and who would write it?

Well, damn it, I say dream big.

I'd have to say my first novel, UNDER THE OVERTREE would be my suggestion. There's tons of teenaged angst, hidden desires and dark motivations to consider. Really, it's sort of a coming of age tale, but on the dark side.  I can see it lending itself to the musical format.

So now the question is, who should write and design it?

The answer I simple: Freddy Mercury, David Bowie and Prince.  Seriously, those three together? Can you IMAGINE the showmanship? The passion and angst?  WHEN DOVES CRY, mixed with SAIL AWAY SWEET SISTER and finished off with SPACE ODDITY. My God, what a show they would have made.

I can't imagine a better combination unless you throw in a little early Elton John.