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.

The Mark of the Tala: The 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?"

This is an amusing question in part because it's never been posed to me before. And I'm a fan of musicals from way back, having even performed in a few back in high school. I gave serious thought to which book would best translate to stage and who would do a great job with it.

I finally settled on THE MARK OF THE TALA, the first book in The Twelve Kingdoms trilogy and the overall Uncharted Realms series. I considered The Forgotten Empires books, but I think this story has an arc that would work best for stage - and I can envision the musical numbers. This entire trilogy was heavily influenced by the musical Wicked. There's even a scene in book 3, THE TALON OF THE HAWK, that I drew directly from a climactic song in that musical.

Therefore, I'd pick Stephen Schwartz for the music and lyrics and Winnie Holzman for the book. If they could do for THE MARK OF THE TALA what they did for Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked (which is an amazing book, if you've never read it), I'd be... well, I'd be defying gravity!

Why Independent Publishing Works For Me

DepositPhoto

Our topic this week is "Choosing your freedom - Traditional or Self-Publishing?" We seem to address this subject here at least once a year but that’s actually pretty appropriate, as fast as the publishing world changes nowadays!

The post below has been somewhat edited and updated, but I feel the same way I felt in 2018, which is when the post first appeared:

I’m in the independently published camp all the way, but that’s  because I’m me and this method of publishing suits my needs. There’s no one right answer for everyone so I’m not going to try to persuade, dissuade or make lemonade here today.

When I decided to work toward being a published author in 2010, I was focused on traditional publishing because that was really all I’d ever heard of. I wasn’t tied into the author community – it wasn’t as easy then to be connected and to research the ins and outs of various methods of becoming published as it is nowadays with Facebook author groups and author loops and twitter and etc. So I submitted a story to Carina Press (a Harlequin imprint) over the transom as they used to say, in response to an open call on their part for ancient world romance. I wrote a paranormal romance set in 1550 BCE Egypt and the rest is (a very modest footnote to) history. Published author here, as of 2012!

I learned so much from my experience with Carina and really enjoyed the association. They gave me a beautiful to die for cover from Frauke of Croco Designs, I loved my editor and she really ‘got’ the book, I lucked into a wonderful community of Carina authors (which is where I met Jeffe) and things seemed good. As a long time romance reader, I was thrilled to be part of the extended Harlequin family as an author.

Carina acquired the second book in the Egyptian series. Although everyone was again lovely to me and professional to work with, I got to see a different side of traditional publishing – the cover by someone other than Frauke was not my favorite, shall we say. (The second cover on the top row, below.) My editor left and while I was quickly assigned to a new editor, they didn’t really seem to resonate with my story or me. I couldn’t believe how much time was elapsing between book one’s release and book two’s release. Which to be clear wasn’t an inordinate amount of time at all for a trad published book (although Carina was primarily ebook at the time and my books never made it into print with them although there were audiobooks), but for impatient me, it was an eternity!

My entire ancient Egyptian backlist at the moment. I no longer have the rights to the original cover for Priestess of the Nile so this is my new cover. 3 by Frauke, 4 by Fiona and the one I can't wait to replace when I get the rights back hopefully!

In a good, non pandemic year, I can write and release eight or nine books on my own as a nimble self publisher, which does include professional editing.

 I discovered I didn’t like working to a contract, in terms of what book to write next. My Muse is a flighty being and likes to work on what appeals to her most. Looming schedules make her tense. Some mornings I wake up with an entire book plot in my head, out of nowhere, and if I don’t write that book right now, forsaking all others for a while, I’m making a serious mistake. My biggest sellers have been those books. They certainly weren’t anywhere on even the gauzy schedules I keep for myself.

My first self published novel
Cover by Fiona Jayde

Oh and did I mention Carina decided to leave the ancient world romance genre at that time (they may have gone back into it since for all I know) and didn’t show any interest in acquiring my scifi romance, although they were venturing into SFR then. I’m extremely glad they passed now of course. So I couldn’t have continued with them, not writing the only two types of novels I wanted to write.

Conveniently, I had also self-published my first scifi romance two months after the initial Carina book released. I LOVED everything about self-publishing. I picked the cover, the price, the distribution channels, whether to make certain edits or not, the schedule, the promo…the royalties came straight to me me me with no extra % taken out for a publisher in between me and the seller’s platform…

I’ve written my entire life and been seriously pursuing publishing since 2010. I had a long career in the business side of the house at NASA/JPL so once I was able to become a fulltime author (which didn’t happen right away – took three years, until 2015) I was ready to step right into the multitudinous tasks of being a small business owner in effect, publishing and managing my own books. And I’ve been a happy clam ever since.

I admire authors who can be hybrid and work within the traditional publishing framework and self-publish as well. I think there can be advantages to having a big, successful publisher behind you. I can’t envision it for myself at this time, but I wouldn’t necessarily say no if the right offer came along. I would negotiate the heck out of the contract to keep my intellectual property rights and to make sure there were no issues or constraints on my continuing to also self-publish.

I never had a desire for an agent, although I will say I’d love to see one of my books made into a movie or a TV show and I understand how having an agent can move an author into that world, as well as into other rights, such as foreign distribution.  Having someone actively working to gain new opportunities for your books would be cool but I’m not in a place where that fits my business model. A downside perhaps to being independent the way I prefer but not one that causes me too much angst.

Obviously a big publishing house has the resources to give a book a lot of high visibility promotion that I could never afford, although there are so many cautionary notes on that one point – too many to repeat here. I guess I’ll say as I understand it very few authors actually get the glam promo paid for by the publisher and the vast majority are left to do their own promo just like the indies BUT without the freedom to control the price of the book, etc.

I’ve been truly shocked in some of the author groups I belong to online when high flying very famous romance authors have shared what their monthly promo budgets run. After picking myself up off the floor, I knew the high stress of being at that level of name recognition and sales was something I was probably better off without.

I think an author always dreams of one of their books becoming a viral hit, leading to all the nice consequences like movie offers and mainstream media interviews and promo, and I wouldn’t say no. I’d find a good agent for sure and try to maximize the moment! But I’m very happy and content self-publishing and running my own business. I feel fortunate to have come along when I did, just when indie publishing was a real avenue that could be pursued successfully.

Yes, let's make my STAR CRUISE series into a TV show!
All covers by Fiona Jayde

I had the classic career/day job at NSA /JPL for a very long time and successfully supported my family until they were all out of the nest, so I probably came to this second, later in life, unexpected career with a different set of expectations and needs than I might have at an earlier time. I’m a very competitive, highly motivated person but it just isn’t in the same ways as it might have been had I been a fulltime author decades earlier, when the traditional publishing model was the only way to go. I also had more energy then and fewer chronic health challenges to work around, versus nowadays. I’m intensely grateful for this opportunity to write and sell my books now and for me, indie publishing is the way to go.

I've had a lot of fun along the way, fulfilled some goals and dreams that were important to me (and I have lots of stories still to tell).

So that’s my story, as told in 2018 and again now in 2020, and I’m sticking to it!

All the Options

Happy Beltane or May Day if you celebrate either. I hope you have a few minutes to enjoy the outdoors. At the very least.

Talking about publishing paths is a lot like Max standing outside my boat looking in. As Sinéad O'Connor liked to title an album, I do not want what I haven't got. Most of us come at publishing starry-eyed and with strong opinions about how we want to go. When I started, publishing really only had one option - traditional publishing. Self-publishing was still in its infancy and had the taint of desperation clinging to it. Dawn was beginning to break and there were a few outliers playing around with what might be possible. Shortly after I was first traditionally published, the ground totally shifted under self-publishing, fortunately.

These days, the options are legion.

Traditional
Self-publishing
Small press
Audio
Hybrid
I dunno. Triad?

Your choices are limited only by your wishes. Some of us NEED the validation that traditional publishing represents. Some of us hate playing by traditional publishing's timelines (which are glacial, especially if you're a high out-put author). They're also hard to break into. Generally you need an agent because the slush piles are towering door props. No lie, it took one editor three years to reject a book I'd sold someplace else.

Self-publishing lets you put books out at your pace and you need never suffer a suck-tastic cover again. Self-publishing is limited only by your budget. You get what you pay for in regard to cover work and editing. As mentioned last week, I'm currently priced out of this option.

A small press - or in my case- an e-first press with POD as an option, has trade offs just like the other options. Small presses can be risky. We've all seen presses go under. It's always sad when that happens. BUT. They're far more open minded about working with new authors and with authors who are in the position of having to start over. In my case, they were willing to republish books that had already been published once before just so they could complete the series. That's pretty flexible.

Some authors are writing specific content for audio books. I don't know much about it and I'm starting to hear that the shine is off that apple, but it is still an option. I don't do audio because there's not much call for it in my genre. Not a single one of my readers has asked for it .

Hybrid/mix of all the things - well, I suppose that's the most flexible of all, but it is a lot of balls to juggle. It means that you're published either traditionally or via a small press and you self-publish. You are still on the financial line for the books you self-pub, but if you're writing books that don't fit your traditionally published brand, self-publishing those can be a reasonable option. You'd control branding and messaging around the books that way.

The only thing I notice is that I feel a lot like poor Max. The publishing cash looks greener over there.