Monday, August 23, 2021
Limited editions?
Of course I do. Where wouod the fun be if every character was nearly perfect?
But the less glib answe goes something like this: The characters, as in real life, are deg=fined not only by what they can do, but by what they can't do. Gooing all the way back to UNDER THE OVERTREE, my very first novel, I have always believed charcters should have flaws. Any in thius case, I mean physical flaws. Mark Howell, the main player in the story (I can really call hi the hero of the tale) was obese and obsessed wigth not being o erweight. He was obsessed witgh a lot of things, really, but he couldnpt stand being overweight because he thought that held him back from the girl of his dreams.
Tyler Wilson a scrawny kid with horriboe eyesight and a dangerousoy loud mouth, saw tghe world differently and refused to let the fact that he was blind as a bat without his glasses and didnt have a battgleship body to back uo his battleship mouth stop him from firing said mouth off at the drop of a hat. they had two very different approaches to their world, as well they should.
The thing ofit is, we as people are defined not only by the world around us but by our perceptions if that world. I think you have to show that as much as possible in writing if you want to breathe life into your golems.
I ALWAYA want my golems to live as much as possible. how can i convince reader to care about the characters if they aren't able to understand their motivations I may as well as comic readers to accept stick figures (all I'm capabe of drawing these days). Theose flaws, those physical limitations can make all of the difference. In SEVEN FORGES Andover Lashk is maimed for life, His hands are utterly destroyed, and he faces a life as a cripple, assuming he survives the infection that set in on his damaged limbs. The challenges and miraculous cure he is offered shape the rest of his life from that moment on.
In the SEVEN FORGES series, it is important that one faction of the people see scars as a weakness and another sees scars as a sign or strength.
For me this us simple and effective way to show the differences in cultures. It is also a simple and effective way to show the strenhgths and weknesses of chracters who will elvolve and adapt, or fail to adapt, in a story.
Tead=ser time: Here's the back cover for a new anthology I'm editing. I'll posty more about that soon.
Sunday, August 22, 2021
Cover Reveal! The Dragon's Daughter and the Winter Mage
I'm headed out of town so today I'm just sharing a cover reveal for my September release! The Dragon's Daughter and the Winter Mage comes out September 24 and isn't this cover stunning??
Saturday, August 21, 2021
Dearest Reader...
As for things I don't like about publishing? Petty people and waiting. But these things feel minor in comparison to what I wrote above. I might be too new to answer this week's question with anything but naivety ;) But for now, I really love this gig, and I hope I get to do it for a very long time.
Friday, August 20, 2021
Writing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Ah, the idealism of the new author. Everything is so shiny. All possibility lays before whatever debut book is about to hit the world. That pivotal moment is the very best part of writing. Anything could happen. Then the book is published and an author's fortunes fall as they may. This is my list of the best and worst part about the journey.
The Good
- Finishing a book. There's nothing like that feeling. Nothing. I love solving story problems to the point that I wrap a story.
- Editing. Fixing what I've written plays to my strengths - which, in case you're wondering - are overthinking and paralysis by analysis.
- Readers.
The Bad
- First drafts. OMG, y'all. I so want this to come easier, but see the above line about overthinking. Now you can add in second guessing and not trusting myself.
- Finding/creating the time and space I need to do the deep work I need to do in order to write. Turns out moving your parents in with you during a pandemic isn't conducive to silence and contemplation.
- Isolation. The pandemic nonsense has zapped a bunch of us who need to come together once in awhile in some kind of evil master mind convention and trade energy.
- Daily chronic migraine. SO gets in the way. We're working on it. I swear.
The Ugly
- Me. Drafting. Again. Drafting is my own Sisyphean task. WANT TO FIX. Help me fix me!
- Having someone you need to be able to trust abuse that trust by withholding vital communication. This is a thing. Remember you own your own business. Don't be afraid to fire people. Somedays it's necessary. But it's definitely bad.
- My marketing.
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Alexia's Favorite Perk to being an Author!
Publishing is a strange, strange occupation…at least from my POV coming from the medical field. It’s time tables are opaque and responses from people lag for months until suddenly something is needed yesterday.
It’s easy to pick out the dislikes in the book making biz, as it is with everything. But I like to focus on the good stuff—the highlights!
My number one fave of being an author:
Being blessed to be included in some wonderful groups of authors!
This picture are my 2018 Golden Heart sisters, the Persisters. Having a group of writers that, no matter which publishing path they were taking, were starting out at about the same place was invaluable. Having these fabulous women, and the women I met through my Golden Heart experience, is definitely the best part of being an author and I hope that each and every one of you find a like-minded group to feel at home with.
My next fave is being able to work from home and have this guy around all the time.
Writing's a lonely gig! You're in your own head, you need no to minimal interruptions, quiet places rule, and all communication is done through email. It's easy to loose connections, which is maybe why authors are so fond of their pets. And I gotta say, I'm awfully fond of Ullr—even when he's a knucklehead and whining to go outside to chase squirrels.
What are your best and worst aspects of being an author?
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Writing, the best of jobs, the worst of jobs
This week on SFF Seven, we’re talking about the absolute best part of publishing… and also the worst, the nadir. The pit. The suxors.
First, the good stuff. For me, the best part of publishing is not even publishing, not really. It’s writing the book. I believe that writing is not a thing I do so much as it is a thing I am in my most core self. If I wrote nothing, I would no longer exist. That’s how integral storytelling is for me.
Note that I’m using words like writing and storytelling here, not necessarily publishing. Where publishing shines is those occasions when I am identified as an authoress. In other words, I love validation from the outside world of a thing that I know already: that I’m a thing that writes. That validation can come in the form of an email from somebody who read a book of mine and liked it enough to tell me, or having my agent or editor express excitement over a manuscript, or even my kid telling her English teacher that she developed strong writing skills because her mom is “a professional writer.”
Those are the moments in my life when I feel the most real, like I’m earning my spot on this planet by doing the thing I was meant to do. Publishing sometimes offers those moments, and I love it for that.
I love it less for being a business, which leads us to my least favorite thing about publishing: money. Anybody says they’re writing purely for the riches of it all gets an automatic side-eye from me. That person would be better served in almost any other profession, because fiction writing is a terrible get-rich-quick scheme. The dirty secret about this biz is that most writers don’t make a living wage through their fiction writing alone, so they supplement by giving talks, doing a little editing on the side, writing how-to books, teaching classes, or, as in my case, having a partner who doesn’t mind that I’m a net negative on the household income tax form. Yeah, I am very aware of my privilege, and I am grateful.
To him, mind you. Not to publishing. Publishing as a biz minds very much if a writer does not rake in the bucks. Publishing is very okay with kicking that writer right to the curb. Nothing personal, just business. And that’s the thing I hate most about it.
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Best & Worst of Publishing
Best: Getting to share my stories with the world!
Worst: Most of the world being unaware of the existence of those stories.
~takes knife through the heart~
~collapses to the floor~
~single tear dribbles down cheek~
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Monday, August 16, 2021
The pros and cons of the writing gig
Dislikes: 1) Everything happens so slowly, except the deadlines to turn around edits. Inevitably once you've turned in a book the hurry up and wait begins.. Then, and this is UNIVERSALLY WITH EVERY BOOK I'VE EVER DELIVERED TO A MAJOR HOUSE, when they shoot themmanuscript back to you, they want it back in ten days please.
2) once again with the major houses, I've had remarkaby little say on cover art.
3) could we, maybe, just this once mind you, try advretising the book/ you know, so i can spend my time writing?
4) wouod we maybe be able to work out buying the book on an outline and a few smple chapters? It happens, but not as often as I'd like.
5) I got you blurbs. Can we use them?
Likes:
1) I have 9 moths to write this. Plkay, I'll spend seven months on other prok=jects, but I have 9 months!!!
2) Damn, that's some pretty cover art. With the exception of maybe three covrs, I've almost universally loved the artwork for my books.
3)Self-publishing is no longer a sin. BAD edit jobs are, but not self-publishing. I'll take what i can get. 4) i love occasionally writing media tie-ins. I'd do that more often if it were offered. How can you NOT love writing in some of your favorite sand boxees?
5) I can nver say how much i've learned from good editors, and I am normally blessed with good editors.
A bonus ;love: I get so much excitement out of projects that stick in my mind and whispr to me. The image below is one of many pieces of insoiration for my nove abut the Bogeyman. I'm 30,000 words into this beast and its echoing around in the back of my head. This is goingto be deliciousy evil fun!
What are YOU working on, writer types? Artist types?