Author: ransomnoble

Published Writer: young adult and science fiction

Odds and Ends

Funny, yesterday I said Dawn and I had trouble gettting our schedules to mesh. Then we managed the interview last night – so check it out here.

If you checked out Crys’s blog yesterday, you saw a bunch of stuff about the struggles of self-published and small press authors. See Vivian’s response and more information at her blog here. I learned something from both of those yesterday!

In other news, I’ve been turning over my last manuscript to see what’s salvageable. There are good things and bad things about it, and it just keeps popping through my head. How much work should I put into something if I’m not sure I can publish it? It’s not keeping me up at night (I have a little one to blame for that), but I wish I had a good answer. Perhaps tomorrow will bring more insight and I’ll have fewer ideas popping in my head. (Not likely, but I don’t mind the new ideas!)

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A Word from My Friends

Jamie – This fellow writer has his blog detailing his works in progress with tidbits about his life and family. You’ve probably dropped by his blog before if you followed the blog tour for The Art of Science. When he gets a book out, I hope to return the favor.

Michelle – She’s a singer/songwriter in Ohio. She plays her guitar and sings at a local restaurant, Pot Belly. One of the great parts of her blog is she posts a new song once a week.

Shawna – Here’s a new one on my writer scene, for those who yawned at the first two. (What are you thinking? These are great people!) She’s chronicling her fitness journey, though I’m not sure I want to call it a fitness journey, it’s a humorous look at how she got where she is. I hope she’s also going to use it to get where she wants to be. She’s an excellent writer (I’ve listened to her read a picture book or two) and I hope to see more from her in the future.

Crys – My fellow writer at 4RV Publishing, LLC. I haven’t met her yet, but I do have two copies of her book, Angeline Jellybean. (My mom didn’t think I’d share with my daughter. This way I don’t have to worry if she wants to chew on it.) She’s nearly finished a new young adult novel, and I know she’s working on more picture books.

Dawn – Another writer trying to get somewhere from her home in Utah. Her blog is fairly new. We’ve talked a bit about getting together for an interview, but our schedules haven’t meshed yet.

If you have a moment, check out their musings. They’ve all helped me on my way, and I just thought I’d take a moment to introduce them to my readers. Thank you!

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Challenges

I’m one of those people who’s always looking for a challenge. I like being able to accomplish things, and writing has its own to manage.

These challenges can stretch the writing abilities. I took a piece to my writing group today, and they thought I could make it into a picture book. Funny, I just hadn’t looked at it that way. It would require a few changes, but it’d be cute.

I thought I’d never written anything like that, but it turns out I was wrong. And all of that from a prompt that said to have a story where something makes odd noises at night and not a horror story. Good thing, since I’m not much of one to write horror stories anyway. (I don’t read them much either, if you’re wondering, and I stay far away from the movies. My overactive imagination does not deal well with most of those.)

Sometimes, it’s just nice to try to stretch in that way. To take a stock prompt or random stretching of ability and turn it into something to be proud of.

One day I’m going to take up the challenge of not ending sentences with prepositions… but not in my blog. Here you can read me just like you can listen to me – a little incorrect, but generally well-meaning.

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Word Choices

In writing, the words you choose are everything. Is it red, or scarlet, or mulberry? Some of them aren’t as easy to choose between.

There are other choices. Deliberate mispellings, created words, and double entendres of all kinds are completely up to the author. Well, eventually editors will have a say in traditional publishing – but that isn’t the only way to go.

Do you choose adverbs instead of adjectives? Do you choose to get rid of both? Do you use them as seasonings or as the main course?

An example:

They sat on the window seat with the cooler.
They sat on the padded window seat with the cooler.
Exhausted, they lounged on the window seat with the malfunctioning cooler.
Languidly, they relaxed on the colorful window seat with the yellow cooler.

I could go on like this all day. What do you say? What do you mean? What does the reader pull from it? This all from words I can pull from the dictionary! I’m not a fan of adverbs for the most part. I usually think I can find a stronger verb to make the sentence better. (Aside from my blog posts, that is.)

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Book Club

I haven’t been part of a real book club yet. I’m not sure if it’s because of where I’ve lived recently or if I just don’t know the people running them.

A friend of mine said it might be cool for my book to be part of a mother-daughter book club. It sounds like a fun idea, even though my daughter’s too young yet, so sometimes my mind wanders to books that might be fun to put into that kind of thing.

It really makes me want to browse the bookstores and Amazon. (Amazon because I’m sure there are quite a few books, like mine, that would be good for that kind of club but are not available in stores.)

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Geek Appeal

What do children know of grammar? According to this article, perhaps more than you think.

It talks about innate knowledge of nouns and verbs by the time a child turns two. There is a brain response to incorrectly using the nouns and verbs.

Of course they’re not sure what this will mean for language learning yet, but the implications could be interesting. It also says the toddlers aren’t capable of using the words correctly as they know they’re supposed to be used. What if that isn’t true?

I suppose it will take more research to figure that out.

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Family Relationships, Pt 2

Unexpected changes in relationships can put stresses on all of them. Characters must be examined from each facet of the unique family dynamic to see how they’re put together.

Deaths, births, marriages and divorces are all stressful events that change a character’s family. They’re not to be used lightly, and they show a character to his limits. Home and family are always things that define a person.

Add in a holiday or two, and things might be comedic, strained, or just plain ordinary. All angles can be shown to put the characters to light.

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Family Relationships

It might have been the introduction of The Speaker for the Dead where Orson Scott Card talked about how each character fits into a family and their relationships within.

One of the characters had six children, and he said each fit into the family in a unique way. It was hard for him because every time two people get together, whether it be in a story or in real life, their character is a little different.

It’s these unique relationships that stretch writers as we try to show the stories that are in our heads. As he explained it, each of those six children and the mother had different facets depending on which other characters s/he interacted with. It comes up to a lot of facets, then slightly more shadings as you combine more than just two characters in a scene.

As I write, I try to listen to the character as I’ve imagined him/her. It helps, but sometimes it isn’t enough to preserve those slight differences with each character. As with everything else, practice makes perfect.

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Superstition

There are several superstitions floating around our culture. They’re not always believed: “Step on a crack; break your mother’s back.” Others are more pervasive, like “knock on wood.”

How many people remember where that one comes from? A long time ago, when the more common belief held spirits were everywhere, people wanted to be thankful when good luck hit them and remember the tree spirits so they wouldn’t take their luck away.

Is there a good way to work in irrational beliefs into a character? Sometimes it’s difficult to see where they work into our own personalities, and making them work into fictional characters is just as dicey. Be careful, be consistent, and be sure you find the right motivation.

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Appearances

What do you look for when you listen to an author?

I read an edition of Toastmasters magazine about writing, authorship and book promotion from this spring. The author talked about having great success on a night when he danced “The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show. His take on it was to show the audience who he was, let them establish a connection, and then the books sell.

I don’t think I’ll be dancing to “The Time Warp”, since I never was a fan of RHPS, but it does make me think of what I can do to show myself and be unique. If I do read, it will be a short excerpt.

I’m curious what readers would like. Something more like Crystalee’s post from the blog tour? If you didn’t see it, it’s here. Or is there something more personal, more outlandish, that is required to catch your attention?

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