Author: ransomnoble

Published Writer: young adult and science fiction

A Sustainable Question

How often do we think about the products we use with regard to sustainable materials?

I know Gaiam has several items and there are directories (EcoSherpa is one) where you can find things for yoga. There is SpeeSees for children’s attire. Larger cities often have boutiques geared toward this niche market.

Yoga led me to look at a bigger picture, though I must admit I still use harsh cleaning products. (For now, I keep thinking about going greener in my house and I’ve been reading up on how to do it.)

I don’t often think about it, but when I see it I like it and I will purchase it, provided it isn’t cost-prohibitive. Not saying it has to be less expensive, but sometimes it’s really hard to say yes to buying something ten times the price because it doesn’t hurt the environment. The pocketbook doesn’t always allow that!

I do like seeing companies that make an effort on that front and I am more likely to support them than their counterparts who don’t.

I loved the idea of flushable diapers, but unfortunately my new house has toilets that won’t work with it. (Or so I have been told.) My washing machine also saves too much water to be able to really clean cloth diapers. This really limits my options toward being eco-friendly in that department.

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Plot is a Verb

I read often. Professional or amateur writer – I always feel I can learn from their styles.

This phrase from Plot, “Plot is a verb,” sticks with me when I read some things. The plot must move. It goes somewhere. It generally changes the protagonist in some way. A lot of little snippets have events and don’t change the main character. While these snippets can be interesting, entertaining, or sometimes neither, they don’t always keep all the elements of a story.

Sometimes writers forget who the story is about, or the story they start telling isn’t the one they finish telling. It’s not easy to tell a good story, and it is worth the effort to keep trying.

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Attempt to Publish

I’m always both excited and nervous when it comes time to submit to a new market. I have a short story geared toward children I’m sending to a magazine that’s a bigger market than I’ve tried before. Usually I’ve been submitting adult articles to science fiction magazines, so it’s different that way, too.

I like the e-submit options that a lot of those magazines have. However, there’s something about actually printing the story that makes me keep reading it over. How good is good enough? When do you stop and just mail it? Where did I leave all my envelopes? (I moved a few months ago and I haven’t necessarily figured out where I put everything yet, though most things I ‘lose’ can be found within a few minutes searching.)

I promised myself it’d be ready to mail this week and Wednesday turned into Friday. I wasn’t planning to go to the post office today, but I’d better if I’m going to meet my goal!

The ‘good’ versus ‘good enough’ question gets a lot of writers, I think. I know several who don’t send things out, always tweaking just a little bit more. As we learn, yes, our stories improve, but if we never send anything out, what progress are we making? Isn’t the purpose to share?

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Editing Joy

Every time I write something, different things run through my mind. The story is the first part of the focus, but sentence structure intrudes most of the time at a secondary level.

The big things are sometimes the easiest to figure out, but some of them slip through the cracks. It was the final edit of my novel to be published where I found a mistake about who was in class with whom. (While I hope that was the last error, we shall see when it’s printed and everyone else gets to read it.)

In my current novel project I’m identifying all the places where the protagonists interacted with others and making sure it’s all consistent with their personalities. Later I’ll tweak my verbs and check for overall readability.

It may not sound like much fun, but digging into the story to bring it out more is enjoyable. It also means my characters get to live on in my head while longer!

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The Limits of Genre

“A YA novel is gritty and gruesome in a way that a middle grade novel never would be.”

While researching my latest novel, I came across this sentence. The “gritty and gruesome” part stuck with me; I really enjoy writing to the teen/young adult age group and part of the reason why is because of those two words.

I grew up reading Judy Blume. A lot of her more famous books covered life as a child, but there were also some books in there that talked about getting older and larger issues. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Deenie, and forever… are a few of those. She also wrote some novels for adults. In all of her books she treated her audience fairly and wrote the story as it needed to be told. I really respect her as a writer because of this, especially after listening to several children’s authors who believe everything must fit into their lowest category of sold books.

What I’ve learned from listening to writers and readers is that everyone has a limit of what they’ll read and enjoy. I understand this – it’s part of the human condition. I don’t feel like it should limit me on what I want to write and share because I also happen to publish young adult novels. One day I might write a picture book, but I don’t think that should limit me from putting a fist fight in another novel somewhere or mentioning that two (adult) characters had sex. It’s part of the story: leaving out those parts make a lot of stories weaker and less believable.

I love the genres I write. I would be ecstatic to become one of those names people think of when they talk about authors. More than anything I want to share the stories in my head, but I don’t want to limit them or pull my punches because I also write to a young audience.

I also don’t want to write a weaker story and say I had to because I also write for children. I’d rather take credit for my failings and say it was because I wasn’t comfortable writing the scene or that it went against my core values to take it farther than I did. If I market a book to an age group, I’ll fit that age group. If the book is to adults, then expect some adult content. I expect that of the books I read and I won’t give less to what I write.

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Finger Puppets

Etsy Finger Puppets

I gave these puppets to my niece as a birthday gift. The regular version, not the Halloween version, though both are pretty cool. She loved them! She’s six and she’s totally into all manner of things artistic that she can put together or do herself.

It’s so much fun to watch her excitement over these items. some things she needs supervision with, especially because these require fabric glue (available anyplace craft goods are sold, including Wal-Mart and Target).

The puppets are made of felt, cut to approximate sizes in varying colors. Included are squares for cutting of hair and clothes in any style the creator can think of! “At least two eyes” per puppet are guaranteed, though there is the option of putting on more or less as you like. This is definitely a cute idea to share and it keeps kids (and adults) on their creative toes to see what they can come up with.

Actually, sometimes it makes me want some of my own!

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Meet Dehanna Bailee

I had the chance to interview the author of Calypso’s Revenge. This book is pretty exciting, and she’s definitely an author to watch!

Tell us about yourself, Dehanna.
I’ve been writing for over six years and my published works include True Nature (paranormal romance), The ABC’s of POD (nonfiction) as well as an assortment of other e-books, articles, anthologies, etc. I have two new fiction works coming out this month and next, a science fiction novel with romantic elements titled Calypso’s Revenge: A Traitor’s Heart and a contemporary paranormal novella For Better or Worse.

What are your writing habits?
Admittedly, my writing habits are not what I would like them to be but, even so, I do try to write, or at least do something writing-related, every day. I often find forced inspiration difficult, especially if things are chaotic, however I figure if I can’t actually create anything new I will spend some time reworking what I have written and/or trying to strengthen my skills to be a better writer.

What drew you to write Calypso’s Revenge?
Calypso’s Revenge came out of the blue. I have always enjoyed science fiction books and movies but as for writing it, this was a leap, but once I started writing it, I had to finish it. No matter how long it took—which this one took much longer than anything else I’d written not only due to the original length but the amount of work it took to get it to where the story is now.

What about Calypso’s Revenge keeps you excited and makes you want to share it?
What got me excited was that although it wasn’t picked up by a major publisher, it was looked at, which means it might not have been what they were wanting at the moment but at least it got me in the door. What makes me want to share it is that I know it breaks the rules; it’s not just like everything else out there for it’s not merely a sci-fi, nor is it even close to the present definition of a textbook romance, and as for the ending, well…that’s a whole ‘nuther story in its own.

What advice do you give to beginning authors?
Write what you want to write because in the first place, writing should be fun, and second, words that come from the heart seem to have more of an ability to make that all-so-special connection with the read than any amount of rule-following and conformity. This doesn’t mean that a writer shouldn’t know the rules, and always strive to improve, it just means that it’s okay to just let the words flow from your fingers then go back and tweak them later to fit a certain market (if you choose to do so). Remember that they’re your words, enjoy the expression of the mind and do with them what you will.

Do you have other comments?
I’d like to thank you for letting me come be a guest on your blog and to invite any readers who are interested in learning more about me or my books to visit me online at http://www.dehanna.com

Thanks for joining me, Dehanna! Best of luck for Calypso’s Revenge!

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Coming Soon from Dehanna Bailee

CALYPSO’S REVENGE: A TRAITOR’S HEART

Blue Leaf Publications

To Be Released Early 2009

Rating: PG-13

“Every honorable act demands sacrifice — not just of flesh and blood but one of heart…”

Coming soon, a book with a futuristic setting and romantic elements. Teah Valtamise is a former Brigadier from Calypso; she fled, but her newest protégé turns on her. She works to save an innocent person from the dealings of a man bent on vengeance while working with an old comrade. Is she prepared to sacrifice everything for the sake of right? At stake is a chance at love, an old friendship, and maybe even her own life.

Calypso’s Revenge is very readable, and the heroine is an intriguing character. It promises to be an original speculative fiction novel that keeps readers in suspense and doesn’t follow the conventions of the science fiction or romance genres. The story packs surprises, including the end. This is good for anyone who appreciates excitement and realism with believable characters.

http://www.blueleafpub.com/

http://dehanna.com/index.htm

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NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, takes place in November. Thousands of writers all over the world attempt to write 50,000 words during the month. It averages to about 1667 words a day, and most of them don’t make it.

Today I finished the novel. Full length novels are generally 70,000 to 120,000 words, so making the word count doesn’t mean the novel is completed. Lucky for me, I decided a YA novel would be good for the challenge and guessed it would be finished near that 50k mark.

My rough draft is 51,147! I have 20 chapters, maybe 21 if I split it a little differently. Editing starts in December, or really whenever I want to now that I’ve finished. I’m finding new ways to write and outline this year that have really helped my efforts.

My average per day I wrote (and I didn’t get to write a few days in there) was 2557. All right, I admit I’m a bit of a nerd and I keep track of those things! My personal best today was today: I wrote 7678 words.

I’ve listened to a lot of people who have strong opinions about this event. Some of the nay-sayers think they need to write quality rather than quantity. I think I can understand that, but I know I’m the type of writer who needs to get the story out of my head before revising it. Sometimes, it takes a completely different turn than I’d planned at the beginning and I like seeing how it all comes to life. When it’s down on paper I find it easier to polish the story and really hone in on what I want to say and fix mistakes. As long as everyone understands it will get a rewrite later, maybe two, or however many it takes to get that gem to shine.

So I’ve been cheering on my friends. This year we prepped together. We challenged ourselves and we planned celebrations. I made it, and I hope every one of them does, too. Then we’ll edit. Some of us will even try to publish them. Wish us luck!

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First Author Reading

Over the weekend, I attended ICON. I enjoyed masquerading as my author self and a friend suggested I sign up to read. Two slots were open; I was the only one to volunteer.

Questions circled my mind immediately. “What do I read?” “Who will show up?” “Will they be interested in someone they haven’t heard of and isn’t advertised?”

The answer to the last question is yes, if attendees know what you’re attempting and when. The answer to the second depends on what conflicts with the reading. The first question occupied me the most, other than the nervousness accompanying any new venture.

I chose to read my published anthology story, “Qui’s Contract.” Other than that, I’m extremely excited about my current project, an unnamed-as-yet young adult novel. I wrote a short story about it this summer called “Spider Dreams.” Since my segment lasted half an hour, I timed these two pieces and found I could read both with time for questions at the end.

I can’t say I packed the house, but my audience seemed to enjoy the reading. Some even stayed to ask questions. I’m excited to do it again, even following someone as distinguished as Alan M. Clark. His excerpt from an upcoming novel about D. D. Murphy, Secret Policeman, was imaginative and engaging.

I hope my listeners felt the same way about mine.

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