Category: Books

The Art of Science: Day 2

See the blog tour stop at Jamie Eyberg’s blog, A Continuity of Parks.

I did know Jamie in school, though he was a few years ahead of me so I can’t say we went to high school together. I knew his sisters better then.

One of his questions did get me thinking, though. Young adult or middle grade? We apply these labels according to an age level, but how many of us truly fit those little boxes? An age range is a guideline and it’s up to the parents, educators, or the youngsters to figure out what they’re ready to tackle. It’s a tough question, but it does help readers to have that information.

At least, that’s my opinion. A student might not read at the specified age level but may consistently be above or below. Knowing that would guide those students to where they need to be.

Or am I making it too difficult?

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Description of the Senses

Often, as writers, we’re told to write what we know. It makes me wonder, though, about things we think we know or don’t know. Missing a sense does not preclude one from undertaking the written word – even braille can be translated for sighted people.

But do the blind writers show the same sights to the reader? Can a deaf writer make the reader hear things in the story? Are smell and/or taste also subjected to the same rules?

I’ve been thinking about my book, and I am pretty sure I never mention a single smell in it. Why? I smell almost nothing. My recent pregnancy showed me there was a world out there full of scents that are beyond my daily reach (which promptly disappeared after the baby arrived). Most people I know take this for granted – some even find it as an annoyance when faced with particularly strong aromas like perfume.

Recently I rode in a car with a couple sensitive-nosed women and another who wore perfume. I remained unaware through the entire ride there was perfume present. Only during (late) pregnancy did I smell things like dishsoap while washing dishes, the dirty dishrag that needed to be changed, and the laundry aisle in the grocery store.

I’ll remember all those new scents for a time, but what happens when the memory fades? Will I remember enough to write scents into the story? It’s such a struggle for me to remember things smell anyway. I know flowers do, not so much from personal experience but by social acclimation. People speak about the smells of certain things: flowers, perfume/cologne, manure, babies.

When I read, sometimes I think about lacking senses and the authors behind the work – but I admit it doesn’t come up much. Do you ever wonder about the author and the descriptions used? I struggle so much to include smell lately. I know it’s a weakness.

Remember the blog tour starts tomorrow! Don’t miss it.

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Schedule for Blog Tour

Beginning May 20, learn more about The Art of Science! The blog tour will show more about the book and probably a bit more about the author.

May 20 – Vivian Zabel at Brain Cells and Bubble Wrap

May 21 – Jamie Eyberg at A Continuity of Parks

May 22 – Shanachie at Ramblings of a Confusted Writer’s Mind and Quill, Parchment, and Ink – Writings and Ramblings

May 23 – Karen at VBT – Writers on the Move

May 24 – Nancy Famolari at Nancy Famolari’s Place

May 25  – Crystalee Calderwood at Crystalee Calderwood, Writer and Poet

I will be giving away one copy to a lucky winner drawn randomly from comments, so be sure to leave an email address for contact information.

For an additional chance, check out Goodreads.com giveaways!

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Thoughts on Mother’s Day

Recently I read a book (an adult novel) where the main character lived near his parents. Next door, in fact. An injury prevented him from doing many things on his own, and as a consequence his mother often cooked or one of his parents would drive him around. While he hated being dependent, he didn’t have many other options.

Young Adult (or even Children’s) novels often differ from adult novels. Adult novels often lack the parents and siblings found in the younger genres. Part of this might be due to setting: at those ages people must interact with parents and siblings (if any) because they live together. Even orphans have foster families or extended families to fill the gaps.

And as any young adult knows, those family relationships are ripe for conflict. Something always provides conflict at home – usually someone. Who do you pick for the bad guy – Dad? Mom? Siblings? All of the above? To make a good novel, the conflict must be strong; the worse the bad guy can be, the better for the story. Often the mundane details from ‘real life’ are too dull to hold the reader’s attention for an entire novel.

Is that a comment about how our adult lives change? We’re no longer with our family from our childhood; we grow and change and build new families. It made me think, anyway.

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Coming Soon!

Everything you wanted to know about The Art of Science – well, except to read full book – in the form of a blog tour, beginning May 20th. The schedule will be posted at the beginning of next week.

I also have a blog interview scheduled for June 24th with Katie Hines.

Looking into ordering some business cards and post cards to promote the book, as well. I’ll need to put my plan together for appearances. Details to follow.

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Tomorrow…

Is the official release date of The Art of Science. At least, in my book. I think it’s been out a couple weeks, but I’ve been busy with baby and not able to keep up with events very well.

Still putting together a plan for a promotion party – stay tuned for details.

One thing I managed is to get a copy reserved for a giveaway on Goodreads.com. I’m not sure how much it will help, but I do know people look for books and sometimes when they don’t get them they go out and buy them. A friend of mine looks through their giveaways fairly often, and I’m sure she’s not alone in that.

Here’s hoping. If you are a member of Goodreads – let me know what you think of their giveaway program.

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On Submitting to an Agent

Read the entire blog post here.

An excerpt, of the list of why an agent would, or would not, read past the first page. Sometimes they don’t make it past the first line. Reading her words, Anne Mini impresses more on me how difficult it is to land an agent.

It also drives home why they say you work hardest on the first page, the first paragraph, and recommend you spend half your time on that very first line. It isn’t to say an agent will pick you up if you do that, but it’s the best chance.

Oh, for the list:

This is Why I Would Not Read Farther:
1. An opening image that did not work.
2. Opened with rhetorical question(s).
3. The first line is about setting, not about story.
4. The first line’s hook did not work, because it was not tied to the plot or the conflict of the opening scene.
5. The first line’s hook did not work, because it was an image, rather than something that was happening in the scene.
6. Took too long for anything to happen (a critique, incidentally, leveled several times at a submission after only the first paragraph had been read); the story taking time to warm up.
7. Not enough happens on page 1.
8. The opening sounded like an ad for the book or a recap of the pitch, rather than getting the reader into the story.
9. The opening contained the phrases, “My name is…” and/or “My age is…”
10. The opening contained the phrase, “This can’t be happening.”
11. The opening contained the phrase or implication, “And then I woke up.”
12. The opening paragraph contained too much jargon.
13. The opening contained one or more clichéd phrases.
14. The opening contained one or more clichéd pieces of material. (The most I counted in a single submission was 5.) Specifically singled out: a character’s long red or blonde hair.
15. The opening had a character do something that characters only do in books, not real life. Specifically singled out: a character who shakes her head to clear an image, “he shook his head to clear the cobwebs.”
16. The opening has the protagonist respond to an unnamed thing (e.g., something dead in a bathtub, something horrible in a closet, someone on the other side of her peephole…) for more than a paragraph without naming it, creating false suspense.
17. The characters talk about something (a photo, a person, the kitchen table) for more than a line without describing it, creating false suspense.
18. The unnamed protagonist cliché: the woman ran through the forest…
19. An unnamed character (usually “she”) is wandering around the opening scene.
20. Non-organic suspense, created by some salient fact being kept from the reader for a long time (and remember, on the first page, a paragraph is a long time).
21. The character spots him/herself in a mirror, in order to provide an excuse for a physical description.
22. The first paragraph was straight narration, rather than action.
23. Too much physical description in the opening paragraph, rather than action or conflict.
24. Opening spent too much time on environment, and not enough on character.
25. The first lines were dialogue. (To be fair, only one of the agents seemed to have a problem with this.)
26. When the first lines are dialogue, the speaker is not identified.
27. The book opened with a flashback, rather than what was going on now.
28. Too many long asides slowed down the action of an otherwise exciting scene.
29. Descriptive asides pulled the reader out of the conflict of the scene.
30. Overuse of dialogue, in the name of realism.
31. Real life incidents are not always believable.
32. Where’s the conflict?
33. Agent can’t identify with the conflict shown.
34. Confusing.
35. The story is not exciting.
36. The story is boring. (Yes, they did differentiate between this and the one before it.)
37. The story is corny.
38. Repetition (on pg. 1!)
39. Too many generalities.
40. The character shown is too average.
41. The stakes are not high enough for the characters.
42. The opening scene is too violent (in the example that generated this response, a baby’s brains were bashed out against a tree).
43. Too gross.
44. There is too much violence to children and/or pets.
45. It is unclear whether the narrator is alive or dead.
46. The story is written in the second person, which is hard to maintain.
47. The story is written in the first person plural, which is almost as hard to maintain.
48. The narrator speaks directly to the reader (“I should warn you…”), making the story hyper-aware of itself qua story.
49. The narration is in a kid’s voice that does not come across as age-appropriate.
50. An adult book that has a teenage protagonist in the opening scene is often assumed to be YA. So if the agent doesn’t represent YA, such a protagonist may trigger automatic wonder about whether this book is not in a category s/he does represent.
51. What I call Hollywood narration – when characters tell one another things they already know. (They don’t call it by my term for it, but they don’t like it, either.)
52. The tag lines are more revealing than the dialogue. (The example used: “She squawked.”)
53. The writing switched tenses for no apparent reason.
54. The action is told out of temporal order.
55. Took too many words to tell us what happened.
56. The writing lacks pizzazz.
57. The writing is dull.
58. The writing is awkward.
59. The writing uses too many exclamation points.
60. The writing falls back on common shorthand descriptions. Specifically singled out: “She did not trust herself to speak,” “She didn’t want to look…”
61. Too many analogies per paragraph.
62. The details included were not telling.
63. The writing includes quotes from song lyrics.
64. Overkill to make a point.
65. “Over the top.”
66. “Makes the reader laugh at it, not with it.”
67. “It’s not visceral.”
68. “It’s not atmospheric.”
69. “It’s melodramatic.”
70. “This is tell-y, not showy.”
71. “Why is this written in the present tense?”
72. “It just didn’t work for me.”
73. “It didn’t do anything for me.”
74. “I like this, but I don’t know what to do with it.”

This is Why I Would Read Beyond Page 1:
1. A non-average protagonist in a situation you wouldn’t expect.
2. An action scene that felt like it was happening in real time.
3. The author made the point, then moved on.
4. The scene was emotionally engaging.
5. The voice is strong and easy to relate to.
6. The suspense seemed inherent to the story, not just how it was told.
7. “Good opening line.”
8. ”There was something going on beyond just the surface action.”

My upcoming novel actually has one of those reasons why not to read on – however, there was a reason in my plot to do it that way, and it wasn’t simply a crutch. I’m hoping to learn more for the next project, but I still have to iron out a few of those items.

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Novel Outline Template

A friend was looking for a template to outline a novel. Made me really think about these, but I’ve never used one. I started looking for one, but I don’t see anything like it.

I saw something similar on the software I plugged last week – mynovel.biz. They had templates for everything, including one called Hero’s Journey that you can see without purchasing the thing.

Does it make you wonder about novels written off templates? Are they the same? It feels like they ought to be different because each novelist takes a different tactic. Or is it part of the outlining process that makes things unique for each project?

I suppose we ought to remember this quote from the one site I did skim, “novelists are 20 times more likely to finish a novel with an outline than without one.” It definitely makes me think that outlining is worth the effort.

I’m sure next time I start a project I’ll finish the outline first! (Did I just say that out loud?)

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On Naming, Con’t.

The other problem I run into with names, is I am so picky about naming my characters.

For characters I like, they have to have a name that sounds one way and very appealing to my ears. (I can’t speak for my readers, but I’m sure they’ll have their say at some point.) For characters I don’t like so much, there must be names with a slightly different sound, but generally not a name I hate.

I know other author friends of mine use different techniques from random name generators to asking others to setting up polls to see what a character would be like. I’m often one to pipe up with a random name idea, and sometimes I get to see my naming efforts put into action. Names are a hobby of mine, and I enjoy them.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll run out of names. I don’t like to give main characters too similar of names. However, it is a great place to use all those possibilities that I might have named a child if only I could get it past my husband. It might be a personal thing for me, but I didn’t want to name a character in a book and then my child the same thing, so I keep certain names in reserve.

For my latest novel attempt, one of the protagonists is named Allegra. It’s a beautiful name; it’s even with the trends because of the Italian derivation, but my husband hates it – if only because it has an allergy medicine associate with it. Dang pharmaceutical commercials! If not for you – I could’ve had an Allegra! As with all compromises, we’re working toward something else. No one can stop me from having Allegra live on as a character in my book, though.

Well, perhaps a publisher if that were the only stumbling block!

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On Names

So many times I’ve been looking at names, and found a book at the library that showed a different perspective.

Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana

The authors go through several different ideas to show how names evolve into what’s hot and what’s not – and sometimes why. I’m starting the section on TV and how we use these names for our children- not that everyone does it, but it influences us. More likely Soap Opera Digest than the TV Guide to pull some random new name.

I find that fascinating. I don’t really watch soap operas, other than a short stint as a teenager when someone was buried alive on Days of Our Lives. It was the first time it had been done, and I was intrigued by it. Then they dug her out and it really just wasn’t as interesting.

Back to the names, though. It seems like it might be interesting to skim the names of Soap Opera Digest and TV Guide to figure out what will trickle down into the general population as the next trend. Makes me wonder what it would take to bring a name in from a character in a book (or even a book-made-into-a-movie) as well.

The main character in The Art of Science is named Janie. It’s not a common name at all right now and it’s supposedly staying out of the norm. At least one of the characters is on the up-and-coming list, guess you’ll just have to read it to figure out who.

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