Monthly Archive for August, 2008

Schedule and scheduling

Posted August 28, 2008 by admin Tags: , , , , .

on Dragon*Con, and on making freelancing a full-time job

Labor Day weekend is quickly approaching here in the States, and normally that would mean that I’d be heading to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. This year, due to other plans and opportunities, I’ve had to give it a miss. Enough people have asked me if I’m going to be going, that I thought I’d post it here just for the record.

Personally, I enjoy going to Dragon*Con, and professionally I think it presents me with a lot of opportunities, too. I get to meet and spend time with the authors that I’ve worked with, catch up with friends and network with new contacts. It’s the only time of year when I actually crack out my business cards in any sort of volume. There are panels for writers and editors, and perhaps in another year or two I might even find myself sitting on one of them.

Next year, you can be pretty much assured that I’ll be back.

I thought this might make a good opportunity to discuss scheduling in general, though. One of the hardest things about freelancing, I’ve discovered, is actually getting motivated to sit down and work. I tackle this by treating it as any other fulltime job, even if it is a job I can shuffle across the hall in my pajamas to get to.

I’m up between five and six A.M., because I have two young, loud, enthusiastic (and apparently starving!) cats who start crying for breakfast before the sun comes up. Officially, the alarm is set for 5:30, with a snooze-tag allowance until 6:00. I have something small for breakfast, I go to the gym, I come home and shower, and depending on how long it took me to stumble out of bed, that puts me at my desk between eight and nine A.M.

The trip to the gym is essential. Since I don’t have a commute and I don’t have stairways or hallways to travel in the course of the regular business day, it’s important that I get up and get some concentrated movement in. Later in the day doesn’t work for me because I tend to get wrapped up in what I’m doing and I don’t want to break stride, so making it part of the morning routine suits me best.

I check my email, I peek at the various networking sites on which I network. And then, I work. When I get hungry I take a break to start lunch. I might take a full hour or so and go out to eat or sneak in some errands, but I usually eat at my desk. And I work. Usually until about five or six, though if I have an author with a deadline I might push later. I stop in time for dinner and spend my evening not reading. And then I do it all again.

Generally, I’m working on one manuscript while another is at the author pending review of edits. That’s my ideal situation. Sometimes they back up a little on me, or sometimes I find myself with a free day when I’m waiting for the next pass all around. I use those days to work on the website, to follow or search for professional blogs, journals and resources, and to read.

I treat it as a full-time job because it is a full-time job. I’m the type of person who’s best motivated and most productive when I have a routine. I’m kept focused on finding new work and new projects so that I can keep that routine full and ongoing, and it works out very well for me. I’m at a point where I feel guilty if I take a day off while there’s work pending on my desk, and things like computer gaming and solitaire have fallen out of habit completely. And that’s how it should be, I think: I’m not sitting at home on paid holiday. I’m at home because I work from home, because I have people whose own work is waiting for and depending on my output. I’m at home to work.

Even if writing or editing isn’t your full-time job yet, you can still treat it as a job. Set aside time and make it part of your routine. Impose deadlines, just as you’d have with any job, and practice efficient and responsible time management. You will likely be much more focused and productive if you do, and your career will show the results.

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Speedbumps and the Suspension of Disbelief

Posted August 25, 2008 by admin Tags: , , , .

An important consideration in any work of fiction is the world in which your work will be set. As essential to a story as plot and characters, setting is rarely what makes a book, but it can be what breaks it.

Suspension of disbelief is a tricky thing because it varies from reader to reader. Some will launch themselves headfirst into the world you create. Others will be more skeptical and will require more ambience, more exposure, to accept your reality as plausible and whole. The best ways for the writer to facilitate the reader in suspending disbelief are to be descriptive in ways that feel natural, not forced, and to be consistent.

For instance, there’s a project I’m working on where, in the opening paragraphs, there’s a mention of standing on the stone parapets of a keep, a mention of magic, and a mention of chamber pots. These three keys tell you some very important things about the world: That it’s not our own modern society, what the basic technology level is (stone construction, but no running water), and that since magic is possible, the basic rules of our world may not necessarily apply, and the reader needs to keep an open mind and be ready to integrate information about how this particular magic works, as it’s presented.

That’s a lot of information to have provided in just three small snippets of ambient information. It sets the stage for a basic set of assumptions about the world. Now it’s the writer’s responsibility to honor those assumptions, or to have good and relevant reasons for turning them on their ears.

Suspension of disbelief is a fragile thing, though. It only takes one speedbump to jolt a reader out of your world and back into our own. Consistency is the key to a smooth, immersive ride.

Keep your technology consistent or keep it plausible. It doesn’t have to be both, but it must be one or the other. It’s your world and you can do whatever you want with it, but if you want to have spacetravel before you have indoor plumbing, there’d better be a good reason and mechanism for it, and you need to provide it. Make it something your audience can believe.

Keep your language consistent. Be aware not just of “modern slang”, but of the sort of metaphor that draws upon modern experience or culture in more subtle ways. You probably don’t want to “steamroll” over someone’s input in a world without steamrollers, or refer to “Spartan” quarters in a world without Sparta, for instance.

It’s entirely possible to take this to its absurd logical extremes, such as avoiding “orange” as a color adjective if your world doesn’t grow citrus. There’s a balance, though. Use your own judgment, and your editor’s, to make sure that your metaphors don’t get in the way of the world you’re creating and the story you’re telling.

Suspension of disbelief is a fragile thing. A single speedbump can break its spell; once broken, it’s hard to weave back together again. Create ambience, lay out your basic assumptions in natural ways, and keep consistency in mind as you create your world, and your readers will glide smoothly into your story.

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When in Doubt…

Posted August 21, 2008 by admin Tags: .

No matter how familiar you are with the style guide of your choice, something’s always going to come along that’ll leave you stumped. Language is such a fluid, malleable thing that even the most thorough guide can’t cover all contingencies.

When I’m working on a manuscript and I’m in the “zone”, I don’t want to stop to look things up. I’ll usually highlight the questionable text and make a blank comment in the margin for it, so that I can find it again later. At some point, though, later arrives, and all the things I’ve passed over have to be dealt with.

Sometimes, finding the right search terms can be as difficult as finding your answer. Be patient, and be flexible. Think about a few different possibilities, a few different paths to your problem. If you’re not certain whether the name of a vehicle should be in italics, try looking up rules for ship names, rules for proper nouns, and rules for italics. As you get more used to using a particular index, you’ll grow more familiar with the way it categorizes things, and in time your searches will be more effective. If something provides too many results, try narrowing your search or using less common synonyms. For example, looking up anything to do with “the” in a search engine is nearly impossible. Try “definite articles” instead.

In this electronic age, help is at your fingertips. Cultivate and collect your resources, and use them. Remember that others are more likely to help those who help themselves. Do try to look a problem up on your own before requesting the aid of others. As helpful as your online colleagues and forum-mates are, they’ve got work of their own to do and they’re helping out of kindness. No one wants to feel like they’re doing someone else’s homework for them.

Consider the source of your advice when you receive it, before you decide whether to follow it. If someone cites their own source or reasoning, all the better. Otherwise, do still use your own judgment. Don’t let a suggestion override your education or common sense just because it comes from a member of a professional organization or someone who has impressive letters after their name. In a best case scenario you’ll learn where the answer was found, so that your own research can be more productive in the future.

Some resources for writing/editing might include:

The Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A (see link in the sidebar)
Writers’ forums
Editors’ forums
Livejournal communities
Your own friends or professional peers

I think that we all want to maintain an edge of infallibility, editors especially. We know all the rules, we know how to apply them. We know how to look up the things we know, and the things we don’t know. We can catch every slip and correct every mistake. Really, though, no one in any field has every single answer at hand all the time.

When in doubt… ask.

Consider the source you’re asking. Apply critical thinking to the answer. But ask. That’s what professional resources are for. No one will think less of you for asking.

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A Bit of Monday Snark

Posted August 18, 2008 by admin Tags: , .

If I were writing an article here every day… well, I’d never get any editing done. But also, I’d probably dedicate one day of the week to humor, snark and sarcasm related to publishing, writing, editing, and finger-pointing at unintentional typos.

As it is, I have the freedom to interject these things as whim and circumstance allow. That means that I can take a break from the advice posts, after long-winded serious offerings like Thursday’s, to present some lighter fare.

The sadly gone-quiet 101 Reasons to Stop Writing is a delightful stress-relief site for those in various corners of the publishing business. They’re not the first to parody the beautiful and inspirational Successories line of motivational posters (Demotivators have existed for years, and may in fact outshine their source material in popularity), but 101 Reasons’ set is particularly notable for its editorial and writerly bent.

For your viewing pleasure, then, Demotivators on editing, writing, and the everpresent slushpile. May they lighten your desktop and your step.

editing

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Also: Administrivia

Posted August 14, 2008 by admin Tags: .

I just wanted to add a brief personal note, but I didn’t want to sacrifice a “regular” blog post to do it.

Today is my birthday. It also marks just over one month that this blog and site have been live, with updates posted reliably every Monday and Thursday. I’m starting to gather some regular followers out here, and I’m slowly adding links and buttons to make subscription easier. Things are still getting things off the ground here, and it thrills me to see the hit counts climbing and the regulars returning. It thrills me even more to see some of my tips and posts considered linkworthy.

If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line through my ‘contact’ page. In the meantime… thanks again for reading!

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To Sequel or Not

Posted August 14, 2008 by admin Tags: , , .

To Sequel, or Not to Sequel: The fine line between inspiration and convenience

The creation of a world is a process that requires quite a bit of time and effort; yet, it’s something that science fiction and fantasy writers do all the time. It’s no wonder that writers become just as attached to their worlds and their characters as their readers and fans do. Moreso, even, because they’ve got more invested in them. They breathe, sleep and dream these worlds. They have, by necessity, a greater and deeper understanding of them than can ever be conveyed through a novel’s pages.

When that novel is over, it’s sometimes hard for the reader to give that world up. They’ve been drawn into it, made to care about it, understand it, and maybe even wish they could have a chance to live in it. For the writer, it can be even harder. They’ve invested time, sweat, tears and ink in the creation of a fully formed entity, and there can be times when it feels like a waste to have done all that, only to dip into it for a mere two- to three hundred page slice of that world’s history and then abandon it for all time.

The answer, of course, is the sequel. Another chance to open a window into that beloved world, see more of its people and places, experience more of its flavor, and immerse yourself in it one more time. Reading a sequel can feel like coming home. It can feel like a reunion with old friends, or a chance to take one more sip of a sweet, rare wine.

There’s value, though, in a novel that stands alone. As faithful readers will know, two of the books I’ve worked on have just come out in print; both of them are sequels. Both of them are fairly independent sequels; you’ll miss a lot of the nuance and background flavor of each if you haven’t read their precursors, but you’ll still be able to follow along. That’s the best sort of situation for the casual reader (the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell is another good example), because a reader can jump in at any time and the later books can create an interest in going back to the previous installments. In contrast, some sequels assume that you’ve just finished the last page of the previous book before diving into the next. It’s much more difficult for the reader to pick that sort of series up midstream, and there’s a chance that the accessibility of your work might suffer as a result. Beware, also, the “glass cage”, where a writer gets so deeply locked into a given series that it becomes all they write (or even, some might speculate, all they can write).

How do you, as a writer, know when to write a sequel and when to gracefully let it go? Consider the following questions:

1. What questions does your novel leave unanswered?

I’m not talking about cliffhangers here. The surest way to piss your readers off is to end a book on a cliffhanger and make them wait three years for the next installment. By that time either they’ll hate you with a fiery passion, they’ll have resorted to writing their own fanfic to resolve those questions satisfactorily for themselves, or they’ll have stopped caring. An ending can leave questions unanswered without having to employ a fishhook through the cheek to keep readers reeled in for the next installment. A book that exists only to bridge the beginning and end of a trilogy will always be unsatisfying. Each book should have its own plot resolved, even if the larger issues are still up in the air.

As a writer, identify those issues and questions. If there’s enough meat to one of them, it might have the potential to become your next plot. Even if your next book is “the continuing adventures of…” and doesn’t rely on the previous plot at all, there should still be some growth and progress. Keep track of those questions. Answer some. Create more. There’s a very limited market for the types of series where the slate is wiped clean for each episode and the characters never grow or change. If you want to keep a reader invested in your characters, those characters have to develop and deepen. They have to affect the world and be affected by it.

2. Why are you returning to this world and these characters?

Is it because you’re inspired by them and you think they have more stories to tell? Do you know what some of those stories are? Is it because they’re familiar to you and their patterns are easy to write? Is it because you have so much time invested in the setting that you don’t want that effort and research to go to waste, or because you have so much time invested in the setting that it’s easier to continue there than to invent someplace new? Is it because it’s what your audience likes and requests more of?
I’m not placing value judgments on any of these reasons. Whether they’re good or bad reasons isn’t important, for our purposes, and a lot of them are situational, not necessarily black and white. What’s important is that you know what your reasons are. Think about them, take a step back, and look at them from a reader’s perspective. Most importantly, ask yourself, Is this reason strong enough to sustain a whole book? If your reason is “Because there are stories left to tell,” then the answer is most likely yes. If your reason is “Because that’s what authors are supposed to do,” you may want to re-evaluate.

3. Have you saturated your market?

It’s always better to quit while you’re ahead, go out on a strong note, and other such clichés, than to drain the well dry, jump the shark or beat the dead horse. The last thing you want is to get a reputation as “that writer who didn’t know when to quit”. Even if you do feel that you have more stories left to tell, make sure that your readers have an interest in hearing them. It’s much harder to regain the attention of the former fan who’s gotten disillusioned or bored, whereas you can always return to the series later, if circumstances and demand warrant it. If you’re not sure, wrap up gracefully until your readers (and your publisher) want more.

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Double Trouble roundup!

Posted August 11, 2008 by admin Tags: , , .

Book Launch Day was officially a success! I don’t have the exact numbers, but the surge in rankings was exciting to watch as podiobook and fantasy fans from around the world banded together to push Digital Magic and Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant to the top of the Amazon charts.

Videoconference chats with the authors took place throughout the day. I had the fortune to sit in on a few and offer my perspective as the editor of both novels as we all watched the sales and ranks continue to climb. The books spent the day ranked #1 and #2 in Amazon’s Movers and Shakers—Digital Magic topped the chart there, with gains of over (say it in your best “Dr. Evil” voice) one million percent! Both books topped several Fantasy categories, and made it into the double digit rankings in Books overall. It was a great showing that brought attention to small presses and the quality of the books they make available.

It’s not too late to order copies for yourself. See the links in the sidebar or above. And congrats to Pip and Tee for a great opening day.

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Double Trouble

Posted August 7, 2008 by admin Tags: , , .

Two of the books I’ve worked on are going to be hitting the stands tomorrow, and I’m extremely proud to have been involved with them both. They are Digital Magic by Philippa Ballantine and The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant: A Billibub Baddings Mystery by Tee Morris, and you can find links to both of them in the sidebar to the right. These two authors have written two very different yet equally immersive worlds, and I’m very excited for both of them, especially as the rave reviews begin to roll in.

Digital Magic is the sequel to Chasing the Bard, and Pitcher’s Pendant is the second book in the Billibub Baddings universe. Both of them stand alone to a degree, but the subtle nuances make it worth having read the predecessors. These links will take you to pages where you can download the free podiobooks from iTunes.

In an unusual twist on a book premiere, both authors have teamed together for a promotional feat they’re calling “Double Trouble“: They’re urging fans and readers to wait until 8am PST, August 8th (Yes, that’s tomorrow: 08-08-08) and order both books from Amazon at that time. With enough fan support, they’re aiming to push both books up in the Amazon rankings, drawing attention to the authors and their work, to Dragon Moon Press, and to the podcasting community (in which both authors are quite active). And possibly even to their editor, as well!

Score yourself a couple of great books tomorrow morning, and help a couple of authors rise through the Amazon charts! I know I’ll be ordering mine at 8am sharp.

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Proofs and Galleys: The Forest, Not the Trees

Posted August 4, 2008 by admin Tags: , , .

Since my last post, I’ve had the privilege of editing galleys for one of the books I’ve worked on. While the process of editing galleys isn’t an exciting one, it means that the book is on its way to the printing press, and that’s always exciting!

With that in mind, I thought I’d offer a few tips on editing proofs. It’s more than just, literally, proof-reading. Proofs offer a chance to catch errors that may have slipped through the editing process, but that’s not their primary function; the purpose of checking proofs is more to ensure that the layout is error-free. Because the layout and format have changed, not the text, a different focus is required. Below, you’ll find pointers on some things for editors and authors to watch out for when reading those final proofs.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that seeing your work in a new font or style is a good way to look at it with fresh eyes. Your galleys—the mock-up of a book before it goes to press—are a chance for editor and author to do just that. Checking galleys isn’t as exciting as seeing something you’ve worked on hit the shelf. It’s easy to let your eyes glide over the text without seeing it. But galleys come with their own inherent set of potential mistakes, so it’s important to give them a careful look.

Publishing has entered the digital age. With the books I’ve worked on, the layout has been set up with the use of desktop publishing software and sent off to the printer as a file. This file needs to be proofread for errors even if you’re completely certain that the source text is clean: any change is an opportunity to introduce errors or inconsistencies.

Because the text of the manuscript is copied and pasted into the layout, it’s susceptible to the common mishaps that can occur when copying and pasting. Because the format has been changed, it’s also open to inconsistencies in formatting and style elements.

So, what sorts of things should you be on the alert for?

  • First (and these sound silly, I know), make sure that the proper draft has been copied into the galley. Make sure that any mock-up “placeholder” text on the cover has been replaced with real text. Make sure the book title and the author’s name are spelled correctly in the book and on the cover. (Anyone with an uncommon name knows just how important this is!) If the price is on the cover, make sure it’s the correct price. It seems obvious, but the proofs are the last chance to catch these things, and it’s the editor’s job to take nothing for granted.
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  • The most common copy-and-paste errors involve duplicating information and leaving information out. Pay special attention to punctuation, especially at the beginning and end of each line, section, and chapter. Make sure that the end of each chapter is really the end, and that nothing is cut off mid-sentence. There may also be punctuation characters or symbols that didn’t make the change correctly; a symbol that looked like an em-dash on the screen might actually have been a line character in some obscure dingbat font. If so, it may transfer over to the final font as something else, whether a hyphen, a nonsense character, or even a blank space.
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  • The most common formatting errors occur where formats change. The beginning and end of a chapter, the graphics or symbols that separate chapter sections, and any place where the text font is changed from regular to italic and back.
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  • Keep an eye on chapter numbers and headings. If the chapters are numbered, make sure that all numbers are in the proper sequence and all follow the same style. If chapters always begin on a new page, make sure that all those page breaks are in place.
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  • Keep an eye out for font changes. Does it shift slightly, go up or down a size, is a line or a paragraph accidently set in italics or bold? Watch justification, too. Whatever style is chosen, it should be consistent throughout.
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  • Watch for widows and orphans: straggling text that ends up isolated from the rest of the paragraph or section. The last line of a chapter should not be by itself on a new page. A stray —” should not be by itself on a new line.

That’s a lot to look for. What’s the best way to go about doing it?

If I receive galleys in .pdf format, I zoom out to the two-page view and basically just scan the lines for anything that stands out. I find that if I rely on pattern recognition to edit for format, my eye catches on things that aren’t as they should be.

I don’t ignore the chance that I might find errors in the text—I’ll check the text itself in my second pass—but when I check formatting, I’m looking at the shape of the words and marks on the page. I look for punctuation, font, and the shapes of the paragraphs. I check each section break and paragraph break carefully, and also make sure that the right text is in italics or blockquotes. If I find a certain type of error more than once I’ll move in and search for it more carefully.

In general, though, the more distant view allows me to focus on the formatting. Think of it as looking at the forest first, then closing in on the trees. The landscape of your book will benefit from the attention!

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