So Publisher’s Weekly has announced their Top Titles of 2009 and I can’t help but notice that there isn’t one female author on the list. Not one.

In their press release, they say, “We wanted to pick the best 10 and we came ready to mix it up, and although we were surprised that, when the dust settled, it wasn’t the most politically correct list – there are no women authors, for example – the balance of our top 100 reflects a remarkable diversity.”

Now, I admit I haven’t read most of these, but with names like Richard Holmes, Blake Bailey, Neil Sheehan, Geoff Dyer, David Grann, Matthew B. Crawford and David Small, I’m having trouble seeing the diversity here. I’m sure these are all amazing books – they’ve been picked from tens of thousands published this year – but diverse? There’s one African American and one Pakistani. The others are all, essentially, white American or European men.

Now I’m certainly not saying that a lesser book by anyone, regardless of gender or national origin, should be in a top ten if it doesn’t belong, but I have a lot of trouble swallowing the idea that Euro-centric men are the most exceptional writers.

I’d be interested to see a gender/nationality breakdown of the PW starred reviews for the year. I would lay odds that a large percentage were written by women, yet 0% of the top ten are by female authors.

PW’s Top 100 comes out on November 2.

I was tooling down I-285 yesterday and passed a car with a license plate that read: NOVLIST. Of course, I looked to see who was driving. He was a 40-something guy with a receding hairline. I don’t know whether I should have recognized him or not.

But it got me to thinking. Do you tell people you’re a writer? I’ve found that people always seem to perk up and act all interested until you get to one of two questions:

1. What do you write?
2. Have you been published?

The first question, in my case, always leads to having to explain what I write. I classify it as urban fantasy, but I think most Jane Q. Publics that I run into don’t know this term. Hell, some writers don’t know this term. So I have to give them tv examples: Supernatural, Heroes, True Blood. If I still get blank stares I resort to the old stand-by: Buffy. For older folks, I’ve found I can use I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched and My Favorite Martian.

Once I’ve clarified what urban fantasy is, I usually get one of two responses.

“Oh, I love that!” or

“Oh.” <--- this usually translates to “I only read real liter-ah-chur.” I shrug and move on.

The answer to the second question always drains the interest right out of their eyes. When I say I’m not yet published (never mind that I edit for a living), it’s as if they just realized the pedestal they’d just hiked me up onto only has two legs. And that’s usually the end of the conversation.

So, in general, I’m somewhat circumspect in sharing. I’ve heard from popular novelists who also don’t share that they’re writers. They have the opposite problem, I think. They get all sorts of questions about it.

I suppose once I’m published, I’ll probably go through a frenzy of wanting everyone to know I’m published. But then, will I prefer to keep it quiet, unless actually publicizing? I don’t know.

Are you a writer? If so, do you share that with people who ask what you do?

I just returned from the SCWW 2009 Writers' Conference in Myrtle Beach, SC. The full conference is somewhat pricey, but well worth it, especially if you're just starting out or in the middle stages, as far as classes. There were several agents and editors in attendence for those with finished works to pitch.

Keynote speaker was thriller writer Steve Berry. He was very entertaining and personable, as well as inspirational for all of us who are still slogging away, trying to get published. I was also able to attend a class he taught on suspense, which I found interesting. He shared his approach to writing and his style in creating suspense within a ms. If you get an opportunity to see him speak, I'd recommend it!

Two agents are interested in seeing partials of my manuscript so that's fantastic! I got to hang out with Joanna Stampfel-Volpe again, which is always awesomeness personified.I met her last June at a conference and totally got to schmooze with her. I was excited to see she was coming to the SCWW con. She was very busy all weekend, unfortunately, and we didn't get to goof off together as much as at the other, but it was great seeing her again.

I was also able to meet and speak with Holly Root, of the Waxman Agency, and Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. Both of these agents are personable and fun to speak with, as well as being very passionate about what they do. The conference had what they called "slushfests." These were group sessions where folks would bring in a 2-page transparency which was either a synopsis or the first two pages of their novels. So I was part of the SF/Fantasy slushfest and offered the first two pages of my novel. Unfortunately, somehow the decision was made to only do the first page of them. A few of the issues they had with the first page would have been addressed had the second page been read. However, there were a couple things they identified that will really help strengthen that scene, so I'm very grateful! Afterwards, I went up to each and asked if they'd be interested in seeing a partial. Both said yes (yay!) and Holly even asked for a few more pages than she normally requests (she made a point of this). As I said, they're both pretty damn cool! (And not just because they asked for my pages! ;) )

There were a number of other agents there, but those are the ones I actually interacted with.

I also want to toss a shout-out to Echelon Press. I hung out a lot with one of their editors and an author and man, are they great people! 

I took not one, but two classes on synopsis writing! So expect a WIL post soon!

Okay, so bear with me as I get my footing on the blogging again! 

Something new! :)

Write a scene where one of your characters (from any story you've written) meets a well-known historical figure. Use the time period current for your character. Shoot for 500 words.

Let me know how it goes!

As you can see, I've got a brand new, great-looking website! I have to thank my husband for that. He's been working the last month or two converting everything over from WordPress to BlogEngine.net and trying to convert my weird demands into a useable website. I think he's succeeded! There will still be things that we're working on, but overall, I think the design rocks! What do you think?

So watch for new updates in the coming weeks and some interesting and exciting news from me!

I'm going to do a blog series on story elements beginning today with Character. Please feel free to comment, add anything you think I may have missed and make any suggestions you think might be worthwhile for others to hear!

Character

In today's modern novel, it's not farfetched to say that character is king. Readers want to connect with characters, sympathize with them, especially your protagonist. To catch your reader and, more importantly, keep her, you must make her care about your characters. If we don't care, we won't read on.

Characters provide a moral compass for your story. Your protagonist (the character whom your story is about) is the anchor which keeps your tale on track, the lens through which you're showing the reader your story. Your reader wants to see all sorts of terrible things happen to him but, in most cases (but not all), wants him to prevail in the end. So how do you make your readers care? Make your characters believable and sympathetic.

Making characters believable

Know thy character. The more you know about your character, the easier it is to make him believable. Of course, you need to know the basics about him: body type, hair color, eye color, occupation, family, etc. But don't stop there! What hobbies does he have? What does he do when he gets angry? Does he stop for directions when he's lost? What charities does he donate money to? What's his dream car/job/vacation? What's his biggest regret in life? His biggest joy? What were the circumstances of his first kiss? Does he wish he had a brother/sister/none at all? Know your character's strengths and weaknesses, know what he wants and know what's preventing him from getting it (this goes a wee bit more to plot, but it's applicable here as well). Know what motivates him and know which character traits he has which will keep him from his goal. Give him a secret.

As you're fleshing out your character, you should understand that most of what you figure out about him, your reader will never know. But your reader will know that you know, because you will understand your character enough to know how he will react in each situation he enters. And it will be believable.

Making characters sympathetic

First, I should say, characters don't always have to be sympathetic. There are certainly genres which have unsympathetic characters as main characters. However, in order for your reader to connect with your character, to want to root for him, to care about what happens to him, she has to be able to relate to him in some way.

There are universal situations in life that most of us go through at some point: the awkwardness of adolescence, dating, loss of a loved one, learning how to drive, good relationships, bad relationships, our first traffic ticket or car accident, moving out on our own, college life, work promotions, getting fired/laid off, renting an apartment or buying a house. While you don't have to include these situations in your story (unless they are important to the plot), they flesh out your character and they can be alluded to in your manuscript. They make your character more real, more human. And that, in turn, makes readers more sympathetic.

Before closing, I also want to point out that your protagonist--the character your reader is rooting for--does not have to be your point of view character. Probably one of the more famous examples is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Tales of Sherlock Holmes. The point of view character is Dr. Watson, while the protagonist is, of course, Sherlock Holmes. Don't be afraid to play with point of view this way. Sometimes an outside voice can make the reader appreciate and care for the protagonist more. Please let me know if you found this post useful. The next Story Elements installment will be Situation. Best of luck with the writing!

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This isn't a How-To post. Not yet anyway. Next term, as part of the graduation requirement at SHU I have to teach a short module on the topic of my choice. I've got a few kicking around in my noggin; one is How to Write Action Scenes.

I've been told by more than one fellow writer/author that I write action scenes very well. I find that really flattering. So when the time came to brainstorm about what I might want to teach, action scenes popped into my head. Here's my problem though: I have no idea how I write them well. I just write the scenes. I never realized they were done particularly well. So I don't really know how I do it. And if I don't know how I do it, how do I teach someone else to do it well?

In thinking about possible reasons why this is a strength in my writing, I've come to the conclusion that it must have been all the MUSHes I played. Back in the early days of the net (man, am I dating myself or what?), there were online games called MUSHes (short for Multi User Shared Hallucination). All your Evercrack, World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies games had their origins in the early MUDs (Multi User Dungeons) and MUSHes.

I MUSHed.A lot.

In a MUSH, you made a character (complete with stats, for all the gamers out there) and you logged in and roleplayed. In text. No flashy spells, no pretty graphics. Just words. And you roleplayed with other people. You typed out your dialogue and your actions, so that other people understood what you were saying and doing. I think that's where my ability to write action came from. MUSHing. Perhaps that's an idea I can use to teach how to write action. Hmmm. That might be worthwhile. It could make for a fun class activity. Heehee. Okay, my mind is working now! Bwahahahaha! Any suggestions for other ways to teach writing action scenes?

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So this residency at SHU we had literary agent Donald Maass as our guest speaker. Aside from being a total fangurl (I want him, bad -- erm, as my agent, of course!), I got an immense amount of information from his seminar. He did a very pared down version of his Writing the Breakout Novel workshop. Aside from having decided that as soon as my finances will permit, I'm going to take the full workshop, I also realized that half my novel contains no-no scenes.

In his Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (which is fantastic), Maass suggests that all scenes which take place in a kitchen, a car, a shower, etc be cut along with any scenes involving the serving or drinking of coffee or tea as well as the smoking of cigarettes. His reasoning is that these sorts of scenes tend to tone down the tension of the book. I think, in most cases, he's absolutely right. Not all cases, of course. And he acknowledges this himself by giving a couple examples of good scenes in those settings or with those elements. In each, though, there is an element of tension that gets ratcheted up by the scene, rather than toned down. And that, I believe, is his point.

If there is a scene that must absolutely take place in a kitchen, make sure the scene serves the greater purpose of the story: to make the reader want to read on, to make the reader care. It's all about tension, he says. I daresay, he's right. And that's not just me being a fangurl! :) I'd love to hear what others think about this!

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When I first started writing with an eye for publication, I hadn't taken any writing courses, no fiction classes, nothing. I was really flying by the seat. I started out submitting mainly to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, then also to Cemetery Dance and other short story markets. I always got rejected, but I often got little notes that really boiled down to, "I liked the idea, but it just didn't grab me."

I remember thinking, "How do I do that? Tell me how to grab you!"

Looking back at those old stories *cringe* I recognize why the writing wasn't doing any groping. Most of my sentences were passive. Certainly, that wasn't the only error, but it accounts for the sagginess of the prose. Now, when I'm revising manuscripts (especially the old ones), the first thing I do is track down errant "to be" verbs. Here's how I do it (in MS Word):

• Edit -> Find
• Checkmark the "Highlight All Items Found In: Main Document"
• Type the word "was" in the search field
• Click the "Find All" button
• Once the words are found and selected, go to the Highlighter function button and highlight the words an obnoxiously bright color

Then I do the same thing for: were, be, being, been, wasn't, weren't, and any other passive verbs I can think of. Once they're all highlighted that garish pink, purple or yellow color, I go through the document highlight by highlight and see whether the sentences affected can be improved and made more active. Usually it's pretty easy. It's just a matter of dropping the "to be" verb and changing the -ing verb to an -ed verb.

For example: Selina was careening through the underbrush. becomes Selina careened through the underbrush.

The active verb makes the sentence immediate and engaging. And that's what grabs your reader. String together a slew of active sentences and you have a riveting paragraph. Make your paragraphs strong and active and you've got yourself a much more publishable piece!