Lawyer and Writer

I have spent the last week or so preparing a book version of my April's A to Z Challenge posts. The book is compiled, and I've expanded on the posts, cleaned them up, and changed the titles on quite a few.

If you followed my blog through April, there won't be much that's new to you, but it is a new format and I worked hard on it. I hope that some people will find the format useful, with a table of contents that'll take you straight to the topic you're most interested in, and a Createspace version to put on the shelf for reference.

When I uploaded my book to Amazon for the Kindle, I got a rather strange email:

Hello,

We are writing to you regarding the following book(s):

From Opening Action to Zee End by Steiner, Jessica (AUTHOR) (ID:3617383)

During a review of your KDP submission(s), we found content that is widely available on the web. You can do an online search for the content inside your book(s) to discover which sites are offering the content for free. Copyright is important to us – we want to make sure that no author or other copyright holder has their work claimed and sold by anyone else.

To confirm you have publishing rights to and control where you distribute the book(s), please provide all of the following information:

1. The URLs for all websites where this content is published
2. An explanation as to why the content is available online

I got confused for a second, then I had a good laugh. Of course it was available online - it was from my own blog. I sent them an email with an explanation about the blog challenge and confirming that - so far as I knew - my posts weren't available anywhere else on the internet, and it was all cleared up within a day or so.

I have to say that for all that I was taken aback at first, I'm glad that Amazon is checking to make sure that books that are uploaded to their store aren't simply plagiarized material. There wasn't any question or argument once I had explained that it was my own words - they don't seem to be policing beyond that. Overall, I thought it was a good experience, and reassuring to at least some extent.

Today I'm going to talk about romance! Because it's a huge part of writing, so it deserves to have a post, I figure.

Now, I'm going to make one caveat, and that is that today's tip comes from the perspective of someone who really doesn't like romance novels. I love romance in other kinds of novels, but I have just never been interested in the genre itself. As such, my perspective here may not apply to that genre. But I'm pretty confident that they work for other genres that happen to contain romance.

I'm sure there are lots of other things I could say, but I can't think of anything at the moment, so here is what I want to talk about:

Never make a character whose only purpose is to be the romantic partner of another character

Every character you create should be a person. There's nothing more boring than realizing that a character was created only to be the partner of your main character, and that they really have no other role within the book than that. They should have desires outside of getting together with your other well-rounded character.

They should do more within the book than simply be the potential and then actual love interest of another character.

It's boring, and it sucks. I shouldn't have to tell you not to do it, but it happens all the time. So don't do it.

Everyone knows that a story needs to have conflict. In fact, every single scene in your story should have conflict. Conflict is the main point of a story, and if there's no conflict in a story, then there's no story.

But knowing that, if you're like me, then you have a hard time sometimes figuring what constitutes conflict.

Conflict isn't just about having a fight on every page. If your book is filled with scene after scene of people arguing with each other, it'll get boring. Conflict is about your character overcoming an obstacle in their path.

Conflict is when a rainstorm stands between a lover and their date, and they don't have an umbrella.

Conflict is when a character desperately needs money to achieve their goal, but doesn't know where to get any.

Conflict is when a character is tempted to do something they know is wrong, but it'll help them to accomplish something great.

Conflict can be internal or external. It can be with other characters, or with natural forces, or with their own conscience.

A good shoot-em-up battle is fun, too.

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Listen to my interview on Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing! I talk mostly about Mortis Unbound, and Star Trek.

I know I'm a day behind and... despite the fact that I've been preparing for a 5-day Supreme Court trial starting on April 29th, I will get through this, I swear.

Anyway.

Theme!

If you're like me, you groan when you hear or read this word. I used to enjoy English classes only to the extent to which I was able to a) read a book that I actually enjoyed, or b) write a story. Analyzing books for theme was always one of those things that struck me as relatively pointless, or at least an exercise that was best left to people who liked that sort of thing.

However, identifying the theme of your own novel is really useful for a number of reasons. And I do mean identifying. You don't necessarily shoe-horn your theme in and then try to make your story fit it, but it should evolve organically and become clear at some point in the process. Sometimes, when you type 'The End', but maybe sooner.

So, a couple of reasons why identifying your theme is good:

1. It can help to unify a novel or series. If you know the theme of your series is something like "love can conquer all" then it's easier to ensure that the ultimate resolution of the story is in line with that philosophy. Doing that, will make the story tie together in a more satisfying manner.

2. It gives you something to talk about. When writing synopses, or back cover copy, or even just talking about your novel, it's really important to be able to explain what it's about in a short, intriguing way. Knowing the theme gives you a starting point for figuring out how to do that. Now, you probably won't actually describe the theme in such an explanation, but it can help to focus your mind so it's not just "well, it's about this guy, and one day he..." and ten minutes later your audience is glazing over.

I talked about this a little yesterday, but let's talk about it a bit more. Not only is it important for your story to be interesting and not predictable. It's also important that the stakes be as high as you can make them.

Don't just make the character's life in danger if you can threaten his entire family. Don't just threaten his family if you can threaten his whole world. Don't just threaten the world if you can threaten the universe.

The higher the stakes, the more you can ratchet up the tension, and the bigger the payoff when the hero saves the day.

That being said, stakes should be appropriate to your genre and the scope of your story. If your story is set entirely in a single small town, even if it is a science fiction story rather than a romance or drama, it'd be strange if the whole universe were threatened. If the story is about a serial killer threatening the town, the whole world is probably not going to be at stake in the end game. But the main character's family and/or loved ones should almost certainly come into play.

Whether the scope of your story encompasses a galaxy-spanning Empire or a single high school chess club, don't make the stakes small and easy to overcome. You want to push your characters to the limit of what they can endure, and then it'll be far more satisfying when they overcome it.

Today's tip is about creating places for your fantasy or science fiction setting.

You can go into more or less detail depending on how much you're going to use your setting in the story. But regardless of whether your entire series is going to be set in one small town, or if a particular place is only going to be used for one scene, you should consider the following five areas:

1. Climate and geography - What is the weather like? What are the major geographical features? How do these geographical features and the weather interact and affect one another?

2. Natural resources, economics, major industries - What sort of natural resources does this place have? What sorts of industries are important in this area? What sort of resources does this area need and has to obtain from elsewhere or go without?

3. History - What important events have taken place in the history of this place? How have those histories shaped the local culture?

4. Culture, ritual, religion - What sorts of cultural or religious rituals are common here? Holidays, rites, cultural events? Are there multiple cultures/ethnicities/religions in this area or is it more monolithic? Think about rituals around food, greetings, gestures, other important interactions like first meetings and visits to friends.

5. Politics - Who are the major political figures? What external and internal political forces are at play? What kind of political system does this place follow? Is the political landscape stable, or unstable?

There are many other areas one might think of, as well. Don't just make up a city that's the same as a place you've been before and give it a new name. Don't just assume things like cultural rituals or political system, like the ones you're used to. Your new places will have more spice and realism if you think outside the box and come up with things that are new and different.

There are as many ways of planning a novel as there are authors (possibly as many ways as there are novels) but I wanted to share my general process for outlining with you today.

This outlining process is something I do after I've already done quite a bit of planning. I have a strong idea of the main characters and the general plotline before I start doing this. When I work out the plotline, I do it in paragraphs, with the main events (the turning points in the 3-act structure if you follow that method) acting as anchor points in the plotline document. What I have is a multi-page document setting out a summary of the most important points in the story in chronological order.

So with that in mind, the next thing I do is organize the plotline into scenes. I just write a few sentences for each scene, and I usually do this in an excel spreadsheet or something so it's easy to reorganize them into a different order.

I try to make sure I hit all the anchor points approximately equi-distant from one another.

I will often also specify POV in a different column in the table, especially if it's a story with multiple points of view.

When I begin writing, I have a road-map of a paragraph or so, letting me know the main points I need to hit in each scene. Often the paragraph will actually wind up expanding out into more than one actual scene, especially when you factor in cliffhangers that will split a scene into two pieces with a chapter break or other scene in another location in between. However, the outline keeps me from going too far afield or forgetting to establish something that's necessary in a later scene.

How do you do your outlines? Or do you just fly by the seat of your pants?

I ran out of time yesterday because I was still entertaining guests, and I wanted to give this post the attention it was due. The reason why, is because I've been eagerly waiting for the chance to write about this for a long time.

Creating a language for your novel is almost essential, if you're writing about any kind of made-up foreign culture. This applies equally to aliens as to invented cultures on Earth. It adds a sense of realism and believability when the words you use in your novel sound like they weren't just made up randomly, but follow consistent rules - even if you're the only one who knows what those rules are. Even if all you're going to do is name your characters, there is a process that'll help to create that realistic feeling, as if they come from a real language that actually exists.

Now, I don't mean that I'm going to be publishing a full Austejan dictionary to go with Dale Shepard and the Bug Aliens from Outer Space. I haven't made up enough vocabulary, and I have only a very shaky grasp of Austejan grammar. But I have done the steps I'm about to impart to you.

1. Create an alphabet or set of phenoms. Every language has its own set of sounds. Try listening to people speaking different languages - or go ahead and try to learn one - if you don't know what I mean. Generally the first thing I do, is go through the alphabet and eliminate a couple of letters (it doesn't have to be a lot!). Maybe there's no L or H sound in your language, so just cross those right off.

2. Come up with some new sounds. Now that you've eliminated a couple of sounds, try to come up with some combo-letter sounds that are going to be used in the language. Try making up some that don't exist in English! Think about whether sh, th, ch sounds are in there and make up some of your own as well. Maybe do some letter substitutions - for example, K doesn't exist, but instead they will use Ch. Think about how different English would be if you made those changes.

Just keep in mind that if you try to make up a language with only 10 letters you're going to be very constrained. Also if every sound is a combo-letter or sound that has no equivalent in English, no one will be able to pronounce your character's names. A few small changes go a long way!

3. Come up with some rules. These can be pretty arbitrary, but you should apply them strictly. If you decide that all female names end in T, then don't give any males a name ending in T (without a good reason). The consistency of a few simple rules helps the whole thing hang together and even if the rules are subtle enough that no one actually picks up on them, they'll subconsciously feel more realistic than if every name is alphabet soup.

For example, in Mortis Unbound I had clear rules for naming, such that all males ended in a certain set of syllable types, and females had a different rule. I also doubled the letter "I", like in Liiran. I went further and came up with suffixes they used for place names, like -ora for capital cities. Note Laxamora and Talgarora are the main cities named, and they comply with this rule. Laxam is the name of the Empire, and its capital is Laxamora. I came up with a whole list of words for rivers, oceans, and other geographical features, which were occasionally used as necessary in the book.

You can go further than this, make up entire grammatical structures, come up with vocabulary and just keep going as far as you want. A great resource if you want more is Holly Lisle's Create a Language Clinic. I learned a great deal from this and applied it for Mortis as well as the rules for names and places in Dale.

Today's tip is about Point of View.

There are lots of different POVs. The main ones that people use are First Person, Third Person Limited, and Omniscient.

A lot of urban fantasy uses first person POV. Harry Potter is written in third person omniscient. The majority of fiction is written in third person limited. If you don't what understand the different types are, go here, because I'm not going to explain it further in this particular article.

Third person limited is by far the easiest to write. The reason why is that you have the most freedom. You can write one scene from the point of view of the best character to tell it, and the next scene can be from another character's point of view entirely, while the other character isn't present at all.

Omniscient, on the other hand, is far more difficult. You have to be careful not to confuse the reader when you shift from head to head. Because readers are used to limited, you have to be very smooth when you're shifting within the same scene. It took me three reads to realize that J.K. Rowling wasn't staying in one particular character's head throughout a scene, though I thought at first she was writing in third person limited.

First person is pretty easy to write, but has its own limitations. You can't really have multiple characters in a single book all refer to themselves as "I", so if you're going to write first person, you have to set up the book basically so everything important happens in the presence of the main character.

If you write Homestuck fanfiction or are Andrew Hussie, then you can use Second Person. Otherwise, don't do this.

And the tip?

Don't Forget Whose Head You're In.

Whether you're writing in third person limited or in first person, you want to keep in mind the character's unique voice. Remember D for Dialogue? The character's inner world influences the way they see the world, just as it influences their word choice and sentence structure.

You should be mindful of your character's biases, their world view, what they think of as important and what they don't. All of this should come through in adjective choices as you describe the world around them, because the reader is seeing it through their eyes.

I wouldn't try to say that I'm an expert on heightening tension. I know I still have a lot to learn about this topic, but my readers have told me that when they reached a certain point in Mortis Unbound, they couldn't put it down. I hope that means I know something about this.

There's a tonne that could be said about tension.

Obviously you want to start at a certain level and tighten the screws as you go, never quite letting go of that anticipation of what might be coming around the next corner. This will draw your reader on through the story without letting them put it down and forget about it.

On the other hand, you want to give your reader a slight break from time to time. You don't want the tension to remain at maximum the whole time. If you try to do that, it'll lose its effectiveness.

But practically, how do you do this? There are lots of ways, but here's one specific tip.

End the scene at the point of change

This is often known as a cliffhanger, but it doesn't have to be a cliffhanger. The character doesn't have to be literally hanging from their nails, though certainly that's one way of doing it. It doesn't have to be opening a door and not telling the reader what's on the other side. You could reveal what it is - and then move on before the character has a chance to decide what to do about it.

The anticipation of wanting to know what comes next is what will keep your reader turning the pages. Maybe it's finding out whether Johnny will keep the bag of money he just found in his locker, or turn it in to the proper authorities. Or maybe Martha just found a strange green vial of liquid and was dared to drink it by her best friend. Or maybe she just drank it, and...what comes next?

If you wrap up each scene with a nice neat bow, if each chapter ends with a clear decision and then the character heads off to sleep with a clear mind and a clear conscience, each time that happens the reader has the opportunity to put it down and go to sleep. And maybe they won't pick it up again.

Don't give them that chance.