brooke johnson's blog

back to basics: hero's journey, stage two

2012-02-29T10:02:00.000-06:00

Continuing with the series on the Hero’s Journey, I introduce toyou the Call to Adventure, stage two of the mythic structure. To see all theposts I’ve done so far, check out the “writing help” navigation tab at the topof the page.

As I said in my last post, the Ordinary World of the story isstatic and well, ordinary. But it isalso unstable. The need for change and growth is due, and the hero only needs asmall something to get him divingheadfirst into an adventure. That somethingis the Call to Adventure.

Other terms for the Call to Adventure are inciting incident,initiating incident, catalyst, or trigger. It’s ultimately the plot device thatgets the story rolling once the main character has been introduced.

The Call to Adventure may come in the form of amessage or messenger. The character embodiment of the Call is the Heraldarchetype (which I will talk about in more detail in a later subseries of Backto Basics). Often, the introduction of this character triggers the arrival ofthe Call. The Herald serves to get the story rolling by presenting the herowith an invitation or challenge to face the unknown. Sometimes, the Call isn’ta physical entity. It may be the Hero’s own restlessness, the fact that they’refed up with the life they’re leading, so they make a conscious decision to act,to change their lives themselves. The Call could be a dream or a vision. Astring of accidents or coincidents may act as a message to the hero. Temptationcan also act as the Call—the allure of treasure, fame, glory, love, andexploration can be enough to tempt the hero into action.

For example, in my novel TheClockwork Giant, Petra, fed up with her life as a shop girl, makes aneffort to change that life herself. Ultimately, she fails, but we see herrestlessness, her desire to change, so when the Call to Adventure comes in theform of Emmerich Goss, we’re ready for her to take the leap and help him. Weknow that this is her one chance to change the life she’s been living.

In the newest Star Trek film,starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, the Call to Adventure comes whenChristopher Pike shows up at the middle-of-nowhere bar and tells Kirk thelocation of the shuttle for the new Star Fleet recruits, daring him to enlist. Inthe movie Tangled, we see thatRapunzel is looking for adventure, wanting to see the floating lights thatappear on her birthday every year, but it takes the arrival of Flynn Rider forher to actually commit.

The Call to Adventure can often be unsettling and disorienting tothe hero, requiring immediate action. Oftentimes, the hero is reluctant ordoesn’t see the necessity in pursuing the adventure. In Star Wars EpisodeIV: A New Hope, Luke is reluctant to save Princess Leia, even with Obi WanKenobi’s insistence that he take up the ways of the force. It takes seeing hisaunt and uncle burned to a crisp and his home destroyed to get him to finallyaccept the Call to Adventure—R2D2’s holographic message. When at lasteverything is taken from the hero, he has no choice but to accept the Call. Hehas run out of options.

The Call to Adventure can be anything from a letter or telephonecall, to the destruction of the hero’s home, or the arrival of a new alluringcharacter. The hero may be reluctant and refuse the Call for a time, but in theend, they accept the many Calls asking them to change and take on theadventure. The placement is usually near the beginning of the story, andsometimes it may be subtle, appearing to be nonexistent. Just as every stage inthe Hero’s Journey, the Call to Adventure is not a necessity, and it can bealtered or removed as the writer sees fit.

If you have any questions about the Hero’s Journey, don’thesitate to ask. I know a lot more about it than I’ve said here, and I would behappy to clear anything up, if you need me to. This is a rather generaloverview, since I don’t want you guys to have to read insanely long posts, butif you would like a more in depth analysis as it pertains to writing, check outThe Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structurefor Writers by Christopher Vogler. If you are just interested in the Hero’sJourney in itself, check out A Hero WithA Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.

back to basics: hero's journey, stage one

2012-02-27T09:49:00.000-06:00

Continuing our discussion of the Hero’s Journey, brings us to thefirst stage, the Ordinary World. This first stage of the Hero’s Journey is thebackdrop for the rest of the story and offers a mundane setting that contrastsagainst the unusualness of the Special World.

The opening of any story—whether it be a short, novel, film, orplay—is detrimental to the success of the book as a whole. The beginning has tohook the reader, set the tone of the story, suggest where the story headed, andprovide a massive amount of information without slowing the pace. Withoutmanaging these things, the book is less likely to reach a large number ofreaders. I have picked up several books, where, on the first page, I had ageneral feeling of meh, so the book went back to the shelf (or removedfrom my Nook, in the case of samples). Readers have to care what happens toyour characters or world right off the bat, and should you fail to give them areason to care, agents won’t want it, publishers won’t want it, readers won’twant it.

If used correctly, the opening evokes a mood within the reader,momentarily syncing with the reader’s curiosity and providing a window into thestory that the reader can identify with. The opening can suggest where thestory will go, introducing the problems of the Ordinary World and introducingthe prospect of change in the Special World. We might see a hint of villainy,and some semblance of a theme will probably be present.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Rowling’s firstchapter is dedicated to a day in Vernon Dursley’s life, ten years beforeHarry’s story even begins. This “prologue” shows the Ordinary World, the normallife that will soon change. Once Harry’s story starts, we see another OrdinaryWorld—Harry’s world. He’s taken advantage of, mistreated, and altogetherunwanted and unimportant in the Dursley household. In Star Wars Episode IV:A New Hope, we see Luke tending to his aunt and uncle’s farm, living anordinary life, even though it’s set in a different time and galaxy. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the OrdinaryWorld is represented by Bilbo’s birthday party. In Stardust (film version, never read the book), Tristan's Ordinary World is shown in his sad attempts to gain Victoria's love. In my own book, The Clockwork Giant, Petra’s OrdinaryWorld is her job at the pawn shop, her friendship with Tolly, and her desire toleave that life and become something more than an orphaned shop girl. If you notice, the representation of the Ordinary World doesn't always come at the ultimate beginning of the story. Sometimes, it is after the prologue or first scene from a different perspective than the main character.

So, why is the Ordinary World so important? This part of thebook, the opening moment of the story, sets the tone for the story to come. Whatever,whenever, or whoever you choose to begin your story with is what the audiencewill use as a frame of reference for the rest of the book.

The Ordinary World exists as a baseline for comparison. Manystories take heroes into a Special World. In order to convey its specialness,the writer creates the normal world. The audience first sees the OrdinaryWorld, and they immediately recognize it as what is normal for the characters.That way, when the characters venture forth, the Special World is muchdifferent than what the readers have already seen, and so they understand it tobe abnormal, off-balance, or extraordinary. The Special World is only specialif the reader can see it in contrast to the mundane world. The Ordinary Worldis the context, home base, and background of the hero.

It’s a good idea to make the Ordinary World as different aspossible from the Special World, so that both the reader and the hero of thestory experience a dramatic change when the hero first crosses the threshold.Compared to the Special World, the Ordinary World may seem boring and calm, butthe challenges and problems that catapult the hero into action exist in theOrdinary World.

If you plan on using the Hero’s Journey as a framework for yourstory, you must introduce theOrdinary World near the beginning of the story. As I've said before, some stories require prologues,or scenes before the story actually begins, and the Ordinary World can exist inthese opening scenes, but the important thing you must remember is that theOrdinary World is representative of the main character’s normal life. If youhave a multi-perspective story, then the Ordinary World will represent a muchlarger scope of the world as all the characters see it.

And while I suggest making the divide between the Ordinary Worldand the Special World as contrasting as possible, it isn’t wholly necessary.The change can be very subtle. But we’ll discuss that further in the next post.

As always, happy writing!

cover reveal and other things

2012-02-24T10:27:00.000-06:00

The amazing Darby Karchut has another book coming out. No, notthe sequel to Griffin Rising (though, that is coming out inApril). This is something completely different, and to be perfectly honest, Ican't wait to read it.

So, introducing Finn Finnegan...

Look at those blue eyes!

Finn (not bleedin' Finnegan) MacCullen is eager to beginhis apprenticeship. He soon discovers the ups and downs of hunting monsters ina suburban neighborhood under the demanding tutelage of the Knight, Gideon Lir.Both master and apprentice are descendents of the Tuatha De Danaan, a magicalrace of warriors from Ireland. Scattered long ago to the four corners of theworld, the De Danaan wage a two thousand year old clandestine battle with theirancient enemy, the Amandán, a breed of goblin-like creatures.

Now with the beasts concentrating their attacks on Finn, he andhis master must race to locate the lost Spear of the Tuatha De Danaan, the onlyweapon that can destroy the Amandán, all the while hiding his true identityfrom his new friends, Rafe and Savannah, twins whose South African roots mayhold a key to Finn's survival. Armed with a bronze dagger, some ancient Celticmagic, and a hair-trigger temper, Finn is about to show his enemies the truemeaning of "fighting Irish."

Finn Finnegan will bepublished by Spencer Hill Press March 12, 2013 (I know! So cruel that we haveto wait until next year, but that’s publishing.)

Darby is nothingshort of an amazing author. I have no doubt that this book will be fantastic,and I hope you’ll add it to your TBR lists. I plan on doing another few poststhroughout the year. I’ll probably interview the lovely Darby Karchut, and do areview for you all if I can get my hands on an ARC.

Now, in other news, I have a wonderful announcement for anyone stillin the dark. Yesterday, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest announcedthe list of writers and books moving on to the second round, aaaaaand guess whomade it in? Me. I’m still enamored bythe whole thing, but my husband says he didn’t have any doubt that I would makeit. The quarterfinalists will be announced March 20^th, and if I makeit that far—which I hope I do!—mybook will be reviewed by Publisher’sWeekly, which I can use for promotional purposes, even if I don’t win thewhole thing. So expect me to be in nerves starting mid-March. I have aone-in-four chance of making the quarterfinals. And you know what? I like those odds.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated if/when I make it to the nextround.

Also, I've gotten a slew of reviews this month. Here are some links:

Once Upon a Twilight
The Examiner
Reader's Favorite
The Story of a Writer

I hope you all have a great weekend. See you Monday!

back to basics: the hero's journey, introduction

2012-02-22T09:39:00.000-06:00

The Hero's Journey is probably my favorite story structure (so far), especially for fantasy and science fiction. It provides a great skeleton for writing fiction. My first (failed) novel somewhat followed the structure. The Clockwork Giant has similarities to this structure, especially in the beginning, but somewhere around the middle mark, it veers off. I'll probably use my book as an example in the earlier stages, but I promise not to go too far so as to give away any major spoilers--mostly stuff that's in the back cover summary, or in the sample.

I have expanded on the Hero's Journey in the past, and if you wish, you can find them in the archives. However, I hope you'll stick with me as I revisit each stage, adding new examples and new observations that I didn't have over a year ago. So, without further ado, the Hero's Journey:

Without embarking on an adventure, the protagonist of a tale is just an ordinary person, but by partaking in the Hero's Journey, the protagonist evolves into a hero, someone who has traveled to the unknown and returned with treasures. Therefore, the journey is the most important aspect of a story. Without it, the protagonist cannot reap the benefits of a successful quest, but by accepting the call to adventure, the protagonist begins his journey into the unknown. He has taken the first step on the familiar winding road of the Hero's Journey.

The Hero's Journey was first dissected and organized by Joseph Campbell, explained in his book The Hero with A Thousand Faces. Campbell used examples from mythology to support the universal structure that he uncovered. Many years later, Christopher Vogler, a story analyst for Hollywood, took Campbell's work and revised it in The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. You'll find that The Writer's Journey is one of the most influential books in my writing arsenal, and I highly recommend the book if you are interested in mythology and traditional fantasy. Vogler simplified Campbell's terms and omitted some of the stages while keeping close to the original sequence of events that Campbell outlined. I'll be using Vogler's terminology and figures.

The Hero's Journey is not a formula. It is an evolving form that can conform to an individual's style and needs for a story. The outline Vogler presents is not an exact structure that needs to be followed. Steps can be removed and revised to fit a writer's tale.

The Hero's Journey consists of twelve stages:

1. Ordinary World
This stage acts as a comparative background to the special world the hero is about to enter, making the special world "unordinary" to what the hero is used to.

2. The Call to Adventure
The hero is presented with a problem, challenge or adventure to undertake.

3. Refusal of the Call
This is where the hero shows reluctance and uncertainty.

4. Meeting with the Mentor
The Mentor archetypal character encourages or prepares the hero for the upcoming journey.

5. Crossing the Threshold
The hero commits to the adventure and fully enters the Special World of the story.

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
The hero encounters new challenges and tests, makes allies and enemies, and learns the rules of the Special World.

7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
The hero comes to the edge of a dangerous place, where the quest object is hidden and he must prepare before moving forward.

8. The Ordeal
The hero faces the possibility of death.

9. Reward
The hero takes possession of the treasure he has been seeking.

10. The Road Back
The hero deals with the consequences of confronting the dark forces of the Ordeal.

11. Resurrection
A second life-or-death moment, where the dark forces have one last go at the hero.

12. Return with the Elixir
The hero returns to the Ordinary World with the treasure.

That's it in a nutshell.

Now I have my own quibbles about this structure, but that's okay. It's not meant to be a rigid formula. You can alter, add, or remove steps to fit your own needs. The Hero's Journey is a skeletal framework that should be fleshed out with the details and surprises of the individual story. The structure should not call attention to itself, nor should it be followed too precisely.

In the following weeks, I'll explain each stage with examples and personal observations. I hope you stick around!

Happy writing!

back to basics: three act structure

2012-02-20T09:15:00.000-06:00

Our next topic as part of this blog series is structure. Itouched on this a bit in the previous post on plotting, but now, we’re going totake a more detailed look. Over the next several weeks—yes, it will take that long. We’re going to lookat four different structures: three act, Hero’s Journey condensed (13 posts),Propp’s Fairy Tale (10-15 posts), and Snyder’s 15 key beats (5-8 posts). As I’vesaid before, there is no right or wrong way to write a story. You might findthese structures useful, or you might not. My hope is that you’ll find thatyour stories closely resemble one of these structures, and you’ll be able toapply the structure to give your story more depth.

Since the three act structure is the simplest, I’ll cover ittoday. This is the structure you learn about in grade school. Act I is your beginning,the exposition, where you introduce the characters, the setting, and the incitingincident. Act II is your middle, the rising action, where all the cool stuffleading up the climax happens. Act III is where the big event happens, the climax, the moment that the story has beenleading to all along. And directly after the climax comes the falling actionand denouement, the final resolution of the story.

This is the most commonly used diagram to represent thisstructure:

While it is a simple structure, it doesn’t really sayanything, you know? It’s a bit boring. I prefer a different representation. Itook this diagram from Christopher Vogler’s TheWriter’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers:

To me, this diagram makes more sense, even though the ideais the same. It implies struggle, a dynamic plot. The former diagram works bestwith short fiction, but novels need several little climaxes leading up to thebig one. Vogler defines the peaks of his diagram as the high point of each act.Each peak is the former diagram, minus the exposition and denouement. Aftereach miniature climax, the excitement settles for a bit before climbing againtoward the next climax. The final climax should be the hardest struggle, themost significant trial the characters of your novel face.

Another thing that you’ll notice in the latter diagram isthat the acts are not divided equally. Act I is very short, while Act II takesup half of the diagram. Act III should be a bit shorter and Act I a littlelonger than I drew, and the break between Act II a and Act II b should bedirectly in the middle, but you get the general idea.

Act I is the setup. Like I said before, it is where youintroduce the characters, setting, and inciting incident. The break into Act II—thatfirst little peak in the diagram—should be the moment when the character’s lifechanges, when the story really starts.

Act II spans half the diagram and is broken into two parts.In the first half of Act II, we see the consequences of the change in the maincharacter’s life. We see the immediate result of the inciting incident and howthe character chose to deal with it. The diagram steadily climbs as tensionrises, as we see the effect of those consequences, until it reaches themidpoint, the break between parts a and b of Act II. This is where the storygets real. The danger is real. Theconsequences are real. It isn’t fun and games anymore. The rest of Act II leadsinto Act III, mounting the tension until the break into Act III. This is themoment where the main character begins to face the problem head on. They make aconscious decision to fight, to defeat the antagonist, whoever or whatever thatmight be.

Act III is rife with tension. That’s why it’s the rockiestpart of the diagram. Everything that the character has done comes back to themin this act—characters they’ve met previously, lesser antagonists they’vebeaten or failed to beat, the consequences of earlier actions, etc. Act IIIholds the climax, the big moment of the story, where the main character eitherwins or loses against the main antagonist. This is the moment where thecharacter faces the biggest threat.

Immediately following the climax, the story begins tosettle. The denouement presents the result of the climax, the end of the story.The plot and subplots are wrapped up, and possibly, the theme is stated orexpressed in a way. And the characters have clearly been changed by the story.The story ends in a different place than it began, the characters are differentthan when they began the story, and the world itself has changed.

This is a simple structure, but that doesn’t mean it isn’tworth using. Every story should have at least three acts, regardless of whatspecific structure it is. So, make sure your story has three acts and that ithas the five parts of a story arc: exposition, rising action, climax, fallingaction, and denouement. If you have these things, then your story hasstructure, even if it’s a simple structure.

Happy writing!

you know, stuff

2012-02-17T09:58:00.001-06:00

It’s been a long week. I didn’t get a single word written on The Chroniker Legacy, and even though Idid a bit of brainstorming for another project, I’m not so sure it’s somethingI want to write. Seemed like a good idea a few weeks ago, but after trying toflesh it out a bit, it’s not nearly as cool as I thought. It happens. We justhave to move on to the next idea.

So the reason for the lack of writing is because I’ve been staying with mydad since Monday, helping him with a dance studio photo shoot. Between that,doing these blog posts, visiting family, and finding time to sleep, I justhaven’t had the time or motivation to write. This week has definitely taken itstoll on my creativity. For that reason, this blog post is likely to be rathershort. I really just can’t think of what to say, so if I ramble a bit, just,you know, go with it.

After this week, I don’t think I like working—like, legitimate, dealingwith customers work. I prefer the solitariness of writing. Just me and mycomputer and the words. Being around so many people drains me. My limit is like five people. Ten at most, and onlysparingly. I firmly believe that everything should be taken in moderation, andthat includes people.

Maybe I’m a hermit. I’ll admit that. Eventually, I’ll be the crazy writerwho never leaves the house except at the full moon, and only if it rained theday before, wearing my fuzzy house slippers, leggings, and a baggy grandmasweater. Hopefully, I can stay socially sane for a few more years.

Now that were a little past the midway point of February, I think I’mdoing pretty good on sales for this month. I’ve almost caught up with January,and the month isn’t over yet. That’s a good sign. I’d really like an increasein sales from month to month. That’s the idea anyway. And even if I don’t sellany more books this month, I did make a bit of money working the photo shoot,probably more than I’ll make on sales for a few months. Not that we really need the extra money, but I can use itto buy some more markers for my art hobby, and maybe a few books.

That said, I haven’t read anything in a while, not since I finished Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George.I’m having a hard time deciding what story I want to read next. I’m really notsure what genre I want to read. Anything goes at this point. Though, now that Ithink about it, I really really wantto read The Throne of the Crescent Moon bySaladin Ahmed. However, the ebook is over ten dollars, and I just can’t bringmyself to spend that much money on an ebook. I’d rather spring for thehardcover and spend a little bit more. Weird how that works. I’ll probably waituntil the price drops in a few months before I read it. But that brings me backto not having a book to read. Any recommendations? I’m up for nearly any genre.

In yet other rambling news, I bought some new clothes this week. Since Ilost all that weight, I can now fit into a size smaller than before, which is awesome. I used up the fifty-dollar Kohl’sgift card that my dad gave me for Christmas and bought two pairs of skinnyjeans and a plum cardigan for the spring. I also bought several shirts fromWalmart—I’m a cheapster—two thermals, two turtlenecks, two nicer long sleeveshirts with pretty flower designs, and one navy blue peasant top. I shouldn’tneed to buy any more clothes until the summer, and even then, I’ll really onlyneed some short shorts—something above the knee at least. Don’t expect daisydukes or anything.

And one more thing. I got an excellent review from someone I met through Google+.

Other than that, there’s not much going on in Brookeville. I had a Belgianwaffle for breakfast, so there’s that.

back to basics: plotting

2012-02-15T11:13:00.000-06:00

Alrighty then. Today we’re going to talk about plotting. Now, I’ve done several posts about plotting in thepast. For this comprehensive post, I’ll talk a little bit about how I plot astory, I’ll present a few techniques, and I’ll be sure to link back to previousposts if you’re inclined to read more on the subject.

Plotting is an interesting thing. Some view it as a terrible monster thatneeds to be avoided at all costs, and others see it as their literary savior.There is a serious debate on the subject between the two camps of writers:pantsers and plotters. To be honest, I was once a pantser. I wrote willy-nilly,with no regard to structure or coherency. I have since become a plotter,detailing scenes and acts and arcs and all that other plotty stuff. But thatdoesn’t mean plotting is for everyone. Some people will find that pantsing istheir forte. But if you do want toplot, or try it at the very least, then this post ought to give you a goodstarting point.

At its core, plotting is pretty straightforward. A writer wants to write astory, so, before they write it, they draft an outline of what will happen. Iused to think that plotting meant detailing every scene, down to the tiny tinydetails, but that’s not always the case. Yes, some people will find that anuber-detailed outline works best for them, but a very vague, very short outlinecould work for someone else. The main purpose of plotting is to know where youare going with the story: how the story will end, how the characters willchange, and how they get there. The amount of detail depends on the writer’splotting style.

When I first started plotting, my outlines were a little vague, usuallyjust a phrase, a sentence at most. I didn’t meticulously chart character arcsor subplots or the nitty gritty details of the main plot. I just crafted anoutline that covered the gist of the story. I used one plotting method inparticular—though, I’m not sure if I used it correctly or not: Holly Lisle’sPlot Clinic. It’s a thorough how-to on plotting, and I highly recommend it.Well worth the ten dollars. For the second novel in the Chroniker City series,I tried using Holly’s method, but it didn’t work as well for me the secondtime. Instead, I used the Board, a screenwriting tool detailed in Blake Snyder’sSave the Cat, which is also a goodbook to read. But before I decided on the board, I tried several differentmethods. Some of my outlines were vague. Others were so detailed that the outlineitself was nearly 5000 words. It just goes to show that even a single writercan need different plotting methods for different books. If one method doesn’twork for you, then try another. You wouldn’t believe how much the plot of The Chroniker Legacy has changed sinceconception. And for every plot that I constructed, I used a different method. Ifinally settled on the Board, and I even refused to transcribe the board to anoutline, instead letting it sit on my desk in all its cluttered, color-codedglory.

Regardless of which method you decide to use, a plot is essentially asequence of scenes (which we talked about in the previous post). The easiestway to plot—in my experience—is to create a list of scenes. There is no rightor wrong way to creating these scenes. You could use pictures, a phrase, a singleword, a paragraph, or a page. When I was having trouble with the plot for The Chroniker Legacy, instead of writingan outline, I started drawing pictures of the scenes that were vivid in my mind—candybar scenes, as Holly Lisle calls them in her plotting how-to. I only got aboutten scenes out of those pictures, but it gave me a starting point. If you wantto plot an entire story that way, go for it. Worst case: it doesn’t work. Bestcase: you plot a magnificent story. Don’t be afraid to try different things.

So, how do you craft an outline? How do you bring together dozens ofscenes and make them into a coherent plot? As I’ve pretty much stated above,there are a thousand different ways to do it. I have my way. You have yours.Or, maybe you’re just thinking about trying to plot a story. Maybe you’re apantser and you want to try something new. Maybe you have your own method, andit isn’t quite working. For whatever the reason, here is my general plottingprocess. Maybe it will inspire you.

Like I’ve said before, when I start plotting, I brainstorm the scenes, theaction of the story. I don’t try to come up with them chronologically. I bouncearound the story, looking for the images, conversations, and snippets ofinformation that stand out, the events that are absolutely necessary to tellthe story. I may come up with three or four of these scenes, or I may come upwith two dozen. I just let the most interesting parts of the story float to thetop of my mind, and then I record them. Once I have those, I think of subplots,character arcs, theme, and other scenes that might fit between the big scenes. By the time I’m finished, I wantto have about 40-50 scenes. Once I have my scenes—drawn on index cards—I shufflethem around until I find an order I like best. Once I decide on that, I startwriting. If I have trouble writing, I go back to my plot and see if I need toshuffle things around again, or if I need to change a part of the plot. Thisactually happens a lot, so don’t be surprised or discouraged if you find outthat your plot isn’t working. I changed my plot no less than six times for The Chroniker Legacy.

Here is an example of a scene (from TheChroniker Legacy; don’t worry, no spoilers):

Bicycles – Petra and Rupert go riding bicycles around the city. Rupert has toteach her how.

Very simple. Straightforward. And somewhat vague. I have thirty-sevenscenes plotted out and three blank scenes just hanging out until I figure outwhat to do with them. Your scene descriptions might be a paragraph, or a singleword, like the title of my scene. I like giving scenes titles. It makes themeasier to keep track of.

It’s funny looking back on my days as a pantser. I can’t imagine goingback. If I had tried to write TheClockwork Giant without a plot, I can guarantee that it wouldn’t havereleased last December, and it probably never would have seen the light of day.Because I plotted, because I figured out the story beforehand and worked outall the kinks when it was still a manageable size, I finished the book quicklyand put it out there, for better or worse. Yes, I still think there are thingsthat I could improve upon, and I blame my impatience to get published for that.

Do you plot? What method do youuse? Any advice for new plotters?

And here is a list of earlier posts about plotting, if you have the timeor desire to read them. You’ll see how I went from pantser to plotter and howmy methods changed over time.

Plot Structure

Plotting Your Story

Guest Post by J.N. Duncan: Plotting for the Structurally Inclined

From Pantser to Plotter

Plot Problems

Plotting Process

Happy Writing!

back to basics: scenes

2012-02-13T11:10:00.000-06:00

Any story that you write—whether it’sa 500 word flash piece or a 300,000 word epic—needs to have scenes. But what isa scene? You’ve probably heard various things from various sources. What I haveto say on the matter may not be what you think a scene is, but it is what Iconsider a scene to be. This is how I write scenes, and I think it’s the mosteffective construction.

A scene must have three things: agoal, conflict, and change. These three aspects of a scene are equallyimportant. Without one of them, the scene fails to be effective. Without two,the scene falls flat. Without any of them, it ceases to be a scene. Most shortfiction comprises of very few scenes. A novel can have anywhere from a fewdozen to a hundred scenes. Scenes can vary in length. I’ve written scenes that wereless than 500 words and others that were over 4000 words. As long as the sceneaccomplishes the three things mentioned above, then it doesn’t matter how longit is.

When writing a scene, the first thingyou need to figure out is what the main character wants. What is their goal?What do they hope to accomplish? By the end of the scene, the main characterwill have either succeeded or failed their goal. For example, in my novel The Clockwork Giant, the first scenefollows the main character Petra as she attempts to apply to the University indisguise. Her goal is to successfully fool the applications supervisor. The sceneends shortly after she fails.

Once the scene has a goal, you needto introduce conflict. There must be two opposing forces, something that theprotagonist needs to overcome. This can be an actual person, the main character’sconflicting opinion or feelings, weather, time, etc. For example, in the firstscene of The Clockwork Giant, theapplications supervisor is Petra’s antagonist. He quashes Petra’s hope ofapplying to the University and sends her on her way. Because of him, she failsher goal. The first scene of this book has a clear antagonist for the conflict,but that is not always the case. Think of the first scene of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.Mr. Dursley is the protagonist. His particular goal is to maintain normalcy.The conflict exists between his goal of normalcy and the occurrence of abnormalthings in his daily life—the cloaked men, the owls, the shooting stars on thenews, the cat reading a map. These are subtle antagonists, attackers on Mr.Dursley’s normalcy. By the end of the scene, Mr. Dursley’s normalcy is vanquishedwith the arrival of his magical nephew, Harry.

As you can see, conflict and goal shouldbe closely related. If your conflict does not match your goal, then your sceneisn’t living up to its full potential. Shape the conflict to meet the goal.

The final thing a scene needs ischange—a shift in the status quo. This can be emotional change, new knowledge,a change of stakes, anything that changesthe course of the story. The best scenes incorporate all of these changes, andthe more extreme the change, the better. Though, subtle changes work well too,as long as there is another, stronger change present. For example, in the firstscene of The Clockwork Giant, thescene starts with Petra confident that she will be successful in fooling theapplications supervisor. As the scene progresses, and the supervisor rejectsher application, Petra’s confidence transforms into hopelessness. She learnsthat fooling the University into letting her apply isn’t going to be as easy asshe thought. The scene finishes with Petra sad, returning to her normal life,her dreams shot—the opposite of what she had hoped for in the beginning of thescene.

Change very heavily relies on goaland conflict. This is why the lack of one of these aspects can cause a scene tofail. And if the three aspects of the scene are not synchronous with oneanother, then the scene will not be as effective as it could be. Remember: changecomes from the conflict, and conflict comes from the goal.

A story is a sequence of scenes, a seriesof goals, conflicts, and changes. Just remember the three aspects of a scenewhile you are writing, and you shouldn’t have any problems. If you do comeacross a problematic scene, reexamine it. Is the goal clear at the beginning ofthe scene? Does my conflict reflect the goal? Am I missing conflict? How doesthe story change by the end of this scene?

Doyou have any questions about scenes? Do you have any other advice concerningscenes?

defining ourselves

2012-02-10T10:32:00.001-06:00

It’s no secret to anyone that I’m a bit—well, childish, not to be mistaken with nerdiness. And I don’t mean that ina bad way. I’m just not very grownupy. Yes,it’s a word. I just made it up. Nearly every shirt that I own is a print tee,hosting several nerdy references such as Harry Potter, My Neighbor Totoro,Pokémon, Star Wars, and various classic video games. I hang out in pajamas allday. I wear pink converses, bows in my hair, and printed socks. Most of myfavorite books are intended for middle graders, others for young adults—the Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson series, everything by DianaWynne Jones, the How to Train Your Dragonbooks, and anything that even remotely resembles a fairy tale. Most of myfavorite films are intended for children under the age of twelve—Ponyo, Castle in the Sky, My NeighborTotoro, Tangled, Howl’s Moving Castle, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin,Pocahontas… and so on so forth. I’m more comfortable in a room of kids thana room of adults. I still draw on myself when I’m bored. I make up random songsabout random things. I laugh at fart jokes. One of my favorite lunches to makeis a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into squares. I still think of thingsI want to do “when I grow up”.

Clearly, I am not very grownupy.

my inner child

Yet, honestly, I don’t see the problem. Yes, I amtwenty-three years old, but what does that mean, really? In the eyes of society, I am a grown up, but I don’t seemyself that way. On the inside, in that weird little thing called a brain, inmy soul, my true self, or whatever, I am approximately nine years old. I dreamlike a child, thinking of impossible things, asking questions about the world, andconstantly pondering the “what ifs”. Yet, while I have this childish mentality,I still have the experience of my twenty-three years. I have regrets. I have apast. I have strong emotional connections, meaningful relationships, and anever-evolving sense of self. The combination of these two sides of mypersonality are what, I think, make me such a great writer, and such aninteresting person. I can question why the sky is blue, and five minutes later,I can philosophize about religion and spirituality. I constantlyexperience the world with the eyes of a child—everything is new and unknown.Yet, I can examine what I see with the mind of an adult.

My husband is, in almost every way, the opposite of me. Ourone true connection is our nerdiness. But he’s realistic. He doesn’t dreamimpossible things. When I tell him I want to go on an adventure, he’s the onethat reminds me that we live in Arkansas, not Narnia. That’s not to say hedoesn’t have his childish moments, but more often than not, he grounds me inreality. If it weren’t for him, I would be floating along somewhere, lost in myown head. He keeps me sane. Most of my friends are more grownupy than I am. I’mthe weird one of the bunch, the one who has yet to see the world for what itreally is—mean and unforgiving. I’m an optimist. I daydream. I like to believethat magic exists and that I really can do anything. And if being a grownupmeans I have to become a realistic pessimist, to be honest, I don’t want to bea grownup. I want to stay a kid forever, if only in my heart. Yes, I know thatsomeday I’ll have to own up to my age. I’ll have to become more realistic in myplans for the future. But I want to always have this childlike spirit, toalways dream for impossible things. I hope I never get world-weary. I hope thatI always look at the world in new ways. I hope that I continue to question thestatus quo.

And you better believe I’ll continue wearing my printed teesand converses. That’s just who I am, no matter how childish it makes me look.

Now, I want to ask you: whoare you? How do you view yourself? Are you a dreamer, a realist, a philosopher?

If you could describeyourself in one word, what would it be?

For me, it would be eccentric.Or maybe quixotic, since I like the letter x.

back to basics: point of view

2012-02-08T09:30:00.000-06:00

Now that we're finally away from our high school English lessons, we can start talking about the art of writing. The below post is a repost from about a year ago. Everything I said then still holds true, and I think it can be helpful for new writers who don't yet know the difference.

So, take it away, past-Brooke:

Several of the books I have read lately have had interesting point-of-view choices. Leviathan has two third person limited POVs that switch every two chapters. Griffin Rising has a mixture of third person limited, omniscient, and first person over three or more characters. The Time Traveler’s Wife has two first person POVs with no alternating pattern. There is nothing wrong with any of these choices. The author effectively conveys the story with the chosen point-of-view.

When I write, I use third-person limited. I have dabbled in first person a few times, trying to branch out, but I just can’t do it. For some reason, I can’t get into a story when I write from a first person POV. I can get into second person before first person.

How do you choose which point-of-view to write with? Do you know the difference?

First Person point-of-view is the most personal. The story is told from the character’s mind, as they see, hear, and feel the world around them, and it’s told in the character’s voice. The reader can easily access the character’s thoughts and feelings without a narrative filter. For example:

I checked my breath as David walked around the hood of his Camaro. Minty. Kissable. He opened the driver side door and slid into his seat. With a grin, he shifted into gear and we were on our way to the convention center. The butterflies in my stomach turned to worms. I flexed my cold, shaky fingers and smoothed the red satin around my thighs. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to dance. I wanted to do some super spy maneuver and jump out of the Camaro before I embarrassed myself. What would Kim say when she saw us walk in together? The worms turned into grasshoppers. Me and David. Not Kim and David. Shawna freaking Hall and David freaking Watson. Shawna who-didn’t-think-hot-boys-knew-she-existed Hall and David so-freaking-hot-the-sun-needed-sunscreen-when-he-went-outside Watson. Together. At prom.

Second Person point-of-view is the most unorthodox. Few people use it effectively. The idea is that the reader is the main character. It’s almost always used with present tense. For example.

You check your breath as David walks around the hood of the Camaro. Minty. Kissable. He opens the driver side door and slides into his seat. With a grin, he shifts into gear and you’re on your way to the convention center. The butterflies in your stomach turn to worms. You flex your cold, shaky fingers and smooth the red satin around your thighs. You want to throw up. You want to dance. You want to do some super spy maneuver and jump out of the Camaro before you embarrass yourself. What will Kim say when she sees you walk in together? The worms turn into grasshoppers. You and David. Not Kim and David. You, who didn’t think hot boys knew you existed, and David, who is so freaking hot the sun needs sunscreen when he goes outside. Together. At prom.

Third Person Limited is the most used POV next to first person. The story is filtered through the narrator’s voice instead of the main character’s. When used effectively, it can be just as personal as first person. The story is still told through the character’s eyes, just with a narrative filter. For example:

Shawna checked her breath as David walked around the hood of his Camaro. Minty. Kissable. He opened the driver side door and slid into his seat. With a grin, he shifted into gear and they were on their way to the convention center. The butterflies in her stomach turned to worms. She flexed her cold, shaky fingers and smoothed the red satin around her thighs. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to dance. She wanted to do some super spy maneuver and jump out of the Camaro before she embarrassed herself. What would Kim say when she saw them walk in together? The worms turned into grasshoppers. Her and David. Not Kim and David. Shawna freaking Hall and David freaking Watson. Shawna who-didn’t-think-hot-boys-knew-she-existed Hall and David so-freaking-hot-the sun-needed-sunscreen-when-he-went-outside Watson. Together. At prom.

Third Person Objective is used less often. This POV isn’t partial to any specific character. It’s impersonal, without seeing what is in the character’s mind.

Shawna checked her breath as David walked around the hood of his Camaro. He opened the driver side door and slid into his seat. With a grin, he shifted into gear and they were on their way to the convention center. Shawna flexed her cold, shaky fingers and smoothed the red satin around her thighs. David glanced at her as he turned down Main St. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. At the convention center, Kim sat outside, dateless.

Third Person Omniscient takes the best of the above point-of-views and works them into the story together. It sees everyone and knows what everyone is thinking. You could call it Omnipresent too.

Shawna checked her breath as David walked around the hood of his Camaro. Minty. Kissable.

David smoothed his hair over, checking his reflection in the window. Handsome as ever. He hoped Shawna thought so. She had never given him a second glance before this week. He opened the driver side door and slid into his seat. He grinned nervously at Shawna and shifted the car into gear. They were on their way to the convention center.

Shawna stared out the window. The butterflies in her stomach turned to worms. She flexed her cold, shaky fingers and smoothed the red satin around her thighs. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to dance. She wanted to do some super spy maneuver and jump out of the Camaro before she embarrassed herself.

David glanced at her as he turned down Main St. She looked completely different. Her hair was slicked back into a twisty thing on the top of her head, and she had glitter on her face. She looked nervous, maybe just as nervous as he was. He wished he had told someone who he was taking to prom. Everyone thought he and Kim would go together. They were a sure pick for King and Queen. What would they say when he showed up with Shawna on his arm? What would Kim say? He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel for something to do. The silence was unbearable.

Shawna bit her lip. What would Kim say when she saw them walk in together? The worms turned into grasshoppers. Her and David. Not Kim and David. Shawna freaking Hall and David freaking Watson. Shawna who-didn’t-think-hot-boys-knew-she-existed Hall and David so-freaking-hot-the-sun-needed-sunscreen-when-he-went-outside Watson. Together. At prom.

Kim stared down Main St. waiting for David’s Camaro to drive into view. He wasn’t going to dump her at the last second. Not Kim Roberts, captain of the dance team, homecoming maid, and tonight’s Prom Queen. Kim Roberts didn’t get dumped. David would have to be her date. He couldn’t go alone.

Okay, so that last one was a really long example, but I’m guessing you get the point. To be perfectly honest, I think all of these examples work well. You can see how first person, second person, and third person limited are nearly identical except for pronouns (and verb tense in case of second person). Third person objective is the most distanced, and third person omniscient is the most personal in regards to how many persons it gets intimate with. Each writer has their own way of telling a story. There is no wrong way. So hopefully you have a better understanding of POV now, and maybe it was mildly entertaining too.

What POV do you use the most often? Which is your favorite to read, to write?

back to basics: research

2012-02-06T09:36:00.000-06:00

So, this will be the last post in the “grade school” section ofthe Back to Basics series. I was going to cover grammar and common mistakes inwriting, but I think if you stick to the rules laid out in the previous posts,you’ll be okay. If, of course, you have questions, don’t hesitate to email me.I’d be happy to help you out.

Leading into the next section of the blog series, we’re going totake a look at research. Every writer has to do research. It doesn’t matterwhat you’re writing. Trust me. Hopefully, I can help direct you to the rightsources.

When I started writing TheClockwork Giant, I was lucky enough to have a series of books titled How Things Work. I stole these from mydad way back when, and they’ve been a hugehelp in researching steampunk technologies. Not everyone is going to havethe appropriate books just lying around, so where do you go when you need toknow something?

Honestly, I have four sites that I need on a regular basis:Wikipedia, Google, Dictionary.com, and BehindtheName.com. I can guarantee thatwhen I’m researching for a novel, these four websites are my first go-to sites.

Wikipedia, for those of you who don’t know, is a web-basedencyclopedia that is written and edited by a conglomeration of volunteers. Andwhile this could lead to false information, Wikipedia has managed to monitorits many articles for accuracy, and if a page has questionable sources orcontent, it does not hesitate to advertise so. There are over 3.8 millionarticles in English, covering pretty much anything you need to know. In thelast week or so, I have used Wikipedia to learn more about California rolls, telephoneswitchboards, Cardiff, retirement, Sherlock(TV series), deadmau5, Southern literature, orthography, neon, hydraulic fluid,mecha, 2012 Pro Bowl, Greek mythological figures, electrical engineering,Chinese zodiac, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, list of Merlin episodes, list of Psych episodes, PROTECT IP Act,sardines, infant formula, baby bottle, Battle of Waterloo, and honestly, thelist just keeps going. It’s an invaluable source.

Google is a must forresearch. Beyond the search engine, I use Google Maps and Google Translate themost. When writing a story set in a real life location that you’re unfamiliarwith, Google Maps can clear a few things up for you—where landmarks are, streetnames, distances, proper country–region–county–city–community associations, andso on so forth. For example, when trying to figure out where I wanted ChronikerCity to be, I used Google Maps to find an appropriately sized island close toGreat Britain. In fact, the island is directly off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Those two little shadowdots—the one on the left is where Chroniker City was built. Another thing I useGoogle Maps for is making up street names. Medlock Cross, the main thoroughfareof the fourth quadrant in Chroniker City, was created based on a random zoomingin of a city in the UK, as were Delaney Road, Farringdon Crescent, TillingClose, Andover Street, and Pemberton Square (which is actually in Massachusetts).

Google Translate is extremely valuable if you plan on havingbilingual characters or foreign settings. In The Clockwork Giant, the citizens of Chroniker City come from allbackgrounds. Emmerich’s father is German while his mother is French. Norris, asecondary character, is Welsh. Mr. Stricket, the Monfores, and most of Petra’sadopted family are English. The founder of Chroniker City was German. So, Iactually ended up using quite a bit of foreign language. I have a sci-fi storythat I plan on writing between book two and three of the Chroniker City seriesthat will have a cast of characters who represent several nationalities, andyou can be sure that there will be several instances of foreign languages inthe book, most definitely Japanese, French, and Mandarin at the very least.

You wouldn’t think that Dictionary.com would be a research site,but seeing as I write historical fiction, it’s important for me to know whatwords were in use at the time the story takes place. There have been severalwords that I have had to change over the course of writing the novel because theywere not invented until much later, such as robot.And there have been some words that I chose not to use because they soundedtoo modern, even though they were in common use at that time, such as girlfriend. So if you’re writinghistorical fiction and want to avoid anachronistic terminology, I highlyrecommend using Dictionary.com to discover the origin of the word.

And last, while it’s not so much research as brainstorming, BehindtheName.comhas been invaluable to me. I use this website to come up with character names,finding just the right name for the character. They also have a companionwebsite for surnames. While it isn’t a complete compilation, it’s a good startingpoint.

With these four websites, you can cover pretty much all of yourbases, whether you are writing contemporary, historical, fantasy, orscience-fiction. And I know that professors and teachers tell you not to useWikipedia as a source for research, but outside of academia, Wikipedia is thegolden font of knowledge. Don’t hesitate to use it for your writing.

How do you conduct writing research? What websites do you use the most?

I hope you all have a spectacular writing week.

january sales

2012-02-03T10:58:00.001-06:00

I don't usually do multiple posts in a day, but since it's Friday, you get a treat. I generally post random stuff on Friday, but since I failed to blog properly on Monday because I was sick, I didn't want to have two non-writing posts in the same week. And, I wanted to get the last of the punctuation posts out of the way. I figure you might not mind if I toss in my January sales numbers. Normally, I probably would have tacked them onto the end of whatever post happened to go up that day, but since the Back to Basics posts will probably be popular for a while, I figure six months from now, no one will care what my sales were in January.

Anyway... sales. Obviously, I didn't do nearly as well as I did in December (compare here), but I didn't expect to. Here's the breakdown.

January Sales for The Clockwork Giant

Kindle: 5 copies; $17.20 in royalties
Kindle International: 0
Nook: 3 copies; $9.72 in royalties
Smashwords: 1 copy; $4.06 in royalties
Third-party through Smashwords: 0
Lulu: 0
Createspace: 2 copies; $6.92 in royalties

So, for January, I sold eleven copies of my book, twelve if you count the one refund (which I don't). I made $37.90 in royalties for the month of January. I knew that sales would slow down, and I expected to sell about 10-15 copies a month after the release. But reviews are coming in nicely. I have ten reviews on Amazon right now, with a 4-star average.

Kindle is still the leader in sales, though not nearly as big of a difference as last month. Amazon is clearly my biggest seller, since I sold seven copies of the eleven through them. But Nook is holding steady, and I got my first Smashwords sale. Hopefully, the Smashwords sales will go up now that the book is available for Kobo, iBooks, and Sony Reader. I didn't expect any sales from Lulu. The only reason the book was available there to begin with was because it took so long for the paperback to go up on CreateSpace. I probably won't include it in future sales numbers.

So far, I'm pleased with my sales, though they're nothing spectacular. Some people might be disappointed with such low numbers, but I'm not. I'm weird. Though, I will admit, I was kind of stressing two weeks ago when I had only sold five copies.

As always, if you want to buy my book, you can click on the links in the sidebar, and they'll take you to the appropriate website.

back to basics: punctuation pt. 6

2012-02-03T10:39:00.000-06:00

Quotation Marks

In English writing,quotation marks, or quotes or speech marks, are punctuation marks surrounding aquotation, direct speech, or a literal title or name. Quotation marks can beused to indicate a different meaning of a word of phrase than the one typicallyassociated with it, and are often used to express irony.

Quotation marks are writtenas a pair of opening and closing marks in either of two styles: single (‘…’) ordouble (“…”).

Quotation and speech:

Single or double quotationmarks denote either dialogue or a quotation. Double quotes are preferred in theUnited States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, whereas single quotes aremore usual in the United Kingdom and South Africa. A publisher’s or author’sstyle may take precedence over regional general preferences. The most importantthing is to be consistent. Notice that in further examples, I will use thedouble quotation mark, but the single quotation mark is also correct.

“Good afternoon, sir,” said Monfore. “How may I help you?”

‘Good afternoon, sir,’ said Monfore. ‘How may I help you?’

For speech within speech,you use the opposite of the outside quotation marks.

Martha replied, “He said, ‘Martha, if you’re ever going toget serious about school, now’s the time to do it.’”

Martha replied, ‘He said, “Martha, if you’re ever going toget serious about school, now’s the time to do it.”’

When quoted text is interrupted,such as with the phrase he said, a closingquotation mark is used before the interruption, and an opening quotation markafter. Commas are also often used before and after the interruption.

“Petra,” said Emmerich, setting his ice aside, “if I mightask, how did you become interested in mechanics?”

Irony:

A common use of quotationmarks is to indicate or call attention to ironic word usage.

He shared his “wisdom” with me.

The lunch lady plopped a glob of “food” onto my tray.

Quotes indicating verbalirony, or other special use, are sometimes called scare, sneer, shock,distance, or horror quotes. They are sometimes gestured in oral speech usingair quotes, or indicated in speech with a tone change or preceding by supposed[ly] or so-called. It should be noted that quotations are not used for emphasis.

Signaling unusual usage:

Quotation marks are alsoused to indicate that the writer realizes that a word is not being used in itscurrent commonly accepted sense:

Crystals somehow “know” which shape to grow into.

Quotation marks can be usedto distance the writer from terminology, so as not to be associated with it,for example, to indicate that a quoted word is not official terminology, orthat a quote phrase presupposes things that the author does not necessarilyagree with. This is usually done to indicate that the terminology is someoneelse’s opinion or thoughts on the matter. It should be noted that this usage ofquotation marks loses its potency the more it’s used.

Metalanguage:

Either quotations marks oritalic type can emphasize that an instance of a word refers to the word itself,rather than its associated concept. Note that where I use quotes, you can alsouse italics.

“Cheese” is derived from a word in Old English.

“Cheese” has three e’s.

Titles of artistic works:

Quotation marks, rather thanitalics, are generally used for the titles of shorter works. Whether these aresingle or double depends on the context; however, many styles, especially forpoetry prefer the use of single quotation marks.

Short fiction, poetry, etc.: Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Sentinel”
Book chapters: The first chapter of 3001: The Final Odyssey is “Comet Cowboy”
Articles in books, magazines, journals, etc.: “Extra-Terrestrial Relays”, Wireless World, October 1945
Album tracks, singles, etc.: David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”

As a rule, a wholepublication should be italicized, whereas the titles of minor works within or asubset of the larger publication (such as poems, short stories, named chapters,journal papers, newspaper articles, TV show episodes, editorial sections ofwebsites, etc.) should be written with quotation marks.

Nicknames and false titles:

Quotations marks can alsooffset a nickname embedded in an actual name, or a false or ironic titleembedded in an actual title; for example, Nat“King” Cole, Miles “Tails” Prower, John “Hannibal” Smith, and for mine, Brooke “Hobbs” Johnson (my maiden nameis Hobby, and “Hobbs” stuck when I was in school).

Typographicalconsiderations:

With regard to quotationmarks adjacent to periods and commas, there are two styles of punctuation inwidespread use. While these two styles are most commonly referred to as “American”and “British” and some style sheets provide no other names, some Americanwriters and organizations use the British style and vice versa. Both systemshave the same rules regarding question marks, exclamation points, colons, andsemicolons. They differ on the treatment of periods and commas.

In all major forms ofEnglish, question marks and exclamation marks are placed inside or outsidequoted material depending on whether they apply to the whole sentence or just thequoted portion, but colons and semicolons are always placed outside.

Did he say, “Good morning, Dave”?

No, he said, “Where are you, Dave?”

There are three major definitions of the word “gender”:vernacular, sociological, and linguistic.

In the U.S,the prevailing style is called American style, where commas and periods arealmost always placed inside closing quotation marks. This style of punctuationis common in the U.S. and Canada, and is the style usually recommended by mostAmerican style guides. However, many American style guides specific to certain specialties,such as legal writing and linguistics, prefer British style.

When dealingwith words-as-words, short-form works, and sentence fragments, this styleplaces periods and commas inside the quotation marks:

“Carefree,” in general, means “free fromcare or anxiety.”

The name of the song was “Gloria,” whichmany already knew.

She said she felt “free from care andanxiety.”

This stylealso places periods and commas inside the quotation marks when dealing withdirect speech, regardless of whether the work is fiction or non-fiction:

“Today,” said Cinderella, “I feel free fromcare and anxiety.” (fiction)

“Today,” said the Prime Minister, “I feelfree from care and anxiety.” (non-fiction)

ManyAmerican style guides explicitly permit periods and commas outside thequotation marks when the presence of the punctuation mark insid the quotationmarks will lead to ambiguity, such as when describing keyboard input:

To use a long dash on Wikipedia, type in “—”.

Theprevailing style in the United Kingdom is to include within quotation marksonly those punctuation marks that appeared in the quoted material butotherwise, to place punctuation outside the closing quotation marks.

“Carefree”, in general, means “free fromcare or anxiety”.

The name of the song was “Gloria”, whichmany already knew.

She said she felt “free from care andanxiety”.

When dealingwith direct speech, British placement depends on whether or not the quotedstatement is complete or a fragment. According to the British style guide Butcher’s Copy-editing, American style shouldbe used when writing fiction. In non-fiction, some British publishers maypermit placing punctuation that is not part of the person’s speech inside thequotation marks but prefer that it be placed outside. Periods and commas that are part of the person’s speech arepermitted inside marks the quotation marks, regardless of whether the materialis fiction.

“Today,” said Cinderella, “I feel free fromcare and anxiety.” (fiction)

“Today”, said the Prime Minister, “I feelfree from care and anxiety.” (preferred in non-fiction)

“Today I feel happy,” said the woman, “carefree,and well.” (either)

In bothmajor styles, regardless of placement, only one end mark (?, !, or .) can end asentence. Only the period however, maynot end a quoted sentence, when it does not also end the enclosingsentence, except for literal text:

“Hello, world,” she said. (American)

“Hello, world”, she said. (Britishnon-fiction)

She said, “Hello, world.” (both)

“Hello, world!” she exclaimed. (both)

“Is anybody out there?” she asked into thevoid. (both)

Now, I’m goingto take a minute to add in my personal quotation mark usage in fiction, just soyou know you don’t necessarily have to stick entirely to the American orBritish style. When writing dialogue, I use the American style of punctuation,putting the comma or end punctuation within the quotation marks. But when I’mnot writing dialogue, usually in non-fiction such as this blog post, I use theBritish non-fiction style.

So there youhave it. Quotation marks. When to use them and how to use them. I will probablycover this again briefly when I cover dialogue later on. But until then, this is the last post on punctuation.

Happy writing!

back to basics: punctuation pt. 5

2012-02-01T10:12:00.000-06:00

This is the unfortunatelynot the last post I’ll be doing onpunctuation. I didn’t expect to have to write six posts, but there are a lot ofpunctuation marks to cover. I'd rather not have a really long post covering both apostrophes and quotation marks, so, today, we’ll be discussing apostrophes, and onFriday, we’ll look at quotation marks. And then that will truly be the end of punctuation. We can move onto other, more exciting things, like grammar and common mistakes in writing.

Apostrophes

In theEnglish language, the apostrophe serves three purposes: the marking of the omissionof one or more letters, the marking of possessive case, and the marking asplural of written items that are not words established in written English(though this last one is debatable; I don’t use apostrophes in this way, butmore on that later). The apostrophe is different than the closing single quotationmark, though they share the same symbol.

Apostropheshowing omission:

Anapostrophe is commonly used to indicate omitted characters, normally letters,as in contractions (can’t instead of cannot, don’t instead of do not),abbreviations (gov’t in place of government), indicating omitted numbers(’70s instead of 1970s), dialect or archaic language (‘bout instead of about, ‘less instead of unless, and ‘twas insteadof it was), and when the normal forof an inflection seems awkward or unnatural (KO’d rather than KOed). I’mgoing to take a moment here to strongly suggest against using dialectal apostrophes in fiction. There are often much better ways to suggest someone fromthe South or someone of lower education, and it should be noted that, here inthe South, even educated people use truncated language. I know I do. So, please,if you intend on including a character or narrator who uses regional dialect orhas a lack of education, don’t depend on truncated dialogue.

Possessiveapostrophe:

Theapostrophe is also used to indicate possession, distinguishing possessive singularforms from simple plural forms, and both of those from possessive plural forms.There are several rules for apostrophes, so stick with me. If your eyes start toglaze over, I totally understand, but this is important stuff to know. Too manypeople misuse apostrophes, and possessions misuse seems to be the leader.

Possessivepersonal pronouns serving as noun-equivalents or adjective-equivalents, do notuse an apostrophe, even when they end in theletter s, such as ours, yours, his, hers, its, theirs, andwhose. Other pronouns, singular nounsnot ending in s, and plural nouns notending in s all take ’s in the possessive. For example: someone’s bicycle, a cat’s toys, women’sclothing. Plural nouns already ending in s take only an apostrophe after the pre-existing s when the possessive is formed, such asthree cats’ toys.

Singular and compound nouns:

For mostsingular nouns, the ending ’s isadded, as in the cat’s whiskers. If asingular noun ends with an s-sound,practice varies as to whether to add ’s orthe apostrophe alone. A widely accepted practice is to follow whichever spokenform is judged better: the boss’s shoes,Mrs. Jones’ hat (or Mrs. Jones’s hat if that spoken form is preferred).This usually differs between writers. In fact, I cursed myself in my book bygiving a character a last name ending in s.I ended up using the ’s ending toindicate possession because it sounded better, even though there were three s’s in a row. Compound nouns follow thesame method: the Attorney-General’s husband;this Minister for Justice’s intervention; her father-in-law’s new wife.

Plural nouns:

When thenoun is a normal plural, with an added s,no extra s is added in thepossessive, such as pens’ caps and students’ reports rather than pens’s caps and students’s reports. If the plural is not one that is formed byadding s, an s is added for the possessive, after the apostrophe: children’s hats, women’s hairdresser, somepeople’s eyes. A few English nouns have plurals that are not spelled with afinal s but end in an s- or z-sound: mice (plural of mouse), dice (plural of die), pence (plural of penny). The possessiveof these plurals are formed by adding an apostrophe and an s in the standard way: fivemice’s nests were found, the dice’s last roll was a seven, his few pence’svalue was not enough. Generally, these would be reworded, since they readawkwardly as is.

Joint and separate possession:

Adistinction is made between joint possession (Jason and Sue’s emails: the emails of both Jason and Sue), and separatepossession (Jason’s and Sue’s emails:both the emails of Jason and the emails of Sue). Style guides differ in how topunctuate this sort of possession, but it seems the norm for joint possessionis to give the final noun the possessive inflection and in separate possession,all the possessors have possessive inflection, unless of course a pronoun isinvolved. When a possessor is indicated by a pronoun, then for both join andseparate possession, all of the possessors have possessive inflection (his and her emails; his, her, and Anthea’semails; Jason’s and her emails; his and Sue’s emails; etc.). There areexceptions, but for your most basic usage, these rules will do.

With other punctuation and compounds withpronouns:

If the wordor compound includes a punctuation mark, an apostrophe and an s are still added in the usual way: Westward Ho!’s railway station; Washington,D.C.’s museums. If the word or compound already includes a possessiveapostrophe, it creates a double possessive: Tom’ssisters’ careers; the head of marketing’s husband’s preference. Some styleguides advise rephrasing. If an original apostrophe or ’s exists at the end of the word, it is left by itself to do doubleduty: Our employees are better paid thanMcDonald’s employees; Standard & Poor’s indexes are widely used.

Time, money, and similar:

Anapostrophe is used in time and money references: one hour’s respite, two weeks’ holiday, a dollar’s worth, five pounds’worth, etc. This follows the standard punctuation as stated above.

Use informing certain plurals:

Anapostrophe is used by some writers to form a plural for abbreviations,acronyms, and symbols where adding just srather than ’s might leave thingsambiguous or inelegant. It is general acceptable to use apostrophes to showplurals of single lower-case letters, such as be sure to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Some style guides wouldprefer to use a change of font, such as dotyour is and cross your ts. In fact, I used this in my book: The engineer curled their ds and loopedtheir ts (in the original text,the italicization is opposite, with the dand t italicized and the rest notitalicized). Some style guides rule that upper case letters need no apostrophe(I got three As in my exams) exceptwhen there is a risk of misreading, such as at the start of a sentence: A’s are the highest marks achievable inthese exams. In recent years, style guides have ruled that apostrophes areno longer needed for groups of years (1960s,1800s, ’80s, ’90s) or in forming the plural of numbers (1000s of years). The apostrophe is alsonot needed in pluralizing symbols: thatpage has too many &s and #s on it.

Apostrophe misuse:

Never ever use an apostropheto indicate the plural form of a noun ending in a vowel. For example, banana’s, folio’s, logo’s, pasta’s, and apple’s are incorrect plural forms.This happens a lot with non-English native speakers. Just remember, apostrophesare used for three reasons, and three reasons only: omitting letters,possession, and in the few exceptions listed in the paragraph above.

So that should give you a basic understand of when to use apostrophes and how to use them properly. Misuse of apostrophes is one of those mistakes that irks me every time I see it. So don't do it. That is all.

Happy writing!

sick on my birthday

2012-01-30T09:39:00.000-06:00

It comes as no surprise to me that I fall ill on my birthday. Pretty much every year since junior high, something bad has happened on or around my birthday. Pretty sure I was food poisoned, but can't really be sure. Luckily, I have a stock of anti-nausea pills from my many experiences with food poisoning during college.

That said, I am not going to do an in depth blog post today as part of the Back to Basics series. I don't feel well enough to sit at the computer and type. Instead, I will find a book to read or a video game to play and have at it.

In other news, I get my first paycheck today from CreateSpace. So at least something good will happen today. And hopefully, this sickness goes away by tomorrow.

That's all for today. Hope everyone else is healthy, and I'll be back on Wednesday to talk about apostrophes and quotation marks.

work-in-progress

2012-01-27T09:50:00.000-06:00

It’s been arather eventful week in writing for me. I managed to reach 14,000 words totalfor my work-in-progress, and then, of course, I had to go back to the plottingboard. A work-in-progress is definitely a work-in-progress.

Tuesday, Irealized that my main character was acting very out-of-character. Petra is a spunky girl, who doesn’t take crapfrom anyone, but for whatever reason, when I started writing this book, shechanged into a whiny, depressed, subservient person. That was only my firstproblem. The second problem was that Petra just sort of floated along in thebeginning, not really taking action. While part of that is the characterizationlapse I had, the true problem was in the plot. Something was wrong with myplot.

Recently, Iread Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat, andwhile I can’t stand the guy (his voice is just… ugh), he did have some goodideas when it came to plotting. Honestly, about thirty pages of that book areworth reading. The rest is just Snyder saying how awesome he is. So I went toWalmart and bought a corkboard, some index cards, and cute little woodenpushpins. When I came home, I closed all my documents concerning my book. Ileft the office entirely so I wouldn’t be able to reference earlier outlines orwhat I’d already written.

Sitting infront of the fireplace, I divided my corkboard into four equal sections: Act 1,Act 2a, Act 2b, and Act 3. Now I’m not going to go into super detail concerningBlake Snyder’s plotting method. That will be covered in a later post as part ofthe Back to Basics series. I had my index cards, sharpies, and colored markers.I had my corkboard. What I had to figure out was the story.

Without anyreferences, I recreated my story, scene by scene. I managed to get twenty-eightby Wednesday evening. Snyder’s magical number is forty, so Thursday morning, Imade it my mission to get those last twelve scenes. Ultimately, I failed. Ihave a big black hole at the beginning of Act 3, and I have one random blankscene floating around in Act 2. Despite that, I had figured out most of my plot and subplots. There arefour total plots in this book, though one of them is mostly thematic, with veryfew scenes on the board. I put blank index cards in the places I needed scenes,so that while writing, if I think of something, I can write it down and pin itup on the board.

I also madethe decision not to transcribe the board to an outline. The detailed outlinethat I had been working with clearly wasn’t helping. I think by keeping myoutline on the board next to my desk, I can see the entire story in one glance.That, and a blank corkboard is a super décor killer.

So Ireworked the plot for my book once again.Hopefully, this is the last time I’ll have to start over. I do think I’ll beable to salvage a lot of what I’ve already written, but I’m not going to feelguilty if I can’t use most of it. Writing the wrong words helped me figure outwhat the right words were. No word was wasted. And now, I can move forward.

The newtotal word count is 1531. Only 78469 to go.

How is your work-in-progress going?Plotting problems? Characterization problems? Other? All of the above? How doyou fix them when you find them?

I hopeeveryone has a good weekend!

And a last note: this is my 250th blog post! Woot milestones!

back to basics: punctuation pt. 4

2012-01-25T09:06:00.000-06:00

Continuingwith punctuation, today, we’ll be looking at more dashes and hyphens! To readabout em dashes and en dashes, click back to part three of the punctuation series. After this post, we’ll probably have just one more lesson inpunctuation—apostrophes and quotation marks!

Dashes

Figuredash:

The figuredash (–) is used when a dash must be used within numbers, such as a phonenumber (123–456–7890) or a date (1–30–1989), but it does not indicate a range,which is a function of the en dash. To create a figure dash in MS Word, you musttype a character, space, use the - key, space, and type another character. Forexample, a - b, which should correct to a – b. The figure dash is obviously notwidely used in fiction. In fact, I don’t think anyone actually uses the figuredash, using a hyphen (-) instead (123-456-7890 or 1-3-1989), but I suppose it’simportant to know the proper way to use it. To create the figure dash, you typea character, space, use the - key, space, and type another character. Forexample, a - b, which should correct to a – b. Or, you can press CTRL+NumericalMinus (the one on the number pad). The same as creating the en dash.

Horizontalbar:

Thehorizontal bar (—) is also known as a quotation dash, and it’s used tointroduce quoted text. This isn’t widely used in English, but it is frequently usedin many other languages, replacing quotation marks (“”). For more information,visit the non-English usage of quotation marks page on Wikipedia.

Swungdash:

The swungdash resembles a lengthened tilde (~), and is used to separate alternatives orapproximates. In dictionaries, it is used to stand in for the term beingdefined in the sentence example. Wikipedia gives this example: henceforth (adv.) from this time forth;from now on; “ ~ she will be known as Mrs. Wales”, with the “~” taking theplace of “henceforth”. It’s not something you would use in fiction, but in caseyou come across it, now you know what it means.

Hyphens

The hyphenis a punctuation marked used to join words and to separate syllables of asingle word. It should not be confused with dashes, which I have alreadycovered. Its function is different than the minus sign, obviously, but they usethe same keystroke (-). Spaces should not be placed between a hyphen and eitherof the words it connects, except when using a suspended or “hanging” hyphen;for example (thanks to Wikipedia): nineteenth-and twentieth-century writers.

As withdashes, different manuals of styles provide different usage guidelines. Therules of style that apply to dashes and hyphens have evolved, with editors acceptingdeviations from them that will support ease of reading. The use of the hyphenin compound nouns and verbs is becoming less common. Compounds that were oncehyphenated are left with spaces or are combined into one word.

Justificationand Line-wrapping:

Inperiodicals especially, the hyphen is often used to break a word in half sothat it continues on another line rather than moving the entire word to thenext line. The word may be divided at the nearest breakpoint between syllables,and a hyphen inserted to indicate that the letters form a word fragment thatwill be continued on the next line. Hyphenation is not necessary in manuscripts.The decision to use hyphenation or not is up to the typesetter. I didn’thyphenate my book, but that’s because I hate hyphenations like this. Forexample (from my blog, reworked to fit hyphens in):

Well,I am officially a published author. It’s still a bit sur-
real. For the past twodays, I’ve been obsessively check-
ing my sales, and if it wasn’t for spend-ingtime with my goddaughter, my best friend, and my mother-in-law, I’m
pretty sureI would have driven myself crazy.

I had to dothat manually, so it doesn’t look as good as it would if the word processor didit. To add hyphenation to your document in MS Word 2010, go to Page Layout, andunder the Page Setup tab, you’ll see the Hyphenation option. I recommendselecting Automatic.

Prefixesand Suffixes:

Certainprefixes may or may not be hyphenated, and in some cases, usage variesdepending on individual or regional preference. However, a hyphen is necessarywhen a prefix is applied to a proper (capitalized) adjective; for example: un-American. In British English, hyphensmay be used where readers may mispronounce the word; for example: co-worker, punctuated to prevent therecognition of cow in theunhyphenated version. Hyphens may also be used in association with prefixes andsuffixes when repeated vowels or consonants are pronounced separately ratherthan being silent or merged in a diphthong. For example: shell-like, anti-intellectual, co-operation.Some prefixed words are hyphenated to distinguish them from other words, suchas recreation (fun or sport) and re-creation (the act of creating again).It should be noted that most word processors will correct words that need to behyphenated, or will offer suggestions for hyphenation or alternate spelling.

Syllabificationand Spelling:

Hyphens areused to denote syllabification (I love thatword!), as in syl-la-bi-fi-ca-tion.Most British and North American dictionaries use a hyphenation point (syl·la·bi·fi·ca·tion). Hyphens may also be used to indicate aword is being spelled, such as G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E.

Compound modifiers:

Compound modifiers are groups of two or morewords that jointly modify the meaning of another word. When a compound modifierother than an adverb-adjective combination appears before a term, the compound modifieris often hyphenated to prevent misunderstanding. Wikipedia gives the examples: American-footballplayer and little-celebrated paintings. Without the hyphen, there ispotential confusion about whether the writer means a “player of Americanfootball” or an “American player of football” and whether the writer means “celebratedpaintings that are little”. Compound modifiers can extend to three or morewords, as in ice-cream-flavored candy, and can be adverbial, such as spine-tinglinglyfrightening. However, if the compound is a familiar one, it is usuallyunhyphenated, such as high school students rather than high-schoolstudents. The former could be taken as meaning “stoned students”, but mosteveryone reads it properly.

When a compound adjective follows the termit applies to, a hyphen is not typically used; for example: that gentlemanis well respected, not that gentleman is well-respected. As statedabove however, if you reworded the phrase to say well-respected gentleman,the hyphenation would be correct.

Hyphens are also used to connect numbers andwords forming adjectival phrases, whether using numerals or words for thenumbers, as in 28-year-old woman and twenty-eight-year-old woman.They’re used when spelling out fractions, such as two-thirds majority andone-eighth portion, and when spelling out units of measurement, such as aroll of 35-millimeter film; however, using the abbreviation, the hyphen isnot used, such as a roll of 35 mm film.

Other Uses:

As stated earlier in the figure dashsection, a hyphen may be used to connect groups of numbers, such as dates,telephone numbers, or sports scores, but it is technically more properto use an en dash (which consequently, can also be hyphenated to en-dash).

So, hopefully you have a clear understandingof hyphens and dashes, and the differences between them. Next post, we’ll belooking at apostrophes and quotation marks.

And, as always, Happy Writing!

back to basics: punctuation pt. 3

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today, we’lltake a short look at en dashes and em dashes, showing the difference betweenthem and how to use them properly. You can check out the earlier Back to Basicsposts by clicking through the archives. I’ll go into hyphens and the othertypes of dashes (figure dash, horizontal bar, and swung dash) in the next post.

Dashes

A dash isone of several kinds of punctuation mark, similar to hyphens, but differ fromthem in length, and they serve different functions. The most common dashes are theen dash and em dash. It should be noted that different manuals of style usedifferent rules for the various dashes. If you’re unsure which one to use,especially in an academic paper or non-fiction work, be sure to check themanual of style attributed to your topic or field. I also want to point outthat in the cases of dashes, if you are submitting manuscripts or articles toagents or editors, the misuse of the dash is not going to be as big a deal asmost other punctuation. Not everyone knows the differences between dashes orknows the keystrokes, and professionals understand this, but it is importantnot to use a hyphen when you should have used a dash.

En Dash:

The en dash (–)is equal in length to the width of the upper-case letter N. It is commonly usedto indicate a range of values with clear boundaries, to contrast values,illustrate a relationship between two things, between attributive compounds, andas parenthetical equivalents. To create an en dash in a word processor, you must type a character, space,use the - key, space, and type another character. For example, a - b, whichshould correct to a – b. Or, you can press CTRL+Numerical Minus (the one on the number pad), pointed out by Huntress in the comments below (thank you!).

Wikipediashows that there is no space between each value and the en dash, but as youmight have figured with the figure dash, it’s rather annoying keying the dashand then removing the spaces. So, when I use the en dash, I leave the spaces. Forcontinuity’s sake, however, I’ve removed the spaces in my examples. To createan en dash, follow the same procedure as the figure dash.

Range of Values:

Use an endash between dates, times, or numbers.

April–August

10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Pages 9–22

1972–1998

Relationships and Connections:

The en dashcan show a relationship between two things.

The final score was 23–20, in favor of thePatriots.

Brother–sister relationship

The homecoming committee voted 4–1 againstmy idea for the parade.

Bose–Einstein statistics

Dallas/Fort Worth–Miami flight

Note that inthe last example, the en dash is between two names to show equality between thenames of two different people. It is not a hyphenated name, such asWallace-Berkley, which denotes one person.

Attributive Compounds:

The en dashis used instead of a hyphen in compound attributives in which one or bothelements is itself a compound, especially when the compound element is nothyphenated. I got this from Wikipedia (I won’t lie: I’m having to reviewpunctuation with you), so I’ll use the Wikipedia examples. I’m not well versedin this usage, so I’d better not try to make up my own. You will, however, seesimilar hyphen usage, only slightly different.

A nursing home–home care policy

Trans–New Guinea languages

The ex–prime minister

The pro-conscription–anti-conscriptiondebate

Public-school–private-school rivalries

Pre–Civil War era

Pulitzer Prize–winning novel

The non–San Francisco part of the world

The post–World War II era

Parenthetical Usage:

Like emdashes, en dashes can be used instead of colons, or pairs of commas that markoff a nested clause or phrase. In this case, em dashes and en dashes can bothbe used. It just depends on what the editor or publication prefers. I’ll gointo that after em dashes. In this case, en dashes are surrounded by spaces.

Did you see Mr. Burroughs – the new teacherwith the glasses – outside the cafeteria?

A stack of books – three textbooks andseveral novels – stood next to the door.

Em Dashes:

I love em dashes. Can’t get enough ofthem. In fact, there are 218 in TheClockwork Giant, that’s roughly one em dash to a page. The em dash marks abreak of thought, either to elaborate on what has already been said, or to markan interruption. It can also be used in the same way as a colon or a pair ofparentheses. Its length is the same as the width of the capital letter M.To create an em dash, either place two hyphen-minuses between words with no spaces (apple--ball), or press CTRL+ALT+Numerical Minus (the one on the number pad).

Emmerich flipped the lights—electric, she noticed—and closedthe door behind her.

The gears, pinions, and springs, they make the machine tick,but deeper than that—beyond the spindles and bearings, beyond the weights andlevers—a machine is truth.

Petra knew of several treasures hidden in the shelves, buriedbehind stacks of books and antique silver—old mantel clocks, jewelry boxes withspinning dancers concealed within, and handheld calculating machines.

The door knocked into something, a man sitting on thelanding.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t—”

He rubbed his shoulder as he stood. “No, I shouldn’t have—”He turned, and their eyes locked.

(Examples from my book The ClockworkGiant)

En Dashvs. Em Dash:

I’m going toparaphrase what Wikipedia says on the matter… Dashes are used differently inthe United States and the United Kingdom, with the US preferring the use of em dashesover en dashes, whereas the UK prefers the opposite.

The en dashalways uses spaces in running text, and the em dash is usually without spaces. Endashes may be preferred to em dashes when text is set in narrow columns, suchas periodicals, since the en dash is smaller.

If you’llnotice in my above examples for em dashes and parenthetical en dashes, they areused in the same way. When using spaced en dashes or em dashes, it really justdepends on which one you prefer. I used to use spaced en dashes, but now I useem dashes. Just use whichever you think looks best, because that’s the onlydifference in that regard.

So, that’sit for the en and em dashes. I’ll continue with dashes with the horizontal bar,swung dash, and figure dash in the next post, as well as hyphens.

Happywriting!

this week in brooke's life

2012-01-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

Well, this has been an interesting week. I started watchingmy four month old goddaughter, who is themost adorable thing ever. The amount of attention she needs hascut into my writing time, but I amstill making progress on The ChronikerLegacy. Once I get into the swing of things, I’m sure I’ll get back to myold productivity, but until I get the balance of napping, feeding, and playingfigured out, it’s going to take a while for my mind to adjust. I’m even writingmy blog posts the night before they’re supposed to go live in order to givemyself maximum writing time during the day. As it stands, I get about two tothree hours of writing time while she’s napping throughout the day; it’s justhard being productive in forty-five minute bursts. I don’t know how you parentsdo it.

January sales for TheClockwork Giant have been rather slow. I had my first refund on the Kindle,which was a bit depressing, but then I got two more sales in the same day, so Ithink it balanced out nicely. The trickle of sales is about what I expected, thoughI hoped for more. Also, my book is availablefor Kobo (see sidebar link), and it should be available on iBooks in the nextfew days.

I have been working on my Renaissance Faire costume too. I’llbe going as a bow huntress (archer impliestournament archery in my mind). So far, I’ve completed the shirt and belt combo,complete with a rabbit pelt. I plan on finishing the quiver this weekend andmaybe a coin purse. I still need to find pants, and if possible, boots, but I’mwilling to alter some shoes I already have if I can’t find something suitable. Iwill be buying the bow in a few weeks with the money from babysitting mygoddaughter (since I won’t see royalties until March!). Hopefully, I have thecostume finished well ahead of time.Last year, I sewed the majority of my costume the night before. That was exhausting. Not doing that again. This year,my husband is going to dress up, but he hasn’t decided what he’s going as yet.Either a blacksmith or an innkeeper, so he tells me. I’m pushing for somethinga little more regal, but I digress. The family we’re going with is dressing uptoo, possibly as a wizard, governess, and baby princess. We’ll be aninteresting group for sure.

In other news, I had a guest post go up earlier this weekover at Rach Writes about my writing process beginning to end. It’s a shortpost, but there is a chance to win a copy of The Clockwork Giant! I love giveaways. They’re perhaps my favoritepromotional tool.

I also conducted an interview with Sharon Barber, a pursedesigner based out of the area I grew up. I worked for her for a short timeduring high school, and she’s been a huge supporter of my writing. You can readthat interview at her website (and while you’re there, you should check out herpurses, especially the ones for kids… I helpedcome up with the animal designs). The questions she asked were reallythoughtful, so there will be things in that interview you haven’t seenelsewhere. Here’s a link.

And finally, friend and fellow blogger, Marieke Nijkamp, is cohosting a kid lit auction tosupport Donna's Dream House, a charity to help terminally ill children duringthe holidays in the United Kingdom. The House has hosted and helped almost 380 families since itsestablishment. Last month, the building where Donna's Dream House suffered afire, causing an estimated $125,000 in damages. In response, the Write Dreamsauction was born.

They're auctioning off several books to help Donna's Dream House rebuild: thecomplete Afterlife series by Tamsyn Murray (UK only), a signed ARC of CountingBackwards by Laura Lascarso, a signed copy of Artichoke Hearts and JasmineSkies by Sita Brahmachari, a signed copy of Clarity by KimHarrington, the complete Immortals series by Alyson Noel (three of whichare signed), and several more.

To learn more about Write Dreams and Donna's Dream House, visit the Write Dreams website, and bid on one of these fantastic books, and other prizes! Andplease, if you're unable to bid, spread the word about the auction. It’s agreat cause.

I believe that’s it for this week. I hope to get a goodchunk of writing done today, maybe 1500 words. I managed 500 on Wednesday and1000 yesterday, so I think it’s doable. I think I’ll definitely start beingmore productive during the little bit of time I have to write, rather thanpiddling around on City of Wonder onGoogle+ (guilty pleasure). Plans for this weekend: a few household projects,working on Renaissance Faire costume, reading (I really need to catch up on my reading), and maybe I can talk the husband into a movie or a trip to the malltomorrow. We’ll see.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

back to basics: punctuation pt. 2

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

To read part one of the punctuation posts—commas and endpunctuation—click here. For the other Back to Basics posts, click through thearchives. I’ll also compile a link list at the end of the series for easynavigation. Today, we’ll be covering colons and semi-colons.

Colons

Giggle… Sorry. Can’t help myself. The colon (:) is a punctuation mark used before informationthat would prove, explain, or list elements of what precedes the mark. Confusingsentence, I know. I can’t really explain it any better than that, so here aresome examples.

The colon introduces details of a fact stated before. (I’mnot the best at colon examples, because I rarely use them in my writing, sotake these sentences with a dash of salt)

As fantastic anactress as she was, Hannah could have tried out for the female lead in the playwithout anyone asking questions, but I knew the truth: The boy of her dreamswas playing the male lead, and there was a kiss at the end of the performance.

I threw a fit aboutthe cake for one reason: It was my birthday.

Voldemort had onefear: Death.

The colon also introduces description, defining certainelements of a set.

My dad has two petdaschunds: Dipstick and Jasmine.

We bought three moviestoday: The Big Lebowski, The Princess Bride, and Little Miss Sunshine.

A lot of titles use colons, especially movies and novels withsubtitles.

Star Wars Episode I:The Phantom Menace

TRON: Legacy

Heaven is forReal: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story ofHis Trip to Heaven and Back

Unbroken: A World WarII Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Colons can also introduce speech, usually used to denote astatement said by someone mentioned earlier in the sentence (using an examplefrom Wikipedia since I can’t seem to think of anything).

Benjamin Franklinproclaimed the virtue of frugality: A penny saved is a penny earned.

Elizabeth always saidthe same thing: I’ll never marry a man that isn’t rich.

Colons seem to be rarely used in fiction, so I recommend usingthem sparingly in your own writing. You will see though, in the next section,that I use them after each subheading, an acceptable use.

Semi-Colons

The semi-colon (;)sees more use than its kin, the colon. Unlike colons, semi-colons are followedby a lower case letter, unless that letter is the first of a proper noun. Theyare used to separate items in a series or a list of items that contain theirown punctuation, between closely related independent clauses (in place of acomma and usually, the conjunction and),and between independent clauses linked with a transitional phrase. When I usesemi-colons, it’s for rhythm. To me, a semi-colon has a shorter pause than afull stop, but a longer pause than a comma. I still follow the rules (I think),but it just goes to show that you can be creative with punctuation. In fact,after reviewing colons, I think I may have misused a few semi-colons in mybook. Oops.

Lists:

Valerie danced withfour very different guys at prom: Daniel, the nerdy guy in our Trigonometryclass; Reid, the walking definition of hipster at our school; Allen, the starof the basketball team; and one other boy that I think goes to the publicschool in the next county.

We stopped and visitedseveral cities on our way to California: Tulsa, Oklahoma; Amarillo, Texas;Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Flagstaff, Arizona.

Conjoining Independent Clauses:

The guy behind thecounter at the skating rink asked me out on a date after his shift; I said yes.

The door muffled theirvoices; she couldn’t hear them properly.

I’m not a student; Icouldn’t be if I wanted to.

CombiningSentences with Transitional Phrases:

Everyone knows that Mrs.Winchester killed her husband; however, no one would accuse a ninety-year-oldwoman, not in our neighborhood.

My dog has healing magic;though, he’d never prove it.

I’ve never had a drink ofalcohol, even though a lot of my friends have; of course, I’m only nineteen.

Sothere are your basic usages for colons and semi-colons. Next up, dashes. I love dashes. Have a good day, andprotest SOPA. Cheers.

back to basics: punctuation pt. 1

2012-01-16T07:15:00.000-06:00

Punctuation

Punctuationis my favorite literary device, especially commas and em-dashes. But it isperhaps our most powerful tool other than our words. First, we’ll go over basicpunctuation, and then into the more creative punctuation. The punctuation I’llcover is in the English language. I can’t speak for other languages because Ionly know one other language—Japanese—and they have very few punctuation marks.The posts on punctuation will continue until I cover everything, which may beseveral days. I’m not sure yet.

Periods,Question Marks, and Exclamation Marks

These arethe most basic of the punctuation marks, designed to go at the end ofsentences. Most sentences will end in a period (.), such as this one.Questions end in question marks (?).This is difficult, isn’t it? Andexclamations end in exclamation marks (!).I recommend using exclamation marks sparingly! Using them several times in a short space can be exhausting! Like the author is trying to shoutyou to death, or they’re so excitedthat you have to be excited too! Godforbid you use all caps andexclamation marks! Aren’t you tiredof reading this paragraph now? Mostof the time, you can find a way to express excitement without having to use anexclamation mark.

Commas

Commas areyour friend, your best friend. Theyseparate items in lists, separate clauses and certain adverbs from the rest ofthe sentence, enclose extra information, separate coordinate adjectives, andseparate quoted material from the rest of the sentence. Commas do a lot ofseparating, but in reality, you can add so much to a sentence if you usecommas.

Lists:

When youhave three or more things in quick succession in a sentence, you separate themusing commas.

For example:

Mother sent me to the store to buy butter, eggs, and milk.

This semester, I’m taking Biology, Ancient Philosophy, Spanish, Bowling, and GraphicDesign.

I blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, andFridays.

And goshdarn it, you will use the Oxfordcomma (that comma after the penultimate object in the list). I don’t care whatthe latest manual of style says, you will lovethe Oxford comma. All hail the Oxford comma!

Clauses:

Commas aregenerally used to separate dependent clauses (part of a sentence that cannotstand on its own) from independent clauses (complete sentences in themselves)when the dependent clause comes first.

For example:

When I joined Computer Club, I made a lot ofnew friends.

Even though Marie gave me her PhysicalScience notes, I still flunked the test.

If thedependent clause comes second, there’s no need for a comma.

I burned the chicken because I left it inthe oven too long.

Jonathan had to use his inhaler during thegame when he had an asthma attack.

Commas alsocombine two independent clauses joined by a conjunction (and, but, so, etc.).

Madeline went to the carnival, and she mether friends by the Ferris wheel.

I made an A on my final exam, but I stillmade a B in the class.

Adverbs:

Commas areused to separate certain adverbs from the rest of the sentence (however,therefore, furthermore, still, etc.).

For example:

I did, in fact, wrestle a bear down ahillside.

Nevertheless, Noreen and Donovan stayedtogether.

Some adverbsare optional (so, yet, instead, too).

So, we ended up seeing the late show.

So we ended up seeing the late show.

Margaret and Lily went to the mall, too.

Margaret and Lily went to the mall too.

Extra Information:

When addingnonessential information to a sentence, commas are used to enclose suchphrases, separating them from the rest of the sentence.

My husband is from Ravenden, a tiny townfamous for its giant concrete raven. (seriously)

Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate, is myfavorite companion in the reboot of Doctor Who.

Marcus, Thomas, and Kristina, friends ofmine from college, help me read submissions for my online literary journal.

Adjectives:

A comma isused to separate adjectives that directly modify the following noun, instead ofputting and between them.

For example:

When I build a house, I want the basement tobe in the style of a rundown, medieval tavern.

The man’s deep, melodious voice iscaptivating.

We sold our pickup and bought a brand-new,candy-apple-red Camaro with white racing stripes.

Dialogue:

A comma isused to separate quoted material that is the object of an active verb ofspeaking or writing, but part of the sentence as a whole. Quotations supportinga preceding statement should be set off by a colon rather than a comma.

For example:

“If you spray me with that water hose, I’lltell Mom,” shouted Hailey.

James Scott Bell, in his book Revision& Self-Editing, says, “writingfiction is a lot like playing good golf” (1).

My grandma always tells me, “It’s a greatlife if you don’t weaken.”

If you are quotingmaterial in an academic paper, be sure to follow the guidelines of theappropriate style (MLA, The ChicagoManual of Style, APA in the U.S.).

So, there’syour introductory lesson on ending punctuation marks and commas. Next post willprobably be over colons, semi-colons, dashes, and ellipses.

chroniker city: book two

2012-01-13T10:36:00.000-06:00

Well, you people on social media might have noticed, if you were paying attention, that I crossedthe 10,000 word mark on the sequel to TheClockwork Giant.

And… I have a title. Releasing this December, the next bookin the Chroniker City series is…

*drumroll*

The Chroniker Legacy

I originally wanted to hold onto that title until the thirdbook, but I think it’s going to fit better with the second book, especiallysince I couldn’t think of any othertitles, not good ones anyway.

But as far as writing this sequel goes, I think it’s safe tosay that I found the proper beginning. No doubt, it will need some polishingand trimming once the first draft is finished, but the point of the matter is that I’m writing again. I alreadysent the first chapter to my critique partner Darby Karchut, and my husband hasread the first two chapters. They both gave me the thumbs up to keep writing,so that’s what I plan to do.

I’m more excited about this story that I was when I firststarted writing The Clockwork Giant, whichis saying something, because I was girlishly giddy in the early stages ofwriting the first book. In the sequel, we’ll get to see a different side of thecity and of the University. Petra will be more involved socially, a new cast ofcharacters joins the story, and there will be plenty of action for the manlymen among my readers (I honestly had a friend tell me the book needed moreexplosions *shakes head*). I hope that in this book, you get to see anotherside of Petra as well. I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to spoil thefirst book for anyone.

I’m just glad that I finally found the right place to startthe story. So far, it’s been flowing really well, each scene transitioning nicelyinto the next. But before this week, I was so lost that I probably would havemade more progress planting my face on the keyboard and rolling around for afew minutes. I’m glad that I stuck with it and didn’t settle with a good enough beginning. The moment Isettle for good enough, someone shouldslap me.

Anyway, I hope to get another block of writing done today…after a nap. The new dosage of my daily meds has sapped my energy, which is whymy blog posts this week have all been posted after eleven o’clock. And I haven’tbeen keeping up with my exercise either. Too tired and apathetic to do crunchesat seven in the morning.

In other news, next week, I start watching my goddaughterwhile her mother goes back to nursing school. Taking care of her will probablycut into my writing time quite a bit, but only two days of the week will bereally time-consuming. The rest of the week, I’ll only be watching her a fewhours a day.

That’s all for today. I hope you all have a great Friday the13^th and subsequent weekend. Peace out.

back to basics: capitalization and spelling

2012-01-11T11:53:00.000-06:00

Alright, today we’re going to jump into capitalization and spelling. Next week, we’ll talk about punctuation and grammar. This stuffis pretty straightforward. And almost unnecessary, since most of us use a wordprocessor to write. I rely heavily on MS Word to find my typos and fix mywriting as I go, as I imagine many writers do. But it’s important to know therules, especially with punctuation.

Capitalization

Always capitalize the first word of a sentence, asdemonstrated with the “always” at the beginning of this sentence. Capitalizeproper nouns, such as people, places, brands, titles, etc. Names, really. Youalso capitalize the first word in dialogue or a quote. For instance:

Researchers have foundthat “boogeymen do in fact exist, lurking in the dark crevasses of children’sbedrooms”, noted in The Boogeyman Agenda.

My sister replied, “Itold Tori it was a bad idea, but she didn’t listen.”

Capitalizing titles is a tricky business. Songs, films,books, poems, bands, store names, and most academic essays require that youcapitalize every word other than articles and prepositions, unless that articleor preposition is at the beginning of the title. For instance:

The Hunger Games bySuzanne Collins

Dancing on the Inside byGlen C. Strathy

The Wicked and theJust by J. Anderson Coats

The Lord of the Rings byJ.R.R. Tolkien

How to Train YourDragon by Cressida Cowell

There are special cases, especially with poetry. A primeexample is the work of poet e.e. cummings, such as his poem “anyone lived in apretty how town”. The titles of Emily Dickinson’s poetry are also greatexamples because her titles reflect the first lines of her poems, since shenever titled them except with numbers, such as “A Pang is more conspicuous inSpring” and “The most triumphant Bird I ever knew or met”. When citing suchworks, it’s best to keep to the original capitalization.

You may notice that the title of my blog and most of my posttitles are in all lowercase letters. I find lowercase letters more pleasing tothe eye.

Some words require all caps, such as abbreviations (FBI,NASA, URL, DNA, etc.). But never—and I mean never—isit okay to use all caps in your writing. BECAUSE IT MAKES THE READER FEEL LIKETHE AUTHOR IS SHOUTING AT THEM. PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA LIKE TO USE ALL CAPS,AND I USUALLY UNFOLLOW/UNFRIEND/UNCIRCLE THOSE PEOPLE. Except in certainsituations, when they want to emphasize something. Then all caps is okay. Forinstance, on Twitter, Maureen Johnson tweeted: “I cannot put this bluntlyenough: no one cares if you have a writing degree, in terms of gettingpublished. THEY DO NOT CARE.” Perfectly acceptable.

Spelling

Again, for those of you using a word processor to write,most of the time, the program will correct words for you, or when you’ve reallymisspelled something, it will offer suggestions. However, there are some wordsit won’t catch, specifically, homophones, specifically heterographs (words thatsound like one another but have completely different meanings).

For example, ones I see the most often on social media:

they’re – their –there

forward – foreword

bare – bear

to – too – two

brake – break

finish – Finnish (notkidding)

buy – by

serial – cereal

coarse – course

hear – here

whole – hole

won – one

idle – idol

peace – piece

principal – principle

sight – site

affect – effect

accept – except

it’s – its

weather – whether

who’s – whose

you’re – your

Be sure that you are using the proper spelling of a word,because even though it sounds the same, it’s the wrong word. I do understand that sometimes, when you’re typingreally fast, it’s easy to slip and type the wrong word. I do it all the time. Justbe aware of the homophones so that you can find them in your writing and fixthem. For a more comprehensive list, do a Google search. There are plenty ofsources on homophones online.

And here is a fantastic comic from The Oatmeal, explainingsome commonly misspelled words:

Ten Words You Need toStop Misspelling

There are a few spelling rules to remember, too (grabbedfrom this public school website):

i before e, except afterc, or when sounding like A, as in neighbor and weigh.

When adding a prefix, don’tchange the spelling of the word.

When adding the suffix–ness or –ly, don’t change the spelling of the word.

Exceptions: for mostwords that end in y, changed the y to I before –ly or –ness (happy + ly =happily; friendly + ness = friendliness)

Drop the final silente before a suffix beginning with a vowel (cause + ing = causing; reverse + ible= reversible)

Keep the final silente before a suffix beginning with a consonant (hope + less = hopeless; agree +ment = agreement)

For words ending in a consonantplus y, change the y to i before any suffix that does not begin with i (cry +ed = cried; pretty + er = prettier)

Double the final consonantbefore adding –ing, –ed, or –est to a one-syllable words that ends in a singlevowel followed by a single consonant (beg + ing = begging; bat + ed = batted)

The website goes on to talk about pluralizing nouns, so youshould book mark this page if you have trouble with spelling.

When in doubt, use a dictionary, either a paper one or adigital one. Dictionary.com is what I use. And use your word processor’sbuilt-in dictionary. Most of the time, it’s right.

So there you are, a crash course on capitalization andspelling. Tune in next week for a lesson in grammar.

back to basics: sentence structure

2012-01-09T11:08:00.000-06:00

Today, I’m goingto do a crash course on sentence structure. Like I said before, to most of thereaders of this blog, this is probably old hat, but for writers just startingout, it could be the difference between them writing a story that needs a lotof technical work and a story that needs only a little work (because, let’sface it, every story needs work, no matter how long we’ve been writing). That’sreally the point of this whole series.

So, sentencestructure. The English language is a beautiful thing. We have a limitless numberof words to work with, and probably just as many ways to organize them. Experiencedwriters have learned how to do this, either by schooling, training, ortrial-and-error, and they’ve learned that the more effective the sentences are,the more effective the story is. It’s entirely possible to have an excellent story,but with a lack of proper writing know-how, the story might never be read. Technicalissues can turn a reader off a story, even if they don’t know why. So, in orderto improve our writing, we have to know the rules of the English language sothat we can use them effectively. And then, we can break them.

Parts of Speech

Sentences are madeup by the parts of speech—nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,prepositions, conjunctions, and articles—which work together to create meaning.Actually knowing the words won’t be much help to us. To be perfectly honest, ittook me a minute to remember what an article was. The names aren’t important,but knowing how to craft a sentence is.

The basic parts ofa sentence are the subject, verb, and object. A sentence is a complete unit ofthought and requires these pieces in order to be “complete”. It conveysinformation, beginning with a capital letter and ending with standard punctuation.The subject is usually a noun—a person, place, or thing. The verb conveys whatthe subject is doing, the action ofthe sentence. The object is receiving the action. Grandma knit a sweater. Noun = Grandma. Verb = knit. Object =sweater. Simple stuff.

There’s no pointin me doing more examples, because it would take me longer to explain, and thisis stuff you should know, though youmay have forgotten. If you want examples, here is a list of worksheets and apage summarizing the parts of speech. And here is a fantastic source onsentence combining, which will teach you more than I ever could. I’m not anEnglish teacher.

Sentence Variation

Now there areseveral different ways to convey a complete sentence. My personal style is simpleand repetitive. I also love lists and modifiers. And starting sentences withconjunctions. Oh, and fragments, too. I know the rules of the English language,and I know when it’s acceptable to break them. Fiction is a bit more lenientthan the academic scene. Fiction depends on voiceand style, which I’ll cover lateron.

There are fourbasic sentence types: simple, compound, complex, and compound complex.

Simple sentencescontain no conjunction (and, but, or, etc.).

Bob came over to watch a movie.
Valerie met her boyfriend at the coffee shop.
My neighbors grow their own vegetables.

Compound sentencescontain two statements that are connected by a conjunction.

I wanted to watch The Princess Bride, but Bob and Aaron wanted to watch a sciencefiction film.
Valerie ordered a nonfat latte, and her boyfriend ordered blackcoffee and a slice of pumpkin bread.
Last year, our neighbors grew too many tomatoes, so they gavesome to us.

Complex sentencescontain an independent clause (the part of a sentence that can stand on itsown) and a dependent clause (the part that would be considered “incomplete” ifit was on its own). The two clauses are connected by a subordinator (which,who, although, despite, since, etc.).

Despite my mother’s insistence that I attend the localcommunity college, I went to college in another state.
Marie was supposed to meet me at the bookstore on Wednesday,which we’ve done every week since I moved to her department.
My dog, although he may not seem like it, is a wizard.

Compound complexsentences contain at least one dependent clause and more than one independentclause. The clauses are connected by both conjunctions and subordinators.

My father, who wanted me to go to the best college we couldafford, argued with my mother, and eventually, they agreed that the out-of-statecollege was best for me.
If she caught the flu, which is going around at work, Iwouldn’t blame her for not showing, but we were supposed to go over our plansfor next week’s office party.
Our dog tries to hide his powers from us, but I’ve caught himlevitating a plate of chicken from the counter to the floor, which he profuselydenied doing.

It’s good to varyyour sentences between these four types. If you use the same sentence structurerepeatedly, a story can quickly become monotonous. Bob came over to watch a movie. I wanted to watch The PrincessBride. Bob and Aaron wanted to watch ascience fiction film. And so on so forth. You can see that a story usingnothing but simple sentences can quickly become uninteresting.

Hopefully, you nowhave a rudimentary understanding of basic sentences. If you have any questions,don’t hesitate to ask. The next post will cover punctuation, spelling,capitalization, and common grammar mistakes.

Happy writing!

when writing goes splat

2012-01-06T08:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, Iwas reminded that writing is hard.

I had aprofessor in college, who, on the first day of our Introduction to CreativeWriting class, said, “If you can do anything other than write, go do thatinstead.” At the time, I didn’t really understand what he meant, and I despisedhim for it. Of course I could do other things. I could become a teacher or a…well, really, teaching was my Plan B. I didn't have any plans after that. Tome, it didn’t matter that I could do other things, I wanted to write.Writing was my calling.

I continuedwriting to spite him. I wanted to show him that I was worthy of being a writer.And even though he constantly belittled me and my writing, he made me workharder. He challenged me. By the time I left college, I came to respect him,and because of him, I am the writer that I am today.

On thatfirst day, he told us that writing was difficult work. He taught us that onlythe most committed, the most determined of us would become writers. He wasright. Writing is hard. It’s no walk in the park. Not anyone can do it.Writing takes a dose of talent and a lot of practice, and it’s notalways as enjoyable as we’d like it to be. Sometimes, it’s like chewingnails.

I had astrange two days of writing this week, banging out 4000 words on both days. Ifigured I’d ride the writing wave until it faded, and unfortunately, thathappened Thursday. I hit a wall. There were nails in my mouth.

I knew thatsomething wasn’t working. The beginning was all wrong. What I had written wasgood, but it didn’t fit. So I tried swapping some things around, and what Icame up with was better, but itwasn’t right. I wracked my brains,trying to figure out what was wrong, and I kept going back to the plot.Something was wrong with my plot. It was a good plot, I thought. I had spentweeks drafting it, and I thought I had come up with a good one. Maybe so, butit wasn’t the right plot.

I have avery taxing way of working. Being a perfectionist, I have to get things rightthe first time. I can’t just write willy-nilly and figure it out on the waybecause I know that method ends in tears and rage. I have to get the plot asclose to right as I can before I can start writing. And even when I think I’vedone that, I hit the same brick wall I hit yesterday. I wrote two wholechapters, two good chapters, but theyweren’t the chapters the book needed to begin with.

Why? I askedmyself.

I stilldon’t know. I just know that something is wrong, and I have to fix it.

So, now I’mspending the next few days plotting, starting from scratch. It’s maddening, but it must be done.

All thisfrustration reminded me that writing is no easy task. It’s hard work. But inthe end, when you write a scene that makes your heart race or have a moment ofepiphany about your plot, those are the moments that make writing worth it.Those are the moments that make me glad to be a writer.

So yes,maybe it is hard. But nothing worth doing in life is ever easy.

What do you do when you find the words just aren't there?

giveaway winners

2012-01-04T08:52:00.001-06:00

Quick update before I announce the giveaway winners. I finally started the next book in the Chroniker City series. Now, I started the book a few times over the past few months, but none of the beginnings I had were working. Well, I finally found the one that works. I was in such a writing groove in fact that I wrote 3900 words. Record numbers as far as first day of writing goes. My actually writing record is about 6200 words in a single day, but that was a long time ago. Anyway, I'm off to a good start! Hopefully, I can be just as productive today.

I still don't have a title for the second book, but I'm working on that.

So, giveaway winners.

We had sixteen entrants this time around, and three winners.

Winner of The Clockwork Giant: jpetroroy

Winner of $10 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble: Becky Raymond

Winner of $5 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble: Melody

Hooray!

If you three would send me an email with your contact details, I can send you your prizes straightaway. If you don't claim the prize by next Wednesday, then it will go to the next runner-up.

For you losers (you're not really losers... I still love you)... I'll probably have another giveaway in a few months, maybe when I get to some arbitrary number of followers. Or when I sell a bunch of books. I don't know. Sometime in the future.

Anyway, hope you all are having a fantastic week!

december sales numbers

2012-01-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

Just a short post about my December sales figures. I hopeall of you had a good New Year’s celebration. We spent it with ourgrandparents. I know. Exciting. We’re kind of boring. No really. The mostexciting thing we do is go bowling on occasion. We party hard.

Anyway… sales. I was actually interested to see that myebook sales and paperback sales were about neck and neck. I expected most of mysales to be in digital format. How wrong I was. Apparently, more people readhardcopy books that I originally thought. That, or ereaders are not asprevalent as some people would like us to think.

I was also surprised at how well I’ve done since the release. I honestly expected to sellfifteen copies of my book in the first month. Twenty at most. Never did Iimagine that I would sell fifty…well, forty-nine. Close enough. Still. I never thought I would do this well. I’malso pleasantly surprised at the reviews so far. I have six reviews on Amazon, averagingfour-and-a-half stars. I have eight reviews on Goodreads, averaging four-and-a-quarterstars. Hopefully, those reviews will help me get future sales. That’s the pointof them, right?

So, here’s a breakdown of my sales. I have a spreadsheet. I’mcool like that.

December Sales for The Clockwork Giant

Kindle: 18 (17 domestic, 1 international), $60.23 inroyalties

Nook: 6, $19.44 in royalties

Smashwords: 0

Lulu: 7, $29.96 in royalties (this was the only placereaders could purchase the paperback for a while)

Createspace: 18, $62.28 in royalties (all through Amazon)

So, tally is twenty-five paperbacks sold and twenty-fourebooks sold. I’ve made $171.91 in royalties for the month of December. I’d liketo be optimistic and think sales will only go up from here, but realistically, sales are likely to slowdown. At least until more people hear about the book. I’m okay with that. I’vealready done better than I ever could have imagined, and my book has only beenon sale for nearly three weeks. Though, I must thank my family. I know at leasta dozen of those copies, probably more, were purchased by my extended family. Asale is a sale though, right?

I think I’ve done well for my debut novel. I have nothing tocompare my numbers to, so I’m just going to stick with the fact that the bookexceeded my expectations. Maybe it will continue to do so.

Anyway, I’d like to thank the readers of this blog whopurchased my book. I don’t know how many of you did, but I appreciate it agreat deal. You’re fueling my career as a writer, and I can’t thank you enough.And, for those of you who haven’t read my book, I’m holding agiveaway. You could win my book, in ebook or paperback format, or a gift cardto Amazon or Barnes & Noble. You just have to comment on this post.

Derp. (I couldn’t think of a clever closing statement, sothis will have to do. Blame my husband. It was his idea.)

back to basics outline

2011-12-30T09:39:00.001-06:00

If you remember, I plan on doing a new blog series after theNew Year. I’ve been brainstorming for ideas for the past several days. What’sfunny is that the most difficult and complex ideas—plot, character, structure, etc.—they’rethe easiest for me to explain. The basics, the simple ideas—grammar, punctuations,writing coherently—they’ll be the most difficult for me to explain. I’m noEnglish teacher. I didn’t go to school to teach people the basics of writing. Iwent to school to write. By the time I got to college, I already had a prettygood understanding of the English language. So most of it comes naturally. Idon’t have to think about it. This blog series is going to force me to think about it, the same way I have to think aboutcharacterization and structure.

This is what I have so far:

Grade School Basics:

Parts of a sentence
Syntax, sentence variation
Punctuation
Spelling
Capitalization
Grammar
Research

Creative WritingBasics:

Point of View
Scenes
Plotting
Structure

Three act
Hero’s Journey
Propp’s Fairy Tale
Snyder’s 15 key beats

Literary description – metaphor, simile, symbolism
Show vs. tell
Voice and style

Storytelling Basics

Characters

Protagonist
Antagonist
Supporting characters
Archetypes

Setting and description
World-building
Exposition
Dialogue
Pacing
Conflict
Theme

Revision Basics andWriting Tools

Outlining
Revision methods
Critique groups and beta readers
First read-through
Analyzing your story
How to revise…

Character
Plot
Beginning
Middle
End
Scenes
Exposition
Setting and description
Theme

Final polish

Chapter openings
Chapter endings
Dialogue
Word usage

It’s likely I’ll go more in depth than this, depending onwhat I come across while working on this series. I may add a few more things I haven't thought of yet. Since I’ll be working on thesequel to The Clockwork Giant at thesame time, you can be certain that problems I come across will somehow findtheir way into this series. Some of these things I’ve talked about before, inwhich case, I’ll add links to relevant posts.

Now, while this is a lot to cover over the next severalweeks, I’m sure I missed something. Is there anything I didn’t mention that you’dlike me to cover? And if you have any specific questions, don’t hesitate toemail me, or comment here.

This series will probably start January 9^th.Monday, I’m doing a post about December sales for The Clockwork Giant. Wednesday, I’m announcing the giveaway winners(enter here). And Friday… well, I don’t have anything planned for Friday yet,but it seems counterproductive to start the blog series on a Friday.

So there you have it. I hope you all have a good New Year’scelebration!

holiday giveaway

2011-12-28T09:38:00.000-06:00

Now that 2011 is winding down, I have a little present foryou. As part of the New Year’s / post-book release / 100 blog followerscelebration, I’m giving away some free stuff!

So the only rules are that you must comment on this blogpost. I won’t be doing the giveaway anywhere else, so this is the only placeyou can win. You have until next Tuesday to enter (Jan. 3), and I’ll announcethe winners on Wednesday.

The prizes:

1) The Clockwork Giant in whatever formatyou want, digital or paperback

2) $10gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble

3) $5gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble

To enter, just comment on this post, and tell me: what booksdid you receive/read this holiday season?

merry christmas

2011-12-23T10:18:00.001-06:00

I know a lot of people will be travelling today and tomorrow, off tovisit family for the holidays. I wish everyone a fantastic Christmas, and Ihope you all make it to your destinations safely. And of course, if you needsomething to bring to the family dinner, here are two dessert recipes, easyenough for children to make.

Gingerbread Men

Prep: 35 minutes | Chill: 3 hours | Bake: 5 minutes per batch | Makes:about 36 cookies

Ingredients:

½ cup shortening

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ cup molasses

1 egg

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Tools:

Wax paper

Mixing bowl

Hand mixer or Kitchenaid or extreme talent with a spoon

Cookie sheet

Cookie cutters

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in molasses, egg, and vinegar until combined. Beat in as much of the flower as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill dough about 3 hours or until easy to handle (I skipped the chill step and just floured my hands, the rolling pin, and the wax paper I was working on).
Preheat oven to 375^oF. Grease a cookie sheet. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until ¼ inch thick. Using a 2 ½-inch cookie cutter (or any size really… I made miniature gingerbread men), cut into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for 5 to 6 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. If desired, decorate cookies with icing, candies, and sugars.

Peanut Toffee Chocolate Clusters

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds of chocolate candy coating

1 bag of toffee bits

16 oz. of peanuts

Tools:

Large mixing bowl

Wax paper

Microwave

Directions:

Chop the chocolate coarsely and then melt it according to the directions on its packaging. The chocolate should be smooth.
Add peanuts and toffee bits. Stir until well coated.
Spoon mixture onto wax paper. Let cool.

Seriously, easiest candy recipe ever.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/Festivus/Winter Festivalcelebration. Happy Holidays.

royalties, hobbits, and candy

2011-12-21T10:44:00.001-06:00

A few things today… I now have four reviews of The Clockwork Giant on Amazon! As far as I’m concerned, I’m doingrather well. I’ve sold 21 books in the past week, most of them on Amazon, andeven one international sale. I’m hoping to get more through Smashwords once thebook goes live on Apple iBooks, Kobo, and Sony Reader. And maybe sales willpick up after Christmas when people have more money. I’m not sure that the waveof new e-reader owners will give me many sales, seeing as they’ll likely only downloadbooks in the FREE -- $0.99 range. That’s what I did with my first e-reader.Anyway, I’m doing better than I thought I would with sales. I figured I’d belucky to sell 10 copies in the first month. Instead, I’ve sold double that, andI’ve accrued $76.05 in royalties. That’s $76.05 that I didn’t have before. Woo!

In other news, if you stay plugged into the internet, you’ve likelyseen this. But for those of you that haven’t seen it, you’re welcome.

And last, I have some Christmas candy recipes for you. These are themore complicated ones that require a whole lot of time. I plan on posting someeasier recipes on Friday, ones that the kids can help with.

Turkish Delight

Time: 2 hours | Makes: 80 pieces

Ingredients:

4 cups sugar

4 ½ cups water (I used 1 ½ cups water and 3 cups fruit juice)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 ¼ cups cornstarch

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 ½ tablespoons rosewater (I couldn’t find this anywhere, so my recipelacks this)

red food coloring (optional)

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Tools:

9-inch square pan

Candy thermometer

Two medium saucepans

Directions:

Oil a 9-inch square pan. Line with plastic wrap and oil the plastic wrap (I used a 9x13 pan because the only square pan we have still had brownies in it).
In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, 1 ½ cups of the water, and the lemon juice. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture boils. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, without stirring, until the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage (240^oF on a candy thermometer). Remove the pan from the heat.
In a second heavy saucepan over medium heat, stir together 1 cup cornstarch and the cream of tartar. Gradually stir in the remaining 3 cups of water (or juice), until no lumps remain. Stirl constantly, until the mixture boils and is a thick, gluey paste (if you use juice, I recommend whisking the mixture to get rid of the lumps).
Slowly pour the hot sugar, water, and lemon juice syrup into the cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring often to prevent sticking, for about 1 hour.
Stir in the rosewater and tint as desired with food coloring. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Cool to room temperature and let stand, uncovered, overnight to set.
Sift the confectioners’ sugar and the remaining ¼ cup cornstarch onto a large cutting board (or flat surface). Turn the Turkish Delight out and cut into 1-inch squares with an oiled knife. Roll pieces in the sugar mixture to coat well. Store in an airtight container with sheets of waxed paper, dusted with the sugar mixture, separating every layer.

Peanut Brittle

Time: 1 hour | Makes: 2 ¼ lbs; 72 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup light-colored corn syrup

½ cup water

¼ cup butter

2 ½ cups raw peanuts

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Tools:

Candy thermometer

Medium saucepan

Two large baking sheets

Directions:

Butter two large baking sheets; set aside. Butter the sides of 3-quart heavy saucepan. In pan, combine sugar, corn syrup, water and butter. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Reduce heat to medium-low; continue boiling at a moderate, steady rate, stirring occasionally, until the thermometer registers 275^oF, soft-crack stage (about 30 minutes). Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a steady boil.)
Stir in nuts; continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until thermometer registers 295^oF, hard crack stage (15 to 20 minutes more).
Remove saucepan from heat; remove thermometer. Quickly sprinkle baking soda over corn syrup mixture, stirring constantly. Immediately pour onto prepared baking sheets. Use forks or spatula to spread the brittle across the pans. Cool completely; break into pieces. Store, tightly covered for up to 1 week.

On Friday, I’ll give you an easy recipe for Gingerbread cookies andChocolate Peanut Toffee drops.

Any Christmas candies or holiday snacks that you make or eat every year?

here's to you, 2012

2011-12-19T10:13:00.001-06:00

I did the same post last year, and from myalmost-2012-perspective, 2011 was a good year. It wasn’t a great year. It certainly wasn’t an amazing year. But it wasn’t a bad year either. I’m perfectlycontent with this past year.

I finished and released a book. I started two D&Dcampaigns, one of which, still in progress. I didn’t get all the games that Iwanted, but the only one that really mattered was Skyrim, and I’ve but 60+ hours into it. I’m probably getting The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword forChristmas from my husband, so I’m looking forward to playing that.

We didn’t get to do much camping this year, like we wantedto. And all that money I spent on craft and décor supplies didn’t necessarilygo wasted, but our house is still notvery decorated. We did manage to paint the two bedrooms and the dining room, and we put down new floors and had newwindows installed.

At this time next year, I still wanted to find an agent andfinish a novel. I didn’t get the agent, but I did finish the novel, asevidenced by this page on my website, with all its clickable links: http://brooke-johnson.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html.I read over 50 books this year, and most of them were pretty good.

So 2011 was productive if nothing else.

But I’m determined to make 2012 an amazing year.

First up, I’m looking forward to getting my first royaltycheck in February. I’ll get to see the product of my book sales for this month,which will be fantastic (for those of you wondering, I’ve sold 19 copies of mybook, Kindle: 9, Nook: 3, Lulu: 7. And my royalties for Kindle: $31.41, Nook:$9.72, and Lulu: $29.96. How’s that for transparency?). I’ll officially be a paid, published author. Rather than anunpaid, published author like I am now. So there’s that.

There’s also the Renaissance Faire to look forward to inMay. We’re going to make new costumes this year. The husband is going to get achainmail shirt and a sword, and I’m going to fix him up a tabard. Maybe hisbeard will be long enough to braid by then. For myself, I’m thinking high-classlady, bard, or archer. I haven’t decided yet. I do know that I’ll be purchasing a bow from the faire this year sothat I can be an archer the next year for sure. High-class lady will be theeasiest costume to do. The bard will be a bit more difficult, and a bit moreexpensive, since I’ll have to find some sort of musical instrument that I canplay decently, and it requires the most pieces. The archer would be the mostdifficult I think because the costume would be mostly leathers and furs, andbecause of that, it would be the most expensive.

Those two things are really the only big things I’m lookingforward to, but I do have a lot of plans for next year as well.

I want to write two more books, finishing the Chroniker Cityseries (as long as it stays under three books). I’ve already added 30+ books tomy to-read list, and some of them are self-published in support of my fellowindie authors. I plan on releasing the second Chroniker City book, stilluntitled, next December.

I would like to get more crafting done so that our house isn’tso bland, but I don’t want to commit to a certain number of projects because Iknow I’ll get burned out on it rather quickly. I do that. Maybe I’ll focus on aroom at a time. I think I have all the decorations I need for the sitting room,just nowhere to really put them. We will,however, build my craft desk and two bookshelves early next year. The two smallbookshelves I have are overflowing, and that’s after giving a friend of minetwo small boxes worth of books. I plan on buying more books, though I’m tryingto limit myself now by buying ebooks instead.

Other crafts include painting the buffet, china hutch, anddining chairs. We need to re-sand the dining table and re-seal it with adifferent kind of poly-urethane. Right now, it has a yellow tint to it, and it’sugly. Though it matches our urine-colored kitchen counters. I’d like to fixthose too, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. That’s one of the things I cantolerate a while longer.

So those are my not so exciting plans for next year.However, I do want to have a bit more fun, get out of the house more, spendmore time with the husband. We did too much TV watching and video game playingthis year, and I’m pretty sure there is something unhealthy about that. I’m alsogoing to make an effort to be more social. As it stands, I’m prettyanti-social. I don’t like touching people. I have no concept of social cues. I’mawkward. Etc. So, I just avoid people as best I can. How I’m going to remedy this, I have no idea. But I am going tomake an effort. That’s one of my resolutions.

My other resolutions: continue to lose weight (only 10pounds to go!), start yoga again, and continue to grow my hair out. I know,exciting, right? Doesn’t seem like it will be an amazing year, does it?

I’m optimistic about it. I think it will be one of thoseyears that’s full of surprises, a spontaneous, unexpected roller-coaster ride.I have good feeling about 2012.

What about you? Plans? Expectations? Resolutions?

back to basics

2011-12-16T10:40:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week, I had a bit of a rant. In an effort tosupport my fellow Indie authors, I started searching for self-published booksto read. I thought I was doing pretty good. Realizing that not everyone hasgraphic design experience like I do or the money to hire someone who does, Iignored covers. I selected books based solely on the blurbs they offered, andthen the sample.

But what I found while searching was disheartening. Here ismy rant, edited for language, because I got a bit heated about it.

i just realized:there's a good reason self-published books have such a bad reputation.

dear authors,

if you plan on self-publishing, please have the courtesy to hire an editor, orrun spell check at the very least, and please take a rudimentary college Englishwriting course. you make the rest of us look bad when you don't.

yours truly,

brooke johnson

I came across book blurbsriddled with typos. In one, the spelling of the main character’s namechanged halfway through, and in another two, the author used colons or ellipsesinstead of periods. And in yet another, the author failed to capitalize anything (now I understand that I don’talways capitalize things on social media, but that’s social media, not a book blurb).

I had several responses to my rant. Someone accused me oftrashing my fellow Indie, which obviously meant I was trashing myself. And thenthey went on a rant against the Big 6 publishers and had nothing more to add tothe conversation. I wasn’t trashing Indie writers, and another commenterpointed that out. I’m going to quote him word for word here:

I don’t think +BrookeJohnson is trashing a fellow Indie… This is about general practice. As Indiesand Self-publishers we should be hyper-dedicated to putting out a greatproduct. It is unfortunate that one or two poor books reflect on the entireindie community, but it is a reality and it does.

He’s right. Because we don’t have an agent and editor torely on, we have to be extra attentive to our work. When we put out a book thatobviously wasn’t edited, we hurt ourselves and the rest of the Indiepublishers.

Another commenter brought up the point that the author maynot realize how bad their book actually is. I’m pretty sure we’ve all writtenterrible books, especially those from early in our career. And thankfully, Ididn’t have the option to self-publish in those early years. It would havedestroyed any faith I had in myself, because I wrote crap. And it was stuff I thought was great at the time.

With the ease of self-publishing, anyone can put a book up for sale, and if they charge only $0.99for it, they’re like to have buyers. And that may seem like success until thereviews come in, the one- or two-star reviews that rip into the author andtheir book. I know that if I had published my first book, I would have quitwriting altogether after the general public got a hold of it. And I’m afraidthat’s going to happen to a lot of new writers. They don’t know any better. However,ignorance is no excuse. Not in this industry.

So, in response to this ignorance—or perhaps, laziness,which I can’t help—I’m going to do something helpful. Rather than rant andcomplain about the poor quality of most self-published books, I’m going tostart a blog series about writing basics. I’ll be taking all of you back to freshmancomposition for a time, and then to the complexities of creative writing. I’llbe teaching you everything that I learned in college, from writing coherently, todialogue, exposition, description, transitions, as well as plot, structure, characterization,pacing, revision, and even queries and book blurbs. Some of the stuff that I’ll be covering will be old hatto a lot of people, but every day, another writer hits the interwebz with theirfirst manuscript, looking for guidance. If I can help one person, it’ll beworth it.

I was lucky enough to get all of my bad writing out of mysystem in the three years I spent studying at my university. I wrote a lot ofcrap, but because of that crap, I learned how not to write. And then I learned how to write. Maybe I can helpsomeone skip ten years of bad novels with this blog series, which I’ll bestarting after the new year, when I’m a bit more focused. And that will give meplenty of time to organize an outline of posts, because there will be several. I’m thinking that the blogseries might take up at least two months’ worth of blog posts.

If there is anything you’d like me to cover in that series,don’t hesitate to comment here or send me an email. I’m also thinking as partof this series, I’ll answer specific questions from other writers, which youcan email to me. If there is anything you’re having trouble with, I am here tohelp. I may not be a bestselling author, but I’ve been around for a while, andI did go to school for this. I want to help. So, if you have anyquestions about any aspect of writing, even if you think it’s unique to yourwork-in-progress, I would be happy to answer your question on my blog. Yourquestion might help someone else in the same situation. So don’t hesitate tocontact me.

So, starting next year, we’ll be going back to basics, andwe’ll work our way up to the more complex writing elements.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! See you Monday.

post-publication stress

2011-12-14T10:46:00.000-06:00

Well, I am officially a published author. It’s still a bitsurreal. For the past two days, I’ve been obsessively checking my sales, and ifit wasn’t for spending time with my goddaughter, my best friend, and mymother-in-law, I’m pretty sure I would have driven myself crazy. I think I’mholding it all together pretty well. There hasn’t been any hysterical crying…yet.

Really, I feel quite calm about the whole ordeal. I justfeel like I should be doing something.I mean, I know people aren’t going to rush to Amazon or Barnes & Noble,foaming at the mouth wanting to buy my book, but I would like to encourage themto do so. However, I have absolutely no skills in marketing. I’ve tweeted, Facebooked,and Google+’d about my book. I started a Google Ads campaign, targeted towardNook and Kindle owners. I plan on starting a Facebook ad campaign today. I havesent book review requests to several bloggers, a few of which who have agreedto review it. I’m in the middle of answering some interview questions for ablog set to go live next year, and I have another guest post to write for afellow blogger. I feel like there is more that I could be doing, but I don’tknow what. And I don’t want to overwhelm social media with promo tweets lest Ibecome a spammer. That’s the last thing I want.

I know people are seeing my book around the interwebz. Iknow that people are interested in it. I just want to turn that interest, thatexposure, into sales. I’ve had a whopping four sales since my book first wentlive on Monday—two for Kindle and two paperbacks from Lulu. I’m not necessarilydisappointed, but I was hoping for a bit more. I have no idea how many copiesdebut self-published books sell during their first few days, or eventraditionally published books for that matter. I still have the rest of themonth to sell books (really, I have the rest of forever to sell books), and maybe I’ll get more sales aroundChristmas, when people are getting ereaders and gift cards for Christmas. Weshall see.

I also wish that more people would add reviews to theretailers’ websites. One person has added a review to Lulu as of writing thispost. I know of at least fifteen people who have read my book, or are in theprocess, and those fifteen reviews could really encourage someone to buy mybook. That said, I know people are busy. I know that it takes time to write athoughtful review. And they’ll get around to eventually, I’m sure.

And now, apparently Barnes & Noble's search engine has lost my book (and all other PubIt! books).Fan-freaking-tastic.

Cue freaking out.

/sigh

Any tips for coping with post-publication stress? Anythingyou think I could be doing to help promote my book?

And if you would liketo purchase my book, there are purchase links in the sidebar of my blog (you can still buy the Nook version, you just have to use the direct link I provided).

buy my book!

2011-12-12T10:15:00.000-06:00

Well, seeing as I suck with timing and all that, looks likemy book is available for purchase!

It's 1881, the fiftieth anniversary of the founding ofChroniker City, the global hub of technological advancement in the modernworld. Based off the British coast, the city is home to the most prestigiouspolytechnic university worldwide, a center of mechanical ingenuity teachingeverything from clockwork mechanics and thermodynamics to electromagnetism andelectricity.

Petra Wade, self-taught clockwork engineer, dreams of one day becoming a memberof the Guild, an elite group of inventors and innovators who envision a futurefueled by technology, but her ambitions will only come to fruition if she canfind a way into the illustrious university—an institution reserved for menonly. When she meets Emmerich Goss, an accomplished engineer newly recruited intothe Guild, Petra discovers that he needs help building a top-secret,government-sanctioned automaton, and she is just the girl to help him.

Together, they craft the clockwork giant, and as the deadline for itscompletion nears, Petra finds that she can love more than gears andmainsprings.

You can buy it at Amazon here.
At Barnes & Noble here.

And at Smashwords here.

And hopefully by the end of the week you will be able to purchase it at the Sony Reader store, Kobo store, and the Apple iStore. I’ll be sure to add the links when the timecomes. But if you want it right now,you can get a compatible version from Smashwords.

The official paperback will be available early next week from Amazon andCreatespace, but you can get a copy from Lulu right now, if you’re so inclined. Just click here.

If you’ve read the book, would you please rate and review iton the above websites? It would be much appreciated.

preparing for release day

2011-12-09T09:28:00.001-06:00

With my book release only a few days away, I’ve been unableto think of anything else. And yesterday, I received the first proof for thepaperback version of the novel. I hope to have it available for sale at thesame time as the ebook, but depending on lulu’s distribution terms, that may ormay not happen. I faintly remember something about six weeks after the proof isapproved, but that could have been for a different distribution package.

I only have a few changes to make to the paperback. I haveto add in a few blank pages so that everything shows up properly. I have toedit the page numbers so that they only show up in the actual story rather thanbeginning to end. Which was something I didn’t think was possible. Googleproved me wrong. I never knew you could break a document into sections in MSWord. The more you know….

I also have to make some cover adjustments. Right now, it’sa bit too dark and blurry. The title on the spine is cut off a bit. The frontcover graphic is too close to the edge, and the back cover blurb is too blurry.Something to do with all the resizing I had to do. Also, the back cover is abit dull, so I’m going to add some gear graphics to it. I’m going to work onfixing those things today.

It’s so weird holding a copy of my book. Even though it’sself-published, there’s something about seeing it exist beyond a digitalmedium. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do with the proof copy. I’vethought about giving it away, but it’s really not high-quality enough, in myopinion, mainly because of the cover problems. So I may just keep it for my ownbookshelf. Or if I think of some creative use later, I'll do that.

Regardless, it will beavailable as a paperback eventually, if not straightaway. Here’s some prettypictures of the proof:

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

only the beginning

2011-12-07T09:19:00.001-06:00

With The ClockworkGiant coming out in six days, mynerves are all a jitter. My first reviews have gone up, and the book is officiallyout there. And as insecure as I am, Iquestion whether or not I made the right decision, not about self-publishing,but about publishing itself. Is my book really worth publishing? I mean, it is my first completed novel. Aren’tthose supposed to suck?

Now, I know that it’s the best book that I’ve ever written.I know that I couldn’t improve it anymore even if I worked on it for anothersix months or a year. I love this book. I made the decision to publish, becausewell, what have I got to lose? Peoplemay love it. People may hate it. Hopefully readers lean toward the first one,but I know not everyone will. And while I know that The Clockwork Giant is the epitome of my writing career so far, Iknow that it is in no way the bestbook I will ever write. I still have a long way to go as a writer, and I wasreminded of that fact yesterday.

Cassandra Clare’s second Infernal Devices book, The Clockwork Prince, releasedyesterday, and I read it beginning to end in one sitting. I loved the firstone, but this one was so much better.I marveled at the author’s talent at writing romance, so far beyond anything Ican do. That said, that’s the only part of the book that I really even careabout. The plot is secondary to me, if it holds any importance at all. This isher sixth published book, so obviously, she has a leg up, but it reminded mehow far I have to go before I’ve reached the ranks of bestselling authors likeCassandra Clare.

I have no doubt that one day, may it be five years from nowor fifty, I will be a bestselling author. I will have written an arsenal ofbooks, and my craft will be so far beyond what it is now. But until then, I can’tbelieve that I’ve reached my potential as a writer now that I have a book forsale. I hope to grow as a writer with each book that I write—learning some newtechnique, challenging myself to write outside my comfort zone, daring to dreambig. I hope that each book is better than the last, and that I learn to haveconfidence in my own ability. But for now, I'm happy knowing that I'm a novelist, even if I'm just an infantile one. This is only the beginning.

And for some reviews:

Darby Karchut’s Blog: Writing Uphill

Back to Books

Also, fellow blogger Angela Brown hosted me over at herblog, where I talk about choosing to write steampunk and how the idea for The Clockwork Giant came to me. Checkthat post out here.

peripheral publications

2011-12-05T10:14:00.001-06:00

With only a week until the release of The Clockwork Giant, I’ve decided that I’m going to work on asmaller project before delving into the sequel. I had a thought a few monthsago—since there will be a full year between releases of the Chroniker Citynovels, why don’t I release a novella length short story collection? I couldeasily write several short stories concerning minor characters from ChronikerCity, telling of events that happen between books, without giving away anymajor plot points of the main story. I’d want the short story collection to tieinto the larger story, but I’d also want it to stand on its own, where a readercould pick it up at any time in the series.

I haven’t seen this done before (I’m pretty sure traditionalpublishers aren’t fond of short story collections), but then again, I’m not aswidely read as I’d like to be. My main concern is whether or not readers willwant these in-between stories, especially since they won’t follow the maincharacters. I have plenty of characters and mini-plots to work with. I’dprobably write about Solomon, Norris, Harriet, Lyndon, Matron, or Stricket, orany other of the many secondary characters. For those of you who have read my novels, these names shouldbe familiar. And I might even write about characters we haven’t seen yet, who’veonly been mentioned or exist completely outside of the circle of characters inthe main story.

If I do write them, I’m not sure how often to release them.I could release one short story collection between each novel at the six monthmark, or two at four and eight months, or three at three, six, and nine months.I’m leaning for the two collections between releases, totaling four by the timethe series is finished. I could sell them at $0.99 each, and when they’ve allbeen released, I can release a compilation or just keep them separate. Not sureabout that yet. I’m considering three short stories for each, somewhere between5000 and 10,000 words each.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

So, would readers be interested in those secondarycharacters, in seeing other aspects of Chroniker City that didn’t make theseries? I’d like to think so, but that’s me being optimistic.

What do you think? Would you be interested in peripheralpublications? Do you think they’d be popular with fans of the series? Do youthink it would keep readers interested in the story between releases?

I’m interested to see what you have to say, so be as honestas possible.

celebrating christmas traditions

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

Now that it’s December, it’s time to start thinking aboutChristmas… shopping. As of the beginning of the month, I’ve purchased gifts formy closest friends, but none of my family. I don’t know what to get any ofthem. They should give me Christmaslists.

This year, we’ll be spending Christmas with my family. First,Christmas Eve at my grandparents’ house, Christmas morning with Dad, lateChristmas morning with Mom, and Christmas lunch with my other set ofgrandparents. Last year, we went to my family’s Christmas, and my in-laws’ Christmas, driving 1000 miles over the course ofthree days. It was too much, so we’re starting a new tradition: swappingChristmas destinations every year. With my family, we’ve had several traditionsover the years. Most of them faded as we got older, but I remember most ofthem.

I think the funniest tradition is the accidental one.Imagine it: you’ve just opened the last of your presents, and you didn’t getthe video game you really wanted. But you put a smile on anyway, and thank yourdad for the presents. A week later—yes, a weeklater—dad comes out of his bedroom with another present. Yeah, he forgot toput it under the tree. And yeah, it’s the video game you wanted. What’s funny,is it happens nearly every year. One year, it was board games he forgot towrap. Another year, it was a dozen movies.

When me and my sister were kids, we would put out carrotsand peanut butter for Santa’s reindeer and of course, cookies and milk for thefat man himself. I’d try to stay awake all night, but inevitably, I’d fallasleep on the couch and wake up in my bed the next morning. Dad never wrappedpresents. They just arrived magically under the tree, and it was gift overload. A N64! A bicycle! An art set! MarioKart! Barbies! Hot Wheels! Legos! I never knew what to play with first. Dadwraps presents now because I once complained that I didn’t have enough time toprocess each present. I like to savor each gift.

Now, when we have kids, we’ll probably have our owntraditions, probably offbeat and weird.

What are your Christmas traditions? If you don’t have anynow, did you when you were a kid?

This post is part of the 12Days of Christmas event going on from the 10^th of December tothe 22^nd at Nadja Notariani's blog. I’ll be giving away a copy of my book at that time (aswell as several other books), so stay tuned. I’ll keep you posted, and you canalways click on the 12 Days of Christmas buttonin my sidebar to get there.

beginning again

2011-11-30T09:40:00.001-06:00

So, yesterday, I finallystarted my next novel, and I started it off with a bang. I wrote roughly3700 words, though I’m pretty sure they’re mostly crap. It happens. Especiallywith me. It’s a fact: I suck at writing beginnings.

I don’t know what it is about introducing characters andplot and world-building and all that, but I just can’t do it well. The firsttwo chapters of The Clockwork Giantwent through a dozen revisions each, and I ended up cutting the entire secondchapter in the final draft. So, when I started writing the sequel yesterday, Idecided I’d skip the beginning and just get into the story. I had been puttingoff writing because I wanted the beginning to be perfect right off the bat. Avery unrealistic goal. Rather than drive myself crazy trying to get thebeginning right, I just jumped into the story right after the introductionstuff would happen. And I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. I’ve never started abook so strong.

However, I still have a lot of work to do before I can writeany more. I realized about the time I went to bed last night that my outlinewasn’t going to work as plotted. I wrote the first several pages based on theoutline I had, but I already added a scene that I didn’t intend, and pulled ascene from later in the book and slapped in the beginning. Which really doesn’twork.

So, I’m going to do some shuffling today, and a scene that Ioriginally planned to be the end of the second chapter, is now going to be thefirst. The stuff I wrote yesterday will be dispersed through the early chaptersof the book, and hopefully, I can whip up an introductory paragraph or two.

Hopefully, when I get the outline straightened out, I canjump back into writing and knock out another 3700 words. I just have to keep inmind that first drafts suck. If I try to make it absolutely perfect, I’ll drivemyself crazy. That doesn’t mean I won’t edit as I go, but unless there’s aproblem with the story, I shouldn’t sit and dwell on a single scene for a weekjust to make it perfect, when I may end up cutting it in the final draft.

Beginnings are my weakness, and while they end up being themost polished, they’re often my worst work. Now middles—I pwn middles. Yes. Pwn. Endings, not as bad as beginnings, but stillnot very good.

Do you have trouble with writing beginnings? Do write chronologically,or skip around and shuffle scenes until they work? What about middles andendings?

book release countdown

2011-11-28T10:18:00.001-06:00

So, only two weeks left until The Clockwork Giant release. I always wanted to publish a novel bythe time I was 25. Looks like I’m ahead of schedule.

At the beginning of last week, I started my marketingefforts, sending review copies to book bloggers and advanced reader copies tomy giveaway winners. People are reading my book, possibly at this very moment,and to be honest, it’s a bit surreal.

I’m already having dreams (nightmares?) about book reviews,and I know my husband is sick and tired of me asking if he thinks the book willdo well. What if I get nothing but bad reviews? What if no one likes the book? Whatif it’s awful? etc. This all goeswith my insecurity as a writer, of course. And I know that if the book was bad, my beta readers would have saidsomething—right? Well, whatever theoutcome of this release, it’s too late to turn back now. I queried about thirtybook bloggers to consider The ClockworkGiant for review, and already, nine blogs have agreed to read and reviewit. I gave away eight copies of the book as part of the giveaway. Now I justhave to wait for those people to post their reviews and hope that they likedit.

I’m really depending on these reviews to help my book dowell. If no one likes my book, then all my marketing efforts will be wasted. Onthe flip side, if a lot of people like it, then the book will carry its own weightand will likely market itself. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. As arereviews. And they could make or break my book release.

I’m still going to make an effort obviously. I hope to get afew interviews and guest posts going around the book release (so if you wanteither from me, please let me know) to help generate buzz. I know that they don’tgarner sales as well as reviews, but if one person remembers my name and thetitle of my book, it’s worth it. When you search my name plus "writer", "author", or "steampunk", I get most of the hits on the first page. And my book title actually gets a few hits, though I'm beat by the clockwork constructs in World of Warcraft. I have my book trailer, which has gotten 156views as of writing this post. My website is also up, though I have no idea howmany people have visited it since it went live. I’m as active as I care to beon Google+ and Twitter, but Facebook is sorely neglected. I don’t want to comeacross as fake—only joining conversations in order to promote myself. It drivesme crazy when other people do it. I’ll join a conversation I’m interested inand skip out on everything else. And most of the stuff I talk about on Google+is not at all writing related. I actually had an intelligent conversation aboutTwilight the other day, and I onlyranted once about my hatred of Jacob Black. So there you go.

As far as the marketing thing goes, I don’t know what elseto do. I wish I could put my book up for pre-order, but KDP and PubIt! don’tlike that. Anything you guys think would help my marketing efforts? (andseriously, if you would like a guest post or interview from me, let me know.)

I feel bad putting myself out there like that, almostbegging people for reviews, interviews, and guest posts. It makes me feelcheap. I know it’s necessary, and if I want people to hear about my book then Ihave to get out there and make them listen. But it doesn’t make me feel anybetter. I had a professor in college who had published a book, and at the beginningof every semester he would promote his book to his students. He’d give usbookmarks and talk about his book at any given opportunity. It was rather off-putting,and I don’t want to be that person. Oh,you like Reese’s cups too? BUY MY BOOK, ON SALE NOW. It doesn’t have Reese’s init or anything, but there’s this one part where the main character eats apotato pasty, and that’s close right? Ugh.

So, while you’ll probably see more promotional tweets andupdates across various sites, I’ll do my very best to keep it at a minimum. Idon’t want to spam anyone or sound like an advertisement on repeat.

Two weeks and I’ll be a published writer. How cool, right?And also very scary.

Any marketing tips you have to share? Anything you’d like meto do, or think I should be doing?

what i'm thankful for

2011-11-23T10:15:00.001-06:00

When I got out of bed this morning, I was just going to do asimple post, wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. But, instead, I’m going toshare with you what I’m thankful for. I think it’s good to look at your lifeand single out everything that’s good about it, rather than everything bad,like we so often do. I have plenty to be thankful for, and though my life isn’tperfect and there are a few dark spots, I’m still happy.

So, I am thankful for…

My husband, who is so supportive of my writing career, andwho puts up with my melodrama and super emotional disposition. He makes melaugh daily, and I smile when I think of him. If there is a such thing as fate,I believe with my whole heart that we were made for each other.

thought going through my head: This is too silly.
What if I land on my dress and tear it?
Gah, Aaron already jumped. Okay then.
But I'm not happy about it.

My dog K.K. I think I would laugh a lot less if I didn’thave him, and I’d feel so very alone in the house when my husband is at work.

My grandmother, who nurtured my creativity when I was achild. I hope that when I’m a grandmother, I’ll be just as loving, funny, andageless as she is, and I hope I can inspire someone the same way she inspiresme.

My best friend Shandi. Without her, I would most definitelynever leave my house. She’s funny and great listener, and I honestly don’t knowif my emotional state would survive some things without her support. I love herlike a sister.

me and Shandi at the renaissance faire this past May

My husband’s job, which allows me to sit at home and write.That’s nice.

Microsoft Word. I would be a lot less productive using anyother software, or lack thereof.

My blog followers, for commenting on my posts, for reading my posts.

The internet. I’ve met so many amazing people throughTwitter and my blog, who I never would have met if it weren’t for this enormousnetwork we take for granted.

Modern medicine. Without it, I would be much worse offhealth-wise.

And lastly, my brain. For being so amazing. It just blows meaway how I can create an entire city in my head, down to the tiniest detail,all entirely fictional. Worlds existin my head. And I think every writer and artist has the vastness of an entire universetightly compacted in their brain. It’s only a matter of letting it free so thatother people can experience it too.

So, whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving, what are youthankful for?

I hope you all have a good holiday. I won’t be posting onFriday, since that’s family time, so I’ll see you all on Monday.

giveaway winners!

2011-11-21T10:01:00.001-06:00

So, I held a giveaway last week if you didn't notice. I had a total of 37 (I think) entrants over all four social networks.

A breakdown for you people who like numbers:

24 entrants on Google+ (I have 600+ followers)
6 on Facebook (29 followers. woot.)
8 on Twitter (260+ followers)
11 on the blog (95 followers)

A few people entered on every network, some just one, and others two or three. The giveaway was as successful as I expected it to be, though in unexpected ways. I expected more Twitter entrants and not nearly so many Google+ entrants. So that was a surprise, a good surprise. My collected experience now tells me that Google+ is a really good promotion/marketing tool. Your mileage may vary.

Now for the winners!

Facebook:

Reece Hanzon

Twitter:

Rosemary Crawford

Google+:

Peter Smalley
Harold Chester
Sonia Medeiros

and finally, the blog:

Angela Brown
Scott

*confetti*

So, as for you winners, send me an email to brookenomicon@gmail.com with your choice of ebook--.mobi for Kindle, .epub for everything else, and .pdf for you people without ereaders--and I'll send it right away.

As for you non-winners, I have a special something. Another drawing!

Robin McIntyre

You also get a copy of my book, so send me an email with your choice of format.

Now, really, for the rest of you... unfortunately, you have to wait another three weeks before my book becomes available for purchase. But, I will be having another giveaway the day after the release, so there will be another chance to win!

Thanks to all of you who entered and those of you who have been with me since I first had the crazy idea to write a steampunk novel. You're awesome.

review: the shoemaker's son

2011-11-18T08:48:00.001-06:00

“The Shoemaker’s Son” – GayleRamage

1807. As a young boy, BroganO'Malley encounters the strange and enigmatic Darcy on the streets ofEdinburgh. Ten years pass and Brogan, now a petty thief, meets her once againand is surprised to discover she has not aged one day.

A further ten years later,it's 1827, and Brogan's life has taken a turn for the worse. About to becomeinvolved with unscrupulous bodysnatchers, William Burke and William Hare, thereappearance of the ageless Darcy sees Brogan discover a secret that will changehis life forever.

Thoughts…

“The Shoemaker’s Son” is the second prequel short for Gayle’ssoon to be released debut novel A Headfor Assassination. I’ve been wary of reading indie authors in the past (I know,hypocrite), but I’m glad that I set that prejudice aside. It honestly isn’tfair to anyone.

“The Shoemaker’s Son” did not disappoint (though I wanted tokeep reading!). Gayle’s writing is fantastic, and the characters are colorful,especially Darcy, who is clearly out of her element in early nineteenth centuryEdinburgh with her very unladylike behavior and language.

The prequels are meant to provide a little bit of backstoryfor A Head for Assassination (whichis about British time-travelling assassins!), and Gayle does a good job ofenticing the reader to want to read more. I definitely want to know whathappens next, and I’ll be buying A Headfor Assassination when it comes out next year.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Readinglevel: Young Adult to Adult

Format: ePUB (35 pages)

Publisher: Smashwords (October 11, 2011)

for the love of Thor

2011-11-16T10:01:00.001-06:00

Before I go into today's post, don't forget to enter the giveaway. Win my steampunk novel The Clockwork Giant! For every ten people who comment, there will be one winner, and there are multiple ways to win.

So after five days of nothing but Skyrim, I suppose it’s time to get back to business. I’ve vowed notto touch the Xbox today, except in the case to move it when I clean up thedisaster zone my living room has become. And while I will have to start usingmy brain beyond figuring out how to sneak through a cavern stocked with Falmer withoutbeing noticed, I decided that today should be a fun post. I haven’t done a non-writingpost in a long time (those posts where I lament about not writing aretechnically still about writing). I used to do fun little posts about snippetsof history or magical creatures because they fall under the category of my interests, and I think I should startdoing those again. If only once a month or something.

It should come as no surprise to most of you that I love theNorse. I’m not sure exactly when my passion for helmed, hairy, fur-clothed menbegan, but that fascination has done nothing but grow over the years. Everyarcheological discovery regarding the Norsemen excites me—tombs, ships, houses,jewelry, gravestones. I’ve read all the Norse myths multiple times. I know theElder Futhark (in fact, I made a setof Elder Futhark runes), and I’m slowly learningIcelandic. I once tried to write a novel set in a Norse setting (whichindubitably failed). I dream of successfullywriting a Norse epic someday, maybe after the Chroniker City novels arefinished. And when I first found out that the next Elder Scrolls game would take place in Skyrim, the home of theNords, I think I died of awesome.

Now I may not know when I first became fascinated by thisgroup of people, but I definitely know why. I’d like to consider the Norse asthe Romans of the North. Their settled lands spread outward from Scandinavia,as far as North America to the west, Sicily to the south, and the Black Sea tothe east. Their raids spread even further, to the Spain, North Africa, and theCaspian Sea. Remnants of their culture still exist today. Old English and OldNorse both derive from a Proto-Germanic language, the mother of all Germaniclanguages. And we’re still learning about them. We’re still discovering littlepieces of their history.

I’d like to think that in a past life, I was a Viking (an early9^th century one, no doubt). I may have been a skald, writing eddic versesto sing in mead halls, perhaps contributing to the fabled Norse poems. Maybe Icarved this:

Their mythology alone is fascinating. The Æsir(the principal gods) and Vanir (lesser known gods) and the war that joined theminto a single pantheon, the jötunn (giant nature spirits), the álfar (elves),and dvergr (dwarves), and their respective homelands—Asgard and Vanaheim, Jötunheim,Álfheim, Svartálfaheim, and Midgard for us humans. And also, Hel, the land ofthe dead, and the two primordial realms, Niflheim and Muspellsheim, the landsof Ice and Fire, respectively.

Maybe I’m just a geek, but I can’t help but want to experiencethat world, a culture so utterly complex, yet outwardly primitive. The Vikingswere intelligent, religious, battle-hardened, and fierce in every way. I can’thelp but respect that. They fascinate me. I hope that we continue to findartifacts from their time and continue to learn about their culture. They are apart of our ancestry after all.

Is there a culture or time period that you are obsessedwith? If you could live in any age in history, when would you live? What wouldyou do?