Need a title

Many things to talk about today. Let's start with a review of last week's writing group. Last Thursday was the first day the writing group had gotten to look at my writing. They had a lot of comments. I agree with most of them, and about half of them were actually covered by the previous blog entry.

First thing, they didn't like the characterization of the narrator. Apparently she comes off as younger than I intended, and more masculine than I intended. Same with James. So I either need to grow them up, or let them be younger. I'm not sure which I'd prefer. THey also agreed with my assessment that the diary wasn't working. It introduced more problems than it solved, and while I like the idea, it's not well executed. It'd take some serious work to get things up to shape that way, and it might be safer to just remove it all together.

While they loved the worldbuilding, they thought there wasn't enough exposition about it. I was so worried about avoiding an info-dump (esp. because of the diary medium), that I didn't actually accurately describe the setting. Going into deeper detail of the crazy artifice would have been awesome. They agreed that there wasn't enough emotion (/ reaction), which I knew. Some of the reactions were also out of character (wondering something the character would know). And the stakes weren't well defined, or didn't generate the correct worry/fear, because of the lack of depth in the explanation of the guilds. THe book came off as too much of a McGuffin, probably because it was introduced accidently. On a more amusing note, they expected a note in the bakery scene (which was present, but cut out in edits).

So it sounds like I have 3 main things to think about for the next step: Think a bit harder on my characterization (make sure they seem the age they're supposed to, etc.), provide more description / grounding into the setting, and show more reactions / emotions. Beyond that, some elements of craft (consistent capitalization, formatting, etc.) need to be read through a little more carefully before I throw it up online.

So, with that in hand, I want to talk a little bit about my ideas for my DragonMage rewrite. Now only a handful of people have read the original draft, and frankly it has a lot of problems (I almost wish I had submitted a few chapters of that just so the group saw how far I came before what they saw / tore apart ;)). I've been tossing around genre considerations for a few weeks on it. As written (or at least, as it was in my head), the novel is the first in a trilogy, with each book in the trilogy in different genres. It's not going to work that way. I was listening to an interview, with Patrick Rothfus, at San Diego Comic Con. He talked about his definition of urban fantasy, and fairy tales. This got the gears rolling in my head. The basic premise of his definition is that there are two worlds, the mundane normal world, and the magical other (faerie) world. And basically, the plot happens during the interaction between the two worlds. So, by keeping Magic in the shadows, I could in effect leverage Faerie/UF themes and tropes to keep consistency through the three novels, as they jump from setting to setting. I'm still thinking through all the ramifications, but it is a promising idea.

The other idea I've been kicking around lately is a different way of fleshing out characters. My characters are pretty 1D, and they need more. Secondary characters suffer more than primary, naturally, but even my primary characters have some problem with this. I've heard a couple people mention t his method before, but I never read too much into details, and I've never investigated it myself. So, for this blog entry, I will attempt it. THe basic idea is to do a tarot spread for the character, to discover who they are, what blocks them, and what's in their future. From there, I hope I can plan an arc for the character that is interesting, and I can more consistently characterize them.

So, for this exercise, I will pick the narrator of the sequel for DragonMage, Jeshi the Bloodmage. I've talked about her a little before on this blog (which is why I'm starting with her, truth be told), but this may completely reinvent her.

The spread I'm using is called the Mandala Spread. The deck I'm using is the Shapeshifter Tarot, which includes all the minor arcana and major arcana (though renamed to fit the decks themes), as well as three extra major arcana.
So let's get started!

1. An overview of self - Seeker of the Earth: Initiation, inner and outer strength
2. Ambitions / Goals - The Sacred Flame: Emotion, Energy
3. Ideals, Dreams - The Warrior of the Earth: Self-responsibility, Shapeshifting
4. Real achievements to this time - Deception: Spying, Loss through deception, wrong choices
5. Dependencies, Faulty beliefs - Wealth: Abundance, Gain, Family, Strength
6. Strenghts and positive traits - Abundance: Healing, Success, Prosperity
7. Faults and Weaknesses - Transformation, Release, Renewal
8. Self Perception - Happiness: Contentment, Success, Love
9. Desires - The Lovers: Attraction, Enticement

Well, I'm not sure how I'm going to put all that together. A lot of the data seems to fit more with Sabine, rather than Jeshi how I originally imagined her. (Though the tie to energy is how blood magic works). Look for my next entry on the magic system, and an attempt on how to tie it together.


Before we close, an accounting of the two books I've finished since my last entry.
Witch and Wizard
  The first book in the series by James Patterson, Witch and Wizard tells the story of two young kids who get arrested under charge of witchcraft, and it changes their whole world. The mythological worldbuilding is decent, but the political  landscape pulled me out of the UF genre, where I thought I was. I had a hard time believing in the New Order, at least as it sit in modern time, though the rest of the setting was placed as such.

The Problem Child
Third book in the series by Michel Buckley, we see an arc I've always loved in fiction: Magic addiction. Probably because I'd be prone to it myself, I always sympathize with characters who get touched by magic and find themselves overwhelmed, and reaching for it as a first solution to every problem. The stakes are higher now, and the villain has been revealed to be a pawn. All in all, a good step forward. They're keeping the tension high, even though they've made progress on what I thought was the overarching plot.

First crit submission and first week of reading

I spent the first week of the new year revisiting Ariadne's Labyrinth, my NaNoWriMo novel. Revising the first couple chapters after two months was a very different experience than writing them in the first place. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the experience I had hoped. While I was writing, I thought it had a lot of promise. No matter which way you look at it, it's probably the best thing I've written. But, while revisiting it, I noticed it had a lot more problems than I originally thought. Part of it is that the parts I really like are in the middle, and part of it is that I've misrepresented to myself how promising it is.

The plot has some promise. They spend too much time getting locked up, kidnapped, and stuff like that. I need more inventive things to go wrong. The novel is still a little cooler than I wanted, emotionally. The conflicts are too physical, and too constant. One of my beta readers said the whole thing read like everything was going wrong. To a point, this was intended: I was following the Jim Butcher school of narrative conflict. However, they're all the same sorts of conflict. More varied conflict might give some relief on one axis while pressuring the other, making the novel feel more believable and less "everything's going wrong."

The ending is weak. More accurately, the ending isn't earned by the novel. I had the ending in mind since I started, but some of the key conflicts that were supposed to be resolved weren't brought into enough light to make it worth it. Because they weren't set up, the ending feels like a bit of a cop out for me.

I also had some weaknesses in characterization and physical description. I didn't paint a good picture of my characters. My narrator was pretty consistent, but my secondary characters weren't. Christy started out really bubbly and fun, but she mellowed out later. This wouldn't be a problem if it was gradual/intentional, but it was kinda abrupt. I had chosen some descriptors for Ariadne but not my other characters, and because Ariadne was the narrator, and because of the mode the story was being told through, there wasn't a good way to include some of them. Maybe it doesn't matter, but something worth thinking about.

The mode fo the storytelling didn't come through as clear as I wanted either. The whole thing is written as part of a diary series that Ariadne, the MC, is writing to her (dead) mother. THere are some small hints of it, but it's not clear and sometimes I don't like how it comes out ont he page. It's always kind of awkward to address the reader, even if the reader is dressed up in another character.

I'm sure there's more things I can improve on, but these are just hte ones I've noticed recently. Now, onto my reading analysis.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Almost everyone I know has heard of the book by now. The re-mastering of Jane Austin's famous work with the addition of the zombie hordes. Now I haven't read the original, but I'm fairly familiar with the story through various movies (see: Bride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice (2005 w/ Kiera Knightly, and Lost in Austin), but the pacing in a movie is always very different than in the book. I could see the skeleton of Austin's plot beneath the zombies and I remember thinking that I hadn't realized how slowly the whole thing moved. The zombies spiced up the interaction, but I kept wanting the romance to shoot forward. In a way though, this was more honest and more believable than many storybook romances. Some of the new additions also made me laugh out loud during the reading. Calling the Zombies "Unmentionables" was a chuckle about every time. And then there were several "ball" jokes, and the description of trousers clinging to a man's "most English parts". A bit childish, to be sure, but every once in a while the timing would be impeccable and I would laugh. It almost makes me want to read the original.


Counterfeit Magic
This is the latest novella in the Otherworld series, by Kelley Armstrong. I love her witches, possibly because I'm a magic whore. This novella is about a Supernatural Fight club, being investigated by Paige and her ward Savannah. Apparently Savannah's been growing up fast, it's such a difference seeing her in her early 20's instead of when she first shows up on the scene. This novella suffered from the same problem I had with Waking the Witch, which is also a Svannah-centric story: The ending feels like it's not over. Waking hte Witch was specificially supposed to be a cliffhanger, but I'm not sure this one was supposed to be. The main conflict was dealt with, but some of the other things weren't tied up. While I love the plot, I feel like this isn't my favorite work of hers.


Patriot Witch
This was a premeditated random choice. I know that sounds weird, but bear with me. I don't know how I stumbled across it, and if it wasn't about Witches, I probably would have left it on the shelf. The first in a series by C. C. Finlay, it's a historical fantasy, based around witches in the Revolutionary war. I'm not much of a history buff. I think the opening conflict was one of the first shots fired in the war, which helps draw the MC into the conflict a little more thoroughly. The conflict at the farm was pretty interesting, but I was getting lost by the time they left and started operating in the greater War setting. The ending was a bit confusing, though it might be because I was rushing it a bit.


The Unusual Suspects
Book 2 of the Sister's Grimm, by Michael Buckley. This one has the kids finally going to school, only to find out everything's going wrong. We also find out more about who has kidnapped the kids' parents, which is seeding the next book. How they'll drag out the conflict over the next five books, I don't know. But it's a nice read, for what it is.

2010 in Review: Books, Writing, and Goals for 2011

One of the things I set forth to do in this blog was account for my reading and writing. So before I go onto my goals for next year, let's take a look at how I did.

Reading:
I was telling a friend that this year was one of my slowest years in reading. For those of you counting at home (see posts tagged reading), I read 80 books in 2010. The two of which is going to be present in this entry. About 5-7 of these books were re-reads. In an effort to interject more commentary into the blog, let's get some lists.

Top 5 Authors from 2010:
Jim Butcher - I finally got around to reading the Dresden files this year. I can see what all the fuss is about. The first two books were slow going for me, but once the meta plot became more prevalent, I started to enjoy it much more.
Lili St. Crow - Her strange angels books sucked me in quickly. I still want to read some of her others, but her worldbuilding was fascinating, and the plot solid.
Rachel Vincent - The two books I read by her are quick contendors for the best books I've read this year. While I didn't enjoy her Shifter series as much, there's no short of awesome in these two.
Kelley Armstrong - One of my favorite authors ever, she's one of the reasons I started writing.
Brandon Sanderson - This is the first time I've picked up any of his books, but between them and the awesome podcast, he's earned my respect.

Top 5 Adult Books from 2010:
Proven Guilty - Of all the Dresden books, this still holds the place as my favorite.
Way of Kings - The crazy gravity magic and shardblades made this book a win on it's own.
Angelic - I love Eve, and can't wait to see more of her.
Hard Magic - Probably one of the best books from an author I hadn't heard about before this year.
The Devil Inside - Amazing concept, and a new take on Possession I hadn't ever expected to see.

Top 5 YA Books from 2010:
My Soul to Take - See blurb on Rachel Vincent
Strange Angels - See blurb on Lili St. Crow
Terrier - Tamora Pierce is another huge inspiration for me, and this book is no exception.
Lightning Thief - The Percy Jackson books were a new read for me. The first one was great, and I enjoyed the movie as well. The later books in the series didn't quite hold up to the first though.
The Reckoning - See blurb on Kelley Armstrong

5 Runner Ups: Books / authors that bear mentioning, even if they didn't make the lists
Sarra Cannon - I know it seems a bit plug-y to talk about someone in my crit group, but her books are a contender for hte best YA books I read this year. And I read a lot of them.
Magicians, by Lev Grossman - The only reason the book didn't make the list was some of the drug themes turned me off. It's still a solid book, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Claire - While not the best plot I've read this year, the worldbuilding in this book deserves some recognition.
Demons Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan - Other than the ending, this book would have made the list as well.
Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians - While not a world-shattering book by itself, the commentary and devices used to play with the fourth wall are rather amusing.


And now, for the two missing book reviews:
Legacies
A new series by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edgehill. Mercedes Lackey is one of the most prolific authors I've ever read. Some of that is due to the fact that she's a frequent collaborator. However, I've never read a book of hers that I didn't enjoy, and that didn't make me think. This book is a UF setting in a school, which has become increasingly popular. Her treatment of Magic here really caught me, as it's very similar to what I hoped to do with my own novel. It's an elemental system, but rather than controlling elements, characters get 1-3 powers which are thematically related to the element. Pathfinding is an Earth talent, whereas invisibility is I think an Air talent. Combat Magic falls under fire. There exists elemental controllers too, so it's a pretty rich background within which to work.

Cast in Shadow
Somehow I missed this book in my blog posts. This is the first book in the Chronicles of Elantra, not to be confused (as I often did) with Elantris. The MC is a girl whos' been brought in off the streets to become one of the elite guards, called the Hawks. The departure from standard fantasy races is pretty intriguing, as she has winged Avians, and cold but mysterious Barrani. Sure, they sound like elves, but they didn't look like them. The plot involves a good mystery, which still raises all kinds of interesting questions. I should pick up the next book at some point.

Writing
I didn't write as much as I wanted to this year, but all in all it was a good year for writing. I finished a novel, and won NaNoWriMo for the first time. I also learned more about myself as a plotter, and spent a lot of time investigating the craft of writing. I learned a lot. The book I did finish, Ariadne's Labyrinth, is quite possibly the best thing I've written to date. It's not perfect, especially in the final third, but it has promise. I also joined up with a Critique group this year, and will be submitting my work in a week to be reviewed by the other members. I'm a little nervous, but it should be good for me.

Looking Forward: 2011
So what about my goals for next year? Let's start with the writing goals, since they're more numerous.
I intended to write a lot in 2010. It didn't happen. I wanted to rewrite basically everything I've written to date. Now I see that it was a bit too steep to require. So I'm going to narrow it down a bit.

• I want to revisit my trilogy. For the purposes of Goals, I want to rewrite Book 1 by the end of the year. Depending on how the other goals are doing, I may seek to rewrite Book 2 as well.
• NaNoWriMo: I won this year, and I proved to myself I can do it. Whether I'll continue to aim to do so is a different matter. It all depends on what sort of plot I come up with.
• Animation: I'm hoping to work on a short animated film. I don't think I'll complete it in 2011, because of the ambitiousness of my other goals, but I want to get the script written, and one of the other pieces: Voice Acting, Character Modeling, or Music.

Reading

And this is the most ambitious goal of all. As I said, i read 80 books this year. I was not trying to push myself, and this is probably even one of the slower years. I didn't finish a book at all in the month of November for instance. I feel like I could read 100 books in the year if I set my  mind to it. But this is supposed to be about pushing myself, and pushing boundaries. And as such, I'm going to attempt to read 150 books in 2011. It's going to be a long ride. I have to average 3 books a week, which while doable, is one of the most ambitious goals I've ever set for myself. All of this, of course, depends on the length and density of the books. 150 YA books is a much different prospect than 150 Epic Fantasies. Of course, I have a mix on my todo list. About 25-30 of the books will probably be Audio books as well, which have a different time requirement. All in all, it should be an interesting Journey.