The Postman DOES not hate me [or maybe he does a little]

~

In a surprise turn of events, the week has been most generous with new procurements. Because I am a wee blogger with a wee blog in a wee country, which screws with the laws of reality, I am not the most popular choice for review copies. However, when I emphatically threw the towel to signal my defeat Lady Luck decided to stop screwing with my addiction and its needs and sent me this via the amazing publicists, editors and authors themselves.

"Metrophilias" by Brendan Connell [Collection of city based flashed fiction within the SFF spectrum]

"Tell-All" by Chuck Palahniuk [A Golden Era Hollywood murder story; quite the departure from the SFF genres]

"Walking the Tree" by Kaaron Warren [Blessed be Lee Harris for sending me this one. I go gaga over Warren's fiction]

"The World House" by Guy Adams [My tingly sense is indicating that this will be one heck of a fantasy ride]

"The Left Hand of God" by Paul Hoffman [the controversial novel, which all love to hate. I want the first hand experience.]

The Hooking Hook [and I am not talking pirates]

~

Writers often hear the old dogs mutter after a swig of their whisky that ‘you have to hook them real good and let them squirm, trying to pull free’. It should be a swift, merciless action with no margin for error, hidden like a sword in an umbrella, and it should be dealt at the very first sentence. Everybody in the business emphasize on stunning the reader the very first page, because after all, a book is an investment of as much money as it is of time. The agent, editor and reader have to be persuaded you are worth their time and money. So, you hook ’em real good.

But what exactly is the hook? How do people within the industry perceive it as opposed to the reviewers and readers in general? Is the hook all that important as it was suggested in a post a month ago [I struggle to remember where this was posted]? I was curious and decided to ask the people on Twitter. These are the results:

@nicolamorgan: Here's you go: "A good hook is a fluorescent life-jacket for your book - without one, no one will see it before it sinks." ~ Talented author Nicola Morgan delivers the dictionary definition, though with more flare. This is the rule of thumb. It’s a must-have, though it is not exactly explained what it is. In 140 characters, it is no surprise. This suffices.

The hook can also mean concrete things:

@MihaiDarkWolf: Sparkling conversation or a good action starting scene. ~ Reviewer and blogger Mihai Adascalitei enjoys the dynamic entry.

@BookChickCity: Either a well written fast-paced action scene or great dialogue. ~ Reviewer and blogger Carolyn tends towards the same need for adrenaline.

However, some readers, if unsure what does it for them, know what certainly won’t entice them:

@BookChickCity What doesn't is a dream sequence, so cliche and over done!

@ALRutter Can tell you what doesn't! Either a weather report or a city description - anything where there are blocks of prose

From here on the hook tends to morph into something less tangible, less of a situation that the writer knows it works, but something to do with the big construction blocks of the novel:

Voice

@GuyAdamsAuthor For me it's all about voice. Not that I don't like action upfront or a book that starts with a bang.

@nextread a good voice doing something interesting.... but it's different for all authors.

@Hagelrat as a reader character, if I like the voice in the first few pages you got me.

@jrobertking I'm weird, but what hooks me in a book is a great voice. Tolkien had it, and I followed him to Mordor and back.

Characters and Plot

@alebodden11 I like it when the characters have strong personalities, and also when the language flows along with the plot =)

@ALRutter I actually like it when the main characters is confused and we're confused right along with them (A Madness of Angels)

@MihaiDarkWolf Plot & characters. If none of them catches my attention, most probably I will have a hard time reading the book.

@ALRutter The characters. If I don't like the characters, I can't read the book.

To other qualities:

@Weirdmage Any book that has a story that keeps me reading when I should go to bed.-Total experience more than any particular hook.

@SamSykesSwears A good story is a good story, whether it's gritty, high or low fantasy. Hooks are just icing.

@MarkCN I look for someone who can write an above average sentence, and then who has an imagination.

@niallalot Wit. Inventiveness. Character. All three and I'm in love. One will do in a cinch.

The results are varied as are the people and their involvement with literature. Some are just fans, who can’t keep their noses away from a book. Others are reviewers. Third are authors. There is no way to be certain what you need as a hook, because your work will appear in front of many people. I gather that agents and editors will demand to see potential right at the start and I gather that your book has to hold the casual customer browsing through the bookstore. What is most optimistic however is that most book lovers are patient enough to let a book grow on them.

[Blog Spot] 'The BubbleCow Blog'

~

Writing is a vocation. Publishing is a business. While writing is strictly individual and a force, which can’t be subjugated to a general set of rules, publishing, similar to other businesses, has its ways, hidden tricks and guidelines to separate the successful from the unfortunate ones.

By rule of thumb, writers are not perceived as the savvy entrepreneurs with predatory instincts and if you’re a novice writer with ambitions to break into the business and stay published, you have vague assumptions about the complexity, with which the industry functions. The need for blogs with more business oriented content has arisen and the Internet has provided.

As with all good finds in my Google Reader, The BubbleCow Blog was accidental and I can’t even recall, where I must have clicked to arrive at his website, but I never regret the day. I am not a techie. Even though I belong to the generation, which hails technology, I’m lost as far as utilizing technology to my side and how modern media can help me create a better buzz.

Gary Smailes co-founded BubbleCow, a literary consultancy, providing professional help for writers. Although he is in the children’s book segment of the industry, the wide-ranged advice and information he provides free through The BubbleCow Blog is universal. His posts are on the shorter side, but are to the point and there is no word wasted. What I personally find most useful include the video tutorials about various software programs and the blog optimization tips on increasing subscribers and visitors.

Perhaps, what I enjoyed most was the free five-day e-mail tutorial on Book Proposals, which is a tricky and daunting task for most writers in early publication stages. I’d suggest to follow the official @BubbleCow feed for more linked articles.

[Currently Reading] 'Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil' + Fables

~

Dark secrets abound in the town of Bayou Gavotte, Louisiana, from blackmail to fetish clubs to murder, and when blood-and-love starved vampire Ophelia Beliveau calls the police to scare away whoever is desecrating her garden, Detective Gideon O-Toole unearths more than he ever dreamed.

Initial Thoughts: I think I have a taste for something Southern and spicy... I am only 30 pages in and I am liking what I am reading. It's succulent. What can I say?

Fables: I have resumed my reading of Fables. Got the 50+ issues after my winter reading and now am enthralled by the war preparations and the happy moments in-between. How can something so used as a concept be so addictive? Willingham is a genius and James Jean is the best cover artist in the world.

[May 9th] Onward... You remember whereto, right?

~

Project: “Forged in Blood”
New Words Written: 4,000
Present Total Word Count: 41,608
Goal: 100,000 by End May [or maybe 90,000]

Percent Reached: 41%

Things Accomplished in Fiction:

After a 14 day writing hiatus, which occured against my will, I have returned. As predicted the middle forced itself on me as an unwanted distant relative, who is simply abusing my hospitality by paralyzing my every move. Or something like that. I have had a small time epiphany about how to proceed and the male supporting character has finally been dealt with in an according manner, which will ensure a complicated and tensioned interaction between the two. Or it will, when I am on the first round of edits. It took some time, but I connected with the characters again and am excited to finish what I started, when I said I would. Thanks to Adam Cristopher’s deathbed philosophy I will complete this novel.

Things Accomplished in Real Life:

Hectic. University has integrated with work, but the relationship is tense. I passed almost all the tests necessary and just need a 20 page paper and a 5 minute presentation completed before the exam session starts. In the mean time, we had the very first big group of guests to stay at the hotel and I saw a little action during the day shifts. The printer was the main culprit. I have not met a more disagreeable machine after my computer and I do mean possessed by evil gremlins. I may need a priest, who specializes in office tech exorcism.

Things I Would Do During A Zombie Apocalypse

~

Seriously, I will get really, really excited.

Beat the Middle

~

In a short note with no deep insight, I am casually sharing with the silent void that is the Internet that the dry spell has ended. Yes, I have not been writing since April 21th. Call it sacrillige, but the bad period has packed its bags, left a sticky note saying I suck and left. Despite all the distractions at work [people are nosy and demanding, what can one do] I did my 1,000 words.

Lessons learned:

~ Middles sort themselves out with time and a bit of a creative muscles.
~ I am as linear as an arrow, which means no writing scenes that are yet to happen, but I have not gotten to them yet.

Language; Tis mysterious

~

I have been contemplating on what to write these days. Meaningful that is. I have ideas that nibble on my brain for quite some time, but I feel like I need to slam my forehead on a flat surface to produce something structured and coherent. However, I want to be short and sweet as far as language goes, because I’m positive this is A) rare and B) therefore not a topic with an easy answer.

When I mean language, I do not refer to actual means with which the writer sculpts a story on the proverbial white sheet. I mean language as in English, Spanish etc. What I know about the act of writing boils down to ‘I am not writing in my native tongue, so Geronimo and hope this works in a remotely possible way’*. Therefore, my preoccupation lies with grammar, clarity and not committing linguistic suicides [waste instead of waist or was it the other way around]. One day however, while at the amateur book club at the university, we talked about language, because I was the only one writing in English [as opposed to everybody else, who stuck with Bulgarian].

“Why?” they asked.

“Because it’s easier…” was the explanation. As illogical as it sounds, I find writing fiction in English to be effortless as compared to Bulgarian. Why though? Yes, I have studied English as much as other people have, perhaps a bit more, and I have written in Bulgarian before. I did the switch to English as a senior in high school and it worked.

“Perhaps, it’s easier to be honest and express your feelings in a language that is not your own.” The Club Moderator guessed and I have been thinking about it really.

Language is power. Native language is a part of a person as much as anything else that more or less defines a human being as an individual. As we all know, writing is a striptease of the heart, where the artist exposes his opinions, his beliefs and his feelings. He** does so with his own words in his own language, which further deepens the intimacy and when the time comes for the writer to take the plunge into the deep, he chickens out, holds back, fears the exposure and therefore the story is less than it could have been.

So far all this is pure speculation; I am spinning theories as always.

But what if a screen can be raised? What if the writer writes in a foreign language, where the words have the meaning, but don’t have the emotional memory responsible for the reluctance in going full Monty?*** Then the writer would have control over what he’s comfortable with and how he projects it on others. He would inject the emotions with the fear of overexposure sedated a degree.

I believe that there may be a grain of truth to this assumption of mine and it does make for an interesting foray into the rich psyche of a writer. What do you think? Nay or yay?

---
* - according to beta readers, it does, so I am hoping that some editors do bite the hook.
** - I am going for the universal He, though I take into account the lovely and talented writers from the opposite gender.
*** - Laugh with me?

What I want to read...

~

ONE WORD: FINALLY!

Written by PAUL DINI • Art by STEPHANE ROUX and KARL STORY • Cover by STEPHANE ROUX • Variant cover by BRIAN BOLLAND

At last – the Mistress of Magic in her own ongoing series! Zatanna Zatara has long made her home in San Francisco, but right under her nose a sinister threat has developed – a crime boss who dominates the criminal underworld with the dark powers of the magical underworld! The terrifying Brother Night is making his play for San Fran, and the police force – including hunky detective Dale Colton – turn to Zee for help. But Brother Night is a whole new kind of criminal and if Zatanna thinks she can backwards-talk him down, then she's in over her top-hatted head! Superstar writer Paul Dini (BATMAN: MAD LOVE) is paired with the gorgeous art of Stephane Roux (BIRDS OF PREY), making his anticipated DC debut on interior art! There's only one thing to say – T'NOD SSIM TI!

---

I am not a DC reader. I admit that Marvel has snared myt heart and held it inside their hands, but I want to bridge through to DC territory and what better way than a whole new series, dedicated to the amazing Zatanna, one of the most charming female superheroes ever. I am more or less ecstatic.

Not writing... I have been cursed! [No wait, that's an excuse]

~

I have been hiding it. Mysteriously, there have been no progress reports, because there has been nothing to report [apart from a 3-4 thousand words]. I am in the middle of a project, which for me is the slowest point in a project. At first I block and take a day to think about things. Then I take a break to starve myself to write and this usually grows into fear to touch the novel and discover that I am still headed nowhere. Usually, this resolves in less than a week, a week at most.

I also tend to believe that this is the point, where most people with writing aspirations [the fame and recognition after making bestseller list] quite the novel and say that they are writing, but are in reality are not. I am not condeming anyone, because for a time being in my teen years I was the same. Always a starter, never a finisher. But the fear of being one of these people, who socially are not well regarded [and also who give actual writers a bad name*], pushed me past the painful middle.

This time my writing time is eclipsed by Accounting, which has proven itself a stubborn project and it is not just my time that is sucked, but my mind. This is where for me it gets tricky, you know. Accomplished writers underline how important persistance is and how a writer should steal time to write. But what does a writer do, when the real world has invaded his thoughts and even if he has stolen the time write, he can do nothing with it?

I think the answer should be, don't write... This is perhaps the only instance, when pushing your mind creatively is worse for you. You hate the project, because work is glacier slow. You lose that precious self-esteem as a writer. 'Oh, I write shitty words all the time, so I suck'. And writing is not easy. There is no need to make the process painful for your mind and for your emotional comfort. BUT if you are not dealing with a small time crisis with a real life [as in a crisis that does not have long term consequences], push people. No excuses**.

Now, I am not sure, when my creative constipation will end. I have had a few fail starts with the bare minimum completed, but it felt god awful. However, I received the best critique ever on the first chapter of "Forged in Blood". I sent it to a non-UF writer, who knows good, when he sees it, because he reads so much and widely. He pointed more positive things than negative and is even impressed. I think as far as motivation this will be crucial in helping me overcome the middle.

Question: How do you deal, when the dry spells enchant your keyboard-waltzing fingers?

---
* - "But Marcia, our dear Harry is a 'Writer'. He is inm the middle of a 'novel'." - Hah-Hah
** - But as we all know, writers excel at making excuses and sound sincere about it. I am sure I have perfected this technique.