My writing week 2(39)

Hi all,

Literary Agent Nathan Bransford wrote a good post on "show not tell" last week. I am reasonably sure I am aware when I am telling and not showing in my own writing. When critiquing I frequently point out instances of telling, eg, when the POV character is described as sad or unhappy. I also often point out instances of the author writing "he felt like" or "she looked at", where writing what he felt or describing what she looked at would do away with the need to tell of that action.

I still tell in my writing. In the novel I am working on, where the characters take a logical sequence of steps to set up their lives on a newly terraformed planet, every now and then, to speed the story along, I tell the reader a summary of what has happened between shown scenes. I might tell them how they did put in the building's foundations before a scene where I have them putting up the walls.

I've just read the national bestseller lists for last week and Stephenie Meyer's novels are back on top again, she has numbers 1,2,3,5 and 10. Her sales might have been given a boost after her novels where banned from some school libraries in Victoria for being too "racy".

I am still slowly editing chapter eight of Stalking Tigers, with the amount of time spent on it decreasing last week. Having tired eyes and blurring vision doesn't help.

Graham.

My writing week 2(38)

Hi all,

Last week was one of the most stressful in my life. My father, who has the early stages of dementia, had a hernia operation on Monday. His health is not that great so the operation was not without risk. The operation went well, but at 11.30 that night I was awoken by knocking at the back door. I opened the door and it was my father in his PJs and dressing gown with an intravenous needle in his arm. We found out later that he had also removed a catheter, before shuffling out of the hospital about one and a half kilometres away. I asked him why and he kept on saying, "there was nobody there". The pain killers were obviously making his dementia worse. A call to the hospital found them frantically looking for him. They had called the police, who arrived a few minutes later and took him back to hospital. My father's deteriorating mental state is a huge and saddening worry.

On Tuesday I went to the dentist to have a crown put on a tooth. Unfortunately, as the dentist was putting it on, he noticed another problem, so I have another trip to the dentist in a few weeks.

Wednesday I went to an ophthalmologist (eye doctor) and found out about the cataracts that had mysteriously developed on my eyes. I was in for a couple of shocks. Firstly, the unsympathetic doctor said that there was less of a chance of success of removing the cataract form my left eye than the usual 95 out of 100. Why, I am still yet to find out as I was freaking out at that stage. Then I found out the cost - about $1850 for both eyes done in a public hospital in Benalla 50k's away, or $3700 at the private hospital in Wangaratta (the same private hospital my father had walked out from). Or I could wait 9 months on the public waiting list. I opted for the Benalla public hospital, with the left eye due to be done on the 21st of October.

After I got home, I fumed about the ophthalmologist's attitude, but unfortunately there is only one in Wangaratta, perhaps only one in the surrounding region. When my eyes cleared from the examination's eye drops, I read the information pamphlet given to me. I then wanted to know why me as cataracts don't usually become prominent until people are in their 60's, and that is over a decade away for me. I also wanted to know why my chances of success were worse. It is not as if I am unhealthy, in fact, I reckon I would be fitter than 80-90% of people my age as I swim three kilometres three times a week and lift weights three times a week. I also walk a lot. I rang the ophthalmologist on Thursday, but he, of course, was in surgery. He still has not rung back. I did get some answers from the receptionist, but not to the above two questions.

On Thursday I did some research on cataracts on the web that provided me with little reassurance.

On Friday I woke up with diarrhoea - probably due to stress - and missed work.

So I had a wonderful week. But surprisingly, I did more editing of Stalking Tigers last week than I did the week before. As they say in the not classics: go figure.

Graham

My writing week 2(37)

Hi all,

I wasn't as tired last week so I spent a bit more time editing Stalking Tigers than in previous weeks. Perhaps my goal at the moment should be to increase the amount of writing/editing/reading I do from week to week. I actually did some fiction reading too.

I went "inactive" on critters.com and I am surprised that I haven't been booted from OWWW because of my lack of critiquing. I have decided to devote my critiquing energy to KSP, but I won't be doing much until after my eyes are fixed. I continue to worry about my appointment with the eye doctor this Wednesday.

Stephenie Meyer's run of having the top four selling books in Australia has finally ended, with Kathy Retchs now holding the number one spot, followed by Meyer and then Richelle Mead (with another bloody vampire story). Meyer then has four to six. This could be only temporary as her sales will probably increase after some Victorian school libraries banned her novels for being too "racy".

I hope for more positive posts in the weeks to come.

Graham.

My writing week 2(36)

Hi all,

Ridiculously tired last week. Went to bed at 6.30 on a couple of nights. If I had not figured out that I am a bit stressed at the moment, then I would be worried about it. Stressed about my cataracts; stressed about work, where ongoing renovations see the place in an orgy of disorganisation every morning; and stressed about my father's up coming hernia operation (my dad's health isn't great).

My father's operation is in just under eight days, so hopefully my stress levels will reduce after that. I see the eye doctor two days later and who knows what that will do to my state of mind. But the renovations just go on and on. So it would appear that I am not going to get much writing and editing done over the next couple of months.

I am about half way through editing chapter eight of Stalking Tigers. No critiquing or fiction reading last week.

At least the Lions won.

Graham.

My Writing Week 2(35)

Hi all,

I’ve finished editing chapter seven of Stalking Tigers – that’s if I can resist the temptation to go back to the start of that chapter and go through it again. I can always find something to change. The chapter ended up 1500 words longer, so much for cutting it back.

I am thinking about dropping out of critters.com and devoting my critiquing efforts to just KSP, where I am waiting for someone to put up the first few chapters of a science-fiction novel, rather than start critiquing mid-novel.

I had a look at the Conflux virtual mini con, an online speculative fiction forum, held over last weekend. James Minz, a senior editor with Baen Books who also worked at Del Rey and Tor Books, had some interesting comments.

He was asked: what makes a gem stand out from the slushpile? He said “it's all about the storytelling. If there's strong story, the rest is negotiable. Don't get me wrong, you don't know how to use the English language properly, you're probably doomed, but after that it's all about making the reader want to turn the next page. At Baen…I am looking for strong plot-driven stories with heroes you just want to root for. We're about spaceships and dragons and guys in doublets jumping a motorcycle over a group of 17th Century rabblerousers.”

So I don’t think Stalking Tigers would be a good fit for Baen. Although it has a strong plot, it is probably more character driven. It is not an action novel, it is more of a psychological drama/thriller.

He was also asked: how hard is it for a non-American to break into the American scene? He said “honestly, it can be a plus. Having a Canadian, or an Aussie, or a Brit could potentially help a publisher to get the novel distributed into more places, i.e. it's not easy to get US publications into Aus, but having an Aussie writer can open that door. The only real barrier would be if there too much colloquial use of Aussie English (not the spelling stuff--that's not a big deal at all, but turns of phrase that don't translate culturally, that kind of thing.)”

Someone asked: How lucrative is the epublishing market? Is it really the way of the future? He said “the vast majority of our business is still traditional publishing, but we do very well with electronic publishing. Very. Well. (btw, Baen has been selling ebooks via the internet for more than a decade at this point.) ‘Is it really the way of the future?’ Sort of. Yes, but with HUGE Caveats.”

Richard Harland used his appearance to help launch a website http://www.writingtips.com.au/ with 145 pages of writing tips for speculative fiction writers. I’ve only had a brief look, so I can’t tell how useful it might be yet.

Unfortunately, a few of the guest writers seemed to have problems with the technology.

I came to the forum late, but would probably not have asked any questions as I don’t have any pressing questions for writers, editors or publishers. At the moment I just want/need to concentrate on writing, critiquing and reading.

I’ve managed to get through the past five days without freaking out about my eyes. I just hope there’s not too much drama with getting the cataracts quickly removed.

Graham.

Out Damned Spot

Hi all,

Over the past few months my vision has been losing focus, especially after a bout of conjunctivitis about two months ago. I began to interrogate my eyes by reading with one or the other closed and discovered the left eye, the one most badly affected by conjunctivitis, had an opaque patch, right in its centre. It was like trying to read through badly scratched spectacles. I noticed too, that the world become a lot clearer when I just peered at it from the right eye.

I made an appointment to see an optometrist, but got a bad dose of bronchitis, missing both it and work. As I waited for my bronchitis to disappear, I thought the opaque spot was probably the reason my eyes felt tired a lot of the time, as the left eye strained to see through the fog and the right wondered what was up with its partner. I also noticed my eyesight seemed hazier on cloudy days.

I remembered being told a few years ago that I had cataracts slowly forming on my eyes. The optometrist assured me that they shouldn’t be a problem “for years”. That to me meant decades, not four or so years. My mother had cataracts removed from her eyes last year, so I shouldn’t get them for decades. An ad on the television suggested everyone over fifty – not quite yet – should get an eye test for macular degeneration, and then a software developer appeared on Millionaire Hotseat who suffered from it. With glasses on, he said Eddie was a blur. How the hell did he write software?

My bronchitis finally started to settle after two weeks and I rang and made another optometrist appointment. When I got there, a child with a patch over an eye, prolonged my suspense. Cataract or Macular Degeneration? An optimist might have been thinking, hoping that a few eye drops would clear up the problem. Finally it was my turn.

I stressed to the optometrist that as I was a writer my eyes were bloody important to me. In other words, don’t stuff your diagnosis up. I then told him about the opaque patch. No reaction. I mentioned the conjunctivitis, no reaction. I told him I swam for three and three quarter hours a week, no reaction. Maybe he did not connect swimming with chlorine. He asked me whether my family had a history of eye problems. Not my damned genes again.

He left the room to test the strength of all the glasses I had brought down with me. When he came back, he tested each eye: eye charts, dot charts, bright lights, grid patterns, a puff of air into each eye, the whole works as I waited for a groan of discovery.

He finally finished and told me I had cataracts. Great, just what every writer wants. He told me that they would only be done once, and then spent five minutes dampening my concerns about what if I got them again when I was old, as he explained that as they cut out the eye’s lens and replaced it with a plastic lens, I would never get cataracts again. I just love the thought of someone cutting my eyes.

Now I have to wait three weeks to see an eye doctor, who hopefully won’t come up with any reasons why the cataracts can’t be removed.

At least he only does one eye at a time so if he stuffs up that eye, I can tell him to forget about doing the other.

I want another body, this one keeps breaking down.

Graham.

My writing week 2(34)

Hi all,

I spent most of last week catching up on things I had put off while sick, so there wasn't much time for writing. I'm still a few days behind in my newspaper reading. I don't chuck them until read, so they can pile up. I once got eleven weeks behind, but after some months I eventually caught up.

I find reading newspapers very necessary for my writing, not just the stuff on writing and books, but anything that might give me an idea of future trends. For example, I reckon if you are writing a science fiction book set on Earth in the near future you will need to include the effects of global warming in it or give an explanation of how science fixed it (because it looks very unlikely that any useful global agreement to stop it will eventuate).

If you write a book set 50 or so years from now, you will need to extrapolate the possible effects of nanotechnology, genetic engineering, cloning, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, medical advances, population changes, other technology, even future fashion and entertainment. All these trends are shown in quality newspapers (ie not printed by News Limited).

In relation to global warming, I have been following the debate for well over a decade and have noted that the forecasts of its affects have been getting progressive worse as previous forecasts have been exceeded or appear to be grossly inadequate. Therefore, I feel okay about writing stories set in the future where global warming is/was worse than currently expected.

Would writers of other genres get as much out of newspapers? Certainly they could get story ideas and should read the writing/book sections, but would they need to study the papers as much as I feel a science-fiction writer should? A crime writer might read most of the articles about crime, but I wouldn't think there would be much of use for a horror, fantasy or romance writer in newspapers.

If I I chucked out unread newspapers I would not have read that Steve Amsterdam's science fiction, post-apocalyptic novel, Things We Didn't See Coming, won the Age book of the Year. With Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel The Road winning the 2007 Pulitzer prize there seems to be a gap opening up in the publishing world for apocalyptic novels set in the near future.This might help when pitching a novel that I finished the first draft of before I started my master of creative writing.

Graham.