Openings from the Depths

One thing I haven't been able to do for the last couple of years is write short stories.

I haven't lost the ability, or at least I don't think I have. It's that I'm spending all my time writing novels. Which, since those are under contract, is only right. But I still miss short stories. Especially that they're short.

One of the most fun things, for me, about writing short stories was the beginnings. Unless I was on a deadline for a particular piece, I would often write several stories at once, and have several more in the very early stages. If I was stuck on one, I'd open a new file and start writing another, usually with very little idea where that story was going to go. Sometimes those beginnings linger, untouched, for months or even years, before I figure out where I want them to go. And then, it's magic.

Can you tell I really, really enjoy openings? There's so much possibility there, so many ways the story can go afterwards.

Here are a few openings that are still lingering on my laptop:

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"Golem"
Elama studied the Torah with her father, and she went to a man in the desert and studied magic, but she finally settled on electrical engineering because she could make good money doing that and make a good marriage because her classes would be full of eligible candidates. By the time she was near graduation, though, she'd finally realized that she was a lesbian and wasn't going to marry a man any time soon, if ever. It depended on what her parents thought about having a grandchild come out of a turkey baster.

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"My Grandmother's Love Letters"
I stayed with you while Mom went to buy you Cheerios and some Kentucky Fried for our lunch together. You told me how your mama said not to marry Carter, that he was nothing but bad news. You told me Carter used to come see you hungover, but he brought you candy, and then the two of you would go out honky-tonking. He would drive his shiny Studebaker that he bought with his payoff from the merchant marine and you would dance the night away with him and his friends. You came home so late your sister would've had to do the supper dishes, but you'd pay her with the candy, since you didn't want to get fat. Carter didn't like fat women.

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"Free Cell"
We played a game, Octavius and I, but while we played he didn't know it was a game.

The most important toy involved was a tape recorder.

"You're weak," Octavius said into the microphone. His eyes flickered with candle flame reflections, gold and diamond-wet shine and vampire red. The candlelight shimmered on his chocolate-dark hair and seemed to spark off the tip of a fang.

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I'd love to get back to these some day!

Related post: Novel Beginnings: On Opening Sentences.

Good versus Talented

"Good writing is clear. Talented writing is energetic. Good writing avoids errors. Talented writing makes things happen in the reader's mind---vividly, forcefully..."

— Samuel R. Delany, About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, & Five Interviews

Finishing the Manuscript

When is a novel manuscript finished?

1. When you reach the desired wordcount? (Well, yes, sort of.)

2. When the deadline arrives? (It had better be finished by then.)

3. Finished? What is this finished of which you speak? (Not a good idea.)

4. When opening the computer file means you end up on the floor with no memory of what's just occurred? (I think this means you've been working on it too long.)

5. When you've sent the manuscript off to your editor? (Why, yes. I think so.)

Then you're done. At least until she sends you your revisions. But that will be months from now.

Then, take a brief moment to appreciate the words you taught to your spellchecker. In my case (word processor was updated, so it was worse than usual): arse; ballocks; catamite; dildo; kohl; mangosteens; vambraces.

Now, it's time to start the next project.

Related post:

The Art of Letting Go.

Choosing Your Paranormal Creature

This post was originally written for the Paranormal Romantics blog.

Vampire or werewolf? Demon or elf? Ghost or ghoul or unknown creature that goes bump in the night?

One of the earliest decisions most writers make when conceptualizing a novel is the characters. When writing a paranormal, one of the most important aspects of character is, obviously, the paranormal element. It's easy enough to choose if you only like vampires, or have a contract to write a story about a demon, or just got a nifty new book about pookas. But sometimes you have no guidelines, or want to try something new. How do you decide?

I thought about these issues when I first wrote the synopsis for THE MOONLIGHT MISTRESS. I already knew the historical period was going to be World War One, and the setting Europe. There had to be room in the story for an erotic-romantic plot as well as historical and paranormal details. Because that time period isn't often used in romance or erotica, the setting would require a fair amount of detail. Thus, I decided not to stretch too far with my paranormal element. I chose werewolves.

Choosing a paranormal creature that's popular in fiction doesn't mean one can't use that creature creatively. I researched werewolves, thought about the werewolf fantasies and romances I'd read, and decided what I had liked and disliked, and what I thought would be useful for my particular story. I added my own interpretation to the mythology in ways that would underline my story's themes, and made their nature an integral part of the plot. Werewolves worked perfectly in my story as a symbol of nature. They could be in conflict with new technologies emerging as a result of the war.

That, I think, is the most important part of choosing a creature: seamlessly blending the myth with character and plot and theme, to make it intriguing and surprising to the reader.

I could have chosen other approaches. Many non-European people participated in World War One, and I could have chosen a creature from African or Indian mythology who had traveled with the soldiers, but that choice would have required mythological and cultural research in addition to the historical research, and I had a limited period in which to complete the novel. I'd still like to try that for a future story, though, and have been keeping an eye out for resource material. In that case, I could perhaps explore themes related to colonialism.

For another example, I might have used vampires as a way of underlining the vast loss of life. Ghost stories were common in World War One, and would have easily tied in to themes such as grief, mourning, and memory. The possibilities are endless, and worth thinking through before you begin to write.

Today Through History

One of the reasons I most enjoy researching and writing about World War One is that it's a time period rich in issues that interest me. For instance, in Great Britain during World War One, woman suffrage was still being debated, and sex between two men was still a crime. These gender issues are still relevant today, as women continue to fight for true equality in education and employment, and the right to marry a same-sex partner (or even to have such a partner) remains illegal in many countries.

Though The Moonlight Mistress is an erotic novel, and a pulpish adventure, I still wanted to offer views of these issues seen through different lenses and incorporate them into the novel's themes, especially through my use of werewolves as a paranormal element.

For those reasons, I included several female characters who were on the edges of acceptability in 1914. One is a professional chemist. Unable to obtain an academic position because of her gender, she works as a nurse, stealing research time when she can find it. Another, unable to make a living at her chosen trade, disguises herself as a man. Both of these women, in taking on roles separate from what their society expects of them, mirror the shapechanging werewolves in the story.

Another subplot follows a gay man who longs for acceptance even more than he longs for love. He cannot know if the object of his affections shares his preferences, and if he reveals himself the consequences could be dire. Another character is slowly coming to terms with the idea that he is bisexual. It's easy for the present-day reader to identify him as such, but the character doesn't know if anyone else like him exists in the world. They, too, can be seen as mirrors of the werewolves: hiding in plain sight, always looking for others of their kind.

The werewolves can stand in for any outsider, whether societal outcast or stranger in a strange land. The reader, hopefully, will find her own resonance in the story.

Science fiction, often ostensibly about the future, offers a truer picture of the writer's world. Historical fiction, too, doesn't represent the past as it happened, but the past as we, looking back, see it. The view is distorted by our past experiences and opinions, not only those we consciously notice but those that are so ingrained that we don't even think to question them.

As a writer I can't control, for the most part, what interpretations readers bring to my stories. Too much happens in the gaps between what I've written and the reader's personal experiences. The two mingle together and give a different picture to each reader. The best I can do is offer the reader as much fodder for the subconscious as I can possibly manage.

Costumes at Arisia 2010

Here are a few photos I took at Arisia, of people in costume. Arisia has a large and popular masquerade (part exhibition, part contest, often including choreographed routines or skits as part of the presentations). Dedicated costumers might have an entry in the masquerade in addition to hall costume or costumes which they wear throughout the convention.
The steampunk costume to the right featured a pair of mechanical stilts, which you can just see at the bottom of the photo.

I really loved this look on the left, which I'd classify as steampunk rather than historical. Their jaunty hats make the outfits, I feel. The curling ribbon! The red rose! The green in her hat that matches the green in her corset!

Note his coat seems to be pirate-inspired with the beautiful embroidered cuffs and lapels; also note the little round sunglasses he's wearing at his throat, and the detail around the neckline of her dress.

I chose this last photo to show that not all the costumes were steampunk! The Joker competed in the masquerade and, while merely walking around, did a great job of projecting an air of crazed menace with his accurate recreation of the character's walk from the movie.

The two of them were getting stopped for photos every few feet as they tried to cross the hotel's narrow lobby. At one point, I saw The Joker riding up in one of the glass elevators, together with a pitch-perfect Batman.

Steampunk Leather

Professor Maelstromme's Steam Laboratory and Brute Force Studios were at Arisia this year, and kindly allowed me to take a few photos for my blog. Here's the Good Professor's blog: "Incorporating mildly dangerous artifacts into compelling jewelry". I didn't get a chance to meet her in person.

Behold the steam-robot. This picture is my favorite because it looks like he's lecturing the little robot. In bonus sepia for bonus steampunk-aura!

You can see hints of some of the corsetry for sale in the background.

This costume is even more amazingly intricate in person than in a photo. Those patterns are actually cutouts, the gold leather cut away to show the red leather beneath.

I was very tempted by some leather chokers and especially by a forearm-guard/communications device that was decorated with vintage typewriter keys, but I restrained myself. (I did visit it twice, though!) You can have a look at it here.

Being a science fiction fan means never having to say, "Where would I wear that?"

Siegfried Sassoon, "At Carnoy"

At Carnoy

Down in the hollow there's the whole Brigade
Camped in four groups: through twilight falling slow
I hear a sound of mouth-organs, ill-played,
And murmur of voices, gruff, confused, and low.
Crouched among thistle-tufts I've watched the glow
Of a blurred orange sunset flare and fade;
And I'm content. To-morrow we must go
To take some cursèd Wood ... O world God made!

July 3rd, 1916

--Siegfried Sassoon, The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, 1918

Siegfried Sassoon, "Arms and the Man"

Arms and the Man

Young Croesus went to pay his call
On Colonel Sawbones, Caxton Hall:
And, though his wound was healed and mended,
He hoped he'd get his leave extended.

The waiting-room was dark and bare.
He eyed a neat-framed notice there
Above the fireplace hung to show
Disabled heroes where to go
For arms and legs; with scale of price,
And words of dignified advice
How officers could get them free.

Elbow or shoulder, hip or knee,
Two arms, two legs, though all were lost,
They'd be restored him free of cost.
Then a Girl Guide looked to say,
'Will Captain Croesus come this way?'

--Siegfried Sassoon, The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, 1918

Google Grab - Tom Purdom, Guest Blogger

Please welcome my guest, science fiction author and music critic Tom Purdom.

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On January 20th I attended the New York workshop on the Google settlement conducted by the National Writers Union and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. The main speakers were Lynn Chu, agent and lawyer, who opposes the agreement; Paul Aiken of the Authors Guild, who spoke in support; and a law professor, James Grimmelman who has been offering nonpartisan commentary. Michael Swanwick attended also and we both took notes.

CONCLUSION

Michael had already opted out of the agreement and I just did. It has many virtues but for me the crux of the matter came down to this: the settlement would give Google a dominant, smothering position in electronic publication.

Aiken defended the settlement on the grounds that it would open up a new market for writers, since it would make out of print books available online. But this is already happening, and it's been going on for some time. Fictionwise and Amazon's Kindle are just two examples. And it's happening in the old fashioned way. Publishers are starting companies and programs and signing contracts with individual writers. Under the settlement, Google could become the website everybody turns to and we would all be forced to accept the collective terms they can enforce under the settlement.

If you opt in to the settlement, in addition, you are essentially signing a contract without knowing what the terms are. The settlement may be changed as litigation proceeds.

Even as it stands, it's a complicated agreement most of us can't take the time to study. In the discussion, Lynn Chu kept focusing on the implications of the agreement and Aiken kept insisting her fears were groundless. But to me she was simply noting that the language of the agreement may have implications we don't understand.

THE PRO SIDE

Aiken outlined the positives of the agreement.

To summarize: It applies only to out of print books. Readers may view snippets for free, but never more than twenty percent of content. Readers must pay for a complete online view and the author sets the price. Libraries will have one machine on which complete texts may be viewed and printed copies, made at that one machine, will be sold on a per page basis. Institutions, such as universities, may purchase subscriptions to the service, one year at a time. Google will receive thirty-seven percent of all money collected and the rest will be distributed to the authors, through a Book Rights Registry which will administer the system and subtract its administrative expenses from the author's share.

Authors may withdraw their works at any time. They may withdraw selected works or all their works.

That doesn't look too bad. But I think it will be hard for writers to opt out if it becomes the single site most readers turn to. And that limits our ability to negotiate.

OPT IN VS. OPT OUT

The settlement grew out of a suit the Authors Guild brought against Google, as a class action. The Guild has settled on behalf of all members of the class. If you want to opt out of the settlement, you must take a positive action. If you don't do anything at all, you have opted in.

Many people object to the settlement on that ground alone. Normally, people reprint our works because we have granted permission. They have to get a positive response.

There seems to be some question about the legality of opt out. It apparently stretches the concept of the class action suit.

OPTING OUT

Go to www.googlebooksettlement.com/. Click Opt Out. Fill in the form.

When Michael tried to opt out awhile back, you had to list every individual title, with all sorts of information. You no longer have to do that. Don't be fooled by the optional request for titles. It really is optional.

Lynn Chu recommends that you put the following statement in the box calling for titles:

This opt out request should be considered to apply to all works whatsoever of mine that appear in any and all books either by myself or by others.

The opt out deadline is January 28, 2010.

STANDING

The settlement will be appealed if the court approves it. But writers and organizations can only appeal if they have opted in. People who've opted out can't appeal because they have no standing. That appears to be one of the peculiarities of class action law.

Michael Copabianca sat on the panel as immediate past president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Some writers and organizations, he said, have deliberately left one or two works in the settlement so they can appeal.

Individual writers can do the same but one of the antis noted that a judge might feel you favored the settlement if you had opted in. They suggested instead that you send your opinion to the court or sign the petition Ursula K. Le Guin is circulating.

AN UNANSWERED QUESTION

The Authors Guild has defended the settlement on the grounds that the courts might decide in favor of Google if the case went to trial. That would mean the court would decide that Google was engaging in fair use, and anyone who wanted to could do what Google is doing.

I have assumed the Guild sued Google over Google's right to publish copyrighted material on the Web. But some remarks made at the workshop indicated the Guild suit deals with Google's scanning of the works. I didn't have a chance to ask anyone about this. But if it's true, it seems to me it undercuts one of the Guild's main arguments.

James Grimmelman said he feels the court will probably find that scanning is fair use. But he also feels Google's publications plans would definitely be seen as a violation of copyright. And it's publication that most writers are concerned with.

A PERSONAL NOTE

In the early 80s, a magazine publisher added a third page to its contract granting the publisher all electronic rights. Damon Knight issued a letter urging writers not to sign that page (which could be signed separately) and the publishers soon withdrew it.

As Damon said at the time, no one knew what those rights were worth. The publisher was obviously hoping writers would sign just to avoid conflict. Why risk losing a sale over a hypothetical possibility?

We didn't sign and the publisher eventually withdrew the third page. The publisher's act set off alarm bells in the mind of all writers familiar with the history of science fiction.

From 1926 until 1950, science fiction was a pulp magazine genre. Writers like Clarke, Bradbury, and Asimov assumed their stories would be printed in the magazines and never reprinted. There were no science fiction book lines and no science fiction anthologies. Many writers signed away those rights in "all rights" magazine contracts. Why not? Nobody was ever going to reprint their stuff.

Then the book publishers discovered there was a market for science fiction and started printing anthologies and novels taken from the pulp period. And writers had to live with the contracts they had signed in another era.

It seems to me Google is making a Grab, to use one of Damon's terms.

I hope you will find this useful. I've done my best to make it accurate.

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Thanks, Tom!

If anyone's wondering, I opted out.

Steampunk Bronze

I recently attended Arisia, a Boston-area science fiction/fantasy/a lof of other things conference. I got permission from Butch Honeck, one of my favorite sculptors in bronze, to post some photos from his dealer room at the convention.

Here's a steampunk-style pistol he built (bonus sepia for bonus steampunk-ness!). You can't tell from the photo, but it has moving parts - gears and a chain - that make warm whirring sounds. He let me play with it without making me buy it. He had several pistols with different features.

Here he is checking out one of his larger sculptures, also with moving parts. Note the magnifying lenses attached to his glasses. He sells those for steampunk afficionadoes, but apparently they're quite functional.

Pretty dragons. I've enjoyed looking at his work for years, and own three bronze turtles from his line of miniature animals as well as a pair of earrings.

A wider view of one of his display tables at Arisia. The woman in costume is examining pocket watches, some of them of the "real" hand-wound type.

Learn more here.

Grasping Tentacles of DOOOOOM

There's a stage in writing when I'm too busy writing, and thinking about the specifics of the novel, to think about the task of writing itself.

Of course I am thinking about writing. I have to be, because I'm doing it. By the time I reach the point I'm describing, I'm writing intuitively, and I feel like I'm using so many skills at once that I can't describe what I'm doing except with bizarre hand-waving gestures and metaphors that don't make sense to anyone but me. *wiggles finger while waving left hand and looking expectant*

So, I have about ten days left to finish the manuscript of The Duke and The Pirate Queen. The draft is essentially complete, but I'm still doing a lot of things at once. I'm adding new material and editing old material to accomodate new ideas and doing some last-minute research and line editing and worrying. (I always worry, even if there's nothing in particular to worry about.) I'm also not-doing: not reading as much, not paying attention to my surroundings, not seeing my friends with my usual frequency.

When I get to this point in a novel, I may know what I'm doing, but I still grasp for help with every limb, and will occasionally, at weak moments, return to favorite books on writing in the hope of...I'm not sure. It's too late in the process for most of the advice to be useful. It might be reassurance I'm seeking; the knowledge that there are other writers in the world, and they had deadlines, and they figured out their manuscript issues in the end.

That, or it's like gorging on carbohydrates - the more you eat, the more you want.

Today, I think I've moved beyond the grasping stage. I have a complete draft. It's by no means perfect, but I can see the whole shape, and thus it's a lot easier to see what else I need to add. I've printed out a copy, because sometimes I can see - or maybe I really mean think about - the novel better when I can look at it in a different way than before.

Besides all that, having a complete draft is a great balm to the spirit.

Purposeful, Habitual, and Gratuitous

"As early as 1959 or '60, I'd noticed that there was something terribly wrong with the female characters in most novels I was reading. Most of the writers (men and women) tended to conceive of their male characters as combinations of purposeful actions, habitual actions, and gratuitous actions. A female character, in contrast, would be all gratuitous action if it was a "good woman," with no purposes and no habits; if it was a "bad woman," she would be all purpose, with no gratuitous actions and no habits. This seemed silly. Very early on I tried to think about women characters in terms of all three -- actions purposeful, habitual, and gratuitous."

--Samuel Delany, interviewed in Alive and Writing: Interviews with American Authors of the 1980s,by Larry McCaffery and Sinda Gregory, University of Illinois Press, 1987, pp. 99-100.

Fun with Plot Generators

Recently, I went on an internet search for plot generators. Here are some of the most intriguing scenarios that popped up for me.

These came from Archetype Writing.
"The story starts when your protagonist opens the closet to find clothes that aren't his/hers. Another character is an alchemist who believes your protagonist owes him/her money."

"The story starts when your protagonist tries to overcome a personal fear. Another character is a bus driver who is your protagonist's favorite musician."

"The story starts when your protagonist breaks up with a romantic partner. Another character is a thief who is researching something terrible."

And my favorite: "The story starts when your protagonist comes out of the closet. Another character is a school teacher who is psychic."

Seventh Sanctum offers a tongue-in-cheek generator specifically for romance.

"In this story, a healer who is burdened with dark knowledge accidentally runs into a healthy druid. What starts as a professional relationship soon turns into infatuation."

"This story takes place in a planetary imperium in a solar-system-spanning syndicate. In it, a clinging media personality runs into a xenobiologist who is a crossbreed of two species. What starts as hate soon turns into love - all thanks to someone pretending to be someone else."

My favorite is "In this story, a just watchman falls madly in love with a grim cartographer."

I love the Plot Twist Generator in particular.
"At this point a paranoid aviator arrives, bleeding from multiple stab wounds."

"Just then a penniless female impersonater arrives and shoots your protagonist's mother."

"The scene changes, and a domineering vampire arrives, carrying a backpack."

And the best one, "Only penguins can save this story."

Louise Glück, "Parable of Flight"

Parable of Flight

A flock of birds leaving the side of the mountain.
Black against the spring evening, bronze in early summer,
rising over blank lake water.

Why is the young man disturbed suddenly,
his attention slipping from his companion?
His heart is no longer wholly divided; he's trying to think
how to say this compassionately.

Now we hear the voices of others, moving through the library
toward the veranda, the summer porch; we see them
taking their usual places on the various hammocks and chairs,
the white wood chairs of the old house, rearranging
the striped cushions.

Does it matter where the birds go? Does it even matter
what species they are?
They leave here, that's the point,
first their bodies, then their sad cries.
And from that moment, cease to exist for us.

You must learn to think of our passion that way.
Each kiss was real, then
each kiss left the face of the earth.

– Louise Glück, Meadowlands

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover Excerpt - Animals

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Perhaps an hour later, Camille heard hooves approaching, a horse at a gallop. She ran to the doorway, bridle in one hand and cleaning cloth in the other, determined to see. From a distance it was clear there was no danger; Henri rode Rhubarb, bareback, jumping him over a small bush here and some plant clippings there, letting the stallion burn off some of his energy. Camille found herself smiling. His seat was not just secure, but a thing of beauty.
He saw her from across the paddock and cantered up to the barn door, grinning hugely. He had no idea, Camille knew, how lovely his smile was; he had no trace of vanity. After knowing so many preening courtiers, she felt this was one of his most attractive traits.

"Your Grace," he said. "He's glorious! Would you like to ride him? He's well-mannered." He flushed. "Oh. He's really yours, you can ride him whenever you wish."

Camille hung the bridle and cloth on a hook, and picked up the man's hat Sylvie had given her as a disguise. With that and her loose jacket, from a distance she ought to be safe from curious eyes. She now knew she'd hear another horse's approach, and any guards would come in a group. After quickly covering her hair and pulling on her gloves, she walked into the yard. The mares and gelding were far across the pasture, too far to go to just now. She would visit with them later. Now, she would ride. Her heart beat faster with excitement. "Give me a hand up."
Henri gingerly held out one hand and extended his foot, to give her a step. He blushed furiously. Camille hoisted her habit's skirt in one hand and in a few moments was astride a horse, for the first time in four years.

She gloried in the minute shifts of muscle beneath her, in the hum of living power along the stallion's skin. The aroma of horse rose up around her. Laughing aloud, she clasped her arms firmly around Henri's slender waist. She could feel his muscles shifting, too. His smell reminded her of mulled wine. "Glorious!" she agreed.

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c. Victoria Janssen, 2009

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover from Amazon.com.

More excerpts.

More Snippet Saturday:
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Ashley Ladd
Shelley Munro
Mari Carr
Jody Wallace
Shelli Stevens

Arisia 2010

I'm at Arisia this weekend. Here's my schedule:

Saturday, 11:30 am, Paul Revere B
Broad Universe Reading
90 minutes

Saturday, 2:00 pm, Crispus Attucks
"Jack the Ripper and the Historical Character"
Katherine Crighton (mod.), Victoria Janssen, Gardner Dozois, Susan Casper, Sarah Clemens

Saturday, 10:00 pm, Paul Revere B
"The History of Fandom"
Victoria Janssen (mod.), Don Sakers, Marlin May, A. Joseph Ross, Paula Lieberman

Sunday, 11:00 am, Paul Revere B
"My Fandom's Not Dead Yet!"
Melissa Honig (mod.), Victoria Janssen, Daniel Miller, Cindy Shettle, James Zavaglia

Sunday, 7:00 pm, Crispus Attucks
"The Timeless Story"
Eric Van (mod.), Victoria Janssen, Peter Maranci, Karl Heinemann, Terry Franklin

About Arisia.

For Further Reading

This is a Post of Pimping. I really enjoy these blogs, to the point that I'm excited when there's a new post, and think some of you might like them, too.

Racy Romance Reviews. Great thoughtful reviews, and some wonderful discussions of romance novels from an ethics point of view.

Promantica. "After nearly a half-century of reading romances, I thought I'd write about them." And she does it really, really well.

Isn't It Romance. I enjoy reading her opinions on books, and her reading often overlaps with mine.

The Misadventures of Super Librarian. Source of many useful recommendations for category romances.

Two Nerdy History Girls - authors Loretta Chase and Susan Holloway Scott. "We talk about who’s wearing what and who’s sleeping with whom. We try to sort out rumor or myth from fact. We thought there must be at least three other people out there who think history’s fascinating and fun, too. This blog is for them."

Werewolves in WWI? Why Not?

This post was written for Harlequin's Paranormal Romance Blog.

For The Moonlight Mistress, I combined a historical novel with paranormal elements. As you probably know already if you read this blog regularly, the book is set during the early days of World War One, and begins with a romance between Lucilla, an English chemist and nurse, and Pascal, a French scientist. They're trapped in Germany when war is declared and must escape together.

I could have gone from there to write a straightforward wartime adventure novel, but instead I established that Pascal is only in Germany because he's investigating rumors of a werewolf held captive by an amoral scientist. Soon, two werewolf characters are introduced, one a soldier and the other a spy, and their role in the war and their relationship is woven into the novel's main plot.

I love historical romance, but I love historical science fiction and fantasy even more, particularly when there are romantic elements. To me, mixing genres is a way to avoid the same-old, same-old of historical romance.

For example, the plot of a historical romance might be: hero and heroine meet, family/money/status/scandalous past/amnesia keep them apart, then they must resolve their issues to be brought together romantically. For me, those plot complications and their resolutions become more compelling if the family issue is that a werewolf needs to marry another werewolf or she can't have werewolf children, or if the scandalous past results from the heroine not being human and not having human standards of behavior. Not knowing what to expect makes the journey more fun.

I've been asked, more than once, why World War One? Why werewolves?

I'm fascinated by World War One and the period immediately before and after. It might be because I grew up reading Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey mysteries, or might be because my school history classes rarely spent much time on those decades, and that made me more curious rather than less. Regardless, I have several shelves of reference books on the period and love to read about it even when I'm not writing it. Also, I rarely find fiction, especially romance, set during World War One. If I want some, I have to write it myself. So I did!

For me, World War One is a period when large parts of the world underwent a major change. One of the themes of that change, in my opinion, is technology and the way humans relate to it. In that war, technology was used for violence: massive artillery, airplanes, tanks, poison gas. Humans used technology to kill each other in mass numbers.

I chose werewolves as my paranormal element because werewolves are often used, thematically, to symbolize or represent nature and the vital life force of wild creatures. Wolves are hunters, killing to eat; humans at war are killing for reasons distant from immediate survival. For that reason, I felt werewolves were a good contrast to the technology theme.

In particular, my werewolves are rare and growing more so. What happens when nature suffers at the hands of technology? What happens when a scientist tries to bend nature to his will, in order to gain power over other people? How do the goals of the humans and the werewolves come into conflict? I enjoyed these questions so much that I would like to write another novel with the same themes one day.

Also? Werewolves are sexy. There's something about all that animal energy that makes them appealing – think Wolverine in the X-Men comics – he's not a werewolf, but he has a similar appeal. I wanted my characters to have some of that energy, and at the same time to be more like people to whom I'd be drawn in real life.

One of the things I love most about real-world wolves is that they are playful. They play with each other, and they will even play with other species, such as crows. I included that element by having my male werewolf be a bit of a joker. The female werewolf is much more serious because of her past experiences, but that aspect of play is one of the things that most attracts her to her future partner. I incorporated verbal banter into most of their dialogue and of course into their sex scene, which takes place in human form. For them, being able to talk to each other is an added level of intimacy. When one of them is in human form and the other in wolf form, play is still an element of their relationship; one teases the other.

As a way of making the werewolf characters less like ordinary humans, I used their senses of smell. Scent affects their perceptions and feelings, including their relationship with each other. When they meet, they can immediately tell that they are both werewolves, and that affects the ways in which they interact. They're human, but they're also something more.

Finally, werewolves are an important element of the genre-mixing I mentioned back at the beginning of this post. They're the unexpected element. A novel about World War One has lots of available conflict for the characters. Any reader can predict what might happen to a group of characters who go off to war. So why not add werewolves, and see what happens?

Tell Not Show

One of the main pieces of writing advice I've received over the years is "show not tell."

It's good advice. It can remind you that it's easier for a reader to form mental pictures of characters whom they've seen in action. Action scenes are usually more compelling to read than long explanations. If a reader's interpreting actions, they're usually more involved in the story than when they're simply being told what's what. Unless the writer's voice (or the narrator's) is really compelling, showing is almost always better than telling.

But sometimes, you just have to tell.

This issue came up for me in the manuscript of The Duke and the Pirate Queen. There's a whole suspense subplot featuring two secondary characters, but its purpose isn't really to be gripping suspense. The subplot's purpose is to solve a mystery while the hero and heroine go off together and cement their relationship. (It's an erotic novel, so their relationship is the primary focus of the story.) I decided that the suspense subplot did not have to be entirely shown. I could tell.

I didn't entirely tell that subplot. I decided to show a certain amount: the investigator Sylvie's arrival at the king's court, some of her discussions with a confederate, her questioning of a stranger who had useful information (and, conveniently, provided a partner for an additional erotic scene). But the novel is not about Sylvie, and her activities for the most part don't directly affect the novel's protagonists. To show every step of her investigation might be fun and interesting, but isn't strictly necessary.

When I create an original plot outline or synopsis, I don't always know what needs to be shown and what told. I have a general idea, but some of those decisions depend on how the plot falls out while I'm writing. Therefore, I can't always decide until near the end of the draft. In this case, I decided that the outcome of Sylvie's plot was more important than the progress of it. So I took some shortcuts. I told some of what had happened offscreen (information received in a letter, for example) and then showed the results with a little action and a lot of dialogue.

There's no one right answer for when to show and when to tell. There's only the best answer you can come up with at the time, for the particular novel.

Every reader will have a different opinion on whether you were right or wrong.

Related Post:
How to Write a Novel (in 72 easy steps)!.

Guest at Paranormal Romantics

I'm a guest over at Paranormal Romantics today, talking about "Choosing Your Paranormal Creature."

Charles Sorley, "All the Hills and Vales Along"

All the Hills and Vales Along

All the hills and vales along
Earth is bursting into song,
And the singers are the chaps
Who are going to die perhaps.
O sing, marching men,
Till the valleys ring again.
Give your gladness to earth's keeping,
So be glad, when you are sleeping.

Cast away regret and rue,
Think what you are marching to.
Little live, great pass.
Jesus Christ and Barabbas
Were found the same day.
This died, that went his way.
So sing with joyful breath,
For why, you are going to death.
Teeming earth will surely store
All the gladness that you pour.

Earth that never doubts nor fears,
Earth that knows of death, not tears,
Earth that bore with joyful ease
Hemlock for Socrates,
Earth that blossomed and was glad
‘Neath the cross that Christ had,
Shall rejoice and blossom too
When the bullet reaches you.
Wherefore, men marching
On the road to death, sing!
Pour your gladness on earth's head,
So be merry, so be dead.

From the hills and valleys earth
Shouts back the sound of mirth,
Tramp of feet and lilt of song
Ringing all the road along.
All the music of their going,
Ringing swinging glad song-throwing,
Earth will echo still, when foot
Lies numb and voice mute.
On, marching men, on
To the gates of death with song.
Sow your gladness for earth's reaping,
So you may be glad, though sleeping.
Strew your gladness on earth's bed,
So be merry, so be dead.

--Charles Sorley

Moonlight Mistress Excerpt - Explosions

Moonlight Mistress is from Harlequin Spice. In this scene, three soldiers are causing a distraction at one site while a more secret operation happens at another. Note there's been a change to this excerpt to protect a plot detail.

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It would have been better to have grenades thrown from all directions, but it hadn't been practical with only the three of them. Meyer had insisted that one of them be armed with a more accurate and long-range weapon, much as the infantry were protected by artillery. Of them all, he was the best shot with a rifle, though he wasn't as good as Southey or anywhere near as good as Mason, back at the regiment. Hailey reminded himself that accuracy like Mason's or even Southey's wasn't required here. All Meyer had to do was plug someone until he couldn't attack any more. Even the worst shot in the regiment could usually manage that.

Meyer interrupted his thoughts. "Be careful. Both of you."

Daglish said, "I for one don't intend to be killed. Hailey, you ready?"

"Yes," he said.

After that it was the usual sort of running and dodging and flinging oneself into cover, except the sniper gear was uncomfortable and one had to do everything more carefully because of the grenades; and normally, Hailey wouldn't be given grenades, even jam tins, because his job was to carry messages. In front of Meyer, he'd pretended he didn't mind, but in truth the grenades made his nervous enough that his palms were sweating inside his gloves.

Daglish had taken platoons out on raids, so he knew what he was about. When they reached the stand of trees that was their midpoint, he settled in among the leaf litter and silently began to lay out his grenades in an arc around his feet. Hailey did the same, then slipped the lit pipe from its loop on his webbing. He could still see a red-orange glow within the pipe's bowl. He stirred up the embers just a bit with a stick and murmured, "Ready."

Daglish rose slowly, stretching his arm and rotating it to make sure his sleeves--uniform beneath, sniper tunic above--wouldn't catch and land a grenade on top of them. He scooped up a tin in each gloved hand and held them out to Hailey, who held the pipe bowl to the fuses until they caught. Together, they counted, then Daglish threw, strong clean arcs that nearly made Hailey whistle in admiration.

Daglish had easily cleared the tall fence. Hailey counted another second, then two explosions ripped the air, one after the other. Sound rushed in, and he realized he hadn't been breathing, but he was already lighting the next grenade, holding the fuse steady in the bowl of the pipe until sparks crackled, slowly eating their way up the fuse, towards the tight-packed gun cotton. The explosion would fling free the nails and other bits of metal rubbish they'd packed into the tin. The sharp odor of gunpowder singed his nostrils, or was it smoke from the laboratory compound? He held the grenade up to Daglish without looking at him, shook burning ash off his leather glove, then began to light the next fuse.

Daglish had thrown perhaps half the grenades before Hailey heard the gate rattle open and rifle shots popping. "Run?" he asked. He risked a glance; three guards had ventured out, staying close to the fence.

"Two more," Daglish said, heaving the grenade he held. It landed on a roof, and the resulting explosion resulted in a tower of flame as dry wood caught fire. He hissed with satisfaction as the flame leapt to another roof, which caught fire with a roar.

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c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Order from Amazon.com.

More excerpts.

More Snippet Saturday:

McKenna Jeffries
Vivian Arend
Ashley Ladd
Kelly Maher
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Mari Carr
Eliza Gayle

Why No, My Face Is NOT Red

Back in December, I was involved in a discussion about (I paraphrase) how to get used to using "naughty" words in your writing, when they weren't in your everyday vocabulary.

"Naughty" words should be treated just like any other words, as tools to get meaning across, to communicate meaning as accurately as possible.

For instance, do those particular words suit the story you're writing? If your character wouldn't say or think the word, then you shouldn't use it.

I think a key to using transgressive words beneficially is to make those words, whatever they are, work for you. If you have to work to use them, reach down deeper into your unconscious, then they become a feature, not a bug.

It's excellent writing exercise. Think of a sexual word you have never used, or perhaps a sexual act you've never written about, and then use it in a scene.

You might uncover more than you bargained for by transgressing your own internal boundaries.

Goals and Deadlines

This post was originally written for Leah Braemel's Blog.

A writer's work is never done, and neither is her goal-setting. I have one goal staring me in the face right now: the deadline to turn in the manuscript of The Duke and the Pirate Queen. It's due February 1, which means I'll be spending January writing the last scenes as well as cleaning, tweaking, revising, and polishing.

A deadline isn't really a goal. The goal, for me, has nothing to do with getting the manuscript to my editor on time. My goal, always, is to write a better book than I've ever written before.

The goal doesn't stop there. To really make it work, I have to break down "write a better book" into specifics. I choose my specifics based on weaknesses I've recognized in my own writing, and I've been trying to address different weaknesses with each successive novel.

Here's what I'm trying to address currently. I worry that I spend too much wordcount inside the heads of the characters as they think about their relationships. I would much prefer to show their relationships through actions, so when and where it seems possible, I cut off the internal monologues and replace them with actions to demonstrate emotion. In the final read, if I feel an internal monologue is going on for too long, I plan to cut it, identify the point of the monologue, and demonstrate it through character action.

A second weakness I've been working on is meandering. When I'm drafting a novel, I'm usually moving pretty quickly (see deadline!) and spending more wordcount on scenes that are flowing easily than might be required. As I've been writing The Duke and the Pirate Queen, I've realized that some of the erotic scenes might be too long; the same thing is sometimes true of scenes with a lot of dialogue. My sense of these things is not always true to reality while I'm in the process of writing; sometimes a scene seems really long because I worked on it for several successive days, but the wordcount is actually low. I won't be able to properly judge the appropriate length and pacing of those scenes until I've completed an entire draft. One of my goals is to scrutinize the erotic and/or dialogue-heavy scenes carefully, decide if any of them drag, and if so, if they can be tightened or shortened, or even intensified. I might also give those scenes to a trusted reader, because after a certain point, I lose all objectivity and can no longer tell if the scene is working or not.

My next major goal for the year is to complete a short story. I've already promised this story to an editor, so it's part deadline, part goal. My goal is to approach a new-to-me historical period, the Crimean War, and a new-to-me sub-genre, time travel, and to concentrate on the romance instead of the erotic elements.

Once that story's complete, it's back to fulfilling my contract with Spice. I have a few ideas for my fourth novel for them, and I'm still planning what my specific craft goals for that book will be; they will depend somewhat on whether my editor accepts my first proposal, or if I have to come up with a different idea.

How about you?

Related Post: Dissecting Critique, Dissecting Manuscripts.

Worthy Transgressions

People have been talking for a while about how there's more erotica being published in both print and electronic formats, and how more people are reading erotica and talking about it, and how erotica is getting more and more explicit and transgressive.

transgression: (noun) an act of transgressing; violation of a law, command, etc.; sin. Or, in the case of published erotica, exploring the limits of societal boundaries regarding sexual acts.

Is there any way to gauge appropriate levels of transgression? (I am aware of the innate humor of that question!) If we progress in huge leaps, will we leave our readers behind? He did what with what in a what? Why? If we progress in tiny, shuffling steps, will the readers grow bored with reading the same acts over and over again? Oh, good grief, not another ménage à neuf.

If writers are exploring the boundaries, how far is too far? And is that really the relevant question? I think the real question might be, how far it worth it to go outside the boundaries?

I think, in story terms, it's the boundaries that are of the first importance. You can't transgress unless there's a boundary in place. If those boundaries aren't set up in the novel or story, then transgressing is meaningless, and fails the "why do we care?" test of fiction.

Say the story is set in Regency England. It's a big deal if one character deliberately ignores another on the street. In a contemporary novel set in, say, New York City, that act would be much less meaningful. If, however, one contemporary character was peacefully walking along 6th Avenue and another character ran over and sniffed her buttocks, then there would be conflict. In a science fiction world where all of the dog-descended aliens sniff each others' buttocks in greeting, not sniffing would be the transgression.

To say it another way, I think the effective degree of transgression in a story is directly related to the boundaries the writer sets within that world. If those boundaries aren't set, then transgression might momentarily shock, but ultimately not serve the story.

If the world is contemporary and local, it's a bit easier to relate to the boundaries, as we carry them within us; then the craft issue moves on to the next stage, using the transgression effectively by making it uniquely relevant to the characters and themes of the story.

If the transgression doesn't serve the story, then I think it's pointless. At least in the stories I am most interested in reading.

The Bust Bodice

If you've read The Moonlight Mistress, you know that Lucilla, rather than a corset or brassiere, wears a bust bodice. Below, a picture of a bust bodice.

Some models reached as low as the waist, and some were worn in addition to corsets. They were popular through the 1920s.

Multi-Purpose Worldbuilding

This post was originally written for Star-Crossed Romance.

In The Moonlight Mistress, werewolves are an important element. However, the world they live in is much like our world; the werewolves exist as "secret history." Though several of the characters know about the existence of werewolves, and one finds out about them in the course of the novel, for the most part they exist out of sight.

The setting of the novel is World War One Europe, so the primary worldbuilding for the novel consists of historical detail. Also, it's an erotic novel, so sexual relationships are also very important. But I wanted the paranormal elements to be inextricable from the rest. If any one of the three elements was removed -- history, erotica, werewolves -- the story would collapse.

I've always been told that every detail of a story should be relevant in more than one aspect, and that's even more important in speculative fiction, where so many more details are required. For example, a particular song and its topic tell the reader something about the world as well as something about the character who's chosen that song to sing. If the character is singing too loudly, he might alert his enemies and thus propel the plot forward. I tried to use duplicate or triplicate relevance whenever the werewolves appeared in the story.

First, the werewolves served a plot purpose. The main romantic couple in the story meet because the hero is trying to gain information about a secret laboratory studying werewolves; later, when he shares this with the heroine, it demonstrates that a level of trust has been established between them. Her reaction shows how she's come to feel about him. When they take action together (deepening their relationship) to save the werewolves, again the werewolves are propelling the plot. At the same time, the personal relationship between two werewolves comments on the relationship between the main couple; both couples are thrown together because of the war, and both pairs discover they have something powerful in common.

One of the soldier characters is a werewolf. He has werewolf problems which draw in his human friends and have consequences for them. Each time he acts like a werewolf, the plot is moving, his character is being reinforced, and the reader is being reminded that they're reading a fantasy.

Related posts:

Historical Detail in Fiction.

Types of Paranormal Romance.

Ivor Gurney, "Strange Hells"

Strange Hells

There are strange Hells within the minds War made
Not so often, not so humiliating afraid
As one would have expected - the racket and fear guns made.

One Hell the Gloucester soldiers they quite put out;
Their first bombardment, when in combined black shout
Of fury, guns aligned, they ducked low their heads
And sang with diaphragms fixed beyond all dreads,
That tin and stretched-wire tinkle, that blither of tune;
"Apres la guerre fini" till Hell all had come down,
Twelve-inch, six-inch, and eighteen pounders hammering Hell's thunders.

Where are they now on State-doles, or showing shop patterns
Or walking town to town sore in borrowed tatterns
Or begged. Some civic routine one never learns.
The heart burns - but has to keep out of face how heart burns.

--Ivor Gurney

Black Wine opening

I really love the opening to Candas Jane Dorsey's Black Wine (1997).

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There's a scarred, twisted old madwoman in a cage in the courtyard. The nurse throws a crust at her as he passes, therefore so does the girl. Others bring a can of water, or a trencher of meat cut up small, to stuff through the bars. The woman shoves the food into her mouth, dribbling and drooling and muttering.

"Why do they keep her?" says the girl. "She is useless. She is crazy. She eats too much."

"So do you," says the nurse offhandedly.

"But I work," says the girl. "I am a slave."

"She is not a slave."

"She is in a cage."

"It doesn't matter."

The old woman babbles in a language the waif understands but the others don't. She calls names, she recites recipes, she counts things. Sometimes she talks of hanging, and carrion crows. The girl thinks she calls like a crow herself, and the voice makes her shiver with an atavistic fear she hardly notices, so like the rest of her life it is.

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Black Wine

Take All Chances

Happy New Year!

This post originally appeared at Crista McHugh's blog on November 30, 2009, but I felt it was especially appropriate for New Year's Day.

Today's topic is lessons I've learned about being a professional writer. After "butt in chair, fingers on keyboard," the most important lesson I've learned is to take every chance.

That means a lot of different things, and all of them are important.

First, take every chance to write. If you're waiting for a lovely long summer to spend holed up in some mountain cabin crafting the best novel of your life, you might be waiting for a long time. Some writers can take writing retreats, and some write novels in long outpourings, and some benefit from deadline pressure, but for many writers, life interferes and we have to write when we can, even if "when we can" is fifteen minutes while waiting for the bus. It's pretty amazing how many words you can accumulate when writing in tiny increments, so long as there are a lot of increments. At one point in my life, I wrote several thousand words in a notebook, accumulated over a couple of weeks of adding a paragraph in every spare moment. Even a sentence here and there is progress. I'm a tortoise, not a hare. But we both reach our deadline in the end. The words have to go on the paper.

Second, take every chance to write something new and submit it. You never know what genre or style of story you might be exceptional at writing until you try. Sometimes a call for submissions will spark ideas that otherwise never would have crossed your mind. New ideas make new connections in your mind and often result in something unexpected and wonderful, that could enrich your future work or at the very least keep you from boredom and burnout. In addition, submitting to new markets opens new doors. The story or novel might sell or might not sell; but regardless, your writing and your name went in front of more sets of eyes, different eyes than had seen your work before. You never know when that might pay off. Years later, one of those editors might be editing an anthology and remember the story they rejected. It might be perfect for their new project.

Third, and this is related to my point above, take every chance to submit your work. Short stories in particular can be published in multiple venues over the years as various anthologies go out of print, or reprint anthologies request submissions. Selling a story a second or third time is, essentially, free money. You did the work once and were paid. Each additional sale is not only more money, but another chance for your name and your work to be seen. Stories you haven't been able to sell might not be unsalable stories in the long run. The market changes and editors come and go. Periodically, it's worth it to pull out your oldest unsold stories and search for potential new markets. I had a couple of stories on hand for literally years before I found appropriate markets. One of those stories led to me acquiring an agent.

Finally, take every chance to make friends, both online and in person. Writing is a lonely business, and you need all the support you can get from people who understand. Some call this "networking," but I think of it as necessary. It's a necessity, though, that shouldn't be a chore. Make contacts with people whom you like, or who interest you. Don't hunt people out solely because of what they can do for you, with no plans to do anything for them in return; it's not the best foundation for the future. Share progress and information and calls for submissions. Be a good friend. Form networks of friends. And you'll all be able to help each other.

Related posts:

Five Ways of Thinking About Writers' Conferences.

Selling Stories to Editors.

The Tale of An Erotica Writer.