So, I was talking to Julian this afternoon and we have hatched an idear. (Brits. Everything ends in R.) We have devised a way to give people a simple way to contribute to something fun and get a little exposure for their blogs.
We have started a new blog, “Line by Line” which you can find here :
We will be telling a story day-by-day, one sentence at a time. We ask that people contribute their ideas for the next sentence in the story in the comments on the Line By Line blog. We will choose the best sentence and add the contributor’s blog address after it for others to see and click on.
The story will only grow by one sentence each day, so we will pick our favourite.
The only rules are, you must limit it to ONE sentence and…
Our sight is always on her
As she shifts
Transforming
Into her younger siblings
Her apathy is palpable
For she cares not to be nice or mean
Future is what we forge
Whether we try or not
Always by our side
In a constant state of flux
Living and dying
Within every drip of time
Ephemeral for us to hold
The simple act of trying
Causes change
For the present
Can never be frozen
This is my first post of the New Year and also my 500th post. To celebrate, I want to throw the spotlight on a blogger who is finding her poetic voice: Pamela.
Pamela’s first blog is a homage to everything she (and, by extension, we) have to be thankful for. She can have the worst day; yet at the end of that day, she will express thankfulness for something. It may be as simple as being thankful for good weather, or thankful to have another day with her dad. Her blog is nothing short of inspirational.
Poetry by Pamela is an inspiration of another sort: the play of words that make one smile; the making of a song that lifts the spirits. Visit her blog now to enjoy a poetic play on New Year’s Resolutions. …
Romantic leads are difficult outside of romance, but they are one of the most popular and accepted subplots. Everyone loves a good love story or tragic love story. The whole trick is to make the characters believable. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to agree with you on this. Love is one of those things that people view differently.
First, I’m going to touch on the aspect of working with a cast of characters instead of the two character system. Fans will want certain characters to hook up even if that isn’t what the author has planned. Think Harry/Hermione or Aang/Toph (Last Airbender), neither of which happened. Part of this is because people have their favorite characters and want those to get what they perceive as the big happy ending. This isn’t to say people are right or wrong. It simply happens, so try not to let it get to you.
Now, here are some aspects to pay attention to when designing romantic leads:
Chemistry– Like in real life, your characters need to click and be believable as romantic interests. Too perfect or too flawed and you can lose the audience. This takes some delicate work and patience to design. Again, you might see the chemistry while some readers won’t. Eye of the beholder is a big thing here.
Connected Characters– The characters have to get along to some extent for the romance to work. I’m not saying perfection, but they aren’t always fighting. They can start that way and work up to a solid relationship. If they fight to the point of hate from beginning to end then it makes for a rather sad romance. Do this only if you’re aiming for people to pity the lovers.
Don’t Force It– I’ll be honest that a romantic subplot might not always work. You can try to work it in, but never force it. That will come across. If you can retool the story to make it click then go ahead. Otherwise, accept that your story has no love interest until a movie is made and the scriptwriter adds a female elf.
Perfect Male– In many romance novels, the guy is a mountain of muscle with perfect hair and perfect everything. That can be done for other genres, but you might not get the same result. Remember that romance in other genres tends to be a subplot or milder in its perfection. In fantasy, you can end up with a hero who is flawless, which can be a mistake.
Perfect Female– Not even sure this exists because it female characters can get more variety than males. Beauty is always the key here, which tends to jump to other genres. Still, there is a fragility and need for rescue that gets put into a romantic lead female. Many authors make a mistake of weakening their female characters when they enter a romance. For some characters this might work because they have established a tough exterior, but there are other ways. A tough female character lashing out at a romantic gesture or sputtering in embarrassment can work just as well as girlish twitters.
The Courting– You can go the ‘love at first sight’ route, which many people roll their eyes at. If working with an ensemble cast then you can do this and the more entertaining courtship. Ease into a romantic subplot by having the characters get to know each other and enjoy the ride. Flirting, gifts, a first date, kiss, failed date, jealousy, and everything that you can think of from relationships can be used to make the romance feel more organic.
The Ending– Here’s where things can get the stickiest. The ending of a romantic plot has to make sense. Happily ever after needs to be earned. Don’t shy away from a tragic end to the romantic subplot of a story. It doesn’t have to be death of a character, but the simple dissolution of the relationship. One character can fear the commitment or the brewing finale can have them not wanting to have the weight of love on their mind when they enter battle. For example, Buffy and Angel did not have a happy ending. In fact, watch most of Joss Whedon’s work to see how romantic subplots can end in tragedy.
I’ve been scratching my head and wondering why I scheduled my post of today for noon instead of 9 AM. Either I’m aiming to change it to a midday or I had something else to say this morning. It was the latter.
First, Happy New Year to everyone! For anyone with a hangover, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Seriously, drink water before bed if you’re boozing it end.
So, Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies has completed its first month and the year is over. How did everything do? Well, I’m not sure I should go into exact numbers because it appears that’s considered crude and gloating. That and I’m too sleepy to bother with math. Here are the finer points I learned in 2013:
Allure of the Gypsies had lower sales, but nets higher royalties. The latter books are definitely going to be seeing this trend. That’s the system I wanted to create too.
Marketing plan has worked and evolving. I have a list of 18-19 sites, databases, and groups to spread out over a 2-3 month period.
Amazon Rankings are helpful, but you’ll drive yourself mad trying to figure them out. I think it’s better to aim for the rankings, check once or twice a day to gauge daily marketing, and accept if you falter. Especially with higher priced books because those bounce around like a speed-addicted jackrabbit.
Might not sound like much there, but I’d have to go into numbers to go into any more details. I’m going to avoid doing that. The first point covers it. I learned other things last year that involved the mentalities of readers when it comes to present tense and a series. I believe I’ve mentioned both, but I’m going to write up a lesson learned type of thing for each one at some point.
My bestest friend, Ionia of Readfulthings, wrote this poem to close up the blog tour. It’s amazing and I hope everyone enjoys. Don’t forget to buy the book that spawned such a creative poem.
Cover by Jason Pedersen
(Click on cover for Amazon site. Go to Readfulthings to tell Ionia how awesome her poem is.)
New Year is here! New Year is here!
So let’s all head to Windemere!
Grab a drite and dance a jig
no matter if you’re small (Charles)
or big…
The final day of this blog tour,
in case you haven’t heard of “Allure”
Check out the links provided below
and while your at it tell those you know
The third book in the series is out
so find out what the buzz is about
take a half-elf by the hand
and dance away to the gypsy band
Make a tweet and spread the news
hit facebook (support our Jew)
I mean…
Hit Facebook and reblog too
If he hasn’t killed me yet,
this next year is a sure bet
But I do the best I can,
for Luke and Nyx and the author man….
(A big thank you to Ionia for all of the help and support that she has given me in 2013. May the Squirrel Queen of WordPress rule forever and always be bushy-tailed.)
First, there really isn’t much behind the videos I’m picking here. Some of the big ones that I heard over the year. Either I never found a post to fit them to or I just wanted to post them again.
I’m sure some people are going into 2014 with nothing more than hope. I’ve done that every year. Just a hope that I reach some of the goals that I plan while expecting to be undone by something. I was never a resolution type of guy because the ones I heard were always small and I knew I didn’t have a vast amount of willpower. At least with the weight loss and exercise. I did pretty good this year until I got sick a few times and then it got too cold for me to build up the desire. Still, I do have a plan for 2014 and I’m not talking a ‘Plan B’.
By the middle or end of January, I’ll have finished writing Legends of Windemere: Curse of the Dark Wind. Family of the Tri-Rune will be released in late February/early March with a special release being made the week before. Wonder what it is? Well, I’d share, but I have to be 100% certain that I can pull it off. The Compass Key will be released July/August and I’ll hopefully be getting at least the first 3 books on Netgalley by then. Curse of the Dark Wind will be released in December. I’m going to follow the pattern I used (stumbled into) this year. If ain’t broke and those smarter than me (Ionia) haven’t told me why it will fail then no reason to fix it.
Outside of publishing, I’m going to try to outline whatever series I can. I’ll continue my week long break between finished books, which will be spent blogging, marketing, and outlining a future idea. If I’m lucky, I can write Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue, Merchant of Nevra Coil, and The Mercenary Prince by the end of the year. If I can fit Clan of the Snow Tiger in there too then I’ll be way ahead of the curve. Legends of Windemere is outlined to the end, so it isn’t too hard to pull it off. I should expect summer to slow me up though since the little guy will be home and that means I won’t be doing my 3 chapters a week level of writing.
It’s going to be busy and I need to barrel on ahead like a man possessed. The deadline will have passed and the arguments will begin. That means I might lose some of the little support I’ve gotten around here in terms of time and space. So, a little ambiguity is going to be going on for a bit. All I know for now is that I’m staying here and going to keep pushing the books. Hopefully, I can make 2014 better than 2013. So, what does everyone else have planned?
