By Matthew Swihart
Matthew has more than twenty (20) years’ experience in Martial Arts, with over ten (10) years’ experience as an Instructor (Sensei). He has a First Degree Black Belt (Shodan) in Shotokan Karate, a Fifth Degree Black Belt (Yondan) in Chito-Ryu Karate, and holds rank in Ryu Kyu Kobudo Hozon Shin Ko Kai (Okinawan Weapons). He has also earned the titles of Technical Expert (Renshi) and Disciple (Deshi) for his extensive training and service to Chito-Ryu Karate. Mr. Swihart has never lost a fight, and has survived through three riots in psychiatric/correctional facilities, and one gang fight which broke out around him. He is currently in the process of securing a location to bring Chito-Ryu Karate to Colorado.
Every story has conflict. This conflict can be existential, philosophical, emotional, psychological, and just about any other “—al” you can come up with. Regardless of your primary conflict, there are few stories which don’t contain at least one physical altercation, and most contain several. This means we as writers must be well-versed in various forms of physical combat.
The first question, naturally, is, what type of fighter is each character who will be throwing flesh, steel, or lead? Is he a pimply fat kid who’s only balled his hand into a fist when he couldn’t mash the buttons on his controller fast enough to defeat the Arishok, or a seasoned fighter who knows enough to not respect UFC fighters? Is she a fragile waif incapable of killing a spider, or a streetwise tough girl who carries Vaseline in her purse and never wears earrings she can’t quickly remove with one hand?
Next, you must ensure the skill-level of all fighting characters either remains the same or improves over time. It’s always a sign of bad writing when the antagonist (or antagonists’ chief goon) is shown quickly dispatching trained soldiers, then inexplicably has trouble defeating the fifteen year-old protagonist.
Fighters with little or no training are wildcards. They will miss more often than they connect, and are as likely to hurt themselves as their opponents. Afraid of getting hurt, they will back up and dance around a lot. They will attempt to mask their fear with trash talk, threats, and challenges.
Trained fighters, on the other hand, won’t speak at all. They are too busy advancing on their opponents, searching their enemy for weaknesses and tells, and watching for environmental hazards and other opponents. Moving forcefully and with purpose, trained fighters will end a fight quickly.
Once you know your combatants, you must then ask whether they are properly paired. For example, absent bad writing, no child will ever win a physical fight with a trained warrior (part of the fallacy of books and movies with child protagonists who can defeat grown-ups without assistance from other adults). Of course, good stories demand the protagonist defeat someone better trained than s/he. The trick is to maintain verisimilitude.
Over the next few posts, I’ll talk about empty hand, knife, and gun fights, as well as the importance of understanding the philosophy and history of whatever styles your characters
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Creating Fictional Characters
By Pat Stoltey
This post is adapted from an article I published on my own blog in May 2009.
I needed models for my characters to make it easier to establish individual personalities. Luckily, I just happened to have a few cousins and a much-loved sister-in-law who could provide all of the idiosyncrasies I needed. And just for fun, I used their first names for their characters.
Three cousins were the models for Marianne, Gail, and Diane. In real life, they're sisters. In my book, they're not related. I've assured the cousins I will let everyone know my Flippers are drawn completely from my imagination and not from real life. For instance, my red-haired cowgirl wannabe Marianne, who line dances with the sexy cowboys at a country bar in Davie, Florida, and plays Blackjack in Laughlin, Nevada, is actually a lovely white-haired grandmother and first-grade schoolteacher in Oklahoma.
Using real people to create characters in a novel has certain risks, of course. For instance, did I have someone in mind for the killer(s) and victim(s) in the Sylvia and Willie mysteries? No, definitely not. Really. Although someone who knew me in high school thought I was very tough on old boyfriends in The Prairie Grass Murders, which was set in central Illinois where we grew up. But those were Sylvia Thorn's old boyfriends, not mine. Honest.
The Prairie Grass Murders is already available for Kindle and Nook, and The Desert Hedge Murders is coming soon.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Dear Rocky: Absolutely Crushed
I’m absolutely crushed and I just want to share.
Last year I finished polishing my fifth YA manuscript (a previous contest finalist!), and in February an editor requested a full. Elated doesn’t even begin to encompass my joy at sending her the manuscript.
In April she let me know how much she liked my voice, but she saw a few areas in the pacing and plot that could be improved. She told me that she would take a second look at the book if I wanted to make those changes, but that it was just her opinion and that others might like the book as written.
In April she let me know how much she liked my voice, but she saw a few areas in the pacing and plot that could be improved. She told me that she would take a second look at the book if I wanted to make those changes, but that it was just her opinion and that others might like the book as written.
Did I want to make the changes?! Yes! I’ve been trying to sell a book for years!
It took me about four weeks to finish the edits and once again, off went my hopes and dreams.
I recently heard from her, and while she was very kind, I was absolutely crushed. She’s accepted a job with another publisher where she’ll only acquire and edit non-fiction. No offer to forward my book to another editor at her old house. No comments on my changes. Nothing.
Writing this was painful, and while I know there’s really nothing to be done, I thought sharing my tale of woe might make me feel better. I think it did. Thanks for listening.
Absolutely Crushed
---------------------------------------------------
Dear Absolutely,
I feel your pain. Truly.
But I also feel the need to put on my “positive-spin” hat and encourage you to get multiple queries out the door as soon as possible. That way, you’ll once again be filled with hope, which might help offset your crushed emotions.
The editor liked your voice and thought your book deserved consideration. Remind yourself of that. Often! And get those queries out the door so another editor or an agent has the opportunity to enjoy your voice.
CIR recently interviewed Debra Dixon, Editor at BelleBooks and Belle Bridge Books, and when asked what she would like to see more of, Debra said, “Amazing voices. That answer makes writers want to stab themselves, but we are looking for strong voices.”
They are looking for strong voices, as is every editor. Your voice, perhaps.
Thank you for sharing your tale. Hopefully, someday soon, we’ll receive a joyful, follow-up email from you, one that shares your tale of success.
Best regards,
Rocky
We invite you to email questions, share your writing tales and travails, or suggest blog topics to:
The Dear Rocky column is published on the last Monday of the month.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Caption Crazy!
It is often said a picture is worth a thousand words, so we've provided the picture in hopes that you'll provide the words. Silly or serious? Either is fine!
What came to mind when you saw this picture?
Please write a caption, log line, or flash fiction and share as a comment below!
Janet Fogg
What came to mind when you saw this picture?
Please write a caption, log line, or flash fiction and share as a comment below!
Janet Fogg
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Grammar Absurdities: Overworked and Underpaid
If a comma were a person, I’m pretty sure it would join a union and go on strike. The Writer’s Digest Grammar Desk Reference—yes, even though this series bashes grammar a bit, I respect my English pubs and flip through them regularly—has an entire chapter dedicated to the comma’s usage. 33 pages! When I browse those passages, it seems to me the comma is the Krazy Glue that patches our language together because it’s otherwise such a mess. So that sentence doesn’t work? Throw a comma in there. That’ll hold it.
A while back, I attended a workshop that was put on by a grammar scholar (she held a master’s degree in English). She spent forty minutes on commas. And according to my records, was wrong about them on several counts. She said that authors overuse them and presented an example close to this:
Angela Smith, literary agent for Writers Farm, is looking for new authors.
The scholar changed the sentence to this, stating it didn’t need commas:
Angela Smith literary agent for Writers Farm is looking for new authors.
Well…her way of stating it still came across clearly to me. But I know that grammar books teach otherwise as this part ‘literary agent for Writers Farm’ can be called either a parenthetical clause or an appositive. Take your pick. When I consulted my Elements of Style by Strunk and White, it kind of agreed with the scholar, basically stating that unless Angela were the only literary agent, one should not offset the title with commas. This is the point in which you strum your closed, humming lips with your finger as if it were you, not the rules, that’s crazy. Just think. There might be editors and agents out there that breezily think commas should be excluded and you were trying to do it right!
When I left the workshop, I thought about how one could rub out commas in several cases and the sentences would still make sense.
In the morning I went to the store.
Our good grammar police state that a comma should follow morning, but why? You see? Simply because you rearranged the sentence? The commas must be pretty hacked off at management by now who keep using them as Krazy Glue.
A change of subject, if I may…
Knee deep in a manuscript last week, I wrote a sentence that rolled like this:
Bill had had more guns pointed at him than he could remember.
Great. We all know that you should avoid using a word twice in a sentence. And twice in a row—mortifying! So I dutifully went to the rewording board. Then it occurred to me that this wasn’t my fault. Some Einstein or group of them, decided to give ‘had’ more than one meaning. Check this out. If the number four equaled llll and also lllllllllll, what kind of havoc do you think that would wreak on accounting systems? Do you think your paycheck would ever be accurate? Then why did all these English big brains pull this crap with our language—especially when they could have made up a new word for the past perfect had? Right here and now, I propose this as a fix:
Shnorkled.
Shnorkled is to replace ‘had’ in all past perfect usages from here on out. Go ahead and click on your find and replace tool in your word processor and change them all.
Bill shnorkled had more guns pointed at him than he could remember.
The ever opinionated E.C. Stacy, author of steamy romances like New Cougar in Town and Another Cougar in Town
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Three Authors, Three Questions: August 2012
Our guests for August are urban fantasy novelist Jeanne C. Stein, mystery/thriller/mainstream author Michael Murphy, and sci fi author Nathan Lowell.
Welcome to Three Authors, Three Questions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeanne C. Stein is the national bestselling author of the Urban Fantasy series, The Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles. Her character, Anna Strong, received a RT Reviewers Choice Award for Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist in 2008 and was nominated again for the 2011 book, Crossroads. She was named RMFW Writer of the Year for 2008 and nominated again in 2012.
Jeanne also has numerous short story credits, including the novella, Blood Debt, from the New York Times bestselling anthology, Hexed (2011). Her series has been picked up in three foreign countries and her short stories published in collections here in the US and the UK. The eighth in the Anna Strong series, Haunted, debuts August 28th.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter (sporadically), and on the blog she shares with Mario Acevedo: The Biting Edge. Her website address is: http://www.jeannestein.com/
1. Jeanne, please tell us about the first novel you ever wrote (what was it about, what inspired you to write it, how long did it take, and did it get published?).
My first novels were all mysteries, usually with a female cop or ex-cop as protagonist and set in southern California. I still have them kicking around somewhere (on those computer print-outs with the holes on the side) and I have used bits and pieces from them in other books, but they are all unpublished. I started writing in the '70s, after joining a mystery reading club sponsored by a wonderful book store in San Diego, Grounds for Murder. Through that club I met emerging mystery authors like Sue Grafton, Robert B. Parker, Carolyn Hart, Charlaine Harris and Sarah Paretsky. All influenced me to try my hand at writing. Later I joined Sisters in Crime, one of the founding members in fact, and my first critique group.
It took moving to Denver, though, and attending an RMFW conference to introduce me to the influences that would lead to my finally being published—a critique group of serious, professional writers—and we’ve been together ever since.
2. What techniques do you use to bring your novel’s setting alive, whether that setting is real or fictional?
My series is set in San Diego and I try to make it as familiar and recognizable to those who live there as I can. I can take you on a walk in Mission Beach and show you Anna’s cottage. We could have breakfast at Mission Café and lunch at Luigi’s. In fact, a fan of mine actually put together a walking tour of some of the locations in the book. It was the greatest compliment I could have been paid.
3. Where do you write and what is your writing schedule like?
I try to write every day, 2000 words or more. Now that I have a new series starting and a couple of other projects in the works, it’s more important than ever that I keep a schedule. I normally start the day at 5 or so with email and whatever promotional obligations I have to finish (like this piece—it’s 5:30 am and I’m on my second cup of coffee). Then I hit the computer in earnest and work until lunchtime. The rest of the day is spent finishing my word count, then exercising, running errands…the minutiae of life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Murphy has spent most of his life in Arizona. He lives with his wife of forty years, his four dogs, a feral cat and four urban chickens.
He’s working on his ninth novel, a mystery set in the 1930s called The Yankee Club. His return to Woodstock love story, Goodbye Emily, will be released in January 2013.
You can find more information about Michael and his books at his website and blog. He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
1. Michael, please tell us about the first novel you ever wrote (what was it about, what inspired you to write it, how long did it take, and did it get published?).
My first novel, Class of ’68, takes place during the most formative year of my life, 1968. The year is one of the tragic years of the twentieth century—of course the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and student unrest on campus. All of these are in the novel, yet my first novel is also a touching coming-of-age story. Once I told that story that I had to tell, I moved on to writing the kind of novels I enjoy reading, mystery and suspense, although my upcoming novel, Goodbye Emily, revisits the sixties with a look back at Woodstock.
2. What techniques do you use to bring your novel’s setting alive, whether that setting is real or fictional?
If at all possible, I try to visit locations I plan to write about. My second novel, Try and Catch the Wind, is the first in a four-book series, originally set here in Arizona. In 2000 I attended a work-related seminar in upstate New York. It was October, the farms were lush and green, barns were often painted red and everywhere pumpkins seemed to be set near front doors, even though it was weeks until Halloween. I recall little about the seminar, but the imagery was so vivid that on the plane back to Phoenix, my novel became set in upstate New York.
Setting can be so important in enhancing a novel’s theme and characterization. In Try and Catch the Wind, my main character is a retired NYPD homicide detective trying to adjust to small town life. He’s oblivious to the beauty around him, until he gets to know the people. The setting was one of the principal reasons I was able to make the novel into a series.
I also teach novel writing workshops and talk about setting to those in attendance. A tip I provide deals with improving the manuscript by changing the setting. I encourage them to reflect on how their novel would be if the setting went back fifty or a hundred years in the past, or even if it was set in a rural environment instead of urban. Setting is truly important and often overlooked by inexperienced novelists.
3. Where do you write and what is your writing schedule like?
I’ve spent most of my writing time glued to my computer, but during the past year, technology has freed me. With a wireless keyboard, I take my tablet to my gazebo, the pool, Starbucks, the lake. Anywhere now. It’s truly liberating and more portable and as functional as a laptop computer.
I don’t have a schedule. My “writing”, the truly creative part, occurs while tapping into my subconscious while on the treadmill, or driving. “Yikes.” I know it’s not the best thing, focusing on writing while I’m driving, but the point is one needs to reach into one’s subconscious. That’s where my characters develop, conflicts arise and plot grows. Once the idea or scene has nurtured sufficiently, I’m ready to boot up the computer. The rest is just mechanics.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathan Lowell started his “golden age of science fiction” when he was ten in 1962. He rapidly exhausted all the sci-fi titles at his school library. To feed his reading obsession, an aunt who was a voracious reader dropped off a paper grocery bag full of Ace Doubles every month.
Nathan’s inspiration comes from all the greats: Asimov, Bujold, Cherryh … through Lackey, Modesitt, Moon … all the way through Weber, Willis, and Zelazny. He always had a desire to write fiction and when he started listening to books on podcasts, he knew he had found a medium to tell the stories bottled up inside. His most recent release is Double Share, Vol. 4 of the Solar Clipper Trader Tales.
For more information about Nathan and his novels, visit his website and blog. You may also keep up with his posts on Facebook and Twitter.
1. Nathan, please tell us about the first novel you ever wrote (what was it about, what inspired you to write it, how long did it take, and did it get published?).
The first novel I completed was Quarter Share in 2007. I was tired of the "blow something up every fifteen pages and save the universe every fifty" story. I wanted to see if I could tell a compelling story without having blood in the scuppers and ichor on the bulkheads. It took about three weeks from first word to final draft. I published it in audio starting in February 2007, and it saw its first print/ebook publication in 2010.
2. What techniques do you use to bring your novel’s setting alive, whether that setting is real or fictional?
For me, a setting isn't real unless a character experiences it. Descriptions are just words but when a character smells something ugly, or tastes something delicious (or vice versa), that vicarious experience helps the reader understand the setting better than seeing what amounts to a photo painted with words.
3. Where do you write and what is your writing schedule like?
I write at a stand up desk built onto an operational treadmill in a windowless room in my basement. I write from 9am to noon, seven days a week, with occasional days off. I sometimes use the treadmill while I'm writing and have no trouble typing and walking at the same time.
I used to be a binge writer. I would only write a few days a year but would write 10,000 words a day for a couple weeks in a row. My last novel, Owner's Share, took about a month of those binge days and came in at 225,000 words in first draft. I cut it down to 195k in revision. My editor isn't pleased with the size.
Since becoming a full time author, I've discovered that I need to be a bit more methodical in my production so this daily schedule is something new. I've been at it since early June and am very pleased with the results.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mini-interviews were conducted via e-mail and compiled by Pat Stoltey. Chiseled in Rock thanks Nathan Lowell, Michael Murphy, and Jeanne C. Stein for graciously agreeing to participate in the Three Authors, Three Questions series.
Welcome to Three Authors, Three Questions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeanne also has numerous short story credits, including the novella, Blood Debt, from the New York Times bestselling anthology, Hexed (2011). Her series has been picked up in three foreign countries and her short stories published in collections here in the US and the UK. The eighth in the Anna Strong series, Haunted, debuts August 28th.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter (sporadically), and on the blog she shares with Mario Acevedo: The Biting Edge. Her website address is: http://www.jeannestein.com/
1. Jeanne, please tell us about the first novel you ever wrote (what was it about, what inspired you to write it, how long did it take, and did it get published?).
My first novels were all mysteries, usually with a female cop or ex-cop as protagonist and set in southern California. I still have them kicking around somewhere (on those computer print-outs with the holes on the side) and I have used bits and pieces from them in other books, but they are all unpublished. I started writing in the '70s, after joining a mystery reading club sponsored by a wonderful book store in San Diego, Grounds for Murder. Through that club I met emerging mystery authors like Sue Grafton, Robert B. Parker, Carolyn Hart, Charlaine Harris and Sarah Paretsky. All influenced me to try my hand at writing. Later I joined Sisters in Crime, one of the founding members in fact, and my first critique group.
It took moving to Denver, though, and attending an RMFW conference to introduce me to the influences that would lead to my finally being published—a critique group of serious, professional writers—and we’ve been together ever since.
2. What techniques do you use to bring your novel’s setting alive, whether that setting is real or fictional?
My series is set in San Diego and I try to make it as familiar and recognizable to those who live there as I can. I can take you on a walk in Mission Beach and show you Anna’s cottage. We could have breakfast at Mission Café and lunch at Luigi’s. In fact, a fan of mine actually put together a walking tour of some of the locations in the book. It was the greatest compliment I could have been paid.
3. Where do you write and what is your writing schedule like?
I try to write every day, 2000 words or more. Now that I have a new series starting and a couple of other projects in the works, it’s more important than ever that I keep a schedule. I normally start the day at 5 or so with email and whatever promotional obligations I have to finish (like this piece—it’s 5:30 am and I’m on my second cup of coffee). Then I hit the computer in earnest and work until lunchtime. The rest of the day is spent finishing my word count, then exercising, running errands…the minutiae of life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He’s working on his ninth novel, a mystery set in the 1930s called The Yankee Club. His return to Woodstock love story, Goodbye Emily, will be released in January 2013.
You can find more information about Michael and his books at his website and blog. He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
1. Michael, please tell us about the first novel you ever wrote (what was it about, what inspired you to write it, how long did it take, and did it get published?).
My first novel, Class of ’68, takes place during the most formative year of my life, 1968. The year is one of the tragic years of the twentieth century—of course the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and student unrest on campus. All of these are in the novel, yet my first novel is also a touching coming-of-age story. Once I told that story that I had to tell, I moved on to writing the kind of novels I enjoy reading, mystery and suspense, although my upcoming novel, Goodbye Emily, revisits the sixties with a look back at Woodstock.
2. What techniques do you use to bring your novel’s setting alive, whether that setting is real or fictional?
If at all possible, I try to visit locations I plan to write about. My second novel, Try and Catch the Wind, is the first in a four-book series, originally set here in Arizona. In 2000 I attended a work-related seminar in upstate New York. It was October, the farms were lush and green, barns were often painted red and everywhere pumpkins seemed to be set near front doors, even though it was weeks until Halloween. I recall little about the seminar, but the imagery was so vivid that on the plane back to Phoenix, my novel became set in upstate New York.
Setting can be so important in enhancing a novel’s theme and characterization. In Try and Catch the Wind, my main character is a retired NYPD homicide detective trying to adjust to small town life. He’s oblivious to the beauty around him, until he gets to know the people. The setting was one of the principal reasons I was able to make the novel into a series.
I also teach novel writing workshops and talk about setting to those in attendance. A tip I provide deals with improving the manuscript by changing the setting. I encourage them to reflect on how their novel would be if the setting went back fifty or a hundred years in the past, or even if it was set in a rural environment instead of urban. Setting is truly important and often overlooked by inexperienced novelists.
3. Where do you write and what is your writing schedule like?
I’ve spent most of my writing time glued to my computer, but during the past year, technology has freed me. With a wireless keyboard, I take my tablet to my gazebo, the pool, Starbucks, the lake. Anywhere now. It’s truly liberating and more portable and as functional as a laptop computer.
I don’t have a schedule. My “writing”, the truly creative part, occurs while tapping into my subconscious while on the treadmill, or driving. “Yikes.” I know it’s not the best thing, focusing on writing while I’m driving, but the point is one needs to reach into one’s subconscious. That’s where my characters develop, conflicts arise and plot grows. Once the idea or scene has nurtured sufficiently, I’m ready to boot up the computer. The rest is just mechanics.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathan’s inspiration comes from all the greats: Asimov, Bujold, Cherryh … through Lackey, Modesitt, Moon … all the way through Weber, Willis, and Zelazny. He always had a desire to write fiction and when he started listening to books on podcasts, he knew he had found a medium to tell the stories bottled up inside. His most recent release is Double Share, Vol. 4 of the Solar Clipper Trader Tales.
For more information about Nathan and his novels, visit his website and blog. You may also keep up with his posts on Facebook and Twitter.
1. Nathan, please tell us about the first novel you ever wrote (what was it about, what inspired you to write it, how long did it take, and did it get published?).
The first novel I completed was Quarter Share in 2007. I was tired of the "blow something up every fifteen pages and save the universe every fifty" story. I wanted to see if I could tell a compelling story without having blood in the scuppers and ichor on the bulkheads. It took about three weeks from first word to final draft. I published it in audio starting in February 2007, and it saw its first print/ebook publication in 2010.
2. What techniques do you use to bring your novel’s setting alive, whether that setting is real or fictional?
For me, a setting isn't real unless a character experiences it. Descriptions are just words but when a character smells something ugly, or tastes something delicious (or vice versa), that vicarious experience helps the reader understand the setting better than seeing what amounts to a photo painted with words.
3. Where do you write and what is your writing schedule like?
I write at a stand up desk built onto an operational treadmill in a windowless room in my basement. I write from 9am to noon, seven days a week, with occasional days off. I sometimes use the treadmill while I'm writing and have no trouble typing and walking at the same time.
I used to be a binge writer. I would only write a few days a year but would write 10,000 words a day for a couple weeks in a row. My last novel, Owner's Share, took about a month of those binge days and came in at 225,000 words in first draft. I cut it down to 195k in revision. My editor isn't pleased with the size.
Since becoming a full time author, I've discovered that I need to be a bit more methodical in my production so this daily schedule is something new. I've been at it since early June and am very pleased with the results.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mini-interviews were conducted via e-mail and compiled by Pat Stoltey. Chiseled in Rock thanks Nathan Lowell, Michael Murphy, and Jeanne C. Stein for graciously agreeing to participate in the Three Authors, Three Questions series.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Carol Berg, RMFW Writer of the Year, and the Upcoming Great WOTY Event
Today Chiseled in Rock blog is pleased to feature our Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Writer of the Year Carol Berg and to spread the word about RMFW’s most excellent WOTY Event at Tattered Cover LoDo (Denver) this Thursday evening (August 23). All of the event details are at the bottom of this post.
Now let us tell you a little about our Writer of the Year and what she had to say about her writing life.
Former software engineer Carol Berg never expected to become an award-winning author. She grew up in Fort Worth, Texas reading, but enjoyed majoring in math at Rice University and computer science at the University of Colorado because she didn’t have to write papers.
Now her thirteen epic fantasy novels have won national and international awards, including multiple Colorado Book Awards and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. She’s taught writing in the US, Canada, Scotland, and Israel, and received reader mail from the slopes of Denali to beneath the Mediterranean. Her novels of the Collegia Magica have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, using words like compelling and superbly realized. Learn more at Carol’s website.
CIR: Carol, when did you complete your very first novel, how long did it take, and did it get published?
Carol: The first real fiction writing I did was a game with a friend. We sent each other email letters in character back in 1989. By the time we finished this addictive little exercise, I was hooked on writing and started my own novel right away - sometime in 1991. That story took me about a year to write, in between full-time engineering job, three kids, and everything else in life. I never even tried to get that novel published, because I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to read something I wrote. I knew it wasn't as good as my favorite books. But the writing was so much fun, I kept on writing and rewriting, learning as I went until I could tell that what I was producing was much, much better.
Only then, about 8 years later, did I start thinking about getting published. Looking back at that first novel confirms that I made the right choice. The writing was, indeed, pretty awful, descriptions trite, and characterization fairly shallow. But the story had a lot of good twists, and one of the characters just wouldn't let go of me through all these years. As it happens, I have incorporated both that character--a brooding necromancer--and a few of the story elements into the novels of the Collegia Magica, including The Soul Mirror that just won the Colorado Book Award. I'm very glad I waited to pursue publishing until I had learned a lot more about writing!
CIR: What do you love most about being a writer?
Carol: Those days when I reread a piece of one of my stories--whether published or in development--and realize that it captures exactly what I want: the mood, the tension, a vivid character, flowing language, true emotion, all woven together with clarity. There is nothing to compare with that. When it is a reader who tells me that the particular scene is particularly meaningful, that's just the best. I wish I could hit that ace with every page. Gotta keep working on it.
CIR: What's the best writing advice anyone ever gave you?
Carol: I've heard lots of advice over the years. Much of it--the necessity of persistence, the requirement to keep writing, and keep reading and to write a million words before trying to get published--I already knew from other parts of my life or had come up with on my own (a benefit of starting to write after doing a lot of other things!) But one particular little gem I've only heard from one place. My first editor told me that when I needed to cut words, to start by removing just one sentence from each page. Now this sounds quite mundane. Uninspiring. But it taught me several very important things.
First, not to be afraid - that it is possible to remove words/sentences/paragraphs/scenes that have flowed out of my brain and never miss them. And to understand that if I didn't miss them, the reader certainly wasn't going to. It demonstrated clearly that revision not only does not ruin art, but enhances it.
Second, it taught me the value of looking at a manuscript through different lenses. Examining a sentence, a paragraph, a page, or a scene from such a close perspective reveals a great deal. I find other things to remove or enhance. It allows me to improve clarity, which is, after all, our fundamental goal as writers - to use our craft to communicate images, characters, and emotions to a reader.
It made me believe that art and craft go hand in hand, inseparable. And that has been invaluable.
CIR: Thanks, Carol, and congratulations on becoming the 2012 WOTY.
Please consider attending the Writer of the Year Panel Discussion and Booksigning, at the Tattered Cover LoDo, on August 23 (next Thursday) at 7:30pm. Come support our 2012 WOTY and WOTY nominees: Carol Berg, Jeanne Stein, and Kay Bergstrom! Details below...
(Did we mention there are some amazing door prizes???)
Historic LoDo: Our guest panelists, including moderator Robin Owens (last year’s Writer of the Year winner), and this year’s Writer of the Year finalists—award-winning fantasy writer Carol Berg; bestselling romantic suspense writer Kay Bergstrom; and award-winning urban fantasy author Jeanne Stein—will present a discussion entitled “Ask an Author about Writing and Publishing.”
Door prizes, including one free RMFW conference registration; a one-year RMFW membership; books by WOTY nominees; and one-on-one breakfasts with an editor or agent at the conference, will be drawn throughout the evening.
When and Where:
Thursday, Aug 23, 2012 7:30 pm
Tattered Cover LoDo
1628 16th St.
Denver, Colorado
And door prizes. Don’t forget there will be door prizes. Big door prizes. Really big.
Now let us tell you a little about our Writer of the Year and what she had to say about her writing life.
Now her thirteen epic fantasy novels have won national and international awards, including multiple Colorado Book Awards and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. She’s taught writing in the US, Canada, Scotland, and Israel, and received reader mail from the slopes of Denali to beneath the Mediterranean. Her novels of the Collegia Magica have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, using words like compelling and superbly realized. Learn more at Carol’s website.
CIR: Carol, when did you complete your very first novel, how long did it take, and did it get published?
Carol: The first real fiction writing I did was a game with a friend. We sent each other email letters in character back in 1989. By the time we finished this addictive little exercise, I was hooked on writing and started my own novel right away - sometime in 1991. That story took me about a year to write, in between full-time engineering job, three kids, and everything else in life. I never even tried to get that novel published, because I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to read something I wrote. I knew it wasn't as good as my favorite books. But the writing was so much fun, I kept on writing and rewriting, learning as I went until I could tell that what I was producing was much, much better.
Only then, about 8 years later, did I start thinking about getting published. Looking back at that first novel confirms that I made the right choice. The writing was, indeed, pretty awful, descriptions trite, and characterization fairly shallow. But the story had a lot of good twists, and one of the characters just wouldn't let go of me through all these years. As it happens, I have incorporated both that character--a brooding necromancer--and a few of the story elements into the novels of the Collegia Magica, including The Soul Mirror that just won the Colorado Book Award. I'm very glad I waited to pursue publishing until I had learned a lot more about writing!
CIR: What do you love most about being a writer?
Carol: Those days when I reread a piece of one of my stories--whether published or in development--and realize that it captures exactly what I want: the mood, the tension, a vivid character, flowing language, true emotion, all woven together with clarity. There is nothing to compare with that. When it is a reader who tells me that the particular scene is particularly meaningful, that's just the best. I wish I could hit that ace with every page. Gotta keep working on it.
CIR: What's the best writing advice anyone ever gave you?
Carol: I've heard lots of advice over the years. Much of it--the necessity of persistence, the requirement to keep writing, and keep reading and to write a million words before trying to get published--I already knew from other parts of my life or had come up with on my own (a benefit of starting to write after doing a lot of other things!) But one particular little gem I've only heard from one place. My first editor told me that when I needed to cut words, to start by removing just one sentence from each page. Now this sounds quite mundane. Uninspiring. But it taught me several very important things.
First, not to be afraid - that it is possible to remove words/sentences/paragraphs/scenes that have flowed out of my brain and never miss them. And to understand that if I didn't miss them, the reader certainly wasn't going to. It demonstrated clearly that revision not only does not ruin art, but enhances it.
Second, it taught me the value of looking at a manuscript through different lenses. Examining a sentence, a paragraph, a page, or a scene from such a close perspective reveals a great deal. I find other things to remove or enhance. It allows me to improve clarity, which is, after all, our fundamental goal as writers - to use our craft to communicate images, characters, and emotions to a reader.
It made me believe that art and craft go hand in hand, inseparable. And that has been invaluable.
CIR: Thanks, Carol, and congratulations on becoming the 2012 WOTY.
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers “Writer of the Year” Panel Discussion and Booksigning
Please consider attending the Writer of the Year Panel Discussion and Booksigning, at the Tattered Cover LoDo, on August 23 (next Thursday) at 7:30pm. Come support our 2012 WOTY and WOTY nominees: Carol Berg, Jeanne Stein, and Kay Bergstrom! Details below...
(Did we mention there are some amazing door prizes???)
Historic LoDo: Our guest panelists, including moderator Robin Owens (last year’s Writer of the Year winner), and this year’s Writer of the Year finalists—award-winning fantasy writer Carol Berg; bestselling romantic suspense writer Kay Bergstrom; and award-winning urban fantasy author Jeanne Stein—will present a discussion entitled “Ask an Author about Writing and Publishing.”
Door prizes, including one free RMFW conference registration; a one-year RMFW membership; books by WOTY nominees; and one-on-one breakfasts with an editor or agent at the conference, will be drawn throughout the evening.
When and Where:
Thursday, Aug 23, 2012 7:30 pm
Tattered Cover LoDo
1628 16th St.
Denver, Colorado
And door prizes. Don’t forget there will be door prizes. Big door prizes. Really big.
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