Magical Words

I was, hrm, what was I doing. Participating, I think, in the “books I’ve written” meme (available here, if you want to read it) and someone asked me how I knew how long a book was going to be. (This question could’ve been put to me/us here, too, and I just can’t remember. But I thought it was a good one, so I’m addressing it!)

Your average SF/F novel that you pick up, not the ones that make you go “Damn! That’s a big book!”, but the average ones that are an inch or so thick, run anywhere from, say, 90,000 words up to around 135-150K. That’s (using Courier New 12pt font with 1″ margins, .3″ tabs, and 25pt exact spacing) 380-600 manuscript pages, which is quite a spread. How, indeed, do you know how long your book’s going to be?

Well, if you’re not under contract, you generally want to be aiming for about 100K, not 150K. (There are exceptions. There are *lots* of exceptions. But *generally*, publishers like 100K books better than 150K books, because you can put 4 100K books into a supermarket wire rack and only 3 150K books. And I’m talking about SF/F here, not mystery or romance or YA or thrillers or anything else.) So if it’s your first book, you’re *probably* better off aiming for 100K than 150K. This is a pretty decent rule of thumb, I think.

Me personally, my writing approach is by thirds: the first third of the book is setup, the second third (which often pushes through to the 3/4ths mark) is plot & character development, and then the final third is all hell breaking loose on our way to the climax. So for, say,the Walker Papers, which are 110K books, that means I’ve got about 36K per third. It does not work out that tidily. Ever. But it’s not a bad mental structure to approach it with.

There is almost always a point in any book where I have two *extremely* different panic attacks at the same time. One is: “Oh my GOD how am I ever going to get all this story into the wordcount space I have left?!” and the other is, “Oh my god there is no way I have enough story to reach the wordcount I’m supposed to deliver.”

This (for me) means everything is going according to plan, and the book will come out at the right length.

[Read more →]

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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Just as I sat down to write my Magical Words blog this morning, my husband told me that at noon he was taking me out of the house and out to Fota Wildlife Park, because it was a beautiful day and he could tell from my mood lately that I wasn’t getting out of the house enough and that I needed some sunshine. So instead of writing my blog I went and wrote a bit more on my book, and then went out to be Not A Writer for an afternoon.

Like David, I do photography for fun. (I’ve even got a photoblog, at kitsnaps.com.) Like Faith, I’m … well. Heh. I don’t consider myself a workaholic. I set out to accomplish certain things when I started getting published, and one of those certain things was shelf space. The result looks a lot like workaholicism, but it’s my grim determination to slow down (and it does take a certain amount of grim determination, because it’s hard to not jump on new shiny ideas and pursue them!) and become significantly less of a workaholic. (It sounds so easy! Hah!) (And hey, like Misty, I like to dance. What we’re not telling you is that I am in fact _all the writers_ at this blog!)

Um. I think I got terribly off topic. The point was just going to be, sometimes when I’m not being a writer, I do something like this instead:

(…I *meant* take pictures, but I suppose making that face isn’t entirely inaccurate either…)

Do I get points for the most inane post ever?

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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Guys, I got nothin’ today. (Heh. I typed ‘tosay’ first, and that seems appropriate too.)

I’m tired. I’m stressed. I’m more or less over a head cold that turned me into 100% Zombie Brain over the weekend. It upset me, too, because I’d done 15K or so in 2 days and the 3rd morning I was absolutely empty, couldn’t hold a thought to save my life, much less write fiction, and I thought I’d done it to myself by writing too much. Being actually sick by that evening was a relief, because it meant I wasn’t broken.

But today I’m well, and I’m still avoiding work. That usually means the book’s broken, not me. Realistically, I know what the problem is: the scene as I’m writing it sets up a direct conflict between my two main characters, and that’d be *great*…except I need a whole bunch more scenes before they can actually meet up. I need one more thing to go hugely, significantly wrong so that one character doesn’t just *kill* the other when they show up. And the scene as I’m writing it doesn’t allow for that. It just doesn’t. So I’ve got to throw it away, or find some way to make it work, and realistically, it’ll be thrown away. Unless I can twist the end of it somehow, which…what the scene is doing is good stuff, it just can’t push to this direct confrontation this fast. It needs to be interrupted some…

…*lightbulb*…

Crap. I should’ve written this post six hours ago. It would’ve made me own up to the problem I’m facing and maybe made me come up with this possible solution. God, I hate this part.

And this, see, this really is the real life of a writer. A while ago I was going through something very like this on another book, and came back to crow over having fixed a big problem after, er, literally years of struggling, and someone said, “Wow, I just kind of thought that somebody who did this professionally would just /know/ how to fix problems. Not that you’d have to struggle and work through it and grind away until it finally worked, like I have to do.” This is also why blogs are helpful: whether it’s here or on my personal journal or talking to somebody IRL, actually laying the problem out in so many words and making myself really look at it often shakes something loose in my tiny, tiny brain.

All right. I have to go look at this material again, and see how much more justification for my interruption I need to write in. The beginning of the justification is in place. I might need as little as a couple more sentences to make it work. And if it works, I can finish this chapter. And if it doesn’t, well, I’m going to have to grit my teeth and throw the chapter out. That’d be the third one I’ve dumped this book, some 15K worth of useless words, which is 10% of the book’s projected length. Grr.

So much for having nothing, I guess.

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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Happy Friday, everyone! Please join me in welcoming Joshua Palmatier to the blog today! *wild applause*

Hey, everyone! I first want to thank everyone here at Magical Words for the guest blogging invite. Hopefully I’ll have something important to say. Or at least something of interest.

First, an introduction: My name is Joshua Palmatier and I’m a fantasy author, with three books currently out from DAW Books. All three are part of the Throne of Amenkor series. The first is called The Skewed Throne and introduces my main character, Varis, an orphan who’s barely surviving in the slums of Amenkor, but who gets trained by one of the city’s Seekers to become an assassin. She comes to despise her talents and then is given the ultimate mark: the Mistress, ruler of the city, who sits on the Skewed Throne. Her only obstacle is the Skewed Throne itself. It knows Varis is coming . . . and it’s insane.

Bwahahahahahahahaha!

I couldn’t resist the evil laugh. *grin* John Scalzi said I write about disturbed furniture . . . and he’s right. *sigh* But there are plenty of other things going on as well—an invading sea force! blue people! an inexplicable White Fire! and of course, death and destruction! Pretty much everyone who had to sum up my novels in one word used “gritty”. The cover for the third novel:

gives you a pretty good vibe of what the series is all about. If you’d like to see more about the Throne of Amenkor series, including the two sequels The Cracked Throne and The Vacant Throne, check out my website at www.joshuapalmatier.com.

But enough about me and my books! I want to talk about something nearly every magical world needs, something completely non-controversial and guaranteed to create no waves: religion! Specifically, I’d like to talk about inventing a religion for you world. [Read more →]

Tags: C E Murphy, David B. Coe, Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Special Guest Stars by Misty Massey
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I was Guest of Honor at Phoenix Con, a Dublin-based sf/f convention, this last weekend, and at one of the panels–the topic of which was “writing with a full time job” but which kind of just got off on “writing in general”, and in which we were discussing the daily slog of writing–a woman asked, “Does it ever get easier?”

All three of us on the panel said, resoundingly, “No!”

The poor woman looked utterly crushed.

The thing is, though, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t. Some years ago I was at the gym and there was a woman in her, oh, late sixties, who was in fantastically good shape and who I saw there every morning. She was discussing her gym habits with someone else, and said, “I’ve been getting up and going to the gym every morning for the last twenty years, and I still have to *make* myself get out of bed every day.”

Yeah. Like that. Only with the words.

I mean, sure, there are days where you’re on fire and you don’t want to do anything but write and it’s all coming along brilliantly and rah rah rah go team go! But there are a hell of a lot more days when you just have to get up and write whether you want to or not; days when every word is like pulling teeth; days when it is, yes, a *total* slog to get anything done, and it never gets any easier.

Today is one of those days, if you hadn’t guessed.

I’ve broken 100K on this book–the one I was hoping to have done by the beginning of March (which would’ve been only a month late :p) and which I was unable to work on for three weeks due to smashing my hand. I am, unsurprisingly, pretty much exactly 3 weeks further behind than I intended on being. Sigh. Anyway. Broke 100K, and left a scene hanging while I went off to the convention. I left it hanging for two reasons: one, I know what happens in it, so starting up again theoretically isn’t hard. This is always a good thing when faced with any kind of a break.

Reason #2, however, is that this scene is a slog, and finishing it /is/ hard, which is why I didn’t manage to get it done before going to the con. It’s pivotal. It has to work. And while I’m a great fan of “you can’t fix a blank page”, this is one of those bits that while it can be polished later, needs to work *now*, or I won’t be able to get past it. So I’m spending a lot of time staring at the computer screen, not actually writing because the idea of writing is intimidating. When I do write, it’s a sentence or two, and then I worry about whether they’re the right ones, and I sit there being uncertain of what to write next, and I try to see if the whole thing flows together, and…slog slog slog.

I need to write something on the order of 60K over the next 2 weeks to get this book done (and give it an edit pass) before the end of April, which is SO MUCH LATER than I want to turn it in it makes me very unhappy. I can’t really afford to indulge in the slog mindset. Which means, I suppose, that writing this post is my way of kicking myself in the butt, and that I had better go chew through the rest of this scene whether I like it or not.

*grinds teeth and slogs off*

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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It was a tricky contest, and there were a lot of close guesses, but at the last minute, someone read the hints and pulled it out. So put your hands together, people, for our winner…. Beatriz! 

She correctly guessed that it was Faith, David, Catie and Misty.  Beatriz, I’ll get in touch offlist to arrange for your fabulous prize (well, maybe not fabulous, but it’s a prize!)

Thanks for playing, everyone! We’ll be having another quiz soon, so keep watching this spot for more Friday Fun. And please drop by this Friday, April 4, to spend some time with our marvelous guest blogger, Joshua Palmatier! He’s the author of the Throne of Amenkor series, and he’ll be discussing how to create a religion for your fantasy world. Don’t miss it!

Tags: C E Murphy, David B. Coe, Faith Hunter, Misty Massey by Misty Massey
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It’s Friday! Woo hoo! In honor of getting to the weekend relatively unscathed, we at Magical Words are challenging you, our readers.

The four hosts of Magical Words were asked the following question:

“You’ve gone to the local coffee shop to indulge yourself for an hour. What do you order?”

Their answers are:

A. A large chai tea latte, non fat, with a couple shots of raspberry. A low fat coffee cake, either blueberry or cinnamon. Or a cinnamon Danish if I’ve been virtuous all week. Man…That is just sooo girlie. I shoulda said a black coffee, and added that I topped it off with a shot of brandy from a flask in my tote. I’ve done that before too, in my wilder younger days.

B. Coffee makes me jittery, hyper. My hands shake under the best of conditions; give me coffee and I’m a total wreck. I’d get a Chai Latte. And sugar. Must have sugar. A big soft oatmeal raisin cookie maybe. Or chocolate chip (also big; also soft). And because work has no place in this fantasy, I’d bring my laptop and spend the entire time cruising around Ebay.

C. I’ll order the darkest hot chocolate on the menu and spend the next two hours copyediting manuscripts. Hrm. That doesn’t sound much like indulging myself, does it?

D. A medium latte, no sugar and no flavoring, and a toffee bar, if they happen to be in stock. I swear, every baked goodie I fall in love with goes out of stock. I used to love pistachio muffins, but the coffee shop that sold them went out of business. Maybe I should publicly announce my love of bran-carrot-banana cake, just to watch it vanish, too.

So here’s the challenge - whose order is whose? Post in comments with your answer. The first person who guesses all four answers correctly (we’ll announce on Monday morning) will receive huge accolades and the pride of being our first winner. And maybe even a toy surprise if we can arrange it!

So start guessing, and have a great weekend!

Tags: C E Murphy, David B. Coe, Faith Hunter, Misty Massey by Misty Massey
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I’m in the middle–and I do mean middle, as I’m 90K into what I’m beginning to be depressingly certain will be a 165K book–of writing my sixteenth full-length novel.

These are my observations at this point:

- this is the worst thing I’ve ever written

- none of it hangs together

- there is no integral structure

- the end is so far away I will never be finished writing, but I am more than ready to be done

- my editor is going to burst into tears when I finally do turn this horrific lump in to her

- she is then going to have to find a way to break it to me gently that perhaps I should consider a career in shoveling elephant dung, because my writing life is over and cleaning up behind elephants is sure to be a less smelly job than what I’ve just delivered to her

The bitter thing is that I recognize this stage. This happens every time. It means that things are probably going along just fine, even though my inclination is to say, “No, no, I know I’ve said this before, but this time I think I’m right. This really is terrible.”

Recognizing this does not make me feel any better at all.

Almost every writer I know goes through this. This is the one where they’re going to figure out I’m a fraud. This is the point at which I wonder why I do this, because this really really sucks. The joy is gone. The focus is gone. All that’s left is a vast wasteland and a pathetic hope that if I keep throwing drivel at the screen something vaguely readable will come out of it. So on and so forth, etc, etc, etc.

I mention it because it often comes as an enormous relief to writers who are trying to break in: oh, they say, it’s not just me?

It’s not just you. It really isn’t. It’s almost all of us. And the only damned way to get through it is to keep writing, and eventually reach the end, and look back and hopefully say, “…well, okay, maybe it’s not *that* bad after all…”

…which comes as a surprise every time.

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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I am *totally cheating* today and crossposting from my regular journal, my writing journal, and Magical Words, because the stars have aligned and planets have converted and it’s just easier that way. Approximately half the universe seems to be participating in this project, including David and Misty, so you might get a lot of synopsis blogs over this week. A list of other participants is here.

So, after all those excuses: a couple of weeks ago I got email from Joshua Palmatier inviting me to participate in the Great Plot Synopsis Project, wherein he was asking a bunch of published writers to post a book synopsis in order to help show aspiring writers how they’re done. (Joshua keeps having good ideas like this and then *following through on them*. I think he’s an alien.) So today is the Great Plot Synopsis Project Post Day, and I’m posting.

I have blatantly stolen the Synopsis Q&A Joshua posted in the post that inspired all of this.

Please note that there are SPOILERS for URBAN SHAMAN behind this cut. The book synopsis is replicated in its entirety. As it happens, because of how this particular synopsis is written, it’s not *very* spoilery, but it is spoilery! So be warned, and now you can, if you wish,

[Read more →]

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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I discovered several years ago now that many people see pictures in their heads. When they read, when they listen to music, when they’re told stories, they get pictures in their heads.

I do not get pictures in my head. Not when I’m reading, not when I’m writing, not when I listen to music. I had *no idea* that people did. It was a stagger-worthy shock when I realized that Fantasia was based on the idea that people *saw stories in their heads* when they listened to all that music.

*No one* in my immediate family had any idea people did. Dad said he’d have taught many classes differently if he’d known that. I remembered a drama class visualization exercise where we were supposed to visualize we were lying on a white beach with the blue sky above, and palm trees and all that sort of thing, and it bent my brain to think that probably two thirds of the people in the class were *actually seeing that*.

They say to succeed at sports, you have to visualize the win. I had no idea they meant literally. Sure, I can talk myself through it, but actually *see* it? Buh. No.

This clarified something that had been puzzling me for years, when I learned it. There’s a scene in EMILY CLIMBS, the second book of the Emily of New Moon series by L.M. Montgomery, in which Emily is talking to a man whose son has died. The man can’t remember what the boy looks like, because he isn’t like other people, and can’t bring images to mind.

My entire life, I had always thought that was a weird little scene. I mean, not like I spent nights awake because it actively bothered me, but it always bugged me a little. Like, what did that mean, bringing images to mind? Like people *did* that or something? *snort* (There is another, similar, scene in one of the Feynman books in which he and several other, y’know, like, nuclear scientists, are discussing how to best keep time in one’s head, and he said something about, after they’d all sat around seeing how *they* did it, that the most accurate time-keepers were the ones who saw a clock counting down in their minds. And I thought, buh? Like you could *see* a clock ticking the seconds off? It was only after this conversation came up with friends that I realized that in fact most people can.)

My husband was astounded, because my writing makes clear pictures in his head, and he couldn’t imagine how I did that if *I* wasn’t seeing pictures in my head.

The answer is by working really, really hard.

Behind the cut is a scene from URBAN SHAMAN, my first published novel, and further commentary on this visualization thing.

[Read more →]

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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