I Am The Robyn

NaNo 2011 Days 28-29

2011-11-29T00:19:00.001-06:00

50015 / 50000
(100.03%)

Winner! Cue "We Are the Champions." ;)

I passed the 50k mark just after midnight, so now I will very quietly do my victory dance.

see more dog and puppy pictures

I also finished the first draft when I crossed the finish line. No, I'm not giving you the last line, though if you've read Blood, Smoke and Mirrors you probably have an idea that Michael and Emily end up together. For a very looooong time.

Conveniently, the first round of edits for last year's NaNo, Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered arrived in my inbox today. So I'll have something to keep me busy for a bit. ;)

And now, I bring you the final favorite Emily Quote of the Day:

We stepped into a room filled with tall, broad cabinets. Dr. Bennett crossed to one and unlocked it, revealing a variety of weapons within.

“May I have a pistol?” I asked, and received a chorus of “no”s in reply. “Why not?”

“Because you have no training with firearms, or weapons of any sort,” Simon replied.

Michael chose a more diplomatic answer. “You are just as likely to hurt yourself, or one of us, without proper training.”

“Then may I receive proper training after we rescue [spoiler!]?” I asked.

“Yes,” Michael replied, much to my shock. I had been expecting another automatic no.

NaNo 2011 Days 22-27

2011-11-27T12:51:00.001-06:00

44323 / 50000
(88.65%)

You guys, I can't tell you how amazing it is that I've managed to make this word count. A drama bomb went off in my personal life, something enormously painful that I'm struggling to deal with. (Those of you who know me IRL are aware of this, and I'm grateful for all your support.) I didn't write for several days, but in addition to the help of my friends and family, my writing has been a lifesaver, and it's keeping me sane in this epically sucktastic time.

I'm hoping to cross the finish line today or tomorrow. Emily's story has continued to be awesome in many ways, and there are so many quotes I'd like to share with you. So here is my favorite Emily Quote of the Day:

Can you tell us what you most often use your abilities for?”

My cheeks heated with a blush, and I cleared my throat. “I use my abilities every day. I’m not certain what you are asking.”

“You mentioned aiding in solving a murder years ago. Have there been no other crimes that you could have assisted in solving since then?”

“I am sure other murders happened in England, but I was not present for them,” I replied.

NaNo 2011 Days 14-21

2011-11-21T21:49:00.001-06:00

32692 / 50000
(65.38%)

So...yeah. I'm behind. But not far behind, and I'm filled with determination to not give up. I may not win this year, but hey, that word count ain't shabby. And as any sports fan knows, it's not over til it's over, so I plan to keep chugging along.

And now, my favorite Emily Excerpt for the Day (it's too long for a quote, but it's adorable):

Aside from the mandatory extra helpings of guilt, I did feel better after eating, and I was even brave enough to venture into the library. Though not quite brave enough to do so on my own, but Robert solved that problem for me by gluing himself to my skirts and then screaming bloody murder when I tried to remove him. One day we would cure his over-attachment to me. Today was not that day. I picked him up, noting that my healing arm did feel much stronger now, and marched into battle.

The library was silent when I entered, but my seer’s senses picked up on the tension in the air as though it had a pungent odor. Simon and Michael were working at opposite sides of the room, but when he spotted me Simon crossed to my side, looming over me like a spindly gargoyle.

“Why is the baby here?” he asked.

With a sigh I handed Robert to Simon, sure that my son would instantly burst into wails and prove my point more solidly than any other explanation would. Much to my shock, Robert stared up at Simon with placid interest, and then slowly reached for a lock of the chronicler’s hair, as though fascinated by the color.

“That’s amazing,” I whispered, afraid that my voice would break whatever spell Simon had cast over him.

“What is?” Simon asked.

“He isn’t screaming. He always screams when someone else holds him. How are you doing that?”

“I am not doing anything.” Simon rescued his hair before Robert was able to discover if red hair had a flavor, and I smirked as the baby squealed in protest.

NaNo 2011 Days 8-13

2011-11-13T23:29:00.001-06:00

So every November during NaNoWriMo I without fail experience a mandatory NaNo plague. This slowed down my word count, but I'm feeling better now and I'm still on track.

21679 / 50000
(43.36%)

I also had a much more entertaining distraction in that I have officially signed a contract with Mr. Sam Hain for my last year's NaNo, Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered. It will be out in spring. :) Soon I will have edits, and I'm very excited.

But for now, I bring you my favorite Emily Quote of the Day:

“Where did youhear of this?” Simon asked.

For a moment Iconsidered lying, or at least misleading, but then I decided the truth would beworth watching his reaction to it. “I spoke with Lady Brigid, of thenecromancer council.”

Priceless. I’dnever seen Simon so instantly animated.

NaNo 2011 Day 7

2011-11-07T22:51:00.000-06:00

I started feeling off last night, which developed into an icky sore throat cold. I've had a lot of hot tea today (which I hate, by the way), and countless cough drops, and I'm hoping the worst is over.

But there is good news: The new, shiny contract for Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered, a sequel to Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, has been signed, sealed, and delivered. So the further adventures of Catherine Duquesne will be available in ebook in 2012, and in print in 2013. Unless the zombie apocalypse happens in 2012, but then we'll have a completely different set of problems...

Anyway, I managed to write a very small amount today thanks to the plague. Luckily I was ahead from yesterday, so my word count stands at:

12299 / 50000
(24.6%)

And now, my favorite Emily Quote of the Day (and bonus English major points to anyone who gets the reference):

No, I would soldier on like a proper English wife, and do whatever my husband asked of me, while I slowly withered away like a dying flower, and Michael persisted as he was, forever frozen in time. I pondered composing a poem about my dilemma; an elegy for my soul mate, who is undead.

NaNo 2011 Day 6

2011-11-06T19:42:00.000-06:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

I'm not gonna lie, I have based characters on people I know. Like Mac, who is based on my awesome friend Scott.

I'm pausing to post my current word count while watching "Once Upon a Time." This show is pretty awesome, I'm really enjoying it. Of course after this I'll be watching "The Walking Dead," ensuring a fresh round of zombie nightmares for this week. Clearly I am a glutton for insomnia.

10448 / 50000
(20.9%)

Right on track. Hopefully I'll be a little ahead after I scare myself senseless watching zombies. (Seriously people, this show is bad for my health, but it's so damn good I can't help myself.)

And now for the Emily Quote of the Day (I was so mean to her today, you have no idea):

The majority of my problems with Simon revolved around his plans for Michael, and not with his preferred source of food. Blood might be essential to his existence, but said existence revolved around study, not feeding.

As such, I was not at all prepared for the experience of a necromancer gathering.

NaNo 2011 Days 3-5

2011-11-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

First, some inspiration! Or at least entertainment. Or a song that'll get stuck in your head...
Mmm, David Tennant...what was I saying? Oh. Right. NaNoWriMo.

So I was ahead, then I was behind thanks to the Saints Row: The Third release party last night. My husband, better known as the hippy, is a writer for the game (along with our buddy Steve, the head writer, who is one of my favorite people and was a groomsman at our wedding). So thus I got to attend the release party, which was awesome and a lot of fun, but kept me from writing yesterday.

After attending the write-in earlier today, my word count now stands at:

8730 / 50000
(17.46%)

Not bad. I'm just about right on track, and I'm going to write a bit more yet tonight. Which brings me to my favorite Emily Quote of the Day:

Jo sighed,wringing her hands. “What would your husband say?”
“Well if he washere, we could ask him. Note that he is not, and at the moment I do not carewhat he would say. If he was truly concerned about our welfare, he wouldn’thave become a chronicler.”
“You’re beingunfair, Emily. It is a great honor to serve the Order as—”
“Spare me anotherlecture on how it is more important to be a chronicler than it is to be ahusband and a father. I have heard it enough,”I exclaimed. The shrill note in my voice sent the baby into a chorus ofshrieks, and I winced. Apparently he had heard it enough as well.

NaNo 2011 Day 2

2011-11-02T23:05:00.000-05:00

Pausing for a NaNoWriMo update. Today I started Chapter 2. With a dream sequence! Rather like Chapter 2 of The Importance of Being Emily. But Emily wouldn't be Emily without a dramatic dream or three.

5187 / 50000
(10.37%)

Which brings us to my favorite Emily Quote of the Day:

Folding my hands in my lap, I squared my shoulders and related thedetails of the dream. Miss Dubois listened with rapt attention, reminding me abit of my little ones listening to a story. Young librarians take story time quiteseriously.

NaNo 2011 Day 1

2011-11-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

I'm still writing, trying to finish Chapter 1, but I wanted to pause for a first day NaNo recap. I started writing at midnight, because I'm usually up at midnight anyway so it made sense. It's put me pretty far ahead. :)

3625 / 50000
(7.25%)

So not bad. Allow me to share my favorite Emily quote of the day:

We stepped into a small circle of light being cast by two men holding lanterns, likely also necromancers by the severity of their frowns, and as we approached a woman in a light pink gown I became sharply aware of two things. First, that poor Dr. Bennett was madly in love with Miss Justine Dubois, and second, that she was completely oblivious to how he felt.

Well. I would just have to do something about that, wouldn’t I?

Happy NaNoween!

2011-10-31T11:56:00.000-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures.

I don't have any big Halloween plans. Basement Cat and I will be hanging out tonight, watching the Ghost Hunters live event on SyFy (okay, I may be a little excited about that, because I LOVE the TAPS crew).I do, however, have National Novel Writing Month plans starting at midnight. This will be my sixth NaNo (I know!). As you may already know, Blood, Smoke and Mirrors was my first NaNo. I should have good news to share soon about last year's NaNo, Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered, or more popularly known as the second Cat book.

This year, I'm working on a sequel to The Importance of Being Emily, titled Poison in the Blood. This is my terrible blurb for it, but I'm not going to worry about it's awfulness, because it's NaNo and that's how we roll during November:

“Would talk about the haunted glen, the wicked quaint fruit-merchant men, their fruits like honey to the throat, but poison in the blood.” --“Goblin Market,” by Christina Rossetti

Mrs. Emily Black is mourning the loss of her husband and soul mate—to the Order of St. Jerome, who has just added him to the ranks of their immortal chroniclers. While Michael adjusts to his new blood-thirsty condition, Emily and their children are sent away to London for their own safety. But wherever Emily goes, trouble is not far behind.

Young ladies have been vanishing from their homes, only to be discovered days later completely drained of their blood, and magician society is in an uproar. Though the necromancers claim to be innocent, the murders continue, and tensions rise as whispers of war between the factions increase.

When an old acquaintance invites Emily to add her seer’s powers to the investigation, she joins forces with guardian Justine Dubois. The ancient and powerful magicians of London frown on the women’s involvement, but together they will face unimaginable dangers as they hunt the killer stalking the night.

So, anybody else doing NaNo?

Oh, that reminds me, I have a minor aside rant: Some authors are NaNo haters. I'm not sure why they drank the haterade on this subject, but the consensus seems to be that they think that to be a real writer one must write year round. Which is true. I write and/or edit just about every day, unless I'm taking a break between projects to clear my brain. I do encourage people who are serious about writing to write all the time.

But that's not the purpose of NaNo. NaNoWriMo is a shared insanity event, where people around the world experience the "joy" of writing a novel, all at the same time. It's a community thing. I love meeting other people during NaNo, because it's a chance to meet people who want to give writing a shot but who aren't quite sure they can do it. They're not ready to take the next step of seeking out organizations like RWA or a critique group--yet. I wasn't at that point when I did my first NaNo. But because I did NaNo that first time, I realized I really could do this. I could be a writer. As Obi-Wan Kenobi might say, it was my first step into a much larger world. And that is why I love NaNoWriMo.

So Much Conference, So Little Time

2011-06-06T08:00:00.109-05:00

You guys, you don't even know.

So this weekend BFF Diana and I ventured forth to the strange, mysterious land of Cincinnati to attend the 2011 Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together. I've never been to Cincinnati before, and most of my travel is around Illinois, so I was understandably disturbed by the trees.

I mean just look at them. All green and menacing. And the hills! What is up with that? Life in central Illinois has taught me that the earth is clearly flat, and covered with corn and/or soybeans, so all this rolling green nonsense was just disturbing. My poor minivan near had a seizure.

And in other news, judging by the insane highway construction going on around Indianapolis, I'm assuming that the zombie apocalypse happened there and the government covered it up, because damn, it is messed up. It was like someone decided to do road planning using the Super Nintendo version of Sim City. I swore. A lot.

But we made it to Cincinnati in a safe and timely manner, managing to avoid the temptation of the three Waffle Houses we passed on the way, and arrived in time for hotel check in. It was a very nice hotel, and fairly hugenormous. Which was good, because there were a lot of people attending the conference. Seriously. A lot. I heard something like 400ish people, which is much larger than the Spring Fling I'm used to. I was not prepared.

This was the line for conference registration. Just the A-L people. I was flashing back to Disney World and the lines for Splash Mountain. (There's an "everybody wants to ride" joke in there somewhere.) I have to give major props to the conference volunteers, because they worked their butts off and did an awesome job. Everything I saw went smoothly, and the attendees had a great time, myself included.

Let me go off on a tangent for a moment about how the intarwebs can screw with your brain, especially if you're tired: I follow 295 people on Twitter, without lists. It's a strange mashup of authors, bloggers, reviewers, geeks, nerds, actors, TV shows and so on and so forth. I also have many authors friended on Facebook, and I read several writing-related email lists, blogs, and forums. This seriously messed with my head at the conference, because I saw so many people that I recognized their name but had no idea where I knew them from. Samhain author? RWA member? Romance Diva? American Idol? No idea. It was killing me. (Though I had no problem recognizing the agent who provided me with my first rejection.) I tried to meet as many Samhain authors and Romance Divas as I could find, but I could barely find anyone, because it was an endless sea of people. So if I saw you and didn't recognize you, I apologize. I met a ton of people and they were pretty much all very cool and awesome, and I probably won't remember half of their names, because my brain was overloaded.

Moving on! So after registration we received our tote bags with epic amounts of promo items, and then Diana and I chilled for a bit. We met up with our friend Chandra Ryan (who is a member of our critique group, a fellow Samhain author and Embrace the Shadows blogger, and a snazzy dresser). And then I got to meet Anni, who is a reader I've been tweeting with for a while now. She loved Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, so thus I love her. ;) Now I love her even more, because she brought me a gift bag with a lovely note saying how much she enjoyed my book, and homemade baked goods. Specifically cake balls (and if you've not heard of this delicious treat, here is an example from the Pioneer Woman). It made my weekend. :)

There was dinner, and then Diana and I went to the bar for a bit and I had almost too much to drink. I hadn't eaten enough that day so it hit me harder than expected, so we didn't get to stay up late and hang out. That's probably for the best, because breakfast was early the next morning. And then we went to the Keri Stevens workshop on QR codes. I had no idea what a QR code was before, but now I'm very interested and will be trying some out in the future. It was very cool. (Don't ask me to explain it though, because I'll end up babbling something about a thingie that links to the intarwebs, and there's an app for that.)

After that we went to a workshop with Leanna Renee Hieber about creating different, out-of-the-box characters. First, I must say that I loved her outfit. It was gorgeous. Diana has a pic of it somewhere, which I demanded that she take so we could show to our friend Rebecca, who will also love it. Her talk was very compelling, and I want to learn more about her books. (Diana bought one and had it signed, and she later started reading it and couldn't put it down.)

Speaking of the signing... I'd been terrified of it for weeks. Constant nightmares. I had legitimate fear that no one was going to buy my books, and I'd be sitting there alone, looking sad and forlorn. Luckily I was sitting between Sidney Ayers and Leah Braemel, who were friendly and chatted with me. Leah is also a Samhain author, and I bought the first book in her series on my Nook while we were talking. (Apparently they don't have Nooks in Canada, and she'd never seen one before.) I signed more than one copy of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, so my worst fears were not realized. Overall it was a good experience, and I'm willing to try it again some day...just not anytime soon.

There were a boatload of Samhain authors at the conference, and a group of us were able to tour the new Samhain office (so gorgeous!) and have dinner there. And we got Samhain loot, including the fleecey blanket that I've been desirous of since I first saw pics of one on Twitter. It was pretty much made of win. I also rode in the Samhainmobile, and listened to Samhain authors who will remain nameless singing along to hits of the 80s. (But there would totally be a video of it on Twitter if my phone battery hadn't died, dang it.)

We came back and hung out, and by the end of the day everyone was too exhausted to move. Thus I did not get to spend more time in the bar, and went to bed instead. We left early the next morning, and the drive back was fine until we hit the Illinois state line, at which point the skies opened up and threw lightning and sideways rain at us all the rest of the way home. One day Diana and I will have a road trip that doesn't try to kill us with rain.

The weekend is all kind of a blur now. So many people. Seriously. I'm beginning to wonder how anyone survives RT or RWA National. It was fun, and I'd like to attend again. Good stuff.

Huzzah for the New Release!

2011-05-26T13:57:00.000-05:00

The Importance of Being Emily is out now! And she's doing rather well. I'm trying not to obsessively check the Samhain store best seller list, but she was on it for a bit. I did break my "Thou Shalt Not Read Reviews/Ratings on GoodReads" commandment and was promptly crushed, so I will not be doing that again. It's a commandment for a reason. Emily did get her first official review from Long and Short Romance Reviews, and it was great. :)

In other news, Blood, Smoke and Mirrors is a finalist in the Light Paranormal/Urban Fantasy category of the 14th Annual Prism Contest for Published Authors. It's pretty cool. And fellow Samhain author Sheryl Nantus is a finalist in the Futuristic category for Blaze of Glory, which I loved and is awesome.

Next week BFF Diana and I will be attending the Lori Foster Reader & Author Get Together. I'll be signing copies of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors at their ginormous book signing. It'll be my first book signing, and I'm very nervous. I have a serious fear that no one will want my book and I'll just be sitting there, reading Twitter on my phone... But it is open to the public, so if you or anyone you know lives in the Cincinnatti area and has some free time on Saturday June 4th, feel free to stop by and say hi. ;)

The Big Bad Crazy Mad iPad Contest! w00t!

2011-05-16T08:00:00.021-05:00

May is filled with lots of awesome book releases. To celebrate, Vivian Arend and Team Moira Rogers are hosting the Big Bad Crazy Mad iPad contest. And the prizes are fabulous. You totally want to enter for a chance to win this goodness, people. I donated to the loot for week 2, including a signed copy of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors and an e-book of The Importance of Being Emily. (Notice how my book is gently snuggled between Dawn McClure and Keith Melton in the photo, aww yeah.) ;)

So go enter already!

Intarweb Tuesday: Giant Piano Win

2011-05-10T08:00:00.008-05:00

So awesome.

Intarweb Tuesday: So Much Cute

2011-04-12T08:00:00.004-05:00

Dolphin: "O hai! Friends nao?"
Kitteh: "Hmm. My food is problematic."

Updates. I has them.

2011-04-11T08:00:00.046-05:00

As you may have noticed, I didn't do so well at the epic TBR quest. :( I did, however, manage to read The Zero Dog War by Keith Melton, and I am SO JEALOUS of how awesome it is. If you love urban fantasy and enjoy things that are awesome, you must read this book. Right now. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, go directly to your favorite ebook store and buy it.

I will continue to attempt to whittle down my TBR pile, and I'll update you as it goes. But for now, I have other distractions. For example:

Next month will be Emily Month here at the blog, because The Importance of Being Emily releases on May 24. I'll be posting excerpts here leading up to the release date, and also participating in some contest goodness with other Samhain authors who have fabulous books releasing in May too. A good time will be had by all. ;)

If you've been going into Robyn blog withdrawal, remember that every Wednesday I'm over at Embrace the Shadows talking about all things writing and paranormal romance. I've been saving my epic blog on what I thought about Dragon Age II just for here, and I should post that some time this week. Because I have opinions on it, and they are epic. Or at least cranky.

In other news, yes, I will be attending the 2011 Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together in June, along with several other fabulous Samhain authors, including the awesome Chandra Ryan. (So you can all pester her questions about the upcoming sequel to Dragonborne.)(I know I will, I may demand an ARC.) I'll be singing, dancing, drinking, and signing copies of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors. You know you want to be there.

Blood, Smoke and Mirrors Virtual Book Tour

2011-02-28T08:00:00.027-06:00

Tomorrow, March 1st, Blood, Smoke and Mirrors is officially available in print. (Though if you ordered it from Amazon, you probably already received your copy, like my Mom, who texted me a photo of it.) Anyway, tomorrow also begins the virtual book tour. And there was much rejoicing. I'll be at a different blog every day, talking about various things from my favorite food to revenge against my freshman English teacher. Good times. And if you stop by and leave a comment you're entered for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card.

TBR Quest: Week 6, In Which our Heroine has the Brain Worms

2011-02-08T12:11:00.000-06:00

More or less. Last week with fraught with migraines. And snow. Lots and lots of snow. (The two were not related.) (Except for my adventure moving my car while experiencing a migraine.)

No, I did not finish the Deanna Raybourn book, due to the migraines. Really all I can do when I'm having a migraine is be in the dark with a pillow over my head and listen to the TV turned down low. This meant that no writing occurred either, so last week was altogether unproductive, with the exception of baking a batch of cookies for work.

Thus the TBR quest continues. (Are you getting an idea yet of why the TBR bookcase is so full? Yeah.)

In other news, if you haven't voted for the February Cover Clash at EtS, please take a minute to stop by and vote for your favorite cover of the month. They are shiny. ;)

In other other news, yes, I will be appearing at the Lori Foster Reader & Author Get Together in June. (Sweet!) I'm very excited about this. BFF Diana will be attending with me.

And one more thing, I am now in the NaNoWriMo published authors list. Go me!

Anyone else have any cool updates? Or hellish experiences with snow and/or migraines that you'd like to share?

TBR Quest: Week 5, Progress!

2011-01-31T08:00:00.015-06:00

Yes, I am reading a book. No, it's not the book I said I'd read. Instead, it is Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn. I had such success with The Dead Travel Fast, I figured I'd try another book by her. It's very good so far. I need to sit down and focus on it, but this weekend became promopalooza as I try to set things up for the print release of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors. (It's out March 1st!)

This weekend was also covertastic, as I was able to review the drafts of Emily's cover. You guys...well, you'll see when I'm able to share it. So good! I'm seriously naming my firstborn after Kanaxa.

TBR Quest: Week 4, yeah...

2011-01-24T17:47:00.000-06:00

As you may have noticed, like many people, I am having a difficult time getting my New Year's resolution off the ground. I thought it was simple enough. I mean, I love reading. It's not like I'm trying to lose weight or quit smoking. I have books that need to be read. It's not rocket science.

But I'm stalled at one book read. I'm not going to give up. I will read those books. I just need a new strategy, and this is a good time to try one. I recently submitted my fantasy novel to my editor (fingers crossed, people), and I'm between projects at the moment. Of course my muse, who has the attention span of "ooh, shiny!" immediately became distracted by a manuscript I've been picking at for awhile. (No, it's not the second Cat book. That's in a state where I hate everything and it's endingless.) All I need to do is rein my muse in and read.

Piece of cake, right?

Intarweb Thursday: Talk British to My Kids

2011-01-20T08:00:00.011-06:00

I love Law & Order. I've been watching Law & Order UK on On Demand, and I love it. I'm still pissed at NBC for canceling old school L&O, because I hate the new one. But anyway, thank you to Diana for sending me this video. :)

TBR Quest: Week 3, made of fail!

2011-01-17T08:00:00.011-06:00

So Robyn, you say, what excuse do you have for not reading your book for last week? Several! Namely, I have edits for Emily. I've also seen the blurb (OMG! so good!) and filled out the cover art sheet. I did work! Honest!

In other news, I've also been polishing up my shiny fantasy romance to send to my editor, and the dreaded synopsis monster is dragging me down. We hates the synopsis. Forever. But I love this story. Let's hope that my editor loves it too once I get it out the door...

As far as the TBR quest, my goal continues to be to finish reading Princess of the Sword. If I can do that and get my edits and my submission done, I may reward myself by reading another book. We'll see what happens.

Intarweb Thursday: Your Princess is in Another Castle

2011-01-13T08:00:00.019-06:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

It makes perfect sense now... And hey, you know I'm totally with them, because I love villains. ;)

TBR Quest: Week 2

2011-01-10T18:01:00.000-06:00

I accomplished reading The Dead Travel Fast. Yay! My review is over yonder at Goodreads, but in summary, I really enjoyed it. Very atmospheric.

For my next book I'll be continuing to cheat by reading a book I've already started, namely Princess of the Sword by Lynn Kurland. It's the third book in the trilogy, which I have enjoyed (I am so in love with the hero, you have no idea).

In other news...actually there is no other news at the moment. Off I go to do my homework!

Intarweb Tuesday: Now on Thursdays!

2011-01-06T08:00:00.018-06:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I figured, if I'm going to be conquering the TBR bookcase on Mondays, then I should move my Intarweb day to Thursday. Isn't he cute? Not as cute as my Basement Cat, who is fluffier, but still.

Anyway, don't let me forget to post about my Christmas paranormal experience sometime soon. Everything I need to know about debunking I learned from the Ghost Hunters.

Read In the New Year

2011-01-03T08:00:00.054-06:00

It's that time again. ("Time to blow bubbles with our spit?") No, it's the obligatory New Year's resolution post. You're thrilled, I can tell.

But wait!

This is not a "this will be the year I lose 50 pounds" post. No! (Because honestly, we all know that's not going to happen.) Instead, this is the year I finally do something about my massive To Be Read pile. And lo, it is massive. You've probably heard me mention it before. I may have commented on the fact that it is not a pile but in fact a bookcase. Or that there are books on it that have been there from before I was married.

Behold! The To Be Read Bookcase!

Yes, there is a samurai sword with a phone charger draped over it next to the bookcase. No, I'm not sure why that is. (We <3 swords.)

So, as you can see, there's a variety of stuff crammed into those shelves. Most of it's romance--paranormal romance, fantasy romance, romantic suspense, even some contemporary. There's also some urban fantasy, I think some sci-fi somewhere, and epic fantasy. There's also a book my mother gave me called "I Can Make You Sleep!". It is not by Charles Dickens, nor is it about Ambien, so I am dubious about its effectiveness.

And, as you can also see, those books are double shelved. It's a lot of books. A whole lot. So much that I've started piling new books on the kitchen table because I can't fit them in the bookcase.

Thus my 2011 TBR Quest is born: I will read at least one book a week. Every Monday, I will post that book here, and I'll keep you all updated on my progress. Reviews will be posted over at Goodreads, so if you're not my friend there yet, go friend me now. ;)

To start off in an easy, slightly cheaty way, I'll be finishing off a book I've been reading for a while: The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn.

So Robyn, you ask, what's your motivation for sticking to this quest? Well, I'm glad you asked. I will not buy a new print book until I clear off one of those shelves. That's madness, you say! It would be, but note I said print book. Ebooks are fair game, as my Nook doesn't take up room. And you know I love print books. eHarlequin knows I love print books, because they send me emails with discounts to lure me to their site, and then convince me to buy more to qualify for free shipping...

Anyway, the TBR bookshelf got out of control because I don't read when I'm writing. And there's no good reason for that. I know I can do both, and I'm missing out on fabulous books by not reading on a regular basis. So now it's on like Donkey Kong!

NaNoWriMo 2010: Winner!

2010-11-28T21:16:00.000-06:00

Today I crossed the NaNoWriMo 50k finish line. The story isn't finished yet, there's still a few epic fight scenes and a rousing "This day we fight!" speech left to write, so I'll be going for a while yet.

I thought I'd share a few highlights of the draft so far:

Number of f-bombs: 27
Times Cat tells Harrison to die in a fire: 3
Favorite new character: Patience Roberts
Favorite line at the moment: "If you drop Harrison into a pit of molten lava he’ll just become Darth Vader. No one wants that."
Number of times Cat has fainted: 0 (yay for improvement!)

So, my fellow writers, how is everyone else faring in NaNo land? Crossing the finish line? Or did you give up weeks ago? ;)

NaNoWriMo 2010: Days 22-23

2010-11-23T22:24:00.001-06:00

40428 / 50000
(80.86%)

Still ahead, and Turkey Day approaches. I'm not predicting that any writing will get done during the Turkey Day festivities, but it could happen. I'm planning on crossing the 50k finish line this weekend. Or possibly getting close and finishing on Monday. After all, we'll probably put the Christmas tree up this weekend, and that's labor intensive. No, seriously. We have enough ornaments for three trees, in a variety of themes. Star Wars, Star Trek, The Wizard of Oz, Muppets, Snoopy, Garfield, and the list goes on.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Days 17-21

2010-11-21T22:17:00.000-06:00

38042 / 50000
(76.08%)

Despite having the plague, I have pulled ahead of the daily word count. Though because I did much of this writing while under the effects of the plague, I'm a little unsure of the quality. Cold meds and writing don't mix well. But that's what editing is for, right?

Dear Walking Dead: Why must you be on before my bed time? Really?

So many zombie nightmares. :(

Intarweb Tuesday: Doolittle!

2010-11-17T08:00:00.019-06:00

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I was laughing so hard at Damn You Auto Correct! that I was crying. I'm still looking for a place to use "grubstake" in the NaNo. But this one also cracked me up, so I thought I would share.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Days 15-16

2010-11-16T22:44:00.000-06:00

26803 / 50000
(53.61%)

Say it with me, "HALF WAY THERE!". I imagine it being chanted at me like a crowd chanting at Adam on Man v. Food. And now I'm even slightly ahead. Which is good, because I need to get ahead before Thanksgiving. I'm guessing there won't be a lot of writing time when I'm home visiting the family.

In other news, there are some lovely photos of Samhain Duckie at the Cheesecake Factory over on my Facebook page. I'm also blogging at Embrace the Shadows tomorrow, and you should stop on by. :)

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 14

2010-11-14T22:40:00.000-06:00

23335 / 50000
(46.67%)

I'm back in the saddle again. ;) Today I caught up with the word count. I also watched the Bears win, and probably watched too much The Walking Dead and will have more zombie nightmares. (Damn you, Walking Dead, why must you be on before my bed time?) Today I got to introduce my favorite new character. Tomorrow I get to write the alternate ending to Blood, Smoke and Mirrors that I always wanted...

NaNoWriMo 2010: Days 10-13

2010-11-13T23:58:00.000-06:00

20316 / 50000
(40.63%)

Still behind, but I made a lot of progress today, and I'm planning on more tomorrow. I'm coming up on some fun parts in the story, and I get to introduce my favorite new character. She's awesome. :)

NaNoWriMo 2010: Days 8-9

2010-11-09T22:53:00.000-06:00

14501 / 50000
(29%)

Progress was hindered yesterday by a migraine, but I'm continuing to chug along. I need to sit down and really focus to catch up (and turn off the TV, or go in the other room and let the hippy play Mass Effect 2 without my help).

NaNoWriMo 2010: Days 5-7

2010-11-07T23:01:00.000-06:00

11017 / 50000
(22.03%)

So I'm a little behind, as predicted, but I'm not doing bad. This week should be pretty quiet, and catching up shouldn't be a problem. Lots of fun stuff coming up in the story, including some of my favorite characters.

And the Bears won today, yay!

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 4

2010-11-04T23:29:00.000-05:00

7003 / 50000
(14.01%)

Not bad. Still ahead of where I need to be, though not by much. I should have time to write tomorrow before my weekend guest arrives. And most of the cleaning is done.

Now as an aside, in my previous job as an editor I spent a lot of time dealing with rights and permissions, and making sure that material isn't plagiarized is a subject near to my heart. And like SBTB, I say don't be a Judith Griggs. Just because you found it on teh intarwebs doesn't mean it's public domain. Sheesh.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 3

2010-11-03T22:44:00.000-05:00

And...fail.

Not so much with the progress today. There are various excuses for this, laundry chief among them. The sad truth is that I let myself get flustered and unfocused, and I didn't buckle down and achieve as much as I could have.

Tomorrow is another day.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 2

2010-11-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

6494 / 50000
(12.99%)

I'm a little ahead. Which is good, because I predict falling behind in the near future. Specifically this weekend, when a friend of mine is coming to visit. Though as one of my biggest fans, she'll probably demand that I sit down and write.

It's odd letting Cat ramble again. Since finishing Blood, Smoke and Mirrors I've dabbled in stories from the perspectives of other characters from the book--Harrison, Emily, and Simon, to name a few--but Cat has a special place in my heart. A bitchy, snarky place.

My debut at Embrace the Shadows is tomorrow, so please stop by if you have a moment. I'm talking series, a topic that also has a special place in my heart right now. ;)

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 1

2010-11-01T22:52:00.000-05:00

Day 1 word count achieved.

Number of times Cat has told Harrison to die in a fire: 2

Okay, so I got a little distracted by Dancing with the Stars, but I made my word count anyway. Tomorrow will be more challenging, because I have a blog to write and a vet appointment for my cat. But the story is starting out with a bang...

Got Plot?

2010-10-07T09:00:00.091-05:00

NaNoWriMo. I'm committed. I'm adding writing buddies and discussing plans. I have an idea of what I want to write, which is more than I had my first time around, but I don't have an outline. Yet!

Once upon a time I was a pantser. I'd dive into a story with great character ideas and no clue as to what those characters were going to do, other than fight evil and live happily ever after. It didn't work out. Without fail I would hit a wall around 30k words and be unable to finish the story. A few months after my first NaNo I joined Romance Writers of America, and I learned a lot more about the craft of writing. I've read articles and books, I've taken online workshops, I've been to conferences, and I learned that if I want to push past that 30k block, I need to sit my butt down and plot out the story from beginning to end. That way if I do get stuck I can skip ahead to the next step and come back to the problem later.

It started with the note card exercise, which I learned from a NaNo forum. You take 10 index cards, and write your opening scene on the first one and your ending on the last. Then you write the steps that need to happen to get from the beginning to the end on the cards in between. Need more scenes? Add more cards. It's quick, it's simple, and it can be very helpful in figuring out the "and then what happens?" of your story.

Next came writing software. I use WriteWayPro, and I love it. But I use it mainly for plotting and for character information (I adore the fact that you can add a picture in your character bios, I've spent many hours casting characters in the Blood, Smoke and Mirrors universe). WriteWay has a great outline feature, but it's a blank slate. Staring at the empty outline can be as intimidating as staring at an empty page.

Enter the next step in my writing evolution: the plot map. This article was very helpful to me, and it's a great explanation of how to pace a story using the example of a movie that I dig (While You Were Sleeping). It draws from Vogler's book The Writer's Journey; I'm reading it at the moment. Slowly. Mostly while on lunch break at my Shiny New Job. Hypothetically I'm also reading the copy of Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces that Diana let me borrow several months ago...have I mentioned lately how hugenormous my TBR bookcase is? Seriously. Gigantic.

Anyway, by these powers combined I have conquered plotting, muahaha! Okay, maybe not so much. My process is always evolving. I love buying more craft books and taking new online workshops. Obviously I have room to grow as a writer (or so the intarwebs tell me)(apparently I made someone want to throw their Kindle against a wall)(I in no way condone violence against Kindles). So, are you a plotter? Are there any methods that you love? Or are you panster all the way, and think I'm trying to convert you to the dark side?

It's That Time Again

2010-10-01T08:00:00.067-05:00

No, not time for the Wheel of Morality. Time for National Novel Writing Month. Thirty days, 50k words, made of awesome. w00t! NaNo starts November 1st, but I'm already planning what I'm going to write. (Planning is allowed, per the rules. Actual writing is not.)

If you've been following along, you know that Blood, Smoke and Mirrors was my first NaNo novel. In fact, there's an article about it on the NaNo site (so cool!)(yes I'm a geek). I've done NaNo every year since. I haven't won every year, but I've attempted it. My second year I started Harrison's book, and got about halfway to the 50k finish line with it. So yes, ladies, there are plans for his very own book. One day...but before I can get there, Cat has some issues with him that she needs resolved. And thus, this year's NaNo will be Cat's second book.

But Robyn, you say, didn't you already start that book? I did, and I'm tossing it. New, fresh start. It didn't get past Chapter 2, due to a variety of thingies and problems and drama and just general Grr! Argh! There were a few sad panda tears. But I'm better now (and employed again, which is amazing for many reasons, and will save us from having to live in a van down by the river).

So now I ask you, my fellow authors: Who will stand with me? NaNoWriMo glory awaits us! No plot? No problem! You can always sleep in December...

Intarweb Tuesday: So Dirty

2010-09-14T11:28:00.000-05:00

I caught the 30 second version of this commercial last week, and it gave me a moment of pause as my brain twitched, and I said, "Did that just happen?!"

Yes, yes it did. And this is the full length version of the commercial. Please to enjoy.

Can't take the heat?

2010-09-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

When a romance writer starts talking about heat level, she's probably not commenting on the weather. She's talkin' about gettin' down and dirty in her novel--or not. Romance novels are not created equal in the frolic department. Some are sweet, where if sex happens it goes on behind closed doors and the reader is left to imagine what went on. Then there are more moderate levels, leading up to erotic romance, where the "C, F, and P words" appear, possibly with some toys and adventurous settings. (One of the hottest books I've ever read was a space opera, and I'll refrain from commenting on the wackiness that can ensue when alien races are involved.)

Lately I've been pondering sex. Well, sex in my writing, that is. If you've read Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, you know it's there, but there's not a whole lot of it. There just wasn't enough time for it in the story, because Cat's always running off to cause shenanigans somewhere and I didn't want to have to justify something like "okay, we're going to take a break from fighting vampires now to get it on in your car." Not so much. Though I'll admit I really wanted to write a sex scene between Cat and Zach, but I knew that would take the story places I wasn't prepared for it to go. That, and my critique group threatened to hurt me if I wrote it... But speaking of the critique group, this was my original inspiration for this post:

Writers, do you have more trouble writing love scenes than you do the rest of the story?

Because it seems like many of us do. I discussed this a bit over Twitter recently as well, and it seemed like there was a split between those who are squeamish (like me) and those who have no fear. For my writing, it almost falls into the same category as a fight scene--love to include it, hate to write it. I've been working on a fantasy romance novel that has more love scenes in it than Cat's book did, and it makes me nervous. I'm not entirely sure why that is. There was a great interview of Angela Knight in the August Romance Writers Report, where she talked a bit about how to be comfortable and confident writing erotic romance. (Angela Knight is awesome, by the way. I really recommend her book Passionate Ink, and I've taken several of her workshops, which I also recommend.) Angela explained,

"I want to depict what love is really like for these two people. Sex is a part of love--it's the physical manifestation of the spiritual passion between the couple. By holding back and glossing over the physical part of the relationship, you're cheating the reader and the characters of that vital dimension. And I think some romance writers do so because they want to preserve the illusion of being a 'nice girl' who doesn't really like sex."

That really resonated with me. As an author I struggle with a need to be true to my characters versus my lasped-Catholic conditioning that tells me I'm going straight to Hell for this (do no pass "Go", do not collect $200). Becoming a published author only added to that, because that same voice of guilt likes to remind me that there are people reading the sex that I wrote. GASP! OMG NOOOOOOO! And worse, there are people I am related to by blood or marriage reading it. Excuse me while I go die of embarrassment...

Moving on! Aside from the "will I or won't I?" of including sex scenes in your writing, there's also the "is this any good?" of it all as well. Because romance readers read tons of romance on a regular basis, and these are savvy readers. They're not going to settle for boring sex--not that you need to reinvent the sex scene or create wacky settings to make it interesting, it means it needs to be well written. As AK said above it's the spiritual passion between your couple. Good sex scenes are concerned with writerly details like character development and plot, and this to me is the definitive explanation of why romance novels aren't "porn for women." Porn doesn't care about character development or plot. "Hi, I'm Staci," is not character development. "Pizza's here!" is not plot. Anyway...

Do you suffer from "eep, am I really writing this?"-itis? Or are you one of the brave "I can't wait to write this!" types? Do you worry that you're writing the same-old, same-old? Or do you avoid it entirely by "and then he closed the door, end of chapter"?

Intarweb Tuesday: Gam3rs 4tw!

2010-09-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

So I know this guy, who may or may not be related to my husband, who has this play called GAM3RS. It's very cool. He totally mentions my book on his website. Anyway, Brian is one of my beta-readers, and I sat down with him this past weekend and discussed the first draft of my new book. In thanks, I thought I'd share the trailer for GAM3RS this Interweb Tuesday. Please to enjoy. :)

Intarweb Tuesday: Just Dance

2010-08-31T17:58:00.000-05:00

Did everyone see the new Dancing with the Stars list? It's Hofftastic. Can't wait. ;)

How is it (almost) September already? Geez. Time flies.

Intarweb Tuesday is Linktastic Again

2010-08-17T13:06:00.000-05:00

That display is actually in our local grocery store, so it's been amusing to watch it make the rounds of the intarwebs. It was on Kotaku too, or so the husband tells me.

Thanks to Twitter I have 2 things to share today:

The E-books article drinking game. It's rather like the romance novel drinking game--intended to inspire drunkenness and/or alcohol poisoning. You know it's going to be awesome when it uses the word HULKSMASH in the first example.

Six myths about publishing. This is really interesting. And rather depressing in parts, but that's how publishing rolls. It does make me love my publisher all the more though. (Big hugs to Mr. Sam Hain.) The comments on the article are also interesting, though several go off on Stephanie Plum tangents (haven't read any, so no idea what they're talking about).

Enjoy!

Did someone drink the haterade again?

2010-08-12T01:23:00.000-05:00

It happens on a regular basis. Some d-bag gets his panties in a twist and decides to hate on the romance novels. (There's a recent article on the SB's site here about how Bloomberg Business Week Blows.) The word "bodice ripper" is often used. I've seen some authors on a mission to reclaim the term, one of those "if we use it ourselves it has less power" kind of things, and I understand that. But the people who bandy it about when they're accusing romance of being porn for women or being fluff and not "real" like literary fiction, they're just being insulting. Degrading, even.

Can't we all just get along? ... Okay, probably not.

Romance writers get seriously pissed off when this sort of thing happens, and we quote sales numbers and percentages of the market and point out the many ways that romance rocks. And we're right, because it does, but that's not going to stop the haters. Much as it pains me, there were always be haters, because at the root of it, romance novels offer things to women that the haters don't want women to have. Fun. Empowerment. Enjoyment. An escape from the drudgery of everyday life. The idea that true love and happiness is possible. It's an industry that for the most part is made by women for women, and the haters are always going to look for a way to be d-bags and devalue the power of that. And damn, we are powerful (see above mention of profits and percents, we are the machine that drives the publishing industry).

So what's my point? I'll say it loud and I'll say it proud: I love romance novels. I read them, I recommend them to my friends and family, and I even *gasp* write them! No amount of asshattery will stop that, but I suspect that in a week, maybe a month, someone else will say something ignorant about those silly romance novelists and their porn. (Dude, seriously, have they seen porn? WTF?) And we'll all get riled again, and the process will repeat. But the important thing is that no matter how rude or ignorant the haters get, we never lose our love for our romance novels.

You hear that? If you want to take my Nora Roberts books, you'll have to pry them from my cold, dead hands.

Intarweb Tuesday: A Certain Point of View

2010-08-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

On the Romance Divas forums there's a thread called "You know you're a romance author when..." and it's had some very awesome examples. (No I'm not sharing, you'll have to read it yourself.) ;) But it really shows how writers think differently from everyone else. We're special...obsessed really. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and think "OMG, that's a great story idea" and go in search of a notebook. Many of my great lines have been thought up in the shower. I pick apart whatever I'm watching and analyze it for character motivation and plot. Lemme tell ya, I have a bone to pick with Dragon Age, because there are so many elements of their "romantic" storylines that aren't romance, dammit! Okay, I'm better now...

My point is, authors are special. Now I'm going to return you to your regularly scheduled program so I can finally finish writing this epic love scene.

Where do we go from here?

2010-08-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

Clearly you must be thinking, "Robyn, what will you do if you're not talking about gaming and writing?" Which is a valid question, because those are two of my favorite things. Today, however, I want to talk about reading. I confess: I don't just have a To Be Read pile, I have an entire bookcase. There are books that have been there since before I got married. I don't read as much as I used to, because I tend not to read when I'm writing, and I'm writing something almost all of the time. But I'm trying to whittle the pile down, honest! Or at least not bring new books into the apartment...until I bought my Nook.

Addiction, thy name is ebook. In my life before the Nook, I read ebooks on my laptop, and that was slow-going because of the myriad distractions of the intarwebs. The Nook does not have those distractions. In fact, the more I read on the Nook, the more I've come to realize that to me, it's even better than reading a print book, and here's why: font size. I can't change the font size on a print book, but when my eyes start bothering me I can make the font larger on my Nook and viola! Eyestrain gone! The only difference I've found is that instead of turning a page, I push a button, and I'm okay with that.

So what have I been reading on my shiny new Nook? Well if you follow me on Goodreads you'd know, because I'm good about updating it. ;) It's been a Samhain extravaganza: Blaze of Glory by Sheryl Nantus, Run, Wolf by Keith Melton, and Darkness at Dawn by Devin Harnois. All very good, and I recommend them. Next I'm planning on reading some fantasy romance, because that's what I'm working on at the moment. My question to you, o intarwebs, is what are you reading now? Is it awesome? Do you recommend it? And do you have any fantasy romance to recommend that I try out? I'm reading Lynn Kurland's Princess of the Sword right now.

Intarweb Tuesday: Romance Writers 4TW

2010-08-03T12:28:00.000-05:00

Because I will never be able to afford a trip to RWA National, I have to enjoy it vicariously through the internets. Here is a video of the literacy signing created by SB Sarah. It's probably a good thing I'll never go; with my addiction to signed books, I'd want one from every author and end up bankrupt. ;)

Storyteller: This Is The End, My Friend

2010-07-29T12:30:00.000-05:00

So now we’ve come to the end of my rambling. At least on this subject (because I could ramble all day about Dragon Age and the myriad reasons I’d like to kick George Lucas in the ding-ding). For now (let’s face it, I could probably talk gaming and writing forever). To recap…

Magic needs rules. Wizards need limits on their magic. Creatures need rules for what they can and cannot do. Setting the rules for your world can help with everything from plotting the story to choreographing a fight scene. Be aware of how much punch a fireball packs. Don’t be afraid of lighting your hero’s party up with friendly fire.

Maps are your friend. Creating a map of your world can help illustrate everything from trade routes to political relationships. Real world maps can be altered to fit your setting. They’re also made of awesome for reminding you what place names are, so you’re not constantly going back to your manuscript trying to remember what street the hero lives on or what kingdom the heroine ran away from.

Balance your characters. Characters need merits and flaws. They need things they excel in, and things they suck at. For every benefit you give them, take something away. Give them ninjas to fight, external and personal ninjas. As Shrek might say, characters are like onions—they need layers. Don’t be afraid to try out a character questionnaire. You never know when the heroine’s favorite flavor of ice cream might come up in a scene.

Plot happens. Sometimes your story gets away from you. Plot bunnies attack. Burning vans appear. Don’t panic! When in doubt, throw ninjas at your characters, but remember that they need to recover from every ninja attack. Action is like a video game—you proceed through the level, learn something, fight some bad guys, and then move on to the next until you reach the boss battle. After that it’s a little resolution and a happily ever after. Don’t be afraid to plot out fight scenes with whatever you have at hand, whether that be D&D figurines or marshmallow Peeps.

And no matter what you do, always remember Wheaton’s law: Don’t be a dick.

Now, to discuss what we’ve learned from all this, I bring you…the Wheel of Morality!

May your dice always roll well, may your loot always be phat, and may your xbox never suffer from the red ring of death. Good night everybody!

Interweb Tuesday: You Can't Handle the Cute

2010-07-27T18:44:00.000-05:00

Today I bring you baby otters! So much adorable.

Storyteller: Grid Maps and Figurines: Plotting Your Fight Scenes in 3D

2010-07-22T12:36:00.000-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with fight scenes. I love to include them, but I hate to write them. I think it’s a hatred born of my time as a Storyteller at LARP, where on occasion we would have to try to manage fight scenes with 50+ characters. Everyone wanted to be involved in the action, and they wanted your attention right now. Thankfully when writing you only have to argue with the voices in your head, and perhaps your editor.

There are a few basics to keep in mind when writing fights. There’s a simple rhythm to it: action and reaction. If your hero throws a punch, his opponent will try to dodge it. In order to gain ground, someone has to lose it—like ballroom dancing, where one partner steps forward while the other steps back. I’ve learned a lot about the mechanics of fights from gaming. For example, in a video game such as World of Warcraft, a ring will appear when my warlock attempts to cast an area-of-effect spell, showing me where my damage will rain down holy hellfire on anything within it. I need to position that ring for the maximum effect, and that can be difficult, because you often can’t fit every monster inside of it.

This goes back to my discussion on the rules of magic. You need to know the limits of your character’s abilities. If she wants to cast a fireball, she knows that it will only hit a certain area, so she needs to be aware of where to throw it to maximize its effectiveness. Trying to plot that out in your head can be tricky when you’re adding in more variables like additional characters, their abilities, bystanders, the bad guys, and their abilities. In a RPG like Dungeons and Dragons players often use maps and figurines as a physical representation of their adventure. Below is a photo of a few of my husband’s figs arrayed on a grid map. Each space on the map equals 5 feet, so this allows a player to figure out how far he can move, how far the bad guys can move, how many of them will be affected by his spell, and so on.

(Yes, that is Raistlin Majere about to unleash hell upon that dragon, bonus points for noticing that.) But unless you are a geek yourself or you married one, you probably don’t have these things lying around the house to help you with your fight scene. Thus I bring you…Samhain Duckie versus the Evil Peep Army! (Yes, he is wearing a wizard hat, and apparently blue wizard needs Nutella badly.) These examples should help illustrate how taking a few minutes to set up a physical model can help you decide who does what to who in your fight scene, and how it plays out from beginning to end. Or it'll just be silly and vaguely entertaining. Either way, he looks cute in his hat.

Area of Effect and Position Bonuses
As I mentioned earlier, some spells, like fireballs, will affect an entire area. This is also true for other types of explosive damage like grenades. From his vantage atop the castle wall, Wizard Duckie can easily wipe out the Evil Peeps in one shot because they’re grouped together. His spot on the wall also gives him a tactical advantage—you always want the high ground, and your characters should try to get it if possible. From here he can attack them with his ranged spells, but the Peeps have melee weapons, and if they want to fight Wizard Duckie, they have to storm the castle.

Cover
Here Wizard Duckie has come down from the wall and prepares to face off with the Peeps in melee combat. Wizard Duckie has partial cover: by hiding behind the Nutella jar, he is harder to spot and harder to hit with a ranged attack like a spell or arrow. No matter how brave or overconfident your hero may be, it's always good to get some sort of cover if he's under attack. Also, though Peeps 1 and 2 can see him, Peep 3 can’t, giving Wizard Duckie full cover from Peep 3. Thus Peep 3 can’t attack him, but our wizard also can’t attack Peep 3. He could, however, cast a fireball that would hit Peeps 1 and 2. If he hid completely behind the Nutella Jar, he would have full cover from all three.

Dodge, Parry and Flanking Attackers
Mortal Kombat! Here Wizard Duckie is surrounded. He can engage the Peeps in front of him, with a chance to dodge and/or parry their attacks. Peep 3 is flanking him. Because he can’t see Peep 3, Peep 3 gets bonuses to attacking him. Nobody wants to be flanked. If you’re looking for a way to knock out your characters, this is a good way to do it. Rogues usually attack this way, burying their blades in your character’s kidneys before you can say “I took how much damage?!” Occasionally in movies you’ll see the hero managing to parry the attack of the person behind him, like “aha! I block your sword with my sword even though I didn’t know you were there, because I am just that good!” So yes, it’s been done, but I don’t recommend it. Remember, just because your characters are fighting throwaway minions who won't make it into the next scene doesn't mean that those minions won't try to take every tactical advantage they can get. Those minions want to live, even though you're going to kill them.

Charging and Attacks of Opportunity
In this scenario, the Evil Peeps stand between Wizard Duckie and the castle. To get to the castle, he’s going to have to get past them. He can break left or right, but they’ll get a swing at him as he goes by because he’ll pass through their threat area. This is the area around a character that they can reach without taking more than a step. Imagine you’re playing tag, and you have to run past the person who is It. They’re going to make a grab for you as you go by. The same goes for a fight scene. If you come close enough to reach, the bad guys are going to grab at you. Wizard duckie could charge the Peeps here, rushing them, but they’re going to swing at him when he does. He might whup them, or they might smack him down before he can take a second swing. It's often tempting just to bypass minions like these when writing a fight, because you just want to get your character from point A to point B, but the minions deserve to get at least a swing in, since you put them in there in the first place.

So those are a few fight scene basics. I hope Samhain Duckie has shown you the benefits of setting up a fight scene to help you work it out. Or if nothing else that you found him amusing. ;) Next week concludes the Storyteller extravaganza, and we will spin the Wheel of Morality and see what we’ve learned from all of this. (A special thank you goes out to my husband for helping with Samhain Duckie’s photo shoot.)

Intarweb Tuesday: I Got Your Emotional Conflict Right Here

2010-07-20T11:14:00.000-05:00

As I may have mentioned before, I am the child of two gym teachers, and as such I'm much more likely to be "rub some dirt in it and walk it off" than "and how does that make you feel?". So there was a special place in my heart for the above commercial. ;)

Storyteller: Critical Fail: Making Your Characters Suffer

2010-07-15T12:26:00.000-05:00

In most d20 systems, rolling a 20 is an automatic success and rolling a 1 is an automatic fail. Rolling a 1 is never good. Because I am a huge dork, I often insert a “Well they just rolled a 1” comment in whatever I’m watching when things go horribly wrong. If you’ve seen the second Dungeons and Dragons movie that was made for Sci Fi (I guess that’d be Syfy now, whatever), that’s a good example of epic fails (and also of a Dungeon Master who is an epic dick to his players)(please, don’t be that guy). The healer dies in their first fight. THEIR FIRST FRICKIN’ FIGHT. Then when they teleport somewhere their wizard fails her roll and gets her arm STUCK IN A FRICKIN’ STONE WALL. And they have to CUT IT OFF. I’m sorry, that piece of crap brings out the all caps rage in me. But, point made that it’s bad to roll a 1.

In some games that I’ve played, a Game Master has the option of torturing their players if they roll a 1. Okay, not literal torture, but they can allow the player’s action to succeed while giving them a “complication.” There is a world of trouble and suffering that can happen from a complication. The hero shoots the bad guy, but then the gun backfires and seriously injures the hero’s hand. The heroine hacks into the government computer system and finds the files she needs, but trips a security alarm and men in black are going to storm her apartment in 30 seconds. The ninja sidekick performs a complicated set of acrobatics to get across the room and through the sea of bad guys…and then falls flat on his face and knocks himself out.

There’s a Jim Butcher quote that I love to repeat that goes, “My business is making Harry Dresden suffer. And business is good.” As a writer your business is making your characters suffer. It’s the C in GMC. (Remember Goal, Motivation and Conflict? Good, you get a gold star.) :) When plotting, take a moment to ponder what would happen if your hero and heroine fail spectacularly in whatever scene they’re in. Think of Star Wars. There are lots of moments of fail in Star Wars. They escape Hoth…and the hyperdrive is broken. They escape Bespin…and the hyperdrive is still broken (or at least appears to be). It’s the “I am a leaf on the wind” moment in Serenity when the ship lands. You know that moment.

It draws out the drama. We expect, especially in a romance, that there will be a happily ever after, but your characters have to jump through all sorts of hoops to get there. Every success comes at a price. Every triumph comes with a casualty. Even if it’s a personal ninja casualty like hurt feelings instead of say a severed limb. (It’s amazing what you can live through in a video game, but I digress…) But there is a point where you can go too far, as I mentioned above about the craptastic D&D movie. You want to be mean to your characters and give them conflict, but always remember Wheaton’s law: “Don’t Be a Dick!” Don’t overdo it to the point where your readers are frustrated on behalf of your characters. Don’t be that guy.

Next week is my last post in this series before the Epic Conclusion. Gasp! I know, where did the time go? Anyway, I’ll be talking about using hex maps and figurines to help you think in 3D for fight scenes. I’ve probably lost most of you at hex maps, but I’ll be featuring Samhain Duckie versus an army of evil Peeps, so it’ll be awesome. Trust me.

Storyteller Side Quest: Constructive Annoyance

2010-07-13T11:56:00.000-05:00

Today's side quest is brought to you by BFF Diana. These are Diana's thoughts on being a good crit partner. Please to enjoy, and I'm sure she'll answer any questions you have for her too. :)

As you've gathered by now, Robyn and I talk about writing a lot. Almost every day, in fact, we IM each other, talking about what we're writing, sharing good lines that we just wrote, cackling about the terrible things we are about to do to our characters, taunting each other during word wars, or, at the very least, talking about what we would be writing if we weren't busy hitting on Alistair in Dragon Age.

All of these conversations are important to us as writing and critique partners, but some of the most important--and most fun--conversations revolve around questions. The beginning of a recent session went something like this:

Robyn: I'm thinking about writing a story about Michael and Emily.
Diana: Can I ask questions?
Robyn: Sure.
Diana: What's life like for seers in Victorian England? When exactly during Victoria's reign is this set (she lived for freakin ever)? Is Michael Simon's first apprentice? What makes him so special? Is this going to be in London? Will Emily put chunks of masonry in her reticule?

Granted, I did pause to let Robyn give me some answers (I'll think about it, I have birth years for them, yes, dunno yet, yes, and snerk, respectively), but otherwise that's pretty much how our conversations go whenever one of us has a new idea or runs into a thorny worldbuilding or plotting problem. And getting answers really isn't the goal of question time.

Why Ask?

When I ask questions, I really don't care about getting answers. Well, sure, there's a part of me that really does want to know if Cecelia of the Silver Crescent ever does the chicken dance with toadstool pixies, but getting answers to everything isn't the goal. Ultimately, the questions I ask are a way of prodding the other person into thinking about the topic in general, nudging her or him out of a rut and into a frame of mind where new ideas can be generated. Unless there's a specific problem area that we're trying to address, starting at "What shoes is the villain wearing" and winding up at "What are the mourning rituals of this subculture" is a good thing.

Ask What?

What you ask, of course, depends on whether you're playing off of a brand-new idea with lots of possible angles or exploring something specific. Starting with the germ of an idea can be fun--that's when you can play with the wacky random questions or do in-depth worldbuilding. The former can lead to fun character touches, while the latter can lead to information that your partner needs to figure out, even if it doesn't make it into the book.

These categories are very fluid. Robyn and I once started out with a character question that led to worldbuilding, winding up back with character touches. A question about one character's siblings evolved into lengthy session on the mating habits of werejaguars: Do they have litters? Which form reproduces? Are there problems if a mother shifts during gestation? Can they cross-breed? All of that was information that was fun worldbuilding, but very little of it will end up in the finished product. (We did wind up needing to know whether our were needed to worry about birth control with a non-were!) (We really need to finish that book someday.)

When your writing partner comes to you with a specific issue to work on, you need to keep in mind not only the immediate problem, but also where the problem fits into the rest of the work. Ideally, you've been discussing the project beforehand so you're not asking basic questions to orient yourself! Earlier this evening, Robyn asked me where a new villain should be introduced--a villain so new, I didn't know much about him! We had to go through a couple rounds of questions until I understood how he fit into the story as I knew it and could ask the questions that actually led to a decision.

As an aside, when you ask your questions, it's unavoidable that your own opinions will creep in, and you may be tempted to guide your partner toward what you would write, rather than what is best for the story. Try to keep an open mind until you've exhausted all the possibilities. For the villain introduction I just mentioned, I initially was leaning toward option A, because I thought it would be better for the heroine's interactions with the hero, but once we'd explored the full situation, I suggested option B...because I thought it would be better for the heroine's interactions with the hero!

Ask How?

Channeling a three-year-old who just learned about "Why?" isn't always the best way to feel like you're being constructive--and isn't the best way to keep your writing partner from winging a can of tuna at your head. Being sensitive to your writing partner's mood, idiosyncrasies, and current writing needs is essential.

While one or two unprompted questions can be good if you've been pondering something that might need clarification, try to avoid ambushing your partner with a dozen questions at once.

Also, I ask "Am I being annoying?" a lot. When we get to a point where the answer is "Yes," I stop. Most of the time.

Concluding a Session

Ideally, question sessions are both finite and ongoing. As fun as a good round of questions can be, you do need to stop at some point and actually write! A natural time to take a break is when you hit on an idea so excellent, it must be written down immediately or it will get lost. But if you find yourself circling around the same questions or getting involved in details that no one, not even the writer, needs to know, it's probably time to stop procrastinating and get something down on the page.

When you find someone you work well with--when you are able to both nag and encourage each other in productive ways--then the questions never really stop. And it's a wonderful thing.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to ask Robyn about what one of my secondary characters should be having for breakfast. And tell her what Alistair just said about my dwarf noble's hindquarters.

Storyteller: The Burning Van: When Your Adventure Gets Away From You

2010-07-08T12:38:00.000-05:00

I was part of the Storyteller team at our local LARP for awhile. There were 4 or 5 of us trying to manage a game that at the time was over 100 players on a busy night, so things had the potential to get out of hand pretty quick. Not only were we outnumbered, but we were each running our own plotlines. One of the more memorable occasions I was called outside to help with a scene, and for some reason I wasn’t wearing shoes, I can’t remember why. So I’m hustling down the stairs and out the door to help these players, who of course needed help right now, and the first thing they tell me is, “We want to know about the burning van.”

To which my response was, “What burning van?”

It wasn’t my plot, so I had no idea what was going on, and it wasn’t something we’d discussed during the ST meeting. I couldn’t help them, and I had to track down who could so the characters could get on with their story.

In a first draft, it’s easy to let your plot get away from you. Maybe you’re fixated on throwing bigger, stronger ninjas at your characters until they find themselves in a situation you can’t get them out of. Maybe you’re being attacked by plot bunnies who are demanding you throw in weresharks, even though your story is nowhere near water. Maybe you’ve created so much conflict between your hero and heroine that there’s no way in hell they’re going to get in the same bed—hell, even the same room.

If you hit a wall, or a burning van, in your first draft, you can find a way around it. Take a deep breath, and remember that this is what first drafts are for. You can always cut the weresharks later. Also, this is why critique partners are so important. They’re like your Storyteller team, there to help you create an engaging story that your readers will want to get lost in. A good crit partner will tell you, “Dude, no weresharks. Seriously.” Even if you’re still in the plotting stage, having someone to bounce ideas off of can be extremely helpful. (I have much <3 for BFF Diana. She’s considering writing a companion post for this about what kind of questions a crit partner should ask, so let’s hope she does.)

Short post, huh? Next week I’m talking ways to make your characters suffer through epic fails. Until then, just say no to weresharks.

Storyteller: The Impenetrable Forest: Steering Your Character Down the Right Path

2010-07-02T16:26:00.000-05:00

Remember the story from the Storyteller intro? No? I’ll repeat:

The lonely road stretched before the band of adventurers. Impenetrable forest lined either side of the road, dark and ominous. Before them the bulk of an airship blotted out the sun, unmoving, a ladder dangling down from it in silent invitation for the adventurers to climb aboard.

“I want to go through the forest.”

“Wait, what?”

“We’re not getting on that thing. We’re going through the forest.”

“Dude, no. I just said the forest is impenetrable. Get on the airship already!”

This is paraphrased from an actual gaming experience. We argued with the DM for 5 minutes as to why we didn’t want to get on the ship, and we had good, solid reasons for why our characters wouldn’t go. Problem was, the adventure was on the ship, and if we wanted to get on with the gaming and roll some d20s, our asses needed to get on the airship. So our characters did. As gamers, we understood that if we wanted to participate in the game, we’d have to run with the DM’s plot, even if it was out of character for our characters to do so.

You may have a fabulous adventure planned for the characters in your story, but they need to have a reason to go on it, one that will seem logical to your readers. In the Quest, Reward and Ninjas! discussion, I talked about how George Lucas got Luke Skywalker out the door. Luke Skywalker, simple farm boy, is presented with a quest: rescue the princess and become a Jedi. But he doesn’t take it. Instead, he offers to help old Ben Kenobi get as far as Anchorhead, because he has responsibilities to his home and family that he’s not willing to abandon. Luke isn’t motivated to get involved until that family is murdered. Once the Empire’s evil becomes personal, he’s ready to go to war.

If you want your characters to participate in your plot, they need reasons to do so. They’re not going to hop on the plot bus without something personal that makes them get on board, something that makes sense for their character. Thus beginneth my Storyteller Side Quest: Know Your Alignment.

Okay. I didn’t talk about character alignments in the character creation section for reasons I can’t remember, but it fits in here fairly well too, because your party’s alignment often determines what kind of quests you can go on. Team Good probably isn’t going to be down with summoning demons for fun and profit. Team Evil doesn’t want to save the kingdom, they want to conquer it. In most RPGs, alignment breaks down like this: Good, Neutral, Evil. And it breaks down further into Lawful (sometimes called Orderly), Neutral, and Chaotic. These things should go without saying, but I’ll explain them anyway.

Lawful Good: This is your typical paladin. He’s unerringly on the side of law and order, and will enforce said laws to see justice done. Problem is, he make your party’s life hard, because if you want to do something even remotely underhanded or shady, he’ll shut you down. In Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, Lex is lawful good, because guardians are like paladins.
Neutral Good: Most people fall into the neutral good category; they do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. They’ll work with the law, but won’t mind breaking it if the results help someone. They’re just nice guys.
Chaotic Good: Want to join the rebellion? Damn the man, save Empire? (Empire Records, not the galactic empire, get your movies straight.) Then chaotic good is right for you. This is Robin Hood. This is Malcolm Reynolds. (Big damn heroes, sir. Ain’t we just?) Chaotic good breaks every law and regulation in sight to do the right thing, especially if someone’s being oppressed. Freedom fighters all the way.
Lawful Neutral: Lawful neutral is also very law and order, but unlike lawful good, lawful neutral won’t lose any sleep over things like social injustices. They’re all about tradition and order, and not as concerned about whether those traditions are good or evil.
True Neutral: This is the law of the jungle alignment. Buildings burn, people die, bad things happen, but that’s life. In my gaming experience, a lot of people want to play true neutral characters and few people can pull it off. The wiki I linked above lists Han Solo as an example, and as an ex-Star Wars fanatic I’m ambivalent about that, but it works for the Han Solo we first meet in A New Hope.
Chaotic Neutral: I hate this alignment a bit, because I’ve often seen it as an excuse for gamers to get away with stuff that’s bad for the party, like stealing from the party. Chaotic neutral is kind of a jerk. They do their own thing and are selfish and self-centered.
Lawful Evil: This is my favorite flavor of evil. Lawful evil has a plan, a cunning plan, and knows how to work the system to his or her best benefit. They’re most likely to be an evil overlord. Magneto is lawful evil. In Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, Harrison is lawful evil (for now, anyway).
Neutral Evil: Neutral evil is the Diet Coke of evil. They’re evil…just because. They’ll kill you if they have to, probably betray you, but it depends on what’s in it for them. The above-mentioned wiki says Sawyer from Lost is an example, but I’ve only seen the first season and really all I remember is that he looks good without a shirt. (In fact, I have a picture of him as my Lex inspiration, rawr!) ;) You’ll have to comment on whether or not you think he’s a good example.
Chaotic Evil: If chaotic neutral is a jerk, chaotic evil is a raging asshole. You do not want this person in your party. It’s really best to kill them on sight, and if someone wants to play one in your game, throw dice at them until they change their mind. Chaotic evil makes for a hard to understand villain, because your reader is constantly wondering what the fuck just happened.

Here’s an example of alignments and how they work. Right now I’m playing Dragon Age on our Xbox 360. I’m playing a Good character—she fights evil without promise of reward, and she just wants to save everyone because it’s the right thing to do. In my party I have Team Good: Wynne, Leliana, and Alaistair (omg, squee, I <3 him 4evar!). They approve of the Good things I do, like helping lost children and punishing criminals. They get pissy and disapprove if I say anything bitchy or refuse to help people in need. I leave Team Evil at camp—Morrigan, Sten, and Zevran—because while they’re perfectly helpful in combat, they get pissed off when I made Good decisions. I’ll work with them during my next play-through when I try an evil character.

If you’ve created Team Good in your story, they’re not going to want to do Evil plot, and vice versa. They’re also going to make the kind of decisions that Good characters make. If the villain calls and says he’s got a bomb on something important somewhere and will only disarm it if the hero shows up alone at his hideout, and he’ll kill everyone if the hero calls the cops…the hero’s going to show up alone at his hideout without calling the cops, no matter how much you yell at the TV that it’s a bad idea. Think about it. How often in TV/movies does the hero do the dumb thing because he believes it’s the right thing? Team Good plays by the rules in a code-of-honor kind of way, which is the inspiration for my favorite line from the movie Spaceballs: “Evil will always triumph because good is dumb.”

I’ve gotten some criticism for Blood, Smoke and Mirrors saying that Cat is TSTL (too stupid to live)(which is like a dagger in my heart)(seriously people, don’t use this phrase lightly, it makes authors cry, and a kitten dies every time an author cries, so please, think of the kittens) because of events in the second half of the book. To this I say Cat is not stupid. Cat is Good. If the book were a RPG, making any other choice would probably change her alignment, and despite her many flaws, Cat is on Team Good.

Next week I’m discussing what happens when your adventure gets away from you, which happens quite often in RPGs. ;)

As you may have noticed...

2010-07-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

No Storyteller post today, due to birthday shenanigans. (Cubs lost! Those bums. Oh well.) I should have it up tomorrow when things return to normal.

Intarweb Tuesday: n00b!

2010-06-29T11:42:00.000-05:00

So that's why my cat is always hitting me while I'm at the computer, it makes perfect sense now.

So I'm going to be interviewed by theHub Magazine (their site might be slightly NFSW, because there is some art with nudity, fyi). Right now they're looking for questions for me over at their Twitter page. If you're on Twitter and have questions for me about the book or my writing, you can use the hashtag #robynbachar and they might include it in my interview.

Pretty neat, huh? :)

Storyteller: Story Structure: Levels, Bosses, and Rising and Falling Action

2010-06-24T12:02:00.000-05:00

Ah, plot. It makes you tear your hair out. You have great characters, a fabulous setting and clever world building…but now they need something to do. Fight crime? Slay dragons? Rescue the princess? Something needs to happen to get them from “Once upon a time” to “And they lived happily ever after.”

In a RPG, your character starts out at level 1 in a simple setting, sometimes referred to as the “newbie zone.” She doesn’t have much in the way of powers, spells, and abilities. She’s probably wandering around half nekkid with a rusty weapon and a crust of bread, chasing down giant rats and bunny rabbits. As she gains experience, she learns new powers and acquires better equipment, and she begins to face tougher opponents. Bigger, stronger ninjas, if you will. In World of Warcraft, my warlock started out fighting itty bitty wolves with her whiny imp minion complaining the whole time. Now after many quests and adventures she’s reached the end of the game, and she fights dragons with her big, burly (but still whiny) fel guard demon minion.

So how does this apply to your plot? No matter what genre you’re writing, there’s a basic structure to any story. Just like in a RPG, you start out small, gain experience/knowledge by overcoming a few obstacles, and then you defeat the end boss. At some point during your educational career, you probably encountered a Dramatic Structure chart like this in an English/creative writing class:

In a video game, the rising action takes place over a series of progressively more difficult levels—the ninja level, the underwater level, the outer space level, the dream sequence level—you make your way through by fighting the monsters, solving the puzzles and whatnot to get to the end, where you fight the boss for that level before moving on to the next. In a story, each scene/chapter is like a level your characters must get through, and this is where Goal, Motivation and Conflict come in again. Say you’re not fighting monsters in your story. What is the goal for your hero/heroine? Why are they pursuing that goal? And what’s keeping them from achieving it?

Often it’s the boss monster that stands between them and the end of the game, like Bowser in the Super Mario series. In some games, like the first Mario, you fought Bowser several times before the end, but in others you fought his minions before getting to him. Your heroes might face a few minions during the rising action before getting to the villain, whether it’s actual bad guys or hypothetical ones like personal conflict. (Remember the personal ninjas? Good.) However, sometimes instead of fighting the level bosses, an author will have a cut scene to describe what Team Evil is up to. This is fine, well and good, but if you’re going to do this, please make these cut scenes interesting. I won’t name any names, but there’s one series out there that I follow that has villains I can’t get into. They’re boring. They’re evil because someone had to be. So when I come to a chapter with them, I skip it. The whole thing. Next! It makes the books more enjoyable for me, but I also end up skipping 1/4 to 1/3 of the book. Therefore, my word of warning is to please be careful with your bad guys, because they may not be as fascinating as you think they are. Villains need GMC too, and "just because" isn't really a good motivation, unless they're toddlers. (Aside: When BFF Diana proofread this, she asked me if I was dissing a completely different series, so make that 2 series where I skipped the bad guys. Actually, I may have to do a Storyteller Side Quest post on alignments now, hmm…)

The heroes complete level after level. They suffer through a sea of storm troopers and tie fighter pilots before getting to Darth Vader, but once they get to Darth Vader, that’s the Big Deal. The music swells and the audience knows that this is it! It is on like Donkey Kong! It should be epic, climactic…thus why it’s the high point on the chart. It’s not the end, it’s the big bang that brings about the end. Even if it doesn’t have actual explosions, your boss fight should have dramatic impact.

Next week I’ll be discussing how to steer your party down the right path, even if they don’t want to get on the airship. However, my birthday is Wednesday and I’ll be out celebrating (at the Cubs game! Go Cubs go!), so the Storyteller post might be Friday instead of Thursday. We’ll see how hungover I am. ;)

Intarweb Tuesday: To Boldly Go

2010-06-22T12:18:00.000-05:00

Today, I bring you this video. I inherited a love of Star Trek from my dad, and I thought this was hilarious. Please to enjoy.

Storyteller: 20 Questions

2010-06-18T17:08:00.000-05:00

Finishing Touches for Character Creation

Hi, my name is Robyn, and I’m addicted to character questionnaires. Really addicted. In need of a 12-step program addicted. But I find them very useful for character development, whether that character is meant for a RPG or for my writing. Here are two sets of questions that I’ve used for both. I did not create these, and I’m not sure where they originated from (I vaguely remember that the first set might be adapted from the 7 Seas RPG). I also have a template for creating in-depth character bios, and if anyone’s interested, email me at robyn at robynbachar dot com and I’ll send you the file for it.

Who does your character have the greatest respect for?
Why did they choose their particular profession?
Do they collect anything?
What is their most embarrassing moment?
Are they superstitious? How so?
If they were given the opportunity to know the exact date of their death, would they want to know it?
Your character's chosen deity speaks to them, and says that they can end the war tomorrow if they will slay an innocent child. Would they do it?
What is something your character has lost that they wish they could get back?
What is your character's biggest regret?
Do they believe in love at first sight?

What country is your character from?
How would you physically describe your character?
Does your character have recurring mannerisms?
What is your character's main motivation?
What is your character's greatest strength? Greatest weakness?
What are your character's most and least favorite things?
What about your character's psychology?
What is your character's single greatest fear?
What are your character's highest ambitions? His greatest love?
What is your character's opinion of his hometown?
Does your character have any prejudices?
Where do your character's loyalties lie?
Is your character in love? Is he married or engaged/betrothed?
What about your character's family?
How would your character's parents describe him?
Is your character a Gentleman or Gentlewoman? (think Code of Chivalry)
How religious is your character?
Is your character a member of a guild, club, or secret society?
What does your character think of magic?
If you could, what advice would you give your character?

Feel free to try out a few and post your answers in the comments. I know I had one for Cat, but I can’t figure out where it is, which means it’s probably on the old laptop… Anyway, next week I’m starting the plotting section by discussing story structure—levels, bosses, and rising and falling action.

Storyteller postponed 'til tomorrow

2010-06-17T16:13:00.002-05:00

Just got back from my mini-trip to Springfield, so I'll be posting this week's Storyteller discussion tomorrow. :)

Shameless Begging for Votes

2010-06-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

So this last week I got a 5 out of 5 Book review from Long and Short Reviews (which you can read here, it makes me grin like an idiot). Now this weekend I'm up for their Book of the Week. Please vote here: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/recentrev.htm

All votes are greatly appreciated. Seriously, I <3 you guys. I'd bake you all cookies if I could.

(In completely unrelated news, because I can't run Dragon Age on my antiquated desktop, my dear and loving husband bought me a copy for the Xbox. OMG, it is so good! I stayed up late last night getting through the beginning and I'm in love. Bioware delivers like Domino's, people.)

Storyteller: Quest, Reward and Ninjas!

2010-06-10T12:20:00.000-05:00

Getting Your Characters Out the Door and into Harm’s Way

Continuing on our character creation journey, today I’m talking Goal, Motivation and Conflict. You’re probably familiar with GMC. If not, I highly recommend it, because the concept is pretty awesome and I found the book very helpful in my writing (and you can buy the GMC book here). But to boil it down, the idea is that your character should have a goal that they want to achieve, a reason for wanting to achieve it, and something preventing them from getting it. Gamers are very familiar with this concept, except in a RPG your character is given a quest, offered a reward for achieving it, and then ninjas pop out and beat the snot out of him to stop him. I’m going to break it down step by step.

Quest: Your hero starts out in his ordinary world. It’s familiar, comfortable and probably a bit boring. Maybe he wants to go to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters, and his uncle won’t let him. Something needs to happen to get his butt off of Tatooine, because if he stays there it’s not a very interesting story. Thus along comes the call to adventure! In a RPG, your adventure is usually a specific quest or campaign. A quest giver tells you "hey, bring me this sword" and you agree to do so. Slay the dragon, bring down the evil empire, save the princess, yadda yadda yadda. Though obstacles may occur along their way—as in a chain of quests, where each step builds on the last—there is always one overarching goal. In a story the quest isn’t always as obvious as it is in a RPG. In romance, the quest is to fall in love and live happily ever after, but the hero and heroine probably aren’t aware of it in the same way as a knight setting out to slay a dragon would be. In a way, your quest as the romance writer is to get them to their HEA.

Reward: As a gamer, it’s easy for me to shove my warlock out of her pixilated front door and send her off to slay dragons and fight the Lich King, because I want phat loot and awesome gear and she needs to quest to acquire those. As a writer, if I’m going to shove my warlock out the door to adventure, I need to know why she wants to do it. Before any character can embark on any quest, they need a reason for doing it. In a RPG everyone knows what’s in it for them, whether it’s coin, equipment, experience, faction or all of the above. There’s always a tangible reward for completing your quest. In a story, rewards often intangible. Heroes save the kingdom because it’s the right thing to do, not for gold and xp. But if your heroine starts out as a common scullery maid, why would she suddenly decide to save the kingdom from the evil menacing it? She needs a personal reason to get involved. Again, think of Star Wars. Luke Skywalker, simple farm boy, is presented with a quest: rescue the princess and become a Jedi. But does he take it at first? Nope. He offers to help old Ben Kenobi get to Anchorhead, but that’s it. Luke isn’t motivated to get involved until his family is murdered. Once the Empire’s evil becomes personal, he’s ready to go to war. Now think of Han Solo. He’s also presented with the quest of saving the princess, and he also refuses, until he’s offered a financial reward. But it’s not just about the credits, because we also know that he has a price on his head and desperately needs that money to call off Jabba’s bounty hunters. Speaking of bounty hunters...

Ninjas!: In LARP we used to refer to this as "and then the Assamites jumped out: (Assamites being assassin vampires whose mission in unlife was to kill other vampires, usually by jumping out of hiding and wtfpwning your character)(which is how I met my husband, but that’s another story)(he got schooled). It’s the empty room you walk into in a game where suddenly there’s a zombie OMG RIGHT BEHIND YOU! (Bioshock, anyone? Gah!) It’s the moment of "That’s not a moon, it’s a space station!" There is always something standing between the hero and the end of the quest line. It’s the thing standing between your characters and their Happily Ever After. Ninjas. Damn those ninjas, always causing shenanigans with their throwing stars! Anyway...your story needs drama. I’m a fan of fight scenes—not of actually writing them, but I like having them in the story. I like action. I like movies with explosions, so I’m likely to take the easy route for conflict and have ninjas jump out (or vampires, or magma elementals, or some more vampires).

If you’re not writing an action story though, you have metaphorical ninjas instead of physical ones. In Romancelandia, this can often be the Big Misunderstanding (as discussed in the Smart Bitches’ Beyond Heaving Bosoms, also an awesome book)(Sarah Wendell signed my Heaving Bosoms, squee!). Cheesy example: The heroine’s a virgin, but the hero thinks she’s a dirty whore because she was out after dark in a dress that showed off her shapely ankles. Better example: Though I mainly read paranormal and fantasy, I’ll read anything by Nora Roberts, even if no vampires are involved. Nora’s Bride Quartet series is straight contemporary, and it’s fascinating to me to read it because there are no zombies, no explosions, no murder mystery to push the story along. Just the conflict between the hero and heroine—personality conflicts, emotional misunderstandings, problems from their pasts. Their own personal ninjas who leap out of the recesses of their minds and attack their better judgment, if you will.

Next week is the last of the character creation section, where I talk 20 questions. I love character questionnaires. Seriously. It’s an addiction. Until then, be on guard for ninja attacks. Constant vigilance, people!

Intarweb Tuesday: Srsly Goffik

2010-06-08T11:55:00.000-05:00

I can't remember who posted this on Twitter yesterday, but it is indeed a dramatic reading.

I'm a little mystified at the fanfic thing, even though I'm probably guilty of it myself to an extent. I've never had the urge to write myself into someone else's book, but I've written a few stories for my MMORPG characters, and that's technically writing in someone else's setting. It was fun, and I enjoyed creating a story with other players. But Harry Potter fanfic? I'd rather create my own world and run amok in it.

Storyteller: Customizing Your Characters for the Road Ahead: Expanded and Unrated Edition

2010-06-03T12:08:00.000-05:00

BFF Diana is my unofficial proofreader, and when she read my post for Savvy Authors she said, “Dude, where are the swears?” Now, you all know that I am not afraid to drop the f-bomb, but I try to keep posts on other blogs G-rated. Thus, I bring you the expanded and unrated version of choosing character traits. Please to enjoy.

Gamers spend a lot of time on character creation. Perhaps even too much time, because no one wants to be stuck with a character who can’t survive an adventure or isn’t fun to play. I spent hours making characters in City of Heroes/City of Villains, and really it was the most entertaining part of the game. A gamer’s focus is on creating a character that is going to be the best at his or her role in the game (and possibly the awesomest looking as well). As writers, our focus is on creating characters that are going to be the best at their role in our story—a brave hero, a strong heroine, an evil villain (and probably the awesomest looking ones as well; when was the last time you encountered an average-looking hero, really?). But in fiction brave, handsome heroes are a dime a dozen, so if you want to make him memorable, then he’ll need more detail. This is where character customization comes in. Adding skills and abilities to a character makes them more efficient in a game, and makes them more interesting in a story.

Skills, Feats and Merits: In most role playing games, characters start out with the same basic set of abilities, like they’ve been stamped from a cookie cutter. Players then use build points to purchase whatever they need to make their character’s lives easier. Like what, you ask? Here are some examples from various RPGs I’ve played:

Silent spell casting, arcane library, true faith, lucky, destiny (as in the character has some all-important fate to play in the story), ambidextrous, allies, underworld influence, resources, haven, guardian angel, photographic memory, heightened senses

Essentially, the player buys whatever they think will make the character stronger. If you’re writing a paranormal or fantasy story, those are the sorts of things your character will probably want too, and deciding what these skills are adds a deeper level of detail to them. Say your heroine is a vampire private detective. Then she’ll need things like stealth to follow targets, investigation to solve mysteries, heightened senses to pick up clues, and so on. Non-woojy characters can benefit from this sort of planning as well. If your hero is a businessman, think of specific areas of knowledge that he needs to run his business, and then consider how that knowledge can benefit him during the course of the plot. Is he a computer whiz? Brilliant at marketing? A legal genius? Having all of these can be important to him, but lacking them can be equally important, as seen in choosing flaws and negative traits.

Flaws and Negative Traits: When a player runs out of build points, she has the option of taking a limited amount of negatives in order to earn more points. These are things that can make a character’s life a living hell, and some examples are:

Poor vision, clumsy, unlucky, cursed, unholy aura, shortsighted, tactless, monstrous, callous, enemies, destiny (because sometimes your fate is to die horribly), insane sire, hunted, permanent wound

In Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, Cat is tactless. Though she’d probably agree with a T-shirt that I own that claims “Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic.” Cat is not afraid to tell anyone to fuck off, even when it’d be in her best interest not to do so. It makes her life harder than it needs to be. I once played a vampire with a permanent wound, and she woke up every night with three oozing wounds in her chest. First, it sucked because she started every game by being only a few hits away from dying. Second, waking up with icky wounds is kinda hard to explain to your snuggle buddy.

As a reader, I love flawed heroes. If the hero has a traumatic past to overcome, I’m instantly sold on the story. Adding flaws and negatives to your characters not only makes them more interesting but provides the opportunity for challenges to overcome and lessons to learn in your storyline. Even Cat learns a bit of tact by the end of the book.

Not everyone loves to torture their characters as much as I do. One problem that writers can run into is that while it’s easy to decide a character’s strengths, it’s more difficult to pick weaknesses. When creating characters, I try to follow the general guideline that for every gift you give them, take something away. If your heroine needs to be a powerful sorceress, then she should be bad at something else. Maybe she’s fabulous at magic, but scared to death of horses. A hero who has worked all his life for fortune and glory probably sacrificed something important on the way. Think of Tony Stark/Ironman—he’s got looks, brains, money…and some serious personal demons. He doesn’t have issues, he has multiple subscriptions, but that makes him entertaining. Most of the super heroes we’re familiar with have similar problems, and their flaws allow us to relate to them.

Finally, if you’re writing romance, choosing one character’s flaws can determine the other’s strengths. I have a romantic conflict chart that I use when plotting a new story, and one of the questions asks how the hero and heroine complete each other. It’s a question that I always struggle with, because romantic conflict is damn difficult. Anyone who says it’s easy to write a romance novel deserves a swift kick to the groin. Anyway…the couple should always be stronger together than they are apart, and it’s not a simple matter of “oh he’s strong and muscley, so he can protect her because she’s a delicate flower.” No, no. More like “she comes from a broken home and has relationship issues and he’s a dependable source of stability.”

Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, taking a few moments to think through a character’s skills, abilities, negatives and flaws can make her more memorable and may even help hammer out details in your plot. Next week I’ll be discussing a gamer’s approach to GMC, better known as Quest, Reward and Ninjas. You know you love ninjas.

Intarweb Tuesday: WoWtastic

2010-06-01T16:18:00.003-05:00

In celebration of the fact that my warlock finally hit 80 and is no longer wearing her ugly robe, I bring you this rather cool WoW video:

I find it amusing how many men play female characters. My husband and my brothers-in-law all do, though they have male characters as well. I just play chicks. I tried playing a male dark elf once in EverQuest and I didn't like it, though having armor that actually looked like armor instead of a chainmail bikini was a refreshing change. I hate getting new armor for my characters and finding out that what's intimidating on a guy is panties and chaps on a female. Sigh.

Any thoughts on the subject? I suppose for writers it's less odd, because you're expected to write characters out of your area of personal expertise, but while I don't mind writing male characters (except for Lex--dammit Lex, stop being a paladin!) I don't want to roleplay one.

Nope, I lied.

2010-05-28T15:44:00.002-05:00

No Storyteller post this week. But next week I'm guest blogging at Savvy Authors, and that'll be fun. For now, I give you this:

Postponed

2010-05-27T11:39:00.002-05:00

This week's Storyteller blog is postponed until tomorrow. It's been a bad week, and I haven't had the time to finish it up. Sorry!

Intarweb Tuesday is Made of Fail

2010-05-25T17:26:00.003-05:00

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Today has not been a good day. Therefore, I give you this video, which shows what I have to look forward to.

Storyteller: Using Stats to Create Balanced Characters

2010-05-20T00:26:00.007-05:00

Today is the first of the character creation section, and like any RPG, we’re starting with character stats. For the uninitiated, a character’s stats are the bare bones of what they’re good at, usually divided into categories like strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution and charisma (a sample blank character sheet is below, which I found here). New characters are either given a number of points to distribute across these stats, or the player makes a set of dice rolls to determine them.

Each character class relies on a specific stat, and that’s the stat that needs the highest number—wizards need high intelligence in order to cast more spells, fighters need high strength to deal more damage, etc. But unless you rolled really well, your character is going to be good at some things and average or below average at others. For example, we have my warlock in World of Warcraft.

Her stats are inside of the red box, with her main stats in green. You’ll notice that while she’s strong in stamina, intellect and spirit, her strength and agility are pathetic. This is normal of a spellcaster. She can rain down hellfire, but she can’t really fight hand-to-hand. (And isn’t that robe ugly?) Though a warrior might be strong enough to slay every orc in the room, he can’t cast spells or heal his wounds. This is where the importance of a group comes in: each character has a specific role, and together they’re a strong unit that can clear out any dungeon.

In terms of writing, one character’s weaknesses should be balanced by another character’s strengths. In romance you’ll often see this as the big, burly hero protecting the delicate flower heroine from danger, but she’ll be smart enough to figure out a clue that the hero can’t. While that’s a cheesy example, the point is that the hero and heroine are stronger together than they are apart (think “You complete me”). Deciding what the character’s strengths and weaknesses are can help you, the writer, figure out what they need to work on in the course of your story and what they can learn from each other.

I’m going to go through each stat, and as you read it think of what number you’d assign to your heroine, 1 being the worst, 10 average, and 20 the best. (Yes, you can have higher than 20 in a d20 system, I know, but we’re starting simple here.)

INT: Intelligence and wisdom often get confused, but to boil it down, intelligence is book smarts. If you’re good at Jeopardy! you have a high intelligence. This stat determines how many spells a wizard can know, how many he/she can cast, and how much extra damage the spell does. In traditional epic fantasy terms this is the wizard that carries a spell book and is well versed in arcane knowledge. Need a spell to open a magic door? There’s an app for that. Err, I mean he’ll have the spell for that. If your magic users need to do a great deal of studying, they should have high INT. If you’re looking to make a wizard’s life difficult, give him an average INT. Then he’ll have to work twice as hard.

WIS: Wisdom is street smarts, but it’s also knowledge of the natural world. Druids and clerics typically use wisdom for their magic—they don’t need to go to Hogwarts to study, because their wooj is natural or divine. Like the Force. Though casters often have high numbers in both stats (like my warlock’s INT and SPIRIT), they don’t always go hand-in-hand. The husband and I often joke about characters that are high INT but low WIS, like a character who figures out the difficult mystery but doesn’t think twice about walking alone down the dark alleyway.

CHA: Charisma covers a lot of bases. It’s the oomph behind a paladin’s holiness, the power of a bard’s performance, and the fast-talking persuasion of a thief’s bargaining. It’s a character’s good looks, and their ability to be charming. Every character needs a lot of this, right? Well…no. For a romance writer it’s easy to fall into the trap of having a hero who is the most gorgeous and charming man on the face of the earth or the heroine who is stunningly beautiful. Charisma doesn’t necessarily mean good looks; it can mean a strong presence. Someone who commands attention. Someone who people want to be around.

DEX: Dexterity. Every rogue’s friend; it’s the thing that makes her quick like a bunny. Need to pick a lock, throw a dagger, shoot a bow or dodge an attack? Then you need high DEX. This is for characters who are quick and wiry, not strong and brawny. In some games this is called agility (like in the WoW stats above). If you have a low DEX, you’re clumsy. Awkward. I’ve often read stories where the hero or heroine is clumsy as a way to make them imperfect. “Oh he’s gorgeous and smart, but he’s a klutz.” Yeah…resist the temptation, my friends. It’s been done.

STR: Strength, for when you need to slaughter every orc in the room. High STR lets your Wookiee tear the arms off people when he doesn’t win. It lets your hero pick up the heroine, throw her over his shoulder, and haul her back to his man cave o’ love. Low STR makes your heroine hit like a girl when she protests. If a character ends up with low STR, like a wizard who doesn’t need it, you might want to consider story reasons explaining why he/she doesn’t have it. Are they nobility, and thus manual labor is beneath them? Was your heroine born petite, and no matter how hard she works out she just can’t manage a bodybuilder’s physique?

CON: Constitution. No, not the document. We’re talking a person’s physical health. A high CON means you have a boatload of hit points and will be able to make it through a long battle. A low CON means you’re going to need a medic before you bleed to death after two hits. Or one hit. (I’ve had that happen in WoW, one minute you’re casting a spell and the next bam! Dead!) In romance, heroes tend to have a high CON, and heroines have a low CON (how many heroines have you seen get bonked over the head by a bad guy and are out like a light?). Constitution is also related to a character’s endurance and stamina. If she is swimming or running a great distance then she’ll get a CON check to make sure she can keep going and not collapse.

Reader participation time! Take one of your characters and assign them stats, and post it in the comments. You have 75 points to spend. I’ll start: Catherine Baker—INT 15 (she’s college educated and knows a thing or two about magic), WIS 12 (she’s not as street smart as she thinks she is), CHA 17 (if by charisma you mean snark, because Cat has some good lines), DEX 14 (she can handle a rapier by the end of the book, but she’s no expert), STR 9 (yeah, she’s not going to be punching through walls anytime soon), and CON 8 (Cat has a fainting problem, she may need physical therapy).

Next week we talk adding skills, feats, merits and flaws. All the good stuff to specialize your character.

Intarweb Tuesday: Ninja Interview

2010-05-18T11:17:00.003-05:00

Today I'm being interviewed by author Keith Melton over at the Scribbling Ninjas blog. Prepare yourself to be dazzled by my geekdom. It is epic.

Storyteller: Your Princess is in Another Castle!

2010-05-13T09:15:00.003-05:00

That's right, this week's post is over at the blog of the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal chapter of RWA. So you'll have to go there to enjoy it.

Thus our world building saga has ended. Next week will be part one of character creation section. We'll be talking about creating balanced characters. With dice. (Baby needs a new pair of shoes!)

Intarweb Tuesday is RELEASE DAY!

2010-05-11T10:45:00.002-05:00

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Today you can own your own shiny, electronic copy of Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, it's on sale at MBaM and Amazon. My mom actually bought a Kindle just to read the ebook (Hi, Ma!), now that's devotion.

To the rest of my family, who are all "What are these ebooks you speak of? Can you eat them?": Calm down, the print version will be out in March. I encourage my family to buy both versions, because if you don't, I may withhold Christmas cookies this year...

I'll be posting excerpts on the Samhain Cafe Yahoo Group today, and the first of two completely different excerpts is now up at the Samhain Spring Showers Promo at Coffee Time Romance. Leave a comment there and you're entered to win free stuff, who can ask for anything more?

Winnah!

2010-05-10T12:14:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in last week's Intarweb Tuesday, my cover was up at the Embrace the Shadows Cover Clash contest. And it won! w00t!

Here's the official word:

Not only did this beautiful cover by the artist Kanaxa win last week’s Clash…it broke our all time record for votes! Congratulations to the artist and the author:D Thorn-Worthy? Definitely!

You can read the whole entry here. Thank you to everyone who voted! I can now proudly display this half-nekkid hot guy on my website:

Storyteller: Creating a Monster Manual

2010-05-06T08:50:00.002-05:00

In role playing games, if you’re not a monster, then you’re fighting monsters. Lots of monsters, in fact, because slaying bad guys is a player’s main source of gaining experience and progressing through the game. In my house, not only do we have Monster Manuals for Dungeons & Dragons, we have multiple ones. Monster variety is the spice of life. Also, for the record, even things that aren’t monsters can be found in a Monster Manual, such as angels and unicorns (unless, of course, they’re chainsaw unicorns, then they definitely belong in a MM). For this article I’m going with defining monster as any non-human being/creature/entity, whether it’s good, evil, neutral or any combination thereof.

The most important thing I’ve learned from these books is that monsters should have strengths and weaknesses. I’m going to go through several different types of monsters, but a well known example of this is the vampire (my favorite). Traditional vampires have, as a gamer might say, “kewl powerz.” They can fly, they can transform into bats, they can control the minds of minions (like Renfield), and they get all the cute girls. But they have to sleep in coffins, have no reflection, and sunlight makes them go up in smoke. Variations on this list of strengths/weaknesses can be found in just about every creature in every game, and not only does it create balance but it also creates variety. As a writer, your monsters should be distinctive to your setting—beautiful, unique snowflakes.

So let’s get started!

Undead: First, let me say that I own a lot of vampire romance. Shelves and shelves of it, and I bring more home with each trip to the bookstore, so if you’re afraid that vampire romance is dead (…snerk), I say if the story is strong, go with it. Now that that’s out of the way, there are many monsters that fall into the undead category: vampires, zombies, ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, etc. There are a few universal problems with dealing with undead, the most popular (and annoying if you’re not carrying an arsenal) is that because they’re dead, they don’t bleed, so stabbing/slashing weapons are right out, as are most guns (“Don’t shoot him, you’ll just make him mad.”). It’s worse when fighting ghosts, like banshees, because they’re incorporeal and a character needs a blessed or enchanted weapon or a spell to hit them. As for deciding strengths and weaknesses, it depends on how your undead are created. Traditionally undead are vulnerable to sunlight because undead are considered evil, and sunlight is seen as a holy, purifying, life-giving force. But what if your undead are created through biological means—a virus instead of a curse? Is there a cure or vaccine? What if they’re not evil? Maybe they’ve just gotten a bad reputation, and crosses and holy water don’t do a thing to them. Once you’ve decided how they’re made, you can decide how to kill them.

Shapeshifters: Werewolves are a close second to vampires in the paranormal market; I don’t know the stats, so it’s possible that they’ve even overtaken them by now. And it’s not just werewolves anymore, oh no. Werelions, weretigers, werebears, oh my! A whole furry/feathered/scaly rainbow. Whatever form they take, the biggest problem faced by shifters is to shift or not to shift. Old school werewolves were forced to change during the full moon, and in some myths they were actual wolves and in others half-wolf/half-man hybrids. In World of Warcraft there’s a town where the inhabitants are human by day and werewolves by night, and since time in WoW runs the same as realtime, you have to wait for actual nightfall to go whack those werewolves. It’s something to ponder when creating your shifters, because forcing them to change can be a fun way to torment them at inopportune times, especially if they might eat their friends and family while they’re shifted. But it’s also a fairly standard plot device, and if you’re heartset on being different, then you’ll need to come up with a new system, and again, how your shifters are created can determine those sort of details. Shifters affected by a magical curse will not have the same experience as those infected with a virus. The former might have a magical cure, while the latter needs a shot of penicillin.

Demons: I tried to play Diablo. I really did. But I kept getting killed by the Butcher on the first level of the dungeon, and after death 18 I decided the game wasn’t fun and said to hell with it, so I feel my opinion of demons has been tainted ever since. The only positive demon experience I’ve had while gaming was in WoW, where I have a warlock who commands demon pets to slay things for her while she stands around and looks fabulous in her pretty robes. What I’ve learned from her is that every demon is different, like an evil rainbow of diversity. They come in every shape, size, and flavor of attitude (“Can’t you fight your own battles?”). There are very few reader/player expectations of demons, other than the expectation that even if they look normal on the outside, their true form should be ugly, with fangs, horns, or other pointy accessories. This allows for epic author creativity. You want demons who are pink, feathered, and eat only Taco Bell? Go for it! Recently I’ve been reading the Demonica series by Larissa Ione and her demon worldbuilding is amazing. It’s also very complex, which I take as a good example of if you’re going to build an intricate world then you as an author need to take equally intricate notes, if only for your own reference. She includes a glossary in the books to help the readers keep track of what’s what, and I imagine her own personal notes must be ginormous. I have a glossary that grows larger with each new book (my editor has the second book now, by the way, so fingers crossed). Side note: Angels would probably fall into this discussion as being the anti-demon or as related to settings where demons are fallen angels, but they’re not in my area of expertise. They don’t come up often in the games I play (except for Heroes of Might and Magic 3, which had angles and archangels that kicked all available ass), and they don’t come up in my writing or the books I read. But you’re welcome to discuss them in the comments if you’re so inclined.

Fae: Fairies, pixies, elves, the fair folk, leprechauns, unicorns, and pretty much anything that is magical, pretty and/or mischievous falls into my fae category. Which sounds like “aww, look, it’s covered in glitter, isn’t it adorable?” but in many RPGs these things will wtfpwn you if you try to attack them. (Translation—You: “I’m going to attack the unicorn.” Your DM: “The unicorn does one million damage to you. Go make a new character.”) I like to think of this as Revenge of the Fae, and this is my challenge to you writers out there: Make your fae fight back. I’m tired of settings where the elves are made of sadness because the humans are taking their land, and they’re just fading away into extinction. Give your elves machine guns, and make them go Braveheart on those human jerks. (Picture Legolas with a claymore, yelling “Freeeeeedoommmmmm!” or Galadriel with a bandolier of shotgun shells, mowing down the world of men. Awesome, right? Right!) Fae are a perfect opportunity for you to take everything the reader thought he or she knew about fantasy and turn it completely on its ear.

Dragons: Why aren’t dragons in the fae or shapeshifter category? Because lately they’ve become their own thing in paranormal (the new Katie MacAlister is out this week people, I’m just sayin’). Plus, in RPGs, dragons are a Very Big Deal. They’re the second half of Dungeons and Dragons, the granddaddy of all RPGs, and if you’ve fought one you know what an epic pain in the butt it can be, and here’s why: Unless you’ve fought a dragon in an RPG, you might not realize just how many ways a dragon can kill your characters. Dragons have claws, they bite, they can knock you over with their wings or even just by the wind they generate, and then there is the all important breath weapon. Because dragons breathe fire, right? Oh, if only it was just fire. Acid, poison clouds, frost rays…one D&D dragon hocked up something that looked rather like a giant Halls cough drop. Dragons have a bucket of health and thick hides, and your character is soft and squishy and takes like ketchup. So should your characters decide to slay a dragon, that battle needs to be epic. Like maybe anvils should rain from the sky to help kill it…okay maybe not anvils. Meteorites. Of course, the trend is for your character to be dragons, and not slay dragons, and that entails a different set of problems, unless adventurers are constantly showing up and his or her apartment with torches and pitchforks. Dragons that spend time in human form start sliding into the shapeshifter category, so everything discussed in the section above would apply.

Talking Animals: Perhaps a squirrel with a flute? (“Monster! Very small monster!”)(It’s an Eddie Izzard reference, I couldn’t resist.) I have to say, one of the funniest characters I encountered in D&D was Scoot, the avatar of squirrelkind. In D&D druids (and I think rangers too) can have animals as pets, and our party had Scoot, the talking squirrel. We gave him a +1 arrow, and he used it as a magic spear. He begged our sorcerer to polymorph him into a dragon, which he did—an itty bitty fairy dragon, with butterfly wings. Scoot was very displeased. If you’re looking for comic relief for your adventure, you can’t go wrong with a wisecracking critter sidekick. Even if the animal doesn’t talk, it can still lighten a dark scene and show a different side of your hero/heroine. In the fantasy series I’ve been working on the heroine has a wolfhound, Grace, who endears herself to everyone, even the angsty wizards. Some of my favorite scenes involve Grace. What would Dorothy be without Toto? The Wicked Witch of the West without her flying monkeys? Han Solo without Chewbacca? (Yes, I know Chewie isn’t a critter, but if memory serves me right Lucas based him on the family dog.)

Mechanicals: So there we were, fighting this clockwork golem, a big, clunky tower of metal intent on pummeling us into adventurer pancakes. Problem was, you could only damage the thing with a magic weapon—which we didn’t have. But we had a magic shield, and like any armored vehicle the thing was slow, so our party tossed the shield from person to person like we were playing monkey-in-the-middle, and whapped the golem to death. It was one of the longest battles I’ve ever been in, but it’s a fine example of just how hard it is to kill a mechanical creature. Steampunk is, arguably, the Next Big Thing at the moment, and that opens up an opportunity to use plenty of mechanical creatures in your paranormal setting. Creatures that run on gears, steam, and whimsical science. You can probably take any standard fantasy monster and clockwork it out, like the golem that wouldn’t die, so have at it.

I was going to discuss elementals as well, but after pondering them for a bit I realized I didn’t have much to say about them aside that they also make good magical sidekicks. But, again, you’re welcome to discuss them in the comments. Speaking of comments, we’ve come to the participation portion of the post: What is your favorite monster, and why? Are there any monsters you’d like to see more of? Or any I didn’t discuss that you think deserve some love?

Next week I’ll be ending the world-building section by discussing maps, and the post will be featured at the blog of the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of RWA.

Intarweb Tuesday: Muahaha!

2010-05-04T12:23:00.002-05:00

Some days I wonder what my cat is thinking when he's looking out the window...

In other news, my book, Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, is in this week's Cover Clash at the Embrace the Shadows blog. I'm a big fan of their blog, and if you have a moment, please vote for my cover here. Thanks!

Storyteller: Rules of Magic

2010-04-29T01:45:00.003-05:00

(Because Even Wizards Need Rules, Boundaries and Limitations)

For my first world-building topic I’m starting with magic. If you’re writing fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal or even sci-fi there’s probably magic of some sort in your setting. I’m using a broad definition of magic here—it doesn’t have to be the big, flashy, chanting-in-an-arcane-language sort of variety. It can be as simple as a few psychic impressions (I’ve got a gut feeling that the killer will strike again), an alien race’s innate abilities (Vulcan mind meld, anyone?), or it can be some mystical energy controlling your destiny (Use the Force, Luke!). Whatever flavor of magic you’re using, I’m assuming you’ve put some thought into how it works in your world, because “it works because it’s magic!” isn’t engaging. My goal is to make you overthink how magic works. Gamers overthink it. We expect so many rules that we’ll buy supplemental rule books to learn more about the magic system in a game. And dedicated gamers know those rules backwards and forwards. I’ve sat through countless meals surrounded by gamers trying to figure out how to best manipulate the rules to benefit their characters. These players know the system and how to work it, bend it, break it beyond repair and make it cry for its mommy. Readers can be rather like these players—they’re memorizing your rules, so you’d better stick to them, or at the very least explain your reasoning when you make exceptions.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you build the world’s most complex magic system (I’ll leave that up to Wizards of the Coast). I am suggesting that a well thought out system adds depth to your setting and your characters as well. A writer should consider both the benefits and drawbacks of the magic in their world. Ultimate power comes with ultimate responsibility. If your wizard is hurling around fireballs left and right, he may want to consider the fact that he’s lighting his home/the village/the forest on fire too. If he doesn’t, you the author should, because that’s a fabulous opportunity to make him suffer. And making characters suffer is fun for everyone.

I’ve broken some suggestions for magic down into three different areas:

1.) Mana

In many RPGs, mana is the fuel that powers magic. Casters are given a finite amount of it, usually boosted through enchanted items, special skills and abilities, and through gaining levels. As you gain experience, usually by slaying monsters to complete quests, you become more powerful and gain a bigger mana pool. So why is this important? Because it puts limits on magic; the caster may be able to call down holy hellfire, but he can only handle so many spells at once. If your character can cast spells all day long without breaking a sweat, the game is boring. There’s no worry in that, no risk.

In World of Warcraft, when your character runs out of mana he or she will tell you, in a very calm but annoying voice, that they can’t cast that spell right now. (Thankfully there’s an option that lets you turn that voice off.) Being unable to cast a spell quickly gets on your nerves, especially if you’re surrounded by big angry ogres who are kicking your robe-wearing butt. It’s annoying to watch your health bar shrink until finally you die, and then you’re faced with the run of shame back to your body because you got greedy and picked a fight you couldn’t win.

Now imagine it from a writer’s point of view, in a setting where dying is actually permanent (gasp!) and something more important than loot and experience points are on the line: The hero is alone, surrounded on all sides by his attackers. He’s weak and bloodied, desperate to dredge up just enough power to cast one last spell and save himself from certain death. If he fails his quest, horrible things will happen to the people of his kingdom. All he needs is one… last… spell… Better, right? But in both examples the hero is struggling with the limits of his power, because power should have limits.

Mana can also be useful in deciding what the source of one’s magic is. Do they get it from an internal source, like their blood? Or an external force, like drawing it from nature? Is it from a divine source (think cleric, druid, or paladin)? An item, like an enchanted ring? (My preciousss…) Is it something they’re born with, or something that’s learned? Were midichlorians involved? (I hate you, George Lucas. So much. Flames. On the side of my face…)

Anyway, you get the idea. Onward!

2.) Caster Classes

In most RPGs your character belongs to a class—not a social or economic class, but an adventuring class, like warrior, ranger, thief, wizard, etc. Your class encompasses what sort of skills and abilities your character has, and most games have different sorts of magic users. They each approach magic in a different way. In WoW, mages cast big, direct damage spells to blast things to bits, priests either heal other players or zot things with evil shadow magic, and warlocks rely on the aid of a demon pet to distract the target while the warlock casts spells. In game terms, this allows players to choose a character that’s best suited to their playing style and allows for variety in groups (because sometimes you just don’t want to send a mage to do a warlock’s job). But in creating your own setting, these differences can allow for political plots. Like sneaky, shady magician politics, muahaha! Or plain old outright war magician politics. Do your different types of magic users play nice with each other? Or are they more likely to chase each other with scissors, pull hair, and kick other kids in the shins? Do they have religious differences? Are they allied with different kingdoms? For hire to the highest bidder? Are some nobility, while others are considered lower-class magic users? Are any of them rare, one-born-every-generation types?

Right, you get the idea. And once you figure out how your magic users interact with each other, then you can work on how the rest of the world feels about them. (“What else do we burn aside from witches?” “More witches!”)

3.) Critical Fail

We all know what happens when spells work right—fireballs, explosions, Jedi mind tricks—but what happens when they go wrong? When you’re considering the mechanics of how your magic works, you should also consider how it doesn’t work. And then what happens when it fails spectacularly. In some table top games, if you roll a 1 you automatically fail, and then the Game Master can take the opportunity to make your bad situation worse. I loved being evil to my players when they failed, because it opened up opportunities to do mean things to their characters. I’ve often heard authors give the advice that if you’re stuck in a scene, think of the worst thing that could possibly happen, and then write it. Pile on the adversity. It builds character.

In EverQuest, there was the possibility that your spell could fizzle, as in you’d go through the motions of casting it, it’d use up the mana, but nothing would happen. Boy did that suck if you were in a tough fight. So why not do that to your character? What happens if he’s facing down the villain and his spell fizzles? Or worse, what if it backfires? Fireballs sound cool until you’re on fire, with singed robes and no eyebrows. Or, what if the character is desperate and he tries something out of his area of expertise as a last ditch effort to save his life? Sure he casts that fireball, but it careens out of control and hits innocent bystanders too. Maybe he’s pissed and tries an evil spell. In The Courtship of Princess Leia, the witches of the planet Dathomir are Force users who weren’t trained as Jedi, but use the Force through casting spells. During one of the big fight scenes in the book one witch loses her temper as she uses a spell, and her use of the dark side manifests in a mark/bruise on her face. What’s worse is that anyone bearing that mark is expelled from her clan. Thus a moment of weakness results in huge drama for that character. A moment of fail can result in a lifetime’s worth of character angst.

I could talk forever about creating rules for magic, but now I want to hear from you. Are there any examples of “ooh, that was so cool!” that you’ve seen in other books/movies/games? Any questions about things that you’re stuck on in your writing?

Next week, we’ll discuss creating your own Monster Manuals, filled with all the things that go bump in the night, whether they try to kill your hero/heroine or they are your hero/heroine.

Intarweb Tuesday is Linktastic

2010-04-27T12:33:00.003-05:00

First, Chandra Ryan's new book Dragonborne is out today from Samhain. You can buy it here from MBaM.

Second, for those of you who were "umm, what is up with the Cheetos and Mt. Dew references?" from last week, I bring you the Summoner Geeks. Direct YouTube link here (because YouTube seems to end up squished when I embed it here, or at least it is on my computer). Now you'll understand when I start talking about magic missiles and attacking the darkness...

And finally, because I've been watching Veronica Mars, I wanted to share this:

see more dog and puppy pictures

Because you should always bring backup.

Spring Fling: So Much Awesome

2010-04-26T15:01:00.011-05:00

This past weekend I attended the Chicago North Spring Fling Writers' Conference, and I had an awesome time. Before I tell the tale, here's the moral of the story (in case some of you are the type who likes to read the last page of the book first just to make sure it ends well): Writing is, for the most part, pretty solitary. It's just you and your computer/legal pad/notebook as you write your story. Groups like the Romance Writers of America are great for networking, but you have to put in the work and join local or online chapters, take workshops, or attend conferences. Otherwise all you're getting is a really expensive magazine once a month. Conferences like the Spring Fling are great opportunities to meet other authors and just hang out, trade stories, and get advice; pitch to an agent or editor; take writing workshops from published authors; and get signed books. (I love signed books.) So, if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend attending one.

Now, on to the story!

For those of you who've been playing along, you've already heard the tale of my first Spring Fling in 2008 in Part 8 is Great. This time around I recruited my BFF Diana to come with me, and we drove up Friday morning. We checked in to the hotel and then to the conference, and then I met Samhain editor Lindsey Faber for lunch. Lindsey isn't my editor, but she is my friend Chandra Ryan's editor, and we had a very nice lunch. She'd just gotten back from breakfast and shopping with Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, which is probably my favorite blog on the entire Intarwebs, prompting my first fangirl moment of the weekend. Normally I'm pretty good about being cool around writers I love, but no, not this time, as I'll discuss later...

The first workshop we went to was Laurie Brown's "Deep POV", and it was very interesting. Sadly I'd left my notebook upstairs, but Diana took great notes which I will cheat off of later. Next was the Q&A with Cherry Adair and Julia Quinn, the headliners of the conference. Now, I must admit, I haven't read them (yet). But I hadn't read the headliners of the last conference either until after attending it. I think Cherry Adair has made a new fan for life, because OH MY GOD was that woman awesome. (Julia Quinn is also awesome, but of a different flavor.) The audience was very entertained by them both.

Next was dinner, and the food was good, blah blah blah. What was really important IMHO about dinner was that it was BFF Diana's first glimpse of the social awesome of attending a writers' conference. We sat down and our table filled up with strangers, but we all introduced ourselves and started discussing our writing, other writers' groups, things we'd learned about writing, everything. It was like having a mini chapter meeting over pasta and salad. Everyone at the Spring Fling is so friendly and engaging, it's just amazing. And supportive. Every time I mentioned my book I got a big smile and a congrats.

After dinner we went to the Agent/Editor Q&A. They shared a few "don't do this" stories about weird queries they'd received. I think the author who called and read his manuscript to the editor's voicemail was my favorite. Finally we arrived at everyone's favorite part of the conference--the chocolate reception. Dude. Dude. Chocolate as far as the eye could see... It was a thing of beauty. And it was here that we met the group that became our conference buddies, some very cool women who'd met through the Romance Divas site. (aside: I tried to sign up for the forums yesterday and my confirmation email never arrived. Sadness. I'm not a spammer, I swear!) Names will be withheld to protect the innocent, but they were a really, really fun group. And Lindsey came by and gave me some Samhain swag, including my absolute favorite thing, a Samhain devil duckie. Samhain duckie will be featured in my Storyteller series, fighting an army of evil marshmallow peeps, so stay tuned.

After breakfast the next morning I attended Sarah Wendell's workshop on online marketing. It was very informative, and as a result I now have my own Facebook "like" page (because of course FB must change with the seasons and it's no longer a fan page). Now, as I mentioned earlier, I'm a big SBTB fan. Huge. Perhaps even crazed. Like a stalker I'd been trying to spot her since I arrived at Spring Fling, partially because as I said, crazy fangirl, and because a few weeks ago when the DABWAHA ended I won a set of signed Larissa Ione books and a Demonica series coffee mug and tote bag (woot!). When I emailed SB Sarah my address, I mentioned that I was looking forward to her workshop at the SF, and she replied with "I'm now happy to have someone to look forward to meeting!". At which point, something popped in my brain because omg SB Sarah said she's looking forward to meeting me, squee! Yeah. So of course after the workshop I walked up and mentioned that I'm the one who won, and we chatted briefly about how the series is awesome ('cause it is). And BFF Diana, who missed the first part of the workshop because she was pitching to Lindsey, handed Sarah a hall pass signed by Lindsey excusing Diana from missing part of class, which cracked Sarah up because hey, that's funny. ;)

Then we went to...sigh, helpful kitty is now napping on my schedule, one moment. Aha! Carrie Lofy's "Beyond Research/POV" workshop, which was not only very cool but also included short writing exercises, one of which I got to read aloud and received props for. Then was lunch, with Julia Quinn as the speaker. She had several "top 4" lists of things related to writing, and I really wish I'd written some of them down, because they were good. One of them that I remember is to make a "to do" list, because it'll give you a feeling of accomplishment, even if it's only accomplishing buying light bulbs. After lunch BFF Diana went to Julia Quinn's workshop on dialogue (more notes I can copy later), but I went to the Samhain spotlight instead, so I could represent. (I'm a Samhain author, ask me how!) I helped carry the box o' Samhain luggage tags, so clearly I was useful. ;)

Then came the book signing, and my friend Karrin joined us. She's not an author, but is an avid reader and may also be one of my best PR people, because she's demanding that her friends buy my book. ;) The signing is also where the ZOMG DID THAT JUST HAPPEN???!!! portion of my story begins. Diana and I had brought our copies of Beyond Heaving Bosoms with us for Sarah to sign, and we spotted her pretty much immediately when we walked through the door and were all "Here! Sign our bosoms!" (if we'd brought a Sharpie, she might've signed our actual bosoms too). And I, like a drooling fangirl, mentioned that I'd learned about Mr. Sam Hain through the SBTB site (true), and now I'm a Samhain author. She seemed pretty happy about that, because how cool is it to hear that you were the matchmaker who introduced an author to their publisher. Then BFF Diana elbowed me and reminded me to show Sarah my rack card with my book info on it, because during the workshop Sarah'd mentioned that she loves book covers and my book cover is gorgeous. She was suitably impressed, and asked me to email her a reminder when my book comes out. (Score!) So we walked away to get more books signed, and while I was standing in the Julia Quinn line I heard someone yell "Robyn!" and I turned and it was Sarah (omg she said my name!) and she asked what my Twitter handle was. Because she was tweeting about me. Me! At which point, the portion of my brain preventing me from completely geeking out just failed, like a bluescreen in Windows. I walked around a pillar so I was out of her line of sight and did a happy dance with Diana. We got more signed books--a lot more, Diana and Karrin had to cut me off--and then we went up to the room. Now, we hadn't gotten Intarwebs access from the hotel because it was stupid expensive ($10 for one day? who do you think you are? Comcast?), but my husband has web access with his phone so I was pretty much yelling "check it! check it now! omg!" at him. And he didn't have a Twitter app, so we had to download it first, while my brain is becoming more and more damage and I'm all grinning like an idiot and bouncing around the hotel room like Tigger on Red Bull. Finally I was able to read it, and then I pretty much spent the entire time between the signing and dinner grinning.

Dinner! Was delicious, though no one at our table could figure out the mystery flavor of the sorbet for dessert. Apparently it was the flavor of enchantment, and enchantment must taste something like cake mix powder. Cherry Adair spoke during the dinner and continued to be completely made of awesome and hysterical. Two words: camel sex. Done! After the dinner portion was done our conference buddies wanted to go to the bar, and I was all in favor of that because the beer selection at the dinner itself was, well, sucktastic. But Diana paused, and suggested that we go thank SB Sarah for the tweet, even though she was talking to author Courtney Milan and we didn't want to interrupt. But, as I said, I was brain damaged at that point and so I said "Yes, let's go!" So we did. And Diana led off with "I wanted to thank you for mentioning Robyn because she's been grinning all day now," to which she replied "Oh I mentioned you on the site too. I linked to your site, because the coming soon Samhain links break when your book comes out, is that okay?"

...

I'm sure I said "yes." I have vague memory of it. Everything past the words "I mentioned you on the site" is hazy in my brain. Because OMG MY NAME IS IN A SBTB POST! (It's below the cut, fyi.) I literally almost fell over when she said it. After that, I have other vague memories of gushing about how I've been a fan of the site for years (about 3 I figured out later) and I read it every day and I think she's so awesome. And I know at some point she introduced us to Courtney Milan--who was very nice but I haven't read her (yet)--and for some reason I thought it was a good idea to give her a rack card too, possibly because Sarah mentioned that my gorgeous cover is gorgeous but I'd pretty much turned into a wriggling Golden Retriever puppy at that point so who knows. I also know at some point after that Diana and I stepped away for some reason, probably looking for Lindsey so I could squee at her and say goodbye. But I couldn't find Lindsey so we went to the bar so I could drink heavily. And I did.

So that's pretty much my Spring Fling story. It is made of WIN! My parents met us for breakfast the next morning, and when I met them in the lobby I turned around and spotted Sarah sitting in a chair, on the phone, but this time I managed to resist the urge to point her out to my parents and be all "that's her! she's awesome! she said my name!" and instead calmly walked past her.

Thursday I'll be discussing rules of magic as my Storyteller post, so be there or be square.

Storyteller: Introduction

2010-04-22T12:42:00.003-05:00

The lonely road stretched before the band of adventurers. Impenetrable forest lined either side of the road, dark and ominous. Before them the bulk of an airship blotted out the sun, unmoving, a ladder dangling down from it in silent invitation for the adventurers to climb aboard.

“I want to go through the forest.”

“Wait, what?”

“We’re not getting on that thing. We’re going through the forest.”

“Dude, no. I just said the forest is impenetrable. Get on the airship already!”

Is this a conversation between an author and the characters in her head? Nope. It’s a conversation between a Dungeon Master and the players in his campaign. (And yes, we did get on the airship. After more arguing, and perhaps some Cheetos and Mountain Dew.) I’m proud to be a gamer, it’s a geek badge that I wear with honor. I started writing my first novel in 8th grade, and it was inspired by a story I’d posted online as part of a role playing group. Many of the stories I’ve written were for role playing games (RPGs). Some described my character’s background, telling the tale of where she’d come from and how she became a bard/rogue/weremoose/vampire. Others were meant as adventures or campaigns, plotted out for others to experience one game at a time. I learned a lot from my gaming days, and that’s the inspiration for this series. Whether you’re writing for a handful of people gathered around your kitchen table armed with dice and character sheets or for the fans who’ll read your book, the goal is the same: to tell an entertaining story.

There are many kinds of RPGs, and I’ve played most of them. Traditional pen-and-paper RPGs, also called tabletop (TT) games, like Dungeons and Dragons involve a small group of players, each in charge of their own character, who are guided through adventures by a Game Master (GM) or Dungeon Master (DM). Actions are decided by rolling dice—you roll dice to unlock a treasure chest, attack a monster, or spot a clue. Roll high and you succeed, roll low and you fail. Live action role playing (LARP) games involves a larger group of people playing their characters in an improv theater-like setting. They dress and act the part of their character, but actions like staking a vampire or looking for clues to solve a mystery are still decided by rolling dice or a similar system (the LARP I played used rock-paper-scissors). There are also many RPG video games. Many console or PC games involve you making a character and running him/her through the storyline. Dragon Age is a recent popular example of this. Massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft connect millions of players throughout the world.

By now you’re probably thinking, “Wow, you’re a huge nerd, Robyn. Is that the point you’re trying to prove?” Yes, I’m a dork, but my point is that there are RPGs everywhere, allowing people to create and experience stories in ways that are different from the static world of a novel. As a writer I’ve taken the lessons learned from playing and running these games to improve my writing. Thinking like a gamer allows you to look at your own writing from a different angle. In the next few weeks I’ll be covering world building, character creation, and plotting. I hope that these articles will be helpful, but if nothing else I hope you’ll be entertained by my dorkdom. ;)

So, have any of you played RPGs? If so, what game? Did you enjoy it?

Intarweb Tuesday: Sharing the Lurve

2010-04-20T13:35:00.003-05:00

Instead of another YouTube video, this week I give you a review of Ink in the Blood by the lovely and talented Chandra Ryan: http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.com/2010/04/ink-in-blood-by-chandra-ryan.html

I loved Ink in the Blood. :)

Can has NaNoWriMo lurve

2010-04-16T16:17:00.002-05:00

Who's on the NaNo home page? Me, me, me!

Full story here.

Now I will commence the happy dancing. :)

Storyteller: Coming Soon!

2010-04-15T20:11:00.003-05:00

Starting next week I'll be featuring a series of craft articles every Thursday about world building, character creation and plotting, based on my experiences as a writer and a gamer. It's new! It's exciting! It has ninjas!

I'm considering trying to develop it into a workshop, and I'm hoping for feedback from all y'all out there in the ether, so please comment. (Anyone else addicted to RWA online workshops? I know I am.)

So stay tuned. ;)

Intarweb Tuesday: Ninjas!

2010-04-13T16:40:00.003-05:00

Please to enjoy the Scribbling Ninjas.

Intarweb Tuesday: Muppet Ghost Hunters

2010-04-06T12:32:00.002-05:00

In other news, my book cover is up at Under Cover Selections.

Part 13: And then what happened?

2010-04-02T16:30:00.003-05:00

I've been slacking on the blogging lately, because I've been crazy busy with other assorted stuff. Technically I shouldn't be blogging now, but I'm visiting my family and no writing is getting done. Anyway...

So, I've heard lots of stories about what happens when authors get "the call", and almost none of what happens next. First you sign a contract, and then...yeah, no one seems to know. Poof, a book appears! It's like magic! ...or not so much. Thankfully my day job as a production editor gave me an idea of what I could expect, even though the textbook process is different than a fiction book. As a production editor I'd oversee copy editing, have the author review edits, send the manuscript to the typesetters, and then oversee proofreading and the author's corrections. I'd dealt with a lot of authors, both high and low maintenance, and the idea that I'd have an editor still kinda boggles my mind. (You mean someone's going to harass me for corrections now? Madness!) But I was used to the idea of editing, so I was pretty laid back about the editing process. At least I like to think so, my editor may have a different opinion. The difference between style rules for academic and fiction did make me a sad panda when I learned all of my semicolons and serial commas had to go. I shed a tear for the comma that vanished from my title.

One of the first and most difficult things I did in the production process what my blurb worksheet. Now, you've all heard me bitch and moan about how I am oppressed by the evil of synopses and queries, so the fact that I suck at blurb writing shouldn't be a surprise. Essentially I had to write the back cover copy, and you can't put "dude, omg, plz 2 buy mah book or I will b teh homeless." (No matter how true that may be.) My first attempt was not so great actually, and the awesome people at Samhain came up with something much better. (Which you can read here.) I think I did better at the cover worksheet, and my cover is made of awesome. I want to hug it. My mother framed it. I may frame it too, it makes me do a happy dance.

So now we're caught up to where I am at the moment. I learned a ton about my writing during the editing process. I wrote the next book in the series as my 2009 NaNo, and I'm polishing it up now to send to my editor. (Cross your fingers.) I'm learning about book promotion. I'll be attending the Spring Fling conference again this year--this month in fact--and I'm really looking forward to that.

Coming soonish on the blog, I'm planning a series on writing like a gamer, so stay tuned for that. ;)

Intarweb Tuesday: You're Mocking Me, Aren't You?

2010-03-30T12:02:00.001-05:00

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Intarweb Tuesday: The Future of Publishing

2010-03-23T13:48:00.002-05:00

This was going around Twitter yesterday. It's interesting to me as someone involved in publishing as a fiction writer and as an academic editor (don't ask).

Intarweb Tuesday: Listen all y'all this is Sabotage

2010-03-16T13:26:00.002-05:00

I've only seen the first two seasons of BSG, so this was a little "wait, what just happened?" in a spoilery way for me, but still enjoyable. I need to borrow the rest from someone so I can finish the series. As a Rock Band aside, "Sabotage" is damn hard to sing.

Chapter 12: The Call, or OMG SQUEE!

2010-03-15T16:32:00.003-05:00

As I've mentioned before, I've been to a few book signings for other authors, and at each one they inevitably were asked the questions, "How many rejections did you get before your first sale?" and "What was it like when you got the call?" It gives aspiring authors comfort to know that their favorite author was once rejected too, and hearing their success stories fuels our own daydreams. I used to dream about getting the call, and imagine how I would react to it. Would I jump up and down? Would I be all cool as a cucumber and then jump up and down after I hung up? I still dream about what I'll say when I get to have my very own book signing (which I know will probably be me and my mom standing behind a table, trying to beg people to buy my book much like we begged them to buy Girl Scout cookies during my Brownie days, but it's nice to dream that one day there'll be over a hundred people crammed into a bookstore just to see me).

So there I was, I'd just completed my synopsis and my query letter, and I started submitting. On one hand, I feel like I shouldn't admit to how many more rejections I received after my very nice first rejection letter (discussed in Chapter 9: In Which I am Rejected!). Not because it's a huge number, but because it's a small one...one, in fact. With my shiny new synopsis and query, I submitted to two places. One was an agent who almost immediately sent a lame form letter rejection. The other was Samhain. I'd first heard of Samhain through the Smart Bitches when I started following their site a few years ago (I should probably add them to the list of thank you emails), and I was instantly interested. I did research and read blogs and articles about Samhain, and I knew I wanted to work with these people, so they were the first publisher I submitted to.

I sent my novel off into the ether, and waited. And waited... On their site it says it takes 12-16 weeks for a response, and I counted every week. I'd sent it the week before I sent to the agent who almost insta-rejected me, and I was living in fear of another insta-rejection. I knew I wouldn't get the call, because this is the Intarweb age, and instead it would be the email. Every time a new email showed up in my inbox my heart skipped a beat. Then I hit week 12, and I started to stare at my inbox like my cat staring at an unopened can of tuna (in other words, "OMG WANT NAO!"). Week 12, nothin'. Week 13, more nothin'. Week 14...

So I'm sitting at my desk in my cube and there are 5 minutes left in my workday, and I'm writing my daily report and updating my time card and getting ready to leave, when I see a new message pop up in my inbox. I open up my email, and I see the subject "Blood, Smoke and Mirrors; Samhain Publishing." At this point, my heart doesn't skip a beat, but freezes entirely and falls somewhere into my stomach region, where it sat like a chunk of lead. My hands started shaking, and I somehow managed to mouse over and open it. Up pops the email, and it says, "After reviewing your submission, Blood, Smoke, and Mirrors, I'm excited to offer you a contract. CONGRATULATIONS!"

Not just serious, all caps serious. Dude.

My heart starts beating again, racing really, but one of the quirks of my office is that silence is required at all times (no, seriously, not kidding), so I can't jump up and yell "w00t!" like I really want to. Instead, I jump up and hurry over to my BFF's cube and stand next to her chair, and she looks up at me like "you're early, 5 more minutes still." And I throw my arms out and whisper "Give me a hug, they want my book!" At which point we very quietly hug and jump up and down and freak out as silently as possible. Then I ran back to my cube and shut everything down for the day, got my coat and such, and headed back to her cube. Now, oddly enough, we'd already made plans that day to go out for dinner with my husband, so I didn't call him, because I knew I'd be picking him up in a few minutes. Instead, I called my mother and told her the news, and she starts crying on the phone she's so happy. (And then she calls everyone in the Chicagoland area. I know this, because they all called me later to congratulate me. My poor cell phone nearly had a seizure.)

I leave work and head to my apartment, and my husband's waiting outside for me to pick him up for dinner. He walks over to the car and I motion for him to stop, leap out of the car (which was parked, don't panic), and throw my arms around him and start babbling about how they want my book. Now, at that time I was an editor as my day job, so he thought I meant something work-related and had no idea why I was so excited. It finally clicked that I meant my book, and I got a big congratulatory kiss.

And I've been happy dancing ever since.

Next time, I start on the "and then what happened?" of it all.

Intarweb Tuesday: Never Underestimate the Power of YouTube

2010-03-09T14:56:00.003-06:00

8 million views. I love this video, I even bought the song from iTunes. And it gets stuck in my head like you wouldn't believe. Now it can be stuck in yours. Please to enjoy.

This One Goes to 11: Queries are Hard

2010-03-08T18:55:00.002-06:00

As we learned earlier, authors are scared of writing synopses. They're even more frightened of writing query letters, for many of the same reasons. In the synopsis you're trying to boil your novel down into a few pages (or, God forbid, a single page), and they have to be interesting pages. Your query is a paragraph or two that is weighed down with the pressure that it has to be the most interesting thing in the history of mankind in order for the agent or editor to even consider reading the rest of the stuff you sent. Think I'm joking? Sadly, no. For discouraging numbers, read this article. The hard truth is that agents and editors read hundreds, sometimes thousands, maybe even millions of submissions, and then choose only a handful per year. And if you want to be considered, you gotta be good.

No pressure, right?

Thing I have learned #1: Comparing your writing to someone else's is dangerous. It can be rewarding if you're all, "My story is what would happen if Oprah and Marilyn Manson had a baby," because that's a ballsy statement and it might intrigue your reader. But what if your reader really hates Oprah? Then she's instantly turned off. Oops. Besides, even if your reader does heart Oprah, how does that represent your work? Your writing is special, highlight how it's special.

Thing #2: Nobody cares that you won a contest 'cept you. This nearly made me cry when I won my contest, because I was all happy dancing at the conference about being a finalist until this question came up several times, and each speaker shot it down. Even winning a Golden Heart does not an instant publishing contract make. Should you mention your wins? Sure. It proves that someone not related to you through blood or marriage liked your stuff. Can you expect it to be the thing that gets you published? Not a snowball's chance in Hell.

Thing #3: For the love of all that is holy, list your word count! As a NaNoer, I'm word count obsessed, so this was not a problem for me. However, I follow several agents on Twitter (aside: Twitter is invaluable for connecting with other authors, editors, agents, readers, and pretty much anything publishing related) and they hate it when someone doesn't mention the word count. Hate. Flames, on the side of my face... heaving breaths...

Thing #4: Get the name right. Sounds simple, right? Not so much. Are you targeting one person, or the whole agency/publisher? Do you know if that person's a man or a woman? Are you sure? No, seriously, are you? Example: I have the dubious honor of being blessed (or cursed) with a first name that can be either for a man or a woman. I've received lots of junk mail--even work mail--addressed to Mr. Robyn Bachar. And it makes me crazy. Would I buy something from a telemarketer who calls asking for Mr. Robyn? Hell no. Is the person you queried going to seriously consider your book if you didn't even do enough research about them to know their gender? Nope. They're already on to the next email.

Thing #5: Letter writing is a dying art. If you don't already know how to construct a business letter, learn it. After you're accepted and signed and familiar with your agent/editor, then you can throw in smilies and OMGs if you think it's appropriate. This is a pet peeve of mine because I do a lot of online gaming and facebooking and other time wasters, and this exposes me to people who can't form a complete sentence. Now, I'm not perfect by any means, but trying to communicate with someone who speaks netspeak/textspeak/leetspeak makes my eyes bleed. I'm afraid for the future of our nation...

Anyway, those are my thoughts on writing queries. Which I need to go do myself now, so that I can send the next book in the series to my editor. Next time, I'll talk about getting the call (or rather, the email).

I Just Can't Quit Adverbs

2010-03-05T21:18:00.002-06:00

I'm taking a break from the continuing saga to bring you this writing update. About adverbs. Because they're evil. Evil.

In general, I own my addictions. Junk food? Yes. Video games? I <3 them. Clove cigarettes? Well, I used to love them, now they're illegal. (I also haven't had a smoke since December, by the way.) But I didn't know I was addicted to adverbs until my editor staged an intervention, and then I realized they were everywhere. My novel was hip-deep in them. Cat sighs wearily or softly or tiredly. She reacts instantly to just about everything. And there were other -ly offenders as well. She thinks that something that usually happens will probably happen exactly the way it really should.

Wow. I had no idea. And it's just so easy to give in to the adverb temptation, especially when you're working under the OMG MUST GET WORDCOUNT mentality of NaNoWriMo, which I was with Blood, Smoke and Mirrors and also did with other books in the series (fingers crossed that someday they see the light of publishing day). After all, why say someone growled when you can say growled threateningly? That's 2 words closer to 50k, right? But it's silly. Unnecessary. If the hero's about to throw down with someone, the reader knows that he's growling in a rawr kinda way. If the hero's a weretiger about the tear off the heroine's clothes and have kinky shapeshifter sex, then the reader knows that's a "I'm happy to see you" growl. It doesn't need a modifier because growl is strong enough to stand on its own, and that's my first step toward breaking my adverb addiction: choosing strong verbs. Tough verbs. Verbs with hair on their chests...okay maybe that's a bit extreme.

The second step is asking myself if having that adverb slows down the action. Though I hate writing them, I have lots of fight scenes. I love big, epic battles with explosions and good versus evil--very cinematic. If you're watching an action movie, there's no pause for whether or not the hero lunges angrily or righteously or desperately at the villain. He's going to lunge, the bad guy is going to dodge, and on to the next swing. In writing, it may make sense to the author to add that sort of detail, but that's just the adverbs using their evil Jedi mind tricks on you. Don't give in to the Dark Side!

I am determined to overcome this addiction. One sentence at a time. I mean, it can't be any harder than dieting or quitting smoking, right? Right?

Aw, hell.

Intarweb Tuesday: The Same Old Song

2010-03-02T16:11:00.002-06:00

The EtS blog posted this video today as part of a post on not worrying about being the next big thing. I think every writer has struggled with the fear that the story they want to tell isn't original. That someone else got there first and now you can't use your brilliant idea without being accused of copycatting. But really, there are a million ways to retell boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. What matters is telling it your way.

Intarweb Tuesday: Cover Clash!

2010-02-23T12:04:00.002-06:00

First, Happy Birthday to my BFF Diana. You'll always be younger than me.

Second, I love the Embrace the Shadows blog, and this week's Cover Clash is featuring a book by a friend of mine, the lovely and talented Chandra Ryan, so please take a moment and vote for her book Ink in the Blood.

Poll: Cover Clash - 2/22/10

Cover Art. I has it.

2010-02-17T21:18:00.003-06:00

I'm behind in the blogging because I've been taking care of my mom after her surgery, but now that she's feeling better I'm back home again. (The husband and the kitty missed me. Apparently husband was subsisting on microwave noodles in my absence, heh.)

The latest book news is this, my made of awesome fabulous cover:

Intarweb Tuesday: Inspiration. I has it.

2010-01-26T12:02:00.000-06:00

Now go forth and write, people! Yar!