The Writing Workshop

Penguin Creates New Writing Community Called Book Country

GalleyCat has announced the launch of Penguin's new venture: a writing community online geared towards genre writers and readers. The new site is called Book Country (horrible name - I hope it's just a tester) and can be found here. 

I gave it a whirl, and it seems like a great idea. But the execution leaves something to be desired.

The site is still in beta-testing (that means it's not actually 100% done and Penguin probably won't be throwing a launch party for another month or so), so there are problems. But the big thing here is that the site is just plain ugly to look at.

When I go to a book website, I want to see book covers. Hopefully these will be added to the site before the official launch. Right now, the only good images come from the blogger pictures. The bloggers Penguin has enlisted are pretty good, I'll say - I recognize about half of them as publishing professionals.

The site features not only reviews but will also apparently have a place for writers to publish their own work for review, searchable by genre. While I like this idea, it worries me - what kind of protections are Penguin going to offer so that somebody isn't going to rip their users off? Copy and paste is quite easy to do, people.

Also, the site will be featuring contests for their writers, which I think is a great idea. It also appears to have a section on helping writers succeed by teaching them about the publishing world - I like the idea, but I'm worried that a Big Six publisher simply doesn't have the on-the-ground conversational ability that wannabe writers need. It's like having a celebrity actor whose been acting since they were a kid talk to a bunch of college age theatre kids about breaking into the business. It just doesn't compute.

But, hey, it's another online place to bitch about books. If they just made it prettier, it might work.

Writing Craft: How to Create Characters

Everyone, including those pesky editors, are always looking for "unique" characters. The problem is that creating unique characters is not only a difficult task, it's pretty much an impossible one.

The reason being is that characters, by their very fictional natures, are rooted firmly in the traditions of storytelling - tales of lovers' woe often harken back to Romeo and Juliet (not very original characters in their own right, I'll have you know) or tales of epic downfall almost always come down to us from Greek tragedy. Characters come from our collective understanding of life - stock characters are filled by stereotypes and easy-to-identify markers that tell us these characters aren't important. Unique characters really aren't ever unique, because they all have pieces of other real or fictional people in them.

What editors and reviewers actually mean when they say they want unique characters is that they don't want characters that aren't memorable and don't belong to those stock character types or even, at worst, stereotypes. In other words, they want characters that have enough detail to them to make them human.

Stereotypes, in my humble armchair psychologist opinion, are simply part of nature. We use stereotypes to classify the people around us. Stereotypes, however, can lead to worse things - like bigotry, racism, homophobia, and anti-religious extremism. They tend to bring out the worst in people. And a single stereotyped character in your entire book can bring everything down. (I just saw this amazing takedown of the so-called Smurfette Principal, wherein 1 girl must represent all woman to a group of diverse male characters in many mainstream cartoons and movies.)

To prevent stereotypes and to create memorable characters, you need to create characters that feel like humans. And to do so, you need to understand that humans do not have the clear-cut motivations that we writers ascribe to them. Humans do crazy things - things that make absolutely no sense to anyone, including the human involved. They frequently harm themselves or others that they love, and often try to supplicate those they hate.

When you understand this fact, you can begin to create fully realized characters. Your characters must be a paradox, because nearly all human beings are. Add something to their core personality that doesn't fit.

Say, you have a nice, white, Christian girl in the south in the 1960's. (She's nearly a stereotype, already. Did you picture her as a bubbly blonde?). To mix things up, you add in the fact she's really smart - but also has no desire to do anything but get a husband and raise a family. She's going to put all her intelligence forward in a way that would make a modern feminist angry - but in the end, she's happy as can be. She took her lot in life and did with her intelligence what she wanted, no matter what others had to say.

It's the trifecta here - the stereotyped base of good Christian girl wanting a family, plus the intelligence, plus the time period, that creates a fully realized person. Movies often try to do this - the hooker with the heart of gold for instance - but that's really just another stereotype. That hooker needs to have been a former nun who left the convent after realizing she was a lesbian for that story to be new. (But, I'm guessing, that character has appeared at least once before, somewhere.)

In parting, let me just say this: round characters come from the details. The more detail, even tiny ones, you add to your characters, especially ones that don't fit any particular mold and especially if the details don't compliment each other, the more "unique" your characters are going to be.

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: Do the Jig

We're going back to the basics, folks.

Write a 1-page story that includes the word jig.

The goal here, as always in flash fiction, is to still get a whole story, just confined to a certain space. Make sure that you're focusing on language, as word choice and syntax become much more prominent when there's a lot less of it.

And why jig, you ask? Mostly because it's fun to do. *dances*

James Frey vs. Oprah, Round 3

The Hollywood Reporter, among other sources, has announced that James Frey will returned to Oprah's coach. The episode will happen sometime in May, the last month Oprah's show will be on the air.

Frey and Oprah have a checkered history - his faux memoir A Million Little Pieces was chosen for her Oprah's Book Club, but when it was revealed large portions of it were fabricated, Oprah famously ripped him a new one on her show. Frey has been courting the ire of the publishing world ever since.

His last major venture was his book production company Full Fathom Five, which produced the movie flop I Am Number Four among other books. The venture was revealed to have been a dirty deal between Frey and impressionable college students given horrible, write-to-hire contracts.

His latest adventure is his new book, which publishers apparently won't touch. It's only form of traditional publishing was done at the hands of an investor, and most of the copies will be available only in e-book form.

I have a feeling, though, that's there more to this Oprah meeting than meets the eye. It's a nice circle back to the worst Oprah's Book Club scandal, but it also nicely times in with the revelation that Greg Mortensen's Three Cups of Tea and philanthropy work might all be hogwash. Worse still, is that both men have become wealthy off these lies.

In an era when the average joe is pissed as hell at executives taking money while their companies lay people off, I don't find it surprising at all that people would turn against artists who use trickery, rather than talent, to produce their work. I wouldn't be surprised if Frey's new book doesn't sell - even with an appearance on Oprah.

To be honest, though, I wish Oprah would have found another author to talk to, cause you know this will help Frey sell at least a few books. Maybe she could do a talk with the new Pulitizer Prize winner, Jennifer Egan, instead?

Writing Prompt: The Space Opera

The science fiction sub-genre of the Space Opera is a great one to explore, in particular for non-science fiction writers. The Space Opera is defined by being in space (duh), having lots of overlapping and scheming characters, all searching for power and/or love, and being, well, quite grand. Think of it as updating Arthurian legend and putting it in space. That's a Space Opera.

Write a Space Opera.

Why is this good for non-science fiction writers? Basically, the Space Opera doesn't have to have a lot of science fiction elements - just touches. This is similar to what happens in the medieval fantasy drama that is George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series - the inspiration for new HBO show A Game of Thrones. Instead of having sorcerers constantly battle it out, things play mostly as they were in the actual medieval times, but in small moments, fantasy elements creep up, like the Wall, a giant sheet of ice that exists regardless of temperature.

Space Operas do the same thing, but with space, planets, and technology. The goal is to have genunine human melodrama, just with a science fiction backdrop.

New First One Digital Publishing Launches, plus more Ebook news

In an interview with Publishers Weekly, former Simon& Schuster publisher Karen Hunter does two big things: she announces the start of her new independent digital publisher, First One Digital Publishing (horrible name, really) and manages to say the smartest thing I've heard about the book publishing industry in a long time:

“The book business model is broken,” Hunter said, “38% of the books we publish come back." Oh, my God, someone admitted that consignment doesn't work as a business model. And that over a third of published books come back to the publishers. (Ouch.)

But, if you're interested, First One Digital Publishing will have a website with a contest for new writers with blogs and articles, will not be focusing only on African-American literature and nonficiton as Hunter has done in the past, and will occasionally publish traditional books, thanks to a deal with Barnes & Noble. Not a bad plan, Ms. Hunter. I say kudos. It could work.

Why might it work? Well, the February numbers are out, and ebooks have managed to sell more than all trade categories, 90 million dollars worth of it. That's up over 200 percent from the same time last year and just further proof that the ebook is here to say. The aap report believes the rise in ebook sales is due to the spike in e-reader sales at Christmas. I say, that's just why it's gonna be from now on.

Also, I found this nice article about Wilbur Smith's latest thriller, Those in Peril, which topped the hardback fiction list and Apple iBookstore's bestseller list in the same week. (It was high up on Amazon and others, as well.) In other words, having a digital edition didn't detract from hardback sales, at least in the first week. Long term tradional book sales might be slower, it's true, but right now, it looks like Those in Peril might become Smith's highest sold book ever. This is good news for those of us, like myself, who believe that a balance between traditional and e-publishing is the way to go.

Writing Prompt: The Xanatos Gambit

In terms of a Machiavellian scheme, the TV trope referred to as the Xanatos Gambit is a good one. Named for David Xanatos, a character from the 90's Disney cartoon Gargoyles, a Xanatos Gambit is one wherein a plan is enacted where all possible outcomes benefit the person who starts the scheme.

Say, for instance, you start a fight to steal an object. You lose the fight to the object's guardian. But the fight was posted on YouTube and gained you massive popularity for "defending" yourself against a clearly superior opponent. Your newfound popularity allows you to get invited to a party where the object is, which you can now steal. The whole thing is - you knew that if you lost to the object's guardian, you could spin this in your favor to get close to the object. In other words, that was part of the plan from the beginning. That's a Xanatos Gambit.

Write a story in which the villain repeatedly uses the Xanatos Gambit - enacting schemes wherein all possible outcomes result in a victory for the villain.

There's a reason why Gargoyles was so popular - it was damn smart. The cartoon also took Shakespearean characters (Macbeth and Puck were major characters) and mythology (Avalon played a major role) to create a well-constructed plotline and smart world building. Even ten years later, it still stands up as being almost too smart for a kid's show.

Get Published!: What is an Author's Platform?

If there's anything that makes wannabe writers scream in frustration, it's trying to understand just what in the world an author's platform is. This is usually because whenever an agent or editor gets asked, they point to someone like Martha Stewart, whose TV shows, houseware products, and previous books are all part of her platform. Well, great for her, but most of us won't ever have a TV show.

An author's platform is generally defined as whatever avenues the author can use to sell their book. This includes everything from being able to get interviews to being part of a large nonprofit organization with a newsletter. If the author's name is recognizable, that's an instant platform - the name sells itself. This is why celebrities get published all the time.

It's a bit like branding, really. When you want to publish, especially nonfiction, you're going to need to brand yourself and your book. You need to establish credibility - if you're writing a book about dogs for instance, you need to show why you're the right person to write about dogs, why no one knows more about these dogs then you, and why you're an expert in your field. And then you need to show them how you can sell this book, because you can get along with humans, too. The two together, your reputation and how you approach sales, is your brand or platform.

The platform doesn't have to be national to get you published (although, realistically, it's better if it is). To build a platform, or to sell your platform to an agent or editor (you're really selling both your platform and your book when you send in a manuscript), you need to think about what is it you can do to get people's attention. Do you have personal connections in your field that will help promote the book? If you put out a press release, will there be news stories printed about you? Does your opinion even matter to your colleagues?

If not, you've got to find a way to build your platform. In today's technology-based world, it's all about creating your own way. Building an author's platform is all about the website and social media. If you're not someone who has a traditional platform but truly believe you're the person to write that back, go out and get yourself a blog. Aggressively promote yourself on websites that are respected in your field to attract readers (just not to the point of spamming - people hate that). You can create a platform, thanks to the internet, in ways you could never have done before.

And, in reality, this is also true for fiction writers these days. Anything you can do to make yourself visible in the eyes of the marketplace will only help your chances of getting the agents and editors' attention.