 Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith Hunter[Quick note: as Laura reminded us {and Misty} rooms for ConCarolinas 2014 are going fast. Make your reservation today.] On to the post.
I just finished the rewrite of BLACK ARTS. And honestly it was the hardest rewrite I have ever done.
“But you say that every time,” you say.
“Yes. And every time it is true.”
Why so hard? Lots of reasons. For one, I no longer am writing standalones as I did as Gwen. (Except that 6 book medical series. And the 3 book saga. Except those.) Each book in a series is built on the plot arcs of previous books and yet there can be no similar plot lines or inciting events. There has to be lots of action. And character stuff and plot stuff that happened in previous books and was left unresolved has to be resolved.
No, “stuff” is not an appropriate technical term. [...]
Continue reading Rules of Thumb vs Tech Talk
Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith HunterI gave up trying to write a regular blog today. My mind was too filled with anger and images of the injured at the Boston Marathon Massacre. So I pulled an unused post from long ago, one that reminds of a more innocent time in my own life.
It’s been days now since I heard that my idol Anne McCaffrey died. My first reaction upon reading of her passing was a silent, internal wail, wordless, frightened, and maybe a little superstitious. The world was not supposed to end until December 2012, not now! But it must be ending. So much is going wrong, and now the Dragon Lady is gone.
My second reaction was an intense, almost visceral memory of her books. Hers were the novels I reached for first when I raced in to my favorite Waldenbooks, back in the good old days when [...]
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Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith HunterOrder without chaos is entropy, and entropy is death.
I was a Trekie for many years, and one of my early Star Trek memories (original Star Trek) was the episode where Captain Kirk was spilt into two parts by the transporter malfunction. (No one ever mentioned where the extra mass came from to make another whole human. Maybe from the stuff that the replicator used to create piping hot coffee and fudge and uniforms and spare parts, though I never thought the two were connected in any way. But I digress. Back to the episode – The Enemy Within.) The enemy was Chaos.
Kirk was split into two parts, the good Kirk and the bad Kirk, or the creative, passionate, selfish, violent Kirk, and the boring, compassionate, kind Kirk. The evil Kirk went about trying to take over the ship, and the good Kirk huddled in the corner whimpering, unable [...]
Continue reading Of Chaos and Order
Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith HunterOr I could call this — The InfoDump of Morality
This will be my last infodump post, because I’ve said it all, or enough of it to stop. No one here needs every instance of possible infodump-ery listed and suggestions of ways to avoid it. We are writers. Give us an idea and we can twist it every which way all by ourselves. But I want to make one last (short) note on infodumps, and to me this is a biggie. Morality.
In each fantasy novel, in each fantasy world, we (the writers) incorporate the concept of morality. It may not be by intent, and, in fact, we may desire to avoid the idea of morality in our books entirely. But it always sneaks in.
Sometimes it is the morality of religion, and we keep a handy list of “Thou Shalts” or “Thou Shalt Nots” beside us while we write. Sometimes [...]
Continue reading The Infodump Scene Part Last — Morality
Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith HunterHi All,
Sorry I am late, I pulled very late-nighter getting a book to my editor.
Info-dumps: the places in a novel where a writer dumps way too much info on to the page, thinking that the reader needs all this stuff to understand what is going on. In the writer’s head, they are paramount to the reactions of the characters and the forward motion of the story.
Info-dumps take place in every genre, most often in these instances:
In a standalone, when a new character enters the action or is brought up. In a series, when a character from a previous series book enters the action, or is brought up. When the writer is trying to do world-building that is crucial to the plot.
We all know not to do info-dumps. But we need the info. Below is an info dump that I have rewritten to show how to [...]
Continue reading The INFO-DUMP Scene
Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith HunterI’ll pick back up next time on the last TOP TEN post. This time I want to ramble a bit about the writing life, and other stuff.
I haven’t posted since 5-23, which feels like forever. So much has happened since then, to include ConCarolinas, updates on the Kickstarter project for the Rogue Mage RPG, and exciting stuff that I can hint at, but can’t explain deeply because contracts are in the works, etc. The most important of this last thing is the new compilation I was asked to write for ROC, a set of 3 or 4 shorts set in the Jane Yellowrock world.
As some of you know, last year, I was all set to self-publish CAT TALES, a compilation of Jane shorts and JY world history. These were shorts that had been offered to ROC, prior to MERCY BLADE hitting the NYT List. At that time, ROC [...]
Continue reading Rambling On
Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith HunterBefore I get started, I have ConCarolinas news.
Calling all attendees to ConCarolinas! People are arriving at the airport in Charlotte on Thursday and Friday, and they need rides to the hotel. (It’s $80 by cab.) If you need a ride or can be available to give a lift for gas money, to take people to and fro, or want to share a cab, here is your chance to network. Email me personally and I will coordinate. faith@faithhunter.net. So far we have two arrivals handled, thanks to John Hartness. Wayne McCalla is willing to help too.
The MW lunch will be Saturday. Come by the signing tables and ask us for the definite time and place, but it will likely be at the same place, same time as last year.
I have an aside that I am editing in. I will be on a tweetchat tonight for readers and writer [...]
Continue reading Top Ten (Okay Eleven) Things You Should Know About Your Own Book, Part Five
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How To Write Magical Words
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