fiction theory

Linkage in between word counts

2009-11-06T14:11:14Z

A quick signal boost for something awesome:

Arthur Hlavaty (aka supergee) is offering a scholarship for a person of color to attend the IAFA (International Association for the Fantastic in the Art) conference this year. The theme is Race and the Fantastic, with such luminaries as Nalo Hopkinson and Laurence Yep and Takayumi Tatsuki as the guests of honor.

The qualifications for the scholarship are:

The only qualifications are that you have an interest in race and fantastic literature including science-fiction and/or horror, identify and are known as someone who is not white, will be 21 or over in March, want to actively participate in conference activities/discussions, and cannot get money from a university to help you attend. You can be at a university with poor funding, be a grad or undergrad student or someone else who does not qualify for funding, or not be affiliated with a university. We will decide on our own criteria, including (but far from limited to) any writing you have done that we have seen and if we already know you personally; the decision is not subject to debate.

So if you are reading this and you qualify for it, I would definitely urge you to take a shot. The decision will be made on November 12th, which gives you six days. I'd certainly love to be able to go to this conference (eee! Nalo Hopkinson! My inner fangirl shrieks with joy!) and there has never been a topic that needs talking about as much as race in SF/F.

Nano2009: Day 4 - In which I keep the plates spinning

2009-11-04T22:06:30Z

Just a quick word update to keep me honest. So far, having two projects is a bit like having newborn twins. If one isn't acting the hell up, the other is. But on the plus side (and totally NOT like babies) when one gets too fussy, I can put it down and go play with the other one for a while. Though I hear that as far as parenting goes, that's not a really good tack to take.

One of my stories is doing better wordcount wise than the other, but not story wise. It's weird. I have more words on the first because I've been drawing out a lot of details. The other isn't as filled with useless descriptions because I know where the plot is going (sort of).

Word Count: Bound For Canaan

8485 / 50000
(16.97%)

Word Count: The Bronze Orchid

6721 / 50000
(13.44%)

NaNo2009: Day 1 - In which questions arise concerning my mental health

2009-11-01T18:24:59Z

So, I decided to do both ideas. Yes, that's right friends and Romans, I'm going to be writing not one, but two novels for NaNoWriMo.

I know that this is a bad idea and is proof that I have no idea what I'm doing. I am AWARE. KTHNXBAI.

Word counts:

Bound for Canaan (Novel #1)

2000 / 50000
(4%)

The Bronze Orchid (Novel #2)

980 / 50000
(1.96%)

T-minus 11hrs, 59 min, 20 seconds

2009-10-31T16:11:06Z

Still don't know what to do for NaNoWriMo. Tomorrow morning I am going to wake up and start writing something. I just have no frakking idea what it will be. Maybe a thief and a nun-slash-barmaid committing fabulous, twisted crimes or a planet full of dead people and six wacky, misfit investigators. I just don't know at this point.

Orange Cat helpfully suggests that giving him food to solve my dilemma. When asked how this is supposed to help me figure out what to write, he promptly lifted his leg and started licking himself to let me know he had better things to do than explain the obvious. Which, if you're the cat in that scenario, is sound logic because it results in you getting food.

I understand now why cats are good pets for writers. They teach you that no matter how cute and fuzzy the things near you are, when it comes down to it, you're still on your own.

Except when the kibble hits the bowl, and then we're all totes BFF.

I need a NaNoWriMo icon, too. Something snazzy.

In which I list for coherency's sake

2009-10-30T17:25:47Z

1. I still have no idea which idea to write for NaNoWriMo. I tried flipping a coin. I dropped it and it rolled under my desk never to be found again. I am not even kidding about this.

2. Have realized that enormity of the editing necessary on Soul Machines is epoch. As in, it will probably take me several geologic ages to wrest a coherent, marketable story out of this mess. And I'm not even done with the first draft!

3. I have an orange kitten diligently watching me type. This morning he tried to eat my copy of Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell. At least he has good taste in literature. *badum-ching*

4. I am so behind in posting reviews. I have Thebes at War by Naguib Mahfouz, Heart of Stone by C.E. Murphy, and Personal Effects by J.C. Hutchins to review, plus the book I'm near to finishing up.

5. Since I have a few bucks left of wedding money, I'm about to purchase some books - but there are a few books I'm undecided about.

For instance, Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire.

What Sounds Good:

1. The part where the heroine spent fourteen years as a fish sounds. Wonder what that would be like. Would you be more or less fond of water/swimming? What do you do while you're a human who is now a fish? Does it take time to adjust to being human again when you're not a fish. Inquiring minds want to know.

2. No leather, skimpy clothing or tramp stamps to be found on the cover. NONE! Could it be the start of a new, leather-free era for my genre? Is there hope on the horizon? Should I buy this book just to encourage publishers to keep up the de-tramp stamping of urban fantasy?

What Sounds Terrible:

1. The book is written in first person narration by a white, straight, able bodied heroine with special powers/heritage who is as a private investigator. Which is like Every Urban Fantasy Novel That Has Annoyed Me ever. Seriously. Enough with the private investigators, cops, bounty hunters, and other law enforcement positions. You'd think someone who got turned into a fish and wants to avoid faerie things would become, I dunno, a teacher or a clerk or a salesperson in an office.

2. It's about about Faeries and the Faerie court and a heroine trapped between two worlds, forced into a conflict she wants no part of. I think I read this book before. It was called Blood and Iron.

3. It takes place in a major U.S. city and the only mythology mentioned is Celtic faerie mythology. Why is it that all the books about faerie I have ever read are about white authors deciding that people of color don't count and the stories, legends, myths, and tales from their heritages are completely powerless/non-existent in the face of Euro-centric mythology? So far every Faeries-In-The-Big-City type book I've read involves a complete erasure of all other mythologies and the people that go with them. I've been burned by this before, so it's a subgenre I deeply distrust.

4. It's recommended for fans of Jim Butcher and Kim Harrison. Neither of whom I liked. Kim Harrison's "Dead Witch Walking" was the most appalling piece of garbage I've had the misfortune to lay eyes on this year.

So, if anyone has recommendations one way or the other - and I'm willing to be surprised. I just want to know that there's a surprise worth getting to.

Doing it so wrong

2009-10-28T14:20:21Z

Dear Person Who Is Spamming Me With Their Petition,

You sent me

Hi Meg,

Astoundingly, of the 82,000 chemicals available for use in the U.S., only about 200 have been required to be tested for safety.

Protect against toxic chemicals.

The 33 year-old law that is supposed to protect Americans from exposure to toxic chemicals is so outdated that China legally exports toxic materials into the U.S. that are not only banned in Japan and Europe, but can't even be used domestically in China.

The burden placed on the Environmental Protection Agency under this law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), is so onerous that they have only succeeded in banning one group of chemicals, PCBs, from the marketplace.

It's time to reform and strengthen TSCA -- support legislation to protect against dangerous toxic chemicals. »

Thanks for taking action!

[Name Redacted]
ThePetitionSite

Starting your petition with the headline "We Get the Toxic Chemicals Even China Doesn't Want" is actually a way to show me that you're more concerned with making the Chinese look like dirty, morally corrupt people who are foisting their trash on us hardworking, upright, clean (read: white) Americans (I'm surprised you didn't mention those grubby Chinese stealing our jobs!) than being concerned about toxic chemicals. It's amazing how you took an entire range of bigotry, prejudice, and historical mistrust of the Chinese and managed to squeeze it into one perfectly atrocious sentence.

Furthermore, why it is that you're so concerned about these "toxic chemicals" - which you leave conveniently unnamed and unspecified - are coming from China? So, if the chemicals come from England or Canada or France, then that's okay?

If American laws concerning environmental safety are weak and allowing the importation from ANYWHERE of dangerous substances, that's a perfectly legitimate cause. Saying, "The Government Is Not Doing Enough to Protect Its Citizens!" is not only fair, but completely true. Starting a petition to get the government to enforce existing laws and allow the EPA more power to arrest, fine, and punish offenders is completely a good idea.

But pointing fingers at other countries, especially countries that you know have a bad reputation -- fueled by very lopsided media coverage -- is out and out racism. You've just sent out an email to hundreds, maybe thousands, giving them just a little more help in thinking of China as being dirty and weird and full of scary brown people.

The only thing you're raising awareness of right now is your bigotry. And your appalling lack of scientific knowledge with this gem of a sidebar:

It's gotten to the point that every American alive today, including newborn babies, has hundreds of chemicals flowing through their blood.

That is the single stupidest statement that I've ever heard. Of course everyone, even newborn babies, has chemicals flowing through them. If you had no chemicals in your blood, you'd be dead, dumbass. They're called nutrients and hormones and vitamins and minerals and antibodies. Milk, for instance, is so chemically complex a substance that scientists still don't understand it. It hasn't been tested, so far as I know, for safety in any lab. Should we ban babies from drinking milk until the proper studies have been done?

Using the phrase "toxic chemicals" without being specific is stupid. Any chemical in the right level is toxic to a human being. Oxygen at too high a saturation in the blood can kill you. H20, our friend water, has killed many a human being. It's called drowning. And yes, water is a chemical.

I don't know if anyone has tested water or oxygen for their safety in a lab and determined if Americans should still be breathing and drinking. Do you think we should impose a respiration ban until the necessary tests have done?

On behalf of science and humanity in general, I would like to request that you cease and desist sending these emails and, in fact, cease and desist opening your big mouth until you have something intelligent to say.

All My Disgust and Disapproval,
Meg

A little bit of good news

2009-10-28T11:45:29Z

Last night an agent emailed to request the full manuscript. I duly fired it off to him ASAP, and now I'm waiting on pins and needles for his reply.

Which brings the Query Score Card up to:

Rejections - 7

Requests - 3

Timed Out - 6

Still Pending - 3

And now is it nice to have some good news right now. Because it's been raining for two days solid and I'm very sore from trying new exercises and feel a bit crappy and still have a buttload left to write on Soul Machines before I move on to outlining my NaNoWriMo novel -- and really all I want to do curl up under a blanket and sit on the couch and watch reruns of Hu$tle or Leverage or something. Because only watching ridiculously hot people commit fabulous, over-plotted heists can heal my wounded soul.

That joke isn't funny anymore

2009-10-27T16:46:47Z

handyhunter has a must-read Special Guest post on Cultural Appropriation over at Dear Author.

If you need a sample of how true the post is:

It is not diversity to have white people running around in foreign lands without much thought to the people who are native to those lands. I can’t say I find it romantic when they’re in the middle of colonizing another country either; I’m not sure how I’m supposed to root for our heroes when they’re killing or enslaving other people, or condoning/profiting from it

I recommend that you get over there and read it (several times, even) immediately. Bookmark it for later reference. Everything she says is right and true and I couldn't agree more.

Et tu, Amy Poehler? What's so funny about desiring a big, black woman? written by What Tami Said over at Racialicious.

Poehler is about some sort of “girl power.” She launched the “Smart Girls at the Party” Web series to “help girls find confidence in their own aspirations and talents.” Perhaps this kind of empowerment is only for some girls–ones of the right color and size–because I can’t imagine how seeing themselves portrayed as undesireable might empower young, black girls or girls who are overweight. Always being the butt of the joke rarely inspires confidence.

It really concerns me how much feminism talks about empowerment of women, but seems to come with the unspoken caveat, "By women, we mean white, middle class, liberal, normal-sized women".

I'm disturbed that somehow these things are supposed to be acceptable because they're contained within comedies or humorous -- if you find that kind of thing funny. It's as though it's okay to be racist or sizist or both if enough people (or enough of the people that you pay attention to) laugh.

I find it interesting that Eddie Murphy was mentioned because there's a really good metaphor for this contained in "The Nutty Professor" (and hell yes there were some big problems with that move).

There's a scene where Professor Klump and his date, Carla, go to see a comedian on stage who is known for poking fun at audience members. Of course, the comedian immediately starts making digs at Professor Klump's size. The first few jokes, Klump and Carla take it well. He even says, good naturedly, "You got me, you got me".

Then the camera pulls away as the comedian keeps going on and on and on with fat joke after fat joke after fat joke. While the audience in the movie continues to howl riotously, you see the hurt on Klump's face and Carla's as their smiles fade and they sit there, just wondering when this comedian will finally leave them alone, take the spotlight off, move on.

That's what Poehler and the people who run Parks & Recreation were. They were that comedian who kept jabbing at someone long after things ceased to be funny and began to hurtful. That joke, the one where you daring to have confidence in yourself is considered so absurd as to be comedy gold, gets less funny every time you hear it. And it's been told enough. Ad nauseum is the phrase, I believe. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who are sick of it.

I think it takes away from Poehler's cred as a comedian and a supposed empower-er of women to be part of something like that. Because the delusionally confident big black woman has been done to death. Even if she didn't care about race, you think she'd care about originality. Or in how treating women who embrace and enjoy their sexuality as delusional is certainly not helping anything.

And on a catty and completely unrelated note, I'd like to say that I'm not surprised that this is coming from a show that's so obviously a ploy to clone the success of The Office without bothering to think for itself. If Poehler is going to peddle that kind of crap, she could at least pick a better show to do it on. At least Tina Fey didn't pick a copy of a copy to work her schtick.

The clock is running

2009-10-25T15:10:46Z

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to finish Soul Machines before NaNoWriMo time. I'm close, but not close enough that I think I could wrap it all up in six days. Maybe in ten or fourteen, but not sixteen.

I'm still doing NaNoWriMo (and I still don't know which idea because the votes for them came out in a tie and I can't make up my mind), but I may be doing NaNoWriMo and finishing up this project at the same time.

I've never done two projects at once, so it should be interesting. Though, maybe that's a good thing. I've won NaNoWriMo the last five years running. I won't say it isn't a challenge every year, but in recent years, it's become less and less of one. I know I can, with enough enthusiasm and discipline, handily pump out the requisite 1667 words per day. I regularly do 3,000 words a day just as a matter of course.

So maybe seeing if I can stretch myself to multitask is exactly what I need.

Though, I am tempted to see if I can write both of my ideas at once and not only make the 50k mark on each in a month, but finish them completely. Of course, editing would be a gigantic mess because the only way to write at that kind of high flying speed (for me, at least) is to write very, very messily. The kind where I'm leaving out words every other sentence.

This is, coincidentally, why I don't advise anyone start querying their Nano novels come December or even January. Writing 50k in a month is lots of fun and a big feat, but you're not writing your best. You're just writing your fastest. You do need to edit, and given the speed with which you write in November, edit extra carefully. Which is why there's National Novel Editing Month is for. And why it's in March.

Heed the many agents who advise you to let your NaNo novels sit in a drawer for a while. They are wise and their advice is to be taken to heart.

When in doubt, let the internet decide for you!

2009-10-21T13:27:44Z

All right friends and Romans, I need your very wise counsel. I'm debating which particular idea I'm going to proceed with for NaNoWriMo and I thought getting the opinions of others might help me decide which to go with.

The two ideas are as follows:

Idea #1 - Tentative Title: "Bound for Canaan". SF. - When 50,000 men, women, and children suddenly die on the remote, separatist religious colony-planet called Canaan, the government of the nearest planet -- Inachoye -- is charged by the Planetary Union with sending an investigative expedition. Reluctant and resentful, the Inachoyean government sends the worst they have, hoping they will rule the deaths a mass suicide as they're told and be done with it. This team, composed of six investigators chosen specifically because something is wrong with them take a GRAFT -- a genetically engineered pseudo-human who's sole purpose for existing is to be an experimental tool. Even as their superiors push for the quick finding of a mass suicide, the evidence the team finds points to a far more sinister explanation, one that will lead the team to discover that Canaan was home to more than just a colony, but terrible secrets.

Idea #2 - Tentative Title: The Bronze Orchid - Fantasy. Our Heroine [I don't know her name yet] is a failed priestess working at a bar frequented by criminals. Her job is simple: keep the grifters, con artists, thieves, kidnappers, assassins and criminals who patronize the bar from ripping off the barkeeper, make sure they pay their tab, and throw out anyone who gets unruly. With her temple training in everything from self-defense to high order mathematics, it's a job she's very good at. One day, a long time patron, [also unnamed so far] comes to the bar keeper with a proposition. The Patron is retiring and wants one last big score, but to get it he needs some working capital. If the bar keeper will front him a few thousand, he'll get ten times his money when the job is done. To protect his investment, the bar keeper send Our Heroine to accompany the Patron. Quickly, Our Heroine realizes that this is far more dangerous than a simple theft or confidence scheme. Because what the Patron is after something that cannot be measured in gold, and getting it could cost them both their very lives.

So, what say you internets? One or two?

Free fiction - drive by link

2009-10-20T14:07:18Z

Free short story, "War Dances" by Sherman Alexie is up on the New Yorker website. It's as gorgeous, sharp, funny, and wonderfully painful as you'd expect Alexie's work to be.

Sherman Alexie is the author of such classics as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - both of which I recommend very, very highly.

For the record

2009-10-20T12:44:20Z

In case anyone needed qualification re: my stance on marriage equality, I think it's a simple issue.

I don't think it's a religious issue, I don't think it's even a family issue. I think it's a mind your motherfucking business issue.

You don't agree with same-sex marriage? Good for you. Don't marry anyone who has the same genitalia as you. There is no tenant in any of the major religions (so far as I know) that says that your salvation, righteousness, or obedience to God and/or gods depends upon whether or not other people are following the rules.

Meaning: if your neighbor is sinning, that's your neighbor's problem. It's not your business. You are not responsible for them, and that means you have no right to make decisions for them. You certainly don't mind ignoring if your neighbor is poor or sick or suffering. You certainly don't mind saying that people having food, shelter, and medicine is their own problem and none of your concern. But if your neighbor wants to marry someone of the same gender identity? You're all over that. Suddenly, it greatly concerns you.

So, like I said. If you don't agree with marriage equality, then don't marry a person of your same sex and you're fine. Other people's private lives do not concern you. They are not political fodder for you. They are not there for you to judge, oh yeah.

Find your motherfucking business and mind it, you bigots.

Earth sucks.

2009-10-20T12:00:48Z

In case you hadn't heard about the case of a woman being denied the right to stay by her same-sex partner's deathbed, in which a court found in favor of the hospital that denied the woman's rights you can read "Ask Nicola: Trembling With Rage" to learn more. You can also see a clip of a news story that has aired about the case

This makes me beyond angry. Angry that people are denied basic civil rights because some people are freaked out about them.

It seems to me that the issue here is respect, and how respect is only flowing one way. The people who oppose equal marriage rights say they have a right to have their beliefs respected, to have their family units respected, to have their idea of marriage respected.

Yet they feel absolutely no obligation to respect anyone else's beliefs, family, or ideas of marriage. They feel no need to respect that other people's marriages aren't their goddamn business.

More than that, it makes me angry that even if certain states do the right thing and grant equal marriage rights, other states can completely deny those rights. There needs to be a federal, nation-wide, legally binding equal marriage act in which EVERYONE has the right to marry the partner of their choice and have that marriage respected.

There is no "reasonable people can disagree" on this issue. There are only those who believe in oppression and those who don't. You may not like same-sex couples, you may not like GLBT folks, but if you say that they should be denied legal rights then we have nothing to talk about. Because you're wrong. I don't care about your religion, your beliefs, your ethics, your morals, or how squicked out you are. You do not have the right to dictate someone else's rights according to your beliefs.

Colleen Lindsay has also done a great service by providing the phone number for Jackson Memorial Hospital where the woman was denied her rights. I would STRONGLY recommend calling and letting them know that this sort of thing is not acceptable - that all human beings deserve compassion, respect, and EQUAL RIGHTS.

It's that time of year again.

2009-10-19T12:50:03Z

I have so much writing to do before I can even begin plotting what I want to write for NaNoWriMo this year. But I will be doing Nano, by hook or by crook. Or you know, just by typing really fast.

Anyone else doing Nano this year? I'm offhanded over there, and I'll gladly friend you or whatever it is that you do at that site.

I'm also five books behind on posting reviews, which I'll do whenever I find some moment where I don't have something that needs doing, which may not be until the next decade.

On top of this I have a newly acquired feline unit who hasn't quite mastered the litterbox and seems to think that all the furniture in the house is a potential prey item. So there's that, too. But at least now I'm a real writer because I have a cat. Writers, like witches, attract familiars. Mine is named Hawkeye, he's about 10 weeks old and orange, and so far he seems to think I'm very scary and he runs away from me. But we just brought him home yesterday, so I'm assuming he'll eventually warm up to me.

Or hide under the futon for the rest of his fuzzy little life. Whichever.

Loot list!

2009-10-16T00:49:08Z

I went to the Book Barn today and since we have a little wedding money to spend after bills and what not, I splurged on some really great looking books.

I list my finds for you so you can be jealous of my new reading material. I have a little more money held back so that I can buy a few newer books that I've had my eye on and that I knew I would not find at the Book Barn. So with no futher ado:

Naguib Mahfouz - Thebes At War
Libba Bray - A Great and Terrible Beauty*
Noga Arikha - Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours
Antonia Fraser - Marie Antoinette: The Journey
Stanley Wolpert - A New History of India
Tan Twan Eng - The Gift of Rain
Alison Weir - The life of Elizabeth I
Nathaniel Tarn - Neruda: Selected Poems
Pamela Freeman - Blood Ties*
Tobias Buckell - Crystal Rain*
Freda Warrington - Elfland*
Jay Lake - Mainspring*
Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind*

My only dilemma is which of these books to dig into first. So do I jump right into a genre read or should I get my historical fix first?

*Starred books are SF/F genre finds.

New SF/F by POC authors

2009-10-14T18:42:31Z

I'm wondering if anyone knows if there's a list anywhere of new SF/F releases by POC authors. I know there was a list of SF/F short stories by POC each month (and if someone could find that link for me, I would owe them my first born cat) - but is there anything for novel length releases?

If not, is there a list anywhere of major new SF/F releases that I could pick through to find the POC authors? Because I wouldn't mind reporting what I find, I just need to know where that information is. For that matter, is there any place that announces new releases and/or new sales in the genre?

And yes, I'm well aware of 50books_poc and such places, but they aren't focused by date or genre, and those are the two things I'm interested in right now. I wish there was a genre specific version of that community. If there is, someone please let me know.

Catching up

2009-10-13T19:14:37Z

I'm back from Florida and finally sitting down at my desk at home to take care of long neglected business. I'm suitably sunburned -- which actually happened because of the open-top carriage ride I took to and from the ceremony -- and now a married woman. For the curious, the ceremony went well and fun was had by all.

I now have to try to catch up on my writing before NaNoWriMo because I really do want to do that. But I also want Soul Machines finished. I suppose this means I will need to write like a fiend for the rest of this month and November as well. But I am somewhere around half way done, and I can probably get this finished.

For those wondering about the Query Score Card, it remains the same. In a couple of weeks, some of the other queries will start to time out based on various stated time frames given by individual agents. Which leaves it at:

Rejections - 7

Requests - 2

Timed Out - 2

Still Pending - 8

Because at least one person asked

2009-10-05T19:52:47Z

My good friend vanessabrooks asked me via twitter: Why don't you buy the 1000 True Fans theory?.*

If you don't know what the 1000 true fans theory is, you can read about it here. It's, more or less, the idea that you can as an artist create a sustainable career if you have 1000 true fans willing to buy everything you produce (the number thrown around is $100 worth of stuff).

Simple math will tell you that 1000 fans buying 100 dollars worth of stuff gets you $100,000. Not bad, right?

Simple math will lie to you if you let it. The theory assumes too much about the nature of fanship, the economy of artistic production, and the way viral popularity works. Any theory that purports to work the same way for painters, singers, musicians, dancers, and novelists across all spectrum and genres of their various disciplines is worthless on it's face. The idea of "true fans" as a base upon which to build a career is idiotic, artistically speaking.

Viral popularity does not follow the same methodology as revenue-generating popularity. A video that 5 million people view and a book that 5 million people buy do not come about in the same ways.

It's easier to get 5 million people to just look at a video, for free, on YouTube. Since viewing one video does not mean they can't afford to view another, there's no choice to be made. Thus, people are more willing to view a video and pass it on whether they were a big fan or just thought it was "all right".

I can't speak to how the world of recording artists or dancers or painters works. What I do have some basic, working knowledge of is the American publishing industry. So that's where I'll make my case for the failure of this theory.

Books are a purchase, thus a choice because the amount of money any individual customer has to spend is finite. Thus, a certain percentage of those who either hear about or sample the book will choose to buy another book. Ergo, to get 1000 sales you need to get an even greater amount of people to hear about the book and then sample it.

Those are two different ratios, of course. Of the number of people who hear about your book, only a certain number will ever even bother to pick it up in a bookstore and open the cover. And even then once they've opened the damn thing, you still don't have it in the bag.

My own personal, completely arbitrary, non-scientific number is that 1 in 5 people will buy a book after sampling it. Under those conditions, 1 millions sales requires 5 million views. The less well known, the worse that ratio gets and vice versa. I imagine J.K. Rowling probably netted 1 in 2 readers who sampled the Harry Potter books once they became very popular. A brand new author will probably have a 1 in 15 ratio of sales to views.

Of course, that number skews based on the type of publisher you're working with. A large publisher with a greater marketing budget and distribution network can increase word-of-mouth and previews. A small press that distributes only to independent bookstores will have a far smaller network, thus less word-of-mouth/previews. Self publication, obviously, will have yet fewer of those things.

And this is just the theory of sales. We haven't gotten to fans, true or otherwise, yet. Because that's another ratio.

Of the people who buy your book, some will hate it, some will love it, and some will fall in between love and hate. An even split between the three is absurdly generous, I might add. Most readers will probably neither love nor hate your work in the extreme. But let's give you the three way split. If only 1/3rd of those who BUY the book (which is a smaller subset of those who previewed it, which is yet another smaller subset of those who even HEARD about it) you need 3000 buys to get 1000 true fans. In a further vein of generosity, if I assign a 1 in 5 ratio of views to buys, you'll need 15,000 views just to get 1,000 fans. That's being generous and assuming several facts in your favor. It assumes that you're writing in a large genre and marketplace, rather than a niche market.

But even if you get that magical, round number, you run into the other problem. Having $100 worth of stuff available for them to buy. For a writer, that means having enough books in print to equal $100 in sales for yourself.

Let's be really generous and say you self-publish hardbacks at $25 a pop - thus do not have to share sales with publishers, editors, and ages. This is leaving out, of course, newer fans coming along and buying older works still in print. Or that if you write a book a year, in 4 years you'll have "critical mass". Of course, at that rate, ideally, you'll still only have $25,000 in taxes to show for it. So you'd better have a day job or no need to eat on a daily basis.

To get the big bucks, you'd need to be able to come out with 4 hardback books in a year to give your 1000 fans $100 something to buy that year. I can't think of anyone I know of who has had four books come out in one year.

Actually, I take that back. Elizabeth Bear (matociquala) had four books with publication dates in 2007. Dust, Whiskey & Water, Undertow and A Companion To Wolves. One of those was, I should note, co-written. Before anyone gets nitpicky: New Amsterdam was, by length, a novella. Of those, only A Companion to Wolves was (IIRC) released in hardback. The others (AFAIK) were in either trade paperback or mass market paperback.

Still, it proves my point. Even if you aim for such productivity, you're not going to get four hardbacks or four books with a retail price of $25 released in one year. Unless you're self publishing and setting your price at $25, and I somehow doubt your sales will be very promising at that rate.

Most books net relatively little per unit for the author, especially if you're working with a large publisher (which, ironically, is the way in which you up your chances for getting more views, sales, and fans). Writers don't see money directly from the sales of books until they've "earned out" their advance. Meaning, the publishing company will pay the author X amount of dollars against the predicted sales of the book. Only once that book exceeded that amount does the author see royalties. This is in most cases, there are exceptions.

Then we come to the last flaw in the 1000 true fans theory: the word "true". The kind of fan who will be so rabidly supportive of your career as to spend $100 on you within a short enough amount of time for it to be useful to you is rare enough as to be an impossible dream. It certainly isn't a basis for a healthy career.

I think a writer is better off trying to get as many people look at the book as possible. You can't control whether they will be true fans or not. Just get them there. Write a terrific book and spread the word as much as you can. The rest is out of your hands. Don't worry about "true fans", worry about any fans.

*And in case I haven't introduced you to the addictive excellence of her web serial "Strange Little Band", let me do so now. This stuff is truly addictive in the way really good dark chocolate is addictive. Psychics and romance and shenanigans and some occasional lulz. It's got it all! Get thee hence to the website!

Even unemployed hack writers need vacations

2009-10-02T12:49:06Z

I've got a week and a day left until I get married next Saturday (October 10th for the interested), and four days left until I fly down to Florida for the big event. Feel free to shower me with ridiculous amount of cash to wish me the best on my upcoming nuptials. You know, if you happen to have ridiculous amounts of cash just laying around. If not, a simple "congrats" is both sufficient and heartily appreciated.

I tell people I'm just getting married for the cake. But I'm also marrying because there's cheap health insurance in it for me. And because I like this guy enough to steal the covers from him for the rest of my life. That, too.

My only sadness? I have a number of friends attending who could not do the same thing because the state says their genitals are the same and thus they are ineligible for cake and health insurance. On the day that my country comes to the sane and compassionate conclusion that this ought to be remedied, I feel that they owe the same-sex couples of this country one big goddamn cake for their trouble. With doilies and buttercream icing and gum paste flowers and the works. Like, epic cake we're talking here. Epic "I'm sorry we were such buttfaces to you" cake. The kind you'd see on cake wrecks, except it has to be photographed aerially.

But, writing wise (because I know my personal life is oh so interesting to you) that means I'll essentially be on vacation for a week or so. My goal for finishing the first draft of Soul Machines is November 1st and I have no doubt that with my nose to the grindstone, I can accomplish just that. I'm more or less 40k in and that's half of where I intend to be. I'm not precisely half way through the plot, but I'm close to halfway and that's doing pretty good given that all my books tend to come up way over budget and I have to go back and trim them like unruly hedges.

Unless things go badly, I do intend to do NaNoWriMo again this year. I've won five years in a row, it's fun, and it gives me a reason feel like the slain turkey on my table is both festive and celebratory. Did I mention that all the best things happen in autumn because it is the BEST SEASON EVER and I am so sad that it doesn't last long enough?

As for today? I'm basically going to watch a lot of movies and put the heating pad on my aching shoulder and if I should trip and fall and accidentally hit the keyboard and get some writing done, so be it.

Good stuff

2009-10-01T19:28:48Z

As always, The Angry Black Woman blog comes through with a post from karnythia about The Do's and Don'ts of Being a Good Ally

One issue that I've seen coming up a lot lately is people who call themselves allies getting upset and angry when they feel they're being excluded from safe spaces/activities. To my mind, when somebody who proclaims themselves an ally says such things they're really trying to say, "But I'm a dues paying member of the [Insert Group]! I said all the right things, put up the nice meme banners for International [Insert Day/Week/Month Dedicated to Oppressed Group]. I should be included, I'm as much a part of this as you!"

Like PoC's are just a nifty new club somebody came up with because it makes you look cool and open minded. That's the problem with slacktivism, with the idea that you can sit back, make some nice nifty posts, put up a banner or two on your social networking pages, and suddenly you're as invested in the struggle as someone who lives it every day.

Let's get this straight. If you're a white person in this country, I don't give a damn how much anti-racism work you do, you're not ever going to experience racial oppression the way a person of color does. You make take crap for your beliefs and actions, but you are never going to be as invested in the struggle to end oppression as a person of color. You have to accept that you're an ally. You're a supporting role, but this is not your show. You're an assistant, a helper. You listen to what others tell you they need or you GTFO as far as I'm concerned. I say this as a very white person who knows damn well that I'm never going to feel the impact of racism the way a Person of Color does.

So don't hang around acting like you don't reap the benefits of whiteness even when you're out there trying to end white privilege, like you will ever suffer as much as the oppressed people you're claiming to help.

Just like with GLBT activism. You can campaign as much as you want for equal marriage rights, but until it's YOUR marriage on the line, you're not going to be as invested as the same-sex couples who live under the daily oppression of not being able to do simple things like share insurance or inherit property or claim tax deductions.

I think that what bothers a lot of allies about not being allowed into the safe spaces is a complete misunderstanding of what safe spaces are. They're not a more exclusive part of an already exclusive club. It's not like a VIP lounge or something. It's not a ranking system that says "these people are more anti-racist than thou".

It's a place where people can go and have the pressure of a certain oppression, for a little while, taken out of the equation and interact knowing that they're in a space for them. A space where they don't have to make the adjustments and changes that the oppression they're under forces on them.

I mean, take the GLBT activism. A safe space to talk about the things that matter without feeling like you have to turn to someone and constantly go, "Present company excepted" is a powerful things. As a woman, I know it's nice to have places to be able to say, "I hate when men do this!" and not have to constantly add the boilerplate, "I know you're a nice man and you don't do that" to a bunch of guys. Or to know I don't have to sit there and try to think of ways to make my struggles as a woman relevant to someone else who doesn't experience them. To know I don't have to explain why saying "well, she was dressed really scantily" is part of rape culture and why that's wrong and hurtful. Or to be able to reclaim words like "bitch" and "cunt" without worrying that I've just given some misguided idiot carte blanch to go saying it to every woman he meets because "oh, well, that woman over there said it!"

When men enter the room, the equation changes. There's no way around it, because both sides have been socially pre-conditioned to think and act in certain way with each other and having to fight that programming while trying to fix a broken system just makes it harder.

It's nice to be able to go somewhere and know that everyone in the room or in the conversation is on the same page as me.

It's not about exclusion, it's about safety. It's about regrouping.

Being an ally doesn't mean being an equal partner in something. That's the mistake I think most faux-allies make. They think they can chip in for a few bucks of donations and a nice banner on their website and they're all equal investors in Social Justice and Other Great Stuff. But that can't be because the allies have not ponied up as much as the oppressed folks they're trying to help. They haven't pitched in as much or had as much taken from them.

If we're sitting on a set of scales that desperately need to be rebalanced, then giving everyone the exact same thing isn't going to help. Adding five pounds to both sides doesn't counter act the degree of imbalance. Re-balancing involves some people getting extra things and some people not getting extra things. It involves some people not getting upset or jealous when a group of folks who needs to have one little place where they can help heal and grow their communities.

If you are a GLBT ally, you are NOT part of the GLBT community. You're a friend and ally to it, but you're NOT part of it. That doesn't take away from your genuine desire to help. That doesn't mean that you don't have a role to play. But it DOES mean that you can't claim any incidental, momentary benefits that might come about (like scholarships or safe spaces or specific awards). Why? Because you don't suffer the consequences of that identity.

You don't suffer gay bashing and homophobia and loss of civil rights. You don't suffer having people deny you a job or a loan because of your race. You don't suffer having someone tell you that being raped was your fault because your skirt was too short and that you must have been asking for it.

So why would you think you should be entitled to equal rewards if you don't have equal suffering? You shouldn't. And more than that, you shouldn't want that. Because if you're a true ally, all you really want is to see the people you're allying yourself with reap the benefits. If you're a true ally, you celebrate and respect safe spaces because it helps the goal you're really working towards.

That's the difference between real allies and faux-allies. Real allies want justice. Faux-allies want cookies and fringe benefits and nifty buttons. They want quick, cheap rewards. Thus, faux allies get upset when they're told that the cookies are reserved for those who have gone hungry for decades, not for those who haven't missed a meal in their lives. Real allies just want to see people get fed so nobody goes hungry again.

Yeah, okay, I think I've stretched the cookie metaphor far enough.

Art would be so much nicer if we didn't have to deal with artists

2009-09-30T19:12:08Z

I've been seeing commentary about the whole Roman Polanski arrest thing, and I frankly just do not understand how anyone can make a cause celebre out of this man. If you can stomach his films, that's one thing. Be that on your own head. But signing a petition on his behalf to help him elude serving his sentence? Unforgivable in my book.

He raped a thirteen-year-old girl. Let me repeat that statement: Roman Polanski RAPED a thirteen-year-old girl. I don't care if he makes movies or shoes in a factory. Your job should never be a Get Out of Jail Free card when you physically and sexually violate someone against their will.

I'm tired of news reports saying that he "had sex with a thirteen-year-old girl". No, he didn't. He FORCED sex onto a thirteen-year-old girl. Toning that down and not using the word rape means that you somehow, in some way, think that something about what he did wasn't that bad.

That girl (now a woman) didn't have sex with him. She had a traumatic, tragic, horrible experience with him. What she had? Was not sex. It was an assault. None of this is about her age, or about Polanski somehow being a straw man for us backwards Americans. If thinking that forcing drugs and sex on someone when they say "no" is backwards, I'm proud to claim the title.

This is about the fact that she said "No" and he said, "But I'm a famous director!" and we're still living in a world where that last bit apparently still matters when it comes to paying the criminal penalty for crimes of which you have been convicted.

In a way, I'm as angry at Polanski's supporters as I am him, because they're not just supporting him - they're voicing their assent and agreement with rape culture. Those famous celebrities (gee, a lot of them are men and at least one is Woody Allen. Like thewayoftheid said, the jokes write themselves) are saying that they believe that sometimes, rape can be okay. Given enough time and money and fame, rape is okay. That it's all right not to face punishment for it if you can afford to fly to another continent and make movies.

Nor is this about whether his victim has forgiven him, because she probably did that for the sake of her own sanity. I can't imagine living in a world where the man who did that to you wins awards and has people patting him on the back because he made a movie where a woman has the devil's baby or Adrien Brody sits in front of a piano and looks really sad and skinny. I bet you pretty much have to just let it go or lose your sanity.

This is about more than Polanski and his "art" (and I resent the implication that any movie he's made is good enough to be considered art rather than just slightly-better-than-bad cinema) - it's about telling people that just because you're rich and famous doesn't mean you can victimize whoever you want. It's about telling people that you can't abuse the power you have over others.

Because when you say that maybe Polanski should get away with this - and yeah, fighting for him not to be extradited and punished is helping him get away with it - you're saying to that teacher who's thinking about putting his/her hand down his/her student's pants that if they're really nice and inspiring otherwise, it's okay. You're saying to that priest who's looking a little too long at that altar boy that, well, since they're a priest and they serve soup to the homeless, it's okay. You're saying to anyone who finds themselves in a position of power over someone else - a child, a woman, a subordinate, or just someone less famous, less rich, and less empowered than them - that if they make pretty things or are charming enough, it's okay.

And those victims? Those children who's teachers, priests, parents, and other folk abused them - you're telling them that their pain doesn't matter. You're telling them that someone else was entitled to their bodies, their dignities, their well being.

You're saying, in essence, that some people can be made worthless just by standing next to someone we like better. You're saying that the value of human dignity has a sliding scale.

So, to you petitioners on Roman Polanski's behalf, I ask - where on the sliding scale of Human Value should we put you now? Where on your scale is his victim? Where am I? And what will you say to the next rock star or politician or Hollywood A-lister who sees this and decides that if Polanski can get away with it, so can they. Most of all, what will you say to their victims?

This isn't about his movies, this is about his victim. This is about all victims. All the ones that have been hurt, are being hurt, and will be hurt if we don't stand up and say "THIS IS NOT OKAY. THIS IS WRONG. YOU WILL BE PUNISHED." And yes, we need it to say it in all caps as loudly and frequently as possible.

As for the works of Polanski and his supporters? I'm envoking the Fuckmuppetry Doctrine* which states that since the amount of works to be read, viewed, heard, and enjoyed far outstrips the amount of time I can possibly have on this Earth, I will eliminate from my selections the works by those who have elected to act like complete and utter fuckmuppets and instead concentrate on works by those who I have less uncomfortable feelings about - you know, people who don't support rape and rapists.

*credit for the Fuckmuppetry Doctrine should go to yuki_onna

Humanity, you're all right.

2009-09-29T21:47:53Z

This may well be the most weirdly and gorgeous haunting and transcendent thing I've seen all year. It's an autotuned remix of Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Stephen Hawking interspersed and it's like a hymn. I'm not lying about this. Just listen.

And you can download the mp3 of this over here for your listening pleasure. Also? I totally just shed a tear for Carl Sagan. I am so sad he is no longer on this Earth with us.

Drive by linking

2009-09-29T12:47:24Z

The Rules for Writers based on race. Both hilarious and depressing in it's truth about the way that books are organized in bookstores. Or, as I would call this article, "Like You Needed More Proof that Borders Sucks".

My favorite passage:

Black authors can write books for grownups, but the books must always be about being pitiful and/or magical while being black, even when the characters are white, and it must be a version of blackness that makes white people feel smug and helpful because black people have it very hard and live in a parallel universe full of guns and thugs and characters either played by or loved by Oprah; it is in this universe alone that Little Kim is considered a scribe. These books will be separated from the rest of literature for the safety of everyone involved.

I have no clever nickname for this

2009-09-29T12:21:54Z

There are a lot of straight people who are voicing some rather heated resentment of the change to the Lambda Literary Awards rules.

For the record, I identify as a bisexual, cisgendered female. Yes, I am marrying a cisgendered male in less than twelve days from now. No, I don't give a shit if you think this makes my bisexuality "legitimate" or not. We're not here to debate the erasure and denial of bisexuals. That's a whole other post.

What I'm here to say is that I'm really frustrated with so called "allies" who are upset about this, who think that this is about gay men vs. straight women and who has the "right" to pen m/m works. That's missing the point completely. Writing GLBT-themed/centric works does not carry the same level of risk, reward, or hardship for GLBT folks and straight people.

Even as a straight writer pens their GLBT-themed/centric work, they get to go home to their legally and socially sanctioned marriages (and yes, I acknowledge that I share in this privilege because my partner and I are of different genders) and their gender security and their knowledge that nobody is going to say that their sexuality is "just a phase" or "just experimentation." Nobody gets to vote on the legality of your marriage, Straight Writers. Nobody gets to choose whether they refer to you by the right pronoun, Cisgendered Writers.

So don't look the GLBT community in the eye and say that because our topics are the same, that we're all on equal footing. Our daily life experiences are very different, and I think those experiences deserve one tiny award of their own. I think we GLBT writers deserve one place where we don't have to compete against YOUR STRAIGHT, CISGENDERED PRIVILEGE. It's one award. It's not a statement that "straight women can never write m/m slash again!" Nobody is taking away your toys. It's not a universal declaration. It's ONE GODDAMN AWARD.

These writers who are objecting didn't mind being part of the GLBT scene when calling themselves allies added to their Liberal Street Cred, when it made them cool and different. But when it comes time to actually support the GLBT community and make one eensy, weensy little sacrifice? They just won't do it.

Ally does NOT mean "I am the same as you", it means "I support you". Sometimes support means sitting down, shutting up, and giving people some space. If you're not ready to accept that fact, if you need to have access to every single area, then you're not an ally. Quit calling yourself that and quit pretending - both to us and to yourselves - that you're here to support us.

*Just so we're clear, I'm talking to the people pitching a fit about this. If you're a straight writer of GLBT subject matter and you're not part of this fail, I'm not even talking in your general direction, so feel free to keep on keeping on.

The state of stuff and things

2009-09-27T17:44:38Z

Strange bit of writing therapy: I wrote out the query letter for Soul Machines. Of course, I have no intention of sending it anywhere I've finished this draft, edited it, had it beta-read, and then polished it within an inch of its life.

But it really helped, because it took pressure off of the queries I'm sending out now. It made me realize that I really will get other chances at this, maybe not with the Tower!Guy novel, but it's not all-or-nothing. It's not zero sum.

There will be other queries, other novels, other opportunities.

Speaking of Soul Machines (boy do I love having an actual title for this thing), have a progress update:

Project: Soul Machines

Wordcount: 40540 words

Goal: 80,000 - 100,000

Deadline: November 1

Reason For Stopping: Not stopping, just updating

Exercise: Walking, shaking booty, cleaning things.

Stimulants/Chemicals: Naproxen, caffeine

Musical Inspiration: KK & Akriti Kakkar - Marjaani (Kilogram's Balkan Mix); Andrew Bird - Dances of Death; Bear McCreary - Heading the Call (from Crossroads, Part 2) Battlestar Galactica: Season 3; Rihanna - Breakin' Dishes

Other Creative Activities:

Reading Materials: Personal Effects: Dark Art by J.C. Hutchins; The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir (re-reading)

Darling du Jour: "Yes," Ty said, rolling his eyes and sounding extremely exhausted. "Unnecessary bodily harm to any of my people, including Master Monteagle, will void our deal."

"But necessary bodily harm is okay?" Ruby asked, perking up.

Mean Things: People in dog kennels, racism, abuse, torture, rude questions, being held prisoner, blood hunger

Things Learned/Discovered: The pair of Manolo Blahnik thigh-high leather boots one of my characters is wearing is worth more than the blue book value of my car (don't ask). The Japanese -san and -chan honorifics are often confused/abused by stupid Western people (I include myself) and mean different things. Several interesting Spanish-language profanities (hijo de puta being my fave). Obscure but fun thing: the first official Chinese mission to a Western nation was Russia in 1729. The emperor sent envoy T'o-shih to congratulate Peter the Great on his coronation. Only, the czar snuffed it before T'o-shih got there, thus forcing the poor envoy to return to Peking for new credentials to negotiate with Peter's successor, Anna Ivanova. I don't know what the Ancient Chinese translation of "son of a bitch!" would be, but you just know poor T'o-shih was mumbling it under his breath all the way home.