Awoken Jewelry
Want a chance to win this necklace? Join my fan group and interact to win the title of Member of the Month. This is the prize for June. Thanks to Jennifer Long for making this awesome jewelry. Join here.
Tuesday Takeover: Secret Ingredient For Writers Listed Below by Caroline A. Gill
You know this already. You do. You see it every day, maybe even more often: that sense of wonder. We try to capture it over and over. Whether it’s depicted in a film, in commercials, or in a book, that feeling, that moment of discovery: that’s the magic.
In the contemporary fantasy/fiction writing, we are all under the influence of giants, standing on the shoulders of Tolkien, Lewis, Carroll, and Poe. And that sense of wonder they found in a wardrobe, down a rabbit hole, on the other side of a mirror, in a hobbit hole; that is what we all seek. That is modern magic.
The surprise in a child’s eyes at a birthday party that moment charms us, pulling at our own memories. When our main character finds a skill they didn’t know they had, or a marvelous item that unlocks a door to a new world, it’s all the same.
Discovering the new, finding the magic: we all search for that definable moment of wonder. It is the core of every journey we take, that hope that we will discover something new. That feeling becomes amplified if mixed with love. Or if it is blended with righteous defending anger. Over and over, we wait to be surprised. And we love those who manage to do just that.
Think about your favorite books and movies. It’s those scenes that pull you in, the ones that mirror the wonder you once felt. A return to innocence, the feeling of rightness in the world, the hero who rushes in regardless of personal cost these are primal human emotions.
These are how we connect with the reader. And how the reader connects with us.
Not everyone searches for the same emotions either, which is why even well written books do not appeal to every reader. As fallible, broken beings, we seek a glimpse into the Greater Good. Wonder. Magic. Surprise.
These are the things worth dying for. The friendships worth saving. Treasure beyond price.
In my novel Flying Away, Iolani Bearse encounters loss after loss. First, her father dies in a faraway war, then her mother in a car accident. Lani sees death up close, blood dripping down her mother’s face. And there is a fly there, in the car. Just like there have been flies on the windowsill of her bedroom where she waited for years for her father to return home.
But now, in Lani’s lowest moment, in the chasm of her grief, watching her mother’s eyes glaze over, shattered by her death the houseflies speak to her. Perhaps this is the first time she really listened. And they show her a magic that the insects have always kept hidden.
You’ve seen flies, zipping in the middle of the air, hovering for no apparent reason? Well, that was just so you wouldn’t see what they can do: flying fast enough they can open a portal to anywhere. If a fly has seen a location, any fly can find it. And Lani needs the houseflies and their magic, far sooner than anyone would have suspected. Because the memory thieves are coming. The green lanterns shine in dark of night, harvesting amino acids and draining away whole families, suburbs, and towns. Only the flies protect Lani. Only Lani sees the Stealers. With their help, one orphan girl can save our broken nation.
Bio:
Caroline A. Gill went to school at UCLA and NIU. She married the love of her life. Facing the world with children made her aware of how vulnerable they are. Weaving tales of courage, she tries to find hope. Living near the great California Redwoods, she finds a sense of the finite and infinite touching. The creative world is like that, especially when authors feel inspired. She’s the author of Flying Away, a YA dystopian, supernatural paranormal fantasy. www.authorcarolineagill.com
Tuesday Takeover: The Importance of Detail in YA Sci-Fi by J.N. Chaney
I often get asked what genre my books are, usually after an avid reader makes it through one or two of them. Are they young adult? Are they hard sci-fi? Why would I include so much scientific information in a book that’s aimed at young people? As though you’re simply not allowed to delve that deeply into these things when your target audience is under the age of 21.
There seems to be a belief among many writers that in order to appeal to young readers, you need to cut certain details of your book while keeping the language as simple as possible. Now, granted, I believe that’s true to some extent, but when it comes to science fiction, what exactly are we trying to do here? Are teens too dumb to understand genetics, wormholes, and mandatory breeding programs? I don’t think so. In fact, I think they’re the perfect audience for that.
The entire point of science fiction, as far as I’m concerned, is to explore new concepts and provide avenues of thought that we simply can’t experience in our everyday lives. Sure, the book needs to be entertaining and appeal to someone that age, but shouldn’t it have some depth to it, too? I think you can have a story full of lizard people and intergalactic travel while also discussing the complexity of race relations and what it means to be human. The story can be as outrageous as you want while still discussing various themes and scientific principles.
And why not? Kids are smart. Let’s give them a little credit.
Many of us recall being 15 and reading books like Ender’s Game, Dune, The Forever War, Starship Troopers, and Stranger in a Strange Land, among so many others. We hadn’t even made it through our first semester of chemistry yet, but there we were, reading about complex societies, religions, ship design, physics, quantum mechanics, and philosophy. We came for the Klingons, but we stayed for the Vulcans.
And we were learning through it all. Each of these books explored interesting themes and ideas that we simply weren’t experiencing in school or in our ordinary lives. We were shaped by these stories, and they made us better.
I disguise my hard sci-fi books as young adult, not because I’m mischievous (although, a case could be made for that), but because I believe in respecting one’s audience. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to receive some positive comments from young teens about these stories, and I hope the trend continues with the rest of the series. Sometimes they ask about the characters, but other times they ask me how something works. These aren’t 17 year olds, mind you. They’re often about 13 years old.
There’s this myth that modern young adult novels shouldn’t be written with complex themes. You can’t talk about that, because your reader isn’t old enough. Avoid saying that, because they’re not smart enough. Don’t bother taking the time to explain the science; just show what happens next. These authors treat scifi like it’s just another form of fantasy, where the technology doesn’t need to be explained, so it might as well be magic. People seem to think children and teens are incapable of following these stories, despite the fact that they were more than able to do this a few short years ago.
Origins of YA
Literature targeted at teens arose over fifty years ago, right after WW2 with the publication of “Seventeenth Summer,” which is largely considered the first book ever written to be specifically targeted at teens. The new trend continued until the 70s, when the term “Young Adult” was actually coined. During this time, we saw a massive swell of teen fiction, much of which targeted young people, but focused on serious themes. The Outsiders is a great example of this, and remains a YA classic to this day.
Unfortunately, as the decades rolled on, YA fiction became far less popular. It was mostly ignored until the early 2000s, when a new wave of young people (mostly born between 1989 and 1992) grew into their formidable years. Finally, another golden age of YA hit the streets, and suddenly you could find the on any shelf in any bookstore throughout the modern world. The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Twilight became international best-sellers, proving there was a thirst among teens for relatable fiction. The genre exploded, and before long it became one of the most profitable in the industry.
YA Sci-fi
Before the 2000s, if you were a fan of science fiction, your choices were a fair bit different from what we have today. Books like Divergent and The Maze Runner have taken hold of modern audiences, but have largely chosen to breeze over the more complex elements of their science and philosophy. Gone are the page-long explanations for how a wormhole works.
But are kids really that simple? Are we as adults really so arrogant to think kids can’t handle the same literature we had growing up?
After putting out my first book, I received an email from a guy who told me he was surprised at how scientific my book was. He said he and his two sons were reading it, and he was surprised at how much they enjoyed the more complex themes and science in the story. For some reason, he had doubts they’d be able to enjoy it, simply because they were 12 and 14 years old. Much to his surprise, they loved it, and were able to have an informed discussion with their father about the details of the book.
We don’t give kids nearly enough credit anymore. Not like we used to.
Why Detail Matters
Many of us have forgotten how curious kids actually are. I’m often reminded of Ender’s Game when I think about this. The dedication of that book reads, “For Geoffrey, who makes me remember how young and how old children can be,” which sums it up pretty nicely. Kids are both naïve and aware, all at the same time. They’re constantly observing, taking in the world around them, listening to everything. Maybe they aren’t as informed as you are, and maybe their vocabulary isn’t quite as robust (though, when you consider the average adult’s reading level these days, maybe they’re about on par), but a child is nonetheless built to learn.
Every detail you include in a book, whether it involves a description of a woman walking into a 1950’s swing club or an explanation for how a futuristic atom smasher works, can make waves in a child’s mind and help them grow, however gradually, into another person. In a way, the writer is like a second parent. You have the responsibility of educating that child with whatever you put in your stories. If you take the time to properly explain (in an easy to understand way) how a genetic disease works, how a body decomposes, how a hadron collider works, you might just teach them something valuable.
This doesn’t mean you have to sit there and churn out Wikipedia entries, but taking a few paragraphs to explain a concept to them won’t hurt you or your sales. Ender’s Game is still widely read in schools across the world, despite delving into relativity, string theory, and gravity. One of the driving concepts in the book is how one’s perception of direction changes in a zero gravity environment. Did any of that deter a young reader from falling in love with this story, I wonder?
My guess is that it didn’t. In fact, I’d wager just the opposite.
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J. N. Chaney has a Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and is the author of the Variant Saga, The Other Side of Nowhere and other sci-fi books soon to be released. You can get J.N. Chaney’s very first dystopian science fiction novel, The Amber Project, absolutely free by going to the following link: http://jnchaney.com/stay-up-to-date/
Ren: God’s Little Monster – Release Day!
Today is the official release day for Ren: God’s Little Monster, the second book in this series. Here’s an inside secret: this wasn’t supposed to be a series. Ren: The Man Behind the Monster was just a small novel I wrote because readers asked me to. They wanted to know more about this mysterious man who constantly pops up in my novels. And so I wrote the first book. And then the strangest thing happened. I realized I had more to say about Ren. In my head I saw more events that happened to him. That was when I realized that I wasn’t done with Ren Lewis. This is book two out of three for the Ren series. The final book, The Monster Inside the Monster will be released this summer in mid July or August. And then I honestly don’t know what will happen. Will Ren pop up in another series? I can’t say. Honestly, I never planned for this character to follow my books around. It just kind of happened. Maybe it’s that unknowing that makes his appearances so real. Hell, half the time the things he says surprise even me. I guess if that’s the case then he’ll for sure surprise readers.
I’m excited to share this second installment with you all. It’s dark, funny and at times offensive. If that’s your thing, then you’re going to love book three which is all of those things times 10. Thanks for the awesome support. Grab book two here.
Tuesday Takeover: How to be uncanny in your writing by John Hancock
Mimics. You know what I mean, those people that can do amazing impersonations. The one I’m most recently impressed by is Ross Marquand, an actor on The Walking Dead. His takes on Kevin Spacey and Michael Caine are uncanny. Uncanny — remember that word. In a discussion with a coworker, I put forth my favorite theory on why some people can be accomplished mimics, and some can’t. Oh, for sure, you grew up knowing that guy who could act like the gym teacher and make everyone laugh. But I’m not really talking about that guy. That guy has a light quiver. His only arrow might be the gym teacher and maybe a really mediocre Christopher Walken. One that makes you cringe but you go along with it because, well, its bad form to point out someone trying that hard is pathetically failing.
These are the average schmoes, guys and gals like you and me that might have only one impersonation. And none of us are uncanny. There’s that word — uncanny. Ok, so back to my theory, and here it is. Or actually I’m going to creep up on my theory by first making an observation. Have you ever seen yourself filmed or recorded and thought “OMG, is THAT my voice? I don’t sound like that at all!”
But of course, yes you do. Because everyone else in the shot sounds like everyone else sounds. But that means you DO sound that. How far is it off for you? For me, my recorded voice sounds more tinny, more sibilant and less masculine than what I hear in my own ears when I talk. Yes, it’s a bit of a blow to my ego. But we’re not talking about me now, are we?
So my theory: Our voices sound differently to ourselves because it has to travel through a different medium. Other people hear us directly through the air. We hear ourselves through the distracting interference of our bones and flesh as it reaches our inner ear. We can’t hear ourselves correctly. Well, most of us. And that brings us back to mimics.
I believe people that are actually uncanny in their ability to mimic a wide ranges of celebrities can do this because they’ve either learned to ignore the distracting interference of their own skull and work around it, OR their interference simply doesn’t exist. They hear themselves exactly as the rest of us do. Either way, this allows them to actively modulate their voice to become the voice of their target of impersonation. So, what does this have to do writing? You’ve probably figure out I’m an author, I could tell you about myself yadda yadda yadda who cares? I want to talk about when writing actually works, when it comes together like a perfect storm of fate, coincidence or sheer effort to produce a compelling believable piece of writing. I’m suggesting it best happens when we learn to sabotage the distracting interference of our own lives and begin to actually hear and speak what the characters want to say. We become better mimics of them, we follow their speech patterns, their thoughts, their desires, their goals, everything about them. But if we let our own thoughts, our own distractions, our own goals get in the way, then we become that guy who did the gym teacher’s voice, badly.
It’s a Zen, thing. I love it when it happens. I can plan and plot and intend almost anything, but as I’m writing, the voice of the character tells me “no, John, I’m not saying that. Why would I say that? Don’t you know this scene scares the crap out of me? Don’t you know this guy reminds me of my father, who beat me? I would never politely tell this guy to shove off, I’d do it with a sledgehammer.” The trick, you see, is to let your characters write the story. Honestly, they’re better at it. It’s their life story, after all. If you MUST look me up as an author, for some reason, I’ve got a few books out. Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Dystopia, short stories. If you’re a fan of Sarah Noffke’s, and you’d be an idiot not to be, the book you’d likely be most interested in would be ROOF. You can find it or me on Amazon.
Thanks for listening… through the bones in your skull.
John Gregory Hancock
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Bio: John Gregory Hancock is a storyteller.
A graphic professional for many years (which is one way to tell a story), his graphic journalism garnered international awards, and was nominated for a Pulitzer. He incorporates his visual sense in his ability to spin compelling yarns.
Currently, he has seven books of his own, and has written for The Future Chronicles anthology series, whose titles have hit the overall Amazon Top 10 Bestsellers list. The Immortality Chronicles – a Top 5 SF Anthology and Hot New Release – featured his story ‘The Antares Cigar Shoppe’, which was also nominated for Best American Science Fiction. The collection won best anthology from Preditors and Editors
His work has appeared in other anthologies, including; Prep For Doom, Bite-Sized Offerings: Tales & Legends of the Zombie Apocalypse, Flying Toasters – The DeadPixel Tales, and Off the Kuf.
Check out John here: http://www.johngregoryhancock.com/