Don't forget I'm going to be in SC this weekend for the Fantastical Mystery Tour mega signing event! It's going to be amazing, so stop by if you're in the area! I'll sign literally anything you put in front of me - your book, your child, your check, anything!
In other, completely unrelated news, my husband and I have been watching this very cool anime called Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magik, or Puella Magi Madoka Magica. On the surface it looks like a very typical anime magical girl show. I actually almost skipped it completely, but then I watched the first episode.
Guys... Sailor Moon this ain't.
Madoka Magica is the most creepy, edge of your seat show I've watched in a long time. It's the dark side of magical girls, and its got style to burn. The art design on the sets and backgrounds is amazing, so amazing that the characters look almost comically cartoony standing inside them. But none of that matters. The show's pacing is a freaking textbook of tension building. I have never watched a show with such a looming sense of dread and real concern for the characters. I literally have no idea what's going to happen from one episode to the next, and I watch each one with delicious anticipation.
In short, the show is amazing and you should totally watch it if you get the chance. It will takes your expectations of what a magical girl show should be and then makes you eat them.
Also, the music is fantastic. Go watch!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
There Are No Writing Police
It's no secret that I enjoy lurking on writing message boards. First, I like being around that much excitement and creativity. It's just a good vibe, especially when I'm feeling down about my own work. Second, sometimes you find amazing gems... and I will leave the definition of gem up to your imagination. ;)
But sometimes (ok, most of the time), reading these boards makes me angry, especially the forums where people talk about publication, specifically whether or not something is "allowed." For example, a post asking whether or not it's ok to combine subgenres, (eg, an epic fantasy with superhero elements or a steampunk vampire romance (note to self, write steampunk vampire romance)), or if editors will automatically reject a werewolf book, or if you're allowed to put horror elements in your Regency, etc. And then people will post back and forth with the various pros and cons of whatever the question was, but by this point my husband is usually prying the keyboard out of my hands before I turn into a flaming troll.
So, in the interest of not being a troll on a forum, I will post my trollage here. Everyone, repeat after me:
THERE ARE NO WRITING POLICE
If you are a writer, and you have a novel you are excited about writing... write it. Don't go on message boards and ask random internet denizens whether or not something is allowed. Or, if you're a feedback junkie and you just can't keep yourself from posting, whatever you do, do NOT go pulling things you like out of your novel because someone on the internet told you "that won't sell" or "you can't do that."
Who is the writer here? YOU ARE. Whose book is it? YOUR BOOK. There are no writing police. No one is going to arrest you if you write a teen vampire novel post Twilight. No one is going to send you off to an island to live a wretched life of worm eating and regret because you DARED to bring urban fantasy elements into a space opera. If you have a book that you want to write, then just write the damn thing. Don't worry about selling it, that comes later. Worry about making your book work, worry about how you're order the scenes to create tension, worry about if your character's actions are actually in character. Worry about your grammar. DON'T worry about which of your stylistic choices some potential future editor will use to reject you, and for the love of little puppies don't worry about trends. Trying to catching a trend is like trying to catch a falling knife - dangerous, foolhardy, and often ending in tears, usually yours.
Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't pay attention to what's getting published, but what I am saying is you should never sacrifice the elements that make your novel exciting to you because you think those elements will hurt your sales... especially if you haven't even finished the novel yet and all sales are still hypothetical.
Until your novel starts getting actual rejections from people whose job it is to know what sells in publishing, never change anything in your book unless you're doing it to make the book better. If your YA features fairies, vampires, and selkies and you decide halfway through that the vampires are over complicating your plot, that is an appropriate time to cut the bloodsuckers. If you decide to cut your vampires because you read on some internet forum that "vampires are lame," then you are betraying yourself and your work.
If you're like pretty much every other author in the world, then you became a writer because you had stories you wanted to tell. Those are your stories, no one can tell them better than you can. So write your stories, and then edit your stories again and again until you have something you're proud of. Write stories that excite you, stories you can't wait to share with the world because they're just so amazing. Write stories that you throw away because you realize halfway through that your amazing idea wasn't actually so amazing. If you want to write Murder She Wrote in space with anime style mecha, go for it. There are no writing police. Nothing is off limits unless you do it badly. And if you must obsess over something, obsess over stuff like tension and pacing and creating believable characters. You know, the shit that matters.
It's your story, tell it like you want to.
But sometimes (ok, most of the time), reading these boards makes me angry, especially the forums where people talk about publication, specifically whether or not something is "allowed." For example, a post asking whether or not it's ok to combine subgenres, (eg, an epic fantasy with superhero elements or a steampunk vampire romance (note to self, write steampunk vampire romance)), or if editors will automatically reject a werewolf book, or if you're allowed to put horror elements in your Regency, etc. And then people will post back and forth with the various pros and cons of whatever the question was, but by this point my husband is usually prying the keyboard out of my hands before I turn into a flaming troll.
So, in the interest of not being a troll on a forum, I will post my trollage here. Everyone, repeat after me:
THERE ARE NO WRITING POLICE
If you are a writer, and you have a novel you are excited about writing... write it. Don't go on message boards and ask random internet denizens whether or not something is allowed. Or, if you're a feedback junkie and you just can't keep yourself from posting, whatever you do, do NOT go pulling things you like out of your novel because someone on the internet told you "that won't sell" or "you can't do that."
Who is the writer here? YOU ARE. Whose book is it? YOUR BOOK. There are no writing police. No one is going to arrest you if you write a teen vampire novel post Twilight. No one is going to send you off to an island to live a wretched life of worm eating and regret because you DARED to bring urban fantasy elements into a space opera. If you have a book that you want to write, then just write the damn thing. Don't worry about selling it, that comes later. Worry about making your book work, worry about how you're order the scenes to create tension, worry about if your character's actions are actually in character. Worry about your grammar. DON'T worry about which of your stylistic choices some potential future editor will use to reject you, and for the love of little puppies don't worry about trends. Trying to catching a trend is like trying to catch a falling knife - dangerous, foolhardy, and often ending in tears, usually yours.
Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't pay attention to what's getting published, but what I am saying is you should never sacrifice the elements that make your novel exciting to you because you think those elements will hurt your sales... especially if you haven't even finished the novel yet and all sales are still hypothetical.
Until your novel starts getting actual rejections from people whose job it is to know what sells in publishing, never change anything in your book unless you're doing it to make the book better. If your YA features fairies, vampires, and selkies and you decide halfway through that the vampires are over complicating your plot, that is an appropriate time to cut the bloodsuckers. If you decide to cut your vampires because you read on some internet forum that "vampires are lame," then you are betraying yourself and your work.
If you're like pretty much every other author in the world, then you became a writer because you had stories you wanted to tell. Those are your stories, no one can tell them better than you can. So write your stories, and then edit your stories again and again until you have something you're proud of. Write stories that excite you, stories you can't wait to share with the world because they're just so amazing. Write stories that you throw away because you realize halfway through that your amazing idea wasn't actually so amazing. If you want to write Murder She Wrote in space with anime style mecha, go for it. There are no writing police. Nothing is off limits unless you do it badly. And if you must obsess over something, obsess over stuff like tension and pacing and creating believable characters. You know, the shit that matters.
It's your story, tell it like you want to.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
New Eli Cover!!
As promised, the new cover for the Eli Omnibus painted by the fantastic Sam Webber is here! Isn't it pretty?!
SO pretty!
This will be the cover for the new 3 book omnibus edition of Spirit Thief, Spirit Rebellion, and Spirit Eater all wrapped together in one delicious package! The omnibus is scheduled to arrive February 2012. After that, the fourth book in the series, The Spirit War (All about Josef, plus lots of Eli!) comes out June of 2012.
The Spirit War cover is being done by Sam Webber as well, and you can see in progress shots of the painting at Orbit's website. I'm REALLY excited about that cover. I shouldn't have favorites, but I think Spirit War is the best book I've ever written. There's all kinds of goodies, you guys are just going to love it. So yeah, very happy Rachel :D.
I don't have an official date yet for Spirit's End, the fifth and final Eli book, but I'm editing it right now and will be turning it in to Orbit at the end of the month. I believe it's scheduled to come out very close to book 4, maybe July 2012? Anyway, soon, and we're on schedule, so you should have all the Eli you could want soon enough! In the meanwhile, drop over to Orbit's site and check out Lauren's visit to Sam's studio. If you ever wanted to see how a fantasy book cover is made, this is your chance. Fascinating stuff (and I'd say that even if it wasn't about my covers)! Enjoy!
- Rachel
ETA: The ever lovely Civilian Reader has nice things to say about the cover! Also, if you haven't read my interview there, totally go read it. It's probably the most intelligent I've ever sounded. If I die tomorrow, that's how I'd like to be remembered. Just carve the whole thing into the tombstone in 5 pt font and we're good to go!
Friday, June 10, 2011
If you're near Columbia, SC, you won't want to miss this
So, thanks to the wonderful prodding of Kalayna Price, I am participating in a MASSIVE fantasy book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Columbia on Saturday, July 9th. We're going to have door prizes and free books and a panel discussion and it's just going to be the best thing ever! Our authors include me, plus these other way more famous people:
- Faith Hunter, author of the Jane Yellowrock series
- Kalayna Price, author of the Alex Craft novels, starting with Grave Witch
- Misty Massey, author of Mad Kestrel
- John Hartness, author of Hard Day's Knight
I am so happy they pulled me out of my hermit hole to drive up for a signing. This will actually be my first signing (because of the aforementioned hermit hole), so if you want any Eli books signed, this will be the place!
Here's the vital facebook link with all relevant info, and I really hope to see people there!
Also, no word on the new cover yet, but I swear it's coming! I'll post as soon as Orbit puts them up. Pretty Eli pictures are coming.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day
When I started writing The Spirit War (Eli novel #4), I had a bit of a problem. I had a brand new baby and my life (like every new mother's life) was constantly on the verge of shambles. I paid for a sitter four times a week so I could get some writing time, and I guarded these hours like a mama bear guards her cubs - with ferocity and hiker-mauling violence. To keep my schedule and make my deadlines, I needed to write 4000 words during each of these carefully arranged sessions. I thought this would be simple. After all, before I quit my job to write full time I'd been writing 2k a day in the three hours before work. Surely with 6 hours of baby free writing time, 4k a day would be nothing....
But (of course), things didn't work out like that. Every day I'd sit down to add 4000 words to my new manuscript. I was determined, I was experienced, I knew my world. There was no reason I couldn't get 4k down. But every night when I hauled myself away, my word count had only increased by 2k, the same number of words I'd been getting before I quit my day job.
Needless to say, I felt like a failure. Here I was, a professional writer with three books about to come out, and I couldn't even beat the writing I'd done before I went pro. At first I made excuses, this novel was the most complicated of all the Eli books I'd written, I was tired because my son thinks 4am is an awesome time to play, etc. etc. But the truth was there was no excuse. I had to find a way to boost my word count, and with months of 2k a day dragging me down, I had to do it fast. So I got scientific. I gathered data and tried experiments, and ultimately ended up boosting my word count to heights far beyond what I'd thought was possible, and I did it while making my writing better than ever before.
When I told people at ConCarolinas that I'd gone from writing 2k to 10k per day, I got a huge response. Everyone wanted to know how I'd done it, and I finally got so sick of telling the same story over and over again that I decided to write it down here.
So, once and for all, here's the story of how I went from writing 500 words an hour to over 1500, and (hopefully) how you can too:
Monday, June 6, 2011
ConCarolinas was awesome!
I am SO TIRED and I lost my voice completely, a sure sign that I had a fantastic weekend! Thank you very much to the con organizers and to all the authors who let me hang out with them at the con and put up with my big mouth on panels. :D
At the con, lots of people seemed excited about the system I worked out for upping my daily word count from 2000 to 10000 words a day. Seeing the interest, I'm working on a blog post write up of what I said about it in the panel with examples of my spreadsheets. So keep your eyes peeled for epic writer nerdery in the next day or so.
Also, don't forget Orbit should be debuting my new omnibus cover on Wednesday, and I am so excited to show you guys after months of having to sit on the art. Seriously, it looks lovely.
And if I saw you at ConCarolinas, thank you so much for coming up. Nothing makes me happier than to meet fellow geeks.
<3 R
At the con, lots of people seemed excited about the system I worked out for upping my daily word count from 2000 to 10000 words a day. Seeing the interest, I'm working on a blog post write up of what I said about it in the panel with examples of my spreadsheets. So keep your eyes peeled for epic writer nerdery in the next day or so.
Also, don't forget Orbit should be debuting my new omnibus cover on Wednesday, and I am so excited to show you guys after months of having to sit on the art. Seriously, it looks lovely.
And if I saw you at ConCarolinas, thank you so much for coming up. Nothing makes me happier than to meet fellow geeks.
<3 R
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
ConCarolinas and new covers!
First up: This weekend (June 3 - 5) I will be at ConCarolinas along with tons of other people way more awesome than I am. Hooray! If you're in or around Charlotte, NC, tickets are cheap and the guests are awesome. Plus I will talk at you until you're sick of me :D. So stop by if you're in the area!! (To see what panels were gullible enough to let me behind the table, click here and select my name from the "Guests" drop down!)
Second, the wonderful Orbit art team will be debuting the cover for my new omnibus on the 8th! Hooray!! I've seen the final already, and I gotta say I can't wait to show you guys. Arrrgh, all this not talking makes me crazy. I'll post the cover as soon as Orbit puts it up. Eli looks very yummy, I must say!
And speaking of not talking, have I mentioned I finished book 5? Well I did! And just today I've finished the first round of edits. Now it's off to my first round readers so we can see where I dropped the ball... or if the ball even left the floor in some places... ahem, moving on. I tend to edit in many rounds, turning the story over until all the bumps are polished off. This book is definitely the most complicated I've ever written, and there are several sections that need some work, but I'm confident that anyone whose read the first three books and liked them is going to love the last two, especially the ending. Arrrgh x 2, can not wait!
Anyway, hope to see some of you at the convention, and definitely keep your eyes peeled for a sexy cover next week!
- R
Second, the wonderful Orbit art team will be debuting the cover for my new omnibus on the 8th! Hooray!! I've seen the final already, and I gotta say I can't wait to show you guys. Arrrgh, all this not talking makes me crazy. I'll post the cover as soon as Orbit puts it up. Eli looks very yummy, I must say!
And speaking of not talking, have I mentioned I finished book 5? Well I did! And just today I've finished the first round of edits. Now it's off to my first round readers so we can see where I dropped the ball... or if the ball even left the floor in some places... ahem, moving on. I tend to edit in many rounds, turning the story over until all the bumps are polished off. This book is definitely the most complicated I've ever written, and there are several sections that need some work, but I'm confident that anyone whose read the first three books and liked them is going to love the last two, especially the ending. Arrrgh x 2, can not wait!
Anyway, hope to see some of you at the convention, and definitely keep your eyes peeled for a sexy cover next week!
- R
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
I emerge from the shadows and...
... answer kindly questions at The Civilian Reader! It was a really fun interview and I drop a lot of information about the last 2 Eli books (as well as why I'm an awful blogger). So if that's your thing, go on over!
But there was 1 question I didn't get a chance to put in the interview, so I wanted to address it here. Namely, why do I continually refer to the last 2 Eli books as "Book 4" and "Book 5" rather than, I don't know, by their freaking titles? The answer, gentle reader, leads us deep into the wild and wooly world of publishing.
It all started when Orbit, my beloved publisher, decided that rather than releasing the last two books like they did the first two - as mass market paper backs with color coded face covers in 2011, they were going to instead wait until 2012 and then do a an omnibus edition of my first 3 books quickly followed by books 4 and 5. This decision was made for a lot of reasons - sales, the fact that book 4 is freaking huge and book 5 is probably going to be just as big (ie. WAY too large for a mass market paperback), wanting a new look for the series, etc. etc. All of these reasons were explained to me, and I'm totally behind the rebranding. I've already seen the omnibus cover art and I like it a LOT. I'll post it all over the web the moment I get permission.
But wait, we were talking about TITLES. Ahem.
Back when I was first signing contracts, the last 2 books of the Eli Monpress Series were titled "The Spirit War" and "Spirit's End" to go along with the Spirit naming structure. These were not my original titles, but then, none of the books have their original titles except for The Spirit Thief. But hey, part of being an author is being flexible with your titles.
(For those who are curious, the series was always going to be 5 books and the titles were as follows:
Book 1 - "The Spirit Thief" was always "The Spirit Thief"
Book 2 - "The Spirit Rebellion" used to be "The Real Monpress"
Book 3 - "The Spirit Eater" used to be "Daughter of the Dead Mountain"
Book 4 - "The Spirit War" used to be "Josef's War"
Book 5 - "Spirit's End" used to be "The Other Side of the Sky")
But with the rebranding, we're not so sure about the titles anymore. After all, since book 1 is now going to be "The Legend of Eli Monpress Vol. I, II, and III", the whole Spirit nomenclature isn't as important anymore. We'll probably keep the names we've already chosen, as The Spirit War and Spirit's End are perfectly fine, fitting names that match the rest of the series, but since I don't know 100% for sure that's what the books will be called, I'm just sticking to what I know, Book 4 and Book 5.
Now that I'm days away from finishing book 5, one thing is certain: Both of these final books are about as dark as The Spirit Eater. That said, Eli only gets mouthier the deeper into trouble he gets, so you can put any fears to rest about this turning into some sort of grim fantasy slog. It's hard to get too dark when one of your main characters is a talking ball of water. I'm very, VERY happy with how book 4 came out, and book 5 is shaping up nicely. I can't wait for 2012 when everything will be done and I finally get to share them with you!
I hope this clears up some questions, and thank you all as always for reading!
- Rachel
But there was 1 question I didn't get a chance to put in the interview, so I wanted to address it here. Namely, why do I continually refer to the last 2 Eli books as "Book 4" and "Book 5" rather than, I don't know, by their freaking titles? The answer, gentle reader, leads us deep into the wild and wooly world of publishing.
It all started when Orbit, my beloved publisher, decided that rather than releasing the last two books like they did the first two - as mass market paper backs with color coded face covers in 2011, they were going to instead wait until 2012 and then do a an omnibus edition of my first 3 books quickly followed by books 4 and 5. This decision was made for a lot of reasons - sales, the fact that book 4 is freaking huge and book 5 is probably going to be just as big (ie. WAY too large for a mass market paperback), wanting a new look for the series, etc. etc. All of these reasons were explained to me, and I'm totally behind the rebranding. I've already seen the omnibus cover art and I like it a LOT. I'll post it all over the web the moment I get permission.
But wait, we were talking about TITLES. Ahem.
Back when I was first signing contracts, the last 2 books of the Eli Monpress Series were titled "The Spirit War" and "Spirit's End" to go along with the Spirit naming structure. These were not my original titles, but then, none of the books have their original titles except for The Spirit Thief. But hey, part of being an author is being flexible with your titles.
(For those who are curious, the series was always going to be 5 books and the titles were as follows:
Book 1 - "The Spirit Thief" was always "The Spirit Thief"
Book 2 - "The Spirit Rebellion" used to be "The Real Monpress"
Book 3 - "The Spirit Eater" used to be "Daughter of the Dead Mountain"
Book 4 - "The Spirit War" used to be "Josef's War"
Book 5 - "Spirit's End" used to be "The Other Side of the Sky")
But with the rebranding, we're not so sure about the titles anymore. After all, since book 1 is now going to be "The Legend of Eli Monpress Vol. I, II, and III", the whole Spirit nomenclature isn't as important anymore. We'll probably keep the names we've already chosen, as The Spirit War and Spirit's End are perfectly fine, fitting names that match the rest of the series, but since I don't know 100% for sure that's what the books will be called, I'm just sticking to what I know, Book 4 and Book 5.
Now that I'm days away from finishing book 5, one thing is certain: Both of these final books are about as dark as The Spirit Eater. That said, Eli only gets mouthier the deeper into trouble he gets, so you can put any fears to rest about this turning into some sort of grim fantasy slog. It's hard to get too dark when one of your main characters is a talking ball of water. I'm very, VERY happy with how book 4 came out, and book 5 is shaping up nicely. I can't wait for 2012 when everything will be done and I finally get to share them with you!
I hope this clears up some questions, and thank you all as always for reading!
- Rachel
Monday, April 11, 2011
Made my day
Don't know how I missed this one, but since it's short, I'm going to post it in full because it makes my day.
*Starred Review* Aaron’s outstanding fantasy debut is the first in a trilogy about unrepentant thief Eli Monpress, whose goal in life is to amass $1 million in gold. Hoping to accomplish his mission in a hurry, Eli decides to raise the stakes and kidnap a king. He doesn’t realize, however, that snatching the king of Mellinor (an entirely unmagical and rather boring kingdom) will set off a chain of events that will put him in peril from multiple sources, including the powerful Miranda, who is determined to catch Eli. But that’s no easy trick, as Eli is also a powerful magic-user himself; his swordsman-partner Josef carries the legendary Heart of War sword; and their female associate is a demonseed whose powers are terrifying. Fast and fun, Spirit Thief introduces a fascinating new world and a complex magical system based on cooperation with the spirits who reside in all living objects. Aaron’s characters are fully fleshed and possess complex personalities, motivations, and backstories that are only gradually revealed. Fans of Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora (2006) will be thrilled with Eli Monpress. Highly recommended for all fantasy readers. --Jessica Moyer, Booklist
Thank you, Booklist!
*Starred Review* Aaron’s outstanding fantasy debut is the first in a trilogy about unrepentant thief Eli Monpress, whose goal in life is to amass $1 million in gold. Hoping to accomplish his mission in a hurry, Eli decides to raise the stakes and kidnap a king. He doesn’t realize, however, that snatching the king of Mellinor (an entirely unmagical and rather boring kingdom) will set off a chain of events that will put him in peril from multiple sources, including the powerful Miranda, who is determined to catch Eli. But that’s no easy trick, as Eli is also a powerful magic-user himself; his swordsman-partner Josef carries the legendary Heart of War sword; and their female associate is a demonseed whose powers are terrifying. Fast and fun, Spirit Thief introduces a fascinating new world and a complex magical system based on cooperation with the spirits who reside in all living objects. Aaron’s characters are fully fleshed and possess complex personalities, motivations, and backstories that are only gradually revealed. Fans of Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora (2006) will be thrilled with Eli Monpress. Highly recommended for all fantasy readers. --Jessica Moyer, Booklist
Thank you, Booklist!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
So picky!
So I have a post I can not get right. I have tried and tried and tried to say what I mean to say, but it just refuses to cooperate, and so I have cast it away until we can come to some accord. In the meanwhile, you'll just have to bear with the following tangent:
I've been on a reading kick the last week or so (amazing what quitting Warcraft can do for your life!), and as a result I've spent a great deal of time in my local library, browsing through the fantasy section. Now, my local library is wonderful and amazing, but it is also a pain and a half to get to, so whenever I go I make sure to read at least the first chapter of any book I'm considering taking home because I refuse to make that annoying drive for anything less than a known quantity of awesome. But this enforced extreme care in my book selections has revealed a fault of my character I never recognized before, namely that I am truly, phenomenally picky about what I read.
Time was that I would give anything that sounded cool at least a general glance over. Not any more. Now, faced with a huge shelf of books, my selection process goes like this:
1) Scan shelf for stand out titles/covers.
2) Read the back to check out the plot, get VERY ANNOYED if the back is nothing but quotes. Quotes tell me nothing. I want PLOT! Scrounge around inside to see if the story catches my interest or has any of my pet peeves (and let me tell you, I didn't even know I had these pet peeves until I started doing this. But after careful evaluation, I've discovered I always put down books containing boy heroes, young, initially powerless females caught up in situations beyond their control, too many made up names, shy people, the list goes ON AND ON. It's horrifying.)
3) If the book still has my interest, I will then open to the first page of story and start to read. If the first sentence doesn't catch me, I'm done. If the first sentence does catch my interest, but nothing's happening (landscape description without cool landscape, etc.), I'll give it one paragraph. If nothing cool happens, I'm out. Even then, if the first character isn't interesting, I'm done.
Now, while I'm doing this, the writer part of my mind is quivering in horror. How can I be so cruel? Don't I know these are stories authors worked on and loved every bit as much as I did for my books? My reader self (since apparently I've got n people in my head at any given moment) just gives the writer a dirty look and points out that we've only got an hour a day to read, not to mention the awful drive over here, and do you want to spend those limited resources on something we won't like?
Spending this sort of quality time with my reader mind has taught me many things over the last few weeks, namely the enormous importance of opening lines. But, picky as the bitch is, you can't argue with results. Every book I've brought home so far I have loved, some past the extent of reason. There's something to be said for knowing what you like, and after nearly 20 years of literacy I ought to know what I'm after. But sometimes, as I skip over book after book after book, I start to get the creeping dread that I am cutting myself off from a world of reading by being so damn rigid in my book choosing process. The truth is, I'm probably missing a lot of really good books, but then everyone does. No one on earth has the time to read every good book, not even every good book in one genre. It simply can't be done. I know that, and still...
When I was young and had tons of time, I read everything. I'd read books I only sort of liked just to see how they'd end. I read widely and developed what I now think of as my taste for books. These days, though, time is short, and so I try to only read good books, books that will delight me. Fortunately there are several resources to help me along that end: reviewers, book bloggers, author reccs, all that sort of thing. I'm amazingly lucky, I have a library with a large SFF section, I live in the age of the kindle, where I can read the first two chapters of pretty much any recent book at the press of a button. But still I worry that, because of the sheer volume of books I have to choose from, that I am being forced to stick to what I know I'll enjoy rather than branching out. That said, I'd take a surfeit of choice over a lack any day. The key, I think, is to keep my mind open. I can decide I don't want to read something, but I have to at least look first. Sort of like tasting new foods. Eventually, even the pickiest eaters branch out if they keep trying new things.
One of the bits of advice I always see for writers is to read widely, but I think it is also important to read well. Read the books that move and inspire you, even if other people look down on them. The joy you take in reading is your own, and it is one of the richest experiences on the planet. Never let anyone spoil it for you, and if you have to be very picky to get there, then be picky. So long as you're still having fun, I don't think it matters at all, and there are certainly enough books to support even the pickiest of readers. You know, like me. :D
I've been on a reading kick the last week or so (amazing what quitting Warcraft can do for your life!), and as a result I've spent a great deal of time in my local library, browsing through the fantasy section. Now, my local library is wonderful and amazing, but it is also a pain and a half to get to, so whenever I go I make sure to read at least the first chapter of any book I'm considering taking home because I refuse to make that annoying drive for anything less than a known quantity of awesome. But this enforced extreme care in my book selections has revealed a fault of my character I never recognized before, namely that I am truly, phenomenally picky about what I read.
Time was that I would give anything that sounded cool at least a general glance over. Not any more. Now, faced with a huge shelf of books, my selection process goes like this:
1) Scan shelf for stand out titles/covers.
2) Read the back to check out the plot, get VERY ANNOYED if the back is nothing but quotes. Quotes tell me nothing. I want PLOT! Scrounge around inside to see if the story catches my interest or has any of my pet peeves (and let me tell you, I didn't even know I had these pet peeves until I started doing this. But after careful evaluation, I've discovered I always put down books containing boy heroes, young, initially powerless females caught up in situations beyond their control, too many made up names, shy people, the list goes ON AND ON. It's horrifying.)
3) If the book still has my interest, I will then open to the first page of story and start to read. If the first sentence doesn't catch me, I'm done. If the first sentence does catch my interest, but nothing's happening (landscape description without cool landscape, etc.), I'll give it one paragraph. If nothing cool happens, I'm out. Even then, if the first character isn't interesting, I'm done.
Now, while I'm doing this, the writer part of my mind is quivering in horror. How can I be so cruel? Don't I know these are stories authors worked on and loved every bit as much as I did for my books? My reader self (since apparently I've got n people in my head at any given moment) just gives the writer a dirty look and points out that we've only got an hour a day to read, not to mention the awful drive over here, and do you want to spend those limited resources on something we won't like?
Spending this sort of quality time with my reader mind has taught me many things over the last few weeks, namely the enormous importance of opening lines. But, picky as the bitch is, you can't argue with results. Every book I've brought home so far I have loved, some past the extent of reason. There's something to be said for knowing what you like, and after nearly 20 years of literacy I ought to know what I'm after. But sometimes, as I skip over book after book after book, I start to get the creeping dread that I am cutting myself off from a world of reading by being so damn rigid in my book choosing process. The truth is, I'm probably missing a lot of really good books, but then everyone does. No one on earth has the time to read every good book, not even every good book in one genre. It simply can't be done. I know that, and still...
When I was young and had tons of time, I read everything. I'd read books I only sort of liked just to see how they'd end. I read widely and developed what I now think of as my taste for books. These days, though, time is short, and so I try to only read good books, books that will delight me. Fortunately there are several resources to help me along that end: reviewers, book bloggers, author reccs, all that sort of thing. I'm amazingly lucky, I have a library with a large SFF section, I live in the age of the kindle, where I can read the first two chapters of pretty much any recent book at the press of a button. But still I worry that, because of the sheer volume of books I have to choose from, that I am being forced to stick to what I know I'll enjoy rather than branching out. That said, I'd take a surfeit of choice over a lack any day. The key, I think, is to keep my mind open. I can decide I don't want to read something, but I have to at least look first. Sort of like tasting new foods. Eventually, even the pickiest eaters branch out if they keep trying new things.
One of the bits of advice I always see for writers is to read widely, but I think it is also important to read well. Read the books that move and inspire you, even if other people look down on them. The joy you take in reading is your own, and it is one of the richest experiences on the planet. Never let anyone spoil it for you, and if you have to be very picky to get there, then be picky. So long as you're still having fun, I don't think it matters at all, and there are certainly enough books to support even the pickiest of readers. You know, like me. :D
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