Human Wave Science Fiction… ?

You know how I am always talking about making sure the science fiction world I’m building serves to lift humanity up, and not make being a human (or a branch of it…) a sin?

Well if I’m reading this correctly,  it seems such an urge has also found its way into other science fiction writers. We now have the term Human Wave Science Fiction

2 – Your writing shouldn’t leave anyone feeling like they should scrub with pumice  or commit suicide by swallowing stoats for the crime of being human, or like humans are a blight upon the Earth, or that the future is dark, dreary, evil and fraught with nastiness, because that’s all humans can do, and woe is us.

I must admit, I like this phrase “Human Wave Science Fiction” and I think I can see how my own work fits into this sort of thing.

For more on this subject, see:  The New Human Wave in Science Fiction Literature.

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Group Testing…

This opinion is not going to be popular among my writing friends.

And – Some of you might have noticed I’ve been talking more about science fiction, and entertainment on this blog rather than writing, or even my own books  – that’s totally on purpose.

Those who have been following this blog know I often compare authoring, and movie making, or just plain storytelling to painting, or sculpting. There seems to be an accepted amount of artistic purity (on the part of the artist) permitted within those fields of art, which is generally not accepted among writers and storytellers.

There are two things I hate: Writers who spoon feed a story, Dan Brown style  to a reader, and I am not very keen on group testing a story or book – Yes I know that’s heretical to say.

Writers, unlike our compatriots in painting are expected to subject their work of art, or pulp to a series of Darwinian take downs disguised as “vetting” (by which I do not mean spell checking, or grammar fixes – that is the so-called technical things) that deconstructs whatever one’s own original vision had been, as indie authorship grows, and takes hold, this aspect has become part of the system.

The problem I have with this is. Often the advice given (though well-meaning) tends more to be  a reflection of the person giving its own biases, and needs. One of the biggest issues I’ve noticed, people  evaluate other people’s work by way of their own writing style, that is to say, we critique other people’s books based against our own body of work and expect for others writing to reflect back at us our own style. When it does not, we tend to not care for it. Look I do it as well, its one of the reasons I do not do book reviews.

Sure, I’ll tell someone, “Hey read that book” but I usually leave it at that.

I also worry about polluting a work with too many hands in the pot. I’ll admit I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to my style, voice, and final product. Telling a story is not like getting the kinks out of a computer game or a piece of hardware.

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So Much To Write, So Little Time…

 

Yeah, OK, I have a backlist of stuff to write, or edit.

As you know, I’m working on editing Falco Invictus: Under A Raptor’s Wings, which I do want to get out as soon as I am able. There’s the ironic spinoff Imogen Drake Series which I really want to launch soon. Ironic? Ah, well you know how all writers stick themselves into their work? Imogen Drake is supposed to be the ‘long lost sister’ of the main male character from The Falcanian Legacy Series - part of the editing on Under A Raptor’s Wings involves integrating Imogen into what I already have written. In any event, Sharr Khan represents me. As it turns out, this whole plot device is less fiction than I first thought…

Plus, and I really need to write about four more stories for my porn – even if certain people ‘don’t approve’ of it!

Trying to figure out what to tackle first however is a bit overwhelming. The porn sells, and has been doing so at a clip these days, my updated cover helped out a lot.

But the whole Falcanian mythos is my child… what to write? What to edit?

 

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And You’re No Amanda Hocking…

Amazon Kindle (Photo credit: agirregabiria)

You know, I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeon, and contrarian… but I really hope to never read that phrase ever again.  Usually it’s offered up by other writers trying to give well-meaning (but not always, and I think often with ulterior motives) advice on self-publishing/indie authorship. They do so regarding matters of editing, and proof reading, as if they hold the keys to the kingdom and what they’re telling writers is some sort of big secret, when, well it’s not at all, but regurgitated truisms. And I also notice, those who are very quick to nod their head and tell other authors how to go about their work, aren’t so much invested in the indie author community so much as using it to gain a leg up in Big 6 publishing.

Can we get this straight? Amanda Hocking didn’t sell a bunch of books because she was a great grammarian, or editor. She herself says as much. However she did make a point to say, when she suddenly found herself in a whirlwind of fame that she targeted a specific niche, and wrote what she thought would appeal to that market.  That I think is her actual secret to success, nothing more, nothing less. It was not about dotting ‘I’s, or the placement of question marks.

You know what? I do not want to be the next Amanda Hocking. I want to be me, with my own style, and writing quirks. Firstly, I enjoy the freedom of being an indie author. Part of that freedom is an editorial one. I would lose that were I to sign up with a big publisher. Somehow I am doubtful Miss Hocking still gets a final say on her work.  Other writers, unless I invite them in, do not, and should not have a say in my writing, or publishing process. To presume to lecture, is to presume to tell a painter what brushstrokes they are allowed to make.

To me writing is an art, not a science. Don’t grind it down, and turn it into a lifeless, bland paste.

What set this post off? Well I stumbled on a blog post, which presumes to give just such advice. It might be well-meaning, it might have other purposes. The trigger however was, when in the comments, I see someone remark that ‘self-publishing seems like a nightmare’.  Wait, what? That has not been my experience, overall I’ve enjoyed Amazon Kindle, and Smashwords. I take umbrage that this blogger, who does not seem invested in the indie author community, but as a means to get a big contract, which is fine if that’s what you think your brass ring is. Me, I think its overrated — is presenting a misrepresentation of indie authorship. The behemoths which are the Big 6 publishers, are imploding as an industry, vast sinking ships, not knowing how to deal with a sudden lack of gatekeepers. Why would anyone want to jump on that ship? Why would a writer volunteer to act as gatekeeper for a broken system. I can only assume it’s not about artistic integrity.

Ironically, were such rigorous views in place before hand, there never would have been an Amanda Hocking to begin with.

Related, I highly recommend  Lin Robinson’s Rules, over at Indies Unlimited. He often says, the only rules one needs worry about satisfying are the body of published work which are filled with all the things you’re not  allowed to do as a writer. They’re not nearly as stringent as one might think.

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A Contest?

Image via CrunchBase

OK, I’m considering doing a giveaway. Just working out the details now. The contest will be for an e-book copy of The First Technomancer. You’ll only be required to have a valid email address, and a Smashwords account, as the prize will be awarded as a Smashwords gift.

The only detail I’m hung up on is if I should do the contest on Facebook, or this blog. And I’m unsure if I want for those who play to respond in comments, or send in an email with their answers. Thinking it all out now. If (when) it takes place will probably be sometime next week.

RCJ

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A Mistaken Sense Of Darwinism…

"A Venerable Orang-outang", a caricature of Charles Darwin as an ape published in The Hornet, a satirical magazine Deutsch: Man sieht Darwin als Affen dargestellt, was eine Anspielung auf seine Evolutionstheorie sein soll. Seiner Meinung nach entwickelten sich die Menschen aus den Affen, was damals eine völlig neue Vorstellung war. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is one of those things, you’re not really supposed to say within the writing community. It is in fact one of those unfortunate notions which is being transferred over from “mainstream publishing” into Indie Authorship.

Perhaps I should preface what I’m about to state with this. You should, and I want you to, turn out the best possible product which is in your power as an author to produce with whatever resources you have at hand. Got that? OK, good.

Sales do not equal quality, but more importantly, the inverse does not follow that quality equals sales. Sure we like to think that a tidily edited, glossy final product will go like gangbusters. Yet that does not always take place. Actually much like in Big 6 Publishing, the easily consumable (though, not necessarily the best, or most well done) seem to sell a whole lot more easily than what is artistically good.

This is a point I kept returning to in my “John Carter” posts. Sure the movie flopped, but it does not mean it was a “bad movie.” Avatar ruled the box office, yet its story is a retread of Fern Gully, and though it looks really good, it is not a very good movie. Specifically when it comes to plot points about why some mysterious mineral matter, or  Neytiri saving the hero from sure death by rabid animals, to then turn around and blame him for it. I always cringe at that scene, and it makes me lose sympathy for the self-righteous Na’vi. None of that plays well under repeat viewing and it makes it apparent that the movies unusual, alien landscape, more than its story helped it at the box office. It’s really a very shallow piece of entertainment.

Though, lets talk about acclaimed Indie Author Amanda Hocking. I can remember following her signing her big contract, she would assure her readers that they would now get a better edited product, and many errors would be fixed in the newest printed edition of her books. She seemed really sorry that her material was not as polished as it might have been. I guess and I’m pretty sure at least in this case her new publisher would be going over her work with a fine honed scalpel to be sure it was up to snuff. Quality control would likely be top order in this special instance. Yet despite all their flaws, even by her own judgement she was selling books, enough to get herself what I guess she thought to be her brass ring.

Personally speaking, I’ve noticed a “book I did not intend to write” is a far easier seller than the one I spent eight long years combing over, and tweaking editorially.  This work I basically put together to make use of  stories I had on my hard drive. I didn’t see a point in not turning it into product. Sure, I cleaned it up, actually a couple of times I’ve gone back and made revisions. It’s still not as tight as the book I set out to be my debut novel, which is by far a better product on all counts.

Again I’m not saying turn out garbage, yet it seems to be my experience that much like in the pulp days of yore, that quickly produced, and put to market easy reads take off.

Various people however keep reinforcing the mistaken Darwinian notion that “quality will equal sales” when in fact there is a certain amount of dumb luck at work which transcends any book’s artistic merit. I’m not sure there are reducible factors which one can extrapolate from as (reader) whim plays a large role in what is bought.

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