Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

location! location! August 28, 2011

Filed under: Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:26 am
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I have discovered that I have a particular pet peeve about books set in places I know.  I expect them to be right.  If you’re describing a real place, a real street, a real region, a real country, then you need to do your research.  You need to know what time the sun sets there, for your time of the year.  You need to know the local language and customs.  You need to research, research, research.

Because if you don’t, some of your audience are going to know, and they’re going to be a vocal part of your audience.  They will hate with a passion and they will shout it from the roof tops.  They will be so distracted by the errors, that they won’t be able to see the good things about your book.

If you don’t know a place intimately, and you aren’t going to research, then make up the place.  Make it ‘like’ a known place that you model it after, if you want, but don’t give it the same name.  Because if you make mistakes, people are going to jump all over that.

Man, I hope there are none of those moments in my books!  I think I’ve kept close to what I know, and researched for everything I needed to check.  I hope my settings stand up to my own standards.

 

masks August 25, 2011

Filed under: Pondering,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:37 pm
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“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”   Oscar Wilde

It’s an interesting idea, don’t you think?  I can see how character and philosophy oozes out from between the lines of an author’s work.  I know that people who know me laugh when they read my work, because they can hear my voice in the style.

What do you think?  Do you think you reveal more about yourself by your action and writings (particularly writing in character) than you do when responding to others?

PS.  Still looking for the short story “Masks” as per this blog

 

writing struggles August 24, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:01 am
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“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

— George Orwell

I kind of feel sorry for George when I read this.  Perhaps it was the subject matter he chose?  Or the onerous nature of writing by hand or typing on an old typewriter?

Personally, I don’t feel like I am compelled to write by any demons.  I feel like I’m invited to enter a new world, that comes into being as I step through.  For me, writing is kind of like the scene at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Harry finds himself in the train station. His awareness of need calls things  into being.  That concept  is a wonderful metaphor for the writing process.

I don’t find writing to be horrible at all, and most certainly not an exhausting struggle.  It’s more like an invigorating adventure, where surprise waits around every corner.

I can see how writing Orwellian books would be completely soul destroying though.  Living in the head of  1984’s protagonist, Winston, for the time needed to craft that novel would be enough to suck the life right out of you.  Fatalistic visions of a horrible future don’t make for a positive outlook.  I hope George had some antidepressants.  It’s always better to be doing a task you enjoy.

 

Smashing! July 24, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:20 pm
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According to the July 21, 2011 site update from Smashwords.com, they uploaded 6,500 titles in the last 30 days.  Wow.  I had heard that Amazon was getting 1000 titles a week, but if Smashwords alone uploaded 1625 titles a week in the last month, there must be closer to 2000 titles being uploaded every week.

Wow.

Say it again,

Wow.

That’s a lot of authors taking advantage of the opportunities offered by e-books.

If you have an e-book reader, you already know some of those opportunities for you as a reader: the convenience of carrying an entire library in one slim volume, the ease of acquiring your books, the huge numbers of books available to you, etc.  You may also have discovered the pitfalls, in particular the large amount of poorly written books to weed through.  The preview is the most valuable defense against this.  I dismiss a lot of books a couple pages into the preview.

For an author, there are different considerations.  If they are already published, it provides a way for them to release out of print titles.  If they are not published, it allows them to skip the long, painful process of waiting for a publisher to take interest in the book, and go straight to the readers.

There’s a problem with this though, because sometimes it isn’t a good idea to go straight to the readers!  Too often authors are in love with their words and their ideas and they don’t recognize that they need to edit for flow,  form and grammar.  There can be a little bit of conceit here or a bit of naivete.

The story has to follow the rules.  It has to make sense.  It has to be written properly.  It has to have good grammar and punctuation.  If it doesn’t, the readers are not going to come.  If you upload a novel before it’s ready, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot, and earning a reputation as a poor writer.

The easy road can be a dangerous one.  The harder road provides enough road blocks for the project to be perfected along the journey.

Of course, we’ve all come across books by reputable publishers that made us shake our heads and wonder how it came to be published.  With the e-book scene growing like crazy, hopefully we’ll soon see many talented authors that don’t have paper editions, developing a well-earned following.   Those authors aren’t getting there on their own, though.  They must have a team of readers and editors helping them to fine-tune their work.

Success is a team effort.  In e-book publishing, the author is the one in control of the team, so it’s important that it’s a good one!

If you’re considering e-publishing, there is a lot to know.  Read and learn.  Ensure that you’re putting out the best possible product.  Know your audience and your genre.  Be sure that your work has been read and reviewed by your audience. Your reputation is important, you need to keep it shiny.

 

keeping track of time July 9, 2011

Filed under: Grace Awakening,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:23 pm
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When I was writing Grace Awakening, I didn’t write linearly, I wrote scenes from all over the book.  I moved from exposition to climax and into rising action in the same week.   This technique helps to keep the writing from being boring, and makes it interesting toward the end of the process when the author must take all these disparate puzzle pieces of story and manoeuvre them into a proper picture.

It creates some difficulties as well, however.  The main one is keeping references to time appropriate.  If I say “two weeks later” but the events referenced have 3 Fridays between them, I have to fix it!  Or perhaps the logical sequence puts a spring activity in December.  My biggest consideration was working around the date April 6th, when Petrarch first met Laura.  The scene that references that must occur at that time.  The last couple of days I’ve been working with an editor on finding these time anomalies and making sure it all works together.

It’s kind of interesting that in some 40+ reads I’ve had of the book, and a dozen or so beta readers, no one else has caught these concerns before.  I realise this means that not everyone is going to keep track of the calendar, but for those who do, it’s important that it matches up.  So I’ve drafted a calendar, and made sure all the events sit where they should.  Just as I researched the times for the sunset when Grace and Ben dine at the Calgary Tower, the little things need to be correct.  It’s a respectful nod to the reader.  “I care enough about you to create a world that is consistent.”

At least, I’m doing my best.

 

5 things July 1, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:32 pm
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Jane Friedman is a professor and blogger.  She was a publisher with Writers’ Digest, and is still a contributing editor for them.  Her blog is at

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/

Today, I’d like to direct you to this blog: http://writerunboxed.com/2011/06/24/5-things-more-important-than-talent/

Enjoy!

 

 

why writers fail June 28, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:06 am
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This is the week of re-posting interesting writing blogs I’ve come across recently.  Check out this insightful analysis of why authors fail from  Penny Sansevieri  of sellingbooks.com.  There are some good tips here.

http://www.sellingbooks.com/why-some-authors-fail/

 

A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: What Works: Promo for Ebooks June 27, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:50 am
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A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: What Works: Promo for Ebooks.

Here is a fascinating  and thorough examination of promotion strategies and ebook publication by Joe Konrath

Konrath’s blog is well worth reading by anyone interested in writing or publication.  It is full of tips and interesting articles.  You could spend a lot of time wandering through here, and I suggest you do!

I was reading on Smashword.com today that Amazon is getting 1000 new e-titles a week.  52,000 e-book titles a year.  Wow.  Having your book stand out in that kind of crowd is going to take a bit of effort.  We need all the help we can get!

 

watch June 14, 2011

Filed under: Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 5:25 pm
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A paraphrased quote to ponder from Angie Abdou, from notes taken while she was presenting at the Shuswap Lake Writers’ Conference last month:

Be open to the story all around you.

There is a world of story in every moment

and it can be told a thousand ways.

 

story urge May 31, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Literature,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:49 am
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I’ve been reading a book called The ABC’s of Creative Nonfiction edited by Lee Gutkind. The theme is there is a compulsion to tell our stories that goes beyond cultural and is actually biological, he says,

The act of autobiography forms in our frontal cortices, while the will to write likely lies in the limbic system, one of the oldest parts of the brain, governing not only basic desires for food and sex but social bonding, learning, and memories. We are the most vocal of the primates, and sharing the intimate details of our lives has many functions: the act makes us feel connected to others, alleviates stress, and makes us healthier. Writing about emotionally laden events increases our T-cell growth and antibody response, lowers our heart rate, helps us lose weight, improves sleep, elevates our mood and can even reduce pain.
(Keep It Real. ed. Lee Gutkind. New York: Norton. 2008)

So. It’s not obsessive to be writing all the time.  Keeping a blog is a healthy thing!  Some people jog. I write. I know I feel good after I’ve been writing, but it’s interesting to know that it’s not just anecdotally true.   They talk about the ‘runner’s high,’  but they don’t talk about the ‘writer’s high.’  We know about it though.  It fuels our writing.  What’s more, we feel it again when we re-read something we wrote that is particularly good. 

 What we feel is actually legitimate psychological response.  Good.

I feel so much better about not jogging now.