Counting Blessings & An AKM Update

Really? It's February already? Where did January go?

2013 has already started off with a bang. A loud, very wild KABOOM! But in a good way.

Aside from having to dodge a couple of stalkers, January was an outstanding month. I released my fourth AKM book, Rebel Obsession, while simultaneously offering book one, Rise of the Fallen, as a free read.

Oh goodness! I can't describe how successful the free offering was. Best thing I think I could have done to celebrate the release of book four, because January was a record-breaking month. I sold more books in January than I did in all of 2012, and my final results amazed even me. Fan feedback was incredible, with my AKM boys pulling in hundreds of new fans, and Rise of the Fallen being voted by readers as their second favorite story for January on GraveTells, ahead of books by Lara Adrian and Kresley Cole. I'm one extremely grateful person right now for a lot of reasons, one of which is that I have a mountain of respect for Adrian and Cole, and I love their work, and for my little story to be voted so favorably by readers in a category of stories that included theirs is humbling and unfathomable. So, many thanks to those who have shown such love for Rise and all the other AKM books.

Additionally, book two of the AKM series, Heart of the Warrior, has won over a tremendous amout of first-time m/m romance readers, and the feedback from readers has been heartwarming. I have received so many comments about how a reader had never considered reading a m/m romance before, but Heart of the Warrior won them over. Readers love the raw emotion and love between the characters in Heart, and if I had a nickel for every reader who said they broke down in tears from the story (in a good way), I'd be rich. One reader actually told me Heart touched him on a very real, personal level, because Sev's and Ari's story reminded him of his own. That means so much to me to know that something I wrote touched someone in such a very personal way.

Furthermore, the initial feedback for Rebel Obsession has been outstanding. I've had several tell me that Rebel is the best of the series so far, with a few more saying that this story also brought them to tears. The pain of the characters seemed to touch readers on a deeper level than I thought it would. And who would have thought Io could redeem himself after the way he behaved in Heart of the Warrior? But, he did. And fans love him.

Lastly, the response to Rise of the Fallen carried over to Micah's Calling, the novella follow-up to Rise. MC was my #1 seller in January, which is simply amazing. I actually feel like MC is my weakest of the series, but fans have loved it. Just loved it.

Next up is Malek's book, Return of the Assassin, and I hope he continues the trend so that readers can once again cry and rejoice through his pain and eventual (hopefully) salvation.

And I know you're all waiting for Traceon's story, Bound Guardian Angel. He's on his way. His story comes after Malek's, and it's shaping up in my mind to be worth the wait. But something tells me that even after his story, we'll hear more from him. A lot more.

In addition to those two books, I'm also working on a four-part prequel, which will include a view into Tristan's and Josie's story, as well as a novella for Sev and Ari (yes, my hot m/m couple get a novella). Beyond that, there's lots more to come in the AKM world, with a sister series beginning to develop, as well as 5 more AKM books already in various stages of planning.

Happy reading and writing! And HAPPY 2013 TO ALL!

-D

The Rules of Writing - Part II

Last week I posted Part I of the Rules of Writing, but there were so many, I needed to create a second part, so today I continue the list, with my commentary. The contributing authors for Part II are: Hilary Mantel, Michael Moorcock, Michael Morpurgo, Andrew Motion, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Proulx, Philip Pullman, Ian Rankin, Will Self, Helen Simpson, Zadie Smith, Colm Toibin, Rose Tremain, Sarah Waters, and Jeanette Winterson.

• Are you serious about this? Then get an accountant. [DL: And an attorney, a group of beta readers, an editor, and an EIN number. And don't forget a dash of sanity.]
• Read Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande [DL: Here's the link: Becoming a Writer on Amazon
• Be aware that anything that appears before "Chapter One" may be skipped. Don't put your vital clue there. [DL: I believe in Part I of these rules, there was a rule that even said not to write prologues. This is why. Like it or not, people skip prologues. If the information is vital to the story, don't put it in a prologue or other front matter. Find a way to work that into your manuscript and skip the prologue. I have heard the rule many times before.]
• Description works best if it has a human element and comes from an implied human viewpoint rather than from the eye of God. If it is colored by the viewpoint of the character doing the noticing, description becomes part of the character definition and part of the action. [DL: This is why omniscient storytelling is not encouraged and can be dry. When the viewpoint comes from outside the characters, the reader doesn't get a good sense of the characters.]
• Read. [DL: This rule comes up often, with a variation that says to read outside your genre as much as possible.]
• The first third of your novel is the introduction, the middle third is the development, and the final third is the resolution. [DL: Introduce characters and plots in the introduction, develop them in the development, and resolve them in the resolution. We shouldn't be meeting a main character for the first time in the development, and we should be starting to wrap up the main action by the time we reach the final third of the story].
• Once the book is finished in its first draft, I read it out loud to myself. How it sounds is hugely important. [DL: If you read Part I that was posted last week, this rule should sound familiar. It came up over and over and over (and over again) on the list. In other words, if you're not reading your story out loud while editing it, you're probably not catching flow problems.]
• Think with your senses as well as your brain. [DL: This rule ties in with the following rule.]
• Honor the miraculousness of the ordinary. [DL: Eating a pear may seem ordinary to you, but to someone who has never eaten a pear, it's an experience. Remember in the movie, City of Angels, when Meg Ryan described what eating a pear was like? Sweet, juicy. Grainy, like sugar that melts on my tongue. I think that's what she said. Does that sound "ordinary" to you? Try to imagine what these "ordinary" experiences feel, smell, look, taste, and sound like. Make them EXTRAordinary.] 
• Let your work stand before deciding whether or not to serve. [DL: This one is so important, I need to expand on it. When you grill a steak, you're supposed to let it stand so the juices seep back into the tissues and don't escape when you cut it. In other words, don't serve the meal before it's ready to be eaten. Same with your books. I see a lot of authors crank out a first draft and then publish it within a few weeks. Whoa, whoa, whoa! A few weeks is not enough time to let your precious baby sit. A manuscript needs to rest a while, then go through edits. Right after you've finished writing it, you think it's a masterpiece. Only after you put fresh eyes to it after a resting period will you see all that still needs to be done before it's ready. I've looked at my "masterpieces" after a couple of months and wondered what drugs I was on when I wrote that crap. How embarrassing (and reputationally damaging) it would have been had I published it immediately after finishing it. Hold tight...more rules on this coming up.]
• Use plain, familiar words, not polysyllabic ones. [DL: I used to write using large words no one knew. Now I know better. You don't want your readers reading two books: yours and a dictionary. KISS - Keep It Simple Sweetie.]
• Rewrite and edit until you achieve the most [well-suited] phrase/sentence/paragraph/page/ story/chapter. [DL: Much like letting a manuscript sit for a while, I put each manuscript through at least five rounds of edits. At least. Letting it sit between each edit. The first two edits are for large amounts of rewriting and editing, where I will add, rewrite, remove, or relocate entire chapters or scenes. The next couple/few edits are for honing smaller scenes and paragraphs. Then I move on to fix things on a sentence level. Finally, I go through and address individual words, cutting out the extras or changing them. Only by running a finer-toothed comb through each read-thru can I get to a point where I feel I've fleshed out all the fat. You can't fix all the small stuff until the big stuff is fixed, so this requires many rounds of edits.
• Don't look back until you've written an entire draft. [DL: This is another rule that was repeated often. Do not begin editing until you've finished the first draft. You have to have something to edit before you can edit it.]
• The real work is in the edit. [DL: Here's another rule about letting your work stand before you serve it. I have seen too many authors publish their books without so much as a cursory re-read, only to see their work published with an ungodly amount of errors. Writing the book is the easy part, but once you type the last word the REAL work is only beginning. If you aren't willing to do the real work, this is not the profession for you. Editing is hard f'ing work. No joke. No lie. If I spend a month writing a manuscript, I spent 3-6 months editing it. Just because you have an "editor" does not mean you can skimp on this step. It's your responsibility to double-check your editor's work, because editors are not infallible.]
• Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. [DL: This goes without saying, because you never know where your next idea will hit you. You don't want to be without your notebook when it does. Write it down or you'll forget it.]
• Regard yourself as a small corporation of one. [DL: This is a job. Treat it like one, including lunch breaks and Christmas parties for yourself. Like I said earlier, get an EIN number.]
• Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it. [DL: Are you beginning to see the importance of this rule? It comes up repeatedly on the list. Let. It. Sit. Before. You. Edit. And. Serve. It.]
• Stop feeling sorry for yourself. [DL: Feeling sorry for yourself kills your creativity and energy. I know. I've been there.]
• Never be satisfied with a first draft. [DL: Ahem. I detect a theme there. Edit, edit, and edit some more.]
• Listen to the criticisms and preferences of your trusted "first readers." [DL: And don't just listen. ENCOURAGE your beta readers to be HARSH! And when they are, LISTEN. Don't get mad at them. Listen. They represent your audience and readership, and they are there to help you. Would you rather they catch a major plot hole before you publish the book, or would you rather thousands of readers destroy you in bad word-of-mouth and reviews after the book is released?]
• Write dialogue that people would actually speak. [DL: Would a character more like say this: "I do not know where we are going," or this: "I don't know where we're going."? This: "I'm aware that our neighbor provided sustenance that caused gastrointestinal upset," or this: "I got food poisoning from my neighbor's barbecue."? This is a good reason for reading your work out loud. Doing so allows you to hear bad dialogue.]
• Novels are for readers, not your self-expression or therapy. [DL: If you write for yourself, it's called journaling. If your goal is to write for public consumption, remember that you need to know your market and that you need to give readers what they want, not what YOU want.]
• Take no notice of anyone you don't respect or who has a gender agenda. [DL: Who cares if some ding-a-ling wants to snark off about how women shouldn't write homosexual romance because they have no right to when they're not homosexual men. I'm not a doctor, either, but I can still write about doctors. And I'm not a dude, but I've created some wickedly bad-ass alpha males my readers have fallen in love with. I'm giving MY readers what they want, and since my readers are mostly women, I cater to their tastes. They don't care if I'm a woman. All they care about is they loved my interpretation of two male vampires going through hell and back to find love with one another, not that I'm a woman writing M/M romance. Let the naysayers sound off. Who cares? Ignore their sorry asses. They aren't your bread and butter, and they're not worth the time you give them and take away from what's truly important: YOUR WRITING and your FANS.
• Be ambitious for the work and not for the reward. [DL: If all you want is money without the desire to learn the craft of writing...without caring enough to put a quality product into readers' hands...then you're in this for the wrong reasons.]
• Last but not least, Enjoy the work! [DL: If you don't enjoy it, don't do it. It's not the profession for you if you aren't enjoying every facet of the work, which includes editing and improving your skills.]

Here's the link to the full list of rules: The Rules of Writing

Happy Writing and Reading!

-D

Show vs. Tell - Don't Over-Caulk Your Window

NOTE: An unedited and unfinalized excerpt from my next AKM novel, Rebel Obsession, follows. Adult content.

I'll bet a thousand dollars that some authors read the title of today's blog post and said, "Oh God, not another lesson in showing vs. telling." Why? Because the concept of showing vs. telling has been beaten so forcefully into author's heads that it's almost become a catch-phrase or some kind of offensive slur. In fact, there is a mini-movement of sorts to do away with the concept. Obviously, I think that's a bit extreme, as well as misguided, since the concept of showing vs. telling receives the attention it does for VERY good reasons: 1) Many authors don't truly understand it (it took two years for me to get it) and NEED to learn it;  2) If you're simply telling your story to your readers without showing them anything, you are losing them.

Since the idea of writing and selling books is to keep the readers you've got and gain new ones, obviously you need to be learning all the ways to do that, which includes mastering the art of showing a story and not just telling it.

Readers want an experience, and the only way to give them that is by showing the story to them so that while they read it, they are watching the movie in their minds. It's hard to "experience" a story when it's just being told to you to the point you can't live it, breathe it, smell it, and even taste it. When you engage their senses and their imaginations through word pictures, you allow readers to build the "movie" in their mind so they can watch it while they read.

Perhaps the vehement antagonism toward showing vs. telling stems from the thought that when some writers are told they need to show more and tell less, they think they're being told they have to show everything. No, that's not the case. You need some narration (aka telling) to balance out the story, because you simply can't show everything, but when you can show a scene, you should, because it makes the scene infinitely more interesting.

I'm going to show you a sample from my own writing to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I'm editing my next AKM novel, Rebel Obsession, and as I was reading over chapter two, I sat back and thought, "Ew! This is so boring. It's just straight narration and all telling." So, I reworked it. Keep in mind as you read these samples that this is only a first edit and that the story will go through at least five more rounds of edits before it's finished, but I have begun to transform the original "telling" scene into one that "shows" more of what's happening:


Original Scene

Io sat in the passenger seat of the Suburban next to Severin, and wasn't that about as comfortable as being rubbed with barbed wire? More than two weeks ago, Io had learned that his bestie, Arion, had taken Severin as a mate, and vice versa. All this had happened the night Sev's chest got blown open by that Gina chick who had thought Sev had killed her brother.

What a nightmare. Sev almost hadn’t made it through, flat-lining once while the doctors had worked on him.

But Sev had managed to survive, much to the relief of everyone, especially Arion, and had just returned to work a couple of nights ago. His and Arion’s newly-mated calling phase with one another had finally ended, which had made it safe for him to return to his job.

As far as his would-be assassin was concerned, Gina had split town after Sev graciously exonerated her of all responsibility. Mistakes happen, after all. Not usually with such destructive results, but Sev was a bigger male than Io. Io doubted he would have been able to excuse Gina’s actions under the same circumstances.

Oh well, Gina wasn’t his concern. And neither was the relationship between Sev and Ari, but even two weeks later, Io still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Ari was gay. Or that Ari and Sev had just spent the past two weeks doing God knew what to each other as they’d experienced their mated calling phases with each another. The calling was the time when a newly-mated male was his most fertile and went into hormonal heat. In fact, the only thing Io looked forward to about having a mate was the calling, being that it would make him a goddamn fucking machine. Two weeks of nearly constant orgasms and physical plowing into his mate was appealing on about a hundred different levels. The rest of the whole mating scene? Well, that was another story. But the idea of Sev and Arion having their calling with one another? No, Io didn’t like thinking about that.

If that made him homophobic, then he was guilty as charged.

How in the hell had his best friend turned out to be gay? Arion was a God damn fa--. Io stopped himself from thinking the word. He didn't know why, though, because for decades he had tossed the word, faggot, around like it was an everyday term. But now, with Arion turning out being gay, he just couldn't bring himself to say it or even think it, anymore.

He cleared his throat. "So, uh…how's Ari?"

Edited Scene

Io sat in the passenger seat of the Suburban next to Severin, and wasn't that about as comfortable as being rubbed with barbed wire? Sev had effectively stolen Io’s best friend, Arion, away from him when the two ended up coming out two weeks ago about their homosexuality, as well as the fact they had mated one another.

Double-take what?

Io still hadn’t wrapped his mind around how his bestie could have turned out gay after all the chicks they’d bagged together, but there was no mistake. Ari and Sev were mated to one another, and the bond that connected them was one of the strongest Io had ever seen between mates.

Just the thought of what the pair had spent the past two weeks doing to each other through their calling phases was enough to make Io squeamish. He just couldn’t picture Ari fucking a guy, for Christ’s sake, and if he tried to his stomach lurched. To say Io was homophobic was an understatement. But now he was all confused, because he had never imagined his closest compadre would turn out to be batting for the other team.

Sev turned down the heat in the cab and pulled into a parking garage where drecks liked to deal cobalt.

“How you feeling, man?” Io quickly dashed an awkward glance toward Sev before looking away uncomfortably. He knew that Sev knew how he felt about gays. Or at least how he used to feel about them. Now Io wasn’t sure what to think.

“Good.” Sev inclined his head warily.

“Your chest okay?” Io fiddled with the zipper on his military cargo pants.

Sev’s chest had been blown open by that assassin, Gina or whatever her name was, the night Io found out Ari and Sev had mated each other. Sev had been lucky to survive, flat-lining once before pulling through.

“Yeah, it's fine.” Sev threw Io an inquisitive look.

Io bobbed his head in acknowledgment. “Good. Good. Glad to hear it.” He averted his gaze and looked out the window, feeling like ants were crawling up and down the back of his neck. Being around Sev was so fucking awkward.

“I’m glad you’re glad.” Sev spoke in a measured cadence, as if he sensed the tension in the cab of the Suburban and was beginning to get pissed off about it, or maybe he was just irritated.

They circled up to the top level of the parking garage.

Io cleared his throat. "So, uh…how's Ari?"

This type of mass rewriting is typical of my round one editing cycle. After I let a manuscript rest for several weeks, when I pick it back up and read it with fresh eyes, a lot of crap pops at me that reads like a bad B-rate horror movie where ketchup is used for blood. My job is to take all that roll-your-eyes bullshit and turn it into something plausible that paints a vivid picture.

I don't think my edited version is perfect, but I do think it's way better than my original version. I removed most of the vapid narration and play-by-play, and eliminated a ton of unnecessary crap that I can work into the story later if need-be. I condensed one giant paragraph into a couple of sentences and rearranged the elements. The most important thing is that you get more of a sense of the discomfort and awkwardness between Sev and Io from the second version. I did this by adding dialogue, pulling more from within Io's point-of-view, and by using tiny snippets of narration sprinkled throughout.

So, you see, the point isn't to totally eliminate telling and narration. It's to make sure you're showing where possible and using the concept of telling to accent your showing to balance out your manuscript. Many authors weigh far too heavily on the side of telling, which makes the story dry and boring.

Think of telling as a gap filler. It's like the caulking around a window to seal out the cold air of winter. It's a small detail that you should hardly notice, if at all, which means if people are noticing it, you're using it too much or inappropriately, obscuring the view the window is trying to show you. If you over-tell your story, it's like applying caulking to the panes of glass to block out not only the cold air, but the picture, as well. It makes your window less effective and hinders its ability to provide you with a view. 

I know one author who uses absolutely no dialogue, which is the easiest way to show a story. I couldn't even finish the first chapter of her book because I couldn't picture anything that was happening and started tuning out because it was 100% narration. For example, instead of including the conversations written as dialogue (showing), she simply narrated that a conversation occurred between two characters (telling) and wrote lines such as, He told me I had to go upstairs so I thanked him. Why couldn't she have written:

"Go up two flights of stairs." He pointed up and bobbed his head in the direction of the stairwell.
I glanced over my shoulder then turned back and smiled at him. "Okay, thank you."

Seeing the dialogue with action tags is way more interesting than just being told about a conversation, wouldn't you agree?

So, don't lash out at the next person who says, "Show, don't tell," because they might have a point, and you might be applying to much caulking to your window.

Happy reading and happy writing.