Congratulations, Author Pippa Jay!

KEIR 

is the first published novel 

by a member of the 

Spacefreighters Lounge 

 blogging team!

WORKING THE MAGIC

Writers are perceived to be a superstitious bunch. Much like actors or athletes, we are thought to obsess over the tools of our craft or the process of our art for fear any change in the way we do things might offend the Muses.

 I suppose some writers might indeed have “lucky pens” or rules that cannot be broken lest writers’ block descend and the page remain blank, but a dedicated search of Google to unearth the superstitions of famous writers today came up with only a list of weird habits those writers followed as they toiled at their craft.

Truman Capote, for example, could only write while lying down, with some kind of drink in his other hand (nonalcoholic early in the day, a martini later). William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald skipped the lying down and the nonalcoholic drinks and went straight to the whiskey to prepare for their time before the page. Some writers work only in longhand (J.K. Rowling), some with not one, but two typewriters (Isaac Asimov—in case the first one broke down). Though presumably most authors use paper (or a computer screen), some insisted on index cards (Nabokov) or bits of paper held together with pins (Eudora Welty).

 Surroundings are important, too. Many writers cannot abide distractions, so close themselves up in the equivalent of the poet’s unheated garret (Flannery O’Connor, T.S. Eliot, modern writer Francine Prose). Others adapt their equipment to their unique needs: Thomas Clayton Wolfe, an early 20th Century novelist, was so tall he wrote draped over a refrigerator. I hear the latest thing is to write standing up, or with your desk somehow affixed over a treadmill, to avoid becoming sedentary.

Of course, many writers insist on word counts—you know, the old Apply-Butt-to-Chair rule. Hemingway’s was a mere 500 words (but, of course, he didn’t use many, did he). Or pages—Stephen King says he manages about ten pages a day, which amounts to 2000 words, or a 180,000-word novel in three months. This he does working just in the mornings (every morning, when he’s working on something, which is almost always). Imagine the feverish pitch required for that!

On the other hand, King himself tells the story of James Joyce, who was found prostrate over his desk at the end of a long day of writing. His friend asked him what was wrong. Joyce replied that he’d only written seven words that day. His friend exclaimed, “Seven? But, James . . . that’s good, at least for you!”

 “Yes,” Joyce answered, “I supposed it is . . . but I don’t know what order they go in!”*

All of this is to say that although each of these famous writers approached their work in ways that were individual enough to be classified as eccentric, in no way could what they did (or do) be seen as superstitious in the same way as a major league pitcher’s lucky socks or an actor’s refusal to wish a colleague good luck. These are work habits, having to do with the way people order their worlds to free up their brains to create, not the results of magical thinking.

When we start out on the journey to becoming writers we all engage in a certain amount of magical thinking. We wish, we hope, we dream. And there is nothing wrong with that. Nor should we ever give that up. But the idea that my dream agent is going to find me without my sending out a query is, um, not realistic. No one is going to swoop down and pick me up out of the mud and make me queen. Life is not a fairy tale. Work must be done to make dreams come true.

So we come up with some crazy work habits that allow us to do the work required to write the stories. We gloss over our inadequacies (okay, lie to ourselves) to build up the courage to send out the queries and submit the stories. Then we hope for a little magic to give us that extra oomph to put it over the top.

And every once in a while, magic happens. Pippa Jay’s Keir publishes May 7. Sharon Lynn Fisher’s Ghost Planet publishes October 30. These authors worked hard for their magic. And now dreams are coming true.

 What is wonderful is that I get hang out in the vicinity in hopes some of that magic rubs off on me. I knew something special was happening the day I met Laurie and Sharon in the lobby of the Marriott hotel in Washington, D.C. at our first RWA National conference. We’ve all come a long way since then. Due to hard work—and a little magic.

 Cheers, Donna

*From Stephen King’s On Writing (Pocket Books, 2000)

 Additional information for this article from “Weird Writing Habits of Famous Authors”, by Kathleen Massara, posted July 13, 2011 on Flavorwire.com.

A Final Mission; A First Launch

A Final Mission

David was one of the lucky visitors to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. last weekend when a newly acquired arrival, space shuttle Discovery, was on display as the new ambassador for an historic era of space travel.

I wanted to share a few of the photos of the great ship in her new home. Godspeed, Discovery, in your final mission.

And here's a very special tribute from her last voyage...



Every mission has to have a beginning, and here at Spacefreighters Lounge we're very proud to celebrate...

A First Launch!

The co-bloggers here at Spacefreighters Lounge

would like to congratulate debut author 
Pippa Jay

on her upcoming Science Fiction Romance release

KEIR

Coming May 7th from Lyrical Press

KEIR is going to be ushered in with one lively celebration!

Here's a preview of the festivities:

Keir Blog Tour

Prizes - At most of these I will be giving away an ebook copy of Keir. A $10 Amazon Gift Card will be up as a prize on the rest, with a special swag bag up for grabs here on release day. :)

(Here's a quick run down of all the stops, but jump over to Pippa Jay's Blog for complete information and all the links.)

Tour dates and places

May 1st-14th
1st - guest post on Writing Demons into Science Fiction with Chantal Halpin
2nd - guest post on Casting Keir with Lauri Owen and interview on the TBR blog
3rd- guest post on Tattoos at Kerrianne Coombes blog
4th - guest post on Time-Travel with Gayle Ramage
5th - Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday
6th - Six Sentence Sunday
7th - official release day on this blog and announcement on SFR Brigade blog.
8th - interview up at The Galaxy Express and guest post on Naming Keir at Layna Pimentel's blog.
9th - guest post on why Keir is oh so blue on the Spacefreighters Lounge (you are here!) and guest post on Falling into SFR at Backward Momentum
10th - guest post with Misa Buckley on Doctor Who
11th - guest posts with Kaye Manro on Science Fiction with a Medieval Twist and Laurel Kriegler on the Origins of Quin
12th - Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday
13th - Six Sentence Sunday
14th - guest post with Liana Brooks on Red Hair and an interview with Jessica Subject
15th - The draw will take place for all the prizes offered on the tour and winners will be notified.

NO EASY WAY OUT

One of my writing mentors, SF writer A.C. Crispin, tells the students in her writing workshops that the secret to storytelling is to give your characters problems. Problems are the basis of conflict and conflict is at the heart of, well, pretty much everything. The more those problems pile up, the better the conflict is and the faster the reader wants to turn those pages.

It’s easy to identify the conflict when the problems are all “external”, that is, when the manure that keeps hitting the fan seems to come from outside the character himself. James Bond has his hands full dealing with S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Dr. No’s fiendish plans without worrying about self-doubt or guilt over how he treats his women. The pace is kept up by putting the character into one tight spot after another and letting him work his way out of it. That’s the fun of a good spy thriller or military SF plot, after all. The conflict revolves around the problems the external universe creates for the character to overcome.

“Internal” conflicts are more subtle, having to do with the character herself, or her relationships with others in the story. Some internal change must occur—growth must be achieved or an old pain resolved or a mystery solved—so the character can move on in her life. Often, as with romance novels, love must be gained. This has its own “arc” within the story, quite separate from the personal conflicts of both the hero and the heroine.

In fact, if the story is a romance, the problems caused by the “external” world (be it demons or vampires, aliens, the people next door, the ranch owners, or the bad guys of whatever world you choose), and those caused by the “internal” world (the relationship) have their own separate tracks which must wind their way through the story and find their own satisfactory solutions in the end. If the writer is doing her job well, the tracks intertwine, leapfrog and maintain a pace that leads the reader ever onward until by the last few pages it’s impossible to put the book down.

So easy to talk about; so very hard to accomplish! Even when the underlying elements of conflict exist in the story, some romance writers have a hard time sharpening those points of contention. It’s hard to figure out what the couple is fighting about. Or an author will have the couple waste energy in fruitless squabbling in the belief that “conflict” equals “dislike” (until suddenly the hero and heroine discover they love each other). Or, perhaps there is little external conflict to move the plot along at all.

Real conflict happens when both sides are RIGHT, when both the hero and the heroine have an equally valid point of view. Figuring out how to actually SEE it from both sides, then find a way to RESOLVE it, is truly difficult. The more convoluted and hopeless the problem seems, the more involved—emotionally and intellectually--your reader will be.

Madeline Hunter’s latest Regency novel, The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne, provides an excellent example of conflict done right in a romance novel. Hunter gives her hero and heroine conflicting interests from the first page and piles on the problems for her heroine until it seems there is truly no way out for her. With an external plot that involves the heroine’s kidnapped brother, smugglers along Britain’s Southeast coast, and the hero’s clandestine network of watchers set to intercept spies infiltrating England from revolutionary France all revolving around an auction house in London in which the hero and heroine find themselves unlikely partners, the tension between the lovers’ feelings and their natural conflicts builds almost unbearably throughout the book. There is almost no need for a “black moment” (although there is one), because things look so bleak toward the last third of the story simply as a result of “piling on”.

But what better way to keep us reading? When the book reaches its inevitable “happy ending”, we’re cheering—and looking for the next one!That is the best possible manipulation of conflict, and one I can’t say I’ve mastered yet. I’m a conflict avoider. But I’m getting better at it. When I put my characters in a bad spot, I don’t just look for a way out. I look for a way to get them deeper into trouble. No easy way out. That’s my new motto.

Donna’s Journal

Action
As Laurie says, our 2012 RWA® Golden Heart® loop is a busy bunch so I’ve had to use all my social networking skills to keep up with them. I’ve also sent out the first of my new queries based on the GH finals, with one request for partials in return! The Golden Heart does open doors, but I don’t expect it to serve as a door stop. My work still has to speak for itself, and SFR still has its own drawbacks in the marketplace. So I’ll go forward with cautious optimism and see what happens!


Ping Pong
Thanks to JC Cassells for being our guest blogger. Sovran’s Pawn looks exciting, and I wish you all the best with it! (Love Errol Flynn, too, so that’s a sales pitch for me!)

I know you must have been through the roof to find info on H.O.P.E., Laurie! So many ideas, so few funds, though, huh? Still, we can always dream, and the website was a gold mine for your book, I’m sure.

Cheers, Donna