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Alpha Males & Fiction

English: Samson, alpha male (leader) gorilla i...
Samson, alpha male gorilla in Givskud Zoo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had an interesting Twitter conversation a while back when World Weaver Press tweeted a link to an article about hot alpha males (“dangerous,” “possessive,” “dominating,” etc.) in paranormal romance. Being a total behavior nerd, I replied that most of these “alpha males” were actually displaying lower-ranking behavior – real alphas don’t posture, act aggressive or defensive, etc. — and we chatted briefly about the implications for fiction and PNR in particular.

Don’t confuse the “alpha male” and the “bad boy.” They’re different things. It’s a common myth, the posturing alpha male, but it’s a myth. Simply put, if you’ve got it, you don’t have to flaunt it. Only those worried about their position waste time, energy, and other resources in reminding others of their position.

ClickStats, my clicker-training data-keeping app

Writing emotions. No, not ABOUT emotions.

The problem with writing is that it’s wholly subjective. Qualitative. No hard data.

ClickStats, my clicker-training data-keeping app
ClickStats, my clicker-training data-keeping app

Where we can do quantitative analysis, we can make reasonable judgments even when our emotions aren’t in alignment. “I felt great about this today, but we actually had only a 70% success rate.” Or, “Oh, man, today has been a total downer and I hated this session, but we nailed it with a 90% success ratio.”

That’s very nice for behavior analysis and free throws. Not so useful with writing.

Fantasy, and Why We Need It

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(Photo credit: Hani Amir)

Today I intend to justify fantasy as a genre. Not that it needs justified, no more than any other genre, but I’m going to anyway.

But first, I’m going to tell you a story.

Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out

Book release: Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out!

Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out
Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out: Training Crazy Dogs from Over the Top to Under Control, a clicker training book for reactive, fearful, aggressive dogs

Today’s the day: Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out: Training Crazy Dogs from Over-the-Top to Under Control has hit the shelves!

Laevatein & McCoy

Announcement: a new book is coming soon

Laevatein & McCoy
Laevatein the Doberman and McCoy the skeleton

So you knew I was working on bringing Kitsune-Mochi to you, right? Did you know I’m also working on a non-fiction book?

My day job is in behavior, animal behavior specifically (though I’m also certified in TAGteach), and I’m working on a book in that field.

On Spoilers. (I Hate Them.)

A 2011 psychology experiment indicates that spoilers don’t ruin a story, but rather enhance it.

With all respect, in this regard psychology has its headlight plugged firmly into its tail-lamp. And that’s coming from someone who makes her day job in psychology and behavior, so you know I feel pretty strongly about this.

Kitsune-Tsuki

How Operant Conditioning Sold My Pitch

Kitsune-TsukiRepublished from original post at CaninesInAction.com

I spent last weekend immersed wholly in words. I don’t talk about it much, but I also write fiction, and I’ve decided lately to put more effort into that area. So two things happened last week — my novella Kitsune-Tsuki came out on ebook, and I attended a writers’ conference.

I hadn’t been planning to pitch to any of the agents at the conference — I didn’t feel my newer projects were wholly ready — but a new friend listened to my practice pitch and then literally led me to the agent board and signed me up for a pitch. Now it was on.