Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense.
This quip, variously attributed to Mark Twain or Leo Rosten, is quite true. In story, writers must pay a great deal of attention to motive and consistency. In real life, people are hilariously inexplicable.Spoiler! People are Funny.
What’s it like being a writer, you ask? Well, there’s several different aspects to it all, of course. Here’s a quick glimpse into a writer’s head. Watch your step….
Today we feature a guest post by my friend Emilia Blaser, a collector of kimono. Because there’s a lot of misinformation and false assumptions regarding kimono, Emilia is graciously allowing me to repost her convenient guide to kimono for beginners.
The Sixth Day of Kitsune — On Kimono & Japanese Clothing
Warning! Here there be spoilers, in great measure. Also, plot dissection and narrative breakdown.
At one point in Shard & Shield, a character is waiting for his treason to be discovered. He knows it is only a matter of time before he is identified, seized, tortured, and executed, but in the meantime he must go about his daily business as if nothing is wrong, as if he fears nothing, as if his entire world does not hang by a Damoclean thread.
I might have researched and prepared for writing such a state by sending off a manuscript for consideration.
Someone on the NaNoWriMo chat group mentioned a technique in which a writer writes a pep talk from his or her characters. She said she had found it helpful.
I hadn’t heard of the technique, but just the thought of it scared the snot out of me.Pep Talk from Hell.
I read that December’s shopping will determine whether 2012 is in fact the year ebooks edge out physical books, or if that will happen in 2013. Regardless, it’s coming soon.
The Rise of Ebooks
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.
On Spoilers. (I Hate Them.)
Okay, I am pretty equal-opportunity when it comes to paper books and ebooks. I have minor preferences — I like paper books for plane trips (no obligatory power-down!) and ebooks for reference material (I have no guilt highlighting and annotating a ebook, while defacing a paper book even in the name of education feels wrong) — but I feel fairly egalitarian about the whole thing.
I can flip through a paper book in a store and get my own free sample; I can’t with an ebook. Both types, however, offer (or suffer from) electronic sampling. Amazon automatically provides peeks of a book’s first 10%, while other sites allow the publisher to set a sample (my Smashwords account is set to show at least 20%, for example). Publishers (and self-publishing authors) need to consider this when laying out their books.Your Sample Should Include a Sample.
