Plot points—Luck of the draw

If you are working on a complex plot sequence like a fight, and the outcome for some minor characters is no consequence, it can be difficult to match characters against each other.  I don’t know if anyone else does this, but when I’m faced with this situation, I leave the results up to chance.

When I had a complex fight to choreograph, I had an uneven number of characters who would be fighting in pairs, while one character would sit the first round out.  I had no clue how to match the minor characters up, so I wrote all the names of the minor characters on slips of paper and put them into a hat, drawing two at a time in order to pair them up for the fight.  When it came time to write each fight sequence, I cast a die to determine who won the match.  That left me free to concentrate on planning the fights of the main characters who would eventually face off.

In another book, I had to choose who would be afflicted with a genetic defect.  Again, I chose to draw names from a hat for characters other than the two main people I already knew were going to be afflicted.  That particular draw turned out so that more women were afflicted than men, but I worked it into the plot the way I drew it, and if anyone asks, I will tell them that for that particular corner of the universe, that’s just how the luck of the draw turned out.

World building—games

As many serious sci-fi fans know, having a complex world that people can immerse themselves in can be a lot of fun.  Harry Potter fans have Quidditch, Star Trek fans have Tri-D chess, and Star Wars fans have versions of Holochess and the card game Sabacc they can play.

Fans have been known to extrapolate rules for games based on a few descriptions by the writers and then find a way to play the game.  For instance, fans of Star Wars came up with a way to play Sabacc using a Tarot card deck rather than the “electronic chits” described in the books, Tri-D chess boards now exist, and computers provide a way for Harry Potter fans to play Quiddich.

So if you are going to include a game in your universe, you should know some basic things about it:

1.  The name of the game and any specialized pieces or moves used in it.

2.  Is your game a card game, board game, other type of game, or a sport?
3.  If it’s a card game, does it require a custom deck of cards?
4.  If it’s a board game, is it a race game or strategy game?
5.  How many players can play your game?
6.  If it’s a sport, is there a specialized arena it’s played in?  If so, how is it laid out?
7.  Is betting allowed?

Once you’ve answered all these questions, I recommend that you try and play some hypothetical games, either by yourself, or more preferably with a trusted friend or group of friends if it’s a multiplayer game to see if there are any errors in your descriptions that would prevent the game from being playable.  It sounds complicated but doesn't take very long if you already have the concept for your game in mind, and with a fixed set of rules written down, you can describe game play that isn't contradicting in multiple scenes without having to have your character (and thus readers) learn the game with a detailed description that may detract from your plot.

World building—place names

A couple of years back, it seemed that much of the sci-fi I was reading had names or languages incorporating an apostrophe.  In particular, I found a continuation of a series I was reading quite tedious, as it seemed EVERY name had to have an apostrophe and/or a Y in it, many new planet names were words with “land” tacked onto the end, or they consisted of names already used that had one letter changed and were passed off as being new. 

Frankly, I was surprised that the series got approved and published, since it came on the heels of what IMO was much better work.  I thought to myself, “It’s hard to read a story when you’re disappointed that the names suck.”

In the age of the internet, there is no excuse to skimp on details like names (and constructed languages) because there are many tools out there to help you.

First get an idea about how you want your alien language to sound.  Consonant and vowel clusters are easy to pair using a word generator to give you syllables, and then run it again with some additional syllables to get larger words.  Once that’s done, you can use a fantasy name generator to come up with name ideas, and then translate some of your fantasy names into the alien language you generated.  Viola!  You have a nice selection of names to incorporate into your universe.  (I personally tend to use something descriptive of the area where I envision an evaluation team landing.)  If that’s not enough for you, you can manipulate a name to “age” it, so that it closely resembles but doesn’t exactly match the conlang words you created, or it can undergo major changes so that it doesn’t remotely resemble the original name you created, since dialectal changes are inevitable in any language over a long period of time.

So do your readers a favor by putting an hour or two of work into creating names instead of misusing an apostrophe to cobble together a couple of unpronounceable consonant clusters.

World building—Writing systems

I know many aspiring writers develop languages and/or writing systems for their worlds.

I believe that writing systems in the past have been influenced by the materials available:

The Babylonians used shaped reeds to press wedge-shaped lines into clay tablets to write.

The Egyptians used several forms of writing, fancy logograms that they carved into stone; and demotic and hieratic, which were used on papyrus sheets and were derived from their original hieroglyphic writing system.

Phoenician was originally written with straight lines, but I posit the reason it became more rounded over time is that the available writing materials evolved as well.  Phoenician is believed by some to be the origin of all writing systems used in the world today, with the exception of the Chinese scripts, and that covers a lot of writing systems.

Therefore, I decided to create some writing systems based on materials I made available to the cultures I was creating them for.  After I had the basic scripts, I tried “aging” one script so that there were several derivatives, the last of which ended up looking very little like the original, a la hieroglyphs to demotic.  I then took an angular printed script and created a plausible cursive version of it.  All this I did purely for fun, since creating ciphers has been a hobby of mine since junior high.  I’m quite fond of the angular printed script and its cursive version, because unless you see the portions of the printed script that were used to create the cursive, I think it would be impossible for the average layman to recognize them as being related, which is what I was aiming for.

Query letters

Facing a dilemma today—query letters. SFWA has a couple of samples provided by writers who have been published, which are a rather formal read. It’s what I’d expect in a business letter, & it initially made a lot of sense to me; be polite, concise, & make sure to thank the person you write to for their time.  

However, on reading a couple of agents’ blogs regarding queries, a totally informal approach is shown as having gotten the agents’ attention. I haven’t read that many blogs (yet), so don’t know if this is considered the industry standard in queries or not. If so, then the query I composed based on the samples I have already seen is completely wrong and will probably result in no reply, which will equal no interest in my work.

I am not sure what approach to use, perhaps something somewhere in the middle? I do know the lengthy synopsis I was advised to write is probably a bad idea, and I pared it down from the “required minimum of 500 words” to around 250, since in the electronic age, I know people tend to skim over or skip reading extra long posts.

If I find out which is preferred, I’ll be sure to update my blog!

Info that may be useful for aspiring writers

I wanted to share these useful sites for aspiring writers: 

www.sfwa.org.  I can’t say enough good things about this site.  It has many articles specifically for aspiring sci-fi and fantasy writers along with samples, which have been generously provided for free by published writers. 

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/.  A.C. Crispin’s Writer Beware blog entries are a must read, IMO, as it offers insight into tricks vanity publishers use to try and rope you into paying them to publish your work. 

http://www.agentquery.com/.  Agent Query has a free searchable database for literary agents and agencies.  Their listings are specific as to genre, so you can send your queries only to agents and agencies that handle your genre.  Agents and agencies pay for their listings on this site, but you still must beware of scam artists who are only in it for the money.  Any agent or agency who has no published or soon-to-be-published titles listed or who claims their client list is confidential may well be a scam artist.  It’s up to the writer to research each agent or agency to determine if they want to submit their work to them, but Agent Query narrows the search considerably. 

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com.  Publisher’s Marketplace will aid your research on whether agents and agencies are legitimate, as it has more comprehensive lists of clients and deals that each agent/agency has brokered. 

Random writing notes

Today, I was asked if I write strictly from stream of consciousness and then edit or if I edit as I go along. Since I began by writing down daydreams, I tend to have a story idea and then daydream it as I'm writing and describe what I see in the daydream. I go back and edit and revise after the fact, since I have a tendency to repeat details as I'm worried I will leave them out, and I don't want to bog a story down with repetition, so editing is a very necessary and often lengthy process for me.

I ask my trusted preview readers to honestly critique my work and let me know if they think something about a story I've written really sucks, and I will change it if it won't adversely affect the story I'm telling--sorry dear readers, but in order for a story to feel real sometimes beloved characters have to leave or die. Some suggestions for changes have resulted in the creation of new characters who played crucial parts in sequels. I'm referring to my first book series (Fallen Angels, Testimony Of The Gods, Thirdbreed, Motherworld, and Biomech), which unfortunately is long lost due to computer crashes. I can re-create them all, but I just don't have the time right now.

I don't even have time now to expand a short story into a book as requested by my sweetie, though given the current trend in popular stories I probably should expand upon and finish The Shaman's Daughters and in addition finish the outline and start writing Queen Of Vampires (working title). But, there's that whole earning money to put food on the table and a roof over the head that interferes with my writing these books. First, I need to see if I can get an audience for at least a trilogy based on the universe I've created (five to seven more books are nagging at me that they want to take place in this universe as well), as Battle Royale is finished, the sequel's rough draft is finished, and I'm currently stalled halfway through the rough draft for the conclusion to that series since I'm concentrating on seeing about getting Battle published. It's a lot of work looking into being published, but I find it to be interesting work.

I've never blogged before

I have finished another book and am getting connected online in hopes of getting it published.  I know you have to have an online presence, and I'm starting with a blog.

Follow me on Twitter @JulietSem and find me on Facebook, too! 

The questions I get asked the most are: 

Why did you start writing? 
Boredom.  My mother wouldn't let me skip grades, so rather than being challenged academically, I was bored much of the time until I discovered daydreaming in junior high.  I found some of the daydreams quite amusing, and when I shared one with a friend, she asked me to write it up as a story, and I've been writing ever since. 

Where do you get story ideas from? 
I like to daydream, and think about "what if" scenarios quite a lot.  In addition, I am a vivid dreamer.  The more interesting ones I try and develop into stories.