And yes, that means I’m going to blog regularly over there as well (or I hope so, anyway). In fact, check back there today for a few thoughts on Seth Godin’s recent interview on Q.

Thanks again to those of you who have been following, and be sure to check my other site for updates!

- Lisa

I think the editing has been going well, for the most part, lately. My characters are fuller, my plot stronger. But I don’t know if I will ever be totally satisfied.I’m not sure if I can close the gap between what’s in my head and what’s on the page, and ultimately bring the story to life in readers’ minds.

My friend, Lauren, who blogs over at Niftynotcool.com, posted a quote on this gap on Facebook. I think it describes how I feel very well, although I wonder if the gap will ever close.

I recently finished The Forest Horses, by Saskatchewan author Byrna Barclay. Barclay is a well-established author, and tends to mention my neighbourhood (Livelong, Saskatchewan), which is part of the attraction for me. But she is also a tremendous writer.

The Forest Horses was published in 2010. For some reason, it didn’t receive a lot of media attention, which is a shame. I can’t quite figure out why it was overlooked, especially since it won the John V. Hicks Award before it was published. However, it is well worth a read.

Signe is a Canadian woman of Russian-Swedish heritage, who travels to Russia looking to reconnect with her family history and find a better way to deal with her grief. Signe’s story is a little quiet and subtle. One of the few reviews I found on this book described this narrative as fractured and weaker than the historical narrative, but I don’t agree. I thought it tied in well to the historical narrative, and Signe’s reflection and quiet, complex grief added dimension to the story.

Lena, Signe’s Swedish mother, is the other main narrator of this book. Lena is a horse-crazy young woman (which I related with very well), growing up in rural Gotland, Sweden. Lena is kidnapped by Pytor, a Russian horse thief, and transported, along with her Gotland Russ (forest ponies) to Leningrad. Leningrad is under siege from the Germans, and most of Europe is caught up in World War Two.

I think there are several things that Barclay does well. First of all, she must have done an incredible amount of research on Gotland, Stalin’s Russia, the siege of Leningrad, and even modern Russia. She incorporates this research so seamlessly that I felt like I was there, seeing, smelling, feeling, hearing everything the characters did.

While this novel is quite epic, Barclay grounds it by giving us such strong characters. Her character’s voices all felt authentic and rich and very different from each other. I really cared about the characters, and found myself worrying about their safety as they struggled to survive in Leningrad.

A slight spoiler coming up here. There was one non-human death, late in the book, that made my cry my little eyes out. Afterwards I asked myself why I was so upset over this one death, when there were so much hardship in this book. I guess that it’s partly because I’m an animal lover, but I think this last death it also symbolized all the other sacrifices and human tragedies.

Stalin once said something along the lines of “the death of one man is a tragedy, but the death of millions is a statistic.” Barclay’s novel reminds us of the human stories behind those statistics, and how these stories affect newer generations.

You can order The Forest Horses on Amazon or from Coteau, Barclay’s publisher.

Malcolm Azania, also known as Minister Faust, was one of the keynotes. Azania is a science fiction writer (among other things) who has published at least two novels with traditional publishers, such as Random House. Four months ago, he did some research and decided he could make way more money by going indie. He is launching his newest novel, The Alchemists of Kush, independently June 15th. The story sounds compelling – it centers around two Sudanese boys who have immigrated to Edmonton. I think I’ll borrow my mom’s E-reader to check this one out.

Azania didn’t quite convince me that I should go indie for my novel. I know some people make more money, but I could also lose money. Azania has also established credibility in his genre, partially by publishing two other novels traditionally. However, I did pick up some cool ideas that I think I’ll use:

• Book trailers, just like movie trailers. If you’re a little tech savvy, or have a savvy friend, you can do it too!  Check out the trailer for The Alchemists of Kush.
• Have some short stories, poems, or other work that has been previously published? Or maybe you have a longer work that is now out of print, and which you now have the rights for. You can publish it electronically on Smashwords and Amazon. I’m going to try peddling some poetry and short fiction online and see how it goes. Stay tuned.
• Why not create downloadable wallpaper for your characters just prior to your book launch (six months or so)? That’s what Azania did.
• Focus on pleasing your readers, not the reviewers. Good idea!

If you want to learn more about indie publishing, Azania suggested checking out J A Konrath’s blog.

What do you think? Would you self-publish your novel? If so, how would you go about it? And what can writers going the “traditional” route take away from the indie writers?

What do you think? Do you have a strong preference for one or the other?

You can listen to the interview on CKUA’s Bookmark page.

This proves a few things that many of us already knew. But it’s still worth reviewing.

Bad reviews suck

If I am lucky enough to actually get published, I do not look forward to bad reviews. I think I have a tough skin when it comes to most of my writing. I try to incorporate feedback when I’m writing articles for clients. I will polish it until they’re happy.

But a book is different. It’s way more personal. And once it’s published, there’s no more editing. It’s practically set in stone.

Published writers must adopt some sort of mantra, like “I can’t please everyone,” Or “at least I’m published.” Or maybe they just stick their heads in the sand and only read the good reviews.

Really, though, everyone gets bad reviews sometimes. Or at least that’s what I would tell myself.

There’s no point in responding to bad reviews

You’ll just look like a jerk. Especially since a lot (most?) reviewers don’t even get paid. And it’ll be even worse if you drop an f-bomb.

So don’t bother. Turn off your computer, put on a Tom Waits record and drink a bottle of vodka instead.

Thanks to social media, any idiot can be famous for a micro-moment

As long as you’re willing to do something outrageous, rude, and somewhat funny, you can become a Twitter celeb. But not for very long. And if you piss people off, it won’t help you out.

But hey, I haven’t even had my book published yet, so what do I know? What do you all think? Have you had bad reviews on your books/art shows/plays? Or have you given a bad review and paid the price?

While I ski, I think about my novel. Except for when I’m going down a hill, because going downhill on cross country skis requires my full concentration. I’ve learned this the hard way (“hard way” being the spruce trees I almost hit).

Specifically, I think a lot about my characters. What are they really like? What are their strengths and how are they flawed? What kind of food do they eat? How do they really feel about each other? What secrets do they keep from each other and why? What makes them tolerate situations that many of us consider intolerable? How can I make them more human, more real?

I have a friend, JQ, who maintains a fibre arts blog. She introduced me to the concept of negative space in art. Basically, negative space is the space that surrounds a structure. For example, the pieces of sky that you see between the branches of a poplar tree. Now, whenever I ski, I find myself studying the sky between the trees, or the snow between the scrubby bush in marshy areas. Betty Edwards wrote a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. In it, she describes negative space as the silhouette Bugs Bunny leaves in the door after he runs through it. The door is the negative space.

Negative space relates to character development, too. You can think of it as everything surrounding your characters. So this includes other characters (and what they say and don’t say about each other), the character’s home, her clothes, what she eats,what she surrounds herself with, her history, etc…

I also think of negative space as what we are left with when someone we love dies. The actual person is gone, but their stuff is left behind, along with our memories of them. When my novel begins Darby, my main character, has lost her mom and her aunt. All she has left is the stuff that surrounded them.

Negative space also apparently crosses over to music (according to Wikipedia). It’s described as the brief silence between each note.

So there you have it. More cross-over between the arts. Thanks JQ for introducing me to this idea. As for my other readers, I would recommend checking out JQ’s blog - she talks about how she creates tapestries and rugs, and has lots of cool pictures documenting the process.

Negative space - the sky between the tree branches

Snow between the bushes - more negative space!

Crocus Hill - nice spot to stop to take in the view while skiing.

My border collie, Rufus. A 7 km ski is the only way to wear this pup out.

The Internet only goes so far, especially since I’m sure the RCMP’s procedures have changed in the last nine years. Fortunately, I know a former RCMP officer who is willing to indulge me. She’s been very helpful in figuring out what’s realistic and what isn’t.

(Interesting note – she says that in her experience, many people will end up confessing their crimes directly to the police. They might be bragging, or they might not mean to tell the whole story, but often it all comes out. For some reason, this surprised me).

I also needed to see what the provincial court in Lloyd looked like, so I took a trip last week. Here were my impressions:

• T-bar ceiling, industrial grey carpet with flecks of blue, purple and pink in it.
• 32 plastic chairs in the court room. Four rows of eight on each side.
• The clerk’s desk, just below the judge’s desk, reminded me of my cubicle at my old job. Computer, office supplies (whiteout, pens, post-its) everywhere. She had a shelving unit built on to her desk.
• Picture of the queen directly behind the judge, who sat at a raised desk.
• Canadian and Saskatchewan flags in the courtroom, flanking the judge’s desk.
• The prosecutor and an RCMP officer sat on the right. They had two large tables, that were covered in file folders (case files for the defendants). They were organizing them just prior to court starting.
• The RCMP officer read the charges in each file. She also kept track of court dates as they were set and made sure there were no scheduling conflicts for RCMP that had to testify.
• The judge looked a little bored sometimes – picked at his teeth or turned around to stare at the Queen (I had to keep myself from giggling). However, he really pushed for the young offenders to get a lawyer, which I appreciated.

The morning I watched wasn’t the most exciting, to be honest. The judge handed out a few fines and issued a quite a few warrants for people who didn’t show up. Lots of moving or setting trial dates. There were a few people in custody that had been brought up from Saskatoon. They briefly appeared in this glass, closed-off section, then were escorted back to the cells. One woman clinked while she walked, so I assumed she had restraints around her legs – flight risk?

But this was really what I needed to see. How the system works, in all its mundane glory. I’m a Law and Order junkie, and even the arraignments tend to be a bit dramatic on t.v. I’m sure the courthouse in Lloyd can be dramatic at times, but it was good to see a regular morning where everyone was being civil and reasonable.

There were little moments, though, where I got a bit of a sense of the struggles some people face. The judge would always ask people if they had anything to say before he gave them a fine or probation, and often people would explain how they ended up committing the crime. Others offered no explanation, simply pleading guilty. One guy explained that he had been suffering from depression. He didn’t use it as an excuse, he was simply open about it. It made me think about how some of us get off track in life.

I thought this was a really cool form of character development. It works especially well for my main character, Darby, because she’s a musician. So I spent a little while putting together a playlist for Darby – check it out on Grooveshark.

I liked the idea so much that I’ve actually written the music into chapter three of my novel. Darby puts together this playlist shortly after finding her murdered aunt. She wants something that reflects her grief and confusion. She’s a little like Alice in Wonderland – her world has shifted, and nothing will ever be the same.

So here is Darby’s playlist, and the reason why I picked each song:

We’re All Mad Here (Tom Waits)

Written for a play about Lewis Carrol and Alice. Plus it’s a weird, dark song.

Table Top Joe (Tom Waits)

See above. And really, you can never have enough Tom Waits on your play list.

Guided By Wire (Neko Case)

The lyrics mention “voices singing my life back to me.” Voices that are far from sanity. Darby feels like she’s losing her mind a little, and the things that seemed familiar and safe may be dangerous.

South Tacoma Way (Neko Case)

Not only does Darby love Neko, she relates to the grief expressed in this song.

Mack the Knife (the Louis Armstrong version)

Darby is a bit of a Louis Armstrong fan. Plus, she’ll appreciate the contrast between the dark lyrics and the upbeat music.

Brian Wilson (Bare Naked Ladies)

Darby loves the energy in the music, and she loves the lyrics.

Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)

Darby is a little obsessed (or maybe haunted?) by trains – nightmares, images bubbling up from her subconscious. It only makes sense that she would choose this song from the Man in Black’s discography.

Long Black Veil (Johnny Cash)

This song is just plain depressing. Plus, it’s about the death of an innocent man, which I thought paralleled the death of Darby’s Aunt Bea.

Helpless (Neil Young, with Joni Mitchell and The Band)

You need only look at the title of the song. I thought Darby would also appreciate Neil’s reflection on a childhood spent at the lake.

Horse With No Name (Neil Young)

Darby is also obsessed with horses. There is a ton of horse imagery in the novel. Horses, horses, horses.

River (Joni Mitchell)

Joni sings about breaking the heart of a perfectly good man. Darby knows how she feels – she is about to do the same to her boyfriend, Luke.
The Weight (The Band)

Darby cannot resist the leather voice of Levon Helm, or the strange dark lyrics of Robbie Robertson.

Under Pressure (Queen and David Bowie)

Because everybody born in the ’80s loves Queen. That’s just the way it is

Sweet Ones (Sarah Slean)

A pretty, disturbing song about a woman being exploited. At least that’s my interpretation.

Eliot (Sarah Slean)

I have no idea what this song is about, but I think Darby would appreciate the lines “It’s sometimes wise to just shut your eyes.”

Wayne (Chantal Kreviazuk)

I can see Darby belting this one out while driving down dusty gravel roads.

When most people think of editing, they probably think of proofreading, or maybe cutting out clumsy phrases. Others might picture more substantive edits, changing the structure of things. This is how I used to think of editing, and there is still some of this. But most of what I’m doing right now is immersing myself into my main character’s world as I add more meat to the story.

If you were to read through my manuscript right now, you would probably notice that as the story goes on, it becomes more engaging and the characters more realistic. This is largely because as I wrote and rewrote each chapter, I discovered more about the characters. It’s kind of like chipping away at the dirt and rock covering up a fossil. The story and characters are already there – I’m uncovering them so we can see them more clearly.

So now my task is to add more detail, background, texture to the earlier chapters. I’m also working connect more imagery, or arcs, that are already present in the manuscript (i.e. imagery around horses, food, the natural world, etc..).  A lot of this imagery was stuff I wrote without being conscious of it. Now I’m trying to strengthen the connections.

I write articles, web content, communications plans, etc… for a living, and I can crank it out even if I’m not feeling very inspired – I just need to make myself some green tea and remind myself that I don’t get paid until I produce. But this novel is different. I usually need to be in a dark mood to write anything worthwhile, and I’m not usually in a dark mood.

This week I decided I had two choices. I could either drink a lot of rye while I’m editing, as rye will bring me to the dark side eventually. But not too cool if a client phones me and I’m slurring my words. Plus the writing would probably be hit and miss. And I suppose there’s always the chance that I’ll develop a pesky addiction.

So I opted for option number two – listen to “Deep Red Bells” by Neko Case over and over while I write. Makes me cry, but doesn’t make me drunk.

It also:

• was released in 2002, which is the year my story is set,
• was inspired by the victims of the Green River Killer,
• is exactly the kind of music Darby (my protagonist) digs.

Can’t beat a sad song, I guess.