Also, don’t forget that today is the last day to enter to win Carolyn Jewel’s INDISCREET. Her interview (and those amazing pictures of a certain vampire) will always be up, but the opportunity to win the free book won’t.
It’s also the last day to win a copy of DEMON FORGED by commenting on my interview at Carolyn’s blog.
If you don’t get it, lurk. Either you’ll get it eventually, or you’ll realize it isn’t for you.
…and setting a scene, but more about me being a fangirl.
Hi! This is the opening page from SECRET SIX #12 (Gail Simone, writer; Nicola Scott, penciller, image totally stolen from The Source, DC’s blog). Meet Wonder Woman’s legs and the Secret Six:
When it comes to showing, comics have an enormous advantage over prose. We get a huge amount of information in one glance, even if we don’t know who the players are or their histories. We know what they look like, their expressions, their positions relative to one another.
Tangent: If you are wondering why in the world I’m talking about this (aside from hearting this comic book series like crazy)?: I was judging writing contest entries today, and one thing I saw over and over again was the dreaded infodump. And in other entries, not giving enough information. Now, I’m guilty of both myself — and sometimes, there’s just no getting around it, and the only thing you can do is try to make the presentation of the information as entertaining and as organic to the story as possible. And if you withhold the info, you just have to make sure that it doesn’t make your reader incapable of enjoying and/or understanding the story until the information is revealed.
But here’s the thing: It’s okay if you don’t have everything on the front page, as long as you give your reader enough. And that enough often comes from dropping in little details that give not just a visual description, but also show us something about character and action.
Let’s look at the picture. Chances are, you know who Wonder Woman is, and you recognize her boots, her lasso, and her starry pants. You can put a name to her, and as soon as you do, you probably don’t need to describe the boots, the lasso, and the starry pants. But it’s also probable that you don’t know who the other people are. But here is what you do know, right away:
Wonder Woman is facing six people. All but one of them are in their pajamas. Whatever happened last issue, happened quickly.
They’ve been fighting. Bloody noses, bloody stomachs. And if you look closely at the dark-haired woman’s tank top, you can see that the rip patterns match the claws in the hand of the blond man next to her, and it probably isn’t a stretch to assume that her blades ripped his shirt. You can’t know this for sure, but it’s a good guess. And, whatever they were fighting about, they’ve stopped — because a bigger threat has just showed up. And you know she’s a bigger threat because of their expressions.
Four of them actually look a little worried by Wonder Woman’s appearance. One of them is smiling and clearly a freak, and the other is defiant.
And from two dialogue bubbles, you know:
That Artemis has been killed (*if this freaks you out because you love Artemis, ask me for spoilers in the comments)
That the woman who answered Wonder Woman has old-fashioned speech patterns to match her hair, is either very strong or very stupid if she thinks that she can hold out against WW, and that — whatever fight had been taking place between them — she believes that the others will listen to her.
Also, that Nicola Scott’s pencils rock some serious abdominals.
Now, when you turn the page, you know enough that you’re probably not going to be completely lost. This is a story you can follow, even if you have no idea what a) happened in the previous issue, and b) who the hell these people are.
And it’s all because of details that, even if written in prose, can show us a lot about these characters, show what they’ve been doing, and set up the tension in a scene. In prose, it’s important to choose details that can do double duty — not only can we describe what characters are wearing, for instance, but we can use that choice to show us a little about the action and character, too (whose clothes are ripped? who isn’t wearing PJs?). So give a picture, first, of both setting and character. Names and the details of their backgrounds can come later.
ETA: Thanks to The Book Smugglers for the shout out on their BBAW post. And this ended up being a wonderfully appropriate post to thank them on. *g*
So, working on steampunk. I realize there’s a subplot that I need to push forward in the storyline. In fact, I need to start the book with it. So I run back a couple of chapters (something I don’t normally do; I’m usually very linear. But this is for a proposal, so I Make Exceptions) and begin some really bad writing that has me stymied and cursing for several days. It goes:
The device had killed the captain.
TA DA! If you’ve followed these instructions, you have a crappy scene!
Sigh. If the progression of your setting description, scene movement, and chronology make your scene look like this
it might seem exciting, but really you’re just going to be stuck in line for hours, waiting to get on and have great writerly fun, and you’ll probably make your readers sick.
The fix? In this case, I used a similar hook line, but instead of it already happening, it starts with the threat of it happening. That easily (hahaha!) the setting description and action can all move forward instead of jumping around. And, that easily, I can start writing and moving forward again, too.
So today is the release date for Must Love Hellhounds, an anthology featuring authors that no one has heard of before — like Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Nalini Singh — and me. (I bet they all cried for joy when they heard I was participating in it, too. Their reaction on the phone with their agents was probably all “Who… whoooooooooo! Meljean!” Whoo hoo!)
And my awesomeness knows no bounds, really. While I was heading over to Amazon to link to the Hellhounds anthology, I saw two reviews up. So — DAMN MY EYES! — I read them. And one pointed out that an important plot point in my novella couldn’t have happened … because South Carolina doesn’t require front license plates on their cars.
Oops. 
The most crazy and frustrating thing about research: You can only look up what you know that you don’t know. I think it was Lydia Joyce who once mentioned that she’d written about one of her characters putting something on a nightstand in her Victorian romance…only to find out afterward that they didn’t use nightstands then. They are just little items that never occur to you to verify when you’re writing, especially if they are things that you take for granted…like front license plates, which are mandatory in every state that you’ve lived in.
Most of the time, all you can do is accept it and move on (or make adjustments with a second printing). It’s a mistake, you own up to it, you do better next time. Unless, of course, you are a paranormal writer. Then you can say: In the Guardian universe, South Carolina does require front license plates. *g*
…and I guess this means my vacation is over. I won’t be posting every day, but probably several times a week (and I will be posting every Friday at Odd Shots.)
In May’s Romantic Times, I was listed as being a part of the SHIFTER anthology. Nope 
Only FIRST BLOOD in 2008.
Yesterday was one of those days when, although you work a lot, you don’t feel like you’ve gotten much done. I did take a couple of hours to catch up on a few TV shows, which was nice (except for the episode of CSI that I quit halfway through because I was bored.)
Part of that feeling comes from not having written any words (or at least, words that will stick.) I’m in the process of writing both the next Guardian novel proposal and the Iron Seas proposal (the steampunk pirates series). The steampunk is further along, just because I’ve been picking at it in bits and pieces for a long time now, but I’m focusing on the next Guardian one first. I know where it will start, how the relationship opens, where I want it to go … but I hate the hero with a burning passion at this moment.
It’s a good thing, actually — over the course of the story, I’m going to make him someone I can respect as a hero, and so I know he’ll have to work his ass off to convince me he’s worth it (not to mention the heroine.) The extra good thing is: the reason I hate him is also what will make his character worth writing; he’s got a long way to go, but I really, really want to get him there.
But that hate makes me struggle a bit, because a part of me just wants to write a car dropping on his head or an arrow going through his eye, instead of moving forward as I need to. And I’ve never started a hero off in such a bad place, so it’s new and I’m tiptoeing just a tiny bit as I go in. It changes the relationship dynamic (what I’m used to writing) so much that it’s a little intimidating (but at the same time, something I’m looking forward to, because I’d hate to feel like I was in a rut.)
Anyway.
Thanks to the power of random.org, we have a winner for the Kate Daniels series and an ugly tote bag from Powell’s bookstore!
#23 – …is Leslie who already has the books. So…
#8 … was my comment.
#18 – Maija P! w00t!
But don’t go away! I’m giving away another book, namely BEYOND HEAVING BOSOMS, by the Smart Bitches. This copy is signed by Candy Tan. And you’ll get a Powell’s tote, too.
Just leave a comment telling us what you’re reading now or next, and you’ll be entered to win. I’ll close the contest … sometime soon. Sunday seems like a good day.
I had intended to read THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH and CLOCKWORK HEART this week, but I’m going to start working on Dan Simmons’s THE TERROR instead, because I can kind of call it research.
Okay, so 99% of you already know this … but Nalini is having an awesome giveaway on her blog leading up to the release of ANGELS’ BLOOD, and the e-novella, ANGELS’ PAWN. (I read them both earlier this year. They are wonderful.) There is a new giveaway every day.
There’s a widget embedded in this post (I know it never shows up in my Google Reader, so just in case you are wondering what I’m talking about when I say…)
And you can win lots of great stuff by spreading the word with this:
I’m not sure which one of us is going to win. Or even which of us is the monster and which is WW.
Also, I can’t wait for this movie.
…and, back to work.
