2015 – Page 9 – Crane Hana Books

January 7, 2015 by Filigree

Je suis Charlie! (harsh language)

That’s ‘I am Charlie!’ in French, if readers have been under a rock the last twenty-four hours. Earlier today in Paris, three masked gunmen brandishing AK-47s and shouting “Allahu Akbar” stormed the offices of the satirical* newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They murdered twelve people – the editor, cartoonists, journalists, and police officers – before fleeing in two stolen automobiles. Police…

Aside 3 comments

I tend to write secondary-world science fiction and fantasy. That means it’s probably a made-up world and culture that may have nothing to do with our Earth. Often, ‘true humans’ like us aren’t even in the cast of characters.

I have not written YA, NA or adult urban fantasy set in contemporary locales (though I love some of the genre), or paranormal romance drawn from the new ‘conventions’ of vampires, angels/demons, Fey Folk, or werewolves. There’s also a whole sub-genre of erotic fiction dealing with shapeshifters that I approach judiciously, because many of those writers deal in the same familiar contemporary vein.

I’ve stopped seeking out beta readers who’ve only read those genres. Because I can explain something only a certain number of times before losing my cool:

∞

January 7, 2015 by Filigree 2 comments

Paths to Publishing – Helena Fairfax

Over on the Snarkology Blog today, Helena Fairfax talks candidly about her journey as a published author: her first wistful dreams about escaping office work to write, her early contest win, the dreaded ‘it’s good but not right for us’ publisher letter, and her return to writing in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy and…

January 6, 2015 by Filigree

when writers defend iffy publishers

Recently on an online writers’ forum, a pulp writer I know offered the following snarky-but-sadly-accurate list. It’s distilled from his years of reading the typical ways authors defend their substandard, clueless, or frankly predatory publishers. Upon talking to veteran authors, editors, and agents, I realized we’d all seen these excuses. (Our usual responses in parentheses.)…

January 5, 2015 by Filigree

Try, but not too hard

And somehow, I’ve ended up with a third marketing post. But this one might be useful to a few people, so bear with me. Wu Wei is the Chinese term for ‘effortless action’, the attainment of a purely natural way of being. It is often physically represented by a loose, graceful circle: In the NYTimes, John…

January 4, 2015 by Filigree 4 comments

the self-promotion mantra (harsh language)

So, how many of you have seen or heard an author give a variation of this statement? “Oh, woe is me, even legitimate publishers are not promoting and marketing their authors anymore. Writers have to do all the selling!’ I would say those are weasel words, but I like ferrets. So let’s call those statements…

January 2, 2015 by Filigree

Paths to Publishing – Lynn Crain

Over on the Snarkology blog, we have the first guest post in the month-long ‘Paths to Publishing’ series, from author Lynn Crain. She has a lucid and compelling essay about the importance of a great opening hook. For readers who might not know the term, the ‘hook’ is either the opening line(s), or a snappy…

January 1, 2015 by Filigree

Moro’s Price up for an award!

There’s an old saying: I wouldn’t join any club that would have me. I’m considering all sides of that argument, right now, for reasons I’ll clarify in this post. A very kind and enthusiastic reviewer just nominated my M/M erotic romance space opera Moro’s Price for the 17th Annual Preditors & Editors ™ Readers’ Poll.…