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All posts in category Musings

Musings: Historicals

Every spring, daffodils bloom in a corner of my yard near where a house used to be. Once in a while a chunk of the old foundation or a piece of netting from a screen door turns up beside those flowers, but the house was torn down thirty years ago, and it was unlived-in for another twenty-plus years before that. And every spring, I look at those flowers and wonder about the housewife who probably planted them.

For me, writing and reading novels with historical settings has a lot to do with those daffodils, and with all those tiny relics of the past. When I see those flowers, I feel a connection to this unknown woman who planted them. They are a legacy she left behind, one which bridges the gap between times to remind me of a common human thread. That’s what history and archaeology are all about, linking us with our brethren from long ago, reminding us of our deep human connections. And it goes further than that, I believe. When we open ourselves to this true purpose of studying history, we gain a deeper appreciation not just for our connection to peoples of the past, but to other people in our modern world, and gain a deeper sense of our own potential and possibilities.

Historical novels are a part of that. They may be fictional, but they are, when well-written, built on the firm foundations of the past. Studying history is sometimes mired in dates and analysis. Historical novels are the daffodils. They are a way to look back and see the simple wants and needs of men and women like you and me, to appreciate the things that don’t make it into the history books. They may not be vital to understanding history, but they are a means of connecting to humanity.

1 Comment
by superwench83 on March 13, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by superwench83 on March 13, 2012

http://katie-lovett.com/2012/03/13/musings-historicals/

Musings: Accepting Your Unique Writing Process

Some writers work fast. Some writers work slow. Very slow. There’s a lot of pressure in the writing/publishing world to write on at least a book a year pace. There’s pressure from readers, too, as we can see from the way some readers bemoan the length of time they have to wait for George R.R. Martin’s books, for example.

And we unpublished authors don’t escape the pressure, either, as we watch writers we’ve known for years sign book deals and rack up adoring fans. We scramble to squeeze more writing hours into our days, but find ourselves spending less time with the people we love. We skip steps in our writing process, thinking they’re slowing us down, but end up with an inferior product. We cut back on novel reading to give ourselves more time to write, but find ourselves out of touch with the market and uninspired to create our own magic.

Recently, I’ve come to accept the way I work. No two writers work alike, and you have to be true to your own process. When discussing voice and style, we always emphasize the importance of finding your own, a voice and style that is all yours and not an imitation of someone else’s. Why can’t we do that with the writing process? Trying to be more efficient, trying to make your process better, is one thing. Trying to throw out everything that helps you write well just because it’s not “fast enough” is something else.

Chances are that the way you write reflects your personal learning style. I first discovered learning styles while doing research on how to tailor lessons for my kids (who I homeschool), and it completely altered the way I look at myself and how I work. Using myself as an example: I tend to write slow because the story doesn’t reveal itself to me all at once. Writing is very much a layering process for me; I get my ideas on paper, then see connections between them, get those on paper, and see even more connections. It can be very frustrating to realize something that should have been obvious from the beginning. Especially because it triples the amount of time and work I have to do.

But when I learned about the visual-spatial learning style, it suddenly made sense. Unlike auditory-sequential learners, visual-spatial learners don’t think, well, sequentially. Auditory-sequential learners can take an idea or fact and progress easily onto the next logical step. Visual-spatial learners tend to need a bunch of ideas or facts that they can “spread out” in their minds before they can make connections between them.

I have a theory that many slow writers are visual-spatial learners. I’m sure quite a few faster writers have visual-spatial tendencies, too, but that’s not the point. The point is, our writing process is what it is because it’s hard-wired into our brains. Your writing process stems from a vital aspect of what makes you you. For example, if you were an auditory-sequential rather than a visual-spatial (or vice-versa), you wouldn’t be writing this exact story. Your learning process itself would change the way your work unfolds.

So if you write every day and are dedicated to your craft, but still seem to move at a snail’s pace, don’t beat yourself up–this is what I’ve learned. Embrace your process, don’t fight it. For me, my work has gotten better for recognizing it.

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by superwench83 on February 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Musings, Writing

Posted by superwench83 on February 3, 2012

http://katie-lovett.com/2012/02/03/musings-accepting-your-unique-writing-process/

Musings: Writing Through Tragedy

Writing through tragedy…I’ve tried to write this post a dozen times. It’s a hard process to write about because it’s a hard thing to do. It’s been said before that writing through personal tragedy can be theraputic, even if you can’t use these pieces for publication. And agents caution against sending them your tragically-inspired but unmarketable manuscripts. I can’t really add anything new to that. What I can offer is my own testimony–one writer’s account of writing through tragedy.

The topic has been on my mind lately because today, my daughter (who was stillborn) would have been one year old. We knew about her severe genetic condition prior to her birth, which in some ways made it easier when the time came, but it also made it a long, drawn-out ordeal. I can’t offer any sage wisdom, only offer up the things I learned along the way. And yes, I found writing theraputic. As writers, it is through the written word that we explore concepts, situations, angles on the world. I think that’s why writing through tragedy has such value for us. I wrote in my journal, I worked on my wip…And any tragedy is going to stir up raw, passionate emotions–the stuff of good fiction. It opens your eyes to deep things you don’t always think about, makes you think of how fragile the world really is. Even if what you’re writing is a different situation than what you’re going through, those dramatic thoughts and feelings can be useful in adding dimension to a book.

In whatever form it takes, I think the ultimate professional benefit of writing through tragedy is to connect with people, even help them, somehow. Plugging raw emotion and contemplative prose into your wip builds a sense of camraderie between reader and writer, even if indirectly. But as I said, writing was theraputic for me as well. In a tragedy, it seems like there’s this almost universal desire to do something, to help somehow, to contribute in some way–especially when the tragedy revolves around your own child. And one way writing was theraputic for me: I wrote my daughter a story. In that terrible time, there wasn’t a lot I had control over, and even though her genetic condition was no fault of my own, a parent always feels like it’s her fault when something is wrong with her children. Writing this story for her was the one thing I knew I could do right. And that feeling of being in control of something helped enormously.

So no, I haven’t reinvented the wheel with this post, but sometimes examples of experiences carry more weight than rote instruction and advice. And as novelists and fiction readers, we’re always on the lookout for a story to connect to in some way. This is mine.

2 Comments
by superwench83 on January 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Musings, Writing

Posted by superwench83 on January 4, 2012

http://katie-lovett.com/2012/01/04/musings-writing-through-tragedy/

Musings

Author Websites

It’s done.

Or is it? I’ve had a lot to think about in redesigning my site, spent several months researching what I wanted and how I wanted to do it, and I’ve come to realize that Dan Gillmor is right when he says in Mediactive, “You’ll never be finished…Your home base will always be a work in progress because you are a work in progress.” It’s a concept that certainly applies to authors who are designing web homes, but it overflows into our work* as well, and it also applies to readers, in a sense**. This concept of being works-in-progress has broad significance.

But my question for today is, what is it to build a home base–an author website–that reflects oure evolving personas? And since an author’s primary motive in having a website is to build a following of people who will buy her books (in the future, in my case!), we must next ask how we can be true to these personas while attracting readers to our books from our sites. The key, I think, is honesty–in our goals, in our tone, in our committments. And the ability to decide for oursieves what we should or shouldn’t include on our sites. If we decide to blog twice a week because it’s standard advice, we’re not being honest, are we? Our false enthusiasm, our scouring for something–anything–to write about, trying to fit into the author mold…this is something I and many others have done before. It is honesty in a sense; it is an exploration of the images we want to project. But as we grow, we should strive for greater honesty.

Some author websites will be extensive. Others will merely act as portals to our presences on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and the like. What’s important is not only to decide which suits us best, but to recognize that what suits us now may not suit us a year from now. A successful website should be flexible enough to accomodate our ever-changing personas.

What makes a website flexible? First, we must keep in mind that our website is our base of operations. People can come here to learn about you, from you. That said, there are a plethera or ways people can learn about you, even if all you’re doing in some cases is directing visitors to your Facebook or Twitter feeds. The point is, directing people to go there from your website tells teh something abotu you in and of itself–it tells them which media you update most frequently, for one. There are lots of things you can do inside this box. You can use your site’s blog for brief news and updates whenever these crop up, a place for monthly musings, a place for giveaways, as a daily sounding board, or whatever fits the way you live online. You can include links to your other online activities in a sidebar, or if it’s extensive, you can put these on a separate page on your site. you can use a features page to discuss your favorite writing resources or your favorite authors or as a link list containing your other essays and articles. you can write a long bio for your about page or a short one with a link to your group blog as “a way to learn more” about you.

We know that an author website contains four or five basic parts–a home page, an about page, a writing page, contact info, and sometmes a page or section to share miscellaneous info relevant to you and your work. As you can see from above, this basic format offers a lot of flexibility. Your site’s actual content can be long or short, but it must be thorough, and it must be accurate. This, I believe, is the key to a good website rather than a rigid formula that dictates exactly what to include and when. Once more teh focus is on quality, not quantity, of content. Not all author sites fit this requirement–how many times have you visited an author blog or site and left disappointed in its lack of good information? A good website should be thorough by answering the readers’ basic questions: who are you, what have you written, why did you write it, when did you write it or when can they get it, where can they get it or where is it set. You can be as succinct or expansive as you want, but when you use the 5 Ws, that’s a good start to quality content.

And to that end, I do hope you’ll find this site’s latest evolution to be thorough, accurate, informative, and sometimes entertaining. Please let me know ifyou have any suggestions fo improving the site. I’m also interested in any links or other resources (or your own advice) about successful author websites. A work-in-progress (like me and this site!), after all, can only change for the better by being open to new ideas, to learning all there is to know.

* Since writing is a reflection of ourselves the changes we undergo as people will reflect in our work. Thus, while each individual novel will at some point cease to be a work-in-progress an author’s body of work will shift in mood, tone, and theme as the author matures.

** People are not static, so as they grow, their reading tastes may change. They may continue to read in one particular genre, but there’s a lot of variety within each genre–especially now, as subgenres blossom and fade and genres meet and mingle in fascinating new ways. Book reviewers, then, provide a valuable service by helping readers identify the traits they enjoy in a book at this stage of their lives. I once wrote a brief post relating to this idea.

3 Comments
by superwench83 on December 1, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Musings

Posted by superwench83 on December 1, 2011

http://katie-lovett.com/2011/12/01/musings/

Spies

I’ve been wondering how one goes about becoming a spy. Do they major in espionage in college? Do they go to job fairs? Do they have resumes? And what about their employers? Do they post openings on Career Builder? Put signs up outside their offices? “Now Hiring Spies. Apply Inside.”

I wonder how one is hired to be a ninja…

2 Comments
by superwench83 on July 7, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Musings, Randomness
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Posted by superwench83 on July 7, 2011

http://katie-lovett.com/2011/07/07/spies/

Katie Lovett, Time Traveler

“Nothing in the world is easier than traveling in time. Just wait five minutes, and you will have moved that far into the future.”

–Sean Carroll’s review of J. Richard Gott III’s Time Travel in Einstein’s Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time, published in 2002 in Physics Today, link

But what about time travel the way you and I usually think of it–what about accelerating forward or backward in time? This is the sort of question you ask yourself if you’re either a nerd or a writer working on a time travel novel. I happen to be both.

I’ve found out some pretty cool things about time travel in the past couple weeks, the most exciting being that I am a time traveler in the super-cool sense–I have accelerated through time! So have you if you’ve ever flown from London to New York or an equivalent distance. You see, according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, time is elastic, not constant, and depends upon the speed at which we move. But it’s more than theoretical. Atomic clocks have been used to confirm that if you fly from London to New York, you will have accelerated a few billionths of a second in time. (Paul Davies, “Time Loops: A Talk With Paul Davies” on 3rd Culture, link.)

Accelerating forward in time is possible. Accelerating forward enough to be exciting, well, it’s technically possible, but we can’t move that fast yet. We’d at least need to reach the speed of light to be able to really do anything cool.

Although I still think it’s cool that I can call myself a time traveler. I’m going to call myself a time traveler, anyway!

So what about backwards time travel? As a historical fantasy writer, this is the stuff I’m most interested in, and it’s anybody’s guess as to whether or not it’s possible. There are lots of theories as to why it’s not possible, and there are lots of theories about how it might in fact be done. (See Wikipedia for a basic overview.) I, of course, am going to pretend that it’s totally possible!

Oddly (or at least, I thought so), the concept of backwards time travel is a pretty modern idea. (Again, see the Wikipedia article.) It first appeared in the 1700s. But forward time travel in myth has been around since ancient days. I wonder what this says about the nature of man. Have we in the past been looking ever forward to the wonders of the future, and now that the wonders of the future have begun to appear, we look for the wonder in our past?

Of course, it’s also possible that Wikipedia has missed some examples of backwards time travel myths. I’ll have to look at other sources…

There is far more I could say about time travel, but I’ll leave that to the physicists. Check out this site if you’re interested. It lists oodles of articles on all things time travel.

I have time traveled ten minutes into the future since I began writing this post.

4 Comments
by superwench83 on May 18, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Musings, Randomness
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Posted by superwench83 on May 18, 2011

http://katie-lovett.com/2011/05/18/katie-lovett-time-traveler/

Powerful Stories

I was forced to add the tag “makes me want to kill fictional people most painfully” to my list of book tags on LibraryThing recently. Some books just reach out and grab our heartstrings, touch us someplace deep inside with characters we love and care about, and then rip us apart by having other characters break our beloved characters’ hearts, souls, and spirits. What power, what wonder, these authors have wrought!

Equally powerful (though not so seductive to my homicidal tendencies) are books with characters who have overcome amazing odds, who have every right to throw themselves to the ground and not get up again, yet who somehow find the strength to rise above. These books inspire us to be better, to try harder, to face our troubles and not flinch away. We read books by such authors and wonder, “How did he do that?”

Such books can be found in every genre, are so varied as to be nearly incomparable. Yet something binds them together. Something about these books breathes life into fictional people and reaches out to real people not because the plot is fresh or the setting interesting, but because it reflects some part of the human experience. The emotions it draws out, the memories it brings to mind, are things every human understands. But it’s not coincidence when a writer achieves such excellence. It’s also not coincidence that many of our favorite books took their authors years to write. (Which is why people need to stop pestering George R. R. Martin and Kristen Britain to write faster. “If you rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.” But I digress.)

I confess that I’m not sure what my point is. I guess it’s just to marvel at the power the written word can hold, and to marvel at the ones who give it such power.

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by superwench83 on February 23, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Musings

Posted by superwench83 on February 23, 2011

http://katie-lovett.com/2011/02/23/powerful-stories/

Regency Fantasy

The Regency era has come to fantasyland, sweeping demurely across the genre landscape. It did not explode the way urban fantasy did, nor slowly build up speed like the steampunk locomotive. Rather, it gently but firmly elbowed its way through the subgenre crowd with a, “Pardon me, if you please,” its steady rise reflecting the gentile manners of the era it represents. With Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Naomi Novick’s Temeraire books paving the way, the Regency era came into the fantasy scene, and it is here to stay.

Publishing is a fast-paced world full of fads and trends, but I don’t think this is one of them. Regency fantasy shows all the signs of lasting strength, perhaps even poised to fill the void left by Medieval fantasy’s decline as the genre’s next defining trait. Like the medieval era, the Regency is far enough in the past that it inspires a sense of wonder, and has all the grandeur and elegance of the Middle Ages’ castles and silk-clad queens. For thirty years, Medieval fantasy dominated the genre, and it left a wonderful legacy which will always be a part of the fantasy tradition. Though it is past its golden age, Medieval fantasy will endure. And now, I look ahead to the future of Regency fantasy and see a similar potential. Will Regency fantasy ever have the appeal that Medieval fantasy did? Will it stamp itself onto genre history and change fantasy forever? I think it’s possible, at least.

Certainly the Regency era left a lasting impact on the romance genre. It invoked a Regency revival, spurring new interest in Jane Austen, which in turn inspired Jane Austen mysteries and mainstream books. At the same time as all of this was taking place, fantasy was on the rise. More and more, fantasy ceases to be seen as the stuff nerds read between D&D campaigns and becomes recognized as a genre with much to offer. Readership within fantasy has grown…and many romance and mystery fans have been swept along with the tide—fans who just can’t seem to get their fill of Regency books.

Even non-fantasy readers have begun to associate the Regency era with speculative fiction, thanks to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which has been optioned for film. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell garnered attention and readers who traditionally shy away from fantasy books. Though the public’s awareness of the Regency era within fantasy is still quite limited, it is sure to grow as more of these novels hit bookstore shelves.

At this early stage, it would be absurd to proclaim Regency fantasy as the certain coming king of the genre. It’s far too early to make such a claim about any of the many powerful subgenres in fantasy today. But I don’t think it’s too early to predict that Regency fantasy is a lasting trend, a rising tide, if you will. A number of novels have followed the pioneers of Regency fantasy, many of them series which will take several years to play out. No, I believe Regency fantasy is far from dying out. Rather, the number of frock-coated magicians is steadily on the rise.

3 Comments
by superwench83 on April 27, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Musings

Posted by superwench83 on April 27, 2010

http://katie-lovett.com/2010/04/27/regency-fantasy/

On Publishing Blogs

Publishing blogs–agent blogs in particular–are wildly popular with the aspiring author crowd. And why not? They’re valuable resources for current industry news and advice. But I think it’s very posible to get too caught up in the agent blog scene…and I base this on personal experience.

Now, before I get myself in hot water, let me say this. I’m not saying agent blogs are bad. I’m not saying you shouldn’t read them. Agent blogs are wonderful places…to visit. But I see a lot of people living there. Or saw it, anyway, back when I was doing the same.

The thing is, there comes a time when you just have to sit down and write the damn book. Some people may have the time to follow eight publishing blogs daily and still get in a solid hour or so of writing. I for one don’t, and I suspect I’m not the only one. There was a time when I was so obsessed with keeping up on all the publishing news, which I thought I couldn’t do without, that by the time I finished reading agent blogs every night, I was too tired to drag my butt from the living room to bed, much less work on my novel.

Have I really missed so much information since I stopped reading publishing blogs? A little, which is why I’ve gone back to browsing them every now and then. But I think the thing which keeps people coming back to these blogs is really the sense of community they provide. Writing is a pretty solitary process. And it’s not something you can have a deep discussion about with your non-writing friends. On agent blogs, you’re suddenly surrounded by all these like-minded, passionate people, by all these exciting ideas. You come for the information, but you stay for the camraderie.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s a good thing. I met two of my writing buddies on agent blogs myself.

The problem comes in when reading publishing blogs interferes with your time to write. When instead of solving the problems which stand in the way of your being published, it becomes one of them. That’s when it gets to be too much. Because there’s no point in knowing what agents want to see in a query when you don’t even have a book.

8 Comments
by superwench83 on April 16, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Musings
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Posted by superwench83 on April 16, 2010

http://katie-lovett.com/2010/04/16/on-publishing-blogs/

Book Reviewers are a Reader’s Friend

I’ve seen a lot of talk about why book reviewers are authors’ friends, but not much about exactly what reviewers do for readers. I guess that’s because it’s pretty obvious on the surface. Good reviewers, however, do more than make readers aware of books and tell whether or not they recommend them. They help readers define their literary tastes and make better-suited reading choices in the short and long run.

For bibliophiles in search of the next good read, book reviews provide a valuable intellectual service. The mere act of writing a book review forces one to think about the book analytically, which many of us just don’t do. We don’t do this because we don’t have an assignment. We can close the book, say “I loved it” or “I hated it” and be done with it. (Unless we’re aspiring authors, but that’s another discussion.) After all, few people will ask why we felt the way we did, and fewer still expect a detailed explanation. Reviewers, on the other hand, are forced to pinpoint specific elements in the book to support their claims.

Why is this valuable to readers? Because as readers, we oftentimes don’t know what we’re looking for in a book. We want entertainment, but what is our own definition of literary entertainment? It’s different for each one of us. By breaking things down, the reviewer not only defines a book’s elements, but helps us discover our own preferences in a clear way. The more reviews we read, the clearer is our understanding of what exactly we’re looking for when we’re looking for a good read. That’s why even negative reviews can inspire readers to buy books.

The benefit? In the end, we end up buying fewer books which we find we don’t like, and more books which we enjoy. Book reviews by pensive reviewers help us continually define our tastes, making it easier to find the books we love.

10 Comments
by superwench83 on April 7, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Musings

Posted by superwench83 on April 7, 2010

http://katie-lovett.com/2010/04/07/book-reviewers-are-a-readers-friend/

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