A moving article by Jeffrey Davis, Fathoming Black Lives, is so worth spending a few minutes reading. And hours, days, years contemplating. I think his idea of imagination--the ability to consider the plight, the feelings, emotions, history of "other"---or the inability, for many, is a dividing line that needs more exploring.
Imagination: the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.
Empathy requires imagination. Reading, writing, and being pulled into fictional worlds requires imagination. A 2013 study by Castano and Kidd showed that reading literary fiction increases one's empathy. They conclude that, because literary fiction requires more mental processing than genre fiction or nonfiction, "readers of literary fiction are tasked with interpretation, or critical thinking. Literary fiction, they posit, has the power to “disrupt our stereotypes”; what’s more, it is full of “complicated individuals whose inner lives are rarely easily discerned but warrant exploration.”"
Another study conducted by Keith Oatley and Raymond Mar found that reading activates neural "that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion — improving his or her overall social skillfulness."
In another study by the same researchers in 2006, 94 subjects were asked to guess the emotional state of a person from a photograph of their eyes. “The more fiction people [had] read, the better they were at perceiving emotion in the eyes, and…correctly interpreting social cues.”
In 2009, wondering if “devouring novels might be a result, not a cause, of having a strong theory of mind,” they expanded the scope of their research, testing 252 adults on the “Big Five ” personality traits — extraversion, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness — and correlated those results with how much time the subjects generally spent reading fiction. Once again, they discovered “a significant relation between the amount of fiction people read and their empathic and theory-of-mind abilities” allowing them to conclude that it was reading fiction that improved the subjects’ social skills, not that those with already high interpersonal skills tended to read more.
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, is critical to really comprehending the world around us. No, I can never be a black man. I can never fully know what it's like to be an undocumented immigrant, but I can imagine and feel the stress and the terror that is a part of their lives every day. I can also empathize with those who cause that stress and terror--not sympathize, but I can attempt to get into their head and imagine what they're feeling and why. And no. That doesn't make me sympathetic to them. It makes me angry.
It makes me wish they'd read more fiction as a child.
Author Lynne Hinkey blogs about life, the universe, and everything ... oh, wait, that's been done. OK, about space, the final frontier ... oh crap. Nevermind. It's my blog and I'll write if I want to!
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Fathom the Depths of Imagination
A moving article by Jeffrey Davis, Fathoming Black Lives, is so worth spending a few minutes reading. And hours, days, years contemplating. I think his idea of imagination--the ability to consider the plight, the feelings, emotions, history of "other"---or the inability, for many, is a dividing line that needs more exploring.
Imagination: the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.
Empathy requires imagination. Reading, writing, and being pulled into fictional worlds requires imagination. A 2013 study by Castano and Kidd showed that reading literary fiction increases one's empathy. They conclude that, because literary fiction requires more mental processing than genre fiction or nonfiction, "readers of literary fiction are tasked with interpretation, or critical thinking. Literary fiction, they posit, has the power to “disrupt our stereotypes”; what’s more, it is full of “complicated individuals whose inner lives are rarely easily discerned but warrant exploration.”"
Another study conducted by Keith Oatley and Raymond Mar found that reading activates neural "that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion — improving his or her overall social skillfulness."
In another study by the same researchers in 2006, 94 subjects were asked to guess the emotional state of a person from a photograph of their eyes. “The more fiction people [had] read, the better they were at perceiving emotion in the eyes, and…correctly interpreting social cues.”
In 2009, wondering if “devouring novels might be a result, not a cause, of having a strong theory of mind,” they expanded the scope of their research, testing 252 adults on the “Big Five ” personality traits — extraversion, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness — and correlated those results with how much time the subjects generally spent reading fiction. Once again, they discovered “a significant relation between the amount of fiction people read and their empathic and theory-of-mind abilities” allowing them to conclude that it was reading fiction that improved the subjects’ social skills, not that those with already high interpersonal skills tended to read more.
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, is critical to really comprehending the world around us. No, I can never be a black man. I can never fully know what it's like to be an undocumented immigrant, but I can imagine and feel the stress and the terror that is a part of their lives every day. I can also empathize with those who cause that stress and terror--not sympathize, but I can attempt to get into their head and imagine what they're feeling and why. And no. That doesn't make me sympathetic to them. It makes me angry.
It makes me wish they'd read more fiction as a child.
Imagination: the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.
Empathy requires imagination. Reading, writing, and being pulled into fictional worlds requires imagination. A 2013 study by Castano and Kidd showed that reading literary fiction increases one's empathy. They conclude that, because literary fiction requires more mental processing than genre fiction or nonfiction, "readers of literary fiction are tasked with interpretation, or critical thinking. Literary fiction, they posit, has the power to “disrupt our stereotypes”; what’s more, it is full of “complicated individuals whose inner lives are rarely easily discerned but warrant exploration.”"
Another study conducted by Keith Oatley and Raymond Mar found that reading activates neural "that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion — improving his or her overall social skillfulness."
In another study by the same researchers in 2006, 94 subjects were asked to guess the emotional state of a person from a photograph of their eyes. “The more fiction people [had] read, the better they were at perceiving emotion in the eyes, and…correctly interpreting social cues.”
In 2009, wondering if “devouring novels might be a result, not a cause, of having a strong theory of mind,” they expanded the scope of their research, testing 252 adults on the “Big Five ” personality traits — extraversion, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness — and correlated those results with how much time the subjects generally spent reading fiction. Once again, they discovered “a significant relation between the amount of fiction people read and their empathic and theory-of-mind abilities” allowing them to conclude that it was reading fiction that improved the subjects’ social skills, not that those with already high interpersonal skills tended to read more.
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, is critical to really comprehending the world around us. No, I can never be a black man. I can never fully know what it's like to be an undocumented immigrant, but I can imagine and feel the stress and the terror that is a part of their lives every day. I can also empathize with those who cause that stress and terror--not sympathize, but I can attempt to get into their head and imagine what they're feeling and why. And no. That doesn't make me sympathetic to them. It makes me angry.
It makes me wish they'd read more fiction as a child.
Friday, June 24, 2016
An Interview with Kiki Cristatello
To celebrate the publication of my third novel, The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods (the sequel to Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons), I'm posting character interviews for the nine days leading up to the July 1 release. I'm also GIVING AWAY BOOKS!
Yes, you read that correctly. I'm giving away one book each day until July 1. All you have to do to enter your name in the drawing is to stop by my website at http://www.lynnehinkey.com and send a message via the contact page. Your message comes right to my email box, so no names or email addresses and comments posted on the page, and no one else will get their hands on your contact information to spam you with offers. I start fresh each day, so if you enter but don't win, be sure to stop back the next day and try again.
So, on to the interview! (And scroll down to see the interviews with Sra Milagros Hernan from 6/22 and with Carmen del toro from 6/23).
Today I'm talking with Kiki Cristatello, our youngest cast member at 16. Kiki seems to be over her obsession with the occult: she's given up her black hair dye, nail polish, and heavy eyeliner and is back to her regular blonde haired, freckle-faced girl next door look.
Kiki: Seriously? Why does everyone think they have to tiptoe around that? I mean, he's been gone for two years. You all treat me like I'm still a kid who needs to be coddled. I'm sixteen you know. And starting college--that's two years ahead of schedule if you care to do the math. And I landed a work-study position in the marine science department. I'm like the only freshman to get one in like forever. You know, freshmen usually get some menial gopher job in an administrative office. Not me. I'm going to work for Dr. Raines.
Kiki: Ha. Ha. You're so funny. I do understand what fiction means and know there's no Hogwarts. And we all know there was no reason to "get over" Muggle. The dog will return. He always has. He was Paco, and before that, Toby. He never really went away. Not completely. He was just on a...hiatus. But now he's back and wait 'til you see him, er, her, he's in a she body, so I guess he's a girl, or at least Chewy is a girl, but I'm not sure if that makes the god a girl, or a boy in a girl's body.
Kiki: Would that make him a transvestite? I should ask someone about that. I don't think I know any transvestites, but I do know a gay couple. But I know that's not the same thing, but I should ask my friend--well, you know them, too. I mean, you do if you've read Ye Gods! Although we didn't actually meet Eddie's boyfriend, Rafi. Wait 'til you meet--
LMH: Excuse me,
Kiki?
LMH: KIKI! I hate
to interrupt, but can we get back to the interview?
LMH (checking my
note cards): Damn. OK, continue. I was going to ask you about your friendship
with Rafi.
Kiki (sniggering): Oh boy, do I ever have the last words. But, you'll have to read The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods to see what they are.
LMH: Thank y--
KIKI: Oh, and one more thing...I have to give a shout out to the president of my fan club. Did you know I have a fan club? Yep, I do. So, hola and abracitos---that's hello and hugs in Spanish, for all you monolingual-types--to T. Francis Sharp. He's also the author of Second Dead. You should check that out too, especially if you're into the whole zombie apocalypse thing, with undead, female teenagers that kick ass...can I say that? I hope so because I just did, and--get this--a mystical cat!
Now it's time to head over to my website and send a message via the contact page to enter for today's chance to win a free book! Congratulations to yesterday's winner, Bob Sanchez!
Yes, you read that correctly. I'm giving away one book each day until July 1. All you have to do to enter your name in the drawing is to stop by my website at http://www.lynnehinkey.com and send a message via the contact page. Your message comes right to my email box, so no names or email addresses and comments posted on the page, and no one else will get their hands on your contact information to spam you with offers. I start fresh each day, so if you enter but don't win, be sure to stop back the next day and try again.
So, on to the interview! (And scroll down to see the interviews with Sra Milagros Hernan from 6/22 and with Carmen del toro from 6/23).
Introducing Kiki Cristatello
Today I'm talking with Kiki Cristatello, our youngest cast member at 16. Kiki seems to be over her obsession with the occult: she's given up her black hair dye, nail polish, and heavy eyeliner and is back to her regular blonde haired, freckle-faced girl next door look.
LMH: Thanks for
joining us, Kiki. Why don't you tell us what you've been up to in the two years
since Muggle die--Sorry, I mean, since the end of Ye Gods!
Kiki: Seriously? Why does everyone think they have to tiptoe around that? I mean, he's been gone for two years. You all treat me like I'm still a kid who needs to be coddled. I'm sixteen you know. And starting college--that's two years ahead of schedule if you care to do the math. And I landed a work-study position in the marine science department. I'm like the only freshman to get one in like forever. You know, freshmen usually get some menial gopher job in an administrative office. Not me. I'm going to work for Dr. Raines.
LMH: Oh, okay. I
didn't mean to offend you. Congratulations on the job with Dr. Raines. It
sounds like you're over Muggle I guess, and as I said in the introduction, I take
it the new natural hair color means you're over your magic fetish? No longer
waiting for your letter from Hogwarts?
Kiki: Ha. Ha. You're so funny. I do understand what fiction means and know there's no Hogwarts. And we all know there was no reason to "get over" Muggle. The dog will return. He always has. He was Paco, and before that, Toby. He never really went away. Not completely. He was just on a...hiatus. But now he's back and wait 'til you see him, er, her, he's in a she body, so I guess he's a girl, or at least Chewy is a girl, but I'm not sure if that makes the god a girl, or a boy in a girl's body.
LMH: Kiki, can we
get--
Kiki: Would that make him a transvestite? I should ask someone about that. I don't think I know any transvestites, but I do know a gay couple. But I know that's not the same thing, but I should ask my friend--well, you know them, too. I mean, you do if you've read Ye Gods! Although we didn't actually meet Eddie's boyfriend, Rafi. Wait 'til you meet--
Kiki: --him.
O-M-G, he is sooooooo hot. Eddie is wicked lucky. And he's sweet and you should
see how good he is with all the animals. Especially Chewy. She just---
Kiki: Sure. It's
your gig. What's the next question?
Kiki (with a
shrug): He's just awesomely sweet and a hottie, and everyone loves him. All the
readers will too, I just know it. That's all. I'm done. Next?
LMH: That's all I
have. Any last words?
Kiki (sniggering): Oh boy, do I ever have the last words. But, you'll have to read The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods to see what they are.
LMH: Thank y--
KIKI: Oh, and one more thing...I have to give a shout out to the president of my fan club. Did you know I have a fan club? Yep, I do. So, hola and abracitos---that's hello and hugs in Spanish, for all you monolingual-types--to T. Francis Sharp. He's also the author of Second Dead. You should check that out too, especially if you're into the whole zombie apocalypse thing, with undead, female teenagers that kick ass...can I say that? I hope so because I just did, and--get this--a mystical cat!
Thursday, June 23, 2016
FREE BOOKS? Oh Yeah!
Well, I'm returning for a brief bout of self-promotion. The down-side is, it's self-promotion. The up-side? That means you all have the chance to win FREE BOOKS!
The reason for my brief return to blog-ville and the book giveaway is to announce and promote the release, at long last, of The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Dogs.
I started this promotion yesterday (6/22) on Facebook with this post:
ONLY 10 DAYS UNTIL THE JULY 1 RELEASE OF THE UN-FAMILIAR: A TALE OF CATS AND GODS.
To prepare, I'll be posting a brief interview with different characters here (on my FB author page) each day between now and then. Stop by, meet them, and see what they have to say.
Then head over to my website at www.lynnehinkey.com and send me a message from the Contact page to be entered into a drawing to win a FREE copy of one of my books (of your choosing): Marina Melee, Ye Gods! A Tale of Gods and Demons, or The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods. I'll select one winner each day. Please share widely so everyone has a chance to enter/win!
Yesterday, I posted the interview with Señora Milagros, and today's interview is with Carmen del Toro. Both of those are below in this post. I'll copy this contest information along with a new character interview in a new blog posts each day, so be sure to come back, read up on your favorite characters from Ye Gods! and meet a few new members of The Un-Familiar cast. Then send me a message from my website to enter. Ten days, ten chances to win--so be sure to go back every day between now and next Friday!
Here's the schedule of interviews:
6/22 Señora Milagros Hernan -- eccentric woman reputed to be a witch; she's ready to retire from her real job as familiar to a god
6/23 Carmen del Toro -- homeless woman with a tragic past and Milagros' apprentice who will be taking her place
6/24 Kiki Cristatello -- a college freshman at 16 with a much-coveted work-study position in the climate research center. She's just gotten over her dog Muggle's death and her belief that she's a witch...or has she?
6/25 Captain Eddie Corredor -- promoted to police captain for discovering that the mysterious chupacabra that had been terrorizing the island two years ago was really just the mayor in disguise
6/26 Rafi Bishop Soto -- Eddie's compañero/pareja, with a past as tragic as Carmen's
6/27 Jack Halliman -- best-selling author of the Franz Henle murder mystery series. His last novel ventured into the paranormal, specifically, the chupacabra, much to his fans' dismay
6/28 Dr. Joe Raines -- the new oceanography professor specializing in climate science with an uncanny ability to always be in the thick of the storm
6/29 Rev Aurelio Peña -- a famous televangelist whose comforting prosperity theology has amassed him a wide following. He and Dr Raines have a long-running animosity, given their opposing world-views and goals. Oh, and that thing with that woman from their past...that, too
6/30 Chewy aka the dog-god of Mercy, aka the chupacabra -- he's back and up to more mischief. Or should I say SHE is up to no good? These damn pronouns...so confusing when dealing with a god who can be anything he-she-it wants to be.
While none of these characters wanted their photos included, here's a collage of the actors who I think would play them in the movie version of The Un-Familiar.
And now, on to the interviews.
From 6/22
Señora Milagros: Oh, yes! I'd love to clarify. Humans get so tripped up by vocabulary, twisting and turning meanings around until no one understands anything. They got familiars, witches, and cats all jumbled, making cats the familiars of witches, but really, many familiars choose the form of a cat, either in their active life or retirement, so the familiars ARE the cats, and we ended up with the reputation of witches. We all know why that is: because anything humans don't understand, they attribute to magic, one way or another.
And today's (6/23) interview with Carmen del Toro:
LMH: Those don't sound much like tests. Can you explain a little bit more how that works?
I didn't have much of a chance for the third test either. For most would-be familiars, that comes in their twenties, when people settle down to careers and family. All that bill-paying, keeping up the house, going to work makes it difficult to believe in magic. I was lucky that I lived in the forest so never had to worry about those things. I feel bad for those who lose all the magic in their life that way. I think it must hurt when belief turns to wishful thinking about what-could-have-beens. Very few pass this final test. Some of those who make it that far still carry a remnant of belief deep inside them, but their reservations disqualify them from familiarity.
Carmen: Yes, now, about that dessert you promised?
Thank you all for stopping by today. Now be sure to head over to my website's contact page and send a note to automatically be entered into today's drawing! (Don't worry--no one will see your return contact info--the page sends an email directly to me. I'm the only one who sees it, and I'm the only one who will contact you. I don't share your private info with anyone else.)
Congratulations to Connie Denison, yesterday's drawing winner!
The reason for my brief return to blog-ville and the book giveaway is to announce and promote the release, at long last, of The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Dogs.
 |
| The Un-Familiar, by Lynne M Hinkey, published by Casperian Books. Available July 1, 2016 |
ONLY 10 DAYS UNTIL THE JULY 1 RELEASE OF THE UN-FAMILIAR: A TALE OF CATS AND GODS.
To prepare, I'll be posting a brief interview with different characters here (on my FB author page) each day between now and then. Stop by, meet them, and see what they have to say.
Then head over to my website at www.lynnehinkey.com and send me a message from the Contact page to be entered into a drawing to win a FREE copy of one of my books (of your choosing): Marina Melee, Ye Gods! A Tale of Gods and Demons, or The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods. I'll select one winner each day. Please share widely so everyone has a chance to enter/win!
Yesterday, I posted the interview with Señora Milagros, and today's interview is with Carmen del Toro. Both of those are below in this post. I'll copy this contest information along with a new character interview in a new blog posts each day, so be sure to come back, read up on your favorite characters from Ye Gods! and meet a few new members of The Un-Familiar cast. Then send me a message from my website to enter. Ten days, ten chances to win--so be sure to go back every day between now and next Friday!
Here's the schedule of interviews:
6/22 Señora Milagros Hernan -- eccentric woman reputed to be a witch; she's ready to retire from her real job as familiar to a god
6/23 Carmen del Toro -- homeless woman with a tragic past and Milagros' apprentice who will be taking her place
6/24 Kiki Cristatello -- a college freshman at 16 with a much-coveted work-study position in the climate research center. She's just gotten over her dog Muggle's death and her belief that she's a witch...or has she?
6/25 Captain Eddie Corredor -- promoted to police captain for discovering that the mysterious chupacabra that had been terrorizing the island two years ago was really just the mayor in disguise
6/26 Rafi Bishop Soto -- Eddie's compañero/pareja, with a past as tragic as Carmen's
6/27 Jack Halliman -- best-selling author of the Franz Henle murder mystery series. His last novel ventured into the paranormal, specifically, the chupacabra, much to his fans' dismay
6/28 Dr. Joe Raines -- the new oceanography professor specializing in climate science with an uncanny ability to always be in the thick of the storm
6/29 Rev Aurelio Peña -- a famous televangelist whose comforting prosperity theology has amassed him a wide following. He and Dr Raines have a long-running animosity, given their opposing world-views and goals. Oh, and that thing with that woman from their past...that, too
6/30 Chewy aka the dog-god of Mercy, aka the chupacabra -- he's back and up to more mischief. Or should I say SHE is up to no good? These damn pronouns...so confusing when dealing with a god who can be anything he-she-it wants to be.
While none of these characters wanted their photos included, here's a collage of the actors who I think would play them in the movie version of The Un-Familiar.
And now, on to the interviews.
From 6/22
Introducing Señora Milagros Isabela Hernán de Santiago
Today I have the pleasure of introducing Señora Milagros
Isabela Hernán de Santiago. As you may recall, Señora Milagros is reputed to be
a witch in the small town of Rincón,
Puerto Rico, where she lives. It's not difficult to understand that, given her
rather eccentric look. She favors flamboyant, flowing kaftans and scarves, and an
armful of jangling bangles. As bestselling author Jack Halliman noted when he
first met her, she looked like a cross between two old sitcom characters,
Endora and Mrs. Roper.
LMH: Welcome, Señora
Milagros. Can you please briefly introduce yourself: name, age, job, hobbies?
Señora Milagros: Thank
you, dear. It's a pleasure to be here talking about myself. As you've
mentioned, my name is Señora Milagros Isabela Hernán de Santiago and I
am...wait, I have to think a moment...I'm quite mature. Let's leave it at that.
I am the familiar to the god of Mercy, better known to most people as the
chupacabra. That is both my job and my hobby. If you know that little
rapscallion at all, you know he keeps me quite busy with his antics, so I
don't have much time for anything else.
LMH: Can you
explain to our readers what exactly a familiar is?
Señora Milagros: Oh, yes! I'd love to clarify. Humans get so tripped up by vocabulary, twisting and turning meanings around until no one understands anything. They got familiars, witches, and cats all jumbled, making cats the familiars of witches, but really, many familiars choose the form of a cat, either in their active life or retirement, so the familiars ARE the cats, and we ended up with the reputation of witches. We all know why that is: because anything humans don't understand, they attribute to magic, one way or another.
The truth is, familiars were created as assistants to the
gods. We're like guardian angels. We help when our god needs a bit more power,
and provide guidance and protection for him as he grows in strength. We protect
our charge when they are weak and vulnerable, and help them to achieve their
full power. Because the amount of power they may eventually wield could be
excessive, we also hinder them from overreaching, regulating their power if
needed. You mentioned Jack Halliman in your introduction--I do adore the Jack Halliman, don't you?--Jack had
a wonderful analogy for what I do. I am the god's agent.
Señora Milagros: (clearing
her throat and squirming in her seat a bit) Yes, well, that didn't go quite as
planned. Did it? Between that hurricane, Carmen disappearing, and all sorts of
other gods appearing on the island, well...you'll have to read The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods
to find out what happened there, won't you?
Introducing Carmen del Toro
You may remember Carmen del Toro as the young homeless woman
from Ye Gods! Carmen's past is filled
with trauma that few can imagine: she witnessed her family's murder, at the
hands of her father, and her father's death at the mouth of her childhood dog,
Paco. After spending nine years in a state run mental hospital, Carmen was
kicked out to the street when she turned 18. Still, she managed to survive
living in the forests of western Puerto Rico for ten years before learning the
truth about herself, her dog, and the "witch" who has been watching
over her all this time. Carmen has joined me for lunch and this interview.
LMH: Welcome, Carmen. Thank you for joining us. Can you
please briefly introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
Carmen (eyes flitting around the room, fingers knotting and
unknotting): Um, hola, um, my name is Carmen del Toro and I guess I'm the new
familiar to the dog...er, are you going to eat those chips?
LMH: Here, you can have them. So, how about your back---
Carmen: How about that soda? And if you're not going to eat
the crust...?
LMH: Go ahead, finish. I'll wait.
LMH: Tell us a bit about how you became a familiar.
Carmen: Well, as Señora
Milagros explained, there are three tests to becoming a familiar. The first one
is that you have to be born with the predisposition. Then, you have to get
through your teens with your belief in magic still intact. The third test is to
make it through your twenties still believing.
LMH: Those don't sound much like tests. Can you explain a little bit more how that works?
Carmen: The genetics part is luck of the draw. A lot of
people are born with the potential to evolve into familiars. I guess because so
few make it through the next two tests so they have to make sure there are a
lot to pick from so some survive. The second test, where most prospective
familiars fail, comes from peer pressure. Belief in magic is an innate feature
of sentient beings, but experience destroys it. When puberty hits, the desire
to fit in takes over. Señora
Milagros told me most teens deny their beliefs to be cool. Those who don't,
pass the second test. I was luckier than most. Since I spent my teens in the
hospital, I had lithium instead of peer pressure.
I didn't have much of a chance for the third test either. For most would-be familiars, that comes in their twenties, when people settle down to careers and family. All that bill-paying, keeping up the house, going to work makes it difficult to believe in magic. I was lucky that I lived in the forest so never had to worry about those things. I feel bad for those who lose all the magic in their life that way. I think it must hurt when belief turns to wishful thinking about what-could-have-beens. Very few pass this final test. Some of those who make it that far still carry a remnant of belief deep inside them, but their reservations disqualify them from familiarity.
LMH: Interesting. So what happens to those who still have
some remnant of that belief in magic?
Carmen: They become writers and artists, actors and
actresses, or movie producers. You know, trying to pretend they still have some
magic left.
LMH: You mean, since I'm a writer, I might have been--
Carmen: Por favor,
chica. All familiars are creative, it's true, but don't think that's the
same as all creative people being familiars. Now, I guess we'll never know,
will we? Pobrecita.
LMH: Oh, well, um, thank you for spending some time with us
today, Carmen. I'm sure we all look forward to seeing what happens to you in
the future.
Carmen: Yes, now, about that dessert you promised?
Thank you all for stopping by today. Now be sure to head over to my website's contact page and send a note to automatically be entered into today's drawing! (Don't worry--no one will see your return contact info--the page sends an email directly to me. I'm the only one who sees it, and I'm the only one who will contact you. I don't share your private info with anyone else.)
Congratulations to Connie Denison, yesterday's drawing winner!
Monday, September 8, 2014
Guest Blogger: Author Bob Sanchez
Today, I have the great pleasure of hosting author Bob Sanchez here at "Random Thoughts." Bob is the very talented author of the novels Little Mountain, Getting Lucky, and When Pigs Fly--all three could be considered mysteries, but each with its own unique flavor. The first is more psychological thriller, the second an action-packed, traditional detective story, and the last one (his first novel, When Pigs Fly), a comic crime caper.
Come on in and get to know Bob a little better.
You have great character names. Where do you find them?
Mack is lost in the
desert somewhere, but I’m hoping to get him back. But I’m working with Clay Webster on a new
story set in Lowell.
Best piece of writing advice you've ever received?
Ass in chair.
Tell us about your writing muse.
My muse and I are
not speaking to each other.
Thanks for joining us today, Bob! We're all looking forward to Clay Webster's next adventure.
Come on in and get to know Bob a little better.
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| Bob Sanchez, Author of the novels Little Mountain, Getting Lucky, and When Pigs Fly (Photo courtesy of B Sanchez) |
Given the maxim, "Write what you know,"
how has your life prepared you to write such intriguing murder mysteries like Getting
Lucky and Little Mountain?
Both novels are set
primarily in Lowell, Massachusetts, a gritty burg that gave America the likes
of Jack Kerouac. I lived nearby for three decades, walked its streets, ate in
its ethnic diners, explored its network of mills and canals. For Little Mountain in particular, I read a
dozen books on the Cambodians’ humanitarian disaster and spoke with Cambodian
refugees. My wife and I had sponsored a Cambodian family, one of thousands who
settled in Lowell. So that was an experience I just had to use, though Little Mountain is complete fiction.
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| Little Mountain, with Detective Sambeth Long |
Mind you, I’ve been
advised that Little Mountain is more
thriller than mystery, as the villain’s identity isn’t hard to figure out.
You have great character names. Where do you find them?
When I was a kid, a neighborhood bully named Mike Durgin used to terrorize me. (It helped him that I was a coward.) When I remembered him a few years ago, his name seemed cool. Other names are usually just what pop into my head, as long as they aren’t in the local phone book. Getting Lucky was going to star Mack Durgin, but the guy turned out to have a different background, so I scrambled for a new name. Being dead, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster didn’t object to my borrowing their last names to create – wait for it – Clay Webster. My favorite name is Poindexter, literally the first one that came to mind. Hopefully, it’s not too obvious a name for a young Tohono O’Odham girl to give to her pet javelina.
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| When Pigs Fly, with Mack Durgin, Diet Cola, and Poindexter |
When I was a kid, a neighborhood bully named Mike Durgin used to terrorize me. (It helped him that I was a coward.) When I remembered him a few years ago, his name seemed cool. Other names are usually just what pop into my head, as long as they aren’t in the local phone book. Getting Lucky was going to star Mack Durgin, but the guy turned out to have a different background, so I scrambled for a new name. Being dead, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster didn’t object to my borrowing their last names to create – wait for it – Clay Webster. My favorite name is Poindexter, literally the first one that came to mind. Hopefully, it’s not too obvious a name for a young Tohono O’Odham girl to give to her pet javelina.
In the movie version of your novels, who gets
the roles of: Mack Durgin and Diet Cola? Clay Webster and Bonita Esquivez? Sam
Long?
If he were still
alive, Pete Postlethwaite for either Durgin or Webster. Maybe María Conchita
Alonso for Bonita Esquivez, François Chau (from Lost) for Sam Long, John Goodman for Diet Cola. He’d have to put on
weight, though.
Can we expect any more adventures for Mack
Durgin?
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| Getting Lucky, with PI Clay Webster |
Best piece of writing advice you've ever received?
Ass in chair.
Tell us about your writing muse.
Omigod, where can I get Bob’s books?
http://bitly.com/bobsanchez. Thank you for asking.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Thoughts on "Chasing the Market" or The Next Big Thing
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| Jim Hine's' fourth novel, Goblin Quest |
I started Chupacabra (the original title), not to jump on the vampire bandwagon, but as a spoof on the vampire craze. Good thing, too, since we seem to have moved on from vampires, through werewolves, to zombies and who knows what other fantasy creatures. Yet there's still a dearth of chupacabra tales out there (although the beast does turn up in pop culture quite a bit having appeared in episodes of
As Hines points out, the complete process for getting a book published really does preclude jumping on the "hot topic" bandwagon. Here's what the timeline for Ye Gods! publication looks like.
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| Ye Gods! cover |
Summer 2011: Complete draft 1
Aug 2011-Jan 2012: Editing/revisions, round 1 (self-editing and IWW critique group)
Jan 2012-Jan 2013: Editing/revisions, round 2 (professional editor)
Oct 2012-Feb 2013: Querying agents (1st one via writers' conference pitch). Net result--5 requests for partials, 3 for full ms, no contract
March 2013: Query to Casperian Books
April 2013: Accepted by Casperian Books
April-Oct 2013: Editing/revisions, round 3 (publisher) and layout, cover design, etc
Oct 2013-release and beyond: Marketing, ARCs out for review, publicity
April 2014: Scheduled release date
You can scroll down for the gory details of each phase, if you're interested.
Two additional points I loved reading most in Jim Hines' post are 1) self-publishing can speed up that process, but "you still need to write the thing. And if you’re trying to do it right, you still need to get it edited, get your cover art created, etc." 2) our stories are going to improve; "the stories we write when we’re starting out are pretty derivative. We haven’t found our own voice and style."
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| Marina Melee's cover |
Hines finishes with a great big of advice:
My advice, for whatever it is or isn’t worth, is to write what you love.
Write the kind of stories you want to read. Write things that excite you. Write
what you’re passionate about. Chasing trends and writing stories you don’t care
about just because you think they’re hot seems like a quick path to depression
and burnout.
Right now, I'm working on the sequel to Ye Gods! I know sequels will only get picked up by an agent or publisher if the first in the series sells so my plan had been to move on, write "The Old Putters," then go back for the sequel, The Un-familiar, only if Ye Gods! sold well. But, try as I might, I couldn't walk away. I wanted to know what happens next, not in the general, outlined way it's in my mind, but the real thing (because really, no matter how thorough our outlines may be, when we start writing, our characters still surprise us and take us in unexpected directions.) I'm writing The Un-familiar now, for me. I want to write it because I want to read it. The idea behind the story excites me. For now, that's enough and hopefully, in the long run it will be too.
http://www.jimchines.com/2014/01/chasing-the-market/
THE GORY DETAILS BEHIND YE GODS!
I finished writing the first draft of Ye Gods!(then titled Chupacabra) in the summer of 2011, then spent the next 5 months editing and running it through the novels critique group at the Internet Writing Workshop. During that time, I attended a conference, so prepared a pitch, synopsis, and query, but only pitched there, knowing I was still in the editing phase. Even at this point, I had a successful pitch and an agent requested a partial, then a full. While she ultimately rejected it, her comments were very helpful in the revision process and I completed the first round of revisions and edits by January 2012.
That's when I hired a professional editor, Rebecca S. Bender. I'd hired her for editing on my first novel, Marina Melee, as well. Rebecca is very helpful and accommodating with schedules. She completed the edits in thirds so I could fit the process into my budget, and so I could correct in advance any consistent errors she found within the first portion--making subsequent edits easier and less costly. I ended up taking almost a complete year going through that process, mostly due to budget and time constraints.
Once I'd completed the first 1/3 of the editing process with Rebecca, I did start to query (as Hines says in his post, getting read from the slush pile can take quite a while. I planned to sub the first, already edited, 10 or 50 pages or 3 chapters or whatever the various agents wanted with the query and complete the other edits while I waited. (An FYI if you haven't read my previous posts on this process, or a reminder if you have: my plan throughout the process was to give myself 1 year to try and obtain agent representation and if I wasn't successful, I would go the same route I had with Marina Melee and go to small publishers, starting with (and hopefully staying with) Casperian. This wasn't due to any dissatisfaction with my small, indy publisher, but because I do still harbor the dream of finding an agent and getting a multi-book contract.)
For Marina Melee, I had only received two agent requests for partials and one of those then requested the full manuscript for review. Neither one panned out. Ye Gods! (originally titled Chupacabra, then changed for a brief time to Gods, Dogs, and Demons, and finally settling on Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons) garnered five requests for partials, followed by three requests for the full manuscript. One of these came from my all time, #1 dream agent! That put me over the moon! The comments back from two of those were very positive and offered helpful suggestions. Neither offered a contract. All of these agents requested "exclusive" review for a period of between 2 and 5 months, during which period I could not send further queries. Thus, my total query period ended up extending throughout 2012 and into early 2013. At that point, I sent my complete query, synopsis, and first-50 pages to Casperian Books.
Ye Gods! was accepted for publication in April 2013. Then began the lengthy process of publisher edits and revisions, layout, cover design, etc. Because of some conflicting scheduling, Casperian would not be releasing any novels in December, so Ye Gods! was scheduled for a spring 2014 release.
Total time from completion of draft #1 to release: 2 3/4 years. Total time from writing the very first words of Ye Gods! to release: about 4 years.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Chasing the Chupacabra
Interested in what I'm working on now? Here's a "teaser"!
Bestselling mystery author Jack Halliman has problems. His wife threw him out of their house and will only speak to him through her attorney, their daughter won’t speak to him at all, and his super sleuth protagonist, Franz Henle, has gone silent in his head, leaving Jack unable to write a word of his next novel. The only one who still wants to talk to him is his agent wondering when the next manuscript is coming. Running away from his problems has worked for Jack in the past, so he thinks some distance might be just the answer to all his troubles now, too.
CHUPACABRA
Bestselling mystery author Jack Halliman has problems. His wife threw him out of their house and will only speak to him through her attorney, their daughter won’t speak to him at all, and his super sleuth protagonist, Franz Henle, has gone silent in his head, leaving Jack unable to write a word of his next novel. The only one who still wants to talk to him is his agent wondering when the next manuscript is coming. Running away from his problems has worked for Jack in the past, so he thinks some distance might be just the answer to all his troubles now, too.
Jack and his loyal dog Hanna sail to Puerto Rico . When he arrives at the marina, Jack finds a real-life murder mystery—and the dead body to go with it—floating next to his boat. Now everyone wants to talk to him. The mayor wants him to go hunting in hopes of capturing both some publicity and the prime suspect, the legendary chupacabra. The local police detective wants Jack’s help proving the killings are the work of a man, not a monster. Fourteen-year old Kiki Cristatello wants Jack to convince the police and her parents to lock her away before she uses magic to kill again. And, a mysterious woman who is rumored to be a witch warns Jack that there is more to the chupacabra myth than ignorance and superstition. “People’s belief brings legends to life,” she tells him. “The stronger the belief, the more powerful the god.”
Jack doesn’t have time to get caught up in island folklore and crazy monster hunts. His agent is coming to collect a manuscript he has yet to write. But when Jack becomes a suspect, he has to find out who—or what—is responsible for the killings before he ends up in jail. Could the witch be right? Is the chupacabra more than a scary story? Does believing in monsters make them real? Or is there a madman on the loose, waiting to strike again? Jack’s best hope of finding the truth lies with a fourteen-year old girl, a crazy homeless woman, a self-proclaimed “angel,” and two dogs. He isn’t optimistic about his future.
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