Another lesson learned . . .

This one's about backstory.

Writing a choose your own adventure novel gives me the opportunity to give my heroine a different backstory in each thread. The basic backstory is that she was raised in Africa on a chimpanzee refuge, but fled at age 15; our story starts 15 years later. The reason she fled can totally change, though, which is fun. So far I've had her flee a homicidal insane father, and flee to establish her independence from her radical chimp activist parents, and there will be several other reasons, too.

So it's fun to consider radically different backstory possibilities, and see the impact of motivations (she fled b/c of fear) vs the primary facts (she started a new life as a private investigator).

But the main thing about backstory? Most of the threads don't need it at all, beyond brief references to the basic facts. I've been avoiding backstory in a lot of threads because it just adds to the complexity (is it this thread where she killed her mother? or was she kidnapped by the religious cult in this one?) - so I've only gone into the deep backstory when it's absolutely necessary. And 90% of the time, it is not necessary. People want to read story, not backstory.

Just two things to keep in mind when you're launching into a 5,000 word flashback about your heroine's childhood - consider a bunch of backstories before settling on the best one; and whenever possible, just skip the backstory altogether.

About 3k words to go on the nano novel, and then I'll be an official winner.

Nanowrimo 2007

So I'm about 35,000 words into my nano novel, and it's going really well. This is my seventh time (hit 50k four of those times, and surely will this time, too), and I'm really pleased with it. It's just falling into place, without the glaring structural problems I've had in previous attempts. I've learned a ton from all the other ones, and it's always worth doing, for me - but this time it's just working; I think I'm actually going to have something worth editing once this is all over.

It's a choose your own adventure novel, which is a crapload of fun. The format presents its own challenges - it's tricky to work in all the information I need in all the various downstream scenes, and tricky to keep everything straight (did I maim the antagonist in this thread? or was it the other one?). But it's fun to see how my protagonist's choices play out, and liberating to be able to just kill her off whenever I want.

It also forces me to have a very active protagonist. Something *has* to happen in every scene - no sitting around navel-gazing, no long pointless scenes that go nowhere. Every scene *has* to lead to others. She *has* to choose something in every scene - things can't just happen while she reacts. And the choices have to be significant enough, and distinctive enough, to spawn different threads that can carry their own weight. A lot of times I've thought, let's have her do A or B, only to realize that B is a really boring choice, or too similar to something I've already done - so I've had to rethink things to consistently make the choices more significant.

And that's a good thing - who wants to read about a character who never does anything, never makes any real choices, never has to deal with the consequences of her actions? I hope I'll be able to remember this lesson next time I'm writing a regular story.

Tools of the trade:

I'm mapping out the options with bubbl.us, a free online mind-mapping application. It's very simple and easy to use, and when you delete a bubble, there's a little explosion, which I like, because I am three.

I'm writing in yWriter, which lets me work on each scene as an individual unit - this would be a nightmare in a single text document, or even a collection of them. yWriter keeps it all together for me.

And I'm listening to Pandora.

Happy Halloween from Shimmer!

As a special Halloween treat, we're delighted to present a brand-new story from Vylar Kaftan, free and online. Grab some candy and settle in to read Something Wicked This Way Comes today.

Congrats to Ken Scholes!

He's just sold his first novel (and 4 sequels!) to Tor. It's a really good novel, and Ken's a really great guy. Huzzah!

http://kenscholes.livejournal.com/31745.html for details.

The Pirate Keyboard

Avast! Check out this fine piratical keyboard.

(Thanks to Mike Munsil for drawing it to my attention!)

More Year's Best Honorable Mentions

Woo-hoo! There are more! Here's the full list:

Aliette de Bodard, "Through the Obsidian Gates," autumn
Samantha Henderson, "Route Nine," winter
Matthew Mantooth, "Litany," spring
Tom Pendergrass, "Sell Your Soul to the Devil Blues," winter
Angela Slatter, "Bluebeard," summer
Angela Slatter, "The Angel Wood," autumn
Angela Slatter, "The Little Match Girl," spring
Nir Yaniv (translated by Lavie Tidhar), "A Wizard on the Road," autumn


And my story, "The Minotaur's Rabbit," published in Apex #7, made the list, too! What a lovely surprise.

In further "today's been a great day" developments, we got Shimmer's pirate issue off to the printers today.

I also went to my first yoga class in months; it was great (though very challenging in spots!). Aha, I thought after the class, I am full of energy - so THAT'S how I used to get stuff done, before I got distracted by other things and got way behind. Clearly I need to find a way to work yoga back into the schedule.

Aliette de Bodard's Honorable Mention

Aliette reports that her story, Through the Obsidian Gates, received an Honorable Mention in the Datlow/Link/Grant Year's Best! Her story appeared in our Autumn 2006 issue. (We've still got a few copies left - if you want one, snag it on our Back Issues page.)

I think Obsidian Gates was the first Aliette story I read, back before Shimmer ever existed. I was really glad to see the story show up in my slush pile one day (and Aliette was a delight to work with through the revisions!). It makes me very happy to see this story get some recognition.

Congrats, Aliette!

Day Three. . .

So I'm on Day Three of being sick. I'm exhausted, my brain is full of pudding, I'm achey, and my throat is raspy. I spend most of my time reading or napping or just sitting stupidly and watching TV.

I think it's the pudding-head that bothers me the most. I'm happy to spend the weekend curled up in bed with a book - I just wish I had the brains available to enjoy it.

Yarr! A Piratical Cover!

Check out the lovely cover to Shimmer's Pirate issue (release date: Nov. 1).

James Owen, the very talented artist, also did the interior art for the issue, which really ties everything together beautifully. Head on over to his LiveJournal, where he's posted images of the cover as it came together, from initial sketch to final image.

Better than a bucket o' chum!

It's not a blog without a cat post

Abby (short for Anklebiter) spent this summer sleeping curled around the base of the toilet. But check out her new fall sleeping space. It's just the right size for her.



Today will be spent proofing the Pirate Issue so that we can get it out to the printers next week. It's amazing how many typos you find. This issue has been edited, copy edited, had the edited text approved by authors, had the galley proofs approved by authors - and still, there's a ton of stuff to catch. Moral of the story: proof early and often - but accept that despite your best efforts, errors will slip through.

And check out Apex's Halloween raffle.

Yarr! The Pirate Issue!

Avast! It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

We be celebrating by sharing our Shimmery treasure with ye landlubbers. Set your sails for http://www.shimmerzine.com/ and watch our trailer. Then pour yerself a fresh mug o' grog and settle down to read a story from the issue: The Sweet Realm, by Jill Snider Lum.

You can also pre-order the pirate issue: a special double-length issue, guest-edited by Cap'n John Joseph Adams of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Release date: November 1, 2007.

Busy weekend!

We've had a nice productive weekend here. Sean's busy working on the music for the trailer for Shimmer's Pirate issue (you should be able to see something fabulous on Talk Like A Pirate Day, Sept. 19th). It's lovely to see him so engaged in something. He's enthusiastic about his writing and about his classes and about his future in teaching - but none of those things absorbs him quite the way music does.

And I've gotten a lot done this weekend, too. It's good to be productive instead of overwhelmed. I continue to put a lot of energy towards figuring out the best way for me to work; I think this is highly individual. Everyone has overcrowded lives; everyone needs to balance their home and their day job and their relationships and their creative life and their other interests and their recreation activities. It takes some experimenting to find the best approach. For me, it seems that breaking every activity into bite-sized tasks ("read 1 chapter of 'War and Peace'" vs "read 'War and Peace'"), combined with limiting each day's To Do list to a manageable size, is the way to go.

I'm also focusing on one area of my life at a time. For a while, it seemed like the aspect that had most of my attention was my house: creating new systems to keep us clean and fed was more consuming than I expected it would be. But that phase is settling down, and the house stays clean and we have yummy meals every night and life is good. It's remarkable how happy it makes me to have a clean and organized home; it just seems to make everything else flow better. (Time committment: 5 minutes/day to pick up crap, 10 minutes to deal with dishes and etc after dinner, 45 minutes a week to do a thorough cleaning of the whole house, 2 hrs per month on special cleaning/decluttering projects.) But now, finally, that's almost under control, and I can focus more on Shimmer and my own writing.

btw, if you have any interest in the workings of a small press magazine, read John Klima's series on starting a zine. He's the editor of Electric Velocipede, one of my favorites, and he's offering lots of good information; read it!

He does mention how much effort goes into a magazine, but I don't think you can really understand it until you're waist-deep in it. And for me, more than the sheer amount of work, it's the relentlessness of it: today I can read 10 slush stories and get caught up; tomorrow there will be another 10. And that's just the slush pile: every other aspect is just as continual. The work never stops.

Which brings me back to figuring out how you work. How much can you do in a day, realistically? Where's the boundary between "protecting your free time" and "procrastinating"? What's the most effective way to get magazine work done, get the day job done, keep your life running, and be with your loved ones?

It evolves slowly, this productivity thing; but I know this: I'm happy when I've had a full and productive day, doing work I love. It really makes me feel I've earned my olivetini.

The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Over the holiday weekend, Sean and I took a mini-vacation. We headed to Brigham City, about an hour north of Salt Lake, and checked out the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. Verdict: neat.

To reach the refuge, you drive about 10 miles down a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere. There's an Education Center just off the highway, but it was closed for the holiday, so we weren't all that sure we were headed in the right direction. Soon enough we started seeing bird refuge signs, though, so we figured we were ok.

Once you reach the refuge, there's a 12-mile car path with frequent parking spots to stop and look at the birds (and those wacky carp). We weren't smart enough to bring a book to help us identify all the birds we saw, but I know we saw white pelicans, ibises, cranes, herons, and other shore birds. We took a lot of pictures, but none that do it justice. It's a lovely and remote area, full of birds. Check it out if you're in the area.

Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest, #10

Have you been reading Apex? If not, you're missing out. I've been reading Apex since the first issue, and it's been really interesting to watch the magazine grow and improve. It seems to me that there's been a particularly noticable shift in quality in the last two issues: the stories are more mature, more subtle, more challenging; the horror is less intestine-based, and more deeply creepy. Editor Jason Sizemore is exploring a more nuanced approach, and I'm enjoying it.


Bad Sushi, by Cherie Priest, is a nicely atmospheric Lovcraftian sushi story. It's a solid start to the issue: Priest's skill at evoking her characters and world bodes well for the rest of Issue 10.


Daydreams, by Lavie Tidhar, perhaps best represents the direction Apex is going now. It's smart and challenging. The story takes a bit more work than the rest of the pieces in this issue, but for many readers, it is sure to be a favorite. Fans of Tidhar will also want to grab a copy of Hebrew Punk, his short story collection, published by Apex.


Memories of the Knacker's Yard, by Ian Creasey, is perhaps my favorite in this issue. It's a delightfully noir ghost story which completely lives up to the promise of its opening.

If a ghost complains that it's just been murdered, it can help us by describing the killer, or at least telling us about its enemies. Investigating a murder without a ghost is much harder. the slashing was the third this month, all without ghosts, and the eight this year. Or was it the ninth?

Hell, when you lose count of the corpses, you know you're losing.

It's got some neat worldbuilding, a familiar but fresh protagonist, and a satisfying conclusion.

Pigs and Feaches, by Patrice Sarath, is another favorite; it's an emotionally horrifying story that remained with me long after I read it. I love short-short stories that are done well.

Cain Xp11, by Geoffrey Girard, continues Girard's cloned serial killer serial. I know I've read a cloned serial killer story or two, but I'm really enjoying Girard's take on it, and looking forward to the other installments.

Monument, by Nancy Fulda, this issue's Parting Shot, is a wistful elegy that ends the issue on a strong and intelligent note.

Dust stirs around my tennis shoes as I walk. I realize with sudden vertigo that I am tramping through their ashes, disturbing a crematorium, traversing a mass grave. I step carefully.

Well done, Apex. I can't wait for #11.

Aliette de Bodard at WOTF

Aliette de Bodard is blogging about her experiences at the Writers of the Future awards and workshop. Here's a picture of her looking radiant at the awards ceremony with Kevin J. Anderson.

Aliette's stories frequently appear in Shimmer, and we are not in the least surprised to see her doing well in major competitions. Congrats, Aliette!

Updated to add, courtesy of commenter John Goodwin: you can see more photos at http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com

Apex and a Coconut

In the mail today, a copy of Apex's Best of 2006 anthology. There's some good reading in there, including Mary's Cerbo en Vitra Ujo. I wrote an appreciation of Deb Taber's story, How to Raise a Human. I've even forgiven Jason Sizemore for getting my name wrong. :) It's a good book; grab yourself a copy.

Sean's been doing most of the grocery shopping lately, and he's under standing orders to bring home a variety of produce. "Get whatever looks interesting," I said, "and I'll figure out what to do with it.

Yesterday he brought home a whole coconut, and I must admit that I'm not sure what to do. The last time I had a whole coconut, I got a little tipsy and made a coconut meringue pie at 2 am (without implements of destruction to open the coconut, or anything more than a whisk to do the meringue - it was a hell of a lot more work than it neeeded to be). Clearly I can not be trusted with coconut-based decisions - so any suggestions about how to consume this coconut?

Insane, in a wonderful way

Michael Livingston Chaucers Scalzi. Check it out.

Momos

Inspired by the momos we had last night at House of Tibet, we set out to make our own today. We used Jay Lake's recipe. I've been reading about his momo adventures for a while now, but have never managed to get around to trying them.

So how did it go? Well, they're pretty yummy, but nowhere near the ones we had last night; I think we need to do this a few more times before we get really good at it. I wasn't quite sure how to shape them, but figured it didn't really matter; as long as the dough was even and the meat contained, it should be ok. We used ground turkey instead of beef: next time, beef. And we don't quite have the hang of cooking them. The first few got very brown but the meat was still raw on the inside - so for the rest, we treated them like pirougue and boiled them for a few minutes before finishing them off by frying. We also baked a bunch of them, just to see how that would turn out.

We liked the fried ones more than the baked, of course; next time, we'll get the hang of cooking them. I'm sure of it.

Served with an asian cabbage salad for dinner.

Pirate reading at Armadillocon!

If you're going to be at Armadillocon this weekend, stop by the Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading. Jeanette Cheney, one of our fine pirate authors, will be reading from her pirate issue story. That's this Friday, August 10, at 6:00. Don't miss it!

Getting to Know the Area

So today, we decided to start getting to know our neighborhood and the local businesses better - instead of just going to the same old restaurants and coffee shops and movie theaters, we're going to explore. I've arbitrarily declared a very wide area as being "our neighborhood" - east to the University, south to 1300 South, West to 300 West, and north to North Temple. If you're not in SLC, that won't mean much to you; but it's a huge area that includes most of downtown, as well as the University of Utah and several funky little neighborhoods, so there's lots of exploring to do.

We started today's adventure at the Utah Museum of Natural History; they have a special frog exhibit now. The fun part about exploring is that going to one place makes you want to check out other places: the paleontology hall makes me want to go see more dinosaur bones, the anthropology hall had us planning a trip to the Four Corners area and the Grand Canyon.

After that, we headed to House of Tibet for potato cutlets, momos, and chicken curry. Yum! It's been several years since I've been there; I forgot how good it is. I think I'll put that on my list of places to take my parents when they're here next week.

Finally, we stopped off at Caffe Niche for coffee. It's a new place, occupying a space that used to be a funky vintage clothing store. The staff was super-friendly, and the space was beautiful and hip. It didn't seem much like the kind of coffee shop where you'd bring your laptop and hang out, but the dinner menu looked too tiny to make it much of a dinner destination, which left me a little confused about its identity - what kind of place is it? They're usually open from 7 am to 4 pm, so I think I'll have to swing by there in the day sometime, and see what it's like in their core hours.

When we came home, I accidentally fell asleep, instead of doing a few hours of Shimmer work. Mmm, sleep.