Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

I am currently attempting a paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel. I have a great idea. The story starts hot and smart and strange. Yet as I get into the novel I find that things aren’t as easy as I thought.

It’s not that I haven’t read this genre. I have and I enjoy it. However, it is darn hard. Why?

I’ve been struggling through why this is so. What makes it harder than say  straight fantasy or SF? I think it is balance, believability and character. The two main characters, in this case, the man and the woman, have to appear real or three-dimensional. Now with paranormal/urban fantasy your everyday character can be exposed to something out of the ordinary. This is the case with my heroine. She is thrust into something quite disturbing and fantastic. How do I make her reactions realistic?

When I look over what I have done I see that I am going to quickly. She comes to terms with things too easily. The male character is used to the fantastic so that’s not an issue, but the story does place him in a difficult position. Is he taking it too easy? Do I address the ramifications for him? I look over what I’ve done and see that I need to do more along these lines.

The sex. Now I think I write a darn good and hot sex scene. However, I can’t just have a series of sex scenes now can I? There must be variety, suspense, teasing, tension and a reasonable amount of plot to hang these scenes off, at the same time developing the relationship between the characters, either love or hate. So there’s another complexity.

Plot-now this has to be able to stand. What this type of story is to my mind is a whole story with realistic love encounters woven through it. So I can’t get away with flinging a few bits of plot here and there. Now I need to have twists and turns, impediments for the character in solving the plot issue, and a realisation (as well as the love issue, which can be quite separate from the main plot driver).

Keri Arthur for example has a mystery/thriller plot line along with her character’s sexual encounters. They interweave quite well. Nor is she formulatic. I read a number of her books, then came across one where the character didn’t have sex for quite a few chapters, which was for her unusual.

Related to plot is the world building. You can’t be shy about establishing the rules of the world, often the contemporary world with an underbelly of magic, vampires, elves, whatever. So for this you need to apply the same vigour as you would to your fantasy world building, but make it sit well within your chosen contemporary city etc.

This all adds up to a pretty tough ask. So instead of steaming ahead as I usually do, I am taking time to think, to slow down the rapid assault of my plot, I am taking the time for the characters to show how they feel, explore their reactions. I may need to cut this later, but I think for now this is what I need to do.

I also need to sit down and do a bit more work on the world, the magic, the hierarchy of the magicians, and the technical aspects of the machinations that are to ensnare my characters. Then my next step is to revisit the beginning and slow down, but still keep it pacey. Rats. That’s hard too. Then I need to make sure there is more tension, more near misses with the sex scenes…gee another hard task.

Actually what it boils down to is thinking and hard work. Oh well no one ever said this writing gig is easy.

Today I received in the post, two lots of books. Four of each to be exact. One was Scary Kisses edited by Liz Grzyb and the other Belong edited by Russell B Farr (Ticonderoga Publications). I have a story in both. They are well presented and I can’t wait to dip my nose into them and read the stories. Scary Kisses is paranormal romance and my story ‘Heat’ is a vampire slut story.

A couple of years ago, Nicole Murphy and I decided to do an anthology of speculative romance stories, called Kiss of the Lily. We didn’t get enough stories to fill it and it had to be canned. We also had a lot of really bad stories  submitted such as stories that weren’t speculative or romance and stories that were neither. So when we saw Scary Kisses submission call, we had to submit. I mean we had so many ideas while thinking up Kiss of the Lily,  it was time to put them to the test. Both Nicole and I had stories accepted for Scary Kisses. Vindication!

Belong is looking like an exeptional anthology based on the migration-belong theme. ‘Green, green grass of  Homeworld’ is a science fiction story of nearly 10,000 words. It took me 5 years of thinking and procrastinating to write it and when it came,  it came out smoothly. I can’t wait to read the rest of the stories.

Currently I am working on another SF story based on refugees, migration and exploitation. So far the draft is 7000 words but I think it might either turn into a novella or become a novel. I guess I’ll have to keep working on it.

I have been working on this particular MS for 9 years. Oh lord was it that long ago? It is not my first novel attempt. Technically it was my second. It was my first attempt at fantasy and I found it hard. Now this ms has been through many iterations and reinventions. The first attempt was a bit YA in feel and tone. Not well crafted or written either for that matter. I was starting out. I remember the earlier drafts had about six chapters before the action happened. I had the two characters starting out in Canberra, their trip to Scotland, activities in Scotland etc. Lord what a waste of time.

I was learning my craft. Those chapters came out. As the years went by, and I revisted the story, I added things, I changed things and I refined things. I had the first few chapters assessed and got a bone crushing critique. Later, when I thought I should bin it, I sent it for an MS assessment and workshop (Envision). There I learned to do a few things to enhance it, but the greatest lesson was not to throw it away. It had potential.

I did more work on it. I gave to people to read and got feedback. Then one day last year I sent it to an editor, who has read other MSs of mine but hadn’t seen this one. Well of course it was rejected, but I got something very important and quite rare in my opinion. I got feedback, exciting feedback and compliments. This really inspired me to revist the MS again.

So this year, incorporating feedback and discussions with the editor, I revised the ms. There were some really funny things in there, things and habits and quirks that have been with me for 9 years and that I hadn’t recognised even though I had been revisiting every couple of years of so.

For instance, over use of exclamation marks!!! How I hate them so why were they there?
The use of colourful speech attribution instead of ‘said.’ At times I even had, ‘she exclaimed’ as well as using the exclamation mark. I used many attributions that are quite acceptable in a category romance but not I guess in other fiction. They look quite funny, eg ‘ She enthused.’

The overuse of adverbs. I had a terrible lot of them.
Saying things twice in different ways. Sort of like. She walked into the room, threw the book down and slammed herself into a chair. She was angry.

Like no kidding she was angry. I had shown it quite well in aciton but had to add in case you didn’t get it that she was angry. So there was a bit of that through out the story.

I gently peeled 10-15,000 words from the MS. I was worried. Had I lost something of my character, taking away her little mishaps?  The character, particularly in the early part of the book , was coming across too YA. I needed to mature her. I did this a bit in the tone of her thoughts and dialogue and I got rid of some actions, which I deemed were childish, or made her appear immature. In the end, I didn’t really alter her character but it did mature her I think.

Then I reread the whole thing and sent it to beta readers. Ones who hadn’t read it before. That was very useful.  It is difficult to view your own work with objectivity, though I am learning. Reading is subjective. So two people can have similar or dissimilar reactions. Both lots of feedback were useful because it allowed me to target areas where I hadn’t quite addressed the issue or I had created new issues. As I write this I realise I left the burger and fries and the pizza references out. Darn.

Revising the MS after the feedback was difficult. I intended to use the five days I had off over Easter but got sick. The enthusiasm died a bit. Also some negative feedback plagued me. When push came to shove, I had a crisis of faith in myself. I had to push through it.  I think in the end I made the MS better. I’ll find out eventually because I sent it off. It may not find a home there but I think it is a better peice of work and it will find a home eventually.

The answer is writing. I have been doing a ton of stuff. Short stories, some new, some old and revising a manuscript. What I have found interesting and funny in doing that is some of the things one writes when one is new to writing or is not really aware when drafting. I had revised this particular MS quite a few times, but the telling thing is that I first drafted it in 2001, when I was such a newbie. So on this particular revision I found some interesting and funny things.

Saying it too many times in different ways. For example, his face was familiar. I know this guy.

Using too many descriptors when attributing dialogue. Now you can get away with this when writing category romance but mostly it is frowned on as bad writing. He enthused. He demanded etc.

Exclamation marks. Oh god! I had so many! It was so annoying! Actually two run throughs of the MS and there were still a couple there. I edited a novel once and I had to go on an exclamation mark hunt. You know I even had he exclaimed! Lol.

I found these errors amusing but I was embarrassed too. An editor had read this and I hadn’t even noticed these mistakes, some had been there since 2001. Problem is that I like this story and then I get absorbed and not very objective. However that lapse does not help make my manuscript professional looking.

It is now with some beta readers for comment. I am bracing myself for feedback.

I can’t seem to help myself. I’ve been writing and submitting work. It is funny but stories I wrote a while ago and gave up on have found a home. One story that I submitted and was rejected once has finally found a home. I remember getting it critiqued and I must have revised it because when I dug it out the story wasn’t bad. I recall being ashamed that I submitted it because I really respected the editor and felt embarrassed that she hated the story.

I revised it, of course, changed a few things, however, there was nothing really wrong with it. A few years distance and I have no idea why I never submitted it again. I had this idea that it sucked. I guess that must be part of the ‘I really suck crisis thing’  that writers can go through.I know I went through that, really went deep into a dark place wondering if I should give up. Somewhere along the line I didn’t give up because I am still here, still writing and well maybe I should make 2010 my year. Doing okay so far with 4 short stories coming out.

Also, the other thing to realise is that this story, Warning Buoy, really fit what the editor was looking for. SF space horror. So a lesson to remember is find the right place to send your work.

Another story that has had a lot of positive feedback but no home was The Clean Streets of Oberest. The main problem I had with this story was that people liked the story but there was something about the ending that wasn’t quite doing it. I submitted it on Friday to an anthology, after revising it of course. During the night I had an idea about how to elaborate on the ending. I did not change it but I did take time to explain a crucial point in dialogue. Today I heard back that the story is in. The editor liked the original but said that my revision closed the deal. I am very happy to have that story in print. Again, this story has a creature in it, not a werewolf or anything commonplace, and the editor was looking for new creatures.

Now I have to work a bit harder and submit to paying markets and aim for semi pro magazines  (and Pro?) etc. I like writing short stories but my passion is really novel length. I have been known to write longer shorts, Green, green grass of homeworld is nearly 10,000 words, which is to appear in Belong by Ticonderoga Publications, is quite a long story for me. The only other short that was that long became a novela of 29,000 words (that is currently being looked at somewhere). I really got into that story and feel that I could write some longer SF stories and maybe a novela.

Life is pretty difficult right now. My mum went into a nursing home suddenly and there is so much to do and then there’s the emotional side of things. She’s close by and I can visit. The logistics of moving her stuff and dealing with all the other things, like change of address, terminating leases and cleaning up has knocked me one. All I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep when I finsihed work.

However, tonight I am going to work on polishing a short story and maybe something else. Reading helps too. Currently reading The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R. L. Stevenson. I so like 19C writers.

Back from retreat, back from Aurealis Awards and Brisbane and back to work!

Part of my job is writing an audit report. Well mine is getting ready to publish and will soon be tabled. Now that the months of drafting is over I should have the mental space to write.

Tonight I promised myself to do some writing. I have a young adult novella that I have pulled out of an old drive. I think I first wrote it in 2003. I haven’t looked at it for years. You know I was quite surprised as it was very readable and doesn’t need much polishing. It does need some tweaking.

Instead I have started a new blog confessionsofaserialdieter.wordpress.com
In this blog, I talk about dieting, food and getting old.
I have written three posts already but that doesn’t count towards the word count.

Now to be serious.

Yesterday we hoofed it up to Bowral to have lunch with Trudi Canavan. On the way, Russell Kirkpatrick took us on a carefully planned excursion to waterfalls and views of and to the escarpment. I like these little excursions because I feel slightly more intelligent and it often fuels my ideas for writing. Not so much novel ideas but bits of detail that make the worlds I traverse slightly more real and interesting.

After the trip to Bowral though my neck hurt a bit and I felt a bit off colour. Dreams of writing a whopping big 5,000 word splurge were easily forgotten and despite the Kung Fu movie with very little Kung Fu and lots of black magic, I finished my knitting and went to bed. The thunderstorm was very impressive with rumbling thunder that went on and on and light displays that made Russell gasp with excitement.

Today however I am writing fit and I cooked chocolate dream muffins that have kicked started my engine.

Now I’m off to blog on the fantasywritersonretreat.wordpress.com blog

I am such a sport.

All the gang are blogging at fantasywritersonretreat.wordpress.com

I have reworked a short story and sent it off.  Also managed a few hundred words on my new project. Have one more short story to revise before I am free to get into it. Both of these have been accepted into anthologies. Yay me. It feels good to be productive after a period of not writing shorts at all.

Took the opportunity this morning to finish ‘A Small Favour’ by Jim Butcher, one of the Dresden books. That’s my second book finished this year. I thought the world building was very good and involved.  I hadn’t read one of these before and yet I had no problem missing out on stuff because Butcher does a good job making the story self-sufficient. Yes there are references to previous adventures but I didn’t think that detracted at all. I can see why the series is so popular.

I hear laughing behind me. We shared Nicole’s Moet to celebrate her finishing her copy edit on her first novel. It goes into the post tomorrow. That’s it from me. I have to work now and post on the other blog.

About to start the climb to my day’s goal word count. Yesterday I sailed over it, even though I doubted I would. Not only am I trying for word count, I am trying for quality drafting. However, I find the target squeezes a few extra words out of me. Usually I don’t worry too much about what I am writing while drafting because I let it all out and let the story flow. Yet I am surrounded by writers who can do pretty much a final draft on the first run through. I usually need quite a few drafts before I get things right. I have to think things through, assess them from different angles. Sometimes it is a scene with talking heads and then I have to go back and put the scene together, the action, add the senses in.

Retreat total is 8,000 odd so far. I have 52,000 to go and only 9 full days to do it in. Wednesday we are out while the house is being cleaned and on the last day we have to tidy, pack the car and head home. Better go!

Currently reading The Crysalids by John Wyndam

PS sorry posts are out of order. I found the first one in the draft folder.