Characterization: Show vs Tell

I actually learned the danger of telling versus showing when reading, long before I ever started writing. Early on in the book The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, the reader encounters this paragraph:

“Half a dozen brats turned with expressions of derision, and Lyra threw her cigarette down, recognizing the cue for a fight. Everyone's daemon instantly became warlike: each child was accompanied by fangs, or claws, or bristling fur, and Pantalaimon, contemptuous of the limited imaginations of these gyptian daemons, became a dragon the size of a deer hound.”

Which is very much in line with the Lyra we get to know throughout the book. Incredibly clever, quick-witted, a skilled liar, and highly imaginative--or so I thought.

“It wasn’t Lyra’s way to brood; she was a sanguine and practical child, and besides, she wasn’t imaginative. No one with much imagination would have thought seriously that it was possible to [spoiler redacted]; or, having thought it, an imaginative child would immediately have come up with several ways in which it was impossible. Being a practiced liar doesn’t mean you have a powerful imagination. Many good liars have no imagination at all; it’s that which gives their lies such wide-eyed conviction.”

I recall reading that first sentence several times, getting increasingly angry, and finally setting down the book. I wanted to shake the author and tell him that he was wrong about Lyra! She was imaginative and bright and brave all at once. She could be practical while having a keen imagination, and an imagination can counteract the bald logic that sometimes gets in the way of hope and action. I felt so angry that I didn't pick up the book for several days, and I still cringe when I read that paragraph.

Of course, as an author, I'd like to believe that I understand my characters better than anyone. But statements like that--telling as opposed to showing--can undermine a great deal of the characterization readers have inferred from your books. This is, of course, just my opinion; I've met plenty of people who agreed that Lyra was unimaginative. But I would have liked to make up my own mind about that, rather than having the author tell me what I should be taking away from the story.

I was in elementary school at the time, and I still felt that strongly about it, so I don't think children's or YA fiction should be any different in that regard.

Without a doubt, I am not perfect about avoiding telling. But I try to keep it as much out of my novels as I can. Showing what a character does is much more powerful. It's difficult to bite my tongue when characters make false assumptions, but all real people make those mistakes. It's part of why life can get so messy. I just hope that intent comes through for readers.

(Note: I've been feeling a bit better off and on lately, but I apologize if this entry is a bit incoherent. I probably ought to get a little more sleep, haha.)

Genres

This is an issue I've struggled with quite a bit while publishing. How do I categorize my Qol books? (For the purposes of this post, I'll be focusing on Fallacy, but Veracity and Evasion pose similar problems.)

Snowflaking

I recently decided to try out snowflaking--a writing process that runs rather counter to my typical strategies. Usually I start off with a concept, loosely outline it, then watch my characters bulldoze through my plans and make something far more interesting. On the plus side, my stories end up surprising me quite often, keeping me engaged, and developing naturally and organically. However, this method has a fair number of problems, as well: unanticipated plot holes, a great deal of rewriting (approximately four beginning-to-end drafts before hitting the final copy), and sometimes losing the story entirely, which results in more abandoned projects than I'd like.

So I'm trying out snowflaking! If you don't want to read the full summary at the link above, here's a short explanation: You start with your story in a nutshell--a single sentence explaining the concept. Then you turn that sentence into a paragraph, then each sentence in that paragraph into a paragraph of its own, until you have a fully-formed sketch of a story. (At which point you get to flesh it out and turn it into a proper novel.)

So I've been hammering out a concept for a superhero novel. Examples of my progress are under the cut:

KickStarter, Planning, and Confidence.

So my KickStarter was a roaring success! I'm immensely pleased with the results, and have been doing my very best to get rewards and bonuses out to backers immediately. Of course, I don't have final drafts just yet, but I should have those ready by the time the covers are done, at least. Hopefully it won't be too long before all of my stories are available!

In fact, I have a lot of stories in the works. I'm currently 151 pages into the first book of the sequel series that follows the Rewritten arc; at least two more books will follow it. In fact, I've split the sequel series into two series, so there may be three arcs altogether. I'm also aiming to write short stories mapping the lives of over seventy Qol characters from beginning to end, though these won't be available until after the novels are released to avoid spoilers. If people are interested, I would also like to write some of the novels from the perspectives of other characters to offer a different view of the events. Beyond these, I'm currently using a program called Aeon Timeline to organize all of the character stories; once all of the books are published, I'll make that file available for free.

So Qol is getting a lot of attention at the moment. Between six and ten more novels, seventy-some-odd character shorts, as many as six alternate perspective novels, and a timeline spanning over a hundred years are all in the works.

I've also been working on a series of novellas set in an alternate, steampunk version of the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Backers of my first KickStarter got to preview the first story of the set, but all subsequent stories will be fifteen chapters long--between 15,000 and 45,000 words (60 - 180 pages) total, depending on the story. I have them plotted out in detail, and I hope to have them written and edited by the end of the year. The working titles for these stories are: The Great Ships (short story), Hitsuzen, Sadame, Fox Train, The Squeeze, and Fall Together Like Clockwork. If these are successful, I may write even more of them--after all, I did over a thousand pages of research to get as accurate of information as possible for these!

I also have a collection of assorted short stories tentatively called Unmaking in the works. 90% of them have been written and edited as of right now; I plan to release them in bundles of three or four for $0.99 and then as a collection with all six or seven bundles (totalling about twenty stories) for $2.99. They're primarily retellings of old myths, fairy tales, and so forth, only placed in a range of settings from the creation of the universe to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They should start coming out in the next several weeks, with any luck.

So, in summary, I have the following planned for release in 2013 and 2014:

• 6 Qol novels
• 70 Qol character short stories
• 6 bundles of other short stories (~20 stories altogether)
• 6 steampunk novellas
• Total: currently estimating about 4000 book-sized pages. (May total anywhere from 2500 to 6000 pages, though, depending on numerous factors.)

Many of these are already written, and almost all of the others are planned in great detail, so I think that this may be doable. If I work as quickly as I did during November, I may have all of these written, edited, formatted, the and published with covers designed by yours truly by mid-2014 or sooner. Unless, of course, it turns out that a planned story is a total flop on the page--not all ideas pan out in the actual execution, after all.

The main setback that I've experienced thus far, though, is my own lack of confidence in myself. I struggle with marketing my stories, and I worry that people won't enjoy my books, even if I do. Though I understand that all authors encounter this particular predicament, I'm still figuring out how to overcome my nerves and actually hit the publish button. After all, a story is never really done. A point just comes when you're "editing sideways," as my friend, Hildred Billings, once put it. I may or may not be approaching that point on many of the stories in my queue.

But it's tough for me to identify that point with anything approaching confidence, as I want the books to be perfect. There's no such thing as perfection, of course, which lets me put off putting myself out there for indefinite amounts of time. I'm working on that right now, though--you'll all get to see when I hit that point, because I'll suddenly inundate all of you with several novels, short stories, and novellas all at once, most likely. Here's hoping that day will come soon!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me!

Morgan Bauman

Short Stories

I've been working on some short stories, and I'm hoping that working in other genres will develop my writing skills as a whole. At the moment, when not working on the third book in the series, I'm focusing on a small bundle with three pieces of flash fiction (altogether about 5200 words long). I'll be offering a copy of this bundle to my backers; it'll be waiting in the dropbox along with their copies of the ebook and possibly a couple of other short stories.

I've also been going over the short stories that interconnect with my series, and I'm thinking of releasing them one by one when they're no longer spoilers, then compiling them into one big book after all of the series has concluded. That would mean less waiting for readers between books, which might be a real benefit! It depends on what readers prefer, of course; I have several of the stories ready right now, but they have spoilers through the end of the second book, so I can't share them just yet.

As it is, though, I'm hard at work on the third book in the series and trying to produce as much quality work as I can! I've ordered the final proof copy to double check all of the details, and I have things set up so that I can send my readers their copies of the ebooks at any time. I'd send the ebooks out now, but I want to take a look at the proof first if at all possible. I want the ebook and paperback to be as similar as possible.

Editing Progress and Process

I've heard back from my editors and have already gone through to make all of the minor edits. Right now, I'm making the big decisions about which scenes to rewrite entirely, whether to add scenes, cut scenes, flesh out scenes--lots of big decisions. I've already rewritten two scenes, and plan to rewrite at least five more. I fleshed out one scene, but I may flesh it out further, if it won't strain the flow and pacing of the story. I cut one scene and may cut another, depending on whether I believe it's really important to the plot of the story.

Fortunately, I had four skilled people edit my book, and I have a fair amount of feedback as I go through this process. Unfortunately, as always happens, my editors had some points on which they completely disagreed.

The reason that I seek as many opinions as possible when editing is that individual opinions can vary wildly. I don't want to hear only from people who love my book, or only from people who wouldn't read my book on their own. Although this mix of opinions definitely benefits my book, it also makes the editing process more complicated.

After all, if Editor A loves a critical aspect of the story and Editor D loathes it, while Editors B and C think of it in a generally positive light, I have to weigh a number of factors. It might be that my style isn't a good fit for Editor D, and that the people who would want to read my book would enjoy it. But I don't want to discount the strong reaction it provoked. If it were a minor aspect of the story, I might still err on the side of the strong, negative reaction and try to find a middle ground that all editors would love. In this case, the change in question would require rewriting 60%+ of the book and spoiling some important scenes from later books. I think that it might also diminish some of the reread value of the books.

However, I'm trying to think of other possibilities. Responses in general to my books have been quite positive thus far, and I'd like to work to ensure that this particular hurdle doesn't distract from that. The most difficult part of editing--for me, at least--is making decisions. I can write fifty thousand words in two weeks if need be; the writing is not my main concern. I feel like I'm on the verge of finalizing my decisions, however, so this should move forward steadily.

For those interested, my editing process, from beginning to end, is beneath the cut.

Small Update (not quite a progress report)

Six days is the longest that I've gone without posting here thus far. Sometimes I worry that I'm posting too often; I got a lot of responses that said they wanted updates about once a week. I write posts whenever I think of something that I think you all might find interesting, rather than writing on a set schedule. Thus far, this has worked pretty well for me, but let me know if I ever neglect anything in this blog.

Now, I'm waiting on three more editors at the moment. I don't want to edit Untold Memories before hearing back from all of them. In my past experience with editing, Editor A may hate a particular scene, line of dialogue, or character, while Editor B and Editor C may insist that that scene/dialogue/character is the best part of the entire book. Changing the book before gathering a consensus has not worked well for me in the past, so I'm holding off for the moment.

Of course, I also can't get terribly far with the third book until I know for sure whether the first or second books will change significantly. Furthermore, audiobook companies don't seem to offer services at prices I can afford, and I don't know anyone with the right voice for recording my audiobook among my friends. Finally, I can't finish prepping the paperback bonuses without knowing for sure how many people are going to want them. (Although many people have expressed interest and told me they plan to buy them, only two people have actually paid for their paperbacks, which makes me think that I may be a bit hasty if I plunge into preparing packages for everyone else.)

So, with action stymied in those areas, I've been focusing on broadening my writing skills by experimenting with other genres. Up until now, I've written almost nothing but fantasy; I decided to look into some anthologies that are open for submissions. I primarily found science fiction and horror anthologies, and I think that it'll make my writing more well-rounded if I practice with both of those, so that's what I've been trying. Of course, since I'm new to these genres and competing against veterans, I doubt that I'll be accepted. Even so, I think that the effort itself is worth the time I'm putting into it.

To be honest, it makes me want to put together an anthology of my own. I want Qol Press to be a long-lasting business, not something that I close down when I finish releasing Untold Memories (which should happen in late 2016 or 2017, depending on whether the branch story pans out). I also might want to release more than two books a year once I get into the rhythm of it. So I've been toying around with the idea of releasing anthologies between books, or after the books are all released.

In a nutshell, this is what I've been thinking about and working on for the last week. If you have any ideas, concerns, or questions, just let me know!

I'm really looking forward to getting back word from my editors! Oh, I'm still right on track with the initial plan (I'm actually ahead of it in some areas), but I'm always happiest when I'm working hard rather than just planning for when I can actually work hard again. I'm glad that I anticipated the wait times involved, at least. You should still get your books right on time, and in the best condition that I can possibly offer. I can't wait!

Fandom

I received a gift in the mail today! (Photo beneath the cut.) This particular present made me especially happy, since it's a fan-made plush of one of my main characters. This got me thinking--I've talked on other websites about my views regarding fandom, but I haven't been especially public about it just yet. It seemed like as good a time as any to discuss it, so that's what I wanted to talk about today. I know that not everyone is interested in this topic, however, so the rest of the post will follow the cut!

What's in a name?

The first of my editors got their final notes and edits to me late last night. They included a lot of helpful suggestions and revisions, so I think that editing is looking really promising right now! Unfortunately, one of their best suggestions is one that is nearly impossible for me. My main character is named Renee (nickname Ray) and her sister is Raven. The setting of the first book is a village called Rayai. All three of these, as it turns out, begin with "Ra".

With my synesthesia, their names are entirely distinct colors that are simple to differentiate. It wasn't until they'd had those names for five years before anyone told me that they were easy to mix up. Since then, I've been told the same thing by several other people. To be honest, I think that they have an excellent point, and I actually want to change the name--so, what's the problem?

For me, names define characters. Not in any way that someone else could probably see--well, unless they could mysteriously borrow my synesthesia for a few hours. To change a character's name is the same, on a visceral level, as erasing that character's existence. The character won't--can't--be the same person if they have a different name.

Of course, this probably sounds ridiculous. What's in a name, anyway? Can't I just use find and replace to fix it? Those are the things that I keep telling myself, but it's so much harder than that. If you've known someone for ten years, suddenly relearning their name is very hard indeed. When asked by that person to do so, of course, I will (and have); when you're the one renaming them, it feels much more uncomfortable.

So, what do you think is in a name?