Committing to the Shiny New Idea

Shiny new ideas can come at you with all sorts of speeds. There are the ones that slap you upside the head so fast, you twirl and forget your surroundings ("Groceries? Who cares! MUST WRITE NOW.") There are the slow brewing ones that squat like a frog in the corner of your brain, begging to be turned into something more majestic.

Either way, at some point, writers must commit to their new idea. Here are some of the steps I go through when deciding to spend the next months (or year? Years, even?) with the next novel.

What else is already out there?

Source: Giphy

Every story you write is uniquely yours. If you ask two people to write a story about paisley-patterned pixies that live in Greenland, they will still be different. But--I know that personally I don't like to write a novel if that type of story is already glutting the market. I want to write something that truly feels unique to me. How will I know readers will find it different? What can I add to the already plentiful number of beautifully written books out there? So I always take that into consideration.

What is my main character's journey going to be like?

Source: Giphy

So. The journey. There are lots of classic journeys that main characters go through. Will it be a classic hero's journey? How will the MC change and grow? What are the stakes? Are they important enough? When I ask these questions, I try to feel if this is a story I actually care to create, watch unfold, and be involved in.

How familiar am I with this genre?

Source: Giphy

I am a genre-hopping writer. CONTROL and CATALYST are firmly in the realm of science fiction, defined by the genetic manipulation and near future realities within it, but I've also written historical, urban fantasy, and have high fantasy and even more historical on my list of things to write. I've lived in YA but also dabble in MG. I always try to read lots of books when I'm entering into new territory, so I can get a feel for how other authors tackle them (also known as the most fun homework, EVER.) I know we hear the common phrase "Write what you know," but part of writing is about using our imaginations to expand into what we're unfamiliar with. However--if it's so unfamiliar that you're deeply uncomfortable in that territory, well. That's telling.

Can I speak the language?

Source: Giphy

This is really a research/brainstorming question. Before I can write a single word, I have to know what my characters are going to sound like, what they wear. I have to know what the buildings look like, if the food is spicy. I have to know about the politics of the time and the historical background--and I'm not just talking about writing historical novels. This is true for epic fantasy, and futuristic thrillers, and contemporary. If you can sit inside your world and really see it--you're ready to live there a while.

Who else lives here?

Source: Giphy

World building is one thing, but who else lives there? These are the people and animals and creatures that can really bring vibrancy to your world. A main character is nothing without the supporting cast. So I have to meet them and be just as entranced with them as the MC and world.

Am I in love with it?

Source: Giphy

This is the biggest question of all. After all this work, am I still in love with it? Because to tell you the truth, I've never written a novel where my heart didn't flutter at the very concept of it. I can't explain why, but the spark sometimes disappears after fleshing it all out. Those books have never been written. However, if I'm still swooning over the idea, then Spock isn't allowed to destroy it all. I open up my Scrivener program and start writing page one. :)

Twirl that Moustache: Your Favorite Villains

We love our heroes. But villains are worthy of our love, too, for so many reasons. These days, villains seem to have as many (or more?) fans than the heroes of our favorite SF/F stories. 

Here, our Leaguers share some of their favorite villains, and why!

Beth Revis:
My favorite villain is The Operative in the movie Serenity. He is absolutely evil, but he absolutely believes that what he is doing is the right thing. He's not a mustache-twirling bad guy (which, despite the helmet, Darth Vader totally is); he has explicit, specific--and even reasonable--logic for doing the horrible things he does. His reaction to everything that happens in the end of the novel is amazing, something very few villains do, and that makes him even more perfect.

The Operative, from Serenity. "Darth Vader is flat Stanley. Because Beth says so and I agree."

Mindy McGinnis:
My favorite SF/F villain is Black Jack Randall from the Outlander series. Every villain has a reason for what they're doing, and Gabaldon actually made me cry for him at one point. HOW!??! I don't know, but she did.

Black Jack Randall. A keen eye and a bloody good hat.
Source

Bethany Hagen:
Both Victor and Eli from V.E. Schwab's Vicious.  They are both so clever and original, plus I really dug the idea that they were battling each other, and it wasn't necessarily a hero vs. villain.  More like villains versus each other.

This is Victor, turning his back on you.

Lissa Price:
I will go with the Master from the David Tennant version of Dr Who. 

The Master, from Dr Who. Source
"This? Oh, it's just a fork. Trust me."

E.C. Myers:
I am going with General Zod, specifically from the film Superman II. He isn't the worst villain, but he's definitely evil and ambitious and a match for Supes. He's also inadvertently funny and entertaining. "Kneel before Zod" is classic, and there's this great moment in the film where he's being interviewed on TV and he ends it by using his own name as an exclamation: "Zod!"

General Zod. "Kneel before my superlative facial hair stylings."

Lydia Kang:
I would say Loki from Thor. He's so devilishly evil but with a squishy heart inside. And then there's Khan, from Star Trek into Darkness. I also had a major villain crush on Pitch, from Rise of the Guardians. That scratchy voice was too much. Who doesn't want to strive to just exist? I could go on...

Here's Loki looking SO evil. Um. Wait. Let me try another. 

Hmm. Evil looks too good. Let's try another.

"BOO!"
Source

That's better!

So do you have a favorite villain? Tell us who and why in the comments below!

Tips on Surviving Revision Hell

It's been a crazy two months for me, with CONTROL being released in December and the piles of promo yanking me in various directions. I have a promo-sprain, I think. I need some ice for that!

But I've also had to revise the sequel, CODE, all this time. Personally, I love first drafts. Adore them. Revision is a little hellish for me, but I've learned to tackle them with the help of several things.

1. Character arc sheet. My main characters must go through a transformation through the book. I make lists of what these are, and the events that herald those changes for each character. Since CODE is a sequel, I'm often referencing the arcs in the first book. They have to be different but build on what the characters have already achieved in book one.

2. Relationship arc sheet. Like the notes above, this one is specific to relationships between characters. For example, in CONTROL, there was one with Zelia+Cy, Zelia+Marka, Zelia+Dad, Zelia+Dyl...you get the idea.

3. The Fix-It list. As I revise and re-draft, I can't get everything perfect. I'd lose a ton of time fixing every last bit with every single sentence, so I make lists of things I'll go back and fix later, so that I keep the flow of my work going forward. This is mostly about keeping certain details consistent ("make sure this all happens within a one week period" or "make map so Carus layout makes sense"). Stuff like that.

4. The Theme List. I use a lot of themes in my books, such as references to science, foreshadowing, motifs/symbols, certain books, or underlying mysteries. They need to be revisited frequently enough that they're not forgotten by the reader. I eyeball this list as I revise every chapter.

5. Major Revelations. Every chapter has to reveal something important that propels the story forward, opens up new questions, or changes the dynamics of the plot or relationships. If one of my chapters is mostly filler, it gets axed.

6. Pretty up the prose. Sometimes when I'm drafting, the prose is very simple and not elegant. I take time during a second or third pass to really work on making a turn of phrase more beautiful where it's needed, without overwriting.

7. Trim the excess. Speaking of overwriting...I'm a terrible over-writer in my first drafts! Everything seems to read nicely right after I first put the words down. But a few days/weeks/months later, I find that I've been redundant or way too purple prose-y about things. Slash and burn! It hurts, but it's also great to tidy things up.

8. Pay attention to the Acts. I've always been a fan of the three-act plot structure of storytelling. I revisit this to make sure the macro structure of my book is on target.

9. Pay attention to the highs and lows. It's important that the stakes must increase as the story progresses, and the interval lows worsen. Here's a handy graph that helps depict this. 

10. Be willing to make sacrifices. You've probably heard of the term "kill your darlings." Well, it's not just about letting go of certain characters, but certain scenes and even huge chunks of your plot that simply aren't working. Be open minded about how your story could improve if you learn to let go. Remember you can always recycle what you've lost for other stories.

11. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Exercise occasionally. Take breaks! I'm terrible at this. Remember to take care of your body or your brain won't be able to revise. It's all common sense, and yet hard for me to do.

Hope this helps! Do you have any tips that help you revise? If so, please share in the comments!

Interview with CONTROL author, Lydia Kang

CONTROL by Lydia Kang came out last week! I think it is one of the best science fiction reads of the year. I hope you've been able to get your hands on a copy, and if you haven't, do it now!

I'm here today with Lydia to get a little insight into CONTROL, her writing style, and just her as a real, live person! Let's get this party started.

About CONTROL: When their overprotective father is killed in a terrible accident, Zel and her younger sister, Dylia, are lost in grief. But it's not until strangers appear, using bizarre sensory weapons, that the life they had is truly eviscerated. Zel ends up in a safe house for teens that aren't like any she's ever seen -- teens who, by law, shouldn't even exist. One of them -- an angry tattooed boy haunted by tragedy -- can help Zel reunite with her sister.

But only if she is willing to lose him.

Add to your shelf!

Buy!

1. So CONTROL has quite a bit of science in it. Did you draw on your professional experience, or perform copious amounts of research?
A little bit of both! I'd get ideas out of my own noggin about things like, let's make this character photosynthesize. But then would come research about whether she needed to use her lungs for oxygen or if her skin could make enough on its own. Amazingly, the answers are out there!

2. When did you write CONTROL? What's one scene that you can still remember drafting for the first time?
I wrote CONTROL over a six month period between 2010-11. (Wow, I'm always amazed at how slow the publishing industry is!) Three months to draft and three months to revise. I really remember the ending well. It was so stressful to get those end scenes just right! (Yes, yes it is. But you did a great job with it!)

3. Is CONTROL your first novel?
It's my first published novel. I have two novels before that sitting in my computer. One was an urban fantasy; the other, historical. Both YA. (My third book was my first published too! Soul-sisters!)

4. Is CONTROL the beginning of a series? Tell us all about everything!
There will be a sequel to Control! The title is still up in the air, probably CODE (Intriguing. Goodreads is calling is CATALYST). The characters are going to have to leave Carus House and Zelia will be on the run and there will be revelations galore. :)

About Lydia: Lydia Kang is an author of young adult fiction, poetry, and narrative non-fiction. She graduated from Columbia University and New York University School of Medicine, completing her residency and chief residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She is a practicing physician who has gained a reputation for helping fellow writers achieve medical accuracy in fiction. Her poetry and non-fiction have been published in JAMA, The Annals of Internal Medicine, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and Great Weather for Media. She believes in science and knocking on wood, and currently lives in Omaha with her husband, three children, and a terrarium full of stick bugs.


5. When you're looking to decompress by reading, what book do you reach for?
My old standbys. I'm a serial rereader of old friends, like Bronte and Austen and Wilder. (I really need to read some of these books...)

6. If you could be a contestant on Survivor, what's the one item you'd take with you?
Oh geez. A really good hunting knife. Forget the toothbrush! (Seriously. And if you've ever seen Survivor -- which I have -- I've never seen such white teeth. I think they use sand or something...)

7. A guilty pleasure?
80's pop music. (Booyah!)

8. Bacon or chocolate?
Bacon! It's salt, all the way! (Yes! Bacon FTW!)

So there you go! I hope you'll pick up CONTROL and read it. I absolutely loved it, and I know if you like YA or science fiction or romance or thrillers, you will too!

Writing Rituals and Baubles

Whether you think about it, everyone has a ritual they have when it comes to working. Maybe it's getting coffee, or organizing your desk. Or not organizing your desk!

So I thought I'd share some rituals about my writing process.

1. I need bauble-y things nearby. 

That's a hand-boiler on the left. (You hold the bottom and the blue liquid boils up at the top). It makes me feel like I have paranormal powers — a nice trick when you're struggling in a very human way to revise the same darn paragraph for the fourth time. On the right is a 15 minute hourglass. I use it to set intervals of time to write and not look at email, Twitter, etc. It doesn't work, but by god, it's pretty. Behind it is a tiara. No idea how that got there. I certainly don't don it and scream "I'm Queen of the World!" I don't. I swear. (No, I really mean it. I don't.)

2. I need to wear baubles too.

Every time I commit to a new project, I put on a bracelet that symbolizes the project. Here, the moonstone symbolizes CODE, the sequel to CONTROL that I'm working on right now. (There's a reference to the moon throughout the book.) The acorn is for a new sci-fi I'm going to write this year, and the lotus flower is for a fantasy novel I'm finishing up. After about five months, the strings wear away and break. It forces me to look back on what I've accomplished.

3. Sometimes when I'm typing for hours on end, I'll wear a huge cocktail ring. 

This one is fake, but it makes my tired fingers feel very purty when I wear it.

4. I abuse Post-It Notes.

I also wear fingerless gloves to keep warm,
like the chunky pair in the upper left I got for Christmas.
Sometimes they get into a fight with the cocktail ring.

5. I have to listen to the music playlists specific to my books. I listen to them over and over again. My poor family. Their ears are so tired of my playlists.

Well, that's just five but the other five would make you think I'm really nuts, so...there you go! What sort of rituals do you have when your write or work?

Getting Closer to Cy of Lydia Kang's CONTROL

As you can see from my review, I found so much to love about Control. One of the reasons it's so enjoyable is the character of Cy. Let's take a closer look at what makes him so fascinating via excerpts from the novel.

First impression

At first, all I see is tattoos. The tallest person, a guy, leans against a big dining table in the center of a sparsely furnished room. He’s dressed in ash-colored clothes and is blanketed with ink. Black swirls, bodies in motion, scythes and hellfire twist together on his arms, neck, and half his face. A black ring hangs on his lower lip, while his ears are pierced with chunky black bars. Under a headful of closely cut, brownish-black hair, his eyes stare at me coldly.

Not exactly the warmest reception, but you can already tell that this guy has a story. And that it's going to be worth it to stick around and find out what it is.

Hint of attraction?

“Here, take it.” He hands his shirt back to me, which is now damp from his sweat and smeared with chalk. He’s making a clear effort to keep his eyes away from my body, as if he actually wants to see me in my underwear, but is being polite.

Up to this point, Cy has been nothing but rude to Zelia. Might he be warming to her? I think so!

Protective mode activated!

Cy opens my door and I shimmy closer to Wilbert. There’s no avoiding Cy now. His lean body squishes up against mine, leg to leg, hip to hip. In fact, there’s no room for our arms side by side, so I hunch forward to clasp my hands together. 

Cy never goes outside, but he joins the gang on a night out at a club to keep Zelia safe. And Zelia might or might not experience something thrilling together (I'll let you discover it for yourself).

 Looks good in the morning

Cy walks in as I say this, rumpled and gorgeous in what must be his pajamas. A loose white T-shirt hangs off his angled shoulders and a pair of drawstring pants barely hang on to his hips. Yesterday’s tattoo mask is completely gone and his skin is uninked as yet. His face looks softer, kinder.

 Need I say more?

Okay, so maybe the quotes I chose make me sound a bit shallow, but I swear there's more to Cy than surly hotness. He is smart, loyal, and has some deep dark secrets to discover during the course of the narrative.

Enjoy!

The CONTROL Book Trailer Reveal!

Hi guys! I'm so excited to share the book trailer for CONTROL with you. The lovely Phoebe North created it and I'm beyond happy with how it turned out!

3...2...1...

Here it is!

(Click below for YouTube link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNW0DTdycXk&feature=youtu.be

Making the trailer was a little freaky at first. I'm used to working on manuscripts, no video! Trying to get the feel of the book in the short amount of time wasn't easy. Phoebe read an ARC so she could really immerse herself in the world. Then we bounced the script back and forth and listened to oh-so-many music samples. She did a lot of experimenting with different backgrounds and fonts. The whole process was eye-opening for me and so much fun.

Hope you enjoyed it! I can't believe that CONTROL is going to be out in the world in only ten days! Wow. Now THAT is truly freaky.

Pre-order on Amazon / IndieBound / Books A Million / 

Bookworm Omaha / Book Depository / Barnes and Noble

Art Inspiration, Book Exhalation

Have you ever read (or written) a scene inspired by art? Maybe it was a photograph. Maybe it was the lyrics to a song.  

When I was writing the club scenes in CONTROL with the Alucinari Rooms (psychedelic single-sensory hallucinogen cloud rooms), I started Googling images to help me see what I was imagining. That is how I found Thomas Jackson's photography. I couldn't stop staring at this series! Those clouds seemed like living things. With those images in my head, the scenes almost wrote themselves.

Isn't that gorgeous?

This is from his Nebulae series. Soon, I found his Emergent Behavior series:

Those are LIGHT STICKS, yo.

I haven't written a book or scene to go with the Emergent Behavior series, but doesn't it make you wonder what kind of book it would inspire? I'd read it!

It's funny how "inspiration" is the same word that means "to breathe air." It's life. It's transforming something outside of yourself into something new, and not just carbon dioxide. 

Okay, okay. My new-age/granola break is over! I guess what I'm saying is this: if you're ever in a writing rut, go to a concert. Or a museum. Or an art show. Sometimes you need a little inspiration. And who knows what your mind will exhale from the process!

(Photographs reproduced with permission by the artist. 

Please check out Thomas Jackson's beautiful work on his website!)

Glowing Bunnies (AKA not-so-fictional science fiction)

Writing sci-fi is fun. You get to imagine all sorts of crazy, bizarre concepts and characters and worlds. But you've got to be careful!

Make sure your fiction is actually, er, fiction. 

For example, wouldn't it be fun to have your character own a supersoft pet whose fur, I don't know, maybe glowed? And was adorable and smooshable and was vegan?

Well, that's not fiction.

In 2000, artist Eduardo Kac had an idea. With the help of geneticist Louis-Marie Houdebine, the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene from the jellyfish Aequoria victoria was inserted into the genome of a plain white bunny.

So take some of this:

(wikipedia)

Add some white bunny cells.

Guess what they got?

Alba, the glowing bunny! Click here for an actual photo. 

Remember this was in the year 2000!  Quite a while ago. So when you're writing your futuristic sci-fi novel, remember that science today may already be way ahead of what's going on in your creative mind. 

In other words,  Google "glowing bunny" before you write it down as pure fiction! 

How much SCI in your FI?

I love that YA sci-fi encompasses such a diversity of books, and a diversity of the science within them. Some possess more intense science, some are more soft sci-fi.

CONTROL was written with a very purposeful hand when it came to making the science accurate, or at least believable. Even the world building--things like transportation or growing crops--was carefully thought out. There had to be a reason behind the design, even if I never explain it in the actual book. I spent countless hours refreshing my understanding of genetics, neurobiology, photosynthesis, olfactory physiology...

But at the same time, I also knew I didn't want the science to take over the story.

In the end, CONTROL is simply about a 17 year old girl who's trying to get back what she's lost. And though the science is not a quiet bystander, it's there. Waving its hand, like a total spaz, from a few rows behind my main characters.

So I'm curious. For you sci-fi readers--how much sci do you like in your fi?

Lydia Kang: Stuff I Love

Happy Valentine's Day! It seemed fitting that I should write about stuff I love, as a way of introducing myself as a new member of the League of Extraordinary Writers. These are not in any particular order. Hope the ants don't get too mad...

1. The platypus. Maybe because they're mammals that lay eggs and have venomous spines and duck bills and beaver tails and swim and aren't easily categorized. I totally get that. If could choose my Patronus, it'd be a platypus.

2. NaCl. Sodium chloride, a combustible metal and a poisonous gas, combined beautifully together to make pretzels transcendent bits of crunchy heaven. Also, we'd die without salt. How can you not love it?

3. Austen and the Brontë sisters. I'll be a fangirl until the end.

4. Baby otters. If you don't agree with this one, then I have nothing more to say to you.

5. Zombie Ants. Nature did the zombie thing well before Night of the Living Dead. I'm sorry, but a fungus that takes over your body, forces you to climb trees so spores could sprout out of your head to infect more ants? How freaking cool is that???

6. Poetry. I'm not as well read as I'd like to be, but geez, when that tangle of words comes together just so in a poem, it kills me.

7. Loki or Tom Hiddleston. Either will do. *Giggles*

8. The human body. It's so marvelously complicated down to the molecular level, yet often really straightforward. And it's easily screwed up and yet oddly resilient. Squishy and solid and just, well, awesome.

9. My book cover. *stares*  *stares some more*

10. My amazing family and friends. Goes without saying, but I said it anyway. ❤❤❤❤❤