Discoveries Week: Patricia Briggs

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a fat quarter (an 18" X 22" piece of fabric) of what looked like an Asian golden floral silk brocade. I was delighted as I unrolled it, at least until I saw the wrong side and then started swearing.

It wasn't silk brocade. It was satin brocade.

You cannot know the true demon from hell satin brocade is until you try cutting, sewing or tailoring it. This fabric won't stay put; it moves like it's alive. Sometimes, I swear, it moves on its own. It also frays like crazy; just turning an untreated seam can reduce it into a fistful of dandelion fluff. Pinking doesn't help; you have to burn it (which turns it into synthetic sludge) or use a gallon of fray blocker. Sewing machines like to eat it. When you work on it by hand, you have to use silk thread and the tiniest of quilters' between needles or it snags and puckers and begins to look diseased.

"Don't sweat it," my friend said when I called her to ask why she was tormenting me with this evil, evil material. "Just cut it up for your next Victorian."

Cut it up? I wanted to burn it. But she was right: it would be more manageable if I reduced it to some fill-in patches for a crazy quilt. The problem is I've never been one to take the easy road. "If I make this into something on its own," I warned her, "you have to buy me three yards of silk brocade."

"Two," she said, "and I want pictures."

As with sewing satin brocade, returning to the Darkyn universe wasn't an instant or simple process. Whenever I stop writing in a universe I mentally pack up and store away all the things I actively thought about while working on it; this keeps my mind-clutter to a minimum. Thanks to the Kyndred books I hadn't completely disengaged myself from the Darkyn, but I still had to do a lot of rereading and reviewing. It's a bit odd, too, when you have to research your own books for details you can't recall or have doubts on. I'm also glad I kept all my old Darkyn novel notebooks. I wrote down tons of important info in them, none of which appeared in the books.

Another author making a different leap this month is Patricia Briggs, whose Alpha and Omega series is moving from paperback into hardcover with the release of her latest book Fair Game. I haven't read this one yet; I've been saving it as my reward for surviving Nightborn's release week. That's not been easy, either; I really love this series and can't wait to read the latest edition. As popular as it is no doubt many of you feel the same way.



To celebrate Patricia's move to hardcover I have an extra copy of Fair Game to give away. If you'd like to win it, in comments to this post name something you do to reward yourself for hard work (or if you can't think of anything, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Monday, March 12, 2012. I'll draw one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner and unsigned hardcover copy of Patricia Brigg's Fair Game, a signed copy of my novel Dark Need, a "Little Calm" mini-kit, a font mug from Author Outfitters, a BookLoop with a miniature of Gustav Klimpt's "The Kiss" along with some other goodies, all neatly stowed in this lovely crystal-beaded tote* handmade by yours truly (please note that the bowl of apples on the table are not included; they're for my kids.) This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something at PBW in the past.

*Remember that wretched satin brocade? That's what I used to make the tote for this giveaway.

Reprintarama

This fall Guideposts will be reissuing another of my Rebecca Kelly/GCI novels, Home for the Holidays, as a trade paperback. This one is my favorite of all the books I wrote for the series, and the one most liked by the readers, so I'm quite pleased to hear it.

Evidently demand for copies of Dark Need, my third Darkyn novel, has resulted in a much larger than usual reprint run of the title. I think the free e-books featuring Lucan and Samantha, the protagonists from DN, have helped to get readers interest in the print novel, but I suspect you guys had a hand in it as well. So to say thank you, over at the stories blog I've posted a very early sneak peek of one of the scenes with Lucan and Sam from Shadowlight.

Working Titles

Personal Quirk #99,957: I can't begin a story unless I have some sort of title. No title, no writing. I don't know why. Probably the same English-teacher-induced trauma that rendered me physically incapable of placing a tabbed divider in a notebook until after I fill in the section header on that little slip of paper and shove it in the empty plastic tab.

By the way, kids, if you turn in your English class notebook with Dead Bores on the tab for the literature section, your teacher's not going to think it's funny. Trust me on this.

Decent titles take a while to cook up, so I generally use place-holder or working titles until I read a couple tons of poetry, hit the Library of Congress Online Catalog a few million times to see if any of my title ideas have been done before, and settle on the one I want. It doesn't have to be the title, just a title.

Titles ultimately have to be marketable, so a writer can't get attached to any title until it's in print. I've had pretty good luck with mine, and still about half never make it past the publisher's chopping block. This is why StarDoc book #3 is titled Endurance instead of Skin Games. The original title was my personal metaphor for novel's slavery elements, especially the endless branding Cherijo endured; the editor felt it sounded pornographic (Which illustrates how differently people can interpret the same title.)

Other titles of mine that never made it to the cover:

1. ClanSon sounded too Zane Greyish to my editor, who renamed the book Plague of Memory. I was very happy with this, as her title was better, more interesting, and more clear in meaning than mine.

2. After two years of believing that my publisher was okay with the title Darkness Has No Need (no one raised any objections to it) I was abruptly informed that it was too long a title. I'd already invested a great deal of my series budget in promoting the book by that title, so I fought hard to keep it, but lost that battle. None of the replacement titles suggested by the publisher worked with what I was doing with the series titles, but I compromised again and went with the least jarring, and the book became Dark Need. It cost me, though. Most of the promo for that book was instantly rendered useless, and I had to pay additional fees to retitle what could be saved. But I should have gotten a solid title committment from the publisher in the first place, which I didn't. It was a good (if frustrating) lesson for me. In publishing, never assume silence = consent.

3. My very unromantic title No Stone Unturned apparently committed the additional sin of not being pretty enough for a first romance, which is why that editor changed it to Paradise Island. I then had to change the name of the island setting in the book, because it wasn't called Paradise.

Final titles are a pain in the posterior, but I'm not picky about how I get a working title. I've used online title generators, chemical formulas (H2SO4), fragments of poetry (Do Not Go Gentle) and common brand names (Chips Ahoy!) If I can't think of anything off the top of my head, I'll use my favorite stock working title A Dark and Stormy Night (this also reminds me not to open the book with a damn weather report.)

You can use working titles as nudges, too. One of my current WIPs is working-titled 1918, not because it's set in that year, but to remind me of the year that initiated what will become my protagonist's primary conflict ninety years later in 2008. I also use working titles with version numbers so I can see in a glance how many times I've revised it, i.e. Butterfinger v.4.0

Do any of you writers out there use working titles, or have any special mojo that helps you create a solid title? Readers, does a book's title play any part in whether or not you purchase it? Let us know in comments.

E-Minus 9 Hours

One last nudge on PBW E-book Challenge:

The Final Update Post has links to useful info and links about cover art, content and other stuff from the other challenge update posts.

Trace's book blog note: "If anyone wants to set up a blog for their book, the link on blogger is here. They describe how to post a book on blogger. It's pretty easy."

The deadline is midnight EST tonight, but if you have problems uploading or something goes boom and you need a bit more time (time in this context meaning a couple of hours, not days, weeks, months, etc.) just e-mail me and let me know. I will add you into the list tomorrow.

This is it, guys. See you all here tomorrow. :)

PBW's E-book Challenge Instructions:

E-mail me at PBWChallenge@aol.com with the following by midnight EST on Monday, October 30, 2006:

The title and byline for your e-book

Example: Midnight Blues by Lynn Viehl

The URL for your e-book download file, or the URL for where your e-book can be read online.

Example: http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com

Optional (this will be included with your link listing on PBW):

A short (25 words or less) premise, teaser or description of your e-book.

Example: Lonely vampire cop fights to save human nun from immortal sadist who wants them both.

What genre, if any, your e-book is written in.

Examples: Dark Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Crime Fiction, etc.

Note: Do not send me the file for your e-book or any attachments.

Reiszing the Bar

Being a teen was not bliss for me. The only good times I had were the years I spent reading through libraries and serving in the military. By the time I was nineteen, I could field-strip an M-16, recite Shakespeare's plays from memory and jumpstart a heart -- and yet adults still treated me like a student in need of a lecture, a puppy off the leash, or a cute chick with a nice rack.

I don't read a huge amount of books about teens because I'd rather not revisit those years, even vicariously, but I do keep my eye out for new writers of great interest in any genre. That's why when Kristopher Reisz's first novel, Tripping to Somewhere, hit the shelves I went out immediately to grab it.

Prepped as I was by Kris's blog to be caught up by his prose, Tripping to Somewhere still short-sheeted me. Be warned, ye Soccer Moms and Little League Dads, The Princess Diaries it's not. Kris didn't pen the usual Ditzney teen girl fantasy composed to reassure us grownups that sugarplums, Prince Charming and Saving It For the Honeymoon are the only things dancing in those pretty little heads. Instead, he gives us a dark and often harrowing urban fantasy about two quite authentic teen girls who do what most of us wished we could back when we were dousing ourselves in Ten-O-Six Lotion: go reckless, damn the consequences, escape our lives and chase the dream we were almost sure was out there.

The magic in this novel isn't only the Witches' Carnival (although it is surreal, hip and very intriguing) or a road trip in search of them and everything (which is dark, scary and so real you feel like you're riding shotgun); it's Kris Reisz's story wizardry and shining honesty on the page. By the time you get to the ending, which I think Rilke himself would have called beautiful and brave, you might catch a glimpse of your teen years in this novel, and whatever was your personal Witches' Carnival.

I am saved from performing the established author coo about how promising Kristopher Reisz is as a writer. Is there anything more insulting than that condescending crap? But even if I was that snotty, I wouldn't have to; he's already made good on the promise with his debut novel.

But as always, you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, tell us about one wild, reckless or magical thing that you wanted to do at some point in your life. Post no later than midnight EST on Friday, 10/27/06. I'll draw ten names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners an unsigned copy of Tripping to Somewhere by Kristopher Reisz. Giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

The New CSI

Senior Editor Horatio Caine strode into his office, eyeing two stacks of unread manuscripts and his beautiful but unattainable assistant, who stood waiting with notepad in hand. "You okay?"

Yelena gave him a hostile but smoldering look.

"The next time you want to take a swing at someone, start with me." He tossed his shades onto the desk and dropped into his chair, swiveling around to contemplate the upper Manhattan skyline. "Be on the lookout for an Eastern European male with bad teeth who may have access to an ape."

"Porque -- uh, why?"

"He's my new science fiction author." Horatio chucked the new issue of Publishers Weekly into the trash can beside his desk and punched his intercom button. "Calleigh," he said, letting his voice drop to an intimate rasp. "I need you."

A moment later, copy editor Calleigh Duquesne marched in, trailed by production designer John Hagen. Her china doll features reflected the light with all the depth and animation of cheap imported stoneware. "Yes, sir?"

Yelena tossed her long dark mane, gave Horatio a contemptuous but smoldering glance, and stalked out.

"We are being detoured into the land of make-believe," Horatio announced.

A tiny wrinkle chased itself across Calleigh's brow. "But sir, isn't that our . . . job?"

"Tomorrow's what you make of it. John." His gaze slashed over to the production designer. "I have cover art here with a cartoon dolphin on it. You know how I feel about cartoon dolphin art. Tell me about the cartoon dolphin, John."

Hagen swallowed and shifted on his feet. "Well."

Horatio nodded. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

Hagen's shoulders moved. "I didn't think it'd look too good."

"Well, it doesn't look too good right now." Horatio tossed the sketch across the desk. "Do it again. Do it right. Do it and get it back to me and make it the best job you've ever done and John?" He shot to his feet, lunged forward, and dragged John forward by the tie until their faces were only an inch apart. "I don't want to see another cartoon dolphin for as long as you work for me," Horatio whispered. "Are we clear?"

Hagen's head drooped forward. "Yeah."

Horatio released the tie and waved them both out. As they left, he heard Hagen mumble, "That's one hell of a lonely road he's walking" and Calleigh murmur, "I know. That's why I'm walking it with him."

Yelena sauntered in. "The publicity budget reports." She tossed a file across the desk at him, and planted her hands on her hips. "My mother called. Ray Jr. didn't come home from school. She thinks he's at the bookstore reading manga again." She gave him a sorrowful but smoldering look. "Do something, Horatio."

"You lie down with the Devil," Horatio reminded her, "you wake up in Publishing. Don't say anything to anyone at any time until I say so. I'll take care of it on my lunch hour." He smiled as a dark, sultry woman shoved Yelena aside. "Alexx."

"Horatio. Someday you're going to have to tell me what idiot spelled my name with two X's. Girl, don't you be looking at me like that. I'll kick your Latina ass." As Yelena stomped out, Alexx produced a brilliant smile and a heavily marked-up galley. "Finished the work up on this one. Typesetter slaughtered the poor thing. I found 363 mistaken spellings of the protagonist's name alone."

"363." Horatio sat down and swiveled a little in his chair.

"Yeah." Alexx's voice softened. "Real shame to see such a pretty story end up like this. It's going to kill the author."

"I will get whoever did this to her," Horatio said, leaning forward. "I promise you that. Do you know why?"

Alexx sighed. "Because this is CSI: Editing."

"Exactly." Horatio folded his hands behind his head and leaned back. "And. We. Never. Close."

E-book Challenge Update

Writers are strange creatures when we're under the WIP. Sometimes the pressure makes us doers, achievers and innovators. Other times it turns us into wafflers, procrastinators and fraidy-cats. Add in a rapidly-evaporating deadline, and writers turn into word slingers juggling story dynamite that's oozing rewrite nitro. One wrong move on the page and BOOM, it all falls to pieces.

Folks, we've got less than two weeks left. It's Tough Love time.

I wanted to use this post to assure the self-doubters out there that you don't have to finish anything. The easiest thing in the world to do with a WIP is to shove it in a drawer and make the usual excuses: "I didn't have time to polish/finish/do it right, but I'll get back to it/try again/give it an overhaul another time." No one will bitch at you for missing this challenge, not even me. The world is very understanding about the artist's struggle. Nothing bad will ever be said about a half-finished manuscript in a drawer that no one will ever see. Win/win/win.

Actually I think it's a very smart way to write. You can do whatever you want and you don't have to follow through or finish it. You'll never have to go out on a limb, or be subjected to ridicule, or risk rejection. Your suffering and struggle will snag you lots of sympathy. You'll never get published, and me and the other published writers out here will never have to compete on the shelf with you, but you'll be safe. Maybe after you're dead someone will discover all those partials and do something with them. Litter boxes and bird cages always need liners, right?

If I happen to think you're better than that, that you have more spine than that, then I could just be wrong. Sometimes I am. Not often, but sometimes.

I know a lot of you have already finished and have your links ready for me, so now for the all-important link e-mail instructions (which will be repeated again next week and in the days just before October 31st):

E-mail me at PBWChallenge@aol.com with the following:

The title and byline for your e-book

Example: Midnight Blues by Lynn Viehl

The URL for your e-book download file, or the URL for where your e-book can be read online.

Example: http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com

Optional (this will be included with your link listing on PBW):

A short (25 words or less) premise, teaser or description of your e-book.

Example: Lonely vampire cop fights to save human nun from immortal sadist who wants them both.

What genre, if any, your e-book is written in.

Examples: Dark Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Crime Fiction, etc.

Note: Do not send me the file for your e-book or any attachments.

Ernesto

I'm going to post this now because it seems like Tropical Storm Ernesto is headed our way. Out here in the country we usually lose power for a day or more after storms like this, so if I'm not around for a time don't worry. We've got plenty of supplies and are in a good location.

An update on my e-book challenge: I've put together a rough outline for Midnight Blues, my Darkyn novella and have assembled a character list. It's set in South Florida, and Rafael Suarez from Dark Need will be one of the protagonists. Lucan and Samantha will be the secondary characters (this will be a continuation of their story, too, for everyone who wrote about wanting more of them.)

Folks in Florida and the immediate vicinity of Ernesto's track (storm winds currently extend out 85 miles from the storm's center), now is the time to get out your hurricane plan and make sure you have enough water, nonperishable foods, batteries and gas tank filled as soon as possible, and stay tuned to the National Hurricane Center or your favorite news source for updates on the situation.

Back Climbers

A deadline kept me from commenting on the recent kerfluffle of lit-chick writers messing with the chick-lit writers (say it real fast six times without stuttering and I'll give you a cookie.) If you want the details, Monica Jackson presided over it with an excellent post, links and comments here.

As marketing strategies go, this one was not very imaginative. The lit-chick who started the whole thing claimed that chick-lit writers own too much of the market and are ruining things for "America's Best Women Writers" (this would be her and modest her lit-chick pals.) That evolved into a title and marketing angle for her anthology. As industry suck-ups go, you can't do better for critics than to slam a genre they almost universally condemn. It's also a terrific way to get some free if negative advertising via the reactions of every chick-lit writer with a backbone. Which is pretty much, hello, All Of Them.

Climbing up and standing on the backs of better performers has always been a time-honored marketing device. Politicians have been doing it for so long they don't remember what it's like to stand on the ground. In publishing, Dan Brown's been used like a footstool by so many other writers that all of his jackets should have shoeprints on them. On the internet, negativity spreads like flesh-eating bacteria, so slamming someone else to promote your stuff is especially good for online buzz.

Take the chick-lit out of this particular equation, however, and even with Huffy Post backing I seriously doubt this work of great lit-chick genius would have sold two thousand copies. Why? Literary fiction rarely sells these days; ask any NBA nominee. Also, there's not an established Name author among the anthology's contributors.

With anthos, you need a Name author to draw readers. Thing is, unlike genre Names, lit-chick Names seldom jump in on anthos. Had Anita Diamant been the headliner, the book would have been an instant bestseller, but there are no Diamants or Proulxes in this one. Best American writer anthos are also a dime a dozen. God Almighty, everyone is the best, aren't they? The Dead Best, the NYT Best, the NBA Best, the year's Best, the Bestest Best, the Best above the rest of the Best and, least we forget, the New Best. Publish a Worst American Writers antho; now that might actually make some money.

Without a Name, all the besty best lit-chick writers in the world couldn't grab an eyelash flick of attention, hence the chick-lit slam. Now they've tapped into that whole publishing conspiracy to destroy civilization as we know it literary paranoia: Omigod! America's BEST women writers are being overshadowed by LOUSY CHICK-LIT HACKS! Hurry! Buy this book and SAVE THEM!

Bad, bad chick-lit writers. No cookies for you.

Personally I'm very offended for being left out. See, I think it's the vamp writers who are stealing the lit-chick writers' sales. You know how much we've flooded the market lately. We're into all that dark and evil stuff. Or could be the Christian writers -- we have just as many tables as the vamp writers, and we're into all that goodness and light stuff. We might even be in on it together. Who would ever suspect us joining forces, eh? I'd make the perfect ringleader; I write both. I know I've always wanted to conspire with Jan Karon and Doug Clegg to overthrow our literary betters. Or just have lunch somewhere nice with them.

There was a point to this post . . . oh, yeah. Should you use back-climbing as a marketing device? Undignified and mean-spirited as it is, I can't deny that it's effective. Negative PR absolutely attracts more attention than positive PR. If you think nothing of standing on top of someone else's accomplishments to trumpet accolades about your own, then this strategy is right up your alley.

What do you guys think?

VW#4

Sorry I've been scarce, folks. Real life snarled this time instead of the usual techno tangles, but all is well and back to what passes for normal around here.

The winner for the VB Party Left Behind Goody Bag is Monica, who should e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com with your full name and ship-to address.


Virtual Workshop #4:
Extending Your Writing Range

I. The Call of Writing

Anyone can be a writer, but the journey to becoming a writer is different for everyone. Some writers seem to be born with a pen in hand, while others find writing like an oasis after years of searching for a creative outlet. Many writers are the children of other writers, either born to them or devoted fans inspired by their work. Avid readers make the leap from loving books to wanting to create their own. Still others fall into writing as the result of a happy accident: a school assignment that flips an inner switch, or joining NaNoWriMo on a lark, or throwing some ideas and words together on a boring, rainy afternoon.

How you became a writer doesn't matter, and neither does what you write. All writers who are born or made or accidentally fall into the gig all share the same calling: storytelling through words.

II. Story as Mind Cuisine

Because my parents are from the northern U.S. and moved to the extreme southern U.S. when I was very young, I was raised on a hodge-podge of Northern and Southern cuisine: New England boiled dinner with hushpuppies and Key lime pie; pancakes with maple syrup, grits and grapefruit we picked from the tree in the yard. Hanging out with Latina friends from school I picked up a love for Cuban coffee, black beans and rice and mariquitas. My chef stepdad taught me to set aside my mother's Crisco, Ragu and seasoned salt and experiment with olive oil, plum tomatoes and fresh herbs. My military years added French, German, Japanese, Korean, English, Thai and dormitory food (anything that can be made in one pan on a hot plate) to my repetoire.

Writing novels allows us to explore the cuisine of the mind. Most writers start out with a favorite, comfort genre that feeds their imagination. They come to know that genre so well they don't even have to think about measuring the ingredients. This comfort can make every other genre seem a bit foreign in comparison. Combined with a (to me) very weird attitude around the industry that writers can only write in one genre, it often works to inhibit writers from striking out and trying new things.

I was fortunate in my writing education. When I began to devour books as a kid, I didn't know what genre was. I went to the library, started at the "A" author shelf in fiction and began picking up books. I checked out the ones that grabbed me, read them, and went back for more every week until I hit the end of the "Z" section. Reading other authors' books was my only writing education, but it was a great one. Wide-variety reading broadened my horizons and helped me to see the structure of novels versus the genre label they were slapped with.

Any writer who wants to extend their writing range should not be inhibited by the comfort genre or the opinions of limited imaginations. You don't have to give up writing in your favorite genre, either. Just because you try making stirfry now and then doesn't mean you have to stop making spaghetti and meatballs.

III. Novel Recipe

All fiction novels begin with the same two ingredients: characters and conflict. Every book you read has characters who encounter conflict and an account of how they handle it. The who, what, where, when and how determine genre, but a novel about a private investigator hired to solve a series of murders is no different than a book about a cowboy who must chase after his runaway pregnant bride. You put characters with conflict, and it leads to an end result, or

Character + Conflict = Conclusion

Alone, each ingredient does nothing. Characters need something to do. Conflict needs someone to resolve it. Throwing them together in the novel skillet and turning up the story heat makes them change each other; the character is affected by the conflict, the conflict is affected by the character. Neither come out of that skillet unchanged by the other.

IV. Inhibitors

As a young writer I completely stayed away from writing stories and novels with male protagonists. My reason? I thought boys were dumb.

Once I got through puberty, I still shied away from male protags, until I saw many female authors had written books with male protagonists. I attacked my inhibition by reading novels written by male authors in order to compare the differences in my writing style and theirs.

Call it getting in touch with my masculine side, but once I had done enough of that I began to catch myself "being female" when I was writing in a male POV. Eventually I got up the nerve to write a couple of novels with male protagonists. It was definitely different, but not quite as scary as I'd imagined. I just had to think differently; step outside myself and tell the story from the character's POV instead of my own.

A common trap writers fall into is the need to make their protagonists mirror images of themselves. There is a certain vicarious thrill involved in the author making the protag a fictional identical twin. The author doesn't have to imagine what the protag will do, they already know. They don't have to write outside their personal comfort zones, either. Problem is, the author ends up with cookie-cutter protagonists.

I combat this by seeing myself as the protagonist's biographer versus their RL twin. Whenever possible, I deliberately create characters who are very different from me physically, mentally and situationally; the more so the better. It allows me to observe and record rather than steer and impose my will on a protag who is just me in a fictional mask.

V. Practical exercises

Here are some methods that may help extend your range:

1. Try writing a scene or chapter from your WIP from the POV of a character in the story other than your protagonist (I did this by writing Illumination, which is the story of StarDoc totally from Duncan Reever's POV.)

2. Set your usual story in a different place, time or circumstance. Fond of writing cowboy/runaway bride romances? Set one on an alien world 500 years in the future. Have a penchant for private investigators? Have yours investigate a soldier being court martialed for sedition during the American Revolution. Into family sagas? Make the family slaves, and chronicle what happens to them during the collapse of the Roman Empire.

3. Test drive different types of protagonists. Try writing a story from the POV of a victim, or the antagonist, or a young child, or the family pet. If all your protagonists are of one gender, switch to the opposite gender. Give your protagonist a significant handicap that deprives them of one of the five senses. Write a protagonist whose situation, philosophies or lifestyle are completely opposite your own.

4. Take a classic fiction story or myth and write it in a modern setting. Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice and Taming of the Shrew have all been updated into modern stories; how about your version of Pygmalion, Beowulf, Les Miserables or Snow White?

5. Pick a famous figure from history and write a story about one day in their life. The day can be an ordinary day, their birthday, their wedding day, or the day before they die.

VI. No Limits

Whatever attitude our peers and the industry have, the first person to impose restrictions on a writer is the internal fraidycat. We decide at the keyboard what we feel we can or cannot do, and we're always our own worst censors. So the next time you approach a story idea and something inside you says You can't write that, tell something to shut up and write it anyway. You may be surprised to find out that there really are no limits to what you can do on the page.

Post your thoughts, comments and questions about writing range in comments to this post by midnight EST on Monday, July 31, 2006, and you'll have a chance at winning the final Mega Left Behind Goody Bag: signed copies of my S.L. Viehl hardcover novel Blade Dancer and all three of my Lynn Viehl Darkyn novels in paperback, an unsigned hardcover copy of Talyn by Holly Lisle and paperback copies of Love's Potion by Monica Jackson, Moon Called by Patricia Briggs, Tiger Eye, Shadow Touch and Red Heart of Jade by Marjorie M. Liu, Threads of Malice by Tamara Siler Jones, The Attraction by Douglas Clegg, I See You and Last Girl Dancing by Holly Lisle, Dark Lover and Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward, Hunting the Hunter by Shiloh Walker, as well as a hardcover copy of The Writer's Book of Matches and Flow Chart Maker Software (good for outlining, mind mapping and organizing), all packed in a red and beige canvas tote from Books-A-Million. I'll draw one name from everyone who participates and send you the goodies; giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Related Links:

Peder Hill's The Basic Three Act Structure

The Elements of Fiction.

VW#3

The winner for the VW#2 Left Behind Goody Bag is Amanda, who should e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com with your full name and ship-to address.

Virtual Workshop #3:
Writing to Concept

I. What is Concept Writing?

A concept is defined as an idea, thought, notion, scheme or plan. For writers, it's a bit like story shorthand. When we write, we have some concept of what we want to write before we start putting words on the page (extreme organic writers who write off the top of their heads and plan nothing in advance are exceptions.) That concept helps us create, develop and eventually transcribe the story onto paper, and the stronger and clearer they are, the easier it is to do our job.

"Big" or "high" concept books are what we often call fiction and nonfiction works that sell fabulously, or transcend genre, or that have wide-range appeal, or stay on the lists for years, or all of the above. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, and Rev. Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life are regularly invoked as examples. I like how Paige Wheeler defines high concept, as "a premise that can be boiled down into one sentence and sets it apart from other stories by its unique hook or angle."

Thinking up a concept for a novel is easy. I have the power to make complete strangers do it spontaneously. All someone has to do is tell them I'm a published author, and like magic that stranger tells me about their own novel concept, usually in under a minute.

Writing a novel to concept is a bit harder. First there's all that dreary writing involved. Big hassle. Then you have to build a story around the concept, and that means expressing it through setting, plot, dialogue, characters, and all that miscellaneous stuff involved in book writing. So many details to keep track of; a real pain. But if you aren't satisfied with simply thinking about being a writer, and talking about being a writer, and planning to be a writer, then learn to write to concept may be the next step.

II. The Concept Game

You must first clearly define your novel concept before you can write to it. This is also good practice for pitching your novel, because you want to offer a novel concept line in your query and submission letters.

If you have trouble with this, trying practicing on other authors' works. One of my favorite teaching games is "Name that Concept." I name a well-known book and have my students put together a novel concept in fifteen words or less off the top of their heads. I give bonus M&Ms to anyone who uses a reference to another story, novel or myth upon which the book is based, i.e. Carrie by Stephen King: "Psychic Cinderella goes psycho at the School Prom."

Well-known novels have slamming concepts, startling concepts, concepts that grab the reader's imagination and won't let go. These are easy to put into words, so my students rarely have a problem playing the game. After we've tagged a dozen or so blockbuster books, I then challenge them to give me concept lines for their own work. Because they're already having fun thinking in concepts, they have an easier time putting theirs into words.

III. Centering the Concept

Very often writers create what seem like wonderful novel concepts, start writing, and end up with three chapters and no idea of what next to write. Here are some of the reasons that happens:

1. Weak concept: the idea doesn't support a novel-length story.
2. Supersize concept: the idea is too big for a single novel.
3. Lost concept: the concept falls by the wayside during the writing and is forgotten.
4. Tangent-squashed concept: the novel deviates from the concept too often to successfully support it.
5. Fuzzy concept: the concept is not defined clearly enough for the writer to translate into the story.

Your novel concept is the center of your book, the story glue, the thing that provides navigation through the plot, colors or touches every character in some way and brings all of the story elements together. If a book was a body, the concept would be the brain, because it runs everything.

One reason I think books like The Da Vinci Code become mega bestsellers is not only the high concept of the novel, but how closely the author sticks to it throughout the story. Everything in Dan Brown's story is tied tightly to the concept, serves it in every chapter, and never once strays from it.

When you outline your novel, the concept should help you make all of the story decisions. When you're writing the novel, the concept should always be in the back of your mind, ready to jumpstart things when you stall. If you find it difficult to keep the concept present in your head, type up the concept and tape it to the top of your monitor, typewriter or legal pad.

IV. Misconceptions

Some writers seem to take pride in claiming their novels are too complicated to be defined by a novel concept. I always wonder how they compose their query letters. "Dear Editor, I am pleased to offer you the opportunity to enrich your existence by reading my new novel, The Inexplicable Sorrow, Struggling Ovidicus and Cold French Fries in the Melting Wheel of Timex. I won't attempt to condense 250,000 words into a single, vulgar line, so let me merely assure you that it is magnificent, will take several weeks for you to read and adequately ponder, and will sell a ba-zillion copies, provided you offer me an appropriate advance, somewhere in the high six figures. Yours etc., Charle-Dante Wrytah the Third."

Editors simply don't have the time to read 250K word manuscripts to grasp their writers' concepts, or lack thereof. Not being able to relate the novel concept in concise terms implies that you don't know your own work; not the kind of thing you want an editor to think about you. Plus if you wrote the book and you don't know how to properly express the concept, how is the publisher supposed to market it? "Buy this book, we have no freaking clue how to describe it, but we promise it's terrific"?

If your concept isn't working, you don't have to toss it out the window immediately. Work it, hone it, sharpen it, twist it, stretch it, and you may find the changes help get your novel rolling. But if a concept proves completely unwritable, let it go and start over with something new. It's not a wasted effort. You'll find that you learn as much from your failed concepts as you do from the ones that end up in print.

Post your thoughts, comments and questions about writing to concept in comments to this post by midnight EST on Saturday, July 29, 2006, and you'll have a chance at winning today's Left Behind Goody Bag: signed copies of all three of my Darkyn novels If Angels Burn, Private Demon and Dark Need, and unsigned paperback copies of: Closer by Jo Leigh, Last Girl Dancing and I See You by Holly Lisle, Deep Breath by Alison Kent, The Writer's Book of Hope by Ralph Keyes, as well as unsigned hardcover copies of Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helene Fielding and Cover of Night by Linda Howard, all packed in a reversible multi-color tote bag. I'll draw one name from everyone who participates and send you the goodies; giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Related links:

PBW posts related to novel concepts: Pitch Tools, Wattage, Practice.

VW#2

Virtual Workshop #2:
Trend Tracking Versus Jumping

I. Trends and Options

The publishing industry, like any entertainment entity, runs on consumer demand. What the readers buy, the publishers want. When a certain genre or sub-genre is in high demand for a significant period of time, we call this a trend. However we writers feel about trends, they are a reality, and they have direct influence over what publishers will buy, and what they reject.

The most common ways writers deal with trends:

A. Ignore them. Write exactly what you want, and pay no attention to the market, and hope for the best.
B. Jump on them. Write only what is in market demand in hopes that it will give you an edge in the slushpile.
C. Track them. Continually watch what sells on the market and use that information to follow current trends, evaluate your manuscript potential and, if possible, be one of the first writers to anticipate a new trend.

A is the artist's way. I respect artists, and I think this is a lovely attitude to have. It's also the reason a lot of artists starve, so it doesn't work for me.

B is like jumping on Ye Olde Bandwagon. It's often more counter-productive than helpful, as by the time a trend really gets rolling you have a ton of writers trying to do the exact same thing.

C is what I do, and in this workshop, we're going to talk about how to do that.

II. Genre Awareness

To sell in a genre, you must be aware of what is selling in that genre. Go to the bookstore regularly and look at the shelves. Check the online booksellers' BSL lists. Talk about genre titles with readers and other writers and see what are the latest, most popular sellers. Read books that do very well for market analysis.

What to look for in your target genre, and author examples:

Authors who create trends (Dan Brown)
Books that explode on the market (J.R. Ward)
Novels that provoke strong reader reactions (Thomas Harris)
Successfully sustained bestselling series (Sue Grafton)
Unusual or unique voices (Jacqueline Carey)
Word of mouth or "buzzed" books (Lisa Valdez)

Educate yourself as thoroughly as you can about your genre, and you'll have the basic knowledge you need to track a trend.

III. Info Gathering

Every week helpful entities like The New York Times and USA Today tell us what consumers are snapping up. This is great for readers but not very useful to writers, because we know whatever makes the bestseller lists was actually sold a year or two ago. What sells now is what will (or won't) be hot in 2007-2008. You might as well ignore the lists, right?

No. The lists individually provide little useful info, but collectively are a free trend mapping service. A writer interested in trend tracking should read the lists every week and watch how well books in their target genre(s) are selling (this is why it's so important to know your genre, so you can recognize the applicable author names and titles that show up on the lists.)

Let's look at rankings for five writers over a one year-period on the USA Today list (books are listed in order of publication along with peak position on BSL):

Jennifer Armintrout: The Turning 93
Kelley Armstrong: Haunted 62, Dates from Hell 36, Broken 22
Patricia Briggs: Moon Called 109
Lynn Viehl: If Angels Burn 148, Private Demon 120, Dark Need 87
J.R. Ward: Dark Lover 48, Lover Eternal 39

Let me add some details: Jennifer and Patricia's novels are genre debuts. Kelley, J.R. and I all have established series that are building in popularity. Patricia and I are veteran pros in other genres. With the exception of Kelley, all of us are new to the USA Today list, so we're considered "up and coming." Patricia and Kelley are being shelved in SF/F, and the rest of us are shelved in romance. The one thing we all have in common is that we're writing series that are not the usual Kiss Me Forever Vlad type novels that have been so popular in the past.

IV. Analyzing and Applying Your Info

How well you can track a trend depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it. Reading lists, watching your genre, and making the connections does require some time, but you're educating yourself about the market. Track trends long enough and you'll find that you do automatically.

To apply what you learn, use the information you gather as a submission barometer for your written manuscripts, and as a priority guide for your new novel ideas. Do the five authors above indicate a new direction in the vampire fiction trend; perhaps a trend within the trend? Only time will tell for sure. But if you are a writer with a dark or otherwise unusual vampire fiction manuscript or idea, I'd say this would be a good time to put together a proposal and get it out there, because similar fiction is collectively rising on the lists.

One thing about information: make sure it's information and not rumors. For about a year now I've been hearing a tired old rumor about how chick-lit, a very big trend in the romance genre, is on its way out. It's becoming cluttered in the same way that romantic suspense did five years ago, and paranormal romance is doing now, but I'm not seeing it die on the lists yet, and plenty of new writers are still selling it. Publishers will probably become more conservative with the number of chick-lit titles they publish, and eventually whittle down their authors lists, but I don't think it's going belly-up any time soon.

V. Making Trends

All trends start with some author(s) who present readers with something unexpected. Anyone who decides it's better to take the A/artist option and follow the artist's path has the potential to be a trend-setter. So do writers who take the C/Tracking option, because while watching trends, you may come up with an idea for a novel that goes beyond what's being done. B/Bandwagon writers generally don't set trends, because you're imitating what's already being done, but there is always the possibility that you'll do it better than anyone else has before you. In all things trend-related, choose to do what works best for you as a writer.

Post your comments, thoughts and questions on trends by midnight EST on Thursday, July 27, 2006, and you'll have a chance at winning today's Left Behind Goody Bag: signed copies of my Jessica Hall novels Into the Fire and Heat of the Moment and unsigned copies of: Diana Peterfreund's Secret Society Girl, Emma Holly's All U Can Eat, Jamie Sobrato's The Sex Quotient, June Casagrande's Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies, and Gimbles (brackets that hold a book open for you for hands-free reading), all packed in a quilted tote bag made by Yours Truly. I'll draw one name from everyone who participates and send you the goodies; giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Note: Thanks to the terrific response to VW#1 I'm lagging a bit behind on answering questions being posted in comments, but I promise I will leave no question unanswered. :)

Related links:

Bob Mayer's RTB guest post Writing for the Market.

Previous PBW posts about trends are here, here and here.

*Added: Bookseller Chick shares my general attitude about the chick-lit trend. (Thanks to L. for the link.)

Euphemetaphors

Certain situations that happen during a love story can be too graphic for delicate sensibilities. Such horrid things can be whispered or glossed over during normal dinner party conversations, but what if you write love stories for a living? A romance author can never be too careful about what she composes, as certain assumptions can be made about her based on the content of her novels.

When writing about such situations, the Romance Police, a division of The Sisters of the Immaculate Love Scene (TM), recommend that the tasteful author only use euphemetaphors. Euphemetaphors are those carefully crafted, timeless phrases used by countless romance authors in place of more crude, lewd or lascivious language. These lovely, ethereal phrases that are so loved by true romance readers provide adequate information without the risk of causing any offense whatsoever.

To illustrate, here are some classic examples of certain romantic situations, and the euphemetaphors that we strongly recommend authors use to describe them:

Hero

Admires Heroine's Anatomy

He could not keep his heated gaze from tracing over her ripe though innocent form.
She embodied the beauty and grace of all things womanly.
Surely she was the loveliest temptation to ever cross his path.

Becomes Physically Aroused

He turned away to hide the hard evidence of how she affected him.
Heat surged wildly through his veins until he thought his unruly desire for her would drive him insane.
Her delicate, fragile beauty stirred him until his muscles rippled, tightening against the need burning in his loins.

Has Intimate Relations

He brought their bodies together in an inferno of desire.
Masterfully he claimed her fragile femininity as his own.
Slowly, gently, with the determination of his love and hers guiding him, he made her his woman.

Has Lots of Relations

He explored every inch of her lusciousness, leaving nothing untouched.
He loved her again and again, until their entwined bodies curled together in delicious exhaustion.
Passion's storm broke over them and consumed them throughout the night.

Heroine

Admires the Hero's Anatomy

His forbidding but striking countenance caused a strange ache in her heart.
Surely no man could be as handsome, muscular, or virile as he.
The sight of his bare, bronzed chest made her gnaw at her lower lip.

Becomes Physically Aroused

His hand on her arm sent an electrical energy sizzling through her.
His tall, dark, handsome presence made her entire body tingle.
She could not understand the frightening conflagration of sensations he made her feel.
The sight of him stirred something deep within her being.

Has Intimate Relations

A wondrous heat spread through her nether regions.
She gave herself utterly to his passion.
She was swept to the dazzling heights of pleasure.

Has Lots of Intimate Relations

His masculine demands reduced her to give the whole of her being to him until the wee hours of the morning.
She surrendered again and again, withholding nothing from him.
They blazed together in love's fiery furnace until dawn.

[Next up: How using euphemetaphors, making the right sort of friends, and overnighting that entry fee check can clinch your RITA Award and bestow you, too, with the title of the best romance writer in the genre!]

(for Alison Kent, who started it)

Plot Habits

Very famous writers firmly believe in plotting out a novel. Other very famous writers don't. Both types have made, are making, and will make piles of money from their books. Thus the debate on To Plot or Not to Plot will rage on forever.

Plotting is one of my favorite things to do. I believe in it, I do it all the time, and it works for me. However, if you think plotting is unnecessary (or stupid, or pedestrian, or inartistic, etc. etc.), or if you worship writers who don't do it and resent the ones who do, or the thought of plotting your own novel makes you break out in hives, you should stop reading this post right now.

Yesterday Shiloh posed an interesting dilemma about plotting in comments here; specifically: any suggestions on how to actually get more into the habit of plotting something out?. I responded with some examples of plot-timeline and plot-summaryline methods I've used to teach writing students, but I really didn't answer her to my own satisfaction, and mulled over the question for a couple of hours.

This is what I ended up with: It's not how you plot as much as it's that you get into the habit of thinking about plot from the start of the novel concept. Doing that trains you to think in story versus detail.

Using the same premise I did in my response to Shiloh yesterday, let's say I have a wonderful idea for a character named John. He's a cop. He's also half-demon. But I'm going to forget about plot and concentrate on the details. John's cool. John has possibilities. For me, it's all about John.

(Several days later) Okay, so I've got John all figured out. What he looks like, how he talks, the clothes he wears, what sort of demonic powers he has, the type of ice cream he likes, his shoe size, etc. He's all dressed up and pretty and ready to make a novel with me. Now what do I do with him? What to do. What to do. I know, I could have him meet a nice human girl who doesn't know he's half-demon. Someone wants to kill them. They have to help each other. And then . . . what to do. What to do. (I've got to do something; I just don't want to think about plot yet. I'm too focused on remembering John's favorite ice cream and shoe size.)

Now, take the same wonderful idea for a character named John but let's limit the amount of detail via constructive character-building. Remember those three questions I keep harping on:

Who is John? He's a cop. He's also a half-demon.
What does John want? To be a good cop and live a normal human life.
What's the worst thing I can do to John? Make him use his demon side to be a good cop, and ruin his chances for a normal human life.

Those are all the details I need to know about John right now; it's time to make story.

I build my story around John and the answers to those three questions. John meets a nice human girl named Marcia at a Halloween party. She'd like to find a decent guy, settle down and live happily ever after. Only during the party she gets stuck with a stolen, cursed diamond and the thief who wants it back is sending demons from Hell after her.

Thinking through this scenario versus many tiny details allows me to sketch out the story in my head. It's progressive and the story is growing as I think about it, but my head's not cluttered up with details so I can still see the story.

Let's keep going: John saves Marcia's life and she's initially grateful; he's a decent guy and a cop -- the kind of guy she could fall head over heels for. But: Marcia discovers that John has a strange tattoo on his chest. And superhuman strength. And his eyes glow red in the dark. John is presently freaking out Marcia, but she doesn't have time to have hysterics, because now the thief is trying to kill both of them. (Note here: I'm still plotting, but John is also developing as a character via details from Marcia's POV. I've limited John's strangeness to three big things versus a thousand little things.)

Plotting from this point goes in all sorts of directions, as there are questions I have to answer, i.e.: How does the thief try to kill them? What sort of demons from hell are we talking about here? What's the deal with this cursed diamond? How does Marcia confront John about his oddities? How does John protect Marcia? Does he suspect that she stole the diamond? I need to work out these answers before I plot any further, but as with John's character I'm going to keep the answers simple so that again I don't get bogged down with a lot of detail. Just the facts, ma'am.

When you think in story versus detail, you're putting together a collage of ideas. Too much detail clutters the collage; it breeds and it obscures things and it ends up confusing you. Less is not only more, it's vital to get the novel sketched out in your head. You can always add more detail to the collage later; too much gets in your way and suffocates the story before it gets rolling.

I'm not sure I'm explaining it as well as I can, though, so does this help, or am I just confusing the issue more?

Updates

I had to go out of town today on very short notice and have just returned home, so I'll hold the usual Friday Q&A tomorrow.

Steven Barnes reported that Baen Books publisher and editor Jim Baen has suffered a stroke and is hospitalized in serious condition. Prayers, hope and good thoughts are greatly needed now. Please send yours his way.

For those of you who preordered, ordered online or made the trip to the store this past week, my novel Dark Need is now a USA Today bestseller, #24 on Barnes & Nobles' mass market fiction list and #4 on their mass market romance list. Thank you for making that possible.

ArtWish Granted

I'm back, and we're fine. I appreciate all who worried and e-mailed. The only things Alberto wrecked here were a basket fern I forgot to bring in and a baby tomato plant in the garden.

The magic hat went back in action today for the third wish -- have I mentioned how much fun and torture being a Publishing Fairy is? -- and one artwish is granted to:

Little Lamb Lost (posting as Anonymous, inspired by Gustav Klimt's The Kiss)

Little Lamb (now, how often are you going to get to call a giveaway winner that?), please e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com and let me know your full name, an e-mail address to which I can send your Art.com gift certificate, and your ship-to address for the quilt and copy of Dark Need.

The Publishing Fairy has once more taken back his powers, but there's still some magical things going on out there. Stop by our pal Jean's blog before midnight CST on Wednesday, June 14th, 2006, because she's giving away to one of her readers a bookpack of Talyn by Holly Lisle, Muse by Lazette Gifford, your choice of one of Tamara Siler Jones' books, and Dark Need by Yours Truly.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your wishes with us.

MusicWish Granted

With Tropical Storm Alberto working himself up into a hurricane, and the cycling of our generator whenever the power goes off, my posts over the next couple of days will be spotty at best. Hang in there with me.

The musicwishes you all made have greatly added to my albums-to-buy list. I had no idea you all were into such a diverse spectrum of music, either. Very cool to know. Anyway, we whipped out the magic hat again last night, and one musicwish is granted to:

Stephanie

Stephanie, please e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com, confirm the music you'd like to have, and where I can ship it, the Evans Blue CD, and a signed copy of Dark Need. My thanks to everyone who joined in, and remember, there's still one wish to go, so if you haven't yet, post an artwish here.

ArtWish

Art is silent music, stories without words. It speaks to us of lost civilizations and centuries we can never know. It allows us to express things that would otherwise never exist. It seizes that part of us that the world never knows -- the inner dreamer -- and makes us wonder.

It also looks very cool hanging in the livingroom.

I'm not a traditional artist by any means, but I can appreciate how much art focuses the inner dreamer. Before I began making quilts, and saving old ones, I felt very little personal connection to the past. Now I've become part of a long line of American women who expressed themselves while keeping their art functional and practical. It's the perfect art for me.

Wish #3: In comments to this post*, tell us about any art or artist who has particularly inspired you by midnight EST on Monday, June 12, 2006. I'll draw one name from everyone who participates and send you a $50.00 gift certificate to Art.com so you can go art shopping. I'll also send you a brand-new lap quilt made by me, and a signed copy of my novel Dark Need, that other thing I do when I'm not quilting. Wish open to everyone on the planet, even if you've had wishes fulfilled here at PBW before.

[*Note: Same problems with Blogger, so if you try to post a comment and find you can't, e-mail your artwish to me at LynnViehl@aol.com; same time cut-off as above.]

MusicWish

I don't quite love music as much as books, but it's definitely first runner up and will take over for books, should they ever be unable to carry out their duties.

Music is also a central source of writing inspiration for me. Every novel I write has a theme song(s) or album; often I'll rip and burn a collection of songs on CD so I can listen to it while I'm outlining or plotting. I regularly annoy close friends by giving them albums of music that remind me of their books, too.

Time for wish #2: there is a music album out there that you'd like to hear, own, or get again because you accidentally dropped your only copy on the side of a country road and some busybody snatched it up before you could drive back and recover it. Only you don't have the time, means or money to get it at the moment.

Here's your shot: In comments to this post*, list the name of the album and the performer or band you wish for (it can be any music album at all, just assure that it's available for purchase and the cover price is less than $50.00 U.S. Also, if you'd rather not have a CD, please specify format) by midnight EST on Sunday, June 11, 2006.

I'll draw one name from everyone who participates, buy the album, and ship it to you, no charge. I'll also throw in a brand-new, non-bootleg copy of Evans Blue's debut album (which I talked about finding here) and a signed copy of my novel Dark Need. Wish open to everyone on the planet, even if you've had wishes fulfilled here at PBW before.

[*Note: Same problems with Blogger, so if you try to post a comment and find you can't, e-mail your musicwish to me at LynnViehl@aol.com; same time cut-off as above.]

BookWish Granted

Oh, look, my blog is working again. Whaddya know. I thought I might have to have someone else announce this.

You're all terrific BookWishers. My only wish is that I could really be the Publishing Fairy and cover them all. I'd have to pass on the spangled fairywear, though. Sequins make me itch.

Anyway, we put everyone in the magic hat last night, and one bookwish is granted to:

Debbi.

Debbi, please e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com, confirm the book you'd like to have, and where I can ship it and a signed copy of Dark Need. My thanks to everyone who joined in (and hang around for a minute and refresh the page, I'm about to post the details on Wish #2, unless Blogger goes kaput again.)