Domestic Magic
Browse more Books Search for: The WMG Newsletter Get advanced notice of new releases, bonus content, and so much more. Subscribe Now Fantasy Middle Grade Available in: ebook, $2.99 Domestic Magic Kristine Kathryn Rusch The most picked-on kid at a high school for the...Five Fantastic Tales
Fantasy Collections Available in: ebook, $5.99 Trade paperback, $12.99 ISBN 978-0615730431 Get the ebook! Get the trade paperback! Five Fantastic Tales Kristine Kathryn Rusch The five magical stories in this short collection include stories of fairies and...Bleed Through
Browse more Books Search for: The WMG Newsletter Get advanced notice of new releases, bonus content, and so much more. Subscribe Now Contemporary fiction Women’s fiction Available in: ebook, $5.99 Trade paperback, $18.99 ISBN 978-0615767635 audiobook Amazon Kobo...How much is too much?
TMI.
Depending on your personality type, you’ve probably either had this acronym spoken to you or spoken it yourself.
For me, it’s usually the former. I’m from Jersey, I’m very straightforward (this can also be read as blunt), I spent much of my college life as a biology major, and I’m a journalist. In other words, not much is off limits for me.
But I do find myself uttering the phrase more these days. Particularly on Facebook.
I saw in my news feed the other day a post from an acquaintance thanking her boyfriend for giving her the best kisses ever. Ick. I mean, good for you, but c’mon. That’s kind of intimate information. Why do you need to share that with the world?
Then, there’s the lovey-dovey messages between significant others. Again, posted in the news feed for all to read. And again, good for you, but that seems like something you talk about in private.
I probably seem like a prude right about now. I’m not. But sometimes my Facebook feed feels like I’m reading the stall of a high school bathroom. Too much information.
There’s a time and a place for everything. And this goes for details and descriptions, too. Even in writing.
When I was running the news desk during the inception of the second Iraq war, I was responsible for culling the news feed for updates. I read the raw reporting coming over the wire from war correspondents on the ground—in vivid detail. I will never be able to forget those accounts. Unless you were a journalist covering the war or part of the military action directly, you have probably never read the descriptions now burned into my brain. I know because we, the gatekeepers, filtered them.
When I asked my managing editor why the reporters included so much information we couldn’t print (information that disturbs me to this day), he told me that the horrors of war must be documented, but to present them in gory detail would overwhelm the message. In other words, the information the public needed to know would be lost in the shock of staring into the face of war itself.
I had to explore this further. I did so through my graduate thesis in which I studied a year of newspaper coverage, particularly the use of photography, of violent political acts against civilians. As part of my research, I obtained this quote from Jim Pokrandt, then managing editor of the Summit Daily News and a member of the Colorado Press Association: “The morality of it, I don’t know. I’m not sure we do society a big favor by euphemisms of the day and not confronting suicide and not showing the true horror that life can present. Yes, there still needs to be sensitivity, but I don’t know, we all live in this vacuum where somehow the blood and guts doesn’t happen.”
Granted, this was nine years ago. A lot has changed in the media since then.
But the idea of too much information continues to be a topic of discussion. I’ve just outlined some thoughts on nonfiction. But what about fiction?
In fiction, too much information can be a bad thing, too, but for somewhat different reasons. Because fiction is a delicate balance of creating a rich environment for the reader to immerse themselves into while not providing so many details that the reader either gets lost or cannot fully engage their own imagination.
Murder, for example, is a delicate deed in fiction. Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a master at killing off characters. No one is ever safe in a Rusch novel, and we don’t just see a character die, we see it happen from their perspective.
Take this passage from one of Kris’ Retrieval Artist novels (title and character name omitted to avoid spoilers if you haven’t read it yet):
The redness slashed across her throat and she made a gurgling sound that panicked her even more. If she survived this, she would need surgery; she wouldn’t be able to talk or to breathe on her own—
Like she couldn’t breathe now. Black dots ran across her vision.
She couldn’t pass out.
She didn’t dare.
She would die if she passed out.
She willed herself to stay awake—
And fought the darkness, even as it took her away.
Like I said, she’s a master.
It also takes a masterful writer to recognize when they’ve gone too far with their description. Dean Wesley Smith wrote about that in his Writing in Public blog last week. He got to a point in his narrative where he realized that 7,000 words of description (lovely as it was) could be summarized by the words, “two days later.” So, he cut it. Again, a master. It takes a skillful writer to be able to step back from their own words enough to make that kind of edit.
I could discuss this topic all day (my thesis alone is almost 400 pages), but that would run the risk of “too much information,” so I’ll leave you with this:
Good writing, like good design, is all about the details. And details need context. Too many or too few will throw everything off balance.
Kind of like how I feel sometimes when I read my Facebook feed.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Footprints in the sand alongside the sea of humanity
WHILE PERUSING FACEBOOK the other day, I came across a post from a high school classmate about the sudden death of her mentor, U. Roberto Romano, know by friends as Robin. He was a cinematographer who worked tirelessly for international labor rights, especially children’s rights. His loss will be felt by many, including my high school friend.
Reading about this man—whom I had never met and yet I find myself mourning his loss—coalesced a series of thoughts I’ve been having for a while about the interconnectivity of the human species.
Remember the theory of “six degrees of separation”—or for my generation, “six degrees of Kevin Bacon <g>”? As a refresher, the theory posits that everyone on earth is six or fewer acquaintance links apart. Interestingly (at least to me), I’m only four degrees from Kevin Bacon myself. My aunt Jaclyn O’Shaughnessy had several guest roles on Night Court with John Larroquette, who was in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock with James Doohan, who was in New York Skyride with Kevin Bacon. And I even got a Star Trek link in there. But I digress.
These six or fewer degrees of separation are evident at every turn if you stop to think about it. Especially in this Internet-connected world. The impact we can have on the lives of others is astounding. I see it here every day.
You see, WMG might be the Home of Great Fiction, but it’s also the home of writers’ inspiration. Notice I say writers’, not writing, although we can certainly inspire the latter, too. But through our in-person workshops and online workshops and lectures, we inspire writers to pursue their craft. We give them the tools to take their words and give them form, to take that form and make it a book, to get that book in front of an audience. We—especially veteran writers Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch—help these driven writers navigate the upstream swim toward writing success. It’s hard work (nothing worth having is this life tends to be easy), but we try to help guide the way. Not just during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but all year long.
We do it for them, we do it for us, and we do it for you. Because everyone benefits when great books hit the stands.
And when it comes to inspiration, few compare to Dean Wesley Smith. Through his Writing in Public project, he takes writers and readers alike on a daily journey through the life of a writer. How he spends his day, how many words he writes, how he gets out of his own head when his subconscious tries to sabotage his writing—he puts it all out there for the world to read. And read it they do.
But he doesn’t just inspire through talking. He also inspires through doing. This week marks the publication of his second Smith’s Monthly. And tomorrow is the official publication date of Dean’s new poker thriller, Dead Money. I’ve told you about those projects before, but if you want to read about them again, click here.
Fiction or nonfiction, inspiration is everywhere. We all possess greatness within us. It only takes making a difference in one person’s life to leave footprints in the sand alongside the sea of humanity.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Holiday weekend promotions
It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve offered any specials, and that might just be too long.
Through our partnership with the fine folks at Kobo, we are offering discounts on the following titles over the holiday weekend.
November 8-11
Promo code:
November30
Hurry! this offer is good for one book, and ends Monday. Click here for more information on Fiction River: Time Streams, Bleed Through, or Diving Into the Wreck.
Time travel in all its forms—good, bad, and terrifying—appears in this anthology. From the wild visions of Ray Vukcevich , Lee Allred, and Robert T. Jeschonek to the bestselling imaginations of Mike Resnick, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Michael A. Stackpole, Time Streams will turn the time-travel genre on its head.
Fiction River: Time Streams includes stories by: Lee Allred, Michael A. Stackpole, Scott William Carter, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Resnick & Lou J. Berger, Sharon Joss, Michael Robert Thomas, J. Steven York, D.K. Holmberg, Ray Vukcevich, Dean Wesley Smith, Jeffrey A. Ballard, Ken Hinckley, and Robert T. Jeschonek.
“Editor Dean Wesley Smith has compiled an outstanding volume of time travel stories, no two alike. I highly recommend it.” —Adventures Fantastic on Fiction River: Time Streams
***
Former journalist turned journalism teacher Larissa Johanssen moved back to her hometown to escape the violence she once covered on a national stage. Until that violence strikes her high school, her students. Now, she must help her students deal with the type of coverage that drove her to the breaking point. And she must revisit parts of her past she thought long buried—and separate truth from fiction to finally begin to heal.
[Rusch] is one of those very few writers whose style takes me right into the story—the words and pages disappear as the characters and their story swallows me whole….Rusch has style.
—Charles de Lint
***
Boss dives derelict space vessels, for money, yes, but more for their historical value. So, when Boss uncovers the find of a lifetime, she enlists the best divers she can convince to help her pursue it—off the grid and under the Empire’s radar.
Boss’ discovery leads her and some of her team to the Room of Lost Souls. Boss remembers the Room. It haunts her. Her mother died there. Now, a client wants her to go back. She wants Boss to help her uncover the Room’s mysteries. But the truths she discovers might destroy everything Boss holds sacred.
Because the more they discover, the less they realize they know—and the more it will cost them all.
This is classic sci-fi, a well-told tale of dangerous exploration. The first-person narration makes the reader an eyewitness to the vast, silent realms of deep space, where even the smallest error will bring disaster. Compellingly human and technically absorbing, the suspense builds to fevered intensity, culminating in an explosive yet plausible conclusion.” —RT Book Reviews Top Pick
Picks of the Week
For this week’s picks, we’re proud to offer three serious pieces, one from Dean Wesley Smith and two from Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The first, Bleed Through, has recently been made available as an audiobook.
Former journalist turned journalism teacher Larissa Johanssen moved back to her hometown to escape the violence she once covered on a national stage. Until that violence strikes her high school, her students. Now, she must help her students deal with the type of coverage that drove her to the breaking point. And she must revisit parts of her past she thought long buried—and separate truth from fiction to finally begin to heal.
[Rusch] is one of those very few writers whose style takes me right into the story—the words and pages disappear as the characters and their story swallows me whole….Rusch has style.
—Charles de Lint
Available from Audible, in print, or electronic form from $7.99.
Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords and others
Seeds of Change
Benjamin Franklin said: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” I’d add one more thing to that list: change.
No matter how hard we try, the world will shift on us. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, but always for certain.
I think about this a few times a year: at the start of school, at the beginning of the year, and at tax time.
Every year at tax time, my accountant gives me a two-page, single-spaced, small-font checklist to indicate what aspects of the tax code he’ll need to accommodate as well as any changes from the previous year. Did I get married? (well, no, that would make me a bigamist), divorced? (not this year), further my education? (I think a master’s thesis was enough—at least for now), have a child? (I’m fine with one, thank you), sell property? (sadly, I bought my home at the top of the market, so I’ll die there), and so on.
By the time I’m done answering all of those questions, I find myself reflecting on the year past and planning for the year ahead. What changes were out of my control? What changes are in my control, and how do I want to answer those questions next year?
Writers often face a lot of hard questions and possibilities for change. This week, we have a building full of students who want to develop their use of character, voice and setting in their writing. That’s seeking change in order to enhance a skill. They also have the opportunity to write a story for an upcoming Fiction River anthology. That could change them from unpublished writer to published. Or maybe add a new genre to their list of published stories.
Regardless, change takes guts. It’s hard. And it’s often scary.
Pursuing a writing career can be one of the scariest life choices out there. Sure, most people think they have a book in them. (Don’t believe me, just start telling people you’re a book publisher…) But the idea of actually pursuing that dream? That’s a hurdle most people won’t clear. And even if you do clear it, the hard work has only begun.
It’s one of the reasons the workshops WMG offers are for advanced writers only. But I occasionally find myself in the position of giving advice to new writers. I don’t do this often—as a hard-news journalist, I naturally shy away from giving an opinion. But when someone I have a connection to already asks, I’ll consider it.
Recently, a fellow high school alumnus wanted to bounce a book idea off me. I try very hard not to roll my eyes when people approach this topic—like I said, just about everyone has a book idea—but this person was referred to me by my sister (thus clearing the first test as a reliable source) and had a history of perseverance and an inspiring true-life story. Like I said, I’m a journalist, so he had my attention.
He proceeded to run his story pitch by me. It was a beginner’s pitch, as I suspected, in the utopian/dystopian science fiction genre, with an ecotopian fiction bent. But it had meat, and it showed he’d been mulling it over for a while. It also showed promise in that he was naturally doing some of the things that serious writers do, such as outlining and the like. But he didn’t think he should write it. He was asking for advice on how to get the idea into a screenwriter or ghostwriter’s hands.
And this is where my advice began. I encouraged him to write it himself. He thought he couldn’t possibly have the skill to do it, but I pointed out that the hard part—the conceptualization, the organization, the motivation—he had in spades. The rest is learning to refine that vision. Learn the craft. Apply the craft. See what happens. Repeat as needed.
I hope he does write it himself. Because sometimes finding the courage to follow our dreams is the biggest change we can make.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
A Novel Idea
It’s an exciting week here at WMG! We’ve published our first new novel of the year, and I have to tell you, it’s a compelling way to kick things off.
This project was an interesting one for several reasons, not the least of which was the marketing challenge this book presented. Not because it will be hard to sell (it won’t—it’s topical, well written and gut-wrenching exactly where it should be), but because of the story arc itself and some of the current events making us all take a long, hard look at where we stand on gun laws.
You see Bleed Through, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, follows the main characters through the aftermath of a school shooting.
Here’s the premise:
Former journalist turned journalism teacher Larissa Johanssen moved back to her hometown to escape the violence she once covered on a national stage. Until that violence strikes her high school, her students. Now, she must help her students deal with the type of coverage that drove her to the breaking point. And she must revisit parts of her past she thought long buried—and separate truth from fiction to finally begin to heal.
As you can glean from the back cover copy, it’s a helluva story. But every time we were ready to launch it, another school shooting would happen, making us reticent to seem like we were trying to capitalize on tragedy. Kris discussed this more in-depth in her recent blog post.
So, together with the author, we decided on a soft launch. We’ve made it available for sale in electronic and trade paper formats on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CreateSpace, Kobo, Apple, Sony, and Smashwords and are allowing word-of-mouth to do the rest.
So, please consider giving it a read. And if you find it as compelling as we do, spread the word. Talk about it, Pin it, Tweet it, Share it, what have you. We hope you’ll want to be part of the conversation.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
That’s Just Spooky
Although I love Halloween, I’m really not a big fan of scary things.
To me, Halloween is about the costumes and candy and hayrides and bobbing for apples—all the fun things I used to do as a small child growing up on a New Jersey farm.
But I’ve never gotten on board with haunted houses, hayrides, mazes, stories—well, anything, as I said before, scary. Maybe it was growing up next to a cemetery. Or maybe I just don’t have the constitution for it.
Setting Expectations
My daughter celebrated her second birthday recently, and I fear we have set her up for disappointment.
Not only did she have two parties (one at her daycare and one at a local pizza place) but she also got to celebrate again with her grandparents at a beach resort two weeks later.
Worse still, the party at her daycare involved the National Guard. Yes, I’m serious.
My daughter’s daycare is at the high school where my husband teaches. It’s primarily for teen parents (to keep them in school—teen pregnancy is a huge problem there) but also for staff. Well, it just so happened that the day of her birthday, a Wednesday, the National Guard happened to come by with blow-up obstacle courses and motorized vehicles for the high school kids to try out. And the daycare kids, apparently.
Throw in some inflatable pools and a whole lotta junk food for the end-of-the-year daycare party, and my toddler had the time of her life. She came home passed out, with pink hair and wrapped in nothing but a towel and a blanket.
I, with my lack of party hardy experience, can never hope to measure up to that.
Which brings us to my topic of the week: expectations.
Publishers and authors can do this too, with their books.