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The next installment in the "Capturing The Elusive Novel" series is Tanya Huff, known here locally as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andpuff. In the interests of full disclosure, Tanya's a long-time friend, and we love her and her partner Fe dearly. She's also -- if you don't know -- a terrific writer on her own part. Sharpest damn dialog in the world! Tanya's well known for the "Blood" books (which were the basis for the "Blood Ties" TV series) as well as several other fantasy and science fiction books.
If you haven't read Tanya Huff, you really should gift yourself and pick up one of her books. Any of 'em.
Enough of my burbling. Let's bring on Tanya and let her talk in her own delightfully quirky and amusing way...
So Steve generously asked me to be a part of his Capturing the Elusive Novel series and, as the alternative was actually writing the elusive novel, I readily agreed.
As other guest bloggers have started with a little about themselves and I've never been one to buck a trend, I suppose I should mention that through twenty-five books and four short story collections, I've written urban fantasy, heroic fantasy, horror, comedy, and military science fiction. I'm probably best known for the Vicki Nelson books which never had a series title but were referred to around the DAW offices as the Blood Noun books (Blood Price, Blood Trail, Blood Lines, Blood Debt, Blood Pact, and Blood Bank) and were made into the television series Blood Ties. My latest book, THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM, an urban fantasy will be out from DAW in June 09.
As to how I wrote those books… well, that depends.
I can work from very detailed outlines. I wrote a work for hire D&D book called Scholar of Decay for TSR (Regency were-rats -- how could I resist?) where I broke the entire plot down chapter by chapter and the only change I made while writing it was that one chapter actually took two chapters to tell. Because I skipped the biggest problem most authors have while writing work for hire books, that being forgetting they're contractually obligated to produce the product approved in the outline, I found the whole experience remarkably low stress and a good practice run at writing for television. When you've already dealt with the necessary plot and character development, everything else is just details.
My DAW books used to have fairly detailed outlines in that I pitched the whole story -- as I knew it at the time -- when I sold the book and then wrote that story in more detail after contracts were signed. This changed in the middle of NO QUARTER when I got to a point at about the two thirds mark, wasn't entirely certain where I should go from there, decided to check my outline and realized it would be no help at all as I'd never planned on the situation in question. After that, my outlines became fairly detailed beginnings and endings and, thanks to my working exclusively with one editor for my entire career (work for hire aside), "a bunch of stuff that happens in the middle".
These days, again thanks to working with an editor who knows what I can do better than I do, I work off more of an idea pitch. The length depends on how much the idea needs explaining. For THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM it took a whole page. For the new Torin Kerr novel, a paragraph.
Generally, I know where I'm going. I just don't know exactly how I'm going to get there.
How do I decide what I'm going to write? Well, that depends. Sometimes as I'm finishing one story it slides right into the next because the background is just too big for one book and sometimes I take a clear-eyed look at the market and the current economic situation and decide that now may not be the time for Napoleonic werewolves. Fortunately, I've always got a few ideas on slow simmer so it's easy enough to pick something else to get excited about.
Before I start writing, I research. Sometimes specific things -- like Calgary neighbourhoods -- and sometimes more atmospheric things -- before the Valor books, I read a lot of soldiers' blogs. I do my world building up front and usually write character sketches although I don't always look at them later. Occasionally, I do actual sketches. Eventually, the weight of the research piles up and I start to write.
Some people write like they're building a house. They frame and then they refine. Me, I work more like a bricklayer; every brick has to be right or it messes up the next brick. Or, in other words, some people write in the white hot burn of creation, spewing the story out, not caring about word choice or details because they know they can go back. Some people (myself amongst them) write one word at a time and it has to be the right word. Whatever works.
When I write, I tell a story. Well, duh, says you, doesn't everyone? Sure. But what I mean is, I don't worry about theme or structure, I'm just telling you how Torin Kerr came to convince the Silsviss to join the Confederation. Or how Vicki Nelson defeated the mummy that tried to take over Toronto (and then the world). Or how Benedikt ended up in strange land and learned to Sing the sea.
Generally, I discover what the story is about in the broader sense at around the three quarter point when I'm stomping around the house muttering how much I hate this book and why did I ever start to write it and I haven't the faintest idea about… Oh! Hang on a minute! It's about becoming who you are instead of who people say you are! And then, alight with that revelation I go back to work, do a bit of tweaking and in one bound I'm heading for denouement my conscious having caught up to my subconscious.
I work in the afternoon -- although lately that's been easing into the evenings a bit. I start by going over what I wrote the day before, polishing, tweaking, then I pick up the threads and keep going. I'll likely finish the day by point forming where I'm going next -- sometimes this takes the form of a couple of pages of unassigned dialogue which can be just loads of fun to try and figure out who the hell I thought was talking next time I sit down. I like to get 1,000 words of publishable material done -- however many words it might take me to get to that point -- but I don't always. Clearly. Or I'd be producing 352,000 publishable words a year. Like a lot of the self-employed, I spend a remarkable amount of time screwing around. Someday, I will conquer four suite Spider Solitaire.
I tend to take notes on the back of a page from the galleys of my last book, folded in half and slid under my keyboard so I don't lose it. Notes can include sketches of rooms, rough maps, and charts showing where each character is when. Sometime, I have six or seven pieces of paper under there. I run a file for longer notes but the paper is more useful since I actually remember to look at it. While I'm doing the final polish, I'll use post-it notes stuck to my tower -- currently holding a note that says D's list! and size adam from the galleys of Emporium.
Because I edit ruthlessly as I go my first draft is essentially my final draft. There's probably never been more than a ten percent change between my first draft and what you read when you buy the book. As a rule, my editor asks me to expand scenes that might be unclear to someone who doesn't have all the background in their head. Actual conversation:
Her: "You need to explain how the magic system works."
Me: "But I did."
Her: "In the book?"
Me: "Yes… no, wait, to Michelle."
I write using MSWorks on my desktop -- because it came with Vista -- and Open Office on my laptop because I refused to give more money to Microsoft. Both will save in .doc and .rtf so I don't see the need for anything fancier. Theoretically, I could write the novels in Movie Magic Screenwriter but I'm too lazy to conquer the learning curve.
Every couple of years, I talk to the senior English classes at my local high school and someone always asks me what I do about writer's block. "I think about my mortgage," I tell them. "So far, that's managed to inspire me."
Thanks, Tanya!
andpuff. In the interests of full disclosure, Tanya's a long-time friend, and we love her and her partner Fe dearly. She's also -- if you don't know -- a terrific writer on her own part. Sharpest damn dialog in the world! Tanya's well known for the "Blood" books (which were the basis for the "Blood Ties" TV series) as well as several other fantasy and science fiction books. If you haven't read Tanya Huff, you really should gift yourself and pick up one of her books. Any of 'em.
Enough of my burbling. Let's bring on Tanya and let her talk in her own delightfully quirky and amusing way...
So Steve generously asked me to be a part of his Capturing the Elusive Novel series and, as the alternative was actually writing the elusive novel, I readily agreed.
As other guest bloggers have started with a little about themselves and I've never been one to buck a trend, I suppose I should mention that through twenty-five books and four short story collections, I've written urban fantasy, heroic fantasy, horror, comedy, and military science fiction. I'm probably best known for the Vicki Nelson books which never had a series title but were referred to around the DAW offices as the Blood Noun books (Blood Price, Blood Trail, Blood Lines, Blood Debt, Blood Pact, and Blood Bank) and were made into the television series Blood Ties. My latest book, THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM, an urban fantasy will be out from DAW in June 09.
As to how I wrote those books… well, that depends.
I can work from very detailed outlines. I wrote a work for hire D&D book called Scholar of Decay for TSR (Regency were-rats -- how could I resist?) where I broke the entire plot down chapter by chapter and the only change I made while writing it was that one chapter actually took two chapters to tell. Because I skipped the biggest problem most authors have while writing work for hire books, that being forgetting they're contractually obligated to produce the product approved in the outline, I found the whole experience remarkably low stress and a good practice run at writing for television. When you've already dealt with the necessary plot and character development, everything else is just details.
My DAW books used to have fairly detailed outlines in that I pitched the whole story -- as I knew it at the time -- when I sold the book and then wrote that story in more detail after contracts were signed. This changed in the middle of NO QUARTER when I got to a point at about the two thirds mark, wasn't entirely certain where I should go from there, decided to check my outline and realized it would be no help at all as I'd never planned on the situation in question. After that, my outlines became fairly detailed beginnings and endings and, thanks to my working exclusively with one editor for my entire career (work for hire aside), "a bunch of stuff that happens in the middle".
These days, again thanks to working with an editor who knows what I can do better than I do, I work off more of an idea pitch. The length depends on how much the idea needs explaining. For THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM it took a whole page. For the new Torin Kerr novel, a paragraph.
Generally, I know where I'm going. I just don't know exactly how I'm going to get there.
How do I decide what I'm going to write? Well, that depends. Sometimes as I'm finishing one story it slides right into the next because the background is just too big for one book and sometimes I take a clear-eyed look at the market and the current economic situation and decide that now may not be the time for Napoleonic werewolves. Fortunately, I've always got a few ideas on slow simmer so it's easy enough to pick something else to get excited about.
Before I start writing, I research. Sometimes specific things -- like Calgary neighbourhoods -- and sometimes more atmospheric things -- before the Valor books, I read a lot of soldiers' blogs. I do my world building up front and usually write character sketches although I don't always look at them later. Occasionally, I do actual sketches. Eventually, the weight of the research piles up and I start to write.
Some people write like they're building a house. They frame and then they refine. Me, I work more like a bricklayer; every brick has to be right or it messes up the next brick. Or, in other words, some people write in the white hot burn of creation, spewing the story out, not caring about word choice or details because they know they can go back. Some people (myself amongst them) write one word at a time and it has to be the right word. Whatever works.
When I write, I tell a story. Well, duh, says you, doesn't everyone? Sure. But what I mean is, I don't worry about theme or structure, I'm just telling you how Torin Kerr came to convince the Silsviss to join the Confederation. Or how Vicki Nelson defeated the mummy that tried to take over Toronto (and then the world). Or how Benedikt ended up in strange land and learned to Sing the sea.
Generally, I discover what the story is about in the broader sense at around the three quarter point when I'm stomping around the house muttering how much I hate this book and why did I ever start to write it and I haven't the faintest idea about… Oh! Hang on a minute! It's about becoming who you are instead of who people say you are! And then, alight with that revelation I go back to work, do a bit of tweaking and in one bound I'm heading for denouement my conscious having caught up to my subconscious.
I work in the afternoon -- although lately that's been easing into the evenings a bit. I start by going over what I wrote the day before, polishing, tweaking, then I pick up the threads and keep going. I'll likely finish the day by point forming where I'm going next -- sometimes this takes the form of a couple of pages of unassigned dialogue which can be just loads of fun to try and figure out who the hell I thought was talking next time I sit down. I like to get 1,000 words of publishable material done -- however many words it might take me to get to that point -- but I don't always. Clearly. Or I'd be producing 352,000 publishable words a year. Like a lot of the self-employed, I spend a remarkable amount of time screwing around. Someday, I will conquer four suite Spider Solitaire.
I tend to take notes on the back of a page from the galleys of my last book, folded in half and slid under my keyboard so I don't lose it. Notes can include sketches of rooms, rough maps, and charts showing where each character is when. Sometime, I have six or seven pieces of paper under there. I run a file for longer notes but the paper is more useful since I actually remember to look at it. While I'm doing the final polish, I'll use post-it notes stuck to my tower -- currently holding a note that says D's list! and size adam from the galleys of Emporium.
Because I edit ruthlessly as I go my first draft is essentially my final draft. There's probably never been more than a ten percent change between my first draft and what you read when you buy the book. As a rule, my editor asks me to expand scenes that might be unclear to someone who doesn't have all the background in their head. Actual conversation:
Her: "You need to explain how the magic system works."
Me: "But I did."
Her: "In the book?"
Me: "Yes… no, wait, to Michelle."
I write using MSWorks on my desktop -- because it came with Vista -- and Open Office on my laptop because I refused to give more money to Microsoft. Both will save in .doc and .rtf so I don't see the need for anything fancier. Theoretically, I could write the novels in Movie Magic Screenwriter but I'm too lazy to conquer the learning curve.
Every couple of years, I talk to the senior English classes at my local high school and someone always asks me what I do about writer's block. "I think about my mortgage," I tell them. "So far, that's managed to inspire me."
Thanks, Tanya!
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