Writing Diary: Novel Queries and Nebulas

My last writing update was last year, so it's about time I did the writerly waffle thing. The official Nebula nominations are also out, so I have some thoughts on that too.

Novel Stuff

My urban fantasy novel is done. I was pretty centred the day I finished. I wrote a short and long synopsis and polished my query letter. Then I flailed for a few days. But I got over it, so my first query letters are out in the world. Yay!

The plan was to move on to an adult superhero novel, but in my general state of flail, I ended up writing the start of a contemporary fantasy young adult book instead. At this stage, it probably doesn't make a lot of odds... as I can't really plan where things might be going until I know if the finished urban fantasy will sell or not. So I'm writing what I feel like writing.

(Which might mean the lack of fungi or robots in the young adult book is a surprise... I suppose even I have days where I don't feel like a bit of robot fungus.)

Nebulas

The official 2011 Nebula nominees have been announced (my personal nomination list is over here). And so I will ramble...

None of my novel or short story nominations got through to the final list. Three of the novellas did: Silently and Very Fast, The Man Who Bridged the Mist and The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary. For novelette's, also three: The Migratory Pattern of Dancers, Sauerkraut Station and The Old Equations. The first two of those are from a newer market for long work called Giganotosaurus. Not a bad start for their first full nomination year.

The Bradbury was my best success rate, with four out of five making it: Source Code, Attack the Block, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Doctor's Wife.

Norton, we're back to three. Akata Witch, Chime and The Freedom Maze.

I'm not too surprised at the results. Novels and short stories are the most competitive categories, with a lot of possible candidates. It's much more likely that people will pick very different selections. At the other end of the scale, there are fewer novelettes every year, and even fewer novellas, so there's a lot more overlap.

The Bradbury is another one with a fairly limited choice, as the number of eligible theatrical productions is relatively small (it could be higher if producers of smaller works, such as stage plays, made a copy of the performance available to voters... which would be great if they did, as I'd love to nominate a few plays, but geography prevents going to see plays performed in the US.)

The Norton, I'm not so sure about. Though I'm pleased ones I nominated got through, I felt overall, the number of suggestions people were discussing wasn't proportional to the number of eligible novels. It doesn't seem to have the interest the Nebula novel category does. But there's not a lot I can do about that, other than continuing to read and nominate YA/MG books.

Anyway, voting starts on March 1st and this is my first year of awesome cosmic voting rights. I won't be making the votes public, so you'll just have to imagine who I'm voting for. I have to keep some mystery...

Science Fiction for Girls - A Book List

In #FeministSF on Twitter, the subject of science fiction for girls came up. And it has to be said, the titles kept veering back into fantasy. So here's me doing something about that.

I'm not going to try and define what makes a science fiction novel 'for girls', what counts as a strong female character or any of those issues. I've gone for the simple criteria of books where the main character is a girl. Or for ensemble books, where at least one of the main characters is a girl (though I've been pickier about including those).

One reason for keeping it simple is the big issue is still the attitude that science and science fiction isn't for girls/women. And it doesn't take much more than seeing a few female astronauts to turn "only boys can be astronauts" into "everyone can be astronauts".

The books range from classics in the genre to new releases, ordered by year of release. Just in case anyone thought girls doing science fictional things was new.

1. Outside - Andre Norton (1974) - Kristie lives in a sealed city where there aren't any adults, and she's determined to find out what is outside. [Post-Apocalyptic, Middle Grade]

There are lots of Andre Norton books that could go here. This one is interesting, as it's clear how similar elements appear in later books on the list.

2. Dragonsong - Anne MCCaffrey (1976) - Menolly's musical talents aren't appreciated at home, so she runs away to live in the wilderness. [Science Fantasy, Young Adult]

Though a lot of McCaffrey's books are accessible to older children and teens, the Harper Hall of Pern series was written specifically with young adults in mind, and has a teenaged protagonist. The sequels are Dragonsinger (1977) and Dragondrums (1979).

3. The Voyage of QV66 - Penelope Lively (1978) - The humans left for Mars after the floods, leaving the world to the animals. The other animals all know what they are, except for Stanley. After seeing himself on a advert for London Zoo, he and his friends head off for London to find the answer. [Post-Apocalyptic, Middle Grade]

I've mostly gone for books with humans. I made an exception here as it's a fun concept. It may be a way of introducing a child to science fiction, who has previously thought it wasn't for them. The animals are mixed male and female.

4. Earthseed - Pamela Sargeant (1983) - Zoheret and her shipmates have been raised by Ship, as colonists for a new world. Their final challenge before colonisation is surviving in an artificial Earth habitat. But things don't go entirely to plan. [Space Travel, Young Adult]

I found the relationship aspects in this worrying as a tween, as I felt she ended up in an abusive relationship. But it wasn't glorified as super romantic the way modern YA often does, so in hindsight, it's probably not any worse.

There are apparently sequels: Farseed (2007) and Seed Seeker (2010). I've not read them. It took me a long time to track this book down actually, as I was convinced the main character was called Sarah. This made searching for it difficult. Ah, dyslexia. Where characters are named whatever your brain decides to call them, not the actual combination of letters on the page.

5. Children of the Dust - Louise Lawrence (1985) - Sarah runs home from school, to help her family prepare for the bombs dropping. After the attack, she cares for her younger brother and sister. When she and her brother show the symptoms of radiation poisoning, she has difficult decisions to make. [Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult]

This book covers three generations (I've summarised the first only). It's remarkably hopeful for a nuclear war book, though don't expect hard science.

6. A Tale of Time City - Diana Wynne Jones (1987) - World War II has begun and Vivian is being evacuated. Instead of going to her new family, she's kidnapped by two boys and taken to Time City, which exists outside of time. Something's gone wrong with history, and the boys are sure Vivian has something to do with it. [Time Travel, Young Adult]

This is one of my favourites. It's strange, it's science fiction, it has an android with no fashion sense... what's not to like?

7. Eva - Peter Dickinson (1988) - When Eva is injured in a car accident, her mind is transferred into the body of a chimpanzee. Eva has to adapt to her new life, both in human society and among the captive chimps. [Dystopian, Young Adult]

8. Alien Secrets - Annette Curtis Klause (1993) - Puck has been expelled from school, and boards a space ship to return to her parents. While on board, she helps an alien who's had a treasure stolen. [Space Travel / Mystery, Young Adult]

9. Tria and the Great Star Rescue - Rebecca Kraft Rector (2002) - Tria stays in her pod playing with her holographic best friend. Until her mother sends her an urgent message, telling Tria to enrol in a Back to Basics school. Can Tria survive school and solve the mystery of her mother's disappearance? [Science Fiction, Middle Grade]

10. The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau (2003) - The lights are failing in the underground city of Ember. Lina dreams of a city of light, and when she finds a set of instructions, she and her friend Doon set out to find it. [Post-Apocalyptic, Middle Grade]

11. Zahrah the Windseeker - Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu (2005) - Zahrah is dada--she has vines growing in her hair. When her best friend's life is threatened, her only chance to save him includes facing the things that make her different. [Science Fantasy, Young Adult]

Some elements come across as fantasy (like the dadalocks). Others science fictional (the plant technology). So for me, this is a science fantasy.

12. Life as We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer (2006) - When a meteor knocks the moon closer to Earth, the world is devastated by tsunamis and earthquakes. Miranda and her family struggle to survive as their world falls apart around them. [Apocalyptic, Young Adult]

13. The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson (2008) - A girl wakes up from a coma and is told she's Jenna Fox, but why can she remember so little of her life before? [Near Future, Young Adult]

14. Across the Universe - Beth Revis (2011) - Amy is frozen and placed on a colony ship. She expects to be woken when they reach their destination, but something goes wrong and she's woken early. [Space Travel, Young Adult]

I'll admit, I didn't get past the first couple of chapters... but I'm about as romantic as a brick. So it may appeal more to others.

15. Tankborn - Karen Sandler (2011) - Kayla and Mishalla were grown in a tank, and therefore work as slaves in their society. When the children Mishalla is caring for start disappearing, the girls work together to uncover what's happening to them. [Dystopian, Young Adult]

Feel free to mention other titles in the comments, discuss what you thought of the listed books, etc. The main thing is I'm trying to keep this as books for children and teenagers (as opposed to adults), science fiction rather than fantasy (though science fantasy is fine), with female protagonists (or characters who don't fit neatly into a boy/girl divide... mainly, I'm avoiding boys, as no one has issues naming science fiction books with male leads).

Looking for Readers (Native American and Spokane, WA)

I'm pretty close to querying my novel now, but there's one more stage first: trying to get some cultural critiques. I've put a copy below of the call I put out. If you're able to help, you can reply here or email me (polly@polenthblake.com).

The Details...

I'm looking for some readers able to offer a cultural critique of my urban fantasy (approximately 70K). It's a murder mystery set in Spokane, told from the point-of-view of a bigfoot and a Spokane man. The groups of readers I'm looking for are:

• Native Americans. Though many of the characters are Spokane, I'm interested in perspectives from other tribes too.
• People who live in Spokane, Washington or one of the nearby towns.

Though someone who fits in both groups would be awesome, I'm imagining most people will be one or the other. I'm literally just asking for a critique of the cultural stuff - things that are inaccurate, offensive and so forth. I'm not looking for feedback on grammar, storytelling, etc.

In return, I can beta something for you (where betaing is defined as a single pass through a completed manuscript). My main genres are science fiction, fantasy and children's, though I will beta other genres. I offer general comments, rather than line-by-line critiques.

On Blogging About Yourself

Something that gets missed off a lot of blog advice articles is the issue of topic. They're written as though any topic can find a niche and develop an audience. In a world where would-be-bloggers used common sense during topic choice, this would be true. Flower arranging won't be as popular as celebrity gossip, but there is still a core group of people who flower arrange as a hobby.

But those would-be-bloggers often don't have that common sense. They start their blog, post, promote it... and no one visits. Then they complaint because people aren't reading their content and they worked so hard and why can't they break into blogging.

What they don't realise is their topic sucks meaty chunks. Their chosen topic is themselves. And they're doing it like this:

• Anecdotes are written like a personal diary. It's the way children write diaries, where they start with brushing their teeth in the morning and end when they get bored of writing. Most all-about-me bloggers have left behind the toothbrush, but will still ramble without an aim or structure.
• Opinion pieces lack any conclusions. They'll ramble in a vague steam-of-consciousness way. It may be hard to figure out what the opinion actually is, as there's no firm statement. If the opinion is clear, the reasons why they think it are not. There's no way to engage in a conversation about it, because you're not sure what 'it' was supposed to be.
• They're angstier than an angsty vampire. A fair number of the posts (if not all) are about the blogger rolling around in their pain. It's not clear exactly why they're upset. There is a generic terrible of awfulness that inhabits the world. Also, their best friend was mean to them.
• There's nothing else. Most bloggers post some form of content as well as posts about themselves. Readers enjoy the content, then want to know more about the blogger. Balancing content / about me is a tricky thing, and I don't claim I always get it right*... but the all-about-me blog with no visitors doesn't have any kind of balance. There is no other content.

All these boil down to the same issue: the blog was never written with an audience in mind**. There's no attempt to be entertaining, relevant or anything a reader might actually want in a blog. If pressed about it, the blogger will say they're writing it for themselves and it's okay if no one reads it. But they think you're wrong and readers will find it interesting, so please tell them how to boost visitors.

At this point, anyone attempting to offer advice has probably knocked themselves out by hitting their head on the desk***.

There are things an all-about-me blogger can do to make the blog more accessible. Mostly by reversing everything I've said above. If life stories are written with a beginning, middle and end... if opinion pieces are structured and have conclusions... if the angst goes to die in a fire somewhere. All that will improve the blog, but it still isn't likely to make it a success. If the blogger was capable of turning daily life into Hyperbole and a Half, they wouldn't be complaining about lack of visitors in the first place.

Which leaves reversing the last thing, and adding content which isn't about the blogger. It always comes back to this one in the end, because it's the piece of advice people are least likely to take****.

-

* When I focus too much on content posts, I get requests for more daily life posts. Only about the daily lives of my cockroaches, rather than me. Which goes to show, people can be totally interested in something as mundane as a life spent sleeping under cardboard and eating vegetables, so long there's an angle. For anyone who is set on posting the dull exploits of daily dullness, and doesn't want to take my other advice, here's an alternative: turn into a cockroach, because then everything you do will be interesting.

** I'll note there's nothing wrong with keeping a blog as a personal diary or a place to chat with friends. Not all blogs are intended to have a wider audience. But the writers of those blogs aren't complaining about the lack of fame and readers.

*** If you ever do try to help an all-about-me blogger, I recommend tying cushions to your head first. You'll look silly, but you'll be thanking me when the time comes to smash your head against hard objects.

**** Though excessive worrying about comment numbers is a close second. Even when people acknowledge they don't leave comments on half the blogs they read, they expect it to be totally different with their blog. After all, it's about them, so the pure awesome will make every reader comment.

2011 Nebula Nominations

It's time for the happy award star again! This is my second year nominating for the Nebula Awards (and will be the first year where I get to vote on the final winners). Last year, I wasn't very prepared and hadn't read enough recent stuff in the long categories. This is because I'm one of those cheap people who wait for the paperback, so my reading is a little behind outside the short story realm.

But this year, I had a plan! And a budget for buying hardbacks (eased somewhat by the cheapness of ebooks, which replaced hardbacks where possible). Which meant my only real issue was finding novellas, which is a bit like hunting the snark, only without a beaver. I'm happy to say the plan worked and I filled all the categories this year.

I've attempted to sort each category into alphabetical order by author surname. Links are to free versions of the work (which may or may not be the original publication).

Short Story

• Absinthe Fish - M. David Blake (Bull Spec)
• High Society - Paolo Chikiamco [author] and Hannah Buena [artist] (Flipside Digital Content)
• To Follow the Waves - Amal El-Mohtar (Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, Torquere Press)
• Staying Behind - Ken Liu (Clarkesworld)
• The Ifs of Time - James Stoddard (Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine)

Novelette

• Widows in the World - Gavin J. Grant (Strange Horizons)
• The Old Equations - Jake Kerr (Lightspeed)
• Held Close in Syllables of Light - Rose Lemberg (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• The Migratory Pattern of Dancers - Katherine Sparrow (Giganotosaurus)
• Sauerkraut Station - Ferrett Steinmetz (Giganotosaurus)

Novella

• The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow - Cory Doctorow (PM Press)
• Theatre of Curious Acts - Cate Gardner (Hadley Rille Books)
• The Man Who Bridged the Mist - Kij Johnson (Asimov's Science Fiction)
• The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary - Ken Liu (Panverse 3, Panverse Publishing)
• Silently and Very Fast - Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA Press) [Part 2] [Part 3]

Novel

• Chime - Franny Billingsley (Dial / Penguin)
• Wolf at the Door - J. Damask (Lyrical Press)
• Trance - Kelly Meding (Pocket Books / Simon & Schuster)
• The Quantum Thief - Hannu Rajaniemi (Tor / MacMillan)
• The Freedom Maze - Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House / Small Beer)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Attack the Block
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Doctor Who: The Girl Who Waited - Tom MacRae
• Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife - Neil Gaiman
• Source Code

Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book

Also includes middle grade novels, as you might notice from my list.

• Chime - Franny Billingsley (Dial / Penguin)
• Wolf Mark - Joseph Bruchac (Tu Books / Lee & Low)
• Zombie Tag - Hannah Moskowitz (Roaring Brook Press / MacMillan)
• Akata Witch - Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Juvenile / Penguin)
• The Freedom Maze - Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House / Small Beer)