Seven Princes - released Jan 2012

So what’s your book about?

Is there any more difficult question for an author to answer? I know I have a hard time with this one. After spending so much time (often years) crafting a novel, living inside the souls of your characters, building the intricate world in which they live, overseeing the progress of an invented history and chronicling the fictional exploits of your literary “children”, it’s hard to encapsulate all the diverse threads of a novel into a single statement.

Yet the market demands a “hook” or “premise” on which any novel can hang its metaphorical hat. After all, if readers don’t know what to expect, why should they even buy the book? Blind faith? Hardly. Word of mouth? Well, that’s the best advertising you can get . . . but consider the irony. If you as the author don’t come up with a satisfying answer to “What’s your book about?” then your early readers and reviewers are going to do it FOR YOU. They’re going to summarize, encapsulate and foreshorten your Massive Undertaking of Artistic Purity to a description worthy of a sound-byte (or at least a Facebook update). So authors are better-off coming up with their own answer to this big question, rather than leaving it up to somebody else to explain.

All of this begs the question: “What is SEVEN PRINCES about?”

If you look at the cover text, SEVEN PRINCES is about war. “An age of legends. An age of heroes. An age of war.” Now that’s a great tag line. It’s engaging, evocative, and it rings with mythic resonance. Ready for more irony?

Here’s the thing: I never considered this book a “war novel” when I was writing it. Yet war itself is definitely one of the themes that drives the characters and the plot. Some characters want to prevent war—they know the red tragedy and the pointless slaughter that it brings—while others actively seek war to prove themselves, to avenge wrongs, or simply as a means of grabbing power. So the concept of war itself is definitely buried in there. There’s even a conversation at one point between two characters who argue about the essential nature of Man as a war-like being. Is Mankind capable of living in peace—true peace—for long? That’s a question that also lies at the heart of SEVEN PRINCES. So yeah, it’s about war. But it’s also about a lot more . . .

SEVEN PRINCES is about family. It’s about sons (and daughters) living in the giant shadows of their fathers. It’s about generational differences, the human drive to change the world to suit our tastes, our desires, and our terrible pride. It’s about people . . . mostly members of various royal families embroiled in a conflict that goes back farther than known history.

SEVEN PRINCES is about sacrifice. It’s also about Wisdom, and the journey from youth to adulthood. It’s about the timeless depths of infinity, and the confining walls humanity builds about itself to avoid staring directly at the Shape of Eternity. It’s about hidden forces that move behind the veils of the known world and drive the currents of history, spinning the tapestry of civilization to suit cosmic ideals, theoretical imperatives, or wicked perversions. It’s about POWER. It’s about the mad fires of Love that burn us hotter than flames, and the killing frost of Hate that chills our beating hearts and splinters our souls.

SEVEN PRINCES is about intriguing characters caught in dire circumstances. The fact that most of them are members of royal families makes them no less human, no less relatable, no less interesting than common folk. In fact, it makes them MORE interesting. In most fantasy worlds the common folk are far too busy herding goats, building roads, tending crops, and generally making a living to explore the great Emotions, Conflicts, and Adventures that make for epic storytelling. And besides, who among us hasn’t wished to be a member of the glorious elite at least once in his or her life? The closest that most of us ever come to being a prince or princess is when we visit Grandma’s house and she spoils us rotten. So this book may also be about the burdens carried by royalty . . . but it’s far more about the burdens of simply being human.

SEVEN PRINCES is about the clash of sword and shield, the fury of unleashed sorceries, the unyielding passions light and dark that drive us to our destinies. It’s about loyalty, friendship, jealousy, rage, vengeance, death, and the overwhelming power of blood. (Both the literal and hereditary kinds.)

This description of the novel may not work too well as a sound-byte, and it’s definitely too long for a Tweet or a status update. But stories are too complex to be completely reduced to a single line or two. So let this piece serve as a brief-yet-comprehensive answer to the most common question I’ve been asked about the First Book of the Shaper.

I can already hear the next question echoing at me from somewhere in the near future: “So what’s the NEXT book about?”

I’ll tell ya later.

Promise.

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Robert Jackson Bennett’s most recent novel, THE COMPANY MAN, published by Orbit in April, has been receiving rave reviews across the board:

“Bennett does the seemingly impossible here. He’s written an alternate-history novel that measures up in every respect to Philip K. Dick’s masterful The Man In the High Castle.” — Booklist

“The novel is a genuine original, something like an episode of ‘The X-Files’ written by Clifford Odets. Strongly recommended.” –Michael Berry, San Francisco Chronicle

“THE COMPANY MAN made me realize how far sci-fi has come in my lifetime.” –Tom Shippey, Wall Street Journal

Robert knows plenty about plot. On his blog he has just posted a piece in which he talks about the point of plot, expressing his forthright opinions on the academic’s view of plot as opposed to the reader’s; the different uses of plot, character, and voice; and how and for what reason spoilers can be advantageously ignored.

“The very best novels are a space in your head, a secret little corner only you know about, and you want to return to that place and spend a few hours enjoying yourself. What goes on in that place could matter less.”

Check out Robert’s thoughts at his blog; and if you haven’t yet read THE COMPANY MAN or his first novel, the critically acclaimed, multiple award-nominated MR. SHIVERS — do.

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We didn’t want to be swayed by the spine width of any given book. ‘Why should it matter how wide the spine is?’ we’d say. ‘All books should be treated equally, regardless of spine width’ had always been our mantra.  But we’ve recently found ourselves paying a bit more attention to these chunky titles and omnibuses.  We even went so far as to measure them:

(For those of you keeping score, it’s Pamela Freeman’s The Casting Trilogy for the win!)

Now that we’ve acknowledged our bias we’re hoping we can move past it, though we do wonder if readers are swayed by book width as well.

So what do you think? When it comes to buying books, does size matter?

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And here’s where we commence the series.

Storm Front starts in typical film noir mode. With the sentence ‘I heard the mailman approach my office door, half an hour earlier than usual’, we are introduced to Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. And he’s the only person in Chicago’s director enquiries listed under ‘Wizard’.

However, this Harry is not the ‘Potter’ type. As we see from his advertisement, his stock in trade is: ‘Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Reasonable rates. No love potions, endless purses or other entertainment’. Harry is more of your paranormal dealing, insoluble crime-solving type of guy, and the only wizard used as a consultant by the Chicago Police Special Investigations Department. They need him when dealing with the demons and ghouls that live in the strange other-world of the Nevernever.

Harry is in his typically seedy office when a phone call from Chicago’s SI chief, Lieutenant Karrin Murphy, involves him in a double murder investigation. The male victim is a bodyguard for the local mobster, Johnny Marcone. The other victim is Jennifer Stanton, an escort from the Velvet Room, a gentleman’s club run by one of Chicago’s vampire families.

Things get really interesting when Harry discovers that the murders involve black magic, and a black mage is behind them. And more worryingly, though Harry doesn’t know who it is, the black mage knows him. And is out to get him.

OK – you get the idea. Detective / film noir style novel, looks like Bogart or Jim Rockford, reads like a Raymond Chandler novel but with added X Files style stuff, (vampires, demons, magic), right? At first glance, you could almost write a checklist of the features here that are essential for a fantasy crime novel – dark, urban environment; rain and wind; downtrodden detective; magic realism; spooky creatures; dirty dealings etc, etc.

Before you look away though, Jim Butcher’s version is a lot of fun. The dry, knowing humour of Jim’s protagonist is a real winner and as the tale is told in the first person, quickly engaging the reader. Jim clearly knows that he’s messing with familiar territory, yet has a great time with it. I think that’s what I liked most about the book.

To keep the reader further amused, Harry has an charming troupe of assistants – there’s Harry’s cat (named Mister), whose main job seems to be to perform Garfield-like functions, Bob, Harry’s reference guide, who also happens to be an air-spirit kept in a skull with an unhealthy interest in sex, and Toot-toot, a faerie guide who will do almost anything for a piece of bread with milk and honey. There’s also Morgan – Harry’s Warden for the White Council. Morgan is his wizard police-tag, if you like, designed to stop Harry from being of any use magically, whose bumblings are a lighter counterpoise to the darker goings-on in the book. Such a wide variety of engaging characters allow the reader to see fun in life’s difficulties, for Harry’s life can be pretty tough at times.

Using humour can be difficult when dealing with horror – it’s meant to scare people, after all – but Jim managed to make me chuckle and creep me out at the same time. Whilst laughing at Harry’s misfortunes with technology (being a wizard means that modern stuff doesn’t always work that well), I was also simultaneously thrilled at the sheer unpleasantness of characters such as Bianca, the vampire Mistress. To switch from humour to horror in a matter of sentences is a clever trick, and not always well done. It’s not an easy thing to do and can easily go wrong, but it worked for me here.

So: sex, magic, humour, vampires, demons and a wizard: what more could you want? This is a great start to the series and introduces settings and characters that you’ll meet again in later books. And what’s more, the series gets even better after this!

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Joe has written a very effective response on his website, among other things noting that he simply hadn’t realized he was recognized as such a threat to fantasy in general, and Western civilization in particular. Especially, as observed in both sites’ comment threads, by those who haven’t gone so far as actually reading Joe Abercrombie’s more recent work in order to comprehend its dangers.

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The performance of a book, that figure so desperately desired by so many terrified authors, is a constant moving target. It’s not unlike space travel: you are moving, and your target is moving, and by the time you’ve figured out where your target is then the distance between you has changed hugely.

Go read.

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It’s December 1. You wrote like a madman all month long and now you have 50,000 words and a warm glow of satisfaction. You drank all the champagne and ate all the cupcakes and are ready to bask in the relaxing life of being an author.

So, what next?

First things first. Marathoners talk about a post-marathon exhaustion and depression and I hear the same thing from Nano people. It is one of the downsides about this approach—it’s great to get words on a page, but it’s important to be realistic about what you have on December 1, and, in short, what you have is a lot of work to be done. I’ve talked about that a little before, but I’ll say again here that the most important thing is to stay focused and remember that you’re well on your way. So, take a breather, and make a schedule that’s less demanding and keep the momentum going.

Now, once you’ve got a full draft, on to the fun part, and the part I actually know—editing! OK, so a few things to think about when you sit down to edit. And, once again, this is advice tailored for commercial SFF, which is a little different than if you’re trying to write a great literary masterpiece. Also a great literary SFF novel. Different genres, different rules.

[So many caveats and asides to be said here, so let’s pretend I said them all and you’re no longer mad at me and move on.]

Basically, when I’m considering a manuscript there are a number of factors to be considered. Most of the factors are pretty standard—it needs to be technically strong, good writing, sensible plot, consistent characters, etc. But there are a few things we look at that aren’t discussed so much but play a huge role in a book’s success. The strengths of one can balance out a weakness in others, but basically a book needs these four things to work.

1. Hookiness
2. Pace-y-ness
3. Plotiness
4. Awesomeness

We’re professionals. I swear.

Hookiness is basically your elevator pitch. This is usually thought of as something to be developed later; something layered on to your finished manuscript and used to convince agents and editors to take on your project. That said, it’s painfully transparent when the hook is constructed after the fact and really has no relation to the novel in question. An elevator pitch will get someone to look at your book. A good hook, on the other hand, will get them to read it, like it, and have the confidence that they can communicate what is good about it to others.

This does not mean your novel has to fit into a pigeon hole. “Jane Eyre with Vampires and Selkies” may be a remarkably efficient hook, but it is not likely to provide a deep and compelling narrative. However, Gail Carriger’s Soulless has a clear and immediate concept that is easy to grasp but provides endless entertainment and depth.

It also has to be said, that there are countless great, successful books whose core concept takes about three pages to explain. Like I’ve said before, all rules are there to be broken.

Pace-y-ness is not to be confused with plot or even plotiness. When you’re looking at your draft, think about the momentum of the reading experience. It doesn’t have to have a lot to do with what’s happening in any given moment, rather do you want to keep reading. If that answer is no, then I’d suggest reconsidering. To be clear, I am not saying that every scene needs to end on a cliffhanger or that there needs to be action all the time. Patrick Rothfuss has a pace-y-ness, a readability, and a draw to his writing. Dan Brown can go on for ages about what seems to be nothing and yet, there you are, frustrated as hell, but still reading.

It’s about keeping a momentum going and keeping a sense of interest. Description and exposition are essential to worldbuilding and, done right, they can create an irresistible reading experience. So, at every stage of your novel, have a careful think about not only what you’re saying but how and when you’re saying it. Is this really the right moment for the three page epic song about how the orc-king was slain by the heroine’s great great ancestor?

(pro tip: probably not)

Plotiness! Not to be confused with having a plot! All books have plot. Some of them have boring ones. Plotiness, insofar as this term is ever defined, is about having a certain interest to your plot, a texture to it that sets it apart from the field. It’s 2010—a basic 5 part plot structure probably isn’t going to get you very far. In fact, a simple reversal or a twist ending also probably isn’t going to get you far. Your plot, your sequence of events, needs to have a character that is original and dynamic.

The basic way to do this is to have a plot with lots of twists and turns. Surprising your reader can be a very effective way to keep readers engaged and coming back for more. This creates a sense of energy, excitement, and a modernity that is appealing. It’s also hard to do and is one of the trickiest ways for a book to distinguish itself.

But, my advice would be to think about the structure of your book. Is it purely linear? Is that the most effective way to tell your story or are you frontloading people with information they don’t need yet? Are there pieces you can hold back for greater effect later?

Awesomeness. Is your book awesome? Ask your significant other who’s read it six times. If he/she says no, next time don’t wake them up at 4 am when you’ve just finished a draft. Buy them something nice and ask again. Then ask your mother.

If you can’t honestly sit down and look at your manuscript and say “this is awesome,” then you’re probably going to need to rethink a few things. No one is going to be a stronger advocate for your book than you are. There may be highly trained more effective ones, but if you don’t have the conviction, then your book isn’t going to measure up at the end of the day.

So if you can’t say with a straight face “this book is awesome” then go out there and find the awesome, kill it, skin it, and bake it into a pie. You’re going to need it.

So, there. That’s what I have to say about the editing process. Obviously, all of this is to be taken with a grain of salt. Some of it may work for you, some of it won’t. What you do need to do is have a serious think about what kind of book you’re writing and what goals are important to you. And you need to be true to your voice. We receive a lot of books that are written cynically—sometimes by very good writers and very successful ones—and you can feel almost immediately when there’s the lack of honesty and enthusiasm in the writing.

All rules can be broken, all advice can be ignored, as I’ve been saying all along. But do so with your eyes open and in the full knowledge of what else is out there.

Good luck!

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Anyhow, as with last week, this is all with the caveat that any advice I have is targeted towards Fantasy and Science Fiction writers, because that’s what I know and that’s what I love, and this is the Orbit blog, so, frankly, you’re probably a SFF fan anyways. Also, this is all from the perspective of someone who hasn’t written anything longer than an editorial letter since college. So, advice from an editor. Not even advice, let’s say it’s some things you may want to think about if you have a moment between pounding out thousands upon thousands of words a day.

Moving on.

1)  There really are rules.

There’s a lot of disagreement about what the rules are and how they should be interpreted. But, there’s things that, generally, one should and should not do. There are lots of lists of them and, if they’re any good, they tend to inspire lots of debate and I don’t really want to get into them. But, mostly, they’re things like this .

2) Rules are made to be broken.

For every rule, there’s usually an example of how someone broke that rule and it was awesome. Think 2^nd Person is off-limits? There’s Bright Lights, Big City. Think a 5 part dramatic arc is essential? Try George R.R. Martin*.  Think rape is the worst excuse of character development in fantasy? Try Robin McKinley’s Deerskin. And so on and so forth.

3)  … but not too much.

My personal rule of thumb is that you get to break two rules a book. If you’re going to be breaking a rule, whether it’s a plot thing, a narrative thing, or even a syntactical tic, you can only get away with a couple of them. And you have to know that you’re breaking a rule. So learn em, break em, but do it carefully.

Writing a really great novel—yes, in the Great American Novel sense, but also in the “stay up til four in the morning sense”—is, in the broadest possible terms, about balancing good storytelling with innovation. The rules are there because lots of people have been telling stories for a very long time and in the telling and the writing, certain things became evident. But good writing is as much about finding a personal angle, a way the story makes sense to the individual, and unless you learn to make it your own, no one’s going to want to hear it.

So, the nano tip of the week is: Break the rules, but just a little bit.

* Yes, the link is framed as a critique, but I actually think the way he’s broken down traditional plots is kind of brilliant.

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But, it’s been a bit of a rocky start for the NaNoWriMo crowd. For the uninitiated, National Novel Writing Month is that special time of year where anyone who likes makes a run at writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s like, 1700 words a day. Which is like, 3-4 pages. Every day. It’s a monumental task, especially when you consider that most of these people aren’t professional writers and mostly have day jobs, families, social obligations… It’s one thing for the pros who participate (who all seem to finish early) but your average aspiring writer is missing that most precious commodity… time.

Which is why Laura Miller’s post on Salon is so… puzzling. She basically goes after NaNoWriMo with both barrels– I’ll get to specifics of her argument in a moment. In addition to her high-profile attack, I get the sense that there’s a bit of push back in the air this year. Galleycat this morning went after first time fantasy novelists with a funny post about what not to do. It’s hard to argue with a lot of the points, but something about the principle just seemed off to me.

Basically, for me, it comes down to this. NaNoWriMo isn’t for professionals. It isn’t for people who are particularly concerned with writing the next Great American Novel or, hell, the next James Patterson. It’s for people who have a dream and, in their busy everyday lives, need a kick in the pants to get going.

For starters, the whole thing is a misnomer– 50,000 words does not a novel make. (An aside: I’m mostly limiting my comments to fantasy and science fiction, a) because that’s what I know best and b) it seems like a disproportionate number of NaNoWriMo-ers– is there a better term for that?– are SFF focused). In general, your epic fantasy novels clock in at 120,000 words plus and it’s not uncommon to receive manuscripts that clear 170,000 words. That’s 2-3 times the length of NaNoWriMo.

Also, a novel isn’t just an amalgamation of a certain number of words. It takes time and effort and refinement to get to a publishable state. A month where you’re writing nearly 2,000 words a day, just doesn’t afford time for revisions, rereading, or careful attention to detail.

But, frankly, that’s not what it’s about. Miller is right about one thing: “it’s clear that NaNoWriMo winners frequently ignore official advice about the importance of revision; editors and agents are already flinching in anticipation of the slapdash manuscripts they’ll shortly receive.” It’s true that there is an uptick in unsuitable submissions in the months following NaNoWriMo because participants aren’t writing novels, they’re writing drafts of novels– they may one day go on to be great books, but they won’t be on December 1st. But, to flip one of Miller’s later points on its head, I’m confident that without NaNoWriMo there will still be plenty of poorly conceived, under-edited and unsuitable submissions arriving on my desk.

She goes on to point out that “NaNoWriMo is an event geared entirely toward writers, which means it’s largely unnecessary.” Meaning, I take it, that real writers are driven by some deep-seated muse that endlessly pours beautiful language and brilliant plots into their brains, unasked for and that they are consumed by an all-consuming need to commune with their personal genius. From working with authors day in and day out, I can say that this is a steaming pile of unmitigated… (hmm, wait a sec, this is the official Orbit blog. Sigh. Self-censorship is a drag.) Writing is hard. It requires dedication and willpower and perseverance to accomplish something as difficult as a third novel or a tenth novel. For most, a first novel seems insurmountable and you meet more authors than not whose “first novel” is really the third one they put to paper.

Sure some people just can’t seem to help themselves. I once got a call from an agent who informed me that an author wrote an entire novel in the month of December and then delivered his contracted book three months early. Others compulsively outline new projects by the day. But that’s not the norm, even among published, successful authors.

Writers are made, not born sui generis. And only the aspiring writer can make that happen– mostly by parking themselves in front of a laptop or notebook or cocktail napkin and putting words to a page.

So, even Galleycat’s “tips,” (and, to be honest, I can’t argue much with the individual items on that list except to say I’ve seen almost every single one of them done and done well)* are kind of contrary to the spirit of the event.

The publishing world is a tough one and people often forget that getting your book out there is often the first step on a long road. But before even that, there’s that moment that every writer has to look at and consider how best to turn a dream into a reality. NaNoWriMo isn’t about writing good books. It’s not even about writing a book. It’s about becoming a writer– a process that Laura Miller apparently considers irrelevant and beneath her.

There’s a time for criticism– it’s often a long and brutal process both before and after publication, but NaNoWriMo isn’t it. Taking them to task is like walking into a pre-school and berating children for not having solved special relativity yet. It’s pointless and petty and just confusing.

The honest truth is that most novels started under NaNoWriMo will never be published. But, some of these newly minted writers will go on to have brilliant careers. While Laura Miller might feel that there’s “no shortage of good novels,” I take the long view and would like to think that when I am old and even more crotchety than I already am, there will still be good novels because we encouraged the next generation of writers to make their dreams a reality.

That said, this is about future books. Don’t send me anything that was written for this year’s NaNoWriMo until next year’s is over. At the earliest.

* This, however, was new to me and fascinating.

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The Spirit Thief (UK/US /ANZ) by Rachel Aaron is out this month – and since its protagonst is a scheming, devious and devastatingly charming rogue, we felt that only the most superb demonstration of singular suspension of the supercilium (yes, that’s ‘eyebrow’ in Latin) would do . . .

By being represented in this way, Eli Monpress is truly joining the ranks of heroes from science fiction and fantasy history who have excelled at exhibiting this particular brand of facial gymnastics. See the following examples for reference:

Exhibit A – Spock (though we must admit, he has a natural advantage over his human counterparts owing to his Vulcan genes)

Exhibit B – Wolverine (the classic ‘Don’t mess with me, even if my hair is a bit silly‘ eyebrow)

Exhibit C – David Tennant as Doctor Who (In fact, no one is allowed to play Doctor Who unless they can display an ability to get some impressive eyebrow height)

And Exhibit D – The Rock (only vaguely fantastical – for The Scorpion King perhaps? – but there was no way we weren’t including this picture)

So Eli Monpress is evidently in good company – and we’ve been getting some fantastic reviews so far (see below), showing that he is certainly earning his place in fantasy entertainment history. And you can get a piece of the action with a free extract of the book right here.

Don’t forget that books 2 and 3 in the Eli Monpress series, The Spirit Rebellion (UK/US/ANZ) and The Spirit Eater (UK/ US/ ANZ), are following hot on its heels this coming November and December.

Praise for The Spirit Thief:

‘A romp of a lighthearted fantasy starring an absolutely darling rogue’ Publishers Weekly

‘Witty, smart, snappy, sassy, fast, furious and let’s not forget fun . . . Rachel Aaron isn’t so much knocking at the door as kicking it down’ Tom Holt

‘Wry humour, engaging characters and full-tilt action’ Gail Z. Martin

‘The Spirit Thief is a delightfully giddy romp of a novel’ Karen Miller

‘A very enjoyable read . . . I’m hooked on for this series and will be following it eagerly’ Fantasy Book Critic

‘Full of humour and suspense, this action-packed fantasy adventure is highly enjoyable . . . Fantasy fans will love this extraordinary new series’ SciFi Chick

‘It is a thrill ride of a novel, delightfully amusing . . . I loved it’ Grasping For The Wind

‘Lighthearted throughout, fans who appreciate a jocular satire loaded with charm and irony will want read The Spirit Thief and look forward to more capers by Eli with the serious Miranda in pursuit.’ Genre Go Round Reviews

‘A fantasy series with entertainment at its heart . . . and it works on every level. With wry humour, interesting characters, realistic dialogue and a fast-moving and fun plot, The Spirit Thief was exactly what I needed’ Civilian Reader

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