Rebecca Moesta

We’re holding a drawing for a free membership to next month’s  Superstars Writing Seminar, which will be presented March 19–21 in Pasadena, California, by five international bestselling authors:

• • Kevin J. Anderson
  • Eric Flint
  • David Farland
  • Rebecca Moesta
  • Brandon Sanderson

To register for the drawing, go to

http://www.superstarswritingseminars.com/freeticket/

The contest closes this Sunday, February 14, 2010
The winner will be drawn Monday, February 15, 2010

Also, note our February special: TWO memberships for $1199.
Find a friend and sign up together.

Cross-posted from MySpace:

To celebrate the publication of the third volume of the Crystal Doors trilogy, SKY REALM, we’re offering free books!

Kevin and I, in conjunction with the publisher (Little, Brown) are offering a *free* hardcover copy of Book 1 to get new readers hooked on the series. To get your free book, go to wordfire.com and click on the “Crystal Doors Offer” banner on the homepage. This offer now includes readers anywhere in the world. You pay only for postage/packaging by clicking the Donation button (rates listed on offer page).

Even better, if you’re a library or other nonprofit US organization, we’ll even pay for shipping, if you agree to send us a tax-deductible-donation receipt in return. Just send your request directly to books@wordfire.com.

CRYSTAL DOORS is a Young Adult fantasy trilogy with adventure, exotic lands, sea battles and sea monsters, underwater cities, flying islands, and two teenaged “twin” cousins from Earth who may be able to save
all the worlds connected by a network of crystal doors.

If you’ve considered trying this series, get Crystal Doors: Island Realm while we still have copies left.

ciao,*

Rebecca

*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)

Cross-posted from MySpace:

In a fiction book or story, is research really necessary?

Opinions vary, but here are some things to think about:

1.    How integral are the facts to your story? If you’re writing a story set primarily in World War II England, you’ll probably need to know some geography, the timeline of the war, what daily life was like, etc. If, however, WWII England is only peripheral to the tale and is irrelevant to much of the action (as is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), your base of knowledge wouldn’t need to be quite as broad. Although C.S. Lewis knew plenty about the war and the conditions in that era, he sprinkled in only what was necessary to set up the story (most of which took place in Narnia, not England).

2.    How likely are your readers to regard what you write as factual? In murder mysteries and police procedurals, readers have come to expect a certain level of knowledge on the author’s part, and blowing off your research or “winging it” could easily lose you readers. Similarly, in “hard” science fiction, readers assume a solid grounding in science, and you should know, for example, that sound does not carry in the vacuum of space. In space opera, however (like Star Wars), the future and high tech gadgets are often only a backdrop for the story, and such inaccuracies are more easily forgiven. (There are also “hard” science space operas, so please don’t write in to correct me on this.)

3.    Could “getting it wrong” have any effect on your reader? Because most readers are unlikely to find themselves ever riding a dragon, your failure to describe the relevant technical details about aerodynamics, G-forces, and so on probably won’t have any impact on the reader’s life. If, however, you show a situation that could happen in everyday life—a drowning, for instance—and you describe your hero doing first aid incorrectly and saving the victim, it’s possible that your reader might take note of the scene and believe that he or she now knows how to resucitate someone who has drowned. (I believe this is especially true with YA fiction.)

4.    Could “getting it right” be a problem? I think so, but then, I tend to err on the side of caution. In some cases giving a reader unnecessary knowledge can be irresponsible. It’s a fine line, and you might find yourself facing that decision. For example, in the novel Ignition by Kevin J Anderson and Doug Beason—it’s like Die Hard at the Kennedy Space Center—the authors did their research and consciously chose to alter their descriptions to prevent anyone from using the book as a blueprint for a terrorist attack.

5.    How much is enough? Research itself should not trump plot or character development in importance. Also, you don’t need to spew everything you’ve learned on a given subject onto the pages of your book. Some authors (e.g., Tom Clancy) are known for throwing it all in and letting the reader wade through it. Too much can actually get in the way of the story. Others put in just enough to give you the picture and to let you know that they understand what they’re writing about. Finally, if research consumes all of your time and keeps you from your story, it may be time to stop revelling in research and get back to writing.

That’s about it for this time.

ciao,*

Rebecca

*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)

Cross-posted from MySpace:

Yes, for those of you who noticed I changed my avatar to the new Crystal Doors hardcover, Ocean Realm, it IS out in bookstores now! If you’re not hooked on the trilogy yet, feel free to dive in ASAP.

This past weekend, Kevin and I were in Winnipeg for Keycon 007 and had a wonderful time with the other guests (actor Richard Herd and artist L.A. Williams) and the gracious con staff. We’re back now for a couple of weeks of work before heading off on our Alaskan adventure.

I’ll post a blog on writing next. Don’t forget to pick up Ocean Realm!

ciao,*

Rebecca

*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)

Cross-posted from MySpace:

Okay, in response to questions and comments from a variety of sources, it’s time I set some myths to rest about publishing and the life of an author. If other issues crop up enough, I’ll address them later.

Myth 1.    Authors are rich. They are in the writing business to make a quick buck.

Contrary to popular belief, the great majority of authors are not only not rich, they don’t even make their living at writing. Here’s the deal:

A small percentage of the population attempt to write one or more books. Of those people, only small fraction complete even a single manuscript. Then, only a modest number of those folks manage to sell their books to professional publishers. From that limited group of authors, a small proportion actually eke out a living from writing. (Most of them are supported, at least in part, by the earnings and benefits of a spouse or significant other.) Out of this teensy minority of those who began the writing journey, a handful get truly rich.

Kevin and I are very fortunate in that we get to make our income from doing very satisfying, enjoyable work that we chose. For this privilege, however, we work every day of the week and almost every day of the year. Our friends and families don’t get to see us nearly as much as they’d like to. We also have a mortgage, car payments, repair bills, and so on. We do our own grocery shopping, cook our own meals (well, Kevin does, mostly), do the dishes, take out the trash, and clean the cat box.

Sorry to disappoint, but—in spite of what you see in movies—publishers don’t hold champagne book signings for us at which hundreds of lavishly dressed sophisticates show up and stand in long lines to get our autographs. Sigh. (If any of our editors or publishers are out there reading this, feel free to correct this situation. Our personal theory is that God gave us book signings to keep authors humble. Don’t ever be hesitant to come see us if we’re doing a signing in your area. You’ll make our day. (Are you listening, members of the 501st?)

Myth 2.    A good book is free of discrepancies, contradictions, typos, and other flaws. Any errors that get through mean that the author and publisher are lazy or sloppy or just didn’t bother.

My father (who holds two Masters degrees) taught English for more than a quarter century, and I grew up learning excellent grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Nothing irked me more than mistakes in my reading material. I frequently toyed with the idea of writing to the publishers and offering them my obviously much-needed services.

Then I became a proofreader, next a copyeditor, then an editor, and (last) an author. Wow. What a bucket of cold, wet reality over the head! Believe it or not, there are so many levels of errors to watch for that no one person—or ten people, for that matter—can catch them all, whether the work in question is fiction or nonfiction (and blogs are another animal completely).

Each person along the publishing line tends to look for different sorts of problems, and even these people can let things slip, because no human has 100% concentration. Kevin and I even add an extra level of readers on each manuscript to strain out some of the bigger problems before we even send a book on to the editor.

I once had an editor tell me that a manuscript I had turned in was one of the cleanest she had ever seen in her years of publishing. After that, several levels of clean-up pros took over, after which I went through the typeset copy again. There were still a few typos in the published book—though precious few, I’m happy to say.

I tried to explain all of this to my father the retired English teacher, and he (proud of his error-hunting prowess) did not believe me. He explained that someone who was truly knowledgeable in the English language, with its attendant rules of spelling, grammar, and the elements of style, could deliver a perfectly clean manuscript to anyone willing to pay for such expert services. Naturally, we hired him part-time to help us give our books the added polish that they need.

After proofing our galleys for more than two years now, my dad has a new respect for the complexity of the publishing industry. As those of you who read our books know, errors still sneak through. Even if we took up every person who offered their additional services to spiff up our novels, perfection is not a viable option. But rest assured that we care about our readers and always work hard to give you books that are as fault-free as possible within the allotted time and budget as possible.

For those of you whose hobby is catching mistakes, don’t let us stand in your way. But don’t bother protesting that you could do a far better job. You might correct a different set of booboos if you got a chance to replace one of the current professionals who works on our books, but you wouldn’t catch them all.

Scoff, if you like, but I developed this opinion over the course of 20 years in publishing and having more than 30 books published by professional publishers. So, am I putting myself forward as an authority on this matter? Ja, you betcha. Nervy, huh?

Yikes! I was going to add one more subject to this blog, but I’ve run way over the amount of time I gave myself to get this written. I’ve got to get back to editing book 3 in the CRYSTAL DOORS series, Sky Realm. I’ve got a looming deadline and a paycheck to earn. . . .

ciao,*

Rebecca

*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)

Cross-posted from MySpace:

Since I’m sequestered in a hotel room right now, doing my final edit on Last Days of Krypton, I won’t be online much this week. Still, I thought I’d leave you with a little observation I made today:

Hay Fever and the Seven Dwarfs

I’m a bit Bashful about sharing this, but recently I’ve been kind of Sneezy, so my nights are restless, which leaves me Sleepy the next day, not to mention really Grumpy. Fortunately, even though my prescription from the Doc makes me a little Dopey, I’m pretty Happy with the results.

Huh. Sorta makes you wonder if the person who named Disney’s seven stature-challenged mineral-extraction specialists wasn’t just a bit under the weather. . . .

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, to editing I go.

ciao,*

Rebecca

*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)

Cross-posted from MySpace:

Do you have to get a copyright on your stories before you send the manuscripts to publishing companies to review?

A writer’s work is considered copyrighted as soon as it is written. You don’t have to file for added protection before sending a story or novel out into the world to be sold (and putting a copyright statement on your manuscript brands you as a NON-professional, so beware).

How did you got started on your writing career?

Since I was a teenager, I dabbled in fiction, but never finished anything unless it was for a school assignment. My first published writing was nonfiction. I wrote math and management workbooks for the army while working for Big Bend Community College. After that, I became a technical writer for a national lab. It wasn’t until after I met author Kevin J Anderson — five years my junior — that I finally realized that no one just “gives” you the time to write. I had to “take” the time. Both Kevin and author Janet Kagan pointed out a key to writing success that had not occurred to me: unfinished stories don’t get published. I went home and finished a story, and the rest is history. Since then, I’ve written or co-written more than 30 books and a handful of short stories.

What college courses would you suggest for someone who wants to write for a living?

First, let me give you a warning, for what it’s worth. Just taking college English/Writing courses will not make you a writer.

Personal Anecdote: I took creative writing in college from a professor who savaged everything I wrote. I had wanted to be a writer since I was a teenager, and I thought, “I’m a pretty decent writer. My father’s an English teacher, so I’ve always known how to string together coherent sentences, and isn’t that what writing’s all about?” (FYI there’s a lot more to writing than that, but it’s the subject of another blog.) Unfortunately, everything I did was wrong from this writing prof’s point of view. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I was crushed. Every time a student in the class wrote something that I thought just kicked butt — so good everybody in the class was saying “Wow!” — the teacher ripped it to shreds.

After about ten years of no writing whatsoever, I realized something about the professor: his publishing experience consisted of a single chapbook of poetry — a couple hundred copies. Other than taking writing classes in college (which I also did), that was the sum total of his literary “authority.” Yet he had essentially mired me in doubt by convincing me that I was a terrible writer. Kevin has a completely different caveat about college writing professors. Ask him about it. Some profs are wonderful, while others can actually be stumbling blocks to you in your pursuit of a writing career. (Note: If you are a professor and are reading this, you’re probably not the latter type.)

So what should you take? Since writers are frequently advised, “Write what you know,” I suggest taking a wide variety of subjects that you can use as fodder for stories. History can be particularly helpful, since it is full of potential story plots. Kevin took Astronomy and Russian History. I took lots of literature, languages, and music. I also have an M.S. in Business Administration, which I’ve always found useful in running our writing business.

Until next time.

ciao,*

Rebecca

*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)