I am an Etsyholic. I am just so in love with the crafts there, and especially the Victorian/steampunk inspired art that I’ve wasted hours (hours!) going through the listings, and have yet been able to make a purchase because, ugh, I want them all.

Eventually I will buy more pretties, but in the mean time, I thought I could share some more great makers and particularly lovely listings for you to enjoy. You can start by searching for “steamteam” which will automatically generate a great bunch of artists, but here’s some more highlights:

edmdesigns - If you like gears, this is the place to go. From rings and pendants to cufflinks and brooches, these incredible beauties really are spectacular. And if you don’t believe me, you can see they’ve been linked by BoingBoing and Wired, too. I particularly like the men’s steampunk gear rings.

BoilerGoth - In the market for some gorgeous goggles? I was incredibly impressed by the work on these sets, both in craftsmanship and design. Whether you want something industrial, or tinged with Victorian filigree, this is the place go to.

19Moons - Combining antiques and reclaimed materials, 19Moons is whimsy and mystery. I love the combination of material and color, and the use of letters, numbers, and symbols.

MadArtjewelry - While some steampunk artists are decidedly industrial, inspired by the smooth lines and clockwork of machinery, these designs combine both that aesthetic with ornate Victorian inspirations. These beautiful pieces will certainly turn heads, and, in my opinion, accent just about any outfit if done right. Not only is this a local artist to me, but egads–this Seven Seas Steampunk Necklace has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve seen, like, ever.

I’ll be adding to this list in future posts, hoping to send some traffic their way. Not only is Etsy just an amazing place for artisans, but it has been a true source of inspiration for me. Just trying to share the love!

While I’ve been out here on the coast, I’ve been devouring the rest of the VanderMeer Steampunk Anthology. I’ve read most of it, but there were some stories that I didn’t get to, or wanted to wait to get to until I had a little more focus. There’s good reason for this, because I’d like to review the stories individually here.

One of my goals in the AC blog is to raise awareness for other writers of steampunk, fantasy, and sci-fi, and Steampunk is definitely a good place to start (hooray for the painfully obvious, Natania). What’s a little difficult is approaching each story, each tale, individually. They differ so much from one another in tone, style, and format, that it’s really important that I not only read and take notes, but take a little time to think about them before I write the review, kind of compile what I’ve read. I am by no means an expert, but I think talking about the stories will certainly help to further the genre (or sub-genre if that’s what you’d like to call it).

Some quick initial thoughts: Don’t read Ian R. McLeod’s “The Giving Mouth” before right before bed, and save Joe R. Lansdale’s “The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider” for a time that members of your family won’t inadvertently pick it up, read a paragraph, and assume you’re some kind of sick freak (read: there’s a hearty helping of gore, sex, and violence in that one that casual readers of Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler might not get). Just saying.

Inspiration:

1 a: a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation b: the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions c: the act of influencing or suggesting opinions2: the act of drawing in; specifically : the drawing of air into the lungs

* * * *

Yesterday was not a writing day, in that I managed to find absolutely no time whatsoever to edit the book, and instead shuffled around doing grown-up things including working and grocery shopping, and some wonderfully not grown-up things like playing D&D with our awesome group of new found  friends. However, by the time I got home, well past my bedtime, I collapsed into bed.

So, technically, I didn’t make any progress in the novel.

However, as odd as the day was and, at first sight, too busy to be thinking of anything else than being a mom, an employee, and a friend, I had an oddly imaginative day.

I’m not sure how my brain does this, or why. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism, when I’m overwhelmed by the day-in, day-out drudgery or something. But in the middle of some of the most repetitive, bland work, my brain suddenly turned on. I don’t remember what I was doing exactly, but I got a really cool idea for a series of steampunk short stories. A really, really cool idea (that, if I manage to pull off will be shared of course.) I don’t usually think in short-story bits. By nature I tend to think in book length, so this was a surprise (even the short story here is really just a kitchy little take on a character already in my book).

Then right smack-dab in the middle of our game last night (I had the most abysmal rolls last night–although I love the game, there’s something really annoying about being completely ineffectual during a fight… there was no love for my warlock) something started to crystallize in my brain.

First, there was the seed. A situation. A question. I asked myself a question in my head about a character in the Aldersgate Cycle, Ellinora (the princess), and suddenly I realized I’d been a) writing situations in book one that would be much more suited for book two b) had made her too young c) hadn’t given her enough background to make her as strong as the rest.

I also realized that about 30,000 words of this book in another two narratives needs to be moved out. It’s not like losing it, per se, because I know it’ll be used later. But one of the hard things about juggling a multi-POV narrative is balancing plot with character. I do mean with and not and, too. Unlike a normal, single POV novel, where you only have to worry about one plot, I am in essence balancing about 8. Some of the characters progressions are easy to plot, and their stories simple to intertwine. But as I move out of the Territories characters (Emry, Cora, and Brick) and into the Queensland characters (Kaythra, Ellinora, and Sylvan) the challenges become more intense. I’m dealing with political intrigue now, and plots that are part of years, decades, and in some cases, centuries

Deep. Breath. (Inspiration, perhaps?)

Anyway, essentially there’s a lot of work ahead of me in the weeks to come. But it’s not overwhelming. It’s exciting. These little seeds of thought often sprout into amazingly lovely flowers, if given the time and care.  But it’s a lot of maintenance and perseverance. As a writer in the “flail around in the dark until you find some plot” school, and not the “write everything down in a spiral notebook” crowd, I definitely need to find some way to organize myself more thoroughly.

But I’m not overwhelmed. I’m excited. This process has proved to me that I can challenge myself, which is important. Hopefully, the finished project will challenge the readers–albeit in a different way–as well.

I said it before–major props to Tor for the free ebook program it recently launched in conjunction with their new website (which will be taking to the skies on th 20th of this month). I’m a staunch believer in the power of the internet, and how important accessibility is to the future of the publishing industry.

Simon Owens over at Bloggasm posted a great article/interview (which has consequently been picked up by BoingBoing among others) about some of the authors involved in the project and how it’s boosted their sales. You can read the full article (which I recommend) “Did Tor’s Free ebooks affect sales?”. I liked the section about how Tobias Buckell was approached by Patrick Nielsen Hayden at a SF convention, too. Not every author out there is a Doctorow, of course, but many are learning that it can make a huge impact on sales to give before you get.

Buckell told me he was asked to participate in the ebook giveaway by Tor editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who approached him about it at an SF convention.

“Patrick and I were at Boskone and Patrick was buying me a drink and asking if I’d be interested in having the book in one of the giveaways to get my name out in front of lots and lots of people,” he said. “I had the paperback of Ragamuffin about to come out soon, and I figured it was a good idea to get my name out there — it couldn’t hurt. I love the idea of giving the first book in a series away. It was an easy ‘yes’ for me. So I checked with my agent to make sure he had no objection. Theoretically Tor owns the electronic rights to it, so they can do whatever they want. But Patrick did check with me and pretty much everyone else was on board with the idea.”

The theory that free ebooks released online will boost print sales is not a new one. Information radicals like Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross have been releasing their books under creative commons licenses — which allow readers to freely pass around the texts without fear of copyright infringement — for years, but it’s only recently that most major publishers have dipped their toes into the pool (though incidentally many of Doctorow’s books have been published by Tor).

Why do some people resist this sort of freebie exposure? I think it goes back to Writing Workshop #1 and my Gollum Theory.

You see, for many writers, what they do is precious. Too precious. And publishers often fortify that, because it makes sense from a business perspective (or at least, it used to). But the more I write, the more I realize that writing is not precious. Words, images, stories: yes, these are precious to a certain extent. And I feel immensely connected to my characters and stories. But most of what you read is a retelling of something else. The copyright cops of our age are putting ownership above creativity, restricting and restraining what we can and cannot say (and where and when we can or cannot say) to the point that the entire idea behind storytelling is being compromised.

It goes back to the whole barding analogy I’ve been using. Bards were storytellers. But their audiences were expected to remember the stories, and to tell them again.

And you know what? Stories changed. A lot. If it weren’t for the changes in storytelling over the centuries, there’d be only Arthur, Gawain, Guenevere (or two or three depending on what poem you read) and a very prominent Cai and Bedevere. No Lancelot. No Tristan. No Elaine. No Round table. No Holy Grail. Yeah, you read that right. We owe all of those to the French, who told and retold, molded, changed, messed with, and altogether revamped the entire Arthurian tale–so much so, that by the time we get back to England with Malory, villains are heroes, and heroes are villains (see: Gawain).

… this is longer than I meant for it to be. And I have digressed entirely into a vague Arthurian tangent. I do this. I apologize.

Tangents aside, Owens article is, I hope, the first of many that explore the fact that “Free” and “profitable” can go hand in hand. We “rebels” of the internet age aren’t going quietly…  and thankfully, big names like Tor and Forge are helping us out, too.

We Geeks come from all sorts of weird places. Walking around Little Five Points today in Atlanta, I was struck by the beautiful oddities around me, reveling in the weirdness that seems to ebb from every stoop. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t amazed by strange objects, stores, and people. And this works, because a writer I have a habit of watching people and making up adventures about them.

The odd places attraction comes from my childhood. My godparents used to bring me to Northampton, MA and I’d get to visit the most eccentric stores. The best, of course, was Faces. Faces, for anyone who’s ever been to Noho or Smith College, is definitely a Pioneer Valley landmark. Back when I first visited, it was one floor, and more than anything, it had toys–toys so lovely and fantastic, so colorful and funky, so beautiful and eclectic, that I never wanted to leave. There were magnets and doohickeys, sandscapes, and well, to save the trouble of description: ThinkGeek has a great page with many of these objects of which I speak.

I’ve always been more crafty than makey, but I realized as I was going through chapter two, and thinking about Professor, that much of her character comes from my love of odd toys. Half of what I found today and wanted to take home were odd toys, strange dolls, odd tinkerings. But I exercised restraint. (And holy crap did I ever fall in love with Bungalow360 Bags… I was so close to buying one, but could hear my husband complaining about the purses I already have and… darn, darn, darn).

Anyway, what I’m trying to say in this late night post is that oddity, eccentricity, and the writing process really do go hand in hand. It’s no surprise that the steampunk movement is so complex, so broad, and so unbelievably artistic… We tinkerers (whether in a literal or literary sense) are really part raven, drawn to the stunning, the strange, and the shiny.

(Note: I did not get the Bungalow360 bag, but I did score some great perfume, some skull and crossbones hair clips–oh so cool–and a great shade of lipstick; I said restraint, not complete denial.)

Just as a quick note: there are some chapter .pdfs over at the new shiny Free Chapters section. They’re the (mostly) same versions I’ve read aloud on the podcast, and by no means “complete and totally finished”–but, there ya go.

If you do happen to read them, please let me know what you think!

Anyone who’s attempted to write a novel–even if they’ve just managed through the planning stage–knows how challenging and often daunting the prospect can be. Precious few of us have unlimited time to sit back, drink coffee, and write (as Stephen King famously does, for instance) until you reach your daily 20 pages, or 10,000 words, or whatever.

Here’s a few suggestions that might help you out of the mire. I’m not an expert, but over the last decade or so I’ve figured out some tips that just might get you going in the right direction.

1.) Don’t listen to other writers’ processes. I’m not saying not to listen to me, exactly. I’m saying, don’t take a successful writer’s process as law. Everyone works differently, and at difference paces. Tolkien took decades to write the LoTR, and many popular authors seem to crap (for lack of a better term) out a book every month or so. Find your own pace, your own style. Learn when you write best, and under which circumstances. If you are busy, like me, you might want to use a calendar for a few weeks and mark down what days and when you were the most prolific.

2.) Avoid quicksand. There’s a reason writers write in drafts. Very few people–excluding, I’ve heard, Neil Gaiman–have to rewrite large parts of their books during the process. So when you’re writing your first version down, try not to sweat the small stuff. It’s way too easy to mistake the forest for the trees when you’re writing your first draft, and you can get hung up on the smallest stuff. If you’re like me you treat your first draft like an outline, and build from there. I’ve talked to plenty of writers who get stuck in this stage and never get out, and blame it on extraneous factors. But quite often, the mire of stalling in draft stage is self-inflicted quicksand.

3.) Don’t apologize. This happens quite often with fiction that skitters along the fantasy, science fiction, or steampunk flavor: writers feel like they have to apologize for their interests. This is deadly poison. The moment you start apologizing for what you like or what you like to write, you immediately discredit yourself to whoever it is your talking to, and to yourself. Writing takes confidence, and any crack can cause serious stress points in the whole structure.

4.) Get over the hard work factor. For the vast majority of writers out there, writing a novel is damn hard work. It’s harder, too, when you have a real job, a family, and a life outside. Making writing a priority is no small task. I’ve been setting word goals for myself. i.e.: no surfing the internet until I’ve hit another 1,000 words. And then, only for a few minutes. You can’t sit and say, “Ugh! This is so hard!” because you could be writing instead of complaining. If you’re dedicated to getting it finished, then you just have to do it. No publisher in their right minds will take an unfinished novel! We all have ideas, after all. It’s the work in between that distinguishes a novel from an idea.

5.) Keep finding inspiration. Whether it’s movies, music, other books, or pieces of art, we all have points of inspiration when it comes to writing. Don’t get so wrapped up in your book that you forget to absorb; be a sponge! Writing takes momentum, and it’s much easier to maintain it than to lose it and start from scratch again.

6.) Figure out why you write. Ask yourself the question, and examine the answer. Think about it. If the answer is acceptable for you, something you can live by, great. But if you’re not finding success writing, maybe your heart’s not in it for the right reasons.

The next few weeks shall prove quite… interesting. Between the 4th and the 30th, I’ll be in and out of pocket, with spotty connections for large periods of time (I’ll be somewhere in between Atlanta, GA and Western MA depending on the week). So I have no idea how often I’ll be around. I do know, however, that I’ll have plenty of writing time. Although the Internet can be the writer’s best friend, it can also be her worst enemy… I’m sure my productivity will increase while I’m enjoying the beach!

At any rate; if I’m quiet, or slow to respond, it’s nothing personal. I’ll be enjoying the sun and sand on the coast of NC, which always inspires me in writerly endeavours.

Cheerio!

Hard drive crashes are not fun. Even if you’ve backed up your work, and maintain the bulk of your information, one lapse (say about six days) can cost you. When my HD choked, it was in the midst of a good run of writing and editing, in which I’d changed around a great deal and put about 10,000 new words on paper. As I mentioned before, this work was wiped from the face of the planet.

When bad things happen like that, friends are quick to reach out and tell you it’s probably for the best, and that what you’ll write next will be even better than before. That sort of advice, while always well intended, often feels like a kick in the gut.

As grumpy as I was to lose so much of Brick’s narrative, my well-meaning friends were, actually, quite right.

I’ve finished editing Brick’s narrative through to the last 1/4 of the book, up until the point where his narrative starts intertwining more heavily with others and I have to wait.

And oddly enough (or not oddly, depending on how you look at it) losing all that work on Brick actually made me examine him more closely, to ask some really difficult questions. I thought I knew Brick, I really did. But after rewriting and tightening things up, I’ve realized there were a great deal of things that even through the first draft I hadn’t realized about him. It’s that extra layer of complexity that not only makes for a better story, but a more believable hero.

Coupled with the timing of Villain Month, this edit also happened to be Sir Gregory Ander’s (or just Ander as he’s referred to mostly) real entrance into the narrative. Now here’s a surprise. Even though I was pretty happy with his profiles (see the posts here) he’s turned out to be very different even than that. I’ve promoted him from minor villain in the first draft to major antagonist in the edit, and wow. He’s really taken on a life of his own.

My rambling point is that I’m very happy with the writing of the last few days. I’ve been putting my head down, as it were, and really concentrating on telling a good story.

I guess the moral of the story is to try and not let things get to you. Not to get all Pollyanna on you, but seriously: bad things happen, to everyone. And sure, a hard drive crash is worse for a writer in some ways than just about any other sort of person. You’re allowed a sulking time, but once it’s over: just get over it.

And just because it’s fun, here are five things I didn’t expect editing Brick’s narrative:

• The appearance of codes and ciphers
• The loss of appendages
• A berserker knight
• Major confessions and admissions of guilt
• Strange alliances

–

A bit of an excerpt after the cut from Chapter Seventeen: The Merry Gentleman. Brick’s been recaptured by the Order of the Oak, and has been stowed away, tied up, in the corner of a stable stall for the better part of two days. Sir Ander finally pays him a visit and tries to make a deal with him.

Ander was rubbing his eyes with a pristine white handkerchief now, and continued, “Well, well, it’s good to see your spirits aren’t quite broken. Jesper is a bit of a brute when it comes to the Asp. He hates them—and especially that menace Gawen—with as much of himself as he can muster. Which is a great deal, I assure you.”

“So why doesn’t he just kill me?” Brick asked, wincing in pain as he tried to shuffle some of his weight.

“Because I won’t let him,” Ander said, as if this were the most obvious fact in the world. “As I said, you’re too valuable.”

“Clearly,” Brick retorted.

“Ah ha!” laughed Ander again. “Clever, clever boy.”

Brick did not like the way he called him “boy.”

“Suffice it to say, I’ve finally convinced Jesper that killing you outright would be a waste. You understand that Jesper is a man of ration and of logic; taking you on among us would be foolish, in light of the fact that you’ve been privy to the Asp’s barbaric initiation.”

Brick couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t end up getting him kicked or smacked, and he honestly didn’t have the strength for much more of either. So he said nothing and let Ander talk, nodding.

The knight grinned and smoothed the front of his weskit, the surface of the buttons perfectly polished gold. His gesture put Brick in the mind of a crow preening itself.

“I’ve arranged for a test for you this afternoon. You’ll be asked to do a few rudimentary exercises on the forge, as it were, and then challenged a little more.”

Brick was about to say something more, regarding the subject of food, but Ander continued speaking: “Of course you’ll be bathed and fed, and allowed a little rest if you’d like—Jesper won’t abide by you in your current state. But you’ll have to go by our rules.”

With the feeling that he navigating into some very suspicious dealings, Brick asked: “Rules?”

“You’ll be shackled of course,” Ander continued. “And I volunteered to keep you under my guard, every moment, to be sure you’ll not betray our trust. If we do decide to keep you, you’ll not be granted knightship, but rather taken on as an indentured servant.”

“A slave?”

“Such an ugly word,” Ander said. “Slavery was abolished decades ago. We’d have nothing of it. But, you’d consider your life in our debt, would you not? After all, Jesper would kill you without a moment’s hesitation were it not for me. You should be grateful.”

“Aye,” Brick said, noncommittally as he’d heard Gawen do a hundred times since joining with the Asp.

Ander grinned, his neat teeth gleaming. Brick wondered how much combat this fellow had actually seen to have so many of his teeth still in tact.  Hardly any of the Asp he knew had a full set themselves, Lark included. “So you’ll do it?”

As much as he hated the idea of being shackled and constantly under Sir Ander’s eye, Brick knew that—as things rested at the moment—too much longer in this squalor would kill him long and slow. At least if he made a mess of everything after, it’d mean he’d have a bath, some food, and half a chance to get the hells out of here. Or to find death quickly, as it were.

“Aye,” said Brick, certain he’d just made a deal with demons.

If growing up means you can no longer play pretend, I want nothing to do with it. In fact, I’d like to go so far as to that I am, as of right now, declaring myself a professional pretender. I want to be a bard.

What am I on about? I’ve been spending a lot of time pondering my craft, lost in the labyrinth of my own brain, opening doors that have either been shut for too long, or have been cracked open, but not yet fully discovered. Prompted by no small part by some of Matt Staggs’s recent posts at Enter the Octopus, I’ve been waxing pensive (okay and maybe a little poetic) about this “new” age of writing and storytelling. I completely agree with Matt that the Internet has ushered in a new era of storytelling, where writers, readers, and publishers (well, sometimes) are connected on a level never imagined. Not only do we, as writers, have a direct feed to mountains of information (where would I be without Wikipedia or BoingBoing?), but we have direct feeds to audiences, looking for us. It’s no longer a matter of publishing houses telling readers what the next big thing is: they already know!

The thing is, even in this era of technology, gadgets, and ever growing worldwide problems, fiction is needed now more than ever. Fiction functions to keep us hoping, to inspire, to get us thinking outside our mundane little cubicles.

When I was in college and graduate school, my main era of study was the Middle Ages. As such, I tend to have a really backward view of how things work. Once upon a time, in our own world, storytellers, bards, and the like were revered. The Irish bards were a kind of druid, and held the lore and history of their entire culture in their minds (to our knowledge, they never wrote anything down). Sure, stories changed with the telling, but that was part of the fun. In some regions, being a bard was the highest calling one could have; remember, the majority of the population could not read, and certainly no one had televisions (um, duh). People depended on storytellers to transport them out of their dreary worlds into the space of the imagination.

So what’s happened to the bards and troubadours? Where have they gone? Most of us can’t go off to barding school (though, if you’ve been following along in my podcast, you’ll notice I invented one and sent Emry to it). Even if we write thousands of pages and novels and stories, there’s no guarantee that anyone will read them. In most circles, barding or writing or storytelling isn’t a viable option.

That is, unless you make it available.

Because, if you care about sharing your stories with others–if you care about continuing the tradition of storytelling–there are plenty of options. You can publish with a Creative Commons license, you can podcast, you can attend virtual writers’ gatherings and meet other bloggers and writers just like you. Instead of letting your manuscript languish at the bottom of a slush pile (which is still an option, of course, not that it doesn’t occasionally work), you can be proactive.

Sure, we all want to be the next bestseller. But don’t just assume it’s going to happen to you overnight (if at all, says the skeptic part of my brain). Remember, bards had to travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to share their stories; modern day writers need to, too. Ours are just measured in bps rather than feet.