Category: The Blog

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Last-Minute Christmas Shopping

Each year for our wedding anniversary (21 years on the 23rd), we go to Joplin, see a movie, visit my beloved sister, and top off the day with dinner at Mythos, my all-time favorite restaurant, while Papa from Mexico comes down to watch the monsters.

This year, we decided that instead of seeing a movie, we’d start–and finish–our Christmas shopping.  We’re always late (which is why I always take time off BEFORE Christmas, not after), but we’re later than ever this year.  I’d only bought 3 gifts, although I did have the monsters’ pictures taken months ago and planned to give several away for gifts (no frames yet).  We hadn’t even decided on what the monsters would be getting until the day or so before.

The main drag in Joplin is Rangeline and it was absolutely bumper to bumper all stinking day long.  If I had a dollar for each time we drove up and down Rangeline looking for a shop, I could retire from the Evil Day Job.  We both used to live in Joplin many years ago, and That Man often hits Joplin for his job, but we only rarely ever SHOP there.  We couldn’t remember exactly where the GameStop was, or how far down Best Buy is (down by the Mall, Lord help us).  Traffic is always horrendous but it was worse than ever on the last Saturday before Christmas.

In the end, we hit Wal-Mart twice, Best Buy, 2 game shops, 2 western-wear shops, and Walgreens, and only “almost” rear-ended someone 3 times.   All I have left to do this week are picture frames, two nephews’ gifts, and the clothing shopping for each monster (MIL always gives us money to buy clothes for the monsters–since I know their sizes–which I then wrap and take over Christmas Day so she can see what they got). 

I’d also like to get some hand-made gifts finished (hahaha, I know, I’m running out of time) and the monsters would like to make some kind of ornament again.  Last year we did salt-dough ornaments that they painted.  This year, I think we’ll do the cinnamon-glue ones.

No, we didn’t do cards.  I always mean to, but we’ve had so many card-tastrophes over the years, I’ve just given up.  My BIG chore for this week will be the post office on Monday to mail out the last of the ARCs!!

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A Box of Roses: Winner

The winner of the print copy of The Rose of Shanhasson is:  Raye!  Please e-mail me at joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com with your snail mail addy. 

Everyone else:  I have 4 remanining copies of the ARC version — which is basically the same book without Larissa’s fabulous quote on the cover.  If you’re interested in receiving a copy, please drop me an e-mail with your snail mail information and I’ll mail a copy to the first four people who contact me.    I’ll mail anywhere on the planet — although if I get a bunch of overseas entries I may have to spread them out a bit until after the holidays.

Thank you, everyone, for entering!

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A Box of Roses

Grinning from ear to ear.  It’s time for a giveaway!  If you’d like to win a print copy of The Rose of Shanhasson, simply comment on this entry through midnight CST Thursday, Dec. 17th.  I’ll announce a winner on Friday.  Anyone on the planet can enter, even if you’ve won something from me before.

The Rose of Shanhasson

The Rose of Shanhasson

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Working Vacation

Forgive a quick squee:  The Rose of Shanhasson is officially shipping!

I really need to get better at spreading my vacation out all year!  I’m officially off from the Evil Day Job tomorrow through Christmas Day, which seems obscene when I have so much work to do before the end of the year.  It’s a wonderful problem to have, don’t get me wrong.  Next year I’ll have 4 weeks of vacation plus 2 weeks of personal time to use up.

I’m always going to need days prior to Christmas — because I haven’t even started shopping yet — but there’s no reason I can’t plan a smarter approach to use some of these days for a writing vacation, too.  Last year I took 9 days in November to help with NaNoWriMo (which is why I was able to get over 60K in Nov), but my work load just didn’t cooperate this year.  The week I did take off for Thanksgiving was wholly dedicated to prepping for the big dinner, and then recovering from said dinner.

So I have off until Dec. 28th.  What am I going to do with myself?  Well, for starters, I’m going to work really hard on Return to Shanhasson revisions, try to write a short story, and then move on to Victor’s revision.  And if I get especially productive, I’ll pull out Deathright and prepare for drafting new words in January.

Oh, and of course, the Christmas shopping needs to be done.  *headdesk*  Don’t even ask me about cards.

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Revision Hell: Murdering a Character

Do you have a “stock” character in your story who is perilously close to becoming a cliche?  Someone you need for a plot convenience, or simply to show another facet of your protagonist?  Would it matter if you changed the character’s name or sex?  If you simply took the character out of the story, would it really leave a gaping hole, or could you pull the story tighter and really not miss him at all?

As I read through a story for revision, one of the things I’m considering are the side characters.  Are they really needed?  Do they have a goal?  Can I make everything worse for the protagonist by doing something more powerful with the side characters? 

If you have a weak character who’s not pulling his share of the story, here are a few ideas to consider that might help.

Combine characters.  Sometimes you can take several side characters with very minor roles and meld them into one larger character who has several facets and purposes, making them more interesting.  For example, I cut Rhaekhar’s mother out and combined her role as “supporter” into Alea’s character.  This was challenging, because Alea really didn’t like Shannari, my protagonist, at all.  The complexity made Alea’s character richer and tightened the story considerably.

Give the character a stronger goal.  Remember, every character is the star of HIS own story.  He should have a purpose, and if it’s counter to the protagonist’s, even better.  If you have a character who doesn’t really have any goals above “make the plot convenient” or “help the protagonist be the hero” then sit down and do some work. 

  • Consider writing a few scenes in the character’s POV, even if you don’t intend to use his POV in the final story.
  • Get into his head by writing in first person, maybe some key backstory.  How did this character come to be here, for this story? 
  • Give him some contradictions.  If he’s brave, what is he afraid of?  If he’s kind, when would he be mean?
  • Give him something to do that deliberately makes the situation worse for the protagonist.

Rebuild the Character from Scratch.  This one is super hard for me, but sometimes it’s necessary.  I have to envision killing the character, literally, murdering him or her.  Otherwise, I keep doing the same thing that led me into the wrong path in the first place.  I did this once and it was gut-wrenchingly hard.  I murdered Shannari, the protagonist in the Shanhasson series.  I killed her in my mind so I could start all over again, even though I’d already written about 1000 pages in the series.  Only when the old character was dead and buried in my mind, could I start with a new protagonist worthy of carrying the load of the Story I envisioned.

I have a character in Return to Shanhasson who needs some work.  Jorah, the golden Blood, has become a weak character.  You know you have a problem when his only distinguishing characteristic is his size, and I don’t mean how tall he is. 

In this case, I think I’m going back to the original first draft of book two to get an element for Jorah to build upon.  In a very old draft of then titled “Khul’s Beloved,” Jorah did something very graphic that made a stark impression on Shannari.  That scene needs to come back.  If nothing else, it will make him very memorable!

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My First Booksigning

Today, we drove an hour and a half north, back to our hometown, Osceola, MO.  I haven’t been home much at all since I left for college.  For years, we lived in TX, NE, and MN, and I just didn’t keep in touch with very many people at all.  Once both That Man’s and my parents moved out of Osceola, we only made occasional drives around the square to see what had changed (very little), or to put flowers on Grandma’s grave, but we never really stopped and visited.

I think it was very fitting to experience this first where I grew up, especially in the library, where I read books by the shelf after school.  Where I quietly wrote my first stories in elementary school.  Where my teachers were so supportive and encouraging.  Mrs. Lightle made me write my own version of Beowulf my senior year and first instilled a love for poetry in my heart.  When I came home from college over spring break my freshman year, pretty sure I wasn’t going back because I couldn’t understand Calculus II, Mr. Kauffman gave me every teacher’s manual he still had so I could work through examples and figure out how to keep my head afloat.  I went on to be a mathematics major and even got my MS, but if he hadn’t let me come out to his house and given me his pep talk, I might not have made it.

Oh, and don’t even get me started about my family and friends, many of whom I haven’t seen in years.  Literally, my cousin who stopped by — I don’t think I’ve seen him for twenty years or more.  One of my best friends from high school came by — I hadn’t seen her since graduation.  The librarians I grew up with had retired, but both of them came in especially to see us.

We didn’t sell a ton of books, but we sold several, to very good homes, the library gained some donations, and more importantly, I connected with friends and family I hadn’t seen in an eternity.

It was a lovely day.  A huge thank you to Tish at the St. Clair Co. Library for organizing the event, and to everyone who stopped by to say hello.

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Revision Hell Begins

I stand at the formidable wrought-iron gates leading beneath the Mountain.  I’ve delayed too long already.  This novel has been complete for a year, just waiting for me to find the time — and courage — to enter into…  da da DUM ….

Revision Hell.

Okay, in all seriousness, this particular Revision Hell won’t be as bad as I’m making it sound.  I have a very solid and detailed (105K) first draft prepared.  It’s the third in a trilogy so I’d darned well better know my characters and my world right now.  Just as there are Nine Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, there are various layers to Revision Hell, too.  For this particular work, I already know I have the following challenges to resolve:

1. A few scene holes, where I knew what happened but just wasn’t feeling it.  One is a fight scene, one was a potential sex scene that may be cut (e.g. if I didn’t need it written to finish the story, then maybe I don’t really need it!!)

2. A few wrong turns and rambling paths.  Even in a well-plotted story, it’s easy to write a scene and then later realize that maybe it wasn’t the best option.  I have that problem with a few scenes, in particular  with one  character, Jorah.  I don’t need them, they add nothing to the main plot of the story, and trivialize his character into a LKH stock character, which is not what I want.

3. Dropped threads. It’s like sending your character off with a backpack and then realizing she dropped it somewhere along the way — or needed it and I had no idea where it was.  (Inside joke: this happened with Isabella in Beautiful Death.)  For Return, where is Wind?  Sadly, I thought nothing of this special horse character until the very end, when I realized I had a way to make the ending incredibly powerful, but I had no idea what had happened to her.

4. Texture. This is a tough one for me, because I can add details, emotion, and worldbuilding all day long, and I’ve already got a 105K story.  However, there are a few scenes/details I’ve been thinking about the past few months that could really add depth and heart to the story, and in the end, that’s exactly what this story is about.  The heart.

I’ll post revision tricks as I think of them this month and next, since I have two full-length manuscripts to revise and kick out of the nest.  For now, this dark road descending beneath the Mountain requires a key to pass the gates, and that key, is a read-through.

  • Grab a notebook and pen and make notes as you go, recording page number or simply adding a comment in the Word file.
  • Since these revisions aren’t massive, I’m going to save time and smooth sentences and polish as I go.  This won’t be the final pass, but it’s like sanding a plank with the first, rougher grade sand paper.
  • Note all research items and find those answers.  For this story, that means I need to dig through Rose and Road looking for forgotten character names or places, etc.  I don’t have a series bible for this story — it’s all in my head.  Or not, in this case.

My MUST DO goal for this week then becomes:

  • Revise the first 100 pages
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Finish the Damned Book

Last night, I finished my 7th full-length novel, 9th counting the novellas.  Victor, the NaNoWriMo novel, is finished at 73K and before anyone asks when they can read it, it needs a ton of work before it’ll be presentable!  But the first major hurdle is done.

There was a time in my writing journey where I seriously doubted I would ever be able to finish a book again.  For one full year, I didn’t finish a single new novel.  Each time, I begin to wonder if maybe the magic is gone.  Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe this will be the book that breaks me.

Well, I’m not broken yet.

Victor pushed me into places that were hard to go.  He wants things I can’t possibly understand.  Deep down, he fears he’s a very, very bad man, and at the core, unlovable.  Dealing with his fears was exhausting and yes, exhilarating.  Each book is hard for a different reason and teaches me something new.  I guess Victor had to show me that I can’t worry about people may think.  I can’t get too wrapped up in how politically incorrect, vulgar, or risky a character may be.  I just have to write the book and trust the magic not to fail me.

And even though Victor was making me doubt whether I would ever get to his endzone, his sister started blabbing in my head last night and her hero showed up.  Well, at least one of them.  ::ahem::

Final line from Victor, subject to revision:

“Watch the show and see for yourself.”