JoZebwrites

That ’ s What Editors Are For By Jennifer L. Carson Jennifer was kind enough to do me an illuminating guest blog, opening the windows on what it means to be an editor. Her fantastic blog can be found at http://leasspell.net/blog/. Really well worth a look.  I put together a bike for my brother ’ s kid this Christmas.   Turns out, I ’ m pretty handy with a wrench.   Thought I might try building a car next.   What do you think? Should I go for it? What you are thinking right now is a little glimpse into my head when I tell people I ’ m an editor and writer, and they say to me, “ Oh, yeah, I ’ ve been thinking about writing a book.   It ’ s about XXX. What do you think? Should I go for it? ”   I ’ m torn between trying not to smile too hard or being a little insulted.   I usually land on amused.   Someone once asked me how I do what I do after I helped that person fix a pretty big hole in their novel.   I laughed and ...

I’m not a big one for controversary, but in my other, non-writing life, I spend a lot of time discussing business models, sustainability and how to bring on new, innovative talent. I argue, backed up by theorists by the handful, that ensuring such things are done is key to maintaining industries. Which made me want to talk about the reality of being a writer at my stage of development. Firstly, what is my stage? I have an agent. I have a publisher for an upcoming trilogy. I have quite a bit of short stuff written and published. I have finished six books and trunked one, which isn’t a bad statistic. I have another underway when I get the odd week or two free to think about it. I have a nice following on my blog, some people waiting to buy my book when it comes out (thank you), some people prepared to review it for me (and another thank you), some retailer support (and what I say three times is true – thank you!) and my ever-supportive, cheer-leading family. I’m one of t...

THE ROAD TO PUBLICATION – AND HOW TO DEVELOP PATIENCE IN THE UNREADY In the summer of 2011 I Made a Decision. I’d write the darned book I’d been thinking about for years, and get it published. After all, I had three months clear from work, and I’d studied English to A level so I knew how to write.  I’ll wait a minute for you all to stop laughing…  Anyway, I finished The Book in those three months. All 160,000 words of it. And I sent it out to some lucky, lucky agents. I got form responses, no responses, and one scribbled ‘No thanks’ on the front page of the manuscript. At which point I decided to get over my fear of people reading what I’d written (yes, that’s right, it went out un-betaed…) and asked a writing friend to have a look. He was gentle, and kind, and put up with 30,000 words of dross before suggesting I learn how to write. At which point, I joined a forum and discovered there was a lot to learn.  A year later, I had the manuscript up to some so...

FIRST ROLL OF THE DIE             "Wait for me!" Averrine ran round the battlement, hair falling into her eyes, but stopped to catch her breath. Simon had hidden and it wasn’t fair.                 "Slow snake!"   His words echoed around the red-stone courtyard, the walls bloody where struck by the low sunlight of the dying day. She straightened, each breath burning her chest, and cast her eyes over the courtyard. She wished there was someone else to play with. The pilots’ kids, over by Bendau’s space port, had let her join their shoot-‘em-ups until Mama had found out and stopped the game, claiming the children were Space Roamers and dirty, and odd. She stamped her foot; for now, she was stuck with Simon. “Where are you?”             "Got to find me!" He wasn't being nice. She was only six to ...

Here I am a couple of days before Christmas and am I wrapping, or shopping, or singing carols? No, I've got a shiny new facebook page - thanks, Gary! - and I thought I'd write about Christmas in the world of Abendau. Then I had an oh-no moment when I realised there was no mention of a Christmas in that world. No Winter solstice. And it came to me that, by and large, in all my books the matter of religion isn't cut and dried. Don't get me wrong; religion features. When I'm not writing Abendau I write a lot about Ulster and there are many things you can get away without mentioning, but religion isn't one of them. It's never a main theme, though. So, is there religion in my Abendauii world? Yes. The main characters aren't believers - they grew up on a rebel base with no defined religion. In the marriage ceremony I show, the prayer is to a non-named force. It was written, as it happens, with the help of a sf loving Parson of my acquaintance and I hope ...

Some fantasy writers like to write about elves, others prefer werewolves, vampires, or zombies. I have a penchant for goblins. In folklore, the word "goblin" has been applied in myriad ways. A goblin might be a mischievous sprite like Puck, a hideous, vengeful ghost, or even a beneficient house spirit such as a brownie. Sometimes it was used as a synonym for fairy, sometimes applied to a separate race: small, ugly, and malicious. I've taken advantage of this ambiguity, and in each series of books I've written where goblins appear, I've reinvented them. In the second Celydonn series (sequels to The Green Lion Trilogy) they are fuathan, bad fairies if you will. I like writing about fairies. Even the best of them are not nice; they are not benevolent. On occasion they may be extravagently generous. Grateful for small favors, they return them with magnificent gifts and spectacular rewards. But you cannot trust them. Their morality is not our morality, their l...

SPACE AND BREATHING AND ALL THAT JAZZ Like most women I know I’m juggling. I have kids and all their myriad bits and pieces they need from me – support, and clean clothes, and food, and taxi-ing, and more support, and reading their stories, and tidying their rooms, and checking homeworks, and buying Munchy seeds and chocolate doughnuts and the list goes on and on. I have a dog to see to, and fish to remember to feed, and a cat to occasionally say hello to (we’re not sure where he now resides, but it’s not here. Unless he decides it is. And then he goes again. I like the cat…) I have my house and the need for it to be at least hygeinic and have the beds made, and some sort of attempt at dusting, and the recycling cleared, and the bins emptied. I have a weekend trip to plan for and dogs to get to kennels and injections had so the kennels will take the dog. At the house I have the garden (and until recently an allotment) – with onions to be weeded and broccoli to be nette...