Author: Melanie Marttila

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz May 25-31, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

Tipsday

It’s a short one this week.

So a note to begin with about how I organize these things. I generally start off chronologically, but if thematic groups emerge, I tend to put them together. This is why you’ll generally see some familiar names on my list, like K.M. Weiland. Katie always posts on Sundays, so she generally appears first, followed by Anne. R. Allen and Roz Morris, who also post on Sunday.

Everything else is just organized the way my brain sees fit, which may not always make sense to anyone but me … but there you have it: my mad method.

So it should be no surprise that I’m starting off with K.M. Weiland and the final post in her Creating Stunning Character Arcs series: The Resolution.

Later in the week, she announced her forthcoming book, The Writer’s Digest Annotated Jane Eyre. Guess who’s got an ARC to review? Got it in one, my friends 🙂

Roz Morris posted about drafting her scenes out of order and revealed the title of the work in progress (WIP) hitherto known as The Mountains Novel.

52 terrific tips on how to write well from Psychology Today. Includes lots of links to other resources.

Carly Watters offers advice on writing secondary characters.

N.K. Jemisin’s Wiscon 38 guest of honour keynote.

 

And now, a moment of silence for the passing of the bright light that was Maya Angelou.

 

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”

The next chapter: May 2014 update

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

This is going to be a short update.

May's Word Count

All of the new words I produced this month were from blogging (7503), even though I didn’t blog for a whole week because of chaos. It was good chaos, but nonetheless.

I worked on revisions for the short story I submitted to Bastion Science Fiction Magazine, “The Broken Places,” at the beginning of the month, but that was actually trimming and, just for sanity’s sake, I’m not counting negative words.

By the way, the story is now in the June issue, available online here: Bastion Science Fiction Magazine. You can also get a single issue through Amazon, a subscription through Weightless Books, or just donate to a cool publication.

*Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.* Bastion is also a great place to submit if you’re into that speculative fiction stuff 🙂

Needless to say, there is much happy dancing on Marttila Drive.

The biggest part of the non-blogging writing work I did was on Initiate of Stone. I executed my plan of going through and eliminating the one character, giving all her important bits and pieces to other characters, and making notes for the revisions. I also went through my novel in reverse order, using Victoria Mixon’s holographic structure.

This is a technique she recommends in her Art and Craft of Story, and after Roz Morris posted that she’s had to draft her scenes out of order for her latest WIP, Ever Rest, even working backwards, I had to give it a try.

It’s a very interesting technique, and allows you to make sure that plot events and foreshadowing are in their proper places. It’s great for consistency too. I caught a few things that I hadn’t taken into account writing forward.

In other news, my adjustable desk is working out great. If you haven’t been following, the arrival of the desk and the necessity of reorganizing my office to suit it was one of the reasons for my blogging vacation. I can stand for an hour and a bit before I have to sit down for a rest. I’m training myself up.

I’ve also purchase a summer membership for the yoga studio I’ve joined, and I’m hoping that the desk and the yoga will help me stave off future back issues.

Totally unrelated to writing, Phil and I had to purchase a new clothes washer this past week. Our’s was pooched. While at the store, Phil decided he also wanted an upright freezer. He was getting tired of losing stuff at the bottom of the chest freezer we had.

So that’s a chunk of change down the drain.

I tried to write a couple of non-speculative pieces this month, and my interest just wasn’t there. I had ideas, certainly, but the one contest required me to write from a prompt, which I’m not overly keen on. I couldn’t find one that really helped me get anywhere. The other would have been a non-fiction piece, or perhaps creative non-fiction, but again, the idea just couldn’t sustain me.

Sad but true. I guess I’m way beyond the SF/F pale. There are worse places to be. Trust me 🙂

Two opportunities came my way this month that I have to share.

The first kind of blew me away. K.M. Weiland emailed me and asked me to read and review her new book, The Writers Digest Annotated Jane Eyre. Of course I said yes! I love Jane Eyre and have read the book a couple of times. Plus, I’m really attracted to the way Katie analyzes a piece of fiction. It didn’t hurt that she said she respected my opinion (head inflating, unattractively).

So far, it’s great, and I’m learning a lot about how to read as a writer.

It’ll be out July 19th. Watch for it.

The second opportunity came in another email, this one from someone I’d recently started following on Twitter. A Rewording Life, is Sheryl Gordon’s project in honour of her mother, and all those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

She’s recruiting logophiles and creative, wordy people of all stripes to contribute a sentence to her book. I did, and my word was psychopomp 🙂 A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Alzheimer’s research. Check out her site. Follow her on Twitter @ARewordingLife.

And here I thought this was going to be a short post 😛 I am a wordy girl!

This month, I’m moving on to work on my other two completed (more or less) drafts as I did with IoS this month. The Canadian Authors Association’s CanWrite! Conference will be June 18-22, 2014. I hope to bring back lots of Writerly Goodness from that event.

I’m going to try to get back into the fiction writing swing of things. Most of my ideas these days are trending novel length, though. Maybe I’ll just finish the draft of Gerod and the Lions before starting another new project. That sounds like a plan.

How are your projects going, my writerly friends?

The Next Chapter

Caturday quickies: Springtime in Sudz

/ Melanie Marttila

Just dropping y’all a quick note today. I’ll be doing my month-end writing roll-up (the next chapter) tomorrow.

Usually, the pin cherry trees are in bloom for the Victoria Day long weekend (weekend before last), followed within a week by the lilacs. The tree blooming is, for me, the true sign of spring here in Northern Ontario.

This year, due to our long, cold, and snowy winter, the ground frost has been slow to leave (hence our flood issues). So everything was delayed , just a bit.

The pin cherries came in to bloom just this past week. This picture, on such a bright and sunny day, does not do them justice, but here they are …

pin cherry trees

And just below are the hostas, bleeding hearts, ferns, and scads of forget-me-nots.

The wild garden

Finally, by the house, the monster rhubarb is growing like mad. We’ve already had to cut off three “flowers.”

the monster rhubarb

Everything’s dusty, as you may be able to see, because of the road construction in the area. Can’t be helped.

This week has been wonderful weather.

Everybody up here is hoping for it to continue.

TTFN! Off to a bridal shower. ‘Tis that time of year 😉

Caturday Quickies

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz May 18-24, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

A fascinating article from The Smithsonian Magazine on the microscopic structure of dried human tears.

This article on and video of the fungus cordyceps in action creeped me out. I fucking love science.

Discovery presents the top ten species of 2014.

Part of me cringed at the wanton destruction. The other part drooled a little. Book art by Brian Dettmer.

Web Urbanist presents 15 of the world’s most magical lodgings. Bucket list!

I love dogs. LOVE. So, of course, I could resist sharing these pups with gorgeous coats.

Here are two videos from a crazy Finnish magician, who figured it would be fun to make dogs’ treats disappear. It’s funny. Also a little mean. Dogs NEED their treats. Mind you, the dogs take it well. A testament to their species and a confusing commentary on ours. (I’m including myself in this indictment – I laughed.)

 

 

The Pentatonix, Love Again:

 

I just can’t get enough of their lovely harmonies 🙂

Images of Earth captured from the International Space Station. The Atlantic.

National Geographic contributing photographer Peter Essick pays homage to Ansel Adams.

Worried about using unlicensed images on your blog? Here are some alternatives to stock imagery.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has just made images of their collection and archives free to access (!) Talk about an alternative to stock imagery 🙂

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And … this deserves a category all its own. Thanks to Jenny Hansen for this.

A hilarious guide to pooping at work:

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz May 18-24, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 3 Comments

Tipsday

Roz Morris responded to a writer in a bind. The result was this post.

If you’ve read Lifeform Three, you’ll find this Roz Morris post on the inspiration of the Surrey landscape interesting. If you haven’t read the novel, you’d better get cracking!

The Geeks’ Guide to the Galaxy interviews Mary Robinette Kowal. Listen to the podcast.

Speaking of podcasts, listen to K.M. Weiland’s fourteenth instalment in the Creating Stunning Character Arcs series. Or read the post. As you wish, dear reader.

The draws and drawbacks of success as an author from The New York Times.

Jan O’Hara tells us why our characters need to make tough choices. Writer Unboxed.

And yes! Now WU has its web issues sorted, here’s Lisa Cron’s wonderful post: What kindergarten got (and still gets) really, really wrong.

Three more things you need to know about exposition and telling by Victoria A. Mixon.

Agent Carly Watters has some advice for when you start comparing yourself to other writers.

Maggie Stiefvater writes about how her characters are not based on her experiences, but they answer the questions she asks in her head.

Tech Crunch interviews Hugh Howey.

The Paris Review resurrects their interview with John Steinbeck.

Anne Lamott on how to handle the haters. Brainpickings.

Two of my favourite Neils talk about genius. More Brainpickings brilliance.

Writers’ Relief offers five techniques to help turn short stories into novels.

The Bookbaby blog presents this interesting infographic about 24 books that predicted the future.

Enjoy, my writerly peeps 🙂

A poetic road trip to Rutherglen

/ Melanie Marttila / 8 Comments

Yesterday, those of you who follow me on Facebook may have noticed that I was out of town again for a bit. This time, it wasn’t for work, though!

My gifted, poet friend, Kim Fahner (who is likely cringing as she reads this—stop that—you are gifted), was invited to a reading, irreverently called Fools on Stools at the La-Tea-Da Cafe in Rutherglen (about 20 minutes outside North Bay, ON).

She asked me to go with her and we decided to turn the reading into an opportunity for a poetic road trip—my FAVOURITE kind!

At the reading was fellow Sudbury author Ric deMeulles, and North Bay area authors Steve Pitt, Barry Grilles, and Ken Stange. We saw several poets and writers from the Conspiracy of Three reading series, and the host, Carin, who owned the La-Tea-Da Cafe, was gracious and welcoming.

Fools on Stools readers

Ken Stange, Kim Fahner, Barry Grilles (behind Kim–sorry Barry), Carin, Ric deMeulles, and Steve Pitt

The group rotated through three sets of readings with breaks for refreshments. At the end, the readers were invited to make Fools on Stools a regular event.

It was a lovely and creative afternoon.

Kim sold several copies of The Narcoleptic Madonna, and received some publishing advice from the other readers.

Then we returned to North Bay, checked into a hotel for the night, and set off in search of supper. The parking lot of Average Joe’s, to which we were referred by the helpful young man at the front desk, was full, so we turned into the downtown area to find sustenance.

Since neither of us had had much by way of lunch, we were ravenous by this time.

Fortunately, we saw My Thai Palace, a restaurant that we were both familiar with from Sudbury, parked, and dined.

After a delicious supper and a half litre of wine, we moseyed down to the lakeshore for a walk.

Lake Nipissing

There was a beautiful ray of sun shining down on the water, but by the time I got my phone out for a picture, this was all that was left. Still, Lake Nipissing is wonderful.

Back at the hotel, we settled into our lovely suite, watched Orphan Black, read, and chatted until we fell asleep. It was an adult sleepover 🙂

This morning, after a tasty breakfast at the hotel, we returned to town briefly to capture a daylight picture of the most amazing house.

Crazy collectible house

The house Kim had to go back to see.

Turns out, the Canadian Pickers (the Canadian edition of the US franchise) had visited. I’m sure they found a lot of interesting stuff. As we drove away, we had to turn and drive around the block. The entire property, yard, and garage were similarly festooned with collectibles.

The drive back was uneventful and we continued our discussion of the world’s troubles and how to solve them.

Sometimes you just have to get away and have some fun. Though I’ll admit, our fun may be tame in the eyes of others, but we had a blast.

Poetic road trips ROCK!

Have you gotten away for a fun weekend with friends lately?

Ad Astra 2014: It’s a wrap!

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments
Doctor Who Welcomes You

The TARDIS and a Dalek formed the welcoming committee

I’ve been blogging this puppy for a month and a half now (!)

There was so much more to Ad Astra than the awesome sessions, though. There was so much that I couldn’t take part in.

I mentioned waaaaay back in my first post that there was Klingon Karaoke (not karaoke in Klingon, though that might be cool …). There was an anime lounge with various series and movies running all three days of the convention, an art room, a Lego room, the book store, author readings, and signings.

Also, for every session I attended, there were, like six others. There was astronomy in the parking lot at night, the masquerade, gaming sessions, Consuite events, and book launches by various SF/F publishers.

And there was the Guest of Honour brunch, which I foolishly chose not to purchase a ticket for (hey, it was my first time, I didn’t know it would be so awesome).

If I thought it was possible, I could have stayed up for the entire three days and done something different every hour.

What I did do (aside from the sessions)

I attended readings by Patricia Briggs, Julie Czerneda, Marie Bilodeau, Matt Moore, and Dennis Lee.

Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs

Julie Czerneda

Julie Czerneda

I bought (way too many) books and got some of them signed by the authors.

I bought a couple pieces of jewellery and a t-shirt.

Had a tonne of fun.

Not bad.

Think I’m going back next year 🙂

The book haul

The book haul

What about you? Have you attended any conventions or conferences recently?

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz May 4-17, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

A.K.A. Catching up on the catching up.

Just a little of the thoughty today. Far more fun.

How a bacterium was engineered to use two ‘alien’ bases, from Nature.

How an autistic boy’s love of wind chimes grew into something wonderful. Upworthy.

A Psychiatric Times article on creativity and mental illness. Interesting stuff about writers in particular.

Kevin Briggs’s TED talk on suicide.

 

Look up. Spoken word awesome by Gary Turk.

 

What you see in the mirror. A comic by The Oatmeal.

How one little letter can raise your IQ. Really?

Love these fantastic children’s rooms. In fact, I want the Narnia one!

Mary Robinette Kowal sings “Roxanne” in a puppet voice, while dressed in a Regency gown (which she made herself). Brilliant!

Another cover of Pharell’s “Happy.” A bunch of dogs and a cat frolic on the beach.

Cows like jazz. Who knew?

Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” a la Star Wars. Just fun.

 

The kakapo is a rare, flightless parrot. Watch this hilarious video to find out what it did to a photographer. Plus, Stephen Fry 🙂

Enjoy, my writerly friends.

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the Interwebz May 4-17, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

Yes, you read that date correctly. It’s a double shot of Tipsday this week (since I missed out on last week).

A writer friend actually called me the queen of curation this past week 🙂 I think that title belongs to Elizabeth Spann Craig, but I was duly flattered, nonetheless.

Part 12 and Part 13 of K.M. Weiland’s Creating Stunning Character Arcs series.

Lisa Cron’s TEDx lecture, Wired for Story:

 

I would have posted Lisa Cron’s Writer Unboxed: What kindergarten got (and still gets) really, really wrong, but WU is having some technical difficulties right now. I’ll try to keep it in mind for next week. It’s an excellent post. Heart Lisa Cron.

A little more brain science for you here. Frank Bruni encourages kids to read, kids, read.

Anne Ursu examines the phenomenon of ‘Greenlit.’ Contemporary realism in MG and YA.

Jami Gold asks the question, when should we skip a scene in our stories? And she answers it too, clever lady.

Janice Hardy makes a case for prologues: not as evil as you think.

Victoria Mixon’s three things you should know about exposition and telling.

6 tips to modernize your prose for the 21st century reader from Anne R. Allen’s blog. This one generated a few comments. Who should be more accommodating, the writer or the reader?

Roz Morris’s tips for using Amazons keywords and categories intelligently.

Joanna Penn interviews Jane Friedman on money, writing, and life.

Publishing industry news: Pay equity and gender parity are still issues. Why Jill Abramson was fired.

Carly Watters offers 5 easy steps for formatting your next query.

Laura Pepper Wu write a guest post for Catherine Ryan Howard about 11 inspiring quotes from the world’s best writers.

10 more inspiring quotes from the Procrastiwriter.

And even more inspirational quotes from Jane Friedman:

 

George Saunders on the power of kindness, animated, from Brainpickings.

You may remember I posted the Rolling Stone interview with George R.R. Martin a couple of weeks ago. Well, here are the “outtakes.”

And, I know it’s been everywhere, but I love this clip about George R.R. Martin’s secret weapon.

See you all on Thoughty Thursday!

Tipsday

Ad Astra 2014 day 3: Biotech, identity, and personal freedom

/ Melanie Marttila

Panellists: Alison Sinclair; Shirley Meier

SM: Everyone is terrified of the loss of control. We use plague zombies to explain our fear. Dracula was about the fear of women’s power and blood magic. One of our biggest fears in biotechnology. There are a couple of good TED talks on the subject (Mel’s note: I found this one and this other one). Chemotherapy can be delivered directly to the tumour.

AS: Spider Robinson wrote about electrodes implanted in the pleasure centre of the brain. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Crossroads,” the Federation becomes a dystopia. The Borg are biological machines. In Star Trek: Voyager, 7 of 9 and Hugh explore these ideas.

SM: The essential questions are: Who am I? Who owns my thoughts?

Q: In Brave New World, what was horrifying then is common place now. People fear science. What’s the positive side of biotechnology?

SM: In my books, MOM (the medical override module) is corrupted. Technology is what saves people, frees them from the villain, Prime. Pets are modified into true companions. Of course, then you have the issue of old age, disease, and how you can justify putting the dog down. They rejuvenate animals, mammals specifically.

Q: What about clones? Currently they age rapidly to the age of the animal they were cloned from.

AS: Medical technology is always advancing. Right now, they’re working on cloning the heart. The brain is still too much of a mystery. Is it ethical to “treat” mental illness? How does the process impinge on personal freedom?

SM: Heart surgeons have noticed personality changes after bypass surgery. There is a distinctive decrease in, or complete loss of, empathy.

Q: Who should be afraid of biotechnology? Who will suffer?

SM: We add to our knowledge; we don’t replace it. The old doesn’t disappear. Norms shift.

Q: Do you have statistics regarding the percentage of personality change in heart transplant patients?

SM: It was in a Smithsonian Magazine article. The percentage isn’t certain. They’re not even sure why it happens. It might be a drug interaction.

Q: If we look at biotechnology rationally, our fear is relatively low. Irrational fear is automatically high, however. People forget our own criminal predisposition.

SM: Look at the military. They have drills for the nuclear fighter jets frequently. They have to make sure that all is in readiness in case the worst happens. They don’t run in these drills. They walk slowly. If the jets take off, the world will probably end. The ground crew is assessed. If they don’t react appropriately, they will be removed. When we write SF, we are troubleshooting. What if? Utopias are boring. Consider the controversy over stem cells.

AS: But what about the cost? We need to invest in quality control. In our society, who can afford it? In Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, the main character is autistic and offered a cure. Who chooses?

Q: What do you consider “you”?

AS: My mother has Alzheimer’s. Her personality hasn’t changed yet, but layers of memory get stripped off.

SM: Treatment is not the same as a cure. It makes illness tolerable. There’s a loss of dignity in Alzheimer’s that’s difficult to deal with. In the early stages, patients can be mistakenly addressed as if they are in the advanced stages. They don’t need that.

Q: There’s a tension between internal and external identity. Who we are vs. who others think we are. Is it the same person? I’m thinking of Heinlein’s Puppet Masters.

AS: Do we have a problem with free will?

SM: Yes. Our monsters steal our free will. Truth, justice, and the American way vs. the New World Order.

Q: What about mind control?

SM: Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent is a fascinating look at mind control and possession in our society.

AS: There’s also a struggle between personal and medical personhood.

SM: Why do things not work? We’re essentially monkeys. Would you give a monkey “the button”?

AS: Technology both reinforces and subverts existing power structures.

And that is the last session I attended at Ad Astra this year.

I’ll save the wrap post for next weekend.

In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend, my writerly peeps. I’ll be back on Tuesday with my regular Tipsday curation.