Neil Gaiman's Eight Rules of Writing

Neil Gaiman

Aisling Mancy Answers Four Intriguing Questions about Writing and Work In Process

A special thanks to Jamallah Bergman for tagging me in this blog hop! Visit her site to see her intriguing answers to the same questions!

1. What are you working on now?

I'm working on five different novels. As most of you know, I also write Young Adults works under C. Kennedy and I'm currently finishing up Tharros, the sequel to Omorphi. Following, I'll polish another Young Adult novel, Slaying Isidore's Dragons, and then polish my Adult works, Sleight of Heart, Aeromancer, and Shooting Star for submission.

~*~

When life and death incarnate collide, can they unite to rebuild humanity and save the universe? 

Sometime in the far off future, a Wraith is tasked with the recovery of top-secret military cargo from a stranded space freighter. The cargo turns out to be an entity-- an entity that the Wraith refuses to return to his military superiors. When life and death, incarnate, collide, can they unite to rebuild humanity and save the universe? 

~*~

"I must not think, I may not gaze, 

On what I am -- on what I was." 

                                             ~Byron 

It was the year 3012. First, there had been the stem-cell scientists and gene-splicers, and then came interstellar travel. Under the auspices of the Human Genome Project, they created a race of human-alien hybrids with hermaphroditic traits and superior psychokinetic powers. A millennium later, they named them an abomination before God and called for their annihilation. They. 

Ffolant was the most powerful human-Jupitarian hybrid in existence and they came after him. They. At age eighteen, they had murdered his parents before his eyes to make a point. They. They sheared his wings and genetically enhanced him. And almost killed him in the process. They. Then they made him a tracker – of his own kind. They. 

Now, at twenty-two, he was their most trusted assassin. He was elite and he loathed it. Rebellion thundered behind his eyes and hatred burst like caustic fireworks in his mind. The need for insurrection permeated his veins, bittersweet saccharin on his senses and a cloying miasma on humanity’s horizon. A storm was coming.

~*~ 

A vampire mage, a gypsy, 

and a love that won't be denied. 

Lord Taliesin Solitaire was born albino, cursed mute by the fey, and betrayed by a vampire lover. For two hundred years the vampire mage has vowed never to love again and has only used sex as a means to a meal. Until a palm-reading gypsy finds himself in peril and Taliesin can’t resist rescuing the beautiful young man.

Pesha is the eldest but smallest son of King Vaida Sinclair, the oppressive ruler of the Kåle Romani Compania. Deemed impure by his father, Pesha is shunned and mistreated by his band and six half-brothers, and one brother in particular wants him dead. His pale, silent savior gives him safety, security and a love he never could have imagined. As Pesha falls in love with his handsome white knight, his half-brother does the unthinkable. 

Can Taliesin rescue Pesha from the cruel clutches of his half-brother a second time?

2. How is your current WIP different from others in the genre?

I have a unique background in that I was raised by a prolific author and also have a background in writing for film. Both have provided the forum for me to write in a number of different styles and expand my horizons in writing high-action content. All of my works, whether adult or young adult, contain a lot of action.

3. Why do you write?

For the love of the craft. I've been writing since the age of seven and, plainly stated, I wouldn't know how not to write daily. It's ingrained in me, it's very much who I am, and I would feel as if I lost a limb (maybe two) if I didn't write daily.

4. How does your writing process work?

Once a story forms in my mind, a movie begins to play in my imagination and putting it to paper becomes an imperative. I'm a "panster," as it were, and almost always write without an outline, but do so linearly. I am not one to skip around and write different parts of the story then piece it together. That said, I do take breaks from writing a particular story and work on another story in order to gain perspective. As such, I often have many stories in process at one time.

Check next Friday's posts from these excellent authors:

H. B. Pattskyn
Jordan Brewer
Tara Rose 

On Top Down Under Reviews writes Authors and Readers Behaving Badly

Kazza K and Cindi over at On Top Down Under Reviews wrote an excellent blog article about behavior and developing trends in the behavior of authors and readers. Check it out.

 

Young People Should Read About Life As It Is Lived

Writing Sex in Young Adult Works

There were many important issues raised in Jesse Wave's Blog post of today and Jay Bell suggested that I weigh in with my comments. After reading the post and most of the attendant comments, I began writing my comments… hours ago. There should be a law against indiscriminate propagation of words. My comments evolved into a four-part micro-webinar. I didn’t feel it fair to post my epic tour-de-Sex in YA Lit on Jesse’s blog, nor did I feel it appropriate for my YA blog, so it’s here on my adult blog.

I have a wee mental sphere and can process only one idea at a time. As such, I separated this wieldy, polarizing controversy into four categories. I welcome comments and would appreciate it if you would add to this list if I have missed or misstated something.

Law and Age
Minors’ Rights
Popular? Opinion
Publishers and Authorship

I will preface the below comments with these disclaimers: I am not an attorney. If you have concerns, please speak with your counsel. I am not much for legal prose, this post has not had the attention of an editor, and I don’t know everything.

LAW & AGE:

Define Young Adult: I think the film industry did it best: Ages 8-12 = tween and Ages 13-17 = teen (hence the PG-13 rating). BOTH groups represent Young Adults, but are not necessarily the only groups to represent Young Adults. Some sources define Young Adults to include those a decade or more older than age 17.

Sexual Content in YA Literature: Sex is not new. Teens having sex is not new. Sexual content in YA works is not new. Authors have been writing it for years (Judy Blume,  Nancy Garden, and Michael Cart. An excellent book is Michael Cart's From Romance to Realism.) What is new is the increasing number of GLBTQIA YA works (including internet shows/T.V./film) containing sexual inference and content. Sparking controversy, it begs the question: Which is at issue: The characters and nature of relationships or the sexual content?

The Age of Consent has naught to do with minors’ access to literature or material containing writings or depictions of “explicit/graphic sex,” though common sense might have us believing the two are related – or should be related. I researched “what constitutes pornography” and “what constitutes harmful to minors” before I began authoring gay YA fiction and can only speak to U.S. law.

    The Age of Consent (for sexual activity) is governed by State law and ranges from the age of 14 to 18 depending on the State.

   The age at which one can access literature or material containing writings or depictions of “explicit/graphic sex” is governed by Federal law and is firmly embedded in stone at age 18. States have the option of increasing the age requirement via State statute and some States have increased the age requirement to 19, 20, or 21. To wit, you will sometimes see this language added to age affirmations when entering web sites:

                   That you are familiar with your local community standards and that the

                   sexually explicit text you choose to read is well within the contemporary

                   community standards of acceptance and tolerance of your community for

                   sexually explicit content of this nature. 

   The above information begs yet two additional salient questions:

        a) What constitutes “explicit/graphic?” This is not clearly defined or decided by the Supreme Court, but left to interpretation via two rather dated cases and a Supreme Court Justice’s opinion: “I know it when I see it.”

         b) Who constitutes a “minor?” There are an extraordinary number of inconsistencies with respect to U.S. law. You may go to war at 16 (Federal law); you may marry as young as 14 (with parental consent - State law); you may vote at 18 (Federal law); you may drink alcohol at 21 (State law – and some States used to permit drinking as young as 17 – I haven’t performed research of late); irrespective of age, Federal and State taxes must be paid if one is gainfully employed; and, though a minor, one may be deemed a major for purposes of criminal prosecution.

        There are also reverse inconsistencies: Some States deem young people to be minors irrespective of age if they are still in high school. Though young people may marry at 14 with parental consent, some States nonetheless consider them minors and they may not access literature or material containing writings or depictions of “explicit/graphic sex.” However, some States do consider them majors at the point of marriage and they may then access said content in contravention of Federal law. Go figure.

MINORS’ RIGHTS:

Protecting “Us from Us”: Our government believes that we have a duty to protect minors from themselves. They also feel the same way about majors – e.g., it is illegal to vend, purchase, carry, or consume illicit drugs. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have rights. It means that our rights are merely conditioned. The application of this largely undefined duty by and through inconsistent law is often applied inappropriately and to extremes. Do minors have the right to read and think for themselves? I believe they do and to disallow them to do so speaks to a lack of confidence in them.

Young Adults Will Self-govern: I recently wrote this post (and several others) in the Goodreads discussion thread YA LGBT Books – Writing Sex In YA?.

                  “I recently had a discussion with a middle school teacher (male) who

                  disrespectfully referred to his male students as "nothing more than a bag

                  of walking hormones just looking for a hole." While they may be a bag of

                  hormones, I disagreed and expressed that tweens/teens WILL self-govern.

                  They won't read something that they are uncomfortable reading.”

In short, absent the aforementioned duty, Young Adults are much smarter and more knowledgeable than we might recognize and they will self-govern.

Sexuality Education: In the same Goodreads thread I wrote:

                 “Though no sexuality education exists for LGBTQIA teens, I thought it

                  best to try to stick to what is taught in "Abstinence Plus" Sexuality

                  Education insofar as it was realistic and adapt it to m/m events. To wit,

                  [my] novella includes intercrural sex (taught as an alternative to

                  intercourse). With respect to the first time oral sex, it's tastefully (cute and

                  a little funny) described. I'm finding that many adults are unaware as to

                  what is taught in schools. It is, plainly stated, more graphic than what I

                  write - and includes pictures. O.o”

I admit it. It is infuriating that no Sex Ed exists for GLBTQIA teens. Jamie Deacon of Boys on the Brink recently asked me this question in an interview regarding my little gay YA novella, Safe: “This is billed as being for young adults, and some might say the content is perhaps a little too sexually explicit for the intended audience. How would you respond?” My response included this paragraph:

               “Sadly, no sexuality education exists in our school systems for GLBTQ

                young adults. They are left to gather and process information from a

                range of unsanctioned and potentially unreliable sources. Writing about

                normal, healthy sexual exploration in teen same-sex relationships is

                propaedeutic in that it provides introductory information to young adults

                that they may not otherwise find or have access to. It also goes without

                saying that a young adult is always far better prepared for the outside

               world if armed with knowledge.”

The entire response to the question is here: Boys on the Brink: Q&A with C. Kennedy

Censorship: Please remember that, by law, parents and only parents have the right to censor what a minor reads. Teachers, coaches, librarians, etc., have no place in making that decision. By the same token, please have empathy for school librarians. They are often faced with parents and communities demanding that a book be challenged or banned from a school library.

Minors’ Rights to Access Information: Please recall that a number of deaths occur each day around the country because GLBTQIA youths can’t access information to enable them to reach out for assistance when they need it. Though schools and libraries are required by law to allow minors to access this information via the internet, some restrict that access by programming “appropriateness” into their firewalls. By way of example, in some areas searching for GLBTQIA help results in access only to social, religious, and conversion therapy resources as opposed to emergency help and clinical/medical sites.

POPULAR? OPINION:

Context and Implicit v. Explicit: Back to that Goodreads thread. I wrote:

                  “[] popular opinion does sway how we write sexual content and it is

                   important to be aware and respectful.”

The above said, I agree with many others. It is disrespectful to GLBTQIA minors to omit, soften, or alter sexual content that would otherwise be present in a heterosexual story. It is also disrespectful to minors not to address sexual content in a fashion that meets with present-day exposure, impositions, and the demands of society.

As mentioned in Jay Bell and Jesse Wave’s posts, sexual knowledge, interpretation, exploration, and activity are incredibly large parts of a hormonally challenged Young Adult’s existence and it is crucial that we write sexual content in such a way as to promote sound and responsible behavior. We certainly don’t want teens learning how to have sex from a gratuitous sex or rape scene. IMO, reading responsibly written sexual content in the context of a close friendship or romance is appropriate for Young Adults.

What I, and nearly 100% of the authors I know, won’t do is cater to prurient interest and exploit the nascent, developing minds of young adults to sell more books. In this vein, we are careful never to write gratuitous or graphic sex, and not to write sex so “explicitly” that it borders on gratuitous or graphic. So, what constitutes “explicit?” That definition is in the eye of the beholder. Puritanical isn’t my gig. Writing fades to black and wholly off screen sex when writing romance isn’t germane writing. Context, context, context.

AUTHORSHIP & PUBLISHERS:

Publishing: I’ll speak to the little I know about the ever-changing and slightly psychotic publishing industry. Conventional publishers aren’t that afraid to include sexual content in YA literature particularly given that the eBook boom is impinging on their profits. Over the next few years, conventional publishers will have no alternative but to develop a dramatically different perspective if they want to remain profitable and will take various stances with respect to said content. They’ll edit the content, of course, but they’ll be more open-minded than they are today. I also expect to see a Supreme Court case over this very issue arise in the not-too-distant future.

Intended Audience: I’ll speak to the little I know about intended audience. While I am aware that adults comprise a large part of the revenue stream for YA books, I write for Young Adults. Period. I do so for ages intended to be ten to eighteen, I deal with tough issues, I want youths to learn from my books, and want them to walk away from my stories feeling good. Whether my books resonate with adults or transcend the YA marketplace, I can’t say. I can say that I receive many emails from adults complimenting my work. Sometimes it is because they have read them. Sometimes it is because they are pleased to have something to recommend to the gay teen in their lives.

Censorship: With respect to authorship, we all know that several classic works have been banned from time to time only to become mandatory reading for tweens/teens in school. As an author, I ask self: Do I want my literary works banned or challenged? I smirk at self and answer no, but am quick to qualify it. I am willing to risk having my works banned or challenged in order to write a good story. If sexual exploration and activity is integral to the story, then it will be in there. Each author must make this decision for him or herself. See: American Library Association’s website: About Banned Books

Realism: Get real people. How ignorant do we, as authors, appear when we pretend that a Young Adult’s imagination isn’t graphic? The tweens/teens who I know can set my cheeks aflame in seconds. Not to mention, sexual urges are a moment-by-moment plight for teens, particularly male teens. The traitorous dick has a mind of its own and we would be foolish to think that male teens don’t imagine explicit sexual content when they see or meet someone who they think is hot. In my novel Slaying Isidore’s Dragons, Declan wants to all but kill his dick upon seeing Isidore for the first time and is terrified he isn’t going to make it out of the classroom without someone seeing his wood. Read an excerpt from Slaying Isidore’s Dragons here: Slaying Isidore's Dragons

Big No-no’s: What is definitely out for Young Adults? It goes without saying that the usual exclusions apply, (rape, incest, bestiality, etc.). Toys and anything BDSM related are also unacceptable to me. I won’t write in dental dams, but will write in condoms. I won’t write in fluids that may be used in lieu of lubricant, but will write in lubricant and soap. I try to follow what is taught in our “Abstinence Plus” sexuality education and adapt it to male/male relationships. I also won’t glamorize suicide – as in Romeo and Juliet; or drugs – as in Trainspotting; or violence – as in The Hunger Games, etc. The bottom line: use common sense and if you’re unsure, error on the side of restraint. I'll add one final comment: Woe be unto those who place becoming a published author and profitability over morals and ethics.

Getting Boys to Read. It is no secret that girls read more and more often than boys do. Boys also learn at a different rate and in different ways than girls do. In recent changes to education policy, boys were left behind. ABDO Publishing believes they have the answer to this conundrum by publishing graphic books, meaning comic books, to educate boys. I’m a bit old school and, while they can be entertaining, I don’t believe reading onomatopoeic words teaches good reading and comprehension skills or does much to improve those skills. Pow, bang, oomph, and eeek are a little too Cro-Magnon for me. If our novels and stories inspire boys to read, then we have done a good thing.

In close, I believe young people should read about life as it is lived. Similarly, I don’t believe poetic license is a license to scribe recklessly. On a more personal note, I don’t write to be popular or sell more books. I write to give boys hope. I leave you with two of my favorite quotes:

“There are countless reasons for reading, but when you’re young and uncertain of your identity, of who you may be, one of the most compelling is the quest to discover yourself reflected in the pages of a book.” ~Michael Cart, How Beautiful the Ordinary

“Too many adults wish to 'protect' teenagers when they should be stimulating them to read of life as it is lived.” ~Margaret A. Edwards

Please feel free to comment below and/or visit Jesse’s insightful post and comment there. Jessewave

Oh, yeah. One more thing: My "spicy?" YA blog: Cody Kennedy.

Plot bunny fodder.

An Author and a Gentleman: Breaking up with NaNoWriMo

An Author and a Gentleman: Breaking up with NaNoWriMo: I feel like I can breathe a little easier. I didn't "win" as I never made it beyond 43K, but I'm fine with that and just relieved it's over....

One Writer's Revenge Part Three

The Final Revenge! or Cherish your Editor!

Installment three of the article trilogy One Writer's Revenge, The Final Revenge!, can be found on Kameron Brook and Dirk Tyler's blog today! Please join Kam, Dirk, and me at Dirk and Kam's Place and, as always, we welcome comments. Again, a great big thanks to Kam and Dirk for the privelige of hosting your Sunday mornings!

One Writer's Revenge Part Three

The Final Revenge

Installment three of the article trilogy One Writer's Revenge will appear on Kameron Brook and Dirk Tyler's blog on Sunday! Please join Kam, Dirk, and me at Dirk and Kam's Place and, as always, we welcome comments. Again, a great big thanks to Kam and Dirk for the privelige of hosting your Sunday mornings!

One Writer's Revenge Part Two

I'm excited to announce that installment two of One Writer's Revenge, The Value of a Great Body, is on Kameron Brook and Dirk Tyler's blog today! Please join Kam, Dirk, and me at Dirk and Kam's Place and, as always, we welcome comments. Thanks, Kam and Dirk!

On Writing

I-Spy: Writing the Gay Mystery Series

Josh Lanyon has published an excellent series of articles offering advice for mystery writers. Aside from Josh being one of my all time favorite authors, Not Your Usual Suspects writes that Josh is "a distinct voice in gay fiction, multi-award-winning author JOSH LANYON has been writing gay mystery, adventure and romance for over a decade. In addition to numerous short stories, novellas, and novels, Josh is the author of the critically acclaimed Adrien English series, including The Hell You Say, winner of the 2006 USABookNews awards for GLBT Fiction. Josh is an Eppie Award winner and a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist."

Check out the incredible series here: Not Your Usual Suspects

Favorite Quotes~

"Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking." ~ Jessamyn West

One Writer's Revenge Part One

All Hail the Codex!

To kick off my new and scary world of blogging, Kameron Brook and Dirk Tyler have graciously invited me to be a guest on their blog today and for the next two Sundays. I've written a series of three small and rather opinionated articles about the changing face of the author's world. Please join Kam, Dirk, and me at Dirk and Kam's Place and, as always, we welcome comments. Thanks, Kam and Dirk!