Lexicon: Historical Fiction

           Historical Fiction: a made-up story that includes a real setting during a specific year range. 

      It might include: real people from that time and/or real events (President Lincoln, Cleopatra, Shakespeare, Ghandi, war, the black plague, Haley’s comet, Pompeii’s volcano catastrophe, the stock market crash of 1929, etc). 

      Various sub-genres exist: 

•       Just setting: using some or all details of a specific time period with characters that are completely or mostly fictitious (most High Fantasy novels are based on medieval Europe). 
•       Specific Important People: a.) choosing a real person and following from their point of view b.) using a fictional character that glimpses the historic person(s). 
•       Alternate History: one major change has caused a difference in the events that took place (such as a time traveling character or new technology turns the tide of war).

      Examples: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Honolulu by Alan Brennert, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.

Suggestion: Keep Planning, or Else

Everyone has a busy life, but do you know when you are avoiding writing? The only way to know includes one of the most dreaded topics in history: planning.

Don't let flashbacks of elementary school with your mother’s voice-over distract you. Stay focused. Grown-ups and successful authors do plan (yes, even those that fly by the seat of their pants).

The key to planning is setting realistic goals.

When do you want to complete your novel?
How much time each week can you dedicate your time to writing?

You'll have to live by some trial and error. Some authors are really productive in 30 minute increments, others need 3 hours so they can sink completely into their world. Either way, there is something that will help you stay on task: make a list.

With things like:

• character profile
• setting description
• plot revising
• writing the next chapter

If you find yourself making the same list each week (because the item did not get done last week) you either need to break the item into smaller parts (to be more easily managed) or you need to find out what is keeping you from your writing time.

Make sure you don't confuse writing time with author branding time.

Your author brand includes:

• maintaining a website
• keeping in touch with fans
• social media
• conversing with your agent or publisher
• looking into conferences
• contacting your editor
• reviewing comments from your critique partners and your beta readers

These are all important things that should be scheduled, but they should be separate from your writing time.

We all know what happens when you don’t plan and aren’t motivated – your book doesn’t get published. If you have been published, but have a long gap in your writing, people move on to other authors. Everyone has at least one author they think of every few years and wonder why they dropped off the map. So make sure you keep planning, or else you know where your career is going.

In short: find something that will keep you on task from week to week.

I’d recommend a Passion Planner (http://www.passionplanner.com/).

Lexicon: Young Adult (YA)

Young Adult (YA): a coming of age novel set in a fast paced world. Usually first person, leans more toward dialogue than description, and must have a relatable protagonist.

Can be read and enjoyed by adults.

Most popular genres are indigenous fantasy, romance, and realistic fiction.

Examples: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, The Selection by Keira Cass, and 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher.

Books: The Comic Toolbox

The Comic Toolbox
My Verdict: Skim It

The Comic Toolbox: How To Be Funny Even If You're Not by John Vorhaus, tries to cover a very complex topic in layman's terms.

Consider this a workbook instead of just a writing theory book. In the first five chapters, exercises exist in lists of ten. After that it is mostly paragraph exercises. They are not just at the end of chapters, rather sprinkled throughout to help emphasize his theories. 

The exercises force you to lock up your internal editor by demanding ten examples each time (under the rule of thumb that nine will suck). It was a little agonizing to come up with so many ideas, but interesting to review them later with a friend - their favorite was often not the one I picked (which leads credence to "always have objective critique partners").

Brevity is the soul of wit he quotes from Shakespeare - it is also the soul of plotting exercises. Over and over he states "if you can't define a character in one sentence, I don't think you can define him at all" (P60).

Chapter 6 defines Types of Comedy in much the same way Save the Cat (STC) defined types of movies. In these definitions you will find lots of similarities to STC, but the main difference is that you can combine as many of these definitions together in order to make a more defined comedic world.

The exercises in this book were hard for me, because I tend to enjoy situational comedy. Therefore random word connotations that sound funny together, don't usually make me laugh. The tools here are necessary to build all types of comedic worlds, which makes sense once you see how they can be broken down and put together.

Whether you want to add a little bit of humor to your novel, or set out to write the next best comedic novel, this book is a good way to get your creative juices flowing and worth an invested skim.

Your Homework: Decide your baseline for humor and make sure you play to your strengths in your work.


Rating Scale: Keep On Desk, Own it, Read it, Skim it, Don't Bother

Lexicon: Cozy

·         Cozy: a mystery novel generally set in a small town following an amateur sleuth who just happens to get involved with a current police case. 

      Usually not very graphic about the crime/murder and often humorous. 

      Examples: Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye by Victoria Laurie, Body Movers by Stephanie Bond, and Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates.

Suggestion: Web Presence is Mandatory

I am very much a follower of "do only what you can maintain" but, at this point in civilization, if you are an author, you must have a website (Jeff Vandermeer's Booklife exemplifies this principle).

This includes four key items:

Author Bio - can be exactly what it says inside your books.

Book Blurbs - can be exactly what it says on the back of your book. Right after the title of your book, make sure to mention if it is part of a series and what number it is.

• If this character has had a major role in a different book, you must put a footnote at the bottom of your blurb. (Ex. If you're character would not be who they are now without the scene you've written in a different character's book - the reader has a right to know that, and read your series in order. If you don't tell the reader, you risk losing them because they didn't have the opportunity to live that moment with your character.)
• This information needs to be upfront for the reader, but not spoil the plots of the books, which is why I very strongly suggest a Book List.

Book List – a published order of your books is sometimes helpful, but the chronological order for your series is more important. Make sure to mention in which books important characters appear.

Upcoming Releases - you want the reader to know you have plans to keep writing. Even if you only know that the next book will be released in Fall of 2017 - put that down. You can always change it later if need be.

You don't have to start blogging or tweaking your page every week. Having a website that displays these four key items will make your writing more accessible and that always leads to more satisfied readers.

With the internet so easily accessible today it is ludicrous to think you don't need your own website. Just because Amazon and Barnes & Noble sell your book, does not mean they are displaying all the information your reader needs.  You can hire someone to make a website, or take a week to make your own through places like Weebly. Who knows, you might even find you like having complete control over your site.

In short: you can make a website because you already know all about these four key items (and have probably already written them).

Books: The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference

The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference
My Verdict: Skim It

If you've ever wondered how to start researching a fantasy novel that you want to set in the medieval ages then The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference: An Indispensable Compendium of Myth And Magic from the editors of Writer's Digest Books is a good place to start. If you are not concerned about politics, clothing, and creatures from the Medieval and Middle Ages, don't bother reading this book. This collection of essays is meant to give you a historical approach to accurate settings for fantasy writers.

This reference book focuses on Europe, but Chapter 2 takes a brief world tour of other cultures that might inspire your own story (one culture per continent). 

Most of the book is bulleted with lists of professions, titles, clothing, anatomy of a castle and much more. If you are planning to use the right names for such details, this will be an indispensable book.

Personally, I feel you can skim or skip Chapters: 3, 4, 6, and 7. 

• Chapters 3 & 4 record the pagan magics in a very dry format. They don't evoke the wonder of using magic, instead they state historically when and where certain cults and societies developed. 
• Chapters 6 & 7 list different races of creatures (ones that obtained societies and civilizations) and monster creatures (horrors to be defeated or understood). If you are unfamiliar with fantasy, the chapters will be helpful. If you've grown up reading fantasy, you will find the lists too short (there are entire dictionaries of fantastical beasts and their origins).

If you'd enjoy a history textbook trimmed down to the essentials for historical world building, this book is for you (and I'd bump the rating up to Read It). It was published in 1998, but is still a good place to start your research because it explains so many terms.

Homework: decide how detailed you want your story to be. Will it be filled with lots of attention to detailing proper names for everything or only a few details sprinkled in to make it faster paced? (Always think back to the audience you are writing for: if you need more than one page to define new terms to the reader you are writing for a smaller more specific audience [perhaps people who have studied or previously enjoyed reading about Ancient Egypt].)


Rating Scale: Keep On Desk, Own it, Read it, Skim it, Don't Bother