The Best Convention Ever

I've been home a week, now, after attending the ACFW Conference in Dallas, TX. What an experience! I'm still recovering from the overload of information, the wisdom I absorbed, and the fascination of meeting "giants" in the industry. Let me drop some names: 

I met and spent time with John Olson, author of Oxygen and Adrenaline. He impressed me with his friendly manner and openness. He loved meeting us wanna-be writers and helping us hone our craft.  He spent personal time with my friend and I, giving us suggestions and pathways that we hadn't thought of to perfect our stories. And he signed my book! I'm officially a "pointy-eared member of the S crew," much to my delight and amazement. The "S" crew is the "Sci-fi crew" and I'm proud to wear the title.  Out of 480+ people, only 17 or so were Sci-fi/Fantasy, and we stuck together in a tight little knot, with John as our Captain. 

I found Randy Ingermanson to be a humble, yet hysterical, guy who just happens to write excellent fiction and loves meeting with like-minded authors. He, also, spent time dispensing wisdom to those of us willing to suck it all in.  He found himself the butt of all the jokes during the main gatherings, and he loved every moment of it. (Keynote speaker James Scott Bell called the ACFW "The FHWRI = Four Hundred Women and Randy Ingermanson.") To my delight, I discovered that Randy lives within driving distance of my home, so I hope he'll take me up on a lunch invitation or two. He seemed interested when I suggested it at the conference...

Susan May Warren has a fantastic sense of humor and a great marketing scheme for her newest book, Taming Rafe. ("Rafe" looked un-tamable, in the advertising poster, and when I asked if he rode away into the sunset on his own, still untamed, she said, "Read the book!"). She gave me a sticker with a picture of "Rafe" (actor name unknown) and I had some explaining to do when I got home, wearing the ruggedly handsome Rafe's mug on my official conference name tag.

As always, Chip MacGregor, the most beloved and sarcastic of all agents, gave us all more than one laugh when he served on the Agent Panel Discussion. And when he showed up for the formal banquet in his kilt, my national pride swelled to overflowing: Proud to be Scottish! 

I met with agent Steve Laube, who's personable and witty - and asked for my full manuscript (yeah!). Editor Andy Meisenheimer, of Zondervan, aspires to be a true sci-fi geek, like me. Colleen Coble taught an amazing class about building suspense, and showed a true mentor mentality throughout the entire conference. She also introduced us to an interesting book called The Baby Name Survey Book to help us choose proper names for our characters. It doesn't offer the meaning of the name, but rather what most people think when they hear the name. And finally, James Scott Bell, the keynote speaker, offered the sound advice of developing a writing quota every day and reading books outside our genre with a studious eye for details. He quoted from the movie City Slickers: "You're thinking about quitting. Don't let it happen again," and encouraged us to stick with our writing, no matter what. Very inspirational. 

That's enough for now. Next time I post, I'll dispense some of the wisdom I brought home, for what it's worth.

-Sonja

Fall into Reading

Katrina over at Calapidder Days is hosting a fall event called Fall into Reading. We're supposed to post the books we hope to read this fall.  Here are mine, for what it's worth:

1. Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead

2. DragonFire by Donita Paul

3. Restorer by Sharon Hinck

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by JK Rowling

5. Oxygen by John Olson and Randy Ingermanson

6. The Fifth Man by John Olson and Randy Ingermanson

7. Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn

8. General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn

9. Terminal Logic by Jefferson Scott

10. Fearless by Robin Parrish

11. O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton (and several others that follow)

12. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

That ought to keep me busy for at least a couple of weeks!

-Sonja

Is There Anything Exciting in Dallas?

I'll answer that with a definite "Yes" - the American Christian Fiction Writer's Annual Conference is coming up this weekend. And I've got my plane ticket in hand.

Those of you in-the-know understand why I'm excited about this four-day event. For those who haven't the foggiest, I'm prepared to sing praises now. The top attractions, for me, are all the experts within the field who are ready to share their expertise via workshops, panel discussions, and personalized interviews. Published authors, agents, publicists, and novice writers, like me, will mingle and network our fannies off while we soak up as much atmosphere as humanly possible. 

I've signed up for my fifteen minutes of fame: two people I've been anxious to meet have graciously agreed to conduct "interviews" - that is, make appointments with authors like me who wouldn't normally have a chance to pitch our projects, in person, to the proper bigwigs.  With twenty-seven bigwigs to choose from, I found it hard to choose the top two, but I managed. They probably won't be as enthusiastic about meeting ME, but we'll see.

The keynote speaker is James Scott Bell, who writers thriller fiction. I'm looking forward to his address.

If you're interested in seeing what workshops are offered, who the 27 bigwigs are, or what the continuing education sessions look like, check out the website at www.acfw.com/conference.  And if you can make it, maybe I'll see you there.

Oh, the conference isn't the only exciting thing in Dallas. My former pastor lives there. I haven't seen him in nearly 15 years, and I'm looking forward to re-connecting with him again. For what it's worth.

-Sonja

Are Christian Bookstores Necessary?

Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote an interesting blog yesterday. She said she went to her local Christian bookstore to purchase the latest Donita K. Paul book, DragonFire. Rebecca wrote that the bookstore did not carry this particular book, although they did carry the first three books of the dragon series. She commented on the small number of fantasy books she DID find on the bookshelves, but she found it odd to not find Paul's latest book. Rebecca concluded that, if fantasy readers want to find fantasy books stocked on the bookshelves, we'd have to verbalize our desires to the store managers. Only then would they begin stocking more fantasy titles.

I can't argue with Rebecca's thoughts. All bookstores, including the Christian ones, are out to make a profit, so they're unlikely to carry books that MIGHT NOT sell well. I hate to face the fact that fantasy does not sell as well as prairie romances or end-times thrillers. And I'm grateful that managers are willing to order a book, just for me, if I can't find it on the shelf.

But I've got say that all the Christian fantasy books I'm interested in reading are available for purchase on-line. I've even seen them in ABA bookstores. The last time I ventured into a Christian bookstore, I found myself surrounded by figurines, greeting cards, wall art, music, toys, and clothing. The management had dedicated less than half the store to books, and most of those were non-fiction and Bibles. And I did not find the title I wanted. I stopped at Borders on my way home and found my book in the Christian section.

I don't often find myself needing a Christian neck tie or a Veggie Tales stuffed toy. I don't feel more sanctified wearing "John 3:16" socks. I find "Christianized" candy bars - with verses inside the wrappers - downright annoying (as if I can't read my Bible without the accompanying chocolate). And I abhor the idea of spending twice as much money on an item from the Christian bookstore just to show my financial support to business owners who happen to be Christians. I enjoy supporting businesses ran by others of like faith, but not when they jack up the profit margin to take advantage of their "Christianity." 

Maybe they're not all like that. Maybe it's the un-churched area I live in. Maybe it's just my twisted view and I've got it all wrong. The bottom line, though, is that in today's retail world, the titles I want are available in convenient places, so I don't find myself visiting the local Christian Bookstore anymore. On the other hand, I'd love to see fantasy become as profitable as prairie romances. If the bookstores would stock fantasy titles, maybe more people would pick up a copy and find themselves hooked. Once sales pick up, fantasy would become a regular item on the bookshelves.

It's a conundrum. It's more convenient for me to order on-line and have a book delivered to my doorstep. But if I want to introduce a larger population of Christian readers to fantasy, maybe I should get myself down to my local bookstore and beg them to take a chance on something that might not move off the shelf. I'll just keep my mouth shut about changing the name of the store to "Christian Gift Shop."

-Sonja

Dynamic Characters by Nancy Kress

I'm reading a book by Nancy Kress entitled Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities that Keep Readers Captivated. Here's the plug: it's a book worth purchasing. I've got it checked out from the library, but I'll be heading to the book store to make it my own.

When I first started the introduction, I had a hard time getting into the book. Maybe because I sat in a gymnasium full of kids and parents, with my six-year-old yelling, "Look at me, Mommy!" every sixteen seconds. Or maybe I needed to jump right into the good stuff.  Whatever the reason, I ditched the intro and went straight to chapter one. What I like most about the book is the vast amount of examples listed: she quotes from hundreds of books to successfully illustrating her points. It's fun to see bits of my favorite books embedded in the narrative.

In chapter 15, Kress includes a checklist (what she calls "the intelligence dossier") that helps you understand your characters more fully. I've always backed away from these types of checklists because they left me feeling like I've created something cardboard--and in
the end wasted a bunch of my time because I really didn't know my character any better after I filled out the form. But Kress's checklist differs because it's so HUGE and covers areas I'd never
thought of (what's the make, model, and year of my protagonist's vehicle, and where does he park it?). After filling out the checklist for one of my favorite characters, I realized how much I still needed to learn (read "make up") about my protagonist. I found it a useful tool, but it's so exhaustive, I couldn't use it for every character in my novels without a huge investment of my time and energies. I think I'd rather be writing.

The only real problem I have is that the chapter about naming characters is too short. It's an area that I spend a lot of time on when I first begin writing a novel. Choosing great names is
important, and I think 4.5 pages didn't cover the subject thoroughly. However, those 4.5 pages included excellent material--I just could have used more.

Kress's writing style is readable and entertaining, and I found myself taking lots of notes for future reference. I highly recommend this book.

-Sonja

Dialects

I've read that writers, especially beginners, should never use
dialects in their writing. And I wholeheartedly agree. Dialects slow
the reader down, trying to figure out what's being said. The minute
the reader slows down, you run the risk of losing their interest.
They'll stuff in a bookmark and reach for the tv remote. Unless it's
done correctly!

Marc McCutcheon, in his book Building Believable Characters, offers
two ways to intimate dialect without actually putting it into the text:

1. Announce that the speaker has a foreign accent, and leave it to
the readers' imagination to fill in the rest.

2. Drop in a foreign word every now and then (German "nein" or
Italian "passaporto") and the reader will get it. Use simple words
that most people will know and understand, and avoid constructing
entire sentences or phrases in foreign languages, especially if you
aren't familiar with the language. After all, you wouldn't want ot
make a grammatical error.

Interestingly, Mr. McCutcheon believes that dialect can be a "superb"
way of characterizing a speaker's dialogue, but that most
inexperienced writers overdo it way too often. He believes that "less
is more" and advises that authors only use it occasionally to remind
the reader that the speaker has an accent.

As a reader, I hate coming across huge portions of dialect. As a
writer, they're hard to pen. I tend to avoid them entirely.

-Sonja