Veronica Rossi's UNDER THE NEVER SKY

Tee hee! Look what I found early on bookshelves today, our own Veronica Rossi's Under The Never Sky, out in the wilds of a Minneapolis B&N, a few days before it's official release next week!

On Being Edited

In the throes of revision...

 Did Your Editor Make You Change Stuff?

That has to be one of top questions I hear from people when they learn I'm a writer. I wonder if they imagine someone in a New York office with books piled everywhere, slashing away at manuscript pages with a red felt tip pen. I think it's what I pictured once.

I have gone through revisions with one book now, and yes, I was asked to change stuff. The process was very smooth. My manuscript didn't need any substantial changes, so that took some pressure off. And when my editor pointed out a problem or weakness, she urged me to follow my own instincts in deciding how to handle them. I was actually surprised by the amount freedom I was given. I took that freedom, trusting that I'd be told if I'd succeeded or if I needed to keep at it.

I'm just embarking on the editorial voyage with my second manuscript. I already know the road will be very different. This manuscript is far rougher, and more complex. My editor just might bust out the big red pen. She might give me prescriptive comments--cut, add, back to square one. Whatever it is, I will be very inclined to accept it. After a year of working together, I have firm trust in her. And I'm not afraid of a little revision work. To me, that's the fun.

I've heard that writers either love the first draft or they love revisions. I am 100% in the second camp. I'll take revision notes--even if they've met the red felt tip pen--over a blank page any day.

Favorite UNDER THE NEVER SKY Scene

This week’s assigned topic is tough—rather like choosing your favorite child. I think if you do your job well as a writer, then almost every scene should be your favorite. At least, that’s the hope.

Having said that, there is a scene in UNDER THE NEVER SKY that comes to mind. Without giving too much away, it’s a scene that occurs on a high rooftop surrounded by a pine forest. Aria, my female protagonist, and Peregrine, my male protagonist, are alone up there, talking after a very tense situation. The scene itself is a quiet scene, relaxed, and very private. 

It’s the private part that gets me every time I read it. I always feel like an intruder when I get to those pages in the story. It makes me want to tiptoe away and sneak closer. That scene is special to me because it’s special to them in ways I can describe and in ways I cannot. It’s their moment, and I feel like I was lucky enough to be there to see it and try to capture it on the page.


What inspired the scene? Perry happens to share more than his name with the falcon. He likes space, preferably elevated where he can see for miles. He found his way to the roof, where a real peregrine would be. From there it was all feel. The result of combining the setting and the characters and the situation. Of mixing exhaustion, surrender, the quiet of the mountains and the smell of pine. A poor answer, but I'm standing by it. It's the truth.

Secondary Characters

A few months ago, I was catching a flight to New York that left at six a.m. As we were readying to board, we were told the plane had been delayed an hour. You can imagine how that pleased me, after getting up to drive to the airport at 4 a.m.

I later found out the flight delay was caused by one of the passengers, who had suffered an epileptic seizure while boarding. A shame, and certainly, I felt badly. A simple hour of waiting suddenly seemed so flimsy an excuse for being upset.

When I finally sat down, a sleepy looking surfer dude (maybe that’s repetitive?) sat next to me. At this point I was also feeling sleepy and ready to get the six-hour flight underway but, as fate would have it, we struck up a conversation. 


Over delicious airplane coffee, I came to find out he was the young man who had suffered the seizure. He looked sleepy because he’d just taken anti-seizure medication and had a roaring headache. I learned that he surfs regardless of the danger inherent in being epileptic because he loves it too much to stop. At this point, I was feeling very much in awe, and very guilty of 1) being an impatient, small-minded fool and 2) making stupid assumptions about people. This young man was far more than a hang loose surfer kid. He had a passion. A need. A flaw. A strength. A weakness. I learned all of this over one of those tiny Styrofoam cups of coffee.

Point of that story is this: We are all more interesting beneath the surface. People make fascinating choices. They deal with incredible obstacles. They are impatient and small-minded, as I was that day (fine, more than just that day), and fearless and optimistic, like surfer dude. Everyone has a story. Everyone is interesting. All you have to do is ask. Somehow, I forget that in real life. I forget that about secondary characters, too.

If I’m not connecting with a secondary character, then I know it means I don’t know them well enough. Once I discover what makes them tick—then it’s like Jodi said in her post yesterday, your protagonist plays off them and vice versa. And the world of your novel gets bigger and more colorful.

Here’s a fabulous quote from agent and writing guru Donald Maass:

Every protagonist needs a torturous need, a consuming fear, an aching regret, a visible dream, a passionate longing, an inescapable ambition, an exquisite lust, an inner lack, a fatal weakness, an unavoidable obligation, an iron instinct, an irresistible plan, a noble ideal, an undying hope… whatever it is that in the end propels him beyond the boundaries that confine the rest of us and brings about fulfilling change.

Yessss. Right? But don’t limit a torturous need, or an exquisite lust to simply your protagonist. Sit down and fasten your seat belt. Get yourself some coffee and ask the secondary character sitting beside you a few questions. I guarantee you’ll be surprised.

VERONICA’S VILLAIN AWARDS

I was going to write about villains, but Jodi, Lenore and Emily covered much of what I had planned to say (and said it better.)

Instead, allow me recognize favorite villains in film and literature. Sometimes it's just so good to be bad.

So without further ado...

Most Reluctant Villian Award: Ender of Orson Scott Card’s ENDER’S GAME. (Wait… Is he a villain? No, he’s a hero! But he’s a kid! But he does terrible things! But he has to! I’m confused.)

Here a Villain, There a Villain Award: For sheer volume and awesomeness, the award goes to George RR Martin for making every character a villain at one point or another. (I love you, George! I did years before the HBO series!)

Most Lovable Cannibalistic Serial Killer Award: Hannibal Lecter ("Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart.") (Isn’t that adorable?)

Most Zen Villain Award: Darth Vader ("I've been waiting for you, Obi-wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master.") (Ommmmm.)

Best Smile Award: Jaws

Best Evil Cook Award: Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, played by Glenn Close (Poor, poor bunny)

Freakiest, scariest, scariest omgcan’teventalkVillain Award: Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men (Even the hair was too much.)

Most Dastardly Line Award: “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” (Joker, Batman)

Best Villainess Award: Three-way tie between Belatrix Lestrange (HARRY POTTER Series), Mrs. Coulter (HIS DARK MATERIALS), and Ann Wilkes in MISERY

Best Family of Villains Award: The Corleons, The Godfather ("Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" = pure badassery)

Best (Evil) Looking Award: Davy Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man’s Chest (Can't stop watching the tentacles. Amazing. How did they do that?)

Best Villain EVER Award: Well? Cast your vote in the comments below!

Why I Write About the End of the World

I've always loved speculative fiction. For long time, my favorite flavor was fantasy.

Camelot. Hogwarts. Middle Earth. The Seven Kingdoms. Show me a world where people live and die for love, honor, a ring, or a throne, and I'm there. I really did go there. For more years than I care to admit, my own writing took me to places that were just a little too close to those listed above.

This continued until, one fine rainy day in February of 2009, a very smart and honest person brought to my attention that my manuscript wasn't distinctive enough to sell in the current marketplace. I scrapped years of work that day. For a few months afterward, I beat my head against the wall because I wasn't writing and I really wanted to write. But I was determined to work on ideas that sprang from my mind and heart. Eventually, I settled down and did a lot of thinking and scribbling and starting at walls. I analyzed the specific aspects that I enjoy in stories and came up with a list. I love the heroic journey, not just within the fantasy genre. Setting is big for me. Romance is a plus. And gritty is good. I also discovered that the books that resonate with me most ask that What if question that's at the root of great science fiction. It all started pointing in one direction...

In order for me to blend my most valued elements into something I could call my own, I had to end the world and start it again. It was my way of wiping off all the fictional thumbprints of past stories--loved stories--and starting fresh. Now, you wise writers know that's impossible, right? What's the saying? There are no new stories? Yes, I agree. Every story holds echoes of other great stories, or characters, or places. My point is only that by looking at a new world, one born from a cataclysmic event, I gave myself permission to write something that came as much from me as possible. It was my way of breaking free.

I'd like to share one other reason I write post-apocalyptic fiction. People tend to think of these stories as dismal and hopeless. No one thinks "Party!" when the word Apocalypse comes up. If you do, I'm free December 21, 2012. Send me an e-vite. Kidding. I digress. My point is that I personally find post-apocalyptic works uplifting. They're often about perseverance, reinvention, and triumph. I like those things. And that's why I write about THE END.