Posts Tagged "Carol Berg"

• The trouble with fantasy romance

  Sex and Feelings; It's in every genre. How are the elements of Romance used in Science Fiction and Fantasy?

  Most fantasy authors choose a low-tech setting for their alternate worlds. Without going into the reasons for that, which are themselves fascinating and sometimes illogical, I will go straight to the result: by choosing low-tech we catapult ourselves backwards into history, often choosing to build a society that is less progressive than our own.

  This ensures your mages reign supreme over swords and arrows (although some medieval weapons were badass, if you ask me) – but that’s not the only reason to do it. The more road blocks you can put in front of a character, the better. Readers tend to identify with the underdog, the person who is struggling against great injustices,  and therefore what’s better than putting him in a society where things are unequal?

  But then we get to the women. Romance gets complicated when you have a historically-adjacent setup of empowered males and disempowered females. In the United States, where this blog resides, women constitute 51% of the population but make up only 17% of congress, and they continue to struggle for control of their own reproduction. We moderns have not succeeded in working out our own issues, so portraying them is tricky. What’s worse is that romance in itself – its tradition of broody men and devoted women – is a ‘how not to’ guide for our daughters. (more…)

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• Delicious Books and Why I Read Them

  Reading Habits of a Writer

  So, books. They are the backbone of any writer’s house. They are the inspiration, the goal, the comfort, and the interior decorating. A bookshelf holds dozens of different worlds and styles of prose, and every person’s collection is a new adventure.

  So what is in my collection? Let me confess first that it is mostly nonfiction, and that I won’t be talking about all those books. This post is about fiction – lovely, full-bodied, thick and tasty fiction.

  Some books are like old friends, and even as they grow worn and dusty they remain so familiar that when you come back to them, it feels like home. David Copperfield is one such book for me. It is not flawless by any means – as I have grown older, I have come aware of a lack of spirit in the female characters, and of a rambling plot. However, the coming-of-age of young David, and his slow recognition of the various types of injustice in the world – played out with a cast of characters so vivid and unique that you come to love them all – continues to feel relevant to me. I think it’s a shame Dickens goes against the sensibilities of modern readers, with his wordy prose and fondness for description, because I feel he still has much to offer. (more…)

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• What a Wild and Crazy Ride

  Lessons Learned

  I like the list of stuff we’ve learned format everyone seems to be using, so I’m going to go with that. I think what I’d like to talk about are five changes to my life since publishing my book and five lessons I’ve learned along the way.

  1. Writing time is different than real time.

  In some ways—those not related to writing—this year has gone quickly. But man, I tell you, last December feels like three years ago. So much has happened to me on the writing front. The thing is—and if you were here for our early posts this year you’ll remember—you’ll find that it takes quite a while to break into publishing. Why? Because it takes a long time to learn the craft, it’s terribly competitive, and a host of other reasons. The point is that usually one struggles in relative obscurity for years. But when your first book comes out, you’re suddenly getting a lot of attention.

  The amount of attention you get is relative, of course. Some will receive more than others, but few will say that they receive less attention when their book comes out than they did while struggling to write short stories and work their way up the chain (or whatever it is they did during their apprenticeship).

  So for me, this was one of the biggest changes: the simple attention that comes with a published novel. I like to think I’m relatively humble. I don’t particularly like talking about myself—I find it hard to hawk my wares, as it were—and I become somewhat uncomfortable, especially in person, if someone talks about my work too much.

  Mind you, this doesn’t mean I’m not gratified to hear positive reviews. I’m immensely gratified. But adjusting to the fact that people are reading your stuff and talking about it is … a challenge.

  I know. Cry me a river.

  2. The work of a published author never ends.

  Some of the attention for the book came from the mere publication of it. It shows up in catalogs, on various “upcoming” lists, and so on. But I also worked hard to get the word out. In some ways it’s felt like the things I’ve done haven’t mattered. Like an interview or a guest post is up one day and gone the next. But these things have a building effect. In the words of my agent, the exposure is like the drops that slowly build the stalagmite. In other words: my brand awareness is building.

  As a small aside, some writers cringe at the notion of a brand, but it’s impossible to escape. Slowly, over time, the readership will build a certain view of you based on your works and your online presence. You’d be wise to help them form the right one.

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• Carol Berg on Book Releases

  Guest Post

  
  
  The Night Bazaar is delighted to welcome Carol Berg! Carol is the author of a host of acclaimed fantasy novels, including the Rai-Kirah trilogy, the Bridge of D’Arnath quartet, the Lighthouse Duet, and the standalone novel Song of the Beast. She has won the Geffen Award, the Prism Award, multiple Colorado Book AWards, and the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. Her current series, the Novels of the Collegia Magica, launched in January 2010 with the release of The Spirit Lens. The second novel, The Soul Mirror, released this month.

  Someone asked me the other day what I would change about my writing career, now that I am an even dozen books in. I considered the question carefully, and half a second later replied, “Get better advice about marketing.” Yes, authors nowadays have to do lots of legwork to publicize their books. Publisher budgets are tight. Big names get big money, while the rest of us might get a poster, or a mention in our publisher’s or agent’s blog. Maybe only a midnight tweet. (more…)

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