HOW TO KILL

{Meilori mourning Sam McCord courtesy of the fabulous Leonora Roy}

 

David Farland has a great post:

Strategies for Killing Your Babies -
http://www.davidfarland.net/writing_tips/?a=144&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=203ad

A very important subject since I stopped reading Stephen King for a time because he habitually killed characters I had grown fond of.

If I want to lose people I care about, I just have to remember my own life.

Not that Death doesn't visit my characters.  After all, she is the mother of my young gyspy rascal, Victor Standish.

There is a scene in one of my favorite series, THE DRESDEN FILES, where an enemy shows Harry Dresden an open grave in a prestigious cemetery with the ornate headstone:

HARRY DRESDEN
HE DIED DOING THE RIGHT THING.

Later in the series, Harry did die. But being a wizard, death had ... complications.

As a ghost, he convinced his shattered apprentice, Molly, he was indeed Harry by saying: "You must go to the Dagobah System and learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me."

Molly falls to her knees sobbing, for she recognizes Harry's sense of humor and knows 1.) This is not some spectral imposter and 2.) Harry is indeed dead.

DEATH, LIKE EVERYTHING IMPORTANT, MUST BE DONE WITH SKILL:

1.) DEATH CASTS A LONG SHADOW -

Your first paragraph sets a tone. It should whisper Death is in the wings, waiting in the shadows ... no one is immune. Everyone dies at some point in this life.

2.) DENIAL IS NOT JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT -

Have Death thrust in the thoughts and conversations of your characters.  Do not ignore the 500 pound gorilla in the front room.

3.) THE THINGS THAT DEATH CAN BUY -

The 300 Spartans. The Alamo. A life well-lived is priceless. A death done courageously can be the door to life for countless others. Immortality is born from the fact that sometimes the worst thing about HELLO is GOODBYE.

4.) WHAT IS DEATH TO YOU -

Whatever worldview you hold, not everyone shares it. 

But you must remain true to what you believe awaits us after death. Your words should represent that belief in as stirring and simple prose as you can produce.  It will not ring true otherwise.

5.) AH, WHERE IS THE ETERNAL REST?

One of the reasons I chose "Science Fantasy" as a genre is that it is interesting and emotionally statisfying to show a possible world beyond death and the challenges that plane of "existence" has for its citizens.

6.) THE SUN ALSO RISES -

After Death visits, the dawn insists on rising to a new day. Have people living in it that the reader can like and relate to ... friends left to root for.

7.) KILL THE MESSENGER -

The reader may swear off your books when you kill a beloved character ... unless your words are the very best they can be, not just DURING the death scene, but AFTER Death comes and goes. 

The danger must still threaten, the fight still rage on in some fashion ...

and the prose should literally grab the reader by the shirt front, dragging her or him from page to page to find out who next will fall or if the protagonist has died for nothing.

How do you handle death in your novels?

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD

In the beginning was the Word.

Lucky for the universe God didn't need an agent to get his Word to see the Light.

But none of us is God. And if I'm wrong about this, would You please put in an appearance in my apartment? I've got some questions.

Not being Deity, you and I have to get an agent.

L. Diane Wolfe has an excellent post on why none of us should even consider a subsidy or vanity press.

http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/

Bottom line : they're called vanity publishers for a reason. Basically, it's like paying for a kiss. It means very little. And less to major publishers if you refer to being published by them. The big boys all know you paid to get published.

And it only means something when they pay you for it. In a sad sidebar, that truth is why some hopeless women on the hard streets feel they have worth. Men pay for them.

Remember FIELD OF DREAMS?

"If you build it, he will come."

And the same is true for us as writers. An agent will not come because I'm a nice guy. She will not come because I'm a writer with a great idea. She will not come because I beg. {Although I have to admit, I've been tempted to do that.} She will not come because I have great promise.

No.

The agent will come when I build something real for her to appear for. A novel that is finished, that is riveting from the very first sentence, that grabs the reader and will not let her go, that finishes with a resolved crisis and growth for the main character, hinted at in the very first chapter.

But more : she will come when I have already built a platform from which she can stand, from which a publisher can view potential sales, from which they can compute the possible profit in it for them to buy my novel.

That is something she can use in the ways she knows best, taking a finished novel with existing interest. With that she can go to the editors, persuading them into a better financial deal than we could have dreamed.

Until that happens, there is no need for an agent. Lusting for one is even a distraction. A distraction from what, you say?

From crafting that polished," draw-you-in-with-the-first-sentence" novel. But the novel is not enough, you must also have a platform. Get your name out there.

Twitter. Learn how to use it. Listen to others. Learn how NOT to hawk yourself. Facebook has problems. But set up an account for later. Be prepared.

Do what you're doing now. Write an interesting, absorbing blog. Be the best you on that blog you can be. Go with your strengths. If you're funny, make 'em laugh. If you're wise {me, I'm otherwise}, then share what you have freely and compassionately.

Go to others' blogs. You see something there that is useful or fun or both, direct your readers to that blog. Have the back of your fellow blogger. Maybe they'll have your back in return. If not, you still have the good feeling inside that being decent and kind gives you.

Google on how to write queries. I've written a couple of decent posts on how to do that. Other bloggers have as well.

Now, go to http://www.agentquery.com/ and find agents for your genre. Go to Preditors and Editors http://pred-ed.com/ and see if there are any red flags to their names. Go to Absolute Write Water Cooler : http://absolutewrite.com/forums/ and see what fellow writers think of your targeted agent.

Write the shortest, most interest-grabbing query you can. I've just written a post on how to do that. Google will show you others. Now, write that query. Show it to a few fellow writers you trust.

Then, throw your note in a cyber bottle out into the sea. Throw ten notes. And if three request a partial or a full, send them. Also tell those requesting agents about the interest of the other two.

Is that honest? Yes. Is that wise? It's human nature wise.

Guys want a girl that other guys want. It's human nature. Finding out other agents are interested in you makes you seem more attractive to that agent reading your reply. Be professional, of course, in how you state it. State it as a courtesy to them.

Agents who read this may sputter. But I'm not writing this for them. I writing this for you to have the best shot at getting an agent.

Oh, and when you get your agent, and she sells your novel, her next question will be :

"What are you working on next?"

Be prepared for that with a polished proposal. Let her know that you are professional and not a one-shot wonder. Understand that there is a melody playing inside her head as she looks at you : "What do you have for me that will make me more money?"

Your goal is to write, sell, repeat. Enjoy the journey ... and the friends you make along the way.

Like Spenser says, "It is what it is."
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One of my favorite melodies is "Adiemus," and I have included it with a glimpse of 300, a movie stemming from brave men who would not admit "impossible" into their thinking.