Tuesday Ten: How to Make Magic Real

You want to write a book with magic in it. When you imagine your story, the world is beautiful, the magic system seamless, and you’ve got all these cool twists that will make this story UNIQUE, in a big, fantastic way.

And then…you start to write. And somehow your beautifully-imagined world feels flat, the magic forced, and all those cool, unique ideas that make your story stand out? Not so much.

You need chocolate. And wine. Pronto.

If you’re anything like me, the above scenario feels a little too familiar—no matter what genre you write. It’s enough to make you crazy! How do you figure out what makes one story world complex and believable and yours…not?

My strategy? I go back to the books I love and try to figure out how those authors created magic on the page.

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Building Your Descriptive Muscles

Read and study others' writing: writing craft books often repeat this advice, but they don't often explain how. I mean, yes, it's useful to pay attention to what works and what doesn't work when you're reading a great book, but I think there are more efficient ways to exercise your writing muscles. How do we build every other sort of muscle? By using them--and by using, I mean performing specific exercises to strengthen specific muscles.

I think that's the best way to develop our writing muscles, too: perform specific exercises designed to strengthen specific writing muscles (okay, skills....) Here's where studying books comes in. You can use a great passage from a great book as a model for rewriting one of your own scenes.

For instance, Cassandra Clare has some clean, evocative descriptions in her urban fantasy, The City of Bones.

p. 65--start of new scene: "The library was circular, with a ceiling that tapered to a point, as if it had been built inside a tower. The walls were lined with books, the shelves so high that tall ladders set on casters were placed along them at intervals. These were no ordinary books, either--these were books bound in leather and velvet, clasped with sturdy-looking locks and hinges made of brass and silver. Their spines were studded with dully glowing jewels and illuminated with gold script. They looked worn in a way that made it clear that these books were not just old but were well-used, and had been loved."

This passage continues for two more paragraphs of description. The main character, who is seeing all this for the first time, doesn't notice the room's other occupant until the end of paragraph 3.

Want to give your own descriptive writing a boost? Take this passage and rewrite it in your voice, using a setting from your story. Start with the big picture (The library was circular...) and zoom in to the specifics. What about your setting merits three sentences full of sensory detail and emotional reaction? Give it a try. You'll like the result. Really.

And the next time you're writing description, your writing muscles will be a little better tuned to the job.

:) Cheryl

Setting Research for the Fantasy Writer

I'm back! Back from Peru, that is, with a swirl of thoughts and ideas to share.

Today's thought: Travel provides a great opportunity for the fantasy writer to do a bit of “setting research.”

Setting research—assembling a complete understanding of a story's location—takes different forms for different genres. Historical fiction writers can travel to their story site or look up clothing, architecture, and tools from the time period; YA writers can visit local high schools. Fantasy writers, though, can't travel to an underground fairy realm (Eoin Colfer) or the post-apocalypse city of Ember (Jeanne Duprau) to collect details. (Bummer, because there are a few worlds I'd love to visit!)

Instead, the fantasy writer's “setting research” occurs in the imagination—
and travel can spark the imagination with details of life in other places, in other cultures, and at other times.

Here are a few details I collected when I visited the city of Machupicchu, an ancient city of the Incas:

• Architecture: temple ruins with smooth-cut stone blocks perfectly fit together and steep stone steps curving upward through the clouds


• Food storage: storehouses cling to a facing mountainside, where wind kept the food dry and cool


• Music: Chechuan children play mournful tunes on breathy-sounding zampoñas and quenas


• Language: Chechuan words click rapidly in the marketplace, speech filled with consonants that sound harsh after the music of Spanish


• Food: Choclo con queso steams in my hands, corn on the cob in a cornhusk bowl, a drizzle of spicy green ahi topping kernels the size of grapes, a thick slice of fresh, salty cheese tucked in one side


• Environment: jungle borders the cobblestone path, thick-leaved succulents growing beside a broad-leaved bromeliad growing on a rotting tree trunk, all on a hillside too steep to climb. “Air plants” cling to other plants, to tree branches, even to electric wires in town.

Although I can't travel to my fantasy world, real-world details of life in other places, times, and cultures help me create rich and believable fantasy settings.

Colorado Book Awards, Revisited

Remember how I was going to the Colorado Book Awards banquet day before last? Well, the bad news it that my friend, Hilari Bell, didn't win. (Although she's still a winner even to reach the banquet--she was one of the top 3 YA authors in the state this year.) The good news is that the woman who did win, Laura Resau, read a passage from her winning book What the Moon Saw and I have a new have-to-read book. I'm not sure how the judges choose between such excellent entries. Laura's writing was beautiful, evocative of another world and culture. Hilari's book, Forging the Sword, is the culmination of a fantasy trilogy in which the world, culture, and story are exquisitely drawn.

Personally, I bet I would have chosen Forging the Sword--but I'm a sucker for fantasy, and Hilari is one of my favorite fantasy authors.

If you're looking for a fun read, check out The Farsala Trilogy by Hilari Bell (Fall of a Kingdom, Rise of a Hero, and Forging the Sword.) The books are filled with surprising plot twists--the kind that you think about later and laugh aloud--and a believable clash between cultures. The three main characters come from different worlds of existence: one is the haughty daughter of the ruling class, one is common peddlar wounded in body and spirit, one is a noble's bastard son and trusted man-at-arms. When their country is invaded by a the mightiest military nation in the world, each of the three is challenged to do their best for their people. When they disagree about what, exactly, "best" means, things get interesting! Their stories intertwine as the story progresses, bringing together three very different people for a common purpose. Sort of.

Okies, I'm off to polish some pages!

~Cheryl

Agents for Children's Fantasy: Maya Rock

I've been checking out a lot of agents over the past weeks, compiling a (short) list of those who might be interested in The Last Violin. Maya Rock is one of those who impressed me. Anyone else looking for an agent for children's fantasy writing? Here's what I learned:

Maya Rock -- Writer's House (http://www.writershouse.com/)

3 WEEK RESPONSE TIME (response time for me--5 days)

Maya Rock is a relatively new agent actively seeking new clients.

In an interview with Michael Neff for the Algonkian Writer's Conference, Maya says:

"I am looking for all that's good, wonderful, interesting, and unique. I have a special yen for literary fiction, historical fiction, YA, practical nonfiction, self-help, and romance. I particularly like books with foreign settings, strong heroines, and a good dose of suspense. I like funny things. I also like some fantasy...If I fall in love with the writing, that's it. I don't think I'd mind much if the writer was crazy or hellish if I loved the writing. But it's also nice when people are flexible about improving and editing their writing before submitting it to publishers. There's often a lot of work to be done in between getting an agent and getting a publisher."

Read the entire interview at http://www.webdelsol.com/Algonkian/interview-mrock.htm

PS--Pictured is the famed Lily, inspirational poodle extraordinaire :-)

~Cheryl