Confessions of a Writer -- A Game of Tag!

 I’ve been tagged by the famously talented J.L. Gribble to participate in the “Confessions of a Writer” game of tag. J.L. Gribble is a fellow graduate of Seton HillUniversity’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program and a great speculative fiction writer. Her debut novel, Steel Victory was released earlier this year by Dog Star Books.

The “Confessions of a Writer” tag is a game of great fun! Especially if you want to know a little bit more about your favorite authors.

To read the original rules of the Tag, go here.

Here are my answers to the questions:

The Questions:

1. When did you first start writing? Was being a writer something you always aspired to be?Nope! I wanted to be a scientist. I have always loved animals and the outdoors. I got my B.S. in Geology and Environmental Science at UMass Lowell. I had never written a thing until my senior year in college, and then I discovered that I had a fantasy novel that I HAD to write. When I was looking at grad schools for Geology, I realized that my “true path” (if you will) was writing genre fiction (I have always been an avid reader) and I got my M.A. and Writing and I haven’t looked back since.

Although, I still love rocks and mineralogy. Igneous petrology will always have a place in my heart. J

2. What genre do you write?

I write speculative fiction (SF), meaning I write across the entire science fiction-fantasy genre. (I am afraid of the dark, so I tend not to write horror, which is part of SF) J I am currently writing Space Opera, but my first love (and next planned series) is High Fantasy.

3. Can you tell us a little about your current work in progress? When did you start working on this project?

I am writing the second book in TheEmpress Game trilogy, published by TitanBooks. It is tentatively titled Cloak of War, but don’t quote me on that. It’s Space Opera in the vein of Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy, with a kick-ass female protagonist and an empire on the line.

4. What was your first piece that you can remember writing? What was it about?

An easy one for me, because it wasn’t until my senior year of college. I had zero training in writing. I had always believed English to be my worst subject, b/c I received C’s in middle school, so I never took AP courses or Honors courses in English in high school, only the sciences, and avoided it in college.

Once I realized that after a lifetime of reading fantasy novels, I wanted to write one, I had to train myself to be a writer, but there is a TON to know about craft. An amazing amount. I had the fantasy story that I wanted to write in my head, but I didn’t want to “waste” the “Book of My Heart” on the process of learning how to write, so the first thing I wrote was actually a Historical Romance. (Regency, if you know the genre)

I enjoy reading them for their clever dialogue and they have a predictable structure, so I was able to focus on the craft of writing while working within a set structure/plot. That way I didn’t have to learn everything at once. Once I learned a lot about the craft of writing (and had been critiqued) and finished that novel, I applied for the SHU Masters program and wrote the Book of My Heart, an unpublished High Fantasy novel titled Sworn Sword.

Side note: The historical romance did get published with a small press. As a starter book, I’m still proud of it, since I learned so much while writing it.

5. What’s the best part about writing?

Rewriting. I absolutely HATE writing first drafts. But rewriting? That’s where the magic happens, the rough sketch becomes something beautiful and the language can be refined. Ideally, I’d like to do 3 passes on a manuscript (with time in between) as a revision process. Sadly, the publishing schedule (and my slow writing speed) doesn’t allow for this.

6. What’s the worst part about writing?

Lack of oversight keeping you on task. I have a lot of experience working from home and keeping myself on task, and I still prefer working on a clock to being in charge of my own time. Sometimes it’s hard to force your butt in the chair when no one else is watching you or keeping track of your efforts.

7. What’s the name of your favorite character and why? 

My fave character of all time is Tae, the protagonist of Sworn Sword, the high fantasy Book of My Heart. The entire reason I gave up my career in Geology and became a writer was to tell Tae’s story. She is amazingly tough, driven and focused. But she is tortured, haunted, driven by demons. She has risen to the top of her profession as a swordfighter but it will never be enough for her. She can never be good enough to make up for what she failed to protect in the past. I loved exploring her drive versus her prejudices versus her trust issues versus her warped self-image. She’s an amazingly pained character that I’d like to get back to some day.

8. How much time a day/week do you get to write? When is the best time for you to write (morning or night)?

I prefer to write from the moment I wake up until I run out of steam in the afternoon. I mean I directly roll out of bed, get dressed, grab my bowl of cereal and eat it while starting writing. I can be at the desk and writing in less than 5 minutes after waking up.

I worked full-time as an editor while writing full-time as well for 4 years. It was killing me slowly. Or, perhaps, not so slowly.

Once I got my 3 book contract with Titan Books and needed to be writing a complete novel in one year (I had been taking 2 years per book before that) I realized that I couldn’t do both. Luckily for me, I have the most supportive husband in the world, who has been encouraging me to quit my job and write full time for the last 3 years. I finally made the leap and as of a month ago, I now write full time (all day). I tend to be useless as the evening rolls around.

That’s what Netflix is for, right??

9. Did you go to college for writing? Or if you haven’t been to college yet, do you plan to?

My undergraduate degree is a B.S. in Geology and my masters degree is an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction. Before I went to grad school, I had no formal training in writing. I highly recommend Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction program (now an MFA program) for anyone who writes genre fiction and wants to take their writing/career to the next level.

10. What bothers you more: spelling errors, punctuation errors, or grammar errors?

Couldn’t care less about any of them. Only bad writing and ridiculous/unbelievable motivation bother me.

11. What is the best writing advice that anyone has given you?

“Writers write.” It’s that simple and that hard. If you’re creating stories and characters, putting words on the page, you’re a writer. Doesn’t matter if you’re getting paid or recognized or any of that. If you’re writing, you’re a writer.

If you’re just talking about being a writer but not actually putting stories and words to paper, you’re not a writer. If you published years ago, have 5 doctorates in the subject, but never intend to put pen to paper again? You’re not a writer. You were a writer.

12. What advice would you give to another writer?

“There’s no such thing as writer’s block.”  I believe this wholeheartedly. If you’re sitting at your desk, fingers poised over the keyboard, waiting for words to come and nothing happens, you don’t have writer’s block, you have “only trying one method” block. Writing is not a one-process affair.

People talk about “plotters” and “pantsers” and the truth is, there’s no pure thing. Every writer, whether they realize it or not, is using an amalgam of techniques to push their way through. If you’re staring at that blank page and thinking “I have writer’s block,” what you need to do is try another technique.

When the words won’t come for me, I switch to a different arena for working on the story. First, I try to outline the scene instead of writing it. I ask myself, “what am I trying to accomplish in this scene?” “what does this scene need to do?” “Where am I headed?” and I start to rough out an idea of where I want to go and what I want to happen.

If that doesn’t come to me, I look at character goals. Where are they headed? What does the character want? I will work on Goal-Motivation-Character sheets, learned from Debra Dixon’s excellent book called Goal, Motivation, Conflict. (Not surprisingly).

If filling out and re-evaluating those sheets doesn’t help, I turn to my whiteboard. There I outline the major plot points I’m carrying through the novel. Where am I trying to get to? How do all of these plot threads relate?

If that doesn’t work I go for a power-walk. While walking (yay Vitamin-D and exercise!) I open my mind to anything. I work on a different subplot, I go over a new character’s backstory. I get away from my current block and just let the creativity flow. When I get back home, I write down whatever I’ve learned, planning to use it later. Often, that’ll direct me to where I want to go with my current scene.

If that doesn’t work, I take a break and read a book on the craft of writing. I actually rarely finish these b/c as soon as I start reading, I get ideas for how to apply their teachings to my current problem.

If that doesn’t work I talk to my critique partners (who read my rough draft as I go along). Jen Brooks and Diana Botsford. If I’m stuck I ask them where they see the novel going. What they envision, what they expect from what I’ve written so far. Usually I disagree with all of it, but it gets me thinking on what I DO what to write.

Jen Brooks, Author of In a World Just Right

Diana Botsford, Author of Four Dragons and The Drift

So, in summary, when you say “I have writer’s block” what you’re really saying is, “Sitting at my desk and staring at a blank page isn’t getting it done.” Writers have to be flexible. You have to be willing to try ANYTHING to move forward.

If none of that works? Maybe you need a break. Take a nap. Have a glass of wine. A brownie. Clean your house. Spend time with your family. Just remember that that book is there, waiting for you, and it’s up to YOU to figure out how to tap into it and get it written.

14. Besides writing, what else do you enjoy doing? What are your hobbies?
    
    Not surprisingly, I read a great deal. Perhaps surprisingly, I read almost entirely outside of my genre. A lot of famous minds will tell you that if you’re not reading everything current and historic in your genre, then you’re not doing your job as a writer. Me? I think that’s crap. I have a lifelong love of SF and grew up devouring it. Once I started writing in the genre, however, I reduced my reading of it.

Oh, I still read the biggies that everyone is talking about, but more often than not you can find me reading suspense, thrillers, historical novels and even romance. Reading is my escape and writing SF is my love/job. When I read, I want to take a break from work.

Beyond that I love to spoil my rescue bulldog, Grace.

We live in Florida and I love to go to the beach and snorkel every chance I get, especially if we can escape to the Florida Keys for the weekend. I’m also a big-time gamer, getting hooked with Neverwinter Nights and Elder Scrolls back in the day. I never played Everquest, but I am a horrible WoW junkie.

15. What is the best book you’ve read this year?

Heidi Ruby Miller’s yet to be released STARRIE.

It’s a fantastic Science Fiction Romance with the most amazing pacing. The action kicks in on page 1 and never lets up. I was asked to review and ARC of it and very happy for the chance to do so!

Here is the blurb I wrote for it:

"With explosive action, kick-ass heroes and romance that hits all the right notes, STARRIE gives fans of science fiction romance everything they want—at a breakneck pace. Plan to stay up all night finishing this one, it’s impossible to put down!" 

16. What is the best movie you’ve seen this year?

I’ve seen ExMachina and you’d think that would be my fave. I’m going to stick my neck out and say that I enjoyed the lower budget The Machine better than Ex Machina. (Don’t tell anyone!)

However.

The best movie I saw this year was just after Christmas, when I was home with my mum and family, and my husband James was horribly ill. We watched Maleficent with Angelina Jolie and I was blown away. I cried. My heart hurt after watching it. For me, that is a moving tale, and heroine worth cheering for.

Side note: I am a life-long Disney AND Angelina Jolie fan, so, it might as well have been Rhonda-crack.

17. What is your favorite book or series of all time?

No brainer. Melanie Rawn’s TheDragon Prince trilogy, every time.

18. Who is your favorite author?

This is almost impossible to answer. I honestly enjoy the work of my two crit partners, Jen Brooks and Diana Botsford so much, that I am one of those lucky author/fans who gets to work with her fave authors on a daily basis.

Beyond that?

Melanie Rawn will forever hold that place in my heart. No matter who writes something “better,” her works of “The Dragon Prince” trilogy and the unfinished “Exiles” trilogy hit me in my formative years, and the deep emotion and ties of loyalty in those books helped me to become the person, sister, daughter, wife and writer that I am today.

If I could say one thing to Melanie Rawn it would be “thank you.”

If I could say two things it would be “OMG finish the Exiles trilogy!!!”

19. What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of your writing?

I just, as of today, finished the rough draft of the second book in my space opera trilogy The Empress Game. From here, I want to do as much revision as I can before the book is due to my editor on November 1^st. Then I’ll get right to work on book 3 in the trilogy.

20. Where else can we find you online?

I probably use Facebook the most: https://www.facebook.com/RhondaMasonWriter

The second best place to get info is my website: www.rhondamason.com

And I am sporadically on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RMasonWriter  

In the spirit of the game of tag, I am tagging the following:

Christina Westcott: http://www.christinawestcottauthor.com/

Jen Brooks: http://www.jenbrookswriter.com/

Diana Botsford: http://dianabotsford.com/

Calico Writes: http://calicowrites.com/

Tonya Burrows: http://www.tonyaburrows.com/

Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, and does talking about having a big ass make you a feminist

I have so many thoughts in my mind right now I’m not even sure I can make this make sense.

To start, as soon as I hit “post” on my “9 female badass characters” post, I realized it was incredibly “white.” This is something I have become increasingly aware of as a writer and a woman. I’m not a big fan of race divides. I grew up in a family/town/lifestyle completely devoid of racism, and the idea of racism is alien to me. That said, I tend not to think about skin color. However, that does not make me immune to society’s influence and lack of diversity. When I posted my list of 9 female badass characters, I realized that 2 out of my 9 ladies were “diverse.” 3 if you count the fact that Aeryn Sunne is another race, but since she’s played by a white actress, I don’t think that counts.

This means that, even though I don’t care about race, I still identified primarily with the white characters, OR that they were the most prevalent in entertainment and media, and thus, came to mind first. Either way, it’s something to combat. For those of us who are not racist, it’s not enough to say, “well, I don’t care about race.” We need to do MORE than that. We need to promote diversity of all sorts, especially in the feminist movement, until all things are equal.

What brought this crisis to my mind, you ask? Oddly enough, the Video Music Awards. Weird, right? I didn’t watch them because a) I really don’t watch tv and b) I am really not a fan of “pop culture.” (Point in fact I read historical novels and write SF novels where I tend to mock pop culture and its influence.)

Either way, I was not immune to reading the reports of the VMAs afterward. (yay, internet and facebook!) I had several thoughts. A) Miley Cyrus had the worst outfits I’ve ever seen ;-) B) I didn’t 100% understand the controversy over why Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” video didn’t with the “Best Video of the Year” award. C) Or the twitter heat when Nicki found out her video was not nominated and she said “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.”

So, being the intrepid explorer that I am, I watched all the nominated (and not) videos of the controversy.

I’m glad that Minaj is celebrating women with big butts in her "Anaconda" video. Hell, I’m a white girl and my most commented on body feature (for good or ill) had been my “healthy/muscular/athletic/any term you want” butt. That’s just how my body is formed and I have a muscular/well-rounded butt, and it has been commented on since I was a kid. It took a long time to realize that was okay. I’m glad to enjoy it as an adult and realize it makes me beautiful.

However, after listening to the song and watching Minaj’s “Anaconda” video, I was disappointed. There was no super awesome story/message or choreography. It was pretty much women shaking their butts, and the lyrics were like, “I like big butts, men like big butts, and f’ya’ll skinny bitches.”

Imo, that is in no way empowering for women or a positive body image/message. I was bummed that it wasn’t more empowering for women. I mean, so, I love my butt. But a video where the girl is crawling on her knees to a guy who just gets to sit back in a chair and enjoy her sexiness is the norm, and did not leave me feeling empowered as a woman.

I didn’t find Taylor Swift’s video of “Bad Blood” amazing or anything, but it at least it a) told a story, b) celebrated badass women. There were no men telling women what to do and no lyrics/images about women having to prove their sexiness to men with their big butts.

Sure, everyone was model-skinny to the point of freakishness and I didn’t love that, but it at least tried to empower women to be badass, even if it didn’t also tackle the issue of weight discrepancy in real life.

Let’s be honest. Some women are just skinny, and there’s no crime in that. One look at Taylor Swift and you’ll realize she’s got one of those “skinny women bodies.” It’s not her fault any more than it’s my fault for being built with junk in the trunk.

Honestly, I don’t normally watch music videos and normally couldn’t care less, but, this women against women shit was distressing to me. As was Miley Cyrus’s response when Minaj threw a “what’s good” her way and Cyrus pretty much put her down.

Ladies.

Stop fighting each other.

The real evil isn’t skinny women versus women with big butts. The “evil” is a society where we feel we’re shunted into those 2 categories. Where we feel we have to sing a song about our big butts and how every guy wants it, or we need to make a video where every girl in it is model-skinny.

Let’s get real. Color doesn’t matter. Body type doesn’t matter. Gender equality in EVERY aspect of American lives matters. So celebrate every body type and let’s talk about women winning their place at the podium, in award nominations, in the arts, in the humanities, in the business world. Let’s talk about women doing the same job as men and not making the same pay for it. Let’s talk about women having to be “lady-like” and there being NO equivalent “man-like.” Let’s talk about women who speak forcibly about something  and are called a “bitch” or an “angry woman” or a “feminist” (as if that was a bad thing) or an “angry black women.” Let’s talk about how we all have the right to get upset, how we all have the right to express our views without being told we should “calm down” or “be rational” or “are you PMSing?”

I want freedom for women to speak and be judged on the EXACT same standards as men when they express their opinions. Fuck who has the bigger butt. Fuck if men wantr skinny women or women with “more to hold at night.”

Who are you when there’s no man to define you? Who are you when it’s just us, woman to woman, and your voice needs to be heard?

Step up. Be that woman, and damn the consequences.

The Continuing Battle for Gender Equality

So for my day job, I am employed by Nasdaq, a corporate giant. They (perhaps surprisingly) have a great corporate drive for diversity in the workplace. Today I had the chance to watch a panel discussion on the topic of “Women on Boards: Pathway to Directorship.”(meaning boards of directors) (Don’t worry, this post won’t be all business-speak) Hearing these incredibly accomplished and experienced women talk about women in management/director roles really got me thinking about how women are raised and considered by males.

The panel opened the talk with a discussion of regulations in Norway and other parts of Europe that require a certain percentage of board members to be female. I believe it was Norway that has instituted a policy that 40% of the people on boards been to be female. Woah.

Personally, I dislike this idea. In theory, it could force a board to put under-qualified people on the board in order to meet this quota. (A similar discussion takes place about the implications Affirmative Action in the education system). But both of these bring up the real issue—women are underprepared to take on executive roles, which can be linked to how we view females even when they’re children.

More on that in a minute.

One of the things the panel discussed was what happened when they, as board members, approached women candidates and asked them to join a particular board. In more than one instance, the women declined the offer because they didn’t feel confident accepting a new role that they weren’t already perfect at. They lacked the confidence to take on this new challenge. For comparison, the several panelists said “we’ve never been turned down by a male candidate.”

That brings up the issue that women lack confidence, both in general, but especially in executing in male-dominated worlds. This also, imo, leads back to how we as a society raise our girls.

Another item mentioned was the fact that among women who did have positions on boards, the majority of them had titles that are considered “support” roles, such as being a CFO, CMO, COO and so on, but very few were CEOs. There’s a distinct lack of women in CEO roles.

Another often mentioned idea was networking/mentoring. All of the women on the panel felt that in the workplace the men had a built-in networking system that groomed male employees for advancement and kept them on the path for career advancement. Women were left out of that network. It’s a holdover from the “good ole boy” “boys’ club” days that refuse to die.

Those days and their holdovers need to die.

When asked in the opening of the panel what the barriers were that kept women out of board rooms, the answer was “Attitudes. That’s the only issue. Male attitudes about the ability of women, their competency and all that. Once attitudes change, we won’t have this issue.”

As far as networking/mentors, it was generally agreed that mentoring was effective, but what surprised me (and it really shouldn’t have) was that most of the panelists STRONGLY recommended that women who wanted to be on a board have male mentors. To me, this is still part of the problem. It’s basically saying, “If you want to get in, you need to find a way in to the boys’ club of boards.” It basically says, “yeah, women are mentoring each other on being more proactive and confident, and that’s helpful, but if you want to get in, you still need to tap into that boys’ club network.”

The business network between women is growing, but in reality, it lacks the power of the male network. They just don’t hold positions of power in order to leverage the same level of benefit.

What was depressing about the panel was the realization that most of the women on the panel had gotten their board positions from a “lucky chance” sort of situation. So, say a woman had somehow gotten onto a board. All of the panelists got their initial roles on a board b/c that first woman on the board happened to know them and specifically offered a hand-up to their fellow female. What came across to me was that most of the women on boards had gotten their positions based on really-lucky-networking, not straight-up talent/competencies.

So to me, all of this comes back to how we, as a society, raise our children and shape our young women. This is a collective effort, this takes all of us. This takes changes at all levels and all areas of society.

The most important item that came out of this panel, for me, was the lack of confidence women had in themselves and their ability to tackle new situations. This isn’t something we can fix at the corporate level by writing laws saying that businesses need to have X% of women in their management structure. This needs to be addressed at a much earlier moment, when we’re all young girls, vulnerable to all of the pressures of society.

Girls need to be encouraged to purse ANY and ALL avenues that interest them. I’m not just talking about STEM initiatives, which are VERY crucial, but let’s talk about business skills, entrepreneurial skills, economics, and so on. Let’s get all of us—parents, educators, society—encouraging girls to take on ANY and EVERYTHING. Science, Math, Tech, Business, Arts, Social Studies, History, etc. Women and girls can do it all. Encourage them. Help them. Support them. We need to EMPOWER our young girls.

If we want diversity at the highest level, this needs to start at the lowest level.

This is making me think of Dove’s awesome ad/social interest campaign about “Like aGirl”

Also captured in this meme:

I’m talking about making a change at the VERY BEGINNING of life. Gender roles are sharply defined at way too young of an age in our society.

I’m thinking about Goldie Blox, who had an awesome Goldie Blox Super Bowlcommercial where girls took all of their “pink” toys and built a rocket ship out of them. The ad slogan for the campaign was “Tools for Future Innovators.” Not “Tools for Girls” or “Boy-Type Toys for Girls.” It was acknowledging that girls are future innovators, irregardless of gender. They don’t have to be “girls who are like boys” they are just themselves, girls who like building block toys. I really like the quote on Goldie Blox site:

Hell yeah.

My main point here is that we need to break down our idea of “being a girl” and get rid of it. We need to treat young girls and boys as people, and stop training them so hard in their gender strengths and weaknesses.

I grew up being called a tomboy, and as a child I was proud of that fact, and therein, I believe, lies the root of the problem. As a child, I knew that all girls were girls. But as a tomboy, I was something MORE than a girl. I was faster, stronger, fiercer, more independent. Did they call me a Kick-ass Girl? No. They called me a TomBOY. As is, you’re better than a girl, b/c you’re like the boys, too! The equation I learned? Boy traits > Girl traits. If I could have both traits as a girl, then I could almost make up for the fact that I wasn’t born a boy.

As an adult, I realize this idea is horrific. What I want is for young girls today to have no notion of the idea that the hierarchy of worth goes: girls < girls who can fit into the boys’ club < boys.

I’ve babbled on enough for today (and I could keep going!) but I want to close out with a quick piece on one of my fave people on the planet, John Stewart, and his comments on Bruce Jenner’s transformation to Caitlyn Jenner. (Way to go, Caitlyn! I am so happy for you that you can be yourself, finally!)

Here is a briefsum up of John Stewart’s bit on how, now that Caitlyn Jenner is officially a woman, she can look forward to being objectified and judged for her looks all the time now, like the rest of us women.

#breakdowngenderroles

#empowerourchildren

Post-Traumatic Stress is Not a Disorder

So I was listening to NPR the other day and heard a correspondent say, in passing, that they are dropping the “D” from PTSD and that it will just be called PTS (Post-Traumatic Stress) these days, not Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I wanted to put in my two cents and say I whole-heartedly support this decision. It is not a mental disorder to have a mix of anxiety, depression and anger after a major traumatic event. (In most cases, we’re talking about war-time experiences, a rape, and things equally horrifying). After the shit some people have gone through, it is totally normal and natural to have those reactions. I would be more concerned by people who saw and dealt with death and near-death situations *without* being messed up by it.

Thumbs up to the military/psych community for beginning to change this language. The only damage such a change might bring is if insurance companies somehow find ways to weasel out of paying for the treatment of PTS because it is no longer “technically” a “disorder.” But I have (some) faith that the people in charge are smart enough to see their way around the dropping of one word from a diagnosis, and realizing that treatment is still needed, all the same.

The Washington Post released an article with a good discussion on whether PTS is more like a bullet wound or a bipolar/depressive mental disorder.

PTS is an issue I’m exploring with my character, Vayne, who (in my novel) is a mental/physical torture survivor. It’s one thing to handle the topic in fiction, but the reality for many people in the real world is much, much worse. My heart goes out to all of those who struggle with PTS daily.

Time Magazine had a short online article on the topic, you can find it here: http://nation.time.com/2011/06/05/the-disappearing-disorder-why-ptsd-is-becoming-pts/

Dreams Do Come True – I got THE CALL

I can finally answer that most magical of questions we writers ask each other: “What were you doing when you got THE CALL?” (“The Call” is that amazing moment when an editor/or your agent calls to say, “we/they want to buy your book!”)

I got THE CALL after work, and I was doing two of my fave things: Listening to The Brother Kite and playing World of Warcraft.

Earlier in the week, my agent, Richard Curtis, had called to tell me that we had “a nibble” on Empress Game, my space opera. Titan Books was apparently interested, and they wanted to know if Empress Game was going to be part of a trilogy. The honest answer? I have no idea! I’d lost a little faith that Empress Game would be “the book” that I sell to a major publisher, and had already moved on to working on a new epic fantasy novel. I hadn’t thought past Empress Game as far as space opera was concerned.

But hey, if you’ve got a publisher’s interest, you better be ready with something!

So I scrambled to come up with 2 book blurbs that might be possible for books 2 and 3 of a trilogy. My two critique partners, Diana Botsford and Jen Brooks were a tremendous help. I called them in a panic, saying “I have no ideas!” and they helped me to realize that of course I had ideas, I just hadn’t considered any of them seriously yet.

The two blurbs were sent and I held my breath, waiting to see if Titan Books was more than just “interested.” When my agent called me two days later with THE CALL, he surprised the heck out me, but not for the reason you’d expect. Here’s what he said:

“I haven’t heard back from Titan yet. I’m calling because Ace Books made an offer on the trilogy.”

I might have fainted.

I definitely said “Holy shit!” (Real professional of me, right?)

So that started off what would be a tense wait. Richard brought the offer over to Titan Books to see if they wanted to counter-offer. One week of intense nail-biting later, I got more amazing news…Titan wanted the book too!

I definitely fainted at that point.

Negotiations ensued, and now I can proudly say, I am the newest Sci-Fi author of TITAN BOOKS!

Here is the announcement of the deal as it appeared on Publisher’s Marketplace:

February 11, 2014
	International rights: UK Fiction		Rhonda Mason's debut EMPRESS GAME, the first in a space-opera trilogy, in which an exiled psionic gladiatrix goes undercover to fight and free her homeworld from imperial occupation and discovers she holds the key to a galaxy-wide struggle for political domination, to Alice Nightingale of Titan, at auction, by Richard Curtis of Richard Curtis Associates (world English). Translation: Baror International Agency

Struck by the Muse

Each of my speculative fiction stories has been born from a single image.

They’ve begun from one singular icon, the slice of a frozen moment in time that somehow captures the entire soul of the story, even if I don’t understand what that soul is yet. No matter the million of changes a story undergoes in its creation, these images have been as true to the final draft as they had been to the beginning.

The revelation of each of these images made such an impact that I can remember where I was at the time they came to me. I might have been turning over ideas before then, pondering this or that, but the story, the real story, did not exist until that moment.

I am about to start on my next novel, which is one of two I had begun 6 years ago now (and subsequently abandoned for years on a massive writing hiatus, Empress Ascendant being the other.) I’m sitting down to plot and this has me thinking, “What am I trying to say with this story? What is the heart of this story?” That brings me back to my original image for this story, and I wanted to share two of my story icons with you.

Sworn Sword

Sworn Sword is my first epic fantasy, and was my thesis novel at Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program. It’s the story of a female swordfighter, Tae, who is on a quest to find the child of prophecy. This child will be a sorcerer of untold power, and is needed by both Tae and her enemy to activate—or destroy—an ancient weapon.

Tae has a lifelong hatred of sorcerers and all things magical. Her prejudice is extreme, and being involved in such a quest, forced to work with another sorcerer, is a grueling trial for her. Being a swordswoman is all she knows, it’s who she is. She places all of her self-worth on her martial skills. Without her blade, in her mind, she is nothing.

The iconic image for Sworn Sword came to me in the spring of 2003. I was commuting to UMass Lowell for my geology degree. I had parked my car and was walking into Olney for an 8:30 class. The sun was shining, and just before I reached the building’s doors, a simple image hit me.

It was a hand, palm up. Inscribed on the center of the palm was a solid 8-pointed star. The skin of the star was a silvery grey, and had a sheen like hematite.

How in the hell, you say, is that a whole book?

At the time I had no idea. I wasn’t even sure whose hand it was. At the time I had been thinking of this story of a female sorcerer, but nothing would come together. I had no plot and little backstory. Her name was Ilara, and even though I wanted to make her the hero of an epic fantasy novel, I couldn’t, for some reason, find her story.

That’s because I had it all wrong. Here’s the spoiler of the ending and why that one star matters so much:

That hand is Tae’s, and that mark comes when she unleashes her own magic for the first time at the end of the book. It is the sign that she herself is the child of prophecy they have been searching for all along. She is the sorcerer. It’s the very last thing the reader sees as the book closes. (It’s really part one of a trilogy or somesuch, but the rest are not written)

My current novel - Travelers

Because it’s so dear to me, I’m keeping the title of this work to myself for now. Let’s just call it Travelers. I am about one-third of the way into the first draft, and far from understanding the entire story. I can’t give you the full depth of the meaning of Traveler’s icon yet, because I don’t know it myself.

The icon is very much with me today, though, as I get down to work on the novel, and I just wanted to share it.

I was at my mum’s house, in her kitchen. I had finished Sworn Sword and was looking for my next novel. I wasn’t even sure what it was going to be except that it would have elves and magic. Why elves, I have no idea. I was just adamant about that. Of course it’ll probably be the first thing that gets changed ;-) 

My first ideas for it had come, hilariously, from SeventhSanctum’s name generator. If you haven’t played with this, you should. It is both helpful and ridiculous. I can’t tell if it’s trying to mock the entire SF genre, but it does a fairly good job of it while generating names of everything from elves to pirate ships to alien races. You must check it out.

The generator had spit out two-word combo names and I was immediately struck by one. Grimcinder. I knew he would be an elven bard with dire portents. Again, why elven? Who can know the mind of a fantasy writer ;-)

The image for this novel, the one that gave me the main character and the basis for the entire magic system, came while I was sitting at the kitchen table, in the sunshine of course, sorting through some Magic: The Gathering cards. This is the art for one of the cards, done by the fabulous Rebecca Guay.

This is the main character of Travelers, her name is Silmande. What her story is, and what she is, well . . . you’ll just have to wait and see.