Philippa Ballantine - Author

Award-winning Author of fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk

The Writing Art

From out of the Cloud…

I’m writing this post, spurred by Speculative Fiction Writers of New Zealand (which just recently launched) and New Zealand Spec Fic Blogging Week. I was casting about thinking about what I could contribute- then I realised it was staring me in the face.

You see, this past week I submitted a synopsis and three chapters of Weather Child, for my agent to start pitching. I made some contacts at WorldCon that expressed an interest in it, and to say that possibility excited me would be a massive understatement.

Weather Child, if you are not aware, is my alternative history fantasy novel, set in New Zealand between the two World Wars. I podcast the first draft of the novel back in 2009, and it met with some fairly rabid appreciation from overseas listeners. It even got nominated for a Sir Julius Vogel Award.

In my third print novel, Digital Magic at least half the story was set in Wellington.

And in Ministry of Peculiar Occurence: Phoenix Rising (co-written with Tee Morris and coming in May 2011 from Harper Voyager) Eliza D Braun, a secret agent is a kiwi girl all the way. The national anthem and culture are all over the book- and a real part of what makes Eliza special.

Including and drawing on my New Zealandness has been a very clear conscious decision – after all we are often told ‘write what you know’. Also, it is a reaction against the New Zealand I grew up in- where to be a kiwi was to be vaguely apologetic about it. In the 1970s and 1980s there was the feeling that being a kiwi was almost embarrassing. These were the days when even our TV presenters sounded plummy and British, you had very little choice in kiwi music on the radio, and fashion came from New York or London.

Yep, when people tell you they pine for the good ole days they’re not telling you the whole story. The only New Zealand author who was making it overseas back then was Hugh Cook. One person.

That’s why I find things like the Speculative Fiction Writers of New Zealand so damn cheering. Finally we are producing authors that not only make it big here, but also overseas.

Now all we need to do, is write about our beautiful home.

It is my firm opinion that these days we have nothing to be ashamed of. New Zealand is an awesome country, and I am proud to have come from here. From my podcasting experience overseas listeners and readers are intrigued and we should absolutely be using that to our advantage.

After all fantasy readers are used to reading about worlds of all shapes and sizes- so Aotearoa isn’t that far fetched.

We sometimes tend to forget New Zealand has a lot to offer the world, and fantasy writing; a unique perspective, mythology, culture. And what a source of inspiration it is! When I was writing Weather Child I got so much pleasure out of being able to share the stories of my family and their experiences in this country (OK, maybe not the ones about being magicians… as far as I know no Ballantines can shoot fireballs or summon lightning)

So I have never thought about being from New Zealand as a disadvantage. In fact now I think it is a positive advantage.

So that and a good healthy measure of pride are the reasons I love writing about New Zealand. I hope plenty of other people that live here will feel the same.

Dealing with slings and arrows

A recent Twitter conversation started by Scott Roche about public critique, specifically for podcast novels got me thinking about critiques, flames and feedback.

I replied to Scott that as an author you have to expect to get all three. So here’s my take on dealing with them as an author.

The middle one Flames are characterised by negativity upon negativity- nothing positive, no encouragement, no suggestions for improvement and are usually full of bitterness and axe-grinding. You can spot them a mile away.

Yes, these attacks might annoy and/or upset me for half an hour. I imagine pouring a rain of fire back, but I never do. The most I have ever done is send back a polite ‘thank you, I’m sorry you don’t like what I do, but maybe in the future you’ll try again’. Flamers just want attention. They want you to pour gasoline on- so in return I recommend giving them a bucket of water and then putting them out of your mind.

Critiques are another matter. People have taken time to write them, and I will always give them more consideration. They usually contain ‘I really liked your book but…’

When you get one of these you should pay more attention, but you will want to run it through a process.

As a reference librarian you learn to do one important thing- judge the source. For scientific accuracy an article on an internet forum is always considered less reliable than an article in a peer reviewed journal.

So I do the same with critique and feedback.

Top of my list is of course my agent Laurie Maclean and my editor at Ace. Their opinion is right up there. They’re professionals, and they have a real interest in my books selling well. They are invested in my success.

Second are my beta readers. These are people I have picked because I value their opinion and know they will give me honesty. They have skills and knowledge that are specifically targeted at what I am doing.

And finally comes public feedback. Criticism here is a free for all- and that’s perfectly fine. Luckily we live in places where an opinion is your right, and hopefully (unless you are in some totalitarian state) you can express it on the internet.

So here’s how I deal with criticism. I let the initial pain and outrage pass. I don’t fire off an email in anger. I don’t go on twitter, or to my blog and lambast the writer. I let it sit. (In this way replying to critique is like editing, best done cold)

I let it rest until I can logically examine what they are saying. I may go to my beta readers/listeners and say ‘What do you think? Does this guy have a point?’ I am lucky enough to have several very honest people in my circle (Dan Sawyer I am looking at you). If they confirm what this person has said then I add more weight to the scale.

And then after that process I will reply, in a calm, polite, measured way. Sometimes I change things, sometimes I will not. We are not artists doing things by committee after all, and we have to, at the end of the day, believe in our work.

So that’s my process for dealing with criticism, which may make it sound easy but it’s not. Believe me, this is coming from a person that cried for half an hour when she got her first professional critique. However I got over it, and the book was better for it.

What I will not let criticism do is stop me from doing what I love- which is writing and podcasting. We may get our ego bruised, but we still go on.

Tropes and bards

The wonderful DDog has just added  Chasing the Bard to TV Tropes website and it was a very interesting thing for me as the writer to read.

A trope is a common pattern or theme and they have been around since humanity first decided that telling stories was a great idea. Some of the ones DDog picked up on are powerful tropes that get repeated again and again in literature and film. Such as;

The Chosen One; a person with a destiny to forfill- in CTB’s case William Shakespeare. (actually I think Will has two destinies- saving the world and writing great Art)

Ultimate Evil; The big Bad Creature who is not usually seen until the end. In CTB that was the Unmaker- my worst nightmare- the flip side of creativity.

Lady of War; The beautiful, powerful woman who will kick your ass. In CTB this is Sive- naturally, but these types abound in literature, and probably stem from the original war goddess- the Morrigan, Kali etc. Women give life, but they can also take it.

As a writer does that mean you should avoid writing tropes? I would challenge you to write a story without one of them cropping up. They are common themes for a reason- they speak to the human condition and have for centuries. It comes down to the old adage, there’s no such thing as a new story. However if you give a hundred people a trope, say ‘farm boy finds he is the Chosen One’ you will get a hundred different stories. We all see things differently, we’ve all had different lives so our stories will always be unique to us.

So have fun with tropes- twist them, reconfigure them- but please don’t lose sleep over them.

And thanks to DDog for taking the time to unravel all the tropes in Chasing the Bard- some of them I didn’t even realize were there!