From The Backlist: "The Writer's Paradox" by Tera Lynn Childs

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We're all writers and readers here, so a writer's paradox holds perennial appeal. Here's the great Tera Lynn Childs' take on the theme -- enjoy!

The Writer's Paradox

by Tera Lynn Childs

Writers are crazy. There's no getting around the fact that (at times) we're completely neurotic, insecure, and borderline bat$#!%; crazy. I used to think that writing attracted unstable personalities, but now I'm pretty sure the Writer's Paradox is to blame.

You have to think you suck, otherwise you will.

When I started writing I thought I was a fairly sane person. I thought I was in control of my own emotions, at least as much as anyone is, and there was no way I would be as crazy as those writers on TV and in movies. Guess what? I was wrong.

This is what happens when you search for crazy on Flickr.

Over the course of writing and publishing a book, I go through stages of elation where I think, Woohoo, this is going to be the best book ever! (Note: This stage usually occurs before a single word has been written.) I go through meh stages where I think, The book is pretty crappy but I can fix it in revisions. (This is the most common stage.)

And finally I go through stages where I think, I'm a fraud who can't write, I'll never get this book under control, I'll never write anything as good as [fill in name of amazingly talented bestselling author here] and I'll never get another contract again!

This sounds crazy, right? ... The sad thing is--and as writers we kind of just have to accept this as fact--we need that fear ... "

To find out why Tera Lynn reckons writers need that fear, click here.

To learn more about Tera Lynn herself, and the all-important writing, follow this link.

From The Backlist: "Stealing From the Ancients: Weaving Mythology into Your Fiction"

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Here on Supernatural Underground blog we have an awesome backlist, so one of our 2024 resolutions is to share more of it with you.

 In this very week, way back in 2011 (oh my!) the fabulous Tera Lynn Childs posted on Stealing from the Ancients: Weaving Mythology into Your Fiction.

We think it's just as relevant today as it was then, so for those who missed it the first time, here's an excerpt of the goodness again (with a link to click through and read it all.)

The Pleiades (by Elihu Vedder)

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From The Backlist: "Stealing From the Ancients: Weaving Mythology into Your Fiction" by Tera Lynn Childs

"I was at a loss for what to write about today, so I put out a call on Facebook for what people wanted to know more about. Heather Long responded with the fabulous topic of how to weave mythology into fiction. And since I have done this very thing in all five of my completed, accepted, and published/about-to-be-published books, then I feel like I can speak about this with some authority. At least in the method I use to weave myth into my books.

Of course mine aren't the only books out there dealing with mythology, and there are at least three different ways to approach it.

• use actual, literal gods, goddesses, and other bits of myth in your story (ex/ Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan)
• write a historical novel from the point of view of a mythological character (ex/ Nobody's Princess and Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner)
• create a contemporary fantasy world in which characters are related to/descended from mythological characters (ex/ my books)

Though there are advantages and disadvantages to each, I think the reason I prefer the third method is that it gives me the most creative freedom. The closer you are to the actual myth, the more you have to stay true to it. In my worlds, the myths of ancient Greece date back more than two thousand years. The written myths end... but the mythological word continues. Between then and now I can create whatever history I want.

In the Oh. My. Gods. books, I didn't stray too far. I gave descendants to the virgin goddesses, gave illegitimate children to the goddess of marriage, and made Plato's real life Academy a school for descendants of the gods. The mermaids in the Forgive My Fins books are descended from an ancient ancestor who was granted mer powers by Capheira, one of Poseidon's sea nymphs. But in Medusa girls trilogy, I take my mythology tweaking to the next level. I basically rewrote the truth about Medusa.

The trick to playing around with mythology, with the canon of myths that we as a culture have known and learned for millennia, is to go one step beyond, to blur the line between what was written and what wasn't. I can't say that Hera had half-human children in ancient times, but who knows what's happened in the centuries since then? There is no mythological proof that mermaids owe their powers to Capheira, but there is no proof that they don't either. And with Medusa, while I couldn't just erase her legacy as a hideous, murderous monster, I could create a believable backstory that explains why we only think that is true.

That's the wonderful thing about mythology: it never tells the complete story..."

 

To read the full post and the comments, click here. 

 

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To find out more about Tera Lynn Childs and her writing, visit her on Myths, Mermaids, and Magic

 

Enjoy!

Remember

Ten years later, and I still can't bring myself to watch/read/write/talk about 9/11.

I prefer to remember in silence.

Today's Blog Post Brought To You By ... America the Beautiful

Monday morning I left Oklahoma with Seattle as my goal destination. I could have made the drive in three days (maybe two) but I decided to take my time and see some sights. Here are some pictures from the trip...

Sunset in Pawnee National Grasslands.

Pawnee Buttes in Pawnee National Grassland.

Frozen river in Yellowstone National Park.

Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park.

I have to say that I live in a spectacularly beautiful country and, living in and around cities, it's so easy to forget how much empty wilderness still exists. I'm in Seattle now and recovering before the apartment hunting begins.

Hugs,
TLC

PS. My new book, Fins Are Forever, comes out in 17 days! If you need more mermaids in your life, you can pre-order a copy.

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

Let the Bidding Begin

Every year, author Brenda Novak hosts an auction to raise money for juvenile diabetes research. The auction has raised ridiculous amounts of money (over $300,000 last year and $1,000,000 over all) because authors, agents, editors, and tons of other people donate fabulous prizes. This year, I've contributed two lots to the frenzy.

A complete set of my three published books: Oh. My. Gods. (winner of the 2009 RITA Award for Best First Book) and Goddess Boot Camp, about a cross-country-running California girl struggling to find her place at a school for the descendants of Greek gods. Forgive My Fins, about a half-mermaid princess who goes to high school on the mainland and who accidentally bestows her magical first kiss on the wrong boy.

Critique of a YA book proposal: Get your project ready for a contest or an agent or editor submission. Winner will receive an in depth critique of the query letter, synopsis, and first 25 pages of a YA/Teen book proposal by 2009 RITA Award winner for Best First Book, Tera Lynn Childs. Critique will include both inline notes and general, bigger picture thoughts and suggestions. Also includes a follow-up email to answer any questions raised by the critique.

If you're interested in either of the above, have some spare cash lying around, and want to give money to a great cause, please consider bidding. And be sure to check out all the other fabulous items up for bidding. There's truly something for everyone.

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

The Writer's Paradox

Writers are crazy. There's no getting around the fact that (at times) we're completely neurotic, insecure, and borderline bat$#!%; crazy. I used to think that writing attracted unstable personalities, but now I'm pretty sure the Writer's Paradox is to blame.

You have to think you suck, otherwise you will.

When I started writing I thought I was a fairly sane person. I thought I was in control of my own emotions, at least as much as anyone is, and there was no way I would be as crazy as those writers on TV and in movies. Guess what? I was wrong.

This is what happens when you search for crazy on Flickr.

Over the course of writing and publishing a book, I go through stages of elation where I think, Woohoo, this is going to be the best book ever! (Note: This stage usually occurs before a single word has been written.) I go through meh stages where I think, The book is pretty crappy but I can fix it in revisions. (This is the most common stage.)

And finally I go through stages where I think, I'm a fraud who can't write, I'll never get this book under control, I'll never write anything as good as [fill in name of amazingly talented bestselling author here] and I'll never get another contract again!

This sounds crazy, right? Mood fluctuations, bi-polar schizophrenia, with Charlie Sheen (WINNING!) tendencies. Most definitely.

The sad thing is--and as writers we kind of just have to accept this as fact--we need that fear. We need to worry about writing the worst piece of dog poo ever to hit a page to protect ourselves from ever letting that happen. An actor needs stage fright to bring energy to their performance. A writer needs neurosis to maintain quality, to keep learning and improving and bettering their craft. The moment we start thinking we've got this thing figured out is the moment the writing goes downhill.

I used to think crazy people became writers, but now I know better.

Writing makes people crazy.

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com

Paranormal, Fantasy and Adventure, or Fiction?

Have you walked through the Teen section at your local Barnes and Noble lately? If not you might want to go take a look. It's a little ... different.

It used to be there was a Teen section. And in it there were books for teens. At some point the section grew and they divided it out into sub sections, like Teen Fiction and Teen Non-Fiction (even though sometimes Fiction books took over the Non-Fiction section--gasp).

(Photo lovingly borrowed from Dustin and Neesha Save the World)

Then it got broken down even more. They added Teen Inspiration and Teen Fiction was divided out into Teen Fiction and Teen Series (which begs the question: When does a series become a series? The last time I was in a store with those divisions, Oh. My. Gods. was in the Teen Series section and Goddess Boot Camp was in the plain ol' Teen Fiction.)

(Photo courtesy of StayProud)

Now Barnes and Noble is following the Borders model and dividing Teen Fiction down even further. When the news broke, they announced they would be breaking out into Teen Fiction and Teen Paranormal Romance and I thought, Okay. I like my books hanging out with the other teen paranormal romances because my bright pink and blue covers stand out against all the black. Readers will notice my books.

(Photo stolen linked from The Damnsel)

Yesterday I went into a Barnes and Noble for the first time in months (Dear Stillwater, Please get a Barnes and Noble.) and I checked out the teen section. Of course. Well now they've broken Teen Fiction down even further into three sections: Teen Fiction, Teen Fantasy and Adventure, and Teen Paranormal. Question: Why does Teen Fantasy and Adventure would need to be separated from Teen Paranormal?

I heart Barnes and Noble and they are my Big Chain of choice, but I have to wonder if this subdividing is what's best for the readers. I use Alyson Noel as the ultimate example. In the new section divisions her first few books--straight contemporary teen fiction--are completely isolated from her super-successful Immortals series. I have to think that at some of her readers would crossover from one to the other. But that's just me..

What do you think? Do the separations make sense or do they leave you scratching your head?

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

Stealing From the Ancients: Weaving Mythology into Your Fiction

I was at a loss for what to write about today, so I put out a call on Facebook for what people wanted to know more about. Heather Long responded with the fabulous topic of how to weave mythology into fiction. And since I have done this very thing in all five of my completed, accepted, and published/about-to-be-published books, then I feel like I can speak about this with some authority. At least in the method I use to weave myth into my books.

Of course mine aren't the only books out there dealing with mythology, and there are at least three different ways to approach it.

• use actual, literal gods, goddesses, and other bits of myth in your story (ex/ Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan)
• write a historical novel from the point of view of a mythological character (ex/ Nobody's Princess and Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner)
• create a contemporary fantasy world in which characters are related to/descended from mythological characters (ex/ my books)

Though there are advantages and disadvantages to each, I think the reason I prefer the third method is that it gives me the most creative freedom. The closer you are to the actual myth, the more you have to stay true to it. In my worlds, the myths of ancient Greece date back more than two thousand years. The written myths end... but the mythological word continues. Between then and now I can create whatever history I want.

In the Oh. My. Gods. books, I didn't stray too far. I gave descendants to the virgin goddesses, gave illegitimate children to the goddess of marriage, and made Plato's real life Academy a school for descendants of the gods. The mermaids in the Forgive My Fins books are descended from an ancient ancestor who was granted mer powers by Capheira, one of Poseidon's sea nymphs. But in Medusa girls trilogy, I take my mythology tweaking to the next level. I basically rewrote the truth about Medusa.

The trick to playing around with mythology, with the canon of myths that we as a culture have known and learned for millennia, is to go one step beyond, to blur the line between what was written and what wasn't. I can't say that Hera had half-human children in ancient times, but who knows what's happened in the centuries since then? There is no mythological proof that mermaids owe their powers to Capheira, but there is no proof that they don't either. And with Medusa, while I couldn't just erase her legacy as a hideous, murderous monster, I could create a believable backstory that explains why we only think that is true.

That's the wonderful thing about mythology: it never tells the complete story. We get pieces of each myth, sometimes even contradicting versions of the same story. Go to Theoi Greek Mythology (my favorite reference) and look up a few characters in the glossary. Chances are there are at least two or three or even half a dozen different parents listed for them. Many have short, open-to-interpretation biographies while others have vast, opposing ones. In some myths Medusa was always a hideous monster, in others she was a beautiful maiden turned monster. Pick and choose the pieces you want to use and create the story to fill in the blanks.

At least that's how I weave mythology into my fiction. I'm always open to suggestions.

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

Holiday Treats for Readers (and a Contest)

*** CONTEST WINNER is ONGE. Congrats! I will email you for details. ***

Christmas is always (supposed to be) a magical time of giving and sharing, and every year I try to carry over that spirit into my writing world by creating special treats for my readers. Two years ago I wrote a short story called "The Twelve Days of Stella" starring one of the secondary characters in Oh. My. Gods. (I now have that story available as a PDF download on my website, if anyone's interested.)

Not only was writing and sharing the story fun, but I got to reveal a little bit of Stella's hidden character by visiting her point of view. I love writing bad characters and finding ways to make people love them anyway.

Last year and then again this year I created virtual advent calendars. Last year readers got a new Forgive My Fins teaser sentence each day. This year, every day reveals a new piece of the unreleased excerpt from my upcoming sequel, Fins Are Forever, and on the last day you can request an extended excerpt as a PDF via email.

I love giving readers a little extra for playing along. The excerpt as revealed in the advent calendar will be posted on my site soon, but the extended excerpt is exclusive for those who get to the end of the calendar.

But, although the advent calendar is fun, I think I need to give a little more this holiday season (building up good karma points for a great 2011). I think I need to write another short story. To that end, I have poll going on my personal blog, and I'm letting you, the reader, pick which story I write. Get over there and vote and then stay tuned for short story fun!

Before you go, though, a little contest. Comment with the best holiday treat you've ever gotten from an author (or one you'd like to get) for a chance to win Forgive My Fins.

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

Trends Are Like Worms

Robin by cruadinx

Last night, thunderstorms rolled through the area, pouring down rain that drew all the earthworms to the surface. Early this morning, the yard is full of robins, eager to eat up all the worms. A few hours later, they were gone, along with all the worms.

This reminded me of trends in publishing. Something new and different and exciting bursts onto the scene, usually because an editor and a publisher took a chance on something unconventional, and suddenly everyone wants one. Every house wants a big [insert latest trend here] in their lineup. The eat them up like worms after a rain and then, suddenly, the feeding frenzy dries up.

In my brief time in this industry, I've seen it happen a few times. First it was chick lit. Bridget Jones' Diary and Sex and the City threw the door open, and everyone (myself included) rushed in. Only I was too late, and all the worms were gone. The same thing happened with vampires, thank you Twilight (I avoided that one), and now dystopian YA (in the wake of The Hunger Games).

The hard part about this for a writer is that sometimes (oftentimes) something about a trend is born of a common experience, a common inspiration that speaks to a lot of us at the same time. But, as the old saying goes, the early bird gets the worm. You need to be ahead of the trend, you need to start the trend, or you'll be late to the yard and all the worms will be gone.

My question for everyone today is:

Have any thoughts on upcoming trends? What do you see on the horizon in fiction? What do you want to see there?

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

My Own Private Universe

Recently I was asked to participate in a fun YA anthology that centers around a very different type of supernatural creature than I've written about before. My first thought was that I needed to figure out a way to make those creatures compatible with my universe.

Currently, I'm hard at work at my third series. The first was about a school for the descendants of Greek gods. The second about magical underwater mermaids who sometimes live on land. The third is about monster-hunting descendants of the gorgon Medusa. The three worlds of these stories are very different, but the one underlying thread is that the magic is all rooted in Greek mythology. And, although none of the characters in my different series actually meet up IBL (in book life) I like to leave open the possibility that they could.

My triplet descendants of Medusa aren't even in the same hemisphere as Phoebe and the gang at the Academy, and mermaid Lily's mythological dates back many, many generations, but there is nothing about any of the three book worlds that excludes the others.

I love this idea, this kind of bigger world that is mine and mine alone. Sure, I let readers in, but it's really there for me! Even if readers of my mermaid series might not ever read my Medusa books, I secretly know that the worlds are totally compatible. They inhabit the same universe.

So, as I think up a way to work these new supernatural creatures into my repertoire, I'm making sure they fit in a way that makes them belong in the universe I'm building with my other books.

My question of the day for you is:

What author-built universe do you love to visit again and again?

I'm going to cheat and say Joss Whedon's Buffyverse because, well, just because.

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

A Blog of Silence

Past

Present

Future

The Lighter Side of Paranormal

If you walk through the sci-fi/fantasy or young adult sections of a bookstore, you will see a predominance of dark covers. Black, charcoal gray, midnight blue. (Just take a quick gander down the right side of our page and you'll see what I mean.) And then, if you're in the YA fantasy section, you'll come across a bright spot. A hot pink or royal blue or bright turquoise spine. Those would be my books.

There aren't many of us out there writing light paranormal books. (To be fair, many of the darker paranormal books have strong humor elements. To be even more fair, some of the lighter paranormal books still get packaged with dark covers. And to be the fairest, my new series that starts next fall about descendants of Medusa swings a little darker than my other books.) But we are out there.

Whether a book is light or dark has less to do with the type of paranormal elements in the story, than with the voice and style of the author. While my mermaid books (Forgive My Fins) are super light, there are darker YA mermaids stories (Sea Change by Aimee Friedman and Siren by Tricia Rayburn), as well. Oh. My. Gods. take a lighter look at mythology, but the Percy Jackson series edges a little darker, and P. C. Cast's Goddess Summoning books darker still.

Maybe the determining factor is whether lives (or the fate of the whole entire world) are at stake. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that nobody dies in either my mythology or mermaid series. (I'm making no promises about the Medusa girls, though.) Or maybe it's just a darker, edgier outlook on life from the main characters. I guess it doesn't really matter why some books are darker than others, it only matters that there are readers out there for them both.

My question for all you readers out there is simple:

Do you prefer your paranormal on the dark side?
Or do you like the light, too?

Really, this paranormal author wants to know.

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

The Imagination of Youth

On the scale of the world in general (ranging from data entry clerks and accountants to artists and poets) I feel like a fairly creative and imaginative person. I create characters and worlds and stories and put them down on paper and people pay for them!

But some days I long for the unfettered imagination of my childhood. As a kid, anything was possible. My cousin and I made a slide out of my grandmother's bathtub (with the help of generous amounts of baby oil). My friends and I used to pretend that the railing overlooking the run-off ditch on our school playground was Starlite from the Rainbow Brite cartoon.

My bathtub turned into a mermaid swimming pool when I had my Sea Wees, and I could play for hours pretending I was the queen of their underwater kingdom. (Do we see the first spark of what would become Forgive My Fins?)

Or, one of my favorites, a bathtub could literally turn into a swimming pool, or a bed into playground. Wish World Kids had a very limited life, but they were remarkable. Normal, everyday objects (like televisions and refrigerators) could turn into amazing things (like game shows and ice cream parlors). If only real life objects could do the same!

And the most wonderful and magical part of all of this imagination was that we believed it. I really could ride a horse across a rainbow or swim with mermaids or play on a swingset when I went to bed.

I have to wonder if some of the popularity of fantasy/paranormal fiction is an attempt to recapture that youthful belief in the impossible. Through books, we really can swim with mermaids and soar with dragons and live forever as vampires. Without looking silly for playing with dolls and toys.

By the way, I totally miss the 80s. Best. Toys. Ever.

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

The Magic of Mermaids

*** WINNER UPDATE: The contest is now closed. After tallying up the total number of entries (over 200!) and heading over to Randomizer, the winner is... Angel! Send your mailing info to tlc@teralynnchilds.com so I can get your prize in the mail. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful mermaid debate! ***

Ten days ago, my third young adult novel released into the world. Forgive My Fins is about a half-mermaid princess who goes to high school on the mainland. In the general promotion hubub of the past few weeks, I've been doing a lot of online interviews for friends and review blogs. The one question that always surprises me the most is, "Why mermaids?" It's really hard not to reply back, "Why not mermaids?"

My love affair with mermaids began when I was eight years old and saw the movie Splash for the first time. From the moment Daryl Hannah swam into view, with her gorgeous blonde hair and magical, life-saving kiss, I was hooked. Right then and there I knew I wanted to become a mermaid. Sadly, the closest I ever got was a career as a competitive swimmer. I would spend hours in the pool every week, wishing my legs would magically turn into fins. It was that same fantasy that, nearly twenty years later, led me to the story idea for Forgive My Fins.

Now, I know why I love mermaids, but all those interview questions made me think about why we, as a culture, love mermaids. There have to be some common, unifying threads that make us fantasize about a life under the sea, right? I've finally come up with three things: freedom, mystery and magic.

Freedom...
In mermaid lore, they always seem to be a carefree sort of being, with few responsibilities or worries. They spend their days frolicking with their sealife friends and brushing their hair. When we're overwhelmed by errands and bills and play dates and deadlines and day jobs and planning dinner and who knows what else, it's easy to be envious of the beautiful, lithe creature whose greatest dilemma is whether to swim with dolphins or lure humans into the water.

Mystery...
We humans run rampant over our domain, the land, but when it comes to the ocean we are like the kid outside the candy store with our noses pressed up to the glass. Sure, we might get to go in every once in a while, but we'll never really know what it feels like to live there. Mermaids, on the other hand, can explore every square meter of the oceans, from the deepest, darkest trenches to clearest crystal beaches. We can never hope to understand or even see every mystery the ocean keeps.

Magic...
The very existence of a mermaid is a result of magic. No other means could create a being that is half fish and half human. So when we look at a mermaid, we see a creature born of magic, full of magic, and in possession of magic. Their ability to change forms, to shed their tailfin in favor of human legs, means they could be walking among us right now and we'd never know. Don't we all wish the reverse were also true, that, with a little dust of magic, we could shed our human legs and dive into the sea, breathe water, and swim ... everywhere?

So, how about you? Have you ever had the mermaid fantasy? Did you dream of swimming off into the sunset with a hunky merman? Or am I the only one who, still to this day, fantasizes about a magical mer kiss that will grant me the powers of the sea? It's okay, you can tell me.

To celebrate the doubled launch of the Supernatural Underground (aka the awesomeness that is this blog) and Forgive My Fins, I'm giving away a collection of my books. That's signed copies of Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp and the brand new Forgive My Fins!

You can earn up to five (5) entries. Here's how:

+1 comment about mermaids
+1 tweet, facebook or blog a link to this post
+1 follow us on twitter
+1 follow this blog
+1 like our facebook page

(This contest is open to US/Canada.) Now, add up your entries and post the total!

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds