I don't know if "Beta Reader" is any kind of official term, but I picked it up from one one my writer's groups. It refers to those folks who read your stuff as you're writing or critique your first (and twentieth) draft. Some of them are more helpful than others. Would you like to be a more helpful beta reader? Or just more helpful in general?
1. If you suggest a change and it doesn't happen, don't take it personally. One of my Betas is easily confused, but if none of the others are, I usually leave things as they are. Sometimes I want you to figure out what's going on and sometimes the missing information is a given to most.
2. Don't make ridiculous demands. I once had a Beta refuse to read my story as long as I had a character named Aurora. She has the right to not read something she objects to. I don't Beta-read erotica for that very reason. But over a character's name?
3. Offer your ideas. What do you think will happen? What do you hope will happen? You might even inspire the writer. But, again, don't take it personally if you suggest Bill marry Janet and the story doesn't go there.
4. Grammar and spelling are important. I want you to tell me if my characters are shooting peasants instead of pheasants. One of my Betas caught a hilarious oops in a recent chapter, one I had to fix even though it was in dialogue (where the rules may not apply). My first draft of Seventh Son had a character telling his son "Don't eat with your mouth full".
5. You don't have to read to help. My nephew is waiting until I'm published to read me (This is where you ignore the fact that I'm terrified to submit my manuscripts), but he lets me bounce ideas off him. He was the one that made me realize that Juanita should keep her maiden name.
6. Be specific. Don't tell me you dislike a character and leave it at that. Why do you not like him? I might be failing to present the character correctly.
7. Help with research. I go to the people around me with all kinds of weird questions and they've learned to not even ask why. If your writer friend finds a plot point is based on faulty research, as I recently did, suggest a fix.
8. Put up with their weirdness. Even if it's just a hobby, it's a part of your friend.
Class dismissed.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Tony Hillerman (and Anne)
I just finished re-reading the entire Navajo Tribal Police series. I happened across these books because I forgot to send in the little card for Book of The Month club and got Talking God as the monthly selection. Later, when serving as the primary caregiver for my grandmother, I found Coyote Waits in one of those Reader's Digest things that have three or four books in one volume.
After discovering there was more than one book with these guys in them, I started reading and collecting Tony Hillerman. His other fiction, the non-NTP books, I didn't care for. For me a likable protagonist is a must, and his other books just didn't have that. The Boy Who Made Dragonfly and The Great Taos Bank Robbery have a place on my shelf, but my real love is the Chee/Leaphorn books.
As Tony got older and sicker, the quality of his writing fell. This wasn't helped by the fact that his editors apparently just ran his stuff through a spell-check. So we have things like Leaphorn working alone in his office and suddenly Chee jumps up and gets into the filing cabinet. The use of a helicopter with radiation CENSORS in an investigation. And the punctuation! Ye Gods!
His last book was apparently an older draft, intended to be used much earlier in the series. Leaphorn went from being ten years retired to being newly retired (like less than a year) and his "new" lady friend had been around for several years as well. The only timeline issue fixed was the identity of Chee's bride. Someone did catch that Chee had upgraded from Janet to Bernie.
Then Tony died. The end, right?
Wrong. His daughter Anne has picked up the reins! Chee and Bernie were just back from their honeymoon in Tony's last book and by this time they're a couple years married. Anne writes like a Hillerman - the characters are just as likable as ever, the setting as well drawn, and the mystery complex but not mind-bending. She clearly loves these characters as much as her daddy did. There is a subtle difference, since Anne is female and a different generation.
The second Anne NTP book is due out in May. I can't wait.
After discovering there was more than one book with these guys in them, I started reading and collecting Tony Hillerman. His other fiction, the non-NTP books, I didn't care for. For me a likable protagonist is a must, and his other books just didn't have that. The Boy Who Made Dragonfly and The Great Taos Bank Robbery have a place on my shelf, but my real love is the Chee/Leaphorn books.
As Tony got older and sicker, the quality of his writing fell. This wasn't helped by the fact that his editors apparently just ran his stuff through a spell-check. So we have things like Leaphorn working alone in his office and suddenly Chee jumps up and gets into the filing cabinet. The use of a helicopter with radiation CENSORS in an investigation. And the punctuation! Ye Gods!
His last book was apparently an older draft, intended to be used much earlier in the series. Leaphorn went from being ten years retired to being newly retired (like less than a year) and his "new" lady friend had been around for several years as well. The only timeline issue fixed was the identity of Chee's bride. Someone did catch that Chee had upgraded from Janet to Bernie.
Then Tony died. The end, right?
Wrong. His daughter Anne has picked up the reins! Chee and Bernie were just back from their honeymoon in Tony's last book and by this time they're a couple years married. Anne writes like a Hillerman - the characters are just as likable as ever, the setting as well drawn, and the mystery complex but not mind-bending. She clearly loves these characters as much as her daddy did. There is a subtle difference, since Anne is female and a different generation.
The second Anne NTP book is due out in May. I can't wait.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Bad Business
A lot of yelling going on about a state law that lets business owners refuse service based on their religious beliefs. I do not have a problem with said law. If a business owner wants to shoot himself in the foot by doing this, I say let them.
Most of the yelling is being done about gays, and I have little doubt that gay rights was the catalyst for this law, but they are not the only ones being turned away by stupid businessmen.
If I own a bakery, for example, I could refuse service to couples who want a cake to celebrate the big day that they move in together. I could refuse to make a baby shower cake on the grounds that the parents are not married. I could even refuse service to a woman wearing make-up.
What if I own a reception hall? If you want to host an AfterProm, I can turn you away because I believe dancing is sinful. A wedding party for a mixed-race or mixed-religion couple? My faith teaches not to "yoke an ox with an ass". Maybe I refuse your little one's Miss Piggy themed party because pork is unclean.
Now what happens? Whoever I refused service to is offended and the people who love them are offended. Word of mouth is the most effective way to get, or lose, business. This is 2015 and people no longer shrug these things off. People not only react, they react on a global scale. I could post on Facebook that a local business had turned me out (for any reason) and people in Japan would know instantly.
I support the right of a business owner to shot himself in the foot. With a bazooka if he so chooses.
Most of the yelling is being done about gays, and I have little doubt that gay rights was the catalyst for this law, but they are not the only ones being turned away by stupid businessmen.
If I own a bakery, for example, I could refuse service to couples who want a cake to celebrate the big day that they move in together. I could refuse to make a baby shower cake on the grounds that the parents are not married. I could even refuse service to a woman wearing make-up.
What if I own a reception hall? If you want to host an AfterProm, I can turn you away because I believe dancing is sinful. A wedding party for a mixed-race or mixed-religion couple? My faith teaches not to "yoke an ox with an ass". Maybe I refuse your little one's Miss Piggy themed party because pork is unclean.
Now what happens? Whoever I refused service to is offended and the people who love them are offended. Word of mouth is the most effective way to get, or lose, business. This is 2015 and people no longer shrug these things off. People not only react, they react on a global scale. I could post on Facebook that a local business had turned me out (for any reason) and people in Japan would know instantly.
I support the right of a business owner to shot himself in the foot. With a bazooka if he so chooses.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Holidays and Holy Days
It happens every year. Twice a year, to be exact. The first time is in and around December and the second is during Spring. The Christians allow the media to get them all fired up about The War On Christmas and then, to a lesser degree, The War On Easter. Godless Heathens everywhere are out to get these holiest of days.
What the Christians don't realize and the media isn't telling them is simple. These Holiest of Days belonged to the Heathens first, but not Godless ones. These Heathens had their own Gods and the early Christian Church, in an effort to usurp those Gods, adopted the ceremonial occasions. Long before it was the birthday of Jesus, December 25 was Saturnalia. Most of the trappings of Christmas come from various traditions connected to pagan worship.
The same goes for Easter - the name of which is actually derived from the name of a Heathen Goddess. The bunny, the eggs... guess what Gods they honored originally?
I take no issue with any faith's Holy Days. I even celebrate a Secular Christmas and I embrace Easter as a celebration of Spring. The Holy Days of another faith do us no harm. The Media's upsetting people just to get ratings, however, harms all of us because it creates problems.
Then we have the Holy Days that have been completely usurped by society in general. Any Catholic will tell you any saint's day is holy. Not as holy as Jesus's days, but holy nonetheless. Yet two of the saint's days have come quite... well, unholy is too strong a word, but hear me out.
St Valentine and St Patrick were great men of amazing faith. Yet most people don't even call February 14 St Valentine's Day. It's Valentine's Day. As in be my. (Actually, many folks think it is Valentimes Day. I even knew someone named Valentine who did that.) No one pauses to think about the martyr to his cause because they are too busy doing things that, quite frankly, he would probably have disapproved of.
And poor ole St Patrick. If people know anything about him, it's simply that he is the patron saint of Ireland. Maybe they know he ran all the snakes out of Ireland, and that he used the shamrock to teach Trinity Doctrine. What does this martyr get? Everyone celebrates the Irish heritage they may or may not have by indulging in, again, behavior the day's namesake frowned upon. Even today, in the society that rails against stereotyping and in which the names of sports teams create heated arguments, the Irish are drunken brawling leprechauns.
The same folks who think I'm out to get Jesus because I say "Season's Greetings" are dressing up like lawn ornaments and getting drunk on green beer. Most of them aren't even still fornicating with this years "Valentime". The same media that's got folks screaming down the street about the War On My Religion is not telling them they are doing the same thing, possibly even to themselves. But I don't blame the media - they're just doing their job. I blame the ones screaming down the street.
What the Christians don't realize and the media isn't telling them is simple. These Holiest of Days belonged to the Heathens first, but not Godless ones. These Heathens had their own Gods and the early Christian Church, in an effort to usurp those Gods, adopted the ceremonial occasions. Long before it was the birthday of Jesus, December 25 was Saturnalia. Most of the trappings of Christmas come from various traditions connected to pagan worship.
The same goes for Easter - the name of which is actually derived from the name of a Heathen Goddess. The bunny, the eggs... guess what Gods they honored originally?
I take no issue with any faith's Holy Days. I even celebrate a Secular Christmas and I embrace Easter as a celebration of Spring. The Holy Days of another faith do us no harm. The Media's upsetting people just to get ratings, however, harms all of us because it creates problems.
Then we have the Holy Days that have been completely usurped by society in general. Any Catholic will tell you any saint's day is holy. Not as holy as Jesus's days, but holy nonetheless. Yet two of the saint's days have come quite... well, unholy is too strong a word, but hear me out.
St Valentine and St Patrick were great men of amazing faith. Yet most people don't even call February 14 St Valentine's Day. It's Valentine's Day. As in be my. (Actually, many folks think it is Valentimes Day. I even knew someone named Valentine who did that.) No one pauses to think about the martyr to his cause because they are too busy doing things that, quite frankly, he would probably have disapproved of.
And poor ole St Patrick. If people know anything about him, it's simply that he is the patron saint of Ireland. Maybe they know he ran all the snakes out of Ireland, and that he used the shamrock to teach Trinity Doctrine. What does this martyr get? Everyone celebrates the Irish heritage they may or may not have by indulging in, again, behavior the day's namesake frowned upon. Even today, in the society that rails against stereotyping and in which the names of sports teams create heated arguments, the Irish are drunken brawling leprechauns.
The same folks who think I'm out to get Jesus because I say "Season's Greetings" are dressing up like lawn ornaments and getting drunk on green beer. Most of them aren't even still fornicating with this years "Valentime". The same media that's got folks screaming down the street about the War On My Religion is not telling them they are doing the same thing, possibly even to themselves. But I don't blame the media - they're just doing their job. I blame the ones screaming down the street.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Blaming The Symptoms
I've blogged about this before, specifically about Barbie and body image, but another case has come to my attention. 50 Shades of Gray is causing unhealthy relationships.
Mixed heavily with rants about 50 Shades of Gray are those mourning Lesley Gore. You know Lesley - she sang "Judy's Turn To Cry" and "Maybe I Know". Roughly fifty years ago, these songs were huge hits. For those among my hordes of readers who don't know, let me summarize. "It's My Party" tells us about how, at Lesley's party, Johnny dumps her for Judy and she has to explain why she's crying. "Judy's Turn To Cry" tells us about how Lesley gets Johnny back - she kisses another guy and Johnny hits him. The entire song "Maybe I know" can be summed up with the lines "Maybe I know that he's been a-cheatin' but what can I do".
"I Love Lucy" was a hilarious show about a woman's misadventures, largely caused by her stark terror of her husband. "The Honeymooners" featured a man threatening his verbally abusive wife with violence. "Xena: Warrior Princess" has Xena keeping her magically conceived child (her partner Gabrielle blithely assumes that Hercules was the father) just a couple years after ordering Gabrielle to kill HER magically conceived child. "The Walking Dead" featured Lori, who only had a backbone when defending her husband/marriage. I've heard that the "Twilight" relationship is less than healthy, but having not read/seen more than the first book/movie, I really can't say.
A popular meme about 50 Shades is "Women don't watch porn, but they read the hell out of it". This isn't news - women have always read porn in the form of The Bodice Ripper. Historical romance, thus the woman is wearing a bodice, which the man rips off of her. Rips. Usually to her protests. But that's okay, because she eventually becomes overwhelmed with desire. She gets grabbed against her will, has her clothes ripped off, and then gets turned on. "Gone With The Wind" features marital rape in the same vein.
So don't tell me 50 Shades of Gray is gonna cause unhealthy relationships. If anything, the opposite is true.
Mixed heavily with rants about 50 Shades of Gray are those mourning Lesley Gore. You know Lesley - she sang "Judy's Turn To Cry" and "Maybe I Know". Roughly fifty years ago, these songs were huge hits. For those among my hordes of readers who don't know, let me summarize. "It's My Party" tells us about how, at Lesley's party, Johnny dumps her for Judy and she has to explain why she's crying. "Judy's Turn To Cry" tells us about how Lesley gets Johnny back - she kisses another guy and Johnny hits him. The entire song "Maybe I know" can be summed up with the lines "Maybe I know that he's been a-cheatin' but what can I do".
"I Love Lucy" was a hilarious show about a woman's misadventures, largely caused by her stark terror of her husband. "The Honeymooners" featured a man threatening his verbally abusive wife with violence. "Xena: Warrior Princess" has Xena keeping her magically conceived child (her partner Gabrielle blithely assumes that Hercules was the father) just a couple years after ordering Gabrielle to kill HER magically conceived child. "The Walking Dead" featured Lori, who only had a backbone when defending her husband/marriage. I've heard that the "Twilight" relationship is less than healthy, but having not read/seen more than the first book/movie, I really can't say.
A popular meme about 50 Shades is "Women don't watch porn, but they read the hell out of it". This isn't news - women have always read porn in the form of The Bodice Ripper. Historical romance, thus the woman is wearing a bodice, which the man rips off of her. Rips. Usually to her protests. But that's okay, because she eventually becomes overwhelmed with desire. She gets grabbed against her will, has her clothes ripped off, and then gets turned on. "Gone With The Wind" features marital rape in the same vein.
So don't tell me 50 Shades of Gray is gonna cause unhealthy relationships. If anything, the opposite is true.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Minimum Wage
"Minimum Wage work is for school kids." Even the language of the legislation belies that statement. Look it up if you don't believe me. Read the text of the actual law creating Minimum Wage. Anyone who works forty hours a week should be able to, at the very least, eat and keep a roof overhead.
"You want more pay, get the skills". How can the worker get the skills if he can't even afford gas to drive to work? They should have gotten the training before entering the job market? Sure, that lady ringing you up totally knew she'd end up raising three kids alone. Also, the real world is full of people who do have the skills but are (for various reasons) unable to get a job using said skills. Others lost "better" jobs through no fault of their own.
The one that really galls me is this: The assumption that no one, ever, would do a minimum wage job for the enjoyment of the work. That no one, ever, can simply take pride in an honest day's work. I know from experience that there are freaks out there who actually enjoy providing customer service or doing manual labor. Some people are without a "need to succeed" in the financial sense.
But I don't think raising the Wage is going to fix anything. Because bosses are greedy. If they have to pay more, they will find ways to protect the profits. The worker who was getting 40 hours a week will suddenly be getting 30 or 35 - if that many. Some workers will be fired and not replaced - increasing the workloads for the rest (who are now working fewer hours). Prices will go up.
And people will start calling for an increase in Minimum Wage. It is a vicious cycle. If we do raise the Wage, we need to also prevent the protection of the profit margin. Since God Money dictates all this, maybe employers who don't do that stuff could get a tax break. Or outright fine them if they do raise prices and cut hours.
But we definitely need to get past the thinking that minimum wage earners are somehow wrong for not being doctors or lawyers. We will always need ditch diggers.
"You want more pay, get the skills". How can the worker get the skills if he can't even afford gas to drive to work? They should have gotten the training before entering the job market? Sure, that lady ringing you up totally knew she'd end up raising three kids alone. Also, the real world is full of people who do have the skills but are (for various reasons) unable to get a job using said skills. Others lost "better" jobs through no fault of their own.
The one that really galls me is this: The assumption that no one, ever, would do a minimum wage job for the enjoyment of the work. That no one, ever, can simply take pride in an honest day's work. I know from experience that there are freaks out there who actually enjoy providing customer service or doing manual labor. Some people are without a "need to succeed" in the financial sense.
But I don't think raising the Wage is going to fix anything. Because bosses are greedy. If they have to pay more, they will find ways to protect the profits. The worker who was getting 40 hours a week will suddenly be getting 30 or 35 - if that many. Some workers will be fired and not replaced - increasing the workloads for the rest (who are now working fewer hours). Prices will go up.
And people will start calling for an increase in Minimum Wage. It is a vicious cycle. If we do raise the Wage, we need to also prevent the protection of the profit margin. Since God Money dictates all this, maybe employers who don't do that stuff could get a tax break. Or outright fine them if they do raise prices and cut hours.
But we definitely need to get past the thinking that minimum wage earners are somehow wrong for not being doctors or lawyers. We will always need ditch diggers.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Identifying With The Bad Guy
What does it say about me that I so often identify with the bad guy? The first time I noticed doing this, it was Aileen Wournos. (I may have spelled that name wrong.) A real honest-to-god serial killer. I find it happens a lot - particularly when watching stuff like Criminal Minds.
It scares me. It's bad enough that I'm a danger to myself and the occasional touch-screen cash register. I know on an intellectual level that I'm not like them, but that's no help when a person turns to violence because they've been abused, used, or simply ignored and I totally understand.
I don't want to hurt anyone, not even those who have hurt me. At least not to that degree - I have no desire to hospitalize or kill, but a slap up side the head might be okay. I am terrified of becoming angry, of lashing out either physically or verbally.
Some folks roll their eyes at my joking about being a psycho, but it's really a defense mechanism. I'm whistling past the graveyard. I've learned lots of ways to deal with my issues, some more effective than others, but nothing can touch this fear.
It scares me. It's bad enough that I'm a danger to myself and the occasional touch-screen cash register. I know on an intellectual level that I'm not like them, but that's no help when a person turns to violence because they've been abused, used, or simply ignored and I totally understand.
I don't want to hurt anyone, not even those who have hurt me. At least not to that degree - I have no desire to hospitalize or kill, but a slap up side the head might be okay. I am terrified of becoming angry, of lashing out either physically or verbally.
Some folks roll their eyes at my joking about being a psycho, but it's really a defense mechanism. I'm whistling past the graveyard. I've learned lots of ways to deal with my issues, some more effective than others, but nothing can touch this fear.
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