Early Readers

Harking back to one of my previous blogs, I recently learned that one of my ten-year-old grandsons has started reading Judgment on Tartarus and has joined the crew of Astrella! His mother, my daughter, read the book first and okayed it for him. This boy loves to read!  He's one of those who doesn't want to go to bed if he's reading.

One of my goals is to encourage readers to explore their own creativity, whatever form it takes, and it's never too young to start. From a very early age I drew or wrote on every scrap of paper I could get my hands on---brown paper bags, old envelopes---everything! I made up poems and songs and stories. I play-acted with my dolls and paper dolls.

And I read books like they were going out of style ( which I hope they are not! ) I read every single book in the children's section of the local library, then started on the adult section. I read my favorites over and over again. My love of books led me to write my first complete novel at the age of eleven. I typed it out with one finger on an old manual typewriter. Yes, Virginia, those were the days before computers and laptops!

That first novel, as rudimentary as it was, led to a fascination with writing and a love of the Spanish language---which I went on to study in High School. (My Spanish is a bit rusty now, que lastima! ) But both reading and writing have enriched my life in untold ways, and, I hope, always will.

Keep on reading!

MRTighe

Freaky Word Day!

Every now and then I allow myself to become discouraged ( don't we all? ). What I tend to get discouraged about is whether or not I should be writing what I'm writing. I tend to second-guess myself and often find myself debating over a particular word or phrase. And it's absolutely freaky how many times I've been thinking like that when, out of the blue, I hear the very word---or even the entire phrase!---suddenly spoken aloud.  Sometimes the voice comes from the TV or the music I'm listening to as I write, or sometimes it comes from someone in the room who's paying no attention to me. It's as though someone somewhere is on the same wavelength and encouraging me not to change my wording!

This has happened to me fairly frequently and always gives me a little jolt, like electricity running through me! Now don't get me wrong---I do not believe that every word I write is perfect or even correct. I double check things like that constantly because it's so easy to make a mistake. No, this phenomenon usually occurs when I'm questioning whether what I'm writing is appropriate or even worthwhile. Instinctively, I can't help but take these occurences as some kind of affirmation that I'm writing what I should be writing.

Sounds crazy, I know, but so far my readers seem to believe that, too!

MRTighe

A Voyage Into the Unknown

The start of any new venture can lead to butterflies in the stomach. Publishing a new book is no different. It can be one heck of a scary proposition! After investing so much time and effort ( aka blood, sweat, and tears---yes, real tears; the blood, not so much, thank goodness! ) publishing your work feels a bit like being swept away in a madly-rushing stream---no idea how far you'll be swept or what your ultimate destination will be. Scary, but exciting at the same time!

I am trying to keep both feet planted firmly on the earth---though my head is in outer space a good deal of the time! Most of what happens isn't under my control. I just have to let it play out as I hope for the best. I have high hopes for my next book, True Son of Tartarus, but I remember how nervous I was when I sent out Judgment on Tartaus. So far that book has exceeded my expectations.

Right now I'm concentrating on getting True Son through the publishing process and continuing to write the best stories I can, honing my skills, and just plugging away. The biggest up-side for me is that I'm having loads of fun! Would I still write if I didn't enjoy it? Maybe not. I believe in doing what you love to do, particularly should you find that you're good at it.

So, whatever your passion is, don't hold your creativity back. Give it a go!

MRTighe

Resisting Temptation

Some of the best advice I can give young ( and not-so-young ) writers is: don't throw out your work! There's always a temptation to toss the less-than-successful stuff you write. Refrain! Many, many times I've gone back over rough drafts, some of them written years ago, and discovered that I actually had something there. Not a finished product, of course, but the germ of an idea, something I could work with, rewrite, revise, or perhaps incorporate into another piece of writing or even into another form.

I think this rule applies to most art forms, whether painting, sculpting, music, or whatever. I can't tell you how many times I was sorely tempted to toss out every shred of Judgment on Tartarus and just forget it. But I held onto it, revised it, labored over it, until it reached its final form. In its first form it was, of course, unpublishable, and that was mighty discouraging. But looking back on the history of Judgment, I can only think there was a good reason for such a doggone long delay in getting it published. Had it been published when I first sent it off to a publisher, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good a book as it is now. And I probably would never have written the rest of the trilogy: True Son of Tartarus and Ransom of Tartarus or they simply wouldn't be the books they are developing into today.

All for now,

MRTighe

Male Domination

Hi, all!

More thoughts on the world of science fiction writing. For many years in the last century, male writers overwhelmingly dominated the science fiction and fantasy field. And you can understand why most women weren't exactly thrilled with some of their work. A few female writers resorted to taking male pseudonyms in order for their writing to be published and accepted in their field. ( Andre Norton, for instance. )

Fortunately, these days there are many more female writers of science fiction and fantasy. Some obviously do write for a mainly female audience. And some write for a more inclusive audience; Barbara Hambly comes to mind. Her work appeals to both men and women equally, I believe. ( I especially enjoyed her vampire novel Those Who Hunt the Night. )

I belong to an organization called Broad Universe which encourages women to write in the SFF and horror genres and promotes their work. If you are interested, look up their website www,broaduniverse.org. Although I attempt to appeal to both male and female readers, I must admit that the majority of my characters are male. And the women in my books have to learn to deal with that issue: they are still "outsiders" in male-dominated worlds! My female characters are strong--or learn to be strong!--in order to survive.

How successful my attempts are remains to be seen, but I am hopeful that I've succeeded!

All for now,

MRTighe

Do I Write Short Stories?

To answer that question honestly-- yes, I've written a few. And there are a couple I'm rather fond of. But all in all, I'm just too dang long-winded to be an accomplished short story writer, which is why I write novels. First of all, it takes me a really long time to come up with an idea that's worth investing months, even years, of my life sweating over. And it takes an even longer time to develop that idea into a story I'm happy with.

It takes me many pages to flesh out a plot and develop characters; I like to take my time to get to know them in depth--their back-history, their flaws, their speech patterns, etc. Then as I go on I develop the settings as background for the action, though I usually have at least a vague sense of the background to start with.. I just can't seem to do all this in a few short pages! More power to those writers who can--I rather envy them!

All for now. Take care,

MRTighe