The Casual Blogger

Heyyyy there.

It's been a while. But it's a new year, a much less INSANE year, and I'm feeling like it's time to blow the dust off the old blog.

I'm also going to try to post about more little things instead of waiting a month and writing like, a magazine article. I vow to post about smaller things! More frequent things! Things I can write in the morning (12:06 is totally the morning in my book) when my cat Betsy, happy and full of her morning kibble, conks out on my lap and is too distractingly heavy and adorable for me to do anything more important.

Thought for the day: I just went to the calendar store this week and got my 2013 calendar 50% off. You never know what you'll get, if you wait until after the new year, but I have to say this year might be one of my favorites EVER. Vintage sheet music.

Some of the images are just the BEST, like this month it is an image of an ice palace for the "Ice Palace March-Twostep".

What's on your calendar this year?

Hey all!

A quick reminder that on Saturday the 15th I'll be at the Alexandria Story Festival in Alexandria, VA with the supremely awesome Tiffany Trent! And Mary Amato, whom I have been assured is also awesome and I'm looking forward to meeting. We'll be on from 12:00-12:30 and there's also a great raffle. Fun for all ages!

And it seems we finally have a new official super-awesome title for Dark Metropolis! Only I don't have the 100% go-ahead to share it yet. But soon...more soon...

Will there be a third Magic Under Glass book?

Oh, dear, it's been a long time since I blogged. (Uh-oh, that earworm from earlier in the week is back..."It's been a long time, been a long time... Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time...") But better infrequent than never, I suppose.

By far, lately, the most common hits to my blog and website, and the fan mail I get, all revolves around one question (or rather, variants to this question):
--Will there be another Magic Under Glass book?
--Will there be a sequel to Between the Sea and Sky?
--What is Jaclyn Dolamore's next book?

So, let me address these questions so those of you looking on Google can find the answers.

Will there be another Magic Under Glass book?

Probably not, to be honest. My publisher asked me to wrap it up with Magic Under Stone and so I did. Yes, the ending is not entirely conclusive--but that is mostly because a conclusive ending didn't feel right to me. I know that Erris and Nimira probably have very exciting lives for their entire existence. They are, after all, going to come into a rather troubled kingdom. I didn't want to try and tie that all up with a bow. Apologies to those who like endings tied up very neatly. (Readers are very split on this regard anyway, I've found.)

The best way to keep a series going is to buy the books. I know this is frustrating, of course, because many of you who want more of the books DID buy the books, and of course you can't be singularly responsible for making the rest of the world buy the books either! I'm sure my editor would have loved more books about Erris and Nimira too.

It is possible that at some point another Erris and Nimira story will burn in my mind and I will have to write it. Maybe a novella or something. I could self-publish this myself. But it would take time away from projects that pay the bills, so it would really have to be a labor of love. I have a lot of stories I want to write for pure love and I'm not sure what the chances are I'll get to this one. But most likely I have many many years left on this planet, so...never say never.

Will there be a sequel to Between the Sea and Sky?

I get this question too, which just goes to show that some readers are never satisfied even if an ending is closer to happily ever after! I see Esmerine and Alan having a relatively calm, happy life. They will probably run the bookstore and see the rise of easier and easier printing methods and more and more literacy and books! It will be a grand time for them. I don't think they'll have any children because of the species conflict, but Swift will be a sort of apprentice and maybe eventual partner.

I do think frequently of a story about Alan's sister Karinda when she gets older, though. I might end up jotting that one down in my spare time and you may see it someday.

What is Jaclyn Dolamore's next book?

Why, if you didn't know, it is called Dark Metropolis, FOR NOW (title will probably change) and it's set in a lush, dark world of magic, art, and politics, nightclubs and decadence, based loosely on Weimar (1920s) Berlin. When Thea's best friend goes missing, she finds that not everyone who dies in the city stays dead... And yes, it is kind of a zombie novel, but you know I wouldn't write a zombie novel unless I could think of a reasonably fresh take on it! It comes out in Fall 2013. I know, this is forever from now, but I have little to do with publishing schedules!

Writing/revising thoughts gleaned from latest manuscript.

Every book I write is sort of a self-inflicted class on how to write a book. Every time i have new insights as to what I'm doing wrong and how to improve it. Sometimes I am just banging my head against a wall, but then when I have a new insight, it's such a magical moment, I feel like I can almost see a message appear above my head: "You've gained a level! Subtlety +1! Character Development +2!"

So here's a few things I've been learning lately.

First, here is a tip from my Twitter, a couple of people seemed to like it, so I'll mention it here too. For giving quick life to minor characters (you know, like "waiter" or "girl on street") keep some books of portrait photography in your library. While writing my Weimar Berlin-ish world I've been obsessed with the brilliant works of German photographer August Sander. He photographed people of all classes and professions. I couldn't afford the complete seven-volume set of his work but I bought a pretty decent collection and it's so great to just pull it off the shelf and immediately flip to bohemians or old farmers or whatever.

Thought #2:
Sometimes it isn't that you don't know the character well enough, it's that you've given them the wrong thing to do. I've been realizing with the Dark Metropolis sequel just how important it is to give characters scenarios in which their most interesting self can shine. In draft #1 I had theoretically interesting scenarios, but they weren't the right ones for some of the characters. My protagonist Thea is a slightly religious girl and she wants to turn to her religion for comfort but she is also questioning her faith. In the first draft, she met a character of a different religion and reacted judgmentally to him. This was true to her character, because right now she's freaking out as she deals with a lot of big thoughts. But it also made her seem narrow-minded and unappealing. I switched her circumstances around to where she was in a position of strife, trying to turn to religion for comfort and butting up against her new, shaken view of the world. Same character, same struggles, but this was a more likable, relatable position for her.

Thought #3:
If your cast has gotten too big all at once, find a way to break them up. At the end of Dark Metropolis I have a lot of people together at once. So as book 2 begins, they're still together, and...they were getting lost. It was like trying to meet characters at a really stressful cocktail party. I found a reason to break them all up again and the story got much better.

Thought #4:
Torture your characters in the book, to the point where even you might be a little uncomfortable. I have often heard advice to not be too nice to your characters, and don't be afraid to do bad things to them. I have always ignored it because I LOVE torturing my characters! Well...or so I thought. I realized I mostly torture them before the book even begins. They all have tragic pasts, and they are still dealing with the ramifications of their pasts, but I realize I rarely do anything shocking to them in the middles of books. Erris = already an automaton. Nimira = already in a low position. Alan = has a secret in his past that has been hindering his happiness. I have never made a huge game-changing tragic thing happen to a character in the middle of a book, although Magic Under Stone was a tad better. So. Gloves are off now, characters. Be warned.

Thought #5:
Characters that have been unloved are a classic of literature. I certainly wouldn't tell you to put away all your downtrodden orphans and whatnot. But I've found that unloved characters often give me a lot of trouble. I had this situation in Magic Under Stone when I wrote Ifra as having a loveless childhood, raised only to serve others as a jinn and accept his fate, but he actually showed up in my dreams and told me, noooo, he had actually been able to spend part of every year with a farm couple who treated him like a son. He drew strength from this throughout the book and it made him a lot less emo and angry and more strong and sympathetic. I realized I'm doing it again with Freddy in this book, and I want to go back and make his relationship with the man who raised him more nuanced. Good thing I still have a revision pass to go on book 1!

On not being famous.

I have a confession to make.

My name is Jaclyn Dolamore and I am not famous. I have never greeted a screaming hoard of fans at BEA. My email is manageable (or when it isn't, it sadly has nothing to do with being overwhelmed with adoration and inquiries from foreign publishers). I have a curious dream of being mentioned in PW Children's Bookshelf and this dream remains unfulfilled. I'm fairly sure my royalty statement for Magic Under Stone, when it comes, might just be a piece of paper with a big sad face on it.

The thing is--this could all change. By next year things could be different. I have a new book with a new publisher that I'm super excited about. The Magic Under Glass movie could actually be produced and be an indie sensation or something. My career, far from being dead, feels like it's only just beginning.

But right now? You wouldn't know it. Things are pretty quiet around here. My Google Alerts usually just reports my own blog posts to me. Basically, no one is paying attention to me and it is a tiny bit scary, in a way, because I can see how quickly a career can die, three books passing into the mist, picked up occasionally by a child in the library, this moment largely unknown to me. Eventually it would just be an amusing story to tell future acquaintances: "Yeah, once I had some books out, even a movie deal. Check out the Spanish edition. Pretty wild, huh?"

This forgotten place can be a scary one for a writer. Even if, as in this case, I DO have other things lined up. I'd imagine it would be even worse if I didn't.

But I've often seen published authors tell the unpublished the following: "Enjoy this time while you're unpublished. Things will never be the same again."

It's true. They won't. And I found that nothing changed my writing like publication, and not necessarily for the better. I can't say I didn't have fun writing Between the Sea and Sky and Magic Under Stone, but...it wasn't like the old days. Words did not fly from my fingers with joyous abandon. It was 1000 words a day, every day, under deadline, occasionally interrupted by a reworking of portions, and finally, a manuscript turned in on the day it was due. I often took breaks to Google-stalk myself. I watched my Goodreads ratings start out strong when a book was released and then drop and drop (apparently, the nicest reviewers are the quickest, and it's rather downhill from there). For me, the worst part was not nasty reviews. It was general apathy. It was the 3.52 overall rating for a book I loved a lot. It was the reviewers that were fairly nice but made a comment that hit a little too close to my own perceived weaknesses. It was the tormenting thoughts of "Maybe I am only a three and a half star writer." It was the circles in my mind of "Maybe if my tweets had just been funnier" or "Maybe if I was better at remembering book blogger's names..."

I tried to block out these feelings. I tried to block out the review websites too. But it trickles in. And sometimes it made me angry, even though there wasn't really anything specific to be angry at...except, perhaps, my own human folly, for wanting publication and validation so badly and then flailing when I actually got it. The innocence and sheer joy of writing in my teens and early twenties was gone and even with all the new joys publication brought (and I don't want to sound too mopey, there are MANY), a part of me was simply wrenched by the loss.

A funny thing has happened to me this year. I'm once again under contract and under deadline, but it feels different this time... It feels oddly free. I am just writing, not worrying about what my new editor will think of book 2. I'm not really worrying about what ANYONE thinks, at least, not much. I'm wondering if I'd be able to manage this if I was getting a lot of attention for my current books. Even positive attention has a definite effect. It's motivating, yes, but it's also distracting--like trying to write while having a buzz. There is no telling, now, if this feeling will remain after Dark Metropolis comes out. Maybe I've changed for good, by having gone through three books already and the whirlwind of highs and lows that comes along with them. But I know it's possible that I'll be distracted again. And I have a feeling that the more successful future books are, the more I will have to battle against this sense of distraction.

So, just like I would advise an unpublished writer, but with even more awareness of what I speak, I'm cherishing this time out of the spotlight. I'm reveling in the quiet and clutching my characters and worlds close, keeping them largely to myself and enjoying them immensely. I am grateful, in fact, for this time, for this chance to remember what writing means to me, and for me, and not for anyone else. I spent the week of BEA sitting quietly in my office, pounding out words, thrilled and excited by the way my new novel is clicking. Sometimes I forget for a moment, that this is what being a writer is really all about. Not reviews, appearances, fan mail, retreats, covers, foreign rights, movie deals, tweeting, blogging, Facebook fan pages, websites. None of that.

Just a girl.
Her computer.
And a story that makes her glad she is human, even though being human is hard, because humans can tell stories.

(Though next year's BEA, I hope to be there or be square. ^_~)

Between the Sea and Sky playlist

A little while ago someone asked if I had a playlist for Between the Sea and Sky!

So I made one at playlist.com:


I can't seem to get the player to appear embedded, sorry...


But of course, playlist.com is limited, so I must tell you that if there is ONE SONG that sums up Between the Sea and Sky, it is Oka no Machi from the Whisper of the Heart soundtrack:





Other omissions include:
Atreju Meets Falkor--The Neverending Story Soundtrack
Flying High/End Title--The Secret of NIMH Soundtrack
Main Title--The Emma Soundtrack


I also had to make a few substitutions for playlist.com. I listened to a LOT of Italian mandolin music (yes, the same CD played in what was then my local pizza restaurant, I noticed...funiculi, funicula!) and they didn't have any of that available so I substituted a Sicilian tango... And the song from Laputa would be better as an orchestral instrumental.


But. It's something.


As you can see, I had a very soundtracky soundtrack for this book. And when it was done, I was dying to rock out. But I had to get to work on Magic Under Stone...I'll try to share a playlist for that one soon too!

All About Blurbs

So, in the past week or two I was asked to blurb THREE BOOKS...like, literally, one a day for three days in a row, which made me feel like the most popular person in the universe (okay, not really, but it was flattering) and also made me think perhaps I should do a post on blurbs, because they are a part of publishing that, well, can still take me a bit off guard.


What is a blurb?
A blurb is, of course, those wonderful compliments that appear on many book jackets that say things like: "Swoony romance and a strong heroine, this novel has it all"--Famous Person

How do you get blurbs for your book?
Sometimes your editor or your agent will solicit blurbs for you. Other times, you will be asked to get blurbs yourself. With Magic Under Glass I had a little of both, but the blurb we got was one that I asked for, from the lovely Carrie Ryan. It is a terribly awkward position, to have to ask author friends and acquaintances you admire to take the time to read your book, but if you've chosen well, they will probably be delighted to have an early read and a chance to help you out, or deeply and genuinely sorry if they're too swamped or the book doesn't quite click for them.

How do agents/editors/authors decide who to ask for blurbs?
Usually people will ask you to blurb books that seem like a good fit--that are kind of like your book. I've been asked to blurb books that mostly either have a fairy tale bent of sorts, and/or a strong non-white protagonist...Zoe Marriott's Shadows on the Moon, for example, was a book I blurbed that had both. Shadows on the Moon was actually a book Zoe sent me in ARC form (we traded ARCs) and after I wrote a rave review on my blog she asked if I'd blurb it. I was happy to, since I only review things that are a strong 4-star or 5-star read for me, but it is a reminder for published authors that you shouldn't write flattering reviews of books just to be nice because you might end up being asked to blurb and you don't want to have to say, "Er...well...actually...I didn't like it THAT much" or endorse a book you don't really love.

There is also an author hierarchy of blurbs, of course. Editors don't want to launch a book they think will be "the next big thing" with a blurb on it from an author no one's even heard of. At this stage in my life it's unlikely I'd be asked to blurb anything purchased for hundreds of thousands of dollars with a marketing budget to match. I have been asked to blurb some books that have probably gotten more hype than mine, though. This happens. You just don't want HUGE disparity.

As a published author, when will I be asked to blurb something?
If you're a much-hyped debut author you may be asked to blurb someone else's book before yours is even out. But chances are it will come later. You don't have to be a bestseller or anything. But if you've never been asked to blurb anything, it doesn't mean you are an unpopular failure. Many of my requests for blurbs have come from being with a rather large, children's book oriented agency, so if you have a solo agent you might not get as many, I suspect.

As a published author, is there a benefit for my career in blurbing a book?
Besides the obvious goodwill you build with the author you've blurbed, there certainly can be personal benefit in blurbing a book. Some readers might pick up your book because they saw your name on the cover of a book they liked. And perhaps most directly, if you love a book an editor has worked on and you write them a genuinely gushing email that "yes, I would LOVE to blurb this book, ohmigod, it is SO GOOD, I was up all night reading it, IS THERE A SEQUEL?", the next time your agent has a book of yours to shop, she might send it to that editor and that editor is likely to remember you fondly.

What do blurbs do?
I'm not really sure. I've been told that booksellers like them. I think there is a certainly undeniable subconscious psychological impact from seeing words of praise on a book's cover. As a kid, WHO was writing a blurb meant nothing to me. The content of the blurb didn't mean much either, unless it implied romance. When I was young, the YA genre as we know it didn't exist and it could actually be quite hard to find books that had romance in them but not sex scenes (which, to this day, make me laugh more than they turn me on 90% of the time). I spent hours, cumulatively, at the library scanning jacket flaps for books that looked romantic. Especially for boys in somewhat tortured circumstances. Teen me would have been soooo happy nowadays.

Do blurbs do anything for you?

How do you write a good blurb?
The first time I was asked to write a blurb I struggled mightily, because no one gives you instructions on a good blurb. There are no books or websites or Miss Snark for blurb writers, critiquing and analyzing what makes a blurb good. I will tell you that almost everything you write will sound stupid and about as familiar as the formula for a movie trailer. There are only so many ways you can say "this story made me cheer!" or "heartfelt/captivating/romantic/beautiful etc. and haunting/riveting/hilarious/smart etc., this story will stay with me long after the pages are shut" or whatever.

I still have no idea, really, what makes for a "good" blurb and how to write one. Ideas welcome!

That's all I can think of. If you have any other questions about blurbs, shoot!