Month: July 2015

Written Review: Summoner: Novice

Published by Jessica on July 28, 2015

As much as I love Amazon, I have been having problems with them for quite awhile. My reviews keep vanishing, particularly for indie books (but not just indie books). And when I have tried to get them reinstated, they insist that I know the author and thus that invalidates my review. I have been trying to get this fixed for awhile, but I’ve decided that my reviews will now focus primarily on my blog. That doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying. I know that Amazon reviews, in particular, are gold for the authors.

So to all my author friends, my apologies for the delay. I have posted Amazon reviews for many of you, but of the 80 reviews I wrote for this year alone, the vast majority have vanished. (I suspect it may be because, starting in January, I started putting disclaimers of potential biases relevant to the book

So I’ll start trotting these reviews back out now, thank you very much. And we are going to start with a written review of Taran Matharu’s Summoner Novice. Now I already reviewed this one on Talk Story to Me, but I promised a written one. Let’s prepare to dig a little deeper.

Short Summary of Review

A well crafted fast fantasy epic that is easy to read and perfect for young middle grade and older. High rereadable and great for reading aloud.

Disclosure of Potential Biases

I met Taran Matharu through Wattpad before his novel was accepted for publication, and I consider him one of my writing friends. However, as my friends will tell you, that doesn’t mean I love everything they do. Also he sent me an ARC for a fair and unbiased review.

Additional biases: I love fantasy.

Added perspective: the other copy I bought has vanished from my home. My teens and tutees keep borrowing it, and so far they all love it.

World Building

Fantasy is becoming an increasingly difficult genre to write in, at least if you go by what the critics have to say. One of the most common complaints I hear is “oh, heavens, look, another book with witches, werewolves, vampires, sorcerers, elves, dwarves,” or whatever else. Allow me to get something off my chest right here and now: that is not going to change. Whining about it and pretending that authors who do use these elements are somehow lazy is misguided. You don’t have to like it, but that doesn’t mean that the author failed or that there’s something wrong with using classic fantasy races.

What matters is how the story is told and whether the reader wants to keep going. So Taran isn’t going to get any markdowns from me because this book features orcs, elves, dwarves, and so on. In fact some of the twists and developments work because the reader is familiar with the common stereotypes and tropes associated with these races. It’s an easy starting point. Young readers, in particular, or those readers who don’t have a lot of time to invest in a lot of new knowledge, have a cheat sheet if you will.

Let’s take the dwarves for example. Many of the core elements of the dwarves remain in place. They are short, stout, and fiery tempered. They work with metal, and they are secretive. But the dwarves in Summoner: Novice are quite distinct from dwarves in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings. Taran Matharu has his own reasons for why dwarf women are rarely seen, and the dwarves themselves have a complex culture and even a heavily spiritual focus. The customs and interplay of culture take something quite familiar and gradually alters the reader’s perception of it. The dwarves are my favorite culture represented so far, though the series is not yet finished. In future books, I hope to see the elves, orcs, and other races developed more.

Good Guys

Not only is Othello one of my favorite Shakespearen plays, but he is also my favorite character in Summoner: Novice. Othello is brave but calm and steadfast. He also demonstrates the importance of growth and handling conflict in an appropriate manner.

Minor Spoiler: throughout the book, we see Othello has conflict with his brother, Attila. He loves his brother. Because they are identical twins, he gets the same tattoos and markings as Attila to ensure that they cannot be told apart. Dwarves are frequently targeted, and racism worse than pre Civil Rights movement in the United States for people like the dwarves. Attila makes a number of bad choices, and he relies, to a certain extent, on Othello covering for him. Eventually that comes to a head, and Othello has to decide whether to keep covering for his brother.

Fletcher, the main character, is a fairly typical fantasy protagonist. But, as with the dwarves, I found the familiarity was used to keep the reader comfortable while drawing in more and more details. Fletcher grows as an individual, but more importantly, Taran Matharu subtly explores the concept of the “other” in this far better than in most. Fletcher does not fit into his community. He is an easy target because he is clearly different. And, while he makes friends when he leaves, he never fully escapes that.

In an interview, Taran Matharu discusses how his own experiences with racism and bullying shaped this novel. I see this coming through most clearly with Fletcher and Othello. In fact, their friendship, which develops swiftly, seems to be based on this shared understanding, though it is not explicitly discussed. Fletcher doesn’t try to equate what he has experienced with what Othello has endured, and several scenes would, in my opinion, be quite good for initiating discussions with younger students about racism, its impacts, and cultural structures.

Minor Spoiler: One of the things I appreciated is that while Fletcher is more powerful than the average commoner who has summoning abilities, he is not the most powerful student. He still has room for growth, and he struggles at various points. In fact, he strikes me as being a largely B level student.

Bad Guys

So, villains are so often crucial for me. The villains in this case are pretty stock. Various baddies show up, and they are generic. You identify them. It’s not surprising who they are. And Taran Matharu doesn’t put in any twists here, though, in all fairness, fully developing the villains and making them more sympathetic would have probably unbalanced the story. Plus these villains are the kind of villains you love to hate. Rook, in particular, is absolutely despicable. I swear the man probably eats kittens for breakfast with the dried tears of orphans as his breakfast aperitif.

That didn’t detract from the story for me. I didn’t find myself wanting to know more about Tarquin or Isadora or Rook or any of the others. Sure, they were what you’ve seen before, but sometimes it’s nice to not have to deal with constant shades of grey. Sometimes it’s just nice to know that you can confidently dislike people. There really are terrible people out there. Not every horrible person is a thick wall with a broken heart quivering in a crystal bowl. Plus there are some other characters who are gruff or who are initially misunderstood, and they are more explored. The bad guys are not presented as bad guys just because they were a certain type of person. They earned their baddie badges.

So while the bad guys didn’t stand out for me, they didn’t take away from the story either. I think it was a tradeoff, and a valid one.

Magic

Magic may not be necessary in a fantasy epic, but Taran Matharu brings his own fun twist to the powers in this world. Not everyone has the gift, but those that do can summon demons from the ether. It’s a complex system with rules similar but distinct from Pokemon and Magic. And Taran has added some fun twists that reminded me of modern video games. There’s a lot of familiar and unique faces. Hydras and wendigos show up at points, but there are also unique ones known as shrikes and fire salamanders like Ignatius (who steals the show; I swear Ignatius has a cat spirit).

To my readers who are worried, don’t worry. These demons aren’t the minions of Satan or the legions of darkness. They are actually just monsters that can be tamed. Oddly, this is in line with a number of early translations where, when a creature was a monster, it was translated simply as “demon.” There’s lots of reasons for this, and part of it was to signify that you probably shouldn’t go petting it or trying to cuddle. And I wouldn’t recommend that you pet any of the summoned demons here on the head. However, in terms of good and evil, they’re fairly neutral. Their capabilities much like the summoning power itself can be used for good or evil.

Pacing

I don’t have too much to say on this, but it’s an important point for every story. The story starts off quickly, and it keeps going. I didn’t find myself getting tired, and I read it easily in an afternoon. Nor was I bored. It was easy to stay engaged with the story. If you had to set it down for awhile, I don’t think you’d have a problem picking up right where you left off.

Ending

Overall, it was a satisfying story. It does deal with consequences, and while many things are dealt with, Fletcher’s past does catch up with him. And it does end with a cliffhanger. There was a very satisfying battle, and then boom! But this wasn’t a case of the author wrapping the book up too quickly. It is labeled as a series, and there is a sequel coming out in 2016, which will be great. And I can’t wait to see what happens.

Overall Consensus

Yes. This novel has definitive rereadability. I enjoyed it the first time, and I enjoyed it even more the second time. I’ll probably read it a third.

This was an enjoyable fantasy epic. I didn’t have any major problems with it, and I enjoyed the experience. This book did just what fantasy is supposed to. It takes you off to a new world, introduces you to some fun friends, and offers you a good time. And even though this is Taran Matharu’s first published novel and it is quite good, I’m thrilled to see how he continues to grow and develop. Because it’s going to be great.

Happy Birthday, Amelia Earhart

Published by Jessica on July 24, 2015

One of the first steps to knowing a character is to discover the name. When Amelia first appeared in my stories, I was just a little girl. She started off as a young teen with only a few core traits: persistence, discipline, and imagination.

I knew so little about her except for that. Oh! And she was going to fight a dragon. A snarky dragon with a slick wit and shapeshifting abilities. He started out as Giluf (which lasted for a grand total of 2000 words, give or take a few) before he became WroOth, one of my favorite imaginary frenemies. But what to call my heroine?

Well, as most young writers, I looked to the people I admired and sought out a name that “felt right.” I can’t explain it, but the name has to feel right for the character. That’s why WroOth didn’t remain Giluf. It just didn’t sound right or work with his character.

About that time, I was reading every book I could get my hands on at the library, including biographies. I wish I could remember the book’s title, but one of the biographies introduced me to an exceptional woman name Amelia Earhart.

Now hopefully you already know about this extraordinary woman. In addition to being one of the best and first lady pilots, she was also a writer and a pioneer. Best known for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, she received numerous awards and great recognition. And not all of her achievements were for being the first woman to do something. In some cases, she was the first person to accomplish it period such as her flight across the US with an autogyro. She had her enemies, to be certain. But, despite being generally shy, she didn’t step away from controversial opinions and convicted stances.

Her words of wisdom weren’t limited to flying. Let me share a couple of my favorite Amelia Earhart quotes with you:

Never interrupt anyone doing what you said couldn’t be done.
The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.
The most effective way to do it is to do it.
Adventure is worthwhile in itself.

And a particular stunner here: Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.

Yes, even as an adult, Amelia Earhart’s fearlessness in the face of failure is what most inspires me. I adored flying as a child and still do. For a brief period, I even considered becoming a pilot myself (it coincided nicely with my plans to be an international super spy). But that fearlessness causes her to endure in my memory. So much about her from that relentless choice to be fearless to her love of freedom to her dogged independence resonated with the kind of character I wanted my Amelia to be. The kind of woman, in many respects, I wanted to be.

There will always be incredible movers and shakers in history. Some seek it out and make it their quest. From reading various biographies and pieces about Amelia Earhart, I don’t know that she intended to do anything as great as she did. She followed her passions and fought through the obstacles. It wasn’t that she never felt fear but that she chose not to worry and chose not to let it drag her down. She did the things she did because she wanted to do them, not just because she was trying to change history necessarily. Her disappearance July 2, 1937 shook the world, and popular theories about her disappearance continue to abound.

At one time, I even considered including Amelia Earhart in Tue-Rah. Though it’s not explicitly stated, Amelia Earhart is one of Amelia’s heroes, and she was also an inspiration to Uncle Joe. In fact, it is partially in her honor that Uncle Joe names Amelia that in the first place. However, my initial plans to incorporate the incredible Ms. Earhart have faded. Perhaps one day I will write about her. Her legacy lives on, and many other writers have attempted to tell her story. I don’t want to dishonor her by doing it poorly. Perhaps one day.

Amelia Earhart was an exceptional person who left the world a great deal. Her efforts in aviation opened the skies to many women and inspired countless others. She has many great testaments to her abilities, her endurance, and her successes as well as tributes that come close to honoring her sufficiently. My own Amelia is a far smaller one, but she is a small nod and thanks to someone far more incredible. Happy birthday, Amelia Earhart.

Review of the Fiction Serialization Site, The Micro Times

Published by Jessica on July 7, 2015

Just recently I discovered another site that is looking for stories. It describes itself as a modern version of the Victorian serialization, and it promises to put readers in touch with great up and coming authors while connecting authors to voracious readers. The site: The Micro Times.

Here are my notes on what I’ve seen on the site. You can scroll straight down to the bottom to get my general thoughts or read the individual sections for a more in depth overview.

Readers Versus Writers

Anyone can create a series on the site, and anyone can read. You just have to have the rights to the story you are uploading as well as a cover. It doesn’t look like this would be a good location for fanfiction as that runs into various copyright issues and the fact that one is profiting off another’s intellectual property.

Format and Setup

Right now, one of the larger weaknesses is that the format is rather clunky for searching, and it is difficult to see what books are available. You can’t just browse all the available books. But you can search for genres in the search bar. Also you don’t scroll down. You scroll to the side. Rather counterintuitive, but this may be my American showing.

Currently it seems to be just web based. The contract is clear that readers cannot download multiple copies. Actually it doesn’t look as if there’s anyway to download anything, though the contract discusses downloads. It does not look as if there is an app right now, but the structure of the site and its features as well as the contract language suggest that there might be one soon.

There are some nice features such as the ability to change font size or invert color. And, as a side note, I like the cheery but subtle palette they’re using. The artistic feel is quite nice, and it appears fairly professional. It would be a pleasant site to read on. Plus it makes all the books look like actual books on a table.

Getting Around on The Micro Times

There is a guide on how to succeed at The MicroTimes, but it is sadly small and exceptionally general in its content. (This blog post will be significantly longer.) Much of the site suggests that it is still a work in progress. If things go well for it, I expect it to be a sleek platform.

Fortunately, the site itself is mostly intuitive. You can figure out just about everything you need.

Library and Book Availability

The vast majority (right now probably 90%) of the available work is from various classics that are in the public domain. Good news is that you don’t have to worry about paying for these. They’re free in their entirety.

The few non public domain works typically have the first chapter free (though most of these books aren’t completed and don’t have more than a few chapters) with each subsequent chapter costing a credit or two. I am not sure where you check to see if the book is uploaded in its entirety.

There is no browse feature as mentioned before. And it is not clear how you remove a book from your library once you’re done with it. You cannot organize books at this time, though there are two automatic lists to allow you to sift through books you have started and books you haven’t read.

Payment

Authors retain 90% of what they earn on the site. (The contract does include a fairly standard, “we reserve the right to change this” which is what most other paying platforms seem to use.)

Payment is made through Paypal. You have to earn 10 GBP or your currency’s equivalent to receive a payout. They offer payment in multiple currencies ranging from the US dollar to the British pound to the euro as well as a few others. Assuming you charge an average of 2 credits per chapter with only one free chapter, you would have to have someone either read almost 500 chapters or have your 26 chapter book read 20 times to reach the payout. (Bearing in mind of course that the 1 British pound is roughly equivalent to $1.50 right now).

However, with that said, 1000 credits costs only a little more than $16 US currency. So you’re essentially selling each chapter for a few cents. At first, I thought you started off with a few free credits to try some stuff out, but that’s not the case. And that also answers how they are going to stay in business. You do have to pay upfront if you want the non public domain stories. The packs range in credit size from 500 to 10000. There isn’t a discount for buying larger quantities of reading credits.

Security

The Micro Times is a closed community. You have to have a password and account to enter and read. Paid chapters cannot be accessed even as previews. I really like this security feature. You can’t google up various books on the site.

However, unlike Wattpad which has programs in place to prevent copying and pasting, users can copy and paste free chapters and presumably paid chapters that they have access to. This isn’t necessarily a deal breaker though as the same can be done to Kindle and Nook ebooks.

Community

Users can review books and rate them as well as “like” individual chapters. However, there doesn’t appear to be a community component in either forums or comments on the individual chapters. You can connect through your Facebook, G+, or Twitter account, but you cannot do much more than say that you are reading something or invite others to join.

Writers

It looks pretty basic to get a story setup. Unlike on Amazon or Wattpad, there is no cover creator. Covers are supposed to be 620 x 420. But there is a general cover that appears on all initial works that includes the title and subtitle as well as the author’s name.

Other than that, you upload it the same as you would on most other sites. You set which chapters are free and which chapters require credits. You input keywords as well as a short summary, and off it goes. The story appears with a table of contents. Users can then rate the overall work and “like” individual chapters. It doesn’t appear as if there are places for comments (which would actually be nice.)

The dashboard gives you an overview of what people are reading and where they are stopping. You can see your overall payout and your high marks. The tool that looks most valuable to me is the one where you see where readers stop. I don’t have any paid chapters up yet, so I don’t know how this works in depth. Just what was shown in the brief overview.

This doesn’t look like the kind of site where you can advertise. Essentially, as a writer, it looks like all you do is write the best story you can and then let it go out and make its way.

Likely Culture and Potentially Successful Works Here

The philosophy behind the site is intriguing. They claim to love authors and the Victorian serials. Their goal is to provide an author centered platform with a focus on these serials. If this is all true, I really like that. And I’m all for keeping a variety of businesses about and not relying only on a single massive corporation. (Not saying corporations are evil, but competition gives them a better incentive not to treat authors poorly.)

Given the current setup, I predict that fast paced romances and suspense stories will be the primary focus. Chapters that are between 1000 and 2000 words would be an easy reading length (though I recommend pricing that reflects the length) for the current format. There are no page breaks in the chapters. Just a single page filled with text. Cliffhangers as well as stories with many promises of future secrets to be revealed are likely to be popular.

That isn’t to say that slower paced stories that focus on the details and a deeper experience can’t succeed. But I suspect that they will be more niched.

General thought here, but I wouldn’t recommend uploading chapters in parts. I could see readers getting testy, even if the chapters are long. Instead, just refer to each one as a whole chapter.

Also readers are probably going to expect better quality here. At least I would. If I can go to a site like Wattpad or Writing.com and read all the work I want for free, then when I go and pay, I’m going to expect better quality. Not literary prose, of course. Just no rampant grammatical errors or stuff that looks like it belongs in a random person’s journal. In other words, make sure you post more polished work rather than the initial rough draft.

Terms

First, please note that none of this is legal advice. I’m just giving my general thoughts as I’m browsing through this. It is up to you and you alone what you do, and if you have questions, you need to consult with your own attorney. And while I did read the contract in its entirety, this is just a general impression of what is currently up. Last but not least, the contract can and possibly will change as the site continues to grow, and it expressly states that it has that right to update its Terms and Conditions.

The contract in the terms and conditions (aside from being a pain to read because all of the first letters are capitalized, no matter what) appear fairly typical. The Micro Times wants non exclusive rights, which is typical and the best deal for writers.

One thing I’m a little uneasy about is a clause that says if someone plagiarizes your work, you only have two years to bring a complaint. It uses the nebulous term “when the cause arises,” but I am not at this point clear whether that is at the point of discovery (which would be reasonable and is probably the case) or when the plagiarism starts (which would, in my opinion, be unreasonable).

They do prohibit copying the content and uploading it elsewhere if it is not your own. So people aren’t allowed to go on and scrape together content as they sometimes do on other sites.

They have a fairly strict no plagiarism rule. If it’s alleged against you, you have to take your work down. Then you can defend.

Pornography is not permitted, but it’s not clear whether erotica is excluded. The typical “no promoting illegality” is also present. There’s also a “Moral Right” cause, but I don’t know what that means. It may be a UK legal precedent as it’s in the section that typically discusses not uploading instruction manuals on committing crimes and so forth.

All in all, it looks fairly standard.

General Thoughts

Initially, I thought that The Micro Times was going to be another attempt to rip off Wattpad’s model. There are some similarities, of course, but its goal is different. Plus it is trying to compensate writers from the start, which is a rather novel idea.

Now, truth be told, compensation for authors is not going to be very much. Assuming I charge 2 credits per chapter for a serial novel of 120,000 words that winds up having 60 chapters, I wind up with 120 credits, which would probably equal $1.72 after they took out their cut. Paypal is going to take another sliver of that plus taxes, so let’s just round down and say that each book will make $1.50. If I were to sell that same book on Amazon, I would probably sell it for $4.99, and, after fees and taxes, probably earn $3.00. (Please note that these numbers are approximate and not exact.)

But…I don’t think that means The Micro Times should be discounted. Subscription services are likely to become even more popular as seen through Oyster, Scribd, Kindle Unlimited, and so on. Particularly among romance readers (Scribd actually just recently started culling some of its romance entries if I recall because there were too many and romance readers are voracious).

The Micro Times does not charge a flat fee, which means that writers aren’t fighting over a potentially limited pool of funding (one of the criticisms of KU). If a reader likes what she’s reading and wants to purchase the credits, she can do so and spend it on the author with the author benefiting. It also means it’s less likely that you’ll get hate readers who are just reading it because it’s free and they want to trash it. At best though, The Micro Times is probably going to be a source of passive income for most authors, though I do like the fact that you don’t have to worry about marketing here. You just upload and move on. I wouldn’t expect to see any great movement on any stories right away, but that may mean I’m just cynical.

While there’s still room for improvement on the site, I have to say that this one catches my eye more than any of the other Wattpad similar platforms, and that’s primarily because it’s doing its own thing. I’m curious to see what happens with The Micro Times, and I appreciate their pluckiness and their stated goals.

So yes, I’ll probably dust off some stories, polish them up, and upload them. There is a risk that I won’t ever reach the payout. But I’m intrigued with this program, and one thing is for certain. It isn’t going to succeed without some great content, and I think I’m willing to take a gamble and see how it goes.