Viola Grace's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
The Short and Short of it...
Hello, now as most reading this know, I write short stories almost exclusively.
This has caused me some problems with reviewers and readers in the past, but though I have issued three full novels, it doesn't seem to help the matter.
My name is Viola Grace and I write short stories.
To find out why, you have to go back to my roots. WAYYYYY back... When I was a kid, books were my refuge. I could dive in and be in another world.
When we moved from a rural area to the city of Winnipeg, the school I attended had a library...a library... I was in heaven.
At seven, I was a slightly more advanced reader than my peers and dove into the Andrew Lang fairy books. Red, green, crimson, olive...all the books with stories that wrapped you in another world and let you go when everything was sorted.
After fairy tales, it was greek myths, and after mythology, the natural progression in my teens...was comic books.
I had a job at 13. I had to buy my own clothing with that job, but the rest was mine to spend...I picked comic books.
The endless serial of stories that continued again the next month set the pattern for the way my brain thought of stories.
There were books, I loved all the soft sci-fi i could get my hands on...but Comics were my passion. The first thing in my life that was mine alone.
Some of the comics I collected were, Amethyst (my only DC comic), New Mutants, X-Men, X-Factor, X-men Classic, Wolverine, West Coast Avengers, and of course, the Canadian super team of Alpha Flight.
A reviewer once referred to my books as morality tales and with the history of my evolution in reading now shown to you, the good must struggle a little, the evil must be punished and good has to win the day.
The full length novels I wrote were cute and fun, but oddly, my audience enjoys them but they don't draw new readers.
Financially, they tanked.
As much as I love my Nexus books, when they come out it is for fans because they are just not viable as a series.
That said, I had a book I was writing for submission to an editor, but I have decided to write it and give it to Extasy books. Look for Confining Fire in September 2012. The first of 3. one every 6-12 months.
Oh yeah, did I mention? Writing a novel takes me 6 times longer than the equivalent word count of short stories. I can write over a dozen short stories in the time it takes to craft one novel.
Is it about the money? Yup. This is my day job.
It might make me sound mercenary, but everyone likes to get paid for a full day's work. Authors are no different.
When you start you write for yourself, when you evolve, you write for your fans and to find your true voice. When you do it for a living, it becomes a whole different animal.
There. I have spilled my early tales and my motivations...I hope this answered questions that folks haven't asked because it wasn't polite.
Next post, I will discuss why some authors use pseudonyms and why it seemed like a good idea at the time. (not me, Viola Grace is on my driver's license)
This has caused me some problems with reviewers and readers in the past, but though I have issued three full novels, it doesn't seem to help the matter.
My name is Viola Grace and I write short stories.
To find out why, you have to go back to my roots. WAYYYYY back... When I was a kid, books were my refuge. I could dive in and be in another world.
When we moved from a rural area to the city of Winnipeg, the school I attended had a library...a library... I was in heaven.
At seven, I was a slightly more advanced reader than my peers and dove into the Andrew Lang fairy books. Red, green, crimson, olive...all the books with stories that wrapped you in another world and let you go when everything was sorted.
After fairy tales, it was greek myths, and after mythology, the natural progression in my teens...was comic books.
I had a job at 13. I had to buy my own clothing with that job, but the rest was mine to spend...I picked comic books.
The endless serial of stories that continued again the next month set the pattern for the way my brain thought of stories.
There were books, I loved all the soft sci-fi i could get my hands on...but Comics were my passion. The first thing in my life that was mine alone.
Some of the comics I collected were, Amethyst (my only DC comic), New Mutants, X-Men, X-Factor, X-men Classic, Wolverine, West Coast Avengers, and of course, the Canadian super team of Alpha Flight.
A reviewer once referred to my books as morality tales and with the history of my evolution in reading now shown to you, the good must struggle a little, the evil must be punished and good has to win the day.
The full length novels I wrote were cute and fun, but oddly, my audience enjoys them but they don't draw new readers.
Financially, they tanked.
As much as I love my Nexus books, when they come out it is for fans because they are just not viable as a series.
That said, I had a book I was writing for submission to an editor, but I have decided to write it and give it to Extasy books. Look for Confining Fire in September 2012. The first of 3. one every 6-12 months.
Oh yeah, did I mention? Writing a novel takes me 6 times longer than the equivalent word count of short stories. I can write over a dozen short stories in the time it takes to craft one novel.
Is it about the money? Yup. This is my day job.
It might make me sound mercenary, but everyone likes to get paid for a full day's work. Authors are no different.
When you start you write for yourself, when you evolve, you write for your fans and to find your true voice. When you do it for a living, it becomes a whole different animal.
There. I have spilled my early tales and my motivations...I hope this answered questions that folks haven't asked because it wasn't polite.
Next post, I will discuss why some authors use pseudonyms and why it seemed like a good idea at the time. (not me, Viola Grace is on my driver's license)
