Home of Author Patricia Briggs.

August 5, 2008 [Mike]

Books

The big news, of course, is that Cry Wolf is finally available. More importantly, the first reviews are in. Reviews are an author's best friend -- they provide some idea of how the readers feel about the book and highlight areas that need improvement. Looking at the early feedback from Cry Wolf, Patty is actually pretty pleased.

The reviews are largely positive, but several folks mention two shortcomings of the book:

1. It feels like the second book of a series, and background seems to be missing
2. The book starts slowly, and the action takes a while to really get going.

We don't usually respond directly to criticisms of the book, but I'll make an exception in this case. For those who mentioned these shortcomings: You're absolutely right.

The Alpha and Omega books weren't planned as a series. In fact, Patty had only planned on writing the novella in On the Prowl and leaving their story there. Novellas are, in Patty's opinion, a special kind of hell for authors. Too long for a short story, but too short to tell a "real" story in. Still, she managed to cram a few good characters and a budding romance into 70 pages. The surprise came when her editor asked her to continue the story in a series of novels.

Starting a series based on a novella had Patty pulling hair out in clumps. Other authors have done this in various ways, but none of them are particularly graceful.

• Some authors just expand the novella, and fluff it up to fill a full-length book, but the readers have already read the story and the books always feel like a fluffed up short story.
• Some authors ignore the novella completely, and start over as if it didn't exist. That usually leaves some gaping inconsistencies in the story, especially in a romance. Imagine the confusion if Cry Wolf had started with Anna meeting Charles at a ski resort in Aspen . . .
• Some authors have tried incorporating the novella as the opening chapters of the novel. That's tempting . . . but many readers have already paid to read those pages. Many years ago I excitedly purchased the third album of a band I enjoyed, without reading the play list. Much to my chagrin I found that this "new" album contained all the good tracks of their first two albums and a handful of filler tracks that obviously hadn't made the grade. I felt cheated, and Patty didn't want to do that to her readers.
• Finally, you can basically just assume that all of your readers have actually read the blasted novella, and proceed as if this were actually the second book of the series. For bonus points, the author can work the events of the novella into the narrative (try feathering 70 pages of history smoothly and unobtrusively into the first hundred pages of your next novel for a little added challenge!).

Patty, obviously, chose the last option. If you've read the Mercy series and Alpha and Omega then Cry Wolf starts off on familiar territory, and many of the early scenes are answering questions and tying up some leftover loose ends so the reader is ready to move on to the new adventure. For new readers, the first chapters come across as a little abrupt and include some scenes that don't appear to accomplish very much. It's not a perfect solution, and the criticisms are entirely valid. The real lesson here is never start a series based on a novella — there's just no good way to do it.

P.S. We're going to start an errata page for each of the books. The sample chapter for Bone Crossed contains at least two major errors: Volvo's are Swedish, not Swiss and Glock pistols don't have a safety (which is why I shoot H&K, but that's a whole different holy war).

SpoCon 2008

We spent the last weekend at SpoCon, Spokane's new Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. There were lots of familiar faces, and a surprising number of unfamiliar ones. This may have been a first year convention, but you'd never have guessed it. Other than some minor blunders related to rooms and lodging (we all rented dorm rooms at Gonzaga University, instead of the more traditional hotel) the whole event was as precise as a Swiss watch (or is that a Swedish watch?).

SpoCon had a very different feel than most of the other Conventions in this area. We still had the usual cadre of excellent authors, die-hard gamers and artists but there was an unusually large number of academics and musicians. Friday and Saturday night there was actual filking in the lounge, and the panels included not one but TWO concerts; one by Steve Dixon (whose bass makes the ceiling tremble) and another by Vixie and Tony. Vixie is a lovely young lady with a voice several times too large for her body and a highly infectious smile, and Tony (who looks remarkably like Mal from Firefly) is an amazing guitarist. When they sing songs based on Firefly it made me particularly nostalgic . . . deep, contented sigh.

The panels were great, and Patty tells me she sat on a religion panel that was GOOD and didn't degenerate into "My God's Better than Your God, My God's Better than Yours!" but had some meaningful discussion. I ended up sitting on Filk panels (apparently I'm the honorary "classic" filker, since everything I know is twenty years old), but the other panelists were gracious and kind so I had a great time.

Thanks to all the friends, old and new, and to the ConCom who worked so hard to make SpoCon a success, we had a great time. Oh, and a very special thanks to Char and Randy MacKay, the guest liaisons, who were gracious to a fault and funny to boot. See you all next year!