In celebration of the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) currently being considered by the US Congress, this week’s Fan Art Friday will be 100% copyright compliant!
All SOPA-offending elements, such as the remixing and recasting of copyrighted characters and situations, have been censored for your viewing pleasure.
Let’s start with this lovely image by CatieKay:
Pretty sweet, huh? How about those two random people having a possibly intimate moment atop an entirely generic (and thus non-copyrightable) flying whale-beast! Sure, we can’t SEE what they’re doing as the lightning flashes, but at least no one’s interfering with my ability to generate income from this touching narrative moment.
And here’s a lovely piece of fan art from Unforgiven-Unloved:
This one’s very sweet, but of course it would be WRONG to let you see these characters drawn by anyone but Keith Thompson, the only registered and approved artist for the Leviathan series. The dialog is pretty cute too. But let’s face it, only I may legally put words into the mouths of Deryn and Alek.
And here’s some cool Xmas ornaments from AvistheArtistGeek:
Aww. Tiny Deryn and Alek getting ready to climb the ratlines of Avis’s Christmas tree! Too bad that these characters belong to me, and thus her entire Xmas is non-SOPA-compliant! I just hope she takes her decorations down before my lawyers get there.
Ahem.
Most of you have probably seen that Wikipedia is dark today, and that Google’s banner page is sad. In fact, a ton of sites on the interwebs are shrouded in various ways. This is, of course, to protest the SOPA and PIPA legislation being considered in the US Congress.
“But wait!” you may be asking. “Is SOPA really so evil?”
It’s supporters certainly don’t want you to think so. After all, the purpose of SOPA is to protect copyright laws, by which filmmakers, musicians, and novelists (and the corporations that publish them) make money from their work. And that’s me!
But as you may have noticed, the internet is a place in which copyright is treated in a rough-and-ready fashion. People gank photos without attribution, create fan fiction and art based on others’ work, and make lip-sync music videos without paying for the right to do so.
Gee, how horrible. All those babies dancing to “Single Ladies” FOR FREE.
The problem is that SOPA and PIPA are written only with us copyright owners in mind. The lobbyists who wrote these bills don’t care about the rest of you (us, actually, because we all re-mix culture).
Here’s one example: PIPA allows companies to sue websites for the crime of linking to other websites that infringe copyright. So if I link to Deviant Art, and someone on Deviant Art (say, jett-wolfe98) has ganked a photo and added Deryn and Alek to it, like so:
Then I can be sued! Not for the image of Alek and Deryn, but for the underlying photograph of the room, which is, after all, a copyrightable thing.
In other words, everyone on the web will become responsible for the behavior of all the sites they link to, always and forever. Deviant Art will be totally gone, as will everything else cool and interesting.
(By the way, if your fan art is here, don’t be sad! It will return in its non-censored glory on Friday. Sorry, guys, for using your lovely work to make a point!)
These bills are, of course, absurd at a legal level, and as a practical matter they are nothing less than an attack on the structure of the web, its complex web of links and connections, and upon the content of the web, with its rich culture of re-mixing and re-purposing copyrighted works, like the fan art and fan fiction that appears on this blog. For which, under SOPA, I could sue you guys and everyone who links to you IF I WERE A COLOSSAL ASS-HAT.
But in an effort to fight ass-hattery, I’m joining in this protest today. Not by blocking my site, but by offering you the above edition of Fan Art Friday that meets SOPA’s standards, with all the copyright-offending materials blacked out.*
Do you like this version of Fan Art Friday? Would you like everything on the internet to work this way? I think not.
Now, I will mention that President Obama has come out against SOPA/PIPA in its current form. That’s a good thing, but it never hurts to keep the pressure on. He will be president for, at most, five more years.
And throughout your lifetime, there will always be people who try to turn spaces of sharing and collaboration into places of buying, selling, and lawsuits. Stay ready to fight them, or you will leave your kids a world where most stuff sucks.
Click here to learn more about SOPA, or to contact your representatives in congress.
Non-SOPA/sucky Fan Art Friday will return on Friday, with the art above and more, uncensored. Like the internet should be.
*Yes, the legal status of fan art and fan fictions is complicated, but if SOPA passes, we’re heading toward a world where that status will probably become simpler, and not in a good way.
Are you a young writer? Ever thought of going to writing boot camp?
If so, here’s quick word from my pals at the Alpha Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Worship for Young Writers:
“The Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers (ages 14-19) will be held July 18-27, 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA. At Alpha, students can meet others who share their interest in writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They can learn about writing and publishing from guest authors, including Tamora Pierce and Kij Johnson. Also, they will write and revise a short story during the workshop. Applications are due March 1, 2012.”
Click here to learn more and apply.
“Also, alumni of the workshop are raising money for the workshop’s scholarship fund, which assists Alpha students who need financial aid in order to attend. We have organized an auction, which begins today at noon, with items donated by authors and editors such as George R. R. Martin, Tamora Pierce, John Joseph Adams, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Kushner, Theodora Goss, Karen Healey, and more. In addition, an anthology of flash fiction written and illustrated by Alpha alumni is available in return for donations of any amount. The auction will run January 13-20, with other donations welcome anytime.”
Tonight (Thursday, December 8th) at 7PM EST in the US (4PM in California and 11AM on Friday morning in Sydney), I’m doing a chat about high-stakes testing and how schools teach writing. Are those five-paragraph essays going to turn you all into novelists? And how about those syllogisms on the SAT?
I’ll be joined by David Levithan, Robin Wasserman, and Lauren McLaughlin, whose book Scored inspired the panel.
To prepare for this, Lauren and I took the essay section of the SAT, and had ourselves scored by a professional examiner. You can read our essays and see what grades we got here at the Huffington Post. (Note that we had exactly 25 minutes to write those essays! Just like you guys did/will!)
Click here for more about Scored, which is out now. It’s set in a dystopian world where every kid gets a Score when they turn 18, determining their prospects for the rest of their life.
Hope to see you all tonight! (Tomorrow morning for me.)
I spent yesterday morning listening to the indefatigable Maureen Johnson. She was on the radio with a Wall Street Journal writer best known for decrying the state of young adult lit. You know the drill: “YA is too dark, too depressing, and is bad for the kidz!”
I am not here to argue against fact-free trend pieces, however. Maureen and the internet have already done that and done it well. And, you know, haters gonna hate, and shoddy journalists gonna shod. There’s no way to stop that. Here’s the problem I would like to address instead:
When these issues arise, we writers, librarians, booksellers, teachers, and editors know that the media is overblown and out of touch. We know that the huge boom in YA is helping young readers, because we see it in our in-boxes, our libraries, our stores, and our twitter feeds every day.
Sure, some books aren’t right for some kids. But it’s not like that challenge has recently grown insurmountable. In fact, connecting the right book with the right reader has never been easier. There are more specialist teen librarians than ever before, teenage readers are relentlessly networked, and book reviews from all perspectives are more plentiful than at any other time in human history. (Thank you, the internet.)
But someone has to think of the parents. Especially those who randomly turn on the radio or read the WSJ and are exposed to this alarmism. They may not know how to check out all those amazing stories tweeted on #YASaves. They probably don’t follow comment threads on blogs like this one, where bookish teens prove hourly how smart, supportive, and savvy they are. Many parents don’t know what “DFTBA” means, and thus may not realize how awesome their kids are not forgetting to be.
And the other side in this debate sounds perfectly reasonable. “We just want a conversation! We just want parents to be aware!” And they couch everything in that scary questioning tone: “These books MAY be turning your kids into cutters.” Like when local news promos ask, “Are your cleaning fluids making you hate America? Story at eleven!”
Here’s my problem with this brand of “reasonableness”: Conversations have contexts, and awareness is always flavored by its catalyst. Let’s take two examples . . .
A parent goes into a teenager’s room and says, “I just heard from the wise people at the Wall Street Journal that the books you kids read these days are mostly dark and horrible and will make you cut yourself and take drugs. Let me check your books so I can make sure this is not true!”
Seriously. How do you think that conversation’s going to go?
Eyes will be rolled, tempers will rise, and more than likely this parent will be made to feel dreadfully foolish. (Teenagers are good at this last bit.) Frankly, being easily manipulated by alarmists in the media is not a good look for anyone.
But let’s say a parent goes into that same kid’s room and says . . .
“Hey, I just heard that young adult lit sales have grown by double digits every year for the last decade. You teens read so much that it’s the only profitable part of publishing! And now Hollywood wants to make everything you read into movies, and more adults than ever before are reading YA! And I heard that huge crowds show up at bookstores and rented venues when popular YA writers are in town! And that many YA writers have tens of thousands of followers on the Twitter machine, if not hundreds of thousands! And that every November countless teenagers support each other in WRITING THEIR OWN NOVELS! Holy crap, we didn’t do that in my benighted day of juvenile sloth. It’s just awesome how dedicated you and your peers are to reading. Can you please lend me some of these great books?”
My guess is that this conversation will go rather better. And, unlike the Wall Street Journal, this opening gambit is full of verifiable facts!
Make no mistake, we writers want parents to talk to their kids about books. But don’t do it because some newspaper uses fear to generate web hits. Do it because reading is awesome and your kids are awesome.
There’s a problem here, though. The parents who are reading this post (on a YA writer’s blog) probably don’t need this advice. They can see through the malarky without my help. They’ve already noticed that the only “science” referred to in the WSJ‘s articles was a study of 1970s anti-drug public service announcements. (Because nothing is more relevant to 21st-century young adult literature than 40-year-old TV ads.)
But how do we reach those other parents, the ones whose innocent minds might be corrupted by these fact-missing anxiety-mechants? Parents can’t be expected to protect themselves these days. A recent study of hair cream ads from the 1920s proved that the media’s coverage of YA has gotten 37% darker in the last year alone!
Now, I’m not advocating banning the Wall Street Journal. It has many fine articles in it I’m sure, some of which no doubt cite actual facts instead of the vague impressions of random people wandering YA sections. There are always exceptions, after all, even in newspapers named after the street that recently stole $700 billion of our money.
All I’m asking is that teenagers take an active role in discussing young adult lit with their parents.
Kids, you don’t want your parents’ first exposure to YA to be in the dingy recesses of a fear-mongering financial newspaper. It’s your job to help them understand how twitter hashtags work, what NaNoWriMo stands for, and how to do the nerdfighter hand signal. It’s your duty to introduce them gently to the lighter sides of fan fic, before they stumble across a cache of Snape dub-con Mpreg epic poetry. (Um, maybe just wait till your parents are older before tackling fan fic.)
In many cases, of course, your gentle persuasion may not be enough. Some parents are too easily influenced by frightening images of teenage culture gone awry. Darkness sells, after all. For these, a simple call to the Wall Street Journal will cancel your subscription, saving both money and heartache for your beloved parent. Be sure not to leave an empty space in their lives, however. Ease them over to something more wholesome, like, say, the School Library Journal. They’ll hardly notice the difference.
My main point is this: you understand young adult lit. You get how much it’s grown, how much it means to you. Make sure that your parents understand that too, and they’ll be ear-plugged against the profiteering panic-peddlers wailing like sirens on the rocky shoals of our culture.
Thank you for listening.
Yesterday at 2PM, me and a hundred-ish fans from the WesterForum hung out for about an hour and a half, and I answered many questions. For those of you who weren’t able to attend, I’ have compiled them into this blog post, typos and all! (So. Many. Typos.)
Enjoy:
“What kind of juice do you like?”
There are many juices I love. Mango! Pear! (Especially pear cider.) Apple!
“So Scott there’s been a rivalry going on (on the forum obviously) , based on the question : If the crew of the Leviathan got in a fight with Special Circumstances who would win? What’s your opinion?”
I think in a close-quarters fight the Specials would win, because they’re too quick. But in a proper battle, the Leviathan could mess them up with strafing hawks or bat-poo without ever being in danger.
“WHATS GOING ON WITH CROY?! CAN YOU GIVE US ANY INFO ON HIM?! ”
That info will be released at Leaky Con and Comic Con. THAT’S ONLY A FEW WEEKS. But I can’t tell you anything now, except maybe . . . you will SEE HIM.
“Did you use the same models on the cover of Goliath that you used on Leviathan and Behemoth?”
Yes. Same models, same photo shoot on the same day. Sometime I’ll show you guys the unaltered photos.
“At any point in Behemoth, does Dr. Barlow know that Deyrn is a girl? It has been a topic of great debate.”
Hah! Not saying now, but you WILL learn the answer to that in Goliath.
“Have you ever met someone in real life who reminds you of your characters?
Or vice versa.”
Hmm, not really. Although sometimes I see someone and say, ‘Whoa, he/she’s a total pretty!’
“Nice to meet you, btw. (and tell hi to Justine (Mrs. Larbaleister (sp?)) for me, please!)”
It’s Dr. Larbalestier, in fact.
“Can Justine cook?”
She’s a great cook of Thai food, and she wants me to add that she’s a good boxer too. (She’s been taking lessons.)
“What TV shows do you watch?”
Game of Thrones, Treme, just finished Vampire Diaries,
“This isn’t really a question, just a comment. I thought you’d like to know that I used to like history, and Leviathan made me love it again. I might even try writing something historical-ish myself. ”
Yay!
“Is Lilit lesbian/bi? (Please say yes.)”
They didn’t really have those categories for women back then, but she would be if she was alive today. (Strange but true fact: Male homosexuality was illegal in England back then, but female homosexuality wasn’t because lawmakers REFUSED TO BELIEVE IT EXISTED.)
“In Uglies, there are many messages, some obvious, some not so much. What messages/lessons do you want readers to take away from Leviathan?”
Hmm. I think that the big theme is about how different sides of a conflict (war or just ideological/technological) see each other, and how that can change when people are forced to work together.
“What kind of music do you like? (Do you like Florence+and the machine?)”
I like minimalism and trip-hop, and I don’t know of this Florence person.
“What is your opinion on the Hunger Games? (Will you see the movie?)”
Want to see the movie. Liked the first book, but didn’t read the others.
“When will you go on tour?”
September 17. DON’T KNOW WHERE YET! NOT MY CHOICE WHERE.
“Would you like to join my band of Ninjas?”
I have already infiltrated your band of ninjas!
“Do you like writing about diseases? Peeps was about parasites, Innoculata had to do with a virus and in So Yesterday the main characters dad is a Epidimiologist (I think).”
I love all kinds of biology, like beasties too. Studied philosophy of biology in college. (Yes, that’s a real thing.)
“Scott-la, in the Uglies series who was the most interesting character to create?”
Hmm, maybe Mr. Simpson Smith, because he talked funny and had a very different view of the world from everyone else.
“Is there a ball, wedding, or some other formal scene in Goliath?”
Yes!
“Will we ever see Deryn in a dress in the final book?
I need some hope..
Secret!
“Were you annoyed with my pie questions at the last meet up? xD”
No!
” I love Eddie is he important in Goliath?? ”
Hmm, this is spoilery, but yes he is important in Goliath. In fact, no one just disappears.
“Is Goliath the end of the Leviathan universe? I know you are writing the Manual of Aeronautics, but that won’t have any stories in it. Is there an Extras style book planned?”
Nothing planned, but I have a “prequel” to Goliath, sort of. It was a short story I was writing and decided to dump because I wanted to do a whole trilogy. And I mean to publish it sometime.
“Any Leviathan movie news that you would like to share?”
A contract is being written. Until it is signed, I can say no more!
“Have you ever tried fencing? Would you take lessons from Count Volger?”
Yes, in college. He sounds mean as a teacher, though. I’m a lazy student at physical stuff.
“Did you name Volger Ernst because that was the name Archduke Ferdinand named his son?”
Yes! Bonus points to you! He is the Ernst I erased from history.
“And how close was Volger and the Archduke exactly? Did he name his son after Volger?”
Volger’s not historical, so your second question is a no. But in my world they were very close, though they went through a bad patch when Volger told the Archduke not to marry Sophie.
“I’m Hungarian. Do we go to Hungary next?”
Sorry, no Hungary stuff in Goliath.
“What’s Lilit’s last name?”
I don’t know. (Naming varies a lot back then, however. She probably just would have been known as ‘Lilit, daughter of Zaven.’
“Do you find it interesting when we ship characters?”
YES! I love all the fan fics.
“Oh yeah, and how’s that bloke in your closet doing?”
He’s almost done with his master’s degree, and then I think he’s getting a PhD.
(This is an inside joke at the Forum. Do not be alarmed.)
“Ok, so since the Leviathan series is almost over, do you already have another series in mind? Or is the new Croy project the next big thing?”
Not a whole series, yet. But a standalone novel is in my head and there’s the Cory project and a graphic novel I’m writing.
“What kind of copyright it the leviathan trilogy and who holds it? will there eventually be a creative commons version?”
Not sure about more short stories. Leviathan is under normal copyright, held by me, but write all the fan fiction you want.
“Any advice on worldbuilding?”
Pay attention to how THIS world works, and how complicated it is.
“And, has anyone in real life been an inspiration for a character in the Leviathan series?”
Hmm, not really, except for those historical women who really pretended to be boys.
“Scott can you imagine that if you came to our houses we’d freak out and be like the lady in ‘Misery’ the movie/book?”
Thanks for the warning!
“Oh, and are Dr. Barlow and Volger in love? Us fans would die of happiness if they were!”
Barlow is married! (But they have a special bond.)
“Will you be coming to Texas any time soon?”
YES, I’m booked at the Austin Teen Book Festival, and therefore other TX cities are probably on tour.
“Okay, I HAVE to ask–will there ever be an Uglies movie?”
Maybe! New deal in the works. Will post news when contract signed.
“Are you going to see the last harry potter movie in the theatre?”
Yes, at Leaky Con, with Maureen Johnson.
“What was the weirdest thing you’ve ever been asked to sign?”
Answered that at the last meet-up, and I can’t remember what. Does anyone else?
(Further research revealed the answer to be, “A bra.”)
“On Justine’s website she says that she doesn’t drive cars. Do you drive cars? If no, does that have anything to do with Uglies?”
True, we don’t have a car or even licenses. And it KIND OF has to do with Uglies, in that I have environmental issues with them.
I never live anywhere where a car is essential.
“Ok, guys why don’t we just wait and let him answer all the questions we’ve already asked.”
Hah! Good luck with that.
“Are we going to see some sword fighting from Alek, Deryn, or particularly Voger in Goliath?”
Yes! There are swords! And a thing that’s not QUITE a sword.
“How many chapters are in Goliath?”
Um, 44 or 45.
“Have you eaten any pie lately?”
Not lately. But I will today IN YOUR HONOR.
“Can you give a vague description of the setting of the book after Goliath?”
Contemp US and a sort of mystical afterworld.
“Will you come to Europe?”
Yeah, but no plans at the moment. France wants me to come in a couple of years.
Where i really want to go is Brazil.
“Do you watch any anime or read any manga???”
Nana, Blood+, Monster, Princess Tutu, Moribito, Full Metal Alchemist, Pluto, 20th Century Boys.
“Why did you choose today as the meetup day? Do you like having meetups on the two year anniversary of MJ? xD”
Didn’t realize.
“Do you have a pic of the cool shoe lacing from So Yesterday? I hvent been able to find a pattern like that anywhere…”
One of my foreign editions has it. Search for So Yesterday on all my blog posts and go through them.
(I looked for this ,but still can’t find it.)
“Shuffling through some old blog posts I saw that you had posted about the possibility of a ‘So Yesterday’ movie. Is there still a chance it might be a movie?”
No, that fell apart. (But I got some money. Yay!)
“Do you like emilie autumn? muse?”
Don’t know them
“What is your favorite book you wrote?”
Hmm, Peeps was the most magical experience. Like, every time I had a plot problem, parasites solved it!
“Is Lilit gonna get married as a part of a plot in Goliath? (guessing this due to the April Fools joke pic). The plot due to the knife and the fact that Lilith obviusly wouldn’t get married for love anyways (i don’t think). ‘Specially since we know now she’s gay/bi. (not saying gay/bi people shouldn’t get married, just saying I hihgly doubt it was legal back then).”
Heh, I will say that she’s a part of the book, but THAT IS ALL.
“Do you like the television show House?”
Never saw it. I don’t watch much realism.
“Have you ever watched A very Potter musical???”
No.
“Does the Leviathan have a tail?”
Yes! You will SEE it and we will GO back there in Goliath.
“(If no one disappears in your books) what happened to Croy?”
He is saving himself for May/June 2012.
“will there be any good makeout scenes in goliath ??”
Yes there will be kisses . . . BUT WHO?
“Will volger die ‘cuz his first name meens fight to the death?”
EVERYONE DIES IN GOLIATH. (Not really.)
“My twinbrother would like to know: will there be new awesome warmachines or beasties?”
BOTH.
“Last time, you mentioned Newkirk doesn’t have a first name. Can you make one up now?”
Um, I leave that to you guys.
“We know that ‘Hearst’ from the Goliath Word Cloud is William Randolph Hearst, but who’s ‘Rogers’?”
Um, I can’t remember.
“I want deryn to tell alek so badly… you dragged it out for so long! why? why?”
The tears of my readers keep me young.
“My brother also wants to know if we’ll see anything with the clanker dirigibles?”
YES.
“How do you feel about people torturing your characters in fan fics and fan art, i.e. making them stupid, confused, killing them, and/or maiming them?”
Go for it.
“Ok, so is that Goliath prequel your next big thing or is there another new series?”
Like I said, there’s a standalone novel, and the Croy project, and a graphic novel.
“Is the Croy project really about Croy? Or is that just what you’re calling it?”
That’s just what I’m calling it. BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL OBSESSED WITH CROY.
“Eugene William Newkirk for the win! *fistbump*”
IT IS DECIDED.
“How did David get his eyebrow scar? Or is that one of those questions that you leave for the fans to decide? (I have already written a fanfic on it )”
Revealed in the Croy project!
“Will there ever be a Leviathan video game?”
I hope so, but no plans yet.
“Do you want a pet message lizard?”
Hmm. Hard to take care of, going back and forth between Sydney and NYC.
“Do you like Berry Burst Icecream Oreos?”
THEY SOUND INTRIGUING!
“Will there be a Russian revolution in the Leviathan-verse?”
We don’t get all the way to 1917, so not in the books.
“ALSO ….. my mother wants to know if there is another Risen Empire coming soon???”
Alas no.
“And if you have: Can you tell us just the last word? Not the last sentence, just the last word.”
It is . . . ‘allies’
“Will anyone go to the US?”
YES.
“Will there ever be a Leviathan Lego kit? ”
This came up in my last marketing meeting, and I said I will sign any paper necessary to make that happen. But nothing brewing yet.
“And have you ever tried the ‘real’ Bovril (the edible kind)?”
No. I’m a vegetarian.
“Have you finished Goliath yet?”
Yup!
“How do you feel about this forum as a whole?”
I think it’s great how big it is! But I haven’t read that much of it. It’s kind of you guys’s thing, not mine.
“If you could have one machine/beastie from Levi exist in our would, what would It be?”
The Leviathan itself. I would fly on it!
“Do you have skype and so would u like to come to our after meet up skype party?”
I don’t skype much, and I must do WORK.
“Do you ever base your characters off yourself or family members? (My first serious question beside the Croy questions!)”
Not really. Maybe little bits of them, like not liking chocolate or a turn of phrase.
“Will there ever be a creative commons attribution non-commercial share-alike license?”
Maybe if I ever get around to it. I’d almost rather throw it all into the public domain. Simpler that way.
“Thanks, Scott!!!!!!! I can’t wait for all these new projects. Will the graphic novel be from the same illustrator that does Levi?”
No. Keith’s too slow and complicated to do a graphic novel.
“Will this place ever have feeds or something like identi.ca.”
I don’t know what that is.
“Who do you like better, Alek or Deyn?”
Deryn’s more fun to write, because she’s basically happier and better adjusted. But Alek’s a bit more thoughtful.
“Is there any reason that I couldn’t request a friend of a friend to make me a t-shirt to be made that said ‘Team Cable’ or ‘Special Circumstances’ or ‘I don’t want to hurt you but I will if I have to’ or other quotes from Uglies on it?? Because I don’t want to get in any trouble for making one if it’s not legal–so is it okay to make an Uglies themed t-shirt for myself?”
Rock out! For personal use is okay with me.
“will this forum ever be in real-time?”
Hmm, I don’t know exactly what that means, so not soon. I’ll ask my webmistress.
“Would you consider writing another steampunk novel?”
Not for a while. Wouldn’t want to repeat myself.
“What is your favorite type of Leviathan Fan fiction?”
The more weird and unexpected, the more I like it.
“is the Goliath a beastie or a clanker machine?? dying of curiosity here!!”
Machine!
“Do you like bugs?”
Yes, but not in my food.
“Are you heading to the MA area anytime soon?”
Probably not.
“Have you ever used an IRC?”
Not for a long time.
“Has anybody ever recognized you and freaked out?”
An elevator full of librarians did once at ALA (a librarian conference) and they screamed!
“If I mentioned pie if I ever saw you, would you recognize me as Allie-wa?”
Lots of people ask me about pie, but I would still know it was YOU.
“Scott. MOST important question EVER…….Do you…own a blue bucket?”
I did, but it was stolen.
“Okay, so when Volger said that Dr. Barlow was an ‘interesting woman,’ he wasn’t declaring his undying love for her?”
He’s cagier than that, I think.
“does anyone important in the series die in goliath?”
People die, and I bet THEY think they’re important.
“Do you look at xkcd comics?”
Love them.
“I’m eating a kiwi gummy.”
Sounds yummy.
“How tall Is Deryn?”
Rather tall for her time. 5’10″ or so.
“What color are Deryn’s eyes?”
Don’t know. Brown, I think. (Further research revealed that they are BLUE.)
“Will you come to central Europe?”
Would love to. Let’s hope Leviathan does well in Germany.
“Are you a Nerdfighter?”
Not really. But I know and love many, and I try not to forget to be awesome.
“And how much shorter is Alek??? (than Deryn)”
Two inches-ish.
“In all your books and short stories, what scene was the funnest one you’ve ever written and why?”
Peeps. See earlier answer.
“What was the most annoying question you’ve ever been asked?”
Argh. Maybe this one.
“I know you are team zombie-but if there was a zombified Unicorn……..would you be team Zombicorn?”
I’d still be Team Zombie. I don’t want to shoot a horsey.
“Would Eddie use a camera kinda like this? [photo attached]”
Yes. But his camera’s in an illustration in Goliath, isn’t it?
“Will there ever be a live meetup??”
How would this work? Suggestions?
“What was your favorite part of Leviathan?”
Tossing out the gold.
“What was your favorite part of Behemoth?”
Maybe the sultan’s palace? Or the kiss.
“What was your favorite part of Goliath?”
The part where everyone DIES. (heh) Or maybe a certain KISS.
“What is your favorite Beastie?”
Bovril or the poo-bats.
“What is your favorite machine?”
The Stormwalker.
“I did my shoes with the lacing pattern from So Yesterday!! Ill have to post it.”
DO IT!
Okay, that’s it! Hope some of you Forum-shirkers come to the next one.
Yes, having missed fifty percent of the last few Fan Art Fridays, I hereby declare Fan Art Friday to be Fan Art Fortnightly. (It’s not easy being a lazy blogger, okay?)
This part 2 of the Non-Drawn Fan Art trilogy, guaranteed to have zero paintings or drawings, but with lashing of tattoos, cosplay, and photography. (Fan fic will be the concluding edition, in two weeks.)
First up we have tattoos, which are the most flattering/disturbing medium of fan art, because they’re, like, PERMANENT. This should go without saying, but I’ll say it: Do not get fan tattoos without serious consideration!
And yet, kind of awesome.
For all you Midnighters fans, here’s an awesome mindcaster tattoo on a fan I met in Florida. I have forgotten his name! (Sorry, dude. But I follow you on Twitter.)
And showing even more commitment, here’s an unknown rockstar in Russia who is obviously a huge fan of Keith’s!
Note that this isn’t from Leviathan, and is Westerfeldian in no way. But as you all love Keith as much as I do, I thought you’d want to see it.
Finally, here are a couple of non-real facial tattoos. (Non-real being the way to go with facial tattoos, I’d say.) The first is from Rachel, and is a mix of Special Tally and the cover of my (very) adult book, Evolution’s Darling:
And here’s another (fake) Special tattoo, spotted on the Behemoth tour last October:
By the way, if you want to read an academic paper on tattoos and body modification in the Uglies series, click here.
And now for some cosplay! Here’s Saiyuki-15, playing multiple roles:
Yes, that’s some awesome costuming AND jewelry making.
Here’s an intense Dr. Barlow, from FlyingBicycle at Deviant Art.
And now some photography from Zvaella, featuring a page of Leviathan:
Our last piece of FAF is photography plus Photoshoppery, from Ponylov. It’s one of my creations that amuses me the most, Shay’s eye-clock from Pretties:
It appears to be showing five four o’clock, given the angel of the eye and the fact that Shay’s clock runs backwards.
So here’s a mind-bending question for you: Why does Shay’s eye-clock run backward? Yes, it’s partly because pretty fashion is always silly, but there’s also a perfectly reasonable answer. Bubble-headed Tally and Shay never figure out in the books, but I bet you guys can. First correct commenter gets a virtual fist-bump from me.
(UPDATE: Solved in comment 2. But many other good theories have been proposed.)
Okay, that’s it for today. Come back in a fortnight for the all fan-fic Fan Art Fortnightly! Sorry to take so long, but there’s a lot to organize.
In the meantime, those of you in the New York City area should remember that my Book Expo America events are coming up next week! Hope to see some of you there.
Before I get to Fan Art Friday, there’s a bunch of STUFF I should mention.
1) My New York Public Library event for Book Expo America has been moved to a bigger venue. If you tried to book tickets and were denied due to overflow, you can try again. Here are the deets:
NY Book Week Science Fiction/Fantasy Evening
NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at 42nd and 5th
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
6:00 – 7:45PM
Contact: Chris Shoemaker, [Christopher_Shoemaker@nypl.org], 212.340.0958
Authors: MC: Gavin Grant (Small Beer Press)
Music: Brian Slattery
Lev Grossman, John Scalzi, Catherynne M. Valente, Scott Westerfeld
Sponsored by: BEA, NYPL, KGB Fantastic Fiction Series, NYRSF Reading Series
Each author will be reading for about twenty minutes, accompanied by original improvisational music courtesy of the excellent Brian Slattery. Then: Q&A.
I’ll also be at the BookRageous Bash later that night, at 8:30. Google it!
2) For those of you attending actual BEA, I’ll be signing at 1PM on Wednesday, May 25. This is a ticketed signing, so check out this schedule of all the authors, which also explains how to get tickets.
3) And I have a panel on Wednesday night too!
Writing for Teens Today : Authors Speak
Join some of today’s hottest YA authors as they discuss writing for teens in today’s market. From developing authentic voices to keeping the reader hooked, from plot twists and turns to keeping the slang right, find out their tips and tricks to staying in style.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Mulberry Street Library
10 Jersey St.
New York, NY
212-966-3424
Ally Condie – Matched
James Dashner – The Scorch Trials
Ellen Hopkins – Fallout
Maureen Johnson – The Last Little Blue Envelope
Lauren Kate – Torment
Scott Westerfeld – Behemoth
Bring your copy from home or buy a fresh edition on site and collect autographs! Fully accessible to wheelchairs. Ages 12-18. (Does this mean adults can’t come? I doubt it, but maybe we’re only signing for teens. Who knows?)
There are many other things going on around BEA, of course. Here’s a list of all the other events that are open to the public.
See you at BEA.
Back in 2009 I blogged a word cloud of Leviathan as a NaNoWriMo tip.
Word clouds (made easy by the lovely and clever people at Wordle) are graphic representations of which words appear, and how often, in your novel, blog, or whatever. The words are sized, of course, in relation to how many times they pop up.
Word clouds great for spotting words that a writer uses too often, like my terrible habit of people frowning before they say something, or my once-rampant obsession with the word “effulgent.”
They’re also kind of fun for creating quasi-spoilery anticipation. And with that goal in mind, I offer you the Goliath word cloud five months before the book comes out!
Click here to see the full-size version. You know you want to.
Your sharp young eyes will no doubt note that I had to remove one word from the results. It was just too spoilerizing, and rather big as you can see. But the rest remains unaltered.
Of course, certain words that are missing (or quite small) can be just as spoilery as the ones that are there. So don’t look too close unless you want to suffer from S3krit Knowledge You Cannot Forgetz.
For my own purposes, I’m glad to see that “frowned” is very wee, and “effulgent” nowhere to be found. Sadly, “barking” is smaller than I thought it would be, and “perspicacious” totally missing! (But don’t worry, “Bovril” is happily medium sized.)
Best of all, the dreaded “just” is either not there or too tiny to see, so that’s another bad habit of mine expunged. Yay.
If you’re a writer, this old NaNoWriMo post of mine will give you a few more hints how to use word clouds in your own work.
See you on Fan Art Friday!
For the second time, the glorious library comic Unshelved has reviewed one of my novels! This time it is, of course, Leviathan. (Long-time readers of this blog may remember their review of Peeps back in 2006.) It is always an honor to be Unshelved, because all your librarian friends think you’re a rockstar when it happens.
Here’s one panel from the comic/review:
Click here to read the rest.
And this review has a bonus aspect, because the guest blogger who created it, Angela Melick, decided to do a SECOND cartoon!
Click here for the rest.
Double awesomeness! So thanks to both the Unshelved crew, Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes, and to Angela for their continuing support of my books and of libraries everywhere.
Three other things:
1) Don’t forget that Friday, it’ll be time for our monthly reveal of Goliath artwork, this month with added spoilerization.
2) Sydneysiders, don’t forget the Zombies Versus Unicorns debate this Thursday at Kinokuniya bookstore.
3) The rest of you, come hang out at the Westerforum meet-up on April 9/10.
See you Friday!
In my last post, I answered questions about my recently finished Goliath rewrites. But one answer got rather long and has become its own blog post.
Which would be this blog post here. So, take it away, Gaia:
Now that you’ve turned in the [second draft], what sort of sausage-maker does Goliath get churned through between now and September? What are the steps that take it from “writer submits finished product†to “ravenous fans purchase and devour�
This is a process with a lot of steps, which is why it takes from now till September, and oftentimes more than a year to complete. Here’s a rough guide to everything that’s going on. (Note that I know more about authorly stuff than the rest. Publishing industry folks, feel free to correct me—though every house differs in the details.)
Copyedits
My editor reads this new draft, casting aside the fact that she read the first draft many times already, and is unlikely to be surprised by the plot twists or find the jokes terribly funny anymore. This is an editor superpower that I do not have.
She may request more rewrites (hopefully much less extensive), but if the draft seems to be basically sound she sends it to a copyeditor.
(Let’s get something straight: editor and copyeditor are VERY different positions. My editor is the person I’ve worked with at S&S for many years. She commissioned the series ages ago, and has been part of its creation from even before I wrote a word. Bu the copyeditor is someone who I might never meet in person, and who’s probably a freelancer. So the copyeditor is taking a fresh look at the work, unencumbered by previous knowledge and expectations and unbedazzled by my personal charms.)
The copyeditor reads the whole book and does these things:
1) Corrects grammar, punctuation, and spelling, of course.
2) Verifies spelling consistency with the first two books. For example, in 1914 “Zeppelin” was capitalized, but these days it’s not. We decided to go with modern usage. It’s the CE’s job to make sure I didn’t forget any of these series-level decisions.
3) Makes a timeline for the events of the book, which assures that characters don’t go to bed on Monday night and wake up on Thursday morning. (Or whatever.) I already have a timeline of my own (because I am a good author!), but the CE is making their timeline only using the evidence in the book. So this should reveal if I’ve made any mistakes.
4) Checks historical facts and stuff.
5) Does other things I’ve forgotten, because I am an ungrateful author.
My editor looks at these copyedits first, to shield my delicate eyes from umbrage. (For example, the copyeditor of Leviathan tried to change the spelling of “aeroplane” to “airplane,” which I would not have survived.) Then the copyedited manuscript is sent to me, and I go through them for about two weeks. In each case, I either accept the changes, defy them completely, or make a different change, solving the CE’s problem a different way. Defying a CE is called “stetting,” because you write “STET” next to it. “Stet” is Latin for “let it stand,” because we publishing types are a CLASSY PEOPLE.
Proofs
This heavily marked up masterpiece goes to Production at S&S, where they lay out pages along with the art. (Note that Keith is still working on the art as I type. He should be done by the end of this month.) This creates “page proofs,” a version of the book that looks like it will when it’s done, with the same font and such, but is not bound. However, wrongness and typos will exist, so it goes to a “proofreader.”
The proofreader does these things:
1) Also corrects grammar, punctuation, spelling.
2) Gets rid of “widows” and “orphans.”
3) Makes sure that non-standard characters (like Alek’s mom’s family, the House of Croÿ) have made it from the manuscript to this stage intact.
4) Makes sure there aren’t weird-looking typographical artifacts, like the same word piled on top of itself for three lines in a row. In any novel, this stuff happens randomly, and if left unfixed it breaks the reader out of the story. The proofreader just breaks a line somewhere above the pile-up, by adding a premature hard return, and the problem usually goes away like magic.
5) Other magic stuff that I’ve forgotten.
I get a copy of these proofread proofs (as does my editor, who as you can tell is there beside me at every stage). I go through them to make sure nothing has gone wrong with the corrections, still wielding the magic power of STET. I also check the art at this point. Usually one or two pieces of art is missing, and about a dozen pieces need to be moved. This last part is ANNOYING.
Let’s say there’s a full-page piece of art, and I want the reader to see it while reading the text on page 100. But the designer put the art on page 99, so the art spoils the surprise in the text. Argh.
Okay, so I move the art to page 100. Problem solved!
But that means that page 99 is now empty, so the text in question slides forward onto page 99 to fill that space. Note that odd-numbered pages are always on the right-hand side of an open book, so the reader won’t see the art on page 100 until AFTER they’ve finished page 99 and turned the page. Now the art is TOO LATE!
AND THERE IS NO SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM.
Well, I could rewrite the book somewhere else to slide stuff around, but that would just mess up something somewhere else. So I make do. (Keith and I have partially solved this problem by avoiding art that is entirely text dependant, that is, which has to be seen by the reader at an EXACT point in the story.)
This mass of scribblings all goes back to Production, who change stuff graciously and without complaint.
Then the “second-pass page proofs” come to me, and I realize that the ONE WORD that I deleted on page 187 has shifted things so that a piece of art on page 345 is now on page 344, which is the WRONG PLACE!
So I fiddle and move and shift, trying to get it all to work, like a prisoner solving a Rubrik’s Cube by passing hand-written notes to the dude in the next cell who actually has the frickin’ cube, but is slightly color blind. Well, sort of.
But somewhere around the third-pass page proofs the book has finally been made perfect, or we all politely pretend that it is, and it goes to the printer to become . . .
Advanced Reader’s Copies
Advanced Reader’s Copies are a special, cheap-paper print run for publicity purposes. They are sent to buyers at major chains, indie bookstore owners, well-connected librarians, book clubs, reviewers, my agent, bloggers who beg really well, and me, roughly in that order. (This is mid-May, because Book Expo America is in late May, and cannot be missed.)
I usually crack open one of the ARCs that I’ve been given, using it as a set of fourth-pass pageproofs. Changes can still be made. (But I don’t read the text at this point, because I can’t seriously stand it by now.)
Orders
Then comes a great ordering process, where a mighty sales force goes out to talk to bookstores and chains. The buyers there listen to the pitch, read the book and judge its cover, then look at how many Leviathans and Behemoths sold (and how quickly, and where), and finally and pick a nice round number for how many they want on their shelves on week one, and how many in reserve (printed and held, but not shipped to them right away). Organizations like the Junior Library Guild (a book club for libraries, basically) order en masse for their members, while big library systems order for themselves, as do many individual libraries. (Scholastic Book Club also gets into the action, but a little later.)
All these numbers are crunched and mangled on a really vast and glorious spreadsheet that S&S actually sent me once (see “personal charms” above), and this combination of math and BookScanomancy determines the size of the first print run. (This is in the low six figures for the likes of me.) This number is then multiplied by three and announced to a credulous and trusting world as the Official First Printing of Goliath.
Places like the Science Fiction Book Club take a different route, and prepare to print their own copies, so they can offer their members cheaper prices. (Scholastic Book Club often does this, but they love the Leviathan series’ fancy-doodle paper, and so use S&S copies. Much appreciated.)
Around this time I also get page proofs from Australia, because Penguin Oz likes to Australianise the text, turning “flavor” to “flavour” and “Dr.” to “Dr”. But they print at the same time as S&S US because of the fancy-doodle paper thing. (I appreciate youse all!)
(Note that S&S UK doesn’t send me page proofs, because they keep my American spellings. So that’s one less thing to do. And none of the foreign editions are part of this process, because other languages have their own entirely separate publishing schedules. They have to translate the whole thing, after all.)
Printing
We are swiftly leaving my areas of expertise, but at some point in, like, August or whatever, giant presses in some state with lots of vowels in its name roll and make a bunch of books. Then they print covers and stick them on, and then there are boxes and palettes and stuff. They go to an S&S warehouse or to various distributors’ warehouses, or something, but I pay no attention because . . .
My good friends in S&S Publicity have started calling magazines and other media outlets asking if anyone wants to interview me, and then they start arranging the Goliath tour!
We have meetings about marketing strategies and blog tours and whatever, and it starts to get exciting again. For one thing, no one is making me look at PAGE PROOFS. And for another, I know that soon I will be basking in the warm glowing warmth of your fannish adulations. I buy a few tweedy philosophy professor jackets for events, and start trimming down to prepare for my two-month diet of hotel room-service cheese!
And all this time, usually, I’m writing my next book, which I finish the first draft of in the nick of time. But in this case, I won’t be doing that. Instead, I will be working on a bunch of Secret Projects, each one more secret than the last, which I hope that you will be enjoying in 2012.
If you want to know what those secret projects are, come to Comic Con in San Diego. And if you can’t do that, maybe the nice people at Comic Con will allow those who do make it to use the internet.
Or just stay tuned here in late July.
As you can see, my website has had its first makeover in many years. This is to celebrate the fact that my first new series in years, Leviathan, comes out this autumn. (October 6, to be exact.)
Things may be wonky for a while as we play around under the hood. But I hope you enjoy the new look. Let me know what you think!
Click here to contact Scott Westerfeld.
Jill Grinberg
Jill Grinberg Literary Management
info@grinbergliterary.com
