This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race..(Wednesday Feb. 7)

[xakara]

This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race"

I am an arms dealer
Fitting you with weapons in the form of words
And don't really care which side wins
As long as the room keeps singing
That's just the business I'm in, yeah

This ain't a scene, it's a goddamned arms race
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamned arms race
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamned arms race
I'm not a shoulder to cry on
But I digress

I'm a leading man
And the lies I weave are oh so intricate,
Oh so intricate ~ Fall Out Boy

Publishing novels isn't a scene, it's a ***damn arms race. Thank you Fall Out Boy for speaking the gospel for your industry and mine as well.

As writers we don't get too many songs that fit and this one was perfect for my mood and current take on things. In seeking to write full time as a career I'm in fact looking to get paid to lie for a living. Wonderful intricate lies that make life a little more bearable for the person swept up in my words for time. But this isn't a new perspective and has been said before by more eloquent scribes than myself. I'm merely expanding on an idea for my time.

As a writer I am an arms dealer fitting the reader with weapons in the forms of words. Weapons that protect them against the stresses and tolls of a mundane world.

My goal is to get the words to the publishers as quickly as possible while the model I'm hawking is still hot and I can get top dollar. I will supply equally for whomever is willing to shell out the money for as long as they are willing. I'll pit them against each other if it what gets me what I need, it's all the same to me. As the middlemen between me and the buyer I don't really care which side wins as long as the room keeps reading....that's just the business I'm in.

What put me in this mindframe you ask (besides drowning in the FOB video)?

I got a request for a partial and I found a handful of contest I'm planning on enterring while I work on book 2. It's all about getting my name out there and getting feedback on the things that trip through my head in the dark of night when it seems no one is looking. I'm learning my audience. I'm finding out if the same things that brought me to paranormal fiction brought them as well. In the face of what they have I'm learning how to arm them with more.

Urban Fantasy is barely recognized by some and immediately brings squeals of delight from others while the rest nod and are afraid to ask questions. Let me break down what I mean. Urban Fantasy is contemporary fiction in setting that brings in paranormal elements, vampires, shifters, ghosts, wizards, witches, psychics, etc.

Some prime examples of authors who excel at UF; Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, Patricia Briggs, L.A. Banks. Sometimes it's more recognized as Paranormal Romance (which is its own subgenre, but mirror twin of UF) this would MaryJanice Davidson, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Lynsay Sands and so many others.

I fall under UF rather than PR because I don't have the typical heroine and hero who get together at the end. Relationships are the main focus and there's love found in the end, but its not with just one and it's not with our primary "Alpha Male" in the story. But that's okay, its what worked for me and for the story and we'll see where it goes. I'm still all about PR as much as UF because I love the twin genres. I even managed a PR short story, but it involved a trio so still not traditional but just as valid a romance.

I've read things that said the subgenres are dying off and both UF and PR are seeing their last days. At the same time on places like the Romantic Times blog I see readers just getting into it and discovering Urban Fantasy and its concepts outside of romance. At the same time I read threads where UF fans are finding their vampire/shifter fix in the romance aisle while their favorite UF writers work diligently on their next books.

With the hunger to supplement their favorites readers are making new favorites all the time. The genres aren't dying, they're still finding their groove and I think there's still plently of room for my and other new voices to become those filler stories between the established voices. To build and deliver and become new favorites. I know my shelves exploded when I ran out of one author and snatched up every anthology I could get my hands on to discover new (to me) authors.

Don't sing the dirge for the vampire, as usual the news of its permanent demise is greatly exaggerated. Weep not for the werewolf for he still has more than a few quick changes to keep readers guessing. And ghosts, well, lets just say they are much more substantial than you've been led to believe. The audience is still there, some jus't don't know it yet.

~This ramble has been called on account of bloodsugar issues. I return you to your regularly schedule evening drift of thought.

Another Time,

X

Comments

[sroit.livejournal.com]

Great entries, and good to see you posting. I'm reading in reverse here, but going on to the other posts. Anyway...

Hi!!

[xakara.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It's good to be posting. As you read backwards you got to why it is I needed to get into the habit and move along.

So now you're one of "the four" I'll be talking to along with those imaginary writing friends stumbling across this.