Manipulating My Readers. Bwah-ha-ha!

I have learned to be more manipulative as a writer.

But this is not a bad thing. As a reader, in fact, I love it. So naturally, I think other readers must like it as well.

Here's what happened. I was writing an early version of THE MAGIC MIRROR AND THE SEVENTH DWARF. And I reread my opening chapter and thought, "Hmm. I need Gretchen to be more likable."

So I changed my Gretchen intro scene. As it was, she was listening to a minstrel talk about this farm that was run entirely by dwarfs. Before my manipulative rewrite, she simply listens to the story, and decides to check out the farm for herself. And maybe see if she can catch a husband.

After my rewrite, she listens to the story about the farm, is singled out as the only dwarf in town, manhandled, humiliated, and THEN she decides to go see the farm for herself.

(You can read the excerpt for yourself here.)

This is something that I only started doing recently, and I don't think it is any coincidence that these are the books that sold. When I was writing THE SEVENFOLD SPELL, one of the very last additions to the story was the scene at the beginning where Talia and her mother are engaging in passive resistance to protest the conficscation of their spinning wheel, and then Talia rushes to defend her mother. Who doesn't need it, but still, it was the thought that counted.


So while I was writing MAGIC MIRROR. I looked for opportunities to be manipulative. And I found them. Here are some teases:

• Princess Angelika is known as "The Tattered Princess"
• Lars defends his mates from a bully.
• Prince Richard pretends to be insane in order to avoid putting people in danger.
• Herr Dieter builds small furnishings for his small wife.

I also looked for opportunities for my two villains--the evil queen  and the aforementioned bully--to be awful in a sort of reverse-manipulative way.

Do I do this in real life? I'd like to think not, but this has to come from somewhere! Maybe I should ask my husband ...

You can learn more about THE MAGIC MIRROR AND THE SEVENTH DWARF at Carina Press or at my official book page. I have a giveaway going on right now for all my current ebooks--just leave a comment to enter and tell us about your favorite fictional character ever.

Shifting Priorities as a New Author

Wow; once upon a time, I would have had this post up at 6:00 AM. I would have scheduled it two days ago. Now, it's almost 8, and I'm writing it now, hoping people will at least get a chance to see it over the weekend. Why am I such a deadbeat blogger? Because my priorities have shifted.

A year and a half ago, I was an avid blogger. I ran a review blog called Debuts & Reviews, where I aspired to be THE source of new debut novels. Five months after my first publication, The Sevenfold Spell, I realized I couldn't run Debuts & Reviews anymore. And with great reluctance--I loved doing it--I converted D&R to a personal blog. Happily, I didn't take a huge hit in apparent follower numbers. But the number of posts at my blog are now very sporadic. I used to blog daily. Now I wonder where I found the time.

Actually, that's obvious. The time I once spent blogging, I now spend writing fiction.

My priority now has to be my fiction readers. I'm working very hard on my next story, and every evening, the hour or so I have for writing flies by, leaving little time for anything other than some minimal (very minimal) social networking.

Another thing that's changed is my agent search. It ended the day I got the call from Angela. Don't get me wrong; I'd love to find an agent. But I don't have anything novel-length to query right now (that hasn't already been seen by dozens of agents) and I'm focused on working on new stuff rather than fixing up the old.

Also, I no longer set aside works as easily as I once did. I'm writing through writer's block now--or at least I'm trying. Why? Because I need to finish another story. But it still has to be a good story. And as I write, I keep asking myself, will readers of The Sevenfold Spell be disappointed by this story? It's daunting. I do think that if you liked Talia, you will probably like Gretchen, the main character in my next retelling. But it's hard to be sure.  I will only know when I finish it and see what my publisher thinks. And even if they like it, I won't be certain until it has faced the ultimate test ... the readers.

I hoped and worked toward the goal of getting published for many years. But in many ways, I wasn't prepared when it happened. I love it, but wow. It sure is a different mindset.

Have you ever worked toward a goal, only to find that everything changed once you reached it?

Tia Nevitt