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Performance and Character Reviews

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

English: Popped balloons resemble jellyfish. P...

As I’ve mentioned previously writing is only one of the many hats I get to wear on a daily basis. Unfortunately as I was changing out my desk calendar I was reminded today that the party is over. I need to put on my boss hat and get started working on the dreaded performance reviews.

Yes, I do have direct reports (no I didn’t force them to buy my book), and yes I do dread the performance review as much as they do or more. Why is that? Because my work requires us to complete reviews in a one-size-fits all format which can put people on the defensive. Additionally my office is not very large and so I am very familiar with why an individual did or did not complete their annual goals for the year without the need for another meeting.

fax
fax (Photo credit: anomalous4)

The part I dislike though most about the process is where the manager is expected to provide constructive criticism. The trick is presenting it in such a way as to motivate the person towards changing the behavior in the long-term rather than instigating a finger-pointing war. There was a Dilbert carton recently which showed the pointy haired manager reminding himself to criticize the behavior, not the person. In typical Dilbert fashion, he failed miserably. Hopefully though I’ve offered suggestions to my staff throughout the year, making this requirement on the form redundant.

You have to be able to first identify what motivates the individual and then how to best leverage that trigger into their work. However it is just as (or even more) important that the person being reviewed respect the reviewer, otherwise there will be no change. As an aside, I would expect that the majority of my protagonist’s from An Uncertain Faith reviews haven’t gone so well as of late.

Authors should be able to relate to this concept as much of the same work goes into effective character development. When I was developing my character notes, I had to describe to myself what was this person’s core needs? How did they respond when under stress? Some of these notes made it into the story verbatim, some were probably less obvious to the reader, but helped when it came to dialogue. I didn’t take the time to properly sit down and review my characters on previous writing attempts definitely contributed to my writer’s block and ultimate failure on those attempts.

It is much easier to write what should be done when preparing and conducting performance reviews than it is to actually do it. In my case there is a generational gap between myself and some of my staff. It didn’t take me more than a week on the job to recognize that what motivates me professionally is vastly different from what motivates a person closer to retirement or one just entering the work force. I would recommend that anyone attempting to write about a character vastly different from themselves study up on how to motivate those not like you or managing different generations.

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Standing out in the crowd

by Allie P., posted in Indie book promotion, Life as I know it

I am what some may call vertically challenged. For this reason standing out in a crowd has always been somewhat difficult for me.

My husband towers over a foot above me, which has proven helpful time and time again. He might have difficulty finding me, but at least I can see him. During the past few times we ventured out for New Years citywide celebrations, I’ve chosen to wear distinctive hats to help him better identify me in the masses. It is a strategy that may have helped us reduce the number of times we have to text our locations, if separated, like a grown up version of the Marco Polo, but I am still working on finding my ‘distinctive hat’ for the book crowd.

Helvetica cattle
Helvetica cattle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a fairly well known book on marketing called The Purple Cow which deals with the importance of finding some way to separate your product from the dozens others like it in a way that is unexpected or otherwise remarkable. By its logic, I might be able to bring attention to my book in the brick and mortar store if I had the pages printed in orange or had the book printed and bound in the shape of a triangle. Better yet, I could replace the cover altogether with an OLED and animate the thing! Can you even imagine how awful the bookstore experience would be if the shelves were turned into a tiny climate controlled version of Times Square? It is going to happen. Start shopping for sunglasses now.

English: Broadway show billboards at the corne...

Unfortunately the same tactics won’t work for the e-book – unless retail websites and eReaders start allowing animated gifs as cover art. But until then, what can be done to better distinguish an e-book from the thousands of others when they all will be displayed on nearly the same medium? Yes, I could manipulate the price as an attention – for example drop it from $3.99 to something oddly specific like $3.76, but that might impact long term brand value.

One I saw is to bundle your e-book. As I only have a single published novel to my name, that would be some feat to pull off. I guess I could do that by forming some partnership with another equally new author in a symbiotic alliance. Debut Authors Assemble!

Until then, I’ll keep working on trying to find the neglected market and growing my reviews.

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Oh the best laid plans…

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

Scrunched up paper in a wastebin

The pages and pages of discarded stories I’ve started and never finished over the years taught me that I am one of those writers who has to have the majority of the story including chapters, scenes, and major plot points before I write page one. It was a practice that worked wonders on my last attempt. I was able to set myself a daily goal and then click clack clack slowly, but surely I was there.

This time though I am encountering something I hadn’t planned for, an unruly protagonist. I am now 14,000 words in (a feat I’m fairly proud of considering I have to squeeze in writing between day job and diaper changes) and she is determined to steal scenes destined for other characters. She’s made me want to growl at her, “I’m your creator, you need to hang back and let these other characters develop.” Does she listen? No. She continues to do whatever it is she wants.

She’s made me rearrange entire sequences already, and I’m not even out of the first act! I’ve wanted to tell her, “oh just you wait until the beta readers get here.” Then she nearly argues back at me, “I’m making your story better!” Unfortunately I secretly suspect she may prove to be right. At times such as these I think it is probably a good thing that I don’t have daughters in real life.

I’m a huge fan of the epic fantasy genre and used to frequently shake my fist and the various authors of series spanning 5+ books who seemed to loose control of their own storylines after book 3. I now am feeling like quite the hypocrite and do hereby promise to be more patient in the future.

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A Humorist take on Modern (Southern) Etiquette Dilemmas

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

Rude Bitches Make Me Tired: Slightly Profane and Entirely Logical Answers to Modern Etiquette DilemmasRude Bitches Make Me Tired: Slightly Profane and Entirely Logical Answers to Modern Etiquette Dilemmas by Celia Rivenbark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was told to check out this local author by a colleague. Admittedly the title was enough to pick it up off the shelves for further investigation. While it is advertised as being a modern day etiquette book, I found it to be more along the lines of a lengthy newspaper humorist column.

The format is set in question and answer format and while I don’t believe I will change any of my own personal mannerisms as a result of reading, I do think I have now been properly prepped as to how to behave if I ever meet the author in person.

I did find myself snorting in amusement over some of her observations, especially as I am familiar with the area. Her humor is very southern-centric and may not resonate well with other parts of the country.

Overall I found it to be an enjoyable quick read.

Strong characters wanted

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

The presents have been unwrapped, my house now refilled with fire trucks, transformers, and even a starter skateboard – you know, typical boy stuff. I swear if I still get the occasional adult acne it is because of all the testosterone I am exposed to daily in a house full of growing males.

My mom stopped by to enjoy a cup of coffee while the grandkids tore into their gifts. She offered to take my eldest son to see either Frozen or Walking with Dinosaurs later this week. My son, not being familiar with either movie needed a description to help in his decision making process. Frozen lost out the moment princesses were mentioned.

I had read that Frozen was supposed to be inspired by the old story of the Snow Queen and was somewhat surprised when I read how it had been adapted this time for the big screen. The original story was one of the first fairy tales I could remember reading which featured the girl coming to the rescue of the boy, but it seems that this retelling has made it more sugary sweet than the original. I guess I’ll probably never know for certain though.

Over the years, I have been somewhat bothered by how rare the theme of the strong female coming to the rescue seems to be, particularly in children’s and young adult stories / films. The Paper bag Princess, Brave, and The Ask and the Answer (the sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go, Chaos Walking series), being notable exceptions. The recent princess trend thoroughly embraced by my nieces occasionally makes me shudder and glad to only have sons (though I admit they are adorable in their princess dresses – my nieces that is).

My novel, An Uncertain Faith, could be classified as Women’s fiction because it features a woman dealing with her marriage, motherhood, and her career. Why is this a subcategory? Is there such as thing as Men’s fiction? If so, what would be the criteria for inclusion? Would the book have to deal with sports, cars, and bodily gases? Oh right its just called fiction. Women do enjoy sports, cars, and some might even appreciate a good fart joke from time to time. Why then are books about family and marriage separated out or otherwise made to seem as if they are off limits?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t consider myself a feminist. No, I like to think I am a gender equal opportunist. I am equally bothered by how few children’s stories and shows contain a present / involved, intelligent, and caring father. Up anyone? I still get angry at the kid’s dad in that movie, and where was Max’s father in the book, Where the Wild Things Are? Max is after the dog! Someone redirect and get mom some wine! Stat!

My children are truly blessed to have such a father. I love him dearly as my spouse, but I positively adore him as a parent to our sons. He tucks them in to bed and reads them stories just as much as I do. Yet we are always reading about how much the mom loves the child, misses the child, and vice versa with only the rarest mention of dad. Its a wonder my husband hasn’t gotten a complex yet. If anyone would like to recommend a good children’s book out there (kindergarten reading level) that features both parents equally, I’d love to hear from you.