If you learned everything you know about authors from watching TV or movies, you might think we’re all wealthy, that we just send off a manuscript and then get a check in the mail almost instantly, and that we become famous and live like movie stars after publishing one book. Even when you know more about what it’s really like to try to build a publishing career, there’s a lot you may not realize behind the success of a bestselling author. I’ve known Rachel Caine, author of the bestselling Morganville Vampires series and the Weather Warden series, among others, for many years, but I hadn’t realized just how much effort and even failure came before her success until I heard her give a presentation on her career. If you’re thinking about becoming a writer, this story may be scarier than any of her books, but it can also be encouraging because one failure doesn’t mean you’ll never be successful. Her very first novel was a role-playing game tie-in. “I didn’t know what I was doing,” she confessed, but the editor liked her style. She decided to join a writers group, and one member told her she sucked, while another told…

Shanna’s Road Journal Shanna Swendson’s Observations … On Line and On the Road It’s 2010, do you have your e-reader yet? The iPad has made its appearance, joining the Kindle, the Sony e-reader, the Nook and a variety of other reading devices. While I’m far from a luddite, I don’t have an e-reader yet, for a variety of reasons. One is price. I don’t generally spend hundreds of dollars easily for much of anything. The other is that I have the kind of luck with technology that means that whatever I buy will turn out to be the equivalent of the Betamax, and it will be discontinued after I have about five books on it. I will likely wait for the next generation of devices to see how things shake out — or until I write a bestseller and can buy lots of fun toys. I generally think about e-readers when I’m packing to go on a trip, as I am today. I can’t travel without at least one book, and for quick trips, I like to pack as little as possible. That means I have to pick just the right book to bring with me, something that will last…

Last month, I did a presentation at the Arlington, Texas, Public Library’s paperback swap event. Even though Valentine’s Day has already passed, we still kept the romantic mood alive by focusing on romance. Just to be different, I spoke about the romantic books you find outside the romance section. The romance genre itself has some expectations, the most important of which is a happy ending with the couple together in some kind of relationship that looks like it will last. That makes it a safe place if you want to read a love story where one of the main characters doesn’t die tragically at the end. But you can still find romantic stories in other places, though there’s the risk that it won’t work out in quite the way you might hope. Actually, romance has been important to fiction ever since people started telling stories. Look at all the hooking up that happens in Greek and Norse mythology, in Arthurian legends and in fairy tales. Then there are the literary classics. There’s a romantic happy ending in all of Jane Austen’s books. Jane Eyre is essentially an inspirational romance, since Jane is rewarded with her true love after she holds…

Shanna’s Road JournalShanna Swendson’s Observations … On Line and On the Road As much time as I spend at my local library (since it’s two blocks from my house — more convenient than any bookstore — I’m there a lot), I hadn’t thought about library resources online, but I’m finding that online library information goes way beyond the electronic catalog. For instance, I’ve discovered the information for book lovers at the American Library Association’s “I love libraries” site, found at http://www.ilovelibraries.org/. You can find Booklist reviews, lists of notable books, lists of award winners and lists of recommended books. Don’t even click on the “recommended reading” link unless you’ve got plenty of time to kill. There are lists of books for various age groups and topics, such as popular paperbacks that teens will enjoy, books for lifelong learners, books about various cultural groups, and recommended books from certain genres. There’s even a good list of “read alikes” — other books you might like if you like certain bestselling titles. If you know a student who needs to find something to read for a book report, this is a good place to start. These aren’t stuffy “books that are good for…

I’ve been on a deadline, so I’ve barely left the house lately, which rules out being “on the road,” and I haven’t even been around much online, but there was a panel topic from FenCon back in September that’s been churning around in my brain ever since then. The panel was on “suburban fantasy,” and that’s brought up some thoughts about where contemporary fantasy novels take place. The current “urban fantasy” genre seems to draw heavily from the hardboiled detective novels, with a somewhat outsider hero (or heroine) who is tough and street smart, dealing with the underworld. In urban fantasy, that hero usually has some kind of supernatural powers or status, and the underworld is the world of the paranormal. But what about contemporary fantasy stories that don’t use the city as a setting? The suburbs would seem like an ideal place to explore the idea of the “other.” In our culture, we think of the suburbs as a place of sameness and conformity. The houses all look alike, and every shopping area has the same national chain stores and restaurants. Anyone who doesn’t quite fit in can be made to feel very left out. Now multiply that by…