There are three big uses for dashes.
The easiest one is to use in broken dialogue. In real life, we do this thing where we pause mid-speech to do something physical. Watch people around you when they talk. It's instinct. Storytellers do it to draw out tension. People do it in a halting way or a I'm-not-really-uncomfortable or a variety of body language things.
"Our queen worries"--Devlin weighed his words carefully as he emptied the cup of elixir--"I may need to be away from your side to deal with business matters."
By breaking it, there's a sense of hesitancy, of acknowledging his presence. It allows me to convey tone. In real life that pause is a blink. It's an extra few heartbeats to collect thoughts.
It's also dialogue appropriate to show interruptions. It shows a word cut off. The trick there is to make sure there's enough of a word to let the reader know what was being said.
So I used to get these students who said "I want them to PAUSE so I inserted a comma." As an English teacher, this was an early term lesson. Commas aren't just inserted to make a reader pause. When we read, we DO pause at a comma, but it's not a bilateral function. We don't randomly shove commas in to make a reader pause.
All commas MUST have a reason for being.
However, if you want an extra beat of pause, you may use an em dash.
She extended her left hand to the yawning mouth of a brass gargoyle knocker. Lovely sharp pain drew a sigh from her as the gargoyle closed its mouth over her fingers. The bite was over before she saw it happen, but she was found to be acceptable. Only those Irial had permitted access were allowed to disturb him. She was on the list--even at this hour.
So I want the reader to pause a blink. It's the end of a paragraph (one with the usual sentence type mix). I close with a simple sentence and with an em dash as an extra emphasis.
Let me repeat that because it's important: All commas MUST have a reason for being.
First person: Simply put, it is an "I" book. Typically 1st is one character telling. Lots of great books are written this way. Writer after writer tells me it's easier. Every time I try, I get blank pages. Lots of blank pages . . . which means I found myself saying "Man, I so can't write a book. Wow, I suck."
Multiple first: A few characters telling what they know in some sort of alternating structure <-- This is the hardest sort in my opinion. It means you need to have totally unique voices, diction, speech patterns for multiple characters. I've read a fair number of books attempting this. I rarely find one that doesn't fail for me.
It highlights the issue of writing first for me. I read books by the same author that are supposed to be totally distinct characters, but there are key phrases that echo. If a WRITER does this, I don't think anything of it. It's a writer quirk. If you ask me to believe that these two totally different people are "telling me a story" but they use these same phrases . . . Ummm, no. I disengage.
Does third still do that? It does, but my ability to suspend disbelief and buy a voice is less jarred when the CHARACTER'S voice is conveyed via dialogue. 3rd allows that distance that lets me say "a-ha! different character" because the quirk-phrases that writers have are easier to contain in dialogue than in whole text first person.
Third person: Not the "I" but the "he"or the "she."
Third limited: The character who is telling can only tell what s/he knows.
Multiple third limited: A few characters telling what they know in some sort of alternating structure <-- This is what I write. My books all have multiple narrators telling the tale. So far, I've had 3 (Keenan, Ash, & Don) in WL; 3 (Iri, Leslie, & Niall) in INK; 4 (Ash, Sorcha, Don, & Seth) in FRAGILE; and 3 (Dev, Ani, & Rae) in SHADOWS.
The difference between multiple voices & head hopping Limited multiple pov isn't the same as what most people mean by "head hopping." Head hopping is when you, the author, are able to know everyone's thoughts so you are in the Deity Position (ie have omniscience AND, in theory, omnipotence). With multiple 3rd limited, you are structuring the story in "sections." I typically do this by chapter. The challenge, of course, is balancing who tells in what order. Do you switch btw chapters? How often?
It depends.
To determine which character gets pov, I ask "what is this scene about?" If it's about an event that clearly has the most impact to ONE character's trajectory, that's my pov character. If it could be arc-shifting for a couple of them, I make a choice: who can I get the most mileage out of here? Who will suffer/rejoice/struggle the most? If it's equally possible for two characters, I write it twice to see which is better OR I say "A-ha! Keenan hasn't been central for 3 chapters. He will suffer here, so he tells."
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* Which, yanno, means I rather desperately WANT to do solitary 1st person pov eventually.
It's all subjective. Repeat it with me: It's ALL subjective.
Agents? Editors? They're readers too. Reviewers? Yep. They're readers too.
I see reviews by folks who hate my books now. NO book works for all readers. You will be rejected by agents, editors (one told my ex-agent that Harper "made a mistake" offering a preempt on WL), reviewers (so far one of the big review spots seem to hate my books whereas another gave a killer review & a slam--two diff reviewers, two books, same venue), readers, and . . . other authors. I had one gem of a moment where an author at a book event asked me how I felt about "writing my book to ride the coattails of Twilight." *pauses* Yeah. That was a really killer moment. I wrote WL before Twilight was pubbed, wrote the story that became WL before Twilight was written . . . but that author needed to believe that my book's initial response was from Something Wrong.
It happens. It's all subjective.
Here's the deal: if you want to do this, you gotta face the facts that 1) there will be hosts of folks who have nothing positive to say . . . and others who love your characters more than YOU do and 2) it's not personal--these folks don't hate me (typically/I think/I hope). It has nothing to do with me, & everything to do with a book, their own tastes, and sometimes their own baggage. Try to remember that. You do this because you HAVE to write, because you love the story, because you believe you can do it, & . . . well, you're going to try. It's not easy.
Also? The numbers don't matter. Subjective individual experiences. I understand the urge to try to quantify it, but you can't. It simply doesn't help--but it does distract you from what you CAN do, which is keep trying & keep writing.
And remember too that the human tendency is to remember the outlier. We remember the lottery ticket that won- not the 138 that didn't. We remember the date that was the start of a fab love--not the 200 that weren't. We remember the aced test on no sleep--not the ones that we struggled to get. Writers' stories are like that. I can remember that I couldn't even get responses for my first novel--or in some cases for WL--or I can remember that my editor skipped her tea to read my book. We, as a species, prefer to remember the magic moment.
To contextualize on the agent thing-- Yeah, I got lucky with the responses to Wicked Lovely, & it was my debut novel. There is the illusion that it can be an "overnight" success. I don't buy it. I taught for 12 years, spent another 7 years before that studying lit, & then 3 years writing. . . *counts* That's a realllllly long night. During that, I raised kids, homeschooled, before that I bartended & waitressed & worked odd jobs. AFTER this, I might do something else. The agent rejections, the editor rejections, the books unsold, those are all not-important. There's no magic number, no statistic that will lead any one of us closer to the goal that we seek.
. . . at least that's my take on it :)
Sacred-texts.com has a lot of old texts scanned in. If you're going Celtic faery, go here. Start reading. The Secret Commonwealth (Kirk) is essential. If you're going Welsh, read the Mabinogion. Evans-Wentz Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries is a great text. Thomas Crofton Croker.
If you're looking for hard copy (newer but still awesome), Eddie Lenihan is a master (http://www.eddielenihan.com/).
Honestly, there's a lot of great stuff there. Read the old texts.
Do NOT read other novels with faeries until after you do your research. (Yes, I realize that I am suggesting that you don't read my books, too.) It's the source texts that matter most. Read those. Read critical texts.
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Hope that gives you a start. I can tell you what I'm reading but half the fun is the journey so simply reading the articles I read is going to be less useful (& less fun).
World Rights (all languages)
World English (English in any country)
North American
When I sold the YA novels (& the anthology stories AND manga), I sold "World Rights" to HarperCollins US, Children's Division. They have a team of people in the "Subrights Department" there who function much like agents do for authors.
They sell rights in each country. Harper paid me more up front for the control. That means they get a percentage of the sale in each country, BUT it meant I got more money up front (the "advance") and they do the leg work at selling overseas. With Harper & as a debut author, this felt like a wise move (& I think it was). If I'd only sold NA Rights, my agent would need to shop it to publishers in each country. I could earn more--or not.
So at Harper, there are some great folks--Jean and Alpha are the two who've handled most of my sales, & they are completely kicking it. WL will (or has) release(d) in more than twenty-five countries: US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand), Singapore, the Philippines, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, China, Japan, Romania, Estonia, Indonesia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, et al. Some are via "exports." The UK edition goes to Australia & New Zealand. The US edition goes to Canada. The German edition goes to Austria.
So a translation is sold as "World Spanish" or "World German." Anywhere the book goes that speaks that language then gets into "export" territory. . . and to be honest, even figuring out this much has been a lot of questioning on my part. How a book gets from spot A to W is sometimes just downright perplexing. It does, though, & then I get to hear from readers from all over--which is pretty fabulous, IMO.
NOTE: Derek wasn't the prototype for Seth. No one person is the basis for Seth, or Beira, or Ash, or Keenan, or Don, or . . .
Remember too that we see them through our POV character--which means that we're working with what works for the character we're seeing through.
Les sees Gabe with two different looks.
At Verlaine's "Gabriel's appearance shift was more subtle than Irial's: he still wore black jeans and a collarless shirt, but the Hound's tattoos were now hidden under long sleeves. His unruly hair appeared to be neatly trimmed, as were his goatee and sideburns. Like Irial, Gabriel's glamour was not his usual one. Gabriel's face was somehow gentler, without the dark shadows and hollows that he usually left visible for the mortals. Of course, the glamour did nothing for the Hound's intimidating height, but for Gabriel, it was near conservative."
Outside her house: ". . . older than most of the people who hung around Ren. He had a different look, too. Heavy silver chains dangled from both of his wrists. His jeans were faded and ripped in the calves to reveal the tops of scuffed combat boots. Tattoos of zoomorphic dogs covered his forearms."
So he doesn't look like a teenager. . . He HAD to look a little earlier than a teen because he's supposed to be Rabbit's Dad, but beyond that . . .
Irial:
" . . . seeming far too serious--and apparently oblivious to the number of people watching them like they were members of the Living Zombies. Leslie wondered if Irial played an instrument. He was sexier than any of the Zombies. If he played or sang too . . . he'd be halfway to success just by looking so delicious. He had a mysterious aura, plus he was a couple years older than Leslie and Aislinn--a college sophomore maybe."
Most college sophomores are abt 19/20.
So . . . I guess that's a long way of saying: there is no definitive answer here. I'm just not big on anchoring them that way (which is why we get such varied visuals when you all pick actors--who your pick says more abt what you see when you read than abt what I wrote . . . which, fwiw, I love).
But I write a world where choice is always central, so they're not JUST Summer.
Yes, they talk about sex--but that's far from their only interest. The girls have intellectual & artistic & feminist interests. Sex is only the "light" topic. Ri (if you look at the scene where they're leaving school) talks a good game, but she's pretty innocent. Leslie has made a mistake--Mitchell--and her tone is slightly jaded (& definitely remorseful). There was a very conscious decision on my part to make clear that talking trash is not the same as being irresponsible. Ash ponders the consequences. STDs & pregnancy are very real concerns. Before she does anything with Seth she knows whether or not he's safe.
You're right that these aren't the most "conventional" people--but neither is Ash. She sees faeries, loves arts, lit, music, & fringe people.
And MY artist (at the competing shop) was named Hunter.
Those men are the reason that Rabbit is named Rabbit. He shares traits with a few artists I've met over the years (including both Hunter & Paul, my two tattooists), & the shop I see in my mind is Hunter's first studio. My love for tattoo artists and bikers and the folks who slipped into our bar in the "not open to the public" hours to remove any photos of themselves that we hung on our "wall of fame/shame" (after events). Although I don't see or talk to most of those folks any more, my love for them filtered into the text.
Why Rabbit? Rabbit's father saw him when he was tiny, & he commented in that awed way new parents have that the baby was shaking and staring like a little rabbit. Rabbit's mom knew that awe was from affection. Thus, he's always been called Rabbit.
He loves the kids, but did much better when they were babies & thus more cooperative with being coddled. He & Rab have a few issues now that Rab is grown, and--of course--because Gabe's fears made him stay away from Ani & Tish more than Rabbit thinks is acceptable. Babies were much easier for Gabe. His daughters sort of frighten him with their refusal to stay tucked in somewhere safe (especially Ani).
Rabbit was very mellow, artist. He did art school & then a proper tattoo apprenticeship. Tattoo artists must get trained. There's so much to it that anyone who wants to do it RIGHT needs training. Inks, needles, safety . . . much, much training. And, of course, he continues to go to professional seminars. He's a pro, not a scratcher.
And, umm, the folks who said the names in the book trailer were winging it too. Actually, the audio reader for INK didn't ask for how-to. (He says "ogham" wrong, but *shrug* it doesn't matter in understanding the story.) Storytelling is about the story not the accent or inflection.
It's like names. I, for instance, prefer to use my full name. I don't like it being shortened when people speak to me aloud. . . except under certain conditions. My niece calls me "Aunt Miss" (she had the "M" & the "Iss"). My baby cousins used to call me "Lissa." My Pap used to call me "Missa Ann." Those were all affectionately spoken & because of the origin didn't make me cringe. I answer to "Miss," "Missy," & "Lissa" . . . and in truth, if anyone needs to shorten my name, I prefer "Lissa." It's all ME though. Then we get into accents, my UK editor & my Italian editor both call me "Melissa" but if you saw the phonetics, it wouldn't look the same as how most of you say it.
The hags were actually chosen because of folkloric sources; the bone girls (Scrimshaw Sisters) were a touch macabre so I associated them with Winter Court & the Dark Court. OTOH, Beira's sprites were there under protest. They made bargains (bad choices) and were suffering for it.
A variety of the faeries were not "real" types so as to expand the world. Rowan is a sacred wood. Scrimshaw is a touch disturbing. Thistles hurt and get under your skin (says the person who has foolishly walked barefoot where it wasn't bright to do so). There are others--wraiths, Gabriel Hounds, Jenny Greenteeth, Leanan -Sidhes, beansidhes, Gancanagh, Far Dorocha, kelpies--who are more traditionally ordered because the lore supports it.
So, I guess it's--like most things--for a variety of reasons.
Obscure, indie local artists would interest her, and of course, Lenore is a hit (gotta love the dark humour), Buffy (strong feminist? good stuff), Nightmares & Fairy Tales, Fables, & she'd have read Gaiman's stuff (as everyone should, imho). She's read manga too. Basically, I see her taste as divided btw sweet stuff & dark stuff with an inevitable draw towards folklore as she knows it's real. She seems to be fond of vampire stuff because she believes they aren't real.
As we look at each of those 4 courts, it becomes clear (IMHO) that no one stance is "purely right" or "purely evil." To some degree, everything is relative. That's a central point of philosophical inquiry to me personally. I'm enjoying trying to poke at ideas & characters & threads to see which factors need shifted for a character to be classified as "good" or "evil" & an act as "right" or "wrong" (hence the multiple POV). Life, in my opinion, is complex, so a simple two answer system seems tedious to write (& less able to reflect the way things look to me--which like all the rest is merely one perspective).
Where did it come from? I'm not entirely sure. B/c I like seasonal myths? B/c I like multiplicities of meaning? B/c I find Winter terrifying & tempting? B/c I thought the dynamics were more interesting? I'm never entirely sure what the answer is . . . or maybe there isn't a single answer.
Did I make some up? Yep. Folklore & fairy tales aren't stagnate. They evolve. There's a wonderful tradition of re-telling, of re-envisioning, of adapting & updating the old tales. Frex, there's no myth of a Winter Girl. Cailleach Bheur (Beira's source) is not gorgeous. She's a blue-faced hag with razor sharp teeth & blue lips in many tellings. There is, however, a story of Beara traveling on the back of a great white wolf as she spread winter over the earth.
Glaistigs are in lore. Rowan People are not (although the rowan--AKA Mountain Ash--is a sacred wood). Ditto the Hawthorn Girls (Hawthornis sacred, but there are no Hawthorn People). There is a Seelie & Unseelie Court in lore, so the idea of balanced courts comes from there . . . but the Winter Court, Summer Court, Dark Court, & High Court are not all present. Eating the food of Faerie is dangerous (akin to the Persephone myth sometimes). Music & all night dancing (or years missing when it felt like but one night) are lore sourced ideas. The role of tattooing in folklore (as in INK) is not found in source texts. OTOH, the idea that tattoos can hold supernat'l power IS in lore.
I guess, in sum, it's a mix of sources, but not all of them are direct one-to-one things. They are (mostly) with some source though. My mind is an amalgamation of such things; they filter into the words when I try to write.
I think I'm a little traditional in this regard--I like to leave the door closed on those moments. I'll give some details (Ch 26 & the epilogue w/ Keenan & Don), but I tend to believe that my characters' intimate experiences are meant to be left to imagination rather than explicitness.
So I suppose both arguments could be correct. I will say that when Ink Exchange starts Ash is not a virgin. When & how precisely that happens is not detailed in WL though. I thought a lot abt that choice, & it seemed the right answer to me . . . which is sorta amusing considering how many comments I've read abt "how much sex" is in the book. I'm left assuming that a) some readers are uncomfortable with any sex, b) they read another book, or c) a girl or woman enjoying oral sex threatens their comfort zones (which is really sad).
"YA author Melissa Marr has closed her first adult deal with her longtime publisher, HarperCollins. Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House brokered the deal for two books for mid-to-high six figures. Jennifer Brehl at HC took North American rights. Heifetz described the first book, Graveminder, as "Six Feet Under laced with ancient Irish evil and a dash of Faulkner"; the second book is currently untitled. Marr's teen books Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange, dark paranormal titles featuring fairies who coexist uneasily with the few humans who can see them, earned starred PW reviews and were Book Sense Picks."
Fave reptile . . . I have a pet turtle. Her name is Bronwyn. She likes her head stroked, & she sometimes likes to have the tip of her beak rubbed. I'm a bit ill at ease with some snakes (the Mojave rattlesnake, cottonmouth, Western diamondback rattler, & copperhead, in particular), but I like black rat snakes, boas, and have great respect for serpents in general. Desert Tortoises make me very happy. In truth, most reptiles (excepting the venomous ones) make me less uncomfortable than birds. Birds freak me out to degrees that are not rational.
graveminder (paperback)
Faery Tales & Nightmares
darkest mercy (paperback)
Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions
Home Improvement: Undead Edition
Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy
Teeth: Vampire Tales