Good evening my friends. It’s been a bit of a rough day. I had a fat migraine. Probably due to too much painting, house painting that is. I clearly rearranged parts of my spine and they are registering their disapproval. Loudly.
Speaking of registering disapproval. The President of the coop my son goes to went off to Italy a week ago. Turns out she didn’t do anything she said she would handle before she left. And worse she didn’t tell anyone she didn’t handle it. Hot potato in my lap in the last 24 hours. Did I neglect to mention I’m the VP of Education? LOL
The lesson to be learned here. Do not volunteer for things. LOL. Ever.
I’ve decided to report on my stated 2016 goals each Wednesday for a little prod of accountability.
– Participate in one flash fiction challenge per month.
√ Finally a writing challenge. Dan posted this one last Friday to kick off the challenge season on his blog. Finish the following sentence. The most important thing about writing a book is…
…. finishing it.
– Prepare and teach “Nano to Publish”.
√ We covered using create space last weekend and a bit about cover design.
– Any time I am not actively working on my 2015 Nano Novel, write 2500 words per week on my spy novel until it is done. (After four years, it’s time to put this mess to bed.)
√ I am no longer dreading digging into my beta changes. But I am wondering why I bother. Seems like everyone has an opinion and they all conflict. LOL. What I really need to do is find my base, my solid, my home. Then the changes will be obvious.
Non writing goals
– Prepare and teach two classes at the coop for the 2016-2017 school year.
√ Preparing, preparing, I swear. LOL
– Take better care of my body, ie. stop compulsively painting, crocheting, and writing until my back or shoulder is so tore I can barely use either.
√ Er, totally broke this. Painted the house to much I could barely raise my right arm this week. oops.
– yoga daily.
√ five out of seven. Good enough for government work.
It’s been a bit since I perused through my file of nuggets from Stephen King’s On Writing, but today seems like a good day to think about editing my disaster of a spy novel. In preparation I’ll consider what King says on the topic.
Two drafts and a polish. (209)
Completely reasonable. I’ve written my first draft and now I need to work out a second one.
Oh dear. That could be problematic for me as a couple of my betas have suggested the second half of my spy novel needs fattening. It’s too lean, too rushed, too barren. Perhaps I should do 2nd draft = 1st draft plus 10%?
If what you hear from your betas makes sense, then make the changes. You can’t let the whole world into your story, but you can let in the ones that matter the most. And you should. (219)
Hrm, one of the betas who said feed my novel was the hubs. And realistically, he is always right. Always.
When you rewrite your main job is taking out all things that are not the story. (57)
It’s been suggested I should dump the sex scenes. But other people like them. So I think really the question comes down to, do I need the sex scenes to demonstrate the nature of the relationship or could I just allude to it and keep things cleaner?
When a novelist is challenged on something he likes-one of his darlings-the first two works out of his mouth are almost always Yeah but. (226)
Ah oh. Did I say Yeah, But in the last response? No, no I didn’t. LOL. But maybe the feeling was there.
The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting. (227)
Ok, one of the sex scenes is back story. Maybe I should change that to a one line allusion rather than a half page descriptive.
It is, after all, the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster’s shell that makes the pear, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters. (232)
Alright, I get the point. I should just dive in and see where that second draft takes me. But before I go…just a bit of amusement. Spot the mistake, courtesy of King.
“Although deer season doesn’t start until November in Maine, the fields of October are often alive with gunshots; the locals are shooting as many peasants as they think their families will eat.”
He’s brilliant as always. And once again telling me things I didn’t quite realize.
Scammers used to operate at the edges of the publishing business, but have wormed their way into its heart. And the entire industry is in denial. An unintentionally revealing aspect of the tiresome Amazon-Hachette dispute was a series of statements from an organization purporting to advocate for authors’ rights. One of the heinous crimes Amazon […]
It’s been a while since I’ve dove back into the long list of quotes I distilled from Stephen King’ On Writing. And given the way my life has been going I thought I could use a reminder of just how complicated even the simplest of subjects can be. It’s never black and white. And on that note…
Everyone and their brother can quote King “the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” It’s practically tattooed on every author’s tongue so it can slip off in casual conversation. LOL
So what is an adverb? Google says an adverb is a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc.
That’s doesn’t sound so bad to me and certainly not an appropriate paving material for a road, whatever the destination. But King insists “While to write adverbs is human, to write he said or she said is divine.” (128)
So he’s against complicated dialogue tags. Ok, I can see that. Makes total sense.
But King admits he uses adverbs himself.
When I do it, it’s usually for the same reason any writer does it: because I am afraid the reader won’t understand me if I don’t. I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. (126)
Ahh. So if I am concerned the reader might not understand me, I should look for a way to rewrite that doesn’t use an adverb? But here’s where it starts to get complicated.
Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Good writing is also about making good choices when it comes to picking the tools you plan to work with. (128)
Could I let go of the fear that someone might criticize my adverb use? If good writing is letting go of fear and affectation, then I – you should write what feels appropriate to the novel you are creating. The best arguement for writing what works for you is this…
Even at it’s best writing almost always falls short of full meaning. Given that, why in God’s name would you want to make things worse by choosing a word which is only cousin to the one you really wanted to use? (118)
I was catching up on my blog reading this morning when I read a post about why someone writes. She ended her post by asking why I write. So not something I wanted to think about. Here’s the dirty little secret I’ve been wrestling with but I haven’t shared with anyone…Ever since I published that desperate driving desire to write and publish has been satiated.
I’m not sure why I write anymore. That thrill of creation occurs less and less. Mostly when I sit down to create a new work I just feel like it’s a job. It’s WORK.
I used to sit down at my laptop and work to get myself into the right space and then when the words started to flow it was amazing. This incredible sensation, of yes, this is it.
It rarely happens anymore. Mostly I slog it out and it sounds like crap to me after I’m done. I can tell you the exact spot in my spy novel, where it becomes crap. The stuff I wrote four years ago, is good. I can still see that. But the new stuff, the stuff I wrote this year to finish it. Crap. Pure crap.
I’ve lost that loving feeling. Now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa o o o.
Maybe I need a bunch of guys in uniform to sing to me in a bar….
Our friend Dan, and I say our because if you’re a writer he should be your friend – his blog is so full of helpful writing advice, he’s always willing to help other writers, and he goes out of his way to showcase fellow writers. So I repeat, our friend Dan Alatorre just launched a new book. I have not read it yet, I missed the beta train, I was just too busy. But that’s another reason to make him your friend, he gives out bazillions of copies of his books for beta, so free books! Without further ado, an interview with Dan.
Your new Scifi adventure, The Navigators, isn’t your first book, and all have been published independently, what is the best part about being an indie author for you?
You get to keep 70% of your money – that’s a big one. There are lots of other things to love about being indie. There wasn’t an advance given to the book in front of you that didn’t earn itself back in sales so yours gets delayed another six months. You don’t pretend you’re getting marketing “expertise” you really won’t get. Lots of things. I love the adventure of indie but I’d still go trad with the right book. The Navigators doesn’t fit easily on an existing bookshelf, and that’s a lot of what trad publishers do. We need another Stephen King clone; what have you got? Nothing? Do you have anything like Anne Rice? No? Gosh, you’re not a very good author, are you? We’ll be in touch. As it stands, I’m doing fine, so I’m happy.
Define doing fine? Has your writing made you rich and famous then? LOL.
I think Bill Murray said if you can become rich without becoming famous, that’s the better way to go. I try to model my life after Bill. Well, after Bill as Carl from Caddyshack. Seriously, I don’t think I’d handle that kind of fame well, where you get recognized everywhere. I would totally try to have minions and buy castles and private islands and stuff, and then form my own armies for world domination. It would end badly, I think. Peasants will only tolerate so much. You’d find my headless corpse in a sugar cane field near Miami after making one too many smart ass remarks. Better to stay humble and live as long as possible so I can spend the money.
I’m guessing you haven’t been recognized by a fan in public for your writing?
My dad asked me for my autograph once. That was a little weird. The closest I’ve come to being recognized by fans was when people wanted to know when and where I was going to the beach so they could meet my daughter – “Savvy” from Savvy stories. When I read one of my children’s books to her kindergarten class, I’m just Savvy’s dad. Kids will keep you humble. Oh, but when I sent some copies of my books to an author friend, her kids read the inscriptions I wrote in them and were impressed she knew the author. So I have that.
That’s way cool. Kids are hard to impress, they take everything at face value. Let’s get to topic at hand. Where did you get the idea for The Navigators?
The idea for The Navigators came from an innocent post a friend put on his Facebook page. “What would you do if you had a time machine? Who would you see?” He was just trying to stimulate people to be creative, I think. He did. 105,000 words later I had a pager-turner action story and had invented a new theory of time travel. I should probably thank him. It’s my best published work yet, and a great read. Lots of twists and turns, which my readers have come to expect.
Did you give him a big thanks in your novel?
Nope. Now I feel bad about not doing it. Thanks.
You’re welcome? LOL. Just keeping you honest. How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I wrote The Navigators in about four months. I started posting chapters in a critique group in early August and finished before Thanksgiving. That was kinda fast, but then I let I sit for a year because I wanted to learn more about the craft of authoring before I released my manuscript to the world. Actually it probably was because I hate editing. Navs was worth the wait, though. It’s an incredible story.
How do you tell an incredible story then? What “person” do you like to write in? First Person, Third Person, etc. – and why?
My early work in the Savvy Stories series was all first person because it was funny stories about a dad – me – and his baby daughter, so I was very comfortable with that. When I wanted to make the leap to fiction, I started with first person for most of it, switching to third person limited whenever the narrator isn’t around, kind of like what James Patterson does. Also, I loved the idea of telling a story from “I” point of view. I did this, I did that – the reader begins to identify with “I” The reader is I. Then “I” does something bad and the reader is like, crap, I’m the bad guy? That’s awesome. Readers love a rollercoaster ride and surprises. They get that in The Navigators. Nothing is as it seems.
I’m glad you didn’t go with the whole second person thing to give immediacy. That always set off my irritation alarm. Which word / phrase do you find yourself always over-using and having to edit out?
Smile. My critique partners have a crutch word list for me. Smile, look… it goes on and on. But far and away, smile is my most overused word, which we have to edit out. I don’t mind smile being in my story, though, because it says the characters are having fun and that means readers will, too. Lots of smiles in The Navigators.
SciFi adventure with lots of smiles. Super intriguing. So I’m guessing if you could be any one of your favourite characters for one day, you’d pick one of your own from The Navigators? Or would you pick another character from a book that’s not yours?
The Great Gatsby had it pretty good, didn’t he? Retired at 40 with all that money. Of course, he got killed at the end of that book, so maybe not Gatsby… Let’s go with Mr. Mills, the father of the heroine in The Navigators. Everybody loves Mr. Mills in that story. And he doesn’t die. I’ll be him. I am anyway, so it works. People who read my stuff will get that. My critique partners say Mr. Mills bears a strong resemblance to a certain author they know…
He’s a father, you’re a father, I see the parallel. Does that mean he’s your favorite character you’ve written?
Sam in Poggibonsi is the readers’ favorite. She’s hilarious, always saying funny, smart-ass remarks everybody wishes they could say. She teases her boss mercilessly but it’s okay because she’s best friends with his wife. Sam is an awesome character. She’s like me but a woman, and that smartass attitude got me in a lot of trouble at work over the years. My favorite character is, of course, “Savvy” from Savvy Stories – my daughter Savannah.
Awww. I’m guessing reading has been a big deal in your house, as it is in mine. I mean you can’t be a compelling writer if you haven’t been compelled yourself as a reader, right? So, what book first made you cry, and why?
Encyclopedia Brittanica. I was helping my older sister do a book report and dropped one of the really heavy volumes on my foot. I think it was N. I never really recovered, creating a lifelong aversion to studying of any sort. I never opened a text book in grad school and still managed to get almost all A’s. My wife, who I met I grad school, had to study all the time. I thought my way was much better. What was the question again? Oh, a book that made me cry. I probably didn’t cry much at all until my daughter was born. Now I cry at everything. A baby girl will soften up a dad in ways he never knew were possible. These days, a sad TV commercial will get me sobbing, so lots of books can do that now. The first was probably – completely serious – the first was a book of nursery rhymes because she was having trouble sleeping and we wanted to sing lullabys to her, and of course neither my wife nor I could think of any. I started singing When You Wish Upon A Star – and I couldn’t make it through it. Now, I’m not some blubbering dolt. My daughter was born with a life threatening heart condition and hoping for wishes to come true was pretty much all we did for six months – wish for that condition not to take our baby. (She’s six years old now and fine, thanks to modern medicines.) But those early days when we weren’t sure she was gonna make it? I’d cry at Hop On Pop. She’ll never be able to hop on her pop! I was a mess.
Excuse me while I get a tissue. Clears throat. What? No, I’m not crying my eyes are just leaking a little. Shuffles pages, change the topic….
What is your dirty reading pleasure? You know the one you never tell anyone you read?
Playboy. They really did have good articles. I read a great interview of Bill Cosby from back before he got in trouble, like an article from 30 years ago, where he talked about having goals and getting to the top of the mountain but not doing it alone; that if you reach the pinnacles of success in life and aren’t there with your family, it means nothing. I guess he did that interview before he drugged all those women, allegedly… Why must all my heroes have horrible sides!
Because you can’t be a hero if you’re not human and humans have flaws. That’s what makes us interesting enough to write about. Do you like villains or heroes better? Which are more fun to write?
A good hero is amazing to write, but a really evil villain is WAY more fun. Your hero has to do good things without becoming an obnoxious goody-goody type. Your villain can be just awful and readers will love it. In The Navigators, Findlay is the bad guy and he is just despicable. Readers hate him. HATE him! That’s awesome. That means I did it right.
Can’t get much better than that. Have you ever met any of your literary heroes, and if so, were they amazing, disappointing or just plain awkward?
Most of my literary heroes are like Mark Twain, and so being dead and all, they were a little quieter than you’d like. I’ve met famous actors and sports stars (NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw, Super Bowl winning coaches Jon Gruden and Tony Dungy, etc.), and usually they want to be treated like regular folks. That means not going over for autographs. So when I see a celeb, I basically point him or her out to my wife and then leave them alone. She hounds them for an autograph while I say, “Tsk, tsk; honey, please leave them alone. Oh! There’s Sinbad. Here’s a pen. Don’t go over there.”
LOL. When I was in my early twenties, I used to wait tables at this 24 hour restaurant. One night about 2AM Jerry Rice came in. He sat in my section and all the back house staff and waiters were flipping out. “Get his autograph for me!” Then they got mad when I wouldn’t. Seriously, can’t the man just eat a meal with his companion in peace? You want his autograph you go over there. But what would I say? Seriously? sigh. I get it, an opening line is important, but he’s Jerry Rice. This happens to him all the time, I’m sure. LOL
What is your favourite opening line from a book?
In Killer by Joey, an anonymous bio of a mafia hit man, he starts out saying the F-word. Can we cuss here? “Fuck The Godfather.” That’s awesome. The Godfather was the biggest selling book ever at the time, and this guy starts out and says screw that, it’s not reality. Then he goes to tell you the real deal, showing a mobster life much more like the ones depicted in The Sopranos. Wouldn’t you love to start a book with “F that”? I would. I may have to now. I almost did, too. In The Navigators, Roger has the opening line and he doesn’t want to go on Barry’s grand adventure. He says, “No way, you fuckers are crazy.” So I almost started with the F-word. I wonder if I can do a rewrite? Then my book would have my favorite opening line. Both are good though – hey new writers, pay attention – because they quickly let you know what kind of story you’re in for. That’s a good way to let people know, with the opening, and it’s hard to do.
I love that you’re always trying to share what you’ve learned. So give us a little more, what’s a good writing secret or time management secret?
Get up early at 4AM and write before everybody wakes up. That’s right, 4AM. You will be SO productive, you won’t believe it. Nobody does that one though, so here’s a second one: Check email and Twitter at lunch and not before. You won’t miss anything and the world will survive without you until noon, believe me. The latest exploits of the Kardashians will still be there a few hours later, sadly. But when your head hits your pillow that night and you knocked out 3,000 words, you’ll feel awesome. Every time you sit down at a computer, think of one of those balancing scales: the Kardashians on one side, your book on the other. Hmm. For too many authors, the distractions win. You control that. Let your book win. Then every morning is Christmas morning.
Guess I’m nobody then, cause I did that. I got up at five for like 6 months straight to write. I was so miserable I wanted to quit writing. Eeee, gads. The horror. Speaking of which, what story scares you?
God, The Shining put me up a wall. Things that go bump in the night are still that old lady from room 613 who drowned in the tub. Brr. Very scary, Mr. King. I may never recover. I’ll be up all night now just from thinking about it. Thanks.
I need a drink now, thanks. I’m thinking a moscow mule, hope I have fresh lime. If you had a cocktail named after you, what would it be called and what would be in it?
The Dan? It’d be a hurricane from Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans. I love them. Hook me up with a shrimp Po’ Boy and a hurricane, and I’m ready to party. It’s a sweet drink that tastes like… I don’t know; a rum and Hawaiian punch Slurpee. They’re awesome. Maybe rename it The Dannicane. Seemingly innocent but oh so dangerous; you never see the surprise coming – just like my stories.
Cheers to that. But … can I have a muffalatta instead?
Last weekend in my Nano to Publish update I mentioned I would write a summary for a book that you would send to an editor or agent. This is NOT the back of the book summary, which is really teaser.
So in a three paragraph format, which ties to a three act play if you like tying your novels to movies in your head ( I see everything I read or write as film showing in the world’s smallest movie theater, but at least it has great surround sound).
Elizabeth is the second oldest in a family of five daughters. She is long on intelligence and humor, and enjoys the world around her a result. Her oldest sister, Jane, is her closest companion and confidant. They live in a small village where their acquaintance limit their options for marriageable men. When a rich man moves into their small neighborhood, he immediately becomes the object of their mother’s obsession as a husband for Jane. Jane obligingly falls in love with the young man. Unfortunately, his friend, Mr. Darcy schemes to separate the two, insulting Elizabeth and the rest of her family along the way.
A distant cousin arrives determined to marry one of the daughters as he will inherit the estate after Elizabeth’s father’s death. He proposes to Elizabeth but she declines. Her close friend marries the cousin to the shock of the family. Elizabeth travels to stay with the married friend and her cousin after their marriage. She encounters Mr Darcy, who proposes. Elizabeth declines him severely, citing his wretched behavior. Mr. Darcy writes a letter of some heart felt persuasion defending himself against her charges. Elizabeth is forced to consider the counter accusations Mr. Darcy supplies.
Elizabeth encounters Mr. Darcy for a third time while on a vacation with her Aunt and Uncle. He is much changed in behavior and she finds herself softening towards him. Their time together is cut short however by the news that her youngest sister has eloped. Elizabeth blurts out her troubles to Mr Darcy before rushing off with her Aunt and Uncle to assist in the search for the sister. Initially unbeknown to Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy finds the young love birds, pays off the man in question to marry the sister, and saves Elizabeth’s reputation. Elizabeth is eventually brought to know these good acts and it seals her change of opinion of him. Mr Darcy brings his friend back to the neighborhood so the friend might woo Jane and succeeds in wooing Elizabeth himself. Elizabeth and Jane are married much to their mother’s pleasure.
I think you know what book this is. It’s not a perfect summary, I only spent about a week on it. I didn’t cover every plot point. In a three paragraph set up you can’t. You have to pick and choose what presents a total picture to the reader. In this case the agent/editor you are trying to catch. I advise you work at your summary until it feels exciting to you. Expand it when the submission instruction allow for expansion. Contract it when they say otherwise. Follow the instructions. LOL.
Have you ever noticed when someone likes you as a person they never want to come right out and say your book sucks. They use phrases that when you boil them down sound like:
-I hate your characters
-Your plot is boring
-the sex scenes are pointless
-and I don’t like that you made the girl a bad guy.
wow. thanks. Would have been shorter just to say: I hated it.
So I get this feedback from my first beta reviewer and I tell my husband I just got my first beta feedback on the spy novel.
“Oh how was it?”
I rattle off what I typed above and he says, “Babs?”
Holy crud how did you know that? Did I tell you she was betaing for me?
No I just thought who you might ask and who might say that if you did.
Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off.
What’s the most unusual way someone has told you your work stunk?
Mid June we had our usual Nano to Publish meeting. It was a couple of weekends back, I’ve been a bit snowed under with stuff, my apologies.
We got a new participant. Better late than never, right? And someone stepped up right away to be his critique partner. So that worked out. We’ll get him rolling on things.
I spent an inordinate amount of time talking about how to get a publisher. I know the workshop was originally conceived to help people self publish, but not every wants to go that way and it’s a bad teacher/leader who doesn’t tailor her information to the needs of the people. So publishing….
Follow the instructions on their website. Seriously they all have them. Pick up a book you like. Go to the page where they list the publishing information, now google the publisher. Right there at the top will be a link for submissions. It might be called authors or contact but less than fifteen seconds will get you there.
Follow the instructions on their website. The instructions will be specific and they do vary considerably between publishers, from NO unsolicited manuscripts we shred them to send the first three paragraphs of your novel, and only the first three paragraphs.
Yes I just gave you two bullet point for following instructions, it was the number one complaint I have heard from agents and editors. Follow instructions.
Be professional. This is not the time to whip out your humor, sarcasm, or witticisms. This is a business letter you are writing. This was the second biggest complaint from agents and editors.
Pick the right person. Some small-medium publishers will even tell you which of their editors are looking for what kind of book and give you direct contact email for those editors.
Investigate carefully. Some “publishers” are looking to do no work on your behalf, they just want to run it through and collect their percentage. If you want that, Amazon is way cheaper.
And that was pretty much it. I took them through the examples I had looked up in about ten minutes of thumbing through my fave books and then clicking about online.
I talked some about conferences. You want to go to the bigger industry ones when you can take full advantage, when you’re fully prepared. That means, when you register early and can get slots for face to face time with editors and agents. And when you have a finished product. Sitting down with the editor of your dreams and then saying I have this idea for a book will be a cold wake up call. Sitting down with the editor of your dreams and saying, “I have a completed 85 K new adult mystery that focuses on the transition between college and a working life in the career the protag thought she wanted but people keep dying instead. She finds herself investigating these murders and loving that a lot more than accounting. I have outlines for three additional book in the series and am currently writing the second one.” Which one do you think an editor is most likely to say, “Here’s my card, I’d like to see that.” Yeah, me too.
We also talked about cover design. I can sum it up for you but spend an hour going to Amazon and poling around. In general covers are simpler now, with stark contrast that looks good in a one inch by two inch rectangle. LOL. Look at the best sellers in general, then drill down into the categories that will apply to your book. What are people doing there? I personally toss out any big names. Because their name sells the book as much as the cover or story.
One thing that seemed to surprise people, when you write a summary for a perspective agent or editor, you tell the whole story. This is not a back of the book teaser, they want the whole enchilada with chips and guacamole, bring me another beer please. The full arc should be there in it abbreviated form. I’ll write up a sample for next week.
In the mean time we’re doing more first page idol and expanding to titles, tag lines, back of the book copy, and summaries for editors/agents. If you’re working along at home, send me any of these things which I will read to the group and send you back the feedback.
Just a quick reminder if you’re local to the Seattle area, FreeValley Publishing is hanging out at the Maple Valley Days Festival all weekend long. I took a quick tour today and there are some fun vendors, interesting food, live music, and a carnival. And of course, writers. Come out and see us.
, isn’t your first book, and all have been published independently, what is the best part about being an indie author for you?
T.A. Henry 