Month: April 2013
If we allow ourselves to remain at the mercy of our desire for perfection, not only will the perfect elude us, so will the good.” – Alex Lickerman, M.D. in Happiness in this World
I’m at a very strange crossroads in my career.
On May 7, 2013 my 13th book will be released. SEDUCTION was the most difficult book I ever tackled. (For one thing I wrote it in longhand in antique journals with an old fountain pen and green ink.) As a result of how difficult it was, it’s become the most fulfilling book I’ve ever written.
But I’m facing the most un-perfect book launch I’ve ever had. Due to an ongoing negotiation between my publisher and B&N, my book won’t be on display in the largest retailer in the U.S. It won’t even be available in most B&Ns. And no one can buy a book if they don’t see it or know it. There’s more I won’t bore you with.
This un-perfectness is having an effect on me. All that is good about this book suddenly isn’t good enough.
And there is so much good.
When I discovered the little-know fact that starting in 1853 Victor Hugo conducted over 100 séances, and I decided to write about it for my 2013 book, no one knew that the movie Les Miserables would be made into a new film, no less come out within 6 months of my pub date. It’s not good – it’s great that the movie was such a hit, as the attention for Hugo is at an all-time high.
Plus I have a gorgeous cover, SEDUCTION is a May Indie Next List pick, the trade reviews have been wonderful, and there’s more I won’t bore you with. But I can’t see any of it. I’m obsessed with what is going wrong.
Last week I was moaning about all this to my wonderfully wise agent, Dan Conaway. He agreed that it sucked. Then he quoted Aristotle or Confucius or Flaubert or Voltaire (it’s attributed to all of them).
Perfect is the enemy of the good.
Wow. Zing. The words went right through me and resonated as if I was Esmeralda right up there while Notre Dame’s bells pealed.
Read MoreToday’s guest is author Henriette Lazaridis Power. Henriette is a first-generation Greek-American who has degrees in English literature from Middlebury College; Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar; and the University of Pennsylvania. She taught at Harvard for ten years, serving as an academic dean for four of those. She is the founding editor of The Drum, a literary magazine publishing exclusively in audio form. Winner of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant, she has published work in The Millions, The New York Times online, Narrative, Salamander, and the New England Review, among others, and her debut novel The Clover House was published in April 2013.
Sharply observed and evocative, THE CLOVER HOUSE is a riveting story about desire, the cost of silence, and the power of a hidden secret from the past to change everything about the present. Henriette Lazaridis Power blends the stark, at times brutal, truths of war-torn Greece with the heady rush of Carnival into a brilliantly realized story about the consequence of an illicit love, the histories we come from, and the dreams that draw us back. This debut is a gem.
–Dawn Tripp, best-selling author of Game of Secrets
Henriette says, ” My idea for a blog post is to briefly tell the story of the time in 2007 when I was despondent enough about my prospects as a writer to make elaborate and thorough plans to burn all my manuscripts in the backyard and put the whole writer thing behind me. I didn’t, found new resolve, and buckled down finally the full dedication to writing that I hadn’t really been engaging in before. A half a year later, I had a draft of what would become my debut novel, The Clover House. But the point here isn’t that I was in despair and then found success by getting published, because that success was out of my control. The real success was in the lessons I learned about fear and risk and about pushing yourself to the limit. Even if I hadn’t found an agent and a publisher, those lessons would have stayed with me and made me a better writer–and a stronger person. So the message of the blog post is two-fold.
1. Even when you think you’re fully dedicated, there’s probably some way in which you’re holding back. Don’t.
2. You have to measure success in terms of what you yourself can control.”
Follow Henriette on Twitter and on her Facebook page. Enjoy!
Burning the Manuscripts
At the Association of Writers & Writing Program (AWP) conference in Boston last month, I asked the audience at the panel I was on to raise their hands if they had ever experienced writerly despair. I believe every single hand in the room shot up. Including my own. This was no surprise. All writers experience those dark nights of the soul as we struggle to find an audience for our work–the delicate way of saying “as we try to find a publisher”. It seems to me, in fact, that there are only two kinds of writers in the world. Those who have experienced the despair of ever finding an audience, and those who […]
Read MoreI can’t help but wonder if whoever designed the Ferris wheel (that would be Ferris, I’m assuming) was after a cheap, momentary thrill or if he was inspired by Fortune’s Wheel of the tarot, intentionally trying to create a carnival ride that would encapsulate life’s ups and downs.
For the truth is, we all have them—or will have them if you’re one of the fortunate few who have yet to experience any downward travels. And Fortune’s Wheel is starkly evident in the publishing world. No one is exempt. And truthfully, a person should consider themselves lucky if they don’t get Towered a time or two along the way.
We are all of us on this hairy, exhilarating ride, but, we are all on different points on the wheel. Some are going up, others coming down, and still others hanging in the air for that long, glorious moment when they are on top of the world.
Of course, people are more likely to talk about their ride UP, that thrilling ascent as they are on the rise, cresting when they reach the top and hover—sometimes for minutes, sometimes for seemingly ever.
But eventually the wheel turns. The problem is, most people keep that particular part of their ride private, not wanting to share that long hard descent with anyone. We don’t like to talk about that fall, whether it is a gentle, controlled descent or a rapid, breath-taking plummet.
The important thing to remember is that the wheel may not turn where we can see it.
Read MoreYou know that feeling, when you can’t wait to get home to tell your significant other about the crazy thing that just happened at work? The second you walk through the door, even before you kick off your pinchy-toe shoes, you’re saying, “You’re not going to believe this . . .” as you launch into the story, complete with revealing hand gestures, passion, and well timed pauses that effortlessly build to the riveting climax.
You didn’t write it out first. You didn’t agonize over where to start. You didn’t choose each word for its poetic splendor, think about what sensory details to include, or spend time talking about the unseasonable weather, or the nuanced pale green of the office walls. (That is, unless the story revolved around a flash flood caused by a sudden rainstorm, or turned on the fact that the office walls were supposed to be painted bright red . . . )
As writers we all want to be natural storytellers. Here’s the thing: in real life, we are.
We instinctively know how to zero in on what will rivet our listener, how to parse it out to keep her intrigued, what’s relevant and what isn’t, and what’s going to wow her at the end. When we tell stories about things that have happened to us, it flows naturally. It’s not magic — it’s built into the architecture of the brain.
You see, we think in story — our brilliant brain is wired to translate objective facts, events, concepts and ideas into a compelling narrative that centers on just one thing: how said facts, events, concepts and ideas will affect us, subjectively. That traffic jam on the way home from work? Objectively, it’s just a bunch of cars going real slow. Subjectively, it’s the reason you’ll get home late, and instantly you’re telling yourself a story about the affect it will have – the dog isn’t fully housebroken, uh oh, plus you’ll be late picking up your cranky daughter from her piano lesson, that slow cooking roast is going to be burnt to a crisp and sheesh, did you forget to fill up the gas tank on the way to work again, is that why that little red light just went on?
We tell ourselves stories every minute of every day. It’s how we process incoming information. And the stories we tell others? They’re spurred by the unexpected things that happen to us, the things that break a familiar pattern, forcing us to learn something new – and possibly juicy – in the bargain.
That “something new” is the point of the story. It’s information that might come in handy in the future. In fact, the reason we’re biologically wired to listen attentively to stories is that they allow us to learn life’s thorny lessons via someone else’s hard won experience. The beauty of it is, instead having to navigate the danger ourselves, hearing a story about it is actually enjoyable! Stories feel good for the same reason food tastes good – because they’re crucial to our survival.
This is evolution at its finest. So why, then, is writing a story so damn hard? Why do so many aspiring writers lament the fact that they just aren’t natural storytellers – when, in […]
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You know those red dots on directories of shopping malls and airports? The red dot that’s labeled YOU ARE HERE?
Well, “Here” is where I am: waiting for an editor to make an offer on my first book.
My brilliant agent has carefully selected specific editors, then pitched my manuscript in a way that accurately represents both me and the story.
And now we wait. Now we hope. Now we I eat bowls and bowls of Chocolate Chex cereal and get snippy at my husband for things that aren’t his fault. Now I forget to write important meetings on my calendar yet I show up for dentist appointments I don’t have. Now I feel simultaneously tired and like I have just snorted and mainlined and smoked Arabica roast. Have I snorted coffee grounds? Maybe I have and just didn’t realize it.
Even better, The Doubts take this opportunity to throw loud and raucous parties in my head. They invite all of their friends and cousins and colleagues and yell, You’ll never get published! and Your book’s totally lame, and so are you! and Hey Big Butt, lay off the Chocolate Chex!
It’s good times at Casa Callender. Indeed, I’d like to be some place else other than Here. I’d like to be There. Or Over There. Even Way the Heck Over There would be better than Here.
But alas, I know, from the stories of other writers, Here is a place where I need to become comfy. If I’m going to stay in the biz, I might as well kick off my shoes, hang up my coat, and make myself a chocolate sandwich, hold the bread.
Why?
Read MoreThere have been numerous WU posts about how we begin our books, but I think the topic is worthy of repeated exploration, because beginnings are crucial. Your book’s beginning is the first impression you make on your readers, and you’ve got a very limited time in which to try to make that a good impression.
In fact, beginnings are SO crucial that it’s easy to get psyched out by them – I know I do. I can get so caught up in my concern over writing the absolutely perfect opening that I end up writing nothing at all. And that’s not good.
Last fall, guest poster Kristyn Kusek Lewis offered an excellent tactic for overcoming The Dreaded Page 1 Psyche-Out, which you can read here – it’s the second of the five steps she offers for conquering writer’s block. This sounds like an excellent approach for anybody facing the daunting challenge of a WNQYIP (work not quite yet in progress).
Maybe you’re trying too hard
It’s also easy to simply try too hard with our beginnings. So I thought I’d point out a few common missteps I’ve seen writers make. Caveat: as my friend Jael McHenry wisely pointed out in this excellent post, there are no rules. But if your opening passage sounds a lot like what I describe below, you should make sure you REALLY want to start your book that way, and should have compelling reasons for doing so.
Read MoreNot long ago, a client told me that someone who read his manuscript suggested he end the book by killing off his main character. At first, this didn’t make a lot of sense. How could you spend an entire novel building an emotional connection between your readers and your main character only to throw it away at the end? Wouldn’t that leave your readers screaming?
But it can and has been done. Understanding how to let your characters die can help to make your story live, whether your characters make it to the last page or not.
What doesn’t work is murder. Offing a character for the sake of pathos is clearly homicide. This is why few people are reading Love Story any more, and The Old Curiosity Shop is not on anyone’s favorite book list. Some writers have killed off a main character simply because they couldn’t think of another way to end the story. I could offer an example, but, for good reason, you would never have heard of it. In some circles, an arbitrary death is considered a fitting illustration of existential meaninglessness. I can’t offer an example, because I don’t read those books.
The reason these deaths are murders is that the characters are sacrificed for the author’s reasons – generating the weepies, or filling a plot hole, or catering to a modernist cliché of meaninglessness. Whenever you make your characters do things to fulfill your needs rather than their own, your story is in trouble.
On the other hand, when Anna Karenina threw herself under the train, she was ending her story the only way it could have ended.
Read MorePlease welcome author Sarah Pekkanen to Writer Unboxed today. Sarah is the internationally-bestselling author of four novels. Her latest novel, The Best of Us, releases on April 9th. Following in the heels of her former novels, which have won rave reviews in O the Oprah magazine, People and Entertainment Weekly, The Best of Us has earned a starred review via Publishers Weekly and has become Marie Claire’s book pick of the month.
Because of ongoing negotiations between Barnes and Noble and Simon and Schuster, The Best of Us isn’t on display in Barnes and Noble stores–a loss of visibility that can hurt a book’s sales potential. WU offered to do a giveaway for Sarah, and she suggested something even better: Sarah will send signed copies of her entire back list to one randomly chosen commenter (U.S. or Canada only, please)!
We’ll be in touch with the winner on Wednesday. Even if you don’t win, we hope you’ll support Sarah by buying a copy of The Best of Us yourself and/or helping to spread the word about this book and giveaway. Thank you!
What’s Sarah’s book about?
An all-expense-paid week at a luxury villa in Jamaica—it’s the invitation of a lifetime for a group of old college friends. All four women are desperate not just for a reunion, but for an escape: Tina is drowning under the demands of mothering four young children. Allie is shattered by the news that a genetic illness runs in her family. Savannah is carrying the secret of her husband’s infidelity. And, finally, there’s Pauline, who spares no expense to throw her wealthy husband an unforgettable thirty-fifth birthday celebration, hoping it will gloss over the cracks already splitting apart their new marriage.
Languid hours on a private beach, gourmet dinners, and late nights of drinking kick off an idyllic week for the women and their husbands. But as a powerful hurricane bears down on the island, turmoil swirls inside the villa, forcing each of the women to reevaluate everything she knows about her friends—and herself.
To learn more about Sarah and The Best of Us, please visit her website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Five things I wish I’d known before publishing a book
1) Every single writer faces amazing highs and crushing lows – if you hate roller coasters, this isn’t the career for you. I was out with a group of authors at dinner a while ago, and one woman – a New York Times bestseller who writes luminous, gorgeous novels that accomplish the rare feat of being critically acclaimed and commercially successful – confided that years ago, she got such a vicious, heartbreaking review that she literally didn’t leave her apartment for a week. Other authors weighed in with their confessions: We’ve all felt horrible at times. We’ve all looked down at sentences we’ve typed and felt as if slugs on the sidewalk held more appeal. And we’ve all had transcendent moments, when the words flow and we fall into the zone and we emerge hours later, dazed and hungry, a little in awe of what […]
Read MoreBestselling fantasy author and valued WU contributor Juliet Marillier’s latest release, Prickle Moon, is garnering big buzz and advanced praise. Prickle Moon is an anthology of Juliet’s short fiction, including some new stories.
Magical, diverse, hopeful tales: Juliet Marillier’s “Prickle Moon” delivers masterly storytelling by a master storyteller.
~Gemmell Morningstar Award winner, Helen Lowe.
She sang them in, verse by verse, name by sweet name …” So begins Prickle Moon, Juliet Marillier’s first collection of short stories, and what stories they are. Each tale, whether inflected by fantasy, horror or science fiction, is powerful. Each bears the bones of its fairytale ancestors, inviting you to sit by the fire and hear stories at once timeless and ancient, yet shot through with the silver veins of modern life. Entertaining and enchanting, lyrical and lovely, Marillier will sing you in, too.
~Award-winning fantasy author, Angela Slatter.
Marillier’s fans will be delighted to see that her skills are as applicable to the short form as they are to the novel.
~Publishers’ Weekly.
We are excited to have her talk about Prickle Moon, and share her writing process. Enjoy!
Q: What’s the premise of your new book?
Prickle Moon is a departure for me. I’ve written fifteen novels, but this is my first collection of short fiction. The book contains nine previously published stories including the Sevenwaters novella, ’Twixt Firelight and Water, and five new ones. The stories are a blend of historical and contemporary fantasy with a strong flavor of folklore and fairy tale. The title comes from the first story in the collection, which is about an old Scottish wise woman faced with an impossible moral choice. It features a clan of hedgehogs. If that sounds a bit like a children’s story, don’t be fooled – this is a book for adult readers.
Q: What would you like people to know about the stories themselves?
There’s quite a variety of style and voice within the collection. Many of the stories were first published in anthologies by various authors, and some were written to fit the theme of a particular anthology. But overall there are unifying themes of love and loss, family, ancestors, natural magic, courage and hope. I’m especially proud of By Bone-Light, a contemporary version of the Russian fairy tale Vasilissa the Fair. I had a great time creating a modern-day BabaYaga.
Q: What unique challenges did this book pose for you, if any?
Read MoreTherese here. I’m so happy to introduce you to our new semi-regular contributor, my own agent, Elisabeth Weed. Elisabeth–who is also agent to WU’s Jael McHenry and Allison Winn Scotch–is a wonderfully savvy and well-connected agent, who is constantly evolving Weed Literary. I know that the insights she’ll post here will be valuable to those seeking a traditional publishing path. Please give her a big welcome, and enjoy her first post!
I am thrilled to join Writer Unboxed, a blog I have greatly admired since I first started working with the lovely and talented Therese Walsh. I thought I’d tackle the agent’s perspective, over the next several posts, starting with how to best find one. In the coming month’s I’ll talk about everything from choosing the best agent to maintaining a healthy relationship with your agent to parting ways with your agent (yes, it happens and no, it doesn’t have to be unpleasant for either of you).
A lot has been written on finding an agent and I am not sure I can offer anything fresh or new, but I do think that some of the advice that worked well for my authors is worth repeating. In fact I just signed an author that I am over the moon excited about. But guess what? She queried me, didn’t hear from me and after she got an offer, followed up with me again. Guess where her mail was hiding? SPAM. But that’s for my next post on getting an offer and making a decision.
So, you’ve written a book and now you want to find an agent to represent it. Where do you go from here?
Do your homework: I find myself saying this a lot at conferences, but I think it’s worth mentioning again. Because there’s so much online these days, authors really have all the information they need for finding the best fit for their work. Join Publishers Marketplace. It’s $20 a month, and I will probably get in trouble for saying this, but I’ve known authors who have shared a subscription and split costs. You can also unsubscribe whenever you like. PM lists recently made deals by genre and includes the title, publisher and agent. Get a sense of who is representing what you are writing. Then go to that agent’s website if they have one and make sure they are accepting submissions and how. I’d add that because so much is online these days, it’s really important that you double check at the source of an agent’s website if you can. (I am on some older sites that track agencies and all the info is outdated. People who only go to those sites and not my website often query me with YA or non fiction, which I am doing very little of and not currently looking for.)
Read: Read books you think are similar to yours so you can really educate yourself on the marketplace and be on track when you compare yourself to an author. I know some agents aren’t fans of comps, but I disagree wholeheartedly. I can’t tell you how many times an editor has asked me during a pitch […]
Read MoreI recently had the pleasure of launching Kate Forsyth’s wonderful new novel THE WILD GIRL, published by Vintage Books in Australia, at an event in Sydney. I interviewed Kate here on Writer Unboxed when her previous book for adult readers, the stunning blend of history and fairy tale BITTER GREENS, was released in 2012. Kate is an incredibly hard-working writer, energetic and versatile. She has written books for children, young adults and adults, and has ranged across the genres of fantasy, historical fiction, literary fiction and poetry.
I was delighted when Kate took time out from a hectic round of promotional appearances to give WU a mini-interview about THE WILD GIRL.
Q. What’s the premise of your new book?
THE WILD GIRL tells the story of the forbidden romance between Wilhelm Grimm, the younger of the famous brothers, and Dortchen Wild, the young woman who told him many of the world’s most compelling and powerful fairy tales. Set during the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars, THE WILD GIRL illuminates how the Grimm brothers came to discover their famous fairy tales, as well as telling one of the great untold love stories of all time.
Q. What would you like people to know about the story?
THE WILD GIRL is an epic romance set in one of the most dangerous periods in history. It illuminates the story of the famous Grimm brothers and what drove them to begin collecting their tales, as well as exploring what life was like in Europe at the time Napoleon set out to conquer the world. Inspired by a true story, it is filled with romance, passion, drama and heartbreak.
Q. What do your characters have to overcome in this story? What challenge do you set before them?
The novel is told from the point of view of Dortchen Wild, who has to overcome many obstacles before she can be with her one true love, Wilhelm Grimm. She wishes to be a dutiful daughter to her autocratic father, but, on the other hand, she longs for freedom and a life of self-determination. Her world is racked by war and famine and disease, and she must overcome the shadows of her past and her own demons before she can at last find her voice and win her love.
Wilhelm Grimm is desperately poor and cannot afford to take a wife. Dortchen Wild is forbidden to even see him by her cruel and overbearing father. At times it seems impossible that they could ever be together. Both have a long journey ahead of them before at last true love triumphs.
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