Month: June 2013
The psychiatrist and I sat in a cafe, my digital recording device propped up on the table between us. I held both a fork and a pen in my right hand, though I wasn’t much interested in the salmon on my plate. It had taken me a couple of years to find an expert in this secretive area who would agree to speak with me, and I was focused on noting down everything my interview subject said.
While trying to work through the problems in an early draft of my WIP, I’d been more than a little dismayed to discover I’d gotten a key personality aspect of one of my primary characters wrong. A person who did what this character does for a living wouldn’t react to the trauma I’d given him in some of the ways I’d written. I’d been appalled at my error–character is supposed to be my strength!–and ultimately ripped out an entire thread of the storyline after I realized how substantially this mistake rippled through the plot.
I began to repair the story the way I’d begun the initial building of it: with character. I dug deeper into this character’s psyche, asked him more questions, considered his life again, until I had a better idea of who he was, how he came to be that person and how he would react in any given situation–including the trauma that sets the plot in motion.
But after I found my answers, I wanted confirmation. For years, I’d searched for a psychiatrist who understood the minds of this particular category of people who harbor an intense aversion to talking about themselves. Then, one day, as I perused a trade publication for former spies (yes, there is such a thing), I found an article about a psychiatrist who seemed like a good prospect. I contacted him, and he agreed to meet with me.
I prepped my subject beforehand about my project. Over lunch, he confirmed that my new approach to my character was realistic. I was thrilled (okay, relieved), and we continued chatting about my book. The additional conversation was fine with me, because I had discarded at least three dozen attempts to cover the gap in my plot and at this point, I was considering entertaining suggestions from anyone I might encounter on the street.
“It could be great fun,” he said. “Your protagonist could go to [a specific, chaotic, war-torn country] where your other character is doing his own thing. There’s so much potential in that…”
Click, click.
I actually heard two clicks in my head. I smiled at my lunch partner and leaned back in my chair. I momentarily stopped listening, and I considered those clicks.
Read MoreIn my last blog post, I promised to give more tips on how to work with a graphic designer, and I will (I promise), but not in this post. For the last few months, I have been immersed in editing, and my thoughts are not currently focused on graphic design but on writing. In particular, I’ve been struggling with how to stop banging my head against the same old walls and just to get the writing done.
Writers write. That is a truism we’ve all heard, but it encapsulates a gigantic catch. WHAT do writers write? The answer is different for every writer, and implicit within the current cultural expectations attached to writing is the idea that successful writers somehow know what to write. They know what others want to read, what will sell, what is cool, what is erudite, what sounds good. Maybe they do, and maybe they are also just lucky.
As one of the as-yet-unpublished blog contributors for this site, I cannot tell you how successful writers work, or how they know what will or will not be successful to their project. But I can (oh, yes, most definitely I can) tell you what does not lead to successful writing. So I am offering you my current zen-laced, nihilist-inspired approach to writing successfully. I am going to tell you what not to think about when you’re writing.
1. Don’t think about yourself and your life.
To write successful fiction, do not indulge in endless fantasies about what the piece of writing you are working on is going to do for your current state of existence. Dreaming about your perfect life after your WIP is done, published, and has sold millions more copies than J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and Suzanne Collins combined may be fun, but in my experience it actually is antagonistic to the mindset needed for telling a good story.
Read MoreSo I am going to ask Kathleen and Therese to bear with me here for a moment, I need to ask this great community to do something:
Go away.
That’s right, click away from this blog post right now, leave this wonderful website behind. Goodbye.
(Are you still there? You are such a stubborn writer! Which is why I love you. Okay, let me explain…)
Far too many writers build an audience of the WRONG people. As a writer, you craft a work that is meaningful to you, and you wonder how you will connect it to the world. So you begin engaging with people online and off, telling them about your writing.
And guess what? Guess who is MOST interested in this journey you are on? Readers? Nope. Oftentimes, it is other writers.
So we do what feels validating and welcoming: we join amazing communities such as staging-writerunboxed.kinsta.cloud. We forge relationships, we grow our platforms with people who want you to succeed as a writer.
But therein lies the problem.
These good people – these other writers, yes they may buy your book. They may read it too. They MIGHT even review it on Amazon & Goodreads. And this is good.
But what I worry about is that when you focus only on engaging other writers, you are not learning how to engage readers. Without the shared interest in becoming a writer, without tapping into that sense of identity and goals, you are not developing that keen instinct of who would love your book and how to get them interested.
Read MoreWriters often find themselves confronted by the question, “What is emotional truth?” and the further question, “How do I put it on the page?” As someone who has taught and trained writers all over the world – and of course struggled with these questions myself – I find that writers go through predictable stages in their quest to convey authentic emotional meaning in their work.
At first, many writers have no idea that such a thing as emotional truth even exists. They are focused solely on making the plot work, making the jokes funny, or advancing the action from event to event. At this stage, there is little or no thought to a work’s deeper meaning or deeper human truth. call this the “run and jump” phase of our writing careers, when all we can really see, and all we can adequately convey, are the mechanical aspects of the work; the mysteries of the human heart yet elude us.
As we mature as writers, we become aware that there’s such a thing as emotional truth, but we have no effective means of transmitting this information from brain to page. Our first efforts in this direction often seem awkward, stilted, and self-conscious. We might try to write, “I love you,” only to recoil in horror at the awful, stilted, clichéd obviousness of that thought. We hate or castigate ourselves for writing so artlessly about subjects so important. We haven’t yet made, at least to our satisfaction, the connection between simple human truths and meaningful, effective, evocative presentation on the page.
But we get better. We do. We grow and develop, deepen our awareness of the emotional truths we wish to convey, and also acquire strategies and tactics for doing so in a satisfying way. We discover tools like text and subtext, and bring our writing to the point where one character may say to another, “Would you like a cup of coffee?” and have it understood to mean, “I yearn for you to the bottom of my soul.” We become writers with sufficient insight to detect emotional truth and sufficient toolcraft to capture and preserve it in words. So we’re home and dry, right?
Maybe not. Maybe we’re still afraid.
Read MoreAuthor Catherine McKenzie returns to WU as our guest today, to discuss a topic near and dear to her: helping other authors. Catherine, who is one of the most generous authors we’ve known–working tirelessly to help promote other authors works via her Facebook group I bet we can make these books best sellers and in many other ways–has a new books out. Hidden was recently released in Canada and will be available in the U.S. next spring. Her other novels–Spin, Arranged and Forgotten–have been translated into French, German, Czech, Slovak and Polish are all international bestsellers. And if you want to know how she has time to do all that, her answer is: robots.
What’s Hidden about?
When a married man suffers a sudden fatal accident, two women are shattered—his wife and someone else’s—and past secrets, desires and regrets are brought to light.
While walking home from work one evening, Jeff Manning is struck by a car and killed. Not one but two women fall to pieces at the news: his wife, Claire, and his co-worker Tish. Reeling from her loss, Claire must comfort her grieving son and contend with funeral arrangements, well-meaning family members and the arrival of Jeff’s estranged brother—her ex-boyfriend—Tim.
With Tish’s co-workers in the dark about her connection to Jeff outside the workplace, she volunteers to attend the funeral on the company’s behalf, but only she knows the true risk of inserting herself into the wreckage of Jeff’s life. Told through the three voices of Jeff, Tish and Claire, Hidden explores the complexity of relationships, our personal choices and the responsibilities we have to the ones we love.
Learn more about Catherine and her novels on her website, and by following her on Facebook and Twitter.
Why Authors Should Help Other Authors
Way back in 2009 when I got my first book deal, I didn’t know any published authors. I mean, no one. I had not yet joined the social media world (ah, those were the days) and, as a lawyer, it wasn’t something I came into contact with. So, when I had the opportunity to sit down with bestselling author, Louise Penny (How the Light Gets In, Beautiful Mystery), I jumped at the chance. Here, finally, was someone who could answer the thousands of questions I had but was too afraid to ask my editor for fear of sounding stupid/annoying/make her change her mind about publishing me.
Louise was great. She met with me for two hours and answered every question. I don’t remember everything I asked, but I do remember asking what the one thing was she wished she had known before she published her first book. Her answer? Patience. What she meant was that the first book—hopefully—is just the start of something. That publishers are trying to help you to build your brand so the second book will sell more than the first etc. So keep writing, be patient, work hard, hopefully success will come.
That advice has certainly panned out for Louise Penny. And while I’m not sure that it represents […]
Read MoreI’m a big proponent of article writing. I think nothing bad can come from writers trying to sell content to magazines, newspapers and websites. Think about it. Selling articles ups your credentials and credibility; it gives you something awesome to talk about in the Bio section of your query letters; it generates nice paychecks; it puts you in touch with media members who can help you later; it builds your writer platform and visibility, and more.
If you want to make more money writing and expand your writing horizons, think about penning short nonfiction pieces for outlets seeking good work. It’s a simple way to do some good for your writing career. Here are 8 tips to help you get started concerning how to write for magazines.
1. Seek out the publication’s writers’ guidelines. All publications have guidelines, which, simply put, are an explanation of how writers should contact the publication in consideration of writing for them. Writers’ guidelines usually address three key things: 1) what kind of pieces the publication is looking for (including length, tone, and subject matter), 2) how to submit your work for consideration (details on formatting and whether they accept e-mail or snail mail submissions), and 3) when and how they will respond to your request.
2. You do not have to write full articles before you sell them. Selling a nonfiction article is exactly like selling a nonfiction book—you sell the item based on the concept and a “business plan” for it. Here’s how it works: You compose a one-page query letter (typically submitted via e-mail) that details what the article/column will be about, as well as your credentials as an article writer. From that point, the publication, if interested, will contract you to write the article—and only at that point will you write it. writing an article when no one has agreed to buy it is called writing on speculation (“on spec”). You can do this if you feel you need to, but you risk losing time on a project that may never see a financial return.
Read MoreWe’re thrilled to host today’s guest, Andrea Lochen. Although Andrea dreamed of being an author since the third grade, she didn’t realize creative writing was “an actual thing” until she stumbled upon the writing program at the University of Wisconsin. Andrea went on to receive her MFA from the University of Michigan. During that time, she was able to complete a rough draft of The Repeat Year, which received a Hopwood Award for the Novel. Andrea has taught writing at the University of Michigan and currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. She lives in suburban Milwaukee with her husband and their adorably fluffy dog, Maddy. In her free time, she likes to bake cupcakes and cakes, spend time with her family, see musicals and plays, and read as much as humanly possible. The Repeat Year is her first novel.
What’s the book about?
Everyone has days, weeks, even months they wish they could do over—but what about an entire year? After living through the worst twelve months of her life, intensive care nurse Olive Watson is given a second chance to relive her past and attempt to discover where she went wrong.
After a year of hardships including a messy breakup with her longtime boyfriend Phil, the prospect of her mother’s remarriage, and heartbreaking patient losses at the hospital, Olive is ready to start fresh. But when she wakes up in her ex-boyfriend’s bed on New Year’s Day 2011—a day she has already lived—Olive’s world is turned upside down.
Shouldering a year of memories that no one else can recall, even Olive begins to question herself—until she discovers that she is not alone. Crossing paths with Sherry Witan, an experienced “repeater,” Olive learns that she has the chance to rewrite her future. Given the opportunity of a lifetime, Olive has to decide what she really wants. Should she make different choices, or accept her life as she knows it, flaws and all?
As a debut women’s fiction writer, Andrea has found that her characters are often judged by what she calls “the friend factor.” We’re excited that she’s joined us today to explore the issue of likeability in female characters–how important is it? Do authors compromise the story they want to tell in order to create a protagonist with whom readers would like to have coffee? And do readers tend to be more accepting of unlikeable male characters?
Hear more about what Andrea has to say on her website or on Facebook.
Female Protagonists: Do They Need to be Friend Material?
Much has been written about the “likeability” quandary of literary characters. The Publishers Weekly interview with Claire Messud about her new novel The Woman Upstairs resurrected this debate. When the interviewer mentioned she wouldn’t want to be friends with Messud’s protagonist, Nora, Messud shot back, “For heaven’s sake, what kind of question is that? Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus? Oscar Wao? Antigone? Raskolnikov? Any […]
Read MoreWe are thrilled that our own WU contributor Lydia Sharp is with us today—her posts are always funny, insightful, and full of both help and hope. Her latest book, MISMATCHED, was released on May 24. This is her second novella; she is also the author of TWIN SENSE, a YA contemporary novella, which was published in November 2012.
This is Lydia’s first foray into adult fantasy, and she’s said that this book has been extremely personal to her; in her words, writing it was “my way of dealing with external effects of my internal journey.”
We’re so excited that she’s here to share some of her writing process and inspiration.
Q: What’s the premise of your new book?
[pullquote]Mismatched is on sale for 99¢ today. Click here.[/pullquote]
MISMATCHED is a fantasy novelette about a young woman on the brink of adulthood. In her world, humans have an extra organ called a heart-stone that is connected to both the central nervous system and the reproductive system. The heart-stone not only guides each individual to their life passion, or career, but also leads them to, and “bonds” them to, their life-match (another word for soul mate). MISMATCHED is about one woman’s search and discovery of her life-match, who turns out to be someone it was thought biologically impossible to be matched to.
Q: What would you like people to know about the story itself?
I can’t put it into words any better than a phrase I found in a review of the book shortly after it released. “MISMATCHED is about being true to yourself and accepting the truth of one’s heart over the expectations of the culture and society.” (source)
This sentiment is exactly what prompted me to write the book–it is a result of the external effects of my own internal journey–and I’m so glad that it has connected with readers who need it as this time, while our cultures and societies are in flux.
Q: What was this book’s path to publication?
Read MoreTrained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and literary agents often make their read/not-read decision on the first page. In a customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type), there are 16 or 17 lines on the first page.
The challenge: does this narrative compel you to turn the page?
[pullquote]Storytelling Checklist
Evaluate this opening page for how well it executes the following 6 vital storytelling elements. While it’s not a requirement that all of them must be on the first page, I think writers have the best chance of hooking a reader if they are. The one vital ingredient not listed is professional-caliber writing, a given for every page.
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Let’s Flog The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I thought it would be fun to check out a bestselling YA novel. Following is what would be the first manuscript page (17 lines) of The Fault in Our Stars, the number 1 YA fiction book on the June 2, 2013 New York Times bestseller list.
Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.
Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying. (Cancer is also a side effect of dying. Almost everything is, really.) But my mom believed I required treatment, so she took me to see my Regular Doctor Jim, who agreed that I was veritably swimming in a paralyzing and totally clinical depression, and that therefore my meds should be adjusted and also I should attend a weekly Support Group.
This Support Group featured a rotating cast of characters in various states of tumor-driven unwellness. Why did the cast rotate? A side effect of dying.
The Support Group, of course, was depressing as hell. It met every Wednesday in the basement of a stone-walled Episcopal church shaped like a cross. We all sat in a circle right in the middle of the cross, where the two boards would have met, where the heart of Jesus would have been.
I noticed this because Patrick, the Support Group Leader and the only person over eighteen in the room, talked about the heart of Jesus every freaking meeting, all about how we, as young cancer survivors, were sitting right in Christ’s very sacred heart and whatever.
Take Our Poll
My vote and editorial notes after the fold.
“I published three novels at big houses to good reviews. Now I’m my own publisher, and the media wants no part of me.”
So begins an article that ran last month in Salon.com. Called, The Future is No Fun: Self-Publishing is the Worst, the piece is actually about the PR side of self-publishing rather than the overall experience.
While promoting any book is hard, it’s true that for self-published authors, it’s infinitely more challenging. But does that really translate into the media wanting no part of you if you’ve self-published? To the point where you might feel like “self publishing is the worst?”
Short answer: Absolutely not. That is, not if you’ve produced a book of professional quality, know what to expect and plan accordingly. So here are a few dos and don’ts to help self-published authors starting out on a promotion journey set expectations and have a positive, satisfying experience:
DO: Accept that you will in all likelihood not land any traditional book reviews.
By traditional, I mean reviews in places like The New York Times, Harpers and other conventional newspapers or magazines, both big and small.
DO: Take advantage, on the other hand, of the indie review programs now offered by Publisher’s Weekly Select, Kirkus Indie Reviews and Clarion.
Over the past few years, these programs have emerged in response to the exploding demand for self-published reviews. Through them, indie authors now have access to professional, publishing industry-vetted reviews for a couple of hundred dollars a pop. Whether the cost is fair or not is another topic altogether, but in the past, only the excruciatingly rare self-published book had even a dim chance of a PW or Kirkus review. Now, a close alternative is available to all.
DO: Plan ahead. Ideally, promotion efforts will begin about 4 months in advance of your publication date, at which point you should have a final, professionally copy-edited Word file of your book in hand. Cover and interior design, as well as the construction of your personal web site, should be underway.
DO: Be prepared to write, write and write. Guest blog posts and bylined articles on
Read MoreI ran into an intriguing editing problem recently. A client had a character who was disguising the fact that she was a woman. What made it tricky was that she was the narrator of a number of scenes, so we had to construct those scenes so as to mislead both the other characters and the readers. You’d be surprised how often gender gets mentioned in interior monologue. The client and I got a lot of practice at avoiding personal pronouns without looking like we were deliberately avoiding personal pronouns.
This started me thinking about the unreliable narrator, a technique that’s shown up in a couple of my favorite books. If, as we discussed last month, writing techniques should be treated as tools, what do you use the unreliable narrator for?
SPOILER ALERT: If you’ve never read Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, go do it now. I’ll wait.
Okay, welcome back.
As you’ve just seen, unreliable narrators are a great way to set up a surprise ending. According to a lot of commentators, Christie’s revelation that the narrator was actually the murderer was a milestone of crime drama and may well have been her masterpiece. She took advantage of the fact that readers naturally assume the narrator is telling them the truth. Writers can also give readers a shock at the end because readers assume that the narrator is alive (Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”), or sane (Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club).
To pull off this kind of surprise without alienating your readers, the narrator has to tell the truth, at least technically. One reason the unreliable narrator is hard to write is that you’re using your readers’ assumptions to slip stuff past them that would otherwise raise red flags – like the way my client’s character never uses personal pronouns in interior monologue. Christie’s book works because, at the end, Dr. Sheppard reveals how he described the actual murder without revealing that he was the one committing it. For readers, subtle misdirection is a terrific trick, but outright lying is an insult.
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