Posts by Allison Winn Scotch
A strange thing has been happening of late. Maybe it’s because of my blog, in which I try to give advice (hopefully most of it good) to aspiring novelists, or maybe it’s just something in the air, but recently, I’ve spoken to probably half a dozen hopeful writers (three alone just this week!) who failed to sell their first book. Books that were strong enough to get them agented – no small feat, I should note – but never caught fire when it came time for publishers to bite.
The reaction from all of these writers is just about the same: they’re demoralized, disappointed and wondering, “what now?” All of which are understandable emotions, and I say this from first-hand experience. My first novel didn’t sell either…I’ve made no great secret about it. At the time, I thought it was the next Pulitzer-winner. These days? Er, I’m embarrassed to have even written it, much less have had anyone read it and associate it with my name.
And now, with my next book making the rounds to various authors in search of blurbs and to various trusted readers in search of honest feedback, I’m struck with that familiar feeling again, that one that echoes exactly how I felt about that initial manuscript that should have stayed behind the firewall on my computer and for my eyes only! And that feeling is this: my writing from my first book, The Department of Lost and Found to my second, Time of My Life, has improved in leaps and bounds; my ability to create fleshed-out, believable characters has exponentially increased; my skill at crafting a fast-moving plot has skyrocketed…and while I don’t want to take away from the work I did for The Department, I can’t help but think that now, that work isn’t the best indication of what I can do, of what I have in me. (Not that I’m saying not to buy the book! Buy it! Buy it now!) :)
Read MoreSo everyone’s heard of the winter blahs, but what about writing blahs? You know what I’m talking about: those times when you’ll do everything, and I mean everything (including but not limited to: cleaning out the closet, checking the mouse traps –ew- paying your estimated taxes, reading catalogs you’ll never order from, and hell, even exercising…to name just a few things that, ahem, I might have done today) to put off writing. I’m smack in the middle of these writing blahs. Even writing this blog post was an excruciating exercise in discipline. (Thanks, Teri, for my deadline or I’d never have made it!) I’m a writer by trade and by implicit definition, so…what can I do to get back on track?
The answer is: I’m not sure. Which is part of the reason for this post. I’m hoping that you can help.
First, let me say that I think this burnout or maybe more accurately, this lack of real desire to hit the keyboard running, is entirely normal. There are days, weeks and months when I can’t start writing fast enough and when it’s all I can do to slow down the hours in the day so I have more time for work. So, I suppose, this ennui is the ying to that yang. Normal; nothing too concerning.
Still though, I don’t entirely enjoy it. I grow antsy with my boredom, resentful of the actual work I do have, and generally listless. I want to be burning up the keyboard, so now, I have to find a way to light that inner-fire because checking the mousetraps in my kitchen isn’t doing it. Here are some of the things that have, in the past, helped relight that flame:
Read MoreI’ve been feeling a little existential lately – probably has something to do with watching my kids grow up and realizing that I’m smack in the middle of full-fledged adulthood, even though I can’t believe that it’s so – and I’ve been dancing around with the question of why I write and why I’ve chosen this career. In many ways, I feel like this career chose me actually: I’d always been a “writer,” and through high school and college, teachers and professors suggested that I pursue it more seriously, but I never gave their comments much credence. After all, who on earth gets paid to write??? It seemed completely absurd. But, as good fortune would have it, after trying on several different professional hats, writing gigs slowly made their way to me, and over time, I was able to build a successful freelance PR and copy writing business that I then transitioned to magazine work. And from there, came fiction.
But I’ve digressed. As I said, I’ve been bouncing around with this question: why do I write? And I haven’t come to a simple answer. I’m not the primary breadwinner in my household, and if I decided to be a full-time mom, that would be okay with my husband, and yet, I choose not to. I choose to write. It is very much a choice. So, then, why?
Read MoreOne of the most frequent comments that I receive via my blog, Ask Allison, is how much people appreciate that I spill my inside-info and figurative guts on the blog. And I’m always a little taken aback that people think I’m doing them a huge favor by passing along this knowledge. But then, when I really start to think about it, maybe this spirit of paying it forward is a little unusual in our industry. It’s not unusual in my own circle – I’ve chosen to surround myself with positive, self-confident writer friends -but yeah, you know what? Too often, writers feel threatened by other writers, holding their cards feverishly close to their vests, as if by showing their hand, they’re somehow going to lose the whole house. It’s a strange mentally, I think, and one that can not only hamper your friendships (please, don’t get me started on a few writers who frequent forums of mine who refuse to share any and all knowledge, as if they hold some sort of anointed key to success), but can also stilt you professionally. Don’t believe me? Okay, well, here are a few arguments to convince you otherwise:
1) You reap what you sow. This is totally one of my favorite catchphrases these days because I really do believe – and have stories to back me up – that what you put out in the universe comes back to you in spades. Both positively and negatively. Before you think that I’m all karmically-kooky, read on. People ask me for favors all the time or shoot me emails to float past questions or a problems. I almost always answer them or assist with the favor. Mostly because I’m happy to help, but also because I know that when it comes time to cash in that favor – and I needed one this past week – people will be happy to reciprocate. And you can’t underestimate the power of other writers’ help when it comes to weaseling your way up the industry ladder, whether they refer you to another editor (as some have done for me) or refer you to their agent (as I have done for others).
Read MoreSo there was a moment this past week when I found myself with nothing to do. My son was with my parents. My daughter was sleeping. My husband was at a football game. The house was clean; the dog was walked; my deadlines were filed. And so…it was just silence. And me, wondering just what the heck I’m supposed to do with my downtime. I’d surfed the internet, read the paper, and looked around my apartment, and thought, “What now?”
It goes without saying, I suppose, that I’m not used to such solitary moments. Working moms (and dads, perhaps) out there might relate. I am in constant motion – wiping grubby hands, preparing three different dinners (one for my daughter, one for my son, one for us), cajoling my son onto the potty, squeezing in a workout, frantically typing out magazine articles….you get the point. So I always sort of giggle when people ask me, as they do often, how I juggle everything so well. Sure, I juggle, but it’s a rare moment when, as was the case last week, I don’t have a ball in the air. So whether this makes me crazy or just makes me really efficient (or maybe some combination of the two), here are my tips to keeping everything in order so that it doesn’t all come crashing down:
1) Make lists. Check them twice. I’ve mentioned this before on my blog, but there is no way that I could get done what I manage to get done without lists. In fact, I’ve noticed that the days and weeks that I don’t make lists are often wash-outs. I muddle around at the computer or in my office or throughout my day because I don’t have a firm guide as to what I need to get done. So I try to make a list at the start of every day and am always euphoric to cross something off. That thrill alone keeps me chugging along.
Read MoreSo…I just sold my second novel. Hurrah! Since I’ve already published my first one, it must have been a breeze, right? Er, no. In fact, the book that I anticipated being my follow-up novel was not the one that sold – and I have a theory as to why. Play along and tell me if you agree.
As I said, I was knee-deep in another manuscript. About 150 pages deep, in fact. And I dutifully worked on it each day, slogging through because, well, I’m a writer and I had to write each day because that’s what I do, or at least that’s what I told myself when I forced myself to focus on my characters when I went running (a prime brain-storming time for me) and and on the prose when I got into my office every morning. But slogging it still was – though the words came out well-enough, the motivation behind them was lackluster. And when I shared the pages with my agent, we both thought, “Well, it’s certainly well-written, but do we love it?” Like a boyfriend whom we thought we should love, but had a sneaking suspicion that we didn’t, we weren’t sure. Or, more accurately, like that dang boyfriend, we convinced ourselves with each reading that it was indeed love, but anyone who peered in at us probably would have told us differently. (You know, like that friend who is making a cataclysmic romantic mistake.)
Read MoreAs an author, I probably don’t view blurbs like an average reader. Heck, I’m not sure that I view books like an average reader – first, I check out the publisher, then I read the acknowledgements to see whom I might know, then, if I’m really curious, I’ll google the writer to learn more about her history, her book deal, her life. But this is all beside the point. Today, we’re chatting about blurbs, or, for the uninitiated, those quotes on the backs of books that sing the praises of the words inside.
Now, it’s a long-whispered secret in the literary world that blurbs are often nothing more than cashed-in favors, an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” scenario, in which one author agrees to laud another author’s work in exchange for a bit of publicity on the back of the book or for a future favor. Whether or not this is often true, I’m not sure, but I do know that in my case, this cynical application didn’t hold. In fact, to garner blurbs for The Department of Lost and Found, I emailed authors whom I thought might be interested in my material and asked them (very politely) to take a peek. Some didn’t have the time, some didn’t give blurbs as a rule, but many of them did write back and say, “Sure, if I like the book, I’m happy to endorse it.” And a few weeks later, they did. There were no secret handshakes or promises for reciprocation, though certainly, I am grateful to these authors, and should I ever be asked to help them out in some way, I’d do so in a heartbeat.
Read MoreOne of the things that has surprised me most, now that The Department of Lost and Found is out there in the world, is how so many people assume that the book is true to my real life. As if the word “fiction,” is really just code for thinly disguised memoir. I’ve even had close friends say to me, “So, you’re obviously Sally, right?” or “Ooh, I recognized all of your ex-boyfriends in the diaries.”
Erm. No. Actually, when the book says “fiction,” it really is.
It’s funny, and maybe I was naïve, but I never thought that people would make these leaps. I think that the best fiction writers take aspects of their lives and spin them into entirely different scenarios, which is what I did with The Department of Lost and Found. True, there are details littered throughout that actually echo my life – my husband and I did really get married in Puerto Rico (because, side note, we figured why the heck not?), but Sally’s story isn’t my own, and certainly, neither is Natalie’s. I don’t have unresolved issues with my mother (something I’ve been asked about), my husband isn’t Dr. Zach (for better or worse!), and my relationship with one of my close friends never spun out of control due to my work issues…or any issues really. (Again, something I’ve been asked quite often.)
Read MorePoof! That’s the sound of the bubble bursting after your book has come out.
After all of the build-up to release day, it would hard not to have the entire post-mortem be slightly anticlimactic, and I’m here to tell you that, indeed, the weeks following your book publication are a bit of a downer. Now, before you get all worked up saying that I’m acting insane – after all, my book is on store shelves – let me explain. How many of you out there are married? Quite a few? Good, then you’ll get my analogy. There is a condition that therapists have actually diagnosed that’s called something like, “post-wedding depression” or “post-wedding letdown” or something like that. And what it refers to is the period of time when brides and grooms get back from the high of the wedding and the honeymoon and come home after months of elaborate planning, and sit on their couches and look at each other and say, “Now what?” After all of the hype and hoopla, it’s just the two of them, now out of the spotlight and back to reality.
And that’s sort of how it feels to have your book come out.
Read MoreIt’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here!! It’s hard to believe that two years after I wrote it, seventeen months after we sold it, fourteen months after I cashed my first check from it, The Department of Lost and Found is finally here. It’s been an informative ride – to say the very least! – and here, a few tidbits that I’ve gleaned along the way.
1) Accept That Which You Can’t Control. I’m a type-z in my private life, and a type-a in my professional life. Thus, if I could tackle the sales, marketing and PR of the book, I happily would. But, er, you know, I can’t, and while I’m sometimes frustrated at the results (i.e, Entertainment Weekly letting my publicist know that they won’t be reviewing my book in the mag), I’ve come to understand that there’s only so much that I, personally, can do. A lot of this whole rigmarole is out of my hands.
2) Try To Control Everything Else! Having said the above, there are a lot of little things that you can do to influence (hopefully) the sales of your book. Calling in favors to every journalist you know. Asking for referrals to other contacts. Answering dozens of Q/As for a variety of websites. While my publicist and marketing manager are wonderful – truly, they’re wonderful – no one cares more about my success and the success of this book than I do. So I’m the one who really has to get her hands dirty long after everyone else has washed theirs clean.
Read More[WU Note: This post originally appeared on Allison’s site, “Ask Allison,” but we thought WU readers would appreciate what she had to say too and asked if we might repost it here; happily for us, she agreed. You’ll learn more about Allison’s journey tomorrow when we post our interview with her. Enjoy!]
It’s a funny thing: now that I have the book in my hands, I’ve become completely neurotic about other people reading it. I was flipping through it this weekend – I can’t bring myself to read it from cover to cover because I’ve literally already read it like, 15 times – and was thinking, this sucks!! I can’t believe that this is going out into the world!! Who agreed to publish this??
Cue: me heading to the gym and running five miles to deal with myself.
I’m not the type of person who has a lot of self-doubt. You’re probably not going to get the figurative, “does this make me look fat,” question from me. But let me tell you, publishing a novel is terrifying. Thrilling, yes. But terrifying all the same, and at this very moment, it’s hard not to be plagued with all sorts anxiety.
Read MoreI got a wonderful question on my blog the other day about what separates successful writers, defined by this reader’s terms as writers who earn a good living solely at writing, from the rest of the heap, and I thought this might be a good subject to tackle here at Unboxed. I think it comes to down a mix of things, some of which people might like, some of which, they might not. But best as I can tell, these factors all come into play:
1) Luck. Yup, dumb luck. Look, there are thousands upon thousands of talented writers out there. I can’t and won’t dispute that. So surely, some of breaking away from the pack and becoming a go-to writer for magazine editors or for agents and publishing houses, does come down to luck. I got my big break when The Knot asked me to ghostwrite a wedding book for them. It was one of my first freelance gigs, and though the job itself was a total nightmare, it was a huge coup. And sure, I happened to be a good writer, but I was also in the right place at the right time: namely, I was getting married, pitched them a story idea, and had one of their editors take notice of the fact that I had previous ghostwriting experience. Bam. A few sample chapters later and the job was mine. From there, I quickly landed my first national magazine story in Bride’s.
2) Persistence. Much like acting, establishing a reputation in the publishing world can take a looooooong time. And along the way, again, much like acting, you are going to be met with more rejection than not. Probably 100 times more rejection than acceptance. Which sounds daunting, I know, but it’s true. After that Bride’s story, I landed one other national piece which was promptly killed (another story for another time), and I then had a long dry spell of pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching. I think the next few things I landed were smaller FOBs that eventually led to bigger pieces, but still…there were dozens upon dozens of times that I could have tossed in the towel and said, “Screw it. No one is taking my ideas, no one thinks I’m a good writer, I’m done.” Thank the lordy that I’m as stubborn as all hell, and there was no way that I was going to quit.
Read MoreIn my last post, I briefly skidded over the statement your story shouldn’t mirror your life, and I thought I’d elaborate a bit on this theory.
Let me back-up. Tucked away in the dredges of my hard drive sits a manuscript that went unsold. True, I did receive agent representation from it, so it wasn’t a total bomb, but at the most critical juncture – namely, the sale – the book didn’t pass muster. And here’s at least part of the reason why: parts of the book too closely mirrored my own experiences.
“What?” You’re saying. “How can that be an impediment?” I’ll tell you why.
Read MoreHi guys, thanks so much for having me here! This is my first post, so I thought I’d talk a bit about how I came up with the idea for The Department of Lost and Found because, I think, stumbling on and developing the right idea is half the battle when it comes to writing smart (and good!) fiction.
As I’ve mentioned on my own blog, I think it’s helpful to craft a story with which you have some level of familiarity, at least when it comes to commercial fiction. (I can’t even begin to imagine where someone like Stephen King gets his ideas, because, well, I’ll assume that he’s never encountered a little girl who could burn down houses when she gets angry or a car that turned into a killer-machine, so keep in mind that I’m not talking about paranormals or sci-fi or whatever.) Why is it helpful to have some familiarity or some personal tie to said subject? Well, I think it not only boosts the energy of your writing, but it also enables you to create a sense of realism because you truly can visualize your characters in the situations that you’re creating.
Now. I know. You’re shouting, “Well, my husband doesn’t have to cheat on me for me to be able to write a poignant story about infidelity.” Of course not. That’s not what I’m saying. But if you’re one of those blessed (and unusual) folks who have never suffered through a painful breakup or unrequited love or complicated romantic entanglement, maybe writing about infidelity isn’t your best move simply because you wouldn’t have much emotional experience from which to draw.
Let me clarify by using a more personal example: how I came up with the idea for TDLF.
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