Posts by Juliet Marillier
I’ve just this week finished revising the manuscript for my latest novel, DEN OF WOLVES, third book in the BLACKTHORN & GRIM series. I’ve already spent many months writing the book and doing my own in-depth revisions. The ms then went to my two publishers, one in the US and one in Australia, for a structural edit, and I was sent a detailed report compiled by my wonderful Australian editor from the two sets of notes. Along with this report came an annotated version of my manuscript. The process is similar with most publishing houses.
This time around the report ran to only six pages, which must make it the shortest I’ve had in 20 novels. That doesn’t mean the queries were all easy to address – editorial notes can make the most confident writer tear her hair out, invent new curses, overdose on caffeine, and generally wallow in self-doubt. But it does get easier the more you have to do it, and if you’re lucky enough to work with the same editor over several books, you learn how to communicate with both honesty and tact, and how to work together in the interests of making this the best book it can be.
Note, I’m not talking about a copy edit / line edit, where spelling, grammar, syntax and logic are checked – that is in most cases a separate operation that happens later, though my Australian editor now combines the two. The red pen and stack of manuscript pages are gone – it’s a digital process these days. The structural edit is the major edit, where weaknesses and inconsistencies in plot, setting, character or pacing are addressed. For DEN OF WOLVES, for instance, the editor picked up an apparent glitch in the passage of time. The novel has four point of view characters who take chapters in turn, and who are often separated for longish periods. I thought I had been so careful about what day it was, what time it was, and who was where, but I seem to have missed a day. Next time I’ll ditch the sticky notes and use a spreadsheet!
There are three ways you can go with an editorial suggestion: change, compromise, or refuse to budge. Note, your editor’s structural report is not the same thing as feedback from a Beta reader. You should listen to your Betas, especially if several are in agreement on a certain point. But it’s entirely your choice whether to follow their suggestions or not. With a professional editor, especially an editor who’s being paid by your publisher to do the job, refusing to do anything they suggest may just possibly lead to your book not being published, as there’s most likely a clause in your contract that says something about your delivering the manuscript in an acceptable form by a certain date. That clause gives the publisher the right to refuse publication if they consider the final revised ms not up to scratch, or if it’s not submitted on time. Usually it doesn’t get that far, as the various parties can work together to get a satisfactory manuscript ready on time. So let’s talk about how we do that, faced with a challenging editorial report.
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We’ve lost a number of prominent figures in the entertainment industry this year to cancer and other causes, and it’s still only the beginning of February. For me, the cluster of deaths was a reminder of my own mortality. I didn’t feel the fear that I might die tomorrow, though I did decide to formalise my plan for who takes care of my dogs should I predecease them. Instead this question came to mind: as a 67 year old writer, what would I still like to achieve?
For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been writing professionally for around 17 years and writing full time for 13 of those years. I have nineteen novels and a body of short stories in print. I’ve had good critical recognition within the fantasy genre and have a shelf full of writing awards. So I have built a solid career as a novelist, though without any spectacular peaks.
Thinking back to my first few years as a published writer, the roller-coaster feeling of that time, the steep learning curve, the need to make both business and artistic decisions without fully understanding what they meant, I think I had career hopes and ambitions that were rather different from my current ones. To make it onto the New York Times bestseller list or UK equivalent. To be taken seriously by reviewers in mainstream media. To sell film rights to one of my novels and see a great movie made. To win a major international writing award. To earn enough so I didn’t have to worry about paying the bills. It would still be nice to achieve all of those (I’ve managed two of them) but I see those ambitions now as ‘Great if it happened, but unlikely’ rather than ‘Let’s charge forward and make it happen.’
So what’s changed?
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Writing is, by its nature, a solitary occupation. Gone are the days of the impoverished poet sharing a garret only with the muse and starvation. But there are plenty of us writers huddled in a corner with a cup of coffee and a laptop/tablet/other device, struggling to get some good words down before real life in whatever form – day job, children, animals – intervenes, making progress impossible. We are for the most part individuals working separately. Sometimes we relish the freedom isolation brings, the quiet uninterrupted time in which to focus on our work in progress. Sometimes we feel very much alone, and not in a good way – into that loneliness can creep a crippling self-doubt. Is my work complete rubbish? Can I ever finish this project? Why am I even doing this?
There’s the internet, of course. Peer groups abound there, some useful, some less so. Our own Writer Unboxed Facebook page is one of the good ones. Trouble is, going online while trying to get words on the page can be self-defeating. You check a couple of good posts on WU. Then you see a cute cat video. Then you just have to find out the football scores, and then you spot a message that needs a reply, and then someone knocks on the door and your writing time is over. And you’ve achieved 200 words instead of the 1000 you were aiming for.
I’ve been a published writer for 17 years now, and a career writer for about 14, since I packed in the day job. I guess my peer group was out there all that time, but for most of those years I didn’t link up with it. That was my loss. There are so many good things we, as writers, can do for each other, but we may fear joining groups for all sorts of reasons:
To the first: if they do, that’s their loss. Find peers with whom you can be mutually respectful. There is no need for everyone to be at a similar level of experience (unless it’s an advanced critique group.) There’s no need for everyone to be following a particular path to publication.
To the second: A little humility wouldn’t go amiss. Writing is a life-long journey. We can always get better. Also, maybe you can help them.
Why not meet up to write together? More on that later. Also, critiquing each other’s work or discussing books and writing will help you hone your craft. Even if you meet purely to socialise, you’re likely to end up talking writing.
Consider starting a writers’ group in your local community. Investigate online options, but be careful – online groups are many and varied. Consider what you want from the group. Is it friendship, a broad discussion of books and writing, or critique (gentle or rigorous?) Consider what the group expects from […]
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This is a dog story. Not just any dog story, but one that illustrates triumph over adversity, the importance of small joys and the role of a writer’s companion. Some of you will have seen Harry in my official author photo – he brings his own special something to my life and work. He makes me take breaks and exercise regularly. He ensures I don’t take myself too seriously. He keeps the other canines in the household under control. He is a neighbourhood character, well loved by all. But it so nearly wasn’t so.
In late 2010 Harry was surrendered to an animal rescue group – a small white curly-coated cross breed, filthy, skinny and terrified. His age was given as three, though most likely he was older. On the way to the shelter, while being transferred between cars, Harry escaped and took off into what we in Australia call ‘the bush’ – in this case a densely forested area. The animal rescue people searched but he could not be found.
A community of Buddhist nuns living on an isolated property kept glimpsing a little white dog on the fringes of the monastery grounds. He was too scared to come close, but they left food out for him, and after three weeks living wild Harry was apprehended again. At his vet check it was apparent that he needed major surgery on his knees. I volunteered to be his foster carer during the pre and post-op periods.
I’ve had foster dogs come and foster dogs go. This one was different from the moment he came in the door. It took me around thirty seconds to decide that this frightened little soul was a keeper. He wasn’t especially pretty or particularly friendly. There was just that intangible something between us. By the end of the recovery period Harry had settled in as if he’d always lived with me and my (then) household of two tiny girl dogs.
The following year tested both Harry and me severely.
Read MoreWhew! The finished manuscript of my new novel, Tower of Thorns, went off to the publisher by the (extended) deadline of Jan 27. It’s out of sight, if not out of mind, for the next month or so while my editor writes her report. If you’ve been following my posts, you’ll know that my time management for this novel was less than perfect, with the result that December and January passed in a blur of speed writing. I did squeeze in some final editing before I pressed the send button. And my writing process, which involves more or less continuous revision as I go, meant that the bulk of the manuscript was already well polished. But that last section, the dramatic, tension-filled climax and the neat tying up of loose ends? That was still being written a week before the deadline. My advice to you, fellow scribes: don’t let yourself get into that position. Put good time management practices in place for your project early in the writing period or you’ll end up like me, doing a solitary two-month NaNoWriMo Plus. That’s not the way to produce a well-crafted novel.
But wait. Maybe that’s only half right. When I’d typed the final words and was doing my first read-through, I realised those final chapters, the ones I wrote in a white-hot panic, were actually pretty good. They were fast-paced and dramatic, yet had the subtlety of character interaction I was aiming for. Sure, I found the typos and repetitions we’re all guilty of when we’re writing in a rush. There were some clunky sentences; there was over-use of favourite words. But that kind of thing is easily fixed. Overall, this was one of the strongest sections of the novel. Who’d have thought it?
As a druid once said, There is learning in everything, and this experience is no exception. Apart from the obvious lesson about time management, which I talked about in my last post, there’s the possibility that when we’re under intense pressure we work better. Why is that?
Read MoreOK, I confess, this month I am not posting a well-thought-out piece of wisdom on the writer’s craft. Instead I’m flailing around the night before my post is due, trying to string together something meaningful. I thought of asking Harry to write this for me, as he’s provided a WU post before on the vexed topic of deadlines, and how the life of a writer’s dog becomes less comfortable the closer they get. But for reasons given below, Harry isn’t up to the job right now.
My manuscript, a historical fantasy/mystery, is due for submission in January. It’s progressing well but I have a sizeable percentage of it still to write, and I’m not speedy. Usually I have time to finish the novel, set it aside for a while, then polish further and submit before the deadline. This time around, there’s a lot left to write and just over a month remaining.
Yes, I’m an experienced pro. And I’ll get it done. But I’m not happy about my poor time management on this particular novel. I need to learn from the experience and make sure I don’t let it happen again. Some things I can avoid next time; some, sadly, I will need to build into future plans.
Side projects: When I’m asked to contribute a piece to an anthology, or to present a workshop or attend a writers’ event, I find it hard to say no. This year I wrote a short story for an anthology about strong women in history; it was a project I was thrilled and excited to be part of. My story about Hildegard of Bingen was only 5000 words, but it took a long time to craft – distilling Hildegard’s extraordinary life into so few words was a challenge, and I wrote several versions before I felt I’d got it right. I also presented some talks and workshops, though I managed to say no to a couple, knowing how much preparation I generally need to do.
Learning: next year, say no more often. Only take on the projects you can’t bear to let pass by.
Work-related travel and appearances:
Read MoreRecently I attended the Historical Novelists Association annual conference, this year held in London. It was a great weekend with plenty of lively and informative sessions, though slightly more aimed at the aspiring writer than I’d expected. Highlights for me were a workshop on Battle Tactics and a panel entitled Confronting Historical Fact with the Unexplained: from myths & the occult to fairytales & the Gothic, chaired by Kate Forsyth.
Initially I felt a little out of place at this conference, since I write historical fantasy rather than straight historical fiction. However, anyone who writes in my genre can tell you that the historical research still needs to be done, and done thoroughly. A novel containing fantasy elements should be consistent to its time and culture, whether that time and culture are historical, imaginary or some blend of the two. (Many fantasy stories have a setting closely resembling medieval Europe. Also popular are settings suggesting the Victorian era.) The story may be brimful with fey beings, weird magic and humans with unusual powers, but woe betide the author who includes New World vegetables in quasi-medieval England, or gives an army the wrong weapons or a village band the wrong instruments. Readers are quick to point these errors out.
The conference sessions on research were as useful to me as they were to the writers of straight historical novels. A historical fantasy should be built on a strong foundation of known fact. The writer should become as familiar as she can with the time and culture that provides the basis for the story’s world. And, of course, the writer must also know her magical or uncanny framework, the ‘Otherworld’ side of the history. In my books, that Otherworld springs from the probable beliefs of the people who would have lived in that time and culture, whether it is the north of Britain in the Pictish era, Anglo-Norman Ireland or Norway at the time of the Vikings. I haven’t always got it right; I’ve learned from my errors.
At the HNS conference there was some discussion about which periods are currently most popular in historical fiction. What would your guess be?
Read MoreI posted some time ago about the challenges of voice and structure in my (then) work in progress, a novel called Dreamer’s Pool, first instalment of the Blackthorn & Grim series, which is a historical fantasy/mystery series for adult readers. At that point I was wrestling with the self-imposed limitations of the format – three contrasting first person narrators alternating chapters. I love writing in first person, but I wondered at that point whether my control freak approach was forcing the story into a structure in which it would be hard to maintain and build tension. By building some flexibility into the structure, I did eventually make this work. At least, I hope I did! It’s interesting that one of the major changes requested by my editors was a re-ordering of the chapters to ensure they fell in exact chronological order – not easy or even quite natural when the three narrators are not all present in the same location until well into the story.
Dreamer’s Pool is now off my hands, with an Australian release date of October 1 and the US release in November. I’m hard at work on the second in the series, provisionally entitled The Tower of Bann. The relationship between voice and structure is the same as before: three voices alternating chapters. Two of the voices continue from the first novel: first person past tense for disillusioned healer Blackthorn, first person present tense for her henchman Grim. The third voice is that of a new character, the enigmatic Lady Mella. The mystery element of the series, in which Blackthorn and Grim combine their talents to solve a puzzle in each book, has meant that this character must withhold information in her chapters. How to do this without obvious artifice? How to avoid leaving readers with that annoying feeling of having been tricked?
[pullquote]If a plot requires a point of view character to deceive the reader – to be an unreliable narrator – that character’s voice requires careful control. The writer may use this character to lead the reader down a false trail, or conceal something that will later be the turning point of the story.[/pullquote]
Done clumsily, this kind of thing can leave the reader feeling cheated. Done well, as in Gillian Flynn’s chilling Gone Girl, it can be a powerful storytelling device. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler is a novel in which the holding back of information is central to the emotional impact of the story. A suggestion: if you have yet to read the Fowler novel, don’t look at reviews or the jacket blurb […]
Read MoreI earn my living writing longish stories – my historical fantasy novels for adults usually come in at around 150,000 words. Perhaps because I’ve always loved traditional storytelling, including myths, legends and sagas, I do tend to think big, and it sits most comfortably with me to write fiction in the long form. I write short stories, too, but I find them more of a challenge. Every element must be refined and polished, the key message of the story must be conveyed perfectly within the limited word count, and the writer has a lot less space in which to connect with the reader. Because I find writing short fiction difficult, it was especially rewarding when one of my short stories, By Bone-Light, a contemporary version of the Baba Yaga fairy tale, recently won two awards and was short-listed for a third.
As an established writer I’m sometimes asked to sit on selection panels or judge writing competitions, and currently I’m sole judge for a short fiction competition that has drawn in entries from around Australia. This contest was for a short story in any genre with a 3000-word limit. I thought it might be useful for me to share my judging process here. Some of the WU community will be just starting out with writing short fiction, some will be improving their craft and some will be a lot better at it than I am. Some of you, like me, must periodically find yourselves needing to judge other writers’ work. You may be given established guidelines to work from, or you may set your own.
I had nearly 130 stories to read. As an experienced competition judge with a busy schedule of other tasks, I have a fairly ruthless approach in the early stages. For this contest, I read every story once and attached a post-it note with a 1, 2, or 3, plus a comment where required, eg, interesting concept but no proper ending; engaging but over-written. A number 1 was a story that impressed me and might be short-listed, number 2 deserved another read before being ruled out, and number 3 was a definite no. That first stage reduced the stories under consideration to around 60.
What ruled a story out after only one read-through?
– poor formatting (though if a story was exceptionally well written, I would be prepared to overlook this – none of these were.) Anyone entering a story in a competition should stick to the format required, which generally means double spacing, an easily read font in 12 point, decent margins, and proper indentations for paragraphs and direct speech. Basic! Also, if the guidelines tell you not to put your name and address on the story, don’t.
– errors of spelling, punctuation, grammar and/or syntax. Incorrect word use.
– overwrought language.
– inconsistency of tense or POV within a scene; clumsy head-hopping.
– typographical errors. (Again, if only one or two, and otherwise an excellent story, I’d overlook these)
– lots of telling, not much showing.
– lack of originality. There were many similar ideas and settings.
– dated, ponderous writing style.
Then came the second stage of judging, which brought 60 stories down to around 30. The 1s and 2s got another read, and I weeded more […]
Read MoreHow do you feel about public speaking? Author talks? Writing workshops? If, like me, you’re the introverted kind of writer, more comfortable in the world of the imagination than out on centre stage, that part of the job can be as much ordeal as opportunity. But we all know how necessary those public appearances are, not only to promote our work, but also to give something back to the reading and writing community.
Some of us are naturally talented at presenting, with a bottomless well of entertaining anecdotes and a flowing, easy style. Some are good at it because they’ve worked hard to prepare. I’ve done a fair amount of presenting in the fifteen or so years I’ve been a professional writer, and I still get nervous every time. The easiest audience for me? Romance writers, because although their expectations are high, they are always warm, accepting and interested. The most challenging? School students.
Recently I was a guest at the Somerset Celebration of Literature, an amazing three-day event for young readers hosted by Somerset College in Queensland. I’d been invited to attend the 2009 festival, but my cancer diagnosis just before the event meant I had to cancel at the last minute. I was happy to go back as part of the author lineup this year. March 2014 marked my critical five year milestone for surviving breast cancer.
Although I’m far more comfortable presenting to an adult audience, I found the festival an overwhelmingly positive experience. It was not only excellently organised – a mammoth task for those involved as it is a large-scale event – but also brimming with enthusiasm, creativity and flair. Over the three days, approximately 15,000 students from the region attended workshops and author talks, and thirty-odd writers and illustrators were involved. My sessions were aimed at young adults, but there were workshops and activities for all ages.
It was a challenge to prepare for this event. They couldn’t tell me until a couple of days beforehand whether I’d be speaking to groups of 20 or 200. With small groups I generally include some practical work, but in a very big group that’s unmanageable. The lack of overhead projectors in my venues ruled out using visual images to help hold audience attention. I’m a control freak, a person who finds it hard to do things ‘on the hop’, so this was a real test. But it was also a learning experience, and I came away with some good tips for future events.
Read MoreIn these days of relentless self-promotion, we authors generally avoid sharing our bad news. Our posts and tweets, our websites and interviews emphasise the positive: a publishing deal, an interesting writers’ festival, a new creative partnership. Sometimes we talk about fighting our way through adversity to achieve a goal. But only rarely do we feature the professional setbacks we experience along the way. The message we want to get across to our readers is that we’re doing just fine!
While I’ve been lucky enough to earn a living as a novelist for quite a few years, and am still internationally published, I’ve had my share of setbacks, major and minor. Along the way I’ve become a little better at dealing with reversals. The most recent occurred not very long ago. One of my major publishers advised me by phone that, after crunching the numbers, they couldn’t justify producing a print edition of my next novel. They’d initially be releasing it in e-book only. This news came in only a month before the (then) planned publication date. The novel was part of a series, and the earlier books had been published in both print and e-book.
Some of you might say that I should consider myself lucky to be published at all, and I do, of course. But this was still a shock. It needs to be seen in the context of my being an established mid-list author with a long track record, and with every previous book having come out in a print edition.
But even the biggest publishing houses are feeling the financial crunch. They’re under massive pressure from an ever-changing market. Publishing is a business, and decisions like this are made on the basis of economics, not sentiment. Although deep down I recognised the truth of that, my feelings were at that stage stronger than logic. I knew I had to find some strategies for dealing with them before they derailed me. I had a looming deadline for another book, and I had no time to wallow in negativity.
I took the dogs out for a walk (exercise + undemanding company = calm) and gave myself a mental talking-to while doing so. Here’s the result, which I hope may help others in a similar situation.
Read MoreBeing a full-time writer means not only working every day on my novel, but also performing the multiplicity of tasks that go with the profession: book-keeping, research, editing, publicity and so on. As an established novelist, I also get asked to present workshops, participate in writers’ festivals, judge competitions and give talks in schools. The better known you become as a writer, the more such requests you receive. It’s rewarding not only financially (most of the above are paid gigs) but also on a personal level, providing an opportunity to give back to the writing community. Of all the ancillary jobs that come my way as an established author, mentoring is probably the most rewarding.
Here in Australia, mentoring programs are usually run through the universities, the state government-funded Writers’ Centres, or one of our professional associations for writers, such as the Australian Society of Authors. That allows adequate funding, a properly managed selection process, and good oversight and accountability for the program.
Generally a genre writer (I write historical fantasy) will be paired with a mentee who is working in a similar genre. Sometimes a mentee requests a particular mentor whom they think will be best able to advise them. I’ve usually chosen my mentee based on a CV, synopsis and sample chapters. Generally I’ll work with someone who has completed a first draft. Among the qualities I look for is a good work ethic, often characterised by a preparedness to revise, but also by being able to work quickly and to put in long hours.
I’ve mentored a number of writers over the last few years. Sometimes the mentorship goes brilliantly. Sometimes things don’t progress as well as expected. A mentor/mentee relationship is, of its nature, quite intense. It requires tact, patience and honesty from the mentor and, from the mentee, that sound work ethic plus a willingness to take advice on board. And sufficient self-confidence to know when not to take the advice, of course. A mentor’s role is not to tell a mentee how to write her book. She’s there to provide guidance, support and the benefit of experience.
Being a mentor has taught me to look at my own writing and my work practices afresh. Here are a few things I’ve learned:
I’m currently working on a novel called Dreamer’s Wood, first installment in the Blackthorn & Grim series, and my deadline is getting uncomfortably close. Indeed, the story is so much in my head at present that I really had no choice but to write about it for this month’s post.
Dreamer’s Wood, a historical fantasy/mystery for adult readers, is designed around contrasts in voice. Three major characters–Blackthorn, the disillusioned healer; Grim, her taciturn sidekick; Oran, the dreamer prince–take turns narrating chapters in first person. This framework allows emotional intensity to build between the main protagonists and provides good contrast within the narrative. It should allow the reader to get very close to the three central players. First person suits a character-based story, and although Dreamer’s Wood has a plot line that includes a double mystery and a fairy tale element, its real heart is the emotional development of these characters.
I started the project really believing in the triple first person narrative. The three characters came to life with their different voices, and the writing really raced along. I’ve done this sort of thing before. In another novel, for instance, I alternated first person, past tense sections for the female protagonist with first person, present tense sections for the male protagonist, who was suffering from memory loss. I thought that approach served the story well. But this time around, with the major part of the novel written, I’ve started having a few doubts. Am I becoming hung-up on the chosen format? Am I letting the structure overwhelm the storytelling? Are my control freak tendencies getting the better of me?
I hope not, as I simply don’t have time for a major structural rewrite before the deadline–my efforts will mainly be focused on getting the novel finished. But I am loosening the structure to ensure I maintain tension, pace and flow. The changes of narrator should enhance, rather than detract from, the unfolding of the story, otherwise why write the book that way? I’m taking note of the following:
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